The Supercars Championship has announced its 2023 calendar and there is a shock omission from the circuit grid.
For the first time since 2005, Winton Motor Raceway will not feature on next year’s schedule.
The 2023 series will consist of a shortened 12 Championship rounds and two endurance races, starting on the streets of Newcastle on March 10.
But unlike this season, which featured a three-day SuperSprint round at Winton in May, the local raceway has only been allocated as a testing circuit in 2023.
Benalla Auto Club general manager Stephen Whyte said the outcome had come as a major blow to the track and its racegoers.
“It is disappointing, there’s no doubt about that,” Whyte said.
“To the region, to the club, to the track, Supercars is certainly a marquee event that we always want to run and always want to be involved in.
“You get nationally recognised, there’s no substitute for that event as far as exposure goes.”
Supercars rounds at Winton have been a regular fixture on the Supercars calendar since it was introduced in 1985.
Fans returned to the nation’s “action track” this year for the first time since 2019, after COVID-19 halted racing at Winton in 2020 and 2021.
Winton, Queensland Raceway and New Zealand all lost out to Tailem Bend for the last spot remaining on the 12-round Supercars calendar for 2023.
Whyte said with a shortened race calendar, Supercars had been in communication with clubs to warn some would miss out next year.
“We’ve been in constant dialogue with Supercars management, they’ve been very good and communicated to us at all points where we stood,” he said.
“Effectively it came down to four options, for the balance of the series they’ve ended up with two events in South Australia, two events in Victoria — Sandown and the Grand Prix — and the rest spread around Australia.”
Whyte expressed positivity about the outlook at Winton next year, citing a number of events in the works that the club hopes may help fill part of the Supercars void.
“We’ve got a full calendar next year and the circuit is very busy,” he said.
‘We’ve got a range of state and national events that we’re going to be conducting next year and a couple of marquee events which are still being put together which is exciting.
“We’ve got our historic events and events that bring in thousands of patrons.”
With the shortened season a potential once-off, Whyte remained confident of bringing Supercars back to Winton in 2024.
“It is disappointing but certainly not out of the realm of possibility that we may regain that round in 2024 when I believe they’ll extend the series,” he said.
“That starts now, our immediacy around making sure we put that in front of Supercars’ management is something we’ll work on straight away.
“We’ll endeavour to get it back in 2024 and we believe based on what we’re doing and potentially the expected growth of the series again next year will hopefully have us back on their calendar.”
The Adelaide 500 will serve as the conclusion to the Supercars Championship this year, due to be held from December 1-4.