On the weekend of the 15 – 17 September 2023 was the Penrite Oil Sandown 500, round 9 of the 2023 Supercars Championship.
Sandown International Raceway was first opened as a horse racetrack in 1888 (135 years ago) and known as Oakleigh Park. Four years later it was renamed to Sandown Park.
It boasts to be one of the first locations for a motor racing event way back in 1904. However, it didn’t have a dedicated track for motorsports until 1962. The first big event was held in 1965 with a record crowd of 52,379 attending causing traffic chaos in the quiet suburb of Springvale, Melbourne Victoria.
The track is known to be a fast run consisting of two straights, the main straight and a back straight allowing for speeds between 250 and 260kmph. Its layout and high speeds lends itself to endurance races and Supercars have consistently made the Sandown 500 a warm up to the Bathurst 1000.
I imagine its not the favourite track for the Triple 8 team. They have had wins at this location but some very bad luck as well.
In 2012, on lap 159 out of 161 Jamie Whincup was in 2nd place chasing down the lead. Mark Winterbottom made contact with Jamie Whincup forcing him off the track and losing a spot to move back to 3rd.
In 2019 again with only a few laps remaining, Shane Van Gisbergen received a puncture while leading the race. It not only robbed him of a sure win but took him off the podium all together. The only consolation was it gave the lead and win to car 888 of his teammates Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes.
In this year’s event there were no surprises in the pre – race sessions.
Broc Feeney was fastest in Practice 1
Zane Goddard was fastest in Practice 2
Brodie Kostecki was fastest in Practice 3
Broc Feeney was fastest in Practice 4
Brodie Kostecki was fastest in Qualifying.
Will Brown was fastest in the Top 10 Shootout
David Reynolds and Garth Tander were fastest in the warmup.
In Race 23 the two Erebus cars started in the front row. Co-driver Jack Perkins started in the number 1 spot after Will Brown earned them pole position. Alongside them was David Russell, the co-driver for season leader Brodie Kostecki.
The majority of the co-drivers started behind the wheel except for Craig Lowndes and Aaron Love.
At the start of the race Jack Perkins got the jump and led into turn 1 for the first of 161 laps.
The 2 Erebus cars took the lead into the first turn followed by James Moffat, co-driver to Cameron Waters.
Richie Stanaway was co-driver to Shane Van Gisbergen. He started 19th on the grid and was stuck behind the main pack trying hard to look for a gap to move ahead. It was too tight and he just couldn’t do it.
The leaders were starting to edge away while the cars behind settled into their race pace.
Up the front the leaders were tightly packed. Jack Perkins had a slender lead of 0.290 seconds over David Russell.
On the commencement of lap 2 Jamie Whincup passed Garth Tander for 4th position and James Moffat for 3rd. Jamie Whincup was now only 0.328 seconds behind David Russell.
By lap 3 Jamie Whincup seemed to do the impossible and passed David Russell to take 2nd place and find himself only 0.792 seconds away from the lead.
On lap 5 he took the number 1 spot off Jack Perkins at turn 1. From that point on Whincup didn’t make any mistakes.
Just outside the top 10 cars, Zak Best went off the track between turns 1 and 2. The lost time put him to the back of the pack.
On lap 19 the left rear wheel parted company with the car of David Reynolds / Garth Tander. The car slid, turned around, collided into the guard rail and came to a stop. Meanwhile, the wheel continued along the track on its own. After bouncing off the ground it freakishly landed on the rear of the passing Monster Energy Mustang driven by James Moffat and tore the rear wing completely off the car.
With debris all over the track plus Garth Tander stranded with only 3 wheels and facing the wrong way, the first safety car was deployed.
It was truly a bizarre incident! The Reynolds / Tander car was towed from the track and was in such poor shape it wasn’t able to return. Main driver, David Reynolds didn’t have a chance to get behind the wheel.
Lee Holdsworth pitted for repairs while the safety car was still out. The main issue was with the rear diffuser but the team wasn’t able to get it off straight away. They sent the car back out on the track and then called Holdsworth back in once they got appropriate tools ready. The repairs were done before the safety car left the track.
The restart was on lap 26 and Jack Perkins was back in the number 1 spot for Erebus.
Tony Dalberto, co-driver to Anton de Pasquale received a 15 second time penalty for an unsafe pit release.
Jordan Boys had a massive lock up going into turn 1 and went off the track. Surprisingly there was no damage, except for maybe a flat spot on the tyres.
Race leader Jack Perkins exceeded track limits and received a bad sportsmanship flag. This is more a warning than a penalty.
By lap 41 Jamie Whincup regained the race lead pushing Jack Perkins back to 2nd place.
Jaylyn Robotham, co-driver to Cameron Hill made contact with Craig Lowndes. Lowndes managed to keep control and avoided hitting the wall. I have no doubt that any other driver would have suffered significant damage but Craig Lowndes’ experience showed.
Soon after James Moffat got spun around at turn 1 by Dylan O’Keeffe.
On lap 47 Richie Stanaway did the quickest lap of the race.
Jayden Ojeda went off the track dropping him from 3rd to 6th place.
After receiving previous warnings, Mark Winterbottom received a 15 second time penalty for exceeding track limits.
After Jamie Whincup had earlier taken the race lead, main driver Broc Feeney was now behind the wheel. In the middle of the race he had a 6.3 second lead over Will Brown. Brodie Kostecki was a further 12.5 seconds back.
The gruelling length and high speeds of the race were really showing. Macauley Jones was next to receive a bad sportsmanship flag for exceeding track limits.
Craig Lowndes dropped a spot to Andre Heimgartner.
Towards the end of the race Broc Feeney was still holding the lead. On lap 130 he pitted with 18.798 seconds over teammate Shane Van Gisbergen. Shane Van Gisbergen had to wait until lap 131 to take his last pit stop.
On lap 140 of 161 Cameron Hill had to be rescued from the sand trap at turn 9. For such a long race it was surprising that this was only the second time the safety car was deployed.
On lap 147 Chaz Mostert received a 15 second time penalty for making contact with another car.
The gap at the front of the race was closing. Broc Feeney was still out front but only by 0.203 seconds over Brodie Kostecki.
In addition, this was a time certain race and time was running out. The pressure was really on.
With 2 minutes 59 remaining Will Brown ran wide at turn 9 and Shane Van Gisbergen squeezed past to take 3rd place. Shane Van Gisbergen had moved up 16 spots throughout the race. What an amazing drive.
However, a champion like Shane Van Gisbergen is never satisfied with being third and put the pressure on Brodie Kostecki. Kostecki kept his cool and made no mistakes but the pressure from Gisbergen didn’t allow him to pressure Broc Feeney for the win.
In the end Broc Feeney crossed the line with a 0.9816 second margin over Brodie Kostecki with another 2.2 seconds back to Shane Van Gisbergen in 3rd place.
The win earned 888 Race Engineering their 250th race win in Supercars. Wow! What an amazing achievement. Congratulations team.
On the season scoreboard Brodie Kostecki has extended his championship lead to 155 points over Shane Van Gisbergen. Broc Feeney is 3rd with 204 points off the lead. Will Brown is 4th and 294 points off the lead.
Erebus are still leading the Team’s Championship but only by 95 points over the Red Bull Ampol Racing Team.
Jamie Whincup is now a 6 time winner of the Sandown 500. Can he and Broc Feeney do it again at Bathurst?
Results for Race 23
1st Broc Feeney and Jamie Whincup – Red Bull Ampol Racing
2nd Brodie Kostecki and David Russell – Erebus Motorsport
3rd Shane Van Gisbergen and Richie Stanaway – Red Bull Ampol Racing
There are 3 events to go in the 2023 Supercars championship.
900 points left on the table across the final 3 events.
The next event is the Repco Bathurst 1000 on the 5 – 8 of October 2023.
The Bathurst channel begins Monday October 2 on Fox Sports channel 506.
On the weekend of the 19th to the 21st of August 2022 was the Penrite Oil Sandown Supersprint.
This will mark the 52nd event held at Sandown in ATCC – Supercars history. No venue has hosted more rounds than the Melbourne circuit. Its championship race history includes both endurance and sprint events. This weekend’s races will be the 80th, 81st and 82nd championship races to be held at the circuit.
In the opening race Lee Holdsworth will reach a career milestone, his 500th Supercars race start. The defending Bathurst co-champion will be just the 11th driver to achieve the feat, but the first to do so at the same venue as his first career race start. Lee Holdsworth made his Supercars debut at the 2004 Sandown 500. The Friday event will mark the 15th anniversary of the Penrite Racing’s drivers first championship race win at Oran Park in 2007.
Lee Holdsworth has announced his retirement from fulltime Supercars Racing at the end of this season. Congratulations Lee, best of luck for the future.
The weekend kicked off on Friday with the usual practice and qualifying sessions without any surprising results.
