Castrol EDGE Australia eNewsletter - Vol 4, Issue 4

VOLUME 4 - ISSUE 4

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

20th MARCH 2014

CASTROL CREWS ENJOY MIXED RESULTS AT ALBERT PARK Despite not being a championship point scoring round the latest V8 Supercars event was as hard fought as any as Castrol crews endured mixed results at the Australian F1 Grand Prix in Melbourne.

Michael Caruso secured a deserved podium place at the Albert Park street circuit after a sensational pole position on Thursday afternoon. Caruso, driving the Norton/beyondblue Nissan Altima, finished third in Sunday’s race, enough to secure third overall for the Grand Prix event.

“It’s an absolutely brilliant result for Norton, beyondblue and Nissan,” said Michael Caruso. “We started fifth and got crushed back to eighth. It was on for young and old out there and I was

STRENGTH TO PERFORM

getting hit at every corner of the car. To manage to climb back up to third, it was a testament to the fantastic car speed that we had. It was as good as it’s been this weekend.”

See below for the final weekend points POS

TEAM

DRIVER

CAR

POINTS

1

Valvoline Racing GRM

Scott McLaughlin

Volvo S60

329

2

Red Bull Racing Australia

Craig Lowndes

Holden Commodore VF

319

3

Norton Hornets

Michael Caruso

Nissan Altima

299

4

Lockwood Racing

Fabian Coulthard

Holden Commodore VF

298

5

Team TEKNO VIP Petfoods

Shane Van Gisbergen

Holden Commodore VF

287

6

Holden Racing Team

Garth Tander

Holden Commodore VF

277

7

Pepsi Max Crew

Mark Winterbottom

Ford Falcon FG

205

8

Erebus Motorsport V8

Will Davison

Mercedes E63 AMG

196

9

Holden Racing Team

James Courtney

Holden Commodore VF

172

10

Supercheap Auto Racing

Tim Slade

Holden Commodore VF

172

11

Red Bull Racing Australia

Jamie Whincup

Holden Commodore VF

165

12

Walkinshaw Racing

Nick Percat

Holden Commodore VF

152

13

Erebus Motorsport V8

Lee Holdsworth

Mercedes E63 AMG

149

Castrol EDGE-backed Supercheap Auto Racing driver Tim Slade took 10th spot overall in the accumulated points score, equaling the tally of Walkinshawstablemate James Courtney with 172 points won across the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix weekend.

14

The Bottle-O Racing Team

David Reynolds

Ford Falcon FG

137

15

Repair Management Aust Racing

Russell Ingall

Holden Commodore VF

136

16

Wilson Security Racing

David Wall

Ford Falcon FG

126

17

Team BOC

Jason Bright

Holden Commodore VF

126

18

Jeld-wen

Jack Perkins

Ford Falcon FG

121

19

Norton Hornets

James Moffat

Nissan Altima

113

Shane van Gisbergen won the opening three races with Scott McLaughlin winning Race 4 and the weekend on overall points. Round 2 of the V8 Supercars Championship, the Tyrepower Tasmania 400, begins at Symmons Plains Raceway on March 28.

20

Jack Daniel’s Racing

Todd Kelly

Nissan Altima

111

21

Jack Daniel’s Racing

Rick Kelly

Nissan Altima

108

22

Wilson Security Racing

Scott Pye

Ford Falcon FG

102

23

Valvoline Racing GRM

Robert Dahlgren

Volvo S60

73

24

Pepsi Max Crew

Chaz Mostert

Ford Falcon FG

59

25

Team ADVAM / GB

Dale Wood

Holden Commodore VF

40

A string of solid race results saw Castrolbacked FPR driver Mark Winterbottom finish seventh overall for the round with his best race result of 7th coming in Race 4. However it was not the same story for teammate Chaz Mostert who spun his factory Ford across the track ahead of the majority of the field. While most cars avoided contact an unsighted Dale Wood hit the drivers side of Chaz’s car causing the knockout blow for the car for the remainder of the weekend.

STRENGTH TO PERFORM

CASTROL-BACKED VW CONTINUES WRC WINNING STREAK Castrol-backed Volkswagen Motorsport driver Sebastien Ogier has won the Rally Mexico to jump back to the top of the World Rally Championship Standings. The World Champion led home a Volkswagen 1-2 with Jari-Matti Latvala finishing 72-seconds behind.

