The 2012 Armor All Gold Coast 600 was a
touring car motor race for
V8 Supercars
The Supercars Championship is a touring car racing category in Australia, running as an International Series under Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) regulations, governing the sport.
Supercars events take place in all Australian ...
. It was the Round 12 of the
2012 International V8 Supercars Championship
The 2012 International V8 Supercar Championship (often simplified to the 2012 V8 Supercars Championship) was an FIA sanctioned international motor racing series for V8 Supercars. It was the fourteenth running of the V8 Supercar Championship Seri ...
and the 22nd edition of the event. It occurred from 19 to 21 October at the
Surfers Paradise Street Circuit
The Surfers Paradise Street Circuit is a temporary street circuit in Surfers Paradise, in Queensland, Australia. The beach-side track has several fast sections and two chicanes, having been shortened from an original length in 2010. It is th ...
on the
Gold Coast, Queensland
The Gold Coast is a coastal city in the state of Queensland, Australia, approximately south-southeast of the centre of the state capital Brisbane. With a population over 600,000, the Gold Coast is the sixth-largest city in Australia, the nati ...
. Race 22 was won by
Triple Eight Race Engineering
Triple Eight Race Engineering, (branded as Red Bull Ampol Racing) is an Australian motor racing team competing in the Supercars Championship. The team has been the only Brisbane based V8 Supercar team since its formation, originally operating ...
's
Jamie Whincup
Jamie Whincup (born 6 February 1983) is an Australian professional racing driver competing in the Supercars Championship. He currently is team principal for Triple Eight Race Engineering. He has driven the No. 88 Holden Commodore (ZB), Holden Z ...
and
Sébastien Bourdais
Sébastien Olivier Bourdais (born 28 February 1979) is a French professional racing driver. He is one of the most successful drivers in the history of American open-wheel car racing, having won 37 races. He won four successive championships ...
from
pole position
In a motorsports race, the pole position is usually the best and "statistically the most advantageous" starting position on the track. The pole position is usually earned by the driver with the best qualifying times in the trials before the rac ...
.
Will Davison
William 'THE SOOK' Davison (born 30 August 1982) is an Australian professional racing driver. He currently drives the No.17 Ford Mustang GT for Dick Johnson Racing in the Repco Supercars Championship. Davison is a two-time winner of the Bathur ...
and
Mika Salo
Mika Juhani Salo (born 30 November 1966) is a Finnish former professional racing driver. He competed in Formula One between and . His best ranking was 10th in the world championship in 1999, when he stood in for the injured Michael Schumacher ...
of
Ford Performance Racing
Tickford Racing (formerly known as Prodrive Racing Australia and Ford Performance Racing) is an Australian motor racing team which competes in the Supercars Championship. The team currently campaigns three Ford Mustangs, with their current drive ...
won the following day's second race from fourth place.
Whincup took the pole position by posting the fastest lap in the top ten shootout but lost his lead to Salo at the start which was twice
red flagged for a total of 50 minutes because of two separate start-line crashes that reduced the distance of the race from 102 to 79 laps. Bourdais challenged Salo over laps 23 and 32 but he could not overtake Salo on both occasions as the latter struggled with acceleration. Whincup later relieved Bourdais and retook the lead, building a six-and-a-half-second advantage that was reduced to nothing when the
safety car was deployed for debris retrieval. He held off
Jonathon Webb
Jonathon Webb (born 10 December 1983) is an Australian former professional racing driver and team owner of Team Sydney, who once co-drove alongside Fabian Coulthard in the No. 19 Holden ZB Commodore for the Pirtek Enduro Cup.
In 2016, Webb and ...
for the rest of Race 22 to win for the 60th time in his career.
For Race 23, Whincup took his second consecutive pole position with the fastest lap time of qualifying. His co-driver Bourdais led the first 36 laps from
Marc Lieb
Marc Lieb (born 4 July 1980) is a former German Porsche factory motor-racing driver. He won the FIA GT Championship in 2003 and 2005, and the European Le Mans Series in 2005, 2006, 2009 and 2010. He won the 24 Hours Nürburgring four times, one t ...
in second and
Will Power
William "Will" Steven Power (born 1 March 1981) is an Australian motorsports driver who currently competes in the IndyCar Series, driving for Team Penske. He is the 2014 and 2022 IndyCar Series champion and the 2018 Indianapolis 500 champion. ...
in third before his first
green flag
Green Flag or Green Flag Rescue, is a British roadside assistance and vehicle recovery provider, which is part of the Direct Line Group. Formed in 1971, as the National Breakdown Recovery Club, as an alternative to the AA and RAC, it used a ...
pit stop
In motorsports, a pit stop is a pause for refuelling, new tyres, repairs, mechanical adjustments, a driver change, as a penalty, or any combination of the above. These stops occur in an area called the pits, most commonly accessed via a pit la ...
for fuel, tyres and was relieved by Whincup. Salo led for the next 20 laps until his own stop and his car was driven by Davison.
Tim Slade
Tim Slade (born 3 August 1985) is an Australian racing driver who competes in the Repco Supercars Championship. Slade currently drives the No. 3 Ford Mustang GT for Blanchard Racing Team.
Early career
Slade first appeared at a national level ...
led the field after a safety car period for debris retrieval and he held it until Davison overtook him for the lead on the 80th lap. Davison maintained the lead for the remainder of the race to take his 13th career victory after holding off Whincup in the final five laps.
Whincup increased his
Drivers' Championship lead with 3,060 points and
Mark Winterbottom
Mark "Frosty" Winterbottom (born 20 May 1981) is an Australian professional racing driver. He currently competes in the Repco Supercars Championship, driving the No. 18 Holden ZB Commodore for Team 18. His career highlights include winning the ...
moved from third to second with 2,842 points.
Craig Lowndes
Craig Andrew Lowndes (born 21 June 1974) is an Australian racing driver in the Repco Supercars Championship competing in the Holden ZB Commodore for Triple Eight Race Engineering. He is also a TV commentator.
Lowndes is a three-time V8 Supe ...
fell to third with 2,812 points and
Will Davison
William 'THE SOOK' Davison (born 30 August 1982) is an Australian professional racing driver. He currently drives the No.17 Ford Mustang GT for Dick Johnson Racing in the Repco Supercars Championship. Davison is a two-time winner of the Bathur ...
