- 5/16/2025
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00:00Isn't that a fantastic shot? Chopper creeping up from the south, looking up towards the
00:08final turn and down that very quick front straight and that fast right-hander at Phillip
00:12Island. Welcome back to our coverage. Race number 33 coming up very shortly. Super sprint
00:17race, 100 kilometres. The field are out on the grid now in preparation. You can see in
00:21the clock the left-hand side, there are about seven and a half minutes to go before the
00:24start of the race. It's going to be an interesting one this afternoon because we've got Jamie
00:29Wincup trying to wrap up that record sixth title. 25 competitors out there, question
00:35marks over tyre wear and degradation around this track. A bit of a question mark in relation
00:39to weather as well, although the most recent forecast I've seen is now talking about showers
00:44and rain most likely after we've gone off air. Well, there's a bit going on, particularly
00:49with all that stuff that happened for qualifying for this race. A bit of controversy in the
00:53paddock. It's never short of that in this business. Let's get into pit lane now with
00:57Mark Barretta. Well, Fabian Coulthard, I guess the upside of losing two grid spots
01:02and 25 points is that you get a great view of the grid from back here. Yeah, it's not
01:06bad. It's probably the only time I want a race to be run in reverse. Then I'd be starting
01:11from pole. But look, awesome view. I've got a lot of work to do. But yeah, look, we'll
01:16do what we can and hopefully be there at the end. Tough decision. You're on the rough end
01:20of it. But the good news is the car is fast. Yeah, it's pretty good. The first opportunity
01:25to put a tyre on it yesterday, you know, could do P5. So it's a little bit disappointing
01:29not to be able to even try or set a time in either of the qualifying. But you know, that's
01:33what's happened's happened. You know, unfortunately, there's no rewind. We can't rewind what's
01:37happened. And yeah, we just have to do the best we can. Good luck out there. Thank you.
01:43So Lee Holdsworth sporting a beautiful moustache for Movember. But look at the truck driver
01:46over here, Wayne Cowper. How's that for a cracking moustache? Mate, some big news down
01:51the track here. We've got Gelbren leaving Charlie Schwarkholtz Falcon team over there
01:55and you've only got two more events now to do in this Merc. So you're finally seeing
01:59the sense, mate, you're going to get your ass back in a Falcon. I knew you'd love that,
02:03Larco. Yeah, it's a shame it's come to an end. These guys are great. Obviously, I've
02:08got a great bunch of people. But look, things didn't work out. So I'm off to the oval again
02:15and hopefully things will go really well there. Well, you're sort of throwing some interest
02:19into the driver market. So well done for that and best of luck with the move. Yeah,
02:22thank you. I got to say, this moustache is just another eyebrow coming down for a drink.
02:28So someone said that to me this morning. I thought it was a good call, Larco. I'll give
02:31you the tip, Lee. I'll give you the tip. That moustache is way behind those eyebrows, pal.
02:35Thanks, mate. I'm trying. Dale Wood, first time for you at Philippine and as a primary
02:42driver and you've got a bit of a tough afternoon ahead for you. Yeah, I've got two quick guys
02:46behind me and then 20-odd quick guys in front of me. So it's never going to be easy. I
02:51don't know. These 10-minute sessions have taken a bit of getting used to, like especially
02:55here with the longer lap. You're out and you get one chance on your set of tyres, back
02:59in with one more chance. And unfortunately, on that one chance, I got locked up and stuffed
03:04my lap up. So it puts you back down here. But yeah, it doesn't matter where you start
03:08in this field. It's never easy. Good luck for the race, Dale. Thanks very much. Craig
03:13Lowndes on the front row. Great view ahead of you. You love this circuit. We know that.
03:17The car's quick. We know that. And we know that you want to get your 10th win at this
03:20circuit. What's the most important thing on your priority list this afternoon? I think
03:24we're sitting on it. I think it's the start line. I think that obviously Scotty's got
03:27a good car. You've got a couple of guys behind me with Frosty and Jamie, obviously want to
03:31pounce. So you've got to make sure you get a good start here. Get down clean into turn
03:35one. See where we all sort of file out. But of course, you want to be the first car into
03:39turn one if we can. Good on you, Lowndes. We'll be watching. Cheers. Thank you. Caruso
03:43position five, Michael. Some engine upgrades before Bathurst. Your chassis is working nice
03:48here. This is very, very competitive for the Nissan, but I know you're going to tell me
03:51it's a driver. No, not at all. Look, Nissan Motorsport have done a fantastic job of recent.
03:56And look, ever since we've been to Queensland Raceway, we've been punching up the front
04:00of the field here. And it's great that, you know, coming towards the end of the season,
04:04being in the top 10 of the championship, that we continue to do that. Position five, mate.
04:08It's nice to see. Best of luck. Chas Mostert, you are determined to finish this championship
04:13in the top five position, currently sitting in sixth. And you're in sixth position for
04:17this race. Yeah, it's a bit of coincidence. So yeah, we're at the right end to try and
04:21get good, valuable championship points. We just need to have a clean race, not get stuck
04:25in too much accidents and see if we can just gain points going into the last round. You're
04:30on a roll at the moment off the Bathurst win. You were second in the Pertec Enduro Cup.
04:35You've got the momentum. Yeah, we're just struggling a little bit this weekend. So yeah,
04:38we're just going to put our head down, try and think about the car and make it a little
04:42bit better. And also my driving and that. So Phillip Island is a very, very hard track.
04:46It's a driver's track. And like Lounsy said, it's just grateful to be at the pointy end
04:51here today. Good luck, Chas. Thank you. Down here with Scotty McLaughlin, our poleman. First
04:56thing I want to ask you, Scotty, is about the start. Obviously, it's nice to be on the
04:58right hand side. But as you know, turns two and three, you need to be on the other side
05:02of the track. What's your strategy, mate? Yeah, I think it's it's all about just trying
05:06to get a good jump. And then if I can lead into one with the maybe nose or half a car
05:10width in front, that would be nice. But I've got to be forceful here. I've got to stand
05:15my ground. And, you know, there's no better than going up against Craig Lowndes, that's
05:18for sure. Hey, Scotty, you know, I'm a big fan of yours, mate. I give you a wrap enough.
