Castrol EDGE Australia Newsletter - Volume 2 Issue 11

VOLUME 2 - ISSUE 11

MotoGP news

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

Holder through to Speedway World Cup

11th JULY 2012

V8 Supercars report - Suc A strong performance by Castrolbacked Ford Performance Racing (FPR) has seen both Ford factory V8 Supercars finish inside the top-5 for Race 15 of the International V8 Supercars Championship at the Sucrogen Townsville 400. Mark ‘Frosty’ Winterbottom picked up a fifth place finish at the conclusion of the 200km race on Sunday with teammate Will Davison picking up a solid podium finish in third as Triple 8’s Jamie Whincup won both races for the weekend.

Starting from pole on Saturday Frosty began strong before a series of Safety Cars draw the field back together and a final ten lap showdown commenced with current series leader Whincup.

Despite a massive push at the end of the race to close the gap considerably on Whincup, Frosty fell perilously short of the win but did secure second place

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and his third consecutive podium finish in the championship.

The Castrol-backed BottleO entry of David Reynolds was the hard luck story of the event. After taking pole for the first time on Sunday he led the race with ease and looked set for a maiden rostrum until the final stop where he was shuffled from first to fifth. From there he ran wide on a late race restart and dropped to sixth where he would finish for the second day in a row.

With a matter of conserving fuel and tyres while working through the field Castrol-supported Jack Daniel’s Racing finished Sunday’s 72 lap race with Rick Kelly crossing the line in 8th place and brother Todd finishing 15th. After starting on the hard compound tyres for Sunday’s race, Rick’s race plan was

scuttled when he and Fabian Coulthard touched, resulting in a punctured right front tyre and a slow lap into the pits.

From there, his race, like Todd’s was about salvaging as many points as possible. Todd pitted for soft tyres and fuel on lap 43 and the following lap Rick made his final stop for fuel and a set of already used soft tyres that he would have to nurse for the final 28 laps of the race. Rick eventually finished the day 20th and moved up to 14th in the championship. Todd made one final pitstop on lap 59 under the final safety car of the day and finished 21st, remaining 11th in the Championship.

Fellow Castrol-backed Kelly Racing team cars of Karl Reindler and former F1 Champion Jacques Villeneuve had a good run with Reindler showing great pace in the 200km race on the streets of

crogen Townsville 400 Townsville on Sunday and was heading towards a season best result before tyre issues put a stop to his charge.

Villeneuve finished the race in 24th position after completing his first V8 Supercar race in his Pepsi Max Crew Commodore. It was a clean race for Villeneuve who on Saturday was forced out of the race on lap 19 with an engine drama. Villeneuve was hoping for a clean race to better understand his #51 machine and gain more experience in the V8 Supercar category.

Castrol-backed Supercheap Auto Racing had a mixed event with Russell ‘The Enforcer’ Ingall finishing 11th in his Commodore after the 72-lap, 200km race on Saturday, having led for 13 laps late before having to pit for his final stop at the end of L57. Sunday was a bitterly disappointing end to the Sucrogen Townsville 400 however. The on-board data showed Ingall had been braking to avoid cars tangling ahead, but he then received a serious hit from behind from rookie Taz Douglas, the impact pushing

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Ingall into cars in front and damaging both the front and rear of his car. He continued for three laps but received a black flag for the rear bodywork, Ingall heading to the pits for repairs on Lap 4.

He returned to the track soon after, but was ruled out of the race by Lap 7 with damage to the engine cooling system threatening to destroy the engine.

After a small break in the 2012 V8 Supercars Championship teams will be heading back to Queensland for the Coates Hire Ipswich 300, Aug 3-5.

pos

driver

points

1.

Jamie Whincup

1794

2.

Mark Winterbottom

1694

3.

Will Davison

1654

4.

Craig Lowndes

1496

5.

Shane van Gisbergen

1280

6.

Garth Tander

1239

7.

Lee Holdsworth

1190

8.

Tim Slade

1170

9.

Fabian Coulthard

1030

10.

David Reynolds

951

Bautista secures solid sev Alvaro Bautista fought through from last place on the grid to battle for fifth in a gritty ride at Sachsenring, a circuit where it is notoriously difficult to overtake. The Castrol-backed Team San Carlo Honda Gresini rider pulled off some brave manoeuvres to move into the pack chasing the podium positions although he had to settle for seventh in a final lap skirmish.

