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Post Race Report, Supercars

Perth Supersprint 2018

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Hi to all you Supercars Fans around the world!

On the weekend of 4th to the 6th of May 2018 was the Perth Supersprint at Barbagallo Raceway, Western Australia.

It’s interesting to note Will Davison started his 400th race in Supercars which is an awesome milestone to reach. Also interesting to note, Shane Van Gisbergen and Jamie Whincup started 12th and 14th on the grid respectively due to not making it into Q3. That meant that Craig Lowndes was the only Triple 8 car to get in get into the top 10 starting 8th on the grid. Rick Kelly had to start last at the back of the grid for Race 11 due to having an engine failure in Qualifying.

In practice 1 Andre Heimgartner was fastest for Nissan Motorsport in car 7.

In practice 2 Scott McLaughlin was fastest in car 17.

In practice 3 Will Davison was fastest in car 400.

In race 11 Scott McLaughlin started on pole position alongside him was Cameron Waters. At the start of the 50 lap race Scott McLaughlin got jump on Cameron Waters into turn 1 which I am sure he was happy with that.

Fabian Coulthard was not far behind his teammate early on but because Fabian Coulthard was battling Mark Winterbottom it allowed Scott McLaughlin to pull away by 3 seconds.

If Mark Winterbottom was able to get by Fabian Coulthard earlier than what he did, Scott McLaughlin wouldn’t have had a 3 second margin on everybody else.

Jack Le Brocq made the choice to come in so that Craig Lowndes wouldn’t have to double stack.

Anton De Pasquale in car 99 got a 10 second time penalty for a false start due to being outside of the start grid marking where he should have been positioned.  His team Erebus Motorsports owner, Betty Klimenko was not in Perth due to her having the flu. I am sure he was happy she was not there to see it happen. It was an unfortunate mistake.     

Commentator, Mark Skaife didn’t know whether James Courtney was coming into the pit lane or staying out for another lap but he was. Then as he was coming up to the pit lane entry James Courtney got spun by his former teammate, Garth Tander which would have made James Courtney not happy at all.

In the middle of the race as Chaz Mostert was coming in for his final pit stop he got turned around by Jamie Whincup. Chaz Mostert shook his head. He too wasn’t happy.

The Barbagallo raceway is full of sand which means if you get stuck and bogged you can’t get out without help.

Surprisingly there were no Vodafone Safety Car Periods because the drivers who went off track somehow managed to get back on with no problem.

Towards the end of race Scott McLaughlin was leading the race with a 5 second lead over Mark Winterbottom in 2nd place. The end of the race was really exciting! It Gave Scott McLaughlin his 3rd race win of the year so far and he is the still the championship leader by 158-point lead over Shane Van Gisbergen. Scott McLaughlin now has 1247 points over his closest competitor which is still Shane Van Gisbergen on 1089. Jamie Whincup who led the Championship by just 11 points going into Phillip Island, he is now 268 points adrift of Scott McLaughlin. Craig Lowndes is in 4th in the points and only 194 points from Scott McLaughlin.

Jamie Whincup had crossed the finish line 6th behind Craig Lowndes, but after getting a 5 second penalty for turning Chaz Mostert around at turn 7 he was dropped from 6th to 11th in the results after the end of the race.

Tim Blanchard had a DNF (Did Not Finish) otherwise known as NC (Not Complete). So he was the only car out of 26 to not finish the race.

 

Results for race 11

1st Scott McLaughlin – Shell V Power Racing Team
2nd Mark Winterbottom – Tickford Racing
3rd Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Holden Racing Team
4th Tim Slade – Freightliner Racing
5th Craig Lowndes – Autobarn Lowndes Racing.

 

In Race 12 Shane Van Gisbergen started on pole position. Alongside him was Jamie Whincup.

Interesting to note in race 12 Fabian Coulthard started down in position number 17. Scott McLaughlin, Craig Lowndes and Garth Tander started in positions 19th, 25th and 26th. It was a surprise to see them in those positions as they all normally start within the top 10 spots.

Jamie Whincup got the jump on Shane Van Gisbergen due to him not getting the right amount of wheel spin. As a matter of fact, Shane Van Gisbergen nearly bogged down off the front row from Position 1.

In the early laps Todd Hazelwood and Garth Tander made contact with James Golding. The safety car was despatched and the race went to ‘yellow’.

