Castrol EDGE Australia eNewsletter - Vol 3, Issue 7

VOLUME 3 - ISSUE 7

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

17th APRIL 2013

TEAM EDGE RACE REPORT – V8 Supercars Tasmania Challenge Castrol-backed Pepsi Max Crew FPR driver Mark Winterbottom topped off a solid weekend with another podium at the Office 365 Tasmania Challenge - Round 2 of the V8 Supercars Championship. Fabian Coulthard made the most of a late Safety Car restart to steal the Race 5 victory from Winterbottom at Symmons Plains.

Winterbottom had led away from pole and appeared to have Coulthard covered until the full course yellows flew with 10 laps to go. The pause was triggered by a sickening accident for Scott Pye, who was lucky to walk away from a head-on impact with the Turn 2 exit wall after suffering a brake failure.

Coulthard dive-bombed Winterbottom at the Turn 4 hairpin with just three laps remaining, nudging the Pepsi

STRENGTH TO PERFORM

Max FPR Falcon aside in the process.

Coulthard went on to take the win while Winterbottom limped to the line second with his left-front tyre flat following the contact.

James Courtney ran third for the entire journey to score his first podium of the year, while Jason Bright won a race long battle with Jamie Whincup on the final lap to take fourth. Castrol-backed FPR driver Will Davison rounded out the top six with Jonathon Webb in sixth followed by, Scott McLaughlin, Shane van Gisbergen and Garth Tander completing the top 10.

Todd Kelly joined Pye on the retirements list after an engine problem with his Castrol-backed Nissan. Jason Bright became the fourth different winner in as

many races this season with a dominant drive from pole in Race 4. Castrolbacked Ford Performance Racing duo Will Davison and Mark Winterbottom filled fifth and sixth respectively, with the latter getting the better of Scott McLaughlin on the penultimate lap after an extended duel.

TEAM EDGE RACE REPORT – V8 Supercars Auckland 400 Castrol-backed Pepsi Max Crew FPR has claimed its first race victory of the season with Will Davison winning the opening race on the final day of action at Pukekohe Park Raceway in New Zealand. The win and overall weekend performance has vaulted Davison into the championship points lead, however teammate Mark Winterbottom had a

V8 SUPERCARS: Championship points after Race 9 – Pukekohe

self-described worst ever weekend despite leading three of the four races.

“It was great to record the first win for the year for the team and Pepsi Max’s first ever win and to have the fastest car all weekend was that of my team-mate so that is encouraging for everyone,” said Davison. “I had four very clean races, a race win and now the championship lead and while it was relatively straightforward for me, I think the battle is already heating up.”

Castrol-backed Nissan Motorsport scored another haul of top 10 finishes at Pukekohe Park Raceway over the weekend. Nissan factory drivers Rick Kelly and James Moffat both bagged a 10th place finish each in Sunday’s two races, adding to their seventh and ninth place finish in Saturday’s final race.

Kelly and Moffat’s results, along with a consistent run from their team-mates Todd Kelly and Michael Caruso, points towards a positive future for the new Nissan Altima V8 Supercar.

Jason Bright recorded one of the most meaningful wins of his career by ensuring the Jason Richards trophy fell into the right hands at Pukekohe Park.

Bright’s victory in the Race 9 finale choked up his Brad Jones Racing team garage with emotion.

“We know we still have a bit of work to do, but I’m very proud of all the guys.

There was a transmission change between races for Michael’s car, and it was all hands on deck,” said Moffat. “We made some changes to our #360 Altima, and it sharpened it

STRENGTH TO PERFORM

Pos

Driver

Points

1

Will Davison

697

2

Jamie Whincup

681

3

Craig Lowndes

591

4

Garth Tander

553

5

Fabian Coulthard

552

6

Jason Bright

539

7

Shane van Gisbergen

532

8

James Courtney

510

9

Jonathon Webb

477

10

Scott McLaughlin

457

11

Mark Winterbottom

448

12

Russell Ingall

421

13

Rick Kelly

378

14

Alex Davison

355

15

James Moffat

349

16

Tony D’Alberto

346

17

Alexandre Premat

318

18

David Reynolds

302

19

Lee Holdsworth

298

20

Dean Fiore

295

21

David Wall

290

22

Michael Caruso

268

23

Tim Blanchard

261

24

Tim Slade

220

25

Scott Pye

214

26

Maro Engel

159

27

Todd Kelly

151

28

Jonny Reid

149

up, but it wasn’t enough to go with the lead bunch. We stayed out of trouble, bagged a solid bunch of points and now we move onto Barbagallo.”

