Sunday 9th October
7:30pm – RBRA can confirm an appeal has been lodged by Triple Eight Race Engineering Car 88 following today’s Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000. Under the operations manual all teams have the ability to appeal a particular decision. Once the appeal is formally lodged and evidence is submitted, the appeal is heard by the Supercars court of appeal which is appointed independently and the procedures run by CAMS. A date has yet to be set to hear the appeal.
RACE WRAP –
Shane van Gisbergen / Alexandre Premat – Car #97
Warm up – 19th (Fastest Lap: 2:07.8807) – van Gisbergen / Premat
Bathurst 1000 – Second
Championship standing – First (2524 points) – van GisbergenJamie Whincup / Paul Dumbrell – Car #88
Warm up – First (Fastest Lap: 2:06.7665) – Whincup / Dumbrell
Bathurst 1000 – 11th
Championship standing – Second (2385 points) – Whincup | | |
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| Shane van Gisbergen – Car #97 “What an awesome day. It was a pretty intense last few laps.We had awesome speed, both Alex (Premat) and I were fast. I gave it a shot trying to bring home the win, the Championship was not on my mind, I just wanted to get that win, but P2 is great. You want the team to get the best result, so I do feel for my teammates, Jamie (Whincup) and Paul (Dumbrell). I haven’t seen what happened, but it’s never great to have a penalty. I am really happy with the car, it started off rather average, but we worked her up and the team worked hard on strategy and it really paid off. With two second places under our belt, we head to the Gold Coast with our eyes on that PIRTEK Enduro Cup. ” Alexandre Premat – Car #97 “Wow, what a race! It was so close there in the end and it was a great drive by Shane (van Gisbergen). Second place is cool, it is an awesome feeling. It was busy with the double stacking, we weren’t sure of the outcome there for awhile. The team’s strategy was perfect at the end, we just missed out. It is all pretty amazing, I am very excited for the Gold Coast now and let’s hope that we can continue this. It is great for Red Bull Racing Australia, and of course Shane, because this means more points for him and his championship standing.” Jamie Whincup – Car #88 “All I can say about the incident, is that we were racing. I went down the inside, got pretty heavily squeezed and had some contact. I would have redressed but the car wasn’t there to redress. I feel like we tried hard and got the till robbed at the end of the day. It won’t break our spirit, we’ll fight back in a couple of weeks.” Paul Dumbrell – Car #88 “We had the quickest car all day. It takes so much effort leading up to the race and the fuel strategy threw it all over the place so we were coming from behind. We still had the car speed to win so it’s a tough call and we don’t agree with it, but we have to live by it. It’s a devastating day for the team. Nothing beats Bathurst so this will take some time to get over.” | | |
12:10pm – Dumbrell is sitting in P1 with AP in P3. Still, a long way to go, but with one pit stop down everything is going to plan.
11:35am – The great race has started. JW pushed forward to continue to hold out P1, SVG moved forward to P6.
11:10am – We are on the grid, ready to get real with the 2016 Bathurst 1000. It has been a wild ride so far, always fun when our mate Murph pops over for a visit.
10:30am – Update: JDub has been rescued.
10:12am – Always a great start to the day when your pole sitting driver gets lost on a parade lap around the mountain. #whereswhincup?
8:30am – Warmup session got us nice and toasty. JW/PD taking the fastest time, SVG/AP 19th.
7:12am – HAPPY BATHURST DAY!
Saturday 8th October
RACE WRAP –
Jamie Whincup / Paul Dumbrell – Car #88
Practice 6 – 12th (Fastest Lap: 2:07.0427) – Whincup / Dumbrell
Top Ten Shootout – First (Fastest Lap: 2:05.4263) – WhincupShane van Gisbergen / Alexandre Premat – Car #97
Practice 6 – Fourth (Fastest Lap: 2:06.1960) – van Gisbergen / Premat
Top Ten Shootout – Seventh (Fastest Lap: 2:06.2550) – van Gisbergen | | |
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| Jamie Whincup – Car #88 “I went out there knowing that I could get the top, so it was awesome to get there. The car has been quick all week, the car did everything I needed it to today. There is a voodoo on getting pole at Bathurst, but it’s great to be starting up the front and I hope Paul (Dumbrell) and I can shake the stigma of claiming pole around here. You try to not overthink the race, I will put this behind me and start fresh tomorrow.” Paul Dumbrell – Car #88 “It has been a really good week so far. The car has been quick the past few days. There is plenty of variables throughout the race – temperature, weather and so forth. We just need to focus on the end game. I have done a fair amount of racing around here, I am not sure if I will start or it’ll be Jamie (Whincup) but I am feeling confident either way. The crew has been working hard and I am sure we will put together a strong strategy.” Shane van Gisbergen – Car #97 “We’re happy enough with qualifying seventh from the shootout today. It’s a long race tomorrow and we have a good car so we just have to focus on ourselves. Alex (Premat) and I have been working well together so I’m looking forward to seeing what the race will bring.” Alexandre Premat – Car #97 “We’re okay with having Car 97 start seventh on the grid tomorrow because it’s a long 1,000 kilometre race. Tomorrow we’ll be tuning the car during the warm-up session to make sure we have a really good race car. The lap times are relatively close across the field and so we’re going to be pushing to get a podium and ideally the win. Jamie (Whincup) did an awesome lap today in the Top Ten Shootout so it’s been an all-round good day for Red Bull Racing Australia.” | | |
2:00pm – We snagged us some good ones! All the Triple Eight team are out at the “Bathurst Hilton” for our annual BBQ.
