Auto Action #1863

JAMES HUNT 30 YEARS ON – A MATE’S STORY

AUSTRALIA’S INDEPENDENT VOICE OF MOTORSPORT

EXCLUSIVE

SUPERCARS LE MANS BID

CAN’T RACE HERE? WE’LL GO THERE!

THE PARITY ISSUE ISN’T TECHNICAL -IT’S TEAM/DRIVER SAYS EX-HRT BOSS

HYPERCAR HYPER-SCRIPT!

FERRARI WINS LE MANS AFTER 50 YEARS AWAY

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ISSUE 1863

$10.95 INC GST JUNE 15 to JUNE 28 2023

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CRENNO’S FORMULA TO SOLVE DIS-PARITY IS IT PARITY OR POOR PERFORMANCE THAT SEES SOME TEAMS DOMINATE, WHILE OTHERS LANGUISH NEAR THE BACK OF THE PACK, CITING A ‘LACK OF PARITY’ AS AN EXCUSE FOR REGULAR NON-PERFORMANCE IN AUSTRALIA’S PREMIER CATEGORY? MAYBE IT’S TIME FOR SOME TO MOVE ON, OR BE MOVED ON …

By BRUCE WILLIAMS SUPERCARS NEEDS a rapid-action plan to make its lesser teams and drivers more competitive and to weed out dead wood, according to ex-Holden motorsport dynamo John Crennan.

The Gen3 parity debate is horribly distorted, Crennan says.

The issue is not a technical discrepancy between GM’s Camaro and Ford’s Mustang, he says, but that some teams and drivers are serial underperformers and need to lift their game.

In an extensive article submitted to Auto Action, after originally penning it for the HSV Owners Club magazine Torque ’n’ 8s, Crennan not only gives his take on the parity argument but presents ways he sees of remedying the situation and improving the Supercars show.

The Crennan plan involves Supercars helping lesser teams get better and tightening the entry rules to the ‘main game’ for drivers.

It would mean some tough love, with tail-end teams being ordered to shape up or ship out.

And it would aim to make pay drivers extinct in Supercars.

Crennan wants to see those he brands Supercars C-graders, whether they be teams or drivers, step up to at least B-grade level or wither further and depart the category.

He says the most important person in a Supercars team is the commercial manager, whose performance underpins the viability and success of a team.

Much of the Crennan plan is based on his experience as a GM Holden executive

before he took on long-time dual roles heading Holden Special Vehicles and the Holden Racing Team, where he hired greats including Peter Brock, Mark Skaife, Craig Lowndes and Greg Murphy.

His career concluded with a consultancy to Ford outfit DJR Team Penske as it took Scott McLaughlin to the top in Supercars before the Kiwi’s switch to IndyCar racing in America.

Now, from his arm chair in retirement, Crennan says of the Supercar scene amid the parity debate in this first year of the Gen 3 cars: “The most significant challenge facing Supercars/RACE (Racing Australia Consolidated Enterprises, which now owns the category) is … the massive performance and capability differential across the 13 teams and 25 drivers competing in this year’s championship.

“Little has changed except for the mysterious performance collapse of DJR and the sudden and intriguing ascension of Erebus.

“This parity stuff may be a self-fulfilling distraction for certain parties.

“The real challenge is … the obvious disproportionate number of B and C-grade

teams and drivers in the competition or lack of parity or evenness in the quality and calibre of the teams and the drivers.

“Supercars/RACE must address lifting C-grade teams into B-grade and B-graders into A-graders … it is blatantly obvious that many team owners who are long-term under-performers cannot find a solution to work their way out of their hole.

“Supercars/RACE must introduce a circuitbreaker and do something to assist the C-graders.

“There is a lesson from the GMH Underperforming Dealer Programs (of yesteryear) for Supercars/RACE to implement with a few C-grade teams.

“A Supercars program for ‘Development Assist Teams’ (‘DAT’) would not take much imagination to pull off.

“A two-year ‘Get up or get out’ improvement plan … should apply automatically to the two teams that finish at the bottom of the Teams Championship each year.”

Turn to pages 30-33 to read Crennan’s full thoughts and the tables he has used to formulate and summarise his opinions.

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SUPERCARS TO THE NEXT GARAGE

BOOST MOBILE’S PETER ADDERTON TELLS AUTO ACTION’S BRUCE WILLIAMS THAT IF HE CAN’T RACE HIS T8 A FRUSTRATED Peter Adderton is hatching a plan to take a Gen3 Supercar to Le Mans for the famous 24-hour race – and Supercars bosses think it’s potentially a great idea and won’t get in his way.

Adderton’s desire to get on the grid in Supercars has been well documented in these pages, and he says he has a car, drivers and a team but nowhere to race.

And if he can’t run at Bathurst, why not aim even higher and see if he can follow NASCAR’s lead and get an entry for the 24 Hour of Le Mans?

Half domiciled in the States, the Boost Mobile boss has been following the Garage 56 entry at Le Mans by Hendrick Motorsport which has been a focus of the centenary event, at times even overshadowing the coverage of the ‘proper’ start of the Hypercar era.

Supercars CEO, Shane Howard told AA that when he caught wind of the plan, Supercars would not stand in Adderton’s way if he was serious, even if the timing wasn’t right for Supercars to fully support the bid.

“Peter’s a great promoter and a great marketer,” Howard said. “We’ve seen this year, with NASCAR running at Le Mans, and I think it was absolutely fantastic and a great initiative from NASCAR and the event to endorse that and make it happen. In the future, I think that would be a great thing for us to do.

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“Some of us have talked about the concept of taking a Gen3 Supercar to Le Mans. That said, right now our clear focus is on the Supercars championship.

We’re almost halfway through the season and we need to make sure that we’ve got everything spot-on with our cars, and our championship and then we can think about outside events such as that, which would be good to consider in the future.

“Our cars would be well-suited to an event like that. But it’s a big project.

“Obviously, you have to be endorsed to actually run the car, and then it would need a massive amount of planning to be able to make an initiative like that come to fruition. But the concept of it, in the future, would be appealing.

“It needs a lot of thought. It needs a lot of processes and to do anything at the right level requires a very professional approach, even to get the entry approved.

Then you need to have the right people involved in the program. So, look, if that was an opportunity going forward, certainly, we would have a look at it for sure. But as I said, our main focus is on the championship. And then we’ll look at outside opportunities like that.”

Adderton had identified Supercars as a potential stumbling block to his audacious plan, citing its ownership of the IP of a Gen3 racer as a clearance point, but with that removed he will forge

ahead with the Triple Eight Camaro he bought last year with which he has so far been thwarted in terms of entering it into any Supercars races, including Bathurst.

He remains hopeful of a wildcard entry for the Gold Coast race, which is sponsored by Boost Mobile, but he wants to do more with the car and Stanaway.

“As you know, I live in the US,” he told Auto Action publisher Bruce Williams last week.

“I follow NASCAR closely, and I’ve seen what the Hendrick team is doing with the NASCAR going to Le Mans. It kind of gave me an idea – maybe I’ll take my Camaro there and do the same thing.

“Boost is a global brand, so it makes sense for us to do things globally too. I think we’re now the fourth-largest mobile brand in America. It became one of those things where I’ve got a car, I’ve seen what those guys are doing, and maybe we’ll try to do it too – and it works for the brand.

“We’re talking to everybody now. We’ve obviously got drivers that I would take internationally.

“As you know, I said that we wanted to run a wildcard in Supercars at Bathurst and we would have international drivers, but it looks like we’re not going to be able to get to Bathurst because we can’t get anybody to give us the approval.

“We’ve got the drivers, and we’ve got a team but nowhere to race. I’m sure I can

rally a team for Le Mans between what’s happening here in Australia and what’s happening for us in the US. Logistically it’s a challenge, but it’s one of those challenges that I love.

“I think it would be great for the Boost brand globally.”

With Richie Stanaway in his corner after getting him back on the grid last year with the wildcard entry with Greg Murphy, he says he has a good lead driver with Le Mans experience (Stanaway has run there three times for Aston Martin in the GTE Pro class) and he says getting the other drivers is the least of the challenges.

One hurdle, he says, was getting approval from Supercars but it appears that will now not be a problem, which he says is also a little frustrating.

“We’d probably have to make sure that we’ve got Supercars approval, because from what I understand they own the IP rights and there may be restrictions. But I can’t imagine that Barclay [Nettlefold] wouldn’t give us approval considering he’s trying to sell the concept of Supercars internationally. This would be a pretty good platform for it.

“I think the concept of fly-in, fly-out, which Barclay has talked about, works for this – we can fly in and fly out of Le Mans.

“I’m frustrated that Supercars won’t give me approval to race my car at Bathurst

GEN3 CAMARO ENGINE LE MANS READY

LE MANS

56 PROJECT? -BUILT GEN3 CAMARO HERE, HE’LL TRY TO TAKE IT TO LE MANS.

Peter Adderton and Jamie Whincup seal the deal to purchase a Triple Eight Race Engineering Gen3 Camaro. Adderton wants to race it here – but if he can’t race it locally then maybe Jamie might get a chance to race at Le Mans ... or the Gold Coast, and that’s something that they need to have a good long look in the mirror and say, ‘Why can this guy go and promote his team overseas, but he can’t race it here’. Why do the fans not matter here?

“It would be frustrating for me to see them support us to go international with the car, but not give us the support to

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run it domestically. But it won’t stop me trying.”

Word has been filtering out that Adderton has recently been linked to a purchase or partial purchase of PremiAir racing, but he says nothing is happening right now, which is why he is now looking at something radical, like taking a Supercar to Le Mans.

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However, he remains an active player in the Supercars ownership market, but says he is left frustrated with a system that blocks new entrants into the sport and believes that Supercars can grow the number of racers on the Supercars grid.

Adderton has expanded on his expansion ideas in our story on page 8, which coincides with the feature (p30-33)

by John Crennan that also suggests the need for some serious rethinking about the Supercars team structure.

In the meantime, he says his idea to take a Supercar to Le Mans may have started as just a lot of talk, but that it is now getting more serious as he ramps it up.

“If I say something, I normally make it happen. Most people thought Murphy and Stanaway in a wildcard at Bathurst was never going to happen. But some people thought I was crazy enough to make it happen, and we did.”

‘Watch this space’ was how he finished this discussion.

Bruce Williams with Andrew Clarke.

THE DEVELOPER of the Gen3 Camaro engine, KRE’s Ken McNamara (pictured above), says the engine is more than capable of going the distance at Le Mans, and he would relish the challenge of taking on the world’s most famous endurance event.

“It would be pretty cool to say you have raced at Le Mans,” he said before getting into the nitty gritty.

“The testing we did at GM last year on their AVL included a 30-hour durability test which is what they do for Le Mans.

“We did one run that was about 900 laps at Bathurst, and just under 6000km, and then we brought it back to Australia and put it on our dyno, put it on Haysted’s dyno, then stripped it (it look excellent) and then put all the same rings and gaskets back in it and put it in a Camaro and did another 1600km in it.

“I would think the engine might need a few revisions and a bit more work with GM, but I don’t see why we couldn’t do 24 hours.”

He said it would most likely need paddle shift like the Garage 56 NASCAR to prevent over-revving, but otherwise, he didn’t see the 24 hours as an issue, saying the engines in the Gen3 cars have now run for more than this season without rebuilds.

Bruce Williams

Turn to pages 34-37 to see what the Garage 56 concept is all about, what Hendrick Motorsport did to deliver their NASCAR to Le Mans, and what it might take to get a start for Peter Adderton’s ‘Supercar to Le Mans’ plans.

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FORD LOOKING FOR TRANSPARENCY

AS SUPERCARS DEFENDS THE PROCESS FORD SAYS THERE IS A PARITY ISSUE WITH THE ENGINE MAPPING, AND THAT THE SECRECY AROUND DATA IS PREVENTING AS EASY SOLUTION ...

THE HEAD of Ford Performance, Mark Rushbrook, has spoken on the Supercars parity debate, with having the “opportunity for Ford to win” a key ingredient, which he doesn’t feel is the case at the moment.

Ford’s Global Director of Motorsports addressed the media online and at Walkinshaw Racing’s Clayton factory for the launch Ford Ranger Raptor’s Finke campaign, but most of the chat centred on Supercars and a perceived lack of parity between the Gen3 Mustang and Camaro.

Camaros have taken the chequered flag first in every race this season, and Rushbrook says that is not good enough for the Blue Oval and that it needs to be addressed at a technical level. He said Ford will continue to work on the mapping of the Coyote engine which is being tuned to match the Chev engine and has been experiencing issues since the test day in February.

A recent test map saw the Ford’s competitive, but then it was removed from the three test cars before qualifying at Symmons Plains and only one Ford qualified in the top 10.

Rushbrook expressed frustration at the lack of transparency on the data,

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which he says is not the case in other parity formulae in which Ford completes globally, before suggesting that Ford’s long-term participation in Australia depends on having the “opportunity to win” and not “tarnish our brand’.”He believes that can’t happen when his development teams are denied access to the data that will reveal where the deficiencies lie.

“We need to look at the data for technical parity and that is where we continue to work with Supercars,” he said. “We are in favour of transparently sharing that data, so we can form conclusions on technical parity and in the absence of that we all struggle to do so.

“In every racing series outside Supercars, we have full transparency into the data.

“To be honest with you, we can make observations based upon what we see on track and what data is available from our teams, but until there is data transparency we cannot draw clear conclusions of engine parity or anything else.

“We know what we are doing relative to our competitors on track, so we know where we as a manufacturer may be falling short or succeeding.”

Despite the clear concerns about the parity between the KRE Race Engines produced Chevrolet Racing 5.7L V8 engine and the Herrod Performance Engines-developed 5.4L Coyote Ford power plant, Rushbrook has full faith in his team.

“I have the utmost confidence in what the hardware is capable of with the Coyote engine, the software that controls it and the people that are working on it,” he said.

“We have got great partners in Australian Supercars with our homologation team and our engine partner Herrod.

“Just like we have great partners around the world, we have been able to race Coyote-based engines competitively in other series and do great things with it.

“I have confidence in that, but ultimately it is the technical part of the process that determines whether that engine hardware and those great people are capable of delivering.”

“Anywhere we race, we race for the same reasons and that is to win races and championships that matter,” he said.

“We need the opportunity to win because it is important to our brand

and if we are not able to win or have the opportunity to win, there is the risk of tarnishing our brand.

“We need to race where we have the opportunity to market our product appropriately tied back to winning and provide pride and satisfaction for our worldwide staff and dealer network.

“If we are not meeting those pillars, then there is a consideration as we look at our future racing motorsport cycle plan.”

Supercars CEO, Shane Howard, was aware of Rushbrook’s comments and says they are listening but stopped short of promising open data supply.

“Obviously the more tracks you run with the different characteristics of all those circuits, you’re learning more and more all the time,” he said. “And the cars are still evolving and we’re still working with the homologating teams.

They’re still developing the cars to a degree.

“It’s learning all the time. I think, as Mark said, you could do with improving your tools, and of course, we look at that all the time. We will do everything within our power to ensure that the fans have the closest racing and competitive environment to go to the track.”

Thomas Miles and Andrew Clarke

Image: MARK HORSBURGH

NO RUSHED DECISIONS REQUIRED WITH NO PARITY ADJUSTMENT IN SIGHT, SUPERCARS BOSS SHANE HOWARD SAYS IT’S ALL ABOUT GATHERING THE DATA AND LOOKING AT THE FACTS RATHER THAN RUSHING TO MAKE CHANGES ...

SUPERCARS BOSS, Shane Howard says that racing at more tracks and analysis of the technical data will ultimately be the basis of any changes to the new Gen3 Supercars, rather than a rush to respond to a lot of ‘noise’.

He tells Auto Action’s Bruce Williams that it’s facts before any fiction ...

While the parity debates continue to rage, Supercars CEO Shane Howard says his team will continue to work on issues as they arise, but that so far, he is happy with how Gen3 has rolled out despite an 11 to one win ratio between Chevrolet and Ford.

The Chev teams are saying the Ford teams aren’t doing a good enough job, while the Ford teams that filled second to fifth in last year’s title – Dick Johnson Racing, Tickford Racing, Walkinshaw Racing and Grove Racing – say they haven’t forgotten how to build a car and go racing, and that there is a parity issue.

Howard remains focused on the task at hand and is not distracted by the talk, and is proud of the product that hit that track in March.

“It was an absolutely massive technological change with the cars that was over two years in the making and was navigated through COVID,” he said.

“To deliver the Gen3 project at Newcastle, which is a fairly challenging circuit in itself, for the first round, was first class.

“We had one of the closest top 10s in history.

The cars hardly had any failures in componentry, and doing 250k races around there, both days, put a lot of stress into the cars.

“We were really pleased with the debut.

Now we’re learning about the cars all the time. Having the cars on different circuits, everything from all the different characteristics of each circuit, you learn more things about the cars.

“We’re working with the homologation teams and the cars are coming along really nicely.”

He favours the sporting parity debate and believed teams like Erebus Motorsport, Triple Eight and even PremiAir Racing, are simply doing a better job.

“It’s great to see those teams doing a great job and to have Brodie Kostecki leading the championship.

The young guys seem to be getting their heads around the car very quickly, and those teams are doing an exceptional job.

“You look back at Car of the Future and when you bring a new car into the championship, it always turns it upside down for a while. We had an exceptional amount of different winners through the championship season at the start of Car of the Future.

“The teams are learning all the time too, they’re learning more and more about the car every event, every time they’re on track.

I think it’s really exciting to see those

teams doing a great job and getting some wins.

“A lot of winning races is making less mistakes – that’s always a key component to success and that is what they are doing.

“As I said earlier, it was a big technological change and the teams are still learning about the cars. I think those two teams have done a great job on and off the track.

“We’re working really closely with the HTs [Homologation Teams, Dick Johnson Racing for Ford and Triple Eight for Chevrolet] and to refine the cars and to produce the best results possible.

“Of course, we would love to see an even spread of Ford and GM on the top step.

And some of that is you’ve got to have the technical parity of it spot on – but it comes down to sporting parity as well.

“We’re learning more and more about the car and we’re fine-tuning it, both Ford and GM, and the teams are fine-tuning their cars. We’re really looking forward to getting to yet another very different circuit with a very long straight and high temperatures, particularly when compared to Tasmania.

“We’ll learn more from the cars there, and we’ll keep refining.”

SUPERCARS 2023 SEASON RACE RESULTS SO FAR POLES

WINS

PODIUMS

Chevrolet

10

11

30

Ford

2

1

6

Will Brown

2

3

7

Shane van Gisbergen

2

3

6

Broc Feeney

2

3

5

Brodie Kostecki

4

2

10

Cameron Waters

0

1

1

David Reynolds

1

0

2

Chaz Mostert

0

0

2

Andre Heimgartner

0

0

2

James Courtney

0

0

1

Anton De Pasquale

1

0

0

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ADDERTON: LET ME EARN MY SPOT OUTSPOKEN SPONSOR AND POTENTIAL TEAM OWNER PETER ADDERTON SAYS A SYSTEM OF REWARDING ONLY THE TOP 20 IN THE SUPERCARS FIELD WOULD REMOVE THE UNCOMPETITIVE ENTRIES AND ALLOW NEW TEAMS INTO THE SPORT. ANDREW CLARKE REPORTS ...

Peter Adderton (second from left) and the Murphy/Stanaway Boost team. Image: MOTORSPORT IMAGES NEVER SHORT of ideas, Peter Adderton has spoken with Auto Action about his radical plan to shake up the Supercar field and break what he has often referred to as a cartel. Adderton remains frustrated that his attempts to get on the grid this year have fallen short, even as a wildcard, and now he says changes are needed to improve the competition and allow new entrants.

Adderton has bought a Triple Eight Camaro and has run a very public campaign to get Boost Mobile Racing on the grid in 2023, but he has been beaten by a system that he says is bringing the level of competition down.

He first tried to buy the dormant 26th Teams Racing Charter (TRC) but understands that, even though others want it too, Supercars is trying to trim the field to 24 when he thinks it should be expanding the grid.

He now says Supercars needs to look at the tail of the field and find a way to increase the number of competitive cars. Like John Crennan in our story on pages 30-33, Adderton believes cars and drivers that remain continuously uncompetitive should have no spot on the Supercars grid.

“We’re at a point now where unless

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we can get approval for Bathurst now, we’re out of time,” he says of the 2023 season. “Our next best bet is the Gold Coast with Richie, and we’re pushing very, very hard to get that.

“Let’s face it, look at the situation now.

There’s probably 10 or 15 cars that have an opportunity to potentially win a race.

It’s a joke. There should be 30 cars on the grid. My idea was, and I said this to the guys from Supercars, is that only the top 20 cars should get paid to turn up. If you want to have 30 cars, the other 10 don’t get paid.

“The only way to get paid is to work your way into the top 20, so all the back markers, all those guys that are sitting there basically doing nothing and just collecting cash, they don’t get to collect it every year.

“I think they currently get $650,000 a car (per year), but if you said the top 20 cars get $750,000 and if you fall out of the top 20, you don’t get paid anything, it would change the sport. ...

“It means I would have to turn up and have to earn my way into the top 20 if I want to get paid. This shouldn’t be an automatic right to just earn that money because you’ve got some grandfathered legacy.”

He pointed to the bottom half of the

four-cars teams as a case in point before saying four-car teams should no longer be allowed. “You should not be allowed to run a four-car team – I don’t think that is good for the sport.

“I think Barclay [Supercars Chairman Barclay Nettlefold] needs to fix the charter because it’s broken, horribly broken. Imagine if you’re in the top 20, and you get $750k and if you are outside it you get nothing ... you’re going to be working your ass off to make sure you stay in that top 20, because the next year you’re going to go broke if you are not there. Unless you’ve got a Boost-type sponsorship ...

“So I live that challenge. Give me nothing, and let me earn it.”

Adderton said part of the broken system is that running a Wildcard outside of Bathurst requires an existing team to apply for a wildcard, and that Triple Eight, from whom he bought his car, has exhausted its allocation with Zane Goddard in the Supercheap Auto Camaro.

He needs another team to let him run, but that teams are asking for more than $150,000 to let him run. He says he has the team and doesn’t need any extra assistance, but even then, the Gold Coast is not a listed Wildcard event so

it would need Supercars Commission approval for him to run a car at the event he already sponsors.

“It is ironic that there are certain events that are sanctioned for Wildcards and others are not, and the Gold Coast isn’t sanctioned. We need someone to apply for us, and then if it gets knocked back, because the Commission says no, then we can go and write another letter and appeal that saying that we’re the major promoter so you should give it to us.

“It is so hard to get a Wildcard, I’ve never seen anything like it. We are trying to add to the spectacle, we’re not asking for any money. In fact, I think I made it clear that I wouldn’t take money for two years if they sold me that 26th charter.

“It doesn’t matter in Supercars how many people you’ve pissed off up and down pit lane; if you turn up with the chequebook, they’ll normally be your best friend – I’ve learned that over the past 20 years. I’m not worried about that.”

Even if he does manage to get his car on the grid for the Gold Coast, but lacks a way into the field for 2024, he will pursue his Boost Mobile Supercars to Le Mans program ...

FORD UNVEILS MUSTANG GT3 AT LE MANS FORD SHOWCASED ITS NEW MUSTANG GT3 AT LE MANS, 12 MONTHS BEFORE IT WILL TAKE ON THE GT3 CLASS AT THE FAMOUS 24-HOUR RACE, WHILE AUSSIE TEAMS LINE UP FOR THEIR CARS. NINE MONTHS after teasing the Mustang GT3 as part of Ford Motorsport’s 7th Generation Mustang launch last year, the Blue Oval has officially taken the wraps off the new car in a dazzling debut at Le Mans, albeit 12 months before it will race in the French classic where Ford has previously enjoyed some of its best motorsport victories.

“Ford and Le Mans are bound together by history. And now we’re coming back to the most dramatic, most rewarding and most important race in the world,” the CEO of Ford Motor Company, Jim Farley, said. “It is not Ford versus Ferrari anymore. It is Ford versus everyone.

“Going back to Le Mans is the beginning of building a global motorsports business with Mustang, just like we are doing with Bronco and Raptor off-road.”

The Mustang GT3 is the ultimate hero car for Ford’s iconic nameplate, coming in above the Gen3 Supercars and NASCAR models as the ultimate expression of the Dark Horse concept that will hit the tracks globally later this year.

The GT3 is homologated to run FIA GT3 and will debut at the Daytona 24-Hour race in January, and then most likely run at the Bathurst 12 Hour Race on 16-18 February.

Several teams in Australia are believed to have shown interest in running the Mustang GT3, with Tickford Racing and Walkinshaw Andretti United believed to be among the suitors for the car, and Grove Racing also a possibility to explore the fastest Ford as replacements for its Porsches.

The Mustang GT3 has been developed

by Multimatic in the States and M-Sport in Europe. Multimatic developed the Ford GT supercar that won the 2016 le mans Race, while M-Sport runs Ford’s World Rally Championship program. Multimatic will build and support the GT3s globally and M-Sport will build the engines.

“For a project like the Mustang GT3, we turned to two of our most trusted partners in the motorsports world to help bring this vehicle and program together,” said Mark Rushbrook, Global Director, Ford Performance Motorsports. “I know we’ll all be as thrilled as Ford fans when Mustang begins racing at the highest levels of GT racing in 2024.”

The Mustang GT3 race car features a bespoke short-long arm suspension that is an iconic part of modern Fords, a rearmounted transaxle gearbox, carbon-fibre body panelsand a unique aero package

developed to meet GT3 targets.

Officially, the first customer team to sign on the dotted line is Proton Competition, based in Ehingen, Germany. Proton says it will run a pair of Mustang GT3s in the eight-round 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship starting with the Qatar 1812km race in March.

Multimatic Motorsports will also run an official Ford Performance two-car factory race program with Mustang GT3 in IMSA’s GTD Pro class.

Both teams will likely be Ford’s representatives at Le Mans, with each manufacturer limited to two teams with two cars each. Andrew Clarke 2024 WORLD ENDURANCE CHAMPIONSHIP (For Hypercars and GT3s) 2 March

Qatar 1812km

21 Apri

6 Hours of Imola

11 May 6 Hours of Spa-Franchorchamps 15-16 June

24 Hours of Le Mans

14 July

6 Hours of Sao Paulo

1 September

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SUPERCARS GRID CELEBRATES SPECIAL ROUND

THE ANNUAL trip up north to Larrakia land and Hidden Valley Raceway has become one of the biggest stops in the Supercars season as Indigenous Round.

Whilst the Darwin Triple Crown has developed its own identity since arriving on the calendar in 1998, it now carries more significance than ever.

It is the event where the Supercars world stops to celebrate and recognise First Nations people and run specially designed liveries.

After a successful inaugural Indigenous Round where the racing was spectacular and the cars looked great, teams stepped it up in 2023.

Almost the entire grid have shown off their special Indigenous inspired colours for the three-race sprint round this weekend.

The first to be revealed was James Courtney’s Tickford Mustang.

After hardly touching their liveries in 2022, Tickford has gone the extra mile in 2023 and Courtney’s car has received the biggest makeover.

Gone is the teal and in its place is some stunning artwork created by Jedess Hudson, who said the livery represents her North Queensland based community.

Descendant of the Ewamian and Western Yalanji people, Hudson designed all four Tickford cars with Cameron Waters, Thomas Randle’s and Declan Fraser’s main game liveries receiving some Indigenous enhancements.

The Mungabareena Aboriginal Corporation has been busy designing three of the four Brad Jones Racing Camaros.

MAC representative Carl Tunstall said the opportunity provided a “new lease of life” to some of the Elders who worked on the project.

Macauley Jones and Bryce Fullwood have had their cars change colours to black and pink respectively with works representing the Wiradjuri people.

Striking artwork symbolic of the rivers and mountains in the Murray region have been smartly incorporated into Andre Heimgartner’s familiar livery.

Jack Smith’s Camaro has been adorned

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by the “Journey” designs of Goomeroi/ Kamilaroi artist Elenore Binge.

Just like on Smith’s Camaro, the racing stripes on both Walkinshaw Andretti United Mustangs have been filled by special artwork.

In clean, but striking liveries, Chaz Mostert and Nick Percat will carry separate stunning artworks from Kamilaroi woman Rhonda Sampson.

Whilst Mostert will use a standalone “Connected Communities” piece of work, Percat’s “Under the Stars” art will feature elsewhere on the grid.

A version of Sampson’s same artwork is also on the Matt Stone Racing Camaros, which have retained their distinctive orange look, but with a twist.

The “Under the Stars” design runs from across the bonnet of Jack Le Brocq’s and Cameron Hill’s Camaros, while even the Truck Assist logos have been replaced with a special design.

The Grove Mustangs will be racing for a reason at Darwin.

David Reynolds and Matt Payne will carry matching liveries

inspired by artwork from Lorraine Kabbindi White.

After the event, Grove Racing will auction off items with all proceeds going to the Melbourne Indigenous Transition School.

Both PremiAir Camaros have also received an upgrade to their main game liveries thanks to the work of respected Indigenous craftsman William Hewitt.

Whilst the front of Tim Slade’s and James Golding’s cars look familiar, the rear has been adorned with a striking red, white and black artwork.

Hewitt’s design is symbolic of the sun reflecting off earth and he hopes it “inspires people to learn more about our rich heritage.”

Team 18 has revealed one of its two liveries with Mark Winterbottom’s faninspired livery breaking cover.

The majority of Wintterbottom’s main game look has been retained, but it is brought to life at the back of the car being covered by an array of Indigenous

artwork designed by Kalkadoon artist Chern’ee Sutton.

Sutton has used her experience attending the Townsville 500 as inspiration for the community focused livery which has a sun at the heart of the design.

The field will expand to 26 cars this weekend thanks to the addition of the Supercheap Auto wildcard driven by Zane Goddard.

Goddard will stand out in the colourful #888 Camaro that has been designed by students aged between 14 and 20 from the all Indigenous Racing Together motorsport program that “pays homage to the ancestors and the legacy left behind”.

As AA went to press the Red Bull Ampol Racing, Scott Pye and Dick Johnson Racing cars were yet to unveil their new colours.

The specially liveried cars will be racing around Hidden Valley Raceway this weekend.

Thomas Miles

MATT STONE RACING ON THE RISE

VALIANT FANS HELPED GET TILLEY’S PACER OVER THE LINE AFTER PREPPING for Gen3 for years, Matt Stone Racing has started the new era on the front foot and does not want to slow down.

The advent of Gen3 this year saw the category hit the reset button and the small two-car team based in Yatala has pounced, being one of the most improved outfits on the grid.

Having scored just 14 top 10 results in the 92 races between 2020 and 2022, it has already achieved 10 in the first 12 races of the 2023 season.

This is down to many factors, with an experienced Jack Le Brocq leading from the front and thriving behind the wheel alongside developing rookie Cameron Hill, who is starting to find his feet.

Despite the promising start to the season, MSR CEO Matt Stone said the team is ambitious as to where it can head to next.

“We still have work to do, but we are certainly on the right path,” Stone told Auto Action.

“Our goal is to keep upping the ante the momentum after a great ASand THEcontinue rain dumped down on the weekend intrack Tasmania.

Sandown race on the Saturday of the “We have clearround, goals.AUTO We want to keep Shannons National ACTION cars up theTouring front and those tent wasboth on-hand in the carget Masters elusive behind the podiums pit lane. and wins.

“Gen3 hasbyhelped us to and startonlookers, working Surrounded mechanics towards them pretty heavily.

Cameron Tilley stood behind his”rebuilt Having up to main game Valiant in hisstepped blue racing suitthe with a smile as in as 2018, Stone Racing is starting wide his Matt Pacer’s bonnet.

The normally reserved driver had reason to be satisfied after taking a podium in the Trophy race when he blasted off the line down the outside of the pit straight, putting him in first position by the second turn.

He also qualified in P1 in trying

to become an established part of the Supercars pit lane.

After initially fielding a single car in its first two seasons, MSR expanded to two cars in 2020 and has remained the same size since.

During recent years it has shown flashes of speed, but been unable to match the consistency it has enjoyed so far in 2023.

These steps of growth were all taken with Gen3 in mind, but the unexpected COVID-19 related delays through a spanner in the works.

However, with the new platform finally here, Stone has seen all areas lift.

“We have been pretty happy with Gen3.

Our biggest issue is that it did not come early enough,” he said.

“We had been planning around Gen3 and a big part of expanding everyone was around Gen3’s implementation on its original date, but then it got delayed by one year and then two.

“Then we probably had to drag everything outbut longer thanwas wereverted liked to. circumstances, the grid “But now with Gen3 being a fresh to the dry practice session times in a restart, building new cars with fresh kit controversial decision. we happy with it all.from the crowd Theare delighted reaction “We had been building for forthere reflected their appreciation for Gen3 it being a long timealso thathaving when itplayed cameaout, atsuch all, with its fans part inwe its were return.prepared and ready to make it work.

“The”fan support was massive, I set up The rollout of Gen3 hasrounded also coincided a Go-fund-me page which up a reasonable contribution, which got me about a quarter of the way there,” Tilley told AUTO ACTION. “Whether I raced it again or not, it had to be fixed – I couldn’t handle seeing it like that. People were helping every day

VALE – LES SIVIOUR MULTIPLE AUSTRALIAN Off Road Champion Les Siviour passed away on September 8 after a short battle with cancer. He began racing in 1983 at Waikerie in his wife’s shopping car. He subsequently campaigned Nissan Patrols for 19 years and won the Production 4WD Championship 16 times, and the Australian Off Road Championship in 1985. The Griffith-based rice farmer retired from fulltime

with Matt Stone Racing’s decision to stop fielding a Super2 team.

In 2021 and 2022 the squad doubled up in the Dunlop Series, but that program was discontinued this year ahead of Gen3.

Stone admitted the tough call has paid off in a big way.

“At the end of COVID we started running everything and took on extra projects, but I think we just found ourselves overburdened with work,” he recalled.

“We were not able to do anything to our full potential, so our big goal this year was to consolidate all our efforts to the main game program.

“I think we are starting to see the fruits of that.”

Matt Stone – looking for podiums.

The height of Matt Stone Racing’s recent success was the most recent our top hit-outs, but in the we were JOHN BOWE brought upflesh his 300th round at Tasmania where the team leftTouring wanting a little bit,” he reflected.

Car Masters start at Sandown enjoyed one of its most complete “Even though it was adung greatthe result, we Raceway on Sunday Shannons weekends. feltMotorsport like we hadAustralia speed for a lot more and Championship.

Le Brocq was a consistent front runner, did The not quite maximise with race pace Bathurst legendit is a four-time qualifying on the front row for the second and pit stops. winner of the fan favourite category, straight year at Symmons Plains and even “It was good to come away at with the bringing up the milestone a track after leaving their own jobs, I couldn’t finishing as highthe ashours fifth, while Hillall had butheatalso the cantured same timetour we Sandown know we where begin to count that we puta in result, breakthrough weekend no that lower can better TCM and that juststarted motivates us btsdoBowe’s career in 2008, over the nine weeks.

To finishing experience than fordriving the rest the year. ” inof Camaro before jumping into a level 11th. of support was something else – I Despitebelieve the strong This interesting insight into Fordprovides MustanganTrans Am affectionately couldn’t it. results, Stone admitted teamfrom actually left slightly from the rise ofas Matt Stone known “Sally. ” Racing, a small “I got a the big help Gear-Exchange disappointed, knowing even above its weight In punching 2015, Bowe shifted over to and the Smithfield in Sydney also.

It’s more peoplecould like that team have beenuspossible. for more.

Bendigo Retro Muscle cars Torana, that keep all going really. And Anglomoil hungry “It is interesting. wasthey’ve one of Thomas built by Miles Gary O’Brien, in which he nas has also helped meOn forpaper years,itand competed in 147 races. Bowe’s 300th given me great support throughout.” start almost delivered a fairy tale “I couldn’t have done it without them and finish, where the left mirror of Adam everyone else. People just kept coming out Bressington’s #95 Camaro loomed large of nowhere just saying they could help. No with the #18 Torana into the final straight. matter how big or small the contribution, It The final margin of 0.024s was the helped me to keep on pushing.” TN closest finish in TCM history, with Bowe losing by a foot and a half’s length – or the Camaro’s bonnet. Bowe had the championship lead leading into the round, but the rival Torana of Ryan competition in 2003 before he returned to competition Hansford takes a nine point lead heading briefly in 2005, and again in 2010 with daughter Katie, also into Bathurst on November 11-13. at Griffith. He kept involved, with support to son-in-law Having won the Bathurst 1000 twice, Shannon Rentsch and his father Ian in their bids to win the there’s a fair chance Bowe’s victorious Australian Championship. AUTO ACTION extends its deepest knowledge of The Mountain may have condolences to his wife Jan, daughters Bobbie and Katie, him in good stead ... TN and to the extended family and friends. GO Tasmania provided a landmark result for the team, but team boss Stone wants more ...Image: MARK HORSBURGH

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BOWE BREAKS THE 300 TCM BARRIER

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Peter Xiberras and Phil Read go green! Image: CACKLING PIPES PHOTOGRAPHY

TOP FUEL CONTENDERS

READY TO FIGHT TO THE END BEFORE A new era of the sport erupts, the 2022/23 Burson Auto Parts Australian Top Fuel Championship season will finish with a bang in Darwin.

A thrilling three-way fight for the title between previous champions Damien Harris, Phil Read and Peter Xiberras will be decided at Hidden Valley Raceway.

The stage for the special occasion is the Nitro Up North event, which shares the spotlight with Supercars on June 16 and 17.

Harris holds the high ground with 515 points, 65 more than both Read and reigning champion Xiberras.

