Supercars – It’s their party

It has been announced that the new Supercars Gen3 era will get underway in 2023 with the Repco Supercars Championship to be contested over 12 rounds. All of the 2023 events will take place in Australia, with no racing to take place in New Zealand. We Kiwis might cry foul, but it’s their gig and they call the shots.

There is no doubt about it, Supercars has been and continues to be an outstanding series to follow. The TV coverage is great, the cars look fantastic, the competition is superb and they have some brilliant events culminating in the Bathurst 1000 weekend.

At the end of the day, does Supercars really need an event in New Zealand?

The answer is probably not! Yes, they get high numbers attending and it all looks great on the outside, yet one would think that they need two events in NZ to justify the current costs and arguably that’s two less Aussie events for their local promoters and sponsors.

The downside of not holding an event in New Zealand is that they will lose their FIA category status as a restricted International Series.

If you look at the Supercars Operations Manual 2022 (Division “A” – Administration Rules A1.5), you will find stated that the 2022 International Repco Supercars Championship is an FIA approved restricted International Series and that …..’All Supercars Events shall be conducted under the provisions of the FIA International Sporting Code including appendices, any applicable National Competition Rules of Motorsport Australia which are not in conflict with the Rules, the Rules, Supplementary Regulations, instructions, and any Bulletins issued for an Event.’

So, in 2022, the Repco Supercars Championship, was by their (Supercars) definition, an international series due to one round taking place at the Pukekohe Park Raceway in Auckland, in New Zealand.

Now, for 2023, with the exclusion of an event in New Zealand, the Repco Supercars Championship can now be described (and categorized) as an Australian domestic series.

But I don’t think that will bother them. It’s their party and they can do what they want.