Norton Hornet driver Michael Caruso believes strong qualifying results will be more important than ever with a revised format at the weekend’s Clipsal 500.
Saturday this year will host two 125km races, meaning an additional start and finish, with the V8 Supercars still on-track for the traditional total 250km. The extra start also means an additional qualifying session – so bad fortune in race one may not necessarily put cars at the back of the grid for race two.
“I feel the new format means that qualifying will become even more critical,” Caruso said ahead of the larger-than-life season opener.
“If you qualify strong for the two Saturday races, it will give you a better chance. And you can’t forget that you’ll need a straight car for Sunday. There’s going to be quite a few factors to watch out for.”
The split races on Saturday provide the opportunity for a twilight timeslot, something V8 Supercars drivers have been largely positive about. However, for Caruso the change means another unknown.
“The format change adds an element of mystery. We’ve never raced that late into the evening before in Adelaide,” Caruso said.
“For myself, we had a disastrous first round last year, and because it’s the season opener, it’s one of those events where you not only need a good finish, but you need top 10s and straight cars to have a good start the year.”
Norton teammate James Moffat also weighed into the debate.
“The more starts you have, the more finishes there are and the more potential for excitement, but it does mean more work for our crew,” the 2013 race winner said.
“As a driver, you have to adapt to it but the new format won’t change the fact that we’ll go there and try and do the best possible job.”
In addition to the new formats, another revision for the Norton Hornets is the brand-new aerodynamics package for the Nissan Motorsport team. Wet weather at the sydney.com Test Day meant it was difficult to determine where teams stacked up relative to competitors.
“Adding to the unknowns is our true form,” Moffat said.
“We put our new aero package through its paces at the test last week, but the weather probably threw up more questions than answers.
“But, all in all, I’m looking forward to getting the season underway… There’s always a big build up to the Clipsal 500 and it’s always a great event to start the year.”
The 2014 V8 Supercars Championship marks the start of the second year for Nissan in the competitive V8 Supercars category.