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Supercars

Betr Darwin Triple Crown 2026

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Hi to all you Supercars Fans around the world!

On the 19th – 21st June 2026 was Round 6 of the Supercars Championship, the Betr Darwin Triple Crown held at Hidden Valley Raceway in the “Top End” (Darwin).

This year was the 30th anniversary of the Betr Darwin Triple Crown and boy it was a good show.

Chaz Mostert hit his own milestone, celebrating his 400th race on Saturday. Congratulations Chaz.

For Race 17 Brodie Kostecki had earned the pole position. Alongside him on the front row was Anton de Pasquale.

As the race went green Brodie Kostecki took the lead for the first of 35 laps.

By turn 5 Cameron Waters had passed Anton de Pasquale for second place.

The first car to pit was Ryan Wood on lap 6.

Brodie Kostecki pitted on lap 8, while Cameron Waters stayed on track to mind the lead spot.

Matt Payne now held 2nd place and Kai Allen was 3rd.

In the middle of the race the rest of the cars cycled through their mandatory pit stops.

Towards the end there was only 1 car remaining to stop, James Golding. Once he did Brodie Kostecki assumed the lead.

Cam Waters was once again in 2nd place, followed by Anton de Pasquale.

With 8 laps remaining the two Grove Racing teammates, Kai Allen and Matt Payne got by Anton de Pasquale for positions 3 and 4.

David Reynolds’ car was overheating. With 2 laps remaining the car couldn’t take any more abuse and stopped in a risky spot of the track. The safety car was deployed for the rescue.

The drivers had to stay in formation behind the safety car and limited to 80km per hour. The leaders were reasonably spread out but now they were queued up and close together.

Ironically David Reynolds managed to get his car going again and was back in the race before the rescue team reached him.

The safety car left the track and it was a 1 lap dash to the checkered flag.

Before the first corner Cameron Waters managed to pass Brodie Kostecki for the number 1 spot. In a flash so did Kai Allen and Matt Payne. Brodie Kostecki was now in 4th place and had lost his podium finish in that single lap.

The 3 leaders crossed that finish line bumper to bumper. It was a very tense way to finish the race.

Race 17 results:

1st Cameron Waters – Tickford Racing
2nd Kai Allen – Grove Racing
3rd Matt Payne – Grove Racing

In Race 18 Cameron Waters started on pole position with Brodie Kostecki alongside him.

Cameron Waters took the lead from the start in the first of 70 laps.

Brodie Kostecki held second place. Broc Feeney had moved up from his start in 6th place but then dropped back to 5th place. He was still 1 spot up from his start position.

As the starting laps melted away in the Top End, Matt Payne got around Brodie Kostecki for 2nd position.

Behind the scenes, Matt Payne was being investigated for jumping the gun at the start. The officials reviewed footage and issued him with a 5 second time penalty. The penalty would have to be served in one of the 2 mandatory pit stops.

Soon after the first 10 laps Ryan Wood ran wide at turn 1 dropping oil on the track. His teammate Chaz Mostert was up ahead in 4th place. As he came around on the next lap he slid on the oil and ran wide. This dropped him from 4th down to 14th place.

Ryan Wood was already in the garage trying to work out his power steering issue.

Matt Payne was the first to pit on lap 20. It was still early in the race, so he chose to serve his 5 second penalty at this stop rather than later.

In the middle of the race Cameron Waters was still leading.

Waters was wide at one turn with Kai Allen approaching on the inside. Waters drove across Kai Allen’s car as they came through the turn. The blocking move is considered bad driving form and called “moving under brakes”. If the stewards issued him with a penalty, his lead would be at risk. In the end they only issued a warning.

Soon enough Cameron Waters folded to Kai Allen’s attacks and Kai Allen became the new leader.

Towards the end of the race Kai Allen had a 7.5 second lead over Cameron Waters.

In the end Kai Allen crossed the finish line with an 8.8 second win over Cameron Waters. It was 9.3 seconds back to Brodie Kostecki in 3rd place. Although they were spread out it was an exciting race to watch.

Race 18 Results:

1st Kai Allen – Grove Racing
2nd Cameron Waters – Tickford Racing
3rd Brodie Kostecki – Shell V-Power Racing Team

EOS 11

In Race 19 Cameron Waters started on pole position with Matt Payne alongside him.

There were 2 drivers, Thomas Randle and Brodie Kostecki who had cool suit failures in race 18 and suffered heat exhaustion and dehydration.

Luckily legend Mark Winterbottom, currently acting as commentator was able to step in and substitute for Thomas Randle.

Another driving legend, Todd Hazelwood was in the area racing in the Trans AM competition. He was only too willing to help out his old mate Kostecki.

As the lights went out Cameron Waters got the jump and led into turn 1 for the first of 70 laps. Matt Payne was right behind him in second place.

Todd Hazelwood was the first to take a pit stop on lap 12.

Around the middle of the race Anton de Pasquale was in the lead with a gap of around 3 seconds. Matt Payne passed Cameron Waters for second place. Broc Feeney was 3.3 seconds back in 4th place.

Matt Payne was constantly putting Anton de Pasquale under pressure for the leading spot. Surprisingly Pasquale held his nerve.

With 4 laps to go Chaz Mostert in 7th place had an engine failure. The safety car was sent out to manage the drivers while Mostert was rescued.

Unfortunately, the last 3 laps were under safety conditions (driving behind the safety car, staying in formation and limited to 80kms p/h) so it wasn’t a challenging finish.

Anton de Pasquale took his 2nd win for the year. Matt Payne was in 2nd place followed by Cameron Waters.

Race 19 results:

1st Anton de Pasquale – Team 18
2nd Matt Payne – Grove Racing
3rd Cameron Waters – Tickford Racing

Cameron Waters won the Darwin Triple Crown for 2026.

The next event is the NTI Townsville 500 10 – 12 July.

Supercars

Tasmania Super 440 – 2026

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Hi to all you Supercars Fans around the World!

Round 5 of the 2026 Supercars Championship, The Tyrepower Tasmania Super 440 was run on 22 – 24 May at Symmons Plains Raceway in Tasmania.

Symmons Plains Raceway located near Launceston in Tasmania was first opened in 1960. The historic circuit was built on the Youl Family’s estate. Supercars then known as the Australian Touring Car Championship (ATCC) first started racing at the venue in 1969.

In this year’s event, Race 15 marked the 100th Supercars race at the venue.

In the pre-race sessions:

  • David Reynolds was fastest in Practice 1
  • Brodie Kostecki was fastest in Practice 2
  • Chaz Mostert was fastest in Qualifying

In Race 14 Chaz Mosstert claimed his very first pole position of 2026. Alongside him on the front row of the grid was Anton de Pasquale.

Anton de Pasquale took the lead from the start line of the 50 lap race.

On lap 3 Chaz Mostert made a pass for the number 1 spot. Anton de Pasquale dropped 3 more spots to David Reynolds, Andre Heimgartner and then Brodie Kostecki.

On lap 11 Cooper Murray pitted due to a steering problem. It couldn’t be resolved in time to return to the race.

The first 2 cars to pit were Anton de Pasquale and Jayden Ojeda on lap 15. A few laps later David Reynolds was another of the front runners to pit.

