Clipsal 500 Post Race Report 2015

Clipsal 2015 Craig

Hi to all you race fans, around the world.

For those of who missed the 2015 Clipsal 500 here is what happened in the first race of the year.

Red Bull Racing Australia’s Jamie Whincup started on pole postion alongside him was Fabain Coulthard, the start of the opening race was to be aborted due Scott Mclaughlin having an oil fire under the Volvo s60 during the sighting lap on lap 1. When the race finally re started Jamie led the pack through the centre Chicane, for the first time. Will Davison was trying to stop the Mercades Benz E63 AMG, Marcos Ambrose was coming through from the back of the field.

On lap 2 Garth Tander was Looking for an opportunity to pass David Reynolds, the margin was . 4   seconds between Whincup and Coulthard. Micheal Caruso hit the wall.

On lap 3 Micheal went straight ahead at turn 4.

On lap 4 James Courtney was holding off Craig Lowndes. Three cars came in Lowndes, Van Gisbergen and Reynolds, Jamie pitted on lap 7 Craig pitted on lap 6. Lee Holdsworth rejoined in front Shane Van Gisbergen. Jamie did 2 fastest laps on 9 and 10 respectively.

In the middle of the race Riana said Erebus Motorsport V8 had new technology, xo skin techs warn by the Erebus Team Manager Ben Crok. Towards the end of race 1 DJR Team Penske got a little wild; at turns 1, 2 and 3, Chaz Mostert was right behind Jamie for the last lap. Jamie has now got 90 wins in his V8 career, is now tied with Mark Skaife who was inducted into the V8 Supercars Hall of Fame 12 months ago.

The next championship round is at Symmons plains Tasmania on the 27th to the 29th of March, 2015.

Results for race 1

1st – Jamie Whincup – Red Bull Racing Australia.
2nd – Chaz Mostert – Pro Drive Racing Australia.
3rd – Fabain Coulthard – Brad Jones Racing.

In race 2

Jamie Whincup started on pole postion alongside him was Scott Mclaughlin the Volvo s60 jumped the start on lap 1, Scott led the field through turns 1, 2 and 3 for the first of 39 laps. Fabain Coulthard and James Courtney, tried to pass Jamie at turn 4, on the opening lap. On lap 2 Fabain was putting pressure on the 6 times Champion Jamie Whincup. Mark Winterbottom, was putting pressure on David Reynolds.

On lap 3 Craig was running in 5th spot, the defending champ had his hands full. Further back in the pack James Moffat and Garth Tander had 3 bites of the cherry.

On lap 4 Scott lost a, little bit of his lead that he had. James Courtney, Craig Lowndes and Mark Winterbottom and David Reynolds, all did there Compulsory Pit Stops. During the opening stages, Chaz Mostert lost his rear wing due to Chaz grabbing the wall at turn 8 and clipping the inside curb.

The safety car was deployed due to Micheal Caruso down at turn 9 was stopped because he made contact with another competitor David Reynolds. Scott Mc Laughlin came into the pits to complete his Compulsory Pit Stop, plus a 10 second penalty.

On the restart Fabain was following Jamie Whincup the restart was on lap 23.

Towards the end of race 2 Lee Holdsworth hit the wall exiting turn 8. Fabian Couthard took over the race lead from Jamie as a result of him making a mistake down at turn 9, James and Shane got a run on the Craig Lowndes. James Courtney and Tim Slade got passed Craig and Jamie respectively. Shane got spun at turn 9. In the end nobody could catch Fabian Coulthard. The left rear tyre of car 1 went flat at the turn in point of turn 8. Fabain Coulthard won for his new naming rights sponsor in Frieghtliner. The last time Brad Jones Racing came close to winning a race at Clipsal was 2008.The driver back then was Cameron McConville.

Results for race 2

1st – Fabain Coulthard – Brad Jones Racing.
2nd – James Courtney – Holden Racing team.
3rd – Craig Lowndes – Red Bull Racing Australia.

Race 3

In race 3 James Courtney started on pole postion alongside him was Fabain Coulthard. On lap 1, Fabain lost postion going through turns 1, 2 and 3 Chicane , on the first lap. Shane Van Gisbergen tried to get up the inside of Fabian Coulthard at turn 4. On lap 2 Mark Winterbottom was the first car to stop for fuel. Shane Van Gisbergen passed James Moffat at turn 9.

