The Bend 500

The Bend 500 (formally known as the OTR The Bend 500) was a planned motor racing event for Supercars, to be held at The Bend Motorsport Park in Tailem Bend, South Australia commencing in 2020.[1] The event was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[2]

Format

The event, which would have been run over three days, was scheduled to feature a twenty-five minute qualifying session followed by a top-ten shootout to determine the grid. This would have been followed by a 500 kilometre race with the Supercars primary drivers joined by co-drivers. The event was to have been included with the Bathurst 1000 and the Gold Coast 600 in the annual Enduro Cup.[3]

History

The Bend Motorsport Park opened in 2018 and hosted The Bend SuperSprint for two years before being announced as the host of an endurance race as part of the 2020 Supercars Championship, replacing the Sandown 500 as the series' annual 500 kilometre race.[1] In June 2020, the event was removed from the second revision of the 2020 calendar, caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, however a double-header sprint event at The Bend was then added to the calendar in a further calendar shuffle in August 2020.[2][4] The event was again excluded from the 2021 Supercars Championship calendar.

References
  1. Howard, Tom (28 August 2019). "Supercars drops QR, Phillip Island in revised 2020 calendar". speedcafe.com. Speedcafe. Retrieved 28 August 2019.
  2. "Sandown Takes Traditional Spot on Newly Revised Supercars Calendar". Auto Action. 18 June 2020. Retrieved 19 June 2020.
  3. Howard, Tom (28 August 2019). "Supercars shakes up event formats in 2020". Speedcafe. Retrieved 28 August 2019.
  4. Chapman, Simon (30 August 2020). "Supercars confirms double-header at The Bend". Speedcafe. Retrieved 30 August 2020.
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