Castrol EDGE vol3 issue13

VOLUME 3 - ISSUE 13

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

10th JULY 2013

Team EDGE Weekend Wrap: V8 Supercars - Townsville 400 Race 20 Castrol-backed Pepsi Max Crew FPR have finished one-two in Race 20 of the V8 Supercars Championship at the Sucrogen Townsville 400. Will Davison flew off the start line to take the initial lead and it’s that position he finished by race-end, celebrating with some smokey burnouts to the delight of the

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North Queensland fans. His teammate Mark Winterbottom charged down Craig Lowndes during the final lap to complete the one-two, finishing ahead of Fabian Coulthard, Lowndes and Jason Bright who rounded out the top-5.

“We’ve been really determined this event and we have really felt the passion of the Ford fans here in Townsville. This ones for the team who have worked incredibly hard and a one-two is just a mega result for the guys.”

“This is a really special win for both myself and the entire team,” said Davison.

Rick Kelly was the best of the Castrolbacked Nissan Motorsport contingent bringing his Jack Daniel’s Altima home

V8 history. Ingall made his 226th event start, breaking John Bowe’s longstanding record of 225.

Race 21 Castrol-backed Supercheap Auto Racing driver Russell Ingall has enjoyed a solid end to his record breaking weekend with a top-5 finish in Race 21 of the V8 Supercars from the Sucrogen Townsville 400. It was a solid Sunday for Castrolbacked crews with Pepsi Max Crew FPR driver Mark Winterbottom picking up fourth to compliment his second place result from Saturday.

in 12th overall. His teammates James Moffat and Todd Kelly finished 15th and 16th respectively with Michael Caruso steering the Norton Altima to 18th to secure a top-20 berth for all four Nissans. Castrol-backed Supercheap Auto Racing driver Russell Ingall was unfortunately on the retirements list, dropping out late in the race with a power steering failure.

Race 21 saw Ingall make history at when he broke the all time record for most starts in Australian Touring Car/

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Winterbottom’s FPR teammate and Race 20 winner Will Davison battled through an eventful race to secure valuable championship points with a top-10 finish. The result sees Davison remain third in the V8 Supercars Championship standings with Winterbottom’s successful weekend moving him back into championship contention in fourth overall.

Race 21 was won by Garth Tander, with James Courtney in second and Shane van Gisbergen rounding out the top-3.

James Moffat was the best placed Castrol-backed Nissan driver finishing one place ahead of teammate Todd Kelly with the pair crossing the chequered flag 14th and 15th respectively.

2013 Championship Points Pos

Driver

Points

1

Jamie Whincup

1591

2

Craig Lowndes

1480

3

Will Davison

1376

4

Mark Winterbottom

1337

5

Shane Van Gisbergen

1310

6

Garth Tander

1302

7

Fabian Coulthard

1291

8

Jason Bright

1269

9

James Courtney

1243

10

Jonathon Webb

1104

11

Scott McLaughlin

966

12

Rick Kelly

905

13

David Reynolds

898

14

James Moffat

825

15

Alex Davison

814

16

Tony D’Alberto

753

17

Alexandre Premat

725

18

Russell Ingall

711

19

Michael Caruso

637

20

Dean Fiore

630

21

Tim Slade

597

22

David Wall

581

23

Tim Blanchard

533

24

Chaz Mostert

532

25

Todd Kelly

532

26

Lee Holdsworth

523

V8 PREDICTOR: Winterbottom’s weekend win There were two additional winners from the Sucrogen Townsville 400 with Mark Winterbottom collecting more points for the weekend than any V8 Supercar driver and ‘[JLR]’ with the most points in the Castrol EDGE V8 Predictor. For the fourth week running, top honours in the Castrol EDGE V8 Predictor currently sit with with Dark Knight Racing who holds a 1 point advantage over Kiwichik racing in the overall standings. Round 6 of the V8 Supercars Championship in Darwin saw [JLR] amass 74 points with a prediction accuracy of 64%. For that [JLR] wins an awesome merchandise pack including Castrol Racing and Speedcafe t-shirts, hoodies, retro caps, bar runners and plenty more goodies.

