Motorsport: 16-round calendar for Supercars next year?

Scott Pye leads a pack during race 13 for the Townsville 400. Photo / Getty Images

A 16-round Supercars calendar for 2018 is on the cards with the series all but certain to expand with two additional events.

The non-championship Australian Grand Prix round has already been confirmed as a point-scoring event next year while the championship is likely to take in at least one other round.

One likely option is to take a second round to South Australia with the emergence of the new Bend Raceway in Tailem Bend - 100km south-east of Adelaide.

Other possible options are the push into the Asian market with the Sepang circuit in Malaysia showing interest having lost its Formula 1 round while a support race at the Singapore Grand Prix could also be an option.

"It will absolutely be 15 events and maybe 16 which will include Tailem Bend," Supercars CEO James Warburton told Speedcafe.com.

"It depends on where things get to, there are 15 events, there are international events and there is Tailem Bend.

"In all honesty we have just got to work through it over the next couple of months.

"We are well and truly advanced with all the options and they will land or they won't over the next weeks."

Earlier this week Supercars signed off on a contract extension for Queensland Raceway, where the next round of the championship will be held at the end of the month.

The Herald understands a deal with ATEED - Auckland Council's events arm - is imminent around an extension to the contract to race in New Zealand. The current contract expires after this year's event at Pukekohe Park Raceway but a continuation of the agreement is likely.

Of the existing rounds Winton (rural Victoria), Phillip Island and Sydney Motorsport Park remain with some uncertainty. Winton signed a new three-year deal last year but it was under the condition of local government funding and a decision will be known by the end of next month if it will be approved or not. Phillip Island is entering the final year of its contract next season and has struggled to attract crowds despite it being arguably the best track on the calendar while there has been talk about turning the Sydney round into a non-competition Big Bash-style event under lights to attract bigger crowds.