Saturday at Queensland Raceway
Once again, my great uncle Dudley and I found our spot on the metal chairs at the exit of turn 1. I brought a cushion along this time.
We arrived in time to watch qualifying, which turned into a fun affair for everyone involved. A couple of highlights included Mostert going fastest early and Payne spilling wide at Turn 2.
After Phase 1 of qualifying for Race 26, Aaron Seton had sealed last place for the race.
Q1 Phase 1: Kostecki, Feeney, Payne, Allen, Waters, Grey, Mostert, Brown, Murray, Randle
By the end of Qualifying 2, Aaron Seton was about 1.1 seconds off the leaders, with Rylan Grey leading the rookies in 8th.
Q1 Phase 2: Payne, Kostecki, Mostert, Brown, Feeney, Allen, Randle, Grey, Waters, Murray.
After a rough series thanks to the wrong restrictor plate fitted, Will Brown was understandably jubilant about starting 4th.
Race 27 qualifying saw a few cars have issues. Ryan Wood and Jayden Ojeda notable, with the former only managing 18th. The fastest 3 in Phase 1, Will Brown, Brodie Kostecki and Chaz Mostert, only did one run.
Q1: Kostecki, Mostert, Brown, Payne, De Pasquale, Feeney, Murray, Golding, Allen, Waters.
Bayley Hall sealed last place.
Q2: Payne, Kostecki, Brown, Mostert, Allen, Feeney, De Pasquale, Golding, Waters, Murray
Payne did the fastest lap on used tires.
Rylan Grey was the best of the rookies in 11th. A vibration affected Randle’s run.
Also, Chaz Mostert and Will Brown qualified 0.001 seconds apart.
Now onto Trans-Am Race 2.
And before we start, I should mention that I’m related to Todd Hazelwood. Through my maternal grandmother’s side of my family, and paternal grandfather’s side of his.
So, naturally, I went for him.
Not a fun race for him, unfortunately.
Started on pole, but didn’t clear Blake Tracey. Blake bumped Todd off the start. Todd then half-spun Blake into Turn 1, before getting served into the grass by Tim Blanchard.
Todd wasn’t the only one to hit early trouble, as rival James Moffat went off at Turn 5 on Lap 2, putting the two close on track.
Clay Richards would go off the following lap at the same corner, but would suffer damage and lose 2 laps in repairs.
Karma then bit Blanchard, his car slowing with mechanical issues on the same lap, ending his race.
Tom Davies would also pull into the pits on Lap 3 with issues and also lost 2 laps.
The drama wasn’t over for Todd or James. They collided on the back straight near the race end, fighting outside the Top 10.
A newcomer to the Trans-Am Cup Series, Brock Paine, won the race.
Which moves us onto Race 26 of the season. I’ve already done the last-place report for this race, but there are notes I couldn’t include in that article. I still recommend reading it here.
The start was great between Brodie Kostecki and Matt Payne; the battle off Turn 1 ended in Brodie’s favour.
Yes, being a fan and follower of Todd Hazelwood means I have favor towards the driver he co-drives for, Brodie Kostecki.
Pit stops started surprisingly early, as Jayden Ojeda pitted on Lap 5. He would suffer late for this. Cameron Hill would pit on Lap 7 and return to the track narrowly in front of Ojeda.
The first penalty of the race went to Declan Fraser, a 5 second penalty for bumping Ben Gomersal off the track at Turn 3.
Chaz Mostert tried the undercut strategy and pitted on Lap 8. It would pay off early on, but Mostert would slip in the last laps to finish 6th.
Matt Payne would undercut Kostecki, but before long Kostecki would pass Payne mid-way through the race.
Kai Allen would pass Mostert alongside Kostecki’s pass on Payne, but bumped Mostert wide. Allen would cop 5 seconds, which I think is too hard on him.
Not his fault that the early strategy would hurt Mostert in the last laps, getting passed by Broc Feeney on Lap 28 and eventually finishing 6th.
Both Blanchard Racing Team cars had radio issues during the race. The team resorted to the old physical board to communicate on the front straight.
Kostecki won with Payne 2nd and Brown 3rd. Allen was initially 3rd, but after the soft 5 second time penalty, Brown got promoted to 3rd and Feeney 4th, with Allen relegated to 5th.
Toyota 86s are next, and fun fact, there’s one used by someone at my work.
Tim Slade and Will Davison were guest drivers in the 86s this weekend, which is also the 50th event.
Early in the race, the #77 retired with a mechanical issue. Great Uncle Dudley told me that the car was backfiring badly, which meant engine issues ended his race. Explained the weird noise I heard as it went past, which told me something was wrong.
There were a few incidents during the race, including the #94 running off the road between Turns 3 and 4 and a late race incident at Turn 6.
Cooper Barnes won the race.
Now onto the Porsche Carrera Cup Australia.
The race pole sitter broke immediately, retiring and leaving Harri Jones unchallenged.
Jake Santalucia got punted into the fence at Turn 6. He finished the race.
Not so lucky were Dylan O'Keefe, Diesel Thomas, Tom McLennan and Rodney Jane.
O’Keefe suffered a mechanical failure and put fluid down on the track. Diesel Thomas, on the oil, slammed into the back of Tom McLennan. The contact sent both cars into the tires at Turn 6, ending their races. Rodney Jane had to surf through the gravel to avoid the incident.
That incident triggered the safety car.
Harri Jones won, unchallenged.
Now we finally move on to Supercars Race 2. As you can tell, a lot happened today. Last-place report for Race 2 here.
Matt Payne started on pole, while Bayley Hall started last.
Matt Payne and Brodie Kostecki would battle for the lead off the start. Several incidents marred the first few laps, including one not mentioned in the article.
The first one was when Jayden Ojeda hit David Reynolds coming into Turn 6, resulting in both drivers spinning. Ojeda would cop a 15 second time penalty for the incident.
Pit stops started on Lap 11, and almost as an omen of things to come, Jobe Stewart pitted on Lap 12 and copped a penalty after the stop.
While attempting to get the lead back from Matt Payne, Brodie Kostecki lunged at Turn 3. This attempt failed, and Kostecki ran wide and lost 2 spots.
The first Safety Car came out after Rylan Grey locked up and slid into the sand trap at Turn 3. David Reynolds and Cameron Waters pitted to take advantage of the stop. Ojeda did too, but because he had, he couldn’t serve his penalty. This would prove costly later.
The race restarted with 10 laps to go, and Ryan Wood would spin James Golding from 7th shortly after the restart. A post-race penalty would plunge Wood from 14th to 23rd.
A few cars started smoking, including Matt Payne’s, though it quickly vanished. Cooper Murray’s car also smoked, which turned out to be a power steering issue, costing Murray 5 laps.
A second safety car came out because Ben Gomersal was in the sand trap at Turn 6. I think it was called too quickly, as Gomersal escaped the sand trap on his own. Luckily, the safety car only ran for 1 lap.
By now, Jobe Stewart was out, Cooper Murray was in the garaged, and others were carrying damage.
David Reynolds started a charge up the field and was 9th when he crossed the line. However, showing how close the field was by race end, Reynolds fell to 16th after a 5-second time penalty.
Will Brown broke through for his first win in a full year, and those last few laps between Brown, Kostecki, Feeney, Allen, and Payne were intense.
There was even post-race drama, as David Reynolds would plunge from 9th to 16th after a post-race penalty for spinning Cameron Hill.
(Literally learned this while writing this article. Edited the last-place report as Wood fell behind Bates.)
Overall, two fun races. Looking forward to Race 3, the big race, and the possibility of The Big One at Turn 1.