Alvaro Bautista (7th) “I am happy, because to start from last and finish seventh is a good result. It’s just a shame that I lost so much time at the start trying to pass the CRTs. I was trying to do it without taking too many risks and then once I got past them I had a lot of sliding from the rear tyre, which made it a long and difficult race. I tried to adapt my riding style and use the throttle in a different way and in the second half of the race I was able to close down the guys in front of me. I actually managed to pass Rossi and Bradl on the penultimate lap, but I lost the front and almost crashed. I wanted to try again on the last lap, but as we came into the braking zone at the bottom of the hill I

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could see the yellow flags so that was that. I had another look in the last corner, but couldn’t make the pass. Anyway, the result is good and for that I want to thank the team for giving 100% all weekend even though they knew this would be a tough race.” pos

rider

team

points

1

Jorge Lorenzo

Yamaha

160

2

Dani Pedrosa

Honda

140

3

Casey Stoner

Honda

146

4

Andrea Dovizioso

Yamaha

92

5

Cal Crutchlow

Yamaha

85

6

Valentino Rossi

Ducati

71

7

Alvaro Bautista

Honda

67

Rea salvages fifth from Aragon Castrol backed Honda rider Jonathan Rea finished fifth in the second of two World Superbike championship races at Motorland Aragon in Spain. The races were won by Italians Max Biaggi and Marco Melandri. Rea took no points from race one after becoming tangled in a crash between two other riders at the

first turn. The 25-year-old from Northern Ireland remounted in last place and gathered valuable data before finishing 16th His Honda World Superbike teammate, Hiroshi Aoyama, finished 14th and 15th in the two 20-lap outings at the 5.344km circuit. While the front runners have tested here extensively, it was Rea’s first visit to Aragon so he and his team took some consolation from being able to match the pace of the front-runners in race two. The Honda World Superbike Team remained at the Aragon circuit on Monday to undertake comparison tests with the new 17-inch wheels and tyres that will be introduced for the 2013 World Superbike championship.

Jonathan Rea (16th and 5th) “It was a tough day really, and I didn’t need what happened in race one when two riders came together at the start into turn one and I went down. I got back up and the bike was fit to go again so I thought it would be good to get some experience for race two for bike set-up.

We made some changes between the races and that enabled me to challenge a bit better at the front. At the beginning

venth at Sachsenring of the race the pace was OK for me but a few guys started to stretch and I couldn’t go with them. I belonged in the second group today, but I was fit to get back in to them and make some passes. It’s nice to get out of here with at least some pace and after 50% of the race I was able to match the leading group but, while we can take positives, it’s been an average weekend.” pos

rider

team

points

1

Max Biaggi

Aprilia

248.5

2

Marco Melandri

BMW

200.5

3

Jonathan Rea

Honda

183

4

Carlos Checa

Ducati

175.5

5

Tom Sykes

Kawasaki

172.5

Parkes fourth in Spain Castrol-backed Ten Kate Racing Products Honda rider Broc Parkes took fourth place in the seventh round World Supersport championship race at Motorland Aragon in Spain. The race was stopped on the opening lap after two riders crashed on the starting

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grid, and the restarted race was won by fellow Honda CBR600RR rider Sam Lowes following Turkish rider Kenan Sofuoglu’s demotion of four positions as a penalty for unsportsmanlike behaviour. The Australian started from sixth place on the grid following a frustrating qualifying session yesterday afternoon and, despite, running as high as third in the early stages of the 18-lap race, Parkes could not maintain the pace required for a podium challenge.

Broc Parkes (4th) “I tried to stay with the front guys the whole race but I could only just keep it there at the beginning.

When I caught back up they’d group again and just go. It was disappointing because I couldn’t attack anywhere.

Unfortunately we didn’t get the result we wanted because I was here to battle for a podium, not fourth or fifth, but that’s racing. I think we need to work on where we put the power in the engine because we’re not getting the best out of it at the moment. I want to be back battling at the front, so we’ll work hard during the test and prepare as well as we can for the next race in Brno.”