05:21But I saw you before. I was lucky enough to see the in-car vision when you drove that
05:25lap before. You reminded me of Dick Johnson. You did it so gracefully driving the car and
05:29speaking. But I got to say, I reckon you're banging it on a bit, pal. I was actually pushing
05:33pretty hard. The boys gave me good times. I'm like, oh, let's get a bit of fun. So,
05:37yeah, it was good farted, slid around a bit. But yeah, lucky I didn't swear. I had to hold
05:42on a couple of times. Anyway, when I get out of here, good luck. Have a great race. Thank
05:46you. Ninth pole position of the year for Scott McLachlan. And then in the subsequent qualifying,
05:52the man on screen did the same. Nine poles for him as well. Here's the snapshot of the
05:56points situation. Four hundred and two. That's the margin. Wincup plays Winterbottom. And
06:01it's interesting for our second race this afternoon, the two of those fellows will fight
06:05from the top of the grid. Interesting that Michael Caruso, with his really strong performance
06:10in Queensland, jumped up three or four spots there and is now inside the top ten. James
06:14Courtney fared poorly, so he lost three spots, went from fourth to seventh in the championship.
06:19That's the scene on the grid there with both the Red Bull Racing Australia Holden Commodores.
06:23Craig Lowndes in front of his teammate, Jamie Wincup. And he smartened that car up a lot
06:27for the second session. Jamie Wincup really made some ground. So that's the shot. All
06:3225 cars pointing in southerly direction. Mark Scaife's in the box with me for the call this
06:37afternoon. And Scaife, there's no better view in international motorsport than looking at
06:41that ocean on the run to one. That's exactly right, Neil. This is one of the favourites
06:45for the drivers. And we've said a lot through the course of the telecast so far that this
06:51is the best permanent racetrack in the country. So 4.45 kilometres. Top speed with the headwind
06:58is still about 280k. And it's just an extraordinary, big, fast-flowing layout which has got rise
07:06and fall. It was resurfaced last year. It's very, very hard on tyres. The hardest of the
07:10lot in terms of our tour. Very high grip rating and very high tyre wear. And what a great
07:18racetrack. Great qualifying with Wincup and Winterbottom, the two series protagonists
07:23on the second row. McLaughlin, the first time a non-Ford or Holden on pole position at Phillip
07:30Island ever. And Lowndes alongside the young New Zealander. I love this place, Cropo. Seriously,
07:38it's a fantastic racetrack. And it's just got all the makings of a ripping day of racing
07:45with Wincup trying to get his sixth championship.
07:55Let's have a look at the Fuso starting grid for this afternoon's race number 33 of the
07:59championship. And from the pole position, we've got Scotty McLaughlin alongside Craig
08:03Lowndes. Volvo versus Holden, row one of the grid. Grid position number two. And the guys
08:08had a lot of success here, including the lap record, Jamie Wincup. He's alongside Mark
08:12Winterbottom, so they do it two by two today in both races. Then it's Michael Caruso and
08:16Chas Most at the Bathurst Champion. Rick Kelly, who's recently been in the USA from seven.
08:21Jason Bright out of position number eight for Team VOC. Then Garth Tander and Todd Kelly
08:25celebrating his 200th event in V8 Supercar competition. David Reynolds in the backup
08:31car. Remember, he had it at the Gold Coast for car number 55. Looking further down here,
08:35Nick Percat on the podium at Bathurst. Will Davis and Erebus Motorsport in the E63 bins.
08:41Wilson Security in the Ford Falcon. Tim Slade, who also got on the podium at the Gold Coast.
08:46Jack Perkins, who's looking for a ride in 2015, driving for Charlie Schwerkopf.
08:51James Moffat of the Ford Nissans didn't fare as well as he wanted to in that qualifying
08:55session. He's with the outgoing Lee Holdsworth from that team. Russell Ingle and Robert Dahlgren
09:00are next in the queue, followed by Dale Wood. We heard from him on the line a few moments
09:04ago. Shane Van Gisburg entangled with this man, Fabian Coulthard, in qualifying as they
09:09rolled up on their out lap. Fabian's taken a penalty for that. Lost some championship
09:14points. And a frustrating set of circumstances for both drivers, because clearly neither
09:19of them intend for that sort of thing to happen in the first 10 seconds of qualifying.
09:23There's our racetrack. And here's the sort of coverage that we've got lined up for you
09:28this afternoon. We've got a total of nine V8 Supercars carrying onboard cameras. And
09:33within those cars, a variety of angles. Wincup, Winterbottom, Davis and Kelly. That is Rick
09:38Kelly, Pye, Courtney, McLaughlin, Slade and Reynolds. Coverage all around the circuit
09:43through race control and from every conceivable angle. And Mark passionately describes this
09:49racetrack for very good reason, because it's a great layout. It's super quick. It's got
09:54an average speed of just over 170 kilometres an hour. Slowest corner is at turn 10, which
10:01is off Lukie Heights. Right where they are now in the top left box in the Megawall. A
10:06little right hander. And there's just 70 kilometres an hour. And the quickest turn is turn three,
10:10which at its slowest is 225 k's. And as you come out the other side, 250. That shot the
10:16top left of the Megawall sort of shows the B open sweeping nature of it. There's more
10:20of the boys carrying cameras. Scotty McLaughlin, the pole man, putting temperature in brakes
10:24and tyres. Dunlop hard tyre this weekend. All races. Wincup, Reynolds. Preserving these
10:31tyres, maintaining a car balance is always the trick. And it's the only place that we
10:35go where it's the front right tyre that you've got to be super careful of here. Typically
10:38we talk a lot about rear tyres because you buzz them up in the low gears like second
10:42gear. It's easy to overheat the tyre, but it's the front right here that takes a big
10:46punish. Barrettes? Neil, this is amazing. Up in the starters tower at Phillip Island.
10:51And as the cars line up, you can just feel the power of the engines just thumping your
10:57chest up here. Watch the flags, the yellow flags down behind me from here on, because
11:02as the cars pull up in position, they will be taken in. There's the first couple. And
11:06down they go all the way down. Once the cars are in a position, yellow flags tuck in. Then
11:11you'll see the green flag at the rear of the grid and will be in the starters' hands. But
11:15the weather conditions, you were talking about them earlier, Neil, is absolutely perfect
11:19here in the straight at the moment. It is a gorgeous day. More yellow flags as cars
11:23line up. You watch them very quickly now. Ching, ching, ching. In they'll go. Green
11:27flag across the back. And away we go, fellas. We've got to get out of here. Have fun. In
11:32the nicest possible way, Barrettes. Pull your head in. We're set now for race number 33.
