Opinion
The curtains have been raised on the 2023 Supercars championship and the category has undergone one of the biggest changes technically in its long and illustrious history with the introduction of Gen3.
Gone is the humble Holden Commodore, with parent company General Motors dispatching the Chevrolet Camaro to be their hero against their arch nemesis, Ford, who’ve brought an all-new Mustang to the championship.
14 Camaros and 11 Mustangs comprised the Supercars grid for the opening round of the 12-event championship and here are the talking points.
Welcome to Gen3
It has been a long time coming, has the Gen3 era of the Supercars championship and it hasn’t been without its trials and tribulations. Even up until a week before the season opening Newcastle 500, the dreaded P-word was being thrown around.
Getting two distinct engines, the 5.7-litre LTR V8 for the Camaro and the 5.4-litre Coyote V8 in the Mustang, to be on par along with everything else shows the immense work gone into making these cars as equal as possible.
A big credit to the Supercars industry, personnel and stakeholders for getting a full grid of Camaros and Mustangs roared into life at the Newcastle circuit.
Gen3’s intention was to create closer racing at a reduced cost, with less of the development arms-race seen in the past – where the bigger teams could have the upgrades to be the best. Now in almost spec-series type cars, the onus comes back to the drivers to showcase their abilities.
Already throughout the weekend, has there been vision of the drivers having to really wrestle the cars thanks to the 67 per cent reduction in downforce compared to the Gen2 models. One possible area for concern however, is the lack of grip bemoaned by drivers when able to get right behind another car – which resulted in minimal overtaking.
The Newcastle 500 (Photo by Daniel Kalisz/Getty Images)
Triple Eight disqualified from Race 1
Controversy isn’t far from the debut of new cars in the Supercars championship, just thinking back to 2019 when the first iteration of the Ford Mustang romped to sweeping the first six races. Though Triple Eight’s exclusion from their emphatic one-two finish in Race 1 wasn’t off a performance related protest.
Three-time Supercars champion Shane van Gisbergen did what the champ does best: looked after his tyres and managed his pace to stalk his rivals from sixth on the grid to be the first to see the chequered flag at the end of 95 laps.
Adelaide 500 race-winning teammate Broc Feeney was also excellent from third to finish behind the Kiwi.
However during their pitstops, vision was broadcast of the Red Bull Ampol Racing mechanics on the driver’s side pouring in dry ice – despite the cooling system mandated by Supercars to be on the passenger side.
Following the race, Tickford – of whom Cameron Waters in the Monster Energy Mustang finished third – and Walkinshaw Andretti United protested against the result, accusing their rival of breaching Rule C16.2.1.1.
Sunday morning saw the verdict handed down by Motorsport Australia officials, indeed disqualifying both van Gisbergen and Feeney from Race 1. What’s more intriguing is that in a statement from the team, Triple Eight claimed that “the team sought permission from Supercars Head of Motorsport prior to Race 1, which was granted” for them to use the additional cooling as a driver safety tool.
Mustang wins first Gen3 race
The fallout from the Triple Eight disqualification from Race 1 meant that in rather peculiar circumstances, the honour of first blood in the Gen3 era went the way of the Blue Oval and Cameron Waters.
This came off the back of the recent test day at Sydney Motorsport Park where the Camaros dominated 11 of the top 12 places on the timesheets and Penrite Racing’s David Reynolds remarking “they’re in another league”.
However, three Mustangs featured in the first Top Ten Shootout, where Waters was pipped to pole position by an excellent Brodie Kostecki by 0.152-seconds. Though getting through the gruelling 95-lap opening race as the top performing Mustang meant the Tickford racer picked up where he left off in 2022.
Walkinshaw Andretti United’s high-profile switch to Ford yielded a podium on debut thanks to the revised results, as Chaz Mostert was classified runner up to Waters and then Kostecki for Erebus Motorsport in third.
Van Gisbergen overhauls Mostert in Race 2
A classic showdown was set up at the conclusion of the time-certain Race 2 between reigning Supercars champion van Gisbergen and race leader Mostert, who leapt into the lead from the front-row at the start.
Ultimately it was the 33-year old Kiwi who prevailed, with a 12-lap tyre delta to the Mobil 1 Optus Mustang who faced an uphill battle to keep the Red Bull Camaro at bay in the dying stages of the race. Though it didn’t come without controversy, with van Gisbergen bumping Mostert at Turn 9 before making the pass – with the latter returning serve at Turn 11 – even if it didn’t affect the end result.
Once again, van Gisbergen had to work his way from fifth on the grid into contention – with excellent tyre preservation and pace management. Mostert, who took the lead of the race into the first corner at the start from pole sitter David Reynolds, ran unchallenged until an attempt from Waters in the middle-third failed, when the Tickford racer grazed the wall at Turn 9 and damaged his steering.
4.4 seconds was the end margin between van Gisbergen and Mostert, with the Kiwi emphasising post-race about doing his talking on track, following the stripping of his Race 1 win. Polesitter Reynolds completed the podium ahead of James Golding, whose PremiAir Racing team stood out through the weekend.
A taste of things to come?
Despite all the parity chat in the pre-season, the biggest takeaway from the opening round of the Supercars championship that the usual suspects will once again be the contenders at the sharp end of the grid.
Barring the Race 1 exclusion, van Gisbergen and Red Bull Ampol Racing weren’t the qualifying benchmarks but were able to race themselves into contention, which again comes down to his tyre management. Mostert struggled with this by comparison, despite leaving Newcastle as the championship leader.
A mistake for Race 1 winner Waters in the second 250km outing would’ve been a huge dent in what was an impressive weekend to start off the season. And in Supercars, any errors have huge consequences.
What was shocking however, was seeing the Shell V-Power Racing squad’s struggles with neither Will Davison nor Anton De Pasquale qualifying or finishing either race in top ten. Not a great start for the homologation Ford team.
But with the introduction of new regulations, there is always some vaulters amongst the pack and it was impressive to see the PremiAir Racing team amongst it, with Top Ten Shootout appearances for both Golding and Tim Slade, and the former even in podium contention at the end of Race 2.
Slade was cruelled by a stuck front-wheel in Race 1 during a pit-stop, which put him five laps down by the end of the 95-lap affair.
Overall, Newcastle isn’t the best circuit to gain a representative understanding of these Gen3 cars, given how little aero is tested here as with engine power. Perhaps the Albert Park Grand Prix circuit next time might yet separate the wheat from the chaff.
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