On the weekend of the 16 – 18 of February 2024 was the Repco Bathurst 12 Hour.
The Bathurst 12 Hour was first run in 1991 so this year marks a milestone as the 21st running.
The Bathurst 12 Hour is not officially a part of the Supercars season. However, many of the Supercars drivers take part in the grand event. It is made of 4 classes; Pro AM, Silver, GT4 and the invitational class. Being a gruelling 12 hours on one of the most difficult tracks in the country, each car has three drivers that take turns behind the wheel.
Sheldon Van Der Linde claimed pole position and the Allan Simonsen Trophy for BMW team, WRT. Local Broc Feeney of the Triple 8 team qualified his 888 Mercedes to earn provisional pole position.
The race kicked off under safety car in the dark of Sunday at 5:45am. Bathurst is known for its erratic weather conditions but they started with a dry track and no major challenges. For the next 12 hours there was a spectacular display of driving from local and international teams alike.
2024 Bathurst 12 Hour Highlights
On the start, Sheldon Van Der Linde immediately made a break from the pack. Within a few laps he already created a gap of about 10 car lengths but there was still a long way to go.
There were no major incidents before the sun came up and all 25 cars were still on track.
At about the 75 minute mark, number 19 Racing Ginetta G55 GT4 caught fire in the pit lane. They were the first retirement of the race.
The first safety car was deployed after 2 hours 40 minutes of racing when the 701 Vortex spun off the track into the sand trap as it headed towards the S’s.
As the 12 hour countdown got to 8hrs 36 minutes car number 91 found the fence at turn 2 and came to a standstill on the blind corner.
A few minutes before they marked the 5th hour of driving, Charles Weerts behind the wheel of the pole sitting car made contact at “The Cutting”. In spectacular fashion his car was out of control and the rear mounted the concrete barrier sliding along for over 50 meters. He was lucky to have not gone right over the top. The damage was so severe # 32 was now out of the race. The team was doing so well throughout the whole weekend it is a great shame they were not able to continue. I am sure they would have been contenders for a win and offered up much more of their competitive driving.
When they were into the 6th hour of racing Bathurst did what Bathurst does. The weather changed completely and the rain came down heavily. At times there were sheets of water covering the track.
Cars were going off the track left, right and centre. The international drivers began sticking behind local drivers who knew the track and how to manage in the wet conditions. Still many cars aquaplaned off the challenging track and there were many moments that had viewers holding their breath.
Local Matt Campbell behind the wheel of #912 had the lead in the Manthey Racing / EMA Motorsport Porsche.
He was challenged multiple times with the biggest coming from the #13 Phantom Global Racing/Team 75 Porsche entry driven by Bastian Buus, Joel Eriksson and NZ local Jaxon Evans. The other challenge came from the SunEnergy1 Racing Mercedes driven by Jules Gounon, Kenny Habul and Luca Stolz.
With 30 minutes remaining there was less than 1 second between the leading 3 cars and less than 8 seconds back to 8th place. It was anyone’s game and there was no room for mistakes.
The rain had stopped but the track was still wet. With leading cars so close to each other the competitive driving was incredibly fierce.
With 15 minutes on the clock the leading Porsche #912 with Matt Campbell behind the wheel edged ahead to create a 5+ second lead. Noone was giving up. Drivers were flying down the straights side by side heading into corners looking for any opportunity to make a pass.
Matt Campbells driving was incredible. He kept the lead in the #912 Porsche and even though the gap closed down to just over 2 seconds, he looked confident and strong on that last lap.
The #75 Mercedes driven by Jules Gounon crossed the finish line within 2.6 seconds to take 2nd place followed by the #22 Audi.
For Matt Campbell this is his second Bathurst 12 Hour win. It also breaks the Mercedes 3 time winning streak.
On the weekend of 27 – 29 October 2023 was the Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500.
It was round 11 of the 12 rounds in the 2023 Supercars Championship.
The Gold Coast race at Surfers Paradise is a street circuit which was first opened in 1991. The challenging 4.47 km circuit alongside a strip of beaches has several fast sections and four chicanes.
From 1991 to 2008 the Gold Coast Indy 300 was an annual open-wheel motor race event. In the early days Supercars were there as a support category but from 2002 through to present it has been a round of the Supercars Championship. This year was the 21st event at the venue that has held 44 V8 Supercars races to date.
As expected, it was perfect Queensland weather excepting a small shower on the first practice day. In the pre-race sessions:
Scott Pye was fastest in Practice 1
Shane Van Gisbergen was fastest in Practice 2
Cameron Waters was fastest in Qualifying
Cameron Waters was fastest in the Top 10 Shootout
In Race 25 Cameron Waters started on pole position with Matt Payne alongside him.
As they took off Cameron Waters got the jump and led into turns 1 and 2 for the first of 85 laps that makes up the 250km race. Matt Payne was right on his tail.
After starting 3rd on the grid Shane Van Gisbergen dropped to 5th before the first turn.
As Thomas Randle got to the first turn he took a shortcut across the chicanes. The officials spotted it but took no further action.
As Tim Slade got to the first turn another car made contact and spun him around. The safety car was deployed to slow drivers while he extracted himself from the dangerous position at the turn.
Brodie Kostecki was on the charge. He started 10th on the grid because his shootout lap was disallowed for going out of bounds. Now he had jumped to 7th place.
Within a few laps Chaz Mostert passed Thomas Randle to get up to 3rd place and was only 0.672 seconds behind Matt Payne.
The first car to pit was Broc Feeney on lap 9, along with Anton de Pasquale. They returned to clear track in 24th and 25th place.
Thomas Randle got by Chaz Mostert for 3rd spot.
It then seemed like the drivers were struggling with the high speed track. First Matt Payne received a bad sportsmanship flag for exceeding track limits.
Soon after both Chaz Mostert and Will Brown received bad sportsmanship flags for exceeding track limits.
Then it was Todd Hazelwood’s turn to receive a bad sportsmanship flag for the same reason.
Shane Van Gisbergen overtook Chaz Mostert for 4th position and was only 2.3 seconds behind Thomas Randle in 3rd place and only 4 seconds off the race lead.
Jack le Brocq alerted the team he was leaking fuel and went into the garage.
Brodie Kostecki was now in 5th place right behind Shane Van Gisbergen in their personal title battle for this year’s championship.
Cameron Waters pitted early and came back out in 8th place. When the top 7 cars took their pit stops he would resume the lead.
On lap 28 Shane Van Gisbergen took the number 1 spot off Matt Payne.
A few laps later Shane Van Gisbergen pitted and Brodie Kostecki followed him in. They came back out in 5th and 7th place.
In the middle of the race Broc Feeney was the first of the Red Bull cars to take his final pitstop. Meanwhile his teammate, Shane Van Gisbergen did the fastest lap of the race and was 6.1 seconds away from the lead.
Further ahead, David Reynolds was battling with Thomas Randle for 2nd and 3rd place.
Towards the end of the race with only 11 laps to go Cameron Waters was 1.4 seconds ahead of David Reynolds. It was another 2 seconds back to Shane Van Gisbergen in 3rd place.
Chaz Mostert once again exceeded track limits. This time he received a 5 second time penalty.
With 10 laps to go Cameron Waters still had the lead over David Reynolds but Shane Van Gisbergen had closed the gap to only 0.315 seconds.
Soon Shane Van Gisbergen took over David Reynolds. The gap to Cameron Waters in 1st was just 0.362 seconds.
With only a few laps remaining Shane Van Gisbergen was desperately looking for an opportunity to overtake for the lead and win. However, Cameron Waters is a seasoned driver. He kept his cool and defended the number 1 spot. Shane Van Gisbergen kept on his tail to the end of the race.
As they crossed the finish line there was only 0.194 seconds between them. It was a spectacular tight finish.
Results for Race 25:
1st Cameron Waters – Tickford Racing
2nd Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing
3rd David Reynolds – Grove Racing
In Race 26 Brodie Kostecki started on pole position for the 8th time this year. Alongside him was David Reynolds.
As they took off Brodie Kostecki got the jump and led into turns 1 and 2 for the first of 85 laps.
At turn 4 Tim Slade, James Courtney, Jack Smith and Macfauley Jones made contact and cars were spinning out of control in every direction. The cars back in the pack had to drive over the top of the first chicanes to avoid adding to the pileup. All four cars had come to a stop in this dangerous part of the track. The first safety car was deployed while the stranded cars were rescued.
The track was cleared by lap 8. However, it is the lead driver who gets to make the call for when the race goes back to green. Brodie Kostecki was waiting for the right moment to give the green light signal but the other drivers became impatient and started racing too soon. Confusion followed but the race still continued. It took a while for the officials to review, and it was only later that the offending drivers were penalised.
The first two cars to pit were Jack le Brocq and Will Davison on lap 9.
David Reynolds was challenging Brodie Kostecki for the lead and putting him under pressure. He was right on his tail and constantly on the attack.
Further back Shane Van Gisbergen got by Anton de Pasquale for 9th place. His next target was Cameron Waters in 8th place.
Brodie Kostecki held the lead until he pitted on lap 28. This relinquished the number 1 spot to David Reynolds. When Brodie Kostecki returned to the race he was in 12th place.
As the other drivers began to take their pit stops Brodie Kostecki moved up and eventually had the lead again.
