Team TRTPower Rankings: Tasmania
We can confidently say that this edition of the Power Rankings features an unprecedented list of HOTs and NOTs, plus many things that fit into both boxes.
So strap in, this is a big one…
ABOUT THE RANKINGS: The TRT Power Rankings are compiled by your nominations from social media and edited by the TRT editorial team. They’re designed to give a balanced, as fair as possible critical overview of those things that excelled and those things that struggled, at each event. It’s (mostly) a democracy, and what you nominate generates the order, so have your say next event via our social media channels, @theracetorque on Facebook, Twitter and Insta. Look for the call out each evening and get commenting!
HOT
1. Cam Waters
Fourth on Saturday was backed up by a front-row start on Sunday. He forged into the lead when teammate Randle bowled a partial wide at the hairpin on the opening lap, and while the world unravelled behind him late, romped to a comprehensive victory. Outside of a tough one in Darwin, Waters has been a fixture on the podium dating back to Perth, and hasn’t finished outside of the top seven since race one Townsville. Coming into the business end of the season, where he shines, Waters and Tickford have some genuine pace on board.
2. Nick Percat
Another statement result for Percat following on from his AGP success. Ace strategy and an incredibly slick 3.8sec service from the Matt Stone Racing crew propelled the Bendix racer to the front. Percat then kept his eyes forward in the run home to claim the win in a tight finish. The outfit misjudged qualifying one on Sunday, which saw Percat line up from dead last. However, he scythed his way through to seventh at the chequered flag. This is the little team that could, which is what the Gen3 ruleset was all about.
3. Sunday Race
A different brand of spice to the opening race, with strategy taken out of the equation thanks to the early safety car. Some hard elbows out racing, drama, and a post-race shove in pit lane. Quality viewing.
4. Saturday Race
A good race. Two-three-four tyre pit stops, overcut, cars able to overtake, drag races down the back bend, tight battles and a somewhat surprising winner in an overall close race – this should be standard practice. Bucked against the trend of other 2024-spec ‘SuperSprint’ format races.
5. Chaz Mostert
There were big questions around Chaz and the WAU equipe pre-Symmons Plains – could they be competitive on a Symmons-styled racetrack? Also, could they turn their super soft tyre form around? Results of second and fourth (from 11th on the grid) show this combination is the real deal. Still second in the points and not letting Brown get away with it.
6. Formula Ford
Genuinely blockbuster, like every other time Formula Ford has raced at Symmons Plains. Entertaining in the wet, terrifyingly good in the dry. Biffo, drama, restart games, sphincter clenching moments. Jack Bussey won the final race to claim the round, but there were plenty of players involved in the mix: Kobi Williams registered pole, Eddy Beswick was second overall with the race two victory, Liam Loiacono claimed the opener but was in the fence in the finale, while Daniel Frougas edged a competitive pack with sheer consistency to secure third overall.
7. Will Brown
Seventh and second. Not a complete wipeout in the points, he’s hanging on and its solid weekends like this that could be the difference between winning a big cup at the end of the year or not…
8. Qualifying
It’s what we expect of this qualifying format with this generation of cars on our tightest circuit. Good stuff.
9. Bryce Fullwood
Tenth on Saturday, his first top-ten since the opening race of the season. On Sunday, Fullwood was absolutely there when it came time to hand out trophies, with the Darwinian securing his first one for BJR after a tough season to date for the Albury squad. The team genuinely had some flashes of speed over the event, which bodes well for the big pay day events to come.
10. Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge
While not the biggest field of all time, it didn’t lack competitiveness. After Clay Osborne scored the pole, Brock Gilchrist claimed the first race win, before Oscar Targett played a patient game in the two later races to work hard for a pair of victories. All in all the pair swapped the lead five times in two races, while the lap record was broken by eight cars and by half a second. Highly entertaining stuff.
