This year’s Bathurst 1000 will double as a season-finale for the 2020 Supercars championship.

Supercars revealed a revised calendar for the year on Monday with the iconic Mount Panorama endurance race to be the final event on the calendar.

The Bathurst 1000 will be held on October 18, a week later than originally scheduled.

It means the planned event at Melbourne’s Sandown circuit joins the Gold Coast and Newcastle on the scrap heap, in what has been a year heavily affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Supercars chief executive Sean Seamer said the decision was made to allow Victorian-based teams to return home after having been on the road since early July.

“We looked at all options beyond Bathurst as well as the best options for our Victorian teams, who will have been on the road for over 100 days by the completion of the event,” Seamer said.

“Getting those drivers, team personnel and officials’ home to loved ones was at the forefront of this decision.”

In addition to the revised Bathurst dates, Supercars will have back-to-back weekends at The Bend in South Australia as the penultimate events before season finale.

Two SuperSprint events will be held on September 19-20 and on September 26-27.

Organisers are expecting fans to be able to attend both events and The Bend managing director Sam Shahin said his facility was looking forward to the challenge of hosting races on consecutive weekends.

“The task is now in front of us to put on the best events possible in September, essentially cramming what normally takes six months of planning into three weeks, but we love a challenge,” Shahin said.

Ford’s Scott McLaughlin holds a 123-point lead in the standings following last weekend’s event in Townsville as he pursues a third-consecutive championship.

Holden star Jamie Whincup is his nearest rival after winning two of the three races at the Reid Park street circuit in Townsville.