VOLUME 3 - ISSUE 20
IT’S OUR BEST OIL YET... WWW.CASTROLEDGE.COM.AU
17th OCTOBER 2013
CASTROL WINS AT BATHURS C
astrol-backed Pepsi Max Crew FPR drivers Mark Winterbottom and Steve Richards have won the 2013 Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000. Driving on Castrol oil the #5 Ford of Winterbottom took the factory driver to his maiden Bathurst victory as he and Richards hoisted the Peter Brock trophy high above the podium at Mount Panorama. The victory also marks the first in the 11 year history of the Castrolbacked Ford Performance Racing outfit. The win takes Castrol oil to a record 18 Bathurst victories at the mountain, a feat not bettered by any other oil. “That’s amazing, I’ve been trying so hard for 10 years to win this race,” Winterbottom said at the post-race press
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conference. “I first came to Bathurst when I was four years old and I’ve always just wanted to hold the trophy at some stage. So to finally win it and the battle at the end... to do it with Richo and to do it with FPR is just amazing, I’m speechless almost. It’s so good to hold that trophy and the reception you get on the podium is just ridiculous. I’m sure it won’t sink in until later.” The Great Race finished with an epic battle between Winterbottom and Jamie Whincup with less than three hundredths of a second separating the Holden and Ford rivals with one lap remaining. Lap 161 had the massive contingent of Mount Panorama fans, both on the mountain and watching at home, on the edge of
their seats as Winterbottom held off a hard charging Whincup to secure his and FPR’s first Bathurst win. Winterbottom’s co-driver Steven Richards now adds a third Bathurst trophy to his cabinet with the Castrol-sponsored driver winning back in 1998 and then again 1999. Castrol-backed FPR teammates Will Davison and Steve Owen pushed through an eventful day to finish seventh with the third FPR Ford of David Reynolds and Dean Canto securing a top-10 berth in ninth. Castrol-backed Nissan Motorsport finished the 2013 Bathurst 1000 with a pair of top 20 results in its return year to ‘The Great Race.’ James Moffat and
V8 Supercars Championship Points
ST, AGAIN! Taz Douglas were the best of the Nissan Altimas in 18th place after a trying day. The #360 Norton Nissan was hampered by handling issues early in the race, while an engine mapping problem hampered the car’s speed. Rick Kelly and Karl Reindler, driving the #15 Jack Daniel’s Racing Altima finished 19th, one place behind Moffat/Douglas. Castrol-backed Supercheap Auto Racing duo Russell Ingall and Ryan Briscoe put in a strong effort to climb through the field for a 17th place finish at Mount Panorama. The next event on the V8 Supercars Championship calendar will be in Queensland for the Armor All Gold Coast 600 in one weeks time.
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Pos
Driver
Points
1
Jamie Whincup
2423
2
Craig Lowndes
2309
3
Mark Winterbottom
2281
4
Will Davison
2242
5
Fabian Coulthard
2015
6
Jason Bright
1937
7
Garth Tander
1920
8
Shane Van Gisbergen
1914
9
James Courtney
1909
10
Scott McLaughlin
1778
11
Jonathon Webb
1527
12
David Reynolds
1498
13
Alex Davison
1332
14
James Moffat
1311
15
Rick Kelly
1311
16
Tony D’Alberto
1153
17
Alexandre Premat
1127
18
Russell Ingall
1115
19
Chaz Mostert
1102
20
Lee Holdsworth
1001
21
Michael Caruso
959
22
Tim Slade
959
23
David Wall
959
24
Dean Fiore
922
25
Scott Pye
853
26
Todd Kelly
833
CASTROL-BACKED VOLKSWAGEN DRIVER SEBASTIEN OGIER IS THE 2013 WORLD RALLY CHAMPION Sebastien Ogier has secured his first World Rally Championship title following the opening ‘Power Stage’ at Rallye de France – Alsace. The Castrol-backed Volkswagen driver was third fastest on the Power Stage, which for this event was the opening test of the rally, behind Dani Sordo (Citroen) and Thierry Neuville. The single point awarded enough for the Frenchman to win the world title after narrowly missing the honour at Coates Hire Rally Australia last month. Neuville needed all three points to keep the fight alive, but when his time was confirmed as 0.7sec slower than Sordo’s, Ogier had wrapped-up the title with this event
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and the next two rallies still to be run. “It’s an amazing feeling - I’m so happy,” said Ogier. “It’s great after only five Ks on this rally and now I can really push for the rest of the weekend. The main goal of this year is in the pocket and I’m so happy for me and the team in its first season is amazing.” The power stage was a three-lap run through the streets of Strasbourg alongside the European Parliament building. “Eight years we’ve worked for this!” added his co-driver Julien Ingrassia.
Ogier delivered a masterclass in treacherous conditions to win his seventh rally of the season and bookend a perfect weekend after clinching his maiden drivers’ world title on Thursday. After a lacklustre Friday when the euphoria of Thursday night’s title win left him jaded and down in fifth, the Frenchman roared back into contention with a string of stage wins on Saturday in his Volkswagen Polo R. Citroen’s Dani Sordo finished second and Jari-Matti Latvala (VW) was third, while early rally leader Thierry Neuville had to settle for fourth to remain second in the points standings.
