2009 Hamilton 400

2009 Hamilton 400

Event Information
Round 2 of 14 in the 2009 V8 Supercar Championship Series
Date	17–19 March 2009
Location	Hamilton, New Zealand
Venue	Hamilton Street Circuit
Weather	Fine
Results
Race 1 Distance 59 laps 200 km Pole position Mark Winterbottom Ford Performance Racing 1:23.8053 Winner Jamie Whincup Triple Eight Race Engineering 1:27:20.3645
Race 2 Distance 59 laps 200 km Pole position Steven Johnson Dick Johnson Racing 1:24.1606 Winner Jamie Whincup Triple Eight Race Engineering 1:27:34.7215

The 2009 Hamilton 400 was the second race meeting of the 2009 V8 Supercar Championship Series. It was held on the weekend of 17–19 April around the inner city streets of Hamilton, in New Zealand. The 2009 Hamilton 400 was the second running of the event.

Rule change

The qualifying procedure was changed with a qualifying session to be held for each of the two races, instead of one session for both races.

Race 3

Qualifying

Qualifying was held on Saturday 18 April, and was split into two sessions and followed with a top ten shootout.^[1] Jamie Whincup was fastest in qualifying for Team Vodafone but Mark Winterbottom secured his ninth pole position by just seven 10,000ths of a second. Steven Johnson and Michael Caruso produced unexpectedly good lap to qualify on the second row, particular for Caruso to be the top Holden on the grid.^[2]

Race

Jason Bright changed his engine after qualifying and stalled on dummy grid. Fiore and D'Alberto started from the pitlane. Caruso was slow away from the second row as Winterbottom stormed away from Whincup, Johnson, Tander, Holdsworth, Lowndes and Courtney. Whincup dived into the lead at turn 6 to lead the opening lap. D'Alberto crashed on the third lap at turn 7. D'Alberto restarts but the following lap Murphy and Slade, separately, crashed at the same point. Murphy was out with bent steering. A safety car was called for D'Alberto's car prior to the Nash Commodore restarting.

Perkins spun at the restart trying to avoid Dumbrell. Dumbrell had a spin a lap later, tangling with Van Gisbergen. Pitstops began around lap 20, beginning with Jason Bright. Craig Lowndes was an early stopper. James Courtney and Fabian Coulthard were big climbers through the field before Courtney stopped early on lap 24. Tander stalled in his pitstop and was passed by four cars as he exited.

Lowndes brushed the wall at turn 7 on lap 37, causing him to pit into the garage for mechanical work and rejoined losing some laps. Marcus Marshall also had an engine fail late in the running after clobbering a tyre bundle on the back chicane. Fiore retired after a clash with Cameron McConville, while Ingall slowed in late lap with mechanical problems. A shambolic safety car restart that saw faster cars mixed up with the mechanically wounded cars of Ingall and Caruso caused Courtney to hit the back of Tander's Commodore, slowing both cars in the later laps.

Whincup stormed away at the final restart to win from Winterbottom with Lee Holdsworth continuing his early season good form to finish third ahead of the consistent Steven Johnson

Race 4

Race 4 was held on Sunday 19 April.

Qualifying

The new format for Sunday qualifying made its debut, a return to traditional qualifying methods with all cars on the track together. The session was red flagged late in the session with many of the faster runners caught out just warming up for their final runs at pole after Tim Slade crashed. Steven Johnson was fastest at the time, securing only his second pole position, his previous, Canberra in 2001, also a street circuit. Team mate James Courtney started alongside as Ford dominated the timesheet occupying eight of the top ten position with the only Holdens the garry Rogers Motorsport duo of Michael Caruso and Lee Holdsworth occupying the third row of the grid behind Steven Richards and Jamie Whincup.

Race

Dean Fiore started from pitlane while Tim Slade's car was too heavily damaged to continue. Johnson ran away from the start to lead while Steven Richards jumped past James Courtney for second as the safety car came out to attend a collision between Mark Winterbottom and the wall. Todd Kelly, being pressured by Jason Bargwanna, then struck Winterbottom. Kelly limped back to the pits while Winterbottom was stranded on the track with broken steering.

Whincup, unable to make progress against Johnson, Richards and Courtney, pitted early to try to get clear air, but it was a slow stop. Johnson slow built up a lead with Courtney moving into second on lap 22. Richards, suffering rear tyre problems, soon succumbed to Holdsworth and Caruso.

By lap 24 leading cars were pitting in numbers. Johnson pitted on lap 26 from the lead. Johnson rejoined behind Whincup but ahead of Holdsworth. Caruso pitted from second on lap 28, stalling briefly, rejoining behind Lowndes and Richards, just ahead of Coulthard. Coulthard claimed a position up the back straight from Caruso. Todd Kelly crashed the wall with steering, already repaired once.

Courtney finally pitted from the lead on lap 32, rejoining behind Whincup, in front of Johnson and Holdsworth. Richards was now holding fifth ahead of Lowndes and Coulthard. Richards spun off track on lap 46, dumping a number of positions. Two laps later Shane van Gisbergen took Rick Kelly off track with an overtaking move gone wrong at the hairpin. Both recovered. Lowndes broke the front left corner of the car, leaving suspension and wheel deranged after clipping the tyre bundle at the back straight chicane. Ingall pulled into the pits trailing smoke with just two laps to go.

