Tag Archives: Garry Jacobson

Ned Whiskey Tasmania Supersprint

Hi to all you Supercars Fans around the world!

On the weekend of 26th and 27th of March 2022 was the Ned Whiskey Tasmania Supersprint.

This year marks the 49th time this event has been at Symmons Plains Raceway. This year’s event comprised of 3 races of 44 laps each. It’s a short track of 2.4 km with 7 turns. For these Supercars a lap is just under 50 seconds.

Chaz Mostert came to this event as the current championship leader for the first time in his Supercars career.

Garry Jacobson reached a milestone starting his 100th Supercars championship race on Saturday.

The weekend also provided the opportunity for the defending series champion, Shane Van Gisbergen to move passed the total race win tally of two former Supercars champions, Garth Tander and Scott McLaughlin.

Mark Winterbottom was poised to take over the mantle as the most experienced Supercars driver at Symmons Plains Raceway by the end of the weekend. It was also Mark Winterbottom’s 46th start at this track. He has finished every race at Symmons Plains Raceway. OMG! What an amazing achievement!

For this year’s newcomer to Supercars Brocq Feeney, it will be his first time at this track.

So, as you can see it was promising to be a great event.

In the pre-race sessions:

  • Will Davison was fastest in Practice 1
  • Shane Van Gisbergen was fastest in Practice 2
  • Cameron Waters was fastest in Qualifying.

In race 3 Cameron Waters started on pole position with Will Davison alongside him. The 19 year old rookie, Brocq Feeney earned himself 3rd and Shane Van Gisbergen started 5th.

At the start of the race Cameron Waters got the jump and led into turns 1 and 2 while the cars behind battled for positions.

Will Davison tried to go around the outside of Cameron Waters on the opening lap, but he couldn’t find the right space to make the move. Brodie Kostecki took advantage and moved up to 2nd behind race leader Cameron Waters, pushing Will Davison into 3rd place.

Shane Van Gisbergen was on the charge passing cars left right and centre. Anton de Pasquale was amazed by the driving from Shane Van Gisbergen.

Walkinshaw Andretti united pitted Nick Percat in car 2 early because of damage.

Thomas Randle went out in the weeds on lap 1 and so did Macauley Jones on lap 2.

For the opening few laps Cameron Waters was enjoying the clear air.

The cars back in the pack pitted early on to get clear track.

The first driver to pit was Jake Kostecki in car 56, because he was getting held up by other cars.

Cameron Waters stayed out because he had track position.

Will Davison pitted first so his teammate Anton de Pasquale didn’t have to double stack if the safety car was deployed.

At the end of the first quarter of the race Jack Le Brocq went off the track at turn 2. As he hit the sand trap, he broke the right front suspension. The car was still driveable, but he still headed straight for the pits.

The cars further back in the pack were battling for positions.

Chaz Mostert got up the inside of James Courtney to move up to 10th position.

Shane Van Gisbergen got up the inside of Will Davison who had worked his way back into 2nd place. Moments later Shane Van Gisbergen then took the race lead off Cameron Waters. The Dick Johnson Racing Team reacted, it was now the best time to get Will Davison to bring in car 17 for his compulsory pitstop.

The cars now following Shane Van Gisbergen were battling for 2nd 3rd and 4th.

By the middle of the race Shane Van Gisbergen was still in the lead and looking in shape for his 2nd win of 2022.

Mark Winterbottom turned David Reynolds around at turn 4 and copped a drive through penalty. Chaz Mostert was tailing the two drivers and had nowhere to go. He had a head-on with Reynold’s spun car. Chaz Mostert suffered a lot of damage to the right front and was forced to head into the pits. Reynolds got off lightly and continued driving.

Shane Van Gisbergen held his lead through the second half of the race.

As the defending champion he appeared confident and drove flawlessly. As he came across the line he had just under a 3 second lead over Will Davison and a further spread of almost 3.5 seconds over Cameron Waters.