The thrilling battle for the prestigious Stan Sainty Cup has ebbed and flowed ever since the series fired to life at Alice Springs in July 2022.

Harris got the early jump with back-to-

back wins in Perth, while Xiberras made his intentions clear with an emotionally charged win at Sydney and Read hit back when the series returned to WA. A D-Final result at the most recent round in Willowbank saw Harris lose ground ahead of the decider.

However, the 2015 champion is in a confident frame of mind as he prepares to defend the championship lead.

“I am feeling confident. The guys at Rapisarda Autosport International are working hard to do all the prep that is required, and we will see what Darwin brings,” Harris said.

“It would be great to have a win for the Rapisarda family and thank them for all of their support.

“Darwin will be a tricky place, but I think I am

in the box seat with the best team out there.”

Despite carrying some momentum, Xiberras knows he needs some fortune as he chases a hat-trick of Top Fuel titles in the PremiAir dragster.

“With a third championship on the line and 65 points between the top three, there’s a lot to play for in Darwin,” he said.

“We will have to have luck on our side, but this is drag racing, and absolutely anything can happen – we have seen that time and time again.

“We won’t be giving up; we will be fighting right until the end – you can count on that.”

The driver who may be the most desperate to get his hands on the Stan Sainty Cup is Read.

Despite claiming four crowns, the Jim Read Racing driver has not won a Top Fuel title for 15 years and would love to break the drought.

“We are definitely feeling confident that we can win the race,” Phil Read said.

“When it comes to the championship, we will need the cards to fall in our favour (but) then you also have to remember ‘the Champ’ factor with Pete (Xiberras) tied with us on points.

“You can rest assured we will be doing all we can to put ourselves in the best possible position for the title.

“Hopefully we can come away with a win and then see if things fall our way.”

The destination of the 2022/23 Stan Sainty Cup will be decided at the Darwin Triple Crown on June 16-18.

All the racing action can be viewed live on 7+ on Saturday June 17th at 6:30 AEST Thomas Miles

PANCIONE READY TO TACKLE DARWIN WITH NEW BEAST CHRISTIAN PANCIONE is keen to see what his new car is capable of when the Porsche Carrera Cup Australia series returns, in Darwin.

Pancione will steer a brand new Supercheap Auto-backed Porsche 992 GT3 Cup car at Hidden Valley Raceway on June 16-18.

The McElrea Racing driver has already got a feel for the machine, which does not feature a single used part, after a recent two-day test at NT circuit.

Pancione said he was pleased with the car’s first impression at the test where all McElrea Racing drivers took part and less than a tenth split the four Pro drivers.

“They are all the exact same, but when the opportunity came up to get the new car it was easy to move on from the old one,” he told Auto Action.

“It feels nice and smooth without any vibrations and does everything that you want it do.

“It was a productive test. We had a couple of little teething issues on the first day, but nothing serious and got it fixed pretty quick to back into things by the afternoon.

“On the second day we got straight into it again and tested a lot of different things

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Image: MARK HORSBURGH with car setup wise and stuff we had never done before.

“It was very humid, but by the end of the test were a little bit faster than the last time we went there.”

Pancione hopes the new set of wheels can help him bounce back from a characterbuilding season opener at Albert Park.

Amid taxing conditions, where the Porsches had to race in the dark and rain, the #76 McElrea Racing driver recorded P10 and P16 finishes.

Having suffered a significant spin on the slippery Albert Park streets, Pancione admitted it was a weekend he wants to quickly move on from.

“It was definitely a weekend to put behind me and focus on Darwin,” he said.

“From a driving perspective it started pretty decently, but it became ‘one of those weekends’ where once a bad thing happened, it all came tumbling down after that, so it was a bit frustrating.”

However, Hidden Valley is home to some happy memories for Pancione, being the scene of his most consistent round of 2022 with two top fives.

Although stating the difficulty to pass, he enjoys the challenge of nailing the tight and flowing final sector.

“I don’t mind the track, it is fun to drive on,” Pancione said.

“It does have a nice long straight into Turn 1 which is the main passing opportunity, but elsewhere you pretty much have to be alongside the car or they have to make a mistake.

“I like the last sector because you have to push pretty hard and there is no margin for error and getting the last corner perfect is critical for the run down the straight.

“It will be a good event and always has lots of hype around it.”

Thomas Miles and Bruce Williams

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CHAHDA ‘TRYING TO WORK ON SOMETHING’ AFTER GEN3 DRIVE MATT CHAHDA is in the frame of securing one of the limited co-driving spots still available after testing with PremiAir Racing.

Chahda is one of a select few to drive a Gen3 Supercar, with the experience taking place at the start of the month at Queensland Raceway.

Also running around the “Paperclip” on that day was Jaylyn Robotham, who has since been confirmed as Cameron Hill’s partner at Matt Stone Racing for the enduros.

This leaves just three seats up for grabs at PremiAir Racing and Blanchard Racing Team.

Chahda shared seat time with Kurt Kostecki, who could be vying for the same seat.

Despite being a Super2 veteran, Chahda’s only Bathurst experience arrived last year when Matt Chahda Motorsport fielded a wildcard with Robotham.

The rookie outfit managed to keep its head above water and stay out of trouble on their way to a solid P18 finish.

Looking ahead to the prospect of

returning to Bathurst this year, Chahda said the wildcard is proof he belongs as he keeps plugging away.

“We are always trying to work on something,” he told Auto Action.

“Running that wildcard proved we can run in the Supercars field.”

In terms of the experience of driving a Gen3 car, Chahda was simply grateful for the opportunity of steering a Camaro.

“I am just thankful I got in and had a drive because not many have yet with testing so limited,” he said.

“They are not as sharp as the old cars, but we already knew that, so that was not a real surprise.

“You want to get a few laps before you really start pushing any new style of car no matter how good you are.

“I would be keen to do a few more laps

to get comfortable in it and then actually be able to push for something out of it.

“But lets see what I can make it lead to really.”

Chahda may be looking to land a co-drive because the window of racing another wildcard appears to be slammed shut.

When talking to Auto Action at the start of the year Amin Chahda hinted at the possibility of chasing a Gen3 wildcard, but with a lack of chassis around, Matt cannot see it happening.

“We talked about it and looked at it, but I just don’t think there will be any cars,” the four-time Dunlop Series podium finisher said.

“It is hard for any team to build a car now. If they have got a chassis they are not going to assemble it.

“To spend the money to build an entire car and then spend more money to update that car is not something any team needs to be doing.”

Chahda currently sits fifth in the Dunlop Series championship which returns at Townsville on July 7-9.

Thomas Miles

COULTHARD TO GO CARRERA CUP RACING FABIAN COULTHARD will return to the platform that launched his Australian career - the Porsche Carrera Cup Australia Championship.

Coulthard will become part of a revamped Melbourne Performance Centre Melbourne outfit alongside Courtney Prince.

The Kiwi will drive the remaining seven rounds of the 2023 championship starting at this weekend’s trip to Hidden Valley in a deal that also has an option to continue in 2024.

After racing in the New Zealand Formula Ford Championship and the British Formula Renault Championship, Coulthard ventured into the Carrera Cup world.

In the same year he made his Supercars debut in 2004, he took on the Porsche Carrera Cup Australia for the first time

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with Greg Murphy Racing and finished third.

After the strong debut season, Coulthard claimed the championship title in 2005, which helped him land a full-time Supercars drive with Paul Cruickshank Racing.

After accumulating 13 wins across 472 races, Coulthard is now without a full-time seat and following a small TCR stint he will return to where it all began.

“I’m excited to sign with Porsche Centre Melbourne Motorsport and return to the Porsche Carrera Cup Australia Championship,” Nick Percat’s enduro partner said.

“I’ve got fond memories of competing in one-make Porsche racing and it was a great time in my career as I established myself in Australia and can’t wait to race the 992 GT3 Cup Car starting in Darwin

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this weekend.

“I am fortunate that Walkinshaw Andretti United can see the value in me racing this year and allowed me to race in this series.

It’s a great way for me to keep sharp and race fit for the enduros later in the year.

“You don’t realise how much you miss racing until you don’t get the opportunity to race, it’s exciting to be back.

It’s going to be a challenge to jump in at the deep end in Darwin, in a highly competitive field, but I can’t wait to get suck in and get behind the wheel at Hidden Valley.”

Coulthard won his last Carrera Cup race at Phillip Island in 2005 and will be aiming to defend his strong record at Darwin this weekend. Thomas Miles

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SPORTS SEDANS START WITH A BANG THE PRECISION National Sports Sedan season has started in style with big fields great racing and three winners from as many races at Winton.

Whilst the likes of Tony Ricciardello, Josh Haynes and Jordan Caruso split the wins it was Ashley Jarvis, who collected the most points to set up an intriguing entry to the season.

A big field of 28 cars took on the twisty Victorian circuit at the Speed Series event where the next most supported category had 18.

There was a buzz both in the paddock and in the stands for the fire-breathing category.

It was the perfect way to kick off a bumper Sports Sedans season, which also includes races at two of the biggest events in town, the Bathurst 1000 and Gold Coast 500.

“Overall, everyone is pretty happy and pleased with the opening round,” Precision National Sports Sedans

category manager and racer Michael Robinson told Auto Action.

“It was quite a mix of cars with Tony back, giving Jordan a good, close battle in the first race but both had problems in the second race and then came through the field in the third.

“It was great to see Ash get his first win.

“If we did not have two late withdrawals, we would have had 30 on the grid, but 28 is still a big number, particularly around here.

“It is really positive start and because you need to compete in one round before Gold Coast and Bathurst later in the year there should be quite a few coming up to Queensland Raceway, plus a few locals.

“I have got 54 registered entrants over the year so far.”

The start of the Precision National Sports Sedans season was a long time coming after it was delayed due to a dispute with Motorsport Australia over power to weight ratios following the

Bathurst 6 Hour support act.

Robinson provided an update on the situation with new regulations put in place.

“There has been a lot of discussion about it but the national series regulations now have a requirement of a 1.5kg to one horsepower ratio which is what MA offered us,” he said.

“It is our only solution to get to Bathurst and will be an honour system with the onus on the competitors.

“As long as their figures confirm to a 1.5 to 1 unless they cheat and then they will be scrutinised.

“It is interesting because 98 percent of the cars conform, it is only the turbo cars that want a massive amount of horsepower.

“It really only affects the ones that want to go outside of what we have been as a category for 50 years so it shouldn’t be a problem.”

Thomas Miles with Bruce Williams

Sports Sedans returned at Winton ...

CALDER PARK UP AND RUNNING FOLLOWING A lot of hard work from a small but very dedicated team, Calder Park Raceway is up and running again after the first official “Test and tune” day, which was held on Friday, June 2.

The feedback from drivers was one of great optimism in regards to what has been done with the track thus far, with the general atmosphere being one of excitement for the impending return of one of Melbourne’s most convenient and loved race tracks.

For the first Test and Tune day, the weather also turned out, as did a great cross-section of cars from pocket rockets through Sports prototypes and Historic Nc Camaros, as well as an Oz-Truck.

There’s still plenty of work to be done on the track as they wait for the final sign off on the enlargement of some new gravel traps, with the next planned test day slated for June 16, then on every second Friday though to September.

The specifics to be completed are the extension of Gravel Traps at Turn 1 and Turn 6, the painting of Kerbs and

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finalisation of some line marking i.e. the Pre-Grid.

There’s also the ongoing refurbishment of the Medical Centre, Timing System and conveyor belting of Tyre Barriers.

The small yet dedicated crew are using every resource available to them to make the August deadline, where the track will first see a welcome return to state level racing. TW Neal

Image: SAVAGESHOTS

BILLY BARROWS AMONG OAM RECIPIENTS

WILLIAM ‘BILLY’ Barrows, Speedway racer and administrator in among four Motorsport personalities to receive the King’s Birthday Order of Australia (OAM) Barrows played a pivotal role in the formation of what is now Speedway Australia, and he can now add the OAM to his Australian Speedway Awards Volunteer of the Year and 2019 Hall of Fame honour.

Others to be recognised were Janice Blizzard (Motorcycling) and Edwin Taylor (Speedway/ Motorcycling) and Robert Baldock for his contribution to NT Motorsport, who just recently worked at the Fink Desert Race.

Among Barrows other significant Federally recognised efforts, he also received a Federal Bravery Medal for intervening in a Speedway Hot Rod incident at Borderline Speedway in 1991 that ignited a ferocious petrol fire, helping to rescue a driver at his own peril.

He was also recognised internationally at the spiritual home of Speedway racing in Knoxville, Iowa, USA, with an Outstanding Contribution to the Sport Award for his involvement in Aussie Speedway, which also saw him inducted into the Knoxville Sprintcar Hall of Fame.

“I’m so pleased to accept the award. I had an inkling that something was happening because over the last few years we’d had enquiries from people, but I didn’t think much of it,” Barrows said.

“But when I was notified a few months ago to inform me I had been nominated and then a letter following to congratulate me, I was very pleased to accept it and I’m really looking forward to the ceremony in Adelaide in a few months.”

“It means a lot to me, because this has been a passion of mine and to see my efforts to be appreciated at this level is very fulfilling. I was never in the sport for accolades, but this is certainly a great honour.” TW Neal

OLIPHANT BELIEVES MORE IS POSSIBLE AFTER UNLIKELY MAIDEN TCR WIN

Oliphant leads the pack. Images: DANIEL KALISZ THE WINTON round of the Supercheap Auto TCR Australia series had the potential to be a tough one for Tom Oliphant and Ashley Seward Motorsport, but it turned out to be one of the best.

Just two days out from on-track action, the team had to unexpectedly abort plans of racing the new Lynk & Co 03 it christened at Phillip Island and has spent months developing.

Instead, Ashley Seward Motorsport reverted back to the older Alfa Romeo Giulietta chassis after the delivery of parts to fix an engine issue was delayed.

However, the situation proved to be a recipe for success as Oliphant drove the Alfa Romeo to an “unbelievable” maiden win on Australian soil.

The 32-year-old from Cheshire claimed two wins in the British Touring Car

Championship driving a BMW and can now add some Aussie success to his CV. Given the unfortunate lead-in, he is

delighted to claim the most unexpected of wins.

“I am really, really pleased,” Oliphant told Auto Action.

“In all honesty when I got told on Wednesday that we were not going to be racing with the Lynk & Co, I genuinely thought we did not have any shot in the dark of winning a race.

“So to win is a bit unbelievable, but it is all testament to the hard work the engineers have done because we did not give up.”

Although Ashley Seward Racing had started the year racing the Alfa Romeo, Oliphant revealed it was no simple task to perform the late switchback.

“It was hard on me, but for the team it was a lot worse,” he said.

“They have been working for two weeks

to discover the small issue that we found in testing a couple of weeks ago.

“We thought it was one thing and then it was another. We got the spare parts over from Europe and when we fitted all of those it turned out that was not the issue.

“When that was discovered we just could not get the parts in time, so we had no choice, but we were very lucky to have spare car that we already had experience with.

“We arrived with a car that had no development on these tyres and was pretty slow out of the blocks.

“But every session we made big changes and really pushed the setup envelope.

“Ultimately we got a really good race car in Race 2 and we were able to take advantage of that.” Thomas Miles

STEFFENSEN COMEBACK HEADLINES DARWIN FIELD THE AUSSIE Racing Car Super Series welcomes back former Olympian John Steffensen (pictured), returning as part of the Darwin Triple Crown support show.

Returning for the first time since the support races at the Bathurst 12 Hour last year, Steffensen re-joins the Western Sydney Motorsport squad for the trip to the top end.

The 2004 Athens Olympics 4x400m Relay silver medallist recently made his V8 SuperUtes debit at Perth and finished 11th, but now he is pumped for his next challenge.

“I’m really excited and have always liked

the Aussies, plus it’s a really handy series for me as I am a Pro Am – it allows me to build up my skills,” Steffensen said.

“I love Darwin as well – it’s one of the better rounds on the Supercars calendar and it’s a great track. I’ve raced there before in the Porsche Carrera Cup Australia, so I feel comfortable with the track and the Aussie Racing Car, which hopefully I can be in the mix.

“When I started a couple of seasons ago it was a baptism of fire as I debuted at Bathurst, it was pretty heavy. I can’t say any

more about how good the guys at Western Sydney Motorsport have been since starting Aussie Racing Cars and now the SuperUtes.

“I think it’s going to be a bit of a bullring up there in Darwin. It’s going to be hot, there are a heap of cars and with the long straight you’re going to have to be really on your game.”

Leading the Aussie Racing Cars Super Series is Joel Heinrich by the slender margin of eight-points from Reece Chapman, with reigning title holder Josh Anderson a further four behind.

Darwin will welcome 31 entries including the returning Steffensen as well as regular frontrunners Cody Brewcyzinski and Adam

WHATS ON AT WINTON THE NATION’S ACTION TRACK! TEST AND TUNE DAYS - Dedicated test and tune days for the preparation and setup of race cars.

Friday June 16

Test days may be broken into sessions (if applicable) which allow for sedans and open wheelers to share the track independently, this ensures the Racecar Test Day is perfect for any race car from Production Specification to V8 Supercar to S5000 and everything in between.

Monday June 26

Motor Events Racing – Winton Rumble Private Booking

Tuesday June 27

Tickford Racing

Sunday June 25

Wednesday June 20

Test and Tune Pedders No Bull Sprint Series Round 3 Trackschool Trackday

Thursday June 21

Private Booking

Wednesday June 28 WMR Racecar Test Day

Friday June 23

Test and Tune Motor Events Racing – Winton Rumble

Friday June 30

Saturday June 17

Saturday June 24

Uebergang after both missed Tasmania.

Four races will be contested across the weekend at Hidden Valley Raceway.

Test and Tune

BOOKINGS ARE ESSENTIAL. FREE PIT GARAGE SLOTS ARE INCLUDED WITH ENTRY. Contact mail to: reception@eintonraceway.com.au or call the events hotline on 03 5760 7100 For more information go to: www.wintonraceway.com.au/drive/racecar-test-days autoactionmag

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www.autoaction.com.au I 15

LATEST NEWS

DUGGAN SPORTS SEDAN DELIVERS ICONIC BRAND BACK TO MOTORSPORT MARK DUGAN has returned to Sports Sedan racing and, in doing so, brought an iconic look back to the sport.

Duggan steered a freshly rebuilt Aston Martin DBR9 for Duggan Family Hotels Racing in the 2023 Precision National Sports Sedan Series opener at Winton carrying the iconic colours of Victoria Bitter.

The green and red has hardly been seen in the Australian motorsport scene since the company stopped sponsoring Supercars at the end of the 2007 season.

But Duggan brought it back with a striking livery that rekindles memories of the VB Challenge cars and the 2001 Castrol Perkins Commodores.

He enjoyed a solid opening round by collecting seventh most points at Winton with a best result of sixth in the final race.

Duggan could not hide his excitement for the 2023 Precision National Sports Sedan Series, which heads to famous Supercars circuits such as Bathurst and Gold Coast.

“We have four sponsors, but through hospitality I have been associated with Carlton United Breweries for a long time and we’re very excited to carry the VB branding,” he told Auto Action.

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“With Supercars rounds on the calendar, Sports Sedans is a resurgent series and racing at Bathurst has certainly helped us with sponsors etc.

“It is great to have a very iconic brand on the side of the car and with Sports Sedans being an iconic category, it is the perfect blend.”

Despite the fresh rebuild, the Aston Martin itself has plenty of pedigree in Sports Sedan racing, winning the 2012 title with Kerry Baily.

The car was designed by famous Australian Formula 1 car engineer Ralph

Bellamy and has also been raced by Supercars star Andre Heimgartner over the years.

Under the bonnet is a “technically brand spanking new” SB2 NASCAR-based Chevrolet engine built in Australia by Peter Wallace, while it is also armed with an IndyCar-style transaxle.

Despite driving in the late 1990s and early 2000s Duggan said 2023 is a “development” season having only appeared in a handful of Sports Sedan races in recent years.

“We are all very excited for a strong season for the category that is full of great people and unique cars,” he said.

“This year is more of a development year and in the following years we may put a more dedicated full-time driver in, like Andre, when he has time.

“I am hoping to be in and around the top 10 at the beginning of the year because the car is more than capable, which I don’t say lightly because there are many competitive entries out there.

“This year is more about having a good year and doing some more development and being more competitive.

“I love the adrenaline that racing the car gives you.”

The Duggan Family Racing not only loves racing, but it loves watching it with a V8 Supercars club set up for people to enjoy a drink and some company.

The heart of that club is the Pendle Inn Hotel, where the team launched its new Precision National Sports Sedan challenger.

“We had the launch at the Pendle Inn Hotel and there were over 200 enthusiasts who all turned up, which was great,” he Duggan said.

“The hotel has its own V8 Supercars Club that goes back to 2003 and they are very excited they are on a Sports Sedan.

“We are all excited.”

Thomas Miles

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- LS-Next blocks - Pro 1 cylinder heads

- World’s best fasteners for your LS - 4340 forged stroker crankshafts - 4340 forged H-beam conrods

- Forged pistons - Custom service available - Piston rings

SPEEDWAY NEWS

SPEEDWAY EXPO EYES FURTHER GROWTH

THE THIRD Australian Speedway Industry Expo at the Melbourne Showgrounds has paved the way for an even bigger 2024.

It was a big weekend at the Melbourne Showgrounds for the Speedway industry, as a sold out Awards night followed on from the biggest attended industry expo since it was first held in 2021 on the Gold Coast.

After it doubled in size last year, an even bigger and improved showing this year has led to plans of further expansion for 2024.

Speedway Australia CEO Daren Tindal says he was thrilled with the response from both the attendees and exhibitors.

“The foundational goal of the Expo has been to facilitate networking and for it to be a ‘show’n’tell’ event to present our sport at it’s best,” Tindal explained.

“However, we knew it would take a few years to build up to be ready to promote outside of our sport and be something we can be really proud of.

“But after the response this weekend and the feedback we’ve received across the board, we’ve clearly reached that tipping point now where we feel the Expo is big and impressive enough to promote outside of the four walls of the speedway community.”

The expo moved to the larger Town Square Pavilion for this year, and featured more than 30 cars on display, as well as well as over 40 industry exhibits, providing a comprehensive show case that displayed the sports healthy growth.

“Watch this space … we’re on the front foot now to make sure this is locked into everyone’s calendars with plenty of notice,” Tindal concluded.

TW Neal

ARCHERFIELD SPEEDWAY FAREWELLED IN STYLE THE ARCHERFIELD Speedway had an emotional farewell after more than 40 years of operation, as popular local Luke Oldfield took its final chequered flag.

It was a fitting victory for the local Queensland Sprintcar star, who has completely dominated at the track in this year’s East Coast Logistics Sprintcar season.

The huge weekend took place in front of a sell-out crowd, with two 50 lap features farewelling the much loved Brisbane venue on the final evening.

In the main show, Oldfield secured a $20,000 payday with a win from the front row, holding off repeated attempts from Tassie Sprintcar gun Jock Goodyer, with Jamie Veal taking P3 over Grand Annual

Classic winner Brock Hallett.

The final Midget feature race at the venue saw New Zealander Micheal Pickens add to the long list of internationals to succeed at the venue, taking victory over Troy Ware and Scott Farmer, whilst Sam Gollschewsky took the Modlites from Sean Rose and Terry Leerentveld.

The racing was preceded by a presentation to husband and wife racers John and Kathy Kelly from Speedway Australia, recognising their efforts over the last 20+ years as the promoters of a venue that has consistently served up more race meetings every season than any other track in the country.

“I just want to say, from the bottom of my heart, thank you to everyone. This has

made tonight so special. I know that there were people who missed out on tickets tonight, and that was because we wanted to make sure it was comfortable for everyone. I’m not sure we could fit anyone else in here tonight!”, Kelly told the crowd.

In many ways the event was bittersweet, as the immensity and emotion of the show only served to remind the Speedway community of what the area will be missing once the land is sold off, with Toowoomba Speedway (2 hours away) the closest in proximity.

But after its final season of action almost didn’t go ahead, it was also fitting that the venue got to enjoy such a rapturous send-off.

TW Neal

LEGENDS RECOGNISED AT SPEEDWAY AUSTRALIA AWARDS THE BIGGEST names in speedway were celebrated at the annual glitzy Australian Speedway Awards night earlier this month.

After another massive summer of speedway, over 200 guests from the racing fraternity gathered at the Melbourne Showgrounds Victoria Pavilion to celebrate the season that was.

Headlining the event were the induction of the newest members of the Australian Speedway Hall of Fame.

The inductees included some of the longest serving names to the sport both on and off the track.

Media veteran Dennis Newlyn was recognised for his many decades of providing the sport coverage across various print, digital and radio outlets including Auto Action.

Another person who lifted speedway coverage around the world was Bill Meyer, who was awarded Hall of Fame honours posthumously for his work as a photographer, merchandiser and US tour operator.

There were also some highly calibered drivers celebrated in the Hall of Fame.

Successful Speedcar driver Howard Revell was one of those.

The second generation driver was a twotime Victorian champion, while he also won 100-lap races in Sydney, Liverpool

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FULL LIST OF AWARD WINNERS

JUNIOR COMPETITOR OF THE YEAR Aidan Rigby (QLD) – SSA Junior Sedans KARTING COMPETITOR OF THE YEAR Liam Niblock (QLD) – SKAA MODIFIED COMPETITOR OF THE YEAR Tim Reidy (VIC) – AMCA Nationals OPEN WHEEL COMPETITOR OF YEAR Jock Goodyer (TAS) – Sprintcars SEDAN COMPETITOR OF THE YEAR Joel Berkley (QLD) – SSA Modified/ Production Sedans SPORTSPERSON OF THE YEAR Brock Hallett (VIC) – Sprintcars Media veteran Dennis Newlyn (far right) was among five Hall of Fame recipients. and Brisbane between 1966 and 1980.

Two-time Australian Sprintcar champion Ron Krikke is one of the most celebrated drivers to come from Western Australia.

Krikke broke through by scoring the WA title in 1984 before taking his first national crown the following season.

Six-time Australian GP Midget champion Wally Kermond was also a popular addition to the Hall of Fame.

Kermond, 87, is still involved with the sport that has been his life for more than six decades.

In addition to his haul of national successes, he also won four NSW GP crowns.

Not only were hats tipped to legends of the past, but also the modern day stars.

Jock Goodyer was recognised for his prolific season winning the Australian Sprintcar title and seven races all up to be named as the Open Wheel Competitor of the Year.

However, the prestigious Sportsperson of the Year gong went to Brock Hallett, who broke through for a famous last-lap Grand Annual Classic triumph in January.

To add to the occasion, the Australian Speedway Industry Expo was held where thousands of enthusiasts flocked to the Showgrounds for its third edition.

Thomas Miles

INNOVATION/PROMOTIONAL ITEM OF THE YEAR Electronic Flag Board – Perth Motorplex (WA) PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR Nakita Pollock (NT) MARSHAL/VOLUNTEER OF THE YEAR Josh Macalpine (Esperance, WA) MEDIA PERSON/GROUP/OUTLET OF THE YEAR Dean Neal – Night Thunder, (WA) MOST IMPROVED TRACK OF THE YEAR Lismore Speedway (NSW) TRACK OF THE YEAR Perth Motorplex (WA) OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION TO THE SPORT Tim Hodges (VIC)

PHOTOGRAPHER BUZZING AFTER SPECIAL AWARD

THE RECENT Speedway Australia awards not only celebrated those who create the action, but also those who capture it.

One of the best is regular Auto Action contibutor Nakita Pollock, who was presented with the Speedway Australia-Photographer of the Year award.

Pollock has been honing her craft since first picking up a camera around a decade ago when she was working with team, but has only been shooting regularly for the last five years after her own racing career.

She said it was a huge thrill to receive a nationally recognised for her work.

“I got the phone call a couple of weeks back was cook and then being up on stage receiving it was a surreal feeling,” Pollock said.

“I am very humbled to be recognised because you put in a lot of effort to showcase the sport through what you do.”

When shooting the sport, Pollock tries to find new and creative ways to capture the sport beyond the ordinary action shot whether it is poking through the fence for a perfectly composed starting shot or from above to highlight the extraordinary atmosphere before the start of the Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic.

She said her goal is to tell the story of Speedway through photography.

“They are all my favourites, but the four-wide shot of the cars at the Classic (above) stands out because it wrapped up the entire atmosphere and I sacrificed the rest of the race just to get that shot,” she said.

“I had to go up in a lift before the start and did not see the rest of the race at all.

“Not just through the on track action, but capturing and being able to tell a story through my work.

“It is about showing the little details of the sport that people would not think about.

“It has been a great journey so far and I am loving what I am doing.”

Thomas Miles

MELINDA PRICE TO MAKE RADICAL RACING RETURN

WELL KNOWN racer Melinda Price will return to national level motorsport later this month in the Radical Australia Cup. The former Supercars driver will drive for Volante Rosso Motorsport, spearheading the team’s five-car assault on the five-round championship.

Greg Kenny, Peter Clare, Josh Hunt, Alex Gardner and Chris Papadopoulos will also represent the series, which kicks off at Sydney Motorsport Park on June 16-18.

Price will share driving duties with Kenny, while Hunt and Clare are paired together.

The drive marks a return to national level racing for Price, who is best remembered for her solid Supercars stint racing under the Castrol Cougars banner.

She and Kerryn Brewer teamed up to finish 12th at the 1997 Bathurst 1000, only to better it with 11th the following year in a Perkinssupported VS Commodore. Their result still places them as the highest achieving all female driver pairing in Bathurst history. Melinda also

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took on Mount Panorama’s 24 Hour race.

In addition to making 16 Supercars race starts, Price also has international racing experience, completing three Nurburgring 24 Hour races.

After taking a break from motorsport, raising a family and beating breast cancer, Price has recently returned to racing through the Queensland Excel Series and will step up to the Radical Series this year.

Price said she cannot wait to return to national level racing.

“I’m excited to be back on the national scene with Volante Rosso Motorsport and the Radical program,” she said.

“It has been a while since I’ve raced a national level category, but have been keeping my eye in over recent times with the Excel series in Queensland and karting.

“I definitely haven’t lost any competitive desire and am aiming to be right there from the first round later this month.”

Price revealed she has already completed a test in the Radical at the venue of the opening round and eventually got up to speed with the new machine.

“I adapted to the car fairly quickly in the test day that I’ve done,” she said.

“Going flat into Turn 1 at Sydney Motorsport Park was a different experience!

“It took me a few attempts to get that but it felt right at home.

“Getting used to having so much aerodynamic grip was a feeling I haven’t had in a while.

“But I was soon pretty comfortable and the Radicals are a great chance to build confidence with a car that relies on aero.”

The Radical Australia series begins at SMP on June 16-18 before rounds at Queensland Raceway, Phillip Island, The Bend and SMP. Thomas Miles

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LATEST NEWS

FORD RAPTOR CLAWS FINKE CLASS WIN FORD COMPLETED its maiden Finke Desert Race with great success by claiming a class victory with its new Ranger Raptor.

The Australian made Ford Performance Ranger Raptor race truck took on the arduous Finke Desert Race last weekend and conquered it to win the Production 4WD class.

With father son driver/navigator combination Brad and Byam Lovell behind the wheel, the “Blue Oval” completed the gruelling 460km course from Alice Springs to Finke and back again in five hours, 56 minutes and 30 seconds.

The Ford was in a league of its own in its three-car class with the next best Adam Jiear finishing an hour and a half behind, while Jordan Lawson failed to finish.

It was the same Raptor that won its class in the 2022 Baja 1000.

Reflecting on the journey, hall of fame off-road racer Brad Lovell likened the

Finke conditions to the brutal Baja.

“Coming into this I thought it was a fast rally race with some little whoops. Seeing it torn up now, it’s like San Felipe and Baja whoops,” said Brad Lovell.

“We had a great time, there’s a lot of variation. We were charging hard, but the Ranger Raptor took it, it is a super tough truck.

“The Ranger Raptor pushed hard the whole time; it took everything we dished out.

“The whoops out there are getting huge.

I’m not sure how many suspension cycles we were doing per mile, but it has got to be a record!”

The Raptor’s journey finished with a 226km run from Aputula, Finke to Alice Springs, which it completed in a record time of two hours, 51 minutes and 18 seconds.

It was such an impressive performance it got the tick of approval from Ford

Performance global director Mark Rushbrook.

“The Finke Desert Race is Australia’s toughest off-road race, set in what’s almost the spiritual home of the Ranger Raptor,” he said.

“The Finke track, and terrain around Alice Springs was a key proving ground for the Ford Performance and Ford Australia engineering teams as we developed the Ranger Raptor.

“This was Ford Performance and Ford Australia working together in a true global effort to showcase the ‘Built Ford Tough’ nature of the Ranger Raptor.

“Combined with the expertise of the Lovells, Huseman Engineering and Walkinshaw Performance, this incredible team conquered Finke.”

Seeing the Raptor cross the line was an emotional moment for many and especially Ford Performance and Special Vehicles engineering manager Australia

Justin Capicchiano.

Capicchiano and his team has worked on the truck for almost three years and he said a class victory at Finke was a ‘dream come true’.

“The Finke Desert Race is one of the toughest events on the off-road calendar, and one that we’ve wanted to take on for a long time,” said Capicchiano.

“To have been able to achieve what we have over the past few days is truly dream come true stuff for me, and for my team.

“We made it happen with some excellent and committed partners and a small and dedicated team, which grew as the program did.

“Our Ranger Raptor finished as well as it started, and seriously looked like we could drive it back to Melbourne.

“It’s an incredible truck, and we are immensely proud of this outstanding result.”

Thomas Miles

READ TO ‘GO DOWN SWINGING’ IN FINALE

THE TIGHT fight for the 2022/23 Burson Auto Parts Australian Top Fuel Championship will be decided at Hidden Valley this weekend and Phil Read has vowed to “go down swinging.”

With just the Nitro Up North event to go, three drivers are still in the championship chase.

Leading the way is 2015 champion Damien Harris, who only has a 65-point advantage over both Read and Peter Xiberras.

Despite not winning the championship for 15 years, Read heads to the Northern Territory in a confident frame of mind.

He is full of belief he can take victory in the season finale and will not leave anything on the table in his chase for a breakthrough triumph.

“I am highly confident that we can take out the event win,” Phil Read said.

“To win the championship at the same

time will require some cards to fall our way, but I can tell you what – if we don’t win it, we will be going down swinging.

“Absolutely everything that we have as a team is going into this event, and we will be leaving nothing on the table.

“We know the same can be said for the

Harris and the Rapisardas, and Xiberras and PremiAir Racing, so one thing is for sure – the fans are in for a hell of a show!”

Read has recent winning form, going all the way in the Perth event, which provided a further boost to his championship push.

The veteran has seen a lot in drag racing

and knows anything can happen in the season finale.

“In drag racing, and especially in Top Fuel drag racing, you can never say never, you can never discount any possibility, and you can never safely predict anything – it is a cliché, but absolutely anything can and does happen in this great sport of ours,” Read said.

“Sixty five points isn’t a super close gap, but it isn’t insurmountable either, and we will be doing all we can to make sure we are in the best position possible to take out the title.

“We will be swinging for the fences, that is for sure, and hopefully we can bring home an event win and maybe even a title.”

The Nitro Up North event will be held this weekend at Hidden Valley Raceway alongside the Supercars.

Thomas Miles

CARUSO RECOUNTS WILD WINTON RIDE JORDAN CARUSO’S defence of the Precision National Sports Sedans title had a wild start at Winton.

Caruso has a fight on his hands in 2023 with the return of Tony Ricciardello to the category and the former Supercars driver drew first blood by emerging on top in a tense scrap in the opening race.

However, both found dramas in race 2 as neither reached the chequered flag.

With Ricciardello’s Alfa Romeo not recording a lap due to mechanical dramas, Caruso hoped to regain some valuable ground and looked the goods as he led the first five laps.

Caruso looked set for a certain victory

as he crossed the line to start Lap 6, but his race came to a sudden stop by the time he approached Turn 1.

As the #1 Audi A4 approached the opening left-hander, the nightmare scenario of a jammed throttle occurred which sent the defending champion spinning into the infield.

This meant Caruso joined Ricciardello on the sidelines as Josh Haynes cruised to a 4s win over Ashley Jarvis.

Reflecting on the moment, Caruso said he had to switch the engine off, but this did not stop him from spearing off.

“Into Turn 1 the throttle got stuck which was a little bit scary,” he recounted to AUTO ACTION.

“I got down a few gears and felt the throttle was sticking, so I instantly turned the engine off.

“But by that point I was already too deep and had a few spins. I did not hit anything which was nice though!”

It left Caruso’s Earlcore Property team in a race against time to get car #1 ready for the final race.

The frantic rush ended up being worth it as Caruso put in a special storming drive.

Despite starting down in 17th, he only needed three laps to fly all the way to first.

The defending champion was in untouchable form in his Audi

and crossed the line 10s ahead of Ricciardello.

Caruso admitted it was a lot of fun behind the wheel.

“I have had a few races (coming from the back) but it was probably the best,” he said.

“Just a massive thanks to all the guys to make sure the car was good to go because we just got it on the starting grid “The race was a lot of fun making lots of moves. Everything just sorted itself out perfectly.”

Sports Sedans return at Queensland Raceway on August 4-6.

Thomas Miles

40 YEARS AGO: SCHUPPAN GIVES AUSTRALIA LE MANS GLORY This year saw the Centenary of Le Mans 24 Hours race at the Circuit de la Sharthe, it was also the 40th anniversary of Vern Schuppan delivered Australia victory in the famous race four decades ago.

