Garry Roger’s from Wilson Security Racing GRM writes his thoughts on the latest round of the 2016 V8 Supercars Championship – Sydney…………..
The final round in what has been one of my most enjoyable seasons in the 53 that I have been a part of. Sure, the year from our point of view has been challenging off the track, but I am so proud of all the boys and girls at GRM with the manner in which they have attacked the work required to see us have what I see as a very, very good season.
Joe Sullivan left in the Volvo Globetrotter FH16 700 on Tuesday morning for Sydney and proudly joined the car park on the Monash Freeway. Joey took a little detour on his trip travelling via the Blue Mountains. As mentioned in earlier reports Joe’s Motorsport career began back in 1970 with a trip to Bathurst with Murray Carter and he was caught by the bug. Joe was mesmerised by Motorsport, particularly the Ford GT Falcons. In 1971 he met a driver by the name of Bob Skelton who drove a Brian Byrt Ford sponsored XY GT HO. Joe admired Bob and on his trip to Sydney this year he visited Bob who is now in a senior citizens home located in the Blue Mountains. We are really proud of Joe and the fact that he takes his time (and ours!) to make somebody feel special. Well done Joey!
The Sydney Street Race at Homebush was the last to be held at the Olympic venue and next year we will be racing in the streets of Newcastle. It is unbelievable how quickly the time passes as this was the 8th time the Sydney 500 was raced at Homebush. Over the years this venue has certainly provided me some fond memories. It was the place where Lee Holdsworth won in 2010 and in 2012 it was the place where Scott McLaughlin first drove for GRM following his win earlier in the day in the 2012 DVS Championship. We had to find a driver because Alex Premat had suffered heat exhaustion on the Saturday and was unable to drive on the Sunday. For a brief moment I considered putting the helmet on myself, but was briskly reminded that my beliefs far outweighed my ability! I had watched Scott throughout the year in DVS and was particularly impressed with the manner in which he handled the final round when either Percat, Mostert or he could win. Scott was the one with the cool hea d and I thought “let’s give him a go!”
Four years on and this time we are saying good bye to Scott and both he and the Team have plenty to play for over the weekend. From a driver’s point of view Scotty has 21 points to make up on Craig Lowndes to finish 3rd in the Championship and from a team’s perspective we are 37 points back from HRT who sit second behind 888 in the Teams Championship.
Friday and following the 2 x 40minute practice sessions the Volvo’s were 6th (McLaughlin) and 21st (Moffat). Van Gisbergen continued his incredible form and topped the time sheets. Sydney this time of year is very humid, but the day was also incredibly hot with the temperature reaching 37 degrees. The weather for Saturday was predicted in the mid 20’s and as such much of what you have been trying to achieve on the Friday becomes irrelevant. The cars behaviour in regards to grip level and power is influenced by the temperature and what works on a hot day won’t have the same impact on a cooler day and vice versa.
Friday night and our very good friends at Volvo trucks had some customers in town and Barry and I headed into the city to have a much needed cold beer with them. We really enjoy talking to the truck customers and listening to their stories of adventure and it really motivates me when you have a transport company that started with one truck and a bloke who drove, invoiced, packed, unpacked, serviced the truck, washed the truck and worked their backside off and today may run 200 plus truck and trailers.
This year was the first year that we have raced on the Dunlop SOFT tyre only. For both Saturday and Sunday we are allocated a total of 6 sets. During the 20 minute qualifying session each of the sets is used to complete an out lap, qualifying lap and in lap. It’s vital that the driver has a really good go, but also important that they do not lock a wheel and flat spot a tyre. A wheel is more likely to lock when the tyres are not up to temperature. The driver weaves side to side and brakes hard to generate temperature in the tyre. Back in the pit garage the Engineers can monitor internal tyre temp and advise the driver if more aggressive weaving is required. Scotty as he has done throughout his time with us produced an excellent qualifying lap and finished 3rd, Moff improved from Friday practice but was back in 14th. Van Gisbergen was on pole and looking to secure the Supercar title.
