On the weekend of the 23 – 25 Feb was the Thrifty Bathurst 500.
It was Round 1 of the V8-Supercars 2024 season.
The event consisted of 2 practice sessions, a qualifying session (1 for each of the 2 races) to determine the entries to the top 10 shootout for grid position and finally 2 races of 40 laps / 250km each.
Last season ended with Erebus taking the teams trophy and Erebus driver Brodie Kostecki taking the drivers’ trophy. Will Brown who was Brodie Kostecki’s teammate took 4th place.
It seems this year the drivers from Erebus have abandoned ship. Will Brown is now driving for Red Bull Ampol Racing alongside Broc Feeney after the exit of legend, Shane Van Gisbergen.
Will Brown has joined Red Bull Ampol Racing
On the 30 January 2024 Brodie Kostecki had a massive falling out with Erebus Motorsports’ boss Barry Ryan and left the team. It must have been serious because now the champion has been left without a seat in this years’ competition. Barry Ryan, team owner Betty Klimenko and Brodie Kostecki have all been very tight lipped about what happened to cause the rift.
This first event of the year started on the Friday with 2 practice sessions. The weather was cloudy with consistent rain. Not a surprise at Bathurst which is known for its extreme weather patterns.
Results from the pre-race sessions are as follows:
Broc Feeney was fastest in Practice 1
Will Brown was fastest in Practice 2
Broc Feeney was fastest in Qualifying for both Race 1 & 2
Will Brown was fastest in Race 1 Top Ten Shootout
Broc Feeney was the fastest in Race 2 Top Ten Shootout
On the grid for Race 1 Will Brown started in pole position with teammate Broc Feeney alongside him.
Will Brown got the jump on his teammate off the starting line and led into turn 1 for the first of 40 laps. Chaz Mostert got a ripper of a start from 3rd on the grid and was close behind the two leaders.
Rookie, Ryan Wood went off the track at turn 1 with a helping hand from Tim Slade. The safety car was deployed and the car was towed off the track. I am sure it was not how Ryan Wood envisioned his first race as a rookie.
Race Control looked at the incident and decided to take no penalising action against Wood or Slade.
The restart was on lap 3. Will Brown still had the race lead followed by Broc Feeney, Chaz Mostert and Cameron Hill.
The first 2 cars to pit were Anton de Pasquale and Matt Payne on lap 6. They re-joined one spot from the back of the pack, 22nd and 23rd.
Broc Feeney was tailing leader Will Brown by only 0.934 seconds. On lap 11 he then did the fastest time recorded in this race (208.332 seconds).
Will Brown was the first of the two Red Bull cars to pit to ensure there would be no double stacking at the garage with teammate Broc Feeney. This handed Broc Feeney the lead.
In the middle of the race Nick Percat had the lead. Once he pitted Broc Feeney took back lead control with Will Brown behind him.
Aaron Love hit the wall coming out of The Cutting and damaged the right rear corner of car 3. It was quite a significant hit and he had to limp back to the pits. There was no need to deploy the safety car and later he did manage to return to the race.
Towards the end of the race Broc Feeney and Will Brown were the effective leaders with the 2 cars of Nick Percat and Cameron Waters ahead of them but still yet to pit. Once they pitted the 2 Red Bull cars assumed 1st and 2nd place on the track.
With 9 laps remaining Broc Feeney was still in the lead by 0.871seconds over Will Brown.
On lap 33 Chaz Mostert clocked the fastest lap of the race at 208.113 seconds. This adds 5 point to Mostert’s scoreboard tally.
The competition began to get wild.
On lap 34 the front left wheel came off Cameron Waters Monster Energy Ford Mustang and it went rolling down the track to turn 2. The race went under FCY (Full Course Yellow) to remove the wheel.
With 5 laps to go James Golding went off at The Chase. When he came back on he was alongside his teammate, Tim Slade.
With 2 laps to go Aaron Love hit the wall at The Cutting again! This time the Safety Car had to be deployed to remove the car from the track. He and Ryan Wood were the only two DNFs in the race.
