Tag Archives: Fabian Coulthard

Post Race Report, Supercars

Penrite Oil Sandown 500 2019 Supercars

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Hi to all you Supercars fans around the world!

On the weekend of the 8th to the 10th of November 2019 was the Penrite Oil Sandown 500.

Results for the pre – race sessions were as follows:

  • Garth Tander was fastest in practice 1 for co-drivers
  • David Reynolds was fastest in Practice 2
  • Craig Lowndes was fastest in Practice 3
  • Scott Pye & Warren Luff were fastest in the warm up for the Sandown 500.
  • Scott McLaughlin was fastest in Practice 4 & Armour All Qualifying for Race 28
  • Craig Lowndes won Race 28
  • Jamie Whincup won Race 29

Before the race on Sunday the Supercars community at Sandown paid tribute to the life of Mike Raymond, who passed away a few days earlier at the age of 76. Mike Raymond was most well known as a commentator in the late 80s, early 90s. He gave so much to the sport, our condolences to his family and all that knew him. If anyone has a good memory to share about Mike Raymond please post it on my Supercars Facebook Fan Page. I am sure others would love to hear it. https://www.facebook.com/williamsperfectride/

At the start of the 500 kilometre 161 lap race Craig Lowndes started on pole position, alongside him was Bryce Fullwood from the Dunlop Super 2 Series.

All the co-drivers bar Scott Pye started behind the wheel for the race on Sunday. I guess this is part of the strategy as the co-drivers have to do a minimum of 54 laps and can only do a maximum 107 laps.

Jack Smith was behind the wheel co-driving with Todd Hazelwood in his debut at the Enduro’s.

Both Alex Premat (co-driver for Scott McLaughlin) and Garth Tander (co-driver for Shane Van Gisbergen) started in positions 24th and 25th. These two cars are normally at the front of the grid. Garth Tander’s positioning was caused by Shane Van Gisbergen unable to complete the ‘main driver’ race on Saturday due to to a spin off track from a poorly timed takeover with Anton de Pasquale.

Alex Premat was sentenced to the back of the grid due to officials finding Scott McLaughlin’s engine was over-specced dating back to Bathurst. Quite a drama. If you have a point of view on this please feel free to put it up for discussion on my Supercars Facebook Fan Page.

Without surprise the experienced Craig Lowndes got the jump on Bryce Fullwood off the start line. Further back in the grid 3 cars stalled on the green light causing a fair bit of havoc.

Alex Davison was in one of the cars that stalled and was extremely lucky not to be collected by the cars just behind him.

At the end of the opening lap Tony Dalberto got turned around by Richard Muscat and found himself at the very back of the pack.

Luke Youlden in car # 9 received damage and was missing the rear wing. When he got back to the pits he knew that the day was over. With only 30 laps completed it must have been a big blow for him and his main driver, David Reynolds.

I was actually surprised that Dale Wood and Luke Youlden managed to limp their cars back to the pits. They looked in very poor shape.

Later in the race there was contact between Michael Caruso and Jake Kostecki. This was a really messy situation. It was when Jake Kostecki was merging from the pit lane into the fast lane. It appeared he was unaware that Caruso was coming down the fast lane. Usually the car controller gives the driver warning to yield over the comms when merging back onto the track.

Kostecki was able to continue the race but Michael Caruso’s front left wheel was now at a strange looking angle. With this damage he had to complete a full lap at a slower in order to come back around to the pits.

It merge was deemed as unsafe and the Kostecki Brothers Racing team were issued a drive through penalty.

In the middle of the race the Red Bull Holden Racing Team were running 1st & 2nd. If they could maintain their lead to the end of the race it would also place them at the top of the Team’s Championship ladder. The pressure was on!

But as luck would have it, with only 10 laps to go and in the lead, Shane Van Gisbergen’s car lost a bolt and smoke was coming out of the right rear. He was forced to call into the pits which dropped him from 1st to 17th. Shane Van Gisbergen & co-driver Garth Tander must have been gutted. They had started from the back of the grid in position 24 and worked their way into the lead. That is pretty amazing but it wold have also been Shane Van Gisbergen’s first win at Sandown (and a second win at Sandown for Garth Tander)

It was lucky for the Red Bull Team that Jamie Whincup was just behind Shane Van Gisbergen and able to take the lead for the team. Once he was told that his teammate Shane Van Gisbergen had to pit he knew he had to hold the lead to the end.

This was not difficult for Jamie Whincup and he came across the line first.

It brings Jamie Whincup’s career win total to 117 and Craig Lowndes win total to 110.

However, Shane Van Gisbergen slipping back to 17th meant they only closed the Team Championship points trail from 132 to 116. I’m sure it will be their inspiration to ‘go hard’ in the coming last race of the season, The Newcastle 500.

Results for Race 30

1st Jamie Whincup & Craig Lowndes – Red Bull Holden Racing Team.
2nd Chaz Mostert & James Moffatt – Supercheap Auto Racing Team.
3rd Lee Holdsworth & Thomas Randle – Bottle O Racing Team.
Congratulations to Jack Smith who will be making his full time Virgin Australia Supercars Championship debut in 2020. Read about it in the link: https://www.speedcafe.com/2019/11/13/bjr-confirms-smith-in-expanded-four-car-2020-line-up/

Please feel free to comment on how Sandown went via my Facebook Fanpage.

https://www.facebook.com/williamsperfectride/

 

Post Race Report, Supercars

Vodafone Gold Coast 600 2019 Supercars

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Hi to all you Supercars fans around the world!

On the weekend of the 25th to the 27th of October was the Vodafone Gold Coast 600.

Pre-race sessions:

  • Jamie Whincup was fastest in Practice 1.
  • Garth Tander was fastest in Practice 2 for co-drivers.
  • Cameron Waters was fastest in practice 3 the season was red flagged due to a lot of water on the track.
  • Chaz Mostert was fastest in Armour All Qualifying.
  • Scott McLaughlin was the fastest in the Armour All top ten shootout.

In Race 26 Alex Premat started on pole position alongside him was Craig Lowndes.

At the start of the 102 lap race Craig Lowndes got the jump off the start line. Alex Premat stalled his car losing his number 1 position on the grid which put the championship leading car back into 2nd off the start.

All of the co-driver’s started the race behind the wheel except main game driver. Jack Le Brocq.

During the opening stages it got overcrowded in the S-bends. In order to avoid making contact with other cars eight drivers were forced to short cut the circuit and drove straight over the chicanes. Race Control issued warnings to them about having all four wheels out of track bounds and short cutting the circuit but they didn’t penalise anyone at that stage.

Thomas Randle who was making his debut in the V8-Supercars Championship as co-driver for Lee Holdsworth showed his inexperience and held up Michael Caruso. Eventually the pass was made and he was lucky not to be penalised. Even commentator Mark Skaife said that Thomas Randle should have let Michael Caruso by a lot earlier than he did.

Mark Winterbottom had a problem with his car which made him have to re visit the pit lane to have the problem sorted out.

