VOLUME 3 - ISSUE 15
it’s our best oil yet... www.castroledge.com.au
8th AUGUST 2013
TEAM EDGE RACE REVIEW: V8 Supercars – Ipswich 360 Castrol-backed teams have completed a mixed weekend at Queensland Raceway with Pepsi Max Crew FPR drivers Will Davison and Mark Winterbottom maintaining their solid championship positions. Davison and Winterbottom finished second and third in the final race of the weekend behind FPR young gun Chaz Mostert who claimed his first V8 Supercars race win with FPR customer outfit Dick Johnson Racing. “I’ve got mixed emotions. Obviously pole was great and the last race was a massive improvement but I am a little surprised by the lack of speed in the first half of the race,” said Davison. “That
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aside, it was a big improvement over the earlier race and we got a good result so it was a solid if not unspectacular race for me. Obviously all the crew are really happy and it is great that we’ve had all four of our cars up front across the weekend.” Winterbottom also put in a fighting drive to claim a podium finish after a turn one incident almost ruined his day in the 60/60 Super Sprint race on Saturday. Castrol-backed Nissan Motorsport drivers Rick and Todd Kelly claimed ninth and 10th place in a solid comeback drive during the final race of the Coates Hire Ipswich 360. Nissan teammate
James Moffat took another top-10 result for Nissan Motorsport at Queensland Raceway on Saturday, storming through to finish 10th in the opening V8 Supercars race at the Ipswich circuit. Castrol-backed Supercheap Auto Racing’s Russell Ingall suffered some bad luck in Races 23 and 24 of the V8 Supercars Championship at the Coates Hire Ipswich 360. After finishing 26th in Race 23 Ingall’s campaign took a severe turn for the worse in the first corner when he tangled with another competitor; the contact caused steering damage to the SCAR Commodore and forced Ingall into an early retirement.
2013 V8 Supercar Standings
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Pos
Driver
Points
1
Jamie Whincup
1803
2
Craig Lowndes
1674
3
Will Davison
1592
4
Mark Winterbottom
1561
5
Fabian Coulthard
1493
6
Jason Bright
1471
7
Shane Van Gisbergen
1440
8
Garth Tander
1438
9
James Courtney
1427
10
Jonathon Webb
1204
11
Scott McLaughlin
1188
12
David Reynolds
1038
13
Rick Kelly
1033
14
Alex Davison
960
15
James Moffat
947
16
Tony D’Alberto
859
17
Alexandre Premat
815
18
Russell Ingall
783
19
Chaz Mostert
724
20
Dean Fiore
724
21
Tim Slade
723
22
Michael Caruso
717
23
David Wall
675
24
Todd Kelly
650
25
Tim Blanchard
603
26
Scott Pye
588
V8 PREDICTOR: Frosty marches to win There were two additional winners from the Coates Hire Ipswich 360 with Mark Winterbottom collecting more points for the weekend than any V8 Supercar driver and ‘djr4ever’ with the most points in the Castrol EDGE V8 Predictor. Winterbottom’s weekend win is his second consecutive as the Pepsi Max Crew FPR Falcon looks to fight its way back into championship contention. After four consecutive weeks on top of the Castrol EDGE V8 Predictor
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standings, a rusty round for Dark Knight Racing has seen them slip back to sixth with DaveTE50 taking over as current points leader. Round 8 of the V8 Supercars Championship in Ipswich saw djr4ever amass 64 points with a prediction accuracy of 56%. For that djr4ever wins an awesome merchandise pack including Castrol Racing and Speedcafe t-shirts, hoodies, retro caps, bar runners and plenty more goodies. Its never too late to sign-up for the V8 Predictor with great round-by-round
prizes on offer as well as the major prize. 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 remained the same in their expert league. However a round winning 40 points from the Speedcafe.com Team slipped back has
Pole, Lap and Race Winners
Weekend points
Weekend Result
Driver
POLE POSITION
DAVISON, Will andWHINCUP, Jamie
FASTEST LAP
WINTERBOTTOM, Mark and MCLAUGHLIN, Scott
RACE WINNER
MCLAUGHLIN, Scott andWHINCUP, Jamie andMOSTERT, Chaz
Global leaderboard
Weekend Result
Driver
Points
Rank
Team Name
Points
1
WINTERBOTTOM, Mark
224
1
DaveTE50
308
2
MCLAUGHLIN, Scott
222
2
paradice
301
3
DAVISON, Will
216
3
Tafs’R’Us
300
4
WHINCUP, Jamie
212
4
TyTek Race Engineering
299
5
COULTHARD, Fabian
202
5
Kiwichik racing
298
5
BRIGHT, Jason
202
6
Dark Knight Racing
295
6
LOWNDES, Craig
194
7
nickellen.24
293
7
MOSTERT, Chaz
192
8
TurboR1
292
8
COURTNEY, James
184
9
BlueOvalRulz
288
9
DAVISON, Alex
146
10
Hispania Racing Team
287
seen us fight right back into content for the coveted Expert crown. Oliver Gavin maintains his lead in the Expert field over rugby star James O’Connor while Russell Ingall gained some ground as he sits in fourth.
