Supercars: Repco Newcastle 500 postponed due to Covid

The Beaurepaires Sydney SuperNight will replace the Repco Newcastle 500 as the opening event of the 2022 Repco Supercars Championship following a decision to postpone the street circuit event to a later date in 2022.

The decision is due to the current concern surrounding the number of COVID-19 cases in Newcastle and the continuing uncertainty the virus is causing in parts of the local community.

The Beaurepaires Sydney SuperNight will become the opening event of 2022, running 4-6 March under lights at Sydney Motorsport Park.

Supercars CEO Shane Howard explained the decision:

“Given the continuing evolving and unpredictable COVID situation, it has become too challenging to stage a complex multi-faceted event on the streets of Newcastle for tens of thousands of race fans in March.

“Putting on an event of the scale of Newcastle, in the middle of its CBD, requires an enormous amount of work to ensure it runs to a world-class standard.

“We have been in consultation with the City of Newcastle throughout January and understand that constructing and operating an event of this size during the current COVID period has caused concern in parts of the community.

“As a street circuit built in the heart of the CBD, the event provides enormous economic benefits to the region, and we want to ensure that happens again in 2022. We are working to confirm the rescheduled date as soon as practicable.

“We thank our fans, volunteers, local businesses, Destination NSW, the NSW Office of Sport and City of Newcastle for their ongoing support.

“We fully intend to stage this year’s Repco Newcastle 500 in Supercars’ trademark style, and we are confident that we will be able to successfully do this later in the year.

On the decision to switch the opening event to Sydney Motorsport Park. Howard said:

“We are excited to be opening our season under lights in Sydney in just over a month’s time.

“In 2021 the venue provided fans with some of the most exhilarating racing we have ever seen in Supercars.

“Sydney Motorsport Park is a permanent circuit with infrastructure for competitors and fans already in place.

“We’re looking forward to our first race of 2022, to take place under the spectacular lights in Sydney in 40 days’ time.”

Minister for Tourism and Sport, and Minister for Western Sydney Stuart Ayres said:  ”The NSW Government is committed to supporting these important events for our state.

“We commend the determination and resilience of Supercars and will continue to support their efforts to deliver safe, successful and spectacular motorsport events in NSW.

“These events deliver adrenalin-packed motor racing, economic and social benefits for the community and expose NSW to millions around the world.

“We look forward to the Sydney SuperNight Race opening the Supercars 2022 season at Sydney Motorsport Park and announcing a new date for the Newcastle 500 as soon as possible.”

Lord Mayor Cr Nuatali Nelmes said that while the Repco Newcastle 500 would have been subject to a strict COVID safe plan for March, the right decision was to postpone the event given community concern remained high.

“City of Newcastle staff have been in regular contact with Supercars regarding the local situation. We all agreed that right now, and regardless of the additional precautions taken to run the Newcastle 500 safely, the community would feel more confident about the race proceeding later in the year.

“The Repco Newcastle 500 has attracted a growing number of visitors from all parts of NSW and throughout Australia and New Zealand. With people still hesitant to travel due to the high number of COVID cases across NSW and the NZ border remaining closed, the right decision was to postpone the race and wait for visitor confidence to rebound over the coming months,” she said.

For existing ticketholders for the 2022 Repco Newcastle 500, those tickets will remain valid for the yet to be announced new date of the event.

Ticketing information regarding the Beaurepaires Sydney SuperNight will be released in coming days, tickets for the event will be available through Ticketek.

Shane van Gisbergen begins the 2022 Repco Supercars Championship as the driver to catch after claiming his second career Series title in 2021.