Talks begin for Australian GP Supercars points push

Last weekend’s Australian Grand Prix provided the first opportunity for the AGPC to sit down with Supercars Australia and Formula 1’s new owners Liberty Media and discuss how a full Supercars championship round could be incorporated into the AGP schedule.

With AGPC chiefs sharing an office with Liberty during the event, talks regarding Supercars championship status were an important part of broad conversation shared between the race organiser and the F1 owners.

“It’s been on the agenda for a long time, it’s the desire of the Corporation,” AGPC CEO Andrew Westacott told Motorsport.com.

“We want it to happen, Supercars want it to happen, and [Liberty] is open to exploring it.

“I’m optimistic, but we’ve got a few things to work through to look at it. They’ll form views, we’ll have debriefs with them about all the things they love about our event, and maybe some new ideas.

“We’ve been sharing the offices with [Liberty], and this was their first experience of owning the sport and attending a Formula 1 grand prix. Therefore, what we’ve been doing is introducing them to all the wonderful things we do for the fan experience.

“Where we’ve got absolute common ground is that they want to dial up the experience for the fans. And they see what we do here as being a really good example of how to do it. They haven’t said it’s the right example or the wrong example, but they’re walking away with great impressions.

“With Supercars, what we’ve said to Formula 1 management is that they’re an intrinsic part of Australia’s culture. They’ve got a fantastic following, they’re unbelievably professional, we love them, the fans love them – and we want to work towards getting them as a championship round in the future.

“[Liberty] is professional enough to say ‘let’s form some views’, but I’d say that it’s a positive impression that we’ve left on them in Melbourne. And that covers on-track, off-track, and everything else. Which is great.”

Questions over format

While the majority of the hurdles that have prevented Supercars from offering championship points at Albert Park in the past have been cleared – TV broadcasting rights and a seperate pitlane, for example – there is still a question mark over race format should it become a championship round.

That’s a discussion that Westacott says will be ongoing, although he is confident that the current format of four 13-lap sprint races with no pitstops could be adapted to a points round, and that Supercars boss James Warburton shares the same view.

“One of the plans put forward when James, myself, and our teams have been talking is that they we’re very happy with having four 30-minute sprint races, and having an accumulative level of points across the weekend,” added Westacott.

“So what we’ve got to do is design a programme – and this why these things need to be thought through sensibly – that allows there to be necessary buffers. It needs to be done in a creative way, not a Mickey Mouse way that might be seen as a pre-season competition like footy. It has got to be real.

“We’ve got to get a lot of feedback and steer from James and the teams and so on about what that optimum duration is. Because this is more than just for the core Supercars fan, although they’re a wonderfully important part of our attendees. What we’ve got to look at is it 30 minutes? Is it 40 minutes? Is it an hour? I doubt it’s two hours, and we certainly couldn’t fit it in.

“We need punchy entertainment, exciting racing, and the best result is going to be when we work together with Supercars, and ultimately look at how it’s integrated into a very complex Formula 1 schedule.”