10
REYNOLDS, David
140
11
RHFF46
287
11
TANDER, Garth
136
12
WFD Motorsport
285
12
VAN GISBERGEN, Shane
130
13
Squigz
281
13
KELLY, Rick
128
14
xr5
280
14
SLADE, Tim
126
15
Fire and Ice
280
15
MOFFAT, James
122
16
Raid Photography
280
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.
16
D’ALBERTO, Tony
106
17
Foxmotorsport
279
17
WEBB, Jonathon
100
18
Brauny
279
18
WALL, David
94
19
FIORE, Dean
94
hammer head eagle eye thrust
278
18 19
KELLY, Todd
93
20
Ford 4eva
278
20
PREMAT, Alexandre
90
21
ENGEL, Maro
84
Expert Leaderboard
22
CARUSO, Michael
80
Rank
Team Name
Points
23
INGALL, Russell
72
1
Oliver Gavin
254
24
BLANCHARD, Tim
70
2
James O’Connor
237
25
PYE, Scott
53
3
Speedcafe.com Team
232
26
HOLDSWORTH, Lee
34
4
Russell Ingall
130
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Seb Ogier masters Finnish forests Castrol-backed Volkswagen Motorsport driver Sebastien Ogier is well on target to winning this year’s World Rally Championship with a controlled victory at the Neste Oil Rally Finland. It’s the Volkswagen driver’s fifth win of the season and 12th of his career victory and he is now 90 clear in the title fight. The Frenchman finish 36.6sec ahead of Thierry Neuville with the fellow Castrolbacked Qatar Ford Fiesta RS of Norway’s Mads Ostberg another 21 secs back, after an enthralling duel which was only decided when Ostberg went off the road in the penultimate stage. “I had a dream about winning here,” said Ogier, who is just the fifth non-Nordic driver to win this classic event. “A lot of points for the championship and victory in Finland make it a perfect weekend. We pushed when we had to and backed off when necessary to save the tyres and the car,” said an emotional Ogier, who
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ensured that for the third consecutive year the rally was won by a non-Finn after 53 wins for the host country in the previous 60 editions. Neuville and Ostberg were locked together all day. The advantage swung to and fro and they started the second pass through the awesome Ouninpohja stage split by one-tenth of a second. But when Ostberg went off the road avoiding a huge rock, the battle was decided. “It’s an unbelievable feeling,” said Neuville. “We did a great job. Yesterday we lost time with a puncture but otherwise it was a smooth, clean run. Before the rally I couldn’t have imagined this result was possible.” Mikko Hirvonen came into the event with high expectations and a fourth place finish would be seen as a disappointment to him and the fanatical Finnish fans. Kris
Meeke was on course for fifth in another DS3 after a fine debut in the car, but the Briton rolled out in the penultimate test. There was also late disappointment for Jarkko Nikara, who retired his Mini John Cooper Works from sixth with a broken front right shock absorber. In WRC2 Jari Ketomaa took the win and also finished seventh outright after a successful debut for the new Fiesta R5. Former F1 pilot Robert Kubica was second with Kiwi Hayden Paddon rounding out the podium. “We wanted to try and match out times against Esapekka Lappi and I think we’ve done ourselves justice on his home turf,” he said. We’re not back at 100 per cent yet, that’ll take more time because I’ve been away for a long time, but at long last we have a result on the board. Hopefully this is the start of more to come.”
2013 WRC Standings
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Pos
Driver
Points
1
Sebastien Ogier
181
2=
Jari-Matti Latvala
91
2=
Thierry Neuville
91
4
Mikko Hirvonen
73
5
Dani Sordo
69
6
Sebastien Loeb
68
7
Mads Ostberg
65
8
Evgeny Novikov
39
9
Martin Prokop
37
10
Nasser Al-Attiyah
30
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Castrol-backed Rea wins at Silverstone Northern Irishman Jonathan Rea held his nerve in damp conditions to record his first victory of the World Superbike Championship season at Silverstone. The Castrol-backed Pata Honda man made the most of a strong start from the front row and while his rivals faltered as rain fell on the Northamptonshire circuit, he kept his cool to claim a comfortable win. Poleman Eugene Laverty endured a topsy turvy ride but he managed to come home in second despite dropping to eighth during the race. Fixi Suzuki’s Leon Camier produced his best performance of the season to secure third. Championship leader Sylvain Guintoli salvaged fourth which extended his advantage over Tom Sykes who could only finish in a lowly 11th spot.
