On the weekend of July 7 – 9, 2023 was the NTI Townsville 500.
The track is a 2.8km street circuit with 13 turns.
This year’s event is round 6 of 12 in the 2023 Supercars season and will consist of 2 races of 88 laps each.
The Townsville street circuit was first opened in 2009 and was the first time Supercars held an event there. Lee Holdsworth and Garth Tander shared the first two pole positions back on that weekend in 2009. Jamie Whincup and James Courtney shared race 11 and 12 wins in the season.
Jamie Whincup has the all-time winning record in Townsville with 12 race wins.
This year marked a special milestone for Shane Van Gisbergen. Race 17 was his 500th race start in Supercars. Congratulations SVG!
The results for the pre-race sessions that started the weekend were as follows:
Will Brown was fastest in Practice 1
Jack le Brocq was fastest in Practice 2
Cameron Waters was fastest in Qualifying
Will Brown was fastest in the top 10 shootout
In Race 16 Will Brown started on pole position with David Reynolds alongside him.
Will Brown got the jump off the start line into turns 1 and 2 for the first of the 88 laps.
On approach to turn 2 Shane Van Gisbergen attempted a bold move for the lead from his start on the grid second row. It was tight and there was chaos between the top 4 cars. The move failed and Cameron Waters who started 3rd on the grid popped out of turn 2 in the lead.
Shane was in 2nd place but at turn 4 his 20 year old teammate, Broc Feeney managed to get around the outside.
At turn 8 Shane Van Gisbergen and Jack le Brocq made contact. It cost them both dearly and Shane Van Gisbergen dropped back to 14th place.
Cameron Waters still had the lead, followed by Broc Feeney and then Chaz Mostert who had gained 6 spots to move into 3rd place.
Shane Van Gisbergen took his bad luck on the chin and immediately got to work. Within a couple of laps he passed James Courtney, then Jack Le Brocq, Will Davison and Bryce Fulwood. He was in 14th but now in 8th place.
Mark Winterbottom and Nick Percat made contact spinning them both around and dropping them down to 24th and 25th place.
It was later on lap 11 that the officials issued Mark Winterbottom a 15 second time penalty for his fault in making contact with Nick Percat.
The first car to pit in this race was Anton de Pasquale on lap 20 from 14th place.
On lap 21 David Reynolds moved into 4th place after squeezing up the inside of Chaz Mostert.
Instead of trying to go on the attack Chaz Mostert chose to take his pit stop. When he came back out on track he was in 23rd place.
Meanwhile Cameron Waters was controlling proceedings at the front of the pack with a 12 second lead over Will Brown in 2nd place.
Will Brown chased him down and on lap 23 amazingly closed the gap and then took the lead off Cameron Waters. Broc Feeney was 3.7 seconds behind in 3rd place.
Broc Feeney was the first of the Red Bull cars to pit to avoid double stacking with Shane Van Gisbergen. He returned to the track in 15th.
Brodie Kostecki ran into problems and couldn’t use second gear, so for the rest of the race was using third gear.
The two leaders Will Brown and Cameron Waters pitted on the same lap. This left Shane Van Gisbergen in control of the race. Cameron Waters came back out with fresh tyres in front of James Courtney in 12th place.
Shane Van Gisbergen had a 1.7 seconds lead over David Reynolds. He kept the lead until he pitted on lap 35. When he came back out he was in 11th place. The number 1 spot was now in Chaz Mostert’s hands.
Behind Chaz Mostert, David Reynolds got up the inside of Broc Feeney for 3rd place.
In the middle of the race Chaz Mostert had worked up a 14.4 second lead over Will Brown but had to make his second pit stop lap 42. It was Will Brown’s turn to control the race.
Anton de Pasquale stopped on the pit entry due to an electrical problem. The motor just turned itself off. He made it to the garage but couldn’t rejoin the race. He had to sit the remainder of the race and received a DNF.
On lap 69 Todd Hazelwood’s car pulled up on the side of the track after the left rear had sparks coming out. The safety car was deployed to remove the car.
The restart was on lap 73 and Will Brown was leading over Broc Feeney, Cameron Waters and Andre Heimgartner.
As the end of the race drew closer Chaz Mostert had worked his way from 11th and took 4th place from Andre Heimgartner.
Meanwhile Broc Feeney was only 1.9 seconds off the lead. He tried his best to catch Will Brown but he was just too fast.
Although Will Brown was in the lead he was not driving defensively. Instead, he went on the attack edging ahead to cross the finish line 3.3 seconds over Broc Feeney. It was another 5.4 seconds back to Chaz Mostert in 3rd and another 11.631 seconds back to Shane Van Gisbergen in 4th place.
Results for Race 16
1st Will Brown – Erebus Motorsport 2nd Broc Feeney – Red Bull Ampol Racing 3rd Chaz Mostert – Walkinshaw Andretti United
In Race 17 Cameron Waters started on pole position, alongside him was Jack le Brocq.
Shane Van Gisbergen started 25th on grid due to getting held up in Qualifying. He didn’t get to the start line in time to perform his final qualifying lap so was sent to the back of the pack.
As they took off Cameron Waters got the jump and led into turns 1 and 2. He was followed by Thomas Randle and Jack le Brocq.
Further back in the field there was a lot of movement. James Courtney had gained 5 places on the opening lap moving into 12th.
