{"id":597709,"date":"2026-04-10T10:47:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T10:47:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/597709\/"},"modified":"2026-04-10T10:47:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T10:47:15","slug":"cyclone-vaianu-forces-schedule-change-for-new-zealand-race-timing-weather-alerts-feature-race-time-limited-finish-kiwi-double-header","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/597709\/","title":{"rendered":"Cyclone Vaianu forces schedule change for New Zealand race, timing, weather alerts, feature race, time-limited finish, Kiwi double-header"},"content":{"rendered":"

Supercars has shuffled the schedule for this weekend\u2019s Taup\u014d Super 440 in a bid to escape the impacts of Cyclone Vaianu.<\/p>\n

The category 2 storm is bearing down on New Zealand from the north and is expected to cross the North Island on Sunday, bringing with it intense rainfall and gusts of up to 120 kilometres per hour in the afternoon.<\/p>\n

Supercars had been set to hold its third of three races \u2014 the 200-kilometre feature event \u2014 on Sunday.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

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To try to maximise the weekend, organisers have extended Saturday\u2019s second race to 200 kilometres, ensuring the weekend\u2019s biggest points paying race can be squeezed into the schedule.<\/p>\n

Saturday\u2019s entire running order has been brought forward by half an hour to make space for the longer race, and the top-10 shootout that had been planned to set the grid for the 200-kilometre event has been dropped<\/p>\n

Completing what is effectively a swap between races two and three of the weekend, Sunday\u2019s race has been shortened to 120 kilometres in response and brought forward to 7:45am (AEST).<\/p>\n

The new, shorter Sunday race will be time limited to 73 minutes plus one lap, ensuring that any weather interruptions will not delay packing down the paddock in the intensifying storm, with the sport scheduled to race in Christchurch, on the South Island, next weekend.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have worked very carefully with local authorities to ensure the utmost safety for our fans, teams and all stakeholders throughout recent days,\u201d said Supercars chair Barclay Nettlefold.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile we certainly hope to run the event in full, safety and responsibility are absolutely critical.<\/p>\n

\u201cSupercars will continue monitoring the situation with great caution over the coming days.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ MORE<\/p>\n

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JR TROPHY: Kiwi star braced for \u2018tough\u2019 double-header to defend sought-after Supercars trophy<\/a><\/p>\n

TALKING POINTS: Supercars make big gamble as NZ first under threat; veteran notches mighty milestone<\/a><\/p>\n

Supercars has described Sunday\u2019s schedule as \u201ctentative\u201d and says it will provide regular updates about the final day of running throughout Saturday.<\/p>\n

Other sport in action in New Zealand this weekend has already been rescheduled, with the semi-finals of the Oceania qualifiers for the FIFA Women\u2019s World Cup in Hamilton moved from Sunday to Saturday.<\/p>\n

New Taup\u014d 440 schedule<\/p>\n

All times in AEST<\/p>\n

Saturday<\/p>\n

Qualifying (race 1): 7:45am<\/p>\n

Qualifying (race 2): 8:40am<\/p>\n

Race 1 (120km, 37 laps): 10:25am<\/p>\n

Race 2 (200km, 60 laps): 1:35pm<\/p>\n

Sunday<\/p>\n

Qualifying (race 3): 6:00am<\/p>\n

Race 3 (120km, 37 laps): 7:45am (time-certain finish: 8:58am plus 1 lap)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Supercars has shuffled the schedule for this weekend\u2019s Taup\u014d Super 440 in a bid to escape the impacts…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":597710,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[64,63,689,143243,170032,22757,2057,16271,806,805,803,804,1736,3583,677,158250,291631,291630,40248,85,51349,291632,18251,3586,291633,291634,291628,291629],"class_list":{"0":"post-597709","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-motosport","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-australia-and-new-zealand","11":"tag-borough-of-christchurch","12":"tag-cyclone-warning","13":"tag-dominant-form","14":"tag-europe","15":"tag-final-day","16":"tag-motor","17":"tag-motor-sports","18":"tag-motosport","19":"tag-motosports","20":"tag-new-zealand","21":"tag-northern-europe","22":"tag-oceania","23":"tag-points-paying-race","24":"tag-regular-updates","25":"tag-running-order","26":"tag-ryan-wood","27":"tag-sports","28":"tag-state-of-play","29":"tag-time-certain-finish","30":"tag-title-leader","31":"tag-united-kingdom","32":"tag-utmost-safety","33":"tag-veteran-notches","34":"tag-weather-alerts","35":"tag-weather-interruptions"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597709","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=597709"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597709\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/597710"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=597709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=597709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=597709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}