2022 Supercars Sydney SuperNight session times and preview

The Eastern Creek circuit will host what will effectively be its fifth from six consecutive Supercars rounds, following the unprecedented quadruple header last October/November.

Like the quadruple header, SMP's slot as the 2022 season opener is related to the pandemic. An Omicron outbreak on Australia's east coast forced Supercars to postpone the Newcastle 500, which was meant to open the season, and replace it with the Sydney SuperNight.

Returning to SMP means there's a relatively recent form guide to go off for the opener.

The unique Sydney layout, with its long corners and rough surface, suited the Dick Johnson Racing Fords last year, Anton De Pasquale taking seven of the 14 poles on offer during the Sydney swing and winning five races.

As a result he'll head into the season opener as one of the outright favourites to take an early points lead.

Reigning champion Shane van Gisbergen is another of the favourites, despite the Triple Eight Holdens traditionally not being as well suited to the SMP layout.

Erebus pair Will Brown and Brodie Kostecki will be in the hunt for the opener based on their impressive form during the Sydney swing last year.

There are, however, question marks over how the likes of Walkinshaw Andretti United and Tickford Racing will fare at the opener.

Both Chaz Mostert and Cam Waters are expected to be title contenders this season, however both struggled for consistency in Sydney last year.

Waters pointed out early this week that returning to Sydney will give his Tickford squad a good idea if they've turned a corner on set-up during the off-season.

Two drivers will make their full-time debuts in Supercars this weekend; Broc Feeney at Triple Eight (as a replacement for seven-time champ Jamie Whincup) and Thomas Randle at Tickford Racing.

As for off-season changes there has been plenty of movement. Nick Percat and Bryce Fullwood effectively swapped places at Walkinshaw Andretti United and Brad Jones Racing, as did Jake Kostecki and Jack Le Brocq at Tickford and Matt Stone Racing.

Andre Heimgartner moved from Grove Racing to BJR, while Lee Holdsworth returned from a year out of a full-time seat to partner David Reynolds at GR.

Todd Hazelwood returns to MSR, the team he debuted with back in 2018, while Chris Pither replaces Fabian Coulthard at what was previously known as Team Sydney, but is now PremiAir Racing.

The Sydney SuperNight will be contested over two 300-kilometre races each with three compulsory stops for tyres and fuel.

The tyre allocation is split across the soft and super soft compound Dunlops, with both compounds required to be used in each race.

That, of course, is unless races are declared wet, which is highly likely based on current forecast for Eastern Creek for the weekend.

Track action kicks off with practice on Friday, before qualifying, a Top 10 Shootout and a race on both Saturday and Sunday.

2022 Supercars Sydney SuperNight session times

All times local (GMT +11)

Friday March 4

11:55-12:15 Aussie Racing Cars – Practice
12:25-12:45 Toyota 86s – Practice 1
13:05-13:55 Super2/Super3 – Practice 1
14:05-14:25 Touring Car Masters – Practice
15:15-15:55 Supercars – Practice 1
16:10-16:30 Toyota 86s – Practice 2
16:40-17:20 Super2/Super3 – Practice 2
17:35-17:55 Aussie Racing Cars – Race 1
18:10-18:50 Supercars – Practice 2
19:05-19:25 Touring Car Masters – Qualifying

Saturday March 5

12:25-12:45 Toyota 86s – Qualifying
12:55-13:15 Aussie Racing Cars – Race 2
13:25-13:45 Touring Car Masters – Trophy Race
14:00-14:10 Super3 – Qualifying
14:15-14:25 Super2 – Qualifying
14:45-15:00 Supercars – Qualifying
15:20-15:40 Aussie Racing Cars – Race 3
15:50-16:10 Touring Car Masters – Race 1
16:30-17:10 Supercars – Top 10 Shootout
17:20-17:40 Toyota 86s – Race 1
17:50-18:20 Super2/Super3 – Race 1
19:10 Supercars – Race 1

Sunday March 6

8:00-8:20 Touring Car Masters – Race 2
8:30-8:55 Toyota 86s – Race 2
9:05-9:15 Super3 – Qualifying
9:20-9:30 Super2 – Qualifying
9:45-10:05 Aussie Racing Cars – Race 4
10:15-10:35 Touring Car Masters – Race 3
10:50-11:05 Supercars – Qualifying
11:30-11:50 Toyota 86s – Race 3
12:05-12:45 Supercars – Top 10 Shootout
13:15-13:45 Super2/Super3 – Race 2
14:30 Supercars – Race 2