Once again David Reynolds was right on his tail.
Towards the end of the race David Reynolds finally took advantage of a weak spot in the leader, Brodie Kostecki’s defence and passed him. I believe Brodie Kostecki didn’t aggressively defend the move at the risk of being knocked out of the race. All he had to do was get a podium finish ahead of Shane Van Gisbergen to protect his position in the season championship.
Cameron Waters was in 3rd place but was a few seconds behind and didn’t pose an immediate challenge to Brodie Kostecki.
With 7 laps to go James Golding had a massive shunt from behind and spun around landing in the tyre barrier. He almost collected Scott Pye in the process. They did make contact but luckily it seemed pretty light.
Shortly after Scott Pye’s car readings showed a big problem. He had to pull over immediately and the safety car was once again deployed.
When the race went back to green there was only 5 laps remaining. David Reynolds still had the lead over Brodie Kostecki, followed by Cameron Waters.
Brodie Kostecki was always close behind and a constant threat. At times there was less than 0.3 of a second between them. David Reynolds is a tough and seasoned driver. He never showed signs of cracking and at no time gave any opportunities away to his challengers.
In the end David Reynolds crossed the line 0.189 seconds ahead of Brodie Kostecki.
It was Reynold’s first race win since 2018 in what was probably the most exciting race of the year.
Congratulations to David Reynolds and his team, Grove Racing.
Results for Race 26:
1st David Reynolds – Grove Racing
2nd Brodie Kostecki – Erebus Motorsport
3rd Cameron Waters – Tickford Racing
With 1 event made up of 2 races remaining, Brodie Kostecki leads over Shane Van Gisbergen by 131 points. Will Brown is 3rd and trails by 495 points, Broc Feeney is 504 points behind and Chaz Mostert is 640 points.
The grand finale event for the year will be the Valo Adelaide 500, 23 – 26 November 2023.
On the weekend of 5-8 October 2023 was the Repco Bathurst 1000. It was round 10 of the 2023 Supercars Championship.
Mount Panorama was first opened on March 17, 1938. The track is actually a street circuit so outside of race dates it is a public road. Yes! That is the answer to your question, “Can I actually drive around the Bathurst track?” just remember it is a 60 zone.
The first event held at Mount Panorama was a motorcycle race on the 16th of April 1938, the Australian Tourist Trophy. Two days later the Australian Grand Prix took place (a motor car race).
Before becoming known as The Bathurst 1000 the race was called the Armstrong 500. The first few years it ran at Phillip Island and was then moved to Bathurst in 1963. In those days it was a 500 mile race (approx. 804Km) and was done with only a single driver. A few years after Australia changed to metric measurements the race was increased to 1000kms.
It has become the most well-known race in Australia and is also internationally revered. It’s the race that stops the nation and creates legends.
The legend of the King of the Mountain, Peter Brock was earned through this event. Peter Brock won his first Bathurst in 1972 in the days without a co-driver. He then went on to win again in 1975, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1982, 1983, 1984 and 1987. No other driver has beaten his record of 9 Bathurst 1000 wins.
This year was the 60th running of the Repco Bathurst 1000. An incredible milestone for any race event.
This year the event kicked off under almost perfect weather conditions. A surprise to all as Bathurst is known for some pretty challenging conditions at this time of the year.
The pre-race sessions kicked off on the Thursday and went through to Sunday morning. The results were:
Will Brown was fastest in Practice 1
David Russell was fastest in Practice 2
David Reynolds was fastest in Practice 3
Brodie Kostecki was fastest in Practice 4
Brodie Kostecki was fastest in Qualifying
Richie Stanaway was fastest in Practice 5
Broc Feeney was fastest in Practice 6
Brodie Kostecki was fastest in the Shootout
Brodie Kostecki and co-driver David Russell were fastest in the warm up
In Race 24 Brodie Kostecki earned pole position but his co-driver David Russell was behind the wheel of car 99 for the start. Alongside them was co-driver Jamie Whincup after main driver Broc Feeney scored second place on the front row of the grid. There were 16 out of 28 co-drivers who started the race behind the wheel. So, it was quite a common strategy.
As the lights went green, they took off and Jamie Whincup led into turn 1 for the first of 161 laps. Pole sitter David Russell was right under his rear wing only 0.174 seconds behind.
The cars further back in the pack were dicing for places outside the top 10.
Early on Will Brown had gained 5 places up to 12th. James Golding had gained 1 spot after starting 4th on the grid.
Jamie Whincup had a hard time getting some space between himself and David Russell in 2nd place. By lap 4 Jamie Whincup managed to increase his lead to only 0.498 seconds. It was another 1 second back to James Golding in 3rd.
On lap 5 James Courtney ran wide on the exit to the final corner but didn’t lose any places.
Thomas Randle got up the inside of Lee Holdsworth exiting Forest Elbow for 10th place.
Jamie Whincup had managed to increase his lead to around 1 second over David Russell.
Richie Stanaway finally got up the inside of Garth Tander to move into 5th place. His next target was Cameron Waters sitting in 4th position.
The first car to pit in this race was car 96 of Macauley Jones and Jordan Boys on lap 10.
Between lap 4 and 10 Jamie Whincup managed to extend his lead 1.525 seconds over David Russell.
Further back Will Brown was on the charge. He was up 10 spots after starting 17th on the grid. He now smoothly passed Garth Tander moving into 6th place and was only 2.8 seconds away from the lead.
On lap 17 Craig Lowndes started slowing down due to a broken gear lever mount and was forced to pit.
James Golding in 3rd was the first of the front runners to pit on lap 18.
Car 3 driven by Todd Hazelwood and Tim Blanchard pitted on lap 21. Soon after they were investigated for a pit stop infringement and issued a 15 second time penalty to be served on their next stop. Although disappointing it was still early in the race. They had another 5 hours to catch up.
On lap 24 Dean Fiore co-driver to Bryce Fullwood made contact with Simona de Silvestro at The Chase. Simona de Silvestro who returned from her homeland, Switzerland especially for this race was pushed off the road onto the grass. There was no damage to speak of and she re-joined the race easily. Race officials took no further action on the incident.
Kevin Estre (co-driver to Matt Payne) had a big lockup at turn 1 and ended up in the sand trap. He couldn’t get out on his own and the first safety car was deployed so the recovery vehicle could assist.
While the Yellow flag was out (indicating drivers to slow down and stay in formation behind the safety car) all drivers except 2 took the opportunity to pit.
David Reynolds was under investigation for jumping ahead in the safety car line. He was later issued a pit lane drive thru penalty. That didn’t go down too well and David Reynolds started to argue the case when told by his race engineer Alistair McVean. After the restart he was reluctant to give back 3rd place to Broc Feeney and even refused to take the drive thru penalty on the next lap. Race Director James Taylor had to warn him that he still did have to take it.
The restart which was on lap 30 saw Shane Van Gisbergen immediately took the race lead off Dylan O’Keeffe (co-driver to James Golding).
Broc Feeney was in 3rd place (after Reynolds let him pass) and then managed to get by Dylan O’Keeffe for 2nd place.
The 2 Red Bull cars were now running 1st and 2nd on the track, followed by O’Keeffe and then Reynolds.
Bryce Fullwood made contact and pushed Aaron Love off the track at The Chase. Bryce Fullwood was later issued a penalty for his actions.
On lap 39 Scott Pye made contact with Dale Wood who then went off track into the gravel trap. The safety car was sent out while Dale Wood’s car was pulled out and luckily able to return straight to the race.
When they restarted Mark Winterbottom was out front followed by Fabian Coulthard and Brodie Kostecki.
Meanwhile car 6 driven by James Moffat was under investigation for an unsafe pit release. It was later on lap 43 when he was issued a 5 second time penalty.
Brodie Kostecki soon passed Fabian Coulthard to take 2nd position.
Then Richie Stanaway got up the inside of Declan Fraser for 4th place. His next target was Fabian Coulthard in 3rd place. It wasn’t long after that Richie Stanaway made his move pushing Fabian Coulthard down another spot to 4th.
The 2 Brad Jones Racing cars with Jack Smith and Macauley Jones in the driver’s seat made contact with each other at The Chase. They both went off the track and both had minor damage that required a visit to the pits ASAP.
Not long after Macauley Jones received a 15 second time penalty for the driving infringement.
On lap 71 Dean Fiore co-driver to Bryce Fullwood was under investigation for a pit lane infringement and was issued a time penalty.
James Moffat hit the wall coming out of The Dipper and came to a stop in a dangerous part of the track. Officials thought he would not be able to get out of the predicament on his own and sent out the 3rd safety car of the race. Before help could arrive, James Moffat was able to get going again. Unfortunately, it was only to get back to the pits in his smashed up car to then find out he would not be returning to the race.
Car 888 driven by Craig Lowndes had to serve a pit lane penalty after he turned off the ‘pit limiter’ to early while in the pit lane.
Richie Stanway clocked the best lap time of the race on lap 92. He had also moved up to 2nd place after passing Tony Dalberto.
Jamie Whincup rounded up Garth Tander which took him from 5th up to 4th place. “The Goat” was now only 7.9 seconds away from the lead. He then pitted on lap 93 to hand the wheel over to Broc Feeney who would race all the to the end.
