Hi Guys and Gals of the V8 community…
Last year Dad and I attended this race and had a great time, unfortunately this year we didn’t get the opportunity, so lets have a look back at 2013.
While waiting to board our plane in Sydney, you will never guess who we came across, OK I’ll tell you, the whole Red Bull Australia team including Roland Dane and the management team. As I was sitting there waiting to board the plane, all I could do is watch in amazement as they chatted and laughed with each other, I so wanted to go over and talk to them, but Dad said their would be plenty of time for that latter. After boarding the plane, I noticed they had followed me in. What a great bunch of blokes…
On the weekend of the 5 to 7 of April 2013 was the Microsoft Office 365.
In race 3 Jamie Whincup started on pole position alongside him was Fabain Coulthard. On lap 1 Jamie got the jump off the line and beat Fabain into the turn 1 and 2. Fabain was shadowing Jamie for the 1st the part of race 3 towards the end of lap 1 Craig got bumped off the track in between turns 6 and 7 at the start of lap 2 he then got spun around by Russell Ingall who making his 221st race start. While Craig was in the pits he spun his left rear wheel. Under safety car conditions which would normally cause a pitlane drive thru penalty.
Also during the course of lap 1 Shane Van Gisbergen didn’t want to feather the throttle and Craig got passed him. A Safety car was deployed on lap 3 due to one of the Erbus E63 Mercedes Benz running wide in-between turns 2 and 3. In the middle of the race there was a halftime break of just 15 minutes and then on the restart, it was a double file rolling restart meaning that everybody had to be alongside each other for the restart. Craig started in position number 28 for part 2 of race 3. When the green flag was waved by Damien White, Jamie Was still in the lead of the race, but after the restart Fabain then took over the race lead, and held it until the end of the 50 lap race. Jamie Whincup now leads the Championship by 51 points.
Results for race 3
1st Fabain Coulthard – Brad Jones Racing
2nd Jamie Whincup – Red Bull Racing Australia,
3rd Mark Winterbottom – Pepsi Max crew FPR.
In race 4 the 2 teammates Jason Bright and Fabain Coulthard started on the front of the grid. Jason Bright got the jump on his teammate Fabain Coulthard during lap 1 Garth Tander passed Fabain to move into 2nd spot.
On lap 2 David Reynolds hit the wall on the run out of the hairpin turn 4. This caused a safety car, and as a resulted in left front corner of car 55 was just completely ruined. On the restart Jason Bright was still leading from Garth Tander and then everyone just settled down. There were no pit stops unless a car had some damage or a flat tyre. In the middle of the race Craig Lowndes had lost 2 spot to Mark Winterbottom and James Courtney, towards the end of the race James was putting a huge amount of pressure on Mark James and Scott McLaughlin made contact with each other.
Results for race 4
1st Jason Bright – Team Boc
2nd Fabain Coulthard – Lockwood Racing
3rd Jamie Whincup – Red Bull Racing Australia
In race 5 Mark Winterbottom started on pole position alongside him was Fabain Coulthard. Mark Winterbottom got the jump into turn 1 from Fabain Coulthard on lap 1. Mark held the race lead through the 1st lap and Fabain was behind until the middle of the race. On lap 2 Scott McLaughlin was sideways on entry to the pit straight, then all the cars were trying to make space for each other, there was a safety car deployed on lap 5 due to debris on the entry to the pit straight. David Reynolds was given a mechanical black flag under the safety car because he had his right front guard dangling. Russell Ingall came into the pits on lap 10 due to a flat tyre. In the middle of the race Alex Davison was battling away with Lee Holdsworth towards the end of the final race Scott Pye had a massive accident, on the restart Mark Winterbottom made a mistake by running wide at turn 4, this allowed Fabain Coulthard to go passed to get the race win.
Results for race 5
1st Fabain Coulthard – Lockwood Racing
2nd Mark Winterbottom – Pepsi Max Crew
3rd James Courtney- Toll Holden Racing Team
The 60 60 supersprint 1st came into the V8 Supercars championship in Tasmania then in Perth WA. Mark Larkham said he enjoyed watching the double file restart. Because it was something he had never ever seen in V8 Supercars racing before this year.