On lap 3 Marcos Ambrose got into the top 10, Lee Holdsworth is driving car number 18 this year for Walkinshaw Racing.

On lap 4 Lee Holdsworth was under pressure by Craig Lowndes. On lap 5 Craig was following Scott Pye, also tried to pass him at the last corner turn 14.

On lap 6 Channel 10 went to a ad break. Garth Tander made his first pitstop on lap 9. Garth Tander made a mistake coming out of turn 7, which allowed Shane Van Gisbergen to get a run on him.

In the middle of the race there was a Safety car due to Ash Walsh having stopped on the approach to turn 8, Neil Crompton called himself an idiot because he made a silly comment.

On the restart James Courtney pulled away straight away. Towards the end of the race Shane Van Gisbergen was running in 2nd, the car tried a lot of moves to pass the James Courtney.

Marcos brought Roger Penske and Tim Cindric with him to Australia from Nascar, to race in the V8 Supercars championship. Rodger and Tim came from the United States of America. Mr Penske said he wanted to try this Category, for the first time. The hosts were Matty White and Mark Webber and the commentators were Greg Rust Neil Crompton pit reporters were Greg Murphy along with Riana Crehan. Fox sports and channel 10 have introduced for this year, hamburger cam – roof cam. Russell Ingall has joined the Fox sports 5 team along with the 6 times Bathurst winner and 5 timesV8 Supercars champion Mark Skaife. The last time Rusty did in pit reporting was back in 2006, for Channel 10. Hamburger cam is designed to give the fans better sound quality, and also views from the top of the roof on the V8 Supercars, which before this year, had not been tried, the 2nd innovation is that the Skins of the V8 Supercars can now be taken off with a hook to take a look at the Chassis.

Results for race 3

1st – James Courtney – HRT.
2nd – Shane Van Gisbergen – Tekno Autosports Darrel Lee Stix.
3rd – Garth Tander – HRT.

Clipsal 500 1

 

Pre race report – Clipsal 500

Hi to all you petrol heads around the world

Welcome to the 2015 racing season, starting off in Adelaide for the Clipsal 500.

Boy have we had some changes since last year, firstly a change of telecaster, it will no longer be seen on Channel 7, it will be telecast through Fox Sport 5 and Channel 10. While we have lost the talent of Mark Beretta as he is still with Channel 7. We welcome to the commentary team, such people as Riana Crehan from Fox Sport, Greg Murphy, Russell Ingall former drivers.

Secondly we saw the last of V8 Extra on Channel 7, so it is now going to be called RPM and televised through Channel 10, so the fun continues…

Check out the list on the side to see car changes and driver changes for this year. Red Bull has a new engineer, welcome to Grant Macpherson.

The Clipsal 500 was started back in 1999.

After such a successful year and breaking a few records, we are wondering if Jamie Whincup can continue on his winning streak and make 2015 his seventh championship. Good luck Jamie…

Results for the 2014

Race 1 – Jamie Whincup – Red Bull Racing Australia

Race 2 – Craig Lowndes – Red Bull Racing Australia

Race 3 – James Courtney – SP Tools Holden Racing team

http://youtu.be/E1BpREuYtVo

Winton 400, Victoria 2014

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.

Winton Victoria 2014 Pre Race

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.

 

Symmons Plains Tasmania Post Race 2014

Craig Lowndes Tas

Hi guys and girls the Tyrepower Tasmania 400.

While Dad and I were not there, here is a brief rundown of what happened in the 3 races over the weekend of 28th – 30th March 2014

In race 4, in what is happening more often than not we had Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes start on the front row.

Craig got the jump off the start line, David Reynolds and Russell Ingall were racing together in car 55 and 23. Mark Winterbottom was battling with the Bottle-O-car.

In the middle of the race Todd Kelly’s right front tyre was wobbling due to contact with Jack Perkins. Rick Kelly ran wide at the turn 4 hairpin, Russell Ingall started to fight back after a slow start from the second row, behind Jamie and Craig. Mark Winterbottom and David Reynolds were racing side by side down the back straight to turns 6 and 7. Todd Kellys Jack Daniels ended parking his Nissan Altama. Towards the end of the 4th race Jamie was trying to get down the inside of his teammate in-between turns 6 and 7. In the end Jamie managed to hold on to get his 78th race win in his V8 Supercars career and his 10th win at Symons plains raceway.

