Hi to all you Supercars Fans around the world!
On the weekend of Apr 28 – 30 was 3rd Supercars Championship round, the Bosch Powertools Perth Supersprint at Barbagallo Raceway.
This track is a 2.4 km circuit with 7 turns. It was built by the Western Australia Sporting Car Club and called Wanneroo Raceway. The first race was in March 1969.
In 1992 a well-known race personality, Alf Barbagallo funded an extension to the track and the circuit was renamed to “Barbagallo Raceway”.
It was then renamed back to Wanneroo Raceway in 2020 but for naming rights reasons will be known as CARCO.com.au Raceway from August 2022 to November 2025.
Barbagallo Raceway is the name I grew up with and still refer to it as such. Wanneroo Raceway is a name I can get used to, but CARCO.com.au Raceway is just plain old strange.
The weekend marked milestones for both Will Davison and Mark Winterbottom. Davison started his 500th race and Winterbottom had his 600th race in Supercars.
The weekend got underway with only one practice followed by the first qualifying session. David Reynolds was fastest in Practice 1 and Shane Van Gisbergen earned pole position in Qualifying.
As drivers positioned themselves on the grid for Race 7, Brodie Kostecki was alongside pole sitter Shane Van Gisbergen.
At the start of the race Brodie Kostecki got the jump and led into turn 1. Will Davison did a dive bomb trying to get up the inside of Thomas Randle but he couldn’t make move stick.
The leaders started pulling away and Jack le Brocq was the only one able to keep up. It created a gap between the frontrunners and the rest of the pack.
Nick Percat in 20th place was the first car to pit on lap 8. He returned to the track in 25th (last) place.
James Courtney had dropped 2 places and Will Brown had gained + 4 places.
James Courtney was being held up by Will Davison in battle with Thomas Randle.
Tim Slade was the first of the Nulon cars to pit. When he came back out he was in 24th position.
Tickford Racing had allowed Will Davison to drive through their pit bay but caused a panic when he almost made contact with James Courtney.
Back on the track Will Brown got up the inside of Macauley Jones on lap 16 for 14th place.
At turn 1 on the next lap Cameron Waters got up the inside of Macauley Jones.
Brodie Kostecki pitted on lap 18 which gave the lead of the race to Shane Van Gisbergen. After a 3.2 second stop he re-joined the race in 19th place.
In the middle of the race David Reynolds did the fastest lap of the race 55.946 seconds and earned him the 5 bonus points.
Shane Van Gisbergen still had the lead with a 2.4 second break over Jack le Brocq. The gap back to David Reynolds in 3rd place was 25 seconds.
As Cameron Waters was heading to the pit lane he got turned around by Andre Heimgartner. It ruined Cameron’s chances of a decent finish. Andre Heimgartner received a post-race time penalty also ruining his chances.
Towards the end of the race when every car had taken their mandatory pit stop, Brodie Kostecki resumed his lead.
With 2 laps to go Brodie Kostecki was blocking Shane Van Gisbergen’s attempt to pass. Kostecki was issued a bad sportsmanship flag and Shane Van Gisbergen took the race lead off him.
Shane Van Gisbergen had to fight hard but kept the lead crossing the finish line 0.594 seconds ahead of Brodie Kostecki. It was only 0.953 seconds back to David Reynolds in 3rd.
This was Shane Van Gisbergen’s 3rd race win at Barbagallo (Waneroo or CARCO.com.au raceway or whatever the hell you want to call it!). It also brings his career tally to 78 wins.
Results for Race 7:
1st Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing
2nd Brodie Kostecki – Erebus Motorsport
3rd David Reynolds – Grove Racing
In Race 8 Will Brown started on pole position and alongside him was David Reynolds.
At the start of the race Will Brown got the jump and led into turn 1 while David Reynolds had to tuck back in behind.
After starting 4th on the grid Brodie Kostecki managed to pass David Reynolds at turn 7 to go into 2nd place. He was still 1.3 seconds away from his teammate and leader, Will Brown.
Anton de Pasquale also passed David Reynolds at turn 7 for 3rd place. David Reynolds must have lost his focus and ran wide catching the edge of the sand trap coming out of turn 7. It dropped him back to 11th position.
James Courtney then passed Anton de Pasquale for 3rd position and was 2.5 seconds behind the two leaders.
Matt Payne had gained 2 places to be up in 6th position, while Cameron Waters got up the inside of Todd Hazelwood for 9th.
Anton de Pasquale received a 15 second driving infringement time penalty for nudging another car.
The first car to pit was Cameron Hill in last place with a with a gear shift problem. The team put the go jacks under the rear of car 35 and went in to sort out the dramas.
Will Brown still had the lead with a 1.2 second gap over teammate Brodie Kostecki. Will Brown proved himself a real competitor and did the fastest lap of the race 55.956 seconds. This earned him the 5 bonus points for the race and championship leader board.
In the middle of the race Brodie Kostecki in 2nd place took his pit stop to avoid double stacking with his teammate Will Brown who was in the lead.
With 13 laps to go the two Erebus cars were back in the lead of the race. It was a dominant display with no threat from behind.
They had the race under complete control and kept their lead all the way to the finish.
Will Brown crossed the line 6.2 seconds ahead of Brodie Kostecki. It was a further gap of 3.5 seconds back to James Courtney in 3rd place.
Results for Race 8
1st Will Brown – Erebus Motorsport
2nd Brodie Kostecki – Erebus Motorsport
3rd James Courtney – Tickford Racing
In Race 9 Broc Feeney, the young and upcoming star of Red Bull Ampol Racing started on pole position. Alongside him was Brodie Kostecki.
Broc Feeney got the jump and led into turn 1 for the first of 42 laps. The opening lap was relatively clean except for Jack le Brocq spinning Declan Fraser around at turn 7. Le Brocq was later issued a 15 second time penalty to be served at his mandatory pit stop.
Broc Feeney had a 3/4 second lead over Brodie Kostecki with David Reynolds staying competitive in 3rd.
Will Brown then seemed to come out of nowhere jumping over Brodie Kostecki and David Reynolds to take 2nd place.
The back of the field also had interesting action. Shane Van Gisbergen gained 2 places from his start in 21st position up to 19th.
Chaz Mostert got up the inside of his ex-teammate Cameron Waters for 8th place.
Will Brown for the second time this weekend recorded the fastest lap, 55.718 seconds.
Matt Payne was first passed by Anton de Pasquale and then Shane Van Gisbergen. Gisbergen was now in 18th place.
The first car to pit was Tim Slade in 5th position on lap 12. He returned the track in 17th place.
In the middle of the race both Will Davison and Brodie Kostecki pitted together from 11th and 12th place.
Towards the end of the end of the race Broc Feeney had a 12.7 second lead over Chaz Mostert and 4 cars were still yet to take their pit stop.
Broc Feeney wowed the crowd. He held the lead all the way to the checkered flag to claim his 3rd career win 6.4 seconds clear of Will Brown. Truly an amazing finish.
Congratulations Broc.
Results for Race 9:
1st Broc Feeney – Red Bull Ampol Racing
2nd Will Brown – Erebus Motorsport
3rd Brodie Kostecki – Erebus Motorsport
Brodie Kostecki has extended his championship lead to 100 points and also takes his team Erebus to the top of the Teams Championship.
The next event is the Ned Whiskey Tasmania Supersprint 19 – 21 of May 2023.