2001 Adelaide 500
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| Round 2 of 13 in the 2001 Shell Championship Series | ||||||||||||||
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| Date | 6–8 April 2001 | |||||||||||||
| Location | Adelaide, South Australia | |||||||||||||
| Venue | Adelaide Street Circuit | |||||||||||||
| Weather | Overcast, Fine | |||||||||||||
| Results | ||||||||||||||
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The 2001 Adelaide 500 (known for naming rights reasons as the 2001 Clipsal 500 Adelaide) was the third running of the Adelaide 500 event. The event served as the second round of the 2001 Shell Championship Series and was held from April 6 to 8, 2001.
The first race of the weekend was won by Craig Lowndes, thus securing his first win for the Ford since his switch from the Holden Racing Team. In doing so, it was also Gibson Motorsport's first win for Ford.[1] Sunday's race was won by Jason Bright who climbed through the field after contact on lap one that forced him to pit for repairs. The race was also notable for the late-race battle, and eventual collision, between former Holden Racing Team teammates, Lowndes and Mark Skaife.
Bright's overall round victory allowed him to leapfrog teammate Skaife in the driver standings heading into the third round at Eastern Creek. This was also the last year that the Adelaide circuit would feature a chicane at turn eight. From 2002, the corner would be reprofiled into a sweeper that would become a staple of the circuit in the years that followed.
Background
[edit]The format, unique to V8 Supercars, and loosely similar to the Pukekohe 500 format, splits the 500 kilometre event into two separate 250 kilometre-races, each held on a different day. Points were assigned separately to the races, with Race 2 paying double points over Race 1 (180 points for a win in Race 1 and 360 points for a win in Race 2), and they combined to award a round result. The defending event winner from 2000 was Garth Tander of Garry Rogers Motorsport.
Mark Skaife entered the round with a 50-point lead over nearest competitor Craig Lowndes after dominating the opening round at Phillip Island.[2]
Entry list
[edit]Several drivers would make their first appearances for the 2001 season in this event. This included Angus Fogg for Team Kiwi Racing, Alan Heath for Power Racing, and Garry Holt for Emerzidis Motorsport.
Race report
[edit]Qualifying
[edit]Sporting a brand-new Dick Johnson Racing AU Falcon, Paul Radisich set the pace in qualifying with a time nearly four-tenths clear of nearest competitor, Mark Larkham. The top 18 cars in qualifying had set a laptime under the previous track record set by Jason Bright in 1999.
Top fifteen shootout
[edit]Preceding the shootout, a tyre bundle was installed at the Senna Chicane to deter corner-cutting. This would be removed for the races.
Race 1
[edit]Skaife won the holeshot over Greg Murphy to take the lead into the Senna Chicane. Behind them, Dugal McDougall was spun by Cameron McLean at turn four. The stranded McDougall was collected in a nose-to-tail incident that included Paul Weel, Paul Romano and Greg Ritter. Anthony Tratt was also spun around in a separate incident at the same corner. Further up the road, Jason Richards suffered significant damage to the front of his Commodore which ultimately forced him out of the race. The following lap, McLean's engine suffered a catastrophic detonation and pulled off into the escape road at the turn nine hairpin to retire from the race.
As the race settled down, the top three drivers of Skaife, Murphy and Radisich began to break away from the pack. Radisich in particular had begun to apply an enormous amount of pressure to the two ahead of him. On lap eight, Radisich passed Murphy on the approach to turn four in an aggressive move and set off after Skaife in hot pursuit. The following lap, Marcos Ambrose and Todd Kelly collided on the front straight which sent the former into the barriers and forced him out of the race. Somewhat controversially, the stewards adjudicated the collision to be a racing incident and issued no punishment to Kelly. Skaife, who was beginning to struggle with his tyres, continued to defend his lead heavily from Radisich. On lap 16, the two collided on the approach to turn four which sent Skaife into a spin. He would rejoin the race in 16th, behind Dean Canto. Similar to the Kelly/Ambrose incident, the stewards would not penalise Radisich for the contact as they had adjudged the collision to be a racing incident.
"That was the most stupidest thing that I have ever done in motor racing. I was concentrating fully on the dash readout to ensure I didn't exceed the 60kph speed limit in pitlane and I simply drove past my pitbox; that cost me any chance of winning the event."
Murphy came in for his compulsory pitstop on lap 27. However, in the act of intently monitoring his speedometer to ensure he did not exceed the pit-speed limit, he missed his pit box and would be required to cycle around again after having lost an array of positions. Behind him, Skaife took the opportunity of his own misfortunes to complete the first of his pitstops for fuel. Kelly and Garth Tander came to blows later on the same lap which sent the former into a spin while attempting to enter the pitlane. Steven Johnson sustained significant damage to his driver's side door after Kelly had backed into it during the spin. After Rodney Forbes retired from the race at turn five, the safety car was called on lap 38 to retrieve multiple grief-stricken cars across the racetrack.
The race resumed on lap 42 with Bright leading the pack and Radisich being the first on the road to have made both compulsory pitstops. Lowndes began to climb through the pack and on lap 46, passed Radisich for the effective lead of the race into the hairpin. The safety car would be recalled on lap 47 after Murphy's steering rack failed at turn eight, sending him into the wall and out of the race. During this period, John Faulkner was involved in an incident on pitroad where the rear wing of his Commodore haphazardly became tangled with a hose from his pit box gantry. This brought the gantry down onto Mark Larkham's pitbox and injured one of the crew members.
