Latest / Full Credit to the Noise / The Bend 500 daily: Sunday
Transcript
- Speedcafe Team: Hello and welcome to the Sunday edition of our daily podcast from the AirTouch 500 at the Bend. My name is Andrew Van Lewen, and once again I am driving the car owned by Speed Cafe's managing editor, Stefan Bartholomew. We are doing the run up the freeway back towards Haandor from the Bend for the very last time. I think I don't even know how to start describing today. I think what really encapsulates it, and not to be too self-serving with our stories here, but we did just get back to the car park. And have to wade through knee deep, well, let's say ankle deep water. You do give a bit of GST on or something like that. Ankle ankle deep water to get to your car, which was just parked in this isolated little lake in the middle of nowhere. And I think that sums it up because we didn't arrive here today expecting there to be quite that much water. But boy did we get water. We didn't arrive here today expecting it to earn a victory either, but maybe that shows what we know. But ⁓ felt like we're at the sand down 500 with the way the weather was rolling in. Very true. It was cars spearing off. It was ⁓ it was very much the road to Bathurst. It is ⁓ gonna be difficult to really recap the race just because of how kind of crazy that it was, but as you flagged, an unexpected victory in a lot of ways for Walking Shore Toyota with Chaz Mostett and Fabian Coultard. Neither of the Walking Shaw cars or none of the Toyotas in general made the shootout yesterday. For all of the parody storm that's been going on, Toyota has kept its head down and not really played a part in it, and it sort of didn't feel like they were playing a part in the weekend at all to any meaningful extent. And then we get to Sunday evening and we have not one but two Walking Shore Toyotas on the podium. How do they do it, Stefan? How did they get in the game and end up having both cars so close to the front and one right at the front? Well, it was really set up by their co-drivers, Baby and Coulthard in Jazza's car and Jackson Evans with Ryan Wood. Those guys were sublime. Obviously they had good cars, ⁓ and anyone that could get themselves out of the ruck ⁓ were sort of rewarded for it. But ⁓ yeah, those co-drivers put in great performances strategically, Walker Chores absolutely nailed the execution of it. I think if you look back at the three safety cars. There was one on lap 25 when Tony D Alberto crashed and pretty much everyone took that safety car. But the next one, 20 lap laps later, not many did, but Walk and Shaws pitted both cars and got a decent amount of fuel in hand. It put them in a really good strategic position. And then when the third safety car came about 10 laps after that, and most pitted, Walk and Shaws elected to split what they did, they pitted Fabian. And put Chaz in that car, but they actually backed Jackson to stay out and spend the next little bit fighting with some primaries. So Jackson did say ⁓ in the press conference this evening that he had a bit of self-doubt creeping in as to whether ⁓ he was up to that job, but the team backed him in. Ryan Wood actually said that ⁓ so Ryan said to his engineer Richard Harris, Yep, let's ⁓ let's do this. ⁓ and then it It offset the strategy on the two cars. So then later on we actually saw them come back together where Chaz popped out from his next pit stop just ahead of of Ryan, and there was a bit of a tense couple of laps there where Chaz was trying to get his tires up and and Ryan does get a bit frustrated in those circumstances. But the race was always going to car one there because they sort of had a slightly better strategic position. Yeah, no, it was perfectly executed, and as you say, probably the only sort of flashpoint of concern at any point. Well, apart from maybe, you know, worrying that there could be a safety car late in the race, particularly when there was that bit of bodywork near the track and that sort of stuff, which you don't want when you're holding ⁓ a race winning margin out the front. But ⁓ yeah, it was that time when they sort of came out together and and it was a little bit dicey there. But to come back to talking about the co drivers, like we talk a lot about The importance of having co-drivers, how deep the talent runs in the co-driver field in the modern era, and in particular this year. But all weekend, Ryan Wood has really been talking about Jackson Evans ⁓ and how how close they are and and in terms of being mates and how well he drives the car. And we did see from both Jackson and Fabian today, like the co-drivers copped the worst of the conditions, and it was the ones that could really stand up that made the difference. Like the co-drivers really made the difference. Difference today. It's not just a nice thing to say about the guy you share the car with. You know, those guys brought those cars forward and put them into contention. Yeah, they set up the results for sure, and I guess for for everyone at Walkenshore's and Toyota just such a sweet, sweet result after everything that program has been through. ⁓ they rolled out the B-Spec engine at Ipswich and and Chaz had a failure, but it wasn't the valve train stuff that