In the middle of the race the other cars cycled through their pit stops till Chaz Mostert resumed the lead.

After Will Brown pitted on lap 27, his wheel fell off before he even made it out of the pit lane. The Red Bull Ampol Racing team were given a post-race penalty.

On lap 32 Broc Feeney recorded the fastest circuit time, 51.676 seconds.

Towards the end of the race only Jackson Walls and Jobe Stewart were yet to pit before Chaz Mostert retook the lead.

Broc Feeney had to make a move if he wanted a podium finish. He got by Anton de Pasquale for 5th place and then passed Andre Heimgartner for 4th. Brodie Kostecki wasn’t going to give up 3rd without a fight. He fended off Feeney’s constant attacks, while Feeney had to fend off Andre Heimgartner’s attacks.

In the end Chaz Mostert crossed the finish line with a 5.322 second win over David Reynolds. Brodie Kostecki came in 3rd place less than 1 second later. Broc Feeney missed out on a podium finish by 0.536 seconds to take 4th place.

Chaz Mostert’s lead was remarkable while the others behind were so tightly packed. It was a great finish.

Race 14 results:

1st Chaz Mostert – Walkinshaw TWG Racing
2nd David Reynolds – Team 18
3rd Brodie Kostecki – Shell V-Power Racing Team
4th Broc Feeney – Red Bull Ampol Racing

In Race 15 Andre Heimgartner had pole position with Matt Payne alongside him.

As the race went green Andre Heimgartner got the jump and led for the first of 50 laps.

Broc Feeney who started in P3 of the grid passed Matt Payne for 2nd place at turn 2. Ryan Wood was in 4th place.

The first car to pit for this race was Kai Allen on lap 14.

Chaz Mostert made contact with Jayden Ojeda at turn 6 and both cars spun. The officials reviewed the incident and gave Chaz Mossstert a 15 second time penalty.

In the middle of the race David Reynolds earned himself a 15 second time penalty for hitting Brodie Kostecki. Kostecki’s car received a lot of damage and soon after smoke was coming from the rear.

Towards the end of the race Andre Heimgartner was back in the lead with a 3.8 seconds lead over Broc Feeney and Matt Payne. Although the front runners were now spread apart, the top 4 places were unchanged.

Antre Heimgartner kept that lead and crossed the finish line 3.686 seconds ahead of Broc Feeney. Matt Payne took 3rd place 4+ seconds behind Feeney.

The rest of the pack lead by Will Brown were a whopping 8+ adrift.

Race 15 results:

1st Andre Heimgartner – Brad Jones Racing
2nd Broc Feeney – Red Bull Ampol Racing
3rd Matt Payne – Grove Racing

In Race 16 Broc Feeney started on pole position. Alongside him was Matt Payne.

Broc Feeney took the lead in the first of the 84 lap race.

Jayden Ojeda had a bad start. He was 3rd on the grid but finished the opening lap in 10th place.

The first 2 cars to pit were Cameron Waters and Jackson Walls on lap 6.

Anton de Pasquale pushed Will Brown off the track to take 3rd place. Will Brown lost 2 spots.

Will Brown pitted on lap 20 to avoid a double stack with his teammate Broc Feeney.

By the middle of the race the front runners began to spread out. Broc Feeney had created a nice 2.7 second lead over Matt Payne in 2nd place. Will Brown was a further 9.7 seconds behind in 3rd.

Matt Payne recorded the fastest time of 51.802 seconds on lap 49. Then Broc Feeney beat that time with 51.693 seconds.

Towards the end of the race Broc Feeney had 3.1 second lead. As they reached the last 10 laps, he increased it to 4+ seconds.

In the remaining laps Broc Feeney had a clear track and was unhindered by other competitors. He used it to his full advantage and nearly doubled his lead. He crossed the finish line with a 7.268 second win over Matt Payne. Kai Allen was a further 2.675 seconds behind to take 3rd.

It was a fantastic scene as Broc Feeney dominated throughout this race and take his 4th win of 2026.

Race 16 results:

1st Broc Feeney – Red Bull Ampol Racing
2nd Matt Payne – Grove Racing
3rd Kai Allen – Grove Racing

Broc Feeney still leads the championship by 90 points and Red Bull Ampol Racing still lead the team’s championship by 68 points.

The next event is the Betr Darwin Triple Crown on 19 – 21 June 2026.

Supercars

Betr Darwin Triple Crown 2025

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Hi to all you Supercars Fans around the world!

On the 20 – 22 June was the Betr Darwin Triple Crown held at Hidden Valley Raceway in Darwin, Northern Territory.

Hidden Valley Raceway was first opened in 1986 and originally was not much more than a dust bowl for small scale events. It would be another 12 years before Supercars started racing at this venue.

Mark Skaife holds the record for the most Supercars race wins at the venue with a total of eight wins.

This event was round 6 of the 2025 Supercars Championship, starting on the Friday. Typical for Darwin, the weather was hot and sunny.

In the pre-race sessions:

  • Ryan Wood was fastest in Practice 1
  • Andre Heimgartner was fastest in Practice 2
  • Broc Feeney was fastest in Qualifying

In Race 17 Broc Feeney started on pole position with Cameron Waters alongside him.

Broc Feeney got the jump off the start line and led into turn 1 for the first of 42 laps.

At turn 1 Jaxson Evans went off the track and sustained such severe damage he couldn’t compete for the remainder of the weekend.

The safety car left the track on lap 7 and the race resumed. Almost immediately Macauley Jones got turned around by Anton de Pasquale. Jones dropped down to 17th. Later Pasquale was issued a 15 second time penalty to be served in the pits.

Further back Ryan Wood and Jack Le Brocq made contact. Ryan Wood’s car was damaged badly. He was in the middle of the pack without “fresh air”. The car quickly overheated and stopped. Le Brocq car lost it’s rear left wheel.

Seconds later Nick Percat made contact with David Reynolds at turn 5. Bryce Fullwood copped a hit while in 6th place. Richie Stanaway had smoke coming out of the left rear of car 62 while in 12th place.

The second safety car was deployed for the 2 cars (Wood and Le Brocq) to be cleared from the track, along with lots of debris left behind. Both cars would not be returning to finish the race.

The restart was on lap 12 and Broc Feeney still had control followed by Cameron Waters and Matt Payne. Brodie Kostecki used an un-sportsman-like bump and pass on Matt Payne. Officials requested he ‘redress’ the position to Payne. Later they also issued him a 5 second time penalty.

Broc Feeney then recorded the fastest lap of the race, 108.093 seconds.

Macauley Jones went off the track at turn 1, dropping him down to 21st place.

In the middle of the race two front runners Matt Payne and Cameron Hill pitted. There were still 12 cars yet to take their stops.

Broc Feeney only had 0.772 second lead.

With 15 laps to go Broc Feeney, Cameron Waters and Brodie Kostecki all pitted. Feeney changed the 2 rear tyres in 2.9 seconds. He returned on track in 6th place with the 5 cars in front yet to pit.

Once the cars took their pit stops Feeney assumed the lead once again.

