Race 10

CRAIG LOWNDES TAKES VICTORY AGAIN AND CRACKS THE ALL – TIME WIN RECORD AT BARBAGALLO.

After 90 career wins, Craig Lowndes set his sights on a race win here at Barbagallo, and didn’t disappoint. Following teammate Jamie Whincup during the first half of the 60/60 super sprint, Lowndes made what we now know as a race winning move 2 laps into the second half, awarding him his 91^st V8 supercar series win, beating Mark Skaife’s previous record.

Mark Winterbottom’s FPR Falcon looked after its tyres remarkably well and with it roaring towards Whincup, Jamie was forced to hold on and take 2^nd place just behind race winner Craig Lowndes.

Jason Bright was able to secure fourth position ahead of Alex Davidson, Premat, Reynolds, Courtney, Van Gisbergen and Moffat. Coulthard came in 27^th after a disappointing end with a tyre malfunction causing him to veer off the road whilst in 5^th position in the final leg.

Coulthard wasn’t the only one with tyre troubles with Will Davidson also suffering in the first leg. Despite this he was able to redeem himself, finishing 14^th at the conclusion of race 10, just ahead of the exceptional newcomer Chaz Mostert.

After a disastrous crash in Pukekohe, Scott Pye in the Ekol Holden came back and again found himself in trouble after sliding down the grass becoming momentarily airborne following a three – wide squeeze with Kelly and Tander. Pye did manage to get back out for the second half of the race however was black flagged for loose body work.

Maro Engel lost his 9^th position qualifying place to come in 24^th and Tim Slade achieved Erebus’ best result of the race coming in at 13^th, just 3 spots behind top Nissan driver James Moffat.

Garth Tander hit trouble early, managing to get stuck in the Turn 7 sand trap after an incident involving Jonathon Webb and Tim Blanchard which will be investigated following the race completion.

Race 11 & 12 set for Sunday will conclude Round 4 of the Championship and round out a great weekend at Perth.

Race 11

AS THE TYRE STRUGGLE PERSISTED, JAMIE WHINCUP FORGED AHEAD AND CAME OUT ON TOP FOR RACE 11.

With Craig Lowndes’ impressive win yesterday, Red Bull Racing has come up with the goods again amidst Jamie Whincup’s further race win at Barbagallo.  It was an interesting race 11 with all drivers pitting for new tyres during the 100km battle, however Dean Fiore, Scott Pye and Alexandre Premat were the exceptions who daringly tried to escape stopping during the race.

Dean Fiore had this approach working for him with his Dodo Insurance Racing Commodore leading the race, however he was nabbed with seven laps to go by number 1 Jamie Whincup. Whincup fought off Mark Winterbottom and his FPR Falcon as the pair battled for the front of the pack for the majority of the race, which was greatly aided by the duo being amongst the first to pit. This was overshadowed by Jason Bright who eventually took second from Mark Winterbottom with 2 laps left.

Bright in the BOC Holden was only 0.75s behind Whincup at the completion of race 11 after a rather unfavourable start, dropping from pole to fourth. His tyres did have the advantage in the end after pitting 6 laps behind Whincup and Mark Winterbottom, who finished 3^rd.

Craig Lowndes’ attempt at gaining a back to back win following his triumph on Saturday were put to rest as he was forced to veer off the track to avoid Jason Bright in the early stages. Dean Fiore, Scott Pye and Alexandre Premat’s attempt at running the race without stopping proved detrimental after they ended the race coming in at 13^th for Fiore, 19^th for Premat and 27^th for Pye.

The safety car was the sight to see for 4 of the first 5 laps after an incident between Holdsworth and David Wall which resulted in the Irwin racing Mercedes catching the sand trap on turn 6.

The final race for round 4 of the championship is set for this afternoon and by the looks of things, will be a thriller.
Race 12

Jamie Whincup triumphs again in an electrifying race 12 at Barbagallo raceway.

The final instalment of racing at Barbagallo has rounded out a colossal, action packed weekend with Jamie Whincup defeating some tough competition including his team mate, Craig Lowndes and taking out race 12.

