Tag Archives: Garth Tander

Penrite Oil Sandown 500 2024

September 27, 2024 admin Leave a comment

Hi to all you Supercars Fans around the world!

On the weekend of September 13 – 15 2024 was the Penrite Oil Sandown 500, round 9 of the 2024 Supercars Championship.

The Sandown International Raceway opened in March 1962 and is located in Springvale Melbourne, Victoria.

This year marked the 60^th anniversary of the Sandown 500 which was first run in 1964.

The event format has undergone many changes through the years. This includes changes from its initial 6 hour timed race, to a fixed length race, changes to the length of the race (250 miles, 338kms, 400kms and 500kms) to multiple shorter sprints (3 x 150kms) and in 1984 finally settling on its current format, a single 500km endurance race (now with a co-driver).

Way back in 1984 it was the famous Peter Brock who took the trophy for the Marlboro Holden Dealer Team and the event has grown in recognition ever since.

It’s a tough and gruelling race that has seen many notorious incidents including:

2013 Ash Walsh hit the wall at the end of the back straight.
2010 Will Davison and Michael Caruso went off the track at turn 6 and nearly rolled car 22.
2014 Lee Holdsworth hit the tyre wall at the end of the back straight taking his car out of the race and speeding off to the hospital.
2016 James Golding had a big shunt due to a flat front right tyre.
2017 Jonathan Webb and Todd Hazelwood went straight ahead at turn 6 and rolled the Blanchard Racing Team Holden Commodore.
2023 After making contact with James Moffat, Garth Tander lost a wheel and then lost control smashing into the guard rail with a 50 x g-force.

The above shortened list shows it is no small feat that Peter Brock has 9 wins at the venue and Allan Moffat has 6 wins.

So, this year’s event was as usual, anticipated to be full of action and IT WAS!

In the pre-race sessions:

Cameron Waters was fastest in Practice 1
Scott Pye was fastest in Practice 2
Jack le Brocq was fastest in Practice 3
Richie Stanaway was fastest in Practice 4
Will Brown was fastest in Practice 5
Broc Feeney was fastest in Qualifying
Will Brown was fastest in the Top Ten Shootout
Andre Heimgartner was fastest in the Warmup

In Race 19 Will Brown started on pole position, alongside him was Cameron Waters.

At the start of the race Will Brown got the jump and led into turn 1 for the first of 161 laps in the 500km race. Cameron Waters who started alongside him had a shocker start and dropped down to 4^th allowing Anton de Pasquale to move into 2^nd place and Brodie Kostecki 3^rd.

Just behind the major leaders James Courtney made contact with Ryan Wood at turn 1 and ran wide.

It was a messy hectic start.

When they got into lap 2 Brodie Kostecki made contact with Anton de Pasquale. Kostecki kept going but Pasquale dropped from 2^nd to 4^th place.

Anton de Pasquale was reporting to his team that his car balance was poor from the incident. Soon Broc Feeney, Richie Stanaway and Matt Payne all got passed him. Anton de Pasquale had now dropped from 2^nd to 9^th.

Cameron Hill was sporting bumper damage after contact with Jack le Brocq.

EOS 4

As they moved into double digit laps, this year’s star Will Brown was still leading but by only by less than 1 second over last year’s champ of Brodie Kostecki. They were followed by Cameron Waters and then Chaz Mostert.

Broc Feeney must have wanted in on some of the action and passed Andre Heimgartner for 5^th place.

On lap 18 Mark Winterbottom made a driver error and went off the track at turn 9 and dropped down a few places to 13^th.

Thomas Randle was the first car to pit on lap 23 to ensure no risk of double stacking with teammate Cameron Waters. James Courtney and Cameron Hill pitted on the same lap.

Meanwhile out on the track Richie Stanaway stopped on the grass due to a gearbox failure. The car was undriveable, so the first safety car was deployed. It was only when the car got back to the pits that the crew realised the job was too big to complete and be competitive. This car was out of the race. It also meant co-driver Dale Wood did not get a chance to get behind the wheel.

Most of drivers pitted while the race was under (safety car) yellow. Fabian Coulthard earned himself an unwanted 5 second penalty for unsafe release in the pits.

The restart was on lap 30. Scott Pye (co-driver to Will Brown) had the lead followed by James Moffat (co-driver to Cam Waters), Jamie Whincup (co-driver to Broc Feeney) and Todd Hazelwood (co-driver to Brodie Kostecki).

Not long after Todd Hazelwood challenged Jamie Whincup for 3^rd place. Whincup put up a lot of resistance but eventually lost the spot to Hazelwood. Unfortunately, Hazelwood scored a puncture during the challenge and went off the track, giving the spot back to Jamie Whincup. Hazelwood paid dearly returning to the track in 25^th place.

Declan Fraser made contact with David Russell. Both cars were within the top 10 but the incident caused Russell to lose 3 spots and Fraser to be issued with a 5 second penalty. Not ideal but it was still early in the race.

More penalties were issued including Tony Dalberto (co-driver to Anton de Pasquale) in car 11 for an unsafe pit release.

While being chased by Garth Tander, Lee Holdsworth (co-driver to Chaz Mostert) hit the curb at the wrong angle causing him to get some air-time and upon landing spinning off the track. I have no idea how he got out of this predicament without damage. It was a dramatic moment.

Lap 43 saw the safety car deployed again when Jordan Boys got turned around by Cameron McLeod. Cameron McLeod was later issued with a drive thru penalty for his actions.

The restart was on lap 49 with Jamie Whincup leading followed by James Moffat, Scott Pye and Garth Tander.

In the next lap more drama occurred. Tyler Everingham made contact with Warren Luff but luckily, they were both able to continue.

On lap 68 Kai Allen (co-driver to Will Davison) hit Dylan O’Keeffe and both went off the track. The two cars were damaged. Kai Allen was able to head back to the pits independently. Dylan O’Keeffe was stranded, and the safety car was deployed yet again.

Car 17 driven by Will Davison / Kai Allen had so much damage it took the crew a long time to make the repairs. They were so far behind it was really game over for the race but chose to continue as a useful test session in the lead up to Bathurst.

When the mess was cleaned up they restarted the race on lap 73. Declan Fraser was in the lead but soon had to head into the pits. Scott Pye was handed back the lead, but he still had a 5 second penalty which he couldn’t serve under safety car.

In the middle of the race Lee Holdsworth pitted to hand over the car to main driver Chaz Mostert. He was going to be behind the wheel to the end of the race so it was now his time to shine (as favourite when it comes to long races).

Not long after on lap 84, Declan Fraser came in to put main driver Andre Heimgartner back in car for the remainder of the race.

Jaxson Evans got stuck in the sand trap on lap 88 and safety car was deployed for the fourth time. Most cars took advantage to pit and do driver changes.

Brodie Kostecki received a 15 second penalty for rear wheels spinning during his stop. It was bad luck for the defending champion.

