Supercars officially pushes back Darwin round as teams arrive in the NT

After days of speculation, Supercars has finally announced today that this weekend’s Darwin Triple Crown will be delayed by a week due to mandatory quarantine for teams travelling from Queensland to the Northern Territory.

An announcement late last week was made by the Northern Territory Government which listed the City of Brisbane as a COVID-19 hotspot, the home region of Triple Eight, Scott McLaughlin and many team members.

Supercars transporters departed for the Top End late last week and have been camped out on the border post over the last few days as charter flights for team and category personell were continually postponed.

Today’s announcement means that the Darwin double-header weekend will kick-off a week late though a second event at the Hidden Valley circuit is still likely to go ahead towards the end of the month.

Supercars CEO Sean Seamer says the decision to postpone the round was made in conjunction with the NT Government after days of discussion in which it looked increasingly unlikely that the event would go ahead this weekend, if at all.

“Following intensive discussions over recent days and at the direction of the NT Government and the relevant health authority, the decision has been made to postpone this weekend’s event for seven days,” said Seamer.

“This decision has been made to ensure we protect the health and wellbeing of all of our people and the wider community in the Northern Territory ahead of the BetEasy Darwin Triple Crown.

“We would like to thank the NT Government and health authorities on working with Supercars on developing a plan that allows us to move forward with the northern leg of our championship.

“I would also like to thank our teams and fans for their ongoing flexibility to accommodate this year’s championship.

“This is a decision Supercars supports to ensure the health and wellbeing of all Territorians.

“This announcement will have no bearing on our plans for any future events including the Townsville SuperSprint.”

It is expected that fans will still be able to attend the round with 4500 tickets per day being made available a number of weeks ago.