Stakes raised even higher for Supercars at AGP

The shorter distances of the final two races of the weekend present drivers with a new dilemma, while also making this morning’s qualifying sessions at the Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix even more crucial.

Both Race 5 of the season this evening and Race 6 tomorrow morning are slated as 14-lappers, whereas Race 3 ran for 18 and Race 4 for 17 of a scheduled 19.

The unknowns of the soft tyre – which Supercars did not use at Albert Park in 2023 – combined with a lack of compulsory pit stops meant drivers were uncertain as to how hard they could push.

That served to bottle up the field, promoting stoushes, then while some had pace to burn in the closing stages, others struggled.

Logically, Race 4 might have therefore been more predictable, except that it was held around the hottest part of the day whereas Race 3 unfolded very late on Thursday afternoon.

Now, though, the question is how much harder the rubber can be worked with fewer laps on the cards.

Asked by Speedcafe if the flow of those races will change, Red Bull Ampol Racing’s Will Brown said, “I personally think they will; 14 laps [and] if anything happens as well, like a bit of a delay, they can be less.

“I think everyone will be pushing as hard as they can in the next race, that’s for sure.

“I think there are a few people that have had [tyre] blisters, but I think, in the shorter races, everyone’s going to have a crack, for sure.”

Team 18 driver Mark Winterbottom, who finished second to Brown in Race 4, identified the rubbering in of the track thanks to continued Formula 1 action as another factor.

However, he highlighted this morning’s pair of 15-minute qualifying sessions, which set the grids for Races 5 and 6 respectively, as a major influence on the outcome now.

“I think the Formula 1 rubber is going to go down, too,” said the 2015 champion.

“I think that makes qualifying everything [today]. Like, the biggest session of the weekend is Saturday morning quali because you’ve got 14 laps and, if a Safety Car comes out, you might only have six laps.

“If we get delayed, it might only be 10, so if you’re leading the race, you’ve only got to defend for potentially half of the distance [of Race 4].

“Qualifying’s key; if you get up the front, it’s going to make life a lot easier.

“I reckon everyone’s focus has to be qualify at the front. If you start at the back, it’s not long enough to do much.”

The second Supercars race of the Albert Park weekend ran short despite the time-certain window being eked out by scrapping the podium presentation, and despite running green throughout, because incidents in the Formula 3 qualifying session which preceded it made for a late start.

The Thursday encounter may have only been snipped by one lap as a result of an extra formation lap being required, but it too would have been further truncated if there had been a single Safety Car period.

Penrite Racing’s Matt Payne, third in both of those encounters, warned that a Safety Car could upend matters today.

“I think these boys touched on it pretty well; I think everyone’s going to be pushing a little bit harder,” he predicted.

“I think I’d really like to see 14 laps flat-out, just go as fast as you can and see what happens.

“But yeah, obviously, the tyres are doing their thing, and you’re managing them, the whole race, so it’s going to be interesting.

“There could be a Safety Car – there hasn’t even been a Safety Car yet – so, high chance there is in the next two races and that changes everything and it gets crazy on restarts here – even just at normal racing – so it’s going to be entertaining.”

Qualifying for Race 5 starts at 09:00 local time/AEDT.