Supercars 2019: Drivers, tickets, liveries, calendar, news, standings and how to watch

The twenty-first running of the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship is set to be the best yet.

The 2018 season was a ding-dong battle between two Kiwis, with Scott McLaughlin and Shane van Gisbergen inseparable until the season's final chequered flag fell. The honours went to McLaughlin, who claimed his maiden title 12 months after losing out in the most dramatic circumstances.

Tension built up between the top teams in 2018, with Shell V-Power Racing and Red Bull Holden going blow for blow all year. Tickford had their moments, and the Kelly Nissans showed glimpses of pace. However, it ended up being a battle between two.

Expect the 2019 championship, though, to be different. The Mustang has the makings to push the ZB Commodore package, which enjoyed lengthy stints of dominance in 2018. If anything, that was a reflection of how good McLaughlin was - of 11 race wins for Ford in 2018, McLaughlin won nine, and he also took all 13 poles for the Falcon.

Looking for everything you need to know about the 2019 Supercars Championship? Sporting News has you covered this season.

SUPERCARS 2019: DRIVERS & TEAMS

FROSTY IN A HOLDEN

There were changes aplenty for 2019, none bigger than Mark Winterbottom's switch from Ford to Holden. The 2015 series champion left Tickford after 13 years with the team, and linked up with Charlie Schwerkolt to drive an IRWIN-backed Commodore in 2019. In a straight swap of sorts, Winterbottom was replaced by Lee Holdsworth, who will drive a Ford for the first time since 2012.

RED BULL POACH GRM REFUGEE TANDER

The biggest bombshell was Garth Tander's exit from Garry Rogers Motorsport, with Richie Stanaway leaving Tickford to take up the No. 33 seat. Triple Eight wasted no time in poaching Tander for the enduros, with the three-time Bathurst winner to share the No. 97 with Shane van Gisbergen.

ROOKIES AND RETIREMENTS

There will be two full-time rookies in 2019, down from five in 2018. Macauley Jones (Brad Jones Racing) and Garry Jacobson (Kelly Racing) jump from Super2 into the main game. Both have had prior experience in the enduros, while Jones has also run at select events as a wildcard in previous seasons. Jacobson replaces Michael Caruso, with the latter picking up an enduro seat in Cameron Waters' Monster Mustang. There were two retirements after 2018 - Craig Lowndes and Tim Blanchard gave up their full-time careers, but both will return as co-drivers with Triple Eight and Brad Jones Racing respectively.

SUPERCARS 2019: CALENDAR

The biggest change to the calendar is the switch between the Sandown and Pukekohe events. Traditionally the precursor to Bathurst, the Sandown 500 - moved to November to avoid clashing with the AFL and NRL finals series - will not only close the Pirtek Enduro Cup, but will serve as the penultimate round of the season. With Sandown taking the early November slot, the Pukekohe event is now the final hitout before the Bathurst 1000, which will open the enduro season.

The Sydney Motorsport Park event - which proved a major hit under lights last season - was canned for 2019. However, there are plans to see the circuit host an event in 2020 in a mooted 'summer series' format. The night format survived, and is now in the hands of a resurfaced Barbagallo Wannaroo Raceway. The Perth SuperNight will be a ripper, no doubt.

The 2019 season is also scheduled to see the running of the 1000th Australian Touring Car Championship race, which is due to be contested at the Melbourne 400.

SUPERCARS 2019: HOW TO WATCH & TICKETS

All practice, qualifying and races of the 2019 championship will be shown LIVE on FOX SPORTS in 2019. The broadcaster is into the fifth year of its deal with Supercars. It will also be streamed LIVE on Kayo.  Kayo will take every session of the FOX telecast live and on-demand. It will also provide three different camera modes which are able to be viewed simultaneously in splitscreen.

Fans in New Zealand can watch on  SKY GO. 

You can also catch every qualifying session and race in 2019 LIVE with SuperView.

The Ten Network will show seven LIVE events in 2019, up from six in 2018. Remaining events are shown delayed on 10 or 10 Bold.

Get your event tickets at Ticketek. Kids 12 and under go trackside FREE at all Supercars events.

SUPERCARS 2019: LIVERIES

The hype for a new season begins with the cars. What will they look like in new colours? Which sponsors will return? Which teams will get new backers? What about new drivers? 2019 has had all of the above.

Triple Eight were the first to take the covers off their new challenger, with Red Bull onboard as naming rights backer for a seventh season. It was a different story altogether for Walkinshaw Andretti United, who lost their Boost Mobile backing and immediately replaced it with MEGA Fuels colours. Boost Mobile, meanwhile, heads across to Garry Rogers Motorsport.

However, the big change for the 2019 season is the introduction of the Mustang, with the Falcon farewelling the sport after nearly six decades of success. Tickford were the first to uncover a liveried Mustang, with Cameron Waters and Monsters together for a fourth season. Shell V-Power Racing didn't opt for wholesale changes to their paint-job, while Tickford - and new partners 23Red - ensured the Mustang's unique body shape was given justice by some striking colours.

SUPERCARS 2019: STANDINGS

SUPERCARS 2019: NEWS

WELCOMING THE MUSTANG

After being confirmed to make an official return to the sport, Ford officially kicked off 2019 in unveiling their Mustang program. Within weeks, all cars had been unveiled, and all teams took to Phillip Island for the official pre-season test.

PRE-SEASON TEST

At the flowing grand prix circuit, if there was any indication that the new-for-2019 Mustang was on the pace, seeing all six of them in the top 10 by day's end would have pleased Ford fans. The honours went to Cameron Waters, who put down a 1:30.7265 after the chequered flag fell in a session that began after 9am. The 24-year-old's last-ditch effort was enough to beat Shell V-Power Racing pilot Fabian Coulthard by just 0.0118 seconds.

