The Tyrepower Tasmania Super440 returns to Symmons Plains near Launceston from May 22-24, with the Supercars Sprint Cup resuming on the Apple Isle after five long weeks away from racing and more than two months since the last Australian round. Practice is set for Friday before two 120-kilometre races on Saturday and a 200-kilometre finale on Sunday.
Supercars will lean on two qualifying formats across the weekend, with two-part qualifying used for Race 1 and Race 2 and a three-part session set for Race 3. The two-part format will put all 24 cars on track for 12 minutes in the first phase, before the top 10 move into an eight-minute second phase. It is a busy reset for a championship that Broc Feeney carried out of New Zealand as leader, and he and Triple Eight head to a place that once served as a stronghold during the team’s GM era.
Grove Racing arrives with momentum after appearing near unstoppable in Christchurch, while Walkinshaw TWG Racing is another team expected to draw attention. Matt Payne won the Sunday race in Tasmania last year, but that victory came through strategy as much as outright speed, and Symmons Plains is likely to ask similar questions again. The circuit’s two long straights make it a fresh challenge for the Supra platform, and Chevrolet teams have been buoyed by another parity change ahead of this weekend, adding another layer to a round that already looks finely balanced.
Feeney acknowledged the job still ahead for his side after New Zealand, saying the team is still getting its head around the Mustang package. That is the tension in Tasmania: the calendar has finally turned back to Australian ground, but the form guide remains unsettled, and Symmons Plains is the kind of track that can expose any car that is not quite right. For all the familiar names and old history, this weekend feels less like a return to routine than a first real answer on who has adapted best.
For readers tracking the championship picture, V8 Supercars Tasmania: Feeney leads Triple Eight back to Symmons Plains captures the story now unfolding around the points leader and the team trying to make sense of its latest package at speed.
