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PETER XIBERAS’ RECENT SACKING OF GARRY JACOBSON GOT TONGUES WAGGING, BUT HE SAYS THAT IF HE IS SERIOUS HE HAS TO MAKE TOUGH DECISIONS. PETER XIBERAS set the Supercar scene abuzz with his sudden mid-season sacking of Garry Jacobson, proving the new team owner is not shy of acting decisively when he thinks something needs to be changed.

Wiser heads suggested he should have held off until he had a replacement, but the drag racer says that is not his style.

“You’ve got to be a bit more brutal about it; that’s just the way it is,” Xiberas said.

“We aren’t here just to make up the numbers and that means we need to do what is right, not what is easy.”

He said in Townsville that if he hadn’t made that decision, the situation would have dragged on and, for him, it needed a resolution that allowed his team to move forward.

Having bought the team from the Webb family over the summer, Xiberas has goals for the team that do not involve it sitting at the entrance to the pitlane. While he is short on Supercars experience, he has a wealth of knowledge from running a successful business and a drag racing team.

He talks about removing excuses from drivers and team members. If he sees a problem or something that is not working, he will deal with it and then it is up to the team member or driver to prove their worth. Two recent steps include the removal of Jacobson from the team and the placement of a new engineer for Chris Pither that he hopes will unlock a bit more speed from the likeable Kiwi.

“We’ve got a new engineer for Chris this weekend, I think the one thing I underestimated is the relationship between the driver and the engineer. Just because you are a great engineer doesn’t mean you will work well with a certain driver, so we’ve got to get that right.

“I keep saying to my guys, I will remove all your excuses until we run out of them.

I’ll be fair to them though and then work out where we stand.”

He was surprised how quickly the phone started ringing with driver options after Darwin and he was methodical and clear with what he wanted. He knew he wanted someone who he thought would fit in and could grow with the team.

“You start off with a big list because there’s plenty of talent out there and plenty of guys that aspire to be in the main game. You look for someone who you think has got the talent and then someone who is going to fit with the culture of the team. It’s one thing saying, ‘this guy can drive’, but if he doesn’t bring the right attitude it won’t work… well not for me anyway.

“I want to see a team that’s got harmony in it, and, and everyone gets on and really wants to be here.

“We literally whittled it down to about three or four. And then I started talking to people that I know and we just kept on doing that until we had one name on a piece of paper and I’m doing the deal with him. James comes from a great family, and I’ve been dealing with his dad and that has been easy.”

He did confirm that neither driver is confirmed for next year and that both are in

the frame, as may be the co-drivers he runs at Bathurst, which may include Triple Eight Super2 driver Cam Hill.

“I know it seems like a cliche, but it’s a learning year for us. We will hopefully get to the end of the year, and the drivers will sort themselves out. I’ve only promised everyone this year, and then we’ll assess towards the back end of the year.”

He said his relationship with Triple Eight, which supplies most of his equipment, is strong, despite the arrival of many Triple Eight faces in his garage. Placing Hill in the car could further strengthen the relationship too.

“He’s definitely on the radar, but I’m going to give these two a fair and red hot crack at it, and then we’ll see how that pans out. So it’s very much a trial for the two of them and both know that there are no promises here.

“There’s a whole series of boxes that need to be ticked, and the more one person can tick more boxes, obviously he’s going to be closer to getting a seat. I could have the best driver in the country, but if he’s just hard work and doesn’t want to fit in with the team, that won’t work. It’s about more than just performance.” Andrew Clarke

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If it’s got the badge and you’ve got the helmet, we’ve got a class for you!

More than just racing, STUTT’FEST is a weekend festival of fun!

It’s a great opportunity to get plenty of track time

WINTON MOTOR RACEWAY AUGUST 26-28 As we are celebrating all things Porsche, essentially, if it has a Porsche badge, and you want to run it, we will find a place for it!

The on-track activities will be serious and will cater for all levels of experience but the underlying element that is the DNA of this event is relaxed fun!

THE CARS Consideration has been given to the proposed groupings for on-track competition activities that not only captures the brand, but also keeps in mind relevant motorsport regulations around licensing, scrutineering and speed differentials of various cars.

THE FOLLOWING VEHICLES ARE INVITED TO PARTICIPATE. • 944 Challenge spec vehicles and invited 944’s • GT, Sports, 911 Turbo’s or heavily modified Porsche variants • GT3 Cup Type 996 – Type 997 cars • GT3 Cup Type 991 cars • Group N & S Historic cars & IROC compliant vehicles • Regularity

THE COMPETITION WITH PLENTY OF TRACK TIME FOR RACING COMPETITORS: ALL RACING CATEGORIES WILL GET, AS A MINIMUM, 2 X PRACTICE SESSIONS, 1 X QUALIFYING SESSION AND 3 RACES. There will be a Charity feature race on the Sunday, with all race vehicles eligible to enter. The Grid will be capped at a maximum number of cars, however all entries will need to ‘bid’ for their grid spot by way of a Charity donation.

A penalty matrix will be released which will allow everyone – other drivers and spectators alike – to apply a penalty to any vehicle on the grid by way of a donation to Charity.

For Regularity Competitors: Regularity competitors will receive 2 x practice and 4 x Regularity sessions.

The Regularity event will be run as an Inter-Club Challenge whereby all participants earn points towards their ‘State of Origin’, with a perpetual Inter-Club Challenge trophy being awarded to the State Porsche Club with the highest number of points.

BEING A 3 DAY FESTIVAL THERE WILL BE AS MUCH TO SEE AND DO OFF-TRACK AS THERE WILL BE ON-TRACK Show-n-Shine, fine food, entertainment and various trade displays... but most importantly good wholesome fun with like-minded people.

FOR FURTHER COMPETITOR, TRADE AND SPECTATOR INFORMATION AND TO ENTER PLEASE VISIT stuttfest.com.au OR EMAIL admin@stuttfest.com.au

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TICKFORD: QUALIFYING WOES HURTING RESULTS

Above: Cam Waters continues to be Tickford’s ‘P1’ contender.

Images: Motorsport Images.

TICKFORD’S FOUR-CAR SQUAD IS DELIVERING MIXED QUALIFYING RESULTS THIS SEASON AND IT’S HURTING THE TROPHY COUNT

By ANDREW CLARKE TOWNSVILLE LAST year was a turning point for Tickford Racing. After the embarrassment of being lapped through a lack of speed during Townsville 1, the squad went away for a big rethink before returning to the winner’s list at Townsville 2 with a radical new set-up.

A year on, the four-driver squad has been giving mixed returns. Cam Waters is a regular front runner, but the other three drivers are up and down and looking for consistency.

Outwardly, it appears the Tickford Mustangs are hard to extract speed from in qualifying trim, and that has given the team some inconsistencies to start 2022. Team principal, Tim Edwards (right), is keen to defend his drivers and engineers and points to the markers that were set for his two new drivers at the start of the season.

“I wouldn’t say we’ve got a car that’s hard to drive,” Edwards said from the pitlane after getting three cars into the Shootout on Sunday at Townsville. “I think we’ve got somebody who’s been in the team for a while and understands our car. You could argue the car may have been morphed around him over that period, and maybe it has a little bit, but the fact is, the others are doing a good job.

“They’re either just in the 10 or just outside of the 10 in qualifying.

“I think Thomas and Jake took a little bit of time to find their feet, but they’ve been doing a strong job. You see them on the fringes of the top 10, or just inside the top 10 on occasions.

“It’s hard for them because we set them a task at the start of the year. We work in percentages off pole and for years, 0.6 per cent would have you on the fringes of the top

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10… so ‘there’s your task, boys, that’s what you’ve got to try and achieve.’ And they’ve done that.

“Unfortunately, to get into the top 10, it’s now morphed into more like 0.4 of a per cent off pole on average. The bar is always getting higher, but the statistics don’t lie. It is getting more and more competitive.

“It’s not a disaster, but when you are just outside of the 10 you’re in that danger zone.

Thomas has had so many first-lap incidents where he’s been tagged by other drivers, been bullied, bashed up, and all of a sudden he’s dropped spots. His qualifying position has been on average in 12th to 14th and unfortunately, on too many occasions, he’s 18th or 19th after the first lap.”

So far this year, Waters’ qualifying average is 5.8 with five pole positions, James Courtney is next of the Tickford drivers on 12.6, and Randle and Kostecki on 14.7 and 16.8 respectively. All drivers have started from the front three rows at some stage during 2022.

The race returns are a little more damning and reflective of Edwards’ comments on Randle. Waters averages 6.5 for the season with three wins, Courtney sits on 12.9 with one podium and Randle ad Kostecki track in at 17.5 and 17.8.

“Look at Thomas yesterday,” Edwards said of the Saturday race in Townsville. “He had good race pace but unfortunately he lost eight positions in the first couple of laps of the race. It’s absolutely not where we want to be or expect to be.”

The main issue, Edwards says is about firing the tyres up for qualifying which Waters seems much better at that than the others.

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“Qualifying is definitely our biggest issue.

You see JC qualifies 18, 19 or somewhere around there and more often than not he’ll find himself in the 10 by the end of the race.

He has good race pace and good tyre life and he has the experience and racecraft to do that. But if you qualify back there, you’re just making life hard for yourself.

“It has been a timing issue in a lot of cases.

You’ll see their fastest first sector is generally at the beginning of their second timed lap,

which tells you they’ve had issues heating the tyres. You miss time because you haven’t generated enough heat on that out lap. They all try and learn from each other.

“Cam, for quite a few rounds, has been doing very fast out laps and he’s finding it can generate the heat better by actually really loading the tyre rather than these short left-right-left-right things.”

Which leaves you asking, why don’t the others do the same? Watch this space.

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SVG WAS HOPING TO PENALISE ADP SHANE VAN Gisbergen elected not to overtake Anton De Pasquale at the end of the final race in Townsville after a controversial final corner collision, but why?

Shane van Gisbergen had controlled much of the 88-lap Supercars Championship contest in Townsville – however on the Supersoft tyre it was De Pasquale who was a lot faster.

The DJR driver closed onto the tail of van Gisbergen on the closing lap and made a lunge up the inside at the final turn.

Contact was made and van Gisbergen spun, de Pasquale immediately pulled over to the side to allow SVG back by, however the Triple Eight driver elected not to.

The reigning champion drove up behind De Pasquale and followed him across the line.

Van Gisbergen admitted post-race, he hoped this would give De Pasquale a time

penalty and further demote him more places.

When first asked why he didn’t move back ahead of De Pasquale he said “Don’t know.”

Upon further prodding, SVG said he thought De Pasquale might get a harsher penalty if he crossed the line first.

“Yeah, I probably thought that at the time,” he confessed during the media press conference.

De Pasquale did receive a 5s penalty, but held onto second by just 1.5s from Cam Waters.

Anton admitted blame for the incident, but he felt it was ‘on’ until he locked the brakes.

“As soon as I sort of turned in, halfway through it I just locked the front-left and then ran into his rear door,” De Pasquale recalled.

“At that point you can’t back out of it, but I tried to not stick with it and then just redress across the line back to where we were.

That’s how it played out anyway ... the guys upstairs (the Stewards) worked it out.”

When asked if he was content with the penalty, De Pasquale said: “Yeah, I don’t think there was another option. Obviously I didn’t deserve the win, I was in second before the corner, and I’m second now.”

When asked if he felt SVG should have received an infringement for not accepting the place back, De Pasquale explained the correct penalty was handed out.

“I don’t think so,” he said honestly.

“Obviously, I spun him and he was leading the race so he deserved to win.

“I tried giving him the position back – if he doesn’t want to take it, that’s on him, but I’m

Images: Mark Horsburgh-Motorsport Images

not going to start inventing rules. The results as we sit here is sort of what it deserves to be after today’s race so, yeah, it all worked out.

Post-race SVG refused to shake De Pasquale’s hand, however the two settled their differences soon after having a chat before the podium – but why did he not shake De Pasquale’s hand?

“I was angry at the time and I wanted to celebrate with my guys,” SVG explained.

“Then after I saw him I said, I don’t mind that he had a go, I’m angry I got spun out.

“I’m happy we’re having a battle and I’ve got no problem with that.

“It’s pretty obvious that he mucked up – watching the onboard, he locked the left-front straight away and missiled into me. But as I said, he probably doesn’t feel bad because he had a go and I’ve got no problem with that.” Dan McCarthy

BRUTAL RETURN FOR GOLDING JAMES GOLDING is back in the main game after signing for the rest of the season with PremiAir Racing Not that he expected it to be easy, but his first-up welcome back was a brutal first lap that saw him in the pits to repair his damaged Subway Commodore after contact off the start with James Courtney (for which he was penalised). The Mustang driver moved right while Golding was making a move, and the contact sent the Commodore airborne, narrowly missing the pit wall in the process.

It was a true baptism of fire for the 26-year-old who never expected his first outing with the team to be easy – but it didn’t wipe the smile from his face.

Golding was one of the rising stars of the sport when Garry Rogers Motorsport walked away from Supercars at the end of 2019 leaving him without drive.

Making the grid in Townsville was the result of a pretty crazy three weeks where he went from being a Bathurst co-driver for Mark Winterbottom to a main game driver

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again, this time with PremiAir Racing.

“It was a bit of a rough return – welcome back!” he said after the Saturday race. “But the boys fixed her up and I got back out and got some valuable laps, which is the main thing I wanted to achieve. Get the experience and then build on it.”

Golding said he was content with his Bathurst drive, but when the seat became available at PremiAir that was too good an opportunity to turn his back on. He quickly made the shortlist and then became the favoured choice and the deal was done.

“This is the top-level of motorsport in Australia and you’ve got to be at the top of your game and all the things have to align.

You can’t just be driving fast – you’ve got to be good off track with media, fans and the team and you have to be mentally preparing all that sort of stuff.

“It’s something I’ve been focusing on just as much as when I left full time at GRM and I’ve kept the focus on and everything else to make sure I was a 100 per cent

ready to go when I got the call-up. I’m just lucky it has happened and I’m really appreciative of Peter for giving me the opportunity.

Now I just want to maximise it.

“It was a no-brainer for me. I spoke with Peter a bit and learned a bit more about him and his intentions and a bit more information on the team. I think they’re on the way up and it’s all looking positive. It’s a great opportunity for me to improve myself, but also help build the team up as well.

“Obviously this weekend was a bit of unknown as to where we were at, but once I get a couple of races under my belt and I’ve got a bit more comfort

in the car I can certainly push a bit harder. We also go to some tracks later in the year where I know I’ve done well previously, and I’m really looking forward to getting to those to see what we can achieve.”

He’s under no illusion about where the team is this year, but he wants to be there next year when things ramp up even more. For now, though he’s just got to do his job and impress the boss.

Andrew Clarke

WHINCUP THOUGHT ABOUT SITTING OUT BATHURST

By ANDREW CLARKE HE’S WON more Supercar races than anyone else and has saluted at Bathurst four times, but Jamie Whincup says if the Supercheap wild card entry for Bathurst hadn’t come to fruition, he would have sat out the race.

“We had slightly too many drivers for the two cars that we had entered,” he said, “but in the background, we knew there was a potential to do the Supercheap Auto wild card. When that happened it was just a matter of placing the drivers where they were best suited.

“If push had come to shove, I would have sat it out. I’ve got the GM role here and it is very intense and I’m really enjoying it, and although I really want to drive, I would have taken the hit. But as it turns out, Supercheap did come on board and then we were one driver short, and we had to fill that.”

From there it was about balance, what was the right thing for the team. Many might have suggested the seat beside Shane Van Gisbergen, but Garth Tander has been great in that role, so the #97 co-driver spot was settled quite quickly in favour of the TV commentator. Then it was who to slot in with Broc Feeney.

“They’ve teamed up together and done a very good job in the past,” JW said of van Gisbergen and Tander. “They are reigning champions at Bathurst so it is best for the

team that they stay together. Honestly, after all the winning I’ve done, my only motivation now is to get the best result for the team.

So that combination is what is best for the team – they know each other, they’ve got continuity, so it makes sense for them to team up together again.

“Then me jumping in with Broc was the next step to help him on his learning curve.

I think the relationship we have will be very similar to what it is today, I don’t think much will change on that front, whether I am driving with him or working as the general manager. He can take whatever advice he wants off me and anyone else in the team – he’s got to make it work for himself.”

Then there was the Supercheap car and who to put with Lowndes, which Winchup said was awkward given the Triple Eight family has two really good steerers – Declan Fraser and Cam Hill – who sit first and second in the Dunlop Super2 Series.

“Both of them deserved the seat and the fairest way possible was whoever was in front in the championship at the point we had to make the call got the gig, and that was Declan. He absolutely deserves the seat – but so did Cam, so it was a tough call.”

Hill is still in with a chance of a drive with either Team 18 or PremiAir Racing, both teams running Triple Eight equipment, and Whinciu has played a hand in opening those doors.

“Cam’s part of Triple Eight family, so of course, I’m going to go into bat for him whenever possible. We don’t have a seat for Cam in the main game next year, but I’m trying to help him to land somewhere else.

“I think he’s trying to grab a seat at either one of those two for Bathurst where there are spots available. I’ve done the introductions and he’s taken on negotiation and hopefully, Charlie or Pete will put him in

their team for the endurance races.”

Whincup also said he likes the option of getting Hill into a full-time drive next season.

“That’d be a great option,” he said of slotting him into PremiAir which is more likely than team 18. “I think any main game seat is a good option, but in that team, with a full spec Triple Eight car, he would have as much chance as anyone. They are going to be unbelievably competitive.”

IS DJR SALE CLOSE? POOR HEALTH FORCING TEAM SAVIOUR TO LOOK FOR A NEW OWNER

By ANDREW CLARKE THE OLDEST team in Supercars, Dick Johnson Racing, could be heading for new ownership.

And it’s more likely to happen sooner than later.

Dr Ryan Story, who saved the squad from oblivion and then was pivotal in drawing the Roger Penske involvement that put it back to the top of Supercars, is believed to be looking for a way our of DJR because of his health concerns.

He has been the financial bedrock for the team for a decade and restructured the operation last year when Penske withdrew from Supercars.

It’s unclear if Story is looking to sell his share or 100 per cent of DJR. Despite denials from Dick Johnson and a resolute ‘no comment’ from Rob Herrod, who is a key player inside the team and was appointed by Story as general manager last year, Auto Action believes the sale has either been completed or is going through its final steps.

Story has always wanted to protect the longevity of the team and its workforce but has been looking for a way out in recent months.

Story’s health has been such an issue of late that he is rarely at the track or the workshop, prompting Will Davison to give him a shout-out on Saturday after claiming second in the first leg of the Townsville 500.

There has been talk for months about the ownership status of the team and a potential sale, and rumours in Townsville had the deal effectively being done, although the new owner and the exact ownership structure is not clear.

“There is no sale. I think I would know,” is the only comment from Johnson.

Herrod had been a potential investor in the team when Penske left but, as he has a deal with Ford Motor Company in the USA to build the engines for

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the Gen3 Mustangs, he is prevented from holding a stake in any team.

While still working with the team and present in Townsville, Herrod declined to make any comment

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on ownership beyond saying any change that Story endorsed would be in the best interests of the team.

Stay tuned to the Auto Action online site autoaction. com.au for the latest news.

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NEW SEVEN MOTORSPORT EP ANNOUNCED THE SEVEN Network has announced that Kirsty Bradmore will take on the role of Seven Motorsport executive producer effective immediately.

Bradmore has a lot of experience in TV – she is an award-winning broadcaster and highly respected member of Seven’s Executive Producers.

In recent times, Bradmore was behind the award-winning Paralympic Games coverage in 2020 and currently is at the forefront of the 7SPORT team as Executive Producer for the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

Bradmore is no stranger to sports production, having also led the team for the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games.

Overall, she has over 20 years’ experience in both television and radio broadcasting.

Bradmore specialises in large scale sport outside broadcasting and leadership roles on television productions.

Kirsty’s skill base and IP includes creation of production budgets and schedules; legal and media rights management; major stakeholder relations in the sport and entertainment industries; OB tech spec development for large scale events; and long held talent and agent liaison relationships The Managing Director of Seven Melbourne and Head of Network Sport Lewis Martin explained the reasons for appointing Bradmore to the role.

“It is with great pleasure that we announce Kirsty Bradmore as our EP of Motorsport,” Martin stated.

“Kirsty is an incredible asset to the Seven team and brings a fresh perspective to Seven’s unrivalled motorsport coverage, paired with award-winning sports broadcast credentials.

“As we look ahead, Seven is on track for an extraordinary rest of the 2022 Supercars season, including the premier event on the calendar, the Bathurst 1000,” he said.

“With Kirsty at the helm, we couldn’t be better placed to drive audience growth for Australian motorsport, right here on Your Home of Sport.”

Bradmore is excited to move into the role of Motorsport EP and is particularly looking forward to the Bathurst 1000 “While at Seven, I have been lucky enough to work on some of the biggest sporting events in the world and help share the incredible stories of Australian and international athletes on the biggest stage,” she said.

“I’m thrilled to dive into the world of motorsport and uncover the stories of some of Australia’s biggest and best athletes, as they draw closer to the final lap of the 2022 Supercars season.

“To be part of a world-class team delivering the iconic Bathurst 1000 is an honour. It’s not called the great race for nothing and I cannot wait to experience the intensity, passion and high-octane action of motorsport.”

Dan McCarthy

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Image: Motorsport Images

ANDERSON HOPING FOR WILDCARD DECISION SOON MICHAEL ANDERSON thought he had ticked every box when he announced his Bathurst wild card entry, only to be delivered a broadside when his Superlicence was cancelled after it was initially issued.

While not wanting to talk about the problems, pending an appeal, he did say he wouldn’t have made any announcement without having a copy of the since-cancelled physical licence in his hands.

He put the rest of the deal together

after early indications were that he would be granted a Superlicence and didn’t even tell his team he had bought the ex-DJR Mustang which he will race in next year’s Super2 Series, until he had the licence.

The status of his wildcard entry remains up in the air as he discusses his options with Supercars and Motorsport Australia.

It is believed he is raising his success in Super3 in direct comparison to Broc Feeney who was granted a

Superlicence in 2020 with only the equivalent of one Super3 win and no Super2 podiums to his name. Anderson has two Super3 wins from last year and five podiums from the nine-race season that was run in conjunction with Super2.

According to our investigations, the source of the issues with Motorsport Australia and Supercars rests with a section on the licence application where Anderson had added a /3 after the words Super2

QUINN SUSTAINS MULTIPLE INJURIES IN TOWNSVILLE, racing veteran Tony Quinn crashed heavily in the opening Carrera Cup Australia race on Saturday and suffered a suspected broken leg and fractures to his ribs.

Quinn, driving the Local Legends sponsored Porsche, crashed heavily into the Turn 10 concrete wall at high speed on the first lap.

Although replays only caught the end of the crash, it was reported by onlookers at the circuit that Quinn tagged the inside wall, which fired the Triple Eight Race Engineering coowner into the outside wall at a severe angle.

Fortunately, no other drivers were involved in the crash.

Immediately following the crash, the medical team arrived on the scene and Quinn was carefully and safely extracted from the car and placed in an ambulance.

From there Quinn was transported to Townsville University Hospital.

There, medical checks identified a suspected broken leg and fractures to his ribs on the left-hand side, as well as a punctured lung.

As well as being a Triple Eight team co-owner Quinn is also the owner of many race tracks including Queensland Raceway as well as three in NZ..

“It’s a bit of a worry,” his Triple Eight business partner Jamie Whincup said to AA on Sunday in Townsville.

“It was a sad day for us.

I watched the incident live and knew, at his age, he wasn’t just going to bounce

out of that car. It was a massive hit on one of the biggest corners in Australian motorsport.

“So he’s not okay. He’s sustained quite a lot of injuries internally, and unfortunately, he’s got a long road to recovery ahead of him. We’re going to support him as much as we possibly can. We’ve never had injuries like that, but we’ve had plenty of incidents within the team, and we’ve got a very good – we call him team doctor – in Chris Brady.

“Chris is a very good allrounder and knows every

surgeon in Brisbane.

We’ve already been in contact to line Quinny up with them and to get him back to Brisbane as soon as he’s well enough to fly.

“He’s got a bit of everything going on and faces a lengthy recovery; it’s probably worse than what the reports are putting out at the moment. His injuries are extremely painful, so they are trying to keep the pain under control until they can start operating and getting him back to brand new.

“His head’s good, and all the majors are fine. Without any more information than what we have, I think he’ll have a full recovery. It’s just going to take some time.”

Whincup hadn’t spoken to Quinn, who was still in intensive care when the teams left Townsville.

When Auto Action went to print Quinn was reported to be in a stable condition.

AA wishes ‘Quinny’ a speedy recovery. Andrew Clarke and Dan McCarthy

CHAHDA’S BATHURST DREAM TAKING SHAPE MATT CHAHDA’S LONGAWAITED BATHURST DEBUT IS TAKING SHAPE WITH SPONSORS, A CO-DRIVER AND SOME TOP-END TALENT JOINING THE TEAM

MATT CHAHDA has spluttered before on the way to the Bathurst grid, but the 2022 assault by the 28-year-old Super2 driver is all lined up and ready to make a statement.

The Albury-based driver and team owner is leasing the Walkinshaw Andretti United wildcard car that has been used

by Kurt Kostecki this season but will run the race as a stand-alone team with some support from the Clayton squad.

“We’ve always wanted to do this,” he said from Townsville, “so it’s exciting to put it together. We’ve definitely built a better team over the last two years which makes it possible, so we’re in a better place to do it than when we first started looking at it.

“We’ve always wanted to do it, and now it is happening.

“Obviously they [WAU] weren’t the only team we spoke with, but this is a good deal for us,” he said. “It definitely comes with a bit of support where we will be able to get their set-up data during the weekend – and, as everyone knows, it’s a good car based on what we saw last year.”

The whole process has taken a while to put together starting first with the funding for the deal and then following the logical steps. Sourcing the car was

Image: Motorsport Images clearly next, followed by the co-driver and expanded support crew.

Looking at what happened to Michael Anderson’s bid to run a wildcard, Chahda remained conscious of the licencing requirements to be allowed to start the Great Race while hunting out his number two. Not that he minds the Super2 requirements, he just had to work within the constraints.

He is expected to announce his codriver in the days after this edition is released, so stay tuned to the Auto Action

website for the latest news.

For his support crew, he has been hunting experience and has enticed Wally Storey out of retirement to oversee the operation. Storey has a long history at Bathurst, masterminding HRT’s shock 1990 win at the race with Win Percy and Allan Grice to underline his longevity.

On the sponsorship front, he had enough lined up to do the job but has found considerable interest since with the idea of a genuine privateer wildcard making his phone ring.

Chahda hasn’t set any goals for the weekend other than trying to make the finish, and he is aware there will be a bit of a spotlight down his end of pitlane with the Lowndes and Murphy cars ready to capture the spotlight. With that spotlight, and if he does a good enough job, he is hoping there is a chance of getting a good co-drive opportunity or main drive chance in the future.

At the moment he is also intending to run the Super2 race but watch this space as it gets closer to Bathurst. Andrew Clarke

GEN2 CARS ELIGIBLE FOR SUPER2 IN 2023 THE SUPERCARS Championship Commission has confirmed that all ‘Car of the Future’ models will be eligible to compete in the second-tier Dunlop Super2 Series from next year.

Twelve months ago, it was announced that the current Gen2 Supercars, the ZB Commodore and Ford Mustang would join the Super2 grid from 2023 onwards.

However, the Commission has now confirmed that both models will be eligible to race against all other ‘Car of the Future’ models currently racing in the Dunlop Super2 Series, including the Ford FGX Falcon, VF Commodore, and Nissan Altima.

The Mercedes E63 AMG and Volvo S60 are also eligible but not currently raced in Super2.

The Gen2 machines currently used in Supercars will be replaced by the Gen3 Ford Mustang and Chevrolet Camaro from the start of next year.

“After speaking with both Repco Supercars Championship and Dunlop

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Super2 Series teams, we are aware that some are ready to commit to ZB Commodores and Ford Mustangs immediately, while others will remain committed to current programs in 2023,” said Supercars Head of Motorsport Adrian Burgess.

“This decision benefits teams in both of those positions and paves the way for more teams and drivers to enter our second-tier competition in 2023.”

The Commission has also ruled that the FG Falcon and VE Commodore Project Blueprint cars currently raced in the Super3 Series will remain eligible for the third tier competition, and will continue to race on a combined grid with the Dunlop Super2 Series.

“This combined Dunlop Super2/Dunlop Super3 Series category gives drivers the opportunity to become more familiar with how to race Supercars,” Burgess continued.

“The primary focus for us is around the driver pathway, a commitment which

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Current Supercars will be eligible for Super2 in 2023.

Dunlop shares.”

Tony Kiernan, Brand Manager Dunlop Motorsport, the naming rights sponsor of the category is in full support of the decision taken.

“We fully support this exciting development for the Dunlop Series, which will ensure the category remains ultra-

competitive following the introduction of the Gen3 Supercars,” Kiernan said.

“We look forward to seeing more models on the Dunlop grid competing for this coveted title in 2023.”

The combined Super2 and Super3 Series bext return to the grid in August at Sandown. Dan McCarthy

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TEAM PENSKE DYNAMIC KEY TO SCOTTY SPEED

Images: Motorsport Images AFTER WINNING his second IndyCar Series race, at Mid-Ohio, Scott McLaughlin has credited his new engineer and the atmosphere within the team for his strong start to the 2022 season.

Along with his Team Penske teammates Will Power and Josef Newgarden, the trio have won six of the nine IndyCar Series races and are all in championship contention.

He believes having three highly competitive yet friendly drivers within the team is pushing the team forward.

“The vibe of us working together within the three cars is really cool,” he told Auto Action.

“The camaraderie between all of us is really, really strong.

“We’re working together as well as we really can be I think – we joke around, we hang out, but we really all want to beat each other.

“Everyone knows how much we want to beat each other, but it’s a competitive rivalry that we really enjoy.

“It’s rubbing off on some of the engineers

and mechanics and everyone involved, everyone’s getting that same energy and it’s a very positive vibe at the moment!”

This year McLaughlin took on a new engineer, Ben Bretzman. The pair get along well and McLaughlin explained how essential he has been to his results: “We’re working together really well,” he stated. “Benny’s a unique character; he loves having fun and just enjoying it, which is exactly how I like to work.

“He’s a strong engineer and has got so many great ideas.

“There’s no-one better in my corner to have than Benny, and he’s a very big supporter and big confidence booster to have in the camp, for sure.”

Prior to the win at Mid-Ohio, McLaughlin had scored just two top 10 finishes in six races – however he turned that around emphatically on the twisty Mid-Ohio course.

McLaughlin reckons he had not lost pace, but he just needed to stitch it all together.

“We’ve been fast all year – every track we’ve gone to road, street, short oval, oval, we’ve been fast.

It’s just a matter of putting all the pieces together which is sometimes so hard to do in IndyCar racing,” he explained.

“The pace has always been there – I’ve either made a mistake, or the team has potentially just made a slight hiccup as well, but it was never a case of lost speed.

When asked if he was back in the championship hunt following the win, the New Zealander felt he was getting closer but can’t afford another bad result.

“Definitely was a great step for us,” he replied. “We’ve shown pace over the last

month or so just but haven’t put it together.

“To get a win gets us back in that closer bracket, (but) we’ve still got a bit of a way to go; it gives us a bit more belief, but at the end of the day, we’re in a position where we can’t afford a bad race right now. We’ve just got to keep knocking out good ones and continuing to execute.” Dan McCarthy

HILL AFTER BATHURST 1000 CO-DRIVE SUPER2 SERIES Triple Eight Race Engineering driver Cameron Hill is optimistic of securing a Bathurst 1000 co-drive following a solid podium finish in Townsville last weekend.

After a two-month break, the Super2 Series returned to Townsville, a track Hill won at on his way to the Carrera Cup title last year. As a rookie Hill has impressed in his first three Super2 Series rounds, scoring two podium finishes and is hopeful that a couple more good results will be enough to secure a co-driver position.

“It’s cool what I’m working towards, I’m hoping I can

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grab one of these last few codriver seats that are available for the Bathurst 1000. For sure, a strong weekend will always be beneficial, but my main focus is to get the best results I can and try to put together the Dunlop Super2 championship.

Vacant co-driver seats remain at Team 18, Matt Stone Racing and PremiAir Racing, all of which are Triple Eight customer teams. A spot is also available at Brad Jones Racing alongside Jack Smith.

A PremiAir Racing seat seems the most the most likely option as he took part in a ride day with the team last month at Queensland Raceway.

His Super2 Series rival Tyler Everingham and Carrera Cup Series leader Harri Jones has also completed laps in the car that day.

As well as the ride day Hill has completed a further two tests at Queensland Raceway in his Super2 machine and therefore feels he is race ready ahead of Bathurst.

“The test days have gone well; we’ve had a lot of seat time,” he said.

“We had a ride day after our test for guests of Triple Eight and we certainly cut a lot of laps. From a seat time perspective, it’s been good just recently.”

Dan McCarthy

CAMPBELL NOT COUNTING OUT SUPERCARS RETURN DESPITE BEING signed as a factory Porsche Penske Motorsport driver, Australian Matt Campbell is not ruling out Supercars Championship co-drives beyond this year.

It’s unlikely – in case you have not heard, Matt Campbell will race a Porsche 963 Hypercar in either the IMSA Sportscar Championship or World Endurance Championship from 2023.

Auto Action this week discussed Campbell’s Porsche promotion – see pages 32-33 for the full story..

However, Campbell also discussed the likelihood of a return to Supercars co-driving in the future.

Despite the extensive 963 testing program, Campbell confirmed he will still return to co-drive alongside reigning Bathurst 1000 winner Lee Holdsworth in the Grove Racing Ford Mustang in the ‘Great Race’ in October.

“I’ll still be coming back at the end of the year partnering Lee Holdsworth with Grove Racing,” he confirmed.