As a result of the deployed Safety Car the race finished under Safety Car conditions. The finish was therefor quite unexciting compared to the action leading up to it.
Broc Feeney came across the line first, followed by Will Brown and then Chaz Mostert.
Results for Race 1:
1st Broc Feeney – Red Bull Ampol Racing 2nd Will Brown – Red Bull Ampol Racing 3rd Chaz Mostert – Walkinshaw Andretti United
In Race 2 Broc Feeney started on pole position, alongside him was Chaz Mostert.
As they took off Chaz Mostert got the jump and led into turn 1.
Meanwhile back in the pack Cameron Hill and Macauley Jones became entangled and spun both cars. They were able to continue but were now at the back of the pack.
Broc Feeney tried to get up the inside James Golding at The Chase. He made contact with Golding and was issued a 5 second time penalty for the driving infringement.
Will Brown had gone up to second place. He was only 0.385 seconds off Chaz Mostert in the lead. Pole sitter Broc Feeney had dropped back to 3rd place.
Matt Payne was the first driver to take his car into the pits on lap 6.
Ryan Wood also went into the garage to rectify a damaged right front steering sustained on the opening lap.
Aaron Love hit the wall approaching the Reid Park section of the track.
Up the front the top 3 cars were reasonably close to each other.
Broc Feeney was asking whether he can pass Will Brown in attempt to make up for the 5 second time penalty he received earlier. He was given the go ahead but just couldn’t find the space on track to execute the pass.
He then decided to take the first of his 2 mandatory pitstops and also get his 5 second penalty out of the way.
In the middle of the race Chaz Mostert was still the leader by 5.2 seconds over Will Brown, who was then followed by Broc Feeney. Thomas Randle and David Reynolds were battling for 4th and 5th place.
Towards the end of the race only Todd Hazelwood and Andre Heimgartner were still yet to take their second pit stop. Once they did, Will Brown who had overtaken Chaz Mostert would assume the race lead.
In the final 5 laps the top 3 positions were unchanged and stayed that way to the finish.
Will Brown crossed the line with a 1.6 second lead on Chaz Mostert. Then it was 1.4 seconds back to Broc Feeney.
It was a good race and a lot of fun watching it.
Results for Race 2:
1st Will Brown – Red Bull Ampol Racing
2nd Chaz Mostert – Walkinshaw Andretti United
3rd Broc Feeney – Red Bull Ampol Racing
After the first of event of the season Will Brown is the series leader by 9 points over Broc Feeney.
The Red Bull Ampol Racing team are in the lead of the teams championship by 201 points over Grove Racing.
The next event in the Supercars series is as a support category at the Rolex Australian F1 Grand Prix at Albert Park on March 21 to 24 2024.
On the weekend of the 23 – 26 November 2023 was the Valo Adelaide 500.
The Adelaide street circuit was first opened in 1985 and hosted the F1 Australian Grand Prix until 1995. The street circuit came back into use in 1999 when Supercars moved their events from the Mallala Motorsport Park.
Jason Bright took the very first pole position at this venue. Craig Lowndes started the leg 1 from 3rd on the grid and won the opening race. The next day he was sent to the back of the field and still came through to win leg 2. It was the stuff that legends are made of.
This year’s Adelaide 500 was the 12th and final round of the 2023 Supercars Championship.
As one of the longer events on the calendar made up of 2 races of 250km each, it was always going to be a tough event. To add to the tension it was also the decider for the Driver’s Championship.
The defending champion Shane Van Gisbergen was trailing Brodie Kostecki in the number 1 spot by 131 points. A win in both races would total 300 points so the championship was still up for grabs. Shane Van Gisbergen is heading to the U.S. at the end of the season to try his hand at NASCAR so it could very well also be his final farewell to Supercars.
