Hi to all you Supercars Fans around the world!
On the weekend of the 21st to 22nd of May 2022 was the Winton Supersprint.
This year marks the 33rd time that the Australian Touring Car Championship – Supercars Championship has visited Winton Motor Raceway. The first round was held here in 1985 and since then the only years the championship didn’t visit the venue were 1987, 1996 and 2005. Covid 19 also impacted this event in 2020 and 2021.
A pair of teams reached significant milestones at Winton. Team 18 and Erebus Motorsport both made their 300th championship starts in race 2. Both debuted at the Adelaide 500 in 2013. Erebus originally entered the series running a 3 car Mercedes AMG team.
The second race will also be Jack Le Broc’s 150th Supercars Championship start.
Matt Cook marked his first event as Team Principal at Premier Hire Racing (ex Team Sydney). He has come directly from 888 Race Engineering and the Red Bull Ampol Racing Team where he was the chief mechanic.
The event got started on the Saturday morning. In the pre-race sessions:
- Will Brown was fastest in Practice 1
- Shane Van Gisbergen was fastest in Practice 2
- Shane Van Gisbergen was also fastest in Armour All Qualifying for Race 13.
In Race 13 Shane Van Gisbergen earned his maiden pole position at Winton Motor Raceway. It was his 41st career pole! Alongside him was Cameron Waters.
At the start of the 36 lap race Cameron Waters got the jump and led into turns 1 and 2. Will Brown got an amazing start from the 2nd row of the grid. I thought he was going to take the lead into turn 1 but he couldn’t make it around Shane Van Gisbergen.
Jake Kostecki ran wide onto the dirt at the exit of turn 3 but he kept his momentum only losing two spots.
Mark Winterbottom was slowing on the exit of turn 4 because of an electrical problem. His car completely stopped. It took valuable time to restart. When he got back up to speed he was in 27th position and 10 seconds behind Garry Jacobson in the next car.
Shane Van Gisbergen was in 2nd place to Cameron Waters. Will Brown just behind Shane Van Gisbergen took a massive slide but somehow managed to stay on track and not let anyone through. He had some of the fastest drivers right behind him, so it was an impressive feat. Right on his tail were Chaz Mostert, Lee Holdsworth, Anton de Pasquale, David Reynolds and Scott pye.
Soon after Anton de Pasquale reported his car was handling loosely in the rear. He started dropping down the order ending up in 9th position. Pretty quickly he realised he would have to pit.
Cameron Waters was still in the lead and had a ¾ second gap over Shane Van Gisbergen. He managed the fastest time of the race in sectors 1 and 3.
On lap 6 Nick Percat and James Courtney in 19th and 20th position were the first 2 cars to pit and were in desperate need of clean air. Both teams did rear tyres only.
Thomas Randle came in to get away from the two Penrite Racing cars right behind him as they battled for positions 5th and 6th.
Garry Jacobson pitted on lap 8 to also get out of the way of their fierce battle.
There was only 3 seconds separating the top 5 cars, so the front of the pack was quite tense. Shane Van Gisbergen was only 0.685 seconds behind Cam Waters in the lead.
Cameron Waters had damage to the back of his car from being shunted.
Shane Van Gisbergen reported to his engineer Andrew Edwards, that there was fuel coming out the back of Cameron Waters’ car. Later, Garth Tander went into the Tickford Racing garage to interview team owner, Tim Edwards. When asked about the fuel leak his response was, ‘I don’t think Shane was telling the truth’. LOL. Very cheeky Mr SVG.
Jayden Ojeda and Chris Pither came in on lap 9 for rears only.
Broc Feeney came in on lap 12 to ensure that Shane Van Gisbergen didn’t have to double stack when he wanted to pit. Feeney re-joined the race in 21st position.
Walkinshaw Andretti United brought Chaz Mostert in on lap 13 to cover off the threat from Grove Racing’s David Reynolds who was hot on his tail. They did a 3.8 second stop and Chaz Mostert re-joined the race in 20th position with plenty of empty track in front and behind. He was 10.145 seconds behind from leader Cameron Waters. Broc Feeney in 21st place was 44+ seconds behind the leader.
By the middle of the race all the drivers had completed their mandatory pit stops and Cameron Waters was back in the lead!
Shane Van Gisbergen spent the rest of the race trying to find a way around Cameron Waters but just couldn’t manage it. Cameron Waters defensive driving had him stumped.
Just before the final corner heading to the finish line the two made contact. Shane Van Gisbergen’s front right took a massive hit and it broke the steering arm. The car was still running and magically he was able to make the last bend and follow Cam Waters to the finish line. (How do you make a turn with a broken steering arm? – Only ‘SVG the Magician’ knows that secret.)
Its standard practice to drive cars (with all their advertising livery) to the podium to accept trophies. On this occasion Shane Van Gisbergen got to the podium in a golf cart. LOL.
All round this was a fantastic race to start the weekend.
Results for Race 13:
1st Cameron Waters – Tickford Racing.
2nd Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing.
3rd David Reynolds – Grove Racing.
In Race 14 Cameron Waters started on pole position alongside him was Shane Van Gisbergen.
At the start of the race Cameron Waters led into turns 1 and 2.
Reynolds in 3rd place tried to get up the inside of Shane Van Gisbergen at turn 3. The attempt failed and left him wide on the track. Chaz Mostert took the opportunity and moved up into 3rd. Reynolds teammate Lee Holdworth was right behind and allowed him back into the racing line at position 4.
When Jayden Ojeda went off the track at turn 4 with assistance from Jordan Boys and then re-joined in 27th position.