FURTHER HOTS
Broc Feeney Saturday
His fourth pole position of the season, then third in the race – a decent haul of points. Don’t mention Mr Sunday’s Sunday, which resulted in 15th after being turned…
Heimgartner Vs Winterbottom Blow Up
Aggravation in our time. Heimgartner was upset with Winterbottom after a qualifying mix-up. Unsatisfied by the lack of apology, the BJR driver served up the Team 18 driver in the race. He later claimed that he didn’t want to spin him, he just wanted to rattle his cage. Beef between drivers is great – we had it 20 years ago with Skaife Vs Ingall Vs Murphy Vs Ambrose et al, bring that back, please.
Aussie Racing Cars
Typically scarily competitive racing, with Kody Garland leading home Cody Brewczynski and Reece Chapman in the weekend point, which read 251-249-246, some figures that kind of tell everything about the competitiveness at the front. Some mechanical woes snuck into the pack, which sidelined front runners such as Joel Heinrich and Ryan Reynolds, which was unfortunate for them.
Thomas Randle
Pole position on Sunday – that race win isn’t far away…
Also, he may have been beaten on the racetrack, but he was undefeated online.
Tasmania
It remains up there with the Northern Territory as one of the absolute favourite stops on the calendar for the circus. A solid crowd fronted on Sunday, too, who received the best of the much-maligned SuperSprint format for the season, a concept that has had its final run for 2024.
Attendance honesty
Supercars announced an event crowd of just over 28,000 over the three days which is a) interesting as it’s often rare for them to announce a crowd at all of late and b) very honest indeed – which as history will tell you way back when was not always the case. It was a good crowd. Not a great crowd, but given the conditions, it was very solid. Hot for not pushing a BS number no one would believe – and it’s still bigger than every footy and cricket game Tasmania has anyway.
Hobart
This was a fantastic initiative to engage the Tassie capital, with some selected teams making the Wednesday trip south to greet the fans. From downtown Hobart to Symmons Plains, it is less than a two-hour commute, so engaging with that audience of 206,000 people is a prudent move. Hell, if New Zealand is deserving of two rounds, why can’t we petition for a super-throwback doubleheader of rounds concluding at Baskerville?
Cam Hill
Sixth on Saturday, Cam topped his first-ever practice session on Sunday, went flying off the road on the first lap of the race, but recovered strongly to place 12th. Saturday was MSR’s best overall performance in their history.
Larko Things
Andre Heimgartner
Sixth on Sunday was his best result since sixth on Sunday back at Taupo. It’s been a tough year in BJRland… Bonus points for firing up as well (see above, HOTs).
Tim Slade
Eighth and tenth, his best results since the Grand Prix.
The Weather
It could have been oh so much worse. It definitely didn’t snow. Also, see: NOT.
Symmons Plains
Long straights into tight corners – who knew this combination produced great racing? Also, see: NOT.
Optus
It was a ‘Yes’ to telephone service and internet at Symmons Plains if you were subscribed to Chaz’s major sponsor. Also, see bonus NOTs.
Debris Red Flag in Friday Practice
Like the good old debris caution in NASCAR, a brief stoppage to allow the officials to do an emu parade was a tremendous break in proceedings and really spiced up Friday afternoon for all and sundry.
NOT: sarcasm is sometimes difficult to convey in text form.
WHAT
US TV: Close Enough
Pretty Piss Poor Effort, That
Sadly, It’s Gone in What…
Broc’s Mowing Service
Name your kid Cody, and they are destined to drive an Aussie Racing Car
A world record of three C(K)odys took home silverware in the category. Kody Garland first overall, Cody Brewczynski second and Cody McKay won masters.
NOT
1. The Program: Sunday Practice
A Hall of Fame Not. Also see: The Program: As a Whole.
2. The Program: As a Whole
The Repco Supercars Practicing Championship swung into Tasmania over the weekend with another glittering showing of “mid-week footy training,” with three scintillating practice sessions, which once again counted for nothing other than to get the entire field tuned to perfection. Why on earth did the teams need another practice session on Sunday morning? Symmons Plains is perhaps the simplest circuit on the schedule, with essentially three corners on which the series has been racing since the outfield was packed with Tasmanian Tigers. One short, sharp practice session may have resulted in some teams missing their window – if they couldn’t find the window in 1hr40min of practice on a 52sec lap, they probably should have stayed out in the cold. In practice, there was the potential to run up to 115 laps against 110 actual race laps contested, which was down from 126 last year, 132 in 2022 and 134 in 2019.
