NTI Townsville 500 2023

July 21, 2023 admin Leave a comment

Hi to all you Supercars Fans around the world!

On the weekend of July 7 – 9, 2023 was the NTI Townsville 500.

The track is a 2.8km street circuit with 13 turns.

This year’s event is round 6 of 12 in the 2023 Supercars season and will consist of 2 races of 88 laps each.

The Townsville street circuit was first opened in 2009 and was the first time Supercars held an event there. Lee Holdsworth and Garth Tander shared the first two pole positions back on that weekend in 2009. Jamie Whincup and James Courtney shared race 11 and 12 wins in the season.

Jamie Whincup has the all-time winning record in Townsville with 12 race wins.

This year marked a special milestone for Shane Van Gisbergen. Race 17 was his 500th race start in Supercars. Congratulations SVG!

The results for the pre-race sessions that started the weekend were as follows:

Will Brown was fastest in Practice 1
- Jack le Brocq was fastest in Practice 2
Cameron Waters was fastest in Qualifying
Will Brown was fastest in the top 10 shootout

In Race 16 Will Brown started on pole position with David Reynolds alongside him.

Will Brown got the jump off the start line into turns 1 and 2 for the first of the 88 laps.

On approach to turn 2 Shane Van Gisbergen attempted a bold move for the lead from his start on the grid second row. It was tight and there was chaos between the top 4 cars. The move failed and Cameron Waters who started 3^rd on the grid popped out of turn 2 in the lead.

Shane was in 2^nd place but at turn 4 his 20 year old teammate, Broc Feeney managed to get around the outside.

At turn 8 Shane Van Gisbergen and Jack le Brocq made contact. It cost them both dearly and Shane Van Gisbergen dropped back to 14^th place.

Cameron Waters still had the lead, followed by Broc Feeney and then Chaz Mostert who had gained 6 spots to move into 3rd place.

Shane Van Gisbergen took his bad luck on the chin and immediately got to work. Within a couple of laps he passed James Courtney, then Jack Le Brocq, Will Davison and Bryce Fulwood. He was in 14^th but now in 8^th place.

Mark Winterbottom and Nick Percat made contact spinning them both around and dropping them down to 24^th and 25^th place.

It was later on lap 11 that the officials issued Mark Winterbottom a 15 second time penalty for his fault in making contact with Nick Percat.

The first car to pit in this race was Anton de Pasquale on lap 20 from 14^th place.

On lap 21 David Reynolds moved into 4^th place after squeezing up the inside of Chaz Mostert.

Instead of trying to go on the attack Chaz Mostert chose to take his pit stop. When he came back out on track he was in 23^rd place.

Meanwhile Cameron Waters was controlling proceedings at the front of the pack with a 12 second lead over Will Brown in 2^nd place.

Will Brown chased him down and on lap 23 amazingly closed the gap and then took the lead off Cameron Waters. Broc Feeney was 3.7 seconds behind in 3^rd place.

Broc Feeney was the first of the Red Bull cars to pit to avoid double stacking with Shane Van Gisbergen. He returned to the track in 15^th.

Brodie Kostecki ran into problems and couldn’t use second gear, so for the rest of the race was using third gear.

The two leaders Will Brown and Cameron Waters pitted on the same lap. This left Shane Van Gisbergen in control of the race. Cameron Waters came back out with fresh tyres in front of James Courtney in 12^th place.

Shane Van Gisbergen had a 1.7 seconds lead over David Reynolds. He kept the lead until he pitted on lap 35. When he came back out he was in 11^th place. The number 1 spot was now in Chaz Mostert’s hands.

Behind Chaz Mostert, David Reynolds got up the inside of Broc Feeney for 3^rd place.

In the middle of the race Chaz Mostert had worked up a 14.4 second lead over Will Brown but had to make his second pit stop lap 42. It was Will Brown’s turn to control the race.

Anton de Pasquale stopped on the pit entry due to an electrical problem. The motor just turned itself off. He made it to the garage but couldn’t rejoin the race. He had to sit the remainder of the race and received a DNF.

On lap 69 Todd Hazelwood’s car pulled up on the side of the track after the left rear had sparks coming out. The safety car was deployed to remove the car.

The restart was on lap 73 and Will Brown was leading over Broc Feeney, Cameron Waters and Andre Heimgartner.

As the end of the race drew closer Chaz Mostert had worked his way from 11^th and took 4^th place from Andre Heimgartner.

Meanwhile Broc Feeney was only 1.9 seconds off the lead. He tried his best to catch Will Brown but he was just too fast.

Although Will Brown was in the lead he was not driving defensively. Instead, he went on the attack edging ahead to cross the finish line 3.3 seconds over Broc Feeney. It was another 5.4 seconds back to Chaz Mostert in 3^rd and another 11.631 seconds back to Shane Van Gisbergen in 4^th place.

Results for Race 16

1^st Will Brown – Erebus Motorsport
2^nd Broc Feeney – Red Bull Ampol Racing
3^rd Chaz Mostert – Walkinshaw Andretti United

In Race 17 Cameron Waters started on pole position, alongside him was Jack le Brocq.

Shane Van Gisbergen started 25^th on grid due to getting held up in Qualifying. He didn’t get to the start line in time to perform his final qualifying lap so was sent to the back of the pack.

As they took off Cameron Waters got the jump and led into turns 1 and 2. He was followed by Thomas Randle and Jack le Brocq.

Further back in the field there was a lot of movement. James Courtney had gained 5 places on the opening lap moving into 12^th.

Shane Van Gisbergen spun around after making contact with Declan Fraser. Already in last place Shane Van Gisbergen was now a further 6.5 seconds behind. The officials reviewed the incident and deemed it ‘an incident that required no further action’ so no penalty was issued.

After the second lap Chaz Mostert had steering issues probably as a result of hitting the wall in the Top 10 Shootout. He headed to the garage and soon found out the damage was worse than first thought. With only 2 minutes and 40 seconds of recorded track time, he wasn’t able to rejoin the race and received a Not Complete (NC).

The first car to pit in this race was Anton de Pasquale on lap 15. He returned to the track in 24^th place.

Broc Feeney took his stop on lap 19 to return to the track in 23^rd place.

Tim Slade was in the garage for an extended period with a steering rack and cooler failure. He returned to the race but had an impossible task to make up the lost laps.

James Courtney pitted on lap 22 along with race leader Cameron Waters.

On lap 36 the safety car was deployed. Cameron Hill’s car appeared to be falling apart at the seams. He left a huge sheet of metal from the car’s undercarriage behind on the track. A very odd sight.

At the same time Todd Hazelwood was having problems of his own. Sparks were flying from the car’s left rear. After pulling in for repairs it turns out he was the second driver unable to return to the track and receive an NC for the race.

The restart was on lap 39 with Will Brown as the race leader followed by Bryce Fullwood and Will Davison.

Soon after Will Brown took his pit stop. Anton de Pasquale who had not pitted yet was now up front and had a 2.9 second lead over Bryce Fullwood.

Shane Van Gisbergen made a pass on Jack le Brocq look easy and moved into 5th place. He had started 25^th on the grid and was now in the top 5 runners. SVG is a legend!

Anton de Pasquale demonstrated why he has a reputation for speed. He kept edging ahead and by the time he pitted the lead was so great he returned to the track and was still in first place.

Anton de Pasquale kept his commanding lead and crossed the line 5.0692 seconds ahead of this year’s favourite, Brodie Kostecki. Andre Heimgartner in 3^rd place crossed the line 6.4322 seconds later.

It was another race with front runners fairly spread out. It was spectacular performance to watch.

Results for Race 17

1^st Anton de Pasquale – Shell V-Power Racing Team
2^nd Brodie Kostecki – Erebus Motorsport
3^rd Andre Heimgartner – Brad Jones Racing

Will Brown still leads the championship but only by 7 points over Brodie Kostecki. Broc Feeney is 26 points behind in 3^rd place.

The next event is the Beaurepairs Sydney Supernight on 28 – 30 of July 2023.

Hope you will all join me then.

Supercars

Betr Darwin Triple Crown 2023

June 30, 2023 admin 2 Comments

Hi to all you Supercars Fans around the world!

On the weekend of the 16- 18 of June was the Betr Darwin Triple Crown.

Being in the Northern Territory the weather for this event is always hot and sunny with temperatures of 30 to 35 degrees ambient, which makes the in-car temperatures 40 degrees plus. The Triple Crown is always held in the middle of winter because any other time of the year would be way too hot putting the drivers at risk.

The opening date of the Hidden Valley Raceway was 1986 but Supercars didn’t venture north until 1998.

The track is 2.8km with 14 turns and the event is made up of three races (thus, the name “Triple Crown”) of 35 laps each.

Fox Sports presenter, Riana Crehan was absent from her usual role on this weekend because she and husband Will Davison are expecting the birth of their first child (any minute).

Hidden Valley Raceway always makes me think of this freaky fact; It was here that Craig Lowndes won his 100^th race back in 2015 on his team Triple Eight on their 888^th race in his car which was numbered 888.

The event kicked off according to schedule and the results of the pre-race sessions follow:

Broc Feeney was fastest in Practice 1
Anton de Pasquale was fastest in Practice 2
Cameron Waters was fastest in Qualifying

In Race 13 Cameron Waters started on pole position for the first time this year and the 20^th time in his career. Alongside him in the number 2 position was Broc Feeney.

At the start of the race Cameron Waters got the jump and led into turn 1 for the first of 35 laps. Mark Winterbottom who started 3^rd on the grid moved up to 2^nd place when Broc Feeney ran wide at turn 1.

The opening stages were fairly chaotic because everybody was trying make gains from back in the field.

Jack le Brocq also ran wide on approach to turn 1 and dropped all the way down to 12^th place.

Declan Fraser went into the garage on the opening lap after he sustained damage in the mayhem.

