Auto Action #1868

NO SMALL EFFORT AN AUSSIE WINNER IN NASCAR

CHEVY CLEAN SWEEP ...

BUT FORD FIGHTS BACK

AUSTRALIA’S INDEPENDENT VOICE OF MOTORSPORT

CRAZIEST SILLY SEASON EVER ... ALL THE LATEST NEWS

BRODIE STANDS TALL AND DELIVERS

FOR THE EREBUS BRAND ISSUE 1868

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TAUPO CONFIRMED FOR NEW ZEALAND SUPERCARS RETURN SUPERCARS HAS OFFICIALLY CONFIRMED TAUPO AS THE VENUE FOR ITS RETURN TO NEW ZEALAND NEXT YEAR. ANDREW CLARKE SPOKE WITH SUPERCARS CEO SHANE HOWARD AT THE BEND ...

TAUPO HAS won the race to host the next Supercars event in New Zealand, as tipped exclusively in Auto Action #1859, back in April this year.

While he could not yet confirm the date (which is expected to be the weekend before Anzac Day), Howard did say several factors played in Taupo International Motorsport Park’s favour, including the stunning location of the track.

Taupo is nestled on the edge of the largest inland lake in New Zealand and is a significant holiday resort town, which means it is well-geared for the expected influx of people for the race weekend. The location, however, was secondary to the track itself which has an international FIA Grade 2 safety rating, and the layout is expected to suit the Gen3 Supercar more than the other options.

“It’s of the utmost importance for us to be there,” he said of the NZ return. “We were taken by a little bit by surprise when Pukekohe was closed down, and it’s taken a while to get the deal done, but we’ve had tremendous support from the central government. We’ve had tremendous support from the Taupo region and it’s good to be back in New Zealand.

“It’s good to be racing at a Tony Quinn venue as everything that Tony does, he does at a very high level. He owns a number of circuits and we see the difference he makes.

We’ve got a good relationship with Tony, so I think it’s going to be a great event.

“It is basically three hours from Auckland and four hours from Wellington. It’s a very tourist destination. It’s a beautiful part of the world and the circuit will be complementary to our cars.

“I’ve been talking to some of the drivers that have driven there, and we are really looking forward to getting there. If you look at the passion for motorsport in New Zealand, it’s extremely strong – great heritage and history with motorsport, and their fans are very passionate.”

He said around 20 per cent of Supercars’ overall fan base was in New Zealand and that there were plenty of drivers and team personnel from the Shaky Isles.

“As I say, we’re good mates with the Kiwis, but we’re fierce rivals, and that comes out. I think everybody’s looking forward to getting there. It’s great to get that deal done.”

Taupo is a Grade 2 international circuit which has previously hosted A1GP (above) and the more recent TRS series. Image: A1GP Supercars was competing with a number of events for the support of the central government, and Howard sees its support as an endorsement of what Supercars can do for New Zealand and the Taupo region.

“It is always strong competition with other major events everywhere you go, every state we run in, in every country.

But the one thing we do as a sport is drive strong economic deliverables to the region.

There’s always a big entourage that travels with us. A lot of our fans will travel there and vice versa.

“Just the basic uplift for our teams and Supercars is in the order of 350 people.

With our wider entourage and fan base, we drop many people there and it’s very strong numbers for the economy. Governments make decisions on the volume of people, number of night stays, purposes and spending, and we deliver on that.

“That’s why we have good support from all our governments here in Australia and that’s what you require for international events as well.”

Howard said locking down the date for New Zealand was one of the remaining jigsaw pieces for the calendar, and that he is hoping it is all settled for an announcement before Bathurst.

“Putting the calendar together is like three-dimensional chess – you move one of the pawns and it’s got a consequence.

We’ll be on track to deliver our calendar prior to Bathurst as we’ve forecast. The date for New Zealand won’t be announced yet. We’re working with the government regarding the date and there are considerations in that.

“We’ve got options at the moment,” he added, referring to whether tracks like Winton and Queensland Raceway could make a return. “We have three or four different options for the Board and our teams to consider. Events in regional areas are very important, and we are very strong in regional areas, but it is not that simple.”

With the return of New Zealand, the calendar should sit at a minimum of 13 events, but a further two could trigger an extra payment from Foxtel which might be worth exploring.

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DOMINANT EREBUS ANSWERS BROWN-OUT

IT’S BEEN AN INTERESTING TWO WEEKS FOR EREBUS WITH THE DEPARTURE OF WILL BROWN AND RECRUITMENT OF JACK LE BROCQ AND THEN A DOMINANT WEEKEND AT THE BEND. BARRY RYAN WEARS HIS HEART ON HIS SLEEVE, AND HE SPOKE WITH AUTO ACTION ABOUT LOSING A ‘MEMBER’ OF HIS FAMILY ...

WHEN RUMOURS started swirling around Will Brown and Triple Eight not long after Shane van Gisbergen flagged his intent to leave Australia, Barry Ryan braced himself.

Even though Erebus is leading both the teams’ and drivers’ titles, he understands the pull of the Triple Eight brand which has been the biggest in the sport for two decades.

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Brown has always been spoken about as a potential driver for Triple Eight, and now it is finally happening.

Speaking at The Bend after a testy media conference on Friday, Ryan said it felt like he was losing a member of his family. And even though he is happy with Jack Le Brocq’s return to the squad, it hurts.

“I guess we had to just move on and

accept it, that’s the biggest thing,” he says.

“Just work out what our next steps are, work out the reasons why, and try to manage the whole situation, keep the team momentum.”

Brown went to team owner Betty Klimenko to ask for a release from his contract for 2024, and the ever-pragmatic Klimenko obliged. Her theory is if they don’t want to be there, don’t make them stay.

The often-fiery Ryan accepts Klimenko would be a softer touch than him, and perhaps Brown was a little scared of the possible response from his team principal, which is why he went to the owner.

“He knows my reaction’s probably not as sweet and nice as Betty’s – I probably wouldn’t have let it happen so easily. But I get the way Betty does it– if they don’t want

The Coca Cola Racing by Erebus team overcame any disappointment at losing Brown by putting together a huge weekend with Kostecki last weekend. Above right: Soon to be teammates-Jack Le Brocq (left) will pair up with Kostecki next year. Below: Ryan and Brown in slightly happier times ...

Images: MARK HORSBURGH-MOTORSPORT IMAGES to be here, don’t be here. And I’m sort-of the same, but I think in this instance, we’re on a roll and we wanted to keep him because of the momentum of the team.

“It’s disappointing that they even consider it really,” he said of drivers breaking contracts.

“When you dig deep into it, and like I’ve said before, the Triple Eight factor is the thing that Will’s gone for more than anything ... it’s their brand.

“It has nothing to do with sponsors or the team, it’s just the brand Triple Eight has created over the last 15 years. And you know what, we’re still trying to develop our brand, the Erebus brand.”

He added that if the shoe was on the other foot and the team was trying to get rid of a driver, they wouldn’t be so accepting, even if most teams have performance clauses in their contracts that allow them to axe underperforming drivers. Which isn’t Will Brown, who was leading the series at the last round and now sits fourth after crashing out of the Saturday race at The Bend.

He said Erebus has spent six or seven years helping Brown to become a championship contender, and the decision

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feels selfish and doesn’t consider the effort taken to get him to where he is today.

“Last year, it was like when you see these great basketball teams and they put all their hands in the centre and they go. “We’re going to stick together for the next two years. We did that with the team’s core group and Will was part of that”.

“This weekend’s been great, the morale is unreal despite him leaving. We’re still hanging it on Will, as much as he’s hanging it back – nothing’s changed on that point.

It’s not going to change anything for us mentally; if it’s going to change Will, I’m not sure.

“We are trying to win the team and driver titles, and we’re not going to let anything get in the way of that.

“It does hurt. It’s like I saw my little brother walking down the road living with another family. It’s a strange quote, but that’s how it feels.”

He said this one feels very different to the Dave Reynolds departure a couple of years back that opened the door for Brown. That was COVID times and things were strange everywhere.

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The form of Brodie Kostecki in winning a first clean sweep weekend for an Erebus driver gave the team a lift as it extended its lead in the drivers’ championships but took a small hit in the teams’, which he says proves the focus of the team and the driver of the #99 Coke car.

“Brodie’s just as upset as anyone. He won’t show it, but we had a tough time the last couple of weeks with him being overseas, and he’s been battling a bit with it because he and Will are good mates and he knows what we’ve built and he doesn’t want to lose that. I think he’s come out this weekend with so much determination and also me sort of saying don’t let the NASCAR thing distract you, which is what he wanted to prove.

“What better way to do it than what he’s done this weekend?”

Ryan says Kostecki has reaffirmed his commitment to the team, and he has echoed that commitment to Auto Action.

He says he still has a lot to do here, and he’s only 25.

As for Jack Le Brocq, Ryan is happy to welcome him back into the fold and was happy that his former driver reached out when he did.

“It was funny, Jack called me 10 minutes before I was about to pick up the phone to him. I didn’t want to be that person that goes and tries to poach a driver, but I knew he was out to contract, so I wasn’t going to do anything wrong.

“We had a good chat and it was pretty quick to say that he was going

to be at the top of our list. And as soon as I mentioned it to all our crew, engineers and Brodie, they said ‘he’s the go’.

“In this case, obviously we showed all our sponsors respect and asked for feedback.

But it was our decision and the drivers aren’t linked to the contracts, which they have sometimes been. Sometimes when you’re building the team, you lock in a sponsor because that sponsor likes a certain driver and luckily we are at a point now where it’s not that.

“If it wasn’t the right driver, I’d think we’d be getting questioned, but I think they accept that Jack is a good choice.”

As for moving forward with Brown as a rival, aside from hoping to look down the pitlane at him from the #1 position as their former driver, Ryan is sure when push comes to shove – if that’s allowed in Supercars – Kostecki will know how to push Brown’s buttons.

“It’ll be good to have someone we know, know how he thinks, know how he operates in our biggest opposition, if they are our biggest opposition next year. We know that driver, and we know that our current driver generally is on top of him and Brodie knows how to deal with him.

“Will doesn’t know how to deal with Brodie yet, so we’ve got one over him for the next three years at least by the sound of it.”

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Brodie Kostecki with Richard Childress. Image: RCR

CHILDRESS TEAM ‘OWES’ KOSTECKI

BRODIE KOSTECKI’S TROUBLED RUN IN HIS FIRST NASCAR EVENT HAS LEFT RICHARD CHILDRESS FEELING LIKE HE LET HIM DOWN, BUT THAT JUST ADDS UP TO A TEASER FOR MORE RACING IN NASCAR FOR THE EREBUS DRIVER. ANDREW CLARKE REPORTS ...

RICHARD CHILDRESS feels like he let Brodie Kostecki down on his NASCAR debut on the Indianapolis road course two weekends ago, but will look to make amends next season by getting Kostecki back into the #33 car for extra races.

Aussie turned NASCAR engineer, Andrew Dickeson, said Kostecki impressed on debut despite the issues with the car at the start of the weekend.

The good work started the week prior, in the simulator, as Dickeson revealed on the Auto Action Rev Limiter podcast last week, and that carried through the entire weekend.

Richard Childress Racing is already talking about how to get the Erebus racer back to the States for testing and racing.

Kostecki handled the simulator load for RCR heading into Indianapolis.

“I think we’ll see him again in the #33car at some point. I think Richard feels like he let him down with the practice problems in his first ever race, on arguably the biggest day of his career,” Dickeson said from Watkins Glen a few days after the Indian. “Richard feels like, if nothing else, he owes him something.

“From what I can tell, I don’t think you’ll see him again this year because we’ve only got the Roval coming up and that’s the same weekend as Bathurst. I’d put

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Image: JULES INGALL money on seeing him in a NASCAR car next year at some point. I’m not sure which race or just how the scheduling is going to look because they haven’t even released a schedule yet, but I’m sure we’ll see something.”

Dickeson said he was working on a plan for Kostecki’s return for some testing as Richard Childress Racing, regardless of the race program.

“I’m going to try to get him back over here for some testing. I’m working on our test program coming up towards the end of the year. If his schedule allows, I’d like to get him back over here because I think he helps push our drivers.

“Maybe that’s why Kyle was so ready

to go last week – because he didn’t want to get outshone by Brodie. Whatever it takes, if that’s the motivation you need, I’m good with it.

“I’m going to stay in touch with him.

We’ve had a few debrief meetings this week and, like I mentioned last week, the stuff we’re doing with Erebus is working for us. I’m messaging Barry every other day as well so who knows?

“It’s not just going to be, ‘We’ll see you next year when you come and race’. I feel like we’re going to keep building and building up. George (Brodie’s Supercars engineer George Commins) actually helped us a lot last week. I feel like his input was really helpful and was a good

balance for perspective on some of the stuff that we see and what he saw, and we kind of met in the middle on some stuff and did make some good gains.

“That was the one thing about going to a backup car. Because when you go to a backup car, you can make changes – you can change springs and other things.

Now, we didn’t necessarily change a whole lot, but we did change a couple things and tried to learn something based on where the position that we were at.”

Dickeson revealed on last week’s Auto Action Rev Limiter podcast, that the relationship between Richard Childress Racing and Erebus started with Image Racing’s Terry Wyhoon who is connected to Erebus. From that introduction, knowledge has been flowing freely across the Pacific Ocean.

“It’s really good and I’m excited about the potential of what it can be. I dare say we’ll be working together before the end of the year, whether it’s another form of racing or whatever. The relationship is really, really strong, so we’re planning on it. We don’t have much spare time to do all this stuff, we’ve got a lot going on, but it is working.”

He said both he and Richard Childress were hoping to be in Adelaide for the VAILO Adelaide 500.

STANAWAY SIGNED IN SUPERCARS SILLIEST SEASON RUMOURS WERE FLOWING FREELY AGAIN IN THE SUPERCARS PADDOCK AND BY MONDAY AFTERNOON MANY OF THE RUMOURS WERE LOCKED IN AS FACT, INCLUDING THE CONFIRMATION THAT RICHIE STANAWAY IS BACK. THIS IS WHAT ANDREW CLARKE AND BRUCE WILLIAMS HEARD OVER THE WEEKEND ...

THIS SILLY season in Supercars is one for the books – and contracts may be worth little than the paper on which they are written. You can read elsewhere about Jack Le Brocq who is replacing Will Brown – as first predicted on The Auto Action Rev Limiter Podcast – who himeslf is replacing Shane van Gisbergen – both of whom were under a form of contract for 2024 depending on who you believe.

The Brown deal caught out most journos as they had pencilled in Richie Stanaway in the seat, which was lazy thinking, while Stanaway was chipping away at Penrite Racing to replace David Reynolds, in a deal that has now been confirmed.

Stanaway’s talent has never been in doubt, but his temperament was the obstacle in the first stage of his Supercars career. Having driven for both Tickford (Ford Performance Racing) and Garry Rogers Motorsport, Stanaway walked away from the sport and spent time working in the family construction business.

But Peter Adderton plucked him out of that business and gave him a run with Greg Murphy at Bathurst last year, and his pace put him back in the picture.

Triple Eight snapped him up to partner

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van Gisbergen in the 2023 enduros.

Hence the lazy thinking – with Murph, the 2022 version of Stanaway was very different to the previous one.

Murph was adamant his co-driver was ready for a return, and Stephen Grove was listening. When it became clear that Dave Reynolds wouldn’t sign a one-year deal and was leaving, Stanaway was snapped up.

“We chose Richie for a couple of reasons – the first is raw speed,” Stephen Grove said of the decision. “He’s wellcredentialled – if you go back and look at what he’s done over time, his race craft is really good, and his speed is as good as anyone.

“We looked at the market and said who can we get and who is available that can challenge for podiums and race wins from day one. We had a list and we went through that, and Richie was the top of that list.”

He said he wasn’t worried about past reputation after meeting with Stanaway, and he thinks he and the team can help bring the best out in him.

As for Reynolds, Grove didn’t feel the Bathurst winner could take the team to the next step and they didn’t consider him for a new contract.

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Reynolds appears headed for Team 18 to replace Scott Pye. Team boss Charlie Schwerkolt either just smiles or gives us a serious look and says nothing when we ask him.

Plenty of talk at The Bend was directed at Tickford dropping back to two cars by selling two of its Teams Racing Charters to Supercars, although Tickford’s Team Principal Tim Edwards said there was nothing to report. He also scoffed at some of the numbers being suggested as a team debt.

Regardless of the fence-sitting by Edwards, the story goes that one of his TRCs will be retired by Supercars and the other will end up with Blanchard Racing Team for a two-car Cooldrive racing outfit. While this seems likely, another team owner suggested the Blanchards had a bit of work to do before they could convince people of the business case for their ability to ramp up.

Just because they want the TRC doesn’t mean they’ll get it, we were warned.

But the Blanchards have been talking about this for long enough to leave us with the feeling they have that covered.

If they do expand, Todd Hazelwood may be on the chopping block, with James Courtney following one of the Tickford TRCs to Box Hill. The highlyrated Aaron Love who runs for BRT in Super2, is likely to drive the other car in a ‘master and apprentice’ scenario.

Matt Stone Racing is confirmed as being on the lookout for a new driver with Le Brocq’s move, and Stone may fancy his chances of re-harnessing Nick Percat who has been confirmed as departing Walkinshaw Andretti United at the end of the season. Word from inside the MSR camp is that they believe Percat hasn’t forgotten how to drive, and Stone fancies his chances of returning the Bathurst winner back to the front of the grid. Cam Hill is going nowhere unless someone swoops on him.

MSR remains hopeful of the defection of a bigger name than Percat from a bigger team with a supposed two-side performance clauses in a contract may open something up. But with Stone wanting a Gen3 ready race winning driver, his options are shrinking. Hence Percat, or the Hail Mary.

With Percat on the move, the attention at WAU turns to his replacement which seems to be between Fabian Coulthard and WAU Super2 driver Ryan Wood, which makes more sense, given the Super2 program is to blood new talent.

It is just about whether they feel he is ready for the step up.

Down at PremiAir we are hearing some interesting things ... but we won’t talk about that until we have spoken to Peter Xiberas. What is clear is that the future of Tim Slade in the team is up in the air, although it is believed that James Golding is safe. There wasn’t much talk about this one.

Zak Best has put his hand up for a drive, but he hasn’t been linked to anyone yet, so maybe PremiAir will take a chance on him. They could do worse.

Don’t expect any change at Brad Jones Racing.

This article is curated with all care, no responsibility!

THE RUMOUR GRID (WITH SOME FACTS) EREBUS 9 - Jack Le Brocq 99 - Brodie Kostecki TRIPLE EIGHT 88 - Broc Feeney 888 - Will Brown BRAD JONES RACING 4 – Jack Smith 8 – Andre Heimgartner 14 – Bryce Fullwood 96 – Macauley Jones TICKFORD 6 – Cam Waters 55 - Thomas Randle WALKINSHAW ANDRETTI UNITED 2 – Ryan Wood (Fabian Coulthard) 25 – Chaz Mostert DICK JOHNSON RACING 11 – Anton De Pasquale 17 – Will Davison TEAM 18 18 – Mark Winterbottom 20 – David Reynolds MATT STONE RACING 34 – Nick Percat 35 – Cam Hill PREMIAIR RACING 23 – Tim Slade - with a Big ?

31 – James Golding GROVE RACING 19 – Matt Payne 26 – Richie Stanaway BLANCHARD RACING TEAM 3 – Aaron Love 5 – James Courtney

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SHANE HOWARD: FROM THE BRICKYARD TO THE BEND SUPERCARS CEO SHANE HOWARD SPOKE WITH BRUCE WILLIAMS AND ANDREW CLARKE ABOUT HIS FACT-FINDING MISSION TO INDIANAPOLIS AND THE SYNERGIES BETWEEN SUPERCARS AND NASCAR ...

BRODIE KOSTECKI and Shane van Gisbergen weren’t the only Supercars people making an appearance at Indianapolis last week, with Shane Howard venturing Stateside as revealed in the last issue of Auto Action. At the Bend, he gave us an exclusive download on his trip.

While the trip to Indianapolis was inspired by SVG – as he is only known as in the States as they struggle with his full name – and Kostecki’s effort to make the grid, but it had a lot more to it than just supporting the locals. He had meetings with leaders at GM and Ford and people at NASCAR and IndyCar and soaked in the atmosphere of The Brickyard.

With the main people from Ford and GM at Indianapolis, Howard was able to have some good meetings with the two critical stakeholders for the sport, moving forwards. Despite ongoing parity debates and Ford’s withdrawal as a vehicle supplier for Safety Cars the and the like, Howard said this wasn’t a fire-fighting mission.

“I travelled to Indianapolis because we had all the right people in the one spot and it was a really good opportunity to be at an event where you have NASCAR and IndyCar, and particularly having our two stars there and the great interest in that,” he said of his trip. “IndyCar too with Scott McLaughlin, Roger Penske and Tim Cindric ... we have a great relationship with those guys.

“We had some good meetings. NASCAR was very good to us, very accommodating.

There’s a lot of synergies between us and NASCAR and four years ago a NASCAR technical team came out here and had a look at our cars.

L to r: Shane Howard, Adrian Burgess (Supercars Head of Motorsport) and Tim Edwards.

“It’s really good to have a strong relationship with NASCAR as a whole and a working relationship too. The cars are evolving closer together. They run things like the Xtrac transaxle which is similar to ours, but their cars have different design criteria because they have to run on ovals, and the stresses, loads and speeds need to be designed for.

“There are differences in the design, but they have evolved more closely in some areas,” he said of the cars before talking about the sport more broadly.

“There are always learnings. I think they have some very good activities; there are so many synergies within the two categories like the demographics and our fan bases.

It’s on a massive scale there, though, and the Indianapolis venue is incredible ... just

the size of it. I was there after we ran in Texas – I went to the 500, and it’s hard to comprehend the scale of that.

“Talking to the NASCAR team, there are so many similarities in what we do too. But what I do think that they do very well in the US is their pre-race – their driver intros are really engaging with the fan base.”

The Brickyard weekend is the only weekend with both IndyCar and NASCAR on the bill, and it is a weekend growing in importance for motorsport in the US. GM has cars in both, while Ford is only represented in NASCAR but all the main players were there.

“It’s paramount to have a good relationship with our OEMs and to catch up with those guys while I was there was the primary focus. Ford make their own decisions where

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

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Plenty of analysis and lots of opinion from some of the most experienced motorsport media people in the business - Bruce Williams, Paul Gover and Andrew Clarke.

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they place their spending, and I think Ford in Australia are doing very well in their car sales, so they look where they get their best bang for their dollar,” he said, rejecting the idea that Ford withdrew its support of Supercars Safety Cars as a payback for a perceived lack of parity in the sport, saying the sport is in good shape.

On other issues, he refused to be drawn into talk about Supercars buying two Teams Racing Charters off Tickford, before moving onto the tyre contract – which is up for renewal at the end of next season.

With a long lead-time required for tyres, any appetite for change would need to begin now, but he said the Series is happy with Dunlop.

“We’ve had a very long-term and great relationship with Dunlop. We’re testing some tyres, some new compounds and tyres. We’re working through that, but we’ve got a great relationship with Dunlop.

“The tyre that they’ve produced for our cars has to achieve a lot. It’s got to run in a number of different temperatures, from very cold to very hot. It’s been at a very good cost price for the teams, but we are looking at other compounds etcetera, and to maybe give the cars a little bit more mechanical grip. We’re working with Dunlop to investigate those opportunities.”

Auto Action believes the tyre test at The Bend involved testing tyres from a European factory rather than Japan, more so than testing different compounds or construction concepts.

Howard rejected the idea, at least in the short term, of drive and steer tyres and says the test this week was just looking at refining the existing concept.

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MORE FIXES TESTED FOR GEN3

THE GEN3 RACERS WERE STILL SHOWING WEAKNESSES AT THE BEND, WITH SHANE VAN GISBERGEN WORKING HIS WAY THROUGH FIVE STEERING RACKS OVER THE WEEKEND, BUT THE MASTER OF THE GEN3 TECHNICAL PACKAGE, TRIPLE EIGHT’S JEROMY MOORE, SAYS THE CATEGORY IS SLOWLY FIXING ALL THE WEAKNESSES IN THE CAR AS HE LAMENTS THE NEED TO TEST IN PUBLIC ... ANDREW CLARKE REPORTS. HE SAID a test day at The Bend last Monday was going to test a few more things as the category worked on steering racks, wheel bearings and the brakes heading into the endurance races.

“We are testing more steering fixes tomorrow, I think there’s just a bit of variation in the racks,” he said on Sunday, rejecting the rumoured argument that van Gisbergen’s use of five racks over the weekend was just part of the testing process.

“There’s still a bit of water to go under the bridge there. We’re working with the suppliers to get them so they’re good enough and doing what they should do. The issues are probably overexaggerated by the steering system itself – we’ve got more joints than a standard solution because we’ve got to go around a big engine in the Coyote, so we’ve got some more joints there, which can add to the play in the system.

“You can’t throw all the mud on the steering rack itself, but it’s the column as well and you have to make sure there’s no play in those joints. There’s a bit of work to do, and we’re hopeful we can learn some lessons tomorrow (Monday) with this new rack. We’re trying to come up with a better solution for everyone because I know it’s not just Shane who’s having issues with it.

“Reliability-wise, we haven’t had any issues with our cars, but I know other teams have. Shane was more about feel and the car wandering. The cars, by their nature, are very susceptible to moving around under brakes, not just because of lower downforce but also how they are designed with a Servotronic valve off a road car and a light torsion bar on centre.

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“It means they can be very susceptible to side load or movement so they can wander under braking and Shane’s really sensitive to that. I think there’s still work to be done there to ideally stiffen that up and give him and all the guys more feedback to tell them what the tyre’s doing and be able to race hard. You don’t want people saying ‘I want to have a dive here, but I won’t because I’m not that confident. I can’t feel the grip level.”

He said the wheel bearings were an ongoing issue but that fixes were in play and every team was now allowed to upgrade to the package tested initially with Broc Feeney. There is also another more robust system being tested at Walkinshaw Andretti United, “We’ve been testing different wheel bearings since Darwin on #88 and then rolled it out, when the category allowed, to #97. We didn’t have any issues beforehand because we had SKF brand bearings and I think other teams have had knockoff brands, but it shows you that it’s on the limit.

“We went to an angular contactable bearing which we’ve been running, which is similar to what we ran last year.

Basically, the outer bearings are the same as what we had in Gen2. No issues with that so far and now everyone’s allowed to run that.

“I believe Walkinshaw has tested a Supercars-developed taper roller bearing, which is another bearing spec again, which is a bit beefier, heavier, and stronger which may be the sort-of baseline in the future.”

AP rolled out a new master cylinder for the braking system at The Bend which was designed to reduce the residual line pressure that has been

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affecting the cars which, he said, was an improvement, but that The Bend was also perhaps not the best place to get a full indication because it is a low-

energy braking circuit.

He also said AP was testing some new cooling systems in the UK and they may get rolled out soon.

The front wheel bearings, steering components and brakes are all under review.

Image: BRUCE WILLIAMS

www.autoaction.com.au I 9

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PARITY FIXED?

THE FORD TEAMS SAY THE BEND’S LOW TYRE DEG NATURE MAY HAVE FLATTERED THE MUSTANG AS THE FORDS ENJOYED THEIR BEST WEEKEND OF THE YEAR. THE CHEV TEAMS SAY THE DEBATE SHOULD BE OFF THE TABLE. ANDREW CLARKE LOOKS AT BOTH SIDES ...

FORD HAD a good weekend at The Bend. In the weekend’s final race, seven Fords sat inside the top 10 and Cam Waters was hunting down series leader Brodie Kostecki who was dominating the weekend in his Camaro.

But Ford team owners up and down pitlane said the improved performance with 18 Fords in the top 10 over the three races doesn’t mean parity has been achieved, saying the low tyre degradation nature of the track may have masked ongoing issues – while accepting progress is being made.

Tickford’s Tim Edwards had multiple podiums from the weekend for the first time in 2023 but was still left chasing a Chev.

“We can’t read too much into one weekend. We’ve had eight shockers compared to where we expect to be,” he said. “Yes, we were definitely strong this weekend but how we’re going to go at Sandown or how are we going to go Bathurst is a complete unknown at the moment.

“Obviously, as a team, we’re learning all the time and we’ve got a bit better understanding with our car because we’ve been forced to dig that much deeper.

But we know there are issues; Supercars know where there are issues. But fixing it is hard.

“We’re working with a car that’s got an inherent body shape, and part of going to Gen3 was to make them more closely resemble the road cars. And when they designed the road car, they were not thinking about what the downforce is going to be as you exit Turn 3 at Tailem Bend.

“It’s kind-of not on the design criteria, and so you are working around that.”

Aside from a change to the engine map, the cars ran in the same spec as Sydney Motorsport Park, and Edwards says that despite the good results at The Bend, parity between the cars had still not been achieved, although he expected the Chev teams to say it was solved.

“I’m telling you, it’s not sorted! The armchair warriors will all have a view, but I’ve seen the data and there’s no ambiguity about it. There is a difference between the cars and Supercars accepts that too and is working with us all to try and find a solution.

“There’s a difference – they just don’t know how to fix it yet. Anyone who’s saying there’s not a difference is just saying that because they’re in front. Supercars know there’s a difference; Ford knows a difference; all the Ford teams know there’s a difference. The GM teams know there’s a difference too, they’re just not telling you that they know that.

“Everybody’s working hard to make it better, and if everyone was putting their heads in the sand, then I’d be more critical of the situation, but I’m not being critical. I think Supercars are working really hard.

“They are investing heavily into things like the transient dyno and they’re investigating wind tunnels – they know that they need better tools because the category’s just gone to a new level. The professionalism of the sport’s been going up, and so the stakes just keep getting higher.

“They’re having to invest to ensure parity because they don’t want the P word mentioned at all. We don’t want it mentioned either. That’s why they’re working hard to make sure they get to a situation where

you’ve got nothing to write about – apart from how fantastic the sport is.”

He said the low tyre deg nature of The Bend played into the hands of the Ford teams, with drivers saying they could race hard for an entire stint, something that has not been possible for drivers of either marque as they drive to the ‘spec’ tyre.

Jeromy Moore from Triple Eight provided the counter to the parity debate.

“I think they’re getting on top of the aero package that they got and, if anything, now they’ve got more downforce than us,” he said. “They’re a bit faster in the corners, so I think there shouldn’t be any complaints on the Ford side.

“They have a new config, with more downforce on the rear, so they had to figure out how to run it. I don’t think they should be overly negative at the moment.

I think they’re strong. Looking to the next two races, the biggest races of the year, we’ve got to tune our car up, we weren’t the fastest GM so, for us, we’ve got to sort that out.

“Brodie and the Erebus guys are doing really well and fighting for the victories. So on that side, we can’t say that we are doing our best. But in terms of Ford versus GM, certainly, there was a bit the other way this time.

“I think there’s some testing to be done tomorrow (Monday) still, on the Ford side. I think there’s still a bit to go, but the thing is because the cars are so close – you go to one track and it swings one way, go to another one and swings the other.

“And if that’s the way it is, where they’re a bit faster in the corners and slow on the straits or vice versa, it’s probably good for racing and the championship.”

The Mustangs were certainly back in the game – finally – at The Bend ...

Image: MARK HORSBURGH-EDGE PHOTGRAPHICS

10 I www.autoaction.com.au

SILLY SEASON CATCHES STONE ON THE HOP SUPERCARS SILLY SEASON TOOK A DRAMATIC TURN LAST WEEK WITH WILL BROWN’S DEPARTURE FOR EREBUS STARTING A SEQUENCE THAT HAS JACK LE BROCQ ON THE MOVE BACK TO EREBUS WHERE HE RACED AS A JUNIOR. ANDREW CLARKE CHATTED WITH MATT STONE ABOUT THE CHANGES THAT HAVE LEFT HIM HUNTING A NEW DRIVER ...

JACK LE BROCQ had agreed to terms and was ready to sign for 2024 with Matt Stone Racing when the confirmed departure of Will Brown to Triple Eight opened up a seat at Erebus. Le Brocq jumped at the open seat at the team where he raced prior to joining Prodrive (now Tickford) for Super2 in 2016.

A shocked Stone is now thinking about a like-for-like replacement and is looking up and down pitlane for an out-ofcontract driver he can slot in beside Cam Hill, whom he is confident of re-signing for 2024.

“Obviously when you get the likes of Shane going overseas, it creates a ripple effect that most people get dragged into one way or another,” Stone said at The Bend. “We were all business as usual and not really affected by it ... I guess we didn’t see Will Brown being released from his contract.

