Supercars: Newcastle 500, results, live updates, van Gisbergen wins for third-straight year, protest
The result of the Newcastle 500 could be altered pending a protest made against Triple Eight, with race winner Shane van Gisbergen in the spotlight. See the details here.
Supercars stewards will meet on Saturday night to rule on the legitimacy of Triple Eight’s one-two finish in the season-opening race at Newcastle.
News Corp Australia understands a protest has been lodged against Triple Eight in relation to allegedly adding dry ice to the drivers’ side door of both cars during Saturday’s race.
Under Supercars rules, any driver cooling system must be: “mounted within the cockpit utilizing the mounting points designated in the GSD for the passenger seat”.
Race winner Shane van Gisbergen had previously complained of overheating during Friday’s practice session, labelling it the “hottest car I have driven in a long time”.
The three-time Supercars champion doubled down on those comments in the post-race on Saturday, adding the reason he was late to the podium ceremony was because he “was cooked”.
Supercars had allowed teams to add heat proofing measures to their cars between Friday practice and Saturday qualifying in response to van Gisbergen’s concerns over the temperature in the cabin.
A Motorsport Australia spokesperson confirmed a hearing would be held on Saturday night in relation to the protest.
If a protest is successful, the result of the race may be altered.
VAN GISBERGEN MAKES HISTORY IN MAIDEN GEN3 RACE
For the third-straight year Shane van Gisbergen is the star of the Supercars season opener, defying the doubters with a masterful display on the streets of Newcastle.
The Kiwi king rose from sixth on the grid to take an early lead in the 2023 championship battle, racing home ahead of teammate Broc Feeney and Tickford’s title challenger Cam Waters.
The Gen3 era was supposed to usher in an end to his and Triple Eight’s Supercars dominance. Instead, it looks like business as usual.
Van Gisbergen made it 16 wins in the past 18 season openers for Triple Eight, continuing a trend of early dominance by the established Supercars yardstick.
His 14.583s gap to Feeney was also the largest in seven starts at Newcastle, besting his own mark from 2019.
The pre-season favourite began his title defence on the third row of the grid after a lock-up at turn two hampered his hopes of pole position in the Top Ten Shootout.
But van Gisbergen has always done his best work during the race and so it proved on Saturday, with the three-time Supercars champion quickly rising to fourth before entering a thrilling battle with the Monster Mustang of Waters.
On Friday, Triple Eight boss Jamie Whincup suggested teams would roll out with “radical” race strategies for the Gen3 opener and it was the reigning champion team that took the early gamble.
With second-placed Waters gallantly fighting off his Red Bull rival in the early stages, Triple Eight chose to pit van Gisbergen and run him on less fuel.
A lighter, faster van Gisbergen was released at the front of the field and he set about opening up a sizeable gap over the chasing pack.
Pole sitter Brodie Kostecki looked poised to break his Supercars duck after leading comfortably through the first 30-odd laps of the race.
But Erebus got their pit stop slightly wrong and the West Australian came out behind both Waters and Feeney, leaving the Coca Cola Camaro to play catch-up.
It was at the second set of pit stops around the 50-lap mark that the next major move was made, with Feeney pipping Waters at pit exit to move into second, giving Triple Eight a one-two run home.
Kostecki ultimately crossed the line in fifth – disappointing given he had topped Friday practice and the qualifying timesheet, before gapping the field in the Top Ten Shootout.
He was passed on lap 80 by Chaz Mostert down the straight and the Walkinshaw Andretti Mustang went on to finish fourth, recording the fastest lap in the process.
Saturday’s race marked just the third time a pole sitter in Newcastle did not go on to win and first since Scott McLaughlin did so from third in 2018.
It was still a fruitful day for the team at Erebus, which showed it could be a genuine force in 2023 after Will Brown came home in sixth.
But the day ultimately belonged to Triple Eight, who made it three Newcastle wins on the trot with van Gisbergen’s victory dating back to the 2019 double with him and Whincup.
Meanwhile, it was a disastrous day for the Ford flagship team at Dick Johnson Racing with neither driver cracking the top 10.
Will Davison fell foul to a clutch issue that hampered his qualifying and had him starting from the seventh row, while Anton De Pasquale was spun on lap two and quickly found himself at the foot of the field.
Davison finished P13 and his teammate P19 – a far cry from the second and fourth-place finishes the Shell V-Power duo managed in the 2022 season opener.
In his 400th Supercars start, Tim Slade was poised for a comfortable top 10 finish before disaster struck in pit lane.
