V8X Supercar — November-December 2017

the cars an added value.
As Supercars moves away
from V8s and the traditional
Falcon and Commodore
bodyshells, this equipment
will find a home in Super2 and
keep a V8-powered presence on
Supercars race weekends.
The wildcard initiative allow-
ing Super2 entries to race in the
main game has only strength-
ened the second-tier series. And
it remains a valuable breeding
ground for young drivers, the
vital bridging series between
junior formulae and Supercars.

SUPERGT
GT racing is booming around
the world, as reflected by the
growth of the Bathurst 12 Hour
in recent years. However, that
momentum hasn’t necessarily
translated into the Australian
GT Championship.
Supercars’ deal to run the
Australian GT Championship
follows in the footsteps of its
acquisition of promotional
rights for the Bathurst 12 Hour.
The Australian GT Cham-
pionship suffered a drop in
competitors in 2017, despite
the abundance of GT machin-
ery in the marketplace and
increased manufacturer inter-
est. Teams were unhappy at the
leadership of the category, as

evidenced by plans to move the

series away from the Supercars

schedule in 2017. With teams

struggling for sponsors as a

result, the Australian GT Cham-

pionship was forced into an

embarrassing backflip to realign

its schedule with Supercars.

Supercars will run the

rebranded SuperGT category

(not to be confused with

Japan’s Super GT series) and

instil a SuperGT Commission,

giving GT competitors a say

in the future direction of the

category to avoid a repeat of the

scheduling dilemma.

Where SuperGT aligns with

Supercars shapes as the key

question for the latter moving

forward. The Gen2 rules bring

Supercars closer to the GT plat-

form, but maintaining a point

of difference is vital to avoid

confusion.

Yet it’s clear manufacturers

are more interested in GT

racing than Supercars. The

global platform for GT racing

allows the Australian arms of

the manufacturers to be part of

the parent company’s interna-

tional racing programs, rather

than diverge into a separate

category with its own unique

rules such as Supercars.

Supercars could work within

SuperGT to draw clearer points

of difference between the

two categories. For example,

SuperGT could run GT3 cars

exclusively and Supercars left

with GT4 cars, more cost effec-

tive and less advanced cars such

as the Chevrolet Camaro and

Ford Mustang, which would

be popular additions to the

Supercars grid.

Bringing GT racing into the

Supercars fold now allows for

both parties to work towards a

clear direction for the catego-

ries within Australia.

SUPERUTES

The changing automotive land-

scape has also forced Supercars

to reset the core technical

regulations that govern the

SuperUtes category, moving

from traditional utes to four-

wheel-drives and SUVs.

SUPER

SUPERGT