MOTORSPORT: Holden Commodore dominates at F1 GP

The new Holden ZB Commodore has continued its triumphal debut in Supercars racing, claiming three of the four race wins in the category’s first points-paying championship round at the weekend’s Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix.

Defending champion Jamie Whincup, Scott Pye and David Reynolds stood atop the podium for Holden at Albert Park, while Scott McLaughlin broke through to take his and the Ford FGX Falcon’s first win for the year.

The results will do little to quell the concern of Ford Falcon and Nissan Altima teams who rushed new lightweight composite panels onto their cars for Melbourne after the new Holden Commodore showed blistering form in the Adelaide championship opener

In championship terms, the results shake-out to mean Whincup’s teammate Shane van Gisbergen has a 49-point lead over Reynolds, with McLaughlin a further 12 points back. Chaz Mostert, Pye and Whincup complete the top six (full top 10 points at the bottom of the story).

Whincup also collected the Larry Perkins Trophy for the high point-scorer across the unique four-race format, which included two 120km races on Friday and Saturday evening and two 70km races on Saturday and Sunday.

Amazingly, after dominating in Adelaide, van Gisbergen couldn’t get on the podium in Melbourne in any of the four races, managing two fourths and two 13th places.

He struggled through qualifying, even sitting 26th and last on the grid for the final race. But the car improved through the races and, as ever, he raced forward.

“I think we had a really troublesome weekend on the first two days and then we got the car better. It didn’t fix our qualifying results, but I think we salvaged a good weekend, minimised the points loss and I think we’re still ahead in the championship by a small amount. We did a good job from race one onwards," van Gisbergen said.

While the 2016 champion was in the horrors, it was undoubtedly the greatest Supercars weekend of Pye’s career, scoring his first win in his 165th race.

Once a protégé of Triple Eight Race Engineering boss Roland Dane, the South Australia has suffered true tragedy in his life, losing his father Robert (and closest racing supporter) to cancer and nearly dying himself in a horrific road accident at 13.

While Pye has shown pace, his progress has been staccato since joining the championship in 2013, first racing for backmarker teams and then getting a shot with DJR Team Penske when Marcos Ambrose dramatically pulled the pin two races into his 2015 comeback. He was then replaced at that squad by McLaughlin for 2017 and moved to Walkinshaw Racing.

Appropriately, his win didn’t come easily. He took the lead after McLaughlin speared off, then had his own moment late in the race, but held on in the rain on slicks in failing light despite immense pressure from Whincup.

It was the first for the team in its new structure with investment from US racing legend Michael Andretti and the English outfit United Autosports, which is part-owned by McLaren F1 boss Zak Brown.

“My dad is up there, it feels like he could have helped a bit more with the weather. Obviously, I miss him and this is for him today,” Pye said.

The wins by Reynolds and Whincup were relatively straight-forward lights-to-flag runs, while McLaughlin had to repass Whincup to claim his win on Friday after being leapfrogged in the pits.

Others to show good form over the weekend included Nick Percat in the Brad Jones Racing Commodore, which podiumed twice, and McLaughlin’s teammate Fabian Coulthard, who endured a terrible Adelaide but was competitive in Melbourne.

Plenty more – the entire Tickford Racing squad apart from Mostert, plus Nissan, Craig Lowndes and Garry Rogers Motorsport’s Garth Tander among them – will be looking for an uptick in pace come the next championship event at Symmons Plans Raceway near Launceston on April 6-8.

Virgin Australia Supercars Championship point score:
1 Shane van Gisbergen Red Bull Holden Racing Team Holden Commodore ZB 486
2 David Reynolds Erebus Penrite Racing Holden Commodore ZB 437
3 Scott McLaughlin Shell V-Power Racing Team Ford Falcon FG X 425
4 Chaz Mostert Supercheap Auto Racing Ford Falcon FG X 416
5 Scott Pye Mobil 1 Boost Mobile Racing Holden Commodore ZB 397
6 Jamie Whincup Red Bull Holden Racing Team Holden Commodore ZB 379
7 James Courtney Mobil 1 Boost Mobile Racing Holden Commodore ZB 375
8 Nick Percat Tempur Racing Holden Commodore ZB 352
9 Mark Winterbottom The Bottle-O Racing Team Ford Falcon FG X 329
10 Cameron Waters Monster Energy Racing Ford Falcon FG X 325