Hi to all you Supercars Fans around the world!
On the weekend of the 9th – 11th of September 2022 was the ITM Auckland Supersprint at Pukekeohe Park Raceway in New Zealand.
This year marks the 15th and final time that the Repco Supercars championship will visit Pukekohe. The circuit will sadly shut down in early 2023, a year that marks the venue’s 70th anniversary.
This weekend is the 20th time that a round has been held in New Zealand since the first at Pukekohe in 2001. From 2008 to 2012 events were held on a street circuit in Hamilton. They then returned to Pukekohe.
This year marks the eighth time that drivers will compete for the Jason Richards Memorial Trophy since it was first introduced in 2013. Only two drivers have won the trophy more than once. Jamie Whincup in 2015 and 2017 and Shane Van Gisbergen in 2016 and 2019.
Two teams will register milestones in the opening race of the Auckland Supersprint. Brad Jones Racing will make its 700th ATCC / Supercars Championship race start since its debut in the 2000 season at Phillip Island.
The same race will also be Matt Stone Racing’s 150th start since their first entry as a wildcard at Queensland Raceway in 2017.
In the weekend’s pre-race sessions:
- Anton de Pasquale was fastest in Practice 1
- Will Davison was fastest in Practice 2
- Cameron Waters was fastest in Qualifying
In Race 27 Cameron Waters started on pole position and alongside him was Will Davison.
At the start of the race Will Davison got the jump and led into turn 1 for the first of 41 laps.
Cameron Waters went from 1st to 3rd place heading into the opening corner. Anton de Pasquale went up into 2nd place following Will Davison into turn 1.
Meanwhile the cars further back in the field were 4 wide. In the mayhem there was contact between Tim Slade and James Courtney. Tim Slade was very lucky not to hit the inside fence and recovered reasonably quickly. I was thinking, Wow! What a save. How he got out of that one I have no idea.
James Courtney also suffered from the impact. His car had smoke coming from the right rear. Soon after on that first lap, he ran off the track at the hairpin turn dropping him 5 places down to 15th.
After Race Control reviewed the incident no further action was taken.
The cars further back in the pack were dicing for positions.
Cameron Waters got up the inside of his former teammate Chaz Mostert.
As the field came onto the main straight to commence lap 2 Will Davison only had a 0.716 second lead over his teammate Anton de Pasquale.
Cameron Waters was back up in 3rd place, Andre Heimgartner was in 4th ahead of Chaz Mostert. Scott Pye was in 6th followed by Shane Van Gisbergen and Broc Feeney.
Tim Slade hit the pits to have the damage from the earlier impact attended to. As a result, he re-joined the race down in 25th position.
Tim Slade could tell there was still a problem with the car. At turn 4 he left the track after hitting the wall. He kept going but by lap 5 was back in the pits for more repairs.
Will Brown also hit the exit of turn 4 but he somehow got away without putting any damage on his car.
Broc Feeney in 8th position pitted on lap 6 so Shane Van Gisbergen didn’t have to double stack behind him in case the safety car came out.
On lap 7 Brodie Kostecki, Jake Kostecki, Bryce Fullwood and James Courtney pitted so the garage area was busy.
When Jake Kostecki left his garage, travelling to the pit exit his left rear tyre came off! The crew must have forgotten to tighten the wheel nut. He pulled over to the side in order to not block the exit. Somehow the crew were able to refit the tyre on the spot and he rejoined the race. That is not something you see every day!
The incident went into investigation. The team were issued a time penalty for the ‘pit stop infringement’.
On lap 10 Jack le Brocq was in the garage with a power steering issue. He had started this race in 19th position but now dropped all the way down to 23rd.
The leaders were still pressing on out front.
Will Davison had a 1.8 second lead over Anton de Pasquale then it was another 3 ¼ seconds back to Cameron Waters.
Shane Van Gisbergen passed Bryce Fullwood at turn 8. His next target was Chaz Mostert in 4th place.
Bryce Fullwood was slowing because of steering issues and went straight to the pits. The time taken for the repair put him a full lap behind.
Scott Pye also pitted along with Bryce Fullwood.
In the middle of the race Chaz Mostert came in to find clear track. There were still 10 cars yet to pit. Most of them were front runners.
On the next lap Cameron Waters, Andre Heimgartner and James Golding took their pit stops.
