Tag Archives: Chad Neylon

Merlin Darwin Triple Crown 2022

Hi to all you Supercars Fans around the world!

On the weekend of the 17th to 19th of June 2022 was the Merlin Darwin Triple Crown.

This year’s event at Darwin will be the 26th time that the Supercars championship has held a round at the Hidden Valley Raceway. A total of 67 races have been held since the event debuted on the calendar in 1998.

The event is made up of 3 races, 38 laps each. Thus the name, ‘Triple Crown’.

New Zealanders have dominated the winners list in the recent history of Hidden Valley, winning 12 of the past 16 races. Current Supercars Championship leader Shane Van Gisbergen has won 3 races in that time, while Scott McLaughlin has won 8 races and his teammate Fabian Coulthard won 1.

Shell V-Power Racing Team driver Will Davison started his 500th race on Saturday at Darwin. He has become just the 10th active driver to achieve this feat. What a milestone! Congratulations!

Shane Van Gisbergen just returned from France after his debut performance in the Le Mans 24 Hours aboard a Ferrari. So, while everyone else had a 3 week break before this event, he was working extra hard and getting jetlagged.

In the pre-race sessions

  • Chaz Mostert was fastest in Practice 1
  • Shane Van Gisbergen was fastest in Practice 2
  • Will Davison was fastest Armour All Qualifying.

In Race 16 Will Davison started on pole position for the 24th time in his Supercars career. Alongside him was his teammate, Anton de Pasquale.

At the start of the race the 2 Shell V-Power Racing drivers got off the line quite evenly.

Andre Heimgartner gave Will Davison a bump going down the main straight, but nothing came of it. Then at turn 1, Anton de Pasquale went around the outside of Will Davison to take the lead.

Further back in the pack Macauley Jones went off the track at turn 1 onto the grass.

At turn 5 the two leaders, Will Davison and Anton de Pasquale made contact but Anton de Pasquale kept the lead.

Will Brown made contact with Chris Pither. Will Brown kept driving but he knew there was something wrong with the car.

Jack Smith went off the track on the way out of turn 6.

Jake Kostecki ran wide on the exit of the last turn. David Reynolds got spun around by Bryce Fullwood at the same corner a lap later.  David Reynolds car was damaged and it was revealed later had a broken left rear toe link.

On lap 3 Cameron Waters ran wide on the exit of turn 5 but sustained no damage and was still in the race.

Will Brown was losing pace and was the first to come into the pits on lap 4.  The incident with Chris Pither in lap1 had earned his car a broken the left front steering arm.

Chris Pither’s cool suit had failed early in the race and the Darwin heat which turned his a cool suit into a hot suit! He kept going and waited for a strategic time to pit and worry about cool suit then.

Jack Smith was the next to pit on lap 6.

No one else followed Broc Feeney into the pits on lap 8. When he re-joined, he had no cars in front or behind him. It was perfect timing.

The cars further back in the pack also began thinking about pitting to get clear track.

The race leaders were still Anton de Pasquale and Will Davison. Will Davison was under pressure from the cars behind which were; Andre Heimgartner, Shane Van Gisbergen, Chaz Mostert, Mark Winterbottom, Bryce Fullwood, Jake Kostecki, Scott Pye and Cameron Waters.    

On lap 10 Chaz Mostert was closing in on Andre Heimgartner for 4th position.

Lap 11 revealed the position changes further back in the pack. Chris Pither  had dropped 4 spots from his starting position and was now 15th. Lee Holdsworth had moved from a start in 26th and was now 17th.

James Courtney had gained 7 spots and was in 12th.  Brodie Kostecki was up 2 spots, Jack Le Brocq gained 4, Nick Percat was in 14th, he had gained 7 places.

Tim Slade tried to go around the outside of Garry Jacobson and did it.

Bryce Fulwood pitted on lap 16 but then had to serve a 15 second penalty for turning David Reynolds around in the early stages of this race.

In the middle of the race, lap 19 of38 there were 13 cars out of 27 yet to pit. It was an unusual situation. Most would normally pit by now.

Will Davison peeled off to the pits on lap 20, followed by the other leader Anton de Pasquale on lap 21. Shane Van Gisbergen stayed out until lap 23. He had 18.601 second lead over Tim Slade.

Shane Van Gisbergen re- joined the race in 10th place.

On lap 24 the leaders were Tim Slade, Lee Holdsworth and Thomas Randle who were the last three yet to pit. They were shadowed by Anton de Pasquale and Will Davison in 4th and 5th place.

Shane Van Gisbergen made a charge on lap 25, first taking Scott Pye and then Broc Feeney on the same lap. He was now in 6th place.

Tim Slade and Lee Holdsworth pitted on lap 25 leaving Thomas Randle in the lead but still yet to pit. He finally came in on lap 26 put the effective leaders back at the front; Anton de Pasquale and Will Davison were followed by Chaz Mostert, Andre Heimgartner and Shane Van Gisbergen in 5th.

The track was well spread but time was running out.

Shane Van Gisbergen wanted to shake things up. On lap 29 he passed Andre Heimgartner to take 4th place. He also did the fastest lap of the race, timed at 1m 07.223s and earning 5 bonus points for the championship ladder.

He was still not satisfied and wanted a place on the podium. He was now chasing down one of the fastest drivers on the track, Chaz Mostert. Between laps 29 and 32 he reduced the gap from 3.227seconds to under 1 second.

On lap 33 Shane Van Gisbergen made his move takes 3rd place from Chaz Mostert.

Anton de Pasquale still held the lead of 1.5+ seconds over Will Davison and does not make a single mistake.

Shane Van Gisbergen was not just happy making it to the podium and now wants 2nd place from Will Davison. He relentlessly chases him and between laps 33 and 36 manages to squeeze the gap down from 1.5 to .2 seconds.  

Shane Van Gisbergen was right on his tail but loses rear grip. The gap increased .5 seconds. It was a lost opportunity and there were only 2 laps remaining.

Will Davison was too worried about Shane Van Gisbergen on his tail to make any ground on Anton de Pasquale in the lead.

Anton de Pasquale crossed the line for his first win of 2022. Will Davison was next followed by Shane Van Gisbergen right on his bumper. There was a reasonable gap to Chaz Mostert and Andre Heimgartner in 4th and 5th.

Results for race 16

1st Anton de Pasquale – Shell V Power Racing Team.

2nd Will Davison – Shell V Power Racing Team.

3rd Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing Team.

In Race 17 Cameron Waters started on pole position and alongside him was David Reynolds.

At the start of the race Cameron Waters was neck and neck with David Reynolds up to turn 1 where he got the lead. Somehow Will Davison squeezed through at the turn to take 2nd place from David Reynolds. Shane Van Gisbergen was right behind the 3 leading drivers.

As the pack came through turn 6 Thomas Randle and Scott Pye spun uncontrollably off the track. There were about 4 or 5 cars involved and it seemed like mayhem. James Courtney’s smashed up car was stranded and unable to move from the middle of the road. The safety car was deployed but pretty quickly the officials red flagged the race so the track could be cleared.

James Courtney’s car was such a mess that it was obvious he would not be coming back out to finish the race. It was even doubtful that he would compete in the next race the same afternoon.

When the race restarted at the end of lap 4, Shane Van Gisbergen immediately went on the attack but failed to get 3rd place from David Reynolds.

The cars soon settled into race pace but the leaders were pulling away from the rest of the pack.

On lap 7 Will Brown drove the fastest lap of the race whilst in 20th position.

Thomas Randle who was involved in the lap 1 melee of spinning cars came into pit with related damage. He wouldn’t be coming back out on the track for the rest of the race.

Brodie Kostecki was the next to pit on lap 8. Soon others began to pit as well.

After pitting, Broc Feeney rejoined the race and crossed right in front of Brodie Kostecki coming down the straight. It must of shocked Broc Feeney quite a bit because at the coming turn he left the track onto the grass. It could have been a loss of grip from fresh cold tyres but I think it was a crack in focus.

Shane Van Gisbergen had maintained 4th position all this time but couldn’t manage to get closer to the top 3 drivers. On lap 18 he changed strategy and came into the pits.

The 3 leaders soon followed suit and came in as well.

Chaz Mostert in 5th place came in on lap 21.

Now every car had taken the mandatory pit stop (excepting the 2 cars of Pye and Courtney who were out of the race). The leaders were now David Reynolds, Anton de Pasquale and Bryce Fullwood.

The Darwin temperature had risen and cars were taking a second pit stop.

On lap 23 David Reynolds and Anton de Pasquale left the lead and took their second stops.