Chaz Mostert finished 23rd and Broc Feeney held up well finishing 5th.

Results for Race 3

1st Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing.

2nd Will Davison – Shell V-Power Racing Team.

3rd Cameron Waters – Monster Energy Racing Team.

In race 4 Shane Van Gisbergen started on pole position with his teammate Brocq Feeney alongside him.

Brocq Feeney got the jump of the start and led into turns 1 and 2, then pulled away from the pack with his teammate Shane Van Gisbergen playing rear gunner.

In between turns 6 and 7 there was contact between Jack Le Brocq and Andre Heimgartner. It was a brutal run in before the first lap was complete the red flagged was out so they could clean up the mess.

The race resumed with a rolling start and Brocq Feeney got the jump again with his teammate Shane Van Gisbergen right behind him.

While Brocq Feeney was in control of the race, he had full backup from Shane Van Gisbergen.

Further back Mark Winterbottom was moving up through the field really quickly.

Also back in the pack Garry Jacobson was putting in a fierce challenge to Chris Pither.

The other cars came in early because they were getting held up.

Scott Pye was behind his teammate Mark Winterbottom acting as rear gunner.

In the middle of the race Shane Van Gisbergen took the lead off his younger teammate. Brocq Feeney knew he couldn’t pass Shane Van Gisbergen so worked hard at keeping in 2nd place.

Cam Waters and Tim Slade were pushing hard against each other. Tim Slade lost control sliding sideways onto the grass and getting air under all four tyres. On landing it seemed the car should surely roll but it didn’t! A miracle! He kept sliding and crossed the track further ahead. Amazingly didn’t get collected by any other drivers. That’s 2 miracles in about 2 seconds.

Up the front the drivers were holding their positions. Chaz Mostert was chasing down David Reynolds for third place but there wasn’t much opportunity to move up.

Broc Feeney crossed the line only 2.4 seconds behind Shane Van Gisbergen. They were followed by David Reynolds with Chaz Mostert hot on his tail.

It was a brutal race with four drivers served NC’s (Not Complete); Jack Le Brocq leaving before the end of the first lap, Jake Kostecki on lap 7, Andre Heimgartner on lap 11 and Thomas Randall so close to the end on lap 39.

Shane Van Gisbergen had now earned 2 wins from 2 starts for the weekend. The defending champ was showing what he is truly made of.

Results for Race 4

1st Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing.

2nd Brocq Feeney – Red Bull Ampol Racing.

3rd David Reynolds– Penrite Racing.

In Race 5 Will Davison started on pole position with Jack le Brocq alongside him.

At the start of race Jack le Brocq took the lead into the first turn with Will Davison dropping in behind at 2nd.

I was amazed that Jack le Brocq was leading during the opening stages after the damage to his car 34 on the first lap of Race 4.

On lap 2 he locked up of the front wheels at turn 4 and slid out onto the grass. He dropped down the order big time.

Will Davison now had the lead with the unenviable issue of having Shane Van Gisbergen right behind him in 2nd place.

While the leaders were pulling away, the drivers back in the pack pitted early because they were getting held up by other cars.         

Mark Winterbottom was battling with Jack le Brocq for positions 6 and 7.

By the middle of the race all the pitstops were complete and Shane van Gisbergen took the lead of the race.

Although the leading pack was tight it seemed Shane Van Gisbergen could not be passed. He had total control.

He was followed across the finish line by pole sitter, Will Davison and Anton de Pasquale with a desperate David Reynolds less than half a second behind him.

Shane Van Gisbergen had a great weekend earning 3 wins from the 3 starts. What a way to start the year!

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Hi to all you Supercars Fans around the world!

On the weekend of 26th and 27th of March 2022 was the Ned Whiskey Tasmania Supersprint.

This year marks the 49th time this event has been at Symmons Plains Raceway. This year’s event comprised of 3 races of 44 laps each. It’s a short track of 2.4 km with 7 turns. For these Supercars a lap is just under 50 seconds.

