Townsville back on V8 Ute 2013 Series Calendar

Townsville back on V8 Ute 2013 Series Calendar

The 2013 Auto One V8 Ute Racing Series – protected by Armor All have secured an exciting calendar which will take them to five states and one Territory including: South Australia, Western Australia, Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and the Northern Territory as the Key support category to the V8 Supercar program.

V8 Ute Category Manager, Craig Denyer of SPHERIX, is really pleased with next year’s program.

“We’re really looking forward to next year. We will be visiting most states and territories in Australia. This is one of our best calendars yet, with all the major events included, and a return to the Townsville track that our guys love. It will be great to engage with all our V8 Ute fans, right across Australia,” said Denyer.

The Clipsal 500 will kick off the opening Round for the 13th year in a row. The V8 Utes had their inaugural race there in 2001 and with local drivers Craig Dontas, Gary “Chuckie” Baxter and Noel Edge all returning it should be an exciting event.

The V8 Utes will return to Barbagallo Raceway for the second Round of the Series. This will be the third year running that the V8 Utes have made it to the Western State, which has produced the likes of two-time V8 Ute Champion Grant Johnson and current drivers, Rhys and Jake McNally and Todd Zani.

Round 3 of the Series will see the heat turned up as part of the Sky City Triple Crown at Hidden Valley Raceway. The top end has seen some great V8 Ute Racing over the past 8 years with a total of 359 laps and 1030.33km of V8 Ute Racing around Hidden Valley Raceway.

North Queensland fans will be pleased to see the V8 Utes back in Townsville for the first time since 2011. This will be the fourth time the V8 Utes have raced at Townsville since its inception in 2009 and drivers will be looking forward to do their annual Street Parade prior to hitting the track.

Sandown Raceway will be the half-way point of the 2013 Series. The V8 Utes first appeared at Sandown Raceway in their inaugural year in 2001, then again in 2002, 2005, 2009 and 2010. 2002 was the Great Aussie Ute Race, which was a two driver format with each driver paired with a legend, some of which included: 3 x Australian Gold Star Champion, Paul Stokell, Touring Car Legend Andrew Miedecke, Country Singer Adam Brand, Brad Jones and Formula 1 World Champion (1980), Alan Jones.

For round 6, the V8 Utes will head to the home of Motorsport, Mount Panorama as part of the Bathurst 1000 event. This year the V8 Utes had their biggest field in history at the event.

The Penultimate Round will be held around the streets of Surfers Paradise at the Armor All Gold Coast 600. This will be the V8 Utes 8th visit to the Sunshine City and the third time on the new track, which is now 2.96km in length, reduced from 4.47km.

The Series will once again end the year on the streets of Sydney as part of the Sydney Telstra 500. The V8 Utes have crowned 3 champions at Homebush in the past 13 years as a category, and are about to crown their fourth this weekend.
See below the full calendar for 2013

1. Clipsal 500 Feb 28-Mar 3 Adelaide Parklands
2. Perth May 3-5 Barbagallo Raceway, Perth
3. SKYCITY Triple Crown June 14-16 Hidden Valley, Darwin
4. Sucrogen Townsville 400 July 5-7 Reid Park, Townsville
5. Sandown 500 Sep 13-15 Sandown, Victoria
6. Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 Oct 10-13 Bathurst, New South Wales
7. Armor All Gold Coast 600 Oct 25-27 Surfers Paradise, Queensland
8. Sydney 500 Nov 29-Dec 1 Olympic Park, Sydney

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