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Post Race Report, Supercars

Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 2019 Supercars

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Hi to all you Supercars fans around the World!

checkout my pre vlog below. Its also available on my youtube channel.

On the weekend of the 10th to the 13th of October, 2019 was the 59th running of the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000. This is locally known as “The Great Race” and is the most widely viewed motorsport race in Australia and internationally renowned. There is always a hyped up vibe when this endurance   is on and it’s always exciting.

In the Pre-race sessions leading up to big event there we a few surprising results.

In Practice 1 Jamie Whincup was fastest. The session was temporarily stopped (red flagged) when Macauley Jones hit the wall at the cutting. After being towed off the track he was obliged to sit out the rest of the session. That is the penalty for causing a Red Flag in the practice sessions.

Practice 2 was a co-driver session. James Moffatt was fastest. Yet again the red flag was on display, this time for Luke Youlden who hit wall the between Reid Park and McPhillamy Park.

Scott McLaughlin was fastest in Practice 3.

Practice 4 was another co-driver session and Will Brown was fastest.

Scott McLaughlin was fastest in Practice 5 and then in the Armour All Qualifying.

Will Davison was fastest in Practice 6

Chaz Mostert was fastest in Practice 7

In the warm up session on the morning of the race, Fabian Coulthard & Tony Dalberto were fastest.

By 11:30am the race was ready to begin. The cars were all lined up on the starting grid and the tension was building. All of a sudden there was an emergency call out from one of the cars. Brodie Kostecki of Kostecki Brothers Racing was in trouble. The cockpit was filling with carbon monoxide fumes and his helmet’s circulation fan had come loose. He was immediately rushed to medical centre and checked out by the official Supercars doctor, Dr Carl Le. The car was then towed off the grid. They were given dispensation by officials and were able to rejoin the race later.

After this delay the race could finally begin.

Scott McLaughlin was sitting in Pole Position with Chaz Mostert alongside him. This was the second time Scott McLaughlin had earned pole position for the Bathurst 1000. The first time was in 2017.

I was quite surprised that most of the main drivers started and only a couple of co-drivers started the race.

As they took off for the 161 lap 1,000 km race, Scott McLaughlin got the jump into turn 1 and led up mountain straight.

Craig Lowndes did the opening stint for car 888 as part of their strategy. He tried to get up the inside of Will Davison at turn 1 but the pass wasn’t able to be done cleanly and he pulled back. This was OK because he, like all the other drivers knew there was a long way to go.

On that first lap as they got to ‘The Cutting’ Tim Slade was on the outside of Scott Pye. The Cutting is an impossible turn to pass on and Time Slade left the track and hit the wall. The Vodafone Safety Car was deployed to remove the car from the track. It was bad luck for the Brad Jones Racing team. One of their two cars was already out of the race on lap 1. It must have been a massive disappointment for co-driver Ash Walsh to not get a chance to drive in the most coveted event of the year.

After this incident there was no safety car deployed for the next 100 laps.

As the race continued the cars that started further back in the pack came in early to get their first of 7 pit stops out of the way. The leading cars stayed out to make use of the clear track and gain position.

I was surprised how quick Scott McLaughlin and Chaz Mostert was in the opening stages of the race.

In the middle of the race Alex Premat was leading the race in his co-drivers stint. He had a massive lockup on the front right wheel at ‘The Chase’ which caused him go off the track. This allowed Chaz Mostert and Jamie Whincup to move from 2nd and 3rd to 1st and 2nd positions. Although he lost position I couldn’t believe that Alex Premat managed to keep his #17 Mustang straight and not spin.

For the closing stage of the race it’s normal strategy to get main drivers back in the car. For Lowndes and Tander, who were for the first time in their careers acting as co-drivers, it must have been nerve wracking to watch from the sidelines and not be behind the wheel.

When the main drivers jumped back in they needed to conserve fuel to get to the end of the race. Once again the spotlight was on Brodie Kostecki. He hit the wall going up the hill out of The Cutting and the race went to ‘Yellow’ as the Safety Car was deployed and the car was recovered and returned to the pits.

Oil Soak had to be spread on the track to absorb the oil lost from Kostecki’s car. It meant other drivers couldn’t use the racing line coming out of The Cutting at the risk of taking a slide.

At this point of the race, Jamie Whincup was the leading car cruising behind the safety car and saving fuel.

Soon after the race went back to green, at lap 135 the car of Indy drivers Alexander Rossi and James Hinchcliffe left the track and got stuck in the sand. Once again the safety car was deployed and the car was towed out but still able to re-join the race track.

It was during this incident that the biggest controversy in history of the Bathurst 1000 occurred. Jamie Whincup in the lead and Scott McLaughlin in 2nd place were told to press on. 888 instructed Jamie Whincup to head into the pits to take the opportunity to top up on fuel. Fabian Coulthard in third place was instructed to slow down. This held the rest of the cars on the track as they were unable to pass while the race was still under yellow. It was deemed by officials as a purposeful tactic to let his teammate, Scott McLaughlin continue in the lead without any contenders. The unsporting manoeuvre earned Fabian Coulthard a drive through penalty. In the following week this incident blew up into a massive controversy of how the team and Scott McLaughlin as the race winner should be penalised. Many, including Erebus Team Manager, Barry Ryan, have called for Scott McLaughlin to be stripped of his title.

Just one lap short of the race finish, at lap 160 the Safety Car was again deployed. This time it was Andre Heimgartner of Nissan Motorsport. The officials didn’t want to delay the race or have it finish safety car, yellow so they tucked his car in behind barriers till the end of the race.

This gave the leaders a 1 lap dash to the finish line. There just wasn’t opportunity in that last lap for anyone to take the lead of Scott McLaughlin.

The last time the pole sitter won the Bathurst 1000 was Garth Tander and Will Davison back in 2009.

Results for race 25

1st Scott McLaughlin & Alex Premat – Shell V Power Racing Team.
2nd Shane Van Gisbergen & Garth Tander – Red Bull Holden Racing Team.
3rd James Courtney & Jack Perkins – Walkinshaw Andretti United (started 18th gaining 15 places to finished 3rd).
4th Jamie Whincup & Craig Lowndes – Red Bull Holden Racing Team.

The next event is the Vodafone Gold Coast 600 25th to the 27th of October 2019.

Feel free to give me your opinion on how the Bathurst event went via my facebook Fanpage.

https://www.facebook.com/williamsperfectride/

 

 

 

https://www.velocitynews.co.nz/news/confirmed-mclaughlin-keeps-bathurst-1000-win-coulthard-and-djrtp-penalized?fbclid=IwAR1ycPBzMsGabevwrSlNZIRDhVdiMwTnJozSqCi-8Qqsx8Q8iidhjZHZKu0

 

https://www.speedcafe.com/2019/10/18/grm-confirms-supercars-exit/

Supercars

ITM Auckland Supersprint 2019 Supercars

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Hi to all you Supercars fans around the world!

