Farms, boot camps and dogs at press conferences – preparation for the Supercars’ Sydney Supersprint has certainly been different.

Racing returns this weekend to the Eastern Creek circuit, which three weeks ago hosted the first Supercars race in four months.

Plans for this round to be staged at Winton in northern Victoria were thrown into chaos due to another COVID-19 outbreak in Melbourne.

Border restrictions will force all teams to relocate to Queensland after Sunday’s second race in Sydney to ensure the season continues as planned in Darwin next month.

It is just another hurdle for veteran Rick Kelly to overcome after his team shifted its operations to southern New South Wales after Melbourne went back into coronavirus lockdown.

“We were very fortunate to have the family farm (just north of) Mildura to house the cars in the tractor shed,” the Ford ace said.

“We’ve got the 63,000 acre property there. My teammate Andre (Heimgartner) is a really fit guy and he ran a training camp for the team.

“We’ve got a lot of crew from all around the world at Kelly Racing so they’ve never seen the outback and experienced other parts of Australia.”

On a high after last month notching up his first win in more than four years, Holden’s Nick Percat has been joined on the road by his dog Nelson.

“We’re like gypsies now, we don’t have a home to go, we’re just touring around the nation together so it’s a bit of fun,” Percat said.

The 31-year-old is determined to back up his victory in the second of three races of the last round in Sydney that was ultimately dominated by two-time defending champion Scott McLaughlin.

The Ford flyer came away with two wins to build a 49-point series lead ahead of Red Bull Holden legend Jamie Whincup.

It seems no one can stop McLaughlin’s charge to a third title, with the 27-year-old only three wins away from passing the legendary Peter Brock to move to fifth on the all-time list for race wins.

Sydney Motorsport Park will be lit up on Saturday night as drivers contest the 32-lap race after dark.

Two day races will close out the round on Sunday.