The Red Bull’s of Shane van Gisbergen and Jamie Whincup topped Quaifying 1 and 2 of the Melbourne 400 respectively, earning Whincup a prime opportunity for a potential win in his 500^th race weekend.

Eyes on the prize for Jamie Whincup -Image Red Bull

The Holden master lit up the middle sector of the Albert Park track in Qualifying 2 going point-one of a second clear of the Tickford Racing Mustang of Cam Waters, with a 01:55.2809s.

Whincup took some damage on Turn 1 resulting in a bent rim, but with a new tyre set he took to the track and set his top time.

Red Bull now hold both Pole Positions on offer so far this week, a valuable advantage given the limited passing opportunities around Albert Park.

But the X-factor of the weekend that may counter the advantage of pole is tyres says van Gisbergen.

“ It [Tyre difference] is quite big really, to see the lap times like two seconds two and a half seconds, Jamie’s run went off about two seconds in the session this morning, in the afternoon the hot session it might equal out, really you’ll only be able to do two or three laps on the hard and sit out the rest,

“It’s the tyres making racing better this year, hopefully the degradation happens, the weather is pretty hot, hopefully it stays hot, makes the racing good, last year was so spread out because of the cars, hopefully this year it’s closer, hopefully it makes it a bit closer with the strategy differences,” he said.

Will Davison for Milwaukee Racing has been ‘Mr. Consistency’ for season 2020, he now continues his run at the ‘pointy end’ qualifying third in both tomorrow’s races.

The big shock of the session was Penrite Racing’s David Reynolds who after an impressive second fastest in Practice 2.

Reynolds had a wide moment at Turn 12 earning him a curb-strike to his name deleting his time, he now slumps to 17^th for the start of Race 1 tomorrow

2^nd Practice of the Melbourne 400 has been Red-flagged in the closing minutes, but Penrite Racing’s Anton De Pasquale and David Reynold’s were able to keep piling on fastest laps to post a one-two finish for the team.

Macauley Jones’ Big lock-up – Image: Supercars

The follow up session to this afternoon’s 1^st practice saw the teams still juggling tyres for qualifying which is just over an hour away.

Third fastest for the session Rick Kelly posted a late 1:56.9433s, but it may not be a true comparison of outright pace.

“The time sheets look for us look very good we’re in third and it looks fantastic,” Kelly said.

“But we really wanted the session to run out there, so we could see where we sat compared to everyone that was on a lap or just about to start a lap.”

Over at the Penrite Racing garage David Reynolds said it wasn’t smooth sailing with their own woes finding the right tyre selection.

“Right now we’re battling a bit of balance, obviously we’ve got to run the hard and soft tyres, we tried the hard tyre in practice one, and the car felt horrendously bad, then we tried the sort tyre which gives you the grip and the confidence, we’re kind of making in-roads now,” he said.

With Just minutes to go for the session, Macauley Jones’ BJR Commodore suffered A brake failure that saw him in the gravel at Turn 1, Red-flagging the session.

But De Pasquale had the job of going fastest already done, leaving the question of could there have been more pace.

“We always expect to roll out pretty good, just to expect having a bit of pace, you know everyone puts a lot of effort in, but so far it’s alright, obviously the red flag kind of ruins the last runs,” he said.

Qualifying session #1 for Race #1 of the Melbourne 400 kicks-off 4.25pm local time.

Red Bull Holden have showed their card late in the Melbourne 400 1^st Practice topping the time sheets ahead of Tickford Racing’s Lee Holdsworth as teams juggle the unknowns adapting their cars to the Albert Park track.

The soft tyres were a popular choice among the field as Holdsworth set his 1:54.6244 on just his second lap of the session.

“You’ve got to be on it from that first lap because the tyres degrade so quickly, put together a reasonable time and still a bit left on the table,” Holdsworth said.

“The tyres are going off crazy, so there a lot of mistakes going on, I think we’ll see a lot of mistakes out there, in we’ve got a lot less aero this year and the cars are a lot harder to drive.”

Van Gisbergen had his own moment going off early in the session with a brake lock-up but went on to post the second- best time of the session with a 1:56.6080.

Coming in hot for his 500^th race appearance for his career, Jaimie Whincup set a late fastest time in his Red Bull Holden with a 1:56.4196.

