A Return to Victory Lane in Perth 🏆
Hey everyone,
Wow, what a bloody good weekend that one was! I’m still processing it a little bit because things in Supercars land don’t get much better than that 😅
To start with, I’d like to say a massive thank you to the Walkinshaw Andretti United team. We had a difficult year last year, but the boys and girls really put their heads down during the off-season and built a package that was strong as soon as we hit the track at Bathurst.
That same work ethic followed us to the test at Winton, where again we made some massive gains after running through a whole list of things that dragged deep into the afternoon. They’re always big days, but we all got stuck in and went to work.
As for Perth…we were fast and saw the improvements from Winton right away. To top the first practice session, with a car that I felt was an even better race car than a qualifying car, gave me a lot of confidence. Adding to that was Everly picking me out a set of ‘go fast’ socks for the weekend, and no, I did not take them off 😆
Rolled out of the blocks for qualifying and carried that same speed into the knockout session, grabbing a Pole Position which was made extra special by Woody on the front row with me, as WAU locked out the front of the grid.
Talking about Woody, he got the jump on me in that race and led a few laps - he drove a great race and has a bright future in the category. Car #25 hooked up well and our race pace was great, which took us to the checkered flag first. I can’t tell you how good that one felt…
Supercars is a cut-throat game and everyone on the grid is great in their own right, so not being able to win for a while makes you question whether you can still do it. Well, I can tell you now that the old boy still has it, with no signs of letting up. 💪
Sunday, a new day, a bit of a refresher, and we were fast again in practice to go P1. In quali we just got pipped by Cam (Waters) who put in a great lap, so we lined up in P2. That changed when the #6 ran wide on the opening lap, and we were looking good for another race win until a drama in the pitlane.
I thought I had the space when the crew were telling me to merge over the radio, so I came out of the throttle, hesitated a little bit and we made a bit of contact. Sorry to the team there, that was my mistake, but we were hit with a 5-second penalty which put us back to finish P2.
All in all, I can’t tell you what a relief it is to have that car speed and a weekend like that - we’ve needed that one for a while to get the monkey off the back, and hopefully can replicate it now for the rest of the season.
Lastly, we were racing with heavy hearts this weekend as we mourned the passing of Glen Holdsworth, and sent our condolences to the whole Holdsworth family. Glen was a great guy and will truly be missed by all those who had the pleasure of knowing him 💙
Thank you for the continued support, let's keep it rolling into Darwin.
Cheers,
Chaz 🤙