The 250 km race required a minimum of 2 pit stops. During these two stops each car must take on at least 140 litres of fuel which flows at 4 litres per sec. and a wheel change is also undertaken. The fuel usage around the 3.4km circuit is a little over 3litres per lap.
The aim with #33 was to stay in front of Lowndes and with the #888 car next to Scotty in 4th a good start was important, but it was Lowndes who jumped into second off the line behind Whincup. Scotty was close behind in third and Moff had begun well and was inside the top 10 by lap 11. Van Gisbergen turned Winterbottom around on lap 9 and was dealt a drive through penalty. Following the completion of the first round of pit stops and the race settled back down Scotty had jumped in front of Lowndes and was third. Moff also was racing well and having taken on a larger amount of fuel at his first stop was well placed to move well inside the 10 after the second round of stops. Unfortunately for Moff he experienced engine problems that required him to pit on several occasions during the final half of the race, hence ruining any chance of a worthwhile result. As a consequence of the engine problem Moff finished 9 laps down. In the meantime Scotty kept his nose clean while k eeping an eye on Lowndesy and eventually finished 4th with the 888 car in 8th. The four place difference saw Scott move to third in the Championship, behind the two other 888 cars. Upfront, Whincup won from Tander and Van Gisbergen put in a sensational drive to finish third after the early pit lane penalty. This result secured the Championship for Van Gisbergen with Whincup second. With a nine point gap between Scott and Lowndes the equation was simple, stay in front of Lowndes and achieve third in the Championship.
Sunday’s qualifying is followed by a Top 10 shootout. Scotty made the 10 qualifying fifth, but Moff was unable qualifying 17th, 6/10ths off the quickest car which yet again was Van Gisbergen. The shootout was highlighted by Garth Tander who had qualified 8th, but set a scintillating lap when he was the third car out. With only Van Gisbergen to go Tander was still on pole and as hard as Shane tried he could not go quicker than Garth’s time, missing by 1/100th of a second. Scotty put together a good lap but was 3/10ths off Tander and ended 6th.
Again Scott was conscious of Lowndes’ position in the field and from the start things looked good as Lowndes had qualified back in 14th. It was important for Scott to not get too worried about what Lowndes was doing and Krusty (Richard Hollway) kept his focus on the job at hand while giving him the occasional update on Lowndes’ position.
The race was a repeat of yesterday, 250km (74 laps). Off the start Tander made the most of his pole position and led from Van Gisbergen, Scotty was away well and 5th. Moff as he always seems to be able to do was making up ground in the early laps and had moved inside the top 15 by lap 5.
On lap 19 Van Gisbergen passed Tander for the lead and he went unchallenged from there and as the Champion it was worthy to see him win the final race of the season. Scotty pressed on well and was in a battle with Courtney, Whincup and Reynolds for third. It was getting quite exciting and with a handful of laps to go Krusty advised Scott of Lowndes’ position back in the pack and coaxed him to back off and ensure that he finished as a DNF as result of a crash would have handed 3rd in the Championship to Lowndes. Reynolds held off Whincup for third and followed Van Gisbergen and Tander home. Moff battled well and finished 10th.
Well, the year is over and as a Team we are proud to have finished 3rd in the Teams Championship and have the #33 Scott McLaughlin finish 3rd in the Drivers Championship. Of course we all compete to win and congratulations to the 888 Team and in particular to the #97 Shane Van Gisbergen and his crew, a very worthy Champion.
To Scotty I am very proud of the manner in which you have represented yourself, our sport, our sponsors and our Team. We will all miss having you around, but cannot wait to 2017 when we will all be out trying to beat you!
Thank you to all of you out there that follow what we do and give us support and feedback that drives us to keep doing what we do.
See you next year, I can’t wait!
Garry
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