Results for race 4

1st Jamie Whincup – Red Bull Racing Australia.
2nd James Courtney – Holden Racing Team.
3rd Mark Winterbottom – Pepsi Max crew.

In race 5 Jamie Whincup started from pole position alongside him was Mark Winterbottom due to Craig Lowndes being sent to the back of the pack due to a Technical infringement, on lap 1 Will Davison locked up his rear brakes as a result he went into the sand trap at turn 4. On the restart Todd Kelly passed before the control and he ended up getting penalized for that. As a result of Nick Percat and Russell Ingall coming together, Craig passed them with ease.

In the middle of the race Craig was chasing down Scott McLaughlin, for 4th spot. But wasn’t able to do it, in the end Jamie made it 2 starts from 2 wins. Triple 8 Race Engineering/Red Bull Racing Australia, dominated event 2 of 2014, there are 38 races in all.

Results for race 5

1st Jamie Whincup – Red Bull Racing Australia.
2nd Mark Winterbottom – Pepsi Max Crew. FPR.
3rd Fabain Coulthard – Lockwood racing.

 

In race 6, yet again we see the Red Bull Racing Australia duo Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup start on the front row of the grid. Craig got the jump off the line and led the field through turns 1 and 2 for the 1st of 84 laps. Robert Dahlgren in the Volvo stalled off the line and that meant he was last at the start.

Jamie pitted early so that the 2 Red Bull cars didn’t have to double stack in the pits, Scott McLaughlin passed Will Davison and James Courtney down at the turn 4 hairpin. When Craig came for his 1st compulsory pit stop for 4 fresh tyres and refuel. But when he re-joined the race he made a slight mistake by going off the racetrack on the pit exit. Tim Slade re-joined in front of David Wall. When the Volvo S60 had completed its compulsory pit stop, he re-joined in front of car 1 but Jamie managed to pass him on the outside at the turn 4 hairpin.

In the middle of the race Fabain Coulthard and Dale Wood both made a pit stop, at the same time, Jamie Whincup ran wide on exit of turn 7 and when Jamie entered the pits for his 2nd pit stop for another set of tyres and last load of fuel to get him to the checkered flag. When James Courtney re-joined the circuit he nearly hit Scott McLaughlin, but somehow he managed to avoid contact.

Craig Lowndes was in the pits with no one around him for his last load of fuel, and a fresh set of Dunlop tyres. Dale Wood went straight ahead into the sand trap in between turns 1 and 2.

Towards the end of the race, Fabain put the pressure on Will Davison for 3rd spot, in the end neither of them could not catch the top three places. Craig Lowndes went on to claim his 96th race win. In his stellar V8 career, and 7th race win at Symmons Plains.

Results for race 6

1st Craig Lowndes – Red Bull Racing Australia.
2nd Jamie Whincup – Red Bull racing Australia.
3rd James Courtney – Holden Racing team.

Symmons Plains Tasmania Pre Race 2014

Hi Guys and Gals of the V8 community…

Last year Dad and I attended this race and had a great time, unfortunately this year we didn’t get the opportunity, so lets have a look back at 2013.

While waiting to board our plane in Sydney, you will never guess who we came across, OK I’ll tell you, the whole Red Bull Australia team including Roland Dane and the management team. As I was sitting there waiting to board the plane, all I could do is watch in amazement as they chatted and laughed with each other, I so wanted to go over and talk to them, but Dad said their would be plenty of time for that latter. After boarding the plane, I noticed they had followed me in. What a great bunch of blokes…

