Hi to all you Supercars fans around the world!
On the weekend of the 7th to the 10th of April 2022 was the Beaurepairs Melbourne 400.
This year marks the 25th time that the Supercars have competed at Albert Park. This is including an appearance at the 2020 event which was abandoned due to Covid 19. The event was cancelled at the 11th hour.
Albert Park is one of the longer circuits in Australia at 5.3km with 14 corners. This event was made up of 4 races, 20 laps each.
The first race of the event marked James Courtney’s 500th start. Wow! Congratulations, what an incredible achievement.
The Formula 1 cars were the main attraction for the weekend so, as support category the Supercars used the secondary pit lane.
Before the racing got underway, F1 drivers Fernando Alonso and Sergio Perez had a spin in Thomas Randle and Broc Feeney’s Supercars around the track. I’m sure it was quite an experience for them.
In the pre-race sessions:
- Anton de Pasquale was fastest in Practice 1.
- Rookie, Broc Feeney crashed at turn 5 causing a red flag.
- Shane Van Gisbergen was fastest in Practice 2.
- Garry Jacobson hit the wall at turn 5 in Practice 2. The impact was so much that another red flag was used so they could move wall back into place.
- David Reynolds was fastest in Qualifying for Race 6.
- Will Davison was fastest in Qualifying for Race 7.
- Anton de Pasquale was fastest in Qualifying for Race 8.
- Will Davison was fastest in Qualifying for Race 9.
In Race 6 David Reynolds started on pole position for the 18th time in his Supercars career. Alongside him was Anton de Pasquale.
Championship leader, Shane Van Gisbergen started in 23rd position at the back of the pack. This was because during Qualifying he got a curb infringement. His lap was disallowed. He came back in to put another set of tyres on. Meanwhile the session was red flagged and he didn’t get back on track to record a lap time.
David Reynolds had a perfect start off the grid and led into the first corner.
Shane Van Gisbergen immediately started charging through the field. Before the first lap was complete, he had gone from 23rd to 19th.
Coming onto the main straight to commence lap 2 the cars were 3 wide but Shane Van Gisbergen was still able to move up three places to 16th by the time they hit turn 1.
The cars up ahead were warned by their engineers that Shane Van Gisbergen was on THE CHARGE!
David Reynolds still had the lead and was holding off Chaz Mostert and Anton de Pasquale.
Garry Jacobson got up the inside of Will Brown and his next car to pass was Will’s teammate Brodie Kostecki.
By lap 3 David Reynolds’ soft tyres began to wear down and his car started sliding. He lost the lead to Chaz Mostert.
Nick Percat also passed David Reynolds dropping him from 2nd to 3rd. It put Walkinshaw Andretti United 1 and 2 on the track.
Lee Holdsworth was in the middle of the field. The team called him into the pits on lap 6 so they didn’t risk his teammate David Reynolds double stacking behind him.
Jack le Brocq (#34) also came in on lap 6 to have the power steering arm looked at.
On lap7 David Reynolds pitted due to blistering tyres. As he peeled off into the pits he was dropping down the order. Race leader, Chaz Mostert also followed him in.
Meanwhile the 2 times Supercars champion Shane Van Gisbergen had gained 17 positions and was now placed 6th. I was amazed! This is no easy feat in a mere 7 laps of a 20 lap race.
When Chaz Mostert and David Reynolds rejoined the race, they were in positions 9th and 10th. At this point the leaders were Nick Percat and Macauley Jones.
On lap 8 at the exit of turn 3 Andre Heimgartner ran straight off the track taking James Courtney with him. Andre Heimgartner was warned with a bad sportsmanship flag for exceeding track limits.
Shane Van Gisbergen had made it all the way up to 4th position before coming in on lap 9 for his one and only pitstop. When he rejoined he was behind Nick Percat and in position 17 with only 4 cars yet to make their stops.
A few laps later all the pitstops were completed and Chaz Mostert was back in the lead followed by David Reynolds and Will Davison. Shane Van Gisbergen made his way up to 5th place.
With clean air Chaz Mostert kept edging further ahead. He was incredibly fast and drove faultlessly. It was soon apparent that he was uncatchable. All he had to do was just hang in there.
With four laps remaining Shane Van Gisbergen passed Nick Percat and Will Davison almost at the same time to put him in 3rd place. It was just incredible. He yelled over the radio comms ‘This is f-ing awesome!’. That really cracked me up.
To play it safe Chaz pulled back on the aggressive driving knowing he had a good lead. In the last few hundred meters he zig zagged to the finish line out of pure joy (That’s why I call him Cheeky Chaz). His next rival was David Reynolds 7.6839 second later followed by Shane Van Gisbergen who had started in 23rd place and finished 3rd. Now that is incredible racing!