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Its never too late to sign-up for the V8 Predictor with great round-byround prizes on offer as well as the major prize. CLICK HERE to see how you fared in rounds two and three, or register and play for awesome event prizes. Castrol EDGE’s four experts for the inaugural Castrol EDGE V8 Predictor – Russell Ingall (V8 Supercars champion), Oliver Gavin (2012 American Le Mans Series GT Champion), James O’Connor (Wallabies rugby superstar) and the Speedcafe.com team – shuffled in the standings.

The Speedcafe.com Team slipped back one spot to third on the Expert leaderboard after a tremendous round

by James O’Connor who finished sixth overall for the weekend’s predictions and now moves to second on the Expert leaderboard. Oliver Gavin maintains his lead in the Expert field while Russell Ingall gained some ground as he sits in fourth on 118 points. Using the same software as the popular ‘Grand Prix Predictor’ that international website Autosport.com uses for its Formula 1 tipping competition, V8 Supercars can now put their knowledge to the test with the Castrol EDGE V8 Predictor in 2013.

The major prize for the ultimate winner is a trip for two to the 2014 Clipsal 500 – including a hot lap of the track.

Darwin event result analysis

Darwin bonus points results

Weekend Result

Points

1

WINTERBOTTOM, Mark

258

2

TANDER, Garth

240

2

COURTNEY, James

240

3

DAVISON, Will

228

4

LOWNDES, Craig

216

5

VAN GISBERGEN, Shane

183

5

COULTHARD, Fabian

183

6

BRIGHT, Jason

168

6

WHINCUP, Jamie

168

7

MCLAUGHLIN, Scott

147

8

MOSTERT, Chaz

144

9

DAVISON, Alex

135

10

D’ALBERTO, Tony

132

11

MOFFAT, James

123

12

KELLY, Todd

117

13

KELLY, Rick

114

13

PREMAT, Alexandre

114

14

INGALL, Russell

111

15

WEBB, Jonathon

108

16

REYNOLDS, David

99

17

CARUSO, Michael

90

17

SLADE, Tim

90

18

FIORE, Dean

78

19

PYE, Scott

75

20

ENGEL, Maro

72

20

BLANCHARD, Tim

72

20

WALL, David

72

21

HOLDSWORTH, Lee

0

Weekend Result POLE POSITION

WINTERBOTTOM, Mark and VAN GISBERGEN, Shane

FASTEST LAP

VAN GISBERGEN, Shane

RACE WINNER

TANDER, Garth andDAVISON, Will

Global leaderboard Rank

Team Name

Points

1

Dark Knight Racing

273

2

Kiwichik racing

272

3

DaveTE50

263

4

Brauny

260

5

Squigz

260

6

TyTek Race Engineering

254

7

V8 TBC

253

8

Frosty the Ford man

252

9

Hispania Racing Team

252

10

RHFF46

252

11

TEAM RED BULL

252

12

JBM_22

252

13

Tafs’R’Us

251

14

Team Maverick

250

15

pommie v8s

250

16

The dazlers

249

17

charity

248

18

BlueOvalRulz

248

19

Knightmare

248

20

nickellen.24

248

Expert Leaderboard

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Rank

Team Name

Points

1

Oliver Gavin

230

2

James O’Connor

209

3

Speedcafe.com Team

192

4

Russell Ingall

118

Castrol-backed MotoGP riders strong in Assen Castrol-backed GO&FUN Honda Gresini riders fair well at the latest round of the MotoGP World Championship at Assen.

The end result may not have been spectacular for Alvaro Bautista and Team GO&FUN Honda Gresini, but the main goal of completing the Dutch TT was achieved. After two DNFs at Mugello and Barcelona, the Spaniard was looking to take the chequered flag at Assen and did so with seventh place – despite a rear brake issue midway through the race.

