Monthly Archives: September 2025

Supercars

Air Touch 500 at the Bend 2025

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Hi to all you Supercars Fans around the world!

On the weekend of September 12 – 14 was the Air Touch 500 at The Bend.

It was round 9 of the 2025 Supercars championship and the first of the two Endurance races for the year. The second endurance race will be The Bathurst 1000.

It is the first time that The Bend hosted a Supercars endurance event and was a single race of 102 laps / 500km.

Supercars started racing at the venue in 2018 soon after development was completed. Shane Van Gisbergen and Jamie Whincup dominated that year. It has been an annual venue for Supercars sprint events.

The Talem Bend circuit (aka The Bend) was opened in 2018. It was developed from an abandoned Mitsubishi test track and is probably the most significant development in Australian motorsport. It includes up to 7 different track configurations ranging between 1.101km and 7.77km in length and supports a multitude of motor sports including motor cars, karts and motorcycles. It even boasts a 100 room hotel over the pits.

The pre-race events were far more extensive than usual allowing for driver and co-driver practice sessions. They were great fun to watch and there was only one major incident occurring in Practice 4. It was a co-driver session and while performing a safety car procedure drill, Jamie Whincup co-driving for championship leader Broc Feeney hit Scott Pye co-driver for defending champ Will Brown. It was most embarrassing because both cars are in the Red Bull Ampol Racing team. The Brown/Pye car headed to the pits but was unable to complete the session.

The results for all the sessions were:

  • Aaron Cameron was fastest in Practice 1
  • Jamie Whincup was fastest in Practice 2
  • Will Brown was fastest in Practice 3
  • James Moffat was fastest in Practice 4
  • Ryan Wood was fastest in Practice 5
  • Brodie Kostecki was fastest in Qualifying
  • Broc Feeney was fastest in the Shootout
  • Ryan Wood and Jayden Ojeda were fastest in the Warmup

Broc Feeney and Jamie Whincup started on pole position. Alongside them was Cameron Hill and Cameron McLeod. Out of the 26 cars there were 22 co-drivers behind the wheel at the start.

Jamie Whincup got the jump off the start and led the first of 102 laps. There was a lot of chopping and changing of positions in the early stages.

David Russell was the first of many to receive a penalty for driving infringements.

After making contact with Jack Smith on lap 1, Nash Morris was the first car to stop on lap 5 due to a flat tyre.

Jamie Whincup’s lead was less than 1 second and he wasn’t able to break away from the pack. By lap 15 he had Todd Hazelwood right on his tail and chose to let him pass to reduce risks so early in the race.

Mark Winterbottom was in 3rd place approximately 2 seconds further back.

On lap 16 Dale Wood was the first car to pit from 18th place. When he came back out he was in 26th place.

Jamie Whincup pitted on lap 23 from 2nd place for tyres and fuel. The team were having issues with the fuel rig and only managed to fill 18 litres of fuel. When Whincup rejoined he was down the order in position 20.

Whincup’s pit stop left a gap between leader Todd Hazelwood and Mark Winterbottom.  Winterbottom pitted shortly after and by the time Todd Hazelwood pitted on lap 28 he had an 8+ second lead over Cooper Murray.

By the middle of the race Chaz Mostert had a 4.2 second lead over Brodie Kostecki. Cameron Waters was in 3rd place 1.3 seconds further back.

Towards the end of the race after Chaz Mostert took his final stop, Brodie Kostecki and Cameron Waters were left in first and second place with a reasonable gap back to Matt Payne in 3rd.

As they battled each other in the final laps they were able to keep their distance from the rest of the pack.

It soon became obvious they were unreachable and the challenge for the win was down to the two leading drivers.

Brodie Kostecki showed exceptional form and was able to break away from the bumper to bumper attack from Waters and create a 1+ second gap. He was soon flying to the finish line at an incredible speed and continually increasing his lead.

In the end Brodie Kostecki crossed the finish line with a 3.018 second win over Cameron Waters. Matt Payne came in 3rd place 7.6 seconds later.

What an incredible finish to the 500km race.

After starting in pole position and having the lead in the early stages Broc Feeney and Jamie Whincup came in 19th place. They seemed to really struggle to find their way back to the front after their fuel issue on the first pit stop.