MSR needs a ready-to-go, proven winner to replace Jack Le Brocq. Image: MOTORSPORT IMAGES “Once he was, that created a situation that unfortunately meant that we’re seeing Jack depart the team at the end of the year. That is motorsport and that is the business of it. Every few years we have all our renewals up at the same time so that we can work on renewing our partners and drivers and ensure all combinations are well-versed with each other.

“We’re in our renewal year. So having, I guess, a bit of an upset in pit lane with Shane leaving in the year when we’re renewing, there’s every chance that we could get dragged into it as we have been. It’s not unexpected – it’s a little disappointing because of the momentum we’ve got going, but we’re committed to bringing in a driver that’s ready to keep on going and keep winning races.

“This year, a top 10 championship finish is really the goal, and we’re obviously on

a good track to get that. Next year we’ll want to one-up that, so we’re planning on bringing in a driver capable of doing that.”

Several race-winning drivers are available (at least, as AA closed for press!), including the 2010 series champion James Courtney, David Reynolds, Scott Pye and Nick Percat, and Todd Hazelwood and Declan Fraser.

Pitlane chatter at The Bend had the first two lined up with Blanchard Racing Team and Team 18 respectively, but no deals have been announced.

“I think there’s certainly a few at the moment. I think we do a good job of unlocking the potential in a driver. I think we’ve done a great job in getting the most out of Jack and getting him to the point where he is being poached by the team that’s winning the teams’ championship.

“I think that’s a credit to him, but also a credit to our team that we’ve helped him get to that level and that he’s desirable for one of the top teams. I think it’s just a good environment here, where everyone’s working together, and that’s been something that’s allowed him to really thrive.

“We certainly saw Jack’s potential, so we obviously wanted to do the multi-year thing with him in the first place. It’s great that we’ve been able to unlock that this year.

“We’re very happy with our rookie of choice in Cameron Hill. We see a lot of potential there, and it is our intention that he will stay, but we’ve run a whole rookie operation before, and it can be a hard slog.

“It’s certainly our intention to grab someone who is ‘Gen-3 ready’ and being given that this is the first year of Gen-3, that’s obviously someone who’s already on the grid and someone who’s capable of winning races and performing.

“Every year I say, I am going to sit it out,” he said of silly season, “and every year it gets a little sillier.”

Stone said the Truck Assist deal is up for renewal along with all the major commercial partners of the team, but that it is not, as many suggest, tied to Le Brocq, with Truck Assist signing on before Le Brocq two years ago.

Stone is confident that he will have everything locked away soon after having his attention diverted to a driver hunt.

Le Brocq gave MSR its first race win in Darwin earlier this year with the second win of his career and has now started in 191 races.

Look out for the full Matt Stone story in Auto Action #1869.

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ASTUTI’S GEN3 TEST FUELS THE HUNGER

WATERS ‘NOT IMPRESSED’ WITH TEAM ORDERS CAM WATERS may had followed Tickford’s team orders call to follow Thomas Randle home in fourth place late in Saturday’s Supercar race, but warned things could be different next time. Waters was hunting down Randle, but his challenge was impacted by the team requesting him to stay behind the #55.

“I was probably quicker than the two (Randle and Mostert) in front of me, but I had to roll out of it for a little bit,” he told Fox Sports.

“I was not that impressed (to receive team orders). I wanted them to put their faith in us drivers and let us race, but I pulled the team line – but I probably won’t do it again.”

REYNOLDS, FEENEY SPLIT OPINIONS ON SPIN DAVID REYNOLDS and Broc Feeney are at odds over their late-race clash which saw the #88 have a trip through the sandpit.

The pair were bumping for ninth late in the final race at The Bend before Feeney was spun to 25th, while a penalty dropped Reynolds to 20th.

“If he did not turn in so hard and aggressive and make me oversteer, we would have just driven side by side down to Turn 1,” Reynolds said.

“I do not know why I got the penalty. I have done way worse things than that and got away with it.”

Meanwhile, the victim Feeney claims “Dave got into my rear bar at 17 and he then fired in pretty hard and I started sinking in the gravel.”

TEAM PENALTY FOR TRIPLE8 PIT BLUNDER SHANE VAN Gisbergen’s fifth place in the third and final race of the Bend SuperSprint will stand after the team was penalised for the lap 10 pit blunder.

Car #97 was released from its pit boom as the crew was still bolting on the right hand tyre.

With the gun still attached as the Camaro got going, Triple Eight has been fined $1500 and docked 30 team points for breaking Rule D11.7.3.

Although SVG recorded a hat-trick of P5s he still have a tough weekend, going through five steering racks including one from PremiAir.

12 I www.autoaction.com.au

2022 NATIONAL Formula Ford champion Valentino Astuti finally got to cash in on his DJR evaluation day in the Gen3 Mustang, leaving him eager for a Super3 seat next season.

Astuti unfortunately couldn’t find himself a seat anywhere this season after storming to final round victory in the Formula Ford championship, but the experience of jumping into the Bathurst 1000 wildcard Mustang has left him hungry to get back onto the racing scene.

Despite winning a championship that has long been utilised as an important talent feeder for Australia’s main game, Astuti found it frustrating having to sit out 2023 due to being restricted by budget, but he’s working hard to put something together for a hopeful 2024 Super3 campaign.

“It was pretty hard watching everyone get to move and get into other categories and do well. I’m happy for them for getting to do it, but it’s really given me some fuel to get back in a car and get out and do my best,” Astuti told AUTO ACTION. “I love being competitive and I just want to be out there. I’m trying hard to put together a plan to do Super3 next year, and this experience with DJR has opened that up a bit and made me want to push harder for it.

“I do need help from sponsors,

because I tried to do something this year to keep myself in some sort of seat, but the budget was just a bit short.

“I definitely need some help to get there, and I’m not going to stop trying because it’s what I love doing.

“There’s people and sponsors that are trying to help me, and they’re very genuine in their efforts to help out, but I definitely need to find more to get that budget covered as things currently stand.”

His seat time at Queensland Raceway was Astuti’s first experience in a V8 tintop, and he described it as an “awesome experience”.

Alongside Jett Johnson, he cut laps under the watchful eyes of the DJR team, with Anton De Pasquale on hand to give advice after himself shaking down the Kai Allen/Simone de Silvestro wildcard Mustang in the morning.

“It was an amazing experience, the team was very professional and very generous toward me. It was just an awesome thing to do” Astuti continued.

“The first few laps I was just getting to grips with everything and getting a feel for the slicks, which was a first for me after only being on treaded tyres in the Formula Ford, and after that I started to feel pretty comfortable and it was a very enjoyable car to drive.

“Just the feeling of that kind of grip underneath you, especially under braking and on power-down was great, it was awesome to be able to drive something I could push a lot harder than I could in a Formula Ford.

“These new cars also have that spring in the caliper, which stops that pad knock-off, so it helped me get a good grip on things a bit quicker.”

“The feedback from the DJR team was really positive, especially from the engineer Ludo (Lacroix), and also Ben (Croke – team manager).

“They were happy with how I went considering the experience I’ve had, and Anton (De Pasquale) was very helpful too. He was great for giving advice, just with tips on braking and how to transfer the load. Everyone was very helpful and I loved being in that environment.”

The top contenders in last year’s Formula Ford championship were all able to move on to competitive rides in 2023, with James Piszcyk going to British F4, Cameron McLeod to Super3, Ryder Quinn to Carrera Cup, and Winston Smith racing in S5000.

That’s a fairly talented pool of young drivers that Astuti triumphed over last season, and it was a shame to not see him racing anywhere this year.

TW Neal

THE ARRIVAL OF RANDLE AFTER AN up-and-down start to his Supercars career, Thomas Randle finally enjoyed his breakout weekend, at The Bend.

On the track where his solo Supercars journey began as a wildcard in 2019, Randle was on fire in the #55 Tickford Mustang, scoring his first full-time podium in his 71st race.

The 27-year-old then backed up his smashing Saturday with a maiden pole position, plus two more podium finishes on Sunday.

Having never left the top three across the weekend, Randle was second only behind the dominant Brodie Kostecki.

Randle’s only previous trophy was collected alongside Lee Holdsworth at the 2019 Sandown 500, so The Bend was a big moment in the life of the Melbourne boy, who has had to deal with a lot off the track through cancer, and on it, whether it is taking on Europe or forging a Supercars career.

After a tough rookie season and brutal Sydney SuperNight where he finished 23rd and 22nd, the 2020 Super2 champion was pinching himself after such a successful trip to South Australia.

“One podium was amazing, two podiums were incredible and three was a dream,” Randle told Auto Action.

“It was pretty demoralising at Sydney, finishing P22 and P23 with no pace and you start questioning things.

“If you lose your confidence you just have to back yourself and the team in what you can do.

“They say you are only as good as your last race, so to comeback in this form is special.

“We had a bit of a break as well so it was nice to roll into things this weekend and we were fast straight away. Quickest in Practice 1 and I don’t think we were out of the top three in any session all weekend.

“We hardly touched the car which is a real credit to the whole team.

“You don’t get many weekends like this so we will savour it.”

Not only did the weekend represent a coming-of-age moment for Randle, it was also a moment of redemption.

Randle found himself in an identical

position one year ago, lining up on the front row at the South Australian circuit.

In the eighth round of his rookie season, it shaped up to be the major breakthrough moment.

But Randle’s dream quickly turned into a nightmare as he stalled the Mustang and was wiped out by an unsighted Andre Heimgartner in a sickening startline smash.

At the same venue one year on, the #55 returned to the front row, but on this occasion things could not have gone any better.

Randle nailed the start, jumped Brodie Kostecki and led the field into Turn 1.

When waiting for the lights to go out he admitted it was hard not to have the events of 12 months ago in the back of his mind.

But he backed himself and it paid off as he left the crash and his rivals in the rear vision mirror.

“It got mentioned quite a lot to me from fans saying ‘hopefully you get off the line ...’

Images: MARK HORSBURGH

but I just tried to stick to my procedure,” Randle said.

“I have had quite solid starts this year with the clutch in this Gen3 car, so I thought if I did the same thing we would have a good chance.

“I had put that incident well and truly behind me for good, so it was pretty cool.”

The hat-trick of podiums continued Randle’s love affair with The Bend, having shown speed every time he has had a crack at the South Australian circuit.

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Now, after breaking through for his first full-time podium, Randle turns his attention to continuing the momentum in the enduros where he will pair up with Garry Jacobson.

The Castrol driver has been working hard in his own Dream Simulation setup where he picked up some “intricacies” in his technique ahead of the successful Bend SuperSprint.

With some silverware now under his belt, Randle admitted his expectations have changed ahead of the big races after rising from 18th to 14th in the championship.

“It is satisfying to know the goalposts have now shifted,” he said.

“If we can stay up here for the rest of the year that would be amazing, but it is so challenging and competitive, who knows?

“We will go into Sandown with Garry which I am looking forward to and see what we can produce at my home round.”

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CUPRA LAUNCHES FACTORY ASSAULT CUPRA IS the latest factory player in Australian motorsport, having thrown its full support behind Carl Cox Motorsport. Despite Michael Clemente first driving the Spanish brand at Phillip Island, the Queensland Raceway round was the first with factory support. Clemente has already scored two wins in the Leon and believes even more can be achieved with the extra support. “It feels great to be able to have the support of CUPRA,” he 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.”

HARRIS STUNNED BY DREAM WEEKEND

IN THE space of just three rounds, Brad Harris has gone from TCR rookie to winner and he is struggling to believe it.

Harris took the TCR world by storm by winning the second race at Queensland Raceway and backing that success up with a strong third place in the finale.

Despite starting the reverse top 10 race from pole, he had to fight for victory dropping behind both Michael Clemente and Kody Garland early on before hitting back and fending off stars Aaron Cameron and Will Brown to memorably take the chequered flag.

Whilst Brown and Cameron had the superior pace in the finale, he still scored an impressive podium to complete a dream weekend in the #74 Honda Civic.

As a result he has moved up a massive 122 positions on the TCR world rankings, to 287th.

Harris admitted he struggled to come to terms with the surprise success.

“It feels great getting the win. It was not something I expected coming into the weekend, but I am glad I was able to get it done,” Harris told TCR Australia.

“After finishing 10th in the opening

Image: DANIEL KALISZ race, I thought maybe something could happen.

“I had to think about last time I was in pole position at Phillip Island and knew not burning out the tyres and making any mistakes were the main things.

“It took a bit to sink in after I had crossed the line. I was excited, but it wasn’t until I drove down pit lane where I realised I had actually done it.”

Despite being a TCR rookie, the 30-year-old Harris arrived with plenty of racing experience since he was 13, mainly in the Mazda RX8 Cup, Production Cars and Sports Sedans.

However, the greater power of the Honda TCR plus the presence of

wings and slick tyres created a steep learning curve.

But after the win and podium, Harris feels like he now belongs in the category.

“The result in the third race was actually more rewarding than the win in the reverse grid,” he revealed.

“I feel like I was able to prove I belong in the series after making up the positions, so it was more reassuring for myself. I am definitely getting more confident as the season goes on; the car is a very different beast to anything I have driven before so the more time in the car the better.

“I cannot wait to go out and try to back it up.”

TCR returns at Sandown on September 8-10.

AUSSIES IN FERRARI PROGRAM A TOTAL of 15 Australians have been included in the Ferrari Driver Academy Asia Pacific and Oceania fiveday program in Malaysia. After over 100 applications, just 25 drivers have been selected to showcase their talent at Sepang International Circuit on September 23-27. Returning Aussies from last year’s program include British F4 race winner James Piszcyk, Lincoln Taylor and Kristen Janev. Newcomers include Victorians Giancarlo Artho, Peter Bouzinelos, Pip Casabene, and Hayden Millington. They are joined by Queenslanders Loclan Hennock, Brodie Norris and Dominic Penman. Kamal Mead (NSW), Nicolas Stati (WA) Jack Taylor (Tas) and Joel Wheeler (WA) are the other Aussies, whilst other contenders are coming from China, India and South Korea.

TOYOTA 86 SERIES SCORES A TON THE TOYOTA Gazoo Racing Australia 86 Series celebrated its 100-race milestone at The Bend last weekend. Since rolling into action at Winton in 2016, the Toyota 86 Series has become one of the more notable grassroots circuit racing categories as a regular on the Supercars supports card.

Toyota Australia Chief Marketing Officer Vin Naidoo said the special milestone is a sign of the continual growth. “When we started the TGRA 86 Series back in 2016, our idea was simply to provide an affordable grassroots racing category for passionate enthusiasts and give them an opportunity to compete,” Mr Naidoo said. “Since then it has gone from strength to strength.”

14 I www.autoaction.com.au

Image: ARG

FIRST DRIVERS FOR ‘MASSIVE’ TCR WORLD TOUR REVEALED THE FIRST faces that will come to Australia to take on the ‘Massive’ TCR World Tour rounds down under this November have been revealed.

In addition to the domestic Supercheap Auto TCR Australia Series, the stars of the top tier TCR World Tour will be on show at Sydney Motorsport Park and Bathurst.

The first nine entries have been confirmed which include a pair of former World Champions with more than 100 international TCR race wins across four factory outfits.

The highly successful Cyan Racing Lynk & Co team will deliver four of the Sweedish-Chinese racers to Australia, headed by current TCR World Tour leader Yann Ehrlacher.

Swedish 2017 World Touring Car Champion Thed Björk, former TCR China champion Ma Quing Hua and Uruguayan driver Santiago Urrutia

will complete the Lynk & Co team.

The factory-backed BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse team has confirmed a pair of cars driven by Hungarian Norbert Michelisz and Spanish driver Mikel Azcona.

Audi Sport Team Comtoyou will field two drivers familiar to Aussie fans via their exploits at the Bathurst 12 Hour – Belgian Frédéric Vervisch and British ace Rob Huff.

Honda will field at least two of their latest-generation Honda Civic Type R FL5 TCR entries but have only confirmed Argentinian Néstor Girolami, who drove for Wall Racing at Sandown in the first year of the category down under in 2019.

One Australian who has a firsthand experience of the TCR World Tour is Jason Bargwanna, who oversaw the two-race campaign of

son Ben in Portugal and Belgium earlier this year.

Bargwanna is convinced the return of international touring car racing to these shores will be a major moment in Australian motorsport.

“It is a massive deal,” he told AA. “Australian fans over the last 20 years are used to knowing the domestic drivers, but when you look at what is happening with TCR on the world stage, it is an intensity of competition that I think is going to come with those guys because they are proper superstars and pros.

“I can’t wait to be standing in the pit lane and watch them get out of the car after the first session at Bathurst.”

The TCR World Tour begins at Sydney on November 3-4 before Bathurst on November 10-12.

Thomas Miles

WTAC APPROACHING THE REV LIMIT WITH THE next instalment of the Yokohama World Time Attack Challenge Sydney on Australia’s doorstep once more, the September 1-2 event has packed even more “I can’t believe they did that” thrills into the already power-stacked program.

The WTAC is an event that attracts the absolute legends of the motoring performance and daring and, after it was announced that the Drift King Keiichi Tsuchiya was joining the show, his ride has also been revealed.

The Japanese master – who is credited with putting the art of drift on the global map – will be jumping in a Hyundai IONIQ 5 N. The high performance electric vehicle – and first ever EV N brand model – will make its first appearance in Oz for the event, taking over the Amaroo South pit complex (alongside a display of the 2024 i30 Sedan N).

The 478kw dual-motor AWD system with its N Drift Optimiser function (designed to maintain drift angle) will come up against a man that has little sympathy for assumed mechanical boundaries.

Tsuchiya’s on-track schedule at the WTAC includes 1115am and 1650pm

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demonstration runs on the Friday and Saturday, as well as the legend himself taking on the duel-attack Flying 500 race down the SMP’s Brabham Straight at 1720 on both evenings … followed by another evening demo!

“We’re thrilled Hyundai has decided to team up with WTAC for the Australian debut of IONIQ 5 N,” WTAC CEO, Ian Baker said.

“With a 478kW output and the legendary Keiichi Tsuchiya at the wheel, the fans are in for a great demonstration.”

Also recently added, the organisers have gathered three of the most insane

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high-octane drift machines ever built on Australia soil … and for good measure, a tank!

At 1355 on Friday, and 1400 on Saturday, the crowd will be treated to Levi Clarke’s 324 Drift Rod, Mitch Pullen’s Supercharged S13, and Ben Wilkinson’s 26B 4-Rotor RX7.

Clarke, a car builder of some repute, started with a 1932 Ford pickup, and added a Pullen Spec LS3 engine that punches out over 600hp.

Pullen’s Supercharged S13 Silvia with a dry sump LS3 revs over 9000rpm, and has an eight-into-one forward-facing header system, with two hood exit exhausts.

And Wilkinson, who was part of Matt Mingay’s Hot Wheels Stunt team, brings a peripherally ported 26B 4-rotor engine that will add some necessary WTAC howl, and most likely some jaw dropping moves.

And as for the Armoured Personnel carrier ... It was built by Street FX head honcho Mark Trueno, so why the hell not?

And last but not least, one of the worlds largest automotive YouTube channels in the world – Donut Media – and it’s star host Jeremiah ‘Jerry’ Burton, will be competing in the Plazmaman Pro Am class driving the SMP WTAC familiar 1000hp Nissan R35 GTR. Adding some more US flavour, the GTR will also be driven by Cole Powelson in the EMTRON Pro Class, joining another fellow yank in Feras Qartoumy.

TW Neal

www.autoaction.com.au I 15

Images: MILLARD FAMILY RACING

HERNE TO MAKE US LATE MODEL DEBUT NATHAN HERNE’s season in the US is about to get a big injection of horsepower, as he gets ready to make his American dirt track debut in the Late Model Series, in Missouri.

The Lismore born racer is pencilled in to make his debut at the Moberly Motorsport Park in Missouri on September 3, while he may also compete over the two nights prior at the Lucas Oil Speedway in the state’s south-west.

Herne has been racing in the American TA2 Trans Am series this season in the #29 Cube3 Mustang, recently taking another podium on the downtown streets of Nashville.

Now his desire to get some more seat time and explore some wider options in the wide world of US racing has led him to the American dirt.

The ‘Lismore Bullet’ is set to team up with Missouri based Millard Family Racing team. After having experienced both Sprintcars and Late Model racing in Australia, Herne is excited to make his US debut in the powerful 900hp machinery.

“It’s exciting, when I first came to America I set myself the goal of doing some dirt track racing,” Herne told Auto Action.

“The biggest thing I’ve struggled with this year in TA2 is that we’ve not been able to do test days throughout the year, and it’s the first time in a long time where I haven’t had the opportunity to stay race-fit.

“The dirt track scene in America is huge and they race multiple times a week, so to crack into that market will hopefully open a few doors ... so fingers crossed it all goes well.”

As Herne points out, they do things a bit differently in America, and his first registered event will be the 3rd Annual Wiener Nationals.

The prize money is $10,000 USD for the win, and the event also has a hotdog eating contest and a pace car that’s essentially a huge wiener dog on wheels, which Herne describes as “pretty cool … but a bit different!”

Speaking of doing things differently in the States,

16 I www.autoaction.com.au

Herne’s opportunity came about whilst eating at an Italian restaurant with his Cube3 sponsors.

“It was a bit funky how it all came about. We were sitting there eating and this Italian chef came out to speak with us, and when the conversation turned to racing, he said he knew a bloke who owned a race car.

“We ended up Face-timing Reid Millard right then and there, and I ended up getting a drive to go along with my dinner…i t was a pretty interesting way to go about it!” Herne quipped.

“Reid is a really nice guy, and he’s introduced me to some interesting people in the world of Speedway, and also, Scott Bloomqvist (Late Model Hall of Famer) is going to be in Missouri as well, so it’s going to be an interesting experience.”

Racing on dirt is something that runs in the family for Herne, with his dad also being an experienced Speedway driver.

“Just really keen to get into now – and it also means a lot for my family. My dad raced dirt his whole life but never got the chance to go and do it in America, so to be the first of the Herne family to get that opportunity is pretty cool.”

As for the car/beast with wheels on it, Herne will be in the #14 Millard machine, which is going to have plenty of juice available under his right foot on the high banked 0.6km oval track.

“They’ve just strapped a new engine in it and it ran 950hp on the dyno ... so it’s got a lot of power,” Herne said with a vaguely nervous laugh.

“It’s going to be a lot to hang on to, and once I’m off and the clay slickens out, I might be wishing I had less horsepower under my right foot.

“It’s a 23-degree banked track, which is way steeper than what we have in Australia, and the car will be hitting 160 kmh before you tip it into Turn 1.

“There’s 50-plus cars at both events, so if I make it to the A-Main I’ll be pretty happy. I don’t know if that’s going to happen, but we’ll give it a crack and see.”

TW Neal

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KOSTECKI NOT SURPRISED

BY BEND BASHING A CAREER-BEST weekend at The Bend came as no surprise to Brodie Kostecki as Erebus Motorsport took its momentum to new heights.

Despite the shock announcement of Will Brown departing to “the enemy” Triple Eight threatening to rock Erebus, the current Supercars Championship leading operation responded in emphatic style by scoring its first clean sweep in a sprint round having been racing since 2013.

The man who is here to stay both at Erebus and Supercars, Kostecki, blew away the field at the Bend.

The #99 Coke Camaro claimed two poles and all three race wins on offer in the final sprint round before the enduros.

Whilst Kostecki’s consistency and speed throughout the year has him in the championship lead, it was a new dominant streak that has not previously been seen by the 25-year-old.

It was only at the Australian Grand Prix in March this year he scored his maiden Supercars win and backed it up with another the following day.

But he only scored two of the four wins on that weekend and had to wait another five rounds to reappear in victory lane.

However, whilst all the attention was on the other side of the garage, Kostecki produced his best performance yet with a crushing clean sweep.

The hat-trick extended his championship lead from 41 to 137 points and despite enjoying bigger success than ever, it was far from a surprise given the level Erebus has been performing at all season.

“It is obviously really cool and fantastic to go out and do what we did this weekend,” he told AUTO ACTION. “It does not come as much of a surprise because there has been a lot of hard

work and thought behind it all. I am just proud to be a part of it.

“I think we have been slogging it out with the older cars for the last two seasons and we came into this year and worked really hard trying to make our program the best as possible.

“Everyone is enjoying the success and it is awesome to repay the whole team with the success we have had and see the smile on everyone’s faces.

“It is all working at the moment.”

The success at The Bend arrived less than a week after Kostecki made an impressive NASCAR Cup Series debut at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Despite mechanical issues and a qualifying crash greatly reducing his track time, he still charged from last to 22nd in the race and went past 2014 NASCAR

Cup Series champion Kevin Harvick at the finish.

For some the transition from America to Australia would have been challenging, but Kostecki took it all in his stride and believes the extra racing has kept him sharper for Supercars.

“I gained a lot of experience going over there and doing what I did,” he said.

“Every time you drive something you learn something.

“Before I raced at the Grand Prix I was in a sprintcar and won two races there.

“Now I have just come back from the states and won all three races here, so maybe I just need to drive every weekend!”

Despite being so impressive across the first eight rounds, even bigger challenges lay ahead.

The mighty enduros await at Sandown and Bathurst where Kostecki will share the #99 with veteran co-driver David Russell for the third year in a row.

Whilst he has the target on his back and the most to lose, Kostecki does not feel under pressure.

“No I don’t feel any pressure,” he said.

“I know I can do the job and the team around me is more than capable of delivering me a fast car.

“We have had great form all year and we just need to keep on executing and minimising the mistakes as much as possible.

“I am really excited going into the enduros. I get the share the car with David Russell as I have done for the last two years.”

Thomas Miles

WATERS WANTING MORE AFTER BREAKTHROUGH PODIUM CAMERON WATERS returned to the podium for the first time since the season opener at The Bend, but clearly wants more.

Waters secured a long awaited and arguably well deserved podium in Sunday’s third and final race at the South Australian circuit, which was his first for 21 races since the season opener at Newcastle.

Having endured all of this on the track and not being afraid to voice concerns around the parity debate off it, Waters has had a big journey back to the podium.

But he does not see it as getting the “monkey off the back” but more as vindication of car #6’s speed.

“I would not say it is a monkey off the back, we have had a lot of bad luck this year and the parity woes have poured fuel on the fire in that respect,” Waters said.

“We have just been working hard to make sure we are the fastest Ford and it was awesome to roll out with a different setup and be up there.”

In another cheeky dig at the parity situation, Waters said whilst the addition of a trophy has not done anything to his confidence levels, he believed it was great to “nearly touch the back of a Camaro”.

“I would not say it changes my confidence a great deal, but it is great to see the back of a Camaro and half be close and nearly be able to touch it,” he said.

“It was good to be on the podium and be competitive. In qualifying we got smashed but we will keep chipping away.

“We are going in right right trajectory so hopefully we can keep closing the gap and get some wins.”

Thomas Miles

MILLER UNSURE ABOUT AUSTRIA STRUGGLE JACK MILLER is still unsure about why he fell off the radar at a tough Austrian MotoGP Grand Prix.

Whilst his KTM teammate Brad Binder signed a long-term extension and scored Saturday and Sunday podiums, it was a different story for Miller.

The Aussie showed strong qualifying speed, putting #43 on the second row and mixed it for the podium early on.

But as the laps ticked up, it was a familiar story as Miller drifted deeper down the pack and further away from the lead.

Whilst he still held a top five result in the Sprint, the Grand Prix was a much tougher affair.

Despite shooting up to third in the early stages when the chequered flag fell Miller was down in 15th, a full 20s away from teammate and runner-up Binder.

Whilst it is not the first time Miller has started strong, but faded in the back half of a race, it had never been so pronounced as at the Red Bull Ring.

The Aussie admitted he is still unsure why he lost so much pace, but pointed towards some changes made three races ago at Assen.

“It was just a struggle and I don’t know why or how yet,” Miller wrote on his website.

“But I was suffering with missing grip

from the very beginning and the last eight laps were about trying to survive out there.

“We made some changes a few races ago in Assen and it doesn’t seem like it’s been working great, so now we try to maybe take a step back and evaluate the changes that we’ve made to attempt to go forward.

“We probably need to go back to the drawing board, to be honest.”

Miller started the weekend on the back foot being forced to endure the stressful Q1 knockout session to stay in the fight for pole.

Having bounced back and qualified fifth, he actually believed a podium could have

been possible.

It was a weekend that started and ended not great, but the middle was decent,” Miller continued.

“On Friday I did not have a great feeling with the bike and felt pretty terrible which is why we ended up in Q1.

“Then on Saturday things were pretty positive and we gained some valuable information.

“With a small step it felt like we had podium potential and then Sunday came and that was all she wrote.”

When digging deep into the Sunday struggles, Miller revealed it all started with a lack of grip on corner exit.

“I just struggled with missing grip,

started really suffering on the (corner) exits straight away,” he said.

“I started getting into trouble with guys passing me on the straight, my top speed was down simply because the exit wasn’t there out of the corners.

“Braking felt good – the bike in the frontend was actually pretty stable and I was able to catch back up in the middle part of the lap but into all the straights, I just couldn’t accelerate.”

What made the weekend particularly heartbreaking for Miller was the location.

After racing for two years at Ducati the Aussie has moved to KTM, which enjoyed its home race at Austria on the weekend.

With an entire grandstand covered in orange supporting the brand, there was no shortage of support and Miller was devastated not to give them more to cheer about.

“I’m very disappointed for myself and for the team at KTM’s home race,” he said.

“Sunday was definitely a shame because it’s a big, big home event for KTM here.

“I’ve observed this race with the support and the orange flags from the other side before, but it’s different when you’re on this side of the fence.

“You could only imagine what it would be like to win at home for KTM … it’d be pretty special, that’s for sure.”

MotoGP returns at Catalunya on September 1-3.

TEAM 18 TAKING SMALL POSITIVES FROM ‘INCREDIBLY TOUGH WEEKEND’ TEAM 18 drivers Scott Pye and Mark Winterbottom are taking the small positives going forward from a “very challenging” time at The Bend.

For the first time in 16 rounds, Team 18 failed to register a top 10 finish at a multirace event.

Aside from Bathurst, the last time the two-car squad failed to be in the 10 was Wanneroo in 2022.

On this occasion the best it could hope for was 11th form Pye in the third and final race when he charged up from 20th and executed the undercut.

However, the #20 driver could qualify no higher than 18th on home turf and finished 22nd and 15th in the other races.

On the other side of the garage Winterbottom had to settle with a pair of 17th place finishes before a tough 24th in the finale.

South Australian Pye said it was nice to finish a tough round on a positive note.

“It was a very difficult and challenging weekend, but we never gave up,” he said.

“We kept pushing and then in the last race, from what was a difficult qualifying, still we improved the car and managed to come home in 11th starting 20th.

“It was all done through car speed in that last race, I set the third quickest lap of the race.

“We kept trying and we came away with a package which was definitely more

competitive. I wish we could hit reset and start again and have another crack at it with the car we finished with.

“It’s one of those weekends that you just got to keep pushing. We’ve come away with a straight car, which is a positive.”

Unfortunately for Winterbottom there was no light at the end of the tunnel as he recorded his worst race finish of the year outside of his Albert Park retirement.

“Frosty” is hopeful things will turn around at Sandown where he expects the #18 Camaro to be better suited, but is concerned about Bathurst given its similar qualities to The Bend.

“That was an incredibly tough weekend,” he said.

“As a team we really struggled for car speed. Everyone worked really hard, and when you’re struggling you work harder than the rounds that are going easy, because instead of tuning you’re trying to reinvent, and all the team worked incredibly hard.

“At Sandown I know the car will work there, but we have a bit of work to do on these long flowing corners, which obviously Bathurst is one of them.

“We will regroup and have a test day to sort it out, but it was not a good week at all.”

Team 18 will be determined for a stronger showing at the Sandown 500 on September 15-17.

Thomas Miles

LATEST NEWS

LOWNDES AND TRIPLE EIGHT WON’T STOP RACING THE UNION between Craig Lowndes and Triple Eight Race Engineering will continue into an uncharted second decade after the fan favourite signed a contract extension.

Lowndes is not hanging up the helmet anytime soon with his time at the team set to hit two decades having extended his contract for another two years until the end of 2025.

This will mean the smiling assassin will race on until he is at least 51 and be the first driver that is not a team owner to race at a Supercars team for over 20 years.

Having initially dominated taking three championships and a Great Race victory at the Holden Racing Team between 1996 and 2000, Lowndes, then known as “The Kid” went across the divide to Ford.

But after unsuccessful two-year stints at Gibson Motorsport and Ford Performance Racing, Lowndes was on the move for 2005.

He ended up becoming the face of the then unproven Triple Eight Race Engineering and felt so much at home he has never left since.