11:44McLaughlin's won twice this year. The start will be critical if he's going to be able
11:48to do it a third time. He's away cleanly. And the entire field launches, including Coulthard
11:53from the very back. And Lowndes tried to go around the outside at one, but in the end
12:00he had to yield. And McLaughlin has made a very nice jump. Into third place he goes,
12:05McLaughlin. Into two, Cole Tyres. Reynolds up on the outside of Todd Kelly here. Rick
12:10Kelly's on the outside as well. So it's a clean run into three now. McLaughlin, Lowndes,
12:14followed by Wincup. Then both of the Pepsi Max Ford Performance Falcons in fourth and
12:19fifth. Great shot there then. Caruso, the Norton Nissan next in the queue. They're all
12:24behaving in the front end. T-Battle to get it stopped then. Scott McLaughlin, he moved
12:28across the cover. Lowndes into turn four. And he really battled to pull it up. That
12:32was a very good bit of driving by Lowndes and McLaughlin in turn one. They gave each
12:37other racing room. And Craig just eased out of the throttle and snuck in behind. Those
12:42lots of moves, especially for the guy behind, which is Wincup. That's 220 kilometers an
12:53hour. Turn eight, the hay shed. But for Wincup that was important because he didn't want
12:57those two cars to get caught up together. Very easy to get caught up in someone else's
13:01accident at turn one. That plunge over the top of turn nine at Lurkey Heights and down
13:07into that slow right-hander that I described earlier. It's very easy on cooler tyres and
13:12cooler brakes to just lock the rears, skate sideways and make contact. A couple of them
13:17looked like they walked up to that edge, but thankfully they maintained control. It's a
13:22great run in fourth gear onto the straight. Click into fifth gear right at the peak g-load
13:26that the car pulls. And McLaughlin's got control at the end of lap number one. Then Lowndes,
13:31then Wincup, then Winterbottom. We're looking at the front of Falk Frosty from the rear
13:35of Wincup's car. Then Mostyn. And you can see Caruso and then Garth Tander. David Reynolds
13:42just moved up a spot into ninth. And he's threatening Jason Bright here. He's got a
13:47nice run out of two. He has a bit of a look. It's very hard to do down the inside here.
13:53He might look to the right when they get to turn four. And Bright's a wake-up. So Davey
13:59thought about it. Jason was onto it.
14:01We've seen some massive moments as Percat gives Rick Kelly a little bump there at Honda.
14:08We've seen some massive moments there over the years. Contact there with Davidson and
14:13Wincup a couple of years ago. The drama there with Premer and Courtney last year. And the
14:18cars are so fast. Neil said about how fast turn three is. And look at this now. This
14:23is turn eight. This is the hay shed. So close there with Percat and Will Davidson as they
14:30get to Lookie Heights. You brake the car. You trail the brake all the way in. Then back
14:34on the throttle as you go over the rise. And then down into MG. Van Gisbergen down the
14:40inside of Moffat. Coulthard and Van Gisbergen, remember, at the back of the grid because
14:44of the drama they had in qualifying. They're fighting their way through.
14:48He's made good ground, Van Gisbergen. He's up to 17th there.
14:52That correction, he's 21st, I should say, behind James Moffat.
14:58It's just a reshuffle on the computer timing there.
15:02I thought there was a lot of spots that he'd made. But we'll keep an eye on those fellas
15:06as they're marching on. And remember, they're contenders at the moment for the minors in
15:09the championship. Oh, James Moffat thought about it.
15:13The reason you hold your breath is that's 285K. And as you brake the car, the cars slide
15:19all the way into turn one. And when you're committed with that, you've got to hang there.
15:24So as they get to the mid-corner speed at turn one, it's roughly 210 kilometers an hour.
15:29So you're washing 70-odd K's off as the car slides in there.
15:33Tanda down the inside of Caruso. Good move.
15:37And Garth just eases it out to the left just to narrow up that exit line.
15:41So Michael's got a yield there. But it's a good showing so far this weekend
15:45from the Nissan Motorsport Squad. Looks like they've got their cars pretty well matched to the road.
15:49It's very important to roll out strongly, particularly at this track,
15:53because it tends to amplify whatever you have. So if you've got a car that's trending one way
15:57or the other in either end, a car that understeers with too much push in the front
16:01or oversteers too much sliding in the rear, then whatever it's got,
16:05then you feel it in high fire around here after a couple of laps.
16:09As soon as the edge goes off the tires, it can be a very long afternoon, even in a sprint
16:13race like this one of just 23 laps.
16:17And you're 100%, Neil, because after three laps, they'll already be feeling the tires starting to go away.
16:21This is unbelievably hard on tires. That's why they're only doing one lap
16:25in qualifying. Their second lap is five or six tenths of a second slower.
16:29So what you want to do at this place to win races here,
16:33is you have to drive the car to its limit and try not to slide it.
16:37There you go. That's for position. That's winner. But around the outside,
16:41that is a massive moment. That is a huge moment.
16:45He's got to get back on safely here. He's going to pop in front of Jason Bright with grass and dirt
16:49all over these tires. That'll make him vulnerable to Bright on the exit.
16:53He's lucky to survive that one, Mark Winterbottom. It looked like it was a good move, but he dived
16:57in so deep he couldn't control it. It looked like he's got a fair bit of grass debris in the front
17:01of the radiator pickup of that car as well. Keep an eye on that.
17:05You can see it just doesn't look to be the normal colour. And it should be very black and it's looking
17:09very yellowy green. So it's got a lot of dead grass in there.
17:13Check the LTSC fastest slopes. McLaughlin
17:1732.7, 32.9 again
17:21for Lowndes. Almost exactly the same lap speed for lap two and three.
17:25But that was massive. At turn one, when he started to slide, I thought he was going to gather
17:29it up, but it got to the grey. He got to the slippery area of the track.
17:33So let's have a look. So this is why. So Winkup goes off the road.
17:37He comes back on. Winterbottom then makes his way to the outside. So we're on board
17:41now with Winkup out into the grass. Very easy to do.
17:45Gets back on. Hey, did you listen to the throttle percentage there? He didn't come out much.
17:49So Jamie actually stayed with it in fourth gear there and just rode it out.
17:53Watch this, round the outside. So the problem is because he had to go in
17:57from so far wide and so quick, and that's a huge correction, as Scapey pointed
18:01out a moment ago, the slowest you touch on in the apex of turn one
18:05is 210km. So more of the Gillette replay here. Check this out.
18:09On the outside, Winterbottom tries to swoop down. Doesn't get the nose tucked right in on the line
18:13he's looking for. So he carries a little bit of brake, holds a bit of opposite lock and then
18:17straightens the wheels up on the grass. Good job, Frosty.
18:21Well, that would have got his heart racing. Uncomfortable moment for him, and he's dropped back into
18:25seventh position at the moment. He's just in front of Jason Bright, behind
18:29Michael Crusoe, and he's got to go through all that pain again to try and recover.
18:33First lap of the race. Meantime, Scotty McLachlan, one minute 32.7.
