Supercars\u00a0will\u00a0return to the city in 2022 when\u00a0Newcastle\u00a0hosts the season opener of the Repco Supercars Championship series.
\nThe major motorsport event\u00a0will\u00a0be\u00a0back\u00a0on\u00a0the\u00a0Newcastle\u00a0street circuit after a two-year hiatus caused by COVID-19,\u00a0shifting\u00a0from its previous\u00a0position\u00a0as the final race of the series to become the much-anticipated season opener.
\nThe\u00a0Newcastle 500 will also mark the start of what is expected to be a fierce racing rivalry between the Chevrolet Camaro\u202fand a new-look\u00a0Ford Mustang,\u202fwhich will be adapted to suit a new \u2018Gen3\u2019 control chassis.
\nCity of Newcastle Lord Mayor\u00a0Nuatali\u00a0Nelmes\u00a0welcomed the return of the biggest event on Newcastle\u2019s annual calendar, which provides a multi-million\u00a0fiscal\u00a0injection into the local economy and helps\u00a0put the city\u00a0on the world stage.
\n\u201cThe Newcastle 500 has been shown through independent research to benefit Newcastle\u2019s economy by more than $30 million over the three-day event, contributing to up to 124 full-time jobs,\u201d Cr Nelmes said.
\n\u201cAs part of the Supercars Australia Championship series, the Newcastle 500 also brings widespread exposure for our city. The 2019 event weekend recorded 344 media stories, reaching a domestic audience of more than 14 million people, with an estimated value of over $2 million.
\n\u201cOur wider community also recognises the benefits of hosting such a landmark event, with\u00a081 per cent of respondents\u00a0previously indicating in\u00a0a\u00a0Hunter Research Foundation Centre survey that they believe\u00a0Newcastle and the region\u00a0benefit from hosting the Supercars Newcastle 500.
\n\u201cWe look forward to welcoming Supercars and their fans back to Newcastle in 2022.\u201d
\nWhile the dates for the event are still to be finalised, it is expected to take place in early March 2022.\u00a0As a result of the new timing, no road closures will take place prior to February 2022.\u00a0City of\u00a0Newcastle\u00a0has also stipulated\u00a0there will be a shortened\u00a0timeframe for the dismantling and removal of event-related\u00a0structures and equipment.
\nCr Nelmes said the new timing of the Newcastle 500 was a boon for the city\u2019s\u00a0major events calendar.
\n\u201cMoving the Newcastle 500 from November\/December to March will diversify our major events calendar, drawing new visitors to the city in autumn while freeing up the CBD during the busy Christmas shopping period,\u201d she said.
\n\u201cThe return of the Newcastle 500\u00a0cements\u00a0our city\u2019s\u00a0reputation\u00a0as\u00a0a destination\u00a0known for hosting major Australian and international\u00a0events.
\n\u201cNo city anywhere in Australia offers what Newcastle does in terms of providing stunning aerial pictures of some of Australia\u2019s most beautiful beaches. The Newcastle 500 street circuit traces both the City\u2019s coastline as well as its working harbour.
\n\u201cIn recent\u00a0years\u00a0the shots of Supercars racing in the foreground while\u00a0our working harbour operates in the background are images that are embedded into the minds of tens of millions of motor racing fans around the world.\u201d
\nCity of Newcastle CEO Jeremy Bath said the\u00a0five-year agreement to\u00a0host the Newcastle 500 comes to an end next year.
\n\u201cThe City\u00a0has\u00a0varied its\u00a0agreements\u00a0with Supercars Australia and the NSW Government to\u00a0host the\u00a02022 event, with discussions around a longer-term\u00a0arrangement\u00a0to\u00a0be finalised mid 2022,\u201d Mr Bath said.
\n\u201cAs part of the agreement,\u00a0Supercars has committed to providing a\u00a0locally based\u00a0community engagement manager\u00a0for the event.
\n\u201cCity of Newcastle\u2019s commercial terms with Destination NSW remain unchanged.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Supercars\u00a0will\u00a0return to the city in 2022 when\u00a0Newcastle\u00a0hosts the season opener of the Repco Supercars Championship series. The major motorsport event\u00a0will\u00a0be\u00a0back\u00a0on\u00a0the\u00a0Newcastle\u00a0street circuit after a two-year hiatus caused by COVID-19,\u00a0shifting\u00a0from its previous\u00a0position\u00a0as the final race of the series to become the much-anticipated season opener. The\u00a0Newcastle 500 will also mark the start of what is expected to be … Continue reading “Newcastle takes up pole position for 2022 Supercars season”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9481","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-newcastle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9481","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9481"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9481\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}