Erebus Team-Mate Tangle leaves Scott Pye last at Adelaide

Original by Supercars, edited by me.

Scott Pye picked up the 14th last-place finish os his career when his #20 DeWault Holden was involved in a 5-car pileup that ended his race without completing a single lap of the 2nd race at Adelaide. The finish came in Pye's 223rd start.

Scott Pye is in his 8th full time season, and has had several massive crashes in his career. He was 17th in Race 1, then slipped to 20th in Practice 2 due to a crash. Out of Practice 3, he then qualified 16th.

Jack Smith in the #4 SCT Logistics Holden started the race in the rear after crashing in Qualifying, but by turn 1 Chris Pither in the @22 Coca Cola Holden fell to the rear. At turn 4 James Courtney in the #19 Boost Mobile Holden was pushed wide and dropped to the rear.

David Reynolds in the #9 Penrite Oils Holden collided with teammate Anton De Pasquale in the #99 Penrite Oils Holden at turn 9, spinning Anton out. In the resulting melee, Scott Pye in the #20 De Walt Holden made wheel-to-wheel contact with Anton, destroying the Suspension on both cars, and triggering the first Safety Car of the race. WIth Pye behind De Pasquale at the time of DNF, Pye was scored behind Anton, and was therefore last.

Next out of the race was Chris Pither in the #22 Coca-Cola Holden, after going off at turn 11, after contact with the wall at turn 8 on lap 11, triggering the only Safety Car of the race. Pither would pull into the garage, and retires shortly afterwards. The final retirement wouldn’t come until right at the end of the race when a charging Shane Van Gisbergen in the #97 Red Bull Holden suffered Suspension failure on lap 75, ending his race.

Rounding out the top 5 was defending champion Garry Jacobson in the #35 Yellow Cover Holden, after collecting the fence on lap 19 after contact with Rick Kelly in the #15 Castrol Ford. Later on, on lap 36, Jacobson would lose 6 laps in the garage with Gearbox issues.

The Bottom Five

Scott Pye	0 Laps	Crash
Anton De Pasquale	0 Laps	Crash
Chris Pither	11 Laps	Crash
Shane Van Gisbergen	74 Laps	Suspension
Garry Jacobson	72 Laps	Running

Championship

Driver	Car #	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
Garry Jacobson	#35	1	1	2
Scott Pye	#20	1	1	1
James Courtney	#19	0	1	1
Nick Percat	#8	0	1	1
Anton De Pasquale	#99	0	1	1
Chris Pither	#22	0	1	1
Bryce Fullwood	#2	0	0	1
Jack Smith	#4	0	0	1
Shane Van Gisbergen	#97	0	0	1

Team’s Championship

Team Name	No. Cars	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
Matt Stone Racing	2	1/2	1/2	2/2
Team 18	2	1/2	1/2	1/2
Team Sydney	2	0	2/2	2/2
Brad Jones Racing	4	0	1/4	2/4
Walkinshaw Andretti United	2	0	0	1/2
Red Bull Holden	2	0	0	1/2

Manufacturer’s Championship

Manufacturer Name	No. Card	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
Holden	16	2/16	6/16	10/16
Ford	8	0	0	0

Turn 8 crash leaves Defending Champion last at Adelaide

Original by Fox Sports, edited by me.

Garry Jacobson picked up the 5th Last-Place finish of his career when his #35 Yellow Cover Holden was involved in a single-car crash that ended his race after 6 of the race's 78 laps. The finish came in Jacobson's 39th start.

Garry Jacobson is in his 2nd year in the Supercars full-time and is the defending LASTCAR champion for the Supercars series. He was 18th in Practice 1, then fell to 21st in Practice 2. He then returned to 18th in Practice 3, then qualified 19th.

Chris Pither started the race in the rear in the #22 Coca Cola Holden, but by Turn 1 Jack Smith's #4 SCT Logistics Holden fell to the rear after a bad start.

By turn 6 Todd Hazelwood in the #14 Plus Fitness Holden briefly fell to the rear, but Nick Percat in the #8 X Convenience Holden went wide at turn 7, up the escape road and fell to the rear. Percat then heads to the garage at the end of lap 1 with a Steering Rack issue, losing 9 laps in repairs. Percat went back to the garage on lap 68 with more steering rack issues, losing 4 more laps.

On Lap 6 Garry Jacobson in the entered the race for Last-Place when he crashed at Turn 8, and although he was able to limp back, he was next into the garage, and first out of the race. Jacobson fell to last on lap 15.

