The category has held four sprints at Albert Park for the last several years, including the entirety of the period since it began racing for championship points at the Melbourne Formula 1 event in 2018.
Last year, though, the addition of Formula 2 and Formula 3 to the programme led to even more challenging scheduling – with strict time-certain windows – and, this year, the relocation from the second pit lane meant racing was conducted without compulsory pit stops.
However, this year’s Albert Park races were arguably among some of the most entertaining which the Repco Supercars Championship has put on in years, and a crowd of 65,030 turned up on Thursday, when it was the day’s headline act.
READ MORE: Difference of opinion over CPS-free Supercars races
Nevertheless, 42.54 percent of the 5926 respondents (at time of writing) voted ‘No, the show is too compromised’ when asked if Supercars should return to the AGP in 2025.
Of the 57.46 percent who voted for either of the ‘Yes’ options, less than half – 22.85 percent of the total – were sufficiently satisfied to not place any caveats on their selection (ie ‘Yes, the 2024 event was satisfactory’).
The rest, making up 34.61 percent of the total (or about 60 percent of the ‘Yes’ vote), opted for ‘Yes, if the format and/or paddock access changes’.
That was a sore point among drivers and team bosses, with general admission ticketholders locked out of the Supercars paddock for operational reasons, including safety.
READ MORE: AGPC exploring improvements for Supercars in 2025
Reader ‘Glen Watkins’ commented, “Before the weekend I was a firm NO – too many concessions, bad paddock access, low priority billing.
“However, after the weekend’s racing I’m a yes – if paddock access for fans can improve.
“The racing this weekend was brilliant, such a great change from the boredom of the Bathurst 500 and most of the rounds before it!
“But equally could that format just be achieved at other tracks???”
Roland’s View: Time to ask the AGP question again
‘Phil’ wrote, “We just had the best true racing in memory, without having to put up with pit stops being used to try to outmanoeuvre the opposition – actual on-track action.
“So much better than watching cars running around too many of the venues that we currently go to.”
‘An Obvious Kiwi’, on the other hand, opined, “Not a fan of the track, but the racing was alright. Would rather see them go back to Phillip Island with this kind of sprint racing.
“I still don’t understand why they want to stay involved in the F1 circus and travel outside of Australasia for events.
“It has never worked in the past, and will likely never work in future.”
There is still time to vote, before a new Pirtek Poll goes live on Monday on Speedcafe.
