Sydney Motorsport Park is still hopeful its first night race under new permanent lights will take place in 2020 with the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship.
That means the night race that was initially planned won’t be able to go ahead as work continues on installing the 138 light towers that line the circuit.
However, Australian Racing Drivers Club CEO Glenn Matthews is still keen to see a night race happen this year.
“At the end of the day, our first priority was to get the first race of the season going,” Matthews told Speedcafe.com.
“We’ll work with them now. We’re working with them in terms of having a night race this year, and I guess, watch this space.”
So far upwards of 40 light towers have been installed and Matthews said the circuit is still on target for an August completion date.
Matthews said the circuit owes it to the fans to host the first event under lights with Supercars.
“I watched six go up today at Turn 1,” said Matthews of the light installation.
“They’re absolutely forging ahead now. The place looks fantastic.
“We’re certainly still on target to be completed by August so we’d be ready to host a night race any time from then on.”
In a recent media teleconference roundtable, Supercars CEO Sean Seamer said the draft calendar released this week is a starting point.
Changes could still yet be made as Supercars works on advice provided by the State and Federal Government.
“The first thing I’d say is that the schedule’s subject to change, so don’t get hung up on the number of rounds that are shown here,” said Seamer.
“This is a fixed stake in the ground that we can now move forward on.
“We all just need to be flexible around how much racing we can and can’t do over the coming eight months.
“That’s no different to any other sport.”
The Virgin Australia Supercars Championship is set to resume on June 27-28 at Sydney Motorsport Park.
A newly revised calendar will see the season conclude at Mount Panorama Motor Racing Circuit on February 5-7.
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