The 1983 24 Hours of Le Mans belonged to Mount Barker’s Schuppan, who pushed Porsche to a famous win alongside American co-drivers Al Holbert and Hurley Haywood.

The trio driving the Rothmans Porsche 956 denied teammates Jacky Ickx and Derek Bell victory in a tense finish where both cars completed 371 laps.

Porsche was the car to have with the entire top eight saturated by the German brand.

Despite Porsche’s dominance, the AUTO ACTION report written by David Segal that documented the success explained why it was far from a walk in the park.

“Vern Schuppan won the classic Le Mans 24 Hour endurance race in France, but the car just made it,” read the front-page review.

“Late in the race after taking the lead as early as quarter distance, Schuppan had the door of his racer blow off at full speed down the long Maulsanne straight. The Australian was doing over 210mph at the time!”

“A pitstop restored the car to a closed machine once more, but then Holbert had the replacement door fall off as well.

“A second pitstop further eroded their lead, but still threy seemed to have it won.

“However, the third door was fitted incorrectly and partly blocked the engine intake.

“The car gradually overheated as the race end drew near, and then on the final lap the hot engine blew out an old seal.

“The factory Rothmans backed Porsche finished with clouds of smoke pouring from the exhausts!”

Schuppan recently reflected on his triumph 40 years ago and the nerves he

experienced during the final stint are very much still with him as a two-lap lead was trimmed to seconds.

“Hurley and I were standing there on the podium looking at a TV monitor, and we suddenly thought ‘christ! Our car is smoking!,” he recalled in 2021.

“We’re looking at each other thinking ‘blimey, if we don’t win this now at the finish, we’re going to jump off the podium!’

“We were so on tender hooks that Al wasn’t going to make it back.

“The engine actually seized on Al at Arnage, but he managed to drop the clutch and he had enough momentum when that happened during the last quarter of a lap.

“He made it across the line before it seized up completely!”

On that special day in June 1983, Schuppan joined Bernard Rubin (1928) as Aussies to win at Le Mans outright.

Brothers Geoff and David Brabham have since joined them as Aussies to conquer Le Mans in 1993 and 2009 respectively.

LATEST NEWS

ALLEN’S DREAM BACK-TOBACK LE MANS VICTORY JAMES ALLEN has given some insight into his Centenary 24 Hours of Le Mans LMP2 Pro Am class victory, with the Aussie helping secure a dominant back-to-back win.

Racing for Portuguese team, Algarve Pro Racing (APR), James Allen took on the challenge of going back-to-back with new American teammates George Kurtz and Colin Braun.

The dominant 5 lap victory over its Pro Am class rivals COOL Racing, saw the team take its fifth ever WEC win, giving APR the best current LMP2 Pro Am class record.

Starting from P2 in the class, the team survived a myriad of battles including a slight late scare with their #45 ORECA going off track but pulling up short of the wall to rejoin out of the gravel, still holding a comfortable lead.

For the Aussie LMP2 regular, that makes it two-from-two in the worlds biggest 24 Hour races in 2023 after his incredible photo finish win at Daytona earlier in the year, where he ironically beat an APR ORECA to the line by 0.016s driving for Proton Competition.

Allen spoke about the team environment, and the feeling of winning Le Mans with it being the 100th anniversary of the race at Circuit de la Sarthe.

“The 24 Hours of Le Mans is always a pretty special event, but particularly this year with it being the centenary,” Allen said.

“This is the third time I’ve been on the podium and the second time I’ve won, and it’s always amazing to see the entire pit straight full of people from the top step. It’s really impressive.

“This is the first time I’ve ever worked with George (Kurtz) and Colin (Braun), but I was really impressed with both of them when we first tested together at Monza.

“They adapted well to the new aero kit and tyres on the LMP2 car. As a result, we hit the ground running and got everything sorted out quickly here at Le Mans, and it soon felt like our race to throw away.”

Allen took the treacherous first stint in the #45 APR, choosing to stay out as long as possible before pitting, leaving the team with a solid position.

Allen then put the car into a class P2 over his next stint, and was consistently matching lap times with the LMP2 leader into the night time hours.

The teams hot pursuit of P1 was put on hold when it was forced to replace an Accident Data Recorder at around midnight, but a full coarse yellow shortly after minimised any time lost.

They then assumed P1 after surviving the night unscathed, when the #80 AF Corse car took terminal damage in a high-speed collision with the barrier at the Porsche Curves - Allen would take over with the car in a comfortable P1 with nine hours to run.

They were never headed after that, and after 322 laps an historic victory was recorded. In the scope of the 13 WEC LMP2

Pro Am races to date, this was comfortably the biggest ever winning margin, as APR solidified its spot as the sub-categories most winningest team.

Team Principal Stewart Cox described some ins-and-outs of the incredible achievement, describing APR’s well prepared approach as its key to victory.

“It’s a remarkable achievement to take the 24 Hours of Le Mans LMP2 Pro-Am two years on the trot, and the way the race was managed by the team and drivers was critical to our success,» Cox said.

“I can’t fault our attention-to-detail this week; we worked hard to prepare George for his Le Mans debut, with thorough track walks, incident and data analysis, and by showing him how the car feels at every stage of the day and night, in all conditions.

“Our pace and overtakes were managed, our guys were kept fully informed of incidents and other drivers’ mistakes, we had people on pushbikes reporting the weather in various locations, because the strategy was to simply keep the car on the track.

“Thanks to everyone involved for doing their jobs so brilliantly. I’m keen to enjoy this result and really let it sink in.”

Allen and APR will return to the European Le Mans Series full of confidence after a disappointing first round by their standards in Barcelona, where they hope to turn it around at Paul Ricard on July 16.

TW Neal

DICKIE PRIMED FOR PIKES PEAK ASSAULT BRETT DICKIE is back in Colorado, USA, prepping his Project Import Honda S2000 Pikes Peak car for another run at the ‘Race to the Clouds’.

The Melbourne racer will be amongst 68 international entrants and is the only Aussie starter in 2023, after he first taking on the historic Pikes Peak hill climb in 2021. He returns again with an extremely prepared and hard working team, with the team already having done some runs in the lower area of the course.

The Pikes Peak International Hill Climb first ran in 1916, making it America’s second oldest race behind the Indy 500, with the 19.9 km course

containing 156 corners as it climbs up a 14,155 foot summit.

The preparation for Dickie and his team has been meticulous, with the car being stripped and rebuilt every day of running in a bid to perfect the performance.

Dickie’s Honda S2000 features a 2.0 litre turbocharged 800hp engine with a six-speed paddle shift operated gearbox, and this year, he also goes to Pikes Peak with a revised aero kit designed by RS Future.

Once again Dickie will be performing in the 15 car Unlimited class.

“We’ve just finished practicing on the lower section here at Pikes Peak, and

relatively speaking, we’re pretty happy with how the car went,” Dickie said on his socials.

“There’s a few little things that the Project Import team have had to sort out…but all in all, it’s been very positive.

“Heading into race week we’re pretty confident with what we’ve got, and we’re looking forward to repaying the sponsors and all the crew for their really hard work.”

Dickie finished in P31 in 2021 after recording a 7:58.078s lap. The time was enough to finish sixth in the Unlimited class on a shortened 14.5kms course due to adverse road conditions.

He’s already been over to the states in 2023 with the S2000, taking on the Time Attack Super Lap Battle at the Circuit of the Americas, and will also return to California in October and November to contest the Global Attack Finals in Buttonwillow.

Practice and qualifying for the famous hill climb takes place over Tuesday to Thursday on June 20-22, followed by an optional practice on the Friday.

The green flag on the 101st running of the Race to the Clouds gets under way at 7 30 am on Sunday June 24, with the projected event end coming at 5pm that evening. TW Neal

RADICAL CUP SEASON READY TO FIRE AT SMP THE 2023 Radical Cup Australia season is set for a new year with a record grid entered for this weekend’s opener at Sydney Motorsport Park.

Entering its second season under the current one-make sports car format, the opening round will feature a 20 strong grid of Radical SR3 sports cars, and arguably, its strongest field yet.

This year sees a five round calendar that runs through until November, with trips to Queensland Raceway, Phillip Island, and the Bend, with the Championship then wrapping up where it began at SMP. The series will also punctuate its year with a trip to Mount Panorama for the Bathurst International, with category manager Charise Bristow saying they’re proud of the calendar they’ve put together.

“It has been the hardest calendar to piece together, but the reward is such a strong grid for Sydney Motorsport Park,” Bristow said.

“We’ve worked extremely hard to make the series affordable, competitive and fun for the competitors and the fact we’ve got such a diverse group of drivers and teams competing is exactly what we hoped to achieve.

“There’s so many storylines to follow and it’s going to be a great weekend of racing.”

Some of the names fronting upon at the SMP, will be former Supercars driver Melinda Price joining the Radical series, sharing the driving duties with Greg Kenny.

SMP Hometown racer and defending champion Chris

Perini also returns with his Bing Technologies GWR SR3 XX. The Sydney siders consistency got him across the line last season, but also took a race win at his Eastern Creek home to cap it all off.

The series will also be privy to young 15-year-old driver Alex Gardner embarking on his circuit racing journey, with the Karting prodigy to take up the wheel with Volante Rosso Motorsport.

With Price also racing for Volante Rosso, it’s not a bad way for a young aspirant to enter the racing world with that kind of racing experience on-hand to learn from, with Josh Hunt and co-driver Peter Clare also in the team.

2022 title contender Elliott Schutte is also back for a second crack at the championship with WA outfit Arise

Racing, as well as Jordan Oon who will be partnered with another young Karting ace in Zara Horn, making her national level debut.

Sue Hughes from Hughes Motorsport will also be returning in the #32 PPF Studio Radical after a good point scoring back-half of 2022.

Among some of the other RCA debutants will be Arise’s Cooper Cutts, Warwick Churche, and Simon Arthur, making it a total of seven rookies to take on SMP. Peter Paddon is another returnee, but will this year take up a single driver role in the #31 GWR First Focus entry, whilst SA S5000 BRM driver Mark Rosser will steer the #69 SR3, with it being BRM’s first tilt at the RCA. After challenging for the title with co-driver Peter Carr last year, Peter Paddon, returns to compete as a singledriver duties to commence the 2023 title aboard his First Focus entry, prepared by GWR. The 2023 Workhorse Radical Cup Australia commences with three practice sessions on Friday, June 16.

Qualifying and the first 50-minute race will be held on Saturday, with the second race kicking off at midday on Sunday.

The Sunday show will be broadcast live on 7Plus as well as the Workhorse Radical Cup Australia social media channels, and the Motorsport Australia social media channels.

TW Neal

LATEST NEWS

BIG MOMENT IN SAN MARINO FOR GILL

LE MANS AUSSIES THAT TOOK ON DE LA SARTHE IN THE support categories at the centennial running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, six Aussies took on the world in the Porsche Carrera Cup and the LMP3 Le Mans Cup. It’s easy to oversee the support racing from afar due to the immensity of the main event itself, but what an experience it must have been just to be there for the occasion, let alone be able to race on the historic Circuit de la Sarthe during the week of festivities.

In the Porsche Carrera Cup, which was a monster 64 car 911 GT3 Cup field, Rodney Jane and Marc Cini took on the combined French and Scandinavian field in the Am category.

Whilst the LMP3 Le Mans Cup field saw Scott Andrews, Andres Latorre Canon, Fraser Ross and George Nakas compete in a 58 car prototype field.

Over the two races, Andrews fared the better with a high of P5 in Race 2 for United Autosport, finishing +10.047s off

the front runner, after taking P11 in the opener.

The French Graff Racing pairing of Fraser Ross and George Nakas - who compete at the European Le Mans Series together - ended up with a P39 and P47, but in Race 1, an inspired drive from P25 had them in podium contention.

“What an experience racing at Le Mans, didn’t manage the traffic well in qualifying so we started 25th for the race. Moved to 7th in two laps and 4th by the end of my stint,” Ross said.

“Sadly damage following the driver

change meant we dropped back…but some of the funnest racing I’ve done!

“Second race was just as fun but sadly a drive through penalty for driver time ruined chances of a high finish.

Incredible being at the event.”

Latorre Canon also had a tough run of it with engine issues scratching him from Race 1, and a P37 in Race 2.

He did however get to race for Inter Europol competition, the eventual LMP2 race winners in the main show.

In the Carrera Cup, Jane brought the iconic Bob Jane T-Marts logo back to Le Mans for the first time since 1984.

The Aussie Carrera Cup racer did pretty well with a P5 in the Am class racing for Pierre Martinet by Almeras, +1.35.307 off the leader, and around 41 seconds off the podium.

All round Aussie GT regular Marc Cini ended up in P46, also in the Am class, finishing P16 in class, racing for Martinet

by Almeras. TW Neal

TAYLOR GILL’S 2023 Rally Star season will finally kick off as he and co-driver Dan Brkic take on Europe’s San Marino Rally.

After winning the ARC Production Cup last season, Gill then went on to qualify for the FIA Rally Star Program after winning the Asia Pacific finals, meaning he is now in the frame to compete for a spot in the highly sought after Junior WRC circuit.

Gill and Brkic were put through an intense two days of testing in Sardinia prior to this weekend’s June 16-17 rally.

“Some really positive steps forward developing my notes and driving technique on tarmac, I am really looking forward to being able to implement it into our tarmac rallies this year,” Gill said after the Sardinia testing.

Now the NSW youngster is now raring to go to test himself against some of the highest rated junior rally talent in the world.

Living out of Finland, it’s a big moment for the rally driver and mechanic by trade.

“I just can’t believe it’s finally happening.

It’s nice to know that the many months of planning and thinking about it has all been worth it,” Gill said.

“For the first time in a long time it’s rally week, and it’s pretty surreal to be heading to the San Marino Rally this week, we are itching to get going in our first rally outside of Australia.”

In regards to the testing, Brkic said that the two are as prepared as they can be.

“Our research has been lengthy and we’re making sure we are as prepared as we can be,” the co-driver explained.

“We’ve been lucky enough to drive a Rally3 car in the lead up to the program, which I’m not sure many other participants have. That should give us an edge on the competition and the ability to prove ourselves early in the program.”

The action gets underway this Friday with a Super Special Stage on Friday, before full days of rallying over the weekend, with the results to be posted on ewrc-results.com TW Neal

JONES KEEPS PODIUM RUN ALIVE AT HOCKENHEIM YOUNG AUSSIE Porsche star Harri Jones continues to make strides in his debut European season, as he doubles up his premier Mobil 1 Supercup duties with the German Carrera Cup season.

After a great first round where he took P2 and P1 in the rookie class at Spa, Jones then got on the rookie podium again at Monaco in the Supercup.

On the weekend, the 2022 Australian Carrera Cup champion also returned to the podium again at the Hockenheimring in Germany.

After qualifying as top rookie in P10 for Race 1, and again for Race 2 in P6 overall, things didn’t go to plan with a P25 finish in the opener.

He then flipped his opening performance on its head, but was unfortunately run down by Rookie class leader Theo Oeverhaus.

“What a difference a day can make…P6 in

the second race of the weekend and a podium in the Rookie Classification,” the Scherer Sport PHX Aussie said.

“Had a mega start and jumped into P4 for a couple of laps but ultimately slipped back to P6 after some battles and an excursion through the gravel.

“Generally lacked a bit of pace over the weekend, but we still put up a great fight. Looking forward to our next round at Zandvoort in two weeks time, in the meantime we are off to Red Bull ring for more testing. Thanks to all involved for another awesome week at the track” It’s a busy few race weekends for Jones ahead, as he takes on the German one-make series again at Zandvoort on June 23-25, before Round 2 of the Supercup for Lechner Racing at the Red Bull Ring in Austria on June 30 - July 2.

TW Neal

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LATEST NEWS

TOURING CAR MASTERS TEAMS DISCUSS TAKEOVER PLANS…

FOLLOWING ANOTHER SMALL FIELD AT THE RECENT EVENT AT WINTON, PLANS ARE BEING DISCUSSED FOR A POTENTIAL TAKEOVER OF THE OWNERSHIP RIGHTS TO THE CATEGORY… IN RESPONSE to the development, AUTO ACTION’s Publisher and Editorial director, and TCM car owner Bruce Williams, looked at some of the issues and spoke to ARG’s John McMellan and leading TCM competitor Andrew Fisher at Winton last weekend.

There was plenty of speculation and discussion around the future of Touring Car Masters at Winton last weekend, including possibly developing plans for a potential take-over of the category by the entrants themselves.

It is considered to be a serious enough proposition for things to get to the point where a meeting took place on Saturday evening in the Winton pits, where some heated discussions developed between interested competitors.

Just a few years ago there were consistently

more than 25-30 cars regularly competing in the hugely popular Touring Car Masters series, but over time that figure has continued to decline, and with that, the competitors, category management and fans, are not happy.

Whilst the big names such as Steven Johnson, John Bowe and Ryan Hansford and other category stalwarts are still putting on a great show, a meagre total of 13 cars took part in the latest round at Winton last weekend, which is the most in the entire 2023 season.

The trip to the Victorian circuit was the second TCM trip on the SpeedSeries schedule after the opener at Tasmania, while it has also made an appearance on the Supercars platform on the high-profile event on the streets of Newcastle.

However, neither of those events attracted large numbers either, with just 12 and nine

cars racing at Newcastle and Tasmania respectively.

After three underwhelming rounds, conversations have begun about why the decline has continued even with new ownership, with one of the most popular categories in Australian Motorsport having an average of a dozen cars showing up to a race meeting.

Leading TCM driver Andrew Fisher, one of the prime movers of the potential move in a change of the ownership structure, says that the owners and the competitors have to take as much responsibility for the health and well-being of the category as the current owners ARG do.

“Well, as car owners we are as much investors in TCM as the owners ARG are, and as such we are looking to the long-term future of TCM… It’s about what’s going to be good for the category,” Fisher said.

“Everybody loves TCM. All the owners, the drivers racing in the category and the fans all love TCM. “The cars themselves are great, and again the fans love them, and it’s one of the appeals for many of us who are racing in TCM, but we have seen a real drop off in numbers and it’s an issue that has to be dealt with,” he confirmed.

“What we see as one of the major issues from the TCM competitors’ point of view is that it’s just not sitting in the right position in terms of the profile and the way the category is being promoted, even just from an internal ARG marketing perspective.

“TCM is down the order of priorities within the ARG portfolio, and there is no doubt that TCR, Trans Am, GT and S5000 are ahead of TCM in the pecking order.

“TCM doesn’t even get a mention on their category transporter, and for TCM to thrive it

must have a bigger focus.”

Looking ahead for a potential category takeover Fisher explained that despite there being a significant amount of enthusiasm for the competitor buyout, it was still a long way away from happening, and that other considerations had to be in place for it to be successful.

“Part of the process is talking to some people that can run the category for the entrants, because the owners can’t run it. We will need a representative that runs it on our behalf, so we are looking for a professional category manager to look after it,” Fisher continued.

“We have Graham Sattler who is a cracking administrator on a race weekend, and we would like him to be part of the plans going forward.”

Fisher said that many of the TCM owners want to race at more Supercar events and I asked him about two of the more high-profile Supercars rounds being poorly supported.

The Adelaide 500 at the end of last year delivered 13 cars, and then at Newcastle for the start of the Supercars season there were 11 cars, are those events not high profile enough that would encourage people to come back out?

“It could all change, if ARG said, ‘we’ll profile you as our second highest category and we’ll market you, we’ll give you the four high profile events and we’ll back you guys’ as I think they should, then maybe that could work.

“And then how do you bring new people into the series, rather than bring past competitors back to the series?

“And I don’t think that we can bring new talent into the series whilst the majority of the series is run at non-high-profile events.

“I think the real thing is, is looking at what the future of TCM looks like?

“So, we need to find a way to get new people interested and excited and to make

it an attractive category to be part of and refresh what TCM is all about and being on more Supercars events is one way to get more competitors interested.” Fisher concluded.

In response, ARG’s John McMellan put the case for ARG’s position and confirmed discussions had taken place…

“We have always regarded Touring Car Masters as one of the cornerstone categories of Australian motorsport and its huge popularity with fans is well documented,” he said.

“We continue to be committed to TCM and ensure that it has opportunities befitting its value; however, it’s clear that there needs to be more engagement from competitors in support of these opportunities.

“The initial key messaging was that they wanted the profile of big events, however providing both Adelaide and Newcastle made little if any difference.”

McMellan acknowledged that there is talk about possible approaches-but nothing has actually eventuated as yet, and I spoke to him for his feedback on a potential sale of the category.

“We have merely discussed with competitors that we are happy to look at any option to assist in achieving the best outcomes for TCM and are open to discussing options, some of which may even include a potential JV, sale or lease if there is a party or parties that can demonstrate how

they will genuinely contribute to assisting in re-building the core into a bigger base.”

It is common knowledge that some competitors have upped the ante when it comes to chasing performance, which is partly the reason for the increased expenses associated with the category, and there is no doubt that this has an effect on racers who don’t have the funds to bring their own cars back to a level of competitiveness.

“It’s no secret that TCM has also had its challenges in recent times with increased costs due to the investment some have made in chasing performance which is not unusual in any motorsport,” he said.

McMellan further explained that there is a perception among many in the sport that there has been an explosion in running costs for TCM competitors.

“These issues were well entrenched and existed at the time of our purchasing of TCM. At the time this was the key factor and some competitors stated it was impacting their ability and desire to race – the cost to be competitive.”

“We have a lot of great TCM racers with cars that have been dormant for a few years, many who were quite competitive when they last raced, but the owners of these cars see that they would need to spend a significant amount of money to bring them back up to speed and that keeps many away.

ARG have worked on a series of initiatives to encourage competitors of older generation

TCM cars to return to the category, some of which include racing for their own series points and awards, and have even offered discounted entry fees etc and other incentives to get more cars onto the grid.

McMellan also acknowledged that many TCM competitors have pushed hard for the category to run more regularly on high -profile Supercars events, however despite some competitors believing this was the “fix”, frustratingly the numbers have remained low despite organisers providing “some very high profile” events for competitors.

“We understand that TCM has often been seen at high-profile events such as the Adelaide 500, Newcastle and the Townsville Supercars events and we have worked hard to deliver these programs for the competitors, but again we haven’t seen any real support from a lot of the competitors who regularly state this as a reason for themselves not racing.

“Despite us providing some very highprofile events, entry numbers have remained below where we would like to see them.

“When we [ARG] purchased Touring Car Masters we had hoped to achieve an alignment with Supercars to deliver an expanded motorsport event calendar, and we saw TCM as a key product in supporting any aligned expanded calendar,” McMellan said.

“That did not transpire, and we have now had to focus our limited resources on building additional events and event broadcasts of our own.

“This has meant that we have limited capacity to provide in-depth support to address the underlying issues from a technical viewpoint and we also have to respect the significant investment that has already been made by some car owners.

“Motorsport is about ‘entertainment’ and ‘the show’ and enviably TCM can provide both on track entertainment and the heritage, and uniqueness of the cars certainly adds to the show element.

“We are committed to the category and its importance and are always open to ways to address the current challenges and move it forward.”

The Touring Car Masters returns to the Supercars stage at The Bend on August 18-20.

INTERNATIONAL AUSSIES

POWER SWITCHES ON IN DETROIT MCFADDEN HITS BACK IN INDIANA

AFTER A tough month of WoO sanctions behind him, James McFadden stormed to victory at the Lawrenceburg Speedway on May 29.

In his fifth World of Outlaws start back after he and the Roth Motorsports team served a four-race suspension for a failed tyre test and a huge loss of points, the Aussie NT Sprintcar star took his third win of the year to surpass his best season record.

In a dominant display from pole, he came in 1.355s ahead of Carson Macedo, with Rico Abreu taking third.

It was an emotional win for both McFadden and the Roth team on the nation’s Memorial Day celebrations, with his son Mav joining him on top of the wing in victory lane.

“We’ve obviously been through a lot as a team; I’ve just got to thank everyone for sticking behind us,” the eight-time WoO race winner said.

“Obviously, for Dennis and Teresa (Roth) and Toyota Racing Development, it’s hard enough doing this up and down the road, and then to have the issues we had was pretty brutal for our team.

“To be standing here in Victory Lane at Lawrenceburg is pretty crazy. I never thought I would. It’s a tough joint. I’ve always felt really uncomfortable here.

Hats off to Brent (Ventura), Wood (Gary Patellaro), and Rob (Beattie) for getting the car dialled in. We felt really good.”

McFadden led all 30 laps in the #83 Toyota powered Roth car, starting on pole after finishing P2 in the heat before winning the dash.

After surviving a few early cautions, he took control at the green flag each time, showing great grip and agility through the slower traffic.

Macedo threw down challenges in the heavy traffic, but a faultless performance saw the 34-year-old Aussie survive Macedo’s dive bombs for an eighth career WoO win.

He then followed up with a P2 at River Cities Speedway in North Dakota, and a P5 at Ogilvie Raceway in Minnesota, as well as a top 10 and top five at Knoxville to put the stamp on a great return to continue a career best season.

TW Neal

20 I www.autoaction.com.au

WILL POWER has returned to the IndyCar podium for a second time this season, scrapping hard for P2 after being in the hunt at the Detroit Grand Prix.

The Toowoomba-born reigning champion made it his fourth top-ten finish for the year to sit eighth after six rounds, 101 points in arrears of the weekend’s victor and still series leader, Chip Ganassi’s Alex Palou.

The Spaniard led for the majority of the race, but Power got his nose in front at the pointy end of the race as a series of consistent yellow flags saw the two battle it out to an eventual 1.184s margin on a two-stop strategy.

The two-time champion started in P7, and his tyre strategy saw him take some time at the front of the field in the 100-lap race.

Starting on the harder compound primary tyres, Power had pushed up to P3 by lap 20 before switching to the grippier alternate softs, where the pit cycle had him in the lead until Palou ran down the Penske Chevrolet driver on the primaries on Lap 56 in a race riddled with cautions in the tight confines of downtown Detroit.

Towards the end, Power was in the frame for a pass to retake the lead, but contact with Dixon at the hairpin saw

him have a scare with his left side tyres getting some air, with the Aussie then blocking off Rosenqvist to maintain P2.

“It was a great day – we had a good strategy there with the alternate tires and tried everything to get Alex (Palou),” Power said.

“Unfortunately, I didn’t know Dixon was on my inside. I hope I didn’t do any damage to him and affect his race.

“We’d love to get another step up on the podium; you had to be aggressive today to keep position and get position. This is IndyCar these days. So tough, so many good drivers. You fight for every inch.”

The next Indycar round will be in Wisconsin, with a 55-lap June 16-18 visit to Road America.

Images: MOTORSPORT IMAGES

F4 BREAKTHROUGH FOR JP

JAMES PISZCYK has achieved a breakthrough British F4 victory, with his steady progress in the Tatuus T-421 machinery paying off at the Thruxton circuit.

It was a strong weekend for the Aussies all round, with Noah Lisle also claiming his second win of the season in the reversegrid Race 2.

But for the Hitech GP racer that crossed into F4 from Australian Formula Ford, his first win was one for him to savour, arriving on the back of a gradual improvement.

“What a weekend. I was super happy to get my first win in Race 1, and on Sunday we had Race 2 and 3 where I was able to collect more points,” JP said.

“There were a few mistakes on my behalf but overall it was a very strong weekend, and the pace is looking strong for me and the team.”

After getting P15 in the reverse grid race, he followed it up with a P5 in the third outing, and his consistent point collecting has put him into seventh in the championship, 57 points from the leading

NZ youngster Louis Sharp, and only seven points from compatriot Noah Lisle.

Piszcyk started Race 1 from pole, and led the entire race in a close affair from teammate William Macintyre, who stayed on his case throughout, with Sharp making it a three-way battle.

After fellow countrymen Lisle and Patrick Heuzenroeder tangled with both cars sustaining heavy damage, that led to a yellow flag ending a pulsating race with JP just in front.

Whilst Heuzenroeder couldn’t continue in Sunday’s Race 2, Lisle took the opportunity with both hands.

After getting the early jump from P2, a yellow flag brought his pursuers into contention.

“It is always nice to have a win and it is the second of the year, so quite special,” Lisle said.

“After the first few laps I was very wary of tyre wear and before that I was not as conscious about it as I should have been. I killed the tyres and they were catching me, so we had a bit of a race on our hands after that.”

The series now heads to Oulton Park on June 17-18.

TW Neal

Images: MOTORSPORT IMAGES

POSITIVE CHANGES AND GREAT RACING THE CANADIAN Grand Prix is upon us, and I can’t wait to get back to it after a fortnight’s break following Barcelona.

As a kid growing up, it was the scene of one of my favourite-ever races when Jenson Button won in his McLaren in 2011.

That race had everything and left me totally speechless.

It seemed to go on for hours, had countless pit stops and the weather was all over the place.

Running last with around 30 laps to go and overtaking Sebastian Vettel on the last lap was unbelievable.

I must have been about 10 years old at the time and I remember watching the whole thing back on repeat in awe.

I’ve actually seen the MP4-26 from that season at our Woking base, the McLaren Technology Centre, and those memories of being a little kid fascinated with the cars and drivers came flooding back.

The chrome finish on the McLarens back then was iconic for me as a fan watching on and the sound with all the V8 engines was incredible.

Montreal is also a fascinating place that I’d love to explore properly one day. Some of the

Oscar Piastri’s

FORMULA 1 WORLD pictures of its historic quarters look really pretty and it would be good to spend some time there.

In all honesty, it’s always very tricky to fit anything noncurricular into race weekends because they are so busy and most of my time is spent at the track or in the hotel, resting.

So, exploring will have to be on the list for another time but I can understand why the Canadian Grand Prix is a big hit with all the fans.

Before the trip out to Montreal, I’ve spent a few days in the UK for the first time in a while. I’ve been back at the factory in the simulator and spent some time in the gym.

We have five races between now and the summer break and it has been important to fine-tune my preparation ahead of another busy period.

I hadn’t been back in the UK because after the Monaco Grand

Prix, I stayed in Monaco for a few days before travelling out to Barcelona.

It gave me a chance to reflect on an amazing weekend racing the streets of Monte Carlo for the first time in F1 and finishing in the points.

I walked all around the Principality including around the track and it was cool to think that in the days beforehand I had been taking those streets on in a Formula 1 car.

Barcelona was a strange one.

The team had an amazing day on Saturday with both of us in Q3 but on Sunday, we seemed to struggle with the car’s underlying race pace.

That is something that we are trying on get on top of and put right and we’re hoping a few upgrades in the not-too-distant future will assist us with that.

There is one race I haven’t mentioned above and that is the

Jenson Button’s spectacular 20111 Canadian GP win for McLaren is etched in Oscar’s memory ...

Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix in Imola that was called off due to the horrific flooding.

I never made it out there as I was due to travel on the day that the decision was rightly taken not to proceed with the race.

It was incredibly sad to hear of the lives lost and devastation caused in the region and my thoughts are with all the victims and all the families and communities affected.

Thanks for all the ongoing support and I’ll be back with my next column after the British Grand Prix. Take care. OP

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LATEST NEWS

WAKEFIELD SALE FINALISED WITH THE Wakefield Park Raceway sale being completed, new owner Steve Shelley celebrated the sale with family; and in a symbolic turn of events, the celebration was also attended by some of the park’s surrounding residents.

Shelley, who now owns two circuits in NSW – Pheasant Wood Circuit and now Wakefield Park – set about mending the strained relationship with the local residents in the surrounding area.

Since the sale from the Benalla Auto Club was proposed and the wheels set in motion, that near untenable relationship was the first thing Shelley set about mending, recognising it as the key step in order for Wakefield to have any chance of re-opening.

That approach was affirmed last week when, after the sale was finalised with the BAC’s Stephen Whyte, the celebrations involved Shelley and his family sharing the

occasion with the local residents.

“It felt really good for a couple of reasons, I had my family all around me: my wife and my son drove down, and my two brothers Greg and Cameron were there with me too,” Shelley told Auto Action.

“But then we celebrated into the night with the neighbours! They came along, and a lot of these people that had a lot of issues with the track historically, they actually came in and celebrated with us.

“That’s a pretty big turnaround compared to where we were when we started this journey, it was very symbolic.”

The new owner gave AA an insight into what mending that relationship actually looked like, where he essentially began

with a situation where the residents’ voices had been either ignored or demonised.

“We had numerous occasions with the surrounding residents where we enjoyed sitting together in their living rooms or on a porch with a coffee and some cake.

“We’ve genuinely discussed the process of moving forward with them and building that relationship back. Essentially re-establishing a bond and a mutual trust of each other.

“And that has culminated in feeling comfortable for them to come across the road, and celebrate the fact that there’s new owners here at Wakefield Park.

“So we’ve started that new dialogue and fresh relationship. It’s a new slate that we’re going to start with. It is one of those ‘from the ground up’ processes.”

TW Neal

New Wakefield Park owner Steve Shelley (left) and Benalla Auto Club’s Stephen Whyte.

WINTON FESTIVAL OF SPEED

ENTRIES STILL OPEN

THE VHRR’s Winton Festival of Speed is fast approaching with entries still open for the August 4-6 event.

Entries for all on-track categories and exhibition spots will remain open until June 30, with aspirants encouraged to get in touch with the Victorian Historic Racing Registry (VHRR).

The on and off-track schedule of events – headlined by the Historic Touring Cars – is expected to match last year’s entries and feature over 500 cars.

Also competing is HQ Racing, MG Racing, Alfa Racing, C & A Touring Cars, Group S sports cars, Formula V and Formula Ford.

In a big weekend for Historic Touring Cars, their weekend will culminate with the Just Cars 50km Touring Car Cup on Sunday.

Last year’s 17-lapper produced a thrilling finish between Jamie Tilley in his 289 Mustang coupe and Jason Humble in his Mazda RX-2, with Humble taking the chequered flag by just 0.5s.

The on-track action is expected to feature around 250 entries with an equal amount on display.

Also among the highlights will be a field of around 40 historic Group S Sports cars, the ex-Bathurst C and A cars as well as a group of look-alike C and A tribute cars.

The group M and O historic open wheel field is always popular among the fans, which will predominantly be filled with Brabhams, as well as the Formula Vee and pre-war cars, of which organisers are hoping for around 15 of the latter.

With 10-11 categories racing, the racing will cover all of Saturday and Sunday, as well as fans being able to view over 250 display cars.

Tickets will be available at the gate for $40 dollars over both Saturday and Sunday, with entry for both days only costing $65 dollars.

Visit the VHRR website (www.vhrr.com) for more information, and to find out how to enter.

TW Neal

KIWI DUO TAKES OZ SUPER TROFEO ASIA DEBUT THE LAMBORGHINI Super Trofeo Asia series made its historic Australian debut at The Bend, and the NZ duo of Chris van der Drift and teenage sensation Marco Giltrap stamped their authority on the Pro class championship.

After taking out Round 1 in Sepang, the duo took out the first ever race to take place in Oz, whilst Aussie pair Dean Canto and Sam Brabham also made their mark with two podium finishes – also in the Pro class.

Giltrap and van der Drift now hold a 27-point lead in the championship, but although they were classed as victors on the Saturday, Venezuelan Jonathan Cecotto clearly had the fastest EVO2 over the weekend.

The pole-sitter crossed the line first in Race 1, but a time penalty for exceeding the 90kph speed limit before the race start saw him demoted into P12 overall.

He made Amends in Race 2 however,

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storming to a resounding 11-second win over the Kiwi duo.

Race 1 saw father-son Aussie duo Tony and Jackson Walls start next to Cecotto on the front row as top qualifiers in the Pro Am. They held out until the first driver change, where young Giltrap stormed into second before TRT Racing’s Ray Lu would have

the first of two off-track excursions, bringing out a yellow.

After the restart when young Walls and Keith Wong tangled, Canto was forced into evasive action, but he survived to take fourth outright, and second in the Pro class, with the Am pairing of Changwoo Lee/John Kwon taking outright second over Pro Am

pair Oscar Lee/Dan Wells.

The Walls Aussie pairing’s P10 was enough to give them a class P3, whilst the applied Cecotto penalty elevated the Kiwi’s to the outright.

Cecotto made sure he didn’t put a foot wrong in Race 2 as the Pro class filled the outright’s, with Giltrap/van der Drift in P2 over Canto/Brabham.

A strong drive from the Walls Family after the first driver change saw them take outright P5 to make it a sweep of podiums with a class P2 behind the #21 pair and Pro Am round winners – Oscar Lee/Dan Wells.

That leaves the Aussie duo 16 points off the lead in P2, whilst Canto and Brabham sit fourth in the Pro title.

After a three year hiatus the Super Trofeo Asia series has had a welcome return to action thus far, with Round 3 taking place in Japan at the 4.563km Fuji International Speedway on July 15-16. TW Neal

LE CENTENARY THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY LE MANS DELIVERED IN SO MANY WAYS, WRITES AA’S COLUMNIST

IF LE Mans escaped your attention last weekend, you should give yourself an uppercut. The centenary edition of the French endurance classic was not just a milestone event, it was truly enthralling affair with so many points of interest. It may also be a marker-point for motorsport’s future, too.

The 2023 race featured a classic, race-long battle between the world’s (and Australia’s) biggest selling brand and the most famous. It was a fight that was only resolved inside the last 105 minutes with drama befalling both squads. Toyota has been both the Le Mans and Hypercar benchmark of late, but it couldn’t stop Ferrari from making a triumphant return to the event and the top division of sportscar racing after a 50-year absence. What a fight. What a story.

The other manufacturers returning to Le Mans this year – Cadillac, Porsche and Peugeot – all took turns at the front and in experiencing significant drama.

You could say they all had a moment in the sun, but it’s more accurate to say their moments were in the rain. Changeable conditions in the first quarter of the race saw every marque get a turn at the front. The sugar the trio tasted soon turned to vinegar.

