The 2005 PlaceMakers V8 International was a motor race for V8 Supercars held on the weekend of 15-17 April, 2005. The event was held at the Pukekohe Park Raceway in Pukekohe, New Zealand, and consisted of three races culminating in 400 kilometers. It was the second round of thirteen in the 2005 V8 Supercar Championship Series and the first of two international events on the calendar.
After finishing third the previous year, Greg Murphy once again reigned triumphant by winning all three races of the weekend; making it four championship round victories from five attempts for the local hero. After an early tangle between Marcos Ambrose and Craig Lowndes, Russell Ingall remained Murphy's closest competitor all weekend long. The event was notable for a big crash that occurred between Craig Baird and Paul Dumbrell in the final race. The shunt inflicted extensive damage to the track facilities, causing the race to be red flagged. The race would eventually get back underway, finishing under darkness.
This was originally meant to be the last V8 Supercar event held at Pukekohe, with a move to a street race in Auckland having been confirmed for May 2006. However, after this project fell through, a return to Wellington was mooted. When that also failed to materialise, the series would return to Pukekohe for a couple more years.
Background
While the popularity of V8 Supercars in New Zealand enticed officials to explore the possibility of a second championship round in the region, the status of Pukekohe's place on the calendar was up in the air. AVESCO were unsatisfied with the condition of the Pukekohe Park Raceway facilities and thus the search was on for a new home. Multiple venues had submitted proposals to take over the calendar slot from 2006 onwards. These included Wellington, Manfeild and a street race in Auckland. Manfeild's proposal was described by AVESCO chairman Tony Cochrane as being, "...equal of any we have seen in the history of AVESCO - that includes proposals from some of the world's largest and wealthiest cities".
Ultimately, the Auckland street race won proposal won out and the event was expected to replace Pukekohe from April 2006 onwards. An estimate 170,000 people were expected to attend the event which would've taken place right in the heart of Auckland's city centre. Soon after the announcement, safety concerns arose to the circuits configuration, the disruption to proceedings in the CBD and other costs associated with the event. And eventually, the project fell through, the promoter IMG having spent over a million dollars in establishing it. The event would return to Pukekohe for three more years before ceding the event to Hamilton in 2008.
The Pukekohe Park Raceway had been resurfaced since the last event in 2004. Thus lap times were expected to drop significantly. While the infamous bump at turn six remained, the cars would become less animated going over that section of race track.
In the Thursday before the weekend, John Bowe had over $8,000 worth of equipment stolen from his rental car, leaving his participation that weekend in question. Two days later, the stolen goods were recovered.
Race report Qualifying Greg Ritter and Matthew White were excluded from qualifying after missing the weigh bridge during the session. Driver Team Car Time 1 11 Steven Richards Perkins Engineering Holden Commodore (VZ) 55.4789 2 1 Marcos Ambrose Stone Brothers Racing Ford Falcon (BA) 55.5258 3 9 Russell Ingall Stone Brothers Racing Ford Falcon (BA) 55.5448 4 51 Greg Murphy Paul Weel Racing Holden Commodore (VZ) 55.5764 5 888 Craig Lowndes Triple Eight Race Engineering Ford Falcon (BA) 55.6146 6 2 Mark Skaife Holden Racing Team Holden Commodore (VZ) 55.6629 7 24 Paul Dumbrell Perkins Engineering Holden Commodore (VZ) 55.7417 8 3 Jason Richards Tasman Motorsport Holden Commodore (VZ) 55.7780 9 6 Jason Bright Ford Performance Racing Ford Falcon (BA) 55.7830 10 67 Paul Morris Paul Morris Motorsport Holden Commodore (VZ) 55.8406 11 88 Steven Ellery Triple Eight Race Engineering Ford Falcon (BA) 55.8479 12 33 Cameron McConville Garry Rogers Motorsport Holden Commodore (VZ) 55.8555 13 23 Jamie Whincup Tasman Motorsport Holden Commodore (VZ) 55.8635 14 021 Paul Radisich Team Kiwi Racing Holden Commodore (VZ) 55.8835 15 10 Jason Bargwanna Larkham Motorsport Ford Falcon (BA) 55.9653 16 45 Max Wilson