Garry Roger’s from Wilson Security Racing GRM writes his thoughts on the latest round of the 2016 V8 Supercars Championship – Sydney….
Following four weekends to catch up on the jobs around home we were back at it with Races 18 and 19 of the Championship and the final sprint round before the three all important Endurance races. Unfortunately from my end I was unable to make it to Sydney, the first race meeting that I have missed in more than 5 years. But all was in good hands and thankfully for my ever improving ability with texting and the internet I wasn’t too far away.
Joey our transporter driver departed for Sydney late Tuesday and did a small detour via Wollongong to visit an “old” racer, Trevor Meehan. Trevor raced a GTHO in 1971 at Bathurst and this was the first year that Joe went to Bathurst (with Murray Carter). Joey has never forgotten those that he has met throughout his Motorsport journey and where possible makes an effort to keep in touch. Well done Joey! (But I may have to deduct a day annual leave from you – only joking!)
The crew headed up on Thursday and while the crew prepared things at the track Scott, Moff, Sally and Barry took the time to drop in and see the staff at Volvo head office where their interest and excitement for Supercar racing has certainly not waned. Later in the day the drivers and engineers complete a walk of the track and take particular note of any patches that have been put in place and also look closely at the edges of the track to see areas where there may be a significant drop off from the track to the grassed area. It’s areas such as this that can cause tyre damage and it’s vital that the driver is aware of any particular troublesome spots to avoid.
Thursday night and as has become customary John Dunn from Annlyn Volvo in Penrith had a customer night where the drivers spoke about their job, the year so far and what was ahead. As a team we really enjoy evening s such as this and seeing the impact that we have made on the Volvo brand here in Australia.
Friday and 2 x 1hour practice sessions. During the break over the past month we have brought forward a few changes. The Engineering department are forever forging forward with design changes to various parts of the car that they believe will improve performance. With limited testing these changes are often tried during the Friday practice. But, it is vital that as a Team you do not get bogged down trying part after part as these sessions must focus on finding the ideal set up for the weekend of qualifying and racing. There are occasions where the qualifying set up is very different to the race set up and it’s vital that the drivers work with the engineers to get this right. Often a “fast” car in qualifying can be the reverse in race conditions and vice versa mainly due to the tyre degradation levels a particular set up results in.
Following practice things looked good for us and particularly for Scotty who sat in P1; Moff was 15th yet only 4/10ths back from #33. I have said it before but depending on the driving style of each driver the set up can be quite different, but in saying that both Krusty (Richard Hollway, Eng.#33) and Lewis (Manuel Sanchez Eng.#34) share each other’s information and work together to improve both cars.
Saturday and qualifying for Race 18 of the Championship didn’t quite replicate the position that we felt that we were in on Friday night. Scotty qualified 8th and Moff 16th. This was an unusual session in that the quickest laps were those set at the start of the 15 minute session. In normal circumstances the fastest laps are set at the very end as the track “rubbers” up. To be honest both our boys were a little caught out with this as our normal approach is a little more conservative on the first run in regards to driver effort and all in on the final run. Pole was set by Chaz Mostert (Prodrive) followed by Van Gisbergen and Whincup (888).
The race was 31 laps (120km) and the drivers and engineers plotted how best improve on the position we found ourselves following qualifying. The race would require a minimum of one pit stop for tyres (no fuel was required).
Squiddy (Mitch Feeney) and Joey are responsible for tyres and for Saturday we are allocated two sets per car. These tyres had already been used in qualifying and they put together the four “best” and four “worst” for each car. With one stop required and the race over 31 laps it’s important to race on the tyres that will best suit your strategy. Krusty and Scotty decided to run a “shorter” first stint (11 laps) hence the four “worst” tyres were on Scott’s car for the start of the race and he would have the four “best” tyres for the final 20 laps. Lewis and Moff were planning on running a 50/50 race or marginally longer on the first set. With this plan in mind Squid and Joe evenly allocate the tyres, which are two “better” ones mixed with two others for each stint. For both car #33 and #34 each plan worked very well with Scotty finishing 5th and Moff 12th.
