Now that the Supercars Championship is getting back underway this weekend for the first time in over three months, take a look back at the season so far.
The season kicked off at Bathurst for two sprint races, which were dominated by Triple Eight Race Engineering, with Shane van Gisbergen taking both race wins.
Van Gisbergen finishing on the top step of the podium has become a common thread this season, taking 10 of the 19 race wins to date, with another four podium finishes.
‘SVG’ took six consecutive race wins to start the season including a 17th-to-first drive in the first Sandown race, despite also breaking his collar bone between the Bathurst and Sandown events, requiring surgery to put in a plate.
The Kiwi has only finished outside the top ten once this season, with a 13th in Darwin after a 30-second pit stop dropped him back in the pack.
Van Gisbergan leads the championship by 276 points, almost a full round ahead of teammate Jamie Whincup, who in his final full-time season in the championship has only taken one race win, coming at Symmons Plains.
Only two other drivers have secured multiple race wins this season, Cam Waters and Chaz Mostert.
Waters has three race wins all in the second half of the season to date. Two came at the final Townsville round before the break with the other at The Bend.
Though van Gisbergen has taken half the race wins this season Waters has been able to stay within striking distance of the Red Bull cars.
Andre Heimgartner collected his first win in the championship this season in a wet race at The Bend Motorsport Park, despite also being handed a five-second penalty for an unsafe release in pit lane.
Pit stops have been one of the biggest hurdles for many teams this season, with a number of teams having a variety of issues.
Will Davison and his Shell V-Power team had fueling issues in Townsville, where he was forced to come in for an extra pit stop after being about 1.5 litres short of the 140-litre fuel requirement.
Many cars have had issues with wheel nuts not disengaging. For example, van Gisbergan’s 13th in Darwin was due to a wheel nut not releasing.
One of the positive stories this season has been the performance of Walkinshaw Andretti United (WAU), Mostert has consistently been at the front of the field, currently sitting fourth in the championship, with two wins so far this season.
Despite starting the championship with an all-new lineup, Erebus Motorsport has had a strong season with Will Brown and Brodie Kostecki sitting 10th and 11th respectively in the championship, Kostecki taking a second at Sandown, and both finishing in the top 10 multiple times.
However some teams haven’t had the same success, Brad Jones Racing has had some strong performances, but haven’t had consistent speed, as well as being caught out with mechanical issues, and in on-track incidents. Though Nick Percat is sitting eighth in the championship, the highest of the team, with one podium in Darwin.
David Reynolds has also had a difficult season, finishing inside the top 10 in six of the 19 races, leaving him 16th in the championship standings.
The championship gets back out on track for the first time since July at Sydney Motorsport Park tomorrow afternoon.
Main image: Phil Blatch