Team Dynamik Holden Commodore (VZ) 55.9842 17 15 Rick Kelly HSV Dealer Team Holden Commodore (VZ) 56.0272 18 12 John Bowe Brad Jones Racing Ford Falcon (BA) 56.0299 19 48 David Besnard WPS Racing Ford Falcon (BA) 56.0397 20 22 Todd Kelly Holden Racing Team Holden Commodore (VZ) 56.0513 21 18 Glenn Seton Dick Johnson Racing Ford Falcon (BA) 56.0526 22 21 Brad Jones Brad Jones Racing Ford Falcon (BA) 56.0632 23 17 Steven Johnson Dick Johnson Racing Ford Falcon (BA) 56.0646 24 50 Paul Weel Paul Weel Racing Holden Commodore (VZ) 56.1285 25 20 Mark Winterbottom Larkham Motorsport Ford Falcon (BA) 56.1554 26 44 Simon Wills Team Dynamik Holden Commodore (VZ) 56.6326 27 75 Anthony Tratt Paul Little Racing Holden Commodore (VZ) 56.6915 28 8 Craig Baird WPS Racing Ford Falcon (BA) 56.7966 29 34 Andrew Jones Garry Rogers Motorsport Holden Commodore (VZ) 56.8393 EXC 5 Greg Ritter Ford Performance Racing Ford Falcon (BA) Excluded EXC 16 Garth Tander HSV Dealer Team Holden Commodore (VZ) Excluded EXC 52 Matthew White Britek Motorsport Ford Falcon (BA) Excluded Source(s):
Top Ten Shootout Garth Tander was excluded from the shootout after his team was found to be in breach of rules pertaining to working on car without permission from the Category Technical Director after qualifying. Driver Car Team Time 1 888 Craig Lowndes Triple Eight Race Engineering Ford Falcon (BA) 55.7367 2 1 Marcos Ambrose Stone Brothers Racing Ford Falcon (BA) 55.7986 3 11 Steven Richards Perkins Engineering Holden Commodore (VZ) 55.8581 4 51 Greg Murphy Paul Weel Racing Holden Commodore (VZ) 55.9581 5 9 Russell Ingall Stone Brothers Racing Ford Falcon (BA) 56.1709 6 24 Paul Dumbrell Perkins Engineering Holden Commodore (VZ) 56.1723 7 2 Mark Skaife Holden Racing Team Holden Commodore (VZ) 56.1899 8 3 Jason Richards Tasman Motorsport Holden Commodore (VZ) 56.4416 9 6 Jason Bright Ford Performance Racing Ford Falcon (BA) 56.6558 EXC 16 Garth Tander HSV Dealer Team Holden Commodore (VZ) Excluded Source(s):
Race 1 There was a brief scare for Craig Lowndes preceding the race after a wheel nut issue almost caused him to start from the pitlane. The officials permitted Lowndes to exit pitlane however, and thus took up his position on the front row alongside Ambrose.
Both of the Ford heavyweights left the line side-by-side. Lowndes had crept ever so slightly before the green flag had dropped and this raised questions over whether he would incur a penalty. Before the stewards could intervene, contact between him and Ambrose at turn two resulted in a spin for Lowndes and sent him tumbling down the order. Steven Richards hesitated as Lowndes spun across his bows and Murphy capitalised to move up to second place. Ingall followed him through to shuffle Richards down to fourth. After climbing through the field from his rear-of-grid start, Tander spun at the hairpin and was left to start his climb all over again.
The pit window opened on lap six and drivers began peeling in to complete their mandatory stops. There was contact in the pitlane between Bowe and Besnard. Both drivers were able to continue. Ambrose began to exhibit oversteer and Murphy began ranging up behind the Pirtek Falcon. On lap eight, Murphy passed Ambrose for the lead into the hairpin. Immediately, Murphy peeled in to complete his mandatory stop. This tactic was meant to work as an undercut; to retain the lead ahead of Ambrose. It wouldn't matter however, as Ambrose was spun at the hairpin by Steven Richards. Richards sustained guard damage while Ambrose soldiered on. A couple laps later, Baird, Jason Bargwanna and Andrew Jones tangled at the same part of the track with each car sustaining damage. Baird and Bargwanna's damage was sufficient for them to withdraw from the race. The carnage at the hairpin continued with White tipping Anthony Tratt around. Tratt subsequently suffered major mechanical issues but managed to keep circulating until the very end. Jason Richards also fell off the circuit at the same part of the track a lap later after locking the rear brakes. Rick Kelly was then sent spinning around by Cameron McConville. For their respective incidents, Andrew Jones and White received drive-through penalties. Toward the end of the race, Simon Wills began to leak oil onto the track which caught out Glenn Seton, who had been running in the top ten, up to that point.
