On the weekend of the 23 – 25 Feb was the Thrifty Bathurst 500.
It was Round 1 of the V8-Supercars 2024 season.
The event consisted of 2 practice sessions, a qualifying session (1 for each of the 2 races) to determine the entries to the top 10 shootout for grid position and finally 2 races of 40 laps / 250km each.
Last season ended with Erebus taking the teams trophy and Erebus driver Brodie Kostecki taking the drivers’ trophy. Will Brown who was Brodie Kostecki’s teammate took 4th place.
It seems this year the drivers from Erebus have abandoned ship. Will Brown is now driving for Red Bull Ampol Racing alongside Broc Feeney after the exit of legend, Shane Van Gisbergen.
Will Brown has joined Red Bull Ampol Racing
On the 30 January 2024 Brodie Kostecki had a massive falling out with Erebus Motorsports’ boss Barry Ryan and left the team. It must have been serious because now the champion has been left without a seat in this years’ competition. Barry Ryan, team owner Betty Klimenko and Brodie Kostecki have all been very tight lipped about what happened to cause the rift.
This first event of the year started on the Friday with 2 practice sessions. The weather was cloudy with consistent rain. Not a surprise at Bathurst which is known for its extreme weather patterns.
Results from the pre-race sessions are as follows:
Broc Feeney was fastest in Practice 1
Will Brown was fastest in Practice 2
Broc Feeney was fastest in Qualifying for both Race 1 & 2
Will Brown was fastest in Race 1 Top Ten Shootout
Broc Feeney was the fastest in Race 2 Top Ten Shootout
On the grid for Race 1 Will Brown started in pole position with teammate Broc Feeney alongside him.
Will Brown got the jump on his teammate off the starting line and led into turn 1 for the first of 40 laps. Chaz Mostert got a ripper of a start from 3rd on the grid and was close behind the two leaders.
Rookie, Ryan Wood went off the track at turn 1 with a helping hand from Tim Slade. The safety car was deployed and the car was towed off the track. I am sure it was not how Ryan Wood envisioned his first race as a rookie.
Race Control looked at the incident and decided to take no penalising action against Wood or Slade.
The restart was on lap 3. Will Brown still had the race lead followed by Broc Feeney, Chaz Mostert and Cameron Hill.
The first 2 cars to pit were Anton de Pasquale and Matt Payne on lap 6. They re-joined one spot from the back of the pack, 22nd and 23rd.
Broc Feeney was tailing leader Will Brown by only 0.934 seconds. On lap 11 he then did the fastest time recorded in this race (208.332 seconds).
Will Brown was the first of the two Red Bull cars to pit to ensure there would be no double stacking at the garage with teammate Broc Feeney. This handed Broc Feeney the lead.
In the middle of the race Nick Percat had the lead. Once he pitted Broc Feeney took back lead control with Will Brown behind him.
Aaron Love hit the wall coming out of The Cutting and damaged the right rear corner of car 3. It was quite a significant hit and he had to limp back to the pits. There was no need to deploy the safety car and later he did manage to return to the race.
Towards the end of the race Broc Feeney and Will Brown were the effective leaders with the 2 cars of Nick Percat and Cameron Waters ahead of them but still yet to pit. Once they pitted the 2 Red Bull cars assumed 1st and 2nd place on the track.
With 9 laps remaining Broc Feeney was still in the lead by 0.871seconds over Will Brown.
On lap 33 Chaz Mostert clocked the fastest lap of the race at 208.113 seconds. This adds 5 point to Mostert’s scoreboard tally.
The competition began to get wild.
On lap 34 the front left wheel came off Cameron Waters Monster Energy Ford Mustang and it went rolling down the track to turn 2. The race went under FCY (Full Course Yellow) to remove the wheel.
With 5 laps to go James Golding went off at The Chase. When he came back on he was alongside his teammate, Tim Slade.
With 2 laps to go Aaron Love hit the wall at The Cutting again! This time the Safety Car had to be deployed to remove the car from the track. He and Ryan Wood were the only two DNFs in the race.
As a result of the deployed Safety Car the race finished under Safety Car conditions. The finish was therefor quite unexciting compared to the action leading up to it.
Broc Feeney came across the line first, followed by Will Brown and then Chaz Mostert.
Results for Race 1:
1st Broc Feeney – Red Bull Ampol Racing 2nd Will Brown – Red Bull Ampol Racing 3rd Chaz Mostert – Walkinshaw Andretti United
In Race 2 Broc Feeney started on pole position, alongside him was Chaz Mostert.
As they took off Chaz Mostert got the jump and led into turn 1.
Meanwhile back in the pack Cameron Hill and Macauley Jones became entangled and spun both cars. They were able to continue but were now at the back of the pack.
Broc Feeney tried to get up the inside James Golding at The Chase. He made contact with Golding and was issued a 5 second time penalty for the driving infringement.
Will Brown had gone up to second place. He was only 0.385 seconds off Chaz Mostert in the lead. Pole sitter Broc Feeney had dropped back to 3rd place.
Matt Payne was the first driver to take his car into the pits on lap 6.
Ryan Wood also went into the garage to rectify a damaged right front steering sustained on the opening lap.
Aaron Love hit the wall approaching the Reid Park section of the track.
Up the front the top 3 cars were reasonably close to each other.
Broc Feeney was asking whether he can pass Will Brown in attempt to make up for the 5 second time penalty he received earlier. He was given the go ahead but just couldn’t find the space on track to execute the pass.
He then decided to take the first of his 2 mandatory pitstops and also get his 5 second penalty out of the way.
In the middle of the race Chaz Mostert was still the leader by 5.2 seconds over Will Brown, who was then followed by Broc Feeney. Thomas Randle and David Reynolds were battling for 4th and 5th place.
Towards the end of the race only Todd Hazelwood and Andre Heimgartner were still yet to take their second pit stop. Once they did, Will Brown who had overtaken Chaz Mostert would assume the race lead.
In the final 5 laps the top 3 positions were unchanged and stayed that way to the finish.
Will Brown crossed the line with a 1.6 second lead on Chaz Mostert. Then it was 1.4 seconds back to Broc Feeney.
It was a good race and a lot of fun watching it.
Results for Race 2:
1st Will Brown – Red Bull Ampol Racing
2nd Chaz Mostert – Walkinshaw Andretti United
3rd Broc Feeney – Red Bull Ampol Racing
After the first of event of the season Will Brown is the series leader by 9 points over Broc Feeney.
The Red Bull Ampol Racing team are in the lead of the teams championship by 201 points over Grove Racing.
The next event in the Supercars series is as a support category at the Rolex Australian F1 Grand Prix at Albert Park on March 21 to 24 2024.
On the weekend of 27 – 29 October 2023 was the Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500.
It was round 11 of the 12 rounds in the 2023 Supercars Championship.
The Gold Coast race at Surfers Paradise is a street circuit which was first opened in 1991. The challenging 4.47 km circuit alongside a strip of beaches has several fast sections and four chicanes.
From 1991 to 2008 the Gold Coast Indy 300 was an annual open-wheel motor race event. In the early days Supercars were there as a support category but from 2002 through to present it has been a round of the Supercars Championship. This year was the 21st event at the venue that has held 44 V8 Supercars races to date.
As expected, it was perfect Queensland weather excepting a small shower on the first practice day. In the pre-race sessions:
Scott Pye was fastest in Practice 1
Shane Van Gisbergen was fastest in Practice 2
Cameron Waters was fastest in Qualifying
Cameron Waters was fastest in the Top 10 Shootout
In Race 25 Cameron Waters started on pole position with Matt Payne alongside him.
As they took off Cameron Waters got the jump and led into turns 1 and 2 for the first of 85 laps that makes up the 250km race. Matt Payne was right on his tail.
After starting 3rd on the grid Shane Van Gisbergen dropped to 5th before the first turn.
As Thomas Randle got to the first turn he took a shortcut across the chicanes. The officials spotted it but took no further action.
As Tim Slade got to the first turn another car made contact and spun him around. The safety car was deployed to slow drivers while he extracted himself from the dangerous position at the turn.
Brodie Kostecki was on the charge. He started 10th on the grid because his shootout lap was disallowed for going out of bounds. Now he had jumped to 7th place.
Within a few laps Chaz Mostert passed Thomas Randle to get up to 3rd place and was only 0.672 seconds behind Matt Payne.
