After a year away, we are back racing in Victoria, and back at Sandown in south-east Melbourne for Round 2 of the 2021 Repco Supercars Championship.
Format
The compact, two-day format will be a little different to the traditional Sandown week.
Practice, qualifying and three races across two days means it is a jam-packed Supercars-fest!
Saturday sees two practice sessions, a three-part knockout qualifying session, and a 36-lap race.
Sunday will kick-start with two back-to-back 10-minute qualifying sessions, that set the grids for the respective 36-lap races that round out the weekend.
The Track
Built in the early 1960’s, it is one of the most historic circuits on the calendar, draped with history.
It’s a short lap, at 3.1kms, but filled with action in the 13-corners that wrap around the horse racing track in the middle. The best passing opportunity is into turn 1, the heavy braking zone.
Bryce will race his first solo Supercars event at Sandown, after two Sandown 500 starts to his name, while Chaz has stood on the Sandown podium on three occasions.
Tyres
We are on the soft-tyre for the first time this year, which means faster lap times, and higher degradation rates throughout the race.
Pitstops
No fuel, just tyres, which means the race will be on in the lane.
The most interesting part will be how teams choose to use their tyre strategy in the stops. With only one gun allowed per side of the car, a decision will have to be made whether you change two, three, or four tyres, prioritising time in the lane, or tyre life on track.
Weather
Melbourne has turned it on this week so far, and the weekend looks good. Saturday is a top of 25, and Sunday a top of 26, with no rain on the forecast at this stage.
How to Watch
Every session, every lap, will be live on Fox Sports 506 and Kayo.
For the full TV guide, please CLICK HERE.
Chaz Mostert
“I can’t wait to be back at Sandown, I love it there, and we definitely missed it last year.
“We started the year on the right foot, but the most pleasing thing for me has been the work that has continued since Bathurst. Everyone is working just as hard to continue to improve.
“It’ll be a little different this weekend, being a solo-driver race and packed into two-days, but I think it’s a really exciting format, one that will be awesome to watch from the track and on TV.
“Hopefully we can keep that momentum rolling and bank some more points this weekend.”
Bryce Fullwood
“I can’t wait to get back out there this weekend, I’ve been waiting since Sunday night at Bathurst to be honest.
“I’ve never driven a WAU car around here before, so I’m really interested to see how it feels when we roll out Saturday morning.
“The compressed format means there isn’t much time to overhaul the car at track setup wise, but everyone worked flat out since Bathurst to make sure we give ourselves the best chance of being on-the-money early.
“Going back to three races is pretty cool, I’m looking forward to that, and hopefully everyone else loves it as well.”