“We finished the race, and this was above all the main goal of this weekend. It’s a

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small consolation but after two setbacks this was very important,” said Bautista.

In the race I didn’t have a perfect feeling with the bike, because it was unstable and moving around a lot. Unfortunately with the weather conditions being so variable we didn’t have the time required to find the best setup.

“At first I tried to stay calm by getting heat into the tyres, trying not to take excessive risks. It was not really a good race, but it was important to finish in order to think about the future with greater serenity.”

A crowd of 90,000 fans made the journey to the north of The Netherlands to the classic Assen circuit, to be rewarded with yet another close and exciting race, won by popular former multi-champion Valentino Rossi (Yamaha), his first victory since 2010. Australian grand prix firsttimer Bryan Staring (Team GO&FUN Honda Gresini FTR Honda) was 21st on the Honda CBR1000RR-powered CRT machine, crossing the line fourth in a close group of five battling riders.

Eighteenth to 22nd places were covered by less than two seconds.

MotoGP Championship Points Pos

Rider

Points

1

Daniel Pedrosa

136

2

Jorge Lorenzo

127

3

Marc M谩rquez

113

4

Cal Crutchlow

87

5

Valentino Rossi

85

6

Andrea Dovizioso

65

7

Stefan Bradl

51

8

Nicky Hayden

50

9

Alvaro Bautista

47

10

Aleix Espargar贸

44

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Castrol Honda WTCC race report from Portugal It was a mixed event for the Castrol Honda World Touring Car Team who were in Portugal over the weekend for the latest round of the FIA WTCC series.

Local man Tiago Monteiro, who started from P17 after his technical issues during practice, fought his way up into the points, finishing a creditable ninth in Race 1. Race 1 however spelt disaster for teammate Gabriele Tarquini when he suffered a blown turbo in a very similar incident to Monteiro’s problem in free practice two on Saturday.

A turbo change meant Gabriele Tarquini started from the back of the grid for Race 2, and he was only able to come through to 20th. It was another difficult

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race for Castrol Honda, with Monteiro fighting his way up to eleventh, just missing out on a top ten place. Races 1 and 2 were won by Yvan Muller and James Nash, respectively.

2013 WTCC Standings Pos

Driver

Points

1

Yvan Muller

282

2

Michel Nykjaer

160

3

James Nash

138

4

Robert Huff

135

5

Gabriele Tarquini

134

6

Tom Chilton

111

7

Tom Coronel

98

8

Norbert Michelisz

92

9

Pepe Oriola

91

10

Alex MacDowall

73

11

Tiago Monteiro

62

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Castrol-backed John Force second at NHRA Nationals John Force raced to his 219th final but came up just a few hundredths of a second short of picking up his 136th NHRA Funny Car win at the 16th annual O’Reilly Auto Parts Route 66 NHRA Nationals at Route 66 Raceway. Up against Matt Hagan in the final, Force’s Castrol GTX Ford Mustang ran 4.113, his slowest run of the weekend, beside Hagan’s winning 4.065 second run.

Force’s Mustang began chucking spark plugs at half-track, bleeding off power as the 10,000 hp Funny Car tried to accelerate down the race track. Prior to the final Force was 2-1 in final rounds against Hagan who he outdistanced for the 2010 Mello Yello Drag Racing Series title, his unprecedented 15th NHRA Mello Yello world championship, on the last day of the season.

Force was masterful en route to his third consecutive final round defeating

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Tony Pedregon, Del Worsham and Ron Capps to reach the final. Force came through an odd moment in the semi-final when his parachute was caught up in top qualifier Ron Capps’ NAPA machine. Both cars survived the incident without damage (see video below). Robert Hight and the Auto Club Ford Mustang team held onto their Top Ten position but Bob Tasca III closed the gap to three points as he sits in 11th place heading to the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals in Norwalk, Ohio, next weekend.

