Controversies raged up and down pitlane after a heated finish to Adelaide’s Clipsal 500, opening round of the 2013 V8 Supercar Championship.
Despite the entire grid being all-new 2013 ‘Car Of The Future’ vehicles and the arrival of 7 new cars from new brands Nissan and Mercedes-Benz, it was the 2012 front runners 888 Racing (now Red Bull Racing), Ford Performance Racing (now backed by Pepsi) and Brad Jones Racing who made the most of the front running.
888’s Craig Lowndes took the most points after two races, ahead of team-mate Jamie Wincup and Ford’s Will Davison.
Where to begin with the controversies? Well the bloke who won race two on Sunday would be a good start. That would be young Kiwi Shane Van Gisbergen – the same Shane Van Gisbergen who ‘retired’ from racing last year blaming mental fatigue, abandoning the Stone Brothers/Erebus Racing squad just when they needed his special talents as they transitioned from Fords to running the new Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG machines.
Driving his VIP Petfoods backed, Teckno Racing Holden Commodore (built by 888 Racing), ‘The Giz’ was back, fresh as a daisy after a summer racing V8s at home in New Zealand (so much for ‘metal fatigue’). Van Gisbergen was fast all weekend – claiming pole position for both races and winning Sunday’s 78-lapper after a tense re-start with 10 laps to go
But that was the last of Sunday’s scraps – they actually kicked-off hours earlier during qualifying. Brad Jones Racing/ Lockwood Security driver Fabian Coulthard was on his final flying lap when he tangled with Holden Racing Team driver Garth Tander in the last corner.
Coulthard claimed his lap time was ruined by Tander and was waiting for him to return to the pits for retribution. As Tander drove into his garage, Coulthard ripped the rear-vision mirror from the HRT Commodore and the pair engaged in a heated discussion.
While the Adelaide street circuit usually sees plenty of carnage during the V8 Supercar Series opener, this year, despite the all-new machinery presenting some technical challenges, incredibly there was no need for a safety car at all during Saturday’s race and it wasn’t until 66 of the 78 laps of Sunday’s race were in the bag that we saw the first yellow-light period – when Falcon driver Alex Davison tagged the wall in the ridiculously-fast turn eight.
The carnage that followed the re-start gifted race two to Van Gisbergen when Red Bull Racing team-mates Lowndes and Wincup engaged in some argy-bargy around the back of the circuit. Not long afterwards, both of the Jack Daniels Nissan Altimas of Rick and Todd Kelly were badly damaged after a tangle in the final corner which also involved Tander.
Earlier Rick Kelly had lead race two briefly – an impressive debut for the all-new Nissan squad.
The same can’t be said for the three-car Mercedes-Benz team. The tight timeline in developing the new E63 AMG racers eventually caught-up with the former Stone Brothers team.
First Marco Engel’s ‘Benz refused to start for race one on Saturday and suffered the embarrassment of being pushed back to pit-lane (the fault eventually traced to problems with the ‘fly-by-wire’ throttle system – a problem which appeared in two of the three E63 AMGs during Sunday’s race). But a curious one was team driver Lee Holdsworth having his feet fried by the super-heated pedals of the Mercedes-Benz V8 Supercar. Under the ‘Car Of The Future’ regulations, the V8 engine and exhausts are 100mm further rearwards (thus closer to the driver) than last years’ cars but even so, heat build-up was a known issue and most teams already run cool air ducting to the drivers’ footwell.
Car Showroom’s ‘Man Of The Match’ awards (apart from Van Gisbergen) go to Super Cheap Auto driver Russell Ingall (the 49 year-old really enjoying the more dynamic chassis of the ‘Car Of The Future’ machines and he drove well to finish fourth overall) and Fujitsu/Garry Rogers Motorsport youngster Scot McLaughlin who was on-target for a sensational result late in race two until punted off the road by HRT driver James Courtenay.
Overall the all-new ‘Car Of The Future’ is off to a positive start but there is a lot of work to be done before the second event. While most drivers like the chassis’ mid-speed corner and high-speed corner balance, trailing throttle oversteer into slow corners is a concern. And a string of failures in the locking pin for the standard alloy wheels delayed several teams during pit-stops.
The Clipsal event each year also sees the debut of new sponsorship combinations. Or as one team manager from the second-string Dunlop series told Car Showroom: “You know its Clipsal (first race of the year) because all the marketing guys from the V8 Supercar teams are down here (the Dunlop Series pits) seeing who has a new sponsor they can pinch.”
It is a fact that many V8 Supercar team sponsors are not new to the sport – they are signed-up by struggling young Dunlop series drivers only to see them ‘nicked’ by the V8 Supercar teams. However even in the ‘big end of town’ (V8 Supercars) there have been some major changes for 2013 with 888 Racing switching from Vodafone to Red Bull and Pepsi switching from Greg Murphy’s team to Ford Performance Racing.
The second round of the V8 Supercar Championship is the major support race to the Rolex Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne 14-17 March.
Top Ten V8 Supercar Series Race 1 results - Adelaide
Craig Lowndes
Will Davison
Jamie Whincup
Alexandre Premat
James Courtney
Scott McLaughlin
Garth Tander
Jonathon Webb
Alex Davison
Russell Ingall
Top Ten V8 Supercar Series Race 2 results - Adelaide
Shane Van Gisbergen
Jamie Whincup
Craig Lowndes
Russell Ingall
Mark Winterbottom
Will Davison
James Courtney
Tony D’Alberto
Scott McLaughlin
Jonathon Webb
Driver Championship Points Standings - Top 10
Craig Lowndes 279
Jamie Whincup 267
Will Davison 240
Russell Ingall 198
James Courtney 192
Scott McLaughlin 186
Jonathon Webb 168
Tony D’Alberto 159
Shane Van Gisbergen 150
Scott Pye 138
