On the weekend of the 16 – 18 of February 2024 was the Repco Bathurst 12 Hour.
The Bathurst 12 Hour was first run in 1991 so this year marks a milestone as the 21st running.
The Bathurst 12 Hour is not officially a part of the Supercars season. However, many of the Supercars drivers take part in the grand event. It is made of 4 classes; Pro AM, Silver, GT4 and the invitational class. Being a gruelling 12 hours on one of the most difficult tracks in the country, each car has three drivers that take turns behind the wheel.
Sheldon Van Der Linde claimed pole position and the Allan Simonsen Trophy for BMW team, WRT. Local Broc Feeney of the Triple 8 team qualified his 888 Mercedes to earn provisional pole position.
The race kicked off under safety car in the dark of Sunday at 5:45am. Bathurst is known for its erratic weather conditions but they started with a dry track and no major challenges. For the next 12 hours there was a spectacular display of driving from local and international teams alike.
2024 Bathurst 12 Hour Highlights
On the start, Sheldon Van Der Linde immediately made a break from the pack. Within a few laps he already created a gap of about 10 car lengths but there was still a long way to go.
There were no major incidents before the sun came up and all 25 cars were still on track.
At about the 75 minute mark, number 19 Racing Ginetta G55 GT4 caught fire in the pit lane. They were the first retirement of the race.
The first safety car was deployed after 2 hours 40 minutes of racing when the 701 Vortex spun off the track into the sand trap as it headed towards the S’s.
As the 12 hour countdown got to 8hrs 36 minutes car number 91 found the fence at turn 2 and came to a standstill on the blind corner.
A few minutes before they marked the 5th hour of driving, Charles Weerts behind the wheel of the pole sitting car made contact at “The Cutting”. In spectacular fashion his car was out of control and the rear mounted the concrete barrier sliding along for over 50 meters. He was lucky to have not gone right over the top. The damage was so severe # 32 was now out of the race. The team was doing so well throughout the whole weekend it is a great shame they were not able to continue. I am sure they would have been contenders for a win and offered up much more of their competitive driving.
When they were into the 6th hour of racing Bathurst did what Bathurst does. The weather changed completely and the rain came down heavily. At times there were sheets of water covering the track.
Cars were going off the track left, right and centre. The international drivers began sticking behind local drivers who knew the track and how to manage in the wet conditions. Still many cars aquaplaned off the challenging track and there were many moments that had viewers holding their breath.
Local Matt Campbell behind the wheel of #912 had the lead in the Manthey Racing / EMA Motorsport Porsche.
He was challenged multiple times with the biggest coming from the #13 Phantom Global Racing/Team 75 Porsche entry driven by Bastian Buus, Joel Eriksson and NZ local Jaxon Evans. The other challenge came from the SunEnergy1 Racing Mercedes driven by Jules Gounon, Kenny Habul and Luca Stolz.
With 30 minutes remaining there was less than 1 second between the leading 3 cars and less than 8 seconds back to 8th place. It was anyone’s game and there was no room for mistakes.
The rain had stopped but the track was still wet. With leading cars so close to each other the competitive driving was incredibly fierce.
With 15 minutes on the clock the leading Porsche #912 with Matt Campbell behind the wheel edged ahead to create a 5+ second lead. Noone was giving up. Drivers were flying down the straights side by side heading into corners looking for any opportunity to make a pass.
Matt Campbells driving was incredible. He kept the lead in the #912 Porsche and even though the gap closed down to just over 2 seconds, he looked confident and strong on that last lap.
The #75 Mercedes driven by Jules Gounon crossed the finish line within 2.6 seconds to take 2nd place followed by the #22 Audi.
For Matt Campbell this is his second Bathurst 12 Hour win. It also breaks the Mercedes 3 time winning streak.
It was back in July 2023 that Shane Van Gisbergen notified his team’s management, Red Bull Ampol Racing that he would be accepting a full-time position in the U.S. NASCAR championship for the 2024 season.
It came after a long period of rumours on Gisbergen’s future especially after winning back-to-back championship titles in 2021 and 2022.
It would have been a difficult decision to make and possibly harder to deliver after being with Red Bull Ampol Racing for 7 years plus having his long-term teammate & friend Jamie Whincup now in the roll of “boss” for the team.
Whether this departure from Supercars is permanent or not, I felt that Shane Van Gisbergen’s career is full of so many accomplishments I had to write an article about him.
Shane was born 9th of May 1989 in Auckland, New Zealand.
He made his Supercars debut in 2007 (at the age of 18) with Team Kiwi Racing (TKR) at Oran Park Raceway. He also made his Bathurst 1000 debut in the same year as co-driver to John McIntyre.
In 2008 he earned himself a full-time seat with Stone Brothers Racing and was teammate to already well known driver James Courtney. In this season Gisbergen won his first podium finish at Sandown.
In 2010 the Supercars series kicked off in Abu Dhabi and Bahrain. Shane had podium finishes at both venues.
During the 2011 season Gisbergen took his first ever race win on home soil at Hamilton (New Zealand) before getting another win at Darwin. His talents were beginning to shine.
In 2013 he moved from Stone Brothers Racing to Tekno Autosports. He made the team’s investment worthwhile by winning the coveted Clipsal (Adelaide) 500.
