WITH the last ever ITM Auckland SuperSprint at Pukekohe Park Raceway starting today, V8 Sleuth provides your guide to the coming three days of action.
SUPERCARS SESSIONS
Friday, September 9
Practice 1 – 30 minutes – 12:40pm AEST/2:40pm NZST
Saturday, September 10
Practice 2 – 30 minutes – 09:35am AEST/11:35am NZST
Qualifying for Race 27 – three-part format – 12:00pm AEST/2:00pm NZST
Race 27 – 41 laps – 2:40pm AEST/4:40pm NZST
Sunday, September 11
Qualifying for Race 28 – 10 minutes – 8:45am AEST/10:45am NZST
Qualifying for Race 29 – 10 minutes – 9:05am AEST/11:05am NZST
Race 28 – 41 laps – 10:55am AEST/12:55pm NZST
Race 29 – 41 laps – 2:10pm AEST/4:10pm NZST
THE PRIZE
The Repco Supercars Championship driver who accumulates the most points across the three races will be awarded the Jason Richards Memorial Trophy.
The coveted silverware has been a fixture at every New Zealand Supercars event since 2013 – and that won’t change even after Pukekohe closes to motorsport.
This will also be the last SuperSprint event of the year where a maximum of 315 points are up for grabs (100 per race win, five bonus points for fastest lap).
SUPPORT CATEGORIES
The support card is led by the Archibalds Historic Touring Cars, a field which will feature Greg Murphy, John Bowe, Steven Richards and Paul Radisich.
Murphy and Bowe will steer Ford Sierras, while Richards and Radisich will drive a Nissan Primera and Ford Mondeo, respectively.
Other support categories in action will be NZ Muscle Cars, Formula Ford and Toyota 86.
MORE: By the numbers, Supercars at Pukekohe
MORE: New Penske deal for McLaughlin
SPECIAL TRIBUTES
More than a dozen iconic cars will roll out for the Repco Pukekohe Farewell Parade, touring the track at 2:45pm NZST (12:45pm AEST) on Saturday and 3:15pm NZST (1:15pm AEST) on Sunday.
Today, the broadcast will lead in to opening practice with a special segment, Pukekohe: The final lap.
A number of cars will run New Zealand-themed liveries too, including both Red Bull Ampol Racing Commodores, Thomas Randle’s Castrol Mustang, and the Safety Car.
HOW TO WATCH (IN AUSTRALIA)
Friday, September 9
Foxtel/Kayo: 12:00pm to 1:25pm AEST
Saturday, September 10
Foxtel/Kayo: 8am to 4pm AEST
7+: 8:30pm to 9:30pm AEST
Sunday, September 11
Foxtel/Kayo: 7:45am to 4pm AEST
7+: 8:30pm to 9:30pm AEST
Monday, September 12
7mate: 3:30pm to 5:30pm AEST
WHAT’S NEW
Pukekohe will mark the first event since two Supercars squads split with their team manager: PremiAir Racing (Dan Ensor) and the Blanchard Racing Team (Brendan Hogan).
Among those subsequently taking on heightened responsibility will be BRT’s Mathew Nilsson, formerly co-team principal at Walkinshaw Andretti United.
PremiAir has also undergone an engineer reshuffle, with Geoffrey Slater switching to James Golding’s Subway Commodore and Triple Eight Super2 engineer Simon Hodge called up to work with Chris Pither.
BRT, meanwhile, will again have Chris Fitzgerald on deck as Mirko De Rosa continues his recovery from back surgery.
Also new: Cameron Waters switching from #6 to #50 as part of Enzed’s anniversary celebrations.
CHAMPIONSHIP SCENARIO
Shane van Gisbergen leads by 500 points with no more than 1215 left to play for. He cannot seal his third championship until at least Bathurst, however.
The bigger battle is for the runner-up mantle as just 22 points cover Cameron Waters, Will Davison and Anton De Pasquale.
It’s also tight at the back end of the 10, with six points between Andre Heimgartner (ninth) and Tim Slade (11th) – James Courtney being the driver in between.
As far as the teams’ championship goes, Red Bull Ampol Racing holds a 196-point advantage over the Shell V-Power Racing Team. Tickford Racing is a further 603 points back in third.
