Hi to all you Supercars Fans around the world!
On the weekend of the 16- 18 of June was the Betr Darwin Triple Crown.
Being in the Northern Territory the weather for this event is always hot and sunny with temperatures of 30 to 35 degrees ambient, which makes the in-car temperatures 40 degrees plus. The Triple Crown is always held in the middle of winter because any other time of the year would be way too hot putting the drivers at risk.
The opening date of the Hidden Valley Raceway was 1986 but Supercars didn’t venture north until 1998.
The track is 2.8km with 14 turns and the event is made up of three races (thus, the name “Triple Crown”) of 35 laps each.
Fox Sports presenter, Riana Crehan was absent from her usual role on this weekend because she and husband Will Davison are expecting the birth of their first child (any minute).
Hidden Valley Raceway always makes me think of this freaky fact; It was here that Craig Lowndes won his 100th race back in 2015 on his team Triple Eight on their 888th race in his car which was numbered 888.
The event kicked off according to schedule and the results of the pre-race sessions follow:
- Broc Feeney was fastest in Practice 1
- Anton de Pasquale was fastest in Practice 2
- Cameron Waters was fastest in Qualifying
In Race 13 Cameron Waters started on pole position for the first time this year and the 20th time in his career. Alongside him in the number 2 position was Broc Feeney.
At the start of the race Cameron Waters got the jump and led into turn 1 for the first of 35 laps. Mark Winterbottom who started 3rd on the grid moved up to 2nd place when Broc Feeney ran wide at turn 1.
The opening stages were fairly chaotic because everybody was trying make gains from back in the field.
Jack le Brocq also ran wide on approach to turn 1 and dropped all the way down to 12th place.
Declan Fraser went into the garage on the opening lap after he sustained damage in the mayhem.
James Courtney got turned around by Andre Heimgartner at turn 14 on lap 2, sending him to the back of the pack.
Shortly after David Reynolds had a big lockup at turn 1 and went off the track. He hit the pits on lap 3 to change the front left tyre.
While the drivers behind were battling for places inside the top 10, Cameron Waters was out front leading the race until lap 5. When he was coming down the main straight he came over the radio to his team and said “My car is on fire!”. His race engineer Sam Potter ordered him, “get out mate!” so Waters pulled over and jumped from the driver’s seat. He grabbed the fire extinguisher from the Fire Marshall and put the flames out himself!
The lead was now in the hands of the sport veteran, Mark Winterbottom.
The safety car was deployed to remove Cameron Waters Monster Energy ‘Flaming’ Ford Mustang from the tack.
Meanwhile, the majority of the field chose to take their pit stops while the safety car was out. The pit lane was extremely busy.
Restart was on lap 11 and soon enough the cars back in the pack were jostling for positions again, while the leaders maintained track position.
Jack Smith went off the track at turn 1. Scott Pye made connection with someone or something and had torn the right rear wheel guard. The tyre was now rubbing on the dangling piece of guard. His team instructed him to keep going and they’ll let him know if it gets dangerous.
On Lap 16 the safety car was deployed for the second time due to a grass fire.
It took a few laps under the safety car before the race went back to green.
As the cars returned to their battle Chaz Mostert was able to take advantage and gained 3 spots moving up to 8th place.
The leaders kept in place but Mark Winterbottom was under huge pressure from Broc Feeney only 0.449 seconds behind. Will Davison in 3rd place was over a second behind Feeney.
Broc Feeney pushed hard but in the end, Mark Winterbottom was able to prevail and win the opening race at Darwin.
This has broken a 7 year winless streak for Mark Winterbottom. His last win was Perth 2016.
It was fantastic to see!
Results for Race 13
1st Mark Winterbottom – Team 18
2nd Broc Feeney – Red Bull Racing
3rd Will Davison – Shell V-Power Racing Team
In Race 14 Broc Feeney earned pole position. Alongside him was Andre Heimgartner.
Broc Feeney got the jump off the start and led into turn 1 for the first of 35 laps. Meanwhile, Shane Van Gisbergen gained 1 spot and moved into 3rd place.
Matt Payne and Declan Fraser made contact and went off the track at turn 7. It dropped them back to 25th and 26th place.
Both cars headed to the pits for repairs. Not long after Matt Payne was able to rejoin the race but Declan Fraser was not so lucky. It took a while for his car to be repaired losing several laps.
Otherwise, the opening stages were relatively clean.
