Castrol EDGE Australia eNewsletter - Vol 2, Issue 18

VOLUME 2 - ISSUE 18

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

24th OCTOBER 2012

Armor All Gold Coast 600 Castrol Weekend Wrap T

he Castrol-backed Ford Performance Racing team has broken its win drought with Will Davison and Mika Salo scoring victory in the final race of the Gold Coast 600 - Round 12 of the International V8 Supercars Championship. Salo started in the car and after he was forced to pit early due to a flat-spotted tyre he went on to drive more than half the race before handing the car over to Davison in the race lead. Davison’s alternate

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strategy saw him emerge second after the final stop but he soon gained the lead and while he was challenged by series leader Jamie Whincup and teammate Mark Winterbottom, he held on for his seventh race win of the year.

“It is fantastic to get another win as it feels like so long since my last one. I actually had to fight much harder than I thought as Tim (Slade) came out in front of me after the last stop which I hadn’t

thought of,” said Davsion. “Once I got past him I had to press on but also try and conserve my tyres which thankfully I had the car to do it with really easily.

We were under a lot of pressure and Mika did such an amazing job so I am really happy for him that we finally got our win here. I let us down Saturday but we made up for it Sunday.”

Winterbottom and Will Power claimed consecutive third places. Winterbottom

took control of his car around onethird distance and a slick stop on lap 62 put him in the podium mix. In the closing stages he made several attempts to pass Whincup though after a late-race safety car he had to settle for third. David Reynolds and Nick Heidfeld experienced an up-and-down day in finishing 13th. Castrol backedKelly Racing experienced a frustrating second day of the Armor All Gold Coast 600 with Rick Kelly putting in another sensational qualifying performance to

secure fifth grid spot for himself and co-driver Graham Rahal while Tim Blanchard qualified 23rd in the second Jack Daniel’s Racing car he shared with Marco Andretti.

Trouble hit the Blanchard/Andretti car on lap 58 when Blanchard was forced to pit to have the alternator replaced, losing 10 laps and any chance of a decent result. The pair were then in the pits with differential failure and out of the race on lap 80. By lap 70 Kelly

2012 V8 Supercars Championship standings: pos

driver

pts

1

Jamie Whincup

3060

2

Mark Winterbottom

2842

3

Craig Lowndes

2815

4

Will Davison

2503

5

Shane Van Gisbergen

2182

6

Tim Slade

2085

7

Garth Tander

2030

8

David Reynolds

1746

9

James Courtney

1725

10

Lee Holdsworth

1719

had set a blistering pace and worked his way up to second before his final pitstop on lap 73 for tyres, a tank of fuel and to have a bucket of ice poured into his lap, as his cool suit had failed. Kelly resumed 13th. Despite being held up by James Courtney who punctured his tyre into turn 4, in the closing stages of the race forcing Kelly wide, Rick went on to finish in 11th place.

Castrol-backed Supercheap Auto Racing international driver Peter Dumbreck sealed “rookie of the year” honours in the 2012 Armor All Gold Coast 600, finishing seventh in Sunday’s 300 kilometre race alongside regular SCAR pilot Russell Ingall. Ingall has maintained his 12th position in the championship and is now just 91 points outside the top-10.The next event on the 2012 V8 Supercar calendar is Abu Dhabi in a fortnight’s time.

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Castrol WRC Wrap - Rally Italia S T he Castrol-backed M-Sport Ford World Rally Team duo Evgeny Novikov / Ilka Minor and Ott Tänak / Kuldar Sikk claimed a superb second and third in Fiesta RS World Rally Cars at Rally Italia Sardegna - the penultimate round of the FIA World Rally Championship. Second equalled Novikov’s best result, while third marked a first WRC podium for Tänak. Castrol-backed Adapta World Rally Team’s Mads Østberg / Jonas Andersson finished fourth, despite a puncture in the final test. Martin Prokop

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/ Zdenĕk Hrůza overcame a host of problems to take eighth in the Czech Ford National Team car.

“It was a very long rally with some very difficult stages, but it has been a great weekend for us. We had to always keep concentration but we are very happy,” said Novikov. “I had a birthday last month when I turned 22, and now I have two podiums, both in second place, so I think it was meant to be!”

