Castrol EDGE Australia Newsletter - Volume 2 Issue 3

VOLUME 2 - ISSUE 3

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

19th MARCH 2012

FPR dominate reign continues

Castrol teams display dominance at Albert Park C

astrol EDGE has once again tasted success in the latest round of the V8 Supercars Championship at the Australian Grand Prix with the Castrol-backed Ford Performance Racing (FPR) team winning the round through star driver Mark Winterbottom.

After winning the first qualifying race ‘Frosty’ won races one and two and finished fifth in race three which was enough for the Orrcon Steel #5 Ford to pick up a cool $100,000 prize-winners cheque.

“It is great to take the overall win here as last year we were not even close to being in contention,” commented Frosty.

settle for second, just two points behind Winterbottom. Holden’s Garth Tander finished third for the round.

“The thing that has made me happiest is my soft tyre pace. If we can carry the improvements we’ve made to tracks like Hamilton and Ipswich where we struggled last year, we will be looking good for the rest of the year.”

FPR teammates Will Davison and David Reynolds were the next two best placed Castrol-supported drivers finishing fourth and seventh for the round with ‘Davo’ putting on a dominant display at Albert Park scoring two podiums and the most laps led by any car.

It was a close battle, with Ford’s Shane van Gisbergen almost taking spoils after a Sunday race win but would have to

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Castrol-sponsored Kelly Racing were also strong contenders with Todd Kelly finishing

this exhibition-style, non-championship round, where the series was supporting the first round of the 2012 Formula 1 Championship.

Unfortunately the round wasn’t as cheery for the remaining two Castrolbacked cars in the Championship, with Russell ‘The re-enforcement Enforcer’ Ingall caught up in a bizarre Race 1 accident which caused heavy damage to the Supercheap Auto Commodore.

“Why risk machinery and cost your team a lot of money for no reason?’’ Ingall said, speaking out about the non-championship of a round. ‘’There are a few guys there that shouldn’t be there and you know something is going to happen.” off the weekend in eighth and brother Rick another strong showing in ninth while teammate in the Pepsi car, Greg Murphy rounded out the top-10 in tenth.

Tony D’Alberto also enjoyed a successful weekend finishing the non-championship Grand Prix round 13th outright after some impressive qualifying speed.

Two DNFs from the fourth Castrol-backed Kelly Racing car of Karl Reindler saw the West Australian finish a disappointing 27th for the non-points round.

Round 2 of the International V8 Supercars Championship sees crews head south for the Tasmanian Challenge, March 30-April 3.

The only downside to their strong performances was that no championship points were on offer for

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Australian Grand Prix Round Results 1 Orrcon Steel FPR Ford - Mark Winterbottom - 274 2 SP Tools Racing - Shane Van Gisbergen - 272 3 Holden Racing Team-

Garth Tander -

264

4 Trading Post FPR Ford -

Will Davison -

252

5 Lockwood Racing -

Fabian Coulthard -

208

6 Irwin Racing -

Lee Holdsworth -

200

7 The Bottle-O Racing Team - David Reynolds -

180

8 Jack Daniel’s Racing - Todd Kelly -

172

9 Jack Daniel’s Racing - Rick Kelly -

144

10 Pepsi Max Crew - Greg Murphy -

132

13 Tony D’Alberto Racing Tony D’Alberto -

124

24 Supercheap Auto Racing Russell Ingall -

58

27 Fair Dinkum Sheds Racing Karl Reindler -

34

The Castrol EDGE Rally Mexico Race Wrap

I

t was a Citroen lock out at the third round of the World Rally Championship in Mexico last week with Sebastien Loeb proving unstoppable as he cruised to his sixth straight Rally Mexico victory.

Castrol-sponsored Ford World Rally Team drivers Petter Solberg and Chris Patterson finished third for the event with the Norwegian driver and his British

co-driver also winning the final Power Stage speed test in their Ford Fiesta RS World Rally Car to claim maximum bonus points to add to their WRC championship points tally.

“I really wanted to win the Power Stage because the bonus points are important for the championship,” commented Solberg. “The extra three points means I scored the same as the second-

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placed driver, so it’s like finishing a place higher. I’ve now driven on three different surfaces in the Fiesta in the opening three rallies and I was really comfortable on each, so I feel confident for the season ahead,” he added.

Team-mates Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila retired from third place with two special stages remaining after rolling their Fiesta RS WRC when they

S2000, ahead of three more powerful WRC cars.

Volkswagen Junior Kevin Abbring and his new co-driver Frédéric Miclotte were struck by misfortune, after setting positive initial times they were forced to retire in the second Skoda Fabia S2000 due to technical problems on the 16th special stage.

“I’m so pleased because to give the Volkswagen team its first championship points and in 2013 we’ll be even faster at the front with the Polo R WRC,” commented Ogier.

Final positions - Rally Mexico 1. S Loeb/D Elena

2. M Hirvonen/J Lehtinen

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FIN

Citroen DS3 Ford Fiesta RS

4. M Østberg/J Andersson NOR

Ford Fiesta RS

5. O Tänak/K Sikk

Ford Fiesta RS

EST

6. N Al Attiyah/G Bernacchini QAT

Citroen DS3

7. A Araujo/M Ramalho

PRT

Mini John Cooper

8. S Ogier/J Ingrassia

FRA

Skoda Fabia S2000

9. K Block/A Gelsomino

USA

Ford Fiesta RS

10 R Trivino/A Haro

MEX

Ford Fiesta RS

Drivers Championship 1. S Loeb

6. E Novikov

50pts

4. M Østberg 5. J-M Latvala

66pts

3. P Solberg

By taking eighth place overall, the Castrol-backed Volkswagen factory team successfully scored their first ever WRC points with Sébastien Ogier and co-driver Julien Ingrassia finishing eighth outright in their Skoda Fabia

Citroen DS3

3. P Solberg/C Patterson NOR

2. M Hirvonen

were distracted by another crashed car.