Race 26 Results:

1st Brodie Kostecki / Todd Hazelwood – Shell V-Power Racing
2nd Cameron Waters / Mark Winterbottom – Monster Castrol Racing
3rd Matt Payne / Garth Tander – Grove Racing

The next event will be the Repco Bathurst 1000 on 9 – 12 October 2025.

I hope you will join me for the biggest race of the season, The Bathurst 1000. The Bathurst channel begins on Monday October 6, 2025, on channel 506.

Until then; Live It, Breathe It, Dream It, Drive It !!

Supercars

Century Batteries Ipswich Super440 2025

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Hi to all you Supercars Fans Around the world!

On August 8 – 10 was the Century Batteries Ipswich Super 440. It was round 8 of the 2025 Supercars Championship and the final round of the sprint cup.

The event was held at the Queensland Raceway located in the suburb of Willowbank in the city of Ipswich, Queensland.  It was first opened in 1999 and hosts an annual Supercars event.

Craig Lowndes holds the record for the most wins at the Queensland Raceway with 12 victories. He is also the only driver to have competed in every Supercars round at the circuit.

This year the Ipswich Super 440 marked special milestones for two drivers. James Courtney started his 600th race and Cameron Waters started his 300th.

The weekend kicked off with the pre-race sessions. The results were:

  • Broc Feeney was fastest in Practice 1
  • Will Brown was fastest in Practice 2
  • Broc Feeney was fastest in Qualifying

As they did the formation lap to take their place on the grid for Race 23 Chaz Mostert’s brake pedal gave way. He had to head into the garage to resolve the problem before they even started. After repairs he started from the pitlane a few laps behind everyone else.

Broc Feeney started on pole position with teammate Will Brown alongside him. Feeney got the jump off the start line and led through turns 1 and 2 for the first of 39 laps.

By the start of lap 2 Broc Feeney already had a lead of 1.180 seconds. Will Brown had fallen back to 4th place after Kai Allen and Ryan Wood got past him.

By lap 3 Broc Feeney had a 2.050 second lead followed by Kai Allen in 2nd place.

Andre Heimgartner was the first car to pit on lap 4 if you exclude Mostert, who was in the garage before the race even started.

On lap 5 Brodie Kostecki got up the inside of Anton de Pasquale for 5th place behind Will Brown. Meanwhile, Broc Feeney had nearly doubled his lead time to 4.065 seconds over Kai Allen.

Jack le Brocq ran wide at turn 3 but he was able to get back on track unassisted but dropped back to 22nd place.

Will Davison forced Jack le Brocq off the track and was later issued a 15 second time penalty.

Ryan Wood pitted on lap 19 from 3rd place along with Nick Percat and Richie Stanaway.

By the middle of the race Broc Feeney had increased his lead to a whopping 9.049 seconds. His teammate Will Brown had worked his way back into 2nd place. To avoid the possibility of a double stack in the pits with Feeney, Brown came in early on lap 24.

On lap 31 with 8 laps remaining, Broc Feeney was ripping up the track in the lead and recorded the fastest lap, 109.263 seconds.

Lap 36 saw David Reynolds along with Chaz Mostert in the sand trap. The safety car was deployed while the 2 cars were rescued.

Under “safety conditions”, drivers are limited to 80kph and must stay in formation behind the safety car. Unfortunately, this completely demolished Broc Feeney’s incredible lead.

As they bunched up and slowly trailed the safety car they reached the end of the 39 lap race, without any opportunity for last second competition.

Broc Feeney crossed the finish line first, followed by Kai Allen and then Ryan Wood.

Race 23 Results:

1st Broc Feeney – Red Bull Ampol Racing
2nd Kai Allen – Grove Racing
3rd Ryan Wood – Walkinshaw Andretti United

In Race 24 Broc Feeney started on pole position with Ryan Wood alongside him.

Broc Feeney got the jump off the start line for the first of 39 laps.

Will Brown passed Ryan Wood at turn 1. As the rest of the pack came through there was contact between Brodie Kostecki, Jack le Brocq, Cooper Murray, Cameron Crick, Aaron Cameron, Jaxson Evans and Cameron Hill. There was a mess of cars all over the place including the gravel trap. Some were not able to get going again and the safety car was deployed.

