The Supercars championship is returning to New Zealand for the first time since the pandemic, but its return race will also be the last at the classic Pukekohe Park Raceway.
It’s a bittersweet weekend, to say the least, with the Auckland track set to be decommissioned early next year.
But at some point the emotions of the Pukekohe’s final round will be cast into the background as the business of racing cracks on. There’s still a title to settle — though we’re not to far to having Shane van Gisbergen’s second straight crown confirmed — as well as scores to settle on both championship table.
And that’s before we consider the off-track ructions that have gripped the sport in recent weeks as the silly season unexpectedly reignites for one final wave of signings.
Here’s what to watch for this weekend.
PUKEKOHE’S BIG SEND-OFF
This is the 15th and final time the Supercars will roll out at Pukekohe Park Raceway. The countdown is on to the circuit being ripped up has begun.
Similar to Sandown, the Pukekohe circuit runs around a horse racing track. Earlier this year Auckland Thoroughbred Racing announced that all motorsport would cease in April 2023 so the club could focus on its equine endeavours. The land currently used by the circuit will be repurposed for stabling.
The timing of the announcement means that the Supercars has time for only one last hurrah, which happens to coincide with its first race back in New Zealand since the outbreak of the pandemic, which has kept the series domesticated until this weekend.
There’s a certain completeness about the fact that Pukekohe hosted the first overseas round of the championship back in 2001 and will host its first post-Covid overseas race. Its departure also leaves the series without any overseas presence, though Supercars organisers say they’re committed to finding an alternative Kiwi track to continue crossing the Tasman next year.
“We have other great venue options available and will now begin discussions regarding our 2023 calendar,” Supercars CEO Shane Howard said. “It’s out absolute intent to continue racing in New Zealand, and we are now exploring alternative venues for the New Zealand event for the future.”
But Pukekohe has character that won’t easily be replaced.
It’s one of the calendar’s fastest circuits, but the sometimes rough and bumpy nature of the surface combined with the almost non-stop trackside barriers gives it a vaguely street-like feel. It isn’t a challenge for the faint hearted.
And it also has history. While this is just the 15th Supercars race Pukekohe has hosted, the track is 70 years old this year and most famously hosted the New Zealand Grand Prix. Its first significant international race was won by John Surtees in a Lola Mk4; other winners include Graham Hull, Jackie Stewart and of course Bruce McLaren.
The loss of the Kiwi track also raises the spectre of other similar historic circuits falling by the wayside.
It was barely a week ago that Wakefield Park was shuttered after a protracted neighbourhood dispute that cut the number of days it could operate to an unsustainably small number.
The circuit never hosted Supercars racing but was a fixture for what we now know as Super2, with the likes of Mark Winterbottom, Tim Slade and a host of others taking their first series wins there.
Parallels between Pukekohe and Sandown may well extend to the Melbourne track’s untimely end. The Melbourne Racing Club is seeking to have the entire 112-hectare site rezoned so it can be used to build 7500 dwellings, with the profits ploughed into the club’s Caulfield Racecourse. The track is already down to just five race meetings per year on account of the noise.
If there’s a message, it’s not to take tracks like these for granted.
HOME HEROES LOOKING FOR A BOOST
You’d have to say there’s a pretty good chance that Kiwi fans are going to go home on Sunday night happy to have seen one of their own having won at least one of the three races, with Shane van Gisbergen in sparkling form.
SVG has won seven of the last eight races — the one exception was a competitive second place — to blow open his title lead and crush the hope of his championship rivals.
His third title is a matter of when, not if, and the when is fast approaching.
He’s a driver who doesn’t really need a boost from racing at home, but returning to Auckland as a two-time champion has him raring to go.
“My interest in Supercars started at Pukekohe,” he told Fox Sports. “I’d love to go out there with a good result.
“I’m trying not to get too excited. I want to go there and treat it like any other round.
“I’m trying not to get too caught up in the celebrations. I’m pretty excited to go there.”
With a 500-point lead, he can’t seal the champions this weekend, but a typically strong result would put him comfortably in the frame to claim the crown in Bathurst in October.
Andrew Heimgartner will arrive for the final race at Pukekohe in some of the best form of his Supercars career.
He enjoyed a n 11-race top-1o streak between scoring his first podium of the year in Perth and his horror first-lap smash on Sunday afternoon in Tailem Bend, and while Sandown last time out was more mixed, it also featured a strong sixth-place finish.
His switch to Brad Jones Racing this season appears to be paying dividends, with the 27-year-old 10th in the standings, which would be his career-best result in the championship.
“I guess because that’s sort of where I fell in love with Supercars myself and watching people like Greg Murphy, Macros Ambrose, Rick Kelly race around there,” Heimgartner told Speedcafe. “It was just an awesome time. And as a young kid, that’s what inspired me to want to be in Supercars.
