Hi to all you Supercars Fans around the world!
On the weekend of the 23 – 25 Feb was the Thrifty Bathurst 500.
It was Round 1 of the V8-Supercars 2024 season.
The event consisted of 2 practice sessions, a qualifying session (1 for each of the 2 races) to determine the entries to the top 10 shootout for grid position and finally 2 races of 40 laps / 250km each.
Last season ended with Erebus taking the teams trophy and Erebus driver Brodie Kostecki taking the drivers’ trophy. Will Brown who was Brodie Kostecki’s teammate took 4th place.
It seems this year the drivers from Erebus have abandoned ship. Will Brown is now driving for Red Bull Ampol Racing alongside Broc Feeney after the exit of legend, Shane Van Gisbergen.
On the 30 January 2024 Brodie Kostecki had a massive falling out with Erebus Motorsports’ boss Barry Ryan and left the team. It must have been serious because now the champion has been left without a seat in this years’ competition. Barry Ryan, team owner Betty Klimenko and Brodie Kostecki have all been very tight lipped about what happened to cause the rift.
This first event of the year started on the Friday with 2 practice sessions. The weather was cloudy with consistent rain. Not a surprise at Bathurst which is known for its extreme weather patterns.
Results from the pre-race sessions are as follows:
- Broc Feeney was fastest in Practice 1
- Will Brown was fastest in Practice 2
- Broc Feeney was fastest in Qualifying for both Race 1 & 2
- Will Brown was fastest in Race 1 Top Ten Shootout
- Broc Feeney was the fastest in Race 2 Top Ten Shootout
On the grid for Race 1 Will Brown started in pole position with teammate Broc Feeney alongside him.
Will Brown got the jump on his teammate off the starting line and led into turn 1 for the first of 40 laps. Chaz Mostert got a ripper of a start from 3rd on the grid and was close behind the two leaders.
Rookie, Ryan Wood went off the track at turn 1 with a helping hand from Tim Slade. The safety car was deployed and the car was towed off the track. I am sure it was not how Ryan Wood envisioned his first race as a rookie.
Race Control looked at the incident and decided to take no penalising action against Wood or Slade.
The restart was on lap 3. Will Brown still had the race lead followed by Broc Feeney, Chaz Mostert and Cameron Hill.
The first 2 cars to pit were Anton de Pasquale and Matt Payne on lap 6. They re-joined one spot from the back of the pack, 22nd and 23rd.
Broc Feeney was tailing leader Will Brown by only 0.934 seconds. On lap 11 he then did the fastest time recorded in this race (208.332 seconds).
Will Brown was the first of the two Red Bull cars to pit to ensure there would be no double stacking at the garage with teammate Broc Feeney. This handed Broc Feeney the lead.
In the middle of the race Nick Percat had the lead. Once he pitted Broc Feeney took back lead control with Will Brown behind him.
Aaron Love hit the wall coming out of The Cutting and damaged the right rear corner of car 3. It was quite a significant hit and he had to limp back to the pits. There was no need to deploy the safety car and later he did manage to return to the race.
Towards the end of the race Broc Feeney and Will Brown were the effective leaders with the 2 cars of Nick Percat and Cameron Waters ahead of them but still yet to pit. Once they pitted the 2 Red Bull cars assumed 1st and 2nd place on the track.
With 9 laps remaining Broc Feeney was still in the lead by 0.871seconds over Will Brown.
On lap 33 Chaz Mostert clocked the fastest lap of the race at 208.113 seconds. This adds 5 point to Mostert’s scoreboard tally.
The competition began to get wild.
On lap 34 the front left wheel came off Cameron Waters Monster Energy Ford Mustang and it went rolling down the track to turn 2. The race went under FCY (Full Course Yellow) to remove the wheel.
With 5 laps to go James Golding went off at The Chase. When he came back on he was alongside his teammate, Tim Slade.
With 2 laps to go Aaron Love hit the wall at The Cutting again! This time the Safety Car had to be deployed to remove the car from the track. He and Ryan Wood were the only two DNFs in the race.
As a result of the deployed Safety Car the race finished under Safety Car conditions. The finish was therefor quite unexciting compared to the action leading up to it.
Broc Feeney came across the line first, followed by Will Brown and then Chaz Mostert.
Results for Race 1:
1st Broc Feeney – Red Bull Ampol Racing
2nd Will Brown – Red Bull Ampol Racing
3rd Chaz Mostert – Walkinshaw Andretti United
In Race 2 Broc Feeney started on pole position, alongside him was Chaz Mostert.
As they took off Chaz Mostert got the jump and led into turn 1.
Meanwhile back in the pack Cameron Hill and Macauley Jones became entangled and spun both cars. They were able to continue but were now at the back of the pack.
Broc Feeney tried to get up the inside James Golding at The Chase. He made contact with Golding and was issued a 5 second time penalty for the driving infringement.
Will Brown had gone up to second place. He was only 0.385 seconds off Chaz Mostert in the lead. Pole sitter Broc Feeney had dropped back to 3rd place.
Matt Payne was the first driver to take his car into the pits on lap 6.
Ryan Wood also went into the garage to rectify a damaged right front steering sustained on the opening lap.
Aaron Love hit the wall approaching the Reid Park section of the track.
Up the front the top 3 cars were reasonably close to each other.
Broc Feeney was asking whether he can pass Will Brown in attempt to make up for the 5 second time penalty he received earlier. He was given the go ahead but just couldn’t find the space on track to execute the pass.
He then decided to take the first of his 2 mandatory pitstops and also get his 5 second penalty out of the way.
In the middle of the race Chaz Mostert was still the leader by 5.2 seconds over Will Brown, who was then followed by Broc Feeney. Thomas Randle and David Reynolds were battling for 4th and 5th place.
Towards the end of the race only Todd Hazelwood and Andre Heimgartner were still yet to take their second pit stop. Once they did, Will Brown who had overtaken Chaz Mostert would assume the race lead.
In the final 5 laps the top 3 positions were unchanged and stayed that way to the finish.
Will Brown crossed the line with a 1.6 second lead on Chaz Mostert. Then it was 1.4 seconds back to Broc Feeney.
It was a good race and a lot of fun watching it.
Results for Race 2:
1st Will Brown – Red Bull Ampol Racing
2nd Chaz Mostert – Walkinshaw Andretti United
3rd Broc Feeney – Red Bull Ampol Racing
After the first of event of the season Will Brown is the series leader by 9 points over Broc Feeney.
The Red Bull Ampol Racing team are in the lead of the teams championship by 201 points over Grove Racing.
The next event in the Supercars series is as a support category at the Rolex Australian F1 Grand Prix at Albert Park on March 21 to 24 2024.
I hope you will all join me.