Whincup cleared out to win from the Dick Johnson Racing pair of Courtney and Johnson with Holdsworth's fourth position vaulting him past Will Davison into second place in the championship pointscore.

Results

Qualifying Race 3

Pos	No	Name	Car	Team	Top Ten	Part 2	Part 1
Pole	5	Mark Winterbottom	Ford FG Falcon	Ford Performance Racing	1:23.8053	1:23.6730
2	1	Jamie Whincup	Ford FG Falcon	Triple Eight Race Engineering	1:23.8060	1:23.6232
3	17	Steven Johnson	Ford FG Falcon	Dick Johnson Racing	1:24.0691	1:23.8551
4	34	Michael Caruso	Holden VE Commodore	Garry Rogers Motorsport	1:24.0801	1:24.1777
5	2	Garth Tander	Holden VE Commodore	Holden Racing Team	1:24.0862	1:23.9327
6	33	Lee Holdsworth	Holden VE Commodore	Garry Rogers Motorsport	1:24.1885	1:24.1704
7	888	Craig Lowndes	Ford FG Falcon	Triple Eight Race Engineering	1:24.3101	1:23.8543
8	18	James Courtney	Ford FG Falcon	Dick Johnson Racing	1:24.4742	1:24.1192
9	15	Rick Kelly	Holden VE Commodore	Kelly Racing	1:24.5275	1:24.0438
10	7	Todd Kelly	Holden VE Commodore	Kelly Racing	1:24.5789	1:24.1021
11	9	Shane van Gisbergen	Ford FG Falcon	Stone Brothers Racing		1:24.2719
12	22	Will Davison	Holden VE Commodore	Holden Racing Team		1:24.2794
13	11	Jack Perkins	Holden VE Commodore	Kelly Racing		1:24.3279
14	10	Paul Dumbrell	Holden VE Commodore	Walkinshaw Racing		1:24.3472
15	77	Marcus Marshall	Ford BF Falcon	Team IntaRacing		1:24.4468
16	4	Alex Davison	Ford FG Falcon	Stone Brothers Racing		1:24.5732
17	51	Greg Murphy	Holden VE Commodore	Tasman Motorsport		1:24.7332
18	39	Russell Ingall	Holden VE Commodore	Paul Morris Motorsport		1:24.7985
19	25	Jason Bright	Ford BF Falcon	Britek Motorsport		1:34.2732
20	8	Jason Richards	Holden VE Commodore	Brad Jones Racing		1:35.3031
21	111	Fabian Coulthard	Ford FG Falcon	Paul Cruickshank Racing			1:24.7554
22	6	Steven Richards	Ford FG Falcon	Ford Performance Racing			1:24.9339
23	24	David Reynolds	Holden VE Commodore	Walkinshaw Racing			1:24.9360
24	3	Jason Bargwanna	Holden VE Commodore	Tasman Motorsport			1:24.9723
25	67	Tim Slade	Holden VE Commodore	Paul Morris Motorsport			1:25.0216
26	333	Michael Patrizi	Ford BF Falcon	Paul Cruickshank Racing			1:25.1275
27	14	Cameron McConville	Holden VE Commodore	Brad Jones Racing			1:25.6558
28	021	Dean Fiore	Holden VE Commodore	Team Kiwi Racing			1:25.9853
29	16	Dale Wood	Holden VE Commodore	Kelly Racing			1:26.1629
EXC	55	Tony D'Alberto	Holden VE Commodore	Rod Nash Racing

Race 3

Pos	No	Name	Team	Laps	Time/retired	Grid	Points
1	1	Jamie Whincup	Team Vodafone	59	1:27:20.3645	2	150
2	5	Mark Winterbottom	Ford Performance Racing	59	+1.5s	1	138
3	33	Lee Holdsworth	Garry Rogers Motorsport	59	+2.3s	6	129
4	22	Will Davison	Holden Racing Team	59	+5.6s	12	120
5	17	Steven Johnson	Dick Johnson Racing	59	+8.1s	3	111
6	111	Fabian Coulthard	Paul Cruickshank Racing	59	+8.6s	21	102
7	15	Rick Kelly	Jack Daniels Racing	59	+9.9s	9	96
8	7	Todd Kelly	Jack Daniels Racing	59	+11.6s	10	90
9	4	Alex Davison	Stone Brothers Racing	59	+14.1s	16	84
10	8	Jason Richards	Brad Jones Racing	59	+15.4s	20	78
11	2	Garth Tander	Holden Racing Team	59	+17.3s	5	72
12	24	David Reynolds	Walkinshaw Racing	59	+17.6s	23	69
13	18	James Courtney	Dick Johnson Racing	59	+18.1s	8	66
14	333	Michael Patrizi	Paul Cruickshank Racing	59	+18.7s	26	63
15	6	Steven Richards	Ford Performance Racing	59	+19.6s	22	60
16	14	Cameron McConville	Brad Jones Racing	59	+28.3s	27	57
17	9	Shane van Gisbergen	Stone Brothers Racing	59	+39.8s	11	54
18	10	Paul Dumbrell	Walkinshaw Racing	58	+ 1 lap	14	51
19	11	Jack Perkins	Kelly Racing	58	+ 1 lap	13	48
20	55	Tony D'Alberto	Rod Nash Racing	58	+ 1 lap	30	45
21	25	Jason Bright	Britek Motorsport	58	+ 1 lap	19	42
22	16	Dale Wood	Kelly Racing	58	+ 1 lap	29	39
23	39	Russell Ingall	Paul Morris Motorsport	58	+ 1 lap	18	36
24	888	Craig Lowndes	Team Vodafone	55	+ 4 laps	7	33
25	34	Michael Caruso	Garry Rogers Motorsport	52	+ 7 laps	4	30
DNF	021	Dean Fiore	Team Kiwi Racing	56	Accident	28
DNF	77	Marcus Marshall	Team IntaRacing	53	Engine	15
DNF	3	Jason Bargwanna	Tasman Motorsport	44		24
DNF	67	Tim Slade	Paul Morris Motorsport	17		25
DNF	51	Greg Murphy	Tasman Motorsport	5	Steering	17

