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The Motorsport Brief | Supercars Darwin Debrief · Rusty's Garage

• 0:02
  A listener production.
• 0:04
  From last-minute driver call-ups to team manager take-outs, this is a snapshot of storylines at the end of another sensational Supercars Weekend in the Northern Territory.
• 0:15
  G'day everybody, Rusty here.
• 0:16
  Welcome to the Motorsport Brief, our garage shortcast.
• 0:19
  Now we have just released in recent days our latest feature episode with Todd Hazelwood, It Is A Beauty.
• 0:25
  Two-parter recorded just before he left Brisbane for Darwin where he was racing Trans Am and when we got to the top end...
• 0:33
  Todd filled in on the track to town, which was kind of our first indication that the Shell V Power Racing star driver, his good mate Brody Kostecki, was battling a virus.
• 0:42
  And I think it was an issue with a straw in his helmet either being partly blocked or constricted that ultimately meant that he wasn't getting good flow of vital fluids in the 200k Saturday race in that Darwin heat.
• 0:56
  Now, after checks with the medics on Saturday night, Todd Hazlewood,
• 1:00
  was drafted in on Sunday.
• 1:02
  He actually found out on the dummy grid for Trans Am, then bolted up to the DJR pit after that race, quickly looked at a bit of Brody's, jumped in a Kostecki suit and headed out for qualifying.
• 1:14
  He was only .2%.
• 1:15
  eight off pole just missing out on a shootout berth which i reckon is pretty impressive he started 13th with no prior running really finished 12th in that sunday race and on balance that is worth applauding because as he told speed cafe he was battling a little bit of numbness in his foot and a clutch issue too you will enjoy todd's feature ep
• 1:38
  Now, speaking of late call-ups, Mark Winterbottom was busy with TV or broadcast duties when Tickford asked him to sub for Thomas Randall, who'd had a cool suit fail early on Saturday, which kind of knocked him around.
• 1:51
  He was able to take part, Thomas, in Sunday qualifying, but was then reassessed by Dr Carl and the Supercars medical team, and that's when a decision was made that he would take no further part in things.
• 2:03
  Frosty into the Castrol Mustang for the race.
• 2:08
  Well, we go to dinner on Saturday night and what wasn't on the bingo card was getting a call up to go racing today.
• 2:14
  Tell me about when you found out and what sort of transpired.
• 2:19
  I wouldn't say this is the best prep I've ever had, Rusty, for an event, but obviously Thomas went out, Randall, in qualifying and...
• 2:28
  you know, often you think the adrenaline's going to get you through and whatnot, and he pulled up really sore, so then he got the call, but then I was still doing TV duty, so I was on the grid with Super 2 and then got the call, so it was at 1 o'clock or something like that, I got the approval, and we drove out of pit lane at 2 o'clock, so hence not getting to do a seat pour and all that sort of stuff to be comfy, but anyway, I tried to survive, but I've never been more uncomfortable in a race car, but...
• 2:57
  It was a lot of fun.
• 2:58
  If you ever go to a racetrack, you always take your helmet and race it.
• 3:01
  You never know, do you?
• 3:02
  And today it paid off, but...
• 3:04
  Yeah, it was good fun.
• 3:05
  I had a lot of fun out there.
• 3:06
  Were you compromised with anything else?
• 3:08
  Or you had everything else you needed here from a, you know, boots, gloves, suit point of view?
• 3:13
  Just stability, I think I left in Melbourne, Rusty.
• 3:15
  But no, I had everything here, but just the insert, you know, like that insert I missed because I looked at, normally I look over the steering wheel and for 69.9 laps, I was looking, trying to look over a steering wheel.
• 3:29
  So I can't make excuses, like excuses by far, I could not.
• 3:33
  Could not see anything.
• 3:35
  But no, good head out, good experience.
• 3:37
  And obviously with Enduros coming up, that's pretty valuable stuff.
• 3:40
  But I did stall in the pits and then I couldn't start it.
• 3:44
  But again, my feet, I was all over the place.
