Hi to all you Supercars Fans around the World!
On the weekend of March 10 – 12 was the Thrifty Newcastle 500.
There was excitement in the air as it was the first round of the 2023 season and the first return to Newcastle’s street circuit since 2019 (Grrrr covid be gone!).
Fuelling the excitement were two major changes in V8 Supercars. The first being the start of the Gen 3 build standards for competing cars.
The second was the introduction of Camaros which replaces the Holden Commodore that is no longer manufactured. The old Aussie question, “Are you a Holden or Ford man?” will fade and be replaced with “Mustang or Camaro?”. RIP Holden. You will not be forgotten.
The event also marked important milestones for some drivers. Tim Slade had his 400th race start. Will Davison had his 500th and for Mark Winterbottom it was his 555th in Supercars. Quite an achievement for all of them. Well done!
In the pre-race sessions of this event:
- Brodie Kostecki was fastest in Practice 1
- Shane Van Gisbergen was fastest in Practice 2
- Brodie Kostecki was fastest in Practice 3
- Brodie Kostecki was fastest in Qualifying
- Brodie Kostecki was fastest in the Top Ten Shootout
In Race 1 Brodie Kostecki started on pole position with Cameron Waters alongside him.
At the start of race Brodie Kostecki got the jump and led into turn 1 for the first of 95 laps. Shortly after there was contact between Mark Winterbottom and Bryce Fullwood further back in the pack.
By the end of lap 1 Brodie Kostecki had half a second lead over Cameron Waters.
Things went smoothly for about the first 10 laps. Then Anton de Pasquale got turned around by Todd Hazelwood on the approach to Zara Street. Anton de Pasquale’s car spun off the track and was lucky to nudge the tyre wall only slightly. However, it did drop him 8 places to the very back of the pack.
On lap 14 Brodie Kostecki still in control of the race made a mistake which allowed Cameron Waters and Broc Feeney to close in and challenge him for the lead. Kostecki had to work hard to regain the gap he had.
Meanwhile, Shane Van Gisbergen made up 2 spots. He went from 6th to 4th place and seemed to be waiting to make his move.
He finally managed to get past his teammate Broc Feeney in 3rd place but then had a hard time taking on Cameron Waters for 2nd. This activity allowed Brodie Kostecki to extend his lead out to 1.1 seconds.
The first car to pit was Bryce Fullwood on lap 16 to remove the right rear mud guard flapping loosely after his earlier contact with Mark Winterbottom.
Then Will Brown pitted from 11th position.
On lap 22 James Courtney pitted. A few laps later Chaz Mostert also did.
Cameron Waters pitted on lap 31 to get out from behind the leader Brodie Kostecki. He could see it was a battle that was going nowhere.
Shane Van Gisbergen also pitted on lap 31 from 2nd place. He maintained the same position when he returned to the track. He also still had Cameron Waters and Broc Feeney behind him.
Soon after Tim Slade pitted. The team couldn’t get the right front tyre off his car for quite a while. It completely destroyed his race time and position.
Pretty soon Shane Van Gisbergen was at the front of the field. He had loaded his car with less fuel at his pit stop making him lighter and faster. Now Red Bull Ampol Racing held 1st place by Shane Van Gisbergen and 3rd place by his teammate, Broc Feeney.
It took a while but Shane Van Gisbergen managed to build a 5 second lead over Cameron Waters in 2nd place.
Nick Percat came into the pits and headed straight into the garage. His brakes were failing even with his foot pushing it all the way to the floor. OMG! That is not what anyone would want.
David Reynolds in car 26 had no comms back to the pits. It meant the Grove Racing team had to use an old fashion pit board to communicate with him.
Towards the end Broc Feeney managed to move up to 2nd place. With Shane Van Gisbergen leading the way, they crossed the finish line in a spectacular fashion earning a 1st and 2nd.
After such a great performance by the Red Bull Ampol Racing Team a protest was made by both Tickford Racing and Walkinshaw Andretti United. They claimed the 2 winners had dry ice fed into their cool suit system from the wrong side of the car during the race. The regulation to perform this from the passenger side is mostly for safety reasons and in no way gave advantage to the drivers, but rules are rules.
