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Jamie Whincup retirement article 2021

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Hi to all you Supercars Fans around the world!

At the end of the 2021 Supercars season Jamie Whincup retired from full time racing. This is a tribute to his amazing 20-year driving career in Supercars marked by many records and achievements.

He will continue driving in the Enduro races (which includes The Bathurst 1000) so I imagine his win tally is not complete just yet. He is also going on to be Team Principal for his team, 888 Race Engineering (taking over from founder, Roland Dane).

Jamie Whincup was born on the 6th of February 1983 in Melbourne Victoria, Australia. At the time of publishing this article that makes him 38 years old.

In 1991 when Jamie Whincup was just 7 years old he started racing in go karts. By the age of 14 he had claimed countless rookie junior titles and celebrated his 15th birthday by winning the Senior Formula A Karting title.

Jamie Whincup: Early karting days.

In 2001 Whincup embarked on the Formula Ford Championship with the Mygale Racing Team that was run by his father David and his uncle Graeme, a former sports sedan star. He also had mechanical support from former Supercars driver Greg Ritter. For his first season he had excellent results and finished 3rd in the championship.

Then he moved to Sonic Motorsport owned by Michael Ritter, brother of Greg Ritter for the 2002 season. It was only his second season, but he went on to win the Formula Ford Championship convincingly.

Also, in 2002 he made his Supercars debut with Garry Rogers Motorsport at the Queensland 500 and The Bathurst 1000. His co-drivers for those 2 races were Max Dumesny and Mark Noske. Although Jamie Whincup hit a wall and was unable to complete The Bathurst 1000 (DNF) it did not deter Garry Rogers from seeing his potential.

For the following season, 2003 Garry Rogers offered him a fulltime drive. Jamie was only turning 20 that year.

He crashed and was unable to finish at Hidden Valley but it did not put the rookie off his game.

In the same year he also had bad luck at The Bathurst 1000 as co-driver to Garth Tander. He hit the wall at Forest Elbow. The damage was bad and he had to head back to the pits. It cost them any chance of a decent result after starting in 4th position. 

In 2004 Jamie Whincup wasn’t fulltime but he did Sandown and Bathurst with Larry Perkins (Castrol Perkins Racing).

In 2005 he returned to fulltime Supercars racing with Tasman Motorsport as teammate to the late Jason Richards. They finished on the podium 3rd place in the Sandown 500 and 2nd in The Bathurst 1000. Not a bad result for someone in the game for just a couple of years.

2013 Tasmania: Me (William Hill-Smith) & Jamie Whincup behind the wheel.
2013 Jamie won his 3rd title in a row to give him his 5th championship.

When Jamie Whincup joined 888 Race Engineering back in 2006 he was teammate to the already legendary Craig Lowndes. Founder, Roland Dane desperately wanted some big wins for his team and brought Jamie in as part of a super plan.

Pairing Jamie with Craig Lowndes paid off for Roland. They didn’t fair that well at The Sandown 500 due to a mechanical problem, but struck gold at the big one, The Bathurst 1000. This was only Jamie’s 3rd year as a fulltime driver.

One of the big legends of the track, Peter Brock had passed away just a couple of months earlier. The Bathurst 1000 trophy was renamed in his honour, The Peter Brock Trophy. Lowndes and Whincup were the first to have their names inscribed on it. Brock was also mentor to Craig Lowndes so it must have meant quite a lot to Lowndes to win this race (The video embedded shows how emotional it was for both Craig and Jamie).

The other big win for Jamie that year was the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide.

Roland Dane’s hunch about this new young driver was right and they kept Jamie on for the following season of 2007.

Jamie was not about to let anyone down. In 2007 he earned his first career pole at Queensland Raceway and then won the round at Winton Motor Raceway.

The golden pair, Lowndes and Whincup then went on to win The Sandown 500 and The Bathurst 1000. This was the second Bathurst 1000 in a row.

Jamie followed up by then winning in Tasmania.

In the end he fell just 2 points short of Garth Tander for the 2007 Supercars Championship.

Jamie was kept on at 888 Race Engineering and had a great start to the 2008 year. He cleaned up at the first round winning both races at The Clipsal 500.

After the second round at Eastern Creek, NSW he was points leader on the championship ladder. But in the third round at Hamilton New Zealand, he missed the entire round after crashing in Qualifying.

It didn’t put his form off.

After winning races at Melbourne and Winton he was again paired with Lowndes for The Bathurst 1000. The Golden Duo performed magic once again. For the third time in a row they won the biggest race of the year, The Bathurst 1000.

That year Supercars also travelled to Bahrain for one of the rounds. No one had experience at this track. After winning at Bathurst and following up with 3 straight wins at Queensland’s Gold Coast he was in the best form ever. Once again the magic shone and he cleaned up in all three races.

Since Bahrain in 2008 Jamie Whincup has not been beaten at any Supercars event outside of Australia.

Except for Phillip Island, Jamie won at least 1 race in the 7 remaining rounds of the year.

By the end of the season his tally was 14 race wins out of 34 starts (this excludes Hamilton where he missed the entire round of 3 races). That is a 44.1% average win. He took the driver’s championship.

With stats like that people could see this was more than just beginner rookie enthusiasm. It was the coming of age of a race legend!

In 2009 Jamie Whincup ran the number 1 on his Team Vodafone Ford Falcon. The number 1 is honoured to the driver who wins the previous season.

He took the first 4 races in ’09 and managed to lead the championship from start to finish. This was his second championship win, earning them both in a row.

The 2010 season marked a change in cars for 888 from Ford to Holden. They started with two rounds overseas in Abu Dhabi and Bahrain. Jamie Whincup won the 4 out of 4 races to start the season.

He went on to do exceedingly well earning 10 pole positions and 14 podiums for the season, 9 of which were first place.

Even with such amazing results he unfortunately lost the championship to James Courtney. Incidentally, Courtney’s tally for the year was 1 pole position and 9 podiums, 5 of which were wins. Compared to Jamie’s 9 wins for the season it was the big point races where Courtney got ahead.