Will Davison was fastest Practice 1.
Jamie Whincup was fastest in Practice 2 for co-drivers only.
Cameron Waters was fastest in Practice 3.
Will Davison was fastest in Qualifying.
In race 24 Will Davison started on pole position with Shane Van Gisbergen alongside him.
At the start of the race Will Davison got the jump and led into turn 1 for the first of 36 laps. Shane Van Gisbergen went straight to the inside covering any challenge from Will Brown right behind him. Anton de Pasquale was also making his challenge against Will Brown, but he too couldn’t make the pass.
The cars further back in the pack were settling into their race pace while the leaders were pulling away.
Will Davison had a margin of 0.985 seconds over the defending champion Shane Van Gisbergen.
Meanwhile, Broc Feeney was battling with Andre Heimgartner for positions 8th and 9th. As they approached turn 9 on Dandenong Road, Andre Heimgartner gave Broc Feeney a bump and turned him around. Broc Feeney went from 8th down to 25th position. He had lost 15 spots. The incident immediately went into investigation. After a short while Andre Heimgartner was issued a 15 second time penalty for the driving infringement.
As they crossed the line to commence lap 2 Will Davison only had a 0.720 second lead over Shane Van Gisbergen. It was then only 0.647 seconds back to Will Brown in 3rd place.
James Courtney had gained one place and was up to 6th position.
Mark Winterbottom tried to get up the inside of James Courtney, but he didn’t let the pass happen.
Will Davison couldn’t increase his lead over Shane Van Gisbergen who was sticking to him like glue.
The front of the field was tightly packed. Through lap 3 Shane Van Gisbergen was making it impossible for leader Will Davison to make any headway and kept the gap to about half a second. It was another 0.7 seconds back to Will Brown still in 3rd place with Anton de Pasquale just 0.8 seconds back. Thomas Randle was right behind and putting pressure on Anton de Pasquale.
A little further back in the pack, Brodie Kostecki was close in behind Andre Heimgartner. Cameron Waters had gained 2 places up to 10th and Chaz Mostert had moved up 1 spot into 12th.
Shane Van Gisbergen was still on the tail of leader Will Davison, ensuring the gap didn’t get to more than 1 second.
By lap 5 Brodie Kostecki had gained 6 positions to move into 8th place. His next target was 2015 Supercars Champion Mark Winterbottom.
Nick Percat had gained 5 places to move into 16th position right behind Lee Holdsworth, who had gained 3 places and was in 15th.
There were no changes at the tightly packed front of the field. Will Davison was still in the lead followed by Shane Van Gisbergen, Will Brown, Anton de Pasquale and Thomas Randle. Will Davison never being able to break past the 1 second lead.
On lap 6 Cameron Waters did the fastest lap of the race in 108.659 seconds but was still 6.3 seconds off the lead.
The first car to pit was Scott Pye in car 20 on lap 9. When he re-joined, he came back out in 22nd place.
On lap 10 Andre Heimgartner came into the pits and once done had to serve the 15 second penalty issued earlier. When he re-joined it was in 25th position.
On lap 11 David Reynolds broke the fastest lap time at 108.474 seconds.
It was only on lap 13 that Will Davison managed to break past the 1 second lead over Shane Van Gisbergen.
Anton de Pasquale had dropped back from the top 5 to 9th place and came into the pits at the same time as James Courtney.
In the middle of the race more of the front runners, Shane Van Gisbergen and Will Brown came into for their pit stops. They came back out into 15th and 16th position.
At this point there was 14 cars still yet to pit.
Shortly after, Will Davison and Thomas Randle pitted from 1st and 2nd place.
On lap 19 as Will Davison and Thomas Randle were exiting the pits, Chaz Mostert was entering for his 1 and only compulsory pit stop. Will Davison re-joined as the affective lead of the race followed by Shane Van Gisbergen. and
There were still 11 cars yet to pit.
On lap 20 Thomas Randle got a bad sportsmanship flag for careless driving. A bad sportsmanship flag is only warning to tell the driver that he is running out of lives.
Then on lap 22, Shane Van Gisbergen and James Courtney got a bad sportsmanship flag for exceeding track limits.
On lap 23 Cameron Waters, Broc Feeney and Macauley Jones pitted, leaving Lee Holdsworth as the last car to pit.
Cameron Waters and Macauley Jones re-joined in 8th and 9th position.
With 12 laps to go Will Davison was finally making headway and had increased his lead over Shane Van Gisbergen to 3+ seconds. It was only 0.531 seconds back to Anton de Pasquale.
Lee Holdsworth pitted on lap 24. On the way back out his car stalled which cost a lot of time and he dropped to 24th position.
By lap 25 Will Davison resumed the physical lead of the race and now 3.8 seconds ahead of Shane Van Gisbergen and Anton de Pasquale.
Back in the pack cars in positions 14 to 17 were pretty vigorously battling. I thought Chris Pither was going to make contact with Nick Percat but didn’t. At one stage I thought they were all going to go off the track but somehow, they all stayed on.
On lap 28 Cameron Waters in car 6 also got a bad sportsmanship flag for exceeding track limits.
Chris Pither was dropping down the order quickly because of a delaminating tyre.
With 10 laps to go Broc Feeney was still fighting and got up the inside of Tim Slade for 16th position.
By lap 29 Will Davison had squeezed almost another second onto his lead over Shane Van Gisbergen. It was now 4.765 seconds.
On lap 30 Will Davison broke past the 5 second mark on his lead.
With a clear track and not having to worry about defending his position he kept increasing his lead. In the end Will Davison absolutely dominated the race crossing the line 8.4 seconds clear of Shane Van Gisbergen, followed by Anton de Pasquale.
This was Will Davison’s 21st career victory in Supercars. Congratulations and happy 21st!
Results for Race 24:
1st Will Davison – Shell V-Power Racing Team.
2nd Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing.
3rd Anton de Pasquale – Shell V-Power Racing.
In race 25 Shane Van Gisbergen started on pole position and alongside him was Cameron Waters.
Will Davison started 11th on the grid due to an electrical problem during qualifying. There was no fire but a lot of smoke that filled the cabin of the Shell V-Power Racing Ford Mustang. Will Davison had to pull into the pits and get out of the car. Amazingly they got back out on the track before the end of qualifying and even with this interruption they managed to get a place just outside the top 10.
Chaz Mostert had problems of his own. Engine issues had Walkinshaw Andretti United stumped. Just prior the race they decided to do an engine change! To my amazement they managed this in 8 minutes. Can you imagine dropping your car off at the mechanic and having an engine change in under 10 minutes! I don’t think so.
As they took off from the start line Shane Van Gisbergen got the jump and Chaz Mostert stuck right behind him. Broc Feeney who started in 4th had a good run but was blocked in and had nowhere to go.
As Shane Van Gisbergen led into turn 1 for the first of 36 laps, Cameron Waters was 1 back and 1 wide to Chaz Mostert.
Jack le Brocq went off the track between turns 2 and 3. As he was re-joining he made contact with another car. Unfortunately, it was his own teammate, Todd Hazelwood. The impact broke the left side steering arm of car 34 driven by Jack le Brocq. Todd Hazelwood in car 35 also had damage. He dropped back to 25th place and car 34 dropped 10 places to 24th. They bath limped around the track to make it back to the pits so were the first car in.
Within the first half lap Will Davison had gained 3 spots up to 8th place.
On lap 2 the front runners were still tightly packed. Chaz Mostert was only 0.250 seconds behind Shane Van Gisbergen. It was then only 0.416 back to Broc Feeney in 3rd place.
At turn 7 James Courtney went straight ahead over the top of the curb leaving the track. He recovered quickly enough to block an effort from Tim Slade trying to get up the inside of him so managed to hold onto his position in 14th.
Chaz Mostert’s attack on Shane Van Gisbergen was blocked and the leader was even able to edge further ahead a little to 0.499 seconds.
Broc Feeney was right behind Chaz Mostert putting in an effort to take his place in 2nd.
On lap 5 Cameron Waters and Will Davison made contact. After starting on the front row in 2nd position Cameron Waters had dropped 5 places from 2nd down to 7th position.
As the pack was approaching the end of the back straight, Andre Heimgartner made contact with Scott Pye. As a result Andre Heimgartner went straight ahead at turn 7 leaving Scott Pye and Cameron Waters in a messy battle still on track.
On lap 6 Lee Holdsworth was back in the pack. He was getting held up so pitted to try and get some clear track. No one else followed him into the pits.
The leaders were still bunched closely and Shane Van Gisbergen managed to only just get ahead of Chaz Mostert by 1.1 seconds. Chaz Mostert was tailed by Broc Feeney by a mere 0.563 seconds.
James Golding was the first of the front runners to pit on lap 7. He dropped all the way down to 21st position on his return to the track.
Thomas Randle also pitted on the same lap.