In 2014, still with Tekno Autosports he won a further 2 races and also scored his first Bathurst 1000 pole position.
In 2016 he moved to the Red Bull Racing Team and found his home with the new crew and teammates Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes.
He started the year winning the Bathurst 12 hour driving for McLaren. He followed up with exceptional performances throughout the year and earned his first Supercars Season title.
In 2017 he started his title defence in good form by winning the first 2 races. However, regardless of how good you are it is hard to challenge a legend (and teammate) like Jamie Whincup who went on to win his 7th season title that year. Also in the mix was the rising star, Scott McLaughlin.
In 2018 he was runner up again. This time to Scott Mclaughlin who was now hitting his stride.
In 2019 he was runner up to Scott McLaughlin in the Bathurst 1000.
In the following year 2020, Shane Van Gisbergen was determined and took his first Bathurst 1000 win. This is the dream of all race drivers on an international level.
In 2021 he started the year with a broken left collarbone but still managed to win the majority of the races and resulted in his 2nd Championship title.
In the following year of 2022 Shane Van Gisbergen dominated the season with 21 race wins. It earned him a back-to-back title and his 3rd title for his career.
He started the 2023 season badly, being disqualified in the first race for having the cool suit dry ice box on the wrong side of the car. His teammate Broc Feeney was also disqualified for the same reason. It seemed an awfully petty reason to be taken out of the running as it would have not given them any advantage over other drivers.
Gisbergen pushed on and did well throughout the season. Even no points for the first race he was within reach of the title entering the last event for the year. However, bad luck struck again in the last event where he received a DNF (Did Not Finish) in both races. It gave Brodie Kostecki a clear win for the year. It really must have been heartbreaking to be so close to winning a 3rd title in a row (and his 4th overall)
During his Supercars career Shane Van Gisbergen has competed in other highly regards races like the Daytona, 24-Hour Spa and the Le Mans 24 Hour. He has also been over to the USA and competed in a NASCAR race at Chicago where he took the winning place and followed up with another attempt in Indianapolis.
In 2014 Gisbergen also competed and took the title in the New Zealand Highlands 101.
He did the same in the New Zealand Grand Prix in 2021.
After 16 years of racing in Supercars Shane Van Gisbergen has had 508 race starts, 81 wins, 176 podiums and 48 pole positions. He has taken 3 championships titles and 3 Bathurst 1000 wins.
Now (2024) he will be racing fulltime in the Nascar Cup series and Xfinity Nascar series.
Shane Van Gisbergen! Thanks for all the Supercars memories. You will be missed on the track in Australia.
Best of luck in your NASCAR adventure. Go show them what real legends are made of!
On the weekend of 5-8 October 2023 was the Repco Bathurst 1000. It was round 10 of the 2023 Supercars Championship.
Mount Panorama was first opened on March 17, 1938. The track is actually a street circuit so outside of race dates it is a public road. Yes! That is the answer to your question, “Can I actually drive around the Bathurst track?” just remember it is a 60 zone.
The first event held at Mount Panorama was a motorcycle race on the 16th of April 1938, the Australian Tourist Trophy. Two days later the Australian Grand Prix took place (a motor car race).
Before becoming known as The Bathurst 1000 the race was called the Armstrong 500. The first few years it ran at Phillip Island and was then moved to Bathurst in 1963. In those days it was a 500 mile race (approx. 804Km) and was done with only a single driver. A few years after Australia changed to metric measurements the race was increased to 1000kms.
It has become the most well-known race in Australia and is also internationally revered. It’s the race that stops the nation and creates legends.
The legend of the King of the Mountain, Peter Brock was earned through this event. Peter Brock won his first Bathurst in 1972 in the days without a co-driver. He then went on to win again in 1975, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1982, 1983, 1984 and 1987. No other driver has beaten his record of 9 Bathurst 1000 wins.
This year was the 60th running of the Repco Bathurst 1000. An incredible milestone for any race event.
This year the event kicked off under almost perfect weather conditions. A surprise to all as Bathurst is known for some pretty challenging conditions at this time of the year.
The pre-race sessions kicked off on the Thursday and went through to Sunday morning. The results were:
Will Brown was fastest in Practice 1
David Russell was fastest in Practice 2
David Reynolds was fastest in Practice 3
Brodie Kostecki was fastest in Practice 4
Brodie Kostecki was fastest in Qualifying
Richie Stanaway was fastest in Practice 5
Broc Feeney was fastest in Practice 6
Brodie Kostecki was fastest in the Shootout
Brodie Kostecki and co-driver David Russell were fastest in the warm up
In Race 24 Brodie Kostecki earned pole position but his co-driver David Russell was behind the wheel of car 99 for the start. Alongside them was co-driver Jamie Whincup after main driver Broc Feeney scored second place on the front row of the grid. There were 16 out of 28 co-drivers who started the race behind the wheel. So, it was quite a common strategy.
As the lights went green, they took off and Jamie Whincup led into turn 1 for the first of 161 laps. Pole sitter David Russell was right under his rear wing only 0.174 seconds behind.
The cars further back in the pack were dicing for places outside the top 10.
Early on Will Brown had gained 5 places up to 12th. James Golding had gained 1 spot after starting 4th on the grid.
