Castrol EDGE Australia eNewsletter - Vol 3, Issue 22

VOLUME 3 - ISSUE 22

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13th NOVEMBER 2013

CASTROL EDGE-SPONSORED AUDI WINS WEC DRIVERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP Castrol EDGE-backed Audi drivers Loïc Duval, Tom Kristensen and Allan McNish have won the Drivers’ Championship title of the FIA World Endurance Championship in Shanghai.

The trio finished in third position with their Audi R18 e-tron quattro in the six hour race.

It is the first World Champion’s title for each of the three drivers and it completes a dream year which also included victory at the 24 hr Le Mans race. The race was won Castrolbacked Audi teammates Andre Lotterer, Benoit Treluyer and Marcel Fassler in a dramatic fashion behind the wheel of their Audi R18 e-tron quattro.

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the drop off in tyre performance was such that Treluyer – on fresher tyres and on a charge – was able to get ahead and go on to victory by a 16s margin.

2013 WEC Drivers’ Standings

Despite admitting to having made a wrong tyre choice to start the race, and then suffering from a puncture the No.1 Audi R18 e-tron quattro took the lead ahead of the No.7 Toyota of Alex Wurz and Lapierre.

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Some great competition between the two marques saw the Toyota leading the race into the final hour but, crucial to the outcome, Alex Wurz had to make a splash-and-dash fuel stop before the end of the six hour event. He took fuel only in an effort to retain the lead but

Pos

Driver

Nat

Points

1

MCNISH A.

GBR

162

1

DUVAL L.

FRA

162

1

KRISTENSEN T.

DNK

162

2

LOTTERER A.

DEU

131,25

2

TRÉLUYER B.

FRA

131,25

2

FÄSSLER M.

CHE

131,25

3

DAVIDSON A.

GBR

81,25

3

BUEMI S.

CHE

81,25

3

SARRAZIN S.

FRA

81,25

4

WURZ A.

AUT

68,5

4

LAPIERRE N.

FRA

68,5

5

BECHE M.

CHE

63,5

6

PROST N.

FRA

60

7

HEIDFELD N.

DEU

48

8

DI GRASSI L.

BRA

45

8

GENÉ M.

ESP

45

8

JARVIS O.

GBR

45

TODD HAZELWOOD WINS CASTROL EDGEBACKED SHANNONS SUPERCAR SHOWDOWN South Australian teenager Todd Hazelwood will compete in the final round of this year’s Dunlop Series after winning the Castrol EDGE-backed Shannons Supercar Showdown reality television contest. The screening of the eighth and final episode on Saturday evening confirmed the 18-year-old Australian Formula 3 driver as the winner.

Hazelwood beat fellow F3 runner and Castrol EDGE Rookie Tim Macrow in the final, which saw both drivers complete 10 lap spells in the Ford Performance Racing V8 Supercar that Chaz Mostert drove in last year’s Dunlop Series. This year marked the third running of the Media Mix-produced program and the first in conjunction with Castrol-backed FPR. While previous seasons offered a codriving slot in the Bathurst 1000, this

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year’s prize will see Hazelwood drive a Shannons-backed, Minda Motorsportprepared, ex-Garry Rogers Motorsport Holden in the Homebush Dunlop Series finale. Hazelwood also receives a testing contract with FPR that will see the former karter sample one of the team’s currentgeneration V8 Supercars.

“The competition in the show was really tight between everyone and after a long hard eight weeks, it was awesome to finish it all off with a win,” said Hazelwood after the finale. “Both Shannons and Ford Performance Racing have given me a once in a lifetime opportunity, I can’t wait to test their cars and experience the V8 Supercars for the first time. A big thank you to the team at Castrol EDGE for their support towards this year’s Shannons Supercar Showdown series!”

The show’s earlier episodes had included Formula Ford competitors Macauley Jones, Chelsea Angelo, James Golding and Briton Daniel Cammish, as well as V8 Ute racer Craig Dontas and a second British driver, former ADAC Formula Masters campaigner Adrian Campfield. Cameron Waters and Jesse Dixon took out the 2011 and 2012 Shannons Supercar Showdown prizes respectively.

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CASTROL-BACKED MORGAN CROWNED ANDRA PRO SERIES TOP FUEL CHAMPION Darren Morgan has been crowned the 2012/2013 ANDRA Pro Series Top Fuel Champion after Qualifying 5th & contesting Round 1 of the Australian Nationals at Sydney Dragway. The 2012/2013 season was the longest and probably toughest season conducted in the sports history with 11 rounds.