The massive increase in manufacturer involvement with their mega assaults added so much to this year’s event. It rammed home that motorsport without factory team involvement really is just club racing. Le Mans’ top class is also the ultimate antidote to spec-chassis racing.

with Luke West

REVVED UP The 24 Hours of Le Mans was a star-studded event with the likes of Jenson Button, Jimmie Johnson and Scott Dixon racing. It was just a shame that the Australian representation was down a little this year, with just Ryan Briscoe (seventh for Glickenhaus Racing) and James Allen (winner of the sub LMP2 Pro-Am class) racing, as Matt Campbell was a reserve driver for Porsche. Thankfully our Kiwi mates finished second through fourth.

A good spread of the great marques competed in either the outright or GT ranks. And if they weren’t there this year, they will likely be next year. BMW and Lamborghini join the Hypercar ranks and the GT3 category takes over as the basis for the GT class.

The latter had just four marques represented in 2023, but it’s likely to be eight or nine, all with twocar teams, next year, including possibly Mercedes and McLaren.

Most significant is Ford’s return to the 24 in ’24 with the Mustang GT3 challenger it revealed at Circuit de la Sarthe. As I watched Ford Performance boss Mark Rushbrook launch the GT3 ’Stang I couldn’t help wonder why Ford bothers with its Supercars involvement. At what point will Ford tire of fighting the parity battle and of being the token opposition in Australia? With its brand new and globally relevant production-based racecar now launched and heading for the biggest stage, when might FP consider the endless Gen3

politicking to be a misuse of company resources and a distraction? Surely Rushbrook now has bigger fish to fry.

Anyway, I digress. I thought the Le Mans television coverage was top notch, possibly drawing from the live TV expertise the French are renowned for with the Tour de France. They didn’t miss a trick, including during the night.

Other random things that caught my eye was the performance of the all-female Iron Dames Porsche team, which just missed the podium in the GT class. And how sexy was Rexy, the dinosauredliveried 911? Love a good livery …

The World Endurance Championship was already riding the crest of a wave before Le Mans, off the back of mass manufacturer involvement, convergence of rules with IMSA in America, variety and increased spectator attendance. A mega crowd, by WEC standards, rocked up to Spa-Francorchamps last month and no fewer than 325,000 were trackside for Le Mans. The

crowd could be anything at the next event at Monza on July 9 following the Prancing Horse’s success at Le Mans. Imagine if Charles Leclerc or Carlo Sainz joined the driving line-up at Monza or, for that matter, at Le Sarthe next year.

A Ferrari win last weekend was the best thing that could have happened to sportscar racing.

In the very least it will boost its popular profile.

Ferrari’s success will also greatly encourage the manufacturers who have just entered or about to enter the Hypercar class. The message is clear: you can win a major event in your first year – especially if you have design and engineering resources you need to re-deploy because of the Formula 1 cost cap.

As I wrote, BMW and Lamborghini join the fun in 2024, with WEC and IMSA only going to get bigger. For sportscar racing, avoiding the usual boom and bust cycle is the trick. For now, if you’re not watching this ‘manufacturer fest’, you bloody well should be.

Ferrari won Le Mans on its first year back in an outright category ... Image: PETER NORTON-EPIC SPORTS PHOTOGRAPHY

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INTERNATIONAL NEWS

KOBAYASHI TO GO NASCAR RACING

ALPINE REVEALS 2024 WEC/IMSA HYPERCAR FRENCH MANUFACTURER Alpine has used the centennial 24 Hours of Le Mans to unveil its 2024 WEC and IMSA challenger: the A424_ß.

After sitting out 2023 to design, build and test the new LMDh ruleset Hypercar, Alpine will join the fold of manufacturers that have entered the new class of top level world endurance racing.

With Porsche, Ferrari, Cadillac, BMW, Acura (Honda) having all joined (both or either) WEC and IMSA this season (alongside Toyota, Peugeot, Glickenhaus and Vanwall) next year will also see the LMDh rulesets of Alpine, Lamborghini, and Isotta Fraschini join up.

“Today we are presenting the Alpine A424_ß, our Hypercar intended to challenge the greatest competitors from next year ,” said Automobiles Alpine CEO

and brand head, Laurent Rossi.

“True to our values, this new prototype projects the ‘A’ brand with the arrow into the future while being in line with our creations, starting with Alpenglow and the A290_ß.

“Sleek, elegant and distinctive with its emblematic and iconic design, it embodies both our present and our future thanks to the involvement and investment of our designers in its development.

Alpine decided to partner with ORECA for its LMDh cassis choice, with an all-french powered 3.4-litre turbocharged engine – developed both in-house alongside its F1 engineers, and Mecachrome.

The V6 will be combined – as per LMDh regulations – with an Xtrac gearbox, a

50kw Bosch hybrid system, and Williams battery, which all contribute to the A242_ß hitting 655 bhp.

Much of the body shape along the flank is influenced by Alpine’s Alpenglow concept car, with a central fin that extends from the roof-mounted air intake to the rear wing assembly.

Alpine will also be able to take in-house advantage of the extra dyno time due to the F1 cost cap rule that reduces the amount of time its F1 power units can spend on the dyno.

Previously Alpine contested the new WEC era with its LMP1 based A480 between 2021-22, where it could match the speed of the dominant Toyota GR010, but didn’t have the fuel capacity to compete for wins.

TW Neal

WEC SWING AXE ON LMP2

THE LMP2 class will be pulled from the World Endurance Championship (WEC) in 2024, but will still return as a smaller grid category at the next 24 Hours of Le Mans.

The WEC will become a two-class structure next year, with this year also seeing the end of the LMGTE Am, with that being replaced by the more manufacturer inclusive LMGT3 machinery.

The further expansion of the top-class Hypercar grid next season, which will also feature BMW, Lamborghini, Alpine and Isotta Fraschini, and the expanded

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those series.

They are also guaranteed 15 grid spots at next year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans, with WEC head, Frederic Lequien, saying the popular category won’t go by the wayside.

“It is a very important category for us, Image: MOTORSPORT IMAGES but we have to make decisions GT3 category – in which Hypercar … It’s important to say that it is not that teams have first dibs on entry – means we don’t care about LMP2 – It will also track space will become more limited. remain the top class of the European It by no means spells the end for the and Asian Le Mans Series.”

ORECA, Ligier, Dallara and Multimatic The LMP2 class has featured on chassis LMP2 class, as they will still the WEC grid since 2012, and was a compete in IMSA, and remain the top product of the LMP675 class that was class of the European Le Mans and Asia established in 2000. series, with an extended grid in both TW Neal

JAPANESE VETERAN Kamui Kobayashi will live out a childhood dream by racing a NASCAR Cup Series race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course.

The former F1 driver and current WEC Toyota racer will join up with 23X1 Racing at the Brickyard on August 13.

The Le Mans and Daytona 24 winner will be the first Japanese racer since Hideo Fukuyama to race in NASCAR since 2023, and will be behind the wheel of the #67 Toyota Camry that Travis Pastrana took to P11 at the Daytona 500.

It adds to the international NASCAR flavour of late, with Kimi Raikkonen, Jenson Button, and Mike Rockenfeller all having had some stock car seat time, with Shane van Gisbergen to also race in Chicago in July.

Kobayashi, whose #7 Toyota car sits on top of the WEC table after two wins, says his love for the American stock car series goes back to his childhood.

“When I was four or five years old I said ‘wow, that (NASCAR) is cool!’” he said.

“The first time when I raced a kart, honestly I didn’t know Formula 1, but what I saw when I was really young was a NASCAR race. It was an oval and I remember thinking one day to race in NASCAR was my dream.”

Toyota Racing Development USA president David Wilson says that the broader reach of internationals such as the Japanese veteran will only put more eyes on the sport.

“To have Kamui carrying a global flag with him to our sport will put some eyeballs on it that we haven’t had before,” Wilson said.

“Then, focusing more narrowly on Japanese drivers, I would say we have even broader goals for global drivers and aspirations.

“So European kids who maybe have a frame of reference that goes through Formula 1, maybe this opens another to go ‘well, why not NASCAR?’.”

Kobayashi’s bid for another Le Mans win on the weekend fell short with a DNF after he was involved in a race-ending collision with an Alpine LMP2 car and a Ferrari GT. TW Neal

PUMP UP THE VOLUME WE NEED MORE SUPERCARS

Image: MOTORSPORT IMAGES TWELVE EVENTS is just not enough.

It would be good to have a bigger grid, too, but more racing is essential for the Supercars championship to improve in coming years.

It’s not just a question of racing overseas, despite all the hints and talk about Singapore and the planned return to New Zealand.

There should – and must – be more events in Australia.

Queensland Raceway, Winton and Phillip Island all deserve to be on the Supercars’ calendar.

How do we know there should be more races? Because Supercars is running hot and (very) cold through the 2023 season. The gaps between events are (very) long and that means fans lose their engagement and commitment.

Things will get better at the back end of the season, helped by the return of the SandownBathurst double act and the fanfriendly feast on the streets of Adelaide, but the season has still had a hit-and-miss beginning to the Gen3 era.

The lack of parity – it’s not just talk, it’s reality – has also not helped.

Instead of focussing on the positives of the new Fordversus-Chevrolet battle, the chat among fans is about parity and a one-sided contest at the front.

It’s great to see Erebus taking the fight up to Triple Eight, with Brodie Kostecki and Will Brown and Broc Feeney emerging as genuine superstars, but where are the Ford heroes?

More importantly, where is the groundswell of interest

with Paul Gover

THE PG PERSPECTIVE in Supercars through the winter months where football dominates the sporting world?

With nothing new or fresh, and no racing, Supercars has fallen off the roster.

Instead, motorsport fans have been leaking away to Formula One or MotoGP – a sensational spectacle in 2023 – or turning off completely.

The TCR category is also running out of puff and TransAm does not have enough big names to build real interest. As for feeder

categories, the Toyota GR 86 series has not even begun.

So where is the cadence, and the interest, and the ongoing rivalries to fuel interest between Supercars meetings?

Scott McLaughlin and Shane van Gisbergen had a solid battle for several seasons, but Supercars needs something to rival the Mark Skaife-versus-Marcos Ambrose days, or – for old-timers – the days when Dick Johnson and Peter Brock put touring car racing into the spotlight.

One way to do that would be to have more races and more meetings on old-school circuits.

It will never fly because the Supercars teams will moan about the extra costs – even though Covid-19 forced them to race with much smaller squads in the pitlane – and the Supercars business model has been built around governmentbacked events at major cities.

But Newcastle is looking more than shaky for 2024, as the cost outweighs the benefits and developers look at the profit potential in the parkland areas of the race site, and Singapore is still well over the horizon with more work needed locally to satisfy the local fans and get them properly engaged and enthused about the Gen3 racers.

LAWYERS THAT KNOW MOTORSPORTS Know your position.

• Teams • Series owners • Manufacturers

SVEN BURCHARTZ

Partner sburchartz@kkilawyers.com.au

T +613 8825 4800 kkilawyers.com.au

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR PUBLISHER

Bruce Williams bruce@autoaction.com.au 0418 349 555 EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Bruce Williams STAFF JOURNALIST Timothy W. Neal STAFF JOURNALIST Thomas Miles NEWS EDITOR Andrew Clarke FEATURES WRITER Paul Gover SENIOR ART DIRECTOR/PRODUCTION Caroline Garde SENIOR DESIGNER Neville Wilkinson NATIONAL EDITOR Thomas Miles HISTORICS EDITOR Mark Bisset SPEEDWAY REPORTER Paris Charles ONLINE EDITOR

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS AUSTRALIA Josh Nevett, Dan McCarthy, Bruce Newton, Mark Bisset, Geoffrey Harris, Bruce Moxon, Gary Hill, Craig O’Brien, Ray Oliver, Martin Agatyn, Reese Mautone.

FORMULA 1 Luis Vasconelos US CORRESPONDENT Mike Brudenell PHOTOGRAPHERS AUSTRALIA Mark Horsburgh-Edge Photography, Peter Norton-Epic Sports Photography, Ross Gibb Photography, Daniel Kalisz, Mick Oliver-MTR Images, Rebecca Hind-REVVED, David Batchelor, Randall Kilner, Richard Hathaway, Bruce Moxon, Ray Ritter, Ray Oliver, autopics.com. au Geoff Coulson Photography, Roy Meuronen Photography, Angryman Photography, Riccardo Benvenuti, Matthew Bissett-MJB Photography, Phil Wisewould Photography.

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ADVERTISING MANAGER Bruce Williams All Advertising inquiries bruce@autoaction.com.au 0418 349 555 Editorial contributions may be sent to Auto Action. No responsibility will be accepted for their safety. If you require the return of any sent item or items, please attach a separate, stamped and fully addressed envelope.

Auto Action is published by Action Media Partners ABN number 62976094459 Suite 4/156 Drummond Street Oakleigh Victoria 3166 Phone: 03 9563 2107 The trademark Auto Action is the sole property of Action Media Partners The website www.autoaction.com.au and associated social media platforms are wholly owned by Action Media Partners.

All rights reserved No part of this magazine’s content may be reproduced, retransmitted or rebroadcast without the express written permission of the Publisher and Action Media Partners.

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For more of the latest motorsport news, reviews and features, PLUS additional breaking news.

Go to autoaction.com.au or scan below

email: letters@autoaction.com.au Postal: Suite 4/156 Drummond Street.

Oakleigh Victoria 3166

ANGER OVER M.A.’S ‘YES’ ON THE VOICE MOTORSPORT AUSTRALIA has joined a number of other sporting clubs in an agreement to support the ‘Yes’ vote in the forthcoming referendum on The Voice.

Larry Perkins has publicly criticised this move by MA on the basis that there was no consultation with licence holders beforehand and that the board of MA had no right to take this action.

Larry has said he is willing to relinquish his life membership of MA over the matter and I am prepared to do the same.

I have seen many Facebook posts in support of Larry’s criticism.

I was particularly dismayed to find that the MA chairman, Andrew Fraser, was formerly a Labor politician.

Adam Kaplan, a competitor and Holden dealer principal, has raised a petition on the matter and very quickly it gained more than 2500 signatures.

The petition reads: “We, the members of Motorsport Australia, wish to object strenuously to MA making political comments in support of The Voice referendum.

We would like MA to issue a retraction, clearly stating that they did not canvass the views of their members and therefore had no right to issue a political statement. Further, we would like a commitment from MA that it will cease any political commentary and instead focus on the promotion of all forms of motorsport in Australia.”

I urge members who consider that MA had no right to represent its members in the way it has and who feel that politics should not be a part of MA’s actions to sign the petition.

To do so go to the change.org website, then at the top right click on the magnifying glass. At ‘Search petitions’ type Motorsport Australia and the petition will be there.

Andrew Miedecke is another competitor who has rung me to lend his support and is seeking assistance to publicise the matter.

Any support would be greatly appreciated.

SOCIAL DISCOURSE

wonderful dress sense too … she’s a new star burning bright.

For now, until we get a woman on the F1 grid, and a successful one, Naomi’s my ‘golden girl’ in motorsport.

Helen Bates, Maroubra, Sydney

FOUR SUPERCAR ENDUROS WAY TO GO IN FUTURE

Naomi Schiff has her fans – on the Melbourne walk!

Image: MOTORSPORT IMAGES AR (Bob) Watson Port Melbourne, Victoria Australian champion rally driver 1970, author and motorsport consultant.

WEB: bobwatsonrally.com.au

OUR REPRESENTATIVE BODY OUT OF TOUCH WITH ITS MEMBERS MY THANKS to those who have jumped on board and signed the petition opposing Motorsport Australia’s support of a ‘Yes’ vote in the referendum on The Voice.

I was aware there was discontent with the way MA have behaved, but I’ve been surprised at the speed of the take-up.

It also appears that the key players at MA live in a bubble and think that they’re doing the right thing, so I was looking for a way to categorically show them that they are out of touch with their members and need to take a good look at themselves.

MA should not, under any circumstances, be making political statements, and certainly not in a way that suggests that they have the support of their members.

To that end, MA (according to Wiki) have over 27,500 members and in excess of 10,500 accredited officials.

The owner of the Tarmac Rally Forum refused to post my petition and the administrators on the Historic Rally Association removed my post.

I have no idea how many MA members have shared the petition but could I ask that each and every one share the petition as much as possible so that we can reach AutoActionMag

AS A woman, I long for the day when a female becomes a big success in Formula 1.

I can see that it’s not going to be any time soon, but for now I’m following two women in F1 commentary roles.

Danica Patrick proved herself quite a good IndyCar racer, but I strongly disagree with the view expressed in ‘The PG Perspective’ of AA #1861 that she’s “beyond great as an expert commentator”.

As my late grandpa would say, “Absolute poppycock!”

Danica just doesn’t have any credibility when it comes to road racing. She was embarrassing when racing on road circuits, the Gold Coast in particular, and I have to say she wasn’t any better commentating at Miami. She’s just not an F1 type.

On the other hand, Naomi Schiff has so much going for her as an F1 commentator.

Admittedly, her racing record is nowhere near as good as Danica’s, but Naomi is streets ahead in her understanding of F1 and her presentation is absolutely first class.

She’s insightful, eloquent, has

THE ENDURANCE races are very popular during the Supercars Championship.

Traditionally there are two of them each year, but I think the time is well overdue to have a third.

It could be held at The Bend Motorsport Park in South Australia.

‘The Bend 500’ could be a sister race to the Sandown 500 in Melbourne.

For the 2024 Supercars Championship onwards, why not schedule the endurance races like this?

Late August - The Bend 500 September - Sandown 500 Mid-October - Bathurst 1000 As The Bend is a world-class motorsport complex with worldclass pit garages and other infrastructure facilities on site, it would be a great venue to have a Supercars endurance round.

It is extremely well catered for the fans who would like to attend an event like this.

If the Supercars enduros were extended to three races it would give co-drivers another long distance race to take part in, which would be valuable experience for those in the Super2 and Super3 categories who have aspirations to graduate to Supercars level.

As the enduros are so popular with fans, this could attract thousands more people to South Australia and The Bend and it would get direct live TV coverage, which would be even more attractive for sponsors and the Supercars teams.

The time has come for a third endurance event and why not implement it for 2024 onwards?

Malcolm Webster Boronia, Victoria

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the vast majority of the 27,500 competitors and a bunch of the officials as well.

Ideally I’d like to achieve 10,000 signatories. I feel that anything less will be totally ignored by MA, and over 10,000 will potentially get attention from the media as well.

Adam Kaplan Sydney, NSW

NAOMI A BIG WINNER AT F1 COMMENTARY, BUT DITCH DANICA

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AS NEWS arrived across all forms of motorsport, some fans had their say on Auto Action’s social channels over recent weeks.

ROGERS FRUSTRATED WITH SUPERCARS LICENCE HURDLE Corey Vanderwerf SO, WHAT happens if, just say, Dan Riccardo is free to race at Bathurst this year. Is he allowed due to the licence he holds, or not allowed due to not racing a Super2 car?

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Gavin Harvey PUT QUITE simply, it is a protection racket for the used car market and funnel all the young drivers to Super2.

A perfect example is a driver from over the ditch knocking back a highly subsidised Carrera Cup drive to pay $800k in Super2 because Supercars won’t take drivers from Carrera Cup.

Elliott Barbour FUNNY HOW you can do the Bathurst 12 Hour in an outright car that is quicker than a supercar, plus have to deal with slower traffic and varied skill sets, with a National license, yet can’t do a 6 hour race with the same cars and pro drivers.

Tim Macrow Racing WHAT A joke! Supercars should be absolutely ashamed of themselves, Joey and lots of other drivers have the credentials to drive these cars (and then some) but just can’t stump up $600k.

Funny how you can invite a couple of Euros or Americans though. Didn’t see them turning laps in a Super2…

HOW A PERFECT STORM IMPROVED RACING I’VE BEEN going to Barcelona for longer than I care to remember.

I was there in 1991 for the circuit’s first Grand Prix, covered hundreds of days of testing there until cost cutting measures came in, in-season testing was banned and pre-season testing seriously reduced – and I can guarantee you that the only times I’ve watched cracking races in the Circuit de Catalunya was when something unusual happened on Sunday or preparations had been seriously hampered by factors external to racing.

Which leads me to believe that, taking Max Verstappen’s insolent domination apart, there was a nice combination of factors that led to this year’s Spanish Grand Prix being a cracking race, with 107 overtakes being counted by the timing system. Granted, most of them were thanks to the use of DRS but there was DRS in the past and that number is more than twice what we had in 2021, for example.

So, what led to such an increase in the excitement on Sunday?

with Luis Vasconcelos

F1 INSIDER As usual, there was no silver bullet but rather a combination of factors that produced something of a perfect storm – but a good one at that.

First of all, while many teams had brought important upgrades to Baku, Miami and Monaco, Barcelona was the first ‘proper’ track where they could reliably measure them, test them back-to-back with the previous platforms. Therefore, FP1 and FP2 were treated more like test days than normal qualifying and race preparations, on the assumption they’d all hit the ground running for FP3 – in such familiar ground and with simulators being so accurate these days you tend to iron out

your ideal set-up on Friday night, back at the factory – and then they’d complete the work and be in perfect form for qualifying and the race.

One extra factor made Friday more of a test day than a normal Grand Prix day, with Pirelli handing each driver two sets of what will become the standard construction for the tyres from the British Grand Prix onwards, to test. So, there you had another 12 to 20 laps taken away from normal weekend preparations, some teams opting to run those test tyres in their race simulations, assuming that, as they had the same compound as the C1 tyre, the data would be reliable.

Then, of course, came the rain on Saturday morning, that prevented anyone from doing any meaningful running and validating the set-ups that had been carefully chosen back at the factories after many hours of simulator work.

With the rain also came a significant drop in track temperature – from 41.6º Celsius in FP1 and 36.8º in FP2 to much cooler 27.6º in FP3 – and that extended to the start of qualifying, where track temperature was down to 24.4º Celsius, so the tyres were behaving in a completely different way.

That led to drivers like Leclerc, Russell and Pérez not making it past Q1 (the Monegasque) or Q2 (the other two) and setting them up to recover a lot of positions in the race. On Sunday, though, track conditions changed again, with the tarmac temperature going up to 35.3º Celsius and no one had previous data from running a lot in those conditions.

Which is why all drivers that ran the three compounds during the race struggled with at least one of them – Verstappen included, as he felt the RB19 was sliding too much on the Hard tyres. Mercedes, Aston Martin and Alfa Romeo wisely decided to run the entire race using just the two compounds they had decent data from – the Soft and the Medium – and the results they achieved validated their choices.

And so, more than sprinklers going randomly off as Bernie Ecclestone half-jokingly suggested some 15 years ago, as a means to spice up racing, lack of solid data for the teams seems to be the key ingredient for interesting racing.

So, with the weather being all over the place right now, at least in Europe, we may be in for a more entertaining summer than what we were dreading in the face of Red Bull’s total domination of the season thus far.

Image: MOTORSPORT IMAGES

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FORMULA 1 NEWS – LUIS VASCONCELOS

HORNER “HAPPY TO LET MARSHALL GO”

Rob Marshall (left) with Christian Horner.

RED BULL Team Principal Christian Horner has played down the importance of Chief Engineering Officer Rob Marshall’s move to McLaren, insisting they will be parting on the best terms and that he believed that, after 17 years with the Milton Keynesbased team, the veteran engineer deserved to get the top job with another Formula One team.

Explaining the importance Marshall had in building the foundations of Red Bull Racing, Horner said that, “Rob has been with us for 17 years and he’s been an instrumental player in the building of Red Bull Racing. He was able to accommodate things mechanically within the car, like batteries inside the gearbox, with the KERS cars back in the 2009/10/11/12/13 era, so he played a significant role within the team.”

He then played down the importance Marshall has had in the team in the last few years: “Over recent years he’s moved on to other projects, and hasn’t been on the mainstream of Formula One. And after 17 years with us, he had a significant offer from McLaren. Whilst he still had a period of time left on his contract, he was keen to go back into Formula One, so we’ve came to an agreement with him, and I negotiated a deal with Zak that worked for everybody.”

Horner went on to make it very clear the split was done in very amiable terms: “We actually did a little thing for him at the last debrief – a tribute. You know, usually when somebody

leaves a team, we tell them to f*** off but wIth Rob, it’s a little bit different – he’s a good guy!

He’s just going on to a new challenge – it’s a little bit like Manchester United – if you look at their team, how it evolved over a period of time that, you know, Eric Cantona still wasn’t playing 17 years later.”

The British manager also admitted that with the budget cap in place, it’s hard for the bigger teams to keep all their highest paid staff: “You can’t carry anybody within the team. I think that everybody has to warrant their place within the cap. Rob was focused on other projects in recent years, and the offer that McLaren made is probably half their cap, so you can’t blame him for wanting to go and go and do that.”

In conclusion, Horner explained how Red Bull Racing and other top teams are having to make difficult choices between experienced but expensive engineers and young and promising ones that will work for much smaller amounts of money: “You have to make sure it’s not a race to the bottom. The problem is you have long-standing personnel that have contributed a significant amount that you don’t want to see forced out of their roles because of the cap, just because you can justify 10 youngsters versus an experienced hand. That’s the constant bait that you that you have,and where we’ve had redundancies through the cap Jayne Poole was one of those as well. She was a redundancy that we made because we couldn’t justify a role within the cap.”

And that, from Red Bull’s point of view, is how she ended up moving to Mercedes as Chief Financial Officer.

JEDDAH SET FOR 2024 SATURDAY NIGHT RACE NEXT YEAR’S Saudi Arabian Grand Prix is set to be held on March 9, a Saturday, as the only way to keep the Jeddah street race in the first part of the calendar and avoid a clash with the start of Ramadan, the Muslim’s holy month that, in 2024, will start in the evening of March 10, a Sunday, and will last until the evening of April 8, a Monday.

For the last six months, the Saudis have changed their mind on countless occasions when discussing their race’s place in the calendar, boosted by the fact they pay a higher fee than any other race promoter and can, essentially, decide where in the calendar their race will go with Formula 1 more or less forced to accept their wishes and then accommodate the other Grands Prix around it.

Initially the Arabs wanted to host the first race of the season, with Australia graciously accepting to waive their right to start the championship in 2024, but then realised the teams still wanted to test in Bahrain the week before the first Grand Prix of the year and were quite concerned about going racing in a high-speed street race where damage to their new cars could

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be very high. They then changed their minds and told Stefano Domenicali they’d be happy to host their race on April 14, one week after the end of the Ramadan, but that was also problematic from a logistics point of view, forcing everyone into two visits to the Middle East in just five weeks and leaving Formula One with no good options to fill the calendar in March.

Now a consensus has been reached and Saudi Arabia will remain as the second Grand Prix of the 2024 season, but with the schedule of the event being brought forward by one day, to prevent any work being done during Ramadan (as the local workers are not allowed to take any food or drink between sunrise and sunset to comply with their religious laws).

This means that the only pre-season test will be held in Bahrain, between February 22 and 24, with the Grand Prix being held the following weekend.

That means the Bahrain Grand Prix will be held on March 3 and then the teams will immediately shift to Jeddah, with one day less than usual to prepare for the second event of the year. Practice will be held on Thursday, March 7, qualifying on Friday 8, and the race will be held on the Saturday, March 9, with everyone leaving the city in the 24 hours after the end of the event to be out of Saudi Arabia territory before 8pm on Sunday, when Ramadan starts.

Some teams are pushing Formula One to also move the Bahrain Grand Prix forward by one day, to give them the normal rime between races in this back-to-back, but Domenicali believes there will be a loss of TV viewership if qualifying is held on Friday and is not prepared to take two losses of ratings in a row, so the teams will have to make do with leaving Sakhir on Sunday night and being fully set up to start working on Wednesday morning in Jeddah.

ALFA ROMEO-HAAS NEGOTIATIONS PICK UP PACE

PRINCE ALBERT TAKES OVER MONACO GP DESTINY

Alfa – moving from Sauber (right) to Haas (left)? Images: MOTORSPORT IMAGES ALFA ROMEO’S desire to remain in Formula One after the end of the cooperation with Sauber has led to the Italian company opening negotiations with Haas F1 Team – as we reported back in September, following the announcement that Audi was going to purchase the majority shareholding of the Swiss team and run it as a works team from the start of 2026.

Being a massive motor racing fan – he recently took part together with Stelantis CEO Carlos Tavares in the Nurburgring 24 Hours – Alfa Romeo’s CEO Jean-Philippe Imparato also knows that a presence in Formula One will do wonders for Alfa Romeo’s image and, therefore, immediately decided to look for an alternative to the deal with Sauber.

Using Power Units and gearboxes made

by Ferrari, a company that, although independent, is linked at the head to the Stelantis Group, Haas F1 Team was the obvious choice for Alfa Romeo and preliminary talks had taken place even before the end of last season, with Gene Haas immediately showing his interest in such a link.

But seeing the enormous progress the WEC has made in terms of impact in recent years, with lots of manufacturers joining the series after a few years where Toyota was basically on its own (Ferrari, Porsche and Peugeot are already competing, Lamborghini is joining next year ) Imparato is also considering an alternative for Alfa Romeo in Sports Cars.

At one stage, an announcement was planned for last weekend’s Le Mans 24 Hours, with the Italian company expected

to buy the mechanical baseline of the Peugeot chassis and develop its own aerodynamic platform.

That would certainly cut the costs of Alfa Romeo’s WEC participation, thus allowing the Areso-based company to stay in Formula One as title sponsor of another team.

The budget seems to be available, as Imparato and Haas Team Principal Gunther Steiner met in Monaco, during the Grand Prix. The fact that Moneygram has a three-year deal to be title sponsor of the American team may complicate things, but when there’s a will, there’s a way, so Imparato and Steiner will be working close together to find a package that is attractive enough for Gene Haas to take it and for the current title sponsor to accept it as well.

ALMOST NO ROOM FOR ROOKIES IN 2024 THIS SUMMER’S drivers’ markets promises to be an exceptionally quiet one, unless something extraordinary happens.

With Red Bull, Ferrari, Aston Martin, Alpine and McLaren having their current drivers under contract for next year, only Mercedes, among the top teams, has one driver not under contract for 2024 – but Lewis Hamilton and Toto Wolff have already made it very clear the renewal of the seven-times’ World Champion contract with Mercedes is just a formality.

That means the 12 best seats in Formula One are essentially taken for 2024 and the word in the paddock in Barcelona was that both Alfa Romeo and Haas are also about to confirm their current driving pairings for the next season, leaving AlphaTauri and Williams as the only teams that will go into the summer break with one or two seats available. Alex Albon, in fact, is contracted to Williams for 2024 too, so it’s just his team mate Logan Sargeant, as well as AlphaTauri’s pair of Yuki Tsunoda and Nyck de Vries, that have no guarantees they’ll be on the grid next year.

With Red Bull having six drivers in Formula 2 and Liam Lawson doing well in Japan, Helmut Marko is not short of alternatives should he decide to get one or two new drivers into the Italian team next year.

Lawson seems to be his favourite candidate at the moment – but we all know how quickly the veteran Austrian can change his mind … and in Formula 2 it’s Japan’s Ayumi Iwasa who’s doing a better job, with Dennis Hauger also doing a respectable job as is Enzo Fittipaldi, and rookie Zane Maloney. Jak Crawford, on the other hand, is having another disappointing season and with Fittipaldi and Maloney looking like they need another second season in Formula 2 to come good, Lawson, Iwasa and Hauger are likely to be the only alternatives to Tsunoda and de Vries.

All of which, of course, leaves Sargeant as the man who’s more under pressure to perform. Mercedes has held exploratory talks with

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Sargeant (left) and de Vries are the two drivers under most pressure ...

James Vowles, enquiring if he’s interested in running either Mick Schumacher and Formula 2 leader Fredrik Vesti. Alfa Romeo doesn’t have a seat available in Formula 1 for Theo Pourchaire – currently second in the series – and Ferrari is marvelled by the speed shown by rookie Oliver Bearman in his rookie Formula 2 season and knows it cannot place him at Haas, so Williams is an alternative.

Then there’s Alpine, hoping to promote either Jack Doohan or Victor Martins, so there’s no lack of junior drivers dreaming of a seat at Williams for 2024. And don’t forget last year’s Formula 2 champion, Felipe Drugovich, who knows Aston Martin will not promote him to a race seat in 2024 and is already looking around for alternatives.

With so many drivers eyeing his seat it’s no surprise Sargeant is feeling the pressure but the American needs to stop making silly mistakes to make sure Vowles keeps him for next year, effectively shutting the only non-Red Bull door available in the 2024 field.

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MICHEL BOERi, one of the last men still around from the Mosley-Ecclestone era, is likely to be pushed out of his longstanding role as president of the Monaco Automobile Club, after it became very clear to the country’s ruler, Prince Albert II, that the veteran was becoming a serious obstacle in all the negotiations for the renewal of the current contract of the Monaco Grand Prix with Stefano Domenicali.

Already last year, days before Formula One arrived in town, Boeri gave an interview to daily newspaper Nice-Matin in which he was tremendously critical of the way Liberty Media was dealing with the race promoters and the direction it was taking Formula One into, leading Greg Maffei to order Domenicali to stop any negotiations with Monaco.

That forced Prince Albert II to intervene personally, smoothing things between the ACM and Formula One, but this year Boeri was at it again, giving another interview in which he claimed, “2025 may well be the last time Formula One will be in Monaco, because the Americans are only interested in money – they take the sport to horrible places as long as the money is good and, of course, Monaco cannot pay US$100m per year to host a Grand Prix, so if they keep pushing this way, we’re out.”

That interview, and Boeri’s stance in the negotiations with Domenicali, seems to have been the last straw for Prince Albert, who, during an informal meeting during the Grand Prix openly admitted that, “I don’t blame Michel Boeri for the fact that he found it difficult to adapt to the new situation, but it may be better now if someone else negotiates on behalf of the ACM!” The message was clear and, with elections for the leadership of the ACM coming later this year, Boeri is likely to be forced to stand down to avoid what would be a humiliating defeat. Boeri has been the president of that club since 1972 (really)! but is now expected to give way to a new generation of Monegasques with Yann-Anthony Noghès believed to be the man the Prince wants as new leader of the negotiations with Liberty Media.

If the name Yann-Anthony Noghès sounds familiar to you, it should, because it was his grandfather was Anthony Noghès, who put together the first Monaco Grand Prix, back in 1929, and also the first Monte Carlo Rally, having led, together with his bother Alexandre, the ACM between 1910 and 1953.

His importance for the Monaco motor racing scene was recognised when the last corner of the street circuit was named after him, midway through the 70s, when Rascasse stopped being a hairpin and a new corner was added to the track.

His grandson Yann-Anthony is a 44-yearold journalist and TV producer, very close to Prince Albert II, and now likely to make sure both the Grand Prix and the rally are safe for the long haul – even if, in Formula One’s case, this may involve making changes to the historic layout of the circuit.

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THE REAL PARITY PROBLEM AND HOW TO FIX IT

‘CRENNO’ CRUNCHES NUMBERS AND SORTS FACTS FROM FICTION

THE ISSUES AREN’T MECHANICAL BUT HUMAN AND MANAGERIAL, SAYS LONG-TIME HOLDEN RACING TEAM AND HOLDEN SPECIAL VEHICLES BOSS JOHN CRENNAN. AND, FROM HIS ARMCHAIR IN RETIREMENT, ‘CRENNO’ HAS IDEAS ON HOW THE LESSER LIGHTS – DRIVERS AND TEAMS – CAN LIFT THEIR GAME, WITH A HELPING HAND FROM SUPERCARS HEADQUARTERS. HERE’S HIS STORY WRITTEN BY HIM. I OPENLY admit to being yesterday’s man in terms of having my finger on the pulse of the Supercars Championship and an appreciation of the way team management and drivers operate now. However, despite this self-declared ‘has been’ status, there is one thing I can still do as well as anyone involved in the series. That is to read a ‘SCOREBOARD’, do my homework and thoroughly analyse the results and performances of the teams and drivers to draw reasonable conclusions on who the real winners and losers and excuse-makers are in this turbulent start to the 2023 championship.

I can also sit in my armchair, watch the races and have a fair idea of those drivers who possess the essential combination of speed and a take-no-prisoners winning ways and those who don’t.

It is my belief that the dramas that Supercars/RACE (Racing Australia Consolidated Enterprises) are tangled in with Ford and General Motors and their teams on Gen 3 parity arguments pale into insignificance compared to the real elephant in the room.

The most significant challenge facing Supercars/RACE is a totally different form of parity or imbalance in the sport – the massive performance and capability differential across the 13 teams and 25 drivers competing in this year’s championship.

Firstly, my views on the latest parity hysteria – and I draw your attention to the

Under Crennan’s rule, HRT and K-mart teams were serious rivals. Image: MOTORSPORT IMAGES accompanying Table 1. It highlights the comparison between the first 12 races over four events last year versus this year in terms of the 36 podium positions decided.

If you are going to examine parity issues you must base it on the top performers and not serial under-performers when drawing conclusions, as B and C graders will seldom vary regardless of what car

“ ”

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Little has changed except for the mysterious performance collapse of DJR and the sudden and intriguing ascension of Erebus ...

they compete in. There is a good chance the under-performers may be using this supposed parity problem to mask some ongoing, unacceptable performances on the track.

The year-to-year comparison at the top end of the performance ladder shows little

Erebus has emerged, to currently replace DJR as Triple Eight’s prime competition ... Image: MARK HORSBURGH

has changed except for the mysterious performance collapse of DJR and the sudden and intriguing ascension of Erebus.

