| Event Information | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Round 4 of 14 in the 2007 V8 Supercar Championship Series | ||||||||||||||
 | ||||||||||||||
| Date | 18–20 May 2007 | |||||||||||||
| Location | Benalla, Victoria | |||||||||||||
| Venue | Winton Motor Raceway | |||||||||||||
| Weather | Rain | |||||||||||||
| Results | ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
The 2007 Winton round of the V8 Supercar Championship is the fourth of the 2007 V8 Supercar season. It was held on the weekend of 18 to 20 May at Winton Motor Raceway in Victoria (Australia).
Two main stories occurred between the previously race at Pukekohe and this round. Firstly Brad Jones announced his immediate retirement from the V8 Supercar championship after a 20-year career. Jones will be replaced from the Winton round for the remainder of the season by Simon Wills. [1] Secondly the Supercheap Auto Racing team was sold by Kees Weel to the No Limit Group. [2] The sale however later fell apart without being completed.
Qualifying was held on Saturday 19 May 2007.
The first session of qualifying began with Todd Kelly quickest, however his teammate at the Holden Racing Team Mark Skaife began with a spin. As Winton is a test track for a number of the teams, it could be seen that these teams had an advantage over the other teams. After the first session, Garth Tander was quickest from Todd Kelly and Jack Daniel's Racing’s Shane Price. However some of the bigger names did not back the top 20 drivers to advance to the second part of qualifying including Greg Murphy and Russell Ingall. Ingall was later relegated to the back of the grid after failing to have his car weighed after qualifying.
In the second part of qualifying, Jason Richards of Tasman Motorsport was quickest at the start of the session. The session was relatively clean, however Steven Richards ran wide through the mud at turn 11. After the session, Todd Kelly, Garth Tander and Jason Richards were the top three, with both Mark Skaife and Craig Lowndes missing out.
Part 3 of qualifying was a clean session, with Todd Kelly leading from Tander and Price at the midpoint of the session. As the session progressed, Tander and Jason Richards battled for second position.
After qualifying had finished, Todd Kelly took pole position from Garth Tander and Jason Richards. In their best qualifying session of the year, the Jack Daniels Racing team drivers of Shane Price and Jack Perkins qualified fifth and eighth respectively.
Race 1 was held on Saturday 19 May 2007. The race started in wet conditions and this caused a number of incidents to occur in the first few laps. Garth Tander was able to take the lead on the first lap, however a number of drivers including Jason Bright, Mark Skaife, Russell Ingall and James Courtney all went off the track on the first lap.
On lap 2, Jason Richards run wide at turn 11 and went off the track from second position, and then on lap 3, the Todd Kelly in second collided with the leader Garth Tander causing Tander to spin. He rejoined the race in 12th position. Following this incident, Todd Kelly then spun off the track on lap 6 at turn 11 and got stuck in the gravel trap, which caused the safety car to come out.
The race was restarted on lap 9, however almost immediately Paul Dumbrell collided with Russell Ingall causing steering damage to Ingall's car which then went off the track and into the gravel trap. This again caused the safety car to come out.
At the restart on lap 12, Lee Holdsworth was able to take the lead from Mark Winterbottom before Winterbottom retook the lead at turn 3 of the same lap. Soon after, the safety car came out again as Todd Kelly spun off the track. Once the compulsory pit stops had been completed, Jamie Whincup lead from Rick Kelly and Craig Lowndes.
Towards the end of the race Mark Winterbottom, who was using slick tyres on the drying track collided with Max Wilson which caused Winterbottom to go off at turn 11 and caused the safety car to come out for a fourth time. The safety car came in with 3 laps to go, and James Courtney made a number of positions running on dry tyres.
At the end of the 40 laps, Jamie Whincup gave Ford their first win of the season from Steven Richards and Rick Kelly after Courtney was given a penalty for an incident wit Greg Murphy on the penultimate lap.
Race 2 was held on Sunday 20 May 2007. The race was also held in wet conditions however the start was relatively clean. Mark Skaife once again had a bad race, running off the circuit at turn 11 on lap 5. He was also the first driver to change from wet weather tyres to slicks as the racing line dried on lap 10. This began a trend where the drivers lower down the field also changed to slick to try to take advantage of the drying track, while the leaders stayed on wet weather tyres.
