The Bend Motorsport Park played host to the first round of the Hi-Tec Oils Super Series on its shorter ‘West Circuit’ configuration, where six categories were the first to be subjected to the new AASA sporting regulations.
AASA Competition and Commercial Director Marcos Ambrose has hailed the implementation of the new ruleset.
“We at the AASA were delighted to see the new rules and regulations roll out successfully at The Bend Motorsport Park,” Ambrose said.
“We will continue to refine and adapt the new Circuit Racing Standing Regulations during the season.
“We certainly learnt a lot at our first event, and we look forward to assessing the outcomes and improving what was rolled out at The Bend.
“We made significant changes to improve event flow, speed up race turn arounds, simplify and speed up the judicial system, beef up race control, improve track recovery and safety, but more importantly create a better race environment, so our categories and competitors get the best event possible.
“We were certainly challenged at times during the event, with several red flags and Pace Car deployments, but the new regulations, people and procedures stood up to that test which gives us a lot of confidence moving forward.
“Our priority this weekend was to make sure every category got their designated laps and we achieved that for every category and every race.”
Despite numerous yellow flags, every category contested all allotted laps and finished under green flag conditions.
However, Race 3 for the Australia IRC Racing Series was impacted by a poorly-timed red flag, resulting in the race being declared a non-event.
The stoppage for a Danny Stutterd crash and subsequent fire fell right in the middle of a compulsory pit stop cycle.
As such, the race leader John Goodacre had not completed a stop at all, as the pit window had closed prior to the race restarting.
Among the changes for the new season are double-file rolling starts for all races, and a dedicated start/restart acceleration zone.
Rolling starts were introduced to reduce the likelihood of starting grid and first corner accidents over traditional standing starts.
Of the 28 races held at The Bend, one was affected by a first lap incident, when four cars were involved in a crash at Turn 1 and 2 during Race 4 of the Legend Cars Australia Series.
The category featured nearly 30 starters in Race 4, and its races were characterised by upwards of six cars racing side-by-side towards Turn 1 on a race start.
Several drivers across the weekend were handed yellow cards for minor infringements, such as Tommy Smith for jumping the restart in Saturday’s second TA2 race.
Yellow cards do not result in a penalty until a driver has accrued three, which becomes an automatic red.
Red cards handed out over the course of the weekend resulted largely in grid penalties for infractions in qualifying and nose-to-tail contact during races, resulting in spins.
AASA CEO Stephen Whyte noted the feedback received on the rule changes was positive, hailing the amount of racing completed.
“After a lot of work in the off-season, it was fantastic to see it play out in reality, and we are pleased with how it went,” Whyte said.
“There is some room for subtle alterations, but as a whole we are very satisfied.
“The racing on the weekend was constant, drivers certainly can’t complain they didn’t have any shortage of green flag racing action.
“I’m incredibly pleased to see how the Hi-Tec Oils Super Series has grown over the last 24 months, the rest of the season promises to be epic.”
The Hi-Tec Oils Super Series returns for Round 2 at Queensland Raceway on May 1-3.
The round will feature the popular two-driver TA2 Tag Team Enduro event.
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