Whincup snatches Triple Crown from Coulthard
AUSTRALIAN SUPERCARS HIDDEN VALLEY (AUS) 15-16 AUGUST
ROUND 5/13
The Darwin Triple Crown came down to a controversial clash in the pits, which helped Jamie Whincup become only the second-ever winner of the prize.
Traditionally reserved for a weekend clean sweep, and only won for the first time in its 14-year history by Scott Mclaughlin in 2019, the rules of the Triple Crown were tweaked for 2020 to better suit the new tyre regulations. With repeat winning expected to be all but impossible, Supercars elected to dip a toe back into the ‘round winner’ pool, and hand the Triple Crown to the best points scorer across the three races.
Banking on decent tyre degradation, the majority of the field went conservative on the Saturday and stuck to the hard-compound Dunlops. Anton de Pasquale was one of the few who didn’t, and the Erebus Holden man was rewarded with a maiden Supercars race win ahead of fellow soft-tyre dicerollers James Courtney and Scott Pye.
Fabian Coulthard was the best of the hard-tyre drivers in sixth, which instantly put him in contention for the Triple Crown, particularly as the three other drivers from the ‘big two’ teams were hit with penalties. Shane van Gisbergen’s Triple Eight Holden finished 11th after serving a drivethrough for spinning Nick Percat, his team-mate Whincup was 17th thanks to a 15-second penalty for an unsafe release, and Coulthard’s DJR Team Penske Ford stablemate Mclaughlin was 20th after a 15s penalty for a restart infringement.
As it turned out, the soft-tyre degradation was nowhere near as bad as expected. That kept de Pasquale in the Triple Crown game longer than expected on Sunday, although the Erebus driver couldn’t match the usual suspects once the whole field was on the softs.
Coulthard could have put the prize beyond doubt in the first of two Sunday races, after beating Mclaughlin off the line and leading the short first stint. But a demon in-lap from Mclaughlin helped him emerge just in front of Coulthard, who then slid wide at Turn 1 trying to find a way by. The mistake didn’t just hand Mclaughlin the race win, but left Coulthard third behind Whincup.
Fourth or better in the finale would still have been enough for Coulthard to take out the Triple Crown. Fifth would have been fine too, as long as Whincup didn’t win.
And that’s what made the pair’s pitstop so controversial. In a mad race to undercut early leader Mclaughlin, Whincup exited his bay just as Coulthard tried to enter the one right in front. Coulthard had to brake to avoid a nasty crash, which cost him a shot at jumping Chaz Mostert for fourth. Whincup jumped Mclaughlin, won the race to tie on weekend points with Coulthard, and was then declared the Triple Crown winner on a countback.
Penske asked stewards to investigate an unsafe release, but Whincup was swiftly cleared on the grounds that Coulthard wasn’t wholly in the fast lane.
Mclaughlin was third for the weekend and still holds a healthy 101-point championship lead over Whincup.
MOTOGP RED BULL RING (AUT) 16 AUGUST
ROUND 4/14
As though leaping from the pages of the countless scripts wannabe film-makers have sent to Hollywood, Andrea Dovizioso gave Ducati its 50th Motogp victory 24 hours after he announced his decision to quit the team at the end of the year.
Like many great epics, the Austrian Grand Prix – carrying on 2020’s chaotic theme – was split into two parts. The first, running for eight full laps, had Pol Espargaro as the main protagonist on his KTM in front of the spectres of the Austrian manufacturer’s absent home crowd.
Pramac’s Jack Miller – currently the only Ducati rider locked down for 2021 – grabbed the holeshot but couldn’t do much to shake the chasing Dovizioso and Espargaro. The latter found his way into the lead on lap six and moved to unleash the ominous pace he’d displayed on Saturday afternoon in FP4.
Dovizioso charged into second at the end of lap eight to begin hunting down the KTM. But the action was halted after a sickening crash.
Franco Morbidelli clipped Johann Zarco’s Avintia Ducati on the run through the fast Turn 2 kink. Both were sent into the gravel at frightening speed, while Morbidelli’s Petronas SRT Yamaha flew towards the factory Yamaha pair of Maverick Vinales and Valentino Rossi.
As Zarco’s Ducati vaulted the fence (and narrowly avoided Vinales’ head) on the exit of Turn 3, disaster was averted by mere inches as the SRT bike flashed between the two factory Yamahas. Morbidelli escaped mostly unscathed, his assessment of Zarco cutting, branding him a “half-killer”. The incident was not penalised.
The halt proved detrimental to a furious Espargaro’s victory hopes. He was forced to switch to a fresh soft rear tyre, having run out of mediums, and the “weak” compound meant he dropped out of the hunt, with his race ending on lap nine after a collision with Tech3 KTM’S Miguel Oliveira at Turn 4.
Miller had once again assumed the lead at the restart, gambling on a switch to a soft front slick. Utilising his early grip advantage, he shot off like a rider trying to prove to Ducati it wouldn’t be losing its true team leader next year. He was over a second clear by lap five, but the soft front began to cry enough and Dovizioso – aptly carrying “undaunted” on the back of his leathers – moved in for the kill.
He eased past on the run to Turn 1 on lap 10 and controlled the pace for the next five tours before dipping back into the 1m24s to get to the chequered flag 1.4s clear. It marked Dovizioso’s first win since his epic Austria tussle with Marc Marquez last year.
Miller was as stubborn as possible in his defence of second, but a mistake at the penultimate corner gave Joan Mir runner-up spot for his first Motogp podium.
Not known for being a powerful bike, the Suzuki in the hands of Alex Rins had stood
a good chance of winning before he crashed out when he briefly took the lead from Dovizioso at Turn 6 on lap 11.
Brno winner Brad Binder anticipated a better Sunday after qualifying down in 17th. Having worked his way into the top 10 before the red flag, the KTM rookie has now put himself into title contention with a fine fourth.
“Very scared” after his near-miss, Rossi rallied brilliantly to be top Yamaha in fifth on another weird day for Maverick Vinales and Fabio Quartararo. An unexpected brake issue sent Quartararo off track and to the back of the field during the first race. He battled the issue again at the restart.
Eighth keeps him in the lead of the championship, but only by 11 points. Vinales, after romping to pole, encountered the usual Yamaha inconsistencies early in the race – his restart not helped by a clutch issue dropping him to last on lap one. He was 10th at the flag, admitting afterwards that his motivation had taken a knock after another tough race. The only positive he could find was the return of his strong pace in the later stages.
No one really knows what motivated Dovizioso to make the decision he did, but he wanted the uncertainty of his
Ducati future off his mind to focus on the job in hand. Now he’s a grand prix winner again and back in the title fight.
Ducati’s muted celebrations suggest the reality of the situation is hitting home.