Shane Van Gisbergen spun around after making contact with Declan Fraser. Already in last place Shane Van Gisbergen was now a further 6.5 seconds behind. The officials reviewed the incident and deemed it ‘an incident that required no further action’ so no penalty was issued.
After the second lap Chaz Mostert had steering issues probably as a result of hitting the wall in the Top 10 Shootout. He headed to the garage and soon found out the damage was worse than first thought. With only 2 minutes and 40 seconds of recorded track time, he wasn’t able to rejoin the race and received a Not Complete (NC).
The first car to pit in this race was Anton de Pasquale on lap 15. He returned to the track in 24th place.
Broc Feeney took his stop on lap 19 to return to the track in 23rd place.
Tim Slade was in the garage for an extended period with a steering rack and cooler failure. He returned to the race but had an impossible task to make up the lost laps.
James Courtney pitted on lap 22 along with race leader Cameron Waters.
On lap 36 the safety car was deployed. Cameron Hill’s car appeared to be falling apart at the seams. He left a huge sheet of metal from the car’s undercarriage behind on the track. A very odd sight.
At the same time Todd Hazelwood was having problems of his own. Sparks were flying from the car’s left rear. After pulling in for repairs it turns out he was the second driver unable to return to the track and receive an NC for the race.
The restart was on lap 39 with Will Brown as the race leader followed by Bryce Fullwood and Will Davison.
Soon after Will Brown took his pit stop. Anton de Pasquale who had not pitted yet was now up front and had a 2.9 second lead over Bryce Fullwood.
Shane Van Gisbergen made a pass on Jack le Brocq look easy and moved into 5th place. He had started 25th on the grid and was now in the top 5 runners. SVG is a legend!
Anton de Pasquale demonstrated why he has a reputation for speed. He kept edging ahead and by the time he pitted the lead was so great he returned to the track and was still in first place.
Anton de Pasquale kept his commanding lead and crossed the line 5.0692 seconds ahead of this year’s favourite, Brodie Kostecki. Andre Heimgartner in 3rd place crossed the line 6.4322 seconds later.
It was another race with front runners fairly spread out. It was spectacular performance to watch.
Results for Race 17
1st Anton de Pasquale – Shell V-Power Racing Team 2nd Brodie Kostecki – Erebus Motorsport 3rd Andre Heimgartner – Brad Jones Racing
Will Brown still leads the championship but only by 7 points over Brodie Kostecki. Broc Feeney is 26 points behind in 3rd place.
The next event is the Beaurepairs Sydney Supernight on 28 – 30 of July 2023.
On the weekend of the 19th to the 21st of August 2022 was the Penrite Oil Sandown Supersprint.
This will mark the 52nd event held at Sandown in ATCC – Supercars history. No venue has hosted more rounds than the Melbourne circuit. Its championship race history includes both endurance and sprint events. This weekend’s races will be the 80th, 81st and 82nd championship races to be held at the circuit.
In the opening race Lee Holdsworth will reach a career milestone, his 500th Supercars race start. The defending Bathurst co-champion will be just the 11th driver to achieve the feat, but the first to do so at the same venue as his first career race start. Lee Holdsworth made his Supercars debut at the 2004 Sandown 500. The Friday event will mark the 15th anniversary of the Penrite Racing’s drivers first championship race win at Oran Park in 2007.
Lee Holdsworth has announced his retirement from fulltime Supercars Racing at the end of this season. Congratulations Lee, best of luck for the future.
The weekend kicked off on Friday with the usual practice and qualifying sessions without any surprising results.
Will Davison was fastest Practice 1.
Jamie Whincup was fastest in Practice 2 for co-drivers only.
Cameron Waters was fastest in Practice 3.
Will Davison was fastest in Qualifying.
In race 24 Will Davison started on pole position with Shane Van Gisbergen alongside him.
At the start of the race Will Davison got the jump and led into turn 1 for the first of 36 laps. Shane Van Gisbergen went straight to the inside covering any challenge from Will Brown right behind him. Anton de Pasquale was also making his challenge against Will Brown, but he too couldn’t make the pass.
The cars further back in the pack were settling into their race pace while the leaders were pulling away.
Will Davison had a margin of 0.985 seconds over the defending champion Shane Van Gisbergen.
Meanwhile, Broc Feeney was battling with Andre Heimgartner for positions 8th and 9th. As they approached turn 9 on Dandenong Road, Andre Heimgartner gave Broc Feeney a bump and turned him around. Broc Feeney went from 8th down to 25th position. He had lost 15 spots. The incident immediately went into investigation. After a short while Andre Heimgartner was issued a 15 second time penalty for the driving infringement.
As they crossed the line to commence lap 2 Will Davison only had a 0.720 second lead over Shane Van Gisbergen. It was then only 0.647 seconds back to Will Brown in 3rd place.
James Courtney had gained one place and was up to 6th position.
Mark Winterbottom tried to get up the inside of James Courtney, but he didn’t let the pass happen.
Will Davison couldn’t increase his lead over Shane Van Gisbergen who was sticking to him like glue.
The front of the field was tightly packed. Through lap 3 Shane Van Gisbergen was making it impossible for leader Will Davison to make any headway and kept the gap to about half a second. It was another 0.7 seconds back to Will Brown still in 3rd place with Anton de Pasquale just 0.8 seconds back. Thomas Randle was right behind and putting pressure on Anton de Pasquale.