With 13 laps to go Lee Holdsworth came in as the last car to pit. After this happened Will Davison assumed the lead of the race once more.
At the back end of the race, Macauley Jones’ car came to a stop. He pulled off the track and the safety car was deployed with 12 laps remaining.
In the closing laps Andre Heimgartner knew he was in for a win, but Will Davison wasn’t going to let him through without a battle.
With 5 laps to go Will Davison started to edge ahead of his contenders. Lap by lap he increased his lead.
It was great driving! By the time Will Davison crossed the line he was 8.6 seconds clear of Andre Heimgartner and Cameron Waters. An incredible finish.
Results for Race 27:
1st Will Davison – Shell V-Power Racing Team.
2nd Andre Heimgartner – Brad Jones Racing.
3rd Cameron Waters – Tickford Racing.
In Race 28 Shane Van Gisbergen started on pole position with his teammate Broc Feeney alongside him.
As they took off Shane Van Gisbergen got the jump and led into turn 1. Will Davison tried to go around the outside of him but couldn’t do it.
Anton de Pasquale was turned around by Brodie Kostecki. Anton de Pasquale’s car suffered a lot of damage. After review CAMS Race Control decided not to take any further action on either driver. Pasquale was unable to re-join the race.
On the exit of turn 8 Mark Winterbottom gave Will Brown a nudge into the pit entry wall. Will Browns car was jammed and had extensive damage. The pit wall had been moved by the impact and Brown himself had to exit the car via the passenger’s side. The safety car was brought out and the race was stopped with 39 laps to go. Brown’s car was removed and he was unable to return to this or the next race, the final ever race at Pukekohe Park Raceway.
Mark Winterbottom was later issued a pit lane penalty for his involvement.
The restart re-commenced under safety car for a few laps then got going on lap 6. Shane Van Gisbergen led into turn 1 with Will Davison 0.301 seconds behind. They were followed by Chaz Mostert and Broc Feeney.
Cars 5 and 55 of Thomas Randle and James Courtney were soon under investigation for gaining an advantage at the turn 5 chicane. Both got a 5 second time penalty.
Broc Feeney ran wide on the exit of turn 11 and as a result he dropped down 7 spots to 9th position.
Will Davison was putting the pressure on the race leader Shane Van Gisbergen. He made a very bold move and tried to go around the outside of him. It failed and actually cost 2 places allowing Chaz Mostert and Cameron Waters to get ahead.
Shane Van Gisbergen had a slender lead over Chaz Mostert of just 0.558 seconds then it was another 1.1 second back to Cameron Waters.
The first car to pit in this race was Broc Feeney in 10th place on lap 10.
Also, on lap 10 Tim Slade got spun around at the hairpin turn 8 by Thomas Randle.
It was not the end of the high speed contact. Later on lap 15, Car 35 driven by Todd Hazelwood got a 5 second penalty for contact with another car.
As the race was approaching the halfway mark front runner Cameron Waters pitted.
On lap 18 Chaz Mostert and Will Davison also pitted.
On the following lap Shane Van Gisbergen and Andre Heimgartner pitted together.
When they returned to the track after their stops, Chaz Mostert was on the attack putting pressure on Shane Van Gisbergen for the lead.
Shane Van Gisbergen held off Chaz Mostert. Credit to Mostert, he never gave up.
With another race to run that day this race was time certain. The delays caused at the start meant this race was cut short by 5 laps.
Shane Van Gisbergen kept up his defence and crossed the finish line on lap 36, ahead of Chaz Mostert and Cameron Waters.
Results for Race 28
1st Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing.
2nd Chaz Mostert – Walkinshaw Andretti United.
3rd Cameron Waters – Tickford Racing.
In Race 29 Will Davison started on pole position alongside him was Cameron Waters
As they took off Will Davison got the jump and led into turn 1 followed by Cameron Waters and Anton de Pasquale.
At turn 1 Todd Hazelwood and James Courtney made contact. Todd Hazelwood’s car was still mobile but badly damaged. James Courtney hit the wall on the exit of turn 1 and his car jammed into the barrier. The driver’s side door was so mangled and distorted he had to get out the passenger’s side. The safety car was deployed and the race went into ‘Yellow’ (i.e. they kept driving the circuit at a slow pace behind the safety car).