On the weekend of the 13th to the 15th of September 2019 was the ITM Auckland Supersprint.

Results for the Pre – Race sessions:

•        Will Davison was fastest in Practice 1.
•        Lee Holdsworth was fastest in Practice 2.
•        Chaz Mostert was fastest in Practice 3.

Shane Van Gisbergen was fastest in Qualifying so started on pole position with Cameron Waters alongside him.

At the start of the 70 lap race Shane Van Gisbergen had a perfect start and led the opening stages.

Cameron Waters tried to go around the outside of Shane Van Gisbergen at turn 1 but he couldn’t get the pace so had to tuck back in behind the leader.

Back in the pack Jamie Whincup started in position 12 behind Scott Pye in 11th and Nick Percat in 10th. Jamie Whicup wanted to immediately gain ground and took Scott Pye on the inside. It seemed he was going too fast and bumped Nick Percat out of the way, taking his position. I was surprised that Jamie Whincup didn’t redress (return race positioning) with Nick Percat. It didnt look good like good form on Whincup’s behalf but the officials made no mention of it.  It was something that would later haunt Jamie Whincup.

Most of the field pitted early to get clear track and avoid double stacking with teammates.

Scott McLaughlin who surprisingly started the race from the 6th position wanted to keep with the race leaders. By the middle the race it seemed it wasn’t going to be a great weekend for him and he couldn’t find himself within the top 3 spots.

As the race drew to a close Shane Van Gisbergen crossed the finish line with confident 3 second lead over his Red Bull teammate, Jamie Whincup. They were followed by Cameron Waters and David Reynolds.

It must have been a proud moment for the Red Bull Team to take 1st and 2nd places after such a tough year of Scott McLaughlin’s domination.

The real race drama took place after the podium presentations. The officials who made no comment about the incident between Nick Percat and Jamie Whincup on lap 1, retrospectively issued Jamie Whincup a 15 second penalty. It must have been devastating for Jamie Whincup to go from 2nd place to 6th. I’m sure he was wondering why the officials waited until after the race to take up on the issue. If it was during the race, at least then he would have an opportunity to make up for it. A big blow for the Red Bull team.

Results for Race 23

1st Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Holden Racing Team.
2nd Cameron Waters – Monster Energy Racing.
3rd David Reynolds – Erebus Motorsport.

In Qualifying for Race 24 Scott McLaughlin continued his bad weekend and nearly wrote off his Ford Mustang after he spun off track. As he hit the signage on track side it made a loud thud and I thought there was no way he would race. Even though he had kept his foot planted on the throttle and didnt back off while the car was in a spin (total mad man), somehow he kept the car straight and the damage didn’t appear that bad at all.

Also in the same session David Reynolds mismanaged a corner and ran off track into the tyre barriers. He didn’t get off as lightly as Scott McLaughlin and was Red flagged, which meant he had to sit out the rest of the session and positioned 22nd at the back of the starting grid for race 24.

In Race 24 Jamie Whincup finally broke his pole drought and started in the number 1 position with Lee Holdsworth 2nd alongside him.

Jamie Whincup took full advantage of his prime position and led into turn 1 with Lee Holdsworth close behind in 2nd.

Jamie Whincup kept his lead through the opening laps until he pitted.

On lap 14 David Reynolds continued his bad lack from the Qualifying and his car stopped in a terrifyingly bad spot on the hairpin turn. The Vodafone safety car was deployed to remove him from the track.

On the restart Jamie Whincup was still leading the race and looking good to claim his 2nd race win for 2019.

Unfortunately Jamie Whincup passed the Vodafone safety car with the amber lights flashing which caused quite a level of confusion. Officials didn’t recognise that Jamie Whincup was not in the lead and issued him a drive through penalty. If he was the leader he would have been obliged to to tuck in behind the safety car but that wasn’t the case. Team boss at Tickford Racing, Tim Edwards said that Jamie Whincup should’ve been waved by because he wasn’t the leader at that time, Scott McLaughlin was.

The safety car should not have had the amber lights flashing at this time. It was a mess up from the officials side. They then incorrectly penalised Jamie Whincup under the premise of the leader’s obligation to tuck in behind the safety car. It not only affected him but lots of teams were disadvantaged by the official’s stuff up.. not a happy moment for the sport at all.

It even caused Whincup to lose his cool after the race with officials not taking too kindly to his comments and threatened him with a fine and being banned from racing. It was the Officials fault and caused things to escalate but they used their power call Jamie Whincup’s comments into question as ‘unprofessional behaviour’. See the links below for more info on the drama.

Towards the end of the race Scott McLaughlin followed by Shane Van Gisbergen had a convincing lead. Chaz Mostert crossed the line 3rd over 6 seconds behind number 1 and over 4 seconds after the number 2 position. Nick Percat managed to come in soon after with a 25 second + lead on the rest of the pack. It was spectacular!

Results for Race 24.

1st Scott Mclaughlin – Shell V Power Racing.
2nd Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Holden Racing Team.
3rd Chaz Mostert – Supercheap Auto Racing.

Supercars

Century Batteries Ipswich Supersprint 2019 Supercars

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HI to all you Supercars fans around the World!

On the weekend of the 26th to the 28th of July 2019 was the Century Batteries Ipswich Supersprint.

This Queensland raceway is home territory to the legend Craig Lowndes where he has had 12 race wins through his career. Considering that this is the 23rd Supercars event at this venue, Craig Lowndes’ stats go prove why he is a legend.

This is not to say it is a ‘friendly’ track to everyone. In 2005 Jason Richards had a massive rollover after Paul Morris made contact with him. At the same event Cameron McLean also rolled in the same section of the track. In 2010 Mark Winterbottom had a huge crash that I am sure still sticks in his mind.

Heading into the weekend Scott McLaughlin leads the championship by 292 points over his teammate, Fabian Coulthard. If there is going to be any challenges for the championship, this weekend is the time to make a move.

As it turned out Scott McLaughlin ruled in the pre-race sessions; Scott McLaughlin was fastest in Practice 1, 2 & 3 and then again for the Armour All Qualifying.

In race 19 he started on pole position, alongside him was Jamie Whincup.

At the start of the 39-lap race Scott McLaughlin didn’t want to have any contact with Jamie Whincup so he let him go at turn 2.

By the end of the opening lap Scott McLaughlin went from 1st to 4th

There was contact between Will Davison and Scott McLaughlin which was not good. I thought that Scott McLaughlin would have had damage but somehow he didn’t.

Scott McLaughlin’s troubles were not over. Later he had a 9.2 second pit stop due to a jammed left front wheel nut. It surely affected his result at the finish line slipping from pole position to 4th.

