Castrol EDGE Australia Newsletter - Volume 2 Issue 12 by Castrol EDGE

VOLUME 2 - ISSUE 12

Courtney Force delivers in Denver

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V8 Supercars all set for Ipswich battle

25th JULY 2012

V8 Supercars Championship - Coates Hire Ipswich 300 Preview N ext weekend the International V8 Supercars Championship heads to south east Queensland for the eighth round of the series - the Coates Hire Ipswich 300. The Ford Performance Racing (FPR) squad is currently leading the charge for the Castrol contingent with Mark Winterbottom currently second in the championship with teammate Will Davison one spot behind. The third FPR car of David Reynolds in The BottleO entry has also boosted up the ranks to sit 10th in the series. Castrol-backed Kelly Racing’s Todd Kelly sits 11th in the standings with brother Rick in the second of the Jack Daniel’s Commodores the next best

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placed Castrol driver in 14th. Russell Ingall in the Supercheap Auto entry is 20th in the standings but a strong record at the Queensland track could prove beneficial to his championship charge as the 2012 season hits the halfway mark.

Despite its short length and lack of left hand turns the Queensland Raceway circuit is always a fan favourite with several vantage points offering a complete view of the entire track. The 3.12km, 6-turn circuit was opened in 1999 and has been nicknamed ‘the paperclip’ due to its uncanny resemblance to the office supply.

2012 V8 Championship standings pos

driver

points

Jamie Whincup

1794

Mark Winterbottom

1694

Will Davison

1654

Craig Lowndes

1496

Shane van Gisbergen

1280

Garth Tander

1239

Lee Holdsworth

1190

Tim Slade

1170

Fabian Coulthard

1030

10.

David Reynolds

951

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Two-wheel motorsport Castrol-backed Honda rider Broc Parkes on podium in Brno Castrol-backed Honda rider Broc Parkes finished third in the eighth round World Supersport encounter at the Automotodromo Brno in the Czech Republic after a thrilling three-way battle for victory. The race was won by Fabien Foret following a red flag, which stopped the race with 13 of the scheduled 18 laps completed. Parkes was battling with Kenan Sofuoglu at the time, the Turkish rider finishing in second place. Honda CBR600RR riders Sam Lowes and Jules Cluzel finished in fourth and fifth places respectively. It was Parkes’s second visit to the podium in 2012 and his first since the opening round of the championship in his native Australia back in February. He remains in fifth place in the points standings. Broc Parkes – 3rd “It was a good race, actually, and I felt comfortable going with

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Fabien and Kenan all the way through. The guys made quite a big step with the CBR and I feel we’re closer power-wise now. I felt quite quick at the start of the race and got stuck with Kenan a bit, but then he found a good pace so I stayed behind him and saw that Fabien was coming back to us quite quickly. Finally, we all arrived together but unfortunately we had the red flag. But I felt really strong, even towards the end of the race when I still had quite a lot of tyre left. I think we could have battled for the win but, for me, it’s all positive because I feel confident again.” 2012 World Supersport Championship pos

rider

team

points

Kenan Sofuoglu Kawasaki

137

Sam Lowes

Honda

114

Fabien Foret

Kawasaki

108

Jules Cluzel

Honda

Broc Parkes

Honda

Disappointing day in Brno for Honda The Castrol-backed Honda World Superbike Team endured a frustrating and disappointing day at round nine of the 2012 World Superbike championship at the Automotodromo Brno in the Czech Republic. Jonathan Rea crashed out, unhurt, in the closing stages of race one while fighting for a podium finish and crossed the line in 12th place in race two after fighting rear grip issues throughout the 20-lap encounter. His team-mate Hiroshi Aoyama also crashed out of race one after tangling with another rider – both were uninjured. The Japanese rider then had a technical problem which forced his retirement after just four laps of race two. Both outings at the 5.403km Brno circuit were won by Marco Melandri. Jonathan Rea – DNF and 12th “It’s been a really frustrating weekend because this is one of my favourite

circuits and the feeling was not like in previous years – it felt completely different. We worked hard all weekend and got quite close in race one. The conditions were unpredictable at the start, but I found a rhythm and some pace and was battling for the lead. Tom Sykes ran wide and I was on the inside when he cut back and I got ejected, which was unfortunate because we were in a good podium position. In race two I felt something wrong with the bike from the very start. I just had no grip from the rear, but we’ll have to look at the data to confirm that it was just the tyre. The 2012 World Superbike Championship pos

