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Supercars

Ned Whiskey Tasmania Supersprint

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Hi to all you Supercars Fans around the world!

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

This year marks the 49th 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 100th 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 46th 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 3rd and Shane Van Gisbergen started 5th.

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 2nd behind race leader Cameron Waters, pushing Will Davison into 3rd 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 10th position.

Shane Van Gisbergen got up the inside of Will Davison who had worked his way back into 2nd 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 2nd 3rd and 4th.

By the middle of the race Shane Van Gisbergen was still in the lead and looking in shape for his 2nd 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 23rd and Broc Feeney held up well finishing 5th.

Results for Race 3

1st Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing.

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

3rd 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 2nd place.

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

1st Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing.

2nd 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 2nd.

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 2nd 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 26th and 27th of March 2022 was the Ned Whiskey Tasmania Supersprint.

This year marks the 49th 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 100th 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 46th 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 3rd and Shane Van Gisbergen started 5th.

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 2nd behind race leader Cameron Waters, pushing Will Davison into 3rd 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 10th position.

Shane Van Gisbergen got up the inside of Will Davison who had worked his way back into 2nd 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 2nd 3rd and 4th.

By the middle of the race Shane Van Gisbergen was still in the lead and looking in shape for his 2nd 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 23rd and Broc Feeney held up well finishing 5th.

Results for Race 3

1st Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing.

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

3rd 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 2nd place.

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.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is Tasmania-pic-2-1024x576.jpg

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

1st Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing.

2nd 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 2nd.

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 2nd 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!

Results for race 5

1st Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing.

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

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

The next event is the Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix from the 7th to the 10th of April.

Drivers

Jamie Whincup retirement article 2021

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Hi to all you Supercars Fans around the world!

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

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

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

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

Jamie Whincup: Early karting days.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Jamie followed up by then winning in Tasmania.

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

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

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

It didn’t put his form off.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Repco Bathurst 1000 2021

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Hi to all you Supercars Fans around the world!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The pre-session results were as follows:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Results for race 31

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

2nd Cameron Waters and James Moffatt – Tickford Racing.

3rd Brodie Kostecki and David Russell – Erebus Motorsport.

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

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

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

Supercars

Beaurepairs Sydney Supernight 2021

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Hi to all you Supercars Fans around the world!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Results for Race 29

1st Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing.

2nd Jamie Whincup – Red Bull Ampol Racing.

3rd Cameron Waters – Monster Engery Racing.

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

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

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

Shane Van Gisbergern was next to pole on the grid.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Supercars

Bathurst 2006

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Hi to all you Supercars Fans around the world!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Results for Bathurst 2006

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Drivers

Rick kelly retirement Article october 2020

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Rick Kelly Retires from Full Time Driving

October 2020.

Hi to all you Supercars Fans around the world!

Rick Kelly was born on the 17th of January 1983.

Rick Kelly started racing  in the Australian Formula Ford Championship in 2000 followed by the Australian Drivers Championship in 2001.

Now hang on! Let me do my calculation: (Professional driver:2000. Born:1983) that would make him 17!!! Really? Ok so we got this kid behind the wheel. People are taking him seriously. He must be good.

In 2001 he made his debut in the Shell Championship Series at the VIP Petfoods Queensland 500 with co-driver Nathan Pretty with the Kmart Racing Team. Rick was behind the wheel on the grid, rearing to go. Unfortunately, due to mechanical problems the car had to be pushed off the track before they even started. It didn’t hold Rick back.

In 2002 he moved to the Holden Racing Team driving car 02. He performed admirably; at one stage leading the Bathurst 1000 and had the circumstances been slightly different he could have won his  first Bathurst at the age of 19!!!! Not a problem for a Kelly. It was only one year later, driving  for the K-Mart Racing Team in 2003 that he took the Bathurst 1000 trophy.

When Rick Kelly rejoined Kmart Racing Team in 2003 he was co-driver to (already legend) Greg Murphy for the Enduro’s.  It’s agiven that being co-driver to a legend like Murphy is a great honour but it also states clearly what they thought of Kelly.

In 2004 Rick Kelly stayed with Kmart racing and started on pole position for the 2004 Sandown 500.

In 2005 Rick Kelly drove for the HSV Dealer Team driving in car number 15. Again he started on pole position for the Sandown 500.

In 2006 and 2007 Rick Kelly drove for the Toll HSV Dealer Team.

He won the 2006 Supercars Championship and got to run the 2007series with the coveted 01 number on his car.

In 2009 the Kelly boys (brother Todd) started their own team, Kelly Racing which they both own to this day.

 

Rick Kelly is a 2 times Bathurst 1000 winner and a Supercars Champion.

I met Rick Kelly a in 2017 at Homebush. He was a great guy to meet. I also met him at some other race events and he was consistently nice.

So, from me (and Im sure a great many others) congrats on your outstanding 19 year Supercars career. Good luck for the future.

Whoever will replace Rick on the track for Kelly Racing in 2021 will be in good hands and should be honoured.

 

Results for Rick kelly’s career:

1st 2001 Sandown race 2.

1st 2003 Bathurst 1000.

1st 2004 Bathurst 1000.

1st 2004 round 2 Eastern Creek.

2nd 2006  Clipsal 500 Race 1 & 3rd in Race 2.

1st 2007 Clipsal 500 Race 2. (His brother Todd won the first race).

1st 2011 Hamilton Race 5.

