V8 Supercars has unveiled the calendar for the 2013 V8 Supercars Championship.

The new era of the championship under ‘Car of the Future’ regulations will see new machines from Nissan and Erebus/SBR (with their new Mercedes-Benz AMG E Class racers) tackle Holden and Ford.

The calendar was unveiled in New Zealand today to coincide with the unveiling of plans for a $6.6 million upgrade to Pukekohe Park Raceway, which will return to the schedule for the first time since 2007 on April 12-14, 2013.

A total of 16 events have been listed (including the Australian Grand Prix event at Albert Park) with the Clipsal 500 to again kick off the racing season at the end of February/start of March.

The official pre-season test day will be held at Sydney Motorsport Park at Eastern Creek on Saturday February 16 after being held at Sandown this year, though the Western Sydney circuit does not have a race event next year after its one-off return in 2012.

V8 Supercars says it will continue to work with Sydney Motorsport Park on future events.

“It’s a very exciting calendar with a fantastic two month climax to the season,” says V8 Supercars CEO David Malone.

“As a sport we are ultimately aiming for consistency of events year on year and largely we have achieved this in what is a very complex process.

“We are very happy with the way 2013 shapes up for the fans, the teams, sponsors, Government partners, our broadcast partners and the sport.”

V8 Supercars will announce the race formats and distances for next season at a later date.

Among the key points of the 2013 schedule announced today:

*    Phillip Island’s event moves from May to November and after being the ‘Phillip Island 300’ this season, it will become the ‘Phillip Island 400’ in 2013.

*    There will be three international events. Pukekohe in New Zealand returns while the Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas, will debut in May. The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix event is the third international component of the 2013 schedule.

*    There will be a four-week gap between Sandown and Bathurst as opposed to the gap of three in 2012. This also means the date for the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 pushes into mid-October, to be held October 10-13.

*    The Gold Coast event also moves a week later, which now places it in the last weekend of October.

*    Moving the Gold Coast back a week also avoids a date clash with a range of series. The final round of the IndyCar Series at Auto Club Speedway in California will be on Saturday October 19 next year, while the FIA World Endurance Championship will compete at Fuji in Japan on October 20.

*    Teams will head straight from the Gold Coast event to the Abu Dhabi event a week later, placing an emphasis on not damaging cars on the concrete-lined streets in Queensland and/or having spare cars ready for the overseas trip.

*    There will be two-day race meetings at Queensland Raceway in July and Phillip Island in November. This follows the same format as used this year at Sydney Motorsport Park.

The 2013 V8 Supercars Calendar