After a long wait since its last race meeting, the Radical Australia Cup will finally return next month with the season opener to take place at the Shannons Motorsport Australia Championship.s
Part of a formidable Bathurst 6 Hour support category line-up, it will be the sixth time in its 13-year history the category will launch the season at the iconic Mount Panorama.
Adding to the excitement that is the first round is the strong entry list locked in with a number of former champions itching to get their 2021 campaigns underway.
Headlined by reigning 2019 title holder Chris Perini and three-time champion Peter Paddon, the round will also welcome the return of another three-time Series winner in Neale Muston.
SR3 lap record holder Brad Shields has also confirmed his plans to compete in the series’ opener again, albeit alongside a new team in Tilton Racing.
Other notable entries in the opening round include two-time Supersports titleholder Stephen Champion, Bill and Chris Medland, Peter Clare and Kosta Pohorukov.
In order to attract competitors of all levels, the series has made a few adjustments to the regulations, which Radical Australia Cup Motorsport Manager Karl Reindler believes will have multiple benefits.
“We’ve opened up the category this year in an effort to attract Radical owners who through circumstance may have fallen outside of the past criteria to compete in the RA Cup,” Reindler explained.
“It’s always been a challenge to have to return engines to the country of manufacture - in this case the UK - in order to conform with the previous regulations, and with the challenge of the pandemic and the sheer time involved in that process just made no sense, so that’s why we made the move.”
“The cars that have been regulated to run the Cup in past seasons will continue their battle for the 2021 series.
“The entries that fall outside of the previous regulations will form the ‘Invitational’ category, but to make it interesting for everyone, we will adopt relevant pit stop compensation times during our compulsory mid-race stops to ensure that we ‘equalise’ the field over the course of the race forcing the faster SR8 cars - which will stop longer due to their outright pace - to have to work their way back through the field.”
The series begins its 2021 season with a one 30-minute practice session and its qualifying on the Friday, setting one race on both the Saturday and Sunday.
The Shannons Motorsport Australia Championships second round and Hi-Tec Oils Bathurst 6 Hour take place at Mount Panorama on 2-4 April.