Luke Youlden Bathurst 2017
A quick chat with current Bathurst champion Luke Youlden
As the Supercar season is about to start this weekend in Adelaide, 51 Thoughts was lucky enough to get Erebus Motorsport Luke Youldens take on his Bathurst victory with David Reynolds and also get his viewson 2017 and what he thinks might happen in 2018.
We asked Luke about last year’s Sandown event and he explained it was hardly the perfect rehearsal as they finished a lap down in the first race of the Pirtek Endurance Cup, but they learned a lot and they felt the car was very fast.
That proved to be the case as theywere fast enough in qualifying, but it wasn’t good in the race, as it lost rear tyre performance. He explained “it was fast in qualifying, which generally means it turns very well. Typically, a Supercar that turns very well doesn’t look after its rear tyres that well during the race. It was evident in the races that we didn’t have the rear tyre life we needed.” Going into Bathurst, they knew the surface was different and that they would be using different tyres and also different running heights in the car so they were able to make changes that combatted the differences in the Bathurst track.
Rather than being apprehensive about the car’s performance they were looking forward to Bathurst and like all the teams at the start of the weekend, they checked the weather forecast. There was a good chance of rain on Sunday, but like always no one knew when it would come or how long it would last. They made the decision to run a full 100% dry setup and hoped that the rain wouldn’t last long. The only changes they made to the car that set second fastest time of 2:04.27, which was consistently very fast all weekend, involved preventing water from getting into the cabin by taping up water ducts and other parts of the car that could admit water. Luke felt that they were luckier than other teams because after doing that their car didn’t have visibility issues or fogging.
As the great race progressed Luke was in the car, and he was battling for the lead with the Monster Racing Ford Falcon of Cameron Waters and Richie Stanway. Luke was in a position to contest the lead with Richie at one point but felt in the tricky conditions it was too risky. Instead, he decided to stay behind the pace Richie was setting, as he felt it was important to keep the car in one piece. He commented that “if it was in the last stint of two, I probably would have taken a few more risks, but at the end of the day we were comfortable with our pace. I think that car was probably the only one [that] was quicker than we were at that stage. As we all know, as long as you’re in a good position, Bathurst starts in the last stint or two.”
When the race leader, Red Bull Holden Racing Team’s Shane Van Gisbergen was shunted by Garry Rogers Motorsport’s Garth Tander at the restart after the safety car on lap 140, Dave Reynolds moved from fourth to second. Luke felt that they should have been in that position because they were faster than the guys in front but were caught out by pit strategy and fuel. After the last safety car, caused by Nissan’s Simona De Silvestro, whose car stopped on pit straight, Luke felt that they were in a good position to win, as Dave was driving exceptionally well.
As history recorded, they did and winning the great race meant the world to Luke. “I got up early with Dad and watched it, wishing it would be me up there at one stage in my life. Getting it took me eighteen attempts. Obviously, you doubt yourself. You go through all those emotions throughout your career, and to finally get it – it’s surreal.”
As a whole, Luke thought the 2017 Virgin Australia Supercars series was good and that the series is becoming more competitive every year. He believes it’s good to see the final race of the year go down to the decider. Luke felt that having one race on a Saturday and one race on a Sunday made the event more interesting because you had a chance to redeem yourself if you made a mistake or had a poor showing in one race. This format, in turn, creates more competition throughout the year.
Luke felt that the team that improved the most last year was Erebus Motorsport. Erebus is a small team with about 15 staff who face the big guns all year. At some points, they were the best-placed Holden team. Luke felt that Dave Reynolds improved a lot as the year progressed. He had entered the year being tipped to not feature in races. That all changed and after winning Bathurst, he was continually talked about as a driver to watch for the rest of 2017 and the upcoming 2018 season as commentators saw the Bathurst win as Reynolds breakthrough and the realisation of his previously shown potential which Luke agrees with.
Luke cited Erebus and Dave as his standout performers of the year because “You always know that the superpowers like Penske and Triple 8 will have the resources behind them to be competitive week in and week out, and to be a smaller outfit and less fancied, but to actually do as well as he and the team did [is great].”
Erebus has signed young gun Anton dePasquale to replace Dale Wood in 2018. It has also signed another young gun, Will Brown, to partner with Anton in the Pirtek Endurance Cup. Luke feels that Will be a name to watch for in the future as “he has done about everything, within about 12 months. To be honest, he would have won the development series round at Newcastle last year if he hadn’t had reliability issues. He has good speed and has basically shot out of nowhere”
Two key changes to the 2018 championship sees Sydney Motorsport Park (Eastern Creek) move to a one-day event during which the race happens at night. Luke feels that a night race provides a different atmosphere to it, which he sees as a good thing. The other key change to the calendar is that after Sydney, the teams will be off to the new track, the Bend Motorsport Park located at Tailem Bend in South Australia. Luke says, “It’s going to be a pretty awesome track from all accounts. I know the owner of it, Yasser Shahin, pretty well, and I think they’ve done an exceptional job at getting it there.” Luke hopes to be driving there in April at the GT event.
One key rule change for 2018 is that the cars will be running the 2016 tyre and not last year’s squarer grippier compound, which caused a lot of blowouts and delamination issues for all the teams throughout 2017. Luke enjoyed driving the new tyre when he could, as it had a better grip and drive which led to better performance, but feels that returning to the old tyre won’t affect the racing too much. “With some of the circuits we go to, like Phillip Island, Eastern Creek and Bathurst, the tyre loads are extreme, so they have a duty of care. If they have the technology and the opportunity to go to a safer tyre, they need to do that.”
Luke feels that if the new aero-dynamics package works for all Holden teams using the new ZB Commodore body, they will be difficult to beat. He feels that Garry Rogers Motorsport, having returned to Holden from Volvo, will be a team to watch out for this year, along with Tickford Racing, as it has four guys who are capable of winning races. He also feels that the Nissan cars will be different this year, as they are looking for more ways to be competitive and faster and of course DJR Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin will once again be a guy to watch out for this year, especially after the pace he showed last year and his ability to win consecutive pole positions, a record he set in 2017.
Since winning Bathurst with Dave Reynolds, Luke has driven in this year’s Bathurst 12 Hour in a Lamborghini with Yasser Shahin and Tomas Enge. He felt that they were strong all weekend, with Luke qualifying the car in fourth in the shootout. Even though they didn’t finish the race due to problems with back markers and other issues, he enjoyed the experience. The key difference he found between racing the V8 Supercar and the 12-hour race was the fact that the speeds were different, as some guys weren’t professionals. “The advantage we have in a V8 Supercar race is that 25 cars are all within a second of each other. You very rarely lap cars and the closing speeds on the cars are small. The 12 hour race is entirely different as you have something like 20 seconds a lap difference in car speed and drivers who are amateurs, it’s a bit of a challenge.
Luke drove the new ZB Commodore and feels that there are two big improvements coming compared to last year’s VF Commodore. Luke feels it will have an improved rear aero-dynamic package which supports the new “body shape, and also the rear screen and the angle of that and the positioning of the pillars in terms of the wheel base. It’s a better car stability-wise at the rear” Than the VF shape.
In 2019, all Holden teams will use a twin turbo V6 instead of an iconic V8. Luke has heard the car go past and thinks that it will be interesting to see how it goes in the wildcard events this year. “It will probably have better performance or otherwise they wouldn’t be doing it. It will take a little bit of getting used to and it will be interesting to see how the fans like it. To me, it’s a shame to be losing a normally aspirated V8 but I do know how good the turbo-charged V6 units are in everything else we drive these days. At the end of the day, whatever is faster, you bolt it in.”