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Laverty and Rea blasted of the line with the Aprilia leading into the first complex. Loris Baz followed while Camier dropped to 10th from seventh on the grid. The Kawasaki’s were strong from the off and Sykes moved past team mate Baz and then Rea before grabbing the lead on lap four. But the race order was to be turned upside down as more rain fell on the circuit. Sykes began to slide down the order with his bike struggling for grip.This gave Rea the lead from The rain may have affected the majority of the field but it didn’t disrupt Rea as he took the win. Baz faded in the latter stages and it seemed Camier would come home in second but for a last
gasp effort from Laverty. The polesitter, who had dropped to eighth, fought back in the dying laps to pass Camier on the final lap for second spot. Guintoli also passed Baz to finish fourth ahead of Cluzel, Haslam, Ayrton Badovini, Marco Melandri and Chaz Davies. Frenchman Loris Baz picked up his second career World Superbike Championship victory as heavy rain brought a premature end to race two at Silverstone
2013 WSBK Standings Pos
Rider
Points
1
Sylvain Guintoli (Aprilia)
262
2
Tom Sykes (Kawasaki)
249
3
Eugene Laverty (Aprilia)
226
4
Marco Melandri (BMW)
221
5
Chaz Davies (BMW)
180
6
Loris Baz (Kawasaki)
180
7
Jonathan Rea (Honda)
176
8
Michel Fabrizio (Aprilia)
138
9
Leon Camier (Suzuki)
114
10
Jules Cluzel (Suzuki)
113
Castrol EDGE BMW claims podium finish in Moscow Castrol EDGE BMW Team RBM’s Augusto Farfus finished third as the DTM made its debut at the “Moscow Raceway” to claim BMW Motorsport’s first podium finish since the race in Spielberg. Farfus started from third in the Castrol EDGE BMW M3 DTM and successfully defended this position over the final few laps, fending off the attention of Adrien Tambay (Audi), who was on far fresher tyres. The podium was the fifth of Farfus’ DTM career and marked the seventh time a BMW driver had been on the podium in the 2013 season. Victory went to Audi driver Mike Rockenfeller. Joey Hand also put on an impressive display in his BMW M3 DTM, fighting back from 15th on the grid to come home
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seventh. Therefore, both BMW Team RBM drivers finished in the points. Eighth went to Dirk Werner in the SAMSUNG BMW M3 DTM. The sixth race of the season was less successful for Bruno Spengler, Werner’s team-mate at BMW Team Schnitzer. Starting from fourth, the defending champion’s BMW Bank M3 DTM was hit in the rear by Miguel Molina (Audi) at the start of the third lap. The resulting spin saw Spengler drop to the back of the field. He was able to complete the race, but could do no better than 19th and leaves a DTM weekend emptyhanded for the first time since the fourth race of the 2012 season in Spielberg. It was also a disappointing afternoon for Marco Wittmann (Ice-Watch BMW M3 DTM) in 15th, Timo Glock (DEUTSCHE POST BMW M3 DTM) in 16th, Martin Tomczyk (BMW M Performance Parts M3 DTM) in 17th and Andy Priaulx (Crowne Plaza Hotels BMW M3 DTM) in 20th. Rockenfeller continues to lead the Drivers’ Championship after his victory in Moscow. He now has 94 points to his
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name, 27 more than Spengler. Farfus moved into fifth on 48 points. In the Manufacturers’ Championship, BMW was able to defend its lead and now has 217 points.
2013 DTM Standings Pos
Driver
Points
1
Mike Rockenfeller
94
2
Bruno Spengler
67
3
Gary Paffett
57
4
Christian Vietoris
56
5
Augusto Farfus Jr.
