Supercars in Symmons Plains Tasmania moves back to May for 2025
The Supercars Championship calendar has been locked in with a new date for the category’s visit to the Apple Isle.
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Supercars at Symmons Plains Raceway is back to May.
The championship’s calendar for 2024 was announced on Friday setting the new date for the category’s visit to Tasmania, which will be on the May 9-11 weekend.
This racing back to earlier in the series after this year’s was moved later to August.
Symmons Plains is the shortest track on next year’s calendar at 2.41km in length.
The development series, Super2 Series, will also compete at the 2024 event providing Tasmanian race fans the chance to see the next generation of stars.
Super2 graduates Brodie Kostecki, Will Brown, Thomas Randle, Bryce Fullwood, and Macauley Jones were all on the grid the last time Super2 raced in Tasmania, back in 2018.
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Supercars will welcome improved conditions and a new fan-friendly set-up at the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix as part of a new two-year deal to race at the event after its place in an expanded 13-round Supercars calendar for 2025 was confirmed.
Ahead of the biggest week of racing of the year at Mount Panorama for the Bathurst 1000, Supercars has announced its season will grow from 12 to 13 events for season 2025 with the inclusion of rounds at an upgraded Queensland Raceway in August and Tailem Bend in September.
The 2025 Supercars season will kick-off with a twilight racing event at Sydney Motorsport Park in late February and will conclude with the Adelaide street race in late November.
Sandown has retained its place on the calendar, moving from September to mid-November, while the Bathurst 1000 will be held in its traditional October slot.
The Bend returns to the calendar in mid-September and, as was announced late last year, will host its first endurance event at the venue with the round before Bathurst.
The Albert Park round at the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix is the second event on the 2025 Supercars calendar with both parties due to announce an improved set-up for the series as part of a fresh two-year agreement.
Supercars chief executive Shane Howard said ahead of this year’s Albert Park event that the category’s conditions at the F1 Australian Grand Prix had needed to be addressed.
A long-time staple on the Albert Park support card, Supercars found itself bumped down the pecking order with the addition of F1’s own feeder categories F2 and F3 to the schedule.
Supercars teams had to this year operate out of tents in the paddock behind the second pit lane and their transporters – used to house equipment, for driver preparation and team debriefs – parked some distance away.
Fans were also denied access to the area Supercars teams had to operate from this year, which had also been a major sticking point.
But after the category’s lobbying, the public will again be allowed access in 2025 to a new Supercars precinct, located near the Senna Grandstand, with fan-facing garages.
Supercars teams will also have easier access to their transporters.
Howard said earlier this week Supercars had been working closely with Australian Grand Prix Corporation chief executive Travis Auld to deliver the change.
“We went into that event last year with the change with F2 and F3 taking over the pit lane and that area, so we worked through it, (but) it wasn’t ideal for us not having the public being able to gain access into our paddock,” Howard said.
“Everyone identifies the most important thing is for the fans to be able to get up close and personal with our teams and our drivers.
“Travis sat down with us after the event and said ‘Yep, I can see that, we need to change it’ and we have looked at the options to really give us the best outcome of where that paddock will be located, creating a village type atmosphere and being able to get all our fans into our paddock.
“We believe that will be achieved and we are really looking forward to being back at the Australian Grand Prix.”
Supercars chairman Barclay Nettlefold has been vocal about the series’ ambitions to grow and expand its calendar.
“Expanding the 2025 Repco Supercars Championship was a key priority for us, and it’s something fans have been asking for over the last few years,” Nettlefold said.
“Adding the 13th event is a reflection of our ongoing commitment to growing the sport.”
The Tasmanian event at Symmons Plains shifts to a May date in 2025, before the Perth round at Wanneroo, which could be the series’ farewell at the venue with the WA government backing a Perth CBD street circuit from 2026.
The New Zealand round at Taupo, from April 11-13, remains the only international race on the calendar for 2025.
Supercars sent a small delegation to the Singapore Formula 1 Grand Prix last month and Howard reiterated the series’ desire to secure a place on the support card in the future.
“What an event that is. That’s got to be one of the best street races that you ever go to in your life,” Howard said.
“The promoter does an extraordinary job there and hopefully one day we get to run there.
“We have always had a strong desire to be there and that hasn’t changed …. certainly, in the future, we would really like to be there in Singapore.”
2025 SUPERCARS CHAMPIONSHIP CALENDAR
1. Sydney February – 21-23
2. Melbourne (Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix) March – 13-16
3. Taupō (New Zealand) April – 11-13
4. Tasmania May – 9-11
5. Perth June – 6-8
6. Darwin Triple Crown June – 20-22
7. Townsville July – 11-13
8. Ipswich August – 8-10
9. The Bend September – 12-14
10. Repco Bathurst 1000 – October 9-12
11. Gold Coast – October 24-26
12. Sandown – November 14-16
13. Adelaide – November 27-30
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