Plans to begin the 2022 Supercars Championship in Newcastle have been abandoned over local fears of COVID-19.
Newcastle hadn't hosted a Supercars round since the 2019 season finale, and they will have to wait a bit longer for their return following the late fixture change.
The Sydney SuperNight will now kick off the season from March 4-6 at Sydney Motorsport Park.
The Newcastle event has been postponed to a later round in 2022, with the exact date yet to be locked in.
The decision was made due to the current concern surrounding the number of COVID-19 cases in Newcastle and the continuing uncertainty the virus is causing in parts of the local community.
"Given the continuing evolving and unpredictable COVID situation, it has become too challenging to stage a complex multi-faceted event on the streets of Newcastle for tens of thousands of race fans in March," Supercars chief executive Shane Howard said.
"Putting on an event of the scale of Newcastle, in the middle of its CBD, requires an enormous amount of work to ensure it runs to a world-class standard.
"We have been in consultation with the City of Newcastle throughout January and understand that constructing and operating an event of this size during the current COVID period has caused concern in parts of the community.
"As a street circuit built in the heart of the CBD, the event provides enormous economic benefits to the region, and we want to ensure that happens again in 2022. We are working to confirm the rescheduled date as soon as practicable.
"We fully intend to stage this year's Repco Newcastle 500 in Supercars' trademark style, and we are confident that we will be able to successfully do this later in the year."
Shane van Gisbergen will be aiming to win back-to-back Championships after being crowned the winner in 2021.
Australian Associated Press
