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News Power Rankings Richard Craill September 1, 2020 (Comments off) (713)

POWER RANKINGS: TOWNSVILLE 1.0

JAMIE WHINCUP back to his absolute peak we can understand.. but the Shell Fords struggling for one-lap pace? McLaughlin qualifying outside the Top One? No Lex Kelly on the TV? There was sure some mad stuff going on in the Tropical North of Queensland.

WORDS: Richard Craill / Mark Walker / Dale Rodgers / Tony Schibeci / Social Contributors
IMAGES: Mark Hosburgh / Supercars

THIS WEEK brings yet another big dose of the TRT Power Rankings, this time from Townsville. We’re lucky we had 10 weeks of ESeries (Remember that?) to practice for this whole week-by-week stuff. It’s gruelling.

Anyway, as always we start with what rose to the top in Townsville last weekend and as always, it was the cream..

HOT

1. JAMIE WHINCUP

TO THINK that earlier this year people were saying that COVID-19 may prolong his career? What will prolong his career is the scintillating form in which he finds himself. Cut a chunk out of points out of McLaughlin this weekend, looks as good as he ever has and what’s more his Townsville strike rate is incredible. What track do we go back to next weekend? There’s nothing sheepish about the GOAT this year. Game on.

2. TOWNSVILLE TIN TOPS

WHAT a genius idea this turned out to be. Easy to be sceptical about seven different categories mashed together, but in the end turned out to be utterly excellent. The varied performance between cars was super and the diversity great. Most of all, hugely entertaining, competitive racing.

Big tick, and one endorsed by our social community as well.

3. WATERS

CAM WATERS was firing on the weekend and you get the feeling Tickford are gradually engineering themselves into being proper contenders every weekend from here on in.. but this was the kind of team-leading performance that everyone has been looking for from Cam. 2nd, 4th and 2nd are great results and running with McLaughlin shows how close it is.

4. QUALIFYING

WE have been quite clear about our lack of affection for the knockout qualifying into top 15 shootout format. How refreshing, then, to have the ‘old’ system back this weekend? The second part of qualifying is SO MUCH MORE INTENSE when they’re trying to get 10 cars through to the shootout. It’s much, much better.

6. NEW CAMERAS

SUPERCARS media always innovate and it’s not like a pandemic to stop it. The new aerial camera at turn one was a cool addition and the added use of the low-down in ground / in wall cameras was awesome, given how close the grid was. Nice to have the chopper back too. Superb, as always.

7. PITHER

PUNCHED well above his weight on the weekend and is, we reckon, quietly achieving well above the machinery he has.

8. McLAUGHLIN COMEBACK

ON A rare weekend where his team struggled for one-lap pace, especially, it’s the mark of a champion team in coming back from that to win the final race the way they did. Big comeback. Triple Eight won the first Darwin weekend, too..

9. TEAMS CHAMPIONSHIP

THIS has the potential to be VERY, very spicy by the time we get to Mount Fulladrama in October. Nothing in it between Triple Eight and DJR Team Penske at the moment, and while Whincup and McLaughlin are leading the way you get the feeling that it will be the performances of cars 12 and 97, respectively, that will probably dictate the outcome of this.

10. TEAM 18 / PYE

ON pure race performance Scotty Pye probably has one of the quicker cars on the grid at the moment. If they can fix their one-lap pace in Qualifying there’s a good chance they contend for wins at every race from here on in.

BONUS HOT:

CERTAINTY IN 2020

THE Calendar is locked in and we know when and where we go racing for the remainder of the Supercars championship – and Victorian families know when their other halves can get home. In the most uncertain year ever, certainty is a good thing. Couldn’t get more hotter-er.

WHAT?

CHAZ’S TWIN

SPOOKY, Isn’t it..

LARKO’S GEN III PLAN

EVER the optimist, Mark Larkham has a solid plan for the next-gen Supercars, as he demonstrated here:

NOT

1. WHERE’S LEX??

WITHOUT question, nor shadow of doubt this was the number one ‘Not’ from the weekend with the TRT community voicing en-masse that his absence from our screens across the weekend was a massive loss for the sport, neigh, the world.

However, we can confirm Supercars have entered into negotiations with Lex’s Management for a forthcoming return. Lets hope..

2. RACE 19 START SHUNT

FAR from ideal given the conditions, but Turn 2 at Townsville tends to bite, and it sure did when Race 19 got underway..

3. JAMIES RADIO / PENALTY

AWKWARD issue for J-Dub on Saturday that caused him to go around again and miss parking up at the podium. Copped a fine for his efforts, too, which is just a bit silly what with the extenuating circumstances and everything. Still, play on..

4. SVG STRUGGLES

CARVED some people up as he does but otherwise this was a very odd weekend for SVG. 19th, 3rd and 8th were very off kilter for the Kiwi and indeed Triple Eight, who usually get it right with both cars. But while Whincup sped ahead, Shane struggled and have up plenty of points to his teammate and, for that matter, everyone else. Only 5 podiums from 17 (actual) races this season and yet to win – it’s a very strange one for SVG so far.

5. MOSTERT TYRE

UNLUCKY moment for Chaz who was otherwise firing all weekend, who only held on to third in the championship by the fact that van Gisbergen had such a quiet race as well. WAU seem there or thereabouts nowadays, but it’s the inconsistency like this (even though it was no fault of their own) stopping them from stringing together a very, very good weekend – as opposed to a good one.

6. DJRTP QUALIFYING

JUST.. WHAT? When do you ever see both Red Mustang’s so far down the field, so often, in the same weekend?

7. FABIAN STRUGGLES

MORE struggles on the Car 12 side of the garage over the weekend. 4th in Race 19 was just the third time this season Fabian finished in front of McLaughlin this season, but then 15th and 17th in the two Sunday races were mystifying and after what seemed like a turnaround in from across both Darwin weekends, this felt like a step back. 9th in points is not going to be enough for his team to take the Team’s title this year, regardless of what McLaughlin does out in front.

8. BJR’S SATURDAY

HAVING a bit of a bipolar year, the Albury boys and sometimes they must wonder what on earth they have done to deserve the whack’s they’re getting. And just after their drivers end up with damage and in the fence, Nick Percat drops an engine, and Brad has to get out the cheque book again. Fortunately, they’re still fast..

9. FORD LOGO ON CAR 17

HOW on earth did this get though? Roger Penske must have nightmares over stuff like this.

10. KELLY RACING

Two Kelly Racing Mustangs heading for the pits after Race 1 on Lap 1 with damage. This team is doing so much work to get up to speed with the Ford Mustang and this was a very tough break.

TWITTER

BIG CALL

GOAT CHAT

GOAT BURN

SHEEP MEH

BACK FOR MORE!

WE’RE JEALOUS OF SHIRLEY

TYRE CREAM

MEME OF THE ROUND WEEK

Richard Craill (administrator)

Working full time in the motorsport industry since 2004, Richard has established himself within the group of Australia’s core motorsport broadcasters, covering the support card at the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix for Channel 10, the Bathurst 12 Hour for Channel 7 and Porsche Carrera Cup & Touring Car Masters for FOX Sports’ Supercars coverage. Pretends to be a PR guy / Journalist and sometimes photographer to make ends meet when not yelling at a television in a padded room.

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