The 2015 Australian V8 Ute Racing Series will see major changes to qualifying and race formats in 2015, with a Ford versus Holden shootout scheduled for the first Round at the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide, 26th February – 1st March.
Round 1 will see the 30 minute qualifying session move to a two-tier format, with the final ten minutes allocated to a top two shootout. The fastest Ford and the fastest Holden will battle it out in a one lap dash. The winner will receive three series points and a $1000 cheque thanks to ARMOR ALL, with no other points allocated to the session.
The grid for Race 1 will be set from Qualifying times, however one side of the grid will be Ford only and the other side Holden, the fastest overall qualifier will determine which manufacturer lines up behind the pole sitter. No points will be allocated to this race. Race 2 and Race 3 grids will be progressive and full points will be allocated.
Category Manager, Bill West of SPHERIX believes this will be a great way to showcase the Ford/Holden tribal rivalry.
“It’s an exciting way to start off the year and highlight the Ford versus Holden Last Crusade. The Clipsal 500 really is the benchmark event, and it’s great to be able to do something a little different for the fans and highlight how much Henry and The General has contributed to motorsport in this Country.” West said.
Four time winner of the Clipsal 500 ARMOR ALL Pole Award, David Sieders, is a little sceptical about the new format but excited about the challenge.
“It’s definitely interesting and will be awesome to watch, but the only hard thing to swallow is if you end up second in Qualifying but you are the same make as the car that came first, you won’t get the opportunity to participate in the shootout. It definitely is a great format, to keep the Ford/ Holden rivalry in what will be the final year,” said Sieders.
This year, teams have the flexibility of using all six of their marked tyres during qualifying, expected to spice up the sessions right to the end.
Round 2 (Perth), 3 (Darwin) and 4 (Townsville 400) will also run under a revised format, again a two tier Qualifying session, with the final 5 minutes for the top ten fastest qualifiers to battle for the ARMOR ALL Pole Award.
The races at these rounds will see a progressive grid for Race 1 and Race 3, however Race 2 will see up to 12 cars reversed for the race with only half points offered.
Format three is set for the Gold Coast (Round 6), Sydney (Round 7) and Bathurst (Round 8) and will revert to the previous year’s format, with Qualifying a straight 20 minute session for all Utes, Race 2 will have up to 16 Utes reversed with full-points awarded. All points will be accumulative for Race 3 grid determination.
There will be a minimum of 1,494 points up for grabs throughout the year starting with 143 at the Clipsal 500 at the end of this month.
See below full V8 Ute Race Schedule for the Clipsal 500:
Thursday, 26th February Practice 1 9:15amThursday, 26th February Practice 2 11:45amThursday, 26th February Qualifying 2:05pmFriday, 27th February Race 1 2:20pmSaturday, 28th February Race 2 10:45amSunday, 1st March Race 3 9:00am