Jamie Whincup had a hard time getting some space between himself and David Russell in 2nd place. By lap 4 Jamie Whincup managed to increase his lead to only 0.498 seconds. It was another 1 second back to James Golding in 3rd.
On lap 5 James Courtney ran wide on the exit to the final corner but didn’t lose any places.
Thomas Randle got up the inside of Lee Holdsworth exiting Forest Elbow for 10th place.
Jamie Whincup had managed to increase his lead to around 1 second over David Russell.
Richie Stanaway finally got up the inside of Garth Tander to move into 5th place. His next target was Cameron Waters sitting in 4th position.
The first car to pit in this race was car 96 of Macauley Jones and Jordan Boys on lap 10.
Between lap 4 and 10 Jamie Whincup managed to extend his lead 1.525 seconds over David Russell.
Further back Will Brown was on the charge. He was up 10 spots after starting 17th on the grid. He now smoothly passed Garth Tander moving into 6th place and was only 2.8 seconds away from the lead.
On lap 17 Craig Lowndes started slowing down due to a broken gear lever mount and was forced to pit.
James Golding in 3rd was the first of the front runners to pit on lap 18.
Car 3 driven by Todd Hazelwood and Tim Blanchard pitted on lap 21. Soon after they were investigated for a pit stop infringement and issued a 15 second time penalty to be served on their next stop. Although disappointing it was still early in the race. They had another 5 hours to catch up.
On lap 24 Dean Fiore co-driver to Bryce Fullwood made contact with Simona de Silvestro at The Chase. Simona de Silvestro who returned from her homeland, Switzerland especially for this race was pushed off the road onto the grass. There was no damage to speak of and she re-joined the race easily. Race officials took no further action on the incident.
Kevin Estre (co-driver to Matt Payne) had a big lockup at turn 1 and ended up in the sand trap. He couldn’t get out on his own and the first safety car was deployed so the recovery vehicle could assist.
While the Yellow flag was out (indicating drivers to slow down and stay in formation behind the safety car) all drivers except 2 took the opportunity to pit.
David Reynolds was under investigation for jumping ahead in the safety car line. He was later issued a pit lane drive thru penalty. That didn’t go down too well and David Reynolds started to argue the case when told by his race engineer Alistair McVean. After the restart he was reluctant to give back 3rd place to Broc Feeney and even refused to take the drive thru penalty on the next lap. Race Director James Taylor had to warn him that he still did have to take it.
The restart which was on lap 30 saw Shane Van Gisbergen immediately took the race lead off Dylan O’Keeffe (co-driver to James Golding).
Broc Feeney was in 3rd place (after Reynolds let him pass) and then managed to get by Dylan O’Keeffe for 2nd place.
The 2 Red Bull cars were now running 1st and 2nd on the track, followed by O’Keeffe and then Reynolds.
Bryce Fullwood made contact and pushed Aaron Love off the track at The Chase. Bryce Fullwood was later issued a penalty for his actions.
On lap 39 Scott Pye made contact with Dale Wood who then went off track into the gravel trap. The safety car was sent out while Dale Wood’s car was pulled out and luckily able to return straight to the race.
When they restarted Mark Winterbottom was out front followed by Fabian Coulthard and Brodie Kostecki.
Meanwhile car 6 driven by James Moffat was under investigation for an unsafe pit release. It was later on lap 43 when he was issued a 5 second time penalty.
Brodie Kostecki soon passed Fabian Coulthard to take 2nd position.
Then Richie Stanaway got up the inside of Declan Fraser for 4th place. His next target was Fabian Coulthard in 3rd place. It wasn’t long after that Richie Stanaway made his move pushing Fabian Coulthard down another spot to 4th.
The 2 Brad Jones Racing cars with Jack Smith and Macauley Jones in the driver’s seat made contact with each other at The Chase. They both went off the track and both had minor damage that required a visit to the pits ASAP.
Not long after Macauley Jones received a 15 second time penalty for the driving infringement.
On lap 71 Dean Fiore co-driver to Bryce Fullwood was under investigation for a pit lane infringement and was issued a time penalty.
James Moffat hit the wall coming out of The Dipper and came to a stop in a dangerous part of the track. Officials thought he would not be able to get out of the predicament on his own and sent out the 3rd safety car of the race. Before help could arrive, James Moffat was able to get going again. Unfortunately, it was only to get back to the pits in his smashed up car to then find out he would not be returning to the race.
Car 888 driven by Craig Lowndes had to serve a pit lane penalty after he turned off the ‘pit limiter’ to early while in the pit lane.
Richie Stanway clocked the best lap time of the race on lap 92. He had also moved up to 2nd place after passing Tony Dalberto.
Jamie Whincup rounded up Garth Tander which took him from 5th up to 4th place. “The Goat” was now only 7.9 seconds away from the lead. He then pitted on lap 93 to hand the wheel over to Broc Feeney who would race all the to the end.
Richie Stanaway pitted soon after on lap 97 from the number 1 position and Shane Van Gisbergen took the driver’s seat for the final stage of the race.
Once these two Red Bull Ampol Racing Team cars came out of the pits, Shane Van Gisbergen returned to the number 1 spot with his team mate Broc Feeney not far behind.
