Another year, another mammoth weekend at the Clipsal 500, an event that seems to go from strength to strength. There was plenty going on over the course of three races, and here are my major takeaways:
1. Race Control’s Error
It had been raining torrentially around the circuit for a good five minutes before the yellow flag was called. Neil Crompton and Mark Skaife were harping on about how much rain was falling from the roof of their box into pit lane, the DJR-Team Penske bunker lost power and cars were tiptoeing around like first-timers on an ice rink.
For the life of me, I can’t work out why it took the race officials such a long time to throw the yellow flag and get the safety car out onto the track. That eventual deployment was about thirty seconds too late for James Courtney, whose HRT Commodore whacked the wall hard in the treacherous turn eight, severely damaging his car.
Why Courtney was still being forced to race – if you could call it that – in weather so appalling is beyond me. The race should have been halted as soon as the rain got really heavy. It was madness letting them continue. We’re lucky that no one was seriously injured.
Oh, to be a fly on the wall in the Holden Racing Team garage at that moment. Adrian Burgess must’ve gone absolutely berserk. The race control folks really dropped the ball and cost Courtney any chance of a good finish.
2. LD Motorsport
It was a crazy, weather-affected Sunday race, and sometimes it takes a little assist – or, in this case, a big assist – from Mother Nature to see the minnows of the sport enjoy some time in the limelight. Rain is a great equaliser, for sure, but there was some great strategy calls by the squad, and Nick Percat’s run to an improbable victory in the shortened Sunday race is one of the more memorable Clipsal 500 happenings. LD Motorsport’s first V8 Supercar race victory will not disappear from the memory of anyone who saw it.
I loved seeing the absolute sheer delight on the faces of everyone involved in a team that, to be fair, has been making steady gains over the last twelve months, moving from perennial backmarkers up towards the middle of the field, thanks to Percat’s input and skill. The former Bathurst 1000 champion will savour his first hometown win for a long time to come. And what a popular win it was!
3. Ford Troubles
As the old motorsports adage goes, qualifying is one thing and racing is another. That’s how it was for teams running Ford Falcons this weekend. Three weekend races brought three poles – Scott Pye, Chas Mostert and Fabian Coulthard – for the Blue Oval brigade but none of those head-of-the-field starts were converted into race wins. The good news is that most of the Fords showed good pace throughout what's always a trying and challenging weekend.
4. Nissan’s Speed
Michael Caruso in the NISMO Motorsport Nissan Altima leads the V8 Supercar Series after one race. Obviously, Sunday’s race involved plenty of weather-induced craziness, but even on Saturday, the Kelly boys and Caruso showed enough speed to think that the Altima squad might have really turned the corner as far as consistent race results go.
5. Saturday's Race Format
C’mon, V8 Supercars, give us back a two 250km weekend event. The gruelling races were the hallmark of the Clipsal 500, separating the men from the boys, as the saying goes. For mine, the twin 125km races on Sunday have cheapened what a Clipsal 500 race victory means. Bring back the long Saturday race!
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