Lowndes drove car #888 all the way until his full-time retirement in 2018 and has continued co-driving with the team, initially alongside Jamie Whincup and more recently in the Supercheap Auto wildcard.

This will also be the case in 2023 when he shares the #888 Camaro with Zane Goddard at Sandown and Bathurst.

Lowndes could not hide his delight behind the news that he will continue racing, with his new deal set to bring him to a total of 31 Great Race starts, closing in on the record of 35 set by Jim Richards.

“I’m absolutely delighted to be continuing my racing career with Triple

Eight for the next two years and I’m excited to reach a 20-year milestone with the team in 2024,” he said.

“I’ve shared some amazing moments with Triple Eight over the past 18-and-a-half years, and I want to thank Jamie (Whincup), Jess (Dane) and the team for wanting to extend this successful partnership.

It’s crazy to think we’ll be celebrating two decades together next year!

“When I retired from full-time racing at the end of 2018, I always said that I wanted to continue to stay involved by fostering the next generation of Supercars racers, which I’ve been fortunate enough to do through the team’s wildcard program.

“For now, I’m really looking forward to the upcoming enduro season alongside Zane Goddard and can’t wait to hit the track for our upcoming test days in preparation for the Sandown 500 in September.”

Since 2005 and scoring Triple Eight’s first win in their fourth round together, Lowndes has scored 58 of his 110 race victories.

Across 18 Bathurst 1000 starts he has claimed six victories in Triple Eight colours, plus stood on the podium in half of them.

Lowndes has also scored four Sandown 500 and two Phillip Island 500 wins during the Triple Eight spell.

The man who helped Lowndes score his famous hat-trick of Great Race wins from 2006 to 2008, Jamie Whincup, is now the team principal at Triple Eight.

With Lowndes’ smile still one of the most recognisable in pit lane, he is thrilled to keep him as a co-driver.

“Lowndesy is obviously a huge part of Triple Eight’s DNA, and for him to continue his legacy with the team into a 20th year and beyond is truly remarkable,” Whincup said.

“I’ve personally shared so many memories with Craig, highlighted by our

Bathurst 1000 three-peat which I’ll cherish forever. We wouldn’t be where we are now without his contribution to the team and the sport as a whole.

“Lowndesy’s worth is just as valuable off the track as it is on it. His mentorship of the youth in our sport, as we’ve seen from the success of our Supercheap Auto Racing wildcard program over the past two years, has been unbelievable.”

Lowndes will feature in a Triple Eight test day on September 4 at Queensland Raceway before having another crack at the Sandown 500 two weeks later.

Thomas Miles

TANDER TO RACE WITH REYNOLDS AT B

GARTH TANDER will aim for a sixth Bathurst win and first with Ford alongside David Reynolds as Grove Racing lock down its endurance line up.

No less than 170 days after completing its co-drivers Grove Racing has decided who the full-timers will share their Ford Mustangs with.

The Ford team was the first to bring Tander to the “Blue Oval” and he will make his Mustang debut alongside Reynolds.

With Tander winning his fifth Great Race last year and 2017 Bathurst 1000 winner Reynolds together, the #26 Mustang will be a contender with one of the more potent combinations around Mount Panorama behind the wheel.

They will also be one of the most experienced with 39 Great Race starts between them, but on the other side of the garage will be one of the rawest.

The announcement leaves New Zealand rookie Matthew Payne pairing up with French GT ace, but Great Race virgin Kevin Estre.

Despite battling in 2023, Grove Racing could be a smoky with Lee Holdsworth taking pole last year.

With both drivers having won and taken pole position, Tander and Reynolds know how to conquer Mount Panorama.

The 2007 Supercars champion also knows how to perform at Sandown, scoring an against the odds win the 2016 version of the 500km classic.

After Tander produced one of the best co-driver performances in modern memory to push Shane van Gisbergen to glory last year, Reynolds is ecstatic to have the five-time winner alongside him in 2023.

“I am thrilled to drive with Garth this year,” the departing driver said.

“We have known each other for a long time and he’s as good as they come.

“He is really respected, his knowledge of the sport and his craft is fantastic, and if there is one person you want to be paired with for enduros, it’s him.”

Tander is also looking forward to the experience with Reynolds being a codriving teammate at HRT in 2010.

“I’m excited to pair up with Dave for Sandown and Bathurst,” he said.

“With Dave being a former Bathurst winner himself, I’m looking forward to learning more about how Dave goes about the business of driving fast at those two events.

“Dave and I have been in the same team together in the past, but never shared the same car, so it should be a bit of fun given how much of a character Dave is, but when it’s time to go to work, it will be full focus on the job at hand.”

Payne heads to Sandown with some confidence after smashing his teammate at The Bend.

The young kiwi qualified ahead of his teammate in all three races and started as high as P3.

Payne is now looking forward to his first experience as the lead driver in the enduros against a former GT rival.

“It’s really exciting to be paired with Kévin Estre. He is a bit of a global superstar with a mega amount of experience under his belt.

“I have done some endurance racing overseas myself last year and always saw his name at the top of the time sheets so it will be great to combine our experience and see what we can do in the back half of the year.”

Estre is a long-time Porsche GT driver and has a class victory in the 24 Hours of Le Mans and is a class FIA World

NEWCASTLE 500 FUTURE UP IN THE AIR AFTER COUNCIL SURVEY THE FATE of Supercars new seasonopening event, the Newcastle 500, is up in the air after the community had a mixed say on a council survey.

With the current contract of the race, which was first held in 2017, ending after this year’s event held in March, negotiations over a new agreement between Supercars, NSW Government and City of Newcastle are ongoing.

Whilst Supercars is pushing to keep racing at the seaside street circuit for another five years after the first Newcastle 500 in four years was greeted by strong crowds, Newcastle Lord Mayor Nuatali Nelmes said the city council will have the “final decision” on the event’s future.

The biggest factor behind the City of Newcastle’s decision making process was a Community Consultation Strategy.

After receiving 10,998 respondents through an online survey and a further 490 taking part over the phone, the results are in and do not bode greatly for the future of the race.

Just 37 percent of Newcastle residents who took part in the online survey are in favour of the street race taking place for

BATHURST Endurance Champion.

The 34-year-old Frenchman also has previous Bathurst experience having raced at the Bathurst 12 Hour four times with a top result of fifth in 2018 when he drove a Craft Bamboo Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R. Estre is excited to take on the challenge with Payne.

“Really pleased to share the car with Matt,” he said.

“He’s a talented young driver and has shown his speed many times in his career already.

“He’s a rookie in Supercars but I’m sure that he’s going to help me a lot to be on pace as soon as possible! I can’t wait to be racing with the whole team!”

The Penrite cars will be looking to put on a show at the Penrite Oil Sandown 500 on September 15-17.

Thomas Miles

the next five years.

Although a more promising figure of 55 percent were in support of the Supercars event over the phone, the overwhelmingly greater sample size in the online survey means the smaller figure of support paints the biggest picture.

The least amount of support came from residents in “Wards 1 and 2” which were the locations closest to the track and the most disrupted from the event.

However, there was much greater support for the race in “Ward 4” which was the furthest away, west of the city.

Both phone and online survey respondents were overwhelmingly in favour of the race, voting 66 and 67 percent respectively.

It was a similar, but more even story across the Newcastle business community where 110 voted on the phone and 1,906 were surveyed online.

Overall 59 percent were in favour of the race over the phone, but this figure reduced to 41 percent online.

Once again those in “Ward 1” were least in favour, but in “Ward 4” businesses

felt strongly about seeing Supercars in Newcastle again with more than 80 percent of both phone and online respondents showing their support.

Many felt the biggest benefit of the Newcastle 500 was its promotion of the New South Wales city as a tourist destination, but believed the biggest setback was the disruption to affected residents and businesses near the track.

Although the City of Newcastle has spent months collating all the information, there were some drawbacks to the online survey.

One of the biggest was the “unusual” amount of survey respondents in the “Ward 1” section.

A total of 964 survey responses were collated from the Newcastle East region which had a population of 1,061 in 2021.

This means the report described it as “unusual to receive this number of responses relative to the population size (and) it is likely some used incorrect postcodes or made multiple submissions”.

It was also reported 1,979 individuals were blocked from doubling up.

However, Newcastle MP Tim Crakanthorp

told the NEWCASTLE HERALD he will support the results from the survey.

In a worrying statement for Supercars fans, he said he will be supporting the results during negotiations with the NSW Government.

“The majority of respondents have indicated they do not want the Supercars event being held in the city,” Cakanthorp told the NEWCASTLE HERARLD. “I will be supporting that view when communicating with the NSW Government.”

Supercars has also provided a statement following the revelation of the results.

A Supercars spokesperson confirmed discussions are “progressing” with the 2024 calendar starting to take shape following the announcement of New Zealand’s return at Taupo.

“Discussions are ongoing and are progressing toward an official decision on the future of the Newcastle 500,” said a Supercars spokesperson.

“The goal is to ensure a positive outcome for all parties and further updates and details will be communicated in due course.”

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CAN-AM LAUNCHES ALLNEW SSV OFF ROAD RACER CAN-AM HAS released its new Maverick R side-by-side (SSV) off road racer, a turbocharged 240-horsepower beast packed with all-new industry technology and plenty of character.

The new Maverick R was built to ensure an unmatched rider experience that’s scrutinised down to the finest detail to promote comfort, performance, and unmatched quality that is coupled with practicality.

The new Can-Am off road racer is also being released alongside a new and immense range of new side-by-side Can-Am vehicles, which include: The Maverick X3 lineup, with the MAX X rc Turbo RR (the industry’s first purpose-built four-seat rock crawling side-by-side).

The Commander lineup, consisting of the Commander MAX DPS 700 and Commander MAX XT 700 (the industry’s first mid-hp four-seat side-by-side with a full size cargo dump box).

And the Defender Lineup, which includes the Defender XT HD7, which is a new small displacement workhorse option, powered by the reliable and proven 52 hp Rotax ACE 650cc naturally aspirated engine.

At the powerful heart of the Can-Am Maverick R SSV racer is the industrydefining 240-horsepower 999T Rotax 999cc turbocharged inline threecylinder, four-stroke, fuel-injected engine.

It’s the first ever Rotax built offroad seven speed DCT (dual clutch transmission) design – automatic or optionally controllable by paddle shifter, offering up a power-to-displacement ratio that will leave opponents eating dust.

The Maverick R employs an optimised air intake design for

ease of maintenance and next-level performance, dual fuel injectors to feed each cylinder, whilst also featuring the industry’s first ever electronically controlled wastegate, which regulates the turbochargers boost pressure to suit changing conditions.

To add even more control features, the selectable driving modes feature Normal, Sport, and Sport+…

Normal: provides a smooth throttle response, shifts gears through the seven-speed DCT transmission at 35004500 RPM range.

Sport: enhanced throttle response and shifts gears 8500 RPM. Sport+: Advanced Response Technology (ART) to achieve peak throttle response performance and shifts gears at 8500 RPM, a highly effective anti-turbo lag system.

The Maverick R’s revolutionary powerplant is necessarily coupled with a chassis that supports the unrivalled power offered up by the new SSV. It has a high-strength dual-phase steel v-shape chassis that reduces stress on its bolted connections, and features front and rear suspension components that are equipped with double-bonded bushings for a more quiet and smooth riding experience.

The new heavy duty tall-knuckle suspension is designed to enhance driver comfort and handling on the trail or track, with with 25” of travel upfront, 26” in the rear, and 17” of ground clearance.

On top of that, the unique aerospace aluminum suspension configuration also reduces stress on components, providing superior bump absorption, increased torsional rigidity, and improved stability and handling.

In order to enhance the Maverick R’s

tracking across the most treacherous of desert chop, it combines Fox Live Valve Gen 3 technology coupled with Fox 2.5 PODIUM and 3.0 PODIUM shocks, an unbeatable combination that inspires confidence under braking, acceleration, and cornering.

Putting the power to the ground, it features 32inch Tenacity XNR ITP tires (32x10Rx16) that are mounted to 16-inch aluminum beadlocked wheels.

The robust 16-inch wheels also feature another industry first with the six-lug, 139.7mm bolt pattern, an automotive truck standard, with the required element to handle the increased power and torque of the new platform.

“Can-Am believes that progress does not come from standing still, and the exciting new Maverick R represents our commitment to creating a machine that will change the industry by smashing through the confines of current performance and design boundaries, taking the rider experience to a whole new level,” said Sandy Scullion, President, Powersports Group at BRP. “With a 240 horsepower powerplant, manual gearbox, and the chassis and suspension to harness the power, the new Maverick R is truly a race-ready side-by-side purpose-built for the most demanding riders.”

HIGH PERFORMANCE, LOW DUST & LOW NOISE! Bendix Ultimate+™ brake pads provide even greater stopping power utilising an advanced ceramic formulation. The high friction formulation adds advantages including low dust generation, low braking noise and even greater resistance to brake fade at higher temperatures.

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Find solutions for every brake job at www.bendix.com.au Or freecall the Bendix Brake Advice Centre on 1800 819 666 Bendix is a trademark of Garrett Advancing Motion Inc.

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PRICE FACING INTENSE ARGENTINIAN TEST TOBY PRICE heads into the penultimate round of the FIM World Rally-Raid Championship on top of the standings, with the Aussie legend now facing a stern test at Argentina’s Desafio Ruta 40.

The gruelling 2,804 km rally will take place between La Rioja, Belen (Catamarca) and Salta in the country’s north-west, split over five stages and a prologue on August 26 - September 1.

Price has dug deep this season to finish on the podiums at Dakar (2nd), Abu Dhabi (3rd), and Sonoro (3rd), and finds himself leading the world championship with two rounds remaining, seven points ahead of Husqvarna’s Argentinian rider Luciano Benavides.

The KTM rider is aiming for a second World title (2018) with KTM this season - his first in W2RC since it replaced the FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Championship as the pinnacle of the Motorbike rally world.

But aside from Luciano, one of his biggest tests may come from Kevin Benavides, Luciano’s brother and Price’s KTM teammate, who has previously won the Desafio Ruta 40 twice before, with Price having scored a podium (2nd) in his championship year prior to taking out the Rally du Maroc to seal the deal.

Unfortunately for Aussie fans, Daniel “Chucky” Sanders will be missing from the W2RC field after breaking his leg post his magnificent Sonoro Rally victory.

The GAS GAS rider is on the sidelines for an undisclosed amount of time after an accident whilst “having fun on the rally bike” in the Australian outback.

The Victorian had shown nothing but pure grit all season to be fifth in the championship, with his Sonoro win being his first in the highest echelon of W2RC. Aside from the Desafio Ruta 40 having been on the calendar between 2010-2018, Argentina was the head battleground for the world championship during those years, with the Dakar Rally also having taken place there between 2009-2018.

After a five year hiatus, it’s now back on the rally map with a 2,804 km

offering.

The Desafio Ruta 40 is named so because it takes place along the Ruta Nacional 40, passing through beautiful reserves, national parks and permanently snow-capped peaks, with it also being famous for Che Guevara having navigated it on a motorbike in his youth.

The 11th edition takes place on the northern reaches of the famous route, with the opening Prologue being held in La Rioja on 27 August Stage 1 heads to Belen, where the caravan will set up camp in the familiar

bivouac of the Dakar and previous editions of the DR40.

Three loop stages will then ensue from the village, before the run to the finish line takes a course further north for Salta, 500 kilometres away from the event’s beginning.

The terrain is heavily varied throughout, with dunes of all sizes, dried-up riverbeds, and salt flats among some of the challenges.

TW Neal

MCRAE’S MAIDEN ERC PODIUM ENDS IN THE DITCH

MAX MCRAE’S bid for a maiden European Rally Championship podium at the Czech Rally Zlin unfortunately ended up in a ditch in Pindula, a few kilometres short of the chequered flag.

McRae’s maiden ERC Junior season has seen the young Aussie come undone several times when he’s been in the lead - or in shot of a podium - and at Round 5 of the Junior ERC in the Czech Republic an error on the penultimate stage has cost him again.

The 19-year-old has more than shown he’s capable of challenging in Europe’s premier rally series, with a host of mechanical and driver errors having seen him come undone in critical stages.

The Czech Rally Zlin is one of the hardest tarmac events in world rally, and McRae and co-driver Mac Kierans were absolutely flying after heading into the first day in the lead.

The duo were largely in the top-three across all the stages through Saturday

and Sunday, as they kept their Opel Corsa Rally4 in touch with the more experienced German driver, 24-year-old Timo Schulz.

Although they were +51.1 seconds in arrears of Schulz heading into Stage 12, they had a 10 second buffer on third, and a +30 second gap to fourth.

Being less experienced on the tarmac, McRae used the last round in Rome as a learning curve toward Zlin, and it

had paid off with some blistering times before he encountered a slippery hairpin and understeered into a ditch.

“I’m gutted about this one. We were caught out by a slippery hairpin and went off the road,” said a disappointed McRae. “This one’s on me. We’d gone so well, we hadn’t been taking risks and we were looking really good for second place.

“I’m sorry for the whole The Racing

Factory team, I know how much preparation goes into an event like this and this isn’t the result anybody wanted.

“The speed we showed, the stages we won, they’re all positives. This has been one heck of a rookie year in the European Rally Championship, but we’ll keep fighting on. Like I said, I know Mac and I have the speed, I know we can do this, and I know our time will come.”

McRae and Kierans will be hoping that time comes on October 7-8, Hungary, in the Borsod-Abauj-Zemplen region in the country’s north-east - near the border of Slovakia.

It’ll be a third straight tarmac event to round out the season for McRae, and despite his absence from the podium, he and Kierans have shown strong glimpses of what’s to come in the future, racing against some of the worlds most experienced rally drivers and premier young talents.

TW Neal

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Above: SVG in the thick of it during Sunday’s NASCAR feature (note the car of Joey Logano going backwards in the background!) Image: JULES INGALL

KOSTECKI AND SVG SINGING SWEET HOME INDIANA

SHANE VAN GISBERGEN WAS BACK IN THE US FOR HIS RETURN BOUT WITH THE NASCAR FIELD, AND BRODIE KOSTECKI WAS ON DEBUT AT INDIANAPOLIS. BUT HOW DID THEY GO? ANDREW CLARKE LOOKS BEYOND THE HEADLINES TO SEE HOW THE PAIR REALLY WENT ...

INDIANAPOLIS IN Indiana in May is the centre of the motor racing world as more than 400,000 race fans converge on the 800,000 city. In August the influx was a little smaller, but two blokes from downunder made the journey and left a lasting impression.

For Shane van Gisbergen it was the return of the triumphant raider after smashing the NASCAR field in Chicago, while for Brodie Kostecki it was the fulfilment of a decade-long dream. The results were mixed too – van Gisbergen was inside the top 10 again as the American fascination with the Kiwi continued, while Brodie Kostecki snuck under the radar with an impressive debut in the toughest touring car series on the planet.

To some, Kostecki’s 22nd place finish was the more impressive performance and outshone the other interlopers on the road course race at the world’s most famous speedway.

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Two Kiwis and an Aussie – taking on the US establishment ...

Image: AIRTIME MEDIA The two antipodean racers were the only ‘international drivers’ to finish on the lead lap, German endurance racer Mike Rockenfeller claiming 24th, F1 World Champion Jenson Button was 28th and Japanese sportscar

driver Kamui Kobayashi was 33rd.

Rockenfeller and Button were two of the three drivers of the NASCAR at Le Mans.

US publication Autoweek termed the international influx ‘The van Gisbergen Effect’,

with the Kiwi’s win in Chicago opening eyes globally and raising hopes and creating opportunities for an army of international drivers with ambitions in NASCAR. Autoweek reported David Wilson, president of Toyota Racing Development, acknowledging the impact of van Gisbergen’s headline grabbing win in Chicago: “We’re talking about sharing seats globally,” he said. “We’ve never had those types of conversations before. It’s a reflection of the respect that the sport is getting. It’s a reflection of the respect TRD is getting relative to our investment and commitment to driver development and things like what’s happened with Shane and what’s going to be happening with Kamui.”

Van Gisbergen couldn’t match his heroics from Chicago, but Indianapolis was never going to be easy. His chance to run at Indianapolis was probably sealed when he

NEWS EXTRA Left: the ‘fly-in’ Aussie duo attracted a lot of media attention. Image: AIRTIME MEDIA. Below left: Aussie duo in close company – Kostecki heading van Gisbergen. Image: JULES INGALL. Below: Kostecki (33) gets the elbows out with NASCAR star Brad Keselowski. Image: MOTORSPORT IMAGES

qualified third for the Chicago Street Race.

Enhance Health’s Matt Hermann, who backed SVG in the Windy City, told Auto Action before the race in Chicago that he was going to run van Gisbergen more, and he was true to his word.

Running on the Indy road course, van Gisbergen qualified eight for the race and ran trouble-free to 10th in the 200 mile race. He had a few battles during the race and said later it was a great learning experience, while missing the highs of Chicago.

“I guess everyone’s expectations are high because of Chicago, but the top-10 is still awesome,” van Gisbergen said after the race. “Just had a ball with the PROJECT91 guys all week, and Enhance Health coming onboard – they were excited to be on board the Chevy. Just had a ball.

“The race was pretty tough; a lot more contact and pushing around and stuff.

I got pushed out of the way by Alex Bowman, but I blocked him, and then he pushed me straight away. Hey, I learned pretty quick not to block that early. It’s all part of it. I was enjoying it the whole time.”

Indianapolis confirmed his star status in the sport and virtually confirmed his acceptance on the grid next year as Trackhouse Racing works on a deal for 2024 which will most likely involve a combination of Cup Series, Xfinity and Trucks. His Truck Series debut on Friday night was another learning experience, his first paved oval track race and an important next step in his NASCAR future.

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After that race, he was beaming in a way we haven’t seen in Australia for a long time.

Almost sneaking under the radar was Kostecki. The Erebus driver actually cut his teeth racing in junior NASCAR categories nearly a decade ago and the deal to run with Richard Childress Racing in Indianapolis was set before van Gisbergen’s debut in Chicago.

Kostecki spent the week in Charlotte, taking all the RCR sessions on the Chevrolet simulator in a attempt to get up to speed. The first laps he turned inside the #33 car were the two laps he managed in practice before an issue ground him to a halt, robbing him of critical learning.

RCR’s Andrew Dickeson, whose friendship with Terry Wyhoon is a key to the developing relationship between RCR and Erebus, said the problem for Kostecki was throttle related and not quick to diagnose.

“One of the stops on the throttle pedal was backing out,” he said of the issue. “So, he went out there to make his first lap and then the throttle wouldn’t return to zero, it would stay 30 or 40%. Kind of like a stuck throttle, but not quite.

“It wasn’t allowing it to go back to zero and it’s not that easy to get in there and fix it or just obviously diagnose and fix ... it was just a cluster ...

“I think he made one lap in practice just to go out there and see the track and then

to roll right into qualifying and do what he did which was basically qualify 11th was incredibly impressive in his fourth ever lap in the #33 car.

“It was really impressive and he made a mistake the next lap but, you know, that’s okay, it happens. We have to take as much responsibility as anyone for that because we didn’t give him enough track time. He was probably just pressing a little bit too much to make that top 10.

“I didn’t see what the Gs were, but I didn’t think it was a particularly hard hit. I think he came up onto the banking and these cars are limited by bump stops on the shocks, and I believe it bottomed out on that left rear shock and then just took off. Honestly, we’d done the same thing on the simulator when we got too aggressive earlier in the week.

“It happens, but no one was actually mad.

It was probably more our fault for not giving him a car he could run laps in during practice.

“Honestly, if he gets a full practice he’d be qualifying right next to us in the #8 car – like, in the top five or thereabouts. I firmly believe he would have had a shot at pole if he had made it to the top 10.”

The crash landed Kostecki on the rear of the grid after he was switched to a spare chassis for the race, and by mid-race he had climbed to 15th when his crew chief took a gamble which could have won him the race.

With virtually the entire race running green, getting to the front was not going to be easy.

“I thought he drove a hell of a race. The #8 car lost a valve spring on lap 40 and started dying a slow death. Every 10 laps we’d lose another cylinder and with 10 laps to go the thing looked like it was about to die.

“He was running I think 15th or thereabouts when he came in by himself and put tyres on and went back out. I’m not sure if he understood at the time what we were trying to do because we were thinking as a company, that the #8 car was going to blow up, I’m surprised it didn’t blow up, and then Safety Car would come out and Brodie would have cycled to the lead because I believe everyone would have pitted.

“We sacrificed a top 15 finish just to try and place ourselves on the track to try for a shot at the win. We ended up costing him six or seven places, but that’s the kind of gambles you take when you’re doing this every week.

That’s how you manufacture something.

“I thought he drove a better racer than Shane. Shane was slowly falling back all day and kind-of fell to a spot and just plateaued, but Brodie was coming. I’m not biased by saying that; I thought he drove a better race, and if you read Shane’s comments, Shane wasn’t exactly happy with what he had to work with this weekend.”

Dickeson said the whole of RCR was impressed with Kostecki, not just because of what he did in Indianapolis, but also what he gave to the team in Charlotte. That said, he urges people to look past the results and look at how it all happened.

“Like I said, if Brodie has practice, I believe he makes a top-10 shootout and has a chance at the pole. Instead, he had his work cut out for him, but if we executed a clean weekend, I think it’s a different story – but everyone can tell those kind of stories.

“People that know what they’re looking at can see the bright spots. You don’t just look at the box score and say he finished 22nd or whatever it was, that it was average.

You’ve got to look and break it down and actually look at performance and braking performance and all the things the people that know, know what they’re looking at.

“When you do that, it was an impressive performance for sure.”

SVG (41) took on a Truck race to gain valuable race laps prior to the NASCAR event. Image: JULES INGALL

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CALDER PARK RACEWAY: THE COMEBACK IS REAL CALDER PARK’S REVIVAL IS WELL AND TRULY UNDER WAY FOLLOWING IT’S FIRST CIRCUIT RACE MEETING SINCE 2008. AUTO ACTION SPOKE TO SOME OF THE VITAL PLAYERS BEHIND THE SCENES OF ITS RETURN TO RACING. TIMOTHY W NEAL REPORTS …

IN NOVEMBER last year Auto Action officially broke the news that Calder Park Raceway was to re-emerge into the Victorian and national motorsport scene.

Owners and cousins Rodney and Kim Jane outlined their vision and plans that would see the track – once known as The Home of Australian Motorsport _ to slowly return to a viable motorsport facility.

In that interview Rodney Jane told Auto Action, “It’s early days, but we’re committed to returning the venue to a place that people will want to use.

“We will work in a timely manner, but this is a massive project that we are funding ourselves … it is going to be a slow and methodical process, but we are committed to making it happen.”

Knowing that the venue understandably needed a large clean-up after previous years of general disuse, and with money being tight, it was always going to be a big project that would take some time and effort from the small but dedicated team which was tasked with the possibility of a return to an active motorsport venue.

One of the first projects to tackle was to rejuvenate the drag racing precinct of the venue.

With input from ANDRA, the complete resurfacing of the

A strong grid of Hyundai Excel racers was on hand to christen Calder’s return. Image: STEVEN SCUKOVIC

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drag strip was started during the pandemic and completed in 2022. After spending a million dollars on the resurfacing, Calder now has regular ‘legal off-street’ drag racing events.

Once the drag strip work had been completed, the focus shifted to the Calder race circuit.

The circuit itself and the surface was generally in reasonable condition. But plenty of work has been required at the facility to regain its basic track licence from the AASA and final improvements are being made to see it approved at a national level by Motorsport Australia.

All the hard work to return the venue to a viable race circuit paid off on August 11-13 with the running of Round 3 of the Benalla Auto Club’s (BAC) Victorian Motor Racing Championships, sanctioned by the AASA. That was the first race meeting at Calder since 2008 (which was also a VMRC round) and, in addition to six categories that competed on the Calder Park National circuit, the weekend also saw Stock Cars return for some demonstration laps on the Thunderdome.

AA Publisher Bruce Williams was trackside at Calder for the VMRC round and spoke to Rodney Jane about the process and ongoing plans.

And despite the many cynics surrounding the likelihood

of Calder’s return, Jane was standing in the pit lane on Thunderdome with the throwback noise of Stock Cars filling the air.

“I’m really excited, I think it’s quite nostalgic, I haven’t seen NASCAR here for a long time, and it brings back a lot of memories. We grew up seeing NASCAR and AUSCAR and I’d love to see that come back.” Jane said.

“There’s always cynics, but the reality is I don’t really care what anyone says – it’s a family run venue and I grew up out here.

“Sure, it’s a long road back to where I want the venue to be – and at the same time there is a lot of competing interest and governing bodies wanting to build new racetracks and ignore this one that’s just 25km from the city!

“But give it time and we’ll slowly invest back into it and build it back up … we’re invested in getting motorsport back here.

“The venue loses a lot of money, so everything we do is out of pocket; hence we do it on a shoestring and spend where it’s important.

“We’re focusing on safety first and after we get that aspect right and the track surface right, we’ll slowly start to

NEWS EXTRA up around the place and having it look new and shiny again.

“There will also be some CCTV down on the Turns 1,2,3 complex near Bob’s Hill, which will make things better for race control.”

It means that Victoria can again boast a quartet of great race circuits with Sandown, Winton, Phillip Island, and now Calder up and running again. Compared to other states, it bodes well for the state’s racing fraternity.

Calder Park is unique in Australian, Rodney Jane (left) and venue Manager Rowan Harman. and indeed world motorsport terms, as it upgrade all the facilities. As we make money, we’ll just plug features Australia’s only paved and banked it straight back into rebuilding it slowly.

Superspeedway – the Thunderdome, a drag “Venue manager Rowan Harman is a big part of that. He strip, and three road course layouts, and is only gets the way I think and I’m really proud of the work that 25km from Melbourne’s CBD, making it the he, Brenton, and Ian, and all the guys out at Calder have ideal venue … as it always was. been putting in.

“There’s not too many places like it and it’s in “They just keep chipping away … such close proximity to Melbourne with a decent “An example of that is the improvement to the runamount of land, great access and plenty of off at the end of the back straight. Moving some of parking. The aim is to get all that up and running, the embankment was supposed to cost us some and just watch it progress.” Jane said. tremendous amount of money; he got a tip truck at an The VMRC round featured 2-Litre Sports auction, an excavator and a few guys and got it done Sedans, Victorian Excel Championship, Australian in three weeks and probably saved us hundreds of Hyper Racer Championship, Victorian Super TT thousands of dollars.” Jane said. and Stock Cars Australia Championship, which was Some of this work has centred around reinstating a big step in a steady process. adequate run-off areas at the ends of both main straights, Benella Auto Club general manager and the and some work is still to be completed ahead of a final AASA’s Stephen Whyte said the weekend was seen Motorsport Australia track license inspection. Rowan as a success on both fronts.

Harman filled AA in on some of the upcoming work.

“From the BAC and Winton perspective, we flagged “There’s obviously some rough edges we’ve got to a Calder Park round as something we wanted to clean up, but we set out last December to have an execute this year, and from that perspective it was a event with the Vic Motor Racing Championships by great success,” Whyte told AA. August, and we did it!

“We brought the entire team from Winton and the Now we are looking to get our full licensing from BAC – ie our officials – as a joint venture with Calder both MA and the AASA” Harman told AA. Park. It was important to get it done well on so many “We’ve had the go-ahead from the Vic State levels. series organisers for their October round as well, “Winton (BAC-owned) and Calder have a long history and we’ll be completing the gravel traps in the together, along with the Jane family of course, so it was next two to three weeks and also our conveyor important to have the two tracks working together again. belting; so as soon as that’s done, we can start And we were proud to be the first back and Calder and, working on the rougher edges, getting some paint to be honest, we wanted to be.

“From the AASA perspective there’s still some work to do and considering there’s going to be a national level event there in November (the Hi-Tec Oils SuperSeries) there’s continual work still needed.

“The track itself is totally functional, there’s still fresh gravel to go in at Turns 1 and 6 run-off areas, but the competitors have given us great feedback so, outside of that, it’s just aesthetic bits and pieces. And all that will be very achievable.”

On the timeline of Calder gaining the track licence from MA and the AASA, Jane said: “As you can see, we’re on the right path. We have a few more little bits to do and I don’t think it’s

far off at all. That’ll get more racing out here.”

From the competitors and the sprinkling of passionate fans that turned out to Calder for the VMRC event, the weekend certainly had an emotional undertone to it. That fact wasn’t lost on Harman, as he could see first-hand the fruits of his team’s hard labour.

“The racing was terrific over the weekend, and feedback from the competitors was amazing … all the people here at Calder are all very proud of what we’ve achieved,” Harman said.

