A SECOND successive round of just 13 cars on the TCR Australia grid is not setting off alarm bells just yet for Australian Racing Group chief operating officer Liam Curkpatrick.
The timing of Race Tasmania in February, plus the logistical hurdles associated with the trip to the Apple Isle, were thought to be reasons for the skinny Round 1 field.
But come this weekend at Phillip Island, it’s 13 again.
Curkpatrick is comfortable there are “genuine reasons” why some competitors have not joined yet as hoped, and that the field indeed will grow in the coming months.
“We want to have as many cars running as possible,” he told V8 Sleuth.
“There’s a few genuine reasons why people can’t run at the moment, either in terms of getting budget together or personnel issues or whatnot.
“We thought we would have 15 or 16 post-Tassie at PI but a couple of those just haven’t come off in time.
“The cars are there and there’s interest, there’s people there or thereabouts, just a couple of things haven’t come together. Sometimes it’s just circumstance or bad luck.
“The reality at the moment as well is the economy is a bit tougher than it probably was 12 months ago. I don’t think that’s an excuse but it probably does make people think a bit more about what they’re going to do.
“Talking to teams and drivers, we’re confident it’s not going to go backwards from there.
“I’m pretty sure Winton Round 3, QR Round 4 we’ll be up towards 17 or 18, and then we have got minimum 14 – hopefully 16 – of the World Tour cars coming for the last two rounds so it will be a strong finish.”
Curkpatrick believes the World Tour coming to Australia later this year, combined with the opportunity to compete abroad as Ben Bargwanna is doing, can inspire future entries.
“The idea of the World Tour for the teams as well is to bring the whole world concept here; it should give people the confidence that this thing has got that potential reach,” he said.
“And Ben Bargwanna going to the first round in Portugal I think is massive too in terms of it does show the global relevance of doing it and the opportunities of becoming a professional driver overseas.
“I think with the World Tour coming this year, it kind of clicks into gear what we were trying to achieve early days with it but through COVID having that global reach was difficult.
“This should help us connect that a bit better now.”
One plus of the Phillip Island field is the debut of two new marques in Australia: Lynk & Co and Cupra.
That makes for six brands in total, also including Audi, Hyundai, Honda and Peugeot.
“There’s nothing on the horizon post this now but we have been waiting for this for a little while and it’s great that these guys have been able to finally pull it off and get those cars in,” said Curkpatrick.
“On the plus side, that’s more cars in the country which means theoretically we should be able to get some more cars on the grid which is part of the plan as well.”
