The sunshine is calling… We’re headed to the top end!

Hidden Valley Raceway in Darwin hosts Round 7 of the 2019 Virgin Australia Supercars Championship, as we look to build on the steps forward made last round.

The mercury is expected to land on 31 every day we are there, a stark contrast to the 15 degrees we leave behind in Melbourne.

If it’s hot outside, you can bet it’ll be even hotter inside the car. Last year, cabin temperatures peaked at 63 degrees during the race, so driver recovery on Saturday night is crucial before doing it all again on Sunday.

In terms of the track, it’s fast and flowing. The front straight is 1.1kms long, which means there’s a huge passing opportunity into turns one and two.

Looking back to 2018, Scott Pye charged to fourth on the Saturday, and was looking strong for another good result on Sunday before suffering a puncture after contact.

It’s a super sprint round, which means a 120km race Saturday, followed by a 200km race Sunday. The top-10 shootout also returns for Sunday.

We’ll be looking to continue the progress, both in qualifying and the race, that we saw at Winton.

The two Mobil 1™ MEGA Racing Commodores roll out for Practice 1 at 11:10am local time on Friday.

James Courtney

“After a few weekends off, it’ll be great to get back into it.

“There were positives to take from Winton, we moved in the right direction, so it’ll be about continuing that this weekend.

“Who doesn’t love going to Darwin, it’s awesome up there. I can’t wait to get back behind the wheel.”

Scott Pye

“Going up to Darwin is always a blast. The weather is good, the crowd is great, and the track is a lot of fun. I’m looking forward to this one.

“We had some strong results there last year with the fourth on Saturday and what was looking like a another solid day on the Sunday, so we will combine that with what we learned across the weekend at Winton and look to continue to move forward.”