The Castrol-backed Ford World Rally

Team finished first and second in the final Power Stage speed test at Rally Italia Sardegna to claim maximum bonus points. Petter Solberg and Chris Patterson edged out Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila by just 0.2sec in a Fiesta RS World Rally Car battle for top spot, which saw the Ford duo almost five seconds quicker than their closest rivals.

Castrol-backed Volkswagen driver Sébastien Ogier outperformed the entire WRC field’s more powerful vehicles

2012 WRC standings:

Sardegna on a special stage on Friday. Together with co-driver Julien Ingrassia, Ogier, in the Skoda Fabia S2000, won a special stage on Friday ahead of the seemingly invincible WRC cars. On finishing in fifth place overall, the French duo additionally managed to set a new record, namely the best position ever to have been achieved by a Super 2000 car overall, in a round of the WRC. Their team-mates Andreas Mikkelsen and Ola Fløene (N/N) completed the strong team performance on the Costa Smeralda by taking seventh place.

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pos

driver

pts

1.

Sebastien Loeb

244

2.

Mikko Hirvonen

198

3.

Mads Ostberg

137

4.

Jari-Matti Latvala

133

5.

Petter Solberg

124

6.

Evgeny Novikov

87

7.

Thierry Neuville

53

8.

Ott Tanak

52

9.

Martin Prokop

46

10.

Sebastien Ogier

41

Castrol-backed Honda rider Alvaro Baut second MotoGP podium at the Japanese G

C

astrol-backed San Carlo Honda Gresini rider Alvaro Bautista earned his second MotoGP podium at the Japanese Grand Prix in Motegi, a day after it was announced he had re-signed with the Gresini Honda team.

After a slow start Bautista caught up to Cal Crutchlow on the 14th lap and the fight for third was on. The Spaniard patiently waited until the 20th lap to try and keep the brakes from overheating before making his move. Crutchlow tried to strike back, but Bautista had the counter-measure.

The race for the final podium spot went down to the final lap but ended prematurely when Crutchlow ran out of gas. That gave Bautista a clean path to his second MotoGP podium after he was already third in the San Marino Grand Prix. The podium moved him to a career-high fifth in the championship.

Alvaro Bautista, 3rd: “What a beautiful and great weekend with the signing of the contract for next season with Gresini Racing. I am very happy. I knew we could do well and fight for the podium, because on Saturday we saw that we had a good race pace. I tried and I did it. I did not start very well, I lost

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some positions, but I quickly recovered.

Then when I caught Crutchlow I saw that we were riding at the same pace and so I tried to keep a safe distance so as not to overheat the brakes. With five laps to go I pushed more and attacked and I have to say that the battle with him was great and I enjoyed it.”

Castrol-backed rider Bautista takes sixth in a rain soaked Sepang race Heavy rainfall during the MotoGP race at Sepang saw the red flags produced with seven laps remaining and eventually the decision came from Race Direction to call a result with full points awarded. Castrol-backed Alvaro Bautista was lapping in sixth place when the conditions were deemed unsafe, a positive result after a difficult weekend. The race got underway on a wet track, with steady rain falling,

following earlier downpours that had seen the Moto2 race delayed due to a flooded track. About halfway through the 20-lap MotoGP race the rain intensified, triggering a raft of crashes.

Honda Team’s Dani Pedrosa put in a wet-weather master class to win the Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix in Sepang. Pedrosa finished ahead of Yamaha Factory Racing’s Jorge Lorenzo and Australian Casey Stoner.

Alvaro Bautista, 6th: “Racing in these conditions is always a lottery.

It was raining at the start, but not too much and I was able to ride well with confidence in the bike. The only problem was under braking and I had trouble trying to control the bike over the bumps. I was close to crashing, but

tista earns Grand Prix

I tried to adapt as best I could. Towards the end the track was like a river and I was aquaplaning down the straight.