Jamie wasn’t going to let that happen again. In 2011 he earned 19 podiums of 28 races(67.9%), 10 of them were wins (35.7%). Of the 1824 laps he completed he was in the lead for 659 (36.1%). I’m sorry if this sounds over the top but to be in the lead of ALL THE RACES for the year more than 1/3 of the time, THAT IS AMAZING!

He won the 2011 championship 35 points ahead of teammate, Craig Lowndes. More noticeably he was 449 points ahead of Mark Winterbottom in 3rd place. It was Jamie’s 3rd championship title.

Jamie Whincup lost his dad David to Lymphoma cancer on the eve of the 2012 Supercars championship. He won the opening race for the season The Clipsal 500, as a tribute to his father.

Jamie cleaned up that year claiming his 4th championship title. It was another back-to-back title win. He took 24 podiums of 30 races (80%), 12 of which were 1st place (40%), 339 points ahead of his nearest rival Craig Lowndes.

So dear readers, are you getting the picture of why Jamie Whincup is my favourite driver of all time?

2012 Homebush: The first time I got to meet Jamie Whincup.

Jamie went on to win the 2013 championship making it his 3rd in a row and his 5th in total.

In 2014 Jamie catapulted to legendary status by winning his 6th championship title. That was his 4th in a straight row.

In 2016 another star-to-be joined the 888 Race Engineering team, Shane Van Gisbergen. The two worked well together. Van Gisbergen took the title that year, Jamie running second and Lowndes fourth. The trio at triple 8 were an amazing team.

2016 Sydney Motorsport Park (Eastern Creek) : The weekend of Jamie’s 100th career win.

2017 Jamie took back the title for his 7th time. This was won over a new upcoming star Scott McLaughlin.

2018 saw Scott McLaughlin take the title, but it was the 888 trio that filled the remaining top spots. Van Gisbergen was 2nd, Whincup 3rd and Lowndes 4th. Unfortunately, it was the final year of the trio as Lowndes retired at the end of the season.

2019, 2020 and 2021 ran much the same way where Van Gisbergen finally took his second title in 2021.

2021 was Jamie’s last fulltime season of racing in Supercars. He was awarded the Barry Sheene Medal (for being the best and fairest) for the 3rd time.

His career is highlighted by working with some of the best drivers to ever get behind the wheel, including his co-drivers:

  • Max Dumsney 2002
  • Mark Noske 2002
  • Garth Tander 2003
  • Alex Davison 2004
  • Jason Richards 2005
  • Craig Lowndes 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2019, 2020, 2021
  • Steve Owen 2010
  • Andrew Thompson 2011
  • Paul Dumbrell 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018.

Jamie Whincup has competed in 552 races, earning 92 poles, 124 first place wins of 267 podiums.

Of the 30,057 laps completed he was in the lead for 6962 (that is close to being in the lead ¼ of his professional career). That ain’t bad at all!

At just 38 years of age with 7 championships, his achievements include back-to-back titles for Ford and 4 straight titles for Holden, 4 Bathurst 1000 wins and countless other record holding achievements.

Jamie Whincup, congratulations on everything you have achieved during your supercars career. Best of luck for the future. You will be missed on the grid in 2022.

2021 Mid Year VLOG from my YouTube Channel. Watch to the end .. had a bit of fun 😉
Supercars

Repco Bathurst 1000 2021

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Hi to all you Supercars Fans around the world!

On the week from November 30th to December 5th, 2021 was the 61st running of The Bathurst 1000. It was the final race for the year and the biggest race of the year. The Bathurst 1000 is not only known in Australia but considered internationally as one of the toughest races in the category.

The new sponsor for the great race was Repco who have claimed the naming rights over previous year’s sponsors, Supercheap Auto. 

Usually the race includes international drivers but due to COVID-19 restrictions no overseas contestants were able or willing to come to Australia. Some notable drivers absent included, Greg Murphy and Richard Stanaway who were supposed to team up in a Boost Mobile Commodore and run with Murphy’s old number, car 51.

I’m also assuming it was to the relief of some local drivers that Scott McLaughlin wasn’t able to make it from the U.S., due to commitments in his Indy Cars maiden year.

It was also an emotionally filled last event for Roland Dane, Triple Eight Race Engineering founding member and team principal since 2003. His retirement from the position is opening the door to team driver and 7 time champion, Jamie Whincup. Jamie Whincup has now retired from full time racing after 20 years to take on this new role.

In honour of his achievements, Jamie Whincup was inducted into the Supercars Hall of Fame.

The Bathurst 1000 event is so huge that the preliminary sessions start taking place 5 days before the main event!

The results for the pre-race sessions were a mixed bag of this season’s fastest drivers. The only surprise were the following drivers weren’t in the mix; Season Champion Shane Van Gisbergen, highly accomplished long term driver Jamie Whincup and Anton de Pasquale (who has shown amazing speed and form in the last 4 events).

The pre-session results were as follows:

  • Cameron Waters was fastest in Practice 1
  • Lee Holdsworth was fastest in Practice 2
  • Cameron Waters was fastest in Practice 3
  • Chaz Mostert was fastest in Practice 4
  • Will Brown was fastest in Armour All Qualifying
  • Lee Holdsworth was fastest in Practice 5
  • Chaz Mostert was fastest in Practice 6
  • Brocq Feeney and Russell Ingall was fastest in the Warm Up

Finally the Sunday came and the 25 cars took their places on the grid just before 12:15pm.

Chaz Mostert and Lee Holdsworth (car 25) started on pole position. Anton de Pasquale and Tony Dalberto (car 11) were in P2 alongside them.

It was the co-drivers behind the wheel of both cars, Lee Holdsworth and Tony Dalberto.

In fact most of the co-drivers started the race except for Tim Slade and Mark Winterbottom.

I thought given that it was Jamie Whincup’s last race, he would have started behind the wheel but it was his co-driver & 7 times Bathurst winner, Craig Lowndes.

