Photo: supercars.com

Adelaide race weekend set for move to October in 2021

The Adelaide 500 Supercars Championship race weekend is set to be moved to October in 2021 due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

The street race traditionally play host of the season opener in February or March, but the size of the event makes unlikely to be held at the beginning of the year in light of the coronavirus restrictions.

“Our world-class street circuit requires significant planning and temporary infrastructure to operate successfully,” said Events South Australia executive director Hitaf Rasheed.

“Our event-build is one of the largest in the state and comes with considerable risk and reward.

“Top of mind for us, is our many suppliers and stakeholders who will soon start making huge investments into the event, both time and money, and we want the best result for them as well as our loyal fans.

“We are working with Supercars on revised dates for the 2021 event and looking to have this resolved in time for their calendar release, currently planned for the back half of October.

“We understand that Supercars’ current priority is to complete the 2020 season and we are very happy to see the sport returning to South Australia at Tailem Bend later this month.”

A first draft of the 2021 Supercars Championship calendar is set to be announced next month.

“We have been in constant discussion with the SATC and fully support the decision,” said Sean Seamer, CEO of Supercars.

“This is one of the showpiece events on our calendar and we agree, at this current time, with the planning and infrastructure required it would not be viable to run an event of that size and scale in February.

“Planning for Supercars 2021 calendar is underway and our intention is to announce next year’s draft calendar in October.

“We have a great relationship with South Australia and will continue to look at all options for 2021.”