Incidents, Safety Cars dominate Sandown at halfway

A spate of incidents have made for a dramatic Penrite Oil Sandown 500, with Triple Eight Race Engineering in the box seat at the halfway mark.

Declan Fraser led in Andre Heimgartner’s Brad Jones Racing Chevrolet as the race ticked over half-race distance, with the 2022 Super2 champion stopping shortly afterwards.

The battle for victory loomed to be an intra-team fight at Red Bull Ampol Racing, with both cars trading positions as the field was neutralised by Safety Car conditions.

Will Brown made a supreme start from pole, while Cam Waters bogged down and slotted in behind Anton De Pasquale and Brodie Kostecki.

On lap 2, Kostecki hit De Pasquale at Turn 4, with the Shell Ford dropping behind Waters and Chaz Mostert. De Pasquale’s stint got worse, with a Broc Feeney move at Turn 9 helping both Penrite Mustangs past.

The margin between former teammates Brown and Kostecki stabilised at 0.7s, with Waters and Mostert behind. Feeney made a dive on Heimgartner for fifth on lap 14 at Turn 9, where Mark Winterbottom would run off four laps later.

Thomas Randle kicked off the pit stops on lap 22, with James Courtney and Cameron Hill — carrying rear damage — coming in as Richie Stanaway struck trouble. Stanaway’s car appeared to seize down the back straight with a suspected engine failure, triggering the first bp pulse Safety Car.

The new-for-2024 Safety Car procedure triggered a scary incident on the pit straight, with David Reynolds hitting Will Davison as cars slowed down.

All the while, co-drivers stepped in; Jamie Whincup jumped Todd Hazelwood and Lee Holdsworth in the lane, while the Courtney/Jack Perkins car was caught out by Safety Car countdown procedure, dropping from a fight for the top 10 to 25th.

Scott Pye led James Moffat, Whincup, Hazelwood, Holdsworth, Fraser, Garth Tander, David Russell, Tony D’Alberto and Dylan O’Keeffe at the restart, with Tander quickly disposing of Fraser down the pit straight.

Fraser would later hit Russell at Turn 9, attracting a five-second penalty. Ryan Wood and De Pasquale — who had handed over to Fabian Coulthard and D’Alberto — also copped five-second penalties for unsafe releases.

Hazelwood hounded Whincup for third, and they made light contact at Turn 4 on lap 33. Hazelwood tried again on lap 39, again with contact, but instead picked up a puncture and fired off the road at Turn 6. The #1 was brought in, forcing the reigning champions to fight back.

Pye had a 1.3s lead over Moffat, who was 1.3s ahead of Whincup. Behind them, Holdsworth sent himself into a wild spin exiting Turn 1 in front of Tander, dropping to 12th.

On the following lap, Jordan Boys was sent into the inside wall by Cameron McLeod after a dive by Randle, triggering the second Safety Car. McLeod was handed a drive-through penalty over the incident, which fired the field into a second round of stops.

Under Safety Car, Moffat jumped Pye in the lane as Whincup pressed on. Whincup went around and stopped, and emerged just ahead of Moffat, Pye and Tander. Fraser and Coulthard sat behind, but were still carrying their five-second penalties. Cameron Crick, meanwhile, spun at Turn 4 as he caught up to the field.

Whincup led Moffat and Pye to green on lap 49, with Tander shadowing Pye. Behind them, Holdsworth restarted in 16th, and began to march forward. As Whincup began to open up a margin, Pye got by Moffat into Turn 1 on lap 51.

Moffat and Tander initially stayed with Pye, as Fraser fought to keep a hungry pack behind. Whincup opened up a three-second lead over Pye, with Tander 2.1s and Moffat 1.1s down respectively.

Down the order, Tyler Everingham hit Warren Luff at Turn 9 and copped a five-second penalty. There was even more trouble behind, with Kai Allen and O’Keeffe forced into the pits with heavy damage after a final-corner battle with Dean Fiore went array.

With debris at the final corner, the race was brought under Full Course Yellow conditions, with Whincup, Tander, Moffat, Ojeda and D’Alberto coming in. Pye stopped on the following lap, and emerged ahead of Whincup.

When the race resumed on lap 73, Fraser — who didn’t pit under the FCY — was 17.6s ahead of Pye, with Whincup, Holdsworth, Caruso, Robotham, Russell, Tander, Moffat and Coulthard.

Holdsworth handed back over to Mostert on lap 79, with the two-time Bathurst winner setting the fastest lap of the race on lap 84.