According to an announcement from the Super Series, Denis Pana has purchased “Super3” from Garry Rogers Motorsport and will revive it as a pre-Car of the Future category in 2026.
What is unclear, however, is whether it can actually be branded as Super3, given what has changed hands is actually the benched V8 Touring Cars category, not Super3.
Super3, rather, existed until the end of last year as an official third tier for pre-Gen2 COTF cars, sharing the Dunlop Series grid with Super2.
It was scrapped for this year due to a lack of interest.
Pana confirmed to Speedcafe that no firm decision has been made on whether it will be called Super3, despite the press materials indicating that intention.
Either way, this latest version will be open to all cars from the start of the five-litre era until the start of Car of the Future, exactly like V8TC.
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“For me, we need to preserve our local motorsport history with the Holden versus Ford era,” Pana said.
“We’ve got all these cars, but I felt like our history was put to one side as they had nowhere to race.
“So, we made contact with Garry Rogers Motorsport director Barry Rogers, we had a bit of a chat, and we came to an agreement.
“I’m very happy, I want to thank Barry for allowing this to happen, he sees it the same way that I do, that’s why we were able to do what we did.
“Nothing changes, we’ve got the rules, we’ve got the website and socials, we’ve taken possession of everything.
“It’ll stay the same, I’m leaving it exactly how it is, it’s our history, it’s what we grew up with.
“I want to see people come back and look at those cars, they shouldn’t be hidden away in garages or in a museum, they should be on track.
“You’ve got to hear it and feel it, this is what we grew up with, parents can tell their kids all about it.
“To the competitors, I look forward to seeing you come out to race, I can’t wait to hear those cars and watch them go around the tracks again.”
This is the second attempt for the Super Series to tap into the V8TC market, with the new-for-2025 IRC/MARC category having opened its doors to old Supercars earlier this year.
No entries appeared at the opening round at Winton.
Still, Super Series manager Carolyn Oldano is confident a revived Super3 will be a hit.
“What a great announcement, to have the Super3 Series join the Super Series is brilliant for everyone involved,” she said.
“We already have such a large variety of categories, but this is an amazing addition.
“Everyone can relate to these cars, they are the very cars that we grew up watching at Bathurst throughout the 90s and the 00s, some of these cars are the reason we fell in love with the sport.
“It is going to be special to see these machines back on the track, some of them won’t have raced for a number of years.”
Pana already owns the Australian Super Tin Tops Series which runs on the Super Series bill.
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