Supercars

Red Bull champs here to stay

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Brendan Lines

February 22, 2020

Red Bull Holden put an end to speculation yesterday as the team announced it will retain its championship winning drivers Jamie Whincup and Shane van Gisbergen for 2021.

Here to stay Shane van Gisbergen (left) Jamie Whincup (right) – Image: Red Bull

In what has been a tumultuous week for all Holden fans, there is finally some good news for the future of the brand’s top-flight team.

The 37-year old six-time champion Whincup has firmed up his commitment to the sport after recent speculation of retirement.

“My addiction for racing, speed and trying to beat my mates to the finish line started when I was seven years old,

“Any thought of finishing full-time driving this year doesn’t sit well with me,” he said.

Whincup’s impressive career record stands at 118 wins and 208 podiums over his 496-race appearance, while it’s may seem what more can he achieve at the highest level, Whincup says there is still plenty left in the tank.

“I feel I have plenty to offer this sport from behind the wheel,” Whincup said.

“While my full focus is on this year’s championship and delivering results for our teammates, sponsors and Red Bull Holden fan base, it’s great to know that all the fun will continue well into 2021.”

For van Gisbergen it was a very easy decision to resign with the team he won his first Supercars championship.

“It’s been an awesome few years with the Red Bull Holden Racing Team, and honestly there wasn’t much thought put into extending my contract for a few more years,” van Gisbergen said.

“I absolutely love this place and all the people in it, and the future looks exciting with the changes that look to be put in place.”

Van Gisbergen says remaining team mates with Whincup is good for the team as it hunts down its next Team’s championship.

“It’s always good to have someone like JDub (Whincup) by your side. We get along well together and he’s still as capable of being the fastest driver on the grid.

“It’s amazing to think that his driving is still at his peak level, so I think it’s a fantastic decision for him to keep competing for a few more years.”

Both Whincup and Van Gisbergen will go into this morning’s Qualifying 1 for a shot at the Top-ten shootout before Race 1 4.20pm CDST.

Mostert hunts McLaughlin to top Practice 3

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Brendan Lines

February 21, 2020

Holden’s Chas Mostert has shutdown a charge from Scott McLaughlin’s Mustang to go fastest in Practice 3 at the Adelaide 500 with a blistering lap in the closing stages showing there is plenty of fight in the roaring Lion.

Chaz Mostert was on a tear in final Adelaide practice.

Chas Mostert on his hot-lap Image: Fox Sports

Earlier this week McLaughlin said he was out to ‘ruin’ Holden’s farewell in Adelaide, just as the Kiwi kept piling on fastest laps from the opening minutes of the session, it looked as though McLaughlin was going in for the kill.

But Mostert kept hunting the Mustangs all session lighting up the circuit with a 1:19.241s, in what was a real shootout for pace between the Andretti -owned Holden and Penske- owned Mustang.

In his debut race for Andretti Walkinshaw United Mostert insists it’s just practice but a welcome result for the team.

“Today might have just suited us and as the track gets grippier it might go away from us,” Mostert said.

“I’m not looking too much into it, just awesome for me to see the emotion in the garage, those guys have been, for the last year or couple of years on the bad end of some results, you know to see the eyes light up and even though it is practice to be at the pointy end and being able to mix with these great drivers and teams out there it’s exciting.”

Despite McLaughlin’s attack on the timesheets he says the DJR Penske Mustang is around where it needs to be.

“We’ll see how we go tomorrow, we probably don’t have it at the moment, but we do need to keep searching for a nineteen-two, I think we’re not too far away, for me a really promising day because we didn’t roll out that well and we’ve tuned it up now over the weekend and it’s really nice now, very excited for tomorrow, ”he said.

Third fastest Will Davison so far has been ‘Mr. Consistency’ placing his Tickford Mustang in the top three for every session so far bringing the fight right to the Commodores.

Davison says competing for qualifying spots over the weekend throughout the practice sessions has intensified the action on track.

“It is good, I think it makes for a bit more entertainment today,

“Practice last night and two sessions today, it nearly felt like two qualifying sessions,” he said.

Qualifying for the Top 10 shootout begins 11:55 am CDST tomorrow.

Practice Red-flagged as Reynolds sets ‘wild’ pace

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Brendan Lines

February 20, 2020

Practice 1 at the Adelaide 500 has been red-flagged as Lee Holdsworth came together with Garry Jacobson in the closing stages.