's victory in Race 23 maintained him fourth with 2,503 points. In the Teams' Championship, Triple Eight Race Engineering led with 5,900 points over
Ford Performance Racing
Tickford Racing (formerly known as Prodrive Racing Australia and Ford Performance Racing) is an Australian motor racing team which competes in the Supercars Championship. The team currently campaigns three Ford Mustangs, with their current drive ...
in second with 5,285 points.
Stone Brothers Racing
Stone Brothers Racing (SBR) was an Australian motor racing team that competed in the International V8 Supercars Championship between 1998 and 2012. The team was formed in 1998 when Ross and Jim Stone bought Alan Jones's shares in Alan Jones ...
and Holden Brothers Racing kept third and fourth with three rounds left in the season.
Background
![Lexmark Indy track 2006](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d3/Lexmark_Indy_track_2006.jpg)
The 2012 Armor All
Gold Coast 600
The Gold Coast 500 (formally known as the Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500) is an annual motor racing event for Supercars, held at the Surfers Paradise Street Circuit in Surfers Paradise, Queensland, Australia. The event has been a regular part o ...
was the 12th of the 15
touring car rounds of the Australian sedan-based
V8 Supercars Championship
The Supercars Championship is a touring car racing category in Australia, running as an International Series under Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) regulations, governing the sport.
Supercars events take place in all Australian ...
, the third and final
endurance
Endurance (also related to sufferance, resilience, constitution, fortitude, and hardiness) is the ability of an organism to exert itself and remain active for a long period of time, as well as its ability to resist, withstand, recover from a ...
round of the
2012 season, and the 22nd edition of the event. It took place on the weekend of the 19–21 October 2012 at the nine-turn temporary
Surfers Paradise Street Circuit
The Surfers Paradise Street Circuit is a temporary street circuit in Surfers Paradise, in Queensland, Australia. The beach-side track has several fast sections and two chicanes, having been shortened from an original length in 2010. It is th ...
in
Surfers Paradise, Queensland
Surfers Paradise is a Suburbs and localities (Australia), suburb in the City of Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. In the , Surfers Paradise had a population of 23,689 people.
Colloquially known as "Surfers", the suburb has many high-rise apa ...
.
The
2011 race saw the electronic detection sensors disabled and
chicane
A chicane () is a serpentine curve in a road, added by design rather than dictated by geography. Chicanes add extra turns and are used both in motor racing and on roads and streets to slow traffic for safety. For example, one form of chicane is ...
bollards dismantled to allow drivers to cut those corners after claims of inconsistent decisions,
causing the size of those
kerbs to be enlarged to address the issue for the 2012 edition. Teams were informed via e-mail that a driver observed cutting the turns would get a
pit lane
In motorsports, a pit stop is a pause for refuelling, new tyres, repairs, mechanical adjustments, a driver change, as a penalty, or any combination of the above. These stops occur in an area called the pits, most commonly accessed via a pit lan ...
drive-through or a minimum 50-point penalty.
After winning the
Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 with co-driver
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 ...
two weeks earlier,
Triple Eight Race Engineering
Triple Eight Race Engineering, (branded as Red Bull Ampol Racing) is an Australian motor racing team competing in the Supercars Championship. The team has been the only Brisbane based V8 Supercar team since its formation, originally operating ...
driver
Jamie Whincup
Jamie Whincup (born 6 February 1983) is an Australian professional racing driver competing in the Supercars Championship. He currently is team principal for Triple Eight Race Engineering. He has driven the No. 88 Holden Commodore (ZB), Holden Z ...
led the
Drivers' Championship with 2,772 points. His teammate
Craig Lowndes
Craig Andrew Lowndes (born 21 June 1974) is an Australian racing driver in the Repco Supercars Championship competing in the Holden ZB Commodore for Triple Eight Race Engineering. He is also a TV commentator.
Lowndes is a three-time V8 Supe ...
was 161 points behind in second and
Ford Performance Racing
Tickford Racing (formerly known as Prodrive Racing Australia and Ford Performance Racing) is an Australian motor racing team which competes in the Supercars Championship. The team currently campaigns three Ford Mustangs, with their current drive ...
's
Mark Winterbottom
Mark "Frosty" Winterbottom (born 20 May 1981) is an Australian professional racing driver. He currently competes in the Repco Supercars Championship, driving the No. 18 Holden ZB Commodore for Team 18. His career highlights include winning the ...
was third with 2,584 points. Winterbottom's teammate
Will Davison
William 'THE SOOK' Davison (born 30 August 1982) is an Australian professional racing driver. He currently drives the No.17 Ford Mustang GT for Dick Johnson Racing in the Repco Supercars Championship. Davison is a two-time winner of the Bathur ...
was fourth with 2,302 points and
Shane van Gisbergen
Shane Robert van Gisbergen (born 9 May 1989) is a New Zealand racing driver in the Supercars Championship racing in the Number 97 Holden ZB Commodore car for Triple Eight Race Engineering. With three Supercars Championship wins (2016, 2021, 202 ...
of
Stone Brothers Racing
Stone Brothers Racing (SBR) was an Australian motor racing team that competed in the International V8 Supercars Championship between 1998 and 2012. The team was formed in 1998 when Ross and Jim Stone bought Alan Jones's shares in Alan Jones ...
was fifth with 2,020 points.
In the Teams' Championship, Triple Eight Race Engineering led with 5,408 points; Ford Performance Racing was second with 4,886 points. Stone Brothers Racing and
Holden Racing Team
Walkinshaw Andretti United is an Australian motor racing team based in the Melbourne suburb of Clayton. The team currently fields two Holden ZB Commodores in the Supercars Championship for Nick Percat and Chaz Mostert, along with a Porsche 91 ...
battled for third and
Brad Jones Racing
Brad Jones Racing is an Australian motor racing team owned by Brad Jones based in Albury. The team competes in the Supercars Championship and the Super2 Series. Recently they have also returned to Australian Formula Ford where Brad and Kim be ...
was in fifth place.
Whincup and his international co-driver
Sébastien Bourdais
Sébastien Olivier Bourdais (born 28 February 1979) is a French professional racing driver. He is one of the most successful drivers in the history of American open-wheel car racing, having won 37 races. He won four successive championships ...
were the round's defending winners from 2011.
