2001 V8 Supercars Darwin round
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The 2001 Hidden Valley V8 Supercar round was the fourth round of the 2001 Shell Championship Series. It was held on the weekend of 12 to 13 May at Hidden Valley Raceway in Darwin, Northern Territory.
_track_map.svg)
| Event Information | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Round 4 of 14 in the 2001 Shell Championship Series | ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
| Date | 11–13 May 2001 | |||||||||||||
| Location | Darwin, Northern Territory | |||||||||||||
| Venue | Hidden Valley Raceway | |||||||||||||
| Weather | Fine | |||||||||||||
| Results | ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
In a weekend where key contenders faced varying levels of difficulty, Marcos Ambrose took his first round victory through a string of consistent results across the three races.[1] Russell Ingall was the winner of the first race and was on course to win the second, however suffered a tail-shaft issue, ruling him out of contention. Greg Murphy won race two but a sticking throttle curtailed his efforts for race three. Mark Skaife's weekend begun with a penalty over a false start but fought back from the rear to claim victory in race three.
Background
The event was held on the weekend of 12–13 May 2001. It was the fourth V8 Supercar event to be held at Hidden Valley Raceway, and consisted of one 50 km race followed by two 100 km races. Pitstops were compulsory for races two and three.
Jason Bright entered the weekend as the championship leader by 50 points over Holden Racing Team teammate Mark Skaife. Bright also held the lap record which he set back in 1999. Heat was a major talking point heading into the weekend with track temperatures reaching, and exceeding, 40 degrees Celsius.
This would be the last round in which drivers would have to manually control their speed through the pitlane. At the following round in Canberra, electronic pit-speed limiters would be introduced on all the cars.
Entry list
The only driver changes for this round were by way of Steve Reed replacing Trevor Ashby in the second of the Lansvale Racing Team cars, and Christian D'Agostin would make his season debut at Imrie Motorsport. John Faulkner would switch from the VT Commodore to the VX Commodore while Paul Romano would switch from the VX to the VT.
Race results
Qualifying
Garth Tander claimed provisional pole position in a welcome change of form after the Garry Rogers Motorsport team had struggled in the opening few rounds of the championship.
Top Ten Shootout
| Pos | No | Name | Team | Vehicle | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 |  Mark Skaife |
Holden Racing Team | Holden Commodore (VX) | 1:08.4552 |
| 2 | 8 | Russell Ingall |
Perkins Engineering | Holden Commodore (VX) | 1:08.6116 |
| 3 | 4 | Marcos Ambrose |
Stone Brothers Racing | Ford Falcon (AU) | 1:08.6298 |
| 4 | 51 |  Greg Murphy |
Tom Walkinshaw Racing Australia | Holden Commodore (VX) | 1:08.7780 |
| 5 | 5 | Glenn Seton |
Glenn Seton Racing | Ford Falcon (AU) | 1:08.8086 |
| 6 | 600 | John Bowe |
Briggs Motor Sport | Ford Falcon (AU) | 1:08.8598 |
| 7 | 34 | Garth Tander |
Garry Rogers Motorsport | Holden Commodore (VX) | 1:09.0763 |
| 8 | 10 | Mark Larkham |
Larkham Motor Sport | Ford Falcon (AU) | 1:09.0978 |
| 9 | 11 | Larry Perkins |
Perkins Engineering | Holden Commodore (VX) | 1:09.2454 |
| 10 | 9 | David Besnard |
Stone Brothers Racing | Ford Falcon (AU) | 1:09.3068 |
| Source:[3] | |||||
Race 1
Skaife received a stop-go penalty for a jump start, thus handing the race lead to Russell Ingall. A bottleneck effect into turn one saw Glenn Seton, John Bowe and Ambrose collide with one another. Seton, who was on the furthermost inside of the course, was sent across the front of Ambrose's car, who then collided with Bowe, who then in turn collided with Tander. The resulting damage forced Tander to retire while Seton and Bowe sustained significant damage while losing substantial track position. Ambrose emerged relatively unscathed from the incident.
Whilst in pursuit of Ingall, Greg Murphy slid off the road at turn four after an apparent throttle issue, relinquishing positions to Ambrose and Mark Larkham. John Faulkner and Rodney Forbes would also fall victim to the corner as well as the tyres began to degrade. A couple laps later, Craig Lowndes spun Larry Perkins at the same corner, for which he would receive a stop-go penalty.
