MATTFactor: Super end to Supercars and Supercup

The last time I wrote the MATTFactor column for motoring.com.au I was getting ready for the last European races of the Porsche Supercup season before heading back to Australia for the Supercars enduros with the Red Bull Holden Racing Team.

All in all, it was a crazy couple of months and even though the Supercars races perhaps didn’t go quite the way we would have liked, we still got some good results and then the end to our Supercup season was fantastic.

I’ve been really happy with how things have gone this year. I didn’t expect to win so early in the season this year, and to win again at the end – when third place in the championship was on the line – was great.

The experience has been fantastic all year and a huge learning curve. I’d never lived outside of my home town of Warwick before this year; now I’m living over there and doing it all myself. It’s a big change!

The learning I did in Carrera Cup Australia was critical and I got so much out of it. It really boosted me for overseas.

Porsche Supercup Monza
Monza was a very special weekend, with so many passionate Italian fans and one of the most historic Grands Prix on the calendar.

To win the race the way we did just made the place that much more special! We had a tough couple of rounds in the middle of the year so to win there was fantastic.

I got a good start and led the first lap but there was an early Safety Car phase when a car went into the gravel. My restart went really well and that was the key to that race – I managed to build on my lead and bring it home safely.

I heard afterwards that it was pretty ‘interesting’ back in the field but I was only looking forward and trying to pull away.

Sandown 500
After Monza I flew back to Australia to tackle the Supercars endurance season for the Red Bull Holden Racing Team. It is safe to say that the campaign was very up and down for Shane (van Gisbergen) and myself.

We came so close to a good result at Sandown despite a difficult start to the weekend where we could only manage to qualify 19th.

We were running third with 15 minutes to go and we had a tyre failure – an issue that struck us and several other cars – which caused us to fall down the order at the end.

Bathurst 1000
You probably saw what happened at Bathurst. It didn’t disappoint as usual and threw everything at us in typical Mount Panorama style. We had dry running throughout practice and qualifying, only for it to heave down with rain for 90 per cent of the race.

We started fifth but went down a lap early after I got hit twice during my stint. Shane got us back on the lead lap before I completed my final stints, then led the race towards the end after coming throughout the field.

On the day it was probably frustrating to finish fifth, but looking back it was probably not the worst result given what happened to our car.

Gold Coast 600
The Gold Coast was another tough weekend with so much rain on Saturday followed by perfect conditions on Sunday.

It was a solid weekend for us, though. Shane was great at the end on Saturday and almost got us onto the podium in the first race. On Sunday he qualified the car on pole which gave me the job of starting with a clear track in front!

It was a great stint to be part of because the three Triple Eight cars were running line astern, and it was great to run with PD (Paul Dumbrell) and Richo (Steve Richards) for the opening stint.

In the end we finished third – and it was great to stand on that podium and get a surfboard!

It was great to keep moving forward after fifth at Bathurst and then fourth and third in the two Gold Coast races. It also made sure Shane stayed in the championship hunt which was critical.

Driving with the RBHRT was a massive opportunity for me and I really enjoyed it – they are the best team in pit lane and showed why.

Porsche Supercup Mexico
Straight after finishing on the Gold Coast I jumped on a plane the next morning to fly to Mexico.

This was probably one of the rounds I was looking forward to the most as it was a completely new track for the Porsche Supercup – it was a level playing field because no one on the grid had been there before.

Arriving there we sat third in the championship, but only just, so we needed to have a good weekend to remain there.

From the outset we were never outside of the top two cars in every session. We started race one from second and race two from pole -- and went on to win both races!

It was an amazing way to end the year and to seal P3 in the championship in my rookie season – well, I couldn’t have been happier about my results.

It was a great end to the season for me and my FACH Auto Tech team.

The competition was incredible at every race this year. As an Aussie, every racetrack was new territory and I first had to gain experience. Third overall in the championship is absolutely fine.

To finish the year with four wins -- equal highest in the championship -- is above expectations.

Next steps
From here we will review the year with Porsche and look ahead to 2018.

I’m already looking forward to building on what we started this year and my thanks go to everyone back home who has supported me throughout the season – I couldn’t have done it without you all!