In the second half of last year Lee Holdsworth announced that the 2022 season would be his last as a full-time driver in V8 Supercars. To celebrate his contributions to motorsports I’m giving a quick rundown on his career to date. I say ‘to date’ because I believe he has not fully retired from the sport and will be adding more to his list of achievements.
Lee Holdsworth was born on the 2nd of February 1983 in Melbourne Victoria. (Happy Birthday for next month).
Lee Holdsworth started his motorsport career in go karts. He quickly progressed to racing cars in 2001 to compete in the Commodore National Series at only 17 years of age.
In 2002 he finished fifth in the Commodore Cup National Series and then in 2003 finished third.
In 2004 he moved up to compete in the Konica Series driving a Holden VX Commodore for Smith Trucks Racing. He earned some impressive results including finishing his first ever round in the top 10, winning the reverse grid race at Eastern Creek and taking third place in Queensland. It was this year that Lee Holdsworth also got his first taste of The Sandown 500 and Bathurst 1000.
In 2005 Lee competed in the Australian Formula Ford Championship with Garry Rogers Motorsport. At the same time, he ran in a number of HPDC Development Series events.
The following year, 2006 was his big break earning a fulltime drive with Garry Rogers Motorsport (GRM) in the V8 Supercars Championship. In 2007 Lee Holdsworth won his first ever V8 Supercars round at Oran Park. His consistency and good strategies had paid off.
In 2008 Lee Holdsworth started working with the John Bowe Institute of Driving helping bring performance driving safety techniques to the public.
In 2009 Lee Holdsworth scored his first career pole position at the first ever Townsville round. He also scored pole position at the first running of the Sydney Telstra 500.
In 2010 Lee Holdsworth was still at GRM and earned 2 pole positions plus a race win.
His 4 year contract with GRM ended after the 2011 season and in 2012 he replaced Shane Van Gisbergen at Stone Brothers Racing.
In 2013 when Erebus Motorsport took over Stone Brothers Racing Lee Holdsworth had Tim Slade and Mario Engel as teammates. With co-driver Craig Baird they earned 3rd place in the endurance race of the Sandown 500.
In 2014 Lee Holdsworth hit a patch of bad luck and received 2 DNFs. One DNF was at Sandown and the other was Bathurst. He made amends by taking first place at Winton.
He spent the following year at Walkinshaw Racing.
In 2016 he moved on to join Team 18. After sustaining injuries at Hidden Valley Raceway, he had to sit out a number of events and didn’t return until the Bathurst 1000.
In 2017 Lee Holdsworth resigned with Team 18 to the end of 2018.
In 2019 Lee Holdsworth moved to Tickford Racing when the Ford Mustangs debuted in the Supercars Championship. It also meant it was his first time behind the wheel of a Ford since 2012.
In 2021 Lee Holdsworth lost his fulltime seat and became co-driver to Chaz Mostert. The relationship worked and they won the coveted Bathurst 1000.
With a Bathurst win under his belt, he returned to fulltime Supercars Racing in 2022 at Grove Racing.
So, after 16 years as a fulltime driver in V8 Supercars and 510 race starts (plus a few more in other categories) the Lethal Lee Holdsworth claims his retirement. Congratulations on what has been an amazing career! Best of luck for the future.
It is still the ‘off season’ for Supercars so there are no races to review.
COVID – 19 is re-emerging as a health risk in the Sydney community bringing most things to a boring standstill.
As I once said in a previous V8-Log on my YouTube channel ‘COVID, COVID, COVID…. I’m Bored!!’
So to keep myself occupied and maybe info-tain my readers, I am doing a post covering the 2006 Bathurst 1000.
The 2006 Bathurst 1000 was run on October 8. It was a sombre moment as they moved into position to start the race. They left the front row of the grid vacant as a mark of respect to the ‘King of the Mountain’, Peter Brock or as most Aussies would know him, “Brocky” . Brocky was a living legend of the track and died tragically in the Targa West ’06 Rally one month prior on September 8. This was the man who had been out on the track since the late 60’s, was 9 times winner of the Bathurst 1000 (amongst many other titles that are too great in number to mention here) and pretty much the face of Holden for 40 years.
That’s not to say there were no great drivers out on the track that day. Mark Skaife and Garth Tander started on pole position. Alongside was Jason Bright and Mark ‘Frosty’ Winterbottom.
As the race got underway Mark Skaife had a slipping clutch off the start line. When he got close to the end of Mountain Straight he left the track, hitting the wall and damaging front and back of the car. They were already out of the race on lap 1.
The drivers did 3 laps under safety car while car 2 (Skaife’s) got removed from mountain straight area.
On the restart Jason Bright was the race leader and the dominant car. During those opening laps the Jason Bright and Mark Winterbottom car was flying, it was just sofast.
