VOLUME 4 - ISSUE 5
IT’S OUR BEST OIL YET... WWW.CASTROLEDGE.COM.AU
2nd APRIL 2014
CASTROL CREWS SYMMONS PLAINS V8 WRAP Castrol-backed crews walked away with mixed results from the latest round of the V8 Supercars Championship - the Tyrepower Tasmania 400. Mark Winterbottom and his #5 Castroloiled Pepsi Max Crew FPR Ford were the pick of the crop with two podium finishes on Saturday. The results coupled with a top-10 finish on Sunday see Frosty fifth overall in the championship standings. “Saturday was a good day and qualifying sixth and third [which became second] and then racing forward in both was promising,” said Winterbottom. “Our rivals are quick but we will try and bridge the gap a little more overnight. The car is pretty close to where it needs to be so
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we will at tuning it and trying to have a better day tomorrow. It was nice for my engineer Grant to have two podiums as we are building a new relationship and strong results give us both confidence.” Castrol-backed Supercheap Auto Racing driver Tim Slade delivered yet another top-10 result with eighth place in Sunday’s 200km sprint race. The result means Slade now sits in eighth position overall in the drivers’ standings which remains in control by Craig Lowndes in the number one spot. “Sunday was a big improvement over Saturday,” Slade said. “I was happy with qualifying – and in the races I just kept my nose clean, and just tried to conserve as much as possible. A big thank you to the team as the car ran faultlessly all weekend. We are really learning a lot every weekend, and I feel like I’m locking-in with my engineer. We’ve got some new parts coming for the car, so I can’t wait for next weekend.” The Castrol-oiled Nissan Motorsport quartet have turned their attention to the next event of the V8 Supercars Championship at Winton Raceway next week after a tough day at Symmons Plains.
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All four Nissan drivers were not in the hunt at the Tasmanian circuit, with the best finishers just inside the top 20. At Winton last year, Moffat wrote his name in the history books by taking Nissan’s first victory in the V8 Supercars Championship. Despite the team’s struggles at Symmons Plains this weekend, the team is confident of an improved showing at its home test track.
2014 Championship Points POS
DRIVER
TOTAL
1
Craig Lowndes
532
2
Jamie Whincup
462
3
Fabian Coulthard
447
4
James Courtney
429
5
Mark Winterbottom
406
6
Shane Van Gisbergen
389
7
Scott McLaughlin
334
8
Tim Slade
308
9
Garth Tander
282
10
Russell Ingall
274
11
Rick Kelly
259
12
Will Davison
258
13
Lee Holdsworth
250
14
David Reynolds
246
15
David Wall
243
16
James Moffat
238
17
Michael Caruso
233
18
Jack Perkins
230
19
Scott Pye
205
20
Dale Wood
188
21
Jason Bright
177
22
Chaz Mostert
147
23
Todd Kelly
145
24
Robert Dahlgren
125
25
Nick Percat
111
V8 PREDICTOR: TOPGUN FIRES IN TASSIE Castrol EDGE V8 Predictor Topgun has taken round honours after the second V8 Supercars Championship event in Tasmania scoring themselves a $100 BP fuel card.
position and a race winner (20), picking drivers with a pole, a fastest lap and a race win (30) and finally correctly predicting five of the top 10 weekend performers in position (60).
The Topgun team’s impressive 197 points haul with a prediction accuracy of 67% sees them sit second in the overall league standings just behind current standings leader SCATTERS.
The overall points win for the round went to Red Bull Racing’s Jamie Whincup but it’s team-mate Craig Lowndes who remains in the lead of the 2014 V8 Supercars Championship standings.
Topgun took full advantage of the new-to-2014 bonus points system and collected a whooping 120 thanks to; correctly predicting the driver with the highest game points score (10), correctly predicting a driver on pole
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In the Experts league Speedcafe.com maintains a healthy lead ahead of Andy Priaulx and Greg Rust however it was Priaulx who took Round 2 honours with 50 points.
2014 Castrol EDGE V8 Predictor – Global Leaderboard
Speedcafe has 121 points to its name in the league standings with Priaulx second on 79 and Rust third with 47 points, however with the six new bonus points system it’s anyones game to play quick catch up in future rounds. 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.
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RANK
TEAM NAME
POINTS
1
SCATTERS
262
2
Topgun
248
3
V8 Chick
245
4
Great Western
222
5
The Flying Bulls!!!
