MANY tipped Gen3 to be a young driver’s game, playing into the strengths of those without decades of old-style habits to dial out.
And to a large degree that has been accurate, with the top three drivers in the championship – Brodie Kostecki, Will Brown and Broc Feeney – all aged 25 or less.
But don’t count out the old dogs just yet.
In fact, Mark Winterbottom and Will Davison collectively ended a long-running drought for Supercars’ senior statesmen last weekend in Darwin.
With Winterbottom winning Race 1 and Davison finishing third, it marked the first time multiple drivers in their 40s shared a podium at a solo Supercars Championship round in nearly two decades.
The previous occasion was the final round of the 2004 season at Sydney Motorsport Park when the round podium comprised of Stone Brothers Racing teammates Marcos Ambrose and Russell Ingall, plus Triple Eight Race Engineering’s Paul Radisich.
While Ambrose was 28 at the time, Ingall was 41 and Radisich 42.
Winterbottom and Davison’s success at Hidden Valley means that all three full-timers the wrong side of 40 in the 2023 field have chalked up podiums, James Courtney having done so in Perth.
The next oldest driver, 37-year-old David Reynolds, also has a pole position and two podiums thus far.
Of course, that’s not to say the young guns didn’t shine in Darwin either, 20-year-old Broc Feeney jagging the most points of anyone across the round – as well as splitting Winterbottom and Davison on the Saturday.
