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After a dramatic weekend at Symmons Plains, we ask what you think of how hard Supercars drivers race each other, in this week’s Pirtek Poll.
The Ned Whisky Tasmania SuperSprint was a bruising affair for several teams, and three drivers in particular were in the thick of the action.
Shane van Gisbergen took a clean sweep of the event after pulling off several eye-catching moves, particularly in Saturday afternoon’s Race 3 of the season.
One of his scalps in that encounter was Cameron Waters, who was then dishing it out himself a day later in a battle with Tim Slade which sent the latter flying through the infield at high speed.
Waters was unrepentant about his part in that wild incident, and his attitude was not inconsistent with his comments about “hard racing” 24 hours earlier.
The Tickford Racing driver was leading when he copped a bump from van Gisbergen exiting the Hairpin which set up a side-draft pass down the back straight in Race 3.
It was only seven laps earlier that the Red Bull Ampol Racing driver had done the same to Will Davison to take over second position.
Marcos Ambrose, who spent almost a decade in the rough-and-tumble that is NASCAR, said that his fellow two-time Supercars champion was “breaking new ground” with those and other passes he made in that encounter.
Ambrose later mused that van Gisbergen may also have a mental edge on his rivals, although the man himself put it down to racecraft rather than mind games.
No action was taken over his manoeuvres, nor indeed any official investigation reported, but stewards did come down on Waters for his biffo with Slade.
The #6 Mustang was issued a pit lane penalty for reckless driving, although the Tickford steerer claimed it was “just racing [and] I’d do the exact same thing again.”
Despite giving van Gisbergen the ‘bird’ in Race 3, Waters also deemed that to be fair play.
“I’m all for hard racing and bumping and all that stuff, and I didn’t really think there was much in it,” he said.
“And, I expect to be able to give it back to people and not get a penalty either.
“That’s what we want; we’re an entertainment business, and we don’t want to just follow the leader.”
In the Slade incident, however, stewards decided that he had “failed to leave racing room for Car 3 to its left” in attempting to defend his position as they made contact multiple times on the run down the back straight.
Another notable incident in recent times was the case of Andre Heimgartner being issued a bad sportsmanship flag after repeatedly blocking Chaz Mostert in a battle they had at Sydney Motorsport Park.
Heimgartner was unhappy with that call, reasoning that, “if we don’t have good, hard racing, I mean what’s the point?”
Race fans were divided on van Gisbergen’s actions, if Speedcafe.com’s website and social media comments are anything to go by.
Some enjoyed the cut and thrust, whereas others felt he had crossed a line in what the rules of engagement should be.
Of course, there is no question that all concerned would prefer to see a genuine contest rather than a procession.
However, there seems to be some debate as to what contact should be treated as fair and what should not be.
Is a so-called ‘bump-and-run’ acceptable or not? Should a bump which unsettles the driver in front but does not completely unload them/turn them around be allowed? Is that simply skilful racing, or bad sportsmanship?
Perhaps you would prefer the more hands-off approach of NASCAR, where drivers are, by and large, left to sort themselves out over the course of a season.
What do you think of the racing which the Repco Supercars Championship field produced at Symmons Plains?
Cast your vote below in this week’s Pirtek Poll.