Craig Lowndes was battling with Jason Richards for 2nd place. Greg Murphy was battling with his former teammate, Steven Richards in the Jack Daniels Racing, car 7.
Heading into the 06 Bathurst 1000 Craig Lowndes was the championship leader over Rick Kelly by 27 points.
Rick Kelly was battling with Steven Johnson for position 8 and 9.
Dean Canto was following Russell Ingall but couldn’t get by him.
Jason bright was leading until he got a flat spot on the front right tyre, then Craig Lowndes took the race lead and just took off.
On lap 22 he had a handy 4.1 second lead lead over Jason Richards in car 3 for Tasman Motorsport.
Skaife’s Holden Racing Team (HRT) teammate, Jim Richards had no luck either. On lap 25 he hit the wall coming out of ‘The Dipper’.
On the 2nd restart, Steven Johnson was running 2nd but lost control on lap 28 and also hit the wall.
When the safety car came out for the 3rd time Craig Lowndes pitted to hand over to Jamie Whincup. The handover put them back in 22nd position.
The the pits were very busy with cars coming in but so badly damaged not going back out.
When the race restarted Cameron McConville was leading followed by Todd Kelly.
Around the middle of the 161 lap race, the main drivers were back behind the wheel.
On lap 90 Craig Lowndes did the fastest lap of the race.
When the co drivers got back in the cars Todd Kelly was leading.
The cars back in the pack seemed to have no hope of catching the race leaders; Todd Kelly, Jamie Whincup and James Courtney.
Towards the end of the race it was green until Jason Richards went off the track causing the 10th and final safety car deployment.
Soon after Paul Radisich rolled the Team Kiwi Holden Commordore, car 021.
Rick Kelly was chasing Crag Lowndes in the last laps but he just couldn’t find the opportunity to overtake. Craig Lowndes driving was flawless and kept his lead to the finish line.
Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup were the fist to receive the newly titled trophy, ‘The Peter Brock Trophy’.
Results for Bathurst 2006
1st Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup – Team Betta Electrical
2nd Rick Kelly and Todd Kelly – Toll HSV Dealer Team
3rd James Courtney and Glen Seton – Stone Brothers Racing
Steven Richards is an Australian motorsport legend who has recently announced his retirement from Supercars racing. He will no longer be running team SRM (Steven Richards Motorsport). I would like to list some of his outstanding career achievements.
Steven Richards was born on the 11th of July, 1972 in New Zealand.
He won the Australian Formula Ford Championship in 1994 before becoming a professional full time driver.
In 1995 Steven Richards made his Bathurst 1000 debut with co-driver Anders Olofsson, finishing 4th under the Gibson Motorsport team.
In 1996 Steven Richards moved over to Garry Rogers Motorsport.
In 1995 and 1997 Steven Richards also competed in an Alfa Romeo 155, Honda Accord and then he drove a Nissan Primera. In 1996 he made his Australian Touring Car Championship debut in a Holden VF Commodore.
Steven Richards competed with his father, Jim Richards at the Bathurst 1000 in 1996 and 1997 and again in 2004.
In the 1997 Bathurst 1000 he and his father finished in 2nd place.
At the 1998 V8 Supercars Bathurst 1000 as a co-driver to Jason Bright, Richards finished 1st for Stone Brothers Racing.
In that same year he finished 2nd with co-driver Matt Neil in the Touring Car Bathurst 1000. This was an amazing feat because they were driving a Nissan Primera for UK bases Team Dynamics.
He then backed up his Bathurst 1st place the following year (1999) with co-driver Greg Murphy for Gibson Motorsport.
He continued in the same way for nearly another 20 years with one success after the other.
Steven Richards has 5 Bathurst 1000 wins: 1998, 1999, 2013, 2015 and 2018.
He has also won pole position for Bathurst in 2004 and 2007.
In 2014 (just to prove he wasnt too old to be racing he won the Australian Carrera Cup Championship and scored 5th in the Australian GT Championship.
In 2016 he ran in both the Australian GT Championship and Endurance Championship under his own team, Steve Richards Motorsport (SRM).
In total Steven Richards has:
completed 451 races
12 race wins
& 60 podium finishes.
Now work that out. It means he at approximately gets 1 podium finish per 7 races. Not bad at all.
Teams that Steven Richards have driven for are:
Garry Rogers Motorsport 1996 1997 1998
Gibson Motorsport 1999 2000
Ford Tickford Racing 2001
Perkins Engineering 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006.
Ford Performance Racing 2007 2008 2009 2010.
Ford Performance Racing 2011 2012 2013
Red Bull Racing Australia 2014 2015
Team Vortex 2016 & 2017 and Autobarn Lowndes Racing 2018.
On the weekend of the 14th to the 16th of September, 2018 was the Rabble Club Sandown 500.
The preliminaries to the race were almost as exciting as the main event.