12:48pm – Hey, we might not be on track, but that doesn’t mean the guys get a break! JDub is meeting the VIP’s in the VASC Paddock club today.
11:23am – The final practice session is done and dusted for the weekend. P4 for the #97 crew and P12 for #88, now to kill time before this afternoon’s TTSO.
9:12am – Dark skies are looming over the mountain….Fingers crossed the weather holds out for this afternoon’s shoot-out.
8:01am – Guess they do things differently in France?
7:12am – Rise and shine it’s pitstop time!
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Friday 7th October
7:08pm – Don’t forget to get down to the pits or tune into CH 506 Fox Sports – Pit Lane LIVE is on tonight. Cauchi and JW will be on shortly for a whole stack of fun!
RACE WRAP:
Jamie Whincup / Paul Dumbrell – Car #88
Practice 4 – Third (Fastest Lap: 2:06.0098) – Dumbrell
Practice 5 – First (Fastest Lap: 2:05.1494) – Whincup
Qualifying 1 – First (Fastest Lap: 2:05.0481) – WhincupShane van Gisbergen / Alexandre Premat – Car #97
Practice 4 – Fifth (Fastest Lap: 2:06.1488) – Premat
Practice 5 – Fifth (Fastest Lap: 2:05.3922) – van Gisbergen
Qualifying 1 – Sixth (Fastest Lap: 2:05.2350) – van Gisbergen | | |
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| Jamie Whincup – Car #88 “It was a great day. A Supercar with fresh tyres is a great feeling. We maximised and used three sets of tyres. Fingers crossed tomorrow afternoon has a quality track which will give us the best conditions. It’s late in the afternoon so it cools down, I have been on the receiving end here with rain, so hopefully its kind to me tomorrow. I haven’t worked out my approach yet, there are no points for qualifying, we will go hard, but we don’t want to be too risky. Everyone is fair competition, everyone is quick at the moment, but all it takes is one good lap. The cars performance is just as strong as yesterday, so if it continues like this through the weekend we have great potential.” Paul Dumbrell – Car #88 “Another really strong day for us which is awesome. We made no changes really to the car, it was all about the driver, which really allowed both Jamie (Whincup) and I to give it a red hot go. The car was great yet again, touching up a couple of little things last night made the car that bit better. If the weather holds out like it has the car will have some great pace like it has so far.” Shane van Gisbergen – Car #97 “It was pretty good today. Alex Premat and I built on our results from yesterday and we managed to get better and better. We weren’t quite there today, we’re only two tenths off the pace back in sixth but we’ve made it to the Top Ten Shootout tomorrow so we’ll be giving it a go.” Alexandre Premat – Car #97 “It’s been a tough day but we’re happy because we’ve qualified for the Top Ten Shootout for tomorrow. Shane did a great job in qualifying today and now we will just work together on tuning the car up. It’s been encouraging to see the lap times from Jamie Whincup and Paul Dumbrell so we’ll go through all the data to make sure we get the best results possible.” | | |
1:12pm – It’s prime time on the mountain.
12:56pm – One last practice session for the Bathurst weekend, with JW coming out on top again and SVG in P5. Qualy is up next!
9:34am – The team from Supercars Life are following us around this weekend, and they just brought us hot doughnuts, so they can follow us every weekend as far as we are concerned!
9:02am – Another solid practice session for the team on track, PD P3, APP5, another practice session isn’t too far away.
7:34am – Friday’s fun on track.
6:55am – We are kicking off with pit stop practice for the car #97 team to start the day. With all the fog about the driver changes are looking more like a magic trick. Now you see them, now you don’t!
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Thursday 6th October
7:20pm – We are still rocking out at the track after our Stocklands appearance. Nothing like the sound of fireworks to get you excited.
