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James Courtney competes in the 2016 Supercars season in Ipswich
NEWS

VASC: Mastering The "Paperclip"

Jul 232016

The 2016 Virgin Australia Supercars Championship (VASC) remained in the sunny Northern state of Queensland for round eight, as the track known as the ‘paperclip’ (for it’s shape) provided some incredible Supercars action.

A total of six turns and six presumably unchallenging straights constitute the Ipswich circuit, which sounds quite easy, right? Well, the consequence of the circuit being so basic is that every driver can go fast, with incremental gains being the key to success.

Remember, folks; sometimes the ‘easiest’ of things can prove to be the most difficult and provide many unexpected challenges.

James Courtney competes in the 2016 Supercars season in Ipswich
Defending 2015 VASC Champion and Monster Energy backed athlete, Mark ‘Frosty’ Winterbottom, adopted the ‘consistency is key’ mentality for Ipswich, piecing together two strong races over the weekend with a fourth and a fifth place respectively.

Frosty now sits third overall in the championship standings; a mere 120 points off of the lead. Monster Energy Racing’s Cam Waters endured a difficult weekend, with his Prodrive Racing (Australia) Ford shutting down on the out lap which would rule him out of Saturday’s race completely.
Cameron Waters competes in the 2016 Supercars season in Ipswich
The rookies luck on Sunday wouldn’t get much better, with his flyer lap on green tyres in qualifying being compromised by a slower car in the racing line. This put Waters down the rear of the field, and a 16th place finish was all he could achieve by race end.

It was a similar story for Holden Racing Team’s James Courtney, who was smashing around in the midfield for almost the entirety of the weekend. A drive through penalty and a late race collision saw an unfortunate DNF on Sunday for the former Jaguar Formula One Test Driver.
James Courtney competes in the 2016 Supercars season in Ipswich
The Virgin Australia Supercars Championship now has a lengthy one month break, with the Sydney Motorsport Park hosting the final round before the exciting endurance season.

2016 Virgin Australia Supercars Championship Standings (Round eight of 14)
1 Jamie Whincup 1821
2 Shane Van Gisbergen 1711
3 Mark Winterbottom 1701
4 Craig Lowndes 1671
5 Scott McLaughlin 1536
6 Will Davison 1485
7 Michael Caruso 1368
8 Tim Slade 1353
9 Chaz Mostert 1286
10 James Courtney 1215
18 Cam Waters 901

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