18:37He's got 0.3 of a second margin on Craig Lowndes at the moment.
18:41So it's Volvo, Holden, Holden, and then the first of the forwards is Chas Mostert
18:45in position number four. 100km of sprint racing
18:49this afternoon, and we've got a double dose. We're on lap five.
18:53McLachlan's the leader.
19:03We're back at Phillip Island. Lap seven of 23, and you can
19:07see that grass that I spoke about before has accumulated in the front of the
19:11rad intake. Mark Larcombe is down there. This is Frosty. Yeah, Neil, well I can see
19:15right up, you can see yourself there. That's absolutely full of grass now. We were just having a look
19:19at his temperatures. The reason they've had to bring him in and do that, because that will put him out of competition
19:23in this race, is the engine's running about 80 degrees water temperature around here.
19:27Mark's car just then was about 115 degrees, and rising
19:31about five degrees per lap. They had no option. They had no option, and
19:35we saw that after he came back on. I remember recalling the fact that
19:39the colour of it looked weird. Normally it's just a little black hole in there.
19:43So, very unfortunate for Frosty to have gone off the road.
19:47How's this big slide through turn one, Mostert? So he's got a car that's also got an oversteer
19:51condition, too much sliding in the rear, and that made him vulnerable then to
19:55Garth Tander. So because he was so slow through the middle part of
19:59turn one, and then off the exit, he couldn't get it turned in at two properly. So Garth got up
20:03the inside, well up the inside, then there's just a little glancing blow.
20:07It looked like they just interlocked wheels for a moment. So here's Garth. He's well past it, and then on the way
20:11out the other side, the left front wheel of the Falcons touched the right
20:15hand rear of the Holden, and then Chas has gone out into the
20:19gravel and grass there. Fortunately, he was able to get back on. So he's
20:23now battling with Fabian Coulthard. He and Shane Van Gisberg are
20:28trying to get their ground back in the field, and that little contact there with James
20:32Moffat down at Siberia at turn five, and
20:36what do you reckon, Scopey? That one's touch and go. That's really close. So that was Van Gisberg
20:40and only a little bit of contact is enough there because the cars are already sliding.
20:44The corner's called Siberia. It's got a really late apex. It's turn
20:48six. It's roughly 105 kilometres an hour
20:52mid-corner speed, and when the cars are sliding, it's very easy just to
20:56get that little bit of contact, which we're on board right now with Scott McLaughlin. This is Siberia
21:00and that spot, looking back at Craig Lowndes, was the spot that
21:04you saw Moffat spin. Tander's the man of the match so far, Crompo.
21:08He's gained five spots. He's obviously just on the previous lap there. A little bit of a
21:12drumble. We've lost it, but at the moment, you'd have to
21:16say that McLaughlin is just battling a little bit for race pace
21:20now, just trying to ease up on him now in terms of Lowndes' performance.
21:24Just to give that a bit more perspective for people at home, when you talk about
21:28when the car's at the limit of adhesion like that, I can actually, if I could walk up and push
21:32the boot of the car across with my hand, tonne and a half, no problem. You would push it off the track.
21:36That's the limit of adhesion they drive these cars at all of the time.
21:40And McLaughlin's at that point right at the moment, so the point
21:44both of you are making there is exactly on the money because
21:48McLaughlin at the moment's just eggshelling that car. You can see it in the language of the way
21:52he's driving it, and he's got Lowndes absolutely all over him at present. Remember,
21:56Craig's had great form here over the years. Indeed, Red Bull Racing have been
22:00very strong here in recent years with both of their drivers.
22:04Craig, prior to this weekend, came in here with five pole positions.
22:08His teammate, Jamie Winkup's now matched that,
22:12but he's the driver with the most number of race victories at this location.
22:16He's got nine of them, and if he gets another, and it looks like a problem here for Van Gisberg
22:20and again, then he knocks off Mark Scaife in terms of records and tracks.
22:24The back end of that car of Shane Van Gisberg's doesn't look
22:28nice. Remember, they had to do a lot of work with that car. It was the right rear of that car
22:32that made contact with Fabian Coulthard in qualifying for this race. Incidentally,
22:36the list of items that had to be replaced on the Coulthard car was pretty extensive.
22:40So let's have a look at the Gillette replay of what happened to Shane here. He's in the grey.
22:44He didn't have the big sliding moment, but he never ever got it tucked in, so he had to parallel
22:48on the grass and then wobble back on. He's in no man's land
22:52out there at the moment, isn't he? There's just no grip there. So the reason why he's trying to tippy
22:56toe around the outside of the corner is he can't pull the steering lock on because there is no
23:00grip, and he'll rotate the car. Top and bottom,
23:04upper and lower wishbones of the front left suspension for Fabian Coulthard.
23:08The upright, which is effectively part of the hub mechanism
23:12on the car, and the shock absorber, together with a whole range of peripheral items
23:16on that car. So that was the reason why the Lockwood racing car was
23:20sidelined through qualifying, because they had to do a lot of remedial work to be able to get that car
23:24out for this race. And remember, there were two qualifying
23:28sessions, so you get a double penalty, don't you? So for both those guys, for being Gisbergen
23:32and for Coulthard, they got smashed by the
23:36proximity of the two sessions and being so short ten-minute sessions.
23:40Great area, great shot of the aerial there, the run-off at turn one
23:44shows you just how much space there you need to provide
23:48for the cars in case it gets wrong down there. At the moment, it's a tiny margin
23:52in favour of Scottie McLachlan over Craig Lowndes.
24:00Welcome back everybody, we're at the Plus Fitness Phillip Island
24:04407 Megawall's got all the action covered on the track, in the pit lane,
24:08kerb cam, the main straight, cams, race control, and of course the nine cars
24:12carrying the onboards. And the battle at the moment
24:16is very, very tight between McLachlan and Lowndes, just 0.5
24:20of a second, real pressure on at the moment for these top three
24:24positions. It's just been seesawing in the real past, in the recent
24:28past, and it's a real tough test mentally and physically for these
24:32guys at the moment, Scottie, because these are the races where you're trying to make up a millimetre here.
24:36It's where your fitness, your training, your preparedness for these race meetings
24:40becomes really, really vital. And so these guys are having a big squeeze
24:44at the moment. What about Van Gisberg? It's sideways through one!
24:48And that's him on the radio saying it was undrivable, it just
24:52snapped in the rear. In fact, I just got a text from his Enduro team mate
24:56John O'Webb watching from the US up there. G'day to John O, those
25:00guys did a great job at the Pertec Enduro Cup. How's this on the Gillette replay?
25:04Look at the thing wind itself sideways. Now he loves a bit
25:08of drifting, but not there, thank you very much. Here's the other angle.