Lee Holdsworth had a massive slide but saved it, which was super impressive.

Scott Pye had contact with another car which resulted in problems in the pits later on when removing the left rear wheel. He dropped 7 positions and finished 21st.

Jamie Whincup had a 4.1 second stop. Excepting pit stops, Jamie Whincup held his lead throughout the race.

Fabian Coulthard didn’t have a great race at all. He started 9th on the grid and finished 10th.

As they crossed the finish line, no one else could catch the top 3 drivers; Jamie Whincup with a 2 + second lead over Will Davison, then Chaz Mostert  following a further 3.87 seconds later.

Although no safety car was deployed during the race, Tim Slade and Macauley Jones were both NC’s.

It was a convincing win for Jamie Whincup whose last race win was the Sandown 500 in 2018. His tally now reaches 114 wins from 484 races. 

Results for Race 19

1st Jamie Whincup – Red Bull Holden Racing Team.
2nd Will Davison – 23 Red Racing.
3rd Chaz Mostert – Supercheap Auto Racing.

The unusual result for Scott McLaughlin in race 19 didn’t seem to affect him the next morning. He was fastest in practice 4 and Qualifying, earning him pole position for race 20. That is his 13th pole start this year.

In race 20 Scott McLaughlin in pole position had Chaz Mostert alongside him.

At the start of the 200 Km, 65 lap race Chaz Mostert tried to go around the outside of the Championship leader but he wasn’t able to and had to pull back in behind.

Scott McLaughlin led the whole way excepting in his 2 pit stops.

Fabian Coulthard had a shocking weekend because he didn’t qualify in the top ten on Sunday.

After such a positive result in Saturday’s race Will Davison drove with inspiration and seemed to really want to get back to back podiums. However, he just wasn’t able to move up from his starting position of 5.

By the middle of race Shane Van Gisbergen had taken over Jamie Whincup and Chaz Mostert. Now in second place he was putting pressure on Scott McLaughlin for the race lead.

In the last laps Shane Van Gisbergen stayed right on Scott McLaughlin’s tail but he wasn’t given any opportunity to take advantage of.  They crossed the finish line just 0.7 seconds apart and nearly 10 seconds ahead of their closest rival, Chaz Mostert.

Results for Race 20

1st Scott McLaughlin – Shell V Power Racing Team.
2nd Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Holden Racing Team.
3rd Chaz Mostert – Supercheap Auto Racing.

Scott McLaughlin got pinged for doing his post race burnouts in the wrong spots.

He also got fined $1000 for taking a poster on to the podium.

https://www.motorsport.com/v8supercars/news/mclaughlin-fine-poster-podium-burnout/4502597/

 

https://autoaction.com.au/2019/07/30/infamous-podium-poster-to-raise-funds-for-charity

The next event is the OTR Supersprint at the Bend in South Australia on the 23rd to the 25th of August 2019.

Please feel free on how the Ipswich event was via my Facebook Fanpage.

https://www.facebook.com/williamsperfectride/

Supercars

Bet Easy Darwin Triple Crown 2019 Supercars

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HI to all you Supercars fans around the world!

On the weekend of the 14th to the 16th of June, 2019 was the BetEasy Darwin Triple Crown.

 

 

In the preliminaries to the race:

·        Chaz Mostert was fastest in Practice 1

·        Scott McLaughlin was fastest in Practice 2

·        Scott McLaughlin followed up with the fastest time in Practice 3

·        And then again in Qualifying for race 15.

So in Race 15 Scott McLaughlin started on pole position and alongside him was David Reynolds.

At the start of the 42-lap race both David Reynolds and Will Davison from the third position on the grid tried to take the race lead. David Reynolds made contact with Scott McLaughlin trying to take the lead from the outside of turn 1 but wasn’t going to risk serious damage and pulled back.

As Scott McLaughlin held his line into the first corner there was a tangle as the rest of the pack came through. It was James Golding, Macauley Jones and Jack Le Brocq creating havoc. All three Holdens were damaged and Macauley Jones was the only one who managed to return to the race.

On lap two Rick Kelly made contact with Tim Slade and had to serve a drive-through penalty.

Then again at Turn 1, on the third lap Simona De Silvestro collided with Todd Hazelwood and hocky pucked his car off the track. In a post-race investigation she was handed a 15 second penalty pushing her good result finishing 16th to 19th.

With the mayhem early in the race drivers back in the pack pitted early to find clear track. Meanwhile Jamie Whincup stayed out on track in the lead trying to make up some valuable time while the track was clear.

Other than Jamie Whincup’s short time up front, Scott McLaughlin was leading the race the whole way.

I was quite surprised that no one could manage to offer Scott McLaughlin any reasonable competition. He once again came across the finish line first.

His closest rivals almost 7 seconds behind in second place were Chaz Mostert followed by David Reynolds just under one second later in third place.

Jack Smith was the wildcard for Brad Jones Racing and started 25th on the grid. At the end of the race he finished 20th making up 5 places.

Results for Race 15

1st Scott McLaughlin – Shell V Power Racing Team
2nd Chaz Mostert – Supercheap Auto Racing
3rd David Reynolds – Erebus Motorsport

In race 16, Yet again Scott McLaughlin started on pole position with Fabian Coulthard alongside him.

Scott McLaughlin got the jump off the line but Fabian Coulthard tried to make a stand and stayed on the outside of turn 1. It looked like he would make it and would end up spinning off onto the grass. Somehow he managed to make the turn but it didn’t help his position and tucked in behind the leader.

Rick Kelly was putting pressure on Simona De Silvestro and Andre Heimgartner for position.

Soon after on Turn 5, Andre Heimgartner got spun around and other drivers had to avoid the spinning Nissan Altama. The mistake put him to the back of the pack.

The front runners stayed out to keep track position and the rest of the pack came in for the first round of pit stops.

David Reynolds lost his Window Rubber which wasn’t ideal.

Through the middle of the race Scott McLaughlin maintained his lead of over teammate Fabian Coulthard.

Once again Scott McLaughlin comfortably came in first. David Reynolds was over 13 seconds behind with Fabian Coulthard close on his tail. Cameron Waters held his own position and came in 4th.

Winning the two races over the weekend made Scott McLaughlin the first to earn Darwin’s Triple Crown (on it’s 13th anniversary) since it started back in 2006

So far this year Scott McLaughlin stats show out of 15 races he has been on the podium 14 times, 12 of which were 1st place. That is a phenomenal 80% win rate and 93.3% on the podium.

He has been the dominant driver so far in 2019. can anybody stop him?

 

Results for race 16

1st Scott McLaughlin – Shell V Power Racing Team
2nd David Reynolds – Erebus Motorsport Penrite Racing
3rd Fabian Coulthard – Shell V Power Racing Team

 

https://www.facebook.com/williamsperfectride/ please feel free to have your opinion on how the Darwin Event went.