Coolant dropped by the SP Tools Mercedes reeked havoc for Whincup with the Red Bull Racing Holden losing the lead, taking a tour through the turn 7 sand trap on lap 15. Alongside Whincup, Mark Winterbottom also was caught by the destructive turn 7 sand trap. Despite initially dropping to 21^st, he was able to recover and take a solid 12^th position. Following the sand trap, Jamie pitted to repair damage and fell to second just behind Craig Lowndes. The 888 star looked like he had race 12 in the bag, however a minute mistake by Lowndes of running wide on the second safety car race restart, allowed the Number 1 Red Bull Racing Holden to slide past with just 11 laps remaining.

The sand traps got another work out with Russel Ingall and David Wall ending their race and causing the second safety car of the contest after becoming severely bogged at turn 7. Race 12’s first full course yellow flag was initiated due to Michael Caruso’s Nissan losing a tyre.

Jason Bright battled the pack and achieved third followed by Will Davidson, David Reynolds, Shane Van Gisbergen, Fabian Coulthard, James Moffat, Garth Tander and newcomer Chaz Mostert which wrapped up the top 10 for the final clash of round 4.

Look out for our full event report in our next issue, and more galleries over the next few days. Until then, here’s the official V8 Supercars press release, and some of our favourite images from the event thanks to Christian Hartung from Amore Photography.

V8 Supercars Press Release follows-
The Jason Richards Trophy will head to the trophy cabinet of his team after Jason Bright scorched home in the final race at the ITM 400 Auckland at Pukekohe Park Raceway today.

A tearful Bright, a former teammate of the late Jason Richards, was delighted not only with the win but his overall performance over the weekend earned him the trophy to return to the Brad Jones Racing team based in rural New South Wales.

Strong performances from Ford’s Will Davison, including victory in the first of two 100km races today, earned him the lead in the V8 Supercars Championship, taking over from defending Champion Jamie Whincup.

It gave the beleaguered Ford fans something to cheer about after a slow start to the season.

Bright’s victory also emphasised the remarkable effect of the new cars this year, with four different winners at Pukekohe this weekend featuring teenage Kiwi Scott McLaughlin, Whincup and Will Davison.

The experienced Bright earned the ARMOR ALL pole for the final race, and after slowly hauling in early leader Whincup, he took the lead on lap 11 and from there cleared out.

While the victory was meaningful, it was a special celebration as he hoisted Richards’ daughter Sienna in his arms and hugged wife Charlotte who presented him with the Jason Richards Trophy.

“I got a message from Charlotte during the week passed on from Sienna saying that she wanted to present the trophy to me this weekend – talk about putting the pressure on,” Bright said.

“I think it sums it up. Car 8 wanted to win this race, the whole team wanted to take that trophy back to Albury. I was awake last night thinking about it.

“Yesterday when I got tagged by James Courtney, I think he (Jason Richards) jumped in the car and saved that one for me because there was no way I was going to save that one.

“All I thought about this weekend and all the team thought about was that trophy so it’s very special.”

He even carried the “JR Star” signwritten on his car throughout the weekend.

It marked another strong weekend for Brad Jones Racing, following Fabian Coulthard’s win last weekend in Tasmania with the New Zealander now fifth in the championships, just ahead of Bright.

The third race of the weekend earlier in the day proved a humdinger.

If it was 2-0 in the collision stakes between Whincup and Ford’s Mark Winterbottom based on yesterday’s bash, it is now 2-all after the pair came together twice but the upshot was that both finished at the tail of the field.

It proved a race of drama, with Whincup colliding with Winterbottom on lap 18 allowing Coulthard to slip through into the lead. The Kiwi had to withstand a further Pedders safety car, but he hit the kerb hard on turn three and the resulting loss of speed and flattening tyre allowed Davison and Shane van Gisbergen through.

The race finished on the fourth safety car after Scott McLaughlin, the hero yesterday with the opening win, hit the wall over the ITM Mountain with Davison grabbing his 15th career victory.
It was Ford’s first win at Pukekohe since Marcos Ambrose in 2007.

“It’s a cool stat to break that drought but nine years – we haven’t been here since 07, yeah there is obviously four years in there somewhere where they did it, but I think Muprh may have won all those races, so it’s cool,” Davison said.