Will Brown reported to the crew he was experiencing a vibration in the car. This is not what you want while leading one of the biggest races of the year with 64 laps to go. He pressed on while the crew tried to diagnose the issue.

The action continued in much the same manner for the next 30 or so laps.

With 29 laps to go Broc Feeney rushed his exit from the pits to get in front of his teammate Will Brown and the two made contact. It was a nail-biting moment that could have spelled disaster for the Red Bull Ampol Racing team.

With 20 laps to go, last year’s defending champ Brodie Kostecki had more bad luck. He came to a complete stop track side and for the 6^th time in this race the safety car was deployed. After making it this far into the race (140 laps of 161) he was unable to continue and received a DNF (Did Not Finish) earning zero points.

Due to the 5 incidents requiring safety car deployment, they were running a long way behind schedule. When they restarted, officials declared the race had become time certain. With less than 10 minutes remaining it was now a race against the clock.

Cameron Waters and Cooper Murray made contact with 8 minutes and 42 seconds to go. It was a good reminder for the other drivers to remain cautious in fear of getting a DNF in the final minutes.

While the order at the front of the pack remained unchanged, Jack le Brocq embedded his car in the tyre wall at the exit of turn 4. Once again the safety car was deployed. The clock was still ticking and the race looked like it was going to finish under safety car speed limit. That would have been very dull. Amazingly, Jack le Brocq was able to extricate himself and the race went back to green.

The leading drivers were close together after being bunched up behind the safety. It could be anybody’s race but they still couldn’t take too much risk.

Broc Feeney was looking for any safe opportunity to nab the lead from teammate Will Brown. He had a couple of attempts but pulled back as the risk was too great.

Will Brown finally crossed the finish line with the slimmest 0.649 seconds lead over Broc Feeney. James Golding followed 2.4 seconds behind in 3^rd place.

It was a killer finish to the gruelling Sandown 500.

Results for Race 19:

1^st Will Brown and Scott Pye – Red Bull Ampol Racing

2^nd Broc Feeney and Jamie Whincup – Red Bull Ampol Racing

3^rd James Golding and David Russell – Premier Hire Racing

The next event will be the famous Repco Bathurst 1000 October 10 – 13 2024.

Bathurst 12 hour

Repco Bathurst 12 hour 2024

February 25, 2024 admin Leave a comment

Hi to all you Supercars Fans around the world!

On the weekend of the 16 – 18 of February 2024 was the Repco Bathurst 12 Hour.

The Bathurst 12 Hour was first run in 1991 so this year marks a milestone as the 21^st running.

The Bathurst 12 Hour is not officially a part of the Supercars season. However, many of the Supercars drivers take part in the grand event. It is made of 4 classes; Pro AM, Silver, GT4 and the invitational class. Being a gruelling 12 hours on one of the most difficult tracks in the country, each car has three drivers that take turns behind the wheel.

Sheldon Van Der Linde claimed pole position and the Allan Simonsen Trophy for BMW team, WRT. Local Broc Feeney of the Triple 8 team qualified his 888 Mercedes to earn provisional pole position.

The race kicked off under safety car in the dark of Sunday at 5:45am. Bathurst is known for its erratic weather conditions but they started with a dry track and no major challenges. For the next 12 hours there was a spectacular display of driving from local and international teams alike.

2024 Bathurst 12 Hour Highlights

On the start, Sheldon Van Der Linde immediately made a break from the pack. Within a few laps he already created a gap of about 10 car lengths but there was still a long way to go.

There were no major incidents before the sun came up and all 25 cars were still on track.

At about the 75 minute mark, number 19 Racing Ginetta G55 GT4 caught fire in the pit lane. They were the first retirement of the race.

The first safety car was deployed after 2 hours 40 minutes of racing when the 701 Vortex spun off the track into the sand trap as it headed towards the S’s.

As the 12 hour countdown got to 8hrs 36 minutes car number 91 found the fence at turn 2 and came to a standstill on the blind corner.

A few minutes before they marked the 5^th hour of driving, Charles Weerts behind the wheel of the pole sitting car made contact at “The Cutting”. In spectacular fashion his car was out of control and the rear mounted the concrete barrier sliding along for over 50 meters. He was lucky to have not gone right over the top. The damage was so severe # 32 was now out of the race. The team was doing so well throughout the whole weekend it is a great shame they were not able to continue. I am sure they would have been contenders for a win and offered up much more of their competitive driving.

When they were into the 6^th hour of racing Bathurst did what Bathurst does. The weather changed completely and the rain came down heavily. At times there were sheets of water covering the track.

Cars were going off the track left, right and centre. The international drivers began sticking behind local drivers who knew the track and how to manage in the wet conditions. Still many cars aquaplaned off the challenging track and there were many moments that had viewers holding their breath.

Local Matt Campbell behind the wheel of #912 had the lead in the Manthey Racing / EMA Motorsport Porsche.

He was challenged multiple times with the biggest coming from the #13 Phantom Global Racing/Team 75 Porsche entry driven by Bastian Buus, Joel Eriksson and NZ local Jaxon Evans. The other challenge came from the SunEnergy1 Racing Mercedes driven by Jules Gounon, Kenny Habul and Luca Stolz.

With 30 minutes remaining there was less than 1 second between the leading 3 cars and less than 8 seconds back to 8^th place. It was anyone’s game and there was no room for mistakes.

The rain had stopped but the track was still wet. With leading cars so close to each other the competitive driving was incredibly fierce.

With 15 minutes on the clock the leading Porsche #912 with Matt Campbell behind the wheel edged ahead to create a 5+ second lead. Noone was giving up. Drivers were flying down the straights side by side heading into corners looking for any opportunity to make a pass.

Matt Campbells driving was incredible. He kept the lead in the #912 Porsche and even though the gap closed down to just over 2 seconds, he looked confident and strong on that last lap.

The #75 Mercedes driven by Jules Gounon crossed the finish line within 2.6 seconds to take 2nd place followed by the #22 Audi.

For Matt Campbell this is his second Bathurst 12 Hour win. It also breaks the Mercedes 3 time winning streak.

Results for the 2024 Repco Bathurst 12 Hour:

1^st Matt Campbell, Ayhancan Guven, Laurens Vanthoor – Manthey Racing/EMA Motorsport

2^nd Jules Gounon, Kenny Habul, Luca Stolz – SunEnergy1 Racing

3^rd Christopher Haase, Kelvin van der Linde, Liam Talbot – Melbourne Performance Centre

Supercars

Valo Adelaide 500 2023

December 17, 2023 admin Leave a comment

Hi to all you Supercars Fans around the world!

On the weekend of the 23 – 26 November 2023 was the Valo Adelaide 500.

The Adelaide street circuit was first opened in 1985 and hosted the F1 Australian Grand Prix until 1995. The street circuit came back into use in 1999 when Supercars moved their events from the Mallala Motorsport Park.