![Tim Blanchard](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0e/Tim_Blanchard.JPG)
All 28 cars which contested the regular V8 Supercar season were entered in the race. Each car was driven by a full-time International V8 Supercar Championship driver, and a mandatory international guest driver who took part in a separate racing series.
These guest drivers were recruited from a variety of racing categories,
including the
IndyCar Series
The IndyCar Series, currently known as the NTT IndyCar Series under sponsorship, is the highest class of regional North American open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars in the United States, which has been conducted under the auspices of ...
(such as
Will Power
William "Will" Steven Power (born 1 March 1981) is an Australian motorsports driver who currently competes in the IndyCar Series, driving for Team Penske. He is the 2014 and 2022 IndyCar Series champion and the 2018 Indianapolis 500 champion. ...
, partnering Winterbottom and Bourdais again joining Whincup), the
World Endurance Championship World Endurance Championship may refer to:
* FIA World Endurance Championship, an auto racing series held since 2012
* World Sportscar Championship, an auto racing series which used the title World Endurance Championship from 1981 to 1985
* Endura ...
(such as
Darren Turner
Darren Turner (born 13 April 1974) is a British professional racing driver and owner of Base Performance Simulators. He races for Aston Martin Racing as a Factory-backed, factory driver and also works as a high performance test driver for Aston ...
, partnering
James Courtney
James Anthony Courtney (born 29 June 1980) is an Australian racing driver competing in the Supercars Championship, Repco Supercars Championship. He currently drives the No. 5 Ford Mustang (sixth generation), Ford Mustang GT for Tickford Racing. ...
), the
FIA GT1 World Championship
The FIA GT1 World Championship was a world championship sports car racing series, developed by the SRO Group and regulated by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), that was held from 2010 to 2012. It featured multiple grand to ...
(such as
Peter Kox
Peter Kox (born 23 February 1964 in Eindhoven) is a racing driver from the Netherlands.
Kox began racing in karts in 1978, winning five titles until 1982. In 1983 he moved to automobiles, winning the Marlboro Formula Ford Challenge and was sec ...
, partnering
James Moffat), the
International Superstars Series (such as
Gianni Morbidelli
Gianni Morbidelli (born 13 January 1968) is an Italian racing driver. He participated in 70 Formula One Grands Prix, debuting on 11 March 1990. He achieved one podium, and scored a total of 8.5 championship points. He currently competes in the T ...
joining
Dean Fiore
Dean Fiore (born 1 December 1983) is an Australian professional racing driver. Fiore competed in the 2022 Bathurst 1000 for Brad Jones Racing as a co-driver alongside Bryce Fullwood in the No. 14 Holden Commodore (ZB).
Racing career
Fiore is o ...
),
and the
Rolex Sports Car Series
The Rolex Sports Car Series was the premier series run by the Grand American Road Racing Association. It was a North American-based sports car series founded in 2000 under the name Grand American Road Racing Championship to replace the failed ...
(such as
Ricky Taylor
Ricky Taylor (born August 3, 1989) is an American racing driver, most notably in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. His career highlights include an IMSA Series Championship in 2017, as well as marquee wins at the Daytona 24, 12 Hours o ...
partnering
Greg Ritter
Greg Ritter (born 20 February 1973, in Victoria) is an Australian racing driver. He was the winner of the 1999 Australian Formula Ford Championship
The 1999 Australian Formula Ford Championship was an Australian motor racing competition for ...
). Each international driver was required to complete a minimum of 34 laps out of the scheduled 102 in both races.
There were two driver changes for the race.
Todd Kelly
Todd Kelly (born 9 October 1979) is a retired Australian professional racing driver who competed in the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship. He is the older brother of fellow Supercars driver and former Bathurst 1000 winner, Rick Kelly. H ...
was deemed unfit to compete in the remainder of the season due to a shoulder injury he picked up at a training camp, which required surgery. His car was driven by
Tim Blanchard
Tim Blanchard (born 30 June 1987) is an Australian racing driver.
Blanchard has raced in several other motor racing series, including the British Formula Ford Championship, and was the winner of the 2007 Australian Formula Ford Championship.
...
for the rest of the season, starting from the Gold Coast 600.
Garry Rogers Motorsport
Garry Rogers Motorsport is an Australian motor racing team. It is owned by retired racing driver Garry Rogers who began the team to further his own racing efforts. Based in Melbourne, originally out of a Nissan dealership owned by Rogers, the te ...
replaced its regular driver
Alexandre Prémat
Alexandre Prémat (born 5 November 1982) is a French racing driver. He won the Pirtek Enduro Cup for Triple Eight Race Engineering alongside Shane van Gisbergen in 2016. He also won the 2019 Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 with Scott McLaughlin, d ...
with
Greg Ritter
Greg Ritter (born 20 February 1973, in Victoria) is an Australian racing driver. He was the winner of the 1999 Australian Formula Ford Championship
The 1999 Australian Formula Ford Championship was an Australian motor racing competition for ...
at the Gold Coast.
At the Bathurst 1000, a poor race from Winterbottom dropped him from second to third in the points standings. Afterwards he admitted his chances of becoming the Drivers' Champion was "on life support" but was aware that an error from Whincup or his international co-driver in the Gold Coast could effect the title. Lowndes's third-place at Bathurst moved him to second in the standings. He spoke of his certainty that Ford Performance Racing would improve, "No doubt FPR would be disappointed. They had two strong cars and one on pole and they didn't get a result. If TeamVodafone were in that position, it'd really annoy us. The championship's far from a foregone conclusion and both Will and Frosty will bounce back very strong."
Whincup, the pre-race favourite,
argued that Winterbottom and Davison should not be ruled out of the title fight and said he felt they would be a threat at the Gold Coast.
[ Nevertheless, despite feeling demotivated due to burnout, he said that he wanted to race cleanly for the weekend and felt he would be motivated to win the race.][
]
Race 22
Practice
A total of four 40-minute practice sessions were held on 19 October, with the second and third sessions restricted to the international co-drivers. The first morning session and the fourth session held in the late afternoon were open to all drivers. Davison lapped fastest in the first practice session at 1-minute, 12.0639 seconds, followed by Ritter, Winterbottom, Lowndes, Courtney, Rick Kelly
Rick Kelly (born 17 January 1983) is an Australian professional racing driver who previously competed in the Supercars Championship. He last drove the No. 15 Ford Mustang GT for Kelly Racing. Previously, he drove for the HSV Dealer Team with wh ...
