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He along with David Mori have been listed as the DRDs for the Repco Supercars Championship, and with James Taylor for the Dunlop Super2 Series, per the Further Supplementary Regulations for those competitions.
Stuart thus replaces James Delzoppo, who moved during the off-season from Motorsport Australia to become Supercars’ Motorsport Operations Manager.
Delzoppo replaced Paul Martin, who has wound back his duties with Supercars but remains in the fold as a contractor on the Super2 Series, as well as working on last weekend’s Repco Bathurst 12 Hour.
Stuart was most recently the Supercars Deputy Race Director in 2019, but moved out of the position due to an expanded workload at the time in other roles within Motorsport Australia and with the FIA.
A Motorsport Australia spokesperson has confirmed to Speedcafe that he is set to hold the position for the season, but will continue as Race Director of the Porsche competitions (Carrera Cup and Michelin Sprint Challenge) and Supercheap Auto TCR Australia Series, following the departure of Mike Smith to pursue an as yet unrevealed overseas opportunity.
Stuart had been succeeded as DRD by Taylor, who was promoted to the Race Director role in 2022 following the retirement of Tim Schenken, while Mori is RD for Super2.
Just over 12 months ago, Stuart, Taylor, and Mori were all selected as part of the FIA’s High Performance Programme which is designed to grow a pool of officials for world championship events, and hence the former’s reappointment in Supercars is not especially surprising.
Supercars Championship Race Direction has a new ‘tool’ at its disposal this weekend, specifically the Full Course Yellow system which also made its Bathurst 12 Hour debut in the past week.
The Supercars Championship field will hit the Mount Panorama track tomorrow at 10:00 local time/AEDT for an ‘SC Procedure Check Session’, before Practice 1 at 12:20.
In another change to the rulebook pertaining to officialdom, Supercars has added a Right of Review rule to Division B.
The Bathurst 500 Further Supplementary Regulations state, in part:
1.7.1 At this Event and in accordance with Article 14 of the International Sporting Code (ISC), note the following new Rule B5.1 Right of Review:
B5.1.1 Under the ISC, if a significant and relevant new element is discovered which was unavailable to the parties seeking the review at the time of the decision concerned, the stewards who have given a ruling or, failing this, those designated by the FIA, may decide to re-examine their decision following a petition for review by:
– either one of the parties concerned and/or a part that is directly affected by the decision handed down, or
– the FIA.
B5.1.2 The petition for review must be made in writing and must specify the elements as determined under Article 14.1.1 of the Code. It must be accompanied by a deposit, the amount of which will be set annually by:
– the Parent ASN of the international series; or
– by the FIA for its Championships, cups, trophies, challenges or series.
In addition, the deposit must be specified in the sporting regulations or Supplementary Regulations of the Competition. This deposit may only be returned if the right of review is upheld, unless fairness requires otherwise.
B5.1.3 Motorsport Australia has determined that the amount of the deposit for a Right of Review at a Supercars Competition be set at $4,000+GST.
