VOLUME 4 - ISSUE 1
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6th FEBRUARY 2014
GREG MURPHY COMPLETES HAT-TRICK AT HIGHLANDS Castrol EDGE race Greg Murphy continued his amazing start to the 2014 BNT V8 SuperTourers Championship by completing a clean sweep of the three races at Highlands Park. Following on from Saturday’s triumph, Murphy bagged a double in a smaller field highlighted by the absence of fellow Castrol-backed driver Scott McLaughlin and Shane Van Gisbergen with the Tekno V8 Supercars driver competing in his maiden Daytona 24 Hour race. Hard on Murphy’s tail in the second race again was Andre Heimgartner with Castrol EDGE-supported Richard Moore claiming second in the final heat. Heimgartner’s fourth in the final race was enough for him to seal second overall for the first of seven rounds in
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what is his best performance to date in the V8ST Championship. Murphy alluded to the fact that he had a headstart on many of his rivals having raced at Highlands in the 101 GT endurance race in November. “I’ve got an advantage because I’ve been here before,” Murphy said. “We haven’t done anything to the car (since last season); we haven’t had time since last year.” Mark Gibson achieved a highly creditable breakthrough as he came third in his first meeting as a full-time driver in BNT V8 SuperTourers. He had been a co-driver in the endurance events last year but has now taken over John McIntyre’s Ford Falcon. “We kept it clean and looked after our tyres so we had a car we could fight with at the end, Gibson said. “John was on the radio mentoring me – he’s very calming, which makes a big difference.” Hamilton driver Ant Pedersen, who finished a close second in the 2013 championship, took a third and fourth in the first two races with his Ford, but in the final he came last after losing time in the pits with a power steering problem. Aucklander Simon Evans also started with a fourth and a third, but he dropped down the field in the final after spinning his Holden. Angus Fogg did not take part in today’s races after a heavy impact against a wall yesterday caused serious damage to his Holden. The seven-round series continues at the New Zealand Grand Prix at Manfeild in two weeks. 2014 NZ V8ST Standings:
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POS
DRIVER
POINTS
1
Greg Murphy
27
2
Andre Heimgartner
18
3
Richard Moore
16
4
Ant Pederson
13
5
Mark Gibson
12
CASTROL EDGE-BACKED VOLKSWAGEN MAKE DREAM WRC START The Castrol EDGE-oiled Volkswagen Motorsport team have kicked off their 2014 World Rally Championship campaign in the best possible fashion by winning the opening round - Rallye Monte Carlo. 2014 WRC Champions Sebastien Ogier and co-driver Julien Ingrassia battled the elements to secure their maiden ‘Monte’ win and place the team in P1 after the opening round of the world championship. “What a perfect start to the season! The team did a fantastic job and it is an amazing feeling to win the Rally Monte Carlo in these difficult conditions – especially now that the Monte is a round of the World Championship again,” said Ogier. “For that reason, this win obviously
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ranks above the victory in the IRC in 2009 for Julien and me. Even more so when you consider the last three days: the fightback in extreme rain, and then the snow chaos on the Col de Turini. I really wanted to win my home rally here. I will celebrate the win appropriately – with my family, my girlfriend and the entire Volkswagen team.” The next best placed Castrol-supported car was that of Volkswagen’s second crew Jari-Matti Latvala and Mikka Anttila who finished fifth aboard their Polo R WRC. Three extra championship points were also awarded to Latvala and Anttila, and two bonus points for Ogier and Ingrassia Volkswagen for claiming a one-two on the Power Stage. These extra points see Latvala leap to fourth in the championship. Castrol-backed M-Sport crew Elfyn Evans and Daniel Barritt got their WRC campaign off to a flying start with sixth place on their ‘Monte’ debut. “I’m absolutely delighted to have made it to the finish in such a strong position.,” said Evans. “We managed to keep our noses clean all event – no moments, no
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dramas, no big slides. To drive round a tricky event like this, like we did, it is a big achievement for us and it fulfils everything we wanted from the weekend. There are a lot of people who made it all possible – the ice note crew being one, the team being another. It was a big step to come into a squad like this, and with a top car for my first outing on the Monte, so a big thanks to Malcolm [Wilson] and the team for the opportunity.” Elsewhere however, there was disappointment for Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen as their Ford Fiesta RS WRC developed an electrical issue on the final stage – relegating the Finns from the overall results. The third Volkswagen car piloted by Andreas Mikkelsen and Mikko Markkula finished a respectable seventh on their Rallye Monte Carlo debut. The next event on the WRC calendar takes crews to the sub-zero temperature stages of Rally Sweden - 5-8 of February.
