SUPERCARS is exploring means to remove time-certain finishes from as many races as possible in future.
V8 Sleuth has learnt the item has been tabled at Commission level, with the general consensus in favour of ridding the rule – which has forever been a bugbear of fans – from at least the events exclusively broadcast by Fox/Kayo.
The only Supercars race without time certainty is the Repco Bathurst 1000, which is always intended to run its full 161-lap distance.
Time certainty is known to be a necessary evil of all other free-to-air rounds, given the need to stay on schedule for the transition to nightly news and so on.
Other factors include when Supercars takes support category status at Albert Park as part of the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix.
Anyhow, Supercars is committed to removing time certainty as much as it can, to ensure that races are not inadvertently cut short.
A realistic target appears to be non-time certainty for nine of 14 rounds, on the assumption that the length of calendar remains stable (i.e. all but the AGP plus the five events on Channel Seven besides Bathurst).
A hard stop will still be required for some races though, whether it’s the first of two Saturday sprints so that the latter isn’t affected, or constraints such as sunset, noise curfews (Sandown and Phillip Island) or Sunday night flights home for teams/fans/marshals.
In any case, watch this space. A win for the fans could be on the way.