The category announced last month that New Zealand will host two rounds next season, with Ruapuna Raceway set to join Taupo International Motorsport Park on the schedule.
Plans for the long-awaited NZ double-header that will take the series to both islands are well advanced with confirmation of dates and other details thought to be imminent.
Whether Ruapuna is added as a 14th event or replaces an existing venue awaits ongoing negotiations between category owner RACE and the teams.
Under the Teams Racing Charter, RACE pays the teams a set dividend per year and must cough up an extra fee for each event above a base number of 12.
That scenario kicked in to facilitate an expansion to 13 rounds this year with the return of Queensland Raceway.
It’s understood RACE offered teams a figure below that stipulated in the TRC for the proposed expansion to 14 events next season.
Speedcafe has learned the teams convened a meeting at Hidden Valley to discuss their position.
While teams were reluctant to speak about the meeting, it’s believed a resolution is yet to be reached.
“The teams are united with RACE in a desire to grow the sport and recognise that expanding the calendar is an important part of that,” a source explained.
“However, there are different views on how that can be achieved in terms of who invests in the extra events and who benefits from that.”
Among concerns surrounding the expansion is that not all additional events incur equal costs for teams.
The NZ double-header could be particularly costly given crews will need to stay in the country servicing the cars remotely between events.
An effective twinning of Perth and Darwin this year was a sore point due to increased staff travel costs and the extra expense of applying Indigenous Round liveries.
Taking the cars to NZ via sea rather than air freight this year saved RACE money but also put extra strain on teams and stymied the calendar’s momentum.
That model is expected to be retained next year, leaving unwanted gaps in the calendar either side of the NZ events that will be held on consecutive weekends.
Incoming Supercars CEO James Warburton, who is currently overseas ahead of his official start date on July 23, said in Perth that a 14-event calendar is the right number.
“The team [at Supercars] has done a good job of securing most event extensions,” he said.
“One of my first discussions with the teams around, ‘it’s not 12, it’s not 10, it’s not 15 or 16… 14 should be our calendar every year’.
“And then we need to discuss how we all make that happen, which we’re well and truly doing.”
In the unlikely event the expansion does not take place and a round has to be culled to make way for Ruapuna, it’s thought that Queensland Raceway would be on the chopping block.
A lack of increased revenue from TV broadcasters for extra events was said to be a hurdle to expansion under the current broadcast deal.
Whether that has changed under a new-for-2026 broadcast with Fox Sports and Seven that’s awaiting final sign-off is unclear.
“I won’t go into the detail but Foxtel would like 30 races, if we could,” said Warburton.
“Fourteen is probably more around the right cadence in terms of having enough racing and having enough events to keep engagement through the year.
“And obviously the delineation of Sprint Cup, Enduros and Finals I think will help that quite dramatically.”
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