ALL Repco Supercars Championship entries will be required to adopt an indigenous themed livery for the category’s inaugural Indigenous Round at Darwin’s Hidden Valley Raceway in June.
Supercars has followed the lead of the AFL and NRL football codes in theming a weekend of its competition around celebrating indigenous culture.
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Unlike the themed ‘Retro Round’ that was run at Sandown from 2016 to 2019 that only had some teams take on new colours, getting involved in ‘Indigenous Round’ will be compulsory under Supercars’ 2022 rules.
“For the Official Supercars Indigenous Event (Merlin Darwin Triple Crown), it is compulsory for each Car to have a designated Indigenous themed livery,” reads the Supercars Operations Manual.
“Each Team must submit a complete colour graphic illustration representing the proposed design and colour scheme that the Team intends to use on the Car thirty (30) days prior to the Event for cultural approval / appropriateness.”
A variety of teams and drivers have previously opted to work with indigenous artists to run one-off livery and helmet designs at Hidden Valley over the years.
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In 2021 that included Dick Johnson Racing, which ran a full livery as part of its association with Racing Together, and Triple Eight, which partnered with the Clontarf Foundation to sport a special roof design.
It’s understood that teams won’t have to adopt complete indigenous livery designs in order to comply with the new requirement, with Triple Eight’s example from 2021 a lead others will likely follow.
Last year’s Hidden Valley event was initially slated as the first official Indigenous Round but was instead used to launch the concept for 2022.
That launch included the release of artwork from Territory Larrakia artist Trent Lee, featuring a snake in the shape of the Hidden Valley circuit.
Supercars then COO and now CEO Shane Howard explained at the time that the category is eager to work closely with the local community.
“We are thrilled to be working with the Northern Territory Government, Northern Territory Major Events Company and Larrakia Nation to acknowledge Darwin as the Indigenous Round of the Repco Supercars Championship,” he said.
“Through initiatives such as the Indigenous Round and programmes such as Racing Together, we want to introduce Indigenous people to the event, our sport and the teams, and to work with the local community.”
