We’re back at Albert Park for Round 2 of the 2024 Supercars championship at the Australian Grand Prix!
It’s been a couple weeks since Round 1 but there has been plenty going on in the background for the team with Ryan Wood having had his first Rookie test day early last week at The Bend Motorsport Park.
Chaz Mostert has had some great success in the past at the Grand Prix so will be looking to repeat that form this year, whilst Ryan will be hitting the track for the first time.
Format
There are four days of on track action, Thursday is the busiest day of the year with five on track sessions. The day kicks off with two practice sessions and two qualifying sessions for Race 3 and 4. In the afternoon, cars hit the track for the first race of the weekend which is 19 laps (100km).
With such a frantic first day on track, it’s important that the cars have strong pace early as there is limited time between sessions to turn the cars around.
Friday is a quieter day with one session on track which is the 19 lap Race 4 where lights will go out at 2.55pm.
Saturday sees two more back-to-back qualifying sessions for Race 5 and 6 first thing in the morning at 9am. Engines will roar for the 14 lap (75km) Race 5 at 5.40pm with the final 80km race closing out the weekend on Sunday at 10.25am.
Track
Albert Park is the fastest circuit on the 2024 Supercars calendar, at 5.3km in length, with the average speed of 180km/h and top speed of 275km/h.
Drivers have to be aggressive into the Turn 11-12 chicane leading into Turn 13, as this corner provides a great opportunity to fire it down the inside; keep an eye out for a few moves to be made here over the weekend.
Tyres
We are on the Dunlop Soft tyre all weekend. This is a high degradation track, so tyre management is key this weekend.
Pitstops
This year there will be no pitstops, so this puts extra pressure on qualifying as there is no pitstop strategy at play.
Weather
The weather will be pretty clear all weekend with a chance of scattered showers on Saturday.
How to watch
Every session, every lap, will be live on Foxtel and Kayo throughout the weekend. Friday, Saturday and Sunday races will have coverage on Channel 10.
Ryan Wood
“This’ll be my first time at the Grand Prix Circuit, it’s one of the fastest tracks on the calendar, I might need to remind myself to blink for the first few laps.
“We had a rookie test day last week which went really well, it was great to get some runs in on the Dunlop Soft tyre before we hit the track this weekend as it’ll be my first-time racing on them.
“It’s a huge weekend coming up with four days on track, being an at event with the F1 guys is pretty surreal, let’s put on a show for the massive crowd.”
Chaz Mostert
“I’m pumped to go racing this weekend, the car was so much fun to drive at Bathurst so I’m itching to get back behind the wheel.
“Thursday will be our busiest day of the year with five on track session, there isn’t much time to turn the cars around so we want to be rolling out strong for practice 1.
“With no pitstops this weekend the pressure will be on in qualifying, we had strong quali pace at Round 1 so we want to continue building on that momentum.”