James Courtney got turned around by Andre Heimgartner at turn 14 on lap 2, sending him to the back of the pack.

Shortly after David Reynolds had a big lockup at turn 1 and went off the track. He hit the pits on lap 3 to change the front left tyre.

While the drivers behind were battling for places inside the top 10, Cameron Waters was out front leading the race until lap 5. When he was coming down the main straight he came over the radio to his team and said “My car is on fire!”. His race engineer Sam Potter ordered him, “get out mate!” so Waters pulled over and jumped from the driver’s seat. He grabbed the fire extinguisher from the Fire Marshall and put the flames out himself!

The lead was now in the hands of the sport veteran, Mark Winterbottom.

The safety car was deployed to remove Cameron Waters Monster Energy ‘Flaming’ Ford Mustang from the tack.

Meanwhile, the majority of the field chose to take their pit stops while the safety car was out. The pit lane was extremely busy.

Restart was on lap 11 and soon enough the cars back in the pack were jostling for positions again, while the leaders maintained track position.

Jack Smith went off the track at turn 1. Scott Pye made connection with someone or something and had torn the right rear wheel guard. The tyre was now rubbing on the dangling piece of guard. His team instructed him to keep going and they’ll let him know if it gets dangerous.

On Lap 16 the safety car was deployed for the second time due to a grass fire.

It took a few laps under the safety car before the race went back to green.

As the cars returned to their battle Chaz Mostert was able to take advantage and gained 3 spots moving up to 8^th place.

The leaders kept in place but Mark Winterbottom was under huge pressure from Broc Feeney only 0.449 seconds behind. Will Davison in 3^rd place was over a second behind Feeney.

Broc Feeney pushed hard but in the end, Mark Winterbottom was able to prevail and win the opening race at Darwin.

This has broken a 7 year winless streak for Mark Winterbottom. His last win was Perth 2016.

It was fantastic to see!

Results for Race 13

1^st Mark Winterbottom – Team 18
2^nd Broc Feeney – Red Bull Racing
3^rd Will Davison – Shell V-Power Racing Team

In Race 14 Broc Feeney earned pole position. Alongside him was Andre Heimgartner.

Generated by pixel @ 2023-06-18T23:36:11.103002

Broc Feeney got the jump off the start and led into turn 1 for the first of 35 laps. Meanwhile, Shane Van Gisbergen gained 1 spot and moved into 3^rd place.

Matt Payne and Declan Fraser made contact and went off the track at turn 7. It dropped them back to 25^th and 26^th place.

Both cars headed to the pits for repairs. Not long after Matt Payne was able to rejoin the race but Declan Fraser was not so lucky. It took a while for his car to be repaired losing several laps.

Otherwise, the opening stages were relatively clean.

The first car to take an unforced pit was Jack Smith on lap 5.

Around this stage of the race Brodie Kostecki had lost 2 spots from his starting position of 4^th. Jack le Brocq went off the track at turn 7 losing a number of places. At the front end Broc Feeney had carved a 1.225 second lead over Andre Heimgartner with Shane Van Gisbergen in pursuit.

Scott Pye pitted on lap 9 from 12^th place.

James Golding was battling with Brodie Kostecki for positions 5^th and 6^th and they put on a great show.

Will Brown was the first of the front runners to pit along with Macauley Jones.

In the middle of the race Nick Percat pitted from 14^th position. When he came back out he was in 20^th place.

The leading three drivers stayed locked in and edged away from the rest of the pack.

After David Reynolds took his pit stop he was issued a 5 second time penalty for a pit lane merging breach.

Broc Feeney was the first of the two Red Bull cars to take the mandatory stop on lap 20. He returned to the track in 4^th place. There was a strategy in this. Andre Heimgartner had already pitted and was now out of the leading three cars. Shane Van Gisbergen who was in second place now received the lead from teammate Feeney. Also, the leading 3 cars were yet to pit; Shane Van Gisbergen, Bryce Fullwood and Cameron Waters. Once they did Broc Feeney would automatically resume the lead.

On lap 29 Will Davison had gone into the garage with a bent right front steering arm. This took him out of the top 10.

Broc Feeney resumed the lead and soon had a 2 second gap over Shane Van Gisbergen in second place.

With 3 laps to go Broc Feeney would have felt he had the race win in the bag.

Broc Feeney drove faultlessly the remaining laps and crossed the line 1.4 seconds ahead of his illustrious teammate Shane Van Gisbergen. Andre Heimgartner followed another 1.8 seconds later to take 3^rd place.

A great one / two finish for the Red Bull Ampol Racing team.

Results for Race 14

1^st Broc Feeney – Red Bull Ampol Racing
2^nd Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing
3^rd Andre Heimgartner – Brad Jones Racing

In Race 15 Jack le Brocq started on pole position and once again alongside him was Andre Heimgartner.

As they took off Jack le Brocq led the field through turn 1 for the first of 35 laps.

Scott Pye was hit from behind and had pretty substantial damage on the right rear corner. Brodie Kostecki also had issues on the first lap, receiving steering damage on the right side.

Todd Hazelwood put in a challenge to Shane Van Gisbergen for 8 place but he couldn’t get the pass executed for a while. It wasn’t long before Shane Van Gisbergen took back 8^th.

After repairs to the steering arm Brodie Kostecki re-joined the race but was 3 laps down and running last.

Scott Pye also had to take his pit early to remove flapping rear bumper for the second time that weekend. He returned to the track in 25^th place.

David Reynolds came into the pits for his compulsory stop on lap 10.

In the middle of the race Declan Fraser made connection with another competitor and received a 15 second time penalty

Broc Feeney and Will Brown running 3^rd and 4th pitted at the same time on lap 17.

The race leaders Jack le Brocq and Andre Heimgartner took their pit stops on the next lap.

Towards the end of the race Matt Payne got turned around by Jack Smith at turn 6 sending him to the back of the pack.

With three laps to go Jack le Brocq had managed to hold the number one spot and carve a 1.8 second lead over Andre Heimgartner in 2^nd place. They were both well ahead of the rest of the pack.

Heimgartner pushed hard to close the gap but at no stage seemed a threat to le Brocq.

Jack le Brocq crossed the line 1.3 seconds clear of Andre Heimgartner. It was a further 8.4 seconds before Broc Feeney crossed the line to come in 3^rd.

It was a spectacular finish especially for the young Broc Feeney who managed a podium place in all three races of the Darwin Triple Crown; 2^nd,1^st and then 3^rd. It earned him a win for the entire round.

Results for Race 15

1^st Jack le Brocq – Matt Stone Racing
2^nd Andre Heimgartner – Brad Jones Racing
3^rd Broc Feeney – Red Bull Ampol Racing

Brodie Kostecki still leads the championship but only by 59 points over his teammate Will Brown and 91 points over Broc Feeney.

It still keeps Erebus in the lead of the teams championship by 222 points over the Red Bull Ampol Racing Team.

There are 7 events remaining in the 2023 Supercars championship season.

The next event is the NTI Townsville 500 starting on July 7^th 2023. I just can’t wait!!!!!

Supercars

Ned Whiskey Tasmania Supersprint 2023

June 2, 2023 admin Leave a comment

Hi to all you Supercars Fans around the world!

On the weekend of May 20 – 21, 2023 was the Ned Whiskey Tasmania Supersprint held at the Symmons Plain Raceway.

The raceway was first opened in March 1960. After the closure of the Longford Road circuit Symmons Plains quickly established its own reputation as Tasmania’s home of Motor Racing. The track is 2.4 km with 7 turns and must be one of the shorter tracks used in the Supercars Championship.

The Tasmania Supersprint was round 4 of the championship. Brodie Kostecki came into the round with a 100 point lead over Chaz Mostert in 2^nd place.

It is the 50^th time that the Supercars have visited. The track seems to be favoured by Triple Eight. They have won 25 out of the last 36 races in Tasmania.

Both Andre Heimgartner and Nick Percat had milestones. It was Andre Heimgartner’s 100^th round start in Supercars and Nick Percat started his 300^th race in Supercars.

In the pre-Race sessions:

Brodie Kostecki was fastest in Practice 1
Brodie Kostecki was fastest in Practice 2
Will Brown was fastest in Qualifying

In Race 10 Will Brown started on pole position with Jack le Brocq alongside him.

At the start of the race Will Brown got the jump and led into turn 1 for the first of 42 laps. The opening lap was relatively clean until James Courtney went into the wall at turn 6.

Coming out of turn 4 on the following lap Cameron Waters made contact with Brodie Kostecki which put him in the wall. Then Broc Feeney made contact with Chaz Mostert spinning him around. Scott Pye gave Broc Feeney a nudge and put damage on car 88 but he was able to keep going.

The result of the chaos had Chaz Mostert and Brodie Kostecki heading to the pits for repairs. As it turned out Chaz Mostert was not able to re-join the race.

James Courtney was another casualty from the turn 4 incident. A few laps later he went into the garage to replace a bent steering arm.

Will Brown was still leading with 1.8 seconds over Cameron Waters.

Shane Van Gisbergen was up 3 places from his grid start position and now in 6^th.

It wasn’t long before Cameron Waters showed how much he wanted the win. He did the fastest lap of the race clocking in at 51.67 seconds.

Shane Van Gisbergen also showed his desire for a podium finish and got up the inside of Cameron Hill for 4^th position.

The first car to pit in this race was Scott Pye on lap 14. He came in from 21^st position and returned to the track in 22^nd.

Mid-field Will Davison got up the inside of David Reynolds exchanging 15^th and 16^th place.

In the middle of the race James Golding pitted and David Reynolds followed him in. Andre Heimgartner and Cameron Waters then pitted from 3^rd and 4^th position.

Race leader, Will Brown made his pit stop on lap 23. He returned to the track in 5^th place giving Shane Van Gisbergen the number 1 spot. At this stage there were still 8 cars to pit.

