Hey V8 Supercar fans, what do you think? Will Nissan or Mercedes-Benz crack it for a win or even a podium position in this, their first year of competing in the championship?
First year in, it was always going to be a tough assignment for the Nissan Altima and Mercedes-Benz E63 teams but, with three race weekends under our belt, neither the Japanese nor the German marque has come close to a top-three.
While both the Erebus (‘Benz) and Kelly Racing (Nissan) operations are made-up of former Ford and Holden-based teams, and this is the debut year of the ‘Car Of The Future’ technical specifications, the incumbent Holden and Ford teams were never going to ‘roll-over’ for the new brands. And with limited testing opportunities, that first chequered flag seems a long way off for the six non-Holden/Ford cars in the championship.
Question marks hang over engine performance and reliability. Nissan Altima front runner Todd Kelly was sidelined in yesterday’s race at Symmons Plains in Tasmania after an engine failure – and these are works-prepared V8 engines coming out of Nissan’s NISMO operation in Japan.
Of course the Erebus squad is separate from Mercedes-Benz as they are simply customer cars and engines from AMG and HWA. In fact HWA (which is linked to the Petronas-Mercedes-Benz F1 team) flew-in two senior powertrain engineers from Germany to attend the Symmons Plains weekend.
Last weekend, unlike the previous two championship rounds, the ‘Benz runners actually looked to have a bit of extra pace over the Nissan Altimas with the Irwin tools Mercedes driven by Lee Holdsworth looking particularly racy at one stage – but even so, that was in position 12.
CarShowroom’s good mate Brad Jones had many reasons to smile today after his driver Fabian Coulthard dominated proceedings in last weekend’s round. In fact it was a great weekend for Brad Jones Racing with team driver Jason Bright also running at the front of the pack – especially on Saturday - but ultimately it was Coulthard who greeted the chequered flag first in his Lockwood Holden Commodore.
Kiwi Coulthard heads into next weekend’s ‘home’ race for him (at Pukekhoe, outside Auckland) with great momentum thanks to genuine car pace and a polished performance behind the wheel in Tasmania.
And while Red Bull Racing left Tasmania still leading the championship, it was Jamie Winchup at the top of the table with previous front-runner Craig Lowndes relegated to fourth, 116 points adrift of his team-mate after a ‘shocker’ in Tasmania. Just about everything that could go wrong, did go wrong for Lowndes in Tasmania – highlighted by a Saturday clash with Shane Van Gisbergen’s VIP Petfoods Holden Commodore and a penalty for spinning his wheels in pit-lane.
Pepsi Ford Falcon driver Will Davison copped plenty of clips from fellow competitors in Tassie but kept it together and maintained his championship momentum, heading across ‘The Ditch’ to New Zealand just 63 points behind Winchup.
It must be said the Holden Racing Team is significantly off the pace, but a heady drive from James Courtenay at Symmons Plains sees him third in the championship some 115 points behind Winchup. HRT’s other driver Garth Tander turned-in an uncharacteristically untidy performance last weekend - petulantly shunting BOC Gases driver Jason Bright during an overtaking maneuver in Saturday’s race and generally getting involved in the rough-and-tumble he’s cleverly avoided for most of his career – but holds-down 10th position in the points race.
‘Best-On-Ground’ in Tasmania, as he has been all year, was 19 year-old Scott McLaughlin in his Garry Rogers Motorsport/Fujitsu Holden Commodore. Showing maturity and no lack of bravery behind the wheel, McLaughlin isn’t shy when it comes to showing the veteran front runners how to overtake and he finds himself fifth in the championship, 147 points behind Winchup.
But the TV highlights from Tassie were filled with images of young Scott Pye’s frightening crash after brake failure sent his Holden Commodore head-first into the barriers late in Sunday’s final race. Heading across the dirt at unabated speed, Pye had spectators ducking for cover but fortunately the tyre-reinforced Armco fence reigned-in the wayward Commodore which bounced high in the air before coming to rest.
As Pye’s Commodore is engineered by 888 Racing (the same team does the Red Bull machines) the reason for the brake failure is sure to be investigated. The braking system this year is all-new as part of the ‘Car Of The Future’ technical regulations and Symmons Plains is one of the most-punishing venues on that componentry with two slow corners coming at the end of 270km/h straights.
For the statistically-minded, heading into next weekend’s race in New Zealand, eight of the top 10 cars in the championship are Holden Commodores and two are Ford Falcons. Oh, and there are no Nissans or Mercedes-Benz in that top 10.
