V8 FUTURE TO BE REVEALED AT TOWNSVILLE

V8 Future to be revealed at Townsville – Photo: InSyde Media

Supercars will reveal next year’s calendar and the future of V8 racing at the Townsville 400 early next month.

By MARK FOGARTY

As well as the 2020 schedule, Supercars will outline the broad plan for the Next Generation technical rules due in 2021.

Other technical changes for next year – like control dampers and further cost-cutting measures – are also likely to be confirmed.

Supercars is planning to present its vision for the sport in the near future during the July 5-7 event at Townsville, led by the announcement of next year’s new-look calendar.

The series is set for a shake-up with a split season beginning earlier and ending later, divided by a nine-week winter break across July/August/September.

There will also be revised race formats, some reshuffled dates and probably a couple of casualties as Supercars looks to reduce the schedule to 14 events as a cost-saving measure.

With Sydney Motorsport Park set to return with a mid-year night racing event, Winton and Phillip Island – both up for renewal – are vulnerable.

Supercars is negotiating new agreements with Townsville, Gold Coast and Queensland Raceway, all of which are expected to be renewed on multi-year deals.

There is also the possibility that Tailem Bend will replace Sandown in the Enduro Cup with a mid-September lead-in to the Bathurst 1000.

If that happens, Sandown will stay in November with a single-driver race format, most likely with a pair of 250 km mini-enduros to retain the Sandown 500 moniker.

Supercars supremo Sean Seamer told AUTO ACTION that he plans a wide-ranging presentation at Townsville along with the 2020 calendar.

“We would like to talk about all of our plans for 2020 at Townsville,” Seamer said. “So rather than release everything piecemeal, talk about ‘Here’s our plan for 2020, this is what the calendar looks like, this is what the car’s going to look like, this is what the development into ’21 looks like, formats, night racing’, the whole thing.

“So we’re looking to put together a bit of a presentation and take everybody through it rather than drip-feeding out pieces, and not understanding the nuances and the inter-relationships between those things.”

He confirmed that the changes were outlined to team owners at a meeting in Darwin last Thursday.

“The teams are already across where we’re at, what we’re looking to do,” Seamer said.

The Townsville presentation will also provide an update on the Next Generation evolution of the technical and eligibility rules.

“We’ll talk about what is under consideration for the development of the car and what we’re looking at from ’20 into ’21,” Seamer said.

He suggested that there will interim moves towards Next Generation next year.

“What we’re currently looking at for 2021, we think there are some steps we can make next year to get there,” he said.

Seamer reported that renewal negotiations for Townsville and the Gold Coast were on-track to secure new multi-year deals.

“Are going well, yes,” he said. “So we’re not completed with all of our government parties yet, but there’s nothing to suggest that we won’t be able to release things early July around Townsville.”

Despite rumblings that the Townsville street race event is in doubt, Seamer was confident the event would continue.

“The feedback I’m getting – and it’s not for me to speak on behalf of the Queensland government – but I think you’ll find Townsville is a critical region to them,” he declared. “And when I’ve had conversations with our team owners, who are the people that matter in pit lane, they all want to keep going to Townsville.”

Pressed on whether there was any question mark over the FNQ event, he responded: “Not in my mind at the moment, no”.

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