Richie Stanaway pitted soon after on lap 97 from the number 1 position and Shane Van Gisbergen took the driver’s seat for the final stage of the race.
Once these two Red Bull Ampol Racing Team cars came out of the pits, Shane Van Gisbergen returned to the number 1 spot with his team mate Broc Feeney not far behind.
On lap 137 of 161 (25 laps remaining) Broc Feeney was slowing due to a gearbox issue stopping him from changing gears. He slipped from 2nd to 3rd allowing Brodie Kostecki to pass him. Broc Feeney had to head to the pits. It was unlucky timing being so close to the end of the race.
The team were able to repair the issue, but Broc returned to the track in 24th position. Unfortunate for him to go from a podium contender to the back of the pack.
It was later revealed that all 3 of the 888 Engineering cars had the same issue (the 2 cars of Gisbergen and Feeney driving for Red Bull Ampol Racing and also the Craig Lowndes/ Zane Goddard duo driving under the Super Cheap Auto banner. It’s surprising any of them finished.
With 18 laps to go Shane Van Gisbergen was still out front with a good lead of 15.010 seconds over Brodie Kostecki.
In the last laps Shane Van Gisbergen controlled the race and was too far ahead for Brodie Kostecki to challenge him for the win.
It was incredible to watch as Shane Van Gisbergen kept edging ahead to finally cross the line with a 19.9 seconds lead over Brodie Kostecki.
Shane Van Gisbergen is now a 3-time winner of the Bathurst 1000.
It puts him in striking distance of the season leader Brodie Kostecki for the remaining two events. Can he now become a 4-time Supercars Champion before he heads to the US in 2024? Its going to be fun finding out.
Results for Race 24
1st Shane Van Gisbergen and Richie Stanaway – Red Bull Ampol Racing
2nd Brodie Kostecki and David Russell – Erebus Motorsport
3rd Anton de Pasquale and Tony Dalberto – Shell V-Power Racing Team
Out of the 28 starters only 24 cars finished the race. 4 cars got a DNF.
Brodie Kostecki still leads the championship by 131 points over Shane Van Gisbergen. With 2 events to go (4 races) in the 2023 championship it is going be an exciting finish to the year,
The next event is the Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500 on the 27th – 29th October 2023.
On the weekend of the 15 – 17 September 2023 was the Penrite Oil Sandown 500, round 9 of the 2023 Supercars Championship.
Sandown International Raceway was first opened as a horse racetrack in 1888 (135 years ago) and known as Oakleigh Park. Four years later it was renamed to Sandown Park.
It boasts to be one of the first locations for a motor racing event way back in 1904. However, it didn’t have a dedicated track for motorsports until 1962. The first big event was held in 1965 with a record crowd of 52,379 attending causing traffic chaos in the quiet suburb of Springvale, Melbourne Victoria.
The track is known to be a fast run consisting of two straights, the main straight and a back straight allowing for speeds between 250 and 260kmph. Its layout and high speeds lends itself to endurance races and Supercars have consistently made the Sandown 500 a warm up to the Bathurst 1000.
I imagine its not the favourite track for the Triple 8 team. They have had wins at this location but some very bad luck as well.
In 2012, on lap 159 out of 161 Jamie Whincup was in 2nd place chasing down the lead. Mark Winterbottom made contact with Jamie Whincup forcing him off the track and losing a spot to move back to 3rd.
In 2019 again with only a few laps remaining, Shane Van Gisbergen received a puncture while leading the race. It not only robbed him of a sure win but took him off the podium all together. The only consolation was it gave the lead and win to car 888 of his teammates Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes.
In this year’s event there were no surprises in the pre – race sessions.
Broc Feeney was fastest in Practice 1
Zane Goddard was fastest in Practice 2
Brodie Kostecki was fastest in Practice 3
Broc Feeney was fastest in Practice 4
Brodie Kostecki was fastest in Qualifying.
Will Brown was fastest in the Top 10 Shootout
David Reynolds and Garth Tander were fastest in the warmup.
In Race 23 the two Erebus cars started in the front row. Co-driver Jack Perkins started in the number 1 spot after Will Brown earned them pole position. Alongside them was David Russell, the co-driver for season leader Brodie Kostecki.
The majority of the co-drivers started behind the wheel except for Craig Lowndes and Aaron Love.
At the start of the race Jack Perkins got the jump and led into turn 1 for the first of 161 laps.
The 2 Erebus cars took the lead into the first turn followed by James Moffat, co-driver to Cameron Waters.
Richie Stanaway was co-driver to Shane Van Gisbergen. He started 19th on the grid and was stuck behind the main pack trying hard to look for a gap to move ahead. It was too tight and he just couldn’t do it.
The leaders were starting to edge away while the cars behind settled into their race pace.
Up the front the leaders were tightly packed. Jack Perkins had a slender lead of 0.290 seconds over David Russell.
On the commencement of lap 2 Jamie Whincup passed Garth Tander for 4th position and James Moffat for 3rd. Jamie Whincup was now only 0.328 seconds behind David Russell.
By lap 3 Jamie Whincup seemed to do the impossible and passed David Russell to take 2nd place and find himself only 0.792 seconds away from the lead.
On lap 5 he took the number 1 spot off Jack Perkins at turn 1. From that point on Whincup didn’t make any mistakes.
Just outside the top 10 cars, Zak Best went off the track between turns 1 and 2. The lost time put him to the back of the pack.
On lap 19 the left rear wheel parted company with the car of David Reynolds / Garth Tander. The car slid, turned around, collided into the guard rail and came to a stop. Meanwhile, the wheel continued along the track on its own. After bouncing off the ground it freakishly landed on the rear of the passing Monster Energy Mustang driven by James Moffat and tore the rear wing completely off the car.
With debris all over the track plus Garth Tander stranded with only 3 wheels and facing the wrong way, the first safety car was deployed.
It was truly a bizarre incident! The Reynolds / Tander car was towed from the track and was in such poor shape it wasn’t able to return. Main driver, David Reynolds didn’t have a chance to get behind the wheel.
Lee Holdsworth pitted for repairs while the safety car was still out. The main issue was with the rear diffuser but the team wasn’t able to get it off straight away. They sent the car back out on the track and then called Holdsworth back in once they got appropriate tools ready. The repairs were done before the safety car left the track.
The restart was on lap 26 and Jack Perkins was back in the number 1 spot for Erebus.
Tony Dalberto, co-driver to Anton de Pasquale received a 15 second time penalty for an unsafe pit release.
Jordan Boys had a massive lock up going into turn 1 and went off the track. Surprisingly there was no damage, except for maybe a flat spot on the tyres.
Race leader Jack Perkins exceeded track limits and received a bad sportsmanship flag. This is more a warning than a penalty.
By lap 41 Jamie Whincup regained the race lead pushing Jack Perkins back to 2nd place.
Jaylyn Robotham, co-driver to Cameron Hill made contact with Craig Lowndes. Lowndes managed to keep control and avoided hitting the wall. I have no doubt that any other driver would have suffered significant damage but Craig Lowndes’ experience showed.
Soon after James Moffat got spun around at turn 1 by Dylan O’Keeffe.
On lap 47 Richie Stanaway did the quickest lap of the race.
Jayden Ojeda went off the track dropping him from 3rd to 6th place.
After receiving previous warnings, Mark Winterbottom received a 15 second time penalty for exceeding track limits.
After Jamie Whincup had earlier taken the race lead, main driver Broc Feeney was now behind the wheel. In the middle of the race he had a 6.3 second lead over Will Brown. Brodie Kostecki was a further 12.5 seconds back.
The gruelling length and high speeds of the race were really showing. Macauley Jones was next to receive a bad sportsmanship flag for exceeding track limits.
Craig Lowndes dropped a spot to Andre Heimgartner.
Towards the end of the race Broc Feeney was still holding the lead. On lap 130 he pitted with 18.798 seconds over teammate Shane Van Gisbergen. Shane Van Gisbergen had to wait until lap 131 to take his last pit stop.
On lap 140 of 161 Cameron Hill had to be rescued from the sand trap at turn 9. For such a long race it was surprising that this was only the second time the safety car was deployed.
On lap 147 Chaz Mostert received a 15 second time penalty for making contact with another car.
The gap at the front of the race was closing. Broc Feeney was still out front but only by 0.203 seconds over Brodie Kostecki.
In addition, this was a time certain race and time was running out. The pressure was really on.
With 2 minutes 59 remaining Will Brown ran wide at turn 9 and Shane Van Gisbergen squeezed past to take 3rd place. Shane Van Gisbergen had moved up 16 spots throughout the race. What an amazing drive.
However, a champion like Shane Van Gisbergen is never satisfied with being third and put the pressure on Brodie Kostecki. Kostecki kept his cool and made no mistakes but the pressure from Gisbergen didn’t allow him to pressure Broc Feeney for the win.
In the end Broc Feeney crossed the line with a 0.9816 second margin over Brodie Kostecki with another 2.2 seconds back to Shane Van Gisbergen in 3rd place.
The win earned 888 Race Engineering their 250th race win in Supercars. Wow! What an amazing achievement. Congratulations team.
On the season scoreboard Brodie Kostecki has extended his championship lead to 155 points over Shane Van Gisbergen. Broc Feeney is 3rd with 204 points off the lead. Will Brown is 4th and 294 points off the lead.