The front runners were close together and Feeney couldn’t increase and secure his lead.

In the final lap he gave it his all and managed to create an astonishing 1.5+ second gap.

He crossed the finish line 1.727 seconds over Cameron Waters followed by Matt Payne.

It was exciting to the last second.

Race 17 Results:

1st Broc Feeney – Red Bull Ampol Racing
2nd Cameron Waters – Tickford Racing
3rd Matt Payne – Grove Racing

In Race 18 Broc Feeney was on pole position again. Anton de Pasquale was next to him on the front line.

Broc Feeney led into turn 1 for the first of 42 laps followed by Anton de Pasquale. Kai Allen pushed Cameron Waters back a spot to take 3rd.  At turn 1 Richie Stanaway was spun around by Matt Payne and dropped to 24th place.

On lap 4 Will Davison in 12th place did the fastest lap of the race so far, 107.968 seconds.

The Hidden Valley Raceway is known for its high speeds. The driving on the day was fast and aggressive.

Before they reached lap 10, the fastest lap record was broken by Broc Feeney, 107.811 seconds. He was still in the lead by 1.214 seconds over Anton de Pasquale.

The first 2 cars to pit were Nick Percat on lap 10 and Richie Stanaway due to steering issues on lap 11.

The first of the front runners to pit was Brodie Kostecki on lap 16 for 4 tyres. He returned to the track in 20th place but there were still 18 cars yet to pit.

By the middle of the race Broc Feeney had increased his lead to 3.9 seconds over Anton de Pasquale. Not an easy task on such a fast track. Pasquale is also known for his fast driving.

The speed and aggression continued but Broc Feeney, Anton de Pasquale and Kai Allen kept hold of the top 3 places.

With 2 laps to go David Reynolds car couldn’t restart after being hit. The safety car was deployed to rescue Reynolds. The race unfortunately finished under safety car conditions (limited to 60km p/h and drivers have to stay in formation).

So at 60km p/h Broc Feeney took his second win for the weekend.

It was tense in those last laps in the hope the safety car would clear off before the end of the race. It would have made for a crazy last dash to the finish line.

Race 18 Results:

1st Broc Feeney – Red Bull Ampol Racing
2nd Anton de Pasquale – Team 18
3rd Kai Allen – Grove Racing

In Race 19 Broc Feeney started on pole position for the 3rd time out of 3 races this weekend. Alongside him was Cameron Hill.

The high speed track took its toll on the drivers and the opening stages of this race were very messy.

Broc Feeney took the lead from the start line and led through turn 1 for the first of 70 laps.

Chaz Mostert had engine issues and started the race from the pit lane because he was worried the car wasn’t going to start on the grid.

At turn 1 of lap 1 Macauley Jones ran very wide and went to the back of the pack. Andre Heimgartner dropped to 10th place.

Soon after Ryan Wood passed Anton de Pasquale for 3rd place.

Broc Feeney had a slender lead of just 0.338 seconds over Jack le Brocq in 2nd place, followed by Ryan Wood.

Cameron Hill had dropped to 7th and was struggling to hold back Will Brown who was up 3 spots in 8th place.

David Reynolds tried avoiding contact with Thomas Randle but couldn’t avoid it, then ran wide and went into the dirt.

A few laps into the race Rylan Gray ran extremely wide at turn 1. He came back on track down in 23rd place behind Chaz Mostert.

Thomas Randle ran wide and dropped spots to Nick Percat, Cooper Murray and Cameron Waters. He was now back in 19th place.

On lap 11 Broc Feeney had a 0.729 second lead over Jack le Brocq.

The pit stop sequence was yet to begin and while Feeney was still out front recorded the fastest lap of the race, 108.030 seconds on lap 12.

The first car to pit in this race was Matt Payne on lap 16. James Courtney followed him in.

Cameron Hill came in to the pits from 4th place returning on track in 22nd place.

Broc Feeney had used the last 5 laps to create a 3.5 second lead over Jack le Brocq.

On lap 26 Will Davison spun James Courtney around, dropping them both to 20th and 22nd place. Will Davison was soon issued a 15 second time penalty for the driving infringement.

In the middle of the race Kai Allen and Chaz Mostert were yet to pit but once they did, Broc Feeney took back the lead.

With 9 laps remaining Broc Feeney was in his stride. He had Matt Payne and Kai Allen behind him with a 42 second lead but was still to take his second mandatory pit stop.

Cameron Waters took a corner wide and spun around losing the left rear wheel. The wheel loss was due to a missed task in his final pit stop. The mistake dropped him down to 21st place.

Feeney took his final stop. He was so far ahead he returned to the track still in the lead with a decent buffer.

Meanwhile, rookie Kai Allen managed to pass Matt Payne for 2nd place.

Noone could catch Broc Feeney. He crossed the finish line leading 7.9 seconds ahead of Kai Allen followed by Matt Payne.

Congratulations to Broc Feeney for 3 wins of 3 races and receiving the Betr Darwin Triple Crown Trophy for 2025.

Race 19 Results:

1st Broc Feeney – Red Bull Ampol Racing
2nd Kai Allen – Grove Racing
3rd Matt Payne – Grove Racing

Broc Feeney’s 3 of 3 wins at the event extended his series lead out to 183 points over Red Bull teammate, Will Brown.

Red Bull Ampol Racing are also at the top of the team’s ladder and lead by 632 points.

The next event is the NTI Townsville 500 on July 11 – 13.

Till then, Keep Revving!

Supercars

Mss Melbourne Supersprint 2025

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Hi to all you Supercars Fans around the world!

Round 2 of the 2025 Supercars championship, the MSS Security Melbourne Supersprint was run Thursday to Sunday, March 13 to 16 2025.

The 4 short races that make up this event were a support category to the famous Australian F1 Grand Prix held at Albert Park, Melbourne.

Supercars have been a support category since 1996, the year after the F1 Grand Prix moved to Melbourne from Adelaide.

As a support category, the Supercars races are kept short (thus the name “SuperSprint”) and are time certain.

In the pre-race sessions:

  • Ryan Wood was fastest in Practice 1
  • James Golding was fastest in Practice 2
  • Broc Feeney was fastest in Qualifying for all 4 races. That is pretty good going.

In Race 4 Broc Feeney started on pole position and alongside him was teammate Will Brown.

Cameron Waters who won all 3 races at the 1st event of the season (the Sydney 500)  started 22nd on the grid because of a bad run in Qualifying.

Broc Feeney got the jump off the start line and led into turns 1 and 2 for the first of 19 laps. He was followed by Will Brown and Cameron Hill in 3rd.

A few laps in, yellow flags were flown to warn drivers of “obstacles” ahead. A group of ducks were meandering on the track and must have been a surprise to the race leader Broc Feeney as he came screaming down the track.

Soon after they reached the middle of the race Macauley Jones tapped the back wheels out from under Aaron Cameron. Cameron spun off the track into the sand-trap and got stuck. The first safety car was deployed for his rescue.

On the restart Broc Feeney was still leading. His teammate Will Brown putting in a good challenge. They created a few seconds gap back to the rest of the pack.