Chaz Mostert came to this event as the current championship leader for the first time in his Supercars career.

Garry Jacobson reached a milestone starting his 100th Supercars championship race on Saturday.

The weekend also provided the opportunity for the defending series champion, Shane Van Gisbergen to move passed the total race win tally of two former Supercars champions, Garth Tander and Scott McLaughlin.

Mark Winterbottom was poised to take over the mantle as the most experienced Supercars driver at Symmons Plains Raceway by the end of the weekend. It was also Mark Winterbottom’s 46th start at this track. He has finished every race at Symmons Plains Raceway. OMG! What an amazing achievement!

For this year’s newcomer to Supercars Brocq Feeney, it will be his first time at this track.

So, as you can see it was promising to be a great event.

In the pre-race sessions:

  • Will Davison was fastest in Practice 1
  • Shane Van Gisbergen was fastest in Practice 2
  • Cameron Waters was fastest in Qualifying.

In race 3 Cameron Waters started on pole position with Will Davison alongside him. The 19 year old rookie, Brocq Feeney earned himself 3rd and Shane Van Gisbergen started 5th.

At the start of the race Cameron Waters got the jump and led into turns 1 and 2 while the cars behind battled for positions.

Will Davison tried to go around the outside of Cameron Waters on the opening lap, but he couldn’t find the right space to make the move. Brodie Kostecki took advantage and moved up to 2nd behind race leader Cameron Waters, pushing Will Davison into 3rd place.

Shane Van Gisbergen was on the charge passing cars left right and centre. Anton de Pasquale was amazed by the driving from Shane Van Gisbergen.

Walkinshaw Andretti united pitted Nick Percat in car 2 early because of damage.

Thomas Randle went out in the weeds on lap 1 and so did Macauley Jones on lap 2.

For the opening few laps Cameron Waters was enjoying the clear air.

The cars back in the pack pitted early on to get clear track.

The first driver to pit was Jake Kostecki in car 56, because he was getting held up by other cars.

Cameron Waters stayed out because he had track position.

Will Davison pitted first so his teammate Anton de Pasquale didn’t have to double stack if the safety car was deployed.

At the end of the first quarter of the race Jack Le Brocq went off the track at turn 2. As he hit the sand trap, he broke the right front suspension. The car was still driveable, but he still headed straight for the pits.

The cars further back in the pack were battling for positions.

Chaz Mostert got up the inside of James Courtney to move up to 10th position.

Shane Van Gisbergen got up the inside of Will Davison who had worked his way back into 2nd place. Moments later Shane Van Gisbergen then took the race lead off Cameron Waters. The Dick Johnson Racing Team reacted, it was now the best time to get Will Davison to bring in car 17 for his compulsory pitstop.

The cars now following Shane Van Gisbergen were battling for 2nd 3rd and 4th.

By the middle of the race Shane Van Gisbergen was still in the lead and looking in shape for his 2nd win of 2022.

Mark Winterbottom turned David Reynolds around at turn 4 and copped a drive through penalty. Chaz Mostert was tailing the two drivers and had nowhere to go. He had a head-on with Reynold’s spun car. Chaz Mostert suffered a lot of damage to the right front and was forced to head into the pits. Reynolds got off lightly and continued driving.

Shane Van Gisbergen held his lead through the second half of the race.

As the defending champion he appeared confident and drove flawlessly. As he came across the line he had just under a 3 second lead over Will Davison and a further spread of almost 3.5 seconds over Cameron Waters.

Chaz Mostert finished 23rd and Broc Feeney held up well finishing 5th.

Results for Race 3

1st Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing.

2nd Will Davison – Shell V-Power Racing Team.

3rd Cameron Waters – Monster Energy Racing Team.

In race 4 Shane Van Gisbergen started on pole position with his teammate Brocq Feeney alongside him.