On lap 137 of 161 (25 laps remaining) Broc Feeney was slowing due to a gearbox issue stopping him from changing gears. He slipped from 2nd to 3rd allowing Brodie Kostecki to pass him. Broc Feeney had to head to the pits. It was unlucky timing being so close to the end of the race.
The team were able to repair the issue, but Broc returned to the track in 24th position. Unfortunate for him to go from a podium contender to the back of the pack.
It was later revealed that all 3 of the 888 Engineering cars had the same issue (the 2 cars of Gisbergen and Feeney driving for Red Bull Ampol Racing and also the Craig Lowndes/ Zane Goddard duo driving under the Super Cheap Auto banner. It’s surprising any of them finished.
With 18 laps to go Shane Van Gisbergen was still out front with a good lead of 15.010 seconds over Brodie Kostecki.
In the last laps Shane Van Gisbergen controlled the race and was too far ahead for Brodie Kostecki to challenge him for the win.
It was incredible to watch as Shane Van Gisbergen kept edging ahead to finally cross the line with a 19.9 seconds lead over Brodie Kostecki.
Shane Van Gisbergen is now a 3-time winner of the Bathurst 1000.
It puts him in striking distance of the season leader Brodie Kostecki for the remaining two events. Can he now become a 4-time Supercars Champion before he heads to the US in 2024? Its going to be fun finding out.
Results for Race 24
1st Shane Van Gisbergen and Richie Stanaway – Red Bull Ampol Racing
2nd Brodie Kostecki and David Russell – Erebus Motorsport
3rd Anton de Pasquale and Tony Dalberto – Shell V-Power Racing Team
Out of the 28 starters only 24 cars finished the race. 4 cars got a DNF.
Brodie Kostecki still leads the championship by 131 points over Shane Van Gisbergen. With 2 events to go (4 races) in the 2023 championship it is going be an exciting finish to the year,
The next event is the Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500 on the 27th – 29th October 2023.
On the weekend of the 15 – 17 September 2023 was the Penrite Oil Sandown 500, round 9 of the 2023 Supercars Championship.
Sandown International Raceway was first opened as a horse racetrack in 1888 (135 years ago) and known as Oakleigh Park. Four years later it was renamed to Sandown Park.
It boasts to be one of the first locations for a motor racing event way back in 1904. However, it didn’t have a dedicated track for motorsports until 1962. The first big event was held in 1965 with a record crowd of 52,379 attending causing traffic chaos in the quiet suburb of Springvale, Melbourne Victoria.
The track is known to be a fast run consisting of two straights, the main straight and a back straight allowing for speeds between 250 and 260kmph. Its layout and high speeds lends itself to endurance races and Supercars have consistently made the Sandown 500 a warm up to the Bathurst 1000.
I imagine its not the favourite track for the Triple 8 team. They have had wins at this location but some very bad luck as well.
In 2012, on lap 159 out of 161 Jamie Whincup was in 2nd place chasing down the lead. Mark Winterbottom made contact with Jamie Whincup forcing him off the track and losing a spot to move back to 3rd.
In 2019 again with only a few laps remaining, Shane Van Gisbergen received a puncture while leading the race. It not only robbed him of a sure win but took him off the podium all together. The only consolation was it gave the lead and win to car 888 of his teammates Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes.
In this year’s event there were no surprises in the pre – race sessions.
Broc Feeney was fastest in Practice 1
Zane Goddard was fastest in Practice 2
Brodie Kostecki was fastest in Practice 3
Broc Feeney was fastest in Practice 4
Brodie Kostecki was fastest in Qualifying.
Will Brown was fastest in the Top 10 Shootout
David Reynolds and Garth Tander were fastest in the warmup.
In Race 23 the two Erebus cars started in the front row. Co-driver Jack Perkins started in the number 1 spot after Will Brown earned them pole position. Alongside them was David Russell, the co-driver for season leader Brodie Kostecki.
The majority of the co-drivers started behind the wheel except for Craig Lowndes and Aaron Love.
At the start of the race Jack Perkins got the jump and led into turn 1 for the first of 161 laps.
The 2 Erebus cars took the lead into the first turn followed by James Moffat, co-driver to Cameron Waters.
Richie Stanaway was co-driver to Shane Van Gisbergen. He started 19th on the grid and was stuck behind the main pack trying hard to look for a gap to move ahead. It was too tight and he just couldn’t do it.
The leaders were starting to edge away while the cars behind settled into their race pace.
Up the front the leaders were tightly packed. Jack Perkins had a slender lead of 0.290 seconds over David Russell.
On the commencement of lap 2 Jamie Whincup passed Garth Tander for 4th position and James Moffat for 3rd. Jamie Whincup was now only 0.328 seconds behind David Russell.
By lap 3 Jamie Whincup seemed to do the impossible and passed David Russell to take 2nd place and find himself only 0.792 seconds away from the lead.
On lap 5 he took the number 1 spot off Jack Perkins at turn 1. From that point on Whincup didn’t make any mistakes.
Just outside the top 10 cars, Zak Best went off the track between turns 1 and 2. The lost time put him to the back of the pack.
On lap 19 the left rear wheel parted company with the car of David Reynolds / Garth Tander. The car slid, turned around, collided into the guard rail and came to a stop. Meanwhile, the wheel continued along the track on its own. After bouncing off the ground it freakishly landed on the rear of the passing Monster Energy Mustang driven by James Moffat and tore the rear wing completely off the car.