• 3:47
  So anyway, it was good fun.
• 3:48
  I had fun and that was the main thing.
• 3:49
  You feel all right coming out of them and the sudden nature of doing all that?
• 3:53
  I know you're kind of prepping for the Enduros anyway, but was it taxing?
• 3:56
  What was it like?
• 3:58
  I always take two Panadol before I go out, so I'm all right.
• 4:01
  Like, I don't know.
• 4:03
  I watch all these guys hop out the car and obviously when things fail, but...
• 4:07
  I train pretty hard.
• 4:08
  I still back myself, even at 45, that I'll give these guys a run in the gym and in fitness.
• 4:13
  So if we want to come back tomorrow, I'm happy to race.
• 4:17
  I'll have a bit more prep.
• 4:17
  I'll do a lot better.
• 4:18
  So I'm happy to race Monday.
• 4:20
  But no, I feel good.
• 4:21
  Physically, they're tough to drive.
• 4:24
  But all the muscle memory was kicking in.
• 4:26
  I was actually...
• 4:28
  Yeah, getting going.
• 4:29
  So when the flare came out, I'm like, oh, come on, give me a few more laps.
• 4:31
  So I feel good.
• 4:32
  It's actually physically that car is actually really cool and I felt really good.
• 4:37
  So I'm ready to go.
• 4:38
  Excellent.
• 4:38
  Just quick thoughts on on how much you're enjoying the broadcast side of things so far this year.
• 4:44
  I kind of sense in you that you are learning a lot, but also in the same breath, really enjoying it too.
• 4:50
  It's a great team, great group of people and you get to talk about something you love.
• 4:57
  I've really enjoyed it and
• 4:59
  It's nice to be at racetracks too and not probably be the enemy to people.
• 5:03
  You're the friend and it's a different vibe because ultimately you start motorsport because you love it and then when you race, everyone's the enemy.
• 5:10
  It's a really bad nature that you build and then when you commentate, actually it's nice to see people because we've all got something in common and I'm seeing good in people that probably I thought was the enemy when I raced them, so I've really enjoyed it and it's a great sport.
• 5:24
  It's a privilege to keep coming back and to be involved, so I've loved it.
• 5:29
  Finally, they did share a little bit on the socials of the group chat, which is a private thing for the TV crew.
• 5:35
  What did you say?
• 5:37
  Any tips?
• 5:38
  Which way is the track go?
• 5:39
  What did you say?
• 5:39
  I was just talking rubbish, just widening up a bit.
• 5:42
  And then I think Bryony wrote back, can't wait to get my new merch.
• 5:45
  So she bought in, but clearly nothing's private in life, is it, Rusty?
• 5:50
  So, no, I was having fun with it.
• 5:52
  Yeah.
• 5:53
  I don't know, literally one o'clock you're calling a Super 2 race and then like 1.20 I'm on the scales, 1.30 I'm in a driver's brief, 1.40 I'm trying to find where my earpieces are for my helmet, 1.50 I've got six cushions in the seat and two o'clock I'm driving out of pit lane, so go figure.
• 6:10
  Go figure.
• 6:11
  Great stuff, mate.
• 6:11
  Thanks for chatting with us.
• 6:12
  Thanks, Frosty.
• 6:13
  Frosty's teammate Cam Waters was fast all weekend at Hidden Valley and ultimately won his first Darwin Triple Crown.
• 6:20
  This event was the first chance for Territorians to see the new GR Supra in the flesh, but smoke from Chas's car late in Sunday's race while running seventh meant a heartbreaking retirement.
• 6:33
  Walkinshaw TWG CEO Bruce Stewart just couldn't hide his disappointment here.
• 6:39
  I was gutted for you all.
• 6:40
  I could tell the way you had your eyes closed toward the end there.
• 6:44
  Do you know what's gone wrong here?
• 6:46
  We don't.
• 6:47
  We don't yet.
• 6:48
  And we'll get it back as quickly as we can and diagnose what happened and go to work.
• 6:54
  You know, this is always going to be hard and certainly...