The first car to pit was Broc Feeney on lap 9, along with Anton de Pasquale. They returned to clear track in 24th and 25th place.
Thomas Randle got by Chaz Mostert for 3rd spot.
It then seemed like the drivers were struggling with the high speed track. First Matt Payne received a bad sportsmanship flag for exceeding track limits.
Soon after both Chaz Mostert and Will Brown received bad sportsmanship flags for exceeding track limits.
Then it was Todd Hazelwood’s turn to receive a bad sportsmanship flag for the same reason.
Shane Van Gisbergen overtook Chaz Mostert for 4th position and was only 2.3 seconds behind Thomas Randle in 3rd place and only 4 seconds off the race lead.
Jack le Brocq alerted the team he was leaking fuel and went into the garage.
Brodie Kostecki was now in 5th place right behind Shane Van Gisbergen in their personal title battle for this year’s championship.
Cameron Waters pitted early and came back out in 8th place. When the top 7 cars took their pit stops he would resume the lead.
On lap 28 Shane Van Gisbergen took the number 1 spot off Matt Payne.
A few laps later Shane Van Gisbergen pitted and Brodie Kostecki followed him in. They came back out in 5th and 7th place.
In the middle of the race Broc Feeney was the first of the Red Bull cars to take his final pitstop. Meanwhile his teammate, Shane Van Gisbergen did the fastest lap of the race and was 6.1 seconds away from the lead.
Further ahead, David Reynolds was battling with Thomas Randle for 2nd and 3rd place.
Towards the end of the race with only 11 laps to go Cameron Waters was 1.4 seconds ahead of David Reynolds. It was another 2 seconds back to Shane Van Gisbergen in 3rd place.
Chaz Mostert once again exceeded track limits. This time he received a 5 second time penalty.
With 10 laps to go Cameron Waters still had the lead over David Reynolds but Shane Van Gisbergen had closed the gap to only 0.315 seconds.
Soon Shane Van Gisbergen took over David Reynolds. The gap to Cameron Waters in 1st was just 0.362 seconds.
With only a few laps remaining Shane Van Gisbergen was desperately looking for an opportunity to overtake for the lead and win. However, Cameron Waters is a seasoned driver. He kept his cool and defended the number 1 spot. Shane Van Gisbergen kept on his tail to the end of the race.
As they crossed the finish line there was only 0.194 seconds between them. It was a spectacular tight finish.
Results for Race 25:
1st Cameron Waters – Tickford Racing
2nd Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing
3rd David Reynolds – Grove Racing
In Race 26 Brodie Kostecki started on pole position for the 8th time this year. Alongside him was David Reynolds.
As they took off Brodie Kostecki got the jump and led into turns 1 and 2 for the first of 85 laps.
At turn 4 Tim Slade, James Courtney, Jack Smith and Macfauley Jones made contact and cars were spinning out of control in every direction. The cars back in the pack had to drive over the top of the first chicanes to avoid adding to the pileup. All four cars had come to a stop in this dangerous part of the track. The first safety car was deployed while the stranded cars were rescued.
The track was cleared by lap 8. However, it is the lead driver who gets to make the call for when the race goes back to green. Brodie Kostecki was waiting for the right moment to give the green light signal but the other drivers became impatient and started racing too soon. Confusion followed but the race still continued. It took a while for the officials to review, and it was only later that the offending drivers were penalised.
The first two cars to pit were Jack le Brocq and Will Davison on lap 9.
David Reynolds was challenging Brodie Kostecki for the lead and putting him under pressure. He was right on his tail and constantly on the attack.
Further back Shane Van Gisbergen got by Anton de Pasquale for 9th place. His next target was Cameron Waters in 8th place.
Brodie Kostecki held the lead until he pitted on lap 28. This relinquished the number 1 spot to David Reynolds. When Brodie Kostecki returned to the race he was in 12th place.
As the other drivers began to take their pit stops Brodie Kostecki moved up and eventually had the lead again.
Once again David Reynolds was right on his tail.
Towards the end of the race David Reynolds finally took advantage of a weak spot in the leader, Brodie Kostecki’s defence and passed him. I believe Brodie Kostecki didn’t aggressively defend the move at the risk of being knocked out of the race. All he had to do was get a podium finish ahead of Shane Van Gisbergen to protect his position in the season championship.
Cameron Waters was in 3rd place but was a few seconds behind and didn’t pose an immediate challenge to Brodie Kostecki.
With 7 laps to go James Golding had a massive shunt from behind and spun around landing in the tyre barrier. He almost collected Scott Pye in the process. They did make contact but luckily it seemed pretty light.
Shortly after Scott Pye’s car readings showed a big problem. He had to pull over immediately and the safety car was once again deployed.
When the race went back to green there was only 5 laps remaining. David Reynolds still had the lead over Brodie Kostecki, followed by Cameron Waters.
Brodie Kostecki was always close behind and a constant threat. At times there was less than 0.3 of a second between them. David Reynolds is a tough and seasoned driver. He never showed signs of cracking and at no time gave any opportunities away to his challengers.
In the end David Reynolds crossed the line 0.189 seconds ahead of Brodie Kostecki.
It was Reynold’s first race win since 2018 in what was probably the most exciting race of the year.
Congratulations to David Reynolds and his team, Grove Racing.
Results for Race 26:
1st David Reynolds – Grove Racing
2nd Brodie Kostecki – Erebus Motorsport
3rd Cameron Waters – Tickford Racing
With 1 event made up of 2 races remaining, Brodie Kostecki leads over Shane Van Gisbergen by 131 points. Will Brown is 3rd and trails by 495 points, Broc Feeney is 504 points behind and Chaz Mostert is 640 points.
The grand finale event for the year will be the Valo Adelaide 500, 23 – 26 November 2023.
On the weekend of March 10 – 12 was the Thrifty Newcastle 500.
There was excitement in the air as it was the first round of the 2023 season and the first return to Newcastle’s street circuit since 2019 (Grrrr covid be gone!).
Fuelling the excitement were two major changes in V8 Supercars. The first being the start of the Gen 3 build standards for competing cars.
The second was the introduction of Camaros which replaces the Holden Commodore that is no longer manufactured. The old Aussie question, “Are you a Holden or Ford man?” will fade and be replaced with “Mustang or Camaro?”. RIP Holden. You will not be forgotten.
The event also marked important milestones for some drivers. Tim Slade had his 400th race start. Will Davison had his 500th and for Mark Winterbottom it was his 555th in Supercars. Quite an achievement for all of them. Well done!
In the pre-race sessions of this event:
Brodie Kostecki was fastest in Practice 1
Shane Van Gisbergen was fastest in Practice 2
Brodie Kostecki was fastest in Practice 3
Brodie Kostecki was fastest in Qualifying
Brodie Kostecki was fastest in the Top Ten Shootout
In Race 1 Brodie Kostecki started on pole position with Cameron Waters alongside him.
At the start of race Brodie Kostecki got the jump and led into turn 1 for the first of 95 laps. Shortly after there was contact between Mark Winterbottom and Bryce Fullwood further back in the pack.
By the end of lap 1 Brodie Kostecki had half a second lead over Cameron Waters.
Things went smoothly for about the first 10 laps. Then Anton de Pasquale got turned around by Todd Hazelwood on the approach to Zara Street. Anton de Pasquale’s car spun off the track and was lucky to nudge the tyre wall only slightly. However, it did drop him 8 places to the very back of the pack.
On lap 14 Brodie Kostecki still in control of the race made a mistake which allowed Cameron Waters and Broc Feeney to close in and challenge him for the lead. Kostecki had to work hard to regain the gap he had.
Meanwhile, Shane Van Gisbergen made up 2 spots. He went from 6th to 4th place and seemed to be waiting to make his move.
He finally managed to get past his teammate Broc Feeney in 3rd place but then had a hard time taking on Cameron Waters for 2nd. This activity allowed Brodie Kostecki to extend his lead out to 1.1 seconds.
The first car to pit was Bryce Fullwood on lap 16 to remove the right rear mud guard flapping loosely after his earlier contact with Mark Winterbottom.
Then Will Brown pitted from 11th position.
On lap 22 James Courtney pitted. A few laps later Chaz Mostert also did.
Cameron Waters pitted on lap 31 to get out from behind the leader Brodie Kostecki. He could see it was a battle that was going nowhere.
