Auto Action #1867

SCOTTY MAC THE BAD POLITICS OF SUPERCARS

AUSTRALIA’S INDEPENDENT VOICE OF MOTORSPORT STOP PRESS

MUSTANG ENGINE BRAKING ...

INSIDE SUPERCARS SILLIEST SEASON EVER

HAS FORD FOUND HIDDEN PARITY TREASURE IN A NEW MAP?

THE SAGA OF TARGA

BATTLE LINES DRAWN OVER TASSIE’S TARMAC JEWEL

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After ditching the full wets right at the start of the Sprint race, Piastri ran ahead of world champion Verstappen – not too many have done that in 2023. In the end, he settled for a strong P2 and a post race interview (lower right) Images: MOTORSPORT IMAGES

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PIASTRI’S HOT SPA AFTER STUNNING THE F1 WORLD AT SILVERSTONE AND HUNGARY ONLY WEEKS PRIOR, THE FINAL ROUND BEFORE THE MID-SEASON BREAK WAS YET ANOTHER STAGE FOR OSCAR PIASTRI TO STAKE HIS CLAIM ON. AUTO ACTION’S REESE MAUTONE REPORTS ...

THE 22-YEAR-OLD took the fight to World Champions, battling the characteristically treacherous weather conditions at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps and achieving careerbest results across the Belgian Grand Prix weekend despite a sour ending.

With only one practice session on the schedule for the third Sprint weekend of the season, Piastri and his McLaren teammate put their heads down in the saturated FP1, ending the limited session with the second- and thirdquickest times.

In the wet-dry Friday qualifying session, Piastri’s Q3 time of 1:47.365s put him in fifth for the main event after inheriting a position thanks to Max Verstappen’s penalty, despite a lacklustre final sector costing him a higher start.

“As the track dried it was more back to normal, but not for me because I have never done a dry lap in an F1 car around here,” Piastri said.

“I was just lacking a bit of confidence at the end.”

The Australian hadn’t driven at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in three years, making his achievements this weekend immensely admirable.

With the looming threat of unpredictable weather, the delayed build-up and start to the

Sprint was chaotic for the entire grid.

For Piastri, starting from the front row for the first time in his short F1 career and being forced into a first lap pitstop was just another milestone to enjoy.

“It was pretty obvious for us to ‘box’ on the first lap. Obviously, we had the same risk as Max [Verstappen] of potentially getting stuck with everyone coming in, but it worked out really well, and yeah, managed to lead a few laps which was cool.”

Although it was only momentary, Piastri became the first rookie to lead a Formula 1 race in 10 years, with McLaren’s pit strategy and a Safety Car allowing the #81 car to hold a 1.7-second advantage over Verstappen and P1 for four laps.

Unfortunately, at the Safety Car restart (brought on by Fernando Alonso’s spin), Red Bull’s straight-line speed unsurprisingly outclassed that of the MCL60, seeing Verstappen cruise by Piastri on the run down the Kemmel Straight.

Despite losing the lead, at the end of the 11lap Sprint, the second step on the podium was comfortably Oscar’s, rewarding his remarkable rookie efforts in both the Sprint and Sprint Shootout with his first F1 ‘podium’ finish.

His weekend did, however, take a turn for the worst in the Belgian Grand Prix itself, halting

the growth of his now extensive F1 highlights reel.

On the run down to La Source, Piastri was squeezed into contact with the wall by Carlos Sainz, also making heavy contact with the Ferrari after launching down the inside from P5.

“I think it’s quite firmly in the category of a lap-one, Turn 1 incident,” a level-headed Piastri said.

“I got a good start and got my nose alongside, and then, when we got to the braking zone, Carlos moved a bit to the right and locked up and I also had to try and avoid that a bit.”

“Maybe I could have braked a bit later and been further alongside, but it’s very easy to say that with hindsight and once I was in that position it was quite hard to either go forwards or go backwards, and I was kind-of stuck.”

As a result of the contact at La Source, Piastri ran a short-lived race, retiring trackside during the first lap due to a front-left puncture, broken suspension and terminal steering damage.

“Looking back on it, I think we both could have done things a bit differently.”

“It wasn’t fun, that’s for sure. I think I was quite lucky that everyone kind of got around me before Eau Rouge, and then

just the way the steering was, I kind-of managed to get to the left side of the track before the bottom of Eau Rouge.”

The mature rookie didn’t let the incident distract him from his incredible process over the recent weeks.

“I’ll still take a lot of confidence from [the weekend],” Piastri said.

“It’s been a busy six months – a lot busier than any other six months of my life. I’ll enjoy a couple of weeks to reset and go over what’s been good and what’s been bad, and then hopefully we can attack the second half of the season strongly.”

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James Courtney, Shane van Gisbergen, and Cam Waters – all with differing 2023 prospects on their mind ...

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SUPERCARS SILLIEST SEASON... HAS STARTED SUPERCARS’ SILLY SEASON HAS BEEN FIRED INTO LIFE BY THE LIKELY RECRUITMENT OF WILL BROWN TO REPLACE SHANE VAN GISBERGEN AT TRIPLE EIGHT. ANDREW CLARKE REPORTS ON THE RUMOURS PACING PITLANE WITH NO CLAIM TO ACCURACY...

THE 2024 Supercars grid is set for a significant shake-up in 2024, with Will Brown now likely to step in to replace Shane van Gisbergen at Triple Eight as the threetime champion targets a NASCAR career.

Erebus team boss Barry Ryan would not comment on the possible departure of Brown, but wasn’t overly happy when we spoke with him. Having blooded Brown as a rookie, Ryan was hoping to get more years out of him, but the hot mail is the deal is done and Ryan will look for someone with experience rather than running another rookie.

Van Gisbergen was open in Sydney about his desire to leave, but also said he wouldn’t go without a suitable replacement. Brown fits that bill.

Last year, Brown was rumoured to be headed for Dick Johnson Racing for this season, but he remained with Erebus and is now running second in the title behind his teammate, Brodie Kostecki. We believe the Erebus driver remains under contract, but Erebus has shown little interest in enforcing contracts in the past when drivers have said they want to leave.

Other names tossed up at SMP included Jamie Whincup, but he was always seen by the team he runs as a fall back option. Team Principal Mark Dutton said it is not a bad option having the GOAT up your sleeve.

Richie Stanaway was the pundits favourite for the seat given he is driving with van Gisbergen at Bathurst and Sandown,

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but his prior reputation no doubt created nerves with the team bosses. His first stint in Supercars ended abruptly when he was effectively sacked by Garry Rogers, but those near him since Bathurst last year say he is a very different person today and is ready to fully capitalise on his talent.

With the best open seat in pitlane seemingly filled, attention now turns to other seats.

Van Gisbergen’s performance in Chicago has opened opportunities not just for himself, but for others like Brodie Kostecki and Cam Waters who have an eye to racing in the States, albeit more likely as part-time racers rather than full-time in the shortterm. Waters explosive rant after scoring a dubious 5s penalty that cost him a podium finish in Sydney, has asked more questions that it answered, but he remains contracted to Tickford for 2024.

Here is what we know. Red Bull Ampol Racing, Shell V-Power Racing and Tickford Racing have kind of confirmed drivers for next year, of those only the squad bearing Dick Johnson’s name seems locked down.

At Sydney, Tickford was rumoured to be cutting a deal to sell two of its Teams Racing Charters to Supercars, reducing it to two cars for 2024 instead of the current four.

That would leave a ‘four drivers into two’ scenario with heaps of pressure on Thomas Randle, Declan Fraser and James Courtney.

Tickford rejected the rumours when we checked in.

“We are geared as a four-car team,” part-

owner Sven Burchartz said in Sydney, “and that is how we intend to be next year.”

Regardless of that veiled denial, the rumour mill was running wild. One pitlane pundit suggested the level of debt at Tickford was behind the move, and gave a very large number to which Burchartz laughed. “We all run some form of debt, but it is controlled.”

David Reynolds – on the move? Image: PETER NORTON-EPIC SPORTS PHOTOGRAPHY

Aaron Love – BRT co-drive.

Image: DANIEL KALISZ

WILDCARDS COMPLETE BATHURST GRID

Richie Stanaway – already working with Triple Eight – but not a replacement for SVG? Image: MARK HORSBUGH David Reynolds is apparently on the move to Team 18 to replace Scott Pye, not that Reynolds would admit to anything except that he is keeping his options open for next year. Team 18 team owner Charlie Schwerkolt simply said, “is that so?” when told he was employing the Bathurst winner for 2024.

Matt Payne is under contract in the other Penrite Mustang. It is not clear if the Penrite sponsorship will go with Reynolds again.

Given Reynolds ability to re-invent himself with previous employers, a return to Erebus where he won

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Bathurst is a slim possibility.

Nick Percat is unlikely to retain his Walkinshaw drive, Fabian Coulthard supposedly in the running for a return to the main game while the Clayton squad bides it’s time for Cam Waters availability.

Chaz Mostert is under contract, and team principal Bruce Stewart was confident he is going nowhere.

The teams will all be watching the efforts of Kai Allen and Aaron Love at Sandown and Bathurst as they settle driver line-ups for 2024, with Blanchard Racing Team likely to run two cars if Tickford reduces the size of its squad to three or two.

Blanchard Racing Team is running Love in Super2 and it is not clear yet about its plans for 2024 as it continues its chase for another TRC to expand the operation to two cars.

Tim Blanchard is yet to commit to Todd Hazelwood who is out of contract at the end of the year.

And don’t forget Zak Best who scored a pole position at The Bend when running as a wildcard last year.

Don’t expect any changes at Brad Jones Racing, but the Albury squad is notoriously late in telling everyone what they already know.

Drivers with the heat on them include those mentioned above, plus Tim Slade and James Golding at PremiAir. Mark Winterbottom, Jack Le Broc, Cam Hill, Payne, Broc Feeney, Anton De Pasquale and Will Davison didn’t feature in any of the rumours, but The Bend is this weekend and everything could change.

Brodie Kostecki has only been spoken about as a departure should he win the title, then he may head Stateside with van Gisbergen. A lot depends on this weekend in Indianapolis.

We lay no claim to the accuracy of the above, we’re just telling you what we’ve heard ...

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THE MAKE-UP of the 60th anniversary Bathurst 1000 grid is set, with the addition of two Ford wildcards.

Both Dick Johnson Racing and Blanchard Racing Team have turned to the department of youth to power their respective wildcard entries.

DJR has turned to exciting Mount Gambier teenager Kai Allen, while Blanchard Racing has promoted Super2 youngster Aaron Love. Both are beneficiaries of the recent Superlicence tweak.

DJR will field more than two Fords for the first time since 2012 with Allen and the returning Simona De Silvestro.

De Silvestro is ending a four-year hiatus from Supercars since her last full-time season with Kelly Racing in 2019.

In that time the Swiss-Italian driver has raced GTs in Europe and made five IndyCar starts, whilst performing reserve and development duties for Porsche’s factory Formula E team.

But Mount Panorama kept calling and de Silvestro jumped at the chance to make a sixth ‘Great Race’ start, admitting there is “unfinished business” behind the comeback.

“There is always unfinished business,” de Silvestro said.

“When I look back at my career in Supercars I felt I developed quite well, but the car I was in was not able to be where it maybe have should have been.

“COVID had a lot to do with it and it was always on my mind to come back to Bathurst after I left the series and I wanted to get the right opportunity.

“So coming back to Bathurst is one thing, but to do it this team is definitely the right opportunity.”

De Silvestro also said “never say never” at the prospect of this wildcard being an audition for a full-time return.

Sharing the #98 Mustang will be a driver at the other end of the experience spectrum in Allen, who is almost half the age of his co-pilot.

Despite showing great speed in Super3 and

winning in just his third round of Super2, he will make his Supercars debut with just four rounds of second tier experience.

However, the composed teen is full of excitement and has vowed he will be ready for the step up.

“It is such a cool opportunity and I cannot wait to get out there and have a crack,” Allen said.

“I cannot ask for much more for my first Bathurst 1000 drive. It is only my second year in a Supercar, so I am still learning every time I drive the car, but I have such an experienced team behind me. It will be good to get a few test miles under my belt.”

One of Allen’s Super2 rivals Love will make his Supercars debut after just three Super2 rounds as Blanchard Racing doubles in size to include the wildcard.

Unlike DJR, BRT’s wildcard will take part in both enduros and Love described the promotion as “surreal.”

“I am really looking forward to the new opportunity to race in the main series and it’ll definitely feel surreal come Sandown, and especially Bathurst,” said Love.

‘It’ll be another new challenge but I’m really looking forward to taking it on.”

Alongside him will be another returning driver on Jake Kostecki.

Kostecki will return to Supercars for the first time since he lost his Tickford full-time drive on the eve of the 2023 season.

His wildcard co-drive was opened up by Tim Blanchard’s decision to take on a 13th Great Race alongside Todd Hazelwood in the flagship #3 CoolDrive Ford.

It will be a full circle moment for Hazelwood, who made his Supercars endurance debut alongside Blanchard in 2017.

The wildcard announcements complete the Great Race grid with the placement of the Grove Racing co-drivers, Garth Tander and Kevin Estre, the only piece of the puzzle left. Thomas Miles

2023 SUPERCARS ENDURANCE COMBINATIONS #2 Nick Percat/Fabian Coulthard #3 Todd Hazelwood/Tim Blanchard #4 Jack Smith/Jaxon Evans #5 James Courtney/Zak Best #6 Cam Waters/James Moffat #8 Andre Heimgartner/Dale Wood #11 Anton De Pasquale/Tony D’Alberto #14 Bryce Fullwood/Dean Fiore #18 Mark Winterbottom/Michael Caruso #19 Matt Payne/Garth Tander/Kevin Estre* #20 Scott Pye/Warren Luff #23 Tim Slade/Jonathon Webb #25 Chaz Mostert/Lee Holdsworth

#26 David Reynolds/Garth Tander/Kevin Estre* #31 James Golding/Dylan O’Keeffe #34 Jack Le Brocq/Jayden Ojeda #35 Cameron Hill/Jaylyn Robotham #55 Thomas Randle/Garry Jacobson #56 Declan Fraser/Tyler Everingham #88 Broc Feeney/Jamie Whincup #96 Macauley Jones/Jordan Boys #97 Shane van Gisbergen/Richie Stanaway #98 Simona De Silvestro/Kai Allen #888 Craig Lowndes/Zane Goddard #TBA Jake Kostecki/Aaron Love

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Both driver and team boss (below) are frustrated, but believe they’re getting closer to the dominant Camaros. Images: MARK HORSBURGH

FORD’S PARITY PUZZLE SOLVED?

TESTING AT SYDNEY MOTORSPORT PARK DURING A POST-EVENT RIDE DAY HAS UNCOVERED SOME SOLUTIONS TO CLAIMED PROBLEMS WITH THE COYOTE SUPERCARS ENGINE. BUT TICKFORD’S TIM EDWARDS ISSUES A CAUTION IF ANYONE THINKS THAT ALONE IS THE ANSWER. ANDREW CLARKE REPORTS. BOTH CAM Waters and Chaz Mostert are said to be happier with the Gen3 Mustang after testing during the ride day on the Monday after the Sydney Motorsport Park race meeting.

Despite a raft of physical changes to the engine and some aero tweaking, along with comments from Supercars which indicated there may be no ‘silver bullet’ for the Ford, the fix appears to be quite simple.

The pair tested among other things a new engine map for the car – which is believed to have been done by Supercars engine tester and longtime engine builder Paul Hasted in conjunction with Herrod Performance Engines – dealing with ‘engine braking’ issues which are believed to be one factor creating instability at the rear of the pony car under braking.

The Mustang has reportedly been losing downforce when the car pitches under braking, a factor of aerodynamics, mechanical set-up and the engine braking. The new map has solved 80% of the engine braking issues, according to our sources within the unofficial test, although Tickford’s Tim Edwards was less equivocal.

“There wasn’t just a new map; there were a few different things,” Edwards said. “Both Craig Hasted and Bobby (Ervin) were there and, from a parity point of view, there was some more testing and trying a few things.

“It is no different to what we were doing in the past. You’re always trying to refine it. Some drivers are having more of an issue than others [with the engine braking], so it’s just one of those things

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we would have tuned for the drivers but we can’t do that now.

“Cam tried it and noticed a little bit of an improvement, but these are all tiny little things and it was just to do with a bit of how the engine behaves on deceleration.”

Edwards said the issues at the rear of the Mustang was a complex set of inter-related factors, and that fixing one alone was not ging to create parity. The instability under pitch when braking has led to measurably extra tyre wear at the rear of the Fords.

He says there is no silver bullet, but they’ll keep working with Supercars to find a solution.

“That instability is what Supercars unearthed through their CFD study.

Whether it’s the engine, whether it’s the aero or whether it’s the mechanical setup of the car – maybe it is all of the above. Unfortunately the car is just very unstable under braking.

“All we know is it is losing aero when the car pitches under brakes and there’s a whole sequence of things that come in simultaneously. The way the engine decelerates, as you take your foot off the throttle and you’re blipping the throttle, feeds into it.

“The engine mapping is just one of the things to tick off the list. There’s been a few complaints about the way the engine is under deceleration, so we said let’s try a few different things, and that’s what they did. I think both of the WAU guys ran it, and Cam ran it, I don’t know anyone else but there’s different parts to it.

“They were trying different things and not everything worked.”

Edwards said it was good that Supercars undertook the testing on the ride day at SMP, saying the only way to test any theory is on the track.

“I don’t know if there’s anything negative about it, but Cam didn’t feel it

changed his world. I don’t know whether it’s going to be implemented or not – it’s just something they’re evaluating. But it’s such a minor thing that it if they implement it, great; if they don’t, it is not a big thing.

“All we know is that we’re struggling with the car and we’ve just got to keep chipping away at it and try and find what the issue is – which is what we’re doing.”

Edwards spoke about how hard it has been to keep morale up inside the team, including his driver who went on an expletive-ridden rant after the Saturday night race, saying it is hard when you know you can’t win a championship.

“Everybody’s sort-of a bit down in the dumps – we came into this season thinking that we’d have a good crack at the championship. Then you start ticking off the rounds one after another and you realise that the championship’s not going to be in our grasp.

“It takes away the lustre of those things. We’re not here to just make up the numbers; we’re here to win the championship and so he’s upset,” Edwards added, referring to Waters. “He’s frustrated and so am I. Unfortunately at the moment, it’s a big ask for us to win the championship.

“To be fair, we were pretty close on Saturday night – we had the car speed on the track to finish second, so it’s not a train wreck. I think we’re closer now than we were a few months ago, so it’s not all lost.

“Bathurst is always the jewel in the crown and we’re going to go there to try and get some silverware, just as we will with The Bend and Sandown ...

‘GUTFUL’ OF POLITICS PUSHED McLAUGHLIN TO THE STATES SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN says a combination of having a ‘gutful’ of Supercars politics and opportunity lay behind his move the States, with his disenchantment beginning as early as his Volvo days, but accelerated when the Mustang first hit the track.

Looking on from afar and now from the outside, the three-time Supercars champion said it is a shame that the parity fight is detracting from things like, for example, Jack Le Brocq’s recent win in Darwin.

He also said when Ford and DJR built the first Mustang for Supercars racing, they did nothing Holden hadn’t done prior.

“The Volvo, effectively, was a good aero car. And then FG X went even better. And then the ZB, they went even more. And then that’s when we’re, like, ‘Well, we’ll play by your rules as well.’ And boom, the Mustang came out, and they’ve just had a war ever since. It’s been escalating. They’ve only got themselves to blame,” he says of the main players in the Supercars world.

“It hurt the sport, which is the sucky part.

But for me, as a fan watching on, the last thing you want to hear is when someone wins a race, like a Jack Le Brocq or someone like that, you don’t want that to be tainted with what it has been.

“I went through it, but I don’t care. But for someone like Jack Le Brocq, who hasn’t won that much, and he’s won his second race, what an awesome story. Instead of focusing on that and pumping up the sport, they’re focusing on the negativity of it, which is terrible. It’s terrible for the sport, and it’s sad. It really is sad.

“I’m not afraid to say it because it genuinely upsets me, because it’s a sport that I grew up loving. But it’s very political, which is really disappointing. And it pushes the love for the sport out, that’s for sure.”

In Part II of his exclusive AA interview, starting on page 32, McLaughlin also touches on life in the US and what it would require to get him back for another Bathurst run.

Image: MOTORSPORT IMAGES

FULLWOOD FINDING HIS FEET AT BJR BRYCE FULLWOOD IS CLOSE TO A BREAKOUT SEASON, THE DARWINIAN NOW DELIVERING ON THE PROMISE AT BRAD JONES RACING. ANDREW CLARKE REPORTS ...

HE MAY not have won a race like Jack Le Brocq, but the form of Brad Jones Racing’s Bryce Fullwood has been one of the revelations of the season. Fullwood has been close to the podium a few times this year and is now a regular inside the top 10 and runs ninth in the series.

He finished third on the track at the Grand Prix but lost his second podium in the series with a 15 second penalty for contact in pitlane with Declan Fraser when he was released into the Ford rookie’s path.

“He’s doing an awesome job; he’s really happy with the way he’s going,” Brad Jones said at Sydney Motorsport Park after Fullwood finished fourth.

“Our target for him this year was to get into the top 10 and that’s what he’s doing.”

After an indifferent first year with BJR, Jones says Fullwood has clicked as part of the team, with his engineer and the new car.

“It’s like learning a new language when you get a new engineer, so it’s taken them a while to find their feet. And as it does when that happens, he’s on track for exactly what we expected.

“I think a podium is coming. He just needs

Image: BJR/PACE IMAGES to keep his head down and keep on aiming for top 10s and then the speed will come.

“We don’t have massive expectations for him other than to finish in the top 10 of the championship and if he can achieve that and get a podium along the way, well great.

If he doesn’t, it won’t affect it in any way, shape or form.

“I expected at some point he’d be able to run in the top 10, so I think he’s on track.

“I’ve known Bryce for a long time. We used to see him at the kart races when

The Auto Action motorsport podcast The team that’s not trying to make friends or look after sponsors!

I was there with Macca. He was always pretty quick. He didn’t do much at Walkinshaw really, but I think it’s a pretty different place at BJR and it probably suits him.”

Jones said it is good having two cars regularly in the top 10 again, but that doesn’t change the way the Albury team goes racing.

“It makes it a little more pleasant getting out of bed in the morning. We’ve got a great group of people at the moment and the new car has been a reset for everyone and I’m pretty happy with where we are, but I’ve also been doing it long enough to know that it can change very quickly.

“So I’m just appreciating the success we’re having at the moment and we’re working very hard at being able to stay on top of things.”

Fullwood has a finishing average of 11.4 for the season but would have 10.6 if not for the 15 second penalty at the Grand Prix weekend. Significantly, his has beaten team leader Andre Heimgartner seven times out of 19 this year.

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GEN3 HOMOLOGATION TEAMS FEELING THE TOLL

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SVG PICKS UP AN OVAL GIG IN ADDITION to getting back in the #91 Trackhouse Racing Camaro this week, Shane van Gisbergen will add a drive in the #41 Worldwide Express Chevrolet pickup (above), in the minor league Craftsman Truck Series for Niece Motorsports on Friday, August 11.

Importantly, the 200-lap truck race at Indianapolis Raceway Park’s 1.1km short track (right) north west of downtown Indianapolis, in Brownsburg Indiana, will be the 34-year-old’s first proper oval experience, kicking off a busy week for SVG in the Hoosier state.

He’ll then return to the Cup Series on August 13 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course, with fellow Supercars driver Brodie Kostecki also joining him on track in the Richard Childress Racing Camaro for a Supercars Brickyard Invasion.

“The weekend will certainly be a challenge,” said Van Gisbergen.

“I’ve seen the trucks race on television and know it’s very competitive and that I’ll have a lot to learn on a short track at IRP. “I’m used to doing doubleheaders in Supercars, but this will be a little bit different. I’m honoured to join Niece Motorsports and thrilled at getting a chance to climb in a truck.”

Van Gisbergen is joining the successful Niece team, whose 20-year-old driver Carson Hocevar became the first truck series driver to win three races this season when he won the Worldwide Express 250 at Richmond Raceway last week.

Niece Motorsports general manager Cody Efaw is “honoured” to welcome SVG into the outfit, with drivers like Ross Chastain, IndyCar’s Conor Daly, and Travis Pastrana have also also driven for them 2023.

“We are so excited and so honoured to have Shane drive for us at IRP,” said Niece Motorsports General Manager Cody Efaw.

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Image: INDIANAPOLIS RACEWAY PARK “He’s a legend in Australia and New Zealand, but what he did at Chicago has everyone in America talking about his talent. We will help him experience oval racing and I am guessing we will learn a lot from him as well.”

The truck series start marks the latest step of what appears to be just the start of van Gisbergen’s American dream, and he should warm to the Pickup’s quite well, as they are of similar power to the Gen7 NASCARs, also Running a 358 cubic inch, naturally aspirated, 5.9L V8 engine.

But they are very different to drive none-the-less, featuring an H pattern shift rather than the sequential shift on a Gen7.

After SVG caused a stir amongst the American racing community, some recent opinions included those of NASCAR veteran and two-time Daytona 500 winner Dale Earnhardt Junior.

Speaking on his Podcast, The Dale Jr. Download, the North Carolina native feels SVG is now under immense pressure to run at the front at Indianapolis, given he’s expressed his desire to race in the Cup Series next year. ”The pressure’s on. He needs to go to Indy and back it up,” Earnhardt Jr said.

“He needs to lead laps and challenge

for the win … if he runs fifth, that ain’t good enough to warrant all the effort that will have to take place to get him over here in that full-time deal … he’s going to be challenged at the ovals for a while. I doubt it comes naturally.

The oval scenario in America is a bit of a tri-faced monster, with short-tracks like at Martinsville, Richmond, and Bristol, to the intermediate tracks such as in Texas, Charlotte, and Vegas, and then there’s the superspeedway like Talladega and Daytona, with the Talladega measuring around 4.2km’s long with common speeds of around 320 km/h, whilst somewhere like Martinsville is a half mile measuring at 0.8km, with a much lower average speed, around 145-50 km/h.

SVG will be taking on a short track in the third tier national series, a begining series for a lot of young drivers, with lots of veterans there as well.

It’s a fairly flat oval at the Motorsport Park where he’ll drive, with not too much banking.

There will also be a lot of bump-andrun style of racing with a lot of rubbing, which is common on ovals in the Truck Series, and something that he’d experience a lot of when/if he takes on Ovals in NASCAR next season.

TW Neal

GEN3 HAS taken its toll on every team in the Supercars pit lane, but homologation teams Triple Eight Race Engineering and Dick Johnson Racing have especially felt the pinch and the numbers prove it.

Making Gen3 happen in time for the February test at Sydney Motorsport Park and the season opening Newcastle 500 was a mighty effort for all 11 teams, but the hard work did not stop there.

This is mainly down to the ongoing parity problem that has clouded the maiden Gen3 season led by a rear aero change to the Mustangs prior to Townsville.

Whilst Gen3 promised to promote a more even playing field across the board and has delivered, with Team 18 and Matt Stone Racing securing maiden wins, the homologation teams themselves have gone backwards.

Between 2018 and 2022 DJR and Triple Eight had won 82 percent of the 155 races, leaving just 28 for the rest.

So far in 2023 it has been different story with the dominant pair only recording 47 percent of the 19 wins so far.

Triple Eight has done the heavy lifting as DJR’s sole triumph was delivered by Anton De Pasquale on the streets of Townsville.

With their winning percentage almost being slashed in half, both Triple Eight’s Jamie Whincup and DJR’s Ben Croke admitted the pressures of being the homologation team has taken its toll.

“I don’t know how much it has impacted our performance, but it has absolutely overwhelmed the whole team,” Whincup said.

“Three quarters of what we do is either building a car or homologating it. There are two dozen high-factor things on the cards that we want to improve, but that is the cost of the parity debate. “All we have done this year is try to align the parity.

“All our high-quality engineers have spent most of their time working with Supercars on parity and we can’t wait to see the back of it, so we can make it better.

“We are very proud to be the homologation team and we did not dream of still homologating these cars in the middle of July.

“I am sure Ben shares the same pain, but we have to fix it for the good of the sport.”

“We are also very proud of being the homologation team and are probably in a slightly worse situation with the Ford because the new model did not get released until September last year,” Croke confirmed.

“So we had to design two sets of bodywork with the last in a very short period of time, so for us to say it did not have an affect, you would have to say it probably did.

“The product we have got now is pretty good, but it has been very overwhelming and taken its toll.”

Thomas Miles

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TARGA TASMANIA WILL GO AHEAD IN 2024 WITHOUT MOTORSPORT AUSTRALIA THE CEO of Targa Tasmania, Mark Perry, says Targa has cut its ties with Motorsport Australia and will run next April – but will adopt nearly all of the recommendations from the recent safety review into fatalities in previous events.

Motorsport Australia has declared it will not sanction the running of Targa Tasmania in 2024 despite the event organisers issuing a road book and course map for the event, but that will not stop the organisers from pushing ahead with another sanctioning body.

Following a war of words between Targa’s Perry and Motorsport Australia’s Eugene Arroca, as reported on Page 15, Perry spoke exclusively with Auto Action publisher Bruce Williams as part of a bigger story in the next issue.

During the interview, the Targa Australia CEO said they were left with no option but to proceed without Motorsport Australia, and they are confident they have a mandate to get the event running again despite the tardiness of MA. “We’ve definitely got the support of the competitors and, in fact, we’ve been bringing them out of the dark in recent weeks,” Perry said. “They have been completely forgotten about this entire process. They’re members of Motorsport Australia, every single one of them, and they have been kept in the dark for too long.

“We had a lot of legal reasons that meant we couldn’t speak for a long time, but in recent weeks we’ve been able to speak and I think the competitors have welcomed that and seen that we have been in the dark as much as they have. The reality is we’re

STOP PRESS SUPERCARS DELEGATION HEADS TO THE BRICKYARD

working through our options.

“Never lose sight of the fact that Targa Australia is a proprietary limited company and has a right to do business in this country and has a right to do business in how it sees TARGA CEO Mark Perry Image: LORETTA fit. The history LOHBERGER-ABC NEWS of it may have been the sport has been run under various waiting for MA to do the same. sanctioning bodies and there are more than “There was a review done after the two now. triple fatality in 2021, and there were 23 “People talk about MA and the AASA recommendations from that first safety (Australian Auto-sport Alliance), but there review done by the same panel who did are other options, but like every other the second one. Once we split them up, 17 business, you seek the services you need. were either designated to us or we had to “We’re a very big company, an implement, which we did and we happily international company, so we’ve been did. scouring the world to find the best options “The other six were around licensing to not only ensure Targa runs next year but and training and broader governing body for many years to come. requirements.”

“We can’t come up with a short-term He said the majority of the 94 solution; this will all take time and hence recommendations from the second report why we have a lot of support to move that were under the auspices of Targa forward and get the event back up and Australia would be implemented, but that running again with a long-term future and some, such as the tour speed, may not be not just a one-off option.” acceptable to either Targa or its competitors He added that Motorsport Australia has and required further review. been slow in reacting to the report into He assured Auto Action the 2024 event recent fatalities in Targa Tasmania, but that will proceed in April as planned. his organisation was implementing all the The full interview with Perry will run in recommendations in its power and was still the next issue.

A SUPERCARS delegation headed

by Shane Howard is heading to Indianapolis this weekend for the double header Brickyard meeting with IndyCars and NASCARs. The purpose of the visit is not support Shane van Gisbergen and Brodie Kostecki as they take on the Good Old Boys, rather it is a factfinding mission with NASCAR and to have meetings with Chevrolet and Ford to shore up its future.

Ford has issued threats about its long-term future in the sport during the ongoing parity war, while Chevrolet’s future is uncertain with the Camaro being discontinued past the sixth-generation model presently run in Supercars.

Production ceases in 2024.

Ford meanwhile is rumoured to have withdrawn its supply of support vehicles to Supercars, which includes the Safety Car and medical intervention vehicles.

Neither Ford nor Supercars would comment.

The relationship between Ford and Supercars has become strained this year, with Ford Performance boss Mark Rushbrook calling for greater transparency on the supply of data for both the Mustang and Camaro so the blue oval can find a cure for its parity disadvantage.

He said there was no point in racing if there was no ability for the Mustang to win.

Supercars is hoping a face-to-face meeting can help get to a resolution quicker than fighting a war in the media. Andrew Clarke.

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SUPER3 STAR TO RACE McLAREN SUPER3 SERIES leader Cameron McLeod will add a McLaren to his diverse racing resume in the GT4 Australia round at Queensland Raceway this weekend.

McLeod will share a McLaren 570S at the ‘Paperclip’ with Trans Am racer Chris Pappas, who will both be newcomers to the category.

They will not be the only GT4 Australia newcomers at Queensland Raceway, with Todd O’Brien and Antonio Basile driving a Ginetta G55.

McLeod has made a massive impression after just three rounds at Super3 level with four wins and five pole positions.

Not only has McLeod started strongly in the Supercars pathway, but he has also raced at the Bathurst 12 Hour, Formula Ford in Australia and at the Dubai 24 Hour race.

Pappas is looking forward to sharing the McLaren with the youngster.

“Co-driving with Cameron is something I am really happy about,” Pappas said.

“He is a really fast and up and coming driver, so I am keen to get in the car and go racing with him.”

Like McLeod, Pappas is a fresh face to the GT4 Australia championship but, unlike his younger teammate, he has never shared a car in an enduro and is excited to take on new challenges.

“We have only just got the car and, being mid-engined, it will be quite a bit different to the front-engine I am used to driving, so it will be about getting a feel of the car,” he said.

“I have also never gone enduro racing, so with two one-hour races and a two-hour race, that is going to be really exciting.

“Basically, I am going to be doing a lot of things next weekend that I have not done before, and I am so excited to get into it.”

Queensland Raceway will host the third round of the GT4 Australia championship on August 11-13.

Thomas Miles

Image: DANIEL KALISZ/ARG

SIMPSON AND BROOK READY FOR TRANS AM COMEBACKS

JAMES SIMPSON and Tim Brook will make long awaited returns to National Trans Am racing at Queensland Raceway this weekend.

Simpson has been out of action since the Symmons Plains opener when he a collision with Ben Grice sent his Dodge airborne.

There will also be many eyes on Brook, who will end a one-year hiatus from the category with a one-off appearance at the ‘Paperclip’.

Before financial constraints meant he had to finish his 2022 season early, he was a regular front runner taking two wins at Tasmania and a hat-trick of Bathurst podiums.

Having fought for wins in a Ford Mustang, Brook will be driving a Dodge Challenger in 2023.

He has not completely hung up the helmet, having enjoyed TA2 success and has made it clear he is not returning “just to make up the numbers”.

“It should be grouse, and I’m really looking forward to it,” Brook said.

“My last time in Trans Am was this round last year at Queensland Raceway, so it’s been a while between drinks and I’m looking forward to it.

“The change to the Dodge comes quite naturally, I drove it for the first time prior to our round at QR last year, it all seems pretty similar with only a few minor differences.