3. Tassie Tin Top Saturday Shunt/Crappy Tyre Walls
Charlie Williscroft lost it on the exit of the bend in the back straight on Saturday in slick conditions and suffered the shunt of the weekend. Sadly, he impacted the rubbish earth-filled tyre bank, which disintegrated on impact, and cheese grated the once Pontiac stock car into a twisted pile of rubbish. A sad outcome – it’s 2024, these walls should not be allowed to be a thing anymore.
4. Brodie Versus Team 18
After a brilliant performance in his 450th race to qualify up the front and run within the top three, David Reynolds became entangled with Brodie Kostecki exiting the Hairpin. Tough break. Worse was to follow on the subsequent round of pit stops triggered by the Reynolds safety car, when Kostecki smashed into Mark Winterbottom exiting his pit bay, which sent the number one Camaro back into the garage for repairs. Brodie copped a penalty for the original contact with Reynolds, another one for speeding in pit lane, plus the unsafe release – 15sec and two drive-throughs, wrapping up the worst two laps of Brodie’s life.
5. Thomas Randle
A tough weekend when it was obvious that the pace was there. After bunkering in Saturday qualifying, he worked his way back into a 12th-place finish in the race. Pole on Sunday lasted until turn four when he ran slightly wide and allowed Waters through to the lead. He was later embroiled in a heated battle with Brown, from which the T8 driver got the upper hand. Sadly, Randle later locked up and took Feeney out, and following a 15sec penalty, was relegated to 18th. Post-race, the remorse and emotion were real, which earned him plenty of points, though regardless, he got to experience the full force of Triple Eight’s security detail, with the good cop/bad cop combo of Jamie Whincup and Mark Dutton.
6. Grove Racing
This weekend we witnessed the NOT version of Grove Racing, which was last witnessed in Darwin.
Matthew Payne’s weekend: Started rear of grid Saturday and was turned around on the first lap, before finishing 17th. On Sunday, he stayed out under safety to pit a lap later so to avoid the double stack, but got thoroughly screwed when he came across a parked David Reynolds at the blend line, who was being ultra-courteous in letting the field past. In actuality, he had earlier passed the red light at the pit exit and had to wear a drive-through penalty. Rubbing salt into the wounds, he later received a mechanical black flag and finished 21st.
Richie Stanaway was pumped for a big weekend, and the internet was up and about when he topped the wet Saturday practice. He finished the weekend with results of 16th and 17th.
7. BJR Race 1 Final laps
At the finish of the Saturday race, Andre Heimgartner came into contact with Mark Winterbottom (see: elsewhere), while his stablemate Jaxon Evans had a similar drama with Jack Le Brocq. The pair both received a 15-second penalty and were classified 22nd and 24th, respectively.
8. Aaron Love (inc: Jaxon Evans crash)
Huge spin practice 2 – quite how he wasn’t cleaned up will forever be a miracle. Terrifying.
Then there was a clumsy track entry in qualifying which nearly cleaned up James Golding – there was no penalty for this as his radio wasn’t working,
Finally, in Sunday’s race came his shunt with Jaxon Evans, which was also an awkward one
A tough weekend for the rookie.
9. Symmons Plains
Winter brought out the worst in the old place, which feels like it is well due for an off-track upgrade. It is still a ripper place for racing, but a new Supercars deal should also come with the caveat that – rain or shine – there are some dollars invested from somewhere into giving The Plains a bit of a spruce up. Stay tuned for a TRT editorial on this subject later this week.
10. DJR
Another tough weekend. Will was last in Saturday qualifying before finishing 15th, Anton qualified in eighth and had to settle for 13th, with the pair finishing 11th and 14th respectively on Sunday.