Castrol EDGE-backed Supercheap Auto Racing’s Russell Ingall put on a fine demonstration of overtaking in Races 6 and 7 of the Championship on Saturday, improving from a couple of lowly qualifying positions to record a pair of 14th place finishes. The next event of the V8 Supercars Championship will be held at Perth’s Barbagallo Raceway in three weeks time. The race meeting will see the second running of the new 60/60 SuperSprint race format.

V8 PREDICTOR: Results from back-to-ba Rounds two and three of the 2013 V8 Supercars Championship has been run and won, and while most people will consider Will Davison the leader of the title, there’s another competitor who has taken an early lead. Top honours in the Castrol EDGE V8 Predictor currently sit with with ‘DaveTE50’ who holds a one point advantage over ‘Schultzys 500’ in the overall standings.

Round 1 leader ‘GR8’ continued their strong form into the Symmons Plains

STRENGTH TO PERFORM

round by maintaining the lead after the Tasmanian event but a massive 60 points (52% accuracy rate) by ‘DaveTE50’ saw him leap 298 spots up the V8 Predictor ladder to take the lead after the ITM400 Auckland. The winner for the most points scored for Round 2 (Tasmania) was ‘XLent1 Racing’ with 59 points (51% accuracy rate). The winner for the most points in Round 3 (New Zealand) was no surprise, DaveTE50 with his big haul of 60 points. Both DaveTE50 and XLent1 Racing win an

awesome merchandise pack including Castrol Racing and Speedcafe t-shirts, hoodies, retro caps, bar runners, The Annual season review book 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.

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 - Leaderboard Rank

Team

Points

1

DaveTE50

123

2

Schultzys 500

122

3

GR8

121

4

JWR

114

5

Daza 888 fan

113

=

charity

113

=

The dazlers

113

8

Elitec

112

9

peskypup

111

=

Conrod05

111

=

RBR888

111

=

Team Awesome

111

=

Team Maverick

111

=

Honeybadgers 08

111

15

XLent1 Racing

110

16

Solid Machine

109

=

KART

109

=

BuzinR33

109

=

Team Tornado racing

109

20

Knightmare

108

Expert Leaderboard

ack V8 Supercars rounds 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 – have seen a shuffle in standings after back-to-back racing weekends. International Rugby player James O’Connor leads the way in a dead heat with Oliver Gavin on 78 points. The Speedcafe.com team are nipping at their heels just two points back on 76 as current V8 Supercar driver

STRENGTH TO PERFORM

Russell Ingall has some catching up to do as he sits well back on 45 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.

Rank

Expert

Points

1

James O’Connor

78

=

Oliver Gavin

78

3

Speedcafe.com Team

76

4

Russell Ingall

45

Castrol Magnatec enjoys successful with the Sydney Royal Rodeo Series Castrol Magnatec launched their successful partnership as the official sponsor of the Sydney Royal Rodeo Series State of Origin competition at the Sydney Royal Easter Show over the Easter weekend. The Sydney Royal Rodeo Series featured a thrilling international contest between transTasman rivals Australia and New Zealand and a Young Guns event for under-21s, before the State of Origin competition on the final six nights saw traditional foes New South Wales and Queensland go head-to-head.

STRENGTH TO PERFORM

While the Bull Riders and Saddle Bronc Riders showcased their fair share of ‘Clinging Power’, the Castrol Magnatec Protection Clowns did an outstanding job in protecting both the rider and the livestock. Castrol Magnatec, having launched its ‘Clings to Protect’ campaign nationwide on 7th April, created some exciting audience engagement opportunities during the Sydney Royal Rodeo Series. The audience were given a preview of new key messages throughout the event but also experienced the brand story through

activities across the arena and on the new giant screen.

A fan favourite was the Castrol Magnatec ‘Cling Cam’ promotion. Whenever the Castrol Magnatec ‘Cling Cam’ graphic appeared on the big screen, fans were encouraged to demonstrate their clinging technique on their family and friends. The roving camera captured the clinging fans, and one lucky fan was deemed the winner, receiving a great prize pack thanks to Castrol Magnatec. When it comes to who are the real gladiators on the sports field

l partnership an argument can be made for the sport of Rodeo. The Royal Easter Show in Sydney is where the country comes to the city and in a sporting sense there’s nothing more spectacular than Rodeo.

