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WAU's eight-year Hidden Valley drought

04 Jun 2021
No team on the grid has a longer spell without silverware than WAU
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No team on the 2021 Repco Supercars Championship grid has a longer spell without Darwin silverware than Walkinshaw Andretti United.

Hidden Valley Raceway hosted two events in 2020, and neither of Chaz Mostert and Bryce Fullwood managed to reach the podium.

The best result across both cars across both events was Mostert's fourth in the finale of the first event.

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It extended the team’s podium-less run in Darwin to seven years; it's a stark contrast to the team's decorated history, with WAU bringing up 250 podiums at the last-start OTR SuperSprint.

Then run under the Holden Racing Team moniker, WAU scored a podium courtesy of James Courtney in the second race in 2013.

Courtney started on pole for the race, which was won by Mark Winterbottom.

Walkinshaw cars have gone 21 races without Darwin silverware since, bar Tim Slade’s second place in 2015 aboard a customer entry.

Courtney leads in 2013

Grant McPherson’s first event with the team couldn’t come soon enough, with Chaz Mostert hanging onto third in the standings, and Fullwood battling in 15th.

Across the six races in Darwin last year, nine drivers and six teams brought home trophies.

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Scott McLaughlin won four races and claimed a podium, and matched Mark Skaife’s haul of eight Darwin victories.

Jamie Whincup and Anton De Pasquale won the other two races, with the former taking home the Triple Crown.

No Top End podiums for Mostert last year

McLaughlin’s Shell V-Power Racing Team teammate Fabian Coulthard scored a podium, with Whincup’s Red Bull Ampol Racing stablemate Shane van Gisbergen recording two podiums.

Tickford Racing scored podiums through Cameron Waters and James Courtney, while Nick Percat (Brad Jones Racing) also reached the rostrum.

A standout performer across the two events was Scott Pye, who helped Team 18 to three podiums.

Two other teams have scored podiums; Kelly Grove Racing last recorded a podium courtesy of Michael Caruso’s victory aboard a Nissan Altima in 2016.

Pye was a standout in 2020

Two years earlier, van Gisbergen helped Tekno (now running under the Team Sydney banner) to second in the 2014 finale.

Matt Stone Racing and Blanchard Racing Team are yet to record a Darwin podium.

Mostert and Fullwood will have three races to end WAU’s dry spell when Supercars returns to Hidden Valley across June 18-20. Tickets are available here.

The event will be broadcast live on Foxtel and will be streamed on Kayo, and will be broadcast live and free on Seven.

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