As usual at the Surfers Paradise street circuit, policing of kerb hops and cuts has been a big talking point in the build-up to the event.
Practice 1 took place with the Turn 2 kerb hop sensor deactivated, but with three in the beach chicane – called Turns 8, 9 and 10 – turned on.
Post-practice consulation between Motorsport Australia, Supercars and drivers has led to a decision to leave the Turn 2 sensor off for the remainder of the weekend.
Officials will also trial deactivating the Turn 9 sensor in Practice 2 after it was responsible for most of the deleted lap times in the first session.
Brad Jones Racing’s Andre Heimgartner was among drivers to detail the difficulty of managing the chicanes following Practice 1.
“I must have got about 15 kerb strikes… and every time it was something slightly different,” he said.
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“It takes a while to get into your rhythm. Because you’re going in there so fast and it’s such a hectic moment, in the moment it’s hard to really analyse what’s going on.
“Your actions three or four kerbs down the road get triggered by what you do at the start. Sometimes you don’t even know which one you over-stepped.”
MA intends to this weekend distinguish between simply hopping a kerb and short-cutting a chicane entirely in response to David Reynolds’ last-lap act in 2023.
Sensors to police cutting at Turn 2 and the beach chicane will remain turned on.
Hops and cuts both result in lap times being deleted in practice and qualifying sessions. A number of hops are allowed in races before a penalty, while cuts will be referred directly to the stewards.
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