Shane Van Gisbergen also pitted on lap 31 from 2nd place. He maintained the same position when he returned to the track. He also still had Cameron Waters and Broc Feeney behind him.
Soon after Tim Slade pitted. The team couldn’t get the right front tyre off his car for quite a while. It completely destroyed his race time and position.
Pretty soon Shane Van Gisbergen was at the front of the field. He had loaded his car with less fuel at his pit stop making him lighter and faster. Now Red Bull Ampol Racing held 1st place by Shane Van Gisbergen and 3rd place by his teammate, Broc Feeney.
It took a while but Shane Van Gisbergen managed to build a 5 second lead over Cameron Waters in 2nd place.
Nick Percat came into the pits and headed straight into the garage. His brakes were failing even with his foot pushing it all the way to the floor. OMG! That is not what anyone would want.
David Reynolds in car 26 had no comms back to the pits. It meant the Grove Racing team had to use an old fashion pit board to communicate with him.
Towards the end Broc Feeney managed to move up to 2nd place. With Shane Van Gisbergen leading the way, they crossed the finish line in a spectacular fashion earning a 1st and 2nd.
After such a great performance by the Red Bull Ampol Racing Team a protest was made by both Tickford Racing and Walkinshaw Andretti United. They claimed the 2 winners had dry ice fed into their cool suit system from the wrong side of the car during the race. The regulation to perform this from the passenger side is mostly for safety reasons and in no way gave advantage to the drivers, but rules are rules.
After an overnight review it was announced on Sunday morning the two drivers were disqualified. Regardless of appeals from Red Bull Ampol Racing the verdict was upheld. It must have been a terrible blow for the team with new podium results naming Cameron Waters in 1st, Chaz Mostert 2nd and Brodie Kostecki 3rd.
Results for Race 1:
1st Cameron Waters – Tickford Racing
2nd Chaz Mostert – Walkinshaw Andretti United
3rd Brodie Kostecki – Coke a Cola Racing powered by Erebus
In the shootout for Race 2, James Courtney made it turn 7 before hitting the wall hard. His car suffered substantial damage. It was so bad they weren’t able to repair it in time for the grid line up.
In Race 2 David Reynolds started on pole position with Chaz Mostert alongside him.
As they took off Chaz Mostert got the jump and led up What Street for the first of 95 laps.
Further back Declan Fraser stalled and didn’t make it off the grid. Macauley Jones who was right behind ploughed straight into him. The red flag was brought out immediately and all other drivers had to leave the track while the mess was cleaned up. Macauley Jones was able to get going again but Declan Fraser’s car was towed away and would not return to the race.
The restart was on lap 5. Chaz Mostert was in the lead and setting the pace. Behind him was David Reynolds and Cameron Waters so it was all Fords running 1st, 2nd and 3rd.
Shane Van Gisbergen was in 5th place and wasn’t taking the goodness out of the tyres too early. He was being a cork in the bottle holding the other cars back..
Tim Slade tried putting in a challenge for Shane Van Gisbergen’s position but he just couldn’t find the right spot to make his move.
There was noticeable damage on the back of Will Davison’s Ford Mustang. I’m not sure where it came from but he was able to continue and wait until his first pit stop for repairs.
The first car to pit in this race was Anton de Pasquale on lap 11.
On lap 12 Scott Pye and Nick Percat came into the pits together to get out of the traffic.
Broc Feeney came in on lap 15 from 12th place. He was followed by Will Davison.
Matt Payne and Thomas Randle came in on lap 16.
By this stage Chaz Mostert was still going hard up the front. He had already built a 2.8 second lead over David Reynolds in 2nd place.
Coming down the hill out of turn 3 on lap 20, Mostert had a moment where he looked almost out of control. His experience shined and he continued.
On lap 24 he was the first out of the leading pack to take his pit stop while everybody else was still making up there minds as when to come in. This handed the lead over to David Reynolds.
As Mark Winterbottom was exiting the pit lane he came on radio and said he had lost 80% of his power steering. Having just pitted he chose to press on.
In the middle of the race while chasing his former teammate Chaz Mostert, Cameron Waters hit the wall coming out of turn 8 which tweaked the steering of car 6. He made it around the track one more time before being forced to come in for repairs. This ultimately cost him any chance of a podium finish.
As they came closer towards the end of the race and the second round of pit stops, Chaz Mostert had a 10.9 second lead over Shane Van Gisbergen who was now in second place.
Thomas Randle gave Todd Hazelwood a bump at turn 9 pushing him off the track into the tyre barrier. It took a few seconds but Hazelwood managed to extract himself and resume racing. Had the safety car been needed at this stage of the race it may have had an influence on its outcome.
In the last few laps Shane Van Gisbergen had amazingly closed the 10+ second gap of leader Chaz Mostert.
Contact was made between the two leading drivers as Shane Van Gisbergen attempted to make a pass. It was incident was considered fair play and no action was taken by race control or the stewards.
Shane Van Gisbergen wanted to make up for being disqualified in Race 1. He was obviously putting in a great effort. It paid off and he finally took the race lead off Chaz Mostert. Once he had the lead he was able to hold it all the way to the checkered flag.
Shane Van Gisbergen claimed his 76th career win in Supercars. Congratulations!
Result for Race 2
1st Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing
2nd Chaz Mostert – Walkinshaw Andretti United
3rd David Reynolds – Grove Racing
The next event is Round 2, the Beaurepairs Melbourne Supersprint. This is held as a support category to the F1 Australian Grand Prix starting March 30th. I cant wait and hope you all will join me.
On the weekend of the 8th to the 10th July 2022 was the NTI Townsville 500.
This track, the Reed Park Street Circuit first opened on the 10th of July 2009. It is 2.8kms with 13 turns.
This year’s event is the halfway mark of the season and will consist of 2 races, 88 laps each.
Triple Eight Race Engineering, Dick Johnson Racing and Tickford Racing have proven to be the dominate teams in Townsville. Between them they have won the last 22 races dating back to the 2014 event.
Seven-time Supercars Champion Jamie Whincup’s record of 12 Townsville wins has a new challenger in Shane Van Gisbergen. The Kiwi has won 8 races in Townsville. Walkinshaw Andretti United’s Chaz Mostert is still chasing his first win in Townsville. So, there was an incentive for some great driving.
In the pre-race sessions:
Shane Van Gisbergen was fastest in Practice 1
Andre Heimgartner was fastest in Practice 2
Cameron Waters was fastest in Qualifying
Shane Van Gisbergen was fastest in the Top Ten Shootout
In Race 19 Shane Van Gisbergen started on pole position and alongside him was Will Davison.
At the start of the race Will Davison delivered a spectacular take-off and led into turns 1 and 2 while the cars behind were 3 wide.
Before the rest of the pack reached turn 1, James Courtney made contact with James Golding putting him into the wall. The officials reviewed the incident and later issued James Courtney a 15 second penalty.
Broc Feeney hit the wall in between turns 1 and 2 after contact with Jack Le Brocq.
Tim Slade started on the Super Soft tyres and was putting them to use straight away. He made 3 spots by the time they got to turn 3 and was in 6th position. He placed himself on the inside with Andre Heimgartner right in front of him.
Shane Van Gisbergen was lucky to stay in front of Cameron Waters who was aggressively attempting to move up places.
While there was battling for positions 2, 3, 4 and 5 Will Davison had a 1.2 second lead. Straight away he could take the pressure off himself and had plenty of flexibility for strategy but he still had Shane Van Gisbergen on his tail.
James Courtney and James Golding were 21st and 25th after they had made contact at the start of the race.
Tim Slade found another gap and got up the inside of Andre Heimgartner for 4th position. His next target was Cameron Waters in 3rd place just 0.514 seconds ahead.
The cars further back in the pack were bumping and duelling through those first laps.
Soon Tim Slade had got passed Cameron Waters for 3rd position and had his sights firmly set on defending Supercars champion, Shane Van Gisbergen in 2nd place. Shane Van Gisbergen was 1.5 seconds adrift of the leader Will Davison.
At turn 10 on lap 2 Tim Slade managed the pass and was now in 2nd position.
I was amazed at how fast Tim Slade was moving up the order from his starting spot of 9th. Wow! I was thinking if he keeps going the way he is, he will get the lead of the race.
At the end of lap 2 James Golding was in the garage due to the contact with James Courtney at the start.