Don’t tell me these two reversals of form are due to parity when all the other podium performers this year vary little compared to 2022 over the first 12 races. Had it not been for the battle-lines being created around Gen 3 parity, no one would have blinked

an eyelid (other than for the DJR/Erebus situation) where, of the 36 podium results so far, Tickford has one less podium this year compared to 2022, Triple 8 and Brad Jones Racing have one more and Walkinshaw and Grove two less podiums.

Apart from these facts, based on actual

results – not pile-on hysteria – I would add two further points which could suggest this parity stuff may be a self-fulfilling distraction for certain parties.

1. There can be no argument that Shane Van Gisbergen is clearly superior to the other 24 drivers in the field. So if Camaro did have this so-called big advantage, I would contend Van Gisbergen would have won the first 12 races this year by a country mile, but he has won three of the 12 this year compared to eight of the first 12 races last year.

2. GM/Camaro teams have won 11 of the first 12 races this year and Ford, with the Mustang, one. But guess what? Last year it was the identical result, with GM/ Commodore chalking up 11 wins from 12 and Ford/Mustang one.

ABSOLUTELY NO CHANGE! Even if we were to glance down to the under-performers in the Teams Championship and compare the bottom five in 2022 with the bottom five after the first 12 races, there is one less GM team in those rankings with Gen 3 and one more Ford team. Big deal!

I suggest that, instead of the ugly parity discourse that has dominated the 2023 season so far, a more enlightening, purposeful, and balanced deep-dive investigation would be why DJR has slumped so badly and why Erebus has suddenly excelled.

This latest parity kerfuffle will soon be yesterday’s news and both Supercars and

Crennan describes all three as ‘Bright shining lights’ ... Image: MARK HORSBURGH the 11 team owners (of the 13 teams) need a very fast reset on what the real challenge is.

It’s the obvious disproportionate number of B and C grade teams and drivers in the competition or lack of parity or evenness in the quality and calibre of the teams and the drivers which must be addressed.

This situation has to be impacting the Supercars fan base and the broader interest in the sport.

In my active time in the game (which ended with a consultancy to DJR Team Penske late last decade), I had a very clear view on what was acceptable and unacceptable team and driver performance.

A-graders were those teams finishing first, second and third in the Teams Championship, B-graders were those

finishing fourth, fifth and sixth, and C-graders those finishing in the bottom half of the field, seventh to 12th.

Then, when evaluating driver performances, the A-graders were those finishing first to sixth in the Drivers’ Championship, B-graders those who finished seventh to 26th, with no place for C-graders unless they were firstyear rookies.

There are a few huge-ego team owners who crave the media spotlight and endlessly self-promote in the belief that the sport revolves around them.

However, make no mistake that it is the drivers who have always been the No. 1 marketing asset in the history of the Australian Touring Car Championship (ATCC)/Supercars.

FIRST 36 PODIUM RESULTS 2023 V 2022

TABLE 1

TEAM

2023 GEN 3

2022

Triple 8

12

10

Tickford DJR Walkinshaw Grove Erebus B Jones TOTAL RACES

2 0 2 2 17 2 36

3 12 4 5 1 1 36

MANUFACTURER WINS IN FIRST 12 RACES 2023 V 2022 GM FORD TOTAL WINS

11 1 12

11 1 12

SVG, is the undisputed best of the current crop.

Image: MOTORSPORT IMAGES.

PAST PERFORMANCE RANKINGS OF THE 25 DRIVERS IN 2023 CHAMPIONSHIP

TABLE 2

DRIVER

2023 4 ROUNDS

2022 SEASON

2021 SEASON

2020 SEASON

2019 SEASON

2018 SEASON

Kosteki

1

7

9

-

-

-

Brown Mostert Van Gisbergen Feeney Waters Heimgartner Reynolds Davison Le Brocq Slade Golding Pye Fullwood Winterbottom Payne Hazelwood DePasqual Randle Courtney Hill Jones Smith Percat Fraser

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

14 3 1 6 2 10 8 5 21 11 16 17 9 18 4 23 12 19 24 15 -

8 3 1 5 17 18 4 16 12 15 14 10 13 6 11 23 21 7 -

5 3 2 14 12 15 9 18 10 17 8 13 19 22 7 -

5 2 7 16 6 8 22 15 20 12 13 18 14 11 21 9 -

6 2 16 17 5 15 19 11 22 7 12 26 20 14 10 -

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Like all elite live-telecast sports, it is the athletes who the fans pay money to see, or more particularly the star-studded X-factor athlete/driver whose appeal gets the turnstiles rotating and drags eyeballs to TV screens.

Given my ‘Brand Power’ opinions of the 2023 mainstream drivers in Table 3, I don’t envy Supercars the task ahead as they are very thin on superstars in the sport at the moment.

While it’s fantastic to see the likes of Will Brown, Brodie Kostecki and Broc Feeney display some fresh new potential brand energy, in today’s field there is still a big void compared to where we were a few years ago. It was a marketer’s dream when the new Roger Penske/DJR/Scott McLaughlin combo came on the scene and went head-to-head against big-name, well-established superstars Craig Lowndes, Jamie Whincup, Shane Van Gisbergen, Garth Tander and Mark Winterbottom.

It is hard to visualise how such highpowered, intense driver and team rivalry can be revived in the next 18 months unless Supercars can introduce some big game-changers.

In the meantime, one suggestion is to have three endurance races spread throughout the season to give Supercars some high ground to promote some well-recognised brand power driver names like Whincup, Tander, Lowndes, Lee Holdsworth, Fabian Coulthard and James Moffat on the grid.

Supercars/RACE must address lifting C-grade teams into B-grade and B-graders into A-graders. From Tables 2, 3 and 4 it is blatantly obvious that many team owners who are longterm under-performers cannot find a solution to work their way out of their hole.

Supercars/RACE must introduce a circuit-breaker and do something to assist the C-graders in the competition – teams and drivers.

Crenno in his HSV-HRT CEO days. Image HSV archives.

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Above: Two A-graders have ‘retired’ to co-driver roles. Image: MOTORSPORT IMAGES. Below: Triple Eight’s team manager, Mark Dutton could be a candidate under Crenno’s ‘DAT’ scheme. Image: MARK HORSBURGH The Australian Football League has priority draft picks to correct lack of competitiveness in its competition and set new foundations for under-performing clubs.

Here’s my suggestion for an AFL draft-type program for Supercars/RACE. In my 23 years of GMH experience prior to HSV/HRT there was a dedicated concentration of GMH management with rigid procedures on how to work with its under-performing dealers to lift their sales and profitability to at least national average.

Like Supercars, the SCOREBOARD did not tell lies.

Under-performing dealers could see for themselves their sustainability was at risk unless there was a performance turnaround.

There was general dealer acceptance of the processes that GMH followed. Management would meet the under-performing dealer/ owner and identify and agree on an improvement plan to be implemented over two years. Once that plan was signed off by both parties, regular reviews were done between GMH management and

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the under-performing dealer/owner on the key agreed areas that needed correction. If the desired turnaround was achieved in the two years everyone was a winner. On the other hand, if the dealer had not made any reasonable improvement and not stepped up to making the necessary changes as agreed, they were ‘encouraged’ to sell out and facilitate GMH appointing well-credentialled, new, young blood. Failing that, the next course of action GMH may take was to give the dealer notice of termination.

Experience showed that when new blood was introduced to under-performing dealerships the improvement in sales and achievement of national average or better was almost immediate.

In the late 1970s GMH introduced a program titled ‘Development Assist Dealer’, which became known as DAD. For highpotential young, ambitious sales managers in dealerships the cost of entry to acquire their own dealership from an under-performing dealer was prohibitive. Under the DAD program GMH financed these aspirants on a 10-year buy-back agreement.

It was a spectacular success, with many new young dealers achieving their buy-back inside five years and progressing to being outstanding dealers for the General.

I suggest there is a lesson from the GMH underperforming dealer programs for Supercars/ RACE to implement with a few C-grade teams.

Again, cost of entry for high-potential, young team managers/engineers/ commercial heads ambitious to operate their own team may be impossible. However, a Supercars program for ‘Development Assist Teams’ (‘DAT’) would not take much imagination to pull off.

I can think of three outstanding team managers now who, if they had the inclination to step up to team ownership, would be tremendous for Supercars.

I don’t think it would be a big ask for the fund managers who underwrote the RACE placement two years ago to integrate a ‘DAT’ into their business partnership.

The key to success of the GMH program, as it would be with a Supercars DAT-type introduction, was strict adherence to the 100 per cent owner-operator business model.

Supercars would obviously need appropriate and well-qualified people to manage such a two-year ‘Get up or get out’ improvement plan with its under-performing teams which should apply automatically to the two teams that finish at the bottom of the Teams Championship each year.

The first and most obvious fix that Supercars/RACE should undertake is with the four under-performing cars of the secondary teams of Tickford and Brad Jones Racing.

If a team elects to compete with two extra cars in the series they cannot be allowed to treat these franchises as driver training schools or experimental campaigns.

These two teams have a responsibility to treat all four cars in their squad with identical, high-level management, budgets, drivers and engineers.

“ ”

a turnaround, step-up business plan.

Otherwise sell out to a well-credentialed new owner-operator who, if necessary, could be a RACE/DAT-supported team.

There are recent good examples of how two long-time under-performing teams, Kelly Racing and Webb/Team Sydney, have undergone ownership change for the betterment of the sport.

Kelly Racing was acquired by Stephen and Brenton Grove and in a short space of time there are strong indications the changes they introduced have them on course for A-grade status.

There are also encouraging signs that the new Peter Xiberras team is not mucking around with introducing changes and the series should soon see a noticeable turnaround in its fortunes.

MOVING FORWARD If tomorrow I had to put on a McKinsey or KPMG corporate advisory hat and prepare a three-year business and strategic direction plan for Supercars/RACE, my top five priorities to achieve growth and a major upturn in the standing and recognition of Supercars among Australia’s elite sports then, in brief summary form, it would look like this:

• A MINIMUM 13 teams fielding two

cars each, of which five teams and their 10 drivers need to at least perform to an A-grade level and eight teams and drivers to a B-grade level (thereby in three years having a target of no C-graders). Introduce a far more demanding level of teams reporting to Supercars/RACE with clearly-established

The single most important and wellcredentialled person in any team has to be the commercial manager ...

In 2001 at Clayton, when for the first time I introduced four cars with the HRT and Kmart teams, each of those four cars had an equal chance of winning. In fact, they competed fiercely both on and off the track.

Proof of that was that our four drivers that year all finished in the top six of the Drivers’ Championship.

Performances of the Tier 2 teams at Tickford and BJR are clearly sub-standard, as evidenced in Table 4.

As a priority, these two franchises should be required to present to Supercars

performance targets and business criteria for the teams and their drivers as part of the franchise agreement. In particular, the bottom two teams in the championship being issued with an enforceable notice of performance improvement and have available a ‘Development Assist Team’ program for new-blood owner-operators.

• INTRODUCE AT least one new manufacturer to the series in the next three years.

• SCHEDULE AT least 15 or 16 events each year, of which three should be endurance

races spread evenly over the season, such as a 500km event at round three, another 500km event at round nine, and the Bathurst 1000 as round 14, with each of these enduros requiring two drivers per car. I also suggest there is ‘low-hanging fruit’ available to add three more events in the season from existing events by introducing back-to-back double-header ‘Festival of Motor Sport’ weekends at the most appropriate and best incremental income-generating venues.

• DEVELOP SIGNIFICANTLY higher levels of mainstream media coverage of the series around the events and the drivers and behind-the-scenes news. Much of this will be an automatic flow on if Supercars/RACE can orchestrate five A-grade teams as this will create much tighter racing and much-needed Top 10 tensions and tussles if there are 10 top-rating drivers competing hard. Supercars also need a free-to-air telecast deal for all races.

This article was written originally for the HSV Owners Club magazine Torque ’n’ 8s

DRIVER

AGE

CRENNO’S DRIVER *GRADE RANKINGS

CRENNO’S BRAND POWER ** RANKING

CRENNO’S OPINION

Kosteki Brown Mostert Van Gisbergen Feeney Waters Heimgartner Reynolds Davison Le Brocq Slade Golding Pye Fullwood Winterbottom Payne Hazelwood DePasqual Randle Courtney Hill Jones Smith Percat Fraser

25 24 31 34 20 28 27 37 40 30 37 27 33 25 42 21 27 27 27 42 26 28 23 34 23

B+ A A A+ B+ B+ B B B C B C B C B? C B C B? CCC ?

B B A A B B B A B C B C B C A ?

C B C A ?

C C B ?

Bright shining light Bright shining light Consistent top 5 performer No 1. In class of his own Bright shining light Next big step much needed Next big step much needed Too inconsistent/unpredictable At crossroads/retirement looms At the crossroads Regular outside Top 10. Improve Big Test. Must perform this year Underwhelming. Team or driver?

Regular bottom 10. Last chance Retire to enduros next year Rookie/Too early to call Regular bottom 10. Last chance Next big step much needed Results underwhelming Retirement end of year?

Late-start rookie. Too early Enough chances. Relegate Enough chances. Relegate All talk, no results. Relegate Rookie. Too early to call

* Prepared around previous Table 2, highlighting the driver’s record/standing in the championship ladder 2018 to now. ** Based on Crennan’s subjective opinion on the driver’s profile and contribution to the team and the sport and his brand power (or otherwise) to put bums on seats and draw eyes to television sets either through outstanding results on the track and/or the ‘role model’ personalities or lovable larrikin/villain appeal.

TEAMS CHAMPIONSHIP RESULTS – OF THE 13 TEAMS IN THE 2023 CHAMPIONSHIP*

TABLE 4

All teams should have two drivers capable of winning races-back when DJR was T8’s prime challenger, but has slipped in 2023.

Image: MOTORSPORT IMAGES Above right: DJR’s drivers have slid down Crennan’s rankings too.

Image: MARK HORSBURGH

• SUPERCARS MUST introduce a demanding and robust rookie driver entry test/assessment discipline prior to a team signing any driver untried in main-game Supercars. This track test must have a clearly-defined, prescribed breakdown of all the elements and data to be evaluated to gain approval from Supercars before a team can sign on a rookie well before any season start. This would equally apply to any untried driver nominated as an enduro driver. This process would put an end to the overload of pay drivers over recent years where a sponsor or ‘dad’s chequebook’ has been the reason for lining up on the grid, rather than merit and talent.

• FINALLY, ON teams in the Supercars competition, it should never be overlooked (but so often is) that the single most important and well-credentialled person in any team has to be the commercial manager. This person holds the key to success. My guess is that, to achieve A-grade race results today, they need to generate external revenue of $6-8 milion a year through sponsorships, B2B and B2C initiatives, merchandising and every other means – except resorting to pay drivers.

My guesstimate is that, in addition, Supercars tip into team revenue $1-1.5 million, for twocar teams. In this sport, under-performance in the commercial operations of the team is the reason for lack of success on the track.

TABLE 3

CRENNO’S ‘ARMCHAIR EXPERT’ EVALUATION OF THE MAINSTREAM DRIVERS IN THE 2023 CHAMPIONSHIP

TEAM

FOUNDED

Triple 8 DJR Tickford (T1) Walkinshaw B Jones (T1) Erebus Grove Kelly Team 18 Matt Stone Premi Air Team Sydney Tickford (T2) B Jones (T2) Blanchard **

2002 1981 2002 1989 2000 2013 2022 2009 2016 2018 2022 2010

2021

LAST CHAMPIONSHIP WIN 2022 2015 2002 NIL NIL NIL NIL NIL NIL NIL NIL NIL NIL NIL NIL

PAST FIVE YEARS TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP POSITION 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 1 2 3 4 8 6 5 7 9 10 12 11 13

1 2 3 4 8 6 5 7 9 10 12 11 13

2 1 3 7 8 5 9 6 12 11 4 10 10

2 1 3 6 7 5 8 11 12 14 4 13

1 2 3 5 6 4 7 14** 16** 13** 11 15

NOTE *Team Championship ranking combining the performance of both cars in the series championship has always represented the cornerstone of a team’s success or otherwise. In turn it determines the pecking order of the pit garage locations for the ensuing year. Any position from 1st - 3rd is an A-grade performance, 4th – 6th is a B-grade performance and 7th – 13th is a C-grade performance. ** Denotes single-car entry (2022) which automatically places the team at the bottom of the rankings given the points of all other two-car teams are the combined count of points in the championship.

Above: PremiAir team – “not mucking around” – promising. Below (l to r) Fullwood, Winterbottom, Hazelwood ... tough assessment ... Images: MARK HORSBURGH

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INSIDE GARAGE 56: NASCAR TO LE MANS FOR THE SECOND TIME IN HISTORY, A NASCAR HAS TAKEN TO THE GRID OF THE 24 HOURS OF LE MANS, AND THIS TIME IT MADE THE FINISH. ANDREW CLARKE LOOKS AT THE STORY OF HOW HENDRICK MOTORSPORT DID WHAT SEEMED IMPOSSIBLE. ...

WE’RE NOT quite sure how a Chevrolet Corvette ZL1 NASCAR fits into the Garage 56 ethos of the Automobile Club de l’Ouest (ACO) that runs the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and to be frank, we don’t really care. It is cool.

The ACO says Garage 56 – precisely as you would think, the 56th garage in the famous pitlane – was introduced as an invitational class for cars outside the race’s regulations that display a level of innovation.

“The idea is to leave as much room for creativity as possible,” says Vincent Beaumesnil, ACO Sports Division manager, on the 24H Le Mans website. ”Garage 56 explores the automobile technology of tomorrow and beyond. Environmental considerations such as fuel savings and carbon emission reduction are obviously very important.

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“When we receive a Garage 56 application, we start by talking to the designers to get all the details. We set performance criteria and they build their prototype accordingly.

“It’s no good having a Garage 56 car that is faster than the LMP1s just because technical restrictions don’t apply; the idea is to test new technology.”

In many respects, NASCAR is the antithesis of innovation, but when the guys and gals at Hendrick Motorsports, with the urging of NASCAR, applied for the garage

WHAT HAS CHANGED •

Gearbox - 5-speed sequential paddle shift in place of the ‘stick shift’

•

The fuel Tank increased from 75L to 121L

•

Fuel is renewable Total Energies Excellium Racing 100 (in place of the Sunoco Green E15)

• Aerodynamics - The rear spoiler has been extended from four to six inches, dive planes have been added front and rear and canards have been to the roofline and bootlid.

•

The running weight is 1342kg instead of 1580kg

• Goodyear developed special day and night slick compound tyres as well as intermediate and wets designed for Le Mans •

Functioning head and tail lights

•

Data loggers, GPS and telemetry systems

GARAGE 56 ENTRIES •

2012 – Nissan Delta Wing (Super Light Weight)

•

2013 – Green GT H2 (Hydrogen Fuel Cell)

•

2014 - Nissan ZEOD RC (Hybrid)

•

2016 – Morgan LMP2 SRT 41 (Disability Access Vehicle)

•

2017 – Welter Racing Prototype (bio-methane)

•

2020 – Viision 1789 Hypercar (Bio Fuel)

•

2023 – Chevrolet Corvette ZL1 (NASCAR)

THE GARAGE 56 CAMARO SPECS •

NASCAR Next Gen Garage 56 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Specs:

•

Length: 4,961 mm

•

Width: 1,996.4 mm

•

Height: 1,280 mm

•

Wheelbase: 2,794 mm

•

Weight: 1,342 kg

•

Spoiler: 152.4 mm

• Body: 2023 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 composite symmetric body featuring integral flap systems, camera mounts and dive planes

Images: MOTORSPORT IMAGES, PETER NORTON-EPIC SPORTS PHOTOGRAPHY, ANDREW HALL

• Underwing: Full carbon undertray w/Le Mans spec splitter, engine panel and rear diffuser in 2022, the bid was successful. We’re not sure what the Hendrick people said, but it is hard to see the innovations going beyond NASCAR. No doubt Jim France, the son of NASCAR founder Bill France Snr and the current chairman of both NASCAR and International Motor Sports Association (IMSA), played a role. France was an integral part of the negations that led to the unification of IMSA with the World Endurance Championship (WEC) back in 2020, for which he was awarded the Spirit of Le Mans trophy last year.

You get the feeling that generally, what Jim France wants, Jim France gets – just as it was with his father when he convinced the ACO to let him run two NASCARs at the 1976 event using his leverage as the owner of the Daytona track, which hosts its own 24 Hour sportscar race each January.

The Grand International class was created for the race at Le Mans and Herschel McGriff’s Dodge Charger, and Junie Donlavey’s Ford Torino were entered.

The French dubbed the two NASCARs ‘Les Deux Monstres’, or the two monsters, as a term of affection, and they made an impression everywhere but on the track.

The Dodge was the race’s first retirement, blowing an engine on the second lap, while the Ford made it to the 11th hour.

They weren’t very prepared or scientific about what they did in 1976. That is not the case with the 2023 adventure which was launched on March 17, 2022, after two weeks of pre-planning at Hendrick Motorsports.

The first working mule hit the track in August, six weeks after the 2022 Le Mans race, well before being confirmed with an entry for 2023. From there, the car started to evolve. Circuit de la Sarthe is a very different track to anything a NASCAR has run on in four decades, and that meant a bog-

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standard road course NASCAR wasn’t going to cut it.

Doors were a big talking point early in the piece, but it was not possible to add doors without adversely affecting the integrity of the body and the chassis. So the three drivers – F1 World Champion Jenson Button, NASCAR legend Jimmie Johnson and German Le Mans and Daytona 24 Hour winner Mike Rockenfeller – climbed in and out through the window, although there is an escape hatch built into the roof.

The weight was trimmed by nearly 250kg, and then 50kg of electronics were added.

A complex array of headlighting, tail-lights, compulsory data logging equipment, GPS and telemetry were part of the electronics added.

The engine has been recalibrated but has no more than the standard 560kW (750bhp), even though most engine builders think the 5.7L Chev engine is capable of 10,000 rpm and 650kW if appropriately unleashed.

The headlights are a work of art, with more than 40 LED lights on each side of the car, and they were be needed with the #24 car topping 300kmh on Mulsanne Straight.

The snout of the Camaro was modified in other ways too, with the front splitter being redesigned for more downforce and better cooling to the brakes, which take a severe pounding at Le Mans.

The rear diffusor has also been upgraded to generate safe levels of downforce since no one wanted to see this car flying through the air like Mark Webber in that Mercedes.

Some of the other aero tweaks look a little crude. There are winglets front and rear on the three-quarter panels, and clear canards on the rear window guide the air onto the two-inch taller spoiler.

It still looks like a NASCAR – It just looks a little more purposeful.

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•

Chassis: Steel tubing w/bolt-on front and rear clips and front/rear bumpers

•

Transaxle: 5-speed paddle shift sequential with ramp and plate differential

• Suspension (Front and rear): Double wishbone billet aluminum control arms w/ adjustable coil over shock absorbers •

Steering: Rack and pinion

•

Wheels: Dry Fronts – BBS-G56 forged aluminum 462 mm x 317.5 mm

•

Dry Rears – BBS-G56 forged aluminum 462 mm x 342.9 mm

•

Wets – BBS forged aluminum 462 mm x 304.8 mm

•

Tires: Dry Fronts – Goodyear Racing Eagles – 365/35R18 (day / night)

•

Dry Rears – Goodyear Racing Eagles – 380/35R18 (day / night)

•

Wets – Goodyear Racing Eagles – 365/35R18 (inter / full)

•

** Cured in-tyre, passive TPMS system, Powered by Goodyear Sightline

• Brakes: Six piston monobloc front calipers / four piston monobloc rear calipers – heavy duty carbon disc packages •

Front Brake Rotors: 381 mm x 40 mm carbon disc w/titanium bell

•

Rear Brake Rotors: 355.6 mm x 32 mm carbon disc w/titanium bell

•

Engine: NASCAR Cup Series Chevrolet R07 cast iron small block V8

•

Engine displacement: 5.8 L

•

Induction system: Naturally aspirated

•

Fuel system: Fuel injection

•

Oil system: Dry sump

•

Engine cooling: Air exits radiator through hood louvres

•

Exhaust: Split-side exit exhaust

•

Fuel cell: 127 L (Total Excellium Racing 100)

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There are carbon brakes and special tyres

by Goodyear, with day, nighty, intermediate and wet tyres all in play. Wet weather testing, in particular, was critical since NASCARs are normally as water averse as cats.

In February, all the work paid off when the ACO announced the #24 car was allowed to run the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The various test cars have run 11,000km and have completed 24-hour runs a couple of times.

With Hendrick Motorsports being one of NASCARs development teams, there is a good chance that some of the lessons learned will make it into NASCAR in the future, especially as NASCAR embraces road course and street track racing.

THE RACE The Garage 56 Camaro qualified for the race in 37th spot (of 62) with a time of 3m47.976s, which was quicker than all the GTE-Am cars and among the tail of the troubled LMP2 Pro-Am cars, although by a quirk of the rules it started in 39th. The best time in qualifying was a 3m25.213s lap for the #50 Ferrari.

It finished the race in 39th, 57 laps behind the winner, after running as high as 27th and was leading all the GTE-Am cars with four hours left in the race when a driveline issue ground the NASCAR to a halt, losing more than 90 minutes with repairs and subsequent checks. It finished on 285 laps, which was more than the distance of four Coca-Cola 600s at Charlotte, which is the longest race on the NASCAR tour.

“My heart is full,” Jimmie Johnson said after his first race at Le Mans. “For all the reasons we know – coming here with NASCAR, Hendrick, Chevrolet, Goodyear.

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“Many of the people here working were on different teams that I won races and championships with. There were so many familiar faces, to have this experience was just off the charts.

“The fan reception – whether it was at the parade, or on the cool down lap just now.

Even the corner marshals were going nuts.

Everything was just incredible.

“My bucket is full. I’m really happy.”

Jenson Button wasn’t quite as gushing but was full of praise for the effort, which is part

of a mini-NASCAR campaign for the former F1 world champ ending in Chicago shortly.

“It was awesome,” Button said on TV after the race. “Obviously the crowd are here to celebrate everyone that’s taking part in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. But to hear the cheer for our car as it went past here ... it’s been a long journey for these guys getting the car ready for Le Mans.

“Lots of long hours, but what an amazing group of people to produce what they have with this car. Taking it from a Cup Car and

making it into an endurance car for Le Mans. Staggering. The best in the business.

I’m proud to be working with these guys.

“We (the drivers) didn’t make any mistakes, but we still want to push the car hard. It’s a car that is reasonably easy to drive. It’s forgiving. Driving it hard, you do go slower, but it really is a wonderful car to drive.”

Now we brace ourselves to see if Peter Adderton can pull off his audacious Garage 56 bid for his Gen3 Camaro Supercar – and there is a benchmark to target.

THE MORE IT CHANGES, THE MORE IT DOESN’T

By AA columnist PAUL GOVER LE MANS is a field of dreams, with an occasional nightmare. Just ask Mark Webber . . .

Walk the infield of the historic French circuit and it’s easy to become immersed in the history of the place.

The forest alongside the Mulsanne Straight could be a time-warp walk back into the 1800s, or even 1955 when the worst crash in the history of motorsport claimed at least 82 lives.

There are remains, still, of the signalling pits at the end of the Mulsanne Straight.

That’s where messages were relayed from the pits to the drivers, by telephone, long before the days of radios and telemetry.

These days everything has changed, and everything is the same.

Le Mans is still a quiet provincial town to the south of Paris, with a lovely cobbled heart beyond the giant cathedral. Anyone who has seen the Le Mans movie, where Steve McQueen drives his Porsche 911 through the deserted town centre, would recognise it.

Le Mans is still, hands down, the biggest and best car race in the world.

The toughest, too.

The Monaco Grand Prix is flashier and the Indianapolis 500 is faster, but Le Mans is The Big One, for a full day of high-speed action, excitement, joy and disappointment.

It’s a car race wrapped inside a circus, an annual holiday, a pilgrimage, and an

annual reunion to top anything from high school.

Richard Craill, the Carrera Cup commentator at home in Australia, is part of the 24-hour broadcast crew on Radio Le Mans.

Webber, survivor of two horrific high-speed back-flips in his Mercedes sports car days, is back as a Porsche ambassador and to drive a car in the parade of champion cars ahead of the race.

Also spotted? Former winner David Brabham, Ryan Briscoe with the Glickenhaus private Hypercar team, and Matt Campbell, although the Porsche 936 racer was forced to sit on the sideline as the German team had 10 drivers Image: ANDREW HALL and only nine slots.

Driving to the circuit, the first glimpse of the historic ferris wheel at the top of the circuit is as Ferrari, Porsche, Cadillac, Toyota and memorable - and inspiring – as the first Peugeot, and each team gets some time moment you spot the Mount Panorama in the lead. sign on the drive to Bathurst.

There is also rain and chaos, with little It is impossible not to compare The more than two hours of racing in the first Great Race with Le Mans, and Bathurst five hours from the start – signalled by holds up well. But Le Mans is older LeBron James, for reasons best known to celebrating 100 years in 2023, even if there the French organisers. have only been 91 races - and faster, and And a NASCAR – crewed by Jenson much, much tougher.

Button and Jimmie Johnson – is a special In 2023, there are factory cars from entry and shows enough speed to run

ahead of the exotic GT3 sports car contenders before striking problems.

But what a sound – the most memorable since the winning rotary-powered Mazda 787 that claimed victory in the 1980s – as it thundered around to provide four-minute wake-up calls for anyone struggling against the pull of sleep.

The winner? Does it really matter?

Le Mans is Le Mans and that is more than enough.

WE SPEND A LOT OF TIME THINKING ABOUT TIME ...

By photographer PETER NORTON WE CELEBRATE milestones, like significant birthdays of our children, while also fighting against the passing of time, particularly as loved ones grow older.

Sport is the same. We are fascinated in celebrating anniversaries and recognising what happened last year, 10 and 50 years ago. At the same time as we are looking backwards, we also fight against time, striving to achieving our goals before the clock runs out.

This time paradox was clear at Le Mans in 2023. There is no greater birthday to celebrate than a centenary, and the French have done it on a grande scale.

The track museum had a few past winners on display. 65 of them. As there have been a few interruptions to the annual race around the clock, the race has been run 90 times.

It was staggering to think they could have over 70% of the winners on display, and most came out to do a few laps.

This celebration of time was like riding in a time machine. One moment you are admiring some of the earliest automobiles, then jump to futuristic Hypercars and a world of high technology.

Le Mans is not a race to a distant line on the road; it is literally a race against time, and as our primary measure of time is a day, so why not race for the 24 hours.

In this race against time qualifying for the Hyperpole session was close. Just 0.2 seconds over the 13.6km lap, which translates to just 0.01%. The gap in the race for pole was not so close, but that’s ok, as

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everyone was focused on the fact that it was the first Italian driver in a Ferrari on pole for 50 years. More time milestones to celebrate.

Visiting Le Mans for the race is a time warp that is full of contrasts. The city of Le Mans is a beautiful old city with grand old architecture, and a modern light rail that provides crowded but convenient access to the race.

Leaving cold short winter days in Australia, and landing in daylight savings time with long summer days throws out your sense of time. It only gets truly dark after 10pm.

After darkness finally falls, the race charges through the night, but that is only for around 6 hours until the early glow of dawn around 5am.

With all that daylight you might think you can see and do a lot. You would be wrong.

The scale of the event is also a time thief. Five days at the track is simply not long enough to see it all. With 13.6 kms of racetrack and 250,000 people everything takes a long time to get to and do.

Even the schedule is huge. Testing 10 days before the race, scrutineering in the city centre, many practice and qualifying sessions, and the drivers parade on the Friday, before the race start at 4pm Saturday.

The drivers’ parade is simply crazy. Huge crowds line the city streets to cheer their favourite drivers, if they know who the drivers are. Most are actually there for the street party and the free trinkets being thrown into the crowd by the drivers. Hats, t-shirts, wrist bands, stickers and food samples being thrown around whips up a

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good-natured frenzy of excitement. Some people bring fishing nets to help catch the free goodies.

Back at the track the camp grounds, the safety fences, crowd control fences (with barbed wire), the motor homes, the fleets of bikes, the corporate suites - everything is on a huge scale. Camping ranges from motorhomes, glamping, normal tents, and some people simply sleep on the spectator mounds at their favourite corner.

Some people were excited to be granted the exclusive privilege of a grid walk. Nice to be one of the chosen few. They were in for a shock with a sea of people crowding on to the pit straight for the pre-race formalities.

You won’t see a bigger crowd on a grid at any other event, and a warm up for the track invasion for the podium celebration. And just add a Ferrari win for the crowd excitement to triple!

There is a sense of one-up-manship between the luxury brands that use the event to promote their products and entertain their guests.

Everyone tries to be bigger and more extravagant than their competitors. All the luxury and performance car brands have stalls, including those that are not racing. Rolex have a store in the village behind the pits. Not a corporate box, and actual shop where you can chat to a

consultant and place your order for your the new gold timepiece.

The pit straight grandstands create a huge canyon for the cars to rocket through.

The sound is hard to describe as the noise reverberates between the towering pit straight grandstands.. Amazing.

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JAMES HUNT: STILL MISSED, 30 YEARS LATER 38 I www.autoaction.com.au

By MIKE DOODSON TOMORROW, JUNE 15, it will have been 30 years since James Hunt died at his home in London. He was 45 years old and his heart, stressed by heavy smoking and hard living, gave out on him. He had contested 92 GPs, won 10 of them and taken the 1976 World Championship title, in a ding-dong battle with Niki Lauda (above) which attracted global attention.

Hunt quit driving halfway through the 1979 season, for reasons which remain unclear.

He had been released by McLaren after a lacklustre 1978 campaign and had joined Walter Wolf’s team. It didn’t work out.

There had been whispers from McLaren that his “personal use” was affecting his driving, a rumour which spread to the paddock. The Wolf mechanics were equally unimpressed.

Meanwhile, Hunt insisted that he did not trust the robustness of the Wolf car.

Whatever the reason, his final race (a retirement when he deliberately rubbed the wall at Monaco, breaking a drive-shaft) coincided conveniently with the moment when

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payment for the first half of his annual retainer became due.

Retirement did not go well for our hero, as his official biography makes clear. Among other setbacks, he bought a farm, which got flooded, and became a member at Loyds of London (insurance), investing in a number of syndicates which paid off for a few years but later crashed as a result of claims for storm damage in Europe. His own estimated losses were well into nine figures.

I had known James personally ever since his days in Formula Ford. At a race meeting in France in 1970, for which he had crashed in qualifying and was unable to claim starting money, I discovered him in the press car park, stealing the petrol he needed to get home. I immediately contributed my expenses money, a gesture which would pay off when I was the only journalist who got a one-to-one interview with him immediately after he had won the ‘76 world title in dramatic fashion in Japan. I wish I still had that tape ...

Starting in 1980, James had joined Murray Walker in the TV commentary box after the BBC had contracted to cover F1 full-time.

His knowledge of our sport and his various useful contacts (he was also on the payroll of multi-sponsor Marlboro cigarettes) gave him a certain authority, although it was Walker who did the legwork in the paddock – and who understandably resented Hunt’s casual attitude.

“I actually used to see very little of him before the qualifying session on Saturday

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because there was no need,” recalled Walker in his autobiography, “but on Sunday there was always the worry of whether or not he was going to turn up.

“He would stroll into the commentary box about five minutes before the race began and when it finished it was as though the chequered flag was connected to a spring on his arse. As the flag swept down James shot up and out of the box.”

I witnessed all this at first hand, because for 18 years I sat with the BBC’s feuding twosome, compiling the lap chart they

“ ”

required to keep up with race progress.

Sometimes Hunt wanted to leave even before the chequer flew. At one French GP, with the race order seemingly in place, he was saying his goodbyes when the leaders hit trouble on the last lap and neither of our ace commentators was looking at the screen, leaving a million viewers none the wiser.

With TV technology still in its infancy, and communications less reliable than they are now, the BBC was reluctant in those early days to send its crew to far-distant countries. Instead, they were put in a studio in London’s Shepherd’s Bush and instructed to watch the monitor and pretend that they

I actually used to see very little of him before the qualifying session on Saturday because there was no need ...

Above: Author Doodson kept Hunt and Walker apart! Below: A young James Hunt at the 1969 British Formula Ford Championship, Mallory Park, 1969. Left: 1976 McLaren launch with MD Teddy Mayer (left) and team manager Alastair Caldwell. Images: MOTORSPORT IMAGES

www.autoaction.com.au I 39

were on-site. Australian viewers of F1 may be aware of a similar shameful contrivance, not so long ago, in their own station’s coverage ...

Hunt, though, was in the habit of dropping strong hints about this imposition: “From our viewpoint, we have a very restricted view of the circuit,” he would declare. Or, “unfortunately we are too far from the pits to be able to see what’s happening there.” The BBC producer could only stand and shudder.

Hunt would eventually sober up and even make his peace (sort of) with Walker. But he infuriated many with his strong opinions on a number of personalities whom he did not hesitate to vilify, among them the Italian driver Riccardo Patrese and Britain’s own Nigel Mansell, whom he regarded as a whinger.

The bad feeling towards Patrese arose at Monza in 1978 when his Arrows car collided with Hunt’s McLaren immediately after the start, triggering a multi-car shunt in which Hunt’s great friend, the Swedish ace Ronnie Peterson, suffered serious leg injuries from which he died in hospital the following morning. Hunt actually helped to pull his mate from the wreckage of his Lotus.

Today, Patrese has been largely forgiven, but I am with Hunt. It gets overlooked that the Italian had blatantly jumped the start, intimidating the starter into releasing the field prematurely. This allowed the second half of the grid to get away while still rolling up to their places, with all two dozen cars becoming impossibly bunched. (Patrese even attempted to repeat the exercise at the second start, three hours later).