This included a three race format that limited qualifying to a single pass, two round weekends plus two new venues in two new States at 1,000 foot race distance compared to 1,320 feet (1/4 mile) at all others. This is the third consecutive title for Darren Morgan Racing and Darren’s fourth overall after winning the Top Fuel Championship back in 2004/2005.

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The Australian Nationals, which drew a massive crowd to Sydney Dragway over the three days wraps up another season of ANDRA Drag Racing competition, the first time that the ANDRA Drag Racing Series has been contested over a year-to-year calendar.

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SOLID SECOND FOR CASTROL-BACKED BRAY AT AUSSIE NATIONALS Castrol-backed Team Bray Racing’s Victor Bray has narrowly missed out on a final round win during the 2012/2013 ANDRA Top Doorslammer Season Finale at the Australian Nationals against John Zappia.

The six-time back-to-back Doorslammer champion was in the box seat to take the win after getting the startline jump on the West Australian when his engine lifted the blower off the Sidchrome 1957 Chevy, allowing Zappia through for the event win and the 2013 title.

Unfortunately for Team Bray, Victor’s final round battle wasn’t the only explosive action for the Queensland father and son outfit, with Ben Bray ushered out of proceedings early when his gearbox exploded during the second round of qualifying causing major damage to his transmission, drive line and tail shaft.

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“What a full-on weekend we have had at Sydney Dragway for the seasonending Australian Nationals with no less than 19 Doorslammers on-track,” said Victor Bray. With just eight race day positions available and challengingly hot conditions during qualifying this event demanded everything of its racers from the very beginning and it didn’t get any easier from there. Facing off against my friend and then championship leader Peter Kapiris in the first round set the tone for an intense day of racing, and by taking the win I ensured that for Zappia to equal my record titles he would have to do no less than win the entire event.

“With a semi-final win against Andrew Sutton thanks to a hole shot I came to face Zap in the final, and with another hole shot in the bag I was ahead at

the 800 foot mark until the nature of this wonderful and cruel sport saw the blower come off and Zappia recover the ground for the win.

“While I may not have taken the win, this has been one impressive event with a fantastic field and some great crowds, and I must send my congratulations to Zappia on his win and also to my friend Kapiris on a hard-fought season – if I had won the final he would have taken home the title by one point, so I am sorry I couldn’t get it done for you mate! It has certainly been a rewarding season for Team Bray and myself with three finals appearances and I have certainly felt that my friend, the late Mick Atholwood, has been riding along with us all year long, so everyone at Team Bray was very happy to see him announced as one of the first to be inducted into the ANDRA Hall of Fame in recent weeks.”

Thanks to his win this weekend, Zappia has claimed this year’s Doorslammer title ahead of Peter Kapiris and Victor Bray, making him the only racer to equal Victor’s record six consecutive titles in the bracket. Ben Bray finished the championship chase in fourth position, ahead of Maurice Fabietti in fifth place.

“Following a difficult first qualifying run I really felt like I was set for a good

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result during the second qualifier - the car was feeling quick and a look at the data shows we were on our way to a mid to low 5.9 second pass when at the 1000 foot mark the gear box exploded, causing terminal damage to the transmission and the drive line and tail shaft,” said Ben Bray. “We all banded together to try and fix it in time for the third qualifier but it just wasn’t to be and so I missed out on a spot on race day.

While I didn’t get the result I wanted

it was still great to see dad make it all the way to the final round during what was a truly spectacular event overall – a Victor Bray versus John Zappia final round definitely had everyone talking with Sydney Dragway even running a Facebook poll on which of the pair was ‘cooler’ – we were of course pretty proud to see dad convincingly take the win when it came to that race!”

WTCC ONE-TWO FINISH FOR CASTROL AND HONDA Castrol and Honda enjoyed a great weekend in the Shanghai round of the World Touring Car Championship.

Tiago Monteiro led race two and was followed closely by team-mate Gabriele Tarquini. The result is another boost for Honda, which has already secured the manufacturers’ championship. The result also means that Gabriele Tarquini holds on to second place in the drivers’ standings with just one event remaining on the calendar.