Feeney held strong and kept the lead over Will Brown. In the end he crossed the finish line 1.093 seconds ahead of Brown. It was then 3.7 seconds back to Cameron Hill in 3rd place.

A really nice finish for Feeney and Brown of the Red Bull Ampol Racing Team.

Race 4 Results:

1st Broc Feeney – Red Bull Ampol Racing
2nd Will Brown – Red Bull Ampol Racing
3rd Cameron Hill – Matt Stone Racing

For Race 5 Broc Feeney was once again on pole position with Cameron Hill alongside him.

Cameron Hill got the jump off the start line and led into turns 1 and 2 for the first of 19 laps. Nick Percat got away to an amazing start from position 3 on the grid and tried to go around the outside of Cameron Hill. It didn’t work so he had to stay put for the time being.

Ryan Wood made contact with Jack Le Brocq sending him into the fence at turn 5. The safety car was deployed to remove Le Brocq. He would not be returning to the race.

The restart was on lap 4. The front runners were still the same, Hill, Feeney then Percat.

On lap 7 the next safety car was deployed to rescue David Reynolds out of the turn 1 sandtrap after being hit by Thomas Randle. The second safety car deployment was affecting the race flow as it was such a short race of only 19 laps.

On the restart the leaders had not changed places and the field was tightly packed.

Feeney lost second place to Nick Percat and then lost another spot to his own teammate, Will Brown.

Cameron Hill held his lead from that very first lap. Leaders were packed close together so there was no room for error.

In the end Cameron Hill crossed the finish line a mere 0.574 seconds over teammate Nick Percat. Will Brown follow in at 3rd place .25 of a second later. Now, that is a tight finish!

Race 5 Results:

1st Cameron Hill – Matt Stone Racing
2nd Nick Percat – Matt Stone Racing
3rd Will Brown – Red Bull Ampol Racing

Will Brown was 2nd on the grid alongside pole sitter Broc Feeney for the start of race 6.

As they took off Will Brown got the jump and led into turn 1 and 2 followed by Broc Feeney for the first of 19 laps.

The first lap turned into a bit of a calamity. Matt Payne was spun around at turn 1. Thomas Randle was also spun around sending him to the very back of the field. David Reynolds got spun around at turn 6. Brodie Kostecki was trying to go around the outside of Ryan Wood but he ran wide at the second last corner losing a few spots. Cooper Murray had a massive lockup after out-breaking himself. James Golding went off the track at turn 11 and got stuck in the gravel trap. The safety car was then deployed and the first lap wasn’t even completed.

Soon after the restart Nick Percat passed Broc Feeney for second place and was 0.508 seconds behind the leader Will Brown.

The second safety car was triggered on lap 7 after Cooper Murray got bogged in the gravel trap at turn 11.

On the restart there was only 4 minutes left on the clock. Will Brown was looking strong for his first race win of the year, while Broc Feeney was being rear gunner so that Nick Percat wasn’t able to attack the leader.

Percat then ran into power steering issues. With less than 4 minutes to go he chose to press on. After all, he was in a podium finish position.

It took the pressure off the two Red Bull Ampol Racing drivers in the lead. Percat was busy staving off Will Davison and Brodie Kostecki’s attempts to take his podium finish.

Will Brown crossed the finish line first and Broc Feeney followed just over half a second later.

Even with the power steering problems, Nick Percat held the other contenders back and took a very well earned 3rd place. He was 4.703 seconds behind Feeney.

It was so tense watching Percat’s last lap and hoping he could hang in there.

Race 6 Results:

1st Will Brown – Red Bull Ampol Racing
2nd Broc Feeney – Red Bull Ampol Racing
3rd Nick Percat – Matt Stone Racing

It had already started raining before Race 7 began and conditions were looking hazardous.

Once again Broc Feeney was to start from pole position with Cameron Hill alongside him.

When it was time to start the conditions worsened and the decision was made to start under safety car (rolling start). As they commenced the warm up lap the rain really came down and sheets of water were covering the track.

Due to the busy schedule of the AGP weekend there was no time to ‘wait it out’ and the race was called off.

It was a big disappointment with no points awarded for the final race.

Never mind, we have the Taupo Super 440 coming up on April 11-13.

I can’t wait. Till then, keep revving!

Supercars

Ned Whiskey Tasmania SuperSprint 2024

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Hi to all you Supercars Fans around the world!

On the weekend of August 16 – 18 2024 was the Ned Whiskey Tasmania Supersprint, round 8 of the 2024 Supercars Championship. it was held.

Symmons Plains International Raceway in Launceston Tasmania was first opened in March 1960. After the closure of the Longford Road Circuit, it quickly established its own reputation as Tasmania’s home of touring car championship motor racing.

The Symmons Plains International Raceway is 2.4kms with 7 turns. This track has been dominated by Triple Eight Race Engineering in recent years. Triple Eight has won at least one race in every Tasmanian round since its first success in the Apple Isle in 2007 with 27 wins out of 40 starts. The only exception being 2013 when Brad Jones Racing took both races.

Mark Winterbottom reached a milestone in this year’s event. In the second race, he started his 600th ATCC race. Winterbottom’s career spans all the way back to the 2005 Darwin Triple Crown. Congratulations!

As the weekend kicked off the results in the pre-race sessions were as follows:

  • David Reynolds was fastest in Practice 1
  • Ritchie Stanaway was fastest Practice 2
  • Cameron Hill was fastest in Practice 3
  • Broc Feeney was fastest in Qualifying

In Race 17 Broc Feeney started on pole position with Cameron Waters alongside him.

At the start of the race Broc Feeney got the jump and led into turn 1 for the first of 55 laps.

At turn 6 Matt Payne got turned around by Will Davison which put both drivers at the back of the pack in 23rd and 24th place.

This year’s championship leader Will Brown started 16th on the grid. He moved up 1 place to 15th.

As they completed the opening laps, last year’s season champion, Brodie Kostecki dropped down 1 spot to 4th when Nick Percat took over 3rd place.

Pretty soon Brodie Kostecki lost another spot to Chaz Mostert.

On lap 8 Broc Feeney still had the lead. Cameron Waters was .6 seconds behind in 2nd place. Nick Percat was 1.6 seconds further back in 3rd.

Will Brown was eager to make up for his bad grid positioning (of 16) and now in 12th place. He seemed keen to get up the front where the action was.

The first car to pit in this race was Ryan Wood on lap 20. He came back out in 22nd position.

Cameron Waters in 2nd place was the first of the front runners to pit on lap 27. Broc Feeney stayed out to make the most of his race lead.

Feeney was now followed by Nick Percat in 2nd and Chaz Mostert in 3rd.

Percat and Mostert then chose to pit on the same lap. The returned to the race in 10th and 12th respectively with Cameron Waters between them in 11th place.

Broc Feeney was ordered to pit next time around.

There were 9 cars yet to stop before the pole sitter Broc Feeney would assume the lead. However, Nick Percat’s pit stop time was so quick he came back out in front of Broc Feeney.

Chaz Mostert returned from his pit stop in 3rd place and on lap 34 did the fastest lap time of the race, 51.732 seconds.

Towards the end of the race Chaz Mostert had to regain 3rd place from Cameron Waters.

