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The Melbourne Racing Club, which owns the combined horse and motor racing facility, on Thursday night elected John Kanga as its new chairman.
While the previous administration had applied to have the land rezoned for future residential purposes, Kanga is strictly opposed to any sale.
Kanga has headed a ‘Save Our MRC Group’, described by The Age as a ‘rebel’ organisation.
Although politics at the MRC – which also operates the Caufield and Mornington racecourses – is primarily about horse racing, Kanga is a vocal supporter of maintaining motor racing at Sandown.
The venue has been Melbourne’s home of motorsport since 1962 and recently hosted the 60th anniversary Sandown 500.
Supercars this morning confirmed it will return to Sandown in 2025, moving its event from September to November.
It was to be bumped by Queensland Raceway, before RACE chairman Barclay Nettlefold rallied the funds for Supercars to invest in expanding its calendar to 13 events.
While that is great news for Melbourne motor racing fans, the downside is that it will no longer be a 500km, two-driver endurance event.
South Australia’s The Bend has long had a deal to take over the 500km endurance precursor to the Bathurst 1000 in 2025.
Although there had been hopes Supercars may expand its endurance season, that was met with resistance from teams due to additional costs.
While Supercars is yet to confirm event formats, Speedcafe understands the November round will be promoted as a ‘Sandown 500’, but feature a pair of 250km, single-driver races.
Sandown will likely need to undergo safety upgrades before then, with its track licence understood to expire later this year.
It remains one of just two Victorian fixtures on the Supercars calendar alongside the Australian Grand Prix, for which the category has inked a fresh, two-year deal.
Winton and Phillip Island have again missed out, although the former remains the test venue for the Victorian-based squads.
