The 30th anniversary championship of the Supercars era will be contested over 14 rounds, including a new night race in Darwin and a return to Phillip Island after an eight-year absence.
The new schedule also comprises the final race at Western Australia’s Wanneroo Raceway before the event moves to a street circuit in Perth, while Queensland Raceway has dropped off the calendar just two years after the Ipswich venue returned from a half-decade hiatus.
The Sandown 500 has been shuffled again, losing its finals status and moving to late August, where it will become the deciding round of the Sprint Cup.
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Phillip Island, back on the calendar for the first time since 2019, will instead become the second round of the finals series, between the Gold Coast 500 and the Adelaide Grand Final.
Supercars legend and MotorRacing 360 host Mark Skaife says the trade would be worth it to bring one of the country’s best tracks back onto the calendar.
“There’s a serious level of history and nostalgia that is attached to Sandown for me,” he tells Fox Sports. “But if you had to say tomorrow which of Phillip Island or Sandown will deliver the best outcome, I’ll have Phillip Island every day.
“I expect it to be one of the most interesting events of the year. I’ve always said it’s the best permanent racetrack in Australia. It’s so fast and flowing and European.
“It’s an amazingly committed lap — to do a great lap at Phillip Island is up there with Bathurst.
“Bringing it back in the position of a final will play into the year in terms of jeopardy and consequences and all the things that we love in terms of storytelling of the season. I love the concept.
“I like the final of the Sprint Cup being Sandown because it still gives it some consequence, it still gives it some notoriety as an event.
“But as I said, if you had to make a boardroom decision sitting around saying which one deserves a greater level of support and therefore more consequence, then I think Phillip Island delivers that.”
All 14 rounds will be shown live and ad-break free during racing on Kayo Sports, with 10 rounds exclusively live, including the new knockout weekend at Phillip Island.
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As is now tradition, the season will kick off with the Sydney Super 440, with the night round scheduled on 26–28 February.
Tasmania comes backwards on the calendar, moving from midwinter to early autumn to become the second round of the season for the first time since 2022, a shift facilitated by the Australian Grand Prix’s position as round 3 on the Formula 1 calendar.
Supercars will support the grand prix again next season, on 1–14 April, under the terms of a deal signed earlier this year to keep the series on the Albert Park undercard until at least the end of 2029.
A long break follows to enable for the transport of sea freight across the Tasman for back-to-back rounds in New Zealand, with Christchurch and then Taupō in the middle of May before another long break for the return journey.
The second half of the Sprint Cup follows a similar cadence to this year, with the night-time Darwin Triple Crown, the Townsville 500 and the Perth Super 440 before the Sandown 500 takes its new place on the schedule on 27–29 August.
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The Bend 500 will open the two-round Enduro season on 17–19 September, with the regular season concluding with the Bathurst 1000 on 7–10 October.
The third edition of the Supercars final season will kick off with the Gold Coast 500 at the end of October, with the new Phillip Island 500 following two weeks later in early November.
The Adelaide Grand Final concludes the campaign on 25–28 November. The event will take place a fortnight after the Adelaide’s MotoGP round and will be the first Supercars race at the revamped street circuit.
“The 2027 championship calendar is one that we’re incredibly proud to deliver for our fans, teams, partners and stakeholders as we prepare to celebrate Supercars’ 30th anniversary,” said Supercars executive chairman Barclay Nettlefold.
“The return of Phillip Island as part of the finals will resonate with our most loyal fans, while new elements, like night racing in Darwin and the revamped Adelaide street circuit, continue driving the sport to new heights.
“We believe this calendar strikes a strong balance between the number of events and the rhythm of the season.”
Adam Howarth, Foxtel Group commercial sport executive director, said he was “already excited about what this 2027 schedule is going to deliver”.
“The addition of a night race in Darwin adds an exciting new element, and the long-awaited return to Phillip Island further strengthens the Finals format brought in by Supercars in 2025, which has proven to be hugely popular with fans trackside and watching on Kayo Sprots,” he said.
“Our customers will continue to see every lap of every Supercars race, uninterrupted, and all of it in 4K UHD, supported by the best coverage with MotorRacing 360, and F1, MotoGP, NASCAR, and World Superbikes also available to Australia’s rev heads.”
