VOLUME 3 - ISSUE 17
it’s our best oil yet... www.castroledge.com.au
5th SEPTEMBER 2013
TEAM EDGE RACE REPORT: V8 Supercars - Winton 360 James Moffat and Castrol-backed Nissan Motorsport made Australian sports history at Winton Raceway, claiming Nissan’s first race win in Australian Touring Car racing in 21 years. Norton-backed Nissan Altima driver James Moffat led home team-mate Michael Caruso to take victory in Race 25 of the 2013 V8 Supercars Championship. “I’ve worked hard to get to this point in my career and to breakthrough for my first win means a lot,” said James Moffat. “What a great day for everyone at Nissan Motorsport, Norton and Toshiba. It’s all
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a bit of a dream at the moment. I wasn’t prepared to get too far ahead of myself, and even when we were quickest yesterday, I was keeping a lid on it. This result speaks for itself. We’re one-two in both races. Sure, Jamie had a bit of bad luck, but both of us proved we had great pace.” Castrol-backed Ford Pepsi Max Crew’s Mark Winterbottom finally broke his Winton duck by winning the first of Sunday’s two races. The win, along with other results for he and team-mate Will Davison sees the championship points gap close significantly heading into the
Pirtek Endurance Cup. “It was awesome to come out of the weekend 70 points down in the championship as it is certainly gameon now,” said Winterbottom. “The first race was both a relief as well as being important for our points. I’ve tried to win here for years so it was nice to get one in front of our loyal Ford fans. The qualifying for the second race seriously hurt me but I am lucky to finish as there was actually quite a bit of damage done to the car after the contact with Rick (Kelly). All-in-all, to go into the
2013 V8 Supercar Standings
enduros where we are, it shows just how good this championship is getting.” Russell Ingall drove his Castrol-backed Supercheap Auto Racing Holden VF Commodore to ninth in Race 25 of the V8 Supercars Championship at the Winton 360. Ingall also came out on top amid a flurry of fast times at the end of Practice 1 at a drying Winton Motor Raceway on Friday. The next event of the V8 Supercars Championship will be the first of the 2013 endurance races – the Wilson Security Sandown 500 on September 13-15.
STRENGTH TO PERFORM
Pos
Driver
Points
1
Jamie Whincup
1847
2
Will Davison
1792
3
Mark Winterbottom
1777
4
Craig Lowndes
1775
5
Fabian Coulthard
1709
6
James Courtney
1687
7
Jason Bright
1649
8
Shane Van Gisbergen
1632
9
Garth Tander
1602
10
Scott McLaughlin
1318
11
Jonathon Webb
1282
12
David Reynolds
1222
13
James Moffat
1155
14
Rick Kelly
1101
15
Alex Davison
1080
16
Tony D’Alberto
1015
17
Alexandre Premat
899
18
Chaz Mostert
892
19
Russell Ingall
839
20
Tim Slade
821
21
Dean Fiore
820
22
Michael Caruso
809
23
David Wall
785
24
Tim Blanchard
703
25
Todd Kelly
689
26
Scott Pye
649
V8 PREDICTOR: Courtney dominates Winton More than two years since his last victory, James Courtney proved the pick of the weekend at Winton, scoring more points than any other driver. In the Castrol EDGE V8 Predictor standings DaveTE50 maintained their lead at the top of the standings with a total of 355 points. TyTek Race Engineering is a not too distant second on 331 points with the UK’s Tafs’R’Us hot on their heels sitting at 330 points. The weekly prize winner for Round 9 of the V8 Supercar Championship at Winton however, was Jimmy Bailey Racing who scored a respectable 60 points for the round with a prediction accuracy of 52%. Among the Experts the Speedcafe.com Team took out the round amassing 37 points with 32% accuracy
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which catapaulted us right back into the lead. The battle at the top is now a close fight between Oliver Gavin (2012 American Le Mans Series GT Champion) and the Speedcafe.com Team with just six points separating the two. Not far behind, and only 11 points behind the Expert leaders, is Wallabies superstar James O’Connor, with Russell Ingall (V8 Supercars champion) backing up the field after an unfruitful round. With the silly season fast approaching, it’s not too late to join in on the action. There are still five events left in the V8 Supercar Championship series with plenty of awesome prizes on offer including Castrol merchandise packs and the fantastic major prize of the ultimate Castrol Edge V8 experience which is a trip for two to the 2014 Clipsal 500 – including a hot lap of the track.
