Team TRTPower Rankings: Sandown 500
There was so much to Power Rank from the Sandown 500 – so here we go with all of the HOT, NOT and WHAT from the pre-Bathurst warm-up.
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. The Sandown 500
The Sandown 500 just feels right – it’s the perfect curtain-raiser for the big dance on the Mountain. There’s something so right about a 161-lap pre-Bathurst warm-up (sans time certainty) and for it to be held on the suburban Melbourne circuit. There remains no greater vantage point for motorsport than the Thomas S Carlyon Stand. If this was or wasn’t the last Sandown 500, time will tell, but it will be a shame when we can’t warm up for the 1000 in Springvale.
2. Will Brown/Scott Pye
It was a statement effort when his championship hopes needed it most. Brown scored the pole position, and Pye was a force throughout the race. Can the pair repeat the effort on the Mountain? The Red Bull Ampol Racing equipe has its mojo back, and this is the time of the year when they shine…
3. Broc Feeney/Jamie Whincup
Second place behind the sister car – hugely ominous signs for the competition.
4. James Golding/David Russell
A breakthrough podium for the PremiAir Nulon Racing crew, and thoroughly well deserved. As it turns out, all they really ever needed was to install David Russell behind the wheel. Like a fine, fine wine, he just keeps getting better, taking his career podium tally to four. As it transpires, he’s a good thing at Bathurst, having finished third, fourth and second over the past three years. Golding has shown so much promise over the years, and the team have pumped investment into all of the right places. This team previous iteration was a Bathurst 1000 victor, a Nulon win wouldn’t be a shocking outcome.
5. The Sandown 500 (in another sense)
An interesting race from multiple angles. Drama, crashes, blow-ups, underperformers and overperformers, plenty of talking points and a grandstand finish. There were some patches in between where everyone played the game and rowed in the same direction, but largely, it was an enjoyable race that whets the appetite for Bathurst.
6. Matthew Payne/Garth Tander
Figured prominently throughout the race, as it turns out, Symmons Plains was merely a blip on the radar. Garth Tander did Garth Tander things to bring home the top-ranked Ford. The Grove machines looked fast throughout the event – they are primed for Mount Panorama success.
7. Cooper Murray/Craig Lowndes
Fifth. Let that sink for a moment. Wildcards aren’t meant to finish fifth. As it transpires, this year’s Supercheap Auto Chevy effort isn’t here to make up the numbers. A Triple Eight podium sweep was looking like a possibility for a moment late. The Mountain awaits…
8. The TOMS Castrol Throwback
Fantastically executed. Although, it was really very odd to see a Toyota mixing it with the Fords and Chevys on track…
9. Red Bull Friendly Fire
Sure, the team would hate this, but it was entertaining for absolutely everyone else.
10. Bryce Fullwood/Jay Robotham
Ninth and the first of the BJR cars, which used some strategic trickery to vault up the order. Three consecutive top-tens for the Pink 14.
FURTHER HOTS
Camerons Hill/Crick
Like Fullwood/Robotham, an underdog performer who picked up the pieces to register some big points in the top ten.
Fast(ish) Fords
Cam Water/James Moffat were sixth, Chaz Mostert/Lee Holdsworth were seventh. Both can be better, with the Walkinshaw crew particularly damning of their own mistakes during the race. They will be looking to improve come the second weekend in October.
David Reynolds/Warren Luff
Twice a year, Warren Luff comes into our lives, and twice a year he turns on a show. David Reynolds was also clearly competent in finishing eighth.
Super2
It never really went totally hard full Super2, but they tried. The victories went to Jack Perkins and Brad Vaughan, while Zach Bates won the event overall on a countback from Jobe Stewart.
The Supports
Some spicy racing across the board. In the Carrera Cup, Harri Jones continued doing Harri Jones things in claiming the round victory with a pair of wins, while Jackson Walls was successful in the second endurance race, which featured a mid-race hail storm that stuffed things up for those who elected to take dry tyres. In the Touring Car Masters, a mixed bag of drivers featured at the front of the field with some usual suspects struggling. The wins went to Adam Garwood, Marcus Zukanovic and Danny Buzadzic. In the Toyota Gazoo Racing Australia GR (Gazoo Racing) Cup, Walkinshaw protégé Matthew Hillyer registered three wins, although it was far from a walk in the park, with Brock Stinson and Chris Pither claiming the minor placings.