By lap 25 things had evened out and the leaders had resumed their places; Cameron Waters, Will Davison, Shane Van Gisbergen and then Anton de Pasquale.

The order of the leading drivers stayed the same. The only important change was that David Reynolds was inching towards the front again. With 7 laps to go he moved into 5th place behind Anton de Pasquale.

The 3 leaders were not giving their podium places up and stayed in their formation. Cameron Waters crossed the line first. Will Davison was next, followed by Shane Van Gisbergen.

Results for Race 17:

1st Cameron Waters – Tickford Racing.

2nd Will Davison – Shell V-Power Racing Team.

3rd Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing.

In race 18 Will Davison started on pole position alongside him was Anton de Pasquale.

At the start of the race Anton de Pasquale got the jump off the line and led into turn 1 from his teammate Will Davison Scott Pye started the final race from the pit lane due to the damage sustained at the start of race 17.

During the early stages the 2 Dick Johnson Racing cars were running 1st and 2nd the rest of the field were trying to keep up with the leaders.

I was amazed that Anton de Pasquale took the lead in to turn 1 but the other drivers didn’t want them to win.

When the pitstops got underway while leaders stayed out longer while the drivers pitted first.

The race leaders early on were Anton de Pasquale and Will Davison.

In the middle of the stops were complete and Anton de Pasquale was still in the lead of the race.

After the restart Chaz Mostert took  the lead of the race while Shane Van Gisbergen wanted to get onto the podium but as a result of the contact he finished 21st and now has now got a 214 lead over Anton de Pasquale.

 On lap 25 of 38 Garry Jacobson and Zac Best hit wheel to wheel on the approach up to turn 6, and as a result of the contact the left front wheel was broken and as result the BP Ultimate safety car was deployed to remove Zac Best’s car 78, as a result of deployment of the safety car it smashed Chaz Mostert because the lead he had was gone. Before the Safety car Shane Van Gisbergen was in 4th position he only had Will Davison Anton de Pasquale and Chaz Mostert to pass for the win.

On the restart with 9 laps to go Shane Van Gisbergen was getting the benefit of the draft from the back of Will Davison’s car on approach to turn 1 Shane Van Gisbergen pushed him wide on the exit of turn 1, meanwhile Shane Van Gisbergen dropped 2 spots into 6th position with 8 laps to go due to power steering failure. Then with 6 laps to go Chaz Mostert was under huge pressure from Anton de Pasquale for race lead and race win, but he held on what an amazing drive Shane Van Gisbergen got a 15 second penalty for a driving infringement and as a result he finished 21st. Garry Jacobson got a pit lane drive thru penalty for a driving infringement with 7 laps to go Also car 99 driven by Brodie Kostecki had a pit lane penalty for a safety car restart breach.

In the end Chaz Mostert was the winner of race 18.

Results for race 18

1st Chaz Mostert – Walkinshaw Andretti United.

2nd Anton de Pasquale – Shell V Power Racing Team.

3rd Cameron Waters – Tickford Racing.

The next event is the NTI Townville 500 July 8th to the 10th 2022.

Garry Jacobson has left Premier Hire Racing and Zane Godard for Townsville.

Pizza Hut Winton Supersprint 2022

Hi to all you Supercars Fans around the world!

On the weekend of the 21st to 22nd of May 2022 was the Winton Supersprint.

This year marks the 33rd time that the Australian Touring Car Championship – Supercars Championship has visited Winton Motor Raceway. The first round was held here in 1985 and since then the only years the championship didn’t visit the venue were 1987, 1996 and 2005. Covid 19 also impacted this event in 2020 and 2021.

A pair of teams reached significant milestones at Winton. Team 18 and Erebus Motorsport both made their 300th championship starts in race 2. Both debuted at the Adelaide 500 in 2013. Erebus originally entered the series running a 3 car Mercedes AMG team. 

The second race will also be Jack Le Broc’s 150th Supercars Championship start.

Matt Cook marked his first event as Team Principal at Premier Hire Racing (ex Team Sydney). He has come directly from 888 Race Engineering and the Red Bull Ampol Racing Team where he was the chief mechanic.

 The event got started on the Saturday morning. In the pre-race sessions:

  • Will Brown was fastest in Practice 1
  • Shane Van Gisbergen was fastest in Practice 2
  • Shane Van Gisbergen was also fastest in Armour All Qualifying for Race 13.

In Race 13 Shane Van Gisbergen earned his maiden pole position at Winton Motor Raceway. It was his 41st career pole! Alongside him was Cameron Waters.

At the start of the 36 lap race Cameron Waters got the jump and led into turns 1 and 2. Will Brown got an amazing start from the 2nd row of the grid. I thought he was going to take the lead into turn 1 but he couldn’t make it around Shane Van Gisbergen.

Jake Kostecki ran wide onto the dirt at the exit of turn 3 but he kept his momentum only losing two spots.

Mark Winterbottom was slowing on the exit of turn 4 because of an electrical problem. His car completely stopped. It took valuable time to restart.  When he got back up to speed he was in 27th position and 10 seconds behind Garry Jacobson in the next car.

Shane Van Gisbergen was in 2nd place to Cameron Waters. Will Brown just behind Shane Van Gisbergen took a massive slide but somehow managed to stay on track and not let anyone through. He had some of the fastest drivers right behind him, so it was an impressive feat. Right on his tail were Chaz Mostert, Lee Holdsworth, Anton de Pasquale, David Reynolds and Scott pye.

Soon after Anton de Pasquale reported his car was handling loosely in the rear. He started dropping down the order ending up in 9th position. Pretty quickly he realised he would have to pit.

Cameron Waters was still in the lead and had a ¾ second gap over Shane Van Gisbergen. He managed the fastest time of the race in sectors 1 and 3.

On lap 6 Nick Percat and James Courtney in 19th and 20th position were the first 2 cars to pit and were in desperate need of clean air. Both teams did rear tyres only.

Thomas Randle came in to get away from the two Penrite Racing cars right behind him as they battled for positions 5th and 6th.

Garry Jacobson pitted on lap 8 to also get out of the way of their fierce battle.

There was only 3 seconds separating the top 5 cars, so the front of the pack was quite tense. Shane Van Gisbergen was only 0.685 seconds behind Cam Waters in the lead.

Cameron Waters had damage to the back of his car from being shunted.

Shane Van Gisbergen reported to his engineer Andrew Edwards, that there was fuel coming out the back of Cameron Waters’ car. Later, Garth Tander went into the Tickford Racing garage to interview team owner, Tim Edwards. When asked about the fuel leak his response was, ‘I don’t think Shane was telling the truth’. LOL. Very cheeky Mr SVG.

Jayden Ojeda and Chris Pither came in on lap 9 for rears only.

Broc Feeney came in on lap 12 to ensure that Shane Van Gisbergen didn’t have to double stack when he wanted to pit. Feeney re-joined the race in 21st position.

Walkinshaw Andretti United brought Chaz Mostert in on lap 13 to cover off the threat from Grove Racing’s David Reynolds who was hot on his tail. They did a 3.8 second stop and Chaz Mostert re-joined the race in 20th position with plenty of empty track in front and behind. He was 10.145 seconds behind from leader Cameron Waters. Broc Feeney in 21st place was 44+ seconds behind the leader.

By the middle of the race all the drivers had completed their mandatory pit stops and Cameron Waters was back in the lead!

Shane Van Gisbergen spent the rest of the race trying to find a way around Cameron Waters but just couldn’t manage it. Cameron Waters defensive driving had him stumped.

Just before the final corner heading to the finish line the two made contact. Shane Van Gisbergen’s front right took a massive hit and it broke the steering arm. The car was still running and magically he was able to make the last bend and follow Cam Waters to the finish line. (How do you make a turn with a broken steering arm? – Only ‘SVG the Magician’ knows that secret.)

Its standard practice to drive cars (with all their advertising livery) to the podium to accept trophies. On this occasion Shane Van Gisbergen got to the podium in a golf cart. LOL.

All round this was a fantastic race to start the weekend.

Results for Race 13:

1st Cameron Waters – Tickford Racing.
2nd Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing.
3rd David Reynolds – Grove Racing.

In Race 14 Cameron Waters started on pole position alongside him was Shane Van Gisbergen.

At the start of the race Cameron Waters led into turns 1 and 2.

Reynolds in 3rd place tried to get up the inside of Shane Van Gisbergen at turn 3. The attempt failed and left him wide on the track. Chaz Mostert took the opportunity and moved up into 3rd.  Reynolds teammate Lee Holdworth was right behind and allowed him back into the racing line at position 4.

When Jayden Ojeda went off the track at turn 4 with assistance from Jordan Boys and then re-joined in 27th position.