Holdsworth and Jacobson clash – Image Fox Sports

Holdsworth’s argument with his Matt Stone Racing rival on the exit of the Senna Chicane looked more like a racing incident than a practice session.

The incident cut short valuable track time which the teams would have wanted to gauge the new control damper and aero package for 2020.

Fastest for the session was Penrite Racing’s David Reynolds with a 1:20.686s.

“I think everyone did their time and then after that no one really ran any new tyres, so we’re kind of lucky there, it’s different for me but it’s very wild.” he said.

Reynolds wasn’t the only one having a wild time, as Red Bull’s Shane van Gisbergen had some ‘wild’ moments of his own.

The Kiwi had a wide moment at the infamous Turn 8 and parked up his Red Bull up the Wakefield st. escape road.

“We’ve been pretty lucky in previous years that we’ve had good shocks, but we’ve got these things we’re all battling,” he said.

Despite the rough ride, van Gisbergen was only .0098 seconds adrift from Reynolds, posting a 1:20.696s.

After a disappointing testing on Tuesday at The Bend, Reynolds says the new found speed is welcome.

“Tuesday was p-sixteen, so after that I was looking for a paper bag, but today the car’s rolled out and it felt good,” he said.

The Adelaide 500 continues tomorrow.

Live! Red Bull: ‘Around where we need to be’

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Brendan Lines

February 18, 2020

Supercar testing is underway at The Bend and just hours into the 2020 season Red Bull Holden are already flexing their muscle.

Image: Red Bull

Despite uncertainty off the track after GM announced Holden will be retired yesterday, car no.97 of Shane van Gisbergen and Garth Tander is top of the time sheets — van Gisbergen crushed the opposition in the opening session posting a 1:47:69 lap time.

At the four hour mark of testing and after 29 laps of testing, Tander posted a best time of 1:48:01.

Closet rival is Erebus driver Anton De Pasquale who sits .443 seconds adrift.

The fastest Mustang is Cam Waters with the fourth fastest time 1:49:01.

The feedback in the Red Bull garage is positive as Tander stepped out the car just an hour ago.

“Running through our program it seems that we are around where we expected to be.” Tander said.

“All the feedback has been pretty encouraging so far, obviously there has been a lot of technical changes and the team have done a really good job of understanding them before we even got here.”

Testing continues this afternoon at The Bend.

Breaking: Holden’s motorsport future faces uncertainty after 2020

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Brendan Lines

February 17, 2020

Holden’s presence in Australian motorsport is in free fall after the announcement General Motors will retire the Holden brand in a press conference in Melbourne this afternoon.

Just weeks after its livery reveal this could be the Red Bull Holden Racing Team’s last Holden Supercar – Image: Red Bull

GM’s association with all its top flight motorsport partnerships including Supercars and HSV is facing grim uncertainty.

GM Holden interim chairman and managing director Kristian Aquilina said Holden will be meeting with its key partners very soon.

“On our future in racing we’ve made a commitment, and certainly we need to sit down with our partners Supercars and certainly the Red Bull Holden Racing Team, Triple Eight which we’ll do hopefully in the coming days, we’ll talk about the appropriate transition, but our intention is to still go racing in 2020 whilst we’ve still got Holden vehicles out there in dealer showrooms,

“To the extent about GM and its involvement in racing beyond that will be part of the same conversation, there’s certainly a lot of new news for us and our partners to process, these decisions are only taken in the last few days, we’re communicating it with the Australian community as soon as we could, and we’ve got some work to do over the next few weeks and months ahead to work through those arrangements that go well beyond motorsport,” he said.

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GM’s Kristian Aquilina (left) and Julian Blissett (right) speaking at the Melbourne press conference – Image: ABC News

Quite clearly while there are Commodore’s on the road they will be on the track.

Yet that may not be the case for much longer as the carmaker intends to wind-up production at its Port Melbourne facility by June 2020.

Not only is every partnership with Holden in motorsport likely change drastically after the brand is retired, GM International operations senior vice president Julian Blissett said there is some saving grace perhaps for GM speciality vehicles.

“Although its not firmed up, formally our intent and our desire is to basically stay in the market, albeit in a different market and model with the GM specialty vehicles,

“We are in negotiations with our partners to make that happen and that is still work in progress.”

Products like the right-hand drive Corvette will still be available off the back of strong international sales says Blissett.