In the co-drivers only session which was Practice 1, Paul Dumbrell clocked the fastest time.
Jamie Whincup was fastest in Practice 2.
Chaz Mostert had some really bad luck in Practice 2. He spun off track in his 55 Supercheap Auto Ford Falcon smashing the rear end into the fence.
James Courtney and Jack Perkins started at the back of the grid due to James Courtney having a huge crash on lap 3 of Race For the Grid 2 (Qualifying).
Erebus owner, Betty Klimenko wasn’t at Sandown on the weekend because she was sick with the flu. David Reynolds claiming pole position must have made her feel at least a little bit better as she watched the race from home.
During the 20 minute warm up, the teams were practicing brake rotor change which will be compulsory at Bathurst in 3 weeks’ time. This new requirement for the Bathurst race is being introduced to improve safety. Yes, I know brakes are important but could it introduce other risks to the race. I am still in two minds about it.
Finally at 1:20pm on Sunday The Sandown 500 started.
David Reynolds and Luke Youlden (Erebus) started on pole position. Alongside them were Jamie Whincup and Paul Dumbrell (Triple 8).
As usual most of the co-drivers took the driver’s seat at the start of the race, except James Courtney because of their poor qualifying position. This is the norm in team strategies allowing the seasoned pros to later make up for any mishaps.
The co-drivers have to do a minimum of 54 laps before the main driver can get into the cars.
When the lights turned green to start the 161-lap race Luke Youlden bogged it down, which allowed Paul Dumbrell to take the race lead.
Chris Pither, co-driver with Garth Tander started in car 33 at 9th position on the grid but on lap 1 he was in the fence which put him at the back of the pack. (They eventually recovered finishing 9th which isn’t a bad effort at all)
Dean Canto Co-driver for Mark Winterbottom in the Tickford Racing team made contact with Luke Youlden. I thought there going steering damage as a result but remarkably somehow there wasn’t.
The first Vodafone Safety Car was deployed for Dean Fiore after he contacted the barrier on the exit of turn 4. Then with the right front wheel wobbling all over the place he limped the Nissan Altama back to the pits
The 3 Triple 8 cars were running 1st, 2nd and 3rd for most of the race, all bar pit stops.
In the middle of race Jason Bright caused the second incident for the Vodafone Safety Car to be deployed because he bogged his car in the sand trap at turn 9 in a really dangerous spot.
Towards the end of the race I thought Craig Lowndes and Steven Richards were going to finish 2nd behind Jamie Whincup and Paul Dumbrell in car 1.
Regardless, no one could catch or upset the 1, 2, 3 of the 3 Triple 8 cars lead. ‘Winner! Winner! Chicken Dinner’ as quoted by Jeromy Moore in a race a few years back.
The funniest parts of the weekend was when commentator Chad Neylon was betting on who was going to win the Sandown 500 by using a horse racing tote. My first thought was, Chad this is not Horse Racing. At that point Scott Mclaughlin with Alex Premat were the Favourites to win.
Then on Supercars Trackside, Mark Larkham was trying to explain what the teams will have to do at Bathurst for the brake rotor change. By mishap the burning hot rotor fell off the car onto his foot. Mark Larkham exclaimed on national TV ‘Oh Shit!’. Too funny but glad he wasn’t hurt.
Result for 2018 Rabble Club Sandown 500
1st car 1 Jamie Whincup & Paul Dumbrell – Red Bull Holden Racing Team.
2nd car 97 Shane Van Gisbergen & Earl Bamber – Red Bull Holden Racing Team.
3rd car 888 Craig Lowndes & Steven Richards- Autobarn Lowndes Racing.
Now that Sandown has been run there are only 4 events left in the 2018 Supercars Championship.
Up next is the biggest event of the year, The Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 on the 4th to the 7th of October 2018.
To keep us all up to date on the event the Bathurst Channel launches on Monday the 1st of October 2018 and finishes on 7th of October 2018. It should be a lot of fun.
Will Triple 8 Dominate at Bathurst like they did at Sandown with a 1, 2, 3 finish?
If you have any thoughts or opinion on how the weekend and the race panned out please feel free to let me know via my Facebook Fan page.
Towards the end of the 2017 racing season Jason Bright announced his retirement from full time racing.
In this article we look back at a magnificent career spanning 2 decades.
Jason Bright was born on the 3rd of March 1973 In Moe, Victoria.
At the age of 15 he started racing Go Karts and immediately won championships.
In 1992 Bright raced Go Karts doubling up efforts with his entry to the Victorian Formula Ford Championship.
The following year saw him in the Australian Formula Ford Championship.
He was winning races and championships left right and centre.
Jason started full time touring car driver in 1998. The only year that Jason didn’t race in fulltime was 2000 because he was racing in Indy Lights. He has racked up a phenomenal 572 starts in V8 Supercars races.