 

 

The next event is the Watpac Townsville 400 on the 5th to the 7th of July 2019.

Supercars

WD 40 Phillip Island Supersprint 2019 Supercars

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HI to all you Supercars Fans around the World!

On the weekend of the 12th to the 14th of April 2019 was the WD-40 Phillip Island Supersprint.

The Fox Sport coverage themed the race around Fox’s hit drama series Game of Thrones, which is about to air their new season on TV. They included a “winner’s throne”, character dress ups and other stuff. I guess it was a bit of fun BUT it had nothing to do with racing so they can take their cross promotion and stick it up their ( x ).

Commentator, Mark Larkham was not at Phillip Island on the weekend due to personal reasons. Andrew Jones filled in for him. I’m not interested in prying into personal affairs but just want to say if its due to some form of tragedy, ‘Larko, our thoughts are with you’.

Last year Scott McLaughlin won both races at this track. With his winning streak so far this season I am sure was geared up and ready to go.

This weekend Supercars trialled closure of the pit lane while a Safety Car is deployed. This is apparently due to safety concerns over the usual mad rush to the pits when the race is flagged yellow. Just think back to Mostert and Kelly’s T-Bone incident in the pit lane earlier this season to see why they are trying to remedy this safety issue. What this will means is that the teams will have to think more strategically about when to take their pit stops.

This doesn’t change what happens when a race is flagged red. All drivers still have to come in from the track. This happened multiple times this weekend, three of which was because the local geese decided to take a stroll out on the track. The first instance was in Practice 1 between turns 6 And 7. Once the geese flew off the practice session resumed. It was kind of funny but also put a horrific picture in my mind of what would happen if they weren’t spotted in the first place.

The results for the pre-race sessions were as follows:

·        Anton De Pasquale was fastest in Practice 1

·        Fabian Coulthard was fastest in Practice 2

·        Scott McLaughlin was fastest in Practice 3

·        Scott McLaughlin was fastest in Qualifying for race 9

·        Fabian Coulthard was fastest again in Practice 4

In race 9 Scott McLaughlin started on pole position with Fabian Coulthard alongside him.

At the start of the 120km, 27 lap race Scott McLaughlin got the jump on Fabian Coulthard who had to slot behind him in 2nd place.

He tried to go around the outside of his teammate but that didn’t work out, Scott McLaughlin was just too fast.

During the race James Courtney and Tim Slade both had front right tyres go flat when going down the main straight at 260kms/ph. In both incidents I thought they were going to have a massive accident but thankfully for them and their teams they got away with no damage.

Shane Van Gisbergen’s team gave him an incredible 4.7 second pit stop to change tyres. That really is incredible.

When teammate, Jamie Whincup pitted the Car Controller stepped away too early and gave Jamie Whincup the go-ahead. However something went wrong in the communications and the right front wheel man had not been able to finish tightening the nut. Jamie Whincup lost the wheel completely before completing the next lap.

By the middle of the race Scott McLaughlin and Fabian Coulthard had secured their lead on the race.

In the last part of the race Shane Van Gisbergen made contact with Cameron Waters who received damage to his right rear wheel. Cameron Waters was now out of the race. Shane Van Gisbergen however was able to continue without much damage.

Cameron Waters and Jamie Whincup were the only driver to not complete the race. Both of them must have been devastated.

Race 9 finished with Scott McLaughlin and Fabian Coulthard in 1st and 2nd. Andre Heingartner came in 3rd earning Nissan Motorsport (aka the Kelly brothers) their first podium finish for the season. Congratulations!

Results for race 9

1st Scott McLaughlin – Shell V Power Racing Team.
2nd Fabian Coulthard -Shell V Power Racing Team.
3rd Andre Heimgartner – Nissan Motorsport.

 

Scott McLaughlin was fastest in Armour All Qualifying for race 10, earning him pole position. Alongside him was his teammate, Fabian Coulthard.

Race 10 was a 200km 45 lap race.

Fabian Coulthard got good launch from the start line but Scott McLaughlin still led into turn 1. Once again it made Shell V Power Racing Team 1st and 2nd.

Most of the drivers pitted on lap 5 to make sure they didn’t caught if the Safety Car was deployed. It seemed best to get the stops done as early as possible just in case, because if the safety car did come out the pit lane would’ve have been closed anyway.

Richie Stanaway took to the pits and his teammate, James Golding had to double stack. I don’t quite understand why the team made the decision to call them in at the same time.

Rick Kelly was holding up a bunch of cars and blocking them from getting by. It appeared to be poor sportsmanship. Commentator, Mark Skaife said he was being the modern day John Bowe (a former who also hogged the track regardless of other drivers). I thought that was a good comment.

In the middle of race Tim Slade was on the charge because he had new set of ‘green’ tyres. Most other drivers had long ago fitted their last set of tyres.

Towards the end of race, nobody could catch Fabian Coulthard and Scott McLaughlin. Once again the two Shell V Power Racing Team cars won the race, this time with Fabian Coulthard coming in 1st.

So both Scott McLaughlin and Fabian Coulthard got to sit on the Iron Throne.

This also puts Scott McLaughlin and Fabian Coulthard 1st and 2nd on the championship ladder.

Results for Race 10

1st Fabian Coulthard – Shell V Power Racing Team.
2nd Scott McLaughlin – Shell V Power Racing Team.
3rd Anton De Pasquale – Penrite Racing Erebus Motorsport.

 

 

The next event is the Pirtek Perth Supernight on the 2nd to the 4th of May, 2019.

Please feel free to comment on the event or my review via my Facebook Fanpage.

https://www.facebook.com/williamsperfectride/?ref=bookmarks

 

Supercars

Tyrepower Tasmania Supersprint 2019 Supercars

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HI to all you Supercars fans around the world!

On the weekend of the 5th to the 7th of April, 2019 was the Tyrepower Tasmania Supersprint.

The pre-race sessions for race 7 were almost as fun to watch as the main race.

In the additional co-driver practice session Warren Luff was the fastest.

Jamie Whincup lost his fastest time passing under a yellow flag due to Nick Percat getting stuck in the sandtrap. The result of this was Chaz Mostert clocked the fastest time in Practice 1.

Jamie Whincup got back and was fastest in Practice 2.

Then Nick Percat was fastest in Practice 3.

In Qualifying for Race 7, Jamie Whincup spun around at turn 4 meaning he couldn’t take any further part in the session. Originally he was destined to go into the race at the 25th spot but somehow he ended up starting 15th.

Mark Winterbottom was fastest in Qualifying and gained himself the pole position.

In race 7, alongside Mark Winterbottom on pole was Scott McLaughlin.

At the start of the 50-lap race Scott Mclaughlin got the jump off the line which meant that  Mark Winterbottom had to pull back into 2nd place, only Because he  didn’t get to turn 1 and 2 1st.

