In March Racing Queensland issued an industry survey to gain feedback on the current application of concession driving claims. Thankyou to those who partook in the survey.
Following analysis of the results and feedback, the general sentiment was for the current application of concession driver claims to by and large remain including:
- The 7 year term to be maintained;
- The 250 limit to be maintained;
- The 50 win metropolitan limit to be maintained;
- The current application of driving claims with respect to the Ratings Based Handicap System be maintained i.e. 3 and 5 point claims.
It is worth noting there was substantive support (over 30%) for an increase in the metropolitan limit. While RQ is not proposing to increase the limit given the majority of feedback was for the status quo, RQ will be making a slight tweak to the current policy which will allow concession drivers to win their 50 Metropolitan races while using their claim, even if they have already achieved the 250 overall limit (e.g on arriving at the 250 limit a driver has driven 30 metropolitan winners, the driver will be entitled to continue to use their claim in metropolitan races until they reach the 50 win metropolitan limit or the 7 year term expires, whichever occurs first). This change will enable concession drivers to increase their earning potential during the formative years of their career.
Moreover, the one item where there was no clear majority either way (split almost exactly 50/50) was in regards to the use of season limits or not, i.e. capping the number of concession claim wins per seasons. Given no clear majority for change, RQ has decided to maintain the current ‘nil season limits' policy but will monitor the impact of this over the coming season to determine if further consideration and consultation is required on this particular point.
