As revealed by Speedcafe last week, Supercars will introduce a NASCAR-inspired Finals Series to its season in 2025 in a bid to ensure the title fight goes down to Adelaide.
The bold move has been met with some critical feedback from fans, something that has seemingly been expected by Supercars.
However, there is also confidence from series management that the wider fan base backs the idea, based on extensive consultation.
“I think the message to fans… we consulted with a lot of fans and a lot of stakeholders and had an extreme amount of support,” said Howard during today’s announcement.
“I think, like any change, it can come with some degree of criticism. A lot of people don’t like change and that’s a fact.
“We’ve made the change, [we will] go through it next year, it may need some tweaks. Let’s see. If something needs an adjustment, then we’ll look at it.
“But I think the longest march starts with the first step, and we’ve started here today.”
The Finals is the brainchild of Supercars General Manager of Motorsport Tim Edwards, who agrees that detailed fan consultation, led by Howard and COO Tim Watsford, painted a very positive picture.
“They’ve got a way that they do that and they did survey fans,” he told Speedcafe.
“And they weren’t really cryptic, they were actually quite direct questions that was part of that, and there was overwhelming support for the Finals concept.”
Howard added that the new era, as it has been billed by Supercars, is a win for fans given there is more racing and less practice and testing.
“With the consultation that process that we’ve had with our fans and our key stakeholders, this is what they want to see,” he said.
“Why wouldn’t you want to see less practice, more events, more racing, and for the first time in the sport’s history, to have a Finals process, no different to what NRL or the AFL achieved?
“And the excitement of that final series, I think, will serve everybody very well.”
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