Campbell was asked if racing the 963 will rule him out of Supercars co-drives in the coming years – the former Carrera Cup Australia Series winner explained that he would like to return if he can, however Porsche obviously takes preference.

“I love coming back for that race, any opportunity I can get that fits in with the calendar, I’ll quite happily try and make it

back,” Campbell explained.

“Obviously, going forward, that might be made a little bit more difficult now, but anything’s possible. In the few last years, I’ve always tried to have the possibility.

“Obviously, I don’t want to take anything away from what I’m doing with Porsche.

That’s the number one priority, but if there’s a date that works and there’s a bit of time

before and after, I don’t see why not.”

The former Le Mans 24 Hours GTE Am class and Bathurst 12 Hour winner has competed in the Bathurst 1000 three-times.

He raced with Kelly Racing in 2016 driving a Nissan Altima with Todd Kelly. He impressed and was picked up the following year by Triple Eight Race Engineering to sit alongside Shane van Gisbergen. That year

he finished fifth in the 1000 and scored a podium on the streets of the Gold Coast.

After several years away he returned with Kelly Grove Racing last year (pictured above) alongside Andre Heimgartner.

Note: if rumours circulating are correct, we may see the 963 Porsche racing for the first time late this year, rather than 2023 ...

Dan McCarthy

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FERRARI AND CADILLAC HYPERCARS ON TRACK

THE HYPERCAR world continues to move forward with both the Ferrari and Cadillac machines making their on-track debuts.

The Ferrari Hypercar, set to compete for Le Mans 24 Hours and World Endurance Championship glory has turned its first laps at the Ferrari test track at Fiorano (above).

The ‘Prancing Horse’ machine is yet to be named, and even with the camouflage livery it is notably different to any other Hypercar seen to date.

The car contains massive rear wing endplates and in the middle is a finlike shape which starts on the bonnet travels over the roof and onto the rear wing, getting bigger as it goes further back on the car.

Two-time WEC GTE-Pro class champion Alessandro Pier Guidi and Nicklas Nielsen shared the driving duties throughout the first day of running, before it hit the track again last weekend.

“After so many months in the simulator, I finally had the chance to drive the real car, and that was a big thrill”, said Pier Guidi.

“Driving the Ferrari that will return to the top endurance class 50 years since the last official participation was very emotional for me.

“We are only at the start, and much work is ahead of us, but it feels very positive. I am proud and happy to have debuted the LMH,

marking the beginning of a new adventure for Ferrari.”

Throughout the first test day Ferrari’s engineers concentrated on checking the various propulsion and electronic systems ahead of the development test sessions, performing checks in between runs.

Just days later Cadillac Racing put its LMDh prototype (above) on track in the hands of former Le Mans 24 Hours winner, Kiwi Earl Bamber.

The Cadillac is one of the sleekest looking Hypercar is powered by a 5.5-litre, dualoverhead cam V8 engine developed by GM’s Performance and paired to the LMDh common hybrid system.

“It’s exciting to see the hard work and ingenuity of the whole team pay off,” said Cadillac Racing assistant program manager Kalvin Parker. “The 2023 season promises to be one of the most competitive ever, so we’re looking forward to developing the race car with further testing on track, driver

TOYOTA TCR DEBUT DATE ANNOUNCED THE DATE for the debut of the allnew Toyota Corolla GRS TCR car has been set.

Toyota Gazoo Racing Argentina are preparing the machine for its highly anticipated debut at the Hermas de Rio Hondo on August 27-28.

The car has just completed the homologation process to compete in TCR competition, not only in Argentina but globally.

The car has been developed by Toyota Gazoo Racing Argentina, and

added to the list of certified models by promoter WSC. The car first broke cover at

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the end of 2020 and since then, has completed an intensive homologation process focused

feedback and in the wind tunnel.”

The car has been developed by Cadillac Design, Cadillac Racing and Dallara.

The LMDh features elements of the Cadillac brand’s heritage such as ‘vertical lighting and floating blades’ that preview Cadillac’s future portfolio.

Chip Ganassi Racing and Action Express Racing, two current Cadillac IMSA Sportscar teams will continue to run cars with the American brand entering the new era.

Despite it being the car’s first run, Bamber was impressed by the machine: “This was a monumental event thanks to a complete group effort between Cadillac, Chip Ganassi Racing and Dallara,” said Bamber, “It was an exhilarating feeling to jump in the car for the first time and get a sense of what the future will look like. So much work has gone into the 2023 race car, and I can’t wait to see it take flight next season.”

Sports car racing program manager for General Motors, Laura Wontrop Klauser said much work lies ahead, but the Cadillac team is ready for the challenge. “ The first laps are the start of an aggressive testing schedule ahead of next year,” Wontrop Klauser said. “Our team is dedicated to continuing Cadillac Racing’s rich heritage of winning on the track.” Dan McCarthy

on developing the Balance of Performance for the model.

Renowned design house Pininfarina allowed access to its wind tunnel to assess aerodynamic load and resistance, while Germanbased JS-PE GmbH is where centre of gravity testing is conducted using a turntable.

The Engine testing occurred at ORAL Engineering inside its ‘test cell,’ connected to the dynamometer checking the power and torque curves in addition to the different map settings.

Following the extensive homologation process, WSC has allocated a target racing weight of 1265kg (1250kg for the endurance races), with no ballast and a ground

clearance of 80mm.

On the same Technical Bulletin, the newly built Fiat Tipo TCR has been granted a 10kg weight break to a re-adjusted 1255kg target, while ground clearance is now at 70mm.

The Fiat currently competes in the hands of Kevin Giacon in TCR Italy, with a second due expected to join the grid later in the year.

Although the Toyota is yet to race it has already gained the interest of overseas and national competitors.

At the last SpeedSeries round at Sydney Motorsport Park, Toyota Gazoo Racing Australian Rally champion Harry Bates said that he has a keen interest and desire to race a Corolla GRS TCR in Australia.

Dan McCarthy

DOOHAN CERTAIN F1 SEAT WILL COME IF HE DELIVERS, JACK DOOHAN, now an Alpine Academy driver had his second Formula 1 test at Monza just prior to the British Grand Prix weekend. He admits while there is no door currently ajar for an F1 seat, his pitch will be made with his F2 results.

Doohan’s fellow Australian Oscar Piastri is first in line for an F1 seat – he is the official Alpine reserve and test driver and is heavily linked with an F1 drive with Williams next year.

Last year Piastri won the F2 Championship in his rookie season, just 12 months after he won the F3 championship in his debut season also.

Despite this, Alpine could not offer Piastri a seat with the factory team and as a result he has had to wait on the sidelines.

With Piastri struggling to secure a seat Doohan could also be faced with a wait until he can hope to secure an F1 drive. However Doohan explained he will let his results do the talking.

“We just need to keep chipping away at it and keep getting solid points, consistently put ourselves in a good position,” he said to Auto Action.

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It was a challenging first few rounds for Doohan, but at Silverstone he broke through for his first F2 win and scored another podium in Austria.

“For me our pace has been really good this season,” Doohan says.

“Just weren’t able to get any good points on the board for the first three rounds, but we were always qualifying on the front two rows and had good pace.”

The Queenslander explained that if he can win the F2 title in the next couple of years there is no reason why he should not be on the F1 grid – he believes that Piastri has proved this point.

“Oscar has been unfortunate with not being able to find a seat this season,” he said.

“But for certain he will get a shot and he will be on that Formula 1 grid – that is what (generally) happens when you win Formula 2.

“Obviously, there are strange circumstances where drivers win Formula 2 and it’s not possible, but that is because they win after several amount of years, or they are a lot later in their career, and so on. Oscar will get his chance!” Dan McCarthy

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GISBERGEN WINS FOREST FIGHT RUNAWAY SUPERCARS championship leader Shane van Gisbergen has added a major rally win to his resume for season 2022 and is now tracking strongly towards a successful debut in the World Rally Championship later in the year.

Van Gisbergen scored his victory in the latest leg of the Northland Rally Series in his home country, New Zealand, on roads close to the location for Rally New Zealand in September.

It follows his debut second in the National Capital Rally in Canberra at the start of the Australian series, when he was only beaten by defending champion Harry Bates in his factory Toyota GR Yaris.

“Awesome first rally here in the far north,” van Gisbergen says.

He and Glen Weston were quick from the get-go, driving the same Skoda Fabia R5 they used in Canberra but with backing from Supercheap Auto in place of the Red Bull

sponsorship in the ACT. They didn’t have to face Hayden Paddon, who has dominated NZ events in recent years for Hyundai but is currently in Europe and working up to a potential challenge in the R5 category of the WRC. But van Gisbergen was quicker than Ben Hunt, a Skoda-backed driver in NZ, and eventually cruised home with a giant margin over Dylan Turner in an Audi S1.

“Glen and I managed to get the win by just over 2 mins. Still a lot to learn and get better at,” says van Gisbergen.

The car for his rally forays is being run by the Race Torque team out of Perth, which was a factory-backed Asian satellite team until the arrival of Covid-19.

He is expected to use the same Czech R5 in Rally NZ, where he is likely to renew his rivalry with Harry Bates as the Toyota ace is also hoping to compete in the closest thing to a home round in the WRC. Paul Gover

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Image: Nathan Wong

PORSCHE PACK TO DESCEND ON WINTON FOR STUTT’FEST FESTIVAL

Image: MTR Images

BARE-BONES MARC GT CAR COMPLETES FIRST TEST

THE LATEST iteration in the Australian designed and engineered MARC car has hit the track for basic systems shake down test at Queensland Raceway.

The MARC GT prototype car tested without major body panel components fitted, including the nose section, bonnet, rear quarter panels, boot lid and rear bumpers.

The test session was run by PACE Innovations with former Super2 driver Dan Jilesen completing the laps behind the wheel.

While the car looked very incomplete it featured the major aerodynamic components that will carry onto the production versions of the new Mercedes C63 inspired coupe race car.

MARC Cars owner Geoff Taunton was on hand to watch the latest creation take to the track in its unfinished form and spoke to Auto Action as the test was underway.

“PACE Innovations wanted to give the chassis and drive line components some verification testing and it all went really well,” Taunton said.

“It looked a bit ungainly, but it was perfectly safe with all the major aerodynamic components in place including the front splitter and rear wing which allowed us to test what has been developed so far for this new car.

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“It’s an exciting moment for MARC Cars and PACE Innovations because we have made some significant updates to the concept with this new version of the car.

“The changes made, make the car cheaper to build in the first place and we believe that it will see significant reductions in the costs to race the cars as well.

“This is the latest technology, developed over the MARC I and MARC II programs, and PACE Innovations have worked hard come up with great new package, building on what we know.

It is showing great speed and balance for its first on track session.

“Once fully developed, we believe that lap times produced will see performance similar to Porsche Cup Car at a cost of around $275,000, and that’s a race car with all the latest GT technical features such as traction control, ABS all controlled by MoTeC systems.

“Some changes have been made to the mechanical side of things and the MARC GT will feature a LS3 6.2 litre engine.

The LS engine is significantly cheaper to purchase over the Ford Coyote motor that our other MARC Cars have used.

“The cost to purchase the Ford engine has increased significantly over recent times so we have changed over the LS engine. They are new engines, similar

to the power units that are fitted to the locally raced Trans Am cars, so we have plenty of knowledge of how they perform and the reliability they deliver etc.

“We think it is a great new package and we still believe, as with all of our cars, these are a great steppingstone to Supercars – they have many similar characteristics and have the speed to match at a very affordable cost.

“This prototype will see the balance of panels arrive for final testing at the end of August. The production cars for customers will follow, with the first three chassis’ already sold.”

The prototype MARC GT is owned by Mark Petch who owns Racer Products in NZ. Petch is the importer of MARC Cars into New Zealand and this chassis will be shipped to NZ after testing in August to continue testing over there and display to potential customers in New Zealand.

Three of the new GT models have been pre-sold, and so far a total of 28 MARC Cars have been built over the program, and recently MARC Cars Australia has been trialling a MARC Cars Championship with a view to running a full standalone series calendar next year.

The MARC series allows all MARC Cars to race together, separated by classes depending on model of car.

Bruce Williams

ENTRIES HAVE opened for Winton Motor Raceway’s brand-new three-day festival celebrating all things Porsche; Stutt’Fest.

The brainchild of Porsche racers and enthusiasts Sven Burchartz and Steve Kepper, the event will be held at the Victorian Circuit on August 26-28 with every possible model representing the iconic Porsche badge allowed to enter.

It’s designed to be an enjoyable weekend with a mixture of competitive and more relaxed on-track action coupled with plenty of track time for all competitors – mixed with a relaxed and enjoyable off-track program for likeminded Porsche enthusiasts.

Originally scheduled for January this year, the event was moved to the new August date to better allow for interstate competitors to participate – following the opening of all national borders.

The on-track program is set to be wildly diverse, with everything from one-make Porsche racers to the fastest GT and Sports Cars allowed to run.

The ethos is ‘if it has a Porsche badge, you’ll be able to compete’, with the broad range of on-track offerings showcasing that diversity.

Categories included on the program include the popular Porsche 944 Challenge, a category for GT, Turbo and other heavily modified cars, Cup Car classes for the popular range of one-make racers seen in Carrera Cup and Sprint Challenge racing, plus Group N, S and Historic Sports Car Porsche’s of all types.

There will also be an open regularity for all comers, while the weekend will conclude with an ‘all-in’ race for charity, with competitors bidding their way into what is likely to become the hallmark race at Stutt’fest by making a charitable donation.

As well as the on-track action, Stutt’Fest is designed to be a three-day festival with Show ‘n Shine competitions, fine food and drink, off-track entertainment and trade displays a key element.

“Stutt’fest will be an incredible weekend and a key part of Winton’s 2022 event schedule, as a Porsche fan myself, I can’t wait to see the cars and personalities that the event will bring to Winton next August.” Winton Raceway’s Rowan Harman said.

“The circuit worked closely with the Stutt’fest team to settle on a date that worked for everyone, and it slots in nicely to late August. We’re looking forward to seeing hundreds of Porsches of all shapes and sizes on and around the circuit later this year.”

Entries are now open, with competitors able to nominate via the event website at www.stuttfest.com.au

TARGA REVIEW PANEL TAKING PUBLIC SUBMISSIONS THE TARGA Review Panel is now accepting public submissions as it continues to investigate the future of Targa style tarmac rallies following the deaths of a number of competitors over the last two years.

Between the 2021 and 2022 Targa Tasmania events, many changes were made to make the legendary tarmac rally as safe as it could be.

Sadly, however Tony Seymour lost his life this year when his car left the road near Mount Roland on the second day of competition. As a result, the remainder of the event was downgraded to a noncompetitive tour.

Following Seymour’s passing, the Motorsport Australia Board appointed the Targa Review Panel to look into the event.

Targa Review Panel Chairman Garry Connelly AM said that public submissions are now open and act as important part of the Panel’s process.

“The Panel is working as quickly as it can and we understand the importance of completing this review in a timely manner,” he explained.

“However we must ensure that there is sufficient opportunity for all interested parties to make submissions, and for the Panel to carry out the review in a thorough and accurate manner.

“We are now seeking feedback on three specific areas and we welcome submissions from all relevant parties, whether they be active or past competitors, officials, event organisers or spectators.

“The three areas we are seeking feedback on are: the safe running of events, the licence and experience requirements for drivers taking part in these events, and also vehicle eligibility and preparation.

“These submissions are a key part of helping us understand the various issues and concerns that exist from a wide range of stakeholders.

“We will also accept submissions on behalf of groups or individuals.”

Submissions must be received by Friday

July 29 at 5pm, and must be submitted via the online survey found on the Motorsport Australia website. Dan McCarthy

SUPERCARS SUPPORT ACT A BOOST FOR SPORTS SEDANS ROUND 3 of the Precision International-National Sports Sedan Series heads to Tailem Bend on July 29-31 as support to the Supercars Championship.

The event will mark back-to-back races where the series has been the support category for Supercars. Series Director Michael Robinson spoke to Auto Action, and highlighted the importance of the partnership, “It’s certainly given us a boost, and it has lifted our profile,” he said. “There’s some plans on our agenda with next year again for the Supercars.

“The crowd numbers and the crowd presence has helped the teams with sponsors also. The teams are all pretty pumped about it.”

Robinson also added that for the future, “we’ve certainly got plans to do more in terms of adding some more on. I just can’t say which ones yet. But hopefully an extra one or two.”

In terms of the package being presented for this Supercar round, the Sports Sedans long-awaited return to The Bend does so with a field of 26 entries. Along with the locals, the excitement generated by the event see’s competitors coming from Queensland, Victoria, NSW and WA.

In terms of the drivers experience on this track, Robinson says, “Just going to this event and this track, it’s an exciting prospect for the drivers. A lot of them haven’t been there, so it’s a fairly new prospect. They’ve been training on the simulators to get familiar with it. The wide nature of the track should suit the cars well.”

So far this season Jordan Caruso is proving the one to beat, holding a 10-point lead over Steven Tamasi, the 2018 champion, with Shane Woodman running third.

The experienced Ash Jarvis from the Gold Coast also returns behind the wheel in the Colin Smith Monaro. After experiencing engine failures in Round 1 at Philip Island, he went to Munich to compete in the Rennsport Summit, where he took on some the world’s best sim drivers. His return is a timely boost to the field.

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Daniel Crompton is another to keep an eye on, who appears to be coming to grips with his Mustang, sitting fourth on the table. Mason Kelly, son of Bathurst 1000 winner Todd Kelly, will again drive the Eustice owned Marc Car, after an impressive debut at the Winton Raceway.

The Bend Supersprint takes place on July 29-31.

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LATEST NEWS Left to right: Seton, Seton, Seton ... and Le Brocq.

MORE F2 FOR S5000 TASMAN STAR STAND-IN

THIRD SETON SIGNS TO RACE IN 1000 THE SETON surname will return to the Bathurst 1000 grid in 2022 with Matt Stone Racing confirming that Aaron Seton will codrive alongside Jack Le Brocq.

It will be the first time that the Supercars Championship will see a third-generation racer take to the grid in the ‘Great Race’.

Seton has been contesting the second-tier Super2 Series with the team, in which he has achieved a best result of fifth this season.

“I am very thankful to the team, from Matt, Jason, and the whole crew. I’m just looking forward to getting to the 1000,” Seton said.

“It’s awesome to be joining a guy like Jack and I really admire the way he has gone about his racing this year since working closer with him.

“It’s very special and surreal to be the third generation Seton to do the Bathurst event.”

The Seton family has amassed a combined 48 Bathurst 500/1000 starts to its name, with Aaron’s debut at the Mountain later this year taking that to 49.

Their long-standing history at Bathurst spans back with 1965 when Barry ‘Bo’ Seton

claimed victory in what was then known as the Armstrong 500.

Aaron’s Father Glenn made his great race debut in 1983 and came close to Bathurst victory on numerous occasions, scoring four podiums, three of which saw him stand on the second step.

“Obviously, my pop won it back in 1965 and then dad came so close in ’95 so it will be a special moment to go to the event for my first time as a driver and give it a red-hot crack as Jack and I try to aim for that top step.”

Aaron himself is also no stranger to Bathurst endurance racing having previously completed three times in the Bathurst 12 Hour, notably scoring a GT4 class win in 2018.

More recently he finished on the podium in his last Super2 race at Bathurst in 2021.

He also walked away from the weekend with rookie of the round honours.

Jack Le Brocq is excited to be teaming up with Seton.

“He is a great young fella and I’ve

been able to get to know him quite well throughout the year,” Jack explained.

“I am looking forward to teaming up with him; third generation Seton in the sport to do Bathurst is pretty cool and I reckon we will have a pretty good run.”

Seton will undertake double duties at the Bathurst 1000 event which he and Le Brocq both agree will work in his favour.

“It’s great that Aaron’s actually running in the Dunlop series as well over the Bathurst weekend” says Le Brocq.

“I’ve done it many times before when I was a co-driver and it’s really crucial to just get those laps in around there.

“It’s a very daunting place at the best of times and it will be very full on, so for Aaron to be able to complement his running with his Dunlop series program will allow us to get the most out of him come Sunday.”

Jack and Aaron will complete at least one test day together at Queensland Raceway in the next couple of months ahead of October’s Bathurst 1000 event.

Dan McCarthy

ROBERTO MERHI, who shone in last year’s inaugural S5000 Tasman Series (above), has shocked the F2 fraternity with a sensational podium while filling in for the injured Ralph Boschung at Campos Racing – and willImage: remain in the car for a further round.

The Spaniard was drafted in at short notice as Boschung’s neck injury failed to respond to treatment in time and took on the cream of F2 having not sat in an F2 car for four years (his last single-seater racing being the 2021 Tasman Series) and without any pre-event testing.

After a cautious Qualifying and Sprint race, Merhi starred in a wet/dry Feature race, working his way from a grid 21 start to finish third.

Starting on slicks – as did nearly all the field, Merhi simply handled the changing conditions brilliantly.

Mehri, the oldest driver in the race at 31, was in fact second over the line, but imposition of a number of the frustrating ‘track limits’ penalties affecting several drivers at the Red Bull Ring – including five seconds for himself – resulted in a thirdplace final result.

Shortly after the race, Boschung tweeted his congratulations – and a second invitation: “As I am still recovering, I have called @robertomerhi after his incredible race, first to congratulate him and secondly I want him to continue driving in my car for the next F2 race. I support 100% talent and not a driver with 100% money … #vamosTeto.”

Merhi will slot into the car for the next F2 race, at Budapest, in three weeks’ time – and has indicated his desire to return for the 2023 S5000 Tasman Series later this year. Dan McCarthy

RED BULL RACING ANNOUNCES ROAD CAR IN THE lead up to the British Grand Prix, Red Bull Racing announced that it will build its first ever inhouse Hypercar, titled the RB17.

The machine will be created under the leadership of Chief Technical Officer and legendary F1 designer Adrian Newey with a limited run of 50 cars to be built at Red Bull Advanced Technologies’ campus.

The RB17 follows the naming convention of the team’s F1 cars Although no computer-generated images have been released, Red Bull Racing has announced that the car will be powered by a V8 hybrid engine expected to produce over 1,100bhp (820kW).

The car will be designed around a carboncomposite tub, utilising ground-effect like the current generation F1 car, and will be able to seat two people, the driver and a passenger.

The price is certainly on the more expensive side, expected to start at over five million pounds ($8.828 million Aussie dollars).

“The RB17 marks an important milestone in the evolution

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of Red Bull Advanced Technologies, now fully capable of creating and manufacturing a series production car at our Red Bull Technology Campus,” said Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner.

“Further, the RB17 marks the first time that a car wearing the Red Bull brand has been available to collectors.

Newey, who has designed championship winning cars for Williams, McLaren and Red Bull Racing added that this car will carry a lot of DNA from Formula 1 cars.

“The RB17 distills everything we know about creating championship-winning Formula 1 cars into a package that delivers extreme levels of performance in a two-seat track car,” he said.

“Driven by our passion for performance at every level, the RB17 pushes design and technical boundaries far beyond what has been previously available to enthusiasts and collectors.”

Just 50 RB17s will be created, with production not set to commence until the start of 2025.

Notably, all owners will have access to the team’s simulators, vehicle programme development and on-track training while the factory team will service and maintain each car personally. Dan McCarthy

LATEST NEWS

Images:

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MASI DEPARTS FIA AFTER MONTHS of silence, the FIA has confirmed that Australian Race Director Michael Masi has decided to leave the FIA with immediate effect.

Masi took on the role of Formula 1 Race Director and Safety Delegate following the sudden passing of Charlie Whiting on the weekend of the Australian Grand Prix in 2019.

It was a role he held until the controversial championship decider in Abu Dhabi last year.

In that race, Nicolas Latifi crashed late on, under safety car conditions on the penultimate lap he allowed select cars to unlap themselves and restart the race on the very next lap, a decision never before taken by a race director.

It divided opinion globally as Max Verstappen was able to overtake Lewis Hamilton on the final lap, and in doing so snatched the championship from the Englishman’s grasp.

After losing the place to Verstappen

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff was outspoken about Masi’s decision.

In the following weeks, Masi was stood down as Formula 1 race director.

The FIA has elected to employee Niels Wittich and Eduardo Freitas to take the role supervised by Herbie Blash.

The FIA stated that Masi has elected to relocate back to Australia to be with his family.

The full statement read as follows “The FIA confirms that Michael Masi has

decided to leave the FIA and relocate to Australia to be closer to his family and take on new challenges,” it stated.

“He oversaw a three-year period as FIA Formula 1 Race Director and Safety Delegate following the sudden passing of Charlie Whiting in 2019, carrying out the numerous functions he was tasked with in a professional and dedicated manner.

“The FIA thanks him for his commitment and wishes him the best for the future.”

Dan McCarthy

LECLERC CONCERNED BY FERRARI RELIABILITY RELIABILITY CONCERNS continue to be an issue for the Scuderia, despite capturing a second victory in as many weeks.

Breaking through for a fifth career win at the Red Bull Ring in Austria, Charles Leclerc was left bemoaning the Ferrari power unit reliability after yet another blowout, this time for team mate Carlos Sainz.

The failure caused the F1-75 to catch fire, forcing Sainz to quickly leap from the cockpit just 13 laps from the chequered flag.

In what would have been a further boost towards the Constructors Championship against the red-hot Red Bull Racing pairing of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez, another Ferrari DNF, their sixth for the year, has left Leclerc in a state of apprehension.

“Obviously as a team, it is a concern with the reliability, and today shows even more that it is a concern,” Leclerc said.

“And we really need to look into that to make sure that it does not happen again during the season.”

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Although Leclerc was obviously ecstatic with his victory, as evidenced by his reaction from the on-board radio, the Sainz incident took a little bit of the shine off the win.

Couple this with the fact that he experienced issues of his own in the closing laps.

With Verstappen gaining on his tail, he could be heard

complaining over the team radio of a sticking throttle immediately following Sainz’s retirement.

“It was pretty bad!” Stated the Monegasque racer, “especially Turn 3 and 4, it was a disaster because the car was pushing a lot with the throttle being extremely inconsistent, so I just had to manage it. But at the end I got to the finish line in first position, so very happy.”

But all in all, an F1 win is a win, and despite Verstappen taking out the Sprint, it was evident that Ferrari had the pace and tyre management to compete come the Sunday. Leclerc revealed that his Saturday night was spent with his head in the books.

“I worked quite a bit on my driving yesterday night and I knew where to improve, especially on that medium stint to have the pace but also the good management, and I think we’ve shown that perfectly today, which was great.

“That’s where we did the big difference in the race. Then on the hard, we were quick but there was no degradation, so everybody was quite a bit closer. So yeah, I’m very happy that the hard work of yesterday night paid off today.” TW Neal

ECCLESTONE FACING FRAUD CHARGE FORMER F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone has been charged with fraud, the 91-year-old reportedly failing to declare over 400 million pounds ($700 million Australian dollars) in overseas assets.

A government investigation found that he had not declared the overseas assets to the British tax office, with prosecutors claiming that Ecclestone deliberately ‘concealed’ them.

Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs’ Fraud Investigation Service director Simon York explained that this announcement followed a “complex and worldwide” investigation into the businessman’s finances.

“The criminal charge relates to projected tax liabilities arising from more than 400 million pounds of offshore assets which were concealed from Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs,” he said.

“Our message is clear — no-one is beyond our reach.”

Ecclestone was contacted by Reuters in Ibiza, and admitted the charge was not a surprise.

“It’s something that has been talked about happening, but not in the way you said, something a

little bit different to that, quite a while ago,” Ecclestone said.

“They’ve probably got all excited again. Let’s see what happens.”

The first hearing date is set for August 22 at London’s Westminster Magistrates Court.

While Ecclestone has an office in London he now spends most of his on his farm in Brazil as well as his homes in Switzerland and Ibiza.

The billionaire has been surrounded by controversy all year.

In May when Ecclestone attempted to board a plane in Brazil, however was arrested when he was found to have handgun in his luggage.

Just last week Ecclestone reemerged in the news when he said live on air on a British TV program that he would “take a bullet” for Russian president Vladimir Putin, describing him as a first-class person.

He also implied that the Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskyy should have done more to avoid the war with Russia.

He later apologised, stating that he was not defending Russian’s invasion of the Ukraine. Dan McCarthy

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MCLAREN IMPRESSED WITH HERTA TEST

MCLAREN REMAIN typically tight lipped on Colton Herta’s lap times in his first drive in an Formula 1 machine, but expressed its satisfaction in his performance.

Herta tested on Portugal’s Autodromo

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Internacional do Algarve, where McLaren have the luxury of last year’s MCL35M performance specs.

It’s speculated that the IndyCar star is breathing down the neck of Australia’s

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Daniel Ricciardo for a spot in next year’s McLaren, and he expressed his joy at getting his first chance.

“What an amazing two days! First taste of a Formula 1 car was sweet,” Herta wrote

on social media.

“Thank you McLaren F1 for the opportunity.”

There was obviously some acclimatising for Herta, whose 514kw (700 bhp) IndyCar with no power steering is quite different from the 2021 spec McLaren with power steering and a power unit that runs at 753kw (1000 bhp).

By all accounts IndyCar’s youngest ever race winner handled the race winning McLaren well.

McLaren Team Principal Andreas Seidl was highly impressed with how Herta handled the challenges of driving a faster machine in a typically professional manner.

The talk around a possible McLaren move adds pressure on Ricciardo, whom has struggled for pace so far this season.

At Austria’s Spielberg circuit he managed to finish in the points coming home in ninth position. TW Neal

LATEST NEWS

PALOU SIGNS WITH MCLAREN NOT CHIP GANASSI DESPITE WHAT a Chip Ganassi statement read, reigning IndyCar Series winner will make the shock move to McLaren.

Although it does not state which championship Palou will be contesting, it is incredibly likely he will remain in IndyCar completing in an expanded three-car McLaren driver line-up with current driver Pato O’Ward and former Indy 500 winner Alexander Rossi.

The night started with Alex Palou being announced by his current team Chip Ganassi Racing that he had been retained for next season.

“Chip Ganassi Racing (CGR) announced today that the team has exercised its option to extend Alex Palou through the 2023 season,” the press release read.

The statement even contained a quote credited to Palou.

“It’s a great feeling knowing I’ll be back with Chip Ganassi Racing next season,” he was quoted as saying.

“The team welcomed me with open arms from day one, and I’m excited to

continue working with Chip, Mike Hull, the folks on the #10 car and everyone within the organisation. The goals remain the same and we will continue to work relentlessly towards achieving them.”

However, moments later Palou released a statement on social media stating that he had not signed to race for the team in 2023.

“I have recently learned from the media that this afternoon, without my approval, Chip Ganassi Racing issued a press release announcing that I would be driving with CGR in 2023,” he wrote.

“Even more surprising was that CGR’s release included a “quote” which did not come from me.

“I did not approve that press release, and I did not author or approve that quote. As I have recently informed CGR, for personal reasons, I do not intend to continue with the team after 2022.

“This evening’s unfortunate events aside, I have great respect for the CGR team, and look forward to finishing this

Motorsport Images

season strongly together.”

Just a couple of hours later the Spaniard was announced as a McLaren driver, with an official quote from him stating he will join the team from 2023, with news that he will also have a testing program driving the 2021 spec MCL35M F1 with fellow drivers Pato O’Ward and Colton Herta.

“I’m extremely excited to join the driver roster for such an iconic team as McLaren,” he said. “I’m excited to be able to show what I can do behind the wheel of a Formula 1 car and looking at what doors that may open.

“I want to thank everyone at Chip Ganassi Racing for everything they have done for me.”

McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown is delighted to sign the reigning IndyCar Series winner.

FAMILY UPDATE ON TONY QUINN INJURIES AND HEALTH TONY QUINN’S family have posted an update on his injuries and wellbeing following a nasty crash in the first Carrera Cup race of the weekend in Townsville.

Quinn hit the inside wall at Turn 10 which fired him at high-speed into the outside wall.

After the crash Quinn was taken to the Townsville University Hospital where he remains.

The statement written by the family read as follows.

“Tony (TQ) has suffered several broken bones, a punctured lung and is still in hospital. His partner Kate and TQ’s three kids are supporting each other and are there for TQ,” it said.

“The hospital team are doing a fantastic job, and the priority at the moment is to ensure TQ allows his body to rest after the trauma to his body. He is stable, and is aware of the outpouring of concern for him and he is humbled.

“His family wish to thank you all for the messages

of support and concern. Their focus is on TQ and as such, we ask that if you want to get a message to them or TQ – please either post your message below, or private message us on this page and we will ensure he gets them all.

“You’ll appreciate that he’s made a lot of friends over the years, and it’s becoming a bit overwhelming for them as they are receiving 100’s of messages.

“We will keep you posted on his progress on his Tony Quinn Facebook page as and when it’s appropriate. For now, the family and TQ just need some space and privacy to focus on his recovery, which also means please no visitors to the hospital.

“They are immensely grateful for the outpouring of concern and best wishes.

“Thank you all.”

Auto Action continues to wish Tony Quinn a speedy recovery. Dan McCarthy

“We have always said that we want the best talent at McLaren, and it’s exciting to be able to include Alex on that list,” the American stated.

“I’m also looking forward to seeing him get behind the wheel of a Formula 1 car as part of our Testing of Previous Cars (TPC) programme alongside Pato O’Ward and Colton Herta as we continue to build our driver talent.

“Alex is an incredibly talented driver who has won in every series he has raced in, and I’m happy to welcome him to the McLaren family.”

With Palou expected to join the IndyCar program, it all but confirms Felix Rosenqvist’s move to Formula E with McLaren. Dan McCarthy

TOURING CAR MASTERS CRASH CASTS DOUBT OVER TILLEY’S SEASON MINEEFF CONFIRMS AUDI SWITCH

DOUBT LOOMS over Cameron Tilley’s return to the Touring Car Masters this season after a sensational crash in Townsville.

Tilley’s Valiant Pacer, a fan favourite in the series, had its back end wiped out when it appeared Michael Almond’s brakes gave out as they entered the third corner, causing a massive impact.

