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Supercars

ITM Taupo Super 440 2025

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Hi to all you Supercars Fans around the world!

On the weekend of April 11-13 was the ITM Taupo Super 440, round 3 of the 2025 Supercars championship.

It was held at the Taupo International Motorsport Park in Taupo, New Zealand.

Taupo raceway was first opened in 1959 by the Taupo Car Club. It was basically a dirt track in the countryside with the volcanic mountain Mount Tauhara in the background.

After changing hands in 2022 and finally in 2024 hosted it’s first Australian V8-Supercars event. After this event (in 2025) Supercars will be hosting next year’s NZ event at a different circuit.

This event started on Friday the 11th of April and the weather was sunny all weekend.

In the pre-race sessions:

  • Andre Heimgartner was fastest in Practice 1
  • Ryan Wood was fastest in Practice 2
  • Matt Payne was fastest in Qualifying

In Race 8 Matt Payne started on pole position with Brodie Kostecki alongside him.

Matt Payne got the jump off the start line and led into turn 1 for the first of 37 laps.

Cooper Murray and Cameron Hill came into contact on lap 3. Cameron Hill was later deemed at fault and issues a 15 second time penalty.

After numerous attempts Ryan Wood finally passed Will Davison for 4th place.

Chaz Mostert was turned around by Thomas Randle at turn 1 dropping Mostert from 7th to 21st place. Thomas Randle received a 15 second time penalty for his actions.

Matt Payne then did the fastest lap of the race 1.28.075 seconds. He had a 1.3 second lead over Brodie Kostecki in second place.

Nick Percat was the first to pit on lap 9.

Macauley Jones was slowing approaching turn 2 and finally came to a stop. The safety car was deployed to remove his car because it was in an awkward spot of the turn. Excepting the front runners the whole field took the opportunity to take their pit-stops. The pit lane was chaotic.

The restart was on lap 16 and Matt Payne still had control followed by Cameron Waters and Anton de Pasquale in 3rd place. Kostecki had lost 2nd place when he chose to pit while the race was under safety car.

Ryan Wood passed Thomas Randle for 5th place his next target was Jack le Brocq in 4th place.

It was the middle of the race and Cameron Waters was applying maximum pressure on Matt Payne for the lead.

With 9 laps remaining James Courtney gave Cooper Murray a helping hand off the track. The safety car was not needed so the race continued.

The leading cars remained the same. In the last laps Ryan Wood was desperately attacking Cam Waters for second place. With Waters on the defence, Matt Payne was able to keep well ahead of the two.

Matt Payne’s faultless driving took him over the finish line 4.1 seconds ahead of Cameron Waters. Ryan Wood was right on Waters’ tail just 0.797 seconds behind in 3rd place.

Results for Race 8:

1st Matt Payne – Grove Racing

2nd Cameron Waters – Tickford Racing

3rd Ryan Wood – Walkinshaw Andretti United

In Race 9 Brodie Kostecki started on pole position alongside him was Chaz Mostert.

At the start of the race Chaz Mostert got the jump over Brodie Kostecki and led into turn 1 and 2 for the first of 37 laps.

Broc Feeney got away to an unbelievable start from the second row of the grid but soon lost the places he had gained. Will Brown gained 1 spot up to 4th.

Officials were busy investigating a false start for Matt Payne and further back in the pack there was contact between Cooper Murray and David Reynolds.

Brodie Kostecki stuck close to Chaz Mostert in the lead. On lap 18 Kostecki found a gap and used it to overtake Mostert.

In the middle of the race Chaz Mostert was driving aggressively to take back his lead from Brodie Kostecki. It was so aggressive that when Mostert passed Kostecki, Kostecki left the track onto the grass. He kept the chase on Mostert going.

Soon after the two leaders came into the pits. Kostecki made some sort of judgement error and hit the wall reasonably hard coming into pit lane. The right side of his car was pretty smashed in.

As the race was reaching its conclusion, Brodie Kostecki ran wide after a nudge from Chaz Mostert. Mostert stayed in the lead but the incident allowed Will Davison to slip past Kostecki.

With a clear track and clean air Mostert was able to build on his lead. In the end he crossed the finish line 6.476 seconds ahead of Will Davison in 2nd place.  Brodie Kostecki managed to keep 3rd place and came across the line 2.715 seconds later.

Results for Race 9:

1st Chaz Mostert – Walkinshaw Andretti United

2nd Will Davison – Shell V-Power Racing Team

3rd Brodie Kostecki – Shell V-Power Racing Team

In Race 10 Brodie Kostecki started on pole position with Anton de Pasquale alongside him.

As they took off Brodie Kostecki got the jump into turn 1 for the first of 61 laps. Anton de Pasquale ran wide and Kai Allen got turned around at turn 1 sending both down the order. Ryan Wood was trying to take the lead off Brodie Kostecki but with both drivers running wide, Cameron Hill was able to overtake them for the lead in one manoeuvre. Brodie Kostecki had now dropped down to 7th place.