220
6
A Rumor of Skin
218
7
red bull 01
217
8
Macro98
215
9
L’ÉQUIPE FRANÇAIS
214
10
Polestar Racing
214
11
Murph
214
12
JWS-888-
213
13
JDM8 Racing Team
213
14
Team Nosk
212
15
flatout motorsport
210
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.
16
TeamSteve
209
17
awitchesno1
209
18
The Edge
209
19
PKPearly
209
There’s no time to rest with back-toback rounds seeing the Winton 400 contested this weekend. Stay tuned to Speedcafe.com for handy hints in the V8 Predictor Winton preview on Friday.
20
Team 180
207
2014 Expert Leaderboard RANK
TEAM NAME
POINTS
1
Speedcafe
121
2
Andy Priaulx
79
3
Greg Rust
47
BREAKTHROUGH CIK WIN FOR HDR Debutant Scott Sorensen delivered the Harrington Doyle Racing Arrow Karts team its first victory in the Castrol EDGE CIK Stars of Karting Championship in Ipswich on Saturday night. Making the step up into the KF2 category for 2014, Sorensen and team-mate Jarryd Ebzery were the pacesetters all throughout the two-day event. In the first 25-lap final, Sorensen had an intense with Bundaberg driver Troy Loeskow, who ended up sneaking home in front to win three Stars of Karting finals in succession. In the second final though, the Harrington Doyle Racing squad wouldn’t be denied, firing Sorensen home to win by over five seconds from Loeskow and the super impressive Nathan Tigani who staged a dramatic forward surge from deep in the grid during the first 10 laps of the final to finish third.
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The win by Sorensen in the was the first by a driver in the elite single-speed class aboard an Australian-made Arrow chassis since Matthew Wall won in the final round of the 2003 Championship. Just as Sorensen was in the KF2 class, Sydney-sider Jayden Ojeda came into the weekend as a relative unknown in the KF3 Junior division, however leaves having shown a level of dominance that has not been seen for some years in the elite junior division of Australian karting. He topped every session from qualifying onwards and put the exclamation mark on the weekend by winning the final by over six seconds. He beat home a fellow debutant in Zane Goddard and Exprit team-mate Christopher Sandrone. It looked like a podium full of debutantes until late in the race when Aaron Cameron’s kart expired. In KZ2, Maranello recruit Kyle Ensbey set his main event charge up with a fourth place finish in the opening final won by reigning champion Joey Hanssen. The opening laps of the 25-lap second final were nothing short of intense who the top six drivers exchanging positions while testing the limits of adhesion. While the swapping and changing behind him continued, Ensbey skipped
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away at the front to the tune of a two second lead. Sera battled with Gold Coaster Chris Hays, ultimately, that battled ended with Hays taking second place and charging to within 0.9s of Ensbey at the end of the race. Sera finished third, with Hanssen holding off a charging Kel Treseder to come home in fourth and score some more solid Championship points. It is the first time Ensbey has won a round of the Championship since July 2012.
In the support categories, wins were taken by Jack Doohan (Rookies), Ryan O’Sullivan (TaG Restricted Light), Nicholas Hobbs (TaG Restricted Heavy), Kris Walton (TaG Light) and Brendan Nelson (TaG Heavy). A memorable opening round held under lights was a fitting way to get the Championship underway with the next round due to take place on the weekend of May 3-4 at Adelaide’s Bolivar Raceway.
PODIUM FOR WINTERBOTTOM IN BRAZIL Castrol-backed FPR V8 Supercar driver Mark Winterbottom came through tricky conditions to finish third on his debut in the Brazilian Stock Car series at the Interlagos Circuit in São Paulo. The race was won by 18-year-old by Felipe Fraga who was teamed with Rodrigo Sperafico. Valdeno Brito and versatile Dutchman Jeroen Bleekemolen finished second. Teamed with Sergio Jiminez, Winterbottom brought the Peugeot 408-bodied car across the line fourth, but a post-race inquiry has elevated them to third. Jimenez started the 50-minute race from seventh position and held his own on the wet track. Winterbottom took over on the 14th lap and moved up the order as the rain eased. He crossed the line right on the rear bumper of Mauro Giallombardo.
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After the race officials deemed that the third place car’s main driver, Marcos Gomes, had done too many laps (maximum 16) and that car was excluded from the results. The team has appealed the decision. “The race was wet so conditions were tricky,” said Winterbottom. “Did the fastest time on my last lap and was just one-tenth behind as we crossed the line. I thought that was pretty good and then got the news that the car in front had been disqualified for a technical breach. I understand they are appealing and no matter what it has been a good result and great experience racing in Brazil.” Fellow Australian and FPR stable mate Dean Canto didn’t get the chance to jump in the driver’s seat after lead driver Max Wilson was out of the race on just the
third lap. The former V8 Supercar driver was caught-up in an accident involving Rubens Barrichello, Denis Navarro, and Victor Genz which forced the car’s retirement and placed them in 29th. “More bad luck for me. Max got caught up in a crash on lap 3 and our day is done. No racing for me this time,” said Canto via Twitter.