“Mexico really is a fantastic country for us! I like the rally, and it seems to like me. I picked up my first win as a junior here back in 2008 and took overall victory with Volkswagen last year – and now here I am, back on the top step of the podium,” said Ogier.

After battling with Mad Ostberg on the opening leg, Ogier was left clear at the front after the Citroen driver damaged the suspension in his DS3 on the morning of day 2. Latvala moved to second and the duo maintained position throughout the final day of competition.

“It is a fantastic feeling. Our entire team did a sensational job all weekend, and the Polo R WRC was once again super reliable and super quick in extreme conditions. I was hungry for this win after my mistake in Sweden! That is why Julien and I refrained from taking any risks on the final day.

STRENGTH TO PERFORM

a few areas for improvement as the weekend went on. It’s all part of the learning curve and we’re really looking forward to Portugal.”

Thierry Neuville claimed the maiden podium for Hyundai on only the Korean manufacturer’s third rally, this despite having some radiator issues after the final stage. The Belgian had to drive back the 20km to the final service to be classed a finisher. Neuville stopped on a number of occasions to top-up the radiator with the closest fluid he could find. Spectators handed him cans of Corona beer; it did the job with his car completing the drive back to Leon.

Ogier scored three bonus points by claiming fastest time through the final El Brinco Power Stage, Latvala took two and Castrol-backed Ford driver Mikko Hirvonen claimed the final point in his Fiesta RS WRC. The next event of the WRC is the Rallye de Portugal which starts on 3 April.

2014 WRC standings

“We really wanted to get this win under our belts. And it goes without saying that I also wanted to get my hands on the Power Stage points. Although we will now have to act as street sweepers for the opposition at the next round in Portugal, the World Championship points are more important than anything else.”

It was a job well done for the Castrolsponsored M-Sport World Rally Team as Elfyn Evans secured a career-best fourth place at Rally Mexico. Mikko

STRENGTH TO PERFORM

Hirvonen also fought back to eighth place – demonstrating his potential to challenge for the top positions through the loose-surface terrain.

“I certainly didn’t come here expecting to finish fourth – simply to finish would have been an achievement given how little experience we have on these kinds of stages and how many of the top drivers were caught out!” Evans said.

“We put in some strong performances on some individual stages and identified

POS

DRIVER

TOTAL

1.

Sebastien Ogier

63

2.

Jari-Matti Latvala

60

3.

Mads Ostberg

32

4.

Andreas Mikkelsen

24

5.

Elfyn Evans

20

6.

Bryan Bouffier

18

7.

Mikko Hirvonen

18

8.

Kris Meeke

17

9.

Thierry Neuville

15

10.

Ott Tanak

10

V8 PREDICTOR WINNER ALL SMILES AFTER CLIPSAL 500 VIP EXPERIENCE Riding shotgun in Mark Winterbottom’s Castrol-oiled V8 Supercar down the Adelaide Parklands at over 250km/h, with just millimetres between he and the side of and the concrete barriers that line the circuit, was just one of the many experiences Tony Quinn won as the 2013 Castrol EDGE V8 Predictor champion.

Quinn was the man to beat during the final stages of the inaugural V8 Predictor game and would eventually top the standings when the final chequered flag fell at the Sydney 500 in December.

Winning the major prize entitled Quinn and a plus one to flights, accommodation, spending money, a hot lap with Frosty, corporate ticketing and plenty of money-can’t-buy

STRENGTH TO PERFORM

experiences including pit tours and driver meet-n-greets.

Quinn and his wife used the additional spending money to fly the kids down for the weekend making it a truly memorable experience for the entire family.

“I just wanted to drop you a quick note to pass on our appreciation for the weekend we just experienced as a family. It really did exceed all of our expectations (which were pretty high to start with, anyway, I think),” Quinn wrote to Castrol Australia.

“Thank you Castrol Australia for your part in helping to organise the weekend.

You always kept me informed (even when I was hard to catch) as to what was going on, what the next steps were, etc, etc.

“Your manner was always friendly and inclusive, hence, I had a really good feeling that we were going to have a great time. Everything went so well and without a hiccup.”

2014 brings on improved gameplay to the Castrol EDGE V8 Predictor and with it improved prizes.

STRENGTH TO PERFORM

Come December, the winner of the 2014 version of the V8 Predictor will be entitled to the same amazing experience as Tony, however will have the choice of any V8 Supercar event within Australia to attend during the 2015 season!

