National Trans Am Series announces six round title for 2020

The Australian Racing Group has confirmed that a new six-round National Trans Am Series will be held in Australia this year, featuring the V8-powered Trans Am 2 cars.

The move to create a six-round national series has been brought forward after ARG (owners of the Category Management Agreement with Motorsport Australia) and PBR (car importer and promoter of the TA2 Muscle Car Series) determined that each party was best placed to proceed independently.

ARG will provide an exciting, viable national-level Trans Am Series for the current specification TA2 cars that have been racing in Australia in recent years. This includes Hoosier continuing as the control tyre supplier.

The series will kick off at the world-famous Superloop Adelaide 500, followed by four events on the Motorsport Australia Championships at Sydney Motorsport Park, Winton, The Bend and Phillip Island. The inaugural series will conclude at the ARG Bathurst International at Mount Panorama on 13-15 November.

Other than races on the streets of Adelaide, every race will be live and free on Network Seven’s 7Plus live broadcast application, with selected races to be included in the network’s free-to-air live broadcast. This new broadcast deal will also see the likes of TCR Australia, S5000 and the Touring Car Masters receive live and free broadcasting around Australia.

Liam Curkpatrick has been appointed the interim category manager, adding to his leading roles with TCR Australia and the V8 Touring Cars.

The news of the six round national series comes off the back of ARG’s landmark, multi-year agreement with the Trans Am Race Company (TARC) that sees ARG hold the commercial, promotional and marketing rights for all official Trans Am trademarks, including Trans Am (TA) and Trans Am 2 (TA2) both in Australia and New Zealand.

QUOTES

Matt Braid
CEO, Australian Racing Group

“ARG is extremely excited to launch the National Trans Am Series for 2020,” said Matt Braid.

“Without doubt, the original aim was to have an integrated approach between ARG and PBR that would have seen a two-tier series – one for national competitors and one at a state level, providing choice for competitors. While we were close to finalising this arrangement, we eventually agreed that the best way forward was to operate independently..

“Trans Am cars are some of the most exciting race cars that are currently in Australia. They look and sound spectacular, create great racing and they are built with cost in mind.

“It is our goal to give these iconic brands like Mustang, Camaro and the Dodge Challengers the national footprint they deserves, and what better way to kick it off than at the Superloop Adelaide 500.

“Grid sizes will be capped to 32 cars. This is largely dictated by circuit densities, so this will strictly be on a ‘first in, first served’ basis.

“There are already close to 40 eligible cars in the country, and while we understand that there has been a level of uncertainty regarding the category, we firmly believe that a national-level series will be a great step forward for Trans Am competitors.”

CALENDAR

2020 National Trans Am Series  

Round 1 Adelaide 22-23 February
Round 2 Sydney Motorsport Park 28-29 March 
Round 3 Winton 2-3 May 
Round 4 Tailem Bend 13-14 June 
Round 5 Philip Island 22-23 August 
Round 6 Bathurst International 13-15 November