25:16Nice save, Shane Van Gisbergen and
25:20Jonathan Webb, team owner and co-driver will be watching in the States
25:24and even from afar you'll be cringing, I'm sure, when you see your car sideways over there, mate.
25:28Whoa, that was not nice. The good part about this
25:32battle now, Neil, is that the guys from three, four and five
25:36just in behind here, Winkup, Tanda and Caruso, were
25:40faster than McLaughlin and Lowndes on the previous lap.
25:44So all five cars just starting to compact.
25:48Gap narrowed big time on that lap, Mark. It was 0.5 when I called it when we came out of the
25:52brake. It's down to 0.2 but you can see it. So what's happening at the moment for Craig
25:56Lowndes is he's riding the dirty and disturbed air that the Volvo's creating
26:00at the moment. And so he's got to try and find
26:04a way to make his presence felt
26:08and see whether he can coax Scott into a mistake. He's got him right on the ragged edge at the moment
26:12and of course McLaughlin's doing everything in his power to drive as straight as he can
26:16and not upset the car. And this is one of the areas
26:20where they're most vulnerable. Through turn three and then trying to get them stopped and run parallel
26:24to that left white line.
26:28This is a tight one right up and then this little
26:32battle here's a beauty as well because Tander and Caruso are at it here for fourth and fifth
26:36Shane Van Gisbergen continues to
26:40out-wrestle the VIP Petfoods entry. He's 19th at the moment
26:44and remember he and Fabian Coulthard off the back of the grid. Fabian's 17th
26:48A lot of work to do for those guys to get some meaningful points
26:52this afternoon. They will get points. They scored all the way to 25th
26:56You can see a couple of witness marks in the passenger side
27:00of that car as well
27:04Russell Ingalls done a pretty good job
27:08He was a firm last by about 300 metres
27:12at the start of the race and he's up to 21st
27:16so it's been a good fight back there. You can see that gap as they accelerate down this hill
27:20Big rollercoaster riders. Gary Rogers looks for him in the
27:24GRM Volvo pit. See that run there
27:28at turn one. It's such a fast corner. It's one of the best corners
27:32in Australian racing. Jonathan Webb was watching all that action
27:36a minute ago. He sent me another text covering his eyes
27:40from California. You would too. So anyway his man is
27:44still out there getting points. They've got to calm him down. It's no good bringing that car back in
27:48He's dropped a spot but he's just got to get points at the moment. They're all vital even when
27:52they're down the order at the moment. Look how tight it is at the top
27:56Plus Fitness, Phillip Island, 400. Two sprint races today and then
28:00200km tomorrow. And it's a pretty physical track
28:04this one because you pull a lot of load in a lot of places around here
28:08Isn't that an unbelievable shot
28:12And what you find is it's a big mental test as well
28:16because the grip goes away as we described literally two or three laps into the race
28:20You sort of find yourself in these long, long load corners
28:24trying to battle the forces in the car and at the same time drive it as straight as you dare
28:28You've got to find that right balance between
28:32aggression and careful control because if you overstep the mark
28:36with any aggression at all you either get a huge push in the nose here or you fire
28:40the rear of the car up sideways. That's absolutely not what you need
28:44It excites and aggravates the tyre and then once you do that you pay a penalty
28:48for the next half a lap to a lap while they cool out again and get back to normal. Marco?
28:52Well I was just going to add to that Neil. Sometimes they never get back to normal do they?
28:56We've got Shane Van Gisberg sliding the car around about 200km now
29:00and that looks very spectacular but we know when our tyres come in. We've seen him on a pit lane
29:04all the time. 100 degrees centigrade. In the middle of the corner there
29:08that would have been up around I'd say 140 degrees plus centigrade tyre temperature
29:12Now the chemical composure of the tyre means it never recovers in as good as it's been
29:16so he's going to have a tough day Shane with his rear tyres
29:20Is he ever and he's got to make them last over the weekend. Just 20 tyres
29:24A shot of Scotty McLaughlin shows you the foot skill involved in this process as well
29:28and it's
29:32when he gets the car stabilised through three and gets into four there the brake pressure
29:36is equivalent to about 100kg leg press
29:40which you do at the Puss Fitness gymscape
29:44He's training all the boys off to make sure that they're training hard for this and we thank Puss Fitness
29:48for their help this weekend presenting this event
29:52but the point being that the physicality of this is a big mission
29:56and particularly in open wheeler or sports cars around here
30:00the loads are just astonishing but look at how much delicacy is involved in dancing
30:04between the brake pedal and just squeezing that
30:08Look at that. Bringing the throttle on gently. That's the short shift to third gear. Look how long he has to wait
30:12before he gets back to 100% throttle in third
30:16fourth. Out of the throttle. Wait, wait, wait, wait. That's understeer
30:20and then that's just waiting for everything to settle before he can squeeze it back. Grab fifth
30:24Richard Holloway engineer
30:28Now this is the run to one. Little tap to make sure there's brake pressure
30:32Big squeeze of that pedal. Lift the throttle. Kick it to fifth
30:36Wait, wait, wait. Crack. 100%
30:40Heel and toe. Flipping the throttle pedal with the side
30:44of his foot
30:48It's all about patience and that really illustrates just how much you've got
30:52to use your head around here. You cannot just muscle the car which makes it the exact
30:56opposite of the Gold Coast. The Gold Coast you fly off everything. You muscle
31:00the car. You throw it over the curbs. You skate between the walls. Here
31:04you flip it. It's got to be all precision. Look how tight it is at the
31:08top. McLaughlin, Lowndes and Wincup will come back with the back end
31:16Three times this year
31:20Scott McLaughlin has been a winner in V8 Supercar competition. He did it at
31:24Winton in Northeastern Victoria. Again in Western Australia at Barbagallo
31:28Raceway and then again at Queensland Raceway at Ipswich
31:32and he's leading this one. Welcome back to our coverage and have
31:36a look at the pressure on at the moment between McLaughlin, Lowndes and
31:40Wincup. Lowndes there this time was the one that wagged the tail through turn
31:44one. Right on the exit. Not
31:48quite as wild as the Shane Van Gisbergen version but not far from it
31:52and now the margins tightening up again. So Lowndes
31:56is all over the back of McLaughlin. He can't quite find a way and
32:00if either of these two guys at the front make the tiniest slip and they're slip sliding
32:04everywhere at the moment, Wincup is ideally positioned. We'll just grab
32:08a quick word with Roland Dain. Hey Roland I'll position you so you can keep watching the screen there but just watch
32:12the tyres mate. Don't get near the tyres. How do you manage this? We know Jamie
32:16he likes to win races not just championships. What have you said to him?
