ONE epic race, two coveted trophies - for the first time in 20 years the Bathurst 1000 will also act as the season finale of the Supercars championship.
The change to the Supercars calendar was confirmed on Sunday evening, as was a date change for this year's edition of the Great Race - it will now be held on October 18.
That is a week later than it was originally scheduled (October 8-11), and it will follow on from next weekend's Townsville SuperSprint plus a double-header to be staged at Tailem Bend.
Six-time Bathurst 1000 victor and now Supercars commentator Mark Skaife, speaking on Supercars Trackside, said it was good that teams now have clarity over the rest of the 2020 season.
"The biggest thing for me is that Bathurst event, I mean it is our Holy Grail. It's the traditional stop-the-nation day in Australian sport and we needed to make sure that was always going to be conjured up in a time frame that worked for the teams," Skaife said.
"So to put it back one week, I know there is a little bit of hostility around not being able to announce yet until today. But at the end of the day, it is the grand final and that's really important."
The last time Bathurst acted as the Supercars season finale was in season 2000, with the Great Race held on November 19 that year.
Skaife was crowned the championship winner that afternoon while Garth Tander and Jason Bargwanna came from 10th on the grid to win the Bathurst 1000 in the Garry Rogers Motorsport Holden Commodore VT.
That year the championships consisted of 13 rounds, while this year's spans 11.
At the conclusion of Sunday's round at Townsville, 21 races had been staged in the 2020 Supercars championship thus far. The Bathurst 1000 will be race number 33.