Shane Van Gisbergen pitted on lap 27 from the lead of the race.

After Jack Smith took his pit stop he was investigated for an infringement. He was issued a 15 second time penalty post-race finish.

Now there were only 3 cars yet to pit; Todd Hazelwood, Matt Payne and Broc Feeney. Once they did Will Brown assumed the lead of the race.

Towards the end of the race Will Brown was still in the lead with 1.3 seconds over Andre Heimgartner. It was another 1.1 seconds back to Cameron Waters in 3^rd.

Once Todd Hazelwood had pitted on lap 30 he re-joined in 15^th place.

After this it was a sprint to the checkered flag.

Shane Van Gisbergen was in 4^th position with fresher tyres for the sprint to the finish line but he was 8.2 seconds off the lead and 5.8 seconds away from Cameron Waters in 3^rd place.

In the final Will Brown was still holding the lead over Andre Heimgartner. Shane Van Gisbergen was obviously not satisfied with 4^th and managed to finally get past Cameron Waters to steal 3^rd place.

Results for Race 10:

1^st Will Brown – Erebus Motorsport
2^nd Andre Heimgartner – Brad Jones Racing
3^rd Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing

In Race 11 Brodie Kostecki started on pole position, alongside him was Broc Feeney.

At the start of the race Brodie Kostecki pushed Broc Feeney wide at turn. Will Brown used the opportunity to go up to 2^nd place while Broc Feeney was displaced back to 4^th.

The opening lap was relatively clean until turn 6 when Shane Van Gisbergen went into tyre wall after a bump from David Reynolds. Shane Van Gisbergen managed to get the car out but had to head straight to the pits. The damage was worse than first thought. The damage would take so much time to repair he wasn’t able to return to the race. Luckily he was able to participate in the final race of the weekend.

Shortly after Will Brown took the lead off his teammate Brodie Kostecki.

The top 5 cars were packed close to each other and anything could happen to change the results.

Aggressions seemed to be increasing and Declan Fraser received a 15 second time penalty for a driving infringement.

Meanwhile, Will Davison clocked the fastest lap at 52.011 seconds.

The first car to pit (aside from Shane Van Gisbergen) was Mark Winterbottom on lap 13. Noone else followed him in.

By the middle of the race the top 13 cars had still not visited pits. It seemed they all were afraid to give up their positions.

Once Brodie Kostecki and Will Brown had pitted there was a 35 second gap between the two.

Towards the end of the end of the race Broc Feeney was in the lead with 0.721 seconds over the championship leader Brodie Kostecki. It was a further 1.4 seconds back to Will Brown in 3^rd.

In the final laps the gap between the top 3 cars became even tighter.

Broc Feeney was looking solid out front even though they were right on his tail. The drivers behind were really battling for the minor places.

On the last lap Broc Feeney was in cruise mode with a confident lead of 2 seconds.

He kept his hard-earned lead to finish line ahead of Brodie Kostecki and Will Brown.

As he crossed the line Broc Feeney announced over the radio, “Team Sunday is back!”.

Results for Race 11:

1^st Broc Feeney – Red Bull Ampol Racing

2^nd Brodie Kostecki – Erebus Motorsport

3^rd Will Brown – Erebus Motorsport

In Race 12 Brodie Kostecki started on pole position with Will Brown alongside him.

As they took off Will Brown got the jump and led into turns 1 and 2 for the first of 42 laps. Andre Heimgartner went off the track at turn 1 and so did Anton de Pasquale.

While the 2 Erebus Camaro’s were commanding proceedings everybody else was trying to play catch up. Further back in the field the 2 Penrite Racing cars were battling for positions outside the top 10 in 14^th and 16^thplace.

At the second last corner Declan Fraser got turned around by Jack Smith.

Things went smoothly until lap 9 when Andre Heimgartner gave James Courtney a bump and they both went off into the gravel.

On lap 10 Broc Feeney managed to get up the inside of Jack le Brocq for 3^rd place. Will Brown and his teammate Brodie Kostecki were still holding the number 1 and 2 spots.

The first car to pit in this race was Nick Percat on lap 12 from the back of the pack and had a loose brake pedal as a secondary issue. Shane Van Gisbergen also pitted. He was in 18^th and when he came back out on the track was in 23^rd place.

By the middle of the race Shane Van Gisbergen had worked his way up through the field and was able to take 11^th place from Jack le Brocq. At this stage there were 9 cars yet to take their stops.

Will Brown pitted on lap 24 which left Broc Feeney in control of the race.

Towards the end of the race Will Brown had a 5.5 second lead over Broc Feeney. It was only 0.633 seconds back to Shane Van Gisbergen who had now worked his way into 3^rd place.

Matt Payne’s car had suffered damage earlier and the tyre was rubbing on the front bumper. It was too close to the end of the race so he kept going to the finish line.

At the front of the pack Will Brown still kept his lead and finished with a 4 second gap over Broc Feeney and Brodie Kostecki.

Another spectacular finish for Erebus to end the weekend.

Results for Race 12:

1^st Will Brown – Erebus Motorsport
2^nd Broc Feeney – Red Bull Ampol Racing
3^rd Brodie Kostecki – Erebus Motorsport

Brodie Kostecki still leads the championship by 87 points over Will Brown. Erebus are also leading the teams’ championship by 276 points over the Red Bull Ampol Racing team.

There are only 8 rounds to go in the 2023 Supercars season. The next event is the Betr Darwin Triple Crown on June 16^th to 18^th 2023.

Looking forward to it already!

Supercars

Bosch Power Tools Perth Supersprint 2023

May 19, 2023 admin Leave a comment

Hi to all you Supercars Fans around the world!

On the weekend of Apr 28 – 30 was 3^rd Supercars Championship round, the Bosch Powertools Perth Supersprint at Barbagallo Raceway.

This track is a 2.4 km circuit with 7 turns. It was built by the Western Australia Sporting Car Club and called Wanneroo Raceway. The first race was in March 1969.

In 1992 a well-known race personality, Alf Barbagallo funded an extension to the track and the circuit was renamed to “Barbagallo Raceway”.

It was then renamed back to Wanneroo Raceway in 2020 but for naming rights reasons will be known as CARCO.com.au Raceway from August 2022 to November 2025.

Barbagallo Raceway is the name I grew up with and still refer to it as such. Wanneroo Raceway is a name I can get used to, but CARCO.com.au Raceway is just plain old strange.

The weekend marked milestones for both Will Davison and Mark Winterbottom. Davison started his 500^th race and Winterbottom had his 600^th race in Supercars.

The weekend got underway with only one practice followed by the first qualifying session. David Reynolds was fastest in Practice 1 and Shane Van Gisbergen earned pole position in Qualifying.

As drivers positioned themselves on the grid for Race 7, Brodie Kostecki was alongside pole sitter Shane Van Gisbergen.

At the start of the race Brodie Kostecki got the jump and led into turn 1. Will Davison did a dive bomb trying to get up the inside of Thomas Randle but he couldn’t make move stick.

The leaders started pulling away and Jack le Brocq was the only one able to keep up. It created a gap between the frontrunners and the rest of the pack.

Nick Percat in 20^th place was the first car to pit on lap 8. He returned to the track in 25^th (last) place.

James Courtney had dropped 2 places and Will Brown had gained + 4 places.

James Courtney was being held up by Will Davison in battle with Thomas Randle.

Tim Slade was the first of the Nulon cars to pit. When he came back out he was in 24^th position.

Tickford Racing had allowed Will Davison to drive through their pit bay but caused a panic when he almost made contact with James Courtney.

Back on the track Will Brown got up the inside of Macauley Jones on lap 16 for 14^thplace.

At turn 1 on the next lap Cameron Waters got up the inside of Macauley Jones.

Brodie Kostecki pitted on lap 18 which gave the lead of the race to Shane Van Gisbergen. After a 3.2 second stop he re-joined the race in 19^th place.

In the middle of the race David Reynolds did the fastest lap of the race 55.946 seconds and earned him the 5 bonus points.

Shane Van Gisbergen still had the lead with a 2.4 second break over Jack le Brocq. The gap back to David Reynolds in 3^rd place was 25 seconds.

As Cameron Waters was heading to the pit lane he got turned around by Andre Heimgartner. It ruined Cameron’s chances of a decent finish. Andre Heimgartner received a post-race time penalty also ruining his chances.

Towards the end of the race when every car had taken their mandatory pit stop, Brodie Kostecki resumed his lead.

With 2 laps to go Brodie Kostecki was blocking Shane Van Gisbergen’s attempt to pass. Kostecki was issued a bad sportsmanship flag and Shane Van Gisbergen took the race lead off him.

Shane Van Gisbergen had to fight hard but kept the lead crossing the finish line 0.594 seconds ahead of Brodie Kostecki. It was only 0.953 seconds back to David Reynolds in 3rd.

This was Shane Van Gisbergen’s 3^rd race win at Barbagallo (Waneroo or CARCO.com.au raceway or whatever the hell you want to call it!). It also brings his career tally to 78 wins.

Results for Race 7:

1^st Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing
2^nd Brodie Kostecki – Erebus Motorsport
3^rd David Reynolds – Grove Racing

In Race 8 Will Brown started on pole position and alongside him was David Reynolds.

At the start of the race Will Brown got the jump and led into turn 1 while David Reynolds had to tuck back in behind.

After starting 4^th on the grid Brodie Kostecki managed to pass David Reynolds at turn 7 to go into 2^nd place. He was still 1.3 seconds away from his teammate and leader, Will Brown.

Anton de Pasquale also passed David Reynolds at turn 7 for 3^rd place. David Reynolds must have lost his focus and ran wide catching the edge of the sand trap coming out of turn 7. It dropped him back to 11^th position.

James Courtney then passed Anton de Pasquale for 3^rd position and was 2.5 seconds behind the two leaders.

