Supercars hopes new fastest lap points rule will extend title fight
Supercars is hoping a new points prize for the fastest lap will help title fights go down to the wire
The Australian series has introduced a new bonus points system for fastest laps this season, which will be in play at the eight sprint events.
There will be five points on offer for each of the three races, bumping the total points on offer for a sprint event up to 315 and putting an additional 120 points on the table across the season.
Unlike in Formula 1, the driver won't have to be in the Top 10 to claim the bonus points.
According to Supercars CEO Sean Seamer, the move is designed to helped prolong the title fight.
"It's something the Commission discussed last year," he said.
"It was an initiative to extend the championship. For drivers to be able to accumulate more points, and then hopefully extend the decision on who the champion is.
"It will be interesting to see how it plays out during the course of the year."
The Supercars title has been decided a round early the past two seasons, courtesy of a pair of dominant campaigns from Scott McLaughlin and Dick Johnson Racing.
Seamer also explained the category's decision to run numbers and drivers' names on the windscreen, something he says will be trialled in testing and then evaluated for the season itself.
"It's something the Commission is considering," he said.
"In testing, what we wanted to do was make the car number more visible and clearly call out the driver that's in the car.
"It's actually a request that's come form our broadcast partners and some views, so they can more easily identify the specific car and driver.
"As the cars evolve the numbers get smaller and smaller as we've got less real estate to put them on. It's something that's currently under consideration for deployment this year."
The windscreen graphics, if used, will then make way for GT-style LED panels when the Gen3 rules are introduced next season.
"It's in lieu of [the LED panels] for this year," he confirmed. "The LED panels are part of the Gen3 programme, so we consider this an intermediary step."
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