Ingall meanwhile enjoyed a trouble-free run to the chequered flag, taking his first win of the season. After the race, Ingall expressed confidence in his cars' setup ahead of the rest of the weekend. Ambrose finished in second place and Mark Larkham secured third in what would be the last podium of his V8 Supercar career.
Race 2
Paul Radisich failed to make the start after his car experienced fuel system issues that ultimately eradicated the engine. With Dick Johnson Racing having already gone through their allocation for the weekend, this rendered Radisich out of contention for the third race as well.
Things went from bad to worse for Dick Johnson Racing after the Steven Johnson was involved in an opening lap crash with Dugal McDougall which ripped the front spoiler off the Falcon and sent McDougall to the back of the grid. John Bowe meanwhile retired from the race owing to a faulty clutch. On lap 10, Lowndes and Cameron McLean made contact on the front straight which skewed the front-left of the car. The damage immobilised Lowndes' car and his race came to an end at the pitlane entry.
Skaife attempted to reclaim ground lost in race one by staying out later than most for his compulsory pitstop, finally pitting on lap 15. This paid dividends as he would emerged fourth in the pecking order behind Ingall and Murphy. Tander meanwhile was penalised for pit equipment crossing over into the fastlane, drawing ire from team owner Garry Rogers over the inconsistency among stewarding decisions. Larkham would also be pinged for a pit procedure violation. John Faulkner would be involved in two incidents in the third sector - the first being a spin due to brake balance issues, and the second as a result of contact with Steve Reed. Paul Morris retired on lap 28 owing to a mechanical issue.
With a handful of laps remaining, Murphy began to catch Ingall for the lead. With six laps remaining, the gap had closed to within one second. With three laps remaining, stewards would issue Ingall a bad sportsmanship flag for blocking. With two laps to go, Ingall strayed wide at turn one, allowing Murphy to take the lead. Soon after, it became apparent Ingall's car was suffering an issue, later revealed to be a tail-shaft failure. He limped around for the remaining two laps to eventually finish in 22nd place. Murphy coaxed his Commodore to the line to take victory over the two Holden Racing Team entries of Bright and Skaife.
Race 3
Three drivers would not start the third race. Dick Johnson Racing's exhaustion of engine allocation ruled Paul Radisich out, Dugal McDougall experienced mechanical issues, and damage to Craig Lowndes' car from race two could not be repaired in time for the final race of the day.
Murphy maintained his lead from pole position while Bright lost two positions after straying wide at turn one. Skaife set off in pursuit of Murphy, and contact at the hairpin on lap three almost sent the Kiwi into a spin. The next lap, Murphy set the fastest lap of the race, extending his lead over Skaife. Ingall made contact with Steven Ellery at turn seven and narrowly avoided secondary contact with the SuperCheap Auto Falcon as they both scrambled to return to the racetrack. The pit window opened on lap 10 and most of the front-runners took the opportunity to take their compulsory pitstops. Ingall stayed out longer than most and assumed the lead, finally pitting on lap 17. Todd Kelly was penalised for a pitlane equipment violation.
On lap 23, it was reported that Murphy began to struggle with a sticking throttle. As a result, Skaife rapidly caught and passed him for the lead. Bright and Ambrose followed suit soon after. John Faulkner retired on lap 19 due to a faulty alternator. Larry Perkins was issued a bad sportsmanship flag for excessive blocking. Murphy's pace continued to suffer and with the throttle issue continuing to worsen, he began to dip the clutch in on the down change, putting considerable strain on the engine. He would eventually finish the race in 12th, pulling to the side of the road shortly after the finish line.
Skaife remained unchallenged to the flag, taking victory over teammate, Bright. Marcos Ambrose finished third, and in doing so, claimed his first overall round victory in his V8 Supercar career.
Championship Standings
| Pos. | No | Driver | Team | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
1 | 2 | Jason Bright |
Holden Racing Team | 1132 |
|
1 | 1 | Mark Skaife |
Holden Racing Team | 1078 |
 |
3 | 8 | Russell Ingall |
Perkins Engineering | 889 |
|
4 | 4 | Marcos Ambrose |
Stone Brothers Racing | 840 |
|
5 | 51 | Greg Murphy |
Kmart Racing Team | 835 |