A little further back in the pack, Brodie Kostecki was close in behind Andre Heimgartner. Cameron Waters had gained 2 places up to 10th and Chaz Mostert had moved up 1 spot into 12th.
Shane Van Gisbergen was still on the tail of leader Will Davison, ensuring the gap didn’t get to more than 1 second.
By lap 5 Brodie Kostecki had gained 6 positions to move into 8th place. His next target was 2015 Supercars Champion Mark Winterbottom.
Nick Percat had gained 5 places to move into 16th position right behind Lee Holdsworth, who had gained 3 places and was in 15th.
There were no changes at the tightly packed front of the field. Will Davison was still in the lead followed by Shane Van Gisbergen, Will Brown, Anton de Pasquale and Thomas Randle. Will Davison never being able to break past the 1 second lead.
On lap 6 Cameron Waters did the fastest lap of the race in 108.659 seconds but was still 6.3 seconds off the lead.
The first car to pit was Scott Pye in car 20 on lap 9. When he re-joined, he came back out in 22nd place.
On lap 10 Andre Heimgartner came into the pits and once done had to serve the 15 second penalty issued earlier. When he re-joined it was in 25th position.
On lap 11 David Reynolds broke the fastest lap time at 108.474 seconds.
It was only on lap 13 that Will Davison managed to break past the 1 second lead over Shane Van Gisbergen.
Anton de Pasquale had dropped back from the top 5 to 9th place and came into the pits at the same time as James Courtney.
In the middle of the race more of the front runners, Shane Van Gisbergen and Will Brown came into for their pit stops. They came back out into 15th and 16th position.
At this point there was 14 cars still yet to pit.
Shortly after, Will Davison and Thomas Randle pitted from 1st and 2nd place.
On lap 19 as Will Davison and Thomas Randle were exiting the pits, Chaz Mostert was entering for his 1 and only compulsory pit stop. Will Davison re-joined as the affective lead of the race followed by Shane Van Gisbergen. and
There were still 11 cars yet to pit.
On lap 20 Thomas Randle got a bad sportsmanship flag for careless driving. A bad sportsmanship flag is only warning to tell the driver that he is running out of lives.
Then on lap 22, Shane Van Gisbergen and James Courtney got a bad sportsmanship flag for exceeding track limits.
On lap 23 Cameron Waters, Broc Feeney and Macauley Jones pitted, leaving Lee Holdsworth as the last car to pit.
Cameron Waters and Macauley Jones re-joined in 8th and 9th position.
With 12 laps to go Will Davison was finally making headway and had increased his lead over Shane Van Gisbergen to 3+ seconds. It was only 0.531 seconds back to Anton de Pasquale.
Lee Holdsworth pitted on lap 24. On the way back out his car stalled which cost a lot of time and he dropped to 24th position.
By lap 25 Will Davison resumed the physical lead of the race and now 3.8 seconds ahead of Shane Van Gisbergen and Anton de Pasquale.
Back in the pack cars in positions 14 to 17 were pretty vigorously battling. I thought Chris Pither was going to make contact with Nick Percat but didn’t. At one stage I thought they were all going to go off the track but somehow, they all stayed on.
On lap 28 Cameron Waters in car 6 also got a bad sportsmanship flag for exceeding track limits.
Chris Pither was dropping down the order quickly because of a delaminating tyre.
With 10 laps to go Broc Feeney was still fighting and got up the inside of Tim Slade for 16th position.
By lap 29 Will Davison had squeezed almost another second onto his lead over Shane Van Gisbergen. It was now 4.765 seconds.
On lap 30 Will Davison broke past the 5 second mark on his lead.
With a clear track and not having to worry about defending his position he kept increasing his lead. In the end Will Davison absolutely dominated the race crossing the line 8.4 seconds clear of Shane Van Gisbergen, followed by Anton de Pasquale.
This was Will Davison’s 21st career victory in Supercars. Congratulations and happy 21st!
Results for Race 24:
1st Will Davison – Shell V-Power Racing Team.
2nd Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing.
3rd Anton de Pasquale – Shell V-Power Racing.
In race 25 Shane Van Gisbergen started on pole position and alongside him was Cameron Waters.
Will Davison started 11th on the grid due to an electrical problem during qualifying. There was no fire but a lot of smoke that filled the cabin of the Shell V-Power Racing Ford Mustang. Will Davison had to pull into the pits and get out of the car. Amazingly they got back out on the track before the end of qualifying and even with this interruption they managed to get a place just outside the top 10.
Chaz Mostert had problems of his own. Engine issues had Walkinshaw Andretti United stumped. Just prior the race they decided to do an engine change! To my amazement they managed this in 8 minutes. Can you imagine dropping your car off at the mechanic and having an engine change in under 10 minutes! I don’t think so.
As they took off from the start line Shane Van Gisbergen got the jump and Chaz Mostert stuck right behind him. Broc Feeney who started in 4th had a good run but was blocked in and had nowhere to go.
As Shane Van Gisbergen led into turn 1 for the first of 36 laps, Cameron Waters was 1 back and 1 wide to Chaz Mostert.
Jack le Brocq went off the track between turns 2 and 3. As he was re-joining he made contact with another car. Unfortunately, it was his own teammate, Todd Hazelwood. The impact broke the left side steering arm of car 34 driven by Jack le Brocq. Todd Hazelwood in car 35 also had damage. He dropped back to 25th place and car 34 dropped 10 places to 24th. They bath limped around the track to make it back to the pits so were the first car in.
