Mark Larkham
The Australian Racing Group has fired another shot in a smoldering war between them and supercars by declaring they want to poach ax commentator Mark Larkham to join their own broadcast team.
Larkham was controversial on Friday by Supercars boss Sean Seamer and since then there has been a tidal wave of support for the TV veteran from fans.
The response from fans has been so great that Supercars have since reversed their decision and want to reinstate Larkham, but the popular star has yet to take her call.
The Australian Racing Group announced today that it will be broadcasting the opening round of their 2021 Championship, which is due to take place over two days next month in Tasmania’s Symmons Plains.
ARG CEO Matt Braid confirmed that his organization is interested in Larkham working on their television show.
“We’d love to have a conversation about doing something with us,” Braid told Speedcafe.com.
“He’s a really good talent, he’s really experienced, he has a great opportunity to convey the technical aspects of the sport in layman’s terms to the people on the couches at home.
“He’s got a really good way of explaining it to the fan, and the non-fan can understand too, which is very valuable.
“I have a lot of respect for him and I know everyone on our team does. I would love to have a chat with him if he wants to work for us. “
ARG today announced its broadcast confirming Supercars driver and Bathurst 1000 winner David Reynolds behind a microphone.
This is due to the development in which ARG left a TV production contract with Supercars Media for cost reasons.
The use of on-air talent in coverage of both series is also believed to keep conflicting, including Channel 7 ace Mark Beretta, who has been ranked as one of the main faces in coverage of the supercars.
ARG has taken control of its broadcast and used external providers such as AVE for the production of its television reports, among other things. This largely corresponds to the model of Supercars Media, which produces the show for the Supercars championship.
“ARG produces it, so we’re basically doing it in-house but using AVE facilities,” explained Braid.
“Most of the production is managed by Andrew Janson on our team.
“While we don’t call ourselves Supercars Media, the productions are effectively brought to ARG by Andrew under the direction of AVG and using AVE and many other suppliers who are highly valued in the industry.”
Ironically, all of this drama has unfolded even though Channel 7 is the free-to-air station for both series.
Channel 7 is led by former Supercar CEO and ARG non-executive director James Warburton.
At the top of the TCR commentary are Greg Rust, Matt Naulty and Richard Craill, who are joined by a new group of pit lane callers including former Fox ace Chris Stubbs, Australian rally champion and SAS Australia star Molly Taylor, Jessica Dane and Jack Perkins and Reynolds.
