What a weekend! Saturday’s general election was one to be missed by all accounts but there was plenty of racing to keep the petrolheads happy and when Sunday evening came around, Kiwi’s were on top again.
Shane Van Gisbergen, after starting fourth in the Bathurst 1000 race was holding his ground nicely until rain started to fall midway through the six and a half hour race. While our other top Kiwi Scott McLaughlin struggled in the wet, SVG showed his prowess and powered to the front of the field, showing the rest of the field how to drive in the rain on slicks.
From there, Shane wouldn’t be headed although it wasn’t for want of trying by Cam Waters, who put on a brilliant display but just couldn’t make it past Van Gisbergen despite two safety car periods late in the race.
Sunday’s win for Shane was his first at the iconic Bathurst race, something he has been trying to do since he started in the V8 Supercar series. He has come very close on numerous occasions, but as they say, the mountain chooses the winner and this was his time to shine. His co-driver, the very experienced Garth Tander stood on the top step for his fourth time.
Scott McLaughlin eventually finished fifth, his chances at the top step of the podium having been scuttled by unfortunate timing of an earlier safety car period where his co-driver Tim Slade was caught just two laps shy of having completed his minimum distance which meant he had to do another stint, racing against almost all of the other full time drivers, a hard ask for anyone.
But although Scott was disappointed by that result, he was officially crowned the 2020 V8 Supercars champion, after dominating for much of the season.
While the season is finished for all the regular Supercars drivers, Scott’s work is not done. As I wrote earlier in the year, Scott has been given the opportunity to race in the American Indycar Series this year. He made an extremely good showing at his first test back in February and was due to have raced earlier this year but the Covid response put paid to that so it was looking like he would miss out, which would be dangerous to his career as these sort of opportunities only come along rarely.
Finally though, the Indycar Series got underway in the States and apart from all the facemasks and a lack of spectators, the racing has been great. With one meeting only left to run in their shortened season, our own driving legend Scott Dixon is in the lead of their championship. With a 32 point lead his chances are looking good but with a total of 54 points available, it will still be a race to the flag.
Fortunately for Scott McLaughlin though, he has been granted approval to escape from Australia on Monday morning in order to make the next Indycar race, in St Petersberg Florida. He and his wife Karly will catch an early flight to the States where he will be straight into some simulator testing sessions the day he arrives and another the next day before flying down to Florida for his first ever Indycar race.
The St Pete racetrack is a great mix of street course, airport runways and trying not to fall into the ocean, certainly one of the more picturesque racetracks in the world.
Scott McLaughlin knows that he has to make a good showing there when he lines up for his first start. He will get a bit of practice and a qualifying session on the Saturday prior to the Sunday Oct 25th race, but this will be a baptism by fire for sure.
Let’s hope he shows himself well and in doing so garners a full time drive for next season. And here’s hoping Scott Dixon can do enough to cement his name into the record books with what could only be described as an outstanding, sixth Indycar Championship.
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