Brocq Feeney got the jump of the start and led into turns 1 and 2, then pulled away from the pack with his teammate Shane Van Gisbergen playing rear gunner.

In between turns 6 and 7 there was contact between Jack Le Brocq and Andre Heimgartner. It was a brutal run in before the first lap was complete the red flagged was out so they could clean up the mess.

The race resumed with a rolling start and Brocq Feeney got the jump again with his teammate Shane Van Gisbergen right behind him.

While Brocq Feeney was in control of the race, he had full backup from Shane Van Gisbergen.

Further back Mark Winterbottom was moving up through the field really quickly.

Also back in the pack Garry Jacobson was putting in a fierce challenge to Chris Pither.

The other cars came in early because they were getting held up.

Scott Pye was behind his teammate Mark Winterbottom acting as rear gunner.

In the middle of the race Shane Van Gisbergen took the lead off his younger teammate. Brocq Feeney knew he couldn’t pass Shane Van Gisbergen so worked hard at keeping in 2nd place.

Cam Waters and Tim Slade were pushing hard against each other. Tim Slade lost control sliding sideways onto the grass and getting air under all four tyres. On landing it seemed the car should surely roll but it didn’t! A miracle! He kept sliding and crossed the track further ahead. Amazingly didn’t get collected by any other drivers. That’s 2 miracles in about 2 seconds.

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Up the front the drivers were holding their positions. Chaz Mostert was chasing down David Reynolds for third place but there wasn’t much opportunity to move up.

Broc Feeney crossed the line only 2.4 seconds behind Shane Van Gisbergen. They were followed by David Reynolds with Chaz Mostert hot on his tail.

It was a brutal race with four drivers served NC’s (Not Complete); Jack Le Brocq leaving before the end of the first lap, Jake Kostecki on lap 7, Andre Heimgartner on lap 11 and Thomas Randall so close to the end on lap 39.

Shane Van Gisbergen had now earned 2 wins from 2 starts for the weekend. The defending champ was showing what he is truly made of.

Results for Race 4

1st Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing.

2nd Brocq Feeney – Red Bull Ampol Racing.

3rd David Reynolds– Penrite Racing.

In Race 5 Will Davison started on pole position with Jack le Brocq alongside him.

At the start of race Jack le Brocq took the lead into the first turn with Will Davison dropping in behind at 2nd.

I was amazed that Jack le Brocq was leading during the opening stages after the damage to his car 34 on the first lap of Race 4.

On lap 2 he locked up of the front wheels at turn 4 and slid out onto the grass. He dropped down the order big time.

Will Davison now had the lead with the unenviable issue of having Shane Van Gisbergen right behind him in 2nd place.

While the leaders were pulling away, the drivers back in the pack pitted early because they were getting held up by other cars.         

Mark Winterbottom was battling with Jack le Brocq for positions 6 and 7.

By the middle of the race all the pitstops were complete and Shane van Gisbergen took the lead of the race.

Although the leading pack was tight it seemed Shane Van Gisbergen could not be passed. He had total control.

He was followed across the finish line by pole sitter, Will Davison and Anton de Pasquale with a desperate David Reynolds less than half a second behind him.

Shane Van Gisbergen had a great weekend earning 3 wins from the 3 starts. What a way to start the year!

Results for race 5

1st Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing.

2nd Anton de Pasquale – Shell V-Power Racing Team.

3rd Will Davison – Shell V-Power Racing Team.

The next event is the Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix from the 7th to the 10th of April.

Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 Supercars

Hi to all you Supercars Fans around the world!

On the weekend of the 4th to the 7th of October 2018 was the 2018 Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000.

It was the 58th running of what has now become the most well known race in Australia.

It was also race 25 in the annual championships.

The weather was poor throughout the preliminaries to the race and the rain and wet track gave additional challenges in fine tuning the cars.

The results of the lead up events proved interesting with the following drivers clocking the fastest times:

·        Practice 1 – Will Davison.