Jason Bright took the very first pole position at this venue. Craig Lowndes started the leg 1 from 3^rd on the grid and won the opening race. The next day he was sent to the back of the field and still came through to win leg 2. It was the stuff that legends are made of.

This year’s Adelaide 500 was the 12^th and final round of the 2023 Supercars Championship.

As one of the longer events on the calendar made up of 2 races of 250km each, it was always going to be a tough event. To add to the tension it was also the decider for the Driver’s Championship.

The defending champion Shane Van Gisbergen was trailing Brodie Kostecki in the number 1 spot by 131 points. A win in both races would total 300 points so the championship was still up for grabs. Shane Van Gisbergen is heading to the U.S. at the end of the season to try his hand at NASCAR so it could very well also be his final farewell to Supercars.

The points gap from 3^rd place onwards was too great to contend for 1^st or 2^nd place. However, the points were close enough between 3^rd, 4^th and 5^th for there to be a change on the final scoreboard for Will Brown, Broc Feeney and Chaz Mostert.

The Final Event and the Final Decider! A setting for nail biting stuff!

The event started on Thursday with a wet Practice 1.

The pre-race sessions results are as follows:

Chaz Mostert was fastest in Practice 1
Thomas Randle was Fastest in Practice 2
Brodie Kostecki was fastest in Qualifying
Brodie Kostecki was also fastest in the top 10 Shootout.

For Race 27 Brodie Kostecki started on pole position which was his 9^th pole for the year. David Reynolds was alongside him on the front row of the starting grid.

At the start of the race Brodie Kostecki got the jump and led into turns 1 and 2 for first of 78 laps.

As the pack rounded turn 4 Will Brown tried passing Anton de Pasquale. Shane Van Gisbergen also tried following Will Brown to jump up in position. However, Anton de Pasquale made contact with Will Brown and then from behind Shane Van Gisbergen made contact with Will Brown. Brown’s car came to stop almost immediately. Shane Van Gisbergen was able to get back to the pits but it was soon evident that he wouldn’t be returning to the track. Not only was it all over for this race but also his ability to contend for the championship title. Such bad luck.

The safety car was deployed. It was only the opening lap and things were very messed up for Will Brown and Shane Van Gisbergen.

Later, after reviewing the incident the officials took no further action and no penalty was issued to any of the three cars involved.

Matt Payne and Cameron Hill were in the pits because of damage they received after the start.

The restart was on lap 6 and Brodie Kostecki was still in control of the race, followed by David Reynolds and Thomas Randle in 3^rd place.

Broc Feeney passed James Courtney for 8^th place.

On lap 15 David Reynolds took the lead off Brodie Kostecki with some incredible manoeuvring through turns 8 and 9.

The first car to pit in this race was Anton de Pasquale on lap 16.

Broc Feeney was next to pit on lap 19. When he re-joined the race he was in 20^th place with clear track ahead.

Up front it started getting busy. Thomas Randle moved up to 2^nd place dropping Brodie Kostecki back to 3rd place.

Cameron Waters in 4^th place was 3 + seconds behind. The front of the pack were beginning to spread out.

Soon after, Thomas Randle pitted from second place handing over the spot to Cameron Waters.

Thomas Randle came out of the pits and was like a rocket. Within a few laps he managed to move up through the pack and regain 2^nd place.

Cameron Waters wasn’t happy to give back the second spot to Thomas Randle and found the opportunity to pass him. Once again, the order of the top 3 cars changed.

In the middle of the race Cameron Waters was still holding second place right on the rear bumper of David Reynolds in the lead. He found his opportunity and with precision driving made the pass to get the number one spot.

Further back in the pack, Todd Hazelwood received a 5 second time penalty for contact with another car.

David Reynolds never gave up the fight to regain 1^st place. With 17 laps to go he did the fastest lap of the race, 119.957 seconds. Unfortunately, it didn’t give him what he wanted. He was also under pressure from Thomas Randle in 3^rd place. The front 3 cars were once again tight and left no room for error.

Cameron Waters stayed strong and held the lead using his experience to fend off the two drivers right on his tail.

Soon Cameron Water and David Reynolds edged away from Thomas Randle still holding 3^rd place.

They were both on fire screaming ahead of the pack.

They crossed the finish line 0.67 seconds apart and way ahead of the others. Thomas Randle came in 14.353 seconds later to earn 3^rd place. It was an incredible finish for an intense race.

Results for Race 27

1^st Cameron Waters – Tickford Racing.

2^nd David Reynolds – Grove Racing.

3^rd Thomas Randle – Castrol Racing & Tradie Racing.

In Race 28 Brodie Kostecki started on pole position for the 10^th time this season. This is an incredible feat and he was given the Armor All Pole Award for year along with $10,000. Next to him on the front row of the grid was Matt Payne.

As they took off Matt Payne got the jump and led into turns 1 and 2 for the first of 78 laps. As much as Brodie Kostecki tried he was not able to pass Matt Payne.

Further back Shane Van Gisbergen was trying to pass Anton de Pasquale but also wasn’t able to execute a pass. It wasn’t until a few laps later that he got into his stride.

On lap 2 Broc Feeney was able to get up the inside of Cameron Waters for 4^th place.

David Reynolds made his move on lap 3 to pass Todd Hazelwood for 9^th place.

Shane Van Gisbergen was now moving through the pack and had now passed Anton de Pasquale, Will Davison and Will Brown for 11^th place.

On lap 6 Nick Percat made contact with Jack le Brocq who went off the track and into the tyre-wall at the final turn. Surprisingly, he managed to get himself out and the safety car did not have to be deployed.

After investigation the incident the officials took no further action against either driver.

By lap 10 Matt Payne had a 1.2 second lead over Brodie Kostecki.

Broc Feeney was putting pressure on Chaz Mostert for 3^rd place. He managed to get by at turn 6.

Shane Van Gisbergen showed how eager he was to make up for the NC (Not Complete) he received in the first race at this event. He did the fastest lap of the race, 120.735 seconds.

On lap 11 Chaz Mostert was desperately trying to get 3^rd place back from Broc Feeney. In his attempt Chaz Mostert made contact with him and did manage to pass. It was a messy attack and Chaz Mostert was later issued a 5 second time penalty.

Shane Van Gisbergen was the first of the Red Bull cars to take a pit-stop.

In the pit area Macauley Jones was spun around by Tim Slade who was coming out of his garage.

In the middle of the race Matt Payne was still in control with a 4.8 second lead over Broc Feeney flowed by David Reynolds in 3^rd.

As the race continued Matt Payne kept edging ahead. Towards the end of the race, he had a 7.5 second lead over Broc Feeney and was on target to claim his maiden win with Penrite Racing.

Noone seemed able to make ground on the rookie Matt Payne. In fact he managed to edge further ahead of the competitors.

He crossed the line with a 8.548 second lead over Broc Feeney. David Reynolds come in 3^rd a few seconds later.

It was a spectacular and solid win for Matt Payne. Congratulations!

