2001 V8 Supercars Eastern Creek round
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The 2001 Eastern Creek V8 Supercar round was the third round of the 2001 Shell Championship Series. It was held on the weekend of 28 to 29 November at Eastern Creek International Raceway in Sydney, New South Wales.
| Event Information | ||||||||||||||
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| Round 3 of 13 in the 2001 Shell Championship Series | ||||||||||||||
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| Date | 27–29 April 2001 | |||||||||||||
| Location | Eastern Creek, New South Wales | |||||||||||||
| Venue | Eastern Creek Raceway | |||||||||||||
| Weather | Fine | |||||||||||||
| Results | ||||||||||||||
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The first race was initially won by Craig Lowndes of Gibson Motorsport. However, after he was deemed to have overtaken Greg Murphy under yellow flag conditions, he was issued a 29-second post-race time penalty (the equivalent of a stop-go penalty), bumping him down to 12th and Murphy was declared the winner of the race.[1] Mark Skaife would win the second race in a relatively untroubled run after Murphy was penalised for a jump start.
Skaife would also claim round honours with teammate Jason Bright claiming second and Murphy third.
Background
Following the Adelaide 500, there was controversy in relation to incidents going unpunished by race officials. For this event, the officials relayed that they would be more strict on any offences going forward.
Jason Bright of the Holden Racing Team entered the weekend as the championship leader over teammate Mark Skaife. The factory Holden outfit had dominated the Sydney venue in the last two visits in 1999 and 2000, and were expected to be in a similarly rich vain of form this year. It was acknowledged however that the Ford teams had made a marketable stride forward with the problematic AU Falcon and were expected to be more of a threat in 2001.
Entry list
There were multiple entrants making their first appearances for the 2001 season at this event. This included Peter Doulman for Doulman Automotive, and Tomas Mezera would shift from his privateer entry run in the first two rounds to Imrie Motorsport for Eastern Creek.
Race report
Qualifying
Top Ten Shootout
Marcos Ambrose claimed his first V8 Supercar pole position in only his third event in the category. Skaife spun on his lap and relegated him to last in the pecking order.
| Pos | No | Name | Team | Vehicle | Time | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 |  Marcos Ambrose |
Stone Brothers Racing | Ford Falcon (AU) | 1:30.8955 | 18 |
| 2 | 00 | Craig Lowndes |
Gibson Motorsport | Ford Falcon (AU) | 1:31.1996 | 16 |
| 3 | 6 |  Steven Richards |
Glenn Seton Racing | Ford Falcon (AU) | 1:31.4387 | 14 |
| 4 | 5 | Glenn Seton |
Glenn Seton Racing | Ford Falcon (AU) | 1:31.4998 | 13 |
| 5 | 51 | Greg Murphy |
Tom Walkinshaw Racing Australia | Holden Commodore (VX) | 1:31.5992 | 12 |
| 6 | 600 | John Bowe |
Briggs Motorsport | Ford Falcon (AU) | 1:31.6266 | 11 |
| 7 | 15 | Todd Kelly |
Tom Walkinshaw Racing Australia | Holden Commodore (VX) | 1:31.7689 | 10 |
| 8 | 2 | Jason Bright |
Holden Racing Team | Holden Commodore (VX) | 1:31.942 | 9 |
| 9 | 35 | Jason Bargwanna |
Garry Rogers Motorsport | Holden Commodore (VX) | 1:32.2104 | 8 |
| 10 | 1 | Mark Skaife |
Holden Racing Team | Holden Commodore (VX) | 2:21.6514 | 7 |
| Source:[2] | ||||||
Race 1
Seton surprised the field by snatching the lead from the second row heading into turn one. It was a good change of fortune for him after suffering a front suspension failure in the morning warm-up. Lowndes nestled into second place and Murphy into third, which he lost to Ambrose on lap two after slewing sideways at turn eight. Steven Ellery was spun around by Jason Bargwanna; secondary contact later on in the lap led to Bargwanna returning to the pitlane with damaged front-left suspension.
Ambrose overtook Lowndes for second place after Lowndes attempted a move around the outside of Seton heading into turn two. On lap 10, Lowndes was the first of the front runners to complete their compulsory pitstops. One lap later, Ambrose and Murphy peeled off to complete their stops. Murphy's crew managed to turn the Kiwi around quickly and thus jumped Ambrose in the order to assume effective second place behind Lowndes. At the same time, Paul Romano spun at turn seven and beached himself in the gravel trap. This prompted the safety car and given the rules forbidding pitting under safety car conditions, both Seton and teammate Steven Richards were trapped on the racetrack, having not made their compulsory pitstops, and effectively lost the lead for Seton.
Racing resumed on lap 14 with the Ford Tickford Racing Falcon's leading, albeit still required to undertake their compulsory pitstops. Besides them, there were ten other drivers who had yet to pit. Within two laps, all those drivers would complete their stops, handing the lead to Lowndes. Skaife meanwhile had risen from his lowly tenth qualifying position to fourth. Ambrose began to apply pressure to Murphy for second place. On the approach to turn two, Ambrose made considerable contact with the rear of the Kmart Commodore, sending Murphy wide and allowed the Tasmanian to assume second place. The order remained fairly stagnant for the remainder of the race. Lowndes enjoyed an untroubled run to the chequered flag to take his second win of the second with Ambrose second and Murphy third. Notable performances throughout the field included Brad Jones who had climbed from 24th to sixth, and Tony Longhurst who had finished in the top ten after starting 31st.
Post-race penalties for Lowndes and Ambrose would see the Ford drivers lose their first and second place finishes and relegate them down the order. In the instance of Lowndes, he was adjudged to have passed Murphy under yellow flag conditions heading into turn two. As a result, he was issued a 29-second time penalty (equivalent of a stop-go penalty), dropping him to 12th. Ambrose meanwhile was pinged for his contact with Murphy at turn two on lap 18. He was issued a similar penalty to Lowndes and thus was bumped down to 13th. Murphy was subsequently rewarded with the race win.
Race 2
Murphy led the field into turn one from pole position but within a lap, the stewards would issue him with a stop-go penalty for a jump start. On lap three, Murphy peeled off to complete his penalty. In the process, Murphy failed to come to a complete stop and despite the urging of the present marshal, Ray Robins, Murphy drove away to resume the race. Despite the controversy surrounding this incident, the stewards elected not to re-penalise Murphy on the account that they felt he had already served a penalty appropriate for the original offence.
Following this, the race remained relatively tranquil. Skaife continued to eek out a lead over teammate Bright and Steven Richards lost five laps on the leading pack after encountering car problems whilst in the pitlane. With a handful of laps remaining, Lowndes had become locked in combat with John Bowe for fourth place. Bargwanna and Russell Ingall came to blows at turn eight, sending the former into a spin.
Skaife remained unchallenged to the flag to take his third win of the season. Bright finished second and Paul Radisich rounded out the podium; a welcome result after struggling for pace throughout most of the weekend. Murphy had completed his own recovery drive from 30th to finish 11th, and in doing so, secured third overall in round points.
Championship points
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