By lap 8 Shane Van Gisbergen could only manage to extend his lead to 1.7 seconds over Chaz Mostert.
Further back in the pack, Mark Winterbottom was putting pressure on Andre Heimgartner for 9th position.
They both pitted on the next lap and re-joined the race in 17th and 18th position.
At this point there were 16 cars yet to pit.
On lap 10 David Reynolds made contact with Cameron Waters on the exit of turn 1 and again on the exit of turns 2 and 3. Cameron Waters then copped another whack, this time from Brodie Kostecki in car 99.
By lap 11 Shane Van Gisbergen had increase his lead to 2.255 seconds over Chaz Mostert. Chaz Mostert had also finally shaken Broc Feeney off his tail and had a gap of 4.223 seconds.
On lap 13 Will Davison pitted but on leaving the crewman still had the rattle gun on the wheel. It didn’t cause any accident but the team was issued a pit lane infringement.
Getting close to the halfway mark of the race on lap 14, two of the front runners came into pit; Chaz Mostert and Broc Feeney. They were fast stops and they came back out in 9th and 10th position.
Jack Smith in car 4 got a bad sportsmanship flag for exceeding the track limits.
On lap 21 Shane Van Gisbergen pitted with a + 14.8 second lead over Cameron Waters who had assumed 2nd place.
Towards the end of the race there were only 3 cars to pit, Tim Slade, Nick Percat and Bryce Fullwood. Once they pitted Shane Van Gisbergen assumed the lead of the race once again.
From that point on Shane Van Gisbergen was in control. He had 3.8 second lead over Chaz Mostert and it was another 7.7 seconds back to David Reynolds.
As the race got close to the finish, Shane Van Gisbergen kept edging away. He just could not be caught. It was faultless driving and he crossed the line 7.5 seconds clear of the rest of the field. Chaz Mostert in 2nd place was followed 4+ seconds by Will Brown.
This was Shane Van Gisbergen’s 15th win out of 25 races this season. That is 60% of the time he has been on the top step of the podium. That is the stuff legends are made of!
Results for Race 25:
1st Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing.
2nd Chaz Mostert – Walkinshaw Andretti United.
3rd Will Brown – Boost Mobile Racing.
In Race 26 Will Davison started on pole position with the defending Supercars Champion Shane Van Gisbergen alongside him.
As they took off at the start Will Davison got the jump and led into turn 1 for the first of 36 laps.
Shane Van Gisbergen was trying to go around the outside of Will Davison but couldn’t make the ground and had to tuck back in behind.
The gap that the leaders had on the on rest of the field was huge.
At turn 3 four cars made contact and spun around to face the wrong way. The drivers involved were Jake Kostecki, Chris Pither, Macauley Jones and Todd Hazelwood. The drivers all got the cars moving again so there was no need for a lap 1 safety car to be deployed. The incident went into investigation but Motorsport Australia took no further action.
On lap 2 Shane Van Gisbergen was on the charge looking for the lead of the race which he got at the second last corner.
Will Davison’s teammate Anton de Pasquale made contact with him and as a result Pasquale’s two front wheels were in the air. He had to come straight into the pits to have the damage on car 11 looked at. While in the pits he had dropped all the way down to 23rd position.
Will Davison also had damage on the front left corner of car 17. The guard was rubbing on the tyre, but he didn’t want to lose 2nd place so didn’t pit. The gap between Shane Van Gisbergen in 1st and Will Davison in 2nd was only 0.141 seconds.
Due to damage caused by the incident on lap 1, Todd Hazelwood had to also pit at the same time as Anton de Pasquale.
During lap 3 Shane Van Gisbergen made a mistake coming out of turn 4. Will Davison tried to take advantage and regain the lead but Gisbergen recovered quickly and fended off the attack.
Behind the two leaders, Broc Feeney was putting pressure on Cameron Waters for 4th position. Chaz Mostert was unaffected in 3rd place.
On lap 6 Will Davison was proving a headache to Shane Van Gisbergen and had done the fastest lap of the race so far 109.365.
Chris Pither who was involved in the 4-car accident on lap 1 finally had to pit for rear tyres and bonnet repair on car 22.
Jack le Brocq and Andre Heimgartner also pitted on this lap.
In the middle of the race Shane Van Gisbergen pitted. On the re-join to the race he only dropped to 8th position.
Shane Van Gisbergen had Chaz Mostert right behind him in 9th but in effect they were battling for 1st and 2nd with the 7 cars ahead still yet to pit. Broc Feeney was behind them in 3rd but was 38 seconds further back.
On lap 20 Cameron Waters and Will Brown pitted from 4th and 5th.
Andre Heimgartner left the track at turn 7. He was issued a bad sportsmanship flag for exceeding track limits.
On lap 23 Will Davison who was in the lead had to pit. Now Lee Holdsworth was the only one left to do so. Once that happened Shane Van Gisbergen assumed the lead of the race.
When Will Davison re-joined the race it wasn’t long before he returned to 2nd place just 2.2 seconds from Shane Van Gisbergen.
Within the last 10 laps Chaz Mostert was under pressure from his ex-teammate Cameron Waters. Right behind them was Broc Feeney trying to look for a gap to make his move.
Mark Winterbottom was further back and he got a bad sportsman flag for exceeding track limits.
Tim Slade had gained 5 spots and was now up to 7th position.
For 2 laps in a row Chaz Mostert was under attack from Cameron Waters trying to earn 3rd place. Chaz Mostert was able to hold him off.
Will Davison was desperate to catch Shane Van Gisbergen and did the fastest lap of the race 108.613 seconds.
Heading down into turn 9 on Dandenong Road, Cameron Waters locked up the front right brakes and went off the track. He came back on in 10th position. It gave Broc Feeney the opportunity he was looking for and he moved up to 4th place.
Shane Van Gisbergen had a 1.3 second lead over Will Davison. It was another 6.6 seconds back to Chaz Mostert then only another 0.605 seconds back to Broc Feeney.
On lap 33 Broc Feeney finally passed Chaz Mostert for 3rd position.
Shane Van Gisbergen held his lead but only just. He crossed the line a mere 0.4611 seconds ahead of Will Davison.
Broc Feeney crossed the line 11.3437 seconds later in 3rd place.
This was Shane Van Gisbergen’s 2nd win for the weekend, earning him a commanding 500 points lead over Cameron Waters in the Driver’s championship for the season. It was also his 70th career win in Supercars. This is the stuff legends are made of. Congratulations Shane!
Results for Race 26
1st Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing.
2nd Will Davison – Shell V-Power Racing Team.
3rd Broc Feeney – Red Bull Ampol Racing.
The next event is the ITM Auckland Supersprint September 9th to the 11th.
On the weekend of the 21st to 22nd of May 2022 was the Winton Supersprint.
This year marks the 33rd time that the Australian Touring Car Championship – Supercars Championship has visited Winton Motor Raceway. The first round was held here in 1985 and since then the only years the championship didn’t visit the venue were 1987, 1996 and 2005. Covid 19 also impacted this event in 2020 and 2021.
A pair of teams reached significant milestones at Winton. Team 18 and Erebus Motorsport both made their 300th championship starts in race 2. Both debuted at the Adelaide 500 in 2013. Erebus originally entered the series running a 3 car Mercedes AMG team.
The second race will also be Jack Le Broc’s 150th Supercars Championship start.
Matt Cook marked his first event as Team Principal at Premier Hire Racing (ex Team Sydney). He has come directly from 888 Race Engineering and the Red Bull Ampol Racing Team where he was the chief mechanic.
The event got started on the Saturday morning. In the pre-race sessions:
Will Brown was fastest in Practice 1
Shane Van Gisbergen was fastest in Practice 2
Shane Van Gisbergen was also fastest in Armour All Qualifying for Race 13.
In Race 13 Shane Van Gisbergen earned his maiden pole position at Winton Motor Raceway. It was his 41st career pole! Alongside him was Cameron Waters.
At the start of the 36 lap race Cameron Waters got the jump and led into turns 1 and 2. Will Brown got an amazing start from the 2nd row of the grid. I thought he was going to take the lead into turn 1 but he couldn’t make it around Shane Van Gisbergen.
Jake Kostecki ran wide onto the dirt at the exit of turn 3 but he kept his momentum only losing two spots.
Mark Winterbottom was slowing on the exit of turn 4 because of an electrical problem. His car completely stopped. It took valuable time to restart. When he got back up to speed he was in 27th position and 10 seconds behind Garry Jacobson in the next car.
Shane Van Gisbergen was in 2nd place to Cameron Waters. Will Brown just behind Shane Van Gisbergen took a massive slide but somehow managed to stay on track and not let anyone through. He had some of the fastest drivers right behind him, so it was an impressive feat. Right on his tail were Chaz Mostert, Lee Holdsworth, Anton de Pasquale, David Reynolds and Scott pye.