“We are not turning up just to make the numbers, we want to go as well as we can

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Youngster Simpson has not been seen since since his high-speed flip at Symmons Plains where he collected the back of a slowmoving Ben Grice.

The impact sent Simpson barrel-rolling into the pit straight catchfence and, while he jumped out of the car, his Challenger was the worse for wear.

The team had to order an entirely new chassis from Howe Racing in the United States and, with the car only arriving in the last month, it had no choice, but to miss the races at Phillip Island and Winton.

Simpson admitted it has been tough sitting on the sidelines, which is why he is eager to get back behind the wheel at the

familiar QR ‘Paperclip’.

“I’m really looking forward to getting back out on track; you don’t realise how addicted you are to motorsport until you can’t actually do it,” Simpson said.

“I thought having a little bit of a break wouldn’t be too bad but I’m super keen to get back in the car.

“It couldn’t really be any better than returning at my home circuit. I know the track like the back of my hand and I’ve done plenty of laps there in the past.

“It’s good that my first round back will be somewhere I’m comfortable with and I’m confident of getting a good result.”

Trans Am returns at Queensland Raceway for three races this weekend.

Thomas Miles

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SLADE JOINS TCR FIELD THE SUPERCHEAP Auto TCR Australia field at Queensland Raceway will have some extra Supercars flavour with Tim Slade joining the field.

The PremiAir Racing driver will return to the category racing for Ashley Seward Motorsport in the new Lynk & Co machine.

A vacancy has been opened with regular driver Tom Oliphant flying to England to get married.

The British-born Oliphant is a driver in form having scored a breakthrough win at the last round in Winton.

But it presents an opportunity for Slade to re-establish his connection with Ashley Seward Motorsport which started in 2020 when he completed a test session.

The two-time Supercars race winner raced TCR at Bathurst last year and finished a solid sixth on debut.

Slade will drive the Lynk & Co 03 TCR which makes a comeback after it missed the Winton round.

He already has a test session under his belt and is looking forward to the new challenge.

“I really enjoyed the test day in the Lynk & Co and working with Ashley Seward who’s pretty switched on when it comes to preparing a car and the setup side of things,” said Slade.

“I first worked with Ash back when I first moved to Melbourne, so we go back a fair way, and his standard is extremely high with everything he does. That was part of the enjoyment on the test day, just the level he goes to with it all.

“With Supercars running 12 rounds and only two or three test days it’s beneficial to find seat time in other categories and I enjoyed the TCR competition last year, it’s good hard and close racing.

“Thanks to Tom, Ash and the team for the opportunity to have a drive, we’ll extract the most from ourselves and maximise our results.” Thomas Miles

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D’ALBERTO SECURES NEW TCR HONDA RIDE REIGNING TCR champion Tony D’Alberto and Wall Racing will have the new Honda Civic Type R FL5 TCR ahead of the Aussie TCR World Tour events.

The brand new TCR Honda from Honda’s homologation team JAS Motorsport, will make its Australian debut for the latter rounds of the 2023 Supercheap Auto TCR Australia Series, as well as the SMP and Bathurst rounds of the World Tour.

Internationally, the new Type R FL5 has been a consistent frontrunner with its updated exterior giving it more downforce, a new chassis for enhanced cornering stability, greater driver safety, and an updated brake package and new transmission.

D’Alberto is looking to reignite his season, although his seventh place is seventh in a very tight championship, and is only a strong weekend away from being back in contention.

“It’s great for Wall Racing, Honda and myself to have a brand-new Civic Type R enter the series,” said D’Alberto.

“From Honda Australia’s point of view it makes a lot more sense to be racing the car that is based on the FL5 road

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car. You don’t get many opportunities to race new cars in your career so it will be really special to debut this car.

“We have been in regular conversations with Nestor and JAS Motorsport, and from all reports, the new Civic is just a little nicer in all areas, so I really can’t wait to get my hands on it.”

With fellow Wall Racing entry and rookie Brad Harris continuing in the Civic Type R FK8 TCR, it’s likely that

D’Alberto’s current car will go towards a third team entry.

Team owner David Wall says that taking hold of a current spec car in its formative life-cycle is the ideal scenario.

“Having the new Honda Civic Type R TCR is a very exciting proposition,” Wall explained.

“It’s great for our team that we can upgrade to the current spec car at the start of the model’s lifecycle and we are looking forward to having it for the tail end of the season.

“Wall Racing was one of the first teams to commit to TCR, and now we are in the next phase, bringing a new car in, which is great news for all parties.

“The plan for our team is to return to three Honda TCR entries. For us, it’s the perfect number and we hope to make another announcement on this in the near future.”

The next TCR round is on August 11-13 at the Queensland Raceway, a happy hunting ground for D’Alberto where he took vital two wins last season which helped elevate him into successful contention for his maiden championship.

TW Neal

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THE FLASH STICKS WITH TEKWORKX PORSCHE

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Image: MARK HORSBURGH

MIGHTY REBUILD AFTER REYNOLDS’ 38G SHUNT GROVE RACING burnt the midnight oil during a massive rebuilt to ensure David Reynolds could race on Sunday of the Sydney SuperNight.

A sudden front suspension failure at nearly 200km/h sent the #26 Mustang into the concrete on the entry to Turn 9.

Reynolds’ impact with the wall was registered at 38G and the team worked all the way to 5am Sunday morning to get the car rebuilt.

Reynolds “hugged everyone” after the team’s “worldclass” performance and gave his crew something to cheer about by qualifying eighth, but got in a firstcorner tangle with Will Brown.

Steven Richards heads the field when Supercars last visited Canberra, in 2002 Image: MOTORSPORT IMAGES

NASH MORRIS will return for a second straight round of the Porsche Sprint Challenge Australia Series after his stellar one-make debut at Sydney Motorsport Park at the Sydney SuperNight event.

Australia’s Swiss-army knife racer, or ‘The Flash’ as he’s otherwise known, has had a strong year at national level, enjoying wins in GT4, national Trans Am, as well as in the TA2 Muscle Car Series to go along with his Super2 campaign.

His debut for the strong TekworkX motorsport team saw him take two victories and a pole to finish second overall behind his teammate Aron Shields, who took his first ever round win after Morris was sluggish from pole in the finale.

“I enjoyed it thoroughly, I love the category,” said Morris, the son of 2014 Bathurst winner Paul ‘The Dude’ Morris.

“Everyone is in the same car which makes it a real driver’s

championship. Aron did a great job – we raced pretty hard in all three races. I made a little mistake in Race 3 unfortunately, but it’s cool to still be second for the round.”

The 20-year-old will be back in the #67 Gen II GT3 this weekend, joining a field of 24 cars in the Queensland Raceway fourth round of the season on as it ticks over the halfway mark.

Heading to the Ipswich ‘paperclip’ circuit, young Kiwi rising star Marco Giltrap remains in the Pro class lead with another consistent weekend after taking a podium in Race 2 to go with his two P4s.

The Team Porsche New Zealand/ EBM teenager heads a rampaging Kiwi 1-2-3 in the standings, holding a healthy 105-point buffer over Sonic Racing’s Rohan Murphy, with Giltrap’s teammate Zac Stichbury 34 points back on Murphy.

Shields enters Ipswich in fourth place following his podium sweep, only four points from Stichbury,

whilst Bob Jane T-marts youngster Harrison Goodman is 10 points back in fifth after being outside the top-10 in the final two SMP races, his only time out of the top-10.

One driver to watch closely at the QR will be young Grove driver Oscar Targett, who will enter his home race after a brilliant start to his national career, taking three podiums in his first six races with a worst finish of eighth.

Like Giltrap, the 17-year-old seems to have an innate and natural awareness on the track, and with the backing of the Grove Group, he’s an exciting talent for the future.

In the Pro Am side of things, Sam Shahin holds a comfortable 123 lead over Matt Slavin after six of the nine class wins this season, whilst it’s a logjam down to Brett Boulton in fifth, with Andrew Goldie and Richard Cowen holding third and fourth respectively. TW Neal

#67 Morris shared the wins with teammate Shields (following) in Sydney.

Image: PORSCHE SUPPLIED

CANBERRA COMEBACK SHUT DOWN HOPES OF Supercars racing on the streets of Canberra for the first time since 2002 have been shut down by ACT chief minister Andrew Barr.

In 2021 a ‘secret plan’ for Supercars to race in the capital again emerged, with a track at Exhibition Park rather than the original twisty street track that ran around the Parliamentary Triangle between 20002002. But Barr told the Canberra Times he slammed the brakes on the proposal. “The assessment from the directorate was that it did not stack up,” he said.

“It would have required significant investment from the territory government in infrastructure at Exhibition Park that we are not in a position to make.”

Although one of the project leaders Russell Avis was disappointed, he “still believes in the idea”.

Image: MARK HORSBURGH

TEAMS MAKE USE OF RIDE DAY SUPERCARS TEAMS stayed on an extra day at Sydney Motorsport Park to conduct ride days for fans, which doubled as a mini Gen3 test session.

Teams took the opportunity to give co-drivers extra laps to get used to the new Gen3 machinery, while Triple Eight tried to unpack Shane van Gisbergen’s recent steering dramas.

They performed a successful chassis swap to the wildcard Camaro at the Sydney SuperNight and believed it had fixed the issue.

But this could only be determined after they used the old chassis at the ride day, heightening its importance.

12 I www.autoaction.com.au

ONBOARD FIRE SYSTEMS TO BECOME MANDATORY MOTORSPORT AUSTRALIA will soon confirm plans for a change to the safety regulations for circuit racing vehicles competing at all national level events.

The change is centred around fire safety with the introduction of a compulsory onboard and plumbed-in fire system for all race vehicles competing at national level circuit racing events.

The change is expected to be made compulsory for the start of next year (2024) across all national level series.

Under the current Motorsport Australia regulations, very few categories actually need to have any form of fire extinguisher carried inside the car.

The requirement for a single fire extinguisher to be carried in the car at national level events was removed many years ago, however the Toyota 86 Series is one category that continues to have small hand-held extinguishers fitted to the floor of the car.

Top level categories such as Supercars, GT and Porsche Carrera Cup all have onboard systems fitted as part of their regulations, and, although not mandated, many competitors choose to fit these

safer onboard systems themselves.

The changes to the regulations will affect all Production cars, Toyota 86s, Aussie Racing Cars, Sports Sedans and Touring Car Masters to name a few.

The regulations will mandate the minimum fitment of a system that is homologated on the FIA technical List 16 System.

Typically these systems have a pressurised bottle mounted in the car with around 2.0 to 3.0 litres of fire retardant compound, sometimes liquid, sometimes a form of oxygen depleting gas. From the mounted bottle, plumbed-in lines deliver fire Image: FOX SPORTS retardant to key areas such as the engine bay and driver’s compartment. Pressured bottles have to be serviced every two years and replaced every 10 years.

These systems can be both manually and electrically activated from both inside and outside the vehicles and make for a much safer environment for competitors.

While this significant improvement in safety will come at a cost, it is believed that systems which comply to the FIA list 16 can be purchased from around $600.

CALDER PARK’S COMEBACK COMPLETE Cars have been testing at Calder for some weeks already.

Below: Dale White’s Bud NASCAR. Images: SDPICS.COM

THIS WEEKEND will be one to remember in Australian motorsport as Calder Park completes its comeback.

For the first time in 5530 days a state-level race meeting will be held and the series reviving the famous track is the Victorian Motor Racing Championships.

This will be fitting, given that the same championship played host to the last race meeting at ‘Australia’s home of Motorsport’.

On the weekend of June 21-22 2008 the BMW E30, Super TT, Porsche 944, Under 2-Litre Sports Sedans, MG, Formula Vee and BMW Regularity VMRC categories were all on show.

Fast forward to 2023 and some of those same championships will be charging over Bob’s Hill once again.

Leading the pack will be 15 2-Litre Sports Sedans and the Super TT Championship which will rewrite their respective Calder Park record books.

Meanwhile, Stock Cars Australia, Victorian Formula Racing Series, Victorian Hyundai Excel Championship Trophy and Masters series will start new chapters.

Ever since Auto Action revelealed Calder Park was on the comeback trail in October of 2022, a power of work has been done to get the track race-ready.

One of the people at the heart of the work to return to racing has been Calder Park Raceway venue manager Rowan Harman, who admits it will be an

emotional time to see cars racing this weekend: “It is good to see Calder Park coming back,” he told Auto Action.

“Calder Park is an icon of motorsport in Australia. It is where a lot of people would have started their racing journey and has a huge history with the Thunderdome.

“The small, but dedicated crew are excitedand we have put in the hours and are very excited.

“First steps were taken about 10 months ago in October last year. The directive was ‘lets get the track back to a licensable form for both sanctioning bodies (AASA and MA).’

“The track was actually in pretty good condition and no worse than other circuits in the country.

“We have had to concentrate on things like run-off areas, bringing those up to the latest specification, and tyre walls.

“The track has recently been signed off by AASA track inspectors.”

Whilst the finish line to get the track promoted to a MA Level 2 License is still to come, there are no doubts the track will be ready for action.

Much of the work has been focused on the enlargement of gravel traps at Turns 1 and 6 and the AASA inspectors given it the green light, with several test and tune days run with over 60 cars on the iconic 2.2km track already.

“We will continue as we work towards our

MA level 2/Category B licensing by putting new conveyor belt protection in and additional gravel traps,” Harman said.

“But for the Level 3 license we are running at the moment we have had some successful track days out here run by Drive Events.

“The last one we had nearly 60 people out here, so we have had plenty of test runs to make sure the track is good to go.

“There is still a bit of line marking to do but the rest is just aesthetics, like finishing off our new medical centre.”

Well over 100 drivers are expected to drive on the historic occasion.

In 2008 the Under 2-Litre Sports Sedans honours were taken out by Barry Megan in a Datsun 1600.

This time around Damien Hunter is the driver to beat in his Renault Clio after taking out two of the three races in the season opener at Winton, while Mark Baldwin claimed the opener before mechanical gremlins struck.

The Victorian Super TT series also makes a comeback and whilst Garry Roberts and Corey Gooch wrestled for honours 15 years ago, Brent Edwards and David Buntin are expected to be the stars of the show in 2023 after their strong performances at Winton.

Dean Crooke and Luke Klaver are expected to resume their arm wrestle from the season opener in the Victorian Formula Racing Series.

A huge sea of Excels is coming to take on the Masters and Trophy series with 18 and 23 cars respectively.

Fittingly for Calder’s comeback, similar cars to what brought the old Thunderdome to life in yesteryear will be Stock Cars Australia.

One of the 12 cars on show will be Richard White’s, which will stand out in its Dale Earnhardt Junior 2000 Budweiser livery – he understands the significance of the meeting.

“Having the homecoming of Stock Cars to Calder Park is quite special, and lots of our competitors and fans really want to be part of it,” he said.

“It’s all about celebrating the history of the cars, but I think we’ll put on a decent show on the track as well.

“As a teenager I spent many nights watching the NASCAR’s at Calder under lights on the Thunderdome, and was lucky enough to help on a team as well.”

On track action begins at 08.00 AEST on Saturday, August 12.

Thomas Miles

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VALE: JOHN PIZARRO AUSTRALIAN KARTING LEGEND JOHN PIZARRO OAM PASSED AWAY LAST FRIDAY

TANDER TO GO CARRERA CUP RACING GARTH TANDER will prepare for his first Ford Supercars endurance drive by racing a Porsche Carrera Cup car around The Bend. At the final Supercars round before the enduros, Tander will swap the microphone for the helmet by racing an Earl Bamber Motorsportprepared Grove Racing Porsche 911 GT3R. The 2007 Supercars champion competed in two races at Pro-Am level in the Carrera Cup in 2016 and scored a podium.

Tander’s car will carry an SP Tools livery that is near identical to that which Maro Engel raced in the first year of Erebus Motorsport and Mercedes, in 2013.

TAYLOR TAKING ON A NEW CHALLENGE MOLLY TAYLOR has embarked upon her latest challenge, contesting rallycross racing. Taylor is racing for the Hansen Motorsport junior team YellowSquad for the final two rounds of the RX2e season, the first of them last weekend. RX2e is the support series for the FIA World Rallycross Championship and sees the 2019 Extreme E title winner race alongside Isak Sjokvist, who is just one point away from the championship lead.

Molly’s opening weekend saw a mix of wet conditions (on slicks), a spin, a suspension issue, but a great run at the front ahead of her experienced team-mate.

“It’s an incredible opportunity and I’m very grateful to E.ON and to Veloce Racing,” Taylor said.

DUNLOP THE NEW EXCEL CONTROL TYRE The Circuit Excel Racing Association has announced its categories around Australia will use Dunlop rubber for the next four years. From 2024 the Dunlop Direzza ZIII will be the tyre of choice for Hyundai Excel racing until 2027 after it was successful in a tyre tender that began in May following the unexpected cease of production of the Federal RSR. The Dunlop Direzza ZIII is no stranger to high-level racing, having been the control tyre of the Toyota 86 Series. The Dunlop Direzza ZIII will be distributed by DMS (NSW/NT/Qld) Kostera (WA) NTT Racing (SA) Fulton Enterprises (Tasmania) and Stuckey Tyres (Victoria).

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PIZARRO, 78, a 15-time Australian kart champion and a leading Australian on the international scene back in the late 1970s/early 1980s, was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in 2019, following his induction into the Australian Motor Sport Hall of Fame a couple of years earlier for his services to the sport.

An Asia-Pacific champion, Pizarro represented Australia in world kart championships five times, all with the iconic Italian DAP kart/ engine manufacturer, which saw him competing alongside other DAP stars of the time such as Terry Fullerton and a teenage Ayrton Senna, before the young Brazilian burst onto the car racing scene.

After his international exploits, Pizarro moved into the manufacture of karts, his ‘Sprinter’ brand very much in demand, built and sold from premises in Parkes, and was a track advisor and inspector for Karting Australia.

Less well known by many kart and motorsport fans was Pizarro’s 20-plus year battle with Parkinson’s disease. He was one of the first in Australia to undergo the then-revolutionary Deep Brain Stimulation surgery, involving electrode implants in the brain, to successfully relieve much of the symptoms of the incurable

Image: PARKES CHAMPION-POST disease. Via the Rotary Club in his home town of Parkes, NSW, Pizarro worked extensively to raise funds for research into the disease – while at the same time continuing, until quite recently, racing in Historic kart events here and in NZ, where he was a regular visitor.

Among those to have known the Aussie karting legend well, Craig Baird – former multiple kart and Carrera Cup champion, these days Drivers Standards Officer for Supercars – said: “I was a young kart racer, in Auckland, when JP came over to race and I was struck not just by his ruthless competitiveness, but also that he was just a genuinely good guy – he’d jump in and help anybody. Later on, we became, and stayed, very good mates. It’s a sad day.”

Chris Lambden, former motorsport publisher, creator of S5000, and long-time friend and former karting rival of Pizarro’s, added: “While his karting career and input are well documented and his success well-deserved, his handling of and fight with Parkinson’s, and his fund-raising for research, is what separates him from the rest of us. It’s gone on for over 20 years … I’ve never met a tougher, more determined so-and-so ever – and that’s outside of racing! … Helluva guy.”

Auto Action extends its thoughts and sincere condolences to John’s wife Marilyn and four daughter – Kristine, Lisa, Annette and Narelle.

His funeral will take place next Monday, August 14, at St George’s Anglican Church, Parkes, NSW, at 2pm.

NO WSS FOR 2023/24 FOR THE fourth summer in a row, the World Series Sprintcars title will be absent from Australian speedways.

The call was made during a recent board meeting between Speedway Australia directors, who voted not to proceed with the World Series Sprintcars program for the 2023/24 season.

World Series Sprintcars was the biggest speedway series in this country attracting star names from both Australia and America, but has not turned a lap since 2019/20 when James McFadden took his third crown.

COVID-19 wiped out both 2020/21 and 2021/22, while last summer the Speedway Australia board postponed it due to “multiple threats” such as a forecast tyre shortage, shipping delays and diesel prices.

It is a similar story in 2023/24 with the board voting against bringing back the championship, which began in 1987/99.

Speedway Australia Chief Executive Officer Darren Tindal explained that the board made the call.

“At the end of the day it was a board decision and a majority vote.

Image: RICHARD HATHAWAY That’s how it was voted,” he told Auto Action.

“I sincerely thank the teams, venues and further stakeholders for their input, efforts and expressed interest in the program,” he continued in a statement.

“I also acknowledge the tireless work of the Speedway Australia staff and their efforts in developing the proposal for the board’s consideration.

“Speedway Australia remains committed to the broader Speedway community and are determined to deliver strong outcomes for all stakeholders of our sport and continue to race into the future.”

It will still be a big summer of speedway, with national titles up for grabs with the first, Junior Sedans, at Grafton on January 18-20 2024.

Thomas Miles

THE SAGA OF TARGA: THE CRACK IN THE TARMAC WIDENS TARGA ORGANISERS HAVE RELEASED INITIAL PLANS FOR A PROPOSED 2024 TARGA TASMANIA EVENT, RESULTING IN A VERBAL STOUSH WITH MOTORSPORT AUSTRALIA. AA PUBLISHER BRUCE WILLLIAMS REPORTS ...

IN RECENT days, Targa CEO Mark Perry has insisted Targa Tasmania will go ahead next April, despite its announcement earlier in July of a formal split with Motorsport Australia.

Announcing the split with MA, Perry stated on the organisation’s website that they had run out of patience with the length of the Motorsport Australia process.

“We have waited and have been incredibly patient with the process put in place, however this process has now taken a year longer than similar reviews in the past.”

On July 28, Perry issued a road book and course maps which included new stages for the proposed 2024 event. And he said that vehicle eligibility and technical regulations would be issued within days.

With no announcement of an alternative sanctioning body or event insurance, the 2024 event plans have triggered significant industry reaction.

Following that release of the road book and course map for a 2024 event, Motorsport Australia released a statement on July 31 which read, “Motorsport Australia notes that Targa Tasmania has released its road book and course map for 2024 and that the event will not be sanctioned by Motorsport Australia.”

Outgoing Motorsport Australia CEO Eugene Arocca responded critically to the organisers of the proposed 2024 Targa Tasmania comeback.

Speaking to ABC radio in Hobart, Arocca was critical of Targa organisers planning to press ahead with a planned April 2024 event, without waiting for the MA safety recommendations to be discussed and put into place.

The improvement to event safety recommendations followed the findings of an independent Safety Review Panel set up in 2022 after four competitor deaths in two years at Targa Tasmania.

The panel consisted of Garry Connelly (Chair), Matthew Selley, and Neal Bates.

The panel released a 282-page report in late February of this year, which included

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no less than 94 safety recommendations, which include stringent increased competitor licence requirements, along with prescribed speed limits, as low as 110kmh, for ‘Touring’ elements of the event.

In the meantime, Tasmanian Premier Jeremy Rockliff has publicly stated that the Tasmanian government has extended Targa Tasmania’s contract until 2028, and that it “will do all it can” to ensure the 2024 event goes ahead.

On the ABC Radio Hobart program, Arocca defended MA’s process and was critical of Targa Tasmania’s decision.

“For a government-sponsored event to go it alone, issue their own licences, sanction their own event outside of the 94 recommendations beggars belief,” Arocca said. “I would think for a governmentsupported event, I would hope they operated at a level that is acceptable from a standards point of view and I think it would be very difficult for any government to look beyond the 94 recommendations and allow an event to proceed without them being implemented.”

Arocca’s comments came a day after Perry spoke to the ABC News website, where he stated that: “There’s 94 recommendations for us to work through, and we’re working through those. It’s a long list. We haven’t announced anything to say we won’t be implementing all of those recommendations.”

Arocca added that he was disappointed that the Targa organisers have decided to go it alone and criticised their impatience.

“Motorsport is a complicated, dynamic and difficult sport. We’re not going to rush the regulations based on a timeline from a commercial operator.

“Taking those recommendations and creating regulations to support those recommendations has not been easy. It’s an arduous task when you’re talking about the eligibility of vehicles and the licensing structure.

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“We’d just have hoped they’d have stuck with us a bit longer before they declared publicly that they were going to move on.”

Auto Action subsequently contacted Arocca, and he reiterated his stance.

“We remain committed to supporting those events which are prepared to work with us on implementing the 94 recommendations.

If others elect to go their own way and essentially self-sanction, that is their choice,” he told AA. It is unclear as to who will sanction the event, licence the competitors, and provide insurance coverage for the proposed April running.

The only visible alternative to Motorsport Australia is that of the AASA returning as a sanctioning body, which had previously done so between 2007-2011.

Auto Action spoke to General Manager Benalla Auto Club Group (owners of AASA) Stephen Whyte about whether they could or would sanction and insure the event.

“I can say that we haven’t spoken to Targa recently … But we begin work on our Insurance program for 2024 shortly, and I’m sure we will discuss Targa,” Whyte told AA. “But under the current circumstances the answer is probably no – although we can’t say never because, at the end of the day, if the event changes it could be possible, but it would have to be drastically different to what it is.

“They (Targa) are wanting to bring it back to basics perhaps, and they know what they want it to be, and I get that. We have a responsibility to work with our underwriters to assure our levels of compliance and governance are met with any event.”

Another factor will be the need for Targa to, as is the norm, gain approval from Tasmania Police for the use of the state’s public roads.

Auto Action contacted the Tasmania Police to ascertain whether a permit had been

applied for – it replied that no application had been received to date.

In a recent letter to prospective competitors, Perry was confident that everything would move forward and, whilst reiterating that they would do “everything feasibly possible” to make the event safe, he pointed out that there were no guarantees in this sport.

“Not only can you expect to see the TARGA event you know and love, but our plan is to enhance TARGA Tasmania to a new level.

“We will of course do everything we feasibly can to mitigate risk and create a safe event, but as many of our customers have pointed out, we cannot completely eliminate all risk associated with this sport.

“TARGA is about providing freedom of choice to those who wish to pursue their dreams, even when these dreams come with risk.”

And in a further update to competitors and supporters, late last week, Perry remained defiant – in some ways summing up what has been a general competitor response to the situation: “Our vision does not include disregarding any positive initiatives that further mitigate risk and these goals can be achieved in such a way that competitors will continue to enjoy TARGA in the future. Our vision includes perspective and the reality that competitors must be engaged by whatever you decide to do, or they simply will not come.

“TARGA and tarmac rallying cannot survive under the belief philosophy of risk elimination and fear mongering. TARGA will survive if the will of its large customer and supporter base determine it to be so.” Perry said.

As Auto Action closed for press Targa CEO Mark Perry spoke to Auto Action to communicate his position to the wider motorsport community. A news story is in this issue and a longer ‘News Extra’ story will feature in the next issue of AA.

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LATEST NEWS

TRUCKING GOOD TIMES AHEAD THE V8 SuperUtes Series has started 2023 with a bang, with the season being in the middle of a record-breaking run in the Dual-cab era.

After the season started at Wanneroo Raceway with a record 19 entries, that figure increased to 21 when racing resumed at Sydney Motorsport Park.

Not only did SMP witness the biggest ever V8 SuperUtes field, it also welcomed two female drivers for the first time, with Ellexandra Best joined by Holly Espray.

It is sweet reward after Image: TAMARA JADE MEDIA a busy 12 months for the category where six new chassis were constructed to cater for the growing interest.

The fourth and final Sieders Racing Team chassis was completed for Best, while two went to Western Sydney Motorsport.

V8 SuperUtes category operations manager Filippa Guarna said the secret behind the category’s increasing popularity has been a big year of self reflection from all involved.

“We have worked really hard over the last 12 months to prove we are a worthy support category on the Supercars calendar,” she told Auto Action.

“That means building new chassis, getting new drivers

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and sponsors and new ideas for fan engagement.

“We had a lot of interest at the end of last year about drivers joining the grid (and now) we have a high calibre of drivers across the field. Everyone is racing for sheep stations with up to 10 cars that could potentially be on the podium.

The calibre has definitely stepped up from last year.

“We have steered into this position over the last 12 months because we have all come together for the good of the category.”

Whilst no more chassis are expected to be built in 2023, there is a target to have 24 Utes on the grid for the 2024 season opener.

Sydney also saw the debut of a new reverse grid format for the second of four races.

Previously the top six were inverted ahead of Race 2, but at Sydney a new ‘Lotto’ system was used to decide how many cars would be reshuffled.

Race 1 winner David Sieders pulled out number nine from the hat which saw the top nine flipped.

Guarna said the new Race 2 grid format has been brought in as a hark back to the earlier V8 Ute era.

“It is heralding back to the old V8 Ute racing days,” she said.

“We are very proud of the history of which this category has come from and embrace some of the old things.

“That’s why we brought the reverse grid chook lotto format in place for Race 2.

“It tries to take away the planning of strategy ahead of race two, so we can have some amazing battles on track.”

The V8 SuperUtes Series hopes to continue building momentum at The Bend on August 18-20 before a highprofile finish to the season at events such as Bathurst.

Thomas Miles

TIME ATTACK

BY DAY, DRIFT

BY NIGHT! AS ANTICIPATION builds toward the world’s largest Time Attack racing festival at Sydney Motorsport Park on September 1-2, additions to the event keep coming, including the all important two-day schedule.

The 2023 Yokohama World Time Attack Challenge Sydney will see some of the world’s most daring drivers in the planet’s most powerful machines go for that one perfect lap, and for the first time in WTAC history, both the Pro and ProAm teams have the opportunity to engineer their cars to suit full slick tyre running!

And for this year, the WTAC Sydney has reverted back its scheduling motto of “Time attack by Day, Drift by Night.”

The two day schedule for the Friday and Saturday sees the action start at 8:30AM on Day 1 with the Haltech Clubsprint’s, through to three-and-a-half hours of drifting under the SMP lights, which ends the day at 9:30pm.

Saturday starts with the same time and program, and ends with the Garrett International Drifting Cup at 19:30pm, with presentations to follow for a 22:30pm event finish.

Also, prior to both night drift sessions, the newly added TurboSmart Flying 500 Head to Head features on Brabham Straight, with six sessions across both evenings.

Prior to the Flying 500 on both days, the main competition categories run at regular intervals, featuring the Emtron Pro Class, GCG Open Class, and Plazmaman Pro Am, along with the aforementioned Clubsprint.

Between all the WTAC feature categories is a huge host of demonstrations and on-track displays, including display laps from famous American personality Ryan Tuerck in his incredible Toyota GR Supra, which features a Judd V10 revving to 11,000RPM – he’ll do three runs on Friday and one on Saturday.

Japanese legend Tarzan Yamada will also do displays in the Spoon Sports FK8 Type R Endurance Racecar, whilst Saturday will feature the Australia’s own air ace, former fighter pilot turned stunt plane genius Matt Hall, who’ll be ripping down the Straight in the Aussie built Red Bull MXS-R, capable of pulling 14Gs at around 444km/h.

The demonstrations also include two newly added events that round off the schedule, with the addition of Bulls on Parade – celebrating 60 years

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Keiichi Tsuchiya

1966 Miura – part of the Lamborghini V12 parade ... of the Lamborghini V12 engine.

As well as being on display throughout the event, they’ll also be on-track on the Saturday with the crowd treated to the distinct sounds of the Miura, Countach, Diablo, Murcielago SV, and the Aventador SVJ. And last but not least, adding to the vital Japanese flavour, Nippon motorsport icon Keiichi Tsuchiya will be driving in a yet-to-be-confirmed car in some demonstration runs across both days.

Tsuchiya’s influence is unmatched in WTAC culture, with the 67-year-old from Nagano having driven, raced, and drifted anything and everything with little regard for mechanical sympathy.

Dubbed as the ‘Founder of Drift’, back in the late 70s, his on-board video’s in his AE86 driving in the hills of Japan and in the Freshman Series, almost wholly inspired the late 90s amateur drifting boom in Japan, and when it turned professional in 2000 he was known as its father.

Tsuchiya was also a very good race driver, having competed at Le Mans, finishing 18th in a Honda NSX in 1994, before becoming a class winner in 1995, and again in 1999 with an outright second.

He was also known for his exploits in the famous Taisan GTR, racing in the Group A JTCC series.

TW Neal

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LATEST NEWS

BROWN LINKED TO SHOCK TRIPLE EIGHT SWITCH INDUSTRY CHAT suggests Erebus Motorsport’s Will Brown could make a shock switch to Supercars championship rivals Triple Eight Race Engineering.

Brown is currently embedded in a titanic title fight for Erebus against Triple Eight with the two teams winning 15 of the 19 races in 2023.

But with Shane van Gisbergen making it clear he hopes 2023 is his last in Supercars before he moves to America to chase the NASCAR dream, a seat at the most successful team ever is suddenly on the market.

If these rumours come to fruition, it opens up an unexpected bombshell in the Supercars silly season with a sudden vacancy at the teams championship leading operation.

Triple Eight seats are rare with Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup forming an unchanged line up for 10 years before van Gisbergen was added in a third entry in 2016.

The trio remained unchanged until Whincup’s retirement in 2021 and the #88 has seamlessly been transitioned to the developing Broc Feeney.

When or if van Gisbergen heads to America, it will be just the third Triple Eight driver change in 18 years and everyone, contracted or uncontracted would want it.

Whilst announcing his intentions of

leaving Supercars in 2024, van Gisbergen made it clear he does not want to leave Triple Eight scrambling for a replacement driver.

Many names from Cameron Waters to Andre Heimgartner, van Gisbergen’s own co-driver Richie Stanaway to even Whincup returning himself have been floated.

But talk suggests Brown may be at the top of the list, which is a surprise given he is currently locked in at Erebus until the end of 2024.

If the #9 driver does go, it would be a blow for the Coca-Cola Camaros.

Erebus has nurtured Brown through the Supercars pathway, providing him with initially co-driving opportunities as a youngster before elevating him to a fulltime debut alongside Brodie Kostecki at the start of 2022.

This patience at Supercars level since 2018 has well and truly bared fruit this year, with the smiley Toowoomba product turning himself into a winning machine.

After scoring one win from his first 74 races, he has taken four victories this year and sits just 41 points shy of Kostecki in the chase for the championship.

Speaking with NEWS CORP, Triple Eight’s Roland Dane did not state who could replace van Gisbergen, but

provided a hint that anyone could be on the table no matter what their current contract details are.

“Broc for me is superstar material.

His ability, his commitment and his results without question are of the very highest drawer at the moment and he represents a massive part of the future for Supercars, let alone Triple Eight,” Dane told News Corp’s Rebecca Williams.

“I wouldn’t have an issue if I was Triple Eight in having Broc as my lead driver next year if that’s what it took, but I

think there are a few options out there.

“You never know who might come out of the woodwork, who not necessarily Triple Eight want to buy out of a contract, but maybe a driver wants to buy himself out of a contract.

“When you shake the tree, sometimes things fall out that are unexpected.”

Auto Action contacted Erebus Motorsport, but it declined to comment on the situation.

Brown and Erebus will next go head to head with Triple Eight on the track at The Bend on August 18-20.

VAN GISBERGEN READY FOR ‘STEEP LEARNING CURVE’ THE AMERICAN dream of Shane van Gisbergen will hit top gear this weekend when he does double duties in the NASCAR Cup and Truck Series at Indianapolis.

