The Press

Kiwis to dominate Supercars season

- DAVID LONG

This surely is the golden age for New Zealand drivers in Supercars.

The new season kicks off with the Adelaide 500 this weekend and they’ll be five Kiwis on the starting grid.

There have been that many New Zealand drivers in the category before, but rarely so many in competitiv­e cars.

Shane van Gisbergen, Fabian Coulthard and Scott McLaughlin will be back hunting for the championsh­ip, while Richie Stanaway is a full-time driver for the first time and Andre Heimgartne­r returns after a year away.

Stanaway is one of the four drivers for the big budget Tickford Racing team (formerly known as Prodrive Racing Australia) and Heimgartne­r gets a drive with Nissan, who should be more competitiv­e this season, given that they’re a well resourced team.

Last year’s championsh­ip was enthrallin­g and reached its climax in Newcastle, with Jamie Whincup just pipping McLaughlin to take the title, even if he was helped by a dubious pitlane penalty given to the young Kiwi in the final race, which ultimately cost him the championsh­ip.

This season it’s again likely to be another battle between Whincup and van Gisbergen at Triple Eight, Coulthard and McLaughlin for DJR Team Penske and Mark Winterbott­om and Chaz Mostert at Tickford.

Stanaway and Heimgartne­r can finish on podiums and even win, but it’ll be the other three Kiwis in

the hunt for the title and it wouldn’t be inconceiva­ble if there’s a Kiwi one-two-three in the championsh­ip.

Van Gisbergen will be out to make amends for what was an unspectacu­lar failed title defence last year, while McLaughlin, who is arguably the fastest driver over one lap, will be looking to convert more pole positions into race wins.

Coulthard is the dark horse. He came third in last year’s championsh­ip and at the age of 35 and in one of the quickest cars, knows 2018 will be one of his best opportunit­ies to take the title.

‘‘Last year was very good, but I’m looking to improve on it a bit,’’ Coulthard said. ‘‘We can only build on what we learned last year and continue the momentum into 2018.’’

Coulthard has a new Ford Falcon for the campaign and if his DJR Team Penske team can make a similar jump to the one made between the 2016 and 2017 seasons, it could be a memorable year.

‘‘The boys built the car in the off-season and it’s been running faultlessl­y,‘‘ Coulthard said.

‘‘We’ve had a good amount of time to quantify things from last year and put them into practice for this year.’’

The Adelaide 500 doesn’t allow drivers and teams to ease their way into the new season. It’s the biggest and toughest race outside the three endurance rounds.

With the drivers, particular­ly

the five rookies this year, still getting to grips with their new cars it can be a high-octane event, butt Coulthard believes it’s the perfect way to begin a season.

‘‘This is the right race to start the year with,’’ Coulthard said.

‘‘We’ve been out of the car for two and a half months and it’s a real shock to the system ... the high ambience, the long races.

‘‘It separates the men from the boys. It’s a tough one and I’ve always had good success here.’’

Meanwhile, it has been announced that there will be a top 10 shootout on the Sunday at this year’s round at Pukekohe.

The last time there was a shootout for the New Zealand leg of the series was in 2013.

 ?? PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES ?? Shane van Gisbergen, posing ahead of this weekend’s opening Supercars round, will be looking to atone for a failed title defence last season.
PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES Shane van Gisbergen, posing ahead of this weekend’s opening Supercars round, will be looking to atone for a failed title defence last season.

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