The accident damaged the car’s roll cage and the Finns had to withdraw for safety reasons.

FRA

47pts

28pts

26pts

21pts

Manufacturers’ Championship 1. Citroen Total WRT 2. Ford WRT

108pts

38pts

3. M-Sport Ford WRT

70pts

4. Mini WRT

26pts

5. Qatar WRT

16pts

6. Adapta WRT

12pts

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International motorsport

John Force Racing continues its domination of US drag strips Castrol-backed John Force Racing (JFR) driver Robert Hight has won for the second time in 2012 defeating Johnny Gray in the final round of the 43rd annual Tire Kingdom NHRA Gatornationals.

For Hight and his team it was their second consecutive final round victory over Johnny Gray, and Hight’s 14th win in sixteen final rounds.

This win was one of the big ones

of Hight’s career, the first time Gatornationals finalist said, “I have won the US Nationals and I have won both the Pomona races but next to Indy this is where you want to win.

everybody from drag racing past and present is here for this race.

“Ron Capps said it best a few years back - you don’t want to retire without winning the Gatornationals.

For the weekend Mike Neff, the Gatornationals defending champion, recorded times of 4.10, 4.08, 4.08, and 4.06 seconds in qualifying and in eliminations he posted times of 4.079, 4.076 and 4.083 seconds.

“This is a huge race. The Hall of Fame inductions are before this race so

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“If it wasn’t for them, the pioneers, this sport wouldn’t be where it is today.”

Aussie motorsp

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port

Richo impresses in Carerra Cup Castrol ambassador Steven Richards enjoyed a strong final race during the latest round of the Porsche Carerra Cup at the Australian Grand Prix over the weekend.

He picked up fourth in Race 3 finishing ahead of young guns James Davison, fastest lap recipient Andre Heimgartner and young gun Nick Foster.

The result moves Richo up to seventh in the Carrera Cup standings after two rounds of the championship.

Round 3 takes place at Barbagallo Raceway along side the V8 Supercars in Perth at the beginning of May. 2012 Carrera Cup driver standings Craig Baird Alex Davison Daniel Gaunt Andre Heimgartner Nick Foster Jonny Reid Steven Richards

326 318 207 206 190 162 146

Castrol to support Australian female driving academy Castrol has announced it’s support for the La Femme Academy, Australia’s

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leading provider of professional development and training courses for females in motorsport.

La Femme Academy of Motorsport provides a guided pathway and unique opportunities for talented young females to enter professional motorsport.

Find out more at: LaFemmeMotorsport. com.au

Castrol EDGE Mazda RX-8 Race Team Darren Kane has enjoyed a successful trip to Western Australia taking his Castrol EDGE Mazda RX-8 to round victory and finishing third overall in the 2011/12 National Super Sedan Series in Perth last week.

In the Grand Final event, Kane put in a remarkable performance to advance from position 19 into 2nd before the end of the opening 20-lap stanza.

After a 10-minute pit-stop, Kane continued to chase Steve Jordan before surging into the lead to record a stunning victory that, if not for the loss of bonus points following his late arrival at the circuit, may have gone very close to securing him a third series crown.

WIN with the Castr Grand Prix Predic E

ver wanted to go to Le Mans? Meet John Force?

Get behind the scenes at a MotoGP or swan into a lounge at the Monaco GP? Well, with Speedcafe.com’s exclusive partnership with the Castrol EDGE Grand Prix Predictor, you have the chance to win this as part of the Predictor’s major worldwide prize.

Castrol EDGE eNewsletter readers can register for the Castrol EDGE Grand Prix Predictor for free.

CLICK HERE to become part of the tipping action.

The Castrol EDGE Grand Prix Predictor blasts off this weekend with the Qantas Australian Formula

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One Grand Prix. The worldwide winner will receive up to (AUD) $30,000* to spend on a number of exclusive Castrol EDGE motorsport experiences throughout the world.

How do you enter? You pick the top 10 runners in each Grand Prix starting in Melbourne and finishing in Brazil. You score points based on your correct predictions and your nearly correct predictions.

This year, there are additional points-scoring opportunities when you can predict the pole-sitter, fastest lap getter and who you think will make up the most positions in each Grand Prix.

opportunity to predict the top 10 finishers at each grand prix. You can compete against friends, and for prizes, throughout the year.

rol EDGE tor But that’s not all – as the exclusive Australian media partner for the Castrol EDGE Grand Prix Predictor, Speedcafe.com and Castrol EDGE will be giving away a Castrol EDGE merchandise pack to the highest placed Australian predictor for each individual round of the 2012 Formula One Championship!

This year, the Castrol EDGE Grand Prix Predictor allows you to compete against your mates throughout the world and with the prizes now open to Australians – can you afford not to be part of it?

CLICK HERE to register and check out the amazing prizes in what is the ultimate Grand Prix fantasy tipping competition.

Set up leagues to compete against your mates, or pit yourself against Castrol EDGE’s Grand Prix Predictor computer and brand ambassadors – which includes double F1 race winning driver, Johnny Herbert. The Castrol EDGE Grand Prix Predictor is based on the 2012 FIA Formula 1 World Championship. The game is free to play and offers you the

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The game commences with the Australian Grand Prix on March 18 2012 and runs through to the final Grand Prix of the season in Brazil on 25 November. You will score points for your predictions at every race. *The ‘ultimate prize’ means a choice of Castrol EDGE Ultimate Motorsport Experiences to the value of approximately (AUD) $29,400 (based on the market equivalent of £20,000) to be taken during 2013.

THE

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