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Castrol to debut a Pro Stock bike at the NHRA Route 66 Nationals Castrol will be participating in some twowheel competition during this weekend’s NHRA Route 66 Nationals in Joliet, Illinois as Junior Pippin Trucking/Racing will campaign a Triumph Castrol Pro Stock Motorcycle. At the throttle will be multitime champion motorcycle drag racer Kieth Burley. This partnership between Triumph North America and Castrol will include a multi-race program with Junior Pippin Trucking/Racing that will include four events on the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series tour this season.

“Castrol has engineered and manufactured premium motorcycle lubricants for over 100 years”, said Rob Corini, Brand

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Manager, Motorcycle Oil – Castrol. “Our loyal and passionate fans and customers love drag racing. Many of these fans also own motorcycles and therefore the Pro Stock Bike class is another marketing opportunity for us.”

There’s also a business partnership between Castrol and Triumph Motorcycles that goes back 100 years to when the iconic motorcycle company was founded.

As in 1902, these beautifully crafted highperformance two-wheeled machines leave the plant with Castrol lubricants inside their engines and transmissions as quality, reliability, and performance are words synonymous with both brands.

AUDI LE MANS TRIO SHARE JUNE PER Which driver has been the star performer in the Castrol EDGE Rankings in June – why did they score so strongly?

The accolade of Performer of the Month for June was split between three drivers – Marcel Fassler (37th), Benoit Treluyer (66th) and Andre Lotterer (34th), all of whom earned the honour courtesy of their superb victory in the Le Mans 24 Hours. The trio had started the race from pole position and led for an overwhelming majority – 333 of the 378 laps – which was enough to elevate them to the top of the standings for June.

Sebastien Loeb (6th) was the man who came closest to depriving the triumvirate of top spot following his dominant victory in Rally New Zealand.

The Frenchman’s fifth victory of the season, which included winning seven of the 22 stages en route to a dominant win, fell just short of eclipsing the Audi trio’s heroics at Le Mans. Jimmie Johnson (9th) and Sebastian Vettel (1st) were also in the mix, but despite the benefit of having multiple races were unable to break into the top four positions for June.

Nico Rosberg’s recent good form has seen him break into the Castrol EDGE Rankings top ten for the first time. Just how high can the German ace finish this season?

Rosberg’s (10th) rise up the Rankings order has been rapid – from 23rd at the start of the year to 10th less than three months later, his first ever appearance inside the top 10. Just how high he can continue to rise depends of course on his future performances, and whether both he and Mercedes can continue their stellar form across the second half of the season. There is evidence however to suggest he will continue to rise. Across the opening eight races of 2012 his average points haul in the Rankings has been almost

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double his average across the final 14 races of 2011. Indeed, only his sixthplace finish at Spa last year compares favourably to his totals in any of the opening eight races this season. If that trend continues, it is reasonable to expect Rosberg to continue gaining on an almost race-by-race basis – with a top three berth a potential, if unlikely, position at the end of the season.

The Castrol EDGE backed Audi team claimed a historic 11th Le Mans 24 Hour victory in June. How did the team’s performance affect the position of their drivers in the Castrol EDGE rankings?

Audi’s roster of drivers made heavy gains in the Castrol EDGE Rankings following the marque’s Le Mans success, even if unusually none of the wining trio made progress. Andre Lotterer, Benoit Treluyer and Marcel Fassler were ultimately victims of their own success – having claimed pole, fastest lap and the race victory in 2011, they couldn’t quite match the feat this year and slid slightly as a result.

Lotterer, the highest-ranked of the trio, slipped two spots to 32nd, and while Fassler stayed in 36th, Treluyer also lost ground, dropping six spots to 66th.

That was in direct contrast to the rest of the Audi fold – and in particular Allan McNish, Tom Kristensen and Rinaldo Capello, who retired in 2011 but finished second in this year’s edition. McNish rocketed 23 places to an all-time high of 59th, while Kristensen shot up 33 spots to 69th and Capello leapt a massive 67 spots to vault into 122nd.

Such gains were also repeated in the third-place finishing e-tron quattro of Mike Rockenfeller, Oliver Jarvis and Marco Bonanomi. Rockenfeller, the highest-ranked of the trio, moved up eight spots to 54th, while Oliver Jarvis broke into the top 100 for the very first

ERFORMER OF THE MONTH AWARD time, moving up 35 spots to 91st. Both were outdone by Marco Bonanomi however. The Italian, who moved into his national GT3 championship in 2010 following a long single seater career, was only ranked 859th coming into Le Mans, and a debut podium therefore provided a massive boost, rocketing him 412 spots up to 447th.

