Hi to all you V8 Supercars fans around the world!
The Clipsal 500 will be run on the 2nd – 5th of March 2017.
Let’s take a look back at what happened in Adelaide 2016 during race 1.
Scott Pye in car 2 started on pole position and alongside him was Jamie Whincup in car 88. On lap 1 of 39, Jamie Whincup took the race lead from the first chicane. Scott Pye had bogged off the start line and didn’t get the required launch to take the lead so slotted in behind Jamie Whincup. James Courtney tried to get down the inside of Mark Winterbottom to take the fourth position at the final corner, turn 14, but Mark Winterbottom wasn’t going to give in that easily.
On lap 2, Mark Winterbottom tried to get up the inside of Scott McLaughlin but he wasn’t able to get the job done. Garth Tander got down the inside of his former teammate Todd Kelly. Todd Kelly wasn’t going to have a bar of this and took his spot back from Garth Tander on approach to the turn 1 chicane.
On lap 3, Craig Lowndes found himself up against Will Davison for pit priority. Meanwhile, the cars back in the pack were battling it out to get better positioning.
On lap 4, Tim Blanchard and Andre Heimgartner were trying to take placing from one another. Neither driver were willing to give in, making for some very exciting racing. Rick Kelly had a go trying to take position from Shane Van Gisbergen. Craig Lowndes was trying to get passed Will Davison for some fresh air to cool his engine but he just wasn’t close enough.
On lap 5, Fabian Coulthard got down the inside of Michael Caruso in car 23 at turn 9. Craig Lowndes and Chaz Mostert did their pit stops to avoid getting caught up in traffic. Craig Lowndes also wanted to avoid a double stack in the pits with Will Davison.
This was an early pit stop so once back on the track Craig Lowndes and Chaz Mostert did a very long run on their 2nd set of tyres.
By lap 5, Jamie Whincup had a good enough lead so didn’t have to push too hard. James Courtney tried to get passed the season champion, Mark Winterbottom at turn 14 but wasn’t able to. Then Fabian Coulthard tried to get up the inside of Mark Winterbottom but was also staved off. Jason Bright wanting to move up the order put the pressure on Chris Pither.
In the middle of the race the cars back in the pack were pitting to not get caught up in traffic.
After hitting a wall Tim Slade couldn’t find the reverse gear to get back into the race. He only needed to be facing the right way to continue but officials forced him onto the tow truck. Tim Slade looked dark about the decision that meant that he was out of the race.
Towards the end of the race no one could catch the top 3 drivers.
Results for race 1
1st – Jamie Whincup – Red Bull racing Australia.
2nd – James Courtney – Holden Racing Team.
3rd – Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Racing Australia.
In race 2 Chaz Mostert started on pole position alongside him was Jamie Whincup on lap 1 of 39 Chaz Mostert took the race lead early on through the centre chicane. Jamie Whincup tried to follow him through but James Courtney had to get out of the throttle to ensure that there was no contact.
On lap 2 Jamie Whincup tried to do the crisscross at turn 4, but he couldn’t pull it off.
During the opening laps everybody was settling down to a race pace. Then the pit stops started. When the pack came into the pits a few teams had to double stack. For this reason teams like to have 2 or in the case of Triple 8 Engineering, 3 cars on different strategies.
Craig Lowndes had to try and stay in front of Will Davison so that he didn’t have to double stack behind Will Davison.
On lap 3 the cars back in the pack where trying to keep up with the race leaders.
On lap 4 the leaders stayed out longer. The cars down the bottom of the field came in.
In the middle of the race James Courtney got track position over Jamie Whincup, as a result of a faster pitstop from the Holden Racing Team.
On lap 5 all the crews where watching from the garage until they needed to go out into the pits.
Results for race 2
1st – James Courtney – Holden Racing Team
2nd – Jamie Whincup – Red Bull Racing Australia
3rd – Chaz Mostert – Supercheap Auto Racing
In race 3 Fabain Coulthard started on pole position, alongside him was Chaz Mostert. The race started under safety car due to the wet weather. Before the race started Mark Winterbottom nearly put car number 1 in the fence during the sighting lap. His race engineer told him to come in to the pits for wet weather tyres.
The cars did 5 laps under safety car. Greg Murphy working as pit reporter, was wondering why all the team managers were talking to the officials. The team managers were huddled around the officials questioning the pit stops taking place before the race start.
When the race went to green, the track was still wet and the drivers had to be really careful. Early on Shane Van Gisbergen even had his wiper on just so he could see out the windscreen.
At turn 9 James Courtney hit Jamie Whincup from behind and spun him around. When Jamie Whincup was trying to get back on the track to re-join the race, he nearly hit another couple of cars causing some hairs to stand on end.
Later in the race Shane Van Gisbergen hit James Courtney from behind and caused him to spin around. This gave Craig Lowndes the opportunity he was waiting for and took the lead.
The weather got worse and there was thunder and lightning. The officials were forced to put up the red flag for more than an hour due to deteriorating weather conditions. When they returned to the race they had ‘time certain’ finish.
Nick Percat ended up scoring the race win due to other cars being penalised on fuelling rules.
Results for race 3
1st – Nick Percat – Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport.
2nd – Michael Caruso. Nissan Motorsport.
3rd – Garth Tander – Holden Racing Team.
It was an exciting race and it’s that time of the year again. The first race of the season! Who will win the 2017 Clipsal 500 this weekend? Will there be any wet weather? The defending Clipsal champ is Nick Percat. It will also be Craig Lowndes 21st year in V8 Supercars. Can he win his 4th Championship in 2017? Mark Winterbottom has never won the Clipsal 500. Will he do it this year or will someone else step up?
Best of luck to everybody for the 2017 season. Race 1 will be 250 Klms over 78 laps. Will Jamie Whincup win the opening race again?