MOTORSPORT: SuperUtes delayed

Supercars has been forced to delay its much hyped ute racing series until 2018.

Announced with much fanfare by Supercars in October last year, the SuperUte series for one-tonne trucks like the Toyota HiLux and Ford Ranger was scheduled to kick-off at this July’s Townsville Supercars street race.

But the new class will now most likely start as a support race at the 2018 Clipsal 500 in Adelaide - motoring.com.au understands this is actually the original timing advised to potential entrants for the introduction of SuperUtes before Supercars management decided to bring the launch date forward.

The new category is intended to take over from the popular V8 Utes Series which has been made redundant by the end of production of the Ford Falcon and Holden Commodore.

Supercars managing director Matt Braid said the decision to abandon this year’s launch would provide more time to develop the new diesel-powered rear-wheel drive racers and gives teams extra time to prepare for a full-season of racing.

“More time is required to fully develop and test the cars and to refine the specification of the race kits. We also want to give competitors the time necessary build their cars.

“Commencing in 2018 also allows manufacturers wanting to become involved the time to have their individual makes homologated and full race prepared.

“There are three models homologated to date, a Ford Ranger, Mazda BT50 and a Mitsubishi Triton with the Toyota HiLux, Holden Colorado and Isuzu D-Max scheduled for the coming weeks.”

The SuperUtes category is based on diesel versions of the popular commercial vehicles, with outputs projected to be around 260kW and 400Nm.

Former Supercars team owner Ross Stone is playing a key role in developing the much-delayed race kit for the SuperUtes, which are forecast to cost around $60,000 (on top of the base production-vehicle price).

“We are delighted to have Ross on board and committed to the series given his vast knowledge and expertise over decades of racing at the highest level,” Braid said.

“Ross will play an integral part in the final design, engineering and engine development of the Series.”

Bathurst 12-hour boss John Casey has also been swung into the fray to get the SuperUtes up and running. He takes over from former Holden Motorsport boss Simon McNamara, who briefly consulted to Supercars on the category before becoming the commercial director of Australian GT racing.

At this stage there are no manufacturers directly committed to SuperUtes, although Supercars hopes they will be involved via dealer teams.

This latest hiccup for Supercars in its efforts to develop racing categories to support its premier touring car championship follows in the wake of the controversial proposal to develop a ‘Formula 5000’ open-wheeler category in direct competition with the ‘Formula Thunder 5000’ category backed by motorsport racer and publisher Chris Lambden.

While Supercars has officially distanced itself from this plan and teams have expressed no interest in it, a prototype has been built by Adelaide race engineer Oscar Fiorinotto – also the boss of Supashock suspension. The project has been backed by Sydney real estate mogul Brian Boyd and the car has been tested.

The appearance of rival ‘big banger’ open-wheeler formulas has caused confusion and damaged the prospects of either gaining the number of entrants crucial for viability.

Lambden, who has invested significant personal funding into his venture, has undoubtedly emerged as the ‘good guy’ in this controversy, with Supercars perceived as the black-hat beating up on the little guy.