Results for Race 28:

1^st Matt Payne – Grove Racing.

2^nd Broc Feeney – Red Bull Ampol Racing.

3^rd David Reynolds – Grove Racing.

A massive congratulations to Erebus Motorsport and Brodie Kostecki. Well done!

This was the final race for the 2023 season. The next event will be the Bathurst Superfest on the 16^th to the 25^th of February 2024.

It’s with a sense of sadness that we say farewell to Shane Van Gisbergen. Well done on everything you have achieved in Supercars and best of luck for your new adventures in Nascar. Go get em!

Supercars

Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500 2023

December 7, 2023 admin Leave a comment

Hi to all you Supercars Fans around the world!

On the weekend of 27 – 29 October 2023 was the Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500.

It was round 11 of the 12 rounds in the 2023 Supercars Championship.

The Gold Coast race at Surfers Paradise is a street circuit which was first opened in 1991. The challenging 4.47 km circuit alongside a strip of beaches has several fast sections and four chicanes.

From 1991 to 2008 the Gold Coast Indy 300 was an annual open-wheel motor race event. In the early days Supercars were there as a support category but from 2002 through to present it has been a round of the Supercars Championship. This year was the 21^st event at the venue that has held 44 V8 Supercars races to date.

As expected, it was perfect Queensland weather excepting a small shower on the first practice day. In the pre-race sessions:

Scott Pye was fastest in Practice 1
Shane Van Gisbergen was fastest in Practice 2
Cameron Waters was fastest in Qualifying
Cameron Waters was fastest in the Top 10 Shootout

In Race 25 Cameron Waters started on pole position with Matt Payne alongside him.

As they took off Cameron Waters got the jump and led into turns 1 and 2 for the first of 85 laps that makes up the 250km race. Matt Payne was right on his tail.

After starting 3^rd on the grid Shane Van Gisbergen dropped to 5^th before the first turn.

As Thomas Randle got to the first turn he took a shortcut across the chicanes. The officials spotted it but took no further action.

As Tim Slade got to the first turn another car made contact and spun him around. The safety car was deployed to slow drivers while he extracted himself from the dangerous position at the turn.

Brodie Kostecki was on the charge. He started 10^th on the grid because his shootout lap was disallowed for going out of bounds. Now he had jumped to 7^th place.

Within a few laps Chaz Mostert passed Thomas Randle to get up to 3^rd place and was only 0.672 seconds behind Matt Payne.

The first car to pit was Broc Feeney on lap 9, along with Anton de Pasquale. They returned to clear track in 24^th and 25^th place.

Thomas Randle got by Chaz Mostert for 3^rd spot.

It then seemed like the drivers were struggling with the high speed track. First Matt Payne received a bad sportsmanship flag for exceeding track limits.

Soon after both Chaz Mostert and Will Brown received bad sportsmanship flags for exceeding track limits.

Then it was Todd Hazelwood’s turn to receive a bad sportsmanship flag for the same reason.

Shane Van Gisbergen overtook Chaz Mostert for 4^th position and was only 2.3 seconds behind Thomas Randle in 3^rd place and only 4 seconds off the race lead.

Jack le Brocq alerted the team he was leaking fuel and went into the garage.

Brodie Kostecki was now in 5^th place right behind Shane Van Gisbergen in their personal title battle for this year’s championship.

Cameron Waters pitted early and came back out in 8^th place. When the top 7 cars took their pit stops he would resume the lead.

On lap 28 Shane Van Gisbergen took the number 1 spot off Matt Payne.

A few laps later Shane Van Gisbergen pitted and Brodie Kostecki followed him in. They came back out in 5^th and 7^th place.

In the middle of the race Broc Feeney was the first of the Red Bull cars to take his final pitstop. Meanwhile his teammate, Shane Van Gisbergen did the fastest lap of the race and was 6.1 seconds away from the lead.

Further ahead, David Reynolds was battling with Thomas Randle for 2^nd and 3^rd place.

Towards the end of the race with only 11 laps to go Cameron Waters was 1.4 seconds ahead of David Reynolds. It was another 2 seconds back to Shane Van Gisbergen in 3^rd place.

Chaz Mostert once again exceeded track limits. This time he received a 5 second time penalty.

With 10 laps to go Cameron Waters still had the lead over David Reynolds but Shane Van Gisbergen had closed the gap to only 0.315 seconds.

Soon Shane Van Gisbergen took over David Reynolds. The gap to Cameron Waters in 1^st was just 0.362 seconds.

With only a few laps remaining Shane Van Gisbergen was desperately looking for an opportunity to overtake for the lead and win. However, Cameron Waters is a seasoned driver. He kept his cool and defended the number 1 spot. Shane Van Gisbergen kept on his tail to the end of the race.

As they crossed the finish line there was only 0.194 seconds between them. It was a spectacular tight finish.

Results for Race 25:

1^st Cameron Waters – Tickford Racing

2^nd Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing

3^rd David Reynolds – Grove Racing

In Race 26 Brodie Kostecki started on pole position for the 8^th time this year. Alongside him was David Reynolds.

As they took off Brodie Kostecki got the jump and led into turns 1 and 2 for the first of 85 laps.

At turn 4 Tim Slade, James Courtney, Jack Smith and Macfauley Jones made contact and cars were spinning out of control in every direction. The cars back in the pack had to drive over the top of the first chicanes to avoid adding to the pileup. All four cars had come to a stop in this dangerous part of the track. The first safety car was deployed while the stranded cars were rescued.

The track was cleared by lap 8. However, it is the lead driver who gets to make the call for when the race goes back to green. Brodie Kostecki was waiting for the right moment to give the green light signal but the other drivers became impatient and started racing too soon. Confusion followed but the race still continued. It took a while for the officials to review, and it was only later that the offending drivers were penalised.

The first two cars to pit were Jack le Brocq and Will Davison on lap 9.

David Reynolds was challenging Brodie Kostecki for the lead and putting him under pressure. He was right on his tail and constantly on the attack.

Further back Shane Van Gisbergen got by Anton de Pasquale for 9^th place. His next target was Cameron Waters in 8^th place.

Brodie Kostecki held the lead until he pitted on lap 28. This relinquished the number 1 spot to David Reynolds. When Brodie Kostecki returned to the race he was in 12^th place.

As the other drivers began to take their pit stops Brodie Kostecki moved up and eventually had the lead again.

Once again David Reynolds was right on his tail.

Towards the end of the race David Reynolds finally took advantage of a weak spot in the leader, Brodie Kostecki’s defence and passed him. I believe Brodie Kostecki didn’t aggressively defend the move at the risk of being knocked out of the race. All he had to do was get a podium finish ahead of Shane Van Gisbergen to protect his position in the season championship.

Cameron Waters was in 3^rd place but was a few seconds behind and didn’t pose an immediate challenge to Brodie Kostecki.

