Supercars set to act on co-driver weight rule

The category’s rules stipulate a minimum car weight of 1340kg, including the weight of the primary driver and their racing apparel.

While this equalises the field for single-driver races, the same rule applies for enduros – meaning co-drivers who are lighter than their primary race with the car underweight.

Those to benefit significantly from this in 2024 included Bathurst 1000-winning co-driver Todd Hazelwood and wildcard standout Cooper Murray.

It was also a known issue last year, where Richie Stanaway and David Russell were among the beneficiaries and finished first and second at Bathurst.

Following the latest discussion of the matter at a Commission meeting last week, Supercars motorsport manager Tim Edwards confirmed the category will act.

“It was raised before the enduros this year, but nobody felt it was appropriate to make a change because everyone had locked in their [co-driver] decisions prior to that,” Edwards told Speedcafe.

“There was an initial suggestion put forward by Matt Stone, it was then suggested we send it to the TWG (Technical Working Group).

“That happened, there’s been different versions of it bounced around since then, we’re currently mulling over four different versions as to which way we go for next year.

“There will be a change we’re just not locked in on exactly which one it’ll be.”

While using an average weight of the two drivers appears a simple solution, Supercars wants to avoid weight discrepancies when the primary drivers are in the cars during the closing stages.

“There’s winners and losers whichever way you do it. It’s just trying to come up with a method that overall tries to treat everyone fairly,” said Edwards.

“The whole thing was raised because you’ve got up to 40 kilo differences between main and primary drivers.

“That’s a significant advantage around a track like Bathurst, having a driver that’s under the minimum weight.

“Everybody agrees we need to make a tweak to it for next year and we’re working through the process of deciding exactly what we do.”