Back from the future for Supercars
For the rst time since in nearly a decade the Australian Touring Car Championship will be exclusively Ford versus Holden.
That’s because the Nissan Altima, the last of the Car of the Future interlopers that also included the Mercedes-AMG E 63 and Volvo S60, has been retired.
Instead, 16 Holden Commodores should line up against eight Ford Mustangs on the 2020 Supercars grid.
Leading the way on the Holden side in 2020 will be the unchanged line-up of Jamie Whincup and Shane van Gisbergen in the Red Bull/Triple Eight Holdens.
Over at the blue oval, Scott McLaughlin will be looking for a championship three-peat in the Shell V-Power DJR Team Penske – a feat only achieved by Whincup (on his way to a 2011-14 four-peat), Mark Skaife and Ian Geoghegan (also on his way to a 1966-69 four-peat).
Fabian Coulthard will continue in the other DJRTP Ford, making for a very stable look at the serious end of the entry list.
While DJRTP had a tremendously successful 2019, winning the driver’s and teams’ title as well as the Bathurst 1000, it was twice ned heavily for illegalities and the new Mustang it played an intrinsic role in developing for Supercars racing was the subject of several handicapping measures.
Over the summer that process continued with aerodynamic testing designed to level the playing eld between the two cars and slow them down.
The other big deal technically is the introduction of a control Supashock shock absorber. Van Gisbergen for one is more conscious of the impact that will have.
“The biggest thing, I think, is the shock change, having those Supashocks and the limited adjustment that you get,” he told Speedcafe.com.
“I think it’ll be a very interesting because I think in street circuits that’s been an advantage for us; our shocks. The Sachs stuff was very good.”
The championship is set to run over 14 rounds in 2020, down one compared to 2019 with Phillip Island dropping off the calendar. There will be some structural changes to meetings, including Saturday 120km races boosted from 120km to 200km races.
Sandown also loses its enduro status, replaced by the new Tailem Bend circuit in South Australia.
Behind the front-runners there’s been -plenty of seat changes. The big shock has been Chaz Mostert shifting from Tickford Racing to Walkinshaw Andretti United and from Mustang to Commodore.
The 2014 Bathurst 1000 and 2020 Daytona 24-hour GTLM winner has taken a big punt exiting a top 10 drive to head a struggling former powerhouse.
His place at Tickford has been taken by a grateful Jack Le Brocq, who exits Tekno Autosports after a traumatic two-year tenure.
That team is also due to move south from the Gold Coast this year to become Team Sydney, although details of the new structure beyond the con rmation of James Courtney as one of its drivers was lacking as Australian Muscle Car went to press.
Meanwhile, Kelly Racing has replaced its four Altimas with two Mustangs and retained Rick Kelly and Andre Heimgartner as its drivers.
Its reduction in entries has been negated by the expansion of Holden squads Matt Stone Racing, Team 18 and Tekno from single to twocar entries, while Brad Jones Racing has grown from three to four cars.
New drivers joining the championship include Super2 winner Bryce Fullwood, Zane Goddard, Jake Kostecki and Jack Smith.