The V8 Touring Cars National Series will be reborn next year as a standalone category exclusively featuring pre-Car of the Future Supercars.
The announcement comes in the wake of Supercars confirming a change to eligibility rules for its 2023 Dunlop Super2 Series.
From next season, the official second-tier will now comprise only of ZB Commodores and Mustangs handed down from this year’s Repco Supercars Championship, which itself will shift to Gen3 machinery in 2023.
That will see older COTF models – i.e. VF Commodores, FG X Falcons and Altimas (plus the Mercedes E63 and Volvo S60) – headline Super3.
Project Blueprint-specification VE II Commodores and FG Falcons will still be able to compete in Super3 but will now also have the V8 Touring Cars platform as an option.
The Australian Racing Group-owned series will be open to all pre-COTF models.
“We have been well into the planning to re-establish the V8 Touring Cars Series as a standalone entity for some time,” said category manager Liam Curkpatrick.
“This announcement offers competitors with pre-Car of the Future Supercars the best of both worlds: they can compete in Super3 competition alongside the Super2 cars, and they can also race among cars of a similar specification in a standalone category.
“This is essentially the return of the series that grew and evolved into what became Super3 in 2019.
“V8 Touring Cars will have its own calendar, race formats and broadcast package, offering a great place for both young drivers progressing up the ladder or those who just enjoy racing these sensational cars.”
No further details have been disclosed at this stage, but it’s likely V8 Touring Cars will run on ARG SpeedSeries events which are typically headlined by TCR Australia.
Created in 2008, V8 Touring Cars effectively became Super3 in 2019.
It will now branch out on its own once more – but importantly, not at Super3’s expense.
