After some early season date shuffling, the calendar has finally been locked away for the 13th season of the RA Cup, with a second event at Sydney Motorsport Park and the addition of Melbourne’s Sandown Raceway completing the five round season.

“There have been a number of variations proposed over the last six months, but with changes to the Supercars calendar - which had a flow-on effect - and ongoing border challenges, we’ve had to be patient as Motorsport Australia helped us to lock down our final dates,” Category Manager Karl Reindler explained.

As it did between 2014 and 2019, Bathurst will host the opening round of the RA Cup season, although not on the traditional Bathurst 12 Hour weekend, the first event instead coming with the annual Bathurst 6 Hour over Easter, a slot originally scheduled on the 2020 calendar.

From Bathurst the Cup returns to the circuit around which the championship was based for so many years - Sydney Motorsport Park - with back-to-back rounds in early May and early September.

Two weeks after the second Sydney round, the teams will venture to Sandown in Victoria, whilst a month later the 13th season of the Cup will conclude at The Bend Motorsport Park in South Australia.

“With our regulations stipulating that we need to compete in three different states in Australia each season, we needed to lock away a Victorian round to complete the trifecta, and we’d worked very hard to establish that round at Phillip Island on a date that wasn’t quite so close to our other confirmed events, but it just wasn’t to be,” Reindler confirmed.

“Regardless, off the back of a very challenging year last year, and with the shadow of the pandemic continuing to hang over us, we think it’s a pretty good compromise and will provide for some great racing on some pretty popular circuits.”

Whilst unable to confirm the final details of the 2021 regulations, Reindler did confirm that he had been in touch with Motorsport Australia about the details of the new-look Cup, with changes to adapt the regulations to suit the addition of both the SR8 and ‘modified’ SR3 entries this year.

“We’re going through all of that now and expect to release those details in the next couple of weeks with a view to ensuring we carry on with the success of the Cup as it was developed in recent years, whilst still allowing those drivers with cars that may have fallen outside Cup regulations in past years an opportunity to come and run with our Series regulars.”