The points gap from 3rd place onwards was too great to contend for 1st or 2nd place. However, the points were close enough between 3rd, 4th and 5th for there to be a change on the final scoreboard for Will Brown, Broc Feeney and Chaz Mostert.
The Final Event and the Final Decider! A setting for nail biting stuff!
The event started on Thursday with a wet Practice 1.
The pre-race sessions results are as follows:
Chaz Mostert was fastest in Practice 1
Thomas Randle was Fastest in Practice 2
Brodie Kostecki was fastest in Qualifying
Brodie Kostecki was also fastest in the top 10 Shootout.
For Race 27 Brodie Kostecki started on pole position which was his 9th pole for the year. David Reynolds was alongside him on the front row of the starting grid.
At the start of the race Brodie Kostecki got the jump and led into turns 1 and 2 for first of 78 laps.
As the pack rounded turn 4 Will Brown tried passing Anton de Pasquale. Shane Van Gisbergen also tried following Will Brown to jump up in position. However, Anton de Pasquale made contact with Will Brown and then from behind Shane Van Gisbergen made contact with Will Brown. Brown’s car came to stop almost immediately. Shane Van Gisbergen was able to get back to the pits but it was soon evident that he wouldn’t be returning to the track. Not only was it all over for this race but also his ability to contend for the championship title. Such bad luck.
The safety car was deployed. It was only the opening lap and things were very messed up for Will Brown and Shane Van Gisbergen.
Later, after reviewing the incident the officials took no further action and no penalty was issued to any of the three cars involved.
Matt Payne and Cameron Hill were in the pits because of damage they received after the start.
The restart was on lap 6 and Brodie Kostecki was still in control of the race, followed by David Reynolds and Thomas Randle in 3rd place.
Broc Feeney passed James Courtney for 8th place.
On lap 15 David Reynolds took the lead off Brodie Kostecki with some incredible manoeuvring through turns 8 and 9.
The first car to pit in this race was Anton de Pasquale on lap 16.
Broc Feeney was next to pit on lap 19. When he re-joined the race he was in 20th place with clear track ahead.
Up front it started getting busy. Thomas Randle moved up to 2nd place dropping Brodie Kostecki back to 3rd place.
Cameron Waters in 4th place was 3 + seconds behind. The front of the pack were beginning to spread out.
Soon after, Thomas Randle pitted from second place handing over the spot to Cameron Waters.
Thomas Randle came out of the pits and was like a rocket. Within a few laps he managed to move up through the pack and regain 2nd place.
Cameron Waters wasn’t happy to give back the second spot to Thomas Randle and found the opportunity to pass him. Once again, the order of the top 3 cars changed.
In the middle of the race Cameron Waters was still holding second place right on the rear bumper of David Reynolds in the lead. He found his opportunity and with precision driving made the pass to get the number one spot.
Further back in the pack, Todd Hazelwood received a 5 second time penalty for contact with another car.
David Reynolds never gave up the fight to regain 1st place. With 17 laps to go he did the fastest lap of the race, 119.957 seconds. Unfortunately, it didn’t give him what he wanted. He was also under pressure from Thomas Randle in 3rd place. The front 3 cars were once again tight and left no room for error.
Cameron Waters stayed strong and held the lead using his experience to fend off the two drivers right on his tail.
Soon Cameron Water and David Reynolds edged away from Thomas Randle still holding 3rd place.
They were both on fire screaming ahead of the pack.
They crossed the finish line 0.67 seconds apart and way ahead of the others. Thomas Randle came in 14.353 seconds later to earn 3rd place. It was an incredible finish for an intense race.
Results for Race 27
1st Cameron Waters – Tickford Racing.
2nd David Reynolds – Grove Racing.
3rd Thomas Randle – Castrol Racing & Tradie Racing.
In Race 28 Brodie Kostecki started on pole position for the 10th time this season. This is an incredible feat and he was given the Armor All Pole Award for year along with $10,000. Next to him on the front row of the grid was Matt Payne.