·        Practice 2 – Alex Premat (a co drivers only session).

·        Practice 3 – Richie Stanaway.

·        Practice 4 – Luke Youlden.

·        Practice 5 – Michael Caruso.

·        Armour All Qualifying – Jamie Whincup.

·        Practice 6 David Reynolds and Luke Youlden.

·        Top Ten Shootout – David Reynolds.

·        Warm Up – Scott McLaughlin and Alex Premat.

When it came time for the big race to start the skies didn’t clear but it did stop raining and the track was looking a lot dryer.

For the start of the 161 lap race David Reynolds and Luke Youlden started on pole position, alongside them was Jamie Whincup and Paul Dumbrell.    

I assume I am not spoiling anything about the results by mentioning Craig Lowndes and Steven Richards started 9th.

Erebus Motorsport were running 1st and 2nd during the opening laps due to Jamie Whincup bogging down off the start line. I thought, “It’s a long way to go and there is plenty of time for a pro like Jamie Whincup to make it up’.

Most of the main drivers started the race. The only co-drivers to start the race were Ash Walsh, Tony Dalberto and James Moffatt.

Cameron Waters was not happy with Chaz Mostert due to an incident at Forest Elbow. Chaz Mostert came into contact with David Russel while he was co-driving for Cameron Waters. The car suffered badly in the contact and got a broken steering arm.

Ash Walsh went off track twice due to out braking himself.

James Courtney had an engine failure while his co-driver Jack Perkins was at the wheel. It couldn’t be repaired and they received no point and DNF.

In the first stint David Reynolds went to 23 laps before pitting and handing over to his co-driver Luke Youlden. Luke Youlden ran wide at turn 1 and I thought that the Red Bull cars were going to run 1st and 2nd after but that wasn’t the case. Youlden managed to keep the lead.

The first Vodafone Safety Car was deployed due Dean Fiore slowing down due to hitting the wall at turn 1.

On lap 40 of 161, The Red Bull Holden Racing Team car number 1 driven by Paul Dumbrell was in second place to Luke Youlden. Coming down the main straight he lost a front right wheel, which also took the hub along with it. Paul Dumbrell had a lot of speed but amazingly managed to control the car back to the pits with just 3 wheels!!!! It wasn’t that controlled because at one stage he looked as if he was going to run into the back of Tim Slade. My first thought was, ‘OMG – slow down! Don’t do too much damage’. The end result was going a lap down which to be honest is not a bad effort considering the repairs needed.

They were well into the race when the rain started to come down and most drivers pitted for the correct rubber.  Some teams choose to stay on dry tyres which I thought was a bit risky. I guess it wasn’t that heavy and if it just spits then it is ok to stay on slicks.

In the middle Alex Premat nearly had a massive crash when he was re-joining the race after going off track at the ‘Bottle O Chase’ at high speed. Im sure it wouldn’t have impressed Scott McLaughlin one bit.

Chris Pither avoided an accident which I didn’t think he would pull-off because he was so close to the car in front of him.

Towards the end of the race David Reynolds was still leading with Craig Lowndes following close behind in 2nd place.

Prior to the race David Reynolds stated that he hadn’t been sleeping well and feeling pretty aweful (probably nerves about the big race). As the race moved on past half way David Reynolds told engineers he was cramping and fatigued but still chose to drive on. The team repeatedly asked him if he was OK and he should come in and handover to his co-driver Luke Youlden.  

David Reynolds soon stated he had blurry vision but was still determined to carry on. He was called into pits and given fluids with electrolytes and a few other things.

When he was just about to leave the pits he had another cramp and spun his wheels while still jacked up. He was given a drive through penalty which he had to serve and it just broke his lead that he had maintained all through the race. He even had set a lap record earlier but now it was clear he had to come back in for an unscheduled pit stop to hand over to Luke Youlden. The lost time was too much and they finished up crossing the line luck 13th. It was a sad moment for the Erebus team.