Within the first half lap Will Davison had gained 3 spots up to 8th place.
On lap 2 the front runners were still tightly packed. Chaz Mostert was only 0.250 seconds behind Shane Van Gisbergen. It was then only 0.416 back to Broc Feeney in 3rd place.
At turn 7 James Courtney went straight ahead over the top of the curb leaving the track. He recovered quickly enough to block an effort from Tim Slade trying to get up the inside of him so managed to hold onto his position in 14th.
Chaz Mostert’s attack on Shane Van Gisbergen was blocked and the leader was even able to edge further ahead a little to 0.499 seconds.
Broc Feeney was right behind Chaz Mostert putting in an effort to take his place in 2nd.
On lap 5 Cameron Waters and Will Davison made contact. After starting on the front row in 2nd position Cameron Waters had dropped 5 places from 2nd down to 7th position.
As the pack was approaching the end of the back straight, Andre Heimgartner made contact with Scott Pye. As a result Andre Heimgartner went straight ahead at turn 7 leaving Scott Pye and Cameron Waters in a messy battle still on track.
On lap 6 Lee Holdsworth was back in the pack. He was getting held up so pitted to try and get some clear track. No one else followed him into the pits.
The leaders were still bunched closely and Shane Van Gisbergen managed to only just get ahead of Chaz Mostert by 1.1 seconds. Chaz Mostert was tailed by Broc Feeney by a mere 0.563 seconds.
James Golding was the first of the front runners to pit on lap 7. He dropped all the way down to 21st position on his return to the track.
Thomas Randle also pitted on the same lap.
By lap 8 Shane Van Gisbergen could only manage to extend his lead to 1.7 seconds over Chaz Mostert.
Further back in the pack, Mark Winterbottom was putting pressure on Andre Heimgartner for 9th position.
They both pitted on the next lap and re-joined the race in 17th and 18th position.
At this point there were 16 cars yet to pit.
On lap 10 David Reynolds made contact with Cameron Waters on the exit of turn 1 and again on the exit of turns 2 and 3. Cameron Waters then copped another whack, this time from Brodie Kostecki in car 99.
By lap 11 Shane Van Gisbergen had increase his lead to 2.255 seconds over Chaz Mostert. Chaz Mostert had also finally shaken Broc Feeney off his tail and had a gap of 4.223 seconds.
On lap 13 Will Davison pitted but on leaving the crewman still had the rattle gun on the wheel. It didn’t cause any accident but the team was issued a pit lane infringement.
Getting close to the halfway mark of the race on lap 14, two of the front runners came into pit; Chaz Mostert and Broc Feeney. They were fast stops and they came back out in 9th and 10th position.
Jack Smith in car 4 got a bad sportsmanship flag for exceeding the track limits.
On lap 21 Shane Van Gisbergen pitted with a + 14.8 second lead over Cameron Waters who had assumed 2nd place.
Towards the end of the race there were only 3 cars to pit, Tim Slade, Nick Percat and Bryce Fullwood. Once they pitted Shane Van Gisbergen assumed the lead of the race once again.
From that point on Shane Van Gisbergen was in control. He had 3.8 second lead over Chaz Mostert and it was another 7.7 seconds back to David Reynolds.
As the race got close to the finish, Shane Van Gisbergen kept edging away. He just could not be caught. It was faultless driving and he crossed the line 7.5 seconds clear of the rest of the field. Chaz Mostert in 2nd place was followed 4+ seconds by Will Brown.
This was Shane Van Gisbergen’s 15th win out of 25 races this season. That is 60% of the time he has been on the top step of the podium. That is the stuff legends are made of!
Results for Race 25:
1st Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing.
2nd Chaz Mostert – Walkinshaw Andretti United.
3rd Will Brown – Boost Mobile Racing.
In Race 26 Will Davison started on pole position with the defending Supercars Champion Shane Van Gisbergen alongside him.
As they took off at the start Will Davison got the jump and led into turn 1 for the first of 36 laps.
Shane Van Gisbergen was trying to go around the outside of Will Davison but couldn’t make the ground and had to tuck back in behind.
The gap that the leaders had on the on rest of the field was huge.
At turn 3 four cars made contact and spun around to face the wrong way. The drivers involved were Jake Kostecki, Chris Pither, Macauley Jones and Todd Hazelwood. The drivers all got the cars moving again so there was no need for a lap 1 safety car to be deployed. The incident went into investigation but Motorsport Australia took no further action.
On lap 2 Shane Van Gisbergen was on the charge looking for the lead of the race which he got at the second last corner.
Will Davison’s teammate Anton de Pasquale made contact with him and as a result Pasquale’s two front wheels were in the air. He had to come straight into the pits to have the damage on car 11 looked at. While in the pits he had dropped all the way down to 23rd position.
Will Davison also had damage on the front left corner of car 17. The guard was rubbing on the tyre, but he didn’t want to lose 2nd place so didn’t pit. The gap between Shane Van Gisbergen in 1st and Will Davison in 2nd was only 0.141 seconds.
Due to damage caused by the incident on lap 1, Todd Hazelwood had to also pit at the same time as Anton de Pasquale.