On lap 14, Jason Richards spun off the track and crashed into the wall on slick tyres after driving off the dry race line. Craig Lowndes also had a spin at turn 1. The first safety car of the race occurred when Lee Holdsworth spun off the track and crashed heavily into the wall at turn 4. This caused major damage to the rear of the Garry Rogers Motorsport car. During the safety car period, it started raining again and the drivers that changed to slicks had to go back to wet weather tyres.
After the restart on lap 25, Jamie Whincup took the lead from Tander, however Tander retook the lead at turn 3 of the same lap. Over the last 10 laps, Tander and Whincup battled for the lead in damp conditions and while dealing with lapped traffic. At the end of the race, Garth Tander won, from Jamie Whincup and teammate Rick Kelly.
Race 3 was held on Sunday 20 May 2007. The race began in dry conditions and this remained the same for the remainder of the race. Garth Tander lead the race in the early stages of the race. Steve Johnson retired for the race with an engine problem, and Mark Skaife also had a problem with the suspension of his car, ending a bad weekend for him.
The only safety car of the race was due to Paul Morris spinning off at turn 12 and becoming stuck in the sand trap. This was caused by oil which had been spilt on the approach to turn 12 and a number of drivers also rain wide and off the circuit because of the oil, however Morris was the only driver to get stuck.
The safety car came in on lap 27 and Tander continued to lead the race until the finish where he won the race from Jamie Whincup and Rick Kelly.
Garth Tander, also known to his peers as Tic Tac Teeth, is a multiple-championship winning Australian motor racing driver competing in the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship's Enduro Cup, co-driving the No. 97 Holden ZB Commodore for Triple Eight Race Engineering. He was the 2007 series champion for the HSV Dealer Team and is a four-time winner in Australia's most prestigious motor race, the Bathurst 1000.
The 2007 BigPond 400 is the second round of the 2007 V8 Supercar season. It was held on the weekend of the 23rd to 25 March at Barbagallo Raceway in Wanneroo, north of Perth, Western Australia. The round was significant in that John Bowe became the driver with the most round starts in the championship after passing Peter Brock. It was also significant in that it was Paul Radisich's first round after a major crash at Bathurst in 2006.
The 2007 PlaceMakers V8 Supercars was the third round of the 2007 V8 Supercar Championship Series. It was held on the weekend of the 20 to the 22 April at Pukekohe Park Raceway in New Zealand. This round will be the last V8 Supercar event at Pukekohe until 2013, with the 2008-12 New Zealand rounds being held on the streets of Hamilton. The round was also Cameron McConville's 100th start in the V8 Supercar Championship, and ran the number 100 on his car to mark this achievement.
The 2008 Hamilton 400 was the third round of the 2008 V8 Supercar season. It was held on the weekend of 18 to 20 April on the streets of Hamilton, in the Waikato region of the North Island of New Zealand.
The 2008 BigPond 400 was the fourth round of the 2008 V8 Supercar season. It was held on the weekend of 9 to 11 May at Barbagallo Raceway in Wanneroo, north of Perth, Western Australia.
The eighth round of the V8 Supercar Championship was held at Winton Motor Raceway in Benalla, Victoria, on the weekend of August 1 to August 3 of 2008.
The 2008 Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 was the twelfth running of the Australian 1000 race, first held after the organisational split over the Bathurst 1000 that occurred in 1997. It was the 52nd race tracing its lineage back to the 1960 Armstrong 500 held at Phillip Island.
The 2008 Gulf Air Desert 400 was the twelfth round of the 2008 V8 Supercar season. It was held on the weekend of the 6 to 8 November at the Bahrain International Circuit in Bahrain.
The 2009 Hamilton 400 was the second race meeting of the 2009 V8 Supercar Championship Series. It was held on the weekend of 17–19 April around the inner city streets of Hamilton, in New Zealand. The 2009 Hamilton 400 was the second running of the event.