Soon after Anton de Pasquale reported his car was handling loosely in the rear. He started dropping down the order ending up in 9th position. Pretty quickly he realised he would have to pit.
Cameron Waters was still in the lead and had a ¾ second gap over Shane Van Gisbergen. He managed the fastest time of the race in sectors 1 and 3.
On lap 6 Nick Percat and James Courtney in 19th and 20th position were the first 2 cars to pit and were in desperate need of clean air. Both teams did rear tyres only.
Thomas Randle came in to get away from the two Penrite Racing cars right behind him as they battled for positions 5th and 6th.
Garry Jacobson pitted on lap 8 to also get out of the way of their fierce battle.
There was only 3 seconds separating the top 5 cars, so the front of the pack was quite tense. Shane Van Gisbergen was only 0.685 seconds behind Cam Waters in the lead.
Cameron Waters had damage to the back of his car from being shunted.
Shane Van Gisbergen reported to his engineer Andrew Edwards, that there was fuel coming out the back of Cameron Waters’ car. Later, Garth Tander went into the Tickford Racing garage to interview team owner, Tim Edwards. When asked about the fuel leak his response was, ‘I don’t think Shane was telling the truth’. LOL. Very cheeky Mr SVG.
Jayden Ojeda and Chris Pither came in on lap 9 for rears only.
Broc Feeney came in on lap 12 to ensure that Shane Van Gisbergen didn’t have to double stack when he wanted to pit. Feeney re-joined the race in 21st position.
Walkinshaw Andretti United brought Chaz Mostert in on lap 13 to cover off the threat from Grove Racing’s David Reynolds who was hot on his tail. They did a 3.8 second stop and Chaz Mostert re-joined the race in 20th position with plenty of empty track in front and behind. He was 10.145 seconds behind from leader Cameron Waters. Broc Feeney in 21st place was 44+ seconds behind the leader.
By the middle of the race all the drivers had completed their mandatory pit stops and Cameron Waters was back in the lead!
Shane Van Gisbergen spent the rest of the race trying to find a way around Cameron Waters but just couldn’t manage it. Cameron Waters defensive driving had him stumped.
Just before the final corner heading to the finish line the two made contact. Shane Van Gisbergen’s front right took a massive hit and it broke the steering arm. The car was still running and magically he was able to make the last bend and follow Cam Waters to the finish line. (How do you make a turn with a broken steering arm? – Only ‘SVG the Magician’ knows that secret.)
Its standard practice to drive cars (with all their advertising livery) to the podium to accept trophies. On this occasion Shane Van Gisbergen got to the podium in a golf cart. LOL.
All round this was a fantastic race to start the weekend.
Results for Race 13:
1st Cameron Waters – Tickford Racing. 2nd Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing. 3rd David Reynolds – Grove Racing.
In Race 14 Cameron Waters started on pole position alongside him was Shane Van Gisbergen.
At the start of the race Cameron Waters led into turns 1 and 2.
Reynolds in 3rd place tried to get up the inside of Shane Van Gisbergen at turn 3. The attempt failed and left him wide on the track. Chaz Mostert took the opportunity and moved up into 3rd. Reynolds teammate Lee Holdworth was right behind and allowed him back into the racing line at position 4.
When Jayden Ojeda went off the track at turn 4 with assistance from Jordan Boys and then re-joined in 27th position.
Brodie Kostecki got tagged by Broc Feeney in between turns 6 and 7 in the opening lap congestion.
At turn 9 Will Davison was pushed wide onto the dirt by Le Brocq on the inside. He had Courtney right on his tail so he could break suddenly. With both left wheels out on the dirt he managed to keep a straight line and get back on track.
Davison paid back Jack Le Brocq giving him a nudge at turn 10 forcing his right wheels off track onto the dirt. Will Davison and James Courtney both passed Jack Le Brocq and seconds later he was passed again by Thomas Randle.
Thomas Randle ran wide between turns 11 and 12 and he caught a little bit of dirt as well.
At the front of the race Cameron Waters was still the leader with a .6 of a second gap ahead of Shane Van Gisbergen.
The drivers behind Shane Van Gisbergen were Chaz Mostert, David Reynolds, Lee Holdsworth, Andre Heimgartner, Will Brown, Mark Winterbottom, Anton de Pasquale, Brodie Kostecki and Broc Feeney.
By lap 3 David Reynolds and Lee Holdsworth were still in 4th and 5th with Andre Heimgartner close behind in 6th position.
By lap 5 the gap between Cameron Waters and Shane Van Gisbergen in 1st and 2nd hadn’t changed much, ¾ of a second.
Engineer, Adam de Borre asked Chaz Mostert to find some fresh air for the engine. Things were obviously heating up. He couldn’t take it easy with David Reynolds on his tail putting the pressure on.
Will Brown was the first car to pit in this race, followed by James Courtney and Thomas Randle. Thomas Randle’s stop was exceptional, timed at 4 seconds.
On exiting the pits Will Brown made contact with Thomas Randle. They couldn’t hold everyone so pressed on.
The next 2 cars to pit were Scott Pye and Jack Le Brocq. Soon after it was Maculey Jones.
Mark Winterbottom pitted on lap 14 in 5.02 seconds. Surprisingly, at this stage there were 17 cars yet to pit.
Scott Pye slowed on the track between turns 5 and 6. Once again his engineer Richard Hollway declared another power steering problem. A problem that has plagued the team since round 1, race 1.
Chaz Mostert pitted on lap 15 and re-joined in 18th position with 16 cars yet to pit.
Shane Van Gisbergen pitted on lap 16. Cameron Waters also pitted on the same lap.
On lap 17 Shane Van Gisbergen passed Cameron Waters to take the affective lead of the race (taking into consideration there were still 13 cars yet to pit).
Shane Van Gisbergen’s driving was faultless and Cameron Waters couldn’t keep up. Gisbergen kept inching away. He crossed the finish line 5+ seconds ahead of Cameron Waters, followed by David Reynolds a further 3+ seconds later.
The defending Supercars Champion, Shane Van Gisbergen now leads the championship by 281 points.
Results for Race 14:
1st Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing. 2nd Cameron Waters – Tickford Racing. 3rd David Reynolds – Grove Racing.
In race 15 it was the two stars of the weekend at the front of the grid. Cameron Waters was on pole with Shane Van Gisbergen alongside him.
At the start of the race Cameron Waters once again got the jump off the line and led into turn 1 and 2. Andre Heimgartner moved up to 2nd dropping Shane Van Gisbergen back to 3rd.
David Reynolds got the best start from the front group of cars moving up 2 spots almost immediately. Shane Van Gisbergen was lucky to not to lose another spot to David Reynolds as he almost got up the inside at turn 3.
Lee Holdsworth got up the inside of Broc Feeney for position 10 between turns 5 and 6.
Meanwhile the cars back in the field were settling down into their race pace.
The front and the back of Jack Smith’s car had been damaged. He was struggling to see the apex of the corners because of the smashed up bonnet. He managed to get around the track but had to pit at the end of lap 1.
Tim Slade had smoke coming of the back of the Cool Drive Ford Mustang. Even after pitting the car was still giving off smoke for the next few laps.
Macauley Jones got down the inside of Todd Hazelwood and Scott Pye followed him. Jack le Brocq was sliding on the way out of the final corner, turn 12.
In the opening lap Cameron Waters drove the best lap time of the race. It clocked in at 1min 25.8s and gave him the 0.609 second lead over Andre Heimgartner.
After lap 1 there was a lot movement in the top 10 cars.
Jack Smith re-joined in 27th position after pitting on lap 1. He was getting out of the way of the cars following because he was already a lap down.
Andre Heimgartner kept up the pressure on leader, Cameron Waters. David Reynolds was doing the same thing to Shane Van Gisbergen in 3rd place. The gap between the top 3 cars was 2 seconds.
The leaders were pulling away from the cars back in the pack. From David Reynolds back to Broc Feeney there was a lot of congestion, so the pack were starting to think about pitting to get clear track.
David Reynolds kept right up with Shane Van Gisbergen through a number of laps without losing any ground whatsoever. It was the tiniest gap of only 0.254 seconds.
By the middle of the race all the pitstops were complete and Cameron Waters was back in the lead. He was looking good to win 2 out of the 3 races for the weekend.
Towards the end of the race Shane Van Gisbergen found the space to finally take back 2nd position from Andre Heimgartner. His speed and defensive driving made it impossible for Heimgartner to challenge him. They held their places to the finish line; Cameron Waters followed by Shane Van Gisbergen then Andre Heimgartner.
So once again it was Waters and Gisbergen who swapped 1st and 2nd places in all 3 races on the weekend.
Results for Race 15:
1st Cameron Waters – Tickford Racing. 2nd Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing. 3rd Andre Heimgartner – Brad Jones Racing.
The next event is the Merlin Darwin Triple Crown on the 17th to 19th of June 2022. Super, I cant wait!