Van Gisbergen will be reunited with the #91 Trackhouse Racing Enhance Health Camaro he famously won on debut at the Chicago Street Race on Sunday.

The Kiwi hopes to back up his victory with another strong drive on the 14-turn, 2.439 mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.

It is the same track which hosted the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix eight times between 2000 and 2007, plus MotoGP from 2008 to 2015.

NASCAR switched its annual battle on the “Brickyard” from the famous oval to the road course in 2021 with AJ Allmendinger and Tyler Reddick the two winners.

The Verizon 200 at the Brickyard is the 24th race of the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season, but notably just three before the Playoffs begin.

Van Gisbergen notes Indy will represent a different challenge than Chicago which was a new track for the sport.

Whilst the Kiwi still plans to race hard, he is cognisant that many NASCAR regulars will be trying to keep their season alive and secure a playoff berth.

“This whole NASCAR experience has been a dream come true,” van Gisbergen said.

“I can’t wait to get to America then Indy. It will certainly be different than the Chicago Street Course.

“I’ll need to get up to speed quickly, but we plan a lot of simulator time and I know (No. 91 Crew Chief) Darian

(Grubb) will be thoroughly prepared for Indy.

“We have got to come in and do our best, but you also have got to race with respect as well.

“These guys are fighting for their championship every

week, so I have got to come in and stay out of trouble.”

Van Gisbergen will not be the only international taking on the NASCAR regulars at the Brickyard.

He will be joined by one of his closest Supercars Championship rivals in Brodie Kostecki, who is driving the #33 Richard Childress Racing Camaro backed by Peter Adderton’s X Mobile.

Former Formula 1 drivers Jenson Button and Kamui Kobayashi will also be in action at IMS for Rick Ware and 23XI Racing respectively.

But unlike them van Gisbergen will be racing on Friday night (Saturday morning AEST) in the Craftsman Truck Series race down the road at Indianapolis Raceway Park.

This will be an important step in van Gisbergen’s American journey being his first race on an oval.

The track itself is a small 0.686 mile oval and the Kiwi will drive a #41 Niece Motorsports Chevrolet backed by Worldwide Express.

Van Gisbergen is aware the race will be a “steep learning curve”.

“I’ve never really thought about ovals too much but I’ve always said I would love to have a go and I guess Friday night I’ll get my shot,” said van Gisbergen who spent Monday in America doing seat fittings and working in the Niece and Trackhouse race shops.

“It’s going to be a steep learning curve no doubt.”

Van Gisbergen’s Truck Series race begins at 10am Saturday morning, while he and Kostecki will go head to head with the big boys at 4am Monday morning AEST. Thomas Miles

AUSGP TICKETS ON SALE SOON HIGHLY SOUGHT after tickets for the 2024 Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix will go on sale by the end of the month.

Tickets will be offered to the general public on Tuesday, August 29, while a presale for Ticketmaster Registered Fans will open a day earlier.

The 27th Australian Grand Prix to be held around Albert Park since its world championship debut in 1996 will take place on March 21-24 2024.

After an enormous and record breaking figure 444,361 packed into Albert Park across the four days in April to watch Max Verstappen score Red Bull’s first Aussie win in 12 years, tickets are expected to be snapped up quickly.

Not only is Formula 1’s popularity continuing to grow, but to add further interest will be the strong possibility of multiple Australians racing at the pinnacle of motorsport.

Since scoring points in his first home Grand Prix, Oscar Piastri has soared to new heights at McLaren, with strong top fives at Great Britain and Hungary followed by a sensational second in the Spa Sprint race.

He has since been joined by returning compatriot Daniel Ricciardo, who has rebounded from his McLaren breakup and got an unexpected reunion with AlphaTauri.

Since being thrown into Red Bull’s junior team as Nyck de Vries’ replacement at Budapest, Ricciardo finished 13th in his comeback race and 10th and 16th in the Spa Sprint and Grand Prix respectively.

If Ricciardo remains on the Formula 1 grid next year, it will be the first time home fans will be able to cheer on two Australians since 2013 when the “Honey Badger” was at Toro Rosso and Piastri’s current manager Mark Webber raced for Red Bull.

Not only will Formula 1 be the main

attraction, but Formula 2 and Formula 3 will also entertain fans.

Jack Doohan is finishing his 2023 season on a high having recorded back to back wins at Budapest and Spa. Meanwhile in Formula 3 Campos Racing’s Christian Mansell and Hugh Barter have scored points, while Tommy Smith continues to chip away for Van Amersfoort Racing.

Minister for Tourism, Sport and Major Events, Steve Dimopoulos is promising next year’s race to be even bigger than the enormous races since the return from COVID-19 in 2022.

“Formula 1 fever will take over Melbourne again in March, creating jobs and boosting local businesses,” he said.

“The past two Formula 1 Australian Grands Prix have broken Melbourne attendance records, and

next year’s race is set to be bigger than ever.

“The event is yet another reason for motorsport fans and major event lovers to get out and revel in the best the state has to offer.”

Australian Grand Prix Corporation Acting CEO, Dale Nardella said he hopes the new on-sale date gives fans ample opportunity to chase tickets.

“With tickets in such high demand in 2023, we wanted to give fans as much time as possible to plan for the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix 2024, particularly those traveling from interstate and internationally,” he said.

“It’s an incredibly exciting time for Australian motorsport with so much talent across the categories, and we can’t wait to welcome the best drivers in the world back to Albert Park in March.”

Thomas Miles

MILLER STRUGGLES FOR SILVERSTONE GRIP DESPITE ROCKETING away to a dream start Jack Miller admitted he battled for grip as soon as the British Grand Prix began.

Whilst his KTM teammate Brad Binder was in the thick of a sensational battle for victory with the likes of Aleix Espargaro, Francesco Bagnaia and Miguel Oliveira, Miller was fighting hard to get into the top 10.

He eventually crossed the line down in eighth, which was not what the Aussie would have hoped for after securing a front row grid position and enjoying his latest electric start.

Miller flew off the line and beat Marco Bezzecchi in the run into the Village Curve to lead the field through the first lap.

However, once he lost top spot to a charging Bagnaia, the race slipped away from the Australian.

The #43 started to drop down the leaderboard before it plummeted even further after the KTM was pushed off by an ambitious Maverick Vinales at Copse.

After finding himself down in 14th, Miller was able to salvage eighth, but it was not

what he would have hoped coming into the weekend.

It was almost a rinse and repeat of his Sprint race where he led early, but dropped to seventh.

Miller admitted he battled grip issues as soon as the lights went out which is why he struggled to keep up with his rivals.

“To leave here with a seventh in the Sprint and eighth in the Grand Prix is less than you would hope for,” the KTM rider wrote on his website, “But even before I had the incident with Maverick, I knew it was going to be a tough one.

“I made another good start – the KTM is awesome for that! – and went out in front off the get-go but straight away I felt I was struggling for grip.

“I thought maybe the track was more slippery because it had been raining on Saturday, but once Pecco (Bagnaia) came past me I realised I was suffering for grip and just couldn’t get it working from the start.

“It was everywhere too – entry, exit, mid-

corner – I just wasn’t able to force the bike.”

The biggest moment of Miller’s race occurred on lap three at the high-speed when the Aussie dropped from third to 14th.

Vinales came in too hot and barged the KTM so far into the outfield the #43 almost went into the gravel.

Miller revealed Vinales apologised for his part in the incident.

“I was just trying to consolidate my position on lap three when Maverick pushed me off,” Miller recalled.

“I was suffering before that anyway, but look, at the end of the day it’s just racing.

“Definitely ambitious from him, but there’s not too much more to say about it.

“Maverick came up to me after and apologised. I accepted his apology and that’s the end of it.

“I don’t think he intended to send me out that far. I kind of got unlucky because there’s about a metre of grass between the

two asphalts there that outlines the track, and I was definitely a bit cautious going through the grass and kept it nice and straight because I knew it would be pretty wet.”

After the eventful return from the summer break at Silverstone, Miller hopes to put on a show at KTM’s home race in Austria on August 18-20.

Thomas Miles

LATEST NEWS

TANDER TO JOIN GT TITLE FIGHT GARTH TANDER will enhance his Supercars enduros prep by becoming part of a tense GT World Challenge Australia championship battle this weekend.

Tander will jump on board with current championship leader Liam Talbot at the crucial penultimate round of the season at Queensland Raceway.

With regular co-driver Fraser Ross unavailable, the Audi Customer Sport Racing Australia team have called up the 2007 Supercars champion.

Fortunately for the squad Tander is no stranger to the championship or the team.

The five-time Great Race winner has five Bathurst 12 Hour starts and many GT rounds of experience with the local Audi squad, including victory with Yasser Shahin at Ipswich last year.

The SpeedSeries round will be the

first part of Tander’s preparation for his endurance campaign with Grove Racing.

The Queensland Raceway event arrives a week before he goes Porsche Carrera Cup racing around The Bend on August 18-20.

Whilst Tander will enjoy the extra seat time before his first Supercars start with Ford, he cannot afford to take it easy as Talbot’s co-driver.

Just one race win worth of points cover leader Talbot, Max Hofer, Shahin/Garnet Patterson, Geoff Emery and Ross Poulakis.

Hofer is especially close being just two points away.

With this being the penultimate round before the Adelaide finale, Tander knows he cannot afford to take the GT ride lightly.

“I’ve had a long relationship with Melbourne Performance Centre and when

Fraser could not make it this weekend, they rang and I said yes straight away,” Tander said.

“I’ve not driven the car this year but thankfully the practice sessions are a bit longer now which will give me time to play myself in.

“I’ve done some miles in the last weeks between ride days, a test day in a Porsche, Supercars testing and now the GT car so I feel good about it.

“Based on how we went there last year we should be somewhat in the mix.

“My role is not about me doing laps, it’s about solidifying Liam’s position in the title.

“I’ve always gone into these races with the approach of supporting the AM driver the best I can and that’s the approach I will take with Liam this weekend.”

The Queensland event will be unique in introducing a Top-10 shootout for the first time in championship history.

The standard pair of qualifying sessions will remain in effect on Saturday, with the first session setting the grid for Race 1 and the second for Race 2.

However, the top-10 cars from Qualifying 2 will then progress to the shootout, to be held on Sunday morning.

The unique format will see the Pro drivers qualify in the second session only for the nominated AM driver to tackle the shootout itself.

The GT World Challenge is joined by TCR, Trans Am, Porsche Sprint Challenge, V8 Touring Car Series and Australian Production Cars at Queensland Raceway this weekend.

Thomas Miles

CUPRA ENTERS THE AUSSIE MOTORSPORT MARKET CUPRA AUSTRALIA first launched on our shores in June of 2022 via the brand’s inner city CUPRA Garage spaces in Australia’s capital cities.

Those central garage spaces, staffed

by CUPRA specialists, will act as the central beacon for the brand.

“From a new challenger brand to a new challenger team, we wish you well in the series to come.” CUPRA Australia Director Ben Wilks said. will officially enter the Australian motorsport market after Carl Cox Motorsport and Michael Clemente announced a full support program with the Spanish brand.

After the team first introduced the CUPRA Leon TCR at Phillip Island in Round 2 of the Supercheap Auto TCR

Australia series, the collaboration is the first official foray for the brand into the Aussie motorsport market.

After starting the season in an Audi RS 3, Clemente wasted no time in

putting the Leon TCR car onto the top step in Race 2 at the island, as well as taking a follow up podium, before backing that up with

another win at the opener in Winton.

Clemente will enter this weekend’s round at Queensland Raceway with full support from CUPRA, and hopes to kick the relationship off with another victory.

“It feels great to be able to have the support of CUPRA for this race,” the #15 TCR racer said.

“This support further enables us to race hard and help the CUPRA TCR Leon continue to get onto the podium. It’s excellent to have them on board for now and moving forward.”

The fourth round of the Supercheap Auto TCR Australia series kicks off this weekend at the Queensland Raceway, August 11-13.

Timothy W Neal

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LATEST NEWS

WEBBER ‘VERY PROUD’ OF ‘PHENOMENAL’ PIASTRI OSCAR PIASTRI has made his manager and fellow Aussie Formula 1 driver Mark Webber “very proud” after a “phenomenal” start to his career.

Piastri had already made headlines on the track before he reached the pinnacle of the sport, being the only driver to win FIA Formula 2 and 3 plus the Formula Renault Eurocup championships in consecutive years.

Even when he was not racing last year as Alpine reserve driver he was in the news as the Enstone squad and McLaren got involved in a contract dispute fighting for the highly-rated Aussie.

After Piastri landed in papaya colours, he has quickly pushed that to one side and done his talking on the track.

It did not take long for the Aussie to match and beat his highly-rated teammate Lando Norris and he heads into the summer break on a high after scoring a sensational second in the Spa Sprint.

This followed back to back top five results at Great Britain and Hungary where car #81 put in some smashing qualifying laps.

When racing resumes at Holland on August 24-26, Piastri will sit a solid 11th in the championship and have realistic hopes of being the first F1 rookie to finish on the podium since Lance Stroll at Italy 2017.

Having been alongside Piastri throughout the journey has been nine-time Grand Prix winner Webber,

who has been mightily impressed by how the Melbourne boy has taken to F1 like a duck to water.

“I think it’s still so easy to forget that Oscar didn’t race last year,” Webber told F1.com.

“I think the start of the year it does take time. It’s his first time in F1, it’s not like he’s returning from a break…

He’s been away 15 months and has

never raced in F1.

“Of course, we’re all very proud of him.”

However, Webber continued that by no means will Piastri start slowing down or becoming complement, tipping the McLaren youngster only push harder for the rest of the year.

“He’s had a phenomenal, phenomenal entry in his first year,”

said the two-time Monaco Grand Prix winner.

“Lando has been exceptional, Lando’s top drawer, we know that, and Oscar has just held himself in such…

“But being Oscar, he will continue to work on where he can improve and keep getting better.”

Thomas Miles

PODIUM FINISHERS TO ROCK OUT WITH FANS AT THE BEND FANS AND drivers will be in for a memorable podium celebration after the opening Saturday race of the The Bend SuperSprint.

In similar style to the ceremonies at Perth and Tasmania, the podium will be moved to the people with fans and even rockstars to join in with the celebrations.

The Race 20 podium on Saturday evening will take place nearby the stage of the Rocking the Murray concert and performers The Choirboys and Kingswood will launch into their live performances straight after drivers finish spraying the champagne.

The move will mean drivers can literally “run to paradise” as they celebrate their success from the opening 20-lap race of the eighth round of the 2023 championship.

The podium itself will be located behind the recognisable pit complex and near the Porsche Carrera Cup garages at the ‘Town Centre’ activation area.

It has been inspired by The Bend’s time hosting the Australian Superbike Championship, which staged post-race celebrations in spectator areas and the South Australian round was named as the best of 2022.

Every time Supercars have raced at The Bend since 2018 drivers have been handed trophies at the circuit’s permanent podium located on the second level of the multi-story pit complex overlooking the start-finish line.

The move coincides with activations that are new for the seventh Supercars trip to the South Australian circuit such as a Street Party at Murray Bridge on the preceding Thursday.

The Bend Motorsport Park CEO Alistair MacDonald hopes the new podium location can bring extra life to the event.

“We are always looking for ways to bring the fans closer to the action and after seeing the success of the pit paddock podium at other events we

wanted to try it at our annual hallmark event,” he said.

“We hope that the fans and eventgoers get over to the Town Square for the podium, especially on Saturday night ahead of the Rocking the Murray

Concert which is a proud addition to the event.”

The event begins with supports action on Friday, August 18, while Supercars first hit the track on Saturday.

Thomas Miles

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INTERNATIONAL AUSSIES

MANSELL CHARGES FORWARD AT SPA

After modest qualifying, a brave call on tyres paid dividends for the Aussie on a damp Spa circuit. Images: MOTORSPORT IMAGES FIA FORMULA 3 Aussie Christian Mansell put in a wild first lap at Spa Francorchamps to claim his second podium of the year in the third-tier feeder.

On a wet weekend, few would have expected that the 18-year-old would have challenged for the Feature Race win after qualifying in 23rd.

Whilst most started on slicks, Mansell had wets bolted on, which saw him take 19 spots on the first lap alone, to be in fourth by the Lap 4 Safety Car. After a Lap 8 restart, the gains kept

going, and with four laps remaining, Mansell was just 0.3 seconds back on the leader Taylor Barnard. He hounded the Brit, and at one point needed the escape road after trying a late braking move into Les Combes.

Although he got back on his wing, the New South Welshman fell 1.529 short by the chequered flag.

“My god the first lap was eventful – every single corner it felt like I had someone in front of me, trying to go past them,” the #24 Campos racer said in the

post-race press conference.

“To be honest, it was so crazy so if you asked me to remember which overtakes I did – I genuinely don’t know. I’m very happy to be sitting here – we definitely made the right call on tyres.

“When I saw people in front of me on slicks [on the starting grid] I knew they were vulnerable … it was a very big confidence boost, because I knew I was faster.”

Like a lot of junior formulae drivers competing in Europe, Mansell has had

plenty of opportunity to go racing at the iconic Stavelot circuit, with that being his 11th race at Spa with a record of one win (British F3/2021) and his fourth podium, with that one being one to remember.

The F3 field now heads to Monza for the final round on September 2-3, with Mansell feeling positive about the trip to the Temple of Speed.

“I’m going to have more confidence – we are all built up on momentum, that’s how this sport works. If you have a smile it’s worth four-tenths, easily.” TW Neal

MCELREA KEEPS INDY NXT HOPES ALIVE

HERNE RUNS SECOND IN NASHVILLE NATHAN HERNE held onto a front row start in a carnage-filled scrap at the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix in downtown Nashville.

The Lismore Bullet has had a trying year in his debut American Trans Am series, but after qualifying on the front row in his #29 Cube 3 Mustang, the Stevens-Miller Racing Aussie was able to take second place behind Connor Zilisch.

Herne started in P2 after Zilisch’s pole was scratched due to a restrictor plate modification infringement, sending the 17-year-old jet to the rear of the field.

At one stage, Herne held the

lead after avoiding disaster in a blind corner, but a badly timed yellow took away the Aussie’s advantage – but perhaps nothing could have prevented the remarkable charge of Zilisch.

After losing second to Thomas Merrill early, an early yellow flag brought the field back together.

Herne kept pace with Merrill on the restart, but lost touch when the Californian took Crews for the lead with the Aussie then having to deal with Austin Green until lap 18 when a back-marker spun into the middle of the road, collected by the front two, with Herne narrowly avoiding the mess to take the lead.

Herne got the jump on Green

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and Rafa Matos on the lap 23 restart, but in the meantime, Zilisch had picked his way up the field to be in fifth.

Unfortunately for Herne, another yellow saw his great advantage taken away and, on the lap 30 restart, Zilisch jumped Matos to get on the Aussie’s tail with 11 minutes to run.

The Californian took Herne with nine minutes on the clock, with the rampant youngster achieving a three second split by the final lap.

Herne drove with a steely determination to pull away from Matos, clearing the Brazilian by just under two seconds for his second podium of the year.

TW Neal

ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT racer Hunter McElrea has taken a timely Indy NXT podium at the Grand Prix of Nashville to keep his title hopes alive.

His second podium of the year has backed up his front-running consistency to place him third in the championship with five rounds remaining.

McElrea fell just 1.159 seconds short of the winner, Dane Christian Rasmussen, who leads the Aussie by 59 points in the title hunt of the top-tier IndyCar feeder.

After qualifying in P4 it was a strong push in a flag-interrupted race on the downtown streets of Nashville.

“Great race, I think we did an awesome job with the cards that were dealt to us, going from fourth to second on a track that is really difficult to pass, as well as getting the fastest

lap,” McElrea said.

After moving into second early on the race, Rasmussen power away early before a flag brought the field back together.

With three yellows defining the last 27 laps, McElrea briefly stayed on the gearbox of the Danish driver, but despite dropping away, held a comfortable 9.493 split from third placegetter Jacob Abel.

Fellow Aussie Matthew Brabham could only manage P13 in his second appearance of the year for Cape Motorsports.

McElrea’s push for the tile comes at the perfect time of the year, with a good handful of 2024 IndyCar seats perhaps in the offering this silly season, with Andretti Autosport in particular expected to make some changes with a strong possibility of at least one of its drivers being elevated from Indy NXT. The round sees the field head to Illinois for an oval race at the World Wide Technology Raceway on August 26.

TW Neal

CAMPBELL’S MAIDEN BURDON UNLOADS IN HYPERCAR WIN AUSSIE PORSCHE factory driver Matthew Campbell has broken through for an IMSA GTP Hypercar victory at Road America, his first since climbing to the pinnacle of the Porsche Pyramid.

After winning the IMSA GTD title in a Pfaff Porsche last season, Campbell’s rise into the brilliant new era of LMDh/LMH endurance racing hasn’t been a smooth one.

Since the Queenslander was paired with Brazil’s Felipe Nasr in the #7 Penske 963, the pair have endured a rough year of mechanical issues and crashes since their debut in the 24 Hours of Daytona, watching on as the sister #6 car took a win at Long Beach to be a title challenger.

Wisconsin was finally their turn and, after starting at the head of the field when the pole getting #31 Cadillac Series-V crashed in the warmup, they were never headed.

After both drivers struggled for pace in the practice sessions, Campbell then flipped things around, putting the #7 onto the front row in qualifying.

He then took the first stint of the race, powered the team into 10 second lead with 90 minutes remaining, finally turning the 963’s obvious pace into a race-winning position.

After only three laps, he’d gained a four second advantage to the pursuing AcuraHonda ARX-06 cars.

“For us, it was of course a big advantage that we were allowed to start from pole position after the Cadillac had an accident in the warm-up,” a happy Campbell explained.

“I had such an incredible lack of traffic at the beginning and that’s why the gap

Matt Campbell put in a strong opening stint to set up the Penske win, sharing the winning car with Felipe Nasr (below) Image: MOTORSPORT IMAGES

got as big as it was at times.

“On this track, it makes a huge difference which side of the grid you start on.

There’s a lot of dirt off the racing line, but fortunately, we managed to avoid this and turned considerably faster opening laps than our pursuers.

“Our Porsche 963 was really great to drive in the race – that was somewhat of a surprise after our difficulties on Friday, which makes our performance all the better. I’m thrilled about our first victory with the number 7 car in the IMSA series.”

After the hybrid unit gave way on debut at Daytona, that was then followed by being collected in a big night time crash whilst leading at the 12 Hours of Sebring.

Campbell then fought like hell on dead tyres to take his maiden podium at Long Beach, whilst their pole

position at Laguna Seca the following round turned into a nightmare with a lock up at Turn 1, then a drive through penalty to finish near the rear of the field.

After the Aussie was only named as backup driver for the team’s Le Mans 24 Hour push in June, the win is just reward after a tough year.

“We’ve been fast on quite a few occasions, but luck has never been on our side. Today we just executed perfectly and it’s nice to get a win on the board after a tough year.”

Ahead of their next round at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course on September 15-17, the pair have moved to sixth in the championship with two rounds remaining and, whilst the title is out of reach, they can still haul in the sister #6 963 who sit fourth in the standings. TW Neal

WISCONSIN

HOBART BORN racer Josh Burdon has continued his year as an LMP3 Super-sub in the 2023 IMSA championship for Riley Motorsports.

The Aussie has so far been called upon for three races this season, and appears to be the team’s lucky wingman with his third victory of the year at Road America in Wisconsin.

Racing with American Gar Robertson, after being the third driver at the 12 Hours of Sebring, Burdon has been used as a replacement for Felipe Fraga who’s Brazilian stock car racing responsibilities have seen the South American sit out for two rounds.

In his fourth race of the year in the #74 Ligier JS P320, he helped keep the American team at the top of the LMP3 table, taking the final stint to guide them to a 11.785 second win, 5 laps back on the leading Hypercar driven by fellow Aussie Matt Campbell.

Burdon’s important closing stint (which almost came to grief) helped the team to four straight wins, three of which he contributed strongly.

“I’m extremely happy to deliver my job for the team and points,” Burdon said.

“We felt quite confident with the setup we elected to run. We didn’t have the outright fastest car, but it was confidence inspiring. After my few lawnmower excursions, I’m quite happy to bring home a trophy, this one was really special!”

When Burdon took over the Ligier from Robertson at the halfway point, he inherited a 10 second margin, with the front-running Sean Creech Motorsport LMP3 in control.

With 36 minutes to go, the Aussie had stealthily eaten away at the margin to be only three-tenths of a second behind the leader.

The following lap he ran wide at the Carousel but wrestled it back into the road to avoid any disaster, losing just two seconds.

It took him another 15 minutes, but Burdon cut that two seconds away, and when he passed Joao Barbosa in the leading #33, he immediately pulled a 1.805s split before powering home 16th outright for the class victory.

TW Neal Burdon took the final stint and ran down the leaders to win. Image: MOTORSPORT IMAGES

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SHANE VAN GISBERGEN AND MARIO ANDRETTI:

MR VERSATILES AMERICAN ICON, MARIO ANDRETTI IS GENERALLY REGARDED AS THE MOST VERSATILE RACING DRIVER EVER.

He won the 1978 F1 World Championship, the ’69 Indy 500 and bagged countless wins on road and track, in the hills, on dirt and tarmac, aboard a huge variety of machines – in categories including F1, Can-Am, IndyCar, Formula 5000, NASCAR, sportsprototypes at Le Mans, Sprintcars, Champcars and Midgets, not to forget Pikes Peak, in a 50-year frontline career!

Van Gisbergen’s stunning first-up NASCAR win aboard a Chev at Grant Park, Chicago last month – with another good showing to come at Indianapolis Raceway

Park this weekend and certain departure Stateside for 2024 locked-and-loaded – yet again reinforced the depth and breadth of the Australian-domiciled 34 year-old Kiwi’s bulk talent, versatility, racecraft and balls-tothe-wall speed – whatever the machine he steers.

All very Andretti-like …

His childhood was spent on two wheels and four on track and in the dirt, before Formula First success, the NZ Formula Ford Championship and second place in the 2006-7 Toyota Racing Series.

The Sprintcars he’s raced in recent years are somewhat different to the quarter midgets he ran in his childhood and, although a ‘seniordriver with countless wins in ‘bigtime cars’, he returned to TRS and

with Mark Bisset

YESTERDAY’S MAN won the New Zealand Grand Prix in 2021 against a new generation of pubescents aboard a 2-litre 200kw Tatuus FT-60 – starting behind the field from the pit lane!

The young Gizzy left home for Australia and V8 Supercars aged 17 in 2007, with three Supercar and two Bathurst 1000 wins so far in a front-running nearly two decades since. He’s on-form too – after a chassis switch, his Chev ZL1 win at Sydney Motorsport Park last The great Mario Andretti – Mr Versatile. Right: 1978 World F1 champion with Lotus, and (Below right) a legend of Speedway, dirt racing and even Pikes Peak!

Middle right: For his part, SVG has starred on the dirt, scoring WRC2 podium in a Skoda...

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Supercars round shows he’s still a good bet to take another Supercar crown this year.

Ever restless, Van Gisbergen has also sought challenges in GT cars in Australia, the US and Europe.

He has competed on a diversity of tracks including Le Mans, Spa, Daytona, Sebring and Monza in McLaren, Ferrari, Porsche and AMG Mercedes exotica.

Few were surprised when he placed second in an Australian Rally

Championship round last April. It was a bit of ‘light entertainment’ before running a Skoda Fabia R5 in Rally New Zealand later in the year.

Third place in WRC2 wasn’t a bad yield in an exceptionally demanding four-day event.

The only Australians to come close in a local versatility contest are the great Frank Gardner, Colin Bond and Peter Brock.

While the laconic Australian international’s (FG) breadth of cars/events isn’t matched by Bond and is unlikely to be bested by SVG, both locally-based racers won more events than Gardner.

Having said that, Gardner spent most of his career in the deep-end of the pool. He was based overseas and came home each summer.

The point is that Shane Van Gisbergen is one of a small, select group who can steer anything fast on any surface.

I don’t think I’ve ‘got-my-handon-it’ by making the comparison with Andretti. But given the way the sport has evolved contractually – apart from driver specialisation – the vastly admired and respected ‘Superwop’ is unlikely to be knocked off his ‘Most Versatile Ever’ pedestal.

I’m not saying Shane has won the same level of events as Mario – he hasn’t. But his vast driver skill, adaptability, mechanical sympathy and pace in cars of vastly different characteristics and performance in the same season is Andrettilike. Make no mistake, Shane van Gisbergen is right up-there!

We salute you SVG and look forward to much success in the US next year and beyond.

www.autoaction.com.au I 27

Images: MOTORSPORT IMAGES

BACK-TO-BACK -TO-BACK JACK JACK DOOHAN has continued his sensational love affair with Spa Francorchamps at Round 10 of the FIA Formula 2 championship, coming from 11th on the grid to take Feature race victory and continue his late season renaissance.

For much of the season it’s been largely frowns from the Aussie. After what loomed as a defining year for the Alpine Formula 1 Reserve Driver, it quickly turned into a frustrating procession of underperformance as he and engineers struggled to bring out the 2022 speed of his V6 Virtuosi team car.

Doohan entered the previous round at the Hungaroring with his season seemingly in tatters but, after a dominant win in Eastern Europe, he travelled to Spa with invigorated belief.

For a bit of back-history, the iconic Belgian track has been pretty generous to Doohan in his journey that has seen him secure an F1 reserve seat.

By his maiden 2021 FIA Formula 3 season, he’d raced there four times previously with decent results, but in his second year of F3 he swept the Spa weekend on his way to taking second in the championship standings.

Last season in his first full-time F2 campaign, he finished second in the Sprint before taking the Feature race by 1.942s over the eventual champion Felipe Drugovich.

And after his win on the weekend over current championship leader Theo Pourchaire, third place getter Enzo Fittipaldi framed it the best in the cool-down room

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when he turned to him and said, “mate … you win here every year!”

His 2023 victory admittedly saw him get some good fortune, but he’d argue he was probably due a bit of an Irish gift.

A n unluckily-timed red flag in qualifying denied Doohan a dry lap as, with the rain coming when the session went green, he was stranded in P11.

For the Feature Race, Doohan started on Mediums – an alternate strategy from the race leaders – hitting the lead with the overcut on the pit-cycle when the frontrunners went in on lap 15 of 25.

By that stage, he had risen from P11 to fifth (his team’s pre-race estimate) and was the fastest car on track.

A well timed yellow flag gave him the window to pit for Softs and come out

behind the leader, Pourchaire, who he ran down with ease with the DRS window opening on lap 23 to ram home his clear tyre advantage.

Along with his points from finishing fifth in the Sprint Race, the Feature win elevated him into fourth in the championship, just 38 points behind Pourchaire, and with three rounds remaining (six point-scoring races) he can afford to dream.

“Today, you could say I like this place just a little bit, but to be honest, on Friday afternoon, I thought ‘I don’t like this place’, but today I do again!” Doohan said in reference to qualifying.

“Once I sort of got over Friday afternoon and stopped being a little moaner, I had my eyes forward and I honestly thought I could win today.

“That was my ambition, the team thought if I had a good race this morning I could get fifth. I was in bed last night manifesting a win and in the end I was lucky with the Safety Car but I’m happy we were able to get that done.

“Virtuosi have given me an awesome car and it definitely made things easier.”

In terms of the championship, Doohan must be feeling quietly confident and in with a chance. The next two rounds are at tracks that he knows he can perform at.

He was rapid at Zandvoort last year, and poised to pounce with a tyre advantage when a blinded Richard Verschoor hit him from behind at a restart when Liam Lawson failed to jump from the front of the field.

The following round at Monza he took pole before colliding with Logan Sargeant in the Feature after barely getting off the line with gearing issues.

“I’m not in a pressure situation. There are some things out of my control this year … and we’ve been able to fight our way back after five rounds going from 18th in the Championship.

“It’s still an almighty gap. Theo’s an awesome driver and doing an excellent job and so is Enzo, but I’ll continue to fight and if we can do it then I’d love to.”

The Zandvoort round is on August 26-27, followed by Monza the following weekend, with the season then concluding at Yas Marina on November 25-26.

TW Neal

A WEEKEND OF FIRSTS IT’S THE F1 SUMMER BREAK AND A FEW WEEKS OF REST BEFORE WE ALL GET GOING AGAIN IN THE RUN UP TO ZANDVOORT AT THE END OF AUGUST. This is a good chance for us drivers to recharge and prepare for the second half of the season and the remaining 10 races on the calendar.

There are some really demanding races left such as Singapore so I’ll have some physical training mixed in with my time off in order to keep things ticking over.

I’ve got no major plans for the break. It will be nice to meet up with a few friends, go for some meals out and catch up on the cricket, AFL and NBA. As we had a rare weekend off, I was lucky enough to go to the British Moto GP and watch the Sprint race as a guest of my personal partner, Quad Lock, last weekend. It was awesome to see the bikes, catch up with some of the riders and observe all the pre-race preparation taking place on the grid.

It won’t take me long to be itching to get going again and take on some of the awesome tracks that we still have in store like Suzuka and Austin. It’s also

Oscar Piastri’s

FORMULA 1 WORLD going to be special racing around the streets of Las Vegas for the first time and there should be a fair few Aussies heading over to Singapore, which I’m sure will create a good atmosphere.

I’ve loved the first half of the season. It’s been an amazing learning experience and with every race that passes, it’s more lessons that I can store in the bank for the future. A lot of the tracks have been new to me and I haven’t driven at most of the others for a few years, so I’m picking lots of things up as I take on circuits for the first time in F1 machinery.

It was a productive spell of races before the break. It was fantastic to qualify in the top five for three consecutive GPs at Silverstone, Budapest and Spa-Francorchamps, get a strong haul of points with fourth and fifth at the British and Hungarian grands prix respectively and pick up my first top three in the Sprint race in Belgium.

Sprint Saturday in Spa is a day

that I won’t forget in a hurry. To lead my first laps in Formula 1, to start on the front row and to pick up my first trophy were superb moments for me. All those situations will stand me in good stead with my development.

To get out of the car and celebrate with the team, who have welcomed me so warmly into life at McLaren and worked so hard to turn things around from where we are at the start of the season, was special.

Sunday in Spa was over before it begun but it was still a massively important weekend in my career and one that has left me so hungry to fight it out at the sharp end more.

I had some amazing messages via social media, on text and in the post from fans after the last three races.

I know a lot of people were cheering me on and the reception that I’ve received at some of the fan stages has been sensational. I’m a huge fan of my new song and find it as equally

A very proud team!

Images: MOTORSPORT IMAGES

Not many get to run at the front, ahead of Max, these days – albeit briefly. Second, to him, in the Sprint race at Spa, was a big result for Oscar.

Belgian F1 legend Jacky Ickx handed out the Sprint trophies (below).

hard to get out of my head.

Thanks for all your support and hope you get a chance to have rest in the summer break too.

Take care, OP

OSCAR IS PROUDLY SUPPORTED BY

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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.

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email: letters@autoaction.com.au Postal: Suite 4/156 Drummond Street.

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TIME FOR BALANCE OF PERFORMANCE IN SUPERCARS? GIVEN THE continuing parity bunfight and Ford’s veiled threats about taking its bat and ball home and telling mum and dad that the other kids aren’t playing fair, is it time to consider (gasp!) some kind of Balance of Performance formula in Supercars?

