Hi to all you Supercars fans around the world!
On the weekend of the 23rd to the 25th of November 2018 was the Coates Hire Newcastle 500, the Supercars season grand finale.
The Newcastle race is held on local streets, part of which runs along its beautiful shore line and the city comes alive for the spectacle. Each year it gets better and better.
One of the funniest moment of the weekend was when Jessica Yates, Mark Skaife and Russell Ingall wore a t-shirt taking a dig at his fellow commentator (Russell Ingall) for a incident back in 2003. It was printed with ‘Dearest Mark, I am sorry for firing you into the fence at Sydney Motorsport Park Eastern Creek – Love Russ’. LOL.
In the sessions prior to the race:
- Lee Holdsworth was fastest in Practice 1
- Scott McLaughlin was fastest in Practice 2
- Shane Van Gisbergen was fastest in the ‘Armour All’ Qualifying for race 30
- Scott McLaughlin was fastest in the ‘Armour All’ Qualifying for race 31
In race 30 Shane Van Gisbergen started on pole position and alongside him was Jamie Whincup.
At the start of the 95-lap race Jamie Whincup got the jump on his teammate, Shane Van Gisbergen but then let him pass him up Watt Street so that Shane Van Gisbergen could close the Driver’s Championship points gap with Scott McLaughlin.
Fabian Coulthard got spun around by Jamie Whincup stopping Fabian Coulthard helping out his teammate, Scott McLaughlin up the front.
Later Fabian Coulthard got himself in more trouble. He made a mistake approaching turn 1 which put him in the wall. He then was also joined by Tim Blanchard and Nick Percat. In fact it was such a mess Nick Percat had half of Fabian Coulthard’s car in his lap. Fabians car looked pretty smashed up and he was out of the race with an NC (not complete). I didn’t think the team would be able to repair the car for Sunday’s race but somehow they worked their magic.
Craig Lowndes followed Scott Pye into pit lane for his pit stop. James Courtney was already in the pits causing Scott Pye to double stack, blocking the pit lane for Craig Lowndes. I’m sure he was mighty pissed off losing that valuable time.
When John McGregor asked Craig Lowndes what happened he replied angrily with ”Bloody Pye blocked the fastlane”.
In the middle of the race Shane Van Gisbergen had enough fuel and tyre grip to chase down the cars in front of him.
However, burning up all that fuel meant when he pitted for his 3rd and final stop there was an extended wait to fill up the race requirement of 140 litres.
Towards the end of the race Scott McLaughlin was in the lead, heading for victory until the most embarrassing thing of all happened. On the 2nd last corner before the finish line he ran out of fuel! Amazingly his car continued to roll without fuel across the finish line.
Shane Van Gisbergen was close behind taking full advantage and crossed the line ahead of Scott McLaughlin.
Now Shane Van Gisbergen was just 2 points behind Scott McLaughlin in the championship. It was a very unusual finish to the race.
However, after the dust settled at the finish line the Stewards gave Shane Van Gisbergen a 25 second penalty for his car being lowered to the ground while fuelling up at his last pit stop. Whoops!
Gisbergen had lost his win and had now been relegated to finishing 5th in the race. So officially McLaughlin was the winner. With only 1 race for the weekend and season he now had the points to secure this year’s championship.
Results for race 30
1st Scott McLaughlin – Shell V Power Racing Team.
2nd David Reynolds – Erebus Motorsport.
3rd Jamie Whincup – Red Bull Holden Racing Team.
Before the start of race 31 Craig Lowndes did his final lap around the Newcastle streets circuit waving to all the fans. When he got back he took a walk up the pit lane thanking everybody for their support. All the teams took part in congratulating Craig Lowndes on his fantastic career. All the Triple 8 team members wore a shirt that said ‘Thanks CL’.
Chaz Mostert showed one of the greatest gestures of respect and asked Craig Lowndes to sign his suit.
It was now time for Race 31 and Craig Lowndes was bestowed the honour of leading the drivers out to the start line.
David Reynolds started on pole position and alongside him was Scott McLaughlin.
All the Nissan drivers and cars were pink because they were supporting the McGrath Foundation. It was quite a sight.
As the 95 lap race started David Reynolds led with Scott McLaughlin following during the opening laps.
Scott McLaughlin seemed to be playing it safe which I thought was a good call; If Scott McLaughlin damaged his car and got a DNF he would lose the championship again (last year he lost the championship by only one race). All he had to do was hang in there.
Jamie Whincup helped out teammate Shane Van Gisbergen and pitted early to avoid a double stack.
Tim Blanchard got a pit lane drive through penalty for contact with Simona de Silvestro.
David Reynolds was still leading before his first pit stop.
Meanwhile Scott McLaughlin and Shane Van Gisbergen where battling it out in 2nd and 3rd position for the championship.
For a time they didn’t have the support of their team mates, Jamie Whincup in 7th place and Fabian Coulthard back in 9th.
Michael Caruso was trying to finish on a high with Nissan Motorsport with his contract still up for renewal. He finished the race 19th, gaining 5 places from a starting position 24.
Lee Holdsworth is also another driver without a contract for next season. Mark Winterbottom will be replacing him at Team 18.
Nick Percat didn’t want a repeat of Saturday’s dramas which he thankfully avoided by qualifying further up the grid and running a clean race.
In the middle of the race Shane Van Gisbergen had the front guards on the left and right hanging out. It wasn’t that bad so he wasn’t about to lose time with a pit stop. His race engineer, Grant McPherson said him, ‘If the Safety Car comes out in the next few laps we will pit to fix it’ (but just keep racing).
Towards the end of the race no one else could catch Scott McLaughlin or David Reynolds in 1st and 2nd place.
At that point Ryan Story who is the team manager at Shell V Power Racing was being interviewed by Greg Murphy and said to Mark Skaife and Neil Crompton ‘We are good on fuel today. OK boys!’. LOL.
Right at the end of the race David Reynolds had great pace. Scott McLaughlin knew he had the championship all wrapped up and it seemed he moved over and let David Reynolds take the race win.
Results for Race 31
1st David Reynolds – Erebus Motorsport.
2nd Scott McLaughlin – Shell V Power Racing Team.
3rd Jamie Whincup – Red Bull Holden Racing Team.
Congratulations to Craig Lowndes on everything you have achieved during your remarkable Supercars career. What you have done for the sport of Supercars racing has been documented. It will be weird not seeing you in the car full time next year. So, well done Craig Lowndes!
Thanks CL!
The next event is the 2019 Liqui Moly Bathurst 12 Hour on the 1st to the 3rd of February 2019.
But the Supercars Championship doesn’t start until 28th of February to the 3rd of March 2019.
https://www.facebook.com/williamsperfectride/?ref=bookmarks please feel free to let me know how you think the grand finale went.
