TEAMS AND DRIVERS DISAGREE OVER POSSIBLE MX-5 MERGER
Mixed views on whether BRSCC’S MX-5 Supercup and Super Series should combine for 2020
Drivers and teams are divided over whether the BRSCC’S Supercup and Super Series categories for Mk3 Mazda MX-5S should be brought back together as a single championship.
The two categories shared the circuit at Anglesey last month, as
TCR UK – which the Supercup usually shares a package with – was having its ‘away day’ round at Spa. The two categories will also combine at Donington Park in August.
The Super Series was created for
2018 when the Supercup joined the
TCR UK bill, leaving the Super Series as a non-points scoring category.
While many of the leading
Supercup contenders favour the merger, some Super Series competitors have concerns.
“Definitely it [the merger] should be 100% permanent,” said driver and team manager Paul Sheard of the joint grid. “This is the way forward for next year.”
Reigning Supercup champion Luke Herbert added: “The ideal situation would be, combine the two grids so there’s 30 cars, but split the race up so that you’ve got, same as Ginetta, the pros and the amateurs. Essentially, have a Pro-am: just called Supercup and Super Series!”
Logistics and greater camaraderie were also perceived as benefits from merging. Sheard added: “As a team owner it’s a nightmare with different locations especially on the same day – very often they’re [Supercup and Series] on the same weekend, so it’s been pretty impossible.”
But Boreham Motorsport boss
Ray Worley was unhappy with the shared grid.
“It was a bloody disaster,” he said. “Super Series needed to overtake Supercup drivers to get near to the next Super Series person and in some cases that was five Supercup cars, and the Supercup guys do not want you to come past because that’s a personal insult.”
Super Series driver Darren Kell added: “All the Super Series guys complained that our races became basically about who could get past the Supercup backmarkers first.
“Clearly that’s not what we were signing up for. It was scrappy and unpleasant. My car sustained a significant amount of damage when I’ve done all the previous Super Series races without a scratch.
“We signed up for something that was specifically not Supercup, because we didn’t necessarily want the pressure and the issue with points.”