The first car to take an unforced pit was Jack Smith on lap 5.
Around this stage of the race Brodie Kostecki had lost 2 spots from his starting position of 4th. Jack le Brocq went off the track at turn 7 losing a number of places. At the front end Broc Feeney had carved a 1.225 second lead over Andre Heimgartner with Shane Van Gisbergen in pursuit.
Scott Pye pitted on lap 9 from 12th place.
James Golding was battling with Brodie Kostecki for positions 5th and 6th and they put on a great show.
Will Brown was the first of the front runners to pit along with Macauley Jones.
In the middle of the race Nick Percat pitted from 14th position. When he came back out he was in 20th place.
The leading three drivers stayed locked in and edged away from the rest of the pack.
After David Reynolds took his pit stop he was issued a 5 second time penalty for a pit lane merging breach.
Broc Feeney was the first of the two Red Bull cars to take the mandatory stop on lap 20. He returned to the track in 4th place. There was a strategy in this. Andre Heimgartner had already pitted and was now out of the leading three cars. Shane Van Gisbergen who was in second place now received the lead from teammate Feeney. Also, the leading 3 cars were yet to pit; Shane Van Gisbergen, Bryce Fullwood and Cameron Waters. Once they did Broc Feeney would automatically resume the lead.
On lap 29 Will Davison had gone into the garage with a bent right front steering arm. This took him out of the top 10.
Broc Feeney resumed the lead and soon had a 2 second gap over Shane Van Gisbergen in second place.
With 3 laps to go Broc Feeney would have felt he had the race win in the bag.
Broc Feeney drove faultlessly the remaining laps and crossed the line 1.4 seconds ahead of his illustrious teammate Shane Van Gisbergen. Andre Heimgartner followed another 1.8 seconds later to take 3rd place.
A great one / two finish for the Red Bull Ampol Racing team.
Results for Race 14
1st Broc Feeney – Red Bull Ampol Racing
2nd Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing
3rd Andre Heimgartner – Brad Jones Racing
In Race 15 Jack le Brocq started on pole position and once again alongside him was Andre Heimgartner.
As they took off Jack le Brocq led the field through turn 1 for the first of 35 laps.
Scott Pye was hit from behind and had pretty substantial damage on the right rear corner. Brodie Kostecki also had issues on the first lap, receiving steering damage on the right side.
Todd Hazelwood put in a challenge to Shane Van Gisbergen for 8 place but he couldn’t get the pass executed for a while. It wasn’t long before Shane Van Gisbergen took back 8th.
After repairs to the steering arm Brodie Kostecki re-joined the race but was 3 laps down and running last.
Scott Pye also had to take his pit early to remove flapping rear bumper for the second time that weekend. He returned to the track in 25th place.
David Reynolds came into the pits for his compulsory stop on lap 10.
In the middle of the race Declan Fraser made connection with another competitor and received a 15 second time penalty
Broc Feeney and Will Brown running 3rd and 4th pitted at the same time on lap 17.
The race leaders Jack le Brocq and Andre Heimgartner took their pit stops on the next lap.
Towards the end of the race Matt Payne got turned around by Jack Smith at turn 6 sending him to the back of the pack.
With three laps to go Jack le Brocq had managed to hold the number one spot and carve a 1.8 second lead over Andre Heimgartner in 2nd place. They were both well ahead of the rest of the pack.
Heimgartner pushed hard to close the gap but at no stage seemed a threat to le Brocq.
Jack le Brocq crossed the line 1.3 seconds clear of Andre Heimgartner. It was a further 8.4 seconds before Broc Feeney crossed the line to come in 3rd.
It was a spectacular finish especially for the young Broc Feeney who managed a podium place in all three races of the Darwin Triple Crown; 2nd,1st and then 3rd. It earned him a win for the entire round.
Results for Race 15
1st Jack le Brocq – Matt Stone Racing
2nd Andre Heimgartner – Brad Jones Racing
3rd Broc Feeney – Red Bull Ampol Racing
Brodie Kostecki still leads the championship but only by 59 points over his teammate Will Brown and 91 points over Broc Feeney.
It still keeps Erebus in the lead of the teams championship by 222 points over the Red Bull Ampol Racing Team.
There are 7 events remaining in the 2023 Supercars championship season.
The next event is the NTI Townsville 500 starting on July 7th 2023. I just can’t wait!!!!!
