THE return of the Sandown 500 will not include a rebirth of the popular ‘retro round’ theme in 2023.

Sandown is set to feature its once traditional 500km, two-driver race format for the first time since 2019.

RETRO! Seven sensational retro round liveries

Supercars anointed the Sandown 500 as ‘retro round’ in 2016, with teams encouraged to run throwback liveries as part of the marketing effort.

Retro round proved popular with fans and was a fixture for four years before Sandown lost the 500km format for 2020.

Supercars has since added another themed event, Indigenous Round at Hidden Valley, for which livery changes – which are costly for teams – are compulsory.

“It won’t be a retro round,” Supercars CEO Shane Howard confirmed of the Sandown 500, which will not have live free-to-air coverage.

“As the precursor to Bathurst, they’ll be running the same liveries for the Sandown round as what they do for Bathurst.”

EXPLAINED: How Holden’s most iconic livery was born

Teams are of course able to run one-off schemes at any round they choose.

Walkinshaw Andretti United has stolen the show at the Adelaide 500 with a throwback to the early 1990s Holden Racing Team, as Holden is farewelled from Supercars.

Regardless of the retro element, the return of the Sandown 500 is big win for…