2019 Supercars Championship

2019 Supercars Championship
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Support series:
Super2 Series

The 2019 Supercars Championship (known for commercial reasons as the 2019 Virgin Australia Supercars Championship)[1] is a planned motor racing series for Supercars. It is due to be the twenty-first running of the Supercars Championship and the twenty-third series in which Supercars have contested the Australian Touring Car Championship, the premier title in Australian motorsport.

Teams and drivers

The following teams and drivers are under contract to compete in the 2019 championship.

Championship entries
Manufacturer Model Entrant No. Driver name
Ford Ford Mustang S550[2] Tickford Racing[lower-alpha 1] 5 TBA
6 Australia Cameron Waters[3]
55 Australia Chaz Mostert[4]
56 New Zealand Richie Stanaway[5]
DJR Team Penske[6] 12 New Zealand Fabian Coulthard[7]
17 TBA
23Red Racing[6] 230 Australia Will Davison[8]
Holden Holden ZB Commodore Walkinshaw Andretti United 2 Australia Scott Pye[9]
22 Australia James Courtney[3]
Brad Jones Racing 8 Australia Nick Percat[10]
14 Australia Tim Slade[10]
Erebus Motorsport 9 Australia David Reynolds[3]
99 Australia Anton de Pasquale[11]
Matt Stone Racing[12] 35 TBA
Triple Eight Race Engineering 88 Australia Jamie Whincup[3]
97 New Zealand Shane van Gisbergen[3]
Nissan Nissan Altima L33 Kelly Racing[13][lower-alpha 2] 7 TBA
15 TBA
23 TBA
78 Switzerland Simona de Silvestro[14]

Manufacturer changes

Ford will introduce the Mustang S550 as a replacement for the FG X Falcon.

The sixth generation Ford Mustang, the Mustang S550, is due to be homologated for the 2019 championship. The Mustang will be a replacement for the FG X Falcon, which was used between 2015 and 2018.[2] Tickford Racing and DJR Team Penske will oversee the development of the car, with Ford Performance providing additional technical support.[15][16][17] Ford Australia will provide financial support in developing the car, but no team will officially be recognised as a factory team.[18] The homologation process will require modifications to the bodywork to fit the series' control chassis, but the car will continue to use the V8 engine used by the FG X Falcon.[19][20] The decision to return the Mustang to the series was made as Australia's domestic production of the Ford Falcon ceased in 2016.[21] The Mustang's return marks the first time since 1990 that a Mustang has contested the premier class of Australian motorsport.[22]

Nissan will withdraw its factory support from the championship as the company elected to change its global motorsport strategy and focus on its Formula E entry. Kelly Racing—who raced under the Nissan Motorsport name between 2013 and 2018—will continue to compete with the Altima L33 chassis under licence from the company.[13][23] Nissan's decision to withdraw from the championship followed the Altima being withdrawn from sale in Australia in 2017.[24]

Team changes

Matt Stone Racing will upgrade to the ZB Commodore. The team had started the 2018 championship competing with an FG X Falcon before switching to Holden mid-season and entering an older-model VF Commodore.[12]

Triple Eight Race Engineering will scale back to a two-car operation. The Racing Entitlement Contract (REC) that it used to enter a third car in 2018 will be put up for sale.[25]

Driver changes

Craig Lowndes will retire from full-time competition at the end of the 2018 championship.[26] He will remain with Triple Eight Race Engineering as an endurance driver.[27]

Calendar

The calendar was reduced to fifteen rounds in 2019, with the following events scheduled to take place:

Round Event Circuit Location Dates
1 Adelaide 500 South Australia Adelaide Street Circuit Adelaide, South Australia 2–3 March
2 Melbourne 400 Victoria (Australia) Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit Melbourne, Victoria 15–17 March
3 Tasmania SuperSprint Tasmania Symmons Plains Raceway Launceston, Tasmania 6–7 April
4 Phillip Island 500 Victoria (Australia) Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit Phillip Island, Victoria 13–14 April
5 Perth SuperNight Western Australia Barbagallo Raceway Pinjar, Western Australia 3–4 May
6 Winton SuperSprint Victoria (Australia) Winton Motor Raceway Benalla, Victoria 25–26 May
7 Darwin Triple Crown Northern Territory Hidden Valley Raceway Darwin, Northern Territory 15–16 June
8 Townsville 400 Queensland Townsville Street Circuit Townsville, Queensland 6–7 July
9 Ipswich SuperSprint Queensland Queensland Raceway Ipswich, Queensland 27–28 July
10 The Bend SuperSprint South Australia The Bend Motorsport Park Tailem Bend, South Australia 24–25 August
11 Auckland SuperSprint New Zealand Pukekohe Park Raceway Pukekohe, Auckland Region 14–15 September
12 Bathurst 1000 New South Wales Mount Panorama Circuit Bathurst, New South Wales 13 October
13 Gold Coast 500 Queensland Surfers Paradise Street Circuit Surfers Paradise, Queensland 27 October
14 Sandown 500 Victoria (Australia) Sandown Raceway Springvale, Victoria 10 November
15 Newcastle 500 New South Wales Newcastle Street Circuit Newcastle, New South Wales 23–24 November
Source:[28]

Calendar changes

The 2019 calendar underwent a radical revision compared to the 2018 calendar. The Sydney SuperNight 300 was removed from the calendar entirely and replaced by a new night race at Barbagallo Raceway. The change was made with the long-term view to running the Sydney round in January 2020 as part of a proposed move to a "summer series" format that would see the championship run primarily in the summer months. The Sandown 500 was moved to a late-season slot in November, becoming the final round of the Pirtek Enduro Cup, to avoid clashing with the AFL and NRL Grand Finals. The Gold Coast 600 endurance event will see a revised format from 2019, with the two-300 kilometer event being replaced by a single 500-kilometer race held on Sunday.[29] The Auckland SuperSprint was brought forward to September, making the Sandown 500 the penultimate round of the championship.[28] The Adelaide 500 was also brought forward to keep its season-opening berth as changes to the Formula One calendar meant that the Australian Grand Prix would be run earlier in the year than in 2018, and so the Supercars support races would be brought forward automatically.