, Holdsworth, Michael Caruso, Tony D'Alberto
Antonio 'Tony' D'Alberto (born 9 December 1985) is an Australian professional racing driver. He currently drives the No.11 Ford Mustang GT for Dick Johnson Racing as a co-driver in the Bathurst 1000.
Racing career
Formula Ford
D'Alberto began ...
and Steve Owen. Ten minutes in, Taz Douglas
Taz Douglas (born 11 February 1984) is a part-time Australian race driver. Douglas came 2nd at the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 with James Moffat in 2014
Douglas was born in Frankston, Victoria, Australia. Having scored numerous karting titles ...
prompted the session's first stoppage as he struck the turn 2 apex kerb and damaged his Holden Commodore VE2's left-hand side in a collision with the exit concrete wall. David Reynolds removed his car's left-hand side doors
A door is a hinged or otherwise movable barrier that allows ingress (entry) into and egress (exit) from an enclosure. The created opening in the wall is a ''doorway'' or ''portal''. A door's essential and primary purpose is to provide security b ...
as a result of a sudden oversteer
Understeer and oversteer are vehicle dynamics terms used to describe the sensitivity of a vehicle to steering. Oversteer is what occurs when a car turns (steers) by more than the amount commanded by the driver. Conversely, understeer is what occu ...
putting him into a barrier leaving the same corner and necessitating a second stoppage.[ The first of the international co-driver sessions was led by ]Marc Lieb
Marc Lieb (born 4 July 1980) is a former German Porsche factory motor-racing driver. He won the FIA GT Championship in 2003 and 2005, and the European Le Mans Series in 2005, 2006, 2009 and 2010. He won the 24 Hours Nürburgring four times, one t ...
with a lap of 1 minute, 13.0563 seconds set in the final five minutes. Simon Pagenaud
Simon Pagenaud (born 18 May 1984) is a French professional racing driver. He is contracted to drive the No. 60 Honda for Meyer Shank Racing in the IndyCar Series. After a successful career in sports car racing that saw him taking the top class ...
, Bourdais, Nick Heidfeld
Nick Lars Heidfeld (born 10 May 1977) is a German professional racing driver.
Despite scoring regular podium finishes in with Williams Grand Prix Engineering, Williams, and in and with BMW in Formula One, BMW Sauber, Heidfeld never won a rac ...
, Ryan Briscoe
Ryan Briscoe (born 24 September 1981) is an Australian-American professional racing driver from Sydney who has predominantly raced open-wheel and sports cars in Europe and America.
In IndyCar he collected 8 wins and 28 podiums, finishing third ...
, Vitantonio Liuzzi
Vitantonio "Tonio" Liuzzi (born 6 August 1980) is an Italian professional racing driver who formerly raced in Formula One for the Red Bull, Toro Rosso, Force India and HRT teams.
Karting
Born in Locorotondo, BA, Apulia, Liuzzi, like many au ...
, James Hinchcliffe
James Douglas Meredith Hinchcliffe (born December 5, 1986) is a Canadian race car driver and commentator best known for competing in the IndyCar Series. Hinchcliffe won six races for Andretti Autosport and Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. In 2015, ...
, Turner, David Brabham
David Brabham (born 5 September 1965) is an Australian professional racing driver and one of the most successful and experienced specialists in sports car racing. He has won three international Sports Car series and is one of four Australians t ...
and Stéphane Sarrazin
Stéphane Jean-Marc Sarrazin (born 2 November 1975) is a French professional racing driver. He has won races across a number of single-seater, sportscar and rallying disciplines and competitions, was French Formula Renault champion in 1994, and ...
made up positions two through ten. While the session passed without a major incident, Lucas di Grassi
Lucas Tucci di Grassi (born 11 August 1984) is a Brazilian professional racing driver who competes in the FIA Formula E World Championship for Mahindra Racing. He became the FIA Formula E Champion in 2016–2017, achieved three overall podium ...
and Justin Wilson ventured onto the turn 11 escape road and Jamie Campbell-Walter
Jamie Campbell-Walter is a British professional racing driver. He was born in Oban, Scotland on 16 December 1972. He won the FIA GT Championship in 2000 and took a World Endurance Championship title in 2013 as an Aston Martin Racing factory dr ...
went straight into the tyre barrier leaving the final hairpin
A hairpin or hair pin is a long device used to hold a person's hair in place. It may be used simply to secure long hair out of the way for convenience or as part of an elaborate hairstyle or coiffure. The earliest evidence for dressing the hai ...
.[
Lieb again was fastest of all the international co-drivers with a 1-minute, 12.4763 seconds time on his final lap of the third practice session. Briscoe, Pagenaud, Sarrazin, Richard Lyons, Brabham, ]Mika Salo
Mika Juhani Salo (born 30 November 1966) is a Finnish former professional racing driver. He competed in Formula One between and . His best ranking was 10th in the world championship in 1999, when he stood in for the injured Michael Schumacher ...
, Bourdais, di Grassi and Heidfeld followed in the top ten. During the session, more drivers ventured onto the track's escape roads, and three drivers had crashes. Peter Dumbreck
Peter may refer to:
People
* List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name
* Peter (given name)
** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church
* Peter (surname), a sur ...
glanced the turn 14 exit barrier and Boris Said
Boris Said III (born September 18, 1962) is an American semi-retired professional racing driver. He last competed part-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 66 Ford Mustang for MBM Motorsports and in the Trans-Am Series, driving the No. 2 ...
lightly touched the tyre barrier with his right-front corner at the exit to turn 9 after a suspected power steering
A power steering is a mechanical device equipped on a motor vehicle that helps drivers steer the vehicle by reducing steering effort needed to turn the steering wheel, making it easier for the vehicle to turn or maneuver at lower speeds.
Hydraul ...
failure. Said's teammate Kox made contact with the turn 14 wall and brought out the session's only red flag.[ In the final practice session, Caruso recorded the day's fastest lap time, a 1-minute and 11.6912 seconds, with 16 minutes left. Winterbottom, Reynolds, D'Alberto, Davison, ]Tim Slade
Tim Slade (born 3 August 1985) is an Australian racing driver who competes in the Repco Supercars Championship. Slade currently drives the No. 3 Ford Mustang GT for Blanchard Racing Team.