The PremiAir driver was left stranded by a stubborn wheel that refused to release, sending him to the back of the field and out of contention.
Nick Percat’s run of bad fortune continued in 2023, with the Walkinshaw Andretti driver the only car unable to finish the race.
Incredibly, Saturday’s race was just the second time in seven starts that a safety car was not needed in the Steel City.
The clean racing belied all the early fears from drivers, who had prophesised a Newcastle nightmare on the Gen3 supercar’s debut.
For fans keeping track of the parity problem, Chevrolet put seven cars in the top 10.
The action from Newcastle continues on Sunday, with qualifying from 11.15am AEDT.
KOSTECKI GAPS FIELD IN SHOOTOUT, VAN GISBERGEN’S COSTLY ERROR
Brodie Kostecki is poised to break his Supercars duck after gapping the field in the Top Ten Shootout to start on pole for Saturday’s season opener in Newcastle.
The Coca Cola No. 99 was the only car to crack the 1min 12sec barrier in the shootout, punching in a 1:11.8481 to start on the front row opposite Tickford star Cam Waters.
Less than 0.25s separated second from tenth in an almost comically close field.
Triple Eight sophomore Broc Feeney landed in P3 in the shootout and will start on the second row alongside Tim Slade, who lines up for his 400th Supercars race this afternoon in the surprisingly quick PremiAir Racing No. 23.
The only two previous Newcastle winners in the 2023 field will start on the third row, with David Reynolds leading Shane van Gisbergen.
Reigning champion van Gisbergen’s shootout was hampered by a horror lock-up at turn two, ruining his first sector and forcing the Kiwi star to play catch-up.
Would-be title challenger Chaz Mostert landed in P7, followed by Andre Heimgartner, Scott Pye and James Golding.
“It just means so much to the whole team,” Kostecki said of his pole, just the second in his Supercars career.
“They put together an absolutely awesome piece.
“Maybe it’s a bit of the NASCAR background – I’ve felt really at home since I jumped in this thing.”
The opening race of the Supercars season begins at 3.20pm AEDT.
CAMARO DOMINATES MAIDEN GEN3 QUALIFYING
Friday champion Brodie Kostecki has topped the first qualifying of the 2023 Supercars season as the Camaro sent seven cars into the Top Ten Shootout later this afternoon.
Erebus ace Kostecki picked up where he left off in practice on Friday, topping the qualifying timesheet with a 1:11.3217 to lead Walkinshaw Andretti’s Chaz Mostert (+0.0371) and reigning Supercars champion, Shane van Gisbergen (+0.1141).
Team 18 landed in P4 with Tim Slade, followed by David Reynolds and Cam Waters – making it three Mustangs in the top six.
But from there it was GM dominance, with Triple Eight sophomore Broc Feeney qualifying P7 ahead of Andre Heimgartner, Scott Pye and James Golding.
It was a horror start for the Ford flagship team at Dick Johnson Racing, with Anton De Pasquale landing in P17 while Will Davison’s qualifying was killed off by a clutch issue.
The Shell V-Power No. 17 had complained of a similar issue overnight and it reared its head again early on Saturday.
Davison returned to the fray after frantic adjustments in the garage but the veteran hit the team radio after only a few laps, complaining: “it’s (the clutch) on the floor mate”.
It leaves perennial title challengers DJR with an uphill battle to make the podium in the season opener, with neither of De Pasquale and Davison through to the Top Ten Shootout which begins at 12.35pm AEDT.
SUPERCARS LEGEND HAILS SPORT’S NEW ERA AS GAME CHANGER
Jamie Whincup has declared the Supercars season opener wide open, adding “no one really knows” what Saturday’s 95 laps through the streets of Newcastle will bring.
The Triple Eight Race Engineering managing director, who was the last driver to win at Newcastle back in 2019, told News Corp the strategy book that worked so well in the past would be thrown out the window with the introduction of Gen 3 cars.
“All that knowledge with the old car you basically throw it all out and start again — everyone in pit lane will have done the same thing,” Whincup said.
Reigning champion Shane van Gisbergen ran second-fastest in Friday’s practice sessions —narrowly trailing Erebus ace Brodie Kostecki — while sophomore star Broc Feeney was 16th fastest.
But with few drivers running extended stints on the same tyres throughout practice, questions still remain over how the Gen3 cars will fare under tyre degradation over 250km on Saturday.
“You take an educated guess,” Whincup said.
“We have some data and we can see how much the tyres were worn out with the laps we did – every team will be doing that. (But) no one really knows what’s going to happen on the long stint.
