Sunday 16th June
1550: Time to pack down after a long, hot week. Thanks to you guys for all your support, we’re aiming to do you proud in Townsville 👊
Jamie Whincup – Car #88
Qualifying – 11th (Fastest Time: 1:06.1905)
Top Ten Shootout – N/A
Race 2 – Fifth
Championship – Sixth (1,390 points)
“We had it against us all weekend with the cracked chassis yesterday, which we fixed overnight. That was throwing all sorts of things out for us, then we couldn’t really get a balance. Like the last two rounds, DC (David Cauchi, Race Engineer) did a great job to keep making the car competitive in the race. When you’re in the mid-pack and are too nice, you just get carted. I left room, I tried to race hard too wide, but every time I do that I end up getting carted off, especially on the first lap. It’s dog-eat-dog. I literally dropped back to last, but then I came through with our car speed. I’m certainly happy and proud of the performance of everyone in the team this weekend with what we’ve got. The real battle is done at the workshop. We need to bring a faster car to the track. That’s motorsport, it’s been the same since it started, so we just need to make the cars faster, which we’ll continue to try to do.”
Shane van Gisbergen – Car #97
Qualifying – 16th (Fastest Time: 1:06.3502)
Top Ten Shootout – N/A
Race 2 – 10th
Championship – Fifth (1,399 points)
“We had to run car 88’s setup in qualifying. It’s the right thing to do to work as a team – 88 is clearly better. It just doesn’t work on my car or with my style. The car just doesn’t respond and wouldn’t stay on the track. I was almost last after the first proper run in qualifying and two of the cars I was ahead of had crashed, which is why they were behind us. So we went back to our setup, but we had the same thing. I’m just struggling and we need to work out why the car doesn’t work or why I can’t make it work. The race was boring, but the strategy is what saved it for us. I don’t think I passed a single car, so it was all made in the pits and the guys did a great job there.”
1455: What a day! On weekends like this, we remind ourselves of how lucky we are for things like working in a sport we love, enjoying this amazing Darwin weather… and having a freezer full of icy poles waiting for us 😂
What a recovery! From 11th to the back of the field on the first lap, Jamie brings it home in 5th with great strategy & awesome pace. Shane also made up plenty of ground to finish 10th 👏🏼
Not our weekend overall, but bouncing back shows the strength of the team. #RedBullHolden
— Red Bull Holden (@redbullholden) June 16, 2019
1430: There’s some serious strategy play at work here. For both Red Bull Holdens to be fighting in the top 10 after the day we’ve had is impressive in itself.
1250: Darwin, please be good to us this afternoon!
It’s a long, hot road ahead. #RedBullHolden #VASC #Darwin #NT pic.twitter.com/a14MWwCPc7
— Red Bull Holden (@redbullholden) June 16, 2019
1225: It’s time for a pre-race tweak from the physio and to catch up on all the action happening at Le Mans.
1150: It’s JDub’s turn next. We reckon he should take on Pipe Dream!
Was that a rare showing of nerves @RobbieMaddison?😅
The daredevil motorbike stunt rider jumped in the @RedBullHolden car with @jamiewhincup for a hot lap that left him “speechless” 😶
The on track thrills continue in half an hour with the Top Ten Shootout at 11😎 pic.twitter.com/bCtQQK0gkE
— Darwin Supercars (@DarwinSupercars) June 16, 2019
1135: Who thinks the Triple Crown is going to be claimed today…?
1100: Well, with no shootout, the guests in the Red Bull Holden Racing Team corporate suite get a visit from JDub and SVG. Lucky peeps!
0955: Sorry, guys, that was not good enough. Both cars miss the top 10 with JW in P11 and SVG in P16. We found something on 88 overnight but couldn’t make the setup work this morning, while 97 made some major changes. Stick with us for the race, we’ll be fighting.
0930: Red flag for a very strange qualy incident. Oil on track? We’ll play the waiting game while the carnage is cleared up.
0825: The air con is cranking in the RBHRT B-trailer right now while SVG and JDub switch their brains into qualy mode. T-minus one hour.
0730: Good morning! It’s our final day in Darwin and it’s all about the racing,
Saturday 15th June
Jamie Whincup – Car #88
Practice 3 – Third (Fastest Time: 1:06.3640)
Qualifying – Eighth (Fastest Time: 1:06.3365)
Race 1 – Fifth
“The story of the day was just poor qualifying. We had a good race car and we raced hard on what I thought was a good strategy. But when you qualify eighth, you can’t expect to be on the podium unless something drastic happens and the competition is too tight to plough through the field. There are some positives, but really we just made mistakes in qualifying – little errors, which is why we didn’t qualify well. We just need to clean up those little errors for tomorrow and hopefully qualify well to give ourselves half a chance. There’s nothing in particular to work on for qualifying, the balance is just out. It’s basic motorsport things!”