The subsequent legal enquiry in Milan, which was required to attribute blame for the accident, became obsessed with identifying whichever driver of the bunchedup cars was responsible. The judgment went against Hunt, who was conveniently not Italian and had been in Patrese’s way when the latter barged into the pack.

To Hunt’s credit, on the one occasion when he had criticised Patrese on air for some imagined mischief, he had the decency to seek out the innocent man, to apologise and to promise to put things to

right in his next commentary (which he did).

Needless to say, Hunt sometimes had to take as good as he got, as Murray Walker was happy to point out in his book: “My most dramatic experience with James occurred during our first time in Australia in 1985,” he wrote. “Channel 9 were making a maximum effort to impress their countrymen with Formula 1 down under and were doing a great job.

“For the qualifying session we were joined by David Hill, their top man, who was brilliant at his job and not slow to make his feelings known. There had been an instant lack of rapport between the very English James and the very Australian David, but everything went well until I handed the microphone to James who shrugged his shoulders, put it down and said, ‘I’ve got nothing to say.’

“David leant across and said, ‘Pick the f***ing thing up and say something!’

“Somewhat startled, James did so, and when the session finished he haughtily said to David, ‘I’d like a word with you. I’ve never been spoken to like that by anyone in the whole of my life and I don’t like it.’ “’I don’t give a f**k what you like,’ said David. ‘As far as I’m concerned you’re a hired hand and if you don’t like it you can f**k off!’

“James stayed but, unsurprisingly, there was a somewhat tense atmosphere between the two of them until the problem was eventually solved by David becoming Sky TV’s Head of Sport in the UK and then one of Rupert Murdoch’s top TV executives in America.”

Towards the end of Hunt’s life there were rumours that his fortune was much diminished. It was at a BBC planning meeting in 1990 that I realised he’d actually hit the skids, because he arrived by bike, a ladies’ model complete with basket on the handlebars. His big Mercedes, he said, was up on stands on the drive of his house, with the wheels stored away to avoid them being stolen.

His second marriage had failed, although it was known that he was making a good job of being a father to his two boys. The drinking and the roistering days were now

behind him and his hobby was breeding budgerigars.

He had fallen in love, somewhat tentatively in view of his technicolor past, with Helen Dyson, a young woman he had met while she was a waitress at a local burger restaurant. Both had been very cautious about their relationship, but had more or less agreed on marriage when Hunt was suddenly felled.

The Hunt family had grown fond of Helen, who was seemingly left with nothing by Hunt’s death. They eventually came to an arrangement with Hunt’s biographer, my respected colleague Gerald Donaldson, to collaborate in preparing the text. The book is still worth a search, with no holds barred about its subject’s various demons. In

return for their help, the Hunt family asked that half of the royalties should go to Ms Dyson The Hunt/Walker stoush had begun to fade away as early as 1983, as Walker recounted following an offer from McLaren chief Ron Dennis to test-drive that year’s MP4-Cosworth F1 car at Silverstone. It was an occasion which Walker enjoyed immensely, especially because he had a Hunt there as his colleague and mentor.

“Well done, Murray,” said James as his BBC partner got out of the car. “You’ve done something that any Grand Prix driver would give his eye teeth for.”

“Have I? What’s that?”

“You’ve improved your lap time by half a minute!”

Top: Hunt and Walker – great commentary duet despite their differences.

Above: Rivals Hunt and Lauda were genuinely good friends. Below: Hunt’s last race – Monaco 1979. Images: MOTORSPORT IMAGES

40 I www.autoaction.com.au

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NATIONALS WRAP JOHNSTON SNATCHES THRILLING NSW MOTORKHANA TITLE

THE NSW Motorkhana Championship went down to the wire as Corrine East-Johnston and Aaron Wuillemin conducted a thrilling fight.

The two national headliners were once again the benchmarks in the large 54-car field in round 6 of the 2023 season run by the Thornleigh Car Club at Nirimba TAFE. East-Johnston and Wuillemin traded blows throughout the seven gruelling tests, which saw drivers take on layouts such as Double Bone, Top Hat, Reverse Spiro Slalom, Gables, Pentagon, Sprio Slalom and finally Forward and Reverse Slalom.

This set up a grandstand finish in the final run, which was nailed by East-Johnston, who rose under pressure in her Honda Special and prevailed by the slender margin of three tenths.

Competitors enjoyed two attempts at each test and East-Johnston got the early jump to open a half-a-second lead.

But Wuillemin hit back to snatch the lead in the third test, which he held until the final stage.

However, in that time East-Johnston had been chipping away, reducing the deficit four-tenths to virtually nothing by the end.

With everything on the line East-Johnston reclaimed the upper ground with a huge first run that was half a second quicker than Wuillemin.

The event was decided on the final run where Wuilleman failed to start and EastJohnston did what she needed to be crowned the winner.

After the near miss, Wuillemin had to settle for Class G honours.

The next best was Phillip East, who came home third a further 20 seconds off the pace.

Andrew Collier sealed fourth on the final test as Hamish East-Wuillemin rounded out the top five.

The Ernie Boston Trophy went the way of John Driver (pictured), who also won Class C, while state Class A was taken out by Kelvin Goldfinch.

Classes B and H were collected by Christopher Stevens and Michael McGeorge respectively, while the top junior was EastWuillemin.

In the multi-club stakes, outright and Class E honours were swept up by Aron Elliott.

The leading lady was Sophie Bolton as Classes B and C were taken out by Geoff Farrant and Ian Maher respectively.

Dean Tomliin topped Class D with Jarrod O’Hara the leading junior.

Thornleigh Car Club clerk of course Nicole Crowley hailed the event as a success.

“From an organisational point of view, the day ran very smoothly,” she said.

“With an incredible 54 competitors it was great to get through seven tests with double runs.

“The smiles from both the competitors, passengers, and officials, were great to see.”

The next state motorkhana round is at Nirimba run by the Mini Car Club on Sunday, July 23.

Thomas Miles

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TREWHELLA BOUNCES

TO BACK-TO-BACK BENCUBBIN WINS ADAM TREWHELLA (below) cruised to back-to-back victories in the Bencubbin 400 in the opening weekend of June.

Trewhella, plus co-drivers Craig Trewhella, Koby Grant and Mark Cramer, dominated the third round of the 2023 Western Australian Off Road Racing Championship.

Across three sections, the reigning champion was untouchable in car #1 with only one rival coming within 10 minutes of the overall time of 4:00:35.9.

That combination was Prolite winners Stephen Ketteridge-Hall and Haylee Cowling.

The two-day Bencubbin 400 was a daunting prospect for the 49 crews lining up on the start with five laps of a challenging 80km course in prospect.

Although Trewhella won by the comfortable margin of two minutes and 45 seconds and was undefeated in each section, a tight battle was initially on the cards.

Following victory in the prologue, the reigning champion found himself embroiled in a battle with Round 2 victors

Troy Higgins and John Simmons.

Little separated the two crews across the opening half of the section until disaster struck.

The hopes of success for Higgins and Simmons came to a crashing end when they rolled their PRO Buggy in the final stages of the opening stage.

Despite failing to finish the first segment, the pair returned to complete the final two sections and salvaged a P26 result.

There was misfortune for Harleigh Uren, who pushed his Trophy Truck up to second outright ahead of Ketteridge-Hall, only to suffer a rally-ending incident in Section 2.

After claiming the first section by two minutes, nothing was going to stop Trewhella, who also won the second section by a commanding two and a half minutes.

With the rally already sealed, the reigning champion took the foot off the gas in the final segment where Higgins and Simmons showed what could have been possible.

The #54 PRO Buggy combination bounced back from their roll over to finish

the tough rally in style by sneaking ahead of Prolite runners Ketteridge-Hall and Cowling and winning the final stage by just 19 seconds.

Another to come home with a wet sail was Wells, who recorded the fourth fastest section time, which was enough to confirm his first podium finish of the year.

Wells was just over 10 minutes adrift of the ultimate pace, but importantly well ahead of next best Jared Percival to take third.

Craig and Monica Wells rounded out the top five ahead of SXS Pro class winner Paul Delacy and Jay Constantini.

2WD victors were Simon Jones and Use Kreusch, while other class winners were Wayne Holt (Sportslite), Peer and Oliver Horn (Extreme 4WD), James Pudwell and Brody Richardson (Extreme 4WD) and Steve Pacey and Dave Chaffer (Super 1650).

The following round of the Western Australian Off Road Racing Championship is the Three Sprints 330 on September 23-24.

Thomas Miles

JOHNSON LIGHTS UP MT LEURA

Image: SEVEN70 PHOTOGRAPHY DOUGLAS JOHNSON (pictured) set the ultimate pace in the fifth round of the Victorian Hill Climb Championship at Mt Leura recently.

A total of 81 entrants gathered for the event run by the Ballarat Light Car Club, but no one could match the speed of Johnson.

On board a non-championship classified Subaru WRX, he lit up the timesheets by setting a 30.69s time on his ninth run up the hill.

This was enough to comfortably give Johnson the trophy ahead of Keith Wilson, who recorded a 31.48s lap in his last run.

Wilson drove a NINJA BH1 and was one of just four open wheeler competitors taking on Mt Leura.

Another Formula Libre competitor, Patrick Malanaphy, came home third despite only completing two runs across the entire weekend, while David Harris and Derrick White rounded out the top five as the first of five cars to lap in the 33s window.

The hillclimb was a tale of two halves with contrasting conditions from day to day.

When the event began on Saturday, competitors were greeted with gloomy skies and wet weather.

Johnson used his first run to get a feel for conditions and was five seconds slower than Malanphy.

Malanphy bettered his benchmark to a 32.46s in run 2, which proved to be his last of the weekend. This opened the door for Johnson, who held off a challenge from Wilson and Derrick White to be the first to stop the clock with a 34s flat.

But sunny skies arrived on Sunday and the times tumbled as a result.

Although Wilson managed to improve a second on each run to eventually record a 31.48s, he was no match for Johnson.

By the eighth run Johnson had broken the 30s barrier and lowered his benchmark by three-tenths to take the win in emphatic style.

In Prod Sports up to 2000cc, Mick Goossens in his Toyota MR2 just edged out Ian Speight’s MX-5 by 0.02secs on their last runs.

Steve Grinstead driving a Peter Brock lookalike Holden VL Commodore won the Sports Sedan over 2000 cc class by 1.36s, while Warren Heath convincingly won the Improved Production up to 1600cc with a time of 35.35s on his last run.

Thomas Miles

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Keith Carling’s freshlyrestored RX-7 Sports Sedan.

Vivian King’s Ralt.

LONG WEEKEND CLASSIC THE SYDNEY CLASSIC AT SYDNEY MOTORSPORT PARK ON THE JUNE LONG WEEKEND FEATURED SOME GREAT RACING, WITH ALL CLASSES GETTING FOUR RACES. BRUCE MOXON WAS THERE FOR AUTO ACTION.

HERITAGE TOURING CARS

The small field was bolstered by three early V8s entering. As many as eight entrants had to withdraw in the leadup to the meeting, mostly with cars not being ready, following the Morgan Park meeting recently. Race wins were all Ford – Chris Stillwell taking the first two in his Sierra Cosworth and Jono Webb the last two in his EL Falcon. Webb retired from the first race, with Michael Logiudice (Commodore) and Terry Lawlor (Mustang) taking the minor places.

Webb got up to second in the next race, behind Stillwell, with Logiudice third.

Webb headed Stillwell and Lawlor in the third race. In the final, Stillwell’s car broke its throttle cable, leaving Webb to run away from the dicing group behind him, with Lawlor, Logiudice and the pair of VP Commodore V8s of Jamie McDonald and Matt Hornby. McDonald ended up with second, from Logiudice. Peter Woods was best of the Group C entries in all four races in his Celica GT.

theoretically could gain an advantage with a quick changeover. Brad Tilley and David Stone in Mustangs took all the race wins.

Stone took the first after a great scrap, with Tilley taking the long race before retiring from the last one. John Burke (Charger) took third in the first race and Anthony Colton (Falcon) was third in the enduro. With Tilley’s retirement, Burke and Colton filled the minor places in the last race.

GROUP S

A big field of Production Sports Cars fronted, Wayne Seabrook (Porsche) and Terry Lawlor (Shelby) taking first and second four times from four starts. Third place, though, was always in dispute, with Doug Barbour (Porsche) and Wayne Potts (Datsun 280Z) battling hard all the way.

Barbour took three of the third places to Potts’ one.

GROUP L, M AND O

Sports and Racing cars were combined.

Saturday’s second race was declared a non-event after a couple of tries at getting it started.

Travis Clark had put his Rennmax on pole, but suffered a fuel pump failure on the dummy grid for Race 1. David Kent and Wayne Wilson took first and second in their Brabhams, with Richard Carter next in another Rennmax, also first of the sports cars.

In Race 3, Clark raced from the back to the lead and won from Kent, Wilson and Carter.

In the final, Clark thought he’d been black-flagged (it was for another car) and pitted from the lead, recovering to be fifth and the finish, behind Kent, Wilson and Carter.

Formula Vee ran with this group, with two wins going to Tony Paynter (Stag) and the other to Matt Pearce’s Rennmax.

Tilley and Stone put on some great racing in Group N. Images: BRUCE MOXON

GROUP Q AND R

Slicks and wings cars were also combined.

David Hardman (Hardman) took the first two races before being sidelined in race three after a wheel failure. Vivian King and Mal Oastler were second and third in the first two races in their RALTs, then took first and second in the final two races, with Andrew Kluver taking a pair of thirds with his CanAm Lola T333.

FORMULA FORD

Nick McBride (Swift) took four from four, while behind him there was sometimes some fierce fighting for position. In Race 1, Peter Lucas (Reynard) took second from Bruce Connelly (Elwyn). Connelly was second in the second race, as a five-second penalty dropped Lucas from 3rd tirdto sixth, elevating Andrew McInnes (Van Diemen). McInnes went one better in the next race, with Garry Watson next in his Mawer. In the final, it was Connelly and Lucas second and third.

GROUP N

A 12-lap mini-enduro with a compulsory pit stop headlined this popular class.

Solo drivers had to be stationary for 40 seconds, while those with two drivers

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Jono Webb leads the Heritage Touring Cars field.

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Nick McBride heads the Formula Fords.

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NATIONALS WRAP

RAIN ON THE PLAINS

Daniel Wallis (Nissan 180) headed Neil Turner’s Mini in the Sports Sedan finale.

Below left: Phillip Chester’s MGBGT took out that sub-class in Sports Cars. Below right: Mark Short dominated Sports Racing, while (below) Robert Braune did the same in Improved Production.

RAIN ON SATURDAY and a big contingent of interstate drivers made for some surprise results at Round 2 of the SA Motor Racing Championship held at The Bend Motorsport Park on May 27/28. This event also featured the opening round of the 2023 Tuff Mounts SA Sports Sedan Championship. Auto Action’s David Batchelor was on hand to tell us all about the event and to snap some on track images.

SA SPORTS SEDAN C’SHIP

DANIEL WALLIS (Nissan 180SX) only conceded one win from four races to Victorian Craig Lindsell (Mini) to take the Sports Sedan win while Neil Turner (Mini) overcame a fuel pump issue to claim third.

Steve Howard (Toyota Corolla) edged out Haydn Clark (Toyota 86) for the two litre honours.

Josh Pickert (Monaro) and Matt Wildy (RX7) were out with engine problems even before racing began with series sponsor Jason Waye (Cortina/Nissan) having a very short weekend.

It was close in the Invited Nissan Pulsar battle which had raged amongst the Sports Sedans with Matthew Butters just ahead of Daniel Smith with two wins each then a gap back to Timothy Maynard in the third.

SPORTS CARS

JAMIE LOVETT (Porsche 991) had to work for his Sports Car win with second placed Panayot Boyaci (Porsche 991) beating the Victorian home in Race 2. Andrew Hall (Porsche 991) wasn’t far behind in third with the best non-Porsche being Paul Mitolo (Ferrari 458). Paul Chester (MGB GT V8) was a comfortable winner in the MG and Invited British with the only driver to beat him to the chequered flag being third placed Jai Raymond (Rover SD1). Michael Trathen (MG Midget) had a Simon Pfitzner runs a littlethe wide staying ahead consistent run towards front to claim of Jason Maros P2 for the weekend.

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SPORTS RACING

Bradley Vaughan came out on top in Excels with a pair of wins in a close contest.

IMPROVED PRODUCTION

ROBERT BRAUNE (BMW E30) struggled in the damp conditions in Race 1 but won everything from there on to take the round win from Jason Palmer (BMW E30). The front wheel drive Magna’s of Ian Statham and John Woodberry set the pace in Race 1 with Statham taking the win and claiming third for the weekend.

CIRCUIT EXCELS

DESPITE ONLY winning one race Bradley Vaughan was king in Circuit Excels while Nick Scaife and Jacob Currie filled the podium. Top qualifier Joel Johnson could only manage P4 despite dominating on Sunday with Jayden Wanzek the only other race winner. Daniel Smith was the man to beat in Masters.

SALOON CARS

BRADLEY VAUGHAN had a very busy weekend. In addition to the Excel races he also competed in the Saloon Cars and also claimed the win in that class drivingin an AU Falcon fending of Sam Milton (Commodoer VT) and Scott Dorman (Commodore VY). Vaughan claimed two wins with Milton and Shaun Jamieson (Commodoer VY) a win a piece with a DNF in race three ending what could have been another good result for Jamieson.

HQ HOLDENS

DARREN JENKINS took a narrow HQ win as he didn’t win all the races this time.

Lee Smith grabbed second after a strong Race 1 victory. Nathan Roberts was a distant third.

MARK SHORT (Prince LSR) was unbeatable in Sports Racing with Ian Eldridge (Stohr WF1) a lonely second and Phillip Andrawos (Firman F1000) a lucky third after Simon Gardiner (Norma M20) DNFed in Race 2. Trent Shirvington (Mygale M11) easily took the Formula Libre win ahead of Matthew Woodland (Taatus FT50).

FORMULA VEE

AN OUT of character DNF in the first race for Daniel Westcott (Jacer F2K5) handed the 1600 Vee win to Rhys Rollond (Bee Cee) with Marco Lima-Marques (Sabre 01) a distant third also registering a DNF. Reliability gave Frank Chessell (Elfin Crusader) the 1200 Vee win over Jay Thompson (Spectre).

HISTORIC SPORTS AND RACING PHILLIP LANE (Elfin 700) had a perfect finishing record to top the Historic Sports and Racing points with Grant Perryman (Brabham BT35) next best and the only driver to defeat Lane over the two days.

Melissa Ford (Birrana 274) cruised to the bottom step of the podium despite not starting Race 1.

Want to see your category event or news story included in the Auto Action Nationals Wrap.

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Jo Di Bartolo (‘69 Chev Corvette) leads Raymond Narkiewicz’s ‘65 example in Group S. Left: Beau Beaton took a pair in P5 bikes. Images: COLIN ROSEWARNE

HISTORIC WINTON CHARGES FORWARD THE WINTER cold was warmed by the enthusiastic spectators and competitors of the 46th Historic Winton event.

Winton went back in time with cars and bikes of all shapes, sizes and eras making up the meeting staged by the Austin 7 Club and Historic Motorcycle Racing Association Victoria.

The diverse field of 303 machines ranging from the 1920s to 1980s took part in 47 races spread across two days.

Record ticket sales were recorded in the build-up to the event and competitors made the most of the fine conditions on offer on Saturday.

Although rain arrived on Sunday, it did not dampen the spirits of those in attendance with the event being hailed as a strong return to pre-pandemic levels.

In addition to the racing, around 70 motoring enthusiasts took part in the Benalla Historic Vehicle Tours on Friday.

“All in all, it was a solid weekend of historic motoring and motorsport activity for regional and city Victorians as well as visitors from around Australia,” Austin 7 Club President and Historic Winton Organiser, Len Kerwood said.

“All 47 car, motorcycle and sidecar races went to plan.”

A new addition to the event was the Tin Top Regularity races where FJ Holdens, Ford Cortina’s, Shelby Coupes, Vauxhall PBs and Volkswagen Beetles were all in action and it proved to be an even affair.

The wins were shared by Len Read (1964 Mini Cooper) Eric Spokes (1957 Holden FE) and Brian Russell (1949 Holden FX).

The other Regularity runs were also competitive, with Stewart Prain (1937 Austin 7 Special), Lindsay Hick (1949 MG

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TC Special) Rob Chapel (1948 MG TC Special), Danny Morling (1930 Austin 7 Ulster) and Andrew Church (1948 MG TC).

The M and O Sports and Racing, Formula Vee class provided some competitive action with Laurie Bennett’s 1968 Bennett edging out Paul Faulkner’s 1969 Brabham BT29 by just half a second.

Glynn Briggs and Max Bonney then took out the remaining races by more comfortable margins.

A strong field of 32 cars from the 1930s to 1960s made up the J/K Lib Sports and Racing event. Just four-tenths separated David Reid and Nick McDonald in the opener before the handicapped second race was dominantly taken out by Matt Snape’s 1946 Amilcar Willys.

A range of classic Formula Fords provided some open-wheeled action with Jonathan Miles taking the chequered flag in the opening race.

But he dropped to fifth in the next sprint, which was taken out by William Faulkner.

Group S provided some of the best racing with all three races going down to the final metres before the chequered flag.

The first was the closest with Raymond Narkiewicz (1965 Chevrolet Corvette) getting his nose ahead of Bryce Rogers (1964 Austin Healey S) by just 0.23s.

The second race was another thriller, but this time it was Hugh Harrison (1979 Alfa Romeo GTV) beating Ryan Curnick (1968 Porsche 911E) by three-tenths.

Curnick then hit back to beat Harrison by the massive margin of 1.2s in the Group S finale.

Supercars legend John Bowe was turning heads in his 1969 Ford Mustang in the Group N class.

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Nathan Tascar in Singar.

Below: Rachael Brown – 1917 Ford Model T. Images: WAYNE JOHNS PHOTOGRAPHY

The driver with the equal amount of Supercars race wins at Winton enhanced his record at the Benalla circuit by winning the opening race of the weekend.

However, Bowe did not start the Sunday races which allowed Richard Hill (1964 Morris Cooper) to take control and win both of them.

The first of the two-wheel events was the Vintage/Class C/All 125’s/Harley V Indian category.

A total of 26 riders greeted the starter and the first of those to cross the line in the four-lap opener was Peter Large in a 1962 Ducati Diana 25.

It soon became clear that Large was the biggest presence in the field as he won all four races, including the Garth Rhodes Inaugural Trophy feature race by 6s over Adam Moxey in a 1940s Harley Davidson.

Sidecars never fail to put on a spectacle and it was no different at Winton where the Seabrook/Baksheev claimed the first win onboard a 1972 Honda Tranzac.

They dropped to 10th a lap down in Race 2 won by the #888 Irving Vincent

of Beaton/Horner, while Francis/Kenny doubled up in the final two races on a Norton.

P3 was also dominated by Nortons with Rob Rosenthal and Garth Francis sharing the wins with the latter taking home the Doug Hicks Inaugural Trophy.

The biggest bikes field was the P5 class where Beau Beaton and Lachlan Hill evenly shared the wins.

Each P4 race went down to the wire, but this did not stop Haydn Jones from recording a clean sweep.

Plans are already in place for the 47th Historic Winton event to return next year.

Thomas Miles

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NATIONALS WRAP

INTERLOPER ON THE PROWL

Three race wins and a lap record ... Adam Poole dominated Improved Production Over 2-litre. Image: RICCARDO BENVENUTI. Below: George Miedecke took a maximum in Production Sports Cars. Image: BRUCE MOXON ROUND 3 of the NSW Motor Racing Championships was back on at Sydney Motorsport Park on May 27-28 with plenty of on track action. The Improved Production competitors had an interstate visitor who broke the lap record ahead of the IPR Nationals later in the month. Auto Action’s Bruce Moxon was on hand to report:

IMPROVED PRODUCTION UNDER 2 LITRE

PRODUCTION SPORTS CARS

ADAM POOLE brought his Monaro over from South Australia, as practice for the Improved Production Nationals, to be held at SMP in June. His performance might have given his competition a fright – three race wins and a new lap record of 1m37.0409s. Ben Algie (Nissan 200SX) and Ben Sheedy (Commodore) took second and third in the first two races, with Steven Engel taking third in the last race in his Lancer, with Sheedy next and Algie completing a hat trick of seconds.

GEORGE MIEDECKE debuted the Bentley Continental GT3 in the best possible way, with a pair of poles and wins in both 30-minute races. Behind him the Porsche pair of Tom McLennan and Jacque Jarjo took a second and third each. Geoff Morgan (Porsche) was fourth in both races, despite close racing and several attacks by his pursuers.

The first race had a scrappy start, three drivers (Eric Constantinidis, Dylan de Szabo and McLennan) penalised for startline infractions. A lap into the race Valery Muzman (Ginetta) and David Valeo (Porsche) tangled, putting both out and bringing out the Safety Car. At the restart, Miedecke motored away to win by a substantial margin ahead of Jarjo who had shadowed McLennan until Lap 10, when he made his way past.

The second race went uninterrupted, but Miedecke had a slow start, dropping to third early, but making his way back to the lead by Lap 2. McLennan was third early, before Jarjo passed on Lap 4. Geoff Morgan was a distant fourth, with the battling pack of de Szabo, Brent Wilson (Audi R8) and Constantinidis in close company for nearly the whole race.

PRODUCTION TOURING CARS

SIMON HODGES took his BMW M4 to three wins. In the first race, Anthony Soole’s M4 had a turbo hose pop off and Andrew Miedecke’s Mustang had a software problem with its gearbox, both cars dropping out of contention. Chris Sutton took second in his Lancer Evo, but had a 5 second penalty, dropping him behind Matthew Holt’s HSV Clubsport. The second race featured Soole and Miedecke driving back through the field, finishing third andsixth, with Sutton second.

In the final, Miedecke’s car gave more trouble, pitting after the first lap. Sutton got the best start but Hodges was in front before the first time past the line. Soole moved past the Lancer on lap 2 and that’s how they finished, with Holt fourth.

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KURT MACREADIE (Nissan Silvia) won three from three and a new lap record (1m40.7404s). Behind him, the racing was engaging, with two second places going to Matthew Birks (Corolla) and the other to Justin McClintock’s Honda Civic.

IMPROVED PRODUCTION OVER 2 LITRE

FORMULA CARS

A MIXED field made up of mostly F3 and F4 cars, a couple of historic cars and Doug Barry’s Reynard Formula Holden-which took the first two race wins. Race 1 was a lights-to-flag win, from Brodie Norris’s Mygale F4 and Greg Muddle’s Dallara F3. Barry did it the hard way in race 2, chasing Norris until the last lap, with Kristian Janev next in a Mygale F4.

Barry got a bad start in the final race, dropping to 6th. Norris led from Janev and Ben Turner (Dallara F3).

Muddle then spun at turn 8 and stalled, bringing out the Safety Car. Barry had dropped even further back, 8th at the restart. First and second didn’t change for the rest of the race, but Barry got the car working and moved up to be third by the end, with the top three nose-to-tail at the line.

PROSPORTS

ALEX KENNY (Nova Proto) took pole and three race wins from three starts. Justin Tigani took his Radical to a third in the first race and a pair of seconds. Nick Kelly (Radical) took second in the first race, then a third and a fifth.

MAZDA RX8

RYAN GORTON won three of the four races, with the other going to Brad Harris, who also took a pair of second places.

FORMULA FORD

A SMALL field, dominated by Kaleb Balek’s Spectrum, who took three wins. Second places went to Jason Liddell (Van Diemen) Will Lowing’s historic Van Diemen.

FORMULA VEE

DARREN WILLIAMS won the first and last of the three races in his Sabre, with the other event going to Tyrom Wiseman’s Checkmate. The Vees put on three fierclycontested races, with the above two being joined by Craig Sparke’s Jacer, with much swapping of places and results in doubt unil the end.

HQ HOLDENS

CHRIS MOLLE took three from three with brother Jason Molle taking one second place and David Proglio the other two.

Above: Kaleb Balek heads the Formula Ford field. Left: Alex Kenny dominated Prosports. Images: RICCARDO BENVENUTI

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MORRIS THUNDERS TO QR SWEEP TA2 MUSCLE CARS

THE ANNUAL 2 Days of Thunder event brought Queensland Raceway alive in first weekend of June and one man stole the stage – Nash Morris (right).

Not even a sudden rain shower could stop Morris from charging to victory in all four TA2 Muscle Car Series races.

The 20-year-old was untouchable in the Supercheap Auto Ford Mustang with no driver coming close to catching him.

The big race meeting started in a sombre mood as tributes were made to former driving standards and prosecuting officer Geoff Leeds, with a Memorial Trophy named in his honour, which went to Hugh McAlister.

Morris showcased a sign of things to come by carving up the field with a lights to flag win in the opener.

In a relatively quiet race Josh Haynes got the jump on Dylan Thomas and held second to the chequered.

Whilst Morris stayed in control, the action kicked up a gear on Sunday.

Two Safety Cars were required in Race 2 for Chris Pappas being spun off at Turn 3 and Brad Gartner, who suffered a scary brake failure on the high-speed approach to Turn 4 and suffered a weekend-ending shunt.

Although the status quo of Morris, Haynes and Thomas was retained in both the second and third races of the weekend, more drama unfolded deeper in the pack.

A first lap incident saw Michael Rowell rotated by Matt MacKelden, while before too long Pappas was involved in more trouble at Turn 6 getting tangled up with Mark Crutcher.

To add further spice, the heavens opened as the formation lap for the fourth and final race commenced.

This left teams with the sudden dilemma of whether or not to hold track position and stay on slicks or dive into the pits for wets.

Morris sacrificed pole to bolt on the grooved rubber, which sent him towards the back, while Thomas and Haynes gambled on sticking to slicks.

But everything was going Morris’ way as he flew from mid-pack to first within three laps.

Although both Thomas and Haynes persisted with dry tyres to the end of the race as the conditions improved, they could only come within 21s of Morris.

Thomas’ consistency ensured he extended his championship lead over Jackson Rice to 17 points with Haynes in third.

REPLICA TOURERS

A RECORD grid of 36 Replica Tourers brought plenty of colour to Queensland Raceway across four busy races over the weekend.

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The fourth round of the 2023 Trophy Series proved to be a competitive one with three drivers sharing the spoils of victory.

Steve Hay backed up his opening race glory with Race 3 success, but in between times Ian Woodward sprung a surprise in his 1969 Camaro.

Stuart Walker finished strong to take out the final race, but his efforts were not enough to stop Hay and his Holden VK Commodore from collecting round honours.

Geoff Russell battled for the lead in his Mustang, but a spin in the final dropped him out of contention.

AUSTRALIAN EXCEL SERIES

THE AUSTRALIAN Excel Series was another one-sided affair with Cam Wilson collecting maximum points from the weekend.

Wilson won all four races against a large 32-car field, but his victory in the finale was the standout.

The finish of the fourth and final race was a sight to behold with the top six covered by a slender 1.4s.

Wilson not only prevailed against the likes of Tyler Collins and Supercars co-driver Jaylyn Robotham, but did so nursing a front shock absorber problem.

QUEENSLAND TOURING CAR CHAMPIONSHIP

THE QUEENSLAND Touring Car Championship battle went down to the wire between Robert Bellinger and Peter Bray.

Despite Chris Brown powering his VT Commodore to Race 1 win, Bellinger soon hit back in his nimble BMW M3.

Bellinger and Bray then went at it hammer and tong to split Sunday’s races with the round eventually going to the former after his braking abilities proved decisive.

A big grid of Replica Tourers goes green. Below: Cam Wilson, Excel winner. Images: MTR IMAGES

AUSTRALIAN TRANS AM

ALWYN BISHOP and his Plymouth Duster proved to be a near unbeatable combination in Australian Trans Am at Queensland Raceway.

Bishop blazed to victories in each of the first four races, but his streak was broken by Mustang runner John Prefonaine, who claimed the fifth and final sprint.

Behind those two emerged another Mustang driver in Sean English, who fended off the Pontiac of Ian Palmer.

QUEENSLAND PROD CARS

THE FIGHT for Queensland Production Cars honours proved to be a competitive one and did not end up where it was expected.

The round opened with back-to-back hour-long races which went to Beric Lynton after tight scarps with Ryder Quinn.

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But with Lynton not racing the shorter seven-lap finale, this opened the door for Quinn to beat Anthony Levett and snatch round honours.

QUEENSLAND PORSCHE CUP

YOUNG GUNS Tom McLennan and Ryder Quinn faced off in the Queensland Porsche Cup races.

McLennan opened the scoring with a pair of Saturday wins in his 991 Mk2 GT3 Cup car.

But Quinn hit back in his grandfather’s Cayman GT4 by winning the mini endurance race as McLennan was held up in the pits.

The Hi-Tec Oils Super Series stays in

the Sunshine State with the next round at Morgan Park Raceway on July 8-9.

GROUP N

THE CAMARO of Aldo De Paoli was an unstoppable figure in Group N at Queensland Raceway.

De Paoli won all races after surviving a stiff challenge from Ian Mewett in the finale.

Despite the strong finish, Mewett was unable to get second overall due to a costly non-finish in the opening race.

This honour went to the consistent Grant Wilson, while Grahame Wrobel also snuck ahead of Mewett.

Thomas Miles

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NATIONALS WRAP HILLYER WRAPS UP WINTON

THERE WAS no stopping Matt Hillyer as he changed the shape of the Australian Formula Ford Series championship by wrapping up Winton.

Hillyer was untouchable at Sonic Racing’s home circuit, taking pole and cruising to three convincing wins.

Despite Zac Lobko finishing in the top five across all three races, Hillyer’s overwhelming dominance ensured the championship lead changed hands.

The Sonic star now enjoys a 17-point lead at the top of the table and he was thrilled to deliver a perfect performance.

“Overall, it was a good weekend here at Winton. I took pole and all three race wins, which was a good achievement,” said Hillyer.

“I was very happy to complete the sweep, everyone works so hard to give me the car to make me the best I can be.

“To come here and take all three race wins definitely puts us on the front foot for the future rounds of the series, which is good for my title aspirations.”

After sneaking to pole by 0.09s ahead of Jake Santalucia in a Sonic 1-2-3 in qualifying, Hillyer had to contend with multiple interruptions to take the first race.

The Safety Car was instantly required when a Lachlan Mineeff lockup forced cars to scramble all over the track.

This sparked a chain reaction where Tom Davies and Fraser Hie hit the tyre screeching Mygale, while Imogen Radburn had to take avoiding action.

This set up a four-lap sprint to the flag where Hillyer was never troubled to take the win from Santalucia and Beswick, while Lobko importantly moved from seventh to fifth.

The second race was a cleaner affair but this did not stop Hillyer from dominating after enjoying a flying start.

Another to shoot off the line was Kobi Williams, who jumped from fourth to second.

This left Santalucia and Beswick to battle it out for the final spot on the podium but a last-lap collision promoted Lobko to third and stem the bleeding in the championship.

Once again there was no stopping

Hillyer leads the field – and now the championship. Images: SPEED SHOTS PHOTOGRAPHY “We finished second here at Winton for the fourth round of the Australian Formula Ford Series,” he said.

“A special thanks to the team after helping me a lot this weekend and I’m hoping we can bounce back stronger to finally get the round win down at Sandown.

“Unfortunately, we lost the series lead, but there are still three rounds left or 183 points still available and still plenty of opportunities to gain it back. I’m sure the team at CHE will be able to do that in the rounds to come.”

The Formula Ford Australia series heads to August 11-13.

Thomas Miles

Zak Lobko – second in the series.

Hillyer from blazing to victory in the third and final race.

He went straight to the front and secured a lights to flag win to wrap up a crushing weekend in emphatic style.

Meanwhile the fight for who would join him on the podium was on in earnest with Kobi Wiliams, Zak Lobko, Eddie

Beswick and Jake Santalucia in a tight battle pack.

After battling away for eight of the 11 laps, Lobko and Beswick eventually came out the other side with trophies in their hands.

Despite relinquishing the championship lead, Lobko is not letting his head drop.

BARGWANNA DOMINATES WINTON THE V8 Touring Cars return to Winton was all about one man, Jude Bargwanna.

Bargwanna topped every single session, to extend his points lead from six to 35 over Jim Pollicina.

The Anderson Motorsport driver had little competition with just six cars lining up on the grid for the second round of the season.

Bargwanna got on the front foot by taking pole by 1.3s over Jamie Tilley, who edged ahead of Pollicina.

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FORMULA FORD CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS AFTER ROUND 3 1 Matt Hillyer 184 2 Zak Lobko 167 3 Xavier Kokai 127 4 Jake Santalucia 123 5 Eddie Beswick 110

lead before half distance and still won by a convincing 8s from Pollicina.

The third and final race was a much smoother affair for Bargwanna as he took a commanding win.

This left Tilley to settle for a quiet drive to second as Pollicina dropped to third.

The next V8 Touring Cars round is at Queensland Raceway on August 11-13.

Thomas Miles

Bargwanna dominated ...

The round winner set the tone by blazing off into the distance in the opening race and cruised to a 14s victory over Tilley came in second, whilst Pollicina outsmarted Tony Evangelou in the battle for third.

Bargwanna’s only hiccup of the entire weekend arrived in Race 2 when he struggled to get his Ford Falcon FG off the line and slumped to fourth.

But unlike at Phillip Island he regained the

V8 TOURING CARS CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS AFTER ROUND 2 1 Jude Bargwanna 271 2 Jim Pollicina 236 3 Jamie Tilley 206 4 Tony Auddino 163 5 Tony Evangelou 118

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Mr Consistent – Ashley Jarvis took his first overall Sports Sedan win on points.

