Garry Rogers Motorsport’s naming rights sponsor Boost Mobile has made the claim that it will offer to fund the introduction of control uprights for all Supercars teams.
Outspoken telco boss Peter Adderton issued an ultimatum to the championship and GRM stating that he would withdraw his sponsorship next year unless the category introduces a control front upright.
The Sydney businessman is frustrated by lack of a level playing field in the championship and feels a control upright would close the gap between teams.
The prospect of Supercars meeting Adderton’s demands is thought highly likely although this has not stopped him from pushing the agenda.
Today he has released a statement claiming he will front up the funds to introduce a consistent upright component for all teams next year.
“We are prepared to sit with Supercars and look at potentially funding the uprights for all cars,” said Adderton in a statement issued to media.
“It is an imperative to even up the playing field at a time when we should all be looking to make racing better across the board.
“Were it not for incidents at yesterday’s race, the factory teams would have lapped the rest of the field, largely in part due to technical advantage.
“This is simply not good for the sport we care about, and I don’t understand why they’re willing to have consistency across the engine, rear end, damper, tyres, aero and centre of gravity, but when it comes to the upright, all the manufacturing teams goes quiet.
“We want the sport to be the overall winner here, it is full of amazing drivers throughout the field who aren’t showing their talent because the cars are fundamentally not equal.
“The upright looks to be the last thing that the teams can tweak, where you can invest a lot of money and get an advantage.”
Adderton claims his concept is not intended to offer his own Boost Mobile backed Supercars team an advantage.
“This is not about giving the Boost Mobile Racing Team an advantage,” he added.
“We are fighting for everyone else. We have spoken to most people on pit lane, and consensus is that this needs to happen and would be a great step forward for parity. Nobody is willing to say it and do it, we will take the hit for the betterment of the sport.
“That uprights need to be a controlled experience, not for 2021, for 2020, especially if we are willing to essentially invest in the sport to help deliver this.
“I want the best driver on the day to win the race.
“I don’t want the best driver on the day to finish at the tail end of the field because of the huge disparity being allowed from a technical perspective such that he was never going to get close to the top of the field.
“I’d love to see 15 cars coming down the final straight banging doors, and if our car is 15th after that, I’m fine with it.”
Supercars has already made a series of changes to help improve the racing and costs for teams with a reduction in downforce across all the models alongside new regulations to prolong the life of engines.