Erebus are still leading the Team’s Championship but only by 95 points over the Red Bull Ampol Racing Team.
Jamie Whincup is now a 6 time winner of the Sandown 500. Can he and Broc Feeney do it again at Bathurst?
Results for Race 23
1st Broc Feeney and Jamie Whincup – Red Bull Ampol Racing
2nd Brodie Kostecki and David Russell – Erebus Motorsport
3rd Shane Van Gisbergen and Richie Stanaway – Red Bull Ampol Racing
There are 3 events to go in the 2023 Supercars championship.
900 points left on the table across the final 3 events.
The next event is the Repco Bathurst 1000 on the 5 – 8 of October 2023.
The Bathurst channel begins Monday October 2 on Fox Sports channel 506.
On the weekend of the 19 – 20 of August 2023 was the OTR Supersprint at The Bend.
The Tailem Bend racetrack was first opened in 2017 and is the youngest circuit in Australia. The Bend Motorsports Park is also known by its sponsorship name Shell V-Power Motorsport Park.
The Bend first hosted a V8-Supercars championship round in 2018 and has staged Supercars racing ever since. This includes two rounds during the Covid affected 2020 season.
This year’s round 8, the OTR Supersprint at “The Bend” was a significant round in the history books of the Australian Touring Car Championship – Supercars Championship. It was the 600th round of the championship since starting 63 years ago in 1960.
In the pre-race sessions for this years’ event:
Thomas Randle was fastest in Practice 1
Broc Feeney was fastest in Practice 2
Brodie Kostecki was fastest in Qualifying
In Race 20 Brodie Kostecki started on pole position and alongside him was Thomas Randle.
At the start of the race Thomas Randle got the jump and led into turn 1 for the first of the quick 20 laps.
As the rest of the pack came through turn 1 Jack Le Brocq made contact with Will Brown and chaos broke loose. Will Brown was spun around and tightly packed cars behind were going in all directions to avoid colliding with him. Some we simply unlucky, Jack Smith and Cameron Hill ploughed straight into him. Somehow Mark Winterbottom who was directly behind them missed the carnage.
The safety car was immediately despatched to clean up the mess. The three cars of Will Brown, Jack Smith and Cameron Hill were removed from the track unable to return and received a Not Complete (NC).
The officials had a look at the incident and decided to take no further action so no one was penalised.
The restart was on lap 5 and it was the cars outside of the top 10 that were dicing for position.
The first cars to pit were Broc Feeney, James Courtney, Bryce Fullwood and Jack le Brocq on lap 6.
The leaders stayed out to maintain their track position while the going was good.
Brodie Kostecki passed Chaz Mostert for 2nd place. He was now only 0.588 seconds off the race lead, Thomas Randle.
In the middle of the race Andre Heimgartner pitted from 10th place. No one else followed him into the pits.
Brodie Kostecki soon found the opportunity and passed Thomas Randle for the lead. Thomas Randle and Chaz Moster knew it was a losing battle to try and chase the championship leader and all three pitted on lap 12. Macauley Jones also came in. There were now only 6 drivers yet to pit.
With 9 laps remaining the challenge was now on. Once the 6 cars ahead pitted Brodie Kostecki assumed the lead of the race with Thomas Randle and Chaz Mostert right behind him.
With 8 laps to go Cameron Waters, Shane Van Gisbergen and Nick Percat all pitted, only leaving 3 cars to pit.
The top three drivers kept their positions until the final laps when Chaz Mostert was able to pass Thomas Randle for 2nd place.
Even though the front runners were reasonably close together, on the last lap no one could catch Brodie Kostecki.
He crossed the line 1.71 seconds ahead of Chaz Mostert. He was followed by Thomas Randle and Cameron Waters.
Results for Race 20
1st Brodie Kostecki – Erebus Motorsport
2nd Chaz Mostert – Walkinshaw Andretti United
3rd Thomas Randle – Castrol Racing
In Race 21 Thomas Randle started on pole position for the first time since starting his full time Supercars career in 2022.
Brodie Kostecki started next to pole and led off the start line into turn 1 for the first of 20 laps. Shane Van Gisbergen who started 4th on the grid immediately moved up to 3rd place.
Meanwhile the cars further back in the pack were battling for places outside the top 10.
Inside the top 10 Will Davison, Cameron Waters and Jack le Brocq all got spun around at turn 6 which put them back in the running order. They dropped down to 22nd, 24th and 25th place.
Race control investigated the incident and not long after issued Jack le Brocq with a drive thru penalty for the driving infringement that was the cause.
The first car to pit in this race was Mark Winterbottom on lap 3. He started 24th on the grid and was probably just wanted to get out of the traffic.
Brodie Kostecki did the fastest lap of the race 152.106 seconds on lap 5.
Chaz Mostert was behind Thomas Randle and 2.8 seconds off the lead.
Nick Percat, Bryce Fullwood and Macauley Jones all pitted on the same lap.
In the middle of the race Shane Van Gisbergen was still in 4th place but running was 36 seconds off Brodie Kostecki’s lead.
While still commanding the number 1 spot, Brodie Kostecki was the first of the front runners to pit with 8 cars still yet to take their stops. 6 of these were the top 6 cars so when they did pit it would allow Brodie Kostecki to resume his lead.
Towards the end of the race no one else was able to chase down the leaders.
Brodie Kostecki was still in 1st place followed by Thomas Randle, Chaz Mostert, David Reynolds and Shane Van Gisbergen.
The series leader Brodie Kostecki seemed untouchable. He crossed the line 1.0866 seconds clear of Thomas Randle. Chaz Mostert was 1.06342 seconds further back in 3rd place.
For Brodie Kostecki it was his 2nd win for the weekend. Also Thomas Randle had his second podium finish. A great result for both of them.
Results for Race 21
1st Brodie Kostecki – Erebus Motorsport
2nd Thomas Randle – Castrol Racing
3rd Chaz Mostert – Walkinshaw Andretti United
In Race 22 Brodie Kostecki started on pole position with Cameron Waters alongside him.
As they took off Brodie Kostecki got the jump and led into turn 1. Nick Percat made a blinder of a start and was in 2nd place by turn 1.
After passing Nick Percat, Cameron Waters got up inside of Thomas Randle at turn 6 and managed to make the move stick.
Cameron Waters was now in second place hunting down the race leader Brodie Kostecki who only had a 0.574 second lead.
The cars behind were battling for pit priority.
Just behind those front runners Shane Van Gisbergen was trying to get up the inside of Will Davison but couldn’t make the move stick.
That was when Will Davison did the fastest lap of the race, 152.502 seconds.
Within a few laps Brodie Kostecki had a 1.3 second lead over Cameron Waters. I was amazed at the pace that he had.
The first car to pit was Bryce Fullwood on lap 5. He came in way too quick and hit the dirt by the pit lane entry. He recovered quite easily but after review by race control it was deemed a driving infringement and he was issued a 15 second time penalty.
It wasn’t long before the drivers back in the pack also pitted to get out of the traffic.
Todd Hazelwood got up the inside of David Reynolds between turns 2 and 3.
On lap 9 Nick Percat was the first of the front runners to take his mandatory pit stop.
Thomas Randle also pitted from 5th place. When he come back out he was in 12th.
There were 11 cars still yet to pit.
On the next lap Shane Van Gisbergen took his pit stop. On departure the right rear wheel gun was still in place. A very dangerous mistake to make and as a result of this 888 were docked 30 teams championship points post-race.
There were only 2 cars remaining to pit, Brodie Kostecki and Mark Winterbottom.
Chaz Mostert hit the unlucky lap number 13 making contact with another driver and received a bad sportsmanship flag.
The front runners kept their position but Brodie Kostecki had to defend the number 1 spot from Cameron Waters constant threat. The others were a little further back so it was really between those 2 drivers.
On the last lap Broc Feeney who had managed to stay in the top 10 was helped off the track by David Reynolds. It was so unfortunate for the young driver as he dropped down to 24th place.
Brodie Kostecki managed to hold off Cameron Waters all the way to the checkered flag. He crossed the line with only a 0.946 second margin. It was another 6+ seconds before Thomas Randle crossed the line in 3rd place.
Brodie Kostecki must have felt it was a magic weekend getting 3 of 3 wins. Thomas Randle was another driver that must have been pretty happy earning a 3rd, 2nd and then another 3rd place.
Results for Race 22
1st Brodie Kostecki – Erebus Motorsport
2nd Cameron Waters – Monster Energy Racing
3rd Thomas Randle – Castrol Racing
Brodie Kostecki still leads the drivers championship by 137 over Shane Van Gisbergen in 2nd place Broc Feeney is still in 3rd place he is only 228 points off the lead of the championship.
Will Brown is in 4th 258 points behind the series leader Brodie Kostecki.
Chaz Mostert is 5th 313 points off the series lead.
The next event is the Penrite Oil Sandown 500 on the 15 – 17 of September 2023.
There are 4 events remaining 1200 points still up for grabs.
Sandown and Bathurst are 300 points each for the winners.
On the weekend of 29 – 30 July 2023 was the Beaurepairs Sydney Supernight, the 7th round of this year’s Supercars championship.
The event was held at Sydney Motorsport Park in New South Wales.
