THE Repco Supercars Championship could be exposed to an unfamiliar situation at this week’s MSS Security Melbourne SuperSprint.
Supercars’ loss of the Albert Park pitlane means there is scope for any of its four sprint races at the Australian Grand Prix event to be interrupted by a red flag even without an incident.
The catalyst for such an instance would be rain.
As is often the case for support categories – which also includes Porsche Carrera Cup Australia at Albert Park – mid-race rain would trigger a red flag to allow cars to safely change onto wet tyres.
Ordinarily in Supercars if it rains mid-race, drivers and teams can choose if and when to make a green flag pitstop to change tyres.
But the alternate system is necessary this week given the limited equipment Supercars teams will be permitted to take into the pitlane, which would not be suitable for a full field’s worth of rapid pitstops at once.
Per the event’s Further Supplementary Regulations, in all Supercars sessions “each Team is permitted only one (1) pneumatic wheel gun in Pit Lane per Car”.
V8 Sleuth understands the process would involve a five-minute warning sounding as the last car enters pitlane under red flag conditions, and the race being duly restarted.
That would likely lead to a time certain finish, with a 40-minute window for the Thursday and Friday races (scheduled for 19 laps), and a 30-minute window for the Saturday and Sunday encounters (14 laps).
It should be noted that as it stands the Melbourne forecast for this Thursday to Sunday is fine, with no more than a 20 percent chance of rain on any day – but the Victorian capital is notorious for unpredictable weather.
