Photos: Edge Photography The Repco Supercars Championship will draw its final straw this weekend as an epic title battle comes to its natural conclusion at the VAILO Adelaide 500.
Erebus Motorsport’s Brodie Kostecki will be eager to spoil what would be a perfect farewell for the outgoing Shane van Gisbergen, with the reigning champion looking to make it three straight championship titles and four it total.
There are currently 131 points separating the duo ahead of the two 250-kilometre races around the iconic Adelaide street circuit, meaning van Gisbergen will need to heavily outscore his title rival to be in for a chance at a fourth title.
If Kostecki can outscore the Red Bull Ampol Racing driver by 20 points on Saturday, he will automatically be crowned champion with a single race to go.
However, if van Gisbergen were to dominate proceedings and take both race wins, Kostecki could still take top honours as long as he finishes higher than eighth place in both of those races.
While the Drivers’ Championship battle will take centre stage, both Erebus and Triple Eight Race Engineering are also locked into a Teams’ Championship fight – meaning the results of Kostecki and van Gisbergen, as well as Will Brown (Erebus) and Broc Feeney (Triple Eight) will have greater significance.
The battle for third place is also yet to be decided between Brown and Feeney, which will undoubtedly add to the excitement.
There will be plenty of other battles throughout the field to take place too, with practically the entire top 10 still able to be shuffled around before the final standings etch themselves into the record books.
Chaz Mostert is less than 200 points behind Feeney in fifth, while Andre Heimgartner will be feeling the pressure in sixth with Cam Waters, Anton De Pasquale, Bryce Fullwood and Jack le Brocq all within or near the same margin of the Brad Jones Racing entry.
Fans attending or watching from home will have plenty of opportunity to catch the Gen3 Supercars on track for the final time in 2023, with two practices split across Thursday and Friday building up to the all-important Qualifying session late Friday afternoon.
A further practice session will then kick off the supercar action on Saturday, before the popular Top 10 Shootout acts as a prequel for Race 27.
Sunday will then see a similar schedule with the first stage of qualifying to replace practice, where competitors will then turn all their focus to the final race of the season in the afternoon.
There will be a host of support categories providing all the entertainment between sessions, including the Dunlop Series, Gulf Western Oil Touring Car Masters, Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia powered by AWS, Porsche Paynter Dixon Carrera Cup Australia, Haltech V8 SuperUte Series and the S5000 Australian Drivers’ Championship.
Each category will take to the track for multiple races across the weekend, with plenty of significant narratives to keep an eye out for as all six support categories also write their final chapter in an enthralling 2023 season.
Those unable to attend the event in person can catch all the action on Fox Sports and Kayo, while selected coverage will be available on the Seven Network.
The final round of the Repco Supercars Championship season will be the VAILO Adelaide 500 and will take place on 23-26 November.
Schedule
Thursday
3:45pm – 4:15pm: Practice 1
Friday
12:35am – 1:05pm: Practice 2
5:35pm – 5:50pm: ARMOR ALL Qualifying – Race 27
Saturday
9:45am – 10:15am – Practice 3
12:05pm-12:35pm – ARMOR ALL Top 10 Shootout – Race 27
2:50pm – 4:45pm – Race 27
Sunday
10:15am – 10:30am – ARMOR ALL Qualifying – Race 28
12:05pm-12:35pm – ARMOR ALL Top 10 Shootout – Race 28
2:45pm – 4:45pm – Race 28
*All times in ACDT
Championship Top 10
Brodie Kostecki – 3696 points
Shane van Gisbergen – 2565
Will Brown – 2201
Broc Feeney – 2192
Chaz Mostert – 2056
Andre Heimgartner – 1830
Cam Waters – 1829
Anton De Pasquale – 1680
Bryce Fullwood – 1623
Jack Le Brocq – 1616
Entry List
Walkinshaw Andretti United
#2 Ford Mustang GT – Nick Percat
#25 Ford Mustang GT – Chaz Mostert
Tim Blanchard Racing
#3 Ford Mustang GT – Todd Hazelwood
Brad Jones Racing
#4 Chevrolet Camaro – Jack Smith
#8 Chevrolet Camaro – Andre Heimgartner
#14 Chevrolet Camaro – Bryce Fullwood
#96 Chevrolet Camaro – Macauley Jones
Tickford Racing
#5 Ford Mustang GT – James Courtney
#50 Ford Mustang GT – Cameron Waters
#55 Ford Mustang GT – Thomas Randle
#56 Ford Mustang GT – Declan Fraser
Grove Racing
#19 Ford Mustang GT – Matthew Payne
#26 Ford Mustang GT – David Reynolds
Erebus Motorsport
#9 Chevrolet Camaro – Will Brown
#99 Chevrolet Camaro – Brodie Kostecki
Dick Johnson Racing
#11 Ford Mustang GT – Anton De Pasquale
#17 Ford Mustang GT – Will Davison
Team 18
#18 Chevrolet Camaro – Mark Winterbottom
#20 Chevrolet Camaro – Scott Pye
PremiAir Racing
#23 Chevrolet Camaro – Tim Slade
#31 Chevrolet Camaro – James Golding
Matt Stone Racing
#34 Chevrolet Camaro – Jack Le Brocq
#35 Chevrolet Camaro – Cameron Hill
Triple Eight Race Engineering
#88 Chevrolet Camaro – Broc Feeney
#97 Chevrolet Camaro – Shane van Gisbergen
Keyword: Adelaide street-fight to decide Kostecki and van Gisbergen battle