Just as Gen3 is set to debut at the Reid Park street circuit in Townsville this weekend a decade ago the Repco Supercars Championship welcomed a new era in the form of Car of The Future.
The Repco Supercars Championship in 2013 arrived at Townsville having welcomed eight different winners and Red Bull Racing’s Jamie Whincup leading the standings after a run of six victories in seven races.
Even back then, Shane van Gisbergen led the way on street circuits and set pole for the opening race up north, but a pit infringement during the event dropped him out of contention. In fact, it was Ford Performance Racing’s Mark Winterbottom and Will Davison taking a 1-2 victory for the Blue Oval as Fabian Coulthard continued Brad Jones Racing’s excellent season in third.
For the event, Holden’s major backing of NRL’s State of Origin was displayed on each of the factory VF Commodores as James Courtney displayed his support of New South Wales and although Garth Tander is from Western Australia, his allegiance was with Queensland.
The Holden Racing Team was in the midst of a dry spell since winning the Bathurst 1000 in 2011, but a twin-top 10 for Courtney and Tander on Saturday provided the basis for an attack in Race 21.
Winterbottom secured pole and held onto the lead into Turn 2 where teammate David Reynolds played back up, with Tander and Scott McLaughlin in the Garry Rogers Motorsport VF Commodore among the challengers.
An early pit stop allowed the HRT duo to change to soft tyres, setting up a big stint where Tander charged his way through to the lead, even though he brushed the wall on the exit of Turn 9.
Tander survived to lead a Holden Racing Team 1-2 in Townsville as Queensland defeated New South Wales, just like the rugby league team did 10 days later.
It was to be the last 1-2 for Walkinshaw Racing under the HRT banner as it moved across to Triple Eight Race Engineering for 2017 before finally ending in 2021 when the Holden brand was discontinued by General Motors.
The Clayton-based outfit now run under the Walkinshaw Andretti United name after Ryan Walkinshaw agreed to a co-ownership structure with Michael Andretti and Zak Brown in 2017, with the team entering Ford Mustangs in the 2023 season.