James Golding and Garth Tander are teammates so I am sure this would’ve not made Garry Rogers, their team boss very happy at all.

Unlike the other drivers taking the opportunity to pit, Will Davison didn’t want to double stack. He chose to stay out on the track and got to lead race 12 in his 400th race. It must have been extra nice for him on this occasion.

Tim Blanchard looked like he was going to make contact with Will Davison but for the sake of Will Davison thankfully didn’t.

A short time later, Scott Pye got spun around by Richie Stanaway.

Mark Skaife was quite surprised that Scott McLaughlin didn’t end up in drama throughout the race because of where he started on the grid. The idea being that, to make his way to the front he was going to push hard and possibly take risks.

Scott McLaughlin didn’t think he had a chance to win race 12.

I was so proud of the effort Craig Lowndes made to start from 25th and finish 3rd. Well done! Great effort mate!

Mark Skaife and Neil Crompton couldn’t believe how many cars and how many positions he had gained, 21 in total.

I couldn’t believe Scott McLaughlin missed all the carnage on track and managed to keep his car straight without putting a scratch on it. 

Fabian Coulthard got pit priority because Scott McLaughlin started in 19th.

Jack Le Brocq also got pit priority because Craig Lowndes started in position 25.

In the middle of the race Tim Slade went off the race track between turns 3 and 4. Shane Van Gisbergen was tight in behind him and had to take evasive action to not hit Tim Slade’s ZB Holden Commodore.

Towards the end of the race the finish things became very exciting. David Reynolds went off track on approach to turn 7 which could have given 2nd place to Craig Lowndes. It looked bad for David Reynolds but he surprisingly made it out of the sand trap. If he had decided to put his foot on the brake pedal at that moment he would surely have been bogged in the sand.

Scott McLaughlin proved his abilities. He moved up 18 spots from 19th to 1st.  

Craig Lowndes started 25th moved up to 3rd which in total is 22 position gained. He received 129 points for that race and in is still 4th in terms of the championship, 194 points behind Scott McLaughlin.

Scott McLaughlin’s head to head wins in races 11 and 12 gives him a 158 point lead over Shane Van Gisbergen. Another amazing weekend for Scott McLaughlin.

In the next race at Winton Motor Raceway, Lee Holdsworth will start his 400th race in Supercars. Congratulation Lee Holdsworth, I’m looking forward to it almost as much as you!

Results for race 12

1st Scott McLaughlin – Shell V Power Racing Team
2nd David Reynolds – Erebus Motorsport
3rd Craig Lowndes – Autobarn Lowndes Racing.

Post Race Report, V8 Supercars

V8 Supercars 2018 Adeleaide 500

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Hi to all you V8 Supercars fans around world!

Welcome to the V8 Supercars Championship season for 2018.

The new season finds V8 Supercars with a new CEO, Sean Seamer. He takes over from James Warburton who left the position last year.

The Adelaide 500 is the first official race of the season and was run on the weekend of the 1st to the 4th of March 2018.

In Qualifying on the Friday both Cameron Waters and Jamie Whincup hit the wall at turn 8 which forced both the Monster Energy Racing Team and the Red Bull Holden Racing Team to do all-nighters on repairs. The Red Bull team didn’t finish Jamie Whincup’s car until 4:15AM.

Regardless of this incident Jamie Whincup was still the fastest in Practice 1 and made the top 10 shootout, starting the first race in 5th position.

In race 1 Shane Van Gisbergen started on pole position and alongside him was Scott McLaughlin.

At the start of the 78-lap race, Rick Kelly hit the wall coming out of turn 3 causing him to limp back to the pits for repairs.

After Rick Kelly got back to the pits he was interviewed by Greg Murphy about the damage his Nissan Altima received. He told Greg Murphy that it was due to a bent steering arm but it soon became clear that with the resulting damage he wouldn’t be going back out onto the track very soon. It was very unfortunate and cost him a lot of time. He had started from 7th position on the grid but finished 23rd only ahead of the NCs (not completes).

There are 5 full time Rookies in field this year:

  • Jack Le Brocq Holden car 19
  • James Golding Holden car 34
  • Richie Stanaway Ford car 56
  • Anton De Pasquale Holden car 99
  • Andre Heimgartner Nissan car 7

During the opening stages the rookies didn’t know what was to come given that it was their first race in the main game. All up I think they did a great job.