Rick Kelly co-drivers over the years:

Nathan Pretty 2001 and 2002

Greg Murphy 2002, 2003 and 2004

Garth Tander 2005

Todd Kelly (Bother) 2006

Garth Tander 2007

Paul Radisch 2008 (who crashed car 15) so Rick drove with Paul Dumbrell in car 16.

Todd Kelly2009

Owen Kelly 2010

Owen Kelly 2011

David Russell 2012

Karl Reindler 2013

David Russell 2014

David Russell 2015

Russell Ingall 2016

David Wall 2017

Dale Wood 2018

Dale Wood 2019

Dale Wood 2020

Karl Relindler 2013

Supercars

Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 2020 Supercars

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Hi to all you Supercars Fans around the world!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

Results for race 31

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

2nd Cameron Waters and Will Davison – Tickford Racing.

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

The Supercars will be back at Bathurst in Feburary 2021.

 

 

 

Supercars

2007 Supercars Grand Finale

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Hi to all you Supercars fans around the world!

I am back after a long absence and although I am still in hospital (this is week 10 – which increases my strong hate for hospitals) I am getting well enough to think about the races again.

Due to the COVID 19 affect on us all and more importantly the cancellation of V8 Supercars races, I thought I would revisit the Grand Finale for 2007. It was only the other day that I found the recording of this race on YouTube. It certainly helped keep my mind occupied from utter frustration of being ‘locked down’ in a damned hospital.

The event took place at Phillip Island (Victoria) on the weekend of November 30 to December 2, 2007.

As it turned out, it was John Bowe’s final race in Supercars. John Bowe is a multi-winning champion in several different race categories (Aussie Drivers Championship in the Formula Mondial, Aussie Sports Car Championship, two time winner of The Bathurst 1000 and much more). He was teamed with many other great champions such as Dick Johnson and Brad Jones. He is still racing in the Touring Car Masters.

This race also notched up Mark Skaif ‘s 200th round start.

Garth Tander was having a fabulous weekend. He took first place in races 1 and 2 and closed the point score between Whincup and himself so it basically became a showdown for the year’s title.

As they moved out to the starting grid it was a young Garth Tander who started on pole position. Alongside him was Todd Kelly.

At the start of 120Km 27 lap race Tod Kelly (in those days driving for Holden) got the jump on Garth Tander.

Jamie Whincup moved up to 3rd and had cover from Craig Lowndes for Team Vodafone because Whincup was battling Garth Tander for the title.

Meanwhile Todd Kelly was helping Garth Tander.

During the opening laps Jamie Whincup knew he had to try and get around Garth Tander to win his first title.

When the pit window opened the contenders stayed out until they got called to pit. The compulsory pit window opened on lap 5 for 2 tyres.

Rick Kelly tried to get down the inside of Will Davison but wasn’t close enough.

In the middle of the race Garth Tander later stated he was put in a difficult situation ‘caught in the sandwich between Jamie [Whincup] and Craig [Lowndes]. It was high-speed chess from there on. It was about managing the situation.’

Although Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes got by Tander it was Todd Kelly who still had the lead.

Todd Kelly maintained his position and crossed the finish line first robbing Jamie Whincup of the points needed for him to take ‘The Title’.

Whincup took second place, Lowndes third and Garth Tander came in fourth.

Regardless of Tander coming fourth for race 3, Whincup was 2 points shy of a draw (625 vs 623). Tander had won the title for 2007.

Results for Race 3
1st Todd Kelly – Holden Racing Team.
2nd Jamie Whincup – Team Vodafone.
3rd Craig Lowndes – Team Vodafone.

Supercars

Beaurepairs Melbourne 400 Supercars

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HI to all you Supercars fans around the world!

Last weekend (starting on Thursday, March 12 through to March 15) was supposed to be the 2nd round of the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship and the opening round of the World Formula 1 Championship.

Unfortunately, COVID-19 was the winner for the weekend in its mission to spoil our fun. COVID-19 is not a new race car to contend with the super fast Mustangs, it’s the Corona Virus causing the entire world a bunch of problems.

Some of the pre-race sessions were run (see further down for the results) but the spread of Corona Virus made itself known.

The McLaren F1 team are now in isolation because 14 of the team members tested positive to Corona virus.

In the end the officials decided on Friday to not let the event go ahead and cancel all the support categories and the Formula 1.

At the moment there is talk that Tasmania and the ITM Super400 could also get cancelled due to this god damn Coronavirus.

So for the sake of keeping check on the form of the teams, here are the results from the pre-race sessions that were run:

  • Practice 1 – Jamie Whincup and Shane Van Gisbergen finished 1st and 2
  • Practice 2 – Anton de Pasquale was fastest. However, Maculey Jones had a 16G-force impact with the wall at the end of turn 1. Scared the hell out of everyone.
  • Qualifying both Shane Van Gisbergen and Jamie Whincup claimed pole position for races 3 and 4.

The next 2 rounds of the Supercars are at Symmons plains and Hampton downs. Let’s hope these next 2 events go ahead. Fingers crossed.

If you have any comments about the event or the affect of Corona Virus we would love to hear from you. Head to my V8 Supercars fan page at https://www.facebook.com/williamsperfectride/ and have your say.

So until the next race – Keep well and healthy and keep it idling.

Bathurst 12 hour

Liqui Moly Bathurst 12 Hour 2020

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HI to all you Supercars fans around the World!

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

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

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

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

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

Most cars had experienced international drivers start behind the wheel.

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

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

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

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

When the sun came up the accidents started to happen.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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