Rapid Recount: Vailo Adelaide 500 2023
For the second year in a row, the streets of Adelaide were alive with the sound of supercars. Over 4 massive days, two champions were crowned and over 260 thousand people lined the track situated in the Adelaide East Parklands. However, the weekend started very different from the sunshine of Sunday’s podium. It started in the rain, the pouring, pounding rain…
It would be a Ford atop the timing sheets come the end of Thursday’s wet practice session. The number 25 Mustang was in the hands of Chaz Mostert, he registered a time of 1.28.614, this over 2 hundredths of a second quicker than the Brad Jones Racing Camaro of Andre Heimgartner.
Friday morning’s downpour didn’t fill the fans with much hope of dry running as they entered the complex for day 2. However, as practice 2 began, the sun was shining, as was Thomas Randle’s Mustung. Randle’s time a 1.19.21 was the fastest of the session. It would be a 1-2 at Tickford with Randle’s teammate Cam Waters’ placing second. He would be followed by Will Brown, the Cola Cola car finding P3 as the flag fell. When asked how he and the team felt about the weekend, he said:
“It would be a massive thing for team, to not only win the team championship, but also the drivers, it shows the consistency of the team, we’ve never won either so it would be massive feat to get that done”. – Will Brown, Coca-Cola Racing by Erebus Team, Thursday morning.
With the driver’s title on the line across the weekend, the scene was set for a perfect curtain call in season 2023. It wasn’t to be, as just one lap into Saturday’s race, disaster would strike. Anton De Pasquale of Shell V Power Racing Team and Will Brown were heading into turn 4. Brown was hanging to the back of the Shell V Mustang as they entered the corner and Brown’s Camaro made contact between the wall and De Parsquale’s car. The Erebus entry would then bounce of the wall and hit the front left wheel of Shane Van Gisbergen’s Chevrolet. The De Parsquale’s car would keep going, although it would result in 21st position come the checkered flag. Meanwhile the Red Bull entry and the Erebus Camaro wouldn’t finish the race because of the incident, leaving a 6-time race winner in 2023 to seal his maiden championship. Brodie Kostecki, in his Coca Cola by Erebus Team Camaro, would take P6 in Saturday’s race and extend his gap in the championship to 233 points over rival Shane Van Gisbergen. With only 150 points available on Sunday’s final race of 2023, the supercars had a new champion. This was the first time since 1972, when Bob Jane won his fourth championship, that a Chevrolet Camaro would be a championship winning car.
“The Ford is pretty strong at this particular circuit,” a prediction that Brad Jones made coming into the weekend. This prediction would prove correct on Saturday afternoon as Cam Waters took his third win for season 2023 on the Adelaide streets. The Mustang crossing the line after just under 2 hours of racing. A double podium would continue Tickford’s strong weekend, when Tom Randle, finished 3rd in the other Tickford car. The pair would be spilt by the Penrite Mustang of David Reynolds. Reynolds converting P2 on the grid after just missing out on Pole in the Amour All Top 10 Shoutout, completing his lap just over 9 thousandths of a second slower then Brodie Kostecki.
In a weekend of firsts, Matthew Payne’s Penrite Racing Mustang won the last race of 2023. Payne becoming a race winner for the first time in his rookie season. Payne would beat Broc Feeney to the line, who was the only Camaro all weekend to end up on the podium. Payne’s departing teammate, David Reynolds would cross the line 3rd.
Ampol Red Bull Racing would miss out on a second championship for season 2023. With Champion Kostecki finishing 8th and Will Brown finishing 14th on Sunday. Erebus would take the second title up for grabs in 2023, this time its first team championship. Broc Feeney finishing P2 on Sunday wouldn’t be enough to stop the Coca Cola team. The 161-point lead that Erebus took into the final race wouldn’t be breached, with the final margin being 176 points between the two teams.
The Adelaide 500 always use to have so much drama and excitement. In 2023, it was Brodie Kostecki who would clinch the Drivers championship on these famous streets, while Coca Cola Racing by Erebus won the Teams Championship. The Ford Mustang was the flavour of the weekend, with Cam Waters and Matthew Payne winning for their respective Ford outfits, the latter for the first time. If you want to read on, there is a longer version of the weekend’s story available on the Hub Adelaide platform search ‘Supercars Speed into Adelaide for Cut-Throat Season Finale’.