‘Not necessary’: AASA drops door number requirement

The surprising initiative allows teams to open up additional space for sponsor logos or the underlying livery design.

Race vehicles will only be required to carry numbers on their front windscreens and side windows where applicable.

Supercars made a similar move around a decade ago – a decision which remains polarising among fans.

In AASA’s case, the location of the window numbers will be at the discretion of each team, the only requirement is that they will need to be legible and identifiable from the racing side-lines.

For open wheel categories, a clearly legible number will be required to be placed on the front of the vehicle.

“With the benefit of modern technology, the use of large racing numbers on the sides and front of vehicles is not necessary,” says Marcos Ambrose, Competition and Commercial Director for AASA.

“In modern circuit racing we are fortunate to have transponder-based timing and scoring systems which basically eliminates the need for visual aids [numbers] to identify cars.

“AASA continues to look for ways to make racing easier, simpler, and more convenient for our competitors. Enforcement of font, size and dimension requirements for race car numbers can be unsightly and annoying for the competitors to manage, especially when they are of limited benefit.

AASA has made it clear that this change is optional, and teams are free to place the race number on the vehicle’s door if they see fit.

“This is an option, not a rule. Some racers love the identity of their race number, and they are free to keep their numbers visible on their cars if they wish,” Ambrose said.