POLL: A second Supercars enduro

With talk of a return to multiple Supercars enduro events, we ask what you think of the idea, in this week’s Pirtek Poll.

A 500km race leading into the Bathurst 1000 had been established as a longstanding tradition in the Repco Supercars Championship, while a three-event Pirtek Enduro Cup was instituted in 2013.

However, both fell by the wayside last year due to difficulties arising from the COVID-19 pandemic and, in 2021, Mount Panorama’s October event remains the only enduro.

Supercars CEO Sean Seamer has now revealed that the championship’s Commission is discussing the possibility of restoring a second enduro event to the calendar, as soon as 2022.

Where that might be is not known, although one could easily narrow down the list of possibilities given Seamer also stated that the second enduro be such chronologically also; that is, after Bathurst.

While that stance raises another question, first, one must resolve the question of whether or not another enduro is desired.

Longer races open up scope for strategic variation and create the possibility of the contest ebbing and flowing through different phases, based on weather, track position, and whatnot.

However, they are also races in which the primary driver is not in their car for at least a third of the time.

While some co-drivers are highly credentialled steerers, and may even remain stars in their own right (Craig Lowndes being the obvious example), the fact remains that the higher profile drivers are generally sidelined for a not insignificant portion of the race.

What’s more, those co-drivers have the potential to sway a championship, positively or negatively, that they are not involved in, in a practical sense.

It should also be noted that some of the single-driver events have become iconic in their own right anyway.

While a Bathurst 1000 victory is clearly the most coveted, the Adelaide 500 arguably had the next biggest box office appeal.

The South Australian capital may be no longer be on the calendar, but the Gold Coast hosts the finale this year and Newcastle becomes the season-opener next year, giving those events a huge shot in the arm.

If they can come to enjoy the same status as Adelaide did, is a second enduro needed, especially if it falls after the Bathurst 1000?

That said, an enduro could also be the sort of thing which could breathe life into another circuit, similar to how the SuperNight has made Sydney Motorsport Park special.

Furthermore, if the second enduro can be held in the lead-up to the Bathurst 1000, once Gen3 is bedded in after its mid-2022 introduction, then it does become a useful form guide and systems check for the big one.

What do you think? Should Supercars add another enduro back to the calendar, and if so, when? Cast your vote in this week’s Pirtek Poll.