Hi to all you Supercars Fans around the world!
On the weekend of September 13 – 15 2024 was the Penrite Oil Sandown 500, round 9 of the 2024 Supercars Championship.
The Sandown International Raceway opened in March 1962 and is located in Springvale Melbourne, Victoria.
This year marked the 60th anniversary of the Sandown 500 which was first run in 1964.
The event format has undergone many changes through the years. This includes changes from its initial 6 hour timed race, to a fixed length race, changes to the length of the race (250 miles, 338kms, 400kms and 500kms) to multiple shorter sprints (3 x 150kms) and in 1984 finally settling on its current format, a single 500km endurance race (now with a co-driver).
Way back in 1984 it was the famous Peter Brock who took the trophy for the Marlboro Holden Dealer Team and the event has grown in recognition ever since.
It’s a tough and gruelling race that has seen many notorious incidents including:
- 2013 Ash Walsh hit the wall at the end of the back straight.
- 2010 Will Davison and Michael Caruso went off the track at turn 6 and nearly rolled car 22.
- 2014 Lee Holdsworth hit the tyre wall at the end of the back straight taking his car out of the race and speeding off to the hospital.
- 2016 James Golding had a big shunt due to a flat front right tyre.
- 2017 Jonathan Webb and Todd Hazelwood went straight ahead at turn 6 and rolled the Blanchard Racing Team Holden Commodore.
- 2023 After making contact with James Moffat, Garth Tander lost a wheel and then lost control smashing into the guard rail with a 50 x g-force.
The above shortened list shows it is no small feat that Peter Brock has 9 wins at the venue and Allan Moffat has 6 wins.
So, this year’s event was as usual, anticipated to be full of action and IT WAS!
In the pre-race sessions:
- Cameron Waters was fastest in Practice 1
- Scott Pye was fastest in Practice 2
- Jack le Brocq was fastest in Practice 3
- Richie Stanaway was fastest in Practice 4
- Will Brown was fastest in Practice 5
- Broc Feeney was fastest in Qualifying
- Will Brown was fastest in the Top Ten Shootout
- Andre Heimgartner was fastest in the Warmup
In Race 19 Will Brown started on pole position, alongside him was Cameron Waters.
At the start of the race Will Brown got the jump and led into turn 1 for the first of 161 laps in the 500km race. Cameron Waters who started alongside him had a shocker start and dropped down to 4th allowing Anton de Pasquale to move into 2nd place and Brodie Kostecki 3rd.
Just behind the major leaders James Courtney made contact with Ryan Wood at turn 1 and ran wide.
It was a messy hectic start.
When they got into lap 2 Brodie Kostecki made contact with Anton de Pasquale. Kostecki kept going but Pasquale dropped from 2nd to 4th place.
Anton de Pasquale was reporting to his team that his car balance was poor from the incident. Soon Broc Feeney, Richie Stanaway and Matt Payne all got passed him. Anton de Pasquale had now dropped from 2nd to 9th.
Cameron Hill was sporting bumper damage after contact with Jack le Brocq.
EOS 4
As they moved into double digit laps, this year’s star Will Brown was still leading but by only by less than 1 second over last year’s champ of Brodie Kostecki. They were followed by Cameron Waters and then Chaz Mostert.
Broc Feeney must have wanted in on some of the action and passed Andre Heimgartner for 5th place.
On lap 18 Mark Winterbottom made a driver error and went off the track at turn 9 and dropped down a few places to 13th.
Thomas Randle was the first car to pit on lap 23 to ensure no risk of double stacking with teammate Cameron Waters. James Courtney and Cameron Hill pitted on the same lap.
Meanwhile out on the track Richie Stanaway stopped on the grass due to a gearbox failure. The car was undriveable, so the first safety car was deployed. It was only when the car got back to the pits that the crew realised the job was too big to complete and be competitive. This car was out of the race. It also meant co-driver Dale Wood did not get a chance to get behind the wheel.
Most of drivers pitted while the race was under (safety car) yellow. Fabian Coulthard earned himself an unwanted 5 second penalty for unsafe release in the pits.
The restart was on lap 30. Scott Pye (co-driver to Will Brown) had the lead followed by James Moffat (co-driver to Cam Waters), Jamie Whincup (co-driver to Broc Feeney) and Todd Hazelwood (co-driver to Brodie Kostecki).
Not long after Todd Hazelwood challenged Jamie Whincup for 3rd place. Whincup put up a lot of resistance but eventually lost the spot to Hazelwood. Unfortunately, Hazelwood scored a puncture during the challenge and went off the track, giving the spot back to Jamie Whincup. Hazelwood paid dearly returning to the track in 25th place.