“But one of the biggest buzzes was to see some NASCARs and AUSCARs rumbling around the Thunderdome – it really brought a smile to everyone’s faces.

“It was emotional and, although they weren’t going very fast, it brings back memories of how loud the place used to be …i t made the hairs on the back of the neck stand up a bit, that’s for sure.”

Whyte also got a healthy amount of feedback from the competitors across the board – new and old – and importantly, the reactions surrounding the state of the track were positive.

“It was very positive (the feedback); a lot of people had obviously seen Calder but hadn’t raced there, so there was a nice crossover of generations.

“There was a 30-strong field of Hyundai Excels who were racing there for the first time and a lot of older guys in the Super TT, stock cars and even some of the Hyper Racer guys.

“There wasn’t a single criticism of the track, or any questions around safety or how it operated or how the races were being run. My phone just blew up with positive responses after it was all done.

“So, from Calder’s perspective and the AASA’s perspective, it was just a positive and massive success.”

So, what’s to come at Calder for the remainder of 2023?

Aside from the track days and the almost bi-weekly street drag racing events, you can get down to Calder Park and see its circuit racing rebirth with your own eyes on October 27-29 for the final round of the Victorian State Race Series.

And then on November 30 - December 2, Calder’s first national level comeback will take place, bringing the TA2 Muscle Cars Series there for its final round, providing an awesome V8 spectacle as part of the finale of the Hi-Tec Oils SuperSeries.

The sight and sound of NASCARs filled the Thunderdome again – Calder’s greatest days could be back ... Above: Solid entries made for a great re-launch event.

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TARGA TASMANIA GOING IT ALONE FOR 2024 THE ON-AGAIN, OFF-AGAIN NATURE OF MOTORSPORT AUSTRALIA’S INVOLVEMENT AS THE SANCTIONING BODY COVERING TARGA TASMANIA IS OFF AGAIN, WITH TARGA AUSTRALIA TELLING AUTO ACTION IT HAS OTHER OPTIONS HEADING INTO THE 2024 EVENT – WHICH IS GOING AHEAD. AUTO ACTION PUBLISHER BRUCE WILLIAMS REPORTS ...

TARGA AUSTRALIA says the 2024 Targa Tasmania event is going ahead in 2024.

Its CEO, Mark Perry, says there are insurance options other than those from Motorsport Australia with regards to running the event, as there have been in the past.

Perry spoke with Auto Action about the current situation with Motorsport Australia (MA) and its slow response to the recommendations from its latest safety review report into deaths during recent events.

He says Targa has implemented all the previous recommendations in its sphere – not necessarily accepting them all but remaining committed to the process put in place by MA. He says what has frustrated his organisation and potential competitors has been the lengthy delays with this review combined with no interim plan to operate its events, as was the case after the 2021 review.

“We’ve got the support of the competitors, and we have brought them up to speed in recent weeks, because they have been largely forgotten about in this process.

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They’re members of Motorsport Australia, every single one of them, and this latest review will see the vast majority of current Targa competitors sadly leave the sport,” he said.

“We supported the process for a long time; however in recent weeks we’ve decided it’s important to speak regularly to our competitors and I think they have welcomed that. They are now seeing that we have been unable to alter the chosen direction of this review process.

“We are now 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.

It needs business partners that empower it to operate in a financially viable way.

Sadly, we don’t believe the latest review panel report will empower us to do that.

“Most people talk about MA and the AASA, but there are other options. Like every business you seek the services you need and we’re a very big international company.

We are scouring the world to find the best options to ensure Targa Tasmania runs next

year and continues to run successfully for many years to come.

The two reports are critical to the future of tarmac rallying events in this country, and Perry says the recommendations have all been considered. Seventeen of the 23 recommendations from the report handed down in 2021 were tasked to Targa Australia and all were implemented by Targa High Country in early 2022 according to Perry. The recommendations from the 2022 report have been seriously considered and responded to where Targa believes it was appropriate.

“The important point around not only the latest recommendations, but previous recommendations, is that Targa Australia has implemented every recommendation it was tasked with from the coronial inquest findings released in early 2016 outlining 26 recommendations and the extensive safety review undertaken by MA after the triple tragedy at Targa Tasmania 2021. In 2021, 17 of the 23 recommendations were tasked to Targa and all were implemented.”

The reports Perry refers to were handed down in 2016 (coronial inquest), 2021 and 2023, all dealing with the safety aspects of Targa Tasmania after fatalities. Two of the reports were prepared under the auspices of Motorsport Australia.

“The latest report contains 94 recommendations, which depends on how you add them up, with many of them already in place or able to be easily implemented in the future.

“We’ve not said that we would not implement any of those 94, which are tasked or allocated to us, remembering that many of these recommendations will require MA to implement them. There are a few key ones in there that cause concern for us, but we’ll deal with the others.

“The banning of a large amount of fully registrable road cars, the altering and shrinking of the traditional Targa course and reduction of the tour maximum speed to 110km/h, all severely impact Targa’s future viability in various ways.

“ ”

Right: Mark Perry, TARGA CEO. Below: Ceremonial start, Launceston, 1993. Above right: Snow at Mount Buller during the 2019 10th anniversary of TARGA High Country.

Images: ANGRYMAN/TARGA

“Targa has now run 60 tarmac rallies since 1992. It’s important that the full scale of those events is considered, when assessing safety outcomes. The key thing with time is to acknowledge that there’s hundreds of cars in every event, driving thousands of kilometres.

“One Targa Tasmania event clocks up more competitive kilometres than the entire Australian Rally Championship season if you multiply the cars taking part by the distances being competed over the event.

This perspective is important in the overall discussion to avoid over-reacting to the challenges we and the sport face.

“Our database is more than 10,000 and there’s more than 2,000 active participants in any given year. If you look at any competitor who has taken part in, say, the last seven or eight years, almost without exception, they have not accepted the recently released training and licencing model being implemented by a third party.

“We agree that increased training is vital – so do the competitors, but this plan won’t work, and it will see many competitors not being able to return to top level competition at Targa Tasmania for many years, again impacting heavily on the event's viability.

“We need to come up with workable solutions and this is where we’re working

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with the competitors and getting their feedback on how this training can be carried out in an effective way, to facilitate the outcomes while ensuring Targa can run its events.

“The training is being applied in a mandatory way, meaning competitors that have won multiple Targa events will need to complete this training before being allowed to compete.

"This has insulted many of our leading competitors and is not a requirement in any other rally or off-road category, which have sadly also had fatalities in recent years.

“Hence, why we’ve made this difficult decision after many years of enjoying a positive and close relationship with the MA management team. It wasn’t one taken lightly and to be perfectly honest, we held off as long as we could and ultimately had no choice but to make this decision at this time, to give Targa some hope of survival in the future.”

What he is talking about is the decision to break its ties with

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We’ve got the support of the competitors, and we have brought them up to speed in recent weeks ...

Motorsport Australia. Up until last year, Targa Australia had worked successfully with MA as its sanctioning body since a return from the AASA in mid-2011, to run its Targa events and to keep improving on the safety aspects.

Breaking ties with MA will allow it to frame a set of operational parameters which it believes deals appropriately with the recommendations of the past, while retaining an eye to the future.

The road book and a full traditional course for the 2024 Targa Tasmania has been released. With the support of the Tasmanian Government, which has extended its funding contract to at least 2028, Perry says the event will go ahead with all the appropriate changes in place after considering all the recommendations of the past.

“We’re doing everything we can to mitigate risk – we always have. I think there’s a belief in this day and age that risk needs to be totally eliminated, but that is a rabbit hole you will never come back from and an impossible outcome to fulfil.

“The reality is, Targa has an incredible safety record when you look at the whole scope and scale of our events over more than 30 years. We live in a time where some people feel they’re tasked to determine what other people can do with their lives. We don’t agree with them. People have a right to choose, and they should continue to have that right.

“Our role is to ensure that they can exercise their choices in the safest possible way and Targa has always operated with that clear mandate. Look at how much innovation has been implemented at Targa since 1992, often years before being mandated for rallying worldwide.”

The response to issuing the road book and the full course has been overwhelming,

which gives Perry and Targa Australia the motivation to forge ahead. The challenge now is to get all the things in place to run Targa Tasmania in April. Insurance is one of those challenges.

Fifteen years ago, there were more than 850 log-booked cars for Targa events. That number has now dwindled to less than 250, with the organic change that has come with younger people choosing the reduced-risk environment of the tours. This has seen tour numbers grow from less than 50 in 2011 to more than 300 at last year’s Targa Tasmania.

“Targa has continued to change organically over the years, but its beating heart must remain in spirited competition. This is what brings so many people to the tours – to be on the same piece of road on the same day as those who choose to compete. This is also why the traditional full-length course is so important.

“Who would come to Tasmania to drive on the same five short pieces of road outside of Launceston each day?” Perry asks.

The return of Targa Tasmania is just the start. The company's other events, Targa Great Barrier Reef in North Queensland and the Targa High Country in Victoria, cannot happen without Targa Tasmania.

The history of Targa Tasmania, he says, echoes the future. At the start, in 1992, it was largely self-run with several key committees in place to provide independent expertise and that there are no issues with this approach going forward – whoever Targa Australia affiliates itself with.

What is clear is that, barring anything unforeseen, it will run the 2024 Targa Tasmania as planned and with all the appropriate recommendations from the various reports being in place. Then it will look at reviving its other events in the back half of 2024.

Former Gold Star Champion Paul Stokell is among those to have enjoyed Targa success.

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INTERNATIONAL AUSSIES

MCELREA TAKES INDY NXT NAIL BITER HUNTER MCELREA has led all 35 laps at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course to take his first Indy NXT victory of the season.

The win from the Kiwi with strong Aussie racing roots elevates him into second on the table with four races left, just 33 points adrift of series leader Christian Rasmussen.

A consistent season from Hunter hadn’t brought the wins he enjoyed last year, but eight of his 10 races have seen him occupy the top-five and, after a solid P2 at Nashville the week prior, he’s well in the frame for both a championship and a promotion.

The Andretti Autosports driver is fighting for a possible seat in IndyCar next season, with the Indiana based team expected to undergo a silly season seat shuffle.

He took the win at IMS over teammate James Roe by just 0.437 seconds with Reece Gold taking third.

“That was the hardest race of my life,”

McElrea said. “From about Lap 15, I burned my rear tyres off. I think we probably favoured the qualifying car a bit much this weekend. I think it was a bit self-inflicted, but it (the car) was a handful. I was hanging on for dear life.”

His win also drew the ire of another teammate however as, early on, McElrea had to fight off embittered Brit Louis Foster, who had challenged him side-by-side into Turn 7, and kept on him throughout the race.

When Foster tried to dive inside for the lead on lap 27, the two made contact which forced the British driver into the kerbing, breaking his suspension. Hunter admitted he was “surprised by the contact”.

“I had nothing for Louis there. I hate to see that. He should have been fighting for the win the whole way. He was very fast.

It’s tough, man. I respect him a lot. It’s hard racing,” McElrea said of the incident.

Foster saw things otherwise, although it was impatience that realistically brought him undone considering he had a push-topass advantage.

“I went for a move and he turned in on me and I got damage, It’s the second time it’s happened with that driver, and I expected more space from a team-mate,” he said of the incident.

With Foster falling back through the field, it was then Roe who came hard for McElrea from an initial 6.781 second deficit. But when he got perilously close going into the final lap, Roe locked his tyres into Turn 1, giving McElrea the breathing space to just hang on for the final dance despite his tyres being truly cooked.

The next Indy NXT race is on August 26 at World Wide Technology Raceway (Gateway International Raceway), which will be the last oval race of the season.

TW Neal

McElrea heads the NXT field into Turn 1of the Indy Road Course.

Images: MOTORSPORT IMAGES

ARMSTRONG LEAVES USF TITLE GATE AJAR QUINN ARMSTRONG has taken his third win of the season in the USF Junior Indy feeder category.

The 16-year-old driver from Newcastle, NSW, has had a great year for the American DEForce Racing team after a partial campaign in 2022, and he now enters the final round of the season second in the standings.

After wins at Sebring and Mid Ohio (last round), Armstrong won the opening race after he annihilated the qualifying record at the Wisconsin track by over four seconds, earning him his first ever pole award in the bottom tier Indy feeder category.

After getting a great jump at the green flag, he was hauled in at Canada Corner

by Max Taylor but, after Armstrong struck back straight away, a caution flag had him holding P1.

After his two pursuers made contact at the green, the Aussie skipped away in his #16 Tatuus JR-23 for a 2.785s win.

“This win is massive. A win is always a big deal but when you can do two in a row, it builds on that confidence,” he said.

“I went into today knowing it was going to be a high-speed game of chess with the tow. The restart didn’t make it easy but we managed to pull a bit of a gap with some carnage behind and drove off.”

He couldn’t match his efforts in Race 2 and 3, and owing to his teammate and championship leader Nicolas Giaffone taking two podiums to his P5 and P8, the 68 point gap to the Brazilian might be a bridge too far for the three closers at COTA on August 24-27 - though at 30 points a win, he’s still a fighting chance.

TW Neal

O’HALLORAN SWEEPS THRUXTON FOR YAMAHA RECORD AUSSIE RIDER Jason O’Halloran has taken a dominant sweep of the British Superbike Championship round at Thruxton, as well as setting a BSB manufacturer record.

His 26th victory in the British championship in Race 3 was also his 25th on a Yamaha, breaking the English record for the Japanese manufacturer, surpassing three-time champion Niall Mackenzie.

After taking Race 1 from pole over Kawasaki rider Lee Jackson by 1.176s, he then topped Honda Rider Charlie Nesbitt by 1.591s to make it a double after dropping back to P10 on the opening lap.

The record clincher was a nail-biter however, as both Jackson and Nesbitt pushed him all the way after the Aussie came from the third row to pass both riders through Church in the closing stages, crossing the line just 0.213s ahead #14 Kawasaki Brit.

After five years with the McNAMS team

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and a couple of near championship tilts in 2020-21, the team announced that this year would be its final one in the championship.

The wins lift O’Halloran into third in the pointscore and, with 12 races left, there’s still time to haul in the 50.5 points

between him and Ducati’s Tommy Bridewell.

“Incredible weekend from start to finish; we topped every session except a wet P3 and I had a great feeling in the bike straight away,” the McAMS Yamaha racer.

“It’s all about strategy here and planning your races here …I can’t tell you how much the bike changes here – the tyres just go away so I saved a lot until the end, made sure I was in front and put my head down.

“Going to enjoy this one with the ups-and-downs we’ve had this year … obviously after last week when McAMS announced they aren’t continuing next year, we want to finish on a high, I’ve had an amazing five years with them.”

The next round sees O’Halloran head to his home away from home race at Cadwell Park in Lincolnshire on August 26-28.

TW Neal

MCFADDEN TURNS ON THE JACKSON JETS AUSSIE SPRINTCAR star James McFadden has swept the Jackson National Prelims at the Jackson Motorplex in Minnesota, claiming back-to-back World of Outlaws victories.

The #83 Roth Motorsports driver dominated the opening two days of the 45th annual event to take pole for the finale, in which he unfortunately came undone in after leading 26 of the 35 laps.

But his win over Donny Schatz in the Thursday night opener saw the NT Aussie claim his 10th WoO victory in his third fulltime season, where the 34-year-old has managed to double his all-time wins for a record of 10 trips to Victory lane.

His fifth win of this season alone also saw him enter the record books in the Toyota powered car, becoming the 49th driver in Series history to achieve 10 or more victories.

“Guys like Brad (Sweet), (David) Gravel, and Donny (Schatz) have been doing this deal a long time, and where you see those guys excel is the consistency,” McFadden said.

“We’re now notching the race wins and we’re constantly around the top 10. We just need to get a little more consistent, and I think we’ll be there battling with them.

“It’s an honour to be here racing. To get five wins this year is pretty cool. That was my goal at the start of the year – to get to 10 Outlaw wins. And we’re still here with a bunch of races still to go.”

He then added career win number 11 on the Friday with a statement victory, leading all 25 laps to take the chequered flag by 0.393 over Giovanni Scelzi with Carson Macedo a further two seconds back.

It was McFadden first back-to-back WoO victory in his career, and Roth’s 105th series victory.

“I’ve been close a couple times, but to go back-to-back is cool,” McFadden added.

“Big thanks to Dennis and Teresa Roth

for the opportunity. Hope you guys are pumped at home. It’s been a pretty cool weekend so far.

“It was tough to know where to run, I felt like I was really abusing my tyres and engine and car up there (on the high line), but we were good enough to get the job done.”

Come the finale, Macedo never let off the wing of the Aussie, but he was in control and was battling heavy lapped traffic well in the top lane, which also made it hard to get into the grippy parts of the track, resulting in an eventual P4 as Macedo took him in the centre lane.

“I had a really bad stumbling issue in the centre of the corner, and then when I got to lapped cars I couldn’t accelerate off the corner at all.

“I’m just happy with the weekend. You can’t be sad about two wins and a fourth.

It gives us good momentum leading into the next couple races and then obviously in California where Dennis and Teresa are

from and get to watch their car go around their home state. Excited to get there and see what happens.”

A third straight win would have written McFadden into the history books to become the first pilot to take three consecutive WoO wins at the same track since Danny Lasoski in 2003.

Two more victories and he’ll equal Brooke Tatnell as the second most

winningest Aussie in WoO history, whilst Kerry Madsen is top of the tree with 25.

Before the series heads to Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico California on September 7-9, McFadden will take on North Dakota on August 25-26, and Washington’s Skagit Speedway and Grays Harbor Raceway on Aug 31 Sept 4. TW Neal

BESWICK IMPRESSES ON US FPR OUTING YOUNG FORMULA Ford Aussie Eddie Beswick (pictured) traveled over to North America last month to take part in the Formula Race Promotions program at the Wisconsin and New Jersey rounds.

The Victorian Formula Ford Championship leader turned some heads in a field packed full of young talent as he flew to victories at both tracks.

The 18-year-old, who’s been a consistent performer in the National FF, was driving a new model Spectrum F1600 for the Australian Synergy Motorsports/Borland Racing Developments outfit, and was immediately a frontrunner in the 27-car field at Road America.

Beswick pinched Race 2 in a thriller by only 0.107s over US youngster Sebastian Mateo Naranjo, and carried that speed to New Jersey Motorsport Park with a close

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P2 in Race 2, before taking his second victory on tour by 0.369s Ayrton Houk.

Beswick’s future plans are to attend some USF PRO 2000 test sessions at the end of

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the year in a bid to join the starting rungs in the highly competitive Indy Feeder system; the first steps toward his goal of working up towards his goals of racing in IndyCar.

”Great experience, and it was close racing amongst my fellow competitors,” Beswick told Auto Action.

“It was interesting to get a feel about how they go racing in the states, and these lessons will only help me going into next year, hopefully in the USF PRO 2000.

“We were discussing our options with a couple of teams with the aim of testing around October/November, depending on budget.

“Big thanks to Justin Cotter of Synergy Motorsport for coming over and helping me and Mike Borland for a great car in the Spectrum 015.”

Keep an eye out for Beswick in the #30 Spectrum 014 at Phillip Island on September 22-24 for Round 6 of the Australian FF Series.

TW Neal

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INTERNATIONAL NEWS

CHAMPIONS OF EUROPE

Despite a rare error (bottom), Kiwi Paddon and his BRC team have tied up the European Rally Championship with one rally to go!

Images: MOTORSPORT IMAGES

NEW ZEALAND RALLY VETERANS HAYDEN PADDON AND CO-DRIVER JOHN KENNARD HAVE MADE HISTORY IN THE FIA EUROPEAN RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP, BECOMING THE FIRST NON-EUROPEAN TITLE HOLDERS IN ITS 70 YEAR HISTORY.

By Timothy W Neal AFTER 18 seasons as a successful pairing the veteran duo clinched the 2023 ERC championship, arguably their greatest achievement, with one round to spare at the Barum Czech Rally Zlin.

The South Moravian tarmac rally is notorious for its tight, twisty – at times grip-less – and bumpy roads, and the #2 Hyundai i20N pair had to rely on their expert recce skills as first-time competitors in Zlin, with the clear objective of staying safe … and ahead of Latvian driver Martin Sesks.

All was going to plan at the 200.4km rally, and they approached the final stages with their Skoda Rally2 rival having a difficult time In 13th place.

Things then got entirely nerve racking on Stage 9 when, after barely putting a scratch on their #2 i20N all season, Paddon’s car collected a tree whilst in fourth place with Sesks over 1:30 minutes in arrears at the time.

(It’s always a sinking feeling as a rally fan when you look at the time sheets and the driver you’re rooting for seemingly drops out of existence!)

Paddon was 9km into the Helenkovice test when he ran wide on a high-speed left hander before parking-up a few hundred metres down the road with an

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absent right-rear wheel.

It was a sole error in a near perfect season, and thankfully it wasn’t costly as Sesks would’ve had to climb to sixth and win the Power Stage to bring the challenge to the finale in Hungary, but the 23-year-old could do no better than P11.

“It’s a strange way to win it today with the troubles we’ve had, but we’re hugely proud of what we’ve done with the team,” Paddon said.

“We’ve had six good rallies and one bad one … sure, it wasn’t quite how we planned to secure the title, but in terms of championship wins this is our biggest achievement so far.

“It’s a season’s worth of work, not just one rally, here in Europe and back at home for John (Kennard) and me.

And what a season it was!

The year started with a resounding victory in Portugal, defeating Dane Mads Ostberg by 10.8s – the first winners of that event from the Southern Hemisphere.

The following four events was what really set up the title, as he captured a quartet of second place finishes starting at the Canary Islands in the Spanish archipelago.

Sesks then made his big move with back-to-back wins in Poland and at his home rally, comfortably topping Paddon on both occasions by 39.6s and 41.4s.

Rally Scandinavia then saw Paddon hit back with a fourth successive P2, falling to WRC2 championship leader Oliver Solberg, but 46 seconds ahead of Sesks which maintained him the overall lead.

A then season low third place at the extremely quick tarmac Rally di Roma Capitale – which featured the colosseum spectacularly in the background in the early stages – saw the stage set after Sesks recorded a DNF. Paddon Partnered up with the Italian BRC Racing Team to service his Hyundai this season, who kept the Rally2 moving with keen development.

“They’ve been incredible to work with, and they’ve worked non-stop on the car’s development; and huge thanks also to John Kennard, who’s made a big commitment to be part of this.”

Kennard, who was a part of Paddon’s sole WRC victory in Argentina, all his WRC2 wins and the NZ Rally Championship titles, say’s this one is was special.

“It’s right up there on the list of achievements. This rally is a special rally even in Czech,” Kennard said.

“It’s extremely challenging for everybody – the roads are bumpy, narrow, sometimes with gravel across the tarmac surface and sometimes muddy from damp conditions. It’s completely

different to anything else we do.

“It’s fantastic to have our supporters here this weekend and the car’s been fantastic too. We’ve been working with BRC Racing on the car all season and you can see the improvements from the time’s Hayden has been putting up.”

The pair will get to lift the coveted and historic Trophy at the end of the Rally Hungary finale on October 8-9.

THE ANZAC SPIRIT COLUMNIST WEST EXPLAINS WHY HE’S NOW AN SVG FAN

THE ANZAC spirit is alive and well in motorsport. And it’s never been stronger. Long may that continue.

I can’t think of another sport where Aussies actively follow the fortunes of our Kiwi cousins on the international stage. I can’t quite put my finger on why trans-Tasman emotions are stirred – it’s just that I know when an Australian can’t win overseas, I’ll cheer on the New Zealanders. If Will Power can’t win any given IndyCar race, the next best thing is Scott McLaughlin, Scott Dixon or Marcus Armstrong.

Being Sydney-born and bred I’m not 100 per cent sure if the opposite applies. Yet I’d like to think it does.

Do I care how New Zealand’s cricket, rugby league, soccer and netball teams fare? Nope. Odd, isn’t it?

The spirt of ANZAC – the Australia-New Zealand Autoracing Connection – dates back to the 1960s when Antipodeans headed to the old dart, be it drivers or mechanics, and found work and opportunities at teams in Pommyland courtesy of other Aussies or Kiwis. Think Jack Brabham opening the door for the likes of Bruce McLaren and Denny Hulme. And, later, McLaren employing Aussie crew for F1 and CanAm duty.

As an aside, ‘Antipodeans’ is such a bizarre word, deriving from the word ‘antipode’ meaning exact opposite. As in, the lands downunder are on the opposite side of the globe from the UK. It’s a terribly British expression, old boy.

Cheering on Kiwis overseas is a curious phenomenon, as I can’t say I’m a massive Shane van Gisbergen fan when the New Zealander races in Australia. In fact, each October my attitude is ‘anybody but van Gisbergen’ for the Bathurst win. Yet, put him in a NASCAR and I can’t get enough of SVG. I so badly want him to succeed in the United States.

Bizarre, huh?

Take the NASCAR/IndyCar doubleheader on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. I was prepared to lose sleep to watch Brodie Kostecki and SVG in the Cup Series race, the day after the victorious Dixie, Scotty Mac, Armstrong and Willy P ran in IndyCar. Dixon has now won a race in 19 consecutive seasons in America’s premier open-wheel series. Crazy stuff.

In Europe, I dig the old school ties that have bound Oscar Piastri to McLaren. Papaya is such a wonderful shade of orange.

At a time when our domestic premier category is, well, lacklustre, SVG’s NASCAR endeavours have been a breath of fresh air. I will unashamedly cheer on this supreme racing talent from our part of the world.

The Supercars category has lost its way and provides very little of interest to me these days, as it does to many long-time fans, so SVG’s emergence as a force in the US is a breath of fresh air.

What is it about Kiwis on the world stage that I can’t resist?

Seems like I’m not alone.

Go well young man.

SO THERE I was watching SVG and Brodie in the Verizon 200 Indy road-course NASCAR race

Our man West is now an unabashed SVG fan! Image: MOTORSPORT IMAGES

with Luke West

REVVED UP when Michael McDowell steals their thunder by winning his second ever Cup series race. His first was the 2021 Daytona 500.

Being addicted, like almost everybody else, to dicking around on my phone while I watch anything on television, I Googled McDowell’s name to learn more about him. Very interesting …

Turns out he has an open-wheel background. What’s more, he raced in Australia almost two decades ago. Fascinating…

McDowell raced in the 2005 Lexmark Indy 300 on the Gold Coast. I have a better memory of Lexmark dot matrix printers than I do of the Arizonan contesting the Surfers Paradise street race, when he started 16th and

finished 12th. This discovery sends me down an interweb rabbit hole of scanning Surfers results. I am reminded that a certain W. Power made his Gold Coast Indy debut that year, his race ending after 29 laps after contact, having started 11th for Team Australia.

I had forgotten that Australia’s most successful ever driver on the US scene had a total of four starts in the Gold Coast Indy event. Toowoomba’s finest export started on the pole for the subsequent three 300s, suffering misadventures each time. An Aussie starting on pole in the second biggest annual international motor racing event really should be better

remembered than it is. But I suppose the big Indy split of the era has taken the gloss off such memories.

I had also forgotten that the last Gold Coast Indy event featuring America’s open-wheel’s elite in 2008 was actually won by Ryan Briscoe, after Power (KV Racing), Brisbane-born Kiwi Scott Dixon (Chip Ganassi Racing) and Sydneysider Briscoe (Team Penske) locked out the first three spots on the grid. Looking back, that was an incredible achievement.

Incredibly, Dixon made his Surfers debut way back in 2001.

And 22 years later, the day before van Gisbergen and Kostecki raced at IMS in NASCAR, there he was still winning. Power was sixth.

Fifteen years after the last proper ‘Indy’ in Queensland, I can’t help feeling it’s a huge shame we missed hosting WP, Dixie and, more recently, Scotty Mac perform locally in their prime.

Imagine how big those events would have been.

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www.autoaction.com.au I 27

DRAG RACING NEWS

PERTH MOTORPLEX GM MAKES AGP SWITCH AFTER TWO transformative years in the role as GM of Perth Motorplex, Paul Trengove will take up a role with the Australian Grand Prix corporation.

Trengove will become the Senior Manager at the AGP Corporation, playing a pivotal role in the delivery of both the Australian Formula 1 and MotoGP events.

Beginning at the Perth Motorplex in 2020, Trengove was an instrumental part in the transition of the Motorplex from a state run government operated facility, to a privately owned and run venue with Evolve Facility Management, with the track even awarded the Speedway Australia Track of the Year award.

“By far the biggest challenges were throughout the COVID period. It was a massive challenge trying to navigate our way through restrictions and lock downs, while trying to deliver events and maintain financial viability,” Trengove explained.

“To see huge crowds return to the Motorplex week-on-week, and the exciting racing the venue has been able to offer ever since, has been extremely satisfying for me.

“I feel such great pride in what the Perth Motorplex team and I have been able to achieve in my time here since 2020.

“Each year I have seen incredible growth in every one of our many events in speedway, drag racing, burnouts and Motorvation.

“I am also very proud to have dedicated $1.5 million of funding toward capital improvements at the Motorplex in the last three years, with further projects already in place for 2023/24.

“To work with the staff at the Perth Motorplex has been a joy. Their expertise, experience and tireless effort in delivering over 90 events per season

is an amazing effort year on year, and I thank them wholeheartedly for their support and their friendship.”

ANDRA (Australian National Drag Racing Association) chairman, Nathan Peirano, applauded the achievements of Trengove and his team.

“Paul has been a fantastic leader for the Perth Motorplex throughout a tumultuous time for everyone involved in events and entertainment,” Peirano said.

“A look at his achievements across his almost three years at the Perth Motorplex clearly shows that he is a dedicated and

highly successful operator, who has done great things for the venue.

“While we are of course sad to see him go, we wish him all the best with this exciting new stage of his career and look forward to seeing what he achieves with the Australian Grand Prix Corporation.

“Evolve Facility Management will soon begin the recruitment process for Trengove’s successor, and we look forward to sharing with Australia’s drag racing community the outcome of that process at the appropriate time.”

TW Neal

THE FABIETTI ACDELCO MONARO IS BACK THE REVITALISED ACDelco Monaro Top Doorslammer that will contest in the newly formed NDRC this season broke cover at The Bend Dragway this weekend.

The car, run by the Fabietti Racing team, made an appearance as part of the pre-launch activity for the brand new Dragway at The Bend Motorsport Park which is due to open this October to much fanfare.

Driver Ronnie Palumbo will contest the season in the 3,500hp beast in the National Drag Racing Championship in 2023/24.

The car has a noted winning pedigree, winning the Top Doorslammer championship in 2017.

The unveiling of the revitalised Monaro and its return to competitive racing in October is also an emotional moment for the team at Fabietti Racing, and the perfect way to pay tribute to the late Sam Fenech, who tragically lost his life at the Willowbank Raceway in January driving the team’s new Camaro drag car.

Fenech himself used to race in the reinvigorated Monaro, and team owner Maurice Fabietti says the tribute has the blessing of Fenech’s family.

“The re-emergence of the ACDelco Monaro drag car is a fitting tribute to Sam Fenech, it’s a car he raced in himself,” Fabietti said.

“His family believe it’s the right thing to do, as that’s what he would have wanted. It’s an appropriate legacy to a sport he loved so much, and was himself such a big part of.”

The General Manager of Chevrolet Racing, Chris Payne, wished the team good luck for the upcoming championship.

“The ACDelco all-makes auto parts brand has been involved in the sport of drag racing and with the Fabietti team for 18 years,” said Payne.

“We’d like to wish the Fabietti Racing team and driver Ronnie Palumbo every success in the coming Championship.”

The brand new era of the National Drag Racing Championships kick off on October 21-22 at the newly constructed and world class facility, where the premier Top Fuel category will launch its season alongside the Top Doorslammers and Pro Stock Motorcycle, alongside the Western Conference.

TW Neal

NATIONAL SPORTSMANS CHAMPS FIRE UP THE FIRST Eastern Conference event of the Aeroflow National Sportsman Championship fired into life at Springmount Raceway last weekend.

Part of the newly established National Drag Racing Championship, competitors put the foot down in search for glory in Real Street, Super Street, Junior Dragster, Super Sedan, Performance Bike, Modified Bike and Top Sportsman at the North Queensland based circuit.

They were all chasing Christmas Tree trophies and Super Street put on a show, with Mike Pullella and Mark Peachey producing am exceptionally close double break-out race in the final.

The honours went to Pullella’s Holden Monaro, who said he had no idea who won.

“That was probably the best race I have ever had,” he said.

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Image: CALEB MONTIADIS-5TH FOCUS “It was a double break-out run and just the best, right to the end we had no idea who was going to get there first, it was anyone’s race.

“I am really glad he got the runner-up, he was a tough racer.”