Brodie Kostecki got tagged by Broc Feeney in between turns 6 and 7 in the opening lap congestion.
At turn 9 Will Davison was pushed wide onto the dirt by Le Brocq on the inside. He had Courtney right on his tail so he could break suddenly. With both left wheels out on the dirt he managed to keep a straight line and get back on track.
Davison paid back Jack Le Brocq giving him a nudge at turn 10 forcing his right wheels off track onto the dirt. Will Davison and James Courtney both passed Jack Le Brocq and seconds later he was passed again by Thomas Randle.
Thomas Randle ran wide between turns 11 and 12 and he caught a little bit of dirt as well.
At the front of the race Cameron Waters was still the leader with a .6 of a second gap ahead of Shane Van Gisbergen.
The drivers behind Shane Van Gisbergen were Chaz Mostert, David Reynolds, Lee Holdsworth, Andre Heimgartner, Will Brown, Mark Winterbottom, Anton de Pasquale, Brodie Kostecki and Broc Feeney.
By lap 3 David Reynolds and Lee Holdsworth were still in 4th and 5th with Andre Heimgartner close behind in 6th position.
By lap 5 the gap between Cameron Waters and Shane Van Gisbergen in 1st and 2nd hadn’t changed much, ¾ of a second.
Engineer, Adam de Borre asked Chaz Mostert to find some fresh air for the engine. Things were obviously heating up. He couldn’t take it easy with David Reynolds on his tail putting the pressure on.
Will Brown was the first car to pit in this race, followed by James Courtney and Thomas Randle. Thomas Randle’s stop was exceptional, timed at 4 seconds.
On exiting the pits Will Brown made contact with Thomas Randle. They couldn’t hold everyone so pressed on.
The next 2 cars to pit were Scott Pye and Jack Le Brocq. Soon after it was Maculey Jones.
Mark Winterbottom pitted on lap 14 in 5.02 seconds. Surprisingly, at this stage there were 17 cars yet to pit.
Scott Pye slowed on the track between turns 5 and 6. Once again his engineer Richard Hollway declared another power steering problem. A problem that has plagued the team since round 1, race 1.
Chaz Mostert pitted on lap 15 and re-joined in 18th position with 16 cars yet to pit.
Shane Van Gisbergen pitted on lap 16. Cameron Waters also pitted on the same lap.
On lap 17 Shane Van Gisbergen passed Cameron Waters to take the affective lead of the race (taking into consideration there were still 13 cars yet to pit).
Shane Van Gisbergen’s driving was faultless and Cameron Waters couldn’t keep up. Gisbergen kept inching away. He crossed the finish line 5+ seconds ahead of Cameron Waters, followed by David Reynolds a further 3+ seconds later.
The defending Supercars Champion, Shane Van Gisbergen now leads the championship by 281 points.
Results for Race 14:
1st Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing.
2nd Cameron Waters – Tickford Racing.
3rd David Reynolds – Grove Racing.
In race 15 it was the two stars of the weekend at the front of the grid. Cameron Waters was on pole with Shane Van Gisbergen alongside him.
At the start of the race Cameron Waters once again got the jump off the line and led into turn 1 and 2. Andre Heimgartner moved up to 2nd dropping Shane Van Gisbergen back to 3rd.
David Reynolds got the best start from the front group of cars moving up 2 spots almost immediately. Shane Van Gisbergen was lucky to not to lose another spot to David Reynolds as he almost got up the inside at turn 3.
Lee Holdsworth got up the inside of Broc Feeney for position 10 between turns 5 and 6.
Meanwhile the cars back in the field were settling down into their race pace.
The front and the back of Jack Smith’s car had been damaged. He was struggling to see the apex of the corners because of the smashed up bonnet. He managed to get around the track but had to pit at the end of lap 1.
Tim Slade had smoke coming of the back of the Cool Drive Ford Mustang. Even after pitting the car was still giving off smoke for the next few laps.
Macauley Jones got down the inside of Todd Hazelwood and Scott Pye followed him. Jack le Brocq was sliding on the way out of the final corner, turn 12.
In the opening lap Cameron Waters drove the best lap time of the race. It clocked in at 1min 25.8s and gave him the 0.609 second lead over Andre Heimgartner.
After lap 1 there was a lot movement in the top 10 cars.
Jack Smith re-joined in 27th position after pitting on lap 1. He was getting out of the way of the cars following because he was already a lap down.
Andre Heimgartner kept up the pressure on leader, Cameron Waters. David Reynolds was doing the same thing to Shane Van Gisbergen in 3rd place. The gap between the top 3 cars was 2 seconds.
The leaders were pulling away from the cars back in the pack. From David Reynolds back to Broc Feeney there was a lot of congestion, so the pack were starting to think about pitting to get clear track.
David Reynolds kept right up with Shane Van Gisbergen through a number of laps without losing any ground whatsoever. It was the tiniest gap of only 0.254 seconds.
By the middle of the race all the pitstops were complete and Cameron Waters was back in the lead. He was looking good to win 2 out of the 3 races for the weekend.
Towards the end of the race Shane Van Gisbergen found the space to finally take back 2nd position from Andre Heimgartner. His speed and defensive driving made it impossible for Heimgartner to challenge him. They held their places to the finish line; Cameron Waters followed by Shane Van Gisbergen then Andre Heimgartner.
So once again it was Waters and Gisbergen who swapped 1st and 2nd places in all 3 races on the weekend.
Results for Race 15:
1st Cameron Waters – Tickford Racing.
2nd Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing.
3rd Andre Heimgartner – Brad Jones Racing.
The next event is the Merlin Darwin Triple Crown on the 17th to 19th of June 2022. Super, I cant wait!
