The Bend Kicks Off 2026 — ADC Returns to Where the X1 Made Its Super Series Debut
Shell V-Power Motorsport Park in South Australia opened the Hyper Racer era in 2024. Two years on, it opens the biggest season yet.
There's something fitting about the 2026 Australian Drivers' Championship season opening where the modern era began.
Shell V-Power Motorsport Park at The Bend — South Australia's sprawling, purpose-built racing complex — was the circuit where the Hyper Racer X1 made its Hi-Tec Oils Super Series debut in 2024. It announced itself emphatically. The high-downforce, Hayabusa-powered machines were spectacularly fast on the flowing 4.95-kilometre circuit, and the racing was intense from the start.
Two seasons later, the ADC returns to open what is its most expansive calendar yet. The March 13–15 round is part of the Hi-Tec Oils Super Series, ensuring live television coverage on SBS, Fox Sports and Kayo for a national audience.
"Our car suits corners," Hyper Racer director Dean Crooke has said, and The Bend provides them in abundance. The West Circuit layout used by the Super Series features sweeping, high-speed sequences that reward both mechanical grip and aerodynamic efficiency — precisely what the X1 was designed around.
For reigning champion Damon Sterling, The Bend is familiar territory. For the new faces in the 2026 field — and the grid is expected to push toward 20-plus cars again — it's a baptism of fire on one of the fastest circuits in the country. Round 1 winners have gone on to take the title before. How 2026 opens at The Bend may well set the tone for everything that follows.