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Supercars has tightened its rules around Top 10 Shootouts after PremiAir Racing apparently exploited a loophole in order to warm up a set of tyres at the NTI Townsville 500.
Car #31 of James Golding came under investigation after it was spotted without tyres fitted during the Saturday shootout at the Reid Park Street Circuit.
The PremiAir crew then bolted on a set of slicks for Golding’s run, and he would go on to set the eighth-fastest time of the session.
It is a trick which was found to be legal at the time, but Speedcafe has now learned that it has been banned by the addition of new provisions to the Supercars Operations Manual.
Ordinarily, a vehicle participating in the shootout should be in parc ferme conditions, and hence only very limited work can be undertaken during that period, per Rule 6.3.6 of the Supercars Operations Manual.
That rule had stated, up to and including the NTI Townsville 500:
6.3.6 From one (1) minute prior to the commencement of the Top Ten Shootout as detailed in the Event Program, until the Car has been released from Parc Fermé by the HoM, no work is permitted to be undertaken on the Car, unless with the express permission of the HoM, except to:
6.3.6.1 Adjust tyre pressures.
6.3.6.2 Add dry ice to the Driver cooling system.
6.3.6.3 Fit and remove windscreen shades.
6.3.6.4 Fit and remove radiator/ brake cooling fans.
6.3.6.5 Changing from dry Control Tyres to wet weather Control Tyres; and/or changing from wet weather Control Tyres to dry Control Tyres.
PremiAir had in fact wheeled Car #31 into its pit bay on wet tyres, and completing a shootout lap on them would have been a breach given the track had not been declared wet.
However, those wets were removed from the car 15 seconds prior to the official session start time, and hence it was officially not on wets during the session.
As for the reason for the initial choice of tyres, it is worth noting that the stewards decision stated, in part, “The dry Control Tyres had been left warming in the sunshine behind Car 31’s garage as is permitted under the Rules.”
The trick was within the rules at the time but has since been banned.
Rule D6.3.4 of the Operations Manual now reads as follows:
D6.3.4 All Car’s participating in the Top Ten Shootout must be pushed out of their Pit Garage on the Control Tyres on which they must start the Session (subject to D6.3.6.5) and parked in its Pit Bay at an angle of 45 degrees with the front of the Car pointing toward Pit Exit one (1) minute prior to the commencement of the Top Ten Shootout as detailed in the Event Program
Furthermore, Rule D6.3.6.5 has also been elongated to read as follows:
D6.3.6.5 Changing from dry Control Tyres to wet weather Control Tyres if the RD has declared the Session wet; and/or changing from wet weather Control Tyres to dry Control Tyres if the Session was declared wet by the Race Director prior to the commencement of the Session.
Tyre rules were again thrust into the spotlight during this year’s second event at Albert Park, when a wet track declaration created a virtual free-for-all in races originally intended to have four-tyre pit stops and a change of compound.
There are six Top 10 Shootouts still to come in 2023, which will set the grids for every race across the latter four events of the season, namely the Sandown 500, Bathurst 1000, Gold Coast 500, and Adelaide 500.
The next event of the season is the Beaurepaires Sydney SuperNight, with support categories on-track at ‘Eastern Creek’ from this Friday.
