Poll: Defining Moments at the 2013 AGP

At last year’s Formula One Australian Grand Prix, there were some telltale signs of what was to come in the 2013 Championship.

New winners, brilliant racing, a dash in the wet weather and a pinch of controversy meant the sport really turned up the heat on the world stage.

Which of v8supercars.com.au’s five defining moments best showed what was to come in 2013, one of the closest title fights in history with the most-ever race winners?

1.    McLaughlin’s first V8 Supercars race win 

Young Kiwi up-and-comer Scott McLaughlin put a win on the board for Garry Rogers Motorsport, announcing himself as a contender.

Sure enough, not long after, he officially became the youngest ever Championship race winner in a V8 Supercar, in front of his home crowd at Pukekohe.

This year he takes to the Melbourne street track in his new Volvo S60, off the back of a tremendous podium at the season opener.

2.    BJR Domination

Fabian Coulthard was another driver to record his first V8 Supercar win at last year’s Australian Grand Prix – and it wasn’t just one win, but three of them.

With teammate Jason Bright also scoring three podiums in four races, it was a clear sign the small team would carry big weight in the 2013 season, despite ending the season opener in 22nd (Coulthard) and 26th (Bright) in the points after horror runs at the Clipsal 500.

Coulthard won the overall MSS Security Challenge at the Rolex Australian Grand Prix, and the following round in Tasmania saw the pair continue to dominate and prove themselves a force to be reckoned with.

Coulthard dedicated the win to his late mate Jason Richards, while Bright and BJR went on to win the Jason Richards Memorial Trophy in New Zealand, one of the year’s most touching moments.  

3.    Triple Eight makes mistakes

Jamie Whincup didn’t crack the podium at the AGP last year, and while he and Craig Lowndes were top two in the Championship points heading to the event, it was fairly ordinary by their standards.

An exclusion from Race Three for Lowndes and Whincup – along with six other cars – was a low point, when it was found a number of V8 Supercars had accidentally breached the technical rules with an ignition timing setting.

Lowndes was on-track for an overall podium placing before the exclusion, and placed second in the race before the exclusion.

“It’s pretty annoying that we’ve transgressed like that,” team boss Roland Dane said on the TV coverage. “It’s just a stupid mistake.”

This followed penalties for both cars in Race Two after Whincup’s Commodore’s wheels rotated during a pit stop – earning him another tour down pit lane – and Lowndes losing one grid position after a careless release from his pit bay.

4.    Still a long way to go for HRT 

Similarly one of V8 Supercars’ other powerhouse teams had a challenging weekend at the Formula One support race with Garth Tander recording three DNFs from four starts, and James Courtney also failing to finish the weekend’s final race.

Both Holden Racing Team cars qualified outside the top 10 – Tander 15, Courtney 18 – and it didn’t get much better from there.

While both bounced back at the following event in Tasmania to finish on the podium, qualifying inconsistencies, getting caught in racing incidents and mechanical dramas ultimately led to a reshuffle behind the scenes to rejuvenate the once all-mighty factory operation ahead of this season.  

5.    Glimpse of Brilliance and Emotion from James Moffat

New Nissan driver James Moffat was so close to a podium finish in Friday’s race, coming home fifth in his Altima. The promise from Moffat was significant at the time – but who would have guessed a few months later the Norton Hornet driver would deliver Nissan its first race victory, which was also his first ever V8 Supercars win? Up until then, Moff was the only one of the four Nissan drivers who had not finished first in a race in the category. 

But the focus on the young gun wasn’t all for the right reasons at last year’s event, when he was fined for a physical confrontation with Scott Pye.

After an on-track incident, Moffat paid Pye a visit in his garage, resulting in an animated discussion and the Nissan driver giving Pye a shove.

He did not comment on the incident, but felt the contact was mild.

What signs of things to come will emerge at this year’s MSS Security Challenge? Be there from Thursday, as the V8 Supercars thrash around the Albert Park street circuit in Melbourne.