“Not knowing what the tyre degradation is going to be, I think we’ll find some real radical strategies (used by teams on Saturday).
“With these cars, you can follow and pass now, so there will be some real confidence that you can stop, grab a new set of tyres, go to the back of the pack and come through (the field).
“It’s shaping up to be exciting.”
Triple Eight has held a monopoly on season openers in recent years, winning 14 of the past 15, and van Gisbergen’s early practice pace has the Kiwi king right in contention to continue the trend.
“I didn’t know that,” Whincup revealed of the win streak.
“We always like to hit the ground running and always work really hard in the off-season to make sure we start strong in round one, but history doesn’t guarantee anything for us.
“It’s all open slather and we’ll just wait and see what tomorrow brings.”
Van Gisbergen had earlier complained about overheating inside the new Camaro throughout practice, telling reporters it was the “hottest car I’ve driven in a long time”.
Whincup said Supercars had acted quickly by allowing teams to install heat protection in the cabins to help alleviate the issue.
“With the changes they’ve made it makes complete sense that the cabin is a little hotter, but Supercars has reacted – we’re now allowed to put a bit of heat shielding in – so hopefully that will bring the cabin temp down tomorrow.”
Saturday qualifying begins at 11.15am AEDT, followed by the Top Ten Shootout at 12.35pm before race start after 3.20pm.
SPOTLIGHT ON SVG AS SUPERCARS RETURNS TO NEWCASTLE
The spotlight is on Triple Eight ace Shane van Gisbergen as the reigning Supercars champion readies for his title defence on the streets of Newcastle.
The first ‘Friday champion’ of Gen3 went to the Erebus No. 99 of Brodie Kostecki who clocked a 1:11.4068 in the final session, with van Gisbergen just 0.0557 back in second.
Triple Eight has owned a near-monopoly on season openers in recent years – winning a ridiculous 14 of the past 15 – and van Gisbergen’s practice form bodes well for a repeat performance to open the Gen3 era.
The Kiwi king was a Saturday victor when Newcastle last hosted a Supercars round in 2019 and is one of only two active drivers – the other David Reynolds – to have won a race in the Steel City.
The previous three pole sitters have all gone on to win at Newcastle, making Saturday’s qualifying and Top Ten Shootout particularly pivotal in the jostle for early season bragging rights.
With the true performance limit of the Gen3 supercars still a relative unknown, Cam Waters’ 2019 qualifying time of 1:10.1095s will be the early benchmark for fans to compare the old and new machines.
That time was hardly nudged in practice on Friday as teams tinkered with setups before venturing into the relative unknown that is 95 laps in the concrete canyon with new machines.
Drivers forecast carnage in the preamble but, miraculously, all 25 cars stayed out of the wall on Friday.
Turns one and two caused plenty of troubles however, with more than a few cars forced to run off into the escape areas as drivers struggled to get a handle on the braking zones.
They loom as some of the key battlegrounds for the opening race on Saturday, along with the tricky hairpin at turn 10.
Andre Heimgartner topped the first session with a 1:11.9958, continuing Brad Jones Racing’s practice dominance dating back to the official test day in Sydney last month.
Van Gisbergen clocked a 1:11.7555 to take honours in the second session, before Kostecki punched the fastest time of the day in the afternoon.
We could watch this @jcourtney narrated lap ALL day.#RepcoSC#Supercarspic.twitter.com/ENNSfSaHYf
— Supercars (@supercars) March 10, 2023
PARITY RESTORED?
It took until three days out from the season opener for the Ford and General Motors homologating teams to officially sign-off on the Gen3 cars as ready to race.
With pre-season scrutiny firmly on the reported disparity between the Mustang and Camaro, there was particular intrigue in the times coming out of Friday’s practice.
And Ford fans can seemingly breathe a sigh of relief, with Ford fielding five cars in the top-10 across all three practice sessions on Friday – however Camaro held sway at the top of the time sheet on each occasion.
ON TOP OF THE HILL
Matt Stone Racing first-timer Cameron Hill lay down an early marker against his rookie rivals, outpacing Tickford’s Declan Fraser and Grove Racing’s Matt Payne on Friday.
Hill spent the first two practice sessions near the foot of the time sheet alongside his fellow rookies, however punched out a 1:11.9225 to finish 11th-fastest in the afternoon.
Highly-regarded 20-year-old Payne clocked in with 1:11.9782, ahead of graduating Super2 champion Fraser in 24th with a 1:12.4029.
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