Castrol EDGE Australia Newsletter - November 30, 2011

it’s our best oil yet... www.castroledge.com.au

VOLUME 1 - ISSUE 30

30th NOVEMBER 2011

TOP TEN

SHOWDOWN

RUGBY SEVENS HEAD TO DUBAI

RALLY ACE JOINS VW

FIGHT FOR THE TOP 10 The fight for Castrol-backed racers in the V8 Supercars Championship is focused around the top 10 this weekend at the Sydney Telstra 500 – the Grand Final of the 2011 Championship.

The best placed Castrol runners currently are the Ford Performance Racing pair - Mark Winterbottom – who sits third – and Will Davison who is currently sixth. Both can finish in the top five come the end of the weekend.

Davison halved the gap to Garth Tander and Sandown and if consistency is anything to go by, Davison is the most likely to finish in fifth placing.

Rick Kelly – aided by his victory for Jack Daniel’s Racing at Sandown – is seventh in the Championship and looks likely to finish in the top 10.

Kelly Racing’s focus will be on Greg Murphy in the

Pepsi Max Crew racer. The Kiwi has had a strong back half to his season. Although currently 13th, he is 146 points out of the top 10 – and with a solid run at Sydney Olympic Park – could end the season 10th.

The Sydney street circuit has proven unpredictable in the two years since the event’s inception – with a litany of surprise results. Fuel economy is the

key – as well as staying away from the concrete walls!

For the overall Championship – Jamie Whincup has to finish a minimum of fourth in Saturday’s race to claim his third Championship. Team-mate, Craig Lowndes – who is currently 188 points behind Whincup – has vowed not to go down without a fight – and could you ever rule Lowndes out?

VOLKSWAGEN RALLY TEAM SIGNS SEBASTIEN OGIER The Castrol EDGE-backed Volkswagen World Rally Team have announced the major signing of former Citroen driving ace Sebastien Ogier as their number one driver along with his co-driver Julien Ingrassia.

The Frenchmen is tipped to be a future World Rally Champion and the team has confirmed that Ogier will compete in the entire 2012 championship.

With the Volkswagen Polo being still in development stages until 2013, the team has confirmed that Ogier will drive a Skoda whilst working on the 2013 VW Polo.

Leaving Citroen with two years of his contract still remaining, continuing to compete in the championship was vital to his decision, he said, “taking part in the 2012 WRC will enable me to stay match fit and familiarise myself with those events that I don’t know so well.”

“The test work will help me follow the Polo’s development

from A to Z. That’s a very exciting challenge. I’m not ruling out the possibility of competing in the Polo towards the end of the year if the team believes we are sufficiently ready.”

With the ink barely dry, Ogier will be behind the wheel of a VW as soon as this weekend, when he takes part in the Race of Champions in Dusseldorf, which will be live on SPEED TV Australia.

Photos by Lance Hastie

CASTROL SCHOLARSHIP WINNER TAKES ON NEW ZEALANDS BEST Winner of the elite Castrol Suzuki Swift Sport Cup scholarship - Kent Yarrall - is looking to a strong summer of competition finishing fourth in the final race of the first round of the Series in New Zealand.

The Castrol-backed scholarship enables Yarrall to compete at the highest level without any typical financial concerns allowing him to be able to fully concentrate on his own performance.

In September, the Auckland accounting student beat out seven other contenders to win the coveted scholarship to race a professionally prepared car in the 2011/2012 “tier 1� summer motor racing championship.

Yarrall gets the use of a professionally-prepared Suzuki Swift Sport for the Sport Cup series along with an engineer to prepare and run the car for the season.

Judges made their decision based on driving ability, presentation, professionalism, and the ability to learn.

The series second round heads south to the Ruapuna track near Christchurch in the South Island, where the teams will contest another three-race weekend from 10-11 December 2011.

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POSTCARD FROM THE WALLABIES You always know when you have crossed the Severn Road Bridge and entered the Principality known as Wales.

