Hi to all you Supercars Fans around the world!
On the weekend of May 17 – 19 was the Bosch Power Tools Perth Supersprint.
It was round 4 of the 2024 Supercars Championship and held at Carco.com.au Raceway.
The raceway was first opened on the 2 of March 1969 and originally known as Wanneroo Raceway. In 1992 it was renamed to Barbagallo Raceway. Then in 2020 it took back the original name of Wanneroo. Two years later in 2022 it changed to the sponsors name Carco.com.au.
ATCC (Australian Touring Cars Championship)/Supercars Championship have raced at the venue every year since opening except 1978, 2010 and 2020 (The COVID year).
The track is 2.411km with 7 turns. It is lined with sandtraps everywhere and is considered quite a challenge.
Legend Craig Lowndes seems to love this challenge and holds the record of 16 race wins at the venue.
This year’s event will mark Tim Slade’s 200th round start in Supercars. That is quite a number of years out on the track.
The weekend kicked off with fine weather and results in the pre-race sessions were:
- Chaz Mostert was fastest in Practice 1
- Will Brown was fastest in Practice 2
- Chaz Mostert was fastest in Qualifying.
In Race 9 Chaz Mostert started on pole position alongside him was his teammate, Ryan Wood.
At the start of the race Ryan Wood got jump and led into turn 1 for the first of 55 laps.
Brodie Kostecki who started 14th on the grid ran wide at turn 1 and went off the track. He was able to recover and return to the track but it him to the back of the field. Not a great start for defending champ.
As the pack tried to stay in touch with the leaders, on lap 3 Aaron Love made contact with Richie Stanaway at turn 7 and put into the fence. Aaron Love was able to continue but Richie Stanaway had a lot of damage front and back of car 26. He also lost power due to a fuel pump issue and had to drive slowly back to the pits. The repairs took a lot of time but he was able to return to the race.
Ryan Wood still had the lead of about half a second over his more experienced teammate Chaz Mostert.
It took about a dozen laps before Chaz Mostert found the opportunity to take the race lead off Ryan Wood.
The first car to pit in this race was Thomas Randle on lap 22 from 23rd position.
In the middle of the race Ryan Wood went in for his pit stop allowing Cameron Waters to move into 2nd place on the track.
On lap 31 Chaz Mostert pitted leaving 9 cars on track yet to take theirs.
As the laps clicked by the 9 cars peeled off one by one to take their mandatory stops. Once they did Chaz Mostert was back in the lead.
At this stage Chaz Mostert was 3.2 seconds ahead of Ryan Wood. Will Brown in 3rd was close behind.
With 13 laps remaining Will Brown took the risk and got up the inside of Ryan Wood at turn 6. Ryan Wood was pushed to the outside and had two wheels in the dirt coming out of the turn. Not only did it slow him down but it allowed Cameron Waters to follow through into 3rd place.
Chaz Mostert now had a 5.2 second lead.
Will Brown’s performance so far this year has put him at the top of the championship ladder. Even so, Chaz Mostert’s speed and experience kept him from any mistakes and crossed the finish line with a with a huge 4.9 second over Will Brown. Cameron Waters also an experienced driver followed in 3rd place.
It was an exciting finish.
Results for Race 9
1st Chaz Mostert – Walkinshaw Andretti United
2nd Will Brown – Red Bull Ampol Racing
3rd Cameron Waters – Tickford Racing
In Race 10 Cameron Waters started on pole position with Chaz Mostert alongside him.
As they took off Cameron Waters got the jump and led into turn 1 for the first of 55 laps. Chaz Mostert tried to go around the outside of him but wasn’t able to make the move stick.
On the next lap at turn 1 Cameron Waters ran wide at the last turn of the lap (turn 7) which allowed Chaz Mostert to take the race lead at turn 1.
Thomas Randle in 3rd place immediately put his teammate Cameron Waters under pressure for 2nd.
On lap 5 Chaz Mostert did the fastest lap of the race so far, 56.173 seconds.
On the next lap the leader went .2 seconds faster. With track position Mostert is one of the fastest drivers in the field. He now extended his lead out to 1.2 seconds over his ex-teammate Cam Waters.
On lap 7 Nick Percat made contact with Jack le Brocq who came to a stop in the middle of the track. Luckily, he was able to get going again which meant there was no need for a safety car and the race was able to stay green.
Later Nick Percat was issued a 15 second time penalty for his part in the incident.
Soon after Broc Feeney got up the inside of Ryan Wood at turn 7 which moved him up to 7th place. He was desperate to catch up to his teammate Will Brown a few spots ahead.
The first car to pit was Mark Winterbottom on lap 16 from 22nd position.
On lap 21 Brodie Kostecki went into the Erebus garage with an overheating engine. The problem was too for the team to repair quickly and Brodie Kostecki was unable to finish the race. He was the only NC (Not Complete).
In the middle of the race Chaz Mostert was looking very strong and ready to make this 2 wins from 2 races on the weekend.
As Chaz Mostert headed into the pits Cameron Waters now had the lead.
Soon after Chaz Mostert returned to the track it was revealed he was being investigated for an unsafe pit release and making contact with Thomas Randle in the pit lane. It wasn’t a big incident, but he was still issued a 5 second time penalty. He had already taken his mandatory pit stop to the 5 seconds would be applied to his race finish time.
Towards the end of the race Chaz Mostert had resumed the lead.
Will Brown gave Thomas Randle a bump and took 3rd place from him. Thomas Randle dropped from 3rd to 5th place.
With 4 laps remaining Thomas Randle was put under further pressure from Anton de Pasquale trying to take another place from him. Randle held strong against the challenge.
Chaz Mostert was out in front. His speed made him uncatchable. The top 3 drivers were well spread out. Mostert crossed the line just over 2.5 seconds ahead of Cameron Waters.
Unfortunately for Chaz Mostert who dominated the track this weekend, the 5 second time penalty applied post finish meant Cameron Waters was awarded the win.
Chaz Mostert officially came in 2nd place.
The gap between Cam Waters and Will Brown in 3rd was over 11 seconds.
It was great watching but must have been devastating for Mostert. Regardless, congratulations to all the drivers especially the podium finishers.
Results for Race 10
1st Cameron Waters – Tickford Racing
2nd Chaz Mostert – Walkinshaw Andretti united
3rd Will Brown – Red Bull Ampol Racing
After all the points were tallied Will Brown still leads the championship by 136 points over Broc Feeney.
The next event is the Betr Darwin Triple Crown on 17 – 19 June 2024.
To keep up to date with all the latest V8-Supercars news check out my Facebook fan page. (https://www.youtube.com/@williamsperfectride8710)
Until next time, keep revving!