Matt Payne had gained 2 places to be up in 6^th position, while Cameron Waters got up the inside of Todd Hazelwood for 9^th.

Anton de Pasquale received a 15 second driving infringement time penalty for nudging another car.

The first car to pit was Cameron Hill in last place with a with a gear shift problem. The team put the go jacks under the rear of car 35 and went in to sort out the dramas.

Will Brown still had the lead with a 1.2 second gap over teammate Brodie Kostecki. Will Brown proved himself a real competitor and did the fastest lap of the race 55.956 seconds. This earned him the 5 bonus points for the race and championship leader board.

In the middle of the race Brodie Kostecki in 2^nd place took his pit stop to avoid double stacking with his teammate Will Brown who was in the lead.

With 13 laps to go the two Erebus cars were back in the lead of the race. It was a dominant display with no threat from behind.

They had the race under complete control and kept their lead all the way to the finish.

Will Brown crossed the line 6.2 seconds ahead of Brodie Kostecki. It was a further gap of 3.5 seconds back to James Courtney in 3^rd place.

Results for Race 8

1^st Will Brown – Erebus Motorsport
2^nd Brodie Kostecki – Erebus Motorsport
3^rd James Courtney – Tickford Racing

In Race 9 Broc Feeney, the young and upcoming star of Red Bull Ampol Racing started on pole position. Alongside him was Brodie Kostecki.

Broc Feeney got the jump and led into turn 1 for the first of 42 laps. The opening lap was relatively clean except for Jack le Brocq spinning Declan Fraser around at turn 7. Le Brocq was later issued a 15 second time penalty to be served at his mandatory pit stop.

Broc Feeney had a 3/4 second lead over Brodie Kostecki with David Reynolds staying competitive in 3^rd.

Will Brown then seemed to come out of nowhere jumping over Brodie Kostecki and David Reynolds to take 2^nd place.

The back of the field also had interesting action. Shane Van Gisbergen gained 2 places from his start in 21^st position up to 19^th.

Chaz Mostert got up the inside of his ex-teammate Cameron Waters for 8^th place.

Will Brown for the second time this weekend recorded the fastest lap, 55.718 seconds.

Matt Payne was first passed by Anton de Pasquale and then Shane Van Gisbergen. Gisbergen was now in 18^th place.

The first car to pit was Tim Slade in 5^th position on lap 12. He returned the track in 17^th place.

In the middle of the race both Will Davison and Brodie Kostecki pitted together from 11^th and 12^th place.

Towards the end of the end of the race Broc Feeney had a 12.7 second lead over Chaz Mostert and 4 cars were still yet to take their pit stop.

Broc Feeney wowed the crowd. He held the lead all the way to the checkered flag to claim his 3^rd career win 6.4 seconds clear of Will Brown. Truly an amazing finish.

Congratulations Broc.

Results for Race 9:

1^st Broc Feeney – Red Bull Ampol Racing

2^nd Will Brown – Erebus Motorsport

3^rd Brodie Kostecki – Erebus Motorsport

Brodie Kostecki has extended his championship lead to 100 points and also takes his team Erebus to the top of the Teams Championship.

The next event is the Ned Whiskey Tasmania Supersprint 19 – 21 of May 2023.

Supercars

Beaurepairs Melbourne Supersprint 2023

April 21, 2023 admin Leave a comment

Hi to all you Supercars Fans around the world!

On the weekend of Mar 30 – Apr 2^nd was the Beaurepairs Melbourne Supersprint. It was round 2 of the 2023 Supercars Championship and held at Albert Park in Melbourne Victoria.

The event was a support category of the Rolex Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix.

The Albert Park circuit is 5.3km with 14 turns. Supercars has been there every year all but 2007, 2020 and 2021.

The weekend represented big milestones for some drivers.

Chaz Mostert started his 300^th race in Supercars.

In the second race Mark Winterbottom started in his 595th race. It is a track that he seems to favour having previously won 7 races at the venue, a win count that he shares with Shane Van Gisbergen.

Macauley Jones also hit his 150^th race start on the Sunday of the weekend.

Congratulations!

With this in mind, plus the first time that the Gen 3 cars race at this track and it being part of the Australian F1 Grand Prix, it was set to be an exciting weekend.

In the pre- race sessions

Mark Winterbottom was Fastest in Practice 1 Tim Slade and Shane Van Gisbergen both caused red flags because they both went into the wall at turn 5 or turn 7.
Andre Heimgartner was fastest in Practice 2
Anton de Pasquale was fastest in Qualifying.

The first of the four sprint races started on the Thursday of this event. It was Race 3 of the season with Anton de Pasquale on pole position Brodie Kostecki alongside him.

At the start of the race Anton de Pasquale got the jump and led into turn 1 for the first of 19 laps. Brodie Kostecki was trying his best to take the lead and gave Anton de Pasquale a nudge at turn 5. Brodie Kostecki had to pull back and it allowed Shane Van Gisbergen to displace him.

Chaz Mostert was part of the front running pack but lost a spot when Jack le Brocq made an impressive pass at turn 3.

By the end of the first lap Bryce Fullwood gained 6 spots. After starting from 23^rd on the grid he was up to 18th. If he kept this up he would be a threat to the leaders.

lap 3 Shane Van Gisbergen found the space to make his move and took the race lead off Anton de Pasquale. From that point on, he was able to control proceedings from the lead.

The first car to pit in this race was Cameron Hill from the back of the field on lap 9.

There were challenges for position happening everywhere. Drivers had to be aggressive in such a short race.

Cameron Waters was trying to pass Brodie Kostecki and Chaz Mostert was putting pressure on Cam Waters in a battle for 3^rd, 4^th and 5^th place.

Meanwhile, Broc Feeney was battling with James Courtney for 8^th position.

Anton de Pasquale was right on the tail of race leader Shane Van Gisbergen.

At one point Cameron Waters ran extremely wide exiting turn 10 which dropped him down to 6^th place.

It allowed Will Brown to get in the mix, but Chaz Mostert got the better of him and was again challenging Brodie Kostecki for 3^rd place.

With the continual attacks, James Courtney and Broc Feeney also became part of the challenge for those positions. In an instant Jack le Brocq was running 9^th position.

The gap between 1^st and 2^nd was 1.2 seconds with about 1.3 seconds back to 3^rd.

Both Will Davison and Andre Heimgartner came into the pits to make their stop and rejoined the race in 22^nd and 23^rd place.

James Golding and David Reynolds pitted on lap 10. There were still 19 cars yet to pit. Everyone was reluctant to relinquish track position.

With 8 laps to go Shane Van Gisbergen had a 1.3 second lead over Anton de Pasquale. Brodie Kostecki closed the gap in 3^rd position to 0.847 seconds.

Mark Winterbottom had no radio and Team 18 had to use a pit board to communicate with him.

Once the front runners took their pit stops, Shane Van Gisbergen was back in the lead.

With 4 laps to go Brodie Kostecki got past Anton de Pasquale for 2^nd place while the leader Shane Van Gisbergen was in cruise mode. There were 16 cars who had not yet pitted so the pits it was going to be very busy in that area for the remaining laps.

With 3 laps to go Shane Van Gisbergen had edged out a 2.6 second lead over Brodie Kostecki.

On the final lap Shane Van Gisbergen had a 1.5 second lead over Brodie Kostecki and Will Brown. They were closing in on him incredibly quickly. All he had to do was hang in there, defend his lead and not make any mistakes.

Brodie Kostecki was making a massive effort to catch the leader but there just wasn’t enough time. Shane Van Gisbergen crossed the finish line with only a 0.3909 of a second lead over Brodie Kostecki. Will Brown crossed the line third 1.5616 seconds later.

Results for Race 3:

1^st Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing

2^nd Brodie Kostecki – Erebus Motorsport

3^rd Will Brown – Erebus Motorsport

Race 4 started late due to a crash in the Formula 3000. All the races on the weekend were time certain being a support category to the Australian F1 Grand Prix. It was almost assured they would not complete all 15 laps, but they didn’t know how many laps they would get. Drivers would have to be very aggressive to gain and keep position given the time limit.

Shane Van Gisbergen started on pole position with Will Brown alongside him.

At the start of the race Will Brown got the jump and led into turn 1. Meanwhile further back in the pack David Reynolds got turned around at the first corner by Cameron Waters and Mark Winterbottom. His car ended up off the track and trapped in the sand. The safety car was deployed and the race was under yellow flag conditions. As they followed the safety car around the track in formation, Nick Percat caught fire on the left front of his Ford Mustang. He managed to get back to the pits independently but couldn’t re-join the race.

It took until lap 4 for the race to return to green and recommence. Shane Van Gisbergen immediately tried to go around the outside of Will Brown in the lead. He couldn’t make the move stick and as a result of the madness up front Shane Van Gisbergen dropped from 3^rd down to 6^th.

The first of the drivers to pit in this race were Will Brown, Will Davison, Jack le Brocq, Andre Heimgartner, Matt Payne and Scott Pye.

Soon after his pit stop Jack le Brocq hit the wall damaging the left front corner. He couldn’t move and the race went under ‘yellow’ while he was retrieved, and the wall repaired. He would become another driver in this race to not return to the track.

In the end the race finished on lap 8 behind the safety car while they were still repairing the wall.

It was unfortunate to finish this way but couldn’t be helped. In formation behind the safety car they crossed the finish line; Brodie Kostecki with his first career win, James Courtney and Shane Van Gisbergen.

Post race finish, James Courtney was issued a penalty for an unsafe release in the pits. Unfortunately it pushed him back to 22^nd place on the recorded results. The drivers between 3^rd and 22^nd were elevated 1 spot. For the two Red Bull Ampol Racing cars it was an unexpected podium finish with Shane Van Gisbergen bumped up to 2^nd and Broc Feeney to 3^rd.

