Castrol EDGE Australia eNewsletter – Vol 4, Issue 12

VOLUME 4 - ISSUE 12

IT’S OUR BEST OIL YET... WWW.CASTROLEDGE.COM.AU

10th JULY 2014

INAUGURAL CASTROL TOWNSVILLE 500 A GREAT SUCCESS With over 140,000 through the gates for an action packed weekend of racing the inaugural Castrol Townsville 500 was deemed a huge success as the V8 Supercars Championship continued to entertain.

photos, videos and experiences and being in the running for some fantastic prizes including hot laps at the Castrolsupported V8 Supercars Experience on the Gold Coast and signed V8 Supercars merchandise!

Fans enjoyed plenty of entertainment both on and off the track including performances by Castrol-supported Matty Mingay in the always impressive Hot Wheels Stuntz Inc drift utes.

Spectators at the track and those viewing from home via the telecast and web broadcasts we treated to some high-action racing which saw Jamie Whincup take out the weekend with a win for Saturday’s opening race followed by victory in Sunday’s 250km test.

Fans were also gifted with plenty of fantastic prizes at the Castrol EDGE Zone where the Spin ’n’ Wheel was in full effect all weekend giving away plenty of Castrol goodies and other great prizes.

Castrol’s #CastrolEDGE promotion was also a huge success with plenty of fans from the weekend showcasing their

The Holden Racing Team spoiled the clean sweep however with a one-two victory in Saturday’s second race which saw Garth Tander head home teammate James Courtney for the victory.

STRENGTH FOR MAXIMUM PERFORMANCE

2014 Championship Points POS

DRIVER

TOTAL

1

Mark Winterbottom

1634

2

Jamie Whincup

1538

3

Fabian Coulthard

1361

4

Shane Van Gisbergen

1355

5

James Courtney

1354

6

Craig Lowndes

1352

7

Scott McLaughlin

1211

8

Garth Tander

1135

9

David Reynolds

1099

10

Chaz Mostert

1098

11

Jason Bright

1010

Michael Caruso

920

13

Will Davison

913

14

Lee Holdsworth

894

15

Scott Pye

876

16

James Moffat

873

The event also showcased some of Australia’s hottest musical talent with Jessica Malboy and Vanessa Amarossi hitting the stage on Saturday night for the Big Top concert inside the track precinct and all within the ticket price.

In their 300th V8 Supercars race the Castrol-oiled Jack Daniel’s Nissan Altimas finished 18th and 19th respectively in their special 300th edition livery which was plastered to the cars overnight on Saturday.

12

17

Rick Kelly

854

The best of the Castrol-oiled drivers was current championship leader and Ford Pepsi Max Crew pilot Mark Winterbottom who scored two top-10 finishes for the weekend including sixth in Sunday’s feature race.

Round 8 of the V8 Supercars Championship takes teams to Queensland Raceway for the Coates Hire Ipswich 400 August 4-6.

18

Russell Ingall

854

19

Tim Slade

816

20

Nick Percat

790

21

David Wall

740

22

Dale Wood

649

23

Jack Perkins

610

24

Todd Kelly

576

25

Robert Dahlgren

437

He was joined by teammate Chaz Mostert who also enjoyed a double top-10 result for the weekend.

STRENGTH FOR MAXIMUM PERFORMANCE

CASTROL-BACKED VW WIN WRC POLAND Castrol-backed VW driver Sebastien Ogier has won Rally Poland taking maximum points by finishing the event with the Power Stage victory as well.

It is the world champion’s fifth win of the seven events contested so far this season, and in a good weekend for Volkswagen, Andreas Mikkelsen was second overall.

After two tight opening days of competition, Ogier cleared out yesterday to just over a minute. He kept things in check throughout the opening stages of the final day and then attacked on the 14.9km Power Stage.

STRENGTH FOR MAXIMUM PERFORMANCE

He now heads the driver’s standings by 50 points from VW team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala.

“I’m really happy and a good step for the championship,” said Ogier.

“I had a lot of fun as the stages were really nice this weekend. High speeds and I really enjoyed driving my Polo here.

“I knew on the first day I had a big disadvantage with my road position.

But I knew that if I could carry the level of commitment on the second and third day it would make the difference, and that is what happened.”

Castrol-oiled M-Sport World Rally Team’s Mikko Hirvonen made the most of a challenging Rally Poland – bringing his Ford Fiesta RS WRC home in fourth place.

Teammate Elfyn Evans finished under Rally 2 regulations, but the Welshman remains in a positive mood having made another progressive step in his development.