2014 WRC Drivers’ standings POS
DRIVER
POINTS
1
Sébastien Ogier
27
2
Bryan Bouffier
18
3
Kris Meeke
16
4
Jari-Matti Latvala
13
5
Mads Østberg
12
6
Elfyn Evans
8
7
Andreas Mikkelsen
6
8
Jaroslav Melichàrek
4
9
Matteo Gamba
2
10
Yuriy Protasov
1
2014 WRC Manufacturers’ standings POS
TEAM
POINTS
1
Volkswagen Motorsport
37
2
Citroën Total Abu Dhabi WRT
33
3
M-Sport Ltd
10
4
Volkswagen Motorsport II
8
KAMAZ AND CASTROL SECURE DAKAR RALLY VICTORY The Castrol-backed Kamaz Master team stormed to an impressive victory at the gruelling Dakar Rally in the 2014 truck category. The winning crew consisted of driver Andrei Karginov and teammates Ilgizar Mardeev and Igor Devyatkin from Russia. During the last leg of the Dakar rally, the Karginov team had a seven-minute lead ahead of Dutchman Gerard de Rooy from Iveco but lost its advantage after Chinese racer Zhou Yong had an accident on the 90th kilometre and blocked the track. In the end, the referees seemingly agreed to compensate Karginov for the time he lost looking for a way around the crashed Chinese truck, thus securing his place atop the podium. The Dakar Rally is one of the most challenging events in motor sport, and this year proved to be one of the toughest yet. Half of the competitors
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were unable to complete the 9000km event, but the huge 850hp Castrollubricated Kamaz was more than up to the task.
2014 Dakar truck rally - overall results POS
NAME
MAKE
1
KARGINOV (RUS) MOKEEV (RUS) DEVYATKIN (RUS)
KAMAZ
2
DE ROOY (NLD) COLSOUL (BEL) RODEWALD (NLD)
IVECO
3
NIKOLAEV (RUS) YAKOVLEV (RUS) RYBAKOV (RUS)
KAMAZ
4
SOTNIKOV (RUS) MIZYUKAEV (RUS) AFERIN (RUS)
KAMAZ
5
SHIBALOV (RUS) AMATYCH (RUS) KHISAMIEV (RUS)
KAMAZ
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JOHN FORCE FASTEST AT PRE-SEASON TESTING John Force and the Castrol GTX High Mileage Ford Mustang posted the quickest elapsed time of the day with a 4.013 second blast at the 4th annual PRO Winter Warm-Up for the NHRA season. The 16-time Funny Car world champion was second in Friday’s testing with a 4.039 before firing in the fastest time for Funny Cars on Saturday.
The event also saw John Force race alongside his second youngest Daughter, Brittany, for the first time ever. It was the first time these Forces have clashed and a quirk in the ladder provided the opportunity for Force to complete the trifecta as he previously had raced daughter Ashley Force Hood and Courtney Force.
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“I have raced all my daughters I never knew if I would get a chance to race Brittany,” said Force. “The pairings worked out so we could match up and they asked if we would consider running together. I wouldn’t race anybody else. I want to race my own teams at a deal like this. You want to put on a show for the fans. It was great.” The Castrol EDGE Top Fuel dragster shook the Goodyears loose at about 200 feet as the Castrol GTX High Mileage Ford Mustang Funny Car raced away to the finish line. The opening round of the 2014 Mello Yello NHRA drag racing series kicks off at Auto Club Raceway in Pomona for the Winternationals - February 6-8.