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CASTROL-BACKED HONDA RIDER IMPRESSIVE ON MOTOGP DEBUT Castrol-backed GO&FUN Honda rider Scott Redding enjoyed a strong debut race during the opening round of the 2014 MotoGP World Championship at the Qatar Grand Prix. Redding finished an impressive seventh after qualifying a lowly 16th on Saturday. In his first premier class race Redding beat fellow ‘Open’ Honda equipped rider Nicky Hayden (Drive M7 Aspar) to the position by a margin of just 0.035s. Teammate Alvaro Bautista began his 2014 campaign strongly qualifying the Castrol-oiled Honda in second for a front row grid start on Sunday. “For me second place on the grid felt like a pole position, because in this circuit I’ve always struggled in the past,” said Bautista.
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“During this weekend instead I have always felt comfortable with the bike, closing each practice session in the top positions, which means that we have worked very well in winter testing.” From the get go on Sunday Bautista provided the lead group a challenge as he moved into second but a couple of mistakes saw him drop down to the back of the leading quartet mid race. Battling for a podium position disaster struck in the latter stages of the race when Bautista suffered a crash and was forced to retire after 20 laps. Marc Marquez held off a charging Valentino Rossi to win the season opening Qatar Grand Prix after an epic duel under floodlights at the Losail circuit.
Race Results – MotoGP – Qatar POS
RIDER
TEAM
TIME/GAP
1
Marc Marquez
Honda
1m54.507s
2
Valentino Rossi
Yamaha
+0.259s
3
Dani Pedrosa
Honda
+3.370s
4
Aleix Espargaro
Forward Yamaha
+11.623s
5
Andrea Dovizioso
Ducati
+12.159s
6
Cal Crutchlow
Ducati
+28.526s
7
Scott Redding
Gresini Honda
+32.593s
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CASTROL-BACKED MURPHY DOMINATES V8ST ROUND AT PUKEKOHE Castrol-backed Greg Murphy has stormed to a commanding lead in the BNT V8 SuperTourer Championship after taking two wins from three races at Pukekohe. Murphy grabbed wins in the opening race and the final feature race at the TR Group 250 round with the Holden ace now claiming eight wins from the nine races conducted from the three rounds this year. Ford and fellow Castrol-backed driver Ant Pedersen (International Motorsport) took victory in the middle heat from Angus Fogg with Murphy finishing third. Fogg was first over the line in the race but was handed a 10-sec time penalty following a chaotic rolling start, which saw polesitter Pedersen drop to fourth
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as cars ran four wide down the front straight. Other drivers to also be given 10-sec penalties were Murphy, Simon Evans, Dominic Storey, Richard Moore and Andre Heimgartner.
In the final feature event, Murphy survived a concerted attack from Queensland’s Morgan Haber who finished second while Richard Moore took third in the 34-lap race. Suffering
damage to his Commodore, Murphy managed to stave off the attack in his M3-prepared Holden. “It (the car) was really bad over the hill and at turn one but I decided to keep going,” Murphy said. “It was probably a broken shock absorber. We certainly didn’t have the fastest car.” Young Haber and Aucklander Moore, who also drive Holdens out of the same M3 stable, closed on Murphy with Haber hounding the four-times Bathurst 1000 for several laps before the chequered flag appeared. “That’s my best result in a high-level category,” Haber said. “I had a few cracks at Murph but he’s smarter than me and he held me out.” Pedersen speared to a big lead in the feature race, pushing hard on a damp track. But as the track dried he and several other drivers pitted for slick tyres which proved his undoing, as the speed advantage was not enough to make up for the time lost in the pits. Pedersen eventually finished seventh. Murphy now leads the seven-round championship by 159 points from Pedersen. The fourth round, and final of the sprint series, returns Pukekohe, as part of the V8 Supercar meeting over the long Anzac weekend.
