ANALYSIS: A study of three Sandown 500 practice race runs

THERE were three particular race runs to pay attention to during Friday practice for the Sandown 500.

In the co-driver-dedicated Practice 2, the Ford Mustangs of Tony D’Alberto (Dick Johnson Racing #11), Lee Holdsworth (Walkinshaw Andretti United #25) and Fabian Coulthard (WAU #2) ran the entire half-hour without visiting the pits.

Those were the only such instances all day across the three half-hour Supercars hitouts, and the result is a relatively clean set of data for us number-lovers to analyse and attempt to gain some kind of insight from.

Takeaways included that Holdsworth’s race pace was particularly impressive.

DriverAverage lap time across (Lap 4 onwards)Lee Holdsworth1m10.0282sFabian Coulthard1m10.3323sTony D’Alberto1m10.4082s

D’Alberto however appeared to start out more conservatively than his counterparts and the result was less drop-off over the course of his stint.

The below table compares the trio’s first and last five flying laps – noting that the opening three laps of Practice 2 have been excluded given those times were affected by a Full Course Yellow trial.

DriverAverage time first five lapsAverage time last five lapsDifferenceSlowest lap timeLee Holdsworth1m09.5202s1m10.5230s+1.0028s1m10.7884sFabian Coulthard1m09.7829s1m10.9139s+1.1310s1m11.2168sTony D’Alberto1m10.1182s1m10.7739s+0.6557s1m10.8766s

Crucially, for the context of what to expect come race day with regards to how increasing tyre degradation and reducing fuel loads affect lap times, the trendlines across stints varied from 0.0428s per lap drop-off for D’Alberto to 0.0690s per lap for Coulthard.

Last year, the winning car of Broc Feeney/Jamie Whincup made four pitstops including a longest single stint of 40 laps.

Forty laps with a 0.0428s per lap compounding drop-off equates to an accumulated stint loss of 33.3840s in degradation. At a linear rate of 0.0690s, that figure jumps up to 53.8200s.

Those accumulated stint losses across 30 laps instead of 40 sit at 18.6180s and 30.0150s respectively.

Pending pitlane transit time, it’s initial food for thought as to how strategies might or might not play out.

The Sandown 500 is scheduled to comprise 161 laps. Action resumes today with Practice 4 starting 9:55am AEST.