Over the show period the Sydney Royal Rodeo Series thrilled both the avid enthusiast and the casual observer with hundreds of thousands flocking through the gates over the Easter period. For the record, neither New South Wales nor Queensland could be split with the teams tied on points at the end series.

STRENGTH TO PERFORM

Another podium for Castrol Honda in WTCC Marrakech event Race 1 began strongly for the Castrol Honda World Touring Car Team with Gabriele Tarquini taking pole and a well deserved second in the race which was won by Michel Nykjaer. Tarquini maintained first place in the opening laps before Nykjaer crept through, just ahead of the deployment of the first safety car, after Castrol Honda teammate Tiago Monteiro hit the wall due to a broken damper. After the restart, Tarquini looked strong and held on to second, ahead of Nash, Muller and Huff.

Race 2 was not as a successful affair as the first with retirement for Tarqunini and a non-start for Monteiro after his Race 1 damage to the Castrol Honda.

Tarquini had made his way up to 6th from 10th on the grid with some close racing between he, Nash, Basseng and MacDowall.

Unfortunately the experience Italian he hit one of the high kerbs on exiting the chicane and collided with Alex MacDowall, resulting in retirement for both drivers and deployment of the safety car. By this point in the race Norbert Michelisz had fought his way up from the back of the grid to 10th - a really strong drive - before he

STRENGTH TO PERFORM

was forced to retire with a hole in the Civic’s fuel tank, a real disappointment for Norbert and Zengo Motorsport. At the front, Pepe Oriola drove a nearperfect race to hold off Yvan Muller and Tom Chilton, to take the second maiden victory. It was a mixed weekend on the challenging street circuit of Marrakech but the Castrol Honda Civic has certainly shown good pace since Monza, and there are encouraging signs for the coming season. Next up on the WTCC calendar is Slovakia on 27/28 April.

Audi finishes first and second in six-hour Silverstone race The Castrol EDGE-backed Audis dominated the first event of the 2013 World Endurance Championship.

The two Audi R18 e-tron quattro cars battled hard throughout the six-hour race, constantly snatching the lead from one another. With just 40 minutes remaining, the number two car driven by Allan McNish was 30 seconds behind his team-mate Benoit Treluyer, but in a frantic finale, McNish caught Treluyer and stormed ahead with just five minutes of the 197-lap race remaining.

2013 FIA WEC Championship Standings Pos

Driver

Points

1

MCNISH A.

25

1

DUVAL L.

25

1

KRISTENSEN T.

25

2

LOTTERER A.

18

2

TRÉLUYER B.

18

2

FÄSSLER M.

18

3

DAVIDSON A.

15

3

BUEMI S.

15

3

SARRAZIN S.

15

4

WURZ A.

12

4

LAPIERRE N.

12

2013 WTCC Championship Standings Pos

Driver

Points

1

Yvan Muller

88

2

Michel Nykjær

51

=

Gabriele Tarquini

51

4

Tom Chilton

48

5

James Nash

43

6

Pepe Oriola

39

7

Marc Basseng

28

8

Alex MacDowall

26

9

Robert Huff

19

10

Tiago Monteiro

14

STRENGTH TO PERFORM

Castrol-backed Volkw claim hat-trick of WRC Castrol-backed Volkswagen Motorsport have enjoyed an amazing start to their FIA World Rally Championship campaign with Sebastien Ogier making it a ‘hat-trick’ of victories by winning Round 4 - Rally Portugal. The fine team performance at the fourth round of this season’s WRC sees Volkswagen move to the top of the Manufacturers’ Championship. Having already won in Sweden and Mexico, Ogier now holds a 54-point cushion over Hirvonen in the championship. The now part-time Sebastien Loeb is still third.

STRENGTH TO PERFORM

“Unbelievable. What a rollercoaster ride here in Portugal!” Ogier claimed. “I am overjoyed with the win. First the illness, then the brutal stages, which really push a rally car to the very limit. When we had the problem with the power transmission on this morning’s opening stage, I thought: ‘That’s it Séb. The rally is over.’ Fortunately we made it to the service and the guys did a fantastic job there. I will now try to get as much rest and regain as much strength as possible in time for Argentina.”