As they took off Matt Payne got the jump and led into turns 1 and 2 for the first of 78 laps. As much as Brodie Kostecki tried he was not able to pass Matt Payne.
Further back Shane Van Gisbergen was trying to pass Anton de Pasquale but also wasn’t able to execute a pass. It wasn’t until a few laps later that he got into his stride.
On lap 2 Broc Feeney was able to get up the inside of Cameron Waters for 4th place.
David Reynolds made his move on lap 3 to pass Todd Hazelwood for 9th place.
Shane Van Gisbergen was now moving through the pack and had now passed Anton de Pasquale, Will Davison and Will Brown for 11th place.
On lap 6 Nick Percat made contact with Jack le Brocq who went off the track and into the tyre-wall at the final turn. Surprisingly, he managed to get himself out and the safety car did not have to be deployed.
After investigation the incident the officials took no further action against either driver.
By lap 10 Matt Payne had a 1.2 second lead over Brodie Kostecki.
Broc Feeney was putting pressure on Chaz Mostert for 3rd place. He managed to get by at turn 6.
Shane Van Gisbergen showed how eager he was to make up for the NC (Not Complete) he received in the first race at this event. He did the fastest lap of the race, 120.735 seconds.
On lap 11 Chaz Mostert was desperately trying to get 3rd place back from Broc Feeney. In his attempt Chaz Mostert made contact with him and did manage to pass. It was a messy attack and Chaz Mostert was later issued a 5 second time penalty.
Shane Van Gisbergen was the first of the Red Bull cars to take a pit-stop.
In the pit area Macauley Jones was spun around by Tim Slade who was coming out of his garage.
In the middle of the race Matt Payne was still in control with a 4.8 second lead over Broc Feeney flowed by David Reynolds in 3rd.
As the race continued Matt Payne kept edging ahead. Towards the end of the race, he had a 7.5 second lead over Broc Feeney and was on target to claim his maiden win with Penrite Racing.
Noone seemed able to make ground on the rookie Matt Payne. In fact he managed to edge further ahead of the competitors.
He crossed the line with a 8.548 second lead over Broc Feeney. David Reynolds come in 3rd a few seconds later.
It was a spectacular and solid win for Matt Payne. Congratulations!
Results for Race 28:
1st Matt Payne – Grove Racing.
2nd Broc Feeney – Red Bull Ampol Racing.
3rd David Reynolds – Grove Racing.
A massive congratulations to Erebus Motorsport and Brodie Kostecki. Well done!
This was the final race for the 2023 season. The next event will be the Bathurst Superfest on the 16th to the 25th of February 2024.
It’s with a sense of sadness that we say farewell to Shane Van Gisbergen. Well done on everything you have achieved in Supercars and best of luck for your new adventures in Nascar. Go get em!
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 2nd place.
It is the 50th 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 100th round start in Supercars and Nick Percat started his 300th 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 6th.
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 4th position.
The first car to pit in this race was Scott Pye on lap 14. He came in from 21st position and returned to the track in 22nd.
Mid-field Will Davison got up the inside of David Reynolds exchanging 15th and 16th place.
In the middle of the race James Golding pitted and David Reynolds followed him in. Andre Heimgartner and Cameron Waters then pitted from 3rd and 4th position.
Race leader, Will Brown made his pit stop on lap 23. He returned to the track in 5th 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 3rd.
Once Todd Hazelwood had pitted on lap 30 he re-joined in 15th place.
After this it was a sprint to the checkered flag.
Shane Van Gisbergen was in 4th 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 3rd place.
In the final Will Brown was still holding the lead over Andre Heimgartner. Shane Van Gisbergen was obviously not satisfied with 4th and managed to finally get past Cameron Waters to steal 3rd place.
Results for Race 10:
1st Will Brown – Erebus Motorsport 2nd Andre Heimgartner – Brad Jones Racing 3rd 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 2nd place while Broc Feeney was displaced back to 4th.
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 3rd.
