Hi to all you V8 Supercars Fans around the world!
On the weekend of the 2nd to the 4th of December 2016 was the Coates Hire Sydney 500.
In race 28 Shane Van Gisbergen started on pole position. Alongside him was Jamie Whincup.
On lap 1 of 74 Jamie Whincup got the jump on his teammate at the first turn in an exciting start. Chris Pither spun between turns 2 and 3. James Moffatt got down the inside of Fabian Coulthard at turn 9.
Jason Bright passed his teammate, Tim Slade in the complex of turns on lap 2. Then Todd Kelly passed Scott Pye at turns 2, 3 and 4. Chris Pither was forced to park his car 111 back in the garage to deal with the damage he had after the spin earlier. Craig Lowndes made a great start and got into 2nd spot straight away. But for the championship leader, Shane Van Gisbergen the starting laps weren’t so great. His car copped a whack from one of the Prodrive cars. Chaz Mostert hit the back of Mark Winterbottom which in turn sent car 97 straight on.
On lap 3 Shane Van Gisbergen was still up with the leading group of cars. Lap 4 saw the Red Bull and Holden Racing team cars battling against each other. Meanwhile, the Prodrive Racing Australia team were madly trying repair car 111 and get it back out on the track. On lap 6 Cameron Waters came in to the pits first, to not double stack with Mark Winterbottom. On lap 7 Garth Tander looked pacey on the back of Shane Van Gisbergens car. Towards the end of lap 7 David Reynolds got passed Scott Pye. Reviewing the replay showed that the rear diffuser had been torn off Time Slade’s car 14 during the pass by David Reynolds.
On lap 8 and 9 Shane Van Gisbergen ‘Wild Child’ put the pressure on Mark Winterbottom trying to force him into error. It didn’t go exactly to plan and Shane Van Gisbergen earned himself a drive through penalty for spinning Mark Winterbottom. The penalty caused Shane Van Gisbergen to drop to position 22. Grant McPherson (Red Bull’s engineer) encouraged his team mate ‘we can recover from this’. Mark Winterbottom came into pits to try and repair the damage on his car 1. Shane Van Gisbergen couldn’t redress because Mark Winterbottom had pitted.
Meanwhile Jamie Whincup was still up front dominating the race. On lap 12 Shane Van Gisbergen came through the pits for PLP(Pit Lane Penalty) and David Reynolds was exiting the pits to re-join the race. On lap 14 Shane Van Gisbergen was trying to come back after the PLP. On Lap 15, Craig Lowndes needed to pass Scott McLaughlin in an effort to secure 3rd on the championship ladder. He put the pressure on Scott McLaughlin to try and force him into error. They battled it out and Craig Lowndes got his way.
On lap 16 the cars back in the pack pitted and re-joined the race with no traffic around them. In the middle of the race the cars took their last pits to get ready for the run to the finish. However, in the end no one could catch the clear leader, Jamie Whincup in car number 88.
Results for race 28
1st – Jamie Whincup – Red Bull Racing Australia.
2nd – Garth Tander – Holden Racing Team.
3rd – Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Racing Australia.
In race 29 Garth Tander started on pole position. Alongside him was Champion Elect, Shane Van Gisbergen. Jamie Whincup started 10th position because of a mistake in the top ten shootout when he completely missed a turn.
On lap 1 of 74 Garth Tander got the jump on Shane Van Gisbergen at turn 1 and led the opening laps. Jason Bright hit the wall on the exit of turn 2, which put him towards the back of the pack. David Reynolds kept close behind Shane Van Gisbergen and made his presence felt. Lap 2, Tim Blanchard copped damage to the front of his car 21. On lap 3 Garth Tander maintained race lead. Jamie Whincup put the moves on Michael Caruso to take 8th place.
Cars back in the pack came into pits early on lap 4 to avoid double stacking with their 2nd team cars out on track. Jamie Whincup waited till the next lap to pit, avoiding a double stack with Shane Van Gisbergen.
On lap 6 Jason Bright lost his chance to finish his career well with Brad Jones Racing, his car came to a stop after his wall incident in lap 1.
On lap 7 Shane Van Gisbergen had a hard time with the outgoing Holden Racing Team driver and it took a while to get by him.
On lap 8 Todd and Rick Kelly were driving cautiously not wanting to risk car damage in the middle of the busy pack. The Nissan Motorsport team made it clear they did not want to park either car 7 and/or 15 off track in this race. Fortunately they stayed out of trouble.
On lap 10 the cars back in the field pitted early for track position and clear track.
On lap 11 Shane Van Gisbergen showed the right stuff and took the lead from Garth Tander, wanting to be remembered in the last ever race at the Homebush track.
On lap 16 everybody had completed their first round of pit stops and then re-joined on lap 17.
In the middle of the race the 2nd round of pit stops had started, with the cars up front choosing to stay and the cars near the back of the pack come in.
Towards the end of the race Rick Kelly showed his frustration at losing valuable time in the pits, having a battery problem checked on his car 15.
In the last laps no one could catch the front 4 cars with Shane Van Gisbergen crossing the line first.
A great finish for an historic last ever Motor race at Homebush.
Also noted as it was the last race of the season:
- Roland Dane (one of the owning partners of the Triple 8 Team) was looking very happy with his team’s performance for the year.
- Craig Lowndes has had a great run in his first year with Team Vortex.
- Cameron Waters also had a good run for a rookie in his first year of driving full time.
- James Courtney had first win.
- Mark Winterbottom wanted to keep the number 1 season spot on the Bottle-O car but he hasn’t been constant enough.
Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New year. See you in 2017.
Results for race 29
1st – Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Racing Australia.
2nd – Garth Tander – Holden Racing Team.
3rd – David Reynolds – Erebus Motorsport V8.
https://youtu.be/MCxyaVEfmbY