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Endurance time begins this weekend at Sandown

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This weekend the first of three endurance rounds of the 2014 V8 Supercars Championship gets underway at the Sandown circuit near Melbourne. The 500km race kicks of the Pirtek Endurance Cup, preceding next month’s Bathurst 1000km and the Gold Coast 600, with Triple Eight’s Jamie Whincup leading the standings and looking to extend his lead in the points standings.

Traditionally, it’s his team-mate Craig Lowndes who has both fared better during the endurance rounds and often been his closest rival in the points standings at this point, but after a strong start to the year, it’s Ford Performance Racing’s Mark Winterbottom who’s currently the closest threat to the five-time champion

“I am really looking forward to Sandown as there is history there for me as I had my first race there,” said Winterbottom. “It is good to be back in Enduro mode as they were pretty good for us last year though a few things have changed as I am now with Steve (Owen). It is good to have a new partner as while I had the same thing for years, a different input and perspective is positive.”

After partnering Will Davison in the #6 FPR Falcon last season, Steve Owen switches over to the #5 car to join Winterbottom. Owen and Davison finished on the podium behind the two Triple Eight cars last season and will be aiming to help put his co-driver’s championship back on track after a few tough rounds.

“It is good to come back to FPR with a year under my belt with the engineering group and the car,” said Owen. “We are going to Sandown to win and that’s the reason I am here racing with Frosty. If we don’t win we’ll be disappointed. It’s as simple as that. I think the co-driver-only sessions are going to play a key role for the drivers that have stayed in the same team as we’ll be able to fine-tune things quicker. I’ve done plenty of laps around all the tracks coming up and it will be my 16th Bathurst so I think we’ll have plenty of advantages over the next few events.”

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Jamie Whincup however enjoys a healthy 135 point lead in his Triple Eight Falcon, but with 300 points available for the victories at Sandown and Bathurst, consistency will be key during the endurance events. Whincup will again be joined by Paul Dumbrell, who partnered with him for the last two seasons, with the duo winning at Bathurst in 2012 and at Sandown last year.

“It’s a 500km race and I cringe when people say it’s a warm-up for Bathurst. It’s a standalone, awesome event over a gruelling three and a half hours, generally with variable weather,” said Whincup. “It was the highlight of my year last year and, with the new car, it was part of one of the best stories I’ve been involved with.

“I’ve got great memories but that means nothing rolling into this weekend. We’ll just put our best foot forward and if we can stay out of trouble I feel that’s the most critical thing this weekend and surviving to the end. If can we can do that then we’ll do well to get a top five finish.”

It’ll be a new experience for Volvo, taking to endurance racing for the first time in the V8 Supercars Championship, although hardly a new experience for Garry Rogers Motorsport. The team will field its regular endurance driver Greg Ritter with Robert Dahlgren in the #34 S60, who will be taking part in his first endurance event, while Frenchman Alexandre Prémat, GRM’s previous full-time racer for the last two years, will return and pair up with Scott McLaughlin in the #33 Volvo.

“The endurance races bring a whole new element to the racing with longer races and a co-driver, something I really look forward to,” said McLaughlin. “I think we are going to be strong, especially at Sandown which is a track that will suit us with fast turns and long straights.”

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Volvo took their second victory of the year last time out at Sydney Motorsport Park, while Nissan are still chasing their first podium of the season, despite coming close to a win at Queensland Raceway. Despite this, the team have been consistently in the points, with the Norton-backed pairing of Michael Caruso and James Moffat currently in fifth position in the teams’ championship, three spots ahead of Volvo, but with a significant points gap ahead to the Brad Jones Racing outfit.

The Japanese marque will field Aussie racers Taz Douglas, David Russell and Dean Fiore as co-drivers to Moffat, Rick Kelly and Caruso respestively, while British driver Alex Buncombe will make his V8 Supercars debut pairing with Todd Kelly in the #7 Nissan Altima.

Buncombe drove in the Bathurst 12 hours race earlier in the year, but Sandown will be his first experience of racing a V8 Supercar, following a test at the Winton circuit last week.

“It’s a fantastic opportunity for me, thanks to Nissan and everyone involved who has been able to make this possible,” said Buncombe.

“I can’t wait to get to Sandown for race weekend. It’s been good to get a test in at Winton, and get a bit of experience in the car. We had both dry and wet weather running, and with a reasonable chance of getting those conditions at Sandown, it’s good to have experienced the car in various situations.”

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Buncombe is one of just two British drivers entered in the endurance events, with sports car veteran Oliver Gavin from the Corvette GT programme joining Nick Percat at Walkinshaw Racing. Not counting drivers from New Zealand, that makes just three international drivers entered as co-drivers for the endurance events.

Sandown Entry List

No – Driver 1/Driver 2 – Team – Car
1 – Jamie Whincup/Paul Dumbrell – Triple Eight Race Engineering – Holden Commodore VZ
2 – Garth Tander/Warren Luff – Holden Racing Team – Holden Commodore VZ
4 – Lee Holdsworth/Craig Baird – Erebus Motorsport – Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG
5 – Mark Winterbottom/Steve Owen – Ford Performance Racing – Ford Falcon FG
6 – Chaz Mostert/Paul Morris – Ford Performance Racing – Ford Falcon FG
7 – Todd Kelly/Alex Buncombe – Nissan Motorsport – Nissan Altima
8 – Jason Bright/Andrew Jones – Brad Jones Racing – Holden Commodore VZ
9 – Will Davison/Alex Davison – Erebus Motorsport – Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG
14 – Fabian Coulthard/Luke Youlden – Brad Jones Racing – Holden Commodore VZ
15 – Rick Kelly/David Russell – Nissan Motorsport – Nissan Altima
16 – Scott Pye/Ash Walsh – Dick Johnson Racing – Ford Falcon FG
17 – David Wall/Steven Johnson – Dick Johnson Racing – Ford Falcon FG
18 – Jack Perkins/Cameron Waters – Charlie Schwerkolt Racing – Ford Falcon FG
21 – Dale Wood/Chris Pither – Britek Motorsport – Holden Commodore VZ
22 – James Courtney/Greg Murphy – Holden Racing Team – Holden Commodore VZ
23 – Russell Ingall/Tim Blanchard – Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport – Holden Commodore VZ
33 – Scott McLaughlin/Alexandre Prémat – Volvo Polestar Racing – Volvo S60
34 – Robert Dahlgren/Greg Ritter – Volvo Polestar Racing – Volvo S60
36 – Michael Caruso/Dean Fiore – Nissan Motorsport – Nissan Altima
47 – Tim Slade/Tony D’Alberto – Walkinshaw Racing – Holden Commodore VZ
55 – David Reynolds/Dean Canto – Rod Nash Racing – Ford Falcon FG
97 – Shane Van Gisbergen/Jonathon Webb – Tekno Autosports – Holden Commodore VZ
222 – Nick Percat/Oliver Gavin – Walkinshaw Racing – Holden Commodore VZ
360 – James Moffat/Taz Douglas – Nissan Motorsport – Nissan Altima
888 – Craig Lowndes/Steve Richards – Triple Eight Race Engineering – Holden Commodore VZ

Sandown Timetable

Friday 12th September

10:35 – Free Practice 1
12:35 – Free Practice 2 (Co-drivers only)
14:35 – Free Practice 3 (Co-drivers only)

Saturday 13th September

10:05 – Free Practice 4
12:15 – Qualifying
14:45 – Qualifying Race 1 (20 Laps)
16:40 – Qualifying Race 2 (20 Laps)

Sunday 14th September

10:35 – Warm up
13:40 – Race (161 Laps)

* All times AEST