Jamie Whincup had gained 1 spot up to 14th but made contact as he tried to get past Chaz Mostert at turn 6 and received damage to the front end and was forced to pit. As a result that put him 2 laps down.

When he re-joined, he had to stay out of the way because he was 2 laps down which made it impossible to gain any ground.

Fabian Coulthard was following his teammate Scott McLaughlin who had ‘the man flu’. It didn’t seem possible that he would take the number 1 position from Scott McLaughlin. However, it seemed more likely that Scott McLaughlin would need to exit the race due to his poor condition from the flu.

Scott McLaughlin was in the lead and simply not giving up another win for the season just because of the flu. (Proving it is harder to beat the ‘man flu’ than it is to beat everyone in the V8 Supercars).

By the middle of the race no one could catch Scott McLaughlin and Fabian Coulthard. They had such a strong lead and maintained it right to the end.

Results for Race 7

1st Scott McLaughlin – Shell V Power Racing Team
2nd Fabian Coulthard – Shell V Power Racing Team
3rd Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Holden Racing Team

 

In the Pre-Race sessions for race 8; Scott McLaughlin was fastest in Practice 4 and Shane Van Gisbergen was fastest in Qualifying for Race 8.

In Race 8 Shane Van Gisbergen started on pole position and alongside him was Fabian Coulthard.

At the start of the 84-lap, 200 Kilometre race I think most cars were fitted with slicks, which I thought was brave given that it was spitting on the sighting lap.

On the opening lap there was contact between Lee Holdsworth and Andre Heimgartner.

James Courtney tried to get around the outside of Rick Kelly at turn 4 but wasn’t able to get the run on Rick Kelly.

Before the race started it had started to rain but once the race got underway it started to pour.

But I was Surprised that no one pitted for wets (tyres) because the clouds looked black as the ace of spades.

Garry Jacobson and a lot of other teams and drivers got pinged for not using the handbrake in the pitlane. Whoops!

After the first round of pitstops Fabian Coulthard was able to warm his wet weather slicks over the next lap before Scott McLaughlin rejoined the race. On fresh cold tyres Scott McLaughlin had to let Fabian Coulthard through at turn 4, the hairy hairpin.

Both the Ford Mustang’s of Lee Holdsworth and Cameron Waters were still in or exiting the pits when flames started coming out the left-hand side. There wasn’t any crash or apparent reason and it did seem weird that both seemed to have the same issue (was it sabotage by Red Bull? If any knows please post on my fanpage – a link is at the bottom of this article.)

In the middle of the race while Shane Van Gisbergen was pitting, David Reynolds was close in behind Fabian Coulthard at the lead. When the right opportunity came, David Reynolds made all the right moves and took the lead. Both drivers are veterans so it became exciting to see who would hold out the longest.

This became even more exciting as Shane Van Gisbergen returned to the race from his pit stop. Soon it was Shane Van Gisbergen’s race again. He returned to the lead and continued to dominate to the end.

The funniest moment of the weekend was When Garry Rogers rode a bike out on the Starting Grid fully clad in cycling gear. He looked hilarious in lycra. LOL.

Near the end of the race Anton de Pasquale’s gear leaver came loose in his car. My first thought was come in and get it fixed. Surprisingly he pressed on. Madness, I tell you, MADNESS!!

As the race came to a close nobody could catch Shane Van Gisbergen who crossed the finish line over 5 seconds ahead of Fabian Coulthard  in second place, followed by David Reynolds nearly 2 seconds behind in 3rd place. Scott McLaughlin had made up 1 place to finish 4th with his man flu.

So it was Pole and Podium for Shane Van Gisbergen. A very nice result for Red Bull.

The next event is the WD40 Phillip Island Supersprint on the 12th to the 14th of April 2019.

Results for Race 8:

1st Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Holden Racing Team
2nd Fabian Coulthard – Shell V-Power Racing Team
3rd David Reynolds – Penrite Racing

https://www.facebook.com/williamsperfectride/

Please feel free to comment on how the Tasmania weekend went via my facebook Fanpage.

 

Supercars

Beaurepaires Melbourne 400 Supercars

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Hi to all you Supercars fans around the world!

On the weekend of the 14th to the 17th of March 2019 was the Beaurepaires Melbourne 400 at Albert Park in Melbourne, Victoria.

The Larry Perkins Trophy is up for grabs with Jamie Whincup defending ownership after his great win last year. Incidentally, earlier in the previous week Larry Perkins went into hospital for surgery to remove a gallbladder.

In the past The Melbourne 400 was run as a support category to the Australian Grand Prix F1 series. It was only last year that the Melbourne 400 officially became the second round of the V8 Supercars championship. I think it makes for more exciting racing as it is no longer seen as a ‘test run’.

The Melbourne 400 is an interesting opportunity in the championship because there are actually four races (25, 13, 25 & 13 laps), giving drivers with different strengths an opportunity to take advantage.

It also means 4 qualifying rounds which give the rookies a better chance to get to know the track.

Albert Park is an interesting venue as it is one of the longer tracks being 5.303Kms.

Race 4 also had the honour of being the 1000th race since the championship started in 1960. So the weekend was quite a milestone for the sport.

As we entered the weekend, the Red Bull Holden Racing Team held the Team’s Championship lead by 5 points, while Scott McLaughlin defends his lead in the Driver’s Championship.

In the pre-race sessions it was Chaz Mostert driving his new superfast Ford Mustang who had his best weekend in a while:

  • Chaz Mostert was fastest in Practice 1
  • Scott McLaughlin was fastest in Practice 2
  • Scott McLaughlin was also fastest in Qualifying for Race 3, 4 & 5
  • Chaz Mostert was fastest in Qualifying for Race 6

All 4 Qualifying sessions were only 10 minutes each.

Race 3 was run on Friday as sunset approached at 5:55pm

Scott McLaughlin started on pole position and alongside him was Fabian Coulthard.

At the start of 130 Kilometre, 25 lap race Scott McLaughlin got the jump on his teammate Fabian Coulthard.

Scott McLaughlin now didn’t have to worry about clean air or about being stuck behind his teammate.

It was all Mustangs at the front, Scott McLaughlin, Fabian Coulthard and Cameron Waters followed by Red Bull’s Shane Van Gisbergen in his Commodore.

However, it was the compulsory tyre change pit stop that would be the decider for many.

The only time Scott McLaughlin wasn’t leading the race was during the pitstop shuffle.

Scott McLaughlin hit the pits on lap 12 with a 4 second lead and once again came out on track to dominate.

Jamie Whincup pitted first because he didn’t want Shane Van Gisbergen who was running with a chance for a podium position to be waiting in the pits for too long behind him.

However, Shane Van Gisbergen waited to pit on lap 15 and it just mucked up his flow. There were now 4 Mustangs ahead of him.