During lap 3 Shane Van Gisbergen made a mistake coming out of turn 4. Will Davison tried to take advantage and regain the lead but Gisbergen recovered quickly and fended off the attack.
Behind the two leaders, Broc Feeney was putting pressure on Cameron Waters for 4th position. Chaz Mostert was unaffected in 3rd place.
On lap 6 Will Davison was proving a headache to Shane Van Gisbergen and had done the fastest lap of the race so far 109.365.
Chris Pither who was involved in the 4-car accident on lap 1 finally had to pit for rear tyres and bonnet repair on car 22.
Jack le Brocq and Andre Heimgartner also pitted on this lap.
In the middle of the race Shane Van Gisbergen pitted. On the re-join to the race he only dropped to 8th position.
Shane Van Gisbergen had Chaz Mostert right behind him in 9th but in effect they were battling for 1st and 2nd with the 7 cars ahead still yet to pit. Broc Feeney was behind them in 3rd but was 38 seconds further back.
On lap 20 Cameron Waters and Will Brown pitted from 4th and 5th.
Andre Heimgartner left the track at turn 7. He was issued a bad sportsmanship flag for exceeding track limits.
On lap 23 Will Davison who was in the lead had to pit. Now Lee Holdsworth was the only one left to do so. Once that happened Shane Van Gisbergen assumed the lead of the race.
When Will Davison re-joined the race it wasn’t long before he returned to 2nd place just 2.2 seconds from Shane Van Gisbergen.
Within the last 10 laps Chaz Mostert was under pressure from his ex-teammate Cameron Waters. Right behind them was Broc Feeney trying to look for a gap to make his move.
Mark Winterbottom was further back and he got a bad sportsman flag for exceeding track limits.
Tim Slade had gained 5 spots and was now up to 7th position.
For 2 laps in a row Chaz Mostert was under attack from Cameron Waters trying to earn 3rd place. Chaz Mostert was able to hold him off.
Will Davison was desperate to catch Shane Van Gisbergen and did the fastest lap of the race 108.613 seconds.
Heading down into turn 9 on Dandenong Road, Cameron Waters locked up the front right brakes and went off the track. He came back on in 10th position. It gave Broc Feeney the opportunity he was looking for and he moved up to 4th place.
Shane Van Gisbergen had a 1.3 second lead over Will Davison. It was another 6.6 seconds back to Chaz Mostert then only another 0.605 seconds back to Broc Feeney.
On lap 33 Broc Feeney finally passed Chaz Mostert for 3rd position.
Shane Van Gisbergen held his lead but only just. He crossed the line a mere 0.4611 seconds ahead of Will Davison.
Broc Feeney crossed the line 11.3437 seconds later in 3rd place.
This was Shane Van Gisbergen’s 2nd win for the weekend, earning him a commanding 500 points lead over Cameron Waters in the Driver’s championship for the season. It was also his 70th career win in Supercars. This is the stuff legends are made of. Congratulations Shane!
Results for Race 26
1st Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing.
2nd Will Davison – Shell V-Power Racing Team.
3rd Broc Feeney – Red Bull Ampol Racing.
The next event is the ITM Auckland Supersprint September 9th to the 11th.
On the weekend of June 18 to 20, 2021 was the Merlin Darwin Triple Crown at Hidden Valley Raceway.
It was an exciting weekend that I had been looking forward to. Not just because Hidden Valley is a fast track but also the last event at Winton was cancelled due to COVID lockdowns. So it’s been a while since the last race.
Neil Crompton was not in Darwin last weekend because he was recovering from prostate cancer surgery. Crompo, we are all praying for you and wish you a speedy recovery.
In other news, Chaz Mostert has signed a new multi year deal with Walkinshaw Andretti United until the end of 2023. This puts an end to the speculations that he may be replacing Jamie Whincup in 2022 at the Red Bull Ampol Racing Team alongside Shane Van Gisbergen.
Also last weekend it was confirmed that Thomas Randle will make his full-time debut in 2022 with Tickford Racing under a 4th Rec – Racing Entitlements Contract.
The weekend’s event was underway as scheduled. In the pre-race sessions it was a mix of results:
Nick Percat was fastest in Practice 1
Jamie Whincup was fastest in Practice 2
Anton de Pasquale was fastest in Qualifying for race 12.
In race 12 Anton De Pasquale started on pole position with Mark Winterbottom alongside him.
As the race got underway things immediately went wrong and by turn 1 there was a 6 car pileup.
Mark Winterbottom lost power and went wide to avoid being a hinderance. Shane Van Gisbergen managed to sweep down the inside of Anton de Pasquale to take the lead. Anton de Pasquale turned in tight clipping Shane Van Gisbergen’s back wheel. It slowed Pasquale, changing his driving line and Scott Pye ended up in his behind spinning him round. As this brought them to a halt in the middle of the turn, others came to join the ‘pile up party’; Including Todd Hazelwod, Jack Smith, Fabian Couthard, Garry Jacobson. It was utter mayhem and the safety car had to be deployed to clean up the mess. Garry Jackobson was the only one able to continue the race. The others were out with NC (Not Complete).
When the race went back to green Shane Van Gisbergen was leading the race.
Jamie Whincup came in early to find some clear air and not get caught up in traffic. The leaders stayed out until lap 5.
Will Davison was the remaining Dick Johnson Racing car after the retirement of car 11 driven by Anton de Pasquale. De Pasquale’s car looked such a mess I was thinking that they wouldn’t be able to repair car overnight, but somehow they did.
