Shannons Nationals increases night racing with 2013 calendar

The Shannons Nationals has released its calendar for the 2013 season, confirming that it will host two night racing events next year.

Following on from August’s Queensland Raceway meeting that saw a flood-lit 200km Saturday night race for the Australian Manufacturers Championship, the Ipswich event format will return next year, to be joined by a second night time event at Mallala.

Although yet to be confirmed, Speedcafe.com understands that the Kumho V8 Touring Car Series will be one of the categories to feature under the South Australian venue’s permanent lighting.

The layout of the calendar itself is unchanged from 2012, beginning at Sydney Motorsport Park in March and ending at Sandown Raceway in November.

As previously reported, Sydney Motorsport Park’s July event will feature the return of the Australian Six Hour, while the Clem Smith Cup for Sports Sedans and ‘heritage round’ for V8 Touring Cars have been confirmed to return to Mallala and Wakefield Park respectively.

Shannons Nationals series director Rob Curkpatrick says he’s pleased to have minimal year-on-year changes to the structure of the calendar.

“One of the key positives of this calendar is that we are able to return to each round on a similar – if not identical – weekend as we visited this year,” he said.

“This gives our partners promoting the rounds some real date equity and enables them to begin promoting their respective rounds earlier, and with confidence.

“We plan to build on the night racing concept that was so successfully trialled at Queensland Raceway this year. We will again light up QR, but also take advantage of Mallala’s permanent lights to run into the night there on Saturday.

“A few key races will be scheduled for that night and, like Queensland, it will be quite spectacular.”

The full complement of categories that will run with the Shannons Nationals next year is yet to be confirmed.

See below for the full 2013 Shannons Nationals calendar