Hi to all you Supercars Fans around the world!On the weekend of the 20th and 21st of March was the Penrite Oil Sandown Supersprint.
The event was held at the Sandown International Raceway. It is a famous track of 3.1 kilometres owned by Melbourne Racing Club with a rich history stretching beyond its opening as a raceway in 1962 and the first Sandown 500 in 1964. Prior to this it was a horse racing facilty built in the 19th century.
In motor racing it seems to be a tough and challenging track. History shows that both Ash Walsh and Lee Holdsworth crashed in 2013 and 2014 respectively. Both at the end of the back straight.
As for the event this year, it looked like it was going to be a tough one for the Red Bull Ampol Racing Team. Three weeks ago after the opening round of the Supercars Championship at the Bathurst 500, Shane Van Gisbergen broke his collar bone in a mountain bike accident. He was admitted to hospital for surgery.
With such an injury it was doubtful Shane Van Gisbergen would be racing at Sandown . The team had Garth Tander on stand by to fill in. Even commentator Mark Skaife said that he didn’t think that Shane Van Gisbergen would race but… HE DID!!!.
I am sure Triple Eight had their concerns for Shane Van Gisbergen, as well as the impact on the team and the championship after his double win at the opening event, Bathurst 500.
Results for the Pre-Race sessions:
Jamie Whincup was fastest in Practice 1
Cameron Waters was fastest in Practice 2
Chaz Mostert was fastest in the Armour All Qualifying
Shane Van Gibergen qualified 17th
In race 3 Chaz Mostert started on pole position with Cameron Water alongside him.
At the start of the race Chaz Mostert led into turn 1 but Cameron Waters took the lead between turns 2 and 3.. During the opening stages Mark Winterbottom and Jamie Whincup were flying up to turn 1.
When the pit window opened the front runners stayed out while cars further back pitted.
In the middle of the race the drivers were going nuts because they knew that every pass they made was critical.
As it turned outShane Van Gisbergen started 17th with his broken collar bone and finished 1st ! Wow!. After his double win at Bathurst a few weeks back this was an exciting finish.
What a incredible race. Well done SVG.
Results for Race 3
1st Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing Team. 2nd Cameron Waters – Tickford Racing. 3rd Jamie Whincup – Red Bull Ampol Racing Team.
Regardless of weather reports, races 4 and 5 were wet and created tension out on the track.
Shane Van Gisbergen astounded everyone by being fastest in the Qualifying for Race 4 earning him pole position. Alongside him was teammate Jamie Whincup.
At the start of the race Jamie Whincup took the lead into turn 1 but Shane Van Gisbergern was soon passed him.
Early on in the race Will Davison spun in between turns 2 and 3 and nearly collected Anton de Pasqaule on the re-join. Thankfully that didn’t happen.
The front runners stayed out while the cars back in the pack pitted.
Will Brown was charging through the pack in Race 4 just like Shane Van Gisbergen did in Race 3.
Brodie Kosecki was back in the pack so the Erebus team brought him in to give him clear air.
Once Shane Van Gisbergen took his final pit stop and re-joined he was the clear leader and seemed impossible to catch. Yes, Shane Van Gisbergen won this race too. That was 2 of 2 races for the weekend and 4 out of 4 for the season. Just incredible!
Results for Race 4
1st Shane Van Gisergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing Team. 2nd Cameron Waters – Tickford Racing. 3rd Jamie Whincup – Red Bull Ampol Racing Team.
In race 5 Shane Van Gisbergen again started on pole position with teammate Jamie Whincup alongside him.
During the opening laps Brodie Kostecki was up from 7th to 4th spot which Erebus Motorsport must have been happy with. I bet team owner Betty Klimenco regretted not being there and staying home with her sick dog. Boo hoo! Bow wow!
Will Brown, also from Erebus Motorsport came in early because he wasn’t moving forward.
Chaz Mostert was dogfighting up front for the lead. He just would’nt give in and some spectacular driving was on show. The manoeuvres were just incredible as he traded the lead with Shane Van Gisbergen multiple times. Im sure Shane Van Gisbergen was thinking Mostert was like a fly at a picnic. Just buzzing around and being a pest.
Once again towards the end of the race no one could catch Shane Van Gisbergen.
Incredible! 5 out of 5 races for the season.
Results for race 5
1st Shane van Gisbrgen – Red Bull Ampol Racing team. 2nd Brodie Kostecki – Erebus Motorsport. 3rd Jamie Whincup – Red Bull Ampol Racing Team.
The next event is the Beaurepairs Tasmania Supersprint has been delayed 1 week due to COVID19 lock downs. It will now be run on the 17th and 18th of April 2021.
On the weekend of the 8th to the 10th of November 2019 was the Penrite Oil Sandown 500.
Results for the pre – race sessions were as follows:
Garth Tander was fastest in practice 1 for co-drivers
David Reynolds was fastest in Practice 2
Craig Lowndes was fastest in Practice 3
Scott Pye & Warren Luff were fastest in the warm up for the Sandown 500.
Scott McLaughlin was fastest in Practice 4 & Armour All Qualifying for Race 28
Craig Lowndes won Race 28
Jamie Whincup won Race 29
Before the race on Sunday the Supercars community at Sandown paid tribute to the life of Mike Raymond, who passed away a few days earlier at the age of 76. Mike Raymond was most well known as a commentator in the late 80s, early 90s. He gave so much to the sport, our condolences to his family and all that knew him. If anyone has a good memory to share about Mike Raymond please post it on my Supercars Facebook Fan Page. I am sure others would love to hear it. https://www.facebook.com/williamsperfectride/
At the start of the 500 kilometre 161 lap race Craig Lowndes started on pole position, alongside him was Bryce Fullwood from the Dunlop Super 2 Series.
All the co-drivers bar Scott Pye started behind the wheel for the race on Sunday. I guess this is part of the strategy as the co-drivers have to do a minimum of 54 laps and can only do a maximum 107 laps.
Jack Smith was behind the wheel co-driving with Todd Hazelwood in his debut at the Enduro’s.
Both Alex Premat (co-driver for Scott McLaughlin) and Garth Tander (co-driver for Shane Van Gisbergen) started in positions 24th and 25th. These two cars are normally at the front of the grid. Garth Tander’s positioning was caused by Shane Van Gisbergen unable to complete the ‘main driver’ race on Saturday due to to a spin off track from a poorly timed takeover with Anton de Pasquale.
Alex Premat was sentenced to the back of the grid due to officials finding Scott McLaughlin’s engine was over-specced dating back to Bathurst. Quite a drama. If you have a point of view on this please feel free to put it up for discussion on my Supercars Facebook Fan Page.
Without surprise the experienced Craig Lowndes got the jump on Bryce Fullwood off the start line. Further back in the grid 3 cars stalled on the green light causing a fair bit of havoc.
Alex Davison was in one of the cars that stalled and was extremely lucky not to be collected by the cars just behind him.
At the end of the opening lap Tony Dalberto got turned around by Richard Muscat and found himself at the very back of the pack.
Luke Youlden in car # 9 received damage and was missing the rear wing. When he got back to the pits he knew that the day was over. With only 30 laps completed it must have been a big blow for him and his main driver, David Reynolds.
I was actually surprised that Dale Wood and Luke Youlden managed to limp their cars back to the pits. They looked in very poor shape.
Later in the race there was contact between Michael Caruso and Jake Kostecki. This was a really messy situation. It was when Jake Kostecki was merging from the pit lane into the fast lane. It appeared he was unaware that Caruso was coming down the fast lane. Usually the car controller gives the driver warning to yield over the comms when merging back onto the track.
Kostecki was able to continue the race but Michael Caruso’s front left wheel was now at a strange looking angle. With this damage he had to complete a full lap at a slower in order to come back around to the pits.
It merge was deemed as unsafe and the Kostecki Brothers Racing team were issued a drive through penalty.
In the middle of the race the Red Bull Holden Racing Team were running 1st & 2nd. If they could maintain their lead to the end of the race it would also place them at the top of the Team’s Championship ladder. The pressure was on!
But as luck would have it, with only 10 laps to go and in the lead, Shane Van Gisbergen’s car lost a bolt and smoke was coming out of the right rear. He was forced to call into the pits which dropped him from 1st to 17th. Shane Van Gisbergen & co-driver Garth Tander must have been gutted. They had started from the back of the grid in position 24 and worked their way into the lead. That is pretty amazing but it wold have also been Shane Van Gisbergen’s first win at Sandown (and a second win at Sandown for Garth Tander)
It was lucky for the Red Bull Team that Jamie Whincup was just behind Shane Van Gisbergen and able to take the lead for the team. Once he was told that his teammate Shane Van Gisbergen had to pit he knew he had to hold the lead to the end.
This was not difficult for Jamie Whincup and he came across the line first.