On the weekend of the 5 to 7 of April 2013 was the Microsoft Office 365.
In race 3 Jamie Whincup started on pole position alongside him was Fabain Coulthard. On lap 1 Jamie got the jump off the line and beat Fabain into the turn 1 and 2. Fabain was shadowing Jamie for the 1st the part of race 3 towards the end of lap 1 Craig got bumped off the track in between turns 6 and 7 at the start of lap 2 he then got spun around by Russell Ingall who making his 221st race start. While Craig was in the pits he spun his left rear wheel. Under safety car conditions which would normally cause a pitlane drive thru penalty.
Also during the course of lap 1 Shane Van Gisbergen didn’t want to feather the throttle and Craig got passed him. A Safety car was deployed on lap 3 due to one of the Erbus E63 Mercedes Benz running wide in-between turns 2 and 3. In the middle of the race there was a halftime break of just 15 minutes and then on the restart, it was a double file rolling restart meaning that everybody had to be alongside each other for the restart. Craig started in position number 28 for part 2 of race 3. When the green flag was waved by Damien White, Jamie Was still in the lead of the race, but after the restart Fabain then took over the race lead, and held it until the end of the 50 lap race. Jamie Whincup now leads the Championship by 51 points.

Results for race 3

1st Fabain Coulthard – Brad Jones Racing
2nd Jamie Whincup – Red Bull Racing Australia,
3rd Mark Winterbottom – Pepsi Max crew FPR.

In race 4 the 2 teammates Jason Bright and Fabain Coulthard started on the front of the grid. Jason Bright got the jump on his teammate Fabain Coulthard during lap 1 Garth Tander passed Fabain to move into 2nd spot.
On lap 2 David Reynolds hit the wall on the run out of the hairpin turn 4. This caused a safety car, and as a resulted in left front corner of car 55 was just completely ruined. On the restart Jason Bright was still leading from Garth Tander and then everyone just settled down. There were no pit stops unless a car had some damage or a flat tyre. In the middle of the race Craig Lowndes had lost 2 spot to Mark Winterbottom and James Courtney, towards the end of the race James was putting a huge amount of pressure on Mark James and Scott McLaughlin made contact with each other.

Results for race 4

1st Jason Bright – Team Boc
2nd Fabain Coulthard – Lockwood Racing
3rd Jamie Whincup – Red Bull Racing Australia

In race 5 Mark Winterbottom started on pole position alongside him was Fabain Coulthard. Mark Winterbottom got the jump into turn 1 from Fabain Coulthard on lap 1. Mark held the race lead through the 1st lap and Fabain was behind until the middle of the race. On lap 2 Scott McLaughlin was sideways on entry to the pit straight, then all the cars were trying to make space for each other, there was a safety car deployed on lap 5 due to debris on the entry to the pit straight. David Reynolds was given a mechanical black flag under the safety car because he had his right front guard dangling. Russell Ingall came into the pits on lap 10 due to a flat tyre. In the middle of the race Alex Davison was battling away with Lee Holdsworth towards the end of the final race Scott Pye had a massive accident, on the restart Mark Winterbottom made a mistake by running wide at turn 4, this allowed Fabain Coulthard to go passed to get the race win.

Results for race 5

1st Fabain Coulthard – Lockwood Racing
2nd Mark Winterbottom – Pepsi Max Crew
3rd James Courtney- Toll Holden Racing Team

The 60 60 supersprint 1st came into the V8 Supercars championship in Tasmania then in Perth WA. Mark Larkham said he enjoyed watching the double file restart. Because it was something he had never ever seen in V8 Supercars racing before this year.

 

Adelaide Clipsal 500 2014

Hi Guys and Girls on the 27th February to the 2nd of March 2014 was the Clipsal 500.

In race 1 Red Bull Racing Australia’s Jamie Whincup started on pole position alongside him was his teammate Craig Lowndes.  Craig got the jump into turns 1, 2 and 3 for the first of 39 laps. Also on lap 1 Chaz Mostert went into the wall at turn 5, due to an oil leaking from the rear of car 6.

Tim Slade was trying to pass the Rick Kelly, towards the end of the opening lap, Shane Van Gisbergen was ahead of Mark Winterbottom in 3rd spot. On lap 2 the race leaders had to be careful due to the oil that Chaz had left behind in-between turns 4 and 5. Chaz’s car ended up in the pit garage to fix the oil leak issues, and the sister car of David Reynolds also pitted due to damage on the front right hand corner, from hitting the wall at turn 11. Scott Pye ran wide down at turn 9 due to a locked brake on the front left corner. On lap 3 Lee Holdsworth had David Wall and James Moffat. Jason Bright ended up being passed by Russell Ingall. Garth Tander passed the DJR car, for position 12.

