Calendar revealed for return of Touring Car Masters

A six-round calendar for the 2021 season of Gulf Western Oils Touring Car Masters has been revealed.

As previously announced, the series will make its return in late-January at the Symmons Plains Race Tasmania event, marking its return after a layoff of almost a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Round 2 is listed for March, with location and exact days unspecified, with the next three taking place on the Shannons Motorsport Australia Championships bill.

Those events will unfold at Sydney Motorsport Park in May, Morgan Park in June, and Sandown in September.

The finale will be held at the Bathurst International, at some point in November or December.

TCM events will be broadcast live and free on the Seven Network as part of the agreement with the series’ owner, the Australian Racing Group.

“The 2021 Gulf Western Oil Touring Car Masters calendar represents a strong array of events and circuits that will be warmly received by competitors and fans alike,” said Category Manager Rowan Harman.

“With the live television broadcast package that is included on the Australian Racing Group events, plus the appearance at classic venues like Symmons Plains and Mount Panorama, we feel that we have found a calendar with great balance between cost effective racing and high-profile events.

“It was also important to secure an event for TCM in Queensland. We have terrific representation of teams based in the northern state, so giving them a home event was vital. And the Morgan Park circuit is really going to suit your cars. The nature of that track might even throw up a varied result as well.

“Ending our series at Mount Panorama is exciting, too. It’s the track that we know we are going to see a strong field, and the fans love our cars being at their spiritual home.

“We still have one event to finalise, and when that is complete, we are confident that we have a calendar that fans and competitors will love.”

TCM is the fourth ARG property to have its schedule for next year locked in, after the release of identical calendars for TCR Australia and the National Trans-Am Series which will feature at the Bathurst 6 Hour at Easter.

The retro category saw just the one round in 2020, at the Superloop Adelaide 500, where Adam Bressington claimed one race win and Ryan Hansford took out the latter two.

Steven Johnson boasts the last three TCM titles, while Tasmanian John Bowe has an opportunity to notch up a century of race wins in the series on home soil given he sits on 99.

This year saw the introduction to the category of a Commodore, which owner Gerard McLeod has worked on during the downtime from racing to resolve its teething problems.

Touring Car Masters 2021 calendar