Hight defeated rookie Chad Head in the first round with a 4.059 second run.

Over the course of the weekend Hight and the Auto Club Ford Mustang posted runs of 4.055, 4.052, and 4.059 and in a losing effort to Capps, 4.096. Courtney Force made a brief appearance in eliminations before she was dismissed in an upset against No. 10 qualifier and

Ford racer Tim Wilkerson. Force posted a 4.123 ET to Wilkerson’s 4.090.

“It was a little bit of a rough start this weekend. The rain didn’t help either,” said Courtney. “We only got one run on Friday because of it and we smoked the tires later in the evening. I mean, right as I hit the throttle it just went up in smoke.

We probably should have put some newer tires on.The track was a lot better than we thought it was going to be.”

After three tough runs in qualifying with engine failures a plenty, Top Fuel rookie Brittany Force laid down a solid run in round one of eliminations Sunday at Route 66 Raceway. Facing fellow competitor Bob Vandergriff Jr., Force ran a 3.846 second pass at 322.11 mph, but fell short to his 3.843 pass. Amidst an early round loss, Force and her Castrol EDGE team are proud of the work they had accomplished in overcoming those engine issues.

2013 FUNNY CAR STANDINGS Pos

Driver

Points

1.

Matt Hagan

904

2.

Cruz Pedregon

798

3.

John Force

762

4.

Johnny Gray

743

5.

Jack Beckman

717

6.

Ron Capps

735

7.

Courtney Force

710

8.

Tim Wilkerson

676

9.

Del Worsham

664

10.

Robert Hight

603

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Castrol-backed Pata Honda rider on the podium in Imola Castrol-backed Pata Honda rider Jonathan Rea has finished on the podium for race two of the seventhround World Superbike championship at Imola in Italy. After setting the second fastest time in Superpole Rea finished on the podium for the second time in three races finishing as runner-up in the second of Sundays’ two. British rider, Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) won both races at Italy’s Imola circuit. Second place for the 26-year-old Rea made up for the disappointment of crashing out of the morning’s 21-lap opener.

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“Really mixed emotions. We had really good pace all weekend, but not enough for Tom [Sykes], who seemed like he had something in reserve, especially when it got hot this afternoon,” said Rea. “In race two I just rode my ass off and made zero mistakes. In the first five laps I couldn’t go with the two guys ahead, so they gapped me and by half distance, Tom had eked out a lead tenth by tenth.

We can leave Imola with ou r heads held high because we’ve addressed some of the issues we had earlier in the season and we look forward now to Moscow.”

The Castrol-backed BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK Team concluded its home round at Imola with both factory riders claiming their best results at the Italian track to date. Local hero, Marco Melandri (ITA) finished both races at the “Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari” in fourth on his BMW S 1000 RR. His teammate Chaz Davies (GBR) claimed sixth and fifth respectively. Rea’s Pata Honda team-mate, Leon Haslam, took two top ten finishes, completing his first race since breaking his leg badly at Assen in mid-April. The 30-year-old was tenth in

race one and followed it up with ninth place in the second outing, battling right to the end of 21 very tough laps.

2013 SBK Championship Pos

Rider

Points

1

Sykes

235

2

Guintoli

229

3

Laverty

190

4

Melandri

182

5

Davies

154

6

Baz

136

7

Rea

125

15

Haslam

42

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Castrol EDGE-backed Ben Bray wins penultimate Slamfest round Castrol EDGE-backed Ben ‘The Kid’ Bray has won penultimate round of the 2013 Slamfest Series at Benaraby Raceway after emerging victorious from an all-Bray semi-final. It is the second year running that the 29-year-old has faced off against his dad Victor in the semi-finals at the Gladstone facility.

While in 2012 his father took the win, this time around it was Ben’s time to shine in front of more than 5,000 spectators after disposing of Russell Pavey in the first round, with the result seeing father and son now tied for third place as the Series heads to Mackay for its final round on 13 July.