Fabian Coulthard was watching the opening stages race from the garage while Tony Dalberto was behind the wheel doing his minimum 34 laps required by all co-drivers. I’m sure Fabian Coulthard’s heart must have skipped a beat when Dalberto made contact Jack Perkins. Luckily it wasn’t major and both continued without stopping.

By the middle of the race Jamie Whincup was effectively leading. The cars ahead of him only lead because they had not perform their second pit stop.

Jamie Whincup was not going to blow this opportunity. He maintained his lead all the way to the finish line. Shane Van Gisbergen was on his tail pushing him along. This was a great result for the Triple Eight team and the only time this year to get a 1st & 2nd in a race.

As co-driver to Jamie Whincup, Craig Lowndes statistics breach 1000 laps of lead for all combined races. A momentous occasion for such a legend.

Results for Race 26

1st Jamie Whincup & Craig Lowndes – Red Bull Holden Racing Team.
|2nd Shane Van Gisbergen & Garth Tander – Red Bull Holden Racing Team.
3rd Scott McLaughlin & Alex Premat – Shell V Power Racing Team.

In Qualifying for race 27 Shane Van Gisbergen was fastest and then again in the Armour All top ten shootout.

Scott McLaughlin did not take part in this race at all because he crashed in Qualifying.

As co-driver for Shane Van Gisbergen, Garth Tander started on pole position. Alongside him was Craig Lowndes, co-driver for Jamie Whincup.

As they started the 102 lap race Craig Lowndes got the jump on Garth Tander but then Garth Tander took the lead and held position.

On the opening there was an accident between Ash Walsh, Will Brown, Todd Hazelwood and Dean Canto.

Garth Tander led his opening stint until it was time to pit and hand over to Shane Van Gisbergen.

James Courtney’s driver’s swung open. He tried to close it but at the next turn it swung open again. He faught with the door but it just wouldn’t close. He ended up getting a Mechanical Black Flag meaning he was forced into the pits for the team to tape it shut.

By the middle of the race Shane Van Gisbergen was the effective race leader with cars in front of him yet to complete their 2nd pit stops.

It was looking good again for the Triple Eight Team.

In the closing stages Jamie Whincup had fresh rubber on and grip to his advantage but he just fell short on getting another race win for 2019. It was his teammate Shane Van Gisbergen who crossed the line first.

It was another 1st and 2nd for the Red Bull Holden Racing Team for the weekend.

Results for Race 27

1st Shane Van Gisbergen & Garth Tander – Red Bull Holden Racing Team.
2nd Jamie Whincup & Craig Lowndes – Red Bull Holden Racing Team.
|3rd David Reynolds & Luke Youlden – Erebus Motorsport.

The next event is the Penrite Oil Sandown 500 on the 8th to the 10th of November 2019.

Please feel free to comment on how the Gold Coast event was.

https://www.facebook.com/williamsperfectride/

 

Post Race Report, Supercars

Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 2019 Supercars

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Hi to all you Supercars fans around the World!

checkout my pre vlog below. Its also available on my youtube channel.

On the weekend of the 10th to the 13th of October, 2019 was the 59th running of the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000. This is locally known as “The Great Race” and is the most widely viewed motorsport race in Australia and internationally renowned. There is always a hyped up vibe when this endurance   is on and it’s always exciting.

In the Pre-race sessions leading up to big event there we a few surprising results.

In Practice 1 Jamie Whincup was fastest. The session was temporarily stopped (red flagged) when Macauley Jones hit the wall at the cutting. After being towed off the track he was obliged to sit out the rest of the session. That is the penalty for causing a Red Flag in the practice sessions.

Practice 2 was a co-driver session. James Moffatt was fastest. Yet again the red flag was on display, this time for Luke Youlden who hit wall the between Reid Park and McPhillamy Park.

Scott McLaughlin was fastest in Practice 3.

Practice 4 was another co-driver session and Will Brown was fastest.

Scott McLaughlin was fastest in Practice 5 and then in the Armour All Qualifying.

Will Davison was fastest in Practice 6

Chaz Mostert was fastest in Practice 7

In the warm up session on the morning of the race, Fabian Coulthard & Tony Dalberto were fastest.

By 11:30am the race was ready to begin. The cars were all lined up on the starting grid and the tension was building. All of a sudden there was an emergency call out from one of the cars. Brodie Kostecki of Kostecki Brothers Racing was in trouble. The cockpit was filling with carbon monoxide fumes and his helmet’s circulation fan had come loose. He was immediately rushed to medical centre and checked out by the official Supercars doctor, Dr Carl Le. The car was then towed off the grid. They were given dispensation by officials and were able to rejoin the race later.

After this delay the race could finally begin.

Scott McLaughlin was sitting in Pole Position with Chaz Mostert alongside him. This was the second time Scott McLaughlin had earned pole position for the Bathurst 1000. The first time was in 2017.

I was quite surprised that most of the main drivers started and only a couple of co-drivers started the race.

As they took off for the 161 lap 1,000 km race, Scott McLaughlin got the jump into turn 1 and led up mountain straight.

Craig Lowndes did the opening stint for car 888 as part of their strategy. He tried to get up the inside of Will Davison at turn 1 but the pass wasn’t able to be done cleanly and he pulled back. This was OK because he, like all the other drivers knew there was a long way to go.

On that first lap as they got to ‘The Cutting’ Tim Slade was on the outside of Scott Pye. The Cutting is an impossible turn to pass on and Time Slade left the track and hit the wall. The Vodafone Safety Car was deployed to remove the car from the track. It was bad luck for the Brad Jones Racing team. One of their two cars was already out of the race on lap 1. It must have been a massive disappointment for co-driver Ash Walsh to not get a chance to drive in the most coveted event of the year.

After this incident there was no safety car deployed for the next 100 laps.

As the race continued the cars that started further back in the pack came in early to get their first of 7 pit stops out of the way. The leading cars stayed out to make use of the clear track and gain position.

I was surprised how quick Scott McLaughlin and Chaz Mostert was in the opening stages of the race.

In the middle of the race Alex Premat was leading the race in his co-drivers stint. He had a massive lockup on the front right wheel at ‘The Chase’ which caused him go off the track. This allowed Chaz Mostert and Jamie Whincup to move from 2nd and 3rd to 1st and 2nd positions. Although he lost position I couldn’t believe that Alex Premat managed to keep his #17 Mustang straight and not spin.

For the closing stage of the race it’s normal strategy to get main drivers back in the car. For Lowndes and Tander, who were for the first time in their careers acting as co-drivers, it must have been nerve wracking to watch from the sidelines and not be behind the wheel.

When the main drivers jumped back in they needed to conserve fuel to get to the end of the race. Once again the spotlight was on Brodie Kostecki. He hit the wall going up the hill out of The Cutting and the race went to ‘Yellow’ as the Safety Car was deployed and the car was recovered and returned to the pits.

Oil Soak had to be spread on the track to absorb the oil lost from Kostecki’s car. It meant other drivers couldn’t use the racing line coming out of The Cutting at the risk of taking a slide.

At this point of the race, Jamie Whincup was the leading car cruising behind the safety car and saving fuel.