Ryan Wood was later issued a time penalty for a driving infringement when trying to overtake Kostecki.

Matt Payne was in 2nd place and was in a prime spot to win the Jason Richards Memorial Trophy for the event. Thomas Randle passed Ryan Wood for 3rd place at turn 1 on lap 2.

On lap 5 the Ryan Wood recorded the fastest lap of the race, 128.5 seconds.

Kia Allen had smoke coming out of the right rear mud guard of car 26. He kept going until he had to come in for his pit stop.

Matt Payne took the race lead at turn 3 on lap 8  and was now followed by Thomas Randle while Cameron Hill dropped into 3rd place.

Further back Brodie Kostecki was keen to regain his position up the front and passed Anton de Pasquale for 6th place.

Macauley Jones was turned around by Cameron Waters on lap 11. Somehow, he managed to rescue himself without the safety car intervening.

The first car to pit was Will Brown in 10th place on lap 12. He returned to the track in 24th place.

In the middle of the race Matt Payne was leading by 1.4 seconds over Cameron Hill. Thomas Randle was back in third 1.9 seconds away from the race lead.

Towards the end of the race Matt Payne was looking strong to claim another victory for the weekend and therefore have enough points to claim the Jason Richards memorial trophy. He had enough of a lead so he wasn’t under immediate threat. He had a clear track and clean air. He only had to focus on maintain his speed and not making any errors of his own.

He crossed the finish line 3.194 seconds ahead of Cameron Hill. It was 5.094 seconds back to Chaz Mostert in 3rd place. After initially losing so much ground, Brodie Kostecki amazingly managed to climb back to 4th place ahead of Thomas Randle in 5th. Although the front runners were spread apart it was still a very exciting finish.

Results for Race 10:

1st Matt Payne – Grove Racing

2nd Cameron Hill – Matt Stone Racing

3rd Chaz Mostert – Walkinshaw Andretti United.

The next event is the Snowy River Caravans Tasmania Super 440 May 9 – 11, 2025.

Till I catch ya next time, keep revving!

Supercars

ITM Super 400 Taupo New Zealand 2024

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Hi to all you Supercars Fans around the world!              

On the weekend of 19 – 21 April was the ITM Taupo Super400 held at the Taupō International Motorsport Park in New Zealand.

It was round 3 of the 2024 Supercars Championship and was the first time that Supercars had raced at this new venue.

The Taupō International Motorsport Park circuit first began life in 1959 when the Taupo Car Club carved out a short dirt track to the northwest of the town. Nestled in open countryside with the spectacular volcanic mountain of Mountain Tauhara as the backdrop, the track was soon asphalted and become a bustling venue for the club’s activities. The track length is 3.3 kms with 14 turns.

The event marked a special milestone for David Reynolds starting his 200th round in Supercars.

Last year’s champion Brodie Kostecki also had his 100th race start in Supercars.

The event started on the Friday. The weather was sunny as the weekend kicked off, but temperamental New Zealand weather was wet and miserable on the Saturday. It changed again and was dry for Sunday.

There were two races, 60 laps (200kms) each.

In the pre-race sessions:

  • Chaz Mostert was fastest in Practice 1
  • Matt Payne was fastest in Qualifying
  • Cameron Waters was fastest in the top 10 Shootout

In Race 7 Cameron Waters started on pole position with Will Brown alongside him in P2.

At the start of the race Will Brown got the jump and led into turn 1 for the first of 60 laps.

Tim Slade had a great start from P3 and tried to go in-between Will Brown and Cameron Waters. He made contact with Cameron Waters and both drivers spun around before the first turn. Cameron Waters was able to get his car back to the pits for repairs and return to the race later.  Tim Slade wasn’t so lucky. He was stranded in the middle of the track and the safety car was deployed to clean up. Unfortunately, the damage was so severe Tim Slade was not able to return to the race.

Before the safety car could be deployed Matt Payne and Broc Feeney made contact and spun around at the first turn. It was also immediately investigated to see who was at fault.

Later the stewards found Tim Slade at fault but couldn’t issue a penalty as he was already out of the race. Matt Payne received a 15 second time penalty.

The restart was on lap 5 and Will Brown still had control with a slender lead of 0.688 seconds followed by Andre Heimgartner and Chaz Mostert. Meanwhile the cars further back in the pack were struggling in the wet conditions.

The first car to pit in was Nick Percat on lap 6 from 23rd place .

The drivers back in the pack were finding it difficult to deal with the spray coming up from other cars.

Chaz Mostert did the fastest lap of the race 136.291 in third place. He was 1.3 seconds away from the race leader Will Brown.