“FPR won both races in Hamilton last year. So it hasn’t been all doom and gloom for New Zealand Ford fans. I’m not sure how many cheered me on the hill but hopefully there were a few Ford fans who were pretty relieved, they haven’t seen that here for a while.

He cemented the championship lead that with his fifth placing in the final race to be on 697 points, with Whincup on 681, his Red bull Racing Holden teammate Craig Lowndes third on 591, Holden’s Garth Tander on 553 ahead of Coulthard on 552, Bright on 539 and Kiwi Shane van Gisbergen on 532.

“This time of the year, don’t really want to talk about it (the championship). I found myself in this position last year, three rounds in and everyone is talking about Championship – so much can change so quickly,” Davison said.

“It is definitely encouraging. I expected these first rounds to be a bit tough for us. We don’t have a great handle on the car, but we have dug really really deep at all the moments when it counts and I have been able to have a really clean free run so far, so we will see. I didn’t expect to be leading now so who knows what December will bring – we will certainly be fighting really hard to hold on. ”

McLaughlin’s win, becoming the youngest in V8 Supercars Championship history, was mixed with a non-finish and resulting non-start in the final race to drop him to 10th overall in his rookie season in the main game.
It has cemented three New Zealanders in the top 10 with Coulthard fifth, Shane van Gisbergen seventh and McLaughlin 10th.

Teenage Kiwi driver signed up for V8 Supercars for 2013
New Zealand has a second driver confirmed for next year’s V8 Supercars after teenager Scott McLaughlin signed a multi-year deal to drive with Fujitsu Racing/GRM in the V8 Supercars Championship.
The 19-year-old Gold Coast-based Kiwi won the Dunlop v8 Supercar title, the development category at Sydney Olympic Park last weekend, and received a late call-up to fill-in for Alex Premat in Fujitsu Racing GRM’s #33 Commodore in the Sunday race.
He has now been named for the team’s 2013 roster, and joins fellow New Zealander Fabian Coulthard on the grid for what is shaping as a super-exciting season with the introduction of the Car of the Future, along with the inclusion of Nissan and Mercedes to join Holden and Ford.
McLaughlin is the latest in a long list of young guns signed by Garry Rogers, whose previous talent has included the likes of Steve Richards, Garth Tander, Jason Bargwanna, Lee Holdsworth, Jamie Whincup and Michael Caruso.
McLaughlin will also now keep his links with air conditioning giant Fujitsu, which has backed him in the Dunlop Series since his debut in 2010.
McLaughlin made his V8 Supercars Championship debut this year at the Sandown 500 in September as co-driver to Jonathon Webb finishing10th before a strong sixth place at Bathurst.
Last weekend’s season finale was McLaughlin’s first solo race start in the ‘main game’ and he kept out of trouble to finish 17th, one lap down on race winner Will Davison.
This year he won two rounds of the Dunlop Series on his way to finishing as champion in the development series.
“We’ve been keeping an eye on Scott for some time and his on-track approach has been very impressive,” said team boss Garry Rogers.
“He’s a level-headed young man who has shown great race craft and I was very impressed with his endurance racing this year, while his Dunlop Series championship speaks for itself.
“I think Scott will gel well with our boys and his experience driving the prototype Car of The Future last year will also be advantageous going forward.”
McLaughlin is chuffed with the news and will complete the final year of his trade apprenticeship at GRM as part of his new deal.
“This is what I have been working towards since moving up from karts in 2010 and the championship in my third year was always my focus, so to be picked up by Garry and his team and to be able to continue my relationship with Fujitsu is just fantastic,” he says.
“I started with SBR (Stone Brothers Racing) working in the race shop and it was a great insight into understanding the cars. To complete my fabrication apprenticeship within a race team will be really valuable.
“Garry is a ‘no BS’ type operator and the whole GRM environment will see me well prepared going into the 2013 season. I’ve had the most amazing year this year so this just caps it off perfectly and can’t wait to get started with the team just as soon as I can.”

Photo: Mark Horsburgh.

The say the final moments of this year’s Bathurst 1000 were exciting would be an understatement – it was a dead set thriller.

