What the Supercars teams said: Race 18 Tasmania
There was a lot to unpack on and off the track from the final race of the Tasmania SuperSprint, hear how the Supercars drivers reacted.
Tickford – P1 Cam Waters P18 Thomas Randle
Cameron Waters. Image: Mark Horsburgh
There was agony and ecstasy within the Tickford garage after Waters produced a faultless drive to take a maiden Tasmanian victory, while Randle had a big chance from pole, but was forced to lament a number of mistakes.
“We had good race pace all weekend, yesterday we didn’t really maximise it, didn’t convert it into a result,” Waters said. It’s nice to bounce back today, get the result that we deserve, get some good points and a bit more momentum going into the enduros.”
“I am just gutted with my mistake going into Turn 4 with five to go. That was all my fault,” Randle said. There is no one else to blame and I will be kicking myself over that one for a while. It is just a real shame because it was a great opportunity to capitalise and get some points.”
Triple Eight – P2 Will Brown P15 Broc Feeney
Will Brown. Image: Mark Horsburgh
It was a similar story at Triple Eight. Brown was all smiles after getting another podium with a fast stop allowing him to jump Randle into second. Feeney looked set to make an impressive rise from seventh to third, only to be rotated by Randle.
We had really good pace, but I flat spotted a tire in the early stages of the first lap and I was limping the car home. I managed to limp it home and have a great battle with Thomas. Positive to get another podium. That’s a podium every round this year, so that’s pretty cool,” Brown said.
“It’s pretty frustrating. Same as last year, at the last race before Enduro’s I got spun out and lost to heaps of points. To move forward in the race into third and have the pace to certainly end up on the podium but get taken out at the end hurts,” Feeney said.
Brad Jones Racing – P3 Bryce Fullwood P6 Andre Heimgartner P16 Macauley Jones DNF Jaxon Evans
Bryce Fullwood. Image: Pace Images
The big winner of all the late drama was Fullwood, who impressively stayed out of trouble to jump from sixth to third and score a first podium in four years. Heimgartner also had good race pace to secure sixth, while Jones rose to 16th, while Evans sent into the wall during a battle with Love.
“Obviously it means a lot. We all put our blood, sweat and tears into our racing. They really wanted this, so it’s awesome to be able to repay them for all the hard work,” Fullwood said.
“Positive way to finish the weekend. We finished sixth So to have two cars up there is really positive for the team,” Heimgartner said.
“A bit disappointed with qualifying. I felt like we made some improvements but had a bit of confusion at the end. There was a miscommunication at the end of the first part of the qualifying The race was pretty damn hectic, there was a lot going on in all areas with pit stops and Safety Cars. Not a bad end result,” Jones said.
“It finished pretty bad to be honest. Thought we had a good race car. So I was looking forward to trying to race forward. Got caught up in a bit of the argy-bargy stuff down the mid pack, and then unfortunately, got sent exit stage left at turn one, and I hit the fence and didn’t finish the race,” Evans said.
Walkinshaw Andretti United – P4 Chaz Mostert P8 Ryan Wood
Ryan Wood. Image: Mark Horsburgh
A productive day for WAU. Despite missing Q3 Mostert charged through the field once again in the race rising seven spots to fourth. Wood also made big ground, moving up five spots to eighth and a sixth top 10 of his rookie season.
“Pretty awesome weekend, a great haul of points, today we made it a little bit harder for ourselves starting mid-pack but we stayed out of trouble and came out P4,” Mostert said.
“That was so much fun! Ended up P8 with a lot of stuff happening ahead, had some awesome battles out there, can’t complain about a top 10 finish. The team did a great job in the pits today, maintaining position under a double stack is awesome,” Wood said.
Erebus Motorsport – P5 Jack Le Brocq P23 Brodie Kostecki
Jack Le Brocq. Image: Erebus
Flying under the radar was Le Brocq, bouncing back from a tough Saturday to make a welcome return to the top five. Kostecki had a fast start, but three penalties after some run-ins with the Team 18 Camaros on the track and in the lane meant it spiralled out of control.
“We were both in the 10 in qualifying where it was crazy buggers. In the race I got a shit start for about the sixth time in a row so fifth at the end is solid points,” Le Brocq said.
“It was a rough day, but the car was actually really good in the race and I was making ground in that first stint,” Kostecki recalled.