Yes, I can hear the wailing, gasps of disbeliefs and complete outrage, but ...

Maybe it’s a short-term solution before a long-term fix can be found in the eternal quest to create a level playing field (as if this has ever TRULY happened), but is it worth a thought?

Add weight to the winners on a sliding scale of success? 10kg for a win, 7.5kg for second, etc.

Drop weight for the losers as they get their butts kicked?

Of course, this would mean that some of the regular tailenders would be racing a car with about the overall weight of a rusty Mazda MX5 ... but you get my point.

Possibly I’m overthinking things here, but this constant bunfight about parity is so boring and over the heads of so many grass-level fans of the sport that it could be, umm, a thing.

Tell me to p… off and that I’m out of touch, but in desperate times maybe it’s time to do desperate things.

Seriously though, maybe it is time to tweak the rules.

Let’s face it, General Motors is stopping production of the Camaro, Ford is fed up with getting its backside ‘blue ovaled’, and I have a great fear that we’ll find ourselves in a notso-distant future like the DTM (the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters or German Touring Car Masters) in Europe.

Handicapping works in horse racing, so why not here?

And don’t dare suggest that this is still a sport and not a marketing/entertainment business.

So when 50 per cent of the punters are not being entertained ...

Yes, yes, I can hear Triple 8 screaming already.

Wayne Webster Bow Bowing, NSW Editor’s note: Wayne Webster is a long-time motoring and motorsport journalist, book author and experienced rally/off road co-driver – even sharing co-driving duties with Peter Brock in ‘Round Australia’ ...

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SOCIAL DISCOURSE Sydney night racing put on a show on the track and on Auto Action’s social channels with teams and fans alike fired up.

RYAN FINED FOR OUTBURST

Jenni Laing Where is Supercars broadcast media team fine and apology to Barry Ryan and the team? They caused this and need to step up and take responsibility.

Is it time for BOP in Supercars – like GT3 in Europe?

Image: MOTORSPORT IMAGES

CAPTIVE AUDIENCE MISSING OUT ON F1 TELECASTS WHY HAS Channel 10 stopped broadcasting Formula 1?

For many years a free-to-air network would show F1 live.

Now we have two Aussie drivers in F1 again and no freeto-air network is broadcasting it.

Will any free-to-air network pick it up?

We inmates here at Capricornia Correctional Centre cannot get Fox Sports or Kayo. We have no interest access and no mobile phones.

We can only get free-to-air TV. It’s a pity Auto Action is fortnightly as we have to wait two weeks for any F1 news.

Hope AA doesn’t go monthly!

Jim Faggotter, Rockhampton, Queensland Editor’s note: Fox/Kayo have exclusive rights to telecast all F1 races live in Australia these days. Channel 10 only telecasts the Australian Grand Prix live. They’re the sad facts of life now for those who can’t afford or can’t get access to subscription telecasts. Keep reading AA to follow the fortunes of Oscar Piastri and Daniel Ricciardo – and to stay abreast of Jack Doohan’s rise through Formula 2.

WESTERN AUSTRALIA DESERVES A STREET RACE IN PERTH SOUTHERN WESTERN Australia has a population of more than two million people now, so there should be two annual Supercars rounds there annually.

There is one at Wanneroo, but why not also have a major Supercars round each year in downtown Perth?

Why not build a Townsville-

style hybrid circuit – part permanent and part temporary street circuit that could be the venue for an annual Perth 400 or Perth 500?

A hybrid circuit could have permanent pit garage facilities and half the track could be permanent road course with concrete barriers installed, which would greatly reduce the cost to stage a round there each year.

As we have seen with the Adelaide 500, Townsville 500 and the Gold Coast 500, major Supercars street circuit events are very popular with the drivers, teams and fans.

A Perth version would be just as popular. It would attract thousands of local and interstate fans and be a great economic boost to the city and WA. A major Perth Supercars round would also be watched by many thousands more on television, even in the eastern states despite the time difference.

The Townsville hybrid street circuit was financed and built as a joint co-operation between the federal and Queensland governments.

A Perth hybrid street circuit could be financed and built as co-operatively between the federal and WA governments.

It would be great to see an annual major Supercars street circuit round in Perth and the Supercars fans of WA certainly deserve to have it.

Malcolm Webster Boronia, Victoria Editor’s note: Supercars campaigned vigorously for an event like you envisage in Perth when Tony Cochrane was at the helm but the concept didn’t get approval in the WA corridors of power.

Perhaps it’s time to revisit the idea.

Nik Hough You honestly can’t win. Everyone carries on about the the way SVG drives or that there is no passion or feeling in the sport, then the bloke paying the bills comes out and says what everyone else is thinking and you all smash him?

Lachie McClure Good on you for apologising Barry. It’s not a very common response these days. Having said that, from an impartial observer, don’t think for one minute that SVG is Robinson Crusoe, there are a few others pushing and shoving in the traffic, and it makes for a great spectacle. Your boys are not exempt from that club either!

TRIPLE EIGHT AND TICKFORD IN PIT CLASH Matt Burge Is this racing or an episode from Bold and the Beautiful Aaron Packer So I hope this rule applies to double stacking and the stacked car does not hold up the car getting to their marks because that’s impeding another team.

Bruce Henderson I do not get why Waters got a penalty when clearly the crew told him to go, it was not his call.

It should have been the team that got penalised.

PIASTRI SECOND IN SPRINT Shane Hean He must be glad Alpine had not locked him down before Zac came knocking! Well done Mark Webber for getting him this deal with McLaren.

Luke Ford Oscar is a real talent. Give any of these drivers a good car and they will be up the front – it would be so good if Danny and Oscar could be on the podium together.

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A SUPER NIGHT

Image:PETER NORTON-EPIC SPORTS PHOTOGRAPHY IT’S BEEN yet another fascinating couple of weeks in the strife and times of Gen3, culminating in reports of Ford pulling some Supercars sponsorships and advertising support for 2024. Gulp.

If true, it’s a massive warning shot across Supercars owner RACE’s bow. Hardly surprising, though, after being treated like a redheaded stepchild.

More on Ford and its changing priorities another time. Here, let me provide a spectator’s trackside perspective on attending the first ever Gen3 race under lights at SMP. Before I do, I want to reiterate that Revved Up is written from an outsider’s and spectator’s viewpoint. Yes, I have worked in the motorsport media in days-gone-by, including a stint as a contractor to V8 Supercars as an on-course commentator, which ended over a decade ago.

I work in book publishing these days with a side hustle of writing this column and some other magazine articles. I have no skin in the Supercars game, no affiliations, or obligations, other than to Auto Action readers. I’m independent.

My views are my own.

You could say I’m like the old Cold Chisel song … I’m standing on the outside looking in. Woh-oh…

with Luke West

REVVED UP My General Admission ticket to enter Sydney Motorsport Park for Saturday’s events, the cheapest option available and pre-purchased online, set me back $79 with booking fee. Not an insubstantial sum but it did include paddock/pit building roof access if not a seat in the grandstand that was never more than two-thirds full. That said, there was an impressive crowd in attendance and the atmosphere grew as the sun set.

I arrived about 4pm, in time for the SuperUtes race, then Supercars qualifying. Before sundown it felt like every other trip I’ve had to The Creek since 1991. After dark the place was transformed. So too the spectator experience.

SMP is a venue best enjoyed at night. The new lighting system is sensational.

It somehow accentuates a car’s speed, bringing fancy paint schemes to life.

I can’t quite explain the phenomenon, but it all looks more spectacular and exciting – like pyjama cricket does – under lights.

The Gen 3 cars look especially good. They are very sexy cars with liveries that pop, enhanced by the return of blue flames from side exhausts and glowing brakes.

The buzz was enhanced by a very mild mid-winter night and Supercars’ newly adopted, highenergy pre-race music show.

Well, the pumping of songs from concert-grade speakers, at least.

It was simple and effective.

It was a welcome relief from hearing Mark Skaife banging on excitedly over the PA about the tyre-degradation that only seems to turn him on. Might be time for him to step out of the commentary box. Ditto his Fox Sports/Kayo hosting role – God knows there’s plenty that needs his attention behind the scenes. It’s nothing personal, Mark, but after 30-odd

years of yours being the most dominant and constant voice on touring car telecasts, I seriously need a break from hearing you.

Again, nothing personal.

More palatable was the availability of a proper dinner option for punters – freshly cooked paella (think chicken risotto) – from the pit complex roof. Made for a nice change from the usual crappy racetrack food options that either kill you short- or long-term.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed a great evening at the track with two willing accomplices. Now to other more constructive feedback…

With crews quickly getting on top of Gen3 set-ups, there was little evidence of the cars moving around on track, as was apparent in Newcastle. In fact, the cars sat on the track and negotiated corners much like the Gen2 cars – too well.

The new norm is much like the old norm in other ways. I really had little clue as to what was going on in the race, even with Neil Crompton and Skaife’s commentary through my headphones. Their call was just too technical to be useful as PA commentary. FFS Supercars, bring back a dedicated and simple to understand oncourse commentary

with lots of positional updates for those viewing trackside.

Compulsory fuel drops matter little when your hanging over the fence trying to make sense of things.

Those watching at home might have seen some bump and grind, but I saw little in the way of passing or action from my vantage points at Turns 1, 2, 4 and 5 – just cars playing follow the leader.

Except, that is, for a lap or two after the restart.

I’d love for next year’s Sydney SuperNight to feature a compact schedule of three 30-minute Supercars races over, say, a threehour period. That would be three race starts.

Worryingly, there wasn’t much evidence of Supercars’ new primary target market – families – where I wandered. Perhaps they were in the grandstand I couldn’t access.

Finally, holding a drag racing meeting on the same night made for carpark chaos. I know it took me 80 minutes to exit the venue.

Not good enough.

Who else would like to see a compact format of three quick sprints at the next Sydney SuperNight?

Sing it Barnesy: ‘Woh-oh, wohoh, oh yeah!’

08 8322 3848

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INTERNATIONAL NEWS

BIG MOVEMENT ANTICIPATED FOR INDY SILLY SEASON AS THE 2023 IndyCar season heads towards its final stretch, August is also the starting line for its Silly Season.

Looking through the current team line-ups, it’s almost a certainty that Team Penske is the only team that is certain of entering 2024 with the same drivers.

There are two teams and three drivers that hold the key to the 2024 grid: Chip Ganassi (CGR) and Andretti Autosport, and Marcus Ericsson, Alex Palou, and Romain Grosjean.

CGR was at the centre of the storm in 2022 after triggering its option to keep 2021 champion and current series leader Alex Palou after Arrow McLaren said it was signing the Spanish ace (who is also a reserve driver for the McLaren F1 team, and has tested for them this season).

It’s unknown if Palou will leave CGR, switch teams, or chase an F1 seat. If he doesn’t get to F1 (through an as yet unclear avenue) he could remain with CGR, but it’s a very difficult puzzle to decipher, and many believe he’s still Arrows bound.

Staying on the CGR front, 2022 Indy 500 winner Marcus Ericsson is the biggest domino in play, and probably the soonest to resolve.

The former F1 driver had been vocal about wanting to be

paid a compensatory amount to stay at CGR, creating a stalemate.

Constant rumours are that Ericsson has already done a deal to leave after it was reported they were actually close to re-signing, but August 1 was the date put forth for both parties.

So where will he go?

Zak Brown indicated that he’d love to have Ericsson should Arrows be running a fourth car in 2024, saying that, “I wouldn’t let him go if he was driving for me.” But it’s highly likely Palou will go to Arrows, with Brown also telling reporters that Arrows 2024 line up is almost sorted. With Alexander Rossi and Pato O’Ward locked in, Felix Rosenqvist would then be without a drive if they don’t run a fourth car.

The Likely option for Ericsson is Andretti Autosport, maybe in the place of another former F1 driver in Romain Grosjean, but the Frenchman doesn’t need to leave for that to happen.

After a promising start to the year, Grosjean has been poor, making some bad on-track decisions at crucial times, and it’s understood the team is Palou and Ericsson looking at other options. are at the centre Grosjean has also of the driver locked away a drive at market. Images: MOTORSPORT Lamborghini next year for IMAGES either the WEC or IMSA sportscar championships in the new Hypercar category and, although he has said he’d like to do both, it mightn’t be at Andretti, if any.

Andretti has a number of strong options in its Indy NXT program, such as Aussie driver Hunter McElrea, whilst current Dale Coyne racer Davis Malukas has also been linked with a move to a bigger team such as Andretti, which is also likely to let Canadian Devlin DeFrancesco go.

Malukas has also been linked with CGR, with Kiwi legend Scott Dixon the only certain CGR stayer, whilst it’s expected that promising Kiwi and rookie leader Marcus Armstrong will get a full-time contract with CGR in 2024.

Whatever happens, it will all begin with Ericsson ...

TW Neal

WRC EDGES CLOSER TO ITS FUTURE IN THE next few years, the FIA World Rally Championship will edge closer to knowing what the 2025 and 2026 season regulations will look like prior to its expected major reset, slated for 2027.

In that 2025-26 window, the Hybrid Rally1 regulations will need to suit what the future of the sport will look like prior to 2027.

One of the major current concerns that the FIA and WRC body has to deal with was the fact that its contract with its hybrid unit supplier – Compact Dynamics – was due to end after the 2024 season, and having absolute stability in that area prior to 2027 is a vital factor.

Andrew Wheatley, the FIA road sport director, met with the Toyota, Hyundai, and Ford M-Sport heads at Rally Estonia, where he informed them that a stabilising deal with Compact Dynamics was close.

“We are not able to announce anything, but certainly I came away from Estonia a lot calmer than when I arrived,” Wheatley said in a conversation with Autosport

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“We have got a bit of work to do but I think everyone is starting to see the vision of the future in a much more coherent way.

“We are working hard towards 2027 as the next evolution of Rally1. I think 2025 and 2026 is just a question of establishing the commercial terms by which we work in the environment.“ M-Sport team principal Richard Millener said he was encouraged by the meeting,

whilst highlighting some of the present issues from a team’s point of view: “In terms of the actual hybrid unit’s performance at the events, they haven’t been so bad, but there have been issues around the supply and service side of things. Everyone is under pressure with budgets and things. We need to control that.

“We need to have a rough vision for the

future so we know where we are heading and I think that is what they are working on.

“They hybrid supplier is trying hard to make the teams happy. There are still some challenges, but in general, it is a step forward and we have not had that for a while.”

In terms of the costs side of the equation, there has also been talk of a cost-cap being introduced to the WRC in the near future, which the FIA and WRC say will help to attract a fourth manufacturer, which it hasn’t had since Citroen pulled the pin in 2019.

Last year it was reported that there had been in talks with Skoda, Alpine and the Stellantis Group (Abarth, Citroen, Lancia, Peugeot etc), and WRC senior sporting director Peter Thul confirmed recently that discussions were ongoing with three suitors, but that the future regulations/ evolution needs to be solidified before anything can move forward.

TW Neal

SILLY, SILLY, SILLY

WHEN SHANE VAN GISBERGEN HEADS TO THE USA NEXT YEAR HE WILL LEAVE A GAPING HOLE IN SUPERCARS RACING ... AND THEN THERE IS TRIPLE EIGHT ...

SO WHO will drive the #97 Chevrolet Camaro – probably after a number change back to #888 – in season 2024?

Picking the winner was the hottest topic at Sydney Motorsport and everyone, from the top team bosses to the hard workers checking passes at the gates, had an opinion.

Kai Allen and Jayden Ojeda were favourites among the rising stars, with Dick Johnson Racing emphasising they have Allen firmly on their radar and inside the garage to shut down any speculation.

Christopher Mies – often a guest star in Australia with Audi in GT racing – was reported to be looking for a Supercars ride as the German carmaker winds back its global Customer Racing program to focus on Formula One. Jamie Whincup even suggested he was considering a comeback to the driving seat in Supercars, after jumping into one of Roland Dane’s AMG GT racers for the supporting program and keeping things rolling with some passenger laps through the ride day at SMP on the following Monday.

Whincup also hinted very strongly that he wanted an early decision from SvG – even, perhaps, before his return run in NASCAR run on the Indianapolis road course.

But you always have to be careful what you wish for . . .

It was not just names, but also the right approach, that dominated the chat.

Would Triple Eight try to keep van Gisbergen?

“Why keep hanging yourself for another year?” said one insider.

Would they go for a plug-andplay racer or try and find a ‘bus drivers’ – as Kyle Petty calls them – who can get everyone on board and build a team around them?

Should they go for a youngster, a solid mid-fielder, or someone from outside the Supercars bubble?

“Mattias Ekstrom would have been perfect, back in the day. He won in German touring cars and rallying, so very adaptable,” said another insider, who takes a more global view.

After listening to all the pitlane voices, here is what I would do.

The first step would be to agree with van Gisbergen that he could leave early – provided he paid out his contract, much like the ’transfer fee’ deals in global soccer.

Next, walk down to Erebus Racing for a chat with Barry Ryan.

It probably would not go well, but I would ask how much he would want in a similar ’transfer fee’ to release Brodie Kostecki – the package closest to SvG in the driver line-up.

If it took a $300,000 incentive to seal the deal, that would be fine.

Then, to lock things away, I’d go back to van Gisbergen and tell him it would cost $350,000 for an early release and a farewell party.

“But that’s a short-term plan.

What would you do if Brodie got an offer for NASCAR,” said one of the smartest people in the business.

But the SvG talk was not the only silly season chatter at SMP. Based on the rumours, and a series of leaks from people who should know, what’s emerging looks like this.

Scott Pye? Out. Nick Percat? Out. David Reynolds? Shaky and unlikely to get the contract he wants.

Fabian Coulthard? Replacing Percat WAU. Tickford Racing? Perhaps headed for a significant downsizing.

But nothing is simple in season 2023.

That’s because the key players in

with Paul Gover

THE PG PERSPECTIVE the driver market, apart from van Gone, are all under contract until the end of 2024.

That’s Chaz Mostert, both Shell Mustang racers, even Kostecki and Will Brown and Erebus.

So, anything done now needs to be a one-year deal so you can take up position for the real moves next year.

“It’s going to be a driver’s market.

The prices will go up,” said one team boss.

So there is a lot to play out over the next year, with the potential for a generational shift in Supercars with more young drivers arriving than any other time in history.

But back to the beginning, and a replacement for van Gisbergen?

There is one name – and driver – hiding in plain sight.

It’s Richie Stanaway, who was co-driving for Triple Eight at SMP in one of Roland Dane’s Mercedes-AMG racers in the GT supports.

He was fast when he got his first shot at Supercars with Garry Rogers, but there were some ‘issues’ – as Aston Martin had already reported when he was a GT racer in Europe.

But things have changed, as Stanaway has been low-key and low-maintenance during his GT time at T8, and the same was true in his Wildcard start at Bathurst last year.

“He’s a changed bloke. He’s a fantastic driver,” said Greg Murphy.

So don’t bet against him.

Shane van Gisbergen and Richie Stanaway – SVG’s likely replacement?

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FORMULA 1 NEWS – LUIS VASCONCELOS

AUTO ACTION EXCLUSIVE

AUDI DENIES 2026 PU PROGRAM DELAY SAUBER’S TEAM Representative Alessandro Alunni Bravi (above) has strongly denied rumours spread by the British specialised media that Audi’s Power Unit program is running behind schedule and, also, that the departure of the company’s CEO, Markus Duesmann, has derailed Audi’s Formula 1 project and that his replacement, Gernot Döllner, was seriously considering canning it and abandoning any plans of bringing his company into Grand Prix racing.

Alunni Bravi reacted with humour to a question about Audi’s Power Unit development status, joking that, “I’m happy to hear that the Audi project is behind the shadow because we don’t have this kind of information and it’s always difficult from the external people to understand what the status is of development of such an important program, like a new PU manufacturer entering Formula 1.”

He then explained that, “the program is on the right route. We are working hard to develop the team in these next two seasons.

We know that there are constraints linked also to the financial regulations, but we are, with Andreas Seidl, addressing all our weaknesses and try to seek all the best opportunities in the market to bring quality into our team and to develop our facilities. So there is no change for us, nor for Audi.”

As for the wild stories which maintained that Audi’s Formula 1 program was on the brink of being cancelled following the departure of Markus Duesmann from his position as the company’s CEO, the Italian lawyer also issued a strong denial: “Audi’s project is based not on a single individual, but is a project for all the company that has been, I would say, welcoming it at any level. And I think that there is no change. We work as a team, all together, to be ready for 2026. This doesn’t mean that the challenge is easy. We have such a strong competition, we need to be really humble and to work on a daily basis at our best because the competition is extremely high for everybody and, especially in the PU manufacturer side, I think that the competition in 2026 will be really, really strong. So, we just need to be focused on our job and nothing change with the departure of Mr Duesmann.”

That view was confirmed to AA by Andreas Seidl at Spa-Francorchamps, the German being in Belgium to take part in Friday’s Formula 1 Commission meeting, but insisting he’s not yet speaking on the record, a situation that will only change when Sauber’s link with Alfa Romeo is concluded, at the end of the season. According to the German, Audi’s Power Unit development program is on schedule, to the day, as a mono-cylinder prototype is already running with promising results in the company’s new factory ... so the allegations made by some British media seem to be completely unfounded.

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Images: MOTORSPORT IMAGES

SAINZ SIGNS PRE-CONTRACT WITH AUDI CARLOS SAINZ has taken the first step towards leaving Ferrari at the end of his current contract, expiring at the end of the 2024 season, by signing a pre-contract with Audi, as the German manufacturer is gradually takes control of the Sauber team before becoming a full-fledged works team from the start of 2026.

While both Ferrari drivers are under contract until the end of next year, with Team Principal Frédéric Vasseur insisting on more than one occasion that, “the drivers contracts are not a priority for now, as we have to improve the human structure as quickly as possible before we open serious talks to renew both with Charles and Carlos”, the Spanish driver has decided against staying idle and waiting for the Scuderia to make a move.

Speaking exclusively to Auto Action at Spa-Francorchamps, Sainz admitted that, “I do prefer starting a season already knowing where I’m going to be the following year, because that takes away the distraction that always is to be negotiating a new contract when you need to be fully focused on what you’re doing on track and on the work you have to do with the team you’re currently with –

as that’s the only way to make progress.”

He then added that, “while it’s still early days and the end of the season is still some four months away, it’s true that once this championship will be over I’ll fully focus on sorting my future, as the goal is to go into the 2024 championship without any worries about it and my contract for the future already signed and sealed.”

But the driver from Madrid refused to confirm he’s ready to make the move to Audi, insisting, “I believe in the Ferrari project. I feel very much as an important and valued part of the team, but I know success doesn’t come instantly and that’s why we are all united and doing all we can to plant the seeds for future success.”

However, sources close to Sainz have told us he has already signed a precontract with Audi and even though that’s not a binding commitment – precontracts are rife in Formula 1 and Ferrari has an history of always having three to four drivers with pre-contracts signed for future years, to give the Scuderia priority over their services in case of need – it shows the Spaniard is considering his alternatives.

The fact Andreas Seidl, with whom he

worked very well at McLaren, is Sauber Group’s CEO and will be Audi’s Team Principal from the start of 2026, makes the Swiss team an attractive prospect for the 28-year old from Madrid. It also hasn’t gone unnoticed that his own father, the legendary rally and rally-raid driver with the same name, joined Audi’s Dakar project at the end of 2021 and is still competing with the German team in rally-raids – even if he has been forced to take most of 2023 off following a couple of nasty accidents in this year’s edition of the famous rally marathon.

As Carlos Sainz Sr has strong links with Audi, he certainly knows all the key people inside the company’s motorsport structure and has inside information about their Formula 1 program. Very much like he did with Red Bull, when he managed to get Dietrich Mateschiz’s support for his son’s career against Helmut Marko’s wishes – an unique case in the company’s Young Drivers program – the 61-year old may be playing a vital role in the future of his son’s Formula 1 career, even if a new contract with Ferrari is not discarded, depending on how the Scuderia progresses in the next four months.

ANOTHER FRENCH REVOLUTION

ALPINE’S CHANGE of its entire management structure during the month of July was the talk of the paddock at Spa-Francorchamps, much to relief of Toto Wolff and Lewis Hamilton, who’ve had enough of being questioned about their 2024 deal, and even more so for Sérgio Pérez.

The Mexican is clearly sick of answering questions about his immediate future on the back of a disastrous run that started in Monaco and looks like it has ended with his second place in Belgium.

Three months ago, Alpine’s CEO Laurent Rossi stunned Formula 1 with a scathing attack on his own team’s management, during the Miami Grand Prix.

But soon it became clear he was mainly reacting to being given a bollocking from his own boss, Renault Group’s CEO, Luca di Meo. While it was expected the Frenchman would be forced to relinquish control of Alpine’s

with Luis Vasconcelos

F1 INSIDER racing operation, the fact he lost both his jobs in one go, was a bit of a shocker too.

In one simple move, di Meo handed control of all racing operations to Bruno Famin and separated the road car department from motor racing by making Phillipe Krief the new CEO, the Frenchman having no role to play in the company’s motorsport activities.

Famin, for all his French bonhomie outlook, is a driven man and, with a clear mandate from di Meo, arrived at Enstone with a simple message: do it our way or get out. And so, Team Principal Otmar Szafnauer and Sporting Director Alan Permane

exited the team at the end of the Belgian Grand Prix. At the same time, CTO Pat Fry also jumped ship, joining Williams – in this case on his own initiative.

While the American Szafnauer’s departure was expected for the end of the season – he wasn’t well-liked by the British side of the operation at Enstone, being perceived as a talker, not a doer, if you see what I mean – Permane’s situation was different for, during his 34 years with the team, he had put himself in a position that was seen as nuclear for the operation of the race team and would be hard to get rid of.

The indications we’re getting from this French Revolution –

which ironically also took place in the month of July, but not exactly on the 14th! – is that the man running the whole thing is Renault Group CEO Luca di Meo, with Famin being there to follow his orders with little or no autonomy.

Motor racing folks are not necessarily familiar with the Italian, but he was very close to former Fiat Chrysler Automotive CEO Sérgio Marchione and, for a while, was believed to be his preferred successor before moving to the VW Group and then Renault. Marchione’s methods were equally brutal, once famously inviting a top manager from Fiat and his wife for dinner, only to let him know the next morning he was fired …

The fact di Meo has already called former Fiat man Phillipe Krief to run the road-car side of Alpine shows he’s now abandoned the idea of promoting internally and is placing people he knows and trusts in key positions at Alpine.

And one man he knows, likes and trusts is Mattia Binotto, the Ferrari man out of a job since being fired by the Scuderia at the end of last year, but unable to take a new one until the first day of 2024, to respect the terms of his contract termination.

It will be a hard knock for everyone at Enstone and ViryChatillon to have the Italian come in from outside and run both the Sporting and Technical side of the operation, as he did at Ferrari. But that’s the most likely scenario, according to our sources, because di Meo wants him there and he’s the man in charge.

Binotto is also expected to bring some of his faithful former colleagues to both the chassis and the engine operations, so the current upheaval in Alpine may be extended well into the middle of 2024. And in a sport where continuity is the key to success, that’s not really good news for Alpine and its fans.

Szafnauer (left) – likely to be replaced at Alpine by former rival Bonotto (right) ... Image: MOTORSPORT IMAGES

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FORMULA 1 NEWS – LUIS VASCONCELOS

HAAS-ALFA ROMEO IS A DONE DEAL

Images: MOTORSPORT IMAGES ALFA ROMEO will remain with one foot in Formula 1 next year, after the title sponsorship deal with Sauber comes to an end, as the Swiss team has already been acquired by Audi and will become the German manufacturer’s works team from the start of 2026.

A new deal has been done with Haas F1 Team, but with Moneygram having signed a title sponsorship contract with the American team, the Italian car manufacturer had to find another way to get the link with Gene Haas’ squad, in order to keep its name in Grand Prix racing and reap the marketing benefits it believes being in Formula 1 gives.

As we reported at the time, a first meeting between Alfa Romeo’s CEO Jean-Philippe Imparato and Haas Team Principal Gunther Steiner took place during the Monaco Grand Prix weekend but, with the title sponsorship of the

American team not available, the Frenchman had to find another way to keep his company’s name in the sport.

Negotiations between the two parties have slowly progressed and it has now emerged that the way Alfa Romeo has found to keep a presence in Formula 1 was to badge the Ferrari engines the American team will continue to use at least until the end of 2025, with next year’s car being named VF24-Alfa Romeo and the Italian manufacturer getting some branding on the chassis as well.

For the deal to go ahead it was, of course, necessary for Ferrari to agree to having its Power Units rebranded by a different manufacturer but, even though the Italian sports car company is not part of the Stelantis Group, like Alfa Romeo, it is largely owned by the same people, the Agnelli-Elkann family, and, therefore, an arrangement

between the three parties wasn’t difficult to achieve.

The only question mark remaining is about the timing of the announcement as Alfa Romeo would, understandably, like to make it during the Italian Grand Prix but doesn’t want to upset its current partner, that has been very loyal and useful since the two companies started to work together.

With Sauber running an Alfa Romeo commemorative livery in Monza and the two companies launching what will be their last combined road car project during the Italian Grand Prix weekend, it’s felt that announcing a new deal with Haas could be either counterproductive or go largely unnoticed. So the official announcement of this new partnership may be made close to the end of the summer break or later in the season, possibly during the United States Grand Prix, in Austin, to maximise its media impact.

RED BULL JUNIOR TEAM TO BE REBRANDED BOSS ALPHATAURI WILL be no more, both on and off the track, and Red Bull’s new management seems to have already found a solution for the naming of its junior Formula 1 team beyond the end of the 2023 World Championship. Prestigious fashion brand Boss is set to become not only the Faenzabased team’s title sponsor, but is also rumoured to become the team’s new name for a period of at least five years, according to Austrian sources.

When Red Bull bought the historic Minardi team from Australian entrepreneur Paul Stoddart, Dietrich Mateschitz was keen to get rid of a name that, while extremely popular, was synonymous with being the perennial backmarker and decided Toro Rosso – Red Bull in Italian – would be a good alternative, planning to brand a future product from his drinks company with that name. Toro Rosso, however, remained just a team name until the end of 2019, when the Austrian company launched a brand of very expensive casual clothes under the AlphaTauri brand.

That was the perfect opportunity for

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The Boss is back (although a current Mercedes partner) ... taking naming rights from AlphaTauri.

Mateschitz to finally use his second Formula 1 team as a marketing tool, so Scuderia Toro Rosso became Scuderia AlphaTauri and for the last four years the popular dark blue and white livery has been seen in Grand Prix

racing. Unfortunately, though, the clothes brand has been a complete failure and Red Bull’s management has recently shut down all European-based AlphaTauri shops and will soon do the same to the two remaining

ones in the United States, with the brand being discontinued before the end of this year.

Needing to find a new name for its team, as it made no sense to promote a brand that will no longer exist, new Red Bull manager Oliver Mintzlaff targeted getting a title sponsor that would actually contribute to the budget of the Faenza-based team, even offering the naming rights to whichever company would accept his proposal.

According to Austrian daily newspaper Kourier, a deal has been reached with the Hugo Boss fashion brand that includes the Faenza-based team changing name from the start of 2024, in what will now become the fourth iteration of the team that entered Formula 1 back in 1985, with a single car entered for Italian star Pierluigi Martini.

Martini became a stalwart for Minardi, spending his entire Formula 1 career, that ended 10 seasons later, with the little Italian team, with the exception of 1992, where he had a brief stint driving Scuderia Italia’s Dallara.

HAAS SET TO KEEP BOTH DRIVERS FOR 2024 KEVIN MAGNUSSEN and Nico Hulkenberg are set to extend their contracts with Haas F1 team for another year, the official announcement likely to come before the 2023 Formula One World Championship resumes at the end of the team’s summer shutdown.

Team owner Gene Haas has always been a great fan of experienced drivers and a line-up stability – and the experiences he had with Mick Schumacher and, especially, Nikita Mazepin when his team desperately needed some external funding, have reinforced the American businessman’s dislike for hiring young drivers to race for him.

Although the team has only scored 11 points since the start of the season, neither Haas nor Team Principal Gunther Steiner have laid the blame on any of its veteran drivers, being fully aware that the VF-23 is not very competitive, with a very high rate of tyre degradation affecting the race pace, without the team being able to find the root cause and, therefore, eliminate the problem.

Although there are some interesting prospects in Formula 2 that could easily make the transition to Formula 1 next year, sources from Haas told us that the renewal of both Magnussen and Hulkenberg’s contracts is just a formality, with the team ready to make the announcement before the Dutch Grand Prix.

Speaking about his drivers at Spa, Gunther Steiner admitted that, “I knew Nico was a very quick and complete driver and I wasn’t too worried about him being three years away, without a full time drive. But I have to admit he even surprised me with the speed at which he returned to his best level because, essentially, from the start of testing in Bahrain he was in the ballpark and after one race it was like he’d never been away.

He also surprised me in a nice way with his

technical understanding and feedback, so it’s clear bringing him back to Formula 1 was a good decision we took almost one year ago.”

As for Kevin Magnussen, who has been struggling more than his teammate, especially in qualifying, Steiner was also quite complimentary, saying that, “we know that when we give him a quick car, with the characteristics that are suited to his driving style, Kevin can be extremely quick. I mean, he was on pole for last year’s Brazilian Grand Prix, wasn’t he? So, he’s quick and he’s a good element for the team but his problem is that, at the moment, we are not capable of giving him a car he can extract the best out of. So, it’s up to us to raise our game and give him what he needs, because when Kevin has what he needs, he delivers the goods and he’s demonstrated that to us on many occasions.”

In conclusion, Steiner admitted that, “I don’t see any reason why we should change our driver line-up, I don’t see anyone out there that I’d rather have in my cars, so the logical step is to keep Nico and Kevin going forward. How and when we’ll make an announcement, it’s what’s being currently discussed, but don’t expect any surprise from us”, he concluded.

Haas will, therefore, join Red Bull, Mercedes, Ferrari, McLaren, Alpine and Aston Martin in the group of teams that will keep the same driving pairing for next year. With Valtteri Bottas and Alex Albon having contracts for 2024 with Alfa Romeo and Williams respectively, each team still has one seat available for next year while, at AlphaTauri, anything can happen, although the smart money is on Ricciardo and Tsunoda remaining together until the end of the next season.

WILLIAMS AND ALHPATAURI WANT PERMANE EXPERIENCED RACE engineer Alan Permane won’t be unemployed for long, after being ousted by Alpine during the high-profile reshuffle the French team has undergone in the last few weeks, as two teams are already offering contracts to join them with immediate effect.

According to sources from both teams, Williams and AlphaTauri have already got in touch with the 56 year-old as soon as it was known he was to leave the Enstone-based team after 24 years in the company.

Both teams are in desperate need of hiring experienced personal for their technical departments and getting their hands on someone with Permane’s experience would certainly help them fix some of the issues that have affected them in the last couple of years.