Both cars suffered severe damage in the incident and, shortly after the safety car was called out, it was declared a non-race.

In terms of Tilley returning this year for the Sandown and Bathurst meets, the severe damage and difficulties that arise with being an independent DYI competitor, puts a cloud over his hopeful return.

“I’ve taken the car off the trailer and put it in the workshop, I have trouble looking at it to be honest with you,” Tilley said to Auto Action, “I’ll have to cut the car in half to fix it. If I fix it!”

“Just the way we go racing, I can’t afford to send it out. It’s probably the only car in the category that comes back to our own shop and I’m the panel beater, the mechanic, and all that stuff is done here.

“Nothing is farmed out. It’s massive.

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And then to go and source second hand parts, and cars, and pick bits, and get them cleaned and to start fixing rust in those parts and grafting them into the car… I don’t know where to start to be honest.”

After achieving a breakthrough win in Sydney the previous round and finding good pace in Townsville, Tilley was left understandably downcast at his day ending in such a fashion.

“My car means a lot to me, because we do it all ourselves. So yeah, I’m absolutely Shattered,” Tilley said.

And in terms of the damage sustained, the prognosis was a lot to take in.

“Everything from the back doors back,” says Tilley, “The chassis rails, the boot floor, rear suspension, the diff housing, oil tanks, everything from the back doors back.”

Of the incident itself, Tilley was taken by surprise into the corner, with Almond’s Camaro SS flying through at great speed.

“It was just like a bomb went off basically, because I cleared him enough to not have to worry about really what was going on the mirror.

I had no idea at all that he was coming in at that speed. So that’s all

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I remember, just the explosion of that first impact,” said a disappointed Tilley.

After the crash, the two of them shared the same medical car, but little was said as both drivers nursed a pair of sore heads.

“Yeah we were put in the medical car and he just said he had a brake failure, but I mean, it wasn’t confirmed at that point. I didn’t really have much to say.”

Another by-product from the unfortunate crash was Almond’s medical ruling him out of his Porsche Carrera Cup race later that day.

Almond was racing in Mark King’s Camaro, which at this stage is also in some early doubt for Sandown, but more likely than not to take part.

Auto Action made contact with Almond to discuss the crash, and though he expressed his regret over an unfortunate and, unavoidable racing incident, he respectively declined to comment at this time.

The next TCM round was to be Ipswich, but that has been cancelled, making Sandown the next meeting on September 16-18.

On a positive front, with that Ipswich cancellation, there is speculation that TCM may return to the streets of Adelaide in December. TW Neal

LACHLAN MINEEFF has made the jump from Volkswagen to Audi for the next round of the TCR Australia Series.

Speaking ahead of TCR’s Round 5 battle at the Queensland Raceway next month, Mineeff is excited about his future prospects.

“We’re just really excited to be able to have a proper crack at TCR in a model that is very capable of winning races and that’s what we’re setting out to achieve,” said Mineeff.

“I don’t think we’ll be winning straight away, but if we can have the progression of being top 10, top five, podium, then number one, that’s the idea and continue to move forward.”

Mineeff takes the Audi RS3 LMS over from Liam McAdam, in place of his Volkswagen Golf GTI, which is planned for a lease-out to another driver as the perfect entry car for a hopeful TCR entrant.

“We still own the Golf and I think it would be great to continue to run it as a customer entry at rounds this year. Last year, we were able to show with a new team and rookie driver we’ve been able to get some really good results,” said Mineeff of his old drive.

“If we can find a customer who wants to experience TCR for the first time and gets some laps under their belt, the Golf is perfect. In 21 races, we’ve only had one DNF, which is a credit to the car and team. It’s reliable and a great way of getting some laps under your belt.”

As for his new Audi, the move is so fresh that he hasn’t been able to get behind its wheel thus far, but there is testing planned before the next TCR round, and the enthusiastic anticipation is obvious to hear.

“I haven’t driven the car yet. I’ve just loaded on and taken it off the truck!

We’ll definitely get a test day in either way before Queensland Raceway, which will be really good. It is the very top spec it can be for this generation, so we’re obviously very excited to sink our teeth into it,” Mineeff quoted.

“There are definitely a lot of common parts and similarities shared with the Golf, so I think it will be great for the team as well as myself to be able to quickly transition between the two.”

TW Neal

INTERNATIONAL AUSSIES

McELREA DOMINATES IN FIRST INDY LIGHTS WIN Images: Motorsport Images

IT WAS a day for New Zealanders at Mid-Ohio – while Scott McLaughlin won in IndyCar his fellow Kiwi Hunter McElrea won in Indy Lights.

McElrea dominated the race, converting pole to his maiden ‘Lights’ victory in emphatic style.

The rookie was fastest in both practices, was the fastest qualifier and led Sunday’s race from flag-to-flag, at the head of the field for all 35 laps.

“I’m just relieved,” McElrea said. “I knew I could do this. This weekend, I just wanted to go back to having fun and letting everything handle itself.

“I can’t thank everyone enough who has supported me. It means a lot, and I’m just really relieved and really happy with this.”

McElrea beat home his Andretti Autosport teammate, Australian Matthew Brabham by 2.68s.

Indy Lights Series leader Linus Lundqvist rounded out the podium by finishing third for HMD Motorsports with Dale Coyne Racing.

Andretti Autosport drivers followed, putting all four team cars in the top five – Rookie Christian Rasmussen finished fourth ahead of Sting Ray Robb.

Robb passed Benjamin Pedersen with a great final corner pass. Pedersen locked up his tyres entering Turn 12 allowing Robb to jump alongside Pedersen and take the position.

Despite leading every lap, McElrea was challenged on a number of occasions. The first came at Turn 4 on

the opening lap when Lundqvist, who started second, tried to stay side-byside with McElrea and the two made slight contact.

By lap 20, McElrea had built a near 6s lead over Brabham and more than 15 seconds on Lundqvist. However, a caution on lap 23 bunched the 13-car field up.

The race resumed on Lap 25 for a 10-lap dash to the finish, and McElrea quickly pulled away.

McElrea, a New Zealand native who was born in Los Angeles and grew up in Australia, became the fifth winner of the season.

McElrea was relieved finally to add his name to the list of Indy Lights winners in 2022.

“Ever since St. Pete when I threw that one away, it was really mentally tough,” he said. “I’ve probably been letting that affect me too much, still just trying to force it a bit much.

“I hope this sets the precedent for the second half of the season. I think for sure this weekend is as perfect as they get. It’s very good for the rest of the year.”

Despite finishing third, Lundqvist extended his sizeable championship lead with his sixth podium finish of the season.

He leads Robb by 87 points. Brabham rose two positions to third, 96 points back. McElrea climbed three spots to fourth, 98 points back.

Dan McCarthy

LOVE’S TRICKY SUPERCUP DEBUT

PRIOR TO returning down under for the Aussie Carrera Cup round in Townsville, Aussie Aaron Love (#38 above) made his Porsche Supercup debut at Silverstone, although the result did not show the pace he showed early in the race.

It was a tough debut for Aaron who follows

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in the footsteps of his older brother Jordan as a Porsche Supercup starter.

Love was classified in 30th position after becoming the innocent victim of a multi-car incident.

Qualifying began with disappointment – a rain shower early in the session caught many

drivers including some of the championship contenders off guard. This meant if you did not set a lap time early in the session you would be starting towards the rear of the grid.

Love, driving with the highly competitive Martinet by Almeras team, was one of the drivers caught out and qualified 29th.

In the race Love made a great start and throughout the first half of the race marched through the field.

He quickly made his way into the top 20 and as high as 16th position when he found himself behind a fierce gaggle of cars.

Unfortunately, out of the Loop, two cars ahead collided spinning one car sideways across the track and into the right-rear of Love.

The contact was extreme, giving Love an instant puncture, forcing him to limp back around the track.

The Carrera Cup Australia race winner posted to social media after the event.

“Pretty tough first Supercup weekend and it just went from bad to worse,” he said.

“We made a few mistakes with the plan for practice which didn’t let us truly show our speed.

“This just continued to hang over our heads in qualifying as it started to rain at the start and just missed the chance to set a lap before it got completely wet.

“Started from 29th and got up to 15th and no doubt I could’ve gone further but it wasn’t meant to be.

“A car spun in front of me and with nowhere to go I just didn’t quite make it around, ending with a puncture, ruining the race.

That’s just racing and we’ll live to fight again.”

At the head of the field Porsche Junior Laurin Heinrich scored his first Supercup victory of the season.

The 20-year-old German beat Larry ten Voorde and home hero Harry King.

Dan McCarthy Image: Motorsport Images

Hamilton frustrated. “And it’s not of the older generation who representative, I think, of who we still have a voice today cannot are as a sport now and where get out of their own way and we’re planning to go.” a problem.

FORMULA FORD is now likely to evolutionacknowledge of Formula there Ford is Racing, Nice one, Lewis. Great way to Again, this is plain ignorance remain as a multiple manufacturer as distinct from trying to introduce disenfranchise just about every but that will not stop me from category after Motorsport Australia something that’s entirely new that we Formula 1 great that came before continuing to push for change. took note of competitor feedback. know with our Formula 4 experience you. And older fans, too. Racism It is never too late to learn and Motorsport Australia Director hasn’t worked.” is not the only discrimination in I hope that this man who I’ve of Motorsport and Commercial Smith also admitted that the plan play right now. Clearly ageism always had respect for can take Operations Michael Smith opened for a 2023 introduction along with the is rife. Ironically, Hamilton is the time to educate himself.” up to Auto Action about the current reintroduction of championship status seemingly blind to this. would Mario know, state of play in the incredibly popular is lookingWhat ambitious.

Boofhead! A self-obsessed and Lewis? You don’t think Mario Australian Formula Ford category.

“If I’m being really honest, I think hypocritical one at that. Whenever Andretti, born in Italy, wasn’t Smith explained that the original 2023 introduction might be a bit Hamilton puts his foot in his subjected to racism when his idea Formula Ford now appears to be ambitious at this point,” Smith felt. mouth I start hearing lyrics from emigrated to the United substantially less likely after listening to “But we family haven’t formed a fixed view an early 1980s U2 song Trash, States aged 15? May I, erm, competitors views. on that, the Formula Ford Association and the Party Girl. politely suggest you pull your “We’re really wanting the DNA to stay “We’ve taken the time to speak to “But ultimately, Trampoline if we’re, wanting to of course, will be key to all of this as “When I was three,” Bono sings, the same,” he said to AA. every single one of those people or achieve or carry on the philosophy of well. head out of your backside and “I thought the world revolved in some history books to “I know one of our preliminary email every single one of those people. Formula Ford Racing we need to be “What stick I will itsay is our current thinking around me – I was wrong.” educate yourself. You are clearly recommendations was to look at a “I guess as a consequence of that able to do it in a multi-manufacturer is to run Formula Ford, the current Bono, myself and the vast of discrimination, racial single manufacturer path,” he said. we’ve come around to the view that environment.” cars as aignorant national series next year, and majority of the world’s population or otherwise, in a wider sense.

“Whilst the (Formula Ford) working perhaps a multi-manufacturer concept Smith believes the reason that then at a point in time, whether that’s came to the realisation Hamilton is the one that needs group hasn’t formed a view, one way is the way to go.”

Formula 4 did noteventually work in Australia 2023 or 2024, we will introduce a new that the Earth actually rotates to educate himself. From Andretti or another on that, I think we’re coming Smith feels that if they can get the was because it did not appeal to the car as a championship. the sun. could learn to be humble, around to the view that, potentially a rules right, then a multi-manufacturer Australian motor around sport scene, this is “We’d Snr run he existing cars in parallel In Hamilton’s case, I’m not gracious and open-minded. multi-manufacturer format would be series will continue to work why it is essential that Formula Ford with the new ones as sort of a mixed if he has experienced From my observation, if a better path to go, because that’s successfully. remains as closesoassure possible to its grid and that would happen for a a similar awakening. To me, Formula 1 discriminates, it’s on consistent with what Formula Ford has “In order to do that (a multi-brand roots. period, broadly speaking, I’d be the enormity of his driving the basis of talent or ability to always been in this country. category) you have to get the rules “Formula 4 didn’t work here,” he anticipating that it’d be three to five skills is only matched by his finance the ride. Not a person’s “We had the stakeholder forum, we right, we know that, it’s a lot simpler admitted. “It’s clear, people are very years, something like that. race. Sadly, Hamilton is adding then had the survey, and then we to craft a set of rules when you’re only passionate aboutegocentricity.

Formula Ford Racing “I guess ultimately, it depends on the This is not uncommon for those to the mix. invited people to make submissions. have one homologated manufacturer.

“Our thinking is have it as an take up ageism of any new car. DM who have led a largely privileged Frankly, I can’t wait for Hamilton life, as Hamilton has from his to retire. I’m sick of the sideshow pre-teen years. I don’t doubt he he attracts. has regularly been subjected I wonder how Hamilton will to racism in all its ugliness, but be remembered. He would of the illustrious names that won in the ONE OF the country’s longest serving did his background/heritage/ deservedly make any list of category administrators Margaret Hardy category. race truly hinder his rise to the greatest F1 drivers of all-time, Hardy assisted all of these drivers on passed away from cancer on Thursday top? The vast majority of us but, in my opinion, he’s not even their route to Australia’s top-level.

August 19. face adversity, in one form or in the conversation for greatest She was liked by all who knew her Hardy was involved in motor racing another, including discrimination, race driver ever. To be considered in the industry which is why the motor for decades and was known for her AA’S COLUMNIST throughout our lives. We simply for the latter, one must achieve sport community is sad to hear of her dedication to Formula Ford.

CHASTISES BOTH rise above it all. outside F1. And, so far, he’s passing.

Hardy joined the Light Car Club as PIQUET AND Hamilton, too, has form in merely turned up his nose at During her time in the category, the office manager and began working alienating past greats. At the anything non-F1.

HAMILTON she was named a Life Member of the with the Australian Formula Ford height of the Black Lives Matter My racing heroes all stepped Formula Ford Association. championship 1978, doing paperwork STOP THE RIDE I want to get off. campaign in 2020 he had the out of their comfort zones and Formula Ford Association for the category throughout the ‘80s.

The world has gone crazy. hide to bite at Mario Andretti, risked their reputations in other Early in the following year she became representative Phil Marinon said More precisely, the motorsport’s gold standard disciplines. Like, say, Mario she remained very connected to the the administrator of the category and mainstream media world (and spat, but I do want to say this: to Piquet’s racist insult and called for humility and grace, for Andretti, who secured the F1 category. was tasked with organising national social media channels hanging Nelson Piquet is a boofhead! He him out (for that I applaud him), expressing an opinion. The and IndyCar championships and was always focused on the result and present took to social media to “Margaret was a tireless Administrator series events, a role she held until 2013. off it) has gone barking mad. called Lewis Hamilton something but because his reply cluelessly 1978 World Champion wrote via and won the Indy 500, Daytona rather than looking for accolades. send their condolences. for Formula Ford Association and also She has dealt with many of Australia’s I must live in some sort of that was obviously derogatory, alienated F1’s alumni; those who Twitter: “I have a lot of respect (sportscars) and the the AFFM including category manager “Margaret was very dedicated to Outside24ofHours Formula Ford, Margaret motor sport stars over the years and parallel universe, as my offline disrespectful and racist. forged a path for Lewis and his for Lewis, but why become Daytona 500 (NASCAR). Or also took on roles such as the race for the national competition,” he told all things Formula Ford and has was well-known as a hardworking and world – that is, my everyday The three-time World contemporaries. militant? He’s always been Alonso, dual F1 World secretaryFernando for Sandown Raceway.

Auto Action. recently assisted athe association in passionate worker. life – bears little resemblance to Champion has form, publicly “I don’t know why we are accepted and he’s earned Champ, who won both the 24 Hardy was diagnosed with “Her attention to detail and ability to the production of a book on 50 years In her time as category manager the politically-correct rubbish calling Nigel Mansell’s wife ‘ugly’ continuing to give these older everyone’s respect... It’s creating Hours of Le Mans and Daytona Inflammatory Breast Cancer in 2019 support the competitors has been very of Formula Ford in Australia and seven-time Bathurst 1000 winner Craig popping up on my phone and back in the 1980s. Nice! Again, voices a platform because a problem that doesn’t exist.” the Indianapolis 500 and wentand intogave Stage 4 in May. strongly acknowledged on social media disappointingly will not get to see the Lowndes, reigning 1000 victor, Will computer.

Nelson, you’re a boofhead. they’re speaking upon our Hamilton’s response? a good shake. The Formula 1 Auto Action sends its condolences to final result.”

Davison, David Reynolds, Chaz Mostert and is undisputed.

I don’t want to deep dive into the Lewis Hamilton is a boofhead, sport and we’re looking to go “This is disappointing but elitists like Hamilton could learn her friends and family. DM “Margaret was a very private person Many Australian racing legends past and Anton de Pasquale are just some Nelson Piquet and Lewis Hamilton too. Not because he took offence somewhere completely different,” unfortunately a reality that some a thing or two ...

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VALE: MARGARET HARDY – FORMULA FORD’S GUIDING HAND

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FORMULA 2 NEWS

UP AND DOWN IN F2 Report: Dan McCarthy JACK DOOHAN recorded his first FIA Formula 2 Championship race win at Silverstone – however a week later at the Red Bull Ring it was a weekend of mixed fortunes for the two Aussies in the field.

Since the last edition of AUTO ACTION went on sale a fortnight ago, two rounds of the FIA Formula 2 Championship have taken place.

Doohan excelled in the wet conditions of the Silverstone Sprint race to take a dominant victory and get his title hopes back on track, however in the Feature Race was unable to replicate the speed and finished in ninth.

The other Australian in F2, Calan Williams, finished in 17th and 16th over the two races.

LAST WEEKEND, in Austria, Doohan qualified sixth for the Feature race.

He sat at the head of the field for much of the session, however his final run did not go as planned. His first lap on the final set of tyres was deleted for exceeding track limits and on his final lap he did not quite hook it up how he would have wanted.

Nevertheless, he was content with P6 for the Feature.

Due to a mechanical issue, West Australian Williams missed the entirety of practice and therefore was thrown into the deep end for qualifying. Considering the lack of track time Williams qualified a very respectable 16th on the grid for both races.

It was ART Grand Prix’s Frederik Vesti who took his maiden pole position.

Twice a pole-sitter already this year, Estonian Juri Vips qualified in second position, ahead of Williams F1 reserve driver Logan Sargeant.

Starting from fourth in the Sprint, Doohan made a good start and immediately overtook Richard Verschoor who started alongside him on row 2.

From there Doohan settled into a rhythm and was one of the fastest drivers throughout the race. He slowly edged away from series leader Felipe Drugovich and kept championship contender Theo Pourchaire honest throughout the race.

In the end he could not overtake the Frenchman but came home in third to score his third podium finish of the season.

Williams also moved forward, from his starting position of 16th to sit as high as 13th.

In the closing laps Williams was caught and eventually overhauled by Roy Nissany – still 14th was a strong finish with the limited track time.

Out front, New Zealander Marcus Armstrong emphatically converted pole position to race victory in the Sprint Race, his second win of the season.

Armstrong was never challenged by Pourchaire or Doohan and took the win comfortably. Behind them came Drugovich, Juri Vips, Verschoor, Logan Sargeant and Ayumu Iwasa who rounded out the point finishers.

On Sunday, drivers were greeted with a drying race track.

Both Australian’s made what turned out to be the wrong call at the start electing to start on the wet tyres on a track that dried out a little faster than expected.

It looked good early. Both Doohan and Williams ran in line astern comfortably inside the points, but unfortunately for them the track quickly dried out.

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Mick Doohan won the Silverstone Sprint race (top), ran third in the Austrian Sprint, but went the wrong way on tyres for the Feature. (right). Calan Williams (above) missed practice and consequently struggled at the Red Bull Ring. Images: Motorsport Images.

Due to the compulsory pitstop window not being avaiolable until the end of the seventh lap, the wet tyre starters had dropped down the field. When they finally put the slicks on it was a case of playing catch-up, something both Aussies were unable to do.

Doohan was classified as last of the finishers, while Williams fought against many of the title challengers for much of the race, but like the others finished outside of the points, in 15th.

Along with most of the field, Williams’ Trident teammate Richard Verschoor elected to run on the slicks to start, the highest placed person on the grid to do so.

It appeared a risk at the time, but boy did it pay dividends when the track dried out.

He dominated the race and cruised to victory or so he thought…

On the in lap he came to a stop on the exit of the first turn, but was brought back to the pits by the recovery team and celebrated the win on the podium.

However, in the hours that followed Verschoor was disqualified as the Trident team were unable to provide the required post-race fuel sample for scrutineering.

Car #20 could not provide the 0.8kg of fuel required, with only 31.3 grams extracted from the fuel tank.

This promoted Jehan Daruvala to the win, but he received a post-race drive through penalty, converted to a 20-second penalty in the final classification.

The stewards found that the PREMA Racing team had attempted to dry the track surface at his grid slot ahead of the race commencing, the penalty dropping the Indian to 12th.

As a result, despite starting on the wets, in the drive of his career to date American Logan Sargeant inherited the race victory, although he actually crossed the line in fourth.

Standing in for the injured Ralph Boschung at Campos Racing, recent S5000 Australian Tasman Series contender Roberto Mehri drove a stunning race and crossed the line

in second (having started from grid 21), but was also handed a (5-second) penalty for exceeding track limits and fell to fifth. With all the penalties up front, Enzo Fittipaldi was promoted to second and Merhi back up to third.

Reigning FIA Formula 3 champion Dennis Hauger was classified in fourth ahead of Jake Hughes and Olli Caldwell.

Iwasa, Vips, Nissany and Kiwi Liam Lawson rounded out the points finishers.

Championship leader Drugovich finished just outside the points in 11th – however his closest title rival Pourchaire had elected to start on wets and finished behind him.

STANDINGS AFTER ROUND 8 1 Drugovich 154 2 Sargeant 115 3 Pourchaire 114 4 Daruvala 80 5 Fittipaldi 75 9 Doohan 63 21 Williams 5

THE VIEW FROM THE FAR SIDE SUPERCARS LOOKS EVEN BETTER FROM EUROPE

THREE WEEKS in Britain changes your perspective on homegrown Aussie motorsport.

There is Formula One, up close and personal through the summer peak in June and July, Le Mans and the 24 Hours of Nurburging, the Goodwood Festival of Speed, and all manner of major series happening on the same time zone instead of the middle of the night.

Even the World Rally Championship seems much more immediate.

It helps when your trip to the UK – actually, mine – includes visits to the Mercedes-AMG and McLaren grand prix teams and also the M-Sport headquarters in the north at Cockermouth for an inside view of the amazing creation of former champion driver Malcolm Wilson.

But it’s the little things that make just as big an impact.

How about a packed Tuesday at Thruxton, one of the windswept former airfields that provide the bedrock of British motorsport?

with Paul Gover

THE PG PERSPECTIVE There is no racing, but the day is loaded with driving experiences, hot laps and coaching for owners of exotic cars.

It’s the same when I drive into Oulton Park to discover that Audi has it booked for the day to demonstrate its newest models to potential buyers and existing fans.

The sellout successes of the circuits proves that electrification will not mean the end of combustion motoring, just that it will become – like horses – a hobby and not a workaday imperative.

The number of highperformance cars on British roads, at a time when fuel

is around $4 a litre, is also a reflection of the same motoring culture that sees so many Aussies now driving hotrod pick-up trucks as replacements for their old-school Commodores and Falcons.

Then again, I haven’t seen a Ford Ranger blasting past at around 250km/h – yes, really – the way I spotted a Range Rover doing on a deserted section of the M6 motorway from London to Manchester.

A toll booth on the same road provided more entertainment when the owner of a purple Lamborghini Aventador gave the V12-engined supercar all the beans away from the barrier.

Image: Mark Horsburgh

The attitude to driving in Britain is much more relaxed than Australia, with 140km/h the normal cruising pace for everyday traffic despite an official 110 limit on motorways. There is politeness and consideration for most of the time, probably because driving is a privilege and a skill in the UK and not just an essential job to get from A-to-B. There are plenty of speed cameras around small villages, but the police on motorways are more worried about the big picture than pictures to raise revenue.

But back to motorsport, where the tiddlers of the British Touring Car Championship are never going to be a replacement for the Aussie V8 muscle of Supercars.

There are weekly stories of intrigue and drama in the Supercars world, but the general picture and direction is extremely positive.

Everyone in the UK definitely sees it that way.

Thinking about the helicopter view also reminds me that we are living through an extraordinary time in the life and career of Shane van Gisbergen.

Apart from the successful defence of his Supercars crown, which has been an odds-on bet since the first race of 2022, we’ve also seen him racing for the first time at Le Mans, racing at the front of the Bathurst 12-Hour, and winning on his second major rally start with a Skoda.

The man is a freak.

He is not everyone’s favourite racer, and he never likes to use two words if one will get the job done, but he is an extraordinary talent at the peak of his form.

Some Supercars insiders believe that van Gisbergen is the best of all time and they could be right.

It’s a discussion and an argument for another day but right now, fresh from the UK, I cannot wait to see him back in action in Supercars.

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FORMULA 1 NEWS LUIS VASCONCELOS

Image: Motorsport Images

F1 ROLL-HOOPS SET FOR MAJOR CHANGES FOR 2023 FORMULA ONE’S Safety Commission has launched an inquiry into last Sunday’s scary crash that, amongst other issues, saw Zhou Guanyu’s car lose its roll-hoop in the frightening incident.

Approaching Turn 1 for the first time at the British Grand Prix, the Alfa Romeo F1 flipped and scraped upside down for more than 100 metres, first on tarmac, then on the gravel trap outside Silverstone’s Turn 1, losing the roll-hoop bar in the process, before barrel-rolling over the tyre barrier, and crashing – fortunately bottom first – into the safety fence and falling down into the space between that net and the guardrails.

Miraculously, Zhou escaped the massive crash with almost no injuries, though it took some time to release him from the car.

Following the incident several things are under review, from the collapse of a rollhoop structure that passed all the FIAmandatory tests at first attempt, to the fact that the gravel trap didn’t do anything to

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slow the Alfa Romeo down, to the presence of a small width of tarmac between the end of the gravel trap and the tyre wall that appeared to launch the C42 over the protection barriers, to where the car landed.

That means there’s quite a lot of data to go through but the first priority is to understand how a safety structure that passed all mandatory crash and pull tests collapsed so quickly – as soon as the Alfa Romeo was upside down and scratching along the tarmac.

It has already been pointed out that Alfa Romeo remains the only team that has a single spike roll-hoop structure in its cars, a trend started by Mercedes back in 2010 and copied by a couple of other teams, but abandoned by all bar the Swiss team in the last few years.

A fast and quick decision the FIA could take would be to ban the use of single spike roll-hoop structures from the Technical Regulations and even go as far as imposing

a standard design for the more traditional round structures.

That, paired up with an increase of the forces used on the crash and drag tests, would be the easiest way to try and solve the problem. While the Federation wants to avoid making knee-jerk reactions, the fact that teams will start building their 2023 monocoques in less than three months puts the pressure on the regulator to come up with a quick solution that will prevent rollhoop failures from happening again.

That’s why the head of the FIA, Mohammed Ben Sulayem plans to create a task force involving all teams, but also experts like Ross Brawn, Pat Symonds, Patrick Head and others, to quickly come up with a bullet-proof solution for this problem, while appointing other people to look into the other issues Zhou’s horrifying crash brought up.

Preliminary conclusions are expected by the end of the month, around the Hungarian

Grand Prix time, with recommendations and changes to the 2023 Technical Regulations set to be introduced during the next FIA World Council for Motor Sport that will be held at the start of September in a location yest to be determined.

Given Sauber Alfa Romeo has strict protocols to make sure its cars are safe, it’s somehow ironic this is the third time an accident from one of its cars leads to changes in the Technical Regulations – it was Karl Wendlinger’s 1994 qualifying crash in Monaco that led to the introduction of mandatory high head protections around the cockpit of the cars.

The other crash, which saw Pedro Diniz roll at the Nurburgring in 1999, led to the introduction of pull and drag tests to the rollhoops of Formula One cars as the structure had been ripped off as the Brazilian’s car dug in and dragged along the grass after being tipped into a roll in the second corner of the German track.

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Bruce Williams bruce@autoaction.com.au 0418 349 555 EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Bruce Williams DEPUTY EDITOR NEWS EDITOR

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CONTRIBUTING WRITERS AUSTRALIA Andrew Clarke, Bruce Newton, Mark Bisset, Garry O’Brien, Geoffrey Harris, Bob Watson, Bruce Moxon, Gary Hill, Craig O’Brien, Mick Oliver, Martin Agatyn.

FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem (right) with Stefano Domenicali – re-asserting FIA control of F1. Motorsport Images

FORMULA 1 Luis Vasconelos US CORRESPONDENT Mike Brudenell PHOTOGRAPHERS AUSTRALIA Daniel Kalsz, Mark Horsburgh, Ross Gibb, Rebecca Hind, Mick Oliver, David Batchelor, Randall Kilner, Rhys Vandersyde, Richard Hathaway, MTR Images, Bruce Moxon, Ray Ritter, autopics.com.au

FIA IS RIGHT TO GET CONTROL OF F1 AGAIN MOHAMMED BEN Sulayem didn’t run for president of the FIA for money, glory or an easy life – that much has been clear since the day he took office, in early December of last year.

Money, frankly, is something the Emirati never needed, for he’s had it in buckets since the day he was born; glory doesn’t seem to be on his agenda, as he keeps a low profile in public and rarely issues statements, seeming quite media averse, for now.

And an easy life is not what he’s going to get with his agenda to reassert the FIA’s control over the Formula One World Championship after 12 years in which everything was progressively handed to the control of the Commercial Rights Holder.

While Jean-Marie Balestre and Max Mosley ran the FIA with an iron fist, the Englishman handed a lot of control to his mate and ‘partner in crime’ Bernie Ecclestone, only intervening when he felt the manufacturers were getting too much control of the sport – and, being a contributing factor a few times during his extremely long tenure, for their departure from Formula One. After he left, the relationship between Jean Todt and Bernie Ecclestone was never an easy

with Luis Vasconcelos

F1 INSIDER one, for they held many grudges against each other, but soon the Frenchman seemed to lose interest in Formula One and put most of his effort into the motoring side of the FIA, practically abandoning any action in the sporting arena, his push for the current generation of Power Units being his last hurrah in Formula One. Once his friends and former employees – Ross Brawn, first, and Stefano Domenicali later – joined the Commercial Rights Holder, Todt just allowed them to do whatever they wanted, so much so that the new chassis regulations were largely dictated by Brawn and FOM’s Pat Symonds.

Ben Sulayem, however, seems to believe the FIA should have ultimate control of the sport, leaving the commercial side only in the hands of Liberty Media, the Commercial Rights Holder.

He’s also making it clear that teams will not have a decisive say in the writing and

interpretation of the Technical and Sporting Regulations and gave everyone else a shock when he used his 10 votes, out of the 30 in total, to block Formula One’s and the teams’ proposal to double the number of ‘Sprint events’ to six in 2023.

Never in his 12 years in power had Todt effectively vetoed anything proposed by Formula One or the teams, so there was considerable shock in the room when Ben Sulayem voted against the proposal – killing it, as you need 28 votes out of 30 to make changes to the rules after the normal deadline has passed. He explained that the FIA needed to do a proper study into the human and financial costs of such a change.

Now the FIA is telling the teams they cannot having flexing floors, as that was the method found by a few of them to control the porpoising effect. The Technical Directive draft the FIA Technical Director Nikolas Tombazis sent to

WHAT’S IN THE NEXT ISSUE?

Supercars ‘Mid-term’ review, AA looks at who is performing and who is under pressure, Formula 1 French Grand Prix - Circuit Paul Ricard, Paul Gover drives Sam Shahin around bend with his questions...

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the teams is very clear – it’s going to go through, like it or not, even as a safety measure if there is any legal challenge to it.

Suddenly the teams and Formula One are finding that they have to deal with an active third party, one that effectively makes and changes the regulations and one they cannot get rid of easily, unless they injvest in huge cost and legal issues.

So, they are having to adapt their ways to try and get what they want.

Personally, I think Ben Sulayem has taken on the right challenge, because the FIA is the regulator, the guarantor of safety and fairness and the ultimate referee.

Liberty Media can control all commercial issues. The teams can and should try to push the envelope in all areas of technical development, but the rules shouldn’t be written by their engineers, as each one of them will work on their team’s best interests, not in the interests of the sport.

The FIA should make the ultimate decision on all regulation matter as, after all, there’s a reason the competition is named the FIA Formula One World Championship – because it’s organized under the Federation’s umbrella.

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FORMULA 1 NEWS - LUIS VASCONCELOS

PORSCHE’S IPO DELAYS RED BULL ANNOUNCEMENT RED BULL and Porsche had agreed to announce a deal that will see the German manufacturer take a minority shareholding of the Austrian structure – the Formula One team plus the Powertrains’ division – during last weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix, but a late call from the finanacial department of the German manufacturer put a stop to that and delayed the formal announcement everyone knows is coming until the beginning of October.

The reason, according to sources close to the two partners, is Porsche’s decision to go public and put together an IPO at the end of the third quarter of this year, as it was felt the announcement of a huge investment in Formula One could lower the price the German’s expect to get once they put their company up for public offer.

Earlier in the year, the company’s CEO, Hans Dieter Pötsch, said that, “the actual feasibility of the IPO depends on a variety of different influencing factors, such as the general market conditions.”

The initial plan seemed to have been to launch the operation at the end of the first quarter, but the instability created by Russian’s attack on Ukraine has encouraged Porsche to be cautious and nearly four months later the situation has not really evolved in a favorable way for the car manufacturers.

The hope now is that, in three months, the war will have finished and that there will confidence in the market to encourage people to invest in what will be a massive IPO, the deal with Red Bull being announced just a few days later after the money from the investors is raised.

