MOTORSPORT: Supercars slog commences

If you enjoy Supercars racing then you’re about to get an overdose with four consecutive weekends of action across two states.

The first two outings are at Darwin’s Hidden Valley racetrack starting this weekend followed by a double-header at the Reid Park circuit in Townsville.

This unprecedented burst of action has been forced on Supercars by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has steadily squeezed the category’s options for when and where it can race.

Apart from heaps of racing on-track, the teams will have to dash 2500km from the Northern Territory to far north Queensland between the second and third events to keep the show going.

This four-week swing through the top end of Australia will also go a long way to defining the home of the 2020 championship because all that’s currently scheduled on the calendar beyond these races is the Bathurst 1000 in October.

There might be as many as two events squeezed in at Ipswich in south-east Queensland in late September, but the likelihood of the championship going beyond Mount Panorama is largely dependent on the coronavirus and the lockdowns and border closures enacted to contain it.

Sydney Motorsport Park is meant to wrap up the championship under lights, but that’s according to a calendar formulated a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.

By the time the 1000km classic concludes, Victorian teams will have been away from home for four months, which many feel is plenty long enough. And if the Vic teams do go home, who knows when they’d be able to get out of the state again.

In Darwin, both races will be conducted over three sprint races that each require one pit stop for a minimum two tyres.

The first meeting will require the 24 Supercars to juggle five sets of tyres each, comprising three sets of hards and two sets of softs.

This has been a controversial rule that has divided opinion along pitlane. Some welcome the variety of results it produces at the front of the field, others object to that as contrived because it effectively requires the sacrifice of consistent results if you want to win a race.

Needless to say, the closer you get to the front of the field under the old rule the more concerns are expressed.

Those objectors will be happy from the second Darwin meeting onwards, as the formats will be all softs for that meeting and both Townsville outings.

Each day 4500 spectators will be allowed to attend Hidden Valley, while it will be 10,000 per day including corporates in Townsville. The FNQ outing will also include some support racing.

However, the Supercars paddock will continue to be isolated from the public and the teams from each other as the category continues to walk the tightrope required to keep its season alive.

Defending Supercars champion Scott McLaughlin leads the championship in his DJR Team Penske Ford Mustang ahead of factory Holden Commodore driver Jamie Whincup.

Chaz Mostert is third for Walkinshaw Andretti United in another Commodore, while Nick Percat – twice a winner in the last two events – has bounced up to fourth in his Brad Jones Racing Commodore.

McLaughlin swept the Darwin event last year, taking both poles and both wins to claim the fabled ‘Triple Crown’. This year that award will go to the highest point-scorer across the racing.

Apart from McLaughlin, consistent stand-out performers in the Top End in recent years include Erebus Motorsport’s David Reynolds and Rick Kelly, the latter racing a Ford Mustang in 2020 after years campaigning Nissan Altimas.