SUMMER SERIES

After reports emerged last year of a potential 'summer series', Supercars boss Sean Seamer opened up on the developments. He said there were plans to release the 2020 calendar as early as June this year. In a move to shift away from the popular football codes - NRL and AFL - that dominate the winter, Seamer said Supercars is keen to run more rounds during the Australian summer from 2020. Sydney Motorsport Park - which hosted a popular night event in 2018, but was left off the 2019 calendar - will host a 2020 event, which is expected to be season-opener as early as January. Those plans crept closer to reality when the NSW state government confirmed a $33 million investment, which will allow for the construction of 150 permanent light towers around the Sydney circuit.

MUSTANGS, MCLAUGHLIN OWN ADELAIDE

Adelaide opened the new season, and Mustang was the word on everyone's lips. Anton de Pasquale topped opening practice, but from there, it was all about Shell V-Power Racing and their two Kiwi stars. Scott McLaughlin was the favourite to grab pole after finishing on top in Friday qualifying, but it was teammate Fabian Coulthard that emerged fastest in Saturday's shootout. Earlier in the day, Macauley Jones escaped injury when the brakes in his CoolDrive Commodore failed, pitching him into a high speed accident at turn nine. By day's end, McLaughlin cruised to his first victory on the streets of Adelaide, with the reigning series champion beating home Jamie Whincup by over 12 seconds. It was much of the same on Sunday, McLaughlin completing a clean sweep after taking pole. However, Cameron Waters - after suffering a cool suit failure on Saturday - drove to second, with Shane van Gisbergen finishing third for the second time in as many days. The pace of the Mustang concerned Triple Eight boss Roland Dane, who suggested the new-for-2019 model has an 'unfair advantage'.

PIT LANE TRIAL FOR PHILLIP ISLAND

In the effort to ease congestion in the pits, Supercars will trial closing the lane under the safety car. The trial - which was agreed on by the Supercars Commission in December - will be undertaken at April's Phillip Island SuperSprint. Tickford boss and Supercars Commission member Tim Edwards is in support of the Phillip Island trial, but is in "two schools of thought" - "You've got to remember we are in show-business, so you've got to be a bit careful sanitising it too much," he said.

CHRISTCHURCH TRAGEDY HANGS OVER ALBERT PARK WEEKEND

49 lives were lost in a mass shooting at mosques in Christchurch in mid-March, with New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern marking it as "one of New Zealand's darkest days". An emotional Scott McLaughlin dedicated his Friday victory in the opening leg of the Melbourne 400 to his home town, before backing it up in the Saturday morning sprint race - which was also the 1000th ATCC/VASC race. "Me and [teammate Fabian Coulthard] are Kiwis, I'm from Christchurch originally... I send big love to them over there. It's a small town, it's hard to believe something so bad could happen there, but they'll work through it," McLaughlin said. McLaughlin won the final race of the weekend, but he failed to register a clean sweep when he was caught up in a bizarre pre-race bingle with Cameron Waters ahead of race 5. As both drivers missed the start, Chaz Mostert went on to win, and later sealed the Larry Perkins Trophy.

HOLDEN FIGHTS BACK AT SYMMONS PLAINS

It took eight races, but Holden finally broke its winless drought in 2019 following Shane van Gisbergen's Sunday masterclass in Tasmania. A day earlier, Mark Winterbottom broke through for his first pole in nearly three years, and helped Charlie Schwerkolt's small team to its first ever pole. Scott McLaughlin continued on his winning ways on the Saturday, leading home a Shell V-Power Racing 1-2, but it was all van Gisbergen on Sunday, with the 2016 champion taking pole and victory as Holden ended its wait for top spot.

WHINCUP'S STRUGGLES CONTINUE AS DJRTP DOMINATES THE ISLAND

Scott McLaughlin led home a Shell V-Power Racing 1-2 on the Saturday at Phillip Island, and Fabian Coulthard flipped the narrative on the Sunday. While McLaughlin took win number seven for 2019, Coulthard's was his first of the season, and first in 11 months since Winton in May 2018. Andre Heimgartner and Anton de Pasquale broke through for podiums, but Jamie Whincup endured a second-straight weekend of struggles. After toiling away at Symmons Plains, Whincup's Phillip Island weekend was a shocker, and was lowlighted by a Saturday DNF when his wheel came off following a botched pitstop.

PARITY ON THE AGENDA FOLLOWING CENTRE OF GRAVITY TEST

In the wake of Ford's dominant start to the 2019 season, Supercars ratified centre of gravity (COG) tweaks to both the Mustang and Holden Commodore. Ford's new-for-2019 Mustang has claimed all six poles and six race wins so far this season, with reigning series champion Scott McLaughlin leading the championship. Following complaints by rival teams that the Mustang held a COG and aerodynamic advantage, Supercars conducted a COG test ahead of April's Tasmania SuperSprint. It was confirmed that, after approval from the Supercars Commission, Ford and Holden teams have been advised to add the changes to their cars, while the Nissan Altima will remain unchanged. The Mustang had previously met Supercars' minimum weight requirement, but it had to carry more ballast than its predecessor, the FG X Falcon. However, the test proved both the Mustang and Commodore had COG advantages over the Altima - and Ford teams happily yet hesitantly got on with the changes. Following the Tasmania round, WAU co-owner Ryan Walkinshaw was candid in his criticism of the drama: "If you don't want to be a parity series, go and watch Formula 1". When Supercars confirmed aero changes, Ford said it was "disappointed" but was committed to doing its "talking on the track". Supercars legend Craig Lowndes sympathised with Ford fans, and said Supercars was in a "no-win situation" in confirming the changes.