Strategy twist as Supercars retains fuel drops

Refuelling will occur in the six events run to the Super400/Super500 format and the two enduros, with the other four on the calendar being SuperSprints.

While the freedom of there being no compulsory pit stops – save for brake changes – remains for the Sandown 500 and Bathurst 1000 after being restored for last year’s first enduros of the Gen3 era, so too does the drop in the 12 other refuelling races.

However, not only will the size of the aggregate drop vary depending on the length of those races, so too will the number of CPSs.

Just one CPS for a fill of at least 80 litres will apply to the 200km races at Taupo and Sydney Motorsport Park

For the 250km races – at Bathurst, Townsville, Surfers Paradise, and Adelaide – it is the long-customary two CPSs, with an aggregate fill of 100 litres in each.

Also of note is that the requirement to change at least two tyres in pit stops has been dropped for Taupo and SMP, but remains for the other refuelling races.

Last year, the 100-litre/two CPS rule applied across almost all of the (non-enduro) refuelling races, the exception being the 200km affair at SMP.

There, the CPS count there was reduced to one by way of the Further Supplementary Regulations, creating an interesting strategic option for teams given fuel range made a one-stopper feasible, with the caveat that the soft compound of tyre degrades quickly at ‘Eastern Creek’.

With softs being allocated for both Taupo and SMP this year, it is not clear why the two-tyre requirement has been removed from the CPS stipulation, or if indeed that will have any practical impact at all considering even very short fuel fills would cover a change of rubber.

Speedcafe columnist Roland Dane had gone so far as to call for the abolition of mandated fuel drops altogether, given the engines in the category are apparently essentially in parity with respect to economy, and hence there being no CPSs at the enduros.

Speedcafe readers also voted to scrap the drop, by a margin of five to one, in a recent Pirtek Poll.

Supercars has today also announced several other rules around formats for 2024.

No pit stops at Albert Park

As tipped by Speedcafe, there will be no CPSs at Albert Park given Supercars has lost access to the garages in the second pit lane.

The four races at the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix event – 105km, 105km, 80km, and 80km in distance – will thus be pure sprints, on the soft tyre.

The only other races without compulsory tyre changes are the aforementioned encounters at Taupo and SMP, as well as the enduros.

90-minute practice sessions

The format of a single, 90-minute practice session which was already confirmed as returning for Wanneroo has been expanded to Hidden Valley, SMP, and Symmons Plains.

More shootouts, less knockout qualifying

Top 10 Shootouts will feature at nine events out of 12 in 2024 and, at those nine, as part of the qualifying process for each race.

The only circuits where there will be no one-lap dashes are Albert Park – where a Supercars event is squeezed into a Formula 1 programme – plus Wanneroo and Symmons Plains – the two shortest circuits on the calendar at approximately 2.4km each.

Furthermore, it is thus just Wanneroo and Symmons Plains which will use the three-part process which has come to be known as ‘knockout qualifying’, and officially titled ‘Format 2’, on both the Saturday and Sunday.

On every other occasion, a straight-through session will set either the whole grid for a race – in the case of Albert Park – or determine the 10 cars going into the shootout and set grid positions for 11th to the rear.

Hard tyres for Bathurst 500 confirmed

The hardest compound of Dunlop control tyre has been confirmed for the season-opening Thrifty Bathurst 500.

According to Supercars, that is the only time it will be used all year, although Speedcafe understands that there exists the prospect of changing the Repco Bathurst 1000 from the soft – criticised that its deployment for the Great Race was after last year’s relatively dull affair – back to the hard.

Obviously, with no pit stops, a single compound will be used for the Albert Park races, and that compound will be the soft in each of the four encounters.

2024 Supercars Championship formats*

TTSO: Top Ten Shootout (Refer to Rule D6.3)
Format 1: Single qualifying session (Refer to Rule D6.2.2 and D7.2.1)
Format 2: Knockout qualifying session (Refer to Rule D6.2.3 and D7.2.2
WU: Warm Up
^ Means a Session run under lights at dusk/night

2024 Supercars Championship tyre allocation

H: Hard
S: Soft
SS: Super Soft
W: Wet Weather