FINAL POSITIONS: Rally Poland Pos

Driver

Team/Car

Time/Gap

1

Sebastien Ogier

VW

2h34m02.0s

2

Andreas Mikkelsen

VW

+1m07.7s

3

Thierry Neuville

Hyundai

+2m13.5s

4

Mikko Hirvonen

M-Sport Ford

+2m32.4s

5

Jari-Matti Latvala

VW

+2m33.1s

6

Juho Hanninen

Hyundai

+2m49.9s

7

Kris Meeke

Citroen

+4m27.9s

8

Hayden Paddon

Hyundai

+4m32.1s

9

Henning Solberg

Solberg Ford

+4m59.0s

10

Martin Prokop

Czech Ford

+6m11.3s

2014 FIA DRIVERS´ STANDINGS

2014 FIA TEAMS´ STANDINGS

POS

DRIVER

TOTAL

POS

TEAMS

TOTAL

1

Sebastien Ogier

166

1

Volkswagen Motorsport

262

2

Jari-Matti Latvala

116

2

Andreas Mikkelsen

83

Citroen Total Abu Dhabi World Rally Team

115

3 4

Mads Ostberg

66

3

M-Sport World Rally Team

90

5

Mikko Hirvonen

52

4

Volkswagen Motorsport II

82

6

Thierry Neuville

46

4

Hyundai Shell World Rally Team

80

7

Kris Meeke

38

8

Elfyn Evans

36

9

Martin Prokop

31

10

Henning Solberg

24

STRENGTH FOR MAXIMUM PERFORMANCE

REA TAKES FOURTH VICTORY OF SEASON AT PORTIMAO Castrol-backed Pata Honda rider Jonathan Rea took victory in a shortened, wet second race in round eight of the 2014 World Superbike championship at the Autodromo International Algarve in Portugal.

The 27-year-old British rider was never headed in the race, which was reduced from a scheduled 20 to 18 laps after rain fell on the 4.592km Portimao circuit. At mid-race, Rea saw a comfortable lead reduced by the two factory Aprilias but they both crashed out on lap 13, leaving the CBR1000RR Fireblade SP rider to cruise home almost seven seconds ahead of Davide Giugliano and Chaz Davies.

I was really disappointed after race one because we had good pace in warm-up this morning; but I’m not sure if it was the tyre or not because we had changed nothing on the bike.,” said Rea. “When I heard the rain coming on my motorhome roof as I watched a bit of the Tour de France ahead of race two, I started getting a little bit giddy and singing as I was getting changed! I knew that it was a chance for me.

“I tried to do my own race from the front but I saw from my lap board that the Aprilias had better pace at the middle point of the race. The track had started

to dry out a bit and we were really suffering with corner exit but, although the conditions were a great leveller for all riders, it’s nice to take a win.

“I’d prefer to take it in the dry and we can’t get too excited because it’s a wet win; but we’ll take them any way we can and it’s 25 points not just for me but for the whole team.

“They’re consistently working so, so hard to bring the package to the front, and they gave me a really great, userfriendly CBR to ride today, so I’m really happy for them.”

STRENGTH FOR MAXIMUM PERFORMANCE

2014 SBK Standings 1

Tom Sykes

284 pts

GBR

KAWASAKI

Kawasaki Racing Team

2

Sylvain Guintoli

241 pts

FRA

APRILIA

Aprilia Racing Team

3

Loris Baz

236 pts

FRA

KAWASAKI

Kawasaki Racing Team

4

Jonathan Rea

235 pts

GBR

HONDA

Pata Honda

5

Luca Scassa

192 pts

ITA

KAWASAKI

Team Pedercini

6

Chaz Davies

159 pts

GBR

DUCATI

Ducati Superbike Team

7

Davide Guigliano

140 pts

ITA

DUCATI

Ducati Superbike Team

8

Eugene Laverty

121 pts

IRL

SUZUKI

Voltcom Crescent Suzuki

9

Toni Elias

115 pts

ESP

APRILIA

Red Devils Roma

10

Leon Haslam

115 pts

GBR

HONDA

Pata Honda

The win marked Rea’s eighth podium at Portimao in the seven years that SBK has been visiting the circuit, but it was his first victory here. It followed a fifth place in the first 20-lap race, won by Tom Sykes, in which Rea was badly affected by low rear grip after leading on the opening laps.

His Pata Honda team-mate Leon Haslam finished fifth in the wet race two, after a strong challenge for the final podium position faded in the closing two laps. The 31-year-old was taken out of race one by another rider but remounted to finish in 11th place at the flag.

There is a quick turnaround for the World Superbike championship, which reassembles next weekend for round nine at the Laguna Seca Raceway in California, USA before an eight-week summer break.