There was more success for the “General” in Super Sedan as Daniel List and Anthony Mangano faced off for the Christmas Tree trophy. In the end List took the win in his Holden Torana.

Performance Bikes entertained the

two-wheel fans and Jon Mengel won in a solo final on his Suzuki GSXR1000, while Russell Bell won Modified Bikes.

Real Street produced a moment for the crowd to remember as local Barrine racer Kay Swenson driving a Ford Mustang was ecstatic to score bragging rights over her husband, Thomas Rowan, in the final.

Little separated the contenders in Top Sportsman, but it was Daniel Morris (pictured) and his Pontiac Grand Prix that was victorious over Tony Whyatt.

Junior Dragster honours went to Ned McQuade after facing off with Charli Nurzenski.

The Western Conference begins on September 16-17 with the Sunset Nationals before the next Eastern Conference round at Benaraby Dragway on October 7.

Thomas Miles

Two of the real characters of F1 have opened up in differing media ...

Image: MOTORSPORT IMAGES

JUST SEND IT THERE IS plenty of time for other things between Supercars racing meetings, which are still too few and far between, including the crazy excellence and excitement from MotoGP. Formula One, too, is good for Aussies with Oscar Piastri confirming his potential as a future world champion at McLaren and Daniel Ricciardo putting some impact into AlphaTauri after six contemplative months on the sidelines.

There is plenty of other motorsport stuff to fill those missing days and weeks, including two new personal favourites.

The first is Lucky and the second is Surviving to Drive.

In case you haven’t bumped into them, Lucky is a new video series on Stan and Surviving to Drive is an old-school print product, a book.

Lucky is the life story of Bernard Charles Ecclestone, now a 90-something firebrand and previously the ringmaster of Formula One. Surviving to Drive is a diary of the 2022 season in F1 by the sweary man – Guenther Steiner.

What’s good about them both

with Paul Gover

THE PG PERSPECTIVE is the reality and insight they provide.

Formula One racing has provided plenty of valueadded content in the time since Senna hit the big screen and revealed the behind-thescenes life of the mercurial Ayrton Senna, as well as his toxic rivalry with Alain Prost, with Drive to Survive doing the heavy lifting on streaming services and Foxtel since Liberty Media took control of F1 from – no surprise here – Bernie Ecclestone.

There have been other lesser efforts in more-recent times, including a documentary on the careers and rivalry between onetime Ferrari team-mates Gilles Villeneuve and Didier Pironi. It’s not a bad film, but over-long in places and also a vehicle for some simmering unhappiness from their surviving family members.

Still, it’s good to know that Pironi

named his twin sons Gilles and Didier.

A biopic on the late Frank Williams, produced by his daughter Clare, was pretty flat apart from revealing the family’s feelings about the obsessive character of Sir Frank.

But back to Lucky, which was hidden deep inside the British streaming system – although my great mate Nick found a way to get it – until it was picked up recently by Stan.

It’s now drawing plenty of fans on Stan, as it tells Ecclestone’s life story – as well as the history of F1 since the 1950s – in his own words. The staging is simple and effective as Bernie sits in a white shirt in front of a white backdrop and engages with the camera.

Apart from the story, which is told in Ecclestone’s quiet but intense style, the highlight is the vision.

Bernie still owns much of the original F1 footage, and the first episode includes film of him racing in Formula 3 at Brands Hatch – when the track ran anticlockwise, the reverse of today.

It’s a must-watch package for serious F1 fans and anyone with even a passing interest in the history of grand prix racing.

And then there is the Steiner book.

Any diary sets the potential scene for boring repetition, or a turgid listing of days and dates and results. Not this one.

Steiner writes when he has something worth saying, and that’s reflected in the timing of his posts. It can be 6am at times, or 11pm.

He can also be writing from home, or the Haas headquarters, or even a holiday villa.

His stuff is filled with his usual salty language – although ‘Fok’ has been used to protect some sensibilities – and some great stories and insights.

After the team’s failure at Monaco, when Mick Schumacher tore his Haas in half in a $1 million crash, Steiner’s reaction was simple.

“6pm. Too pissed off to type at

the moment. Tomorrow, maybe,” he said.

There are other insights and Steiner-isms to keep the story moving.

“It doesn’t matter who you are, perfection is only achieved by winning,” he said.

The book gives an insight into Guenther the man, from his start as a mechanic to working in the World Rally Championship, being head-hunted by Niki Lauda for Jaguar F1, to his successful pitch to Californian billionaire Gene Haas to start the F1 team.

“So what am I complaining about? Come on, Guenther.”

It’s a great read, full of fun and stories and insights and Steiner’s reaction – often hilarious – to his F1 fame. Like this insight from Monaco.

“One guy who wanted a selfie was wearing a shirt with nothing but my face on it. Seriously, half his body was completely covered in hundreds of little Guenther heads. It was foking horrifying!

Nobody want to see that, surely?

He should have been arrested really, and put in jail.”

So, as someone famous used to say, “Do yourself a favour” and get Steiner’s book and turn to Stan.

SVEN BURCHARTZ LIVES MOTORSPORTS LAWYER AND PARTNER

Know your position.

sburchartz@kkilawyers.com.au • Teams • Series owners • Manufacturers

T +613 8825 4800 kkilawyers.com.au

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR PUBLISHER

Bruce Williams bruce@autoaction.com.au 0418 349 555

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

Oakleigh Victoria 3166

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 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.

David Batchelor, John Lemm, Pete Trapnell , Toby Cooper

SOCIAL DISCOURSE With drivers taking on NASCAR, silly season going crazy and competitive action at The Bend, there were no shortage of talking points on Auto Action’s social media.

CALDER COMEBACK

Lee Nuttall IT WAS so good to drive around there and I even got a little air off the hill! Was one of the best events we have run at for a while.

Just a pleasure

FORMULA 1 Luis Vasconelos US CORRESPONDENT Mike Brudenell PHOTOGRAPHERS AUSTRALIA Mark Horsburgh-Edge Photography, Peter Norton-Epic Sports Photography, Ross Gibb Photography, Daniel Kalisz, Mick Oliver-MTR Images, Rebecca Hind-REVVED, David Batchelor, Randall Kilner, Richard Hathaway, Bruce Moxon, Ray Ritter, Ray Oliver, autopics.com. au Geoff Coulson Photography, Roy Meuronen Photography, Angryman Photography, Riccardo Benvenuti, Matthew Bissett-MJB Photography, Phil Wisewould Photography.

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ADVERTISING MANAGER Bruce Williams All Advertising inquiries bruce@autoaction.com.au 0418 349 555 Editorial contributions may be sent to Auto Action. No responsibility will be accepted for their safety. If you require the return of any sent item or items, please attach a separate, stamped and fully addressed envelope.

Auto Action is published by Action Media Partners ABN number 62976094459 Suite 4/156 Drummond Street Oakleigh Victoria 3166 Phone: 03 9563 2107 The trademark Auto Action is the sole property of Action Media Partners The website www.autoaction.com.au and associated social media platforms are wholly owned by Action Media Partners.

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AUTO ACTION WEBSITE

For more of the latest motorsport news, reviews and features, PLUS additional breaking news.

Go to autoaction.com.au or scan below

HOORAY FOR THE CALDER PARK COMEBACK WELL, WELL, well. Calder Park is open again. How good is that!

I spent a lot of my youth there watching all kinds of racing – on the road circuit, the Thunderdome and Top Fuel and Nitro Funny Car dragsters.

Have been driving past Calder Park for years thinking what a shame nothing was happening in there, telling my kids of the great days.

When I saw recently in Auto Action that there was going to be some activity there again on the weekend of August 12-13 I couldn’t wait to get along.

Great to see lots of race cars there, even if it wasn’t a full-scale race meeting.

The place looked a picture, although there is still more that could be done to restore Calder to its former glory.

Congratulations to Rodney Jane on his great intentions of resurrecting the venue and to Rowan Harman, who I heard is Rodney’s ‘arms and legs’ on the project.

It sounds as though they want to take it slowly and get the right permits to resume top-class racing, but it will be grouse if we can get back to that by, say, the summer of 2024-25.

Supercars should be doing everything it can to assist in the revival of this iconic venue and getting Calder Park back on its calendar ASAP. Steve Lawrence, Sunbury, Victoria

AVALON IDEA IS PIE IN THE SKY WHAT’S THIS bulltish about a $250 million race circuit at Avalon in Victoria?

Another misguided idea from CAMS (Editor’s note: the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport is now known as Motorsport Australia).

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I know the (Lindsay) Fox family operate the airport down there and that there is plenty of vacant land around it.

It is close to Geelong but almost an hour’s drive from Melbourne.

What sense is there in plonking a ‘Victorian Home of Motorsport’ there.

Shouldn’t the national motorsport body be thinking nationally rather parochially anyway?

I bet old Foxy isn’t contemplating spending $250 million of his own on this crazy idea.

So where’s the money going to come from? Victoria has already discarded the 2026 Commonwealth Games as too costly and The Sydney Morning Herald (and the Melbourne Age) say it’s going to report a $100 million loss on this year’s Grand Prix at Albert Park.

So I can’t see that there would be any bunnies out there prepared to throw money at this crap concept.

Why is $1.5 million even being spent on some supposed ‘feasibility study’?

I’ve seen on the internet somewhere that a track was designed for the vacant Avalon land a decade ago but never progressed. What makes a circuit there any more of a goer now?

It’s no closer to the populace and would only be a whole lot more costly than 10 years ago. If the starting point is $250 million, imagine what the final bill would be if there were ever any bunnies around to pay for it?

The Bend is an impressive net set-up, but it’s a long way from Adelaide. I’m all for new, permanent race tracks if they stack up, because we’ve lost too many over the years (Oran Park in particular, Amaroo Park, Adelaide International, Lakeside for any serious racing, Sandown is inevitably on borrowed time and Calder has been dormant a long time and I’m worried about

Wakefield Park), but this Avalon talk - and the cost - is too wacky for words.

Arthur Higgins, Penrith, NSW

READ TEA LEAVES, SUPERCARS, SOMETHING’S UP SUPERCARS NEEDS to do a thorough review of itself.

By the end of this season it will have lost its two best drivers of recent times, Shane Van Gisbergen and Scott McLaughlin.

America has enticed both of them, and that’s because they are terrific drivers – but both of them have been unhappy in Supercars.

It’s clear that SVG isn’t enamoured with Gen 3 and the politics associated with it, as I saw in your Auto Action edition #1867 the article ‘Politics drove McLaughlin out of Australia’.

Now both of these guys may well have gone or been recruited to race in America anyway because of their sheer talent, but alarm bells should be ringing at Supercars that both of them have been disgruntled.

Not that everything has to revolve around the drivers, or that they should always get their way when they grumble, but something is seriously wrong when two out-and-out champions like those guys can’t wait to flee the scene.

It’s natural that top drivers aspire to try other categories overseas, as Craig Lowndes has, or that young guys in karting or Formula Ford or whatever dream of Formula 1 and want to try their luck in Europe, but for mature Australian – and Australasian – drivers Supercars should be the pinnacle.

How many other guys in the field are disaffected with the category?

Supercars needs to take stock of itself.

Des Forrest, Mitcham, South Australia

Kurnell Sanders THAT IS great news. We need more permanent tracks in Australia so up-and-coming racers can race at a state level.

Daniel Webster I RACED there on the weekend and it was great fun! Sure the place needs more work but it was still enjoyable to race on such an iconic circuit for the first time.

Can’t wait to go back!

Daniel van der Heyden Was so fitting to have the Stock Cars run the first race after so many years. Well done to all involved to make it happen.

AASA, VMRC, Calder park and of corse all the volunteers.

Thank you

BROWN TO TRIPLE EIGHT

Geoff Hewitt I HAVE a much better attitude to Erebus now and really think Barry has matured. I applaud Betty for not standing in Will’s way and not turning this move into a circus.

Bring on 2024.

Brad Currie I THINK young Brown has made a good long term career move and he and Feeney will be leaders for the next 10 years.

SVG AND KOSTECKI AT INDY

Travis Fuller BEST OF luck to Shane for next year. I can see him becoming a Cup champion in a couple of years. As the Trackhouse owner said, give him time to learn properly and he will be fighting for wins.

Rick Howard HE SHOULD be happy as this is a solid top 10 in one of the major NASCAR events. Brodie also did a great job Getting 22nd is a genuine finish from last.

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WHY MASSA’S LEGAL PUSH PUZZLES ME Image: MOTORSPORT IMAGES WHEN FELIPE Massa loosely mentioned he was considering taking legal action against the FIA and Formula 1, I have to admit I didn’t think much of it.

Massa is taking action on the basis that both the FIA and F1 for failed to act as soon as Max Mosley and Bernie Ecclestone had been made aware of the scheme put together by the Renault team management to force a Safety Car period early on in the race (to help Fernando Alonso win the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix) After all, the events dated from nearly 15 years ago. It’s legally impossible to change or cancel the results of that race, so the championship outcome will never change – Lewis Hamilton will remain as the 2008 World Champion and Felipe Massa as the valiant runner-up, ending the season with a dominant win in his home Grand Prix.

According to the letter sent by the Brazilian’s legal representatives to the FIA and to Formula 1 (read separate story) the former Ferrari driver is seeking financial compensation for loss of income, including success bonuses, but is not

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with Luis Vasconcelos

F1 INSIDER trying to overturn the results of the Marina Bay race or the 2008 World Championship.

Considering Felipe Massa is a very well-off man, after spending 15 years as a Formula 1 driver, and doesn’t seem to have expensive tastes, it’s difficult to figure out the man and to think money is his only motivation for the legal case he’s threatening to start against the FIA and Formula 1.

What’s more, his case seems to be based solely on an interview 92-year-old Bernie Ecclestone gave a few months ago, in which he admitted knowing Nelson Piquet Jr. had crashed on purpose, immediately after Alonso pitted and refuelled, to cause the Safety Car period that helped the Spaniard move from last to first – as all other drivers had to drive slowly into the pit lane, refuel and get new tyres,

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while he was still going at racing speed, or almost.

With Max Mosley and Charlie Whiting – the other two people outside Renault and the Piquet family that allegedly knew about the whole rotten affair before the end of the 2008 World Championship – already dead, there’s no-one else to corroborate Ecclestone’s version.

And, obviously, having realised what is happening now, the man who made Formula 1 a worldwide success has already stated he doesn’t even remember giving such an interview, a few months ago, let alone events that date from 15 years ago …

Now, one thing is knowing something was done, another thing is having the means to prove it. According to statements they made in the years after the events, Whiting was told

by Nelson Piquet Sr. about

everything that was done by Briatore, Symonds and Piquet Jr. in Singapore during that year’s Brazilian Grand Prix and reported it to Mosley. Both men quickly told the three-times World Champion they needed his son to testify to the FIA before they could do anything, but as the young Brazilian was staying with Renault for 2009 he turned down the invitation, so Mosley’s hands were tied (and not in the way he allegedly enjoyed …).

Even the Piquet duo has recently explained it was only after Junior was fired by Flavio Briatore just after the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix that they called Mosley, testified against Renault, Briatore and Symonds ... and the rest is history. By then the 2008 championship results were homologated and final, so there was actually nothing the FIA could have done to help Massa win the title. And even if Piquet Jr. had testified at the end of the 2008 season, it’s highly unlikely the Singapore Grand Prix results would have been cancelled, for that would have affected a lot of teams and drivers that had done nothing wrong.

The most likely scenario would have been for Alonso and Renault to be thrown out of the classification of that race and that would only move Hamilton one position up, into second place, handing him two extra points, while Massa, having retired after a massive blunder by Ferrari in the pits, would gain nothing.

Given Massa’s close links with Stefano Domenicali, the conspiracy theorists in the F1 paddock believe he’s helping the Italian in his ongoing war for power against the FIA President. Knowing the Brazilian relatively well and trusting he’s an honorable man, as he demonstrated throughout his career, I find it very hard to see things that way – but I have to admit I’m puzzled by his recent moves.

Time will tell what he’ll achieve, if anything, and what consequences this threat of legal action will have for the FIA and Formula 1 – and for Felipe’s own future in the sport as well, as he’s currently a paid ambassador for Formula 1, together with Hakkinen, Villeneuve and Alesi, and seems to be biting the hand that is currently feeding him.

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FORMULA 1 NEWS – LUIS VASCONCELOS

MASSA SEEKS COMPENSATION FOR 2008 TITLE LOSS

FELIPE MASSA has moved one step closer to taking Formula 1 and the FIA to court as he seeks financial compensation for losing the 2008 Formula 1 World Championship.

The Brazilian believes the results of the Singapore Grand Prix should have been cancelled, as Fernando Alonso’s win came as a direct consequence of a deliberate crash by his team-mate Nelson Piquet Jr., with Massa retiring after a blunder from the Ferrari pit crew saw him leaving the Scuderia’s pit bay with the fuel hose still attached to his car.

An interview given by 92-year-old Bernie Ecclestone early this year, saw the former Formula 1 mastermind admit that both then FIA president Max Mosley and himself knew about the scheme put together by the Renault team before the end of the 2008 season, but decided not

to take any action to avoid the inevitable chaos that would come from it.

It’s worth remembering that one year earlier Mosley had got McLaren kicked out of the Constructors’ Championship and imposed a US$100 million fine on the British team for industrial espionage on Ferrari. It was a legal case that would almost certainly have ended up with the Federation being found at fault – only being avoided by Mercedes-Benz, who quickly decided to buy its own team and cut ties with Ron Dennis and his team.

Having mentioned his intention of seeking compensation for the lost title, Massa has now sent a Letter Before Claim to the FIA and Formula 1, in which it’s set the details of the case the Brazilian intends to pursue in court.

According to the document, that was partially divulged by Reuters, Felipe Massa’s legal team claims he was “the victim of a conspiracy,” going on to accuse the FIA and Formula 1 of deliberately failing to take action even after becoming aware of the case, their motive being to “avoid a scandal,” the end result being the results of the Singapore Grand Prix stood and Massa not only lost the title to Lewis Hamilton by one point but also missed out a lot of money in lost earnings and bonuses.

The letter goes on to claim that, “simply put, Mr. Massa is the rightful 2008 Drivers’ Champion, and Formula 1 and the FIA deliberately ignored the misconduct that cheated him out of that title.”

It’s then stated that, “Mr. Massa is unable to fully quantify his losses at this stage but estimates that they are likely

to exceed tens of millions of Euros. This amount does not cover the serious moral and reputational losses suffered by Mr. Massa.” According to the letter, Formula 1 and the FIA have now two weeks to send a “significant response”, otherwise his legal team will start legal proceedings.

Contacted by Reuters, Ecclestone now claims, “I don’t remember any of this, to be honest. I don’t remember giving the interview, for sure.” So in the case that he’s called by the FIA to testify he’ll certainly play the “too old to remember” card he’s been using in the court case brought against him in the UK for alleged tax evasion. With Mosley and Charlie Whiting both gone now, Ecclestone’s testimony would be crucial to prove intent by the FIA and Formula 1 to ignore Renault’s scheme, so the case could be a hard one to prove.

Nelson Piquet Jnr steps from the wreck of his deliberately crashed – on team orders – Renault, during the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix. Images: MOTORSPORT IMAGES

SZAFNAUER LASHES OUT AGAINST RENAULT MANAGEMENT OUSTED ALPINE Team Principal Otmar Szafnauer hasn’t wasted time since his abrupt departure from the French team and has openly lashed out at Luca di Meo and his management team in the Renault Group, insisting they “have an unrealistic timeline” to achieve success in the sport, a consequence, according to the American, of a “lack of understanding” of what it takes to reach the top in Formula 1.

In an interview with SiriusXM, Szafnauer explained that, “the parent company wanted to have a lot of control in a lot of areas of the racing team, more than I’ve ever seen before”, going on to exemplify that, “the commercial area, the marketing area, Human Resources, the Finance and Communication departments ... they all reported around me, not to me, to somebody else in the bigger organisation, and they all act like a Navy, taking their time to make decision and in Formula 1 we have to be pirates in order to win.

That’s not OK at all, because if you’re going to hire somebody and you’ve got to get a contract out within a day, because that’s what we do in Formula 1, you can’t take two weeks.”

Still, the Romania-born veteran admitted that, “I was able to convince quite a few people in areas that we needed to bolster, but unfortunately they were to come, some in the autumn of 2023, most of them mid 2024 and some of them in 2025, and that’s what I try to explain to the management.

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I said, ‘look, it’s happening, it’s coming’ and sometimes you take a half step backwards to take two forward.” Arriving from a team that was going through a huge expansion, as Aston Martin became Lawrence Stroll’s team name, Szafnauer found that “there are pockets of the organisation that the skill level is at a very elementary level and that’s because the people they have there were college graduates, for example, as opposed to somebody with 25 years of knowledge. It was in those areas that I started to recruit, but the best in Formula 1 are usually on long-term contracts – at least three years.”

For Szafnauer, “the senior management at Renault, CEO Luca de Meo, as everyone does in F1, wants success instantly and unfortunately, that’s not how it works in Formula 1. But they wanted to do it faster than is possible and I couldn’t agree to an unrealistic timeline because if you do that, it’s only a matter of time and everyone gets frustrated, so I laid out a very realistic and possible plan and I think they wanted to shortcut that plan with somebody else.”

He went on to state his belief that, “they just didn’t have that understanding. Either it was impatience or it was emotion, but definitely they had no understanding and unfortunately that’s what it takes and that’s what they’ll find moving forward.”

Criticism of the abrupt changes made in Alpine’s Formula

1 team hasn’t really slowed down during the sport’s summer shutdown – from Alain Prost to Eddie Jordan, from Olivier Panis to Cyril Abiteboul, and some former members of the team have also lashed out against Alan Permane, who also left the team after 34 years of service.

The effects of the changes will only become apparent when next year’s A524 hits the track during the pre-season Bahrain test scheduled for the third week of February of 2024.

SCAN HERE TO ACCESS OUR COMPREHENSIVE FORMULA1 EVENT PREVIEW

ANDRETTI STILL WAITING FOR FIA DECISION VASSEUR MAKES IT CLEAR “BOP IS NOT RIGHT FOR F1” THE FIA’S opening to allow Alpine to catch up its rivals in the Power Unit front, after analysis done by its technical department showed there’s a gap of over two per cent in the power output of the three stronger manufacturers – Honda, Mercedes and Ferrari – when compared to the French V6, led the team now led by Bruno Famin to propose they would get a better fuel flow rate for the Internal Combustion Engine, to recover from their disadvantage.

The proposal was quickly rebuffed by all manufacturer’s representatives during the Spa-Francorchamps meeting of the Formula One Commission, with the matter being sent to the Power Unit Advisory Committee for further analysis.

Asked about the reasons for this quick rebuff of Alpine’s request, Ferrari Team Principal Frédéric Vasseur reminded us that, “when we decided to freeze the engine, we considered that in exceptional circumstances we could try to find a way to support the guy who would be completely out of the range.”

But he then pointed out that, “I’m not sure that Renault is so far away, because we don’t have the same numbers as Renault has showed to the FIA. And it’s the first time that my engineers are pessimistic compared to the other ones...” he added, hinting that the Italian engineers believe Alpine is underselling its real performance to try and gain an advantage.”

Whatever the situation, Vasseur has made it clear that, “if we have to do something, it can’t be by adjusting their fuel flow. We have to have the same approach that we have with the windtunnel allocation. The guy who finishes the Constructors’ Championship in P10 is given more time into the windtunnel; it is not that he is allowed to run its cars 10 kilos lighter than the rest of us, right? You’re not given performance, you’re given the means to get that performance – and that’s a completely different thing.”

For the Frenchman, if you allow the team, or the PU manufacturer, to develop that’s fair and you’re not gifting him an advantage, because if we do that, then it would be the start of a ‘balance of performance’ and that would be the end of Formula 1. “ This is the pinnacle of motor racing and only the best should compete at this level, so if you’re given more wind tunnel time, more CFD capacity, more dyno time or whatever, you’re already being given the means to improve your chassis or your Power Unit more than the others and then you have to be competent enough to make the best out of that extra time and capacity you’re handed, to catch up with the best ones. Anything else, simply isn’t Formula 1”, the Ferrari boss concluded.

Nikita Mazepin with his Father Dmitry Mazepin, with Dmitry Kozak, Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, on the grid during the Russian GP at Sochi, 2018.

Rumours link the Mazepins with aspiring F1 team Hitech ...

THE FIA is taking its time to announce which companies have applied for entries in Formula 1, after letting the expected timeline for revealing the candidates to the 11th and 12th slots on the grid elapse without making any information available.

Even the teams that have applied for those entries expected to be notified of the success of their applications by July 31 but that date came and went without any information coming from the Federation.

While Andretti and Hitech have been mentioned as the most likely candidates to get the nod from the FIA, the British team’s application has raised concerns in Paris – the sale of a 25% stake in the team to Kazakhiztan richest man, Vladimir Kim, is believed to be a cover for the fact that Dmitry Mazepin (Nikita’s father and a man with such close links to Vladimir Putin that he’s on the list of people sanctioned by the European Union, the United States

and many other countries), would still be, through an investment fund based in Dubai, the real owner of the team run by Oliver Oakes.

Until the FIA gets to the bottom of who really owns what at Hitech, the new team’s selection process won’t be finished, according to sources from Paris, as the last thing Mohammed ben Sulayem wants the Federation to be involved in, is a legal battle with the EU or the USA. According to sources close to the Federation, at least eight companies applied for a slot on the 2026 Formula 1 grid, but it’s not certain all of them have submitted the required paperwork and, even less, presented an impressive enough dossier to be considered as potential candidates to join the current 10 teams on the grid, in the future.

The increase of the number of teams allowed to compete is also a bone of contention between the Federation, on

one side, and Formula 1 and the 10 existing teams, on the other. That’s because, under the latest commercial agreement that runs the sport, commonly known as Concorde Agreement, the division of the prize fund is no longer limited to the 10 best teams in the previous year’s championship (as it was always the case during the nearly 40 years in which Ecclestone ran the sport), but by all competing teams, the percentages of the “success prize” handed to each team changing according to the number of squads that are competing.

That means that even if the new teams finish 11th and 12th in the championship, they’ll collect a significant amount of prize money, particularly from the “fixed prize” column, where a part of the sports’ profits are equally split between all teams ... which is the prime reason the current teams are dead against having any new players in the field.

BEARMAN TO HAVE F1 DEBUT WITH HAAS IN AUSTIN FORMULA 2 front-runner Oliver Bearman (right) has now firmly established himself as the best prospect the Ferrari Driver Academy has to become the Scuderia’s next junior driver in Formula 1, and is set to have his Grand Prix debut at the end of October, when he’ll drive a Haas VF-23 during FP1 for the United States Grand Prix, at Austin’s Circuit of the Americas.

Bearman’s progression through the ranks has surprised even the FDA management and he’s quickly moved ahead of Arthur Leclerc as their biggest hope to make it into Formula 1 in the next couple of years. After a successful career in karting, the British driver moved up to Formula 4 in 2021 and promptly won both the German and the Italian championships, so his promotion to Formula 3 was inevitable. But whereas Ferrari had planned a two-year stay for Bearman in that category, as the more experienced Leclerc was their hope for the 2022 Formula 3 title, the Brit completely outshone the more experienced driver, finishing third, behind Victor Martins and Zane Maloney, while the

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Monegasque was only sixth. With nothing else to prove, Bearman was promoted to Formula 2, again on a two-year plan, remaining with Prema Powerteam, as it had been the case in the previous categories he raced in.

At the start of the summer break the British driver is sixth

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in the standings, with 102 points, but has already won two Feature races – in Baku and Barcelona – his double win in Azerbaijan being one for the record books as he became only the sixth driver, since the creation of this format for GP2 in 2005, to achieve such an impressive feat.

While realistically Bearman could still finish third in the Formula 2 championship, Ferrari wants to keep him in the category for another year, even if he’ll have enough Superlicence points to move to Formula 1. But with the drivers’ market for 2024 being almost shut and the Brit being only 18 years old, Ferrari’s plan is to keep him with Prema for next year, targeting the title, before trying to find him a race seat in Formula 1 for 2025, when many, many seats will be up for grabs.

For now, Bearman’s preparations will take a step in the right direction, as he’ll be having his first taste of current Formula 1 power with Haas in Austin and is set to have another run, possibly with the Scuderia, at the end-of-season Pirelli test in Abu Dhabi.

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NO SMALL EFFORT

AUSTRALIAN ENGINEER JAMES SMALL WON BATHURST IN 2013 AS AN ENGINEER WITH FORD PERFORMANCE RACING. NOW, AFTER NEARLY 10 YEARS STATESIDE, HE HAS HIS SIGHTS ON WINNING THE NASCAR CAR CUP SERIES AS A CREW CHIEF. ANDREW CLARKE CAUGHT UP WITH SMALL IN NASHVILLE ...

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Images: MOTORSPORT IMAGES, ANDREW CLARKE

Truex leads the feild at Talladega. Crew chief Small (above) runs the show. Left: The close rapport between driver and engineer – winners at Richmond ...

JAMES SMALL has developed one of those funny accents, a bit like Keith Urban. It has enough Aussie to know where he’s from, but it is developing a southern drawl that tells you where he is.

Now the crew chief for Martin Truex Junior NASCAR and one of the favourites to take the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series, Small could add the biggest prize in tin-tops (these new NASCARs are more touring car or GT than Stock Car) to his 2013 Bathurst win.

No other engineer has won both.

For Small, the journey has been one that took him from the driver’s seat onto the other side of the headphones.

But even when doing Supercars and guiding Mark Winterbottom to his Bathurst win, he had a hankering desire for NASCAR that developed in him as a kid.

2007, celebrating victory with Lee Holdsworth and the GRM team, a young Small in the centre with the grey jacket. Below left: Mark Winterbottom and Steve Richards ... Bathurst 2013 winners ...

“ ”

There was a point there where I was going to race in the development series for Larry [Perkins] ...

His father, Les, also a Bathurst winner, was an engine builder for the burgeoning NASCAR scene in Australia and fuelled the passion in his son.

“I’d always wanted to go overseas,” he said from the #19 hauler at Nashville. “Growing up as a huge fan of NASCAR, and my dad, Les, was heavily involved when it all started back in Australia, and they came over here a lot of times and we raced with Alan Grice.

“From that point on, from when I was five years old, I was watching and living and breathing NASCAR. It was just something that I always wanted to do. But I first wanted to accomplish something in Australia, which was winning Bathurst. Once I did that, I knew I could go.”

Oran Park, 2007 – first Supercars round win, with GRM and Lee Holdsworth. Above: Checking the data with Martin Truex Jnr.

Addressing the team after a race win.

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His unique journey to the top of the NASCAR tree started as a driver who wasn’t too bad, but he ran out of money. In 2006 he finished an engineering degree at university and had to work out what he was doing.

“There was a point there where I was going to race in the development series for Larry [Perkins], and everything was lined up for that. I was going to race Bathurst as a co-driver, but it all fell apart. In early January 2007, at that point, I finished school, and I was like, ‘I need to get a fucking job’.

“I saw Garry Rogers had a job advertised for a race engineer, so I rang Garry. He knew who I was, and he was willing to take a chance, and he set me up for where I am. He gave me a job when a lot of people questioned it.

“I was 23 years-old and straight in as Lee Holdsworth’s race engineer on the #33 Car. We went to the first test at Winton that year.

We tried a lot of different things and the ideas I had after looking at what they’d done. There were a few arguments and heated debates between me with people that had worked there for a little bit. But they were really good with me.”

From the outside, it looked like a giant challenge at the time. But he said it wasn’t that tough – given he had experience driving the cars in tests and the like, he was able to take that view and feeling and roll it into the engineering. That was only for one year, though, and despite the offer of an endurance

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THE DRIVER’S VIEW MARTIN TRUEX Junior from Mayetta, New Jersey, is the 2017 NASCAR Cup Series champion and appears in NASCAR’s ‘official’ 75 Greatest Drivers list. Small has been his crew chief since the 2020 season, and they have shared seven wins and currently lead the 2023 title race.

He’s a fan of Small and had no qualms when the team at Joe Gibbs Racing said the Australian would be his crew chief for 2020 and beyond.

“Honestly, I think James is a really smart guy first off and most importantly, but his work ethic and drive to be the best and win every weekend is second to none,” Truex says of his crew chief.

“He’s relentless. He’s a grinder. He’ll do whatever it takes. He’ll work 24/7 and gets everybody on the same page in a great way, fires them up, and keeps them motivated.

“He has a lot of great qualities for a crew chief, especially in this day and age where you have to try to outwork the guys you’re racing against to be able to beat them.