Since James Vowles became Williams’ Team Principal, the former Mercedes man has identified a number of areas in which his team has to improve and, while his focus in on updating the infrastructure and getting good engineers for the design office, there’s also room to improve the race team operations – and that’s the area in which Permane could be useful. The fact that Pat Fry has just left Alpine to join Williams as

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Chief Technical Officer could be an important element to attract Permane to the team, as the two have enjoyed a good personal relationship for more than 30 years, having worked together as race engineers for Benetton – the team that is now rebranded Alpine – in the early 90s and more recently cooperated when Fry returned to Enstone after 27 years away.

On the other hand, AlphaTauri would be able to offer Permane a higher profile job, effectively running the race team and reporting to future Team Principal Laurent Mekies and the team’s new CEO Peter Bayer.

With Red Bull deciding to move as much as possible of AlphaTauri’s operation to Milton Keynes, Permane could continue to live in the United Kingdom and wouldn’t need to go to the factory more than a couple of times per week. He’s clearly highly rated by Christian Horner and other key elements of the Austrian company’s motorsport structure.

At Spa, Horner was extremely complimentary of Permane, saying that, “I think for Alan, or Bat as I think he’s better known in the pit lane, 34 years in any job is a truly remarkable achievement. I think to go from Benetton to Renault to whatever …

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Lotus, back to Renault to Alpine, he’s been one of the mainstays there.

“And he’s obviously been there through the World Championship periods of Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso. So, a hugely competent guy. I doubt he’s going to be unemployed for too long. But hats off to what he’s done with that team – particularly, one has to look at the difficult periods when they were looking at insolvency and the issues with shareholders and the transfer for all the team. That’s when the team needs clear guidance and leadership and mainstays and I was particularly impressed at that point in time that he was a solid pillar.”

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ALPINE BUYOUT COULD BE ANDRETTI’S SOLUTION SELLING THE chassis side of its Formula 1 operation could be on the cards for Alpine, with Andretti Global being the most obvious candidate to take over the Enstone factory, personnel and race team, a few observers admitted during the recent Belgian Grand Prix, The unexpected and important exodus of top management personnel from Alpine’s Formula 1 team could be the sign the French manufacturer has grown disenchanted with Grand Prix racing and is trying to find a way out of the very expensive investment made in the last couple of years. With cars sale worldwide not even reaching 2.000 per month – June was the company’s best month as 1863 cars were sold – the French manufacturer has a mountain to climb to start its road to profitability and having a Formula 1 team that struggles to get in the top 10 in qualifying and the races and costs a lot of money to run may not be helping the process.

The promotions of Bruno Famin to the role of interim Team Principal and Julian Rouse to the position of interim Sporting Director, replacing Otmar Szafnauer and Alan Permane respectively after both were dismissed during the SpaFrancorchamps weekend, indicates that the decision taken

by Renault Group CEO Luca di Meo was so sudden, he had no time to find the most suitable candidates for the job and thus had to promote internally.

There are, however, those who believe di Meo has become alarmed with the amount of money the French Group has been investing in the Alpine brand with little or no return and, very much on the lines of his late mentor Sergio Marchionne, has decided to cut his losses as soon as possible. He has got rid of two high-profile but also expensive people and is now looking for a way to keep the Viry-Chatillon engine operation in Formula 1, while selling the Enstone base.

Given Alpine is set to supply Power Units and other mechanical elements to Andretti Global, should the American company finally get the Formula 1 entry that it has been seeking for the last couple of years, the way to combine their common interests would be to hand over the chassis side of Alpine’s operation to Michael Andretti and his partners and operate in the same way the team did when Genii capital bought it from Renault at the end of 2009 – handing over the control of the team and the running of the Enstone factory to the new owners, but keeping the engine department in French hands, to maintain a presence in Formula 1 that is always useful for the development of technology that can be applied in the car industry.

With the FIA taking its time to announce which applicants to a slot in Formula 1 are getting the nod for 2026 – Andretti and Hitech are the most talked about names, but at least eight candidatures reached the Federation, according to internal sources – and with Formula 1 siding with the 10 existing teams and being unwilling to do a commercial deal with any new entrants, effectively frustrating their bids, acquiring the majority of the shares in Alpine’s Formula 1 team could be the way in for Andretti, while giving di Meo an exit strategy he may be seeking right now.

It’s worth noting that recently an American conglomerate acquired 20 per cent of Alpine’s Formula 1 operation, with actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney being part of that group, which also included private equity firm RedBird Capital Partners and Otro Capital – for a total investment of US$218 million. While that sale valued the team at US$900 million, Forbes recently valued the French team at US$1.4 billion. So, to take over control of 51 per cent of the shares of Alpine F1 Team, Andretti would have to pay around US$700 million or, alternative, pay US$420 million and join forces with the group that recently purchased 20 per cent of the team’s stake.

A sale would be the ideal solution for both sides – and would completely bypass Formula 1 and the existing team’s attempt to block Andretti’s entry to the sport. So the next few weeks will be crucial to see which way the Americans are going to go, as their future moves are fully dependent on what the FIA will decide regarding new entries in the next couple of weeks.

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POLITICS DROVE MCLAUGHLIN OUT OF AUSTRALIA IN THIS, THE SECOND PART OF ANDREW CLARKE’S CATCH-UP WITH SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN IN THE STATES, THE THREE-TIME SUPERCARS CHAMPION TALKS ABOUT PARITY, POLITICS AND MOTIVATION ...

THE 2019 Supercars season was full of hope for DJR Team Penske and Scott McLaughlin. They launched the 6th Generation Mustang earlier in the year in Melbourne, and the car was stretched and squeezed to fit the regulations that were defined by four-door sedans.

Painted in Shell red, it looked like Lightning McQueen when the covers came off. But it was a trick unit with many more clever things than a VCAT test would ever uncover.

When it started winning, the complaining started, and the politics began. One team and one driver were doing a fantastic job; Scott McLaughlin and DJR Team Penske did the heavy lifting. He won 18 in that season after a nine-win season in the old Falcon in 2018. Teammate Fabian Coulthard won two races, and Holdens won the rest.

It wasn’t a nice time. McLaughlin was accused of only winning because Ford had fudged the game. There was vitriol, which burnt him more than he let on at the time. I know for a fact, from my grid chat at Indy with Roger Penske, that criticism and commentary had him doubting his presence in Australia, and now I know it started his exit plan.

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“ ”

But it was nerve-wracking. There was a point halfway through ’21 where I was, like, ‘What am I doing? ...

So that is the politics that some people want to believe didn’t cause harm; see Paul Gover’s column in the last issue.

But it was only part of the reason that McLaughlin – a bit like Marcos Ambrose a decade and a half earlier – started to think about his other options more seriously.

Leaving Australia when you are at the top was never going to be easy, but as a race driver and athlete, he was happy to choose the hard path in 2020.

Not everyone is motivated like Jamie Whincup by breaking records and being

better than everyone else. Some need to look at new pastures, and when the politics of your sport is sucking some of the pleasure out of what you are doing, the choice becomes a little more obvious.

Ambrose was a reigning two-time Supercars champion when he committed to head to the US.

McLaughlin likewise. It would have been easy to hang around and bank the cheques and the wins – but what’s the point?

“You put your reputation on the line, in some ways, because you have that stigma over there, where it was like, ‘Okay, he was just in a good car, he had no one to beat’ or whatever,” McLaughlin says. “But then you come here, and for me, it’s a challenge.

I’ve done what I wanted to do in Australia.

What’s the next thing I can do?

“Like one day, can I do Le Mans? It’s an opportunity to tick boxes, and I’m very thankful that I came into a

place like this and didn’t start at a smaller team. I joined in a great spot with great engineers, great teammates, and obviously great bosses, and I learned a lot very quickly.

“But it was nerve-wracking. There was a point halfway through ‘21 where I was, like, ‘What am I doing?’ It was difficult, but then you just saw the light at the end of the tunnel. Other people didn’t see it, but I knew. I felt like I could see it clicking and that we could get there.

It was just a matter of putting the dots together.

“Marcos was really excited for me to go.

I felt like we were very similar in some ways. We sort of had a bit of a gutful of the sport we were in and had won what we wanted. He was super pumped for me to have the opportunity with Roger and stuff like that.

“But even when I went back there last year and saw him, he was awesome. We spent time together and talked about everything. He was at Garry Rogers Motorsport when I went and saw Garry – it was great to catch up with him. He was the one that started all this, opening doors for people like me and Shane.

“I’ve spoken to Shane now, and I think he would enjoy it here. I don’t know where he is attitude-wise, but I think it would suit him here.

“Some people don’t like living away from home or being too far away. So, I don’t know what he’d do. I could see him at least doing it for a couple of years and maybe going home because there’s

always that option for either of us. But I’m different because I’ve got my wife, and she’s from America. That’s why I kind-of see the end game of being here.

“It takes a bit to get used to things like the cadence of the season, the amount of racing that you do, and then realising that you could be second one week and eighth the next. It takes a bit to get used to all that. But you have to get used to it, get your head around it. It’s competitive.

It’s tough.

“I don’t know how to explain exactly how I feel about it. It’s just one of those things where you know how good everyone in the category is and how good the teams are. And you have to focus on your own program. If you’re off the front, try and make something of it. And if you’re not, it is what it is.”

In Supercars, he won his 10th race for GRM and then won again later in the season in one of the best debut seasons we had seen. Then it all changed when

Opposite page: It all started with GRM –Dunlop Series, then Supercars. Top: The Indy 500 is McLaughlin’s number one target.

Middle: Two-wheeling the GRM Volvo, shared with Alex Premat, at the Gold Coast, 2014. Above: Blasting the Shell Mustang away from the Bathurst start, 2020. Below: Phillip Island, 2018 – McLaughlin versus Whuincup. Images: MOTORSPORT IMAGES

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best thing that could have happened for me. It changed me as a person and made me look for ways to make myself better.

And then 2018, I was locked in until we won it.

“That period of my life was incredible.

Even just Jack (AFL player Jack Reiwoldt) reaching out as a friend. He’s said, ‘Hey, I know I gave you a month, but I think you should speak to Emma (Murray, the highperformance mindset coach at Richmond Football Club) about mind and psych stuff.’

“That was the best thing I ever did.

Jack and I don’t talk a huge amount, but whenever we catch up, we’re just really good buddies. And for him to reach out and do that ... it changed my life.”

Even though he left Australia to take on the new challenge, he would love to race in Australia again—only this time, he wants it to be in an IndyCar. “There’s so much interest in IndyCars.

I really want to get to Australia and race there. I think it would be so cool. I think it could really draw a massive crowd, whether it’s a series points race or an exhibition race where we race with Supercars.

“I think it’s a great opportunity for us, especially with

Townsville 2020 – rivals chat ...

Below: A year earlier, contemplating life, again at Townsville.

Centre: On route (with Premat sharing again) in the Penske DJR Mustang at Bathurst, 2019.

Images: MOTORSPORT IMAGES GRM ditched the Holden Commodore and went with the Volvo S60. But all the time, he was focused on the Championship and Bathurst. Having won the 2012 Dunlop series, he was groomed to win both.

He ignored the growing storm the Volvo created and went about his business.

“The Volvo, effectively, was a good aero car. And then FG X went even better. And then the ZB, they went even more. And then that’s when we’re, like, ‘Well, we’ll play by your rules as well.’ And boom, the Mustang came out, and they’ve just had a war ever since. It’s been escalating.

They’ve only got themselves to blame,” he says of the main players in the Supercars world.

“It hurt the sport, which is the sucky

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part. But for me, as a fan watching on, the last thing you want to hear is when someone wins a race, like a Jack Le Brocq or someone like that, you don’t want that to be tainted with what it has been.

“I went through it, but I don’t care. But for someone like Jack Le Brocq, who hasn’t won that much, and he’s won his second race, what an awesome story. Instead of focusing on that and pumping up the sport, they’re focusing on the negativity of it, which is terrible. It’s terrible for the sport, and it’s sad. It really is sad.

“I’m not afraid to say it because it genuinely upsets me, because it’s a sport that I grew up loving. But it’s very political, which is really disappointing. And it pushes the love for the sport out, that’s for sure.

“Yeah, it kills me.”

The rough ride started with the Volvo, escalated when he lost the 2017 title after a clash with Craig Lowndes and went out of control with the Mustang. Back then, he was the only Mustang doing any significant winning, just as now it is Triple Eight and Erebus, but no one was using the “they’re not doing a good enough job” line on the teams that weren’t winning.

It was all finger-pointing and hostility around the perceived advantage of the Mustang.

On the back of 2017, it helped him to grow stronger.

“The 2017 miss was the

myself, Scott Dixon and Will Power in the sport.”

But, he says, he’s not glassy-eyed and still has a championship on which to focus, as well as the biggest prize in motorsport, the Indy 500. Fellow Kiwi Scott Dixon has won it, as has Australian driver Will Power, but they followed the open-wheeler dream all the way and have a championship as well.

“I want to win the Indy 500. If you win the Indy 500, you’re a legend.

“I look at the championship and Bathurst in Australia, and I couldn’t have left if I hadn’t won them both. Until I have both here, I won’t be satisfied at all. I’m not here because my wife is American and close to her family, and I’m not here just for cash or whatever. This, for me, is a genuine opportunity to win the biggest race in the world.

“And then, to win a championship in IndyCar would be unreal. But I look at the 500. I would take the 500 over a championship – exactly how I did with Bathurst. For me, Bathurst was always above a championship because you have to be perfect on the day, and it’s the same with the 500.

“We just had a bad race this year,” he says of his run at the Brickyard in 2023 which was won by his team and Bus Bros mate, Josef Newgarden.

“Sometimes, you have

them, but you got to learn from them.

Unfortunately, I’ve had three of them. But you keep learning, and eventually, it will change. And that’s what happened with me at Bathurst.

“Ultimately, the goal for us as DJR Team Penske – Roger and Tim – was to win the championship and Bathurst. There was

never a guaranteed America trip for me with those guys. They just said, ‘Hey, you won us Bathurst and the championship, and we’ve got an opportunity for you. We’ll try and make something happen.’

“It wasn’t in my contract. It wasn’t anything like that. It was just, that’s what we wanted to do. But I think it would have been very hard to leave if we hadn’t done both.

“If I hadn’t won Bathurst, I would have been back every year to race a Supercar at Bathurst until I did. COVID made it hard for me to go back the first time I looked at it, but then it got complicated with the teams and whatever. I’ve got to a point where I’m very satisfied with what I’ve done there, and I don’t need to do it.

“Going back last year and doing the commentary was fun, but it sort of made me realise that I’m happy where I am. How competitive that series is, how good the drivers are, to do what we did in that space of time, I was so proud of what we achieved.

“I’d only go and do Bathurst if I genuinely had a winning shot, but I’d want to be respectful to any team that I was with.

I mean, Jamie reached out about the Shane thing at Bathurst, and Shane did as well, but I felt it was important for me to be loyal to DJR. And besides that, we were archrivals, and it’s hard to break some of that stuff. I feel like I would break Dick’s heart if I went up against them because we had so many good times together. But also, I’m very selfish that I really want to qualify the car. I don’t want just to be a co-driver.

“So maybe there is a wildcard

opportunity for me and someone like Josef.

I would love to race with one of those guys back there. For me to be able to take a very good friend of mine here and to go back and race at a track that I love, I know he would enjoy it and the event itself, and then to be able to qualify the car. For me, that’s the ideal thing.

“We would make it serious because we’re very competitive, but you want to do it properly. But the opportunity to do it like that I would love.”

But before you all get whipped into a frenzy, McLaughlin is a Chevrolet driver, and it is unlikely he could run a Mustang

“ ”

“We’ve sucked at Indy for three years, and we’re slowly returning to where we were. But we haven’t gone, ‘No, they must be doing something,’ or, ‘Their car is just genuinely better.’ No, it’s just like you’ve just got to find the speed, and that’s what I love. It’s just pure, and I think it’s been so refreshing.”

He likes that part of it. Rather than complaining and cutting down tall poppies, racers and fans in the States embrace excellence, not looking for ‘unfair’ reasons why it exists. It is why the NASCAR drivers lauded van Gisbergen after he taught them a lesson they said

So maybe there is a wildcard opportunity for me and someone like Josef. I would love to race with one of those guys ...

at Bathurst. He can dream, though.

He wouldn’t enjoy being reminded of why he left or at least one of the reasons.

It wasn’t just about opportunity. It was also to escape some of the toxicity of the sport here in Australia. He was speaking to Auto Action before Anton De Pasquale took Ford’s first proper win for the season, and he’s been watching the commentary from afar, and he doesn’t like what he sees and hears, from the cutting down of tall poppies to the off-handed, sometimes nasty, comment around parity.

In the US, he says the attitude is different.

“If you’re fast here in America, you work hard to stay fast. If you’re slow here in America, you work hard to be fast. Yeah, there’s a little bit of chat about he might have a good car or whatever, but it’s more like, ‘That team’s got it right, and we’ve got to figure out what they’re doing.’

they would embrace and learn from.

They were stinging, and it hurt. But they put on their big boy pants.

That attitude – and good old Southern hospitality, which is as real as you have read – has won McLaughlin over and why he feels like he has a new home. It is why he is going nowhere.

He is content with racing in North America, and next year he could be joined in Charlotte by van Gisbergen, and who knows how many other Supercars drivers will be looking at the opportunities opened up by the two Kiwis and the Tasmanian from 15 years ago.

Speaking to McLaughlin today is like talking to him in the early GRM days, the ‘jandals’ days. He is in a good place, so if you’re a McLaughlin fan, don’t expect to see him racing here soon. But settle in for the ride as he hunts that title and the 500.

Above (top left): Two Kiwis and an Aussie went IndyCar racing ... Portland. Lower: Chatting with Penske teammate Newgarden.

Right: Perth 2017 – triumphant Shell team ... Below: Jack le Brocq on pole at Darwin – McLaughlin cites him as a driver with two wins unnecessarily downplayed by the negativity of the Camaro/Mustang parity chat (Image: MARK HORSBURGH).

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PRODUCTS AND INDUSTRY NEWS

DUNLOP WINS NATIONAL EXCEL SERIES DEREZZA ZIII NEW CONTROL TYRE THE CIRCUIT Excel Racing Association has announced that its categories around Australia will use Dunlop rubber for the next four years.

From 2024, the Dunlop Direzza ZIII will be the tyre of choice for Hyundai Excel racing until 2027 after a successful tyre tender.

In May it was announced the Circuit Excel Racing Association would undergo a tyre tender after the unexpected cease of production of previous tyre supplier Federal RSR. Whilst an ‘interim’ Dunlop tyre supplier ensured racing could be carried out for the remainder of 2023, the process was started to secure a long-term partner.

The Circuit Excel Racing Association received six individual tender responses, which presented a total of seven different tyre options.

The association’s committee used a points-based matrix system to rank the respective options and it was decided the Dunlop Direzza ZIII 195/50R15 will be the next generation of tyre for the one of the biggest national categories.

Circuit Excel Racing Association president John Broadbent said it is the start of an exciting new era for the category.

“This is an exciting new phase in developing the Circuit Excel Racing category,” he said.

“In announcing the Dunlop Direzza ZIII as our exclusive tyre for the next four years, I am convinced Dunlop Motorsport will bring a wealth of experience to our program.”

The Dunlop Direzza ZIII is no stranger to high-level racing, having been the control tyre of the Toyota 86 Series.

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“We are genuinely excited by the news and our involvement with CERA,” said Dunlop Australia national motorsport manager Loc Tran.

“This marks a significant milestone in Dunlop’s mission to establish youth programs that create clear pathways from go-karts to V8 Supercars, ultimately shaping the champions of tomorrow.”

“We are delighted that the Dunlop Direzza ZIII tyre has been chosen for this collaboration with CERA,” said Dunlop distributor Bill McKenna.

“This partnership presents a fantastic opportunity to expand and fortify the brand’s presence within racing circles while also providing crucial support to nurture young talent emerging in the category.”

The Dunlop Direzza ZIII will be distributed by DMS (NSW/NT/Qld) Kostera (WA) NTT Racing (SA) Fulton Enterprises (Tasmania) and Stuckey Tyres (Victoria).

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SPEEDWAY VALE’ PETER DREW AND JOAN MILLER Joan Miller.

W97 – Mitchell Wormall, Sprintcar winner. Images: SCOTT KERNAHAN

FUN IN THE SUN SPEEDWAY NEWS with Paris Charles Jayden Lock – Darwin Junior Sedan Champion.

JULY HAS been a busy time for the Northern Territory Speedway community, in particular Darwin, as the Northline Speedway starts to ramp up towards the annual running of the Chariots of Thunder Series, where teams from all parts of Australia venture to the top end for the exotic warm weather, cool drinks and a solid period of racing as they chase the month of money. Auto Action takes a front row seat as we bring you the two recent meetings.

We kick things off with dual blue-ribbon titles, with the running of the Darwin Junior Sedan and Dirt Kart Titles, plus the supports.

However, the Feature race was to serve up a major upset after Tony Brown was relegated to rear of field after being adjudicated as the cause of the mid -ace stoppage.

Brown was to blast his way back to battle for the lead – however it was Michael Brown who claimed the Title win ahead of Tony and Yazmin Brown making it an all-Brown affair for the trophies. Strong was next and Andrew Williams rounded the top five.

LOCKED DOWN

WEST AUSTRALIAN Mitch Wormall picked up a well-deserved victory after fending off multiple challenges over the journey. Kale Quinlan briefly took the lead with 12 laps to go before a cut tyre ended his journey. South Australia’s Luke Dillon made a great Darwin debut in the Ekins Motorsport entry as substitute driver for Matt Dumensy who was benched due to Covid illness.

Dillion fired the first shot, claiming the quickest lap in time trials and the runner-up position in the final. Victorian Jordy Charge rounded out the podium while Hayden Brown and Chris Harrison were the first of the locals with Nathan Swan and David Ling rounding out the finishers. Joining Quinlan on the retiree list were Ben Atkinson Jr and Lenny Cole.

A VERY healthy field of 19 Junior Sedans fronted for the event. Amongst the field of locals were three interstaters who had made the long journey north – two Victorians, Jayden Lock and Pary Das, plus lone West Australian Hannah Tomkins.

Harrison Turnbull qualified on pole position for the 25-lap final, however his run would turn south as he dropped back to eighth before retiring to the infield. River Spitzbath led early before Lock took control on lap five and from that point he would not be headed, leading the local favorite, Spitzbath to the flag. The duo was followed by the fast females, Jessica Foley and Tomkins.

Das was next, putting the three interstaters in the top five placings. Kallen Hall, Jacob Foley, Caiden Weaver and Laith McDonald rounded out the finishers in the Top Stars while the less experienced New Stars honors went to Rhys King from Jonas Thompson, Brock Beurskens and Kade Beurskens for the top four.

BROWN’S TOWN

TONY BROWN looked to be the one to beat after claiming the opening two qualifiers while Isiah Strong claimed the remainder.

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SUPPORT EVENTS WORMALL WINS!

WILD N’ WINGLESS

A SOLID grouping of 20 Wingless Sprints fronted for the meeting but an incidentriddled 20-lap final would see less than half the field travel the journey. The ongoing battle between Zack Grimshaw and Jamie McInnes has proved thrilling and this race would be no different as the duo battled over the distance travelled, to the finish line.

While Grimshaw led the journey he was

NT1 Zack Grimshaw – Wingless Sprints winner. consistently hassled by McInnes in the runner-up position. Grimshaw proved his number one’s worth as he covered off for the narrowest of victories over McInnes while Cameron Jaenke took the final podium placing. Fourth to the line was third generation racer Jack Barlee with Jarrod Goldoni, Josh Norman, Daniel Dennis, Daniel Goldoni and

NEW KID ON THE BLOCK!

VISITING NEW South Welshman Shane Newstead handed the local AMCA National pilots a lesson, taking a flag-to-flag victory as he lapped the entire field in the 20-lap final from pole position. He was never headed, although Jeffery Tiedeman chased valiantly until retiring around two-thirds race distance.

Deegan Sherwood advanced from fourth to second while Jimmy Keane finished where he started in third. Nicholas Glazbrook, Sarah Gordon, Paul Carmody, Erica Glazbrook and Darren Vanderhaar squared off the finishers.

JAKE ON THE TAKE!

WHILE THE reigning Champion Justin Brumfield suffered with rare mechanical woes, his closest rival Jake Koivumaki made every post a winner as he piloted his Holden Commodore to two of the three qualifying heats before going on to lead every lap of the 15-lap final.

Kane Lloyd second from the everimproving Samantha Radford, Jayke Budd and Michelle Gill the top five in a depleted field of finishers.

Peter Drew. Images: PARIS CHARLES THIS FORTNIGHT has proved a tough time for the Adelaide and Australian Speedway Sedans community as they sadly lost two of their greatest and iconic Super Sedan competitors who raced over multiple decades.

After a brave battle with cancer Peter Drew lost his fight. Peter was a front-runner not only on the South Australian scene but also across the national landscape. His best showing on the national stage was third placing at the 1988/89 Australian Championship behind local guns John Singleton and Peter Brook at the Claremont Speedway in Western Australia. In 1994 Peter also captained the South Australian team in a Super Sedan Test Match against the visiting American Team at Adelaide’s Speedway Park.

In 1998, Peter hung the helmet up, midway through the season in which, from memory, he had won three features in a row at Speedway City. He celebrated his final win with a victory lap and without too much fuss parked the SA8, stepping out on top of his game and under his own terms.

Despite departing the wheelhouse Peter did not step away from Speedway as he helped many competitors, and assisted close mate and former Super Sedan racer Peter Zeidas with South Australia’s Coastline Speedway at Port Parham. He was also the Adelaide Motorsport Park track curator and stayed involved right to the very end, his last project being the full restoration of the iconic ex SA1 Steve Stewart Pontiac Trans-AM. The second of those to pass recently was Joan Miller, a true trail blazer, a forerunner to the female Speedway competitors of today.

Joan got her first taste of adrenalin at Murray Bridge in 1974 when she raced in the Powder Puff Derby. In 1975 Joan started her racing career in the Stockcars at the legendary Rowley Park Speedway before transitioning into Super Sedans where she raced the iconic pink SA7 until 2008 before hanging up the helmet.

In March 2007 Joan received a touching tribute at Virginia’s Speedway City where she led the four wide salute with the chequered flag prior to the feature race.

From 2016 the Miller family changed gears, taking the lease on Adelaide’s Speedway City which they ran for two seasons as Adelaide Motorsport Park before retiring in 2018.

After a long and brave fight Joan lost her fight to kidney failure at the age of 81.

Want to see your category event or news story included in the Auto Action Speedway pages.

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NT11 – Matt Dumensy, Sprintcars winner. Images: SCOTT KERNAHAN

DARWIN ROUND TWO THE MATT ATTACK!

Kurt Baxter – Solo winner.

ON THE final Saturday of July, Northline fired up for round 10 of their Sprintcar track championship and, as the top end edges closer to the upcoming Chariots of Thunder series, a few of the interstate visitors have started arriving to get some valuable laps in prior to the running of the series. One of the new arrivals was South Australian Matt Egel, 2021 COT series champion, who fired the first shot, stopping the clock with an impressive 11.936 to set the pace in time trials as the only competitor to break the 12 second bracket.

Egel consolidated his quick time, taking the opening heat race victory with a flagto-flag win over Matthew Dumensy while Victoria’s Jordyn Charge chimed in to claim the second qualifier, Dumensy again the bridesmaid, which would give the New South Welshman enough points to share the front row of the 20-lap final alongside pole-sitter Egel.

After two aborted starts Dumensy would get the better of Egel, third time lucky as he pounced to lead the field and from that point, despite Egel’s best efforts, Dumensy would kick his lead into top gear and by the halfway point started to pick off some of the back markers in an express run to the chequered flag – lapping up to fourth paced finisher Mitchell Wormall from Western Australia. Joining Dumensy on the podium were Egel and second-generation local runner Kale Quinlan. Fifth was Charge, followed by Hayden Brown, Chris Harrison and Nathan Swan while Alice Springs racer Lenny Cole failed to travel the distance after contact with the wall.

WALSH WINS DUEL

CO-HEADING on the bill was the Wingless Sprints Duel of the North with a stout field of 25 competitors. After the six qualifiers and last chance B Main the top 20 went into battle for the 20-lap final. Sharing the front row was Blake Walsh and reigning Territorian Champion Zack Grimshaw on

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Wingless Sprints winner Blake Walsh.

Shane Newstead – AMCA Nationals winner

SUPPORT CATEGORIES NEWSTEAD NAILS IT

Pole, however Walsh worked the top side of the track to his advantage and took the lead.

Nathan Dicker was the big mover, coming from seventh to second where he and Grimshaw traded blows while Cameron Jaenke pursued hot on their tails as they opened a handy margin from the remainder of the field.

With six laps to run the red lights would blaze for Matt Sealey.

At the recommencement, Walsh again checked out until the yellow lights were trigged by Daniel Taylor, whose run ended after tagging the wall. With four to run Walsh again bolted for the finish line, Dicker held tight for second while Jaenke made a last lap pass on Grimshaw to round out the top three.

Former Sprintcar pilots Daniel Goldoni and Jamie McInness completed the top half dozen. Keelan Edwards, South Australian Sharney Pitcher, Josh Norman, Angus Campbell, Michael Kelly, Matthew McLennan and Scott Murdie rounded out the bakers dozen of a heavily depleted field.

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NEW SOUTH Welshman Shane Newstead, who travelled the furthest to be there, showed the local AMCA National competitors the shortest way to the chequered flag, coming from fifth to claim the 20-lap final, with Jeffery Tiedeman, Deegan Sherwood and Jimmy Keane all finishing on the lead lap. Mark Allcorn, Nicholas Glazbrook, Paul Carmody, Darren Vanderhaar and Erica Glazbrook were next.

NO MALARKEY FROM KOIVUMAKI

TAKING HIS Holden Commodore from fifth to first was Jake Koivumaki in the 15-lap Street Stock final – completing the top five to the line were Kane Lloyd, James Ballantyne, Samantha Radford and Michelle Gill.

LOCKED AND LOADED

THE VISITING Victorian Junior Sedan gassers Jayden Lock and Pary Das split the four qualifying heats with two apiece to share the front row for the 15-lap final. Lock would keep his undefeated streak alive as he claimed victory in the final. Splitting the two Vics was local gun River Spitzbarth and Das third. Harrison Turnbull, Liam

Butterworth and Kallen Hall completing the top six from Zackery Czoloszynski, Zackery Czoloszynski, Blake Overend, Phalicity Covington and Brodie Costello to round out the Top Stars. In the combined race further back were the lesser experienced New Stars, where Rhys King took class honours from Kade Beurskens, Brock Beurskens and Natasha Covington.

BROWN TOWN

THE BROWN family continued their dominance from the previous meeting, the 15-lap Dirt Karts final proving to be an all-Brown benefit with the family filling the podium. Tony, Yazmin and Michael for the top three with Bradely Fitchner and Andrew Williams the final finishers.

BAXTER BANKS WIN

WITH SEVEN competitors running elbow-to-elbow in the Solo bikes, the top four point-scorers from the six qualifying heats advanced into the A Final. Connar Bridgeford and Kurt Baxter proved too strong in the qualifying heats with each taking three apiece to go into the final undefeated. At the fly of the tape, Baxter got the better start from gate two and went on to claim the win from Bridgeford, Steven Hutchinson and Bradley Niven while Wayne Baxter salvaged the B Final over Wayne Lorymer.

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NATIONALS WRAP

PANORAMA MOUNTAIN MEN TAKE OVER THE ISLAND Image: CH IMAGES

TIGHE OVERCOMES SCARE TO CONQUER MOUNT COTTON NOT EVEN a mechanical scare could prevent Dean Tighe (above) from setting the fastest time of the fifth round of the Mount Cotton Hillclimb Series on July 29-30.

A solid field of 50 cars took on the event, but none could match the outright speed of Tighe.

The Empire Wraith driver took a while to get going and only completed four of a possible 14 runs, but the last blew the field away.

OMS 2000M driver Jim Milliner started strong recording a 40.03s time and led until just three runs to go when Tighe became the first and only competitor to break the 40s barrier.

It was an impressive effort considering he suffered a snapped supercharger belt during his second run.

The issue meant the Formula Libre driver missed the next three runs, but he was ready to have a crack on run 12 and it all clicked.

Having only achieved a best time of 40.25s time, he lit up the timesheets with a 38.95 in his fourth and final run of the event to runaway with the honours.

Milliner did his best to respond at the death, but could not improve and had to settle for the runner up spot 1.08s away.

Despite losing outright honours, Milliner topped the top six shootout with a 40.41, seven tenths clear of Luke Weiks, while Tighe did not take part.

Milliner also won a close battle to claim Formula Libre up to 1300cc honours edging out Weiks by eight-tenths.

Harry Doling broke the class record twice en route to victory in the 16012000cc Sedans entries.

His 47.86s smashed the record he previously held of 48.14 to take a commanding win.

Pauline Graham impressed by being the fastest of the sedan cars and secured a top 10 result overall. The leading sports car was Jim Heymer with a 47.06.

The final round of the Mount Cotton Hillclimb Series is on November 25-26.

Thomas Miles

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THE PANORAMA Mountain Men (pictured) put in a late charge to secure their third Victorian 6 Hour Relay crown at Phillip Island.

Stewart Temesvary, Glenn Thomas, Sean Byers and David Johnson prevailed in a race that attracted 137 drivers and 28 teams to the seaside circuit. The win continued the Panorama Mountain Men’s strong form with the team also winning the NSW 6 Hour Regularity earlier this year.

The successful squad started slow in their Mazda MX5, sitting down in 15th at the completion of the first hour of running.

But their relentless consistency came to the fore the deeper the event wore on and after four and a half hours of running they snatched lead from Autobarn Warragul.

Despite Doghouse also climbing up the

leaderboard, no one could stop Panorama Mountain Men from the ultimate victory having completed 158 laps and 306 bonus laps.

Panorama Mountain Men’s score of 48506.00, was well above runner-up Doghouse’s total 33744.00.

Victorian 6 Hour Relay chairman David Bellenger said he never knows how the Panorama Mountain Men always find a way to get to the top and described the event that has been going since 2006 as a great success despite the field being slightly down than previous years.

“They were fairly well down in the midfield for the first two or three hours which is not unusual, but they are very cunning and I don’t know how they keep doing it,” he said.

“Doghouse were up there all day and did very well, but Panorama Mountain Men hit the lead as they normally do with about two hours ago. I am not sure how they do it.

“They seem to always have a recipe to win these things.

“But it was a very smooth and clean race with no yellow or red flags waved at all. The weather was perfect until the rain started two minutes before the chequered flag came out.

“It was a fantastic day with the competition getting better each year and all 28 teams had a great weekend.”

Plans are already in action for the Victorian 6 Hour Relay to return at a similar time of year in 2024.

Thomas Miles

Image: REBECCA HIND/REVVED PHOTOGRAPHY

Image: DAVID BATCHELOR

BAILEY DOMINATES LOVEDAY ROYDN BAILEY and Dean Elbourn (pictured) led from start to finish to win the second round of the Motorsport Australia South Australian Off-Road Championship at Loveday.