“There was actually not too much damage so I got a good read on the car in the last stint and it felt really good. I had that little tangle with Dave and with the full course yellow coming on I thought I hit the button and with all the lights flashing I didn’t quite get it and the button was on too late.”
Matt Stone Racing – P7 Nick Percat P12 Cameron Hill
Nick Percat. Image: Mark Horsburgh
Percat went from hero to zero, qualifying last, but still produced a special comeback to soar up 17 positions to seventh. Hill was on the back foot by touring the Turn 6 gravel on the opening lap, but also battled hard on four fresh tyres to rise to 12th.
“It was action packed. Obviously when you win one day and end up last the next it’s probably not a true indication of where you are at. I knew I had a really fast car so I really just took my time. We didn’t really start making our moves until about 15 laps to go,” Percat said.
“That was some racing in that last one there. I completely stuffed the first lap, threw it off the road and we were back in last, but the Safety Car brought us back in the race. I got in a bit of a dog fight early on and didn’t really make any ground; there was another Safety Car, took some more tyres and then we actually had a pretty good race from there from last back up to 12th,” Hill said.
Team 18 – P9 Mark Winterbottom P22 David Reynolds
Mark Winterbottom. Image: Mark Horsburgh
Winterbottom, in his 600th straight race, was another to start from the back row, only to scythe his way through the field and secure a special top 10 finish. Reynolds was in the mix sitting fourth, but the race effectively ended when he was spun by Kostecki and got stuck on the verge.
“It was a weekend of just missed opportunities. The cars were fast. We adopted his (Reynolds) car for that last race like for like and my thing lit up as well and was really fast. I qualified 23rd today and drove through to 9th, which was great,” Winterbottom said.
“I started third today but probably should have been pole. I got my first gear stuck out of the hairpin, and lost a tenth, which would have put me on pole. We started well before I got turned around, by Brody, and then I was just a wounded soldier after that a couple laps down. Once I got going, I was probably one of the fastest cars, even though I was two laps down,” Reynolds said.
PremiAir – P10 Tim Slade P13 James Golding
Tim Slade. Image: DMAC Photography
PremiAir was around the mark all the weekend as evident by Slade making Q3 and the top 10 on both occasions, Was on track for seventh before slipping to 10th while Golding held position.
“The car was really good in qualifying again today, we just made a mistake and didn’t get a tow in the last part of qualifying. Something strange happened and I lost all grip at the last corner and ran off the track and lost a few positions, so that was very frustrating as there was seventh there for the taking,” Slade said.
“It was tough racing for the #31, we managed to sort of hold our ground a bit in the race but we probably had more hits than Elvis on the car today I reckon, so we were lucky to come away with a finish, ending up P13,” Golding said.
Dick Johnson Racing – P11 Will Davison P14 Anton De Pasquale
Will Davison. Image: Mark Horsburgh
DJR just did not quite have the pace this weekend, but Davison came just four tenths from cracking the top 10. De Pasquale made a small amount of progress to get 13th, but would have wanted more.
“We’ve had better weekends. We’re frustrated and disappointed,” DJR’s David Noble said. We’ve got to deliver better and have more consistent performances in both qualifying and races.”
Grove Racing – P17 Richie Stanaway P21 Matt Payne
Richie Stanaway. Image: Mark Horsburgh
Tough day for Grove Racing with neither driver being able to make ground. Payne’s day was impacted by receiving a drive-through penalty for a driving infringement regarding the light at pit exit. Stanaway started and finished 17th.
“This has been a poor weekend for us. We just didn’t execute well enough. We made too many mistakes. You’ve only got to be a little bit off the pace to suffer and qualifying let us down. When you’re towards the back of the grid it’s hard to go forward,” Stephen Grove said.
Blanchard Racing Team – P19 James Courtney P20 Aaron Love
James Courtney. Image: Mark Horsburgh
Love found himself in the thick of the action again, this time clashed with Evans and survived wheel-to-wheel contact. Courtney gained two positions from a Q1 knockout.
“It was obviously a tough weekend. But there were probably a few positives – our pit-stops were really competitive. The car speed was quite good at times through the weekend, which it hasn’t been at some rounds. As tough as it was, there are some positives from the weekend. We’ve probably got to work on our execution,” Tim Blanchard said.
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