Team TRTPower Rankings: Perth
Ford was HOT, while the NOTs were incredibly hard-hitting.
Wrapping up a big weekend in The West, here is your serving of the TRT Power Rankings…
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
A gutsy drive by Waters saw him claim a final lap third in the opener, where he joined Will Brown on the podium, with the pair set to make their NASCAR Cup Series debuts together at the upcoming Sonoma round. What are the odds that we once again are sending our best and brightest Stateside? Pole for race two followed up with the win was a statement result. Overseas focus or not, Cam is here for the fight, as the Fords found their stride as the mid-season fast approaches.
2. Chaz Mostert
Although he was beaten to the lead off the start of race one from pole position by teammate Ryan Wood, Chaz rebounded to dominate proceedings, taking his first win in the Gen3 era, and the opening victory for WAU with the Blue Oval. Qualified second for race two, was first across the line, but had to settle for second with a post-race penalty. Chaz being up and about is excellent for the sport.
3. Will Brown
Second in race one, third in race three. If it were a tough weekend for the Camaros, Brown was a shining light, as he continued to build a buffer at the front of the point score.
4. Ryan Wood
It was a super impressive effort, building on his strong performance, which saw him claim fourth place on Saturday at Taupo. Second, on the Saturday grid was converted to the early race lead after outmuscling teammate Chaz Mostert around the outside of the opening corner. Settled in second after the pit stop cycle, battled with Brown, who had the advantage of four new tyres on board over the Kiwi rookie’s two. However, in slowing up Brown, he ultimately ensured the win for Mostert. Battled hard with Cam Waters in the closing stages, but was displaced from the podium on the final circuit. Eighth on Sunday following a grid penalty was a solid encore performance. WAU are looking very smart for plucking him out of Super2.
5. Woods Vs Waters, Race 1 Finish
Cracking battle to the finish, saving a somewhat straightforward race from the ‘meh’ pile.
6. Trackside Vibe/The Temperature: HOT
No matter what the future for Supercars is in the west – whether at Wanneroo or on a downtown street circuit, there are plenty of people in these parts who love their motorsport. Also, the weather for the second half of May was genuinely HOT. It was a welcomed change for the Victorians, at least, with snow starting to fall at home over the weekend. The event stepped up in terms of presentation and sideshows, which was refreshing.
7. Tightness
The old-school 1.5-mile-long bullrings always make life difficult for the lapscorers.
8. Parity Achieved?
Seemingly, all it required was some sporting coordination from the Blue Oval camp…
9. Will Davison
He had a thoroughly bipolar weekend – nowhere Saturday with a mechanical drama, P4 Sunday, making him very difficult to pigeonhole in these rankings. Anton De Pasquale’s ninth and sixth were more consistent, if not spectacular. Was Taupo a blip on the DJR radar?
10. James Courtney
Sixth on Saturday was a breakthrough for the Blanchard Racing Team in 2024. Aaron Love’s 13th on Sunday was also the best effort for his rookie campaign to date.
FURTHER HOTS
Thomas Randle
Tenth and fifth isn’t his ultimate potential, but it was his most consistent weekend of the year.
TV Things
- Whale Sharks – it was talked up to the point now that everyone in Australia will be swimming with them within the next 12 months.
- Transiting the Nullarbor Plain aboard the WAU transporter – beautifully shot, the sort of multi-day commitment that seldom gets resources thrown at it. Well done to James Lundie for getting the job done.
- The intro, and Matt Nable’s pure gravel voice.
Kai Allen Saturday/Zach Bates Sunday
Big weekend for this pair – Allen picked up his third straight race on Saturday, and was mature beyond his years when behind the eight ball on Sunday. Bates broke through on Sunday with the race and round win, showing that the WAU talent factory has plenty in store now that Wood has been promoted.
Aussie Racing Cars
Kody Garland held off Joel Heinrich by only 0.0325sec to win the opening race – somehow, it wasn’t the closest finishing margin in the history of the series. Sadly, the opposite occurred at the conclusion of the final race, when the pair tangled spectacularly on the run to the final corner, resulting in Garland finishing nowhere. It was a big turnaround in Sunday fortunes for Heinrich, who was scrubbed from the Sunday morning TCM race one win for going underweight.
Radical Australia Cup
Genuinely spicy entertainment with plenty of elbows out racing. A cool advert for the class on a rare chance to play on a big stage.
Touring Car Masters
It was entertaining as always but it lost Rankings points for the low grid numbers.
Mason Kelly Pace
Eighth and fifth from the respective qualifying sessions was impressive in only his second Super2 series start. Elsewhere, a very sad NOT.
An Airplane on the Racetrack
HOT.
WHAT
He WHAT?
The Bird is the Word
Predictive news breaking
It’s an Australian delicacy
What?
NOTTEST OF THE NOTS, EVER
Our Aussie Racing Car Heartbreak
NOT
1. Cameron McLeod
Absolutely massive. The parallels to Scott Pye’s two big ones are uncanny. We’re glad he didn’t land back on the racetrack and have an even bigger shunt, if that was in fact possible.