Originally named Eastern Creek Raceway, the New South Wales state government approved its development back in 1988 and opened on the 10th of November, 1990. The first Australian Touring Car Championship (ATCC) race was held in 1993. The ATCC was the previous title before being renamed V8 Supercars in 1997).
This event was a special occasion for me, aside from being in my home town of Sydney it was the first time I have been able to get to any track since 2017. It was a lot of fun and I was glad to finally have wheelchair accessible transport (thanks Dad) and the general threat of COVID gone. It was great to be back!
The event started on the Saturday but I managed to get there for only the Sunday.
In the pre-race sessions:
Shane Van Gisbergen was fastest in Practice 1
Shane Van Gisbergen was also fastest in Practice 2
Andre Heimgartner was fastest in Qualifying
In Race 18 Andre Heimgartner started on pole position with Brodie Kostecki alongside him.
At the start of the race Brodie Kostecki and Will Brown went into turn 1 in 1st and 2nd place. The pole sitter Andre Heimgartner had dropped from 1st to 5th place after a bad start off the line.
Cameron Hill made a blinder of a start. He had made up 4 spots after starting 8th on the grid.
The cars further back in the pack were dicing for positions outside the top 10 while the leading cars held their positions.
The 2 Erebus Camaros were out in front and controlling proceedings early on.
Brodie Kostecki had half a second lead over Will Brown by lap 2.
Shane Van Gisbergen was also making way and gained 2 spots after starting in 20th on the grid.
Jack le Brocq in 5th place was soon under assault from Andre Heimgartner after he lost his pole position. However, instead of gaining a spot he lost his own spot to James Golding who snuck by him.
The leaders were comfortable out front while the cars behind were chasing them. This was probably the cause of Jack Smith in car 4 receiving a bad sportsmanship flag for exceeding track limits.
The first car to pit was Anton de Pasquale on lap 11.
James Golding was again on the move and got up the inside of Cameron Hill at turn 2 for 5th place.
Chaz Mostert also tried to go around the outside of Cameron Hill, but he couldn’t make the move stick.
Cameron Hill was being a cork in the bottle he was holding up the cars behind him.
After Anton de Pasquale completed his pitstop he came back out in 25th position.
A lap later Chaz Mostert finally got past Cameron Hill at turn 1 and Will Davison got up the inside of Andre Heimgartner for 8th place.
Shane Van Gisbergen then got up the inside of Scott Pye to move into 12th place. The defending champion Shane Van Gisbergen had gained 8 places since the start.
By lap 13 Scott Pye had dropped back to 22nd position and chose to make his first pit stop and rethink strategy.
Cameron Hill pitted on lap 14 along with James Courtney and Thomas Randle.
By lap 17 of 51 the top 13 cars were still yet to take their stops.
Will Brown was the first of the front runners to pit followed by Will Davison, Cameron Waters and Jack le Brocq.
Shane Van Gisbergen also pitted a lap later, lap 18.
Soon after Todd Hazelwood and James Courtney received bad sportsmanship flags for exceeding track limits.
It wasn’t over for Todd Hazelwood. He received a pit lane drive thru penalty for a refuelling breach on his first stop.
In the middle of the race Andre Heimgartner had assumed the race lead while frontrunners were pitting. Soon he went into the pits handing the lead over to Brodie Kostecki who was followed by Cameron Waters and Will Brown in 3rd place.
On lap 32 David Reynolds went off the track between turns 9 and 10. He hit the wall and the stricken Ford Mustang wouldn’t move. The Safety car was deployed while they removed car #26.
The race restarted on lap 39. Chaz Mostert soon made a pass of Jack le Brocq to move into 4th place and only 0.748 seconds behind Will Brown in 3rd.
Shane Van Gisbergen was up to 6th place and looking for further gains. As the race got closer to the finish he was on the charge and managed to pass Jack le Brocq. Shane Van Gisbergen was now only 1.144 seconds from the back of the podium.
On lap 42 Shane Van Gisbergen showed just how much he wanted that podium finish and did the fastest lap of the race, 130.064.
By the final 10 laps the top 5 places had not changed but quite spread out. Brodie Kostecki had a good lead and was on target for his first win since the Melbourne Grand Prix in March.
On lap 44 Declan Fraser received a bad sportsmanship flag for exceeding track limits.
James Golding managed to go around the outside of James Courtney at turn 8 with 7 laps to go.
With 2 laps to go Chaz Mostert was up 7 places after starting 9th on the grid. Shane Van Gisbergen was behind in 3rd having moved up from a start of 20th on the grid.
However, the gaps between the top 3 couldn’t be closed. In the end Brodie Kostecki crossed the finish line with a 7 second margin over Chaz Mostert. Shane Van Gisbergen was a further 10.479 seconds behind.
A post race penalty was issued to Shane Van Gisbergen for contact with Will Brown so unfortunately Shane was recorded in 7th place on the final results. Will Brown inherited the podium finish in 3rd. Credit is still owed to Shane Van Gisbergen for a phenomenal drive.
Results for Race 18
1st Brodie Kostecki – Erebus Motorsport 2nd Chaz Mostert – Walkinshaw Andretti United 3rd Will Brown – Erebus Motorsport
Shane Van Gisbergen was fastest in Qualifying for Race 19 and earned pole position bringing his career pole total to 48. I would love for him to get another 2 more and reach a half century before he leaves Supercars at the end of this season.
Andre Heimgartner sat alongside Shane Van Gisbergen on the starting grid.
As they took off Andre Heimgartner got the jump and led into turn 1 for the first of 36 laps. Shane Van Gisbergen and Broc Feeney were in 2nd and 3rd.
Will Brown and David Reynolds made contact and left the track. As they rejoined they were now in 24th and 25th place. Race control immediately put the incident under investigation. It took a while but they declared no penalties would be issued.
Shane Van Gisbergen was soon closing in on the back of the leader Andre Heimgartner. Broc Feeney in 3rd was followed by Brodie Kostecki.
Chaz Mostert had moved up 5 places into 11th after starting 16th on the grid.
On the second lap James Golding and Thomas Randle made contact. Although they kept going the officials were investigating the incident and later issued time penalties to both drivers.
On lap 4 Shane Van Gisbergen took the race lead off Andre Heimgartner at turn 6.
Just to make a statement, Shane Van Gisbergen then did the fastest lap of the race 131.993.
The first car to pit was Broc Feeney from 4th place on lap 16. When he came back out he was in 24th place.
The front runners were tightly packed. Shane Van Gisbergen was still the leader with a 1 second gap over Andre Heimgartner. Then it was only 0.968 of a second back to Brodie Kostecki.
Further back in the running Declan Fraser received a bad sportsmanship flag for exceeding track limits.
Then Will Brown and Macauley Jones received a bad sportsmanship flag for the same reason.
By the middle of the race Shane Van Gisbergen was in a commanding position with a 6.7 second lead over Andre Heimgartner. The front runners were yet to pit. Andre Heimgartner was the first to make his stop from 2nd place.
Shane Van Gisbergen took his stop towards the end of the race and returned to the track in 7th place. He must have known he was in great shape because the 6 cars in front still had to take their pit stops so he would naturally assume the lead when they did.
One by one they peeled off the track for the mandatory pit stop leaving Shane Van Gisbergen back in the number 1 spot with a 3 second lead over Andre Heimgartner. It was then 1.4 seconds back to Broc Feeney in 3rd place.
As the race was coming to its conclusion Shane Van Gisbergen was showing his authority and seemed uncatchable as he edged ahead.
After his incident on lap 2 Thomas Randle was in trouble again but this time only receiving a bad sportsmanship flag for exceeding track limits.
James Courtney was next in line for a bad sportsmanship flag for exceeding track limits.
In a surprise on the last lap Anton de Pasquale passed Broc Feeney for 3rd place. Broc Feeney had no time to make it up. Anton de Pasquale took the podium finish in 3rd. Andre Heimgartner had finished 10.4 seconds earlier in 2nd place with Shane Van Gisbergen taking the chequered flag 5.5 clear of him.
It was a spectacular finish for SVG and I’m so glad I was at the track on that day!
Results for Race 19
1st Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing 2nd Andre Heimgartner – Brad Jones Racing 3rd Anton de Pasquale – Shell V Power Racing Team
Brodie Kostecki still leads the championship by 41 points over his teammate Will Brown. Shane Van Gisbergen is only 54 points off the championship lead and Broc Feeney is 4th with 57 points off the championship lead. With 5 events remaining the championship title could be any of these great drivers.
The next event is the OTR Supersprint at the Bend on 18 – 20 August 2023.
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 16- 18 of June was the Betr Darwin Triple Crown.
Being in the Northern Territory the weather for this event is always hot and sunny with temperatures of 30 to 35 degrees ambient, which makes the in-car temperatures 40 degrees plus. The Triple Crown is always held in the middle of winter because any other time of the year would be way too hot putting the drivers at risk.
The opening date of the Hidden Valley Raceway was 1986 but Supercars didn’t venture north until 1998.
The track is 2.8km with 14 turns and the event is made up of three races (thus, the name “Triple Crown”) of 35 laps each.
Fox Sports presenter, Riana Crehan was absent from her usual role on this weekend because she and husband Will Davison are expecting the birth of their first child (any minute).
