Newcastle 500

Friday at the 2023 Thrifty Newcastle 500 Supercars, where Brodie Kostecki topped practice in his Coca-Cola Camaro, while 2023 Repco Supercars Champion Shane ...

Friday at the 2023 Thrifty Newcastle 500 Supercars, where PHOTOS: Friday at the 2023 Thrifty Newcastle 500 Supercars [which it has announced it will address for the remainder of the weekend](https://www.speedcafe.com/2023/03/10/supercars-to-implement-tv-graphics-fix/).

Supercars teams have completed vital laps in their new cars on the first day of the Newcastle 500. Finishing fourth in the team's championship last year, ...

Three-time TCM champion Steven Johnson claimed victory in Race 1 for the Gulf Western Oils Touring Car Masters at the Thrifty Newcastle 500.

The race ended under Safety Car, with Johnson crossing the stripe ahead of Fisher, Bressington, Zukanovic, Bowe, Tilley, Hansford, Burnitt and Price, with the latter two finishing a lap down. He further stretched out his margin to over 1s ahead of Fisher, with Bressington 4s off the pace, as Zukanovic began pressuring Bowe for fourth. Johnson stretched out a margin to 0.4611s over Fisher, as Adams and Burnitt both locked up going into the run-off at Turn 1 on Lap 2. [polesitter](https://www.speedcafe.com/2023/03/10/tcm-pole-for-johnson-mustang-in-newcastle/) continued his dominant start to the year [following victory in Round 1 at Symmons Plains Raceway](https://www.speedcafe.com/2023/02/26/johnson-goes-back-to-back-in-tcm/), leading the way from Fisher, Bressington, John Bowe (Holden Torana Torana SL/R 5000), Ryan Hansford (Holden Torana A9X), Cameron Tilley (Valiant Pacer). Trophy Race winner Marcus Zukanovic (Ford Falcon XD) was next, followed by Geoff Fane (Chevrolet Camaro RS), Peter Burnitt (Holden Torana A9X), John Adams (Ford Falcon XY GT), Tony Karanfilvoski (Ford Mustang Trans Am) and Ian Price (Ford Escort MK II) on the opening lap. Johnson (Ford Mustang) claimed a lights-to-flag victory in the 11-lap encounter that ended under Safety Car, taking the chequered flag ahead of Andrew Fisher (Holden Torana A9X) and Adam Bressington (Chevrolet Camaro SS).

The Newcastle 500 is back and the new Gen3 Supercars will roar into Newcastle this weekend for the first race of the season with all of the action to be ...

Tune into the unmissable weekend of action on Foxtel and Kayo Sports – the only places to see every session live with no ad-breaks during racing in 2023. The main races will take place at 3.20pm on Saturday and Sunday. The Newcastle 500 is back and the new Gen3 Supercars will roar into Newcastle this weekend for the first race of the season with all of the action to be covered live and ad-break free during racing on Foxtel and Kayo Sports.

Will Davison promises race fans will see a “lot of action” when the Newcastle 500 kick-starts the Gen3 era of the Supercars Championship.

11 Shell V-Power Ford Mustang) head into the season-opening round with form on the board – and a point to prove. “We’re in for a hot and hard day’s work [behind the wheel]… “Obviously, we’ll work hard to ensure the car is as nice and comfortable as possible for us, too.” “The cars look sensational, we’ve got big flames coming out the side of them,” the 40-year-old said. “We’ll work hard in the build-up to make sure we see the chequered flag. “And, it’s going to be an awesome challenge for us, as drivers, to try and wrestle the vehicles over a longer distance. “It’s also very hard on the cars in terms that they bottom out a lot. “The Newcastle circuit is one of the most hardcore street tracks. “I probably couldn’t find a more daunting initiation and baptism of fire for the cars on this circuit,” the two-time Bathurst 1000 winner said. “However, we’re [now] focusing on the performance side of things. 17 Shell V-Power Ford Mustang, and colleague Anton De Pasquale (No. Will Davison promises race fans will see a “lot of action” when the Thrifty Newcastle 500 kick-starts the Gen3 era of the Repco Supercars Championship this week.