Declan Fraser made contact with David Russell. Both cars were within the top 10 but the incident caused Russell to lose 3 spots and Fraser to be issued with a 5 second penalty. Not ideal but it was still early in the race.
More penalties were issued including Tony Dalberto (co-driver to Anton de Pasquale) in car 11 for an unsafe pit release.
While being chased by Garth Tander, Lee Holdsworth (co-driver to Chaz Mostert) hit the curb at the wrong angle causing him to get some air-time and upon landing spinning off the track. I have no idea how he got out of this predicament without damage. It was a dramatic moment.
Lap 43 saw the safety car deployed again when Jordan Boys got turned around by Cameron McLeod. Cameron McLeod was later issued with a drive thru penalty for his actions.
The restart was on lap 49 with Jamie Whincup leading followed by James Moffat, Scott Pye and Garth Tander.
In the next lap more drama occurred. Tyler Everingham made contact with Warren Luff but luckily, they were both able to continue.
On lap 68 Kai Allen (co-driver to Will Davison) hit Dylan O’Keeffe and both went off the track. The two cars were damaged. Kai Allen was able to head back to the pits independently. Dylan O’Keeffe was stranded, and the safety car was deployed yet again.
Car 17 driven by Will Davison / Kai Allen had so much damage it took the crew a long time to make the repairs. They were so far behind it was really game over for the race but chose to continue as a useful test session in the lead up to Bathurst.
When the mess was cleaned up they restarted the race on lap 73. Declan Fraser was in the lead but soon had to head into the pits. Scott Pye was handed back the lead, but he still had a 5 second penalty which he couldn’t serve under safety car.
In the middle of the race Lee Holdsworth pitted to hand over the car to main driver Chaz Mostert. He was going to be behind the wheel to the end of the race so it was now his time to shine (as favourite when it comes to long races).
Not long after on lap 84, Declan Fraser came in to put main driver Andre Heimgartner back in car for the remainder of the race.
Jaxson Evans got stuck in the sand trap on lap 88 and safety car was deployed for the fourth time. Most cars took advantage to pit and do driver changes.
Brodie Kostecki received a 15 second penalty for rear wheels spinning during his stop. It was bad luck for the defending champion.
Will Brown reported to the crew he was experiencing a vibration in the car. This is not what you want while leading one of the biggest races of the year with 64 laps to go. He pressed on while the crew tried to diagnose the issue.
The action continued in much the same manner for the next 30 or so laps.
With 29 laps to go Broc Feeney rushed his exit from the pits to get in front of his teammate Will Brown and the two made contact. It was a nail-biting moment that could have spelled disaster for the Red Bull Ampol Racing team.
With 20 laps to go, last year’s defending champ Brodie Kostecki had more bad luck. He came to a complete stop track side and for the 6th time in this race the safety car was deployed. After making it this far into the race (140 laps of 161) he was unable to continue and received a DNF (Did Not Finish) earning zero points.
Due to the 5 incidents requiring safety car deployment, they were running a long way behind schedule. When they restarted, officials declared the race had become time certain. With less than 10 minutes remaining it was now a race against the clock.
Cameron Waters and Cooper Murray made contact with 8 minutes and 42 seconds to go. It was a good reminder for the other drivers to remain cautious in fear of getting a DNF in the final minutes.
While the order at the front of the pack remained unchanged, Jack le Brocq embedded his car in the tyre wall at the exit of turn 4. Once again the safety car was deployed. The clock was still ticking and the race looked like it was going to finish under safety car speed limit. That would have been very dull. Amazingly, Jack le Brocq was able to extricate himself and the race went back to green.
The leading drivers were close together after being bunched up behind the safety. It could be anybody’s race but they still couldn’t take too much risk.
Broc Feeney was looking for any safe opportunity to nab the lead from teammate Will Brown. He had a couple of attempts but pulled back as the risk was too great.
Will Brown finally crossed the finish line with the slimmest 0.649 seconds lead over Broc Feeney. James Golding followed 2.4 seconds behind in 3rd place.
It was a killer finish to the gruelling Sandown 500.
Results for Race 19:
1st Will Brown and Scott Pye – Red Bull Ampol Racing
2nd Broc Feeney and Jamie Whincup – Red Bull Ampol Racing
3rd James Golding and David Russell – Premier Hire Racing
The next event will be the famous Repco Bathurst 1000 October 10 – 13 2024.