It brings Jamie Whincup’s career win total to 117 and Craig Lowndes win total to 110.
However, Shane Van Gisbergen slipping back to 17th meant they only closed the Team Championship points trail from 132 to 116. I’m sure it will be their inspiration to ‘go hard’ in the coming last race of the season, The Newcastle 500.
Results for Race 30
1st Jamie Whincup & Craig Lowndes – Red Bull Holden Racing Team.
2nd Chaz Mostert & James Moffatt – Supercheap Auto Racing Team.
3rd Lee Holdsworth & Thomas Randle – Bottle O Racing Team.
Congratulations to Jack Smith who will be making his full time Virgin Australia Supercars Championship debut in 2020. Read about it in the link: https://www.speedcafe.com/2019/11/13/bjr-confirms-smith-in-expanded-four-car-2020-line-up/
Please feel free to comment on how Sandown went via my Facebook Fanpage.
On the weekend of the 12th to the 14th of April 2019 was the WD-40 Phillip Island Supersprint.
The Fox Sport coverage themed the race around Fox’s hit drama series Game of Thrones, which is about to air their new season on TV. They included a “winner’s throne”, character dress ups and other stuff. I guess it was a bit of fun BUT it had nothing to do with racing so they can take their cross promotion and stick it up their ( x ).
Commentator, Mark Larkham was not at Phillip Island on the weekend due to personal reasons. Andrew Jones filled in for him. I’m not interested in prying into personal affairs but just want to say if its due to some form of tragedy, ‘Larko, our thoughts are with you’.
Last year Scott McLaughlin won both races at this track. With his winning streak so far this season I am sure was geared up and ready to go.
This weekend Supercars trialled closure of the pit lane while a Safety Car is deployed. This is apparently due to safety concerns over the usual mad rush to the pits when the race is flagged yellow. Just think back to Mostert and Kelly’s T-Bone incident in the pit lane earlier this season to see why they are trying to remedy this safety issue. What this will means is that the teams will have to think more strategically about when to take their pit stops.
This doesn’t change what happens when a race is flagged red. All drivers still have to come in from the track. This happened multiple times this weekend, three of which was because the local geese decided to take a stroll out on the track. The first instance was in Practice 1 between turns 6 And 7. Once the geese flew off the practice session resumed. It was kind of funny but also put a horrific picture in my mind of what would happen if they weren’t spotted in the first place.
The results for the pre-race sessions were as follows:
·Anton De Pasquale was fastest in Practice 1
·Fabian Coulthard was fastest in Practice 2
·Scott McLaughlin was fastest in Practice 3
·Scott McLaughlin was fastest in Qualifying for race 9
·Fabian Coulthard was fastest again in Practice 4
In race 9 Scott McLaughlin started on pole position with Fabian Coulthard alongside him.
At the start of the 120km, 27 lap race Scott McLaughlin got the jump on Fabian Coulthard who had to slot behind him in 2nd place.
He tried to go around the outside of his teammate but that didn’t work out, Scott McLaughlin was just too fast.
During the race James Courtney and Tim Slade both had front right tyres go flat when going down the main straight at 260kms/ph. In both incidents I thought they were going to have a massive accident but thankfully for them and their teams they got away with no damage.
Shane Van Gisbergen’s team gave him an incredible 4.7 second pit stop to change tyres. That really is incredible.
When teammate, Jamie Whincup pitted the Car Controller stepped away too early and gave Jamie Whincup the go-ahead. However something went wrong in the communications and the right front wheel man had not been able to finish tightening the nut. Jamie Whincup lost the wheel completely before completing the next lap.
By the middle of the race Scott McLaughlin and Fabian Coulthard had secured their lead on the race.
In the last part of the race Shane Van Gisbergen made contact with Cameron Waters who received damage to his right rear wheel. Cameron Waters was now out of the race. Shane Van Gisbergen however was able to continue without much damage.
Cameron Waters and Jamie Whincup were the only driver to not complete the race. Both of them must have been devastated.
Race 9 finished with Scott McLaughlin and Fabian Coulthard in 1st and 2nd. Andre Heingartner came in 3rd earning Nissan Motorsport (aka the Kelly brothers) their first podium finish for the season. Congratulations!
Results for race 9
1st Scott McLaughlin – Shell V Power Racing Team. 2nd Fabian Coulthard -Shell V Power Racing Team. 3rd Andre Heimgartner – Nissan Motorsport.
Scott McLaughlin was fastest in Armour All Qualifying for race 10, earning him pole position. Alongside him was his teammate, Fabian Coulthard.
Race 10 was a 200km 45 lap race.
Fabian Coulthard got good launch from the start line but Scott McLaughlin still led into turn 1. Once again it made Shell V Power Racing Team 1st and 2nd.
Most of the drivers pitted on lap 5 to make sure they didn’t caught if the Safety Car was deployed. It seemed best to get the stops done as early as possible just in case, because if the safety car did come out the pit lane would’ve have been closed anyway.
Richie Stanaway took to the pits and his teammate, James Golding had to double stack. I don’t quite understand why the team made the decision to call them in at the same time.
Rick Kelly was holding up a bunch of cars and blocking them from getting by. It appeared to be poor sportsmanship. Commentator, Mark Skaife said he was being the modern day John Bowe (a former who also hogged the track regardless of other drivers). I thought that was a good comment.
In the middle of race Tim Slade was on the charge because he had new set of ‘green’ tyres. Most other drivers had long ago fitted their last set of tyres.
Towards the end of race, nobody could catch Fabian Coulthard and Scott McLaughlin. Once again the two Shell V Power Racing Team cars won the race, this time with Fabian Coulthard coming in 1st.
So both Scott McLaughlin and Fabian Coulthard got to sit on the Iron Throne.
This also puts Scott McLaughlin and Fabian Coulthard 1st and 2nd on the championship ladder.
Results for Race 10
1st Fabian Coulthard – Shell V Power Racing Team. 2nd Scott McLaughlin – Shell V Power Racing Team. 3rd Anton De Pasquale – Penrite Racing Erebus Motorsport.
The next event is the Pirtek Perth Supernight on the 2nd to the 4th of May, 2019.
Please feel free to comment on the event or my review via my Facebook Fanpage.
On the weekend of the 20th to the 22nd of April 2018 was the WD 40 Phillip Island 500.
It was an exciting weekend of racing and also marked several milestones; Mark Winterbottom started his 200th round, Rick Kelly started his 500th race and Brad Jones Racing Team competed in their 250th round. So congratulations to all of you.
In the lead up to the race there were a few surprises. In practice 1 both Mark Winterbottom and Chaz Mostert went off at the Southern Loop at turn 2.
During the Qualifying round Fabian Coulthard received a technical infringement due to a rear wing drama so, regardless of earning 2nd position to start race 9 he ended up at the back of the grid in the 26th position. It must have been a disappointing result for him and the team but keep reading and you will see he wasn’t the only one caught out by penalties.
As they lined up for race 9, Scott McLaughlin started on pole position with Jamie Whincup alongside him. As a 24 year old (and regardless of what a great driver he is) Scott McLaughlin surely must have felt the pressure of having a seasoned pro like Jamie Whincup alongside him.
With Fabian Coulthard’s relegation to from second to 26th, Shane Van Gisbergen started 3rd and Craig Lowndes started in 4th spot.
At the start of the 57-lap race Jamie Whincup got the jump into turn 1 first and led early on with Scott McLaughlin close behind him. Mark Winterbottom nearly went off the racetrack approaching the ‘Hayshed’ and nearly made contact with Richie Stanaway, a scenario that would not have made for a good debrief afterwards at Tickford Racing.
I thought Fabain Coulthard would pit early because of where he started but he didn’t.
Shane Van Gisbergen had a steering wheel issue. The Red Bull Holden Racing Team had a new steering wheel all ready to go but it was too big and Shane Van Gisbergen’s knees couldn’t fit under it. The team reversed the decision and somehow they made it through the race without the change. A strange situation if there ever was one.
Craig Lowndes stayed out on track longer than desired because Jack Le Brocq had priority and pitted first.
Jamie Whincup and Scott McLaughlin pitted at the same time. Scott McLaughlin followed Jamie Whincup into the pit lane and whether it was on purpose or not, gave him a nudge from behind.
Then on exiting the pit lane Jamie Whincup turned off his pit lane speed limiter too early. He realised immediately and turned it back on. Unfortunately the mistake would come back to bite him later on.
In the middle of the race I couldn’t stop laughing at Mark Skaife when he said to Neil Crompton, ‘you are Nostradamus’, because he was already predicting the race winner.
Towards the end of the race Scott McLaughlin was being chased down by Jamie Whincup for the race win. Scott McLaughlin prevailed and was just too quick so Jamie Whincup finished 2nd.