Early career
Slade first appeared at a national level ...
, Moffat, Courtney and Lowndes made up positions two through ten. 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 ...
caused the session's sole stoppage when he locked a front wheel and broke his car's left-front suspension
Suspension or suspended may refer to:
Science and engineering
* Suspension (topology), in mathematics
* Suspension (dynamical systems), in mathematics
* Suspension of a ring, in mathematics
* Suspension (chemistry), small solid particles suspend ...
over the two kerbs. Jonathon Webb
Jonathon Webb (born 10 December 1983) is an Australian former professional racing driver and team owner of Team Sydney, who once co-drove alongside Fabian Coulthard in the No. 19 Holden ZB Commodore for the Pirtek Enduro Cup.
In 2016, Webb and ...
also broke his suspension at the same corner and abandoned his car at the side of the circuit two turns later.[
After practice, several drivers including Winterbottom and Brabham called for the sensors on the kerbs to be removed because they argued that the presence of the higher kerb made them redundant, "What happens in the drivers' briefing is we all push for things but we don't always get what we are pushing for. There is a lot of outside influence in our sport from certain people who push for something else and shouldn't really be offering their opinion." Winterbottom stated. Courtney expressed his concern that the kerbing would cause tyres to delaminate that was observed in the 2011 event. The sensors were switched off before the first qualifying session on Friday night.][
]
Qualifying and top ten shootout
Qualifying for Race 22 took place on Saturday morning and consisted of a half an hour session followed by an identically timed top ten shootout for the fastest ten qualifiers. Davison lapped fastest in the qualifying session at 1 minute, 11.3620 seconds. Whincup took second on his final lap of the session with Winterbottom third and Kelly fourth. Webb, Courtney, Caruso, d'Alberto, van Gisbergen and Fabian Coulthard
Fabian "Fabs" Coulthard (born 28 July 1982) is a British-born New Zealand professional race car driver, currently competing in the Repco Supercars Championship, driving as an endurance co-driver for Chaz Mostert with Walkinshaw Andretti United ...
were the final five drivers who advanced to the top ten shootout. Two red flags were necessitated for debris on the track and the third was needed to retrieve Moffat's car which stopped at turn 11 with a tailshaft failure. Tander ended his session early with a collision with the rear of David Wall's vehicle.[
The top ten shootout had each of the ten fastest drivers from the qualifying session complete one fast lap each, in reverse order of their qualifying positions.] Whincup took his fifth pole position of the season with a lap of 1 minute, 11.6478 seconds. He was joined on the grid
Grid, The Grid, or GRID may refer to:
Common usage
* Cattle grid or stock grid, a type of obstacle is used to prevent livestock from crossing the road
* Grid reference, used to define a location on a map
Arts, entertainment, and media
* News g ...
's front row by Davison whose time was 0.2252 seconds slower. Kelly qualified third, Caruso fourth and Webb fifth. Sixth-placed Winterbottom's lap was disrupted by the event's broadcaster Seven Network
The Seven Network (commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is a major Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, and is one of ...
broadcasting on his radio by accident and believed that his race engineer
A race engineer is a motorsport team member who analyses data to achieve the best performance from the vehicle and driver. The race engineer communicates with the team's data analyst, mechanics, and driver, both between and during races. Off the ...
Campbell Little was trying to provide him with information before being informed that it was the commentary team. Coulthard, seventh, made contact with a wall. D'Alberto qualified eighth. Courtney in ninth had significant rear-brake locking and glanced the turn 11 barrier. Van Gisbergen in tenth lost time when an error put him onto the turn 11 escape road.[ Behind him, the rest of the grid lined up as Slade, Reynolds, Lowndes, Owen, ]Russell Ingall
Russell Ingall (born 24 February 1964 in London, England) is a former full-time Australian V8 Supercar driver. He won his V8 Supercars title in 2005, and finished second in 1998, 1999, 2001 and 2004. Ingall has also won the Bathurst 1000, i ...
, Holdsworth, Moffat, Steven Johnson, Michael Patrizi
Michael Patrizi (born 4 May 1984) is an Australian racing driver.
Biography
Starting off in karts in his native Western Australia, he moved to Formula Ford in 2004, then to Formula BMW in Asia 2005, then UK in 2006. In 2007 he joined the compet ...
, Ritter, Jason Bright
Jason Bright (born 7 March 1973) is a retired Australian racing driver who competed in the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship. He drove the No. 56 Ford FG X Falcon for Britek Motorsport, a satellite team of Prodrive Racing Australia, be ...
, Greg Murphy
Gregory Murphy (born 23 August 1972) is a New Zealand professional racing driver, best known as a four-time winner of the Bathurst 1000. Greg Murphy joined Jeremy Clarkson and James May presenting Top Gear Live, when it had its first internati ...
, Karl Reindler
Karl Reindler (born 18 April 1985) is an Australian racing driver, who has previously competed in the Supercars Championship. He currently shares duties with Bruno Correia as the Medical Car driver for Formula One.
Biography Formula Three
Of ...
, Tander, Blanchard, Douglas, Fiore and Wall.
Qualifying – Race 22
Top ten shootout – Race 22
Race
Weather conditions at the start of the race at 13:40 Australian Eastern Standard Time ( UTC+10:00) were dry, hot and clear with the air temperature at . Every car was started by its international co-driver. At the standing start
A standing start is a type of start in auto racing events, in which cars are stationary when the race begins (different to the rolling start, where cars are paced).
Procedure
In a standing start, cars are completely still but with their engines ...
, Hinchcliffe, partnering Caruso, made a slow getaway due to his stalling and Liuzzi rammed into his car's rear. Liuzzi, in turn, was hit by Pagenaud. Behind the pair, Taylor had no space to negotiate past and hit the front wheel of Pagenaud's vehicle at more than . Taylor was turned onto his roof and barrel rolled several times before finishing upside down. The race was suspended for half an hour while the track was cleared of debris and the stricken vehicles removed.[ Sarrazin, Heidfeld and Morbidelli began from the pit lane due to technical problems caused by the original start. At the second start, ]Nicolas Minassian
Nicolas Minassian (born 28 February 1973) is a French professional racing driver of Armenian descent.
