2020 Supercars The Bend SuperSprint session times and preview
The home stretch of the 2020 Supercars season kicks off this weekend with the first of two consecutive rounds at The Bend Motorsport Park.
The three-race SuperSprint format will be in play for the weekend, with three 24-lap heats measuring 119 kilometres around the International layout.
Each race will feature a mandatory stop for at least two tyres.
It will be the third time Supercars has run on the 4.95-kilometre layout, ahead of a switch to the shorter West circuit for next week's second leg.
This week's action will see a return of the polarising Top 15 Shootout as part of qualifying for Saturday's opener.
On Sunday the two grids will determined with a pair of 10-minute, back-to-back qualifying sessions.
The soft tyre will be used for the first time at The Bend, with teams limited to five new sets of Dunlops from the end of practice onwards.
There will be two support categories in action, a combined sedans field and a return of the Aussie Tin Tops concept that debuted in Townsville.
Scott McLaughlin heads into the weekend with a 143-point series lead over Jamie Whincup.
2020 Supercars The Bend SuperSprint session times
Saturday 19th September 2020
- Rookie Session: 9:05-9:25 AEST (8:35-8:55 local)
- Practice 1: 9:40-10:10 AEST (9:10-9:40 local)
- Practice 2: 10:55-11:25 AEST (10:25-10:55 local)
- Qualifying 1: 12:40-12:50 AEST (12:10-12:20 local)
- Qualifying 2: 13:00-13:10 AEST (12:30-12:40 local)
- Top 15 Shootout: 13:20-14:05 AEST (12:50-13:35 local)
- Race 1: 15:45-16:48 AEST (15:15-16:48 local)
Sunday 20th September 2020
- Qualifying Race 2: 9:50-10:00 AEST (9:20-9:30 local)
- Qualifying Race 3: 10:10-10:20 AEST (9:40-9:50 local)
- Race 2: 12:25-13:28 AEST (11:55-12:58 local)
- Race 3: 14:55-15:58 AEST (14:25-15:38)
2020 Supercars The Bend SuperSprint tyre allocation
Each driver will start the weekend with four pre-marked soft compound tyres and 28 new soft compound tyres.
At the end of Practice 2 the four pre-marked tyres and eight of the new soft compound tyres need to be returned to Dunlop.
That will leave each driver with 20 soft compound tyres for the remainder of the weekend.
2020 Supercars The Bend SuperSprint entry list
| Num | Driver | Team | Car |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 |  Bryce Fullwood | Mobil 1™ Middy's Racing | Holden Commodore ZB |
| 3 | Macauley Jones | Team Cooldrive | Holden Commodore ZB |
| 4 | Jack Smith | SCT Logistics Racing | Holden Commodore ZB |
| 5 | Lee Holdsworth | Truck Assist Tekno Racing | Ford Mustang GT |
| 6 | Cameron Waters | Tickford Racing | Ford Mustang GT |
| 7 |  Andre Heimgartner | NED Racing | Ford Mustang GT |
| 8 | Nick Percat | Brad Jones Racing | Holden Commodore ZB |
| 9 | David Reynolds | Penrite Racing | Holden Commodore ZB |
| 12 | Fabian Coulthard | DJR Team Penske | Ford Mustang GT |
| 14 | Todd Hazelwood | Brad Jones Racing | Holden Commodore ZB |
| 15 | Rick Kelly | Castrol Racing | Ford Mustang GT |
| 17 | Scott McLaughlin | DJR Team Penske | Ford Mustang GT |
| 18 | Mark Winterbottom | Irwin Racing | Holden Commodore ZB |
| 19 | Alex Davison | Team Sydney | Holden Commodore ZB |
| 20 | Scott Pye | Team 18 | Holden Commodore ZB |
| 22 | Chris Pither | Team Sydney | Holden Commodore ZB |
| 25 | Chaz Mostert | Mobil 1™ Appliances Online Racing | Holden Commodore ZB |
| 34 | Jake Kostecki | Matt Stone Racing | Holden Commodore ZB |
| 35 | Garry Jacobson | Matt Stone Racing | Holden Commodore ZB |
| 44 | James Courtney | Boost Mobile Racing | Ford Mustang GT |
| 55 | Jack Le Brocq | Tickford Racing | Ford Mustang GT |
| 88 | Jamie Whincup | Triple Eight Race Engineering | Holden Commodore ZB |
| 97 | Shane van Gisbergen | Triple Eight Race Engineering | Holden Commodore ZB |
| 99 | Anton De Pasquale | Penrite Racing | Holden Commodore ZB |
| View full results | |||
About this article
| Series | Supercars |
| Event | The Bend |
| Author | Andrew van Leeuwen |