In that first 2 years of racing under the Stone Brothers Racing Team he did extremely well and with co-driver Steven Richards won the Bathurst Classic.
The year 2000 was big for Bright. His ended his contract with Stone Brothers Racing and joined Dick Johnson Racing but also entered the Indy Lights, Champcar World Series, Shell Championship Series and the American Le Mans Series.
From 2001 onwards he held 2 year contracts following each other with Holden Racing Team, Paul Weel Racing and Ford Performance Racing(FPR). I am sure one of his career highlights was 2003 in the Bathurst 24 Hour, co-driving with Peter Brock, Greg Murphy and Todd Kelly. With a team like that of course they came in first.
Jason Bright does like to keep busy because in the meantime (2005) he established his own V8 Supercars team, Britek Motorsports with Fujitsu Racing as their main sponsor. He was so busy (and under contract) that he didn’t even have time to race in his own team until 2 years later. So for 2007 – 2009 Jason got to race in his own team. For a number of reasons Britek Motorsports was absorbed into Brad Jones Racing in 2009. He then joined Brad Jones Racing for the 2010 season and stayed with them until 2016.
He signed up with Prodrive racing Australia in 2017 when he felt it was time to hang the helmet up fulltime. He has confirmed he will be doing the Enduro races in 2018.
There are way too many career highlights and statistics to list but here are a selected few thrown in with a few lows:
·1998 Bathurst Winner ·1999 Darwin Round Winner. ·2001 Clipsal winner. ·Winton 1st 2002 ·Barbagallo 1st 2002 ·Best championship finish was back in 2002 ·1st 2003 Albert park race 1 ·2006 Sandown winner. ·2005 Jason Bright started his own race team, Britek Motorsports ·DNF’S Bathurst 2006 2007 ·Abu Dhabi 2nd 2011 race 2
·1st Barbagallo 2011 ·2014 he had a bad crash ·Started a total of 17 races in pole position two of which were 2011 at Barbagallo raceway and 2009 at Phillip island ·20 race wins and 88 podium finishes ·Competed in 572 V8 Supercars Championship races
Jason Bright’s co drivers for the 1997 Primus 1000 classic was Allan Jones and Scott Preutt. They were driving car number 9.
Jason Bright also raced at the Le man 24 hours back in 2013.
To have a 20 year career is just fantastic in the sport of racing and to have such phenomenal career is even more unusual.
Well-Done Jason Bright! Enjoy your retirement from full time racing (knew you couldn’t go cold turkey and will be glad to see you in the Enduro races).
Enjoy your next chapter in your life what ever that may hold.
On the weekend of the 24th to the 26th of November 2017 was the Coates Hire Newcastle 500.
This was the final race for the season. It was very exciting because the season champion was still to be determined and this race weekend was going to be the decider. The main championship contenders were Scott McLaughlin and Jamie Whincup. They were only separated by 30 points in favour of Jamie Whincup. I didn’t get the feeling either would hold back and there would be some incredible racing.
It was also the first race event at Newcastle, a seaside city about 2 hrs north of Sydney. This was a street circuit that no one had driven at before so it made the practice sessions all critical in order to determine their car setup for the race.
Due to the circuit being local streets, some parts are quite narrow and there are plenty of ups and downs for the drivers to navigate. This would mean a reduced opportunity for passing and possibly slower speeds.
Jamie Whincup went there a couple weeks in advance in a reconnaissance mission to get a feel for the area.
The weekend finally arrived and Newcastle put on a beautiful show. The weather was beautiful and sunny with the main straight running along the shore of the sparkling beach and great crowds had turned out for the spectacle.
On the Saturday Race 25 was for 95 laps. Due to the tight schedule for other race events it was also time certain so when the time was up the winner would be called regardless of laps.
It was a special occasion for Todd Kelly as this was his 540th V8 Supercars race, which is a long time to be in this sport.
Scott McLaughlin started on pole position alongside him was David Reynolds.
Scott McLaughlin got the jump on David Reynolds and got to turn 1 first.
Later in the first lap, Jamie Whincup made contact with Michael Caruso which as a result put Jamie Whincup into the wall and broke his right front steering arm. This was not ideal considering he went into the Newcastle event 30 points ahead of Scott McLaughlin.
Mark Skaife and Neil Crompton couldn’t believe that Jamie Whincup managed to steer his car back to the pits.
During the opening stages Scott McLaughlin was the race leader until the first round of pit stops.
Up until that first round of pit stops Craig Lowndes was on track for his first podium finish in 2017. The last time he got a podium finish (1st, 2nd or 3rd) was the Sydney SuperSprint 2016.
There was contact between Jason Bright and Alex Davison. Jamie Whincup just missed being involved which would have been disastrous as he was already 13 laps behind the race leader as a result of having a broken steering arm.