32:20We've spoken to him a little bit. What have you got to say? He's just got to look at
32:24who he's racing and he's basically racing Winterbottom
32:28who's last at the moment. So I think Jamie will be happy where
32:32he is. We just need to watch out for Scotty in the Volvo blocking
32:36a bit at the moment.
32:40At the moment Jamie will be pretty happy where he is. I guess that is
32:44my point though. I don't want to argue with you about it. We do that occasionally.
32:48But typically he's not happy with that as he's a winner.
32:52That's what we love about Jamie. Yeah exactly but sooner
32:56or later Jamie's a pragmatist as well and
33:00he'll be taking a long view at the moment.
33:04That's for sure. Great to see you with your headset off too mate.
33:08We're on a date. Team Principal Red Bull Racing Australia with Mark Larkin.
33:12Hey Gary Rogers. Scotty McLaughlin has given us so many great moments this year.
33:16This is looking pretty good too but can he hold out Craig Lowndes and Jamie Winkel?
33:20Well Mark you'd like to think he can. He's been doing a great job so far. Keeping a nice
33:24level head. Not making any mistakes but mind you they're pretty experienced
33:28minds behind him there so I suppose a couple more Hail Marys and
33:32you never know what happens here. Now the boys are saying you've had a round win here in your team
33:36history but never actually won a race so this could be a first.
33:40I'm not big on history. I'd like to think we can make a bit of it ourselves as we move on.
33:44I don't know that but if that's the case well so be it. Good luck Gary. Good on you mate.
33:48As you can see there Scotty McLaughlin just blocking
33:52a little bit down into MG. He was driving down the centre of the road there. Sometimes
33:56that line is actually not too bad and you can argue that you don't block when you
34:00do that because you end up off the left hander of Lukey Hytes running a little
34:04bit wide and you can sort of disguise the block by being
34:08the race line. So there's a bit of gamesmanship being
34:12applied there with Lowndes and you know what Lowndes is like. He just
34:16never stops. He fires the nose down. He shows you the nose of the car
34:20all the time and he is putting maximum pressure on young
34:24Scott McLaughlin. Gasthander coming at them. Look at that in terms of the gaps.
34:28That's why Larko and I never got it. We never understood how to disguise
34:32the block like you did quite clearly because I don't know how you make a tonne and a half vanish
34:36but you must be able to. You've got to make it look like
34:40you're not really blocking which is exactly what he's doing.
34:44Different parts of the track he actually gets a little bit of margin back so he gives himself a bit of a cushion
34:48somehow through 1, 2 and 3 which means he isn't quite as vulnerable down
34:52here in the right-hander at turn 4.
34:56By the time he gets here he's just got the pressure off but it seems like there's a bit
35:00of vulnerability from Lukie Heights where he's approaching and in that area through
35:04MG and up at the northern end of the racetrack Larko. Yeah just watching these
35:08two cars on screen guys. During qualifying I actually took the opportunity to go and stand
35:12on the last corner coming onto the straight and the two best cars in the field happened to be
35:16these two in front of us. One, Scotty McLaughlin. The car balance
35:20through there was absolutely stunning and similar with Jamie and Jamie's shift from
35:244th gear, it's about 200 k's an hour into 5th was also stunning.
35:28Now you watch as they come through here. I'm going to show you in the white board in a minute what I'm talking about.
35:32A little bit of contact. Pull. Right here. This is about
35:36balance and commitment. I want to explain it to you because it is such an important facet
35:40to Phillip Island and both these guys do it very, very well.
35:44So three remaining now. McLaughlin, Lowndes,
35:48and Tanda is in the game here. You can see the Holmen Racing team car tagging
35:52along and in fact not very far behind really is Michael Caruso.
35:56So here's the rest of the story. We saw a glimpse of it there before the Gillette
36:00replay shows that Shane Van Gisburg has given Dale Wood a little touch.
36:04So Shane's having a shocker now so things have got all out of phase for him this
36:08afternoon and that bad qualifying
36:12has meant he's had to fight his way through and we've seen big moments for him sliding. He's made
36:16contact with Dale Wood there. I'd be surprised if he doesn't end up with a penalty for that one.
36:20Yeah, a bin stripe for that one for sure. And he's down the order at the moment.
36:2422nd with an ill-handling car and with a question
36:28mark over him now. The driving standards observer may well take a dim view of that
36:32move. So Tanda, what a great run. Started
36:36ninth, now in fourth. Has been the fastest car on the track for
36:40at least the last five or six laps. As you can see there on the previous
36:44lap, fastest again of the top four cars. Michael Caruso
36:48has done a great job also. He's just sneaking along with him, not too far away
36:52and that's that gap that we've been talking about
36:56to Winko.
37:00Pretty straightforward.
37:04Yeah, Tim Schenken just advising of that penalty for Van Gisburg
37:08and that was a little arguable I suppose in terms of
37:12the Moffat contact but with that one with Dale Wood it was basically
37:16nose to tail. Looking back now from Jamie Winkup
37:20and Garth Tanda. So McLaughlin, point four
37:24in front of Lowndes. They've battled the whole race. Winkup, he's at
37:28the front of the field. He's in P3. He's series protagonist. The man
37:32that he's trying to beat for this year's championship to be a six-time
37:36champion is currently last. Mark Winterbottom
37:40and right now Garth Tanda has forged his way up into the back
37:44of car one and Jamie will try to keep
37:48Garth behind. He's only got two laps to do that and
37:52he won't want to give that spot away for championship points proper.
37:56Tanda looks like he's the strongest of all of them at the moment, doesn't he? When I look at his sector splits
38:00and his proximity but he's got the added problem now. He's closed the
38:04air gap but he's got to find a way past the middle. That's not as easy as it looks on this
38:08racetrack. There's a couple of spots where you can do it but you've got to have really superior
38:12grip or balance to be able to do it. He might have a look
38:16up over the top of the hill at Lukie into the right-hander. He's been pretty strong there.
38:20He's run pretty wide at Hayshed. He would have had to come out of the throttle for a moment.
38:24McLaughlin's hanging on, isn't he? Just.
38:28I thought three or four laps ago he might have been in trouble
38:32but then I reckon if anything Craig Lowndes might have used a little bit too much tyre
38:36right at that very same point and he's just allowed
38:40not deliberately but he's allowed that margin just to creep up a bit.
38:44There it is. Top four.
38:48McLaughlin, Lowndes, Windcup, Tanda. Michael Caruso's just out of the frame.
38:52He's fifth at the moment in the Nissan so it's McLaughlin, Milo, Lowndes,
38:56Holden, Windcup, Holden, Tanda, Holden, Caruso, Nissan.