Castrol-backed Qatar M-Sport World Rally Team’s Evgeny Novikov and Qatar World Rally Team’s Nasser Al-Attiyah led the way for the squad as they brought their Ford Fiesta RS WRCs home in fourth and fifth places respectively. Novikov ended the event in a respectable fourth place.

Despite being unable to channel his customary speed, the Muscovite was undeterred by the difficult conditions.

The youngster and co-driver Ilka Minor found themselves tantalisingly close to a

wagen Motorsport WRC wins in Portugal podium finish when Jari-Matti Latvala’s Volkswagen Polo R WRC encountered problems early in the day.

“Fourth place is a very good result for us, but still I was not so happy with the times. It was a difficult weekend for us. I was pushing on the stages but for some reason the times just weren’t where they needed to be,” said Novikov. “This [fourth place] is definitely the maximum I could have achieved this weekend, so I am happy with that. Now we just need

to make sure we work hard and come back stronger in Argentina.”

Esapekka Lappi cruised to victory at Rally Portugal, winning by a colossal margin of 11 minutes and 36 seconds in the WRC2 category. The young Finn won every stage of the opening two legs in his Castrol EDGE-lubricated Skoda Fabia S2000. Lappi was joined on the podium by fellow Castrol EDGEbacked Skoda driver Sepp Wiegand, who took third place. The result means

Wiegand keeps his lead in the drivers’ championship. The next round of the World Rally Championship starts in less that three weeks when Rally Argentina gets underway on 1 May.

2013 WRC drivers’ standings Pos

Driver

Points

1

Sébastien Ogier

102

2

Mikko Hirvonen

48

3

Sébastien Loeb

43

4

Mads Østberg

32

5

Jari-Matti Latvala

31

6

Daniel Sordo

27

7

Thierry Neuville

25

8

Nasser Al-Attiyah

20

9

Martin Prokop

20

10

Evgeny Novikov

15

2013 WRC manufacturers’ standings

STRENGTH TO PERFORM

Pos

Team

Points

1

Volkswagen Motorsport

121

2

Citroën Total Abu Dhabi WRT

107

3

Qatar M-Sport WRT

55

4

Qatar World Rally Team

36

5

Abu Dhabi Citroën Total WRT 27

6

Jipocar Czech National Team

22

7

Lotos Rally Team

12

8

Volkswagen Motorsport II

10

Solid sixth for Bautis backed Honda in Moto Alvaro Bautista kicked off his 2013 MotoGP World Championship campaign with a solid sixth place finish in the Grand Prix of Qatar for the Castrol-backed Team GO&FUN Honda Gresini. Bautista pushed hard to stay with the lead group in the early stages of the race, but had to back off towards the end and secure a strong bag of points for sixth. Unfortunately Bautista’s GO&FUN Honda Gresini Australian teammate Bryan Staring failed to finish the race after a positive qualifying session.

He was the only prototype rider to choose the softer option Bridgestone front slick (all riders ran the harder rear) but this was not enough to give him what he needed to attack the corners with full confidence.

“We had the same problems in the race that we had in practice,” said Bautista.

STRENGTH TO PERFORM

“I tried to push hard at the start and stay with the lead group, but I didn’t have the feeling or stability under braking. I stayed with them for a while, but I was taking too many risks, so I just had to try and make it to the end and defend my position. We’re hopeful that the problems we had here – which were also the same problems as last year – are down to the track conditions and won’t be as bad in the coming races.

We will keep working, but I am happy with the job the team is doing and I expect us to make big progress in Texas.”

Jorge Lorenzo has started his MotoGP title defence in the best possible way, winning the Qatar Grand Prix with Valentino Rossi making it a Yamaha double. Marc Márquez in the Repsol picked-up third to give him a podium on

debut. In two weeks time MotoGP will head to the new Circuit of the Americas in Austin for the next race.

2013 WRC drivers’ standings Pos

Rider

Team/Bike

1

Jorge Lorenzo

Yamaha

2

Valentino Rossi

Yamaha

3

Marc Marquez

Honda

4

Dani Pedrosa

Honda

5

Cal Crutchlow

Tech 3 Yamaha

6

Alvaro Bautista

Gresini Honda

7

Andrea Dovizioso

Ducati

8

Nicky Hayden

Ducati

9

Andrea Iannone

Pramac Ducati

10

Ben Spies

Pramac Ducati

sta and CastroloGP opener Double win for Castrol-backed BMW World Superbike team It was a weekend to remember for the Castrol Power1-backed BMW Motorrad World Superbike Team with Chaz Davies winning both races in MotorLand Aragon, Spain. The result means Davies jumps to second in the riders’ championship, with the BMW team also second in the manufacturers’ standings.

