The Pitcher Partners #Sydney300 is less than a fortnight away, and organisers have quietly revealed the on-track schedule for the biggest event of the MRA season, via the official series website.
For the third year running, the event will commence with unofficial practice on the Friday night.
Entries for this ‘Open Pit Lane’ session are limited (competitors will receive more information on how/when to enter in due course).
For those competitors who do register for the four-hour session, circuit gates will open at 5:30pm*, with cars on the Sydney Motorsport Park circuit from 6:30-10:30pm AEST.
*For those competitors only running on Saturday, entry into the precinct will be permitted from 7:30pm AEST.
On race day, on-track activity will commence at 8:30am AEST, with qualifying for three of the four support categories – Clubman Championship, VRA Alfa Romeo Racing/BMW E36 Race Series (combined field), and the Mazda MX5 Cup.
For those categories, their on-track schedule consists of a 15-minute qualifying session, ahead of three sprint races, that’ll run for durations of 15, 17 and 20 minutes (time-certain) respectively, with the clock ticking down from when the cars are released from the marshalling area.
Sunset is due at 5:22pm on race day, meaning the Clubman Championship will run their third race in the twilight, while all other support categories will finish their program under lights.
Endurance racing returns to the support bill of the Pitcher Partners Sydney 300 for the first time since 2019, when Series X3 NSW stages the inaugural Jeremy Hodges Motorsport Memorial Cup – their third event of season 2024.
The two 60-minute races are dedicated to the former Excel racer, who was farewelled last Friday in Forbes, after tragically passing away a month ago.
Their on-track schedule commences late Saturday morning, with a 30-minute qualifying session, continues mid-afternoon with Race 1, and concludes under lights, as the curtain-raiser to the main event.
Speaking of the main event, the race day format and structure for the 5th running of the Pitcher Partners Sydney 300 is identical to that of last year, but the timings of those on-track practice, qualifying, and race sessions has changed slightly.
For the third straight year, the full field will be split into two groups for timed practice. There’ll be two sessions for each group, they’ll run back-to-back, and they’ll be 20 minutes apiece.
Practice 1 is scheduled for 9:30am, while Practice 2 follows the lunch break, at 12:55pm.
After being a sunset spectacular in 2023, three-part knockout qualifying will be run slightly earlier in 2024, with the first session set to commence straight after the opening Series X3 NSW race, just before 4pm AEST.
For the fourth year in succession, the main event will be a Saturday night affair, with the race start scheduled for (approximately) 7:30pm AEST – following a short dinner break for MRA’s dedicated team of volunteer trackside officials.
As always, if you’re looking to venture trackside, to enjoy one of the great spectacles in grassroots motorsport, spectator entry is FREE.
NB: The on-track schedule is subject to change, and we’ll advise of any changes or updates closer to the event.
EVENT INFO: https://motorrace.com.au/event/2024-round-2/
ENTRIES CLOSE: Next Monday (10am AEST).
