In a mass celebration for the Repco Supercars Championship’s oldest team, Shell V-Power Racing Team endured a dramatic annual trip to Mount Panorama last weekend.
Not only was the team celebrating its 1000th race, but it also acknowledged sponsor Repco’s centenary year by changing the race number of Anton De Pasquale and Tony D’Alberto to 100, while young gun entered his 150th Supercars race.
Prior to the race, team owner Dick Johnson was on hand to celebrate his operation’s 1000th Supercars race surrounded by family, employees and important figures from the squad’s past.
Will and Alex Davison proved the pace by leading many sessions approaching the race as the Top 10 Shootout was cancelled due to excess rainfall, while the second Ford Mustang of De Pasquale/D’Alberto just missed out in 11th.
A chaotic opening caught out D’Alberto twice as he and De Pasquale finished seventh in the end. A crash early on from Alex Davison dropped the entry early, before it clawed its way back, but it ended early as Will crashed at Griffins Bend on lap 141.
Shell V-Power Racing’s Team Principal Ben Croke detailed the squad’s weekend.
“Overall, the weekend as a whole was reasonably successful,” summarised Croke.
“The race didn’t end or didn’t go as we had hoped or planned, but the celebration of DJR’s 1000th race, the pace that our cars showed early in the weekend and through to Sunday, and the way we fought back from early problems with both cars to get ourselves back up into Top 10 contention. I’m very happy and pleased with how the team overcame what happened throughout the weekend.
“Everyone knows how tricky the conditions were across the weekend. This type of weather really amplifies a really difficult weekend Bathurst is magnified ten-fold. The group we have here at the Shell V-Power Racing Team took everything in their stride and in terms of set-up you just have to focus on one session at a time and focus on doing the best you could in that situation.
“Car No. 100 had wheel-to-wheel contact with another car during the open lap of the race and suffered serious damage to the front right steering arm. We were able to get Tony back into the garage quickly and have one-to-two crew members on each corner of the car to assess the damage. Once we were able to assess the damage fairly quickly and the crew did a fantastic job to change the steering arm and not to go down a lap.
“Car No. 17 went off the track at The Chase early in the race as well, however, only suffered superficial damage meaning they didn’t need to come into pit lane or the garage until the next pit stop sequence. There was a lot of mud underneath, which made the pit stop and changing the brakes really awkward and hard for the guys, the drivers couldn’t open the door more than about a foot, so it magnified and made everything a little bit more difficult. It was unfortunate for No. 17’s day to end the way it did after the brilliant work done by Will to get back through the field following the early off at The Chase.
“We’re looking forward now to the Gold Coast 500, we obviously want to go there and perform really well after the way Bathurst finished for us. The team’s preparation is as per usual, we repair the bits on car No. 17 and No. 100 that need repairing, we’re back to our standard Shell V-Power Racing Team livery and new panels and stickers. It is 100% preparation and focus on the next round ahead on the streets of the Gold Coast.”