With 7 laps to go James Golding had a massive shunt from behind and spun around landing in the tyre barrier. He almost collected Scott Pye in the process. They did make contact but luckily it seemed pretty light.

Shortly after Scott Pye’s car readings showed a big problem. He had to pull over immediately and the safety car was once again deployed.

When the race went back to green there was only 5 laps remaining. David Reynolds still had the lead over Brodie Kostecki, followed by Cameron Waters.

Brodie Kostecki was always close behind and a constant threat. At times there was less than 0.3 of a second between them. David Reynolds is a tough and seasoned driver. He never showed signs of cracking and at no time gave any opportunities away to his challengers.

In the end David Reynolds crossed the line 0.189 seconds ahead of Brodie Kostecki.

It was Reynold’s first race win since 2018 in what was probably the most exciting race of the year.

Congratulations to David Reynolds and his team, Grove Racing.

Results for Race 26:

1^st David Reynolds – Grove Racing

2^nd Brodie Kostecki – Erebus Motorsport

3^rd Cameron Waters – Tickford Racing

With 1 event made up of 2 races remaining, Brodie Kostecki leads over Shane Van Gisbergen by 131 points. Will Brown is 3^rd and trails by 495 points, Broc Feeney is 504 points behind and Chaz Mostert is 640 points.

The grand finale event for the year will be the Valo Adelaide 500, 23 – 26 November 2023.

Hope you can join me.

Supercars

Beaurepaires Sydney Supernight 2023

August 19, 2023 admin 1 Comment

Hi to all you Supercars Fans around the world!

On the weekend of 29 – 30 July 2023 was the Beaurepairs Sydney Supernight, the 7^th round of this year’s Supercars championship.

The event was held at Sydney Motorsport Park in New South Wales.

Originally named Eastern Creek Raceway, the New South Wales state government approved its development back in 1988 and opened on the 10th of November, 1990. The first Australian Touring Car Championship (ATCC) race was held in 1993. The ATCC was the previous title before being renamed V8 Supercars in 1997).

This event was a special occasion for me, aside from being in my home town of Sydney it was the first time I have been able to get to any track since 2017. It was a lot of fun and I was glad to finally have wheelchair accessible transport (thanks Dad) and the general threat of COVID gone. It was great to be back!

The event started on the Saturday but I managed to get there for only the Sunday.

In the pre-race sessions:

Shane Van Gisbergen was fastest in Practice 1
Shane Van Gisbergen was also fastest in Practice 2
Andre Heimgartner was fastest in Qualifying

In Race 18 Andre Heimgartner started on pole position with Brodie Kostecki alongside him.

At the start of the race Brodie Kostecki and Will Brown went into turn 1 in 1^st and 2^nd place. The pole sitter Andre Heimgartner had dropped from 1^st to 5^th place after a bad start off the line.

Cameron Hill made a blinder of a start. He had made up 4 spots after starting 8^th on the grid.

The cars further back in the pack were dicing for positions outside the top 10 while the leading cars held their positions.

The 2 Erebus Camaros were out in front and controlling proceedings early on.

Brodie Kostecki had half a second lead over Will Brown by lap 2.

Shane Van Gisbergen was also making way and gained 2 spots after starting in 20^th on the grid.

Jack le Brocq in 5^th place was soon under assault from Andre Heimgartner after he lost his pole position. However, instead of gaining a spot he lost his own spot to James Golding who snuck by him.

The leaders were comfortable out front while the cars behind were chasing them. This was probably the cause of Jack Smith in car 4 receiving a bad sportsmanship flag for exceeding track limits.

The first car to pit was Anton de Pasquale on lap 11.

James Golding was again on the move and got up the inside of Cameron Hill at turn 2 for 5^th place.

Chaz Mostert also tried to go around the outside of Cameron Hill, but he couldn’t make the move stick.

Cameron Hill was being a cork in the bottle he was holding up the cars behind him.

After Anton de Pasquale completed his pitstop he came back out in 25^th position.

A lap later Chaz Mostert finally got past Cameron Hill at turn 1 and Will Davison got up the inside of Andre Heimgartner for 8^th place.

Shane Van Gisbergen then got up the inside of Scott Pye to move into 12^th place. The defending champion Shane Van Gisbergen had gained 8 places since the start.

By lap 13 Scott Pye had dropped back to 22^nd position and chose to make his first pit stop and rethink strategy.

Cameron Hill pitted on lap 14 along with James Courtney and Thomas Randle.

By lap 17 of 51 the top 13 cars were still yet to take their stops.

Will Brown was the first of the front runners to pit followed by Will Davison, Cameron Waters and Jack le Brocq.

Shane Van Gisbergen also pitted a lap later, lap 18.

Soon after Todd Hazelwood and James Courtney received bad sportsmanship flags for exceeding track limits.

It wasn’t over for Todd Hazelwood. He received a pit lane drive thru penalty for a refuelling breach on his first stop.

In the middle of the race Andre Heimgartner had assumed the race lead while frontrunners were pitting. Soon he went into the pits handing the lead over to Brodie Kostecki who was followed by Cameron Waters and Will Brown in 3^rd place.

On lap 32 David Reynolds went off the track between turns 9 and 10. He hit the wall and the stricken Ford Mustang wouldn’t move. The Safety car was deployed while they removed car #26.

The race restarted on lap 39. Chaz Mostert soon made a pass of Jack le Brocq to move into 4^th place and only 0.748 seconds behind Will Brown in 3^rd.

Shane Van Gisbergen was up to 6^th place and looking for further gains. As the race got closer to the finish he was on the charge and managed to pass Jack le Brocq. Shane Van Gisbergen was now only 1.144 seconds from the back of the podium.

On lap 42 Shane Van Gisbergen showed just how much he wanted that podium finish and did the fastest lap of the race, 130.064.

By the final 10 laps the top 5 places had not changed but quite spread out. Brodie Kostecki had a good lead and was on target for his first win since the Melbourne Grand Prix in March.

On lap 44 Declan Fraser received a bad sportsmanship flag for exceeding track limits.

James Golding managed to go around the outside of James Courtney at turn 8 with 7 laps to go.

With 2 laps to go Chaz Mostert was up 7 places after starting 9^th on the grid. Shane Van Gisbergen was behind in 3^rd having moved up from a start of 20^th on the grid.

However, the gaps between the top 3 couldn’t be closed. In the end Brodie Kostecki crossed the finish line with a 7 second margin over Chaz Mostert. Shane Van Gisbergen was a further 10.479 seconds behind.

A post race penalty was issued to Shane Van Gisbergen for contact with Will Brown so unfortunately Shane was recorded in 7^th place on the final results. Will Brown inherited the podium finish in 3^rd. Credit is still owed to Shane Van Gisbergen for a phenomenal drive.