The day could have been better except for a mistake made during the #33 stop. Scotty has been exceptionally good with his starts this year and yet again picked up two positions as he leapt off the line and ran the gauntlet on the outside around turn 1 and raced side by side with Tim Slade (BJR) for several corners until he gained the upper hand at turn 8. Following the compulsory stops and some very consistently quick laps Scotty was in 3rd behind Van Gisbergen and Whincup and looking good for a podium.
Unfortunately he felt something amiss with the right hand front of the car and initially thought that he had a flat tyre but the tyre pressure monitors on the data didn’t illustrate this. Krusty responded quickly looking at the vision of the pit stop and could see that the right hand front wheel had not been tightened correctly, Scotty pressed on sensationally considering the circumstances and kept his cool to finish 5th. I know over the past 4 years Scott has won races for us and so on, but considering the behaviour of the car and the uncertainty of what may happen I was extremely proud of how he kept his cool to get home in 5th.
With the amount of money and professionalism in our sport mistakes like this are very costly and it’s vital that people are accountable when they do not do their job correctly and take the necessary steps to eliminate mistakes that are avoidable.
Moff also put together a very solid race considering where he started and the pre race plan the he and Manuel had certainly contributed to his result. Moff had to be “careful” not to battle too hard early as his strategy would most likely see him been the last car to pit and if he “cooked” his tyres early he would go backward very quickly. James drove very solidly and defended well and like Scott started strongly picking up several positions on the opening lap.
He then settled into a very solid rhythm and didn’t overdrive the car. The result of all of this was following his stop on lap 18 he rejoined in 18th but with the freshest tyres in the race. Moff then went on to pass 6 cars in the final 12 laps. The race was won by Van Gisbergen from Whincup and Courtney (HRT) third.
Saturday night and been the arm chair expert sitting at home watching the races on the television I rang Cowboy (Dean Cowling-Team Manager) and gave him my thoughts. To be honest as much as I don’t like to miss a race meeting I was very impressed with the telecast and informative nature of the commentators.
Sunday and qualifying for Race 19 followed by a 200klm (52 lap) race. Following the experience of Saturday and the speed in the track early in qualifying, it was all “guns blazing” from the start. The Sunday qualifying session is 20 minutes (Saturday 15min) and each car has three sets of tyres allocated that also need to be “preserved” for the race. Scotty and Moff were on the pace immediately and following the second run they settled in 5th and 6th. Mostert again led the way and he sat out the third and final run as it appeared his time would not be bettered. The idea of doing this is that Mostert would have a green (new) set of tyres for use in the race. His decision was a correct one as the order did not change in this final run, although Scotty went marginally quicker, yet stayed in 5th.
For Wilson Security GRM both cars in the Top 10 and next to each other on the third row, a good start for the day.
The race would require a minimum of two stops and a mandatory fuel drop of 120 litres. With both cars so close to together it is important to put them on different strategies so as they do not pit together. There are occasions when this cannot be avoided and you are in the “Safety Car Gods” hands, as there are certain windows within a race when if you do not pit if there is a Safety Car that you are worse off, even if you have to queue behind your teammate. Today’s race ran green all the way so there was no problem with pit lane queuing, yet the race did get off to a “messy” start with the first start been aborted after a problem with the starting lights and the cars having to perform a second formation lap and the race reduced to one lap to 51 laps.
Off the line Lowndes (888) from the second row raced to the front around the outside of Mostert in turn 1 and both Scotty and Moff also started strongly and I nearly spilt my cup of tea as they raced side by side throughout the first lap until Moff settled into 4th and Scotty 5th. Again there were different race strategies up and down pit lane and the middle stages of these races can be confusing as some teams choose to put more/less fuel in early and the balance later. The “conservative” approach and one normally taken if you are racing near the front is a 50/50 split on the fuel, which is 16 seconds first and second stops. Again tyre degradation and management is vital in these races.
Throughout practice Squid and Joey measure the tyre wear and with this information the engineers plan out the anticipated laps to be done on each set of tyres and at what speed the driver can do these laps. Often the engineers need to “slow” the driver down if they feel the tyres will not last the distance that is required to meet the pre race strategy. Being a successful race car driver is as much about as being a “quick” driver as it is about being a “smooth” driver who can get the best out of his car with the least wear and tear, particularly to the tyres. #33 and #34 were both looking very good and both boys were driving to a plan and maintaining consistent lap times.