Will Davison was happy with the way his ford Mustang was performing with only 10 laps to go he was now in 4th position.

Macauley Jones was travelling well and enjoying his first Albert Park event as a rookie.

With 6 laps remaining Shane Van Gisbergen picked up and returned to his lead over Will Davison.

Towards the end of the race, with only 4 laps remaining Shane Van Gisbergen’s engine let go which meant he was the only car to have no points. He came into Albert Park 2nd in championship, but after a disastrous weekend he is now 11th in the championship on minus 175 points.

Scott McLaughlin comfortably took in first place. This made it his 3rd win from the first 3 races in the season.

However, it was Chaz Mostert who had everyone’s eyebrows raised. He started in 22nd on the grid and was 13th by the middle of the race. Once out of the pits he showed everyone just what his car could do and came across the finish line 5th just behind Will Davison. That is a gain of 17 in 25 laps!!!! (I am sure I could hear Chaz singing ‘Day-o, day-o. Come, mister tally man, tally me banana’).

Results for race 3

1st Scott McLaughlin  – Shell V Power Racing Team
2nd Fabian Coulthard – Shell V Power Racing Team
3rd Cameron Waters – Monster Energy Racing Team
4th Will Davison – 23 Red Racing Team car 23
5th Chaz Mostert – Supercheap Auto Racing Team

In race 4 Scott McLaughlin started on pole position alongside him was Chaz Mostert.

But again Scott McLaughlin dominated race 4, which wasn’t surprising because the Mustang’s were quick all weekend.

Jamie Whincup was battling with Chaz Mostert for 3rd place. When Chaz Mostert passed him and then Cameron Waters, Jamie Whincup had dropped back to 4th place.

Garry Jacobson and James Golding made contact on the main straight which I thought would end in a massive shunt but thankfully there wasn’t.

Scott McLaughlin was still the driver no one could beat because he was flying and dominated the race from start to finish. He crossed the finish with 2.5 seconds plus lead. This made it his 4th win out 4 starts in the championship.

It also seems the Mustangs, the newest entry to the track this year are making quite a splash. It was Chaz Mostert (Mustang) and Cameron Waters (Mustang) that pushed Red Bull’s Jamie Whincup in his ZB Commodore out of the top 3 positions.

Results for Race 4

1st Scott McLaughlin – Shell V Power Racing Team
2nd Chaz Mostert – Supercheap Auto Racing
3rd Cameron Waters – Monster Energy Racing

Before race 5 started on the warm up lap, both Scott McLaughlin and Cameron Waters came together which resulted in both drives not starting and being classified as a NC (Not Complete) as a result Nick Percat and Tim Slade were affectively on the front row of the grid.

Tim Slade kept the lead as Jamie Whincup who started from 6th position came in behind him.

Fabain Coulthard was trying to stay out of trouble because he didn’t want to help the Dick Johnson Racing Team by leaving the track to repair his car.

At lap 13 Jamie Whincup finally took the lead. Tim Slade and Nick Percat then battled for the trailing positions. Nick Percat came into turn 15 in a poor position on the outside driving wide and lost several places that he just couldn’t recover from in the remaining time.

After the pitstops it was Mostert who was right behind Whincup at the lead. The pressure was on.

With only 6 laps remaining Shane Van Gisbergen lost his right back wheel! The Vodafone Safety Car was called out.

With four laps to go Chaz Mostert once again wanted to prove what his Mustang could do and took the lead off Jamie Whincup who was now closely followed by Tim Slade. David Reynolds in his ZB Commodore was not far behind. I get the feeling it was more important to him to stay ahead of Fabian Coulthard’s Mustang than to try take 3rd position from Time Slade (also Commodore).

Chaz Mostert was incredibly fast and opened the gap on his lead to over a second. It was incredible to watch. This was his first race win for 2019. Congratulations Chaz! ‘Day-o, day-o
Daylight come and me wan’ go home’.

Aside from Scott McLaughlin and Cameron Waters who never made it past the warm up lap, it was only Richie Stanaway who was disqualified from the results due to making contact with another car. He later received a $10,000 fine for the incident. Ouch!

Results for Race 5

1st Chaz Mostert – Supercheap Auto Racing.
2nd Jamie Whincup – Red Bull Holden Racing team.
3rd Tim Slade – Brad Jones Racing.

In race 6 Chaz Mostert started on pole position and alongside him was Scott McLaughlin.

At the start of the race Scott McLaughlin got the jump and led the way early on. Given that it was only a 13-lap race with no pit stops, Scott McLaughlin dominated the race once again.

Chaz Mostert got off to a bad start from pole and was immediately behind Jamie Whincup.

It took until lap 3 for Mostert to take Whincup and get into 2nd position but by now Scott McLaughlin had a 2+ second lead.

Rick Kelly didn’t want to get to close to the drivers in front of him otherwise he would get caught up in an accident.

In the middle of the race Macauley Jones had another massive shunt which meant the safety car was deployed to clear Macauley Jones car. He was the only car to leave the race with a Not Complete.

As the race resumed Chaz Mostert made a go for Scott McLaughlin’s lead spot but couldn’t come close. It was still exciting to watch and Im sure it did have Scott McLaughlin on edge.

As they came across the line no one could catch those top 3; Scott McLaughlin, Chaz Mostert and Jamie Whincup.

Results for race 6

1st Scott McLaughlin  – Shell V Power Racing team
2nd Chaz Mostert – Supercheap Auto Racing Team
3rd Jamie Whincup – Red Bull Holden Racing Team

Chaz Mostert won the Larry Perkins Trophy and Jamie Whincup claimed his 200th podium in his Supercars Career.

Supercars has dropped the time certain race finishes unless there are major Safety Car delays.

Triple 8 are going to debut a new Supercars wheel retention system which is to stop the wheel from coming off the car out on the race track.

The next event is the Tyrepower Tasmania Supersprint on the 5th to the 7th of April 2019.

https://www.facebook.com/williamsperfectride/
please feel free to comment on How the Beaurepaires Melbourne 400 went.

Supercars

Superloop Adelaide 500 2019 Supercars

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HI to all you Supercars fans around the world!                              

From Thursday 28th of February to the 3rd of March, 2019 was the Superloop Adelaide 500.

As the official first race of the 2019 V8 Supercars Championship Season it is an exciting start to the year with two races of 250Km each.

Before I get into the rest of my review I must say that I really missed the familiar faces of Garth Tander and Craig Lowndes out on track. Both retired from full time driving at the end of last season and I am sure I am not the only one who will miss their presence.

The big talk on the scene over the last few months is the introduction of the Ford Mustangs into the V8 Supercars Championship. It seems everyone out there loves the Mustang.  So its new cars all round for DJRTP drivers and Tickford with Chaz Mostert’s Supercheap Auto and Lee Holdsworth’s Bottle-O cars. I am sure that they will be under heavy scrutiny by everyone to see if the Mustangs have what it takes to race in Australia.