After an overnight review it was announced on Sunday morning the two drivers were disqualified. Regardless of appeals from Red Bull Ampol Racing the verdict was upheld. It must have been a terrible blow for the team with new podium results naming Cameron Waters in 1st, Chaz Mostert 2nd and Brodie Kostecki 3rd.
Results for Race 1:
1st Cameron Waters – Tickford Racing
2nd Chaz Mostert – Walkinshaw Andretti United
3rd Brodie Kostecki – Coke a Cola Racing powered by Erebus
In the shootout for Race 2, James Courtney made it turn 7 before hitting the wall hard. His car suffered substantial damage. It was so bad they weren’t able to repair it in time for the grid line up.
In Race 2 David Reynolds started on pole position with Chaz Mostert alongside him.
As they took off Chaz Mostert got the jump and led up What Street for the first of 95 laps.
Further back Declan Fraser stalled and didn’t make it off the grid. Macauley Jones who was right behind ploughed straight into him. The red flag was brought out immediately and all other drivers had to leave the track while the mess was cleaned up. Macauley Jones was able to get going again but Declan Fraser’s car was towed away and would not return to the race.
The restart was on lap 5. Chaz Mostert was in the lead and setting the pace. Behind him was David Reynolds and Cameron Waters so it was all Fords running 1st, 2nd and 3rd.
Shane Van Gisbergen was in 5th place and wasn’t taking the goodness out of the tyres too early. He was being a cork in the bottle holding the other cars back..
Tim Slade tried putting in a challenge for Shane Van Gisbergen’s position but he just couldn’t find the right spot to make his move.
There was noticeable damage on the back of Will Davison’s Ford Mustang. I’m not sure where it came from but he was able to continue and wait until his first pit stop for repairs.
The first car to pit in this race was Anton de Pasquale on lap 11.
On lap 12 Scott Pye and Nick Percat came into the pits together to get out of the traffic.
Broc Feeney came in on lap 15 from 12th place. He was followed by Will Davison.
Matt Payne and Thomas Randle came in on lap 16.
By this stage Chaz Mostert was still going hard up the front. He had already built a 2.8 second lead over David Reynolds in 2nd place.
Coming down the hill out of turn 3 on lap 20, Mostert had a moment where he looked almost out of control. His experience shined and he continued.
On lap 24 he was the first out of the leading pack to take his pit stop while everybody else was still making up there minds as when to come in. This handed the lead over to David Reynolds.
As Mark Winterbottom was exiting the pit lane he came on radio and said he had lost 80% of his power steering. Having just pitted he chose to press on.
In the middle of the race while chasing his former teammate Chaz Mostert, Cameron Waters hit the wall coming out of turn 8 which tweaked the steering of car 6. He made it around the track one more time before being forced to come in for repairs. This ultimately cost him any chance of a podium finish.
As they came closer towards the end of the race and the second round of pit stops, Chaz Mostert had a 10.9 second lead over Shane Van Gisbergen who was now in second place.
Thomas Randle gave Todd Hazelwood a bump at turn 9 pushing him off the track into the tyre barrier. It took a few seconds but Hazelwood managed to extract himself and resume racing. Had the safety car been needed at this stage of the race it may have had an influence on its outcome.
In the last few laps Shane Van Gisbergen had amazingly closed the 10+ second gap of leader Chaz Mostert.
Contact was made between the two leading drivers as Shane Van Gisbergen attempted to make a pass. It was incident was considered fair play and no action was taken by race control or the stewards.
Shane Van Gisbergen wanted to make up for being disqualified in Race 1. He was obviously putting in a great effort. It paid off and he finally took the race lead off Chaz Mostert. Once he had the lead he was able to hold it all the way to the checkered flag.
Shane Van Gisbergen claimed his 76th career win in Supercars. Congratulations!
Result for Race 2
1st Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing
2nd Chaz Mostert – Walkinshaw Andretti United
3rd David Reynolds – Grove Racing
The next event is Round 2, the Beaurepairs Melbourne Supersprint. This is held as a support category to the F1 Australian Grand Prix starting March 30th. I cant wait and hope you all will join me.