Results for Race 18

1^st Brodie Kostecki – Erebus Motorsport
2^nd Chaz Mostert – Walkinshaw Andretti United
3^rd Will Brown – Erebus Motorsport

Shane Van Gisbergen was fastest in Qualifying for Race 19 and earned pole position bringing his career pole total to 48. I would love for him to get another 2 more and reach a half century before he leaves Supercars at the end of this season.

Andre Heimgartner sat alongside Shane Van Gisbergen on the starting grid.

As they took off Andre Heimgartner got the jump and led into turn 1 for the first of 36 laps. Shane Van Gisbergen and Broc Feeney were in 2^nd and 3^rd.

Will Brown and David Reynolds made contact and left the track. As they rejoined they were now in 24^th and 25^thplace. Race control immediately put the incident under investigation. It took a while but they declared no penalties would be issued.

Shane Van Gisbergen was soon closing in on the back of the leader Andre Heimgartner. Broc Feeney in 3^rd was followed by Brodie Kostecki.

Chaz Mostert had moved up 5 places into 11^th after starting 16^th on the grid.

On the second lap James Golding and Thomas Randle made contact. Although they kept going the officials were investigating the incident and later issued time penalties to both drivers.

On lap 4 Shane Van Gisbergen took the race lead off Andre Heimgartner at turn 6.

Just to make a statement, Shane Van Gisbergen then did the fastest lap of the race 131.993.

The first car to pit was Broc Feeney from 4^th place on lap 16. When he came back out he was in 24^th place.

The front runners were tightly packed. Shane Van Gisbergen was still the leader with a 1 second gap over Andre Heimgartner. Then it was only 0.968 of a second back to Brodie Kostecki.

Further back in the running Declan Fraser received a bad sportsmanship flag for exceeding track limits.

Then Will Brown and Macauley Jones received a bad sportsmanship flag for the same reason.

By the middle of the race Shane Van Gisbergen was in a commanding position with a 6.7 second lead over Andre Heimgartner. The front runners were yet to pit. Andre Heimgartner was the first to make his stop from 2^nd place.

Shane Van Gisbergen took his stop towards the end of the race and returned to the track in 7^th place. He must have known he was in great shape because the 6 cars in front still had to take their pit stops so he would naturally assume the lead when they did.

One by one they peeled off the track for the mandatory pit stop leaving Shane Van Gisbergen back in the number 1 spot with a 3 second lead over Andre Heimgartner. It was then 1.4 seconds back to Broc Feeney in 3^rd place.

As the race was coming to its conclusion Shane Van Gisbergen was showing his authority and seemed uncatchable as he edged ahead.

After his incident on lap 2 Thomas Randle was in trouble again but this time only receiving a bad sportsmanship flag for exceeding track limits.

James Courtney was next in line for a bad sportsmanship flag for exceeding track limits.

In a surprise on the last lap Anton de Pasquale passed Broc Feeney for 3^rd place. Broc Feeney had no time to make it up. Anton de Pasquale took the podium finish in 3^rd. Andre Heimgartner had finished 10.4 seconds earlier in 2^nd place with Shane Van Gisbergen taking the chequered flag 5.5 clear of him.

It was a spectacular finish for SVG and I’m so glad I was at the track on that day!

Results for Race 19

1^st Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing
2^nd Andre Heimgartner – Brad Jones Racing
3^rd Anton de Pasquale – Shell V Power Racing Team

Brodie Kostecki still leads the championship by 41 points over his teammate Will Brown. Shane Van Gisbergen is only 54 points off the championship lead and Broc Feeney is 4^th with 57 points off the championship lead. With 5 events remaining the championship title could be any of these great drivers.

The next event is the OTR Supersprint at the Bend on 18 – 20 August 2023.

Supercars

Betr Darwin Triple Crown 2023

June 30, 2023 admin 2 Comments

Hi to all you Supercars Fans around the world!

On the weekend of the 16- 18 of June was the Betr Darwin Triple Crown.

Being in the Northern Territory the weather for this event is always hot and sunny with temperatures of 30 to 35 degrees ambient, which makes the in-car temperatures 40 degrees plus. The Triple Crown is always held in the middle of winter because any other time of the year would be way too hot putting the drivers at risk.

The opening date of the Hidden Valley Raceway was 1986 but Supercars didn’t venture north until 1998.

The track is 2.8km with 14 turns and the event is made up of three races (thus, the name “Triple Crown”) of 35 laps each.

Fox Sports presenter, Riana Crehan was absent from her usual role on this weekend because she and husband Will Davison are expecting the birth of their first child (any minute).

Hidden Valley Raceway always makes me think of this freaky fact; It was here that Craig Lowndes won his 100^th race back in 2015 on his team Triple Eight on their 888^th race in his car which was numbered 888.

The event kicked off according to schedule and the results of the pre-race sessions follow:

Broc Feeney was fastest in Practice 1
Anton de Pasquale was fastest in Practice 2
Cameron Waters was fastest in Qualifying

In Race 13 Cameron Waters started on pole position for the first time this year and the 20^th time in his career. Alongside him in the number 2 position was Broc Feeney.

At the start of the race Cameron Waters got the jump and led into turn 1 for the first of 35 laps. Mark Winterbottom who started 3^rd on the grid moved up to 2^nd place when Broc Feeney ran wide at turn 1.

The opening stages were fairly chaotic because everybody was trying make gains from back in the field.

Jack le Brocq also ran wide on approach to turn 1 and dropped all the way down to 12^th place.

Declan Fraser went into the garage on the opening lap after he sustained damage in the mayhem.

James Courtney got turned around by Andre Heimgartner at turn 14 on lap 2, sending him to the back of the pack.

Shortly after David Reynolds had a big lockup at turn 1 and went off the track. He hit the pits on lap 3 to change the front left tyre.

While the drivers behind were battling for places inside the top 10, Cameron Waters was out front leading the race until lap 5. When he was coming down the main straight he came over the radio to his team and said “My car is on fire!”. His race engineer Sam Potter ordered him, “get out mate!” so Waters pulled over and jumped from the driver’s seat. He grabbed the fire extinguisher from the Fire Marshall and put the flames out himself!

The lead was now in the hands of the sport veteran, Mark Winterbottom.

The safety car was deployed to remove Cameron Waters Monster Energy ‘Flaming’ Ford Mustang from the tack.

Meanwhile, the majority of the field chose to take their pit stops while the safety car was out. The pit lane was extremely busy.

Restart was on lap 11 and soon enough the cars back in the pack were jostling for positions again, while the leaders maintained track position.

Jack Smith went off the track at turn 1. Scott Pye made connection with someone or something and had torn the right rear wheel guard. The tyre was now rubbing on the dangling piece of guard. His team instructed him to keep going and they’ll let him know if it gets dangerous.

On Lap 16 the safety car was deployed for the second time due to a grass fire.

It took a few laps under the safety car before the race went back to green.

As the cars returned to their battle Chaz Mostert was able to take advantage and gained 3 spots moving up to 8^th place.