CASTROL EDGE OVERALL RANKINGS

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pos

driver

category

points

1

Sebastian Vettel

F1

26,130

2

Mark Webber

F1

20,362

3

Lewis Hamilton

F1

19,867

4

Fernando Alonso

F1

19,645

5

Jenson Button

F1

17,448

6

Sébastien Loeb

WRC

16,805

7

Will Power

IndyCar

16,066

8

Scott Dixon

IndyCar

15,016

9

Tony Stewart

NASCAR

14,993

10

Nico Rosberg

F1

14,583

CASTROL EDGE RANKINGS FOR 2012 pos

driver

category

points

1

Sébastien Loeb

WRC

10,769

2

Lewis Hamilton

F1

8,057

3

Sebastian Vettel

F1

8,035

4

Mikko Hirvonen

WRC

7,754

5

Will Power

IndyCar

7,553

6

Fernando Alonso

F1

7,505

7

Mark Webber

F1

7,412

8

Nico Rosberg

F1

7,175

9

Scott Dixon

IndyCar

7,146

10

Ryan Hunter-Reay

IndyCar

7,083

NEFF WINS AGAIN AT NORWALK Mike Neff used all his mechanical and driving skills at the 6th annual Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals en route to his back to back victory in Norwalk. Neff tuned and drove his Castrol GTX Ford Mustang to the No. 2 qualifying spot and then the win over Tim Wilkerson. Neff outran Wilkerson 4.217 to 4.244. He became the first two-time winner at Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Park and this was his second win of 2012.

“The weather conditions this weekend were so difficult. Even today was much nicer than yesterday but it still got warm after first round. The track was up over 130 degrees. Any time you have track temperatures like that it is just tricky.

It just comes down to being able to go up and down the track without smoking the tires,” said Neff. “Friday night was really critical. That was going to be by far the coolest conditions of the weekend. That was the one run you had to make a good run. You had to get yourself a good spot in qualifying. You had no chance of running any better on Saturday. That kind of set the pace and fortunately for me I made a good run. I was No. 2 and it was a good position. I caught a break because the car backfired the first round but you create your own luck. You qualify No. 2 and you are running the No. 15 guy. Your odds of winning go way up. That is the way I look at it.”

Neff’s four runs were 4.299, 4.229, 2.281 and 4.217 for an average ET of 4.254 seconds. Having his Castrol GTX Ford Mustang in the four twenties all day was key for Neff. “The final I would say that was a good solid run for me.

I was on a really good run in the first round and I thought it would run 4.11 but it popped the blower. The second round it spun the tires from half-track

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to the finish line. It put a hole out in the semis and ran 4.28. Finally in the final I got it to run on all eight and it made a good clean run right when I needed it.

Tim Wilkerson put up a heck of a run over there. It had to be very close at the finish line. It was just our day,” said Neff, an eight-time Funny Car winner.

FRANCO TO BE REMEMBERED AT EASTERN CREEK The upcoming fourth round of the 2012 CIK Stars of Karting Series presented

by Castrol EDGE at Sydney’s Eastern Creek International Karting Raceway on July 28/29 will have extra significance for competitors in the Pro Light (KF1) field.

Series Organisers have announced today that winner of the Pro Light category at the Eastern Creek round each year will be awarded the Franco Guaitoli Memorial Shield. Guaitoli, who passed away last month following a short battle with cancer, was considered one of the most influential people in the Australia karting for many years.

Affectionately known as ‘Mr PCR’ Guaitoli had been involved in karting since the early 1980s and despite retiring early last decade to spend more time with his family, still dearly loved the sport. Guaitoli led the way for Australian drivers to compete overseas providing opportunities for drivers such as Darrell Smith and Ryan Wlodinski in the PCR team. He was also instrumental in putting Australia on the international karting map through his support of the Oceania Championships during the 1990’s. Sergio Guaitoli said the family is honoured by the announcement of the Memorial Shield in honour of his father.

