Supercars’ Sydney Saturday night fever
By Thomas Miles
Date posted: 29 July 2023
Supercars racing at Sydney Motorsport Park is nothing new, but the 2023 event will offer up some variables teams and drivers have not yet encountered in the Gen3 era.
Not only will it be a stunning visual spectacle with flames spitting out of the exhaust and lighting up the night sky, it will create an intriguing strategy fight.
Download the full Supercars Sydney Round 7 Event Guide with track stats and facts and a full event schedule, plus extensive driver profiles HERE
Saturday night’s race is a 200km, 51-lap affair where tyre degradation and fuel stops will have a big say on the final result.
On the following day a shorter 36-lap afternoon sprint will be held, but carry just as much significance with 150 points on the table.
Will Davison at the front of the field in 2021. Image: Mark Horsburgh
But the headline act is the Saturday night spectacle, which will be the ninth night race held at the venue since 1996.
The round also represents the start of the second half of the season and a title fight for the ages is brewing with just 72 points separating Will Brown, Brodie Kostecki, Broc Feeney and Shane van Gisbergen.
Whilst Brown and Feeney have done most of the winning this year, Kostecki and van Gisbergen have still scrapped hard for every last point and their consistency has been pivotal.
With both Triple Eight Race Engineering and Erebus Motorsport being some of the fastest teams across this year and the last two trips to SMP, expect their rivalry to only heighten.
Another squad which has collected trophies under the Sydney night sky is Dick Johnson Racing which is back in form.
Championship leader Will Brown on the charge at the Sydney Motorsport Park test day. Image: Mark Horsburgh/EDGE Photographics
One of the most prolific drivers across the 2021 SMP quadruple-header was Anton De Pasquale, who is boosted by his Townsville success.
He delivered Ford’s first on-track win of the Gen3 era, which arrived on the same weekend as a host of rear-end aero parity changes added to the Mustang.
The Fords will also receive a new 80mm throttle body this weekend, but any parity changes will be put to the ultimate test on the long, fast and sweeping SMP bends.
Ten of the 11 fastest times at February’s pre-season test also held in Sydney were Camaros and everyone hopes to see a more even split this weekend.
Download the full Supercars Sydney Round 7 Event Guide with track stats and facts and a full event schedule, plus extensive driver profiles HERE
For more of the latest motorsport news, pick up the latest issue of AUTO ACTION.
Auto Action, Australia’s independent voice of motorsport.
PODCAST: The latest episode of the Auto Action RevLimiter podcast is out now!
In the latest episode, the team discuss Supercars parts & parity with an SMP preview. F1’s Oscar & Dan show, and the Aussie’s take on NASCAR!
Listen on your podcast app of choice or here on the Auto Action RevLimiter podcast.
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