Hidden Valley Raceway always makes me think of this freaky fact; It was here that Craig Lowndes won his 100th race back in 2015 on his team Triple Eight on their 888th race in his car which was numbered 888.
The event kicked off according to schedule and the results of the pre-race sessions follow:
Broc Feeney was fastest in Practice 1
Anton de Pasquale was fastest in Practice 2
Cameron Waters was fastest in Qualifying
In Race 13 Cameron Waters started on pole position for the first time this year and the 20th time in his career. Alongside him in the number 2 position was Broc Feeney.
At the start of the race Cameron Waters got the jump and led into turn 1 for the first of 35 laps. Mark Winterbottom who started 3rd on the grid moved up to 2nd place when Broc Feeney ran wide at turn 1.
The opening stages were fairly chaotic because everybody was trying make gains from back in the field.
Jack le Brocq also ran wide on approach to turn 1 and dropped all the way down to 12th place.
Declan Fraser went into the garage on the opening lap after he sustained damage in the mayhem.
James Courtney got turned around by Andre Heimgartner at turn 14 on lap 2, sending him to the back of the pack.
Shortly after David Reynolds had a big lockup at turn 1 and went off the track. He hit the pits on lap 3 to change the front left tyre.
While the drivers behind were battling for places inside the top 10, Cameron Waters was out front leading the race until lap 5. When he was coming down the main straight he came over the radio to his team and said “My car is on fire!”. His race engineer Sam Potter ordered him, “get out mate!” so Waters pulled over and jumped from the driver’s seat. He grabbed the fire extinguisher from the Fire Marshall and put the flames out himself!
The lead was now in the hands of the sport veteran, Mark Winterbottom.
The safety car was deployed to remove Cameron Waters Monster Energy ‘Flaming’ Ford Mustang from the tack.
Meanwhile, the majority of the field chose to take their pit stops while the safety car was out. The pit lane was extremely busy.
Restart was on lap 11 and soon enough the cars back in the pack were jostling for positions again, while the leaders maintained track position.
Jack Smith went off the track at turn 1. Scott Pye made connection with someone or something and had torn the right rear wheel guard. The tyre was now rubbing on the dangling piece of guard. His team instructed him to keep going and they’ll let him know if it gets dangerous.
On Lap 16 the safety car was deployed for the second time due to a grass fire.
It took a few laps under the safety car before the race went back to green.
As the cars returned to their battle Chaz Mostert was able to take advantage and gained 3 spots moving up to 8th place.
The leaders kept in place but Mark Winterbottom was under huge pressure from Broc Feeney only 0.449 seconds behind. Will Davison in 3rd place was over a second behind Feeney.
Broc Feeney pushed hard but in the end, Mark Winterbottom was able to prevail and win the opening race at Darwin.
This has broken a 7 year winless streak for Mark Winterbottom. His last win was Perth 2016.
It was fantastic to see!
Results for Race 13
1st Mark Winterbottom – Team 18 2nd Broc Feeney – Red Bull Racing 3rd Will Davison – Shell V-Power Racing Team
In Race 14 Broc Feeney earned pole position. Alongside him was Andre Heimgartner.
Generated by pixel @ 2023-06-18T23:36:11.103002
Broc Feeney got the jump off the start and led into turn 1 for the first of 35 laps. Meanwhile, Shane Van Gisbergen gained 1 spot and moved into 3rd place.
Matt Payne and Declan Fraser made contact and went off the track at turn 7. It dropped them back to 25th and 26th place.
Both cars headed to the pits for repairs. Not long after Matt Payne was able to rejoin the race but Declan Fraser was not so lucky. It took a while for his car to be repaired losing several laps.
Otherwise, the opening stages were relatively clean.
The first car to take an unforced pit was Jack Smith on lap 5.
Around this stage of the race Brodie Kostecki had lost 2 spots from his starting position of 4th. Jack le Brocq went off the track at turn 7 losing a number of places. At the front end Broc Feeney had carved a 1.225 second lead over Andre Heimgartner with Shane Van Gisbergen in pursuit.
Scott Pye pitted on lap 9 from 12th place.
James Golding was battling with Brodie Kostecki for positions 5th and 6th and they put on a great show.
Will Brown was the first of the front runners to pit along with Macauley Jones.
In the middle of the race Nick Percat pitted from 14th position. When he came back out he was in 20th place.
The leading three drivers stayed locked in and edged away from the rest of the pack.
After David Reynolds took his pit stop he was issued a 5 second time penalty for a pit lane merging breach.
Broc Feeney was the first of the two Red Bull cars to take the mandatory stop on lap 20. He returned to the track in 4th place. There was a strategy in this. Andre Heimgartner had already pitted and was now out of the leading three cars. Shane Van Gisbergen who was in second place now received the lead from teammate Feeney. Also, the leading 3 cars were yet to pit; Shane Van Gisbergen, Bryce Fullwood and Cameron Waters. Once they did Broc Feeney would automatically resume the lead.
On lap 29 Will Davison had gone into the garage with a bent right front steering arm. This took him out of the top 10.
Broc Feeney resumed the lead and soon had a 2 second gap over Shane Van Gisbergen in second place.
With 3 laps to go Broc Feeney would have felt he had the race win in the bag.
Broc Feeney drove faultlessly the remaining laps and crossed the line 1.4 seconds ahead of his illustrious teammate Shane Van Gisbergen. Andre Heimgartner followed another 1.8 seconds later to take 3rd place.
A great one / two finish for the Red Bull Ampol Racing team.
Results for Race 14
1st Broc Feeney – Red Bull Ampol Racing 2nd Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing 3rd Andre Heimgartner – Brad Jones Racing
In Race 15 Jack le Brocq started on pole position and once again alongside him was Andre Heimgartner.
As they took off Jack le Brocq led the field through turn 1 for the first of 35 laps.
Scott Pye was hit from behind and had pretty substantial damage on the right rear corner. Brodie Kostecki also had issues on the first lap, receiving steering damage on the right side.
Todd Hazelwood put in a challenge to Shane Van Gisbergen for 8 place but he couldn’t get the pass executed for a while. It wasn’t long before Shane Van Gisbergen took back 8th.
After repairs to the steering arm Brodie Kostecki re-joined the race but was 3 laps down and running last.
Scott Pye also had to take his pit early to remove flapping rear bumper for the second time that weekend. He returned to the track in 25th place.
David Reynolds came into the pits for his compulsory stop on lap 10.
In the middle of the race Declan Fraser made connection with another competitor and received a 15 second time penalty
Broc Feeney and Will Brown running 3rd and 4th pitted at the same time on lap 17.
The race leaders Jack le Brocq and Andre Heimgartner took their pit stops on the next lap.
Towards the end of the race Matt Payne got turned around by Jack Smith at turn 6 sending him to the back of the pack.
With three laps to go Jack le Brocq had managed to hold the number one spot and carve a 1.8 second lead over Andre Heimgartner in 2nd place. They were both well ahead of the rest of the pack.
Heimgartner pushed hard to close the gap but at no stage seemed a threat to le Brocq.
Jack le Brocq crossed the line 1.3 seconds clear of Andre Heimgartner. It was a further 8.4 seconds before Broc Feeney crossed the line to come in 3rd.
It was a spectacular finish especially for the young Broc Feeney who managed a podium place in all three races of the Darwin Triple Crown; 2nd,1st and then 3rd. It earned him a win for the entire round.
Results for Race 15
1st Jack le Brocq – Matt Stone Racing 2nd Andre Heimgartner – Brad Jones Racing 3rd Broc Feeney – Red Bull Ampol Racing
Brodie Kostecki still leads the championship but only by 59 points over his teammate Will Brown and 91 points over Broc Feeney.
It still keeps Erebus in the lead of the teams championship by 222 points over the Red Bull Ampol Racing Team.
There are 7 events remaining in the 2023 Supercars championship season.
The next event is the NTI Townsville 500 starting on July 7th 2023. I just can’t wait!!!!!
On the weekend of Mar 30 – Apr 2nd was the Beaurepairs Melbourne Supersprint. It was round 2 of the 2023 Supercars Championship and held at Albert Park in Melbourne Victoria.
The event was a support category of the Rolex Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix.
The Albert Park circuit is 5.3km with 14 turns. Supercars has been there every year all but 2007, 2020 and 2021.
The weekend represented big milestones for some drivers.
Chaz Mostert started his 300th race in Supercars.
In the second race Mark Winterbottom started in his 595th race. It is a track that he seems to favour having previously won 7 races at the venue, a win count that he shares with Shane Van Gisbergen.
Macauley Jones also hit his 150th race start on the Sunday of the weekend.
Congratulations!
With this in mind, plus the first time that the Gen 3 cars race at this track and it being part of the Australian F1 Grand Prix, it was set to be an exciting weekend.
In the pre- race sessions
Mark Winterbottom was Fastest in Practice 1 Tim Slade and Shane Van Gisbergen both caused red flags because they both went into the wall at turn 5 or turn 7.
Andre Heimgartner was fastest in Practice 2
Anton de Pasquale was fastest in Qualifying.
The first of the four sprint races started on the Thursday of this event. It was Race 3 of the season with Anton de Pasquale on pole position Brodie Kostecki alongside him.