What seems to be certain is that Porsche will only design and develop the V6 engine with the turbo and compressor in it, with Red Bull Powertrains being responsible for the hybrid power part of the Power Unit, notably the MGU-K, where their experience

Red Bull designer Adrian Newey (left) and team principal Christian Horner will have to wait for formal confirmation of their Porsche deal ...

Images: Motorsport Images with Honda will help – the Japanese manufacturer seems to have the most efficient deployment system in the field after making radical changes to it as soon as it moved out of McLaren and into Red Bull territory.

On Honda’s side, the presence of a delegation of notables at the Red Bull Ring, led by the company’s new CEO, Toshihiro Mibe, raised expectations of an

announcement, but the delay on the Red Bull-Porsche’s partnership, together with the tragic events that unfolded in Japan at the start of the weekend, led to the group opting to take a very low profile and avoid making any public statements at the race meeting.

It was however clear, off the record, as it has been since the announcement that the company was leaving Formula One

that, while influential members of the board don’t want Honda to have anything to do with Grand Prix racing in the future, those in HRC are still keeping a keen eye on the 2026 Technical Regulations, hoping the Board of Directors will review its previous decision and allow them to go back to racing – which has always been Honda’s design and development background .

FLEXING FLOOR BAN DELAYED UNTIL BELGIUM THE SURPRISINGLY strict Technical Directive 039B has cleared any legal challenges Red Bull and Ferrari might be planning to take to prevent stricter checks on the flexibility of the car’s floors.

The FIA found, on analysis of the data collected during the Canadian Grand Prix that, “it has become increasingly apparent from driver comments that excessive aerodynamic oscillations and/or car grounding can lead to severe pain, headaches, or loss of concentration, with the potential to cause a high- speed accident. They may also reduce the controllability of the car, thus increasing the chance of an accident. The FIA has therefore concluded that cars with excessive oscillations or high levels of grounding may be deemed to be of a “dangerous construction”, the term “construction” here extending to cover matters such as the aerodynamic configuration of the car, or its mechanical setup.”

The Technical Directive was

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intended to be implemented from the French Grand Prix onwards, but at the team’s request a compromise was reached and it will now be two races later, startingfrom the Belgian Grand Prix, that the FIA will monitor the flexibility of the floors, planks and skids and penalise any team that exceeds the new,

stricter, tolerances. But already, at Silverstone and Spielberg, all the top teams had new bars, in titanium or other solid materials, attached to the floors of their cars – on the outside for Red Bull and Ferrari, on the inside for Mercedes – to prevent excessive flexing and, therefore, any challenges to the legality of their cars.

‘Happy Chappies’ ... not! Left to right – Messrs Horner, Vasseur and Steiner.

BUDGET CAP COMPROMISE REACHED IN SPIELBERG AN INCREASE of 3.1 per cent in this year’s budget cap was finally agreed in a meeting of the Formula One Commission held on Friday morning in Spielberg.

The bigger teams had been pushing for a bigger increase on their allowance for this season, Christian Horner being the most vocal campaigner, explaining that “British inflation is going up to nine per cent – there are costs we cannot cut and there’s a risk some teams will have to miss the last four

races to stay within the budget cap.” It’s an exaggeration, of course, as the budget cap is calculated in US dollars and the pound has dropped 11.4 per cent since the invasion of Ukraine.

In the end, the Red Bull man was the only one still unhappy the budget cap hadn’t been increased even further.

On the other side of the fence, Alpine’s Otmar Szafnauer found himself the only one voting against this increase, after Haas, Alfa

Romeo and Williams accepted a compromise was necessary. The Romanian-born American said: “I have to accept the ruling, because they got the votes but you cannot go and change the rules mid-season just because some teams are unable to manage their accounts.”

In the end, it was Haas’ Gunther Steiner who summed it best when he said that “the final decision left everyone unhappy and that’s always a sing of a good compromise!”

NEW QUALIFYING FORMAT GETS TWO TESTS IN 2023 THE FIA World Council for Motor Sports meeting last week didn’t approve the new Power Unit Technical Regulations for 2026 and beyond, as expected, but came with a raft of changes aimed at clarifying the current Sporting and Technical regulations that will have a bigger effect on the Power Units than on any other part of the cars.

But one modification that has gone under the radar regards a tentative qualifying format the FIA will try at two Grands Prix next year, again with the goal of trying to spice things up. At those two events, still to be selected, Only 11 sets of dry weather tyres will be available for each driver, instead of the current 13, with only one set per driver being returned to Pirelli after FP1 and another after FP2, against the two that are currently discarded.

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The biggest change, though, is that drivers will only be allowed to use the Hard compound tyre in Q1, the Medium compound tyre in Q2 and the Soft compound tyre in Q1 – currently teams and drivers are free to choose whatever compounds they want to use in each qualifying segment.

Pirelli will also get a big increase on the number of testing days the teams will have to take part in with the development of future tyres, with 30 days being allocated by the FIA to such tests, while the current number is set at 20. This means each team will have to provide one car and one Grand Prix driver for three days of testing from the start of 2023, one more than this year. It also means they’ll have to test at two different tracks, while until now some teams have been able to get their two days of running in

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the same circuit and on consecutive days.

What has yet to be changed is the number of Sprint Race weekends the 2023 Formula One World Championship will feature, as the FIA hasn’t budged from its stance of blocking an increase from the current three events to six, as Formula One and the 10 competing teams requested a while ago. According to sources from the FIA, the matter was not even discussed during the World Council.

Future Power Unit regulations is the other hot topic of the moment, as representatives for Porsche and Audi are pushing to have the 2026 Technical Regulations agreed, to give them enough time to design and developed their Power Units in time to be competitive and reliable right from the start of the pre-season testing for that year’s Formula One World Championship.

SAUDI ARABIA AND AUSTRALIA PAIR UP FOR 2023 CALENDAR FORMULA ONE has accepted a request from all Formula One teams and will not start the 2023 World Championship with back-to-back races. The original plan was to have Bahrain and Saudi Arabia twinned at the start of March, repeating what was done this year, but the teams argued they need time to analyse extensively all the data they gathered from the first Grand Prix of the season in order to get a better preparation for the second race.

This means the start of the season will look quite silly for the casual Formula One observer, as Bahrain will host the only preseason test session – still to be decided if the cars will run for three or four days in Sakhir – but the test will end on February 25, the Saturday before the start of the championship, and Bahrain will hold a stand-alone Grand Prix on March 5.

The teams will then get their cars back to base in Europe, to check every single part of their cars, and then Formula One will head out for a very unusual back-toback starting in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on March 19 and followed one week later by the Australian Grand Prix, that will be held on March 26.

Stefano Domenicali’s plan remains to get 24 Grand Prix into next year’s calendar and Monaco was certainly part of the tentative calendar presented to the Team Principals last weekend in Spielberg.

Negotiations with the Monegasque promoter are back on track after Prince Albert himself decided to intervene to secure the future of his race.

But Formula One still has to wait for the deal with South Africa to be completed and it is now clear Kyalami needs some serious work to be eligible for an A-grade License from the FIA, the design and run-off area of Turn 10 being the biggest challenge the circuit owner faces to get the track ready on time.

The commercial evaluation conducted by the FIA and the local promoters gave promising results – the extension and cost of the deal, five years, starting at US$40 million per year, has been agreed but not signed – so the safety of the track is the final obstacle that needs to be overcome for the contract to be signed.

Until that is done, Domenicali cannot present a definitive calendar, with the added problem that he cannot leave South Africa in a provisional spot in the calendar and then replace it with either France or Belgium if a deal is not done. Kyalami can host races in March and April, at the start of the season, and from October to December, at the end of the championship during the end of its summer or the start of its spring, and going to SpaFrancorchamps or the Paul Ricard at those times is impossible, due to weather conditions.

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INSIDE THE WINNING MACHINE

AT MERCEDES-AMG HOW THE SILVER ARROWS GET THEIR EDGE FOR FORMULA ONE

Images courtesy Mercedes-AMG

By Paul Gover LEWIS HAMILTON makes a big deal about thanking the team at the Mercedes-AMG factory whenever he wins in Formula One. After visiting the team’s giant F1 campus in the tiny British town of Brackley, a few miles down the road from Silverstone, it’s easy to understand why he does it.

Just on 1000 people work at what is officially called the home of MercedesAMG Petronas Motorsport and, between

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them, they produce a new idea to make his F1 racer better and faster every 20 minutes of every day.

Yes, 20 minutes. Seven days a week, every week.

There are plenty of F1 headliners in the workforce, from Hamilton and George Russell to team boss, and one-third team owner, Toto Wolff, but there are literally hundreds of people who are essential to winning a grand prix.

There is the person, beavering away in

a darkened room, who is responsible for crack testing vital components.

There is a giant crew, working 24-hour shifts, cosseting the high-tech machines that turn high-tech drawings into hightech parts.

Everywhere you look, there is someone in a team shirt with a focused look and a job to do.

Visiting the home of the Silver Arrows is a rare treat, even for Auto Action, but this is not my first time.

In fact, the first time I was at Brackley was when it was the the home base for BAR – the team part-founded by former world champion Jacques Villeneuve after his glory days at Williams.

Back then, there was plenty of open space, green lawns, an impressive glassfronted headquarters and a few other race-style buildings where the work was done.

Through the Honda F1 times, I was back again and the open space was shrinking rapidly as the costs and complications

“ ”

of grand prix racing meant many more people and much more money.

This time, there is hardly any space to move.

There is still some garden greenery around a small stream, but the campus is giant and massively impressive.

No pictures are allowed, but there is everything from the design offices to the wind tunnel down to the individual bays for the race cars. The simulator is one of the key components to the program, doing most of its vital work after Free Practice 2 at each GP to provide tweaks for qualifying day at the circuit.

In a welcome nod to the history at Brackley, there is even an original BAR racer – likely a show car, but with the famous ‘zipper’ livery that split space between 555 and Lucky Strike cigarettes – in the paint department.

Speaking of paint, did you know that the F1 team is the only Mercedes-Benz offshoot that is allowed to hand-paint the famous three-pointed star – a real badge

“There is the person, beavering away in a darkened room, who is responsible for crack testing vital components.”

Such is the space requirement for developing the new-generation of F1 cars that some of the previous generation show cars are hung from the ceiling!

INSIDE STORIES In 2017, after difficulties in qualifying at Monaco, the team ran its in-house simulator for two weeks straight to fix the problem and improve performance. Lewis Hamilton put the car on pole at the following race in Canada.

In 2018, a ride-height changed suggested by the simulation team for the Singapore GP allowed Hamilton to claim pole with a margin of 0.3 seconds and 1.9 seconds quicker than Sebastian Vettel had lapped for P1 a year earlier.

In Russia in 2018, the home team recommended a steering rack change for Valtteri Bottas and he put the car on pole.

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would weigh too much and upset the frontal airflow on its cars. Really.

It’s like that all the way through a twohour tour, which is covered in a 52-page brochure for invited guests and celebrated with a gift bag including a signed team hat and a model kit for the team’s latest LEGO collaboration.

Without digging into all the technical detail, there are some very important things to know about Benz F1 central.

Firstly, it’s only the car side. All the powertrain work is done somewhere else, where another 350 people are dedicated to F1 success.

Secondly, it operates on a cost cap. It might be $210 million, excluding payments to Hamilton and Russell and the catering and marketing bills, but there was talk that Mercedes was spending more than $350 million before the cost clampdown.

Only Ferrari has pockets that deep.

And yet, this year’s W13 is being consistently outpaced despite the big

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brains and the big investment at Brackley.

F1 is like that …

Compared with other grand prix teams, the Mercedes-AMG factory is impressive but not outstanding.

It doesn’t have the award winning design and slick finishing of the McLaren Technology Centre – where they are, right now, installing a new driver simulator that will set a new standard for F1 – or the gritty working-class history of the Aston Martin base that began life under Eddie Jordan and is soon to be transformed into another F1 ‘campus’ by Lawrence Stroll’s cash and ambition.

But if you think about any detail of a grand prix car, from the tiniest nut to the wiring loom, it’s imagined and designed and developed at Brackley.

This is rammed home when I spend a full 20 minutes talking to a technician, not even a qualified engineer, who is working

on the latest W13’s braking system. His knowledge and enthusiasm is amazing, as he talks me through the Brembo callipers – entirely designed in-house despite the marketing deal that gives them Italian branding – and then the way the system operates and copes with the demands of hybrid energy regeneration while giving the drivers the feel they need under their left foot.

Then there is the rapid-prototyping area, where parts are created from nothing – or giant blocks of vastly expensive metals – by huge machines that probably lead the space race.

Everywhere you go, everything you see, and everyone you meet, has a story and a commitment and a talent.

No-one at the Mercedes-AMG base is there by accident. They are as good at their job and as committed to success as Lewis Hamilton.

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MORE THAN JUST

PRETTY PICTURES BEHIND THE SCENES AT SUPERCARS TELEVISION

By Paul Gover THE INSIDE of the broadcast compound at a Supercars race is another world.

It’s a world where whole walls of screens reflect the on-track action, where data flows as freely as a thousand simultaneous Google searches, and where a team as talented as any group in the pitlane garages is also racing for success. Just like the action on the track, every second counts in television land.

The difference is that there is no champagne or victory podium, although there have been Logie awards for a job (very, very) well done.

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Neil Crompton is the front man in television land, but there are many dozens of people making him and Jess Yates and Mark Skaife and Garth Tander and the rest of the ‘talking heads’ look good in lounge rooms and man caves across the country.

They have to sound good, too.

Then there are the graphics, from the ticker tape that reflects the race places on every lap through to the time clocks for qualifying and the point-score panels that pop up at the finish of every race.

Phew. It’s a massive undertaking and much more than just about beaming pretty pictures back from the track.

“The objective is to present the sport in the best possible light, and also to entertain and educate the viewers,” the former head of Supercars Television, Nathan Prendergast, tells Auto Action.

“That’s not a hard-and-fast rule, that’s just my opinion. But I think it works.

“Every time we turn up, our aim is to make sure that we capture the story of what’s happened since we arrived and why it has happened. We also have to make sure we tell the story of the strategy and personality for each race. And we also have to make it broadly understandable to anyone watching.”

Prendergast is gone now from the television

compound after more than 20 years, headed for a new challenge in Tony Cochrane’s ambitious new FIM Supercross World Championship and his personal passion project, the promotion and television coverage of the Australian Top Fuel drag racing championship.

But he has seen and driven it all and leaves an incredible legacy as David Tunnicliffe moves up to become the head of the broadcast team.

Venturing into the heart of Supercars Television, after a rare and welcome invitation from Prendergast, is a mind altering event.

There is so much happening. So many levels.

Top right: Recently departed head of Supercars TV Nathan Prendergast rates Neil Crompton as “the best” .

Centre: Newest commentary recruit is Garth Tander.

Right: The OB trucks are a huge investment ...

Below: Jess Yates – also impresses the departing boss.

Images: Motorsport Images, Mark Horsburgh, Ross Gibb Photography, InSyde Media

So many people.

It’s like stepping through a portal into a parallel universe where the gods of television are watching everything and making splitsecond decisions on who and what to send to the big screen.

If you’ve seen the movie The Truman Show, you’ll have some idea of what it’s like. But only a taste.

It’s impossible to remotely unwrap and unravel the action during a Supercars broadcast, apart from watching the biggest screen in front of Tunnicliffe to maintain a grip on what’s happening on the track outside.

It looks and feels a lot like the command centre for a space launch. Minus the cigarette smoke from the moon shots in the sixties, of course.

There are specialists in every area and every chair, feeding and filtering the soundand-picture inputs from around the circuit before it is rapidly analysed, priorities and graded to ensure that only the best stuff heads for homes.

“The television viewer needs to get the maximum show with the best possible

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storytelling and entertainment. That’s the shit that makes it special,” says Prendergast.

Turning back to basics, there are fixed camera positions around the circuit, roving wireless cameras in the pit and paddock, the ‘desk’ in one of the garages where the ’talent’ do their interviews and analysis, the commentary booth where Neil Crompton and Mark Skaife spruik the action, and then two giant trucks which are home to the technical team. There is a third truck for meetings and office work.

No-one talks about the cost of running the Supercars show, but there are six-figure salaries for the key players – both ahead and behind the cameras – and giant bills for everything from the technical ‘bump-in’ required to connect everything at each track through to catering during the Bathurst 1000 week.

One number does emerge, and it’s a big one.

“I believe that HD5, the main broadcast truck, is worth something like $10 million.

They are an expensive piece of kit,” says Prendergast.

Much of the technical equipment is owned

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by Gravity Media, a company that specialises in outside broadcasts. When Channel 7 goes to the Gold Coast for the Dawn Service on Anzac Day, the Gravity trucks are parked up and powering beside the beach at Currumbin.

“Their key stuff is large, outdoor sporting events,” says Prendergast.

“We have agreed hand-over times. We are tenants. We are effectively renting the space.”

So now it’s time for some of the other hard numbers.

The minimum head count for a Supercars telecast is 72 people, on the short course at

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Wanneroo Park in Perth. Heading to Mount Panorama, for The Great Race, the broadcast crew grows to around 300 people. There are many kilometres of cabling, generators, hotel rooms, meals, flights, even make-up and clothing – including fire suits for the workers in pitlane.

But only 10 of the team are full-time Supercars employees, with the rest arriving and working as specialty contractors.

“At Winton we have eight track cameras and four RF (shoulder-mounted Radio Frequency) cameras. Three specialty cameras,” Prendergast begins.

“Every Supercar has a minimum of two cameras, another 10 have four cameras, and there are three in the rest. All-up, between Supercars and the support categories, there are 72 different in-car cameras. There is a lot of hardware.”

“In terms of people, there are three in audio and seven in the main control room. Another six in the EVS replay area, where all the camera sources come in and are recorded onto hard drives,” says Prendergast.

“There is a senior EVS producer who talks to the director. There is always a technical director. And a camera control unit, to

ensure the vision is properly exposed with the right colours.”

There is a clear chain of command, which assesses and filters the action or takes direction on which car or driver to focus on.

Then there is the requirement for rapid replays, but they must be tightly timed so they can fit into a time and a place on the circuit where there is unlikely to be any major action.

“When we sit in the truck and make the live calls, that’s where the magic happens,” says Prendergast.

“Sitting at home, watching the television screen, you don’t appreciate how the pictures are put together and the work that goes into getting everything right.

“Anyone can go from one camera to the next, following the live action on a wide shot.

It’s all about the ability to choose the right shot at the right time. Going trackside, or a close-up, or an in-car.”

For a rookie who is watching it all happen it could easily trigger a brain freeze or a panic attach. But the members of the television crew say it gets easier, but never entirely routine, over time.

“There are two parts to live television. There is the huge amount of background work to ensure that everything is right on the night.

It’s the rundown, the timing, the planning.

“Then there is covering the action and not missing anything, as it happens.”

It sounds like a recipe for a heart attack, and there is giant stress, but everyone involved in Supercars television is an expert. And usually they have plenty of years on the job.

“You have to be able to deal with a lot of stress to be involved in live television,” says Prendergast.

“Most of the people in our game are highly experienced. As an example, Dave Hannan, our audio director, has 26 years of experience. Ian ‘Fish’ O’Brien has done 45 Bathursts and he is 74 and still loving it.

“ ”

“The objective is to present the sport in the best possible light, and also to entertain and educate the viewers.”

“There are a lot of people that we hang onto. But we’re trying to get more people involved because it is such a specialised industry.”

Talking about people and products, Prendergast is always comparing the Supercars coverage to other motorsport.

“If you’re talking about coverage of the sport, MotoGP is definitely up there. The way they do their coverage and graphics package is something to aspire to.

“Formula One has come a very long way in recent years. But Formula One is always going to have its limitations because it’s a true world feed. It has to be tailored across multiple regions, levels of understanding and different audiences.”

He rates Supercars highly, but places Neil Crompton right at the top.

“I’m biased, but I think Neil is about as good as it comes to his vocabulary, tone, intelligence, and ability to report the action.

He is also a friend.

“He carries all of the facets you need to be the best. Certainly Neil is up there as one of the greatest broadcasters I’ve ever seen. Neil can host and can present, but I’m also really impressed with Jess Yates. She is fantastic, at a global level.”

So, then, what makes a good commentator

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like Crompton, or a good pitlane reporter like Garth Tander, or an analyst like Mark Larkham?

“It’s research, hard work, understanding the product and audience, a quality of voice, quick speed and an understanding of the right words at the right time.

“And the right amount of words. The thing most people do wrong is they try to fill the void. They need to know when to talk and when not to talk.”

There is no time to talk in the broadcast truck, but afterwards the visual download takes a long time. And so does framing the words to reflect the scene inside Supercars television.

“For me, it’s about pretty pictures. And pretty pictures should bring good numbers.

But it’s much more than that.

“If you entertain and inform the audience then the broadcast will rate. But you cannot rely just on the visuals. Broadcasting Supercars is much more than that,” says Prendergast.

It’s something to remember the next time you fire up the television on a Supercars weekend, because lots of people are matching the effort and enthusiasm of the race teams to ensure the broadcast scores its own success.

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OUR

PORSCHE MATT CAMPBELL IS A LE MANS 24 HOUR CLASS WINNER, BATHURST 12 HOUR WINNER AND NOW A FACTORY PORSCHE PENSKE DRIVER, DAN MCCARTHY OUTLINES THE AUSSIE’S TARGETS AND EXPECTATIONS IN THE HYPERCAR ERA MATT CAMPBELL is a man in demand after being signed as an official Porsche Penske factory driver. Auto Action, along with other select Australian media, took part in a roundtable media conference.

Campbell spoke openly about his first tests in the LMDh (Le Mans Daytona Hypercar) Porsche 963 and his expectations.

In case you may not know, the Aussie was confirmed as a Porsche Penske Hypercar driver and will drive in either the World Endurance Championship or IMSA Sportscar Championship next year for outright victory.

The 963 was publicly revealed at the Goodwood Festival of Speed – however Campbell revealed in the press conference that he has already cut some laps.

Campbell has proven himself as a GT ace, but has no prior racing experience in a prototype.

“It’s a big step for me moving into prototypes and into LMDh with Porsche Penske Motorsport, but looking forward to it and really enjoyed the time so far,” Campbell said.

“I’ve done a bit of time on the sim and I’ve had two tests so far, one at the Porsche test track and then we had a three-day test at Aragon (in Spain) around two months ago.

“So, Aragon was the first time where I got some proper experience in a prototype car ... that was quite cool.”

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ACE

The 27-year-old was pleased to report the step up to the 963 was not as big as he expected, and a test in the Team Penske LMP2 car helped him acclimatise before jumping in the Hypercar.

“I would say the progression from GT to LMDh – at least on the circuits I’ve driven so far – has actually been smaller than expected, which has been a good thing,” he said.

“These cars are actually quite a lot heavier than the former LMP1 class ... the weight, you can definitely feel it, and I think it’s made that step a little bit easier.

“I had the fortune late last year to have a test of an LMP2 car with Penske at Indianapolis, and it was a really good opportunity to be able to get a bit of seat time in a prototype.

“I was not worried before going in or anything like that, but certainly I was quite open-minded at how different it was going to be.

“It’s (the 963) really, really cool (to drive) – obviously a lot more downforce than what I’m used to and a lot more grunt. The thing is pretty quick in a straight line, so it’s a lot of fun.”

While the GTE and GT3 Porsches he knows so well are naturally aspirated, the 963 (named aptly in honour of the legendary Porsche 962) will be powered by a hybrid V8 engine.

As a result, the machine is a massive step

Australia’s Porsche factory driver had to keep the world’s biggest secret quiet for some months ...

It takes him from GT to the very top sports car category.

The LMDh Porsche was revealed to the public at the recent Goodwood Festival – but it had already undergone significant testing in private ... Images: Motorsport Images / supplied. up in technology – Campbell believes getting his head around this will be the toughest challenge for him as a Hypercar driver.

“The biggest challenge will be the systems – they are so complex now with the hybrid technology,” Campbell explained.

“Porsche is also learning at the same time, because in LMDh, the MGU, and also gearboxes are all homologated parts. It’s the same for all LMDh cars, so that’s something quite unique.

“At the moment we’re the only LMDh car running – some other cars are starting to run shortly. But this is very new and something that takes a lot of time to be able to adapt to, and learn all the systems and strategies involved.

“It’s very interesting, but for sure that’s been the biggest step. Luckily I have a lot more time in the car coming up later in the year.”

Although the systems are very advanced, ergonomically it is not too dissimilar to what he is used to. This is why he is confident of getting used to the car quickly.

He explained that the car still feels raw at this stage, but more comfortable each time he jumps behind the wheel.

“Even though it’s a lot more advanced and you’ve got a lot more things going on, the controls are very similar to what I’m used to from the GTE RSR, so it makes the adaption a lot easier with steering wheel displays and ergonomics,” Campbell said.

“A lot of that process, even though it looks quite daunting at first, has actually been a lot easier than expected.

“But I’ve been in the car a couple of times now and still need a lot more miles, that’s for sure, but feeling comfortable already.”

Porsche Penske Motorsport is based at two locations, one in Mannheim, Germany and the other in Mooresville, North Carolina, USA. A lot of attention is now turning to the American side of things.

“The testing will now start to switch over to US,” he said. “We’ve only got a couple more tests to go in Europe before the majority of testing moves over to the US, so much more miles to come in the car, which is really important.

“Obviously, for us (Porsche) there’s a lot of us drivers that don’t have much prototype experience, so the next six months will be really critical for finalising car development, and also getting comfortable in the car and that sort of thing.”

While it is new information for us that he will race an LMDh Porsche, Campbell has kept the secret for a long time, as has current IMSA Sportscar Championship Mathieu Jaminet.

When he found out about the program, he started asking questions and found that Porsche was on the same wave length – they wanted him to drive.

“Late in 2020 we found out Porsche was moving into LMDh. At the time it was not really understood that it was going to be with Penske or anything like that,” he recalled.

“I felt like I was ready and wanted to progress on to bigger and better things.

Obviously being with the young professional program and early stages as a factory driver you’re doing a lot of customer-based stuff.

“ ”

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“I always wanted to have a full-time factory seat and with such an opportunity presenting itself I started to ask as many questions and see what was possible from the from the first stages.

“It’s really cool that Porsche have put their trust in a couple of young guys like me and Mathieu for the future.

“It was around maybe May of last year when Porsche spoke to me and Mattieu about the possibility of something like this coming together and happening.

“Talks got very serious pretty quickly and it all progressed from there. I think Mattieu and I were actually among the first to sign up to the program.”

Some of the most famous names in Motorsport have won at Le Mans for Porsche, and around the globe for Team Penske. To race for both of those brands is something Campbell describes as a real honour.

The question was asked: does racing for Porsche and Team Penske add pressure or expectations?

“It’s a mixed one that one,” he replied.

“Going into it as a driver, being a part of the program with Porsche Penske definitely gives us a little bit more confidence as drivers, knowing that we have about six months more time of development up our sleeves over our competitors, which is very important as the cars are so complex.

“For sure, with the two pedigrees of Porsche and Penske, there’s a lot of pressure to be able to perform and do well. They want to win the big races (Le Mans and Daytona 24 Hour) and get championships from the beginning ... we do as well as drivers.

“Knowing how much experience we’ve been able to gain in last six months, it puts us in a better position than some of the other manufacturers!”

The Porsche Penske drivers selected to race in the program are certainly of high calibre.

Along with Campbell and Jaminet, experienced Porsche works drivers Andre Lotterer, Kevin Estre, Michael Christensen, Laurens Vanthoor have been confirmed as well as accomplished IMSA Sportscar steerers Dane Cameron and ex-F1 driver Felipe Nasr. It is yet to be confirmed which drivers will run in IMSA, which will compete in WEC and what the car combinations will be.

While Campbell himself doesn’t know, he does have a preference for a series and teammate.

“For me, I’d prefer to have the seat in IMSA especially with Mathieu (Jaminet), because there are only two drives in IMSA compared to three in WEC. Me and Mattieu have done everything together in the last two or three years,” the former Porsche Carrera Cup Australia series winner said.

“For me, our relationship and partnership in the car is really, really strong, and I love the racing style in US – it’s proper old-school, similar to what I know from home in Australia, so I prefer that.

“I’ve been in WEC for around four years, more or less since I’ve joined Porsche, after the young professional program, and really enjoyed it, but I must say I’m really loving the US style and racing over here.”

Reports are that Porsche is unlikely to field the IMSA entries at Le Mans, or the WEC entries at Daytona in 2023 – although this may change beyond that.

It’s (the 963) really, really cool to drive – obviously a lot more downforce than what I’m used to and a lot more grunt. The thing is pretty quick in a straight line, so it’s a lot of fun ...

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TAYLOR

GILL

EARLY RISER

TAYLOR GILL HAS BEEN ONE OF THE SURPRISE PACKETS OF THE 2022 AUSTRALIAN RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP SO FAR, STEERING HIS SUBARU TO A PRODUCTION CUP ASCENDENCY AS A TEENAGER. THIS IS ONLY JUST THE BEGINNING, AS JOSH NEVETT DISCOVERED FEW DRIVERS are as passionate about their craft as Taylor Gill.

There is nothing that Australia’s latest rising rally star enjoys more than munching up miles of rugged terrain in a suitably equipped off-road machine, and his enthusiasm has quickly translated into results that are turning heads.

In his second Australian Rally Championship campaign, 18-year-old Gill has shown maturity and talent beyond his years to lead the Production Cup standings after three rounds, despite not making the trip over to Western Australia for Round 2.

While sport can start to get serious when you match it with the best, Gill is still fuelled by his love of the drive.

“Nothing beats driving a rally car down a really good stage, the sensation of driving the car is so good,” Gill tells Auto Action.

“The first time I did a motorkhana and got to slide a car around on a wet skid pan I thought ‘wow, this is unbelievable’.

“Then the first time I got to do a khanacross on gravel, I thought ‘nothing beats this – it was like a drug, and it just keeps pulling me back.”

The youngster has been obsessed with the sights, sounds and smells of motorsport for as long as he can remember, picking up the bug from his father who has guided him through every step of the way.

Like many, Gill started his journey in karting, attaining a licence at age seven before using Newcastle as a base to travel

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up and down the east coast of Australia competing in events.

Looking back now, Gill cherishes that period as one of growth, discovery and improvement, especially given that he got behind the wheel so early in life.

“Karting taught me so much,” he explains.

“We went as high as Lismore and as low as Tasmania and raced against lots of really quick guys who are now forging their own paths in TCR, Supercars and other circuit racing categories.

“From the maturity side of driving, a lot of guys start out in rallying when they’re 18 or 19, immature and green to the sport, whereas this is my 12th year of motorsport even though I’m only 18.”

Despite spending plenty of time on sealed circuits while karting, the aim was always to move into rallying, as Gill’s father grew up in New Zealand and was naturally

inspired by seven-time ARC champion Peter ‘Possum’ Bourne.

Motorkhanas turned into khanacrosses, and khanacrosses turned into rally sprints.

Before he knew it, Gill was applying for an exemption to compete in a state rally round while still on his L plates.

Gill proved time and time again that he was not afraid of throwing himself in the deep end.

For some, that can lead to an early career demise, but for this aspiring junior it only pushed him to greater heights.

“We filed for an exemption, and it got knocked back and then we filed again and basically sort of kept going until we gave Motorsport Australia no reason to say no,” Gill says.

“I got to do my first couple of rallies on my learner’s licence.

“It’s all just natural progression. We always pushed the limits of age. The day I turned

seven, I got my go kart licence, the day I turned 12 I started doing motorkhanas and the day I turned 16 we started rallying.”

Gill made his rally debut at Batemans Bay in July 2020, finishing 12th outright in a 1999 Subaru WRX co-driven by Peter Harris.

At that point, it was clear that the newcomer had talent – however continued rapid progression would be halted by forces outside of his control.

COVID-19 reared its ugly head as Gill was looking to cement himself as a rally regular, limiting the teenager to two ARC appearances in 2021.

It was a frustrating setback, especially considering the ‘seize the day’ attitude of Gill and his team.

“We did Queensland and Canberra which were the only the only two rounds that ran because of COVID,” Gill recounts.

“You really need experience in rallying to be

at the pointy end because the guys that are at the pointy end have done these rallies before, they know the stages, they know the scenery and the surroundings of each of them.”

Importantly though, the pace and promise remained. Gill was running well until mechanical failures struck in Canberra and he just missed a Production Cup class podium in Queensland.

Unlike other categories and disciplines which leave little room for variation in equipment, the difference between a top rally car and a straggler is stark.

With an eye to turbocharging his development in 2022, Gill ditched his home built 90s WRX for a 2006 model with all the bells and whistles, boosting his chances to get closer to the frontrunners in his first full campaign.

“They’re both Subarus, they feel similar to drive, but this car just does everything so much better,” Gill says with trademark enthusiasm.

“It’s got better brakes, a better gearbox, a better engine with a better chassis, better suspension. I can get to the corners faster, brake later and so on. The whole package is a good step up.

“The results are speaking for themselves.”

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The results in question were a fourth place outright finish in Canberra and a Production Cup podium at Rally Launceston – impressive feats for a driver who is still unfamiliar with many of the locations on the calendar.

It’s fair to say that Gill did not expect to be standing on the steps so early in his career, outpacing veterans as a teenager.

He attributes the instant success to hard work, not just from him but from his small and dedicated team.

“We probably weren’t expecting to be that fast straight out of the box in Canberra.

“We showed great speed on the Saturday which put us in a good position where we had big gaps to other cars so we could just cruise through the Sunday and make sure we really got to the end to bag that good result.

“It was probably a bit surreal to be honest.

A lot of hard work went into preseason, we basically gave the car a once over across Christmas and were pushing to get to Round 1, working in the shed every night.

“I was happy for myself, but I was happy for dad and the whole team as well.

“In Tasmania the locals were really fast so it was good to be on the pace again in my seventh rally… it’s all happening very quickly.”

Gill’s support network extends far beyond his team and family, several big names including Harry Bates, Neal Bates and Molly Taylor have reached out to help guide Gill on his journey.