Soon after the race went back to green, at lap 135 the car of Indy drivers Alexander Rossi and James Hinchcliffe left the track and got stuck in the sand. Once again the safety car was deployed and the car was towed out but still able to re-join the race track.

It was during this incident that the biggest controversy in history of the Bathurst 1000 occurred. Jamie Whincup in the lead and Scott McLaughlin in 2nd place were told to press on. 888 instructed Jamie Whincup to head into the pits to take the opportunity to top up on fuel. Fabian Coulthard in third place was instructed to slow down. This held the rest of the cars on the track as they were unable to pass while the race was still under yellow. It was deemed by officials as a purposeful tactic to let his teammate, Scott McLaughlin continue in the lead without any contenders. The unsporting manoeuvre earned Fabian Coulthard a drive through penalty. In the following week this incident blew up into a massive controversy of how the team and Scott McLaughlin as the race winner should be penalised. Many, including Erebus Team Manager, Barry Ryan, have called for Scott McLaughlin to be stripped of his title.

Just one lap short of the race finish, at lap 160 the Safety Car was again deployed. This time it was Andre Heimgartner of Nissan Motorsport. The officials didn’t want to delay the race or have it finish safety car, yellow so they tucked his car in behind barriers till the end of the race.

This gave the leaders a 1 lap dash to the finish line. There just wasn’t opportunity in that last lap for anyone to take the lead of Scott McLaughlin.

The last time the pole sitter won the Bathurst 1000 was Garth Tander and Will Davison back in 2009.

Results for race 25

1st Scott McLaughlin & Alex Premat – Shell V Power Racing Team.
2nd Shane Van Gisbergen & Garth Tander – Red Bull Holden Racing Team.
3rd James Courtney & Jack Perkins – Walkinshaw Andretti United (started 18th gaining 15 places to finished 3rd).
4th Jamie Whincup & Craig Lowndes – Red Bull Holden Racing Team.

The next event is the Vodafone Gold Coast 600 25th to the 27th of October 2019.

Feel free to give me your opinion on how the Bathurst event went via my facebook Fanpage.

https://www.facebook.com/williamsperfectride/

 

 

 

https://www.velocitynews.co.nz/news/confirmed-mclaughlin-keeps-bathurst-1000-win-coulthard-and-djrtp-penalized?fbclid=IwAR1ycPBzMsGabevwrSlNZIRDhVdiMwTnJozSqCi-8Qqsx8Q8iidhjZHZKu0

 

https://www.speedcafe.com/2019/10/18/grm-confirms-supercars-exit/

Supercars

The Bend Supersprint 2019 Supercars

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Hi to all you Supercars fans around the world!

On the weekend of the 23rd to the August 2019 was The Bend Supersprint.

This is the second year that Tailem Bend, South Australia played host to a V8 Supercars event.

It was also a milestone for Will Davison making his 200th championship round start and Triple 8 marking their 500th Supercars race.

As part of the preparations for the biggest event of the year The Bathurst 1000, the co-drivers had their own practice session. Thomas Randle was the fastest co-driver in this practice.

Then Scott McLaughlin once again proved his invincibility by being fastest  in Practice 1, 2 and 3.

Chaz Mostert earned himself the Pole position for Race 21 being fastest in the Armour All Qualifying.

In race 21 Scott McLaughlin lined up next to Chaz Mostert in the pole position.

At the start of 24 lap race, Chaz Mostert originally took the lead off the start line but then Scott McLaughlin took him and led into turn 1.

During the opening lap there was contact between Will Davison, Todd Hazelwood and Simona De Silvestro. All 3 cars suffered damage but managed to get back the pits under their own power but all received NC’s (Not Complete). It appeared they all felt there was no point returning to track  due to the race being so short, only 24 laps.

By the middle of the race the three race leaders appeared uncatchable;  Scott McLaughlin, Chaz Mostert and Anton de Pasquale.

From that moment Scott McLaughlin set out to prove just how fast he was and stretched his lead on the other two. He crossed the finish line nearly 8 seconds ahead of Chaz Mostert and just over 25 seconds ahead of Anton de Pasquale. It was an incredible finish.

Results for race 21

1st Scott McLaughlin – Shell V Power Racing Team.
2nd Chaz Mostert – Supercheap Auto Racing.
3rd Anton de Pasquale – Erebus Motorsport.

 In race 22 Scott McLaughlin started on pole position, alongside him was Will Davison.

At the start of 41 lap race Will Davison got the jump and led into turn 1.

Scott McLaughlin followed Will Davison for most of the opening stint and wasn’t able to to get by him.

I thought that Will Davison looked on track to claim his first race win for 2019.

In an effort to claim his second race for the year, Jamie Whincup also tried to pass Will Davison but couldn’t get the job done.

Will Davison made his first mistake, locking up his tyres he almost when off the track. I thought he was going to lose race positioning but somehow he held on to the lead. It honestly surprised me.

Jamie Whincup then dropped a couple of spots. It was still early on he knew there was a long way to go to the finish line.

Rick Kelly was trying to keep up with his teammates but it wasn’t his day and fell further back into the pack.

In the middle of the race Scott Mclaughlin was still the race leader and looking good for another race win.

Towards the end of the race no one could catch Scott Mclaughlin.

In the middle of the race Will Davison had an air box fire on pit entry. Although he managed to get back out on the track it had slowed him down. Now Scot McLaughlin had the lead with Chaz Mostert in hot pursuit.

Scott McLaughlin was unbeatable and held his lead to the finish line followed by Will Davison and then Chaz Mostert.  Who can stop Scott McLaughlin’s winning run?

The teams’ cars and equipment will be going to New Zealand via a boat because the its too expensive to fly everything to New Zealand by plane. The drivers of course will be flying in.

Results for race 22

1st Scott McLaughlin – Shell V Power Racing Team.
2nd Will Davison – 23 Red Racing.
3rd Chaz Mostert – Supercheap Auto Racing.

The event is the ITM Auckland Supersprint on the 13th to the 15th of September 2019.

 

https://www.facebook.com/williamsperfectride/ please feel free to comment on how the Bend was.

 

Supercars

Century Batteries Ipswich Supersprint 2019 Supercars

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HI to all you Supercars fans around the World!

On the weekend of the 26th to the 28th of July 2019 was the Century Batteries Ipswich Supersprint.

This Queensland raceway is home territory to the legend Craig Lowndes where he has had 12 race wins through his career. Considering that this is the 23rd Supercars event at this venue, Craig Lowndes’ stats go prove why he is a legend.

This is not to say it is a ‘friendly’ track to everyone. In 2005 Jason Richards had a massive rollover after Paul Morris made contact with him. At the same event Cameron McLean also rolled in the same section of the track. In 2010 Mark Winterbottom had a huge crash that I am sure still sticks in his mind.

Heading into the weekend Scott McLaughlin leads the championship by 292 points over his teammate, Fabian Coulthard. If there is going to be any challenges for the championship, this weekend is the time to make a move.

As it turned out Scott McLaughlin ruled in the pre-race sessions; Scott McLaughlin was fastest in Practice 1, 2 & 3 and then again for the Armour All Qualifying.