“What can I say, I love coming to this end of town!” said Ben Bray, who also

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struck the first blow during the tworound North Queensland leg of the 2012 Series with a victory in Townsville. “Any time that dad and I face-off is fantastic fun for both us and the guys watching from the sidelines, it always gets everyone really revved up and today was no different.

“With dad taking the Gladstone win last year I was really inspired to give it everything I could, and so I was pretty stoked to find myself in the final against O’Connor and in undisputable ownership of the team bragging rights once more.

To then take the event win and tie for third with dad in the points heading into the final round has really just topped off the weekend - this place has certainly

been kind to Team Bray Racing that is for sure, and I cannot wait to head on up to Mackay and see if we can keep these results going for the team.”

While his son may have claimed the top accolades this weekend, for six-time ANDRA national (quarter-mile) champion Victor Bray it was still a successful day at the office.

“What can I say, if it can’t be me claiming the winners’ trophy at the end of the night I want it to be Benny, and he really deserved it this weekend,” said Victor Bray. “Having said that, I know he will be very happy with himself and taking full advantage of his workshop bragging rights for the next couple of weeks, so

I am going to have to do everything I can to try and gain some back on him in Mackay! I really enjoyed getting out there in front of the Gladstone crowd again and putting on a show for them, the fans are what this series is all about, so I was

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really happy to see the looks on their faces as we lit up the track on Saturday and can’t wait to do it all over again in just two weeks.”

With Gladstone’s round of the Slamfest

Series now complete, Team Bray Racing will head to Mackay’s Palymyra Raceway for the final round on 13 July, before shifting gears for the next round of the ANDRA championship chase in Adelaide across 20 and 21 September 2013.

Castrol-backed SKODA driver Freddy Loix wins Ypres Rally Belgium’s Freddy Loix has continued his master class at the Ypres Rally winning the event for the European Rally Championship event for the eighth time. Despite coming up against challenging weather conditions, the 42-year-old celebrated with co-driver Frederic Miclotte in the Fabia S2000 an impressive start-to-finish victory at the FIA European Rally Championship’s (ERC) sixth race of the season. Castrol EDGE-backed ŠKODA, spearheaded by the Czech duo of Jan Kopecký and Pavel Dresler, also leads the way in the ERC overall standings at the halfway point in the season.

“The dream team is back. I’m absolutely delighted with my eighth victory in

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Begium and my third in the ŠKODA,” said Loix. “It was not easy keeping everything under control. But we found a good rhythm and stayed focused. The car was fantastic.” After successes in 2010 and 2011, this was Fast Freddy’s third victory in the ŠKODA in front of a home crowd.

Loix laid the foundations for this most recent triumph on the first two days. After taking top spot in the first ever qualifying stage to be staged in Belgium, Loix went on to win five of the six stages on day one. Going into Saturday with a healthy lead of over a minute, the experienced pro avoided taking any unnecessary risks to secure an outstanding victory in slippery conditions.

“At times, it was quite tricky as it was wet out there. But I always felt good driving the ŠKODA and didn’t make any mistakes,” said Loix. In the end, the Belgian finished ahead of the Frenchman Bryan Bouffier by a clear margin. With covering 297.93 kilometres in total, Belgium’s historic rally is the longest in the ERC’s calendar. Loix and co-driver Miclotte’s place in the rally would not have been possible without the support of ŠKODA Belgium. “A big thank you to all the mechanics and everyone else at ŠKODA Motorsport for their great support. I’d also like to thank ŠKODA Belgium,” said Loix.

2013 ERC Standings Pos

Driver

Points

1

Jan Kopecky

146

2

Craig Breen

114

3

Bryan Bouffier

99

4

François Delecour

48

5

Jari Ketomaa

39

6

Freddy Loix

37

7

Andreas Aigner

28

8

Luís Monzón

24

8

Ricardo Moura

24

8

Stéphane Sarrazin

24

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