PHILLIP ISLAND, Victoria, Australia — Race Preview by Race Chaser Online V8 Supercars Correspondent James Pike —
Welcome to the continuation of Race Chaser Online’s 2014 V8 Supercars race previews! Before each V8 Supercars race weekend, we will take a look at the track the series will be visiting, and point out the drivers to keep an eye out for during the races. We move forward with a look at this weekend’s penultimate event of the 2014 season, the Plus Fitness Phillip Island 400! Keep checking Race Chaser Online over the course of the 2014 season for your V8 Supercars news and notes!
RACES 33-35 — PLUS FITNESS PHILLIP ISLAND 400
Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit, Phillip Island, Victoria
4.445 km (2.762 mi) permanent race circuit
RACE INFORMATION:
Saturday, 11/15:
Race 33: 23 laps, 102 km, start time 2:30 P.M. (10:30 P.M. EST Friday); Race 34: 23 laps, 102 km, start time 4:35 P.M. (12:35 A.M. EST)
Sunday, 11/16:
Race 35, 45 laps, 200 km, start time 3:55 P.M. (11:55 P.M. EST Saturday)
2013 WINNERS:
Garth Tander (Race 33), Craig Lowndes (Race 34), Jamie Whincup (Race 35)
The V8 Supercars Championship returns to Phillip Island for the penultimate round of the season. The focus will be on Red Bull Racing Australia’s Jamie Whincup, who can clinch a sixth series championship this weekend. He will have it by the end of Saturday’s races if he wins both races Saturday and teammate Craig Lowndes finishes sixth or worse in each. Whincup could also clinch the title by the end of Sunday if he finishes 9th or better in both races on Saturday and 4th or better in the Sunday race.
Though the attention will be focused on Whincup’s title chase, Phillip Island is a racy track, and there will be constant battles for position all over the track that will be worth watching.
TRACK OVERVIEW:
Coming from the Gold Coast, the V8 Supercars could not be headed to a track that provides a starker contrast of racing styles. Whereas the Gold Coast is narrow and rather “stop-and-go” in nature, Phillip Island is wide, incredibly fast, and flowy in nature. The average speed of a lap here is usually the fastest on the calendar, simply because there are so many long, looping corners taken at pace. There are really only two heavy braking zones, at turns 4 and 10. Otherwise, a quick lap around Phillip Island is largely dependent on how well a car holds its speeds through the corners, and how well a car exits them to get runs down the straightaways.
The racing here, especially on restarts, tends to mirror that found at California and Michigan. This is the widest track in the championship by far, and cars will often be seen going two-wide through the corners and up to five-wide at the end of the front straightaway. In addition to the wide pavement, there is more runoff room at Phillip Island than at any other track in the championship, and there will be drivers over the course of the weekend that will attempt to use the grass to their advantage, either by turning it into a passing lane or using it to send another driver off of the racing line.
DRIVERS TO WATCH:
Generally speaking, every Red Bull Racing Australia, Ford Performance Racing, and Holden Racing Team driver will be in contention for the win. All six have the talent and the machines underneath them to claim a top spot on the podium. Two of those drivers, however, should garner the most spotlight this weekend.
James Courtney’s weekend here came to an end last year when he was t-boned while rounding the turn 4 hairpin by an Alex Premat machine that was hurtling at full speed. The impact lifted Courtney’s car completely off the ground and destroyed the driver’s side of Courtney’s car in the process — had it not been for one of the roll bars added to the chassis in the Car of the Future redesign, Courtney would have almost certainly sustained serious and career-threatening damage to his legs. It will be interesting to see how Courtney responds to Phillip Island a year later. His luck hasn’t been much better than it was last year entering this weekend’s event, but any positive response to last year’s fiasco here will be seen as a plus.
Chaz Mostert is the other man who should be watched closely from the favored six. The 2013 event at Phillip Island came shortly after Mostert had been announced as Will Davison’s replacement at Ford Performance Racing for the 2014 season. Mostert responded at this event by posting hugely impressive finishes of 9th and 4th for underpowered Dick Johnson Racing on Saturday.
That event went some way towards justifying FPR’s decision and would be a harbinger for what was to come (Mostert currently sits sixth in points, 45 back of fifth, and won the Bathurst 1000, the most prestigious race in Australian motorsport, a month ago). Now returning to Phillip Island with top-level equipment, eyes should be on Mostert again. If he can perform at the same level this weekend that he did in 2013, he may well end up as the highest-performing driver of the weekend, with a win or two in the three races on offer.
For more information on the V8 Supercars Championship, visit http://www.v8supercars.com.au/.
