VOLUME 1 - ISSUE 4
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1st JUNE 2011
S ’ L O R T CAS D E R E V O C T I T O G
FIRING UP FOR WINTERNATS
1 WEEK TO GO
PLUS
WSBK IN AMERICA
HIRVONEN JUST MISSES ARGENTINE WIN AUSSIE DRIVER RANKINGS
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CASTROL RUNNING STRONG Castrol’s involvement in motorsport in 2011 is arguably stronger than ever – and it’s introducing a whole new breed of future motorsport champions to the brand. Castrol EDGE has partnered with the elite karting Series in Australia – the CIK Stars of Karting – to be presenting partner in 2011. The CIK (Confederation Internationale de Karting) Stars of Karting Series, presented by Castrol EDGE features competitors from the age of 13 and has quickly built a massive profile within the karting community since its return last year. The step after karting in many a young racer’s career is Formula Ford and Castrol EDGE is the official lubricant of the Australian Formula Ford Championship – this arrangement is only new this year and backs up Castrol’s worldwide partnership with the Ford brand. In V8 Supercars, Castrol is as committed as ever right across the brand spectrum. It’s key partnership is with Ford Performance Racing – the factory Ford outfit with Mark Winterbottom (#5 Orrcon Steel FPR Falcon), Will Davison (#6 Trading Post FPR Falcon) and Paul Dumbrell (#55 RNR Bottle-O Falcon). Castrol’s enduring partnership with Kelly Racing continues – one that has been in place for over 20 years when the growing team was operated by Castrol living legend, Larry Perkins.
The relationship with the Perkins family continues with Jack Perkins – who drives in the Fujitsu V8 Supercar Development Series for Sonic Motorsport, meantime the relationship Castrol has with Paul Morris Motorsport and the Supercheap Auto car of Russell Ingall and VIP Petfoods machine of Steve Owen continues. Internationally, the acclaimed John Force Racing continues to be a powerhouse for the Castrol GTX brand in the NHRA Full Throttle Series, whilst Castrol continues its relationship with the Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally team and the all new MINI WRC team that is operated by Prodrive – the parent company of Ford Performance Racing. The brand is being activated through the World Superbike Championship as well, where Castrol is partnered with the acclaimed Ten Kate Honda team – the official Honda entry in the World Superbike Championship. Castrol is in with a strong chance of winning the Le Mans 24 Hour race in France with the striking new Audi racer built specifically for the event. It doesn’t matter where you look in world motorsport, Castrol has the field covered.
FPR proudly display the Castrol colours.
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DON’T CRY FOR MI-KKO, ARGENTINA! The 2011 World Rally Championship continues to stun with the Rally of Argentina coming down to the very last stage. Castrol’s Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally team driver Mikko Hirvonen just missed out on victory as Sebastian Loeb added another win to his career tally. Three cars were in with a shot as the rally entered the final stage – but ultimately the win went to Loeb, Hirvonen and co-driver Jarmo Lehtinen missing out by just 2.3 seconds. Just 7.2 seconds covered the top three in the rally and only three times has there been a closer finish to a World Rally Championship event. The fightback from Hirvonen was stunning – he started the final day in fourth over 40 seconds from the lead and rocketed into contention by the time the final speed test was due to take place. Team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala and Mikka Anttila had a mixed weekend. They were leading the event after Friday’s running by 18 seconds, however hitting a wayward rock and breaking the car’s suspension hampered their charge. Ultimately, the pair finished in seventh spot, which still guaranteed them Championship points. Hirvonen though remains in second in the Championship, some 13 seconds behind Sebastian Loeb, whilst the Castrol EDGE supported Ford Abu Dhabi team sits in second place in the Manufacturer’s Championship, 33 points from the head of that Championship. The next round of the Championship will be held in Greece across the weekend of June 16-19.
WRC CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS
1 S Loeb 126 2 M Hirvonen 113 3 S Ogier 96 4 J-M Latvala 74 5 P Solberg 61 WRC MANUFACTURERS POINTS 1 Citroen Total 207 2 Ford Abu Dhabi 174 3 M-Sport Stobart Ford 75 4 Petter Solberg 49 5 Munchis Ford 32
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HOLDER STILL IN TOUCH After his stunning win in the previous Speedway Grand Prix, Castrol’s Aussie Speedway star, Chris Holder scored nine points and missed out on a finals berth in Prague. The event was won by ageless American, Greg Hancock. Hancock – who has competed in every single Speedway Grand Prix since the format’s inception – defeated Jaroslaw Hampel, Tomasz Gollob and the other Australian in the Series, Jason Crump. Hancock now sits atop the World Championship by six points, with Holder sitting back in fifth placing – just 19 points away from the World Championship lead.
CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Greg Hancock Tomasz Gollob Jaroslaw Hampel Nicki Pedersen Chris Holder Emil Sayfutdinov Freddie Lindgren Jason Crump Kenneth Bjerre Andreas Jonsson
47 41 36 30 28 28 26 24 21 19
CHRIS HOLDER
Chris Holder scored nine points at the Czech GP Photo: Wojta-Foto.cz
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US STAR CONFIRMED FOR WINTERNATIONALS With just one week to go until the Castrol EDGE Winternationals, Castrol is gearing up for one of its biggest events of the year. The brand presence the company will have at the Willowbank Raceway will be arguably its strongest yet and with some 40,000 spectators and over 500 racers expected to converge on the outer-Ipswich venue, it promises to be a classic. A high profile addition to the event is American NHRA star – Cory McClenathan. Cory Mac – who has 34 NHRA Top Fuel wins to his credit – will pilot a Santo Rapisarda owned Top Fueller. Castrol EDGE will have a presence within the Top Fuel field, having struck a technical partnership with Darren Morgan Racing. The current leader of the ANDRA Pro Series Top Fuel Championship will fly the red, white and green colours throughout the event. Castrol has also worked with Morgan and his partners to create a Top Fuel simulator. A full sized chassis, it will debut at the Castrol EDGE Winternationals and will give members of the public the opportunity to feel what it is like to pilot one of the most awesome racecars on the planet. The Castrol EDGE Winternationals will take place across the weekend of June 10-13 with eliminations being held across to the Queen’s Birthday holiday Monday.
American NHRA star – Cory McClenathan
ONE WEEK TO GO
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TOUGH DAY FOR CASTROL HONDA The Castrol Honda World Superbike team had a challenging day at Miller Motorsports Park in the United States, with neither rider finishing the first race and the second race saw both Jonathan Rea and Ruben Xaus finish well down the order. Rea clashed with Italian Max Biaggi on the first lap of the opening race, which put both riders out of contention. The day had started well earlier for Xaus – who set the quickest time in the morning warmup. A clash with Michel Fabrizio saw him, too, spear off into the mud. With weather conditions threatening throughout the day, they were able to get the second race through unhindered by rain. Both ride rs finished the second encounter, but were well down the order, Rea securing 11th and Xaus the final runner in 18th. Earlier in the race, Xaus had come unstuck on turn eight, but remounted for a finish. Rea had troubles getting his machine turned into the corners and although was battling for a top six placing, fell well down the order. Current Championship leader Carlos Checa extended his advantage in the Championship, taking the win in both races in America. Rea is now currently sixth on the Championship standings.
CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS 1 2 3 4 5 6
Checa Melandri Biaggi Laverty Haslam Rea
195 134 133 109 95 28
UPCOMING RACES 5/6
MotoGP Catalunya Spain
5/6
NHRA Englishtown New Jersey
12/6
Formula 1 Montreal Canada
19/6
V8 Supercars Darwin NT
16/6
WRC
10/13
Winternats Willowbank Queensland
Greece
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AUSTRALIA SLIPS FROM RANKINGS NATIONS CUP LEAD Mark Webber’s late move to take fourth place from Kamui Kobayashi in the Monaco Grand Prix wasn’t the deciding factor in his retention of second position in the Castrol EDGE Rankings, but it certainly gave him a little buffer. Red Bull’s Australian star had to drop his win from last year’s Monte Carlo race under the Rankings’ 12-month rollover system, so he was always going to struggle to make forward progress this weekend. That fourth place just about kept his closest rivals – rally superhero Sebastien Loeb and F1 racers Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso – at bay, but the heat is on. And together with only a small net gain from Will Power’s troubled 14th place in the Indianapolis 500, that means that Australia have conceded the lead in the Castrol EDGE Nations Rankings to Germany. Sebastian Vettel’s Monaco GP win combined with a small net loss of points for Nico Rosberg propelled the Germans in front by an extremely narrow margin. That gap looks set to extend over the next couple of race weekends: although Webber and Power have relatively low scores to discard in the races coming up, Vettel’s next to drop is a non-finish. Not only was Power (who retains sixth in the Rankings) out of luck in the Indy 500, but so was fellow Aussie and Penske team-mate Ryan Briscoe, who was shoveled into the wall. That leaves Briscoe down two places at 19th. Better news Stateside came from Marcos Ambrose, who continued his purple patch with the little Richard Petty Motorsports Ford team, following up his third at Dover with a sixth in the 600-mile race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. This promotes Ambrose from sixth to fourth Australian, and moves him up nine places in the overall Rankings to 67th. And there was also some good news from Monaco from the Red Bull corner: young Western Australian Daniel Ricciardo won the Formula Renault 3.5 Series support race for the second year running, sporting the Red Bull colours on his car run by the Czech ISR team. It was a weekend of domination for Ricciardo, who added pole position and fastest lap, and even drove one of the Toro Rosso F1 cars in Thursday practice. This means that our ninth-best Aussie moves up 13 places to 134th in the overall Castrol EDGE Rankings. DRIVER
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Mark Webber Will Power Ryan Briscoe Marcos Ambrose Jamie Whincup David Brabham Mark Winterbottom Craig Lowndes Daniel Ricciardo Garth Tander
SERIES
RANK
SCORE
F1 IndyCar IndyCar Sprint Cup V8 Supercars World GT1 V8 Supercars V8 Supercars FR3.5 V8 Supercars
2 6 19 67 70 74 115 131 134 147
21,093 18,451 12,381 7,624 7,584 7,435 5,564 5,304 5,251 4,891
*Data correct as of May 30, 2011
To see the full Castrol EDGE Rankings and Race for 2011, please visit www.castroldriverrankings.com
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