After six hours, twenty-six minutes and fifty-two seconds on the Mount Panorama track the difference between the leading two V8 Supercars came down to just 0.29 seconds. The Toll Holden Racing Team pairing of Garth Tander and Nick Percat crossed the line first closely followed the Team Vodafone pairing of Bathurst veterans Craig Lowndes and Mark Skaife.

With 21 laps to go Lowndes was running in seventh, but by lap 148 the seasoned competitor had made his way into second. It was all set up for a grandstand finish and that’s exactly what spectators and fans at home got. Four time winner Lowndes continued to push up on Tander but the rookie held his nerve and Lowndes couldn’t force his way through. Epic stuff and the winning margin of 0.2917s is the closest in the history of the great race. (more…)

Most of us were stuck to the sofa all day Sunday taking in all the sights and sounds of the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 for another year. But sadly, there were some within our ranks who had other duties to perform on Sunday, for them – here’s the low down.

This year’s 49th annual Bathurst 1000km race was won by Garth Tander and Nick Percat. The HRT pair were followed by Craig Lowndes and Mark Skaife, pole-sitters Greg Murphy and Alan Simonsen, FPR’s Mark Winterbottom and Steven Richards, Team BOC’s Jason Bright and Andrew Jones and van Gisbergen and McIntyre.

The all-kiwi crew of Shane van Gisbergen and John McIntyre finished up a hard-fought sixth overall.

After starting the race from the third row of the grid ‘the Giz’ was looking comfortable running in the top-five during the early stages of the race. As was McIntyre once he took over the #9 SP Tools Falcon – until he was turned around by Marcus Marshall and at The Elbow and lost 15 places getting going again. (more…)

New Zealand racing driver Matt Halliday is feeling confident after his recent testing with Jim Beam Racing in preparation for the Australian V8 Supercar Endurance races commencing this coming weekend. Halliday has been signed to drive in the high profile Phillip Island and Bathurst races where he will partner Aussie driver James Moffatt in their Jim Beam Ford Falcon FG.

The two day test was held at the Queensland Raceway last week and proved to be an excellent opportunity to become acquainted with the team and undertake several fast laps. This year will mark Halliday’s 7th appearance at Bathurst where his best performance has been 4th place overall and 1st Kiwi driver home last year.

“It’s been great coming back to Australia to do some serious testing and get a good feel for the Jim Beam car which performs very well. The team have been great in testing so we will be in with a shot for a strong result at both races if everything goes to plan” said Halliday from the Gold Coast earlier this week. (more…)

A spirited fightback drive saw Stone Brothers Racing kiwi driver Shane van Gisbergen cross the line fifth in the second race at the Sucrogen 400 V8 Supercar series meeting in Townsville last Sunday.

The result came following an 11th place finish in Saturday’s race and meant the 22-year-old driver has enough points to retain third place in the series points standings at the half-way point of this year’s competition.

After claiming his second series win of the season in Darwin last month, van Gisbergen headed back to Northern Australia with high hopes but struggled to find a qualifying set-up that worked and had to settle for 22nd on the grid for the first (72-lap) race of the weekend on Saturday.

Sunday’s second weekend qualifying session saw a major improvement – to 11th – but valuable time, not to mention track position, was lost during a Safety Car pit stop when van Gisbergen had to queue up behind teammate Alex Davison. (more…)

The great kiwi hope of the V8 Supercars, Shane van Gisbergen will be targeting his third win of the season in balmy northern Queensland this weekend. The Sucrogen 400 street race meeting in Townsville will see ‘the Giz’ attempt to improve on his third place standing in the series.

It’s already been quite a year for the hard-driving 22-year-old from Auckland, his first V8 Supercar series win coming at his home round in Hamilton in April, his second in Darwin last month. The young Kiwi has shown plenty of form in his SP Tools Falcon round the 2.86km Townsville street circuit too, qualifying fifth quickest at the first Sucrogen event two years ago, and sixth last year. But getting the results has proved tricky to come by with Van Gisbergen’s efforts yielding a 12th in the first race and dnf in the second on his first attempt in 2009. Last year there was improvement with the familiar blue SP Tools Falcon crossing the line eighth in the first race and seventh in the second, the latter after a hard-won drive from P17 on the grid. (more…)