As they took off from the start line, Tony Dalberto to my surprise led into turn 1 from his position 2 on the grid. He held the lead until ‘The Chase’ then Lee Holdsworth assumed the lead.  He had .8 second lead and quickly had 1.1 second lead. Car 25 was a jet.

In that first lap the usual leap-frog of positions occurred. Garth Tander gained 3 spots and Craig Lowndes lost 2  after starting 5th and 11th on the grid respectively.

As they entered lap 2 the drivers settled down and had their first flying lap. Lee Holdsworth in car 25 was going so fast Garth Tander now in second place, had no chance in catching him.

By lap 3 car 20 driven by Scott Pye and co-driver James Golding came in early because of a mechanical drama. Scott Pye didn’t know what the problem was and the stop took up valuable time. When car 20 came back on track they were 1 lap down.

On lap 16 Craig Lowndes was a little bit sideways  but recovered easily. In the next lap he took the opportunity to hand over to Jamie Whincup. The timing was perfect, as Whincup left the pitlane he had clear track in front of him.

It wasn’t until lap 17 that the first safety car was deployed because Thomas Randle in car 44 was buried in the sand at turn 1.

While all the pit-stops were happening car 25 was still the pace setter. The cars behind seemed to still have no chance to catch the pole sitting car.

On lap 29 car 9 driven by Jack Perkins had a power steering failure going across the top of the mountain. Smoke was pouring out the back of the car and cars behind had to slow down to keep out of the hazardous haze. Car 9 headed straight for the pits.

On lap 49 Chaz Mostert was still leading the race but suddenly started slowing on Conrod Straight. Commentator, Mark Skaife thought it was a mechanical drama but after the unscheduled pit stop it was revealed to simply be a flat tyre. It was a cruel blow that dropped him down from 1st to 12th.

It was now Cam Waters (#6), Brodi Kostecki (#99) and Shane Van Gisbergen (#888) in the top 3 positions with a 16+ seconds lead over Anton de Pasquale (#11) in 4th place.

After a few laps Brodi Kostecki went into the pits leaving the top 3 positions to Waters, Gisbergen and Whincup.

Further back in the pack Dean Fiore (co-driver to Tod Hazelwood, #14) returned to the pits with warped rear brakes plus an existing muffler problem that they decided not to fix. So they had issues on the throttle issue and on the brakes.

On lap 57 Cam Waters also headed to the pits. It was now Champion Elect Shane Van Gisbergen at the front with teammate Jamie Whincup right behind him in position 2. Whincup had gained 9 places.

Meanwhile Mostert was making way through the mayhem and was at 6th position fighting for his comeback.

By lap 61 Whincup headed in to the pits to hand over to Craig Lowndes. Mostert had amazingly worked his way through the pack and now in 2nd place to Gisbergen albeit roughly 35 seconds behind.

On lap 64 it was time for Shane Van Gisbergen to head to the pits. Mostert in car 25 was back in the lead!

On lap 105 Holdsworth who had a 39+ second lead headed to the pits. It was then that the 2nd safety car was deployed. It wasn’t due to any great pile up or accident but because an Echidna was on the track! I can only assume that it could sense the ground vibrations from the rumbling V8s and thought it was ants burrowing and there was a big feast to be had. If it were truly ants, all I can say is they would be damned BIG ants! (What was the echidna thinking?)

Once the Australian Native left the track the safety car peeled off and the race went back to green with 52 laps to go.

Holdsworth had handed over #25 to Chaz Mostert just as the race went yellow. So on the return to green it was Gisbergen, Mostert and Whincup in the the top 3 places but the leading gaps had closed up.

Gisbergen (#888) was racing for the team and slowed down enough to make Mostert (#25) attempt a pass but that would leave him wide and Whincup could gain a spot. A very clever tactic.

Soon enough Mostert lost his patience and tried his luck. It was bad timing considering the upcoming turns. Whincup managed to slip in while Mostert was wide. Then Mosterts poor positioning allowed Anton de Pasquale to pass him.

Mostert fought back and passed Anton de Pasquale at turn 1 on the next lap.

It was lap 114 of 161 and the competition was so fierce. The Triple Eight drivers in the lead, Gisbergen and Whincup both did their fastest lap of the race with Chaz Mostert hot on their tail.

It was then that car 35 driven by Jayden Ojeda (Zane Goddard) hit the wall and the 3rd safety car for the race was deployed. All drivers headed to the pits.

On exit it was busier than a Woolworths parking lot on Saturday morning. Brodi Kostecki squeezed in ahead of Shane Van Gisbergen. Will Davison tried the same thing but coming in from the left wasn’t seen by Jamie Whincup and they made contact. As a result Davison received a 5 second pit lane penalty that he had to serve in his next and last pit stop.

When the race went back to green the fierce driving returned lead by Reynolds (#26), Mostert(#25) and Gisbergen (#888).

On lap 121 the second Matt Stone Racing car #34, Jake & Kurt Kostecki hit the tyre barrier at Forest Elbow (didnt hit a funny bone) bringing out the 4th safety car of the day. The car looked pretty messed up. Somehow Jake Kostecki managed to reverse the car out of the barrier and make it back to the pits unassisted.

With 22 laps remaining Anton de Pasquale came to a halt midway through ‘The Cutting’. He couldn’t get the gears to engage and the race returned to Yellow for the 5th time.

The lead was now in the hands of Mostert, Gisbergen and Waters. Whincup had dropped to 5th place.

On lap 144 (19 laps remaining) newcomer Brocq Feeney left the track at turn 10 and ended up in the sand pit with a right front wheel bent at an unholy angle. The 6th safety car was sent out. With such little time left ‘The Enforcer and the Kid’ would not be returning to the track. (Russel Ingall’s nickname is The Enforcer).

The race went back to green with 16 laps to go. It was now on to the finish line for young and old with all the gaps closed up due to the safety car.

Between the last 16 laps and 10 laps remaining Mostert had worked up a 2.654 second lead over the defending Bathurst Champion Shane Van Gisbergen.

Mostert was only managing to gain a few 10ths of a second on each lap.