On lap 8 David Reynolds got up the inside of Shane Van Gisbergen taking 3rd position and dropping the series leader into 4th.
Tim Slade who was driving faultlessly and made his move successfully from 2nd to 1st. The race had a new leader.
On lap 9 David Reynolds clocked the fastest lap of the race, 1min 14.310s. It must have had something to do with having Shane Van Gisbergen right on his tail. The gaps at the front of the field were getting tighter.
Tim Slade’s great driving form continued and as the laps went by and he increased the lead to 5.6 seconds. David Reynolds had taken 2nd place from Will Davison and then Shane Van Gisbergen took 3rd place from him.
When David Reynolds pitted on lap 28, Tim Slade had a 13.541 second lead over Shane Van Gisbergen.
On lap 29 Cameron Waters and Bryce Fullwood came into the pits.
At lap 31 Shane Van Gisbergen finally had to pit. The Red Bull Ampol Racing Team filled his car with 101 litres of fuel as a strategy to shorten his 2nd pit stop.
In the middle of the race Andre Heimgartner was battling with Shane Van Gisbergen for 5th and 6th position. By the final turn on lap 44 Shane Van Gisbergen passed Andre Heimgartner taking 5th place.
There was stiff competition from drivers to get into the top ten. Thomas Randle moved up to 11th pushing Bryce Fullwood back to 12th. Tony Woodward, Andre Heimgartner’s race engineer said to him over the comms, “We are pulling in Chaz Mostert half a second a lap. Keep it up.”
Chaz Mostert was first to take the 2nd mandatory stop on lap 53.
By lap 55 Will Davison was back up the front and putting pressure on Tim Slade for the lead. Will Davison chose to not fight for the lead and pitted on lap 56.
Tim Slade pitted a couple of laps later on lap 59. Once he pitted Shane Van Gisbergen assumed the race lead. Tim Slade had led the race for 30 laps. Quite incredible considering he started in 9th place.
Townsville was typically warm and by this time of the day it was incredibly hot inside the cars. When Brodie Kostecki came in the team pulled out the driver’s side window to help cool the driver down who claimed his feet were burning up.
With 26 laps to go Shane Van Gisbergen had a +26.369 second lead over Bryce Fullwood. On the next lap the leader pitted.
On lap 69 Mark Winterbottom was in the garage with the bonnet up and mechanics looking for the cause of his issue, a power steering failure.
At this stage the 3 leading drivers were Will Davison, Chaz Mostert 5.1 seconds behind, then a further 9.4 seconds to Shane Van Gisbergen.
From about lap 72 Shane Van Gisbergen was on the charge. He needed to find 4 seconds to get to the back of Chaz Mostert in car 25.
With 15 laps to go he closed the gap by approximately 3 seconds. Within a further 3 laps Shane Van Gisbergen was only 1.3 seconds behind and closing.
On Lap 76 Shane Van Gisbergen passed Chaz Mostert for 2nd place. Now he had to smash the 7.7 seconds gap between himself and Will Davison.
Shane Van Gisbergen was hard at it and on the next lap knocked a further 1 second off the gap. He was flying towards the lead of the race. With 11 laps to go the gap was 6.7 seconds and the defending series champion was getting closer and closer to the back of car 17 of Will Davison.
On Lap 78 (10 laps to go) Shane Van Gisbergen had worked the gap down to + 5.9 seconds.
Will Davison momentarily lost concentration and nearly hit the wall. He came within an inch of having damage.
With 9 laps to go Will Davison was coming up to the lapped David Reynolds. Reynolds stepped aside to let Will Davison press on.
With 8 laps remaining the gap was down to 3.7 seconds between Will Davison and Shane Van Gisbergen. Just behind the two leaders Andre Heimgartner was battling with Chaz Mostert for 3rd place.
With 7 laps to go Shane Van Gisbergen was closing fast and was only 2.2 seconds behind. By the next lap the gap was 1.9 seconds, then it was 1.7 seconds.
With 4 laps to go Shane Van Gisbergen finally got passed Will Davison and took the race lead.
With 3 laps to go Shane Van Gisbergen had position 1 locked away but the battle for 3rd and 4th were far from over. With 2 laps left Andre Heimgartner was in 3rd until Cameron Waters passed him at the final turn.
Shane Van Gisbergen used the remaining laps to secure his win. He kept inching away from Will Davison.
Shane Van Gisbergen held his good form and crossed the finish line 4.9 seconds clear of Will Davison.
Cameron Waters also held his position and came in 3rd.
This was Shane Van Gisbergen’s 9th win for the season. It also put him 1 win closer to Jamie Whincup’s record of 12 wins at Townsville.
It was a spectacular finish for him.
Results for Race 19:
1st Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing.
2nd Will Davison – Shell V Power-Racing Team.
3rd Cameron Waters – Tickford Racing.
In Race 20 Cameron Waters started on pole position. Will Davison had qualified 2nd but was issued a 1 grid spot penalty for impeding James Courtney during the qualifying session. So, it was Anton de Pasquale alongside pole and Will Davison starting 3rd on the grid.
At the start of the race Anton de Pasquale got the jump and led into turns 1 and 2.
On the exit of turn 3 Will Davison made contact with Scott Pye. Although Will Davison went off the track, he was able to continue but had lost 21 spots all the way down to 24th position. Scott Pye was left stranded in the middle of the track. The rest of the cars following behind somehow all missed him. The safety car was deployed to remove Scott Pye’s car and he wasn’t able to return to the race. He was the only NC (Not Complete) for the race. I feel sorry for Team 18, Scott Pye and owner, Charlie Schwerkolt. Pye has had so much bad luck this season.
The restart was on lap 4 and Cameron Waters tried to get up the inside of Anton de Pasquale but he wasn’t able to get the job done. Anton de Pasquale held onto the race lead even though it was only by 0.439 seconds.
Shane Van Gisbergen was under pressure from James Courtney in 3rd and 4th place.
Thomas Randle got up the inside of Chaz Mostert moving the rookie into 5th place, up 5 from his grid starting position.
Thomas Randle was now putting pressure on his teammate, James Courtney for 4th position. Soon enough he got down the inside of him at turn 2.
Now Randle faced the seemingly impossible task of challenging the series leader Shane Van Gisbergen for 3rd. The rookie was on fire and a few laps later at turn 11 got up the inside of Shane Van Gisbergen. That’s pretty incredible!
Thomas Randle was now only 1.6 seconds behind his teammate Cameron Waters in 2nd, with Anton de Pasquale still in the lead by 0.8 seconds.
The rookie continued to impress all viewers. A few laps later he got passed his teammate Cameron Waters for 2nd place. Everybody seemed to be asking, “Was he going to pull off the impossible and take the race lead from Anton de Pasquale?”.
On lap 8 Thomas Randle did do the impossible and took the lead. It must have been an incredible moment for the rookie and his team.
Further back in the pack Mark Winterbottom was assisted off the track onto the grass by Jake Kostecki. Mark Winterbottom didn’t suffer any damage and was able to continue minus a few places.
Shane Van Gisbergen got passed Cameron Waters for 3rd place putting him 2.2 seconds behind Anton de Pasquale.
All of this had happened before they reached lap 12.
Tim Slade was the first driver to pit on lap 22. The first of the front runners to pit was Cameron Waters on lap 26. Then Will Davison following him lap 28.
On lap 29 Shane Van Gisbergen and James Courtney also came into the pits.
By the middle of the race Shane Van Gisbergen had the lead and a 3.3 second gap over Anton de Pasquale. They were followed by Cameron Waters and then Chaz Mostert.
After pitting Thomas Randle was under pressure from his teammate James Courtney for positions 5. Tim Slade was battling with Andre Heimgartner right behind them for 7th and 8th.
At lap 47 Shane Van Gisbergen was showing what I think were signs of fatigue, changing gear with his right hand and using his left foot on the throttle to give his right foot a break.
Will Davison was mid field in 15th position looking for a way to get back into the top 10.
Jake Kostecki was the first car to take his 2nd pit stop on lap 52.
Towards the end of the race Shane Van Gisbergen was still in the lead and looking like making it 2 from 2 for the weekend.
In the last few laps Anton de Pasquale was right on his tail. He has been one of the fastest drivers this year and was proving to be a real threat to Shane Van Gisbergen’s lead. Any mistake would be taken advantage of by Anton de Pasquale. Shane Van Gisbergen could not shake him.