• 6:58
  I'm not a very good poker player, so I think I probably showed my cards there a bit, but we're a great team, and we've got very, very clever people.
• 7:08
  We're working very hard on building the reliability in our engines, and in that respect, again, we've got to work.
• 7:16
  We work hard.
• 7:17
  We work through the issues methodically.
• 7:19
  We've achieved a lot in a short period of time, but the highs and lows in the sport, Rusty, are just...
• 7:26
  Anyway, in that respect...
• 7:29
  We got good people, these places run on people and everyone's resolute.
• 7:35
  We're gonna fix this, you know, little tweak in our armor and ensure that we make a robust system going forwards but there are no silver bullets.
• 7:47
  I mean, was it one of those things where you knew early on in the race or was it quite sudden?
• 7:51
  Yeah, it seemed very sudden.
• 7:53
  You know, I'd be lying if I indicated anything else, you know.
• 8:00
  It looked like a seventh and eighth was where we were at in this respect.
• 8:06
  And it, yeah, it just caught us all.
• 8:11
  Like, I can sense in you the sting.
• 8:13
  And I reckon the sting is compounded by the success that you've had relatively early on.
• 8:18
  Yeah, yeah.
• 8:19
  Well, that's a very good analogy because, you know, we're a very proud team.
• 8:25
  You know, we've got the Supercars champion and...
• 8:28
  You know, there had been a long time between drinks in that respect, so there's an expectation within the whole crew and the team that, you know, we race to win.
• 8:37
  And so it compounds it, you know, because, you know, seventh and eighth was solid but not where we would want to be and expect to be.
• 8:47
  And in that respect, it was just a little bit of a... Not a little bit, a lot of a punch in the guts in the end.
• 8:54
  Can we get a look ahead to Townsville then, whether you feel like that's the kind of place that might suit you guys and just generally on the performance of Woody and, you know, milestone weekend here for Chas, obviously.
• 9:07
  So one of the really...
• 9:12
  good things and things we're proud of and our team is, we don't have tracks that are good for us or bad for us.
• 9:17
  And we go everywhere and expect to be very, very competitive.
• 9:21
  And we got great crew, an amazing crew, great engineers and great drivers, amazing drivers as well.
• 9:28
  So yeah, we expect to be very competitive.
• 9:32
  In that respect, even the crew had done a lot of training and preparation for that and a little bit of heat duress training.
• 9:38
  And I just spoke to the crew chief, Carl Bankier, and, well, Kiwi, which you and I would be proud of.
• 9:45
  And he...
• 9:47
  He said, you know, the crew generally are a much better neck, you know, and so I'm really proud of how much everyone puts in.
• 9:55
  Got a really, really amazing group of people, you know, so I love that and this team.
• 10:00
  So we'll get through all of our challenges, you know, watch us.
• 10:05
  Chin up.
• 10:05
  Final one.
• 10:06
  The boys roll out of it.
• 10:07
  You know, it was so taxing heat-wise here.
• 10:09
  I've just seen Woody walking by us a moment ago.
• 10:11
  Chas looks all right too.
• 10:12
  They've rolled out of it okay.
• 10:14
  Yeah, yeah, they're both very good.
• 10:15
  They both do a lot of training.
• 10:18
  And in that respect, you know...
• 10:21
  Yeah, they're both in very good neck and you can see Chas is in there getting around the crew, which is fantastic.
• 10:28
  And Woody's over there as well.
• 10:29
  So love that.
• 10:30
  You know, yeah, they're not going to be thinking about themselves or getting around everyone.
• 10:34
  That's how a team works.
• 10:35
  There's no one individual.
• 10:37
  It's not about any single person.
• 10:39
  It's about everyone as a collective.
• 10:40
  And that's a cool thing.
• 10:42
  I know there was some champagne in New Zealand, maybe not here this weekend in Darwin, but there will be more before the year's out, mate.
• 10:47
  Go well.
• 10:48
  I have no doubt there'll be champagne in the future, but right now we're going to just work through our challenges, prepare ourselves for Townsville and build a stronger team and a stronger car.