Soon after, Simona de Silvestro pulled off some amazing driving passing a bunch of cars at turn 7. My first thoughts were after looking at the racetrack that the drivers wouldn’t be able to pass at turn 7 safely but she somehow managed to do it.
In the middle of the race the two DJR cars held the lead strongly.
As the race went on the schedule time was running out and the race was going to be called short.
The 2 DJR cars driven by Scott McLaughlin and Fabian Coulthard were too quick, their pace was really fast and reached the flag in a 1, 2 finish at lap 91 (4 laps short of the set laps).
It was such bad luck for Jamie Whincup. He had been making incredible gains, after being 13 laps behind he finished in 21st position only 2 laps behind the leader. If he just had a bit more time it would have been really interesting.
Results for race 25
1st Scott McLaughlin – Shell V Power Racing Team. 2nd Fabian Coulthard – Shell V Power Racing team.
3rd Tim Slade – Brad Jones Racing Team.
In Qualifying for race 26 James Courtney caused a red flag meaning his fastest time to that point was deleted and also meant he couldn’t take any further part in the session.
Scott McLaughlin started on pole position once again for the 16th time in 2017. Alongside him was Shane Van Gisbergen.
Jamie Whincup started 5th on the grid.
At the start of the 95-lap race, Scott McLaughlin took the race lead, which was good for the DJR Team.
As the first round of pit stops started the Championship leader Scott McLaughlin got a pit lane penalty for exceeding the speed limit of 40kms p/h. Then Fabian Coulthard pitted and had to try and fix his gearbox issue. After that Fabain Coulthard also received a pit lane penalty for the same infringement. That was a blow for the DJR Team Penske Crew.
Later Scott Mclaughlin turned Simona de Silvrestro around at turn 2. Scott McLaughlin received another penalty of 15 seconds. Things for Scott McLaughlin as one of the main championship contenders were not looking good. Commentators Mark Skaife and Neil Crompton said it will be the longest 15 seconds of his life.
In the middle of the race the teams started to get organized for the 2nd round of stops to take place and prepare for the run to the finish.
When the Vodafone Safety Car was deployed it was to get Aaren Russell out of the tyre bundle. As a result that helped Scott McLaughlin big time.
At this stage of the race Scott McLaughlin was down the order in 16th position. He needed to finish in 11th to claim the title for 2017.
Scott McLaughlin’s car was bruised and battered and he was trying to do the best he could on the day.
Towards the end of the race with 2 laps to go, Craig Lowndes tried to get up inside of Scott McLaughlin at turn 1 but Scott McLaughlin blocked his pass and they made contact. This resulted in 2 things. First Craig Lowndes dropped from 6th to 10th. Second Scott McLaughlin got a post-race penalty dropping him all the way down to 18th in the results. Even though Scott McLaughlin would have finished 12th and not won the championship it must have been a real kick in the guts to be pushed down to 18th after the race had finished.
Jamie Whincup won the race and the season championship for 2017. A great result for the Red Bull Holden Racing Team.
Results for race 26
1st Jamie Whincup – Red Bull Holden Racing Team. 2nd Shane Van Gisbergen -Red Bull Holden Racing Team. 3rd David Reynolds – Erebus Motorsport.
Well done to all the drivers and teams in 2017.
Looking forward to seeing you in 2018.
The next event will be the Adelaide 500 on the 1st to the 4th of March 2018.
On the weekend of the 2nd – 5th of March 2017 was the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide South Australia.
As the first race of the season it was interesting to note:
New season equals new cars. Many teams invest in new cars allowing their engineers to really show what they are made of. It’s always interesting to see how they tweak cars to get the best performance.
Alex Rullo was the youngest driver to make his debut in the V8 Supercars Championship at just 16 years and 8 months.
It was Jason Bright’s first race in the Prodrive Racing Australia team.
Scott McLaughlin did pretty well for his debut with the Shell V Power Racing Team and with Dick Johnson Racing Team Penske.
The space he left in Garry Rogers Motorsport Team has been taken up by Garth Tander.
This was Simona De Silvestro’s 3rd race in V8 Supercars. It was good to see her do well in her first event and first race as a full time V8 Supercars driver.
At the start of the 78 laps in race 1, Shane Van Gisbergen started on pole position with Fabian Coulthard alongside him.
Fabian Coulthard got the jump off the start line and led the opening laps.
On Lap 2 Todd Kelly tried to go through turn 8 with three cars wide. As a result, Will Davison hit the wall and copped some bad damage. The red lights came on and he drove his car back to the pit lane. He was out of the race.
The safety came out to put the wall back in place. On restart Scott McLaughlin was weaving side to side, which is not allowed after the safety car lights have gone out and the race has gone back to green. Not sure what he was thinking but officials served him a pit lane penalty, sending him to the 24th spot at the back of the pack.
