Monthly Archives: June 2014

Post Race Report

Winton 400, Victoria 2014

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Hi to all the V8 Enthusiasts

On the weekend of the 4th to the 6th of April 2014 was the Winton 400 in Victoria. I was lucky enough to be at this year’s event.

In race 7 Fabain Coulthard started from pole position alongside him was Shane Van Gisbergen, Fabain got the jump off the start line and led the pack through turns 1 and 2 for the first of 34 laps. Robert Dahlgren did not complete a lap in his Volvo due to engine troubles, Michael Caruso ran wide at turn 12 in his Nissan Altama, which gave the Erebus AMG E63 a chance to try and get up the inside of Scott Pye he passed Will Davison at the last corner.

In the middle of the race the 2 former teammates of Lee Holdsworth and Michael Caruso made contact on approach to turns 1 and 2, both the Volvos were out of race 7, due to no power steering. Towards the end of the race Nick Percat made contact with David Reynolds. James Courtney was stuck at the pitlane entry, so as a result the HRT crew had get the go jacks out and push his car back to their garage. Tim Slade had to be pushed into the pit bunker (garage). On lap Russell Ingall came into the pitlane for fresh tyres under safety car conditions, but then he tapped David Wall and car Michael Caruso, as a result he copped a pitlane penalty, for making contact. In the end Fabain took the race victory,

Results for race 7

1st – Fabain Coulthard – Brad Jones Racing.
2nd – Shane Van Gisbergen – Team VIP.
3rd – Dale Wood – Brad Jones Racing.

 

In race 8 Fabain Coulthard started again on pole position alongside him was Scott Mclaughlin. Scott led the second race of the weekend, but then had to drive this Volvo S 60 into the garage for a new battery, when he re-joined the race he was back in 25th spot and 3 laps down.

Our current reigning champions Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes from Red Bull Racing haven’t been able to make up much ground, even qualifying outside the top 20.

In the middle of the race Shane Van Gisbergen had no grip but was able to hold onto to his spot. Towards the end of the race Lee Holdsworth took the race lead from Fabian Coulthard and managed to hold on to the lead until the checkered flag.

Results for race 8

1st – Lee Holdsworth – Erebus Motorsport.
2nd – Mark Winterbottom – Pepsi Max crew FPR.
3rd – Fabain Coulthard – Brad Jones Racing.

 

In race 9 Scott Mclaughlin started on pole position alongside him was Shane Van Gisbergen. Mark Winterbottom made a great start but then was passed Shane at turn 7. Meanwhile Shane went into the pits early and lost ground by being held longer in his pitbox for fuel.

In the middle of the race, Shane came in for his last stop to take on fuel, as he left his pitbox the fuel was leaking out of the hose.

In the end Mark Winterbottom took the race 9 victory, and his first win for 2014 and FPRs 1st win this season. Craig is still the championship leader, while his teammate Jamie Whincup has dropped from 2nd to 5th spot.

The next event is the Auckland 500 on the 24th to the 27th of April 2014.

Results for race 9

1st – Mark Winterbottom – Ford Performance Racing.
2nd – James Courtney – Holden Racing team.
3rd – Tim Slade – Supercheap Auto Racing.

Pre Race Report

Winton Victoria 2014 Pre Race

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Hi guys and girls.

Let’s have a look back at 2013 when it was held in August…

During   the 23rd – 25th of August 2013 was the Winton 360 we have Races 25, 26 & 27. In Race 25 they had a 60/60 Supersprint race, which means that they drive the first 60 laps where they don’t earn any points, they then take a break and the second 60 laps is for championship points.

In race 25 Jamie Whincup started on pole position alongside him was Michael Caruso. Jamie led the field through turns 1 and 2 for the 1st of 40 laps Jamie was leading during the opening laps until he had a driveshaft fail on his car inbetween laps 9 and 10.

Jamie had to watch the rest of the 60/60 Supersprint format from the pits. In the middle of race there was a halftime break of just 15 minutes. Mark Winterbottom ran out of fuel and as a result he had to be pushed back to pitlane by his teammate Will Davison.

On the restart the Nissan teammates of James Moffat and Michael Caruso, had contact approaching turns 1 and 2.  Towards the end of race 25 James almost didn’t win his 1st race because he ran wide down at turn 10. But he held on to get Nissans first race win in V8 supercars in 21 years. The last time Nissan had won a race was way back in 1992 which was 21 years ago.

Results for race 25

1st James Moffat – Nissan motorsport
2nd Michael Caruso – Nissan motorsport.
3rd Mark Winterbottom – Pepsi Max Crew – FPR.

In race 26 Jason Bright was on pole position alongside him was Tony Dalberto, this was Tony’s first time on the front row. Jason stalled his Team BOC Holden commodore off the line.  As a result of that Mark Winterbottom led the field through turns 1 and 2.  Alex Premat went off the track in the first turn and went cross country to rejoin the pack on the other side of the turn. With Alex coming back into the pack, it appeared to cause the down fall of Jamie Whincup, Russell Ingall and Alex Davison.

There was a safety car deployed on the opening lap. While Jamie was able to limp back to pit lane for repairs to car 1 in the Red Bull Racing garage, with smoke pouring out of right front of  his Holden. While Russell Ingall was taken out of the weekend altogether with too much damage and Alex Davison was able to stay in the race as he had the least amount of damage.

Then on the restart Michael Caruso went into his garage. When Jamie rejoined he had race tape all over the front of the bonnet.  In the middle of the race Tony Dalberto passed James Courtney down at turn 12.

Towards the end of the race Mark Winterbottom was under massive amounts of pressure from Jason Bright not only for the race lead but the race win, and the top spot the Winton podium. This was Mark Winterbottoms first win at Winton…

Results for race 26

1st Mark Winterbottom – Pepsi Max Crew FPR.
2nd Jason Bright – Team BOC.
3rd James Courtney – Toll Holden racing team.

In race 27 James Courtney started on pole position alongside him was Jason Bright but Jason got off to another bad start. Then Todd Kelly in the Nissan Altima went off the road before turns 1 and 2. Todd Kelly in his Jack Daniels Nissan made contact with Jamie Whincup and this caused him to go off road into the barriers and took him out of the race for the day while Jamie was able to stay in the race. (Todd Kelly had to walk back to pitlane)

Then on lap 2 Scott Pye was hit from behind and that started the fire on the left hand side. Scott attempted to drive back to the pits but only made it to pitlane and had to abandon his car as it filled with smoke.

James Courtney lead the way on the restart as Chaz Mostert chased him down, meanwhile Craig Lowndes passed Tony Dalberto and took him from 13th place to 12th position.

Then in the middle of the race Jonathan Webb and Maro Engel came together inbetween turns 1 and 2 sending Maro off the track. Michael Caruso was battling away with Jamie Whincup.

Towards the end the race Scott McLaughlin was passed by David Reynolds. Then Rick Kelly and Mark Winterbottom came together inbetween turns 5 and 6 taking Rick out of the race taking the Jack Daniels team out of the race altogether. Jason bright had to get towed off the slippery grass. On the last lap James was being chased down by Fabain Coulthard and Chaz Mostert.

Results for race 27

1st James Courtney – Toll HRT.
2nd Fabain Coulthard – Lockwood Racing.
3rd Chaz Mostert – DJR.

Trivia

Jamie Whincup still leads the championship by 55 points his former housemate Will Davison. The Wilson Security Sandown 500 is on September 13th to the 15th 2013.