Images: JOHN MORRIS-MPIX

JARVIS WINS SENSATIONAL SPORTS SEDANS OPENER THE OPENING round of a big 2023 season for the Precision National Sports Sedan Series, at the Winton Motor Raceway, at Winton Motor Raceway, saw an unexpected round winner in the consistent Ashley Jarvis For the first time in a while, a Sports Sedan round produced three different race winners in an action packed round that had 28 starters.

The feeling around the sheds was one of excitement as the series welcomed back its 11 time champion in WA’s Tony Ricciardello in his Alfa Romeo GTV, and welcomed NSW’s Josh Haynes into its ranks, who would also take a memorable win.

It was also a good points round for Birol Cetin in the #27 Chev Camaro, with his three top-10s securing him outright third over Caruso and Ricciardello.

Defending champion Jordan Caruso would have an eventful round, as he too would take a great win from P19 in the finale, but the opener went the way of the returning Ricciardello.

But the biggest takeaway was an emotional Jarvis, who took out P5, P2 and P3 in his Monaro, beating category manager and stalwart racer Michael Robinson by 17 points to take his maiden round.

“This is massive, I do get emotional, but that is because I have three beautiful young daughters and this weekend has been absolutely amazing,” Jarvis told Auto Action.

“Warren and Colin Smith, Tony and dad have given me a car that is so easy to drive.

We knew we were not going to be as fast as Tony or Jordan, but we wanted to be knocking on the door and there to pick up the pieces and here we are!”

“The boys have put some upgrades into the Monaro, It has been the same guise for about 20 years now, so we put some new upgrades in … Ian Woodward builds a rocket ship so we are very lucky to have that.”

After a tentative start to the weekend in cold conditions, Ricciardello and Caruso split the practice sessions, before the defending champ took pole over the WA returnee by 0.715s.

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Ricciardello and Caruso go side-by-side.

The Shiels Fiat 124 shows the way ahead of Scott Cameron.

Steven Lacey leads leads Birol Cetin both in Camaro’s

In a flag interrupted opener, Ricciardello then announced his return with a storming win over Caruso, with both drivers going under the lap record, whilst Haynes took P3 on debut.

After the popular #5 Alfa took the lead through the esses, he skipped away from Caruso before Ryan Humfrey’s Falcon XE

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started smoking heavily down Shannons Straight, with the race finishing under a yellow.

“It’s great to win in my return, the biggest thing was just racing myself and staying focused, Jordan’s obviously in his prime, so if I can use all my experience to outrace him, I’ll just try my best,” Ricciardello said.

“We made some spring changes and stuff overnight and are learning these new tyres, so we’re heading in the right direction, and hopefully there’s still a bit more in it.

“Great little race out of Turn 1 and 2 – it’s great to be back.”

An action packed Race 2 had Ricciardello failing to get through with mechanical issues, whilst 2019 champion Steve Tamasi

put his Calibra into the Turn 2 wall after hitting standing water off track to bring out a yellow.

Tasmanian Alex Williams also went off after tagging Brad Shields who suffered a cut tyre, whilst Ricciardello suffered a broken CV to retire.

When the green flew, Caruso’s throttle jammed sending him off to the old Winton pits, with Haynes seeing the seas part to shoot through into the lead.

When Steve Lacey then went off on the back straight, Jarvis and Robinson came through to fill the podium.

With Caruso and Ricciardello back on track for Race 3, the two would charge through the field to retake the top podium spots, whilst Jarvis charged from the front initially due to Haynes not making the grid after suffering a dead engine.

With Robinson and Jarvis fighting it out early, Caruso sliced through to take the lead

by Lap 3, whilst Ricciardello followed to be in the frame by Lap 4.

Shiels Fiat 124 started billowing with smoke by Lap 10, whilst Scott Cameron spun off in the Duggan Family Commodore.

Caruso charged to a 10.2s win in the end, with Ricciardello celebrating two podiums on his return, whilst Jarvis enjoyed his second podium to secure a stellar round win.

The next round of the Precision National Sports Sedan Series sees the field at Queensland Raceway on August 4-6.

TW Neal PRECISION NATIONAL SPORTS SEDANS CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS AFTER ROUND 1 1 Ashley Jarvis 116 2 Michael Robinson 99 3 Birol Cetin 94 4 ordan Caruso 88 5 Tony Ricciardello 86

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NATIONALS WRAP DALTON MAIDEN TURNS INTO TRANS AM SWEEP AWC’S LOCHIE Dalton not only took his first win in the National Trans Am Series, but turned it into a clean sweep to keep on the heels of championship leader James Moffat.

The Tasmanian was unstoppable at Winton for the third round of the series, and was unchallenged up front in what was also an impressive round for WA’s Cody Gillis who took his own sweep of podiums with dual P2s and a third.

The Academy Racing driver took his maiden podium in Race 1 with an assured drive, and after some consistent performances at Tasmania and Phillip Island, announced himself as a youngster to watch.

For Dalton, after starting the year with three podiums over two rounds, his sweep allowed him to reign in teammate and series leader James Moffat, who after a quiet Race 1, took two podiums of his own.

“It feels good, it’s a credit to the team – they have worked really hard and gave me an awesome car,” Dalton said.

“It didn’t matter where I put it, it just stuck. It’s good to reward my family in attendance and to reward Garry on the 60th anniversary (of the team).”

Dalton put the challenge down straight away on the Nations Action Track with a 1:22.863s lap enough to take pole position over Gillis and Ben Grice.

Race 1 was a relative Trans Am Train up front, with the qualifying frontthree holding to finish as they started.

Nash Morris and James Moffatt provided an entertaining battle in the middle of the field, whilst Tyler

MAWSON CLOSES IN ON THIRD GOLD STAR IT’S ONLY round three, but Joey Mawson has furthered his stranglehold on the S5000 championship with a clean sweep at Winton.

It’s the Sydney driver’s second sweep of the year and, after a disastrous Race 2 for Cooper Webster, who will miss the next round due to commitments in Europe, the consistent Mawson looks almost assured to take his third straight Australian Drivers Championship.

He’ll still have to contend with Jimmy Golding and Aaron Cameron, who both had podium-laden weekends, but It’s hard to see a driver of Mawson’s quality going down amongst the smaller grids that the category is seeing in 2023.

The weekend would also see young SA driver Blake Purdy take a maiden podium in the Nippy’s Versa Motorsport, only the fifth different driver to get on the podium this year.

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Lochie Dalton dominated Trans Am. Images: DANIEL KALISZ Everingham had to retire in his first race for his new Racing Academy team.

Dalton’s win saw him become just the eighth different winner in the series’ brief history.

Race 2 saw the Tassie teenager pull out another emphatic win, driving a clean race out front of Gillis, with Moffat working onto the podium after haranguing Grice to take P3, putting himself in the frame for the 25 lap Race 3, and to keep hold of the series lead.

The rolling start for the finale once again saw Dalton kick powerfully off the line into the opening esses, with Gillis finding himself in familiar territory.

Grice pushed hard at the start to move up over Moffat, but couldn’t get past the GRM frontrunner.

With the front of the field holding steady, some action kicked off with Owen Kelly’s Mustang going into a spin after getting a nudge from Morris in the Supercheap entry, with the #67 getting a drive-through penalty as a result.

Whilst Kelly got back on track, the

In the category’s first ever visit to the Winton Motor Raceway, the first ever pole would go to PremiAir’s Supercar driver Jimmy Golding, as he put down a 1:17.073 to pinch pole over Mawson in a session that would be red flagged early after Cameron went into the wall after sweeping both practice sessions.

Mawson’s first win came after a one-lap sprint to the finish, with Webster taking P2 after starting in fourth, taking advantage of several errors from Golding. After getting passed through the opening esses by Mawson, Webster then moved up into P2.

Golding used his push-to-pass in coming back into the mix as Mawson gapped Webster with the latter falling into the clasp of Golding.

When Mark Rosser went into the tyres at Turn 4, a one lap sprint after a Safety Car saw Golding then go wide to let Webster and Purdie in for the podium spots.

A hectic Race 2 would see only five of the nine starters finish, as Mawson took it over Golding and Cameron.

Purdie moved up off the line with Webster burning his rubber at the jump, before he then locked up on the cold rubber and slid into his teammate.

That caused Winston Smith to then go into the rear of Jordan Boys.

A time-certain race then saw a comfortable gap between the podium getters.

Mawson essentially closed out the sweep with a great jump at the start of Race 3, gaping Golding with a procession lining up behind him.

Webster tried to move up on Cameron from P4, but couldn’t get past as the top three again finished with comfortable margins.

With Webster racing in England,

first Safety Car of the weekend was called when Elliot Barbour got trapped in the gravel after a tight battle with Tom Hayman and Everingham.

With six laps remaining, Dalton again controlled the rolling start, whilst Moffat took advantage of the closed gap and jumped Gillis into P2, with the younger just holding off Grice for P3.

The Trans Am series will have to wait until August 11-13 for its next round, with another SpeedSeries round at the Queensland Raceway.

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and Golding unlikely to compete due to Supercars commitments, Mawson will look to sew up the championship at SMP on July 28-30, as the category starts its run of three straight Supercars supports, which will hopefully see stronger grids.

TW Neal

Mawson looks unbeatable for a third Gold Star title ...

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SWEENY SENDS STATEMENT THE WINTON trip for the Supercheap Auto TCR Australia Series had many feel good stories, but the biggest statement was made by Bailey Sweeny (above).

Sweeny cemented his advantage at the top of the standings by dominating the third and final race.

His drive in the #130 Hyundai i30N TCR was so dominant, the 20s margin of victory was the second largest in series history.

It also gave Sweeny the round win and the chance to extend his championship lead as chaos unfolded behind him.

Another one of the top performers on the weekend was Michael Clemente, who showed strong speed in the new Cupra Leon Comp.

This was evident when he edged out Sweeny for pole by just 0.05s, but greater success was to come.

Clemente showed no nerves off the line when he started from pole position for the first time.

This forced the two Hyundais of Sweeny

and Josh Buchan to fight for second, while Turn 1 struck again with Ben Bargwanna and Kody Garland taking to the infield after the latter was struck by the GRM Peugeot of Aaron Cameron.

There was more drama three corners later where Jordan Cox became the fourth GRM Peugeot driver to experience contact after running his way past Tony D’Alberto.

Although Buchan initially snatched second, he gave up track position by running wide at the hairpin on Lap 3 allowing Sweeny and Zac Soutar through.

Through it all Clemente remained in the lead and held off a late challenge from Sweeny to take his first win in a Cupra in just his second event driving the new car.

Another popular winner arrived on Sunday when Tom Oliphant made the most of the opportunity the reverse grid race presented him.

Starting on pole, Oliphant turned what had been a tough weekend for Ashley Seward Motorsport into an unforgettable one.

Driving the Alfa Romeo instead of the Lynk & Co, the Brit was at his best claiming a lights to flag triumph.

He finished ahead of Clay Richards, who claimed an impressive second on debut after a battle with Buchan.

Jordan Cox had put in an impressive drive to get into podium contention, but a mistake on entry into Turn 7 ended his run.

It was an all Hyundai front row for the 18-lap finale and Sweeny decided this was the scene to stamp his authority.

The championship leader took the lead into Turn 1 and was never seen again, but the heat was on elsewhere.

Tony D’Alberto enjoyed the best start but was boxed out and dropped from the top three to eighth while Cox and Clemente were major movers.

The race was relatively quiet until the final lap when the battle for second exploded.

As Sweeny cruised to glory, teammate Buchan came under significant pressure

from Clemente and the pair made front to rear contact at Turn 10.

This brought Soutar into play, but as he came up alongside Clemente he found the grass halfway up the back straight.

In the process of trying to get back on track, Soutar tagged Clemente, which sent the Cupra flying off the track at high speed.

Clemente made big contact with the outside wall and finished in the weeds at the end of the back straight.

After it all both Buchan and Soutar survived to join Sweeny on the podium, who extended his lead ahead of Queensland Raceway which awaits on August 11-13.

Thomas Miles TCR CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS AFTER RD 4 1 Bailey Sweeny 387 2 Josh Buchan 351 3 Jordan Cox 326 4 Aaron Cameron 307 5 Lachlan Mineef 302

JOHNSON AND BOWE BRING WINTON ALIVE WHILST WINTON will go down as another Steven Johnson Touring Car Masters round win, it will also be remembered for some special John Bowe deeds.

Bowe has achieved a lot at the historic Winton Motor Raceway and he added the latest chapter by winning what could be his final TCM race at the circuit.

The veteran knew he earned it too, with Johnson’s Mustang breathing down his Tirana’s neck in a nail-biting finish.

Up until that point the weekend had followed a familiar script with Johnson peerless in P1.

The Mustang claimed a convincing pole by two-tenths with Torana duo Bowe and Ryan Hansford in behind.

The reverse-grid Trophy Race was the exception, being taken out by Torana runner Andrew Fisher.

He was 4s ahead of Adam Garwood and Marcus Zukanovic, who returned after 14 months away due to injury, while Johnson climbed from 12th to fifth.

Bowe climbed from 11th to second, but his Holden dropped to seven cylinders on the last lap, which forced his team to spend most of Saturday night fixing mechanical issues, including a trip back to Melbourne for their engine builder.

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After a technical issue sidelined him on Saturday, Bowe returned to take the TCM finale on Sunday.

Normal service resumed when points were on the line however, with Johnson dominating the first championship race.

Although Hansford was lurking, the #33 Mustang was never headed en route to victory with the former eventually dropping out on the final lap.

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This promoted Garwood and Danny Buzadzic to podium places.

The second race was more of the same as Johnson doubled up with a lights to flag triumph.

But as the Mustang led every lap the action was behind him as Fisher spun from second and Hansford

found trouble at the final corner.

Bowe also turned back the clock to rise from last to third in just 11 laps.

This laid the foundations for the five-time Supercars/ ATCC Winton race winner to score a fairytale success in his final Touring Car Masters drive at the circuit.

Bowe took control with a lightning start ahead of Johnson as Warren Trewin and Geoff Fane got tangled up at Turn 2.

But as the laps ticked by fans feared a fairytale finish may not happen as Johnson hunted down Bowe in search of another clean sweep.

However, Bowe held firm and claimed a special victory by six-tenths of a second to the delight of the crowd.

The next time Touring Car Masters will be in action is at the Bend on August 18-20. Thomas Miles TOURING CAR MASTERS CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS AFTER ROUND 3 1 Steven Johnson 366 points 2 Ryan Hansford 322 3 Marcus Zukanovic 284 4 Cameron Tilley 278 5 Andrew Fisher 262

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FINKE DESERT RACE

Price (above and below) – nine-time winner ... six on bikes, three in a car!

Far right: Travis Robinson (top) took Prpo Buggy as well as third outright, while the bike section went to David Walsh.

PRICE AND DUNCAN CLEAN UP AT FINKE TOBY PRICE and co-driver Jason Duncan stormed to victory at the Finke Desert Race, with Price adding even more glory to his hefty Finke CV. It’s both his third straight win and third straight cars victory, adding to the six he’d previously captured in the bikes.

The pair were crowned King of the Desert after clean sweeping the three days of competition – Prologue, Day 1, Day 2 – the second straight year that the two-time Dakar winner has also achieved that feat.

With a time of 3 hours, 21 minutes, and 46.6 seconds, their Mitsubishi TSCO Trophy Truck 3600cc also fell just 0.4s short off Price’s 2022 record-setting cars pace.

Greg Gartner and Jamie Jennings fell 6min short in their Ford F150 to take P2 overall, as well as P2 in the Extreme 2WD class.

Travis Robinson took the final outright podium after a six year hiatus, as well as victory in the Pro Buggy class, around seven minutes adrift of Gartner.

It was a busy few weeks for Price who currently leads the FIM World Rally Raid Championship, as he had just flown back from the Baja 500, with the Hillston, NSW, born racer explaining what winning for a ninth time meant to him.

“To get my first win was a dream come true, and then to say I have nine is wild,” Price said.

“Finke is one of the toughest races to try and be consistent in, and to be able to win … we’re over the moon.

“We had a really good run, the truck did an amazing job, my crew did an amazing job – without them, I wouldn’t be up here.”

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Robinson, who took P3 outright and P1 in class, described the issues that he and co-driver Andrew Pinto survived: “It was a horrible run but we got here, I think the engine finally let go and it was starting to overheat and wouldn’t let us rev,” he explained.

“So it’s actually good that we still got here in third with all the adversity … we got through it like a team.”

Day 1 saw Price and Duncan top Robinson in the Aussie Special 3500cc Buggy by over three minutes, with the nine time champ completing the 226 km leg in 1 hour, 38 minutes and 35.3s.

“The moisture has been good for the race, but the moisture is a lot harder on the equipment,” Price said after arriving in Aputula.

“We’re just trying to be smooth, easy, and trying to get through and have a good run, and we’ve done that. It feels

like at the moment we’re doing good on time.

“It’s hard to be at the front, you just don’t know what’s going on behind you; you don’t know if you’re going fast enough or too slow, it’s a bit of a guessing game.”

Second place starter Beau Robinson crashed out at 77 km in a heavy crash, but somehow recovered to get home in P10, 12 minutes off the benchmark, whilst Pro Buggy racer Shannon Rentsch went into P3 outright.

Price did the 226km Leg 2 in 1 hour, 44 minutes and 11.239s, with Gartner coming home in P2 for the day, which was enough to lift him two spots into the runners-up spot, just under a minute behind Price’s blistering pace.

Beau Robinson finished third for the day, which also secured him P3 in the Extreme 2WD class.

Brent Martin took the Prolite Buggy win in outright P4, whilst Phil Lovett was P8 outright to take the Extreme 4WD victory in his Mason Aussie Special.

James Cook won the competitive SXS Turbo class in 16th overall, 35min from the overall time, with Sportlite class winner Sam Bentley just behind him.

Brad Geraghty took the Super 1650 Buggy win, whilst the SXS Sport section went to John White.

The Ford Ranger Raptor got through another off-road test with the Lovell family behind the wheel, taking the three-car 4WD Production win.

In the bikes section, the overall win went to KTM rider David Walsh, who took out his fourth straight Finke Desert Race, with fellow KTM rider Callum Norton in P2, Husqvarna FE 501 rider Ivan Long finishing in third.

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WRC ROUND 6 - ITALY

NEUVILLE STOKES WRC TITLE RACE HYUNDAI’S THIERRY Neuville has thrown his WRC title challenge into the ring by giving the Korean manufacturer its first win of the season at Rally Italia Sardegna.

The Belgian veteran took out his 18th career win along with co-driver Martijn Wydaeghe, to move into second place behind Kalle Rovanpera in a seesawing season, as Esapekka Lappi took his own i20N into P2 to take a third straight podium.

Neuville took the lead on Stage 14 to get home by 33 seconds over his teammate, whilst Rovanpera took the last podium spot, 1m 50.7s in arrears.

It was a battle of attrition in varied conditions on the Italian island of Sardinia, with only four Rally1 cars finishing inside the top 10, with eight-time champion and Toyota part-timer Sebastien Ogier the next best in P14 after suffering a Day 3 setback whilst in the lead, an incident that also saw Lappi fall from the lead.

The Hyundai 1-2 helped close the gap on Toyota’s Manufacturers lead to just 23 points, whilst Neuville – a five time runnerup – leapfrogged Ott Tanak into second, trailing just 25 points as the season now passes the halfway mark at next round’s Africa rally.

Neuville dedicated the win to his team principal, as well as former teammate Craig Breen, who lost his life in the lead-up to Rally Croatia.

“Obviously it was a challenging weekend, we came here with the belief that we could fight for victory but the first day was challenging and we lost a bit of time,” Neuville explained.

“Yesterday we found ourselves in the lead and we had to manage it until the end.

“It’s the first victory for the team this year – it’s a 1-2, and the first win for our team

principal (Cyril Abiteboul) as well.

“Craig Breen is in our memories also – we wanted the win in Croatia for him, but we got it now.”

The rally saw intermittent retirement’s for Ogier, Takamoto Katsuta, Ott Tanak, and Dani Sordo, as well as seeing luckless Ford M-Sport Frenchman Pierre Louis-Loubet have to call it on the Friday.

Lappi had the early pace from the first stages, leading Ott Tanak into the service park with 0.2s lead after the first Stage on Day 1, with a mix of gravel and tarmac around the coastal city of Olbia.

Day 2 saw the real stuff on the gravel, and it was Ogier that took the ascendancy early across the repeated passes of Monte Lerno.

The French legend had a lead of 16s at one stage, but Lappi fought back as the two duelled it out over a thrilling 140km.

By Stage 7, Lappi had found a six second advantage in the overall, whilst Neuville and Evans took advantage of Loubet’s retirement after the Ford driver speared his #7 Puma into a ditch, after earlier losing P3 with a penalty cause he couldn’t get into gear off the starting line.

Tanak also had water pump issues, whilst Sordo rolled on Stage 4, and Katsuta lost time after hitting a rock.

Saturday saw 133.62km on the cards, and for Neuville it was a moving day, capitalising on some luck whilst claiming 5 of the 8 Stages.

Stage 14 saw the rally flipped on its head as Ogier’s foot slid off his brake whilst he’d retaken the lead, missing a corner to head down an embankment.

In suddenly wet conditions, Lappi reduced his attack on seeing Ogier losing half a minute, whilst Neuville was ahead of the action and pressed on to swoop into an unexpected lead, going into the service park with 36.4s advantage on Lappi, Rovanpera, and Sordo, who’d recovered from Day 2.

Tanak’s rally got worse with a faulty sensor electrical sensor, whilst Katsuta took radiator damage for a pair of water-induced retirements.

Whilst Tanak hit back with some stage wins on Sunday, he’d finish a lowly P35, whilst Sordo’s weekend was punctuated with exhaust issues, dropping from P5 Into retirement, whilst Katsuta struggled into P40.

The WRC2 field was also shaped with a retirement, as leader Adrien Fourmaux slid off the road in the final stage to lose a 30s lead to Andreas Mikkelsen, with Teemu Suninen inheriting P2 in the class over Kajetan Kajetanowicz.

Fellow WRC2 drivers Yohan Rosse, Mikołaj Marczyk, and Erik Cais rounded out the top 10.

Rovanpera (118 points) kept the championship lead by 25 points, with Neuville replacing Tanak in P2, with the Estonian third on 85 points.

The second half of the season starts with a trip to Africa on June 22-25, for the legendary Safari Rally Kenya, where very dusty, rocky and heavily rutted tracks – that at times are negotiated at walking pace – can quickly turn into mudbaths in the unpredictable weather, with the ride heights lifted to accommodate the terrain.

TW Neal WRC STANDINGS AFTER 6 ROUNDS Rovanpera/Halttunen Toyota 118 Neuville/Wydaeghe Hyundai 93 Tanak/Jarveoja Ford 85 Evans/Martin Toyota 83 Ogier/Landais Toyota 70

Neuville led into Day 2 and was never headed. Above: Esapekka Lappi made it a Hyundai 1-2. Right: High-flying Rovanpera retains the championship lead. Images: MOTORSPORT IMAGES

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INDYCAR

PALOU GOES DOWNTOWN CHIP GANASSI’S Alex Palou (above) went two from three after taking IndyCar’s revived ‘Downtown Detroit’ Street race, solidifying his championship lead with an assured win over Penske Chevy racer, Aussie Will Power.

The Spaniard has been driving with a cool head of late, and held off the reigning champ to take a precise 1.184s victory.

Felix Rosenqvist was 5.951s back to take P3 for Arrow McLaren, the Swede’s first podium of the season.

It was an action-packed race that kicked off with a yellow at the first corner, with Palou leading most of the race from pole position (74 out of 100 laps), his second straight P1 after claiming the front at the Indy 500.

In a two stop strategy, Power and Palou took differing approaches, with the latter starting on the alternate Softs, and Power the primary Hards.

Power had some good time in front on tyre strategy, and again on a lap 56 restart, with Palou recovering from shifting issues to fight back to the front after going down for nine more laps.

“I switched to emergency mode because that’s the only way to take all the issues out,” Palou said.

“It went well, but you lose a lot of performance up-shifting. That’s why Will got us.

“That was really a panic mode because I didn’t really know what to do. I didn’t know if it was going to work because if you get stuck in one gear, you’re done.

That was a pretty busy moment.”

Whilst Power did everything he could, he conceded Palou was too quick, but was very happy to take his second podium of the year (96th of his career) to pump some blood into his season from eighth in the standings and 101 points back.He even had one last shot

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After his spectacular Indy 500 exit, things were still action-packed for Kyle Kirkwood ...

Below: Will Power returned to the podium with a strong second. at victory after a restart on lap 91, but contact with Scott Dixon put paid to that, and Dixon’s podium chance.

“Yeah, very satisfied. Good strategy, I mean, starting on the blacks, everything played out as we thought,” Power said.

“I got Palou on the restart but he got me back, I just couldn’t get him and I tried everything.

“My one chance was when Dixon got into me a little bit; I was trying to switch back and get a run, get him into Four … unfortunately, I didn’t know Dixon was on my inside.

“You never look back on second as a bad day, although the guy I was needing to close points to was the guy that won.”

There was also yet another incident at the pit exit between Scott McLaughlin and Romain Grosjean, with the Kiwi’s raced ruined after a P2 start, to finish in P7 With a history starting to stack up, the three time supercars champ wasn’t shy in laying the blame.

“I was already committed, braking as deep as I could, and he just drove

straight to the apex,” he explained, “I had nowhere to go. It’s the duty of all of us to get out of that area cleanly and I don’t think he cared where I was and turned across my nose.”

The first yellow went immediately at the first corner when Kirkwood went into the back of Ilott.

Palou took a good advantage from that restart, leading Grosjean, whilst Power was making his way up form P7.

By lap 18, he’d passed McLaughlin and Grosjean to be in P2, with Palou +9s to the good.

When Palou pitted on Lap 30, Power responded on Lap 34 for alternates.

That was down to 5s on Lap 40, when

Images: MOTORSPORT IMAGES O’Ward found the wall to bring out another Safety Car. It green again only briefly as Sting Ray Robb got stranded, whilst Rahal bizarrely crashed under the yellow with Pedersen also involved.

Power got a run on after that, with Palou having electrical issues in his gearbox, pulling ahead on the softs by over 3 seconds.

With Palou primaries rubbering in, he caught the Aussie on Lap 66, and after his second stop, found himself 6 seconds to the good before Grosjean ended his own race at Turn 4 into the wall to bring out another yellow, only a handful of laps after he’d ended McLaughlin’s run.

Again the restart was aborted after Malukas crashed at Turn 9, but it then stayed green after the second restart with 10 laps to run.

Whilst Power just couldn’t get it done, the contact he made with Dixon allowed Rosenqvist to shoot into third, and despite his left tyres becoming airborne and having a brief engine stall, the Aussie then pushed the Swede wide at Turn 4 as he recovered, keeping second place, with Dixon in P4 over Rossi.

A well earned break after two races at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for Indy May, including the epic Indy 500, sees the IndyCar grid return on June 16-18, for the Sonsio Grand Prix at Road America in Wisconsin.

TW Neal INDYCAR STANDINGS AFTER 7 ROUNDS Palou 272 Ericsson 222 Newgarden 203 Dixon 194 O’Ward 191

NASCAR

BLANEY GIVES PENSKE FIRST 500/600 DOUBLE RYAN BLANEY took his first NASCAR Cup Series win since 2021 for Team Penske at the CocaCola 600, also giving the Penske team its first ever Indianapolis 500/ Coca-Cola 600 double.

After Josef Newgarden got it done in the Indy 500, the 600 was delayed by a day due to weather, and Blaney then had to survive 16 cautions to snap his 59-race winless streak.

The #12 Mustang driver got it done by 0.663s over William Byron, with Toyota’s Martin Truex Jr continuing his recent run of form in P3.

At the drop of the 16th caution, Blaney found his nose in front of the Hendricks #24 Chevy, controlling the run home for an eighth career win.

“I might shed a tear – this has been a cool weekend obviously being Memorial Day. I grew up watching dad run this race for a long time and it is cool just to be a part of it, let alone win it,” Blaney said.

“I was able to get the lead on the restart and our car is so good that I could bide my time a little bit.

“When you don’t win in a while, you start to feel like you cannot win anymore, It was getting hard, so I am just super thankful to the #12 team for believing in me.”

Both Byron and Blaney controlled the first stage, with Chris Buescher putting his own Ford into P1 over the second.

But Blaney was dominant over the final two stages, and survived the 24 lap run home after Kyle Larson’s big crash had wiped out plenty of contenders, making Blaney the tenth winner after 14 rounds.

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Images: MOTORSPORT IMAGES

TRUEX JR GOES TOP AT SONOMA TOYOTA RACER Martin Truex Jr (above) has continued his strong year with a win at California’s Sonoma Raceway for his second NASCAR Cup Series victory of 2023.

The win put the Joe Gibbs Racer to the top of the tree, leading a race high 51 of 110 laps to overcome Kyle Busch by +2.979s, with Joey Logano rounding out the podium spots.

His 33rd career win was something to be savoured after a winless 2022, as he overcame an inopportune caution on lap 92 to hold Busch off over the ensuing 14 Lap run home.

“Hats off to my team – to be so bad here last year and to come back and do that with the same car basically, it’s really

unbelievable,” the veteran said.

“Just proud of them, We’re having a great year and I feel really good about our team.

“It just feels incredible to have a day like that and a run like that. The team is doing everything right, and it’s a lot of fun to drive these cars.

“This is why you go through years like we had last year. You just keep fighting.

“We haven’t changed anything on our team other than parts and pieces. It’s just through the hard work of a lot of people.”

Truex took the lead on Lap 33 as he passed his teammate Denny Hamlin, who led the first 32 circuits of the 1.99-mile road course.

They were running a solid one-two before an errant tyre from Zane Smith’s Ford found its way on track by lap 50, with the fresh tyres of Busch making good use of the restart, taking the second stage.

Truex ran him down by lap 69, outbraking him on Turn 7, before his teammate almost turned the race on its head when he went into the wall on Turn 12, with Truex then overcoming Busch to take a dominant win.

The next round of the series to Nashville Speedway on June 25 for a 300 lap race, before Shane van Gisbergen will then feature at Chicago on July 2.

TW Neal

BUSCH TAKES IT HOME IN ST LOUIS VETERAN NASCAR racer Kyle Busch took his third win for Richard Childress Racing since making the switch from Joe Gibbs Racing for 2023, winning the Illinois 300 from pole in St Louis.

It was the two-time champions 63rd career Cup Series Busch had to survive five restarts over the last 40 laps to take victory from Toyota’s Denny Hamlin by 0.517s, with Penske’s Joey Logano in P3.

It was Busch’s first ever win at the 1.25-mile track, leading 121 of the 243 laps, which included the last 60.

“That was pretty awesome … man, to sit on the pole, lead a lot of laps and have my guys do such a great job today was pretty phenomenal for us,” Busch said.

“Great for RCR – just win, baby! And thanks to Team Chevy, we’re going to have a great time with this one. This one is pretty cool.”

In a race that saw 11 cautions, many due to brake rotor issues, with Noah Gragson’s exploded rotor starting a chaotic run home with 42 to go.

After Austin Dillon also found the wall with 24 to go, a hectic 16 lap dash

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Busch runs inside Ryan Blaney, headed for Illinois 300 victory. home looked like it would end the race before Bubba Wallace crashed with five remaining after another brake rotor failure.

It took an overtime two-lap sprint

to finish, with Busch too solid in his defence.

Kyle Larson took P4 over Martin Truex, followed by Ryan Blaney, Daniel Suarez, William Byron, Michael

McDowell and Kevin Harvick.

Blakey’s P6 was enough to give him the Cup Series lead after his 600 win in Charlotte.

TW Neal

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MOTOGP Mugelo ITALY

BAGNAIA DINES OUT AT HOME FRANCESCO BAGNAIA arrived at Mugello with the championship on a knife’s edge, but left it firmly in control after a commanding second successive win, on home turf in Italy.

MotoGP was back after almost a month off and it was worth the wait for the home crowd, with hero Bagnaia crushing the opposition for back-to-back glories and Italian manufacturer Ducati filling the top four spots.

The only downside for the Italians was the performance of Marco Bezzecchi, who could only muster eighth for VR46.

This allowed Bagnaia to extend his championship lead from one to 21 points.

Australia’s Jack Miller fought at the front, but finished seventh, while Marc Marquez crashed on Sunday – yet again.

Ducati’s speed was clear on Friday when Alex Marquez and Bagnaia shared the practice honours.

The title rivals found themselves at the front again with just 0.063s splitting Bagnaia and Bezzecchi at the top in FP2.

Miller was one of the handful of riders impacted by a late yellow caused by Di Giannantonio’s Turn 1 ‘off’, while Repsol Honda’s John Mir withdrew following another fall.

This restricted the KTM rider to 14th in FP2 and thus the tense Q1 knockout, which he snuck through from with Alex Marquez.

Miller continued to carry the momentum in the final stage qualifying by being in the fight for pole.

He eventually snatched grid spot four with Bagnaia dicing with the Marquez brothers for P1.

Despite a valiant effort from Marc Marquez, the Repsol Honda rider fell 0.078s short of Bagnaia’s 1:44.855s.

Joining them on the front row was the younger Marquez with Miller in fourth and Bezzecchi down in sixth.

When the Sprint arrived, so did the rain as dark clouds gathered around the rolling hills of Tuscany.

The arrival of a shower on Lap 2 threatened to add further spice to an already enthralling Sprint race.

Bagnaia had taken control of the field, but briefly lost it amid the chaotic jostling for position in the opening laps.

Alex Marquez and Brad Binder made side-to-side contact, while Marc lost second to Jorge Martin and Bagnaia eventually regained the lead at Turn 1 on Lap 4.

During this time, Bezzecchi had flown from mid-pack to the front and set his sights on the #1 after getting by Martin.

As the track conditions and the order settled down, it became a two-horse race

Bagnaia leads Martin. Images: GOLD AND GOOSE LAT

Martin celebrates runners-up points – he couldn’t make any impact on winner Bagnaia. between the title protagonists.

Although Bezzecchi threatened, Bagnaia always did enough to keep the #72 at bay and won by three-tenths of a second.

They were closely followed by the two Pramac bikes fronted by Martin, while Marini completed an all Ducati top five with Miller the best of the rest in fifth after sneaking by Marc Marquez.

The sad story from the Sprint was Alex Rins, who faces a lengthy stint on the sidelines after a double leg break following a major crash on his LCR Honda.

This meant only 22 bikes started Sunday’s

sunny Grand Prix and one man who came out to play was Miller.

The Aussie’s KTM turned into a rocket ship off the line, as he flew from fourth to first inside the opening seconds of the race.

Despite the start for the ages, Miller’s lead only lasted one complete corner as Bagnaia danced around him in the opening left-right section.

Before too long the #1 rode clear and was never troubled again as a mighty scrap developed for the minors.

After Martin and Marini knocked Miller off the podium, Alex Marquez thought he would

join the party with a huge dive-bomb on multiple riders at Turn 1.

The end result saw the Aussie forced wide and drop to fifth and waving his arm in frustration, but the battle took a further turn on Lap 6.

Marc Marquez was lining up a move on Marini for third around the outside of the final corner, but his Repsol Honda gave way and sent him into the gravel.

His brother Alex also crashed out in the race shortly after.

Up front, although Martin did his best, he never mounted a serious challenge on Bagnaia who won by 1s over the pair of Pramac Ducatis with Zarco in third and Miller dropping to seventh.

Bagnaia marked his second successive home win by enjoying a hot dog at a picnic in a gravel trap and he hopes to dine out some more when MotoGP returns to Germany this weekend where Marc Marquez is gunning for a 12th straight win.

Thomas Miles

2023 MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS AFTER ROUND 6 1 Francesco Bagnaia 131 2 Marco Bezzecchi 110 3 Jorge Martin 107 4 Brad Binder 92 5 Johann Zarco 88

MARQUEZ FED UP WITH SHUNTS MARC MARQUEZ is having a crash-filled 2023 MotoGP season to forget and his frustrations were clear for all to see at Mugello.

After crashing out of fourth Marquez sprung back to his feet and raised both arms in the air, potentially crying out ‘what is wrong with my Honda?’

MotoGP is huge in Italy ...

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It means he is still yet to finish a Sunday Grand Prix and the Spaniard admitted the constant issues are mounting as speculation over his future grows.

“It is difficult on the mental side,” Marquez said.

“But I will keep going, keep pushing and I don’t care about the rest.

“I just keep going for myself.”

FORMULA 2 AND 3

Images: MOTORSPORT IMAGES

PREMA PERFECT SPAIN BELONGED to PREMA Racing, which won both the Sprint and Feature Formula 2 races in Spain.

Frederik Vesti (above) and Oliver Bearman took the Saturday and Sunday honours respectively to extend the former’s advantage at the top for the standings to 11 points over Theo Pourchaire.

PREMA has won five of the last six races and finished on top in each on-track session of the weekend.

Australia’s Jack Doohan had a solid weekend, collecting P5 and P6 results to bounce back from his Monaco crash and jump up two positions to 12th in the championship.

PREMA made its intentions clear in practice when Vesti headed his teammate with a 1:26.722, while next best Jehan Daruvala was a further three-tenths back.

By the time qualifying came around, Bearman got the better of his PREMA

partner to get his second pole position of the season.

Bearman snatched the fastest time with a 1:23.546 at the death to deny Enzo Fittipaldi a maiden Formula 2 pole.

The grandson of two-time F1 world champion Emerson Fittipaldi had held P1 for a long period, having edged out Doohan, despite the Australian setting a purple second sector.