48
6
Robert Wickens
45
7
Mattias Ekström
38
8
Marco Wittmann
33
9
Dirk Werner
26
10
Joey Hand
26
11
Daniel Juncadella
20
12
Jamie Green
18
13
Timo Glock
15
Castrol-backed ŠKODA’s Jan Kopecký takes fourth ERC win of the season Jan Kopecký and Pavel Dresler put in a superb performance to take their fourth victory of the FIA European Rally Championship (ERC) season at the Sibiu Rally in Romania. This latest success has extended the Castrol-backed ŠKODA pairing’s lead at the top of the overall standings and gives them an excellent opportunity to win the Championship. “That was a really tough race – the course is demanding and the temperatures are high. With lots of loose stones around, there is a high risk of puncture. Yet we were able to overcome all that and secure another ERC victory for ŠKODA this year. It’s fantastic,” said Kopecký. “I would also like to thank my co-driver Pavel and the entire team, because in these conditions
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everyone has to give 100 per cent.” In the first outing in Romania, the team once again produced a convincing display in the ŠKODA Fabia S 2000. After a careful start spent establishing a 15.4-second gap between them and Frenchman Francois Delecour over the first day, Kopecký and Dresler continued to extend their lead in the second half of the rally. The Czech team avoided making any mistakes on the extremely difficult gravel dirt roads, which are also littered with large rocks. Cheered on by thousands of fans engrossed in the action, they were able to win ten of the thirteen stages. One stage was cancelled due to safety concerns. The triumph in Romania was the ŠKODA duo’s fourth in the ERC this season, after victories in Austria, the Canary Islands and the Azores; the Czech team also had a second place finish on Corsica. This represents a perfect start to the second half of the season for Kopecký, who has now extended his lead at the top of the
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Driver’s Championship. The Sibiu Rally was the first of six ERC events taking place in the second half of the season; the best four results will go towards the final standings. The ERC’s next stop is in the Czech Republic for the Barum Rally, which will be taking place from the 30 August to 1 September. ŠKODA’s Kopecký and Dresler will have home advantage in what will be the stand out race of their season. Kopecký commented: “Although the pressure on us will be incredibly high, we’re looking forward to our home rally.” Molly Taylor remains on track to become the first European Ladies Champion after gathering maximum points in Sibiu Rally Romania. The Sydneysider had a challenging weekend in the event which is well known as a car breaker. Based around Sibiu, 215km north-west of the Romanian capital of Bucharest, the rough and dusty roads and high temperatures made the weekend very tough out on the forest stages.
2013 ERC Standings Pos
Driver
Points
1
Jan KOPECKY (CZE)
185
2
Craig BREEN (IRL)
114
3
Bryan BOUFFIER (FRA)
99
4
Francois DELECOUR (FRA)
75
5
Jari KETOMAA (FIN)
39
ARU CEO Bill Pulver takes a ride in a V8 Supercar at Sydney Motorsport Park Entering the third season of their Performance Partnership with Australian Rugby Union, Castrol Australia today confirmed it’s excitement and commitment as naming rights partners of the prestigious Castrol EDGE Rugby Championship for the 2013 season. Now in its second year The Castrol EDGE Rugby Championship is tipped to be the most exciting yet. Castrol Marketing Director Diana Hall said: “We believe The Castrol EDGE Rugby Championship is the best of the best – we have the top three teams in the world plus the emerging force that is Argentina. Castrol EDGE is our flagship brand, engineered to deliver strength under pressure and what better
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analogy could you get than through one of Australia’s premier sporting codes – Rugby. Castrol EDGE is built so strong that it is able to withstand the most extreme impact and pressure an engine goes through – pretty much like what the Rugby players go through in every game.” To demonstrate the company’s passion and excitement around the sponsorship, Castrol created a unique event in Sydney today, inviting ARU CEO Bill Pulver for a hot lap with a Castrol-backed V8 Supercar team and their star driver Will Davison. Speaking after his hot lap in the Castrol-backed V8 Supercar, ARU CEO Bill Pulver said both the hot lap and Castrol’s support of the Castrol EDGE Rugby Championship was fantastic. “I want to thank Castrol EDGE because I have just fulfilled a childhood dream having done a hot lap with Will Davison
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in a V8 Supercar today,” Mr Pulver said. “It was an incredibly enjoyable but intense experience and was absolutely fantastic. To watch an elite athlete like Will Davison and how he drives that car around - I’m sitting in the passenger seat terrified and holding on for my dear life and he is in complete control with perfect balance - they are very special athletes. We are most grateful for the wonderful partnership with Castrol EDGE. Sponsors are a very important part of Australian Rugby and Castrol has been a terrific partner over the years and I really hope the relationship continues for a long time.” As well as being the naming rights partner of The Castrol EDGE Rugby Championship, Castrol will feature prominently on ground and ball signage and will be working closely with the Qantas Wallabies on some exciting new activations and performance projects.
The much anticipated 2013 Castrol EDGE Rugby Championship kicks off on Saturday 17 August at ANZ Stadium in Sydney when the Qantas Wallabies face up against arch rivals the All Blacks.
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