Bathurst Super2 race split in two

The Dunlop Super2 Series’ Bathurst round will revert from a single, 250km race to a shorter race on each of the Friday and Saturday in 2020.

The ‘Bathurst 250’ was introduced in 2014 and saw Super2 competitors contest a 41-lap race on the Saturday afternoon at the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000.

The race featured compulsory tyre changes and a fuel fill, with the Super2 team responsible for the former and Virgin Australia Supercars Championship teams lending equipment and personnel for the latter.

It was refuelling that was noticeably problematic last year, with the Eggleston Motorsport VF Commodores experiencing leakages due to use of an incompatible Tickford Racing fuel head usually used to deliver fuel to Ford Mustangs.

Release of Supercars’ Operations Manual confirms the change, which had been expected since late last year, with race durations specified at 125km, a figure which should see scheduling of 21-lap races at Mount Panorama.

Paul Dumbrell took out the first three Bathurst 250 races, before Macauley Jones got his first and only Super2 race win in 2017, Dean Fiore claimed a madcap affair in 2018, and Thomas Randle was classified the victor last year due to a post-race penalty for Bryce Fullwood.

In another Bathurst format change, it joins Round 1 at Adelaide as the only two rounds to utilise a progressive grid format, with the one 20-minute session to be held on the Friday at each (down from 30 minutes at Bathurst).

All other rounds feature two races with a 15-minute qualifying session on the same day as the corresponding race, as was the case in 2019.

This year’s calendar was cut from seven rounds to six late last year, although a $500,000 prize pool was also implemented.

There is a slight expansion in racing time at the rounds which remain, however, with the Symmons Plains races now allocated 40 minutes instead of the usual 30 minutes at all other rounds other than Bathurst (durations are expected to be converted to prescribed lap counts at each event).

The rookie-only time set aside at the start of Practice 1 at Adelaide has been lengthened by five minutes to 15, with non-rookies still allowed on track for the latter 30 minutes of the session.

Practice 2 at Bathurst has been moved to Thursday, meaning there are still two sessions on the Friday, with the Saturday Warm Up cut.

The Adelaide round begins on Thursday, February 20.