Conversely, if you don’t have Foxtel, you’re likely not to be so happy, because Channel Ten will broadcast only six marquee events live – Adelaide, Bathurst, Sandown, Townsville, Sydney and the Gold Coast – whilst the remaining weekends of racing will be shown as highlights package in a regular timeslot, for a duration that’s yet to be determined.
Without doubt, it’s a blow for fans used to seeing the entire series on free-to-air television, helped along by Channel Ten’s dire financial situation and giant money offered by Foxtel., but falls in line with other premiere racing series in the world, and, indeed, with coverage of MotoGP and Formula One in Australia, this year and into the foreseeable future.
After the end of the Channel 7 era of V8 Supercar coverage, the sport is ready for a new media dawn, with a whole stack of new bells and whistles set to be debuted at the Adelaide street circuit this weekend. On the talking head side of things, some familiar faces return, some old faces and voices are back, and there’s a few new faces thrown into the mix, as well.
Here’s your 2015 broadcast form guide:
V8 Supercar Television
The sport’s own broadcast unit provides coverage of all racing sessions, which both FOX Sports and the Ten Network will carry. Greg Rust returns to the series after resigning from Channel Ten to become chief caller for the V8 Supercar Series (though Rust will contribute sporadically to the returning, and very popular motorsport review show, RPM, which returns to Ten this year).
Joining Rust in the commentary box is the knowledgeable Neil Crompton, who might very well be the foremost motorsports expert in Australia. Crompton and Rust have worked together previously, and their friendship was evident during coverage of the SuperTest a few weeks ago. They will be a solid team.
Riana Crehan returns on pit road, and will be joined by Greg Murphy, who steps away from his part-time endurance drive, swapping a steering wheel for a microphone. Aside from reporting on happenings in the pits, Murphy will team with Rust to broadcast the V8 Supercar Dunlop Development Series.
Up and coming broadcaster Chad Neylon will call all the support events at each weekend, joined by various expert commentators.
Reporter Kylie King will contribute feature-type pieces throughout the season.
FOX Sports
Live coverage: every session of every category on every race weekend, commercial free, flag-to-flag, excepting Bathurst, which will feature limited commercial interruption.
Former SPEED Channel host Jessica Yates teams with former Holden heroes (and noted on-track adversaries) Mark Skaife and Russell Ingall to host FOX Sports’ coverage.
The Skaife/Ingall partnership is an interesting one, thanks to their history, and one thing is pretty much guaranteed: their time on-camera between racing sessions certainly won't be boring. When he tones down the pro-V8 rhetoric, Skaife is a good analyst, and Ingall, if he applies the take-no-prisoners manner he exhibited on track to his new career as a talking head on TV, will be a hit with fans, too.
Ten Network
Live coverage: Clipsal 500, Bathurst 1000, Sandown 500, Gold Coast 600, Sydney 500 and Townsville 400.
Former network favourite Matthew White, who departed to Channel 7 a few years ago, and called V8 Supercar racing there for all but the last half of the 2014 season, is back at his prodigal home, and will host coverage from trackside at all six marquee events that the Ten Network will broadcast live. White, who is a polarising figure, replaces Greg Rust, who will call the races simulcast on FOX Sports and Ten. White will also host RPM Sundays on Ten.
Making a new home with Ten is fan favourite Mark Larkham, whose irreverent wit and deep knowledge will be missed on race broadcasts, but after universal worry that the man commonly known simply as ‘Larko’ would not be seen on our screens, it’s a relief to know that we’ll at least see him on the Ten Network.
Joining Larkham and White will be Rick Kelly, driver of the Jack Daniels Nissan. In something of a first, Kelly will be accessible to the Ten Network except when he’s on the track or conferring with engineers immediately afterward. He will appear in formal attire, to distance himself from his other job, and seeing whether the former Bathurst champion will be happy to call out fellow drivers will be one of the interesting television stories of the 2-15 season.
Additionally, Formula One turned sports car star Mark Webber will join the team at Adelaide and Bathurst, and plays a role in the network’s coverage of the Australian Formula One Grand Prix later in March.
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