With debris all over the track plus Garth Tander stranded with only 3 wheels and facing the wrong way, the first safety car was deployed.
It was truly a bizarre incident! The Reynolds / Tander car was towed from the track and was in such poor shape it wasn’t able to return. Main driver, David Reynolds didn’t have a chance to get behind the wheel.
Lee Holdsworth pitted for repairs while the safety car was still out. The main issue was with the rear diffuser but the team wasn’t able to get it off straight away. They sent the car back out on the track and then called Holdsworth back in once they got appropriate tools ready. The repairs were done before the safety car left the track.
The restart was on lap 26 and Jack Perkins was back in the number 1 spot for Erebus.
Tony Dalberto, co-driver to Anton de Pasquale received a 15 second time penalty for an unsafe pit release.
Jordan Boys had a massive lock up going into turn 1 and went off the track. Surprisingly there was no damage, except for maybe a flat spot on the tyres.
Race leader Jack Perkins exceeded track limits and received a bad sportsmanship flag. This is more a warning than a penalty.
By lap 41 Jamie Whincup regained the race lead pushing Jack Perkins back to 2nd place.
Jaylyn Robotham, co-driver to Cameron Hill made contact with Craig Lowndes. Lowndes managed to keep control and avoided hitting the wall. I have no doubt that any other driver would have suffered significant damage but Craig Lowndes’ experience showed.
Soon after James Moffat got spun around at turn 1 by Dylan O’Keeffe.
On lap 47 Richie Stanaway did the quickest lap of the race.
Jayden Ojeda went off the track dropping him from 3rd to 6th place.
After receiving previous warnings, Mark Winterbottom received a 15 second time penalty for exceeding track limits.
After Jamie Whincup had earlier taken the race lead, main driver Broc Feeney was now behind the wheel. In the middle of the race he had a 6.3 second lead over Will Brown. Brodie Kostecki was a further 12.5 seconds back.
The gruelling length and high speeds of the race were really showing. Macauley Jones was next to receive a bad sportsmanship flag for exceeding track limits.
Craig Lowndes dropped a spot to Andre Heimgartner.
Towards the end of the race Broc Feeney was still holding the lead. On lap 130 he pitted with 18.798 seconds over teammate Shane Van Gisbergen. Shane Van Gisbergen had to wait until lap 131 to take his last pit stop.
On lap 140 of 161 Cameron Hill had to be rescued from the sand trap at turn 9. For such a long race it was surprising that this was only the second time the safety car was deployed.
On lap 147 Chaz Mostert received a 15 second time penalty for making contact with another car.
The gap at the front of the race was closing. Broc Feeney was still out front but only by 0.203 seconds over Brodie Kostecki.
In addition, this was a time certain race and time was running out. The pressure was really on.
With 2 minutes 59 remaining Will Brown ran wide at turn 9 and Shane Van Gisbergen squeezed past to take 3rd place. Shane Van Gisbergen had moved up 16 spots throughout the race. What an amazing drive.
However, a champion like Shane Van Gisbergen is never satisfied with being third and put the pressure on Brodie Kostecki. Kostecki kept his cool and made no mistakes but the pressure from Gisbergen didn’t allow him to pressure Broc Feeney for the win.
In the end Broc Feeney crossed the line with a 0.9816 second margin over Brodie Kostecki with another 2.2 seconds back to Shane Van Gisbergen in 3rd place.
The win earned 888 Race Engineering their 250th race win in Supercars. Wow! What an amazing achievement. Congratulations team.
On the season scoreboard Brodie Kostecki has extended his championship lead to 155 points over Shane Van Gisbergen. Broc Feeney is 3rd with 204 points off the lead. Will Brown is 4th and 294 points off the lead.
Erebus are still leading the Team’s Championship but only by 95 points over the Red Bull Ampol Racing Team.
Jamie Whincup is now a 6 time winner of the Sandown 500. Can he and Broc Feeney do it again at Bathurst?
Results for Race 23
1st Broc Feeney and Jamie Whincup – Red Bull Ampol Racing
2nd Brodie Kostecki and David Russell – Erebus Motorsport
3rd Shane Van Gisbergen and Richie Stanaway – Red Bull Ampol Racing
There are 3 events to go in the 2023 Supercars championship.
900 points left on the table across the final 3 events.
The next event is the Repco Bathurst 1000 on the 5 – 8 of October 2023.
The Bathurst channel begins Monday October 2 on Fox Sports channel 506.
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.
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.
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.
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.
On the weekend of the 13th and 14th of November, 2021 was the BP Ultimate Sydney Supersprint. This is the 3rd of 4 back-to-back events at Sydney Motorsports Park.
Before I get stuck into the race review the hot news is Greg Murphy and Richie Stanaway will not be competing at the upcoming Repco Bathurst 1000, due to the travel restrictions in New Zealand.
It was also announced Luke Youlden who has been filling in for David Reynolds will not be driving the #26 Penrite Racing Mustang in the next event to take place at Sydney Motorsports Park. It looked like it could be Matt Campbell but a new announcement on November 18 (today) stated David Reynolds has complied with all COVID vaccination protocols for Supercars and NSW Health. Kelly Grove Racing are very pleased at Reynolds return for the last race before the Bathurst 1000.
