IN AN UNCERTAIN world, the biggest certainty that motorsport has right now is that it’s going to look and feel very different when it returns – starting with the calendar.
Both the Supercars Championship and the Shannons Motorsport Australia championships (which include TCR Australia and S5000) have made public declarations of intent to run as many events as possible in whatever timeframe is available when our corner of the world eases restrictions and starts functioning again.
There’s a likelihood that this will leave a rather intense second half of 2020 – and one that could even spill over to the 2021 calendar year.
While this will pose some challenges there’s also opportunity; the events that remain are likely to be packed with categories and hopefully great racing.
One option floated by Supercars CEO Sean Seamer this week was the potential to conclude the 2020 Supercars Championship at Mount Panorama: though not October’s Bathurst 1000.
And let’s be clear, we’re not talking about throwing the Supercars Mustangs and Commodores into the 12-Hour itself though that would be an interesting exercise.
Instead, Seamer indicated that there’s a real option to conclude the season in February at the Bathurst 12-Hour which, most agree, would make for a spectacular weekend of racing indeed.
This is a common-sense possibility given that Supercars Events (in conjunction with the Bathurst Regional Council) own the 12-Hour and promote it as well, meaning the task of putting Supercars on the program wouldn’t be that difficult.
What’s more, the event has in the past trialled running over four days; and while it contracted back to three this year there’s a very real chance that expansion to cater for Supercars content could also be easily achieved.
So, what could a 12-Hour weekend featuring Supercars look like?
For starters, the big issue is garaging. Assuming, of course, that the 12-Hour attracts the usual grid of between 30 and 45 cars (though this is far from a certainty until the global travel situation becomes more clear), Supercars inhabiting their usual places in pit lane would be off the cards.
As an aside, that would then also rule out pit stops – meaning sprint races would be the name of the day.
So lets assume then that the main-game teams take a back seat for a weekend and operate out of temporary structures in the rear of the Bathurst paddock, and sprint races are locked in as a result.
This would work nicely with the established pattern of 12-Hour sessions on the Saturday which include a practice, qualifying and the Top-10 shootout at the end of the day.
If it was my show, I’d run a trio of 150km races – 24 laps – on Saturday as the title decider; one in the morning, one at lunch and one as the crescendo of a huge day on Saturday afternoon, following the 12-Hour’s top-10 shootout.
That distance is picked on purpose because it’s right on the edge of being a full-stint on fuel for a Supercar at Mount Panorama which, when you include the formation lap, might put an element of strategy into the races: Do you run as hard as possible but chance running out?
With a potentially close championship to be decided at the best circuit in the country there’s real chance that true drama would unfold.
It’d be serious TV material with serious TV material – the 12-Hour qualifying and Shootout – in between which would make it a winner for the TV networks and audiences watching at home.
And, assuming we’re allowed spectators back at events by then, you can bet the crowd would be up as well.
Side effects? Garth Tander pointed out on Twitter earlier this week that a Supercars-12 Hour double header would probably rule out all but the most brave (or non title-contending) drivers from tackling the GT race; the demands on a full-time Supercar driver and the vast differences between the two cars would make team owners nervous about letting their drivers do both.
However, the 12-Hour has survived without main-game stars in the past and can do again plus, there’s a host of overqualified drivers that aren’t currently full-time main game stars who would be happy to have a take the opportunity.
The best outcome from all of this, aside from being a potentially incredible weekend of racing, is that it might continue to heal the wounds GT fans suffered during the 2014-2015 stoush between Supercars and the 12-Hour, that saw the 2015 Supercars test in Sydney clash with the enduro just the other side of the Great Western Highway.
Despite the fact that Supercars own and promote the 12-Hour and have done a superb job of growing it, there remains some ill-will among some fans who still have a bitter taste in their mouth.
Perhaps, having both on the same weekend can heal some more of those wounds and potentially introduce Supercar die-hards to the joys of Australia’s international enduro.
And possibly remind those GT purists that Supercars aren’t bad, either.
Especially at Bathurst.
It will be interesting to see how this plays out and a great weekend if it happens!
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