MOTORSPORT
ITM Auckland SuperSprint, best in the business
The Virgin Australia Supercars Championship’s annual journey across the Ditch is officially upon us, as racing kicks off today at Pukekohe Raceway.
Recent calendar announcements mean that this year’s ITM Auckland SuperSprint will be the last time the Supercars visit New Zealand at the business end of the championship (for now, at least). Next year the event shifts to midSeptember.
For Kiwis, it’s a finger-licking championship scenario indeed.
Scott McLaughlin and Shane van Gisbergen have dominated the season’s results. The pair have won half of the year’s races between them (McLaughlin on seven, van Gisbergen on six).
With just 14 measly points separating them and more than 300 points to the chasing pack (headed by Jamie Whincup, Craig Lowndes, and David Reynolds), it’s
hard to imagine anyone else challenging for the title in the last four races.
“It is going to be about no mistakes,” said van Gisbergen.
“That is sort of what this year has been about. When we were clawing points back in the middle of the season he [McLaughlin] wasn’t making mistakes. That’s what you need to do, be up there every week and minimise your bad days.”
Along with unforced errors, the other element that always rears its head at this time of the season is
“momentum”. McLaughlin holds the points lead, but hasn’t scored a race win since July. On the other hand, back-to-back wins in the Sydney Motorsport Park night race at Sandown 500 lead to van Gisbergen briefly take the points lead.
A trying Gold Coast 600 meant championship positions swapped again, but it’s worth noting that van Gisbergen is a defending race winner at Pukekohe. McLaughlin hasn’t won in Pukekohe since 2013 (ironically, that was his first Supercars victory).
Still, that’s one more win than Craig Lowndes.
Lowndes is set to retire from the series as a full-time driver at the end of the season. And Pukekohe has the distinction of being one of the few venues where he has never won a race. This weekend he sports a fresh National Storage paint scheme.
“I want to win a race here before I don’t come back as a race driver,” said Lowndes, speaking to Radio Sport.
Apart from two second-place finishes, Lowndes’ best previous performance at Pukekohe was in
2015, when a blown tyre on the front straight thwarted his charge while sitting in the lead.
“It’s all these Kiwi drivers. There’s too many of you,” he laughed. “[Murphy] was winning it every year, thank God he retired. Now we’ve got Shane, Fabian [Coulthard], Scotty . . . we’ve got too many.
“It’s a great track. We’re looking forward to getting there because they’ve resurfaced parts of it from last year. It’s one of the bumpiest tracks we go to, it’s exciting, it makes the cars look fast, and of course the weather is unpredictable. All those elements make for a good weekend.”
Beyond the Supercars, the weekend also sees a bevy of local championships kick off their summer-series calendars. This includes the Toyota 86 Series and BNT V8s; the latter pitting young Aussies Jack Smith and Brenton Grove against the likes of Nick Ross and Chelsea Herbert. Racing today begins at 8.50am, with the first Supercars qualifying session at
1.40pm. Race 28 is scheduled to kick off at 4.10pm.