In race 19 he started on pole position, alongside him was Jamie Whincup.

At the start of the 39-lap race Scott McLaughlin didn’t want to have any contact with Jamie Whincup so he let him go at turn 2.

By the end of the opening lap Scott McLaughlin went from 1st to 4th

There was contact between Will Davison and Scott McLaughlin which was not good. I thought that Scott McLaughlin would have had damage but somehow he didn’t.

Scott McLaughlin’s troubles were not over. Later he had a 9.2 second pit stop due to a jammed left front wheel nut. It surely affected his result at the finish line slipping from pole position to 4th.

Lee Holdsworth had a massive slide but saved it, which was super impressive.

Scott Pye had contact with another car which resulted in problems in the pits later on when removing the left rear wheel. He dropped 7 positions and finished 21st.

Jamie Whincup had a 4.1 second stop. Excepting pit stops, Jamie Whincup held his lead throughout the race.

Fabian Coulthard didn’t have a great race at all. He started 9th on the grid and finished 10th.

As they crossed the finish line, no one else could catch the top 3 drivers; Jamie Whincup with a 2 + second lead over Will Davison, then Chaz Mostert  following a further 3.87 seconds later.

Although no safety car was deployed during the race, Tim Slade and Macauley Jones were both NC’s.

It was a convincing win for Jamie Whincup whose last race win was the Sandown 500 in 2018. His tally now reaches 114 wins from 484 races. 

Results for Race 19

1st Jamie Whincup – Red Bull Holden Racing Team.
2nd Will Davison – 23 Red Racing.
3rd Chaz Mostert – Supercheap Auto Racing.

The unusual result for Scott McLaughlin in race 19 didn’t seem to affect him the next morning. He was fastest in practice 4 and Qualifying, earning him pole position for race 20. That is his 13th pole start this year.

In race 20 Scott McLaughlin in pole position had Chaz Mostert alongside him.

At the start of the 200 Km, 65 lap race Chaz Mostert tried to go around the outside of the Championship leader but he wasn’t able to and had to pull back in behind.

Scott McLaughlin led the whole way excepting in his 2 pit stops.

Fabian Coulthard had a shocking weekend because he didn’t qualify in the top ten on Sunday.

After such a positive result in Saturday’s race Will Davison drove with inspiration and seemed to really want to get back to back podiums. However, he just wasn’t able to move up from his starting position of 5.

By the middle of race Shane Van Gisbergen had taken over Jamie Whincup and Chaz Mostert. Now in second place he was putting pressure on Scott McLaughlin for the race lead.

In the last laps Shane Van Gisbergen stayed right on Scott McLaughlin’s tail but he wasn’t given any opportunity to take advantage of.  They crossed the finish line just 0.7 seconds apart and nearly 10 seconds ahead of their closest rival, Chaz Mostert.

Results for Race 20

1st Scott McLaughlin – Shell V Power Racing Team.
2nd Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Holden Racing Team.
3rd Chaz Mostert – Supercheap Auto Racing.

Scott McLaughlin got pinged for doing his post race burnouts in the wrong spots.

He also got fined $1000 for taking a poster on to the podium.

https://www.motorsport.com/v8supercars/news/mclaughlin-fine-poster-podium-burnout/4502597/

 

https://autoaction.com.au/2019/07/30/infamous-podium-poster-to-raise-funds-for-charity

The next event is the OTR Supersprint at the Bend in South Australia on the 23rd to the 25th of August 2019.

Please feel free on how the Ipswich event was via my Facebook Fanpage.

https://www.facebook.com/williamsperfectride/

Supercars

Bet Easy Darwin Triple Crown 2019 Supercars

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HI to all you Supercars fans around the world!

On the weekend of the 14th to the 16th of June, 2019 was the BetEasy Darwin Triple Crown.

 

 

In the preliminaries to the race:

·        Chaz Mostert was fastest in Practice 1

·        Scott McLaughlin was fastest in Practice 2

·        Scott McLaughlin followed up with the fastest time in Practice 3

·        And then again in Qualifying for race 15.

So in Race 15 Scott McLaughlin started on pole position and alongside him was David Reynolds.

At the start of the 42-lap race both David Reynolds and Will Davison from the third position on the grid tried to take the race lead. David Reynolds made contact with Scott McLaughlin trying to take the lead from the outside of turn 1 but wasn’t going to risk serious damage and pulled back.

As Scott McLaughlin held his line into the first corner there was a tangle as the rest of the pack came through. It was James Golding, Macauley Jones and Jack Le Brocq creating havoc. All three Holdens were damaged and Macauley Jones was the only one who managed to return to the race.

On lap two Rick Kelly made contact with Tim Slade and had to serve a drive-through penalty.

Then again at Turn 1, on the third lap Simona De Silvestro collided with Todd Hazelwood and hocky pucked his car off the track. In a post-race investigation she was handed a 15 second penalty pushing her good result finishing 16th to 19th.

With the mayhem early in the race drivers back in the pack pitted early to find clear track. Meanwhile Jamie Whincup stayed out on track in the lead trying to make up some valuable time while the track was clear.

Other than Jamie Whincup’s short time up front, Scott McLaughlin was leading the race the whole way.

I was quite surprised that no one could manage to offer Scott McLaughlin any reasonable competition. He once again came across the finish line first.

His closest rivals almost 7 seconds behind in second place were Chaz Mostert followed by David Reynolds just under one second later in third place.

Jack Smith was the wildcard for Brad Jones Racing and started 25th on the grid. At the end of the race he finished 20th making up 5 places.

Results for Race 15

1st Scott McLaughlin – Shell V Power Racing Team
2nd Chaz Mostert – Supercheap Auto Racing
3rd David Reynolds – Erebus Motorsport

In race 16, Yet again Scott McLaughlin started on pole position with Fabian Coulthard alongside him.

Scott McLaughlin got the jump off the line but Fabian Coulthard tried to make a stand and stayed on the outside of turn 1. It looked like he would make it and would end up spinning off onto the grass. Somehow he managed to make the turn but it didn’t help his position and tucked in behind the leader.

Rick Kelly was putting pressure on Simona De Silvestro and Andre Heimgartner for position.

Soon after on Turn 5, Andre Heimgartner got spun around and other drivers had to avoid the spinning Nissan Altama. The mistake put him to the back of the pack.

The front runners stayed out to keep track position and the rest of the pack came in for the first round of pit stops.

David Reynolds lost his Window Rubber which wasn’t ideal.

Through the middle of the race Scott McLaughlin maintained his lead of over teammate Fabian Coulthard.

Once again Scott McLaughlin comfortably came in first. David Reynolds was over 13 seconds behind with Fabian Coulthard close on his tail. Cameron Waters held his own position and came in 4th.

Winning the two races over the weekend made Scott McLaughlin the first to earn Darwin’s Triple Crown (on it’s 13th anniversary) since it started back in 2006

So far this year Scott McLaughlin stats show out of 15 races he has been on the podium 14 times, 12 of which were 1st place. That is a phenomenal 80% win rate and 93.3% on the podium.