Ingall remained Murphy's closest pursuer with Skaife a couple seconds behind after the pitstop shuffle had concluded. This win would be Murphy's first at Pukekohe since 2003 and the car speed suggested he was in prime position to retain his dominance at the venue. Despite the calamity at the start of the race, neither Lowndes nor Ambrose incurred any penalties. Driver Team Laps Time Grid 1 51 Greg Murphy Paul Weel Racing 36 34min 53.7573sec 4 2 9 Russell Ingall Stone Brothers Racing 36 + 3.120 5 3 2 Mark Skaife Holden Racing Team 36 + 4.673 7 4 88 Steven Ellery Triple Eight Race Engineering 36 + 11.923 11 5 1 Marcos Ambrose Stone Brothers Racing 36 + 14.876 2 6 021 Paul Radisich Team Kiwi Racing 36 + 15.358 14 7 6 Jason Bright Ford Performance Racing 36 + 15.815 9 8 22 Todd Kelly Holden Racing Team 36 + 19.850 20 9 67 Paul Morris Paul Morris Motorsport 36 + 27.800 10 10 23 Jamie Whincup Tasman Motorsport 36 + 27.810 13 11 50 Paul Weel Paul Weel Racing 36 + 35.843 24 12 12 John Bowe Brad Jones Racing 36 + 36.196 18 13 17 Steven Johnson Dick Johnson Racing 36 + 37.637 23 14 888 Craig Lowndes Triple Eight Race Engineering 36 + 38.103 1 15 45 Max Wilson Team Dynamik 36 + 38.458 16 16 15 Rick Kelly HSV Dealer Team 36 + 43.135 17 17 16 Garth Tander HSV Dealer Team 36 + 43.241 31 18 3 Jason Richards Tasman Motorsport 36 + 44.412 8 19 5 Greg Ritter Ford Performance Racing 36 + 49.485 30 20 18 Glenn Seton Dick Johnson Racing 36 + 54.380 21 21 33 Cameron McConville Garry Rogers Motorsport 36 + 76.400 12 22 21 Brad Jones Brad Jones Racing 35 + 1 lap 22 23 75 Anthony Tratt Paul Little Racing 35 + 1 lap 27 24 20 Mark Winterbottom Larkham Motorsport 35 + 1 lap 25 25 52 Matthew White Britek Motorsport 35 + 1 lap 32 26 24 Paul Dumbrell Perkins Engineering 35 + 1 lap 6 27 34 Andrew Jones Garry Rogers Motorsport 34 + 2 laps 29 28 11 Steven Richards Perkins Engineering 32 + 4 laps 3 29 48 David Besnard WPS Racing 32 + 4 laps 19 30 44 Simon Wills Team Dynamik 30 + 6 laps 26 Ret 8 Craig Baird WPS Racing 13 Accident 28 Ret 10 Jason Bargwanna Larkham Motorsport 13 Accident 15 Fastest lap: Greg Murphy (Paul Weel Racing), 0:56.0781 Source(s):
Race 2 Ingall perfected his launch and shot off into the lead. Chaos ensued at turn three with Max Wilson cutting across the inside of the corner, crowding Lowndes into Steven Johnson and sent the Westpoint driver into a half-spin. Rick Kelly had broken his front-left suspension after contact with a car ahead of him.
Within a few laps, Murphy had closed in on Ingall, eventually passed him at the hairpin to take back the lead. A couple cars behind, Paul Radisich in the Team Kiwi Racing car had passed Steven Ellery for fourth, much to the adulation of the home crowd. Bowe completed his compulsory stop earlier than most and his desperation to remain on the lead lap meant Ingall was held up for the better part of a lap while Murphy extended his lead. Skaife attempted to pass Ingall into the hairpin but locked up enormously, sent himself into a spin, and retreated to the pitlane to complete his compulsory pitstop, changing only the passenger-side tyres. Murphy completed his stop on lap 15 which, as it turned out, was well timed.