Result for Race 6
1st Chaz Mostert – Mobil 1 Optus Racing.
2nd David Reynolds – Penrite Racing.
3rd Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing.
In Race 7 Will Davison started on pole position. Alongside him was David Reynolds. Shane Van Gisbergen started 3rd.
At the start of the race Will Davison got the jump off the line and led into turn 1.
David Reynolds had a bad start and Shane Van Gisbergen immediately took the opportunity and moved into 2nd place.
Broc Feeney hit the wall on the exit of turn 1 after help from Brodie Kostecki.
At this stage Will Davison was looking strong. I was thinking that he may win might win his first race for Dick Johnson Racing and his first race win since Bathurst in 2016.
A few laps later the cars back in the pack pitted early for clear track.
On lap 5 Andre Heimgartner got turned around by Will Brown. Heimgarter’s car was wedged in the wall. The safety car was deployed to tow it back to the pits. He wasn’t able to rejoin the race and received an NC (Not complete).
Shane Van Gisbergen now had the lead.
When Anton de Pasquale came into the pits he was in 3rd place. He couldn’t get car 11 re-fired and was sitting there for what seemed an eternity. As a result, he came back onto the track in 20th position.
By the middle of the race all pitstops were completed. Shane Van Gisbergen was back in the lead.
Broc Feeney (#88) was called into the pits with a front left tyre losing pressure. The Red Bull Ampol Racing team only changed the one tyre and he was back out on the track.
Also, on lap 10 Cameron Waters tagged Will Davison at turn 3 spinning him off into the gravel trap. For the second time, the safety car was deployed. Waters was issued a drive through penalty for his actions.
At this stage Shane Van Gisbergen was looking good for another win. David Reynolds was in 2nd, James Courtney in 3rd and Chaz Mostert 4th.
Cameron Waters served his drive through penalty with 7 laps to go. It dropped him all the way down to 22nd position.
On lap 14 Tim Slade got down the inside of Garry Jacobson for position number 8. He then passed Todd Hazelwood for 7th position.
Garry Jacobson got up the inside of Nick Percat in battle for 9th and 10th place.
With 5 laps to go Shane Van Gisbergen had a 1.6 second lead over David Reynolds, with James Courtney 1.1 seconds behind that. Chaz Mostert was in 4th position.
The races were ‘time certain’. Due to the 2 safety car deployments the race was looking to go overtime. On lap 18 the officials called time + 1 lap (cutting out the 20th lap).
On the last lap Shane Van Gisbergen did his best lap time of the race and increased his lead to 2 seconds.
Mostert was desperate to get on the podium. It was the last lap and he was pushing hard on James Courtney. As they reached the last corner before the home straight they locked horns and James Courtney spun around. Mostert kept going but Lee Holdsworth had taken him over so Mostert was back in 4th where he started.
There was no time for Mostert to make up the lost time.
Shane Van Gisbergen crossed the line 2+ seconds ahead of David Reynolds. They followed by a lucky Lee Holdsworth and then Chaz Mostert in fourth place. It was a dramatic last-minute finish.
James Courtney was so unfortunate and finished in 22nd place.
Results for Race 7
1st Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing.
2nd David Reynolds – Grove Racing.
3rd Lee Holdsworth – Grove Racing.
In Race 8 Anton de Pasquale started on pole position alongside him was his teammate, Will Davison.
Shane Van Gisbergen and David Reynolds were 3rd and 4th on the grid.
At the start of the race Anton de Pasquale led into turn 1 for the first of 20 laps. Will Davison was right behind him. David Reynolds hanging onto 3rd position followed by Shane Van Gisbergen.
Scott Pye went off the track at turn 1 on lap 1
The cars further back in the pack were going off the track left, right and centre. At turn 2 Percat, Hazelwood, Brodie Kostecki, Holdsworth, Jones, Heimgartner and Randle all came off the track but managed to recover.
Scott Pye left the track skiing across the sand trap but he also managed to recover.
It was amazing that the entire field got through turns 1 and 2.
However, on lap 2 Scott Pye came into the pits with a puncture on the front right.
The race leader soon settled into his race pace with a ¾ second lead. There was active battling for positions 2, 3 and 4.
Between turns 9 and 10 on lap 2 Bryce Fulwood went very wide but surprisingly managed a quick return to the track.
By lap 3 Cameron Waters was in the pits changing tyres and dropped all the way down to 22nd position.
