![Shane van Gisbergen celebrates winning the 2022 Supercars Championship [PHOTO: supercars Twitter]](https://www.theinnersanctum.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Adelaide-500-Feature-Image.png)
Shane van Gisbergen celebrates winning the 2022 Supercars Championship [Photo: supercars Twitter]
Holden said goodbye to Supercars with a fairytale final weekend for the manufacturer, as two former factory teams reigned supreme.
In a weekend that has been long coming but is still just as sad to see come to fruition, Holden said its farewell to Supercars racing in the 2022 Repco Supercars Championship season finale.
The send-off at the return to the Adelaide 500 was fitting, with plenty of lasting stories, coincidences, and memories created for Holden drivers and fans alike one last time.
Mostert and Percat deliver perfect 1-2 in penultimate race
Having qualified 7th for Race 33 on Saturday, Walkinshaw Andretti United’s Chaz Mostert survived a chaotic 250km race to take home his 21st career victory. He did so by 1.9795 seconds over teammate Nick Percat, who secured the 1-2 and his first podium finish for WAU. It was also his first podium personally since November 2021.
A former factory Holden team, Walkinshaw Andretti United, formerly the famous Holden Racing Team, ensured the Australian brand had a day to remember on Saturday.
Both WAU and the other former factory Holden team, Red Bull Ampol Racing, sported retro liveries for the weekend, with WAU in a throwback HRT livery.
Nick Percat had a job on his hands to get anywhere near the podium, as he started the 78-lap race 20th.
It was a dream for WAU, who led Tickford Racing’s James Courtney to the finish line, as the former-Holden-turned-Ford driver rounded out the podium.
The win was the 616th victory in the history of Holden in the category, as it looked to create one final piece of history.
It was also Mostert’s first win at the Adelaide circuit in what was his fourth win of the year. Not to mention, he also set a new lap record of 1:20.288s, the last lap record set by a Holden in Supercars.
Fitting final winner as Broc wins last-ever Holden Supercars race
In what is an act of a higher power, simply just a coincidence or irony, a driver named Broc took out the final Holden Supercars race.
Broc Feeney, that is, won his first-ever Supercars race in the last-ever Supercars race for Holden.
He took home his Red Bull Ampol Racing Holden Commodore first to the chequered flag after 250km in Adelaide on Sunday, after he started the race in third.
Chaz Mostert finished 0.9643 seconds behind in second for WAU in the 78-lap race, while Anton De Pasquale came home third in the Shell V-Power Racing Team Ford Mustang.
Broc Feeney’s victory drew eerily similar comparisons to that of another champion. Feeney won his first Supercars race on the same track while sporting the same number as the great Jamie Whincup did in his first race victory.
The 20-year-old claimed his first win in Supercars in his first full-time season in what could be a sign of what is to come from the young Queenslander.
The Broc name, of course, fits well for the Holden brand and its history, bearing similarity to the great three-time Australian Touring Cars Champion and nine-time Bathurst 1000 winner, Peter Brock.
The King of the Mountain would have been smiling down as a close namesake took out the final race for Holden in win no. 617 for the manufacturer.
van Gisbergen celebrates his third Repco Supercars Championship in style
Shane van Gisbergen didn’t have the final weekend he wanted in Adelaide but it did little to dampen the mood of the now-three-time Supercars Champion.
He started 25th and finished 20th in Race 33 while he finished seventh after a fourth-place start in Race 34. He rounded out his year with 3523 Championship points, 615 points ahead of Cameron Waters in second.
The New Zealander finished the season with unreal stats. From 34 races, he had 21 race wins, 27 total podiums, and 16 fastest laps.
He only failed to finish inside the top 10 three times across the season.
He left everything on the track, quite literally, as he made the street circuit his own personal playground in the celebrations post-race.
Red Bull Ampol Racing also secured the 2022 Dunlop Teams Championship as they finished on 5900 points, 728 points ahead of the Shell V-Power Racing Team.
It is Triple Eight Race Engineering’s 11th Teams Championship and they now also boast 10 Driver’s Championships.
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Lee Holdsworth bows out with intent
Lee Holdsworth’s 511-race career came to an end in Adelaide, as the Penrite Racing Ford Mustang driver finished ninth in his final full-time race.
The result was crucial for his team, as his 84 points gained meant Penrite Racing finished fifth ahead of Erebus Motorsport in the Teams Championship by 10 points.
Holdsworth raced until the very end after starting his final race in 22nd, his ninth-place finish critical to his team making the leap up the final standings.
He leaves his full-time career with four wins from his 511 races, as well as 19 podiums, and four pole positions across his 17-year career.
The 39-year-old will return for the endurance races in the 2023 season.
Turn 11 carnage causes chaos
One corner had the better of many drivers over the weekend – Turn 11.
The turn was the cause of pain for five drivers across the weekend, as Cameron Waters, David Reynolds, Broc Feeney, Jack Le Brocq, and 2022 Supercars Champion Shane van Gisbergen all had trouble with the corner.
Carnage reigned supreme on the streets of Adelaide, giving these Gen2 cars one last hit out in their final send-off.
Farewell, Holden
The end of the season marks the end of an era.
Supercars bids farewell to Holden, as Chevrolet replaces it in 2023.
The Gen3 Ford Mustang will face off with the Gen3 Chevrolet Camaro from next season, with the inaugural event with the new cars taking place in Newcastle from March 10-12, 2023.
As one era ends, another begins. The Holden will forever be remembered for all its iconic memories over the years.
This final weekend in Adelaide was one for the dreamers and romantics in a fitting send-off and tribute to Holden.
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