STRENGTH FOR MAXIMUM PERFORMANCE

STRENGTH FOR MAXIMUM PERFORMANCE

CASTROL TEAM HAHN WINS AT RED BULL RING Jochen Hahn has narrowed the gap to Spanish rival Antonio Albacete to just six points after an impressive weekend for Castrol Team Hahn Racing in Spielberg. Hahn began the fourth round of the FIA European Truck Racing Championship by going second fastest in an incredibly close superpole session on Saturday morning at the Red Bull Ring – Hahn was just 0.027 seconds behind Norbert Kiss.

Although dark clouds brought an everpresent threat of rain, the dry weather held out for race one, in which Jochen Hahn held off a charging Antonio Albacete to claim second place behind Norbert Kiss. Hahn started race two in seventh place, but battled his way through the field to take fourth, narrowly missing out on a podium place.

Antonio Albacete to just six points.

The next event is Castrol Team Hahn’s home race at Nürburgring and takes place between 18th/20th July.

The weather was warmer on Sunday, and the team had Jochen Hahn’s Castrol-lubricated MAN race truck running sweetly. Jochen was too quick for Norbert Kiss in superpole 2 and clinched pole position with a blisteringly quick lap.

Jochen made his pole position count with a fantastic lights-to-flag victory in race three, despite Antonio Albacete’s constant attacks. Race four proved to be a little more difficult, with Jochen starting in eighth place. An intense battle at the front made it difficult to overtake, and he eventually had to settle for sixth.

2014 European Truck Racing Championship 1

Norbert Kiss MAN

HUN

178

2

Antonio Albacete MAN

ESP

169

3

Jochen Hahn MAN

GER

163

4

Adam Lacko Freightliner

CZE

125

5

Markus Bösiger MAN

SUI

121

It was a great weekend overall, with Jochen racking-up 47 points and closing the gap to second-placed

STRENGTH FOR MAXIMUM PERFORMANCE

CASTROL-BACKED JOHN FORCE WINS NHRA NATIONALS Castrol-backed Funny car legend John Force has added another race track and NHRA national to his winning collection.

Force raced to victory at the 8th annual Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals securing his unprecedented 140th Funny Car win and moving into the No. 2 position on the Mello Yello Funny Car point standings.

“This win today was special to me. I had come to Norwalk decades ago for their Night of Fire events and match races but never won the NHRA event here, and I want to win every race,” said Force.

“I came close a few times racing against Ashley and Courtney but I never won the big one at this place. I just couldn’t get a NHRA national event win here and I won them all with the exception of Epping so I really wanted this win.”

Going into race day, John Forces Castrol GTX High Mileage Mustang had qualified second with a thundering 4.016 second run at 322.04 that set the track speed record at Summit Motorsports Park.

Crew chief Jimmy Prock and the rest of the team knew just how far they could push the track conditions without blowing away the massive Goodyear slicks under Force’s Mustang.

STRENGTH FOR MAXIMUM PERFORMANCE

While the team owner was racing to victory the rest of JFR was battling tough competition and seeing positive results. Brittany Force drove her Castrol EDGE Dragster to a quarter-final finish.

In a classis rematch from last week, Brittany lost a close one to reigning Top Fuel Mello Yello champion Shawn Langdon as both cars fought it out on the tricky track surface. Even though this 27 year old is in her sophomore year driving a 10,000 horsepower Top Fuel car, Brittany’s primed for a trip to the winner’s circle.

“We came out today swinging and ran some great numbers. Even though I would’ve liked to have gone to the finals again, I couldn’t be more proud of my guys and how this Castrol EDGE Dragster has run throughout this weekend,” said Brittany Force.

It was a tough weekend for the Mello Yello Funny Car points leader Robert Hight. As the No. 6 qualifier it would

stand to reason that the No. 12 qualifier might be a lesser opponent.

Not so in the modern era of Funny Car as Hight faced Cruz Pedregon, a twotime Funny Car world champion and winner of the Toyota Summernationals, in the first round.

The Auto Club Ford Mustang was charging away for victory when it lost two cylinders on the left side drastically forcing the Funny Car to the right. The headers scuffed the retaining guardwall just before the finish line giving Hight an immediate DQ for the race.

MELLO YELLO POINT STANDINGS 1.

Robert Hight

1067

2.

John Force

889

3.

Ron Capps

846

4.

Tommy Johnson Jr.

845

5.

Alexis DeJoria

779

6.