After finishing 2nd place in the 1993 Formula Renault Eurocup, Marseille-born Minassian graduated to the French Formula Three Championship whe ...
stalled his car and was missed by several drivers until he was collected by Franck Montagny
Franck Montagny (born 5 January 1978) is a retired French professional racing driver. He briefly raced for the Super Aguri Formula One team in 2006.
Early career
Born in Feurs, Loire, Montagny started racing karts there in 1988, winning the cade ...
at the rear. Montagny was hurled across the track and into a concrete barrier and the race was suspended for the second time.[
Another 20 minutes passed until a third start was attempted by series officials.][ Bourdais was slow to start and Salo passed him for the lead into the first turn. Some drivers cut the corner to ensure that no multi-car accident would occur. ]Graham Rahal
Graham Robert Rahal (born January 4, 1989) is an American race car driver and small business owner. He currently participates in the IndyCar Series with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, a team partially owned by his father Bobby Rahal, the winner ...
also made a quick start and temporarily held second until Bourdais overtook him at the hairpin. On lap three, Heidfeld passed Power for third. Bourdais sought pass Salo at turn one on the next lap but he backed out of the manoeuvre. That lap, Heidfeld overtook Brabham for eighth as he continued to drive quickly and Lieb attacked Rahal for third. On lap 8, Wilson overtook his teammate Marco Andretti
Marco Michael Andretti (born March 13, 1987) is an American auto racing driver who drives the No. 98 car for Bryan Herta Autosport, Andretti Herta Autosport part-time in the IndyCar Series. He is the third generation of the famous Andretti racin ...
at turn one before Andretti unsuccessfully challenged him at the fourth turn. The battle for third concluded on lap eleven as Lieb got past Rahal at turn four. On lap 13, Heidfeld overtook Lyons for seventh and Lyons immediately came under pressure from Brabham in eighth. As Bourdais gained on Salo for the lead, Morbidelli was hit by Campbell-Walter and crashed into the final corner wall three laps later, prompting the safety car's deployment.[
The race was restarted on lap 19 with Salo leading, Bourdais second and Lieb third. Turner challenged Rahal for fourth but backed out before the entering the beach chicane.] That lap, Kox hit the fence at turn eleven and Andretti struck his car's right-front, which had ricocheted back onto the track. The crash caused the safety car's second deployment.[ Kox's car was removed by track marshals and Salo retained the lead for the restart at lap 23.][ On the next lap, Bourdais moved to the inside of Salo at turn one but ran wide through the run-off area at full speed. Bourdais had to cede the lead back to Salo. However, Bourdais did succeed on the inside line on run to the first corner but Salo retook first at turn four. Lieb consequently got involved in the battle for the lead as Salo struggled with acceleration leaving the slower speed corners. Salo got his tyres up to temperature and stabilised the gap from lap 27. On the 31st lap, di Grassi overtook Power at turn four for eighth. Bourdais went to the inside of Salo entering turn one but went straight on at the chicane and gave the position back.]
On the same lap, Turner was passed by Rahal at the beach chicane for fourth, but he cut the corner and had to cede the place to Turner. This provided Heidfeld with an opportunity to get ahead of Rahal and take over fifth. The first pit stops for fuel, tyres and driver changes began on the 35th lap with Bourdais stopping and was relieved by Whincup. Salo made his stop two laps later and gave the car to Davison. On lap 38, Whincup overtook Davison for the virtual lead. Two laps later, Davison's steering buckled and he crashed into the turn eleven tyre wall. Lowndes passed Kelly for eleventh on the road on the 42nd lap. Courtney short-cut the chicane during a battle with Webb for second place on lap 45 and got ahead of him at the twelfth corner for the position two laps later. Tander and Reynolds caught Courtney and Webb in the battle for second which had Tander unsuccessfully seeking his way past Webb at turn four on the 54th lap. The next lap, Courtney was overtaken by Webb to move into second at turn four. The third safety car was dispatched for debris on the track at the exit to turn eleven and Whincup's lead of six and a half seconds was reduced to nothing.
Racing resumed on lap 59 with Whincup first and Webb second. Tander held off Reynolds at turn four and Kelly was passed by Winterbottom at the beach chicane. On lap 60, Slade was overtaken by Winterbottom at turn four. Winterbottom caught Reynolds and attempted to get ahead on the inside of turn four two laps later but Reynolds blocked the pass. He did succeed at the same corner on the 65th lap and he overtook Tander on the inside for fourth in the same area. Reynolds retired with steering damage from contact with Tander at turn eleven on lap 66. On lap 68, Winterbottom advanced to third as he got ahead of Courtney on the inside for turn four. Courtney lost fourth to Tander at the same corner for fourth six laps later and fell to fifth when Slade passed him. Webb drew closer to Whincup but could not pass him as the latter had better acceleration leaving the hairpin and Whincup crossed the start/finish line after 79 laps out of the scheduled 102 laps to claim his 60th career victory. Webb and Lieb finished second and Winterbottom and Power took third. The final finishers were Tander, Slade, Lowndes, Courtney, Kelly, Ingall, van Gisbergen, Patrizi, Bright, Murphy, Douglas, Wall, Johnson, Fiore and Davison.
Post-race
Whincup said he ensured that he did not push on his worn tyres and declared his and Bourdais's happiness over the victory, "It was a crazy start to the race and I am sure it made for good television. It really threw us back in pit lane and we had to work out what to do. Our strategy had to change with the race being shortened. It turned into a one-stop race and everyone was massively on their toes. I didn't have to do much and just sat back and watched it all unfold."[ Webb explained that it was difficult for him and his co-driver Lieb during the race but he praised his team and the speed of his car. Winterbottom said finishing third was not good enough to help him in the title contest, "You've just got to try and keep winning each race and if you can keep winning it puts pressure on them. Third was a really good effort from the dramas we had ... that could be as good as a win if it all falls into place for you (but) deep down you've got to beat him week-in, week-out. Otherwise it's going to come down to ]Homebush
Homebush is a suburb in the Inner West of Sydney in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located 12 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the Local government in Australia, local government area of the Municipali ...
