Seamer hopes break will ‘galvanise’ Gen3 decision makers

Supercars CEO Sean Seamer is hopeful the coronavirus-induced break will bring Gen3 discussions forward.

The championship has faced several challenges this year with confirmation Holden is to leave the marketplace by the end of the year.

The coronavirus pandemic has also affected the 2020 calendar, which could lapse into 2021 depending on how the pandemic progresses.

It comes during a year when Supercars looks to secure a new television rights deal for 2021 and beyond.

Supercars is in the midst of a break due to the virus, which has put sports globally on hold with no definitive date for play to resume.

The Winton Super400 over June 5-7 is currently slated as the next round on the calendar.

Seamer reaffirmed his belief that the Gen3 regulation set will focus on cutting costs while improving the entertainment product.

“Like every other business in the short term, our focus is on managing our costs, making sure that we’re ready to go again when we’re ready to go racing, and that the sport comes through in better shape or the best possible shape,” said Seamer.

“We still have big questions that we need to tackle. My hope is that this experience galvanised the key decision-makers to make sure that what we end up with from a product point of view, what we end up with Gen3, really is cost-effective and really focuses on entertainment.

“It’s an entertainment-driven exercise, not an engineering-driven exercise. If nothing else, this experience over the coming months will and should be good for that.”

There have been suggestions in the Supercars paddock that elemnts of Gen3 could be brought forward, such as lowering the roll hoop in an effort to attract new manufacturers.

Seamer said it would be ‘hard to say’ whether Gen3 would be delayed by the pandemic.

However, as it stands, the Gen3 regulation set is still on track for a 2022 introduction.

Nevertheless, Seamer has hopes some of those discussions surrounding Gen3 could be brought forward and elements of it could be introduced soon.

“The complexity of Gen3 with the ambition of cost-saving might mean that the timeline can be reduced,” he said.

“The reality is until we get going again properly, we’re not going to know.

“I haven’t received any information or communication to suggest that the 2022 timeline should be pushed back because of it.

“If anything, I would like to think, or we would like to think that, a simplified Gen3 program that reduces costs would be executed soon.”