Erebus and PremiAir follow the field out of pit lane at Sandown. Image: InSyde Media
Negotiations between Supercars’ owner RACE and the teams over event payments significantly delayed the release of a 2027 calendar.
RACE needed to revise the TRC as the pre-existing financial terms would have resulted in a reduction to 12 rounds.
Supercars finally released its 14-round calendar last week after achieving the required 75 percent supermajority support for a revised plan.
Five teams – Grove Racing, Triple Eight, PremiAir, Erebus and SCT – had rejected an initial compromise that was put forward by RACE and accepted by the other seven squads.
That resulted in an amended TRC that applies to all teams being supplemented by two separate offers that are essentially side agreements between RACE and each squad.
One is an increase to the annual base payment intended to appease the five-team group, while the other seven receive an equity bonus to be unlocked upon a future sale of the business.
However, PremiAir owner Peter Xiberras and Erebus owner Betty Klimenko have both made clear they are not happy with either offer and did not support the vote.
While this won’t impact the TRC itself as only the 75 percent supermajority was required for the changes to be enacted, Xiberras said his team will continue to discuss its position with RACE.
“[I’m] just not happy with it,” Xiberras told Speedcafe of the TRC.
“We’ve got to negotiate and work out what’s fair and what’s right. I’m sure we’ll come to an amicable agreement.”
Both offers involve teams relinquishing entitlements within the TRC in order to help RACE, which Klimenko did not feel was right.
“I’m not going to commit myself to something I don’t believe in,” Klimenko told Speedcafe.
“I will not sign something unless I think it’s the correct path.
“It doesn’t matter if I have to follow the path, it doesn’t need my signature there backing it.
“This has been going ever since I arrived in Supercars. It’s always the teams that need to give something up.”
RACE boss Barclay Nettlefold confirmed to Speedcafe that he is in ongoing dialogue with the two squads.
“It’s their choice, not mine,” he said of whether they sign the TRC.
“Ideally we’d love them to sign. I think one of them still might.”
It’s understood Erebus also did not sign the previous single-year TRC amendment that allowed 14 rounds to take place this season.
The latest TRC change resets the base number of rounds to 14 indefinitely and has been hailed by Ryan Walkinshaw as a defining moment in the sport’s history.
Walkinshaw, Dick Johnson Racing majority owner Brett Ralph, Matt Stone and Brad Jones led the negotiation with RACE, initially on behalf of all teams.
New Supercars deal hailed ‘defining moment in our sport’
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