Chaz knew he was in contention for a podium finish but still put the pressure on to try get second place or a win. That is the mindset of a champion.

It wasn’t until the final few laps that Mostert took an opportunity to pass Broc Feeney. Chaz Mostert was now in 2nd place and chasing Nick Percat for the number 1 spot.

Mostert ran out of time and in the end Nick Percat crossed the finish line 0.614 seconds ahead of him. Broc Feeney followed in at 3rd 1.783 seconds later.

It really was an exciting and tense finish.

Results for Race 17:

1st Nick Percat – Matt Stone Racing
2nd Chaz Mostert – Walkinshaw Andretti United
3rd Broc Feeney – Red Bull Ampol Racing

In Race 18 Thomas Randle started on pole position. On the front row alongside him was Cameron Waters.

Thomas Randle got the jump off the start line and led into turns 1 and 2 for the first of 55 laps. He was followed by Cameron Waters, Will Brown and David Reynolds in 2nd, 3rd and 4th place. At turn 4 Thomas Randle ran wide and Cameron Waters took the lead of the race.

Cameron Hill was in the front pack but at turn 6 also ran wide and went off the track.

Last year’s season champ Brodie Kostecki had started 8th on the grid. He moved up through the front runners but when he got to David Reynolds in 4th place he struggled to take over.

On lap 8 Kostecki made another attempt but failed and tapped Reynolds car who then spun off the track. It was a dangerous spot to be stranded and the safety car went out.

The majority of the field took advantage of the “yellow flag” to take their mandatory pit stops.

Brodie Kostecki was not out of trouble yet. When Mark Winterbottom was coming in for his stop, Brodie collided with him damaging his own car. For a moment it looked as if he was going to be out of the race. They did manage to make repairs and he resumed a few laps later.

The race officials investigated the incident and once the race resumed issued Brodie Kostecki a drive thru penalty.

The restart was on lap 12. Cameron Waters was still in control followed by Will Brown and Thomas Randle. Broc Feeney moved up to 6th and Chaz Mostert to 7th place.

When Brodie Kostecki executed his drive through penalty he exceeded the pit lane speed (40kmph) and was given another pit lane penalty. He then received a 3rd drive through penalty for another pit lane infringement. It just wasn’t his day.

On lap 20 Aaron Love and Jaxon Evans made contact with each other. Aaron Love was able to continue but Jaxon Evans was stranded and another safety car was deployed.

The restart was on lap 25. On the next lap Matt Payne received a drive thru penalty for disobeying the red light on the pit lane exit.

Through the middle stages of the race the top 10 positions stayed much the same. Cameron Waters was out front followed by Will Brown and Thomas Randle.

Finally, around lap 37 Broc Feeney created some action. He took over Jack le Brocq to take 5th place. Soon after he passed Bryce Fullwood for 4th place.

With 10 laps to go Thomas Randle ran high and wide allowing Broc Feeney to go up to 3rd place. He was now right behind his teammate Will Brown and probably making Brown and Cameron Waters concerned about keeping him at bay.

With 8 laps left Cameron Waters had a healthy lead of 3.096 seconds over Will Brown.  Broc Feeney was close behind Brown and putting in a challenge for second place.

Thomas Randle gave Broc Feeney a bump at the hairpin turn 4. Both cars spun but stayed on the track. By the time they got their cars facing the right direction and got up to speed, they down the order outside the top 10. Thomas Randle was issued a 15 second time penalty for his actions whish pushed him further back.

Cameron Waters kept edging away from the pack. With clear track there was nothing that could stop him.

By the time he got to the finish line Cameron Waters had 6.3 seconds over Will Brown. Bryce Fullwood followed in 3rd place 1.4 seconds later.

The Randle / Feeney incident was an unexpected turn of events in the last laps. It made for some tense moments at the finish. Unfortunately for them, Feeney came in 15th and Randle 18th. It’s a shame that Randle who was leading earlier on, was on his way to his first professional win ended up so far back. For Feeney who looked like he would have at least a podium finish didn’t earn enough points to stay in 2nd place on the season championship ladder.

Regardless, it was a great one to watch.

Results for Race 18:

1st Cameron Waters – Tickford Racing
2nd Will Brown – Red Bull Ampol Racing
3rd Bryce Fullwood – Brad Jones Racing

Will Brown still leads the championship by 81 points over Chaz Mostert. It’s another 120 points back to Broc Feeney in 3rd place.

The next event is the Penrite Oil Sandown 500 September 13 – 15 2024.

Hope you can join me.

Supercars

Panasonic air conditioning Sydney Supernight 2024

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Hi to all you Supercars Fans around the world!

On the weekend of July 19 – 21 2024 the Panasonic Air Conditioning Sydney Supernight was held. It was round 7 of the 2024 Supercars Championship.

The event was held at Sydney Motorsport Park formerly known as Eastern Creek Raceway.

Sydney Motorsport Park was first opened on the 10 November 1990 however, the main event came along in 1992 when the V8 supercars made their first appearance at the circuit. The venue has been host to events such as motorcycle racing, A1 Grand Prix, Touring cars and Muscle Car Masters.

Just 2 days before this year’s event on July 17th 2024, James Courtney announced that he will be retiring from fulltime Supercars racing at the end of season 2025. He is now 44 years old and has been a full time driver since 2006. If he completes next season he will reach the 20 year milestone in Supercars. That is quite an achievement. 

The pre-race sessions started on the Friday. Results were as follows:

  • Ryan Wood was fastest in Practice 1
  • Cameron Waters was fastest in Qualifying
  • Cameron Waters was fastest in the Top Ten Shootout

In Race 15 Cameron Waters started on pole position with Thomas Randle alongside him.

As they took off Thomas Randle got the jump and led into turn 1 for the first of 51 laps.

As the pack got to turn 2 there was contact between Mark Winterbottom and Macauley Jones. Winterbottom’s car suffered damage and he had to head straight for the pits. Macauley Jones was just a victim in the process but he did manage to keep going.

The top 3 cars were reasonably close to each other. Chaz Mostert started to apply the pressure on his former teammate Cameron Waters in a bid for second place.

It wasn’t long before Chaz Mostert found his opportunity and before turn 7 passed Cameron Waters. Chaz Mostert was now in second but was still 2.079 seconds behind race leader Thomas Randle.

On lap 13 Brodie Kostecki was the first to take his pit stop from 24th place.

As they reached into the 20 something laps Thomas Randle pitted from the lead, followed by Chaz Mostert and then Broc Feeney. While Randle pitted it was Cameron Waters who assumed the lead.

In the middle of the race there were 4 cars yet to still pit. Once they did Chaz Mostert took the race lead. He was followed by Thomas Randle and Anton de Pasquale in third place.

Will Davison showed how eager he was and did the fastest lap of the race, 131.505 seconds.

Chaz Mostert’s experience showed as he defended the lead throughout the rest of the race.

Although he couldn’t fully break away from the pack, Chaz Mostert still managed to cross the finish line 2.6 seconds ahead of Matt Payne. A further 4.5 seconds later Thomas Randle came in to take 3rd place.

