Supercars new look finals series unveiled for 2025 season

Supercars has officially unveiled ambitious plans to conduct a NASCAR-style finals format in 2025 that will ensure the championship battle goes down to the last chequered flag.

Julian LindenBathurst

3 min read

October 9, 2024 - 4:21PM

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Supercars has officially unveiled its ambitious plans to conduct a NASCAR-style finals format in 2025 that will ensure the championship title battle goes down to the last chequered flag.

As first revealed by this masthead last week, Supercars bosses have devised a plan for the championship series to be divided into three across a sprint season, endurance season and end-of-year finals system.

But they first wanted to run the shake up through team owners and drivers before making the formal announcement at Mount Panorama on Wednesday morning to kickstart the build up to Sunday’s 1000 Repco classic at Bathurst.

“Our fans wanted more excitement, more unpredictability, and a true test to find the best champion. The Finals series will do just that,” Supercars CEO Shane Howard said.

“With points resetting and drivers being eliminated, we’ve created an environment where the

pressure will be at its highest, and only the best will prevail.

“This format is set to change how we crown a champion, and we’re confident it will keep fans on the edge of their seats until the very last lap.“

The changes represent one of the biggest shake-ups that Supercars has undergone, but officials are confident it will be another booming success.

There will be more on-track action during the regular season with a mixture of sprints, traditional race distances and challenging endurance events, before the Finals Series will be used over the final three rounds of the year, where only the top contenders will fight for the title.

THE NEW FORMAT EXPLAINED

1 - Sprint Cup: 8 Rounds, 25 Races

The first phase of the season features eight rounds and 25 races, including Friday night races in Sydney and Townsville.

At the end of these eight rounds, the Sprint Cup will be awarded to the top-performing driver, who will gain automatic entry into the Finals Series.

2 - Enduro Cup: The Bend 500 and Repco Bathurst 1000.

Returning for the first time since 2019 will be the Enduro Cup, featuring two of the most gruelling endurance races on the calendar—the inaugural The Bend 500 and the legendary Repco Bathurst 1000.

After Bathurst, the Enduro Cup champion will be crowned and as with the sprint cup champion, the winner gains automatic entry to the finals.

Drivers whose season tally of points places them inside the Top 10 of Championship Standings after this phase will advance to the newly introduced Finals series.

If the Sprint and Enduro champions are within the top 10, only eight additional spots will be available for the finals.

The 2025 finals will be played in the Gold Coast, Sandown and Adelaide. Picture: Brendan Radke

3 - The Finals: Gold Coast, Sandown, Adelaide

The Finals will determine the 2025 Repco Supercars Champion and feature a new elimination-style format.

The top 10 will compete at Gold Coast with the bottom three eliminated for Sandown.

The top four after Sandown will head to Adelaide for the ‘Grand Final’ with points reset after each round of the finals to ensure every race counts.

Adding to the complexity of the 2025 season are new tyre strategies with Dunlop introducing new soft and supersoft compounds to replace the old hard and soft tyres.

“Fans want to see drivers pushing themselves and their cars to the absolute limit, and this format allows them to do that,” Supercars General Manager of Motorsport Tim Edwards said.

“By splitting the season into distinct phases, we’ve created a championship that tests drivers in every possible way.”