“Karting was Dad’s life for so many years of his life, it provided him with so much joy for almost 30 years and his passion was always the CIK style of racing,” said Guaitoli. “We’re honoured to have the Shield named after him and while he always did everything he did for the love of the sport and not the recognition, it is something as a family we very much appreciate. I look forward to seeing the best drivers do battle at Eastern Creek, a place that Dad had a lot of fond memories at, next month.”

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Round Four of the CIK Stars of Karting Series, featuring the Pro Light (KF1), Pro Gearbox (KZ2) and Pro Junior (KF3) categories along with the Yamaha Challenge (Clubman and

Junior National) and Australian Leopard Challenge, will be contested on July 28/29. The round also doubles as the NSW State Championship for the three CIK specification Pro categories.

Castrol-backed Chris Holder amongst Aussies through to Speedway World Cup decider The Australian Monster Energy Speedway World Cup team has blasted its way into the final in Sweden at Norfolk Arena in the UK by defeating the home side, the Czech Republic and Germany. The Aussies will now meet Sweden, Russia and the winner of the Race-Off later this week in Saturday’s final at Mallila in Sweden. They finished the round with 45 points to the UK’s 41, Czech Republic’s 30 and the Germans lacklustre, but not unexpected haul of just 15 points.

Australian captain, Jason Crump led the way, scoring 15 points during the course of the meeting, however a stirring ride by Castrol-backed Chris Holder up against Perth-raised Brit, Tai Woffinden was the big talking point of the event.

Holder’s win in that heat meant that Crump had to finish no worse than third for Australia to qualify for the Final.

Holder walked away with 12 points at meeting’s close, whilst backbone of the Australian squad for many years, Davey Watt put in a solid performance to score 11 points. The Aussies were dealt a blow right before the start of the meeting when Darcy Ward – still recovering from a hand injury sustained in Poland some weeks ago – was ruled out. This brought Queenslander, Troy Batchelor

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into the squad. As a more than capable replacement, Batchelor annexed seven points.

The Brits will have to qualify for the Final through the Race-Off at Mallila on Friday morning Australian time, where they will join the Czechs, plus the fancied Polish and Danish teams. Chris Harris led the scorers for Britain with a meeting high 17 points, meantime Ales Dryml was the best for the Czechs with 15 and Kevin Wolbert was Germany’s best with 7. The victory for the Australian team was particularly sweet on a few levels, firstly given the late withdrawal of Ward (who had indicated earlier in the day he’d be riding), it was also the first event for veteran Mildura rider, Mark Lemon in his new role as Australian team manager.

FIM MONSTER ENERGY SWC EVENT 2 SCORES: Australia 45: Jason Crump 15, Chris Holder 12, Davey Watt 11, Troy Batchelor 7.

Great Britain 41: Chris Harris 17, Scott Nicholls 11, Tai Woffinden 8, Danny King 5.

Czech Republic 30: Ales Dryml 15, Lukas Dryml 6, Matej Kus 6, Josef Franc 3.

Germany 15: Kevin Wolbert 7, Martin Smolinski 6, Max Dilger 1, Tobias Kroner 1.

Richo’s Safety Tip #7 - Bicycle Safety

Bike riding is a great way to keep fit and it’s something that the whole family can do – remember that old saying, you never forget how to ride a bike – well it’s true. Great strides have been made in bicycle safety in recent years, including the compulsory wearing of helmets. Make sure the helmet you buy fits you snugly, it should ensure that your forehead is covered (in the case of an accident) and the chin strap isn’t loose – you should only be able to get two fingers maximum underneath the chinstrap.

Any helmet purchased in Australia or New Zealand should comply with the Australasian standards and carry the AUSTRALIA/NEW ZEALAND STANDARDS sticker AS/NZ 2063. If you’re riding at night, ensure you have a light on both the front and back of your bike and also fit a bell, so that you can warn pedestrians that you are coming through. When bicycle riding with your children, make it a rule that every time they get on their bike they have to wear a helmet. Also, know that they can ride on the footpath until the age of 12 – where you can join them also.

Where possible, stick to approved bike paths and be aware of motorists and people opening their car doors in front of you – the onus is as much on you to be aware of your surroundings as it is on them. Above all, make sure you enjoy the great outdoors and the health benefits that cycling can bring!

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THE

POWER BEHIND THE

PACK BEHIND THE

PACK!