The Car of the Future machines at Sydney last weekend
V8 Supercars has announced a radical change to its race formats at six events of next year’s championship.
In what is described as the ‘60/60 Super Sprint’ format, two 60-kilometre halves will be run on Saturdays at Symmons Plains, Barbagallo, Hidden Valley, Queensland Raceway, Winton and Phillip Island.
A regular 20 minute qualifying session will determine the starting grid for the non-points-paying first 60km race. The result of the first 60km ‘race’ will determine the grid for the second 60km race, which will pay championship points and include a podium presentation.
A pair of independent 120km races – both with their own 15 minute qualifying sessions – will be held on the Sunday. The 120km races will include no refuelling.
The commission has also changed the tyre compound rules for each event. The Clipsal 500, Sucrogen Townsville 400 and Sydney 500 will retain their race formats and tyre compounds, while those events plus the Sandown 500, Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 and Armor All Gold Coast 600 will be the only ones to feature refuelling during races.
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Another significant change will be the introduction of double-file restarts – common practice in NASCAR and IndyCar Series.
The final formats for the ITM400 Auckland at Pukekohe, the Circuit of The Americas event in Texas and the Abu Dhabi event next November will be finalised next year.
See below for a detailed look at each event’s formats.