Tiago Monteiro led into turn 1 from his pole position starting spot and held that place for the entire 10 laps, extending his lead to 1.1 seconds over Castrol Honda team-mate, Gabriele Tarquini. This was the second clean sweep for Honda having achieved the same impressive result at the Slovakia Ring event earlier in the season. Victory in China is the third for

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the Castrol Honda team and the fourth in the season for the Honda Civic WTCC cars in the first full season in the WTCC. For Monteiro this was his first victory of the season and first with the Honda Civic, having been at the wheel since Honda launched its WTCC challenge in the last three events of 2012.

“That is an amazing result for me and Honda with my team-mates too,” said Monteiro. “Everytime we race we improve and this is a great reward for the whole team. I want to thank everybody for making this happen, I’m proud to be part of this great Honda project. I dedicate this win to my mother who is recovering from recent health problems.”

The final event of the 2013 FIA WTCC takes place at Macau in two weeks November 16-17.

Round 11: China

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Rank

Driver (Team)

1

Tiago MONTEIRO (Honda)

2

Gabriele TARQUINI (Honda)

3

Norbert MICHELISZ (Honda)

4

Rob HUFF (SEAT)

5

Yvan MULLER (Chevrolet)

6

James NASH (Chevrolet)

CASTROL-BACKED BAUTISTA S 2013 MOTOGP IN SIXTH Castrol-backed GO&FUN Honda rider Alvaro Bautista saved his best start of the 2013 MotoGP season for the final race at Valencia over the weekend as he powered home to fifth to finish the year sixth in the Championship. Giving himself the opportunity to run with the front pack Bautista was able to challenge for the podium positions but would settle for fifth by race end.

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“We have continued to work on making small changes to try and improve the bike for the race and after getting probably my best start of the year I was able to stick with the front guys for the first few laps,” said Bautista. “Lorenzo was slowing the pace down at the front and that gave me a chance to run with the guys at the front and I was in a position to make an attack, but the last thing I wanted to do

was get involved with the two guys who were fighting for the title. Once the soft tyre dropped off I lost a little ground, but I am happy, because we have finished the championship in sixth place overall as the second best non-factory bike. I want to thank everybody in the team, Showa, Nissin, Honda, Castrol and GO & FUN. Tomorrow we start working on the future.”

Lorenzo at Valencia after a gripping season finale. The first rookie to win the top class of grand prix racing since Kenny Roberts in 1978, Marquez (20 years 266 days) is also the youngest rider since Freddie Spencer (21 years 258 days) in 1983 to crack the title.

Bautista’s Castrol-backed GO&FUN Honda teammate Bryan Staring finished 19th for the race.

SIGNS OFF Bautista was careful not to cause any problems for the two riders fighting for the championship and in the end, as his tyre performance dropped off, he rode an intelligent race to pick up another topfive finish and end the championship on a positive note.

Marc Marquez clinched the MotoGP Championship by four points from Jorge

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2013 MotoGP Championship Pos

Driver

Points

1

Marc MĂĄrquez

334

2

Jorge Lorenzo

330

3

Daniel Pedrosa

300

4

Valentino Rossi

237

5

Cal Crutchlow

188

6

Alvaro Bautista

171

7

Stefan Bradl

156

8

Andrea Dovizioso

140

9

Nicky Hayden

126

10

Bradley Smith

116

CASTROL-BACKED SKODA MOTORSPORT WINS RALLYE DU VALAIS Castrol-backed Skoda Motorsport driver Esapekka Lappi alongside co-driver Janne Ferm won the final round of the 2013 FIA European Rally Championship in Switzerland after an action-packed battle at Rallye International du Valais. Lappi was cleared out when his nearest rival Andreas Aigner crashed out at the end of Saturday morning’s loop of stages.

The rising Finnish star won two of the four stages on the final loop to stamp seal his dominance of the event and his successful year in rallying. Lappi also won

Result - Rallye International du Valais 1. Esapekka Lappi - Skoda - 3h13m42.8s 2. Olivier Burri - Ford - +3m28.2s 3. Craig Breen - Peugeot - +3m36.2s 4. Jeremi Ancian - Peugeot - +6m21.1s 5. Jaroslav Orsak - Skoda - +6m26.7s 6. Nicolas Althaus - Peugeot - +6m42.9s 7. Florian Gonan - Subaru - +7m57.7s 8. Pascal Perroud - Peugeot - +13m15.9s 9. Sylvain Michel - Citroen - +13m17.7s 10. Romain Salinas - Renault - +14m12.4s

the final round of the FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship - the China Rally Longyou - just six days prior to winning the ERC’s final round, Rallye International du Valais.