Brodie Kostecki got tagged by Broc Feeney in between turns 6 and 7 in the opening lap congestion.

At turn 9 Will Davison was pushed wide onto the dirt by Le Brocq on the inside. He had Courtney right on his tail so he could break suddenly. With both left wheels out on the dirt he managed to keep a straight line and get back on track.

Davison paid back Jack Le Brocq giving him a nudge at turn 10 forcing his right wheels off track onto the dirt. Will Davison and James Courtney both passed Jack Le Brocq and seconds later he was passed again by Thomas Randle.

Thomas Randle ran wide between turns 11 and 12 and he caught a little bit of dirt as well.

At the front of the race Cameron Waters was still the leader with a .6 of a second gap ahead of Shane Van Gisbergen.

The drivers behind Shane Van Gisbergen were Chaz Mostert, David Reynolds, Lee Holdsworth, Andre Heimgartner, Will Brown, Mark Winterbottom, Anton de Pasquale, Brodie Kostecki and Broc Feeney.

By lap 3 David Reynolds and Lee Holdsworth were still in 4th and 5th with Andre Heimgartner close behind in 6th position.

By lap 5 the gap between Cameron Waters and Shane Van Gisbergen in 1st and 2nd hadn’t changed much, ¾ of a second.

Engineer, Adam de Borre asked Chaz Mostert to find some fresh air for the engine. Things were obviously heating up. He couldn’t take it easy with David Reynolds on his tail putting the pressure on.

Will Brown was the first car to pit in this race, followed by James Courtney and Thomas Randle. Thomas Randle’s stop was exceptional, timed at 4 seconds.

On exiting the pits Will Brown made contact with Thomas Randle. They couldn’t hold everyone so pressed on.

The next 2 cars to pit were Scott Pye and Jack Le Brocq. Soon after it was Maculey Jones.

Mark Winterbottom pitted on lap 14 in 5.02 seconds. Surprisingly, at this stage there were 17 cars yet to pit.

Scott Pye slowed on the track between turns 5 and 6. Once again his engineer Richard Hollway declared another power steering problem. A problem that has plagued the team since round 1, race 1.

Chaz Mostert pitted on lap 15 and re-joined in 18th position with 16 cars yet to pit.

Shane Van Gisbergen pitted on lap 16. Cameron Waters also pitted on the same lap.

On lap 17 Shane Van Gisbergen passed Cameron Waters to take the affective lead of the race (taking into consideration there were still 13 cars yet to pit).

Shane Van Gisbergen’s driving was faultless and Cameron Waters couldn’t keep up. Gisbergen kept inching away. He crossed the finish line 5+ seconds ahead of Cameron Waters, followed by David Reynolds a further  3+ seconds later.

The defending Supercars Champion, Shane Van Gisbergen now leads the championship by 281 points.

Results for Race 14:

1st Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing.
2nd Cameron Waters – Tickford Racing.
3rd David Reynolds – Grove Racing.

In race 15 it was the two stars of the weekend at the front of the grid. Cameron Waters was on pole with Shane Van Gisbergen alongside him.

At the start of the race Cameron Waters once again got the jump off the line and led into turn 1 and 2. Andre Heimgartner moved up to 2nd dropping Shane Van Gisbergen back to 3rd.

David Reynolds got the best start from the front group of cars moving up 2 spots almost immediately. Shane Van Gisbergen was lucky to not to lose another spot to David Reynolds as he almost got up the inside at turn 3.

Lee Holdsworth got up the inside of Broc Feeney for position 10 between turns 5 and 6.

Meanwhile the cars back in the field were settling down into their race pace.

The front and the back of Jack Smith’s car had been damaged. He was struggling to see the apex of the corners because of the smashed up bonnet. He managed to get around the track but had to pit at the end of lap 1.

Tim Slade had smoke coming of the back of the Cool Drive Ford Mustang. Even after pitting the car was still giving off smoke for the next few laps.

Macauley Jones got down the inside of Todd Hazelwood and Scott Pye followed him. Jack le Brocq was sliding on the way out of the final corner, turn 12.

In the opening lap Cameron Waters drove the best lap time of the race. It clocked in at 1min 25.8s and gave him the 0.609 second lead over Andre Heimgartner.

After lap 1 there was a lot movement in the top 10 cars.

Jack Smith re-joined in 27th position after pitting on lap 1.  He was getting out of the way of the cars following because he was already a lap down.

Andre Heimgartner kept up the pressure on leader, Cameron Waters. David Reynolds was doing the same thing to Shane Van Gisbergen in 3rd place. The gap between the top 3 cars was 2 seconds.

The leaders were pulling away from the cars back in the pack. From David Reynolds back to Broc Feeney there was a lot of congestion, so the pack were starting to think about pitting to get clear track.

David Reynolds kept right up with Shane Van Gisbergen through a number of laps without losing any ground whatsoever. It was the tiniest gap of only 0.254 seconds.

By the middle of the race all the pitstops were complete and Cameron Waters was back in the lead. He was looking good to win 2 out of the 3 races for the weekend.

Towards the end of the race Shane Van Gisbergen found the space to finally take back 2nd position from Andre Heimgartner. His speed and defensive driving made it impossible for Heimgartner to challenge him. They held their places to the finish line; Cameron Waters followed by Shane Van Gisbergen then Andre Heimgartner.

So once again it was Waters and Gisbergen who swapped 1st and 2nd places in all 3 races on the weekend.

Results for Race 15:

1st Cameron Waters – Tickford Racing.
2nd Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing.
3rd Andre Heimgartner – Brad Jones Racing.

The next event is the Merlin Darwin Triple Crown on the 17th to 19th of June 2022. Super, I cant wait!

Liqui Moly Bathurst 12 hour 2022

Hi to all you Supercars Fans around the world!

On the weekend of the 13th to the 15th of May 2022 was the Liqui Moly Bathurst 12 Hour.

The Bathurst 12 hour is a time race independent of laps.

It is also a GT not a Supercars race, so the results don’t affect the Supercars series.

There were plenty of drivers from the Supercars paddock that competed, like; Lee Holdsworth, Broc Feeney, David Reynolds, Cameron Waters, Shane Van Gisbergen, Craig Lowndes, Alex Davison, Chaz Mostert, Will Brown and Jack Perkins.

Some of the more well-known internationals that competed included; Kenny Habul, Jules Gounon, Kelvin van der Linde, Marcus Winklehock and Prince Jefri Ibrahim.

I was keeping my eye on Chaz Mostert, Broc Feeney, Shane Van Gisbergen, Lee Holdsworth, Dean Fiore, Craig Lowndes, Cameron Waters and Grant Denyer.

Normally this event is run in February but due to Covid messing with things, it was re-scheduled for May.

Also, it usually starts between 6am and 6:15am (during daylight savings). Marketing determined it best to have the race finish during TV peak-time for better ratings. This meant an earlier start of 5:15am, so the first 90 minutes of the race were in the early morning dark.

The first 90 minutes were in the dark before sunrise.

Before the race started the fog had descended on Mount Panorama.

Chaz Mostert earned himself pole position. He was teamed with Liam Talbot and Fraser Ross in car 65, an Audi from Melbourne Performance Centre. I wasn’t surprised that Chaz Mostert started behind the wheel because of his experience at this venue in the Supercars Series.

South African, Kelvin van der Linde was alongside pole.

Broc Feeney, the Red Bull Ampol Racing rookie started the 888 Mercedes from 5th position. In his Bathurst 12 Hour debut this was a big assignment, but no doubt because the team have faith in him.

There were only 20 cars on the grid this year compared to the normal 30 or 40 cars. The reduction was of limited international competitors due to COVID.

A rolling start behind the safety car is the norm for the Bathurst 12 Hour, I guess to reduce the risks of a standing start in the dark. It was also a good choice considering this year’s foggy conditions.

When the safety car peeled off, the start of the race was absolutely spectacular. The drivers in the top 10 held their positions with Mostert and Linde being the pace setters.

The safety car came out more than once due to the foggy conditions. The visibility was so poor that even the drivers were making comments. Typical of Bathurst, the fog turned to rain, then fogged up again and then rained again.

Before the sun came up, Zane Morse in car 52 tagged the wall at the top of the hill forcing a safety car. The Wheels/FX Racing PNG Marc II V8 was the first car to leave the track.

Two hours into the race Dale Wood in car 50 was the next victim of The Mountain.

About halfway through car 95 was pulled from the race with engine problems.

Car 45 hit the wall exiting The Dipper and required immediate repairs. When it rejoined the race they suffered another hit taking it out of the race for good.