They also had to navigate around some lapped cars which wouldn’t make things easier.
In the last lap Anton de Pasquale was like Shane Van Gisbergen’s shadow. There were literally only centimetres between the two cars. Shane Van Gisbergen went out wide on approach to the last turn before the final straight to the checkered flag. As he swept through the turn Anton de Pasquale tried to make a pass on the inside but timed it all wrong, colliding with with the back of the leader’s car and spinning him to face the oncoming traffic.
After letting 2 lapped cars pass, Shane Van Gisbergen took off like a shot from a complete standstill. Anton de Pasquale who was up ahead had slowed down to ‘redress’ (that is to give back to position after an unfair pass). Shane Van Gisbergen was almost up to full speed. With less than 100m to the finish line he suddenly slowed down to pull in behind Anton de Pasquale as they crossed the finish line.
By not accepting the offer of ‘redress’ it forced a penalty onto Anton de Pasquale. He was issued a 5 second penalty after the finish line but it wasn’t enough to take him off the podium. The next closest car was Cameron Waters 13+ seconds later.
It was an unusual finish but gave Shane Van Gisbergen a second win for the weekend.
Results for Race 20
1st Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing.
2nd Anton de Pasquale – Shell V-Power Racing Team.
3rd Cameron Waters – Tickford Racing.
The next event is the OTR Supersprint on the 30th and 31st of July 2022.
On the weekend of the 7th to the 10th of April 2022 was the Beaurepairs Melbourne 400.
This year marks the 25th time that the Supercars have competed at Albert Park. This is including an appearance at the 2020 event which was abandoned due to Covid 19. The event was cancelled at the 11th hour.
Albert Park is one of the longer circuits in Australia at 5.3km with 14 corners. This event was made up of 4 races, 20 laps each.
The first race of the event marked James Courtney’s 500th start. Wow! Congratulations, what an incredible achievement.
The Formula 1 cars were the main attraction for the weekend so, as support category the Supercars used the secondary pit lane.
Before the racing got underway, F1 drivers Fernando Alonso and Sergio Perez had a spin in Thomas Randle and Broc Feeney’s Supercars around the track. I’m sure it was quite an experience for them.
In the pre-race sessions:
Anton de Pasquale was fastest in Practice 1.
Rookie, Broc Feeney crashed at turn 5 causing a red flag.
Shane Van Gisbergen was fastest in Practice 2.
Garry Jacobson hit the wall at turn 5 in Practice 2. The impact was so much that another red flag was used so they could move wall back into place.
David Reynolds was fastest in Qualifying for Race 6.
Will Davison was fastest in Qualifying for Race 7.
Anton de Pasquale was fastest in Qualifying for Race 8.
Will Davison was fastest in Qualifying for Race 9.
In Race 6 David Reynolds started on pole position for the 18th time in his Supercars career. Alongside him was Anton de Pasquale.
Championship leader, Shane Van Gisbergen started in 23rd position at the back of the pack. This was because during Qualifying he got a curb infringement. His lap was disallowed. He came back in to put another set of tyres on. Meanwhile the session was red flagged and he didn’t get back on track to record a lap time.
David Reynolds had a perfect start off the grid and led into the first corner.
Shane Van Gisbergen immediately started charging through the field. Before the first lap was complete, he had gone from 23rd to 19th.
Coming onto the main straight to commence lap 2 the cars were 3 wide but Shane Van Gisbergen was still able to move up three places to 16th by the time they hit turn 1.
The cars up ahead were warned by their engineers that Shane Van Gisbergen was on THE CHARGE!
David Reynolds still had the lead and was holding off Chaz Mostert and Anton de Pasquale.
Garry Jacobson got up the inside of Will Brown and his next car to pass was Will’s teammate Brodie Kostecki.
By lap 3 David Reynolds’ soft tyres began to wear down and his car started sliding. He lost the lead to Chaz Mostert.
Nick Percat also passed David Reynolds dropping him from 2nd to 3rd. It put Walkinshaw Andretti United 1 and 2 on the track.
Lee Holdsworth was in the middle of the field. The team called him into the pits on lap 6 so they didn’t risk his teammate David Reynolds double stacking behind him.
Jack le Brocq (#34) also came in on lap 6 to have the power steering arm looked at.
On lap7 David Reynolds pitted due to blistering tyres. As he peeled off into the pits he was dropping down the order. Race leader, Chaz Mostert also followed him in.
Meanwhile the 2 times Supercars champion Shane Van Gisbergen had gained 17 positions and was now placed 6th. I was amazed! This is no easy feat in a mere 7 laps of a 20 lap race.
When Chaz Mostert and David Reynolds rejoined the race, they were in positions 9th and 10th. At this point the leaders were Nick Percat and Macauley Jones.
On lap 8 at the exit of turn 3 Andre Heimgartner ran straight off the track taking James Courtney with him. Andre Heimgartner was warned with a bad sportsmanship flag for exceeding track limits.
Shane Van Gisbergen had made it all the way up to 4th position before coming in on lap 9 for his one and only pitstop. When he rejoined he was behind Nick Percat and in position 17 with only 4 cars yet to make their stops.
A few laps later all the pitstops were completed and Chaz Mostert was back in the lead followed by David Reynolds and Will Davison. Shane Van Gisbergen made his way up to 5th place.
With clean air Chaz Mostert kept edging further ahead. He was incredibly fast and drove faultlessly. It was soon apparent that he was uncatchable. All he had to do was just hang in there.
With four laps remaining Shane Van Gisbergen passed Nick Percat and Will Davison almost at the same time to put him in 3rd place. It was just incredible. He yelled over the radio comms ‘This is f-ing awesome!’. That really cracked me up.
To play it safe Chaz pulled back on the aggressive driving knowing he had a good lead. In the last few hundred meters he zig zagged to the finish line out of pure joy (That’s why I call him Cheeky Chaz). His next rival was David Reynolds 7.6839 second later followed by Shane Van Gisbergen who had started in 23rd place and finished 3rd. Now that is incredible racing!
Result for Race 6
1st Chaz Mostert – Mobil 1 Optus Racing.
2nd David Reynolds – Penrite Racing.
3rd Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing.
In Race 7 Will Davison started on pole position. Alongside him was David Reynolds. Shane Van Gisbergen started 3rd.
At the start of the race Will Davison got the jump off the line and led into turn 1.
David Reynolds had a bad start and Shane Van Gisbergen immediately took the opportunity and moved into 2nd place.
Broc Feeney hit the wall on the exit of turn 1 after help from Brodie Kostecki.
At this stage Will Davison was looking strong. I was thinking that he may win might win his first race for Dick Johnson Racing and his first race win since Bathurst in 2016.
A few laps later the cars back in the pack pitted early for clear track.
On lap 5 Andre Heimgartner got turned around by Will Brown. Heimgarter’s car was wedged in the wall. The safety car was deployed to tow it back to the pits. He wasn’t able to rejoin the race and received an NC (Not complete).
Shane Van Gisbergen now had the lead.
When Anton de Pasquale came into the pits he was in 3rd place. He couldn’t get car 11 re-fired and was sitting there for what seemed an eternity. As a result, he came back onto the track in 20th position.
By the middle of the race all pitstops were completed. Shane Van Gisbergen was back in the lead.
Broc Feeney (#88) was called into the pits with a front left tyre losing pressure. The Red Bull Ampol Racing team only changed the one tyre and he was back out on the track.
Also, on lap 10 Cameron Waters tagged Will Davison at turn 3 spinning him off into the gravel trap. For the second time, the safety car was deployed. Waters was issued a drive through penalty for his actions.
At this stage Shane Van Gisbergen was looking good for another win. David Reynolds was in 2nd, James Courtney in 3rd and Chaz Mostert 4th.
Cameron Waters served his drive through penalty with 7 laps to go. It dropped him all the way down to 22nd position.
On lap 14 Tim Slade got down the inside of Garry Jacobson for position number 8. He then passed Todd Hazelwood for 7th position.
Garry Jacobson got up the inside of Nick Percat in battle for 9th and 10th place.
With 5 laps to go Shane Van Gisbergen had a 1.6 second lead over David Reynolds, with James Courtney 1.1 seconds behind that. Chaz Mostert was in 4th position.