rider

team

points

Max Biaggi

Aprilia

271.5

Marco Melandri

BMW

250.5

Carlos Checa

Ducati

212.5

Tom Sykes

Kawasaki

204.5

Jonathan Rea

Honda

187

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results are not what I want to go racing for and I’m really disappointed about the weekend. The last few races I’ve felt like I’m on a race winning package but this weekend was definitely below average.” Hiroshi Aoyama – DNF and DNF “Not such a nice Sunday. In the first race, another rider crashed into me so I crashed, too, and that was not so good. In the second race the conditions were better so we wanted to try some things on the bike to get a better position, but after the fourth lap the bike stopped in turn one, so finally we could not do anything. It was not really a happy end to the weekend, but we had more of a positive feeling yesterday so I hope that this is a good direction for us to follow. Now I go to race at the Suzuka 8-hour but when I come back at Silverstone I hope we can be stronger again.”

Courtney Force

secures second podium in three races in Denver For the second time in three races rookie sensation Courtney Force was running for the money behind the wheel of her Castrolbacked Traxxas Ford Mustang Funny Car. At the 33rd running of the MOPAR Mile-High NHRA Nationals she dropped an incredibly close race to veteran Jack Beckman losing by 9 thousandths of a second in the final, 4.289 seconds to 4.277 seconds. Force reached her first Funny Car final in Chicago two races ago. “We had a great day. Making it all the way to the final round was huge for our Traxxas Ford Mustang team. Going up against someone like Capps was tough. It’s definitely a challenge taking on someone like that so getting that win against him

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was huge. Going to our second final in three races shows that I have a great race car and we’re constantly fighting for that top 10 spot. We definitely have a shot at it,” said Force, the front-runner for the Auto Club Road to the Future Award. “When we paired up against Beckman in the final I left on him, which I tried to do everything I could as a driver. I think it dropped a hole at the other end and I tried to pull it back as good as I could to keep it in the groove. It was a close race; 28 to a 29. I did everything I could. I wish I could have done better, but that’s’ why it’s a drag race so we’ll have to just keep working hard and get after them again next weekend.” Force was one round win away from being the eighth different driver to win a Full Throttle tour event in a John Force Racing Ford Mustang. This was just her thirteenth race of her young career. By comparison sister Ashley Force Hood went to her first Funny Car final in her 20th race and won in her 27th. Her father, John Force, went to the finals in his fourth pro race, as did brother-in-law Robert Hight. Teammate Mike Neff was a finalist in his seventh race as a driver. She would have become just the third female winner in Funny Car after sister Ashley and Melanie Troxel. Courtney defeated Tim Wilkerson, Robert Hight (No. 1 in points) and Ron Capps (No. 2 in points) en route to her final round match up with Beckman (No. 4 in points). The opening round race was a huge points match-up considering Wilkerson was knocking on the doorstep of a Top Ten position. By stopping him the first round she helped give her father a decent points cushion, 70 points, with four races before the Countdown cut-off.

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Adam Gilchrist heads home for Globa Record breaking wicket keeper Adam Gilchrist headed back to his home town of Lismore earlier this month to help Castrol celebrate a new partnership with Global Lubricant Distributors and the Southside Truck Centre. Gilchrist, a Castrol ambassador of over eight years, was on hand for several customer and media engagements before helping Castrol celebrate the new partnership for an official open day at the Southside Truck Centre in South Lismore. The first port of call was a trip up to Adam Gilchrist Park for a photoshoot with Gilchrist and the 2011/2012 Australian V8 Dirt Modified Champion Mark Robinson and his racecar. The region’s local press lapped up the visit of Gilchrist back to his hometown who was more than happy to share some tales of his days as School Captain (and naturally cricket captain) of the Kadina High School. From there it was a trip to two of Global Lubricant

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Distributors key accounts in the way of Trevan Ford and Lismore Nissan for a meet and greet with management and floor staff. It gave the local dealership employees a chance to grab a photo with ‘Gilly’ and share some stories at a personal level. Day one of Gilly’s Lismore visit was capped off with a very entertaining customer dinner where he shared several stories from his days playing with the likes of Merv Hughes, Shane Warne and Steve Waugh and some more recent stories from his spell in India as the Captain of the Kings XI Punjab IPL side. The Global Lubricant Distributors open day at the Southside Truck Centre Lismore was a great success and enjoyed by all - especially the budding young cricketers who headed down for a unique chance to play cricket with one of Australia’s greatest. After TV interviews for the local news stations

and a quick game of cricket on the well designed Castrol-green pitch at the Southside Truck Centre, Gilly drew two winners from the crowd who each received a sign Adam Gilchrist Puma cricket bat and a cricket pack including batting gloves and merchandise. Allin-all the trip to Lismore was deemed a huge success and enjoyed by everyone who had the chance to head down and meet one of the greatest cricketers of all time and long-time Castrol ambassador, Adam Gilchrist.