The top 4 places were unchanged; Anton de Pasquale, Will Davison, David Reynolds and Shane Van Gisbergen.
On lap 4 Anton de Pasquale locked up leaving the track at turn 1. It knocked him back from 1st to 3rd. Will Davison was the new race leader, with David Reynolds in 2nd place. For Anton de Pasquale who is second on the championship ladder it was a serious blunder.
When Tim Slade and Chaz Mostert came in for their stops he gave the back of Tim Slade’s car a wallop. It was a surprise but not serious and didn’t escalate.
On lap 5 Will Davison was the next to pit, handing over the lead to David Reynolds. Anton de Pasquale was still 2nd, Shane Van Gisbergen was 3rd and his teammate, Broc Feeney was in 4th (only + 2.601 seconds behind). Soon Anton de Pasquale pitted but the top 14 cars were still yet to pit.
By lap 6 Shane Van Gisbergen had taken the race lead off David Reynolds which then gave Shane Van Gisbergen clear track.
Broc Feeney had dropped to 8th place. Then Mark Winterbottom got down the inside of him to take another spot from him.
By the middle of the race Shane Van Gisbergen was back in the lead after pitting.
Shane Van Gisbergen never looked back. He held his lead and increased the gap to 5.6473 seconds by the time he crossed the finish line. Next was Will Davison, David Reynolds and Anton de Pasquale all spread a few seconds apart.
This win for Shane Van Gisbergen also means he has outdone Russell Ingall’s record of 8 race wins at Albert Park. Ingall set this record back in 2003 (19years ago). Im sure it’s quite an honour for Gisbergen.
Results for Race 8
1st Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing.
2nd Will Davison – Shell V-Power Racing Team.
3rd David Reynolds – Penrite Racing.
In race 9 Will Davison started on pole position. Alongside him was teammate Anton de Pasquale. Chaz Mostert started 3rd. The hero of the weekend, Shane Van Gisbergen 6th on the grid.
At the start of the race Will Davison got the jump on his teammate going into turn 1. I was amazed, it was such a perfect start.
However, Jack Smith didn’t have the same launch. He stalled car 4 on the start line and was unable to get it started. The safety car was deployed for it to be removed from the track. Jack Smith Received an NC (Not Complete) without even starting the race!
Shane Van Gisbergen tried to go around the outside of Cameron Waters at turn 3 but it didn’t work.
The cars back in the pack were battling for positions early on. There was quite a lot of movement. About 12 cars shuffled positions with some moving as much as 10 places.
Some others moved up but then moved back, like Tim Slade who got down the inside of Brodie Kostecki at turn 4. Brodie Kostecki then got him back at turn 5.
While the race leaders were staying out because they had track position the others soon started pitting.
I was surprised that leader Will Davison pitted on lap 5. Mostert was in 2nd place and now had the lead. It was only brief. Shane Van Gisbergen took him over moment later.
David Reynolds was keeping out of trouble early on but he was in position 10. He then hit the wall on lap 6 and had to pit. The car couldn’t be repaired and he had to retire from the race.
In the middle of the race all driver pitstops were in the process of being completed. It was now even racing to the finish.
On lap 11 Thomas Randle also suffered the same fate as Reynolds and Smith. He was the 3rd driver forced to retire from the race.
Towards the end of the race Chaz Mostert had the lead again. He had Shane Van Gisbergen putting pressure on him and it looked to be a strong challenge. There were only a few laps remaining.
Shane Van Gisbergen was pushing hard. On lap 18 (2 lap to go) Shane Van Gisbergen’s car gave in under the strain. The front tyre blew out and he was forced into the pits. He must have been extremely disappointed as he is fast enough even to challenge the super-fast Chaz Mostert. It would have meant 3 out 4 wins for the weekend.
Chaz Mostert now had a clear run to the finish line. It earned his second win at the event.
In 2nd place Will Davison followed 5.2 seconds later, with Anton de Pasquale another 1.66 seconds behind. It was an incredible finish to the weekend.
Results for Race 9
1st Chaz Mostert – Walkinshaw Andretti United.
2nd Will Davison – Shell V-Power Racing Team.
3rd Anton de Pasquale – Shell V-Power Racing Team.
The Bathurst 6 Hour was the next event of interest on the calendar. It is always run on the Easter long weekend. It is not part of the Supercars series but is a production car event. Shane Van Gisbergen was meant to defend the title but was unable to due to COVID. Nick Percat sat in for him.
Let’s hope that SVG is on the mend and in good health for the next Supercars event; The Bunnings Trade Perth Supernight on the 30th of April to the 1st of May.
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