Results for Race 4:

1^st Brodie Kostecki – Erebus Motorsport

2^nd Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing

3^rd Broc Feeney – Red Bull Ampol Racing

In Race 5 Brodie Kostecki started on pole position alongside him was Will Brown.

At the start of the race Brodie Kostecki got the jump and led into turns 1 and 2 followed by Will Brown. The cars further back in the pack were battling for ascendancy. At turn 5 James Golding made contact with Mark Winterbottom and pushed him into the wall. Winterbottom received damage on the left hand side and headed to the pits. He was the first car to receive an NC (not Complete).

Before the end of the lap James Courtney’s car caught fire. He managed to get back to the pits independently but would not return to this race or the last race for the weekend. He was the second car to receive an NC.

On the second lap Anton de Pasquale got turned around by Matt Payne. James Courtney became collateral damage of the incident. The safety car was deployed and the pit lane closed. Pasquale and Courtney became the two other cars to leave the track and receive an NC.

On the restart Brodie Kostecki was still in the lead followed by Will Brown and Bryce Fullwood. Meanwhile Shane Van Gisbergen passed Andre Heimgartner to take 6^th position.

In the middle of the race authorities issued Matt Payne a Pit Lane Drive Thru Penalty for the incident he caused in lap 1 with Mark Winterbottom.

Towards the end of the race Shane Van Gisbergen had moved up to 5^th position and now had Will Davison in front of him.

James Golding got turned around by Chaz Mostert when they were 3 wide coming out of turn 3. Luckily, they both continued in the race.

After Brodie Kostecki took his pitstop he resumed the lead of the race.

With only a couple of laps to go, Brodie Kostecki held his lead and crossed the line first. He was followed by Will Davison, Bryce Fullwood, Shane Van Gisbergen and then Will Brown.

Post race finish both Will Davison and Bryce Fullwood received 15 second penalties for an unsafe pit release. It was the second time at this event that post race penalties were issued altering the podium results. Once the time penalties were applied, Shane Van Gisbergen and Will Brown were bumped up two places so the recorded results now showed them as 2^nd and 3^rd place on the podium.

Results for Race 5:

1^st Brodie Kostecki – Erebus Motorsport

2^nd Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing

3^rd Will Brown – Erebus Motorsport

In only his second year as a full time driver Broc Feeney earned himself his maiden pole position for Race 6. Alongside him was Chaz Mostert.

As they took off Broc Feeney surprisingly got the jump over the far more experienced Chaz Mostert. It took until turn 5 before Mostert could make his move for the race lead. Almost immediately after Will Brown also passed Broc Feeney dropping the pole sitter back to 3^rd.

Broc Feeney and his team felt this was the best time to try and get some clean air out of the traffic. He was the first car to pit along with almost half the pack at the end of lap 1, including; Andre Heimgartner, Bryce Fullwood, Brodie Kostecki, Cameron Waters, Nick Percat, Anton de Pasquale, Declan Fraser and Macauley Jones.

On return to the track Bryce Fullwood almost hit the wall on the exit of turn 10. Somehow he managed to avoid the collision and it seemed like a miracle escape.

Shortly after Anton de Pasquale was given a 15 second time penalty for an unsafe pit release.

Will Brown managed to take the race lead off Chaz Mostert but immediately under the pressure made a driving error and spun around. It cost him dearly and dropped back to 20^th position. He then realised he had a steering issue and head to the garage.

In the middle of the race Chaz Mostert was still in the lead, followed by Bryce Fullwood and Will Davison.

With 6 laps to go Chaz Mostert’s tyres were starting to blister. It took his edge away and Bryce Fullwood got by him.

At this point in the race the top 9 cars were still yet to take the mandatory pit stop. Once they did there was another change to the lead, Broc Feeney was back up front.

On lap 12 Cameron Hill bumped the fence between turns 9 and 10 and damaged the left side of his car. He headed for the pits but with only 1 lap to go he didn’t make it back onto the track. He became the only car in this race to receive an NC.

Broc Feeney kept his lead. He crossed the finish line with just under a second gap over Andre Heimgartner, followed by Brodie Kostecki a further 1+ seconds later.

Bryce Fullwood came in 4^th but post race copped a 15 second time penalty for an unsafe pit release. It pushed him down the recorded results as 18^th place.

For Broc Feeney this was his first win for 2023 and second career win. Things seem to be moving fast for this rising star. Can’t wait to see things as they unfold for him.

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – APRIL 02: (EDITORS NOTE: A polarizing filter was used for this image.) Broc Feeney driver of the #88 Red Bull Ampol Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 during race 4 of the Beaurepaires Melbourne 400, part of the 2023 Supercars Championship Series at Albert Park Grand Prix Circuit on April 02, 2023 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Daniel Kalisz/Getty Images)

Results for Race 6:

1^st Broc Feeney – Red Bull Ampol Racing

2^nd Andre Heimgartner – Brad Jones Racing

3^rd Brodie Kostecki – Erebus Motorsport

When handing out the trophies for Race 6, Broc Feeney selected his father, Paul to collect the team trophy on behalf of the Red Bull Ampol Racing. A nice way of honouring his family support.

After the points were tallied for the event, Brodie Kostecki became the recipient of the Larry Perkins Trophy for 2023. He also became the new championship leader by 32 points over Chaz Mostert.

Shane Van Gisbergen is 3^rd, only 86 points behind the number 1 spot on the ladder.

The next event is the Bosch Power Tools Supersprint on April 28^th – 30^th, 2023.

Supercars, V8 Supercars

Thrifty Newcastle 500 2023

March 26, 2023 admin 2 Comments

Hi to all you Supercars Fans around the World!

On the weekend of March 10 – 12 was the Thrifty Newcastle 500.

There was excitement in the air as it was the first round of the 2023 season and the first return to Newcastle’s street circuit since 2019 (Grrrr covid be gone!).

Fuelling the excitement were two major changes in V8 Supercars. The first being the start of the Gen 3 build standards for competing cars.

The second was the introduction of Camaros which replaces the Holden Commodore that is no longer manufactured. The old Aussie question, “Are you a Holden or Ford man?” will fade and be replaced with “Mustang or Camaro?”. RIP Holden. You will not be forgotten.

The event also marked important milestones for some drivers. Tim Slade had his 400^th race start. Will Davison had his 500^th and for Mark Winterbottom it was his 555^th in Supercars. Quite an achievement for all of them. Well done!

In the pre-race sessions of this event:

Brodie Kostecki was fastest in Practice 1
Shane Van Gisbergen was fastest in Practice 2
Brodie Kostecki was fastest in Practice 3
Brodie Kostecki was fastest in Qualifying
Brodie Kostecki was fastest in the Top Ten Shootout

In Race 1 Brodie Kostecki started on pole position with Cameron Waters alongside him.

At the start of race Brodie Kostecki got the jump and led into turn 1 for the first of 95 laps. Shortly after there was contact between Mark Winterbottom and Bryce Fullwood further back in the pack.

By the end of lap 1 Brodie Kostecki had half a second lead over Cameron Waters.

Things went smoothly for about the first 10 laps. Then Anton de Pasquale got turned around by Todd Hazelwood on the approach to Zara Street. Anton de Pasquale’s car spun off the track and was lucky to nudge the tyre wall only slightly. However, it did drop him 8 places to the very back of the pack.

On lap 14 Brodie Kostecki still in control of the race made a mistake which allowed Cameron Waters and Broc Feeney to close in and challenge him for the lead. Kostecki had to work hard to regain the gap he had.

Meanwhile, Shane Van Gisbergen made up 2 spots. He went from 6^th to 4^th place and seemed to be waiting to make his move.

He finally managed to get past his teammate Broc Feeney in 3^rd place but then had a hard time taking on Cameron Waters for 2^nd. This activity allowed Brodie Kostecki to extend his lead out to 1.1 seconds.

The first car to pit was Bryce Fullwood on lap 16 to remove the right rear mud guard flapping loosely after his earlier contact with Mark Winterbottom.

Then Will Brown pitted from 11^th position.

On lap 22 James Courtney pitted. A few laps later Chaz Mostert also did.

Cameron Waters pitted on lap 31 to get out from behind the leader Brodie Kostecki. He could see it was a battle that was going nowhere.

Shane Van Gisbergen also pitted on lap 31 from 2^nd place. He maintained the same position when he returned to the track. He also still had Cameron Waters and Broc Feeney behind him.

Soon after Tim Slade pitted. The team couldn’t get the right front tyre off his car for quite a while. It completely destroyed his race time and position.

Pretty soon Shane Van Gisbergen was at the front of the field. He had loaded his car with less fuel at his pit stop making him lighter and faster. Now Red Bull Ampol Racing held 1st place by Shane Van Gisbergen and 3^rd place by his teammate, Broc Feeney.

It took a while but Shane Van Gisbergen managed to build a 5 second lead over Cameron Waters in 2^nd place.

Nick Percat came into the pits and headed straight into the garage. His brakes were failing even with his foot pushing it all the way to the floor. OMG! That is not what anyone would want.

David Reynolds in car 26 had no comms back to the pits. It meant the Grove Racing team had to use an old fashion pit board to communicate with him.

Towards the end Broc Feeney managed to move up to 2^nd place. With Shane Van Gisbergen leading the way, they crossed the finish line in a spectacular fashion earning a 1^st and 2^nd.

After such a great performance by the Red Bull Ampol Racing Team a protest was made by both Tickford Racing and Walkinshaw Andretti United. They claimed the 2 winners had dry ice fed into their cool suit system from the wrong side of the car during the race. The regulation to perform this from the passenger side is mostly for safety reasons and in no way gave advantage to the drivers, but rules are rules.

After an overnight review it was announced on Sunday morning the two drivers were disqualified. Regardless of appeals from Red Bull Ampol Racing the verdict was upheld. It must have been a terrible blow for the team with new podium results naming Cameron Waters in 1^st, Chaz Mostert 2^nd and Brodie Kostecki 3^rd.

