Hi to all you Supercars Fans around the world!

On the weekend of the 6^th to the 8^th of July 2018 was the Watpac Townsville 400. This celebrates its 10^th year running.

The hot news of the week was the revelation of Triple 8’s Craig Lowndes retirement from full time racing at the end of the 2018 season.

After the announcement, Garth Tander said he was a bit shocked as was I.  This was the general consensus amongst many of the other drivers interviewed by Greg Murphy over this weekend’s racing.  Not only is Craig Lowndes an excellent and respected driver who easily has several more years of racing left in him but this announcement means he will be cutting short his contract by 1 year with Triple 8. It also seems Simona de Silvestro has been shortlisted to join Triple 8, so it makes me wonder what’s been going on behind the scenes.

It was good to see Erebus Motorsport owner, Betty Klimenko make a showing this weekend. Due to illness she has not attended the last few race events. Welcome back Betty!

Michael Caruso had a pretty awful weekend. His car stopped out on track in the warm up lap for race 17 and due to the issue was not able to join the race at all.

Michael Caruso received an NC (Not Complete) but I would have thought it would be classified as DNS (Did Not Start).  All the same, was bad luck and it didn’t get any better for him on Sunday in race 18 as you will read later.

In race 17, Surprise, SURPRISE!!! Scott McLaughlin started on pole position. Alongside him was Jamie Whincup.

At the start of the 70 lap race Scott Mclaughlin got the jump on Jamie Whincup. Scott McLaughlin’s car is fast but Jamie Whincup has experience and would not let up and managed to take the race lead on lap 2.

Teammate Shane Van Gisbergen also managed to get in behind Jamie Whincup. Things were looking good for Triple 8s Red Bull drivers.

Soon after Todd Hazelwood made contact with Simona De Silvestro. Todd Hazelwood then bounced off the wall. Although he still raced on Sunday, it was later revealed he dislocated his shoulder and was pretty much only using one arm to race. I don’t know what to say about that. Amazing commitment or irresponsible?  If any of you readers have a strong viewpoint we’d love to hear from you on my fan page. (https://www.facebook.com/williamsperfectride/)

James Courtney got pinged for spinning around his former teammate Garth Tander.

Although Shane Van Gisbergen was doing well, he pitted first to avoid a double stack with teammate Jamie Whincup who still had the lead.

This was James Golding’s first time at Townsville so in the middle of the race he stayed in close behind experienced teammate, Garth Tander for some valuable lessons.

It was also around the middle of the race Fabian Coulthard was trying to move up the pack to get a finish in the top 10. His efforts were exciting to watch.

Towards the end of the race Craig Lowndes tried to get passed Scott McLaughlin to make it a Triple 8 Race Engineering 1, 2 and 3. Scott McLaughlin managed to hold veteran Craig Lowndes off.

Results for race 17

1^st Jamie Whincup – Red Bull Holden Racing Team.
2^nd   Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Holden Racing Team.

3^rd Scott McLaughlin  – Shell V Power racing team.
4^th Craig Lowndes – Autobarn Lowndes racing.

In Race 18 Shane Van Gisbergen started on pole position. Alongside him was Jamie Whincup.

At the start of the 70 lap race Shane Van Gisbergen got the jump off the start.

The Dick Johnson Racing Team Penske crew had a poor pit stop time due to a car jack getting stuck from an air spike which resulted in them losing time and track position. This wouldn’t have made Scott McLaughlin a happy driver.

In the middle of the race the 2^nd round stops were starting to happen. To make everybody had good tyres and right amount fuel in there to get to the finish.

Late in the race Richie Stanaway was drifting at every turn. I take a guess and say it was due to tyre wear so close to the end of the race.  He got warned by his team to stop drifting otherwise risk a penalty for it.

It was also late in the race when Michael Caruso continued his bad luck streak. He made contact with Anton de Pasquale ending up in the Dunlop tyre wall needing to be towed off track and getting a DNF

.

Craig Lowndes was doing his best to pass Scott McLaughlin for 3^rd and earn the Triple 8 Team trifecta but Scot McLaughlin wasn’t going to give anything away. So Craig Lowndes had to stick with 4^th place on both Saturday and Sunday.  Overall the team had a good weekend with a 1^st, 2^nd and 4^th on Saturday With Jamie Whincup in first place and the same on Sunday where Shane Van Gisbergen took the trophy. Red Bull Holden Racing Team got 2 from 2.

 

The next is the Coates Hire Ipswich Supersprint on the 20^th to the 22^nd of July 2018.

Results for race 18

1^st Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Holden Racing Team.
2^nd Jamie Whincup – Red Bull Holden Racing Team.
3^rd Scott McLaughlin  – Shell V Power Racing Team.
4^th Craig Lowndes – Autobarn Lowndes Racing.