Factory rider, Davies was the man to beat at the second round of the 2013 FIM Superbike World Championship after the Welshman won both races on his BMW S 1000 RR. He made the best use of his front row start and celebrated his first ever double-victory in the series.

His team mate Marco Melandri, who started from eighth, jumped on the

podium in third place in race one. In the second race, Marco finished fifth.

In the Riders’ championship, Chaz has now climbed into second place with 63 points, while Marco sits in fourth with 43 points. In the Manufacturers’ classification, BMW lies in second with 79 points.

Castrol-backed Pata Honda rider Jonathan Rea has taken a fourth place finish in the second-round World Superbike Championship race at Motorland Aragon in Spain. Both races at the 5.344km circuit - run under clear blue skies and with temperatures in the mid-twenties – were won by Chaz Davies as Rea battled for a possible podium in the first 20-lapper.

“In race one we had a game plan that worked out better than we expected because a few riders had some misfortune,” said Rea. “We plugged away and were there to pick up the pieces and finished fourth. For me it felt like a podium because we’ve come from a long way back and we kind of had the feeling that we were climbing a ladder.”

Rea’s result underlined the steps forward made by his team since testing at Motorland Aragon two weeks ago, but the 26-year-old Northern Irishman was unable to match that performance in race two. A broken brake-adjuster forced him to pit, although he rejoined the race to take a solitary point in 15th place. His Pata Honda team-mate, Leon Haslam, took two ninth-place finishes, with brake issues of his own affecting both his races this afternoon. The 29-year-old made some adjustments after race one, but was unable to fight for a better result. The team will now re-group and target a strong comeback at its home race at Assen in The Netherlands in two weeks time.

2013 WSBK Championship Standings

STRENGTH TO PERFORM

Pos

Rider

Points

1

Guintoli

85

2

Davies

63

3

Laverty

45

4

Melandri

43

5

Fabrizio

40

6

Sykes

38

7

Cluzel

38

8

Baz

31

9

Rea

30

10

Haslam

29

Castrol-backed Court NHRA Funny Car points Castrol-backed John Force Racing driver Courtney Force raced to her third final in the last five races and retook the Mello Yello Funny Car points lead with a runnerup finish at the 14th annual SummitRacing. com NHRA Nationals. The second year driver moved around Johnny Gray for the points lead when she outran Matt Hagan in the semi-finals but in the finals the driver of the Traxxas Ford Mustang smoked the tires against two-time Funny Car champion Cruz Pedregon. Starting from the No. 2 qualifying spot, Force beat out three major competitors to reach her second final of 2013 and made her way up the Mello Yello Funny Car point standings from the third spot into the points lead.

Force. “We were just trying to get some consistent runs down the track. I struggled a little bit with the right lane throughout qualifying trying to keep the car straight down there, but we made good runs and we were happy. Race day is where it counts and we had a great, consistent race car all day up until the final round.

The great thing about coming to Las Vegas this weekend is that we have a consistent car. We were able to run in the heat of the day and run well at night when the temperatures drop, so we’re excited.

We’re excited to get to Charlotte and we’re leaving here in the points lead. We can’t complain about it. We made it to the final round and we’re happy,” said Force.

the NHRA Mello Yello Series Sunday but the first to do so in Top Fuel when she drove her Castrol EDGE dragster past the Mac Tools hybrid of Doug Kalitta in the first round of the 14th annual SummitRacing. com Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

“Our car ended up in the No. 2 spot this weekend which was great for us,” said

Brittany Force became the fourth member of her immediate family to win a round in

It not only was Brittany’s first round win since turning pro, it was the first round

STRENGTH TO PERFORM

“My Castrol EDGE team ended up No. 11.