• 10:59
  And that's all we can do.
• 11:00
  This is a hard project.
• 11:02
  This is a tough sport.
• 11:04
  you know, fierce competitors and racers up and down the pit lane.
• 11:07
  So to think that we'll just come and swamp everyone or, you know, do anything in a miracle way is just pretty arrogant and not how we behave.
• 11:15
  So, yeah, we're going to get to Townsville and put our best foot forward.
• 11:22
  And, yeah, I guess I'm a little bit lost for words, still sort of probably stunned a bit, but appreciate the chat.
• 11:28
  I know it hurts.
• 11:29
  Go well up there.
• 11:30
  Thanks, Rusty.
• 11:31
  Good on you, mate.
• 11:31
  Go, Kiwi.
• 11:32
  We'll continue our Darwin debrief in just a few moments here on Rusty's Garage.
• 11:39
  This is the Motorsport Brief, a quick selection of topical chats recorded in Darwin after round six wrapped up.
• 11:45
  I was actually up in that part of the world working for the event organisers, and we learned over the course of the week or so there that they will be racing under lights in the...
• 11:55
  2027 at Hidden Valley.
• 11:56
  That is going to be really cool.
• 11:58
  In the midst of those headlines, Matt Payne moved to shut down talk about his future, issuing a statement confirming his commitment to Penrite Racing.
• 12:07
  Here's team owner Stephen Grove on that, another impressive performance from Kai Allen in the top end, and how their collective effort on an unusually sub-par weekend for rivals at Red Bull saw the Grove squad take the team's championship lead heading into Townsville.
• 12:25
  I reckon there's lots of positives to take out of this weekend.
• 12:29
  Now that we've had an hour or so to debrief it all, how are you feeling?
• 12:33
  Yeah, listen, it's been a great weekend.
• 12:34
  We've had some really good results.
• 12:35
  Race win for another race win for Kai.
• 12:38
  You know, there was just a bit unlucky in the pit stop.
• 12:40
  We probably missed a few seconds there.
• 12:43
  But, you know, that happens and we still had a strong finish.
• 12:46
  The main thing is we're still there in the team's championship.
• 12:49
  I've taken the tape measure over.
• 12:51
  I've measured up.
• 12:52
  I know where all my furniture's going.
• 12:54
  So in Townsville, we're moving in.
• 12:57
  OK, I like that.
• 12:58
  Well, I mean, that's a great thing to kind of talk about, isn't it?
• 13:00
  That, you know, we have that evolution every round now and you've come out of this in a good position.
• 13:07
  Listen, it's an upside for both of us.
• 13:10
  We push them.
• 13:12
  They'll develop.
• 13:13
  Like last year, they were that far in the team's championship during the year.
• 13:16
  It'll make them develop and work harder.
• 13:18
  We'll work harder.
• 13:18
  They'll work harder.
• 13:19
  It's just good for both of us to have that really strong competitiveness.
• 13:23
  We want to obviously beat them in a very friendly way because they're a really great team and a lot of respect to them.
• 13:29
  But they will have to work harder.
• 13:31
  And we will then have to work harder.
• 13:32
  And we'll continue to work hard each other for the end of the year.
• 13:35
  But it'll make us two great teams.
• 13:37
  The young fella, I think I said to you separately today, you know, it was nice to see him get a didgeridoo here last year.
• 13:44
  It felt like not a breakout moment.
• 13:46
  That's not the right word.
• 13:47
  Maybe, you know, really sort of showed the paddock that he'd arrived.
• 13:50
  But I feel like that was even another level here this year.
• 13:54
  Yeah, he's very good at now.
• 13:56
  I mean, we forget he's only a year and a few rounds in, you know, five or six, whatever rounds we're in.
• 14:01
  So he's a year and a half in, you know, a season and a half of a season.
• 14:05
  He is very, very good.
• 14:06
  Like, he is exceptionally good.
• 14:08
  So we've just got to continue to work through the process with him, continue to give him a good car, continue to develop him, and he's just a great kid, and he's 21 on Friday.