Bryce Fullwood got spun around at turn 11 by Jack le Brocq. Fullwood couldn’t get going again because he had no oil pressure. The safety car was deployed to get his car out of the way.

The majority of the field pitted under yellow except for Nick Percat who pitted on lap 6.

Nick Percat was issued a 15 second time penalty for doing 90kmph when the race was under yellow (FCY) and he should have been doing 80kmph.

On the restart Andre Heimgartner assumed control of the race followed by Will Brown and Chaz Mostert. Meanwhile, James Courtney passed Thomas Randle for 7th place.

Will Brown in second place started closing in on the lead.

Brodie Kostecki turned James Courtney in a tussle and Kostecki was issued a 15 second time penalty at his next stop.

Chaz Mostert got up the inside of Will Brown for second place. Will Brown was then under pressure from behind by Will Davison.

By this stage Broc Feeney made it into the top 10 positions.

Chaz Mostert was now only 0.364 seconds behind the lead.

Suddenly the nut from Chaz Mostert’s right rear wheel came off. After the next turn the wheel made its own bid for freedom rolling down the track on its own. What an unusual set of circumstances! He managed to limp back to the pits on three wheels to get a fourth one but it took him out of contention for the race.

With 8 laps to go Andre Heimgartner was looking strong with a 2.052 second lead.

He was being followed by the 2 Shell V-Power Racing Fords of Will Davison and Anton de Pasquale.

Andre Heimgartner kept his spot and crossed the finish line with a 1.171 second win over Will Davison followed by Anton de Pasquale 1.4 seconds behind.

Results for Race 7

1st Andre Heimgartner – Brad Jones Racing
2nd Will Davison – Shell V-Power Racing
3rd Anton de Pasquale – Shell V-Power Racing

In Race 8 Matt Payne started on pole position with Broc Feeney alongside him.

As they took off Matt Payne got the jump and led into turn 1 for the first of 60 laps.

Chaz Mostert had an unusually bad start and immediately lost 6 places taking him all the way down to 15th place.

After a few laps Matt Payne edged ahead to have a 1 second lead over Broc Feeney, followed by Anton de Pasquale in third place.

Will Brown was busting to get in on the action and was putting pressure on Brodie Kostecki in 4th place.

Within the next few laps Will Brown finally managed to get by Brodie Kostecki. His next target was Anton de Pasquale 2.5 seconds ahead in 3rd place.

On lap 13 Broc Feeney found the opportunity to take the race lead off Matt Payne and gained track position.

The first car to pit was David Reynolds on lap 13 coming in from 24th place (the back of the field).

After chasing Broc Feeney for a few laps and making no headway Matt Payne chose to pit. This gave Anton de Pasquale second place 1.8 seconds behind the lead.

Soon after Will Brown got up the inside of Matt Payne who was back in 3rd place. Will Brown now had 1.5 seconds to make up to take Anton de Pasquale in second place.

By the middle of the race the front of the field became more spread out. Broc Feeney had a 2.6 second lead over Anton de Pasquale. Will Brown in 3rd was 2 seconds further behind.

Chaz Mostert was trying to make up for lost ground at the start of the race. He got up the inside of Cameron Hill and was now in 10th place.

At lap 30 Will Brown was significantly faster than the two leaders and gained enough ground to be right on Anton de Pasquale’s tail. It wasn’t too long before Will Brown passed him to take second place.

Broc Feeney and Will Brown were looking strong to score another 1 2 finish.

On lap 48 Will Brown did the fastest lap of the race 127.920. The two leaders had edged so far ahead the gap back to Anton de Pasquale in 3rd place was 16+ seconds.

With 9 laps to go Will Brown was driving so fast Broc Feeney was slowing him down. The opportunity came and Will Brown passed his teammate Broc Feeney for the lead.

Further back in the pack Chaz Mostert re-entered the top 10 and was soon in 7th place.

James Golding who started in 17th on the grid moved into 6th place (a hike of 11 spots).

On the last lap Brodie Kostecki made contact with Richie Stanaway and received a 15 second time penalty (added to his post race finish time). It edged him out of the top 10 to end up in 12th place.

The leaders once again were spread out. Will Brown had control and confidently raced to the finish line with a 3.358 seconds lead clear of his teammate Broc Feeney in 2nd place.

The Jason Richards trophy is awarded to the round winner. Although Anton de Pasquale finished 3rd in both races it still made him the highest points scorer. A great result for him and the Shell V-Power Racing team. Congratulations!

Results for Race 8

1st Will Brown – Red Bull Ampol Racing
2nd Broc Feeney – Red Bull Ampol Racing
3rd Anton de Pasquale – Shell V-Power Racing

Will Brown is still leading the championship with a 71 point lead over his teammate Broc Feeney.

The next event is the Perth Supersprint running from the 17th – 19th May 2024.

I hope you can join me.

Until then, to all you Supercars fans around the world KEEP REVVING!