Meanwhile, Shane Van Gisbergen was putting as much pressure as possible on his fellow Kiwi, but Fabian Coulthard kept his position and the champion wasn’t able to pass.
At the start of lap 3 Jamie Whincup took an early pit stop. Once he re-joined the race he was clear of surrounding traffic and able to press on to gain valuable time.
On lap 4 Simona De Silvestro (what a honey-I want to take her home, cook her dinner & eat swiss chocolate from her clavicle) seemed to be enjoying her 3rd race in a V8 Supercar and also her first race in Adelaide.
On lap 5 Fabian Coulthard made a mistake running wide at a turn. It was just what Shane Van Gisbergen was waiting for. He passed on the inside and took the lead.
On lap 6 Mark Winterbottom was waiting for a clear pit lane to make the first of his 2 pit stops. When Mark Winterbottom came out of the pits he had to look for space to re-join the race and managed to pull in behind his teammate.
On lap 7 Chaz Mostert had taken his pit stop and really found his rhythm (playing the bongos and singing the banana boat song, ‘Daaay-0h, Da-a-a-ay oh, come Mr tally mon, tally me banana’!?) and was moving up through the pack with ease.
On lap 8 Craig Lowndes was able to pit at his own choosing. He didn’t have to worry about a double stack with Will Davison as he was out of the race after crashing on lap 1.
On lap 11 David Reynolds was feeling the need to take his pit, but was forced to stay out longer so he wouldn’t double stack with teammate, Dale Wood.
On lap 13 the cars back in the pack came in to pits to get out of the traffic.
On lap 14 Mark Winterbottom was caught up in a tight pack of cars. Due to the aggressive competition, he nearly ended up making contact with a wall but managed to stay out of trouble. The incident scared the hell out of the Prodrive Racing Australia team. (Only their dry cleaners’ will know just how much it scared them.)
On lap 16 Shane Van Gisbergen pitted after Jamie Whincup. Meanwhile Garth Tander had a good pace going in his new Holden Commodore, number 33.
On lap 17 Craig Lowndes also put his new Team Vortex Holden Commodore to the test and pushed it to its limits.
In the middle of the race at turn 5, Jamie Whincup spun Mark Winterbottom’s car around. With the new season’s rules in place, Jamie Whincup didn’t receive a drive through penalty.
Towards the end of the race Craig Lowndes was struggling. He was running out of fuel and he had to compensate by altering his driving technique.
Shane Van Gisbergen had such a good lead he was virtually unstoppable. The other drivers were not put off and competition for placings was still heated.
It all made for exciting racing with Shane Van Gisbergen comfortably crossing the finish line first.
Results for race 1
1st – Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Holden Racing Team.
2nd – Fabain Coulthard – Dick Johnson Racing Team Penske.
3rd – James Courtney – Mobil 1 HSV Racing.
At the start of the 78 laps in race No. 2, Shane Van Gisbergen started on pole position alongside him was Fabian Coulthard.
Jamie Whincup started 10th due to putting all 4 wheels over the curb at turn 2 in the qualifying race, which meant his lap was taken away from him.
On lap 1, Fabian Coulthard took the lead. Shane Van Gisbergen didn’t get a good start from pole position so Scott McLaughlin overtook into second place. Nick Percat hit the wall at turn 8 and as a result limped the car back to the pits for repairs.
On lap 2 the leaders were pulling away from the rest of the pack; Scott McLaughlin, James Courtney and Shane Van Gisbergen.
On lap 3 Jamie Whincup again came into the pits early. This appeared to be a good call because of where Jamie Whincup had qualified. Once again, he would be able to re-join the race and concentrate on gaining valuable ground. Scott McLaughlin was doing a great job for his new team, Shell V Power Racing Team. As the newbie to V8 Supercars, Alex Rullo was getting used to being around everybody else. Shane Van Gisbergen was battling with Fabian Coulthard and Scott McLaughlin to maintain the lead. Mark Winterbottom was doing his best to keep out of trouble.
On lap 4 Simona De Silvestro was doing very well in her first weekend as a fulltime female driver in the V8 Supercars Championship.
On lap 5 James Courtney had a close call with the wall. A hit into the wall like that would have been an all-night repair job for the Mobil 1 HSV Racing team.
On lap 6 Scott Pye was trying to find a way to get passed his teammate, James Courtney to gain pit priority.
On lap 7 Tim Slade was having a ‘friendly’ battle with his teammate, Nick Percat.
On lap 8 Shane Van Gisbergen wanted to keep track position so stayed out on track a bit longer.
On lap 9 Mark Winterbottom was chasing Cameron Waters for pit priority. Garth Tander and James Moffatt were praying for smooth sailing; if the Safety Car came out their cars 33 and 34 would have had to double stack one behind the other.
