MOTORSPORT: COVID pushes again Supercars

The Repco Supercars Championship scored its second COVID success of 2021.
The postponement of the 2021 Formulation 1 Australian Grand Prix till November was the primary setback for the Supercars, who have been supposed to steer the F1 under-map to Albert Park.
And now the coronavirus state of affairs in Queensland has compelled a weeklong delay on the touring automobile championship go to to Tasmania.
The Beaurepairs Tasmania SuperSprint will now be held April 17-18 at Symmons Plains close to Launceston, supplied there is no such thing as a escalation within the Sunshine State.
The occasion is among the new two-day racing venues, with three brief dash races and no refueling to scale back the variety of groups, which emerged from the timing state of affairs and the strain on groups final yr.
“In gentle of the present COVID-19 state of affairs in Brisbane, Supercars has made the preemptive choice to delay the subsequent Beaurepairs Tasmania SuperSprint by one week,” the sequence organizers mentioned in an official assertion.
COVID-19 clusters in better Brisbane are an issue for Supercars as most of the workers from its two high groups, Shell V-Energy Racing and Purple Bull Ampol Racing, stay within the affected space and the racing base for Triple Eight – what estates the Bulls – is in Banyo, within the northeast of the Queensland capital.
Among the Triple Eight crew left earlier this week to flee the deliberate lockdown in Better Brisbane to make sure they may line up the automobile to be pushed by Shane van Gisbergen and Prince Jefri Ibrahim throughout the GT Championship race on the Bathurst Easter Race. Meet.
Whereas Tasmania is delayed, there are additionally query marks surrounding the Supercars occasion at Winton in rural Victoria on the final weekend of Might, and there are nonetheless doubts that the ‘AGP will happen on its revised date in November.
The issue for Winton is funding, because the occasion depends on appreciable help from the Victoria state authorities.
It is also severely affected by Supercars’ COVID safety plan, which depends on decreased attendance and strict limits on the place spectators can go throughout occasions.

Whereas the primary two races of the 2021 season went easily, the numbers at Bathurst and Sandown in Victoria have been considerably decreased from earlier occasions to make sure they do not break COVID participation caps .
Supercars chief working officer Shane Howard advised the automobile gross sales that the Winton occasion would positively go, however admitted there was nonetheless uncertainty round monetary backing.
He mentioned Supercars was persevering with negotiations with the Victorian authorities to supply the mandatory vacationer help for the occasion.