Hazelwood went straight to the pits for repairs, but James Courtney’s car had to be physically moved off the track. The damage was so severe he would not return to the race and received an N.C. (not complete).
Later on Brodie Kostecki, Jack Le Brocq and Thomas Randle all received 15 second time penalties for breaching yellow flag procedure.
The restart of the race was on lap 12. Will Davison started pulling away from the pack as soon as the safety car left the track and the race went back to ‘green’.
The first cars choosing to pit in this race were Nick Percat, Jack le Brocq, Bryce Fullwood, Lee Holdsworth and Jack Smith.
The series leader, Shane Van Gisbergen was still back in 8th position. He finally got passed David Reynolds but now had to contend with another seasoned driver, Scott Pye ahead of him.
Scott Pye and Thomas Randle were the next drivers to pit.
Broc Feeney who was in 4th position came in on lap 18.
In the middle of the race Anton de Pasquale and Andre Heimgartner came in. This was the second time at this event their pit stops were in unison. Andre Heimgartner’s stop was 2.8 seconds so once again he beat Anton de Pasquale back to the track.
After Will Davison pitted and re-joined the race he started to slow down. It was revealed that the car was dropped while the rattle gun was still attached to the left rear wheel. He only managed to get around the circuit once before having to come back in for repair. The team were penalised for the unsafe pit release.
While this was happening Cameron Waters had the race lead. Shane Van Gisbergen, Andre Heimgartner and Chaz Mostert were just behind.
From that point on, the closing laps became tensely dramatic.
On lap 30 of 41, Shane Van Gisbergen earned an extra 5 bonus points towards his championship total by doing the fastest lap of the race, 103.028 seconds.
When the last 2 cars of David Reynolds and Macauley Jones pitted, Cameron Waters assumed the lead.
Cameron Waters made an error and locked up at turn 5. This allowed Andre Heimgartner and Shane Van Gisbergen to close the gap.
On lap 31 Shane Van Gisbergen got down the inside of Andre Heimgartner for 2nd position. Only Cameron Waters stood in his way of another race win. Shane Van Gisbergen was only 0.858 seconds behind Cameron Waters.
With 10 laps to go Shane Van Gisbergen was closing the gap down to leader big time he was coming.
On the next lap Shane Van Gisbergen had closed the gap slightly 0.8 of a second to 0.67 seconds. He was right on the tail of Cameron Waters.
Cameron Waters was not going to give up without a challenge. Lap after lap he managed to hold off Gisbergen. Right behind them was Andre Heimgartner in 3rd place ready to pounce at the first mistake.
On lap 34 Cameron Waters made another mistake coming out of the turn 8 hairpin. Somehow he managed to keep Shane Van Gisbergen’s attack at bay.
With 3 laps to go Shane Van Gisbergen attack finally paid off. He took the lead off Cameron Waters. Cameron Waters was defiant and fought hard chasing the new leader. Shane Van Gisbergen couldn’t get away from him. The threat was real, and he had to put up all his defences. Andre Heimgartner was also right behind waiting for any opportunity.
Cameron Waters was like glue, but Shane Van Gisbergen managed to stay ahead. In the last lap he made a huge effort to create a bigger gap and reduce the threat.
Shane Van Gisbergen crossed the line 1.116 seconds ahead of Cameron Waters to earn his 18th win for the 2022 season. Andre Heimgartner was a mere 0.5105 seconds behind Waters to earn 3rd place.
Shane Van Gisbergen currently holds a 525 point lead over Cameron Waters and is on target to become the 2022 Supercars champion.
In an interview afterwards, Cameron Waters stated his disappointment but felt it was only fitting that Shane Van Gisbergen, a New Zealander won the last and final race at Pukekohe Park Raceway.
It was a nice farewell to the venue having the 2 kiwis, Gisbergen and Heimgartner on the podium.
Goodbye Pukekohe Park Raceway. Thanks for the memories!
Results for Race 29
1st Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing.
2nd Cameron Waters – Tickford Racing.
3rd Andre Heimgartner – Brad Jones Racing.
The next event is the Repco Bathurst 1000 October 6th to the 9th 2022.
The Bathurst 1000 channel starts on Monday the 3rd of October on Fox Sports 503 at 6am.
Great article William