The Victorian circuit is a key part of 2027 calendar negotiations with the door open for it to appear on the schedule for the first time since 2019.
Should a deal be struck Supercars would effectively fill the void left by MotoGP which will race at Phillip Island for the final time this year before defecting to South Australia.
Losing MotoGP will free up Victorian government budget, while it also leaves the government-funded Australian Grand Prix Corporation with just one event – the Albert Park F1 race – on its books.
Interim Supercars CEO Barclay Nettlefold explained to Speedcafe that the series is in direct talks with the AGPC about bringing a new Phillip Island event to life.
That would ideally be a 15th round rather than at the expense of any of the existing 14 events on the schedule.
“We’ll continue to look at the expansion of the calendar and what that means to the sport,” he said.
“Phillip Island is a track that Supercars loves to race at and we’re certainly considering it, yes.
“There is a bit in it, in regard to balancing events and we’ve got racing charters and teams to deal with as well.
“But I’ve always stated from day one that the ultimate amount of racing for Supercars, in my view, is 15 rounds in a domestic and New Zealand calendar.
“It’s just about how we line it up properly.”
Two factors will be critical to the plan, starting with an expected renegotiation of the Teams Racing Charter terms regarding payment for any events over a base level of 12.
The second factor is government funding, with the AGPC providing the conduit between the series and state officials.
“The Victorian government funding originally all went through the AGPC for MotoGP and the AGPC is talking to us about the potential for us to race with them in regard to Phillip Island.
“So we’re not in direct discussion with the government, but we’re certainly working with the AGPC on what it could mean for the sport.”
Given Phillip Island’s fickle weather patterns, Nettlefold outlined that the back end of the schedule would be the ideal slot – and that it could even form part of the Finals Series.
“Ideally, I’d love to have it in summer,” he said.
“I think Phillip Island, if it was part of our final series, would be amazing.
“We could open up the camping sites, that would be good, and really create a whole festival around it as part of going into Adelaide.”
That, however, wouldn’t necessarily come at the expense of Sandown, which is currently one of three Finals venues alongside the Gold Coast and Adelaide.
“I had meetings with [the Melbourne Racing Club on Wednesday, and they’re committed to us and we’re committed to them,” he explained.
“Hence why it’s still a bit fluid in regard to what the calendar will look like.”
Despite this ambitious attempt to expand the schedule, Nettlefold is hoping to have the calendar squared away by as soon as the end of next month.
“We’ve always been a bit slow in getting our calendar out in the past and our board is conscious of that because there’s a lot of planning that’s got to go into [the events],” he said.
“That’s why it’s important for us to get it out faster, so we can actually get things on sale faster and people can prepare.
“If we can finalise a calendar into the end of June or into early July for 2027 I think the sport would be better off.”
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