Will moving away from the Supercars Championship support card help or hinder Australian GT’s growth?

That’s the big question following last night’s announcement that Australian GT will go its own way in 2017.

As previously reported, the Clipsal 500 and Australian F1 Grand Prix – which are both independently promoted – will be the only events where the GT and Supercars categories are seen together next season.

Australian GT also featured at three other Supercars events this year – Barbagallo, Townsville and Sydney Motorsport Park, but has broken away after a compromise over track time and locations was unable to be reached.

The Tony Quinn owned GT class will instead run three rounds with the Shannons Nationals, adding SMP and Queensland Raceway to the Phillip Island event it did with the CAMS series this year.

Australian GT will meanwhile expand its number of self promoted events to three, introducing a new meeting at Symmons Plains alongside existing events at Quinn’s own Hampton Downs and Highlands Park circuits.

GT’s bold move has essentially seen the category prioritise its desire for longer race formats – 60 minute durations for sprints and 500km for enduros – over appearing at the bigger events.

The decision will undoubtedly shrink Australian GT’s total trackside and television audiences, although the latter drop is planned to be combated by increased live streaming.

A bullish Quinn last night declared that he has support from 90 percent of his competitor base, which is largely made up of self-sponsored gentleman owner/drivers.

What do you think? Will moving away from the Supercars Championship support card help or hinder Australian GT’s growth?