Chaz Mostert raced very well considering he didn’t make the top ten shootout in Qualifying due to a red flag. I am sure he wouldn’t have been happy with that but was making up for it during this race.

Richie Stanaway and James Golding made contact with the wall. Richie Stanaway was in a really awkward position and had to use reverse gear to try and get out of the tyre stack. As one of the rookies he proved his worth and persisted. Unfortunately a car issue caused a DNF only one lap short of completing the race. He must have been really disappointed.

In the middle of the race Craig Lowndes was running strong under his new team, Autobarn Lowndes Racing before he got a shoved up the rear by Garth Tander. He slid sideways but managed to keep on track. It was a tense moment for sure.

Towards the end of race 1 no one else could catch the top 3 drivers which were Shane Van Gisbergen, James Courtney and Scott McLaughlin.

 

 

Shane Van Gisbergen made it look too easy as he confidently held his position 1 right to the end.

Results for race 1

1st Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Holden Racing Team
2nd James Courtney – Mobil 1 Boost Mobile Racing
3rd Scott Mclaughlin – Shell V Power Racing Team

In race 2 Shane Van Gisbergen started on pole position again and alongside him was his teammate Jamie Whincup.

At the start of the 78 lap 250 kilometre race Jamie Whincup got the jump off the front row on the grid. Shane Van Gisbergen was happy to see his teammate lead the race into the first chicane.

On lap 2 the drivers settled into their race pace and the pack started chasing the two Red Bull leaders trying to close the 2.6 second lead they had.

After the first round of stops the race lead went back to car 1, Jamie Whincup.

As the opening laps were complete it appeared Shane Van Gisbergen didn’t have the pace he normally delivered. When interviewed later he stated there were car setup dramas affecting speed and in good sportsmanship said it was teammate, Jamie Whincup’s race.

Jamie Whincup was flying which was good to see. I thought he had it in the bag and was surely going to win.

Later David Reynolds was in a good spot and racing hard, then nearly hit the wall at turn 8. Luckily he didn’t.

No one else could catch the race leaders at this point of the race.

With 30 laps to go Jamie Whincup was still out front and cruising but then his gearbox failed and he started to slow and had to pull in to the pits. When Jamie got out of car he was gutted when David Cauchi took his head set off. He knew what it meant. The last time Jamie had a DNF was in the 2013 Gold Coast 600. His 136 race finishing streak was broken on Sunday.

Towards the end of the race Shane Van Gisbergen still had the lead. David Reynolds tried to pressure him into an error but it didn’t work.

So once again for the second time on the weekend, Shane Van Gisbergen took 1st place. What an amazing result for him and the Red Bull team.

Results for race 2

1st Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Holden Racing Team
2nd David Reynolds – Erebus Motorsport
3rd Garth Tander – Garry Rogers Motorsport

The next event is the Coates Hire Supercars Melbourne 400.

 

 

There are 5 Rookies in field this year are

Jack Le Brocq Holden Car 19.

James Golding Holden car 34.

Richie Stanaway Ford car 56.

Anton De Pasquale Holden car 99.

Andre Heimgartner Nissan car 7

Post Race Report, V8 Supercars

Coates Hire Ipswich Supersprint 2017

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Hi to all you V8 Supercars fans around the world!

On the Weekend of the 28th to the 30th of July, 2017 was the Coates Hire Ipswich SuperSprint.

In Qualifying for race 15 Scott McLaughlin got on his 2nd run to try and improve his time. He zoomed past 8 or 9 slower cars out on track, most moving out of the way for him. Later in the lap he had to pull back for safety as he came across Alex Davison right in his path. It was a close call and forced him to abort his qualifying lap. Post race there were many comments made about better race control to avoid such high risk situations.

For the main game it was a special day for Todd Hazelwood making his debut in the V8 Supercars Championship. He joins the ‘main game’ coming up from the Dunlop Super2s under sponsorship from Bigmate Racing.

Another interesting point is that during the Telecast on Friday, Saturday and Sunday on Fox sports 5 channel 506, there was a drone following the cars around the track. It is something that I had not seen before and should make for some interesting footage.

In race 15 Scott McLaughlin started on pole position. Alongside him was Craig Lowndes.

On lap 1 of 39 C raig Lowndes got the jump on Scott McLaughlin and led into turn 1. This was a great start to the race for him considering he had qualified in 2nd spot on the front row of the grid.