With 7 laps to go Mostert had a 4.599 second lead over SVG. It was then that Mostert got his lucky break. Shane Van Gisbergen started slow. It was the worst possible timing to get a flat tyre on the front right. By the time he reached the pits he had dropped from 2nd place to 18th while the others managed to clock up another 2 laps. They were at lap 156 of 161. SVG must have been devastated to be taken from a sure podium finish to the back of the pack. Credit to him, they changed the tyre and he headed back out to complete the race.

With SVG out of the way Mostert had a 5+ second lead over Cam Waters #6 and Brodi Kostecki #99 a further 3.4+ seconds back. Mostert in his jet of a car was driving flawlessy.

Whincup in 4th place was fighting for a podium finish in his last race as a full-time driver. The pace was so demonic he just couldn’t make any gain on Kostecki. IN fact in those last laps the split remained almost static the whole time.

On the last lap Mostert’s lead enable him to drive at a slower pace ensuring there were no last second mistakes. He comfortbly crossed the finish line to the cheers of the crowd.

This was Mostert’s second Bathurst win since his last in 2014 and 10 years since the team Walkinshaw Andretti United had their last Bathurst Win. Co-driver Lee Holdsworth looked like he was going to puke as he scored his first Bathurst after 18 attempts in The Big Race.

Results for race 31

1st Chaz Mostert and Lee Holdsworth – Walkinshaw Andretti United.

2nd Cameron Waters and James Moffatt – Tickford Racing.

3rd Brodie Kostecki and David Russell – Erebus Motorsport.

4th Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes – Red Bull Ampol Racing.

Congratulations to Jamie Whincup on everything you have achieved during your amazing Supercars career, you should be so proud of yourself, best of luck for the future.

The next event is the Repco Newcastle 500 March 4th to 6th 2022.

Supercars

Beaurepairs Sydney Supernight 2021

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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.

Supercars

BP Ultimate Sydney Supersrint 2021

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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!!!!!

Supercars

Bathurst 2006

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Hi to all you Supercars Fans around the world!

It is still the ‘off season’ for Supercars so there are no races to review.

COVID – 19 is re-emerging as a health risk in the Sydney community bringing most things to a boring standstill.

As I once said in a previous V8-Log on my YouTube channel ‘COVID, COVID, COVID…. I’m Bored!!’

So to keep myself occupied and maybe info-tain my readers, I am doing a post covering the 2006 Bathurst 1000.

The 2006 Bathurst 1000 was run on October 8. It was a sombre moment as they moved into position to start the race. They left the front row of the grid vacant as a mark of respect to the ‘King of the Mountain’, Peter Brock or as most Aussies would know him, “Brocky” . Brocky was a living legend of the track and died tragically in the Targa West ’06 Rally one month prior on September 8.  This was the man who had been out on the track since the late 60’s, was 9 times winner of the Bathurst 1000 (amongst many other titles that are too great in number to mention here) and pretty much the face of Holden for 40 years.

That’s not to say there were no great drivers out on the track that day. Mark Skaife and Garth Tander started on pole position. Alongside was Jason Bright and Mark ‘Frosty’ Winterbottom.

As the race got underway Mark Skaife had a slipping clutch off the start line. When he got close to  the end of Mountain Straight he left the track, hitting the wall and damaging front and back of the car.  They were already out of the race on lap 1.

The drivers did 3 laps under safety car while car 2 (Skaife’s) got removed from mountain straight area.

On the restart Jason Bright was the race leader and the dominant car. During those opening laps the Jason Bright and Mark Winterbottom car was flying, it was just so fast.

Craig Lowndes was battling with Jason Richards for 2nd place. Greg Murphy was battling with his former teammate, Steven Richards in the Jack Daniels Racing, car 7.

Heading into the 06 Bathurst 1000 Craig Lowndes was the championship leader over Rick Kelly by 27 points.

Rick Kelly was battling with Steven Johnson for position 8 and 9.

Dean Canto was following Russell Ingall but couldn’t get by him.

Jason bright was leading until he got a flat spot on the front right tyre, then Craig Lowndes took the race lead and just took off.

On lap 22 he had a handy 4.1 second lead lead over Jason Richards in car 3 for Tasman Motorsport.

Skaife’s Holden Racing Team (HRT) teammate, Jim Richards had no luck either. On lap 25 he hit the wall coming out of ‘The Dipper’.

On the 2nd restart, Steven Johnson was running 2nd  but lost control on lap 28 and also hit the wall.

When the safety car came out for the 3rd time Craig Lowndes pitted to hand over to Jamie Whincup. The handover put them back in 22nd position.

The the pits were very busy with cars coming in but so badly damaged not going back out.

When the race restarted Cameron McConville was leading followed by Todd Kelly.

Around the middle of the 161 lap race, the main drivers were back behind the wheel.

On lap 90 Craig Lowndes did the fastest lap of the race.

When the co drivers got back in the cars Todd Kelly was leading.

The cars back in the pack seemed to have no hope of catching the race leaders; Todd Kelly, Jamie Whincup and James Courtney.

Towards the end of the race it was green until Jason Richards went off the track causing the 10th and final safety car deployment.

Soon after Paul Radisich rolled the Team Kiwi Holden Commordore, car 021.

Rick Kelly was chasing Crag Lowndes in the last laps but he just couldn’t find the opportunity to overtake. Craig Lowndes driving was flawless and kept his lead to the finish line.

Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup were the fist to receive the newly titled trophy, ‘The Peter Brock Trophy’.

Results for Bathurst 2006

1st Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup – Team Betta Electrical
2nd Rick Kelly and Todd Kelly – Toll HSV Dealer Team
3rd James Courtney and Glen Seton – Stone Brothers Racing

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Supercars

Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 2020 Supercars

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Hi to all you Supercars Fans around the world!

On the weekend of the 15th to the 18th of October, 2020 was the Grand Finale of the V8 Supercars season, the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000.

In the previous event Repco Supersprint The Bend, Scott McLaughlin was named ‘Champion Elect’ having enough championship points to be unreachable with only one event remaining for the season.