The 2009 L&H 500 was the Race 17 of the 2009 V8 Supercar Championship Series. It was held on the weekend of 11 to 13 September at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit in Victoria, Australia. This was the ninth running of the Phillip Island 500 and the second time that Phillip Island had served as the venue for the annual 500 kilometre two-driver V8 Supercar endurance race. Unique to this event, two preliminary 14 lap Qualifying Races were held on Saturday with the two drivers of each car starting one race each. A single pitstop by each car in either race was mandated with the combined results of the two races determining the grid for the main 500 kilometre race. The three races all carried championship points and together constituted "Race 17" of the championship. However the finishing positions at the end of the 500 km race were deemed to be the finishing positions of the "2009 L&H 500" regardless of the total points scored by drivers over the three individual races.
The 2009 Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 was a motor race for V8 Supercars. It was the thirteenth running of the Australian 1000 race, first held after the organisational split over the Bathurst 1000 that occurred in 1997. It is the 53rd race tracing its lineage back to the 1960 Armstrong 500 held at Phillip Island.
The Sydney Telstra 500 was the fourteenth and final event of the 2009 V8 Supercar Championship Series and the inaugural running of the Sydney 500. It was held on the weekend of the December 4 to 6 on the roads running through the former Olympic precinct at Sydney Olympic Park, Sydney, New South Wales.
The 2010 Yas V8 400 was a motor race for the Australian sedan-based V8 Supercars. It was the first race of the 2010 V8 Supercar Championship Series. It was held on the weekend of February 18–20 on Yas Marina Circuit, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. It was the first time V8 Supercar visited the circuit and only the fourth time V8 Supercar had visited the Middle-East, having three times previously raced at the Bahrain International Circuit. The two Asian venues were linked together for the 2010 season, causing the cancellation of the 2009 Desert 400 at Bahrain, and the 2010 Desert 400 will take place the week following the Yas V8 400.
The 2010 ITM Hamilton 400 was the fourth event of the 2010 V8 Supercar Championship Series and the third running of the Hamilton 400. It was held on the weekend of 16–18 April on the inner city streets of Hamilton, in New Zealand.
The 2010 Skycity Triple Crown was the seventh race meeting of the 2010 V8 Supercar Championship Series. It featured Races 13 and 14 of the series and was held on the weekend of 18–20 June at Hidden Valley Raceway, in Darwin, in the Northern Territory, Australia.
The 2010 Sucrogen Townsville 400 was the eighth race meeting of the 2010 V8 Supercar Championship Series. It featured Races 15 and 16 of the series and was held on the weekend of 9–11 July at the Townsville Street Circuit, in Townsville, in Queensland, Australia. It was the second running of the Townsville 400 street race.
The 2010 Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 was a motor race for V8 Supercars. The race, which was held on Sunday, 10 October 2010 at the Mount Panorama Circuit just outside Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia was Race 18 of the 2010 V8 Supercar Championship Series. It was the fourteenth running of the Australian 1000 race, first held after the organisational split over the Bathurst 1000 that occurred in 1997. It was also the 54th race for which the lineage can be traced back to the 1960 Armstrong 500 held at Phillip Island.
The 2011 Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 was an Australian touring car motor race for V8 Supercars. The race was on Sunday, 9 October 2011 at the Mount Panorama Circuit just outside Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia and was Race 20 of the 2011 International V8 Supercars Championship. It was the fifteenth running of the Australian 1000 race, first held after the organisational split over the Bathurst 1000 that occurred in 1997. It was also the 55th race for which the lineage can be traced back to the 1960 Armstrong 500 held at Phillip Island.
The 2013 Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 was an Australian touring car motor race for V8 Supercars, the twenty-ninth race of the 2013 International V8 Supercars Championship. It was held on 13 October 2013 at the Mount Panorama Circuit in Bathurst, New South Wales.
The 2016 Wilson Security Sandown 500 was a motor racing event for Supercars, held from 16 to 18 September 2016 at the Sandown Raceway in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia and consisted of one race of 445 kilometres in length. It was the tenth event of fourteen in the 2016 International V8 Supercars Championship and hosted Race 20 of the season. It was also the first event of the 2016 Enduro Cup. The event was the 46th running of the Sandown 500.
| Supercars Championship | ||
|---|---|---|
| Previous race: 2007 PlaceMakers V8 Supercars | 2007 Supercars Championship | Next race: 2007 Eastern Creek |
| Previous year: 2006 Winton round of the V8 Supercar Championship | 2007 Winton | Next year: 2008 Winton round of the V8 Supercar Championship |