WRC Drivers’ Standings
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Pos
Driver
Points
1
Sébastien Ogier
238
2
Thierry Neuville
143
3
Jari-Matti Latvala
125
5
Daniel Sordo
117
5
Mikko Hirvonen
111
6
Mads Østberg
81
7
Sébastien Loeb
68
8
Evgeny Novikov
57
9
Martin Prokop
49
10
Andreas Mikkelsen
40
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JOHN FORCE EXTENDS NHRA POINTS LEAD NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series veteran John Force has extended his Funny Car points lead with victory in Reading, also extending his lead of Top Fuel was Shawn Langdon. Force charged the Castrol GTX High Mileage Ford Mustang to the win over second generation racer, Chad Head. He now has a 65 point advantage over Matt Hagan. Crucially, he had to eliminate Countdown contenders Ron
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Capps, Cruz Pedregon and Jeff Arend in his path to the win. “You give credit where it’s due, and my crew chief Jimmy Prock and this team is just great,” Force said. “What I look at as most exciting is the teamwork with this group. To get this win meant a lot to me, but they all mean a lot. I’ve got a good hot rod right now.” No. 2 qualified Courtney Force made an appearance in the quarterfinals at the event and stayed in the Mello Yello points chase for the NHRA Countdown to the Championship.= The 2012 Rookie of the Year took the win over Blake Alexander in the opening round when she ran the third-quickest ET out of 16 qualified hot rods. Force got the best start off the line with a .44 light to Alexander’s .72. The Traxxas Ford Mustang was able to post a 4.083 ET at over 316 mph to Alexander’s 4.148 ET at 302 mph.
2013 NHRA Standings - Funny Car Pos
Driver
Points
1
John Force
2457
2
Matt Hagan
2392
3
Jack Beckman
2331
4
Robert Hight
2323
5
Cruz Pedregon
2307
6
Ron Capps
2297
7
Courtney Force
2266
8
Johnny Gray
2223
9
Del Worsham
2214
10
Tim Wilkerson
2175
CASTROL-BACKED BAUTISTA FIFTH IN MALAYSIAN MOTOGP Castrol-backed Team GO&FUN Honda Gresini rider Alvaro Bautista enjoyed a thrilling duel for fifth place with Cal Crutchlow (Yamaha), which went his way in the final few laps of the Malaysian MotoGP round. In the early stages he had run with the lead group, but after running wide he lost touch and that allowed Crutchlow to catch and pass him. However, Bautista had the speed when it mattered most. “I made a good start and that allowed me to get away with the front group for a few laps but then I had a moment when I couldn’t get the front brake lever fully on and I ran wide,” said Bautista. “It took me a couple of laps to get confident with the brakes again and I lost touch. Maybe in the battle with
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Valentino I overheated the brakes. It was a shame but I fought my way back to Crutchlow and then gritted my teeth to beat him in a fight to the end. Another important top-five finish for me, the team, who have done a great job again, and the sponsors.”
RC213V), who once again increased his World Championship lead over Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) who finished third today. 2013 MotoGP Standings Pos
Driver
Points
Australian rookie Bryan Staring finished 18th, three places out of the points, and is looking forward to going to Phillip Island, a track he knows well. Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC213V) shrugged off lingering pain from his recent Aragon crash to score a convincing victory in the Malaysian GP, run in gruelling tropical heat.
1
Marc Márquez
298
2
Jorge Lorenzo
255
3
Daniel Pedrosa
244
4
Valentino Rossi
198
5
Cal Crutchlow
166
6
Alvaro Bautista
136
7
Stefan Bradl
135
8
Andrea Dovizioso
120
The former 250 and 125 World Champion was followed home by teammate Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda
9
Nicky Hayden
102
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LAPPI SECOND FOR CASTROL-BACKED ŠKODA AT RALLYE SANREMO Esapekka Lappi and his co-driver Janne Ferm put in a strong recovery for Castrol EDGE-backed ŠKODA Motorsport at the 55th Rallye Sanremo, finishing in second place. The two Finns delivered a strong performance on the second day of this classic rally in the FIA European Rally Championship (ERC) to move up four places. Jan Kopecký (CZ), who is already the 2013 European champion,* provided the pair with some valuable tips as a spectator in the ŠKODA team. “It was a really tough rally. It’s fantastic to have competed here for the first time and to have made it onto the podium straight away,” said a delighted Lappi. “And we have been able to gather a lot of experience on asphalt here.” The fast Finn achieved the quickest time in the tenth and final special stage, which bumped him up from fourth place and onto
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the podium. The spectacular mountain tracks by the Mediterranean were an entirely new arena for the 22-year-old. He is also relatively inexperienced on asphalt. But he made no mistakes in his second ERC appearance of the year. His experienced teammate Kopecký, who has already clinched the ERC championship title for ŠKODA with six wins this season and who experienced the legendary Rallye Sanremo as a spectator this time around, was a great help during the rally. “Jan gave me lots of very good tips,” said Lappi. Lappi was therefore all the more delighted to see Kopecký and his co-driver Pavel Dresler present the trophies during the victory ceremony on Saturday evening. The winner of last year’s Finnish rally championship once again demonstrated
his talent by finishing in second place. Last year, he won the ERC race in Poland, and this year he won the WRC2 category at Rally Portugal. He has also already scored two wins in the current season of the Asia-Pacific Rally Championship (APRC), and will be in the running for the championship title at the final race in China on 2 and 3 November. “Me and my teammate Gaurav Gill have a clear goal – and that’s to win the manufacturers’ championship for ŠKODA.”
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