I am not superstitious but I note that the above cars mentioned all have the number 5 in their car numbers; 52, 50, 95 and 45. Coincidence?

Of all the things that happened to the cars in such a gruelling race, it was the pole sitter car 65 that had my eyes wide open in disbelief. The car had stopped on Mountain Straight. To rectify the issues, you wont believe this….. They literally pressed Ctrl-Alt-Del to restart and then … they were off and away! LOL!

The weather played havoc through the day. There were multiple occasions that the safety cars were deployed, and other cars were pulled from the track to sit out the rest of the race.

It was the team of Jules Gounon, Martin Konrad, Kenny Habul and Luca Stolz who crossed the line first with an 8.7 second lead. They were in car 75 SunEnergy1 Mercedes AMG. (note another 5 in the car number).

The Craft Bamboo Mercedes, car 91 was the next across the line. Daniel Juncedella, Kevin Tse and Maro Engel put in an incredible challenge to the leader in the last 2 hours of the race. It really was an intense extended battle to the finish line.

The third car to come across the line was also a Mercedes AMG, giving Merc a 1,2 & 3 on the podium. This was the 888 car from my favoured team Triple Eight Race Engineering, driven by Supercars defending champ Shane Van Gisbergen, Broc Feeney and Prince Jefri Ibrahim.

It was an incredible race and im already looking forward to its return next year. Good thing is it is expected to run in its usual schedule of February, so I don’t have to wait a full year!!!!

Bunnings Trade Perth Supernight

Hi to all you Supercars fans around the world!

On the weekend of April 30th to May 1st was the Bunnings Trade Perth Supernight.

This year is the 43rd time that the Australian Touring Car / Supercars Championship have visited Barbagallo Raceway in Perth Wanneroo, Western Australia.

The first round was held back in 1973 but since 1978 this track has hosted a round every year except for 2020. The Saturday of the Perth Supernight will be the 90th championship race at this circuit, tying it with Symmons Plains Raceway.

Barbagallo now holds the record as the circuit to have hosted the most races in the history of Australian Touring Car Championship / Supercars Championship.

The second race of the weekend marked the 200th Supercars race for Cameron Waters. Waters is yet to record a win in the west. His best finish was 3rd in 2019 and a pole position in 2016.

Defending champion, Shane Van Gisbergen started on pole position in 2018 but has also never won a race at Barbagallo.

Barry Ryan from Boost Mobile Racing Erebus Motorsport used this weekend to announce that Greg Murphy and Richie Stanaway will return for the Bathurst 1000 as a wild card entry.

Perth Supernight started on the Saturday with the pre-race sessions. The results were:

  • Cameron Waters was fastest in Practice 1
  • Will Davison was fastest in Practice 2
  • Anton de Pasquale was fastest in Qualifying and started on pole for the first race.

In race 10 Anton de Pasquale started on pole position, alongside him was Cameron Waters.

Shane Van Gisbergen started 3rd, Chaz Mostert started 23rd and Nick Percat started 25th. As some of the fastest drivers this year their poor grid spots were due to getting held up by cars in front of them during Qualifying.

At the start of the race Anton de Pasquale got the jump and led into turn 1 for the first of 46 laps. Cameron Waters was right behind him.

Mark Winterbottom got a great start, but he had nowhere to go.

Shane Van Gisbergen also had nowhere to go and had to stay in 3rd position.

Further back in the pack the cars were 3 wide heading into turn 1. Thomas Randle got up the inside of Will Brown for positions 9th and 10th. Behind them were Todd Hazelwood and Will Davison battling for positions 11th and 12th. Lee Holdsworth had gained 3 positions to move to 21st.

Meanwhile with a little help from Bryce Fulwood, Chris Pither spun at turn 1 and went to the back of the pack. Later, Bryce Fulwood was issued 15 second penalty for his actions.

Before the first lap was over Shane Van Gisbergen found the space to pass Cameron Waters to move into 2nd place behind the race leader, Anton de Pasquale.

As the race moved on, the cars further back in the pack started to pit for clear track.

Jack Le Brocq was the first to pit on lap 8.

Will Brown had a miscommunication with car controller, Barry Ryan. He was told to come in but then to ‘push on’. He misheard and headed for the pits. The crew were not ready at all. Barry Ryan was not happy.

Cameron Waters pitted on lap 18 for rears tyres only.

One lap later Anton de Pasquale came in for 2 tyres.

On lap 21 Bryce Fullwood got another penalty. This time a bad sportsmanship flag for exceeding track limits.

Amazingly Shane Van Gisbergen pitted on lap 32. It’s a long way to go on one set of tyres. There was only 1 car yet to pit, Lee Holdsworth.

Shane Van Gisbergen came back out into position 4. He had Lee Holdsworth, Anton de Pasquale and Cameron Waters in front.

Lee Holdsworth finally pitted on lap 34. It put Anton de Pasquale back in the lead followed by Cameron Waters and Shane Van Gisbergen. The gap across the top 3 cars was about 2 ½ seconds.  

Bryce Fulwood was in the garage due to a transaxle failure and problems with 4th gear.

On lap 39 Scott Pye got a bad sportsmanship warning flag for exceeding track limits at turn 7. Will Brown got the same.

Shane Van Gisbergen got up the inside of Cameron Waters. He was only 2.4 seconds behind the race leader Anton de Pasquale.

Then the gap went down to 1.254 seconds.

Nick Percat in car 2 was the next to be given a bad sportsmanship flag for exceeding track limits.

The gap was 1 second between 1st and 2nd. With 5 and half laps to go Shane Van Gisbergen closed the gap to 0.493.

With 5 laps to go, Shane Van Gisbergen was right on the back of Anton de Pasquale.

With 4 laps to go Shane Van Gisbergen took the race lead. Anton de Pasquale had no opportunity to re-pass him.

Shane Van Gisbergen kept increasing his lead. With 2 laps remaining he had built it to 1.563 seconds.

By the time he crossed the finish line he was 2.161 ahead of Anton de Pasquale. An incredible feat.

Shane Van Gisbergen had finally broken his winless streak at Barbagallo Raceway. It also chalked up Holden’s 600th race win.

Nick Percat had moved up 5 places from 25th to 20th. His teammate, Chaz Mostert moved up 1 place and finished in

22nd.

Results for Race 10:

1st Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing.

2nd Anton De Pasquale – Shell V-Power Racing Team.

3rd Cameron Waters – Tickford Racing.

In Race 11 Will Davison started on pole position with Cameron Waters alongside him.

Mark Winterbottom started 22nd on the grid after being issued a 5-spot penalty for impeding Shane Van Gisbergen and Broc Feeney during Qualifying. Defending champion, Shane Van Gisbergen started in 11th position.

At the start of the race Will Davison got the jump and led into turn 1.

The cars further back in the pack were battling for positions. Thomas Randle made contact with Lee Holdsworth, putting him into the wall between turns 2 and 3 then coming to a stop on the grass. His front left corner was damaged big time but he managed to limp the car back to the pits. Surprisingly he later managed to re-join the race but was a few laps down.

As the pack came down to the final turn Cameron Waters had a 3/4 second lead over Will Davison.

As they came onto the main straight to begin lap 2 there was contact between Scott Pye and Jack le Broc.  Scott Pye hit the barrier walls so hard they actually came apart. He managed to get out of the car unassisted, but the car was a complete wreck and wouldn’t compete for the rest of the weekend.

The safety car was deployed to remove the wreck. Then James Taylor who is the race director, came on the radio and told all of the teams that the race was being suspended due to where Scott Pye’s car was positioned. When the red flag was called there was 43 laps to go. While they repaired the barrier walls the race was delayed for 40 minutes.

Team 18 owner, Charlie Schwerkolt said that Jack le Broc could have backed off to avoid the contact. He must have been annoyed that his car was a wreck.

When the race got restarted Cameron Waters was in the lead followed by Will Davison and Brodie Kostecki.

The cars further back in the pack pitted early because they were getting held up by other drivers in front of them.

Cameron Waters and Will Davison stayed out longer because they had track position.

Anton de Pasquale soon took Brodie Kostecki’s 3rd place.

I was amazed at how long Cameron Waters held onto the race lead for.

Around the middle of the race Will Davison had got down the inside of Cameron Waters to take the lead. They were virtually neck and neck. At turn 7 Cameron Waters went very wide out of track limits and dive-bombed Will Davison to regain the lead. Davison was furious at his risky move. He came on the radio to his engineer Richard Harris and said, ‘He can’t do this!’.

Later, after the officials had time to review the incident Cameron Waters got a 5 second penalty for an unsafe re-entry onto the track.