“Other than that, he is really hard to understand on the radio, and he gets pretty fired up. He’s been my engineer for a while, and I knew he was cut out for the job. It’s a lot of fun working with him. He’s doing a great job.

“He’s also one of the only people I know that cusses more than me.”

He said the relationship between him and Small is growing with each race, and now they are in a great position to race for the title in the play-offs.

Pit strategy is the key to success in NASCAR Small as crew chief has complete control over the calls. drive he felt he had to decide whether he was a driver or an engineer. He decided on the latter.

He joined Paul Morris Motorsport for a bit, and they didn’t lack for resources or ideas. They even went to the States for a shaker rig test for the cars. After that, it was Ford Performance Racing, and in 2012 he nearly won Bathurst with David Reynolds.

“We were close in 2012 with David Reynolds and Canto. I’m still mad at Dave for not trying to pass Jamie on the last lap because there’s only one 50th anniversary at Bathurst and we could have won it.

“Then, the year after, we had such a great day with Mark and Richo. That was an

awesome race to win with a lot of those people. So many people there had been in that organisation from the Glenn Seton days and everything like that. It still makes the hair stand up on my neck right now, just talking about it.

“That was a lifelong dream, and I wanted to do that. My dad won that race, and I wanted to make sure I did that, and it all worked out.”

By the end of that year, he was gone. He started with Richard Childress Racing and was straight into its travelling crew. He didn’t want to just be in the shop – which was the case with the other options he had.

“I had some other job offers where I could have worked in a shop, and I could have gone and done IndyCar as well, but I really wanted

to do NASCAR, and I wanted to be on the road. I came over here with the goal of being a crew chief, and I set myself five years … I think I did it in six.

“It’s very different here. Even Charlotte has changed a lot, but we were living in WinstonSalem. You come from Melbourne, a big city of three million people at the time, into this little town with 150,000 to 200,000 people.

“My wife [Kat] and I moved over here in 2013, and it was hard for the first two years, definitely. We questioned if we should go back. Culturally, that team was a little different and it was hard. I was lucky I was on one of the good cars with a good group of people. But it just didn’t feel like home. I had opportunities to go to Europe and back

Chicago in July – a rare ‘miss’ for the Truex car ... Above right: From circuit driver chat to workshop, James Small’s role is almost 24/7 – but he wouldn’t change a thing ...

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to Australia and almost did, and I’m glad we didn’t.

“Halfway through my third year at RCR, I knew that I could go to Furniture Row [Racing] in Denver to work on the #77 in 2017. That kind of kept us going. We’d been to Denver quite a lot, my brother had lived there for a little bit and once we got to Denver, everything felt more like home – the people and everything – and I had some good friends out there and worked with some terrific people.

“From that point on, I never looked back, never questioned leaving. We love it over here now, even though I had to move back to North Carolina when it all shut down out there. It was tough, but I’m glad we stuck it out.”

For an engineer, NASCAR was evolving quite fast. He says the old cars were simple, and maybe the new cars appear basic from the outside, but he says nothing is further from the truth, and that kept him engaged and growing.

“Outside of F1, NASCAR is definitely, in terms of the tools and the things we can do, second to none. There are some incredible engineers and stuff that we do that no other Small and team owner Joe Gibbs pin a winners pennant onto the workshop wall. Pit strategy is the key to success in NASCAR Small as crew chief has complete control over the calls.

“ ”

your spring platforms. You can adjust heights and wedge and cross weight. With this nextgen car, we have front and rear anti-roll bars and we can adjust the blades – not internally, only externally. And then shock clicks. That’s really about it.

“So you’re just focusing on your dynamic wedge, the pitch, and roll of your car in terms of aero attitude, and then some of your roll stiffness stuff with the bars. You can still do a lot after practice, but if you fundamentally roll off the truck and you’ve got something wrong in your setup, like your weight distribution front to rear, or you’ve got the wrong springs in the car, then you’re kind-of stuck with that for the weekend.

“We have garage hours, but I tell you, we work like really late. I think I had two and a half hours of sleep last night, and my engineer had one hour of sleep. We were up till all hours of the morning working and then had a nap and got back up.

“It’s all on the computer. We’re sitting pounding keys in that hotel room.

“In the race, I’m really just calling the strategy of when to pit and what changes to make and manage the pit crew and the guys behind the walls. I have people back at the shop that sometimes will highlight things or give information, but ultimately, it comes down to me. I choose to listen or not listen.”

When he joined Joe Gibbs Racing, he had one year as a race engineer before he was offered the crew chief role with Truex, who he worked with at Furniture Row Racing. He jumped at the chance and has relished the opportunity to make the decisions.

“You’re just constantly processing. You’ve got to be immersed in the race the whole time, not just your own race, but other people’s too. When have others done an alternate strategy, building that bank of knowledge so if it comes to you later in the race, you know where everyone is in terms of strategy.”

There have been no issues as an Australian

My wife [Kat] and I moved over here in 2013, and it was hard for the first two years, definitely ...

series is doing. It’s different to the technology elsewhere, but it is still there.

“We’re more simulator-driven than others.

We go testing, and we have every kind of sensor you want on the car – anything you can think of, we can have it. But when we come to a race, we really have nothing. We get some RPM and throttle and steering traces and a brake trace, but that’s it. We live and die by our simulation. It’s gotten that good that you can see us roll up and not turn a lap of practice and go out in the race and be perfect.

“We can pretty much run millions of laps a week simulating every kind of setup variable and optimising it and different track conditions, different weather, traffic, or no traffic. Anything you can think of, we can do that. And then, we also have the driver simulator where they can get in and cut laps if they want to.”

A lot of the engineering work is done in the shop, especially on a regular race weekend with one 20-minute session before qualifying and the race. With 37 (or 38 depending on how you rate the two Daytona races in February) a year, the work is constant. He says it is never ending … and he loves it.

“Once you roll off the truck on a regular weekend, you go through technical inspection, and then you’re impounded. You pretty much can’t do anything except adjust

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who didn’t grow up on NASCAR. He works well with Truex, which helps.

“Martin’s been awesome. I’ve been working for him for a long time, the longest I’ve worked with any driver in my whole career.

He’s a good dude, and I’m lucky to work with what will be a future Hall of Famer driver.

“This is it. I don’t want to leave America.

I’m settled here. My wife likes it here. This is home now.

“I’ve got things that I want to accomplish here. I really want to win more races, but I really want to win a championship. We came so close in 2021 when we finished second – if we didn’t get a late race caution, we probably would’ve won the championship. That one still eats away at me. In 2019, 2018, we finished second three times.

“No one remembers finishing second or third except you. So I’m not going to stop until I achieve it (the win).

“I really wouldn’t change anything. There are things I still wonder about, like what might have happened if I went down the driving path and took some of those opportunities, but ultimately, I think I’ve made the best decisions for me to be where I am and look for my future.

“I’ve learned so much. I’ve worked with so many great people as well. I’m just lucky to be in this position and thankful that I can work at such a good company.”

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JGR COO Michael Guttilla and ‘The Coach’, team owner Joe Gibbs.

MANAGEMENT’S VIEW MICHAEL GUTTILLA is the new Chief Operating Officer at Joe Gibbs Racing. He’s a motoring and motorsport person that the Coach, Joe Gibbs, has brought in to help steer the ship after his family transition plans were tragically scuppered. Guttila was formerly with Multimatic, which has been developing race cars for Ford, like the GT that won Le Mans and the new Mustang GT3.

He likes what he sees in Small.

“It’s a special thing,’ he said after qualifying in Chicago; “it’s interesting because you’ve seen today how well Australian Supercars translates into speed on this track, so SVG is pretty impressive with what he did here today, and James comes from that background as well.

“The reason for coming here is about the people.

James is one of the people that I’ve always been impressed with, with what he’s been able to do. He’s super passionate, really focused. I have a saying that I don’t think we get paid to work here, I think we get paid not to work somewhere else. So I think James kind of falls into that same category.

“When you find really great people, you want to keep them in your camp and make sure they’re doing what they’re really good at. That is what we are doing with James.”

With a four-car Cup Series team and one Xfinity car, he says Small is part of an engineering team that works together until they leave the shop, then they compete against each other like they are just another team on the grid.

“Every car is a team in itself. If you ask these guys who their customer is, James will tell you, it’s Bass Pro Shops and the sponsors on this car and also Martin. And he wants to win just like everybody else.

“But within the JGR family, we work together to make sure all the JGR cars, and I don’t know if you know too, we have an affiliate with 23XI, so we all kind of work together also to make sure the Toyotas are running ahead of the Chevys and the Fords.

“There are different tiers of teamwork that go on. So it’s like a race team within a race team. James can focus on the #19, and he has two dedicated engineers that work alongside him, and then we have a team of people back in Charlotte.

“As soon as their helmets are on, they’re racing, and everybody’s going for it. But we share a lot in preparation. I don’t know if you noticed, but all the Toyotas were really fast today.”

Hidden beneath the competitiveness though, is a shared love of coffee.

“He’s from Melbourne, and I know how coffee is such a passionate thing in Melbourne. He’s the only one in the haulers that actually has proper coffee in the back.

So I hang out in the #19 because I’m Italian, and so we can get into a big debate over who has better coffee, the Aussies or the Italians. But he’s got his priorities straight, let me put it like that.”

Joe Gibbs Racing, he said, is committed to finding the best talent, and he is open to having extra Aussies on the team too, especially those with a Supercars background.

“You get talent and good ideas from every part of the world. In this game, we’re separated by hundredths of a second on the grid. And we take as many good ideas and good people as we can into the sport with open arms. I think the Australian Supercar is probably a good breeding ground for this.

“This weekend has opened a lot of eyes. We’ll see what happens in the future of this sport, but I think some people are starting to take notice.”

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SPEEDWAY

Ryan Jones (S63) battles with Mitch Wormall.

Images: SCOTT KERNAHAN AND NAKITA POLLOCK

DEFEND THE TOP END AFTER AN EXCITING FIRST NIGHT OF ACTION, SPRINTCARS RETURNED TO THE NORTHLINE SPEEDWAY FOR THE ‘DEFEND THE TOP END’ FEATURE RACE WHICH ALSO ACTS AS THE PRELUDE TO THE RUNNING OF THE CHARIOTS OF THUNDER SERIES. Mitchell Broome – Wingless Sprint Title winner.

SPEEDWAY NEWS with Paris Charles

ALSO SHARING the billing on the show was the Northern Territory Wingless Sprint Title and the conclusion to the NT AMCA Nationals Title, supported for the second consecutive night by Solos and karts plus the inclusion of Junior Sedans.

Connor Bridgeford took the bike final.

JONES FLIES HIGHER!

MATT Egel would pick up from where he left off the previous night to claim the honours in Time Trial, winning his opening heat race and qualify in third position alongside Mitchell Wormall for the epic 30-lap final behind the front row of Jordyn Charge and Ryan Jones.

As the lights blazed green, Jones got the better start on the outside as he bolted from the front, with Wormall and Egel advancing as Charge dropped back to seventh. As the race reached the one-third distance a battle pack had developed for the minors and Bobby Daly found himself in second and remained there for the next 10 laps before Egel made his way back to second.

The race proved a lonely race for Jones who was never challenged over the journey – despite his best efforts Egel would finish a close second placing, with Daly holding on

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for third and Luke Dillon advancing to fourth followed by Charge, Matt Dumesny, Grant Anderson, Wormall, Glen Sutherland and Jason Pryde.

The local defenders of the top end were next with Ben Atkinson Jr and Hayden Brown rounding out the top dozen. Taylor Prosser, Andrew Hughes, Dane Court, Domain Ramsay and B Main winner Kale Quinlan were next, while one lap in arrears were Scott Enderl and Chris Harrison. Chad Ely was the only competitor not to travel the distance.

BROOME SWEEPS FIELD

THE WINGLESS Sprints returned for the running of the 2023 Northern Territory Title and the 30-lap final will go down in the record books as an epic affair.

Local gun Nathan Dicker qualified on the front row while alongside was Blake Walsh, who had won the last three finals in a row and was aiming for his fourth. The lead duo made contact as they dived through the opening corners – luckily neither crashed out however Dicker dropped to eighth, allowing Walsh to take an early lead as Mitchell Broome moved to second and Jamie McInnes the lead local in third.

Walsh had opened a commanding lead as he negotiated his way through traffic but at half race distance the unthinkable happened when Blake made contact with his dad Mark, which brought on the cautions for Mark to be towed to the infield.

Blake was sent to the rear of the field for his part in the accident and Broome inherited the lead position to lead the field away, while an exciting four-way battle unfolded amongst McInnes, Dicker, Zack Grimshaw and Jarrod Goldoni as Walsh stormed back into the equation. Dicker would retire with seven laps to run, elevating Walsh to third.

Broome would go on to claim an untroubled win, awarding the South Australian the NT Championship. The fast-finishing Walsh made a last corner pass on McInnes for the runner-up position, disposing the local runner to the final podium step.

Victoria’s Thomas McDonald was next followed by Goldoni and the outgoing

champion Grimshaw to make up the top six.

Matt Sealy, Cameron Jaenke, Bailey Jones, Jamie Dicker completed the top 10. One lap down was William Prest, Matthew McLennan (B Main winner), Angus Campbell, Alan Saint and third-generation racer Jack Barlee. A further lap back were Shane Norman and Sean Tiedeman to round out the finishers.

SUPPORTS

FOR THE second night running the infield track came alive to the karts and Solo Bikes. Again, the 15 lap Kart final was won comfortably by Tony Brown – however the race for second was a hard fought affair as Bradley Fichtner and Isaiah Strong bumped side pods as the crossed the line to round out the podium. Michael Brown and Ruel Mitchell completed the top five.

Connar Bridgeford continued his impressive streak on two wheels claiming the A Final.

For the second night in a row, Kurt Baxter ran second over Steven Hutchinson and Bradley Niven, while the B Final went to Wayne Lorymer from Wayne Baxter and Ray Niven.

The final class was the Junior Sedans with a field of 14 competitors combining both the Top Stars and lesser experienced New Stars running in the one race. The Victorian teammates, Jayden Lock and Pary Das, held sway for most of the 15 lap final, and Lock went on to claim a clean sweep claiming both heats races in addition to a green-tochequered feature race win by a comfortable margin in what would be his final race in Juniors.

A relentless River Spitzbath split the pairing with five laps to run, claiming second over Das. Fourth to the line was Kallen Hall chased by Zackery Czoloszynski, Caiden Weaver, Blake Overend and Brodie Costello while Rhys King and Brock Beurskens were the best of the New Stars.

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DARWIN HEATING UP AS WE build towards the highly anticipated Chariots of Thunder Series, the intensity has ramped up several notches as Darwin’s Northline Speedway welcomes even more interstate teams through the pit gate and across many divisions.

The running of the Darwin Titles for Sprintcars, Wingless Sprints and AMCA Nationals headlined the first night plus a strong support card including Street Stocks, Solos and karts giving the large crowd a wide variety of dirt action.

Matt Egel – Darwin Sprintcar Title winner.

Blake Walsh – Darwin Wingless Sprints Title winner.

SA ALL THE WAY

WITH FIVE states represented, plus the Territorians keen to defend their home turf, a stellar field of 26 Sprintcars was on hand for the running of the Darwin Title. It would be the South Australians who came out all guns blazing from the get-go – Matt Egel and Luke Dillon topped the Time Trials while last start feature race winner Matt Dumensy rounded out the top three.

Dumensy would consolidate his top three speed, winning both of his heat races to claim Pole Position for the 25-lap final while sharing the front row was West Australian Mitchell Wormall. From the drop of the green flag Dumensy controlled the pace using the top side, with clear track to his advantage, while Victorian Grant Anderson pounced from sixth to second position and chased hard as Queensland’s Taylor Prosser consolidated third as the rest traded blows throughout the field.

With six laps run, Dumensy began his quest through lapped traffic where things were hectic as he treaded his way through.

Matt tapped the wall ,which started a slow deflation of his right rear tyre, managing another six laps in front before the tyre cried enough and delaminated, bringing on the first caution period.

With a dozen laps to run Anderson led the Indian file and with the cars bunched Dillon, Egel and Ryan Jones all slipped by Prosser.

Everything looked good for Anderson – however his run would be unsettled as Hayden Brown rolled over and out bringing the field to a complete stoppage with just four laps to run. At the same time Prosser would also retire to the infield.

Lee McKinnell – Northern Territory AMCA National Title winner.

At the recommencement, Anderson’s right rear tyre was also deflating and with five to run he became easy prey as Egel, Dillon, Ryan Jones went by to make an all South Australian top three podium. Jordyn Charge, who had qualified through the B Main, also slipped by, relegating Anderson to fifth at the fall of the chequered flag.

Sixth was Callum Williamson, Ben Atkinson Jr, Glen Sutherland, Jason Pryde and Scott Enderl making it five South Aussies in the top 10. Wormall salvaged 11th and tailing out the finishers were Bobby Daly, Andrew Hughes, Domain Ramsay, Chris Harrison and Chad Ely.

WALSH WALTZES TO DARWIN CROWN

The Darwin Wingless Sprints Title also provided plenty of excitement and again interstaters qualified on the front row, with Victorian Blake Walsh and South Australian Mitchell Broome with clear track ahead for the 25-lap final.

Broome got the jump and led the early stages before Walsh fought for position as the duo traded passes, Walsh eventually holding control until a three-car pileup brought on the yellows with six laps completed. At the reset Walsh was able to break away, looking comfortable in the lead until the yellows again lit the track as Shane Norman spun to halt.

Again, Walsh would set sail and from this

point forward it was an express run to the chequered flag, followed by the reigning Territorian Champion Zack Grimshaw and Nathan Dicker who went from 21st to third.

Broome was next followed by Thomas McDonald, Jamie McInnes, Cameron Jaenke, Angus Campbell, Matt Sealy and veteran Victorian Peter Louge the top 10.

Keelan Edwards, Matthew McLennan, Bailey Jones and Michael Kelly were one lap in arrears with Sharney Pitcher, Alan Saint and Shane Norman the final finishers.

IT’S MC TIME FOR MCKINNELL

A STOUT field of 15 AMCA Nationals ran over the two consecutive nights for their Northern Territory Championship with each competitor running three qualifying heats on the Friday night and single round of heats on the final night before squaring off for the 30-lap final.

Queensland’s Lee McKinnell shared the front row with New South Welshman Raymond Kyme and, as the defending Territorian Champion, Kyme was determined to retain his title.

However McKinnell had other ideas as he commanded from the front of the pack – despite a few cautions along the journey he was able to cover off Kyme who hounded him every step, at times door-to-door as they raced to the finish line.

Spano Gutierrez took the final podium step with Kevin Stow and Shane Newstead

making up the top five. Deegan Sherwood was the first of the locally registered cars in sixth followed by Mark Allcorn, Peter Harding, Jimmy Keane, Nicholas Glazbrook, Paul Carmody, Erica Glazbrook and Sarah Gordon the final finisher in the bakers dozen position.

SUPPORTS

WELL-TRAVELLED Victorian Matt Nelson proved too strong in the 15 lap Street Stock final taking a flag-to-flag victory aboard his Holden Commodore. Jake Koivumaki pushed hard for second to finish inside a Victorian sandwich as Victorian Champion Dale Morrison placing third, trailed by Kane Lloyd, James Ballantyne, Jayke Bud, Megan Henderson, Justin Brumfield in a wounded Commodore, Samantha Radford and Michelle Gill completing the top 10.

On the infield track, Tony Brown proved too strong in the 15-lap Kart final.

Squaring out the top five were Michael Brown, Isiah Strong, Ruel Mitchell and Bradely Fitchner.

Connar Bridgeford proved too strong on two wheels going undefeated in his three qualifying heats before taking the Solo A Final with a gate-to-chequer win over Kurt Baxter, Bradley Niven and Wayne Lorymer, while Steven Hutchinson would be the only finisher in the B Final after Wayne Baxter and Ray Niven failed to travel the distance.

Sprintcars form up for the final.

Images: SCOTT KERNAHAN AND NAKITA POLLOCK

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NATIONALS WRAP

KEOGH OVERCOMES BAGO FORESTS

Image: AARON JAMES MEDIA

RANDO TAKES A TIGHT KARRI RALLY

THE FOURTH round of the WA Rally Championship, the Karri Rally, headed for the tall timber of the jarrah forests of the Manjimup region, about four hours south of Perth.

No rain for the week leading into the event saw the stages in perfect condition for the 38 starters, that readied themselves for 106km of special stages.

Four Rally2 cars headed the field, that would tackle eight stages including two super special stages around the infamous Cosy Creek motorcross circuit.

Craig Rando and Scott Beckwith in their #6 Subaru WRX (pictured) drew the first blood, and despite a small slide into a tree that saw the rear door swinging in the breeze, they took the 20km Yeticup stage by 7.4 seconds ahead of Alex Rullo and Ben Searcy in their Hyundai i20 Rally2, with third going to championship leader Daniel Gonzalez and his new co-driver Bernie Webb – 2.5 seconds behind in their Skoda Fabia.

Stage 2 – the 15km Mooralup stage – suited the taller geared PRC cars, with Rando taking the win and making it two from two, just seconds ahead of Dylan King and Lee Tierney in their Mitsubishi Evo IX. In a tight battle, Rullo snatched up third place, and was only 1.6 seconds faster than John O’Dowd and Toni Feaver in their Skoda Fabia.

The Super special stages made up for the third and fourth outings, and both were won by former Supercars driver Rullo, who thrived on the short and sharp runs.

Stage 5 headed back into the forest with a repeat of the 20km Yeticup stage, but this time it was won by King, less than three seconds ahead of Rullo and Rando, setting up a close run to the finish.

Only 3.2 seconds separated Rando, Rullo and King going into Stage 6, and Rando made it three stage wins for the day, coming in ahead of King and Rullo respectively, and despite there being two stages to run, it would prove the decisive blow.

Unfortunately, Alex and Lisa White had a big impact with a tree, and whilst both crew members were OK, it led to the cancellation of the last two stages of the event.

That gave Rando his first win for the season by 6.1 seconds, with Rullo taking his highest career rally placing in second, marginally ahead of King in third.

That result left the pointy end of the championship leader board static, with Gonzalez (P4) 54 points ahead of Rando who closed the gap slightly, and King 51 points adrift.

With two rounds remaining for the year, the penultimate round heads 45km east of Perth to Chidlow for the Safari Rally on September 30.

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MAL KEOGH and Pip Bennett (below) conquered the forests around Bago to win the third round of the AMSAG Rally Series.

A full field of 65 entires took on the event near Wauchope in New South Wales, but none could catch the Audi S1 E2 Quattro operated by Keogh and Bennett to a win over Josh and Matt Redhead’s Lancer GSR. Heading the entry list were Nathan Quinn/ Ray Winwood-Smith (Hyundai i20) and Jack Monkhouse/Dale Moscatt (Datsun 180B) as early favourites.

However, neither would figure in the final results. Quinn started well, taking the first stage by 6s from Redhead, with Keogh and then Chris Giddins/Tara McIlroy (Lancer Evo 9) next.

It was a repeat result in Stage 2 with Quinn increasing his lead over Keogh to 23s.

Quinn lost a heap of time on Stage 3 with a flat tyre and dropped to 22nd.

Chris Jacques/Hugh Taylor took the stage

from Giddins, then Peter Ewing/Anna Ritson in a Volvo 240 turbo.

Redhead was now leading from Keogh by 6s, but Quinn began a fightback, taking Stage 4 by 17s.

This was the scene of Monkhouse’s campaign coming to the end as he stopped on this stage, when running seventh and in contention for the 2WD award.

Stage 5 was the last of the opening loop, and Quinn continued to compile his fightback and took that too.

But at the break Redhead was still in control with a 9s lead on Keogh, then Giddins another 9s back.

Despite the recent success Quinn was eighth in the overall standings and still just over two minutes from the lead.

The stages repeated for the second half of the event and Quinn won again taking Stage 6.

However, this was his final high point in

his pursuit for victory as it was followed by a broken lower control arm.

He rejoined the rally, but was out of contention, leaving Keogh in charge by 12s from Redhead, who had also dropped 21s due to a spin and flat tyre in consecutive stages.

Despite the not chasing the win, Quinn still sent a statement by winning the last three stages, but not finishing Stage 7 dropped him from the results.

Keogh bested Redhead in each of the last three stages to become the winner in his crowd-pleasing Audi by 52s with Giddins third.

Simon Jamieson/Damian Grahame were fourth in their Ford Fiesta and fifth was the first 2WD entry of Brad and Hunter Goldsbrough in a Datsun 1600.

The next AMSAG Rally event will be the Rosewood Rally on Saturday, September 9.

Bruce Moxon

Image: ROY MEURONEN PHOTOGRAPHY

DWYER STEALS THE EVO SHOW THE SOUTH Australian Rally Championship returned after four months and Declan and Zoe Dwyer (pictured) stole the Evo dominated show at the Walky 100 Rally.

The top four cars were all Mitsubishi Lancer Evos, while the Japanese manufacturer also claimed all stages on offer.

But none could topple the Dwyer duo as they claimed the second round of the South Australian Rally Championship by 40 seconds after one hour and nine minutes of racing.

Carwyn and Carli Harries were forced to settle for second, while opening round winner Jamie Pohlner led early before crashing in the night.

The event held in Eudunda began under sunny skies and it was another Mitsubishi runner in David McDonough, who got off to a winning start.

He beat Pohlner by eight seconds, but by Stage 3 the Wilson Security Racing driver was in control.

Pohlner looked unbeatable across the first

half of the rally, collecting six stage wins on the bounce.

This run took Pohlner to a formidable 35s lead at the halfway mark, while McDonough dropped almost three minutes away from the lead in fifth.

The reigning champion was denied the chance to extend his leading margin after falling four seconds short of Stage 9 victory.

Dwyer got the job done in the tight battle as he emerged as Pohlner’s biggest threat being the only challenger within a minute of the leader.

However, the Dwyers did not need to worry as Pohlner found tree trouble as the rally descended into darkness.

Having looked near unbeatable, the Wilson Security Racing driver hit a tree on Stage 10 named ‘Flat Wombat.’

This blew the rally wide open as the Dwyer duo hit the lead, but only held a slim 4s margin over Harries with two stages to go.

With the win on the line it was Dwyer who rose to the occasion, winning the penultimate stage where Harries lost 40s.

This proved to be the deciding moment of the rally as whilst Harries took the final stage, it was far from enough to prevent the Dwyer duo from taking victory.

The MSS Safety Rally Barossa takes place on September 16. Thomas Miles

Image: TWINCAM MEDIA

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MORELY MAKES BIG GAINS

Image: ALAN MCINTOSH PHOTOGRAPHY

CHAPMAN’S FINEST HOUR CLAYTON CHAPMAN and Adam McGuire (above) claimed an emotional outright victory on a dramatic final day of the 2023 ARB Gundy 500; a national round triumph years in the making.

After the retirement of race leader Danny Brown on Sunday’s opening lap and overnight engine issues to Greg Gartner, Chapman took control in the Toyota powered Razorback.

As Chapman headed out for the final lap with a margin over his nearest rivals, an unfortunate grass fire within close proximity of the track led to the eventual cancellation of the event.

The decision forced organises to reduce Sunday’s section to two laps, handing Chapman a 2.20min triumph, one that will forever be remembered in Gundy folklore.

North Queenslander Michael Marson and Mick Collins entertained the Goondiwindi locals with another brilliant display in his Ultimate Racer crossing in second outright, a superb performance on the back of finishing third at his favourite event in 2022.

Dale Martin and Adrian Rowe lifted the Martin Motorsports Class 11 Alpha into third outright position on Sunday after two impressive laps, crossing 55 seconds

adrift of Marson to round out the ARB Gundy 500 podium.

Fellow North Queensland Racer campaigners Talbot Cox and Craig King #16 locked down fourth outright courtesy of setting the fastest lap of the event on Sunday, whilst Craig Krog and Dean Searle #23 recorded their highest ARB championship finish in fifth.

After watching a number of notables fall away on Saturday including Chapman, Sunday’s attrition rate was just as high.

Overnight leader Danny Brown, plus Greg Gartner, Ryan Taylor, Tom Swinglehurst and Bryce Chapman all had engine issues.

Seven others all bowing out during Sunday’s two lap section where Clayton Chapman and McGuire stormed to a special win.

Young gun Matt Burrows and Kelsey Hartnett #123 continued their strong of form to take home the Class 1 title.

Class 6 and Junior champions Kye Camilleri and Cooper McNeilly were at their flawless best and outlasted Jamie Knight and Lachlan Brosnan, who were rewarded with Class 4 honours.

Rhett Standen and Josh Lyell made it consecutive Class 2 victories at championship level, Matt Gardiner

and John Butler claimed the Class 5 silverware, while likewise, fellow Queenslanders Hank Parker and Matt Halpin survived Heath Weedon and Michael Baxter for Class 7 glory.

Stuart and Jim Zlotkowski piloted their beloved Brumby to Class 8 success, Darren Orr and Brett Baker held strong for the Class 10 win, whilst Darren and Lara Brandon did their Queensland championship hopes no harm with a dominant Class 6s victory.

Ross Newman and Frankie Fong claimed maximum points over Matt Lavis and Andrew Dance #6684 in Class 66.

In the Ladies Class for the Queensland championship, Kate Swinglehurst piloted her Can Am to three consecutive event victories, surviving Anna Phillis and Leila Chapman.

The 2023 ARB Australian Off Road Racing Championship will now turn its attention to the fourth and final round, the Teagle Excavations ARB Pines Enduro 400 at Millicent, held over the September 22-24, whilst the ARB Mickey Thompson Queensland Championship heads to Bowen, for the 2023 Don River Dash early next month.

TC Media

PETER MORELY continued his charge up the WA State Speed Series championship standings with his latest win at Wanneroo.

After taking the honours in the ninth round of the season, Morely has surged up to second ahead of Andy Thomas and Jon Webb.

Whilst series leader Brad Scrivener still collected some handy points by finishing fourth, his advantage has been trimmed to 17 points with four rounds still to go.

Although just five points cover positions two to four in the standings, Morely has the momentum.

After missing two of the first three races the yellow OMS CF 10 has been on the charge with back to back wins.

The latest was a dominant one as Morely took a 2s win after recording an unbeatable 53.6697s lap recorded in the second of four sessions.

Not only was the time half a second faster than the fastest Supercars pole lap set by Broc Feeney, it blew the WA State Speed Series opposition away.

A further two seconds back was runner-up Webb in the Radical SR8 RX. He was the only other driver outside of Morely to go less than a minute around the well-known 2.1km circuit at Perth.

Six seconds off the pace was Robin Mullett who won a competitive fight for third in his Nissan Silvia.

He edged out Scrivener, Jamie McGloin, Emranjeet Malhi and Justin O’Hehir, who were all less than a second away.

Despite enduring a slightly underwhelming day results-wise, Scrivener still scored the OS2 win, while OSO class honours went to Mullett.

Peter Morley won Formula Libre, Emranjeet Singh Malhi was first in Production Sports Cars Over 2 Litres, Clubman was claimed

by Chriss Springs and Justin O’Hehir topped 4WD. A Time Attack event was also held which went to Ryan Appleby.

The next round of the WA State Speed Series championship is also at Wanneroo on Sunday, October 1. Thomas Miles

BAILEY DOMINATES LOVEDAY THE WARWICK District Sporting Car Club held the last round of the ‘A Series’ Super Sprints over the weekend of August 12 and 13 at Morgan Park Raceway.

Warwick put on some lovely weather for the event keeping the thermometer needle just above the 1-degree mark overnight which was a delight considering it is winter and Warwick is known for its brutality when it comes to Phil Sutcliffe in his Ginetta G50Z was the fastest overall. Image: PETE TRAPNELL-TRAPNELL CREATIONS weather in August.

This was the third and last round for the this layout. presence and so did the Nissan Z cars.

‘A’ series of 2023, and saw competitors Competition in the ‘A’ series is usually The Formula Vee category also brought once again competing on the large 3km favoured by the open wheeler racers, but a strong group of competitors with some circuit. This popular circuit is most often for this event there was a great turn out of epic battles between them. used for state and National level events various types of cars and classes.

The rolling starts group were a little and the sprint series enjoyed running on The ‘Cobra’ drivers showed a great down on numbers, but still had amongst

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them a fine display of some fantastic Sports Sedans, the quickest of the group being Gavin Taylor’s VS Commodore which was the third fastest outright over the weekend. The quickest outright was Phil Sutcliffe with his Ginetta G50Z followed by Ian Beadman piloting a Williams sports Prototype.