39:00And the reason that it's been hard for Lowndes
39:04fastest on that lap. You can see how close that is. A 33.9 for the top four guys.
39:08But the reason it's hard for Lowndes is the cars have got
39:12roughly 350 kilos of total downforce. Lowndes has parked
39:16in behind the Volvo for the whole race. The car moves around more.
39:20He doesn't have the same aero efficiency that Scott McLaughlin
39:24has had. So Scott's driven it very straight. He's used the track
39:28well in terms of positioning his car and Lowndes has at this point
39:32not been able to have a dive. He hasn't quite been close enough in the right areas
39:36but Tanda's looking pretty energetic here
39:40in the last lap to get by Windcup. This is Siberia.
39:44He gets a good run out of here. He's been better than Jamie every lap.
39:48It's going to be a real pest for Jamie over the top
39:52of the hill here. And how much does Windcup fight?
39:56Last weekend Tanda race winner in New Zealand.
40:00The Highlands 101 with Tony Quinn in the Aston Martin
40:04so he's got lots of K's under his belt in the recent past with the Gold Coast prior to that.
40:08Bathurst of course was an enormous disappointment
40:12for GT. He's not going to have enough in reserve here.
40:16So, after looking a little vulnerable, it's into the final corner
40:20and he's done a beautiful job this afternoon from the pole position.
40:24Runs it down to the left hand side of the road.
40:28And Scotty McLaughlin the winner
40:32of race number 33.
40:40And that's the most animated I've ever heard Richard Holway.
40:44That was an outstanding drive was his comment. And that was an outstanding drive.
40:48Anytime you can keep Craig Lowndes at bay for that period of time, Neil,
40:52you have done a very, very good job.
40:58It is another win and it's a great performance.
41:02And he said he was puffing, which just underscores again the business that it's
41:06a hard road around here. There's Jamie Windcup, third. More vital
41:10points in his quest. And interestingly, the guy that he was racing
41:14ended up having a terrible run. Mark Winterbottom, position number
41:1824 and here's McLaughlin. Bagging it up.
41:22Having a bit of fun coming off turn four.
41:26Great drive. Garth Tander coming from ninth.
41:30Right up behind Windcup at the end and also a great drive for Michael Caruso.
41:34Caruso was very fast in that
41:38middle to two third section. He was right behind Tander but couldn't quite hang
41:42on at the end. But great drive for both those guys.
41:46It's a bit of a breakthrough for these guys because trying to find the right balance front to rear
41:50with this car has been a real challenge for Richard and his fellas this year. In fact
41:54they've fought, I've mentioned this several times in the broadcast, they've fought with the opposite to most
41:58people's problem. They've tended to find that it's the front of the car that they struggle to control
42:02late in the race and it hurts its front tyres. And if ever there's a place that amplifies front
42:06tyre drama, right front in particular, it is this one. So that'll be a little
42:10just privately they'll walk away from this race. Now they can't relax
42:14too much because we've got another race to come this afternoon but I reckon they'll regard
42:18that as okay, those settings have really served us well this afternoon and we've got a bit
42:22better understanding on how to get the most out of this car. They're doing a lot in a very
42:26short period of time. It's a new project, the S60 Volvo.
42:30So there's our top four. McLaughlin, Lowndes, Wincup and Tander.
42:34We'll have a chat to all the boys very shortly.
42:38Here's the situation
42:42in the points now.
42:46McLaughlin did a mighty job in that race. 450.
42:50Of course that's the magic number required at the end of the day for Wincup.
42:54Sitting right on that value at the moment.
42:58So that's allowed Shane Van...
43:02That's allowed Craig Lowndes to climb up over Shane Van Gisburg in that race as a result of
43:06the shocker that Shane had. So the drive-through popped him back to 25th.
43:10And here's the man of the moment, Scotty McLaughlin. Chance to compose.
43:14Undo everything. There's plenty of stuff to undo
43:18and then he's got to get himself out of it. Not an easy process. You wonder sometimes
43:22how the boys get it all done in the endurance races. Get himself locked in. Now he's sorted.
43:30What a great drive. That was a very mature drive for a young man
43:34at a racetrack that's arguably the hardest
43:38racetrack to drive the car to the limit the whole way. That's exactly what
43:42he did. Especially the poise in the mid-stint.
43:46In the middle to two-thirds stint of that race he was under pressure
43:50and it looked as though he might have been out of breath in terms of tyre grip and balance
43:54but he managed to redeem himself and he hung in there.
43:58So that's a sweet one for the boys at Volvo Polestar Racing.
44:02Nice job. Let's go down to Barretts.
44:06Scotty McLaughlin, well done. That was some pressure breathing down your neck. The bloke who is the equal
44:10most successful driver in the history of this circuit. How was that?
44:14I'm pretty screwed. I'm stuffed.
44:18That was awesome fun. Good battle with Lownsey here. It was awesome. Thank you so much.
44:22All the boys, Valvoline Racing GRM, can't thank them enough.
44:26All the fans are coming out. It's great to race on this awesome circuit.
44:30Your season is going so well. Notch another great win. It's amazing. Even in my second year I never thought
44:34I'd be this successful. I've got a long way to go to be like this bloke next to me
44:38but I'm enjoying the ride. You're giving us a thrill every time.
44:42Well done. Enjoy the podium. Thanks everyone at home.
44:46We've got some silverware here for you too, Scott. Congratulations.
44:50The first place plate as well. And Craig Lownsey.
44:54You chased and chased Lownsey but it just wasn't going to be today with Scotty.
44:58Scotty is driving well. The car is obviously very good. We put pressure on him right throughout those laps.
45:02When his rears went away, mine went away and we just didn't quite get the overlap.
45:06As I said, great driver Scotty. Jamie coming in third. It was great for us to have a 2-3
45:10for the race 1. See what race 2 brings. And not too bad for your championship.
45:14You've jumped up a spot. Yeah, look, I think Gizzy had some problems throughout qualifying and that's related
45:18now into obviously the race pace as well. So we've moved to third and we're still trying to get to second.
45:22And put some silverware in the cupboard too. Congratulations Lownsey. Well done.
45:26Jamie Wyncutt boy, as we said earlier on today, just step by step.
45:30They're little steps all the way but that's really nice. That takes some heat off.
45:34Yeah, that was a tough battle out there. The boys were putting out a serious pace and I was just trying to hang on
45:38really. Didn't quite have the car right. We'll tune it up for the next one and hopefully go a bit quicker.