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Weekend points
Global leaderboard
Weekend Result
Driver
Points
Rank
Team Name
Points
1
DaveTE50
1
COURTNEY, James
260
355
2
WINTERBOTTOM, Mark
216
2
TyTek Race Engineering
331
3
Tafs’R’Us
2
COULTHARD, Fabian
216
330
4
Foxmotorsport
3
MOFFAT, James
208
328
4
DAVISON, Will
200
5
Peckstar
327
6
Dark Knight Racing
5
VAN GISBERGEN, Shane
192
325
6
REYNOLDS, David
184
7
SKBR
324
8
nickellen.24
7
BRIGHT, Jason
178
323
8
MOSTERT, Chaz
168
9
paradice
323
10
Kiwichik racing
9
TANDER, Garth
164
322
11
BlueOvalRulz
10
D’ALBERTO, Tony
156
322
11
MCLAUGHLIN, Scott
130
12
WFD Motorsport
320
13
pommie v8s
12
LOWNDES, Craig
126
317
13
DAVISON, Alex
120
14
RHFF46
317
15
Hispania Racing Team
14
WALL, David
110
316
15
ENGEL, Maro
102
16
Leb254
314
17
Rockit
16
BLANCHARD, Tim
100
313
18
beachsidebear
17
SLADE, Tim
98
312
18
FIORE, Dean
96
19
Norbs66
310
20
pistol
19
CARUSO, Michael
92
309
20
PYE, Scott
86
21
PREMAT, Alexandre
84
Expert Leaderboard
22
HOLDSWORTH, Lee
78
Rank
Team Name
Points
22
WEBB, Jonathon
78
1
Speedcafe.com Team
269
23
KELLY, Rick
68
2
Oliver Gavin
263
24
KELLY, Todd
64
3
James O’Connor
257
25
INGALL, Russell
56
4
Russell Ingall
134
26
WHINCUP, Jamie
44
Fifth for Castrol-backed Bautista in Brno and Silverstone Castrol-backed Team GO&FUN Honda rider Alvaro Bautista had a strong ride to fifth at the latest round of the MotoGP Championship at Silverstone. Bautista enjoyed an exciting duel with Valentino Rossi (Yamaha), the pair swapping fourth place on several occasions during the final few laps. Finally Rossi got the upper hand, passing the chequered flag just 0.065 seconds ahead of the Spaniard. “Unfortunately once again I have had to concede to Valentino but we had a lot of fun out there. The last lap was really nice because we overtook each other several times but unfortunately I couldn’t make it stick and he beat me by just 0.065 seconds!” Bautista said. “That’s a shame but I am happy anyway because I have improved my feeling with the bike again here, we were able to make up a lot of ground at the start of the race and confirm our recent good form again. We just need to
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take another little step to be even more competitive but it is coming. Hopefully we can have another nice race in the next Grand Prix at Misano, the team’s home race.” Bryan Staring (GO&FUN Honda Gresini FTR Honda) had a difficult race. He had a numb hand for much of the 20 laps – probably as a result of his crash during practice – and could do little more than just make it to the finish. Bautista also finished fifth, less than a tenth of a second behind Rossi at the Czech Republic GP at Brno a week earlier after the pair had duelled for much of the race. The Team GO&FUN Honda Gresini RC213V rider had qualified second, and was trading blows with Rossi to the end. The multi-champion only regained fourth on the final lap, with Bautista attacking to the end. The Spanish racer has a dual role with Honda, also race-developing Showa
suspension and Nissin brakes, the only rider to use the Japanese equipment made by Honda associates. Australian grand prix first-timer Staring was 20th in Brno on the Honda CBR1000RRpowered CRT machine, fighting to the end with Czech ART rider and former Moto2 GP winner Karel Abraham.