Next year, there will most likely be four rounds to the WDSCC ‘A Series’ Super Sprints. This will also be for the ‘B’ and ‘C’ Series Super Sprints. The next round of the Super Sprints at Morgan Park Raceway will be the final for the ‘B’ series commencing on the 16 and 17 of September. Pete Trapnell.

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NATIONALS WRAP

STATE SERIES SPRINTS AROUND SMP

Chris Sutton heads the Production Touring Cars field as it descends into the darkness at Sydney Motorsport Park. Images: RICCARDO BENVENUTI THE NSW Motor Racing Championships was back at Sydney Motorsport Park for the fifth round of the season that ran under lights.

Run by the ARDC this time the event ran on the shorter ‘Druitt’ circuit. Entries might have been a bit thin in some classes, but there was still plenty of good racing and Auto Action’s BRUCE MOXON was on hand to cover the action.

FORMULA VEE

JASON CUTTS (Jacer) was back after a three-year layoff and was immediately on the pace, on Pole and well in the mix in all three races. The races were all hotly-contested, with Cutts, Darren Williams (Sabre) and the Jacers of Morgan Freemantle, Geoff Bennett and Matthew Pearce in the mix at different times. Williams took two of the three races and a new lap record, with Bennett taking the other. Cutts took three second places, even after a lurid 360-degree spin in Turn 1 of the final race.

The clean-skinned Van Diemen was pushed to the front of the Formula Ford field by Will Lowing

The dominant force in New South Wales Formula Race Cars was Winston Van Laarhowe, who scored two massive wins at SMP

the scraps. But the final race saw Hodges’ campaign go by the wayside.

First of all, Chris Sutton won the start and led the first lap in his Lancer Evo 10 before Hodges reasserted his position. Then, on lap 7, Hodges headed for the pits. A fuel pressure sensor issue was cured by turning the car off then on again and he was on his way, a lap down in 14th place. Hodges was able to get back to ninth by the end. Sutton had been second in the two earlier races, with thirds going to Michael Auld’s BMW M3 and Matt Holt’s HSV R8. Behind Sutton in the final race, it was Holt from Auld.

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FORMULA FORD

KALEB BELAK (Spectrum) took the first two races from Will Lowing’s Van Dieman. In the final, Lowing reversed the order, taking the win in his Kent-engined car from the more powerful Duratec in Belak’s. Thomas Kalamakis (Spirit) took three thirds.

PRODUCTION TOURING CARS

SIMON HODGES (BMW M4) looked set for a perfect day, Pole and leading every lap of the first two races while the others fought over

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and the other win, but was simply best of the rest. Jock Dos Santos (BRM) and Mark Vickers (Woodgate EVO) shared the third places, with two each.

Darren Williams pushed the limits to score two wins in Formula Vee

SMALL ENTRY numbers meant the combination of Under and Over Two-litre cars, but this didn’t stop Kurt Macready putting his Under 2-litre Nissan Syliva on Pole from Ben Algie’s turbocharged Nissan 200SX. Algie was best away and led the first two laps until a terminal engine drama finished his day. Macready won the first two races from Steven Engel’s Lancer Evo. Mike Birks (Corolla) took third in the opener and Charlie Viola (Honda Inegra) third in the next race, as Birks stopped with a clutch failure. Birks and his team replaced the clutch with a suspect used part between races and started the final from the rear. The classes were split for their

final races. Engel won at a canter from David Worrell’s Commodore, then Mayan Reddy’s BMW M3. Macready took the small-bore race from Viola, Matthew Guinitini’s Honda Civic and Birks’ Corolla after a good recovery drive.

HOLDEN HQs

REGULAR FRONT runners Brett Osborne and Chris Molle were on the front row and contested the first two races. Osborne took the first from Molle with Jarrod Harber next.

Osborne looked to be about the take the next but a mixup with a lapped car saw him delayed, the win going to Luke Harrison, from Osborne and David Proglio, recovering from a slow start in the first race, with Molle next.

In the last race, Molle had a sticking throttle, leading to him dropping down the field.

Meanwhile, Osborne and Harrison were hard at it – almost glued together. Osborne held on for a narrow win with Proglio third again.

SUPERKARTS

AARON COGGER was back in his 125cc Avoig Elise and was just too fast for everyone else. Three race wins and a new class lap record were his reward despite a DNF. Adam Stewart (Anderson Mirage) took three thirds

NSW FORMULA RACE CARS

JACK BEETON came down from Queensland with his Tatuus F4 car and took the opening race, but only after Winston Van Laarhowe retired his Dallara F308 from a commanding lead with just a lap to go. Thomas Gallagher was next in a Mygale F4, from Rodney Baker’s Dallara F399. Van Laarhowe made amends in the next two races, winning the second by over 40 seconds to Beeton, then Gallagher. In the 20-lap final Van Laarhowe also set a new lap record, finishing nearly 50 seconds ahead of Beeton, with Gallagher third again.

Luke Harrison fought hard all weekend and fell agonisingly short of Holden HQ round honours

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CONTENDERS EMERGE IN TASMANIAN STATE SERIES CONTENDERS FOR THE TASMANIAN CIRCUIT RACING CHAMPIONSHIPS HAVE STARTED TO EMERGE AFTER ROUND FOUR WAS HELD AT BASKERVILLE RACEWAY ON AUGUST 5-6. AUTO ACTION’S MARTIN AGATYN REPORTS ...

WITH ONLY two rounds to go, series leaders in most categories are looking likely to go all the way unless they strike a drama, with some substantial points gaps to the rest of their respective fields.

With a maximum possible point score for each round of 185, some drivers are already leading the pionts score by a full round equivalent or more.

the first few laps.

Championship leader Beau Johnson (Porsche GT3) extended his lead with five wins and a second.

The runner-up finish came in the double-points final won by his brother Troy Johnson (Porsche GT3), who finished second in every other race.

Reigning champion Stephen Noble (Nissan 350Z) finished third on each occasion, but his battles with the Johnson brothers in the early stages were entertaining to watch until the Porsches inevitably pulled away.

Mason Kelly soared to big heights at his first-time racing at Baskerville in the Hyundais.

HOLDEN HQ

THE CLOSEST points battle is in the HQ Holdens, where reigning champion Andrew Toth has a 90-point lead over former multiple champion Andrew Bird.

Toth established his advantage by dominating the weekend and winning all six races.

However, he had to work hard for it, with Bird pushing him in the first four races.

Bird spent some time at the front, before striking problems and missing the last two races and incurring a damaging loss of points.

Toth and Bird were head and shoulders above the field in a series of two-out battles, with the pressure coming off Toth after Bird’s demise.

Andrew Bennett and Anthony Viney battled for third and fourth all weekend, with Viney claiming third for the meeting overall by just two points.

IMPROVED PRODUCTION

ONE OF the biggest fields of Improved Production Sedans for some time provided some good racing over the weekend.

Series leader Shane Bond (Datsun 1200 Turbo) and Jason House (BMW E92 M3) provided some entertaining battles at the pointy end of the field, but it was House who was quicker on most occasions.

However, as it was his first outing this season, he’s not a title contender, with Bond extending his series lead, despite slowing dramatically two laps from the finish in the doublepoints final and dropping to fourth.

HYUNDAI EXCELS

ANOTHER LARGE field of Hyundai Excels provided some great racing, but none could stop series leader Jeremy Bennett from extending his lead with another solid performance.

Bennett top qualified and won the first three races, with Mason Kelly (son of former Supercar racer Todd Kelly) pushing him, in his first time at Baskerville.

However, he came unstuck in the fourth race and failed to finish, which meant he started race five from the rear and finished sixth.

This meant Kelly started from sixth in the double points final and charged to second by lap two.

This was followed by some amazing side-by-side racing with Bennett in a battle that went all the way to the flag.

In a photo finish, Kelly snatched the victory by fourhundredths of a second, with the icing on the cake coming via a new lap record on lap four.

Jackson Shaw was second in the championship heading into the meeting but had a weekend to forget with some midfield results, before a second in race five and third in the final.

Dylan Cooper, who was consistent all weekend with three thirds, a second and two fourths, leaped ahead of Shaw to second in the series, now trailing Bennett by 135 points in the title race.

FORMULA VEE

A SMALL field of Formula Vees saw Jeremy Dyer (with four wins and two seconds) and Adam Prewer taking the lion’s share of points on offer in a pair of Elfin Crusaders.

Dyer was the pacesetter with four wins and two seconds, while Brewer had to settle for second after collecting two wins and four seconds.

Michael Vaughan moved into second place in the championship with a string of third places all weekend, now trailing Dyer by 160 points, as Prewer jumped up to third.

A bonus win for the latter came at the end of the meeting in the annual Dick Crawford Memorial Handicap, named after the Tasmanian Motorsport Hall of Fame inductee, who was a master at handicap racing.

Dyer was naturally the back marker, giving up 21s to front marker Tim Tubb (Spectre), but was unable to bridge the gap.

Prewer (18s handicap) made better use of his opportunities to hit the lead with four laps to go and clearing out to a solid victory ahead of Vaughan and the fast-finishing Dyer.

SPORTS GTA

SOME OF the best racing of the weekend came in the Sports GTA category, but sadly it mostly only lasted for

SPORTS GTB

A SMALL field of Sports GTB cars saw Jason Lemon (Ford Falcon) dominating with five wins in a row, before failing to come out for the final.

The final was won by Dave Wrigley in his new and awesome-sounding Ford Mustang.

However, it took Wrigley some time to come to grips with his new drive, scoring his first podium for the weekend in the fifth race.

Steve Gangell (Holden VX Commodore) was a picture of consistency all weekend with six third placings, scoring enough points to elevate him into the championship lead by a healthy 132 points over Jason Lemon.

SPORTS SEDANS

ALEX WILLIAMS (Mazda RX-7 Turbo) had a topsy-turvy race meeting after qualifying on pole but failing to finish the first two races.

He won the next three and the double-points final easily, but still finished second for the round.

Series leader Tim Mann (Ford BF Falcon) was unable to match the pace of Williams’ Mazda when it was on-song and failed to finish the fourth race, but still salvaged enough points to protect a 140-point championship lead.

HISTORIC TOURING CARS

A DISAPPOINTINGLY small field of Historic Touring Cars still managed to provide some good racing between series leader Phil Ashlin and Scott Cordwell in a pair of Holden Torana XU-1s.

Cordwell won the first three races, with Ashlin taking victory in the fourth and winning the next two, including the double-points final, which Cordwell was forced to watch from the pits after a DNF in the penultimate race.

The penultimate round of the Tasmanian Circuit Racing Championships is at Symmons Plains on September 2-3.

in son House prevailed The BMW M3 of Ja ed ov pr Im ttle for a closely fought ba s.

Production honour

The Porsche pair of fought hard for th Beau and Troy Johnson e podium places in GTA all weekend long.

Matt Sutton’s XU1 Torana leads a charge of classic cars across the hill at Baskerville.

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www.autoaction.com.au I 45

NATIONALS WRAP

NATIONAL SUCCESS AT SANDOWN

ROUND FOUR OF THE VICTORIAN STATE RACE SERIES AT SANDOWN OVER THE WEEKEND OF AUGUST 11-13 FEATURED A SMALLER THAN NORMAL CATEGORY LISTING BUT WAS BOLSTERED BY STRONG 30-PLUS CAR FIELDS IN BOTH FORMULA FORD AND SALOON CARS – BOTH OF WHICH HAD NATIONAL TITLE IMPLICATIONS AT STAKE. STEVEN DEVRIES REPORTS ...

HILLYER’S FORMULA FOR SUCCESS

VICTORIA’S MATTHEW Hillyer (leading, above) extended his lead atop the national Formula Ford standings after securing two victories and a second-place finish for the weekend, and his nearest rival Zak Lobko (NSW) having a round to forget.

After missing out on a front row start to Harrison Sellars (VIC) and Jack Bussey (QLD), the second row had the better reaction time in Race 1, as Hillyer and Jake Santalucia (VIC) jumped to first and second respectively by Turn 1. Bussey’s ill-timed mid-race pass on Kobi Williams left the Victorian beached at Turn 1 and brought the Safety Car out just as the rain began to fall. As cars skated across the track surface circuit at the restart, the race was shortened and Hillyer survived ahead of Xavier Kokai (VIC) and Santalucia.

Sellars was in prime position to capitalise on mistakes from both Kokai and Hillyer after a mid-race Safety Car period in Race 2. Hillyer and Cody Maynes-Rutty (NSW) held off the chasing group for the last two podium positions, but the race was marred by a multi-car accident caused after Edison Beswick (NSW) tipped Conor Somers (VIC) into a spin at the second last corner, which gave several teams plenty of repair work before Race 3.

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After another full course caution period in Race 3 for a stranded Fraser Hie (VIC), Hillyer, Sellars and Santalucia pulled clear of the pack in a short sprint to the finish, with Hillyer eventually prevailing for the final race win and the round overall.

pursuing Vaughan. But it was to no avail as Vaughan responded with a lap record of his own and held on by six-tenths ahead of Harvey, with Daniel Johnson (VIC) making it three Fords on the podium.

VAUGHAN’S TITLE SNAPS DROUGHT FOR FORD

THROTTLE BODY problems for pole sitter Jarrod Tonks (VY Commodore) cruelled his shot a winning Race 1, leaving Danny Timewell (VF Commodore) prevailing in a dual to the finish with Damien Milano (HSV Clubsport) with Luke Grech-Cumbo (HSV Senator) banking more series points with third.

Tonks scythed his way from the rear to lead Race 2 in tricky conditions, but his car’s engine expired on what turned out to be the last lap, gifting the win Grech-Cumbo ahead of Milano and Ian McLennan (Holden Monaro). Timewell lost drive whilst running third in Race 3, with the same three podiumgetters from Race 2 making the same top three finishers in race three – which was the same order for the round overall.

SUPER2 DRIVER Brad Vaughan hoisted the national Saloon Car title following four intense races, and broke Ford’s national title drought stretching back to 2011.

Vaughan started Heat 1 poorly from pole, picked up a five-second jump start penalty and finished fifth behind Travis Lindorff (VIC) and Scott Dornan (SA). Mason Harvey (WA) led the first seven laps before being pressured into an error on the second-last lap which dropped him to third.

Saturday’s second heat race went the way of Dornan, chased all the way by Harvey and Lindorff, with reigning champion Grant Johnson (WA) just behind the podium trio.

Vaughan jumped the start for the second race running, dropping him to seventh.

Johnson dominated the third heat race Sunday morning with a four second win, with Vaughan finally pushing through from seventh to second ahead of Lindorff.

Lindorff led the first few laps of the final as Vaughan charged his way through the field from fifth and survived a side-byside moment with fellow South Australian Dornan that saw the latter hit the fence but continue. As Vaughan took the lead from Lindorff, an untimely Safety Car intervention set up a four-lap sprint finish.

Harvey passed Lindorff quickly at the restart and promptly set a lap record

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Reef McCarthy took out Formula Vee.

FORMULA VEE

AN EARLY Safety Car compressed the field in Race 1 following an incident at Turn 4. Reef McCarthy was kept honest after the restart but edged away from the field in the last two

laps by two seconds ahead of Lee Partridge and Nick Jones.

McCarthy drove away from the field by a second a lap in Race 2, leaving a great ninecar fight for the last two spots on the podium behind him. Cut short by a late Safety Car, Jones and Partridge were locked into second and third on the rostrum behind McCarthy. A jump start penalty for Jake Rowe took away his second-place finish in Race 3, gifting the podium spots to Jones and Heath Collinson behind eventual race and round winner McCarthy.

VIC V8s

BRIAN FINN (VS Commodore – above) held a near two-second lead over Matthew Horne (VE Commodore) in Race 1 when third-placed runner Allen Argento (XE Falcon) nosed into the wall at Turn 4. His third place was inherited by David Ratcliffe (VT Commodore) as a result.

A gutsy move on a greasy track at the start of Race 2 paid dividends for Mark Kakouri (VH Commodore) with a big, unexpected win. Greg Taylor’s patience (VY Commodore) was rewarded with second place ahead of Finn. Race 3’s dry conditions were favourable for Finn as he secured a second win for the weekend ahead of Horne, and the recovering Allen Argento grabbing third.

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Images: GEOFF COLSON-COLSON PHOTOGRAPHY

CALDER PARK ROARS ONCE AGAIN Above: Brad Vaughan heads an intense Saloon Car field into Turn 2. Below: Chris Lewis-Williams came out on top in the Porsche 944s.

Images: REBECCA HIND-REVVED PHOTOGRAPHY

AUGUST 12-13 WILL GO DOWN IN HISTORY AS THE WEEKEND CALDER PARK ROARED BACK TO LIFE TO THE SOUND OF RACING FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 16 YEARS. FITTINGLY IT WAS THE VICTORIAN MOTOR RACING CHAMPIONSHIPS THAT HELD THE NOTABLE MEETING. THOMAS MILES REPORTS ON THE ACTION …

The longer 25-lap finale was also the closest as James, Grigg-Gault and Hugo Simpson wrestled for victory.

James eventually prevailed, but only by 0.4s, while Supercars co-driver Jaylyn Robotham was also in the field and could only manage a best result of fifth.

STOCK CARS AUSTRALIA

PORSCHE 944s

MARK TAUBITZ failed to convert his first career pole into a podium result, as Cameron Beller was pushed all the way home by Chris Lewis-Williams and Adam Brewer in Saturday’s first hit-out, as two seconds covered the top three drivers after 11 laps of racing.

Brewer dropped away in Race 2, but still came third as Lewis-Williams squared the ledger for the round winning ahead of Beller. Brewer found his groove again for Race 3 and had a front-row seat as Beller and Lewis-Williams exchanged places several times before the latter eventually sealed the deal and the round - the top three crossing the line within six-tenths of each other.

BMW E30s

IN A reduced 10-car field following several practice incidents on Friday, Royce Lyne continued his great run of form into the weekend with a dominant 10-second win ahead of a close battle between Brian Bourke and Jesse Bryan.

The race results were repeated in both of Sunday’s races, as Lyne added two more wins to his yearly tally. Bourke and Bryan again played second and third fiddle to the race winner in both of Sunday’s races, all be it with larger margins between them compared to their close finish on Saturday.

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OVAL RACING is part of the Calder Park DNA, so it was appropriate the Stock Cars Australia National Series returned to the home of the Thunderdome.

A total of 14 cool-looking Ford and Chevrolet stock cars were on show including some special liveries from the past such some Dale Earnhardt Junior specials.

A highlight of the weekend was the exhibition run, which saw the former NASCAR and AUSCAR cars drive around the famous Thunderdome banking they used to rule in the 1990s.

But the racing was dominated by Scott Nind (pictured above) and his Roush Fenway Racing Xfinity Series Ford Mustang.

Nind won all four races, but still had to fight hard for them as Brett Mitchell’s Oztruck Maloo came within 3s in both Sunday sprints.

Brendon Hourigan was the only other driver to feature in the top three across the weekend.

Round two of the season will be held at Sydney Motorsport Park on October 13-14.

2L SPORTS SEDANS

THERE WAS no stopping Steve Howard and his Toyota Corolla in the 2-Litre Sports Sedans (pictured, top of page).

Howard won all four races of the weekend leaving the likes of Linda Devlin and Damien Hunter to fight for the scraps.

The most impressive performance was in Race 1 when the #13 Toyota started all

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the way down in 14th. But Howard only needed seven laps to hit the lead and did not look back.

Races 3 and 4 were interesting affairs as Howard held off initially Andrew Pinkerton’s Mazda and then Devlin’s Mini Cooper in the finale by less than two seconds.

EXCEL MASTERS

THE HYUNDAI Excel Masters races were all about one man – David Musgrave (pictured, above).

Musgrave won all four sprints which started with a crushing 7s win, while Dale Carpenter won a tense five-car battle for second.

Race 2 was much tighter as Carpenter led early, only to fall seven-tenths short of victory behind Musgrave at the chequered.

But on Sunday Musgrave enjoyed two unchallenged races to complete the clean sweep.

EXCEL TROPHY

THE FIGHT for the Hyundai Excel Trophy honours was much more competitive with three drivers sharing the spoils amid some photo finishers.

The tone was set in the opener when a late-race move was enough for Terry Waghorn to edge out Bradley James as pole sitter Ethan Grigg-Gault dropped to eighth.

James hit back in Race 2 when he kept a resurgent Grigg-Gault at bay by 0.4s.

Grigg-Gault finally got the win he was waiting for on Sunday morning and did it with three laps to go with a move on James.

SUPER TT

THE VICTORIAN Super TT races were swept up by Ford Falcon XR6 driver Brent Edwards.

Despite missing out on pole by almost a second, Edwards cruised to all four race wins.

The first race was a thriller as he overcame Ranald Maclurkin’s Aston Martin Vantage by just three tenths of a second. The duo had more nose-to-tail battles in races two and three, but on each occasion the Falcon was too good for the Vantage.

In fact the top four positions were unchanged across the entire weekend as Edwards wrapped up the weekend in style with an 11s triumph.

HYPER RACER AUSTRALIAN CHAMPIONSHIP

THE HYPER Racer X1’s put on a decent show with many fighting up the front.

Dean Crooke looked on course to cruise to a round win after winning the first two races by slender margins. But by Race 3 all the momentum was with Damon Sterling, who recorded back-to-back wins of his own. Whilst Crooke could only manage a pair of third place finishes on those occasions, it was still enough to claim round honours. Sterling was forced to rue missing the opening race and settle for second best as Niko French won a tight battle for third.

The Victorian Motor Racing Championships return to Winton Motor Raceway on September 16-17.

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NATIONALS WRAP

TALBOT OVERCOMES PENALTY TO GET VITAL WIN

Will Brown led virtually all weekend ... Images: DANIEL KALISZ

BROWN BOSSES TCR FIELD

WILL BROWN caused a stir both off and on the track on August 11-13 when he bossed the TCR Australia field at Queensland Raceway.

On the same weekend that his defection from Erebus Motorsport became official, Brown topped six of the seven sessions at Ipswich including two wins.

The only driver who shared victory lane with the Audi star was Brad Harris, who scored a surprise maiden win in a careerbest weekend.

Brown desperately needed a strong weekend to get his horrid TCR campaign underway and he responded in style.

The speed in the #9 Melbourne Performance Centre Audi RS3 LMS TCR was immediately evident as he dominated both practice and qualifying sessions.

Brown’s stranglehold only tightened in Race 1 when he stormed to a crushing 10s win over reigning champion Tony D’Alberto.

But the big action was behind as series leader Bailey Sweeny failed to start due to

a battery issue and would eventually be disqualified.

Another unlucky one was Tim Slade, the Supercars sub for newly-wed Tom Oliphant, stalling the Link & Co off the line from fourth.

The dramas promoted D’Alberto and Zac Soutar into the podium positions, but none could come near the bolting Brown.

After a one-sided opener, the reverse top 10 Race 2 was a nail-biter with just a second covering the top three.

Despite a slow start, Harris hit the lead on lap two and would never let go even though some fast-finishing challengers will come his way.

Brown flew from 10th to fifth in the first five laps and joined Harris and Aaron Cameron in the battle for the lead.

Despite little separating the trio across the last six laps, Harris secured a special maiden win just three rounds on from his debut.

By Race 3 it was the Brown show once

again as he led every tour of the Paperclip and held off his rivals in a one-lap shootout.

In a dramatic race, where D’Alberto dropped from second to 10th after an eventful day, Jordan Cox got spun twice, Ben Bargwanna and Kody Garland found mechanical trouble, with the latter bringing out a Safety Car to create a one-lap dash.

But the grandstand finish failed to faze the ice-cool Brown, who finally made his presence felt in the new Audi.

The championship equation is now a stunning one with just a solitary point separating new leader Josh Buchan and Hyundai teammate Bailey Sweeny ahead of Sandown on September 8-10.

Thomas Miles TCR AUSTRALIA CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS AFTER ROUND 4 1 Josh Buchan 457 points 2 Bailey Sweeny 456 3 Aaron Cameron 425 4 Jordan Cox 390 5 Tony D’Alberto 387

HISLOP EDGES OUT RIVALS RAY HISLOP has emerged victorious in a competitive round of V8 Touring Cars at Queensland Raceway.

A total of eight cars created the biggest field of the category’s revival season and the pacesetter proved to be Hislop.

Despite Jude Bargwanna taking pole position and Jamie Tilley taking two of the three wins on offer, it was Hislop leads Bargwanna and Morris. the 1977 styled Ford FG Falcon that reigned supreme.

Hislop came home second after being Having monstered the field at Winton, forced to fend off the fast-finishing Bargwanna looked in ominous touch Bargwanna. when he took pole by 0.35s over Tilley The second race went down to the wire and Hislop. and proved to be a weekend-shaping But a poor start saw the #79 Falcon drop affair. down to sixth on the first lap which allowed Hislop and Bargwanna charged away Tilley to take charge and claim a 3s win. and diced for the lead in a tense scrap.

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But a mistake by Bargwanna on lap 10 proved to be the difference as it allowed Hislop to prevail by just four-tenths.

With Tilley dropping down to fourth, this meant that not even a final-race win was enough to steal the round from the consistent Hislop, who secured it with a runner-up result.

The next round is at Sandown on September 8-10.

Thomas Miles V8 TOURING CARS CHAMPIONSHIP AFTER ROUND 3 1 Jude Bargwanna 380 points 2 Jamie Tilley 333 3 Jim Pollicina 294 4 Tony Auddino 238 5 Ray Hislop 223

LIAM TALBOT (leading, above) pushed hard to overcome a 15s penalty and win a wild final GT Challenge Australia race at Queensland Raceway, but he could not retain the championship lead.

Talbot received a 15s penalty for spinning the Triple Eight Mercedes of Prince Abu Bakar Ibrahim when the fight for the lead got ugly at Turn 6 on lap 41.

This meant the #65 Audi, co-driven by Garth Tander, had to increase its lead over Geoff Emery by at least half a second over the last three laps to secure a fifth win of the year.

However, the stunning drive was not enough to stop Talbot from slipping from first to third in the championship, which is now headed by Max Hofer.

Talbot showed strong pace from the get-go getting Saturday pole and building a 10s lead over Ibrahim before the stops.

But with the #65 Audi facing a longer compulsory pit time, Tander rejoined fourth and had too much lost ground to recover.

This vaulted Hofer to the front of the field and he never let it go to take a championshipchanging win.

The #1 Porsche of Yasser Shahin and Garnet Patterson was a distant second with Ibrahim and Jamie Whincup rounded out the podium and keeping Tander away.

The Sunday race was a much more dramatic affair with Jamie Whincup initially converting pole into an early lead after co-driver Prince Abu Bakar Ibrahim topped the championship’s maiden Top 10 Shootout.

But behind Whincup the Audis of Hofer and Tander were banging doors in the fight for second, while Broc Feeney in car #888 rose from seventh to fourth.

Despite Hofer breathing down his neck, Whincup retained the lead until the lap-27 stops.

Talbot was the big winner from the pits emerging just 3s behind Ibrahim.

The battle for the lead soon reached boiling point when Talbot nudged past Ibrahim and pulled enough of a gap to remain victorious despite the best efforts of Hofer. In the end less than 2s was the corrected margin separating the Audis, while Ibrahim got a podium.

Despite the special win, Talbot lost his championship advantage to Max Hofer, who is 18 points ahead of Emery with a classic Adelaide finale in prospect.

Thomas Miles GT WORLD CHALLENGE CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS AFTER ROUND 5 1 Max Hofer 265 points 2 Geoff Emery 247 3 Liam Talbot 245 4 Garnet Patterson 232 /Yasser Shahin 5 Ross Poulakis 183

SPEEDSERIES • QUEENSLAND RACEWAY

Images: DANIEL KALISZ

HAYMAN DELIVERS QR TRANS AM HAYMAKER TOM HAYMAN (leading, above) cleaned up Round 4 of the National Trans Am series at Queensland Raceway, announcing his title credentials with a clean sweep.

The 19-year-old took his maiden win in Race 2 after the opener was declared a no-result following a four-car incident, with his maiden win coming on the back of an epic scrap against round runner-up, Elliot Barbour.

After Cody Gillis took a maiden pole position over Elliot Cleary, Barbour, and Edan Thornburrow, it was Hayman that surged through the field to take Barbour with a few laps remaining after he sat under his wing for most of the race.

Race 2 saw Hayman convert his pole position into a

back-to-back win when he survived several restarts to take the win under a yellow, with Lochie Dalton taking second over Barbour.

After Ben Grice was caught up in the Race 1 melee, he slowed on track toward the end which brought out a yellow, which was then followed by Thornburrow’ going off at Turn 3, which ended the race with Hayman in front.

The closing race saw another late yellow, as Hayman was left to fend off Barbour and the TA championship leader, James Moffat, in a two lap dash – which he did in a commanding manner.

“It has been a great weekend for our small team, to get a

clean sweep is absolutely insane,” Hayman said in victory lane “I feel like this weekend has brought me a lot of confidence – coming out of the gate fast has definitely helped me and hopefully we can back it up at Sandown and get ourselves closer in the title race.”

Although Moffat couldn’t take a win this weekend, he largely had the better track position across the board with two podiums to extend his lead from Dalton, with Hayman’s efforts bringing him closer to the equation in third with three rounds left.

The TA season now heads to Sandown on September 8-10. TW Neal

MORRIS TAKES PORSCHE SPRINT SWEEP

NASH MORRIS (above) has continued the strong start to his Porsche Sprint Challenge partnership with TekworkX Motorsport with a convincing sweep at Queensland Raceway.

His three wins make it five out of six since he joined at SMP, with his teammate Hamish Fitzsimmons taking overall second in front of teenage Grove Racing junior Oscar Targett.

Targett headed up an epic qualifying session to get the round going which saw the #4 Gen 2 driver take pole by 0.001s from Morris, the closest in series history.

He could do little to hold off the #67 in Race 1 however, as Morris took the lead on lap 1 to keep control until the chequered flag with Targett holding off fellow Queenslander Marcos Flack.

Race 2 was marred by a big crash on the straight between Turns 3 and 4, with Richard Cowen and Andrew Goldie both being taken to hospital after locking up into a tyre wall and into

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the infield on the last lap.

McElrea Motorsport later released a statement saying that Cowen was in a serious but stable condition.

Morris went on to win the race after the first Safety Car after contact between Brad Carr and Tim Wolfe caused a twolap dash to the finish, with Fitzsimmons topping Flack for second after a good race-long battle.

The final 28 lap closer saw Morris again get the early jump, and he didn’t let up to register a 3.170s win over his teammate, whilst Targett made it a second podium for the day by finishing third over NZ teenager Marco Giltrap.

Matt Slavin, Ramu Farrell and Sam Shahin took out the Pro Am wins respectively, whilst Lachlan Harburg took two of the Class B wins with Carr taking the finale.

Giltrap still holds the series lead by 141 over Aron Shields, with the next round heading to The Bend on October 13-15. TW Neal

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COWHAM TOPS APC ENDURO ROUND

ROUND 3 of the Australian Production Car Champion took its three-race enduro format to Queensland Raceway, which included Race 2’s Fight in the Night hit out.

Alongside co-driver Lindsay Kearns in the #25 Ford Mustang GT, Coleby Cowham (pictured) came out on top of the APC standings.

Cowham’s A2 class wins in Races 1 and 2 got him over the line for the round win, which now sees him on top of the pointscore over Iain Sherrin in the X Class BMW F82 M4.

The GT4 component went to Tony Quinn and co-driver Ryder Quinn in an outright battle of the Porsche Cayman 718s, nudging out pole-sitters Shane Smollen and Lachlan Mineeff (on debut), splitting the first two races before Race 3 went the way of Mark Griffith and Nash Morris in the Mercedes AMG GT. After Grant Sherrin nudged his brother Iain by a tenth of second in Qualifying, the pole-setting brother lost out when an unplanned pit stop with two laps

remaining gifted the lead to Cowham, whilst the categories rational Fight Night dominator Beric Lynton took second in his BMW F80 M3, with Cameron Crick and Dean Campbell taking third to end Day 1.

The evening Fight in the Night closed out Day 2 for the APC, with the series leader at the time – Ian Sherrin – getting the job done in his #72 F82 over 68 minutes and 44 laps.

Both Sherrin brothers swapped for the lead throughout, with the #27 component of the family falling away late, Kearns to come through on the lead lap with Sherrin for second, whilst Tim Leahey made round out the podium with two X Class F80, one lap in arrears.

Cowham was faultless on the Day 3 round closer, topping Ian Sherrin by a little over three seconds to clinch the round, whilst Ben Gersekowski finished up with a podium in his B2 Class BMW M3.

The combined APC and GT4 Australia Series next heads to Sandown, September 8-10. TW Neal

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INTERNATIONAL

Bagnaia dominated again – the championship gets closer.

