Following on from its debut as the opening Ryco Enduro Cup in 2025, The Bend will hold the traditional precursor event to the Repco Bathurst 1000 on a new layout.
This year’s event will utilise the West Circuit of The Bend extending the race to 147 laps.
When the circuit first debuted on the Supercars calendar during the 2018 season, the International 4.95km layout was used and continued to be throughout its history on the calendar until last year.
The 3.41km West layout was used once in 2020 when there were back-to-back rounds at The Bend due to the global pandemic.
At 12-turns, the layout will provide another overtaking option at Turn 6 where instead of turning left at the hairpin and re-joining at what is Turn 14 of the International Circuit.
Back in 2020, Scott McLaughlin took two wins and Cam Waters won the third race.
“We analysed last year’s race, then we looked back to the second Bend round in 2020, which was on the West Circuit,” Supercars’ Chief Motorsport Officer Tim Edwards said.
“After watching the 2020 races, we felt there was a lot more overtaking using the West Circuit. The tight right-hander, Turn 6, actually provides a great overtaking opportunity.
“It also produces an additional 45 laps to the race. That means, 45 more times cars are going past the pit lane. So, fans see more action and it opens up race strategies more.
“Most of the viewing public are actually on the west side, so it means that if you are sitting in the grandstand, in your car or on pit roof, you get to see the cars go past 45 more times.
“We believe a combination of potentially more overtaking, shorter lap times and strategy offers jeopardy for the teams as well. Now, they need to think about going down a lap when they’re considering their strategy.
“It’s going to add to the spectacle.”
The Bend 500 is scheduled for September 11-13.