inal eventand the only way you can beat him is if he doesn't turn up."[
Regarding his first-lap accident, Taylor was unhurt; he said it was the first time in his career he had been turned upside down in a racing car, "I have never had as many cameras in my face either and unfortunately it is for all the wrong reasons. I feel very bad for the team because they have been so awesome all week. I didn't want it to end like this today – my job as a guest driver was to bring the car back in one piece and that didn't happen"] Hinchcliffe explained he felt dizzy and the contact was one of the most hefty of his career, "I had a pretty good launch and then the thing just bogged. I saw cars going by and I was just starting to get the thing going again. Then I had this massive shunt in the rear. It is a tough break and it was a hard hit. I have backed an IndyCar into the wall on an oval and it wasn't quite that hard, but it was hard." Whincup defended the international co-drivers and said V8 Supercars are hard to start but praised those beginning at the front despite their unfamiliarity, "Back in the pack that's what happens but that's part of the sport. I’m sure a lot of the guys after a lot of false starts today will have had a bit of practice and will be much better tomorrow."
Tander was investigated for his contact with Reynolds that put the latter out of the event in the closing laps and he incurred a 25 championship points penalty from his season total after Tander admitted he was at fault to the stewards. He retained seventh in the points standings but was now 46 points behind sixth-placed Slade. Following the extensive amount of damage to the 3, 11 and 33 cars in the first two attempts to start the event, they were withdrawn from Race 23 as they could not be rebuilt in the Gold Coast. The race result left Whincup with an increased Drivers' Championship lead of 209 points. Lowndes retained second but Winterbottom now tied him with the same number of points (2,713 points). Davison maintained fourth place with 2,353 points and van Gisbergen completed the top five with 2,098 points. In the Teams' Championship, Triple Eight Race Engineering still led with 5,660 points and Ford Performance Racing kept second with 5,006 points. Stone Brothers Racing similarly retained third with 3,727 points. Holden Racing Team (3,640 points) and Brad Jones Racing (3,051 points) rounded out the top five.[
]
Race 22 – Results
Race 23
Qualifying
A single half hour qualifying session, held on Sunday morning, was used to determine the grid for Race 23. A tyre bundle was assembled beforehand to prevent drivers from short-cutting the chicane at turn one. Whincup took his second consecutive pole position and his sixth of the season with a time of 1 minute, 11.1077 seconds in the final five minutes of qualifying to repeat the achievement of clinching pole position for both Gold Coast races for the successive second year. He was joined on the grid's front row by Winterbottom whose best lap time was 0.1455 seconds slower and he had the pole position until Whincup's lap. Webb qualified in third, Davison fourth and Kelly fifth. Courtney, Lowndes, Owen, Moffat and van Gisbergen completed the top ten qualifiers. Slade, Tander, Ingall, Johnson, Holdsworth, Bright, Reynolds, Wall, Fiore, Coulthard, Caruso, Patrizi, Blanchard, Murphy and Douglas rounded out the 25 starters. The session was red flagged five times: the first three were to retrieve debris at the exit of turn 11 and the fourth was to replace a turn one tyre bundle that had been dislodged. The final stoppage was needed because Patrizi attempted to pass Bright on the inside line after Bright short-cut the turn 11 chicane; Patrizi made heavy frontal contact with an outside concrete barrier at turn 12. After qualifying, the No. 91 Tekno Autosports
Tekno Autosports was an Australian motor racing team, established in the 1990s initially for the motor racing activities of Stephen Webb, and later his son Jonathon Webb. The team competes in the Supercars Championship using two Holden ZB Commo ...
car of Patrizi and di Grassi was withdrawn due to the large amount of structural damage to it.
Qualifying – Race 23
Race
Race 23 started at 13:40 local time in clear and hot weather conditions of . As with the previous event, all of the international co-drivers began in their respective cars. At the start, Kox had a drive shaft failure and several cars narrowly avoided ramming into the rear of him as Bourdais maintained his pole position advantage to lead the field into the first corner.[ The safety car was dispatched at the end of the first lap to remove Kox's vehicle and it remained on the circuit until the conclusion of the next lap. Bourdais held the lead and had a healthy gap over Lieb and Power in second and third. On lap six, Turner made light contact with Rahal in turn four in his unsuccessful attempt to overtake him for seventh. Lyons put Salo under heavy pressure on the following lap due to a lack of rear tyre grip as Turner managed to pass Rahal to move into seventh. Heidfeld was hit by Sarrazin and spun at turn four on lap 11 but he continued without any clear damage to his vehicle. On lap 13, the safety car was deployed for a second time after Lyons dislodged the top of the tyre wall at turn one during a battle with Turner and Salo over fifth.]
Half of the field chose to make their compulsory pit stops for tyres under the safety car. Racing resumed at the start of lap 16 and Bourdais maintained the lead from Lieb and Power as the field drove through the first four turns without incident. On lap 17, Morbidelli spun on the exit to the beach chicane but he continued without any significant damage to his car despite some contact with the wall in the area. Sarrazin heavily hit the barrier at the same corner on the following lap and broke his upright rear suspension arm and had to retire his car. Upfront, Bourdais began to pull away from the remainder of the field with a series of fastest lap
In motorsport, the fastest lap is the quickest lap run during a race. Some racing series, like Formula One, Formula 2 and Formula E award championship points for a driver or team that set the fastest lap.
In Grand Prix motorcycle racing no point i ...
times in the next five laps to have a five-and-a-half-second advantage by the 25th lap. After his pit stop where he had to replace his front flat-spotted tyres due to brake problems, Salo returned to the top ten on lap 28. On the next lap, Said lost tenth to Briscoe as Power and then overtook Jeroen Bleekemolen
Jeroen Bleekemolen (born 23 October 1981 in Heemstede) is a Dutch professional racing driver. In the Chrysler Viper GTS-R he drove in the FIA GT Championship, with great success. He competed in the very competitive German Formula Three Champion ...
for ninth as Power closed up to Lieb and got the gap down to a second. A third deployment of the safety car was necessitated on the 30th lap as a large chunk of concrete was observed lying in the centre of turn three.