Flight Lieutenant Ross Bowman will speed over the Newcastle 500 in a F-35A Lightning II jet.

"I'm going to slow it right down to 100 knots and my nose is going to be pointing right up to the sky, so I can't actually see where I'm going," he said. "I'll get as slow as about 100 knots, so that's 200 kilometres an hour, that's pretty slow for a fighter jet, and then I'll get it up to about 1,000km an hour." "I had that hunger from a child, a strong family history with the RAAF, so it was always a goal of mine to get in a jet and be able to put on a display for the public," he said.

Steve Johnson has put the Brut #33 Mustang into pole position, with Andrew Fisher not far behind him in P2.

Fisher finished in P2 with Bressington and Bowe to share the second row for Race 1, with Hansford and Tilley filling the third row. The session resumed with seven minutes to run with Fisher and Bressington in P2 and P3. The Touring Car Masters returned to the streets of Newcastle for the first time since 2019, with some familiar names returning in Bowe, Hansford, Johnson, Bressington and Tilley – who’s Valiant Pacer will notch the 200 race mark in the Trophy Race.

Away from all the keyboard bullsheet on here every single day, it's been fantastic to just see these cars hitting the track on a race weekend.

Live updates from the Newcastle 500 Supercars, presented by Mobil 1. [ > ](https://www.speedcafe.com/) [Features](https://www.speedcafe.com/category/features/) > [Live Updates](https://www.speedcafe.com/category/features/live-updates/) Mobil 1 live updates: Newcastle 500

Very close, good to see. Mr Tee • 4 minutes ago. Ah great seeing all those chevs up the front. Thanks supercars for the extra aero lol.

9 9 1:11.9655 S 10 1:11.9265 S 10 8 1

Steven Johnson has continued his dominance of Touring Cars Masters, dominating the second race at Newcastle.

Feeney +0.1167](https://autoaction.com.au/2023/03/10/svg-tops-p2-in-pit-heavy-session) [Practice 3 – 1 Brodie Kostecki 1:11.4068; 2 Shane van Gisbergen +0.0557; 3 Chaz Mostert +0.0760](https://autoaction.com.au/2023/03/10/kostecki-snares-p1-in-fast-final-practice) Reynolds +0.2021](https://autoaction.com.au/2023/03/10/heimgartner-tops-maiden-gen3-supercars-practice) [Practice 2 – 1: S. Hansford was the fastest car on the track and by Lap 7 he was examining the rear bumper of Fisher. Hansford was pushing hard, being the biggest mover on the first lap and jumped to fourth after hanging out the rear on the exit of Turn 7 Despite Hansford cutting down the margin from four seconds to one, Johnson was never headed. He once again made the move at Turn 7 and made it stick to seize third. [second straight race of the weekend](https://autoaction.com.au/2023/03/11/johnson-marching-mustang-toward-tcm-history) by 1.2 seconds and be on the cusp of history. Hansford charged up the second with a well calculated switchback at Turn 2. As Fisher, Bressington and Hansford enjoyed a fascinating three-car scrap for second, Johnson cruised into the distance. Ryan Hansford put on a show to rise from sixth to second, while Adam Bressington joined them on the podium. Another win in Sunday’s third and final race would see “Junior” Johnson become the first driver to win four straight TCM rounds. Johnson led all 11 laps to win the

A Camaro versus Mustang shootout looms after Brodie Kosteck edged Chaz Mostert to provisional pole at the season-opening Newcastle 500.

it was a massive effort in the off-season.” All told, there were three Chevrolets and three Fords in the top six, with Broc Feeney, Andre Heimgartner, Scott Pye and James Golding rounding out the top 10 with a quartet of Camaros. “I want to say a big thank you to everyone in the Coca-Cola team… Will Brown in the other Coca-Cola Camaro missed a Shootout berth by a scant 0.0006 seconds, with James Courtney and Thomas Randle making it a Tickford Racing Ford 12-13. There were a number of notable misses, with both Shell V-Power Racing Mustangs failing to reach the Shootout. Van Gisbergen ran off-sequence to the rest of the field, however still managed to qualify.