We are off to Launceston for the Tasmania SuperSprint, Round 8 of the 2024 Supercars Championship.
It’s a milestone weekend for Chaz Mostert who celebrates 150 round starts, an impressive feat.
The team have been hard at work during the break with some rookie testing for Ryan Wood and Supercars tyre testing for Chaz.
Format
The action kicks off on Friday for the first Practice session of the weekend which is an hour long. Saturday morning sees a 20-minute Practice 2 before cars roll out for the three-part qualifying in the afternoon and lights will go out for the 55 lap Race 17.
Ryan and Chaz will follow the same format as Saturday with Practice 3 and a knock-out qualifying into the final 200km race of the weekend where engines will roar at 3.05pm.
The Track
Symmons Plains is a unique track. It’s only 2.41kms long, so the lap times are regularly in the low 50 second barrier. The field spread is small as well, with most cars, if not all, within a second of each other in qualifying.
The turn-four hairpin is one of the most well-known corners in Australian motorsport. It requires near-on full lock to get around and is the slowest corner we go to all season.
The top of the track slopes down to the apex, so it’s a great passing opportunity, but also the chance to hang around the outside and drag the inside car down the back straight.
Tyres
We will be running the Dunlop SuperSoft, only the second time we have run these tyres this year.
Pitstops
As this weekend consists of SuperSprint races there will be no refuelling required. There is a minimum of one pitstop per race with the option to take two, three or four tyres, depending on race strategy.
Weather
Pretty predictable here; Tasmania in August means it’s going to be cold! There are showers on the forecast every day, will the Dunlop wet tyre make an appearance this weekend?
How to Watch
Every session, every lap will be live on Foxtel and Kayo throughout the weekend.
Ryan Wood
“It’ll be my first time racing here in Tassie, so there will be a lot to get my head around quickly, but Friday’s practice should help a lot with that one-hour timeframe, so I’m looking forward to it.
“Not sure I’ll be packing a pair of jandals this weekend, getting the tyre up to temp as quickly as possible in qualifying will be a real focus for everyone, so it’ll be interesting to watch how everyone attacks it.
“Really keen to get back behind the wheel and show off these new liveries, the cars look awesome in photos but even better in person!”
Chaz Mostert
“It’s a pretty special weekend celebrating 150 rounds, it only feels like yesterday that I hopped into a Supercar for the first time, but I must be getting older or something…
“Tassie is a really special place for me personally, it’s where I secured my first race win with WAU, let’s hope for similar results this weekend.
“We really need to nail every lap during quali this weekend, the field is going to be really tight, one small mistake and you’ll be up against it for the rest of the day.”