Upon resumption of the race, Lowndes led from Radisich, Ingall, Johnson and Glenn Seton. Radisich's car by this stage had incurred significant overall damage and begun to hinder the cars handling characteristics. He was also suffering with a rehydration issue, depleting him of fluids in a what was a notoriously grueling endurance event. Two further impacts with the wall eventually broke the Watts linkage and forced him to retire from the race. By this time, Lowndes had established a commanding lead over Johnson and Ingall. Even after straying wide at the hairpin toward the end of the race, Lowndes' lead never came under any threat.
"This is great – we didn't expect to win a race so early in the season, so this is a great team victory."
On lap 74, Seton and Bright collided through The Staircase, sending Seton backwards into the tyre barrier, dislodging the rear bumper and throwing it under the car. With this, Seton was unable to drive away and retired on the spot. Up the front, Lowndes remained unchallenged to the flag and thus took his, and Gibson Motorsport's, first win for the Ford brand. Johnson and Ingall rounded out the podium while Skaife finished fourth in a commendable recovery drive. Another notable performance was that of Dean Canto who, despite the limitations of the RPM Racing equipment, finished in the top ten in a lauded drive.
The stewards came under scrutiny after the race after a barrage of incidents throughout the race went unpunished. Along with the Kelly/Ambrose and Skaife/Radisich incidents, the Holden Racing Team pitcrew had also allowed one of Bright's wheels to venture across the pitlane where it was then collected by Larry Perkins. It was stressed before the event that such an offence would result in a drive-through penalty. Instead, the stewards issued the team with a $2000AUD fine. The only driver that did receive punishment of any kind was Jason Bargwanna who had spun John Bowe at the hairpin. For this, Bargwanna was issued a stop-go penalty.
Race 2
[edit]Despite the threat of rain looming at the start of the day, conditions for the race were good. Lowndes kept his lead off the line while Skaife nestled his way into second. At the hairpin on lap one, Steven Ellery collided with Tander after attempting an audacious, and ultimately unsuccessful move. This caused chaos as Tander came nose-to-nose with Ellery, Bowe and Larkham. Canto also found himself trapped in the melee and Bright was forced into the pitlane after sustaining damage to the front-left fender. The damage to Bowe's car was significant to force him out of the race. Up the front, Lowndes began to seek out a commanding lead. Skaife relinquished second and third shortly before safety car was called. A second safety car was soon called after Forbes and Cameron McConville came to blows on lap five.
On lap 21, Paul Morris retired from the race after being overcome by fuel fumes emanating throughout the car. Upon returning to the pitlane, Morris collapsed and was given immediate medical care. Tander lost even more positions after colliding with Canto at the final corner on lap 24. On lap 29, Radisich crashed into the wall at the penultimate corner as a result of a cut tyre. He was able to keep the engine running but was unable to extricate himself from the tyre wall and forced another safety car period. The safety car was out again on lap 37 after Canto suffered a high-speed shunt at turn eight after his brakes failed.
"I was in a hurry to pass Skaife and we were having a good old tussle. He's struggled for pace all weekend but was blocking quite nicely. I had a crack at the inside line on the exit of turn six, heading to turn seven and it didn't come off."
Despite the calamity of the start, Bright found himself leading the race after having completed both compulsory pitstops. Skaife likewise was enjoying a fruitful race and looked set to make it a Holden Racing Team one-two. However, he spun at turn eight after a fumble with the gearbox and lost a bunch of positions. Lowndes meanwhile was forced to pit after his left-rear tyre was damaged. After a few laps, Lowndes had caught up with Skaife and the two former teammates became locked in battle. The new left-rear tyre on Lowndes' car gave him an edge on pace, exemplified when he set the fastest lap of the race shortly before latching onto the back of Skaife. On lap 59, as they were ascending through The Staircase, Lowndes attempted a criss-cross move on Skaife. However, he clipped the rear of the HRT Commodore, forcing him into a half-spin. Lowndes climbed up the side of the Commodore and the resulting damage forced Lowndes out of the race. Skaife pressed on, albeit with damage to the front-right of the car.
Ingall began to eat into Bright's lead in the dying laps of the race while Johnson passed Seton for third place. Ultimately, Bright maintained a healthy margin to take his first victory aboard a Holden in the V8 Supercar category and in doing so had usurped teammate Skaife as the new championship leader. Ingall and Johnson completed the podium.
Championship points
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Aftermath
[edit]Following a myriad of crashes at turn eight, the corner would be reprofiled for 2002. The chicane would be replaced with a sweeper which would become a staple of the racetrack and notorious for being one of the most challenging in Australian motorsport.
References
[edit]- ↑ "Rewind: Lowndes' First Ford Win Amid Clipsal Chaos". V8 Sleuth. 7 April 2021. Retrieved 26 August 2026.
- ↑ "Skaife and HRT lead the way". Go Auto. 26 March 2001. Retrieved 25 August 2026.
- 1 2 3 "2001 V8 Supercars Clipsal 500 (Race 1)". The Racing Years. Retrieved 26 August 2026.
- 1 2 3 "HRT Grabs Third Win In A Row Before Record Adelaide Crowd". Speedsport Ltd. April 2001. pp. 34–36.
- ↑ "2001 V8 Supercars Clipsal 500 (Race 2)". The Racing Years. Retrieved 26 August 2026.
External links
[edit]| Supercars Championship | ||
|---|---|---|
| Previous race: 2001 V8 Supercars Phillip Island round |
2001 Supercars Championship | Next race: 2001 V8 Supercars Eastern Creek round |
| Previous year: 2000 Clipsal 500 |
Clipsal 500 | Next year: 2002 Clipsal 500 |