Sandown Supercars races to be shortened
Slightly abbreviated races at this weekend’s Sandown SuperSprint will be the feature of the second round of this year’s Supercars Championship, the category today announcing race distances would be trimmed.
Initially slated to run for 38 laps apiece, the three races will now run two laps shorter at 36 laps or just under 112km. The two practice sessions and qualifying segments in the lead-up to the races will run for an unchanged amount of time from the original schedule.
The weekend’s round at Sandown will be the first for Supercars at the Melbourne track since 2019 when it served as the penultimate round, missing out on an appearance last year thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns in the state of Victoria.
The round will also feature a condensed, two-day format with all sessions being run across Saturday and Sunday, breaking the usual trend of on-track action starting on a Friday.
Shane van Gisbergen heads to Sandown as the championship leader on 300 points but will arrive with a cloud surrounding his fitness after a mountain bike accident meant he had to undergo surgery on his collarbone.
Practice One begins at 0920 local time on Saturday with Practice Two starting at 1130. Qualifying for Saturday’s race is slated to start at 1325 with the grid taking the green flag at 1645.
Sunday’s action kicks off with two-ten minute qualifying sessions at 1030 and 1050, setting the grid for the second and final races at 1325 and 1630 respectively.
