Supercars has shuffled the schedule for this weekend’s Taupō Super 440 in a bid to escape the impacts of Cyclone Vaianu.

Today would have been the opening day of practice for the Bahrain Grand Prix, the first leg of a Middle Eastern double-header with Saudi Arabia.

This is a historic weekend for the sport as Supercars heads for back-to-back weekend’s racing in New Zealand for the first time.

Grant Denyer has been slammed over a horror Bathurst crash that left a driver with a broken spine, as a furious teammate accused the TV star of downplaying the incident.

McLaren has poached Max Verstappen’s race engineer to safeguard against championship-winning team principal Andrea Stella leaving for Ferrari, according to reports.