Further than just providing words of wisdom, the higher ups of Australian rallying have nominated Gill to compete in the FIA Rally Star Asia Pacific Continental final held in India from September 2-4.

It’s an opportunity which opens plenty of doors, with winners earning the chance to compete in the Junior World Rally Championship in 2024.

The fully fledged World Rally Championship is treated as an unlikely dream by Gill, but programs like this can be the first step to reaching the big time.

Gill could not be more excited.

“It’s a really cool opportunity,” he beams.

“It’s one of those once in a lifetime things so I absolutely had to jump at it. I’m very excited for that. It’s very hard to get to WRC but you have to jump on things like this Rally Star program, it’s probably the most direct way to get to the WRC.” Until then, Gill is channelling all his efforts into completing a strong season in the ARC. While it was never about results this year, the chance to take home silverware has become a motivator for the rest of the campaign.

“We want to wrap up the Production Cup this year,” Gill concludes.

“The goal is to go to every event and keep learning and keep getting faster.”

If Taylor Gill can manage to do that, then the sky is the limit, both literally and figuratively.

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NATIONALS WRAP

Improved Prod action – McReady (right) and Harris. Images: Riccardo Benvenuti

Matt Boylan (Mitsubishi EVO X) took out the one hour enduro.

Below: Craig Sparke in his Jacer shows the way in Formula Vee.

CLASSY NIGHT ACTION ALL CATEGORIES on the NSW Motor Race Championships fourth round June 25 program raced at night under lights at Sydney Motorsport Park. The Australian Racing Drivers Club event included open wheeler-type classes that didn’t have lights and represented a first for state championship level.

PRODUCTION TOURING MATT BOYLAN overcame a late challenge to finish first in the one-hour enduro at the third round ahead of fellow Class A2 Mitsubishi EVO X teams of Dean Campbell and Cameron Crick, and Hadrian Morrall and Tyler Mecklem.

On the penultimate lap, the charging Crick put a move on Boylan at Turn 2 but ran wide and Boylan regained the lead for a 0.9s victory. Mecklem survived a late incident with lapped cars to be next but was penalised a lap for a pitstop infringement and classified ninth.

Third went to Jack Winter (EVO 9) ahead of Harrison Cooper (EVO X) who started at the back of the 39-car grid. Next was Anthony Soole and Adam Burgess (Class X BMW M4) ahead of Dimitri Agathos (Subaru Impreza WRX STi), Simon Hodges (M4) and Ben and Michael Kavich (EVO X).

Matt Holt (A2 HSV Clubsport) was another to get penalties but finished 10th while B2 went to 11th Corrine and Tony Virag (Commodore SSV). Patrick Navin and Nathan Halstead (VW Scirocco) took Class C, Josh and Jarrod Muggleton (Audi TT) B1, and David and Geoff Tierney (Toyota 86) topped D while Hayden Auld (Hyundai Excel) had E to himself.

SUPERSPORTS THE WOLF drivers dominated the third round outright and class two placings, led

by Ryan Godfrey (Tornado) who bounded back after previous rounds poor results.

He won each race ahead of Mark Laucke (Tornado) and John-Paul Drake (Mistral).

Behind them in each were Radical SR8s drivers with Neale Muston in two races ahead of Peter White before the latter beat him in the third.

Reigning champion Darren Barlow (Stohr) was out of the first with a blown engine. Nick Kelly (Radical SR10) was sixth in race one, a DNF in the second and then scored another sixth.

Twice he finished ahead of Aaron Lee (West WR1000) who was sixth in race two. Behind him in each was Mark Brame (Radical SR3) the winner of class one.

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FORMULA VEES TO TAKE out all the races, Craig Sparke (Jacer) had to work hard. In each encounter he had five to six challengers, lost the lead several times but was always in the right place on the last lap to score the wins.

Amongst those that had glimpses of the lead or trail the leading bunch, Curtis Porter was able to emerge as the runnerup in each. Fellow Jacer drivers, Darren Williams and Aaron Pace were third in the first two races respectively before Darren William (Sabre) was third in the last after placing 15th in the first.

Series leader Simon Pace (Checkmate) was fourth in the first but copped a hit out of Turn 3 in the second that spelt the end of his round. Hayden Crossland (Jacer) had a hit at Turn 2 in the first which put him out. He fought through to fifth behind John McDonald (Jacer) in Race 2, then was fifth behind Aaron Pace in the third. Behind most of 1600s, Michael Gale (Mako) was the best of the 1200s initially, before Stephen Butcher (Stinger) beat him in the next two.

IMPROVED PRODUCTION U2L IT WAS all Kurt Macready (Nissan Silvia) in each outing as he was comfortably ahead of the opposition in races one and two, but it was much tighter in the last. Mathew Harris (Honda Civic) took the fight to him in the last and finished less than a second behind. Harris retired in race one, and then came through to be runner-up in the second.

Matt Birks (Toyota Corolla) held second in the first race until relegated to third by Bob Jowett (Civic). Then the pair were third and fourth in the second before Jowett didn’t figure in the last and Birks was third.

Ian Price (Ford Escort) recorded a fourth, a fifth and likely another fourth until stopped at Turn 11 which then went to Henri Price (Civic).

HQ HOLDENS REIGNING CHAMPION Glenn Deering finished 16th at the first round, but hit back at Round 2 by qualifying on pole and stubbornly held off challengers to win the first race.

Then John Baxter who was the two-time title holder seven years ago, won the next two encounters.

Less than a second covered the top four in Race 1 with Matt Barker second ahead of Shaun Boland and Baxter. Deering finished a close second to Baxter in Race 2 with Boland third ahead of Luke Harrison. Barker was forced out with a blown head gasket. In the last Baxter held off Harrison while Deering staved off Boland.

SUPERKARTS IN ALL races Ilya Harpas (250cc International Anderson Maverick) did a demolition job on the field with the closest result just under 40s ahead. His nearest rivals would have been Kristian Stebbing 250 Stockman) but he DNF’s the first two races which ended his day, Laurie Fooks put his Raider away as he failed to do a race lap due to fuel starvation issues.

The 250 Nationals of Michael Doherty (Avoic) and Dylan Stephens (Maverick) were second and third in Race 2 but otherwise diced behind the quick Paul Campbell and Aaron Cogger.

Campbell was second outright in three races but a DNF in race two due to burnout piston meant Cogger was top in 125cc Gearbox.

IMPROVED PRODUCTION O2L FROM START to finish in the three races, Trevan Spiteri (Mitsubishi EVO 6) was never headed. Fastest qualifier Charlie Khoury (Honda Civic) was second in the first two races after falling a couple of spots early in both. In the last he fell down to fifth before he finished third.

Second in the last was Ben Algie (Nissan 200SX) who retired from Race 1 along with Armed Baghdadi (Holden Commodore VE).

They came from the back of the second outing for fourth and sixth, split by Nigel Williams (Commodore) while Steven Engel (EVO) was third. Baghdadi and Williams completed the top five in the last.

PRODUCTION SPORTS THE FIRST round was taken out by Marcel Zalloua (Audi R8) after he won both 30min races in which he spent the whole time dicing with his Valmont Racing teammate Sergio Pires (Porsche 911 Cup Car).

In the first they swapped places several time before Zalloua finished 0.3s behind. However Pires was penalised 5s and dropped to third behind Geoff Morgan (991) who was never far away.

In the second Zalloua led all the way as Pires was a close second and Morgan third.

In each race Casper Tresidder (Porsche) was a lonely fourth while Dylan de Szabo (Lamborghini Gallardo) was fifth in race one and bunkered early in the second.

Fifth in race two was Alex Luther (Lotus Exige Cup R) as the beneficiary of contact between Justin Levis and Steve McFadden, both in Porsches. Richard Gartner’s Lamborghini was a non-starter after a crash in qualifying. Garry O’Brien

CHAMPIONSHIPS AND TROPHIES AT WANNEROO THE THIRD meeting of the year at Wanneroo on June 25-26 featured categories vying for championship points with two the annual awards on the line – the Torque Trophy for Street Cars, and the Kostera Cup for FSR.

EXCEL CUP BEATEN FOR victory in Race 1, Jake Passaris bounced back to win the next two races and score the round ahead of fastest qualifier Harrison Douglas, and Brett Sherriff. Passaris led the first race and was chased by Douglas and Dean Hill. Douglas took the lead on lap three and won by 0.24s. They were able to gap Hill as Sherriff who started 20th, edged out Jackson Callo and Nathan Biddle.

Douglas led for the first three laps of Race 2 when Passaris passed him. Sherriff and Douglas fought over the minors and the latter finished on top while Callo and Biddle were next. In the last race, Passaris fought off Douglas while third was a three-way stoush.

Sherriff, Hill and Callo went into Turn 7 on the last lap side-by-side. Sherriff and Callo were forced out wide and a touch resulted in Callo into the wall as Sherriff took third from Hill.

Paul Kluck took out the Torque Trophy in Street Cars/Improved Production. Images: Mick Oliver

SPORTS CARS/SPORTS SEDANS BOTH RACES were taken out by Ryan Humfrey in his Falcon/Chev Sports Sedan.

He led from start to finish. Robbie McAfee (Porsche 997.1) was second and Jason Pryde just beat fellow TA2 Camaro driver Ron Moller for third.

Brock Boley (Camaro) nearly lost it in the middle of the pack in Turn 1 on the first lap and Brad Boley had a similar moment the next time around before he pitted. Walter Epple was second until a mid-race spin at Turn 6 provoked a Safety Car. While Humfrey headed the second race, Epple was on a charge before contact with Brad Boley at Turn 7 bunkered the Camaro and resulted in Safety Car. After the resumption McAfee finished second with Brock Boley and Epple next before the Porsche driver was penalised 30s.

Saloon Car victory went to Mason Harvey (Falcon AU), here heading Matt Maertin and a tight bunch.

STREET CARS/IMPROVED PRODUCTION STARTS WITH 4WD set up Michael Sciorio in his IP Subaru Impreza WRX for three solid wins. In two races he finished clear of Paul Kluck (SC Nissan Skyleine R32) who took the Torque Trophy. Neil Pollard (IP Honda Civic) was third in Race 1, just in front of Chris Cheverall (SC BMW E36 M3), Ash Seisun (IP Holden Torana) and Luke Streat (SC Civic).

Grant Gellan started at the rear of Race 2, and came through for third ahead of Pollard and Cheverall, and then scored a second in the last, in front of Kluck, Drew Watkins (SC Nissan 180SX) and Ben Peachey (SC Datsun 200B SSS).

SALOON CARS FORD FALCON AU pilot Mason Harvey was the Pro and overall winner with two race wins. Matt Martin (Holden Commodore VT) won the first race ahead of Harvey and Vince Ciallella (Commodore VY) to be second overall.

Fastest qualifier Grant Johnson (VT) made a poor start and finished eighth with a broken gearbox before a blown engine in race two.

That race was led initially by Martin until Harvey passed him. Robert Marcon (AU) was next ahead of teammate Rick Gill, and Ciallella. Martin muffed the Race 3 start and

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left Harvey to win from Marcon and Gill.

In Pro AM it was between Commodore drivers Reg Ralph (VP) and Michael Koberstein (VN). Ralph won Race 1 narrowly over Koberstein. The latter hit back to win the next two ahead of Ralph. Shane Eather (Falcon EA) snared two thirds before Nick took third in the last.

FREE FORMULA THE VICTORY in the first race set up Allan Jones (Ralt RT5) to take overall victory. Dan Gate (RT4) went nowhere at the start, but he bounced back to win the next two races.

Second place in the first race was Simon Alderson (Van Diemen FF2000) from Lance Carwardine (Jane Brabham). Jones finished second in the remaining races. Carwardine was third as Alderson was out on the first lap but did come back for third in the last.

(Stealth) and Simon Matthews (Royale), after which Cleary won ahead of Chapman, Josh Matthews, Sheldon and Leslie.

Cleary led from the start of Race 2 and opened up a sizeable lead. Matthews and Chapman disputed second with several positional changes before Matthews prevailed. Craig Jorgensen made a successful early challenge on Cleary before the latter gained the upper hand. Chapman finished second ahead of Matthews while Jorgensen finished fifth behind Leslie.

FSR RADICAL PILOTS dominated the overall result with Elliott Schutte in front of Jordan Oon throughout the three races and taking the Kostera Cup. Caleb Sumich came from fifth in the first race to take third which he maintained through the following races.

FORMULA FORDS

FORMULA VEES

VAN DIEMEN drivers dominated the overall results where Elliott Cleary was a threerace winner. He had a slow start in the first encounter as Ben Leslie led Tom Chapman and Josh Matthews before Cleary gained the ascendancy. There was a Safety Car period for an incident that involved Marc Redmond

IT WAS a three-way contest for outright and 1600cc victory which ultimately went the way of Rod Lisson (Borland Sabre). He diced with Mackenzie Matthews (Jacer) in the first race and lost the lead a few times before he won. Just behind them was Franz Esterbauer (Jacer).

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The trio was joined by Paul Moltoni (Mako) and Jason Fowler (Jacer) in the leading train of Race 2. Lisson led until Esterbauer displaced him. But a lap later Lisson was back in front and won from Esterbauer and Matthews. In the last, Lisson mostly led for his third win. Esterbauer was second until the last lap when passed by Matthews.

Behind them Brett Scarey (CD-Vee) pulled off three 1200cc wins. In the first it was over Miles Lockett (Ajay) as David Campbell (Jacer) made a late move on Callum Lamont (Polar) for third. Scarey, Lockett and Campbell were close together in Race 2. The latter pair diced until the former spun at Turn 7 and Lamont snared third. In the last Lockett was again second as Campbell finished third.

HISTORIC TOURING CARS THREE RACES brought three wins for John Bondi (Holden Monaro HQ) where he finished just in front of Graeme Woolhouse (Ford Mustang) each time. There was a Safety Car in Race 1 for a spun out Stephen Wilks (Mini Cooper S). Cono Onofaro held third until passed by Mark Cates (Ford Falcon XY GT). They finished third and fourth in the next two while Don Behets (Ford Galaxie) netted three fifths. Mick Oliver

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NATIONALS WRAP

WINTER AT WINTON FOR DAY AND NIGHT CHOP SHOP Racing (pictured) had a 10-lap advantage when their BMW 328i took the chequered flag in the Winton Night Rider endurance race on June 18.

The fifth Motor Events Racing event of the 2022 was of 13 hours duration on the rural Victorian circuit. The winning ME1 class team covered 364 laps while second placed Black Pearl Pirates (ME2 Subaru Impreza) and Fully Sick Racing (ME1 Honda Integra) in third, finished on the same lap, separated by 1min 41.8s.

Four laps adrift was BCC Racing (ME1 Ford Falcon AU) with another 12 laps back to Tumble Bee Racing (Toyota Corolla) and Team 747 Interceptor (ME2 Falcon EL) with 330 laps in the books.

The latter was the initial race leader but fell out of the top 10 early on. CSR led for a lap before FSR held the premier spot until Dutch Courage Racing (Mitsubishi Magna) took over. Its run at the top lasted five laps before a blown engine and massive oil dump triggered one of three red flag stoppages.

After that clean up, CSR led for the next 31 laps until a pitstop saw BCC and Apollo 11 (Mazda 3) have brief stints in front. From then on CSR commanded the event. BPP kept in the hunt with their great pit strategy to compensated for lack of horsepower and

Image: Colson Photography small fuel capacity. FSR were not troublefree either with a number of driveshaft failures.

The attrition rate was high with over half the field out as five of them also had engine failures. Aside from the racing, MER events

have teamed up with Rare Cancers Australia and to date have raised around $70,000.

Garry O’Brien

QUICK TURNAROUND FOR COOMBE

Image: Ian Colley

QUELCH QUICKEST AT CLIMB THE ABSENCE of bigger and more powerful engined Formula Libres on June 26 paved the way for David Quelch (pictured above) to net the fastest time at Mt Cotton’s fourth round of the Queensland Hillclimb Series.

In his Under 1.3lt Homebuilt DPQ03/ Honda, Quelch posted a best of 42.09s to easily score FTD ahead of Doug Daniels’ 43.38s. However the Nutec Formula Libre driver only managed one run of the eight available to get that time. As he headed off the second loop on the next run, he put a wheel onto the grass and ended up in the tyre wall!

Third in both outright and the up to 1.3lt F/L class was Stephen Edwards in his GS Yamaha R6FL. Fourth of the 44 entries was Gavin Taylor, the first of the tin tops in his Volkswagen Golf Sports Sedans.

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Next came Michael Larymore (Toyota MR2 U2L Sports Sedan) ahead of Tyson Cowie (Ford Escort U2L SS), Adrian Purcell (AWD Subaru Impreza WRX) and class rival Chris Ryan (Volkswagen Golf R). Ninth and tenth went to the BMW 325i pair of Doug and Scott Anable who were also first and second in O2L Sports Sedans.

There was a new class record set in the Circuit Excels when Brad Smith undercut Mark Pryor’s benchmark by 0.14s.

Daniels was not the only one to encounter a tyre wall as Paul Cox found the same in his Modified Production Holden Calais on his second run.

The Top Six Runoff wasn’t included in the overall results, but Quelch was the quickest over Edwards, Doug Anable and Purcell.

Garry O’Brien

FRESH FROM victory in the Winter Cup round earlier in the month, David Coombe (pictured below) came out and won the third round of the Challenge Trophy second round at Collingrove Hillclimb on June 26.

From greasy early, the weather conditions varied throughout the day.

It had improved by the later runs when the faster times happened. Fourth at the Challenge Trophy first round, Coombe (under 3.5 litre 4WD Mitsubishi EVO 7) produced his fastest on the ninth of ten available attempts.

His 33.86s best was two tenths quicker than round one fifth placed Nathan Green (over 3.5lt 4WD Nissan Skyline GTR) who pulled his best on the final effort.

Third fastest was Harry Pfeiffer in his

Image: SCCSA

Clubman Sports Car ahead of Alex Wilson (Improved Production O3.0lt Audi A4), Geoff Vardon (Datsun 1200 Coupe Sports Sedan), Norman Goodall (U3.0lt Marque Sports Porsche 911 SC) and Michael Chapman (U3.5lt 4WD Volkswagen Golf GTi).

Eighth and ninth of the 52 entrants that competed in the Sporting Car Club of South Australia event were Wayne Brauer (Subaru Impreza WRX 4WD Rally Car) and Jake Legg (Closed Sports Mazda MX5) and split by just 0.11s.

Tenth place went to Wayne Fitzpatrick (Closed Sports Nissan 180SX) ahead of Stephen Koerner (Open Sports MX5) as the last to get into the 37s ahead of Kym Roffey (Holden Commodore Ute SS) and Alex Hick in his Road Registered Toyota 86. Garry O’Brien

Despite winning the opener, a 30-second penalty in Race 2 cost Jack Westbury the outright win in the 2Lt Coupes event. Images: MTR Images

GRASS ROOTS RETURNS TO LAKESIDE HOT HATCHES

THE WITHDRAWAL of QRDC from using the facility and subsequent devastating floods failed to deter Lakeside Park management from track competition with the opening round of Grass Roots Racing on June 11-12.

AS PART of the Ute field, Trent Laves (Hyundai Getz) edged out Jack Munro (Honda Jazz) by just one point. The first race was cancelled after a four-car incident at Turn 6 which put Graham Mansey and Robert Horsfall and their Hyundais out for the weekend.

The re-run was orderly with Laves first ahead of Munro, Bruce Willmott (Mazda 2) and Greg Wilson (Getz). Willmott was out race two which went to Laves fractionally ahead of Wilson and Munro, but back for the next where he was second behind Munro.

Wilson was third as the weight penalty took its toll on fourth-placed Laves.

Race 4 also went to Munro with Laves second in front of Wilson. On the last lap Willmott’s Mazda dumped its oil, speared off the track and rolled. Laves came back to win the last ahead of Munro and Wilson.

EXCEL CUP

BY FAR the biggest numbers were in the popular one-make series’ third round where the wins were shared around. Victories in the final two races gave Jarrod Hughes overall victory over Ryan O’Sullivan and Bradi Owen.

It was a great comeback for Hughes. He qualified fastest and then had a brake failure which resulted in a crash. With no time to make repairs, he borrowed a car from Brett Parrish Racing and started Race 1 from the rear. He made it to sixth as Ryan Casha edged out Hughes for the win with O’Sullivan third ahead of Mick McCloud and Todd Wanless.

Casha led Race 2 early before O’Sullivan and then Hughes were in front. Ultimately Owen won after he grabbed the lead on the final lap. There were three lead changes in the third race with O’Sullivan at first, then Owen, O’Sullivan and finally Casha.

Race 4 started with Casha in the lead before Hughes took over until passed by O’Sullivan.

Two laps from the end, Hughes reclaimed the lead for the win. Third went to Owen who was clear of Casha and McCloud. Hughes led the last throughout with O’Sullivan second as Owen held off Wanless for third, and Casha and McLeod ensued.

2LT COUPES WITH WINS in the final two races at round two, Jaylyn Robotham took the overall honours in the Toyota 86 field. Race 1 went to Jack Westbury ahead of Ryan Hadden and Robotham. The latter was classified second in Race 2 behind Alex Hadden after first to the flag, Westbury was penalised 30s.

Westbury rebounded to win Race 3 ahead of Robotham who edged out Ryan Hadden

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PRODUCTION UTES

Ford in a Ford .... Dan Ford dominated the Production Utes.

Above: The Excel field was its usual competitive self. and Alex Hadden DNF’d. Behind Robotham in Race 4, Westbury pipped Ryan Hadden who then did the job narrowly over Westbury in the last.

LAKESIDE PARK OUTLAWS UNDEFEATED ACROSS the five races was Mitchell Pullen in his V8-powered Toyota Hilux drifter in the category that covered a wide gamut of four, six and eight cylinder cars.

The combination won the opener ahead of

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Graham Mansey (Nissan Skyline) and Matt Feldman (Mitsubishi EVO 5) who Mansey passed on the second lap. Mansey did not figure in the ensuing three races where Tim Jordan (V8 BMW E30) was third behind Feldman.

Fourth in those races was Ettore Vosolo (E30) who finished third in the last clear of Scott Kelly (BMW 318is) and Jordan who had a drama at the start and was relegated to 10th at the end of the first lap.

THREE VICTORIES in the five outings gave Dan Ford, appropriately in a Ford, the weekend. Some Hot Hatches caused the cancellation of Race 1. At the re-run it was a close run between Ford (Falcon BA) and John Young (Holden Commodore VZ) who won by 0.28s with Robert McMahon (VE Maloo) third.

Ford beat Young in the second and after McMahon, Peter Clarke (Falcon AU) headed Craig Kasper (Commodore VU). Ford repeated in the third while Young came from the back to take second ahead of Clarke and Kasper.

Both the front runners went off at Turn 1 in Race 4 while dicing. Ford recovered to hold the lead while Young had lost places before he retrieved them for second. McMahon was third just in front of Kasper and Matt Mundey (Commodore). Young took the last from Ford as McMahon was clear of Clarke and Craig Kasper.

Garry O’Brien

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NATIONALS WRAP

Image: Angryman

GRITTY WIN FOR BITUMEN BOYS TARGA CHAMPIONS Eddie Maguire and Zak Brakey (above) returned to the gravel with a strong performance in rounds two and three of the Shannon’s Rally Launceston on June 25-26. The two rounds were run on consecutive days alongside the Australian championship, on the same stages.

The 2020 state rally champions finished fifth outright in the ARC in their Mitsubishi EVO 9 as well as convincing wins in both rounds of the TRC. They were better as the weekend went on, won the Saturday two-heat round by over 42s, and claimed the Sunday’s third round pair of heats by an even more impressive 1min and 13s.

They set the pace right from the outset,

NATIONALS WRAP with Garry O’Brien with a first stage win by 20s from Bodie Read and Mark Young (Subaru Impreza WRX STi). Maguire’s brother, Steve with Stuart Benson (EVO 9) were a further 6s

back. Maguire extended their gap in the second stage, but lost 40s in stage three to slip to second.

Steve Maguire set a blistering pace to win the stage by more than 43s to take the lead and win the first heat. However, he was out on the next with a blown engine.

Eddie Maguire fired back into the lead with a blistering fourth stage, 22s better than Reading, and continued his dominant run to win the last three stages.

Ben and Ruebecca Sheldrick (Holden Commodore) made amends for their DNF in Round 1 when their wipers failed in atrocious conditions, to dominate the 2WD category by 3mins 19s over Jaidyn Gluskie

and Sam Berwick (Hyundai Excel).

Starting with a clean slate on Sunday made little difference at the pointy end with Maguire and Brakey again showing the way.

In the first stage as they powered away to a 16s win. Reading was 2s faster in the next stage but were unable to match the pace of the EVO, apart from a narrow 0.9s win in the penultimate stage.

Behind second placed Reading and Young, Ben Newman and Steve Glenney (WRX) were consistent, third fastest in every stage, to finish 1min 34s behind. Sheldrick again dominated the 2WD, 44s ahead of Jacob and Adrian Walsh (Mazda RX7) who didn’t finish the previous day. Martin Agatyn

NISSEN/HARNESS THRIVE IN THE DRY WET PATCHES on Saturday added to the challenge of the Guidolin Carpentry SGORA 200 run at Port Germein on June 25-26. But a drier track on Sunday saw Daryl Nissen and Andrew Harness (ProLite SORE/Nissan – right) take a comfortable win.

Pacesetter Luke Erceg (ECE Honey Badger/Nissan) had driveline issues which put him out late in the race when he had a strong lead. Brenton and Matthew Gallasch (Southern Cross/Chev Pro Buggy) were a bit of the pace but came home a safe second.

In their 1340cc GSX-R Suzukipowered Super1650 Tiny Built GSXR3, Darren and Lewis Oliver (Tiny Built GSXR3) showed up a lot of more powerful machines, and took the bottom step of the podium in the car’s second race.

Less than 2mins behind them were Chris and Colin Johnson (Custom/Nissan) and just over a minute back to Trevor Snow and Darrin Jocey-Prior (S&S Race Frames/Mitsubishi). Nick and Alex

Image: David Batchelor Burt were only about half a minute further back in their Chev V8powered Extreme 2WD Rush Truck.

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Justin and Mark Battersby (Rimco/ Toyota) made it across the line in seventh, narrowly out running Blair

and Cooper Johns (Southern Cross/ Toyota). Geoff Brennen and Brett Beaty (SXS Pro Can-Am X3) were

next home, as they held off Lauren and Rich Andrews (S&S WOFTAM/ Nissan) who rounded out the top 10.

Luke Mudde and Todd Curgenven (Can-Am X3) came away from their first event very happy with third in SXS Pro after problems on day one and a clean run home on Sunday.

Michael Shipton and Paul Chorlton (Performance 2WD Ford SBH Ranger/Chev) were the last to complete the full distance after a lost wheel and stop to make repairs.

So close were Mick and Dave Heasman (Predator/Toyota) until broken steering on the last lap.

David Hall and Corey Hayworth (Murphy/Nissan) didn’t get to challenge for the lead with a small oil fire which put them out on lap one.

Shane Waters and Scott Watson (Southern Cross/Mitsubishi) led Sportslites until a broken CV with four laps to go. That promoted Ben Erceg and David Mussell (Racer/ Nissan) but one lap later they broke a front arm.

David Batchelor

PROS TO THE FOUR PRO BUGGYS placed one-two-threefour in the Scotts Hydraulic Services Dondingalong Challenge, the second round of the Hunter Rivmasta NSW Off Road Championship on July 2-3 which was won by David Chandler and Jonathon Ryan (pictured).

They overcame the very wet, muddy and slippery conditions best of the 35 competitors and piloted their Jimco/Chev to victory by 14.9s. Second were Darren and Darby Williamson (Jimco 2000/Chev) with another 10.4s to Tom Dixon and Jesse McGrath (Jimco/Toyota turbo).

Hosted by the Kempsey Macleay Off Road Club, the event consisted of five rounds of four laps each. The first round was won by Chandler, ahead of the SXS Turbo class Adam Jiear/Jason White and Michael McLean/Patrina Reichel in their SXS Turbo Can-Ams, and Williamson.

Two of the pre-event favourites had early dramas. Phil Lovett and Luke Stanley (Can-Am) had a battery terminal problem but came back the strongest after the round one DNF. Justin Guy and Lachlan Davies (Jimco/Chev) had a crank sensor failure in prologue and finished Round 1 in 28th.

Lovett bounced back strongly with a win on the second round, ahead of Chandler and Williamson. Guy was sixth, behind Dixon and Jiear. Lovett repeated in Round 3, this time with Chandler second in front of Guy, Dixon, Williamson and Jake and James Conomos in their Sportsman Rivmasta/Suzuki.

Chandler consolidated his overall first place with victory in Round 4. Lovett was

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Image: Smiley Kez second ahead of Guy, Jiear and Dixon.

Despite impaired vision from muddy water filling his helmet, Guy took out the fifth round with Lovett again second and Williamson third ahead of Chandler.

Guy’s victory in the last elevated him to fourth overall. Next came Jiear from McLean, Ben and Jamie Scott (Jimco/ Chev), and Richard and Terese Wilton (HiJunx/Toyota) who won Super1650.

Behind Derek Seam (BRB/Toyota turbo), Conomos was tenth.

Tait Svenson and Chris Affoo (Stealth Predator/GM Ecotec) won ProLite, Darren and Josh Blackburn (Nissan Patrol) scored Performance 4WD, and Brendan and Ian Hill took Sportslite in their second outing in the Hurrican/Nissan. Extreme 4WD went to Shane and Leonard Ramsay (Nissan Patrol V8). Garry O’Brien

Image: GASC of Rich, Stuart Chapman, Trusz, Upton and Tassin. Rich hit back on the two-lap third heat to head Clayton Chapman, Trusz, Tassin, Stuart Chapman and Brice Derrick (Can-Am).

At the start of the final two laps, Rich led by 0.59s. Clayton Chapman put in his fastest heat to secure the outright win. Stuart Chapman finished Heat 4 second ahead of Rich, Tassin, Trusz and Upton.

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NATIONAL

EVENT

CALENDAR

CHAPMANS BOOKEND MT LARCOM A MERE 17.4s was the difference by the end of the McCoskers Contracting 100 on June 24-26, held at Darts Creek north of Mt Larcom, which Clayton Chapman (right) won ahead of Christian Rich. They each had two heat wins in the fourth round of the Mickey Thompson ARB Qld Off Road Championship where younger brother Stuart Chapman finished third overall, a further 17s in arrears.

The start order for the Gympie Auto Sports Club event was based on seedings for the first heat, over one lap of the 10km course. Rich won it in his Class 6 Can-Am with Clayton Chapman (Unlimited Razorback/Toyota turbo) second.

Then followed Christian Trusz (Class 8 GQ Nissan Patrol), Stuart Chapman (Unlimited Chenowth Millennium/Mitsubishi turbo), Richard Tassin (Can-Am), Kye Camilleri (Can-Am) and property owner Mitch Upton in his V8-powered Unlimited Later Engineering/Chev.

Clayton Chapman took the second heat over two laps, ahead

GARRY’S

Trusz placed fourth overall ahead of Tassin after their third and fourth last year. Upton finished sixth ahead of Class 4 victor Steven Kildey (Holden Colorado/Chev), and Jason Keane in his new Unlimited Jimco/Chev. Class 6s Polaris’ rounded out the top 10 with Tony Patterson 6.3s ahead of Darren Brandon. Fancied Can-Am pilots Camilleri, Aaron Phillis and Zac Marsh were

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DNFs in Class 6.

In the other classes, Brett Baker (Racer Engineering/ GM Ecotec) was the best of Class 10. Class 1 went to Darren Angel (Kadco/Nissan), and Class 2 to Mark Andrew. Amber Topfer (Mitsubishi Pajero) took out Class 7 while Katelyn Long (Polaris) topped Class 66, and Matt Reed (modified Can-Am) was victorious in Class 11.

