Spectators will hear the broadcast commentary team through the trackside PA system at five Supercars events in 2019, starting with this weekend’s Tyrepower Tasmania SuperSprint.
Supercars has opted to streamline its production at the five sprint events which it self-promotes, meaning that the same commentary which is heard on Fox Sports, featuring the likes of Neil Crompton and Mark Skaife, will be played through the speakers at the circuit.
Previously, a separate big screen feed had been produced with commentary from a mixture of Supercars-employed talent (including television commentators) and support category representatives, a practice understood to require a significant duplication of technical and human resources.
According to a Supercars spokesperson, the change has been made for the race weekends in question for logistical reasons.
It will apply at the next three events, namely Symmons Plains, the WD-40 Phillip Island SuperSprint, and Pirtek Perth SuperNight; plus the Century Batteries Ipswich SuperSprint and ITM Auckland SuperSprint.
“It’ll actually be a better service; the fans will get the better production, they’ll get the first class service from our broadcast team and the commentators that go along with that,” the spokesperson told Speedcafe.com.
“It’s only planned for a few of the SuperSprint events this year and that’s more due to logistics than anything else.
“And the service already exists, so why replicate that when you’ve got a far superior broadcast quality service? It’s a way, way better deal for those that are at track; they’ll essentially get the full service that those viewers at home get.”
The practice is essentially the same as for the Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour and similar to that of the Michelin Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix, where Dorna’s television world feed is used for the grand prix sessions (MotoGP, Moto2, Moto3) while local talent calls supports for the big screen.
Trackside commentary at Symmons Plains will only be provided for those sessions which are broadcast on Fox Sports, which covers the vast majority of the event anyway.
There will be no commentary of a handful of support category sessions on Friday, however, with a practice session for each of those categories taking place before Fox Sports goes on air at 1015 (local time/AEDT) in time for the Additional Drivers Practice for the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship at 1030.
The Supercars Championship will be supported by Porsche Michelin GT3 Cup Challenge, Aussie Racing Cars, Formula Vee, and Sports GT at the Tasmania event.
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