Bottom post of the previous page:
Anyway back to this weekend at Darwin, the indigenous round of the championship.Complete with its own unique track map logo.
Apparently the indigenous involvement will increase next year for this round and every team will be expected to embrace an element of Aboriginal culture for the event. Next year Supercars will encourage teams to work with Aboriginal artists from their respective regions to design artwork specifically for them.
So whats new for this weekend?
It was discovered that Holden engines by a particular builder was suffering from a lack of horsepower so improvements have been allowed to those affected cars. So, teams fitted with KRE-built engines are running an upgraded package. The change has come in a bid to balance the field on horsepower.
Five teams are affected by the change, including Brad Jones Racing, Matt Stone Racing, Team 18, Team Sydney and Triple Eight Race Engineering.,,, basically half of the Repco Supercars Championship grid.
The other thing new is for the first time we are seeing the new "Super Soft" being used exclusively, so something new for the teams to work with in terms of evaluating pace v degradation.
It seems that like F1 produces odd tyres to spice up the racing, Suprcars are now doing the same. Anyway it is something new for all drivers and teams and no doubt some will love it other not so much. Whincup, who has tested the Super Soft tyre previously along with Will Davison of DJR seems to think that degradation wont be an issue, certainly not at Darwin which is very smooth and low deg.
I like Heimgartner's attitude. When asked about them after practice today he just said you dont really notice the difference. Whatever tyre you have on, you go out, see what the grip level is and drive accordingly.
The one thing about the tyres this weekend is everyone is running them all weekend. It is the only tyres available, unlike in other previous events where at some events they had to, like F1, use both a harder and a softer compound with compulsory stops in the longer races.
Oh and the other new thing is we have a couple of wildcard entries this weekend.... Thomas Randle getting a hit out in a 4th Tickford car, and we have a third Kostecki (Kurt) running in a WAU Commodore. So we have 26 starters this weekend.
A weekend event guide with schedule and stuff: https://media.speedcafe.com/wp-content/ ... e-2021.pdf
As mentioned practice for the day has been and gone, with Nick Percat fastest in the first session.
In P2, Jamie Whincup went fastest with the only ‘five’ of the day. Scott Pye was second and De Pasquale was third in the half hour session. We had a bit of drama when the bonnet flew up on Bryce Fullwood’s #2 Mobil 1 Appliances Commodore, prompting the Darwin local to park up and we got a red as a result.
A few of the more fancied runners seem to be in strnge places on the timesheets, namely Cam Waters down in 22nd, albeit only 0.7856s off the top, and David Reynolds in 20th.
I actually missed most of practice, out having a life in our first day out of strict lockdown, and at this stage dont really know the stories behind the times..
For those following in Europe, just a reminder that Darwin runs off an odd time zone, the same as Adelaide and is half an hour different to Australian Eastern time....
Qualifying for Race 12 of the 2021 Supercars Championship, a knockout session culminating in a Top 10 Shootout, gets underway from 11:35 local time/12:05 AEST.
Anyway times from P2
Results: Practice 2
Pos Num Team/Sponsor Driver Car Fastest lap Split
1 88 Red Bull Ampol Racing Team Jamie Whincup Holden Commodore ZB 1:05.8799
2 20 DEWALT Racing Scott Pye Holden Commodore ZB 1:06.0096 0:00.1297
3 11 Shell V-Power Racing Team Anton De Pasquale Ford Mustang GT 1:06.0358 0:00.1559
4 8 R&J Batteries Nick Percat Holden Commodore ZB 1:06.0621 0:00.1822
5 17 Shell V-Power Racing Team Will Davison Ford Mustang GT 1:06.1235 0:00.2436
6 25 Mobil 1 Appliances Online Chaz Mostert Holden Commodore ZB 1:06.1325 0:00.2526
7 97 Red Bull Ampol Racing Team Shane van Gisbergen Holden Commodore ZB 1:06.1456 0:00.2657
8 18 IRWIN Racing Mark Winterbottom Holden Commodore ZB 1:06.1658 0:00.2859
9 44 Boost Mobile Racing James Courtney Ford Mustang GT 1:06.1973 0:00.3174
10 99 Erebus Boost Mobile Racing Brodie Kostecki Holden Commodore ZB 1:06.2754 0:00.3955
11 35 Yellow Cover Racing Zane Goddard Holden Commodore ZB 1:06.3238 0:00.4439
12 19 Local Legends Fabian Coulthard Holden Commodore ZB 1:06.3401 0:00.4602
13 3 CoolDrive Racing Tim Slade Ford Mustang GT 1:06.3458 0:00.4659
14 14 Pizza Hut Todd Hazelwood Holden Commodore ZB 1:06.3705 0:00.4906
15 5 Truck Assist Racing Jack Le Brocq Ford Mustang GT 1:06.4313 0:00.5514
16 34 UNIT Racing Jake Kostecki Holden Commodore ZB 1:06.4767 0:00.5968
17 9 Erebus Motorsport William Brown Holden Commodore ZB 1:06.4875 0:00.6076
18 2 Mobil 1 Middy’s Racing Bryce Fullwood Holden Commodore ZB 1:06.5149 0:00.6350
19 7 NED Whisky Racing Andre Heimgartner Ford Mustang GT 1:06.5250 0:00.6451
20 26 Penrite Racing David Reynolds Ford Mustang GT 1:06.5345 0:00.6546
21 96 Coca-Cola Racing Macauley Jones Holden Commodore ZB 1:06.6583 0:00.7784
22 6 Monster Energy Racing Cameron Waters Ford Mustang GT 1:06.6655 0:00.7856
23 55 Castrol Racing Thomas Randle Ford Mustang GT 1:06.6693 0:00.7894
24 22 Team SYDNEY Garry Jacobson Holden Commodore ZB 1:06.7857 0:00.9058
25 4 SCT Logistics Jack Smith Holden Commodore ZB 1:06.8668 0:00.9869
26 27 Walkinshaw Andretti United Kurt Kostecki Holden Commodore ZB 1:07.0803 0:01.200