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:
1st Broc Feeney – Red Bull Ampol Racing
2nd Brodie Kostecki – Erebus Motorsport
3rd 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 14th and 16th place.
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 3rd 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 18th and when he came back out on the track was in 23rd place.
By the middle of the race Shane Van Gisbergen had worked his way up through the field and was able to take 11th 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 3rd 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:
1st Will Brown – Erebus Motorsport 2nd Broc Feeney – Red Bull Ampol Racing 3rd 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 16th to 18th 2023.
On the weekend of Apr 28 – 30 was 3rd 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 500th race and Winterbottom had his 600th 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 20th place was the first car to pit on lap 8. He returned to the track in 25th (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 24th 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 14th place.
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 19th 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 3rd 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 3rd 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:
1st Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing 2nd Brodie Kostecki – Erebus Motorsport 3rd 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 4th on the grid Brodie Kostecki managed to pass David Reynolds at turn 7 to go into 2nd 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 3rd 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 11th position.
James Courtney then passed Anton de Pasquale for 3rd position and was 2.5 seconds behind the two leaders.
Matt Payne had gained 2 places to be up in 6th position, while Cameron Waters got up the inside of Todd Hazelwood for 9th.
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 2nd 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 3rd place.
Results for Race 8
1st Will Brown – Erebus Motorsport 2nd Brodie Kostecki – Erebus Motorsport 3rd 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 3rd.
Will Brown then seemed to come out of nowhere jumping over Brodie Kostecki and David Reynolds to take 2nd place.
The back of the field also had interesting action. Shane Van Gisbergen gained 2 places from his start in 21st position up to 19th.
Chaz Mostert got up the inside of his ex-teammate Cameron Waters for 8th 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 18th place.
The first car to pit was Tim Slade in 5th position on lap 12. He returned the track in 17th place.
In the middle of the race both Will Davison and Brodie Kostecki pitted together from 11th and 12th 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 3rd career win 6.4 seconds clear of Will Brown. Truly an amazing finish.
Congratulations Broc.
Results for Race 9:
1st Broc Feeney – Red Bull Ampol Racing
2nd Will Brown – Erebus Motorsport
3rd 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.
On the weekend of the 7th to the 10th of April 2022 was the Beaurepairs Melbourne 400.
This year marks the 25th time that the Supercars have competed at Albert Park. This is including an appearance at the 2020 event which was abandoned due to Covid 19. The event was cancelled at the 11th hour.
Albert Park is one of the longer circuits in Australia at 5.3km with 14 corners. This event was made up of 4 races, 20 laps each.
The first race of the event marked James Courtney’s 500th start. Wow! Congratulations, what an incredible achievement.
The Formula 1 cars were the main attraction for the weekend so, as support category the Supercars used the secondary pit lane.
Before the racing got underway, F1 drivers Fernando Alonso and Sergio Perez had a spin in Thomas Randle and Broc Feeney’s Supercars around the track. I’m sure it was quite an experience for them.
In the pre-race sessions:
Anton de Pasquale was fastest in Practice 1.
Rookie, Broc Feeney crashed at turn 5 causing a red flag.
Shane Van Gisbergen was fastest in Practice 2.
Garry Jacobson hit the wall at turn 5 in Practice 2. The impact was so much that another red flag was used so they could move wall back into place.
David Reynolds was fastest in Qualifying for Race 6.
Will Davison was fastest in Qualifying for Race 7.
Anton de Pasquale was fastest in Qualifying for Race 8.
Will Davison was fastest in Qualifying for Race 9.
In Race 6 David Reynolds started on pole position for the 18th time in his Supercars career. Alongside him was Anton de Pasquale.
Championship leader, Shane Van Gisbergen started in 23rd position at the back of the pack. This was because during Qualifying he got a curb infringement. His lap was disallowed. He came back in to put another set of tyres on. Meanwhile the session was red flagged and he didn’t get back on track to record a lap time.
David Reynolds had a perfect start off the grid and led into the first corner.