Cameron Waters may have been upset by this, but he held his focus and lead to the end of the race. Although he crossed the line first the penalty was applied after the finish. It knocked him off the podium into 4th place.

In the end Will Davison got his first race win for Dick Johnson Racing since 2008. He was followed by Anton de Pasquale and Andre Heimgartner.

The result was an unexpected bonus for Shell V-Power Racing Team, earning them a 1st and 2nd.

Results for Race 11:

1st Will Davison – Shell V-Power Racing Team.

2nd Anton de Pasquale – Shell V-Power Racing Team.

3rd Andre Heimgartner – Brad Jones Racing.

4th Cameron Waters – Tickford Racing.

In race 12 Shane Van Gisbergen started on pole position with Will Davison next to him.

At the start of the race Will Davison got the jump from 2nd position on the grid and led into turn 1.

Also, David Reynolds was in 2nd place by turn 1, dropping the pole sitter Shane Van Gisbergen back to 3rd.  I was amazed that Shane Van Gisbergen dropped from 1st to 3rd and David Reynolds went up from 4th to 2nd.

The cars further back in the pack settled down into their race pace.

Thomas Randle was spun around on the run down to turn 6 and car 34 of Jack le Brocq from Matt Stone Racing had a big slide.

Jake Kostecki got up the inside of Andre Heimgartner at turn 6. David Reynolds locked up on the run into turn 6 which allowed Shane Van Gisbergen to pass him at turn 7 and move up to 2nd place. The gap between Will Davison and Shane Van Gisbergen was 1.4 seconds.

Shane Van Gisbergen was so focused on driving he needed a reminder from his race engineer, Andrew Edwards to turn on his helmet fan.

Shane Van Gisbergen had Anton de Pasquale behind him, followed by Will Brown and James Courtney, running 2nd, 3rd and 4th.

Garry Jacobson and Chris Pither were side by side in an all-out battle to move into the top 10.

There was a lot of biff and barge going on all the way through the pack.

At this stage the gap between 1st and 2nd was 1.5 seconds.

The cars further in the pack pitted early while the race leaders stayed out longer.

When the pitstops started the lead was changing left, right and centre.

Soon Anton de Pasquale had dropped 3 places into 6th.

In the middle of the race James Courtney was the race leader because he had not pitted at this stage. Shane Van Gisbergen was unaware that Courtney had not pitted and was leading the race. Gisbergen was on the lookout for Will Davison as the assumed leader.

With only a few laps to go Shane Van Gisbergen was on the attack and took the lead from James Courtney. Courtney just couldn’t keep up and fell back to take second place as Gisbergen raced to the finish line.

Results for Race 12:

1st Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing.

2nd James Courtney – Tickford Racing.

3rd Will Davison – Shell V-Power Racing Team.

The next Supercars event is the Winton Supersprint on the 21st and 22nd of May but, before that there will be the Liqui Moly Bathurst 12 hour, a GT race.

Beaurepairs Melbourne 400 2022

Hi to all you Supercars fans around the world!

On the weekend of the 7th to the 10th of April 2022 was the Beaurepairs Melbourne 400.

This year marks the 25th time that the Supercars have competed at Albert Park. This is including an appearance at the 2020 event which was abandoned due to Covid 19. The event was cancelled at the 11th hour.

Albert Park is one of the longer circuits in Australia at 5.3km with 14 corners. This event was made up of 4 races, 20 laps each.

The first race of the event marked James Courtney’s 500th start. Wow! Congratulations, what an incredible achievement.

The Formula 1 cars were the main attraction for the weekend so, as support category the Supercars used the secondary pit lane.

Before the racing got underway, F1 drivers Fernando Alonso and Sergio Perez had a spin in Thomas Randle and Broc Feeney’s Supercars around the track. I’m sure it was quite an experience for them.

In the pre-race sessions:

  • Anton de Pasquale was fastest in Practice 1.
  • Rookie, Broc Feeney crashed at turn 5 causing a red flag.
  • Shane Van Gisbergen was fastest in Practice 2.
  • Garry Jacobson hit the wall at turn 5 in Practice 2. The impact was so much that another red flag was used so they could move wall back into place.
  • David Reynolds was fastest in Qualifying for Race 6.
  • Will Davison was fastest in Qualifying for Race 7.
  • Anton de Pasquale was fastest in Qualifying for Race 8.
  • Will Davison was fastest in Qualifying for Race 9.

In Race 6 David Reynolds started on pole position for the 18th time in his Supercars career. Alongside him was Anton de Pasquale.

Championship leader, Shane Van Gisbergen started in 23rd position at the back of the pack. This was because during Qualifying he got a curb infringement. His lap was disallowed. He came back in to put another set of tyres on. Meanwhile the session was red flagged and he didn’t get back on track to record a lap time.

David Reynolds had a perfect start off the grid and led into the first corner.

Shane Van Gisbergen immediately started charging through the field. Before the first lap was complete, he had gone from 23rd to 19th.

Coming onto the main straight to commence lap 2 the cars were 3 wide but Shane Van Gisbergen was still able to move up three places to 16th by the time they hit turn 1.

The cars up ahead were warned by their engineers that Shane Van Gisbergen was on THE CHARGE!

David Reynolds still had the lead and was holding off Chaz Mostert and Anton de Pasquale.

Garry Jacobson got up the inside of Will Brown and his next car to pass was Will’s teammate Brodie Kostecki.

By lap 3 David Reynolds’ soft tyres began to wear down and his car started sliding. He lost the lead to Chaz Mostert.

Nick Percat also passed David Reynolds dropping him from 2nd to 3rd. It put Walkinshaw Andretti United 1 and 2 on the track.

Lee Holdsworth was in the middle of the field. The team called him into the pits on lap 6 so they didn’t risk his teammate David Reynolds double stacking behind him.

Jack le Brocq (#34) also came in on lap 6 to have the power steering arm looked at.

On lap7 David Reynolds pitted due to blistering tyres. As he peeled off into the pits he was dropping down the order. Race leader, Chaz Mostert also followed him in.

Meanwhile the 2 times Supercars champion Shane Van Gisbergen had gained 17 positions and was now placed 6th. I was amazed! This is no easy feat in a mere 7 laps of a 20 lap race.

When Chaz Mostert and David Reynolds rejoined the race, they were in positions 9th and 10th. At this point the leaders were Nick Percat and Macauley Jones.

On lap 8 at the exit of turn 3 Andre Heimgartner ran straight off the track taking James Courtney with him. Andre Heimgartner was warned with a bad sportsmanship flag for exceeding track limits.

Shane Van Gisbergen had made it all the way up to 4th position before coming in on lap 9 for his one and only pitstop. When he rejoined he was behind Nick Percat and in position 17 with only 4 cars yet to make their stops.

A few laps later all the pitstops were completed and Chaz Mostert was back in the lead followed by David Reynolds and Will Davison. Shane Van Gisbergen made his way up to 5th place.

With clean air Chaz Mostert kept edging further ahead. He was incredibly fast and drove faultlessly. It was soon apparent that he was uncatchable. All he had to do was just hang in there.

With four laps remaining Shane Van Gisbergen passed Nick Percat and Will Davison almost at the same time to put him in 3rd place. It was just incredible. He yelled over the radio comms ‘This is f-ing awesome!’. That really cracked me up.

To play it safe Chaz pulled back on the aggressive driving knowing he had a good lead. In the last few hundred meters he zig zagged to the finish line out of pure joy (That’s why I call him Cheeky Chaz). His next rival was David Reynolds 7.6839 second later followed by Shane Van Gisbergen who had started in 23rd place and finished 3rd. Now that is incredible racing!

Result for Race 6

1st Chaz Mostert – Mobil 1 Optus Racing.

2nd David Reynolds – Penrite Racing.

3rd Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing.

In Race 7 Will Davison started on pole position. Alongside him was David Reynolds. Shane Van Gisbergen started 3rd.

At the start of the race Will Davison got the jump off the line and led into turn 1.

David Reynolds had a bad start and Shane Van Gisbergen immediately took the opportunity and moved into 2nd place.

Broc Feeney hit the wall on the exit of turn 1 after help from Brodie Kostecki.

At this stage Will Davison was looking strong. I was thinking that he may win might win his first race for Dick Johnson Racing and his first race win since Bathurst in 2016.

A few laps later the cars back in the pack pitted early for clear track.        

On lap 5 Andre Heimgartner got turned around by Will Brown. Heimgarter’s car was wedged in the wall. The safety car was deployed to tow it back to the pits. He wasn’t able to rejoin the race and received an NC (Not complete).

