SA will have two Supercars events this year for the first time since 2023, with The Bend making a return to the calendar via a 500km Endurance Cup round in September.
The Bend is known as Shell V-Power Motorsport Park as part of a deal struck when the Shahin family sold their SA-based OTR fuel retail chain to Shell distributor Viva Energy in 2023.
That $1.2 billion Viva/OTR takeover has resulted in the former BP-affiliated OTR service stations being converted to Shell.
BP’s takeover of the former Adelaide 500 – through a three-year naming rights agreement with a one-year extension option – comes amid another big play in the local fuel market.
Supercars’ fuel supplier BP recently returned serve by buying out SA-based fuel retail chain X Convenience, which has over 50 sites across SA and Western Australia.
“We’re investing in South Australia,” declared BP’s VP of marketing, Amanda Woollard, at the Adelaide Grand Final announcement.
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“We’ve just purchased X Convenience and we’re invested in, as our dealer partners are as well, this particular market. So, it made absolute sense that we would take up the opportunity.”
BP replaces embattled local technology company VAILO as naming rights sponsor for the Adelaide event as the race also transitions from ‘500’ to ‘Grand Final’ branding.
South Australian Motor Sport Board CEO Mark Warren said the interest created by becoming the centrepiece of Supercars’ new finals system helped drive several bids for the sponsorship deal.
Warren hopes that having a major brand like BP promoting the Adelaide Grand Final nationally, including to its three million BP Rewards members, will help further grow the popular event.
“The synergies in any partnership are the most critical thing,” he said. “It’s not about the dollars, it’s about what you can do together.”
As for BP’s move amid the return of Shell V-Power Motorsport Park to the Supercars Championship this year?
“You couldn’t expect anything other than a bit of rivalry,” Warren told Speedcafe. “They are very fierce competitors in the marketplace, and I think that will naturally flow over a little bit.
“I think at The Bend they are very fortunate in having such a significant partner, but it also shows how competitive the energy market is. It’s hotly contested for motorists on the street.”
Warren is confident that the two events will ultimately complement one another.
“They are two very distinct events,” he said. “You’ve got now at The Bend an endurance round, which has its own unique flavour, then you’ve got the Grand Final.
“Anything that can happen in South Australia around motorsport that keeps motorsport fans here enlivened and following and wanting to be part of it [is positive].
“It’s like the ‘Mad March’ theory, where you put so many events together, the combination of those is greater than the individual parts.”
The Bend 500, which is independently promoted by the circuit, is set for September 12-14, while the SA Motorsport Board-run BP Adelaide Grand Final will take place across November 27-30.
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