It’s “Enduro” time down-under

The Australian V8 Supercar Championship sees the first of it’s two endurance races this weekend at Phillip Island. On track, the regular seasoned campaigners get the chance to race with, and against, a selection of endurance specialists and top-class drivers from other series around the globe.

Last season saw Garth Tander & Mark Skaife take their Holden Commodore to victory at Phillip Island. Jamie Whincup, partnering Craig Lowndes, succumbed to intense pressure from Tander late on the in the race, and went off track, allowing Tander past to take the victory. Whincup crossed the line in second.

As the series moved to the world renowned Mount Panorama at Bathurst, it seemed like the Toll Holden Racing Team were set to take a clean sweep of the year’s endurance races when Tander & Skaife claimed pole position during qualifying.

However, this was not to be. A problem with the clutch saw Tander fail to get away properly. Miraculously was not hit by the pack as they soared past. The #1 car dropped from first to the first corner. To add insult to injury he was issued with a time penalty for a jump start caused by the clutch issue.

This allowed the #888 car of Lowndes to surge to the front, albeit after a tussle with Greg Murphy early on. The Murphy challenge was to no avail, as the #888 car crossed the line to hand the TeamVodafone, Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup alliance their third successive victory in the famous Bathurst 1000.

This year will again see Lowndes & Whincup as partners for TeamVodafone, and despite Jamie Whincup carrying the elusive #1 on his car during 2009, their car will be numbered #888 when they tackle Phillip Island and Mount Panorama. The second TeamVodafone car of James Thompson and Allan Simonsen will carry the #88 which Whincup used in previous seasons.

Last year Greg Murphy finished a brilliant second at Bathurst along with Jason Richards. This year will see Murphy team up with three time V8 Supercar, and two time Australian Touring Car, Champion Mark Skaife.

Amongst the influx of non-regular V8 Supercar drivers for the endurance races are two known very well to the TouringCarTimes.com readers.

Andy Priaulx will line up alongside David Reynolds in the Walkinshaw Racing prepared Bundaberg Red Racing Holden Commodore.

Priaulx boasts a highly impressive racing history, with three consecutive World Touring Car Championship titles and a European Touring Car Championship title to his name.

Fresh from a victory in the WTCC meeting at Oschersleben in Germany last weekend, Priaulx will be hoping to carry his good fortune forward to the first V8 Supercar endurance event of 2009.

Priaulx has prior experience driving a V8 Supercar, having done so in both 2002 and 2003.

He teamed up with Frenchman Yvan Muller in 2002 at the wheel of a HRT Holden K-Mart Racing Commodore, but the pair were forced to retire from the race.

In 2003 he partnered Cameron McLean, again in a HRT Holden K-Mart Racing Commodore. At the Sandown 500 the pair finished a creditable 12th, but at Bathurst their fortune changed. They were forced to retire early on with Priaulx having not yet taking the wheel.

Priaulx currently lies 4th in the WTCC standings, after what was his best race weekend this season. He came from 14th on the grid to win the first race at Oschersleben, before moving up from 8th to finish 2nd in the second race.

James Thompson will be making his V8 Supercar debut for the illustrious TeamVodafone during this year’s endurance races. He will be partnering the Danish driver Allan Simonsen.

Thompson won the British Touring Car Championship title in 2002 and 2004, and is currently in one of the busiest years of his career. As well as heading to Australia for the Phillip Island and Bathurst rounds, he has been competing in no fewer than three other championships.

He has been racing for the Hartmann Honda in the Danish Touring Car Championship, a series which he currently stands atop of the standings in. His advantage is a slender 12-points, but due to the fact he will not be competing again this year, the chances of him being in the lead at the end of th season are extremely slim.

In the BTCC he replaced Gordon Shedden at Team Dynamics, again at the wheel of a Honda. Out of the 18 races he competed in, he won three and placed well in numerous others. The consistent performances propelled him up the standings, but again due to only completing part of the season, he has already begun to slip down the leader board.

The final series Thompson is competing in during 2009, is the WTCC. He agreed to drive for the Lada team at a number of events to aid development of their new Priora Touring Car.

Allan Simonsen is acclimatised to Australia, as he currently is a resident of both his hometown of Odense in Denmark, as well as Melbourne.

He is regarded as an endurance specialist, having competed in numerous Sportscar and GT series throughout the years. In 2007 he was the champion of the Australian GT Championship, and during the same year he competed in the Sandown 500 and the Bathurst 1000 for TeamVodafone.

Another Brit making his way to Australia to compete is a man that has been allegedly outed as one of the team on the BBC motoring show Top Gear, Ben Collins. It has been suggested that Collins is either “The Stig”, or one of many driver’s who act as “The Stig” for the show, something both he and the BBC hotly deny.

Rumours aside Collins has a wealth of international racing experience under his belt, including Formula 3, Sportscars, GT and NASCAR.

Collins will team up with Australian endurance specialist Nathan Pretty in one of the Kelly Racing Holden Commodores.

The first of the 2009 endurance races will be the 500km race held on the Grand Prix circuit at Phillip Island in Victoria, between the 11th and 13th September.

Between the 8th and 10th of October the teams will head to New South Wales to face the daunting 1000km race at the Mount Panorama circuit at Bathurst.