Bailey and Elbourn were an unbeatable combination in their Element Prodigy/ Toyota as their most likely challengers dropped like flies.

Their biggest threat came from Nissan runners Nic Hicks and Christian MacIntosh but they lost several laps on Saturday repairing the power steering only to drop out early on Sunday with overheating problems.

Mel, Liam and Emily Brandle looked good to score at least a podium place in their Nissan until bad luck struck and they lost about 10 minutes.

After a good start Simon Tucker, Lucy

Tucker and Rylee Skinner lost two laps on Saturday replacing two front arms.

Early outright pace-setters Toby Whateley and Simon Herrmann (Rush Truck/Holden) also ran out of back axles on Saturday morning.

There was more misfortune on Sunday as Luke Erceg and Daniel Ziembunski were running strongly with the leaders until a power steering failure stopped them in their tracks on Sunday morning.

These dramas allowed another Nissan, driven by Brenton Forsythe, to continue his good form to comfortably claim second clear of third placed Rich Andrews, Lauren Andrews and Hamish Lochert.

The next three places were covered by just over a minute with Lachlan and Hannah Bailey sharing their Can-Am Maverick with Nathan Sracek next home

just over 20 seconds off the podium.

Fifth fell to Victorians Alan Dixon and Zachary O’Bree.

In addition to their outright success Bailey and Elbourn claimed Pro Buggy honours.

The Andrews and Lochert trio took out Pro Lite, Connor Corrigan, Peter Corrigan and Sarah Galliford secured Super 1650 as Nick and Alex Burts won Extreme 2WD after Whatelely and Herrmann stumbled.

Lachlan Bailey, Hannah Bailey and Nathan Sracek claimed the SXS Turbo win while David Adams (Desert Rat/Honda) did the most laps in a Sportslite only dropping one lap on Saturday with a broken axle.

The next round of the 2023 MA SAORC season will be at Port Germein on August 26-27.

David Batchelor

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Jim Gellan’s Yaris heads the Monaro of Matthew Cherry. Below: Michael Howlett shows the way in HQs. Bottom: Paul Moltoni was the man to beat in Vees. Images: MICK OLIVER

A COMBINATION OF CLASSES WITH GREAT RACING ROUND 5 of the WA State Championships was run at Wanneroo on the July 29 and saw a number of classes combined due to small number of entries in several of the classes, but it didn’t stop some great action on track. Long-time Auto Action correspondent Mick Oliver came off the bench to cover the event.

up a lead and then just held a gap. Cirillo dropped back when he spun, but recovered without losing a place. Epple took the win from Cirillo and Moller. The second saw Epple repeat the performance this time by opening a gap Moller and Maintaining it to the finish. Cirillo was third.

IMPROVED PRODUCTION CARS AND COMBINED

A GOOD field of 14 cars fronted the starter for the first race. Michael Howlett got the better of Michael Woodbridge at the start.

These two opened up a gap over the rest of the field before, on lap three, Brian Pangler had a moment in Turn 1 which brought out the Safety car. When the racing restarted, Howlett held his position over Woodbridge with Grant Ord, Stuart Kenny and Troy Kent fighting over third. Howlett and Woodbridge were nose to tail but Woodbridge couldn’t make the pass.

Howlett took the win only to get a 20 second penalty which dropped him to ninth.

Ord took second from Kenny.

Kenny took the lead at the start of the second race and took the win from Woodbridge and Ord. The third race was reduced to seven laps due to the delays caused by the Formula Vees. Kenny led away from Woodbridge and Ord. Mid race Woodbridge lost his position to Ord who in turn lost his to Howlett. Kenny took the win from Howlett and Ord.

TWO OF the races saw Street, Improved Production Cars, Group 3E, Production cars and Saloons combined. This resulted in interesting and close racing between the combined classes In Race 1 the smaller 3E Production Cars got the best of the start and led the Monaro of Matt Cherry away due to the track conditions. Derek Burns (Honda Civic) spun in the entry of Turn 4 on lap two but recovered and continued. Craig Maloney (Subaru WRX) spun in Turn 7 on lap three and dropped to the rear of the field. Jim Gellan (Toyota Yaris GR) in the meantime was still leading the field. As the track conditions improved, Matt Cheery got into stride and took the lead mid race.

Aaron Earl-Peacock (R8 Clubsport) had an off in Turn 7 but managed to cross the sand trap and continue on. Shortly after Damien Stephens (Commodore VN) had a similar off but ended in the sand and the race continued under local yellows, finishing one lap early due to the situation.

The class winners were Matt Cherry in IPC; Alden Friel (Toyota 86) won the Street Class, Jim Gellan first in 3E Prod Class; Mark Watkins was the best in the Saloon Pro Class; while Justin Chaffey took the honours Saloon Pro Am Class.

Race 2 started off badly with an incident at the start which brought out the red flag. The incident resulted in Stephen Taylor, John Callegari and Warren Ellis retiring.

At the restart, under the Safety Car, Alden Friel got the jump over Matt Cherry and led at the end of the first lap followed by Jim Gellan. Aaron Earl-Peacock received

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HQ HOLDENS

a 30 second penalty at the start but then received a black flag mid-race and was excluded from the event. Cherry held off Friel at the finish with Lib Palermo (Commadore) third.

The class winners were Matt Cherry IPC; Alden Friel (Toyota 86) Street Class; Jim Gellan 3E Prod Class; Michael Howlett Saloon Pro Class; and Andrew Martin Saloon Pro Am Class.

STREET/IMPROVED PRODUCTION

THE RACE was the only race on the day which included both these classes. Matt Cherry in the Monaro led from start to finish but Aiden Friel in the Toyota 86 matched his times throughout the race to come second.

Craig Maloney (Impreza WRX) held off the fast-charging Jarod Carey (Nissan 350Z to take third.

FORMULA VEE

ONCE AGAIN, a good field of cars fronted.

In Race 1 a spin in Turn 1 saw the field under the Safety car whilst the track was cleared.

As the cars went through the Esses Rod Lisson had a spin which resulted in a red flag and the cars returned to pit lane.

Kathy Lisson failed to make the restart and Franz Esterbauer led the field away with Paul Moltoni in pursuit. Several of the 1200s were using the slipstream to keep up with the 1600s. Moltoni made the pass on Esterbauer who came back on lap seven but lost out in the run to the line by the narrowest of margins. Andrew Lockett

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took the 1200 win with Brett Scarey taking second from Myles Lockett.

Race 2 saw Esterbauer once again get the jump on Moltoni and hold the lead for several laps, but Moltoni made his move on lap three and took the lead. Esterbauer made every attempt over the rest of the race but once again Moltoni took the win by less than a second. Brett Scarey took the 1200 win by less than a second from Andrew Lockett.

Race 3 saw Moltoni get the better of Esterbauer at the start and Brett Scarey in front of Andrew Lockett. On lap four, three cars disappeared and failed to appear at the top of the hill – all involved in an incident in the exit of Turn 6. The Red flag was called. The three cars involved were Simon Bate, Brett Scarey and Andrew Lockett. It was over an hour and 20 minutes before racing could resume and this impacted the last two races of the day.

SPORTS CARS AND SPORTS SEDANS

A SMALL field of cars fronted for the two 15-lap races. Walter Epple (Porsche 997.2) led the field away followed by Mark Cirillo (Porsche GT3) and a gaggle of Muscle Cars led by Ron Moller. Epple opened

PRODUCTION/SALOON CARS

THE LAST race of the day was to be a 1-hour enduro for the above two classes.

Unfortunately, due to the accident delays it was reduced to just 25 minutes but still included a pit stop. The Production Car element was taken out by James and Jim Gellan in the Toyota Yaris GR They only surrendered the lead to Damien Croxon/ Alex Newton in the Renault Megane during the pit stop period. Mark Watkins and Michael Howlett led the Saloon Pro section all race to take out the win.

The Saloon Pro Am was taken out by Justin Chaffey who did a solo effort.

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NATIONALS WRAP

ROBINSON SECURES NATIONAL CROWN AT LOVEDAY 400

TRAVIS ROBINSON and Andrew Pinto wrapped their hands around the 2023 Polaris Motorsport Australia Off Road Championship title at the Loveday 400, won

by Shannon and Ian Rentsch.

With many finding trouble across a dramatic weekend of action, a fourth place finish was enough for Robinson and Pinto to build an unassailable lead in the standings with one round still to go.

Fellow title rivals Mel and Liam Brandle finished just short in sixth, while reigning SXS champions James Cook and Mitch Aucote limped home outside the top 10.

The Brandle pair needed a top five result to keep things alive, but fell 55s short of Alan Dixon and Zachary O’Bree which decided the title.

Robinson was emotional to secure the crowd after a “testing year” on and off the track.

“It feels good – all the years and lessons

from the old man (Brian Robinson) have finally paid off,” Robinson said.

“It’s been a testing year, but we’ve got it all together and yeah, it’s amazing to have won the title.

“We have had lots of curveballs thrown at us this season, but we’ve just kept it together and it’s been a very hectic year, but we have come together as a team.

“No doubt, the old man was watching over us.”

The fight for the Loveday 400 title was all one way traffic.

Rentsch led from start to finish and opened a substantial four-minute lead on Saturday.

He then picked up from where he left off on Sunday to further enhance his position to push the lead up to six minutes by the time the conclusion arrived.

But the battle for second was anything but one-sided as Tom Owen and Damon

Bennett endured an arm wrestle with Roydn Bailey and Dean Ellbourn.

The two crews were neck and neck throughout the weekend and it all came down to the final section.

Bailey held just a three-second lead over Owen, but a brilliant final two laps changed everything.

After the flying finish Owen overturned the deficit to snatch second by over a minute.

However, no one was coming close to Rentsch, who enjoyed a drought breaking success having not won since 2019.

“It’s been a good week and it’s been a long time between drinks, as we haven’t won for a while, so it’s good to be out the front again,” Rentsch said.

“It’s a bit of relief to win – I have a bit more confidence back now.

“We built this new car a couple of years ago now, but it’s been a bit of a challenge getting to where we like – we’re starting

Above (main): Winners, Shannon and Ian Rentsch. Inserts: The podium; Runners-up Tom Owen/Damon Bennett.

Below: Travis Robinson and Andrew Pinto sealed the championship with a round to go.

Images: TONY DONOGHUE

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to get on top of it now and getting some results.

“I had a bit of a moment late in the race, where I lost a fair bit of time, but other than that, we had a pretty clean run all week and no mechanical trouble really, which is good.”

Whilst the overall title is all wrapped up, the SXS honours are still up for grabs after an attritional final round which was won by Lachlan Bailey and Nathan Sracek.

The pair enjoyed a trouble-free run en route to compiling a huge 16-minute win.

In SXS Pros Graham and Aaron Colbran defeated Glenn Brinkman and Dale Moscatt.

Connor Corrigan and Sarah Galliford completed 10 laps to take out Super 1650, while the Performance 2WD class went to Sean and Mathew Beck.

The final round of the season will be the Kalgoorlie Desert Race on 19-22 October.

Thomas Miles

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Images: BRUCE MOXON

DALTON DOES IT AGAIN RICHIE DALTON and Jaren Hudson took their ex-works Toyota Yaris (right) to a dominant win in the Lazer Lights Bay Rally on July 29. Auto Action’s Bruce Moxon was on hand to cover the event.

Run on forest and shire roads around Batemans Bay, the event was the second round of this year’s NSW Rally Championship and competitors were greeted with dry, dusty conditions but little breeze.

Tim Wilkins/Katie Giddins took their Lancer Evo 9 to a win on the opening stage, from Riley Walters/Andrew Crowley (WRX), then Dalton. 2WD contender Sean McAloon/Muiranne Hayes went off the road just 1.5 km into the event, heavily damaging their Escort.

Stage 2 went to Tony Sullens/Kaylie Newell (Peugeot 208), from Dalton and Walters but the latter was stopped on Stage 3 with suspension damage.

They would rejoin for the second heat with borrowed parts, but were out of contention as the stage went to Dalton, moving the Yaris driver into the lead of the event, which he would hold until the end.

Dalton took Stage 4 from visiting West Australian Daniel Gonzales, sharing his Skoda with Daymon Nicoli.

The first hear was rounded out by Stage 5 and Gonzales showed his talent by beating winning Wilkins and Dalton.

After the long service, Dalton returned to winnings ways by going fastest on Stage 6 to extend his lead over Wilkins to 45.2s with Gonzales another 23s back.

Stage 7 was Dalton’s again, with Walters 12s back and hoping for a decent points haul in the two-heat rally.

Stage 8 victory to Gonzales helped him surge to second ahead of Wilkins.

Dalton blotted his copybook with a spin on Stage 9, giving 20s back to his pursuers,

but his lead was still over a minute with one stage to go as Gonzales overcame Walters for the honours.

Wilkins got a fright on the last stage when his steering wheel broke, negating any chance of chasing down Gonzales.

He drove the last 4km with just one small stub of one spoke to steer with.

This allowed Gonzales to claim final stage honours from Dalton and

Walters as Wilkins limped home to 21st, dropping over two minutes.

Dalton won the event by 55.2s to Gonzales, then Wilkins another 2m27s back.

Best 2WD was Tom Clarke/Ryan Preston in a Nissan Stanza (pictured above) from Brian Newton/Ryan Price (Honda).

The next NSW Rally Championship round is the Bathurst Stages Rally on Saturday, September 23. Bruce Moxon

QR CHAMPIONSHIP SET FOR IMBIL SHOWDOWN THE ROUND 2 results of the Queensland Rally Championship in Gympie has set up a thrilling finale for the September 9 Imbil Rally finale.

With the Gympie Rally being taken out by Ian Menzies and co-driver Robert McGowan (right), it’s ensured that the final round at Imbil, north-west of the Sunshine Coast, won’t be a championship stroll for the Round 1 Manumbar Rally winners Glenn Brinkman and Steven Richardson.

Competing alongside the ARC competitors, Menzies took out the Gympie state component, guiding his Mitsubishi Lancer EVO 9 to a 54 second victory over the championship leaders to level the points at the top of the table.

But it might have been a far different story heading into Imbil however, as the team who eventually rounded out the podium were in control early, and on the run home.

Ryan Williams and co-driver Brad Jones – who are third in the championship – were rapid in their Subaru Impreza WRX STI

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Image: MTR IMAGES through the Saturday, but a big roll through SS4 saw them sustain plenty of damage before recovering for third.

It was also in that fourth stage that Menzies wrested control, leapfrogging the leaders with a dominant 14 second stage win over Stewart Reid and Bella Hoggarty, to take an overall 31-second lead.

Whilst Williams would return to take the final three stages, Menzies was controlled with three straight P2 finishes on the run home, whilst Brinkman was able to secure second

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overall by running third in each of the closing three stages.

“It was great to get the win, we are extremely happy and while it was our intention to grab the win you never know what is going to happen, so it was a nice finish on top,” Menzies said.

“The strategy was to not make any mistakes, the roads were quite challenging and very rough – which is normal for Queensland, so we just wanted to keep it as tidy as possible and see what transpired,

which seemed to work.

“Obviously Ryan (Williams) rolled which cost him a bunch of time, that handed us the heat win despite not being the fastest car, but we were happy to be consistently faster than the others and turn that into something special.”

Whilst also securing the podium, Williams was also the winner of the QR junior component.

Fourth place would fall to Reid, as well as the 2WD class win, whilst the top-five would be rounded out by John Bustard and Melinda Bergmann – with John honouring his late brother Ronnie Bustard by driving the same Lancer EVO that he competed in during his ARC career.

The Clubman Rally Series honours fell to Aaron Dunkerton and Aleshia Penny with dominant 48 second win over Nikki Duclos and Craig Hodge, whilst the four stage Novice Rally Series outing went the way of Shane and Sylvie Garner with a 30 second win over Round 1 winner David Micjan.

TW Neal

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NATIONALS WRAP GRUBEL GETS ROUND, HOW WINS TROPHY THERE WERE two prizes on the line in the Australian Formula Open round at Queensland Raceway, which were shared

by Trent Grubel and Ryan How. Grubel claimed the round honours after a consistent weekend, while How got his hands on the Errol Gilmour Memorial Trophy by winning the third and final race.

How started the weekend as the driver to beat, snatching pole position from Grubel by four-tenths with a 1:05.3010.

However, it was Chris Gilmour who got the best getaway as he soared from fourth to first on the opening lap.

He remained in the lead for the first seven laps before Grubel hit the lead.

With only three laps left Grubel held on by 1.6s over Gilmour, while How could only manage third.

For the second race in a row Gilmour enjoyed a fine start and led the early stages.

This time the #17 could only control the first five laps before being reeled in by Grubel.

Just two laps later Gilmour dropped to third as Miles Bromley was on the charge to a solid second.

With the Errol Gilmour Memorial Trophy

Trent Grubel took round honours and leads the championship Image: AFO on the line Grubel had extra reason to chase a clean sweep in the 20-lap finale.

He led the first half of the race, but How was on a mission and blazed on to a

commanding 9s win ahead of Grubel and Bromley.

Formula 4 honours were easily won by Brodie Norris.

Grubel has a 21-point lead over How ahead of the penultimate round at Sandown on September 8-10.

Thomas Miles

GARDNER GUNS DOWN RADICAL RIVALS

Image: MTR IMAGES

BUCKLEY SCORING GOALS THE TOYOTA Gazoo Racing Australia Scholarship Series round at Queensland Raceway was all about one driver Alice Buckley.

Buckley was untouchable in her #50 Toyota 86, enjoying a perfect weekend, topping both practice sessions and qualifying before winning all three races.

The youngster led home Lachlan Bloxham on each occasion (above), while Lincoln Taylor edged ahead of Connor Roberts in the fight for third in a round dominated by locals as the top four were all Queenslanders.

Qualifying was a nail-biter with Buckley beating Bloxham by just 0.06s, while little separated the pair when racing began.

Although the #50 led every lap, she only crossed the line with three-tenths to spare as Charlie Parker climbed from seventh to third.

The second race was almost a replay as Buckley secured an even closer win with just 0.2s the difference this time.

But things got interesting in the finale as Bloxham got the jump off the line and took the lead into the first corner.

However, it was Buckley’s weekend as she regained the lead on lap three and never looked back to score a memorable clean sweep.

The fifth round of the Toyota Gazoo Racing Australia Scholarship Series is at Sydney Motorsport Park on September 1-3.

Thomas Miles

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QUEENSLANDER ALEX Gardner (pictured) was unstoppable on home soil, dominating the second round of the Radical Cup Australia at Ipswich.

The Volante Rosso Motorsport youngster was in a league of his own, taking all the applause at Queensland Raceway.

Gardner made his first statement by taking pole position by 0.3s with a 1:09.9749 over Peter Paddon.

The teenager’s momentum was cut short by a slow getaway to start Saturday’s 50-minute race.

This saw the #94 drop to as low as third before he opted for the undercut on lap 11.

It proved to be a master stroke as nine

laps later Garnder emerged in the lead and was never challenged.He finished

Image: SPEED SHOTS PHOTOGRAPHY

8s ahead of Elliott Schutte, who fended off Cooper Cutts, while early leader Paddon had to settle for fourth.

Gardner did not give his rivals a sniff on Sunday, dominating the entire 36-lap finale.

The teenager blazed ahead off the start leaving Paddon and Cutts to fight for the minors.

Gardner dived into the pits early again on lap 10 and returned to the lead once the stops were completed and never looked back.

He enjoyed a 10s advantage when he took the chequered flag ahead of Paddon and Schutte, who edged out Cutts.

The next Radical Cup Australia round is at Phillip Island on August 18-20.

Thomas Miles

ROBOTHAM WINS EXCEL SCRAP ACROSS FIVE hardly fought Hyundai Excel Series X3 races, the class of Supercars co-driver Jaylyn Robotham (leading, right) reigned supreme at Queensland Raceway.

Robotham held off Jack Wood, Tyler Collins and Zane Rinaldi in a tight battle for Excel honours at the “Paperclip”.

The action started on Friday where George Wood held off Jack by just 0.06s in a tight fight for pole.

But when racing arrived Jack hit back as brother George got muscled down to fourth on a tough first lap.

Although Jack Wood led the final eight laps, he only beat Robotham by four-tenths as less than two seconds covered the top four.

Despite Jack Wood going back to back, the second race was even closer with just over a second covering the top five.

Robotham led the first eight laps, but the #15 had the greater late-race pace and won by 0.2s.

After falling short in the first two races the Matt Stone Racing co driver hit his stride in Race 3.

With Jack Wood driving down to third, Robotham led home Zane Rinaldi to secure an important victory.

Robotham continued his good form by doubling up on Sunday and putting himself in the box seat to claim a round win.

He had to resist a spirited challenge

Image: MTR IMAGES from runner-up Rinaldi however, as just four-tenths covered the podium places.

There were more surprises in the fifth and final race where local Collins finally appeared on the top step.

It was possible after Jack Wood’s final lap off saw his round win hopes

disappear and drop to seventh.

This meant a fourth place finish was enough for Robotham to take round honours.

The next Hyundai Excel Series X3 round is at Morgan Park on September 8-10. Thomas Miles

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CARUSO’S FIGHTING WIN REIGNING PRECISION National Sports Sedan champion Jordan Caruso has made his first major statement of his 2023 title defence by winning at Queensland Raceway.

Caruso fended off 11-time champion Tony Ricciardello in an entertaining second round of the championship and a Sunday sweep did the job for the Audi racer.

It was far from a straightforward weekend for Caruso however, as an engine failure ensured he came a distant third on Saturday.

But he was unbeatable on Sunday, winning both entertaining races to edge out Ricciardello to round honours by three points.

Despite the round win, Winton winner Ashley Jarvis still holds a nine-point lead in the championship over Caruso, having finished third.

To top the weekend off for Caruso, he broke a five-year-old lap record previously set by Thomas Randle by half a second.

Caruso was thrilled to emerge on top after an eventful weekend battling with Ricciardello.

“The car was awesome, thanks to everyone for getting the car as good as it was,” he said.

“I am stoked to get the lap record, especially with Tony pushing right to the end.

“It was not the aim, but I knew it was there and I could do it.

“The tyres held on really well, so I could keep pushing.

“I am really happy with the weekend, chipping away and getting better and better.

“Special thanks to those who helped

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us get the car going again on Saturday night, it is much appreciated.”

Caruso showed his first signs of speed by taking pole position by a huge margin of 1.2s.

His 1:06.9008s was a lightyear ahead of Alfa Romeo runner Ricciardello, while Tamasi was another second back in his Holden Calibra.

Despite being the one-lap king, Caruso had no luck when racing arrived at the weekend, opening with an entertaining 13-lap affair.

There were no less than three leaders – it was an exciting war of attrition.

Caruso led the first four laps after a lightning start off the line to instantly gap Tamasi.

But his promising run was ended by a sudden engine issue, which meant the youngster was forced to nurse the Audi home to third, 31s off the pace.

Tamasi took control and came within three laps of victory before he was overhauled by Ricciardello.

The Alfa Romeo driver made the most of his opportunity and sped to a 3s win.

Come Sunday, Caruso’s Audi A4 was

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back firing on full cylinders and he made the most of the extra power to win an exciting second race.

He looked ready to race from the start as he shot past Tamasi at Turn 1 and was in the lead by turn three after diving down the inside of Ricciardello.

The Alfa Romeo veteran instantly fought back and muscled his way by at the following left-hander, but Caruso tried to launch another counter-attack at the final corner.

At the end of a thrilling final lap the pair flashed past the line side by side, but the power of the Alfa prevailed.

Their incredible battle was settled by turn three on lap two when Caruso made a late-braking move.

But it was on again as Safety Cars interrupted the back end of the race and Caruso had to get his elbows out.

Ricciardello went to make a move for the lead but a second yellow arrived when Willem Fecher got stuck in the Turn 1 kitty litter.

This meant the race ended under Safety Car conditions with Caruso leading Ricciardello and Tamasi.

Jordan Caruso’s powerful Audi shows the way.

Below: Tony Ricciardello was the main challenger.

Images: MTR IMAGES

There was more green-flag racing in the finale as Caruso completed his perfect day.

He enjoyed a strong start and led the field through Turn 1 ahead of Ricciardello, while Tamasi tried to thread the needle between the two with a fast start, but the door was closed.

Before too long, Caruso built a handy 2s advantage over Ricciardello as he set record-breaking pace.

Raymond Hislop had a spin at the final corner in the FPR-inspired FG Falcon, but unlike others he was able to keep on racing.

Anthony Cox was fending off Jarvis for fourth, but a mistake at the final corner allowed the championship leader through.

This soon became third as Tamasi retired just two laps from home and Christopher Donnelly went up in flames.

Meanwhile, up front, Caruso was untouchable and whilst he may not have the championship lead, the #1 certainly chargers to Sydney on September 9-10 with the momentum.

Thomas Miles

PRECISION NATIONAL SPORTS SEDANS CHAMPIONSHIP AFTER ROUND 2 1 Ashley Jarvis 228 points 2 Tony Ricciardello 227 3 Jordan Caruso 219 4 Anthony Cox 161 5 Michael Robinson 143

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NATIONALS WRAP

Brad Tilley leads the field through Turn 1 on his way to winning the Group N Just Cars Touring Car 50K Cup feature race. Images: BRUCE MOXON

A FEAST OF HISTORIC ACTION

OVER 300 CLASSIC CARS PUT ON A STUNNING SPECTACLE UNDER THE SUN AT THE 2023 EDITION OF THE WINTON FESTIVAL OF SPEED ...

THE EVENT run by the Victorian Historic Racing Register was hailed as a success with 10 different categories covering all sorts of memorable eras turning heads.

Event organiser Ian Ross said the 15th running of the Winton Festival of Speed was a hit with competitors and fans alike.

“The feedback from everybody was fantastic and they all want to come back next year,” he told Auto Action.

“There was some great racing and dicing all over the categories and we actually ran a motorkhana on the skid pan and had around 400 cars in a display.

“In our meeting we are trying to move historic racing forward and grow it.”

The feature race of the weekend was the Group N Just Cars Touring Car 50K Cup held over 17 laps.

Brad Tilley used this platform to showcase the true power of his Ford Mustang, by recording a new lap record on his way to victory.

Despite Tilley’s speed, LJ Torana runner Andrew Williams was just three seconds behind with Camaro driver Adrian Moyle a distant third.

Before each session of racing commenced, 34 entrants took on a Regularity and Invited session.

These were topped by Nathan West (Grantinni 111B), Louise Raper (George Reed So-cal) and Colin Sullivan (Elfin Streamliner).

Formula Fords were the first to go racing and Nicholas McBride was in a league of his own in the opener, but his hopes of a clean sweep were denied by Jonathan Miles, who won the final by just 0.11s.

There was a solid turnout of MGs and Simon Elliott was the king, dominating all three races.

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The Touring Car Cup winner Tilley continued to flex his muscles in the Historic Touring Cars category.

A strong field of Holden HQs were on show and Andrew Magilton edged out Ryan Woods on all three occasions.

Group S and Invited covered a wide range of cars and Doug Barbour won the first two competitive races in his 911 before Ray Narkiewicz claimed the finale in his Camaro.

Group C and A touring cars gave fans a dose of Nostalgia David Towe was unbeatable in his BMW M3.

Groups J,K,Lb,M,O and Formula Vee ran combined races and Andrew McInness led the way in his Brabham BT29.

Super Sprint Tribute Runs were also held where Cameron Smith’s Porsche prevailed on each occasion.

A large field of Alfa Romeos also went racing with Mark Baggetto the pace setter with three crushing wins.

After a big weekend of action, attention has already turned to next year’s running of the Winton Festival of Speed.

Thomas Miles

Tony Sawford snakes into Turn 2 behind the wheel of his Allan Grice Craven Mild A9X Torana.

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The oldest car on show was Rachael Brown’s 1917 Model T Ford.

Louise Raper performs the crossed arm steering technique driving the George Reed So-Cal.

The Group S field snakes its way through Turn 6 headed by Dough Barbour.

Steve Blaxland puts the foot down in his Greens Tuff Dick Johnson Racing tribute Falcon.

Alan Mead has a moment in his Cicada-BMC at Turn 4.

Justin Nilson sweeps around a bend in his Pulsar EXA decked out in factory Gibson Motorsport Nissan colours.

Phil Walmsley and Don Knight sandwich Phil Barrow’s high-stepping Holden FJ.

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SUPERCARS SUPPORTS

Image: ROSS GIBB

BORG EXTENDS ADVANTAGE DESPITE FACING greater competition, Aaron Borg still emerged on top in Round 2 of the V8 SuperUtes at Sydney.

After almost three months away, the biggest ever V8 SuperUtes field of the dualcab era of 21 cars took on Eastern Creek.

Although Borg extended his advantage, he did not have it all his own away as David Sieders took out a tense opener.

Sieders got the jump off the line and led every lap of the race, but pole sitter Borg never left his tail.

The margin of victory was just 0.2s as they crossed the line, but it was Sieders who ended Borg’s winning run. Ryal Harris also sat third throughout the nine-lap race.

The second race of the weekend welcomed the arrival of a new reverse grid format where the number of reversed positions were drawn out of a hat.

This allowed Holly Espray to start from pole position, but she suffered a slow getaway which allowed Craig Woods to front the field as chaos unfolded at Turn 2.

Woods only led briefly as Jimmy Vernon snatched the lead, but he also lasted for a short amount of time.

Three laps later Harris completed his climb to the top and was never threatened across the final seven laps and defeated Borg by 4s.

The third race of the weekend and first on Sunday was full of incidents and drama with just half a second the difference at the chequered flag.

Sieders was the man who claimed victory leading Borg in a tight race to the line.

Behind them was Harris, who secured third in controversial circumstances after he sent Adam Marjoram into a spin late in the piece.

With round honours on the line it was Borg, who rose to the occasion in the final race.

Although Sieders led the field through Turn 1, by Turn 7 he lost it to Borg, who dived down the inside and was never challenged again.

This left ‘Sideways’ Sieders and and ‘The Kid’ Harris to duke it out, but their battle did not last long as the latter prevailed at the penultimate corner.

Their clash allowed Borg to waltz to another win and round win and extend his championship lead.

SuperUtes are back at The Bend on August 18-20.

Thomas Miles V8 SUPERUTE SERIES CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS AFTER ROUND 2 1 Aaron Borg 490 2 Adam Marjoram 296 3 Craig Woods 378 4 Ryal Harris 377 5 David Sieders 374

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Shields leads Morris – they battled all day.

SHIELDS DENIES MORRIS DREAM WIN NASH MORRIS might have won the early battles and came close to a dream sweep on Porsche Sprint Challenge debut at Sydney, but Aron Shields won the war.

Morris stole the show for TekworkX Motorsport in his first taste of Porsche one-make racing by collecting the first two wins.

He was well placed to at least record the round win in the finale, but a costly mistake at the penultimate corner threw it all away and allowed teammate Shields to snatch the honours.

Morris started the weekend like a seasoned pro rather than a rookie by topping practice and falling 0.01s short of pole.

Qualifying was ultra-competitive with the top five covered by less than two-tenths

with Shields eventually snatching pole.

But when the racing arrived Morris came alive, kicking off his Porsche career in style with a 4s win under lights ahead of Shields.

Lachlan Bloxham joined them on the podium after Marcos Flack was dropped to 11th due to a penalty for creeping outside of his grid box, while many others found trouble.

The second race was a thriller with Shields getting the jump on Morris this time.

The two TekworkX cars gapped the field in a two-horse race that was not decided until the final lap.

Morris was all over the back of Shields and a big lunge down the inside of turn six snookered his teammate at the death.

However, Shields would get revenge in

the third and final race. A poor start put Morris on the back foot but he fought back to mount another challenge for the lead.

But a spin at the penultimate corner saw his dream dashed and eventually a 12th place finish was not enough to stop Shields from snatching round honours for the first time after winning the finale.

The next Porsche Sprint Challenge round is at Queensland Raceway on August 11-13.

Thomas Miles PORSCHE SPRINT CHALLENGE CHAMPIONSHIP AFTER ROUND 3 1 Marco Giltrap 469 2 Ronan Murphy 364 3 Zac Stitchbury 330 4 Aron Shields 326 5 Harrison Goodman 316

TOYOTAS PRODUCE PHOTO FINISH CODY BURCHER won the round, but Rylan Gray took the headlines by being victorious in the closest Toyota 86 Series finish ever at Sydney Motorsport Park.

Before the photo-finish in the finale Burcher was the driver to beat, taking the first two races.

Despite Matthew Hillyer taking pole and Burcher only qualifying fourth, the latter got his elbows out in the race.

A flying start saw the #36 jump to second before snatching the lead from Hillyer with three to go.

Despite the Walkinshaw-backed driver hounding Burcher, he prevailed by 0.7s with Campbell Logan also on the podium in the night race.

Come Sunday morning, Burcher took his dominance to a new level with a commanding lights-to-flag triumph.

After nailing the start from pole, he led every lap of the race with Gray and Casha a further 2s adrift.

Whilst it was one-sided up front, there was plenty of jostling in the mid-pack and one of the big losers was Hillyer, who slumped all the way down to 26th due to an ABS issue.

But the best was yet to come in the Toyotas as the third and final race produced

Rylan Gray leads the tight contest up front ... Image: PETER NORTON EPIC SPORTS PHOTOGRAPHY a finish for the ages.

Burcher’s hopes of a clean sweep started strongly as he led the field into Turn 1 ahead of Gray and Casha.

However, Burcher suddenly dropped to third after Gray took the lead at Turn 6 before the race was interrupted by a lengthy Safety Car due to a grass fire caused by Rossi Johnson, who was caught up in some Turn 2 chaos.

This set up a two-lap showdown and Casha gave it his all and almost pushed Gray over the start finish line.

But Gray held on by just 0.08s in the

category’s closest finish ever, with the previous record held by Will Brown at the same track in 2016.

The Toyota 86 Series return to the tarmac at The Bend on August 18-20.

Thomas Miles TOYOTA 86 SERIES CHAMPIONSHIP AFTER ROUND 1 1 Ryan Casha 524 2 Campbell Logan 506 3 Cody Burcher 428 4 Lachlan Bloxham 392 5 Rylan Gray 386

PORSCHE SPRINT CHALLENGE • TOYOTA 86 • SUPER UTES • GT WORLD CHALLENGE • S5000

COMMANDING CAMERON SWEEPS SYDNEY

The Shahin/Paterson Porsche heads the winning Audi R8 of Talbot/Ross.

Above right: Aaron Cameron took three-from-three in S5000.

Images: DANIEL KALISZ

GT TITLE RACE SPICES UP IN SYDNEY THE HEAT is on in the GT World Challenge Australia season after a pair of classic hour-long races at Sydney Motorsport Park.

Liam Talbot leads former co-driver Max Hofer by just two points with two rounds to go after a smashing final stint steered the #65 Audi driver to glory in the Sydney finale.

This arrived after a Saturday nail-biter where the result was not decided until the final lap.

After an action-packed round no less than five drivers are all within a round win of the points lead.

The serious stuff began with two contrasting qualifying sessions where Talbot took a dominant pole position by almost a second, while Jayden Ojeda edged out Richie Stanaway by a shade under a tenth for Sunday’s race.

