V8 Supercars Australia ensures fans of race finishes
Release Date: 26/04/2007
V8 Supercars Australia will allow longer time buffers prior to and following Championship Series races to avoid ending them before the scheduled amount of laps are complete.
The steps follow the decision of V8 Supercars Australia on Sunday to complete only 36 of the scheduled 43 laps in the third race in New Zealand that was badly affected by two lengthy safety car periods.
A review held today will also result in the development of a professional training package to instruct all recovery crews and speed up the amount of time it takes to rescue stricken V8 Supercars.
Further measures will also be taken to either cut or shorten the post-race celebrations should a similar circumstance arise in the future, in order to allow a race to come to its? full conclusion.
The two incidents in New Zealand resulted in 21 and a half minutes of race time being lost whilst the field circulated at low speed behind the safety car. Had either incident not occurred or the recovery processes taken so long, the race would have easily finished its? full total of laps.
V8 Supercars Australia Chief Executive Officer Wayne Cattach said longer buffers of at least five minutes on either side of races as well implementing improved recovery training procedures would help prevent a reoccurrence of the shortened New Zealand race.
?The reasoning behind us calling the race short was simply because we had these two very, very long safety car periods,? Mr Cattach said.
?The first one we can understand because we had a car flipped on its roof and a driver potentially in a dangerous situation. The second one was quite frankly not acceptable.
?Unlike most other sports, motor racing can suffer lengthy delays because accidents can occur at any time. It is impossible to predict lengthy delays but at the same time we need to do our best to minimise them.?
Mr Cattach said Network Seven played no part in the decision to end the race and head to the post-race celebrations.
?We made the judgment call to shorten the race in favour of showing the podium presentation,? he said.
?This was not a decision made by Network Seven as has been speculated and widely reported. The decision was ours and ours alone. Network Seven were not involved in this decision in any way.
?We apologise to our fans that it happened and assure them we will fix these problems.?
Mr Cattach said the precautionary measures will be adopted before the next Championship round at Winton in Victoria, where a training video would also be prepared. He said V8 Supercars Australia may also appoint its own expert to oversee all car recoveries.