In last year’s Superloop 500 it was Shane Van Gisbergen who made this his event for a second time by a double win of both races. That’s right! He won the 2 season opening races in both 2017 and 2018. This year was no exception to spectacular driving and amazing results.

The Red Bull Holden Racing Team won the 2018 Teams Championship so it earned them the privilege to lead the field out of the pit lane this year (always an advantage).

There were some interesting happenings in the pre-race sessions:

Anton De Pasquale was the fastest in Practice 1 and Scott McLaughlin stopped outside turn 11 due to a loss of oil pressure.

Scott McLaughlin wasn’t phased and proved himself and his car as fastest in Practice 2.

Fabian Coulthard was fastest in Practice 3.

Scott McLaughlin was fastest in Qualifying for Race 1 and then followed that up as fastest in Practice 4.

Macauley Jones didn’t join Race 1 due to a massive accident caused by brake failure at the end of Practice 4.

Fabian Coulthard followed up his great run in Practice 3 and was fastest in the Race 1 Top Ten Shootout.

So in Race 1, Fabian Coulthard started on pole position and alongside him was Jamie Whincup.

Surprisingly both Fabian Coulthard and Jamie Whincup stalled off the starting grid which allowed Scott McLaughlin to take the race lead early on.

Off the line the cars were 4 wide which I thought was going to end up in a massive shunt.

After the opening lap Fabian Coulthard got pinged by race control for jumping the start. This mistake earned him a 10 second stop and hold penalty dropping him from 2nd to 20th.

Pretty soon Cameron Waters was complaining about the heat because his cool suit failed. I’m sure it didn’t help him cool down when officials forced him to come in to the pits.

Lee Holdsworth and Scott Pye ended up in tyre bundle together at turn 7.  Surprisingly they managed to get out of the mess themselves without needing assistance from the safety car so the race continued.

In the middle of the race Fabian Coulthard was still fighting back from his 10 second Stop and Hold Penalty.

Also, the Red Bull Holden Racing Team had a problem with their regulator which holds the pressure for the rattle guns hose.  It was going nuts and hissing loudly because it wasn’t done up tight enough.

Towards the end of the race no one could catch Scott McLaughlin who dominated Race 1.

As Scott McLaughlin crossed the finish line he appeared to be singing. When Greg Murphy asked him what he was singing he said ‘Horses from Daryl Braithwaite’. LOL!

Results for Race 1

1st Scott McLaughlin – Shell V Power Racing Ford Mustang
2nd Jamie Whincup – Red Bull Holden Racing Team
3rd Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Holden Racing Team

 Scott McLaughlin once again proved he is one of the fastest out on track claiming the Qualifying and Top ten Shootout rounds to earn him Pole Position. It was a nice way for Scott McLaughlin to start the 200th race of his career.

In race 2 Scott McLaughlin started on pole position and alongside him was Shane Van Gisbergen.

Shane Van Gisbergen was the only Red Bull Holden Racing Team car to make the Top Ten Shootout. His teammate Jamie Whincup qualified 12th.

At the start of the 78 lap race Shane Van Gisbergen tried to go around the outside of Scott McLaughlin but that didn’t work. When Scott McLaughlin ran wide at turn 4 Shane Van Gisbergen tried to criss cross, over and under but that didn’t work either. McLaughlin was not prepared to give up the race lead that easily so Shane Van Gisbergen had to pull back in behind him.

Simona De Silvestro made a mistake in all the traffic at turn 4 and went straight up the escape road.

Rick Kelly nearly made contact with Nick Percat on track.

Jack Le Brocq caused the first deployment of the Vodafone Safety Car due to him being stranded at turn 11 unable to get restarted. With the race now under ‘yellow’ most teams took the opportunity to head to their pits to meet race requirements.

Then the day of the ‘Pit Lane Mess’ started. As the pit lane became very busy I knew there was going to be chaos. Chaz Mostert had just been in the pits a lap before but still went back like all the others. I don’t know how this happened but his car controller gave him the go-ahead. As he came out of the pits Rick Kelly was travelling along the pit lane and ‘T-boned’ him. Kelly seemed angry and didn’t take his foot off the accelerator. They were blocking the pit lane. The other cars had to drive through the DJRTP and Red Bull garages to get around. All high risks activities. Chaz Mostert copped a drive through penalty and later apologised publicly but there were differing opinions on this.

Nick Percat and David Reynolds stayed out on track to avoid the congestion and it worked to their advantage. Both of them ended up with track position coming in at 5th and 9th respectively.

Towards the end of the race officials had to ‘call time’. They weren’t going to complete the total number of laps and cut the race short.

Once again no one could catch Scott McLaughlin who managed to start his title defence of the Supercars Championship with a perfect score 300 points. A double win puts him up there with some of the great drivers of all time.

Mark Winterbottom was my hero of the day. He started 24th due to not recording a time in Qualifying. Throughout the race he managed to gain 18 places to finish 6th. What an amazing effort.

 

Results for Race 2

1st Scott McLaughlin – Shell V Power Racing team
2nd Cameron Waters – Monster Energy Racing
3rd Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Holden Racing Team

In my opinion personally I would like to see Supercars get rid of timed race because it would make more enjoyable for the fans not only watching on but live at the track as well.

That is my Opinion anyway.

https://www.facebook.com/williamsperfectride/ please feel free to let me know how the event from your Opinion via my Facebook Fanpage.

The next event is the Beaurepairs Melbourne 400 on the 14th to the 17th of March 2019.

Post Race Report, Supercars

Coates Hire Newcastle 500 2018 Supercars

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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.

Post Race Report, Supercars

ITM Auckland Supersprint 2018 Supercars

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Hi to all you Supercars Fans around the World!

On the weekend of the 2nd to the 4th of November 2018 was the ITM Auckland Supersprint.

The big bomb-shell of the weekend was from Mark Winterbottom announcing that he has chosen not to sign a new contract with his current team Tickford Racing. Having originally signed with them back in 2006, this ends 13 years as a Ford driver under the Tickford banner. What is surprising is that he has not announced who he will be signing with.

In the preliminaries to the races over the weekend:

·       Scott McLaughlin was the fastest in Practice 1

·       Jamie Whincup was fastest in Practice 2.

·       Scott McLaughlin crashed in practice 2 taking him out of that session.

·       Also Todd Hazelwood got so bogged in the sand he needed help to get his car out.

·       Chaz Mostert was fastest in Practice 3.

·       Scott McLaughlin was the fastest in armour all qualifying for race 28.

·       Simona De Silvestro caused a red flag in qualifying which meant she started race 28 from position 26.