Results for Race 15

1st Chaz Mostert – Walkinshaw Andretti United
2nd Matt Payne – Grove Racing
3rd Thomas Randle – Castrol Racing

In Race 16 Will Davison started on pole position. Alongside him was Chaz Mostert.

As they took off Will Davison got the jump and led into turn 1 for the first of 51 laps. At turn 4 Will Davison ran wide giving Chaz Mostert the opportunity to pounce and get to the front of the field.

At turn 8 Broc Feeney ran extremely wide causing him to drop all the way down to 23rd place. It just didn’t seem to be his weekend.

On the next lap at turn 2 David Reynolds got up the inside of Matt Payne to enter the top 10 spots.

It didn’t last long, and Matt Payne re-took 10th place back.

The positions up front had not changed except for Will Brown who made up 1 spot to hold 4th place.

Chaz Mostert had extended his lead out to 2.3 seconds over Will Davison in P2. Matt Payne unbelievably got into 7th spot and stayed side by side to Anton de Pasquale down the entire straight.

David Reynolds got into a bind and was trying to avoid leaving the track. Unfortunately, he made contact with Ryan Wood. Brodie Kostecki was behind the two and had no chance to avoid giving David Reynolds a helping bump off the track. What a mess, Kostecki and Reynolds were now at the back of the pack. Ryan Wood fell back to 13th place (unlucky).

The first car to pit in this race was Broc Feeney. He returned to the track in 25th place.

Cameron Waters and Anton de Pasquale pitted on lap 25.

There were still 3 cars yet to pit. Once they took their mandatory stops, Chaz Mostert assumed the lead.

Once again Chaz held his place and even clocked the fastest lap of the race,131.302 seconds.

With 9 laps to go car 26 Ritchie Stanaway had a clutch issue causing his wheels to spin whilst hoisted on the air-jacks in the pits. They tried to resolve the issue but in the end chose to send him back out to finish the race and earn the points. A much better option than a DNF (Did Not Finish).

Chaz Mostert kept edging away from the rest of the pack and the front runners became more spread out. Mostert took advantage of the clear track and crossed the finish line 8.3 seconds clear of Cameron Waters in second place. It was another 8.9 seconds back to Will Brown in 3rd place.

It was great weekend for the Walkinshaw Andretti United team and their driver Chaz Mostert winning 2 out of 2 races this weekend. It was his third win in the 2024 Supercars season.

A look at the Driver’s Championship points after this event shows Will Brown still holds the number 1 spot. He leads by 105 points over Chaz Mostert in 2nd. Broc Feeney’s bad weekend moved him down a spot from 2nd to 3rd. Things are getting mighty interesting!

On the Team’s Championship scoreboard Red Bull Ampol Racing still lead by 805 points over Walkinshaw Andretti United.

Results for Race 16

1st Chaz Mostert – Walkinshaw Andretti United
2nd Cameron Waters – Tickford Racing
3rd Will Brown – Red Bull Ampol Racing

The next event is the Ned Whiskey Tasmania Supersprint 16 – 18 August 2024.

Supercars

Betr Darwin Triple Crown 2024

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Hi to all you Supercars Fans around the world!

On the weekend of the June 14 to 16 2024 was the Betr Darwin Triple Crown.

It was round 5 of the Supercars Championship and held at Hidden Valley Raceway in Darwin, Northern Territory.

Hidden Valley Raceway was first opened in 1986 and is part of a larger motorsport complex. It has a 1 km drag strip alongside the racetrack itself. Originally it was first used as a dirt track, motorcross track and go kart circuit.

Since 1998 it has held an annual round of the Supercars championship.

Mark Skaife won the first ever Supercars race at the venue.

The second race went down in history. Both Holden Racing Team cars were on P1 and P2 on the starting grid but were non-starters and sitting in the garage with the same engine issue. So in a highly unusual situation the race started with the front row of the grid vacant! I don’t recall this ever happening before or since.

This year’s event saw both Will Davison and James Courtney celebrate their 250th round in Supercars.

The weekend started with typical NT winter day, 32 degrees, hot and sunny.

In the pre-race sessions:

  • Will Brown was fastest in Practice 1
  • James Golding was fastest in Qualifying
  • Will Brown was fastest in Practice 2
  • James Golding was fastest in the Top Ten Shootout

As they cars undertook their formation lap for Race 11 Brodie Kostecki who was going to start 11th on the grid had to drive back to the pit lane with engine issues that the team couldn’t resolve. So the defending champ was out of the race even before it started.

James Golding started on pole position, a first in his Supercars career. Alongside him was Broc Feeney.

James Golding got the jump on Feeney off the start line and led into turn 1 for the first of 48 laps.

Between turns 2 and 3 Broc Feeney had a slide and it looked like he was going to turn himself around but somehow, he managed to regain control stay in position.

The gap between the two leaders was 0.186 seconds.

At turn 6 of lap 4 Broc Feeney took the race lead off James Golding. Mark Winterbottom also went through in one swift motion. As a result the polesitter went from 1st to 3rd in a heartbeat.

Will Brown moved up a spot to 5th place and Chaz Mostert who started 22nd on the grid had gained 6 places and now in 16th position.

Soon after Cooper Murray went off the track at turn 1 after getting a helping hand from Jaxson Evans. Evans received a 15 second time penalty for his helping hand.

A lap later Anton de Pasquale also ran off the track at turn 1 and dropped out of the top 10 down to 11th place.

The first car to pit was Ryan Wood on lap 16. A few laps later Matt Payne and Macauley Jones also pitted.

Broc Feeney had a 2.6 second lead over Mark Winterbottom.

The pole sitter, James Golding had slipped back to 7th place.

On lap 24 while Mark Winterbottom and Will Brown were in the pits Broc Feeney was left out on track to do the fastest lap of the race, 108.219  seconds.  He had a lead of 8.4 seconds over Cameron Waters with 8 cars still to take their pit stop.

With 9 laps to go Broc Feeney still had the lead over Mark Winterbottom. Meanwhile Chaz Mostert who started 22nd on the grid was up to 7th place after passing 16 cars on track.

As they counted down the final laps the top 3 places were unchanged with Broc Feeney still in command with cars spread out.

There was no way they could catch Broc Feeney and he never let them gain on him all the way to the finish line. He took the win 8.6 seconds clear of Mark Winterbottom in second place, then it was 1 second back to Will Brown in third. It was an amazing finish.

Results for Race 11

1st Broc Feeney – Red Bull Ampol Racing
2nd Mark Winterbottom – Team 18
3rd Will Brown – Red Bull Ampol Racing

In Race 12 Broc Feeney started on pole position with Brodie Kostecki alongside him.

Matt Payne had electrical problems and didn’t manage to make it out on track in time for the formation lap. The Grove Racing team managed to resolve the issue but had to start the final race of the weekend from the pit lane.

As they took off Broc Feeney got jump and led into turn 1 for the first of 48 laps. Brodie Kostecki had a bad start and Will Brown moved past him to take 2nd position.

As they made their way through lap 1 Andre Heimgartner hit the back of Cooper Murray’s car and bounced up and over the top of him. Bits of cars flew everywhere, both had extensive damage but were able to make their way back to the pits for repairs. The safety car was deployed so the debris could be cleared off the track.