RESULTS First session 1. John Force, 4.036, 314.83 mph 2. Courtney Force, 4.077, 315.49 mph 3. Bob Tasca III, 4.084, 314.39 mph 4. Matt Hagan, 4.085, 317.19 mph 5. Chad Head, 4.102, 311.85 mph 6. Cruz Pedregon, 4.456, 204.73 mph 7. Del Worsham, 7.524, 87.19 mph 8. Alexis DeJoria, 8.540, 82.02 mph 9. Tommy Johnson Jr., 9.443, 79.59 mph 10. Jack Beckman, 9.842, 69.58 mph 11. Robert Hight, 10.312, 64.95 mph Second session 1. John Force, 4.013, 318.84 mph 2. Del Worsham, 4.014, 318.17 mph 3. Robert Hight, 4.019, 316.97 mph 4. Matt Hagan, 4.041, 321.81 mph 5. Alexis DeJoria, 4.085, 297.61 mph 6. Jack Beckman, 4.111, 309.77 mph 7. Tommy Johnson Jr., 4.315, 229.55 mph 8. Bob Tasca III, 4.616, 181.59 mph 9. Brittany Force (TF), 8.535, 61.99 mph 10. Cruz Pedregon, 8.620, 85.92 mph 11. Ron Capps, 9.343, 82.18 mph 12. Chad Head, 9.631, 68.50 mph 13. Courtney Force, 10.100, 58.40 mph
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CASTROL AND BMW PODIUM AT DAYTONA 24HR Castrol EDGE-backed BMW Motorsport and BMW Team RLL experienced a successful start to the United SportsCar Championship (USCC) securing an impressive podium result at the Daytona 24hr. In what was the start of a new era in American motor racing, the number 55 BMW Z4 GTLM crossed the line second in the GTLM at the 24-hour race, after completing a total of 679 laps of the iconic “Daytona International Speedway” road course. Bill Auberlen, Andy Priaulx, Joey Hand and Maxime Martin struggled to match the pace of their direct opposition on
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the long straights, due to the significant top speed deficit of their BMW Z4 GTLM. However, BMW Team RLL made up for this thanks to a great strategy, consistent lap times and a largely flawless performance by the crew, securing its maiden USCC podium in the process. The number 56 car, driven by Dirk Müller, John Edwards, Dirk Werner and Graham Rahal, also battled it out at the front of GTLM for long periods of the race. It was running in third when it lost ground after the rear right wheel bearing had broken. The necessary repair work cost the BMW drivers several places. But the white BMW Z4 GTLM made a
brilliant recovery, ultimately finishing fourth and collecting valuable points at the season opener. In the fiercely contested GTD class, Turner Motorsport flew the flag for BMW. Augusto Farfus, Paul Dalla Lana, Dane Cameron and Markus Palttala didn’t lose their fighting spirit following several setbacks in the early stages of the race and fought their way back up with the number 94 BMW Z4 GTD. After 24 hours and 659 laps, Turner Motorsport secured seventh in class. After this promising start to the 2014 USCC season in a race the team had never entered before, Sebring is next on BMW Team RLL’s list.
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CASTROL-BACKED SKODA WINS 2014 RALLY LIEPAJA Castrol-backed Skoda Motorsport drivers Esapekka Lappi and Janne Ferm have kicked started their 2014 European Rally Championship campaign in style with a solid win at Latvia’s Rally Liepaja. The pair secured victory by more than 30 seconds over Ford driver Vasily Gryazin of Russia. “It’s a really good start to the season and a really nice rally,” said the ŠKODA Motorsport driver. If we can continue like this then we will be very pleased. Saturday was difficult because of the snow so I had to be careful and cautious not to make stupid mistakes. Our Michelin tyres have been very good.” Sepp Wiegand recovered from a hesitant start to take fifth place in the second Castrol EDGE-backed factory Skoda Fabia, having been as low as 22nd early on. Irishman Craig Breen was a distant third behind the wheel of his Sainteloc Peugeot 207 heading home in front of 2013 Rally Poland winner Kajetan Kajetanowicz. Round three of the ERC takes crews to GReece to the Acropolis Rally 28-30 March 2014.
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Rally Liepaja results: Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap 1. Esapekka Lappi Skoda 2h13m11.5s 2. Vasily Gryazin SRT Ford +34.7s 3. Craig Breen Sainteloc Peugeot +1m36.8s 4. Kajetan Kajetanowicz M-Sport Poland Ford +2m35.5s 5. Sepp Wiegand Skoda +3m16.1s 6. Janis Vorobjovs Mitsubishi +5m42.6s* 7. Vitaliy Pushkar Boar Mitsubishi +6m50.8s* 8. Stanislav Travnikov Prospeed Mitsubishi +7m15.9s* 9. Martynas Samuitis Wellman Mitsubishi +7m23.2s* 10. Jan Cerny Czech Peugeot +8m37.2s**
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