The German marque issued a recall of Taycan models Y1A, Y1B, and Y1C for the year range 2019-2023 over concerns that defective battery cells might cause a fire.
According to the official recall notice, only 19 vehicles in Australia are affected, and a Supercars spokesperson confirmed to Speedcafe that the Safety Cars are not among those to be recalled.
Said recall notice advises that, “Due to a manufacturing issue, the cell modules installed in the high voltage battery may be defective.
“A short circuit could cause a thermal overload and result in a vehicle fire over time.”
As revealed by Speedcafe, the Taycan took over Safety Car duties this year after a decision by Ford, understood to be a message to Supercars management over parity concerns at the time, to cut its marketing spend on the championship.
Ford had most recently provided a Ranger utility as the Safety Car, and previously a roadgoing version of the Mustang.
The Taycan GTS is the first noteworthy use of electric vehicle technology in the Supercars Championship in any capacity, although a plug-in hybrid V8 BMW SUV was used as the Safety Car for the Bathurst 12 Hour event which Supercars also runs.
Supercars’ other official vehicles this year are two Subaru WRX Race Control cars, a Porsche Cayenne Medical Car, and a Volkswagen Amarok Recovery Vehicle.
The Amarok also replaced a Ranger in that role, which is something of an irony considering the latest generation of Volkswagen’s ute was developed by Ford and hence is essentially a Ranger under the skin.
As for Subaru, this is the first time it has supplied Race Control vehicles to Supercars.
The 2024 season continues with the Bosch Power Tools Perth SuperSprint on May 17-19.
Discussion about this post