Supercars’ Seismic Shift: Toyota’s arrival shakes it up
By Auto Action
Date posted: 18 September 2024
Toyota’s arrival in Supercars will change the sport forever, according to Supercars Chairman Barclay Nettlefold, who has now been part of a team that has accomplished the impossible, He spoke to Auto Action’s Bruce Williams at the launch of the Toyota Supercars announcement.
Nettlefold led the Racing Australia Consolidated Enterprise (RACE) consortium that bought Supercars three years ago. After the troubled introduction of Gen3 last year, which it inherited, it has now got the largest vehicle manufacturer in the world to commit to racing Supercars after more than two decades of approaches.
“I think it’s seismic in what’s happened today for the sport and Supercars and RACE,” he says. “I think the trust and commitment from Toyota are a testament to the sport where it’s currently at and that finally, we’ve got the Gen3 product that we need.
“It’s going to enhance their profile, and it’s just going to be part of a bigger ecosystem that will fit into the sport. The largest manufacturer in the country and the world is fully committed to our sport.
“This just reinforces what we’ve been investing in the Gen3 product. The racing’s been world-class this year, the best I’ve seen in any motorsport, and we’re working on now to make 24 or 26 Supercars really strong.”
Nettlefold says he envisages a world now where Supercars may consider bring the two dormant Teams Racing Charters back into play, expanding the grid to 26 days at every round.
“We own two, so we’ve got the right to, let’s wait and see.
“I think the teams are undervalued. The teams we’ve got as going concerns, they’re all profitable, and that’s not common in sport in Australia. If you look at soccer or basketball, not all the teams are profitable. Yet the B2B on our sport and the activation and the sponsorships that are coming through now, we’re very comfortable that it will continue to grow, and it’s only good to put more value in the TRCs and teams.
“I think they’ve got to start thinking less about the value of the TRC and more about the value of a team as a whole.
“You just can’t look at it at a basic multiple (when determining team value); I think you look at it as a sustainable sporting business that you just can’t buy. It’s really supply-demand. When there’s demand, you know they should be quite valuable.”
Nettlefold’s time at the helm of the sport has seen it evolve and continue to invest in the product. Sorting out Gen3 has been an issue, and encouraging the teams to accept more than needed for more than 12 rounds without relying on Supercars for funding has been challenging.
But now, with Toyota on board and the potential growth associated with that, his team can head into the TV rights negotiations with a little more power.
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