Following the first run of pit stops between laps 9 and 17, Scotty was 5th and Moff 8th. The reason Moff had “lost” a few spots was that he ran longer on his first set of tyres with the plan being like Saturday he would finish with fresher tyres at the back end of the race and regain the positions lost (and hopefully more). Lowndesy still led the way from Whincup.
The second and final stops took place between laps 28 and 35, with Scotty being one of the first to stop and Moff the last. As Moff rejoined the track he was directly behind Scotty who was in 5th. With 6 lap fresher tyres on #34, Scotty positioned himself so as Moff could pass and he continued in pursuit of Van Gisbergen who was 5 seconds down the road. Scotty had his hands full with Coulthard (DJR Penske) closing in from behind who also had stopped late and had fresher tyres. Scott battled to keep Coulthard behind, but with 12 laps still to race the risk is if you battle too much chances are t he next pack down will catch up and in the meantime you have destroyed your tyres and slip further back. Scotty did the smart thing and let Coulthard past and settled in 6th.
Further up the track Moff had now caught Van Gisbergen and was menacing him from behind. With less than 5 laps remaining and Moff desperate to pick up every position that he could he lunged at what appeared a small opening on the inside at turn 8, just as he lunged Van Gisbergen turned in and Moff locked the rears and slid into the rear and they both speared wide. Moff immediately gave the position back, but in the meantime Coulthard had slipped up the inside of both of them into 4th.
Unfortunately a lap later Moff was penalised with a drive through penalty (I’ll talk about this later) and finished 18th. Scotty finished 6th and drove a smart race and if it wasn’t for being caught behind Tander (HRT) mid race who is the hardest driver in the field to pass, he may have been a few positions further up. The race was won by Whincup who passed Lowndes in the pits on lap 30 and lucky for him that Lowndes was kind to him on his release from the pit bay. Lowndesy had to brake and turn onto the grass as he exited pit lane so as to avoid making contact with Whincup who had been released just in front of him.
Overall I was very pleased with how our team performed and particularly for Moff and the #34 crew to show some fight, yet unfortunately not get the result I believe was justified.
I want to make it clear that Moff made a mistake and in life we all need to be accountable for our mistakes and not just blame others when things do not go our way, but it is equally important to take all aspects and circumstances surrounding a mistake when you are the person/body responsible for adjudicating and then penalising indiscretions. As somebody that has been a fan of motorsport for 60 plus years and actively involved for 53 years I want to see passing and action, yet I also want to see indiscretions that ruin another competitors race penalised.
Moff may have been a little over ambitious with his attempt to pass on Van Gisbergen, yet I would have been disappointed if he didn’t have a go, he’s a racer and he had speed. His move was calculated in that it was only himself and Shane together on the track with Coulthard several seconds back and when he did make the misjudgement and tagged Van Gisbergen he immediately gave the position back to Shane, the only damage that was done was that Coulthard passed both of them to finish 4th. The result was Van Gisbergen lost 9 Championship points (120 for 4th – 111 for 5th).
The indiscretion cost Moff a potential top 5 finish and the drive through penalty handed down by Bargwanna cost 60 plus Championship points which are very important for both James and the team. If Moff had have taken out Van Gisbergen on the opening lap and taken him from 4th to 24th, then fine a drive through penalty is more than justified. James may as well have kept the foot into the accelerator and completely ruined Van Gisbergen’s race and at least given Scotty an extra position as he would still only have received a drive through.
Bargwanna took the time to talk to all the teams and drivers before the weekend of racing and emphasised his ability to issue points penalties where he believed appropriate in lieu of drive through penalties. My question to Bargwanna is when would there be a more appropriate time to hit a driver with a 10 or 20 point penalty rather than a drive through?
See you all at Sandown, we can’t wait!
Garry
FOOTNOTE:
Bargwanna and our team seem to have history at this event. It was only 12 months ago when on the final lap when Scotty was 5th and Van Gisbergen who was fourth tagged Bright into turn 4 who then took the liberty of cutting off 4 corners and rejoining the track at turn 8 to then go on and take the chequered flag in 3rd. Prior to the meeting Bargwanna made it clear that any driver that took a short cut through the infield would be penalised, and to top it off Van Gisbergen wasn’t given a drive through for tagging Bright, it was deemed a racing incident. Scotty should have finished 3rd! I scratch my head???
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