The category made a late decision to add a third compulsory pit stop (CPS) to the Sunday race at Symmons Plains alongside an increase in the scheduled distance.
Supercars last year reduced the Sunday race distance in Tasmania to 78 laps (188km) due to concerns not all cars could make it through 200km with just two stops.
Increased fuel burn this year due to a revised blend led to Supercars opting to increase it to 84 laps (202km) and mandate three stops.
That resulted in a somewhat confusing race in which pit activity seemed to be the dominant focus, rather than on-track action.
Jamie Whincup, boss of Ford homologation team Triple Eight, made it clear post-race why the late change had been made.
“The GM guys said they couldn’t make it on fuel so they changed the rules, which made it quite technical,” he said.
Take the short survey.
Adrian Burgess, boss of Chevrolet homologation squad Team 18, gave a slightly different perspective, suggesting the Toyota’s economy was also a factor.
“It’s called the Sprint Cup, not the Conserve Fuel Cup,” Burgess told Speedcafe.
“We need to be racing hard, and I think going to three CPS alleviated any risk that all of one brand could do it on two and the other brands have to do it on three.
“I think that was the right choice.
“There’ll be a lot of other tracks where we don’t even need to have that consideration, but here you’re wide-open throttle for too long, so you’re always fuel-hungry.”
Suggestions the Ford is more economical than the Chevrolet appeared during the Enduro Cup last year and have grown louder since the change in fuel blend.
Speedcafe understands the 200km races in Townsville, Perth and Ipswich could all require either a third CPS or a reduction in lap count to avoid an awkward economy race.
Supercars motorsport boss Tim Edwards downplayed to Speedcafe any suggestion the consumption between brands is significantly different.
He did confirm, however, that new fuel flow meters were run across the three marques at Symmons Plains in a bid to gain more data.
“We’re obviously always monitoring it, we pumped [fuel out of] a load of cars after the race as well, just to understand how much fuel people finish with,” he said.
“We’re comfortable with where the fuel consumption is, but we’ll have some even more accurate data from the new sensors that we put in.”
Edwards explained that stipulating a third stop – rather than allowing teams to choose – was necessary due to the relatively short nature of the races.
“People say you should have just left it up to the teams to work out. Unfortunately, our races are not the same length as NASCAR races,” he said.
“If someone could do it on two and the rest were doing it on three, you might as well just hand them a trophy before the race.”
A review of consumption figures will likely also look at whether GM teams are being disadvantaged with longer pit stop times if their engines are indeed thirstier on fuel.
Supercars uses a fuel blend made up of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent bio-gasoline.
Discussion about this post