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.
Seeing double, twice
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.
Love it or hate it, the three-race, mixed compound format has certainly mixed up the finishing orders.
Ahead of this weekend, there has been a new tweak in the rules surrounding tyres, with Supercars announcing all 24 entries will be on the hard compounds for Saturday’s three-tiered qualifying session.
The ruling was made in an effort to even out the playing field in the elimination-style qualifying session and comes off the back of reigning champion Scott McLaughlin’s calls to make the shootout a fair fight amongst all competitors.
While qualifying on Saturday has changed, drivers can use either tyre compound in Sunday’s two qualifying sessions.
Scott’s sliding doors
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.
Last time they met
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
Championship Top 10
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
The Grid
#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
Weekend Schedule
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