Photo: supercars.com

Changes to qualifying and sprint race points for 2019

The Supercars championship organisation has announced changes to the regulations for the 2019 season, including an expansion of the three-stage qualifying format that was tested for three rounds this year.

The three-stage format makes practice a part of qualifying as the top ten drivers from Friday’s Practice 2 (except for Barbagallo and Winton due to differing formats) will secure a place in Q2.

Q1 will have six cars moving on to Q2 for a total of 16 cars in that session and the fastest ten drivers from Q2 will take part in Q3.

This format will be used for seven rounds, including Barbagallo, Hidden Valley, Phillip Island, Queensland Raceway, Symmons Plains, The Bend and Winton.

Another change is that the two “Race to The Grid” sprint races at the Sandown 500 will award points to the championship. 50 points will be awarded the winner of each sprint race.