The Melbourne SuperSprint will mark the short-distance debut for the brand new Gen3 cars following their first hit-out in Newcastle three weeks ago.
The Albert Park event will provide a very different test for the cars for a number of reasons.
Firstly it is a very different circuit to the tight confines of the Newcastle streets, with the fast, flowing parklands set to shine a light on aero and engine parity.
Ford did harbour concerns over the parity of its Mustang and the Chevrolet Camaro pre-season, and while early signs in Newcastle were good, Albert Park will be a fresh test regarding parity.
The raceability and activation of the tyres with these new low-downforce cars will also be fascinating to see on this more open circuit.
There will be a focus on pitstops too given there will be no refuelling. That means solutions to wheel nut issues experienced in testing will face the pressure of race conditions.
The round will be split across four sprint races, one on each day from Thursday to Sunday.
For the only time this season there will be two seperate tyre compounds in play with drivers required to use both the super soft and hard compound Dunlops in each race.
Qualifying, meanwhile, will be split across the compounds with the hard compound used to determine the grids for Races 1 and 2 and the hard compound for Races 3 and 4.
When is the Supercars Melbourne SuperSprint?
The Supercars field will hit the Albert Park circuit for practice on Thursday with two half-hour sessions starting at 11:25am AEDT and 1:15pm AEDT.
The grids for Races 1 and 2 are then set by seperate 15-minute qualifying sessions at 2:45pm AEDT and 3:10pm AEDT.
Supercars will then race on Thursday for the first time with a 19-lap race starting at 5:45pm AEDT.
On Friday there is a single race at 2:55pm AEDT before two more qualifying sessions at 9:05am AEDT and 9:30pm AEDT on Saturday. Race 3 then starts at 5:30pm AEDT.
For Sunday the clocks move back an hour with Victoria returning to Australian Eastern Standard Time. The final race of the weekend will start at 10:25am AEST.
Thursday March 30
- 11:25-11:55 Supercars – Practice 1
- 13:15-13:45 Supercars – Practice 2
- 14:45-15:00 Supercars – Qualifying (Race 1)
- 15:10-15:25 Supercars – Qualifying (Race 2)
- 17:45-18:28 Supercars – Race 1
Friday March 31
- 14:55-15:28 Supercars – Race 2
Saturday April 1
- 9:05-9:20 Supercars – Qualifying (Race 3)
- 9:30-9:45 Supercars – Qualifying (Race 4)
- 17:30-17:58 Supercars – Race 3
Sunday April 2
- 10:25-10:53 Supercars – Race 4
How can I watch the Supercars Melbourne SuperSprint?
- Channel: Fox Sports 506, Network 10
Live TV coverage of the Melbourne SuperSprint will be split across primary Supercars broadcaster Fox Sports and Australian Grand Prix rights holder Network 10.
Thursday's action will be exclusively shown on Fox Sports with coverage starting at 11am AEDT.
On Friday both Fox Sports and Network 10 will broadcast Race 2 while on Saturday Fox Sports will show both qualifying sessions and Race 3 (coverage starting at 8:50am AEDT) while Network 10 will only show Race 3 with coverage starting at 10am AEDT.
Both networks will then show the final race of the weekend on Sunday.
Can I stream the Supercars Melbourne SuperSprint?
The Melbourne SuperSprint will be broadcast live on subscription streaming services Foxtel Go and Kayo.
It will also be available on free streaming service 10Play.
Viewers outside of Australia and New Zealand can watch via Supercars' own SuperView service.