Courtney Force

764

STRENGTH FOR MAXIMUM PERFORMANCE

PREDICTOR: LOCKWOOD 14 CLAIMS TOWNSVILLE PRIZE Castrol EDGE V8 Predictor team Lockwood 14 has taken round honours for the Castrol Townsville 500 round scoring themselves a $100 BP fuel card.

The Lockwood 14 team’s massive 105 points haul came with a prediction accuracy of 48% after they took full advantage of the new-to-2014 bonus points system and collected and additional 80 bonus points. In the overall league standings team Arne’s Mob has maintained the lead with Team Murph taking over SCATTERS who slips back to third overall after sitting second in the standings heading into the round.

The overall drivers’ points winner for the weekend went to the Holden Racing Team’s Garth Tander after his win and two second places for the weekend.

Ford Pepsi Max Crew driver Mark Winterbottom had a consistent weekend to finish seventh overall and maintain his lead of the V8 Supercars Championship.

In the Experts’ league Speedcafe.com took out round honours with 22 points for the North Queensland-based event.

Andy Priaulx was second on 17 points while Greg Rust managed 14 points.

Speedcafe.com continues to lead the race amongst the Expert predictors.

Signing up for the V8 Predictor is easy and players have the chance of winning the ultimate V8 Supercars holiday in 2015 including flights, accommodation, spending money and behind the scenes access to the V8 Supercars world.

There are also $100 BP Fuel vouchers up for grabs for each of the 14 championship rounds contested this year plus bonus prizes on top. Round 8 of the V8 Supercars Championship takes crews to Queensland Raceway for the Coates Hire Ipswich 400 - Aug 1-3.

STRENGTH FOR MAXIMUM PERFORMANCE

2014 Castrol EDGE V8 Predictor - Global Leaderboard RANK

TEAM NAME

POINTS

1

Arne’s Mob

470

2

Murph

429

3

SCATTERS

421

4

bad betty

417

5

red bull 01

405

6

JDM8 Racing Team

394

7

Tarmac

394

8

boats n hoes

394

9

#1V8SCFAN

393

10

Cow tipping dwarfs

392

11

Bloopy Enterprises

392

12

The Flying Bulls!!!

390

13

Team Bolo

389

14

Give it some jandal

389

15

JWS-888-

388

16

Low and Slow

388

17

Team Morpheus

387

18

Datto510

386

19

The NASCAR Offseason

386

20

Arctic Racing

384

2014 Expert Leaderboard RANK

TEAM NAME

POINTS

1

Speedcafe

210

2

Andy Priaulx

164

3

Greg Rust

149

Additional Points POLE POSITION

COURTNEY, James and COULTHARD, Fabian and LOWNDES, Craig

FASTEST LAP

TANDER, Garth and WHINCUP, Jamie

RACE WINNER

TANDER, Garth and WHINCUP, Jamie

Championship Points Weekend Results - Castrol Townsville 500

POS

DRIVER

POINTS

1

TANDER, Garth

282

1

Mark Winterbottom

1634

2

WHINCUP, Jamie

273

2

Jamie Whincup

1538

3

VAN GISBERGEN, Shane

244

3

Fabian Coulthard

1361

4

COURTNEY, James

234

4

Shane Van Gisbergen

1355

5

PERCAT, Nick

213

5

James Courtney

1354

6

MOSTERT, Chaz

184

6

Craig Lowndes

1352

7

WINTERBOTTOM, Mark

183

7

Scott McLaughlin

1211

8

MCLAUGHLIN, Scott

166

8

Garth Tander

1135

9

PYE, Scott

158

9

David Reynolds

1099

10

COULTHARD, Fabian

157

10

Chaz Mostert

1098

11

REYNOLDS, David

147

11

Jason Bright

1010

12

DAVISON, Will

145

12

Michael Caruso

920

13

BRIGHT, Jason

129

13

Will Davison

913

14

CARUSO, Michael

111

14

Lee Holdsworth

894

15

HOLDSWORTH, Lee

109

15

Scott Pye

876

16

INGALL, Russell

108

16

James Moffat

873

17

WALL, David

106

17

Rick Kelly

854

17

KELLY, Rick

106

18

Russell Ingall

854

18

MOFFAT, James

103

19

Tim Slade

816

19

DAHLGREN, Robert

82

20

Nick Percat

790

20

SLADE, Tim

66

21

David Wall

740

21

LOWNDES, Craig

62

22

Dale Wood

649

22

KELLY, Todd

60

23

Jack Perkins

610

23

WOOD, Dale

40

24

Todd Kelly

576

24

PERKINS, Jack

21

25

Robert Dahlgren

437

STRENGTH FOR MAXIMUM PERFORMANCE