The Debrief: Sweet and sour Sandown

Supercars’ two heavyweight teams rode a rollercoaster of highs and lows at the Penrite Oil Sandown 500.

We take a look back at five of the big talking points from Supercars’ retro round, where the title battle for 2019 officially ended.

Sting in the tail

The Red Bull Holden Racing Team’s hot form continued at Sandown, with its #888 pairing of Jamie Whincup/Craig Lowndes taking all three wins and the PIRTEK Enduro Cup.

While it was an undeniably impressive performance from two of the sport’s all-time greats, it was hard to escape the feeling that the wrong car had won on Sunday.

The real stars of the show had been Shane van Gisbergen and Garth Tander who, after a mistake from the Kiwi on Saturday, had charged from 24th on the grid to what looked like victory.

A suspension failure with just over 10 laps to go was a cruel blow for the #97 crew and especially van Gisbergen, who remains without a Sandown 500 win.

On balance, van Gisbergen and Tander appeared the strongest combination across the enduros, but ended up with just one race win to show for it.

Doing enough

While Whincup and Lowndes celebrated the race win, Scott McLaughlin sealed the title with a ninth-place finish in perhaps the most sombre championship triumph on record.

It was a bizarre weekend for McLaughlin, who was sublime in regular qualifying on Saturday, before ultimately being relegated to last on the grid for Sunday’s 500.

That was part of a slew of penalties handed down on Sunday morning for a technical infringement at Bathurst, which was undoubtedly the bombshell news story of the weekend.

While McLaughlin and co-driver Alex Premat did what they could during the race, an early pitstop infringement penalty mean they were never a factor.

Teammates Fabian Coulthard and Tony D’Alberto flew somewhat under the radar but did well to recover from an early spin to finish fourth.

A happy Holdsworth

As far as feel-good stories go, there were none better at Sandown than Lee Holdsworth’s return to the podium, coupled with a first rostrum appearance for co-driver Thomas Randle.

This time last year, Holdsworth was nearing the end of a shocking season at Team 18 and trying to find a way to stay on the grid for 2019.

While he endured a difficult first half-season at Tickford, often languishing behind the other five Mustangs, it eventually began to click.

Third at Sandown broke a 2,045-day podium drought for the 36-year-old, bringing tears of joy for one of the paddock’s true nice guys.

Second for teammates Chaz Mostert and James Moffat added to the relief for Tickford Racing, which had otherwise endured a horror PIRTEK Enduro Cup.

Walkinshaw rising

Once again, Walkinshaw Andretti United showed it knows how to do retro round, winning plenty of praise for its 1999 Holden Racing Team-inspired colours.

While it hasn’t done any winning on track this season, a fifth for Scott Pye/Warren Luff and seventh for James Courtney/Jack Perkins on Sunday marked a continuation of recent progress.

Pye and Luff in particular had a great 500, going off-strategy and starting its primary driver after a wrong tyre choice for the second Saturday sprint left them lining up 22nd.

Saturday’s sprint aside, Pye has finished seventh or better in each of the last five races, turning around what had been a troubled season.

While neither Pye or Courtney will be around to benefit in 2020, the team now has a respectable base for its new arrivals to build on.

Young guns

In the Gold Coast Debrief, we called out rising stars Randle, Will Brown and Bryce Fullwood for their strong performances up against more experienced campaigners.

All three were again in the mix at Sandown, with Randle on the Sunday podium, Brown taking a fine second in the co-driver sprint on Saturday, and Fullwood thereabouts throughout.

The dedicated co-driver race was one of the most entertaining of the year and Brown’s effort to split superstars Lowndes and Tander was mighty.

Elsewhere, cousins Brodie and Jake Kostecki also showed pace, albeit with the latter involved in several scrapes that left rivals less than impressed.

It was also a memorable weekend for some young stars in Super2, with 18-year-old Tyler Everingham and 22-year-old Jordan Boys scoring maiden race wins.