MOTORSPORT: Red Bulls emerge on top

The topsy-turvy 2016 Virgin Australia Supercars Championship (VASC) took on a somewhat more predictable tone in Townsville over the weekend as Red Bull Racing’s Jamie Whincup and Shane van Gisbergen won both 200km races.

For the first time this year there were no new winners and also for the first time the drivers’ championship points lead did not rotate into new hands; Whincup entered the round leading Triple Eight Race Engineering team-mate Craig Lowndes by 30 points and exited leading van Gisbergen by 53.

Completing the domination of proceeding by the heavy-end of pitlane, defending champion Mark Winterbottom shared the poles with Whincup and finished third in both races in his Prodrive ‘The Bottle-O’ Ford Falcon FG X.

The only surprising result (sort of) was second place for James Courtney in the Holden Racing Team Commodore on Sunday. The 2010 Supercar champion benefitted from an inspired late-race call by engineer Robbie Starr to swap to fresh tyres during a safety car period with only a few laps to left to run.

Courtney pitted from seventh position, re-emerged in ninth and charged through to finish second, pipping Winterbottom in a drag to the line.

The result was a vital boost for HRT, which has been enduring a painful rebuild in 2016 and a run of poor results since Courtney’s win at the Clipsal 500 at the start of the season.

The result came only hours after Courtney told news agency AAP he might race overseas next year depending on how his negotiations with HRT and the team’s negotiations with Holden proceed for contract extensions.

There were other performances from unexpected quarters too. David Reynolds was strong all weekend at Reid Park in the Erebus Motorsport Penrite Holden Commodore. He starred on Sunday with a strong shoot-out performance and a brilliant start to the race, confidently holding third. He was overwhelmed at the end as cars on fresh tyres charged forward, but for Betty Klimenko’s rebuilt team it was the best weekend of the year.

The same could be said for Triple Eight, which is gradually taking control of both the drivers’ and teams championship yet again.

But there were some rough moments. Lowndes’ chance of a decent result on one of few tracks in the championship where he has never won, were shot down when the Team Vortex crew accidentally put old rear tyres on the car at a stop. He now trails Whincup by 153 points.

Van Gisbergen also benefitted from a swap of strategy during Sunday’s race after he flat-spotted his left front tyre early, despite Whincup leading him on the road and having pitlane priority. The New Zealander went on to win the race while the six-time champion was forced onto the alternate strategy and missed out on a shot at a double for the weekend and his 100th victory in his illustrious Supercars career.

“It was a team strategy but Jamie got the rough end of the stick with that one,” Red Bull team manger Mark Dutton told Speedcafe.com.

At the other end of the field there were plenty of dramas, but mostly of a commercial nature. Rookie Aaren Russell’s future in the category is now under a cloud following ructions between his sponsor Plus Fitness and Klimenko, who runs the car for him. The dispute came to light when Plus Fitness signage appeared on the Commodores of Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport at the last minute on Saturday.

Before that the LDM Holdens had been bereft of sponsorship after a new deal with a Gold Coast businessman fell apart and ended up in the Brisbane Supreme Court.

V8 Supercars Championship points:
1 Jamie Whincup – Red Bull Racing Australia – Holden Commodore VF – 1545
2 Shane van Gisbergen – Red Bull Racing Australia – Holden Commodore VF – 1492
3 Mark Winterbottom - The Bottle-O Racing – Ford Falcon FG X - 1470
4 Craig Lowndes – TeamVortex – Holden Commodore VF – 1392
5.Scott McLaughlin – Wilson Security Racing GRM – Volvo S60 – 1374