The 2011 Coates Hire Ipswich 300 was a motor race for the Australian sedan-based
V8 Supercars racing cars. It was the eighth event of the
2011 International V8 Supercars Championship
The 2011 International V8 Supercar Championship (often simplified to the 2011 V8 Supercars Championship) was an FIA sanctioned international motor racing series for V8 Supercars. It was the thirteenth V8 Supercar Championship Series and the fift ...
. It was held on the weekend of August 19 to 21 at
Queensland Raceway, near
Ipswich,
Queensland.
It was the ninth running of the
Queensland 300 and the 15th V8 Supercar event held at Queensland Raceway.
The event hosted races 16, 17 and 18 of the
2011 season in a unique three-race format. Two 22 lap, 70-kilometre races were run on Saturday split by a fifteen-minute 'service window', while Sunday saw a single 65-lap, 200-kilometre race. The pointscore was adjusted for the event, with 75 points going to the winner of each Saturday race before the normal pointscore was used on Sunday. The qualifying format for Races 16 and 18 remained the same as other events while the grid for Race 17 was based on the finishing results of Race 16.
Triple Eight Race Engineering driver
Craig Lowndes dominated the event, taking both pole positions and winning all three races.
Tim Slade had an impressive weekend for
James Rosenberg Racing, finishing in the top three in each race and keeping pace with Lowndes and Lowndes' team mate
Jamie Whincup. After finishing both Saturday races on the podium, Whincup's weekend took a turn for the worse when an engine trumpet cover was accidentally left on his car at the beginning of Race 18. Whincup was forced to vacate his front row grid spot and enter the pits to fix the issue. His race was made worse when he received a black flag for speeding in pitlane. Whincup fought back through the field to finish in 10th, setting a new lap record along the way.
Lowndes, Slade and Whincup were the standout performers of the weekend, with most others having mediocre results. The
Holden Racing Team's
Garth Tander
Garth Tander (born 31 March 1977) is a multiple-championship winning Australian motor racing driver competing in the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship's Enduro Cup, co-driving the No. 97 Holden ZB Commodore for Triple Eight Race Engineer ...
experienced a flat tyre at the end of Race 16 after contact with
Paul Dumbrell
Paul Dumbrell (born 1 September 1982) is an Australian business executive and retired racing driver.
Racing history
Junior career
Son of former racing driver Garry Dumbrell, Paul Dumbrell started racing in karts in 1996 and by the end of 1997 D ...
which dropped him to last place and meant he would start Race 17 from 28th position. Tander fought his way through the field only to be turned around by
Jason Bargwanna
Jason Eric Bargwanna (born 26 April, 1971) is an Australian motor racing driver. Best known as a Supercars Championship competitor, Bargwanna raced in the series for 25 years, the pinnacle of which was winning, with Garth Tander, the 2000 Bathu ...
, who was given a 25-point penalty for causing the incident.
Ford Performance Racing had a very disappointing weekend, struggling to find pace on the soft tyres.
Shane van Gisbergen took the final podium place on Sunday, albeit some thirty seconds off the lead.
James Moffat scored his career best result, finishing fourth on Sunday, and
David Reynolds scored his second top five finish of the season in the same race.
Lowndes scored the maximum of 300 points for the weekend while Slade scored 272 with his three podium finishes. Despite his Sunday problems, Whincup still managed to score the third highest points total for the weekend with 212. The weekend saw Whincup's championship lead over Lowndes decrease from 186 to 98.
Results
Results as follows:
Qualifying Race 16
Qualifying timesheet:
Race 16
Race timesheets:
Race 17
Race timesheets:
Qualifying Race 18
Qualifying timesheet:
Race 18
Race timesheets:
Standings
* After 18 of 28 races.
References
{{ATCC rounds 2010–2019
Coates Hire Ipswich 300