Not only do the accents change appreciably – so too does the weather. Sure enough, a tour that had seen a first week of largely clear skies in London, turned to muck once the Wallabies moved into Wales, with grey skies and threatening crowds dumping water on the team’s first out-door training session of the new week. Given that this is the last training week of what has been one of the biggest years the players have ever experienced, the focus is on load

management as far as the coaching staff is concerned.

This has seen strength and conditioning coach Pete Harding patrolling the hotel corridors to intercept the ‘serial’ trainers like Will Genia and David Pocock before their clandestine extra training sessions at the hotel gym. Often the players feel a bit scratchy without having had their dose of physical exertion. Preventing them from overdoing it, as opposed to motivating them to do it, remains the big challenge, even this late in the year. Cardiff is a path well trodden by Australian players and all but a handful

of the current touring group have experienced the Welsh capital on more than one occasion. The team is quartered just across the road from historic Cardiff Castle right on the edge of the central business district.

That means a steady stream of autograph hunters lie in wait for the players as they emerge from the front door of the hotel. Such is the passion for rugby in Wales; it’s no exaggeration to suggest that most of the Wallabies are better known in Cardiff than they are in their home country. The local knowledge is tinged with respect. The Welsh like the way the

Wallabies play the game, the daring they bring and their preparedness to have a crack. This approach has fired up the expectations for the weekend where a crowd of nearly 70,000 are expected to pack the Millennium Stadium for the one off Test.

And although the Welsh never lack in confidence, it’s fair to say the Wallabies’ 6011 flogging of the Barbarians at Twickenham last weekend has made a bit of a statement, for now the locals are only promising the visiting players a “good game”, as opposed to the beating that is usually promised adnauseum in the Test build up.

RUGBY WORLD SEVENS ROCKS THE GC The Australian Men’s Sevens team are gearing up for the second round of the Sevens World Series in Dubai after taking fourth place on home soil on the Gold Coast.

The event – a first for the Gold Coast – had a strong response, with the ‘Unfashionables on the Field’ entrants raising many eyebrows around the Coast (especially in town long after the final whistle had blown…).

The Fijians took the victory from the Kiwis.

The Australian team has drawn pool D for this weekend in Dubai, grouped with Wales, Scotland and Canada; they will be keen to earn some critical points to boost their team standings ahead of rivals Fiji and New Zealand.

Australia’s first match in the Dubai round will be against Canada this Friday, the two teams are yet to face off in the 2011/12 Sevens World Series.

LIONS 2012 TOUR The ARU has released the calendar for the Lions tour of Australia in 2012.

Castrol EDGE will be a presenting partner of the Wallabies on home soil in a massive year of international rugby in Australia, including The Castrol EDGE Rugby Championship.

DATE

WELSH OUT TO STOP RAMPAGING WALLABIES The Castrol EDGE-backed Wallabies burst onto the British scene at the weekend, taking a stirring 60 points to 11 win over the Barbarians at one of Rugby’s traditional homes, Twickenham.

The rout saw the Wallabies score eight tries to one over the under-done Barbarians.

It was the perfect entrée to this weekend’s main event – the test against Wales at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff – where the Welsh faithful are expected to be in their full melodic voice.

The match will be shown live on free-to-air TV in Australia on SBS from 1:15am Australian Eastern Daylight Saving Time.

MATCH

CITY

Wednesday, 5 June

Lions v Western Force

Perth

Saturday, 8 June

Lions v Queensland Reds

Brisbane

Wednesday, 12 June

Lions v Combined NSW-Qld Country

Newcastle

Saturday, 15 June

Lions v NSW Waratahs

Sydney

Tuesday, 18 June

Lions v Brumbies

Canberra

Saturday, 22 June

Brisbane LIONS v QANTAS WALLABIES

Tuesday, 25 June

Lions v Melbourne Rebels

Saturday, 29 June

LIONS v Melbourne QANTAS WALLABIES

Saturday, 6 July

LIONS v Sydney QANTAS WALLABIES

Melbourne

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