However, none of them were a match for Bearman, who went 0.077s faster than the Brazilian.

Saturday’s Sprint had an extra dimension with the arrival of rain, which set the scene for a thrilling fight between title rivals Vesti and Pourchaire.

With the top 10 being flipped, Amaury Cordeel led away from a rolling getaway, while Vesti’s ultimately successful Sprint suffered an awkward start.

The Dane made a lunge for second on Jan Crawford, but contact sent the PREMA

driver to the escape road.

It proved to be a lucky escape as Vesti retained P2, while Crawford was forced into retirement and before too long he hit the lead by passing Cordeel into Turn 10 on Lap 2.

Further back Pourchaire had been breathing down the neck of Doohan and finally got by for 10th after a brief fight at Turn 12.

The pair eventually worked their way into the top five by half distance when the track started to try and the mixed conditions caught out Jaun Manuel Correa, who spun out and sprung the Safety Car into action.

Two bold moves when racing resumed saw Pourchaire shot from fourth to second in a heartbeat and he set his sights on Vesti.

But the PREMA driver held on by 1s with Victor Martins joining them on the podium and Doohan in fifth.

The Feature race had a lively start with Bearman, Fittipaldi and Ayumu Iwasa

going three-wide into Turn 1.

After Fittipaldi went off at the following left-hander, Bearman took control, while Doohan dropped to fifth, but snatched fourth from Iwasa with a daring move around the outside of Turn 10.

The Aussie diced for position with Pourchaire, Iwasa and Vesti and eventually lost out and had to settle for sixth.

But up from Bearman was untroubled to cruise to victory in the one-stop race by 2.8s over Fittipaldo and Martins.

The Formula 2 season takes a small break before firing back up at Austria on June 30-July 2.

Thomas Miles

FORMULA 2 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS AFTER ROUND 7 1 2 3 4 5

F. Vesti T. Pourchaire A. Iwasa O. Bearman D. Hauger

110 99 82 70 57

MARTI MIGHTY ON HOME SOIL FERNANDO ALONSO protege Pepe Marti reigned in Spain in Formula 3’s trip to Circuit de Barcelona Catalunya.

Marti took pole and dominated the feature race to take his third win of the year on home soil with a performance Alonso would have been proud of.

Despite the success, the Campos Racing driver still trails Gabriel Bortoleto by 24 points in the championship.

It was also a solid round for Australia’s Christian Mansell, who recorded his third points finish of the year, while Hugh Barter and Tommy Smith are yet to get off the mark.

Teams arrived at Barcelona confident having conducted a recent in-season test and it was Taylor Barnard, who had the initial early pace.

He topped practice and was in the fight for pole until Marti found an extra gear.

Thriving on his home circuit, the Spaniard charged to pole by 0.250s ahead of Barnard and Franco Colapinto. Barter was the top Aussie in 15th.

The Sprint race was a dramatic affair with two Safety Car restarts, but Zak O’Sullivan remained cool through it all to take victory.

O’Sullivan started on reverse pole, but had to defend it hard against fellow Williams junior Luke Browning before the latter conceded defeat at Turn 2.

The Safety Car arrived as early as the opening lap when Ido

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Monaco winner Gabriele Mini had a tough weekend ...

Cohen hit the barriers at Turn 9 and racing did not resume until Lap 5.

The fight for the lead spiced up as O’Sullivan and Browning went head to head twice at Turn 1, but on both occasions the PREMA driver held firm.

Mansell had found himself in a race-long battle with Monaco winner Gabriele Mini but it ended in tears with the

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Novocastrian spun off at Turn 2. This saw Mini handed a 10s penalty and the Safety Car return.

O’Sullivan survived the restart to drive to a 1.6s over Browning with Leonardo Fornaroli also on the podium.

Come the feature race it was all about home boy Marti.

Having defended the lead after going side by side with Bernard in Turn 1, the Campos driver was never troubled, even after an early Safety Car deployed for the stranded Browning, who made contact with Fornaroli at Turn 4.

Marti cruised to a 4s win over Colapinto and was greeted

by Alonso, who joined in on the celebrations under the podium.

Mansell and Mini once again came to blows at Turn 1, but the Aussie stayed strong and was able to press on to a solid P10 result after starting 16th. Barter and Smith were 13th and 23rd respectively.

The next F3 race is at Austria in the first weekend of July.

Thomas Miles

2023 FORMULA 3 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS AFTER ROUND 5 1 2 3 4 5

G. Bortoleto J. Marti D. Beganovic G. Mini P. Aron

92 68 61 56 54

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Formula 1 Round 08 SPAIN Grand Prix - Race report

IN A WORLD OF HIS OWN

SUCH WAS Max Verstappen’s domination right from the start of the Spanish Grand Prix weekend that most conversations before the start of the race were about who was going to finish second.

No-one in their right mind would have bet against a driver who had dominated practice and qualifying and had even aborted a final Q3 lap that was on course to put him one full second ahead of second fastest Carlos Sainz! In brief, Verstappen was in a world of his own the whole weekend.

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As expected the Dutchman led the race from start to finish, putting 24s between himself and Lewis Hamilton, who finished second. There were just two instances in which the final result was not guaranteed: at the start, when he opted to start on the Medium tyres while 17 other drivers were starting on the Softs, and when he had his third transgression of track limits, on lap 57 earning a black and white flag that left him on the verge of a time penalty.

For the World Champion the start was the key moment, explaining that, “it was

important to try and keep the lead into Turn 1. I know it was quite tight with Carlos, but actually we had a good start.

“I had the harder compound and I knew the start was maybe going to be a bit tricky.

But going around the outside into Turn 1 is always quite difficult, but, luckily, nothing happened. From there onwards, we just tried to manage the pace on the Medium tyre. I knew everyone behind me was mainly on the Soft. I think especially the last eight laps of that stint I could really create a big gap.”

Verstappen (above) was in a race of his own .... Below: Despite starting on Mediums, Verstappen got to Turn 1 first, and that was that ... Images: MOTORSPORT IMAGES

Considering he was on medium compound tyres, Verstappen got a good get-away but had to put his elbows out to keep Sainz behind, the Spaniard opting for caution when a more aggressive approach could have briefly put him in the lead, as, after all, the Dutchman had a lot more to lose if they clashed.

The Ferrari man, though, was not ready to risk it all, but admitted, “I knew he was on a medium tyre so maybe I had a bit more grip, but he defended well, ran me wide and did what he had to do. I could have taken to the escape road, but decided to stay legal, let’s say.”

With Sainz now focused more on keeping the fast-starting Hamilton behind him, Verstappen could control the pace at will and his first stint was a breeze, gaining half a second per lap over the red car until the Spanish driver pitted at the end of lap 14 when the Mercedes was already inside DRS range. With no threat of an undercut, the World Champion remained on track for another 12 laps, gaining little over Hamilton but waiting for the British driver to pit before doing likewise, thus avoiding being surprised by a VSC or SC period that would benefit his rival.

As Verstappen resumed the race with a gap of 10.5s over Sainz, P2 changed hands almost immediately, as Hamilton had no problem passing the Ferrari driver at the start of lap 28 – but after extending his lead to 15s the Red Bull driver felt something was not to his liking: “We went onto the Hard tyre and I expected them to be a little bit better, but

Left: Russell and Hamilton ran too close in qualifying ... Above: Tsunoda versus Zhou Guanyu. Below: Two Mercs on the podium ... somehow they just didn’t have a lot of grip and I was sliding around quite a bit.

The pace was still OK, but I couldn’t really create much more of a gap. So, we just did the minimum amount of laps we had to do on that tyre and then we pitted again for the Soft, and that actually felt a lot nicer to drive.”

Then came the black and white flag for exceeding track limits three times that prompted a warning from race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase to “stay within the white lines”, but Verstappen was relaxed about it: “Yes, I went over the white line three times.

It happens sometimes. In some tracks it’s a bit easier to do and I was struggling a little bit with the harder tyres to keep it within the white lines. But once I had that last warning then I had to keep it within the white lines.

But it’s not an issue really.”

And just to prove a point, he went for the fastest lap, thus securing a perfect score of 26 points that puts him 53 points clear of Pérez in the championship: “Of course I could have gone faster, if I had to try and catch up. But it was not necessary. It’s all about managing your tyres trying to reach the stint length.”

Summing up everyone’s feelings, the Dutchman concluded that, “this is one weekend where I think it went really well, but we also know that maybe at some other tracks it’s not like this.”

And with Mercedes, Ferrari and Aston Martin taking points from each other – and from Pérez – in the last few races, Verstappen’s title seems more and more a question of when, not if, as it’s hard to see how he could lose a championship that is his for the taking.

His team mate had another disappointing weekend, qualifying poorly in 11th place – after a spin early in Q2 before failing to get the tyres up to temperature on his last run

QUALIFYING RACE 08

– and then having a disappointing first stint that put him behind Russell and unable to catch the Mercedes duo. Passing Sainz for fourth place was little consolation for the Mexican, who was clearly disappointed at the end of the race: “We had to be quite patient, especially on that first lap. Not taking unnecessary risks was important for us. After that I think it was just a case of being patient, try to go long, and then our race was later on. But, unfortunately, we just finished a little bit further behind George to try to attack him.”

MERCEDES CONFIRMS PROGRESS

I’VE NEVER seen Lewis Hamilton so upbeat after being fourth in qualifying and second in a race as he was in Barcelona.

With a car he could finally feel and trust, the front end finally biting under braking, the seven-times World Champion was on form and recovered well from almost being taken out at the end of Q2 by his own teammate to qualify fourth, a small mistake in Turn 10 costing him P2.

A good start moved him ahead of Norris and he was lucky not to get a puncture in Turn 2 when the young McLaren driver ran into the back of his W14. Knowing he’d have tyre management on his side, Hamilton let Sainz off the hook for the first 10 laps before quickly closing the gap, stuck to his run plan when the Ferrari driver pitted early and passed him easily for second place one lap

RESULTS RACE 07 78 LAPS SPANISH GP

CHAMPIONSHIP AFTER RACE 08

Pos Driver

Time

Pos Drivers

Make

Laps

Margin

Pos Driver

1

Max Verstappen

1:12.272

1

Max Verstappen

Red Bull

66

1:27.57.940 -

1

Max Verstappen

170

-

2

Carlos Sainz

+0.462

2

Lewis Hamilton

Mercedes

66

+24.090 s2

2

Sergio Perez

117

-

3

Lando Norris

+0.520

3

George Russell

Mercedes

66

+32.389 s9

3

Fernando Alonso

99

-

4

Lewis Hamilton

+0.546

4

Sergio Perez

Red Bull

66

+36.812 s7

4

Lewis Hamilton

87

-

5

Lance Stroll

+0.722

5 Carlos Sainz

Ferrari

66

+45.698 t3

5

George Russell

65

-

6

Esteban Ocon

+0.811

6 Lance Stroll

Aston Martin

66

+1:03.320 t1

6

Carlos Sainz

58

-

7

Nico Hulkenberg

+0.957

7

Aston Martin

66

+1:04.127 s1

7

Charles Leclerc

42

-

8

Fernando Alonso

+1.235

8 Esteban Ocon

Alpine

66

+1:09/242 t2

8

Lance Stroll

35

-

9

Oscar Piastri

+1.410

9

Alfa Romeo

66

+1:11.878 s4

9

Esteban Ocon

25

-

10 Pierre Gasly

+0.544

10 Pierre Gasly

Alpine

66

+1:13.530 -

10 Pierre Gasly

15

-

11

+1.062

11 Charles Leclerc

Ferrari

66

+1:14.419 s8

11

12

-

12 George Russell

+1.175

12 Yuki Tsunoda

AlphaTauri

66

+1:15.416 s3

12 Nico Hulkenberg

6

-

13 Zhou Guanyu

+1.249

13 Oscar Piastri

McLaren

65

+1 Lap t4

13 Oscar Piastri

5

-

14 Nyck de Vries

+1.811

14 Nyck de Vries

AlphaTauri

65

+1 Lap -

14 Valtteri Bottas

4

-

15 Yuki Tsunoda

+2.205

15 Nico Hulkenberg

Haas

65

+1Lap t8

15 Zhou Guanyu

4

-

16 Valtteri Bottas

+1.705

16 Alex Albon

Williams

65

+1 Lap

16 Yuki Tsunoda

2

-

17 Kevin Magnussen

+1.770

17 Lando Norris

McLaren

65

+1 Lap t 14

17 Kevin Magnussen

2

-

18 Alex Albon

+1.791

18 Kevin Magnussen Haas

65

+1Lap t1

18 Alex Albon

1

-

19 Charles Leclerc

+1.807

19 Valtteri Bottas

Alfa Romeo

65

+1Lap t3

19 Nyck de Vries

0

-

20 Logan Sargeant

+2.427

20 Logan Sargeant

Williams

65

+1 Lap -

20 Logan Sargeant

0

-

Sergio Perez

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Fernando Alonso Zhou Guanyu

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Points

Lando Norris

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after finally stopping for tyres.

From then on he was in a safe P2, failed to get the fastest lap by 0.3s but was still delighted at the end of the race: “The car felt great today. We’ve got a great team – with Mick back at the simulator on Friday night, he did some great work which helped us get on the right track on Saturday. I think we did pretty decent work in trying to understand the different downforce levels, and the race today, the car felt great, honestly. I couldn’t match the times that Max was doing. But I think nonetheless, and for George to come from 12th to third is just remarkable. A really awesome result for us as a team.”

The young Brit redeemed himself after a poor qualifying, got past Pérez right at the start and then continued to pick his rivals one by one, eventually passing Sainz on lap 25, when the Ferrari was struggling on hard tyres, to secure a double podium for Mercedes.

ALPINE BACK TO THE MIDFIELD

BEHIND SAINZ it was the Aston Martin duo that finished sixth and seventh, with, unusually, Lance Stroll ahead of Fernando Alonso. The Spaniard paid a heavy price for a mistake right at the start of Q1: “At the end of my out lap I went off in the last corner and seriously damaged the floor of my car.” With the team making repairs every time he pitted, Alonso made it to Q3 but was only ninth on the grid. Then, “I never felt really comfortable with the car in the race, the first set of tyres was terrible, so only on the last stint he could attack”, he explained.

And attack he did, passing Zhou, Tsunoda and Ocon in quick succession, before deciding to sit behind Stroll, “because I was the one who made a mistake on Saturday”, the Canadian finishing in P6 after a solid qualifying and race, having gone completely the wrong direction with the set-up of his car on Friday.

For Alpine, the weekend was disappointing after seeing Ocon on the podium in Monaco. Gasly did an amazing lap to qualify fourth but two clear impediment infractions saw him dropped to 10th on the grid. A bad start made his life harder, eventually getting one point thanks to Tsunoda’s penalty. Ocon was only seventh quickest on Saturday – sixth on the grid – and had to fight hard to stay ahead of the midfield, losing out to Alonso, Russell and Pérez that started behind him, Norris’ early error guaranteeing him P8.

Guanyu Zhou drove a very solid race to give Alfa Romeo Sauber two precious points but a mention has to be made of Yuki Tsunoda, who finished ahead of the Chinese after a brilliant drive only to get a very controversial penalty that dropped him to 12th as the Steward ruled, very harshly, he’d driver Zhou off the track as they battled for position.

Luis Vasconcelos

,

FERRARI: THE HOUSE IS NOT ON FIRE! STARTING SECOND and finishing fifth is never a good result and, being on home ground, Carlos Sainz was obviously disappointed with his race pace. The Spanish driver, however, had arrived in Barcelona expecting a tough weekend, “because the track has quite a few high-speed corners and that’s where our car is lacking at the moment.”

His qualifying performance raised the hopes of the tifosi, but reality came crashing down on Sunday with the loss of three positions even to drivers who started outside the top 10.

For Sainz, “in qualifying we must have done a pretty good lap, because in the race we were back to where the car is in race pace.”

Asked if the upgrades the team took to Spain worked, Sainz admitted that, “we probably we brought them to our weakest track of the season, because of the characteristics of the track.” And showing some optimism, he added, “we haven’t seen the best of them yet. I still believe with the bouncing and the high speed weakness we had, we were never going to be very competitive around here, so it’s too early to tell. The team did a tremendous effort to bring it so it’s up to all the factory. Let’s keep pushing and improving.”

For Leclerc the weekend was a long nightmare like he had never experienced in his Formula One career. Unable to get the tyres to work in qualifying he was second slowest in Q1 and, even with a new rear end of the SF-23 in the race, he struggled, “especially on the first stint because the Hard tyres never brought the grip we expected and degraded quite quickly.” A puzzled Leclerc then explained that, “things were a bit better with the Softs and way better with the second set of Hards, that worked in a completely different way than the first set. I really don’t know why …”

With Italian media being extremely harsh on the Scuderia, Team Principal Fred Vasseur had to make it clear, “the house is not on fire!” Admitting, “the inconsistency of the car is what we don’t understand, because we’re quick in qualifying and Carlos was quick in the first stint. OK, not Red Bull quick, (but nobody else is), but ahead of the Mercedes and without pushing hard, so we have to understand why the car only works as it should on occasions and not all the time. There’s one thousand people at the factory looking into this so it will be a matter of time before we get there”, he concluded. Time will tell if that’s the case.

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2023 LE MANS 24Hour

Images: MOTORSPORT IMAGES/PETER NORTON EPIC SPORTS PHOTOGRAPHY

LE MANS AUSSIES SHARE VARIED SUCCESS STORIES FOR THE two Aussies competing on the big stage at the historic 100th edition of Le Mans, just being a racer at this particular de la Sarthe event would be an honour as is.

James Allen, competing in the LMP2 Pro Am category, went one better, taking back-to-back class wins at Le Mans, whilst Ryan Briscoe got to experience it in the top Hypercar class.

For Allen, it caps off a brilliant year of 24 Hour racing after his photo finish win at Daytona.

His teammate Colin Braun was interviewed on the podium with the team by his side, saying that, “Incredible race, so proud of these guys driving with me and what a team effort, it’s pretty coo … vive la France!”

As well as taking the hectic opening stint, Allen’s pace was blistering throughout, placing as high as P5 in the category at one stage, with the team eventually finishing outright P20, and tenth in the category.

For Briscoe, his ninth Le Mans was his third with Glickenhaus in the #708 in the top class, and for the non-hybrid team who have a proud finishing record at the race, their P6 was akin to victory.

Things looked dire when Briscoe’s teammate Oliver Pla went hard into the fence at the Indianapolis corner, but after some work in the sheds, they were back out.

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Over the course of the 24 hours Briscoe put clean stints for the team that took a memorable podium in 2022.

“It was a shame, we had both cars in the top five, but despite the problems, both cars ran strong,” Briscoe said.

“We went through some noses (it’s been a bit of a theme), but it was the same for everyone.

“We had suspension damage on ours which wasn’t ideal, but the crew was great to get both out on track.

“Finishing off these races has been our strength and we went in with that mindset, and despite some damage and penalties, we’ve done our best, and we ran with good pace.”

Allen and his Algarve Pro Racing teammates, George Kurtz and Colin Braun, had a tough battle in the Pro Am early, with the lead swapping plenty of times before they got on top of the Cool Racing #37 car to enjoy a comfortable lead.

That lead turned nervy late on when the car ended up off track and almost collected the wall, dropping back within reach of the #37, but they held out and re-extended the lead to take a dominant win over 322 laps, and finished above the #6 Penske Porsche Hypercar.

TW Neal

James Allen shared the LMP2 Pro Am category winning car.

FERRARI IS BACK

THE OVERWHELMING SENSE OF HISTORY BEING MADE AT THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 24 HOURS OF LE MANS WAS PUNCTUATED WITH THE MANUFACTURERS WINNING RETURN AFTER A 50 YEAR HIATUS; ENDING TOYOTA’S DOMINANCE AT THE RACE THAT MADE THE ITALIAN BRAND SO FAMOUS. TIMOTHY W NEAL REPORTS. WITH EIGHT and half hours remaining at the 91st 24 Hours of Le Mans, it was evident that an intense battle of attrition had come down to two Hypercars.

With Toyota going for a sixth straight, its remaining #8 GR010 team of Sebastien Buemi/Brendan Hartley/ Ryo Hirakawa was followed into the pits by the #51 Ferrari of Pier Guidi/James Calado/Antonio Giovinazzi.

The AF Corse Ferrari 499P Hypercars were superfast all weekend, and the #51 had just broken down an 18s deficit whilst Buemi suffered splitter issues.

Whilst Toyota refuelled, changed tyres and replaced its nose, the #51 made a swift driver change and left the pits in front, and there was a strong sense that history was beckoning.

Just exactly what it meant became clear when the #51 slowed to knock an unnecessary lap off to win by 1min21.793s, with Cadillac also taking a memorable P3, with the Earl Bamber/Alex Lynn/RichardWestbrook pairing leading home its V-Series.R #3 sister car.

Calado couldn’t barely take his hands from his face in the garage, as a minor power scare was encountered with 23 minutes to go in the last pit stop for the the #51, but after the #8 Toyota had previously spun and took more damage with Hirakawa behind the wheel, there was the feeling that an historical win after more than 58 years since Ferrari’s last was inevitable.

The scenes of people running down the straights as organisers opened gates for free entry to the podium celebrations, and the course marshals waving their flags on track as the finishers

passed between them – added to the emotional sense that Ferrari’s return win after a 50 year absence – were indeed special.

Coupled with the fact that the world’s most famous automobile race was now 100 years old. It was a oncein-a-lifetime moment.

With Ferrari starting on pole, leading an equally historic combined field of LMH and LMDh spec Hypercars for the first time at the Circuit de la Sarthe, the opening hours prior to nightfall didn’t disappoint.

The first hour saw the #8 Toyota holding the early advantage with the Toyota Gazoo Racing team running on Softs – as it would do for much of the race – with the majority of the field opting for Mediums.

An early (lap one!) incident saw the Action Express Cadillac go off, as Jack Aitken lost control at the first chicane and, as the first hour ticked down, both Ferraris were hunting down the Japanese makes as the Softs started to fall away.

The #708 Glickenhaus went down early with an Oil Leak, whilst the second hour was punctuated with the first of a few incidents under a slow zone yellow when Sebastien Bourdais was rear ended in the #3 Caddy.

The third hour witnessed the #50 Ferrari enjoying a 20 second lead, when heavy localised rain fell on the Porsche Curves, which then brought in a surprise early contender.

The mechanically problematic Peugeot 9X8 came into its own in the wet, with the #94 running down the

Below and Main (opposite): While Ferrari led from the start, there were several leaders before the #51 car and drivers took out the race.

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www.autoaction.com.au I 63

2023 LE MANS 24Hour

#7 Toyota, and it would stay on top on and off through the night.

The #3 Caddy again had trouble in the wet when it hit water, spinning out, whilst the #709 Glickenhaus found the wall at the Porsche Curves.

That triggered a Safety Car that would last one hour as they struggled to get the cars in the correct order.

As night fell, the #75 Penske Porsche had found a narrow lead over the Ferraris, with the earlier and lengthy Safety Car having thrown pit strategies into chaos, with some teams stuck on wets as the flag finally went green, to which the Toyota’s both fell victim.

The #38 JOTA Porsche even took the lead before the Porsche Curves claimed another, with big rear end damage ending the car’s hopes.

The next few hours had some pivotal moments, as Peugeot maintained a surprise lead, and withstood stern challenges from the Ferrari’s.

Whilst the winning #51 Ferrari had a big spin at the Mulsanne gravel, Guido thankfully rejoined in fourth after being released from the gravel trap.

A telling crash moments later then saw the #7 Toyota wiped out in a slow zone when Kobayashi tried to avoid a braking LMP2 and was rear-ended by a Ferrari GT. Just before midnight, the #75 Porsche ground to a halt with fuel pressure problems, making it two Hypercar retirements.

Ferrari then took control of the #8 Toyota with its #51 entry, whilst Gustavo Menezes sadly put the competitive Peugeot into the tyre wall at Mulsanne Chicane, ending a great challenge.

Disaster also struck the #50 pole sitter, as it was forced into the garage for 30 mins with an energy recovery system fluid leak, ending its hopes.

With daylight breaking, Toyota took back the lead with a lead out to 17s at one point after an inspired drive from Hartley. A slow Ferrari pit saw it push out to 40s, and Guidi chipped away as the Toyota had balance issues with a broken splitter, with the pivotal pit stop ensuing.

The #51 again had a pit scare with power cycle issues after it had built a lead of over a minute, with Toyota coming back to within a second, with Buemi chasing hard.

An ill-timed driver change and pit foxing from Ferrari saw them break the tag again, whilst the #2 Cadillac was in clean air in P3 but one lap back, whilst the Peugeot and Porsches had to spend time in the garages with battery issues.

Both Glickenhaus cars and the Jota Porsche found the same walls at the problematic Indianapolis corner, as the race really became a battle of attrition, with plenty of Hypercars disappearing into the sheds for brief spells.

With 90 minutes left, Hirakawa went off, truly turning the tide and paving the way for the #51, doing it with an eventual 342 laps on the board.

A crash by one of his co-drivers put Aussie Ryan Briscoe’s Glickenhaus out of the main placings.

Cadillacs had a great race to finsih third and fourth outright.

The #3 Chip Ganassi Caddy was two laps down in P4, as the #311 ACE Caddy (P10) crossed the line with the other two in a great scene.

The #50 Ferrari fought back into P5, whilst the two Glickenhaus cars remarkably kept their Le Mans finishing record alive with a P6/P7.

The #93 Peugeot was the last of the Hypercars, 12 laps back, whilst the #5 Penske Porsche was P9 – P16 outright.

The #6 Porsche was P22 outright, followed by the #94 9X8 in P13 (P27 outright), with the JOTA Porsche the last of

Could it have been scripted better? After 50 years, Ferrari returned to Le Mans with a factory team and won the centenary race ...

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the Hypercar finishers, 98 laps down.

The Vanwall non-hybrid hypercar didn’t make it to the end as was the team’s main goal, with the engine dying after 165 laps.

After such a stirring win for Ferrari, they now get to parade their trophy at home, as the WEC fittingly heads to Italy for the next roud, at the 6 Hours of Monza on July 9, with the #51 Ferrari having closed the championship gap to the #8 Toyota to just 25 points.

Interpol Competition took out the LMP2 prototype class.

HISTORIC WINS IN LMP2 AND LMGTE AM IT WAS an historic day of victories in the LMP2 and LMGTE AM classes at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, with the popular Hendrick Motorsport Project56 NASCAR also winning over fans in the Invitational Class.

The Interpol Competition LMP2 prototype (above) gave a Polish team its first ever win at the famous race, as well as in the WEC, as it edged out the WRT #41 team in a backand-forth exchange over the 24 hours.

For the Polish #34 team of Jakub Smiechowski, Albert Costa and Fabio Scherer it was a remarkable win considering Scherer – who did

the bulk of the driving – survived a broken radio, and a badly broken foot after a GTE ran it over in the pits during the night.

With the gap at just 21s between the front runners, P3 went to the French Duqueine Team one lap back, with six teams registering DNFs. “For sure it didn’t help,” said Scherer commenting on the radio and the broken foot.

“But at the end I just said ‘I just need to drive flat out’; there was nothing else to do.

“We spoke about it in the box before I got in, and we also weren’t sure we could change drivers because the door didn’t open properly, but at Le Mans sometimes you need some luck!”

In the final ever Le Mans outing for the LMGTE AM category, it was a resounding victory for the pole sitting American Corvette Racing entry of Nicolas Varrone/Ben Keating/Nicky Catsburg, even after going two laps down early.

They finished in P26 outright, 26 Laps back, and one lap in front of the Oman based Aston Martin Vantage AMR team, a first Le Mans podium for an Oman based team.

The British GR Racing Porsche 911 team took P3, with the all-female Iron Dames Porsche team unlucky to finish P4 after leading for good stints in the first half.

The Corvette C8.R simply dominated the second 12 hours after having to spend time in the garage in the opening 90 minutes due to a damaged front damper.

“Now I have all the big ones, this is super awesome,” Catsburg said.

“Even yesterday afternoon, I didn’t think this was possible. But somehow, we made it back to the front.

“These two guys drove unbelievably fast, and all of a sudden, we were back in contention and won with a massive lead … It’s unbelievable.”

For what became known as the “American alarm clock” – owing to the modified NASCAR waking up anyone trying to catch a nap in the stands during the late hours – the team of Jenson Button, Mike Rockenfeller, and Jimmie Johnson, did well to finish.

As well as winning the Pit Crew competition, it out qualified the GT cars by a whopping four seconds, but mechanical issues eventually saw it finish in P39, second last over the struggling JOTA Hypercar, and 10th when compared to the GT class.

An unplanned stop to change brakes five hours out put it out of contention to beat the GT class when it looked a chance, and later a lengthy stop to change the gearbox saw it drop to second-last.

TW Neal

HISTORIC LE MANS QUALI LOCK-OUT FOR FERRARI THE APTLY numbered #50 Ferrari 499P Hypercar matched the efforts of Arturo Merzario in 1973, giving the Italian manufacturer its first Le Mans pole in 50 years, which was also the last year of the brands involvement in top class endurance racing.

This time it was fellow Italian Antonio Fuoco who trumped the #51 AF Corse sister car by 0.773s.

After topping the test, practice, and provisional qualifying sessions, the AF Corse Ferrari’s entered Le Mans with a new BOP advantage of 13kg over the dominant Toyota GR010 cars.

“It feels amazing, in front of all these people.

Ferrari’s back after 50 years and we scored a pole position, it’s something that’s really amazing” Fuoco said. ”we know what’s ahead with the tough 24 hours, but we’ll enjoy this moment.”

The lead up to Qualifying practice that would see grid spots 9-16 set, saw both Ferrari’s top a session each in the test sessions, with both Toyotas then on top in the first free practice.

Toyota’s pace was short lived though as the #6 Porsche edged out the #51 Ferrari in the first night session, with both Ferrari’s then topping the lead-in to qualifying.

The top-eight Hyperpole session was ended under a red flag with five minutes to run, when the third sitting #3 Cadillac driven by Sebastien

Bourdais caught fire after the high pressure fuel hose burst on the V-Series LMDh car.

With its fastest lap stricken, its reverted second fastest time put them in P8 on the 16 strong Hypercar field.

That elevated the #8 driven by Kiwi Brendon Hartley into P3, next to the #75 Porsche Penske 963.

In going for his record fifth Le Mans pole, Kamui Kobayashi managed P5 in the #7 sister Toyota, next to the Earl Bamber led #2 Cadillac.

The final Hyperpole row had another Penske Porsche in P7, starting next to the fire stricken Cadillac.

Completing the grid after missing the Hyperpole was the third Penske 963, missing by just 0.311s,

followed by the two Peugeot 9X8s after showing promise in the test and practice sessions.

With Aussie Ryan Briscoe on board, the non-hybrid #708 Glickenhaus was 3.284 off the benchmark, followed by the Action Express #311 Cadillac.

The second Glickenhaus entry featured in P14 over the other non-hybrid Gibson powered Vanwall entry.

After showing plenty of promise early in its customer car career, the #38 JOTA Porsche 963 team suffered hybrid issues to not register a time.

After securing P2 on the grid, the final night practice before Saturday’s race had the #51 Ferrari outpace a surprise P2 getter in the #709 Glickenhaus, with the JOTA 963 also claiming P3.

The class-winning Corvette.

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www.autoaction.com.au I 65

TEST YOUR GENERAL MOTORSPORT KNOWLEDGE ACROSS

DOWN

1 For what team did Tim Slade make his fulltime V8 Supercars Championship debut in 2009? (abbreviation)

2 Who scored his debut Supercars Championship win at Queensland Raceway in 2013? (surname)

4 Who has won the most FIM World Superbike races in championship history? (surname)

3 Who won the first British Touring Car Championship in 1958? (surname)

8 Who finished third in the 2023 Indy 500? (surname)

5 Maximilian Gunther scored Maserati’s first single seater pole since 1958 in F1, who scored the previous pole for the manufacturer 65 years ago? (surname)

9 Who won the maiden V8 Utes Series in 2001? (surname) 10 Where did pole sitter Alex Palou finish the 2023 Indy 500?

11 On what manufacturer of bike does Alex Marquez race in 2023?

12 For how many seasons were Todd Kelly and Mark Skaife teammates at the Holden Racing Team?

16 Which current IndyCar driver won the 2001 Indy 500 on debut? (surname) 17 Who won the 1994 Australian Grand Prix? (surname)

6 Who am I? A Frenchman, I won the World Sportscar Championship twice with Sauber Mercedes, and the Dakar Rally twice. I raced in one F1 race, the 1988 Italian Grand Prix in which I collided with Ayrton Senna. (surname) 7 Who finished third in the Monaco Grand Prix last month? (surname) 11 In what city will Zane Goddard make a solo wildcard appearance with Triple Eight?

13 The 2001 Daytona 500 saw the fatality of which NASCAR legend? (full name)

19 Who famously said “aerodynamics are for people who can’t build engines?” (full name)

14 What was the name given to the car which won the 2001 and 2002 V8 Supercar Championships?

21 What is the name of the three-corner sequence introduced to the Mount Panorama Circuit in 1987?

15 Which Formula 1 team won the 2012 Spanish Grand Prix, the team’s most recent win?

22 Where did Scott McLaughlin finish the 2023 edition of the Indy 500?

18 Who won the 2023 Detroit Grand Prix? (surname)

23 Who qualified third for the Formula 1 Spanish GP a couple of weeks ago? (surname)

20 Which Brazilian driver won the CART Championship Series in 2001?

27 Who won the 2023 Indy 500? (surname)

24 Who won the final V8 Ute Series in 2017? (surname)

28 Who has signed to race alongside Cameron Hill at Sandown and Bathurst? (surname) 29 Which of the four Arrow McLaren drivers finished highest at the Indy 500? (surname)

25 Who was the most successful V8 Ute Series driver with three titles? (surname) 26 Who won his first of seven 500cc/MotoGP titles in 2001? (surname)

1 down – zero, 2 across – one, 3 across – four, 3 down – five, 4 down – Button, 5 down – Porsche, 6 across – Porsche, 7 down – Peugeot, 8 across – sixteen, 9 down – three, 10 down – Briscoe, 11 down – three, 12 down – Glickenhaus, 13 down – Dixon, 14 down – JOTA, 15 across – Ferrari, 16 down – Goodyear, 17 across – nineteen, 18 across – seven, 18 down – seven, 19 across – Toyota, 20 across – Chevrolet, 20 down – Cadillac, 21 down – Vanwall, 22 across – Geoff, 23 down – Buemi, 24 across – Fassbender, 25 across – Allen, 26 across – Aston Martin, 27 across – Michelin

We take a look back at what was making news in Auto Action 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 years ago

1973 DESPITE CAUTIOUSLY crossing the line at near walking pace in heavy rain, Peter Brock claimed a crushing win at Adelaide. Brock won by over a lap from Allan Moffat, who was proclaimed as the hero driving a borrowed Murray Carter Falcon in second.

Amazingly Moffat had the strange problem of his race car being stolen at 3am on raceday morning.

His prized Ford XY Falcon GTHO Phase III was eventually found by police abandoned and bogged in the Adelaide Hills on the following Tuesday.

In the rally world, Bob Watson caused a stir, quitting the Renault Rally Team to join the Holden Dealer Team for the remainder of that year’s Victorian State Rally Championship.

1983 ALLAN MOFFAT was on the verge of winning his fourth ATCC crown as the series headed to Lakeside. However, his dominant Mazda RX7 faced the prospect of being banned from that year’s Bathurst 1000. Race promotors, the Australian Racing Drivers Club were considering refusing entires using the 13B engine, which was under the bonnet of Moffat’s Mazda.

In further changes, the Commodore, Camaro and Bluebird cars were anticipated to receive more “freedoms” for the Great Race.

Both Holden and Camaro runners hoped for bigger brakes and new front suspension, while the Nissan factory squad wanted a larger fuel tank.

66 I www.autoaction.com.au

1993 THE MOTORSPORT world was saddened by the sudden passing of 1976 world champion James Hunt. The flamboyant racing driver and personality died of a heart attack just two days after the Canadian Grand Prix won by Alain Prost.

Hunt had commentated on that race for the BBC and wrote a column which appeared in issue #579 of Auto Action where he declared his enjoyment of the recent race and his concern the governing body, FISA was more concerned about politics than bringing F1 back to the “halcyon days of the mid 70s”. Back home the future of the Surfers Paradise street race was threatened with the government demanding $11 million in guarantees.

2003 A MARCOS Ambrose hat-trick of round wins left the rest of the V8 Supercars paddock stumped following the annual trip to Perth.

Whilst the three races were won by three separate drivers, Ambrose was the only driver to appear on the podium on each occasion to beat Greg Murphy to round honours.

Another driver on a tear was Michael Schumacher, whose fourth win in five races at Canada sent him into the championship lead for the first time.

The Ferrari star held off his brother Ralf by just 0.7s, while Loris Capirossi claimed Ducati’s first MotoGP victory at Catalunya.

2013 THE SUPERCARS silly season stated to kick into gear with rumours circulating big name free agents Will Davison, James Courtney and Scott McLaughlin. Despite Courtney claiming a return overseas was still an option, he, Davison and McLaughlin stayed at the respective homes of FPR, HRT and GRM for 2014. These were heard at the Darwin Triple Crown where Jamie Whincup, Mark Winterbottom and Craig Lowndes shared the wins and Dean Fiore ended up on his side after a huge seven-car wreck at Turn 2.

There was tragedy at Le Mans where former Supercars racer Allan Simonsen lost his life in a crash on Lap 3 of the race won by Audi’s Allan McNish, Tom Kristensen and Loic Duval.

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