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‘A LANDMARK MOMENT FOR SUPERCARS’
Confirmation of the 14-stage calendar was delayed by behind-the-scenes politicking over the teams racing charter, the commercial agreement that binds the teams to the sport.
The TRC sets out annual payments to the teams and the top-up money offered by the sport for each additional round above the baseline 12 events.
The original five-year deal was signed in 2021 but has been up for negotiation this year ahead of 2027. According to reports, rolling over the current charter would have seen per-race payments skyrocket to unsustainable levels.
Seven teams agreed to accept a new deal that would boost their pay by a smaller figure, but five holdouts risked Supercars being forced to whittle down the calendar to just 12 rounds to reduce costs.
A last-minute compromise has now been reached with the dissenting teams that will allow the sport to continue with 14 rounds and to expand in the coming seasons.
Skaife said reaching an agreement was critical to the health of the sport.
“My view of this is that agreeing a new teams racing charter, the new arrangements with the teams, is a landmark moment for Supercars, because for us to agree on an expanded calendar with provision to continue to expand it is fantastic.
“If sitting around a boardroom we all said, ‘Oh, we’re going to go back to 12 events,’ then we’d all be drowning in our beer and we’d be saying, ‘What have we done with this thing? What have we done to improve the sport and to increase the patronage and to cater to fans’ requirements and do all the things that we know that we want to do to grow the game?’
“By coming up with a revised, new, modern teams racing charter that is hand in hand with the teams to continue to expand the series — I’m rapt.
“I think it’s a really pivotal time for the sport, and the game will only continue to grow when we are in genuine partnership with our teams and stakeholders.
“Obviously the media requirement is a big part of that too, but when you put all those things together, I’m so happy that we’ve been able to come up with what is a really sensible commercial outcome for the sport.”
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Striking an agreement with the teams for the continued growth of the sport was particularly important ahead of the 30th anniversary of the Supercars era.
The Supercars era is generally delineated by the foundation of the Australian Vee Eight Super Car Company, with was formed collectively between the teams, under the Touring Car Entrants Group of Australia banner, and promotions company Sports and Entertainment Limited.
AVESCO would in later years rebrand the Australian Touring Car Championship with the Supercars moniker.
Skaife, whose career bridged the early years of the Supercars concept, reflects fondly on that period of change that set the sport on its current trajectory.
“The Supercars name was part of a joint venture between the teams and with Sports Entertainment Limited, with James Erskine, Tony Cochrane, Basil Scaffidi and David Coe. Those guys were instrumental in bringing all the marketing and commercial benefits to the sport.
“I look back at it with rose-coloured glasses. Wayne Cattach was the CEO, Tony was the chairman, and a lot had to happen to get it to where it is today.
“Those men and those people involved of the day were groundbreaking with a lot of the decisions they made, a lot of the things that they did with TV, with events — there was no Adelaide event prior to that.
“We were paying entry fees as race teams to go to race meetings. The whole points score and prize money structure was so different before they arrived.
“I look back at those times really fondly, and I also recognise that throughout all the differing ownership models that we’ve had, the one thing that does stand the test of time and the one thing there is absolute conformity over is that in our hearts, everyone who’s been involved in the ownership over the journey has wanted to do the best thing by the game.
“That for me, as a passionate motorsport person, that’s a crucial element of what’s gone on.”
SUPERCARS 2027 SCHEDULE
Sprint Cup
1. Sydney 500 (Sydney Motorsport Park): 26–28 February
2. Tasmania Super440 (Symmons Plains Raceway): 13–14 March
3. Melbourne SuperSprint (Albert Park Circuit): 1–4 April
4. Christchurch Super440 (Ruapuna Raceway): 7–9 May
5. Taupō Super440 (Taupō International Motorsport Park): 14–16 May
6. Darwin Triple Crown (Hidden Valley Raceway): 18–20 June
7. Townsville 500 (Reid Park Street Circuit): 9–11 July
8. Perth Super440 (Wanneroo Raceway): 6–8 August
9. Sandown 500 (Sandown Raceway): 27–29 August
Enduro Cup
10. Bend 500 (The Bend Motorsport Park): 17–19 September
11. Bathurst 1000 (Mount Panorama Circuit): 7–10 October
The finals
12. Gold Coast 500 (Surfers Paradise Street Circuit): 22–24 October
13. Phillip Island 500 (Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit): 5–7 November
14. Adelaide Grand Final (Adelaide Street Circuit): 25–28 November