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Super2 Series teams are in limbo over a plan to change to E75 fuel after Supercars cancelled a meeting with competitors.
As revealed by Speedcafe, Supercars had been set to impose the switch from E85 to E75 at the next round of the Super2 season, at Sandown in September.
The move led to a backlash from competitors due to the cost and workload created by the exercise, which requires a new fire suppression system (‘fire bomb’) at a price of around $3000 at a bare minimum.
However, there remains conflicting views about whether engines would need to be re-tuned for the new fuel blend, with opinions varying among the Super2 paddock.
With a re-tune and potentially other changes which may become necessary, the cost of the exercise could come to as much as $20,000 per vehicle.
Supercars had scheduled a videoconference with teams for this afternoon, but that meeting was cancelled earlier today.
It is understood that a number of angry team bosses had already made their views quite clear to the category, and that the balance will be contacted individually by telephone.
The upshot, though, is that there is no clarity at this point in time on whether or not the change will be made for Sandown.
If it is, then, aside from the cost of the new fire bomb, there is also the laborious exercise of its installation, which is said to require the removal of the engine.
Re-tuning, if deemed necessary, would mean engines would have to be sent back to South East Queensland or Melbourne, at a time when Gen3 suppliers KRE Race Engines and Herrod Performance Engines are processing routine mid-season rebuilds for Championship teams.
Among other concerns is the question over whether or not the existing fuel cell bladders would be able to handle the new E75 blend.
The Supercars Championship had been fuelled by E85 from 2009 until last year, the end of the Car of the Future era (which included Gen2), with E75 introduced to the top tier this year with Gen3.
A brand-new technical ruleset meant that the Gen2 cars moved down to Super2, but many of those have been leased by competitors rather than bought, adding a further complication to a mid-season fuel changeover in terms of the question of whether lessors should stump up the cost.
Opinions canvassed by Speedcafe range from accepting of the move to furious, although most believe the switch is best done in the off-season.
According to an email from Supercars to teams on June 30, the introduction of E75 was indeed “Originally scheduled for the start of the [current Super2] Season,” although teams dispute that they were given notice of the initiative before competition got underway this year.
The Sandown round, the fourth of six in 2023, takes place on September 15-17.