Qualifying Race 4

Pos	No	Name	Car	Team	Time
Pole	17	Steven Johnson	Ford FG Falcon	Dick Johnson Racing	1:24.1606
2	18	James Courtney	Ford FG Falcon	Dick Johnson Racing	1:24.2377
3	6	Steven Richards	Ford FG Falcon	Ford Performance Racing	1:24.2430
4	1	Jamie Whincup	Ford FG Falcon	Team Vodafone	1:24.2932
5	34	Michael Caruso	Holden VE Commodore	Garry Rogers Motorsport	1:24.2962
6	33	Lee Holdsworth	Holden VE Commodore	Garry Rogers Motorsport	1:24.3214
7	9	Shane van Gisbergen	Ford FG Falcon	Stone Brothers Racing	1:24.3568
8	888	Craig Lowndes	Ford FG Falcon	Team Vodafone	1:24.3960
9	111	Fabian Coulthard	Ford FG Falcon	Paul Cruickshank Racing	1:24.4171
10	5	Mark Winterbottom	Ford FG Falcon	Ford Performance Racing	1:24.4447
11	51	Greg Murphy	Holden VE Commodore	Tasman Motorsport	1:24.4647
12	39	Russell Ingall	Holden VE Commodore	Paul Morris Motorsport	1:24.4872
13	15	Rick Kelly	Holden VE Commodore	Jack Daniel's Racing	1:24.5692
14	10	Paul Dumbrell	Holden VE Commodore	Walkinshaw Racing	1:24.6161
15	25	Jason Bright	Ford BF Falcon	Britek Motorsport	1:24.6622
16	55	Tony D'Alberto	Holden VE Commodore	Rod Nash Racing	1:24.6660
17	7	Todd Kelly	Holden VE Commodore	Jack Daniel's Racing	1:24.6824
18	8	Jason Richards	Holden VE Commodore	Brad Jones Racing	1:24.7050
19	2	Garth Tander	Holden VE Commodore	Holden Racing Team	1:24.7090
20	22	Will Davison	Holden VE Commodore	Holden Racing Team	1:24.7151
21	4	Alex Davison	Ford FG Falcon	Stone Brothers Racing	1:24.7493
22	24	David Reynolds	Holden VE Commodore	Walkinshaw Racing	1:24.7151
23	3	Jason Bargwanna	Holden VE Commodore	Tasman Motorsport	1:24.8507
24	11	Jack Perkins	Holden VE Commodore	Kelly Racing	1:24.7671
25	333	Michael Patrizi	Ford BF Falcon	Paul Cruickshank Racing	1:25.2186
26	67	Tim Slade	Holden VE Commodore	Paul Morris Motorsport	1:25.4154
27	16	Dale Wood	Holden VE Commodore	Kelly Racing	1:25.5536
28	14	Cameron McConville	Holden VE Commodore	Brad Jones Racing	1:25.6336
29	77	Marcus Marshall	Ford BF Falcon	Team IntaRacing	1:25.6799
30	021	Dean Fiore	Holden VE Commodore	Team Kiwi Racing	1:26.0984

Standings

• After Round 2 of 14

Pos	No	Name	Team	Points
1	1	Jamie Whincup	Team Vodafone	600
2	33	Lee Holdsworth	Garry Rogers Motorsport	498
3	22	Will Davison	Toll Holden Racing Team	483
4	17	Steven Johnson	Jim Beam Racing	462
5	111	Fabian Coulthard	Paul Cruickshank Racing	354

References

1. "Hamilton 400 Hamilton Street Circuit V8 Supercars - Qualifying". natsoft.com.au. 18 April 2009. Retrieved 18 April 2009.
2. "Hamilton 400 Hamilton Street Circuit V8 Supercars - Top Ten Shootout". natsoft.com.au. 18 April 2009. Retrieved 18 April 2009.

External links

• Hamilton 400 website
• Official timing and results

Supercars Championship
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