Volvo's safety car dilemma

The timing of the last safety car period in the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 will play a crucial role in determining if Scott McLaughlin and Volvo Polestar Racing can vie for victory in the October 9-12 classic.

The team's technical guru Richard Hollway is adamant the #33 Valvoline Volvo S60 car, which McLaughlin will share with fast Frenchman Alex Premat and which he engineers, will have the speed and reliability to race for the podium.

But he concedes the economy of the Polestar-developed B8444S narrow angle V8 that powers the S60 is another matter altogether.

"Fuel is the drama," Hollway told v8supercars.com.au. "We are a lap away (from the Holden Commodore and Ford Falcon) at least."

The Volvo shares its fuel economy disadvantage against the pushrod Ford and Holden V8s with the double overhead camshaft engines also raced by Nissan Motorsport and Erebus Motorsport V8.

But in its debut season the S60 has proved a faster package overall than either the Nissan Altima or Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG, which means the rate at which it sucks down United E85 could be the key factor in missing out on a great result at Mount Panorama.

V8 Supercars has mandated a minimum seven stops for the field in an attempt to minimise the economy issue. But that rule still can't erase the gap.

Hollway's nightmare is the late-race safety car period that traditionally triggers the final round of pit stops and the dash to the chequered flag will come too soon, meaning the Volvo will have to stop again for a splash and dash, inevitably ruining its chances in a race in which victory is now decided by tenths of seconds.

And even if the safety car falls within the proper window, the Volvo will have a longer fill-time than the Commodores and Falcons to go the same number of laps. That means it is likely to lose all-important track position in pitlane before the restart.

"We are going to have to put more juice in it and if the safety car is too early we won't be able to make it to the finish," confirmed Hollway. "That's pretty much the scenario, but it's part of the race."

In the Wilson Security Sandown 500, the Volvo's economy rate equated to just over 39 laps per tank of fuel versus 41 or 42 laps for the best of the Holdens and Fords.

At Bathurst in 2013, the best green flag run was 71 laps, aftera four-lap Safety Car period for Greg Murphy's shunt heading into Reid Park on lap 86/161.

Hollway's pessimism about fuel economy was countered by the competitive pace he believes the S60 will generate at Bathurst, despite being outclassed - along with the rest of the field - by Jamie Whincup and Paul Dumbrell's Red Bull Commodore in the opening round of the Pirtek Enduro Cup.

As it did last year, the #1 Commodore dominated at Sandown, displaying superior traction out of the tight turns, coping with the rough surface better than its rivals and riding over the kerbs brilliantly - which is a key asset for a fast lap at the suburban Melbourne track.

But Bathurst is faster, smoother and much more flowing - traits shared with Sydney Motorsport Park where McLaughlin won the 200km Race 28 in August.

"At Sydney Motorsport Park we were outstanding," said Hollway. "We were the class of the field in terms of tyre life.

"Bathurst is a similar sort of fast flowing place to SMP. So if we can get the setup right then we will be competitive."

Hollway is also confident the Race 28 win and Sandown finish in eighth indicates the S60's early season reliability woes are behind it.

"There are still bits and pieces and it's a matter of doing it enough to get on top of all those little bugs," he said. "But now we are pretty confident for Bathurst."

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