At the start of the race Anton de Pasquale got the jump and led into turn 1 for the first of 19 laps. Brodie Kostecki was trying his best to take the lead and gave Anton de Pasquale a nudge at turn 5. Brodie Kostecki had to pull back and it allowed Shane Van Gisbergen to displace him.
Chaz Mostert was part of the front running pack but lost a spot when Jack le Brocq made an impressive pass at turn 3.
By the end of the first lap Bryce Fullwood gained 6 spots. After starting from 23rd on the grid he was up to 18th. If he kept this up he would be a threat to the leaders.
lap 3 Shane Van Gisbergen found the space to make his move and took the race lead off Anton de Pasquale. From that point on, he was able to control proceedings from the lead.
The first car to pit in this race was Cameron Hill from the back of the field on lap 9.
There were challenges for position happening everywhere. Drivers had to be aggressive in such a short race.
Cameron Waters was trying to pass Brodie Kostecki and Chaz Mostert was putting pressure on Cam Waters in a battle for 3rd, 4th and 5th place.
Meanwhile, Broc Feeney was battling with James Courtney for 8th position.
Anton de Pasquale was right on the tail of race leader Shane Van Gisbergen.
At one point Cameron Waters ran extremely wide exiting turn 10 which dropped him down to 6th place.
It allowed Will Brown to get in the mix, but Chaz Mostert got the better of him and was again challenging Brodie Kostecki for 3rd place.
With the continual attacks, James Courtney and Broc Feeney also became part of the challenge for those positions. In an instant Jack le Brocq was running 9th position.
The gap between 1st and 2nd was 1.2 seconds with about 1.3 seconds back to 3rd.
Both Will Davison and Andre Heimgartner came into the pits to make their stop and rejoined the race in 22nd and 23rd place.
James Golding and David Reynolds pitted on lap 10. There were still 19 cars yet to pit. Everyone was reluctant to relinquish track position.
With 8 laps to go Shane Van Gisbergen had a 1.3 second lead over Anton de Pasquale. Brodie Kostecki closed the gap in 3rd position to 0.847 seconds.
Mark Winterbottom had no radio and Team 18 had to use a pit board to communicate with him.
Once the front runners took their pit stops, Shane Van Gisbergen was back in the lead.
With 4 laps to go Brodie Kostecki got past Anton de Pasquale for 2nd place while the leader Shane Van Gisbergen was in cruise mode. There were 16 cars who had not yet pitted so the pits it was going to be very busy in that area for the remaining laps.
With 3 laps to go Shane Van Gisbergen had edged out a 2.6 second lead over Brodie Kostecki.
On the final lap Shane Van Gisbergen had a 1.5 second lead over Brodie Kostecki and Will Brown. They were closing in on him incredibly quickly. All he had to do was hang in there, defend his lead and not make any mistakes.
Brodie Kostecki was making a massive effort to catch the leader but there just wasn’t enough time. Shane Van Gisbergen crossed the finish line with only a 0.3909 of a second lead over Brodie Kostecki. Will Brown crossed the line third 1.5616 seconds later.
Results for Race 3:
1st Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing
2nd Brodie Kostecki – Erebus Motorsport
3rd Will Brown – Erebus Motorsport
Race 4 started late due to a crash in the Formula 3000. All the races on the weekend were time certain being a support category to the Australian F1 Grand Prix. It was almost assured they would not complete all 15 laps, but they didn’t know how many laps they would get. Drivers would have to be very aggressive to gain and keep position given the time limit.
Shane Van Gisbergen started on pole position with Will Brown alongside him.
At the start of the race Will Brown got the jump and led into turn 1. Meanwhile further back in the pack David Reynolds got turned around at the first corner by Cameron Waters and Mark Winterbottom. His car ended up off the track and trapped in the sand. The safety car was deployed and the race was under yellow flag conditions. As they followed the safety car around the track in formation, Nick Percat caught fire on the left front of his Ford Mustang. He managed to get back to the pits independently but couldn’t re-join the race.
It took until lap 4 for the race to return to green and recommence. Shane Van Gisbergen immediately tried to go around the outside of Will Brown in the lead. He couldn’t make the move stick and as a result of the madness up front Shane Van Gisbergen dropped from 3rd down to 6th.
The first of the drivers to pit in this race were Will Brown, Will Davison, Jack le Brocq, Andre Heimgartner, Matt Payne and Scott Pye.
Soon after his pit stop Jack le Brocq hit the wall damaging the left front corner. He couldn’t move and the race went under ‘yellow’ while he was retrieved, and the wall repaired. He would become another driver in this race to not return to the track.
In the end the race finished on lap 8 behind the safety car while they were still repairing the wall.
It was unfortunate to finish this way but couldn’t be helped. In formation behind the safety car they crossed the finish line; Brodie Kostecki with his first career win, James Courtney and Shane Van Gisbergen.
Post race finish, James Courtney was issued a penalty for an unsafe release in the pits. Unfortunately it pushed him back to 22nd place on the recorded results. The drivers between 3rd and 22nd were elevated 1 spot. For the two Red Bull Ampol Racing cars it was an unexpected podium finish with Shane Van Gisbergen bumped up to 2nd and Broc Feeney to 3rd.
Results for Race 4:
1st Brodie Kostecki – Erebus Motorsport
2nd Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing
3rd Broc Feeney – Red Bull Ampol Racing
In Race 5 Brodie Kostecki started on pole position alongside him was Will Brown.
At the start of the race Brodie Kostecki got the jump and led into turns 1 and 2 followed by Will Brown. The cars further back in the pack were battling for ascendancy. At turn 5 James Golding made contact with Mark Winterbottom and pushed him into the wall. Winterbottom received damage on the left hand side and headed to the pits. He was the first car to receive an NC (not Complete).
Before the end of the lap James Courtney’s car caught fire. He managed to get back to the pits independently but would not return to this race or the last race for the weekend. He was the second car to receive an NC.
On the second lap Anton de Pasquale got turned around by Matt Payne. James Courtney became collateral damage of the incident. The safety car was deployed and the pit lane closed. Pasquale and Courtney became the two other cars to leave the track and receive an NC.
On the restart Brodie Kostecki was still in the lead followed by Will Brown and Bryce Fullwood. Meanwhile Shane Van Gisbergen passed Andre Heimgartner to take 6th position.
In the middle of the race authorities issued Matt Payne a Pit Lane Drive Thru Penalty for the incident he caused in lap 1 with Mark Winterbottom.
Towards the end of the race Shane Van Gisbergen had moved up to 5th position and now had Will Davison in front of him.
James Golding got turned around by Chaz Mostert when they were 3 wide coming out of turn 3. Luckily, they both continued in the race.
After Brodie Kostecki took his pitstop he resumed the lead of the race.
With only a couple of laps to go, Brodie Kostecki held his lead and crossed the line first. He was followed by Will Davison, Bryce Fullwood, Shane Van Gisbergen and then Will Brown.
Post race finish both Will Davison and Bryce Fullwood received 15 second penalties for an unsafe pit release. It was the second time at this event that post race penalties were issued altering the podium results. Once the time penalties were applied, Shane Van Gisbergen and Will Brown were bumped up two places so the recorded results now showed them as 2nd and 3rd place on the podium.
Results for Race 5:
1st Brodie Kostecki – Erebus Motorsport
2nd Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing
3rd Will Brown – Erebus Motorsport
In only his second year as a full time driver Broc Feeney earned himself his maiden pole position for Race 6. Alongside him was Chaz Mostert.
As they took off Broc Feeney surprisingly got the jump over the far more experienced Chaz Mostert. It took until turn 5 before Mostert could make his move for the race lead. Almost immediately after Will Brown also passed Broc Feeney dropping the pole sitter back to 3rd.
Broc Feeney and his team felt this was the best time to try and get some clean air out of the traffic. He was the first car to pit along with almost half the pack at the end of lap 1, including; Andre Heimgartner, Bryce Fullwood, Brodie Kostecki, Cameron Waters, Nick Percat, Anton de Pasquale, Declan Fraser and Macauley Jones.
On return to the track Bryce Fullwood almost hit the wall on the exit of turn 10. Somehow he managed to avoid the collision and it seemed like a miracle escape.
Shortly after Anton de Pasquale was given a 15 second time penalty for an unsafe pit release.
Will Brown managed to take the race lead off Chaz Mostert but immediately under the pressure made a driving error and spun around. It cost him dearly and dropped back to 20th position. He then realised he had a steering issue and head to the garage.
In the middle of the race Chaz Mostert was still in the lead, followed by Bryce Fullwood and Will Davison.
With 6 laps to go Chaz Mostert’s tyres were starting to blister. It took his edge away and Bryce Fullwood got by him.
At this point in the race the top 9 cars were still yet to take the mandatory pit stop. Once they did there was another change to the lead, Broc Feeney was back up front.
On lap 12 Cameron Hill bumped the fence between turns 9 and 10 and damaged the left side of his car. He headed for the pits but with only 1 lap to go he didn’t make it back onto the track. He became the only car in this race to receive an NC.
Broc Feeney kept his lead. He crossed the finish line with just under a second gap over Andre Heimgartner, followed by Brodie Kostecki a further 1+ seconds later.
Bryce Fullwood came in 4th but post race copped a 15 second time penalty for an unsafe pit release. It pushed him down the recorded results as 18th place.