The opening race went down to the wire with Garnet Patterson and Stanaway going toe-to-toe with just three-tenths the difference at the chequer.

But at the start it was a different face leading the way as Talbot got the jump off the line and controlled the field throughout the first stint.

He had built an 8s lead over Patterson’s co-driver Yasser Shahin, but things changed after the pit stop cycle

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with Fraser Ross in the #65 suddenly under significant pressure to defend the lead from the Porsche.

With 22 minutes left Patterson snatched the lead with a bold move at Turn 2, while Ross lost second to Stanaway at the same corner 10 minutes later.

This set up a showdown between Patterson and Stanaway with the Triple Eight driver taking just four minutes to slash the 3.6s gap.

This setup a fascinating duel with Stanaway menacing the back of the Porsche and launching lunges amid the chaos of lapped traffic.

Despite everything being thrown at him, Patterson’s mighty defensive effort prevailed by just three-tenths.

Talbot/Ross scored a safe third ahead of Geoff Emery and Hofer, while Ross Poulakis/Ojeda got fifth after a late mistake cost Whincup.

Action arrived as soon as the Sunday race began with Hofer chopping across the front of Stanaway’s Mercedes on the second row.

Whilst Hofer briefly fired into the pit straight fence, Stanaway was worse for wear and retired.

Just seconds later there was more drama as #48 of Justin McMillian/ David Russell took out the #45 of Martin

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Sheargold/Garth Walden at Turn 1.

Ojeda edged out Whincup to take control before the seven-time Supercars champion hit back to lead prior to the pit stops.

Positions remained unchanged, but all eyes were on Talbot as he commenced his charge to glory.

Having picked off Prince Abu Bakar Ibrahim and Emery in quick succession, he set his sights on Poulakis.

In the space of four minutes he cut down the 2s margin and flew into the lead at the first turn.

Talbot’s pace advantage was so great he opened a 16s lead inside the final eight minutes of racing.

Poulakis/Ojeda held off Ibrahim/ Whincup for second as Emery/Hofer missed out on the podium.

A scintillating Sydney sets the scene for more excitement at Queensland Raceway on August 11-13.

Thomas Miles GT WORLD CHALLENGE AUSTRALIAN CHAMPIONSHIP AFTER ROUND 4 1 Liam Talbot 141 2 Max Hofer 139 3 Yasser Shahin/Garnet Patterson 129 4 Geoff Emery 127 5 Ross Poulakis 101

THERE WAS no stopping Aaron Cameron who cruised to a Sydney S5000 sweep.

With no Joey Mawson or Cooper Webster (racing in the UK) on the grid, the door was open for a new face to shine in S5000 and Cameron took the opportunity emphatically.

Cameron commanded all three races and topped all but one practice session across the weekend to close within two points of Mawson in the standings.

The #18 Garry Rogers Motorsport driver made his intentions clear by taking pole position by three-tenths ahead of Blake Purdie and debutante Aaron Love, who was filling in for Mawson.

Despite previously dominating the weekend, Cameron was forced to fight for the opening race win.

Purdie got a flying start leaving Love and Cameron to fight it out for second.

The Team BRM debutante soon filtered back to fourth and had an entertaining dice with Jordan Boys before the pair came together at Turn 6 which sent the former spiralling to last.

In the meantime Purdie had opened a 1s lead, but by lap 10 he could not keep Cameron behind as the GRM driver charged into Turn 2.

Cameron claimed a hard-fought 1s win over Purdie and Boys, who had an adventurous ride to the podium.

The screaming S5000s kicked off Sunday morning’s action and by now Cameron was in a league of his own, enjoying a trouble free run to claim a 3s win over Boys.

Whilst the fight at the front was processional, it was anything but for third as Purdie held off Bargwanna and Love, who were covered by less than 2s.

Cameron and Boys went side by side into Turn 1 at the start of the third race and, as expected, the former prevailed.

But there was drama further back as Love made contact with rookie Kody Garland in the battle for fifth at Turn 6.

Despite sustaining heavy front wing damage, Love pressed on and was able to claim the position with a much cleaner move at the same corner a lap later.

The race settled down after that but was brought to life on the final lap when Purdie hunted down Boys for second.

The pair squabbling through the fast and flowing opening sector and Purdue eventually sealed the deal in thrilling fashion at Turn 5.

But up front there was no stopping Cameron who cruised to a commanding clean sweep with a 6s triumph.

S500s return at The Bend on August 18-20.

Thomas Miles S5000 CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS AFTER 4 ROUNDS 1 Joey Mawson 364 2 Aaron Cameron 362 3 Cooper Webster 287 4 James Golding 282 5 Jordan Boys 268

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SUPERCARS Kostecki shows the way as the Night Fight begins. Image: PETER NORTON. Below: But it was Heimgartner who’d taken pole. Right, l to r: The Erebus duo scored a 1-3 after Stewards’ intervention. Cam Waters’ stop created an ‘unsafe release’ drama. Images: EDGE PHOTGRAPHICS. Kostecki emerged as the Night-time winner ... Opposite below: Night-time podiums are quite a spectacle ...

Images: PETER NORTON

SMP NIGHT FIGHT THE TWO NASCAR-BOUND CONTENDERS TOOK DOMINANT WINS IN SYDNEY, WITH KOSTECKI RISING TO THE OCCASION – AND THE CHAMPIONSHIP LEAD – UNDER THE SMP LIGHTS, WHILST SVG DELIVERED A DAYLIGHT ROMP TO STAY IN THE HUNT. TIMOTHY W NEAL REPORTS …

THE PENULTIMATE Sprint meeting on the 2023 Supercars calendar headed to SMP for the Sydney SuperNight, delivering a 51-lap stoush under the Eastern Creek floodlights, and a 36 lap closer in the daylight.

After a brief taste of the longer format stuff at the Townsville 500, teams took their loaders into NSW for Round 7 of the championship to tackle the 3.9 km, 11-turn SMP track over two sprint races.

Drivers would face the high degradation track with six sets of pre-marked Dunlop Softs, and 32 sets of event-marked rubber – which proved a fine balancing act.

Since the Supercars were last at SMP, small sections of the track had also been resurfaced, leaving some unknowns about how fast the Softs would fall off the cliff … in short, the answer was quickly.

The latest chapter in the Gen3 Mustang saga also saw more tweaks to the seemingly eternal battle to gain parity.

After the aero changes at Townsville, the Mustangs took to SMP with new 80mm throttle bodies which, after previously running with an 87mm unit, now matched up with the Camaro; but the difference of performance proved to be minimal at best.

The track generally cause da huge drop-off in lap times when racing in traffic, so any difference out of the cornering was hard to frame, and Camaros again dominated the top-10 session results.

The night race (of which there really should be two) did prove to be an aesthetically spectacular event, and the Gen3s looked great under lights with the exhaust flames, coupled with the trackside fireballs and the obligatory firework displays, with the event drawing good crowd numbers.

In comparison, the daytime sprint was less spectacular, but the fans turned out for both.

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The backdrop of night also brought tension, as the crowd was treated to an intriguing race with a podium shaped by penalties, which then led to some colourful sprays that were frowned upon by officialdom – clarifying for the TV audience that unscripted profanities are still not allowed on night-time television!

As well as the championship lead changing hands again between the refreshing pair of Erebus drivers on the Saturday, the reigning champion would also get it right on the Sunday in another weekend of Camaro dominance.

SATURDAY

THERE WOULD be no Friday for the Sydney SuperNight, with Saturday’s two practice sessions preceding a knockout qualifying and the 51 lap night spectacular.

We also saw the return of the SupercheapAuto wildcard Camaro used in Darwin by Zane Goddard, but this time decked out in the colours of the #97 Red Bull, as a fed-up SVG made the chassis switch in a bid to negate his recent and mysterious steering issues which dogged him at Townsville.

Speaking of steering, the first of many steering rack issues for the weekend came early in Practice 1, when Will Davison was forced to sit in the garage after just three laps of running.

His DJR teammate also suffered the same, only getting eight laps in.

Although Van Gisbergen wouldn’t be totally satisfied with his new chassis, he still topped the session over Jack Le Brocq and Kostecki, with a 1:30.494s, and he looked in the mood early, even drafting James Courtney to get a slingshot, just like on an oval in NASCAR …

The times were all pulled early on fresh sets, with the dropoff already looking high and big understeer mentioned for the first of many times.

The second session also went the way of the #97, but this time he broke the 30s barrier, going in with a 01:29.913 over Andre Heimgartner, who would display pace all weekend.

Adding to the promising start for the BJR Camaros, Bryce Fullwood was also eye-catching in seventh, as he began his hunt for a season-equalling high.

Qualifying for Race 18 saw a three part knockout to set the grid for the night race, with sub-thirties needed all the way down the field to get through.

The surprise exits for Q1 would be Anton De Pasquale and Matthew Payne, whilst Nick Percat would top the axed cut quintet with a 01:30.308, with Jack Smith and Declan Fraser also going by the wayside.

As the sun started to dip below the horizon, Heimgartner

Supercars RACE REPORT Round 7 – SYDNEY SMP

showed his intent by topping Q2 with a 1:29.280s over Fullwood, Le Brocq, and Kostecki, whilst SVG found himself in the cut cars after a kerb strike deleted his lap.

Joining the #97, was Dave Reynolds, Thomas Randle, Tim Slade, Mark Winterbottom, Scott Pye, Broc Feeney, Todd Hazelwood, Courtney, Macauley Jones, with Cameron Hill’s 1:29.694s the safe number in P10.

As the LEDs came on for Q3, the #8 BJR Camaro was on a tear, getting near to his previous time to head the time sheets for the final dash out of the pit lane.

The BJR crew didn’t think it would get pole (and although they were wrong by 0.004s) so they gambled with another pair of softs and he blitzed his own time with a 1:29.344 to seal the deal, over Kostecki, Waters and Brown.

Rounding out the top-10 for Race 18 was Le Brocq, Fullwood, Golding and Hill, with Mustang drivers Mostert and Davison sharing the fifth row.

RACE 18 - THE EREBUS SWITCHEROO

UNDER THE bright floodlights of Eastern Creek, Kostecki prevailed for his third win of the season, turning his victory into a 14-point championship advantage over his good mate Will Brown.

The 51-lap race saw the two stop strategy prevail, but it could have been very different had it not been for a late Safety Car, giving the two stoppers the advantage of pitting under the caution.

The matter of the podium would also be decided on a host of penalties, including a contentious pit-lane penalty to Cam

Waters which was a bit on the cautious side.

The other penalty would be aimed at SVG, who had made up 16 spots and passed 14 cars, the last of which was Brown who was deemed to have been “punted” off by the #97 in the fight for third.

Waters would finish third on the track, but his five second penalty saw Brown take the third spot, whilst Chaz Mostert would pass at will to earn a charging P2, seven seconds behind Kostecki, earning a fourth podium of the year.

Erebus CEO Barry Ryan didn’t hold back in his assessment of SVGs pass on Brown, earning him a $5,000 dollar fine, whilst Waters radio reaction to his penalty included such hits as “what the f… is wrong with this sport?” and “no wonder all their f…ing drivers want to leave them!”

The race got going with Heimgartner and Kostecki facing off down Brabham Straight, with Waters and Brown set to challenge from the second row.

Kostecki got a lightning start, as did Brown into second with Heimgartner losing touch in fourth behind Waters.

Hill then jumped the BJR pole sitter as he started to drop spots fast, dropping into seventh.

Waters had some space in between the Erebus and MSR Camaros, holding a two-second advantage over Hill on lap six.

Fullwood, Pye, Slade and Randle were rolling as a tight quartet with plenty of contentious contact from P10 back, as Davison picked up ninth.

The tyre deg through the field was showing a big drop in lap times already, with Waters just hanging onto the front runners, with Brown 0.700s behind his teammate.

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Le Brocq took Hill on lap 10, with the #35 also losing ground to Golding who was in fifth ahead of an advancing Mostert.

Kostecki made a clean break by lap 15 as Brown backed off, and with plenty of cars getting slippery the pits got busy for fresh tyres and short fuel takes.

Waters made ground on Brown, with the #9 having trouble with the track limits and needing tyres, and whilst Kostecki pulled a five second split, Waters and Brown pitted on lap 18, with the Tickford driver jumping the #9 in the pits.

Kostecki pulled the trigger on lap 20, re-entering ahead of Waters, with Davison, Heimgartner and Reynolds in front of them as the last of the non-pitters.

Davison and Reynolds pitted on lap 23 and took all his fuel intake for a one stop race, with Heimgartner then pitting at the halfway mark.

Heimgartner was leading the three one-stop cars in P21, with Kostecki 46 seconds in front of them, and 2.5s in front of Waters.

It appeared things would be tight with Heimgartner, so Kostecki had to time his fresh tyres perfectly to get the gain.

But when Reynolds went off near Turn 10 and into no-man’s land after hitting the fence hard, Waters reacted quickly to pit before the yellow, but rejoined just prior to Feeney pulling in which triggered an ‘unsafe release’ investigation.

The yellow was called on lap 35 with Brown going in, then Kostecki to avoid the double stack, but he now had the advantage over the one-pitters.

Heimgartner went in for a fresh tyre gamble, but the onestop strategy was effectively blown.

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SUPERCARS Without much fuss, in the background, SVG had made his way into seventh behind Le Brocq, Mostert, and Pye. And with the race going green with 13 laps remaining, Kostecki held off Waters and Brown to start the sprint home.

SVG moved to sixth having passed 12 to that point, and was on the tail of a helpless Le Brocq who trailed Mostert.

A five second time penalty was then called on Waters, effectively making it an Erebus one-two at the time.

However, Mostert had entered the podium frame and was hovering for a chance in a tight chasing pack.

Kostecki opened the gap, but little separating the pack of Waters, Brown, Mostert and SVG, with Waters driving in anger.

Mostert then pulled an unbelievable switch-around to get into P2, whilst SVG looked to benefit from the squabbling, with Brown still in P4, but dealing with the rampant #97 in the mirror.

He battled hard to try and hold spot, but SVG hounded him hard, before taking him with a shove from behind which Brown simply described as a crude “punt”, which the officials also agreed with, giving him a five second penalty in a postrace review.

With the penalties applied, Le Brocq inherited fourth over Waters who dropped from third, with Slade taking sixth over the penalised SVG. Fullwood, Winterbottom, and Pye rounded out the top-10.

SUNDAY

FOLLOWING THE antics of the night, there was still tension in the pits from SVG’s side of things and, as-per the script, he did his talking on the track … and a little bit off it!

The day kicked off with an all-in 15 minute shootout session to provide the pole sitter for Race 19.

Heimgartner led from the start on Sunday, but eventually had to give best to SVG. Above: A pair of top 10s, including fifth on Sunday was a strong effort from BJR teammate Fullwood.

Images: PETER NORTON

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which the NASCAR bound racer answered, “I agree with what Waters said ...”

RACE 19 - A SUNDAY CRUISE

One surprise starter was Reynolds, with the Grove team having spent until 5:30am in the morning fixing the car after a bolt failure in his suspension had led to his Mustang getting wrecked the night before.

As is the case with these sessions, it was decided in a late rush from the pits in the dying minutes.

Early on, Kostecki held the time with a 1:30.256, but it would take another sub-30 to get it.

With a headwind blowing down the straight, Kostecki topped his own time on the final set of flyers, with Reynolds also jumping into P2, but a late flurry of times lit up the board.

First it was the pacey Fullwood and then Heimgartner to return serve, but 1:29.910 from SVG would take it on the nose to toss up an all-kiwi front row, with Heimgartner going 0.056s short.

Feeney also topped Fullwood late to consolidate the second row, with Kostecki and Waters on the third, over Winterbottom, Reynolds, De Pasquale, and Brown.

After taking pole, SVG was asked in the pits what he thought about the sequence of events in the night prior, to

VAN GISBERGEN turned his pole into a predictably dominant win, driving from the front with a point to prove, protecting his tyres, and overcoming an initially plucky Andre Heimgartner.

SVGs fourth win of the season and 81st of his career came by 5.227s over his compatriot, before delivering another cheeky dig in regards to the previous night, and the Gen3 car in general.

“I’ve never driven so slowly to win a race, but when it was three seconds the difference I thought I’d better get to five in case they penalise us again,” the race winner quipped.

The win also moved him over his teammate into third in the championship, 14 points behind Brown, and 54 points behind Kostecki.

Heimgartner came home with a strong tail-wind to take P2, whilst DJR’s Anton De Pasquale did the same, running down the #88 Camaro of Feeney after both drivers had gone for the early undercut.

Fullwood also finished off strongly, taking an equal best fifth placed finish for 2023.

The all-Kiwi front row took off down the Brabham Straight, with Heimgartner getting a sharp jump in the 36-lap finale.

Heimgartner was looking to cover SVG and they traded noses with the #8 holding on until the #97 put in a clean inside Turn 6 pass.

He slowly put tenths on Heimgartner without torturing the tyre, whilst Kostecki was tailing Feeney for the provisional podium spot by lap 10.

Supercars RACE REPORT Round 7 – SYDNEY SMP

After a rough Saturday with both qualifying and officials, SVG was never not going to win on Sunday. Image: ROSS GIBB Below: A decent crowd rocked up on Saturday night! Bottom left: Three into two didn’t go on Sunday, and Will Brown paid the price – before a strong recovery to 14th. Right: Anton de Pasquale earned a podium on Sunday.

Images: EDGE PHOTOGRAPHICS

De Pasquale passed Waters for sixth to chip away at Fullwood’s 2s split, whilst Kostecki was directly under Feeney’s wing. The two rubbed some paint before Kostecki lunged for third, while in the meantime, Feeney and De Pasquale took the undercut for fresh sets with 20 laps to go.

Kostecki went in with 18 to run and came out behind Feeney, De Pasquale, and Fullwood, but the championship leader appeared to struggle, later revealing clutch issues.

Heimgartner ducked into the pits but lost out to the undercuts from the #88 and #11, but held the tyre advantage whilst emerging over Fullwood and Kostecki.

SVG then took his stop and came out with pace to burn over his teammate, as De Pasquale looked to protect third QUALIFYING RACE 18 Pos Driver 1 Andre Heimgartner 2 Brodie Kostecki 3 Cameron Waters 4 William Brown 5 Jack Le Brocq 6 Bryce Fullwood 7 James Golding 8 Cameron Hill 9 Chaz Mostert 10 Will Davison 11 David Reynolds 12 Thomas Randle 13 Tim Slade 14 Mark Winterbottom 15 Scott Pye 16 Broc Feeney 17 Todd Hazelwood 18 James Courtney 19 Macauley Jones 20 Shane van Gisbergen 21 Nick Percat 22 Declan Fraser 23 Anton De Pasquale 24 Matthew Payne 25 Jack Smith

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from the pole-sitter.

The BJR Camaro took the Mustang on the 23rd lap however, and was odds-on to run Feeney down with a four lap tyre advantage. That move came on Turn 6, with Heimgartner then facing a three second deficit to SVG. With seven laps to go, Van Gisbergen was driving to Heimgartner’s pace before opening up a little.

Waters took Kostecki for sixth with two laps to go, as did Mostert on lap 35, whilst De Pasquale fought hard to get his podium spot back, running down Feeney on the last lap on Turn 5 with a nice pass to secure the podium.

With Fullwood just under three seconds back from fifth, Waters took sixth in a tight finish over Mostert, whilst Kostecki

RESULTS RACE 18 51 LAPS Time 1:29.3447 +0.0817 +0.2319 +0.2629 +0.4130 +0.4603 +0.5640 +0.7834 +1.0992 +1.3804 +0.3908 +0.3926 +0.4335 +0.4566 +0.6931 +0.6973 +0.9014 +0.9884 +1.1155 +0.9633 +1.0002 +1.1090 +1.1504 +2:21.7580

Pos Drivers 1 Brodie Kostecki 2 Chaz Mostert 3 Will Brown 4 Jack Le Brocq 5 Cameron Waters 6 Tim Slade 7 Shane van Gisbergen 8 Bryce Fullwood 9 Mark Winterbottom 10 Scott Pye 11 Broc Feeney 12 James Golding 13 James Courtney 14 Andre Heimgartner 15 Anton De Pasquale 16 Will Davison 17 Cameron Hill 18 Todd Hazelwood 19 Jack Smith 20 Nick Percat 21 Declan Fraser 22 Macauley Jones 23 Thomas Randle 24 Matthew Payne NC David Reynolds

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QUALIFYING RACE 19 Laps Race time 51 01:22:58.4477 51 +7.005 51 +10.479 51 +12.456 51 +12.554 51 +14.109 51 +15.062 51 +15.306 51 +18.263 51 +19.148 51 +19.446 51 +19.984 51 +21.350 51 +23.363 51 +23.686 51 +25.759 51 +27.199 51 +28.692 51 +29.886 51 +29.894 51 +31.123 51 +32.167 51 +33.334 51 +33.742 31

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s1 s7 s1 s1 t2 s7 s13 t2 s5 s5 s5 t5 s5 t13 s8 t6 t9 t1 s6 s1 s1 t3 t11 t14

Pos Driver 1 Shane van Gisbergen 2 Andre Heimgartner 3 Broc Feeney 4 Bryce Fullwood 5 Brodie Kostecki 6 Cameron Waters 7 Mark Winterbottom 8 David Reynolds 9 Anton De Pasquale 10 Will Brown 11 Cameron Hill 12 Scott Pye 13 Jack Le Brocq 14 Macauley Jones 15 James Courtney 16 Chaz Mostert 17 Tim Slade 18 Todd Hazelwood 19 Thomas Randle 20 James Golding 21 Jack Smith 22 Declan Fraser 23 Will Davison 24 Matthew Payne 25 Nick Percat

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padded his championship lead out to 41 points with a P8, with Winterbottom and Le Brocq completing the top-10.

With the two NASCAR-bound Camaro drivers prevailing in Sydney, Van Gisbergen and Kostecki will take their next fight to the Indianapolis Road Course, competing for Trackhouse Racing and Richard Childress Racing respectively on August 14 (Monday 4:30 am AEST).

The next stop for the Supercars sees them head to The Bend in SA for the final SuperSprint format of the season on August 18-20.

Then it’s on to the real stuff, with the return of the Sandown 500 on September 15-17, then the 60 year anniversary of the Bathurst 1000 on October 5-8.

RESULTS RACE 19 36 LAPS Time 1:29.9100 +0.0563 +0.2067 +0.2575 +0.3052 +0.3361 +0.3945 +0.4160 +0.5306 +0.5336 +0.5429 +0.6046 +0.6347 +0.6449 +0.6650 +0.6737 +0.6979 +0.7354 +0.7392 +0.8235 +0.8762 +0.8884 +0.9197 +0.9610 +1.0248

Pos Drivers 1 Shane van Gisbergen 2 Andre Heimgartner 3 Anton De Pasquale 4 Broc Feeney 5 Bryce Fullwood 6 Cameron Waters 7 Chaz Mostert 8 Brodie Kostecki 9 Mark Winterbottom 10 Jack Le Brocq 11 Scott Pye 12 Tim Slade 13 James Courtney 14 Will Brown 15 Jack Smith 16 James Golding 17 Will Davison 18 Macauley Jones 19 Nick Percat 20 David Reynolds 21 Todd Hazelwood 22 Thomas Randle 23 Matthew Payne 24 Cameron Hill 25 Declan Fraser

CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS AFTER ROUND 7 Laps 36 36 36 36 36 36 36 36 36 36 36 36 36 36 36 36 36 36 36 36 36 36 36 36 36

Race time 57:04.6372 +5.2271 +15.666 +16.098 +18.706 +19.571 +20.682 +23.104 +25.519 +27.738 +30.405 +31.509 +35.034 +35.410 +37.283 +37.496 +38.006 +42.053 +43.262 +44.256 +48.290 +50.336 +51.500 +55.440 +1:02.687

s6 t1 t1 s9 t3 t2 s3 s1 s5 s2 t4 s6 s4 s6 t4 s6 t12 t3 t3 s1 t13 t3

Pos Driver 1 Brodie Kostecki 2 Will Brown 3 Shane van Gisbergen 4 Broc Feeney 5 Chaz Mostert 6 Andre Heimgartner 7 Cameron Waters 8 Jack Le Brocq 9 Bryce Fullwood 10 Mark Winterbottom 11 Will Davison 12 Scott Pye 13 Anton De Pasquale 14 Tim Slade 15 James Golding 16 David Reynolds 17 James Courtney 18 Thomas Randle 19 Matthew Payne 20 Todd Hazelwood 21 Macauley Jones 22 Cameron Hill 23 Nick Percat 24 Jack Smith 25 Declan Fraser

Points 1590 1549 1536 1523 1348 1308 1261 1159 1076 1056 1033 972 958 943 920 884 816 815 769 751 724 709 659 633 522

s1 t1 s1 t1 s2 t2 s1 s3 s1 t1 t4 s2 t1 t1 -

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INTERNATIONAL

SUPER ESPARGARO PULLS OFF LAST LAP MIRACLE MOTOGP RETURNED from a lengthy summer break in style as Aleix Espargaro stole a brilliant British Grand Prix from Francesco Bagnaia with a last-lap move for the ages.

After holding off an early challenge from Marco Bezzecchi, Bagnaia looked set to record a fifth win of the season with a special ride, but Espargaro had other ideas.

Despite starting down in 12th, the Spaniard quickly charged into the top five and risked everything in the back half of the race as a small shower complicated things.

The race was decided by a stunning final-lap showdown as Bagnaia and Espargaro went side by side into Maggotts and Becketts and it was the Aprilia that emerged out the other side in front to secure a sensational win.

Behind the leading pair there was another almighty scrap for third, where Brad Binder prevailed against Maverick Vinales and Miguel Oliveira.

Australia’s Jack Miller led early, but had to settle for seventh after getting forced off the road by Vinales at Copse early on.

ALEX MARQUEZTAKES THE SPRINT NEWS ARRIVED before bikes hit the track with Alex Rins announcing he will switch from LCR Honda to Yamaha as a replacement for the struggling Franco Morbidello, while Pol Espargaro “needed a nap” after his first MotoGP session since his horrific crash at the season opener.

Riders were greeted with a very slippery Silverstone for qualifying and Bezzecchi wowed by being two-tenths better than the rest.

Miller put in a strong lap to take second from Alex Marquez and Bagnaia, while Augusto Fernandez was an impressive fifth for Tech3.

The wet conditions remained when the Sprint started and Miller hit the lead after winning a three-corner arm wrestle with Bezzecchi. But by Stowe Jorge Martin was in charge after he flew from third to first in one bold move.

Alex Marquez was the big mover on lap two, rising from fourth to a lead he would never let go.

But he had to fight for it, with Bezzecchi right on his tail until the chequered flag and Vinales taking third.

It was an emotional win for Alex Marquez, who finally jumped out of his brother’s shadow and finally appeared in victory lane in his 60th race in the premier class.

One rider who was not in the fight was Miller, who drifted down to seventh, while Bagnaia had an even bigger battle on his hands and only managed 14th.

GRAND PRIX TO ESPARGARO THE TRACK was dry for the Grand Prix and Bezzecchi and Miller went side by side into Turn 1 once again, with the Aussie prevailing as Aleix Espargaro started his charge by progressing from 12th to sixth.

Bezzecchi and Bagnaia then wrestled for second before the #1 left everyone’s jaw dropped.

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Espargaro leads Bagnaia, Binder and Oliveira across the line. Below (left): Bezzechi challenged Bagnaia until he went down ... Below: Alex Marquez took his first win, in the Sprint race.

Images: GOLD AND GOOSE/MOTORSPORT IMAGES

Bagnaia got a good run out of Copse and flashed past the #72 on the curbing before Copse corner. In the short space of track between the fast right hander and Maggotts the championship leader was suddenly in the lead, flying past Miller.

A lap later, at the same piece of track, Vinales forced Miller almost into the gravel and the detour sent the Australian from third to 14th.

To complete the chaotic action at Copse Joan Mir crashed out, while his Repsol Honda teammate would soon join him on the sidelines with his latest incident, while Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo had an unlucky clash with Luca Marini.

However, the biggest victim was Bezzecchi. The VR46 youngster looked the only rider who could challenge Bagnaia for the lead, but got too greedy under brakes at

‘INVINCIBLE’ ESPARGARO ALMOST CRASHED BEFORE WIN ALTHOUGH ALEIX Espargaro felt “invincible” on his Aprilia, his famous last-lap move on Francesco Bagnaia almost did not happen at Silverstone.

Espargaro revealed he was “very closed to crashing” at Farm on the final lap, which laid the foundations for his wild Maggotts move on Bagnaia.

“I was a lot faster in corners two and three, so my plan was to overtake Pecco in two and three,” he said.

“But in corner two I did a highside and was very close to crashing.

“I knew he lost traction at Copse and he will have even less acceleration at Maggotts, so I was super committed and braked very late.

“It was quite scary in that last part!

“Even though I was starting 12th I felt super good with the bike. It had a lot of grip and braking stability.

“It was one of those days where you feel invincible.”

Stowe and tumbled through the gravel.

Despite his arch-rival crashing out, Bagnaia had no time to take a breath.

Espargaro was now on his tail, but the Ducati star appeared to be managing the race perfectly.

He even opened a gap as Espargaro had to deal with Vinales, Binder and now Oliveira in a crazy scrap for second.

But by the final lap nothing separated the top five and Espargaro set his sights on the win.

The Aprilia rider went shoulder-toshoulder with Bagnaia through Maggotts and won the brave game of chicken to secure a famous win.

Despite losing the win, Bagnaia increased his championship lead over Martin, who jumped Bezzecchi with sixth place finish.

After a Silverstone to savour, MotoGP heads to Austria on August 18-20.

Thomas Miles MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS AFTER ROUND 9 1 Francesco Bagnaia 214 points 2 Jorge Martin 173 3 Marco Bezzecchi 167 4 Brad Binder 115 5 Johann Zarco 115

MOTOGP • BRITIAN I WRC RALLY • FINLAND

EVANS COMES OUT OF THE WOODS

Evans’ wins takes him closer to the WRC points lead. Below: Rovanpera’s Yaris looked a bit secondhand after his Stage 8 crash. Bottom: Oliver Solberg took Rally2. Images: MOTORSPORT IMAGES JUST AS the FIA World Rally Championship was looking like a done deal for the reigning title holder, a chaotic Day 2 saw Elfyn Evans emerge as the eventual winner at Rally Finland.

The Toyota Gazoo Racing Welshman wouldn’t be headed after inheriting the lead form his teammate, after Kalle Rovanpera’s tilt for a first home victory came spectacularly undone after totalling his GR Yaris in Stage 8.

It was a rousing victory for Evans, who managed to shut the points gap from 55 points to just 25.

After the mayhem of the second day, Evans powered ahead in difficult Day 3 conditions to set up the win, which came by an eventual 39.1 seconds over Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville.

Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta took his first podium of the year, capitalising on the retirements to fight off Teemu Suninen in his second outing in the Rally1 i20N by just 4.3 seconds, and 57.6s behind Evans.

The Welshman was a popular winner, as his last victory came at the sombre Rally Croatia following the death of his great friend Craig Breen, meaning there were no celebrations to be had.

It was a seventh WRC victory for the driver with his almost unique nose over the wheel driving style, keeping the championship story alive with four rounds remaining.

“It’s been a pretty good weekend – of course we’re sorry for the loss of Kalle at the start of the rally but after that it’s been really fantastic to drive this car. It’s such a joy to be behind the wheel on these roads and we’re really happy with this one,” Evans said.

“It’s been a fantastic atmosphere and great to have the support behind us. Of course, in terms of the championship it’s also not bad and we close the gap.”

Although Evans was a deserved winner

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after trailing Rovanpera before he flipped his car on its nose and from the lead, the rally was shaped by a series of retirements on the same day.

The Finn was 5.7s ahead of Evans when he crashed, whilst earlier in the day, whilst Hyundai’s Esapekka Lappi was peppering Katsuta for third, he careened out of control and tore the front of his car off when hitting a Birch tree head-on.

It was also another weekend of engine disaster for Ford M-Sport’s Ott Tanak, when he took damage to his Puma Rally1’s sump guard and subsequently the engine, dropping from third place and into retirement in just the second stage.

That was only the beginning of Ford’s misery, as Pierre-Louis Loubet passed by Tanak’s smoking Puma, only to come to grief on a bank, ripping the rear left wheel off his Rally1 moments later to also retire.

Stage 1, in the centre of host city Jyvaskyla, saw Tanak get off to a flyer, with big crowds enjoying the spectacle as the Estonian took a 0.6s lead over Neuville, as Rovanpera would start Day 2 in third, with 109.2km to be covered.

After Katsuta was the surprise winner of the first stage that claimed both the Fords, the championship leader pounced, taking five stages before he uncharacteristically dug his nose into the gravel to end up on his roof.

With Lappi also going by the wayside, that left Evans leading Neuville, with Katsuta holding third over Suninen, with Toyota team principal Jari-Matti Latvala 1:23.7s back in fifth in his one-off Rally1 appearance.

Day 3 was the longest of the rally with 160.6 competitive kilometres over eight stages.

Wet conditions made the early running tough, and after Neuville had managed to shut the gap to Evans overnight with two

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stage wins, his morning was difficult as a loose rear end saw him lose touch.

As the roads dried and rutted out towards the end of the day, Evans was perfect to take the first seven stages, with Katsuta taking Saturday’s last to hold off a pesky Suninen, who was fighting for a podium.

The final 51.64 km over the classic MoksiSahloinen and Himos-Jamsa stages, saw Evans keep his GR Yaris in perfect nick, winning three of the four stages, whilst Suninen ran with no spare to save weight to challenge Katsuta, who’s Stage 20 win helped his cause in holding the podium.

With five WRC2 cars rounding out the top10, it was Skoda Fabia driver Oliver Solberg who survived the high-attrition rate in the Rally2 field, with the Swede surviving a tight 0.5s win over, Sami Pajari (who theoretically took the WRC2 win on points, as Solberg wasn’t eligible in Finland).

Rounding out the 10 was the secondplaced point getter, Adrien Fourmaux, as Ford’s only shining light, whilst Skoda

drivers Nikolay Gryazin and Andreas Mikkelsen came in next, with Gryazin claiming the final podium spot.

Next up for the WRC is a visit to Acropolis Rally Greece on September 7-10, the penultimate gravel event of the year prior to Rally Chile, with the Central Europe and Japanese closers taking place on the tarmac.

TW Neal WRC STANDINGS AFTER NINE ROUNDS Rovanpera/Halttunen 170 Evans/Martin 145 Neuville/Wydaeghe 134 Tanak/Jarveoja 104 Ogier/Landais 98

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INTERNATIONAL

NASCAR RICHMOND • US SPRINTCARS WOO

Image: Richard Hathaway

LARSON TAKES EPIC IRONMAN 55

Image: MOTORSPORT IMAGES

BUESCHER’S RICHMOND CLINCHER THE NASCAR Cup Series field headed to the Richmond Raceway in Virginia with five regular season rounds remaining – and at the conclusion of the 400 laps Chris Buescher (above) left with an assured spot in the playoffs.