Garry O’Brien

5TH GEAR MOTORING TRACK DAY, WAKEFIELD PARK NSW – JUL 14 GOLDEN ERA AUTO RACING LP #3, LAKESIDE PARK QLD – JUL 14 RACEAWAY TRACK TIME, WAKEFIELD PARK NSW – JUL 15 ROLL RACING, SYDNEY MOTORSPORT PARK NSW – JUL 15 BEERS 2400 (BUDGET EXTREME ENDURANCE RACE) 24 HOUR, COLLIE MOTORPLEX WA – JUL 15-16 FERRARI CLUB HILLCLIMB, MT COTTON QLD – JUL 16 NORTH WEST CAR CLUB MOTORKHANA/KHANACROSS, HIGHCLERE QLD – SAT 16 BENDIGO CAR CLUB VIC MOTORKHANA VIC – SAT 16 TRACK DAY, LUDDENHAM RACEWAY NSW – JUL 16 ARB QLD STATE OFF ROAD CHAMPIONSHIP RD05, MORANBAH QLD – JUL 16-17 ARB SA OFF ROAD MULTI CLUB SERIES RD03, WAIKERIE SA – JUL 16-17 AUSTRALIAN RACING DRIVERS CLUB SUPERSPRINT, SYDNEY MOTORSPORT PARK NSW – JUL 17 MOTOR RACE AUSTRALIA RD05, SYDNEY MOTORSPORT PARK NSW – JUL 23 STATE SUPERSPRINT CHAMPIONSHIP RD04, SYDNEY MOTORSPORT PARK NSW – JUL 17 TOWNSVILLE CITY AUTOSPORTS CLUB DIRT MOTORKHANA, TOWNSVILLE QLD – JUL 17 STATE MOTORKHANA CHAMPIONSHIP RD03, LATROBE SPEEDWAY TAS – JUL 17 STATE SUPERSPRINT CHAMPIONSHIP RD02, WINTON RACEWAY VIC – JUL 17 GEELONG MOTOR SPORTS CLUB AUTOCROSS/ KHANACROSS SERIES RD05, AVALON VIC – JUL 17 MARQUE SPORTS CAR ASSOCIATION SUPERSPRINT, SANDOWN VIC – JUL 17 WA STATE RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP RD03, DONNYBROOK/BALINGUP WA – JUL 23 STREET SPRINTS #4, LAKESIDE PARK QLD – JUL 23 TAS STATE OFF ROAD SERIES RD04, PERON DUNES TAS – JUL 23 QLD STATE RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP RD02, GYMPIE QLD – JUL 23 PORSCHE CLUB QUEENSLAND SUPERSPRINT, MORGAN PARK QLD – JUL 23 STATE OFF ROAD SERIES, ST HELENS TAS – JUL 23 AUS TIME ATTACK, WAKEFIELD PARK NSW – JUL 23 ROLL RACING BRISBANE #7, QLD RACEWAY – JUL 23 STATE RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP RD03, GRIMWADE RALLY WA – JUL 23 AUSTRALIAN RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP RD04, RALLY QUEENSLAND QLD – JUL 23-24 WASCC STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS RD04, WANNEROO WA – JUL 23-24 TA2 MUSCLE CARS SPECIAL WEST, WANNEROO WA – JUL 23-24 CENTRAL COAST CAR CLUB MOTORKHANA/ KHANACROSS, BENARABY QLD – JUL 23-24 NAMSC NT TITLES, HIDDEN VALLEY NT – JUL 23-24 AMSAG RALLY SERIES RD02, TAREE RALLY NSW – JUL 23-24 DEPUTY 7 HOUR ENDURO RD02, PHEASANT WOOD NSW – JUL 23-24 WINTER CUP HILLCLIMB RD03, COLLINGROVE SA – JUL 24 STATE MOTORKHANA CHAMPIONSHIP RD07, NIRIMBA NSW – JUL 24 IPSWICH WEST MORETON AUTO CLUB AUTOCROSS RD03, WILLOWBANK QLD – JULY 24 CENTRAL AUSTRALIAN RALLY SPORTS CLUB KHANACROSS, ALICE SPRINGS NT – JUL 24 AUSTIN 7 CLUB SUPERKART RACES & REGULARITY, MALLALA MOTORSPORT PARK SA – JUL 24 STATE WINTER CUP HILLCLIMB RD03, COLLINGROVE SA – JUL 24 WALKERVILLE ALL CARS CLUB KHANACROSS, WALKY PARK SA – JUL 24 WPM TRACKSCHOOL TRACK DAY, WAKEFIELD PARK NSW – JUL 24

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SUPER2/3 TOWNSVILLE

NO FAZING FRASER

Declan Fraser emerged from Townsville with a substantial points lead.

Below: Fraser, along with T8 team-mate Cameron Hill (right) and the team’s Super2 engineer.

Bottom: Win on Saturday; out at the start on Sunday – contrasting results for Tyler Everingham.

Images: Ross Gibb Photography and supplied

IT WAS all about Declan Fraser as the Super2 Series took to Townsville, the Triple Eight Race Engineering youngster charging to a points lead with his maiden race victory.

Fraser put together a consistent weekend as his rivals faltered in what was a chaotic weekend of racing in northern Queensland, backing up a fourth-place finish in Race 1 with a career defining win on Sunday.

Tyler Everingham won the first encounter, setting him up for a handy haul of points, however disaster struck in Race 2, leaving him to rue what could have been.

In Race 1, Jaylyn Robotham stalled on the grid leading to a shortening of the race from 21 to 19 laps.

Once the race did get underway, MW Motorsport’s Everingham got a hot start from the front row to take an early lead ahead of polesitter Zak Best.

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There was little time for Everingham to extend his advantage though, as Angelo Mouzouris slammed into the tyre barrier at Turn 5 after sustaining steering damage, triggering a Safety Car period.

Racing resumed on lap 7, Everingham leading from Best and Fraser. However, the action would come to a halt almost immediately, the Safety Car activated again when Super3 runner Steven Page hit the wall at Turn 11 on lap 8.

The third restart saw a change in the order at the front of the field, Matt Chahda grasping the opportunity to overtake Fraser with a dive down the inside at Turn 2.

His mission to reel in Everingham and Best would fail though, as the race was called early after the completion of 13 laps.

As such, Everingham, Best and Chahda occupied the three podium positions, ahead of Fraser and Aaron Seton.

Cameron Hill was sixth and Tim Blanchard was seventh in his first start of the season.

Zane Morse and Jay Hanson rounded out the top 10 with Matthew Payne, who couldn’t make inroads after early contact with Mouzouris.

After falling just short of a podium finish in Race 1, Fraser made Sunday his own by scoring a triumph of his own.

Fraser, who will team up with Craig Lowndes for the Bathurst 1000 later this year, led all the way from pole position after a chaotic start saw multiple contenders eliminated from the running.

Full to the brim with confidence, Everingham failed to squeeze through a gap off the line, colliding with Best before sliding out of control into an unsuspecting Payne.

Consequently, the latter two were out of the race. Robotham’s round went from bad to worse when the Safety Car was deployed, the 19-year-old copping heavy damage rear end damage from Best at Turn 3, ending his weekend.

Racing resumed on lap 5, Fraser at the front of the pack ahead of Best, who had been left with a damaged machine, and Hill.

Best’s predicament became clear quickly, as he dropped back towards the rear.

As he did in Race 1, Chahda entered the fray and scrapped with Hill for second as Fraser built a gap, before the Safety Car was required again on lap 8.

This time it was because of a clash between Cameron Crick and Nash Morris, the pair coming together at Turn 6. Both were forced to retire.

Green flags were waved on lap 15, Fraser crossing the line 2.5s ahead of Chahda and Hill, who completed the podium.

Hanson came home fourth, while the rest of the top 10 had a different look to Saturday - Thomas Maxwell, Ryal Harris, Mouzouris, Seton, Blanchard and Morse rounded it out.

Fraser was the big winner in Townsville, establishing a sizable 59-point lead in the Super2 standings.

The second-tier stars of tomorrow will head south to Melbourne next, supporting the Sandown SuperSprint from August 20-21.

Josh Nevett STANDINGS AFTER 3 ROUNDS 1 Fraser 732 2 Hill 663 3 Payne 624 4 Everingham 600 5 Best 591

TEEN TO BEAT

KAI ALLEN (above) solidified his position at the top of the Super3 Series standings with a Race 2 win on the streets of Townsville.

Brad Vaughan and Blake Fardell went out of their way to make sure things were not easy for the talented youngster, however he was able to emerge with round honours and a 93-point ascendency overall.

Vaughan won Race 1, passing Allen after the first restart before steering his #5 FG Ford Falcon to a narrow victory. Fardell completed the podium.

Garry Hills was forced to retire after sustaining damage on lap 1, while Steven Page hit the wall at Turn 11 on lap 8.

James Masterton and Tony Auddino both received penalties which relegated them down the order.

In Race 2, Allen beat Fardell to the line after Vaughan spun his Anderson Motorsport Falcon FG off the track at Turn 6 earlier in the piece.

Allen’s Eggleston Motorsport Commodore was 11th outright, continuing an impressive campaign for the aspiring racer.

Chris Smerdon completed the podium in an FG Falcon.

Page and Auddino bounced back from their Race 1 woes to finish fourth and fifth, respectively, while Vaughan was seventh after his off.

Hills failed to finish for the second consecutive race, joined by Jarred Danaher. Josh Nevett STANDINGS AFTER 3 ROUNDS 1 Allen 876 2 Fardell 783 3 Vaughan 762 4 Pollicina 645 5 Smerdon 609

TOURING CAR MASTERS

Hansford heads JB en route to overall victory.

Below: Andrew Fisher took a brace of P3 podiums.

Bottom: Danny Buzadzic took his first win, in the Trophy race.

Opposite below: Miedecke and McConville fought out the Camaro contest!

Images: Nathan Wong/Speed Shots Photography- ARG

HANSFORD ON TOP

THE TOURING CAR Masters headed north to sunny Townsville for the first time since 2018 for round three. From the current top 10, Cameron Mason, Jamie Tilley and Mark King were the main absentees, with Carrera Cup racer Michael Almond doubling up to take King’s spot in the SS Camaro.

After the first two rounds of the TCM, you could throw a blanket over the top five and, with Townsville marking the halfway point of the season, there was some potential for a breakaway by the current top two, John Bowe and Ryan Hansford.

With the Holden Toranas proving the pacesetters so far this year, it was no surprise to see them filling the top of the grid through the practice and qualifying sessions. George Miedecke’s Camaro was the only non-Torana

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inside the top five, with Danny Buzadzic and Andrew Fisher holding fourth and fifth respectively.

Hansford, this season’s ‘Mr Consistent,’ topped both as he looked to take top spot away from Bowe, who, after posting some slower practice times, managed to qualify a competitive third. He finished just ahead of Buzadzic who, after missing Round 1, was looking to crawl up the table in his A9X. In taking a fifth career pole, Hansford would start on the front row for an eighth time in succession, the second most in TCM history – although still hunting for his first victory of the 2022 season.

Miedecke bowed out of the reverse-grid Trophy Race during the formation lap with power issues. Despite not having much to

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gain points-wise (10 for competing/10 for finishing) and with the majority of drivers on older tyres, a hectic carnage-filled atmosphere was generated through the first few corners. After leading a race for the first time in his TCM career, Ben Dunn locked up his front tyres into Turn 2; A further clash on the opening lap, with Pollicina and Karanfilovski, saw the former fall to the back of the field, as well as incurring a penalty.

Hansford, who started last, broke the track’s TCM lap record while winding his way through the field to finish third. But in the end, it was Buzadzic who took the chocolates. It was an impressive drive after starting 12th in the field, running down Karanfilovski’s Ford Trans Am, and easing away to a six-second win.

As expected, it was Hansford and Bowe who set the tone at the start in the first of the three championship races, with Miedecke slipping back to third after qualifying for his first ever front row. Bowe stuck tight with Hansford throughout, with Hansford having to break his own track record from the previous day to keep JB at bay.

Lap 6 saw Paul Freestone’s burgundy Camaro dropping out with gearbox troubles, while Andrew Fisher drove arguably the race of the day in the Falcon XY GT to work his way up into third, ahead of Miedecke.

In what was a more well-behaved race than the Trophy event (in order to nurse the Hoosiers into the remaining races), Hansford clinched his first race win of the season, and his seventh TCM victory overall to close in on the championship lead.

Townsville’s ‘Torana City’ theme looked set to continue into Day 3 with Hansford just four points in arrears of Bowe in the championship. A colder morning saw a greasy track and slower lap times with the lighter Holdens adapting best to the street circuit’s corners and heavy braking.

Race 2 saw close racing between the familiar top five of the weekend until Buzadzic’s gearbox blew on the eighth lap. In what wouldn’t be the first smash of the day, Karanfilovski and his orange Mustang didn’t fare so well against the concrete barrier,

ruling him out for the rest of the day.

Bowe pushed Hansford all the way with the two sharing some gentle contact towards the end, but it would be Hansford, by 0.326s, who closed the championship gap even further with his second win of the meet.

Despite the quick turnaround into Race 3, Buzadzic managed to fix his gearbox issues to compete from the rear of the grid.

A faster start on a drying track finally saw Bowe overtake Hansford, who was attempting a first TCM sweep since Steve Johnson in 2019.

Lap four saw that ambition sensationally wiped out when Almond’s brake pedal went to the floor at Turn 2, tearing off the rear of Tilley’s Pacer and sending both cars into the soft tyre wall. It was a destructive crash, however both drivers were unscathed, but the cars were very much the worse for wear.

However, a finish under the Safety Car with so few laps completed meant a ‘no-race’ result and no points ... Ultimately, it proved to be the weekend of the Holden Torana – the General sweeping up the podiums for all three (okay, two!) races.

T W Neal

DRIVERS’ STANDINGS AFTER 3 ROUNDS 1 John Bowe 450 2 Ryan Hansford 448 3 Cameron Tilley 366 4 George Miedecke 360 5 Andrew Fisher 285 7 Jim Pollicina 282

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Supercars RACE REPORT Round 7 – TOWNSVILLE

SVG IN CONTROL …

MOSTLY

AFTER A DIFFICULT ROUND IN THE NORTHERN TERRITORY, CHAMPIONSHIP LEADER SHANE VAN GISBERGEN STRUCK BACK BY TAKING BOTH SUPERCARS CHAMPIONSHIP RACE WINS IN TOWNSVILLE AND IN DOING SO RE-EXTENDED HIS POINTS ADVANTAGE Report: Dan McCarthy Images: Motorsport Images/supplied.

TOWNSVILLE SAW a return of fuel stops and a heavy emphasis on strategy as drivers embarked on two 250km races, one on Saturday and one on Sunday.

The races were over double the length of the previous sprint races and around the streets of Townsville would prove a challenge.

Notably the Hard tyre made a return, although in each race teams were required to run a set of the Supersoft compound – how and when teams used them was entirely up to them.

Since the previous round a driver change had taken place, Garry Jacobson made way at PremiAir Racing and in his place stepped former Garry Rogers Motorsport Supercars driver James Golding.

The Kiwi actually set the fastest two times, going back-to-back. Heimgartner ended the day 0.098s faster than Tickford driver Cameron Waters.

Van Gisbergen rounded out the top three,

0.117s slower. SVG had however topped the first session timesheet.

Then came Chaz Mostert, Macauley Jones, and Will Davison with Bryce Fullwood in seventh.

QUALIFYING, RACE 19 – SVG BY 0.004S

RACE 19 quali was electric; the top three split by 0.031s and van Gisbergen taking it by a hair’s breadth.

In his Top 10 Shootout lap, Van Gisbergen

PRACTICE – HARD ON THE HARD TYRE

PRACTICE WAS about one thing: trying to get back on top of the Hard compound tyre – after completing so many rounds on the Soft and the Supersoft compound, teams and drivers were having to go back to the drawing board to find a setup that would work on the harder compound.

In form Brad Jones Racing driver Andre Heimgartner was the fastest man on the combined times, with almost the entire field setting a faster time in FP2.

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DePasquale lined up alongside SVG for Race 2 – the pair would meet up again at the final corner!...

Mostert (above) spent his weekend in and around the lower part of the top 10 while debutant Golding satisified his new team with a steady run oin Sunday, having been taken out at the start on Saturday ...

All or nothing for Scott Pye (right) – fifth on Saturday, first lap shunt on Sunday ...

Van Gizbergen got to do the burnout again (below left), while Slade wheeled the CoolDrive car into a top 10 finish on both days. made a mistake at Turn 2 locking the rear brakes and, drifting wide of the apex, he lost nearly a quarter of a second.

However an ultra-fast middle sector got him back in the game and he pinched pole from Davison by just 0.004s.

Waters was the last man out, but unlike SVG and Davison he was unable to save a set of new tyres – he was up in Sectors 1 and 2, but was unable to complete the lap with less grip available. Nevertheless, he was only 0.031s from pole and slotted into third.

Heimgartner was best of the rest, qualifying fourth ahead of the Dick Johnson Racing’s Anton de Pasquale, and Jack Le Brocq. Chaz Mostert, Triple Eight rookie Broc Feeney, Tim Slade and Scott Pye rounded out the top 10.

Grove’s David Reynolds struggled to get comfortable on the Hard tyre and missed out on a top 10 spot.

RACE 19 – A GAME OF STRATEGY

VAN GISBERGEN used an alternate strategy to win Saturday’s 250km race in Townsville, hunting down and passing Davison in the closing laps.

SVG went on to take the win by 5.2s from Davison, with Waters pinching the final spot on the podium late in the race.

Van Gisbergen was the theoretical leader when the first stops took place, only behind the drivers who had started on the Supersoft tyres – Tim Slade and David Reynolds.

At the first stop, SVG took on considerably more fuel than anyone else around him – over 100 litres of the required 140 total in one stop. Although this meant he would have a short final stop and a shorter stint on Softs, this did dropped him down the field – for a while.

The middle stint was frustrating for SVG, stuck behind Heimgartner and due to the amount of fuel in the car unable to get by.

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It did have one advantage – it enabled him to pit later and be more aggressive on the Soft tyre in the final stint, while many of his rivals had to conserve.

Van Gisbergen was one of the last drivers to put the soft tyres on – with just 17 laps to go he sat nearly 8s behind Davison however took chunks out of the Dick Johnson Racing driver’s lead lap after lap.

With eight laps to go the margin was still 4s, however over the next three laps he cut the margin down to 1s.

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He eventually made his way past, coming out of the final turn with four laps to run.

Mostert was first of the lead contenders to put the Soft tyre on, and although it looked good early it backfired, and he plummeted down the field and finished in ninth, over 33s behind the eventual podium fight.

Heimgartner sat in third after overtaking Mostert with seven laps to go, however on the penultimate lap he was overhauled by Tickford’s Cam Waters.

Waters was not in the podium fight until

the Soft tyres went on for the final stint – he stormed forward and finished 20s off the lead, in third.

Heimgartner held on to finish the race in fourth ahead of Team 18’s Scott Pye. De Pasquale lacked pace all day. The Dick Johnson Racing driver finished up in a disappointing and lonely sixth.

Rookie Broc Feeney finished in seventh ahead of Slade who fell back late in the final stint when he was fighting against Soft tyre runners.

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Supercars RACE REPORT Round 7 – TOWNSVILLE Two front rows, a second and a P7 was a fair outcome for Will Davo (right), who retains fourth in the title chase.

Below: Thomas Randle made the top 10 in Sunday qualifying, but finished 16/17 in the races.

Bottom: Saturday was Heimgartner’s day – qualifying and finishing a strong fourth.

Slade moved up one place from his starting position and beat home Mostert, who plummeted all the way to ninth position ahead of Matt Stone Racing’s Le Brocq.

Both Erebus Motorsport drivers finished just outside the top 10, Will Brown in 11th and Brodie Kostecki in 12th.

Nick Percat recovered from his starting position of 20th to finish in 13th ahead of Jake Kostecki.

All other drivers finished a lap down, starting with Fullwood and Randle who both used Hard tyres in the final stint.

The Grove Racing Mustangs had a day to forget, Lee Holdsworth in 17th ahead of his teammate Reynolds. Chris Pither and James Courtney rounded out the top 20.

Todd Hazelwood was 21st ahead of Macauley Jones who’s anti-roll-bar broke.

James Golding collided with Courtney just metres into the race – the Tickford Racing driver made a poor start and squeezed Golding. The debutant ran up Courtney’s rear-wheel and was forced to pit for repairs. Courtney received a penalty for the incident.

Jack Smith finished in 24th, while Mark Winterbottom suffered a power steering failure and finished many laps down.

QUALIFYING, RACE 20 – WATERS BY A MILE

CAM WATERS WAS in a league of his own, taking pole by over 0.3s from his nearest challengers.

The Dick Johnson racing duo were next – Davison set the second quickest time, ahead of De Pasquale, however started the race the other way around as Davison was handed a one-place grid penalty for holding up Courtney in the first segment of qualifying.

Shane van Gisbergen was unable to match the Ford Mustangs and was nearly 0.5s slower than Waters – he lined up alongside Davison in fourth.

Courtney qualified in fifth, just 0.007s faster than Mostert who started alongside him on the grid.

Le Brocq was third fastest heading into the Top 10 Shootout, but could not

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stay there – he nevertheless qualified a solid seventh in the Shootout, ahead of Pye, Reynolds and Randle who made his Shootout debut.

Feeney missed out on a spot in the top 10 by 0.046s. It looked like his final lap was enough, but he was shuffled out after the chequered flag.

After qualifying and finishing the race in fourth on Saturday, Heimgartner was a surprise elimination in 12th.

Brodie Kostecki set a great first banker lap,

however a mix up with tyres meant he was fitted with one old tyre for his second run.

He pitted but did not have enough time to re-join the session, and was shuffled down to a disappointing 13th.

Slade could not replicate his top 10 qualifying performance from Saturday and started from 14th just ahead of Brown.

Percat’s qualifying woes continue – he qualified at the back of the grid.

RACE 20 – LAST CORNER SHOWDOWN

SHANE VAN Gisbergen took victory in the second Townsville clash … literally, as he and De Pasquale collided at the final turn.

The Dick Johnson Racing driver crossed the line first but was handed a 5s penalty for the collision.

It appeared as though van Gisbergen had victory in the bag, cruising to victory, however in the closing laps of the race De Pasquale closed in as the Soft tyres went off.

The gap was 1.3s with three laps to go but by the end of the race De Pasquale was on his tail of SVG and lunged up the inside at the final turn.

Contact was made and SVG spun around.

De Pasquale attempted to redress the position and hand the New Zealander the lead back but van Gisbergen wouldn’t have it.

Van Gisbergen later explained that he wanted De Pasquale to cross the line first so he would receive a penalty postrace and potentially lose more than one position.

De Pasquale was handed a five second penalty, dropping him to second, ultimately beating Cameron Waters by 1.6s.

For van Gisbergen it was his second race victory of the weekend and 11th victory of the season, while De Pasquale had to settle for his ninth podium of the season.

Tickford’s Waters was in a race long battle with Mostert for third. Early in the final stint Mostert overtook Waters, but it was clear the Mustang driver was saving his tyres for later in the race.

This paid dividends – with five laps to go he caught back up to his former teammate and blazed by.

On the penultimate lap, Waters’ Tickford Racing teammate Courtney also made his way by Mostert, who finished the race in fifth.

Rookie Feeney had quite a lonely race and finished the 88-lap encounter in sixth position, ahead of Davison.

QUALIFYING RACE 19 Pos Driver Time 1 Shane van Gisbergen 1:13.3674*H 2 Will Davison 0:00.0045 3 Cameron Waters 0:00.0319 4 Andre Heimgartner 0:00.2654 5 Anton De Pasquale 0:00.3434 6 Jack Le Brocq 0:00.4644 7 Chaz Mostert 0:00.4979 8 Broc Feeney 0:00.7157 9 Tim Slade 0:00.8686 10 Scott Pye 0:01.0315 11 David Reynolds 0:00.5749 12 Thomas Randle 0:00.6022 13 Mark Winterbottom 0:00.6842 14 Jake Kostecki 0:00.6991 15 Brodie Kostecki 0:00.7268 16 Bryce Fullwood 0:00.7780 17 Macauley Jones 0:00.8215 18 William Brown 0:00.8224 19 James Courtney 0:00.8500 20 Nick Percat 0:00.8683 21 James Golding 0:00.8875 22 Todd Hazelwood 0:00.8878 23 Jack Smith 0:00.9640 24 Lee Holdsworth 0:01.0038 25 Chris Pither 0:01.0496

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Davison had to make an unscheduled stop at the end of lap one after picking up a puncture due to contact with Pye on the exit of Turn 3. Pye was unable to continue and it saw the deployment of a Safety Car. Under Safety Car conditions, Davison was able to join the back of the queue and chipped away throughout the race to recover to seventh position ahead of Slade, Heimgartner and Winterbottom.

Reynolds finished just outside the top 10 ahead of Percat who started at the back of the grid.

Fullwood and the two Matt Stone Racing Commodores of Le Brocq and Hazelwood rounded out the top 15.

A slow final stop for Brodie Kostecki saw him finish in 16th, ahead of the sole alternative strategy runner Randle who put the Supersofts on in stint one – it did not pay off, and he finished in 17th.

Pither, Brown and Smith rounded out the top 20.

Golding was 21st ahead of Jones and Holdsworth who received a late-race drivethrough for ignoring blue flags.

Jake Kostecki picked up damage in a fierce fight early on in the race and finished multiple laps down.

Pye was the only driver who failed to finish.

After a lacklustre Saturday, Sunday turned out to be Courtney day – qualifued fifth, finished fourth!

Above: Pole on Sunday brought the smile back to Cam Waters’ face – he probably hoped for a little better than third in both races, but retains third in the title chase..

RESULTS RACE 19 88LAPS (250KMS) Pos Drivers 1 Shane van Gisbergen 2 Will Davison 3 Cameron Waters 4 Andre Heimgartner 5 Scott Pye 6 Anton De Pasquale 7 Broc Feeney 8 Tim Slade 9 Chaz Mostert 10 Jack Le Brocq 11 William Brown 12 Brodie Kostecki 13 Nick Percat 14 Jake Kostecki 15 Bryce Fullwood 16 Thomas Randle 17 Lee Holdsworth 18 David Reynolds 19 Chris Pither 20 James Courtney 21 Todd Hazelwood 22 Macauley Jones 23 James Golding 24 Jack Smith 25 Mark Winterbottom

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Laps 88 88 88 88 88 88 88 88 88 88 88 88 88 88 87 87 87 87 87 87 87 82 82 71 69

QUALIFYING RACE 20 Race time 01:52:39.1086 – 01:52:44.3053 – 01:52:59.5977 – 01:53:00.1941 – 01:53:09.0186 s5 01:53:10.8962 t-1 01:53:26.7187 s1 01:53:28.2078 s1 01:53:32.4369 t-2 01:53:35.2835 t-4 01:53:38.0587 s7 01:53:42.5367 s3 01:53:49.3252 s7 01:53:53.1210 – 01:52:45.2990 s1 01:52:47.7949 t-4 01:52:48.9148 s7 01:52:58.7763 t-7 01:53:04.5398 s6 01:53:12.4630 t-1 01:53:24.6839 s1 01:53:32.3004 t-5 01:53:52.4336 t-2 01:52:52.4002 t-1 01:53:23.1018 t-12

Pos 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

Driver Time Cameron Waters 1:13.8604*H Will Davison 0:00.3099 Anton De Pasquale 0:00.4154 Shane van Gisbergen 0:00.4789 James Courtney 0:00.8173 Chaz Mostert 0:00.8248 Jack Le Brocq 0:00.8441 Scott Pye 0:01.3490 David Reynolds 0:01.7355 Thomas Randle 0:01.7700 Broc Feeney 0:00.4180 Andre Heimgartner 0:00.4411 Brodie Kostecki 0:00.4426 Tim Slade 0:00.4698 William Brown 0:00.5082 Bryce Fullwood 0:00.5363 Jake Kostecki 0:00.5677 Todd Hazelwood 0:00.6164 Mark Winterbottom 0:00.6317 Macauley Jones 0:00.8026 Chris Pither 0:00.8589 Lee Holdsworth 0:00.8725 Jack Smith 0:00.8804 James Golding 0:00.9037 Nick Percat 0:00.9089

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RESULTS RACE 20 88LAPS (250KMS)

CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS AFTER ROUND 07

Pos Drivers Laps Race time 1 Shane van Gisbergen 88 01:54:58.0390 s3 2 Anton De Pasquale 88 01:55:02.5379 s1 3 Cameron Waters 88 01:55:04.1792 t-2 4 James Courtney 88 01:55:10.7804 s1 5 Chaz Mostert 88 01:55:12.1368 s1 6 Broc Feeney 88 01:55:16.1751 s5 7 Will Davison 88 01:55:28.0543 t-5 8 Tim Slade 88 01:55:38.7938 s6 9 Andre Heimgartner 88 01:55:41.4858 s3 10 Mark Winterbottom 88 01:55:42.3822 s9 11 David Reynolds 88 01:55:47.6998 t-2 12 Nick Percat 88 01:55:48.9163 s13 13 Bryce Fullwood 88 01:55:50.6287 s3 14 Jack Le Brocq 88 01:55:54.4066 t-7 15 Todd Hazelwood 88 01:55:57.0107 s3 16 Brodie Kostecki 88 01:56:10.3534 t-3 17 Thomas Randle 88 01:56:10.9308 t-7 18 Chris Pither 87 01:55:02.8261 s3 19 William Brown 87 01:55:06.5906 t-4 20 Jack Smith 87 01:55:13.3303 s3 21 James Golding 87 01:55:13.5552 s3 22 Macauley Jones 87 01:55:15.6777 t-2 23 Lee Holdsworth 87 01:55:48.1929 t-1 24 Jake Kostecki 80 01:55:23.7131 t-7 NC Scott Pye t-17

Pos 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27

Driver Shane van Gisbergen Anton De Pasquale Cameron Waters Will Davison Chaz Mostert Broc Feeney David Reynolds Andre Heimgartner Brodie Kostecki Tim Slade James Courtney Mark Winterbottom Lee Holdsworth Nick Percat William Brown Todd Hazelwood Jack Le Brocq Bryce Fullwood Macauley Jones Scott Pye Thomas Randle Jake Kostecki Chris Pither Jack Smith Garry Jacobson Jayden Ojeda James Golding

Points 1881 1607 1551 1521 1302 1257 1234 1158 1103 1083 1017 995 966 924 904 898 765 706 705 700 673 671 625 580 513 150 78

– – – – s1 s1 t-2 s1 t-1 – s2 t-1 t-1 s1 s1 t-2 s1 s2 t-2 t-1 s1 t-1 – s1 t-1 – –

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INTERNATIONAL

JOKER DETERMINES WTCR VICTORS Report: Dan McCarthy Image: TCR Hub

Image: Motorsport Images

THE VANTHOOR AND WEERTS SHOW IT WAS a dominant display by Dries Vanthoor and Charles Weerts at the Misano World Circuit in Italy, and in doing so the reigning champions extended their title lead in the Sprint Cup. Vanthoor and Weerts have always been strong at the Italian circuit, winning six of their eight races together and was the scene of their maiden triumph in 2019.

In the race, the duo rarely came under pressure and were able to control the race out front.

Weerts made a great start and led into Turn 1 from Vince Abril and Timur Boguslavskiy in third.

A Safety Car was soon deployed. However, when the race went back to green, Weerts once again pulled clear of the chasing pack.

By the 25-minute mark, Weerts had built a 5s advantage, at which point Abril and Boguslavskiy made their mandatory stops. A slow turnaround from the JP Motorsports crew cost Dennis Lind (who took over from Abril) several positions.

As a result, the Raffaele Marciello/Boguslavskiy duo re-joined in second ahead of Benji Goethe in the #30 Audi.

Marciello went purple in the middle sector on his out lap, and so Team WRT elected to bring Weerts in and eliminate any chance of an undercut.

A fast stop allowed Vanthoor to take the wheel with a 6s advantage over his title rival, all but settling the outcome at the front of the field.

Vanthoor ultimately won by 5.6s from Marciello.

Behind them Goethe did a fine job to hold off Christopher Haase, who piled on the pressure during the final few laps but could not find a way past the youngster.

On Sunday, Vanthoor and Weerts went back-toback and as a result will hold a slender 11.5-point advantage going into the final 2022 Sprint round.

Like Saturday, Sunday’s race win was a comfortable one for Vanthoor and Weerts and increased the duos winning record at the track.

Notably in taking the win, Dries also equalled his brother Laurens’ record of 14 Sprint race wins.

Vanthoor was unchallenged at the start, with his teammate Chris Mies initially taking second.

However Haase reclaimed the position just before a Safety Car was called, Marciello sat in fourth.

Frederic Vervisch sharing with Valentino Rossi vaulted from 12th on the grid to run seventh during the opening stages.

Before the pitstop sequence commenced, Vanthoor had pulled out a six-second lead.

Haase was the first to pit, handing over to Simon Gachet, but a delay would prove costly – a lap later both the #33 Audi and the #89 Mercedes-AMG were able to pit and jump ahead.

In fact, at the end of the stops, the Boguslavskiy/ Marciello Merc sat in second, with Weerts 5s down the road.

Rossi took the wheel of the #46 machine in fifth position. The pressure was on, however, with Jules Gounon looming large in his mirrors.

A late race Safety Car made it a one lap sprint to the finish. Weerts held on from Boguslavskiy who finished the race in second, while Gachot stole third on the final lap at Turn 5.

In front of his home fans, motorcycle legend Valentino Rossi scored his first top five finish in the category.

Dan McCarthy

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SANTIAGO URRUTIA and Rob Huff shared race wins in an entertaining round of WTCR around the streets of Vila Real in Portugal.

The round saw the return of the ‘Joker Lap’, an alternative piece of track that must be used once each race. It is unique to Vila Real and introduced several years ago to improve overtaking.

Race 1 saw Urrutia lead home a Lynk & Co 1-2 with two-time series winner Yann Ehrlacher in p2.

Urrutia converted pole into his second victory – however it wasn’t that easy.

The pair made an even start on the front row with Urrutia holding position on the opening lap. Urrutia took his Joker on lap 3, with Ehrlacher then pushing hard and taking his own Joker a lap later.

Ehrlacher emerged in the lead – however the order came over the radio that he should relinquish the lead and hand it back to his fellow Lynk & Co teammate, a surprise seeing they are so close on points.

He waited until lap 11, then moved aside to allow Urrutia ahead once again.

Urrutia then cruised to his second win of the season ahead of Ehrlacher and Honda Civic driver Nestor Girolami.

Ehrlacher was unhappy with the team’s call as he had taken the lead legitimately on pace.

“It was not really clear, to be honest,” said Ehrlacher of the strategy. “For sure, the principle order was not to crash between each one at Turn 1, as we’ve seen before.

“But the scenario was not planned, I had good pace, I went for proper racing. Then I got the order.

“You have to behave as a pro; you just need to accept it without saying. I just did a few laps for the leading laps stats, but that was

Urrutia and Ehrlacher show the way – it was a dominant 1-2. the only thing I could do. I struggle to put my foot down flat out in one straight.

“It’s a shame to lose a victory like this, but I’m really happy for the points Cyan have scored because that is the most important thing before anything else, even the Drivers’ [title]. I just hope it helps put one blue car, whichever one it is, at the top of the standings at the end of the year.”

Girolami worked hard to hold off the Hyundai Elantra N TCR of Norbert Michelisz to finish third, Michelisz got the better of Ma Qing Hua for fourth, with Rob Huff in sixth.

The 100th WTCR race was a thriller and it was touring car veteran Huff who prevailed in the partial reverse grid race.

The Englishman started from fourth, but used the Joker Lap to great effect.

Yvan Muller led away from pole, chased

by Attila Tassi, championship leader Mikel Azcona and Huff.

Muller elected to take his Joker on lap 8 but out-braked himself, ran wide and dropped from first to fourth.

Huff had risen to second having held off from taking his own Joker. He continued to do so all the way until lap 12, by which time he’d successfully built enough of a gap to take it and re-join in the lead.