The only other retirement of the race came when James Courtney in the #19 Boost Mobile Holden suffered a Power Steering failure on lap 17, sending car #19 hard into the wall at Turn 8. Courtney dropped behind Fullwood on lap 21, then behind Percat on lap 26.

Rounding out the bottom five was Bryce Fullwood in the #2 Middy's Electrical/Mobil 1 Holden, after hitting the wall at turn 11 on lap 13, knocking the track bar, losing 5 laps in repairs, and Jack Smith in the #4 SCT Logistics Holden who had a troubled race. He missed the pit-lane on lap 47. Then got a pit-lane penalty on lap 51 for disobeying Blue Flags. On lap 64 Smith ran up the escape road at turn 7 and wiped the wall. He would eventually finish 2 laps down.

The Bottom Five

Garry Jacobson	6 Laps	Crash
James Courtney	16 Laps	Crash
Nick Percat	65 Laps	Running
Bryce Fullwood	73 Laps	Running
Jack Smith	76 Laps	Running

Driver’s Championship

Driver	Car #	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
Garry Jacobson	#35	1	1	1
James Courtney	#19	0	1	1
Nick Percat	#8	0	1	1
Bryce Fullwood	#2	0	0	1
Jack Smith	#4	0	0	1

Team’s Championship

Team Name	No. Cars	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
Matt Stone Racing	2	½	½	½
Team Sydney	2	0	½	½
Brad Jones Racing	4	0	¼	2/4
Walkinshaw Andretti United	2	0	0	½

Manufacturer’s Championship

Manufacturer Name	No. Card	Last	Bottom 3	Bottom 5
Holden	16	1/16	3/16	5/16
Ford	8	0	0	0

BREAKING: 2021 Virgin Australia Superfords?

So, the Holden name will be deleted forever at the end of 2020.
This is, of course, very sad, although it isn't unexpected, considering that Holden pulled out back in 2017.

Since this is happening, it looks like the Holden brand will also disappear from the Supercars grid next year, which would mean that, unless a new manufacturer is found, we could potentially have a one-make grid in 2020.

Holden has a long history, so it is had that it has been lost, but, considering the cars they made were rubbish, it shouldn't be a surprise that this has happened.

The job losses do hurt, however, and this isn't fun. But that's business, sadly.

The Superloop 500 is on this weekend, however, and I will be covering it as best I can, so look forward to it. Sadly, it'll be covered on my backup account, as I think my main account has been hacked.

CONFIRMED: Bryce Fullwood to Walkinshaw Andretti United in 2020.

It has been confirmed today that Bryce Fullwood will join the Walkinshaw Andretti United team in 2020, replacing Scott Pye in the #2.

With Bryce Fullwood coming into the main game, I think this is a good career move for him, and it will be interesting to see both how he adapts to the main game and how he interacts with teammate @chazmozzie in the #22.

As it turns out, no Jack LeBrocq after all, so I correct that from an earlier blog post, which has now been corrected, as he's off to Tickford Racing, replacing Chaz Mostert.

That leaves just one seat left to be confirmed for the 2020 season.

And that is the new Western Sydney Team that was Tekno Autosports. James Courtney is running one seat, but we don't know if it'll be a 1 car organisation or a 2 car organisation, nor do we know who the 2nd driver is.

Overall I am happy that Bryce Fullwood is going to the main game, and I am happy for Walkinshaw Andretti United who have taken him  on as a driver in 2020.

BREAKING: Pukekohe dropped for Hampton Downs in 2020

So Auckland's council has decided that no car racing can take place during Anzac Day, so Supercars have been forced to change the track they're racing at in 2020 from Pukekohe to Hampton Downs.

This is the piece of legislation that triggered the change.
Clause I434.6(1) of the Auckland Unitary Plan states that “There must not be any use of the track by motor vehicles, except for vehicles undertaking maintenance in all of the following circumstances,” with subsection (b) specifically stating “Good Friday, Easter Sunday, and Anzac Day“.

Since the Anzac weekend has been used for the 2020 season, the location had to be changed, despite precedent from 2014.

I've heard that Auckland Council is Anti-Car, but having seen the nightmarish traffic jams that can happen in and out of Auckland when my family visited New Zealand a couple of years ago, it's pretty bad.

Apparently, ATEED and Supercars had both not been informed somehow about the changes until Christmas, which forced the switch.

