MOTORSPORT: Gold Coast 600 a wash-out

No-one was remotely surprised when the Gold Coast 600 was rained-off at the height of a tropic deluge.

Wild weather hits the glitter strip at the same time every year, so there has been carnage, crashes, safety cars and red flags almost from the first time the unforgiving concrete canyons hosted IndyCar racing in the early 1990s.

But no-one could have predicted the various and outrageous outcomes from this year’s running of the twin 300km Supercars contests in Queensland's holiday capital.

Chaz Mostert won the Saturday race after a diabolical season in the Tickford team’s Ford Falcon.

James Moffat was Mostert’s co-driver and was mistake free as he led the second heat on Sunday, despite being benched from Carrera Cup racing after a physical altercation with a rival driver.

Both of the Red Bull Holden Racing Team cars were penalised on Saturday for unsafe pitlane releases into oncoming traffic.

Championship leader Shane van Gisbergen and his arch-rival Scott McLaughlin were both scrubbed from a Top 10 Shootout for shortcutting the high-speed beachfront chicane.

Craig Lowndes drove from 21st to second on Saturday in a mega run after a win-or-bust strategy call that was made easier as he was the only main-game shark in a sea of co-driver minnows.

Paul Dumbrell finished his Supercars career in the fence after crashing the car that he and Jamie Whincup have shared to so much success.

And, to top it off, ‘old mate’ -- that’s Lowndes, who shared as usual with his Bathurst-winning co-driver Steve Richards in the Autobarn Commodore -- claimed the Pirtek Cup for Supercars’ 'Season of Endurance' through Sandown, Bathurst and the Gold Coast.

There were also cars that lost wheels, cars that misfired and misbehaved, drivers who made mistakes and drivers who capitalised on the errors of others.

The one who arguably benefitted the most was McLaughlin, who somehow left the Gold Coast back in the lead of the championship.

His margin is a bare 14 points to van Gisbergen, but it was vanGiz who arrived on the Gold Coast with the title lead and a Holden ZB Commodore that is now doing what he wants and has a slight edge over the DJR Team Penske Falcon which has previously given McLaughlin a narrow speed advantage.

There was no sign of crowing from McLaughlin, even though another pole position on Saturday makes him unbeatable as the fastest man of 2018 and though he has proven form at the next round, on home ground at Pukekehoe in New Zealand, and then the Supercars grand final in Newcastle.

“Our objective this weekend was to close the championship gap, and we’re leaving with the championship lead. It’s a slender lead, but it’s good to have the orange numbers back (which the series’ leader wears while the rest have yellow),” he said.

“It’s been neck and neck the whole time. Me and Shane are battling hard. Coming out of here we know they are going to be very strong to get the championship lead is nice.”

The Saturday action was punctuated by a single safety car period, but it was fatal for the Red Bulls as both were released too early from their pit stalls.

It was surreal to see two cars from the dominant team over the past 15 years trailing through the pits, serving their penalties like a pair of naughty kids.

But their drama, and crash damage that limited McLaughin’s expected speed, opened the way for a solid run to the top by Mostert and Moffat, as Lowndes and Richards were a popular second, and James Courtney -- always harder to pass than a kidney stone and at his best on street circuits -- held off a freight-train of rivals to give himself and Jack Perkins third in their Commodore.

The weather forecast was the main topic leading up to the Sunday race, even if the morning was bathed in bright sunshine and ‘Crazy’ Dave Reynolds took top spot in the Shootout to give him pole position in a race at Sandown, Bathurst and the Gold Coast and give him a brief smile after his disastrous effort at Mount Panorama.

The race began under threatening skies and Luke Youlden did well to convert Reynolds’ pole into the early lead, as there was predictable co-driver bumping in the pack before Moffat got to the front.

Most of the main-game drivers only got a handful of laps before the race was called by lead official Tim Schenken, but no-one was really unhappy and Lowndes was happiest of all as he and Richards grabbed the Pirtek Cup.

The bottom line after the Gold Coast is now simple: two races, two cars, two teams and two contenders.

The only thing that McLaughlin and van Gisbergen share is their New Zealand passports, which means they are both claiming a home-ground edge going to Pukekehoe for another critical contest ahead of the Supercars decider on the streets of Newcastle.