Supercars team bosses to front media in Perth

Next week’s Bosch Power Tools Perth SuperSprint will see the return of a press conference for Supercars team bosses.

Event 3 of the Repco Supercars Championship will be an unusual affair with practice to be conducted as a single 90-minute session on the Friday (April 28).

However, that will not be the only quirk of the trip across the Nullarbor.

Instead of the top three drivers from practice fronting assembled media after cutting the fastest laps of Wanneroo Raceway, their respective team bosses will partake in the press conference.

Using the most recent event of the season as an example, rather than Brad Jones Racing’s Andre Heimgartner, Dick Johnson Racing’s Anton De Pasquale, and Tickford Racing’s Cameron Waters attending the press conference, their places would be taken by Brad Jones, Ben Croke or David Noble, and Tim Edwards, respectively.

In the case that multiple drivers from a single team finish in the Practice top three, then the selection of team bosses would expand to fourth position and so on.

Team principal press conferences were formally introduced in 2019, debuting at Hidden Valley and subsequently held at selected events of the championship, after then-DJR Managing Director Ryan Story stood in for an ill Scott McLaughlin following his victory in a Symmons Plains race.

The following season was heavily affected by the COVID-19 pandemic which saw media and fans prevented from attending events for much of the year, and the initiative fell by the wayside.

Team principal press conferences are normal practice at every Formula 1 grand prix and held on a regular, albeit far less frequent, basis in MotoGP.

IndyCar sporadically invites team bosses/car owners to join press conferences, as was the case in recent days when both race-winning driver Kyle Kirkwood and entrant Michael Andretti took questions from reporters in the Long Beach media centre, while NASCAR’s feature the winning driver, crew chief, and car owner as a matter of routine.

Friday’s Perth engagement will not be televised, but team principal press conferences are often lively affairs and afford journalists the chance to ask different types of questions, making for broader coverage of the sport.