Standing Larko Appreciation Hot
Flaming TURDS
Due to the addition of flames, the Tim’s Urgent Repairs and Drain Service Torana has been elevated from WHAT to HOT.
The Grove Mustangs
Everyone loves a throwback, but the last-minute nature of this effort and the lack of corresponding vinyl in dark blue, conspired to mean the two blue Mustangs slightly missed the mark.
WHAT
Years ago, the boffins in The Race Torque Laboratory developed the WHAT section of the Power Rankings. For years, WHAT has rolled the arm over with some odd content. This weekend, WHAT got to stand up and provide a home for the most WHAT-worthy content ever placed on the internet. Thank you Brad Jones Racing, and whatever this is.
We eagerly anticipate the Race 20 1000 at Mount Panorama
Killing off Frosty seems a bit extreme…
That ain’t good…
Jack Perkins in Super2
In again, out again, in again. Seems like a whole heap of unnecessary angst was brought on the world throughout the entire episode.
A Carbon Fibre TCM Torana?
NOT
1. Full Course Yellows/Safety Car Procedure
Due to the pure weight of public opinion, this tops the NOT pops. The theory behind the new process is sound – it’s safer and fairer, but in practice, it significantly disrupted strategy while it also turned straightforward recoveries into horrendously elongated affairs. Ultimately, the delays saw the race go time certain, some seven laps short of 161. Bathurst won’t go time certain, and recent history says that an overdose of cautions won’t be an issue, but if things go full 2014, this new process on a track twice as long has the potential for racing to continue long into the October twilight.
2. Time Certainty
A standing NOT. Sandown has a knack of running long, with seven safety cars slowing things. The number one constraint is that Sandown has a hard time out due to noise and local residents. The flipside is that the race started late on Fox so that it could be shown to maximum eyeballs. An extra 15min of padding at the start of the race would have made a significant difference to post-race online anger.
3. Touring Car Masters Mega Shunt
4. Alice Buckley Crash
A vicious lick in the 86s, you hate to see it.
5. Cars 17 & 10 Tangle
Hugely expensive points day for both Will Davison and Nick Percat, with their machines receiving significant attention in the pits after their co-drivers Kai Allen and Dylan O’Keeffe tangled on circuit.
6. Car 1’s Sunday
Deadset, forget that one ever happened, and reload for Bathurst… a highlight was Hazelwood masterfully keeping it out of the wall after a blown tyre on Rothmans Rise. The silver lining to the day was that both of the Erebus cars had pace to burn in the race.
7. Jack Le Brocq
Had a highly impressive run going in the surviving Erebus entry, but was muscled into the wall at turn four late, crushing his hopes. Like the sister car, big pace highlights their potential. Also, this outcome lowers the chances of drivers being willing to come On the Grid pre a major race…
8. Grove’s Mechanical Woes
From practice to the race, some gremlins appeared at inopportune times.
9. Aaron Love in Qualifying
Ouch. A nasty prang for the CoolDrive rookie.
10. Sandown 500 Dramas
OTHER NOTS
With slick tyres failing to navigate an on-track lack in Saturday’s final practice, Will Davison wore the worst of the conditions and made the fence.
Ryan Wood Shootout
NOT: Blowing your shootout lap. HOT: Not writing off your car.
Supercars Pre-Race Moments
Bring Back the Saturday Sprints
The fact that a lot of people walked out of the Sandown gates in the 20min gap between the Dunlop Series and the top ten shootout says an awful lot.
The Weather
Saturday was just rubbish. A couple of hailstorms, countless rolling showers, it was cold and it was wet, and it saw the cancellation of one of the aerobatic displays. Absolutely unpleasant, bringing back memories of 60 years of crappy Melbourne weather in September.
Support Biffos
None of the support races were immune from various bingles.
Sandown needs to be the Retro Round
Sideshow Alley
It was noticeable that sideshow alley was really lacking trade stands and alike. It was really pretty sad state of affairs…
No Media Centre WiFi
Once upon a time, things like WiFi were provided to the media so that they can assist in spreading the word of the event, but those days are seemingly gone…
Marc Cini’s Qualifying Red Flag
During the final minutes of Carrera Cup qualifying: Car stopped on circuit. Car started to move from circuit. Red flag instantly waved. Ugh.
Ugh, continued
Pre-Grid Shunt
This Nulon tyre trolley suffered a DNF pre-race when a castor gave out on the grid. Fortunately, the team were able to rebound in the race…
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