HOLD on to your umbrellas, because New Zealand’s weather may still have some tricks in store for this weekend’s debut of the Supercars Championship at Ruapuna Raceway near Christchurch.
After Tropical Cyclone Vaianu saw the cancellation of Sunday’s on-track activities at Taupō International Motorsport Park, precipitation is expected to play a role over this race weekend.
The full updated schedule for this weekend can be found here.
Curiously, Friday afternoon’s race is listed with a time-certain cut-off of 1 lap after 5:48pm NZST, while sunset for the day is listed as 5:55pm.
The New Zealand MetService is currently predicting partly cloudy conditions on Friday, with a chance of an afternoon shower accompanied by strong winds.
On Saturday, occasional rain is expected to clear in the evening, while rain is expected to develop on Sunday.
With the format for the weekend calling for a sole 45-minute-long practice session, four qualifying sessions, each to be contested in two parts, a lone top-10 shootout on Sunday, with a trio of 120km races leading into Sunday’s 200km Jason Richards Trophy decider, an emphasis will be placed on tyre choice throughout.
Christchurch forecast per NZ MetService (as at 14/04/26)
Friday April 17: Temperatures 11-20 degrees, 1mm+ 60% chance
Saturday April 18: Temperatures 6-19 degrees, 1mm+ 80% chance
Sunday April 19: Temperatures 6-15 degrees, 1mm+ 80% chance
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