Smaller V8 grids will mean better grids

11/04/2008 Smaller grids will mean better grids, V8 Supercar chief executive Wayne Cattach insists.

The sport's top administrator has justified a decision to reduce the field next year to 28 cars by declaring drivers who have bought their way onto the grid will be among the first to drop out.

Earlier this week former V8 main series driver Dean Canto declared nearly one third of the grid were there because of the money they had brought to their teams.

Cattach said, with the number of available seats reduced, teams would opt for the most professional and talented drivers, which would eventually squeeze out the well-financed “also rans”.

“It (the reduction of the grid) will make the sport more focused on professional drivers rather than drivers that contribute cash to the team. I think that, in itself, will sort out the better ones from the also-rans,” Cattach said.

“I think it will make it more robust. The last four cars that we've been running have probably earned that position at the tail end of the field. They will go and that probably means the 28 that are left are a lot stronger and more competitive and so I expect that will make it a better contest.”

However, not everyone agrees that V8 Supercars have seen the last of the driver who pays his way into the sport.

Team Vodafone boss Roland Dane said paying drivers were part and parcel of every type of motorsport in the world. He also defended the pay-per-drive steerers, saying that many develop into top class drivers in their own right.

“Can you tell me a motorsport category in the world that has 28 class A drivers? It doesn't exist, you'll always have elements of people who are there for financial reasons,” Dane said.

“There's nothing wrong with that. It's part of motor racing and lot of other sports too. A lot of those people turn into top line drivers, with a little help getting there.

“But we have more depth and quality in our field than most categories.”