2013 MotoGP Standings Pos
Rider
Points
1
Marc MARQUEZ
233
2
Dani PEDROSA
203
3
Jorge LORENZO
194
4
Valentino ROSSI
156
5
Cal CRUTCHLOW
136
6
Stefan BRADL
113
7
Alvaro BAUTISTA
103
8
Andrea DOVIZIOSO
96
9
Nicky HAYDEN
88
10
Aleix ESPARGARO
68
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Castrol-backed Ford WRC driver second in Germany Castrol-backed Ford World Rally driver Thierry Neuville has finished second in the latest round of the FIA World Rally Championship - Rally Germany. It took nearly 10 years, but Dani Sordo finally has a win in the WRC with victory at ADAC Rallye Deutschland. After the demise of early leader and Castrol-backed VW driver Sebastien Ogier, who broke his Volkswagen Polo R’s suspension after crashing early in the second leg, team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala led with Sordo and Neuville duelling behind. However Latvala left the road on SS12 leaving his winning run in tatters. Second for Neuville, in his first full WRC season, extended a superb run of results which netted two seconds and a third before this event.
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“I feel we proved a lot again, even if we did ultimately just miss out on the win,” said Neuville. “I decided we were going to go for it on the final stage, but coming out of the forest, I mistook one fast left-hand corner in the vineyards for another and we went off. By the time Nico (Gilsoul, co-driver) announced the pace note, it was already too late. Luckily we were able to rejoin the road and make it to the finish,” he added. WRC 2 winner Robert Kubica and second-placed Elfyn Evans completed the top six, in a Citroen DS3 RRC and Ford Fiesta R5 respectively. Latvala recovered from his crash to take seventh, having led asphalt rally for the first time, with Hayden Paddon’s
2013 MotoGP Standings Pos
Rider
Points
1
Sébastien Ogier
184
2
Thierry Neuville
109
3
Jari-Matti Latvala
98
4
Daniel Sordo
96
5
Mikko Hirvonen
88
6
Sébastien Loeb
68
7
Mads Østberg
67
8
Martin Prokop
49
9
Evgeny Novikov
40
10
Nasser Al-Attiyah
30
WRC 2 Skoda Fabia S2000 eighth. Sebastien Ogier salvaged three points
by winning the final Power Stage and the Frenchman holds a 75 point lead in the drivers’ standings over Neuville. Latvala is third, 11 points behind. The next stop in the WRC is Coates Hire Rally Australia on 12-15 September.
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Kopecký secures Castrol-backed ŠKODA’s fifth consecutive victory on home soil Jan Kopecký and Pavel Dresler (CZ/CZ) put in a superb performance to secure Castrol-backed ŠKODA’s fifth success in a row at the home event Barum Czech Rally Zlín. After a flawless drive, the duo extended their lead in the FIA European Rally Championship (ERC) standings. Making their first appearance as ŠKODA works team drivers, the German pairing of Sepp Wiegand/ Frank Christian (D/D) took an impressive fourth place. The third ŠKODA duo of Esapekka Lappi/Janne Ferm (FIN/ FIN) was forced to retire following an accident on Saturday. “That was an impressive performance from the ŠKODA works team in front of so many excited supporters. Special congratulations must go to Jan Kopecký, who is now a threetime winner here at Barum,” said Dr Frank Welsch, the head of Technical Development at ŠKODA. He was able
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to experience the effort the entire works team had put in first hand. Kopecký also highlighted excellent teamwork as being the key to his success: “First of all, I’d like to thank the whole team – they did everything perfectly. I’m so happy. That is a big victory for ŠKODA and for us. The car was simply in perfect order.” The experienced Czech racing ace won nine of the fifteen stages, cruising home to his third victory at the Barum Rally after successes in 2009 and 2011. “On Sunday, I drove with safety in mind; I didn’t want to make the same mistakes from 2010, when I threw away victory.” The 31-year-old’s successful campaign in the Fabia Super 2000 is showing no signs of stopping, having now picked up five race victories and a secondplace finish from six starts in the ERC. The ŠKODA drivers have also increased
their lead at the top of the ERC’s overall standings. Their triumph at the Barum Rally, which saw them enjoy a 1:01.6minute advantage over Václav Pech (CZ) in the end, also counts towards the Czech Championship. Here, Kopecký enjoys a perfect race record with four victories from four starts. German hopes were pinned on Sepp Wiegand, who could also be happy with his performance – he finished as the fastest non-Czech driver in his first appearance as a ŠKODA works team driver. “It was so much fun, but I also had difficulties adapting to the Czech asphalt runs. As a result, the most important thing was to get the car to the finish in one piece,” said Wiegand. The next ERC rally event will be taking place from 13 to 15 September in Poland, where Jan Kopecký and Pavel Dresler will continue their assault for the title.
