Motorsport Australia and Supercars are looking to formally seperate hops and cuts when it comes to kerb infringements in the Surfers Paradise chicanes.
As it stands, whether a driver uses too much kerb while taking a chicane, known as a hop, or simply cuts the chicane, are treated the same.
In practice and qualifying, either a hop or cut results in the lap time being deleted, while in a race, drivers have an allowance of kerb strikes that can be used across the duration.
The exact allowance is kept secret from drivers, who are warned when it has been exhausted, and penalised if there are subsequents strikes.
Under the proposed new rules, the kerb strike allowance would continue as normal for hops.
However should a driver cut through the middle of a chicane that would be treated as a cut, and punished with a yet-to-be-determined time penalty.
Cuts are most common at the start of the race, where drivers on the right-hand side of the road heading into the Turn 1/2 chicane often cut through if there is a car to their left.
That would be outlawed under the new rules with any cars not taking the chicane in full hit with a time penalty.
Cuts have also been used tactically in the past, the most recent high-profile example coming on the final lap of the Sunday race last year.
Under immense pressure from Brodie Kostecki, leader Reynolds straight-lined the front chicane after his car twitched under brakes. Given he had strikes up his sleeve he was able to press on with enough of a gap to ensure he won the race.
That too won’t be allowed this year once the new rules are signed off.
“We want to differentiate between a hop and cut and not have a cut count towards the allowance,” Supercars driving standards advisor Craig Baird told Speedcafe.
“A driver needs to be penalised if they out-brake themself and cut the chicane, like they would if they ended up down an escape road.
“If you cut the chicane in practice or qualifying you lose your lap, so why should it be different in the race, when the advantage is arguably at its biggest?
“What David Reynolds did last year, for example, was within the rules because he wasn’t over his kerb strike allowance. And that’s why we need that separation between hops and cuts.
“We have looked at a few options and it seems the cleanest way to do it is an automatic time penalty.”
Speedcafe understands that a MotoGP-style long lap penalty was discussed as one of the options but was deemed too difficult to safely implement.
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