OTHER NOTS
Triple Eight’s Non-Streaming Cameras
Dragged on long into Saturday night, the team’s cars were not streaming vision as required in the regs, which has been a contentious issue to date this season. Ultimately, it was pinned on a software issue, so nothing came of the situation.
Dutto’s line
We’ll not this for consistency, even it was more comedy than anything. Thomas was trying to do the right thing and apologise and was shot down with some post-race theatrics, which just gave the haters online another reason to pile on to Triple Eight. Barry Ryan got in trouble for getting physical with a driver, so T8 was walking a line. Points to Whincup for adding to the good cop / bad cop routine.
Car Park Mud Bath
Absolutely hilarious, so long as it wasn’t happening to you. There was drama all weekend long with multiple cars bogged in driveways and carpark entries, which were particularly bad. Whether it’s Bathurst or Symmons, waterlogged paddocks quickly become a NOT when thousands of cars try to traverse them.
The Undercard
While the racing was its usual spicy self (please see the HOT nominations of the Formula Fords, Sprint Challenge and Aussie Racing Cars), you can’t feel that poor old Tassie continues to cop the rough end of the pineapple when it comes to the supporting cast that nominates to catch the Spirit across the Strait, especially when compared to every other event during the season.
Obviously, from a competitor standpoint, it is the hardest and most expensive event to access (it’s more than $4k to get on the boat, before you even turn a racing wheel), which is a shame. On the flip side, it gives classes like Formula Ford, the Porsche Sprint Challenge and Tassie Tin Tops a chance to play on the big stage. For instance, the Tin Tops were the curtain-raiser to the Sunday Supercars race with an 11-car field, which saw only three finishers on the lead lap after 16 circuits, which was an oddity. Probably should have been Formula Ford.
Chad Chapman Shunt
Cracked ribs from a hefty Saturday shunt in the Aussie Racing Cars.
Recoveries
While the conditions made things more challenging than usual, some of the recoveries were sub-optimal, the worst offender being the recovery of the Formula Ford that was stuck in pit entry in their second race, which took so long that it dashed any chance of the thrilling race ending under green. The recovery of a stranded falcon wagon earlier in the day – we feel like we’ve told this story before – was slightly more effective. Also see: WHAT.
August
While the series largely dodged a bullet, and it didn’t actually snow, what kind of cruel trick is scheduling Tasmania in winter? It’s as if Symmons Plains is the calendar’s whipping boy – it has been at the start or end of the season in years past, which surely gives the event a fighting chance of not having garbage weather.
The date also caused plenty of logistical issues, with one senior Motorsport Australia official telling TRT that their plane from Melbourne (which also included several team staff, supports drivers and officials) took 2hr45 minutes to get across Bass Straight. Well – the crossing took half an hour, the rest was cutting laps above northern Tassie on account of the thick fog still on the ground at 12pm on Thursday afternoon and yes, at that point, we wondered if any of the racing would actually happen at all.
For the record, TRT’s Craill was on the very next plane from Melbourne, which took a much more spritely 52 minutes wheels up to wheels down..
Support Bingles
Will Brown
Qualified 15th Saturday when a red flag flew… that was a scary moment in the history of the 2024 championship…
Double Stacking
Standard standing not. Should be banned. Stupid.
Telstra & Vodafone
Jammed-up and unusable by 10am on Saturday and Sunday. Absolutely donuts.
Monkey Pox
Meet the latest pandemic taking the world by storm. Could you imagine a 14-round 2025 season held entirely at SMP? If that actually happens, the reality is, we’ll be on the first chartered SpaceX rocket to crash into the sun rather than go through that again…
SOCIALS
When does Symmons Plains get scanned?
Love to See It
As happy as a dog with two… tails
#Stat
Look out, Where’s Wally? There’s now Where’s Jack?
Want
Huge
Didn’t Make the 2024 Olympics
@premiairracing Slide on over to premiairracing.com for all race updates this weekend #premiairnulonracing
♬ original sound – Premiair Racing
BRODIE MEMES
MEMES
