Testing on chopping block in format review

Private testing for V8 Supercars teams could be reduced further next season in exchange for more running on Fridays at race weekends.

The V8 Supercars Commission is currently debating format options for next season ahead of the release of the championship’s 2015 calendar next month.

A two-day event format was used at the weekend’s Sydney Motorsport Park 400 in a bid to cut accommodation costs for teams and provide more track action for fans over the Saturday and Sunday.

While V8 Supercars CEO James Warburton confirmed to Speedcafe.com that more two-day events are being looked at for next year, a desire to cut down on private testing could also affect future Friday schedules.

Teams are currently allocated four test days per season, one of which is the compulsory pre-season hit-out at Sydney Motorsport Park, while the remaining three run at their nominated test circuit.

Private testing incurs costs for teams – including a night’s accommodation for Melbourne-based crews running at Winton – without providing commercial benefits to the championship.

The desire to consolidate testing into race weekends coincides with the new Fox Sports media deal, which will see extensive Friday broadcasts on the subscription network.

“We’ve discussed Friday testing and consolidating testing into the (race weekend) program,” Warburton told Speedcafe.com.

“The teams are here and our equipment’s here (at race weekends), versus teams going away and hiring circuits and getting no commercial value out of it.

“We’ve now got a major network player that wants to cover it, delving into the details of the set-ups and those type of things.

“There’s no definitive answer yet, but it’s something we’ll discuss and finalise by the time we put the calendar out in three or four weeks time.”

While current private tests run as a single all-day session, extended Friday running would still need to be structured around support category practice.

The length of the possible Friday test sessions and limits on tyres and laps allowed to be completed are all currently under discussion.

V8 Supercars Commission members and team principals, Tim Edwards and Brad Jones, both told Speedcafe.com that they are in favour of trading private testing for extended Friday running.

“The reality is that when you test at one circuit all the time, somewhere like Winton is useless for damper testing and useless for brake testing, which is difficult for us,” said Ford Performance Racing boss Edwards.

“Clearly with all the bumps at QR (Queensland Raceway) with some heavy braking, it’s actually a good circuit for that and we’d welcome the opportunity to do more miles there.

“If the trade-off is scrapping a couple of days at Winton and having greater practice at some of the other rounds, I think every Victorian team would be thumbs-up for that.”

Added Jones: “It doesn’t make a lot of sense to run around at Winton for a day and have no one watching the cars.”

Teams meanwhile gave mixed reports on whether the two-day event, which included a 60 minute ride session on Friday afternoon, was a cost-saver.

Most sent skeleton crews on Thursday to undertake preliminary set-up in order to ensure they were ready in time for the ride session, while others either set-up their garages on Thursday as per normal, or completed the entire task on Friday.

The length of Friday practice sessions at the majority of this year’s events were slashed in March as part of a bid to reduce running costs.