they'd attempted to fix with the ⁓ with the B spec. It was a separate just a bearing issue which which can happen to anybody. So yeah, the real architect of that whole Toyota program for Wild Controls has been their team principal Carl Foe. And it was ⁓ nice to see him get the job to go up on the podium as the team representative. Bathis will be his last event with the team and his last event in the sport because he's ⁓ he's moving on. Yep. But ⁓ yeah, just s so nice to see see all the effort. rewarded with with a result like that and and how good that and we did speak to Carl this evening. He was the one that ⁓ that gave the official nod for Chaz to do a burnout. They were so confident in that engine that's that's the sign of confidence that ⁓ that the engine can hold on is the fact that he said, yep, go for it, do your burnout. It wasn't a small one either. Chaz really made the most of the opportunity. Yeah. ⁓ Kai Allen and Tim Slade finished the race second which was a pretty fitting result as well. They were right up the front. all day that that was one of those cars that was at the front for most of the day, particularly at the start. Like the I know the C's parted for Timmy Slade at the start there when Mark Winterbottom got into Matt Payne and he could kind of dive into the lead there. But from there, and yes leading in the wet, particularly when it's a dry and wet like that is the best place to be. You're out of the spray and you can run your own race and all that sort of stuff. But like what that was a pretty incredible drive by Tim. Only to be topped by his save, you know, on that safety car restart on the front straight where he could have absolutely canoed that car through no fault of his own, 'cause it just aquaplaned in the middle of the straight. Usually you talk about his first stint as being something highly impressive, but when you can do something even more spectacular than that, that's ⁓ that's huge. Yeah, well it could have really wiped out half the field to be honest. When you're when you're the leader on a restart in the wet and there's spray like that. ⁓ But it was it was such a high profile and spectacular moment, but blokes were having like massive aquaplanes on the strait for a lot of that period. ⁓ like ⁓ Tim said that he nearly two or three times rode the car off. ⁓ so he was one of many co drivers relieved to to get out of the car when their laps were done. ⁓ there was a few of them saying that that was the most treacherous conditions that they've ever driven in. And ⁓ Slady did make a couple of mistakes he did have a spin when he was in the lead, but when you're leading by 17 seconds and you can ⁓ turn it around, pluck first gear and drive off and still have a 10 second lead at that point in the early stages, you're pretty going, all right. But yeah, so second for them, the fact that they led so convincingly early when Kai his issue is really only been qualifying and he always goes forward in the races, always has so much speed, always on the front foot. I was kind surprised they just didn't end up having the pace today. Yeah, I I guess so. it was it was just such a weird day, it's hard to draw too many conclusions about everything and even ⁓ anything, sorry, and even in in those later stages of the race when it's dry, I guess the car's been through so much, you're compromised on setup anyway because the the rain early and all that sort of stuff. I think it was a pretty solid day out for them still. You're right, you don't want to go from leading that By that march early and not win the race, but I think it was forgivable on a day like today. Yeah, for sure. I I guess the the hard luck story more so in that garage was the Will Davison Matt Payne cart. Yeah. Daveo getting turned around by Frosty at turn one, lap one, really set them back. And then later on, Matt spun Kem Waters, got a penalty for that. Yep. And then had the the late. Side by side clash with ⁓ Jaden O'Jada that five second penalty there. So just a bit of a messy day for them. Yes, it was. ⁓ Davo's drive back through the field after being spun early in those tough conditions was pretty impressive though. That was ⁓ that was a a a a highlight for them, I think, for the day. Yeah, their wet cars were were clearly very good, but the dry cars not quite there. Yeah. ⁓ Will Brown and Scott Pye ended up fourth, I think it was, out of all that. Yeah, it was somehow. 'Cause they were a lap down at one point. That's right. And And ⁓ I think Scott Pye picked up thirty seconds worth of penalties during his time in the car. ⁓ so they had a lot to come back from and I don't know that I have a whole bunch of answers right at this moment without reviewing the race as to as to actually how they did that. Yeah, so he ⁓ tangled with James Courtney there in the first couple of laps. We actually had both triple eight cars trip over both team eighteen cars because at the same time Nick Perkhut was getting beaten up by Lee Holdsworth. Yeah. ⁓ early on. And then so yeah, like Scott had two penalties for contact because he also tagged Ruben Goodall later on. Yep. ⁓ whereas for the Nick Perkat Rock Feeney car, Percat was the victim of of two incidents because he also got clattered into by Zach Best, ⁓ which really hurt the ⁓ the Red Bull car and had to go to the garage. So yeah, a bit of a bit of a messy day. The other thing that sort of springs to mind from the Triple Eight day was the fact that ⁓ Will Brown had quite a scrap with Richie Stanaway there where where Richie was hanging out with the primaries going blow for blow, that was ⁓ that was good stuff to watch. Yeah, not that the day has ended all that well for Blanchard racing team. Well, as we sit here and record this, we don't know that for absolute sure and certain, but we do expect both of those cars to be disqualified because the primaries didn't complete Their minimum driver time. That's a very rare thing to happen. Usually it's the co-drivers that are the issue on that front. It was really messy with the time cert and finish and all that sort of stuff, but teams do have software to ⁓ measure and understand what the corrected laps are likely to be and to make sure that they manage the percentage of the race. ⁓ And it feels like BRT just got it a little bit wrong. On a day where their finishing positions were actually pretty good. Yeah, such a shame for Rishi and James Golding ⁓ to come home seventh across the line, but almost certainly are gonna be ⁓ disqualified for that. And ⁓ big implications for James Golding, who ⁓ is tenth at the moment in the championship, so right on the ⁓ the good side of the line for the final series, but ⁓ If he loses all those points from today, it's gonna be a a long shot to actually get in. Yep, it ⁓ it sure is. Let's talk about the number seventeen. The car that started on pole. ⁓ and we really expected I mean, you and I had the conversation as the cars were sitting on the grid, right? What's your last prediction? I was talking about the nineteen at that point. You stuck firm with the fact you thought the seventeen was gonna be hard to beat. Ten laps later, without actually having a spin, Todd Hazelwood's running around in twentieth. Yeah, well ten seconds in my my prediction wasn't looking so sharp because he didn't have a too good a start either. That's ⁓ no, that's ⁓ and that's very true. But what a bizarre what a bizarre race for that car. It just there were tiny glimmers of pace in really weird parts of the stint. But I I did speak to to DJR team manager Tom Moore this evening and they're just kind of at a loss as to what happened, but effectively just no grip and as As Tom very rightly pointed out, and I think ⁓ Brody pointed out on the broadcast as well, like Todd Hazelwood isn't a four second slower than the rest of the co-drivers kind of driver. Like he's a good race car driver, we know that. and their suspicion has been around tires, tyre quality in terms of a wet tyre. They don't believe it's necessarily a batch issue, which we hear a lot about. They they sought a bit of clarification from Dunlop as to whether there were different batches at play. ⁓ And apparently that that that tire wasn't from a batch that should have been doing anything evil. But the thing is that these wets also spent a lot of time sitting around, more so than other tyres. You know, their storage times are much longer and all that sort of stuff. So they moved to different wets. They the issue they felt was across both cars, just a complete lack of grip in those ⁓ in those wet conditions. And it just proved so costly for them. Did you ask Tommy about the ⁓ soapy water they were spraying into the ⁓ intake of that ⁓ that thing? I didn't. I think this is the second night in a row you've reminded me of something I definitely should have asked. That was a bit ⁓ a bit strange, but yeah, I probably should have. It was, but we can't talk about it 'cause we don't know. But clearly that yeah, just wasn't a wasn't a good day for those guys and it was a shame to see Tony Dalberto in the wall there as well. ⁓ just it could have happened to anybody. It was a aquaplane sort of deal when the ⁓ when the rain was coming. back in again harder and everyone had ⁓ sort of worn wets just ⁓ unfortunate. I don't think he actually hit it that hard either. I think they kind of got away with it to some extent, but their much greater issue was the fact that there just wasn't a lot of car speed across that garage at all, which again was so surprising, you know, i is surprising given what the situation we walked into the track with this morning and that car or the seventeen sorry starting from pop. Yeah, well the thirty-eight car did actually get back to tenth, which should turn into ninth once the ⁓ BRT DSQ comes through. So ⁓ yeah. Maybe I should be congratulating them on a result. Yeah, no, that's ⁓ I guess yeah, I'm just based on the fact that Tom wasn't exactly jummy at his skin as to how the day had played out. So I also hadn't actually checked where the thirty-eight had finished. But what else do we need to talk about? I'm driving here, so you're gonna have to drive the pot a little bit while I drive. Well, we definitely need to talk about Erebus because ⁓ their co drivers, Jared Hughes and Lockie Dalton, both did a a good job, but ⁓ Jared was probably the the standout. There's something about Erebus co drivers and shining at the bend. Absolutely. We saw twelve months ago, Job Stewart catapulted himself into a ⁓ into