Shane Van Gisbergen now had the lead.

When Anton de Pasquale came into the pits he was in 3rd place. He couldn’t get car 11 re-fired and was sitting there for what seemed an eternity. As a result, he came back onto the track in 20th position.

By the middle of the race all pitstops were completed. Shane Van Gisbergen was back in the lead.

Broc Feeney (#88) was called into the pits with a front left tyre losing pressure. The Red Bull Ampol Racing team only changed the one tyre and he was back out on the track.

Also, on lap 10 Cameron Waters tagged Will Davison at turn 3 spinning him off into the gravel trap. For the second time, the safety car was deployed. Waters was issued a drive through penalty for his actions.

At this stage Shane Van Gisbergen was looking good for another win. David Reynolds was in 2nd, James Courtney in 3rd and Chaz Mostert 4th.

Cameron Waters served his drive through penalty with 7 laps to go. It dropped him all the way down to 22nd position.

On lap 14 Tim Slade got down the inside of Garry Jacobson for position number 8. He then passed Todd Hazelwood for 7th position.

Garry Jacobson got up the inside of Nick Percat in battle for 9th and 10th place.

With 5 laps to go Shane Van Gisbergen had a 1.6 second lead over David Reynolds, with James Courtney 1.1 seconds behind that. Chaz Mostert was in 4th position.

The races were ‘time certain’. Due to the 2 safety car deployments the race was looking to go overtime. On lap 18 the officials called time + 1 lap (cutting out the 20th lap).

On the last lap Shane Van Gisbergen did his best lap time of the race and increased his lead to 2 seconds.

Mostert was desperate to get on the podium. It was the last lap and he was pushing hard on James Courtney. As they reached the last corner before the home straight they locked horns and James Courtney spun around. Mostert kept going but Lee Holdsworth had taken him over so Mostert was back in 4th where he started.

There was no time for Mostert to make up the lost time.

Shane Van Gisbergen crossed the line 2+ seconds ahead of David Reynolds. They followed by a lucky Lee Holdsworth and then Chaz Mostert in fourth place. It was a dramatic last-minute finish.

James Courtney was so unfortunate and finished in 22nd place.

Results for Race 7

1st Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing.

2nd David Reynolds – Grove Racing.

3rd Lee Holdsworth – Grove Racing.

In Race 8 Anton de Pasquale started on pole position alongside him was his teammate, Will Davison.

Shane Van Gisbergen and David Reynolds were 3rd and 4th on the grid.

At the start of the race Anton de Pasquale led into turn 1 for the first of 20 laps.  Will Davison was right behind him. David Reynolds hanging onto 3rd position followed by Shane Van Gisbergen.

Scott Pye went off the track at turn 1 on lap 1

The cars further back in the pack were going off the track left, right and centre. At turn 2 Percat, Hazelwood, Brodie Kostecki, Holdsworth, Jones, Heimgartner and Randle all came off the track but managed to recover.

Scott Pye left the track skiing across the sand trap but he also managed to recover.

It was amazing that the entire field got through turns 1 and 2.

However, on lap 2 Scott Pye came into the pits with a puncture on the front right. 

The race leader soon settled into his race pace with a ¾ second lead. There was active battling for positions 2, 3 and 4.

Between turns 9 and 10 on lap 2 Bryce Fulwood went very wide but surprisingly managed a quick return to the track.

By lap 3 Cameron Waters was in the pits changing tyres and dropped all the way down to 22nd position.

The top 4 places were unchanged; Anton de Pasquale, Will Davison, David Reynolds and Shane Van Gisbergen.

On lap 4 Anton de Pasquale locked up leaving the track at turn 1. It knocked him back from 1st to 3rd. Will Davison was the new race leader, with David Reynolds in 2nd place. For Anton de Pasquale who is second on the championship ladder it was a serious blunder.

When Tim Slade and Chaz Mostert came in for their stops he gave the back of Tim Slade’s car a wallop. It was a surprise but not serious and didn’t escalate.

On lap 5 Will Davison was the next to pit, handing over the lead to David Reynolds. Anton de Pasquale was still 2nd, Shane Van Gisbergen was 3rd and his teammate, Broc Feeney was in 4th (only + 2.601 seconds behind). Soon Anton de Pasquale pitted but the top 14 cars were still yet to pit.

By lap 6 Shane Van Gisbergen had taken the race lead off David Reynolds which then gave Shane Van Gisbergen clear track.

Broc Feeney had dropped to 8th place. Then Mark Winterbottom got down the inside of him to take another spot from him.

By the middle of the race Shane Van Gisbergen was back in the lead after pitting.

Shane Van Gisbergen never looked back. He held his lead and increased the gap to 5.6473 seconds by the time he crossed the finish line. Next was Will Davison, David Reynolds and Anton de Pasquale all spread a few seconds apart.

This win for Shane Van Gisbergen also means he has outdone Russell Ingall’s record of 8 race wins at Albert Park. Ingall set this record back in 2003 (19years ago). Im sure it’s quite an honour for Gisbergen.

Results for Race 8

1st Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing.

2nd Will Davison – Shell V-Power Racing Team.

3rd David Reynolds – Penrite Racing.

In race 9 Will Davison started on pole position. Alongside him was teammate Anton de Pasquale. Chaz Mostert started 3rd. The hero of the weekend, Shane Van Gisbergen 6th on the grid.

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At the start of the race Will Davison got the jump on his teammate going into turn 1. I was amazed, it was such a perfect start.

However, Jack Smith didn’t have the same launch. He stalled car 4 on the start line and was unable to get it started. The safety car was deployed for it to be removed from the track. Jack Smith Received an NC (Not Complete) without even starting the race!  

Shane Van Gisbergen tried to go around the outside of Cameron Waters at turn 3 but it didn’t work.

The cars back in the pack were battling for positions early on. There was quite a lot of movement. About 12 cars shuffled positions with some moving as much as 10 places.

Some others moved up but then moved back, like Tim Slade who got down the inside of Brodie Kostecki at turn 4. Brodie Kostecki then got him back at turn 5.

While the race leaders were staying out because they had track position the others soon started pitting.

I was surprised that leader Will Davison pitted on lap 5. Mostert was in 2nd place and now had the lead. It was only brief. Shane Van Gisbergen took him over moment later.

David Reynolds was keeping out of trouble early on but he was in position 10. He then hit the wall on lap 6 and had to pit. The car couldn’t be repaired and he had to retire from the race.

In the middle of the race all driver pitstops were in the process of being completed. It was now even racing to the finish.

On lap 11 Thomas Randle also suffered the same fate as Reynolds and Smith. He was the 3rd driver forced to retire from the race.

Towards the end of the race Chaz Mostert had the lead again. He had Shane Van Gisbergen putting pressure on him and it looked to be a strong challenge. There were only a few laps remaining.

Shane Van Gisbergen was pushing hard. On lap 18 (2 lap to go) Shane Van Gisbergen’s car gave in under the strain. The front tyre blew out and he was forced into the pits. He must have been extremely disappointed as he is fast enough even to challenge the super-fast Chaz Mostert. It would have meant 3 out 4 wins for the weekend.

Chaz Mostert now had a clear run to the finish line. It earned his second win at the event.

In 2nd place Will Davison followed 5.2 seconds later, with Anton de Pasquale another 1.66 seconds behind. It was an incredible finish to the weekend.

Results for Race 9

1st Chaz Mostert – Walkinshaw Andretti United.

2nd Will Davison – Shell V-Power Racing Team.

3rd Anton de Pasquale – Shell V-Power Racing Team.

The Bathurst 6 Hour was the next event of interest on the calendar. It is always run on the Easter long weekend. It is not part of the Supercars series but is a production car event. Shane Van Gisbergen was meant to defend the title but was unable to due to COVID. Nick Percat sat in for him.

Let’s hope that SVG is on the mend and in good health for the next Supercars event; The Bunnings Trade Perth Supernight on the 30th of April to the 1st of May.

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Beaurepairs Sydney Supernight 2021

Hi to all you Supercars Fans around the world!

On November 19-21,2021 the Beaurepairs Sydney Supernight was run. It marks 4 of 4 events held back to back at the Sydney Motorsport Park (Eastern Creek). It is the penultimate event of the Supercars season for 2021 before they head to the Bathurst 1000.

The event was made up of two races, both 250km (64 laps).

The pre-sessions results for Race 29 were once again dominated by Anton de Pasquale.

Matthew Payne was fastest in the additional co-driver practice session. He was co-driver for David Reynolds.

Anton de Pasquale was fastest in Practice 1, Practice 2, the Armor All Qualifying and the Top 10 Shootout.