He has been the dominant driver so far in 2019. can anybody stop him?

 

Results for race 16

1st Scott McLaughlin – Shell V Power Racing Team
2nd David Reynolds – Erebus Motorsport Penrite Racing
3rd Fabian Coulthard – Shell V Power Racing Team

 

https://www.facebook.com/williamsperfectride/ please feel free to have your opinion on how the Darwin Event went.

 

 

The next event is the Watpac Townsville 400 on the 5th to the 7th of July 2019.

Supercars

Truck Assist Winton Supersprint 2019 Supercars

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HI to all you Supercars Fans around the world!

On the weekend of the 24th to the 26th of May was the Truck Assist Winton Supersprint

The hot news as this goes to press is that Chaz Mostert has a big decision to make about his future because at the end of this season he will be off contract with Tickford Racing. There is talk about opportunities for him at Team Penske as well as going overseas. It’s a; happening for him right now. What will Chaz Mostert choose to do? (AutoAction published a really interesting article on Chaz https://autoaction.com.au/2019/05/30/chazs-big-decision).

In the co–drivers’ session which was Practice 0, Craig Lowndes and Garth Tander finished 1st and 2nd.

Chaz Mostert was fastest in Practice 1.

Chaz Mostert was also fastest in Armour All Qualifying which gave him pole position for Race 13.

This weekend was also a milestone for some out on track:

·        It was Shane Van Gisbergen’s 100th race as a member of Triple Eight Race Engineering.
·        It was also Jamie Whincup’s 220th round start, equalling him with Mark Skaife for 8th on the all-time list of starts.

I just had a flashback to Winton 2013. Jamie Whincup, Russell Ingall and Dean Fiore had an accident which took them out of the race.  I hoped nothing like that would happen on this weekend.

In Race 13 Chaz Mostert started on pole position and alongside him was Fabian Coulthard.

At the start of the 40-lap race Both Chaz Mostert and Fabian Coulthard made contact in between turns 1 and 2 which allowed James Courtney to take the race lead!

Scott McLaughlin and Fabian Coulthard came together on lap 1 at turn 5 and re-joined at turn 9.

I thought Scott McLaughlin was going to get a drive thru penalty or a 15 second stop and hold for re-joining between turns 8 and 9 but apparently they were within the rules for the Winton weekend.

Fabian Coulthard received a 15 second penalty for making that contact with Scott McLaughlin.

Throughout the race a number of drivers got pinged for a range of driving infringements.

When David Reynolds gave James Courtney a bump and took the race lead he copped a 15 second penalty.

Fabian Coulthard was trying keep up with his teammate, Scott McLaughlin but he couldn’t quite get close enough.

Scott Pye was struggling to stay in the top 10.

By the middle of the race the two Dick Johnson Racing Team Penske drivers, Scott McLaughlin and Fabian Coulthard were running 1st and 2nd.

Towards the end of the race no one could catch Scott McLaughlin in first and Fabian Coulthard, second.

Unfortunately Fabian Coulthard’s 15 second penalty early on in the race pushed him down to 15th place, dropping 13 spots. Must have been a hard pill to swallow but the weekend was not over yet.

Results for Race 13

1st Scott McLaughlin – Shell V power Racing Team.
2nd Chaz Mostert – Supercheap Auto Racing Team.
3rd David Reynolds – Penrite Racing.
 4th James Courtney – Mobil 1 Mega Racing.
5th Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Holden Racing Team.
6th Jamie Whincup – Red Bull Holden Racing Team.

In the lead up to Sunday’s race Scott McLaughlin was fastest in Practice 2 and then also fastest in the Armour All Qualifying.

For the 67 lap Race 14, once again Scott McLaughlin started on pole position with Fabian Coulthard alongside him.

Scott McLaughlin got the jump on his teammate Fabian Coulthard and pretty much dominated the race accept for pit stops.

Will Davison was hoping for a solid result so I was quite surprised that Will Davison broke down and Rick Kelly’s engine blew. They both ended up with DNF’S .

In the middle of the race, after the 2nd round of pit stops no one could catch the 2 Shell V Power Mustangs of Scott McLaughlin and teammate, Fabian Coulthard.

Once again the pair held position and crossed the finish line 1st and 2nd. This time Fabian Coulthard made it onto the podium.

Results for Race 14

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

The next event is the Bet Easy Darwin Triple Crown at Hidden Valley Raceway starting on June 14.

https://www.facebook.com/williamsperfectride/

Please feel free to comment with your thoughts on the event.

Supercars

Beaurepaires Melbourne 400 Supercars

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Hi to all you Supercars fans around the world!

On the weekend of the 14th to the 17th of March 2019 was the Beaurepaires Melbourne 400 at Albert Park in Melbourne, Victoria.

The Larry Perkins Trophy is up for grabs with Jamie Whincup defending ownership after his great win last year. Incidentally, earlier in the previous week Larry Perkins went into hospital for surgery to remove a gallbladder.

In the past The Melbourne 400 was run as a support category to the Australian Grand Prix F1 series. It was only last year that the Melbourne 400 officially became the second round of the V8 Supercars championship. I think it makes for more exciting racing as it is no longer seen as a ‘test run’.

The Melbourne 400 is an interesting opportunity in the championship because there are actually four races (25, 13, 25 & 13 laps), giving drivers with different strengths an opportunity to take advantage.

It also means 4 qualifying rounds which give the rookies a better chance to get to know the track.

Albert Park is an interesting venue as it is one of the longer tracks being 5.303Kms.

Race 4 also had the honour of being the 1000th race since the championship started in 1960. So the weekend was quite a milestone for the sport.

As we entered the weekend, the Red Bull Holden Racing Team held the Team’s Championship lead by 5 points, while Scott McLaughlin defends his lead in the Driver’s Championship.

In the pre-race sessions it was Chaz Mostert driving his new superfast Ford Mustang who had his best weekend in a while:

  • Chaz Mostert was fastest in Practice 1
  • Scott McLaughlin was fastest in Practice 2
  • Scott McLaughlin was also fastest in Qualifying for Race 3, 4 & 5
  • Chaz Mostert was fastest in Qualifying for Race 6

All 4 Qualifying sessions were only 10 minutes each.

Race 3 was run on Friday as sunset approached at 5:55pm

Scott McLaughlin started on pole position and alongside him was Fabian Coulthard.

At the start of 130 Kilometre, 25 lap race Scott McLaughlin got the jump on his teammate Fabian Coulthard.

Scott McLaughlin now didn’t have to worry about clean air or about being stuck behind his teammate.

It was all Mustangs at the front, Scott McLaughlin, Fabian Coulthard and Cameron Waters followed by Red Bull’s Shane Van Gisbergen in his Commodore.

However, it was the compulsory tyre change pit stop that would be the decider for many.

The only time Scott McLaughlin wasn’t leading the race was during the pitstop shuffle.

Scott McLaughlin hit the pits on lap 12 with a 4 second lead and once again came out on track to dominate.

Jamie Whincup pitted first because he didn’t want Shane Van Gisbergen who was running with a chance for a podium position to be waiting in the pits for too long behind him.

