The Radical Australia Cup’s 2019 calendar has been announced with the category to hold six rounds across Australia and New Zealand, including a round of the Shannons Nationals.

The category’s 11th season will kick off in February at the iconic Mount Panorama in New South Wales before heading to the state’s capital in March for the first of two rounds at Sydney Motorsport Park.

The category’s second consecutive round at Sydney Motorsport Park in May will be their first and only appearance as part of the 2019 Shannons Nationals schedule. 

The RAC will then head to Phillip Island in June and Tailem Bend in August before heading over to New Zealand in October for the final round of the season.  

Following the 2019 schedule announcement, the category also revealed a change of management with former cup regular Greg Smith resigning from his role in RA Motorsports.

RA Motorsport’s sole Director Chris Medland thanked Smith for all the work he had done behind the scenes of the emerging category. 

“Personally I’d like to thank Greg for all his time and commitment to the development of the category since we first conceived the concept all those years ago,” Medland said. 

“As a passionate businessman and competitor, he was instrumental in pushing the category forward, but all good things must come to an end, and he needs to spend more time on enjoying retirement and his other pursuits.” 

Along with personnel, a new Category Management Agreement with CAMS, the introduction of Hankook as the control tyre supplier and increased involvement from the UK’s Radical factory were all part of the category’s major changes for 2019.

“I’ve just come back from a dealer meeting in the UK and they again reaffirmed their commitment to Australia and ensuring we have all the tools we need to take the sport forward this year,” Medland added.  

“We’ve made a number of changes to the calendar specific to what our drivers were looking for, things like two events at Sydney Motorsport Park - the home circuit of many of the drivers - and more track time at a number of events across the year.

“There was also a lot of excitement around a return to Highlands Motorsport Park which over the last few years proved to be a very popular destination for the drivers. 

“We’re also introducing the new Hankook tyre - which aligns us again with what the rest of the world are doing - and will have the tyre available for all teams to test during the open pit lane session on Gala Day at SMP this Friday, 7 December.”

The opening round of the 2019 Radical Australia Cup will take place at Mount Panorama in Bathurst on 1-2 February, 2019.

2019 Radical Australia Cup

Rnd#1 - 1-2 February - Mount Panorama, Bathurst, New South Wales
Rnd#2 - 1-3 March - Sydney Motorsport Park, New South Wales
Rnd#3 - 17-19 May - Sydney Motorsport Park, New South Wales
Rnd#4 - 28-30 June - Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit, Victoria
Rnd#5 - 23-25 August - The Bend Motorsport Park, South Australia
Rnd#6 - October (TBC) - Highlands Motorsport Park, New Zealand