Supercars cuts wildcard allocations

The scope for additional entries has been halved at a number of events, with only a single wildcard eligible for Tasmania, Perth, Sandown and Newcastle.

Last year those events (bar Newcastle, which wasn't on the schedule) all had two wildcard allocations.

Other cuts for 2022 include SMP (from four down to two) and the Gold Coast (two down to zero).

Winton (four) and Hidden Valley (two) are the same as last year, while, as has been the case in the past, wildcards aren't eligible for Albert Park, Townsville or the trip to New Zealand.

The only lift in allocations is the Bathurst 1000, which has gone from four to six wildcard slots.

The stricter limits appear to be based on lower garage availability, with the regular Supercars grid growing by one car due to Tickford's re-expansion, while Supercars will also need garage space for demo runs of its Gen3 prototypes.

The situation could create fierce competition for one-off spots on the grid.

Tickford Racing is thought to be looking at wildcard options for Super2 driver Zak Best across the season, following its three-round wildcard programme with Thomas Randle last year.

Supercheap Auto, meanwhile, is expected to try and field an additional Triple Eight entry for the Bathurst 1000 for the second year running, Craig Lowndes rumoured to be favourite to lead that entry.

There is also likely to be interest from Super2 teams looking to make use of their final year of running the same hardware as the main game, ahead of next season's introduction of the Gen3 rules.

As was the case in the past, teams will need to apply to Supercars for wildcard entries.

Super2 teams have the most freedom when it comes to wildcards with little in the way of limits, outside of the allocations, in terms of entries.

Main game teams looking to run established drivers, however, are limited to one single-driver event and a Bathurst 1000.