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2014 BNT V8ST Standings ROUND 1
ROUND 2
ROUND 3
POS
DRIVER
25-26 JAN
8-9 FEB
22-23 MAR
OVERALL
1st
Greg Murphy
291
262
261
814
2nd
Ant Pedersen
192
226
234
644
3rd
Simon Evans
131
261
208
600
4th
Andre Heimgartner
228
197
170
595
5th
Richard Moore
213
196
163
572
CASTROL-BACKED JFR RACER HIGHT SECOND IN VEGAS Castrol-backed John Force Racing driver Robert Hight reached his third consecutive final and his second final of the season versus Alexis DeJoria at the 15th annual Summitracing.com NHRA Nationals. The Auto Club Ford Mustang was consistent all day running 4.082, 4.086, 4.073 and then 4.083 in the final but DeJoria’s amazing 4.026 second pass in the other lane gave her the win. Hight will leave with the Mello Yello points lead and the momentum of three finals in a row as the Auto Club team heads east for the 5th annual Four-Wide NHRA Nationals in Charlotte, NC. “We had a great car all day. It was so consistent running 4.08s and a 4.07. That was a great run in the other lane,” said Hight. “No one is hanging their
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head over in the Auto Club pits. We have been to three finals in a row and we have the points lead. Mike Neff has a great handle on this car and it was flawless today. We have three wins at this race and we will be looking to get in the winner’s circle here in the fall. This season is a marathon not a sprint. I have to thank all our sponsors from Auto Club to Castrol, Ford, Mac Tools, PEAK and BrandSource.” Hight moved into the points lead when he defeated Ron Capps in the semifinals. The last time Hight was in the points lead was Seattle of 2012. He has held the points lead at least once every year of his career with the exception of last season where his highest point position was No. 3 when he exited Charlotte with a win in the Countdown.
Courtney Force claimed her fourth career No. 1 qualifier this weekend when she ran a 4.006 ET, but lost in the second round of eliminations “We’ve had consistent, solid passes coming out here to Vegas. We made it down the track every run this weekend,” said Force.
John Force suffered an uncharacteristic first round loss to Paul Lee. Force’s Castrol GTX High Mileage Mustang was bitten by a mechanical failure at the hit of the throttle that caused the 8000-horspower engine to drop a cylinder and lose power. Despite running a 4.137 on seven cylinders to Paul Lee’s 4.132, John still came up short on this match-up. John Force will leave Las Vegas with a total of 358 points and in second place. Lady Luck wasn’t on the side of Brittany Force as she also suffered a first round defeat during the SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals. Her Castrol EDGE Dragster experienced severe tire shake when she hit the throttle on the 10,000 horsepower engine and she could only watch her opponent, Bob Vandergriff, drive away and get the win.
FUNNY CAR standings
STRENGTH TO PERFORM
POS
DRIVER
TOTAL
1
Robert Hight
367
2
John Force
358
3
Alexis DeJoria
299
4
Ron Capps
241
5
Del Worsham
224
6
Courtney Force
207
7
Tommy Johnson Jr.
205
8
Matt Hagan
204
9
Jack Beckman
202
10
Bob Tasca III
194
CASTROL-BACKED ŠKODA FOURTH IN ACROPOLIS RALLY The Castrol EDGE-backed ŠKODA works driver Esapekka Lappi and codriver Janne Ferm have completed the 60th instalment of the Acropolis Rally in Greece in fourth place in their Fabia Super 2000. The two Finns were consequently the best-placed duo in a vehicle with an aspirated engine at the third event in the FIA European Rally Champion (ERC) season. Lappi/Ferm remain in second place in the overall ERC standings for the 2014 season. “I can be happy with my performance at this rally,” said Lappi. “We gave it everything against the guys, but this weekend anything better than fourth place was simply not going to happen.
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“Even my tyre damage during the eighth special stage didn’t change anything. Our next outing in Northern Ireland poses a completely different kind of challenge: a purely asphalt rally, where the weather has often played a decisive role in years past. I’m looking forward to it.” Lappi’s colleagues Sepp Wiegand and Frank Christian from the Castrol EDGEbacked ŠKODA AUTO Deutschland team also picked up championship points by finishing the day’s classification in fifth on Sunday. The German duo were forced to retire on Saturday after skidding off whilst in fifth place and therefore had to open Sunday’s special stages with heavy
time penalties when the action started again on the final day of the Greek rally classic. The event was won by Peugeot driver Craig Breen and his co-driver Scott Martin. Round four of the European Rally Championship takes crew to the United Kingdom for the Circuit of Ireland Rally - April 17-19.
2014 ERC drivers standings POS
DRIVER
POINTS
1
CRAIG BREEN
63
2
Esapekka Lappi
59
3
VASILIY GRYAZIN
48
4
KAJETAN KAJETANOWICZ
44
5
ROBERT KUBICA
39
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