For Broc Feeney this was his first win for 2023 and second career win. Things seem to be moving fast for this rising star. Can’t wait to see things as they unfold for him.
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – APRIL 02: (EDITORS NOTE: A polarizing filter was used for this image.) Broc Feeney driver of the #88 Red Bull Ampol Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 during race 4 of the Beaurepaires Melbourne 400, part of the 2023 Supercars Championship Series at Albert Park Grand Prix Circuit on April 02, 2023 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Daniel Kalisz/Getty Images)
Results for Race 6:
1st Broc Feeney – Red Bull Ampol Racing
2nd Andre Heimgartner – Brad Jones Racing
3rd Brodie Kostecki – Erebus Motorsport
When handing out the trophies for Race 6, Broc Feeney selected his father, Paul to collect the team trophy on behalf of the Red Bull Ampol Racing. A nice way of honouring his family support.
After the points were tallied for the event, Brodie Kostecki became the recipient of the Larry Perkins Trophy for 2023. He also became the new championship leader by 32 points over Chaz Mostert.
Shane Van Gisbergen is 3rd, only 86 points behind the number 1 spot on the ladder.
The next event is the Bosch Power Tools Supersprint on April 28th – 30th, 2023.
On the weekend of March 10 – 12 was the Thrifty Newcastle 500.
There was excitement in the air as it was the first round of the 2023 season and the first return to Newcastle’s street circuit since 2019 (Grrrr covid be gone!).
Fuelling the excitement were two major changes in V8 Supercars. The first being the start of the Gen 3 build standards for competing cars.
The second was the introduction of Camaros which replaces the Holden Commodore that is no longer manufactured. The old Aussie question, “Are you a Holden or Ford man?” will fade and be replaced with “Mustang or Camaro?”. RIP Holden. You will not be forgotten.
The event also marked important milestones for some drivers. Tim Slade had his 400th race start. Will Davison had his 500th and for Mark Winterbottom it was his 555th in Supercars. Quite an achievement for all of them. Well done!
In the pre-race sessions of this event:
Brodie Kostecki was fastest in Practice 1
Shane Van Gisbergen was fastest in Practice 2
Brodie Kostecki was fastest in Practice 3
Brodie Kostecki was fastest in Qualifying
Brodie Kostecki was fastest in the Top Ten Shootout
In Race 1 Brodie Kostecki started on pole position with Cameron Waters alongside him.
At the start of race Brodie Kostecki got the jump and led into turn 1 for the first of 95 laps. Shortly after there was contact between Mark Winterbottom and Bryce Fullwood further back in the pack.
By the end of lap 1 Brodie Kostecki had half a second lead over Cameron Waters.
Things went smoothly for about the first 10 laps. Then Anton de Pasquale got turned around by Todd Hazelwood on the approach to Zara Street. Anton de Pasquale’s car spun off the track and was lucky to nudge the tyre wall only slightly. However, it did drop him 8 places to the very back of the pack.
On lap 14 Brodie Kostecki still in control of the race made a mistake which allowed Cameron Waters and Broc Feeney to close in and challenge him for the lead. Kostecki had to work hard to regain the gap he had.
Meanwhile, Shane Van Gisbergen made up 2 spots. He went from 6th to 4th place and seemed to be waiting to make his move.
He finally managed to get past his teammate Broc Feeney in 3rd place but then had a hard time taking on Cameron Waters for 2nd. This activity allowed Brodie Kostecki to extend his lead out to 1.1 seconds.
The first car to pit was Bryce Fullwood on lap 16 to remove the right rear mud guard flapping loosely after his earlier contact with Mark Winterbottom.
Then Will Brown pitted from 11th position.
On lap 22 James Courtney pitted. A few laps later Chaz Mostert also did.
Cameron Waters pitted on lap 31 to get out from behind the leader Brodie Kostecki. He could see it was a battle that was going nowhere.
Shane Van Gisbergen also pitted on lap 31 from 2nd place. He maintained the same position when he returned to the track. He also still had Cameron Waters and Broc Feeney behind him.
Soon after Tim Slade pitted. The team couldn’t get the right front tyre off his car for quite a while. It completely destroyed his race time and position.
Pretty soon Shane Van Gisbergen was at the front of the field. He had loaded his car with less fuel at his pit stop making him lighter and faster. Now Red Bull Ampol Racing held 1st place by Shane Van Gisbergen and 3rd place by his teammate, Broc Feeney.
It took a while but Shane Van Gisbergen managed to build a 5 second lead over Cameron Waters in 2nd place.
Nick Percat came into the pits and headed straight into the garage. His brakes were failing even with his foot pushing it all the way to the floor. OMG! That is not what anyone would want.
David Reynolds in car 26 had no comms back to the pits. It meant the Grove Racing team had to use an old fashion pit board to communicate with him.
Towards the end Broc Feeney managed to move up to 2nd place. With Shane Van Gisbergen leading the way, they crossed the finish line in a spectacular fashion earning a 1st and 2nd.
After such a great performance by the Red Bull Ampol Racing Team a protest was made by both Tickford Racing and Walkinshaw Andretti United. They claimed the 2 winners had dry ice fed into their cool suit system from the wrong side of the car during the race. The regulation to perform this from the passenger side is mostly for safety reasons and in no way gave advantage to the drivers, but rules are rules.
After an overnight review it was announced on Sunday morning the two drivers were disqualified. Regardless of appeals from Red Bull Ampol Racing the verdict was upheld. It must have been a terrible blow for the team with new podium results naming Cameron Waters in 1st, Chaz Mostert 2nd and Brodie Kostecki 3rd.
Results for Race 1:
1st Cameron Waters – Tickford Racing
2nd Chaz Mostert – Walkinshaw Andretti United
3rd Brodie Kostecki – Coke a Cola Racing powered by Erebus
In the shootout for Race 2, James Courtney made it turn 7 before hitting the wall hard. His car suffered substantial damage. It was so bad they weren’t able to repair it in time for the grid line up.
In Race 2 David Reynolds started on pole position with Chaz Mostert alongside him.
As they took off Chaz Mostert got the jump and led up What Street for the first of 95 laps.
Further back Declan Fraser stalled and didn’t make it off the grid. Macauley Jones who was right behind ploughed straight into him. The red flag was brought out immediately and all other drivers had to leave the track while the mess was cleaned up. Macauley Jones was able to get going again but Declan Fraser’s car was towed away and would not return to the race.
The restart was on lap 5. Chaz Mostert was in the lead and setting the pace. Behind him was David Reynolds and Cameron Waters so it was all Fords running 1st, 2nd and 3rd.
Shane Van Gisbergen was in 5th place and wasn’t taking the goodness out of the tyres too early. He was being a cork in the bottle holding the other cars back..
Tim Slade tried putting in a challenge for Shane Van Gisbergen’s position but he just couldn’t find the right spot to make his move.
There was noticeable damage on the back of Will Davison’s Ford Mustang. I’m not sure where it came from but he was able to continue and wait until his first pit stop for repairs.
The first car to pit in this race was Anton de Pasquale on lap 11.
On lap 12 Scott Pye and Nick Percat came into the pits together to get out of the traffic.
Broc Feeney came in on lap 15 from 12th place. He was followed by Will Davison.
Matt Payne and Thomas Randle came in on lap 16.
By this stage Chaz Mostert was still going hard up the front. He had already built a 2.8 second lead over David Reynolds in 2nd place.
Coming down the hill out of turn 3 on lap 20, Mostert had a moment where he looked almost out of control. His experience shined and he continued.
On lap 24 he was the first out of the leading pack to take his pit stop while everybody else was still making up there minds as when to come in. This handed the lead over to David Reynolds.
As Mark Winterbottom was exiting the pit lane he came on radio and said he had lost 80% of his power steering. Having just pitted he chose to press on.
In the middle of the race while chasing his former teammate Chaz Mostert, Cameron Waters hit the wall coming out of turn 8 which tweaked the steering of car 6. He made it around the track one more time before being forced to come in for repairs. This ultimately cost him any chance of a podium finish.
As they came closer towards the end of the race and the second round of pit stops, Chaz Mostert had a 10.9 second lead over Shane Van Gisbergen who was now in second place.
Thomas Randle gave Todd Hazelwood a bump at turn 9 pushing him off the track into the tyre barrier. It took a few seconds but Hazelwood managed to extract himself and resume racing. Had the safety car been needed at this stage of the race it may have had an influence on its outcome.
In the last few laps Shane Van Gisbergen had amazingly closed the 10+ second gap of leader Chaz Mostert.
Contact was made between the two leading drivers as Shane Van Gisbergen attempted to make a pass. It was incident was considered fair play and no action was taken by race control or the stewards.
Shane Van Gisbergen wanted to make up for being disqualified in Race 1. He was obviously putting in a great effort. It paid off and he finally took the race lead off Chaz Mostert. Once he had the lead he was able to hold it all the way to the checkered flag.
Shane Van Gisbergen claimed his 76th career win in Supercars. Congratulations!
Result for Race 2
1st Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing
2nd Chaz Mostert – Walkinshaw Andretti United
3rd David Reynolds – Grove Racing
The next event is Round 2, the Beaurepairs Melbourne Supersprint. This is held as a support category to the F1 Australian Grand Prix starting March 30th. I cant wait and hope you all will join me.