However, it was the Red Bull Holden Racing Team leading  Teams Championship ladder but were still within reach by the Shell V-Power Racing Team. So for Jamie Whincup, Shane Van Gisbergen and their co-drivers, Craig Lowndes and Garth Tander this event was make-or-break for the Teams Championship.

Regardless, for all teams the Bathurst 1000 is an incredibly gruelling race and is Australia’s biggest motor race of the year.

With that in mind the pre-race sessions were full of intense competition with some great performances. The results were:

  • Cameron Waters was fastest in Practice 1.
  • James Moffat was fastest in Practice 2.
  • Cameron Waters was fastest again in Practice 3.
  • Will Davison was fastest in Practice 4.
  • Scott McLaughlin was fastest in Practice 5.
  • Lee Holdsworth was fastest in the Armour All Qualifying.
  • Warren Luff was fastest in Practice 6.
  • Cameron Waters and Will Davison were fastest in Practice 7.
  • Cameron Waters was fastest again in the Armour all Top 10 Shootout earning pole position
  • Andre Heimgartner was fastest in the Warm U

So in Race 31, The Big Race and grand finale of the season Cameron Waters and Will Davison started on pole position with the formidable Champion Elect Scott McLaughlin alongside them.

Most of the co-drivers started the race except for Scott McLaughlin, Rick Kelly and Macauley Jones.

I was surprised the The Shell V-Power Racing Team started the race with Scott McLaughlin in the driver’s seat of car 17 but it may have been a last minute strategy when they earned P2 alongside pole position.

Craig Lowndes started the race in car 888 and was battling with Michael Caruso for position 7.

As they kicked off the 161 lap race Will Davison got the jump at first but then Scott McLaughlin soon overtook and led up mountain straight for the first time.

Unlike previous years there were no major incidents in the first lap, but it wasn’t long before the pressure started to show.

During lap 2 Macauley Jones had a problem with his drivers side door, the Brad Jones Racing team couldn’t get the door to stay closed on car 3. As he rounded corners the door was flying open! Of all the issues to have in this race! Race control issued a mechanical black flag requiring he return to the pits immediately. For whatever reason Macauley Jones went another lap before coming in which earned him a Drive Thru Penalty.

The Brad Jones Racing Team had to put a new drivers door on car 3 because the one they had on the car wouldn’t close.

Rick Kelly had a clutch problem with car 15 but put up with it during the opening stages.When Car 15 finaly came in for repairsthey put Dale Wood in the driver’s seat.

When the safety car was deployed Car 15 was able to be waved passed to get his lap back under the new safety car rules.

When Jamie Whincup took the wheel of car 888 from Craig Lowndes he was battling with Bodie Kostecki and Chaz Mostert in front and behind in cars 99 and 25. On lap 33 Jamie Whincup was racing through ‘The Cutting’, a particularly dangerous part of the track and lost control smashing into the concrete barrier.

The impact was huge and car 888 was now out of the race! Not only that but with a DNF Red Bull Holden Racing Team could not earn enough points to stay at the top of the Team’s Championship ladder. Rubbing further salt into the wound was the fact that Team’s Championship would now go to driver champion elect Scott McLaughlin’s team, Shell V-Power Racing Team.

On restart the race leader was Will Davison in car 6, and that’s when it started to rain.

At lap 50 Todd Hazelwood and Jordan Boys in car 14 were the next to leave the track.

Not long after on lap 62 Garry Jacobson and David Russell also left the track to keep the guys in car 50 some company for the duration of the race.

The next 65 laps didn’t see any major incidents and let the race continue.

In the middle of the race Garth Tander, co-driver to Shane Van Gisbergen in car 97 took the lead. Garth Tander’s years of experience were on show with supreme driving skills and flying like he had some Red Bull wings.

This is the Bathurst 1000 and Garth Tander, a three time winner was not going to give up a chance to make it his fourth.

Car 97 was still leading when he handed over the wheel to Shane Van Gisbergen, yet to win his first Bathurst 1000.

As they drivers all completed their mandatory 7 pit stops Shane Van Gisbergen was still holding the lead.  For all his efforts he could not shake Cameron Waters right behind him.

Every moment was tense as the race drew to a close. Any slip up and Cameron Waters would take advantage and Shane Van Gisbergen could kiss his 1st Bathurst win good-bye.

At lap 147 of 161 Bryce Fullwood and Kurt Kostecki in car 2 were stranded on the track with power steering dramas and the safety car was deployed. Shane Van Gisbergen must have been pleased to get a chance to breath from Cameron Waters incessant chase.

When the race resumed it was only 2 laps later at lap 149 that the safety car was deployed again as the two Jacks (Smith and Perkins) in car 4 left the track. I bet Shane Van Gisbergen was beginning to feel he would lose his form with these interruptions.

Soon enough they were back to full throttle. There were just a few laps remaining and Shane Van Gisbergen was no only holding his lead but squeezed a few seconds ahead of his pesky shadow Cameron Waters. At lap 155 the other Kostecki (Jake) and Zane Goddard were the cause of the safety car being deployed yet again.

You could feel the tension as the cars squeezed up in formation behind the safety car ready to finish those last few laps.

They resumed for the final time. Shane Van Gisbergen driving like a bat out of hell and Cameron Waters right on his tail. At every opportunity  he would pull out from behind the leader and show himself – ready to pounce at any opportunity.

Shane Van Gisbergen kept his cool and didn’t choke at the threat from Waters. In an incredibly tense  few laps  Shane Van Gisbergen managed to cross that finish line first to get his first Bathurst 1000.

 

Results for race 31

1st Shane Van Gisbergen and Garth Tander – Red Bull Holden Racing Team.

2nd Cameron Waters and Will Davison – Tickford Racing.

3rd Chaz Mostert and Warren Luff – Walkinshaw Andretti United.

The Supercars will be back at Bathurst in Feburary 2021.

 

 

 

Supercars

OTR Supersprint The Bend 2020 Supercars

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Hi to all you Supercars Fans around the world!

On the weekend of September 26th and 27th 2020 was the OTR Supersprint at Tailem Bend. It was the second of a double header. The previous race being run there the week before.