al Lubricant Distributors open day

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Mikkelsen makes history with largest IRC victory Castrol-backed ŠKODA UK Motorsport’s Andreas Mikkelsen has recorded the biggest winning margin in the history of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge, when he and co-driver Ola Fløene scored a 5min 33.8sec victory on the Sibiu Rally Romania in their factory-prepared Fabia S2000. It was also the 25th IRC win for ŠKODA, making it the most successful manufacturer in the series. Andreas dominated the rock-strewn gravel event, with a mix of rough-terrain technical set-up (the Fabia S2000 was running on its maximum ride height) and no-risk driving strategy paying dividends. His second win (following Rally Azores) and sixth podium of the season gives Andreas a 49 point lead in the IRC Drivers’ category, while ŠKODA inches closer to its third consecutive Manufacturers’ title. Andreas set fastest time on all seven of Leg 1’s stages, turning the normal disadvantage of running first on the road to his benefit in the dusty conditions. As all his main rivals hit either technical problems, suffered punctures or were slowed in dust, a controlled and faultless performance saw Andreas open up a 2min 44.1sec lead at the overnight halt. Leg 2 was even hotter and rougher, with two very long stages (repeated) held in mid-30ºC temperatures in the beautiful central Transylvanian region of Romania, followed by a closing superspecial stage. ŠKODA looked on course for a 1-2 finish, until Sepp Wiegand hit a rock on SS10 and had to retire his ŠKODA Deutschland Fabia S2000 from 2nd place with broken right rear suspension. Andreas hit the same rock, but was able to reach the finish of

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the stage with a front right flat tyre – his only minor problem of the entire event. In the end, Andreas set the fastest time on 10 of the events 12 stages, and led from start to finish. Andreas Mikkelsen - 1st “We won with a good margin, but it was a very tough event and it’s been a long weekend. The roads were very rough and for us it was a case of taking no risks and driving to avoid all the big rocks. This victory is a fantastic feeling for the whole ŠKODA UK Motorsport team, and if it wasn’t for their great work I wouldn’t be here at the end of such a tough event. We’ve been so close in the last rounds with a lot of second places, so it’s great to be back on the top step of the podium.” The next round of the IRC is the Barum Czech Rally Zlín (August 31-2 September) Drivers’ Championship pos

driver

points

Andreas Mikkelsen

132

Jan Kopecký

Juho Hänninen

Sepp Wiegand

Giandomenico Basso

Patrik Flodin

Manufacturers’ Championship pos

manuf.

points

ŠKODA

307

Peugeot

169

M-Sport

102

Renault

Subaru

Honda

Alonso surges into Rankings top two with Hungary win Fernando Alonso surged into second place in the Castrol EDGE Rankings following his fine victory in the Hungarian Grand Prix. The top two spots in the Rankings have been Red Bull’s domain almost exclusively since late 2010, when Mark Webber moved up into second behind Sebastian Vettel. And while the German’s position at the head of the standings remains, for now at least, out of reach, Alonso signalled his intentions by denying Webber a 39th consecutive week in second. In the first year of his F1 comeback with Lotus, Kimi Raikkonen has rocketed up the Rankings order. 205th at the start of the year, and 373rd at the season’s beginning, he now lies 40th, having gained 15 places on the back of his Hungary podium. Jenson Button, the rostrum’s third occupant and runnerup in the race, also gained ground, although not position. Having fallen off the back of the top four due to a poor

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run in recent weeks, a second place at Hungary allowed him to close in once again on team-mate Lewis Hamilton. Sauber’s pairing of Sergio Perez and Kamui Kobayashi were the other big movers of the weekend. Perez, the higher of the two, moved up one spot to 33rd on the back of his sixth-place finish. His gains were outdone by Kobayashi: the Japanese driver finishing two places up the road in fourth, leading to a nine-place rise into 41st. In the opposite direction, Romain Grosjean slipped five spots to 57th as a result of his early woes, and his eventual 18thplace finish.

CASTROL EDGE RANKINGS FOR 2012 pos

driver