Sandown battle shapes Sydney showdown.
Events from the Norton 360 Sandown Challenge have set up a thrilling finish to the 2010 V8 Supercar Championship. There was something in the air at Sandown on the weekend that made an awesome weekend. The beautiful weather that Melbourne put on definitely helped, given those who usually attend the Sandown races in the dead of winter have their necks buried in their jackets to escape the chill. V8 Supercars would be congratulating itself on the brilliant idea of moving the event to November even though you don’t always strike it lucky weather-wise in the city that is famous for having four seasons in one day. Kudos must also go to Melbourne Racing Club for its improvements made to the facilities, with the area behind the garages now so big you can swing a cat and fans could easily watch what the teams were up to and not be in the way.
Sandown was the inaugural heritage event for V8 Supercars and a time capsule, to be opened in 25 years, was created on the Friday. V8 Supercars also announced the top 10 all-time greatest drivers to celebrate 50 years of the Australian Touring Car Championship. The late great Peter Brock was voted by a panel of experts as number one while TeamVodafone’s Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup were the only two current main game drivers to make the top 10. J-Dub proved he was worth the accolade by finishing on the podium both days and is now just 53 championship points adrift of James Courtney which sets up a thrilling finish to the year at the Sydney Telstra 500, the last event of the year.
There were others who shined at Sandown, no least Paul Dumbrell. Fresh from winning his first ever podium at Tasmania the weekend before, he held off Whincup for his first race win on Saturday and scored his first career pole position on Sunday. Dumbrell got into a battle on the first lap of the Saturday race and his exhaust tip cut Garth Tander’s #2 Commodore tyre.
Pic: Paul Dumbrell celebrating top spot on the Podium!
With a deflated tyre, GT went careening into the tyre barrier and the race was stopped for half an hour to fix the safety measure. In what would have been a stroke of genius had they pulled it off, Greg Murphy’s team gave the Castrol Commodore a fuel top-up when the race was halted and had there been a safety car period in the shortened race, he would have had enough gas in the tank to win the race without needing a pitstop.
Teams are now gearing up for the Sydney Telstra 500 in a fortnight’s time to make their last impression on the 2010 V8 Supercar Championship. For tickets to the December 3-5 event head to www.ticketek.com
