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Ryan: Drivers’ role now more important

24 Jun 2020
Erebus CEO to get his hands dirty at Sydney
2 mins by James Pavey
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Penrite Racing boss Barry Ryan believes changes to the amount of car data available to teams at the BP Ultimate Sydney SuperSprint will place greater emphasis on drivers.

WATCH: SUPERCARS CEO ANSWERS FAN QUESTIONS

The reduction of data was one of several changes made for the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship’s first round back.

“I personally think it’s pretty good,” Ryan told Supercars SideTracked this week with regards to the new data regulations.

“We really need it I think just to get back to basics a bit and just provide entertainment. The crowd is not going to know if we have data.

“I don’t think it will make a big difference, it will just make it a bit more on the driver having to really contribute to what the car is doing and not rely on the engineer to try to decipher what the car is doing.

“So the driver is going to have a bit more work to do and the engineer has just got to make confident calls on what they know is going to fix the car.”

Many team figureheads will not travel to Sydney Motorsport Park, with only 13 people including drivers allowed per two-car team.

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Ryan will however make the journey, taking on a more hands-on role.

“We have a lot of people who normally do those things not there so we have to cover our bases,” he added.

“I’ll be getting my hands dirty, Dennis [Huijser, crew chief] will be getting his hands dirty a bit more than he normally does.”

As for whether he will make a conscious shift towards a calmer demeanour – following the airing of his 2019 blow-ups in the Inside Line docuseries – Ryan was not so sure.

“I don’t actually realise how angry I am sometimes. I think you’d be surprised, if we put a camera in everybody else’s garage there wouldn’t be much difference – well I hope not,” he explained.

“Some of it is embarrassing; some of it is like oh well, that’s who I am, so get on with it.”

The BP Ultimate Sydney SuperSprint will take place across this Saturday and Sunday.

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