2. Mason Kelly
Heartbreak. Fast in Saturday qualifying but wound up hard in the fence, necessitating a 1am rebuild, with Mason getting on the tools to get it fixed. Fifth in qualifying and set for better than that, given Brad Vaughan’s jump start. At least he had the foresight to park at the flag point, and let the officials get to work on the inferno.
3. Erebus Motorsport
A horrible weekend. It kicked off before the start of the Saturday race when a team procedural issue saw Jack Le Brocq suffer a battery drama, and he never made the start. Brodie Kostecki was escorted off the road at the first corner, and the team elected to save tyres for the Sunday race. In that second encounter, the reigning champ registered a non-finish with mechanical woes while running strongly in the top five. Le Brocq was out in Q1. Mired in the pack off the race start, he was turned around by Nick Percat early, who scored a 15sec penalty for his part in the incident, which nominally is a NOT. After coming into the meeting third in the team points, Erebus plummeted to seventh on Saturday and eighth on Sunday. The only way is up…
4. Too much practice
Halfway through the hour-long practice one on Friday afternoon, home viewers were told that Supercars practice is much like midweek footy practice. Translating this: it’s the stuff that isn’t broadcast because it is largely inconsequential and it’s dull. Furthermore, we were told that continued stints of practice without an endless supply of new tyres for the cars is also a fairly pointless exercise. Everyone runs their own strategies, so final practice results don’t necessarily count for much – they certainly aren’t of consequence to championship points or qualifying outcomes. Clearly, teams love the opportunity to test and tune to their heart’s content. However, on one of the tightest tracks on the schedule, one where there is precious little to pick between the cars – by giving everyone an additional 40min, all and sundry are more or less tuned to perfection, which doesn’t necessarily contribute to improving the on-track product.
There were contrasting opinions from the drivers:
“So, normally we just roll up on a Saturday and it’s just straight into high pressure qualifying. Now the day starts a little bit earlier, more relaxed and you get to try a few things in your car and then go qualify. So, you don’t have a gun to your head when you wake up in the morning thinking about qualifying on fresh tyres, you can sort of ease yourself into the day. So, it’s probably good from a human standpoint and stress levels. It should be good for our team because the more testing work we can do in our team, the better data and better knowledge we can have, so it’s only a good thing for you.”
David Reynolds
“I think the fans show up to watch us race. I’m not really sure why we’re doing a practice on Saturday and Sunday, like, I think that we should add another race on the weekend or do something like that, is my honest opinion.”
Will Brown
Sadly, the format is scheduled for a repeat performance in Tasmania in August.
5. Timetable
Surely, it wasn’t just us who thought that the weekend schedule simply dragged on and on. The gaps and downtime between the races were extensive. Perhaps if in future the program is scheduled to finish late, maybe add in an extra support or two, or simply start later in the day. While the Supercars coverage is awesome, there was an awful lot of talking relative to racing. Compare and contrast to the Shannons SpeedSeries, which this year has been far more balanced towards racing than filler. It provides some programming fuel for thought.
6. Brad Jones Racing
After winning in the wet last time out, BJR reverted to its AGP form in the West. Andre Heimgartner’s 13th in the opener was their best result of the weekend from eight starts.
7. Richie Stanaway in the Fence, R1
Richie Stanaway had a fuel pump go fluffy on the warm-up lap on Saturday, which absolutely glitched at the wrong moment when Aaron Love nailed the Penrite Mustang into the fence. He was fourth in points prior to the shunt, so it was a costly one. Only 12th on Sunday, and now ninth in the standings, it was a weekend to forget for the Bathurst champ.
8. Chaz’s Sunday Stop
The five-second penalty ultimately cost him the win – had he slotted in behind, he probably wouldn’t have won regardless. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
9. The Gap to the Next Event
10. Mark Winterbottom
Nowhere in qualifying on both days, with his run on Sunday impeded by Ryan Wood. Drove back to 16th and 20th in the races.
OTHER NOTS
Broc Feeney
Fifth and seventh is a tough NOT, but it was the first weekend this year he didn’t land on the podium, while his teammate is slowly walking away with the points lead.
Brad Vaughan
A tough weekend for the Tickford young gun. From third on the grid for the opener, he suffered a continuation of starter motor issues, which saw him finish nowhere, a result that was repeated on Sunday following a jump start from pole position.
Tim Slade
The season of frustration continued in his 200th race, with a 15sec penalty for contact with Jaxon Evans in the pits on Sunday. Also, 14th and 16th for James Golding was below par for his recent standards.
Wood Qualifying Sunday
A bad rejoin after an off resulted in impeding Mark Winterbottom, a move which saw the young gun cop a three-place grid penalty. Ugh.
Cam Hill in the Fence Practice 1
After a car failure, tough break, resulting in a 1am rebuild.
David Reynolds off P1
Extra points for doing it as his onboard camera was live at the time.
Concrete Stife
SOCIALS
A Not that gave a Hot
Nice hat
Whoah
Sir, I said Sir!
Race fans
MEME
Absolutely yoinked from Aaron Mattin at Put it in MGU-H