The races were ‘time certain’. Due to the 2 safety car deployments the race was looking to go overtime. On lap 18 the officials called time + 1 lap (cutting out the 20th lap).
On the last lap Shane Van Gisbergen did his best lap time of the race and increased his lead to 2 seconds.
Mostert was desperate to get on the podium. It was the last lap and he was pushing hard on James Courtney. As they reached the last corner before the home straight they locked horns and James Courtney spun around. Mostert kept going but Lee Holdsworth had taken him over so Mostert was back in 4th where he started.
There was no time for Mostert to make up the lost time.
Shane Van Gisbergen crossed the line 2+ seconds ahead of David Reynolds. They followed by a lucky Lee Holdsworth and then Chaz Mostert in fourth place. It was a dramatic last-minute finish.
James Courtney was so unfortunate and finished in 22nd place.
Results for Race 7
1st Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing.
2nd David Reynolds – Grove Racing.
3rd Lee Holdsworth – Grove Racing.
In Race 8 Anton de Pasquale started on pole position alongside him was his teammate, Will Davison.
Shane Van Gisbergen and David Reynolds were 3rd and 4th on the grid.
At the start of the race Anton de Pasquale led into turn 1 for the first of 20 laps. Will Davison was right behind him. David Reynolds hanging onto 3rd position followed by Shane Van Gisbergen.
Scott Pye went off the track at turn 1 on lap 1
The cars further back in the pack were going off the track left, right and centre. At turn 2 Percat, Hazelwood, Brodie Kostecki, Holdsworth, Jones, Heimgartner and Randle all came off the track but managed to recover.
Scott Pye left the track skiing across the sand trap but he also managed to recover.
It was amazing that the entire field got through turns 1 and 2.
However, on lap 2 Scott Pye came into the pits with a puncture on the front right.
The race leader soon settled into his race pace with a ¾ second lead. There was active battling for positions 2, 3 and 4.
Between turns 9 and 10 on lap 2 Bryce Fulwood went very wide but surprisingly managed a quick return to the track.
By lap 3 Cameron Waters was in the pits changing tyres and dropped all the way down to 22nd position.
The top 4 places were unchanged; Anton de Pasquale, Will Davison, David Reynolds and Shane Van Gisbergen.
On lap 4 Anton de Pasquale locked up leaving the track at turn 1. It knocked him back from 1st to 3rd. Will Davison was the new race leader, with David Reynolds in 2nd place. For Anton de Pasquale who is second on the championship ladder it was a serious blunder.
When Tim Slade and Chaz Mostert came in for their stops he gave the back of Tim Slade’s car a wallop. It was a surprise but not serious and didn’t escalate.
On lap 5 Will Davison was the next to pit, handing over the lead to David Reynolds. Anton de Pasquale was still 2nd, Shane Van Gisbergen was 3rd and his teammate, Broc Feeney was in 4th (only + 2.601 seconds behind). Soon Anton de Pasquale pitted but the top 14 cars were still yet to pit.
By lap 6 Shane Van Gisbergen had taken the race lead off David Reynolds which then gave Shane Van Gisbergen clear track.
Broc Feeney had dropped to 8th place. Then Mark Winterbottom got down the inside of him to take another spot from him.
By the middle of the race Shane Van Gisbergen was back in the lead after pitting.
Shane Van Gisbergen never looked back. He held his lead and increased the gap to 5.6473 seconds by the time he crossed the finish line. Next was Will Davison, David Reynolds and Anton de Pasquale all spread a few seconds apart.
This win for Shane Van Gisbergen also means he has outdone Russell Ingall’s record of 8 race wins at Albert Park. Ingall set this record back in 2003 (19years ago). Im sure it’s quite an honour for Gisbergen.
Results for Race 8
1st Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing.
2nd Will Davison – Shell V-Power Racing Team.
3rd David Reynolds – Penrite Racing.
In race 9 Will Davison started on pole position. Alongside him was teammate Anton de Pasquale. Chaz Mostert started 3rd. The hero of the weekend, Shane Van Gisbergen 6th on the grid.
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At the start of the race Will Davison got the jump on his teammate going into turn 1. I was amazed, it was such a perfect start.
However, Jack Smith didn’t have the same launch. He stalled car 4 on the start line and was unable to get it started. The safety car was deployed for it to be removed from the track. Jack Smith Received an NC (Not Complete) without even starting the race!
Shane Van Gisbergen tried to go around the outside of Cameron Waters at turn 3 but it didn’t work.
The cars back in the pack were battling for positions early on. There was quite a lot of movement. About 12 cars shuffled positions with some moving as much as 10 places.
Some others moved up but then moved back, like Tim Slade who got down the inside of Brodie Kostecki at turn 4. Brodie Kostecki then got him back at turn 5.
While the race leaders were staying out because they had track position the others soon started pitting.
I was surprised that leader Will Davison pitted on lap 5. Mostert was in 2nd place and now had the lead. It was only brief. Shane Van Gisbergen took him over moment later.
David Reynolds was keeping out of trouble early on but he was in position 10. He then hit the wall on lap 6 and had to pit. The car couldn’t be repaired and he had to retire from the race.
In the middle of the race all driver pitstops were in the process of being completed. It was now even racing to the finish.
On lap 11 Thomas Randle also suffered the same fate as Reynolds and Smith. He was the 3rd driver forced to retire from the race.
Towards the end of the race Chaz Mostert had the lead again. He had Shane Van Gisbergen putting pressure on him and it looked to be a strong challenge. There were only a few laps remaining.
Shane Van Gisbergen was pushing hard. On lap 18 (2 lap to go) Shane Van Gisbergen’s car gave in under the strain. The front tyre blew out and he was forced into the pits. He must have been extremely disappointed as he is fast enough even to challenge the super-fast Chaz Mostert. It would have meant 3 out 4 wins for the weekend.
Chaz Mostert now had a clear run to the finish line. It earned his second win at the event.
In 2nd place Will Davison followed 5.2 seconds later, with Anton de Pasquale another 1.66 seconds behind. It was an incredible finish to the weekend.
Results for Race 9
1st Chaz Mostert – Walkinshaw Andretti United.
2nd Will Davison – Shell V-Power Racing Team.
3rd Anton de Pasquale – Shell V-Power Racing Team.
The Bathurst 6 Hour was the next event of interest on the calendar. It is always run on the Easter long weekend. It is not part of the Supercars series but is a production car event. Shane Van Gisbergen was meant to defend the title but was unable to due to COVID. Nick Percat sat in for him.
Let’s hope that SVG is on the mend and in good health for the next Supercars event; The Bunnings Trade Perth Supernight on the 30th of April to the 1st of May.
On the weekend of the 17th and 18th of July 2021 was the WD-40 Townsville Supersprint.
After the postponement of Winton and the Sydney Supernight this was the second event of a double header at Townsville.
On the previous weekend the Townsville 500 was dominated by the 888 team. All eyes were on them to see if they could do it again; Could Shane Van Gisbergen continue his fiery streak for the season? Could Jamie Whincup repeat his double win at this event last year, 2020?
In the Pre–race sessions the results were as follows:
Scott Pye was fastest in Practice 1.
Anton de Pasquale earned himself pole position for the first race of the weekend being fastest in the Amour All Qualifying and Top 10 shootout.
In race 17 Anton De Pasquale started on pole position with Cameron Waters alongside him.
Zane Goddard started 10th because he didn’t complete his top 10 shootout lap.
Cameron Waters led he opening stages of the race.
Behind him though there was chaos because cars were getting hit left right and centre.
Brodie Kostecki was battling with Shane Van Gisbergen for positions 5 and 6.
Tim Slade came in to pits early on lap 5 to get clear air.
The cars back in the pack tried to pass the cars in front. When they realised that they couldn’t the teams called them into pit in an attempt to get out of traffic and make time while the others pitted later.
Will Davison had a really slow stop when the crew had issues with with the gun on the front left tyre of car 17. THe delay cost him dearly. It was more than double the standard pit stop time.
Most teams were doing 3 tyre changes in the stop, others did 2 tyres.
Shane Van Gisbergen received a 15 second penalty for making contact with car #99 of Brodie Kostecki.
Then teammate, Jamie Whincup got a 15 second time penalty for exceeding the pit lane speed limit.
In the middle of the race Cameron Waters had the lead and looking good for his 2nd win of 2021.
