ITM 500 Auckland Fast Facts
- Flashback to Pukekohe 2005 and you’ll see Lowndesy claiming Triple Eight’s first ever pole position. Since then we’ve claimed another 72. Not too shabby!
- Speaking of poles, Jamie is still waiting to claim the record from the late, great Brock, sitting just two behind on 55. With four qualifying sessions this weekend at a track where he claimed two out of four possible poles last year, could Pukekohe be the one?
- For the second year in a row, we will be racing for the Jason Richards Memorial Trophy, awarded to the driver who has accumulated the most points over the weekend. Hopefully this year the podium will stay in one piece…
- This will mark Craig’s 226th event start, putting him joint second with John Bowe on the all-time ATCC/V8 Supercars start list. Any guesses for who’s first? We’ll give you a hint – he’s not short of the odd grey and isn’t too fond of peanuts.
- While the majority of Australia and New Zealand will be enjoying a holiday to remember the heroes who served our countries, V8 Supercars will be taking to the track to race on ANZAC Day for the first time in the sport’s 55-year history.
Red Bull Racing Australia at Pukekohe
| CRAIG | JAMIE | |
| Qualifying R1 | 9th | 1st |
| Race 1 | 3rd | 26th |
| Qualifying R2 | 2nd | 3rd |
| Race 2 | 16th | 1st |
| Qualifying R3 | 9th | 1st |
| Race 3 | 4th | 24th |
| Qualifying R4 | 10th | 2nd |
| Race 4 | 9th | 3rd |
What the Drivers Say
Lowndesy: “I’m still confident we can get good results this weekend even though Winton wasn’t great. Pukekohe is a track I enjoy. It’s probably one of the bumpiest tracks that we race on, which gives drivers a challenge to set their cars up. The new chicane on the back straight has reduced the top speed but introduced a whole new technical section.
“I think the car wasn’t perfect last year. I struggled throughout the weekend as well so hopefully this year we can turn it around and make it a much better weekend in results.
“There’s no doubt that the Kiwi drivers go well at Pukekohe, this being their home country. I think that they’ll definitely lift their game for the special occasion.”
J-Dub: “It was nice to have Easter off with my family and I’m looking forward to getting back to Pukekohe where we showed good pace last year, but we tripped ourselves up a couple of times. We were looking good in race one, but had a blown tyre, so that was unfortunate.
“Then we had a great battle with Brighty in the final race, but all in all I was happy for him and the team to win the round. It was one of the most emotional rounds with it being the first year of the Jason Richards Memorial Trophy.
“I’m confident we should have good pace and come back where we left off last year. We’ve got a bit to prove after a poor showing at Winton.”
Drivers Championship Standings
Craig Lowndes – 701
Mark Winterbottom – 673
Fabian Coulthard – 658
James Courtney – 609
Jamie Whincup – 606
Teams Championship Standings
RBRA – 1332
BJR – 1063
FPR – 1020
HRT – 1003
Erebus – 845
Want to know when you can catch the action? Check the TV guide here.