Seconds later his teammate Daniel Nagy crashed into the wall on the exit of the chicane and was collected by Nathanael Berthon, this triggered the second Safety Car interruption of the race.

The race did not return to green with Huff taking the win – his, Zengo Motorsport and the Cupra Leon’s first win of the season.

Tassi finished the race in second ahead of Azcona who extends his lead in the series.

Muller came home a disappointing fourth ahead of Michelisz.

Standings after Round 5 1 Azcona 153 2 Urrutia 137 3 Ehrlacher 133 4 Huff 130 5 Girolami 113

DTM DEMOLITION DERBY Report: Dan McCarthy Image: Motorsport Images

CHAOS IS the best word to describe DTM’s visit to the Norisring. Thomas Preining and Felipe Fraga collected the race wins, victories which have kick-started their seasons.

Just 11 of the 27 cars finished the opening race of the weekend in what quickly became a crash fest.

Saturday’s encounter was won by Preining, the maiden win for Porsche in DTM as well KÜS Team Bernhard.

Preining also collected the additional point for setting the fastest lap of the race and led home a Porsche 1-2 with Dennis Olsen in second.

Former champion Rene Rast rounded out the podium by finishing third in the ABT Audi R8. He admitted post-race that he was suffering from a slow puncture throughout the second stint but brought the car home in third.

The action started immediately with contact at Turn 1. The Safety Car was deployed three times after multiple incidents and there was also a full-course yellow phase.

Rast was the only driver in the top six of the championship to finish the race and as a result, Sheldon van der Linde remains in the lead with 80 points from Mirko Bortolotti and then Rast.

On Sunday, on his 27th birthday, Felipe Fraga took his maiden DTM victory.

After five consecutive retirements the Red Bull AlphaTauri AF Corse Ferrari

driver bounced back to take a win.

Fraga has finished just two races all season, but when he has, he’s finished on the podium.

The win moves him to sixth in the standings – however he needs some consistency to become a title contender.

“I’m really happy, and I think we deserve this,” he said. “When we started the day today, I didn’t know how the car was going to be, because the rear was destroyed yesterday.

“But it all came together – the car was perfect; I did a good lap. So, yeah, my first pole position. Then in the race, until the pit stop, I gave my life, pushing really hard.

“I never thought they would let me win! But in the pit stops we made a good gap, and then from there it was OK. “I feel like I’ve just had 50 kilos taken off my back. It was a perfect race, and it’s my

birthday – to have that all together in one day is very good!”

Second place went to Mirko Bortolotti in the GRT Lamborghini, the Italian also scored the fastest lap bonus point and in doing so moves into the championship lead, re-overtaking van der Linde who failed to score once again.

Rast came home third for the second day running ahead of local hero Marco Wittmann in the Walkenhorst BMW, with Olsen rounding out the top five. Race 1 winner Preining came home in ninth.

Standings after Round 4 1 Bortolotti 89 2 Van der Linde 80 3 Rast 79 4 Muller 62 5 Auer 60

Matt Campbell shared the GTPro winning Porsche 911 GT3 RImages: Motorsport Images

AUSSIE SUCCESS AT MOSPORT IMSA Report: Dan McCarthy Images: Motorsport Images RENGER VAN der Zande (right) snatched victory away from the #60 Meyer Shank Racing car in the closing minutes of the IMSA Sportscar Championship race at the at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park, (formerly known as Mosport) while multiple Aussies had class success.

Just a week after being announced as Porsche prototype drivers in 2023, Aussie Matt Campbell and codriver Mathieu Jaminet took victory in the GTD Pro class.

Driving the Pfaff Motorsports #9 Porsche 911 GT3R, the pair led almost the entirety of the race.

“It’s extremely special,” Campbell said. “To come away with a victory like that is super special. (The team) put so much effort and work into this one race. We’ve had so many supporters and fans here this weekend. It’s been fantastic to see.”

After Jaminet’s stop, Campbell took over and brought the car to the line, in the end just 1.4s ahead of the #3 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette driven by Jordan Taylor and Antonio Garcia.

“I could see he was pushing all the time, and I could see where he was starting to look at places if he was close on the restarts and such,” Campbell said. “I could see where the car was strong, but I always wanted to make sure I had a little bit of a buffer and gap going into those places.

“I was just trying to manage the tyres. It wasn’t easy up there to be able to keep him off, especially at the end of the race, but we got there in the end.”

The #23 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 codriven by Alex Riberas and Ross Gunn was third in class.

In the outright DPi class Van der Zande, sharing the #01 Cadillac DPi took full advantage of the slower traffic to sneak by Oliver Jarvis who was blocked by a slower car at Turn 3 with 10 minutes to go.

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Aussie Aiden Read shared the third-in-class GTD Acura.

From there van der Zande pulled clear to take victory alongside Sebastien Bourdais by 3.5s.

The victory was the 10th in IMSA for Bourdais and the 17th for van der Zande, but came as a surprise to both veteran drivers as they qualified in fifth.

“This race wasn’t going to be ours,” said van der Zande. “We changed the car around completely after the warm-up practice this morning and didn’t know what to expect. The changes worked, but the power steering failed, and that was the toughest part of today.

“I knew I needed traffic to get by, so it was maximum attack, full risk,” he added. “I thought, ‘This is the time to go,’ and it worked.”

Jarvis and Tom Blomqvist finished second for the fifth consecutive IMSA race, a streak dating back to the event at Raceway Laguna Seca in mid-May. One crumb of comfort after the

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disappointment of losing out late on is that they have regained the DPi points lead over the #10 Acura shared by Filipe Albuquerque and Ricky Taylor, which finished sixth.

Pipo Derani and Olivier Pla completed the podium by finishing third in the #31 Cadillac.

There was success for an Aussie in GTD with Aiden Read finishing third in class driving an Acura.

It was heartache for Aussie Scott Andrews in the LMP3 class, sharing the #74 Riley Motorsports Ligier with Gar Robinson. The duo led over half of the race, but crashed out with just over an hour to go.

The Jarett Andretti and Gabby Chaves car was also in contention until it was delayed in the pits.

This left Jon Bennett and Colin Braun to take the win by 2.7s from over Andretti and Chaves, with Ari Balogh and Garrett Grist taking third in the No. 30 Jr III Motorsports Ligier.

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INTERNATIONAL

ALPINE PREVAILS IN WEC THRILLER IN WHAT was one of the best FIA World Endurance Championship races in many, many years the Alpine trio of Andre Negrao, Matthieu Vaxiviere and Nicolas Lapierre beat home a pair of Toyotas in Monza.

Many people tuned in to watch the factory Peugeot 9X8s make their debut and, while it was a tough weekend for the brand, you could not take you eyes off the fight for the lead. Throughout the entire six hours the two Toyotas were locked in a battle with the sole Alpine.

The Toyotas were incredibly fast on the straight, while the nimble and light Alpine gained its speed in the turns.

In the end the Alpine trio clinched the win by just 2.782s over the #8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid Hypercar of Brendon Hartley, Sebastien Buemi and Ryo Hirakawa.

One of the crucial moments of the race came in the fifth hour when Vaxiviere and Kamui Kobayashi in the #7 Toyota were duelling for the lead on the main straight at 300 kph.

Kobayashi tried to squeeze Vaxiviere on the straight but the Alpine driver didn’t budge. They made contact which saw the Toyota suffer a puncture and damage bodywork and forced the Japanese driver to limp back to the pits.

That disappointment was compounded by a 90-second stop/go penalty for the incident, which ensured it slipped back to a third placed finish.

It gave the Alpine a relatively clear run to the chequered flag although Vaxiviere had to watch his mirrors carefully as Ryo Hirakawa mounted a late charge for the lead, but it was not enough.

The Glickenhaus Racing team took pole by nearly a second and dominated the first half of the race, although a drive-through penalty for a full course yellow violation dropped the car to fourth.

They still had the pace to claw back the lost time and take the win – however a rare turbo problem forced them to retire.

Alpine heads Toyota, heading for a famous victory. Right top: Peugeot debuted its futuristic no-rear-wing car but suffered early mechanical issues.

Bottom: Aussie James Allen again co-drove to Pro Am LMP2 victory and the championship lead. Images: Motorsport Images.

On debut, the pair of Peugeots showed pace strong enough to keep with the Toyotas, Alpine and Glickenhaus but lacked reliability.

Loic Duval, James Rossiter and Gustavo Menezes finished fourth in class, many laps down, while the sister #93 9X8 driven by Jean-Eric Vergne, Mikkel Jensen and Paul di Resta stopped in the first hour and was eventually retired.

Corvette pulled off an incredible strategy to steal the GTE Pro class win from Ferrari in front of a disappointed Italian crowd.

Ferrari, on track for a win at home made a splash and dash with two laps to go and fell behind the sole Corvette of Nick Tandy.

Tandy had been lapping slowly throughout the final stint – because the Englishman was saving fuel. Rather than complete a splash and dash he conserved his fuel and steadily drove the car to a surprising but fully deserved victory.

The #52 Ferrari duo of Miguel Molina and Antonio Fuoco came home a disappointed second ahead of the #51 sister car which rounded out the podium.

Realteam by WRT celebrated its first ever LMP2 victory as Ferdinand Habsburg, Rui Andrade and Norman Nato jumped the #38 JOTA car of Will Stevens, Antonio Felix da Costa and Roberto Gonzalez at the final scheduled stop.

With fresher tyres, Habsburg was able to open up a decisive gap to ensure a popular victory for the Swiss entered squad.

After dominating the Pro Am LMP2 class at Le Mans, Australian James Allen prevailed once again with his teammates Rene Binder and Steven Thomas. In doing so the trio have taken the class lead.

Their championship rivals AF Corse picked up a penalty for causing a collision with a GTE Am Ferrari and finished in third.

In GTE Am the #77 Dempsey Proton

Porsche took the win with Harry Tincknell behind the wheel, denying the pole-sitting Iron Dames Ferrari trio of Sarah Bovy, Michelle Gatting and Rahel Frey.

Dan McCarthy

DOMINANT ELLIOT TAKES HOMETOWN ATLANTA THE NEWLY-paved Atlanta Motor Speedway proved Elliott’s margin over Chastain a happy hunting ground for hometown hero Chase was minimal given the late Elliott, coming out on top in a frantic finale to NASCAR’s yellow. Motorsport Images.

Quaker State 400.

The former champion and current championship leader made it three wins for the year, overtaking Corey LaJoie with two laps left to run on a resumption from racing after an incident with eight laps to go saw another caution, the 13th of the day.

Elliott’s Chevrolet led for 97 of the 260 laps, delighting a vocal home crowd to secure victory in the final lap when yet another caution flag was raised.

LaJoie caused the caution flag when he hit the wall at Turn 1 in a last ditch effort to pull alongside Elliott, falling just short of a first victory in NASCAR. LaJoie, a wellliked driver in the series, wouldn’t have been begrudged the win should he have got up. celebrate each of Elliott’s victories).

“Closest I’ve been, for sure,” said an obviously disheartened Elliott’s win, which extended his championship lead to 47 LaJoie. “That was fun; I’m proud of my guys at Spire and over Ryan Blaney, will rank as a high point in an already everyone whose helped us out.” successful career, becoming only the second Georgian born “I made my move and it didn’t work out, and the siren is driver to win at Atlanta: the other being his father, former ringing in Dawsville unfortunately,” (a reference to a NASCAR champion Bill Elliott.

Image: Motorsport(GA.) Images famed Pool Room in Elliott’s hometown, where a bell is rung to “This one’s up there for sure – to win at your home track is

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a real big deal I think to any race car driver. I watched a lot of guys do it over the years,” said a relieved and delighted Elliot, “We haven’t really had a good run here, so I felt like today was a good opportunity for us.”

The newly re-configured, 1.54 mile track, saw 27 lead changes over the day across 12 drivers. The hometown driver’s race was full of incidents and several dust ups, a few of these coming from Ryan Chastain’s #1 Chevrolet, the Trackhouse driver finishing second at the end of a busy day, “I hated that I took the best car here and I tore it up a couple of times, but yeah, it’s incredible,” said Chastain of his fifth top-two finish of the year. “Our road crew and pit crew did an awesome job to rebound through all the damage repair and we had a shot and I got on the inside of the #9 (Elliott) coming off (Turn) 2 coming to the checkered and the caution came out.”

Finishing in third was the Daytona 500 winner, Rookie Austin Cindric, with GMS motorsports’ Erik Jones and Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney completing the top five.

NASCAR returns next week at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway for the Ambetter 301, With Aric Almirola of StewartHAAS Racing looking to defend last year’s victory. TW Neal

INDYCAR

MCLAUGHLIN’S SECOND WIN

Report: Dan McCarthy Images: Motorsport Images SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN has scored his second career IndyCar Series victory to move back into the title fight in what was a chaotic day at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

In an intense battle to the line, McLaughlin held off reigning IndyCar Series winner Alex Palou for 17 laps and took the victory by 0.5s It was the second time that McLaughlin has had to hold off Palou to take victory this season, doing so in the first race of the season at St. Petersburg.

“This is amazing,” McLaughlin said. “I’m really proud of the (Team Penske) crew.

The car they gave me was a little hard to drive toward the end. I would love to make it a little bit easier for myself, but I’m super proud of them.

“You’re thinking about fuel (at the end of the race), but thankfully Chevy gave us great fuel mileage and drivability off the restarts that allowed me to get a bit of a gap from Palou.”

Former series winner, Aussie Will Power drove strongly once again. After starting 21st and spinning at Turn 9 on the opening lap, he carved his way through the field to finish in third! For Power it is was his fourth podium of the season and possibly one of the drives of the season.

After a tough run of races, Ed Carpenter Racing’s Rinus VeeKay finished in fourth, his second top-five finish of the season.

Six-time champ and six-time Mid-Ohio race winner Scott Dixon rounded out the top five ahead of his championship leading teammate Marcus Ericsson.

The third of the Team Penske cars, Josef Newgarden, came home in seventh ahead of Helio Castroneves.

Rookie David Malukas scored his best result to date, his first top 10 finish in ninth, while Simon Pagenaud rounded out the top 10.

It was a Safety Car-interrupted affair – over the 80 laps, there were six caution periods totalling 17 laps behind the Safety Car.

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A bit of opposite lock as McLaughlin (above) controlled the race – made more special thanks to the presence of his parents (bottom).

Left: Will Power recovered from a desperate first lap, last place, to finish on the podium.

Below: Veekay grabbed his second top-five of the season, in fourth.

Both Arrow McLaren SP cars qualified strongly on the front two rows including pole for Pato O’Ward.

His teammate Felix Rosenqvist sat third when his car started to billow smoke on lap 10 forcing him to retire.

O’Ward led 28 of the first 30 laps before he reported power issues also – on lap 54 exiting the pits his engine gave out completely.

O’Ward’s misfortune allowed McLaughlin, who started second, to inherit the lead during a round of green flag pit stop cycles on lap 31.

McLaughlin led 45 of the final 52 laps.

Colton Herta led seven laps after not pitting under caution on lap 53 while the rest of the leaders pitted (Herta finished in 14th).

McLaughlin got the lead back on lap 60 and never looked back, keeping Palou in his mirror through a series of cautions and restarts.

The final caution on came on lap 59 after contact between Romain Grosjean and his Andretti teammate Alexander Rossi – they finished in 21st and 19th respectively.

Palou was never more than second behind New Zealand native McLaughlin however could not find a way by.

“Man, it was so close,” said Palou who started seventh. “Our #10 car was fast. We just missed it by ‘this much’ again today, but I’m super proud. I don’t think I was good enough to pass (McLaughlin). I wish I would have gone for it, but I did not see that it was

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clear to do it.”

McLaughlin’s third podium of the season and Palou’s fourth allowed them to close in on the IndyCar Series points table.

McLaughlin’s win came in front of his parents, whom he had not seen since the COVID-19 pandemic broke out.

“Oh, I really wanted to get a win here with mom and dad for the first time,” McLaughlin said. “To have mum and dad here on America’s weekend is awesome.”

STANDINGS AFTER ROUND 9 1 Ericsson 321 2 Power 301 3 Newgarden 287 4 Palou 286 5 O’Ward 256 6 Dixon 254 7 McLaughlin 252 8 Rossi 229 9 Pagenaud 217 10 Herta 212

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Formula 1 Round 10 Silverstone, British GP

FERRARI’S BLUNDER HANDS SAINZ HIS FIRST WIN

By LUIS VASCONCELOS Images Motorsport Images IT’S A funny old world when a team can simultaneously wins a Grand Prix and is the biggest loser of the day – but, at Silverstone, Ferrari managed to pull that one off!

With Max Verstappen out of contention after running over debris that broke part of his car’s floor, Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz were heading for the team’s second one-two finish of the season with only Lewis Hamilton posing a threat to the Spaniard’s second place. A Safety Car period with 13 laps to go was all it took for the Scuderia to hit the panic button and destroy any chance Leclerc had to win a race he was in control off, by deciding to leave him out, “to protect track position”, Team Principal Mattia Binotto explained at the end of the race.

When the race was neutralised by the Safety Car period, the Monegasque was 4.2s ahead of Sainz and another 1.9s in front of Hamilton, who had been steadily gaining on the Spaniard, with his Hard tyres being 13 laps fresher than those on the number 55 car – but hadn’t gained a single tenth of a second over the leader on his first six laps on new tyres.

With Sérgio Pérez out of contention, 28.8s behind Leclerc, pitting and double stacking Leclerc and Sainz would put them only behind Hamilton, in the unlikely case that Mercedes would decide to leave him out on Hard tyres when everyone else was obviously putting a fresh set of Soft tyres for the final sprint to the line.

Given Mercedes’ poor straight line speed compared to Ferrari and a tyre advantage estimated at 1.2s per lap, plus the difficulty any driver on Hard tyres would have to switch on as soon as the track would be clear, it seemed a no brainer to stop both

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cars. But the insecurity in Ferrari’s pit wall led to the team splitting strategies, leaving Leclerc out and pitting Sainz. Hamilton obviously followed the Spanish driver into the pits, as not stopping would leave him vulnerable to attack from Pérez, who benefited from the Safety Car period to get to the back of the Mercedes W13.

Then Ferrari tried the impossible, suggesting Sainz leave a 10 cars’ gap to Leclerc at the re-start – the maximum allowed by the rules – to try and protect his lead ...

But the man from Madrid showed a cooler head in spite of the huge pressure he was under – his first Grand Prix win just nine laps away from him: “I knew I would pass Charles easily because my tyres were fresh and much softer than his, and if I left a gap I would lose part of the tow and that would help Lewis get past me, as he’d been the faster on track before the Safety Car. So I needed to pass Charles before Turn 6 and pull a gap, because there was no way he

could defend from everyone on Soft tyres”, Carlos explained after the race.

Eventually Binotto conceded that, “Carlos did what was the best for him and for the team too, because the priority was to win the race and he did it. He didn’t disobey team orders, he made his point very clear and after that we let him race. It was very unfortunate for Charles, who drove brilliantly with a slightly damaged car from lap one and he did a stunning job in the battles with Hamilton and Pérez, so he has no reason to be disappointed with his performance.”

And Leclerc was not disappointed with his own performance. After contact with Pérez in Turn 3, after the second start, he drove without most of the right front wing endplate on his F1-75 and was still the fastest man on track. After the pit stops he passed his team mate on lap 31 – after quite a bit of time wasting negotiations over the radio with his team – as Hamilton was extending his first stint and was becoming a

Slightly overshadowed by the excitement up front, Mick Schumacher’s first points finish was a popular addendum to the day’s action.

threat to both as Sainz’s pace wasn’t great, and opened a gap very quickly, putting himself in control of the race.

No wonder, then, he was massively disappointed at the end of the race, ending up in fourth place, like in Monaco, the team’s strategy decision cost him two easy wins: “Of course the disappointment is big for me today. It’s been a rollercoaster of a race.

In the first lap I broke the front wing and I thought that was over (there was quite a lot of understeer), but then I managed to play around with my toggles and managed to have a bit more of a strong front, and the pace came back and we were very strong.

And then the win was feeling more and more possible. And then, obviously, the Safety Car came out and that was it.”

Leclerc confirmed he had asked what to do and, told to stay out, had no time to react: “It all happened in about six seconds: I saw the SC warning, the team told me to stay out and before I could ask to come in

Again, it was Lando Norris who rescued some points for McLaren.

MERCEDES IS BACK – AND HAMILTON TOO! The Turn 1 shunt that stopped the race provided some stark images – but ultimately illustrated the level of driver safety in the modern F1 car ... Indeed Zhou Guanyou was chatting in pit lane before the race had finished ...

anyway I had gone bast the pit entry, so that was it… We need to really analyse what we did today because I feel we could have done a much better job with the strategy.”

Disappointed as he was, Leclerc still showed what a class act he is by saluting his team mate’s first win in Formula One: “I think this is an important point: as much as I am disappointed today, I don’t think this should be a headline on what is an amazing first victory for Carlos. It’s a dream come true. Whenever you are a child, you dream of this moment, and especially with Ferrari.

He needs to enjoy, it’s his day, and hopefully next time it will be my day.”

The man from Madrid, for his side, admitted that, “my pole position lap wasn’t the best one. of my life, far from it, and my race today was not my best one in Formula One, far from it too, but I’ve waited 150 Grands Prix

QUALIFYING RACE 10

for both of them, so I’ll take them!”

Sainz lost the lead in the first start as Verstappen had Soft tyres on his Red Bull while he was on Mediums. But at the re-start, following the multiple pile-up in Turn One that led to a very scary accident for Zhou Guanyu, both drivers were on Medium compound tyres and the Ferrari driver held in own against the World Champion in a very aggressive battle that lasted until Turn 6.

Initially Sainz pulled a bit of a gap to Verstappen but used his tyres too hard and then had a brief off at Maggotts, on lap 10, dropping behind the Dutchman. From then on he had Leclerc all over the back of his car, was pitted on lap 20 to split strategies and under pressure from Hamilton at the final re-start took his destiny in his own hands to finally win his first Grand Prix:

RESULTS RACE 10 52 LAPS SILVERSTONE

CHAMPIONSHIP AFTER RACE 10

Pos Driver

Time

Pos Drivers

Make

Laps Margin

1

Carlos Sainz

1:40.983

1

Carlos Sainz

Ferrari

52

2

Max Verstappen

1:41.055

2

Sergio Perez

Red Bull Racing RBPT

3

Charles Leclerc

1:41.298

3

Lewis Hamilton

Mercedes

4

Sergio Perez

1:41.616

4

Charles Leclerc

Ferrari

5

Lewis Hamilton

1:41.995

5 Fernando Alonso Alpine Renault

6

Lando Norris

1:42.084

6 Lando Norris

Mclaren Mercedes

7

Fernando Alonso

1:42.116

7

Red Bull Racing RBPT

8

George Russell

1:42.161

8 Mick Schumacher Haas Ferrari

9

Zhou Guanyu

1:42.719

9

10 Nicholas Latifi

2:03.095

10 Kevin Magnussen Haas Ferrari

11

1:43.702

12 Valtteri Bottas 13 Yuki Tsunoda

Pos Driver

Points 181

–

Sergio Perez

147

–

Charles Leclerc

138

–

4

Carlos Sainz

127 s1

+9.571s s2

5

George Russell

111 t-1

+11.943s

–

6

Lewis Hamilton

93

–

52

+18.777s t-5

7

Lando Norris

58

–

52

+18.995s s11

8

Valtteri Bottas

46

–

Aston Martin Mercedes 52

+22.356s s9

9

Esteban Ocon

39

–

52

+24.590s s7

10 Fernando Alonso

28

–

11 Lance Stroll

Aston Martin Mercedes 52

+26.147s s9

11

16

–

1:44.232

12 Nicholas Latifi

Williams Mercedes

52

+32.511s t-2

12 Kevin Magnussen 16

–

1:44.311

13 Daniel Ricciardo

Mclaren Mercedes

52

+32.817s s1

13 Sebastian Vettel

15 s1

14 Daniel Ricciardo

1:44.355

14 Yuki Tsunoda

Alphatauri RBPT

52

+40.910s t-1

14 Daniel Ricciardo

15 t-1

15 Esteban Ocon

1:45.190

NC Esteban Ocon

Alpine Renault

37

DNF

–

15 Yuki Tsunoda

11

–

16 Alexander Albon

1:42.078

NC Pierre Gasly

Alphatauri RBPT

26

DNF t-5

16 Zhou Guanyu

5

–

17 Kevin Magnussen

1:42.159

NC Valtteri Bottas

Alfa Romeo Ferrari

20

DNF t-5

17 Mick Schumacher

4 s2

18 Sebastian Vettel

1:42.666

NC George Russell

Mercedes

0

DNF t-10

18 Alexander Albon

3 t-1

19 Mick Schumacher

1:42.708

NC Zhou Guanyu

Alfa Romeo Ferrari

0

DNF t-10

19 Lance Stroll

3 t-1

20 Lance Stroll

1:43.430

NC Alexander Albon

Williams Mercedes

0

DNF t-4

20 Nicholas Latifi

0

Pierre Gasly

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Max Verstappen Sebastian Vettel

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2:17:50.311

–

1

Max Verstappen

52

+3.779s s2

2

52

+6.225s s2

3

52

+8.546s t-1

52 52

Pierre Gasly

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–

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“I don’t know what to say. It’s amazing.

I mean, my first win, 150 races later, with Ferrari, in Silverstone, I cannot ask for more.

It’s a very special day, a day that I will never forget. A very special weekend in general.

And thank you everyone for the support, for the cheers. Lewis was on it today I heard.

It was one of his days, but we managed to hold on and I’m incredibly happy.”

The biggest winner of that late Safety Car period was Pérez, who was headed for a lonely P4 but with his gap nullified at the restart, and on fresh Soft tyres, he managed to beat Leclerc and Hamilton with some pretty muscular moves and save the day for Red Bull with his second place.

Verstappen, with an estimated loss of 20 per cent of his car’s downforce fought as much as he could to salvage P7 and admitted, “it could have been much worse. I had just passed Carlos when I came out of Turn 5 and saw this big piece of debris on the track. To avoid a puncture I went over it with the nosecone, but I immediately lost grip. I pitted for tyres thinking I’d punctured anyway, but the issue was elsewhere.

“When I came out of the car I looked under it and the left side of the floor is completely destroyed, so that was the issue.”

With Hamilton in third place (read sidebar) it was another veteran that threatened Leclerc’s P4 but Fernando Alonso just lacked that bit of pace to beat the Monegasque. Still, he drove brilliantly all weekend to secure another 10 precious points and beat McLaren’s Lando Norris thanks to a better pit call as soon as the SC sign came out, the British driver dropping to sixth after another good weekend.

Behind Verstappen, Mick Schumacher scored the first points of his Formula One career, with a great drive through the field, beating friend and mentor Sebastian Vettel and team mate Kevin Magnussen in the battle for the last three positions inside the top 10.

MERCEDES’ RESULTS after the Spanish Grand Prix made it look like the improvements made on the W13 had only worked at the Circuit de Catalunya, but in Silverstone it was the first time the Silver Arrows were serious contenders for the win.

Lewis Hamilton was pushing hard to catch and pass Sainz for P2 when the Safety Car came out on lap 39 and could still hope Leclerc’s Hard tyres, eight laps older than his own, would lose grip, to try and catch him before the end of the race.

In a weekend where the W13’s progress looked real, it was no surprise to see Lewis Hamilton at the top of his game while, in contrast, George Russell struggled in the wet qualifying session and never got past the first corner.

Having done brilliantly in the first start to get past Pérez, Hamilton didn’t have such a good getaway on the second one and dropped behind Norris. When he eventually got past the McLaren driver, on lap 6, the gap to the leaders was almost 8s but Hamilton was flying and cut it down to 3.9s by lap 20, when Sainz pitted.

Opting to go long, the seven-times World Champion stopped on lap 33 and emerged from the pits 3.5s behind the Spaniard, now down to second, but five laps later Hamilton was ready to pounce, the gap being slashed to 1.9s.

Pitting for Softs under the Safety Car, Hamilton lost out to Pérez but got past Leclerc to secure a podium finish in front of his home crowd, admitting that, “tyre warm-up on the Softs was not great and that cost us, but on the Medium tyre we were flying!”

Even if he was weary individual, and results don’t guarantee competitiveness on other tracks, Hamilton’s admission that, “without George in the race we lost points to Ferrari today”, showing a confidence that hadn’t been there before.

Asked if that was a sign he was now certain he had a car capable of fighting for wins from now on, he admitted, “the upgrade we brought here worked really well, we got a lot more downforce out of it, bouncing is no longer an issue, so yes, I think we are now genuinely back.”

And on the subject of fighting for the title, the seven-times World Champion was quite upbeat: “Never say never, man! More than half the season is yet to come – we’re now quick, we’ve had a very reliable car throughout, we’re a great race team so anything is possible.”

Fighting words indeed, for a man than as soon as set-up experiments stopped and he got a good car under him, reminded us all you don’t become the most successful driver in Formula One history for no reason….

Other than the BIG shunt, Silverstone will be remembered as Sainz’s first win.

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Formula 1 Round 11 Red Bull Ring, Austrian GP

Cop that! Leclerc passed Verstappen three times, using his tyre strategy to the max. Opposite (top): the McLaren crew go to work on Norris’ car.

Right: “Fries with that?” – Sainz’s engine let go in a big way ... Far right: George Russell overcame a five-second penalty to beat Ocon to fourth.

DOMINANT WIN ENDS LECLERC’S CRUEL DROUGHT

By LUIS VASCONCELOS Images Motorsport Images THE AUSTRALIAN Grand Prix is already a distant memory for Formula One drivers and personnel, but it was that far back – eight Grands Prix and more than three months ago – that Charles Leclerc had scored his last victory!

The number of missed opportunities in between is almost too long to count and what was amazing to see was the Monegasque’s ability to bounce back from every disappointment, be it after losing wins to reliability issues or to his team’s strategic mistakes – like in Monaco and Silverstone.

This being Red Bull’s ‘home’ Grand Prix, confidence was high in the Austrian team, Helmut Marko going as far as saying “with Honda’s special turbo, we are the favorites, for sure.” Verstappen’s win on Saturday, in the Sprint Race, certainly reinforced the team’s confidence but they were in for a nasty surprise on Sunday, when the big points were on offer.

What Marko certainly didn’t hear was Leclerc’s radio comment after finishing second on Saturday, telling his team, “we’ll get them tomorrow.” And get them he did, in style, overtaking Verstappen on three occasions as their strategy proved effective as soon as the lead first changed hands on lap 12.

If Verstappen and Marko were surprised, the Ferrari driver was not: “On Saturday I saw Max push so hard in the first two laps I decided to save my tyres to attack in the end, but then had to lose lap time defending from Carlos. That’s why I was convinced we could win on Sunday, because we had a very quick car and better tyre life.”

With no challenge from behind this time around, Leclerc kept Verstappen less than one second ahead for the first 11 laps and then passed his rival into Turn 4, for the lead.

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The Red Bull immediately pitted for tyres but Ferrari resisted the temptation to try and cover the Red Bull, and kept both cars out for much longer, sticking to its original plan.

Leclerc pitted from the lead on lap 26, with Sainz – 4s behind his team-mate – doing likewise one lap later. With a massive tyre offset it was easy for Leclerc to pass his rival again on lap 33, seven laps after making his first stop and even easier to do it again on lap 53, just four laps after the second stop.

Sainz never got the chance to enjoy passing Verstappen, as the Dutchman pitted twice when within his reach and then a massive engine blowout took him out of the race on lap 53.

It was only after the VSC period to remove the burning Ferrari that Leclerc got flustered, for his car had developed an unusual technical issue: “The pace was there at the beginning and we had some good fights with Max, but the end was incredibly difficult. I had this problem with the throttle, and it would get stuck at 20 or 30% throttle

in the low-speed corners. It was very tricky, but we managed to make it last until the end. I’m so happy ...”

The Ferrari driver was aware of Sainz’s issue and that increased his anxiety: “Weirdly, it happened more or less at the same time, so, I had it in my mind. I knew it was not a problem with the engine, because it was really the pedal that was feeling weird.

First at pick up and then at the end it would not come back to zero. Luckily, it went until the end of the race.”

His relief was tremendous as he readily admitted: “I definitely needed that one. The last five races have been incredibly difficult for myself, but also for the team. To finally show that we’ve got the pace in the car and that we can do it is incredible. Now, we need to push until the end.”

DAMAGE LIMITATION FOR VERSTAPPEN – AGAIN Strong from his dominant win in the Sprint Race, Verstappen wasn’t challenged at the

Two former champions – Alonso and Vettel – started from the back row, with Alonso, despite an extras stop, grabbing a point.

Right: Been a while, but okay, you can pour it all over me ....

start and, like the day before, went on the attack, to try and open a gap to Leclerc.

He wasn’t able to pull away, had no answer for his rival and spent the rest of the race puzzled by the excessive tyre degradation his car suffered. Only Sainz’s engine failure moved him up from what would have been third place, so the World Champion was quite happy with his final result: “It was a tricky day. It really seemed like we were struggling quite a bit with the tyres and basically that continued on every single compound. There was too much degradation to really attack Charles, but, nevertheless, second place is a good result for us on a difficult day.”

Having had good enough tyres for 24 laps on the Sprint Race, Verstappen was at loss to explain the change experienced 24 hours later: “It was a bit more difficult than I expected it to be. Basically, on any tyre compound I was just struggling a lot for pace after a few laps, just a lot of degradation. It’s something I cannot really

SCHUMACHER COMES OF AGE AS HAAS STUNS THE MIDFIELD

explain right now, why it was so high, because normally we are quite OK on the tyres. I expected it to be tough today, but I didn’t expect it to be like this. So, it’s just something we need to analyse and understand why this happened today.”

Like Ferrari, Red Bull also lost one car in Spielberg, in this case Pérez retiring as his car was too damaged after contact with George Russell in the first lap. The Mercedes driver collected a 5s penalty for his action but recovered to finish in fourth place, behind team mate Lewis Hamilton who got his second podium in succession.

