SUPERCARS DROPS TIME-CERTAIN FINISHES

Supercars has abandoned time-certain race finishes unless there are safety issues.

By MARK FOGARTY

As revealed in the latest AUTO ACTION magazine, out now, races will now continue on TV beyond the scheduled telecast time if necessary.

The only reasons they’ll be cut short is if there are track safety concerns due to crashes or weather, or failing light.

Race start times will also be brought forward if there is a known risk of interruptions, delays or hazards, such as a forecast of adverse weather conditions.

The rule change to end the unpopular time-certain finishes was authorised by Supercars chief executive Sean Seamer at last weekend’s Australian Grand Prix.

For more than a decade, Supercars has imposed a fixed finish time for all races – expressed as, say, 5.41 pm local time plus one lap – to ensure they end in time for the broadcaster to go to the evening news bulletin or other programming commitments.

This has caused on-going controversy because track repair delays, accidents or weather have forced races to be ended early or red-flagged, in the latter case causing races to be declared void.

The most recent contentious abandonment was the early stoppage of the second race of last year’s Gold Coast 600 due to flooding rain.

Critics contended that the raging storm that swamped the Surfers Paradise street circuit was known to be on the way hours – if not days – before the scheduled start, which they claim should have been brought forward to finish before the storm.

Also, earlier this month, the Adelaide 500’s Sunday race was cut short because the start was delayed by Turn 1 track repairs.

Much to the delight of viewers, race start times can now be brought forward if there is any doubt about finishing within the allotted schedule and race durations allowed to run their course.

In a move certain to be applauded by fans, races will be run to their full scheduled duration even if there are long delays to the start or in-race interruptions as long as it is safe to continue late.

Time-certain finishes have long been a bugbear for free-to-air TV viewers, with networks stopping coverage to go to the evening news bulletin.

Auto Action has learned that Supercars’ CEO Sean Seamer authorised a change of the race finishing time rules during the Melbourne 400 at Albert Park last weekend.

From now on, races will run their full distances after delays if conditions permit.

Seamer acted on the sore point after the second leg of the Adelaide 500 didn’t go the full distance because of a lengthy track condition hold up.

The race distance was reduced because it had to end before FTA broadcaster Channel 10 went to its 6 pm AEDT Sunday evening news.

Seamer is now negotiating with 10 to switch any race that over-runs to one of its secondary digital channels.

The main Fox Sports coverage is unaffected because the subscription TV network is not bound by other programming commitments.

The Adelaide 500 Sunday race Turn 1 track repair delay was the straw that broke the camel’s back for Seamer.

“What we want to try to do is get to an agreement with our broadcast partners where the race just runs until it’s safe from a marshalling point of view and the amount of daylight that we have, rather than running time certain because of programming,” he told AA. “That’s what we’re talking about.”

Having lifted the time-certain embargo, Seamer now hopes to persuade Channel 10 to switch races that are go beyond the 6 pm AEDT or AEST marks from the main channel to 10 Bold, for example.

“That would be ideal,” he said. “Fox Sports would just continue on regardless.”

Removing the time-certain stipulation unless track conditions, weather or daylight are issues will be welcomed by TV viewing fans.

However, the impact on FTA broadcasts for the rest of the year will only be at Darwin, Townsville, Bathurst, Gold Coast and Sandown, which are the only events Channel 10 will be showing live.

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