09 Mar New Era Begins.
Australian Production Cars Series will welcome enduro racing in 2022 through a five-round schedule, while introducing a tyre panel and a new naming rights partner to be announced soon, while operating under new ownership.
The first four rounds of the APC will be part of the Shannons Motorsport Australia Championship, while the fifth and final round will be held at the Bathurst International.
The rounds will feature various race formats, and all events can be contested by solo drivers or multi-driver teams:
Round 1 – Sydney Motorsport Park – May 27-29 – two 30-minute races, 1 300 km race.
Round 2 – Phillip Island – June 25-26 – four one-hour races
Round 3 – Queensland Raceway – August 5-7 – two 30-minute races, 1 300km race
Round 4 – Tailem Bend – October 21-23 – four one-hour races
Round 5 – Mount Panorama – November 11-13 – four 30-minute races
At all rounds, competitors will be able to choose the tyre brand they wish to use from an established tyre panel, with regulations and classes aligned with the 6 Hours of Bathurst, and recommendations from the National 3e Committee.
The tyre panel for 2022 will feature Yokohama, Dunlop, Hankook and MRF Tyres.
This exciting new era for Australian Production Cars will operate under new ownership, with Iain Sherrin and Ontic Sports handing over the category management rights to Production Car Racing Pty Limited, which is headed by a familiar face, Troy Williams; who has managed the series on Sherrin’s behalf since September 2020 as managing director of Ontic Sports.
“It’s been a great six years since Ontic Sports took over category management for Australian Production Cars, and now is the right time to hand over the reins to Troy, who has done a great job since the end of 2020 as managing director of Ontic Sports,” said Sherrin.
“It has certainly been a journey since we relaunched the series in time for the 2016 season, and I would like to thank Motorsport Australia, as well as all the teams, competitors, sponsors, tracks, officials, volunteers and suppliers for their support over the past six years. I now look forward to seeing how the series evolves again in the coming years,” Sherrin concluded.
“I have thoroughly enjoyed working with Iain as managing director of Ontic Sports since the end of 2020, managing the APC on behalf of Ontic, and I am sure Iain will enjoy the additional time to focus on family and other projects,” said Williams.
The Production Car Racing organization is delighted to take the reins – although there is a new category management company name on the forms, it will be business as usual for our stakeholders, as they have all been dealing with me for quite some time.
We have some exciting things in 2022: a return to endurance racing, a season finale at Bathurst and the introduction of a tyre panel which I think will be well received. I’m also looking forward to announcing a fantastic new naming rights partner in the near future.
With five rounds on the calendar, things are looking very good for 2022 and we can’t wait to get back to racing.
We will provide more details on the 2022 season in the coming weeks. What a thrill!