The leaders kept in place but Mark Winterbottom was under huge pressure from Broc Feeney only 0.449 seconds behind. Will Davison in 3^rd place was over a second behind Feeney.

Broc Feeney pushed hard but in the end, Mark Winterbottom was able to prevail and win the opening race at Darwin.

This has broken a 7 year winless streak for Mark Winterbottom. His last win was Perth 2016.

It was fantastic to see!

Results for Race 13

1^st Mark Winterbottom – Team 18
2^nd Broc Feeney – Red Bull Racing
3^rd Will Davison – Shell V-Power Racing Team

In Race 14 Broc Feeney earned pole position. Alongside him was Andre Heimgartner.

Generated by pixel @ 2023-06-18T23:36:11.103002

Broc Feeney got the jump off the start and led into turn 1 for the first of 35 laps. Meanwhile, Shane Van Gisbergen gained 1 spot and moved into 3^rd place.

Matt Payne and Declan Fraser made contact and went off the track at turn 7. It dropped them back to 25^th and 26^th place.

Both cars headed to the pits for repairs. Not long after Matt Payne was able to rejoin the race but Declan Fraser was not so lucky. It took a while for his car to be repaired losing several laps.

Otherwise, the opening stages were relatively clean.

The first car to take an unforced pit was Jack Smith on lap 5.

Around this stage of the race Brodie Kostecki had lost 2 spots from his starting position of 4^th. Jack le Brocq went off the track at turn 7 losing a number of places. At the front end Broc Feeney had carved a 1.225 second lead over Andre Heimgartner with Shane Van Gisbergen in pursuit.

Scott Pye pitted on lap 9 from 12^th place.

James Golding was battling with Brodie Kostecki for positions 5^th and 6^th and they put on a great show.

Will Brown was the first of the front runners to pit along with Macauley Jones.

In the middle of the race Nick Percat pitted from 14^th position. When he came back out he was in 20^th place.

The leading three drivers stayed locked in and edged away from the rest of the pack.

After David Reynolds took his pit stop he was issued a 5 second time penalty for a pit lane merging breach.

Broc Feeney was the first of the two Red Bull cars to take the mandatory stop on lap 20. He returned to the track in 4^th place. There was a strategy in this. Andre Heimgartner had already pitted and was now out of the leading three cars. Shane Van Gisbergen who was in second place now received the lead from teammate Feeney. Also, the leading 3 cars were yet to pit; Shane Van Gisbergen, Bryce Fullwood and Cameron Waters. Once they did Broc Feeney would automatically resume the lead.

On lap 29 Will Davison had gone into the garage with a bent right front steering arm. This took him out of the top 10.

Broc Feeney resumed the lead and soon had a 2 second gap over Shane Van Gisbergen in second place.

With 3 laps to go Broc Feeney would have felt he had the race win in the bag.

Broc Feeney drove faultlessly the remaining laps and crossed the line 1.4 seconds ahead of his illustrious teammate Shane Van Gisbergen. Andre Heimgartner followed another 1.8 seconds later to take 3^rd place.

A great one / two finish for the Red Bull Ampol Racing team.

Results for Race 14

1^st Broc Feeney – Red Bull Ampol Racing
2^nd Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing
3^rd Andre Heimgartner – Brad Jones Racing

In Race 15 Jack le Brocq started on pole position and once again alongside him was Andre Heimgartner.

As they took off Jack le Brocq led the field through turn 1 for the first of 35 laps.

Scott Pye was hit from behind and had pretty substantial damage on the right rear corner. Brodie Kostecki also had issues on the first lap, receiving steering damage on the right side.

Todd Hazelwood put in a challenge to Shane Van Gisbergen for 8 place but he couldn’t get the pass executed for a while. It wasn’t long before Shane Van Gisbergen took back 8^th.

After repairs to the steering arm Brodie Kostecki re-joined the race but was 3 laps down and running last.

Scott Pye also had to take his pit early to remove flapping rear bumper for the second time that weekend. He returned to the track in 25^th place.

David Reynolds came into the pits for his compulsory stop on lap 10.

In the middle of the race Declan Fraser made connection with another competitor and received a 15 second time penalty

Broc Feeney and Will Brown running 3^rd and 4th pitted at the same time on lap 17.

The race leaders Jack le Brocq and Andre Heimgartner took their pit stops on the next lap.

Towards the end of the race Matt Payne got turned around by Jack Smith at turn 6 sending him to the back of the pack.

With three laps to go Jack le Brocq had managed to hold the number one spot and carve a 1.8 second lead over Andre Heimgartner in 2^nd place. They were both well ahead of the rest of the pack.

Heimgartner pushed hard to close the gap but at no stage seemed a threat to le Brocq.

Jack le Brocq crossed the line 1.3 seconds clear of Andre Heimgartner. It was a further 8.4 seconds before Broc Feeney crossed the line to come in 3^rd.

It was a spectacular finish especially for the young Broc Feeney who managed a podium place in all three races of the Darwin Triple Crown; 2^nd,1^st and then 3^rd. It earned him a win for the entire round.

Results for Race 15

1^st Jack le Brocq – Matt Stone Racing
2^nd Andre Heimgartner – Brad Jones Racing
3^rd Broc Feeney – Red Bull Ampol Racing

Brodie Kostecki still leads the championship but only by 59 points over his teammate Will Brown and 91 points over Broc Feeney.

It still keeps Erebus in the lead of the teams championship by 222 points over the Red Bull Ampol Racing Team.

There are 7 events remaining in the 2023 Supercars championship season.

The next event is the NTI Townsville 500 starting on July 7^th 2023. I just can’t wait!!!!!

Supercars

Pizza Hut Winton Supersprint 2022

June 13, 2022 admin Leave a comment

Hi to all you Supercars Fans around the world!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Results for Race 13:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Results for Race 14:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Results for Race 15:

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

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

Supercars

Ned Whiskey Tasmania Supersprint

April 7, 2022 admin Leave a comment

Hi to all you Supercars Fans around the world!

On the weekend of 26^th and 27^th of March 2022 was the Ned Whiskey Tasmania Supersprint.

This year marks the 49^th time this event has been at Symmons Plains Raceway. This year’s event comprised of 3 races of 44 laps each. It’s a short track of 2.4 km with 7 turns. For these Supercars a lap is just under 50 seconds.

Chaz Mostert came to this event as the current championship leader for the first time in his Supercars career.

Garry Jacobson reached a milestone starting his 100^th Supercars championship race on Saturday.

The weekend also provided the opportunity for the defending series champion, Shane Van Gisbergen to move passed the total race win tally of two former Supercars champions, Garth Tander and Scott McLaughlin.

Mark Winterbottom was poised to take over the mantle as the most experienced Supercars driver at Symmons Plains Raceway by the end of the weekend. It was also Mark Winterbottom’s 46^th start at this track. He has finished every race at Symmons Plains Raceway. OMG! What an amazing achievement!

For this year’s newcomer to Supercars Brocq Feeney, it will be his first time at this track.

