The Bend SuperSprint


The Bend SuperSprint was an annual motor racing event for Supercars, held at The Bend Motorsport Park in Tailem Bend, South Australia from 2018 to 2019.

Format

The event was staged over a three-day weekend, from Friday to Sunday. Four thirty-minute practice sessions were held, two on Friday and one each on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday featured a three-stage knockout qualifying session which decided the grid positions for the following 120 kilometre sprint race. Sunday featured a repeat of the Saturday qualifying format with a longer 200 km race distance following.
The event ran on the 4.9km "International" configuration of the circuit. The event was also open to "wildcard" entries, allowing teams and drivers from the Super2 Series support category to take part in the top tier.

History

The Bend Motorsport Park, the first permanent circuit to be opened in Australia since Queensland Raceway in 1999, signed a memorandum of understanding to host a future Supercars race early in the construction process in 2015. Following final approval from the Government of South Australia, the circuit was added to the 2018 calendar with an August date, the first time the state has held two championship events in a season since Adelaide International Raceway hosted two rounds in 1977.
The inaugural event was dominated by Triple Eight Race Engineering, with two poles and two race victories shared between Shane van Gisbergen and Jamie Whincup. The 2019 event was again dominated by a single team, with DJR Team Penske's Scott McLaughlin winning both races from pole position.
From 2020, the sprint event was due to be replaced on the championship calendar by a new endurance race at the circuit, which was scheduled to replace the Sandown 500 in Supercars' Enduro Cup. However, The Bend ended up being dropped entirely in a shortened calendar due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Winners

Event sponsors