45:42What do you want to do to the car? The tyre life was
45:46not the best. Garth had serious pace there at the end. So if we don't do something he'll
45:50run over the top of us in the next one. But as I said, I don't know if it showed
45:54on telly or not but the pace out there was crazy. So happy to hang on really.
45:58It was a great race Jamie. Well done. Put that in the cupboard at home. Yes, thank you.
46:02Garth Tan, a great fourth position there from ninth mate and some constructive
46:06chat with your engineers I see. You know when you get a sense that a car is going to be fast over a weekend
46:10and have a good weekend, I think you're it. Looks very strong mate. Yeah, look it's good.
46:14We probably missed the mark a little bit in qualy but I was surprised how good it was in the
46:18race and then I was really nervous about half way through. I thought oh maybe we're too
46:22aggressive with the tyre pressure and it's not going to be good at the end but it hung in really well. So we can sort of
46:26motor up to the back of those lead guys. I mean, getting past Jamie was always going to be
46:30a risk. It had to be pretty clean to do it and I just couldn't get in a position to do it.
46:34So yeah, look we're happy with fourth. We'll start about the same as the next one
46:38so we'll see what happens. I'll get a couple of bucks on you tomorrow and it'll be a safe bet pal.
46:42Thanks Mark.
46:46Garth Tan did a nice job in that one and he raises an interesting point there about tyre pressure
46:50management but it's Scott McLaughlin who's got it done. Three victories now for him in
46:542014 from Craig Lowndes who put a huge amount of pressure on but never
46:58quite closed the deal but very solid points for both he and his team mate
47:02Jamie Wincup who's now got a 450 point margin as we
47:06head into race number 34 which is coming up a little bit later on this afternoon.
47:10It's the Plus Fitness Phillip Island 400. Two super sprint races.
47:14Tomorrow we've got a 200k race. There'll be a minimum of two stops in that race
47:18and there's still the ongoing threat of weather here later this afternoon
47:22and the potential for some weather also for
47:26tomorrow's race. That's looking down towards the southeast.
47:30So we're looking forward to a resumption of play
47:34later on this afternoon and I think we're going to see one heck of a battle.
47:38Coming up this afternoon, Touring Car Masters
47:42live. Great to see the old gear back out there
47:46and then we asked the question why is the lap around this racetrack
47:50so challenging and just precisely who is Ryan
47:54Walkinshaw. We meet him, we find out, we have a chat. Looking forward to that one and then
47:58coming up for the Sabo. Race number 34 live. Once again 100km
48:0223 laps of all the action here at Phillip Island.
48:06Yes, that's just a small
48:10slice of all the big sports action on Seven Sport. Lots of it.
48:14Big celebrations here at Phillip Island for the Plus Fitness
48:18Phillip Island 400. Scotty McLaughlin the winner of race number 33. 23 laps
48:22100km. Mark Scope with me. That was a very nice run for the Volvo team
48:26there and I reckon that was a pretty big breakthrough in terms of them getting that car balanced just right.
48:30Well he just drove it so smoothly didn't he. You said through the telecast that there was a time in the race
48:34that we thought that Lowndes was going to pounce and the way that he just composed
48:38himself in that phase of the race was very mature for a young man.
48:42Great start. The two guys off the line exactly together. Look in the back of the screen
48:46there. Engle actually stalled. But this run down into turn 1
48:50was very interesting because Lowndes tried to muscle the car across in front
48:54but McLaughlin had none of it. He took that position.
48:58Tandem. What a great start. He comes through the field from 9th position
49:023 abreast down into turn 1. It's one of the great rides in Australian motorsport.
49:06285km an hour. There's the shot of Engle
49:10parked on the grid. He did a good job to come through the field and that was the first mistake
49:14for the series leader. That could be a game changer. You could go off the road
49:18there and fire into the fence on the left and you're out for the weekend. So he got away
49:22with it. And then check this out. Winterbottom around the outside. Couldn't maintain
49:26control. Right out sideways at over 200km an hour.
49:30He goes down through the weeds. Gets back onto the track but he had to
49:34come back in. We'll show you that in a second. A little bump here for
49:38Tander and Mostert. That was not intentional. That was just wheel to wheel
49:42Garth Tander on the inside at Southern Loop. Mostert off the road also.
49:46So both factory Falcons off into the weeds within 2 laps.
49:50This was a big moment there for Moffat. They got away
49:54with that one with Van Gisbergen. And look at this slide. This is just
49:58unbelievable car control. Van Gisbergen goes off. He was
50:02having a real tough day. Neil played the comment a couple of times.
50:06This is the big moment. That's right out. That's almost a turn
50:10of opposite lock at 210km an hour.
50:14A lot of action within the mid pack. This was a big moment also
50:18at the same spot. Not as wild as Van Gisbergen's for Lowndes but this was the one
50:22he got a penalty for. Van Gisbergen very aggressive through the field.
50:26Pushed Dale Wood off and what a moment. The first win
50:30ever for Volvo at Phillip Island and what a drive
50:34from this young man. A lot of big names having a lot of big moments out there when you
50:38look at those highlights. When I see it compressed like that, you look at it and you think
50:42it could have been pretty costly for a few people either in terms of damage
50:46or in terms of money. It's a 450-point margin now
50:50between Jamie Wincup and Mark Winterbottom. That's the magic number tonight.
50:54Remember, 150 points available tomorrow. 300 in Sydney in two weeks' time
50:58at Sydney Olympic Park. If he clears that value, then he's got his hands
51:02around that title. It's a pretty big story. Let's get back into the lane with all the action. Here's Rihanna.
51:06Mark Winterbottom, really sorry to interrupt.
51:10I know I am pointing these debriefs out. That certainly was not in the plan
51:14for your championship battle. I was pretty loose at one
51:18anyway. You're not going to sit behind him, so you have a go. Unfortunately,
51:22I just tipped her in and she had oversteered.
51:26After that, we got back on and did a bit of gyms mowing and took it all
51:30on the front. I had to pit and that pace was okay.
51:34What do you do? You've got to have a go. Unfortunately, it didn't stick.
51:38The good thing about today is you've got another race to make up some points.
51:42We're off the front row. I don't think we're quick enough. We need to tune her up.
51:46The car doesn't feel as quick as it should be.
51:50You've got to stay on track. That was my mistake. At the same time, you're having a go.
51:54We'll salvage hopefully something from the next one and
51:58remember your last race. Hopefully, that's our next one. Not any worse than what we just went.
52:02Front row of the grid, good luck. Thank you.
52:06Massive dramas there for Mark Winterbottom. Finished 24th and it was
52:1054 seconds off the lead of the car race, but he gets to redeem himself
52:14potentially this afternoon.
Recommended
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