This event ran three races, each intended to be 32 laps.

It was a critical event for the season. For the two main contenders, Scott McLaughlin and Jamie Whincup it would be the deciding factor for the Driver’s Championship. They were close enough in points for Jamie Whincup to catch the current championship leader and take the year’s trophy.

In Race 28 Scott McLaughlin started on pole position, alongside him was Cameron Waters.

Race 28 was meant to be 32 laps but it was 31 due to the drivers having to do an extra formation lap. It was an unusual occurrence.

Scott McLaughlin performed a perfect start and got the jump over Cameron Waters into turn 1.

Once Scott McLaughlin took the lead it was hard for anybody else to catch him. He was fast, precise and faultless.

The drivers back  in the pack came in early  because they were getting held up in traffic.

Rick Kelly got turned around by Todd Hazelwood at turn 1 which put him to the back of the pack.

Scott Pye was up near the front so he stayed out longer.

Fabian Coulthard wanted to finish behind his teammate. He had a poor starting position of 15th but was taking as many places as possible.

In the middle of race Scott McLaughlin was driving confidently and holding his lead. Towards the end of the race Shane Van Gisbergen was on the chase and was giving Scott McLaughlin a hard time. However, Shane Van Gisbergen just couldn’t find the opportunity to take the lead and he simply ran out of time. Without fault Scott McLaughlin crossed the line first. Shane Van Gisbergen was only .6473 seconds behind. Cam Waters came in over 5 seconds later in third place.

Results for Race 28

1st Scott McLaughlin – Shell V-Power Racing Team

2nd Shane Van Gisergen – Red Bull Holden Racing Team

3rd Cameron Waters – Tickford Racing

In Race 29 Scott McLaughlin started on pole position again. Alongside him was teammate, Fabian Coulthard.

Fabian Coulthard got the jump and led into turn 1 for the first couple of laps before letting his teammate past and allowing him to control the race.

The Red Bull Holden Racing Team had a critical mishap during Jamie Whincup’s pit stop. It appeared that he hit the right hand wheel man’s rattle gun with the impact causing the car to drag the air line. The team was penalised 30 points and $1500 fine. However, Jamie Whincup was not fined or penalised himself.

The drivers knew that it was the 2nd last event of 2020 and everyone was out to crush the  leader.

In the middle of the race after such a great start, Fabian Coulthard had a DNF due to gear box dramas.

Towards the end of the race Scott McLaughlin held the lead and won his second race in the event. Now there was just one more chance for Jamie Whincup to keep in the running for the championship. Things were getting really tense.

Results for Race 29

1st Scott McLaughlin – Shell V-Power Racing Team
2nd Anton de Pasquale – Penrite Racing

3rd Cameron Waters – Tickford Racing

In Race 30 Scott McLaughlin earned himself his third pole position out of the three races at this event. The bastard looked unstoppable. Alongside him was Cameron Waters.

At the start of the race Cameron Waters amazingly got the jump on Scott McLaughlin and led into turn 1. Its not amazing that Cameron Waters got a great start because he is a great driver but when you are up against Scott McLaughlin, it’s pretty damned hard to take the lead from the start line.

The cars further back in the pack were trying to stay out of trouble. Nobody was interested in last minute contact and risk crucial points in the championship.

Fabian Coulthard who started in P5 was desperate to make up some places and finish 3rd on the posium. As it turned out everyone else wanted the same thing and the competition became fierce. As it turned out Fabian Coulthard dropped 3 places and finished 8th.

In the fierce competition James Courtney wildly lost control and left the track. It cost him dearly. He started in 4th position and finished 10th.

Cameron Waters was the race leader. Scott McLaughlin was on his tail and I am sure wanted make this 3 out of 3 wins for the weekend, but he just couldn’t find the opportunity. Cameron Waters was driving flawlessly. Scott McLaughlin knew even in 2nd place he would be the season’s ‘Champion elect’. He may have simply thought it may not be worth taking any risk with Jamie Whincup right behind him. He just needed to hold him off and get to the finish line safely.

Regardless of anything Cameron Water’s win was spectacular.

Results for Race 30

1st Cameron Waters – Tickford Racing

2nd Scott McLaughlin – Shell V-Power Racing Team

3rd Jamie Whincup – Red Bull Holden Racing Team

The next event is the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000. In 3 weeks time.

The Bathurst channel launches Monday October 12. On Foxsports506 at 12am.

 

 

 

Supercars

Repco Supersprint The Bend 2020 Supercars

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Hi to all you Supercars Fans around the world!

On the weekend of September 19th and 20th, 2020 was the Repco Supersprint The Bend.

Before I get into the event details, the hot news at the time of completing this article is Channel 7 made their formal announcement about their multi-year agreement to broadcast Supercars events (alongside fox sport) starting 2021.

This article on SpeedCafe.com has all the details.

Here is the video of the formal announcement on Channel 7. I really like the promo clip with lots of old footage that starts at 3m35s in.

So now, on with the race….

The results for the pre-race sessions were as follows:

  • Practice – Rookie Drivers Only – Macauley Jones (Team CoolDrive)
  • Practice 1 – Shane Van Gisbergen (Red Bull Holden Racing Team)
  • Practice 2 – Fabian Coulthard (Shell V-Power Racing Team)
  • Armor All Qualifying & Top 15 Shootout – Chaz Mostert (Mobil 1 TM Appliances Online)

In Race 25 Chaz Mostert claimed his first pole position under his new team, Walkinshaw Andretti United. Alongside him on the grid was Scott McLaughlin.

Scott McLaughlin got the jump over Chaz Mostert while Jamie Whincup moved up to 2nd at turn 1. Chaz Mostert had a bad start and dropped from 1st to 4th.

Jamie Whincup wanted to get down the inside of Scott McLaughlin at turn 18 but things didn’t go to plan and both championship contenders left the track. Jamie Whincup copped a 15 second time penalty after his pit stop which put him way down in position order.

