SEVEN GEARS UP FOR MOTORSPORT SHOW

Channel 7 is planning a weekly free TV motorsport show.

AUTO ACTION has learned the program will be called ‘7th Gear’.

It will be a one-hour look at local and international racing.

A pilot episode has been shot, with the show’s go-ahead awaiting commercial support.

A Seven Network insider confirmed 7th Gear would go to air as soon as possible.

The source said the show is in “a holding pattern” and may be delayed until later in the season.

But it is due to happen, with Seven Sport looking to leverage its renewed status as the free TV ‘Home Of Motor Sport’.

A senior Seven executive confided: “We are keen to develop a show. It’s early days, though. [7th Gear] is one of many concepts on the whiteboard.”

Seven is Supercars’ free-to-air TV partner and the main broadcaster of ARG’s TCR and S5000 events. Channel 7 is also covering the Australian Rally Championship.

Produced in Melbourne, 7th Gear will be co-hosted by 7 News sports reporter Chris Stubbs and Supercars co-driver Jack Perkins, who are prominent on Seven’s telecasts.

Other Seven Sport motor racing personalities will also appear as guest hosts and reporters.

It is understood that popular pit lane pundit Mark Larkham will feature, although initially not with dedicated reports.

We’re hearing Seven will re-use Larkham’s Supercars broadcast tech treatises and digital media commentaries.

While it understood there have been no explicit discussions with Larko, he is likely to be more directly involved once 7th Gear is up and running.

The dedicated racing show is the brainchild of Seven’s executive producer of motorsport, Anna Stone, who is behind the network’s live Supercars and ARG telecasts.

Stone is the daughter of twice V8 championship-winning team owner Ross, who is in the Supercars Hall Of Fame with his brother – and her uncle – Jim.

AA understands that 7th Gear is formatted as a weekly one-hour show reviewing local racing and international series in which Aussies are prominent.

The plan is for it to be first shown on Monday afternoons on the 7plus streaming service, then rebroadcast on ‘Big 7’ or 7mate.

According to insiders, 7th Gear will be news-oriented rather than a feature program like Channel 10’s long-running in-season ‘RPM’.

The show’s title is a play on Seven’s motor racing coverage and a nod to the popular British motoring show ‘Top Gear’.

Selected Supercars events are live on Channel 7 and all ARG rounds are live on 7mate and 7plus.

Seven’s next real-time Supercars telecast is the June 19-20 Darwin Triple Crown.

7th Gear is good news because it confirms Melbourne-based Seven Head Of Sport Lewis Martin’s commitment to its return as the free TV home of domestic car racing, as outlined to AA early this year.

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