The session was Red-flagged early as Scott Pye’s ZB Commodore suffered a battery issue coming to a halt on Turn 8.

Interestingly, DJR Penske pitted the Mustangs of Scott McLaughlin and Fabian Coulthard in response to the Red-flag, but did change their respective hard tyres when the session went back to green.

The current championship leader McLaughlin says there maybe a bit of method on the madness at the DJR garage.

“I prefer a soft around here but I think a hard will really stir the racing up, but I’m picking everyone will want to get on that soft as quick as they can,” he said.

Brendan Lines

February 23, 2020

Mustang driver Scott McLaughlin broke the hearts of Holden fans in the manufacturer’s farewell from the Adelaide 500 snatching an all too close victory from Red Bull’s Shane van Gisbergen.

Scott McLaughlin takes the chequered flag to win the Adelaide 500 – Image Adelaide 500

The win sees McLaughlin now taking back-to-back Adelaide 500 victories.

Undercut by van Gisbergen in the pits after an early safety car, McLaughlin said “we got away with one there absolutely.”

In a race where errors in the pit lane for both teams were the deciding factor, a spirited drive by van Gisbergen in his under-fueled ZB Commodore almost paid-off.

McLaughlin’s DJR Penske Mustang got away to a clean start on the dirty side of the starting grid getting the jump on van Gisbergen who started from pole position.

A Red-flag in the opening laps triggered by Scott Pither’s Commodore going into the wall at the Victoria Park racecourse section, caused both Red Bull and DJR teams to pit under the safety-car.

McLaughlin fueled and took tyres, the traffic in the pit lane caused DJR cars to pit both cars at the same time.

McLaughlin’s pit crew were caught unaware by the Red Bull garage and van Gisbergen was able to pit behind the Mustangs and slip away to take the lead.

It appeared DJR’s own fuel strategy had back-fired letting Red Bull out-fox them in the pitlane.

But Red Bull had another thing coming as van Gisbergen’s pit crew had mistakenly under-fueled his ZB Commodore to only lap 76 of the 78-lap race during their second pit stop.

But van Gisbergen did not simply hand the victory over to McLaughlin, during the middle stint of the race, both drivers matched each other’s time across the first two sectors of the Adelaide street circuit.

With van Gisbergen lighter on fuel, he was able to pull away from McLaughlin in the final sector to build a four-second lead on lap 38.

McLaughlin’s work was cut out to remain in striking distance of the Red Bull which was proving a faster car on track.

“Full credit to Shane and the team they had a fast car today, I think if we were in clear air like we were in the first stint we might have had his measure but he was really fast once he got the clear air,” McLaughlin said.

“Obviously he had a quick car, but yeah it was an awesome battle, because you had that gap if one person made a mistake, if they dropped a little and the other guy did you get it back, it was sort of like tit-for-tat.”

Red Bull played their last card by refueling van Gisbergen and putting him back into the race in fourth on lap 68 with fresh tyres, joining the battle between Holden’s Chaz Mostert and Mustang’s Cam Waters for the remaining podium positions.

Adding insult to injury, van Gisbergen’s Red Bull suffered a right-hand front suspension failure on lap 77, that saw him run wide turning onto the Brock Straight.

van Gisbergen’s Commodore crawled to a halt on the exit of Turn 8, and so did the dreams of Holden fans everywhere for a dream double victory send off in the brand’s final race in Adelaide.

Red Bull Holden Team Principle Mark Dutton put his team’s fuel issues were an ‘honest mistake.’

“Just a bit of a mistake about two seconds too short, Shane drove tremendously to get back to being able to fight and possibly get back on the podium, then we had a front suspension failure,” he said.

But it was not all bad news for Holden fans as Chaz Mostert was the surprise of the day, qualifying fifth and shrugging off illness, the Holden driver stepped onto the podium in his debut race for Walkinshaw-Andretti United, signing off Holden’s racing legacy at Adelaide with a second place.

“To see the emotion in there for the podium it’s pretty amazing,” he said.

It has been a historic week for all Holden fans in Adelaide hoping for the dream send off, they will have to wait to have the last laugh over the Mustangs across the Supercars season.

Supercars head to the Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park for the Melbourne 400 March 12-15th

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.