The thought of this has Tony straight back onto the Castrol EDGE V8 Predictor and now the globally recognised Castrol EDGE Grand Prix

Predictor based around the Formula 1 World Championship.

“Well, needless to say, I will be trying my best to go back to back in the V8 predictor, and will have to give the F1 predictor a go as well. I would love the family to have a similar experience next year! Good luck to whoever does happen to win, I hope they have as a great a time as we did!!”

CASTROL-BACKED BAILEY WINS OPENING ROUND OF 4WD AUSTRALIAN RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP Castrol-backed Mike Bailey has won the opening round of the 4WD Australian Rally Championship at the National Capital Rally in Canberra.

“You can’t ever back off, even in that last stage if we made a little mistake or an overshoot it could have been game over for us.

Driving a Mitsubishi EVO 6 alongside co-driver Matthew Harriott, Bailey was in a hard fought battle with Andrew Penny and Jeffery Mathes in their Subaru WRX.

“So you’ve got to drive hard but neat and keep it on the road all weekend and that’s what we’ve done and here we are on the top step of the podium.”

“We’re just stoked after a challenging weekend in the forest and the final day came down to a head-to-head battle with Penny and Mathes and it was great to get home,” said Bailey.

Quit Forest Rally, is Round 2 of the East Coast Bullbars Australian Rally Championship, and will be held 4th - 6th April 2014.

STRENGTH TO PERFORM

STRENGTH TO PERFORM

CASTROL TEAM TOYOTA DOMINATE OPENING SOUTH AFRICAN RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND Castrol-backed Toyota Motorsport got its 2014 South African Rally Championship campaign off to the best possible start by taking first, second and fourth places in the season-opening Tour Natal Rally in the Scottburgh area of KwaZulu-Natal on Saturday.

all six of Friday’s special stages and leading throughout the two days.

Fekken, a two-times national rally champion, was making his first appearance for Toyota and he and Swan ran in second place throughout the rally.

Castrol Team Toyota’s Leeroy Poulter and Elvéne Coetzee (Toyota Yaris) were overall winners and first in the premier S2000 class for four-wheel drive cars, finishing the two-day 14-stage event 43.9 sec ahead of team-mates Hergen Fekken and Carolyn Swan and 2 min 55.2 sec.

“It was the perfect start to the new season,” said Poulter. “The car ran faultlessly throughout the two days and the improvements we made over the break between seasons really made a difference. It was a tough event, as we have come to expect from the Tour Natal, but we finally achieved the top step of the podium after what has seemed like a long wait.”

It was a dominant performance by the team, with Poulter/Coetzee winning

STRENGTH TO PERFORM

Team principal Glyn Hall gave full credit to his drivers and co-drivers as well as the Toyota Motorsport technical staff.

“We put a lot of effort into preparing for this new season. We made some design changes and upgrades within the rules of the competition, which, added to everything we learnt from last year’s debut campaign, made a difference. We now have a much better car and look forward to the rest of the season with confidence.”

Hall pointed out that the weekend’s success followed Castrol Team Toyota’s domination of the recent RFS 450, the opening round of the 2014 Donaldson

Cross Country Championship, when the team’s two Toyota Hilux 4x4s, in the hands of reigning champions Anthony Taylor/Dennis Murphy and Leeroy Poulter/Rob Howie, finished first and second.

Thanks to the overall performance of the official team and privateers, Toyota takes an early lead in its quest for a record 22nd manufacturers’ championship and the 16th in the last 17 years.

The next round of the championship is the Sasol Rally in Mpumalanga on April 11 and 12.

STRENGTH TO PERFORM

CASTROL-BACKED HIGHT WINS NHRA GATORNATIONALS Robert Hight and his Castrol-backed John Force Racing Mustang Funny Car have claimed win #1 for the 2014 NHRA season at the The Amalie Oil NHRA Gatornationals. Hight reached the final two weeks ago in Phoenix but notched his thirtieth career win tying him with Funny Car legend Kenny Bernstein for sixth all-time in the Funny Car class.

Hight outran John Force, 4.074 to 6.345 seconds.

“I can’t even believe my name is associated with guys like that. Guys like Kenny, John Force and Don ‘The Snake’ Prudhomme were my heroes,” said Hight. “Kenny is a guy I always watched. He was always so professional. He was a businessman.