Mercedes had a weekend of ups and downs, the W13 seeming very quick in qualifying only for the two drivers to crash

QUALIFYING RACE 11

out in Q3. If Russell still managed to start fourth and finish fourth in the Sprint, Hamilton got a bit hit from Gasly at the start of Saturday’s race and with a damaged car could only progress to P8. Stuck again behind the two Haases on Sunday, he extended his first stint to gain a big tyre offset, settling the battle for P4, that became P3 with Sainz’s retirement there and then.

But the race pace was not in line with what had been seen on Friday, Hamilton admitting that “I was more than half a minute behind them, so I became a spectator, watching Charles and Max battle many times on the big screen in Turn One!” Esteban Ocon was, effectively, best of the rest, in fifth place, after being sixth on

QUALIFYING SPRINT RACE 23 LAPS

Saturday, twice holding off the impressively fast Haases.

But Alpine only got one more point with Alonso, who didn’t even start on Saturday due to an electrical issue and then was forced to an extra stop on Sunday, as the left front wheel hadn’t been properly attached in the pits, dropping from sixth to 14th and recovering to snatch the last point from Bottas in the final lap.

McLaren had a better race pace than qualifying speed, Norris splitting the two Haases on Sunday, to claim P7 with Ricciardo in ninth place adding to crucial points to keep the team fourth in the championship, but now tight at 81 points with Alpine.

RESULTS RACE 11 71 LAPS RED BULL RING

Pos Driver

Time

Pos Drivers

Make

Pos Drivers

Make

1

Max Verstappen

1:04.984

1

Max Verstappen

Red Bull Racing RBRT 23 26:30.059

–

1

Charles Leclerc

Ferrari

71 1:24:24.312 s1

1

Max Verstappen

208

2

Charles Leclerc

1:05.013

2

Charles Leclerc

Ferrari

23

+1.675s

–

2

Max Verstappen

Red Bull Racing RBRT

71

+1.532s t-1

2

Charles Leclerc

170 s1

3

Carlos Sainz

1:05.066

3

Carlos Sainz

Ferrari

23

+5.644s

–

3

Lewis Hamilton

Mercedes

71

+41.217s s5

3

Sergio Perez

151 t-1

4

George Russell

1:05.431

4

George Russell

Mercedes

23 +13.429s

–

4

George Russell

Mercedes

71 +58.972s

–

4

Carlos Sainz

133

5

Esteban Ocon

1:05.726

5 Sergio Perez

Red Bull Racing RBRT 23 +18.302s s8

5 Esteban Ocon

Alpine Renault

71 +68.436s s1

5

George Russell

128

–

6

Kevin Magnussen

1:05.879

6 Esteban Ocon

Alpine Renault

23 +31.032s t-1

6 Mick Schumacher Haas Ferrari

70

+1 lap s3

6

Lewis Hamilton

109

–

7

Mick Schumacher

1:06.011

7

Haas Ferrari

23 +34.539s t-1

7

70

+1 lap s4

7

Lando Norris

64

–

8

Fernando Alonso

1:06.103

8 Lewis Hamilton

Mercedes

23 +35.447s s1

8 Kevin Magnussen Haas Ferrari

70

+1 lap t-1

8

Esteban Ocon

52 s1

9

Lewis Hamilton

9

Valtteri Bottas

46 t-1

Kevin Magnussen

Time

Pos Driver

Points –

–

9

Haas Ferrari

23

McLaren Mercedes

70

+1 lap s3

9

1:06.160

10 Valtteri Bottas

Alfa Romeo Ferrari

23 +37.557s s2

10 Fernando Alonso

Alpine Renault

70

+1 lap s10

10 Fernando Alonso

11

1:06.230

11 Lando Norris

McLaren Mercedes

23 +38.580s s4

11 Valtteri Bottas

Alfa Romeo Ferrari

70

+1 lap t-1

11

12 Valtteri Bottas

1:06.319

12 Daniel Ricciardo

McLaren Mercedes

23 +39.738s s4

12 Alexander Albon

Williams Mercedes

70

+1 lap s4

12 Daniel Ricciardo

17 s2

13 Sergio Perez

1:06.458

13 Lance Stroll

Aston Martin Mercedes 23 +48.241s s4

13 Lance Stroll

Aston Martin Mercedes

70

+1 lap

–

13 Pierre Gasly

16 t-2

14 Yuki Tsunoda

1:06.851

14 Zhou Guanyu

Alfa Romeo Ferrari

23 +50.753s s4

14 Zhou Guanyu

Alfa Romeo Ferrari

70

+1 lap

–

14 Sebastian Vettel

15 t-1

15 Lando Norris

1:25.847

15 Pierre Gasly

Alphatauri RBRT

23 +52.125s t-5

15 Pierre Gasly

Alphatauri RBRT

70

+1 lap

–

15 Mick Schumacher

12 s2

16 Daniel Ricciardo

1:06.613

16 Alexander Albon

Williams Mercedes

23 +52.412s t-5

16 Yuki Tsunoda

Alphatauri RBRT

70

+1 lap s1

16 Yuki Tsunoda

11 t-1

17 Lance Stroll

1:06.847

17 Yuki Tsunoda

Alphatauri RBRT

23 +54.556s t-3

17 Sebastian Vettel

Aston Martin Mercedes

70

+1 lap s2

17 Zhou Guanyu

5 t-1

18 Zhou Guanyu

1:06.901

18 Nicholas Latifi

Williams Mercedes

23 +68.694s s1

NC Carlos Sainz

Ferrari

56

DNF t-15

18 Alexander Albon

3

–

19 Nicholas Latifi

1:07.003

19 Sebastian Vettel

Aston Martin Mercedes 21

DNF s1

NC Nicholas Latifi

Williams Mercedes

48

DNF t-1

19 Lance Stroll

3

–

20 Sebastian Vettel

1:07.083

NC Fernando Alonso

Alpine Renault

DNS t-12

NC Sergio Perez

Red Bull Racing RBRT

24

DNF t-15

20 Nicholas Latifi

0

–

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Daniel Ricciardo

McLaren Mercedes

Margin

1:13.151

0

+37.163s t-2

Lando Norris

Laps

10 Pierre Gasly Alexander Albon

Mick Schumacher

Laps

CHAMPIONSHIP AFTER RACE 11

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Kevin Magnussen 22 s1

MICK SCHUMACHER shut down any rumors of being dropped by Haas at the end of the year – in the aftermath of two very high-speed accidents that put a dent on the team’s budget – with his best weekend in Formula One, just one week after scoring the first points of his Grand Prix career.

In the Sprint Race the young German had argued with the team to be allowed through by Magnussen, “as I was quicker”, only to be told to hold position as the Dane was giving him DRS, protecting both from Hamilton’s attacks. The strategy worked for Magnussen, who secured his seventh place but not for Mick, who eventually got passed by the Mercedes drivers, ending the afternoon just out of the points.

On Sunday, a mistake by Magnussen out of Turn 7 handed him the possibility to get past his teammate and he then pulled a small gap that earned him P6 at the end, thanks also to a 5s penalty handed to Norris for exceeding track limits three times. With Magnussen in eighth place, the American team scored 14 points in Austria, after scoring just 20 in the first 10 Grands Prix of the season.

Given the VF-22 is the only car that hasn’t yet been seriously upgraded since the start of the season, Haas’ performance at the Red Bull Ring was stunning, their great straight-line speed seemingly coming at no cost of good downforce and traction, as the two cars were quick all around the track.

For Schumacher: “I felt very confident with the car; the tyres obviously didn’t last quite as long as we anticipated and therefore we reverted to a two-stop. But I think we showed great pace out there, which is what we wanted to do at the beginning of this weekend, and I think we did.”

“I think the points could have come a lot earlier, but anyway we’ve shown the potential that the car has and also we’ve shown the potential the drivers have.” And when asked why things now seemed to have suddenly clicked for him, he admitted: “I don’t know, it’s always hard to say”, before adding, “I think we know what we need for our car to be quick. We had a strong car at the beginning of the year – obviously some people brought updates, we maybe lost our way in terms of set-up a bit. But, then, it came back to a very good set-up and other people maybe struggled with their package. So, all that completes the result we saw today.”

Stunning indeed, when you compare Haas’ budget and resources with that of McLaren or Alpine – the two teams they outscored in Austria.

Two podiums in two weeks; Lewis is getting closer.

www.autoaction.com.au I 57

CARRERA CUP TOWNSVILLE

Team Porsche New Zealand’s Callum Hedge took his maiden win ahead of some heavy Porsche hitters

Images: Mark Horsburgh

OLD-TIMER AND TWO FIRST-TIME WINNERS THERE WERE three different outright and Pro winners but just one Pro-Am victor at round four of the Paynter Dixon Porsche Carrera Cup on the streets of Townsville.

Tekworkx’s Luke Youlden qualified on pole, his first since 2005 and survived an exclusion to win Race 1. The second race was taken out by Jackson Walls from McElrea Racing in his first time in Townsville, before Team Porsche New Zealand’s Callum Hedge took out the last.

Hedge took the round win ahead of fellow Pro drivers Walls and David Wall. Out of

the Ash Seward Motorsport stable, Emery qualified fastest in Pro-Am, led every lap of the three races and finished the meeting ahead of Stephen Grove (Grove Racing) and Dean Cook (Zonzo Racing).

Safety Cars shortened the first race, under which it was concluded. With the top three in the running order initially excluded, David Wall was the provisional winner in front of Dylan O’Keeffe, Duvashen Padayachee and Brad Shiels.

Youlden, Walls and Hedge were penalised for their slow pace on the final lap, their times over twice that of the fastest time of the winner, despite the fact they were behind a safety car. They protested and their protests were upheld.

Youlden fell to third at the start and trailed Aaron Love and O’Keeffe. As the field converged into Turn 2 with some jostling and light contact, O’Keeffe tapped and turned around Love. The incident caused many to

take avoiding action and spelt the race over for Dale Wood.

Simon Fallon led the jumbled field, before a puncture caused him to spin off at the next corner, and Youlden took the lead.

Shortly after, Tony Quinn crashed at high speed at Turn 10. He was taken to Townsville University Hospital, where he was reported to be in a stable condition with a suspected broken leg, rib fractures and a punctured lung.

Six laps went by before the race concluded and O’Keeffe was relegated to 12th with a 10s penalty. That elevated Padayachee, Shiels, Bayley Hall and Angelo Mouzouris. Emery was next and headed Pro-Am rivals Liam Talbot and Cook. Nick McBride was ninth as Love recovered for tenth ahead of Ryan Suhle.

Walls won the start of race two and led Hedge, Youlden and David Wall before the safety car was deployed after Adrian Flack and Drew Hall came to grief.

Walls continued at the head of the field as Youlden passed Hedge for second. Shortly after though, the latter hit back and retrieved second. The four finished nose-to-tail as Love advance to be line astern in the concluding stages. Second in Pro-Am was Grove with Talbot third.

It was tight between the leading two after Race 3 began. They were side-by-side to Turn 4 where Walls edged ahead. Youlden fell out of contention when he was spun around

by Love. Two laps later Walls ran wide at Turn 2 and gifted the lead to Hedge as Wall and Love also slipped through.

Hedge retained the front running from there and held out Wall. Love was third with Walls next in front of Shiels who held off Suhle and points leader Harri Jones which win as close as he got to the front. Emery had over 2.0s on Grove with Rodney Jane third while Talbot pitted with front damage.

Garry O’Brien

GIBBONS DOUBLES, RICHARDS MAIDEN WIN TWO RACE wins at the third event of the Toyota GAZOO Racing Australia 86 Series gave Lachlan Gibbons the overall top points tally and increased his lead before Clay Richards (right, leading Gibbons) scored his maiden series win.

Richards progressed from a first-up third, then second and then won the last to come away from the Townsville event with second for the weekend ahead of Zach Bates.

Normally Gibbons and Bates head up qualifying but this time they were fourth and sixth respectively as Jarrod Hughes took pole for Race 1 ahead of Richard and Jobe Stewart while James Wilkins was fifth fastest.

In the opener Gibbons quickly moved to second as Richards led after Hughes was slow away. There was a Safety Car after three laps, due to Lachlan Bloxsom’s meeting with a concrete wall. Shortly after, Toyota guest driver Lewis Bates was turned around at Turn 2 which caught out Madison Dunstan, Mitch McGarry and Ryan Hadden.

58 I www.autoaction.com.au

and Hayden Jackson concertinaed into each other.

With no more green running, Gibbons picked up his second win while Wilkins was second across the line but relegated to seventh with a penalty, behind Richards, Bates, Hughes, Jayden Wanzek and Caruso.

The final race brought about the breakthrough victory for Richards. The third generation racer was second behind Gibbons Image: Ross Gibb Photography and made his lead bid after yet another Safety Car period with a well-orchestrated move Gibbons stalked and passed Richards at Turn 11. Wilkins under brakes at Turn 2. took advantage and slipped through as well. They Beforehand Hughes, who started in the top five, was finished in that order as Stewart passed Bates for fourth. squeezed against the outside wall out of Turn 2 and Then followed Ryan Casha, Hughes, guest driver Michael speared across the track to make heavy contact with the Caruso, David Schulz and James Holdsworth. inside wall. That triggered the Safety Car. The second race finished behind a Safety Car after a After the resumption Bates was a close third and 2.0s five-car incident at Turn 11. Gibbons led from the outset clear of the three-way scrap for fourth which went to with he and Wilkins able to pull a gap on the first lap. But Caruso over Wilkins and Wanzek. Then came Holdsworth, that was soon negated as Schulz was turned around at Harrison Gray, Campbell Logan and Sam Christison.

Turn 11, and Hayden Hume, Ryan Gilroy, Reuben Goodall Garry O’Brien

A

B

C

TEST YOUR MOTORSPORT Name: 1840 Crossword KNOWLEDGE Test your Motorsport knowledge 1

2

3

4 6

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5

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9

10 11

13

12

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15

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18 19

20 21 22

23

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3. Who is the joint most winningest driver at the track photographed in Image A with Lewis Hamilton? (surname) 6. Sebastien Loeb was a front-runner in the World Rallycross Championship driving what model car?

8. For what team did Damon Hill make his Formula 1 debut in 1992?

9. At what track was the first Formula 1 race held in 1950, photographed in Image B? 11. Who is the recently named Red Bull Racing Formula 1 reserve driver? (surname) 12. Who am I? I made my F1 debut in 1994 with Sauber; I finished second in the ’97 title and was a contender with Jordan in 1999?

13. Which German won the Macau GP in 1990 after a controversial incident with Mika Hakkinen? (full name) 16. What nationality is Liam Lawson?

18. What country’s F1 race is held at the track photographed in Image A? 20. Jean Alesi finished second in the 1990 Monaco Grand Prix driving for what team?

23. Who took his maiden V8 Supercars Championship race win at Eastern Creek in 2008? (surname) 24. Which Aussie motorsport legend is behind the wheel of the openwheeler in Image C? (surname) 27. Lancia has the most WRC titles, but what manufacturer has the most WRC rally wins?

28. Which Dutchman won his first of two Indy 500s in 1990? (surname) 30. For how many years were Fernando Alonso and Giancarlo Fisichella teammates at Renault?

1. A pair of New Zealanders won Le Mans and WEC together in 2017. Brendon Hartley was one – who was the other? (surname) 2. Who famously said driving the old Winton layout is like “like running a marathon around your clothesline.” (full name) 4. Which Sky Sports F1 commentator/pundit won Le Mans with Jaguar in 1990? (surname) 5. Who won the first ever Formula 1 race? (surname) 7. The circuit photographed in Image A is named after who? (full name) 10. Who said this on the Bathurst podium in 1992?

“You’re a pack of a**eholes.” (full name) 14. What brand of F1 car is photographed in Image B? 15. Who said this after finishing second in Adelaide?

“Plucked her in first, gave it some jandal and f*** yeah.” (surname) 17. Who has won the last two WTCR titles? (surname) 19. Who made his Indy 500 debut in 1958 and failed to qualifying in the same race 35 years later? (surname) 21. Sebastien Loeb competed in the 2006 Le Mans 24 Hours –in what position did he finish outright?

22. Allan Grice and who were surprise winners of the 1990 Bathurst 1000 in the Holden Racing Team Commodore? (surname) 25. How many times has Carlos Sainz won the Dakar Rally?

26. How many Ferraris were entered in the first F1 Grand Prix?

29. What brand of bike will Jack Miller ride in MotoGP next year?

Created using the Crossword Maker on TheTeachersCorner.net

Down Crossword Answers down – Bentley, 2 across – Sainz, 3 down – Yamaha, 4 down 5 across – Helen Stewart, 1. A pair of New Zealanders won –LeWaltrip, Mans and WEC together in 2017, 6 down – Tasman Motorsport, 7 across – Stewart, 8 down – third, 9 down – Frank Gardner, joint most #1839 winningest driver at the 1track photographed in Brendon Hartley was who– four, was the other?– Fittipaldi, (surname)16 down – Phillip Island, 17 across – Prema, 18 down – Sauber, 19 across – McLaughlin, 20 down – Pukekohe, 10 across – David Brabham, 11 down – four, 12 across – four, 13 down – fourth, 14one, across 15 down ewis Hamilton? (surname) Who famously said25 driving old Winton running– athree, 27 across – The Golden Child, 28 across – one, 29 across – eleven Loeb was a21front-runner in the down – Jordan, 22World down –Rallycross Ricciardo, 23 across – Sierra,2.24 down – AJ Foyt, downthe – Benetton, 26layout downis– like two,“like 26 across

p driving what model car? eam did Damon Hill make his Formula 1 debut in 1992? ck was the first Formula 1 race held in 1950 photographed

e recently named Red Bull Racing Formula 1 reserve ame) ? I made my F1 debut in 1994 with Sauber, I finished ’97 title and was a contender with Jordan in 1999? rman won the Macau GP in 1990 after a controversial Mika Hakkinen? (full name) onality is Liam Lawson? ntry’s F1 race is held at the track photographed in shot A? i finished second in the 1990 Monaco Grand Prix driving ? his maiden V8 Supercars Championship race win at k in 2008? (surname) ssie motorsport legend is behind the wheel of the openot C? (surname) s the most WRC titles, but what manufacturer has the most ns? tchman won his first of two Indy 500s in 1990? (surname) many years were Fernando Alonso and Giancarlo Fisichella Renault?

1972: FRANK MATICH dominated the second round of the Australian Drivers’ Championship at Oran Park; Kevin Bartlett was the only other driver to finish on the lead lap. After missing the Belgian Grand Prix due to illness, Jackie Stewart returned to win the French Grand Prix, beating Emerson Fittipaldi to the chequered flag. Kiwi Chris Amon led much of the race until a puncture demoted him to third.

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marathon around your clothesline.” (full name) 4. Which Sky Sports F1 commentator/pundit won Le Mans with Jaguar in 1990? (surname) 5. Who won the first ever Formula 1 race? (surname) 7. The circuit photographed in shot A is named after who? (full name) 10. Who said this on the Bathurst podium in 1992? “You’re a pack of a**eholes.” (full name) 14. What brand of F1 car is photographed in Photo B? 15. Who said this after finishing second in Adelaide? “Plucked her in first, gave it some jandal and f*** yeah.” (surname) 17. Who has won the last two WTCR titles? (surname) 19. Who made his Indy 500 debut in 1958 and failed to qualifying in the same race 35 years later? (surname) 21. Sebastien Loeb competed in the 2006 Le Mans 24 Hours, in what position did he finish outright?

22. Allan Grice and who were surprise winners of the 1990 Bathurst 1000 in the Holden Racing Team Commodore? (surname) 25. How many times has Carlos Sainz won the Dakar Rally?

26. How many Ferraris were entered in the first F1 Grand Prix?

29. What brand of bike will Jack Miller ride in MotoGP next year?

We take a look back at what was making news in Auto Action 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 years ago

1982: TERRY SHIEL was the unlikely victor in his privately-run Mazda in the fourth round of the AMSCAR Series. The Sydneysider held off a raft of V8 powered cars to take the win at Amaroo. Former Formula 1 champion Alan Jones continued his exceptional start to the Australian Sports Sedan GT Championship – he won his fifth straight round in his Porsche 935 with wins in Adelaide and Perth.

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1992: AHEAD OF the new rule set for the 1993 Australian Touring Car Championship, Dick Johnson Racing’s planned title challenger failed to pass its technical inspection. CAMS deemed it would not be allowed to race in that state as the inner wheel guards and engine and transmission mounts did not meet the regulations. Carlos Sainz won Rally New Zealand while Peugeot prevailed at Le Mans.

Auto Action

2002: NINE-TIME BATHURST 1000 winner Peter Brock announced his intention to come out of retirement and race at The Mountain in the inaugural edition of the Bathurst 24 Hour later that year. Auto Action showed readers what the new Holden VY Commodore V8 Supercar would look like. Paul Dumbrell was the youngster who prevailed and was crowned the Super2 Series champion.

2012: AUSSIE MARK Webber was confident of winning the 2012 Formula 1 World Championship after becoming just the second winner of an incredible season. The Red Bull driver closed to within just seven points of friend and rival Fernando Alonso in the championship.

Auto Action reported that 2013 would not only see Nissan enter the Supercars Championship – another new brand was expected.

www.autoaction.com.au I 59

PERSONALISE YOUR NEW CORVETTE

CUPRA INJECTS MORE ACTION INTO SUVS SPANISH BRAND PROMISES FAMILY FUN

GMSV HAS revealed exciting details of updates and enhancements available on the forthcoming MY2023 right-hand-drive C8 Corvette.

“The response to the C8 Corvette has been unheralded, not just in Australia and New Zealand, but right around the world,” said Joanne Stogiannis, Director of GMSV. “This overwhelming international demand for the C8, along with added complexity of being the first-ever, factorymanufactured, right-hand-drive model, meant we needed to pre-set our launch allocation of customer vehicles.

“However, with our latest MY23 allocation, we are able to offer customers the ability to personalise their orders further, resulting in a more bespoke ordering process.

“Providing customers an improved level of personalisation was a key focus for us with this allocation as well as news that we are providing smaller, more frequent, Dealer allocations at this time.

“This will mean there is greater visibility on production timing along with the opportunity for customers to personalise elements of their vehicle.”

The new MY23 content includes three new wheel options, black exhaust tips and a striking new blackout interior trim. A brand new, ‘Adrenaline Red’ full dipped interior is also available.

With customers now having the ability to change some of the options specified on their vehicle, they have a choice in exterior paint colour, decals, brake calliper colour, exhaust tip option, seat belt colour as well as interior trim colour.

“It is a very dramatic car, full of character and personality, and now with the possibility of making changes to certain features we are providing new owners with the opportunity to make their Corvette their own, to a greater extent than has been possible before.

“We’re proud to be able to deliver this chance to our new C8 owners and am sure they will take pleasure in finessing some of the finer details relating to their new Corvette.” said Ms Stogiannis.

Shipping of the MY23 C8 Corvette is anticipated to commence Q4 of this year. R&T

60 I www.autoaction.com.au

BY PAUL GOVER THE LAST thing Australia needs is another new car brand.

The company count is already past 65 and closing on 70, with the electric promises and plans from Chinese and American makes adding new hopefuls with almost every month.

And then there is Cupra.

The Spanish brand began as an HSV and FPV-style sporty spinoff at SEAT, itself a Downunder failure in the past, but has grown into something more.

It still has a sporty edge but is becoming known for its driverfriendly SUVs, so you can have your fun and still take the family along for the ride.

And there will also be the fully battery-electric Born, which is already luring lookers in Australia for deliveries in 2023.

But it’s the Formentor that is doing the early work for Cupra in Australia.

And, no, that’s not a spelling mistake or a silly spin on the dementors from the Harry Potter franchise.

Think of the Formentor as a Spanish twist from the Volkswagen Golf, using the same basic mechanical package with the focus on the GTI end of the action, with value pricing and plenty of equipment.

In Australia, there are four versions of the Formentor and pricing starts at $54,990 for the V model.

Each one is easy to pick, thanks to a badge on the grille that looks like something from a Marvel movie. For me, it looks like it belongs on the chest of someone like Chris Hemsworth.

“It symbolises the sense of belonging to a clan, the Cupra clan,” says Jordi Front, who is responsible for the Action Man impact.

“The design of the inverted triangle was modelled on the attitude of tribal civilisations, on their courage and daring.”

To test that courage and daring, with the Formentor story just beginning in Australia, there is a chance for a quick spin in the UK. My Formentor V2 is not strictly to the same specification as Aussie

arrivals, but it gives 140 kilowatts from the engine room with a quick-shift DSG gearbox and 4Drive.

First impressions are good.

It looks bold and inviting, with the promise of SUV practicality including a big boot and good space for five in the cabin - and the first few miles (not kilometres in old-school Britain) pass quickly and easily.

The pick-up is good, the front grip is impressive, and the driving position is excellent.

Compared with old-school SEAT cars, this is properly 21st century and not just a bargain-basement tweak on a Volkswagen hatch.

For a bit of extra context, there is a growing push - and demand for sporty SUVs in Australia. Hyundai has a sell-out success in his Kona N, Ford is doing well with the baby Puma, and more are on the way.

Over time, the Formentor is just as I expect. It’s not as flat-out fun as some others, but that’s down to the 140 kiloWatt engine in a relatively bulky body.

The overall feel is a little less solid and planted than others in the Volkswagen group, including the SUVs from Skoda, but it is still an impressive drive.

And that’s the thing. Volkswagen is also pushing a growing number of sporty spin-offs in its Aussie SUVs, from the T-Roc to Tiguan, and buyers are queued for months to get one.

Cupra won’t be an instant hit in Australia, but the Formentor is an impressive start and should be popular with enthusiastic drivers who need a family hauler - with the benefit of slipping under the radar. R&T

ROAD & TRACK

CLASSIC CATS LIVE AGAIN REVIVAL CARS CONTINUE THE STORY

BY PAUL GOVER THE APPETITE for classic Jaguars is almost never-ending.

Sadly for collectors, the supply is severely limited and prices continue to skyrocket.

That explains the decisions by Jaguar to revive, rebuild and reimagine some of the past stars from its back catalogue.

Officially, the British brand calls them New Original continuation cars.

A return by the D-Type that dominated at Le Mans in the 1950s, with a true toolroom revival by many of the workers who did the originals, was an instant sell-out.

So, too, was the E-Type twinset created to mark 60 years of the original iconic British sports car.

And those cars, the E-Type 60

Collection models only sold as a coupe-plus-convertible pair, have just been out for a re-run from Britain to Switzerland to mark another anniversary of the unveiling of the E-Type at the Geneva Motor Show.

Now comes the C-Type Continuation and, just like the D-Type, it is totally authentic and being built at Jaguar Classic Works.

The first C-Type has just been through its final on-road testing before delivery to a – well bankrolled – owner.

“We’ve combined original drawings, modern CAD techniques and 3000 hours of skill and attention to produce our first hand-built C-Type,” says David Foster, head of engineering, at Jaguar Land Rover Classic.

There is no talk about pricing, or the exact number of C-Types that are being built, but if you want to have some fun then head to https:// classicvisualiser.jaguar.com to see what could happen if the Lotto numbers dropped for you. R&T

The first ‘New Original’ Jaguar C-Type has undergone initial on-road testing.

It’s a mind-blowing concept!

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www.autoaction.com.au I 61

IN THE GARAGE

IF YOU need a family wagon that can haul to 100km/h in less than four seconds then BMW has just the thing.

It has just unveiled its first M3 station wagon, officially called the Touring, with confirmation that it will arrive in Australia in the first quarter of 2023.

The family-sized M3 has all the good go-faster stuff from the M3 Competition model, including all-wheel drive to tame its 375 kiloWatts and 650 Newton-metres of torque.

It will blast into battle against two other station wagon heavyweights, the Audi RS4 Avant and Mercedes-AMG C63 Estate, and the only question mark that remains is what it will cost.

With the M3 Competition now starting from $160,500 with four doors, the longer-roofed Touring wagon is likely to squeak under the $200,000 mark.

THE DYNAMIC action at Goodwood for the Festival of Speed included all sorts of rocket-ship electric cars, and the first serious hit-out for the F1-inspired Aston Martin Valkyrie designed by Red Bull technical chief Adrian Newey.

But Bentley also had a new heavy hitter for shoppers in the $500,000-plus range, with the first appearance of the Continental GT Mulliner that should reach Australia next year.

Bentley says it’s the fastest, most dynamic and most luxurious member of the two-door Continental coupe range, sliding in above the Speed model that sells down under from $543,400 – before options.

The heart of the car is the 6-litre W12 engine with 485 kiloWatts and 900 Newton-metres of torque.

What that means is a 0-100km/h sprint in just 3.6 seconds, a fine turn of pace for a car that costs as much as a house and is as comfortable as a living room on wheels.

BOOMING SALES of the giant RAM and Silverado pick-ups from the USA, which have hit the mark for heavyweight towing and outback adventures, have triggered a change on the red side of the road.

A sportier new Chevrolet Silverado flagship, with a crisp focus on off-road ability, is on the way from the USA. It’s the first Silverado 1500 ZR2, which GM Specialty Vehicles promises “is the next chapter in off-roading” in a clear swipe at the new Ford Ranger Raptor.

The arrival of the ZR2 means the end of the LT Trail Boss for the 2023 Silverado range, but the ’23 models are all promised with an upgraded interior, more high-tech equipment and a significant visual update.

62 I www.autoaction.com.au

REAL LIFE AT HOME WITH MCLAREN GT IS MORE THAN JUST A NAME AND BADGE

FAST FACTS

MCLAREN GT Price: From $399,995 Engine: 4-litre twin-turbo V8 Power: 456kW/630Nm Transmission: 7-speed seamless shift, rear-wheel drive Position: Long-legged supercar We like: Understated, super-quick, suitable for commuting Not so much: Outdated infotainment, pedal position THE TICK: Every time, if you have the cash Score: 9/10

ROAD & TRACK

BY PAUL GOVER LIFE WITH a supercar is not always as good as it looks.

How many times do you want to sit at the lights, going quietly about your business, while someone alongside fills the memory on their smartphone with pictures?

And what about the wannabes who crave a drag race from the wheel of their home-built beater?

And then there is the need for somewhere special, most likely a racetrack, to properly exercise a car that will likely crack the 100k/h limit in Australia in first gear.

Once you get past the gee-whizzery of the sights and sounds that dominate any drive in a Lamborghini or Ferrari, well …

They are hard to park. The cabin access is tight and complicated for anyone with a few years on their bones, and they love petrol the way a politician loves a debate.

It’s true that Ferrari and Lamborghini owners, and I’m not remotely qualified, are likely to have something much more mundane in the garage for their daily drive.

Perhaps a Bentley …

But there is an antidote to supercar strain.

It’s called the McLaren GT and it’s a daily driver as well as an exotic speed machine.

I have just spent a week with a GT in the UK and I have very few complaints – apart from knowing it will take the thick end of $400,000 to park one in my garage.

It’s not a traditional GT as there is not even a dream of back seats and the luggage space is tight, but it’s a car to enjoy for the long haul.

Yes, it can, and will, crack on at a dramatic pace from a 0-100km/h sprint to 3.2 seconds

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to a top speed of 326km/h (that’s 203 miles-an-hour) and corners like a white line painted on the road.

But the GT is equally comfortable at a consistent 110km/h cruise, or unwinding down a narrow country lane, with the ability for an occasional blat to clear its cylinders and the driver’s head.

Confessions first, as I have been a McLaren booster since I drove the company’s original supercar, the 12C, soon after its global debut. It helped that McLaren hosted me at Dunsfold Aerodrome, a deserted airfield that’s best known for the Top Gear test track and hot laps by The Stig.

I was captivated by the car’s restrained design, its twin-turbo V8 engine, the brilliant view from the cabin, and a sublime ride that was more like a luxury car than a track-day speedster.

Now, back at the McLaren Technology Centre just outside of London, there is time for a deep dive into the McLaren road car factory before I get the keys to the GT. It’s an impressive place, more like a movie set than the Broadmeadows factory that used to crank out Falcons, and the cars are almost totally hand-built with no sign of any robots.

And the car?

It misses the instant impact of a McLaren Senna or sporty Longtail, but the basics are great. It has a carbon-fibre centre section, the same basic bespoke V8 that I remember, old-school rear-wheel drive and a frunk that’s a front trunk - that swallows plenty of luggage.

The layout of the GT puts more carrying capacity over the engine room, so you don’t have the visual impact under the tail or the top-exit exhausts of some McLarens, but it’s

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worthwhile and welcome.

As for rear seats, that will have to wait for the upcoming SUV. Yes, after a decade of denials and a focus only on sports and supercars, McLaren is now talking openly about a future family hauler.

But back to the GT, as the first few miles – not kilometres – pass in comfort and calm. The cabin is roomy for a car like this, the seats are supportive, noise levels are commendably low apart from some road roar from the tyres, and the steering wheel – without a single button or knob – is beautifully crafted and comfortable. I would have this wheel, happily, on every car I drive.

Yes, I give it a couple of cracks. And it romps. It’s not as joyously soulful as a Ferrari, or as flat-out outrageous as a Lamborghini, but it also doesn’t attract attention like a Hemsworth doing the shopping at Byron Bay. And that’s what I like most about the GT. It’s an everyday car that has comfort and class, with the ability to go as fast as you like, or dare, on a Sunday fun run.

Frustrations? The satnav is worse than the one in a basic Hyundai and there is no CarPlay; the brake pedal is too close to the accelerator for a left-foot braker like me – something I whinged about in the 12C – and access is predictably tough.

But the ride is sublime in all conditions, you can switch, literally, from mumbling to supercar in a couple of seconds, and the styling allows you to drive without attracting too much attention.

So a Ferrari would be fun, and a Lamborghini is, well, a Lamborghini ... but a McLaren is just what you need to combine real-world convenience with serious supercar speed.

Goldilocks? Quite likely. R&T

AA’s Gover – living the dream, on the loose in the UK, in a McLaren GT ...

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