Surprise weather forecast for Sandown 500

The weather is set to be unseasonably mild at this weekend’s Penrite Oil Sandown 500.

While Melbourne has a reputation for its ‘four seasons in one day’ weather, and rain often plays a part when Supercars visits Sandown, that is unlikely to be the case this weekend.

The suburb of Springvale, the official reference for Supercars’ driver conditions policy, is forecast to hit maximums of 22, 23, and 24 degrees Celsius for the three on-track days of action.

The chance of any rain is no higher than 10 percent for any of those days, and no showers are expected.

There have been no genuinely wet races so far in the Gen3 era, notwithstanding that the track was declared wet during the first Melbourne event of the season when patchy rain fell at Albert Park, and hence drivers have very little experience with the new-for-2023 wet tyre.

Weather is therefore one less variable which drivers will have to worry about, as they come to terms with new driver change techniques, longer stints, higher tyre wear, and more.

However, the forecast conditions are also an opportunity for Supercars fans to experience Sandown before it closes.

As reported in this week’s Speedcafe Newscast, the days of motorsport at the historic circuit are likely to end in 2025, meaning race fans only have a handful more chances to experience Sandown International Motor Raceway.

Meanwhile, the Peter Brock Trophy has visited another historic sporting venue, the Melbourne Cricket Ground, in the hands of two-time Sandown 500 winner Mark Winterbottom and event debutant Matt Payne as part of its tour to next month’s Bathurst 1000.

Practice 1 at Sandown for the Repco Supercars Championship field starts on Friday at 10:45 local time/AEST.

Weather forecast: Sandown 500

Source: Bureau of Meteorology, as at Wednesday 13/9 at 16:00 AEST