Notes

  1. ↑ For points-scoring purposes, Tickford Racing is divided into two teams.
  2. ↑ For points-scoring purposes, Kelly Racing is divided into two teams.

References

  1. ↑ "V8 Supercars confirm Virgin as primary backer". speedcafe.com. Speedcafe. 27 April 2016. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
  2. 1 2 van Leeuwen, Andrew (17 April 2018). "Ford revives works Supercars programme with Mustang for 2019". autosport.com. Motorsport Network. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Adam, Mitchell (22 February 2018). "Dane relaxed about end-of-2019 driver deals". supercars.com. Supercars. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  4. ↑ Dale, Will (22 January 2018). "Supercars: Chaz Mostert, Supercheap Auto stick with Tickford Racing until 2019". news.com.au. News Corporation. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  5. ↑ Howard, Tom (29 June 2018). "Winterbottom: Supercars future will take care of itself". speedcafe.com. Speedcafe. Retrieved 29 June 2018.
  6. 1 2 Coch, Mat (18 April 2018). "All Ford teams set to switch to Mustang for 2019". speedcafe.com. Speedcafe. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
  7. ↑ Bartholomaeus, Stefan (26 July 2018). "DJRTP confirms Coulthard for 2019". supercars.com. Supercars. Retrieved 26 July 2018.
  8. ↑ Adam, Mitchell (8 December 2017). "23Red Racing secures major sponsor for debut". supercars.com. Supercars. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
  9. ↑ "Pye: No concerns over Walkinshaw future". speedcafe.com. Speedcafe. 9 November 2017. Retrieved 25 August 2018.
  10. 1 2 Coch, Mat (26 April 2018). "Percat signs two-year extension with BJR". speedcafe.com. Speedcafe. Retrieved 26 April 2018.
  11. ↑ Howard, Tom (20 June 2018). "Erebus eyes long future with rising star". speedcafe.com. Speedcafe. Retrieved 20 June 2018.
  12. 1 2 Howard, Tom (13 August 2018). "Matt Stone Racing ditches Ford for Holden". speedcafe.com. Speedcafe. Retrieved 13 August 2018.
  13. 1 2 Howard, Tom (15 May 2018). "Nissan to withdraw Supercars support, Altimas to continue". speedcafe.com. Speedcafe. Retrieved 15 May 2018.
  14. ↑ "Simona de Silvestro signs Supercars deal". sbs.com.au. Special Broadcasting Service. 9 June 2016. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  15. ↑ Coch, Mat (17 April 2018). "Ford Performance in partnership with DJRTP/Tickford". speedcafe.com. Speedcafe. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  16. ↑ van Leeuwen, Andrew (18 April 2018). "Ford Performance offers first teaser image of Supercars Mustang". autosport.com. Motorsport Network. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
  17. ↑ Coch, Mat (26 April 2018). "Ford Performance focused on Supercars". speedcafe.com. Speedcafe. Retrieved 26 April 2018.
  18. ↑ Coch, Mat (17 April 2018). "Tickford boss enthused by Ford's Supercars return". speedcafe.com. Speedcafe. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  19. ↑ Herrero, Dan (19 April 2018). "Story explains Mustang development process". speedcafe.com. Speedcafe. Retrieved 22 April 2018.
  20. ↑ Herrero, Dan (17 April 2018). "Mustang Supecar to run with V8 engine". speedcafe.com. Speedcafe. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  21. ↑ Herrero, Dan (18 April 2018). "Ford announces Mustang for NASCAR Cup Series". speedcafe.com. Speedcafe. Retrieved 22 April 2018.
  22. ↑ Noonan, Aaron (5 April 2017). "Rewind: The Last Mustang". The V8 Sleuth. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  23. ↑ van Leeuwen, Andrew (15 May 2018). "Nissan to end works Supercars programme after 2018 season". autosport.com. Motorsport Network. Retrieved 15 May 2018.
  24. ↑ "Nissan axes Altima". Motoring.com.au. 5 April 2017.
  25. ↑ "Triple Eight confirms two-car team for 2019". supercars.com. Supercars Championship. Retrieved 28 September 2018.
  26. ↑ Howard, Tom (6 July 2018). "Lowndes to retire at end of season". speedcafe.com. Speedcafe. Retrieved 6 July 2018.
  27. ↑ "Craig Lowndes announces retirement". abc.net.au. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Australian Associated Press. 6 July 2018. Retrieved 6 July 2018.
  28. 1 2 https://www.speedcafe.com/2018/10/11/sydney-dropped-perth-night-race-added-in-supercars-2019-shake-up/
  29. ↑ Bartholomaeus, Stefan. "Simplicity key for Gold Coast format change". supercars.com.
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