» V8s: Newcastle joins the race

The Supercars Championship has unveiled a provisional 2017 season calendar that will feature a street circuit round in the city of Newcastle, replacing the Sydney Olympic Park event.

Expected for several months, the new circuit – roughly 2.7 kilometres in length – will run counterclockwise through the city’s East End, taking in a number of its major landmarks such as Nobby’s Beach and Fort Scratchley.

The Newcastle street circuit layout

“The Coates Hire Newcastle 500 will be a spectacular event that will showcase Newcastle to a huge national and international audience and be a fitting finale to the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship,” said Supercars CEO James Warburton at today’s announcement, which was attended by New South Wales Premier Mike Baird.

Aside from Newcastle replacing Sydney Olympic Park, the 2017 calendar schedule remains virtually unchanged from this year’s schedule. As expected, the planned visits to Thailand and Indonesia are delayed until at least 2018.

“Once again in 2017 we will travel to every state and territory in Australia with the exception of only the ACT and host some of Australia’s biggest sporting events including the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 from 5-8 October,” said Supercars Chief Executive James Warburton.

“We have also brought the final event in Newcastle forward to November [dated to be confirmed] in what we expect will be a massive grand finale to the season.”

Along with the Newcastle round, the non-championship Australian Grand Prix dates will not be officially known until the FIA World Motor Sport Council meets to ratify the 2017 Formula 1 World Championship season calendar.

2017 Virgin Australia Supercars Championship Season Calendar
Date	Event	Location	Format
02-05 Mar	Clipsal 500 Adelaide	Adelaide street circuit, SA	SuperStreet
TBA	Australian Grand Prix	Albert Park Circuit, VIC	Int’l SuperSprint
07-09 Apr	Tyrepower Tasmania SuperSprint	Symmons Plains Raceway, TAS	SuperSprint
21-23 Apr	WD-40 Phillip Island SuperSprint	Phillip Island Circuit, VIC	SuperSprint
05-07 May	Perth SuperSprint	Barbagallo Raceway, WA	SuperSprint
19-21 May	Winton SuperSprint	Winton Raceway, VIC	SuperSprint
16-18 Jun	CrownBet Darwin Triple Crown	Hidden Valley Raceway, NT	SuperSprint
07-09 Jul	Townsville 400	Townsville street circuit, QLD	SuperStreet
28-30 Jul	Coates Hire Ipswich SuperSprint	Queensland Raceway, QLD	SuperSprint
18-20 Aug	Red Rooster Sydney SuperSprint	Sydney Motorsport Park, NSW	SuperSprint
15-17 Sep	Wilson Security Sandown 500	Sandown Raceway, VIC	Enduro Cup
05-08 Oct	SuperCheap Auto Bathurst 1000	Mount Panorama, NSW	Enduro Cup
20-22 Oct	Gold Coast 600	Surfers Paradise, QLD	Enduro Cup
03-05 Nov	ITM Auckland SuperSprint	Pukekohe Park, NZL	SuperSprint
TBA	Coates Hire Newcastle 500	Newcastle street circuit, NSW	SuperStreet