The South Australian venue hosted its first Supercars enduro last September, taking over from Sandown as the host of the traditional Bathurst warm-up.
On that occasion it used the standard 4.95-kilometre ‘International’ layout which Supercars has generally preferred during its time racing at the circuit.
This year, however, the race will be staged on the 3.41-kilometre ‘West’ layout.
That was revealed in the 2026 Operations Manual which lists the lap count for The Bend 500 as 147 as opposed to the 102-lap journey for last year’s race.
The West layout effectively cuts from Turn 6 to what is Turn 14 on the International layout (see circuit maps below).
The layout has been used by Supercars before; in the COVID-affected 2020 season, back-to-back weekends at The Bend saw the International layout used at the first event, and the West layout at the second.
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“We analysed last year’s race, then we looked back to the second Bend round in 2020, which was on the West Circuit,” Supercars’ motorsport boss Tim Edwards told the official Supercars website.
“After watching the 2020 races, we felt there was a lot more overtaking using the West Circuit. The tight right-hander, Turn 6, actually provides a great overtaking opportunity.
“It also produces an additional 45 laps to the race distance. That means 45 more times cars are going past the pit lane. So, fans see more action and it opens up race strategies more.
“Most of the viewing public are actually on the west side, so it means that if you are sitting in the grandstand, in your car or on pit roof, you get to see the cars go past 45 more times.
“We believe a combination of potentially more overtaking, shorter lap times and strategy offers jeopardy for the teams as well. Now, they need to think about going down a lap when they’re considering their strategy.
“It’s going to add to the spectacle.”
The Bend has a deal to host the 500-kilometre Supercars enduro until at least 2028.
The 2026 running of the race will take place on September 11-13.
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