Shane Van Gisbergen immediately started charging through the field. Before the first lap was complete, he had gone from 23rd to 19th.
Coming onto the main straight to commence lap 2 the cars were 3 wide but Shane Van Gisbergen was still able to move up three places to 16th by the time they hit turn 1.
The cars up ahead were warned by their engineers that Shane Van Gisbergen was on THE CHARGE!
David Reynolds still had the lead and was holding off Chaz Mostert and Anton de Pasquale.
Garry Jacobson got up the inside of Will Brown and his next car to pass was Will’s teammate Brodie Kostecki.
By lap 3 David Reynolds’ soft tyres began to wear down and his car started sliding. He lost the lead to Chaz Mostert.
Nick Percat also passed David Reynolds dropping him from 2nd to 3rd. It put Walkinshaw Andretti United 1 and 2 on the track.
Lee Holdsworth was in the middle of the field. The team called him into the pits on lap 6 so they didn’t risk his teammate David Reynolds double stacking behind him.
Jack le Brocq (#34) also came in on lap 6 to have the power steering arm looked at.
On lap7 David Reynolds pitted due to blistering tyres. As he peeled off into the pits he was dropping down the order. Race leader, Chaz Mostert also followed him in.
Meanwhile the 2 times Supercars champion Shane Van Gisbergen had gained 17 positions and was now placed 6th. I was amazed! This is no easy feat in a mere 7 laps of a 20 lap race.
When Chaz Mostert and David Reynolds rejoined the race, they were in positions 9th and 10th. At this point the leaders were Nick Percat and Macauley Jones.
On lap 8 at the exit of turn 3 Andre Heimgartner ran straight off the track taking James Courtney with him. Andre Heimgartner was warned with a bad sportsmanship flag for exceeding track limits.
Shane Van Gisbergen had made it all the way up to 4th position before coming in on lap 9 for his one and only pitstop. When he rejoined he was behind Nick Percat and in position 17 with only 4 cars yet to make their stops.
A few laps later all the pitstops were completed and Chaz Mostert was back in the lead followed by David Reynolds and Will Davison. Shane Van Gisbergen made his way up to 5th place.
With clean air Chaz Mostert kept edging further ahead. He was incredibly fast and drove faultlessly. It was soon apparent that he was uncatchable. All he had to do was just hang in there.
With four laps remaining Shane Van Gisbergen passed Nick Percat and Will Davison almost at the same time to put him in 3rd place. It was just incredible. He yelled over the radio comms ‘This is f-ing awesome!’. That really cracked me up.
To play it safe Chaz pulled back on the aggressive driving knowing he had a good lead. In the last few hundred meters he zig zagged to the finish line out of pure joy (That’s why I call him Cheeky Chaz). His next rival was David Reynolds 7.6839 second later followed by Shane Van Gisbergen who had started in 23rd place and finished 3rd. Now that is incredible racing!
Result for Race 6
1st Chaz Mostert – Mobil 1 Optus Racing.
2nd David Reynolds – Penrite Racing.
3rd Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing.
In Race 7 Will Davison started on pole position. Alongside him was David Reynolds. Shane Van Gisbergen started 3rd.
At the start of the race Will Davison got the jump off the line and led into turn 1.
David Reynolds had a bad start and Shane Van Gisbergen immediately took the opportunity and moved into 2nd place.
Broc Feeney hit the wall on the exit of turn 1 after help from Brodie Kostecki.
At this stage Will Davison was looking strong. I was thinking that he may win might win his first race for Dick Johnson Racing and his first race win since Bathurst in 2016.
A few laps later the cars back in the pack pitted early for clear track.
On lap 5 Andre Heimgartner got turned around by Will Brown. Heimgarter’s car was wedged in the wall. The safety car was deployed to tow it back to the pits. He wasn’t able to rejoin the race and received an NC (Not complete).
Shane Van Gisbergen now had the lead.
When Anton de Pasquale came into the pits he was in 3rd place. He couldn’t get car 11 re-fired and was sitting there for what seemed an eternity. As a result, he came back onto the track in 20th position.
