Edwards was initially marked as an absentee for the eighth round of the Supercars season to focus on engine parity testing.

Delays to that process meant he was briefly available to attend the August 16-18 event, however Edwards has since been forced to miss Tasmania after all due to family reasons.

It means former Motorsport Australia race operations and integrity officer James Delzoppo will step up.

Delzoppo joined Supercars earlier this year from the governing body.

“Supercars can advise that James Delzoppo will be acting in the role of General Manager of Motorsport this weekend at the NED Whisky Tasmania SuperSprint,” a Supercars spokesperson said.

“James is stepping in for Tim Edwards, who will not attend the event, and will stay with family.

“James has an extensive background in overseeing various motorsport disciplines, and has already contributed to the business since joining Supercars this year as the new Motorsport Operations Manager.”

Supercars gets its on-track action under with one practice session on Friday from 2:20pm AEST.

Practice 2 takes place on Saturday morning from 11:05am before Qualifying at 1pm.

Race 17, which takes in 55 laps, is scheduled for 4:10pm.

Supercars repeats its Saturday format on Sunday with Practice 3 from 10:20am, Qualifying at 12:50pm, and Race 18 at 3:05pm.