The compulsory fuel drop for the NTI Townsville 500 has been locked in.
Each Repco Supercars Championship entry will be required to take on a total of at least 100 litres during each of the 250km races at the Reid Park Street Circuit next weekend (July 7-9).
That is the same figure as that which applied at the Thrifty Newcastle 500 season-opener, the only other refuelling event of the season to date.
Fuel drops had been left as ‘TBA’ when the Operations Manual, Supercars’ rulebook, was released ahead of the season kick-off given economy with the then brand-new Gen3 race cars was only an educated guess.
That the same drop applies for Townsville suggests that fuel consumption figures are not dramatically different to those which were experienced in pre-season, nor have materially changed since competition began in March.
While the 100-litre figure is less than fuel cell capacity in a Gen3 Supercar, which is 133 litres, the Operations Manual and event Further Supplementary Regulations still stipulate a minimum of two compulsory pit stops per 88-lap race around the semi-permanent Townsville circuit.
A minimum change of two tyres is also compulsory, although that stipulation is largely academic considering race lengths and the soft compound which is in use for the weekend.
In a change to the sporting regulations for the weekend, teams are now allowed to use two sets of brake pads per car.
Typically, each entry is permitted only one set of rotors and one set of pads for an event, as was originally the case for the NTI Townsville 500.
Practice 1 for the Supercars Championship field starts on Friday, July 7 at 10:10 local time/AEST.
After the two half-hour sessions on that Friday, each of Saturday and Sunday will see 15 minutes of qualifying, a Top 10 Shootout, and a 250km race.
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