The weather was hot and as the cars came in to pit a lot had heat blisters and flat spots on their tyres. No good at all. Driving strategies needed to be implemented to avoid tyres disintegrating out on the track.

In the middle of the race as Scott McLaughlin was coming back up through the field before making contact with Car 5 of Lee Holdsworth. The incident earned Scott McLaughlin a 15 second time penalty which was applied to his time at the end of the race. So even though he physically crossed the finish 3rd he ended up receiving 14th place. Now the two main contenders (McLauglin and Whincup) battling for the championship title were way back in the field.

Shane Van Gisbergen had the lead well in hand by the middle of the race.

However, his early pit stop in the race meant towards the end he was on some pretty well worn tyres. He couldn’t get the grip or speed needed and dropped from 1st to 9th.

Towards the end of the race drivers were changing positions like hot tyres. With the heavy weight drivers pushed back in the results order due to penalties it was Fabian Coulthard (up 4 spots), Jack le Brocq (up 5 spots) and Bryce Fullwood (up 10 spots) who took the podium. It was most unexpected.

Results for Race 25

1st Fabian Coulthard – Shell V-Power Racing Team
2nd Jack Le Brocq – Tickford Racing
3rd Bryce Fullwood – Walkinshaw Andretti United

In Race 26 Scott McLaughlin started on pole position, alongside him was Shane Van Gisbergen.

Scott McLaughlin got the jump but then Shane Van Gisbergen took the race lead.

Once Scott McLaughlin lost the lead he knew not to make contact with car 97.

During the opening laps Shane Van Gisbergen held his race lead while the cars further back in the pack were trying to move up the field. The only time Shane Van Gisbergen lost the lead was when he took the compulsory pit stop.

When Jamie Whincup took to the pits the car didn’t go up on the jacks due to problems with the air spike. This killed his pit stop time and his ability to close in on the Championship title.

When Shane Van Gisbergen rejoined the track after his stop, he made contact with the back of Scott McLaughlin’s car. It created a very tense moment because there appeared to be a lot of damage to Scott McLaughlin’s car. Thanksfully (for Red Bull fans) Shane Van Gisbergen wasn’t penalised.

The drivers back in the pack were 3 wide and that opened the door for Chaz Mostert who got down the inside of Andre Heimgartner.

Shane Van Gisbergen held fast to his lead and was not going to make any mistakes for the other drivers to take advantage of. He crossed the finish line with Andre Heimgartner and Scott McLaughlin hot on his tail.

Results for Race 26

1st Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Holden Racing Team
2nd Andre Heimgartner – Kelly Racing
3rd Scott McLaughlin – Shell V-Power Racing Team

In race 27 Scott McLaughlin started on pole position for the second time this weekend. Alongside him was Chaz Mostert.

At the start of the race Fabian Coulthard took Chaz Moster’s place in 2nd. Shell V-Power Racing were running 1st and 2nd.

Meanwhile there was a major incident further back in the pack. Shane Van Gisbergen turned Andre Heimgartner and caused a dominos effect with a bunch of other cars. What a mess! There were multiple cars damaged. James Courtney was lucky not to roll car 44. Mark Winterbottom was out of the race due to too much damage.

Shane Van Gisbergen copped a 15 second time penalty for hiss mistake.

In the middle of the race Scott McLaughlin and teammate, Fabian Coulthard were running 1st and 2nd.

They held their positions all the way to the finish line with Jamie Whincup trying his best to keep up in 3rd position.

Results for Race 27

1st Scott McLaughlin – Shell V-Power Racing Team
2nd Fabian Coulthard – Shell V-Power Racing Team
3rd Jamie Whincup – Red Bull Holden Racing Team

Things are really hotting up in the championship. Th gap between Shell V-Power Racing and Red Bull Holden Racing Teams is reduced to a mere 104 points. However, Scott McLaughlin has slightly increased his points to 215 over Jamie Whincup.

Next up is the the second of the double header at ‘The Bend’ , The OTR Supersprint. It will also be the 2nd last event of 2020. The final event will be The Bathurst 1000.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Supercars

Corestaff Darwin Supersprint

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Hi to all you Supercars Fans around the world!

On the weekend of August 22nd and 23rd, 2020 was the Corestff Darwin Supersprint.

Three races of 38 laps each were run.

In Race 16 Jamie Whincup started on pole position. Alongside was Scott McLaughlin.

When the race got underway Scott McLaughlin led into turn 1 with Jamie Whincup in hot persuit trying to regain his number one position.

Scott McLaughlin’s teammate, Fabian Coulthard was back in the pack having a poor grid starting position of 14th. To avoid any double stacking Fabian pitted early.

Meanwhile, there was an intense battle between Todd Hazelwood and Rick Kelly for 9th and 10th.

Shane Van Gisbergen who started 11th on the grid, seemed to be struggling to keep up with cars in front of him. It was later revealed he just couldn’t get the straight line speed expected. After the race the team couldn’t resolve the issue and decided to change the engine overnight.

Mark Winterbottom and Scott Pye had a great weekend for team 18.

By the middle of the race it was evident that Scott McLaughlin was unbeatable.

He held strong to his lead and crossed the finish line approximately 2.5 seconds ahead of rival, Jamie Whincup. Cameron Waters came in third more than 12 seconds later. Nick Percat had a good run finishing 5th having started from 9th. The other big gain was from his teammate, Todd Hazelwood who started 23rd on the grid and finished 7 places up in 16th. A great result for Brad Jones Racing.

Results for Race 16

1st Scott McLaughlin – Shell V Power Racing Team
2nd Jamie Whincup – Red Bull Holden Racing Team
3rd Cameron Waters – Tickford Racing

In race 17 Scott McLaghlin earned himself another pole position for the season. Alongside him was Shane Van Gisbergen.

Once again Scott McLaughlin got the jump and led into turn 1.

The cars further back in the pack couldn’t come into the pit lane until at least lap 5.

Fabian Coulthard came in early to ensure he didn’t double stack with teammate and race leader, Scott McLaughlin.

Nick Percat also came in early because he was getting held up by traffic.