Unfortunately for Jamie Whincup his podium finish was a short lived ideal. The officials gave him a 38 second time penalty for his earlier error in turning off his pit lane speed limiter. The time penalty was supposed to be the equivalent to a drive through penalty had it been issued during the race. This was a real downer for Jamie Whincup who now officially finished 14th. Not a great situation for his scoreboard totals. The second and third positions subsequently went to Rick Kelly and Shane Van Gisbergen.
Result for Race 9
1st Scott McLaughlin – Shell V Power Racing Team
2nd Rick Kelly – Nissan Motorsport
3rd Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Holden Racing Team.
4th Craig Lowndes – Autobarn Lowndes Racing.
In race 10 Scott McLaughlin started on pole position alongside him was David Reynolds.
At the start of 57 lap race Scott McLaughlin led into turn 1.
On lap 8 James Courtney who drives for Walkinshaw Andretti United in car number 25 stopped and couldn’t get back into the pit lane due to a broken transaxle. As a result the Vodafone Safety Car was deployed. Then the car had to be pushed up to the pit garage. Regardless of whether the team could fix it or not, he was ‘benched’ due to not being able to get the car back to the pit garage under his own steam.
When Scott McLaughlin was re-joining the race after his first pit stop the timing was just a few seconds late and he had to merge into traffic instead of being ahead of them. This was a costly few seconds and he lost track position.
Craig Lowndes Qualified 13th for race 10 finished 7th and moved up 6 spots from Qualifying spot,
Shane Van Gisbergen performed a lot better on the Sunday after he was Struggling a lot due to a steering drama.
In the middle of the race David Reynolds tried to hold off Scott McLaughlin but it was in vain. Scott McLaughlin had better pace and more grip so he managed to get passed David Reynolds quickly and easily.
Towards the end of the race no one else could catch the top 3 drivers; Scott McLaughlin, David Reynolds and Rick Kelly.
Results for race 10
1st Scott McLaughlin – Shell V Power Racing Team.
2nd David Reynolds – Erebus Motorsport
3rd Rick Kelly – Nissan Motorsport.
The next event is the Perth Supersprint on the 4th to the 6th of May 2018.
Also, the Formula 1 qualifying system used at Symmons Plains, Tasmania will again be used at Barbagallo Western Australia. I can’t wait for it. It should be fantastic!
On the weekend of the 15th to the 17th of September 2017 was the Wilson Security Sandown 500.
Mark Skaife said that the Sandown 500 is the precursor to the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000. I agree and believe it can make the drivers a little overeager to push hard.
It may be why the extra rule on this weekend was to have the seat belts done up and fastened before leaving the pit lane.
Even pre-race I felt it was going to be an exciting weekend. On the final lap of the Armor All Race for the Grid 1, Jonathon Webb locked the brakes at the end of the back straight. This resulted in Todd Hazelwood crashing into the tyre wall at a terrifying top speed of 260 kilometres an hour. This also resulted in Will Davison not racing in Race for the Grid 2 for the main drivers.
Regardless, it didn’t mean that fun was not had. Russell Ingall was in an old Castrol Perkins race suit and wig. Also, Mark Skaife donned a Fox Sports race suit. Whenever I spotted them I couldn’t stop laughing.
In Race 19, Cameron Waters and Richie Stanaway started on pole position with Richie Stanaway behind the wheel. Alongside them were Scott McLaughlin and Alexandre Premat.
It was interesting to note only 2 main drivers started the race. These were Shane Van Gisbergen and Craig Lowndes in cars 97 and 888 respectively.
Craig Lowndes started 23rd due to a DNF in Race for the Grid 2 with a power steering issue.
Shane Van Gisbergen started in position 21.
At the start of what was supposed to be a 161-lap race, Richie Stanaway got the jump and led into turn 1.
Dean Canto got turned around between turns 3 and 4. Ash Walsh also got spun around at turn 4 on the opening lap.
Then Taz Douglas hit the wall at the end of the back straight due to a flat right front tyre. The red flag came out for the Marshalls and Officials to repair the tyre barrier.
The result of the hold-up was the race went to a ‘time certain’ finish. When the race got back underway the clock started ticking.
When the green flag went up, Richie Stanaway took off into the distance which the drivers behind didn’t want to see. Close behind him was Alex Premat.
Early on Tony Dalberto was running inside the top 5.
Paul Dumbrell was running 3rd trying to catch the race leaders up front. However, he knew he had to keep the car ‘straight’ for when he handed it back to Jamie Whincup.
When Paul Dumbrell got a puncture, it was coming out of turn 4 and he knew he had to back right off to reduce chance of damage to car 88.
A lot of tyres let go I think due to the end of the turn 1 curb. The race engineers were telling their drivers to stay off the turn 1 curb edge.
Craig Lowndes pitted early to hand over to Steven Richards ensuring he re-joined with a clear race track in front and behind.
It was funny that Todd Kelly ran wide and collected the Dunlop Break Marker. The only way he could get rid of it was to make sure there were no other cars behind him and brake hard.
In the middle of the race Cameron Waters was back in the driver’s seat being chased down by Scott McLaughlin.
Soon all main drivers got back in the driver’s seat for the run to the checkered flag. With the race becoming ‘time certain’ strategies had changed.
Towards the end of the race no one could catch the top 3 cars. All were Fords; Cameron Waters Scott Mclaughlin and Chaz Mostert.
As the others crossed the line it became a little messy.
Ash Walsh and Tim Slade got excluded from the results due to both drivers not completing the minimum 54 laps.
Taz Douglas was out of the race and received a DNF.
Shane Van Gisbergen was docked 2 grid spots due to spinning Fabian Coulthard earlier on.
Aside from this the other noteworthy points were:
This was Matt Campbell’s 2nd Enduro campaign but first with the Red Bull Holden Racing Team. I was quite impressed with his performance.
Craig Lowndes line of the weekend was perfect. It was like James Bond not the Colin Bond like the Livery is.
HA HA! I Was Laughing at Garth Tander because he was trying to be a camera man while the race was under red flag.
Results for the 2017 Wilson Security Sandown 500 race 19.
1st Cameron Waters and Richie Stanaway – Monster Energy Racing team. 2nd Scott Mclaughlin and Alex Premat – Shell V Power racing team. 3rd Chaz Mostert and Steve Owen – Supercheap Auto racing team.
Ford 1 2 and 3.
The next event is the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 on the 5th to the 8th of October 2017.
On the weekend of the 21st to the 23rd of April 2017 was the WD-40 Phillip Island 500.
It was a fantastic weekend for many reasons, the main being that my Dad & I were actually there.
I am wheelchair bound with Cerebral Palsy and a long list of other issues, so getting to the races is not as simple as purchasing a ticket and booking a room. All sorts of things need to be considered and organised (it becomes damn expensive having to cater for a wheelchair!). In addition, I need someone to accompany me for support needs. So who better than my own dad to come with me? There is no one better to go to a sporting event with than your own father. He will never know how much I appreciate him not just for taking me, but also for spending the time with me and having a blast.
As you can see this was a special weekend for me and I’m really happy to share this experience, personal photos and videos with my readers.
Dad picked up the wheelchair accessible KIA rental from Freedom Motors Australia in St Marys (suburb of greater Sydney area) on the Tuesday. A big “Hello” to their fabulous sales manager, Carolyn Hurst. Thank you for such great, friendly service.
We left on the Wednesday to head down to Victoria ahead of the weekends racing. By mid-afternoon we crossed the border from New South Wales into Victoria and checked into The Comfort Inn Benalla (north east Victoria). There was a mix up with our bookings (due to on-line booking agency) but the operators Di and Brian Hogg, were so friendly and considerate they made sure we got a suitable room without any hassle. It is appreciated that they went out of their way but made it seem effortless and welcoming.
On Thursday morning we headed down to Phillip Island. We stayed at the Coachman Motel Phillip Island operated by a beautiful friendly couple Bill and Monica that also made us feel welcome. If you like a nice garden this is the place to stay. We rested up and got prepared for going out to the track the next day.
When we got to the track on Friday it was raining, so we had to go undercover until it stopped. We then went into “The Paddock” to see which drivers we could catch to get photos with. There was a Triple 8 autograph session but we didn’t know at what time, so we just stayed around the V8 pit paddock and tried to catch up with as many drivers as we could from both the V8 Supercars Championship series and the Dunlop Super 2 series.
I got photos with many of my favourites; Jamie Whincup, Craig Lowndes, Mark Dutton, Roland Dane, Jess Surrey Dane, Tim Schenken, Garry Rogers, Nick Percat, Brad Jones, Chaz Mostert, Cameron McConville, Paul Dumbrell, Dale Wood, David Reynolds, Â Betty Klimenko, Simona De Silvestro and Doctor Carl Le (the official Supersprint medical delegate).
Dad and I also got grid passes from the Red Bull Holden Racing team. Â It was great and we got more photos out on the grid. Then dad and I returned to the pits to watch the race at the back of the Team Vortex garage.