Results for Race 1:

1^st Cameron Waters – Tickford Racing

2^nd Chaz Mostert – Walkinshaw Andretti United

3^rd Brodie Kostecki – Coke a Cola Racing powered by Erebus

In the shootout for Race 2, James Courtney made it turn 7 before hitting the wall hard. His car suffered substantial damage. It was so bad they weren’t able to repair it in time for the grid line up.

In Race 2 David Reynolds started on pole position with Chaz Mostert alongside him.

As they took off Chaz Mostert got the jump and led up What Street for the first of 95 laps.

Further back Declan Fraser stalled and didn’t make it off the grid. Macauley Jones who was right behind ploughed straight into him. The red flag was brought out immediately and all other drivers had to leave the track while the mess was cleaned up. Macauley Jones was able to get going again but Declan Fraser’s car was towed away and would not return to the race.

The restart was on lap 5. Chaz Mostert was in the lead and setting the pace. Behind him was David Reynolds and Cameron Waters so it was all Fords running 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd.

Shane Van Gisbergen was in 5^th place and wasn’t taking the goodness out of the tyres too early. He was being a cork in the bottle holding the other cars back..

Tim Slade tried putting in a challenge for Shane Van Gisbergen’s position but he just couldn’t find the right spot to make his move.

There was noticeable damage on the back of Will Davison’s Ford Mustang. I’m not sure where it came from but he was able to continue and wait until his first pit stop for repairs.

The first car to pit in this race was Anton de Pasquale on lap 11.

On lap 12 Scott Pye and Nick Percat came into the pits together to get out of the traffic.

Broc Feeney came in on lap 15 from 12^th place. He was followed by Will Davison.

Matt Payne and Thomas Randle came in on lap 16.

By this stage Chaz Mostert was still going hard up the front. He had already built a 2.8 second lead over David Reynolds in 2^nd place.

Coming down the hill out of turn 3 on lap 20, Mostert had a moment where he looked almost out of control. His experience shined and he continued.

On lap 24 he was the first out of the leading pack to take his pit stop while everybody else was still making up there minds as when to come in. This handed the lead over to David Reynolds.

As Mark Winterbottom was exiting the pit lane he came on radio and said he had lost 80% of his power steering. Having just pitted he chose to press on.

In the middle of the race while chasing his former teammate Chaz Mostert, Cameron Waters hit the wall coming out of turn 8 which tweaked the steering of car 6. He made it around the track one more time before being forced to come in for repairs. This ultimately cost him any chance of a podium finish.

As they came closer towards the end of the race and the second round of pit stops, Chaz Mostert had a 10.9 second lead over Shane Van Gisbergen who was now in second place.

Thomas Randle gave Todd Hazelwood a bump at turn 9 pushing him off the track into the tyre barrier. It took a few seconds but Hazelwood managed to extract himself and resume racing. Had the safety car been needed at this stage of the race it may have had an influence on its outcome.

In the last few laps Shane Van Gisbergen had amazingly closed the 10+ second gap of leader Chaz Mostert.

Contact was made between the two leading drivers as Shane Van Gisbergen attempted to make a pass. It was incident was considered fair play and no action was taken by race control or the stewards.

Shane Van Gisbergen wanted to make up for being disqualified in Race 1. He was obviously putting in a great effort. It paid off and he finally took the race lead off Chaz Mostert. Once he had the lead he was able to hold it all the way to the checkered flag.

Shane Van Gisbergen claimed his 76^th career win in Supercars. Congratulations!

Result for Race 2

1^st Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing

2^nd Chaz Mostert – Walkinshaw Andretti United

3^rd David Reynolds – Grove Racing

The next event is Round 2, the Beaurepairs Melbourne Supersprint. This is held as a support category to the F1 Australian Grand Prix starting March 30^th. I cant wait and hope you all will join me.

Drivers

Lee Holdsworth retirement article 2022

February 6, 2023 admin Leave a comment

Hi to all you Supercars Fans around the world!

In the second half of last year Lee Holdsworth announced that the 2022 season would be his last as a full-time driver in V8 Supercars. To celebrate his contributions to motorsports I’m giving a quick rundown on his career to date. I say ‘to date’ because I believe he has not fully retired from the sport and will be adding more to his list of achievements.

Lee Holdsworth was born on the 2nd of February 1983 in Melbourne Victoria. (Happy Birthday for next month).

Lee Holdsworth started his motorsport career in go karts. He quickly progressed to racing cars in 2001 to compete in the Commodore National Series at only 17 years of age.

In 2002 he finished fifth in the Commodore Cup National Series and then in 2003 finished third.

In 2004 he moved up to compete in the Konica Series driving a Holden VX Commodore for Smith Trucks Racing. He earned some impressive results including finishing his first ever round in the top 10, winning the reverse grid race at Eastern Creek and taking third place in Queensland. It was this year that Lee Holdsworth also got his first taste of The Sandown 500 and Bathurst 1000.

In 2005 Lee competed in the Australian Formula Ford Championship with Garry Rogers Motorsport. At the same time, he ran in a number of HPDC Development Series events.

The following year, 2006 was his big break earning a fulltime drive with Garry Rogers Motorsport (GRM) in the V8 Supercars Championship. In 2007 Lee Holdsworth won his first ever V8 Supercars round at Oran Park. His consistency and good strategies had paid off.

In 2008 Lee Holdsworth started working with the John Bowe Institute of Driving helping bring performance driving safety techniques to the public.

In 2009 Lee Holdsworth scored his first career pole position at the first ever Townsville round. He also scored pole position at the first running of the Sydney Telstra 500.

In 2010 Lee Holdsworth was still at GRM and earned 2 pole positions plus a race win.

His 4 year contract with GRM ended after the 2011 season and in 2012 he replaced Shane Van Gisbergen at Stone Brothers Racing.

In 2013 when Erebus Motorsport took over Stone Brothers Racing Lee Holdsworth had Tim Slade and Mario Engel as teammates. With co-driver Craig Baird they earned 3^rd place in the endurance race of the Sandown 500.

In 2014 Lee Holdsworth hit a patch of bad luck and received 2 DNFs. One DNF was at Sandown and the other was Bathurst. He made amends by taking first place at Winton.

He spent the following year at Walkinshaw Racing.

In 2016 he moved on to join Team 18. After sustaining injuries at Hidden Valley Raceway, he had to sit out a number of events and didn’t return until the Bathurst 1000.

In 2017 Lee Holdsworth resigned with Team 18 to the end of 2018.

In 2019 Lee Holdsworth moved to Tickford Racing when the Ford Mustangs debuted in the Supercars Championship. It also meant it was his first time behind the wheel of a Ford since 2012.

In 2021 Lee Holdsworth lost his fulltime seat and became co-driver to Chaz Mostert. The relationship worked and they won the coveted Bathurst 1000.

With a Bathurst win under his belt, he returned to fulltime Supercars Racing in 2022 at Grove Racing.

So, after 16 years as a fulltime driver in V8 Supercars and 510 race starts (plus a few more in other categories) the Lethal Lee Holdsworth claims his retirement. Congratulations on what has been an amazing career! Best of luck for the future.

Supercars

Valo Adelaide 500 2022

January 19, 2023 admin Leave a comment

Hi to all you Supercars Fans around the world!

On the weekend of December 1 – 4, 2022 was the V8-Supercars season finale, The Valo Adelaide 500.

The event was held on the Adelaide Street Circuit, a 3.2km track with 14 turns and is made up of two 78 lap races (250kms each).

The circuit was first opened on the 31^st October, 1985 for the F1 Australian Grand Prix. A few years later in 1999 the races became an official round of the Supercars Championship.

This year’s event marked a special milestone in the hearts of many Australians. It was the last race ever for the iconic Holden brand. In 2020 General Motors announced the retirement of the Holden brand name and 2022 was the last year of its manufacture. Supercars teams will now replace the Holdens with the Cheverolet Camaro. Australian motorsports will never be the same.

In the four day event the pre-race sessions results were:

Thomas Randle was fastest in Practice 1
Shane Van Gisbergen was fastest in Practice 2
Chaz Mostert was fastest Practice 3 and in Qualifying for Race 33
Cameron Waters was fastest in the Shootout for Race 33

For Race 33 Cameron Waters started on pole position with Scott Pye alongside him. The big surprise was the champion elect, Shane Van Gisbergen starting in 25^th place after a bad wide turn in qualifying and running out of time to have another attempt.

At the start Cameron Waters got the jump and led into turns 1 and 2 while Scott Pye had to tuck in behind.

At turn 7 James Golding made a mistake which allowed Chaz Mostert to get up the inside of him at turn 9 to take 6^th place.

As the field completed lap 1 Cameron Waters had the lead and was 0.9 second ahead of Scott Pye. Shane Van Gisbergen had gained 4 spots to be in 21^st place.

Shane Van Gisbergen was soon on the charge. In the second lap he first passed Mark Winterbottom, then Broc Feeney and Bryce Fullwood.

Further ahead, Will Davison got up the inside of Will Brown to move into 13^th.

Bryce Fullwood ran wide on the exit of turn 4 which allowed Broc Feeney and Mark Winterbottom to overtake.

Pretty soon Shane Van Gisbergen had gained 9 spots up to 16^th position. He was still 11.6 seconds off the lead.

Will Davison passed Brodie Kostecki to move into 12^th. The tightly packed group meant engine temperatures were rising and they would have to make attempts to get clean air as soon as possible.

The first car to pit was Nick Percat on lap 6 to get out of the traffic and help keep his engine temperature under control.

At turn 11 Jack Smith went off the track through his own error but it didn’t cause any incident.

On lap 7 James Golding in car 31 had power steering dramas after hitting the wall, so had to immediately head to the pits.

