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All three national Supercars series will be in action at April’s WD-40 Phillip Island Super Sprint, marking the category’s first triple-header meeting.
The Supercars Championship and Dunlop Series will be joined at the Victorian venue by the Kumho V8 Touring Car Series, which has now confirmed its 2017 calendar.
Kumho adds Phillip Island to the Winton and Queensland Raceway Supercars rounds it appeared at this season, neither of which included the Dunlop Series.
The event replaces the Kumho category’s traditional Sandown Shannons Nationals season opener, meaning it’ll join the CAMS series only once next year.
That will take place with a return to Phillip Island for its penultimate round before the season ends at Sydney Motorsport Park’s Muscle Car Masters.
Although promoted independently by the Curkpatrick family, the Kumho Series has strengthened its relationship with Supercars in recent years.
In addition to running at two Supercars events, this season saw an influx of FG model Falcons and VE Commodores moving down from the Dunlop Series, while top tier squad Brad Jones Racing fielded an entry for the first time.
“We are very pleased with the 2017 schedule and an expanded presence racing alongside the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship, and we are looking forward to kicking off our new season at the WD-40 Phillip Island SuperSprint in April,” said category manager Liam Curkpatrick.
“We have built a great relationship with the team at Supercars and that event in particular is going to be fantastic, with the Kumho Series, Dunlop Series and main-game all on the same program.
“It also gives our teams – a lot of them who do double duties in the Kumho Series and Dunlop Series – have some economies of scale and make their racing more cost effective.
“Winton and Queensland Raceway have always been popular additions to the series, and we couldn’t say no to a second visit to Phillip Island as our competitors love to race at one of the world’s best circuit.
“The 2017 schedule will help grow the Kumho Series even further and build on the very successful 2016 season.”
While next year’s Phillip Island meeting will mark the first time all three series have run together, an unofficial triple-header took place in 2014 when a group of Kumho competitors joined the Sydney 500 support bill for a non-points scoring event.
2017 Kumho V8 Touring Car Series calendar
ROUND 1 – WD-40 Phillip Island SuperSprint, April 21-23
ROUND 2 – Winton SuperSprint, May 19-21
ROUND 3 – Coates Hire Ipswich SuperSprint, July 28-30
ROUND 4 – Phillip Island Shannons Nationals, September 8-10
ROUND 5 – Muscle Car Masters Sydney Motorsport Park, Date TBA