• 14:17
  Amazing.
• 14:17
  I mean, the reality check and all of that is wild, isn't it?
• 14:21
  Yeah, and he just fits our culture and he fits our team.
• 14:23
  He's the hardest working race car driver I've ever seen, to be quite honest.
• 14:27
  I mean, he just loves it.
• 14:28
  He's always on the sim, he's always doing stuff.
• 14:30
  So he's just going to develop and develop and develop.
• 14:32
  And we need to keep to give him the good car so he can go and do what he needs to do.
• 14:36
  Finally on Matt, I mean, he obviously took to the press this week and clarified some things.
• 14:40
  You guys have clarified some things.
• 14:42
  I mean, was it a concerted effort on both sides here just to go racing and to kind of park that stuff?
• 14:47
  Yeah, 100%, because there could have been a lost opportunity if one of us, our side or their side, went in a different direction.
• 14:55
  He's as focused as winning a championship.
• 14:57
  Our relationship's been spot on through this whole thing.
• 15:00
  Matt and mine, the team, spot on.
• 15:02
  So, I mean, there's external parties that have done what they thought they needed to do, but we're driven.
• 15:09
  to win a championship this year and win a championship next year.
• 15:12
  In 28, could he drive with us potentially?
• 15:15
  Could he not drive with us?
• 15:16
  I don't know.
• 15:16
  Will he go overseas?
• 15:17
  He's good enough to do that.
• 15:19
  I mean, he is good enough to do that.
• 15:20
  He is a very, very talented driver.
• 15:23
  We just wanted to get everybody back on the same page.
• 15:25
  Let's win the championship this year.
• 15:27
  Let's win the team's championship.
• 15:28
  Let's win the championship.
• 15:29
  Let's go back to back in 27, and then the world will be what the world will be, and we'll support him in whatever he decides.
• 15:36
  Finally, both drivers look like they've rolled out of it pretty good.
• 15:38
  Cars are in great shape.
• 15:39
  In that few weeks between now and Townsville, it looks like you've got a good launch pad for that.
• 15:45
  Yeah, we think we have.
• 15:46
  We like Townsville.
• 15:47
  It's a high deg circuit.
• 15:48
  Seems to suit us as well.
• 15:50
  Our drivers are driving well.
• 15:52
  Our trucks go all the way back to Melbourne, rebuild the cars, put them back, bring them back, and we'll go as hard as humanly possible to try and win.
• 16:00
  Thanks for chatting to us.
• 16:01
  Anytime.
• 16:01
  Take care.
• 16:02
  For the final word from Darwin, we go to Team 18's Adrian Burgess.
• 16:05
  Now, Charlie Schwerkolt, who owns the squad, was understandably proud of Anton Di Pasquale's win on Sunday and kind of took the opportunity to hit back at criticism of the Shev homologation squad in recent weeks, particularly from Hall of Famer Mark Scaife on Motor Racing 360.
• 16:21
  ATB seems here like he wanted to let the result speak for itself, pointing out the satisfaction in perfect pit stops and strategy, along with brilliant execution by Anton behind the wheel.
• 16:35
  I need to get you on for a proper full-length chat, but that one must feel pretty good today.
• 16:40
  Oh, yeah, look, they always feel good.
• 16:42
  They've come very few and far between, unfortunately.
• 16:44
  You do more losing than winning, but, yeah, that was great.
• 16:46
  The team executed a perfect race and got the car in the front two rows, which is what you always try and do in quality.
• 16:53
  Anton just, yeah, I mean, what can you say?
• 16:55
  Just a faultless race, perfect, didn't put a mark on it, did exactly what we needed and controlled it, looked after his tyres.
• 17:01
  There's always something in reserve, so, yeah, it was perfect.
• 17:04
  Was it one of those things where Sunday morning you thought, once we'd gotten through qualifying and stuff, that you're in with a good chance here?
• 17:11
  It's been a tough weekend from a heat and certainly a competitive standpoint.