By the middle of the race all pitstops were completed. Shane Van Gisbergen was back in the lead.
Broc Feeney (#88) was called into the pits with a front left tyre losing pressure. The Red Bull Ampol Racing team only changed the one tyre and he was back out on the track.
Also, on lap 10 Cameron Waters tagged Will Davison at turn 3 spinning him off into the gravel trap. For the second time, the safety car was deployed. Waters was issued a drive through penalty for his actions.
At this stage Shane Van Gisbergen was looking good for another win. David Reynolds was in 2nd, James Courtney in 3rd and Chaz Mostert 4th.
Cameron Waters served his drive through penalty with 7 laps to go. It dropped him all the way down to 22nd position.
On lap 14 Tim Slade got down the inside of Garry Jacobson for position number 8. He then passed Todd Hazelwood for 7th position.
Garry Jacobson got up the inside of Nick Percat in battle for 9th and 10th place.
With 5 laps to go Shane Van Gisbergen had a 1.6 second lead over David Reynolds, with James Courtney 1.1 seconds behind that. Chaz Mostert was in 4th position.
The races were ‘time certain’. Due to the 2 safety car deployments the race was looking to go overtime. On lap 18 the officials called time + 1 lap (cutting out the 20th lap).
On the last lap Shane Van Gisbergen did his best lap time of the race and increased his lead to 2 seconds.
Mostert was desperate to get on the podium. It was the last lap and he was pushing hard on James Courtney. As they reached the last corner before the home straight they locked horns and James Courtney spun around. Mostert kept going but Lee Holdsworth had taken him over so Mostert was back in 4th where he started.
There was no time for Mostert to make up the lost time.
Shane Van Gisbergen crossed the line 2+ seconds ahead of David Reynolds. They followed by a lucky Lee Holdsworth and then Chaz Mostert in fourth place. It was a dramatic last-minute finish.
James Courtney was so unfortunate and finished in 22nd place.
Results for Race 7
1st Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing.
2nd David Reynolds – Grove Racing.
3rd Lee Holdsworth – Grove Racing.
In Race 8 Anton de Pasquale started on pole position alongside him was his teammate, Will Davison.
Shane Van Gisbergen and David Reynolds were 3rd and 4th on the grid.
At the start of the race Anton de Pasquale led into turn 1 for the first of 20 laps. Will Davison was right behind him. David Reynolds hanging onto 3rd position followed by Shane Van Gisbergen.
Scott Pye went off the track at turn 1 on lap 1
The cars further back in the pack were going off the track left, right and centre. At turn 2 Percat, Hazelwood, Brodie Kostecki, Holdsworth, Jones, Heimgartner and Randle all came off the track but managed to recover.
Scott Pye left the track skiing across the sand trap but he also managed to recover.
It was amazing that the entire field got through turns 1 and 2.
However, on lap 2 Scott Pye came into the pits with a puncture on the front right.
The race leader soon settled into his race pace with a ¾ second lead. There was active battling for positions 2, 3 and 4.
Between turns 9 and 10 on lap 2 Bryce Fulwood went very wide but surprisingly managed a quick return to the track.
By lap 3 Cameron Waters was in the pits changing tyres and dropped all the way down to 22nd position.
The top 4 places were unchanged; Anton de Pasquale, Will Davison, David Reynolds and Shane Van Gisbergen.
On lap 4 Anton de Pasquale locked up leaving the track at turn 1. It knocked him back from 1st to 3rd. Will Davison was the new race leader, with David Reynolds in 2nd place. For Anton de Pasquale who is second on the championship ladder it was a serious blunder.
When Tim Slade and Chaz Mostert came in for their stops he gave the back of Tim Slade’s car a wallop. It was a surprise but not serious and didn’t escalate.
