Fire and rain at Albert Park on Saturday
Saturday, 1 April 2023
Supercars and open-wheelers turn on the action.
A second straight win for the Coca-Cola Erebus Motorsport team was one of the key takeaways from Saturday’s Support events at the FORMULA 1 ROLEX AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX 2023.
Brodie Kostecki took his second win of the weekend on Saturday evening, leading all the way to beat home the Shell V-Power Ford Mustang of Will Davison by 1sec. In fact, for a while, it was looking like an Erebus 1-2 with Will Brown in second, but his Chevrolet Camaro dropped back after an early pitstop, finishing in fourth place.
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But
a post-race penalty for an unsafe pitlane release dropped Davison back through
the field, promoting Red Bull Ampol’s Shane van Gisbergen to second place ahead
of Brown and Chaz Mostert (Walkinshaw Andretti United Ford Mustang).
The race was interrupted by a Safety Car after an on-track incident involving Macauley Jones and Anton De Pasquale, while James Courtney spectacularly exited the race when his Ford Mustang caught fire in the pitlane!
There was also plenty of drama in Saturday’s Formula 2® race but none of it seemed to affect Dennis Hauger. Even a mid-race shower could not deter the Norwegian, who seized command at the start and emerged from a change to wet tyres with a handy lead.
Even a Safety Car could not stop the MP Motorsport driver taking his first win of the season by 1.1sec, from Jak Crawford and Campos Racing’s Kush Maini. Jack Doohan ran in 12th place until a hit from behind at Turn 4 spun him into retirement.
In a 20-lap Formula 3 race interrupted by three Safety Cars and finishing under a fourth. Argentinian racer Franco Colapinto took the flag in P1 but post-race inspections found technical infringements on his MP Motorsport car and he was disqualified.
Williams junior teammate Zak O’Sullivan inherited the win ahead of second generation driver Sebastian Montoya, the son of former Formula 1 and NASCAR star Juan Pablo Montoya. Christian Mansell was best of the Australian drivers in 13th place.
The final race of the weekend’s Paynter Dixon Porsche Carrera Cup action saw the race cut short when the Safety Car was summoned after a rain squall hit the track. Jackson Walls took out the win ahead of Max Vidau and Callum Hedge, while Adrian Flack took out Morris Pro-Am honours.
