Last weekend’s OTR SuperSprint was punctuated by those who had their cars in the window, with distinct pace gaps punctuating one-lap and race pace.
The flowing grand prix-style South Australian circuit was a playground for the Mustang, with Ford bouncing back to claim all three ARMOR ALL Pole Positions and win all three races.
For the first time in championship history, three different Ford drivers shared the three wins on a weekend, with the Blue Oval also bringing up 400 ATCC/Supercars race wins.
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The driver responsible for win No. 400, Shell V-Power Racing Team’s Anton De Pasquale, was the driver to beat on Sunday as the sun returned to Tailem Bend.
De Pasquale claimed his maiden pole positions, and was a whopping 0.301s clear of Jamie Whincup in Race 11 qualifying.
So quick was the #11 Shell Mustang, that De Pasquale’s Race 10 time would have been good enough for seventh in Race 11 qualifying, which was the faster session.
It was Andre Heimgartner who set the pace on Saturday; the #7 NED Whisky Mustang was quick in practice, wet qualifying and the mixed conditions Race 9.
Before the rain arrived, Heimgartner clocked a 1:49.241s in Practice 2, which was 0.163s quicker than Whincup.
It was a marked difference to Practice 1, with Mark Winterbottom topping the first session of the weekend with a 1:50.494s.
The Race 9 qualifying session was held in entirely wet conditions, which deteriorated as the three-part session wore on.
De Pasquale was brilliant on Sunday
Chaz Mostert set the fastest time in Q1 with a 2:05.351s, which dropped to a 2:06.172s for Heimgartner in Q3.
Heimgartner’s pole time, a 2:07.856s, was nearly 20 seconds slower than De Pasquale’s time in the dry.
The 2020 event, held last September, saw Scott McLaughlin’s quickest qualifying lap of the weekend, a 1:47.828s, some three tenths quicker than the driver he was replaced by in De Pasquale.
Heimgartner was tough to beat on Saturday
Race 9 began in the wet, but the rain was replaced by cool, overcast conditions. Four of the top 10 quickest race laps of the weekend were set in Saturday’s race, with Shane van Gisbergen clinching the Race 9 bonus points with his lap 23 1:50.241s.
Cameron Waters, who broke his duck in Race 11, set the fastest race lap of the weekend en route to victory. However, his time was still half a second down on the quickest race lap set in 2020, by Scott Pye (1:49.560s).
Chaz Mostert was forced to retire from Race 10 following the dramatic incident which also claimed Waters; however, Mostert’s car still had strong pace following the quick fire repairs by his Walkinshaw Andretti United crew.
Prior to his retirement, Mostert set a 1:50.219s, which proved the second quickest race lap of the entire weekend.
Both Mostert and Waters will be hard to beat at Winton, which will host the next round of the season; the Victorian circuit is the testing venue for their respective teams.
The Repco Supercars Championship field will return to Victoria for the Winton SuperSprint across May 28-30. Tickets are available here.
The event will be broadcast live on Foxtel and will be streamed on Kayo with highlights on 7 and 7 Plus.
Fastest practice laps
Session | Driver | Time |
P2 | Andre Heimgartner | 1:49.241 |
P2 | Jamie Whincup | 1:49.404 |
P2 | Will Davison | 1:49.489 |
P2 | David Reynolds | 1:49.656 |
P2 | Chaz Mostert | 1:49.658 |
P2 | James Courtney | 1:49.681 |
P2 | Todd Hazelwood | 1:49.720 |
P2 | Shane van Gisbergen | 1:49.740 |
P2 | Brodie Kostecki | 1:49.774 |
P2 | Bryce Fullwood | 1:49.993 |
Fastest qualifying laps
Session | Driver | Time |
Q11 | Anton De Pasquale | 1:48.185 |
Q11 | Jamie Whincup | 1:48.486 |
Q11 | Cameron Waters | 1:48.547 |
Q11 | Shane van Gisbergen | 1:48.599 |
Q11 | Will Davison | 1:48.604 |
Q11 | Chaz Mostert | 1:48.642 |
Q10 | Anton De Pasquale | 1:48.676 |
Q11 | Bryce Fullwood | 1:48.033 |
Q11 | Tim Slade | 1:48.768 |
Q11 | Jack Le Brocq | 1:48.775 |
Fastest race laps
Session | Driver | Time |
R11 | Cameron Waters | 1:50.061 (lap 15) |
R10 | Chaz Mostert | 1:50.219 (lap 10) |
R9 | Shane van Gisbergen | 1:50.241 (lap 23) |
R11 | Jack Smith | 1:50.263 (lap 11) |
R9 | Macauley Jones | 1:50.277 (lap 22) |
R11 | Todd Hazelwood | 1:50.294 (lap 21) |
R9 | Andre Heimgartner | 1:50.343 (lap 24) |
R9 | Chaz Mostert | 1:50.380 (lap 24) |
R9 | David Reynolds | 1:50.396 (lap 13) |
R11 | Shane van Gisbergen | 1:50.512 (lap 19) |
Key: Practice (P); Qualifying (Q); Top Ten Shootout (TT); Race (R)