Up the front Anton de Pasquale and James Courtney were in a battle for 3^rd and 4^th.

I was amazed at Shane Van Gisbergen who was now up 13 places from the start.

Broc Feeney was the first of the 2 Red Bull cars to pit on lap 11 so that Shane Van Gisbergen didn’t have to double stack.

Will Davison was the first of the front runners to pit on lap 13.

On return to the track he locked the right front wheels and race engineer Richard Harris asked him to return to the pits to check for flat spots on his tyres.

Shane Van Gisbergen put in an aggressive effort and was now battling with Lee Holdsworth for 7^th position. Yes folks, I do not lie! Shane Van Gisbergen had started 25^th on the grid and was now in 8^th place going hard.

When Anton de Pasquale came in, he overshot the mark. The crew managed it well, but it was less than perfect especially when you are one of the front runners.

A few laps later Broc Feeney went off the road at turn 11 and hit the tyre wall. It could have spelled disaster, but he managed the recovery well and was able to continue.

Chaz Mostert pitted from 3^rd place and came back out in 10^th.

Cameron Waters pitted from the lead and came back out with clear air.

In the middle of the race the safety car was deployed because Jack le Brocq was in the wall. The rest of the field took the opportunity to come in and fuel up.

After the race went back to ‘green’, Chaz Mostert made wheel to wheel contact with Shane Van Gisbergen but it didn’t result in any significant damage.

With 32 laps to go Thomas Randle and Todd Hazelwood were the first two drivers to complete their second and final pit stop.

Will Davison pitted a few laps later, lap 49.

On the next lap Shane Van Gisbergen went off the track at turn 11 and buried the front end in the tyre wall. Race control deployed the safety car. He managed to get the car out but had reasonable damage requiring repair.

On the restart Chaz Mostert was the leader of the race followed by Andre Heimgartner and Nick Percat.

At turn 5 Cameron Waters tried to get up the inside of Todd Hazelwood. It didn’t work but it sent Hazelwood into the wall. Will Brown was so close he couldn’t avoid following him into the wall, so it was less than a lap after restart that another safety car came back out on the track. Shortly after Cameron Waters was issued a drive through penalty for being the cause of the mayhem.

On the restart with 22 laps to go Andre Heimgartner tried to go around the race leader Chaz Mostert but failed and lost ground. On the exit of turn 6 he made another mistake which allowed Nick Percat to take 2^nd place off him. Walkinshaw Andretti United now had the 2 front places in the running.

With 17 laps to go Bryce Fullwood had to serve a pit lane penalty for making contact with Scott Pye earlier. It ultimately put him out of the running for a place on the podium.

With 16 laps to go Chaz Mostert’s lead was 2.5 seconds over Nick Percat in 2^nd place.

With 8 laps to go James Courtney was given a bad sportsmanship flag for exceeding track limits and was out of lives. Race control issued him with previous warnings and now gave him a drive through penalty.

In the end, on the final lap Chaz Mostert finished 1.9 seconds ahead of his teammate Nick Percat. It was a spectacular finish for Chaz Mostert, earning him his 21^st career win and his 5^th race win of 2022. It was also a welcome finish for Walkinshaw Andretti United having a 1^st and 2^nd place.

Results for Race 33

1^st Chaz Mostert – Walkinshaw Andretti United

2^nd Nick Percat – Walkinshaw Andretti United

3^rd James Courtney – Tickford Racing

In Race 34 Anton de Pasquale started on pole position and alongside him was his teammate, Will Davison.

As they took off Anton de Pasquale led into turns 1 and 2.

Back in the pack there was contact between Mark Winterbottom and James Golding. They both went off the track. Golding had to wait for all the cars to pass before he could re-enter putting him at the back of the pack.

There was only 0.373 seconds between Anton de Pasquale in first place and Will Davison in second. They were closely followed by champion Shane Van Gisbergen and Broc Feeney.

Cameron Waters was able to pass his former teammate, Chaz Mostert for 5^th place.

On lap 3 Scott Pye ran extremely wide at the final corner and Anton de Pasquale hit the tyre bundle at turns 1 and 2 of the next lap putting some damage on his car.

Jack Le Brocq’s car had smoke coming out of the back due to an oil leak. Officials issued him a mechanical black flag and he had to come into the pits right away.

Broc Feeney was the first of the Red Bull cars to pit on lap 11 so teammate Shane Van Gisbergen wouldn’t have to double stack.

On lap 14 Anton de Pasquale was still in control of the race. Will Davison pitted to avoid a challenge from Broc Feeney who had just done the fastest lap of the race so far.

Todd Hazelwood had a massive slide between turns 13 and 14, while Will Davison got a bad sportsmanship flag for exceeding track limits.

On lap 18 Jake Kostecki hit the wall exiting turn 8 and the left rear wheel departed car 56. The safety car was deployed for the first time in the final race of the year.

On the restart with 58 laps to go Will Davison was leading the race with Broc Feeney and Anton de Pasquale close behind.

Yet again at turn 8, Brodie Kostecki hit the wall and put a bruise on car 99.

On the next lap David Reynolds got a bad sportsmanship flag for exceeding track limits at turn 2.

Meanwhile back up the front Will Davison was under pressure from Broc Feeney in 2^nd place. Will Davison made a mistake at the turn 9 hairpin that allowed Broc Feeney to take the race lead.

In the middle of the race Broc Feeney was still the leader and looking confident. From that point he did a fantastic job of holding out against the winner of the previous race at this event, Chaz Mostert.

Chaz Mostert kept the pressure on but in the final laps Broc Feeney managed to create some space between the two. It was only about 1 second but enough to let Feeney concentrate on driving rather than defending.

Broc Feeney kept the more experienced Chaz Mostert at bay and crossed the finish line with 0.9644 of a second lead. It was just under another long 8.5 seconds before Anton de Pasquale followed in 3^rd place.

Broc Feeney and the team were ecstatic to claim his first win in his rookie year. It also seemed a fitting climax as the Holden brand name’s final race ever in Supercars.

A special congratulations to Broc Feeney on a great finish to your rookie year and your teammate, Shane Van Gisbergen who is now officially a 3 time Supercars champion.

Also, I would like to send out congratulations to Lee Holdsworth on his retirement race. You have been an absolute stalwart of the sport for two decades. Thanks for the brilliant memories and best of luck for the future. You will be missed.

Results for Race 34

1^st Broc Feeney – Red Bull Ampol Racing

2^nd Chaz Mostert – Walkinshaw Andretti United

3^rd Anton de Pasquale – Shell V-Power Racing Team

The next events are the Liqui Moly Bathurst 12 hour, February 3^rd to 5^th 2023. Then the Supercars season begins on March 10 with the Thrifty Newcastle 500. I can’t wait and hope you will join me then.

Supercars

Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500 2022

December 30, 2022 admin Leave a comment

Hi to all you Supercars Fans around the world!

On the weekend of the 28 – 30 October 2022 was the Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500.

This year marks the 19^thtime that the Supercars Championship has raced for points on the Surfers Paradise Gold Coast circuit. The first paying round was in 2002.Prior to 2002 there were non-championship events held as part of the annual Gold Coast Indy. In 1994, 1996 and 2001 they were run as single driver events in 2 races. In 2010 the event was run in a 2 race by 300km format with co-drivers. Since then, the format had been changed to become a single driver 2 race event of 250km each.

The weekend marked a milestone for Triple Eight Race Engineering with their 600^th Supercars race. Their debut was back in 2003 at the Sandown 500. They are the 5^th team in ATCC-Supercars history to surpass that milestone.

The weekend was also Mark Winterbottom’s 50^th round start with Team 18. He made his first start for the team at the 2019 Adelaide 500. Winterbottom currently has a finishing record on the Gold Coast of 35 finishes from 35 starts.

This event was kicked off on the Friday. The results in the pre-race sessions had no big surprises with results as follows:

Will Davison was fastest in Practice 1
Cameron Waters was fastest in Practice 2
Shane Van Gisbergen was fastest in the Qualifying
David Reynolds was fastest in the Top Ten Shootout

In Race 31 David Reynolds started on pole position. Alongside him was Shane Van Gisbergen.

At the start of the race David Reynolds got the jump and led into turns 1 and 2. Shane Van Gisbergen was immediately on the attack, but he wasn’t far enough up to command track position and had to tuck in behind.

The cars behind the two leaders were Cameron Waters, Chaz Mostert and Anton de Pasquale. These front running drivers quickly began to pull away from the rest of the pack.

Further back Mark Winterbottom had gained 4 spots to move up to 9^th position on the opening lap.

The gap between David Reynolds and Shane Van Gisbergen was 0.225 seconds. Shane Van Gisbergen was right on David Reynold’s bumper. At the final turn of the first lap Shane Van Gisbergen had a moment and lost ground, so for now Reynolds was able to retain the lead.

The first 2 cars to pit in this race were Will Davison and James Courtney on lap 9. When they came back out they were in 24^th and 25^th. Will Davison’s pit was not as smooth as it should have been. The right front rattle gun got jammed and those few seconds delay meant James Courtney was able to jump him on exit.

By lap 16 David Reynolds had reported his steering wheel was loose. Not something you want when travelling about 250kph. It slowed him down and Shane Van Gisbergen was able to take the lead at turn 4. Once in the lead, David Reynolds was no longer able to keep up with him.

Further back in the pack Lee Holdsworth was putting pressure on Broc Feeney in a battle for 10^th and 11^th position.

David Reynolds pitted on lap 25. The team looked at the steering wheel problem but weren’t able to immediately repair it. Jake Kostecki also followed him in.

On the next lap Shane Van Gisbergen pitted and so did Todd Hazelwood.

After hitting the wall earlier, Bryce Fullwood’s passenger door kept coming open. He was issued a mechanical black flag and was forced to pit immediately.

Will Brown was in the garage due to ripping the under body out of car 9 when he went through the beach chicane.

