There are not enough superlatives to describe what it means to be back endurance racing Gen3 Supercars. Sure, there are plenty of categories around the world that race for an extended period of time.
24 Hours of Le Mans, the 24 Hour of Spa and the Nürburgring – to simply name a few. More relevant to us, NASCAR races 600 miles around Charlotte Motor Speedway in the longest race of its calendar year.
But there just isn’t enough to compare to what the Enduro Cup in Supercars means to us. NASCAR doesn’t do driver swaps and GT racing can’t survive the level of physical attrition and door-banging we see on a race-by-race basis. We often see complaints and complacency about our series but in fact, we’ve got it pretty damn good. Our enduro races, beginning with the 500km affair at The Bend in South Australia, is our entrée, our precursor to the Great Race.
There is not a racing series that offers up the level of changeability in product. Look at the racing at the Melbourne Grand Prix – door-banging carnage with a new race winner on one of the biggest stages in motorsport. Short, intense and edge of your seat racing that set the tone for what has been some of the best racing to follow. And then a few months later – we completely change tact. Add in another driver – young, old, experienced and new – and you’ve got and endurance race. Driver changes, setup changes, long-run race strategy and tire usage. Where else are you going to catch that sort of variability in entertainment?
We head to The Bend after a year’s hiatus. Plenty of previous generation racing has been held at the venue, and despite a weekend of running in Gen3 machinery in 2023 – times have rapidly changed since then and the landscape of Supercar racing has evolved. This time we have 500km of action to burn, and it will be extremely interesting. All of the elements that come with endurance racing will be practiced and practiced by teams and drivers alike – but the GT-inspired, 4.95km, clockwise International Circuit will illustrate a drivers ability to look after left side tyres, and an engineering teams ability to provide a setup that works for both main and co-drivers.
We look forward to ripping into what is sure to be a massive weekend of action, as our road to the Finals series starts to shorten, with only The Bend and Bathurst standing as point scoring opportunities to play a way into the first round of the Finals at the Gold Coast.
Will Brown
Driver #1 Chevrolet Camaro
Red Bull Ampol Racing
“I am looking forward to getting back into the Enduros, it’s a bit of a different one this weekend heading to Tailem Bend instead of Sandown but looking forward to having Scotty (Pye) back in the car. Enduro season is always a great time of the year and a lot of fun. We were lucky enough to win the Sandown 500 last year, so we’re looking to try and put our best foot and replicate that result at the first Enduro at The Bend. I’m feeling good, feeling back ready to go. Been back in Australia for three days now and honestly just keen to get in the car and have a crack.”
“We ran pretty good at QR, we got one win, and we got a fourth which I think could have been a bit better if the safety car hadn’t come out. Obviously, the last race was disappointing but felt like we had our mojo back a bit in Ipswich so hopefully we can bring that form to Tailem Bend with us.”
“I think it’s a good year for me to have the points reset heading into the Finals. We haven’t had the strongest year – last year I would have been disappointed and if I was in Broc’s position – I would be maybe a little frustrated but I’m pretty keen on that points reset. In saying that though, there’s going to be a lot of pressure on the line for the next two rounds.”
Broc Feeney
Driver #88 Chevrolet Camaro
Red Bull Ampol Racing
“I’m super excited. It has been a pretty big break for us after what was a busy period with Darwin, Townsville and then Ipswich. It’s going to be good to get back in the Supercar and for the first Enduro so always looking forward to it. It’s the most exciting part of the year now until November. And I can’t wait to pair up with Jamie (Whincup). It’s going to be really cool to share the car with him once again and coming off the back of a weekend in GT at Tailem Bend, that’s only going to help going there this weekend. Hopefully we can just keep that momentum rolling and try to keep that up.”
“It’s been a couple of years since we’ve been there so just to do just to do laps anyway, anywhere in any car is going to help but to do it at Tailem Bend in a GT3 is awesome. I was able to get a good feel for the track, a couple of changes that they’ve made, but certainly feel like I’m going to have my eye in and come practice one, I feel like I’m going to be able to get up to speed pretty quick and just try and get the ball rolling from lap one of practice one.”
“I suppose I don’t really change my overall approach, but in some way the way you go about the weekend is a bit different compared to previous weekends. You normally have two short practice sessions and then you’ve got to get out on track and hit it – where this weekend, we have five practice sessions, we have two full co-driver sessions. It’s a balance of me getting comfortable and fast in the car to qualify up the front, but at the same time it’s just getting Jamie comfortable in the car and making sure we’re both up to speed and happy with the race package we’ve got.”
“So, it’s not just one lap pace all weekend, which it normally is on a sprint weekend, you just focus on qualifying and figure out the race once it comes. I feel like we are going to be looking more towards the race and maybe a little bit the qualifying car on Saturday so plenty of sessions to work on it.”
There’s plenty to watch and follow across the weekend, as on track Supercars action begins with the first of three Friday practice sessions at 11:40AM ACST time.