The RFK Racing Mustang driver took his first win of the season in the intense southern heat after surviving a late caution flag which eradicated a dominant lead, but he managed to hold off a charging Denny Hamlin by just 0.549s, with Kyle Busch taking a close third.

He and teammate Brad Keselowski shared 190 laps in the lead, with the Texan victor having 88 of them after starting the race from 26th.

When Noah Gragson tagged Daniel Suarez with 10 laps to go at Turn 3, Buescher was cruising in a caution-free race, holding a 5.781s lead from Hamlin.

With all the frontrunners able to pit for fresh tyres, the Texan picked the

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bottom line for a three-lap sprint to the finish and, after a good launch, held it until Hamlin tried for the outside where Buescher moved up to block.

When Hamlin locked up with one lap remaining, to drift toward the wall, the RFK racer had it in the bag.

“It was smooth sailing trying to take care of this Mustang,” Buescher said.

“It was so good and I was trying to take care of it there, but about the time (crew chief) Scott (Graves) said over the radio ‘It‘s working perfect, keep it up,‘ there‘s a caution!

“But we were so strong during the race, I had a good feeling about it. So awesome to pull it off. That was a long way from the back.”

Bubba Wallace had a good run early with 80 laps in front (career high), but like many other teams suffered on a day of green running, issues in the pits derailed him after a slow tyre change.

By lap 160, Buescher had cracked the

top-five, and when his race leading teammate made an awkward and time-costly attempt to enter the pits, he assumed total control.

By sewing up 12th place, four spots remain in contention for the playoffs, which ahead of the Casino 400 in Michigan, were being prospectively held

by Kevin Harvick, Keselowski, Wallace and Michael McDowell.

At the time of Auto Action going to print, the Casino 400 in Michigan had been postponed until Monday US-time, with 77 laps having been completed.

Before the postponement, six caution flags saw four race retirements, with Tyler Reddick leading Alex Bowman and Kyle Larson.

Series frontrunners Kyle Busch, Chase Elliott, and William Byron were among the retirements, leaving Elliot as an unlikely qualifier for the playoffs in 19th position.

TW Neal

AMERICAN ALL-rounder Kyle Larson won a Federated Auto Parts Ironman 55 for the ages, as the NASCAR superstar brought the Missouri Sprintcar crowd to its feet.

The I-55 epic in the Pevely bullring saw Larson take the Silva Motorsports #57 (above) to a 0.166s victory over the winner of the Eldora Millions, Logan Schuchart, and Brad Sweet.

The 2021 NASCAR champion entered the World of Outlaws Victory lane for a third time in 2023, making for 31 wins in his WoO career, as he celebrated the $20,000 dollar win from the top of the 900 horsepower, methanol fuelled #57 machine.

“That was probably the most fun Sprint Car race I’ve run maybe ever – It was just a great race,” a joyous Larson said. “I hope all of you fans enjoyed it. Even if you wanted anybody else to win, that was a damn good race. You can’t say enough about it. Thanks to Paul Silva and everybody on this car. This was a great race and I love I-55.”

After winning Heat 2 (44th career heat), Aussie Sprintcar gun James McFadden shared the front with Schuchart, with Larson starting in P6.

After two attempts to get some green running, Schuchart got the early jump, and unfortunately for McFadden, a broken steering box after making contact with the Turn 2 wall resulted in a DNF. A battle between WoO frontrunners Sweet, David Gravel, and Carson Macedo ensued for second place, with Sweet emerging with the place.

With those three settled, Larson started to pick his way though, and by the 10th lap, he’d made his way into third.

Before the flag flew for a slowing Macedo, the #57 took advantage by sliding into second over Sweet to be next to Schuchart for the restart.

Whilst the Shark Racing #1S leader was smooth through traffic, Larson had closed by the halfway mark to make his assault.

By the 34th lap he took the lead before a late caution with 11 laps to run set the battle lines for the sprint home.

After Larson jumped away, Schuchart used the traffic to pull him back, and with Larson taking Turn 3 badly, the #1S nosed in front, then survived a huge slider as the white flag was waved.

In the end, it was Larson’s dive down the Turn 2 hill that gave him the advantage, holding it by a nose to the chequered flag, with Sweet finishing only 0.855s back for third.

The Pevely appetiser sets the scene for a huge week in US Sprintcar, with the 62nd Knoxville Nationals (The Granddaddy of ‘Em All) filling the WoO calendar from August 9-12 over four epic nights at Knoxville Speedway in Iowa.

TW Neal

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INTERNATIONAL

KIRKWOOD TAKES DOWNTOWN NASHVILLE THE EXPECTED star of Kyle Kirkwood continues to rise, with the Andretti Autosport driver taking his second IndyCar victory of the year, and his career, at Nashville last Sunday.

The #27 Honda driver survived a late caution to deny pole man Scott McLaughlin the win by 0.763s, the Kiwi’s second straight runner-up finish at the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix.

Rounding out the pole was this season’s runaway leader in Spaniard Alex Palou, with his third place earning him an 84 point cushion in the battle for the Astor Cup. His nearest challenger, Josef Newgarden, made it two Penske Chevs in the top five, whilst in his record equalling 318th consecutive IndyCar start (tying Tony Kanaan), last year’s victor Scott Dixon rounded out the top five.

Whilst Kirkwood lifts himself to ninth in the championship, the Florida native who almost consecutively won every step on the gruelling Road to Indy ladder, has announced himself as a dangerous prospect for next season.

“I’ve got to give it up to the #27 crew at Andretti Honda, they played everything in my favour, to be honest,” Kirkwood, who started in eighth, said.

“They gave me all the tools I needed.

They cycled me to the front on strategy, and we just made really smart decisions and hit all of our marks.”

Kirkwood led a race high 36 of 80 laps, which included the final 27.

McLaughlin defended his lead early, surviving a restart after David Malukas suffered a collapsed rear wing after a sudden burst of heat escaped from under

his engine cover.

The pole sitter pulled a four second advantage, with fellow front row starter Pato O’Ward having to fight off Romain Grosjean and Kirkwood.

After Kirkwood briefly led on the pit cycles, he switched from the Alternates onto the Primaries on lap 29, with his team putting him behind Palou who led on the Alternates.

After taking the lead on lap 45, then briefly surrendering it to Grosjean on his final pit stop on lap 52, by the time the frontrunners all completed their pits, the pacey Florida native took his unassailable lead back two laps later.

After just two cautions by the 71st lap, the usually hectic Nashville streets delivered a three-car snarl-up and, on the lap 77 restart, Kirkwood got the jump.

McLaughlin and Palou both charged hard to cut the lead back to under a second, but ran out of time to catch the leader.

The next IndyCar outing sees the teams return to the Indianapolis Road Course on August 12. With four rounds remaining, the top-eight are technically still in contention, but a rampantly consistent Palou (11 top-five finishes – four wins) may shut that door quickly.

TW Neal INDYCAR STANDINGS AFTER 13 ROUNDS 1.

Palou 513 2. Newgarden 429 3. Dixon 387 4. McLaughlin 371 5. Ericsson 357

Superior strategy put Kirkwood in the lead, and they couldn’t run him down ...

Images: MOTORSPORT IMAGES

PENSKE #7 TAKES MAIDEN IMSA WIN THE PORSCHE-Penske #7 963 has broken through for its first win of the new IMSA GTP Hypercar era, with Aussie Matt Campbell and Brazil’s Felipe Nasr taking a commanding win at Road America.

The #7 Porsche bettered their season-high third place at Long Beach to join its sister car as an IMSA winning LMDh machine.

The much-belated victory came by 4.635s over the #60 Meyer-Shank Acura ARX-06 piloted by Colin Braun and Tom Blomqvist, whilst its sister Honda powered Hypercar and championship leaders Filipe Albuquerque and Ricky Taylor came third (Wayne Taylor Racing).

With two rounds remaining, the podium gives them a slender 14 points over Cadillac pair Pipo Derani and Alexander Sims, who had a nightmare morning in the #31 V-Series car.

The victory for the #7 makes it the sixth different winner in seven rounds, with the #60 Acura the only double winner.

“We came close several times this year; the speed was always there, but we had a couple

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reliability issues, a couple mistakes, and some bad luck,” Nasr said.

“It’s a big relief for the whole team. I know how much work the No. 7 crew has put in, and it was about time, I would say.”

Campbell had put the #7 963 into second during qualifying, and thus found himself at the front of the grid for his opening stint.

A crash during the warmup for the two hours and 40 minute race sent the #31 to the rear of the grid, leaving any chance of them heading to IMSA’s Battle on the Bricks with the championship lead in tatters.

The Queensland factory Porsche driver had the perfect start as a result, jumping out to a 10-second lead in his first and only stint, giving the perfect cushion to Nasr who was driving a double stint.

There was more drama on the pace lap, as BMW’s Connor De Phillippi spun off track, causing a delay to the green flag drop – and when the race did start, his effort to cut through the field also resulted in an early full course yellow.

The clean running thereafter allowed Campbell to build his lead, and after pitting

with 90 minutes remaining, Nasr controlled the gap through the difficulty of lapped traffic.

The #60 Acura managed to close the gap to just under five seconds in the final 20 minutes as a result, with the third placed Acura coming in +35.135 behind Nasr and Campbell.

In the LMP2 stakes, the #52 PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA with Ben Keating and Paul-Loup Chatin claimed their first win of the year to head the championship.

In the LMP3, the runaway Riley Motorsports Ligier won its third straight category race with the help of Aussie Super-sub Josh Burdon as a replacement for Felipe Fraga, with Burdon steering it to a 11.785s victory.

Rounding out the weekend was the GTD Pro winners, Gunn/Riberas, in the #23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 for their second straight win, whilst the GTD Am was taken out by series leaders, Snow and Bryan Sellers, in the #1 BMW M4 GT3.

The next IMSA Hypercar round is at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on September 15-17. TW Neal

INDYCAR NASHVILLE • IMSA ROAD AMERICA I FIA FORMULA 2/3 • BELGIAN GRAND PRIX

Image: TRIDENT

BORTOLETO ON THE EDGE OF F3 GLORY

GABRIEL BORTOLETO (pictured) is on the cusp of winning the FIA Formula 3 title despite not being at his best in Belgium.

Bortoleto simply needs to finish in the top 10 once in Monza to be crowned champion, after he fell just short at Spa. Despite retiring in the Sprint and finishing 11th in the Feature (registering his first pointless weekend of the season), Bortoleto does not need to worry too much ahead of the season finale.

The driver enjoys a 38-point advantage and with a maximum of 39 points available at Monza, the Brazilian almost has both hands on the trophy.

Paul Aron is the only driver in mathematical contention to wrestle the crown away from Bortoleto and must hope the latter has a similarly disastrous weekend.

Bortoleto’s Belgian battles started in a dramatic qualifying session where he went from provisional pole to 15th inside a crazy final six minutes.

Pole went to Campos Racing’s Pepe Marti after he snuck ahead of Leo Fornaroli by 0.016s.

With the Sprint race being a reverse grid affair Australia’s Hugh Barter found himself on the front row and led the field through La Source in wet conditions.

But he lost out to both Taylor Barnard and Caio Collet down the Kemmel Straight, with the latter making the race winning move through Banchimont.

Marti’s hopes were sent in a spin after contact with Gabriele Mini, while a clash at La Source with Beganovic put Bortoleto into his first retirement of the year.

Up front Collet confirmed his win as Barter took an impressive sixth but, briefly, no points were awarded due to Safety Car disruptions before an FIA U-turn.

The Feature Race was another wild affair, impacted by the weather with the slick-shod runners losing out to those on the wets.

Aussie Christian Mansell charged from 23rd to second, behind Taylor Barnard after a tense race-long scrap.

Sophia Floersch made history and was “super proud” to be the first female to score FIA Formula 3 points after a special drive from 24th to seventh.

There were four retirements across the dramatic, shortened race with Bortoleto finishing 11th ensuring the championship just remains alive for Monza on September 1-3.

Thomas Miles

JACK, ENZO AND THEO REIGN AT SPA THE TRIP to Belgium for FIA Formula 2 produced three moments of jubilation, with Jack Doohan, Enzo Fittipaldi, and Theo Pourchaire all having reason to celebrate at a rainy Spa Francorchamps.

Round 10 saw the son of Australia’s five-time 500cc champion go back-toback in the Feature stakes to reignite his championship hopes.

It had the grandson of two-time Formula 1 champion Emerson Fittipaldi take his first F2 victory in the Sprint Race, and, in the championship equation, the series took on a new championship leader, Frenchman Theo Pourchaire … the son of a Grasse mechanic.

A 76-race junior formulae veteran of the F2 world, Pourchaire’s two runnerup podiums at Spa saw him overtake Frederik Vesti by 12 points ahead of the series’ visit to Zandvoort, after the Danish leader took an off-road trip on the formation lap down the Kemmel Straight.

With that, Vesti lost a front row start and the chance to extend his lead.

With Oliver Bearman taking pole position in a rainy session, a reinvigorated Doohan might have seen his faint

FIA FORMULA 3 CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS AFTER ROUND 8 1 Gabriel Bortolrto 144 2 Paul Aron 106 3 Pepe Marti 105 4 Zak O’Sullivan 101 5 Franco Colapinto 100

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championship hopes go up in smoke after being denied a dry lap to finish in P11.

From third on the grid, it was Fittipaldi who prevailed in the flipped-grid Sprint, storming from two seconds back to execute a last lap takeover of Richard Verschoor, who was disqualified post-race for the use of an illegal throttle map.

Pourchaire shut the championship gap with a P2 over Dennis Hauger, whilst a rampant Doohan was fastest on track, elevated into P5 after the disqualification.

A damp Feature Race not only produced a remarkable result for Doohan, which saw him go back-to-back after the win at the Hungaroring, but it was also his third straight feature win at Spa, after winning there every year since his 2021 F3 season.

Bearman survived two Safety Cars in the opening of the Feature Race from pole, but couldn’t stop Pourchaire and Fittipaldi jumping him in the pits following the lap 13 restart, which had Doohan out front as the last non-pitter going for an unlikely overcut, with the front of the field on Medium tyres.

Things then changed dramatically when American Jak Crawford made contact

with Juan Manuel Correa at Les Combes, which brought out a third Safety Car. With Doohan having good track position, he went in for Softs before emerging right on the tail of Pourchaire in a remarkable stroke of luck and good timing.

The #5 Art Grand Prix driver was a sitting duck at the green flag, with the Virtuosi Aussie waiting out the DRS enablement to swamp Pourchaire on lap 23 at Les Combes, surging past him to secure a 1.952 second victory in the 25 lap outing.

The win elevates the Alpine F1 Reserve Driver into fourth place, only 38 points behind the new leader with six point scoring races to come – an almost unthinkable proposition from his early year form.

The next F2 outing is at Zandvoort on August 25-27.

TW Neal F2 STANDINGS AFTER 10 ROUNDS 1 Pourchaire 168 2 Vesti 156 3 Iwasa 134 4 Doohan 130 5 Martins 120

Image: JOE PORTLOCK - FORMULA 1/FORMULA MOTORSPORT LIMITED VIA GETTY IMAGES

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INTERNATIONAL

WINNING WITH TIME TO SPARE

The only point Verstappen didn’t get in another dominant weekend was the single one for fastest lap ... (Image: Red Bull Content Pool) Report: LUIS VASCONCELOS Images: MOTORSPORT IMAGES IT SAYS it all about Max Verstappen’s domination of the 2023 Formula One World Championship that, even starting the Belgian Grand Prix from sixth on the grid, following a penalty for taking a fifth gearbox this season, no one at Spa-Francorchamps doubted for one minute that he was going to win Sunday’s race.

If there was a surprise, it was that it took the double World Champion 17 laps to move up to the lead, but after that the Red Bull driver made a point of showing who’s the boss, particularly to team mate Sérgio Pérez.

The Mexican led the first 16 laps after getting ahead of pole sitter Charles Leclerc on the run down to Les Combes on the opening lap, but had no answer to his teammate from the moment they both swapped to the Medium compound tyres, ending the race more than 22s behind his team leader, losing an average of 0.8s per lap after being passed! No wonder, then, the Dutchman’s win was taken for granted before the start.

Even Verstappen was so certain of his superiority, he took it really easy in the first lap, “because I knew that we had a great car.

It was just about surviving Turn 1. I could see that it was all getting really tight. I’ve been in that position before as well, myself, so I was, ‘I’m just going to stay out of that’, and it worked out. From there onwards, I think we all made the right overtakes, moves. I just got a little bit stuck at the beginning and in a bit of a DRS train, but once that cleared, I could do my own pace. And again, it’s really enjoyable.”

Unfortunately for Oscar Piastri, that “getting really tight” Verstappen was talking about included him and Carlos Sainz, the two clashing at the La Source hairpin, with the McLaren driver retiring before the end of the first lap, while the Spaniard soldiered on for a while, dropping to the last positions with a badly damaged car before retiring, “as no red flag came to

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allow us to repair the car”, he explained.

Initially stuck behind Hamilton, who was getting DRS advantage by being close to Leclerc, Verstappen had to wait until lap six, when the Mercedes driver dropped a bit further behind the Monegasque, to pass him before collecting the Ferrari man three laps later. The gap to Pérez, however, didn’t come down as quickly as possible, and when told by his race engineer to “use your head”, he enquired if both Red Bull drivers were doing the same.

He then got even more agitated before the first pit stop when he saw Pérez get into the pits first, giving the Mexican a defence against any undercut, but with race engineer Giampiero Lambiase insisting, “just trust me”, he followed the instructions, pitted one lap after his teammate and resumed closer to Pérez than he had been before the stops.

Three laps later, the Dutchman was in the lead and never looked back:

“As soon as I had my stop onto the Mediums, I could feel that the car was in a much better window, and I could go a lot faster. From there onwards that was really where it started to come alive and really enjoyable to drive. Once I got into the lead, also, I could really look after the tyres as well.”

From then on, the only discussion was if Verstappen would stop with two laps to go to secure the fastest lap, as he quickly put more than one pit stop’s worth between himself and Pérez. But this time the team didn’t bow to his pressure, so it was Hamilton who did that late stop and took away the only point Verstappen lost this weekend.

Pérez was a beaten man almost from the start, admitting that, “my main concern was to get Charles as quickly as possible and manage my tyres. Once we were on the Mediums I didn’t have the same pace as Max,

A COUPLE OF DISTRACTIONS TO KEEP US ENTERTAINED

THE ONLY scare for the championship leader came when light drizzle fell on the track, with Verstappen surviving a big moment in the middle of Radillon, when his car snapped: “That’s probably the worst corner to have a moment, but it was tricky in those laps when it was raining, because you could see that it was raining but not how much exactly and I had the little sideways moment. Luckily nothing happened but it’s definitely a corner where you don’t want it to happen.”

QUALIFYING SRINT LAP

Alonso salvaged fifth after a relatively quiet race. Above: with Perez getting it together, it was business as usual for Red Bull – 1-2.

RESULTS SPRINT LAP 11 LAPS SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS

Pos Driver

Time

Pos Drivers

Make

Laps

Margin

1

Max Verstappen

1:49.056

1

Max Verstappen

Red Bull

11

24:58.433 -

2

Oscar Piastri

+0.011

2

Oscar Piastri

McLaren

11

+6.677 -

3

Carlos Sainz

+0.025

3

Pierre Gasly

Alpine

11

+10.733 s3

4

Charles Leclerc

+0.195

4

Carlos Sainz

Ferrari

11

+12.648 t1

5

Lando Norris

+0.333

5 Charles Leclerc

Ferrari

11

+15.016 t1

6

Pierre Gasly

+0.644

6 Lando Norris

McLaren

11

+16.052 t1

7

Lewis Hamilton

+0.844

7

Lewis Hamilton

Mercedes

11

+16.757 -

8

Sergio Perez

+0.905

8 George Russell

Mercedes

11

+16.822 s2

9

Esteban Ocon

+1.438

9

Esteban Ocon

Alpine

11

+22.410 -

10 George Russell

+6.686

10 Daniel Ricciardo

AlphaTauri

11

+22.806 s1

11

+2.487

11 Lance Stroll

Aston Martin

11

+25.007 s3

12 Alex Albon

Daniel Ricciardo

-

12 Alex Albon

Williams

11

+26.303 -

13 Logan Sargeant

-

13 Valtteri Bottas

Alfa Romeo

11

+27.006 s4

14 Lance Stroll

-

14 Kevin Magnussen Haas

11

+32.986 s4

15 Fernando Alonso

-

15 Zhou Guanyu

Alfa Romeo

11

+36.342 s4

16 Yuki Tsunoda

+11.512

16 Logan Sargeant

Williams

11

+37.571 t3

17 Valtteri Bottas

+11.895

17 Nico Hulkenberg

Haas

11

+37.827 s3

18 Kevin Magnussen

+12.023

18 Yuki Tsunoda

AlphaTauri

11

+39.267 t2

19 Zhou Guanyu

+12.374

NC Sergio Perez

Red Bull

8

+3 Laps t11

NC Fernando Alonso

Aston Martin

2

+9 Laps t5

20 Nico Hulkenberg

-

Formula 1 Round 13 BELGIAN Grand Prix - Race report ,

PIASTRI INTRODUCES HIMSELF! so after he got ahead of me I focused on making sure I would have enough tyre life to defend from Charles as on that compound I simply didn’t have the same pace as Max.” So relaxed is the atmosphere at Red Bull, that Team Principal Christian Horner joked that, “I’m surprised it took Max so long to get to the front, to be honest with you!” Then, on a more serious note, he added that, “he drove an incredible race today. His pace obviously in the first stint, passing the cars that he did, he did a great job to get up to P2 and then, after the stop, his race really came alive on the Medium tyre. I thought he showed incredible speed. It’s phenomenal to go into the summer break unbeaten in both Grand Prix and Sprints. I think it’s beyond everybody’s wildest imagination to be sitting in this position now.”

Indeed, it is, but continuing this run until the end of the season is clearly not beyond Verstappen and Red Bull’s reach.

QUALIFYING RACE 13

Leclerc got the jump, but (above) after his stunning Sprint race second place, Piastri found himself caught between a Ferrari and a hard place at Turn 1 ... Below: Ricciardo finished 16th.

LECLERC BACK TO THE PODIUM

ON A track that played to the many strengths of the RB19, the battle was always going to be for third place and Charles Leclerc gave Lewis Hamilton no chance. Having inherited pole position due to Verstappen’s penalty, the Monegasque had no defense against Pérez’s higher top speed in the first lap, but held on to P2 until lap nine, focusing from then on in keeping Hamilton at a safe distance.

Twice the British driver went for the undercut and managed to reduce the gap, but twice Leclerc managed to restore the lead he had before the stops, showing he was in control of the situation. For Ferrari, his podium was validation of the progress the team has made on all fronts and allowed the team to close the gap to Aston Martin in the battle for third in the championship.

Mercedes was shocked to find out porpoising was back this weekend, but Hamilton was on top form and completely outpaced George Russell the whole weekend.

RESULTS RACE 13 44 LAPS SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS

CHAMPIONSHIP AFTER RACE 13

Pos Driver

Time

Pos Drivers

Make

Laps

Margin

Pos Driver

1

Max Verstappen

1:46.168

1

Max Verstappen

Red Bull

44

1:22.30.450 s4

1

Max Verstappen

Points 314

-

2

Charles Leclerc

+0.820

2

Sergio Perez

Red Bull

44

+22.305 -

2

Sergio Perez

189

-

3

Sergio Perez

+0.877

3

Charles Leclerc

Ferrari

44

+32.259 t2

3

Fernando Alonso 149

-

4

Lewis Hamilton

+0.919

4

Lewis Hamilton

Mercedes

44

+49.671 t1

4

Lewis Hamilton

148

-

5

Carlos Sainz

+0.984

5 Fernando Alonso

Aston Martin

44

+56.184 s4

5

Charles Leclerc

99 s2

6

Oscar Piastri

+1.197

6 George Russell

Mercedes

44

+1:03.101 s2

6

George Russell

99 t1

7

Lando Norris

+1.501

7

Lando Norris

McLaren

44

+1:13.719 -

7

Carlos Sainz

92 t1

8

George Russell

+1.637

8 Esteban Ocon

Alpine

44

+1:14.719 s6

8

Lando Norris

69

-

9

Fernando Alonso

+1.675

9

Lance Stroll

Aston Martin

44

+1:19.340 s1

9

Lance Stroll

47

-

10 Lance Stroll

+2.673

10 Yuki Tsunoda

AlphaTauri

44

+1:20.221 s1

10 Esteban Ocon

35

-

11

Yuki Tsunoda

+1.614

11 Pierre Gasly

Alpine

44

+1:23.084 s1

11

Oscar Piastri

34

-

12 Pierre Gasly

+2.137

12 Valtteri Bottas

Alfa Romeo

44

+1:25.191 s1

12 Pierre Gasly

22

-

13 Kevin Magnussen

+2.626

13 Zhou Guanyu

Alfa Romeo

44

+1:35.441 s4

13 Alex Albon

11

-

14 Valtteri Bottas

+3.160

14 Alex Albon

Williams

44

+1:36.184 s1

14 Nico Hulkenberg

9

-

15 Esteban Ocon

+4.838

15 Kevin Magnussen Haas

44

+1:41.754 s1

15 Valtteri Bottas

5

-

16 Alex Albon

+2.014

16 Daniel Ricciardo

AlphaTauri

44

+1:43.071 s3

16 Zhou Guanyu

4

-

17 Zhou Guanyu

+2.532

17 Logan Sargeant

Williams

44

+1:44.476 s1

17 Yuki Tsunoda

3

-

18 Logan Sargeant

+3.235

18 Nico Hulkenberg

Haas

44

+1:50.450 t2

18 Kevin Magnussen

2

-

19 Daniel Ricciardo

+3.859

NC Carlos Sainz

Ferrari

23

+21 Laps t15

19 Daniel Ricciardo

0 s2

20 Nico Hulkenberg

+4.866

NC Oscar Piastri

McLaren

0

+44 Laps t15

20 Logan Sargeant

0 t1

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Fourth place, though, was the best he could get, with his team mate recovering from a poor qualifying and even worse first lap, to move up from 11th to sixth at the end as best of the drivers who gambled on a one-stop strategy.

Between the two Mercedes, Fernando Alonso saved Aston Martin’s weekend, one day after an unusual mistake took him out of the Sprint race – on his 42nd birthday – the Spaniard pitting very early on lap 10 and then extending the second and third stint to secure a precious fifth place for his team.

Never on the same pace as Alonso, Stroll had no answer for Russell and Ocon’s comeback drives, ending the race in P9, more than 23s behind his team mate.

With McLaren running a bigger rear wing than any other team there was no way their drivers would be able to run competitively on a dry Sunday, but Piastri never got the chance to show what he could do. Norris was shocked to see “everyone got past me while I was on the Mediums – it got even worse on the Hards. My bad ... I asked for them, so we thought, ‘Oh well, let’s try the Softs’ and suddenly the car came alive. I was almost last so I’m not really sure how I ended up in P7”, he admitted.

One day after seeing his team mate shine in the Sprint Race, Esteban Ocon was one of the stars of Sunday’s race with a great comeback drive from 15th on the grid to P8 at the end of the race. As he explained, “we qualified badly because of poor timing in our runs and because I damaged my front wing at the start of Q2 and the team wasn’t ready with a new one when I pitted, not because we were slow, so I knew we would be good for the points and it feels great to pay back to the team this way.”

The other star of the day was Yuki Tsunoda, who had qualified 11th and finished in the points with a gritty drive that earned a lot of plaudits. The Japanese made some impressive moves on his way to the final point, reacting well to being beaten one week earlier by new team mate Daniel Ricciardo at the Hungaroring.

OSCAR PIASTRI gave us a taste of what’s to come in the Sprint event of the Belgian Grand Prix, introducing himself to Max Verstappen in the process. The McLaren driver had already stunned everyone by missing out on pole position for the short race by just 0,011s, the Dutchman having to bring out his A-game to beat him at the end of Q3, as Piastri made the most of the bigger downforce level his team was running all weekend in Spa, as conditions were still tricky on Saturday.

With everyone forced to start the race on full Wets, as they were running behind the Safety Car, half the field pulled into the pits at the end of the last formation lap to swap for Intermediates, but not Verstappen, “because I knew the pits were going to be crowded, I could be stuck in my box while other cars went through.” So when the Dutchman did the change at the end of the first flying lap, he found himself second to the Australian with a gap of just over 3s.

For the Melburnian “I was just trying to focus on doing the best job I could, knowing that it was probably going to be a case of when Max came past, rather than if. I tried my best, and I think second was all we had. Still it was cool to lead the Grand Prix and fight with Max.” A Safety Car on lap three, to remove Alonso’s damaged Aston Martin didn’t help, “and I certainly wasn’t expecting him to catch me so quick at the top of Eau Rouge, even before the DRS zone” but Piastri admitted, “it didn’t change the final result.”

Even the Dutchman complimented his new rival, although admitting that, “the moment I left the pits I could see his tyres were already overheating, so I knew I could pass.”

Asked how it felt to dice for the first time with Piastri, he said, “it’s always good. I’ve been in that position as well, where the younger guy comes in. It’s nice and it’s great. I think also Oscar is having a very strong season in general, but I think also this weekend, he has been really on it. That’s always nice to race someone for the first time.”

Behind them Gasly made the most of a clash between Pérez and Hamilton to secure a surprising third place, the Mexican retiring early with damage while the Mercedes driver received a highly controversial 5s penalty for what was, essentially, a racing incident in a slippery track, dropping to fourth at the flag to P7. That allowed the two Ferrari to secure a reasonable result with Sainz ahead of Leclerc, while a subdued Norris also benefitted by moving up to sixth. Russell score the final point in eighth place while Ocon passed a competitive Daniel Ricciardo at the start of the last lap for ninth, but there were no points for them at the end of such a short race.

www.autoaction.com.au I 61

F1 MID-SEASON CROSSWORD ACROSS

DOWN

2 How many races in succession has Max Verstappen now won?

1 Which Formula 1 track was set to host an event which was cancelled due to flooding?

4 Mercedes drivers have stood on the podium how many times this year?

2 Where does Oscar Piastri sit in the Drivers’ standings?

5 Which Alfa Romeo driver sits highest in the championship? (surname)

3 In the first 12 races, how many times did Fernando Alonso finish on the podium?

9 What is Lance Stroll’s best finishing position this season?

5 In what country did Piastri finish second in a Sprint race?

10 McLaren has turned its season around – how many podiums have McLaren’s drivers scored in the first half of the season?

6 Who won the first Sprint Race of the season? (surname)

12 Which team sits at the bottom of the Constructors’ standings?

8 How many Grand Prix podium finishes has Ferrari collected in 2023?

14 In what position does Williams sit in the Constructors’ Standings?

15 How many races has Sergio Perez won this year?

16 In how many races have both Daniel Ricciardo and Oscar Piastri lined up on the grid together?

17 Which Team Principal was replaced following the Belgian Grand Prix weekend? (surname) 18 Behind the two Red Bull Racing drivers, who is highest in the Drivers’ Championship? (surname) 21 How many times has Carlos Sainz finished on the podium this year?

22 Who finished third in the SpaFrancorchamps Sprint? (surname)

7 What is Oscar Piastri’s best race result this season?

10 Including 2022, how many races has Red Bull Racing won successively?

11 In what country did Lewis Hamilton take his sole 2023 pole position?

12 In what country did Piastri score his maiden points in Formula 1?

13 How many times has Charles Leclerc started on pole position in a Grand Prix this year?

17 Who is the only driver to participate in every race and not score a point? (surname) 19 How many times has George Russell finished on the podium in 2023?

23 Who finished third in the Monaco Grand Prix? (surname)

20 Including race wins, Sergio Perez has finished on the podium how many times in 2023?

25 How many times has Alex Albon finished in the points?

24 Of the first 12 F1 races, how many has Max Verstappen won?

1 down – two, 2 down – Van Gisbergen, 3 down – one, 4 down – fifty-six, 5 across – Payne, 6 down – Fullwood, 7 across – Kostecki, 8 down – Thirteen, 9 across – four, 10 across – five, 11 across – Mostert, 12 across – two, 13 down – Kostecki, 14 across – Winterbottom, 15 across – Sixteen, 16 down – eleven, 17 down – Wanneroo, 18 down – Lebrocq, 19 across – van Gisbergen 20 across – Brown, 21 three – three, 22 across – six, 23 across – Goddard, 24 down – Stewart, 25 down – Waters, 26 down – Best, 27 across – zero, 28 across – Mostert, 29 across – eight, 30 across – Erebus

We take a look back at what was making news in Auto Action 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 years ago

1973 IT WAS the beginning of the end for Warwick Farm Raceway as AARC boss Geoff Sykes announced its closure for the remainder of 1973. Due to “rising costs” and a series of “financially disastrous” race meetings, the international circuit was closed for the remainder of the year.

Auto Action reported it was “quite unlikely we will ever see Warwick Farm operating as an international circuit again unless some very unusual changes are made” This proved to be the case as the circuit was never reopened.

In more delightful news it was announced the Ford Phase 4 GTHO Falcon would live again.

1983 GEORGE FURY wowed onlookers as he completed his transition from the forest trails to the race track with a maiden win.

Fury won his first ever motor race, the Silastic 300 at Amaroo Park, by over a lap in the Nissan Bluebird with Peter Brock in second.

There was also plenty of attention on Albert Park as race engines roared around the lake for the first time in a quarter of a century.

The likes of Peter Brock and Murray Carter raced hard in a demonstration event around the lake to build excitement ahead of the Castrol 400 at Sandown.

62 I www.autoaction.com.au

1993 AFTER A painful year, Holden was showing speed with the Gibson cars winning both the Oran Park ATCC finale and topping the Bathurst test. Mark Skaife topped the times with a scorching 2:13.640, which was better than the 1992 Group A pole time as safety concerns over the speed arose.

At Oran Park the 1993 ATCC season wrapped up with Glenn Seton crowned champion and Richards taking the round win.

Peter Brock took out the dash and opening race before Richards cruised to a 9s win in Race 2. After many races of pain, luck was finally on Damon Hill’s side when he scored the first of his 22 Grand Prix wins at Hungary.

2003 TRIPLE EIGHT’S journey to Supercars domination began 20 years ago when Roland Dane and Peter Butterley purchased Briggs Motorsport.

Dane was involved in serious discussions with three teams at the Queensland Raceway 300 with Briggs and a Holden squad the favourites before the deal was done.

Greg Murphy finally got his hands on the new VY Commodore which went on to become the famous ‘Lap of the Gods’ car, while recently crowned Konica Series champion Mark Winterbottom was the next big thing, with a debut at Larkham Motorsport speculated and eventually coming to fruition.

2013 CHAZ MOSTERT was the man on everyone’s lips after his maiden win for the struggling DJR at Ipswich and Ford Performance Racing snapped him up. The factory Ford team sealed his signature for the next two years – he would replace Will Davison at the top team the following year.

Marcos Ambrose’s dream of taking a hattrick of Watkins Glenn victories ended in heartbreaking fashion. He dominated the majority of the race, but a late-race caution interrupted his campaign and sent him to 10th.

With five laps to go Max Papis spun Ambrose into the concrete, as Kyle Busch won despite an early race spin into the tyres.

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