Supercars teams are committed to doing whatever it takes to finish the Supercars season.
After the 2020 season saw Victorian teams spend over 100 days on the road away from their families, some teams were adamant they didn’t want to see a repeat this season.
But, with Covid-19 outbreaks continuing in New South Wales and Victoria, there has been concern over the five remaining championship rounds.
A number of teams are based in the two states, and four of the five remaining rounds are scheduled to be held there, leaving a cloud hanging over the remainder of the championship.
Supercars CEO Sean Seamer spoke to Speedcafe about the remainder of the season.
“Everybody wants to get Bathurst done, and I’ve had numerous team owners calling me saying, ‘just tell us what we’ve got to do’,” Seamer said.
“I do want to call out that the teams, despite everything that they went through last year, they’re prepared to do what they’ve got to do to deliver this championship for fans.
“They should be applauded for that. From my side, the priority is making sure that we’re all treating them equally through that process, because that’s something that unfortunately we couldn’t plan for last year.”
The prospect of returning to tracks in other states less affected by Covid-19 has been raised, though the championship is determined to visiting tracks they haven’t been to yet this season.
Another possible Bathurst reschedule is likely to be the deciding factor in any further calendar revisions.
“The priority is the Bathurst 1000 and working backwards from that on plans that we can put in place with a high degree of certainty that we can execute on,” Seamer said.
“Certainly, if we move Bathurst again, it’ll be the last time that moves. I’m sure I speak on behalf of everybody at Supercars and the teams that once that’s done, further changes that we make, if we can keep that to a minimum, it’ll certainly help us proceed with fans and partners into Q4.
“What we’re focused on right now is establishing protocols that enable us to deliver what we need to deliver on the eastern seaboard and get to places we haven’t been in two years, or more in the case of Phillip Island.
“However, at the end of the day, there are options and other states. There always will be options in other states. They’re always on the table, but our focus is the eastern seaboard right now.”
Supercars is working with projections of what the situation may look like in various states, and how that may affect their planning.
“Right now, when we forecast where we see things in November and December, and we have discussions on the eastern seaboard, is certainly when you look at the vaccination trajectory in Victoria and New South Wales that we believe that the teams certainly in Victoria will be able to get back into Victoria with very limited quarantine requirements, if any.
“But it’s likely, based on current data and planning that we’re looking that, that the Queenslanders may need to perform some level of self-isolation on returning to Queensland.”
Main image: Phil Blatch
