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He joined the field at Townsville in July aboard a Blanchard Racing Team Ford Mustang ahead of his Supercars Championship co-driving duties with the team.
Perkins had also planned to race the retro-coloured Super2 car at Sandown but required Supercars approval to do so due to his status as an endurance co-driver.
Supercars eligibility regulations state:
“Any Driver who is Competing in an Endurance Event will not be eligible to Compete at the same Event in the Dunlop Series unless that Driver has Competed in a minimum of three (3) of the previous Dunlop Series Rounds in the same year, or in exceptional circumstances at the discretion of Supercars.”
Perkins explained in a detailed social media post that he and BRT had been caught out by the fact that the rule includes Sandown, as well as Bathurst.
“For as long as I can remember, to race Super2 at Bathurst as a main game co-driver you had to participate in three of the first four races, or 75 percent of the races prior to Bathurst,” Perkins wrote.
“This is a well-known rule and one that I have always supported and adhered to. This stops main game teams with bigger budgets and more resources from running their co-drivers in Super2 at Bathurst only.
“For example, it stops Triple 8 running a Super2 car for (Jamie) Whincup and (Scott) Pye at Bathurst to give them more miles on the Great Race weekend. It’s a good rule.
“At some stage in the last year or two this rule has been amended to now include Sandown alongside Bathurst, which we, Blanchard Racing Team, and Supercars weren’t completely aware of until a fellow competitor raised it with Supercars personnel at Townsville.”
Perkins also detailed why his two-event program was centred around Townsville and Sandown.
“We chose the Townsville and Sandown events largely because the car was stripped back to a bare body shell being repaired at the start of the year and getting to the first two events was impossible, given BRT’s expansion to two cars in the main series,” he stated.
“Sandown is also the obvious choice to run a retro livery, paying tribute to the history of our great sport. We also knew that I couldn’t do Bathurst in Super2, so that was never part of our plans.”
His application for dispensation included arguments around his long-standing support of Super2, the differences in the cars used in the two series, the interest generated by his retro-themed liveries in recent years and the lost income for BRT.
“Given we were only made aware of this situation in Townsville, we immediately applied for dispensation, and unfortunately, we were only given an answer now, some six weeks after that request,” he wrote.
“Not only have we already started preparing the car and our marketing campaigns for Sandown, but we have very little time to make or think of a potential plan B!”
Perkins’ post concluded with a reference to the car’s retro livery, which celebrates the second place finish of his father Larry Perkins and Peter Janson in the 1979 Bathurst 1000.
“I also had a few boxes of Cadbury Cherry Ripe’s on order to hand out to the fans as per Peter Janson in the 70’s and 80’s! Oh well, maybe next time…”
Read Perkins’ full social media post below