So in race 29 Anton de Pasquale started on pole position with Jamie Whincup alongside him.

There was the threat of rain but as the race got underway the track was dry. Jamie Whincup got a good start and led into turn 1.

At turn 3 David Reynolds ran wide and lost a lot of pace out on the grass.

IN the first part of the race Jamie Whincup held  the lead while the cars further back settled  into their race pace.

On lap 7 Macauley Jones triggered the first safety car after going off the track at turn 8. A lot of the drivers chose to pit while the safety car was out. Shane Van Gisbergen had to double stack behind his teammate Jamie Whincup. When Shane Van Gisbergen rejoined the track he had dropped several place to 9th position.

When the safety car finally left the track and the race went ‘back to green’ Cameron Waters had the lead.

In the middle of the race Shane Van Gisbergen was in 6th position but soon worked his way up to the top 3.

It took a long while but Shane Van Gisbergen managed to find a gap and take over teammate, Jamie Whincup in second position.

With 5 Laps to go Shane Van Gisbergen took the race lead off Cameron Waters and from there was never headed.

Jamie Whincup also managed to gain a spot giving the Red Bull Ampol Racing Team a 1,2 finish with Cameron Waters coming in third place.

Results for Race 29

1st Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing.

2nd Jamie Whincup – Red Bull Ampol Racing.

3rd Cameron Waters – Monster Engery Racing.

There was a surprising mix of results in the pre-race sessions for Race 30.

Andre Heimgartner was fastest in Armor All Qualifying. The big surprise was the dominator of the last 4 events pre-race sessions, Anton de Pasquale was 17th.

Nick Percat was fastest in the Armor All Top Ten Shootout earning him pole position.

Shane Van Gisbergern was next to pole on the grid.

The rain was really coming down and the race was delayed. It really put an edge on the scene with the rain continuing to come down.

Finally the rain started to ease a bit and the officials wanted to take advantage and get the race going. It was a bit of an anticlimax. The track was extremely wet as the cars rolled off behind the safety car to checkout the track to decide if and when they drivers can start. They did 5 laps under yellow flag before the race was red flagged and all the drivers had to follow the safety car into pit lane in a single line.

Most of drivers had got out of the cars except for the pole sitter Nick Percat, he was hoping the race was going to restart. As time moved on the officials had to make the call and they did’nt restart the race.

With no real laps done there were no results for race 30.

Shane Van Gisbergen won the Beaurepairs Sydney Cup and was declared the champion elect. The Red Bull Ampol Racing Team are also the champion team.

The next event is the grand finale; the Repco Bathurst 1000 on the 30th of November to December 5th.

Shane Van Gisbergen and Garth Tander are the defending champions heading into this year’s race.

The Bathurst Channel 503 begins on Monday the 29th of November, 2021.

BP Ultimate Sydney Supersrint 2021

Hi to all you Supercars Fans around the world!

On the weekend of the 13th and 14th of November, 2021 was the BP Ultimate Sydney Supersprint. This is the 3rd of 4 back-to-back events at Sydney Motorsports Park.

Before I get stuck into the race review the hot news is Greg Murphy and Richie Stanaway will not be competing at the upcoming Repco Bathurst 1000, due to the travel restrictions in New Zealand.

It was also announced Luke Youlden who has been filling in for David Reynolds will not be driving the #26 Penrite Racing Mustang in the next event to take place at Sydney Motorsports Park. It looked like it could be Matt Campbell but a new announcement on November 18 (today) stated David Reynolds has complied with all COVID vaccination protocols for Supercars and NSW Health. Kelly Grove Racing are very pleased at Reynolds return for the last race before the Bathurst 1000.

In the preliminary sessions it was once again Anton de Pasquale who dominated in much the same way he has for the last three events.

Anton de Pasquale was fastest in Practice 1 and 2, as well as the Armor All Qualifying for race 26 and 27.

Before race 26 Sienna Crompton who is the daughter of commentator Neil Crompton sang the National Anthem. She also   waved the green flag for the cars to go off on their warm up lap. Her dad was proud as punch and not the only one in the room to have tears well up.

With the warm up lap out of the way it was time for Anton de Pasquale to take pole position on the grid for Race 26. Alongside him was Jamie Whincup.

As the race started Anton de Pasquale took the lead into turn 1.Jamie Whincup was trying to not make contact with Will Davison’s challenge from third place and put him in the wall.

Further back in the pack there was contact between James Courtney, car 44 and Tim Slade, car 3. Tim Slade ran wide on the exit of turn 1 almost assisting James Courtney into the fence but somehow staying off the wall himself to re-join the race.

Pretty soon the cars further back in the pack pitted because they were being held up.

The leaders stayed out to maintain their places up the front.

After most of the cars had pitted one thing didn’t change and that was Anton de Pasquale in position 1.

Jamie Whincup had a phenomenal pit stop, 3.6 seconds.

Towards the end of the race the first safety car was deployed to remove car number 2 of Bryce Fullwood at the exit of turn 2.

The interruption didn’t change the result. Anton de Pasquale crossed the finish line just under 2 seconds ahead of Shane Van Gisbergen in second place. Rookie, Will Brown was a further 1.5337 seconds later in third place.

Results for 26

1st Anton de Pasquale – Shell V-Power Racing Team.
2nd Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing Team.
3rd Will Brown – Erebus Motorsport.

In race 27 Anton de Pasquale started on pole position, alongside him was his teammate Will Davison.Anton de Pasquale led into turn 1. Will Davison stayed high and wide on the outside on the run up to turn 2.

The two Shell V-Power Racing cars almost side swiped each other coming into turn 2. Jamie Whincup took advantage and got up the inside of Will Brown.

Coming out of turn 3 Anton de Pasquale was in the lead of the race. Will Brown was trying to regain his position from Jamie Whincup and on the run down to turn 4 they  had a bump., Will Brown tried again at turn 5 but couldn’t get the pass made.

Meanwhile Chaz Mostert got up the inside of Will Brown going into turn 5 but couldn’t make it stick.

Brodie Kostecki tried to get up the inside of Scott Pye as they were all trying to catch  Shane Van Gisbergergen, who has been the pace setter in 2021.

Brodie Kostecki battling with Scott Pye swapping positions through turns 9, 10 and 11.

Anton de Pasquale had a 3/4 second gap over Will Davison, Jamie Whincup and Will Brown.

The cars further back in the pack were settling down into their race pace.

It was an intense first lap!

Later the cars further back came in to pit early to try get clear trackbut the car up front stayed out longer.

By  the middle of the race everybody had completed their pit stops. Anton de Pasquale was still unchallenged for his lead.

Anton de Pasquale held his position all the way to the finish line. His quick pace increasing the gap to 6+ seconds over Jamie Whincup. Shane Van Gisbergen came in third place an additional 3.8653 seconds later.

Results for Race 27

1st Anton de Pasquale – Shell V-Power Racing Team.
2nd Jamie Whincup – Red Bull Ampol Racing Team. 
3rd Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing Team.

In Race 28 Jamie Whincup started on pole position which was his 92nd career pole in Supercars. Alongside him was his teammate Shane Van Gisbergen.

Off the start Jamie Whincup got the jump and led into turn 1.

During the opening stages the leaders kept pulling ahead.

The drivers further back were in a tight pack. They were getting frustrated with the lack of space to move so one by one peeled off into the pits hoping to find clear track.

When Will Brown rejoined after his pit stop he managed to undercut Jamie Whincup and Shane Van Gisbergen in their battle for first place. Jamie Whincup was compromised with well-worn tyres and couldn’t catch him. Team manager, Mark Dutton told Jamie Whincup to let Shane Van Gisbergen through (with his fresher tyres) to chase down Will Brown. Not for the first time, Jamie Whincup disobeyed team orders and the rookie, Will Brown earned his first win in Supercars.

Results for Race 28

1st Will Brown – Erebus Racing.
2nd Jamie Whincup – Red Bull Ampol Racing Team.
3rd Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing Team.

Shane Van Gisbergen still leads the championship by 337 points over teammate Jamie Whincup.

Red Bull Ampol Racing leads the teams championship by 915 points over Shell V-Power Racing.

The next event is the Beaurepairs Sydney Supernight on the 19th to 21st of November, 2021.

It’s the last race before the BIG ONE. The BATHURST 1000. Yippee!!!!!

WD 40 Townsvlle Supersprint 2021

Hi to all you Supercars Fans around the World!

On the weekend of the 17th and 18th of July 2021 was the WD-40 Townsville Supersprint.

After the postponement of Winton and the Sydney Supernight this was the second event of a double header at Townsville.