However, Shane Van Gisbergen waited to pit on lap 15 and it just mucked up his flow. There were now 4 Mustangs ahead of him.

Will Davison was happy with the way his ford Mustang was performing with only 10 laps to go he was now in 4th position.

Macauley Jones was travelling well and enjoying his first Albert Park event as a rookie.

With 6 laps remaining Shane Van Gisbergen picked up and returned to his lead over Will Davison.

Towards the end of the race, with only 4 laps remaining Shane Van Gisbergen’s engine let go which meant he was the only car to have no points. He came into Albert Park 2nd in championship, but after a disastrous weekend he is now 11th in the championship on minus 175 points.

Scott McLaughlin comfortably took in first place. This made it his 3rd win from the first 3 races in the season.

However, it was Chaz Mostert who had everyone’s eyebrows raised. He started in 22nd on the grid and was 13th by the middle of the race. Once out of the pits he showed everyone just what his car could do and came across the finish line 5th just behind Will Davison. That is a gain of 17 in 25 laps!!!! (I am sure I could hear Chaz singing ‘Day-o, day-o. Come, mister tally man, tally me banana’).

Results for race 3

1st Scott McLaughlin  – Shell V Power Racing Team
2nd Fabian Coulthard – Shell V Power Racing Team
3rd Cameron Waters – Monster Energy Racing Team
4th Will Davison – 23 Red Racing Team car 23
5th Chaz Mostert – Supercheap Auto Racing Team

In race 4 Scott McLaughlin started on pole position alongside him was Chaz Mostert.

But again Scott McLaughlin dominated race 4, which wasn’t surprising because the Mustang’s were quick all weekend.

Jamie Whincup was battling with Chaz Mostert for 3rd place. When Chaz Mostert passed him and then Cameron Waters, Jamie Whincup had dropped back to 4th place.

Garry Jacobson and James Golding made contact on the main straight which I thought would end in a massive shunt but thankfully there wasn’t.

Scott McLaughlin was still the driver no one could beat because he was flying and dominated the race from start to finish. He crossed the finish with 2.5 seconds plus lead. This made it his 4th win out 4 starts in the championship.

It also seems the Mustangs, the newest entry to the track this year are making quite a splash. It was Chaz Mostert (Mustang) and Cameron Waters (Mustang) that pushed Red Bull’s Jamie Whincup in his ZB Commodore out of the top 3 positions.

Results for Race 4

1st Scott McLaughlin – Shell V Power Racing Team
2nd Chaz Mostert – Supercheap Auto Racing
3rd Cameron Waters – Monster Energy Racing

Before race 5 started on the warm up lap, both Scott McLaughlin and Cameron Waters came together which resulted in both drives not starting and being classified as a NC (Not Complete) as a result Nick Percat and Tim Slade were affectively on the front row of the grid.

Tim Slade kept the lead as Jamie Whincup who started from 6th position came in behind him.

Fabain Coulthard was trying to stay out of trouble because he didn’t want to help the Dick Johnson Racing Team by leaving the track to repair his car.

At lap 13 Jamie Whincup finally took the lead. Tim Slade and Nick Percat then battled for the trailing positions. Nick Percat came into turn 15 in a poor position on the outside driving wide and lost several places that he just couldn’t recover from in the remaining time.

After the pitstops it was Mostert who was right behind Whincup at the lead. The pressure was on.

With only 6 laps remaining Shane Van Gisbergen lost his right back wheel! The Vodafone Safety Car was called out.

With four laps to go Chaz Mostert once again wanted to prove what his Mustang could do and took the lead off Jamie Whincup who was now closely followed by Tim Slade. David Reynolds in his ZB Commodore was not far behind. I get the feeling it was more important to him to stay ahead of Fabian Coulthard’s Mustang than to try take 3rd position from Time Slade (also Commodore).

Chaz Mostert was incredibly fast and opened the gap on his lead to over a second. It was incredible to watch. This was his first race win for 2019. Congratulations Chaz! ‘Day-o, day-o
Daylight come and me wan’ go home’.

Aside from Scott McLaughlin and Cameron Waters who never made it past the warm up lap, it was only Richie Stanaway who was disqualified from the results due to making contact with another car. He later received a $10,000 fine for the incident. Ouch!

Results for Race 5

1st Chaz Mostert – Supercheap Auto Racing.
2nd Jamie Whincup – Red Bull Holden Racing team.
3rd Tim Slade – Brad Jones Racing.

In race 6 Chaz Mostert started on pole position and alongside him was Scott McLaughlin.

At the start of the race Scott McLaughlin got the jump and led the way early on. Given that it was only a 13-lap race with no pit stops, Scott McLaughlin dominated the race once again.

Chaz Mostert got off to a bad start from pole and was immediately behind Jamie Whincup.

It took until lap 3 for Mostert to take Whincup and get into 2nd position but by now Scott McLaughlin had a 2+ second lead.

Rick Kelly didn’t want to get to close to the drivers in front of him otherwise he would get caught up in an accident.

In the middle of the race Macauley Jones had another massive shunt which meant the safety car was deployed to clear Macauley Jones car. He was the only car to leave the race with a Not Complete.

As the race resumed Chaz Mostert made a go for Scott McLaughlin’s lead spot but couldn’t come close. It was still exciting to watch and Im sure it did have Scott McLaughlin on edge.

As they came across the line no one could catch those top 3; Scott McLaughlin, Chaz Mostert and Jamie Whincup.

Results for race 6

1st Scott McLaughlin  – Shell V Power Racing team
2nd Chaz Mostert – Supercheap Auto Racing Team
3rd Jamie Whincup – Red Bull Holden Racing Team

Chaz Mostert won the Larry Perkins Trophy and Jamie Whincup claimed his 200th podium in his Supercars Career.

Supercars has dropped the time certain race finishes unless there are major Safety Car delays.

Triple 8 are going to debut a new Supercars wheel retention system which is to stop the wheel from coming off the car out on the race track.

The next event is the Tyrepower Tasmania Supersprint on the 5th to the 7th of April 2019.

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please feel free to comment on How the Beaurepaires Melbourne 400 went.

Post Race Report, Supercars

ITM Auckland Supersprint 2018 Supercars

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Hi to all you Supercars Fans around the World!

On the weekend of the 2nd to the 4th of November 2018 was the ITM Auckland Supersprint.

The big bomb-shell of the weekend was from Mark Winterbottom announcing that he has chosen not to sign a new contract with his current team Tickford Racing. Having originally signed with them back in 2006, this ends 13 years as a Ford driver under the Tickford banner. What is surprising is that he has not announced who he will be signing with.

In the preliminaries to the races over the weekend:

·       Scott McLaughlin was the fastest in Practice 1

·       Jamie Whincup was fastest in Practice 2.

·       Scott McLaughlin crashed in practice 2 taking him out of that session.

·       Also Todd Hazelwood got so bogged in the sand he needed help to get his car out.

·       Chaz Mostert was fastest in Practice 3.

·       Scott McLaughlin was the fastest in armour all qualifying for race 28.