On lap 31 Andre Heimgartner was in pit lane with smoke coming out of the back of car. It was not good news and car 8 never made it back out to the track.

Mark Winterbottom got a bad sportsmanship flag for exceeding track limits.

In the middle of the race David Reynolds was still complaining about the loose steering wheel in car 26. He came in for his second pit stop. The team were ready to do a full steering wheel change. As it turned out they just had to tighten the steering wheel bolt. Oops!

When David Reynolds got back out on the track he was in the mix of the main pack and had to try returning to his former lead. In desperation he requested a blue flag from race control because he felt that Will Davison was holding him up. Before officials could respond Reynolds found space to make the pass. He had no time to waste.

David Reynolds needed to close the 4.8 seconds lead that Shane Van Gisbergen had.

Cameron Waters was still in 3^rd place. He made a mistake going into turn 2. He clobbered the tyre wall and spun around. His error lost him several places. It was an unfortunate mistake so late in the race.

Fatigue started to show. Nick Percat and Tim Slade received bad sportsmanship flags for exceeding track limits at turn 2.

Once past the critical lap, drivers and teams were able to pit for fuel and tyres to get to the end of the race.

On lap 56 Shane Van Gisbergen pitted for his last stop with a 54.705 second lead over Lee Holdsworth. With such an incredible lead he returned to the track still in first place.

From that point on Shane Van Gisbergen had complete dominance on the track with an 11.362 second lead over David Reynolds. It was then another 13.488 seconds back to Chaz Mostert.

While the drivers battled for position in the top 10 it seemed that it was impossible to close the gap on Gisbergen.

With 10 laps to go Broc Feeney managed to displace Lee Holdsworth for 15^th position coming out of turn 4.

Cameron Waters also finally cleared Anton de Pasquale for 5^th position.

With 7 laps to go the battle between David Reynolds and Chaz Mostert had allowed Shane Van Gisbergen to open the gap to 15.2 seconds.

Chaz Mostert’s plan to attack David Reynolds for 2^nd place was interrupted and instead had to defend from Will Davison in 3rd.

With 2 laps to go Will Davison was less than a car length behind Chaz Mostert.

By the final lap Shane Van Gisbergen had gained another 2 seconds over the rest of the field.

Without fault Shane Van Gisbergen crossed the finish line 17.344 seconds clear of David Reynolds. Chaz Mostert managed to come 3^rd with Will Davison pushing hard a mere .3184 seconds behind.

For Shane Van Gisbergen it was a spectacular way to earn his 20^th win for the 2022 season. It also gave him enough points on the leader board to be declared champion elect for the 3^rd time in his career. He now ties with other legends of the track such as Craig Lowndes.

Congratulations!

Results for Race 31

1^st Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing

2^nd David Reynolds – Grove Racing

3^rd Chaz Mostert – Walkinshaw Andretti United

For Race 32 Shane Van Gisbergen had earned pole position. It was his 45^th career pole. Alongside him on the grid was Will Davison.

As they took off from the start line, the two front runners were neck in neck. At the first bend of turn 1 Shane Van Gisbergen forced Will Davison over the chicane. Chaz Mostert and Cameron Waters who were right behind Davison were also forced to cut across the track perimeter.

Surprisingly Will Davison came out the other side of the closely knit turns 1,2 and 3 in the lead. Shane Van Gisbergen was told by his team to redress for his error. He slowed up before turn 4 to give Davison the space needed and avoid a penalty.

The field was tightly packed and challenges for position were happening left right and centre.

As the pack commenced lap 2 Will Davison had a 1 second lead.

After his continual efforts Brodie Kostecki finally got by Scott Pye for 5^th place. Behind them were David Reynolds had Thomas Randle battling for positions 7 and 8.

It took a while but the cars further back in the pack began to settle into their own pace. They knew there was a long way to go and no need to make desperate moves in the early stages.

On approach to turn 11 of lap 4 James Golding crashed through the tyre barrier. The cars right behind were not prepared and smashed straight into him. Eight cars were involved including Macauley Jones whose car caught on fire. In a show of good sportsmanship, other drivers immediately came to assist. It was mayhem and the first safety car was deployed with the red flag shown shortly after.

Broc Feeney was another driver who suffered significant damage. His car was taken to the garage and it wasn’t certain if he would re-join the race.

The race resumed after the clean-up. Will Davison and Shane Van Gisbergen had a pretty hefty gap over Chaz Mostert and Cameron Waters.

Anton de Pasquale had damage on the rear bumper due to the contact on lap 1. The Dick Johnson Racing Team made him come in on lap 9.

Scott Pye and Jake Kostecki were the next to take pit stops on lap 10.

On lap 11 Shane Van Gisbergen took the lead off Will Davison down at turn 11. Chaz Mostert was only 0.257 seconds behind them and was immediately putting Will Davison under further pressure in 2^nd place.

Behind Chaz Mostert was Cameron Waters followed by Brodie Kostecki in 5^th being pressured by David Reynolds.

Mark Winterbottom had gained 5 positions into 7^th place but was now struggling. No matter what he did he couldn’t get past David Reynolds in car 26.

By lap 17 Shane Van Gisbergen had a 2.5 second margin over Will Davison.

Mark Winterbottom was the first of the front runners to pit. No one else followed him in.

By this stage the Red Bull Ampol Racing team declared car 88 would not be returning to the track after its involvement in the lap 4 pile up. Broc Feeney had to watch the rest of the race from the garage.

Todd Hazelwood was another driver who had to watch the rest of the race from garage for the same reason.

James Courtney who was also involved in the lap 4 melee, was getting back in his car to re-join the race. The front of car was all fixed but the back was looking like a scene out of Mad Max.

Due the delays, race control announced a time certain finish of 16:38 + 1 lap and the CPS (compulsory pit stops) requirements would remain unchanged.

On lap 22 Jake Kostecki had to step aside for the race leader Shane Van Gisbergen who had worked up a 4.2 second lead over Will Davison.

On lap 26 Will Davison had to try a new tactic for attack on the leader and came in for his first pit stop to try get advantage that way. Brodie Kostecki also pitted.

On lap 29 Shane Van Gisbergen came in with a 10.520 second lead over 2^nd place Cameron Waters.

When Shane Van Gisbergen returned to the track, he was in 6^th place with drivers in front yet to pit.

Cameron Waters who was left with the lead pitted on lap 30. This handed over the lead to David Reynolds.

At this stage there were 3 cars yet to take their first pit stops.

In the middle of the race Mark Winterbottom gave Brodie Kostecki a hit coming out of turn 4. He decided to redress to avoid a penalty from race control.

On lap 42 Jake Kostecki was ready to re-join the race after being in the garage for major repair works after a lost argument with a barrier wall.

Chaz Mostert who inherited the lead when David Reynolds pitted, was called in for his first pit stop. Shane Van Gisbergen was now back at the front of the pack.

By lap 57 all the drivers had done their 2^nd stops so it was an even playing field to the end. Shane Van Gisbergen had a 4.3 second lead over Chaz Mostert. It was another 2.018 seconds back to Will Davison in 3^rd.

By lap 64 Shane Van Gisbergen had increased his lead over Chaz Mostert to 5.7 seconds, while Chaz Mostert increased his lead over Will Davison to 3.5 seconds.

On lap 71 Thomas Randle broke down and parked on the left hand side near pit entry. The safety car was deployed under the yellow flag. The cars had to remain in formation behind the safety car. This meant any leading gaps were lost for the front runners.

On the restart Shane Van Gisbergen just pulled away. He really wanted to recreate his lead over the pack.

With 2 laps to go, Will Brown put Scott Pye in the wall at turn 13. It caused Scott Pye to drop 8 places to 13^thand increased his worries of having a time penalty that would be added to his race time. Will Brown also received no advantage from the move. He received a 15 second time penalty to be added at the end.

Shane Van Gisbergen showed what he could do. Within those few remaining laps after the safety car he managed to cross the finish line 2.1 seconds over Chaz Mostert. It was then another 1.3 seconds back to Will Davison followed by David Reynolds.

To top off the race weekend for Shane Van Gisbergen’s 2 out of 2 wins and being announced as champion elect, the Red Bull Ampol Racing Team were declared winners of the Teams Championship for the year. Congratulations. Well done!

Results for Race 32

1^st Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing

2^nd Chaz Mostert – Walkinshaw Andretti United

3^rd Will Davison – Dick Johnson Racing Team

The next event is the final one for the 2022 Supercars season, the Valo Adelaide 500 on the 1^st– 4^th December 2022.

Supercars

ITM Auckland Supersprint 2022

September 23, 2022 admin 1 Comment

Hi to all you Supercars Fans around the world!

On the weekend of the 9^th – 11^th 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 1^st to 3^rd place heading into the opening corner. Anton de Pasquale went up into 2^nd 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 15^th.

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 3^rd place, Andre Heimgartner was in 4^th ahead of Chaz Mostert. Scott Pye was in 6^th 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 25^th 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 8^th 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 19^th position but now dropped all the way down to 23^rd.

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 4^th 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:

1^st Will Davison – Shell V-Power Racing Team.

2^nd Andre Heimgartner – Brad Jones Racing.

3^rd 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 9^th 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 10^th 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

1^st Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing.

2^nd Chaz Mostert – Walkinshaw Andretti United.

3^rd 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 8^th 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 4^th 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 2^nd 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 3^rd 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 18^th win for the 2022 season. Andre Heimgartner was a mere 0.5105 seconds behind Waters to earn 3^rd 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

1^st Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing.

2^nd Cameron Waters – Tickford Racing.

3^rd Andre Heimgartner – Brad Jones Racing.

The next event is the Repco Bathurst 1000 October 6^th to the 9^th 2022.

The Bathurst 1000 channel starts on Monday the 3^rd of October on Fox Sports 503 at 6am.

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