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Castrol EDGE-backed Audi one-two victory at WEC round in Brazil Castrol EDGE-backed Audi has remained unbeaten in the 2013 sports car season to date. The Audi R18 e-tron quattro hybrid sports car has won the fourth of eight rounds in the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC). In addition, it claimed victory in the 12hour classic at Sebring in March. The race weekend in Brazil ended in victory for Marcel Fässler/André Lotterer/Benoît Tréluyer (CH/D/F) ahead of Loïc Duval/ Tom Kristensen/Allan McNish (F/DK/ GB). On clinching their success in the São Paulo 6 Hours, the winners reduced the gap to their team colleagues in the drivers’ standings by eight to 22 points. After a flawless race, the current World Champions celebrated their second WEC win of the season following their success at Spa in May. 38,000 spectators watched Fässler/Lotterer/ Tréluyer in car number ‘1’ cross the finish line at Interlagos with a threelap advantage over their sister car. The situation in the standings at the season’s midpoint has thus become
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more thrilling again after the Le Mans winners Loïc Duval (F), Tom Kristensen (DK) and Allan McNish (GB) had arrived with a 30-point advantage. The significant gap in the race, though, does not reflect the true performance
delivered by car number ‘2.’ In the early phase, Audi factory driver Allan McNish dominated the action. But then the drivers’ trio experienced an unusual streak of misfortune. In a safety car period, Tom Kristensen, after pitting, returned to the track behind a slower
GT race car. The nine-time Le Mans winner, who drove the fastest race lap as well, lost around half a minute because the car in front was not keeping the pace of the pack ahead. LoĂŻc Duval subsequently took over the cockpit and was in the process of starting a recovery when, on lap 142 at the exit of the pit lane, he lost the right rear wheel of his car, which had gotten jammed while being mounted. Thus, Duval had to complete one lap on three
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wheels. The resulting two stop-and-go penalties completed the misfortune of the leaders of the standings who thus lost four laps in total. In the end though, Head of Audi Motorsport Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich had reason to be pleased with a race weekend that left nothing to be desired. Audi Sport Team Joest, on taking grid positions one and two, setting the fastest race lap and scoring a one-two
result, achieved the maximum that was possible and celebrated the first victory in South America. Only the eagerly awaited battle with Toyota did not take place. The challenger’s only race car had become involved in an accident as early as on lap 25 and, as a result, was forced to retire. In three weeks from now, Audi Sport is aiming to continue its string of success. On September 22, the WEC will be racing on the circuit at Austin in the US state of Texas for the first time.
Castrol-backed BMW Motorrad SBK wins at Nürburgring The Castrol-backed BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK Team celebrated a successful home round at Nürburgring, including a victory and four podium finishes in total. Factory rider Chaz Davies won the second of Sunday’s races with his BMW S 1000 RR after finishing third in race one. His team-mate Marco Melandri finished second and third. Thus, the team set a new record: for the first time ever in the FIM Superbike World Championship, BMW Motorrad had both riders on the podium in both races. In addition, Chaz claimed the fastest lap in race two. Collectively, Chaz and Marco achieved 77 points, equaling the best ever result of BMW Motorrad in the series. After ten of 14 rounds of the season, the BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK Team is second in the Team standings with 478 points. In the Riders’ classification, Marco improved to third with 257 points, reducing the gap to the front to 30 points. Chaz is fifth with 221 points, 66 points
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behind the lead. In the Manufacturers’ ranking, BMW is third with 321 points and a gap of 48 points to the top. “I am obviously super happy with the victory in race two,” said Davies. “I was already happy with my podium in race
one but I knew we could improve and so we did. In race one, I made the start I was hoping for coming from the second row of the grid and I was racing in the leading group with Marco and Tom. In the early stages, Tom put some really good pace at the front. Generally, the
bike was working really well as it has done all weekend. In the end the red flag came and I was in right place at the right time. A big Thank you to my team; they did a great job this weekend and we got a double podium again. I wish all the best and a speedy recovery to the guys that got injured today.”