·       Simona De Silvestro caused a red flag in qualifying which meant she started race 28 from position 26.

·       David Reynolds was fastest in qualifying for race 29 which gave him the last go out on track to try and claim pole position. He did well but in the end the pole was claimed by the 7 times Supercars Champion, Jamie Whincup.

On Saturday’s race 28 Scott McLaughlin started on pole position. This made it his 13th pole position for this season and 45th in his career. Alongside him was Shane Van Gisbergen.

Craig Lowndes didn’t start in the top ten, in fact he started 18th.

At the start of the 70-lap race Scott McLaughlin took the lead. Shane Van Gisbergen tried to get up the inside of him between turn 2 and 3. When he realised he couldn’t get by he tucked back in behind car 17.

Later Todd Hazelwood got pinged for passing the Safety Car so copped a PLP – Pit Lane Penalty. Naughty boy Todd Hazelwood! Jamie Whincup knows this shame all too well because he got pinged for the same thing at Bathurst in 2015. It’s a mistake that you don’t repeat too soon.

Shane Van Gisbergen was going really quick during the opening laps and I thought he might take the lead off Scott McLaughlin but unfortunately that wasn’t the case.

The Vodafone Safety Car was deployed due to Fabian Coulthard being in the wall after Richie Stanaway and Lee Holdsworth made contact. Fabian Coulthard was close behind and tried to avoid them but oversteered, first hitting the wall on one side of the track and then careening to the other side of the track hitting the wall again. My first thought when I saw Fabian Coulthard’s car in the wall was there will be no way the Dick Johnson Racing Team Penske crew can repair the car in time to get back out on the track, especially with the limited spares all the teams had with the race being ‘off-shore’.

When car 12 returned to the back of the pits the Dick Johnson Racing Team Penske crew put the cover over the car. Commentator, Mark Skaife said it wasn’t repairable and was right. Fabian Coulthard was out of the race with an NC (Not Complete).

Jamie Whincup qualified 5th so when the Vodafone Porsche Safety Car was deployed for Fabian Coulthard, Jamie had to double stack behind Shane Van Gisbergen.

There were a lot of cars going off the track between turns 2 and 3. I can only assume this was due to the wet weather.

Mark Winterbottom was holding up the race leader Scott McLaughlin. Scott McLaughlin asked for Mark Winterbottom to get the blue flag (informs a driver that a faster car is approaching and that the driver should move aside to allow one or more faster cars to pass) which was fair enough. Unfortunately the flag didn’t come out soon enough.

In the end Scott McLaughlin’s race engineer, Ludo Lacroix brought him in to the pits to try give him a clear track when he re-joined the race and not get held up any further. If Scott McLaughlin had stayed out on the race track for one more laps with traffic in front of him he would have lost a massive amount of time and ruin his existing chance of a race win.

In the middle of the race Shane Van Gisbergen was battling with Scott McLaughlin for the lead and the Championship. The stakes were high and they both knew it.

Towards the end of the race Scott McLaughlin still had the race lead. Shane Van Gisbergen was in hot pursuit and tried to overtake on turn 8 but Scott McLaughlin blocked him. Shane Van Gisbergen had nowhere to go and made contact. It wasn’t really his fault but Shane Van Gisbergen was given a 5 second penalty.

Finally in the last few lapse Shane Van Gisbergen got his way and took the lead, holding it to the finish line by just .5118 seconds.

Results for race 28

1st Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Holden Racing Team.
2nd Scott McLaughlin – Shell V Power Racing Team.
3rd Chaz Mostert – Supercheap Auto Racing Team.

At the end of race 28, the gap for the Driver Championship between Scott McLaughlin and Shane Van Gisbergen was now just 2 points.

 

In race 29 Jamie Whincup started on pole position. Alongside him was championship leader Scott McLaughlin.

I was amazed that the Dick Johnson Team Penske crew managed to repair Fabian Coulthard’s car overnight in time for the race, given the amount of limited spare parts all the teams had.

At the start of 70 lap race Scott McLaughlin tried to get up the inside of Jamie Whincup between turns 2 and 3 but wasn’t successful.

Scott McLaughlin wasn’t fazed as he knew there was a long way to go, which was a good call I thought as there was no point taking serious risks at this stage of the game.

Jamie Whincup pitted first so that Shane Van Gisbergen didn’t have to double stack.

Craig Lowndes was trying to get passed David Reynolds’ for third position but unfortunately didn’t manage to do that. It would’ve been a great result to see Craig Lowndes on the Podium in his second last event as a full time driver.

When Shane Van Gisbergen pitted for his 2nd stop the team put the car up on the incompressible jacks to reverse the setup change they did at the his first pit stop.

Anton De Pasquale followed his teammate, David Reynolds as he has done for most of this year as a rookie.

At one stage I thought there was going to be contact between Mark Winterbottom and Scott McLaughlin but luckily there wasn’t. In fact there weren’t any other major accidents with any of teams the whole weekend.

In the middle of the race Jamie Whincup was behind Scott McLaughlin trying to get the lead and give his teammate Shane Van Gisbergen a better chance to close the Championship points gap between him and Scott McLaughlin.

I thought Jamie Whincup was going was to either win or finish 2nd but he is a team player and moved over when asked by his race engineer, David Cauchi to try and help Shane Van Gisbergen earn extra points and win the 2018 Supercars championship.

Unfortunately for Triple 8 Scott McLaughlin was just too fast and came across the line first.

Results for race 29

1st Scott McLaughlin – Shell V Power Racing Team.
2nd Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Holden Racing Team.
3rd Jamie Whincup – Red Bull Holden Racing Team.
4th Craig Lowndes – Autobarn Lowndes Racing.

The gap between Scott McLaughlin and Shane Van Gisbergen is 14 points.

The next event is the Coates Hire Newcastle 500 on the 23rd to the 25th of November 2018.

This event will be Craig Lowndes final fulltime Supercars drive and it will also Tim Blanchard’s final race.

The funniest part of the weekend was when Mark Skaife made a bet with Russell Ingall. Ingall saying that Jamie Whincup still stood a chance to win the 2018 Championship and Skaife stating it was not likely at all.

If Mark Skaife lost the bet he would’ve had to wear a t shirt printed with ‘I Love the Enforcer’ (the Enforce being Russel Ingall’s nickname).

Now Russell Ingall has to wear a t shirt that Mark Skaife creates with content still to be announced. LOL.

As the season draws to a close, the drivers that don’t have a contract for 2019 at the moment are:

·       Mark Winterbottom

·       Lee Holdsworth.

·       Michael Caruso.

·       Richie Stanaway

·       Tim Blanchard

Also at this stage Tickford looks like it will only have 2 cars in 2019, Cameron Waters and Chaz Mostert.

It will be interesting to see how things will turn out for next season.

https://www.facebook.com/williamsperfectride/ if you have any thoughts or Opinions on how the race weekend went please feel free to let me know via my Facebook Fanpage.

 

Post Race Report, Supercars

Vodafone Gold Coast 600 2018 Supercars

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Hi to all you Supercars Fans Around the world!

