60 Days Until Sydney 500
While there is plenty of excitement for this weekend’s Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000, one of the Championship’s other key events continues to creep closer – it's just 60 days until grand finale Sydney 500.
And though Bathurst is the single race everyone wants to win, drivers and crew are divided as to whether it is more important to win than the Championship.
One thing that stands in the debate – winning the Great Race and bagging 300 points definitely helps come December.
The Championship is awarded at the Sydney 500, which has recently been re-signed, extending its position on the V8 Supercars calendar until 2016.
It's a challenging street circuit at the former Olympic complex, which has seen plenty of action-packed finishes.
But it’s not just about the Championship win. Darrell Lea Team TEKNO racer Jonathon Webb – who won his first and, so far, only V8 Supercars race at the Sydney event in treacherous conditions in 2010 – says there are multiple mindsets for competitors when heading to the grand finale.
“There’s the guys in front in the Championship, and they really just need to consolidate, put on a clean weekend and come home with good results,” Webb told v8supercars.com.au.
“And then there’s the other end, where you might have had a bit of an average start or middle of the year, where this is the last opportunity to try and pick up some points and try and pop up in the Championship.
“So it certainly makes it a mixed basket depending on who you’re racing up against and what you’re trying to achieve for the weekend.”
While Webb and TEKNO Autosports teammate Shane van Gisbergen were strong at the start of the season – van Gisbergen recording a win at Clipsal and Webb bringing home the most points across the Darwin weekend – their performances have tapered off. Webb’s #19 Commodore hasn’t featured in the top 10 since Darwin.
But the team has had two recent test days and Webb’s second half of the season was the strongest last year – something he is hoping to repeat.
“I had a big smile on my face for the first couple of rounds, but our car speed has dropped away a little bit,” Webb admitted.
“It’s disappointing, but we’re still in the hunt, we’re not totally out of that top 10 yet. It’s so close with the cars around.
“I think if we can do what (we did) last year, where the second half was quite strong – I think I came from 22nd up to 12th in the Championship in the latter half – so if I can try and put on a good show at Bathurst and continue our form we had at Gold Coast last year, it would be really nice to jump into that top eight in the Championship, and it’s not unrealistic from where we are at the moment.”
Webb achieved his best result at Bathurst last year, home sixth with Scott McLaughlin; and at the Gold Coast, with current PIRTEK Enduro Cup co-driver Marc Lieb, finished second in one of the two 2012 races.
Webb is confident of tackling Mount Panorama with Lieb, despite the international's limited car time this year.
“He’s a true professional,” Webb said of his German co-driver.
“He’s spent a lot of time throughout the world driving different cars and learning new tracks all the time, so for him to come in and pick up Bathurst I don’t think it’ll take him much time at all.
“I think there’s not too much I can say he doesn’t already know!” Webb said, when asked of advice he’d offer for Mount Panorama.
“We’ll go (to Bathurst) trying to probably do something similar – top five or six.
“And if everything goes right and the weekend pans out, I don’t see why there’s any reason we can’t round it up with a podium potentially at the end.”
Webb won’t stop pressing for his first win since Homebush 2010, a weekend that was filled with drama and intensity as the title fight went down to the wire between Webb’s Dick Johnson Racing stablemate James Courtney, and dominant force Jamie Whincup.
But when the heavens opened during the Saturday race it was Webb and engineer Geoff Slater (still his current engineer) who played the game correctly, opting to change to wet weather tyres and watch other, higher placed drivers fall out of contention.
“It was always going to be a tough weekend with the weather jumping around,” Webb said, looking back at 2010.
“At a street circuit, it’s even more important to make sure you make the right decision.
“It was a tough call and at the time even Geoff said, ‘Look, this is your call, you make the decision of what you want and what you think is safe at the end of the day, so you can bring the car home in one piece’…
“At the end of the day I think we had good speed in the rain and I really just had to not make any mistakes – and that’s what I did, and we came home with the win!”
That result is one of the reasons Webb looks forward to the Sydney event.
“It is a track that I enjoy. It’s definitely a real buzz whenever I turn up to Homebush every year.”
With the Championship tighter than ever – six drivers are separated by less than 300 points, the allocation for winning this weekend at the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 – it’s sure to go down to the wire.
Tickets are available for this year’s Sydney 500. Who will be the 2013 Champion?