In the middle of the race Shane Van Gisbergen’s was on target for another race win in 2021 but it was a day of mishaps. When he came in for the pit stop the team couldn’t get the wheel nut undone, so instead of the stop being a 3 or 4 seconds it ended up being a 30 seconds. They delay cost him the race lead and win. After looking so strong he finished in 13th position.
The race lead was now in the hands of Cheeky Chaz Mostert. His experience and great driving made it impossible for anyone else to catch him before he crossed the finish line first.
Results for Race 12
1st Chaz Mostert – Walkinshaw Andretti United
2nd Cameron Waters – Tickford Racing
3rd Nick Percat – Brad Jones Racing
In race 13 Will Davison started on pole position. Alongside him was Shane Van Gisbergen. The last time Will Davison started on pole position was 2014 at Homebush Sydney Olympic park.
David Reynolds qualified 21st for race 13 which he wasn’t happy with because he wanted to be further up but it didn’t work out.
At the start of the race Shane Van Gisbergen got the jump and led into turn 1. The cars further back in the pack came in early to get track position.
Nick Percat who qualified to start in 10 position wanted to repeat his podium finish achieved on Saturday. His driving throughout the race was more aggressive than usual but his experience means he knows what he is doing and poses less risk than most. Unfortunately for him it was a tough race and only managed to gain one place by the finish.
The Red Bull cars which qualified well, Shane Van Gisbergen started 2nd and Jamie Whincup started 6th on the grid, stayed out longer because they had track position. It paid off for both of them.
In the middle of the race Shane Van Gisbergen was back at the front. Soon after his teammate, Jamie Whincup had moved up from 6th to 3rd. Will Davison was holding onto 2nd position and was proving a tough nut to crack for Jamie Whincup to make the result 1st and 2nd for Triple 888 Racing..
The three drivers kept their position and proved impossible for anyone else to catch them. They also finished the race in that order; Shane Van Gisbergen, Will Davison and Jamie Whincup.
Results for Race 13
1st Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing Team
2nd Will Davison – Dick Johnson Racing
3rd Jamie Whincup – Red Bull Ampol Racing Team
4th Chaz Mostert – Walkinshaw Andretti United
In race 14, the third and final race for the weekend it was again Will Davison whi started on pole position. Alongside him was Shane Van Gisbergen.
Shane van Gisbergen went around the outside at turn 1 and in the process kept the lead which I wasn’t surprised with at all.
The cars further back in the pack came in to get track position and stay out of the hot air from the cars in front of them.
As the pit stops started taking place the leaders stayed to keep their positions.
Jamie Whincup was happy about having a good performance in Darwin with a 2nd and 3rd finish in the previous races..
In the middle of the race Shane Van Gisbergen was the leader of and looking like winning the race comfortably.
The series season leader Shane Van Gisbergen showed why he was the series champ to date and drove faultlessly to the finish line with more than a two second lead over Will Davison and Jamie Whincup in thrid. Shane Van Gisbergen now leads the championship by 221 points.
Results for Race 14
1st Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing Team
On the weekend of the 8th and 9th of May 2021 was the OTR Supersprint at The Bend in South Australia.
The event consisted of 3 races, 24 laps each which includes 18 ‘Bends’ over the shortened circuit of 4.95km. So they are fast and furious sprints with not much room for error.
I am sure that Jamie Whincup was trying not to repeat the incident of the 2020 OTR Supersprint. He made contact with Scott McLaughlin. It impacted Whincup’s race and chance at the championship.
Jess Yates returned to the host desk for Foxsports after giving birth to her second child, Samuel Lewis Egan on the 30th of March this year. That is less than 6 weeks prior to this event. So fellas, forget the heroic stats of all the drivers, this woman is the real deal.
Pit reporter, Molly Taylor was not present. She was in the hot seat in Saudi Arabia doing her other ‘job’ rally driving. Incidentally she claimed victory. Congratulations!
In the Race 9 Pre-Race sessions results were as follows:
Mark Winterbottom was fastest in Practice 1
Andre Heimgartner was fastest in Practice 2 and Armour All Qualifying.
In Race 9 Andre Heimgartner started on pole position (his second pole in his supercars career). Alongside him was Chaz Mostert.
Chaz Mostert got the jump into turn 1 but didn’t stay in the race lead for long. He ran wide on lap 1 which gave the pole sitter Andre Heimgartner the race lead.
Pretty soon Andre Heimgartner was pulling away from the rest of the field.
When the pit stops started the leaders stayed out longer to keep track position. Later, when Andre Heimgartner was exiting after his stop he made contact with the incoming Jamie Whincup. As a result he got a 5 second post-race pit lane penalty.
Andre Heimgartner now had had a mission to build a 5 second lead into his win to make up for the penalty. He showed amazing form and kept inching ahead. Pretty soon it was evident that no one was going to catch him. By the end of the race he had well reached his goal and came in first a little under 9 seconds ahead of the next competitor, Chaz Mostert.
Congratulations Andre Heimgartner on your first Supercars win.
Results for Race 9
1st Andre Heimgartner – Kelly Grove Racing
2nd Chaz Mostert – Walkinshaw Andretti United
3rd Anton de Pasquale – Dick Johnson Racing
In race 10 Anton de Pasquale took his first pole position in his Supercars career. Alongside him was teammate, Will Davison.