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JOHN FORCE CREATES HISTORY WITH THREE SECOND RUN IN POMONA Powered by the strength of his Castrol GTX Ford Mustang Funny Car, John Force raced into the record books with the first three second pass in Funny Car history at Auto Club Raceway in Pomona - 3.995 seconds at 319.37 mph. The newly crowned 16-time Mello Yello NHRA Funny Car champion is the

first man in the ‘threes’ at the Auto Club Raceway making him the No.1 qualifier - a feat he has now achieved for the 146th time in his illustrious career.

In the final Force came up against Matt Hagan and the pair left the line with an identical reaction times, however Hagan

got to the end of the strip just four onehundredths of a second quicker than the Castrol GTX legend.

“What about that Jimmy Prock! That was pretty impressive when we saw Courtney (Force) run that 4.01 Mike Neff went into the box with Robert (Hight’s Auto Club Mustang) and everybody was going for it. Hagan comes up with a 4.01 and took low from me,” said Force of the three second run. “I saw that look on Jimmy Prock’s face because he has seen what everyone else has done. Jimmy told me on the radio to ‘Hold on kid!

“I just want to thank all the sponsors Castrol, Traxxas, Auto Club, Ford, Mac Tools, BrandSource and Freightliner.

We did that on Goodyear tires which was awesome. I want to thank Auto Club for extending our sponsorship.”

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AUST-FIRST SIBLING RIVALRY NO OBSTACLE FOR SCOTT BETTES Queensland brother and sister Scott Bettes and Kelly Corbett were part of an Australian-first at Sydney Dragway’s Australian Nationals when they lined up against each other in the final for the Modified bracket at the weekend (1-3 November 2013). It is believed that it is the first time a brother and sister have competed against each other in a final round at a national event in the senior ranks.

While Camira’s Corbett had the advantage of winning experience as a former National Champion and multiple national event winner, it was Regent Park’s Bettes who broke through at

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Sydney Dragway on Sunday 3 November to claim his first national event win, just two weeks after claiming his first ever event win at his home-track Willowbank Raceway.

“This is just an amazing feeling, it is pretty surreal actually,” said Bettes, who will celebrate his 33rd birthday on Friday 8 November. “To take this national event win and claim my first ever gold Christmas tree trophy just two weeks after breaking through for my first Modified event win after four years in this bracket is just amazing – what a great early birthday present!

“It was really special having Kelly beside me for that final, they say that you have to run your own race and not focus on who is in the other lane but of course I knew she was there and it added a bit of pressure. You always want your family to do well, but in this case there is no hiding I am pretty happy with how things panned out!” laughed Bettes, whose win this weekend saw him collect a prestigious ‘gold Christmas tree’ trophy for the first time in a 20 year drag racing career despite multiple wins in the Junior Dragster bracket which at the time were not considered championship events.

“In all seriousness though, it was really awesome to have her there beside me as I got my first national event win and I am really thankful for her support as well as the support of my mum Jenny and dad Steve, my Uncle Ashley and of course our crew and our sponsors Castrol, Sidchrome and Noonan Race Engineering – I couldn’t have done this without all of their support and I can’t wait to get back on track next year!”

For Corbett, who also competes regularly in the Sport Compact category in the Jett Racing Datsun ute, it was

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a case of mixed emotions following the final round of the season-ending Australian Nationals.

“It was so very special to be part of Scott’s first national event win, I am obviously so very happy for him to have won himself a gold Christmas tree and to be able to claim that national event win as his own,” said Corbett, the 2009/2010 National Modified Champion and holder of multiple national event and local event wins.

“At the same time, I was really disappointed about red-lighting by one thousandth of a second – but that is racing and looking at the data even if I

had pulled a perfect reaction time I think it would have been hard to beat him with how the conditions were and how he was running.

“The overarching emotion is definitely one of pride in my brother, I am so pleased to be able to congratulate him on his win and welcome him to the ‘Christmas tree’ club – we always have fun racing as a family and I am sure there will be plenty more fun times to come. I must also send my thanks to the rest of my family and my friends who crewed for me during the Australian Nationals and also to my sponsors Castrol, Sidchrome, Noonan Race Engineering, Speedflow and Performance Wholesale.”

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