On the previous weekend the Townsville 500 was dominated by the 888 team. All eyes were on them to see if they could do it again; Could Shane Van Gisbergen continue his fiery streak for the season? Could Jamie Whincup repeat his double win at this event last year, 2020?

In the Pre–race sessions the results were as follows:

  • Scott Pye was fastest in Practice 1.
  • Anton de Pasquale earned himself pole position for the first race of the weekend being fastest in the Amour All Qualifying and Top 10 shootout.

In race 17 Anton De Pasquale started on pole position with Cameron Waters alongside him.

Zane Goddard started 10th because he didn’t complete his top 10 shootout lap.

Cameron Waters led he opening stages of the race.

Behind him though there was chaos because cars were getting hit left right and centre.

Brodie Kostecki was battling with Shane Van Gisbergen for positions 5 and 6.

Tim Slade came in to pits early on lap 5 to get clear air.

The cars back in the pack tried to pass the cars in front. When they realised that they couldn’t the teams called them into pit in an attempt to get out of traffic and make time while the others pitted later.

Will Davison had a really slow stop when the crew had issues with with the gun on the front left tyre of car 17. THe delay cost him dearly. It was more than double the standard pit stop time.

Most teams were doing 3 tyre changes in the stop, others did 2 tyres.

Shane Van Gisbergen received a 15 second penalty for making contact with car #99 of Brodie Kostecki.

Then teammate, Jamie Whincup got a 15 second time penalty for exceeding the pit lane speed limit.

In the middle of the race Cameron Waters had the lead and looking good for his 2nd win of 2021.

He confidently held the lead to the end of the race coming in 2.8708 seconds ahead of Anton de Pasquale in second placed who was 1.587 seconds ahead of cheeky Chaz Mostert.

The three drivers were way ahead of the rest of the pack. The next contender in fourth place was Tim Slade crossing the line 10+ seconds later.

Results for Race 17

1st Cameron Waters – Tickford Racing.

2nd Anton De Pasquale – Dick Johnson Racing.

3rd Chaz Mostert – Walkinshaw Andretti United.

In Race 18 Jamie Whincup started on pole postion for the 91st time in his Supercars career! Alongside him was teammate Shane Van Gisbergen.

As the race got underway Jamie Whincup got the jump and led into turn 1 for the first of 39 laps.

Shane Van Gisbergen tried to go around the outside of Jamie Whincup but it couldn’t be done.

Tim Slade yet again came in to the pits early for clear air.

The cars further back in the pack came in early to get out of the traffic.

Meanwhile Jamie Whincup stayed out on track and at one stage worked up a 6 second lead.

Later, Todd Hazelwood managed a great pass and got down the inside of James Courtney at turn 11.

In the middle of the race Jamie Wincup and Shane Van Gisbergen were batting for the race lead and race win. Shane Van Gisbergern held the lead and the battle was fierce.  Shane Van Gisbergen was told told to let Jamie Whincup past but he disobeyed team orders and didn’t do so. They were both in the heat of the moment. The teammates were racing against each other for all their worth.

At lap 25 of 39 Will Brown of Erebus Pedders Racing left the track and wasn’t able to continue. A few minutes later on lap 26 Macauley Jones of Coca-Cola Racing met the same fate and left the track. Both received an NC  (not complete) for the race.

At the front end of the race, no one could catch Shane Van Gibergen as he built his lead over Whincup. He crossed the finish line 4.5+ seconds ahead of Jamie Whincup. Cheeky Chaz Mostert came across the line 3.5+ seconds later with Will Davison right on his tail. The three front drivers had a invincible lead over the rest of the pack. It was nearly 9 seconds before Todd Hazelwood took  5th place followed by Scott Pye. Both of them had gained 5 places throughout the race which is impressive for such a short sprint.

So once again Shane Van Gisbergen continues his 2021 winning streak. Fantastic!

Results for Race 18

1st Shane Van Gsbergergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing team.

2nd Jamie Whincup – Red Bull Ampol Racing Team

3rd Chaz Mostert – Walkinshaw Andretti United.

In race 19 Cameron Waters started on pole position alongside him was Shane Van Gisbergen.

As the race got underway Cameron Waters got the jump and led into turn 1 for the first of 39 laps.

Over Shane Van Gisbergen. ??? The cars further back in the pack came in to get clear track which worked.

The leaders stayed out longer because they had track position.

On lap 16 Macauley Jones again had to park his Coke Commordore after starting 8th on the grid and received his second NC for the weekend.

Shane Van Gisbergergen came in to get clear track.

Then Jamie Whincup also came in to get the undercut on Cameron Waters.

In the middle of the race Will Davison was in 3rd and looking good for a podium.

Towards the end of the race Shane Van Gisbergen was putting pressure on Cameron Waters for the race lead and race win. Cameron Waters experience kept him just out of reach from rivals and finished less than a second ahead of Shane Van Gisbergen.

Results for Race 19

1st Cameron Waters – Tickford Racing.

2nd Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing Team.

3rd Will Davison – Dick Johnson Racing.

The next event is event 8 the Ipswich Supersprint on the 21st and 22nd of August 2021.

The gap between 1st and 2nd in the championship Shane Van Gisberen and Jamie Whincup is 276 points.

Merlin Triple Crown 2021

Hi to all you Supercars Fans around the world!

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

2nd Will Davison – Dick Johnson Racing

3rd Jamie Whincup – Red Bull Ampol Racing Team

Social media reacts to Mostert WAU contract extension – Supercars

Randle confirmed for 2022 full-time Supercars seat – Speedcafe

The next event is the NTI Townsville 500 on the 9th to the 11th of July 2021.

Liqui Moly Bathurst 12 Hour 2020

HI to all you Supercars fans around the World!

On the weekend of January 31 to February 2nd was the 2020 Liqui Moly Bathurst 12-hour, a pre supercars season race.

This is one of the years most gruelling endurance races for GT cars. It is so well known it draws many international teams and drivers.

In the preliminaries to the race there were a number of mishaps.

The 777 car didn’t take the start due to too much damage on Saturday. Team manager, Roland Dane was not happy. He said that Cameron McConville should have retired a long time ago. Joke or not, that is pretty harsh!

39 cars were entered but only 34 started the Liqui Moly Bathurst 12 hour before the sun came up, at the unholy time of 5:45am.

Most cars had experienced international drivers start behind the wheel.

The number 8 Bentley started near the back of the pack after not making Qualifying.

Matt Campbell put the Porsche on pole position but co-driver Patrick Pilet started the car.

During the opening stages the 999 Mercedes led the opening lap, then not long after that the McLaren took the lead and was hard to catch from there.

Craig Lowndes started the number 1 Porsche and he did a double stint early on.

When the sun came up the accidents started to happen.

The first safety car was dispatched just under 90 minutes into the race. Car 188, the Aston Martin driven by Côme Ledogar took a turn too wide, bounced over S-bend curbs and heavily hit a concrete wall. He then bounced off the wall and made contact with cars on the left and then the right. The the whole right hand side was torn clean off the car, passenger door and rear wheel included coming to a halt in the middle of the track

This wasn’t the last of the carnage. There was much more to come during the race.

Chaz Mostert’s 12-hour race got ruined in the third hour. After his co-driver Nicky Catsburg took the wheel, in his first few laps collided with a kangaroo. It must have been a big disappointment; Chaz Mostert is yet to win the 12 hour.

Also, Warren Luff was behind the wheel when the 95 MARC car caught fire in the pitlane. Twice!

Garth Tander crashed out in the # 22 Audi between Reid Park and McPhillamy Park after contact with the 222 Audi which completely decimated the 22 Audi. I thought there is no way that the team could repair the car in time for the rest of the race, which unfortunately they didnt.

Jamie Whincup spun Marc Cini around in number 9 Hallmarc Audi and didn’t get pinged for it.

In the middle of the race most of the teams changed brake pads and rotors. This improved performance and the drivers went nuts with grip.

The number 1 Porsche had brake dramas and finished the race 2 laps down.

Towards the end of the race the bad weather forecasted hit with a dust storm, thunder, lighting and buckets of rain.

I was surprised how many crashes there were in the Bathurst 12-hour last weekend.

Out of the 34 cars that were in the start line only 23 finished. Awesome but gruelling race!

 

Results for the 2020 Liqui Moly Bathurst 12 Hour:
1st Jules Gounon & Maxine Soulet – Bentley Team M Sport.
2nd Alvaro Parente & Ben Barnicoat – 59 Racing.
3rd Shane Van Gisbergen Jamie Whincup & Maximilan Gotez. – Mercades AMG Team Triple Eight.