Bathurst appears to have lost the opportunity to host a second round of the 2020 Supercars Championship at Mount Panorama.
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The championship has been on hold since mid-March, when Supercars aborted its second round at the Australian Grand Prix due to COVID-19 fears.
Supercars has been closely monitoring the situation since then and, in consultation with relevant authorities and its partners, has been working on a revised calendar to allow the championship to continue.
A draft calendar for a further 11 rounds was released last month and mooted a second round at Bathurst in February that would act as the championship finale.
However, it was noted that the schedule was subject to change and now it appears one of those changes will be the loss of the second round on Mount Panorama.
Instead, Supercars is considering other options, including "a series finale under lights at Sydney Motorsport Park in December".
Mayor Bobby Bourke spoke with Supercars on Friday and said the information he had received was that it was too difficult to combine the final round with the 2020 Bathurst 12 Hour, which had been the plan.
"What they have said to me is they're concentrating on the 2020 calendar, which will include Bathurst in October," he said.
"With the restrictions of COVID-19 and teams from overseas, they're just leaving that behind at the moment and concentrating on getting to Bathurst here in October, and then working with council in 2021 to continue the good relationship we have."
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He said he was disappointed, but understood that Supercars was facing unprecedented circumstances and had to adapt very quickly.
"I've become more of a racing fan since I've been on council and seen the great input it has on our economy, and [a second round] would have just been a bit more in our economy in these difficult times we are having," Cr Bourke said.
"But they're a business, they're in a partnership with council and we've got to work together on these, and car racing will continue on Mount Panorama."