There was not such good news for Castrol-backed Pata Honda rider Jonathan Rea who crashed out of the first of Sunday’s two tenth-round World Superbike championship races at the Nürburgring in Germany, breaking his left femur. The 26-year-old from Northern Ireland had been in contention
for a podium finish before falling at approximately 225kph on oil from another rider’s machine two laps before the end of the scheduled 20 at the 5.137km circuit.
2013 WSBK Standings
STRENGTH TO PERFORM
Pos
Rider
Team
Points
1
Tom Sykes
Kawasaki Racing
287
2
Sylvain Guintoli
Aprilia Racing
286
3
Marco Melandri
BMW GoldBet Motorrad
257
4
Eugene Laverty
Aprilia Racing
247
5
Chaz Davies
BMW GoldBet Motorrad
221
6
Loris Baz
Kawasaki Racing
180
7
Jonathan Rea
Pata Honda
176
8
Michel Fabrizio
Red Devils Roma Aprilia
156
9
Jules Cluzel
Fixi Crescent Suzuki
123
10
Davide Giugliano
Althea Aprilia
121
Castrol-backed Hight wins U.S. Nationals Castrol-backed John Force Racing driver Robert Hight hasn’t won an NHRA Mello Yello event for 35 races until today when he stormed to victory lane in a battle of the oil brands – the Castrol-backed racer getting over Jack Beckman. For the third time in his eight year career Hight and the Auto Club Ford Mustang won the most prestigious race on the NHRA Mello Yello Series, the 59th annual Chevrolet Performance NHRA U.S. Nationals. Hight bundled out heavy-hitters Cruz Pedregon, Johnny Gray and Del Worsham in his path to the final. “This is definitely the biggest win of my career,” Hight said of his 28th career victory. “We won four races in a row last year, and then to go into that dry spell, you start wondering and doubting yourself, and that wears on you. [Crew chief] Mike Neff really changed things for
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me this weekend, and this was the perfect time to get a win.” Entering the race as the No. 7 qualifier Hight was not overly confident at the end of the day on Sunday. A conversation with crew chief Mike Neff, winner of the past two U.S. Nationals gave Hight a confidence boost. Once again the calming influence of crew chief Mike Neff helped his driver relax and focus on the task at hand. “Right before the first round Neff came up to me and said, ‘Listen regardless of the outcome we are in this together. We are going to believe in each other and we are going to stick together.’ It was like a weight lifted off my shoulders. I am up there trying to do a good job for him and this Auto Club team. They were doing well until I stepped into the seat. It was the
perfect time to win,� said a relieved Hight in the Wall Parks Media Center. Hight defeated Cruz Pedregon in the first round and clinched his spot in the Countdown when Bob Tasca III lost in the first round to Tim Wilkerson. Hight reflected on how tough the Funny
Car class is and how he entered the Countdown in the No. 10 position in 2009 on the way to his first Funny car championship. This was the sixth year in a row for John Force Racing to win the Funny Car title at the Chevrolet Performance NHRA U.S.
Nationals. Hight started the streak in 2008, then teammate Ashley Force Hood followed with wins in 2009 and 2010, and Hight’s current crew chief Mike Neff added his two U.S. Nationals in 2011 and 2012. The team has won eight of the last ten Funny Car titles going back to Gary Densham in 2004.
2013 NHRA Funny Car standings
STRENGTH TO PERFORM
Pos
Driver
Points
1
Matt Hagan
2110
2
Ron Capps
2080
3
Johnny Gray
2070
4
John Force
2060
5
Jack Beckman
2050
6
Cruz Pedregon
2040
7
Courtney Force
2030
8
Tim Wilkerson
2020
9
Robert Hight
2010
10
Del Worsham
2000
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