On lap 5 Will Davison was the next to pit, handing over the lead to David Reynolds. Anton de Pasquale was still 2nd, Shane Van Gisbergen was 3rd and his teammate, Broc Feeney was in 4th (only + 2.601 seconds behind). Soon Anton de Pasquale pitted but the top 14 cars were still yet to pit.
By lap 6 Shane Van Gisbergen had taken the race lead off David Reynolds which then gave Shane Van Gisbergen clear track.
Broc Feeney had dropped to 8th place. Then Mark Winterbottom got down the inside of him to take another spot from him.
By the middle of the race Shane Van Gisbergen was back in the lead after pitting.
Shane Van Gisbergen never looked back. He held his lead and increased the gap to 5.6473 seconds by the time he crossed the finish line. Next was Will Davison, David Reynolds and Anton de Pasquale all spread a few seconds apart.
This win for Shane Van Gisbergen also means he has outdone Russell Ingall’s record of 8 race wins at Albert Park. Ingall set this record back in 2003 (19years ago). Im sure it’s quite an honour for Gisbergen.
Results for Race 8
1st Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing.
2nd Will Davison – Shell V-Power Racing Team.
3rd David Reynolds – Penrite Racing.
In race 9 Will Davison started on pole position. Alongside him was teammate Anton de Pasquale. Chaz Mostert started 3rd. The hero of the weekend, Shane Van Gisbergen 6th on the grid.
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At the start of the race Will Davison got the jump on his teammate going into turn 1. I was amazed, it was such a perfect start.
However, Jack Smith didn’t have the same launch. He stalled car 4 on the start line and was unable to get it started. The safety car was deployed for it to be removed from the track. Jack Smith Received an NC (Not Complete) without even starting the race!
Shane Van Gisbergen tried to go around the outside of Cameron Waters at turn 3 but it didn’t work.
The cars back in the pack were battling for positions early on. There was quite a lot of movement. About 12 cars shuffled positions with some moving as much as 10 places.
Some others moved up but then moved back, like Tim Slade who got down the inside of Brodie Kostecki at turn 4. Brodie Kostecki then got him back at turn 5.
While the race leaders were staying out because they had track position the others soon started pitting.
I was surprised that leader Will Davison pitted on lap 5. Mostert was in 2nd place and now had the lead. It was only brief. Shane Van Gisbergen took him over moment later.
David Reynolds was keeping out of trouble early on but he was in position 10. He then hit the wall on lap 6 and had to pit. The car couldn’t be repaired and he had to retire from the race.
In the middle of the race all driver pitstops were in the process of being completed. It was now even racing to the finish.
On lap 11 Thomas Randle also suffered the same fate as Reynolds and Smith. He was the 3rd driver forced to retire from the race.
Towards the end of the race Chaz Mostert had the lead again. He had Shane Van Gisbergen putting pressure on him and it looked to be a strong challenge. There were only a few laps remaining.
Shane Van Gisbergen was pushing hard. On lap 18 (2 lap to go) Shane Van Gisbergen’s car gave in under the strain. The front tyre blew out and he was forced into the pits. He must have been extremely disappointed as he is fast enough even to challenge the super-fast Chaz Mostert. It would have meant 3 out 4 wins for the weekend.
Chaz Mostert now had a clear run to the finish line. It earned his second win at the event.
In 2nd place Will Davison followed 5.2 seconds later, with Anton de Pasquale another 1.66 seconds behind. It was an incredible finish to the weekend.
Results for Race 9
1st Chaz Mostert – Walkinshaw Andretti United.
2nd Will Davison – Shell V-Power Racing Team.
3rd Anton de Pasquale – Shell V-Power Racing Team.
The Bathurst 6 Hour was the next event of interest on the calendar. It is always run on the Easter long weekend. It is not part of the Supercars series but is a production car event. Shane Van Gisbergen was meant to defend the title but was unable to due to COVID. Nick Percat sat in for him.
Let’s hope that SVG is on the mend and in good health for the next Supercars event; The Bunnings Trade Perth Supernight on the 30th of April to the 1st of May.
