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Triple Eight 1-2 under protest

By Thomas Miles

Date posted: March 11, 2023

Triple Eight Race Engineering’s celebrations of its crushing 1-2 victory in the first race of the 2023 Supercars season have been cut short after an alleged technical breach. 

Following the conclusion of Saturday’s season opening race where  Shane van Gisbergen led home Broc Feeney Tickford Racing and Walkinshaw Andretti united both lodged a protest against Triple Eight in regards to driver cooling.

A hearing has just concluded, with stewards now deliberating and a decision will be announced tomorrow morning.

Both van Gisbergen and Feeney had their doors opened by a Triple Eight crew member, who placed dry ice near the driver’s seat at their respective final stops on Laps 64 and 56.

The Deputy Race Directors also alleged a technical breach of Rule C16.2 regarding the Driver Cooling System on both Triple Eight cars #88 and #97.

“Any Driver cooling system that contains a cooling medium must be mounted within the cockpit utilising the mounting points designated in the GSD for the passenger seat,” reads Rule C16.2 in the Supercars Operations Manual.

The protest will likely centred around Triple Eight Race Engineering’s use of dry ice around the driver’s doors during its second set of pit stops in the gruelling 250km opening race.

Driver cooling has been one of the biggest talking points of the Newcastle 500 with the Camaro being a lot hotter around the footwell than the Mustangs.

After three practice sessions on Friday, van Gisbergen complained his “feet were on fire” and the Camaro was the “hottest car I have driven in a long time.”

With extra heat shielding permitted to be added overnight, it appeared the issue had been addressed, but with outside temperatures in the 30’s for the first race, cooling was still an issue.

Will Brown was also seen soaked in water with a big wet towel after getting out of his #9 Camaro following the 95-lap Safety Car free race.

The outcome of the hearing will be announced tomorrow morning before Supercars action resumes with qualifying at 11.15 AEDT.  

2023 Newcastle 500 schedule

Friday, March 10

Practice 1 – 1: A. Heimgartner 1:11.9958 2: W. Brown +0.1813 3: D. Reynolds +0.2021

Practice 2 – 1: S. van Gisbergen 1:11.7555 2: W. Davison +0.0374 3: B. Feeney +0.1167

Practice 3 – 1 Brodie Kostecki 1:11.4068; 2 Shane van Gisbergen +0.0557; 3 Chaz Mostert +0.0760

Saturday, March 11

Qualifying 1 – 1: Kostecki 1:11.131. 2: Mostert 1:11.358 3: VanGisbergen 1:11.435

Top 10 Shootout – 1: Kostecki 1:11.8481 2: Waters +0.1520 3: Feeney +0.1527

Race 1 (95 laps) – 1: Van Gisbergen 2: Feeney +14.740 3: Waters +19.746

Sunday, March 12

Qualifying – 11.15-11.35

Top 10 Shootout – 12.35-13.00

Race 2 (95 laps) 15.20-17.20

For more of the latest motorsport news, pick up the latest issue of AUTO ACTION.

AUTO ACTION, Australia’s independent voice of motorsport

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