The Newcastle 500 will be axed from this year's Supercars calendar as the sport struggles to deal with the fallout from the coronavirus epidemic.
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Sources have told the Newcastle Herald that the championship's street races, with the possible exception of Townsville, will be missing from a revised Supercars schedule to be released in coming days.
Motorsport website Speedcafe reported on Friday that the Newcastle 500 and Gold Coast 600 would be scrapped.
The cost of setting up the street circuits is expected to be too high to stage the events without fans, as Supercars chief executive officer Sean Seamer reportedly suggested to Channel 7 last month.
The Newcastle event, which was scheduled for early December, would have drawn crowds in the tens of thousands over three days. In past events, fans have crowded beside the track and along walkways, offering little hope of maintaining social distancing.
Supercars management has been talking to state government partners about the changes it wants to make to its calendar.
"We intend to release our draft calendar for the 2020 Virgin Australia Supercars Championship in coming days, following approval from our Board and Commission," Supercars said in a statement to the Newcastle Herald on Friday evening.
"Our draft calendar reflects the current state of federal and state government restrictions and guidelines which are subject to change at any time."
Mr Seamer said last month that the season could go "deep into summer" after restrictions eased.
The Newcastle 500 could have been a farewell for Holden, which is leaving the series after parent company GM announced it was discontinuing the brand.
The Newcastle race started in 2017 and has been embraced by Hunter motorsport fans, though some Newcastle East residents and inner-city businesses have opposed the race and the weeks of disruption it causes.
Members of Newcastle East Residents Group were celebrating on Friday after hearing of the race's demise.
The race's cancellation will be another blow to the Hunter hotel industry, which has reaped a bonanza from the event in the past three years.
Newcastle Airport has also enjoyed bumper passenger numbers around the race weekend.
Supercars is reeling after major sponsor Virgin Australia's decision to enter voluntary administration last month.
Virgin flies race teams around the country to each round.