It may have been a week later than planned, but the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship’s first round in Darwin gets underway this weekend with the popular BetEasy Darwin Triple Crown.

 

Ahead of the first of two rounds at Hidden Valley Raceway, motorsport.org.au previews some of the key Supercars news between rounds.

 

There is no doubt this season has been very challenging for all those involved in the sport – from administrators, to drivers and their teams.

However, starting this weekend, the focus will be squarely on the action with a mouth-watering four rounds over four consecutive weeks.

Starting this weekend with the BetEasy Darwin Triple Crown, the Championship will spend another week in the Northern Territory at Hidden Valley to contest the CoreStaff Darwin SuperSprint on 22-23 August.
 


When the racing concludes next Sunday evening , there will be no rest, with the Supercars show headed straight to Townsville, where they will run two rounds at Reid Park back-to-back.

For the Supercars fan, it’s heaven, but there’s no doubt it will put a big strain on teams to get things right. However, it continues to show the unity amongst the competition with every member of the Supercars roadshow digging deep to keep the Championship alive in 2020.


Rubber tweaks


There has been a lot of coverage surrounding the new format that has been introduced post-COVID restrictions, especially when it comes to managing tyres.

If Scott Pye hadn’t made one important phone call while in the Gold Coast between rounds, then this weekend’s grid could have looked a little different.

 

While waiting to make the move to Darwin, Scott Pye had been on a typical mountain bike ride with Shane van Gisbergen, but fell heavily on a rock during the ride, suffering a deep cut to his knee.

 

Initially Pye hadn’t thought anything of it and carried on with his day as per usual, but his knee continued to swell into the night. Pye then decided to call Supercars doctor Dr Carl Le, where he was told to head to the Hospital emergency room
 immediately.


 

Following Le’s orders, Pye casually went to the hospital for what he assumed would be a quick visit, but ended up staying up to 48 hours, as Doctors had identified a serious infection, with suggestion he could have missed the round had he not received
 treatment.


But thanks to Le’s quick thinking, Pye is all fit and firing, in Darwin and ready to race.

Race 10

Pole: Scott McLaughlin

Winner: Scott McLaughlin

Runner-Up: Chaz Mostert 

Third: David Reynolds

Race 11

Pole: Scott McLaughlin

Winner: Scott McLaughlin

Runner-Up: David Reynolds

Third: Fabian Coulthard

 

Scott McLaughlin – 802 points

Jamie Whincup – 695

Chaz Mostert – 610

Nick Percat – 569

Cameron Waters – 569

David Reynolds – 562

Shane van Gisbergen – 539

Lee Holdsworth – 535

Mark Winterbottom – 514

Andre Heimgartner – 456

 

#2 Holden Commodore ZB – Bryce Fullwood

#3 Holden Commodore ZB – Macauley Jones

#4 Holden Commodore ZB – Jack Smith

#5 Ford Mustang – Lee Holdsworth

#6 Ford Mustang – Cameron Waters

#7 Ford Mustang – Andre Heimgartner

#8 Holden Commodore ZB – Nick Percat

#9 Holden Commodore ZB – David Reynolds

#12 Ford Mustang – Fabian Coulthard

#14 Holden Commodore ZB – Todd Hazelwood

#15 Ford Mustang – Rick Kelly

#17 Ford Mustang – Scott McLaughlin

#18 Holden Commodore ZB – Mark Winterbottom

#19 Holden Commodore ZB – Alex Davison

#20 Holden Commodore ZB – Scott Pye

#22 Holden Commodore ZB – Chris Pither

#25 Holden Commodore ZB – Chaz Mostert

#34 Holden Commodore ZB – Jake Kostecki

#35 Holden Commodore ZB – Garry Jacobson

#44 Ford Mustang – James Courtney

#55 Ford Mustang – Jack Le Brocq

#88 Holden Commodore ZB – Jamie Whincup

#97 Holden Commodore ZB – Shane van Gisbergen

#99 Holden Commodore ZB – Anton De Pasquale

 

 

Saturday 15 August

10:10-10:30am – Rookie-only practice

10:50-11:20am – Practice 1

11:50am-12:20pm – Practice 2

1:05-1:15pm – Qualifying Part 1 Race 13

1:20-1:30pm – Qualifying Part 2 Race 13

1:40-2:20pm – Top 15 Shootout Race 13

3:30-4:17pm – Race 13 

 

Sunday 16 August

11:40-11:50am – Qualifying Race 14

11:55-12:05am – Qualifying Race 15

1:20-2:07pm – Race 14 

3:30-4:17pm – Race 15