Hi to all you v8 Supercars fans around the world.
On the weekend of 1st – 3rd of April 2016 was Tyrepower Tasmania Supersprint.
In race 4 Mark Winterbottom was on pole position, alongside him was Craig Lowndes for the 50 lap race.
On lap 1 Mark Winterbottom got the jump and led the race, but Craig Lowndes tried to take it off him. But that didn’t work so he had to sit in behind Mark Winterbottom. Then everybody else settled down into a rhythm and a race pace.
On lap 2 Mark Winterbottom was still the leader while the cars behind were trying to catch him.
On lap 3 everybody was just sorting out their positions on track, because cars further back were trying to improve their positions and move up inside the top 10.
On lap 4 the cars up the front didn’t push too hard too early because otherwise a car would have ended up down in the sand trap down at turn 4 or in-between turns 6 and 7.
On lap 5 the pit stops for four tyres could start, Jamie Whincup was the first car to come in to pit to get the undercut which mean get the tyres on and get out before the team car comes in. When Mark Winterbottom made his stop it was slow because the Rod Nash crew had to move all the gear forward because Mark over shot the box on the entry.
On lap 6 Jamie Whincup had gone from 7th up to the affective race lead. When the rest of the pack pitted and then came back out on the track they were all overshooting the pit exit. (Meaning missing the turn to Re-join the circuit.)
On lap 7 the leader was Shane Van Gisbergen then he did the same thing, he pitted for 4 tyres. In the middle of the race the 2 Red Bull Racing Australia cars were battling for the race lead, Shane Van Gisbergen was putting pressure on Jamie Whincup for the lead. Roland Dane would have been sweating watching Jamie and Shane battle for the lead and the win.
Towards the end of the race no could catch Shane Van Gisbergen. He gave Holden there 500th Australian touring car – V8 Supercars championship win. and 146th win for Triple 8 race Engineering.
Results for race 4
1st – Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Racing Australia
2nd – Jamie Whincup – Red Bull Racing Australia
3rd – Will Davison – Tekno Autosports
Before the race started, in qualifying Will Davison got a 2 grid spot penalty from Race Control for holding up James Courtney when he was on a flying lap. So Will went from 1st to 3rd in race 5.
In race 5 Mark Winterbottom again started from pole position alongside him this time was Shane Van Gisbergen for the 84 lap race.
On lap 1 Shane Van Gisbergen got the right amount of bite from the clutch with no wheel spin but then Mark Winterbottom wanted to get back up the inside at turn 2, which he did until Shane Van Gisbergen put enough pressure on him that he made a mistake.
On lap 2 he was still in position 1 with Shane Van Gisbergen doing absolutely everything he could to take the lead off the champ.
On lap 3 the cars were still under green racing conditions (meaning the Safety car had not been deployed at that point), because no cars had gone off the race track.
On lap 4 Shane Van Gisbergen tried to take the race lead off Mark Winterbottom.
There was a safety car on lap 5 due to Chris Pither’s nasty incident on the exit of the turn 4 hairpin. As a result, his Superblack Racing Ford Falcon FGX was a bloody mess and then when it came time for the first round of pit stops Jamie Whincup had to double stack behind Shane Van Gisbergen. the front runners were playing for keeps.
The restart was on lap 10, Fabain Coulthard got up the inside of James Courtney. Jamie Whincup was back in 12th after the double stack.
On lap 11 the cars up the front were just pushing on. Rick Kelly caught up to the top 3 as a result of the front 2 cars battling.
On lap 12, Mark Winterbottom nearly took the race lead off Shane Van Gisbergen and got crossed up at turns 1 and 2.
On lap 13 Mark Winterbottom gave Shane Van Gisbergen a nudge and almost spun him around.
On lap 14 the cars further back were trying to get into the top 10.
On lap 15 Shane Van Gisbergen tried to maintain the lead, but Mark Winterbottom was putting pressure on him.
On lap 16, Shane Van Gisbergen was still leading by point 4 of a second.
On lap 17 the leaders were pulling away up the front and staying there.
On lap 18 the pack were settling down after the restart. On lap 19 Jamie Whincup was moving up through the field.
On lap 20 Scott Pye was sitting in behind Jamie Whincup.
On lap 21 the cars in the mid pack were trying to stay in contact.
On lap 22 Jamie Whincup was trying to knock the rivets off the fence.
On lap 23 Jamie Whincup had a fast car in the opening stages.
In the middle of the race James Courtney rejoined the race in front of Jamie Whincup.
Towards the end of the race there was an oil slick that came out of Cameron Waters car, which meant other cars got caught up on it including the race leader Shane Van Gisbergen, Tim Blanchard, Jamie Whincup and Andre Heimgartner.
Will Davison is now the championship leader but only by 15 points over Craig Lowndes.
The next event is the WD 40 Phillip Island Supersprint. on the 15th to the 17th of April 2016.
Results for race 5
1st – Will Davison – Tekno Autpsports
2nd – Craig Lowndes – Team Vortex
3rd – Mark Winterbottom – Rod Nash racing
