Early ‘crash test dummy’ test a positive for Gen3 Supercars

TICKFORD Racing boss Tim Edwards says the “repairability” of the new Gen3 Supercars is not as bad as some may have feared despite James Courtney being ruled out of race 2 in Newcastle.

His reassurance comes after fears a four-race weekend in Melbourne could make or break seasons if a car sustained significant damage early in the schedule.

Courtney’s Snowy Rivers Mustang was scratched from Sunday afternoon’s Newcastle race after a shootout shunt caused front-end damage Tickford was unable to repair in time.

Teams milled around the garage to watch Tickford’s best and brightest attempt the repair, which failed when a new front clip would not fit to the chassis.

“Unfortunately someone needs to be the crash test dummy and we got that mantle,” Edwards said.

“It’s no different to when we started racing Car of the Future back in 2013 – until you start racing and bouncing off each other and off of walls, you don’t know how they will fare.

“You can’t simulate crashing into each other and hitting walls. You have to do that at the race events. They have the front clip off JC’s car with them up in Queensland so they can analyse it and think about ways we can do things differently.”

Edwards said it was up to Supercars to decide whether changes to the chassis design are needed to minimise damage in a similar scenario.

He says teams will be better placed to combat such a circumstance in Melbourne this week, given the meeting is scheduled over four race days with more time between to diagnose any problems.

“The fact (the Melbourne SuperSprint) is spread out over four days probably gives us greater opportunity – had JC’s accident happened on Saturday, there’s half a chance we got it back out on track for Sunday,” Edwards said.

“The fact that largely – apart from us crashing – (the Gen3 cars) ran relatively flawlessly does bode well. There’s certain things we can learn and Supercars and other teams are all keen to learn as well.”

With Triple Eight’s Race 1 disqualification upheld last week, would-be title rivals – such as Tickford – have the chance to put pressure on Red Bull and its reigning champion, Shane van Gisbergen.

Cam Waters is third in the drivers’ standings, 57 points behind early leader Chaz Mostert. Van Gisbergen, who won Race 2, is 11th overall – 126 points off Mostert’s pace.

Tyre degradation was a hot topic out of Newcastle and the microscope will be on again with the swap to super soft tyres this weekend.

At last year’s Melbourne SuperSprint many teams’ race plans were blown up by surprise tyre blistering, which forced some drivers to pit twice in the opening 20-lap race.

Edwards said tyre management would be a key focus.

“We’ve been pretty bold in going from a soft to super soft this year,” he said.

“It’s still an element of risk with that … (we need to) make sure we don’t get caught out like we did last year.”