At the start of the race Anton de Pasquale got the jump and led into turn 1 for the first of 24 laps.
Will Davison tried to go around the outside at turn 1 but couldn’t do it safely so backed off.
The cars further back in the pack came in early to get clear track, which worked for most.
The leaders stayed out longer to keep track position.
In the middle of the race Anton de Pasquale was the race leader and looking strong to take his first win for DJR in 2021.
Towards the end of the race no one else could catch Anton de Pasquale for the ace win. Getting his second win in his supercars career must have been an exciting moment for him. Congrats Anton!
Results for Race 10
1st Anton de Pasquale – Dick Johnson Racing
2nd Will Davison – Dick Johnson Racing
3rd Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing Team
In race 11 Anton de Pasquale yet again started on pole position alongside him this time was the 7 times Supercars champion, Jamie Whincup.
At the start of the race Jamie Whincup looked as though he might have taken the lead but that wasn’t the case. Anton de Pasquale was having a good weekend.
The cars further pack were trying to move forward but the only way to do that was through strategy.
Mark Winterbottom hit a career milestone starting his 500th race. As if to celebrate he made up 7 spots in the opening stages of the race. Congrats Frosty.
As the pit stops started the list of to have or to have pitted was moving up and down like the stock market.
In the middle of the race Cameron Waters was leading having moved up two places from his starting position on the grid.
Shane Van Gisbergen was in hot pursuit but couldn’t find the space to overtake. Just too many ‘Bends’. His only option was trying to pressure Cam Waters into making a mistake. Cam Waters kept his focus and great form to the finish making the weekend a Ford clean sweep.
Results for Race 11
1st Cameron Waters – Tickford Racing
2nd Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing Team
3rd Will Davison – Dick Johnson Racing
The next event is the Winton Supersprint on the 29th and 30th of May 2021.
On the weekend of the 20th to the 22nd of April 2018 was the WD 40 Phillip Island 500.
It was an exciting weekend of racing and also marked several milestones; Mark Winterbottom started his 200th round, Rick Kelly started his 500th race and Brad Jones Racing Team competed in their 250th round. So congratulations to all of you.
In the lead up to the race there were a few surprises. In practice 1 both Mark Winterbottom and Chaz Mostert went off at the Southern Loop at turn 2.
During the Qualifying round Fabian Coulthard received a technical infringement due to a rear wing drama so, regardless of earning 2nd position to start race 9 he ended up at the back of the grid in the 26th position. It must have been a disappointing result for him and the team but keep reading and you will see he wasn’t the only one caught out by penalties.
As they lined up for race 9, Scott McLaughlin started on pole position with Jamie Whincup alongside him. As a 24 year old (and regardless of what a great driver he is) Scott McLaughlin surely must have felt the pressure of having a seasoned pro like Jamie Whincup alongside him.
With Fabian Coulthard’s relegation to from second to 26th, Shane Van Gisbergen started 3rd and Craig Lowndes started in 4th spot.
At the start of the 57-lap race Jamie Whincup got the jump into turn 1 first and led early on with Scott McLaughlin close behind him. Mark Winterbottom nearly went off the racetrack approaching the ‘Hayshed’ and nearly made contact with Richie Stanaway, a scenario that would not have made for a good debrief afterwards at Tickford Racing.
I thought Fabain Coulthard would pit early because of where he started but he didn’t.
Shane Van Gisbergen had a steering wheel issue. The Red Bull Holden Racing Team had a new steering wheel all ready to go but it was too big and Shane Van Gisbergen’s knees couldn’t fit under it. The team reversed the decision and somehow they made it through the race without the change. A strange situation if there ever was one.
Craig Lowndes stayed out on track longer than desired because Jack Le Brocq had priority and pitted first.
Jamie Whincup and Scott McLaughlin pitted at the same time. Scott McLaughlin followed Jamie Whincup into the pit lane and whether it was on purpose or not, gave him a nudge from behind.
Then on exiting the pit lane Jamie Whincup turned off his pit lane speed limiter too early. He realised immediately and turned it back on. Unfortunately the mistake would come back to bite him later on.
In the middle of the race I couldn’t stop laughing at Mark Skaife when he said to Neil Crompton, ‘you are Nostradamus’, because he was already predicting the race winner.
Towards the end of the race Scott McLaughlin was being chased down by Jamie Whincup for the race win. Scott McLaughlin prevailed and was just too quick so Jamie Whincup finished 2nd.
Unfortunately for Jamie Whincup his podium finish was a short lived ideal. The officials gave him a 38 second time penalty for his earlier error in turning off his pit lane speed limiter. The time penalty was supposed to be the equivalent to a drive through penalty had it been issued during the race. This was a real downer for Jamie Whincup who now officially finished 14th. Not a great situation for his scoreboard totals. The second and third positions subsequently went to Rick Kelly and Shane Van Gisbergen.
Result for Race 9
1st Scott McLaughlin – Shell V Power Racing Team
2nd Rick Kelly – Nissan Motorsport
3rd Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Holden Racing Team.
4th Craig Lowndes – Autobarn Lowndes Racing.
In race 10 Scott McLaughlin started on pole position alongside him was David Reynolds.
At the start of 57 lap race Scott McLaughlin led into turn 1.