In the preliminary sessions it was once again Anton de Pasquale who dominated in much the same way he has for the last three events.
Anton de Pasquale was fastest in Practice 1 and 2, as well as the Armor All Qualifying for race 26 and 27.
Before race 26 Sienna Crompton who is the daughter of commentator Neil Crompton sang the National Anthem. She also waved the green flag for the cars to go off on their warm up lap. Her dad was proud as punch and not the only one in the room to have tears well up.
With the warm up lap out of the way it was time for Anton de Pasquale to take pole position on the grid for Race 26. Alongside him was Jamie Whincup.
As the race started Anton de Pasquale took the lead into turn 1.Jamie Whincup was trying to not make contact with Will Davison’s challenge from third place and put him in the wall.
Further back in the pack there was contact between James Courtney, car 44 and Tim Slade, car 3. Tim Slade ran wide on the exit of turn 1 almost assisting James Courtney into the fence but somehow staying off the wall himself to re-join the race.
Pretty soon the cars further back in the pack pitted because they were being held up.
The leaders stayed out to maintain their places up the front.
After most of the cars had pitted one thing didn’t change and that was Anton de Pasquale in position 1.
Jamie Whincup had a phenomenal pit stop, 3.6 seconds.
Towards the end of the race the first safety car was deployed to remove car number 2 of Bryce Fullwood at the exit of turn 2.
The interruption didn’t change the result. Anton de Pasquale crossed the finish line just under 2 seconds ahead of Shane Van Gisbergen in second place. Rookie, Will Brown was a further 1.5337 seconds later in third place.
Results for 26
1st Anton de Pasquale – Shell V-Power Racing Team. 2nd Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing Team. 3rd Will Brown – Erebus Motorsport.
In race 27 Anton de Pasquale started on pole position, alongside him was his teammate Will Davison.Anton de Pasquale led into turn 1. Will Davison stayed high and wide on the outside on the run up to turn 2.
The two Shell V-Power Racing cars almost side swiped each other coming into turn 2. Jamie Whincup took advantage and got up the inside of Will Brown.
Coming out of turn 3 Anton de Pasquale was in the lead of the race. Will Brown was trying to regain his position from Jamie Whincup and on the run down to turn 4 they had a bump., Will Brown tried again at turn 5 but couldn’t get the pass made.
Meanwhile Chaz Mostert got up the inside of Will Brown going into turn 5 but couldn’t make it stick.
Brodie Kostecki tried to get up the inside of Scott Pye as they were all trying to catch Shane Van Gisbergergen, who has been the pace setter in 2021.
Brodie Kostecki battling with Scott Pye swapping positions through turns 9, 10 and 11.
Anton de Pasquale had a 3/4 second gap over Will Davison, Jamie Whincup and Will Brown.
The cars further back in the pack were settling down into their race pace.
It was an intense first lap!
Later the cars further back came in to pit early to try get clear trackbut the car up front stayed out longer.
By the middle of the race everybody had completed their pit stops. Anton de Pasquale was still unchallenged for his lead.
Anton de Pasquale held his position all the way to the finish line. His quick pace increasing the gap to 6+ seconds over Jamie Whincup. Shane Van Gisbergen came in third place an additional 3.8653 seconds later.
Results for Race 27
1st Anton de Pasquale – Shell V-Power Racing Team. 2nd Jamie Whincup – Red Bull Ampol Racing Team. 3rd Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing Team.
In Race 28 Jamie Whincup started on pole position which was his 92nd career pole in Supercars. Alongside him was his teammate Shane Van Gisbergen.
Off the start Jamie Whincup got the jump and led into turn 1.
During the opening stages the leaders kept pulling ahead.
The drivers further back were in a tight pack. They were getting frustrated with the lack of space to move so one by one peeled off into the pits hoping to find clear track.
When Will Brown rejoined after his pit stop he managed to undercut Jamie Whincup and Shane Van Gisbergen in their battle for first place. Jamie Whincup was compromised with well-worn tyres and couldn’t catch him. Team manager, Mark Dutton told Jamie Whincup to let Shane Van Gisbergen through (with his fresher tyres) to chase down Will Brown. Not for the first time, Jamie Whincup disobeyed team orders and the rookie, Will Brown earned his first win in Supercars.
Results for Race 28
1st Will Brown – Erebus Racing. 2nd Jamie Whincup – Red Bull Ampol Racing Team. 3rd Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing Team.
Shane Van Gisbergen still leads the championship by 337 points over teammate Jamie Whincup.
Red Bull Ampol Racing leads the teams championship by 915 points over Shell V-Power Racing.
The next event is the Beaurepairs Sydney Supernight on the 19th to 21st of November, 2021.
It’s the last race before the BIG ONE. The BATHURST 1000. Yippee!!!!!
On the weekend of the 6th and 7th of November, 2021 was the Armor all Sydney Supernight.
The weekend was made up of 3 races, 32 laps each at the Sydney Motorsport Park (Eastern Creek Raceway).
The Triple Eight team hit a massive milestone this weekend with their 250th round start. Congratulations!
In the Pre-race sessions:
Anton de Pasquale was fastest in Practice 1.