Red Bull Holden Racing Team made an official statement ahead of the Supercars season opener at Adelaide this weekend on social media.

Gouger Street Party revs up

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Image: Adelaide Rally

Brendan Lines

December 6, 2019

As cars in the Adelaide Rally race across the state, motorsport fans will be able to take a more casual pace getting up close to the machines tonight at the Gouger Street Party 2019.

The fan favourite event will see all of this year’s entrants park their machines in Adelaide’s west-end restaurant district to celebrate motorsport in the city of Adelaide.

Previously a feature of the for now scaled back Adelaide Motorsport Festival, the Gouger Street Party has been retained, but for the first time ever it will be a fully licensed event.

Allowing for more casual fans and die-hards alike to enjoy the event says rally spokesperson and keen racer Tim Possingham.

“ One thing we have seen in previous years is that the crowds are incredibly diverse. We obviously have the car enthusiasts coming along, but we also see city workers joining in for the buzz in the street, families with young kids and lots of people who become the car enthusiasts of the future as a result of seeing not just the beauty, power and style of the cars, but also the camaraderie and carnival atmosphere of the event.”

Attracting near 43 000 visitors over the three days of last year’s event, it’s a boon for local business as traders and sponsors invest more towards the bustling crowds says Possingham.

“This year our sponsors, Amadio Wines, will be operating their pop-up Ruby’s Wine Bar and the entire street is licensed, so people can check out the field of more than 250 rally cars with a glass of wine in hand.

“The Gouger St Traders Association are preparing for the crowds with all restaurants offering extended al fresco dining, plus there will be star drivers, live music, and even an appearance from Adelaide’s own supercar, the Brabham BT62,” he said.

Another home grown racing legend in attendance will be Formula 1 World Champion Alan Jones who is competing in a McLaren 720s Spider.

Jones who raced at the first Australian Formula One Grand Prix in Adelaide in 1985, said to The Advertiser Adelaide continues its good reputation for hosting motorsport events.

“Adelaide is big enough to hold it and do it properly, but small enough to embrace it on a more personal basis,” he said.

The Gouger Street party kicks-off tonight from 5.30pm.

https://www.adelaiderally.com.au/gouger-st-party

Adelaide Alive

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Brendan Lines

November 5, 2015

Motorsport

The first time Adelaide heard the the screech and shrill sounds of Formula 1 was in 1985. Thirty years later the original bespoke turbo charged machinery of the era has returned to Victoria Park.

In conjunction with the return of the Classic Adelaide Rally and the Victoria Park sprint event. Both have combined to create the S.A Motorsport Festival. A three day event that sees racing drawing upon South Australia’s rich motor sport history.

The event saw reportedly 20,000 fans attend over the three days taking in a variety of cars racing in various categories.

But the events biggest draw card, was of course the presence of the legendary Formula 1 turbo era cars. Which originally competed in the first Australian Formula Grand Prix for world championship points.

These included three time world champion Ayrton Senna’s Lotus 97T, the car which secured the first ever pole position at the Adelaide circuit. Also appearing was the car of Australia’s 1980 F1 world champion Alan Jones, the Lola TLH1. Which was the first F1 car to lap the Adelaide Street Circuit.

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Above: Ayrton Senna’s Lotus 1985 97T
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Above: Alan Jone’s Lola Hart TLH1

Other notable entries were the 1986 Benetton B186 which was brought to the event by Australian owner Les Wright. Just one of the many local and interstate owners of classic racing cars brought to the event.

Above: Les Wright’s Benetton B186 pursued by the Lola HartTLH1

Event organiser Tim Possingham from the Sporting Car Club of S.A said that the “Highest ownership of classic cars is here in Adelaide.” Commending the enthusiasm of classic car owners support of this event.

Participants not only raced at the various venues across the state holding stages of the rally. But also did bring their machines to display at the unique city side hub at Victoria Park.

The Victoria Park site made the city side event unique to anywhere else in the world just as it did in 1985 combining tight city streets and parkland section.

Given this years success Mr. Possingham has already expressed that next years event will aim to have up to twenty F1 cars that have previously raced at the Adelaide Circuit over the period of 1985 to 1995. This will also be coupled by celebrity drivers whom have previously raced them.

Mr. Possingham also confirmed Classic Team Lotus International who brought Ayrton Senna’s cars to the event. Have committed two cars next year – however it is yet to be confirmed what models they will be.