He was one of my all-time favorites,

STRENGTH TO PERFORM

He worked very hard to get where he was. To tie him with Funny Car wins is amazing. He is a four-time champion in Funny Car and I am trying to win my second.”

Hight had to beat teammate and 16-time Funny Car legend John Force in the final.

Both Funny Cars had strong performances on race day but their qualifying efforts left a lot to be desired. Hight was the No. 10 qualifier and Force raced to the final round from the No. 16 spot.

“If you would have told me this morning that John and I would be in the final I don’t know if I would have taken that bet. I know our teams work really hard and work well together but we were struggling,” he added.

2014 NHRA Series Standings - FUNNY CAR

“For both of us to get to the final round and do it on performance was awesome. My Auto Club team was great today. In the final I had some motivation. I wanted to lock up a spot in the Traxxas Shootout.

We got our win and John is already in there so he didn’t need another win.

We are trying to chase him down in the points. We picked up another round on him. This is a major win for us. The Gatornationals is the East Coast kick off. I have won this race twice and my crew chief has won this race before. We always carry Eric Medlen with us and today was a good day,” said Hight.

Despite making her best run of the weekend, Brittany Force’s Castrol EDGE Dragster came up short in round one of eliminations. Facing eventual Top Fuel winner Doug Kalitta for the fifth time this season, Brittany’s impressive 3.82 second ET along her nearly identical reaction time was not enough to hold off Kalitta’s 3.79 second ET.

STRENGTH TO PERFORM

POS

DRIVER

TOTAL

1

John Force

316

2

Robert Hight

273

3

Alexis DeJoria

187

3

Del Worsham

187

5

Bob Tasca III

184

6

Tommy Johnson Jr.

168

7

Ron Capps

164

8

Matt Hagan

161

9

Jack Beckman

151

10

Courtney Force

146

CASTROL-BACKED BMW TEAM RLL PODIUM AT SEBRING

and finished nine laps in arrears of the class winning Porsche. It had been pushed into the wall by a competitor.

The Castrol-backed BMW Team RLL finished third and tenth in the 62nd edition of the 12 Hours of Sebring for round two of the 2014 United SportsCar Championship.

The Number 55 BMW Z4 GTLM, driven by Bill Auberlen, Andy Priaulx and Joey Hand, took the chequered flag in third place.

“Today was certainly a tough day for us in many respects. A third place finish by the No. 55 BMW Z4 GTLM and now the points lead is a tremendous achievement given the ups and downs they went through over the course of the race,” said Bobby Rahal (Team Principal, BMW Team RLL).

It was the team’s second consecutive GTLM podium of the 2014 United SportsCar Championship. Auberlen, Priaulx and Hand had finished second at the season-opening 24h Daytona.

“Unfortunately, the day was ruined quite early for the 56 car. At the end we didn’t have the pace to catch the leaders, but now we head to Long Beach and a circuit much more suited to the strengths of the BMW Z4 GTLM.”

With their third place at the second round at “Sebring International Raceway”, the trio took the lead of the GTLM Drivers classification.

The Number 56 BMW Z4 GTLM finished tenth. Driven by Dirk Müller, Dirk Werner and John Edwards, the car experienced a number of problems during the race

STRENGTH TO PERFORM

Repairs over the next few hours cost precious time. The race was slowed by more than five hours of caution periods, and the crack BMW Team RLL strategy helped the Number 55 car regain a lost lap, caused by a malfunctioning pit speed limiter just past the midpoint of the race. Round three of the 2014 USCC will take place in Long Beach on Saturday, 12th April.

STRENGTH TO PERFORM

NOW IT’S EASIER THAN EVER TO BUY CASTROL...

OR TO FIND A CASTROL SERVICE CENTRE

CASTROL LOCATOR

The Castrol Locator app is the easy to use tool that connects you to Castrol.

The app is split into two sections: FOR YOUR TRUCK and FOR YOUR CAR. IT TELLS YOU: Where to find your nearest service centre that uses Castrol, and where to buy Castrol if you prefer DIY or top-up.

You can search for the outlet nearest your current location, or in any specific suburb or area you nominate.

You can view your info on a list, and get directions or choose the map option. It couldn’t be easier.

GET THE APP NOW AND GO DIRECTLY TO CASTROL

WHICH OIL? The app contains a direct link to the Castrol lube selection guide so you’ll never be left wondering whether you’ve made the right choice for your vehicle.

AVAILABLE FREE IN-STORE NOW click for iTunes click for Google