2020 Supercars Darwin Triple Crown session times and preview

It's been another dramatic build-up to an event for the Aussie series, which was forced to postpone the opening leg of the Darwin double-header thanks to a last-minute border restriction that saw a number of staff and drivers put into hotel quarantine upon arriving in Darwin last Wednesday. 

NT health officials later revoked the Brisbane hot spot declaration and the affected staff were released from quarantine, however by then the Darwin Triple Crown had already been pushed back to August 15-16.

The polarising mixed compound tyre rules will be retained for the first leg of the Darwin double, however a tweak will mean drivers will be restricted to the hard compound tyre for the three-stage qualifying on Saturday.

Tyre choice will then be open for all three races and Sunday's two qualifying sessions, with just two sets of soft compound Dunlops and three sets of hards available from the end of practice onwards.

The races will be shorter than we've seen since the resumption of the season, too, with each heat just 110 kilometres.

All three will feature a mandatory stop for at least two tyres. Having the hard and soft compound on the car at the same time is not allowed.

McLaughlin heads into the round with a healthy 107-point series lead over Jamie Whincup.

2020 Supercars Darwin Triple Crown session times

Saturday 15th August 2020

• Rookie Session: 10:40-11:00 AEST (10:10-10:30 local)
• Practice 1: 11:20-11:50 AEST (10:50-11:20 local) 
• Practice 2: 12:20-12:50 AEST (11:50-12:20 local)
• Qualifying 1: 13:35-13:45 AEST (13:05-13:15 local)
• Qualifying 2: 13:50-14:00 AEST (13:20-13:30 local)
• Top 15 Shootout: 14:10-14:50 AEST (13:40-14:20 local) 
• Race 1: 16:00-16:47 AEST (15:30-16:17 local)

Sunday 16th August 2020

• Qualifying Race 2: 12:10-12:20 AEST (11:40-11:50 local)
• Qualifying Race 3: 12:25-12:35 AEST (11:55-12:05 local) 
• Race 2: 13:50-14:37 AEST (13:20-14:07 local)
• Race 3: 16:00-16:47 AEST (15:30-16:17 local)

2020 Supercars Darwin Triple Crown tyre allocation

Each driver will start the weekend with four pre-marked tyres (either compound), 16 soft compound tyres and 12 hard compound tyres.

At the end of Practice 2 the four pre-marked tyres and eight of the soft compound tyres need to be returned to Dunlop.

That will leave each driver with eight soft tyres and 12 hard tyres for the remainder of the weekend.

2020 Darwin Triple Crown entry list

Num	Driver	Team	Car
2	Bryce Fullwood	Mobil 1™ Middy's Racing	Holden Commodore ZB
3	Macauley Jones	Team Cooldrive	Holden Commodore ZB
4	Jack Smith	SCT Logistics Racing	Holden Commodore ZB
5	Lee Holdsworth	Truck Assist Tekno Racing	Ford Mustang GT
6	Cameron Waters	Tickford Racing	Ford Mustang GT
7	Andre Heimgartner	NED Racing	Ford Mustang GT
8	Nick Percat	Brad Jones Racing	Holden Commodore ZB
9	David Reynolds	Penrite Racing	Holden Commodore ZB
12	Fabian Coulthard	DJR Team Penske	Ford Mustang GT
14	Todd Hazelwood	Brad Jones Racing	Holden Commodore ZB
15	Rick Kelly	Castrol Racing	Ford Mustang GT
17	Scott McLaughlin	DJR Team Penske	Ford Mustang GT
18	Mark Winterbottom	Irwin Racing	Holden Commodore ZB
19	Alex Davison	Team Sydney	Holden Commodore ZB
20	Scott Pye	Team 18	Holden Commodore ZB
22	Chris Pither	Team Sydney	Holden Commodore ZB
25	Chaz Mostert	Mobil 1™ Appliances Online Racing	Holden Commodore ZB
34	Zane Goddard	Matt Stone Racing	Holden Commodore ZB
35	Garry Jacobson	Matt Stone Racing	Holden Commodore ZB
44	James Courtney	Boost Mobile Racing	Ford Mustang GT
55	Jack Le Brocq	Tickford Racing	Ford Mustang GT
88	Jamie Whincup	Triple Eight Race Engineering	Holden Commodore ZB
97	Shane van Gisbergen	Triple Eight Race Engineering	Holden Commodore ZB
99	Anton De Pasquale	Penrite Racing	Holden Commodore ZB
View full results