If there was anyone that you would wish was going to be in a position to take advantage, it would be Craig Lowndes. He recently announced his retirement from full-time racing and is considered by many as a great driver plus a hell-of-a-guy! I even wished this win for him as a perfect way to close his last year of full time driving.

It was lap 133 when Craig Lowndes took the race lead and was never headed, meaning no one could catch him. It was a big lead too that no one was closing. He finished an incredible 6.2919 seconds ahead of Scott Pye. The crowd just went wild!

Results for race 25

1st Craig Lowndes & Steven Richards – Autobarn Lowndes Racing.
2nd Scott Pye & Warren Luff – Mobil 1 Boost Mobile Racing.
3rd Scott McLaughlin & Alex Premat – Shell V Power Racing Team.

 

 

The next event is the Vodafone Gold Coast 600 19th to the 21st of October 2018.

 

Can Craig Lowndes and Steven Richards win the 2018 Pirtek Enduro cup?

The 2 races at the Gold coast will be races 26 and 27.

if you have any Questions or Opinions on how the race panned out please feel to let me know via.

https://www.facebook.com/williamsperfectride/

Jason Bright Annuces his Retirement from fulltime V8 Supercars Racing

HI to all you V8 Supercars fans around the world!

Towards the end of the 2017 racing season Jason Bright announced his retirement from full time racing.

In this article we look back at a magnificent career spanning 2 decades.

Jason Bright was born on the 3rd of March 1973 In Moe, Victoria.

At the age of 15 he started racing Go Karts and immediately won championships.

In 1992 Bright raced Go Karts doubling up efforts with his entry to the Victorian Formula Ford Championship.

The following year saw him in the Australian Formula Ford Championship.

He was winning races and championships left right and centre.

Jason started full time touring car driver in 1998. The only year that Jason didn’t race in fulltime was 2000 because he was racing in Indy Lights. He has racked up a phenomenal 572 starts in V8 Supercars races.

In that first 2 years of racing under the Stone Brothers Racing Team he did extremely well and with co-driver Steven Richards won the Bathurst Classic.

The year 2000 was big for Bright. His ended his contract with Stone Brothers Racing and joined Dick Johnson Racing but also entered the Indy Lights, Champcar World Series, Shell Championship Series and the American Le Mans Series.

From 2001 onwards he held 2 year contracts following each other with Holden Racing Team, Paul Weel Racing and Ford Performance Racing(FPR). I am sure one of his career highlights was 2003 in the Bathurst 24 Hour, co-driving with Peter Brock, Greg Murphy and Todd Kelly. With a team like that of course they came in first.

Jason Bright does like to keep busy because in the meantime (2005) he established his own V8 Supercars team, Britek Motorsports with Fujitsu Racing as their main sponsor. He was so busy (and under contract) that he didn’t even have time to race in his own team until 2 years later. So for 2007 – 2009 Jason got to race in his own team. For a number of reasons Britek Motorsports was absorbed into Brad Jones Racing in 2009. He then joined Brad Jones Racing for the 2010 season and stayed with them until 2016.

He signed up with Prodrive racing Australia in 2017 when he felt it was time to hang the helmet up fulltime. He has confirmed he will be doing the Enduro races in 2018.

There are way too many career highlights and statistics to list but here are a selected few thrown in with a few lows:

·       1998 Bathurst Winner
·       1999 Darwin Round Winner.
·       2001 Clipsal winner.
·       Winton 1st 2002
·       Barbagallo 1st 2002
·       Best championship finish was back in 2002
·       1st 2003 Albert park race 1
·       2006 Sandown winner.
·       2005 Jason Bright started his own race team, Britek Motorsports
·       DNF’S Bathurst 2006 2007
·       Abu Dhabi 2nd 2011 race 2

·       1st Barbagallo 2011
·       2014 he had a bad crash
·       Started a total of 17 races in pole position two of which were 2011 at Barbagallo raceway and 2009 at Phillip island
·       20 race wins and 88 podium finishes
·       Competed in 572 V8 Supercars Championship races 

Some of his co-drivers have been:

·       Mark Winterbottom
·       Mark Skaife
·       Thomas Mazera
·       Paul Weel
·       David Brabham
·       Adam Macrow
·       Matt Halliday
·       Andrew Jones
·       Garry Jacobson

Jason Bright’s co drivers for the 1997 Primus 1000 classic was Allan Jones and Scott Preutt. They were driving car number 9.

