ONCE AGAIN the Repco Supercars championship will burst back into life after an unplanned and overly too-long hiatus, an intense series of races to build the championship towards the grand finale at Bathurst in just a few short weeks.
It all feels so very 2020, doesn’t it?
Anyway, it’s superb that racing is back and it’s superb that the championship has managed to find a way to get the season in. And there’s no reason why it won’t be spectacular as a circuit known for high degradation is mixed with racing under lights and a grid where about half of the drivers will say goodbye to their current teams at the end of the season.
Here’s some things to look out for this weekend.
PRIME TIME RETURN
SUPERCARS’ racing return commences with a race on Saturday afternoon, Australian time, but the real money is in the second race of the weekend – race 22 of the championship – which launches Supercars into the prime-time era.
If you’re even slightly familiar with how TV works, you’ll know that networks put their best programming on between 6 and 10pm of an evening because that is generally when most people are sitting in front of their televisions.
Race 22 will be slap bang in that window – in Australia, at least – and to make things even better it will be shown live on free-to-air via the Seven Network as well.
You could not have planned a better way to launch Supercars back into the public consciousness after three long and boring months away.
What’s more, these series of Sydney events sit in something of a no mans land for Australian sport; there’s no Footy of any code (that people here watch, anyway), and the summer of Cricket is yet to properly fire into life.
Saturday should be a ratings bonanza for Supercars and their TV partners and that is hugely important in building this four-week swing into the biggest event of the year on the Mountain.
WILL ANYONE CATCH SVG?
IN CASE you had forgotten, the rampaging, drives anything and wins Kiwi leads the championship by 276 points.
Given each weekend pays a maximum of 300 points there is an entirely realistic chance that if Shane outscores his teammate Jamie Whincup by more than 24 points he could take the next weekend off and still lead the standings.
SVG has won a race at every round bar one this year (his third and second-placed finishes at The Bend obviously a complete failure) and momentum is a very real thing; so will he pick up where he left off? Or will the momentum shift to someone else for the run home, finally putting real pressure on the otherwise runaway championship leader. Going to be fun finding out.
TYRE LIFE
GET ready for lots of talk about Tyres, because of all the tracks in Australia Sydney Motorsport Park is one of the most brutal on the four round black things that support 1400kg of Supercars.
Each Sydney event has a different tyre format, this weekend’s three-race format offering up just five sets of new Dunlop Soft tyres from Qualifying.
Five sets sounds like plenty, but when you factor in the fact that each race has a pitstop you quickly realise there’s six stints of racing but one less set than required on which to complete them.
Last year it helped Sydney promote thrilling racing; some teams gambled on qualifying well and chucking all their good rubber at one hail-mary race. Others spread them throughout the weekend with interesting strategies like changing rears or right-side rubber only in the pitstops. How that plays out this weekend will be key, but the chances of it being unpredictable and there being a surprise person at the podium at some point are somewhat high.
THE NEARLY MEN
IT SEEMS funny to suggest the fact that Jamie Whincup, he of GOAT status and man that sits second in the championship, has been a nearly-man this year but it’s reasonably accurate – he’s only one a single race this year compared to the eleven of his flying teammate.
Seeing one of the best we’ve ever witnessed drive a Supercar finish on a high will be a big storyline of the remaining few races.
Then there’s Will Davison, who has been edging ever closer to a maiden victory since re-joining the Shell V-Power / Dick Johnson Racing team at the start of the year. He’s had eight podium finishes from 20 races this season and has outscored his teammate, despite Anton de Pasquale having won a race already, but a win has been elusive.
Still, Davison loves Sydney – it was the scene of his first Supercars win – and it seems like as good a place as any for him to end a winless streak that stretches back to his 2016 Bathurst victory alongside Jonathan Webb.
And then there’s the mystery of Cam Waters, who sits third in the championship aboard his Tickford Mustang but still has that frustrating moment of inconsistency – like at the first Townsville event where he went very quietly to eighth and sixth in the pair of 250km races, respectively. Sure, he bounced back superbly the following weekend but when you consider that SVG’s worst weekend of the year amounted to only two podium finishes from the three races at Tailem Bend, the difference between the key contenders is stark.
END OF SCHOOL
THERE is a heap of ‘ending’ storylines to play out in the remaining few rounds and you can bet that all the drivers moving on will be aggressively trying to end their respective tenures on a high. In case you’ve missed it, those drivers moving onward are as follows:
Jamie Whincup retires, to be replaced by Broc Feeney
Nick Percat leaves Brad Jones Racing, to join Walkinshaw Andretti United
Bryce Fullwood leaves Walkinshaw Andretti United, to join Brad Jones Racing
Todd Hazelwood leaves BJR to join Matt Stone Racing
Jack Le Brocq leaves Tickford to join Matt Stone Racing
Andre Heimgartner leaves Kelly Grove Racing to join Brad Jones Racing
Todd Kelly leaves Kelly Grove Racing to do many other things
Zane Goddard leaves Matt Stone Racing to go to a place we don’t yet know
Jake Kostecki leaves Matt Stone Racing to go to Tickford Racing
And then Thomas Randle, who will wildcard in the second Sydney event, becomes a full-timer next year.
If you are used to the current layout of the Supercars grid, don’t get too comfy – next year is all change.
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