Shane Van Gisbergen and Scott Pye were battling fiercely for 2nd and 3rd position.

Lee Holdsworth who had started from 11th position was on the charge. It was evident things were going right for him and he wanted a shot at a podium position if not, then at least be in the top 10. Regardless of his efforts (and they were good) he wasn’t able to get it done and finished in 8th position.

Once again by the middle of the race it appeared that Scott McLaughlin had secured himself in the lead.

Scott McLaughlin scored his second win for the weekend and crossed the finish line 9.6874 seconds ahead of his rival Shane Van Gisbergen.

Shane Van Gisbergen managed to win the battle against Scott Pye by the thinnest margin – .2449 seconds. So the race actually finished in the order that they started on the grid.

Results for Race 17

1st Scott McLaughlin – Shell V Power Racing Team
2nd Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Holden Racing Team
3rd Scott Pye – Team 18

In Race 18 Shane Van Gisbergen started on pole position. Alongside him was Scott McLaughlin.

Again Scott McLaughlin in car 17 led into turn 1. This was the third time out of three races for the weekend that car 17 took the lead off the start.

When I saw Scott McLaughlin lead off the line I knew he was going to win. He was having a great weekend.

Rick Kelly was trying to hold off Fabian Coulthard but it couldn’t be done.

Andre Heimgartner was further back in the pack then he wanted to be but didn’t seem to be able to make much headway.

By the time all the pit stops were complete Scott McLaughlin was once again the race leader.

He was just too fast and again kept increasing his leading gap. He crossed the finish line 13.8356 seconds ahead of closest rival, Nick Percat. Scott Pye followed in at 3rd just under a second later.

It was an increadible result for Scott McLaughlin earning 3 out of 3 wins.

Results for race 18

1st Scott McLaughlin – Shell V Power Racing Team
2nd Nick Percat – Brad Jones Racing
3rd Scott Pye – Team 18

Supercars

Beteasy Darwin Triple Crown

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Hi to all you Supercars Fans around the world!

On the weekend of the 15th and 16th of August 2020 was the Beteasy Darwin Triple  Crown.

In Race 13 Scott McLaughlin started on pole position. Alongside him was Jamie Whincup.

Jamie Whincup led into turn 1. While the cars behind were setting their race pace.

Jamie Whincup kept the lead for the first few laps. An error saw him run wide at turn 5 and Mark Winterbottom stole the lead.

Later Rick Kelly made contact with Jack Le Brocq and both left the track. When Rick Kelly rejoined he made contact with the Matt Stone Racing car driven by Jake Kostecki. Jake Kostecki ended up bogged in the sand and lost his rear wing requiring the safety car to be deployed. Jake Kostecki was now out of the race having only completed 3 laps. Rick Kelly received a 15 second penalty.

On the restart, Scott McLaughlin tried to pass before the control line. This error earned him a 15 second penalty.

Later Jamie Whincup also earned himself a 15 second time penalty when leaving the pits. Mark Dutton, car controller (& team manager) admitted to making a mistake in terms of letting Jamie Whincup go too early.

These penalties changed the dynamics of the race.

At the end of the race the big surprise was Anton de Pasquale came across the line first and scored his first Supercars win. When the race time penalties were applied, Jamie Whincup was dropped from second place to 17th and Scott McLaughlin dropped to 20th.

Results for Race 13

1st Anton de Pasquale –Erebus Motorsport
2nd James Courtney – Tickford Racing
3rd Scott Pye – Team 18

In race 14 Scott McLaughlin started on pole position and alongside was Fabian Coulthard.

Fabian Coulthard got the jump on his teammate and led into turn 1. During the opening laps Scott McLaughlin was trying to to pass his teammate but he just couldn’t get it done.

Meanwhile, the drivers back in the pack were trying to keep out of trouble.

After Shane Van Gisbergen completed his stop he re joined in front Anton de Pasquale.

Chaz mostert was trying to pass Anton de Pasquale but things were too tight..

Scott McLaughlin became the effective race leader with cars still to pit.

In the middle of the race Scott McLaughlin had maintained his race lead and was being followed closely by Jamie Whincup .

Unlike the previous race, there were no 15 second time penalties issued.

The leaders were spread apart but they held strong to their position to the end of the race. Scott McLaughlin was over one second ahead of Jamie Whincup who was trailed by Fabian Couthard nearly five seconds later. Shane Van Gisbergen was more than five seconds behind that.

Result for Race 14

1st Scott McLaughlin – Shell V Power Racing Team
2nd Jamie Whincup – Red Bull Holden Racing Team
3rd Fabian Coulthard – Shell V Power Racing Team

In Race 15 Scott McLaughlin started on pole position and alongside him was Jamie Whincup.

At the start of race 15 Scott McLaughlin got the jump and led into turn 1 while every body else was setting their race pace.

While the race leaders stayed longer, the cars further back came in to get out of the traffic.

Jamie Whincup was the effective race leader because their was still cars to stop.

After Scott McLaughlin had a tyre change the cold tyres gave Jamie Whincup the advantage and the lead.

Todd Hazelwood was trying not to get a badly damaged car because in race 13 Brad Jones Racing received some heavy duty damage.

Their was contact between Jack Smith and Jake Kostecki.

Fabian Coulthard had to avid making the same mistake backed off to not hit Jamie Whincup as he tried to take the lead.

In the middle of the race no one else could catch the three leading drivers; Jamie Whincup, Scott McLaughlin and Shane Van Gisbergen.

Where the previous race had a podium finish with Shell V Power Racing in 1st and 3rd position with Redbull Holden in the middle, this race Red Bull Holden Racing got their own back and held the 1st and 3rd positions with Scott McLaughlin in between.

With this win for Jamie Whincup he has now rounded off his career wins to 120. What a great achievment.

Results for Race 15

1st Jamie Whincup – Red Bull Holden Racing Team
2nd Scott McLaughlin – Shell V Power Racing Team
3rd Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Holden Racing Team

The next race will be in just one week on August 22 and 23, the Corestaff Darwin Supersprint. Just can’t wait!