The restart was on lap 4 with the top 3 places unchanged. Jamess Courtney who navigated his way through the lap 1 chaos had moved up 10 spots to 15th after starting at the back of the pack.

Amongst others, Brodie Kostecki was still in the garage from the lap 1 incident.

Meanwhile, the officials investigated Broc Feeney for lurching forward before the race start. They issued him a 5 second time penalty for a ‘false start’ which he had to serve during his next pit stop.

Possibly out of frustration at receiving a time penalty, Broc Feeney recorded the fastest circuit time of 109.782 seconds on lap 8.

The first 2 cars to pit were Bryce Fullwood and Matt Payne on lap 14.

By the middle of the race Broc Feeney still maintained the number 1 spot. However, the race leaders were still yet to pit while everybody else had taken their mandatory stops.

With 17 laps to go Broc Feeney pitted and served his additional 5 second penalty. This allowed Will Brown to take over as race leader.

Feeney was on the charge chasing down Will Brown. They were both way ahead of the others. Feeney really wanted the win but Will Brown held strong to the end and crossed the finish line first by a margin of 0.940 seconds. It was a huge 8.3 seconds later that Ryan Wood led the rest pack across the finish line for 3rd place.

The final chase between teammates Feeney and Brown was a real nail biter!

Race 24 Results:

1st Will Brown – Red Bull Ampol Racing
2nd Broc Feeney – Red Bull Ampol Racing
3rd Ryan Wood – Walkinshaw Andretti United

For the 3rd time out of 3 races Broc Feeney started on pole position. Alongside him was Ryan Wood.

As they took off Broc Feeney led Ryan Wood and Will Brown through the first of the 63 laps in the race.

It wasn’t long after the start that the forecasted rain arrived. Regardless of the forecast, I don’t think anyone was prepared for it to be bucketing down like it was. All the cars had slick (dry weather) tyres on. It was going to get messy.

In the first of many incidents caused by the wet weather, Ryan Wood chasing the leader Broc Feeney, almost spun a full 360 as they went through a turn. Somehow, he managed to stay on track.

James Courtney was the first driver to pit on lap 4 to change onto wet weather tyres. He rejoined in 26th place.

Will Davison made contact with Jack le Brocq and was given a 5 second time penalty.

On lap 10 Broc Feeney recorded the fastest lap so far, 109.976 seconds. Not a bad result considering the conditions.

Chaz Mostert in 7th place was the first of the front runners to pit.

Leader, Broc Feeney pitted on lap 29 and came back out onto the circuit in 4th place. The strategy was perfect. The 3 drivers ahead were still yet to pit. When they did Feeney would once again have the lead.

Cameron Crick was slid off the track and got bogged in a sand trap at turn 6. The safety car was deployed so Crick’s car could be removed.

On the restart Broc Feeney had already passed Ryan Wood for 4th place and he had 3 more cars to pass to get to the race lead.

By the middle of the race everybody had completed their second stops and it was a sprint to the finish.

With 26 laps to go Broc Feeney only had 2 cars to pass to regain the race lead.

Shortly after Anton de Pasquale had smoke coming out of the back of the car.

Will Brown got turned around at turn 3 by Ryan Wood, dropping Brown from 5th all the way down to 23rd position.

Soon Feeney was just 0.386 seconds off Cameron Waters in the lead.

With 20 laps remaining Broc was back in the lead. He remained cool under pressure and made no mistakes.

As it got closer to the race ending, Feeney kept inching ahead.

He crossed the finish line 8.809 seconds ahead of Cam Waters. Kai Allen earned 3rd place about 1 ½ seconds later.

What a great finish for the finale of the weekend.

Race 25 results:

1st Broc Feeney – Red Bull Ampol Racing
2nd Cameron Waters – Tickford Racing
3rd Kai Allen – Grove Racing.

Broc Feeney won the sprint cup and the golden ticket to the finals. He also has a 337 points lead over Will Brown in the season championship ladder.

The teams are now preparing for the Enduro cup at the Bend and Bathurst.

The next event is the Air Touch 500 at The Bend September 12 – 14, 2025.