Well, in my view, this is an interesting development. I've seen a bit of racing at Hampton Downs years back, so I'll be interested to see what's changed about the track in the time since I saw it.

The international track is also being used, which is cool.

So, I think this is going to be cool, and I am interested to watch the race there. It sounds like there is a bit of work that needs to be done around the stands, but I hope it'll all be ready for the race.

Happy 2020 Everyone! 2020 Grid CONFIRMED!

Happy New Year. 2020 Supercars lineup, now that we're back racing IRL.

Scott McLaughlin	#17	DJR Team Penske	Shell V-Power
Fabian Coulthard	#12	DJR Team Penske	Shell V-Power
Jamie Whincup	#88	Red Bull Holden Racing	Red Bull/Holden
Shane Van Gisbergen	#97	Red Bull Holden Racing	Red Bull/Holden
Jack LeBrocq	#55	Tickford Racing	Supercheap Auto
Cameron Waters	#6	Tickford Racing	Monster Energy
Lee Holdsworth	#5	Tickford Racing	Truck Assist
James Courtney	#44	Tickford Racing	Boost Mobile
Andre Heimgartner	#7	Kelly Racing	NED
Rick Kelly	#15	Kelly Racing	Castrol
Nick Percat	#8	Brad Jones Racing	RT Batteries
Todd Hazelwood	#14	Brad Jones Racing	TRG Transport Solutions
Jack Smith	#4	Brad Jones Racing	SCT Logistics
Macauley Jones	#3	Tim Blanchard Racing	Cooldrive Distribution
David Reynolds	#9	Erebus Motorsports	Penrite Oils
Anton De Pasquale	#99	Erebus Motorsports	Penrite Oils
Mark Winterbottom	#18	Team 18 Racing	Irwin Tools
Scott Pye	#20	Team 18 Racing	DeWalt
Jake Kostecki	#34	Matt Stone Racing	UNIT
Garry Jacobson	#35	Matt Stone Racing	Yellow Cover
Alex Davison	#19	Western Sydney Team	Local Legends Jerky Biltong
Chris Pither	#22	Western Sydney Team	Coca Cola
Chaz Mostert	#25	Walkinshaw Andretti United	Appliances Online/Mobil 1
Bryce Fullwood	#2	Walkinshaw Andretti United	Middy's Electrical

So, we'll see what the 2020 season will hold, and how both championships will unfold.

Supercars CEO Vow for 2020. My response and thoughts.

Re: Supercars CEO Vow for 2020.

Original Article: https://www.speedcafe.com/2019/12/05/supercars-ceos-vow-for-2020/

So, I'm writing this article to respond to some statements made by the CEO of Supercars about 2019 and 2020. There are a few things I want to respond to.

Firstly, Sean Seamer said "I think that the disappointing thing for us is that this year has been a year that’s been dominated by a highly technical narrative which is made it very, very difficult for fans to follow,"

And it's OK that you think that, but for a lot of fans, they were able to follow fine. The Ford Mustangs, or more specifically a combo of the Mustang and Scott McLaughlin and, to a lesser degree, Fabian Coulthard and Chaz Mostert, was well ahead at the start of the year. By the end of the year, however, DJR Team Penske, Tickford Racing, Red Bull Holden Racing Team and Erebus Motorsports were competitive to varying degrees.

Part of Red Bull Holden's struggles was with the new springs, and it did take a few rounds for them to figure the springs out. Were some of the parity adjustments were done too early? Yes. Is Roland Dane a whiner? Arguable. (Though I would also say that Ryan Story and Tim Edwards are little better), does that mean that Supercars are in Dane's pocket? No, especially since Roger Penske has more money than the rest of the field combined. Does that mean that any other conspiracy theories are valid? Not really.

I do agree with one thing though, we do need to be front and centre/press/news for the right reasons, and not because of parity controversies, or Ford cultists and Holden cultists abusing drivers and team members

That was the main thing that I wanted to respond to. It is not all that I want to talk about. And that is a little bit about the Facebook algorithm and how Supercars get their views, comments, etc.

The comments from Ford and Holden cultists are what drive ratings on Facebook for some reason, the arguments are the normal stupidity from low IQ numbnuts.

Hopefully the racing product in 2020 will be a lot better than in 2019, where it took ages to get the parity right, and even then, I think it may have gone a tiny bit too far the other way, but oh well.

However, I am optimistic about the future of Supercars, that we will get a great and competitive championship in 2020 and further on, especially if BMW decides to join in 2021. I have another article coming for that.