The restart was on lap 4 but back in the pack there was chaos. The green ‘restart flag’ was waved at one only spot instead of the multiple locations around the track. The front runners could see it but the cars further back couldn’t.  As engineers started communicating to their drivers that the race was green some drivers started to speed up but others were still uninformed and sticking to the safety speed limit of 80kmph. It was a mess and looked like there were going to be collisions in the confusion. Luckily, there were no incidents.

The leaders had a good lead on the rest of the pack. Will Brown was putting a lot of pressure on Broc Feeney, but he didn’t want to relinquish the lead.

Broc Feeney soon extended his lead out to 1.3 seconds. On lap 12 he had clear track and clocked the fastest lap of the race, 107.679 seconds.

The first 2 cars to pit were David Reynolds and Nick Percat on lap 18. They returned to the race in 23rd and 24th place.

At this stage Andre Heimgartner received a pit lane penalty for not maintaining the safety speed of 80kph after the incident during lap 1.

In the middle of the race Brodie Kostecki came into the pits from 3rd place and returned to the track in 11th place.  

Broc Feeney came in on lap 26 which temporarily handed the lead to his teammate Will Brown. At this stage there were 10 cars yet to pit including Will Brown. Once those cars took their stops, Broc Feeney would assume the lead again.

Broc Feeney and Will Brown kept edging ahead of the pack. When the final car to pit peeled off the track the 2 Red Bull Ampol Racing cars assumed 1st and 2nd place with a gap of 2.4 second between Broc Feeney and Will Brown. Meanwhile Brodie Kostecki in 3rd position was 8.8 seconds behind.

Broc Feeney and Will Brown were not satisfied and with clear track increased their lead over the rest of the pack.

In the end they crossed the finish line 1.2 seconds apart but a phenomenal 17+ seconds ahead of Brodie Kostecki in 3rd place. It was a great finish to the weekend for the Red Bull Ampol Racing team.

Results for Race 12

1st Broc Feeney – Red Bull Ampol Racing

2nd Will Brown – Red Bull Ampol Racing

3rd Brodie Kostecki – Erebus Motorsport

Congratulations to Red Bull Ampol Racing. Their drivers Broc Feeney taking a win in both races for the event and Will Brown taking a 3rd and 2nd place.

Will Brown still leads the championship, but Broc Feeney’s double win closed the score gap to only 108 points.

The next event is the NTI Townsville 500 on 5th – 7th July 2024.

I hope you can join me. Until then, Live it, Breathe it, Dream it, Drive it!

Supercars

ITM Super 400 Taupo New Zealand 2024

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Hi to all you Supercars Fans around the world!              

On the weekend of 19 – 21 April was the ITM Taupo Super400 held at the Taupō International Motorsport Park in New Zealand.

It was round 3 of the 2024 Supercars Championship and was the first time that Supercars had raced at this new venue.

The Taupō International Motorsport Park circuit first began life in 1959 when the Taupo Car Club carved out a short dirt track to the northwest of the town. Nestled in open countryside with the spectacular volcanic mountain of Mountain Tauhara as the backdrop, the track was soon asphalted and become a bustling venue for the club’s activities. The track length is 3.3 kms with 14 turns.

The event marked a special milestone for David Reynolds starting his 200th round in Supercars.

Last year’s champion Brodie Kostecki also had his 100th race start in Supercars.

The event started on the Friday. The weather was sunny as the weekend kicked off, but temperamental New Zealand weather was wet and miserable on the Saturday. It changed again and was dry for Sunday.

There were two races, 60 laps (200kms) each.

In the pre-race sessions:

  • Chaz Mostert was fastest in Practice 1
  • Matt Payne was fastest in Qualifying
  • Cameron Waters was fastest in the top 10 Shootout

In Race 7 Cameron Waters started on pole position with Will Brown alongside him in P2.

At the start of the race Will Brown got the jump and led into turn 1 for the first of 60 laps.

Tim Slade had a great start from P3 and tried to go in-between Will Brown and Cameron Waters. He made contact with Cameron Waters and both drivers spun around before the first turn. Cameron Waters was able to get his car back to the pits for repairs and return to the race later.  Tim Slade wasn’t so lucky. He was stranded in the middle of the track and the safety car was deployed to clean up. Unfortunately, the damage was so severe Tim Slade was not able to return to the race.

Before the safety car could be deployed Matt Payne and Broc Feeney made contact and spun around at the first turn. It was also immediately investigated to see who was at fault.

Later the stewards found Tim Slade at fault but couldn’t issue a penalty as he was already out of the race. Matt Payne received a 15 second time penalty.

The restart was on lap 5 and Will Brown still had control with a slender lead of 0.688 seconds followed by Andre Heimgartner and Chaz Mostert. Meanwhile the cars further back in the pack were struggling in the wet conditions.

The first car to pit in was Nick Percat on lap 6 from 23rd place .

The drivers back in the pack were finding it difficult to deal with the spray coming up from other cars.

Chaz Mostert did the fastest lap of the race 136.291 in third place. He was 1.3 seconds away from the race leader Will Brown.

Bryce Fullwood got spun around at turn 11 by Jack le Brocq. Fullwood couldn’t get going again because he had no oil pressure. The safety car was deployed to get his car out of the way.

The majority of the field pitted under yellow except for Nick Percat who pitted on lap 6.

Nick Percat was issued a 15 second time penalty for doing 90kmph when the race was under yellow (FCY) and he should have been doing 80kmph.

On the restart Andre Heimgartner assumed control of the race followed by Will Brown and Chaz Mostert. Meanwhile, James Courtney passed Thomas Randle for 7th place.

Will Brown in second place started closing in on the lead.

Brodie Kostecki turned James Courtney in a tussle and Kostecki was issued a 15 second time penalty at his next stop.

Chaz Mostert got up the inside of Will Brown for second place. Will Brown was then under pressure from behind by Will Davison.

By this stage Broc Feeney made it into the top 10 positions.

Chaz Mostert was now only 0.364 seconds behind the lead.

Suddenly the nut from Chaz Mostert’s right rear wheel came off. After the next turn the wheel made its own bid for freedom rolling down the track on its own. What an unusual set of circumstances! He managed to limp back to the pits on three wheels to get a fourth one but it took him out of contention for the race.

With 8 laps to go Andre Heimgartner was looking strong with a 2.052 second lead.

He was being followed by the 2 Shell V-Power Racing Fords of Will Davison and Anton de Pasquale.

Andre Heimgartner kept his spot and crossed the finish line with a 1.171 second win over Will Davison followed by Anton de Pasquale 1.4 seconds behind.

Results for Race 7

1st Andre Heimgartner – Brad Jones Racing
2nd Will Davison – Shell V-Power Racing
3rd Anton de Pasquale – Shell V-Power Racing

In Race 8 Matt Payne started on pole position with Broc Feeney alongside him.

As they took off Matt Payne got the jump and led into turn 1 for the first of 60 laps.

Chaz Mostert had an unusually bad start and immediately lost 6 places taking him all the way down to 15th place.

After a few laps Matt Payne edged ahead to have a 1 second lead over Broc Feeney, followed by Anton de Pasquale in third place.