On lap 8 James Courtney who drives for Walkinshaw Andretti United in car number 25 stopped and couldn’t get back into the pit lane due to a broken transaxle. As a result the Vodafone Safety Car was deployed. Then the car had to be pushed up to the pit garage. Regardless of whether the team could fix it or not, he was ‘benched’ due to not being able to get the car back to the pit garage under his own steam.
When Scott McLaughlin was re-joining the race after his first pit stop the timing was just a few seconds late and he had to merge into traffic instead of being ahead of them. This was a costly few seconds and he lost track position.
Craig Lowndes Qualified 13th for race 10 finished 7th and moved up 6 spots from Qualifying spot,
Shane Van Gisbergen performed a lot better on the Sunday after he was Struggling a lot due to a steering drama.
In the middle of the race David Reynolds tried to hold off Scott McLaughlin but it was in vain. Scott McLaughlin had better pace and more grip so he managed to get passed David Reynolds quickly and easily.
Towards the end of the race no one else could catch the top 3 drivers; Scott McLaughlin, David Reynolds and Rick Kelly.
Results for race 10
1st Scott McLaughlin – Shell V Power Racing Team.
2nd David Reynolds – Erebus Motorsport
3rd Rick Kelly – Nissan Motorsport.
The next event is the Perth Supersprint on the 4th to the 6th of May 2018.
Also, the Formula 1 qualifying system used at Symmons Plains, Tasmania will again be used at Barbagallo Western Australia. I can’t wait for it. It should be fantastic!
On the weekend of the 8th – 10th of July 2016, was the Castrol Edge Townsville 400.
In race 14 Jamie Whincup started on pole position alongside him was his teammate Shane Van Gisbergen on the 70 lap race.
On lap 1 Jamie Whincup got the jump on his teammate off the start line, everybody was trying to get track position early, Scott McLaughlin made contact with Dale Wood on the run up to turn 3, Nick Percat nearly made contact with the Nissan Altama car 96. Rick Kelly made contact with Tim Slade at turn 10. James Courtney and Shane Van Gisbergen pitted at the same time, due to the Safety car being Deployed. Andre Heimgartner was lucky not run up the back Will Davison. While the leaders out front were just pulling away. The cars further back wanted to get into the top ten.
On lap 2 it was still a Red Bull 1 and 2, the cars were trying to catch the leaders up front of the race.
On lap 3 the cars further back pitted so they didn’t have to double stack behind the car in front when they re-joined the cars approaching turn 1 had to be careful to run up the back of the cars ahead.
On lap 4 the leaders were just cruising out front.
On lap 5 the teams were trying to stay out for as long as possible.
In the middle of the race Chaz Mostert was battling away with Shane Van Gisbergen. Also at the halfway mark the Team Vortex pit crew had put the wrong on tyres on the back of Craig Lownde’s car.
I was laughing at Neil Crompton when he told The Gear that Michael Caruso had selected to get in their gear. That was very funny.
Towards the end of the race there was a yellow flag – Safety car as a result of Nick Percat stopping on the track. The tow truck had to pull his car off to the side so that the cars could spend minimal amount of time under the Yellow Flag.
On the restart Jamie Whincup just put his foot down and took off, Mark Winterbottom was unable to catch him. By the end of the first race he had extended his championship lead to 83 points. That now takes Jamie’s career V8 wins to 99; 1 off 100. When will he reach 100 wins?
Results for race 14
1st – Jamie Whincup – Red Bull Racing Australia
2nd – Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Racing Australia
3rd – Mark Winterbottom – Rod Nash Racing
In race 15 Mark Winterbottom started on pole position alongside him was Craig Lowndes for the second 70 lap race of the weekend.
On lap 1 Craig bogged it down from the front row of the grid meaning he did not get away well. Which had allowed Frosty to take the race lead. Further back in the pack Tim Slade, Todd Kelly and Rick Kelly nearly came together just after the start of the race David Reynolds passed Jamie Whincup at turn 2 and tucked in behind Frosty, then he tried to take the lead, but that wasn’t able to be done. Scott McLaughlin tried to go around the outside of Shane Van Gisbergen, Chaz Mostert got a hit up the behind from James Courtney, and then Dale Wood nearly got spun by Chaz Mostert.
On lap 2 the leaders were getting away from the cars behind. The Red Bull team decided to change their strategy meaning the team brought in Shane Van Gisbergen first because Jamie Whincup was leading the race. Jamie Whincup stayed out for as long as he could to avoid the double stack. The Holden Racing team got a big slap on the wrist for letting a wheel nut travel out into the fast lane from car 2’s pit stop for Garth Tander, the team received a 30-point penalty for not taking care of their equipment in pit lane, plus they also received a fine on top of that as well.
On lap 3 Jamie was the man to beat early on.
On lap 4 the pack was settling down to a good race pace with the stops starting to take place.
On lap 5 everyone was in position to try and get track as quick as possible.
On lap 6 the race was still under green.
In the middle of the race the youngest ever V8 Supercars driver Kurt Kostecki was replacing Lee Holdsworth while he recovers. Hit the wall. Due to a Broken Steering arm. In car 18. Towards the end of the Race Van Gisbergen was still in control.
Results for race 15
1st – Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Racing Australia
2nd – James Courtney – Holden Racing Team
3rd – Mark Winterbottom – Rod Nash Racing
The next event is the Coates Hire Ipswich Supersprint. July 22nd – 24th 2016.