“I still need to win there … something I really want to do before we can’t race [there] anymore
“Hopefully one of us Kiwi drivers can win.”
Chris Pither will certainly be searching for a boost, with speculation continuing to swirl around his long-term tenure at PremiAir. Pither’s been admirably determined to turn his championship success in other categories, including Super2, into something more in the main game, but in only his third full-time season he’s against facing the chopping block despite some decent recent results.
If he’s ever going to pull out of the bag the kind of result that could save his seat, now’s the time to do it.
“Given it is the final time Supercars will race at Pukekohe, I feel grateful to take part and I am aiming high,” he said. “I’ve got a lot of support from my fellow Kiwis, so I look forward to putting on a good show.”
SILLY SEASON KICKING OFF AGAIN
Just as the Supercars seemed to be heading towards a largely status-quo silly season, the driver market erupted in recent weeks with some major driver announcements.
It started with Tim Slade being tipped to leave Tim Blanchard Racing for the building PremiAir team. While neither driver there is on a long-term deal, suggestions are that he would replace Chris Pither at the Gold Coast operation, with James Golding thought to have shown enough promise in his partial campaign so far to warrant an extension into 2023.
BRT was reportedly considering Lee Holdsworth as Slade’s replacement, but Holdsworth announcement that he’ll retire from full-time racing next year.
Matt Payne, currently third in the Super2 standings, is expected to get the nod at Grove alongside David Reynolds.
Having Holdsworth out of the picture has opened the door to Todd Hazelwood to manoeuvre himself into BRT, but he needs Matt Stone Racing’s approval, being already under contract there for next year.
Team owner Matt Stone has suggested he could promote youth from Super2 if the split eventuates as expected, which could mean a lifeline for the likes of Triple Eight junior Declan Fraser and Tickford junior Zak Best, neither of whom appears to have the opportunity to race in Supercars next season due to a lack of available seats at their respective teams.
Elsewhere, Mark Winterbottom is reportedly close to renewing terms with Team 18 for the Gen3 era, while speculation that James Courtney might be ousted from his long-term deal with Tickford for a younger driver have subsided, particularly after the 2010 champion bolstered his sponsorship portfolio in recent months.
THE BATTLE FOR THE TEAMS CHAMPIONSHIP
While the battle for individual honours is effectively done and dusted, the teams championship is still very much alive, having changed hands between Triple Eight and Dick Johnson Racing in recent rounds.
DJR has been a particularly formidable opponent. Will Davison and Anton de Pasquale have been closely matched — they’re split by only three points, suggesting they’re getting the most out of the car — and regular podium getters.
It’s a line-up surely envied by others in the series, particularly Tickford, where Cam Waters comfortably has James Courtney’s measure, and Walkinshaw Andretti United, where Nick Percat hasn’t been able to live with Chaz Mostert.
With four rounds to go, Triple Eight holds the lead by just 198 points.
The difference is going to be made by the rookie exploits of Broc Feeney.
Feeney debut this year to great hype, and he’s largely delivered, making steady progress through the year, including scoring two podium finishes, to keep his team in the fight for the collective crown.
Having acclimatised so well, he’s been open about realigning his expectations in the latter stages of the series, and writing on the Red Bull website, he says his biggest areas of growth are those where his teammate is leading the way.
“There are a lot of things that he does well — it’s quite obvious since he’s winning so much! — but the thing that stands out the most is the racecraft,” Feeney wrote. “I feel like I’ve started to implement a few little things from that throughout the year, and every race I feel like I’m getting better and better.
“He’s pushing me forward a lot at the moment without him even knowing.”
There are already clear signs of him putting the pieces together, not least of which was his round-ending podium at Sandown and his brief shot at victory in the soaking wet in Tailem Bend.
And of the seven times he’s finished outside the top 10 this year, only one of those have in the last nine races.
“We’re keeping this consistency ongoing, which is super important,” he wrote. “Right now I’m happier being consistent in and around the top five week in, week out than I am getting a podium once and then finishing outside the top 10.”
Pukekohe will be a serious test of his constituency, however, with Feeney having never raced at the Kiwi track before. Friday practice will be helpful for him, but he’ll need to hit the ground running.
HOW CAN I WATCH IT?
The 2022 Auckland SuperSprint is live and ad-break free during racing on Kayo.
The action fires up with practice at 4:40pm (AEST) on Friday.
Action continues on Saturday with second practice at 1:35pm before qualifying at 4:00pm and the race at 6:40pm.
The two qualifying sessions on Sunday get underway at 12:45pm and 1:05pm before their respective races at 2:55pm and 6:10pm.