We ran first round against Doug Kalitta and I got the win,” said Brittany. “It was my first professional round win ever and I was really excited about it. It was huge for our Castrol EDGE team, John Force Racing and all of our sponsors Ford, Traxxas, Auto Club, Mac Tools and BrandSource,” said the second youngest Force daughter.

tney Force regains s lead win for John Force Racing, Inc., in a pro category other than Funny Car; it was the first round win by a Ford-powered dragster since 1970; and it was the first round win for a Team Castrol Top Fuel car since Pat Austin beat the late Blaine Johnson in the second round at Topeka, Kan., on Oct. 1, 1995. With her strong qualifying effort and the first round win of her career the rookie driver moved up from 15th in the Mello Yello Top Fuel point standings to 12th place.

Robert Hight and the Auto Club Ford Mustang team had a solid turn around weekend qualifying No. 1 for the second consecutive year at the SummitRacing. com NHRA Nationals. The perennial Las Vegas winner took out veteran Jeff Arend before falling to Alexis DeJoria

and the Tequila Patron Funny Car in the second round. DeJoria had lane choice and that proved to be the performance tipping point at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. In a close race DeJoria crossed the finish line a nose in front of Hight, 4.141 to 4.157 seconds.

The Castrol GTX Ford Mustang was the first John Force Racing Mustang to fall to a surging Alexis DeJoria on Sunday at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

As the No. 9 qualifier Force relinquished lane choice to DeJoria and at 200 feet his Funny Car lost traction as the Tequila Patron pulled away. Force, the team owner, was pleased with the overall team effort considering Brittany won the first round of racing for a JFR Top Fuel dragster, Courtney retook the Mello Yello

Funny Car points lead and Robert Hight’s Auto Club Mustang continued to improve in both qualifying and on race day.

“You gotta look at the overall picture.

Robert Hight and Auto Club walked out with a No. 1 this weekend and Courtney was No. 2. My Castrol GTX Mustang was in the bottom half, but it’s starting to get respectable,” said Force. “To watch Brittany step up to the plate and get that first round win for John Force Racing this early in the season was pretty cool. And we leave here with the points lead. I got whooped by a girl, but I know her dad is happy and I’m good with that. We’re going to go to Charlotte and I think we’re starting to get back on track,” said Force, the 15-time Funny Car champion.”

2013 MELLO YELLO FUNNY CAR POINT STANDINGS 1. Courtney Force, Traxxas Ford Mustang, 315 2. Johnny Gray, 301 3. Cruz Pedregon, 298 4. Matt Hagan, 284 5. Ron Capps, 277 6. Del Worsham, 223 7. Robert Hight, Auto Club Ford Mustang, 220 8. Jack Beckman, 206 9. Alexis DeJoria, 190 10. Bob Tasca III, 187 11. John Force, Castrol GTX Ford Mustang, 177

STRENGTH TO PERFORM

Mixed results in ARC f supported Ford Innate The Castrol EDGE supported Ford Innate Motorsport rally team enjoyed mixed results at the second round of the Australian Rally Championship (ARC) - the QUIT Forest Rally in WA. Team driver Adrian Coppin and co-driver Tim Batten drove well in Heat 1 on Saturday to finish 8th overall in the ARC category. Qualifying for the Power Stage at the QUIT Forest Rally the team set a fastest time of 1:41.7

STRENGTH TO PERFORM

for the 2.16 km tarmac stage, beating home one of the Volkswagen Polo Vivios and finishing only 3/10ths of a second behind the other.

“We were really happy with our time” the team’s co-driver, Batten said. “We were never going to qualify for the Power Stage simply because we are giving away 50+ HP to the outright G2

cars with our R2 class Fiesta but to be so close to the two Volkswagens was really encouraging.”

Heat 2 was not as fortunate when the pair hit a rock and broke lower control arm on their Ford Fiesta R2. The result meant a DNF for Heat 2 but overall the pair were happy to finish ninth overall for the weekend.

for Castrol EDGE e Motorsport 2013 ARC Standings

STRENGTH TO PERFORM

Pos

Driver

Car

Points

1

Evans/Weston

Honda Jazz

157

2

Pedder/Moscatt

Renault Clio

146

3

Wilde/Hayes

Renault Clio

106

4

Monkhouse/Allen

Nissan Silvia

93

5

Boaden/Cheers

VW Polo

68

6

Reeves/Smyth

Mazda 2

64

7

Patton/Webb

VW Polo

52

8

Box/Payne

Nissan 370z

48

9

Pedder/Ryan

Honda Jazz

46

10

Coppin/Batten

Ford Fiesta

46

11

Mackenzie

Ford Fiesta

38

12

Orders/Feaver

Nissan Silvia

26