On the weekend of the 19th to the 21st of October 2018 Was the Vodafone Gold Coast 600 in Queensland, this race track is a Concrete Canyon.

Rick Kelly was fastest in Practice 1, James Golding caused a red flag in the final 30 seconds of practice number 1, meaning that if a car or driver brings out the Red Flag they are not allowed to continue in that session.

Aaren Russell was fastest in practice 2 for the co drivers, while Shane Van Gisbergen was fastest in practice 3 for main drivers and Will Davison caused a red flag, when the front left suspension broke and as a result of that Will Davison went into the wall in-between turns 2 and 3.

In Qualifying Shane Van Gisbergen was fastest but in the Top Ten shootout, both Shane Van Gisbergen and James Courtney had their laps deleted by race control for putting all 4 wheels over the curbs at the Virgin Australia back chicane.

In race 26 Scott Mclaughlin and Alex Premat started on pole position alongside them was Jamie Whincup and Paul Dumbrell.  Most of the co-drivers started the race accept for 1 main driver which was Craig Lowndes.

The minimum laps the co-drivers had to do were 34 before handing back to the main drivers and the maximum was 68 laps.

At the start of the race Alex Premat was leading the opening lap until Paul Dumbrell tried to make a move on car 17 which didn’t end well for Alex Premat. Because he ended up dropping from 1st to 11th. Which wasn’t ideal for Scott Mclaughlin’s championship hopes. But my first thought was I wouldn’t be surprised if Alex Premat had any damage as a result of the whack with the wall in-between turns 11 and 12.

The incident between Alex Premat and Paul happened on lap 2 which race control said no further action meaning there was no penalty to be issued.

Brad Jones Racing got pinged for losing a wheel, and that wasn’t all they also got fined $5,000 and also got docked 30 team’s championship points, which would not make Brad Jones a very happy team boss.

After Will Brown hit the wall heavily and broke the rear wing the Vodafone safety car was deployed, I thought there was no way that Steve Owen could get passed Will in that spot, but he tried it anyway.

While the Safety car was out, everybody took the opportunity to pit, that was when pit lane got busy.

Both Paul Dumbrell and Earl Bamber copped a drive thru penalty for unsafe pit releases after making contact with James Moffatt.

In the middle of the race most of the co drivers had done their 34 laps. Which was a good the only 1 that hadn’t done the 34 laps was Steven Richards because he didn’t start the race, James Courtney was battling with Craig Lowndes for 2nd spot. He finally got by after James Courtney made a mistake and ran wide.

What happened between the middle and the end? Will Davison tried to get passed Scott Pye while James Courtney was trying to hold back the people’s champion in Craig Lowndes from getting on the podium but wasn’t able to hold him back towards the end of the Race Shane Van Gisbergen had to fighting back because he was down in 15th spot.

 

Towards the end of the Chaz Mostert was battling Craig Lowndes for the race win, but unfortunately Craig didn’t have enough laps or time to catch up to him.  I thought Craig Lowndes and Steven Richards were going to win.

 

Results for race 26

1st Chaz Mostert & James Moffatt – Supercheap Auto Racing.
2nd Craig Lowndes and Steven Richards – Autobarn Lowndes Racing.
3rd James Courtney & Jack Perkins – Mobil 1 Boost Mobile Racing.

 

The only 2 drivers to get a Do Not Finish – DNF or NC – Not Complete were Will Brown and Steve Owen.

In total 24 cars finished race 26.

In Qualifying for race 27, Shane Van Gisbergen was the fastest driver meaning he got the last go in the top 10 Shootout.

The drivers who didn’t set a time were, Jamie Whincup, Scott Mclaughlin and Tim Slade who started 8th 9th and 10th respectively. This means that 3 drivers that started 8th 9th and 10th didn’t complete their laps.

In race 27

David Reynolds and Luke Youlden on pole, alongside them was Chaz Mostert and James Moffatt. What started out as a 102 lap, 300 kilometres race, ended short due to the weather.

Luke Youlden got the jump on and led though the turns 1, 2 and 3. While the start of the race was dry and for the opening, basically all of the co-drivers started accept for Erebus motorsport car 99 which was started with Anton De Pasquale.

After the race got underway the dark clouds started rolling in, I thought oh my god here comes the rain, when the conditions started to get worse everybody was out on the track with dry tyres on.

I thought if the drivers who started the race were out with dry tyres, they could end up hitting the wall if they are not careful.

Steven Richards turned Scott Pye around at turn 4 which normally would mean that Steven Richards would have copped a drive thru penalty.

When Scott Pye and Steven Richards come together Paul Dumbrell was right behind them.  And I thought oh no it looked like Paul Dumbrell was going to be involved in the Incident, but thankfully he missed it early on in that. I wondered why Luke Youden had moved over and it was because he knew there was a long way to go which is a good call because if the other doesn’t see you and turns in you can do a pit penalty, which wouldn’t be helpful, especially for the drivers who are in Championship contention,

Which is Scott McLaughlin and Shane Van Gisbergen, so if any of those drivers made a mistake they have either give the spot back or cop a pit lane penalty.

There were 5 cars in the wall at turn 12 when Neil Crompton first started counting them. Which allowed Paul Dumbrell to push on. The rain arrived and it came bucketing down with thunder and lighting at that point I was, oh no this is dangerous for not only drivers, but the fans and camera crew.

The drivers only did   29 laps under green flag racing, before the Vodafone Safety was deployed due to bad weather.

Both the Brad Jones Racing cars ended up in the wall at turn 12 they were driven by Macauley Jones and Ash Walsh. What does this mean? It mean that when the team got back to their Albury workshop they had to start repairing their damaged cars which Brad Jones wouldn’t have been happy with doing.

Also, David Russell ended hitting the wall at the same place due to having no grip.

Jamie Whincup was on standby waiting for Paul Dumbrell to come into the pit lane so that he could get in for his stint.  But interesting to note because Paul Dumbrell was stuck in tyres at turn 12 he couldn’t drive car 1 back to the pitlane, so, car 1 went back on the back of a tow truck.

While the Red Flag was out, which meant the race was suspended until the track dried out. I don’t think they wanted another incident like Symonds Plains Tasmania.

But the rains didn’t let up.

The funniest part of race 27 was when Mark Skaife asked Neil Crompton “call him crazy” which was funny, but other people may not have seen it that way.

Even Barry Ryan from Erebus Motorsport said that the race should been stopped because the weather was so bad. And that would make it a non-Event. When tried to restart the race, I thought they were mad in doing so because that would’ve meant the teams would have wrecked race cars and knowing that the next race meeting is a fly away event the teams didn’t want to risk it. Which I thought was a good idea.

When the race was suspended again for the 2nd time Tim Schenken made a call to stop the completely.

Mark Skaife said it was the right call.

There were no results for race 27, their are still 14 points between Scott Mclaughlin and Shane Van Gisbergen heading to the ITM Auckland Supersprint on the 2nd to the 4th of November 2018.

 

https://www.facebook.com/williamsperfectride/ if you have any thoughts on the how the weekend went please feel free to let me know via my Facebook Fan page.