Shane van Gisbergen – Car #97
Practice 3 – Ninth (Fastest Time: 1:06.6421)
Qualifying – 12th (Fastest Time: 1:06.5323)
Race 1 – Eighth
“From practice yesterday we made huge changes overnight and I thought it was a lot more promising today, but then in qualifying we just had more of the same. We couldn’t make the new tyre work, so we’re missing something there because we did the same time on old tyres at the start of qualifying as we did on greens. Bizarre! In the race, I got a good start, then we had the safety car. Our pace was good and I think we did the strategy right. The car felt fine, we just need to get qualifying right and then we’ll be able to race up the front. We don’t know what we’re doing on new tyres and it’s hard to know what to do to make it better, but the car is fine as a race car – fast enough, competitive. We just can’t get the pace there in qualifying.”
1740: 🏁 It’s safe to say that the story of the day is poor qualifying. Bring on tomorrow!
JDub P8 ➡️ P5
SVG P12 ➡️ P8A great recovery by the #RedBullHolden crew, but rest assured we’ll be working hard to fix qualifying overnight 👊🏼#VASC #Darwin
— Red Bull Holden (@redbullholden) June 15, 2019
1645: Well, so far this race has provided some thoroughly entertaining racing!
1610: The green flag is just around the corner. Better not leave this there by mistake, not very aerodynamic…
#JoinTheCrew @redbullau @CaltexAustralia
Let’s get this show on the road! #RedBullHolden #VASC pic.twitter.com/tqazJzPJOT
— Red Bull Holden (@redbullholden) June 15, 2019
1510: How would you prepare for a race if you were SVG? By watching more racing of course! There’s plenty of carnage in this Porsche race, let’s just make sure we’re not copying…
1445: Have you heard? CL is out and about – sighted at the Red Bull Holden Racing Team trackside store ✍📸
1400: So maybe Lowndesy didn’t bring the luck of the Irish.
JDub – P8 – 1:06:3365
SVG – P12 – 1:06:5323
1310: Look who’s popped in to say hi for qualy!
Oh look, we have a visitor! 👋🏼 Here’s hoping @craiglowndes888 will bring us some luck 🍀#RedBullHolden #VASC pic.twitter.com/hZlDuXtvry
— Red Bull Holden (@redbullholden) June 15, 2019
1130: That’s promising…
JDub – P3 – 1:06:3640
SVG – P9 – 1:06:6421
1050: Practice 3 comin’ at ya! 😎
0930: We just can’t get enough of you guys! It’s time for another autograph session at the merchandise store. If you’re not here at the track, check out the Red Bull Holden Racing Team range online.
0810: If you’ve ever wanted to meet the drivers, now’s the perfect time! We’re heading into pit lane for the Super Walk so you guys can get up close and personal with the Team and cars.
Are you tuning in today? Catch us at @DarwinSupercars on @Fox_Motorsport, the heat is ONNNNN! 🔥#RedBullHolden #VASC pic.twitter.com/a4rQUQ6Y4o
— Red Bull Holden (@redbullholden) June 14, 2019
0740: Who thinks we should invest in a shower for the Red Bull Holden Racing Team transporter for post-pit stop practice? 🙋♂️
0720: Talking about fitting a lot into one day! We’re even dragging Lowndesy out of the Fox Sports air conditioning to say hi to all you wonderful peeps.
Friday 14th June
Jamie Whincup – Car #88
Practice 1 – 12th (Fastest Time: 01:07.1005)
Practice 2 – Third (Fastest Time: 01:06.2660)
“We got through our program today which was good and (David) Cauchi did a great job of balancing the car. We were the best of the rest. There is obviously some work to be done back at the workshop to catch the team beside us. I feel like we have made some progress after the two practice sessions so that is a big positive for today.”
Shane van Gisbergen – Car #97
Practice 1 – Third (Fastest Time: 01:06.8163)
Practice 2 – 11th (Fastest Time: 01:06.5930)
“We had a few issues today during the practice sessions which never really is part of the plan. We can see however that there is a lot of potential with the car so we will have to do some work tonight. The heat out there on the track sucks and it’s a challenge for any driver to try but we are trying to cope the best we can. For tomorrow we will just have a few things to tune up. I think the race pace will be fine but like last round we will need to figure out the proper set up in practice to be ready for qualifying.”
1420: Well, today just seemed to fly by fast and it was extremely hot out there for the drivers. We managed to quickly catch them before they headed into the air conditioner chamber of the A-trailer to debrief about the session.
JDub – P3 — 01:06.2660
SVG – P11 –01:06.5930
1405: Seems the communication issues have been sorted and the focus shifts to making the car perform better out on track.
Can you hear me now? – some technical difficulties by the looks of things.#redbullholden #VASC pic.twitter.com/OIIjVSESIm
— Red Bull Holden (@redbullholden) June 14, 2019
1355: Not quite what practice is about – SVG is out of his car again.
1140: Mixed results at the end of the first practice. Debrief will not doubt steer us in the right direction.
J-Dub – P12 — 01:06.1005
SVG – P3 — 01:06.8163
Current view 🤭#redbullholden #VASC pic.twitter.com/3IggSNo2wL
— Red Bull Holden (@redbullholden) June 14, 2019
1110: Could it just be that the heat is getting to SVG while the crew work on his car?
1100: Gearing up for a double dose of practice sessions today. As SVG said, we need to get it right so that qualifying ain’t so hard.
0940: Straight down to business and heading out to see the fans at the top end. Thank you for lining up to see us!
0900: Hello DARWIN! There is a lot of sun, heat and cars so let’s get the day rolling.