So, as you can see it was promising to be a great event.

In the pre-race sessions:

Will Davison was fastest in Practice 1
Shane Van Gisbergen was fastest in Practice 2
Cameron Waters was fastest in Qualifying.

In race 3 Cameron Waters started on pole position with Will Davison alongside him. The 19 year old rookie, Brocq Feeney earned himself 3^rd and Shane Van Gisbergen started 5^th.

At the start of the race Cameron Waters got the jump and led into turns 1 and 2 while the cars behind battled for positions.

Will Davison tried to go around the outside of Cameron Waters on the opening lap, but he couldn’t find the right space to make the move. Brodie Kostecki took advantage and moved up to 2^nd behind race leader Cameron Waters, pushing Will Davison into 3^rd place.

Shane Van Gisbergen was on the charge passing cars left right and centre. Anton de Pasquale was amazed by the driving from Shane Van Gisbergen.

Walkinshaw Andretti united pitted Nick Percat in car 2 early because of damage.

Thomas Randle went out in the weeds on lap 1 and so did Macauley Jones on lap 2.

For the opening few laps Cameron Waters was enjoying the clear air.

The cars back in the pack pitted early on to get clear track.

The first driver to pit was Jake Kostecki in car 56, because he was getting held up by other cars.

Cameron Waters stayed out because he had track position.

Will Davison pitted first so his teammate Anton de Pasquale didn’t have to double stack if the safety car was deployed.

At the end of the first quarter of the race Jack Le Brocq went off the track at turn 2. As he hit the sand trap, he broke the right front suspension. The car was still driveable, but he still headed straight for the pits.

The cars further back in the pack were battling for positions.

Chaz Mostert got up the inside of James Courtney to move up to 10^th position.

Shane Van Gisbergen got up the inside of Will Davison who had worked his way back into 2^nd place. Moments later Shane Van Gisbergen then took the race lead off Cameron Waters. The Dick Johnson Racing Team reacted, it was now the best time to get Will Davison to bring in car 17 for his compulsory pitstop.

The cars now following Shane Van Gisbergen were battling for 2^nd 3^rd and 4^th.

By the middle of the race Shane Van Gisbergen was still in the lead and looking in shape for his 2^nd win of 2022.

Mark Winterbottom turned David Reynolds around at turn 4 and copped a drive through penalty. Chaz Mostert was tailing the two drivers and had nowhere to go. He had a head-on with Reynold’s spun car. Chaz Mostert suffered a lot of damage to the right front and was forced to head into the pits. Reynolds got off lightly and continued driving.

Shane Van Gisbergen held his lead through the second half of the race.

As the defending champion he appeared confident and drove flawlessly. As he came across the line he had just under a 3 second lead over Will Davison and a further spread of almost 3.5 seconds over Cameron Waters.

Chaz Mostert finished 23^rd and Broc Feeney held up well finishing 5^th.

Results for Race 3

1^st Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing.

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

3^rd Cameron Waters – Monster Energy Racing Team.

In race 4 Shane Van Gisbergen started on pole position with his teammate Brocq Feeney alongside him.

Brocq Feeney got the jump of the start and led into turns 1 and 2, then pulled away from the pack with his teammate Shane Van Gisbergen playing rear gunner.

In between turns 6 and 7 there was contact between Jack Le Brocq and Andre Heimgartner. It was a brutal run in before the first lap was complete the red flagged was out so they could clean up the mess.

The race resumed with a rolling start and Brocq Feeney got the jump again with his teammate Shane Van Gisbergen right behind him.

While Brocq Feeney was in control of the race, he had full backup from Shane Van Gisbergen.

Further back Mark Winterbottom was moving up through the field really quickly.

Also back in the pack Garry Jacobson was putting in a fierce challenge to Chris Pither.

The other cars came in early because they were getting held up.

Scott Pye was behind his teammate Mark Winterbottom acting as rear gunner.

In the middle of the race Shane Van Gisbergen took the lead off his younger teammate. Brocq Feeney knew he couldn’t pass Shane Van Gisbergen so worked hard at keeping in 2^ndplace.

Cam Waters and Tim Slade were pushing hard against each other. Tim Slade lost control sliding sideways onto the grass and getting air under all four tyres. On landing it seemed the car should surely roll but it didn’t! A miracle! He kept sliding and crossed the track further ahead. Amazingly didn’t get collected by any other drivers. That’s 2 miracles in about 2 seconds.

Up the front the drivers were holding their positions. Chaz Mostert was chasing down David Reynolds for third place but there wasn’t much opportunity to move up.

Broc Feeney crossed the line only 2.4 seconds behind Shane Van Gisbergen. They were followed by David Reynolds with Chaz Mostert hot on his tail.

It was a brutal race with four drivers served NC’s (Not Complete); Jack Le Brocq leaving before the end of the first lap, Jake Kostecki on lap 7, Andre Heimgartner on lap 11 and Thomas Randall so close to the end on lap 39.

Shane Van Gisbergen had now earned 2 wins from 2 starts for the weekend. The defending champ was showing what he is truly made of.

Results for Race 4

1^st Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing.

2^nd Brocq Feeney – Red Bull Ampol Racing.

3rd David Reynolds– Penrite Racing.

In Race 5 Will Davison started on pole position with Jack le Brocq alongside him.

At the start of race Jack le Brocq took the lead into the first turn with Will Davison dropping in behind at 2^nd.

I was amazed that Jack le Brocq was leading during the opening stages after the damage to his car 34 on the first lap of Race 4.

On lap 2 he locked up of the front wheels at turn 4 and slid out onto the grass. He dropped down the order big time.

Will Davison now had the lead with the unenviable issue of having Shane Van Gisbergen right behind him in 2^nd place.

While the leaders were pulling away, the drivers back in the pack pitted early because they were getting held up by other cars.

Mark Winterbottom was battling with Jack le Brocq for positions 6 and 7.

By the middle of the race all the pitstops were complete and Shane van Gisbergen took the lead of the race.

Although the leading pack was tight it seemed Shane Van Gisbergen could not be passed. He had total control.

He was followed across the finish line by pole sitter, Will Davison and Anton de Pasquale with a desperate David Reynolds less than half a second behind him.

Shane Van Gisbergen had a great weekend earning 3 wins from the 3 starts. What a way to start the year!

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Hi to all you Supercars Fans around the world!

On the weekend of 26^th and 27^th of March 2022 was the Ned Whiskey Tasmania Supersprint.

Chaz Mostert came to this event as the current championship leader for the first time in his Supercars career.

Garry Jacobson reached a milestone starting his 100^th Supercars championship race on Saturday.

For this year’s newcomer to Supercars Brocq Feeney, it will be his first time at this track.

So, as you can see it was promising to be a great event.

In the pre-race sessions:

Will Davison was fastest in Practice 1
Shane Van Gisbergen was fastest in Practice 2
Cameron Waters was fastest in Qualifying.