On lap 10 Shane Van Gisbergen seemed happy with his car set up for the two races.
On lap 11 Simona De Silvestro got spun around by James Courtney on her way into the pit lane.
On lap 12 Michael Caruso nearly hit the tyres at the first turn. If this did happen it would have an adverse effect on the aerodynamics his Nissan Altama.
Jason Bright’s Cool Suit failed. In emergency response, The Mega Racing Crew, a part of the Prodrive Racing Australia Team had to take out the two windows on the driver’s and passenger’s side.
On lap 13 Alex Rullo was following teammate, Taz Douglas.
In the middle of the race Scott McLaughlin was leading and Shane Van Gisbergen was working hard to keep up the chase for the lead.
Towards the end of the race Scott McLaughlin looked sure to be the winner. However, a mistake on Scott McLaughlin’s part gave Shane Van Gisbergen his second great opportunity for the day. He took the lead in the last minutes and went on to win his second race of the day.
Results for race 2.
1st – Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Holden Racing Team.
2nd – Scott McLaughlin – Shell V Power Racing Dick Johnson Racing Team Penske.
3rd – Chaz Mostert – Supercheap Auto Racing.
The next event is the non-Championship round at Albert Park in Melbourne Victoria, 23rd – 26th of March 2017. The next Championship race is Symmons Plains raceway in Tasmania, on the 7th – 9th of April 2017.
On the weekend of the 21st – 23rd August 2015, was the Sydney Motorsport Park Supersprint – Eastern Creek.
Last year Dad and I were at Eastern Creek for the Sydney Motorsports event, we were there when James Courtney had the unfortunate incident with the Navy helicopter. Thank goodness James has recovered enough to return to V8 Supercars. Look forward to seeing how he does in this race.
Race 21
In race 21 Chaz Mostert started on pole position alongside him was Mark Winterbottom, and on lap 1, Chaz Mostert got the jump for the first of 16 Laps. Chaz Mostert tried to make a pass on his teammate Mark Winterbottom, but he had drop back in behind Tim Slade and he passed Will Davison. Towards the end of the opening lap Garth Tander passed Ash Walsh.
On lap 2 the 2 Pepsi Max Crew Fords were leading the race, David Reynolds was trying to pass Jamie Whincup to make it a Ford 1, 2 and 3 but could not be done. Craig Lowndes did his best to try and pass David Reynolds, in the middle of the race and no one could catch Chaz Mostert. In the end it was Ford finished 1 and 2.
Before the race I was able to get photos with Jamie Whincup, Craig Lowndes, Mark Dutton, Jamies engineer Roland Dane, head of Red Bull Racing, James Warburton, CEO of V8 Supercars Fabain Coulthard and Brad Jones. I was also invited to get photos of Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup’s 2 Red Bull cars, we got a grid walk before race 1 and I also got photos with Dean Canto, Grant McPherson Craig’s Race Engineer, Barry Hay from Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport. Garry Rogers from Wilson Security racing GRM, Chad Neylon commentator for V8 radio station.
Results for race 21
1st – Chaz Mostert – Pepsi Max Crew.
2nd – Mark Winterbottom – Pepsi Max Crew.
3rd – Jamie Whincup – Red Bull Racing Australia.
Race 22
In race 22 Chaz Mostert started from pole position alongside him was Jamie Whincup. Jamie Whincup led into turn 1 for the first time, Fabain Coulthard was 2nd at turn 1. Scott Pye and James Moffat Fabain was right behind Whincup towards the end of the first lap Rick Kelly and Jason Bright both ran wide on the exit of turn 8.
On lap 2 David Reynolds was chasing down Shane Van Gisbergen. Inbetween turns 2 and 3, Todd Kelly had to go into the garage to fix the Nissan Altama car 7.
In the middle of the race Jamie had a broken exhaust pipe, in the end Jamie Whincup was able to hold on to the race lead. Jamie
Whincup has now moved his career tally onto 92 wins, 8 behind his teammate Craig Lowndes.
Results for race 22
1st – Jamie Whincup – Red Bull Racing Australia.
2nd – Fabain Coulthard – Brad Jones racing.
3rd – Chaz Mostert – Pepsi Max Crew.
Race 23
Race 23 is the big race of the weekend and Scott McLaughlin started on pole position alongside him was David Reynolds on lap 1 of 52 David made a great start, bur Scotty managed to hold the spot. Rick Kelly and Andre Heimgartner made contact on the exit of turn 1, towards the end of the opening lap Todd Kelly got spun by Garth Tander. Todd Kelly had to drive back to the pits with a left rear tyre that wasnt pointing in the right direction and he was pretty cranky about it.
