2022 Supercars Perth SuperNight session times and preview

Supercars was unable to make its annual trip across the Nullarbor for the past two years due to WA's strict approach to COVID-19 control.

The state was ultra-protective of its border throughout the pandemic, using it as a barrier to the rest of the country to effectively live a normal life without lengthy lockdowns or social distancing measures.

The trade-off, however, was heavily restricted travel in and out for the best part of two years, which prevented Supercars from racing there in 2020 and 2021.

It was only March this year that WA fully opened its borders to the rest of the country, which has facilitated the return of the Perth SuperNight to the Supercars schedule.

The Perth SuperNight will be a rapid-fire, two-day meeting consisting of three 110-kilometre races, the first of which will be under lights.

Saturday's action will start with two half-hour practice sessions ahead of a three-part knock-out qualifying session to determine the grid for the opener.

That race will then kick off at 6:40pm local time.

On Sunday there will be two 12-minute, all-in qualifying sessions to determine the grids for the second and third races, which will take place in the afternoon.

All three races will feature a single mandatory pitstop for at least two tyres.

Dunlop's soft compound control tyre will be in action across the weekend, with each driver limited to five new sets from the beginning of Saturday's qualifying session.

Tyre degradation will be somewhat of an unknown this weekend given there's been a two-year break in racing.

The notoriously rough surface was replaced with new bitumen ahead of the 2019 Perth round, however the Supercars crews haven't seen it since then and it has consistently been used for state-level racing.

If the degradation is at the higher end of the scale, Shane van Gisbergen will be favourite to rack up his first win at the Wanneroo circuit.

The series leader is not only in fine form regarding pace, but has a knack of making the tyres on his Triple Eight Holden last without sacrificing speed.

The Ford teams, meanwhile, will be looking to snap a winless streak that extends back to Sydney Motorsport Park last November.

Dick Johnson Racing did enjoy a run of form in the west between 2017 and 2019 when Scott McLaughlin won five of six races and the other went to Fabian Coulthard.

Van Gisbergen heads to Perth holding a 144-point lead over Anton De Pasquale and Chaz Mostert.

2022 Supercars Perth SuperNight session times

All times local (GMT +8)

Friday April 29

11:15-11:35 Historic Touring Cars – Practice
11:45-12:05 Radical Cup – Practice 1
12:15-12:35 V8 SuperUtes – Practice
12:50-13:30 Super2/Super3 – Practice 1
13:45-14:05 Historic Touring Cars – Qualifying
14:15-14:35 Radical Cup – Practice 2
14:45-15:05 V8 SuperUtes – Qualifying
15:20-16:00 Super2/Super3 – Practice 2

Saturday April 30

10:20-10:50 Supercars – Practice 1
11:05-11:20 Historic Touring Cars – Race 1
11:30-12:00 Radical Cup – Qualifying
12:15-12:45 Supercars – Practice 2
13:00-13:20 V8 SuperUtes – Race 1
13:30-13:45 Historic Touring Cars – Race 2
14:00-14:25 Super2/Super3 – Qualifying (Race 1)
14:40-15:52 Supercars – Qualifying Part 1
14:57-15:07 Supercars – Qualifying Part 2
15:12-15:22 Supercars – Qualifying Part 3
15:45-16:30 Radical Cup – Race 1
16:40-17:05 V8 SuperUtes – Race 2
17:20-17:50 Super2/Super3 – Race 1
18:40-19:38 Supercars – Race 1

Sunday May 1

8:10-8:25 Historic Touring Cars – Race 3
8:40-9:05 Super2/Super3 – Qualifying (Race 2)
9:20-9:32 Supercars – Qualifying (Race 2)
9:42-9:54 Supercars – Qualifying (Race 3)
10:20-11:05 Radical Cup – Race 2
11:15-11:35 V8 SuperUtes – Race 3
12:05-13:03 Supercars – Race 2
13:20-13:40 Historic Touring Cars – Race 4
13:50-14:10 V8 SuperUtes – Race 4
14:25-14:55 Super2/Super3 – Race 2
15:45-16:43 Supercars – Race 3