The Kerrick Sports Sedan Series will make a rare appearance alongside the V8 Supercars Championship at Winton on May 15-17.

The Sports Sedan Series will hold its second round at the V8 Supercars meeting following the axing of Mallala’s Shannons Nationals event.

It will be the first time in over a decade that the Sports Sedans will form part of a V8 Supercars support bill.

The move ensures the series remains at five rounds, with visits to Sandown (March 27-29), Queensland Raceway (August 7-9), Wakefield Park (October 16-18) and Sydney Motorsport Park (November 13-15) all scheduled with the Shannons Nationals.

Kerrick Sports Sedan Series director, Phil Crompton, is confident of a big field for Winton.

State-level Sports Sedan races were held with the V8 Supercars at Winton last year, which yielded a grid of 21 cars.

“The Kerrick Sports Sedan Series, the Victorian Sports Sedan Association and the National Australian Sports Sedan Association (NASSA) are together confident of bringing a wide variety of more than 30 entrants,” he said.

“Around a number of national circuits including at Winton Motor Raceway, the top Kerrick Sports Sedan Series racers can lap faster than the V8 Supercars themselves, so we are sure the fans will enjoy the frenetic racing and exhilarating speed.”

The fastest lap during a Kerrick Sports Sedan Series race at Winton sits at 1:21.55s, set by Tony Ricciardello’s iconic Alfa GTV-Chevrolet four years ago.

The best V8 Supercars race lap time is Jason Bright’s 1:22.53s from last year, when times tumbled thanks to high grip levels brought about by pre-event patchwork on the surface.

The Sports Racer Series has also been added to the Winton event due to the removal of its Mallala Shannons Naitonals round.

The Formula 3 Australian Drivers’ Championship has too replaced Mallala with Winton, but its appearance at the Victorian venue will take place with the Shannons Nationals on June 12-14.

The GT3 Cup Challenge has meanwhile replaced Mallala by joining the Shannons Nationals finale at Sydney Motorsport Park on November 13-15.

The event will be the second Sydney appearance of the year for the Porsche class, which will also join the Nationals at the venue in early July.