On lap 4 Jamie was the first car to make his pitstop for tyres and fuel, so that his teammate didn’t have to double stack, the 2nd car was Garry Rogers motorsport Volvo Polestar racing, car 34 driven by Robert Dahlgren. On lap 5 David was in the garage getting checked over by the doctor after a hard hit at turn 11. On lap 6 James Courtney was chasing Mark Winterbottom, through turns 1, 2 and 3. Todd Kelly was asked to enter pit lane in car 7 on lap 7, cars 7, 21 and 16 pitted on the same lap. James Courtney, also Scott McLaughlin pitted together.  On the pit exit Todd got passed Scott as he was re-joining the racetrack.

The Pepsi Max crew FPR team did Mark’s pitstop on lap 9, James Moffat had to serve a pit lane penalty for exceeding the pit lane speed limit which is 40 klms/hour. Car 97 peeled off on lap 13 for his compulsory pitstop. Craig pitted on lap 14, for 2 tyres and fuel. Craig said ‘what the heck happened there’, and his race engineer Jeromy Moore said sorry to Craig about the pitstop issue with the right rear wheel.

In the middle of the race Shane was following Craig for the effectively 2nd and 3rd positions. Towards the end of the race cars 22, 47 and 2 are all were battling for 10th 11th and 12th spots. Tim nearly hit the wall on the left hand side.

Nick Percat made contact with Michael Caruso. In the end Nick ended up in the garage. Craig caught the grass on approach to turn 14. Rick was under pressure from Scott, in the end Jamie ended the first race of the season on the top spot of the podium and he claimed his 8th win at Clipsal and race win number 74.

Results for race 1

1st Jamie Whincup – Red Bull Racing Australia.
2nd Craig Lowndes – Red Bull Racing Australia.
3rd Shane Van Gisbergen – Team VIP – Tekno Autosports.

 

In race 2 Craig Lowndes started on pole position alongside him was Scott McLaughlin, Craig got the jump into the turns 1, 2 and 3 chicane. On lap 1 Lee Holdsworth tried to get passed the Pepsi Max Crew Ford. When James passed the FPR car, he started to chase Lee Holdsworth. Meanwhile Nick Percat and Garth Tander made contact at turn 9. On lap 2 Craig got a kerb strike Neil Crompton said that Craig burning a kerb hop after lap 1 was not good. Jamie managed to get passed Scott McLaughlin, for 2nd spot. On lap 3 Jason Bright tried to a make a move down the main straight. Mark Beretta was right at the last corner, turn 14. On lap 4 Jason Bright tried get down the inside of the Volvo at turn 9. On lap 5 Scott was complaining about the over steer to his race engineer Richard Hallway. The first car to make to a pit was Robert Dahlgren. Robert stalled on exit of the pits Matt White was talking to Robert and he said to him ‘I bet it is not 30 degrees where you come from on the east coast of Sweden’, he replied ‘yeah minus’.  In the middle of the race James Courtney nearly lost the passenger’s side door on approach to turn 4. Towards the end of the race, Scott and Jamie were battling for 2nd and 3rd.

Results for race 2

1st Craig Lowndes – Red Bull Racing Australia.
2nd Scott Maclaughlin – Volvo Polstar racing GRM.
3rd Jamie Whincup – Red Bull Racing Australia.

In race 3, Shane Van Gisbergen started on pole position alongside him was the 5 times V8 Supercars Champion Jamie Whincup. Jamie got the jump and led the field into turns 1, 2 and 3 for the first of 78 laps. Rick Kelly made contact with the tyre bundle at turn 1. As a result of the guard rubbing on the front left tyre, there was smoke pouring out of the left hand side of his car. On lap 2 David Reynolds pitted early for fuel. On lap 3 Todd Kelly had no throttle meaning the car running only on idol due to a broken throttle cable.

Shane tried to pass Jamie at turn 9, but wasn’t able to make the move stick. On lap 4 the first 3 cars to pit were Craig Lowndes, Chaz Mostert and Fabain Coulthard. On lap 5 Car 7 was limping back to the pits. On lap 6 James Courtney made his first compulsory pitstop. On lap 7 Nick Percat came in for tyres and fuel. On lap 8 the Volvo 560 got through on Tim Slade, at turn 9. Micheal Caruso got a black flag for speeding in the pitlane. Will Davison went into the wall at turn 8 on lap 10, as a result a safety car was deployed, that meant that cars 1 and 2 could make their compulsory pitstops.