It was the right call to stop the race. I am happy, because we improved our feeling with the bike in the wet, but we still need to work on our chatter problems.�

MotoGP Championship standings pos

rider

points

1

Jorge LORENZO

330

2

Dani PEDROSA

307

3

Casey STONER

213

4

Andrea DOVIZIOSO

195

5

Alvaro BAUTISTA

154

6

Valentino ROSSI

148

7

Cal CRUTCHLOW

135

8

Stefan BRADL

125

9

Nicky HAYDEN

114

10

Ben SPIES

88

STRENGTH TO PERFORM

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STRENGTH TO PERFORM

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BMW Motorsport and Castrol EDGE Celebrate Debut Season Victory BMW Motorsport is celebrating after securing an emphatic double, winning both the drivers’ and team titles in the final race of the season at Hockenheim. The victory marks the end to a magnificent return to DTM for BMW Motorsport and technical partner Castrol EDGE. Castrol has a long and successful heritage in motorsport, with the BMW partnership at its core. This victory represents another major milestone in that history. DTM is an extremely challenging racing environment where drivers, teams and cars are tested to the very limit.

Working together in such challenging conditions allows both BMW Motorsport and Castrol to use each others strength

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in technology and innovation to push their products to the extremes. In late April, 142,000 people crammed into the stands at Hockenheim to follow BMW’s return to the series. Six months, eleven races and a return to Hockenheim later, BMW has secured five wins, four pole positions and an amazing Championship double.

The victory completes a truly remarkable season for the team.

Jens Marquardt, BMW Motorsport Director, said: “The long and close working relationship we have had over the years while using Castrol highperformance lubricants has seen us celebrate together on many occasions.

Now we have achieved another title,

which is amazing, and I want to personally thank the team and our technical partners Castrol for all their hard work. 2012 has been an amazing year for everyone involved and we’re already looking forward to working together again next season and coming back even stronger.”

Donald Smith, Castrol Sponsorship Manager, said: “All of us at Castrol are thrilled to offer our congratulations to the whole team on a great season and a fantastic victory. DTM is one of the very best race series in Europe, the performances throughout 2012 are the perfect demonstration of Castrol EDGE’s ability to deliver the strength that allows drivers to perform at their very best”.

QANTAS WALLABIES 18 v ALL BLACKS 18 IN AND FINAL BLEDISLOE CUP TEST FOR 2012

T

wo of Rugby’s fiercest rivals fought out an enthralling 18-18 draw in front of a near capacity crowd at Suncorp Stadium for the third and final Bledisloe Cup Test of 2012. The Qantas Wallabies and All Blacks threw everything they had at each other for 80 minutes of some of the most intense Rugby of 2012, with neither side able to be separated at the final siren.

After leading 12-6 at half time the Qantas Wallabies nearly saw their lead cut in half, only to have All Black fly half, Dan Carter,

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miss his second penalty goal attempt of the night in the 44th minute. In the 51st minute the Qantas Wallabies extended their lead to nine-points after Kurtley Beale knocked over a penalty goal, however successive penalty goals to Carter in the 53rd and 56th minutes saw the Australian’s lead cut to just three-points.

The Qantas Wallabies had a chance to extend their lead once more but a long range penalty goal attempt by Beale sailed wide leaving the Australian’s up by three-

points. The All Blacks drew level in the 67th minute thanks to the boot of Carter again and then stretched away from the home side in the 71st minute thanks to another penalty goal. The trusty boot of Qantas Wallabies full back, Mike Harris, put the Qantas Wallabies back on level pegging in the 75th minute with the next five and a bit minutes some of the most entertaining and heart stopping of 2012.

With the siren gone the Qantas Wallabies went through phase after phase pressing

IN THE THIRD 2 closer and closer to the All Blacks 22.

After losing the ball following more than a dozen phases the All Blacks counter attacked taking themselves to within the Australia 22. With both Carter and All Black replacement fly half Aaron Cruden waiting for a drop goal attempt either side of the ensuing ruck it was Carter who had the chance to snatch an historic victory. As the 51,888 crowd held their collective breath the drop goal attempt from just 30 meters out sailed agonisingly wide to see the sides unable to be separated at full time.

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THE

POWER BEHIND THE

PACK BEHIND THE

PACK!