A new era kicked off the 2023 Repco Supercars Championship on Saturday at Newcastle Street Circuit in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia, for the Thrifty Newcastle 500.
It was the first time since 2019 that the Supercars raced at Newcastle. The Gen3 cars made their debut with the Ford Mustang and the Chevrolet Camaro.
Brodie Kostecki of Coca-Cola Racing by Erebus started the race on the pole. He led the opening laps but finished in fifth place. Chaz Mostert of Mobil 1 Optus Racing started in second place but finished in fourth place.
Red Bull Ampol driver Shane van Gisbergen started in third place. He took the lead on lap 31 after everyone made their pit stops and never looked back. He beat his teammate Broc Feeney by 14.74 seconds in the Gen3 Chevrolet Camaro.
After the race, Tickford Racing and Walkinshaw Andretti United are protesting the results of the race. Tickford Racing filed a protest against both Red Bull Ampol cars for alleging a technical breach of C16.2 regarding the Driver Cooling System on cars 88 and 97. If the protest is successful, the results of Race 1 will change.
The rest of the top ten finishers were Cam Waters third, Chaz Mostert fourth, Brodie Kostecki fifth, Will Brown sixth, Andre Heimgartner seventh, Mark Winterbottom eighth, Scott Pye ninth, and James Courtney tenth.
Race two of the Thrifty Newcastle 500 is tonight at 11:20 pm on the Supercars YouTube Channel. You can join to watch the race for $7.45 a month.
Update: Red Bull Ampol Racing have been disqualified for Race 1 for a technical breach of rule C16.2 regarding the driver cooling system. They are appealing the ruling. For now, Cam Waters is now the winner. The new top ten finishers are Chaz Mostert third, Brodie Kostecki fourth, Will Brown fifth, Andre Heimgartner sixth, Mark Winterbottom seventh, Scott Pye eighth, James Courtney ninth, and David Reynolds tenth.