At the restart on lap 14, Jason Bright ended up rolling his car at turn 1, the cars that were involved were cars 8 Jason Bright, 6 Chaz Mostert, 16 Scott Pye, and 4 Lee Holdsworth. The 2nd safety car was deployed due to this crash.

On the 2nd restart on lap 19, cars 15 and 97 got drive thru penalties for not maintaining the speed after the restart, Mark went into the tyres between turns 6 and 7. When Rick took his pit lane penalty that left cars 1 and 888, to start the next lap in positions 1 and 2.

In the middle of the race Craig came in for his last pit stop and

towards the end of the race Jamie got a pit lane drive thru penalty for the car controller touching his car as Jamie was trying to save his day he made contact at turn 9 with Michael Caruso. In the end James Courtney won race 3.

Results Race 3

1st James Courtney – Holden Racing Team
2nd Craig Lowndes – Red Bull Racing Australia
3rd Shane Van Gisbergen –Techno Auto Sports

The next event is the Tasmania 400 on the 28th to the 30th of March 2014 races 4, 5 and 6. Craig Lowndes currently leads the 2014 V8 Supercars Championship series points standing by 282 points over 2nd placed Fabain Coulthard.

Trivia

Tekno Auto Sports, VIP Petfoods, Lucas Dumbrell motorsport and HHA Racing have only got one car in this year’s Championship. Mark Larkham has a new inferred camera which he uses for checking out the temperatures on both the front and rear brake routes and pads.

The last time that Tim drove for Supercheap Auto Racing before this year was 2009.

Clipsal 500 2014 Pre Race Report

Hi Guys and Girls

This weekend is the start of the 2014 V8 Supercars Championship series. The Clipsal 500 will be run from the 27th of February to the 2nd of March 2014.

Some of the things that are happening this year –

  1. This year will be the last year for theV8 Supercars broadcasting on channel 7 before they move to channel 10 from 2015 onwards. Channel 10 will have the broadcast rights for 6 years, starting from 2015.
  2. Volvo is joining the V8 teams.I am looking forward to seeing how the new Manufacture in Volvo will go in its first year in the v8s. Volvo will make it 5 Manufacturer.
  3. This year will be Russell Ingalls’s 19th fulltime season in V8 Supercars.
  4. Jamie Whincup has won 5 V8 Supercar championships, can he make it 6?
  5. Mark Dutton will be replacing Adrian Burgess as Team Manager at Red Bull Racing Australia. Best of luck this weekend everyone for the Clipsal 500, in Adelaide South Australia event number 1.

Let’s take a look back at what happened in 2013 at the Clipsal 500, in the 2nd Qualifying session.  Lee Holdsworth nearly hit the wall on the exit of turn 8 due to oversteering. Jamie Whincup went to the top of the timesheet during Qualifying for race 2, Mark Beretta was talking to Dick Johnson, about Jonny Reid, not finishing, (DNF which stands for did not finish), David Reynolds finished his previous lap in qualifying number 2 in 5th spot. Three cars came in during the session to make changes to the tyre pressures, on all 4 tyres, and give the drivers fresh rubber to give them grip on the racetrack,     they were Shane Van Gisbergen Will Davison and David Reynolds.  After Craig Lowndes in car 888 exited turn 4 he moved over to make sure that Jamie was not being held up. He led the timesheets for the 2nd time, with a 12164. Fabain Coulthard went to the top of the list, Alexander Premat jumped to 3rd  Mark Skaife said that he loves the Sunday Qualifying Session. Towards the end of the Qualifying session Garth Tander got spun around by Fabain. Jamie won the Clipsal 500 in 2006 2008 2009 and 2011 and the first race of 2012.

Results from 2013

Results for Race 1

1st – Craig Lowndes – Red Bull Racing Australia
2nd – Will Davison – Pepsi Max Crew Ford Performance Racing
3rd – Jamie Whincup – Red Bull Racing Australia.

Results for race 2

1st – Shane Van Gisbergen – Tekno Autosport
2nd – Jamie Whincup – Red Bull Racing Australia
3rd – Craig Lowndes – Red Bull Racing Australia,

 

 

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