Hi to all you V8 Supercars fans around the world!
On the Weekend of the 28th to the 30th of July, 2017 was the Coates Hire Ipswich SuperSprint.
In Qualifying for race 15 Scott McLaughlin got on his 2nd run to try and improve his time. He zoomed past 8 or 9 slower cars out on track, most moving out of the way for him. Later in the lap he had to pull back for safety as he came across Alex Davison right in his path. It was a close call and forced him to abort his qualifying lap. Post race there were many comments made about better race control to avoid such high risk situations.
For the main game it was a special day for Todd Hazelwood making his debut in the V8 Supercars Championship. He joins the ‘main game’ coming up from the Dunlop Super2s under sponsorship from Bigmate Racing.
Another interesting point is that during the Telecast on Friday, Saturday and Sunday on Fox sports 5 channel 506, there was a drone following the cars around the track. It is something that I had not seen before and should make for some interesting footage.
In race 15 Scott McLaughlin started on pole position. Alongside him was Craig Lowndes.
On lap 1 of 39 C raig Lowndes got the jump on Scott McLaughlin and led into turn 1. This was a great start to the race for him considering he had qualified in 2nd spot on the front row of the grid.
Later at turn 3 all hell broke loose. Dale Wood made contact with James Moffat. As James Moffat spun around he made contact with his teammate James Golding. James Golding was able to just continue with bent steering, a brave thing to do. However, James Moffat wasn’t so luck and had to eventually pit with an overheating engine. All this mayhem cause Simona de Silvestro to make contact with Alex Rullo. He came out of turn 3 with a left front tyre pointing in the wrong direction and at the wrong angle. Alex Rullo limped his car back to the pits and unfortunate could not return the race. A DNF even before the first lap was over.
On lap 2 Scott McLaughlin was putting pressure on Craig Lowndes and down at turn 3 he passed him for lead of the race.
On lap 3 all the wildcards were following behind the main game drivers trying to learn as much as they could. It’s a good strategy to learn how the pros do ‘what and when’ as they navigate the track.
On lap 8 Shane Van Gisbergen was down in the position order after he pitted. However, he gained the advantage of rejoining the race with fresh air.
On lap 9 Simona de Silvestro had put the lap 1 incident behind her and was now enjoying her first race at Ipswich . She followed her team owners, Todd and Rick Kelly gaining valuable pointers from these experienced drivers.
Mark Winterbottom had to abort his attempt to pass Cameron Waters to avoid making contact.
As the race moved on, Shane Van Gisbergen easily made it back through the field after his one and only pit stop.
Fabian Coulthard tried to stay with his teammate Scott McLaughlin in the lead but soon found out just how fast Scott McLaughlin is.
Dick Johnson and Roger Penske would have been very happy with Scott McLaughlin’s race performance. He had held the lead for most of the race and made it look easy.
Shane Van Gisbergen and Jamie Whincup were battling it out in attempt to gain a podium position.
On lap 33 Jason Bright left the race receiving a DNF.
As the race came to a close, Scott McLaughlin maintained his lead a past the checkered flag.
Chaz Mostert had a great run and moved up from his starting position of 3 to a finish of second.
Shane Van Gisbergen had come from a start further back in the track gaining 4 positions to come in 3rd.
Craig Lowndes who started the race next to pole position faced some great competition and came in 5th. Still a great performance.
The surprise for me was Jamie Whincup finishing 20th, down 6 spots from his start position and about 30 seconds behind the winner.
Results for race 15
1st Scott McLaughlin – Dick Johnson racing Team Penske.
2nd Chaz Mostert – Supercheap auto racing Team.
3rd Shane Van Gisbergen – red bull Holden racing team.
4th Tim Slade – Freightliner Racing.
5th Craig Lowndes – Team Vortex
In race 16 Scott McLaughlin started on pole position alongside him was Chaz Mostert
At the start of the 65-lap race Chaz Mostert got the right amount of throttle to get off the line with a fine start and take the lead into turn 1. Scott McLaughlin pulled in behind him.
At the start of the 2nd lap of the race Garth Tander wanted to pass James Moffat but wasn’t close enough to get the job done and losing his ongoing battle with James Moffat for pit priority.
Jamie Whincup was trying get by his teammate Shane Van Gisbergen but didn’t get close enough.
Craig Lowndes pitted early so that he wouldn’t have to double stack with Will Davison.
Scott McLaughlin was leading after the front runners went into the pits for the first round of pitstops.
Alex Rullo stayed out while his teammate Taz Douglas pitted and then re-joined with clear air which was handy.
There was contact between the 2 Nissan Motorsport cars of Michael Caruso and Shae Davies in between turns 1 and 2 which had ruled Michael out of race 16.
In the middle of the race Fabian Coulthard had made his way back into the top 3 for the final time, later dropping back a couple of positions to finish 5th.
By lap 41 Dale Wood left the race receiving a DNF. He was the fourth one out of the race receiving a DNF after Will Davison, Michael Caruso and Jack Le Brocq.
Towards the end of the race it was a certain for the top 3 drivers; Chaz Mostert, Scott McLaughlin and Shane Van Gisbergen. Jamie Whincup came in 4th about 1.5 seconds later.
Results for 16
1st Chaz Mostert – Supercheap Auto Racing Team
2nd Scott Mclaughlin – Dick Johnson Racing Team Penske
3rd Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Holden Racing Team
4th Jamie Whincup Red bull Holden Racing Team
The next event is the Red Rooster Sydney Supersprint on the 18th to the 20th of August 2017.