• 17:15
  The numbers in qualifying, the differences have been ridiculous.
• 17:18
  But did it feel a bit like that?
• 17:19
  Yeah, like, I think we go to every weekend now, knowing we've got a chance.
• 17:23
  You've just got to execute.
• 17:24
  And, you know, Friday, we stuck on the front row on Friday, but we probably got a bit greedy with the strategy, and we were pushing for the win as opposed to sitting behind Brodie.
• 17:34
  But that strategy was the wrong one, you know, and we ended up on the wrong side of it.
• 17:37
  So we were a little bit upset with ourselves Friday night, and then we really dropped the ball Saturday morning with our qualifying set-up, but then drove a great race back in the afternoon.
• 17:46
  So today we...
• 17:48
  We knew we'd be good on the soft tyre and we just needed to put a good day together, which the boys did.
• 17:52
  What's this kind of mean?
• 17:54
  Been a while since Sydney Motorsport Park, a lot of talk in the press about different things.
• 17:58
  Is that just one to sort of quietly say, mate, what does it mean?
• 18:01
  It's just one of those, whatever goes on in the press, we're not reading, we're not bothered about, we're just getting on doing our job and focusing on the day-to-day and focusing on executing as well as we can at our next event and we let all those other...
• 18:13
  I'll let all those other experts do all the comments.
• 18:16
  What was the final few laps like when Chazzy had the moment?
• 18:19
  I could see Charlie puffing and looking pretty nervous.
• 18:22
  What was the last little bit like?
• 18:24
  Well, the last thing we wanted was a safety car.
• 18:27
  And you don't want to finish races under the safety car.
• 18:29
  It's not great for TV.
• 18:30
  It's not good for the fans.
• 18:31
  You'd rather win it the real way.
• 18:33
  But, look, I think we've done all the hard work, and I don't think anyone will begrudge us that one.
• 18:37
  But, yeah, look, we didn't want a safety car.
• 18:39
  Luckily, it came close enough to the end that...
• 18:41
  We had to finish behind it, so we got the trophy.
• 18:44
  You're typically not one for making Super Bowl predictions or things like that, but as we go into Townsville and then the rest of the year, we're at a point now where things are a bit compressed in a point sense.
• 18:56
  What are you thinking for the back end of the year with this team?
• 18:59
  Yeah, we've just got to keep doing what we've been doing.
• 19:01
  We're fifth in the teams.
• 19:03
  We don't want to be there.
• 19:04
  We want to be higher up than that.
• 19:05
  And we want to be doing more of what we did today, and that's what we're working towards.
• 19:09
  We had Davion pole in Townsville last year, and we had a podium with Anton on the Friday, I think.
• 19:14
  So there's no reason why we shouldn't go to each event looking at trophies.
• 19:19
  But you look at the competition now, I mean, bloody hell, there's some serious teams and serious driver combinations there.
• 19:24
  So the competition in the series at the moment, I can't remember it being this high.
• 19:29
  So to do that what you did today, and any time you do that, or any time you're on the podium, you've had a good day.
• 19:34
  Lastly, the boys have rolled out of this okay.
• 19:36
  We know how tough Darwin can be, and after the 100 and then two 200k races, how are they?
• 19:41
  Yeah, they're all good.
• 19:42
  Good as gold.
• 19:42
  Cool suits were fine.
• 19:43
  No problem with our boys.
• 19:45
  Good luck in Townsville.
• 19:46
  Cheers, mate.
• 19:47
  That's it for this edition.
• 19:48
  Supercars hit Townsville in Queensland July 10 to 12, just under three weeks from now for what they're calling the thrill in the ville.
• 19:55
  And if you enjoyed Darwin, the Shannon Speed Series is there next month, July 24 to 26.
• 20:01
  In September, it's MXGP, World Motocross.
• 20:05
  That was a huge thing last year, big turnout for their final round.
• 20:09
  You can find out more about that on MXGP Australia, all one word, .com.au.
• 20:16
  We will catch you next time, everybody.
• 20:17
  Bye for now.