Anton de Pasquale was also fastest in Practice 2.
Will Brown was fastest in Armour All Qualifying.
Anton de Pasquale didn’t compete in Qualifying because he was unable to change gears. That meant the Dick Johnson Racing Team had to change the transaxle for car 11 before he start of Race 23. It also meant car 11 had to start race from the 26th position (i.e. the back of the grid).
Will Brown started on pole position. Alongside him was 7 time Supercars champion, Jamie Whincup with series leader, Shane Van Gisbergen behind him.
As the race got underway Will Brown got the jump and led into turn 1, but he had Jamie Whincup all over him. Whincup threatened to pass several times but couldn’t find the way through so Will Brown kept the race lead for the opening laps. The cars further back struggled to put up any challenge.
Shane Van Gisbergern was racing well keeping up with the leaders.
Will Davison lost a few places off the start and on the run down to turn 3.
This week the opening laps were a lot calmer.
The cars further back in the pack were getting bogged down so they decided to come in early to get clear track. Anton de Pasquale chose to stay out longer to move further up the order. The leaders also stayed out to keep their places.
Later when Will Brown came in for what should have been a 3 to 4 second stop, but due to the fingers coming out of the wheel nut it was a 28 second stop! Athough Jamie Whincup was in 4th he was now the effective race leader.
As the rest of the leaders pitted, Whincup looked to have the race in the bag. With only 7 laps to go Shane Van Gisbergen passed Jamie Whincup and took the race lead.
From that point on Gisbergen was on fire and kept increasing the gap between him and his rivals. By the time he crossed the finish line he had 17+ second lead over Jamie Whincup in second place and 24+ seconds over Will Davison in third place.
It was an incredible performance from the season leader, Shane Van Gisbergen and it earned him his 13th win for the year.
Results for Race 23
1st Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing Team.
2nd Jamie Whincup – Red Bull Ampol Racing Team.
3rd Will Davison – Shell V-Power Racing Team.
In Race 24 Anton de Pasquale started on pole position. Alongside him was the series leader Shane Van Gisbergen.
As the race got underway Anton de Pasquale led into turn 1 leaving the cars behind him desperately trying keep up.
As the pit stops began with the cars further back in the pack looking to get clear track while Anton de Pasquale stayed out linger n the lead of the race .
Jamie Whincup was running in the top 10 early on but then, in the middle of the race he had to make a 2nd pit stop due to a puncture after running over the curb at turn 3. It cost valuable time and he dropped 16 places.
Anton de Pasquale kept edging ahead proving difficult to catch even by series leader, Shane Van Gisbergen in second place. He managed to cross the finish line 8.304 seconds ahead of his closest rival and 17.5043 seconds ahead of James Courtney in 3rd place.
Anton de Pasquale has been absolutely nailing it in these last few events. With these results I am sure he will be closely watched next season.
Results for Race24
1st Anton de Pasquale – Shell V-Power Racing Team.
2nd Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing Team.
3rd James Courtney – Boost Mobile Racing.
Before race 25 got underway there was lighting, thunder and rain. The track was drenched sending teams into panic with last second changes to car and tyre setup.
Shane Van Gisbergen started on pole position with Anton de Pasquale alongside him.
Bryce Fullwood jumped the gun before the start and went from 8th on the grid to first. It didnt last long, at the second corner Jamie Whincup reclaimed the lead. Later the officials awarded Fullwood a pit lane penalty for the jumped start.
The two Boost Mobile cars of James Courtney and Brodie Kostecki made contact on the first lap and left the track. They were both buried in the tyre barrier. As a result the first safety car was deployed and even through the cars were damaged they were able to drive back to the pits but couldn’t rejoin the race.
On the restart the rain was bucketing down. Shane Van Gisbergen passed Anton de Pasquale before the control line (which you are not allowed to do). Shane Van Gisbergen got on the radio and told the team that ‘Anton slowed down’. A replay of the footage from Fox Sports showed Anton had not slowed. The officials awarded Shane Van Gisbergen a Drive Through Penalty but later rescinded after reviewing data from the cars.
Regardless of the illegal pass, Shane Van Gisbergen left the track on the next corner so he lost time and position.
The wet conditions worsened but Jamie Whincup kept his lead.
With 7 laps to go the red flag came out and the race didn’t get restarted. They called it as it was. The amazing thing about the race was Chaz Mostert in 3rd place. He started 26th on the grid.
Results for Race 25
1st Jamie Whincup – Red Bull Ampol Racing Team.
2nd Anton de Pasquale – Shell V-Power Racing Team.
3rd Chaz Mostert – Mobil 1 TM Appliances Online.
There are 3 events to go!
Shane Van Gisbergen still leads the championship by 337 points over Jamie Whincup.
The next event is the BP Ultimate Sydney Supersprint 13th and 14th of November 2021.
On Friday the 29th to the 31th of October, 2021 was the Bunnings Trade Sydney Supernight.
This was the first of four back to back events scheduled for the Sydney Motorsport Park (Eastern Creek Raceway). This was made possible due to the removal of many COVID-19 restricts being lifted in NSW.
However, commentator Mark Larkham (one of my favourites) was not at the track because of boarder restrictions in Queensland. So he was stranded with the banana benders for this event.
