As has become customary, the Repco Supercars Championship field will contest the MSS Security Melbourne SuperSprint over four sprint races around Albert Park.
Last year, those races had to be shoehorned around not only F1 but also Formula 2 and Formula 3, and, this time around, they will not even feature compulsory pit stops because the local touring car category has lost primary access to the second pit lane.
PHOTOS: The AGP Supercars paddock
Lowndes will not be in attendance at Albert Park this weekend because his pit reporting duties are redundant.
He told Speedcafe, from last weekend’s Adelaide Motorsport Festival, “We’re only doing sprint races so it’s a bit of a shame.
“Obviously, as a Supercar category, you’d like to put on a bigger and better show.
“We knew last year that most likely this would happen this year, so teams were prepared for it,” added the five-time Albert Park race winner.
“It is what it is; we still get the chance to race the cars and show the cars off in front of a big crowd so that’s a positive
“But, as I said, I think we would all like to have some more laps around that circuit, that’s for sure.”
The lap counts for the four races have all been snipped, too, per the Further Supplementary Regulations.
Today’s third race of the season is now 19 laps, as is Race 4 tomorrow, while Races 5 and 6 are each 14-lappers, down from 20, 20, 15, and 15, respectively.
The time-certainty windows, however, remain the same (38 or 28 minutes plus one lap).
James Courtney expressed a somewhat similar view to Lowndes, with the Blanchard Racing Team driver telling Speedcafe, “I prefer the [pit] stops and having the boys involved.
“I think it adds to the spectacle so I think it’s going to be missed.”
Nevertheless, Courtney, a former Formula 1 test driver, believes a Supercars presence at its local grand prix event is a necessity.
“Look, it’s the biggest motorsport event in Australia, so we have to be there,” he declared.
“If you’re not there, you’re missing out on so much coverage, so I think we have to be there.
“As for the pecking order, yeah, we’ve definitely dropped down quite a bit now with Formula 2 and 3 coming, but it’s reality of the situation.
“They’re the [F1] feeder series and those cars can’t really get pushed around on grass and whatever because they’re so low, so it makes sense that we’re the ones out but I’d much rather be in the pit lane.”
Part of that lure is not just the bumper crowds – Albert Park has vied with the Circuit of The Americas for the best-attended event of the year in recent seasons (albeit with four days of track activity compared to three) – but also the demographic which F1 nowadays attracts.
“It’s the mystique of Formula 1 that drags people out and then with it being so close to the Melbourne CBD…” said the 2010 Supercars champion.
“I think we had the biggest F1 crowd ever a few years ago and then it got beaten [by the United States Grand Prix], so they reckon with the ticket sales this year, they might top them again.
“Formula 1’s amazing, the cars are amazing, and Drive To Survive’s been really, really good for Formula 1.
“It’s brought a whole new demographic in and a lot more people are interested in it, so part of that is that they want to see the cars in real life and not watch them on TV.”
Supercars Championship Practice 1 starts this morning at 11:25 local time/AEDT, with F1 on-track for the first time on Friday at 12:30.
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