a full time drive for ⁓ the following season with a with a real standout performance here and Who knows, we could ⁓ see history repeated, but it was a shame they didn't didn't get the result. In the end, they just ⁓ with the way the strategy worked, they'd ⁓ they'd stayed out, they'd back their co drivers to to keep going. Yeah, but it ended up where ⁓ they were just out of out of gas and they needed to pit and they ended up way too early on the slick. Yeah, we did have a ⁓ we did a bit of a chat with Jared. ⁓ after the race and he was bouncing around, which to be honest he probably would be doing if he DNF'd on lap one because that's just the sort of bouncy character he is. But had a bit of a chat with Barry as well. He's obviously hugely impressed with how both the co-drivers and in particular Jared went and sorta had that bit of a twinkle in his eye that he gets around Bathurst time because they help the that team always talks about no matter what else is going on, we just worry about Bathurst. That's where we want to go and be competitive. And there's been times this year where it's been really hard to see that vision as being realistic. And there were times today where you go, okay, maybe history is going to repeat itself to some extent and that team's going to put itself into position to be a bit of a disruptor, if nothing else, when we get to Bathurst in a few weeks. Well, Erebus won some friends today because we spoke to a few other teams who were very grateful that those guys were the guinea pigs on the slick tire pace. And everyone else could judge ⁓ Wender Pitt for for slicks based on how they were going. Yep, no, that was definitely the case. ⁓ what else is on your little computer screen there that's catching your eye? I guess just in Camaro land we should ⁓ make mention of Jaden O'Jada and David Russell ⁓ finishing fifth. Yep, get it. ⁓ first Chevy home. ⁓ D Russ had a couple of little dramas, but most people did in those ⁓ treacherous co-driver stints. And then Jaden ⁓ Brought it home despite ⁓ Matt Payne's best efforts. But ⁓ unfortunately on the other side of the garage, we did speak to Roland Dane briefly after the race and he said that it lost oil pressure. That's why the ⁓ Declan Fraser car stopped towards the end. ⁓ so one up, one down for those guys. ⁓ Tickford, we didn't end up getting into that garage after the race. But ⁓ not a great day. The highlight was Reuben Goodall in the first stint there. ⁓ held his nerve. after the kind of clash between Frosty and and Dave at the start, to be honest, I know we we should probably put our hands up here. We were wondering if perhaps in those conditions, given Ruben's lack of experience in the main game, whether the team might decide to put Tommy Randall in the car. ⁓ and they didn't. And Ruben was not the Tickford co driver that made the mistake at turn one. It was his ⁓ These Tickford Autosport mentor and very experienced driver Mark Winterbottom. And then from that point, ⁓ Ruben ⁓ drove exceptionally well for a large part of that stint in those tough conditions. Again, when you're at the front, things do come a little bit easier to you. But he was door to door with Frosty and came out on top at one point, which I think probably would have got Frosty's attention and did a good job until eventually the conditions did seem to catch up with him a little bit. had a few spins, had a few issues. Again, I don't mean that as any great criticism because he was far from alone on that. But that was kind of the highlight of of ⁓ Tickford's day was ⁓ was seeing Ruben piece together ⁓ a a decent portion of that first stin in the way that he did. Yeah, unfortunately for for them, Thomas Randall ended up having a spin. Yes. ⁓ when ⁓ he was locked in battle there later on ⁓ down at turn three, which is a fairly unusual place to see a car go around. Yep. But ⁓ yeah, just no good for them. The Castroll car he still ended up ahead of the ahead of the Yeah they did. They ended up twelfth for the Castrol car on the the provisional result with ⁓ the Monster car in fifteenth. Obviously Camp got turned around by Matt Payne so if you add a time penalty for Frosty earlier on to that it ⁓ it wasn't a good equation. No, not at all. The ⁓ the list of penalties and the way they were coming through ⁓ half at least the first half of the race was ⁓ was extraordinary. Yeah, it sure was. It would have been busy up there for Beardo and the crew in ⁓ in race control keeping a keeping tabs on all of that, no doubt about that. There was sort of there was so much yellow up on the up on the timing screen you thought they were like curb hops or something, but they were just penalties being dished out to people. Well, we ⁓ nearing our destination back in ⁓ back in Handorf. And I reckon we've ⁓ covered off ⁓ everything we need to do tonight. There'll obviously be more on full credit to the noise with you informal legend on Tuesday. But ⁓ I reckon that was a pretty decent weekend of the car races. Yep, I agree. Thank you for all your hard work and ⁓ obviously to all you guys out there stay tuned to speedcafe dot com ⁓ tomorrow as well because we've got plenty to chew through tonight and pump up on the site tomorrow and ⁓ yeah we'll see you next time.