The race resumed on lap 33 as Bourdais continued to lead from Lieb and Power. That lap, Salo overtook Rahal for claim sixth at turn four and was followed by Briscoe doing the same Rahal. Green flag pit stops for fuel, tyres and driver changes began on the 34th lap. Bourdais made his stop two laps later and Whincup took over the No. 1 car. Salo took the lead as he could reach around lap 60 before making his own stop. In the meantime, Hinchcliffe and Caruso retired on lap 35 when their car had its right-rear wheel sheered as Caruso left the pit stall. On lap 46, Blanchard slid on the exit to the beach chicane but he avoided contact with the wall. Lowndes had a clutch
A clutch is a mechanical device that engages and disengages power transmission, especially from a drive shaft to a driven shaft. In the simplest application, clutches connect and disconnect two rotating shafts (drive shafts or line shafts). ...
hydraulic issue leaving the beach chicane dropping him behind Courtney for eleventh two laps later. Salo made his stop from the lead for replacement brake rotors on the 56th lap and was relieved by Davison. Brabham led until his lap 62 pit stop where Slade assumed his driving duties. Blanchard retired on lap 69 due to car damage. The safety car was dispatched for the fourth time as debris was observed on the track at turn 11 on lap 72 and Whincup took the opportunity to make a pit stop for fuel.
The safety car was withdrawn at the end of the 74th lap with Slade leading. Reynolds and Webb raced alongside each other into turn six during the next lap as Ingall defended from Winterbottom for fifth on lap 76. On the following lap, Winterbottom successfully passed Ingall for fifth on the back straight. Davison made contact with the rear of Slade's car as they battled for the lead through turn one on the 78th lap. On lap 80, Slade was passed on the inside by Davison for the lead entering turn four. That lap, Winterbottom overtook Tander for fourth. Whincup passed Slade on the inside for second at turn four after the two were alongside each other driving towards the chicane. Winterbottom then overtook Slade for third on lap 82. The safety car's fifth and final deployment came on lap 94 after a car door mirror was located in turn eleven. On lap 95, racing continued as Davison was slow to restart and caught out Whincup which closed the field up.
Winterbottom and Whincup collided leaving turn 15 on the next lap and the former failed to pass the latter at turn eleven on lap 97. Whincup set the fastest lap of the race on lap 99 with a 1-minute, 12.3001 seconds time as he closed up to Davison. Courtney and Ingall made contact on the same lap, which forced Courtney into the pit lane to replace a front tyre because Ingall's exhaust
Exhaust, exhaustive, or exhaustion may refer to:
Law
*Exhaustion of intellectual property rights, limits to intellectual property rights in patent and copyright law
**Exhaustion doctrine, in patent law
** Exhaustion doctrine under U.S. law, in p ...
cut it. Webb set a faster time on the next lap, a 1-minute, 12.2408 seconds. Davison led Whincup by half a second to begin the final lap and held him off for his 13th career victory. Whincup followed half a second later in second and Winterbottom duplicated his Race 22 result in third. Off the podium, Slade took fourth and Tander followed in fifth. Lowndes placed sixth, Ingall seventh and Holdsworth eighth. Van Gisbergen and Coulthard rounded out the top ten. The final classified finishers were Kelly, Johnson, Reynolds, Webb, Wall, Douglas, Courtney, Owen, Fiore and Murphy. Bourdais won the Dan Wheldon International Trophy as the highest-placed international co-driver for the second successive year.
Post-race
Davison said his team was under heavy pressure but praised Salo for helping contribute to his win, "It is fantastic to get another win as it feels like so long since my last one. I actually had to fight much harder than I thought as Tim lade Lade may refer to:
People
* Brendon Lade (born 1976), an Australian rules footballer
* Sir John Lade (1759–1838), a baronet and Regency horse-breeder
* Heinrich Eduard von Lade (1817–1904), a German banker and amateur astronomer
* The Jarls o ...
came out in front of me after the last stop which I hadn't thought of. Once I got past him I had to press on but also try and conserve my tyres which thankfully I had the car to do it with really easily." Whincup called his second-place finish "déjà vu" because he duplicated a victory and two pole positions in 2011 and enjoyed the race, "It was really on at that last restart. My tyres were pretty cold on those safety car laps but the car has been excellent and now we head into the last three events."[ Third-placed Winterbottom said an error in his pit stall cost him time and struggled to exit his box because of other cars around him, "We came out and tried as hard as we could but we used our rear tyres up a bit much getting back to the front. On the restart I tried to have a go at passing Jamie but he held his line and I couldn't do anymore from there."][
The incidents at the start of both races led to calls for the international co-drivers to be barred from starting races with Holdsworth saying, "That's what happens when all the international drivers start the race. It wasn't Simon's fault, he got a ripper start. But a few of the guys up the front got shockers as they are not used to starting these cars.] Holdsworth's co-driver Pagenaud concurred and noted that standing starts was a procedure that many international co-drivers were unfamiliar with, "It's a shame but starting where we did got us into trouble."[ Liuzzi spoke of his feeling that the narrowness of the Surfers Paradise Street Circuit configuration led to competitors making errors rather than their experience competing in V8 Supercars.][ Starting from the 2013 season, teams were no longer required to employ a co-driver from the international racing community but were allowed to partner with any co-driver from a national or international championship of their choosing. Slade said he was happy to finish fourth and believed he was "the best of the rest" of all the drivers competing in the Gold Coast.
The race results left Whincup as the Drivers' Championship leader with 3,060 points. Winterbottom (2,842 points) moved clear of Lowndes (2,815 points) in the battle for second place and Davison's victory kept him in fourth with 2,503 points. With 2,182 points, Van Gisbergen placed fifth overall.] In the Teams' Championship, Triple Eight Racing Engineering retained their lead with 5,900 points. Ford Performance Racing were in second with 5,285 points and Stone Brothers Racing were third with 3,901 points. Holden Brothers Racing stood in fourth with 3,805 points and Brad Jones Racing were fifth with 3,129 points with three rounds left in the season. Despite his victory, Davison said that he admitted his chances of winning the Drivers' Championship were marginal but he vowed to push hard and claim whatever points he could earn for the remainder of the season. A record-braking 182,255 people attended the two-day event.
Race 23 – Results
Championship standings after the event
;Drivers' Championship standings
;Teams' Championship standings
*
References
External links
*
Official series website
{{Portal bar, Australia, Sports, Queensland
Armor All Gold Coast 600
Sport on the Gold Coast, Queensland