 Jason Bright also raced at the Le man 24 hours back in 2013.

To have a 20 year career is just fantastic in the sport of racing and to have such phenomenal career is even more unusual.

Well-Done Jason Bright! Enjoy your retirement from full time racing (knew you couldn’t go cold turkey and will be glad to see you in the Enduro races).

Enjoy your next chapter in your life what ever that may hold.

Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 2017

Hi to all you V8 Supercars fans around the world!

On the weekend of the 5th to the 8th October 2017 was the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000.

The Bathurst 1000 is the biggest and most well known race in Australia. Held in Bathurst NSW at the Mount Panorama Circuit, it is a 161 lap race totalling 1000kms and is known amongst fans as ‘The Great Race’. Mount Panorama is an unusual track. The word ‘Mount’ gives it all away. There are lots of ups and downs as it winds its way over the hill. There is approximately 174m between the highest and lowest part of the circuit. It is unusual and makes for a gruelling but spectacular race.

There are so many things that happened over the weekend I couldn’t possibly report on them all so I’m going to limit it to my observations and race highlights.

Greg Murphy who is a pit reporter got to drive Triple 8 Sandman V6 Turbo around Bathurst circuit as a demo for the fans.

A special ‘congratulations’ to Craig Lowndes who made his 24th Bathurst start on Sunday. His co-driver, Steven Richards started his 200th career race at Bathurst. I must say monumental occasions for both of them.

The rookies to have their first Bathurst races were Garry Jacobson, Alex Rullo and Todd Hazelwood.

The Bathurst race rules require teams to complete a minimum of 7 pit stops though out the day. All teams seemed to manage this.

The weather this Sunday was not looking good. Commentator Neil Crompton thought the rain would hit at midday but it hit a lot earlier than that, soaking the track even before the race begun. A setting for a messy Bathurst.

In race 20, Scott McLaughlin started on pole position alongside him was David Reynolds.

It was interesting to note all of the main drivers started the race. Usually it’s the less experienced co-drivers that take the wheel at the start. The heavy rain may have had something to do with this.

At the start of the 161 lap race Scott McLaughlin got to turn 1 first. Mark Winterbottom tried to move past David Reynolds for the 2nd spot but had to pull back realising he didn’t have enough space for the manoeuvre.

On lap 2 Scott McLaughlin went down the escape road coming into turn 23 too fast. Now Chaz Mostert had the race lead.

Shane Van Gisbergen and Craig Lowndes driving close together both left the track on the same corner turn 1, which wasn’t good for either of them.

Later in the race when Shane Van Gisbergen’s co-driver, Matt Campbell jumped in the number 97 Red Bull Holden Commodore he got spun around by Michael Caruso.  By the time he turned his car around and re-joined the race he ended up right at the back of the pack. This didn’t impress the Triple 8 team one bit.

When co-driver Alex Premat took over from Scott McLaughlin that’s when an engine issue started. Alex Premat brought the car in for the team to check it out. It was running off song. They couldn’t work out the problem and Alex Premat was told to push on. He went back out on track but stopped due to no oil pressure at turn 4 known as ‘the cutting’. Any corner is a high-risk spot to break down and the Vodafone Safety Car was deployed. The race was now under yellow.  Car 17 had to be towed back to pits and to the team’s distress was out for the rest of the race. DNF at lap 74! Not even half way through the race.