Mark Winterbottom hit a milestone. This was his 550th Supercars race.
Heading into the event the Red Bull Ampol Racing Team were at the top of the Teams Ladder. The team’s 2 drivers also are at the top of the Championship; Shane Van Gisbergen with a solid lead at the top of the ladder followed by teammate, Jamie Whincup in second place.
In the pre-race sessions Anton de Pasquale dominated with amazing results:
Fastest in Practice 1
Fastest in Practice 2
Fastest in the Armour All Qualifying
and the Armour All Top Ten Shootout
He also started in Pole Position for all 3 races at this event.
In race 20 Anton de Pasquale started on pole position. Alongside him was Will Brown.
As the race got underway Will Brown was giving the pole sitter something to think about. He duelled with Anton de Pasquale into turn 1 and then again at turn 2. However, Anton de Pasquale held place and Will Brown had to tuck back in behind him.
At the back of the pack Jack Smith in position 19 stalled car 4 off the start line and immediately dropped back to 24th, last place.
Jamie Whincup also had a poor start and dropped to 9th off after starting 8th.
On the exit of turn 3 Will Davison was on the outside, ran wide and did some lawn mowing on the grass dropping a few places on the first lap.
Shane Van Gisbergen made up 3 spots on the first lap to run 3rd.
Shortly after Anton de Pasquale slid out and lost some time allowing Will Brown to catch up, sitting right on his tail.
Chaz Mostert was battling with Will Davison for positions 6 and 7.
David Reynolds came in early because he was getting held up.
Fabian Coulthard and Andre Heimgartner both started the race in the middle of the pack and also chose to pit early to get some clear track.
The leaders decided to stay out to keep track position.
On lap 16 Anton de Pasquale in position 1 and Will Brown came in at the same time. Will Brown’s luck changed and his stop was delayed because the right rear wheel nut came lose. He lost so much time he rejoined the race in 21st place.
In the middle of the race James Courtney in car 44 got a bad sportsmanship flag for track limits at turn 5.
Meanwhile Jamie Whincup was trying to get further up the order but just couldn’t find the space.
In the closing laps Shane Van Gisbergen in second place was giving Anton de Pasquale a very hard time. I would imagine that it would have been quite daunting for Anton de Pasquale to have the series leader right in your face, but credit to him he held his nerve and managed to cross the line first. It was a spectacular finish.
Results for Race 20:
1st Anton de Pasquale – Dick Johnson Racing.
2nd Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing Team.
3rd Brodie Kostecki – Erebus Motorsort.
In race 21 yet again Anton de Pasquale started on pole position. This time alongside him was teammate Will Davison.
Anton de Pasquale stalled on the start line and dropped back through the field at a rate of knots.
Will Davison took the lead into turn 1 and the cars further back in the pack settled into their race rhythm.
Anton de Pasquale was caught back in 7th place. I was surprised at his poor start considering how he had dominated the weekend so far.
Up until the first pit stop I thought Will Davison was going win his first race since Bathurst 2016, but that didn’t happen.
He had Shane Van Gisbergen on his tail and they came in to the pits at the same time. Shane Van Gisbergen did a 3 tyre change and Will Davison did 4 tyres. Will Davison’s dash was blank and they had to recycle through the electricals so he was stationary a lot longer than he would have liked.
As a result, Shane Van Gisbergen re-joined the race in the lead.
From that point on Will Davison and Anton de Pasquale were on the attack and putting pressure on the leader.
Shane Van Gisbergen is no rookie and didn’t crack under the pressure. He simply just increased his lead and crossed the finish line 2+ seconds over his rivals. This was his 12th win for 2021.
Anton de Pasquale had bad luck in this race. Although he finished 3rd it was soon revealed in his pit stop the team put the wrong tyres on. They belonged to his teammate , Will Davison so Poor Pasquale was disqualified after the race finish.
Results for Race 21:
1st Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing team.
2nd Will Davison – Dick Johnson Racing.
3rd Nick Percat – Brad Jones Racing.
For the third time in three races on the weekend, Anton de Pasquale started on pole position. Alongside him was rookie, Will Brown.
As Race 22 got underway Anton de Pasquale led into turn 1 with Will Brown close behind. The cars further back in the pack soon settled into their race pace.
Shortly after Shane Van Gisbergen jumped the goat, Jamie Whincup.
Andre Heimgartner was back in the pack getting held up so he choose to get out of the traffic and pit early.
Before the pit stops started I thought at one stage Will Brown was going to take the lead. But Anton de Pasquale was having a great weekend and not about to let the rookie take his number one spot.
Shane Van Gisbergen kept his lead over teammate Jamie Whincup and it was only mid race when he made a mistake that Whincup could reclaim his 3rd place.
Nearing the end of the race Will Brown once again challenging for the lead but that didn’t happen and Anton de Pasqale won.
It was an incredible performance by Anton de Pasquale. He started on pole position for all 3 races and won 2 out of 3. That is not bad going. Congrats Anton!
Results for Race 22
1st Anton de Pasquale – Dick Johnson Racing.
2nd Will Brown – Erebus Motorsport.
3rd Jamie Whincup – Red Bull Ampol Racing.
It was great fun to watch and I’m already looking forward to next weekend: Same place, Same time for the Armor All Sydney Supernight.