Later at turn 3 all hell broke loose. Dale Wood made contact with James Moffat. As James Moffat spun around he made contact with his teammate James Golding. James Golding was able to just continue with bent steering, a brave thing to do. However, James Moffat wasn’t so luck and had to eventually pit with an overheating engine. All this mayhem cause Simona de Silvestro to make contact with Alex Rullo. He came out of turn 3 with a left front tyre pointing in the wrong direction and at the wrong angle. Alex Rullo limped his car back to the pits and unfortunate could not return the race. A DNF even before the first lap was over.

On lap 2 Scott McLaughlin was putting pressure on Craig Lowndes and down at turn 3 he passed him for lead of the race.

On lap 3 all the wildcards were following behind the main game drivers trying to learn as much as they could. It’s a good strategy to learn how the pros do ‘what and when’ as they navigate the track.

On lap 8 Shane Van Gisbergen was down in the position order after he pitted. However, he gained the advantage of rejoining the race with fresh air.

On lap 9 Simona de Silvestro had put the lap 1 incident behind her and was now enjoying her first race at Ipswich . She followed her team owners, Todd and Rick Kelly gaining valuable pointers from these experienced drivers.

Mark Winterbottom had to abort his attempt to pass Cameron Waters to avoid making contact.

As the race moved on, Shane Van Gisbergen easily made it back through the field after his one and only pit stop.

Fabian Coulthard tried to stay with his teammate Scott McLaughlin in the lead but soon found out just how fast Scott McLaughlin is.

Dick Johnson and Roger Penske would have been very happy with Scott McLaughlin’s race performance. He had held the lead for most of the race and made it look easy.

Shane Van Gisbergen and Jamie Whincup were battling it out in attempt to gain a podium position.

On lap 33 Jason Bright left the race receiving a DNF.

As the race came to a close, Scott McLaughlin maintained his lead a past the checkered flag.

Chaz Mostert had a great run and moved up from his starting position of 3 to a finish of second.

Shane Van Gisbergen had come from a start further back in the track gaining 4 positions to come in 3rd.

Craig Lowndes who started the race next to pole position faced some great competition and came in 5th. Still a great performance.

The surprise for me was Jamie Whincup finishing 20th, down 6 spots from his start position and about 30 seconds behind the winner.

Results for race 15

1st Scott McLaughlin – Dick Johnson racing Team Penske.

2nd Chaz Mostert – Supercheap auto racing Team.
3rd Shane Van Gisbergen – red bull Holden racing team.

4th Tim Slade – Freightliner Racing.
5th Craig Lowndes – Team Vortex

 

In race 16 Scott McLaughlin started on pole position alongside him was Chaz Mostert

At the start of the 65-lap race Chaz Mostert got the right amount of throttle to get off the line with a fine start and take the lead into turn 1. Scott McLaughlin pulled in behind him.

At the start of the 2nd lap of the race Garth Tander wanted to pass James Moffat but wasn’t close enough to get the job done and losing his ongoing battle with James Moffat for pit priority.

Jamie Whincup was trying get by his teammate Shane Van Gisbergen but didn’t get close enough.

Craig Lowndes pitted early so that he wouldn’t have to double stack with Will Davison.

Scott McLaughlin was leading after the front runners went into the pits for the first round of pitstops.

Alex Rullo stayed out while his teammate Taz Douglas pitted and then re-joined with clear air which was handy.

There was contact between the 2 Nissan Motorsport cars of Michael Caruso and Shae Davies in between turns 1 and 2 which had ruled Michael out of race 16.

In the middle of the race Fabian Coulthard had made his way back into the top 3 for the final time, later dropping back a couple of positions to finish 5th.

By lap 41 Dale Wood left the race receiving a DNF. He was the fourth one out of the race receiving a DNF after Will Davison, Michael Caruso and Jack Le Brocq.

Towards the end of the race it was a certain for the top 3 drivers; Chaz Mostert, Scott McLaughlin and Shane Van Gisbergen. Jamie Whincup came in 4th about 1.5 seconds later.

Results for 16

1st Chaz Mostert – Supercheap Auto Racing Team
2nd Scott Mclaughlin – Dick Johnson Racing Team Penske
3rd Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Holden Racing Team
4th Jamie Whincup Red bull Holden Racing Team

The next event is the Red Rooster Sydney Supersprint on the 18th to the 20th of August 2017.