Interesting to note, on Friday at the end of Practice 1 Craig Lowndes had a tyre blowout spearing him into the wall. His car had so much damage he wasn’t able to go out on track for Practice 2. Team Vortex did an all-nighter repairing the car for Saturdays qualifying and race.
Race 5 was 57 laps covering some 250Kms.
The Phillip Island track is known to be a fast track. What I did notice is the number of drive-through penalties received by drivers mostly caused by higher speeds coming around the track and crossing the safety line at the pit entry. Drivers receive a penalty if they cross over the pit line on the track which is to be kept clear for safe entry.
Early on in the race the drivers that got drive-through penalties were Scott McLaughlin Chaz Mostert, Will Davison, Shane Van Gisbergen, Fabian Coulthard, Mark Winterbottom, Tim Slade, Tim Blanchard, Nick Percat, Scott Pye, James Courtney and Simona de Silvestro. There wasn’t consistency in upkeeping the rule so there were a lot of drivers that didn’t get pinged for crossing the pit entry line.
Also there were a high number of tyre blowouts. Thirteen (13) in total. This is unusually high and caused teams concerns about the new regulation Dunlop supersoft tyres being used this season.
Scott McLaughlin started on pole position. Alongside him was Fabian Coulthard.
On lap 1 Scott McLaughlin got the jump on his teammate Fabian Coulthard. Mark Winterbottom was up to 2nd spot by turn 1. Then Fabian Coulthard got that spot back on the exit of turn 4. Shane Van Gisbergen was keeping up with the leaders. He wanted his presence felt even though it was early on in the race. Fabian Coulthard pushed hard to get his 2nd spot back off Mark Winterbottom down at MG corner.
On lap 2 there were a couple of drivers that came into the pits early to avoid the double stacking. For some drivers this paid off.
In the early stages of lap 3 Chaz Mostert was holding 3rd position.
Taz Douglas’ car ran over something on the track and got a puncture causing him to make a spectacular exit off the track, leaving rubber and debris everywhere along the main straight.
On lap 5 Michael Caruso moved up within the top 10 positions.
On lap 7 Scott McLaughlin was still the race leader and he would have got pit priority if the safety car came out onto the track, but it didn’t until later on in the race.
On lap 8 Cameron Waters stayed out on the track to avoid a double stack with Mark Winterbottom. Even though they are not on the same team they share the same pit bay.
On lap 9 Jason Bright was getting held up on the track by his teammates, Mark Winterbottom and Chaz Mostert, so he decided to pit and get a clear race track to re-join on.
On lap 10 Garth Tander was running up front with the leaders so he stayed out on track longer while the going was good. His teammate, James Moffatt was back in the pack so he chose to take the opportunity to pit.
On lap 11 internal footage of Shane Van Gisbergen’s car showed him changing down with just a flick of the wrist. It was done with such proficiency as if it was nothing. It was a very cool thing to see.
On lap 13 Scott McLaughlin was still leading the race until he pitted for tyres and fuel then when he went to re-join the track he saw the red light on due to the Vodafone safety car going passed the pit exit. Scott McLaughlin got a pit lane penalty was because he wasn’t far enough over before he turned in to his pit bay.
On lap 14 Cameron Waters nearly got a punctured tyre due to the fast nature of the Phillip Island circuit. But he eased off and just got away with it.
On lap 15 when the Vodafone safety car came out nearly everyone up the front decided to stay out longer to keep their track position. This seems the right thing to do if there were more than 2 cars up at the pointy end of the field otherwise known as sharp end.
On lap 16 Rick Kelly pitted before the other 3 cars in his team. This was a good strategy call to avoid the ugly double stacking that the teams and drivers hate doing.
On lap 19 Jason Bright was pushing hard to get up into the top 5.
On lap 20 David Reynolds was on the charge trying to stay up with the leaders.
On lap 21 Shane Van Gisbergen was running well trying to get in front of Jamie Whincup but he wasn’t able to.
On lap 22 Fabian Coulthard was pushing hard after having to serve a pit lane penalty for not stopping when the red light was on at the pit lane exit. He admitted to his mistake but that didn’t make him any happier.
On lap 23 Simona De Silvestro was putting pressure on Todd Kelly to pass him at turn 4. Mark Winterbottom was putting pressure on Cameron Waters to get pit priority.
On lap 26 James Courtney was trying to pass Scott Pye to get inside the top 10 to get pit priority for the 2nd round of pit stops.
On lap 27 the drivers were adjusting their anti-roll bars. I assume this was to reduce the chance of tyre blowouts as there had been so many by this stage.
On lap 29 all the drivers were getting their cars ready for the race to the checkered flag.
From that point on it seemed that one could catch the front 3 cars (Craig Lowndes, Fabian Coulthardt, Jamie Whincup) and there seemed that the number of tyre blowouts also changed driver tactics so the chance of a great catch up didn’t look to be on the cards.
In the last 5 laps Craig Lowndes was leading the race. Even though he crossed the finish line first, the 15 second pit lane penalty he received meant he ultimately finished 12th. It must have been a hard pill to swallow considering if he kept the race win it would be his first race win for 2017 with team Vortex and his career tally would have gone up to 106 wins.
Nevertheless, Fabian Coulthard took race win followed by Jamie Whincup, then Garth Tander.
Results for race 5.
1st Fabain Coulthard – Shell V Power Racing Team. Dick Johnson Racing Team Penske.
2nd Jamie Whincup – Red Bull Holden Racing Team.
3rd Garth Tander – Garry Rogers Motorsport.
In race 6 Scott McLaughlin started on pole position alongside him was Fabian Coulthard
On lap 1 of 57 Fabian Coulthard got the jump on Scott McLaughlin. The cars further back in the pack were trying to find clear space.
On lap 2 most of the cars came in to the pit lane, all bar the race leaders.
On lap 3 Will Davison hit the wall coming out of turn 2. The car was damaged but he managed to get it back to the garage. When he emerged from the garage later, he did not look happy at all.
On lap 4 Chaz Mostert was running in 4th which the Supercheap Auto racing team would have been happy with.
Rick Kelly pitted before the rest of the Nissan team.
On lap 5 Jamie Whincup was running in the top 5. Cameron Waters wanted to get passed his teammate Mark Winterbottom to get to the pit box first.
On lap 6 Simona De Silvestro just outside the top 10 was keeping the Nissan Motorsport team happy.
Lap 7 was when the tyre blowouts started happening again. Overall there weren’t as many as in race 5 the previous day. It must have helped that most teams reduced tyre pressure on cars, even though it does affect handling.
On lap 8 Fabian Coulthard came in to the pits before Scott McLaughlin.
On lap 10 Garth Tander made his first pit stop which helped get him out of the traffic and get fresh air for the engine so it didnt get too hot. On the next lap, James Moffatt was in the same situation.
On lap 12 Tim Slade tried to pass his teammate Nick Percat but wasn’t able to get far enough up to make the move stick.
On lap 13 James Courtney came in to pits so that Scott Pye didn’t have to wait later on.
On lap 16 Scott Pye followed James Courtney into the pits and double stacked when the safety car came out. Im sure there was strategy from the team on this choice.
On lap 17 Jamie Whincup was up near the front which he and the team were happy with.
On lap 18 Mark Winterbottom was back on the track after his first pit.
On lap 19 Cameron Waters wanted to be strong during the race which he was.
On lap 20 Chaz Mostert was near the race leaders. His parents, Anne and Eddy Mostert looked proud as the watched the race from the side lines.
On lap 25 the safety car returned to the track to clear up spent rubber. Not moments later, on the next lap Nick Percat had a tyre blowout on the front right hand side of the car. He had to limp straight into the pits.
On lap 27 Todd Kelly and Rick Kelly were battling for positions 11 and 12 in their usual display of sibling rivalry.
The triple 8 Team’s luck had run out. Where in the previous day’s race they didn’t have a single tyre blowout, in this race all 3 cars had blowouts.
I’m sure that the Teams’ big question is ,why? Kevin Fitzsimmons is the Motorsport Manager for Dunlop. He had a lot of to do to find out what would have caused the tyres to blow.
It was lap 41 when Chaz Mostert took the lead. From that point on no one could catch him. Mark Winterbottom tried but Chaz Mostert was in great form and crossed the finish line so forcefully it was as though he had a higher purpose.
Andrew Roberts was down at Phillip Island which was good because Dad and I hadn’t seen him in a while.
My personal experience at Phillip Island for the weekend of racing was memorable. I had a ball with dad.
Results for race 6.
1st Chaz Mostert – Prodrive Racing Australia. Supercheap Auto Racing.
2nd Mark Winterbottom – Bottle O Racing Team Prodrive Racing Australia.
3rd David Reynolds – Erebus Motorsport.
The next event is the Perth Supersprint on the 5th to the 7th of May 2017.
