Heavy rain hit the circuit prior to and during the opening stages of the AirTouch 500 at The Bend, creating a chaotic opening half filled with incidents, Safety Cars and diverging strategies. Through it all a range of co-drivers shone, from experienced hands to young guns auditioning for full-time seats.
Eventual podium finishers Fabian Coulthard (#1 Walkinshaw Toyota), Tim Slade (#26 Grove Ford) and Jaxon Evans (#2 Walkinshaw Toyota) each set up their primaries for glory. Slade blazed out of the gates to lead by as much as 17 seconds before a spin surrendered some of that margin. He later made a momentous save on the front straight that will feature in highlight reels for years to come.
Coulthard meanwhile was sure-footed in even the worst of the conditions and had inherited the lead through a Slade mistake before Walkinshaw TWG elected to pit car #1 at the second Safety Car. Walkinshaw’s desire not to double-stack at the third Safety Car meant keeping Evans in beyond his minimum laps – setting up a period where he held up well against primaries.
Richie Stanaway (#7 Blanchard Racing Team) was kept out for the longest of all, showing every bit of why he’s known as Supercars’ rain master. BRT was seemingly so keen to make use of Stanaway’s wet weather abilities that it failed to put primary driver James Golding in early enough to make his minimum laps.
Others to be kept in longer than their minimums were Erebus Motorsport pair Jarrod Hughes and Lochie Dalton, with the former leading chunks of the race thanks to a mix of speed and strategy. Hughes proved particularly adept in the conditions, before their strategy gamble came unstuck when forced to pit for fuel ahead of the track being fully dry.
Harri Jones was a hard charger in Jack Le Brocq’s Camaro, finishing his double-stint in second place – his speedy run between the second and third Safety Car periods notably including overtaking Stanaway. Another big mover was Will Davison (#19 Grove Ford), who spun from first to last courtesy of contact from Mark Winterbottom at Turn 1 and yet ended his laps back inside the top five.
Others to show promise included Tickford rookie Reuben Goodall, who outshone teammate and mentor Winterbottom in the first stint before an off-track excursion when the heavens again opened. The co-driver performances were a major talking point in a race full of drama. Supercars once again proved that endurance racing in extreme conditions can produce unexpected heroes.
Read Also
Supercars conducts a re-test of Centre of Gravity in Melbourne with 10 cars to address parity concerns between Camaro and Supra.
Patrick Cameron joins brother Josh at Mustang Cup Australia Sydney, driving the #96 Ford Mustang Dark Horse R in a sibling rivalry.
Tim Leahey returns to GT4 Australia and will partner with Porsche star Dylan O'Keeffe in the Silver-Am Cup with Ashley Seward Motorsport.
Continue with Google
Discussion (0)
Join the Discussion!
Sign in easily to start commenting, replying, and interacting with other readers.
Latest Comments
No comments yet. Be the first!