RACE WRAP
Jamie Whincup / Paul Dumbrell – Car #88
Practice 1 – First (Fastest Lap: 2:05.9500) – Whincup
Practice 2 – First (Fastest Lap: 2:06.8947) – Dumbrell
Practice 3 – First (Fastest Lap: 2:05.2946) – WhincupShane van Gisbergen / Alexandre Premat – Car #97
Practice 1 – 10th (Fastest Lap: 2:07.2783) – van Gisbergen
Practice 2 – Third (Fastest Lap: 2:07.2300) – Premat
Practice 3 – Ninth (Fastest Lap: 2:05.9621) – van Gisbergen | | |
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| Jamie Whincup – Car #88 “Obviously a great day. Any lap around the best track in the country is a good one. The car is very good, just a couple of tweaks here and there, but I am very happy at this stage. There are a lot of elements that make up Bathurst, there’s plenty of challenges that lie ahead, you always want Sunday’s race to reflect what you are capable of, it’s an important one to bring home.” Paul Dumbrell – Car #88 “Great day, between Jamie (Whincup) and I, we really managed to get comfortable quickly and get great pace. Today’s results are great to have, being the first day here, but Sunday will be a lot different to today. The car is feeling great, the pace is fantastic.It all went as planned” Shane van Gisbergen – Car #97 “Today was OK. We do have some work to do, but let’s remember it is early days. We spent some time in the garage in the last session, which killed some time, but I still feel like I got some good laps in. We are just taking it slow at this stage, we aren’t taking any big risks.” Alexandre Premat – Car #97 “It was a pretty good day across the three sessions.The car is intact, which is a good thing around Bathurst! Everything is looking good, we just need to push the car further and change a couple of things. It is still feeling as good as it did around Sandown a few weeks ago. Shane (van Gisbergen) and I will spend more time getting settled in, but I am feeling very confident and I am happy to be here.” | | |
2:21pm – You can tell the #88 crew have had their Red Bull this morning. PD tops second practice session in P1, AP wasn’t far behind in P3. One last session to go for the day!
12:12pm – Beep beep! Coming through.
11:51am – Practice 1 done and dusted, a solid start to what is a massive weekend! JW in P1, SVG P10.
10:01am – Incase you missed it, head over to our Facebook page and see JDub’s LIVE tour of our Bathurst setup HERE
9:16am – We are at our merch signing session. Don’t forget to grab a signing card if you want to come and see the drivers.
7:34am – Did you know JDub holds the practice lap record for Bathurst? Clocking in at – 2:04.9097.
6:11am – Practice sessions fill today with heaps of opportunity to warm up before the great race.
5:03am – The early bird catches the worm/trophy.
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Wednesday 5th October
3:43pm – Tune in tomorrow to our Facebook at 8:55am AEDT to watch us go LIVE as JDub takes us on a tour of the teams’ Bathurst Motorhome!
2:59pm – Rockstars. Bathurst put on the sunshine today for the parade.
2:12pm – Parade game strong. Thanks to everyone for coming out and saying hi!
1:26pm – JW on Bathurst – “It’s simply the best to come out here every year. It’s a great weekend, very exciting, with some tough competition this year it should lead to a very competitive race.”
12:31pm – Now there’s a sight we like to see!
11:06am – FAST FACT – Shane started on pole in 2014 and has qualified top 6 for 6 of the last 7 Bathurst 1000s.
10:34am – Because one is never enough.
10:00am – SVG + Supercar Drift Car = Night Drift.
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Tuesday 4th October
10:56am – FAST FACT – Just eight drivers have won Bathurst and the Championship in the same year. The only active drivers to do it are Whincup (2008, 2012) and Lowndes (1996).
7:12am – Bathurst Bound! We are flying sky-high on the way to the mountain this morning.
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Monday 3rd October
3:36pm – RD on the Great Race: “Bathurst is still, to my mind, the holy grail and the most important single event in touring car racing in the world. I still get goose bumps every time I drive over the hill and see Mount Panorama on the horizon. Winning there was a big part of the motivation in coming to Australia.”
1:15pm – Word on the street is that our RBRA Iveco transporter is charging down to Bathurst at a great pace. T minus two hours and 45 minutes until arrival at Mount Panorama. We can feel the goose bumps already!
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Sunday 2nd October
9:00pm – Word from Wazza is that the trucks and their precious cargo are safe and sound in Dubbo. Have a good rest, guys, it’s a long week ahead.
3:15pm – FUN FACT – Jamie has only had one DNF in the Bathurst 1000, which was at his debut at the mountain in 2002. He’s finished every single race since then. We’re not ones for tempting fate, though, so forget we said that.
8:00am – They’re away! Wazza and Pom, in the TeamVortex truck, are officially en route to the mountain. Safe travels, boys!
Bathurst 1000 – Mount Panorama
Circuit length: 6.213km
Circuit direction: Anti-Clockwise
Average speed: 178km/h
Maximum speed: 300km/h
Championship standings
1st – Shane van Gisbergen, 2248 points
2nd – Jamie Whincup, 2241 points
3rd – Craig Lowndes, 2091 points
4th – Scott McLaughlin, 1989 points
5th – Mark Winterbottom, 1908 points