He confidently held the lead to the end of the race coming in 2.8708 seconds ahead of Anton de Pasquale in second placed who was 1.587 seconds ahead of cheeky Chaz Mostert.
The three drivers were way ahead of the rest of the pack. The next contender in fourth place was Tim Slade crossing the line 10+ seconds later.
Results for Race 17
1st Cameron Waters – Tickford Racing.
2nd Anton De Pasquale – Dick Johnson Racing.
3rd Chaz Mostert – Walkinshaw Andretti United.
In Race 18 Jamie Whincup started on pole postion for the 91st time in his Supercars career! Alongside him was teammate Shane Van Gisbergen.
As the race got underway Jamie Whincup got the jump and led into turn 1 for the first of 39 laps.
Shane Van Gisbergen tried to go around the outside of Jamie Whincup but it couldn’t be done.
Tim Slade yet again came in to the pits early for clear air.
The cars further back in the pack came in early to get out of the traffic.
Meanwhile Jamie Whincup stayed out on track and at one stage worked up a 6 second lead.
Later, Todd Hazelwood managed a great pass and got down the inside of James Courtney at turn 11.
In the middle of the race Jamie Wincup and Shane Van Gisbergen were batting for the race lead and race win. Shane Van Gisbergern held the lead and the battle was fierce. Shane Van Gisbergen was told told to let Jamie Whincup past but he disobeyed team orders and didn’t do so. They were both in the heat of the moment. The teammates were racing against each other for all their worth.
At lap 25 of 39 Will Brown of Erebus Pedders Racing left the track and wasn’t able to continue. A few minutes later on lap 26 Macauley Jones of Coca-Cola Racing met the same fate and left the track. Both received an NC (not complete) for the race.
At the front end of the race, no one could catch Shane Van Gibergen as he built his lead over Whincup. He crossed the finish line 4.5+ seconds ahead of Jamie Whincup. Cheeky Chaz Mostert came across the line 3.5+ seconds later with Will Davison right on his tail. The three front drivers had a invincible lead over the rest of the pack. It was nearly 9 seconds before Todd Hazelwood took 5th place followed by Scott Pye. Both of them had gained 5 places throughout the race which is impressive for such a short sprint.
So once again Shane Van Gisbergen continues his 2021 winning streak. Fantastic!
Results for Race 18
1st Shane Van Gsbergergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing team.
2nd Jamie Whincup – Red Bull Ampol Racing Team
3rd Chaz Mostert – Walkinshaw Andretti United.
In race 19 Cameron Waters started on pole position alongside him was Shane Van Gisbergen.
As the race got underway Cameron Waters got the jump and led into turn 1 for the first of 39 laps.
Over Shane Van Gisbergen. ??? The cars further back in the pack came in to get clear track which worked.
The leaders stayed out longer because they had track position.
On lap 16 Macauley Jones again had to park his Coke Commordore after starting 8th on the grid and received his second NC for the weekend.
Shane Van Gisbergergen came in to get clear track.
Then Jamie Whincup also came in to get the undercut on Cameron Waters.
In the middle of the race Will Davison was in 3rd and looking good for a podium.
Towards the end of the race Shane Van Gisbergen was putting pressure on Cameron Waters for the race lead and race win. Cameron Waters experience kept him just out of reach from rivals and finished less than a second ahead of Shane Van Gisbergen.
Results for Race 19
1st Cameron Waters – Tickford Racing.
2nd Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing Team.
3rd Will Davison – Dick Johnson Racing.
The next event is event 8 the Ipswich Supersprint on the 21st and 22nd of August 2021.
The gap between 1st and 2nd in the championship Shane Van Gisberen and Jamie Whincup is 276 points.
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 February 26th to 28th was the official start the 2021 V8 Supercars season kicking off with the Repco Mount Panorama 500.
In order to celebrate and watch the race I went to the Royal Hotel Ryde on both Saturday (with my mate Sam) and Sunday (with Dad).
We were also celebrating two other things. The first, is the easing of COVID restrictions in the Sydney area allowing us to actually go to a pub.
The second was the successful training I have been doing since the start of the year. What training I hear you ask. Well, I always drink liquids from a bottle with a spout because I have Cerebral Palsy and have never drunk from an open top glass (read this as schooner glass). To add to this problem, last year I had a massive stroke that paralysed my dominant side. On the 1st of January I set a goal to ‘learn’ how to drink from an open top glass. With the help of too many people to mention I have achieved this. It might be seen like a small thing to most but for me IT IS AWESOME!!!! . It was a great feeling drinking from a schooner at the pub.
I also wanted slip in a very big Thank You to the manager at the Royal Hotel Ryde, Chris and his partner Bianca who reserved an easily accessible table for us right in front of the TVs which he kindly switched over the Supercars Race. Your consideration, hospitality and friendship is very much appreciated.
I had such an enjoyable time I had to mention all that. However, now I will give you a quick run down of the actual races.
In the pre-race sessions:
Chaz Mostert was fastest in Practice 1 and 2.
Anton De Pasquale was the fastest in the Armour All Qualifying.
Cameron Waters was fastest in the Armour All Top 10 Shootout earning him Pole Position for the race.
In Race 1 alongside Cameron Waters on pole position was Tim Slade.
Cameron Waters got the jump off the line and led into turn 1.
On the first lap Scott Pye hit the wall at The Cutting which meant he had to limp back to the pits. The repairs took a while but he was lucky enough to rejoin the race later. Unfortunately it put him way back in the pack, having started from position 10 he finished 2 laps behind in 19th place.The drivers soon settled down into their race pace.
On lap 6 Anton De Pasquale also hit the wall at The Cutting and this time the safety car was deployed. Another victim of The Cutting, he was towed back to the pits and didn’t rejoin receiving a NC (Not Complete)
Cameron Waters was running up the front of the race but then a car problem forced an unscheduled pit stop.. He lost the lead and when he rejoined he was at least a lap down. After starting on Pole and holding the lead it was bad luck he didnt manage to at least stay up the front. He finished 20th and was short 6 laps short of the winner.
It was at this stage that Shane Van Gisbergen became the race leader with the cars behind him battling for 2nd , 3rd and 4th.
Shane Van Gisbergen held the number one position from that point on. It seemed no one was able to catch him. In the last minutes of the race Will Davison was battling with Tim Slade for 3rd spot. 5 laps from the finish Tim Slade had a bone shattering side-on with the wall at Forrest Elbow. He bounced off the wall with such force it took everyone’s breath away. He was lucky enough to be able to roll the car out of the way onto the grass area. The damage was severe and he wasn’t rejoining the race and the team couldnt even get the repairs done for the next day’s race. It must have been a tough race as his was the 4th NC for the day.
Results for Race 1
1st Shane Van Gisberen – Red Bull Ampol Racing Team.
2nd Chaz Mostert – Walkinshaw Andretti United.
3rd Will Davison – Dick Johnson Racing.
In Race 2 Shane Van Gisbergen started on pole position, alongside him was Cameron Waters. Cameron Waters led into turn 1 for the first of 40 laps.
Shane Van Gisbergen stayed in 2nd place. Behind them Will Davison was battling with Chaz Mostert for positions 3 and 4.
Cameron Waters kept his lead in the opening stages while Shane Van Gisbergern stayed close copping a lot of hot air.
Further back Jamie Whincup was trying to catch up with his teammate, Shane Van Gisbergen.
but the cars in front of him didn’t make it easy to get by .
By the middle of the race Shane Van Gisbergen had the lead and was charging his way to victory. He held fast to the number 1 spot and it appeared he just couldn’t be caught. He crossed the line 6.1277 seconds ahead of his nearest rival, Cameron Waters and earned himself 2 out 2 victories for the weekend.
Shane Van Gisbergen now leads the championship with 300 points.
His team, Red Bull Ampol Racing Team leads the teams championship by 54 points.
Results for Race 2
1st Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing Team.
2nd Cameron Waters – Tickford Racing.
3rd Chaz Mostert – Walkinshaw Andretti United.
The next race is the Penrite Oil Sandown Superspint on the 20th and 21st of March, 2021.
On the weekend of the 15th to the 18th of October, 2020 was the Grand Finale of the V8 Supercars season, the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000.
In the previous event Repco Supersprint The Bend, Scott McLaughlin was named ‘Champion Elect’ having enough championship points to be unreachable with only one event remaining for the season.