Will Brown was busting to get in on the action and was putting pressure on Brodie Kostecki in 4th place.

Within the next few laps Will Brown finally managed to get by Brodie Kostecki. His next target was Anton de Pasquale 2.5 seconds ahead in 3rd place.

On lap 13 Broc Feeney found the opportunity to take the race lead off Matt Payne and gained track position.

The first car to pit was David Reynolds on lap 13 coming in from 24th place (the back of the field).

After chasing Broc Feeney for a few laps and making no headway Matt Payne chose to pit. This gave Anton de Pasquale second place 1.8 seconds behind the lead.

Soon after Will Brown got up the inside of Matt Payne who was back in 3rd place. Will Brown now had 1.5 seconds to make up to take Anton de Pasquale in second place.

By the middle of the race the front of the field became more spread out. Broc Feeney had a 2.6 second lead over Anton de Pasquale. Will Brown in 3rd was 2 seconds further behind.

Chaz Mostert was trying to make up for lost ground at the start of the race. He got up the inside of Cameron Hill and was now in 10th place.

At lap 30 Will Brown was significantly faster than the two leaders and gained enough ground to be right on Anton de Pasquale’s tail. It wasn’t too long before Will Brown passed him to take second place.

Broc Feeney and Will Brown were looking strong to score another 1 2 finish.

On lap 48 Will Brown did the fastest lap of the race 127.920. The two leaders had edged so far ahead the gap back to Anton de Pasquale in 3rd place was 16+ seconds.

With 9 laps to go Will Brown was driving so fast Broc Feeney was slowing him down. The opportunity came and Will Brown passed his teammate Broc Feeney for the lead.

Further back in the pack Chaz Mostert re-entered the top 10 and was soon in 7th place.

James Golding who started in 17th on the grid moved into 6th place (a hike of 11 spots).

On the last lap Brodie Kostecki made contact with Richie Stanaway and received a 15 second time penalty (added to his post race finish time). It edged him out of the top 10 to end up in 12th place.

The leaders once again were spread out. Will Brown had control and confidently raced to the finish line with a 3.358 seconds lead clear of his teammate Broc Feeney in 2nd place.

The Jason Richards trophy is awarded to the round winner. Although Anton de Pasquale finished 3rd in both races it still made him the highest points scorer. A great result for him and the Shell V-Power Racing team. Congratulations!

Results for Race 8

1st Will Brown – Red Bull Ampol Racing
2nd Broc Feeney – Red Bull Ampol Racing
3rd Anton de Pasquale – Shell V-Power Racing

Will Brown is still leading the championship with a 71 point lead over his teammate Broc Feeney.

The next event is the Perth Supersprint running from the 17th – 19th May 2024.

I hope you can join me.

Until then, to all you Supercars fans around the world KEEP REVVING!

Supercars

Thrifty Bathurst 500 2024

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Hi to all you Supercars Fans around the world!

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.

I hope you will all join me.

Bathurst 12 hour

Repco Bathurst 12 hour 2024

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Hi to all you Supercars Fans around the world!

On the weekend of the 16 – 18 of February 2024 was the Repco Bathurst 12 Hour.

The Bathurst 12 Hour was first run in 1991 so this year marks a milestone as the 21st running.

The Bathurst 12 Hour is not officially a part of the Supercars season. However, many of the Supercars drivers take part in the grand event. It is made of 4 classes; Pro AM, Silver, GT4 and the invitational class. Being a gruelling 12 hours on one of the most difficult tracks in the country, each car has three drivers that take turns behind the wheel.

Sheldon Van Der Linde claimed pole position and the Allan Simonsen Trophy for BMW team, WRT. Local Broc Feeney of the Triple 8 team qualified his 888 Mercedes to earn provisional pole position.

The race kicked off under safety car in the dark of Sunday at 5:45am. Bathurst is known for its erratic weather conditions but they started with a dry track and no major challenges. For the next 12 hours there was a spectacular display of driving from local and international teams alike.

2024 Bathurst 12 Hour Highlights

On the start, Sheldon Van Der Linde immediately made a break from the pack. Within a few laps he already created a gap of about 10 car lengths but there was still a long way to go.

There were no major incidents before the sun came up and all 25 cars were still on track.

At about the 75 minute mark, number 19 Racing Ginetta G55 GT4 caught fire in the pit lane. They were the first retirement of the race.

The first safety car was deployed after 2 hours 40 minutes of racing when the 701 Vortex spun off the track into the sand trap as it headed towards the S’s. 

As the 12 hour countdown got to 8hrs 36 minutes car number 91 found the fence at turn 2 and came to a standstill on the blind corner.               

A few minutes before they marked the 5th hour of driving, Charles Weerts behind the wheel of the pole sitting car made contact at “The Cutting”. In spectacular fashion his car was out of control and the rear mounted the concrete barrier sliding along for over 50 meters. He was lucky to have not gone right over the top. The damage was so severe # 32 was now out of the race. The team was doing so well throughout the whole weekend it is a great shame they were not able to continue. I am sure they would have been contenders for a win and offered up much more of their competitive driving.

When they were into the 6th hour of racing Bathurst did what Bathurst does. The weather changed completely and the rain came down heavily. At times there were sheets of water covering the track.

Cars were going off the track left, right and centre. The international drivers began sticking behind local drivers who knew the track and how to manage in the wet conditions. Still many cars aquaplaned off the challenging track and there were many moments that had viewers holding their breath.

Local Matt Campbell behind the wheel of #912 had the lead in the Manthey Racing / EMA Motorsport Porsche.

He was challenged multiple times with the biggest coming from the #13 Phantom Global Racing/Team 75 Porsche entry driven by Bastian Buus, Joel Eriksson and NZ local Jaxon Evans. The other challenge came from the SunEnergy1 Racing Mercedes driven by Jules Gounon, Kenny Habul and Luca Stolz.

With 30 minutes remaining there was less than 1 second between the leading 3 cars and less than 8 seconds back to 8th place. It was anyone’s game and there was no room for mistakes.

The rain had stopped but the track was still wet. With leading cars so close to each other the competitive driving was incredibly fierce.

With 15 minutes on the clock the leading Porsche #912 with Matt Campbell behind the wheel edged ahead to create a 5+ second lead. Noone was giving up. Drivers were flying down the straights side by side heading into corners looking for any opportunity to make a pass.

Matt Campbells driving was incredible. He kept the lead in the #912 Porsche and even though the gap closed down to just over 2 seconds, he looked confident and strong on that last lap.

The #75 Mercedes driven by Jules Gounon crossed the finish line within 2.6 seconds to take 2nd place followed by the #22 Audi.

For Matt Campbell this is his second Bathurst 12 Hour win. It also breaks the Mercedes 3 time winning streak.

Results for the 2024 Repco Bathurst 12 Hour:

1st Matt Campbell, Ayhancan Guven, Laurens Vanthoor – Manthey Racing/EMA Motorsport

2nd Jules Gounon, Kenny Habul, Luca Stolz – SunEnergy1 Racing

3rd Christopher Haase, Kelvin van der Linde, Liam Talbot – Melbourne Performance Centre