The Ipswich venue is currently undergoing a host of upgrades in preparation for the highly-anticipated return of the Supercars Championship this season.

A significant part of those upgrades is a set of new closed garages which replace the last remaining open car ports between the Supercheap Auto structure towards pit entry, and the main pit building.

Part of that garage build includes a first-level walkway that spans from the Supercheap Auto garages and its rooftop viewing area to the corporate suites on the pit exit side of race control.

And part of that walkway will form the brand new paddock-facing podium – which can be seen in these photos.

Queensland Raceway officials decided to build the podium facing the paddock, rather than back into pit lane as podiums traditionally do, to better integrate the public in the celebrations, given it is a less restricted area.

It’s not clear if the podium will be used for the Supercars round, although Supercars itself has looked to better involve spectators in podium celebrations in the recent past, such as the Perth round where a temporary podium was set up in a crowd viewing area.

Speaking about the new podium last September, Queensland Raceway general manager Josh McFarlane told Speedcafe: “On the back of the tower, where the platform is, it will bow out a bit further out the front and that will be a podium.

“The podium will be looking back into the paddock on Level 1. So the presentations for an event, if you’re in the paddock you can watch the podium up on Level 1.

“We don’t want it in pit lane. It makes the public involved in the presentations and stops private organisations bringing trailers and so forth for podiums, because we’ve got a dedicated podium on that building.”

Other upgrades include extended ripple strips and improved drainage.

Queensland Raceway will host Supercars for the first time since 2019 on August 8-10.