However, it was the Red Bull Holden Racing Team leading Teams Championship ladder but were still within reach by the Shell V-Power Racing Team. So for Jamie Whincup, Shane Van Gisbergen and their co-drivers, Craig Lowndes and Garth Tander this event was make-or-break for the Teams Championship.
Regardless, for all teams the Bathurst 1000 is an incredibly gruelling race and is Australia’s biggest motor race of the year.
With that in mind the pre-race sessions were full of intense competition with some great performances. The results were:
Cameron Waters was fastest in Practice 1.
James Moffat was fastest in Practice 2.
Cameron Waters was fastest again in Practice 3.
Will Davison was fastest in Practice 4.
Scott McLaughlin was fastest in Practice 5.
Lee Holdsworth was fastest in the Armour All Qualifying.
Warren Luff was fastest in Practice 6.
Cameron Waters and Will Davison were fastest in Practice 7.
Cameron Waters was fastest again in the Armour all Top 10 Shootout earning pole position
Andre Heimgartner was fastest in the Warm U
So in Race 31, The Big Race and grand finale of the season Cameron Waters and Will Davison started on pole position with the formidable Champion Elect Scott McLaughlin alongside them.
Most of the co-drivers started the race except for Scott McLaughlin, Rick Kelly and Macauley Jones.
I was surprised the The Shell V-Power Racing Team started the race with Scott McLaughlin in the driver’s seat of car 17 but it may have been a last minute strategy when they earned P2 alongside pole position.
Craig Lowndes started the race in car 888 and was battling with Michael Caruso for position 7.
As they kicked off the 161 lap race Will Davison got the jump at first but then Scott McLaughlin soon overtook and led up mountain straight for the first time.
Unlike previous years there were no major incidents in the first lap, but it wasn’t long before the pressure started to show.
During lap 2 Macauley Jones had a problem with his drivers side door, the Brad Jones Racing team couldn’t get the door to stay closed on car 3. As he rounded corners the door was flying open! Of all the issues to have in this race! Race control issued a mechanical black flag requiring he return to the pits immediately. For whatever reason Macauley Jones went another lap before coming in which earned him a Drive Thru Penalty.
The Brad Jones Racing Team had to put a new drivers door on car 3 because the one they had on the car wouldn’t close.
Rick Kelly had a clutch problem with car 15 but put up with it during the opening stages.When Car 15 finaly came in for repairsthey put Dale Wood in the driver’s seat.
When the safety car was deployed Car 15 was able to be waved passed to get his lap back under the new safety car rules.
When Jamie Whincup took the wheel of car 888 from Craig Lowndes he was battling with Bodie Kostecki and Chaz Mostert in front and behind in cars 99 and 25. On lap 33 Jamie Whincup was racing through ‘The Cutting’, a particularly dangerous part of the track and lost control smashing into the concrete barrier.
The impact was huge and car 888 was now out of the race! Not only that but with a DNF Red Bull Holden Racing Team could not earn enough points to stay at the top of the Team’s Championship ladder. Rubbing further salt into the wound was the fact that Team’s Championship would now go to driver champion elect Scott McLaughlin’s team, Shell V-Power Racing Team.
On restart the race leader was Will Davison in car 6, and that’s when it started to rain.
At lap 50 Todd Hazelwood and Jordan Boys in car 14 were the next to leave the track.
Not long after on lap 62 Garry Jacobson and David Russell also left the track to keep the guys in car 50 some company for the duration of the race.
The next 65 laps didn’t see any major incidents and let the race continue.
In the middle of the race Garth Tander, co-driver to Shane Van Gisbergen in car 97 took the lead. Garth Tander’s years of experience were on show with supreme driving skills and flying like he had some Red Bull wings.
This is the Bathurst 1000 and Garth Tander, a three time winner was not going to give up a chance to make it his fourth.
Car 97 was still leading when he handed over the wheel to Shane Van Gisbergen, yet to win his first Bathurst 1000.
As they drivers all completed their mandatory 7 pit stops Shane Van Gisbergen was still holding the lead. For all his efforts he could not shake Cameron Waters right behind him.
Every moment was tense as the race drew to a close. Any slip up and Cameron Waters would take advantage and Shane Van Gisbergen could kiss his 1st Bathurst win good-bye.
At lap 147 of 161 Bryce Fullwood and Kurt Kostecki in car 2 were stranded on the track with power steering dramas and the safety car was deployed. Shane Van Gisbergen must have been pleased to get a chance to breath from Cameron Waters incessant chase.
When the race resumed it was only 2 laps later at lap 149 that the safety car was deployed again as the two Jacks (Smith and Perkins) in car 4 left the track. I bet Shane Van Gisbergen was beginning to feel he would lose his form with these interruptions.
Soon enough they were back to full throttle. There were just a few laps remaining and Shane Van Gisbergen was no only holding his lead but squeezed a few seconds ahead of his pesky shadow Cameron Waters. At lap 155 the other Kostecki (Jake) and Zane Goddard were the cause of the safety car being deployed yet again.
You could feel the tension as the cars squeezed up in formation behind the safety car ready to finish those last few laps.
They resumed for the final time. Shane Van Gisbergen driving like a bat out of hell and Cameron Waters right on his tail. At every opportunity he would pull out from behind the leader and show himself – ready to pounce at any opportunity.
Shane Van Gisbergen kept his cool and didn’t choke at the threat from Waters. In an incredibly tense few laps Shane Van Gisbergen managed to cross that finish line first to get his first Bathurst 1000.
Results for race 31
1st Shane Van Gisbergen and Garth Tander – Red Bull Holden Racing Team.
2nd Cameron Waters and Will Davison – Tickford Racing.
3rd Chaz Mostert and Warren Luff – Walkinshaw Andretti United.
The Supercars will be back at Bathurst in Feburary 2021.
I am back after a long absence and although I am still in hospital (this is week 10 – which increases my strong hate for hospitals) I am getting well enough to think about the races again.
Due to the COVID 19 affect on us all and more importantly the cancellation of V8 Supercars races, I thought I would revisit the Grand Finale for 2007. It was only the other day that I found the recording of this race on YouTube. It certainly helped keep my mind occupied from utter frustration of being ‘locked down’ in a damned hospital.
The event took place at Phillip Island (Victoria) on the weekend of November 30 to December 2, 2007.
As it turned out, it was John Bowe’s final race in Supercars. John Bowe is a multi-winning champion in several different race categories (Aussie Drivers Championship in the Formula Mondial, Aussie Sports Car Championship, two time winner of The Bathurst 1000 and much more). He was teamed with many other great champions such as Dick Johnson and Brad Jones. He is still racing in the Touring Car Masters.
This race also notched up Mark Skaif ‘s 200th round start.
Garth Tander was having a fabulous weekend. He took first place in races 1 and 2 and closed the point score between Whincup and himself so it basically became a showdown for the year’s title.
As they moved out to the starting grid it was a young Garth Tander who started on pole position. Alongside him was Todd Kelly.
At the start of 120Km 27 lap race Tod Kelly (in those days driving for Holden) got the jump on Garth Tander.
Jamie Whincup moved up to 3rd and had cover from Craig Lowndes for Team Vodafone because Whincup was battling Garth Tander for the title.
Meanwhile Todd Kelly was helping Garth Tander.
During the opening laps Jamie Whincup knew he had to try and get around Garth Tander to win his first title.
When the pit window opened the contenders stayed out until they got called to pit. The compulsory pit window opened on lap 5 for 2 tyres.
Rick Kelly tried to get down the inside of Will Davison but wasn’t close enough.
In the middle of the race Garth Tander later stated he was put in a difficult situation ‘caught in the sandwich between Jamie [Whincup] and Craig [Lowndes]. It was high-speed chess from there on. It was about managing the situation.’
Although Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes got by Tander it was Todd Kelly who still had the lead.
Todd Kelly maintained his position and crossed the finish line first robbing Jamie Whincup of the points needed for him to take ‘The Title’.
Whincup took second place, Lowndes third and Garth Tander came in fourth.
Regardless of Tander coming fourth for race 3, Whincup was 2 points shy of a draw (625 vs 623). Tander had won the title for 2007.
Results for Race 3
1st Todd Kelly – Holden Racing Team.
2nd Jamie Whincup – Team Vodafone.
3rd Craig Lowndes – Team Vodafone.
