HI to all you Supercars Fans around the world!
On the weekend of the 18th to the 20th of May 2018 was the Winton Supersprint in Melbourne Victoria at the Winton Motor Raceway.
It was a weekend of milestones for a few drivers:
· Lee Holdsworth celebrated his 400th race
· Craig Lowndes his 650th race start
· Michael Caruso celebrated his 150th round start
It is unfortunate to note, James Courtney missed the 2 practices sessions on Friday due to being taken to hospital on Friday night with a gastro bug. Also, Roland Dane was not at Winton due to being on the other side of the world.
LOL moment of the weekend was when Neil Crompton interviewed Fabian Coulthard. He tried to put a beanie on Neil Crompton’s head while he was on the grid and Neil Crompton’s response was, get it off you Lunatic!!.
In the co drivers session Earl Bamber who is a 2 times Le Man winner 2015 & 2017 was acting co-driver for the Triple 8 team. He went out because he had no experiences driving in a Supercar. It is a hell of a way to enter the field with such little Supercar experience. Credit to him.
Saturday came and all was set for the 13th race of the season. Scott McLaughlin started on pole position for the 40 lap race and alongside him was Fabian Coulthard. Scott McLaughlin got the jump to lead into turn 1 while his teammate Fabian Coulthard seemed to have a really bad start and dropped all the way down to 5th.
On the opening lap there was contact between Simona De Silvestro, Todd Hazelwood and David Reynolds. As a result David Reynolds had to limp back to the pits for the Erebus team to repair his car. His frustration was clear, knowing he was losing plenty of lap time so early on.
The other drivers went into the pits for tyres but Craig Lowndes, Shane Van Gisbergen and Jamie Whincup chose to stay out because of where they qualified. I think it was a good call as it allowed them to gain track position. Fabian Coulthard was the first of the Dick Johnson Racing Team Penske car to stop due to his poor start. Fabain Coulthard choose to pit Early to get caught in Traffic out on Track to also have clear and clear pit lane
In the middle of the race Scott McLaughlin was still leading the race which would have made the Dick Johnson Racing Team Penske crew happy. Rick Kelly was racing behind Scott McLaughlin for most of the race. Jamie Whincup wanted to get on the podium to get another trophy to add to the Triple 8 collection but unfortunately that wasn’t the case. So he ended the outside the top 10 in 17th which didn’t help him close the points to current Championship leader Scott Mclaughlin.
Towards the end of the race the Vodafone Safety Car was deployed due to Tim Blanchard getting bogged in the sand trap between turns 3 and 4.
Then on the restart Scott McLaughlin had not got the right amount of temperature into his tyres which meant he had lost the race lead to Rick Kelly and dropped back to as far as 5th spot.
Todd Kelly was nervous because he wasn’t used to watching the race from the Nissan Motorsport garage. I bet he was happy to see his brother win the race.
Shane Van Gisbergen started 14th gained 11 spots to finish 3rd. Craig Lowndes started 24th, gained 11 spots to finish 13th.
Jamie Whincup started 11th finished 17th so he dropped 6 spot.
David Reynolds started 17th and finished 25th.
As a result Craig Lowndes is now 3rd in the championship.
The only driver to get a DNF (did not finish) complete was Cameron Waters.
Result for race 13
1st Rick Kelly – Castrol Racing Nissan Motorsport.
2nd Scott Pye – Mobil 1 Mobile Racing.
3rd Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Holden Racing Team.
4th Fabian Coulthard – Shell V Power Racing Team.
5th Scott McLaughlin – Shell V Power Racing Team.
In race 14 Scott McLaughlin started pole position alongside him was Fabian Coulthard.
At the start of the 67 lap, 200 kilometre race Scott McLaughlin went 1st to 8th with Fabian Coulthard leading the early stages of the race.
Scott McLaughlin came in to the pits on lap 5 to get out of the traffic. On return to the race his timing gave him clear track speed and clear air. I thought there was no way that Scott McLaughlin was going to re-join the race track safely.
David Reynolds wasn’t happy with qualifying 26th he thought he was going to qualify up near the front of the grid. Interesting to note on the Supercars coverage Russell Ingall, Scott McLaughlin and Fabian Coulthard were wearing beanies to keep their heads warm. Mark Skaife mocked them saying, ‘they looked very average’.
Craig Lowndes was not happy with qualifying 23rd he would have been happier with qualifying inside the top 10 but unfortunately that wasn’t the case. He decided to stay out and make positions from his poor qualifying which paid off. Because he was out with a clear racetrack.
Michael Carso and Rick were battling for position which allowed the cars in front of them to gap the cars behind. When I saw how far Scott McLaughlin had dropped back I thought there was no way he was going to win Sunday’s race and the race for was going to be difficult for him to recover.
In the middle of the race Fabian Coulthard was leading until he had to come into pit lane for his 2nd pit stop. Which meant that all the cars that were behind him moved up 1 spot each. Craig Lowndes had gained 22 spots at one stage to take the race lead only because had not pitted at that point.
Towards the end of the of the race Fabian Coulthard had a 14 second gap over the 2nd placed car which was Shane Van Gisbergen. which is not heard of much these days.
the end of the race was really exciting to watch and congratulations to Fabian Coulthard, Shane Van Gisbergen and Scott Mclaughlin.
The gap between 1st and 2nd in the Championship is just now 131. Jamie Whincup is now 326 points behind. Craig Lowndes is only 299 points behind.
Fabian Coulthard was heading for his first win for 2018 with Dick Johnson Racing Team Penske.
The last that Fabian Coulthard had won at Winton Motor Raceway was 2014 With Brad Jones Racing.
The next is the Crown bet Darwin Triple Crown on the 15th to the 17th of June 2018.
Results for race 14
1st Fabian Coulthard – Shell V Power Racing team
2nd Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Holden Racing Team.
3rd Scott McLaughlin – Shell V Power Racing Team