Final corner a bigger Perth hot spot with Gen3
Closer racing encouraged by the new Gen3 cars may offer a greater racing spectacle in Perth, but series leader Brodie Kostecki is wary of final-corner bust-ups.
The new low downforce cars ran closely together at Albert Park, which created thrilling racing and more overtaking opportunities.
Notably, drivers managed to run nose-to-tail at over 240km/h through the Turn 7 and 8 sweeper complex.
The 2.4km Wanneroo circuit, which will host this month’s Bosch Power Tools Perth SuperSprint, previously had one primary overtaking opportunity — the final corner, Turn 7.
Drivers either have to dive-bomb under brakes into Turn 7, or make the most of a better exit out of the sweeping Turn 6 to drag along the back straight.
Should cars race closely like they did at Albert Park, Turn 7 will likely become a greater hot spot for overtaking action.
Given how the cars behaved in Melbourne, they may also encourage more action at the fast Turns 2-3-4 complex and Turn 5 right-hander.
For local driver Kostecki, more of the track will be at play — but it may also encourage drivers to take more risks into Turn 7.
Kostecki himself was caught out by an ill-fated divebomb in 2022, which wiped out cousin and former Tickford Racing driver Jake Kostecki last year.
The corner was also the notorious hot spot between Cam Waters and Will Davison, with the latter making a bold dive for the effective lead.
“It’ll be quite interesting — Barbagallo got resurfaced a few years ago,” Kostecki said.
“In Perth, the surface degrades very fast there with the sand, it’ll be interesting to see what these cars are like there.
“It was pretty hard to follow in the cars last year there. But these cars, you can follow through the high-speed corners flat out.
“It’ll be good racing into the last corner, hopefully there are no big prangs.”
Tickford Racing rookie Declan Fraser, who notably charged from 18th to 10th in one of the Albert Park sprints, added that the attitude of the cars has also enhanced the racing product.
“We found we could follow a lot better in the aero wash than last year’s cars,” Fraser told Supercars.com.
“The cars themselves are also more on edge. It makes the atmosphere of the racing more on edge.
“It’ll be a really good event to watch — I'm sure we’ll put on a show."
The 2023 Repco Supercars Championship will resume at the Bosch Power Tools Perth SuperSprint on April 28-30.
The event will be headlined by three 42-lap sprints, which will be conducted solely on Dunlop's Soft tyre compound,