It was a complete disaster for Scott McLaughlin as the 2017 Championship leader. There is only one other event to go for the year and he will now have to make up 30 points to close the gap on the new leader, Jamie Whincup.

Then 2 laps later, the Preston Hire Racing team of Lee Holdsworth and Karl Reindler left the track also due to engine problems. Another DNF!

Paul Dumbrell was running 3rd going down Conrod Straight and couldn’t see out of the front window because of the heavy rain. Due to some controversy earlier in the year the Triple 8 team made an official request to the V8 Supercars Technical Manager, David Stuart to be allowed to use a squeegee while driving. David Stuart weighed up the risk between visibility and ‘squeegeeing whilst driving’ and permitted its use for this occasion.  

‘Squeegeeing Whilst Driving’ (SWD) a new technical phrase. You heard it here first at Williams Perfect Ride.

With permission now granted, both Paul Dumbrell and Matt Campbell also joined the SWD ranks.

A funny part was, while it was raining the crews had to carry the drivers on their backs out onto the pit lane so that the driver’s shoes didn’t get wet. No driver wants slippery feet going at those speeds.

I couldn’t believe how many cars went off the track throughout the race down at turn 23. It was just crazy.

It was funny to see one of fans up at the top of the hill in McPhillamy Park offering pit reporter Greg Rust a beer before he had to get back down to the pit lane.

As Lee Holdsworth was coming in, David Wall in nearly made contact with him in car 18.

In the middle of the race the Vodafone Safety car came out due to a Kangaroo being close to the track.  In total there were 6 Safety cars.

On lap 141 James Moffat hit the wall at the top of the hill. Once again the Safety Car came out and car 34 was towed from the track. Co-driver Richard Muscat watching intently from the garage must have known what this meant for the race.

Towards the end of the race, at lap 152 Simona De Silvestro had DNF due to a wet track making her lose it at the last turn and hit the pit lane wall. It was so bad the car had to be towed off track. Except for possibly a bruised ego she came out of it fine. It was so close to the end of the race I am sure she and her co-driver David Russell felt terrible. They had done so well throughout the race.

Soon after, at lap 159 with Mark Winterbottom at the wheel, he and co-driver Dean Canto left the track with a DNF. Another casualty of the wet weather, dropping 19 spots from their start at position 3.

The gruelling race took another victim a lap later (160). Nick Percat and Macauley Jones had their car #8 taken from the track and also received a DNF.

As the race drew to a close no one else could catch the top 3 podium spots. The Erubus team with drivers David Reynolds and Luke Youlden finished an amazing 4 seconds ahead of the next team, Scott Pye and Warren Luff. They were followed less than a second later by Fabain Coulthard  and Tony D’Alberto.

The reason why Craig Lowndes surprisingly finished 11th was because he had an issue with his car for the 2nd year in a row.

Also surprisingly, Jamie Whincup finished 20th completing only 124 laps when time was called. This was because his car dropped a cylinder. The team decided to get back out there was better than a DNF. Such bad luck for both of them.

Results for race 20

1st David Reynolds and Luke Youlden – Erebus Motorsport.
2nd Scott Pye and Warren Luff – Mobil 1 HSV Racing.
3rd Fabain Coulthard and Tony D’Alberto – Shell V Power Racing
Team.
4
th Dale Wood and Chris Pither – Erebus Motorsport.
5th Shane Van Gisbergen and Matt Campbell – Red Bull Holden Racing Team.

 

The next event is the Vodafone Gold Coast 600 on the 20th to the 22nd of October 2017.

Interesting to note, Fabian Coulthard has now taken back the championship over Jamie Whincup by 91 points and Scott McLaughlin has now dropped from 1st to 3rd, 97 points away.

This was David and Luke Youden’s first Bathurst win together.

Erebus Team owner Betty Klimenko couldn’t talk because she had happy tears coming out of her eyes.

Congratulations Betty and Erebus Motorsport.