·       David Reynolds was fastest in qualifying for race 29 which gave him the last go out on track to try and claim pole position. He did well but in the end the pole was claimed by the 7 times Supercars Champion, Jamie Whincup.

On Saturday’s race 28 Scott McLaughlin started on pole position. This made it his 13th pole position for this season and 45th in his career. Alongside him was Shane Van Gisbergen.

Craig Lowndes didn’t start in the top ten, in fact he started 18th.

At the start of the 70-lap race Scott McLaughlin took the lead. Shane Van Gisbergen tried to get up the inside of him between turn 2 and 3. When he realised he couldn’t get by he tucked back in behind car 17.

Later Todd Hazelwood got pinged for passing the Safety Car so copped a PLP – Pit Lane Penalty. Naughty boy Todd Hazelwood! Jamie Whincup knows this shame all too well because he got pinged for the same thing at Bathurst in 2015. It’s a mistake that you don’t repeat too soon.

Shane Van Gisbergen was going really quick during the opening laps and I thought he might take the lead off Scott McLaughlin but unfortunately that wasn’t the case.

The Vodafone Safety Car was deployed due to Fabian Coulthard being in the wall after Richie Stanaway and Lee Holdsworth made contact. Fabian Coulthard was close behind and tried to avoid them but oversteered, first hitting the wall on one side of the track and then careening to the other side of the track hitting the wall again. My first thought when I saw Fabian Coulthard’s car in the wall was there will be no way the Dick Johnson Racing Team Penske crew can repair the car in time to get back out on the track, especially with the limited spares all the teams had with the race being ‘off-shore’.

When car 12 returned to the back of the pits the Dick Johnson Racing Team Penske crew put the cover over the car. Commentator, Mark Skaife said it wasn’t repairable and was right. Fabian Coulthard was out of the race with an NC (Not Complete).

Jamie Whincup qualified 5th so when the Vodafone Porsche Safety Car was deployed for Fabian Coulthard, Jamie had to double stack behind Shane Van Gisbergen.

There were a lot of cars going off the track between turns 2 and 3. I can only assume this was due to the wet weather.

Mark Winterbottom was holding up the race leader Scott McLaughlin. Scott McLaughlin asked for Mark Winterbottom to get the blue flag (informs a driver that a faster car is approaching and that the driver should move aside to allow one or more faster cars to pass) which was fair enough. Unfortunately the flag didn’t come out soon enough.

In the end Scott McLaughlin’s race engineer, Ludo Lacroix brought him in to the pits to try give him a clear track when he re-joined the race and not get held up any further. If Scott McLaughlin had stayed out on the race track for one more laps with traffic in front of him he would have lost a massive amount of time and ruin his existing chance of a race win.

In the middle of the race Shane Van Gisbergen was battling with Scott McLaughlin for the lead and the Championship. The stakes were high and they both knew it.

Towards the end of the race Scott McLaughlin still had the race lead. Shane Van Gisbergen was in hot pursuit and tried to overtake on turn 8 but Scott McLaughlin blocked him. Shane Van Gisbergen had nowhere to go and made contact. It wasn’t really his fault but Shane Van Gisbergen was given a 5 second penalty.

Finally in the last few lapse Shane Van Gisbergen got his way and took the lead, holding it to the finish line by just .5118 seconds.

Results for race 28

1st Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Holden Racing Team.
2nd Scott McLaughlin – Shell V Power Racing Team.
3rd Chaz Mostert – Supercheap Auto Racing Team.

At the end of race 28, the gap for the Driver Championship between Scott McLaughlin and Shane Van Gisbergen was now just 2 points.

 

In race 29 Jamie Whincup started on pole position. Alongside him was championship leader Scott McLaughlin.

I was amazed that the Dick Johnson Team Penske crew managed to repair Fabian Coulthard’s car overnight in time for the race, given the amount of limited spare parts all the teams had.

At the start of 70 lap race Scott McLaughlin tried to get up the inside of Jamie Whincup between turns 2 and 3 but wasn’t successful.

Scott McLaughlin wasn’t fazed as he knew there was a long way to go, which was a good call I thought as there was no point taking serious risks at this stage of the game.

Jamie Whincup pitted first so that Shane Van Gisbergen didn’t have to double stack.

Craig Lowndes was trying to get passed David Reynolds’ for third position but unfortunately didn’t manage to do that. It would’ve been a great result to see Craig Lowndes on the Podium in his second last event as a full time driver.

When Shane Van Gisbergen pitted for his 2nd stop the team put the car up on the incompressible jacks to reverse the setup change they did at the his first pit stop.

Anton De Pasquale followed his teammate, David Reynolds as he has done for most of this year as a rookie.

At one stage I thought there was going to be contact between Mark Winterbottom and Scott McLaughlin but luckily there wasn’t. In fact there weren’t any other major accidents with any of teams the whole weekend.

In the middle of the race Jamie Whincup was behind Scott McLaughlin trying to get the lead and give his teammate Shane Van Gisbergen a better chance to close the Championship points gap between him and Scott McLaughlin.

I thought Jamie Whincup was going was to either win or finish 2nd but he is a team player and moved over when asked by his race engineer, David Cauchi to try and help Shane Van Gisbergen earn extra points and win the 2018 Supercars championship.

Unfortunately for Triple 8 Scott McLaughlin was just too fast and came across the line first.

Results for race 29

1st Scott McLaughlin – Shell V Power Racing Team.
2nd Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Holden Racing Team.
3rd Jamie Whincup – Red Bull Holden Racing Team.
4th Craig Lowndes – Autobarn Lowndes Racing.

The gap between Scott McLaughlin and Shane Van Gisbergen is 14 points.

The next event is the Coates Hire Newcastle 500 on the 23rd to the 25th of November 2018.

This event will be Craig Lowndes final fulltime Supercars drive and it will also Tim Blanchard’s final race.

The funniest part of the weekend was when Mark Skaife made a bet with Russell Ingall. Ingall saying that Jamie Whincup still stood a chance to win the 2018 Championship and Skaife stating it was not likely at all.

If Mark Skaife lost the bet he would’ve had to wear a t shirt printed with ‘I Love the Enforcer’ (the Enforce being Russel Ingall’s nickname).

Now Russell Ingall has to wear a t shirt that Mark Skaife creates with content still to be announced. LOL.

As the season draws to a close, the drivers that don’t have a contract for 2019 at the moment are:

·       Mark Winterbottom

·       Lee Holdsworth.

·       Michael Caruso.

·       Richie Stanaway

·       Tim Blanchard

Also at this stage Tickford looks like it will only have 2 cars in 2019, Cameron Waters and Chaz Mostert.

It will be interesting to see how things will turn out for next season.

https://www.facebook.com/williamsperfectride/ if you have any thoughts or Opinions on how the race weekend went please feel free to let me know via my Facebook Fanpage.