On lap 2, the safety car came Ash Walsh and Jack Perkins made their first stop under yellow, with a number of other cars. A lot of the drivers were slowing up in the pits before the 40 Kilometres per hour sign so that they would not have to double stack for too long. The restart was in between laps 4 and 5. Lee Holdsworth was behind Jamie Whicup at the restart, but he tried to go around him on the outside. In the middle of the race it started to rain and the 2 Red Bull cars had to double stack in the pits, to change from slick tyres to wet tyres.
Towards the end of the race it was a time certain finish due to the Safety cars by just 2 laps.
The commentators Greg Rust, Neil Crompton and Chad Neylon, the pit reporters were Greg Murphy along with Riana Crehan.
Let’s have a look back at 2013 when it was held in August…
During the 23rd – 25th of August 2013 was the Winton 360 we have Races 25, 26 & 27. In Race 25 they had a 60/60 Supersprint race, which means that they drive the first 60 laps where they don’t earn any points, they then take a break and the second 60 laps is for championship points.
In race 25 Jamie Whincup started on pole position alongside him was Michael Caruso. Jamie led the field through turns 1 and 2 for the 1st of 40 laps Jamie was leading during the opening laps until he had a driveshaft fail on his car inbetween laps 9 and 10.
Jamie had to watch the rest of the 60/60 Supersprint format from the pits. In the middle of race there was a halftime break of just 15 minutes. Mark Winterbottom ran out of fuel and as a result he had to be pushed back to pitlane by his teammate Will Davison.
On the restart the Nissan teammates of James Moffat and Michael Caruso, had contact approaching turns 1 and 2. Towards the end of race 25 James almost didn’t win his 1st race because he ran wide down at turn 10. But he held on to get Nissans first race win in V8 supercars in 21 years. The last time Nissan had won a race was way back in 1992 which was 21 years ago.
Results for race 25
1st James Moffat – Nissan motorsport
2nd Michael Caruso – Nissan motorsport.
3rd Mark Winterbottom – Pepsi Max Crew – FPR.
In race 26 Jason Bright was on pole position alongside him was Tony Dalberto, this was Tony’s first time on the front row. Jason stalled his Team BOC Holden commodore off the line. As a result of that Mark Winterbottom led the field through turns 1 and 2. Alex Premat went off the track in the first turn and went cross country to rejoin the pack on the other side of the turn. With Alex coming back into the pack, it appeared to cause the down fall of Jamie Whincup, Russell Ingall and Alex Davison.
There was a safety car deployed on the opening lap. While Jamie was able to limp back to pit lane for repairs to car 1 in the Red Bull Racing garage, with smoke pouring out of right front of his Holden. While Russell Ingall was taken out of the weekend altogether with too much damage and Alex Davison was able to stay in the race as he had the least amount of damage.
Then on the restart Michael Caruso went into his garage. When Jamie rejoined he had race tape all over the front of the bonnet. In the middle of the race Tony Dalberto passed James Courtney down at turn 12.
Towards the end of the race Mark Winterbottom was under massive amounts of pressure from Jason Bright not only for the race lead but the race win, and the top spot the Winton podium. This was Mark Winterbottoms first win at Winton…
Results for race 26
1st Mark Winterbottom – Pepsi Max Crew FPR.
2nd Jason Bright – Team BOC.
3rd James Courtney – Toll Holden racing team.
In race 27 James Courtney started on pole position alongside him was Jason Bright but Jason got off to another bad start. Then Todd Kelly in the Nissan Altima went off the road before turns 1 and 2. Todd Kelly in his Jack Daniels Nissan made contact with Jamie Whincup and this caused him to go off road into the barriers and took him out of the race for the day while Jamie was able to stay in the race. (Todd Kelly had to walk back to pitlane)
Then on lap 2 Scott Pye was hit from behind and that started the fire on the left hand side. Scott attempted to drive back to the pits but only made it to pitlane and had to abandon his car as it filled with smoke.
James Courtney lead the way on the restart as Chaz Mostert chased him down, meanwhile Craig Lowndes passed Tony Dalberto and took him from 13th place to 12th position.
Then in the middle of the race Jonathan Webb and Maro Engel came together inbetween turns 1 and 2 sending Maro off the track. Michael Caruso was battling away with Jamie Whincup.
Towards the end the race Scott McLaughlin was passed by David Reynolds. Then Rick Kelly and Mark Winterbottom came together inbetween turns 5 and 6 taking Rick out of the race taking the Jack Daniels team out of the race altogether. Jason bright had to get towed off the slippery grass. On the last lap James was being chased down by Fabain Coulthard and Chaz Mostert.
Results for race 27
1st James Courtney – Toll HRT.
2nd Fabain Coulthard – Lockwood Racing.
3rd Chaz Mostert – DJR.
Trivia
Jamie Whincup still leads the championship by 55 points his former housemate Will Davison. The Wilson Security Sandown 500 is on September 13th to the 15th 2013.