Images: GOLD AND GOOSE

MOTOGP CHAMPIONSHIP AFTER ROUND 10 1 Francesco Bagnaia 251 2 Jorge Martin 189 3 Marco Bezzecchi 183 4 Brad Binder 160 5 Johann Zarco 125

UNTOUCHABLE BAGNAIA BLAZES ON NO ONE could come close to stopping Francesco Bagnaia from compiling a perfect weekend under the Austrian sun at the Red Bull Ring.

Bagnaia blew away his rivals by taking pole and the Sprint before leading every lap en route to a crushing 5s ahead of Brad Binder.

On a weekend where Binder signed a long-term deal with KTM, Australia’s Jack Miller had a Sunday to forget, slipping from third to 15th, 25s off the pace. If it wasn’t for a post-race penalty for Pol Espargaro, Miller would have missed out on points.

The struggles for the #43 started in practice where results of 22nd and 14th forced him to navigate Q1, which he topped.

Qualifying proved to be the closest Bagnaia’s rivals got to catching the #1, but the factory Ducati still claimed pole.

Just 0.037s back was Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales and Binder completed the front row, while Miller bounced back well to secure fourth.

The Sprint started with a dramatic Turn 1 pile-up that saw VR46 star Marco Bezzecchi and RNF’s Miguel Oliveira taken out.

As Bagnaia charged into the lead, Jorge Martin made a dive further back and nudged Fabio Quartararo and Vinales.

With the field bunching up at the tight right-hander, this sparked a chain reaction where Johann Zarco, Bezzecchi and Oliveira fell to the floor.

Up front, Bagnaia led Binder and Miller, but the Aussie started to drop and was out of podium contention after running wide at turn three.

The fight for third got aggressive between Luca Marini and Martin as contact saw the VR46 rider fall at Turn 3.

Bagnaia cruised to a 2s win over Binder and Martin, while Alex Marquez snatched fourth from Miller.

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MARTIN INSISTS TURN ONE PILE UP ‘NOT MY FAULT’ THERE WAS much less drama on Sunday as the #1 flew from pole to the lead from Binder and everyone negotiated the first turn safely.

Miller and Marini went side by side for third into the chicane and the Aussie won the battle to put two KTMs into the top three, but it was already a two-horse race with Bagnaia and Binder 0.7s ahead.

By lap three the gap was well over a second and increasing as the Australian had his work cut out keeping Alex Marquez, Marini and Bezzecchi behind.

By lap four Marquez got past Miller at the penultimate corner and before too long both VR46 riders also gobbled him up.

Just 10 laps later Quartararo kicked the #43 out of the top 10.

Up front Binder had no answer for Bagnaia’s relentless pace as the gap went well beyond the 1s barrier but the fight to the join them on the podium was more intriguing.

Bezzecchi made a deep lunge at Turn 1 and got by Alex Marquez, but only for a heartbeat as the #72 bowled a wide.

Six laps later he had a look on the outside of the chicane, but the Gresini rider held firm.

Above: There were some unhappy riders after the Turn 1 crash in the Sprint. Above right: Jorge Martin copped the blame ... Below: Brad Binder took a strong second for KTM.

He finally found the overlap by the time they reached the penultimate corner and got the job done.

Marini tried to follow his teammate through at the fast double left hander on lap 25, but Marquez was not having any of it.

The #73 stayed strong on the inside, but the resistance only lasted another three corners.

This was one of the few battles that kept fans entertained during an unusually sedate MotoGP race.

Bagnaia blazed to a 5s win over Binder and Bezzecchi as the reigning champion now enjoys a huge 62-point lead over Martin with Catalunya calling on September 1-3.

Thomas Miles

DESPITE BEING penalised, Jorge Martin believes the turn one pile up at the Austrian Sprint race was not his fault.

Martin appeared to trigger the collision by diving down the inside and making contact with Fabio Quartararo, who also bumped Maverick Vinales.

This sparked a chain reaction where Quartararo and Enea Bastianini went off as Miguel Oliveira, Marco Bezzecchi and Johann Zarco crashed out.

Martin received a long lap penalty on Sunday’s Grand Prix for his part, but believed others played their part.

“I was keeping a straight line, I didn’t do any esses and felt I was going to do the corner on the inside quite comfortably,” the Pramac rider recalled.

“But then some other riders on the outside closed their lines a bit.

Fabio closed on me and he lost control a bit.

“I think it was a combination of things, but I think it’s not my fault still.”

MOTOGP • AUSTRIA I NASCAR MICHIGAN • INDIANAPOLIS • WATKINS GLEN

BYRON OF THE GLEN HENDRICKS MOTORSPORT has continued its NASCAR dominance of Watkins Glen with William Byron (below) achieving the team’s fifth straight victory at the New York road course, a streak dating back to 2018.

The #24 Camaro driver will finish the regular season as the winningest driver, with the North Carolina native making it five wins in total to be third overall heading into the post-season.

Byron led a race-high 66 out of 90 laps to take victory over poleman Denny Hamlin by 2.632s, with Christopher Bell taking third place.

One of the big stories coming out of the Glen involved the only race caution, with Byron’s teammate Chase Elliot running out of fuel and stopping on track, that

leaves the 2020 champion on the cusp of elimination with one round remaining.

Elliot missed six straight rounds early in the year after suffering a broken leg, and now has to win at Daytona in the final round to capture a playoff berth.

With Byron being a repeat winner, the winless Brad Keselowski and Kevin Harvick have provisionally clinched playoff berths on strength of points.

“I think it shows that when we’re at our best, we can perform like this. We seem to go through that summer slump in July and August, and for some reason we just can’t quite put the races together,” Byron said.

“We came into this weekend with a good mindset, focusing on trying to get ready for the postseason, and we’ve

had fast cars, we just haven’t executed races, but today was flawless … this is a cool win. Road courses have been tough, so it’s fun to get a win.”

Indianapolis victor Michael McDowell passed Hamlin early on to take the initial lead, but his race went to the dogs after twice stalling in the pits before a mechanical failure had him finish last.

Despite there being six different leaders in the early stages, Byron assumed the lead after the first round of pit stops, and controlled the race from therein.

The final round is a 160-lap encounter at the Daytona International Speedway before the playoffs begin at Darlington Raceway on September 3.

TW Neal

Images: MOTORSPORT IMAGES

BUESCHER GOES BACKTO-BACK KESELOWSKI RACING’s Chris Buescher became the second back-to-back NASCAR winner this season, taking a nail-biter at the postponed Casino 400 at the Michigan International Speedway.

The Texans fourth career win (above) was by just 0.152s over series leader Martin Truex Jr, with Denny Hamlin taking a third straight podium.

It was the ninth straight victory for a Ford at the 3.2km speedway, with the race being restarted on 75 laps after rain delayed the finish by a day.

“Had to work for that one, it was hard racing at the end,” Buescher said.

“Martin was very clean with me. I appreciate that. Get to go to Victory Lane two weeks in a row. That’s pretty awesome.”

He led 52 of the 200 laps, with the telling moment coming with 13 laps to go when Truex took advantage of a hairy Turn 4 moment for the #17 Mustang driver.

The two were side by side over two laps with Buescher holding Truex to the bottom of the track, forcing him to slip and lift off the gas before he had to clear a lapped Michael McDowell.

That gave the Texan a healthy enough gap over the final 11 circuits to hold on by whisker at the chequered flag over the arguably fastest Toyota.

TW Neal

MCDOWELL CLINCHES POSTSEASON SPOT AT IMS UNDERDOG MICHAEL McDowell (right) took out NASCAR’s visit to the Brickyard in the Indianapolis Road Course, and with his second ever Cup Series win, the Front Row Motorsports driver tied up a playoff spot.

The #34 Mustang driver was dominant across the 82 laps, heading up 54 of them to hold off Chase Elliot by 0.937s, leaving the 2020 champion with slim pickings to make the postseason final 16, whilst Trackhouse’s Daniel Suarez took third.

It was also the second time this season that America’s premier race series has had a visit from some Supercars Personnel, with Shane van Gisbergen making his second appearance after winning in Chicago with Trackhouse, and current championship leader Brodie Kostecki making his debut with Richard Childress Racing.

But after the Phoenician native took out his second win after his Daytona 500 in 2021, he leaves only three playoff spots left with his dominant weekend.

After Suarez started on the onside front row, McDowell went past the Camaro poleman on lap six, holding that until he pitted on lap 17 for an early green flag stop.

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He would regain the lead by 53 after his second and final pit on 46, with Elliot giving chase until the bitter end in bid to snatch a playoff spot.

Suarez was in the battle for much of the race until his front left tyre was dropped onto an airgun hose in the pits, which cost him six seconds and narrowed his window to make a play for the postseason.

From the antipodean perspective, Van Gisbergen drove a clean race to claim 10th (aside from spinning rookie Ty Gibbs) and, despite reporting throttle application issues, he stayed out of trouble and even led one lap on the pit cycle after starting the race in eighth.

Kostecki wasn’t so lucky, starting at the rear of the field in his NASCAR debut after qualifying in 11th, but sent to the rear after sustaining damage in a crash, with the necessary repairs leading to a grid penalty.

But he finished in 22nd after climbing as high as P16, though a late race-pit stop in a gamble for a caution saw him drop back again, and after emerging in 28th he fought back once more for a respectable but luckless debut.

TW Neal

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INTERNATIONAL

LARSON DOMINATES KNOXVILLE A FLAWLESS 50 laps from Kyle Larson has netted the NASCAR star a second Knoxville Nationals title at the 62nd running of the “Granddaddy of em all”.

The spiritual home of Sprintcars didn’t disappoint with a sell-out crowd at Knoxville Raceway in Iowa witnessing the 2021 champion back it up to join the list of only eight other drivers to be a multiple winner, with the Californian taking home the US$185,000 prize purse.

Larson completely dominated in the #57 Paul Silva Motorsports car against a stellar field that included the best of the best, finishing over a rampantly charging David Gravel and recent Kings Royal winner, Donny Schatz.

“I’m so excited to win another Crown Jewel; another Knoxville Nationals feels amazing,” Larson said.

“This is my favourite week of the year.

I look forward to this event all year long, and It’s all I think about all week.

“I’m glad we could get this black and blue #57 in Victory Lane for him (Paul Silva),” Larson said. “He’s worked so hard. It’s amazing to see his hard work pay off. From 20 years old owning a Sprint Car to the success he’s had throughout the years. I love him. He’s the greatest at what he does.”

Larson was the highest qualifier across the four days of action, racking up 482 points in Thursday’s qualifying to go directly onto the front inside row for Sunday’s big one. Wednesday’s qualifying went to Schatz, who collected 479 points as well as the A-Main victory, whilst Carson Macedo took the A-Main over Larson on the Thursday.

‘Mr Everything’ Kyle Larson pretty much dominated to take his second Knoxville Nationals.

Kerry Madsen (top right) was the best-placed Aussie.

Images: MOTORSPORT IMAGES

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Aussie veteran Kerry Madsen also booked himself an early berth into Sunday, as did his brother Ian as the only straightto-Main qualifiers from down under.

Friday’s Hard Knox session was last chance for direct qualification, in which Gravel made up for his surprise crash on the Wednesday to qualify behind A-Main winner Aaron Reutzel, with Australian Scott Bogucki also sneaking in.

The E, D, C, and B-Mains on Sunday offered the last four spots on the grid in a continual knockout cycle, and the Aussie contingent almost made a clean sweep of all four Mains. Although Brooke Tatnell, Lachlan McHugh, and Lynton Jeffrey all topped the E, D, and C respectively, none could advance from their corresponding races, whilst NT star James McFadden couldn’t make it a sweep after suffering some misfortune from the lead on lap 10 when his left rear tyre blew.

McFadden was also unlucky not to qualify directly when the points were put together after Thursday, missing out by just two points.

When the green flag eventually dropped in the “Granddaddy of em all,” the front saw Larson start on the inside lane from Rico Abreu, Schatz, and Eldora Millions winner Logan Schuchart.

After Larson got a clear jump, the early laps ticked away fast, as so did his lead lap-by-lap.

The racing stayed green until the first yellow was called with 36 remaining, as rookie Chase Randall lost his left rear.

When the race resumed, Abreu suffered the heartbreak of a puncture from second place, whilst Larson again pulled away before the halfway yellow dropped, which allowed Silva to further work his magic with some small alterations on the #57.

After the restart, Schuchart pushed hard but a mechanical failure saw yet another challenger drop to the rear.

The big story was from Gravel, who had stormed from 22nd into the top five, and after another restart with 10 to go, he made his move on Schatz into second, a position he held to earn himself

US$85,000, his second straight P2 in the Nationals.

“Did you guys like that show from the back?” Gravel said to the crowd. “Man, I want to be a two-time winner of the Knoxville Nationals so bad. Two seconds in a row now!”

Whilst Larson admitted: “He (Gravel) had me really nervous coming from 22nd there, You can never count any of those guys out no matter where they start.”

Schatz’ third place got him US$45,000, whilst the veteran added a remarkable 20th podium in his last 24 attempts, which includes 11 victories (second of all time Steve Kinser/12).

“I thought we had a chance when we had one of those restarts and went to the top and could kind-of keep pace with him. I was running it for everything it was worth. It just wasn’t enough,” Schatz said.

Completing the top five was Giovanni Scelzi and Macedo, over Brad Sweet, Abreu and Buddy Kofoid, whilst Kerry Madsen was the highest of the three Aussies on the night, finishing just over Sheldon Haudenschild.

Knoxville Nationals Rookie of the year went to Randall, after he recovered from his tyre failure to finish 13th.

TW Neal

SPRINTCARS • KNOXVILLE NATIONALS IOWA I INDYCARS • INDIANAPOLIS ROAD COURSE

Another rampant Kiwi! Scott Dixon came back from first-lap disaster to victory ... honing in on Graham Rahal (bottom) to snatch a remarkable 54th win.

Images: MOTORSPORT IMAGES

DIXON PULLS AN INDY SPIN AND WIN KIWI INDYCAR legend Scott Dixon is the epitome of a living legend, as his record 319th consecutive series start culminated in a 54th career victory for the 43-yearold.

His win at the Indianapolis Road Course was his first of the year, but added to his immense streak of 19 consecutive seasons with a trip to victory lane.

Dixon is second only in all-time wins behind the great A.J. Foyt (67), with all but one of those wins coming with Chip Ganassi since that relationship began in 2002.

It also elevates him to second in the championship over Josef Newgarden, though it is highly unlikely anyone will haul in his teammate Alex Palou with three races remaining.

What made this victory all the more remarkable, was that Dixon was caught up in the early carnage, spinning onto the grass and to the rear of the field.

His comeback had him charge down poleman Graham Rahal, who fell short by just 0.477s, whilst the podium was completed by Pato O’Ward – seven seconds back.

“What a day to win on; It makes it so fun, especially for this little guy,” Dixon said, referring to his three-year-old son Kit. “He gets to see it. It’s been a little while since I’ve had a win, probably over a year.

It makes it worthwhile, and we’re going to keep trying to win on start #320.

“The only problem there was toward the end, on my out laps, I pushed it too hard to kind-of create that gap on Graham and unfortunately burned the tyres up a little bit. It was a little sketchy at the end, but we tried to put on a show for everyone.”

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A victory for Dixon seemed unlikely after the race kicked off with some first lap mayhem, whilst Penske driver Newgarden essentially saw his late run at the Astor Cup evaporate.

The infield Turn 7 melee saw Newgarden smash his nose cone off as he got stuck on top of Marcus Armstrong’s CGR Honda.

That was ironically caused by a nudge from Palou, which also caused Romain Grosjean to spin Dixon onto the grass.

The kiwi managed to keep his engine running to rejoin, which then saw him pit on lap five for the Alternate ‘Softs’, which was the favoured rubber of the day.

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In amongst all that, Devlin DeFrancesco had taken the lead for the first time in his career on lap nine, and the Canadian dared to dream for eight laps.

When the pit cycles came about, Dixon’s charge on the Reds remarkably had him scrapping for the lead in the ensuing pit cycles, with himself, Rahal and Christian Lundgaard trading the lead over the next 50 laps.

The CGR veteran topped that squabble, pitting for the last time on lap 59, sticking with the alternates and, despite being on green tyres, put on a blazing show of speed out of the pits to trump Rahal’s undercut efforts – who, after pitting on

64, quickly went 6.186s down with 21 laps to go.

Dixon’s push saw him burn his Softs quickly however, and that lead was reduced to just over three seconds with 72 laps to go, then to within 1.602s seconds by lap 80 with five cycles to run.

As the leader hit lapped traffic, that brought the Cusick Motorsports racer into the frame, and with three laps left he was on Dixon’s wing.

On the final lap, Dixon found a bit extra on the famous 2.5-mile oval section as he hauled it over the final yard of IMS bricks.

Lundgaard and Alexander Rossi completed the top five, whilst Aussie Will Power topped the championship leader for sixth.

Palou’s seventh saw him extend his series lead to 101 points over his teammate with the Illinois, Portland, and Monterey races the only realistic hurdle between him and a second title.

Scott McLaughlin, Kyle Kirkwood and Marcus Ericsson rounded out the 10, whilst Newgarden’s season low of P25 sees his title tilt come to its predictable end.

The third-last round heads to the World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Illinois, for the final oval race of the year, where Newgarden will at least be seeking to be IndyCar’s 2023 oval king with a format sweep.

TW Neal INDYCAR STANDINGS AFTER 14 ROUNDS Palou 539 Dixon 438 Newgarden 434 McLaughlin 395 O’Ward 388

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SUPERUTES I TOYOTA 86

SIEDERS SNEAKS PAST CRICK ALTHOUGH THE weekend was cut short, the V8 SuperUtes Series produced plenty of action as just one point decided round honours at The Bend.

In his first time racing in the category in two years as a replacement for the European bound Aaron Borg, Cameron Crick showed no signs of rust, taking two of three wins on offer.

But it was the speed of Sieders that prevailed as he took a valuable round win in the championship.

The battle between Crick and Sieders was on from the start as just 0.4s split the pair in a tense opener.

Sieders got the jump as it was five wide in the fight for third before Ryal Harris, Adrian Cottrell and George Gutierrez came together just metres after the start line.

They were lucky to all escape and get to Turn 1, but Cottrell was the big loser, dropping to 18th.

After the eventful opening metres, the race settled down as the top three positions were unchanged the whole way with Sieders edging out Crick with Harris beating Jimmy Vernon for third.

Crick completed his comeback by taking victory in a dramatic reverse grid encounter.

The top eight grid positions were flipped, which put Cody Brewczynski on the front row but he got a shocking start and slumped to eighth as Harris stormed into the lead.

On the charge was Crick and by lap five he hit the lead, displacing Harris and leaving him in the fight for second.

Less than a second split positions second to sixth, but Harris was able to fend off Sieders, Adam Marjoram and George Gutierrez as they squabbled until the chequered flag.

Crick continued his impressive comeback by winning a thriller in Race 3.

Sieders led the field into Turn 1 as Harris and Crick traded places for second until the latter prevailed at Turn 1.

Harris then dropped away after an off at Turn 12, while Dean Brooking, David Casey, Alexandra Best and Richard Mork also found trouble.

The battle for the win was not decided until the final lap when Crick outfoxed Sieders at the turn six hairpin and held on by two-tenths.

With only one point separating Crick and Sieders, it was all set for a grandstand finish in the fourth race, but it was not to be.

The finale barely lasted a corner as the red flags were waved following a huge start line crash..

The chaos was caused by a squeeze between Holly Espray, Adrian Cottrell and Jaiden Maggs.

This chain reaction sent Maggs spinning across the track into Cody Brewczynski, who also struck David Casey on the inside.

Maggs then spun back across towards the opposite grandstand side of the track and directly into the rear of Dean Brooking.

Brewczynski, Cottrell, Casey and Brooking were wiped out on the spot before the red flag ended proceedings early.

Thomas Miles V8 SUPERUTE SERIES CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS AFTER ROUND 3 1 David Sieders 546 2 Ryal Harris 534 3 Adam Marjoram 527 4 Craig Woods 508 5 Aaron Borg 490

Sieders leads Crick.

Images: TAMARA JADE MEDIA

CASHA CELEBRATES TOYOTA TON IN STYLE THE TOYOTA 86 Series raised the bat for its 100th championship race in the finale at The Bend and the celebration was one to savour as Ryan Casha beat Cody Burcher by just 0.2s.

Casha increased his championship lead by winning a classic in a competitive weekend, where Ryan Tomsett (pictured) and round winner Burcher also appeared in victory lane.

The celebratory weekend started on a high as Tomsett sent the Toyota world into a spin (figuratively) at the tender age of 15.

The youngster was speechless after taking pole position by two-tenths with a 2:14.8220, but he would have been even more stunned after he converted it into a memorable win.

Tomsett had to fight hard for the win, having been swamped by Jayden Wanzek and Matt Hillyer at the start.

But by lap three the #27 was back in the lead after he sent it down the inside of Wanzek at Turn 1.

It was a clean affair with Burcher working his way up to third and Casha in fourth.

Burcher returned to victory lane by dominating the 99th championship race.

Wanzek led early as Hayden Hume and

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Harry Bates both went off in the opening sequence of corners.

Despite controlling the first two laps, Wanzek’s victory hopes disappeared in an instant.

After Burcher took the lead at turn one, just three corners later Wanzek had been bullied down to sixth and eventually took the chequered flag down in ninth.

As Burcher cruised to a 3s win, the battle for second was a mighty one with Casha prevailing ahead of Coulthard and Tomsett in a contest decided at the death.

Anticipation was high for the 100th race and it lived up to expectations.

The race-long battle between Casha and Burcher began when the lights went out as they ran side by side to Turn 1 with Coulthard in their slipstream.

Casha emerged in front and the mid pack somehow got through the high speed Turn 5 despite some going four wide and Brock Stinson taking to the dirt.

Wanzek joined what became a long list of cars going off on the opening lap at the never-ending right hander.

Coulthard could not keep up with the leading duo and dropped to fifth having been outrun by Goodall and Tomsett.

Campbell Logan soon made it a four-car battle, but by the chequered flag Coulthard’s experience prevailed as he stole P3.

The fight for the lead also livened up on the final lap as Burcher and Casha slid around the track.

Burcher made his move going down the inside at Turn 12 but Casha fought back as they went side by side for three corners.

In the end the #79 emerged in front but the job was not done as Burcher had a crack around the outside of the penultimate corner but ultimately fell just two-tenths short.

After a special trip around The Bend, the Toyotas return at Sandown on September 15-17. Thomas Miles TOYOTA 86 SERIES CHAMPIONSHIP AFTER ROUND 3 1 Ryan Casha 790 2 Campbell Logan 706 3 Cody Burcher 700 4 Reuben Goodall 596 5 Lachlan Bloxhom 542

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HEINRICH AND HANSFORD BATTLE AT THE BEND

ALTHOUGH ROOKIE Joel Heinrich took the Touring Car Masters field by storm on home turf, it was Ryan Hansford, who claimed top honours at The Bend.

The duo were the class of an expanded TCM field which grew from 12 to 18 cars from the last round at Winton.

One of the newcomers was local Heinrich, who made his debut in the returning Chevrolet Camaro RS, previously driven by Adam Bressington at Newcastle.

After a busy build up, the South Aussie made an immediate impression by beating Steven Johnson to pole by 0.3s.

He was the first to achieve the feat on TCM debut since Johnson himself in 2015.

Due to recent success, the #33 Mustang was handicapped with reduced revs and recorded a best finish of 3rd. Heinrich then carried this momentum into the flipped grid Trophy Race by taking out a fighting win.

With the top 10 grid positions being rotated, the #95 Camaro moved up to third by the end of a hectic opening lap where Andrew Fisher, Jason Palmer and Peter Burnitt all came to grief.

On lap two Heinrich completed his charge to the top by getting by Danny Buzadzic.

Hansford eventually snatched second to

Danny Buzadzic dropped from fourth to eighth after spinning at the never-ending right hander.

Heinrich completed his dream debut in grand style with a lights to flag win in the finale.

He won the lead at Turn 1 and was never challenged, while Hansford and Johnson diced for second.

After many early-race moves Hansford prevailed to get second and eventually round honours as attention turned to the battle for sixth.

Fisher and Bowe had a squabble until the latter bounced through the How’s that! TCM rookie Joel Heinrich (leading) made an immediate impact. Images: DANIEL KALISZ grass at Turn 12, while Tony Kranafilovski, Warren Trewin finish 4s off the pace. stop Hansford from charging to a 3s win and Fisher also bowled wides.

However Hansford hit back in a Holden over Fisher.

Despite claiming two of the three wins on Torana one-two in the opening race of the Heinrich returned to victory lane in offer, Heinrich fell four points short of the weekend.

Race 2 later on Saturday afternoon in round win to Hansford.

His race was set up by a fast start as dominant fashion by scoring an 8s win Touring Car Masters now head to both Heinrich and Johnson were caught over Hansford.

Mount Panorama on November 10-12. napping in the rolling getaway.

Hansford, Fisher and Heinrich went three Thomas Miles Heinrich dropped from pole all the way wide into Turn 1 before Fisher took control. to sixth on the opening lap, but reclaimed Hansford and Heinrich made contact at TOURING CAR MASTERS fourth by lap two as Hansford and Fisher Turn 3 as Peter Burnitt spun around, but a CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS blazed ahead. lap later the rookie went on the attack.

AFTER ROUND 5 The race was then interrupted by the On lap two Heinrich flew from third to 1 Steven Johnson 532 Safety Car as four cars including Tony first and displaced Fisher with a well2 Cameron Tilley 405 Karanfilovski, John Adams, Adam Williams executed lunge at the turn six hairpin.

3 Ryan Hansford 398 and Allan Hughes found trouble.

A lap later it was Hansford’s turn to pass 4 Andrew Fisher 398 This setup a one-lap dash, but it did not Fisher while there was last lap drama as 5 Marcus Zukanovic 372

CAMERON PIPS WEBSTER TO TAKE SERIES LEAD AARON CAMERON (pictured) has edged ahead of Cooper Webster in a tense S5000 round at The Bend to take the championship lead.

The penultimate round of the season was all about Cameron and Webster, who dominated proceedings in a two-horse race.

Despite Webster smashing Saturday, victory in the extra-points finale was enough for Cameron to score his second straight round win.

The result means the #18 Garry Rogers Motorsport driver has snatched the championship lead from the absent Joey Mawson.

Cameron started the weekend in ominous fashion by snatching pole position by 0.142s.

He posted a 1:40.842 on his sixth lap to knock off Webster.

But when racing began at 7.30am Saturday morning, it was Webster, who was the liveliest, getting a great jump off the line.

From the fast start, no one could come close to the #37 Versa Motorsport driver, who cruised to a 6s win.

Cameron found himself in a GRM battle with Jordan

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Boys for second and prevailed in an all Victorian podium at the South Australian circuit.

Aaron Love finished fourth ahead of Kody Garland, who made some moves to climb from eighth to fifth as Nic Carrol, Kody Garland Ben Bargwanna and Blake Purdie were still rubbing the sleep out of their eyes and went off in the cold, green conditions.

Another flying start put Webster on the journey to another big win, as Cameron had to settle for second.

The #18 kept up with the #37 briefly, but could not sustain the pace as the race went on.

Boys and Love had a tight battle for third, but the latter’s challenge was ruined by a charging Blake Purdie.

His heavy-braking lunge at the Turn 4 hairpin stole fourth and left Love to fend off Bargwanna to complete the top five.

Webster was aiming for a clean sweep in Sunday’s Race 3, but this time Cameron brought his A-Game.

The pair went down to turn one side-by-side and Webster looked to take control before his GRM rival pulled off the decisive move.

After losing the lead at the first turn, Cameron performed the switchback at the following left-hander, threading the needle between Webster on the outside and Love on the inside.

Although Webster never disappeared, Cameron led all 12 laps to score a 1s win, which was enough to steal the round.

Love completed the podium ahead of Boys, who bounced back from early contact with Kody Garland.

S5000 goes on a break before the Adelaide 500 finale on November 23-26.

Thomas Miles S5000 CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS AFTER ROUND 5 1 Aaron Cameron 486 2 Cooper Webster 402 3 Joey Mawson 364 4 Jordan Boys 349 5 Blake Purdie 317

S5000 I TCM I CARRERA CUP • THE BEND

FAULTLESS HEDGE TAKES THE BEND AND SERIES LEAD CALLUM HEDGE swept up in South Australia and has charged into the Porsche Carrera Cup championship lead with the help of a rare slip up from Jackson Walls.

Hedge was unflappable at The Bend, taking pole position before cruising to all three wins.

In the Kiwi’s wake was always Walls, who appeared to remain composed enough to score a hat-trick of seconds and keep his points lead intact until the penultimate corner.

Sick of playing second fiddle, Walls made a desperate lunge for the win down the inside at the tight Turn 17, but did not get up far enough and spun on the kerb to drop from second to 12th.

It proved to be costly as it changed what should have been an eight point lead into a 28 point deficit to Hedge.

Christian Pancione was solid all weekend and finished on the podium with third overall - his best Carrera Cup result.

The Team Porsche New Zealand driver sent his first warning in qualifying when he stole pole at the end of a thrilling qualifying session.

Dylan O’Keeffe appeared to have things sewn up until Hedge landed a 1:48.838 at the last moment.

Despite taking pole, Hedge did not receive the honour of starting from the position due to a blocking penalty.

This saw the #17 start third, but he only needed three corners to regain the advantage.

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Walls enjoyed a flying start and immediately chopped in front of O’keeffe but by Turn 1 Hedge came into play.

The Kiwi flew around the outside at Turn 3 and soared into the lead.

Hedge had already built a full second on the field by the end of the first lap and it was game over.

Further back Fabian Coulthard climbed five positions to 12th to recover from his poor quali, while Daniel Stutterd lost it at turn six and spun as Alex Davison went for a detour deep into the paddock of The Bend after finding the dirt on the outside of the long right hander.

Despite Walls managing the gap, Hedge was never threatened, while Pro Am was much closer with Sam Shahin edging ahead of Adrian Flack on home turf.

Now starting from pole, Hedge was in no mood to sacrifice his lead and he dominated the longer 20-lap race two.

The Kiwi and Walls went side by side into turn one, but the positions stayed the same as Simon Fallon, who soared from fifth to third.

There was wild drama at the fast lefthanded sweeper as Coutlhard spun and found himself standard in the middle of the road, but luckily everyone scrambled around the pink car.

O’Keeffe claimed fourth, but was soon swallowed up by both Christian Pancione and Luke King at the start of the second lap. The race went green the whole way as

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Hedge enjoyed another untroubled run to the chequered.

With eyes on a clean sweep, Hedge got another clean getaway off the line, but once again he had Walls for company in the run up to Turn 1.

However, on this occasion, they also had Fallon to worry about as he threatened to make it three wide.

Despite the added pressure, Hedge once again emerged from the tight opening sequence of corners safely.

The same could not be said for the rest of the field as the Safety car was required after Chris Pither, O’Keeffe, David Wall, Ryder Quinn and Alex Davison were taken out in the one incident.

Max Vidau appeared to rotate O’Keeffe’s #88 car around 180 degrees and he was an unavoidable object for Davison and King.

King’s contact with O’Keeffe fired Wall airborne and Quinn into a spin, while Pither was also collateral damage.

King managed to survive, return to the pits and stay on the lead lap when the clean-up was complete on lap five.

Only two more green-flag laps were possible, but this was enough time for Walls to finally mount a challenge to wrestle the lead from Hedge.

The #11 Objective Racing driver decided to wait until

the penultimate corner of the weekend to go on the attack.

However, Walls did not get up far enough, clipped the inside kerb and spun out of podium contention.

The moment elevated Fallon to second and Vidau to third with Pancione and high-profile visitor Garth Tander into the top five.

The Pro Am was equally as unpredictable as early leader Rodney Jane spun down the order and Sam Shahin scored a memorable win on his own circuit just ahead of Matt Belford and Flack.

With the championship race blown open, there is plenty to play for when the Carrera Cup comes back at Sandown on September 15-17.

Thomas Miles PORSCHE CARRERA CUP POINTS AFTER ROUND 4 1 Callum Hedge 496 2 Jackson Walls 468 3 Max Vidau 357 4 Dale Wood 350 5 Alex Davison 274

Hedging his bets ... Callum boosted his championship odds with three-fromthree. Inset: Packed first corner ...

Home-track saw Shahin take out Pro Am. Images: MARK HORSBURGH

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SUPERCARS

Star(s) of the weekend – Kostecki heads triple-podium-getter Randle. Tickford’s Green Machine driver was thrilled (below). Images: MARK HORSBURGH, MOTORSPORT IMAGES

WHO CAN TAIL ‘EM! BRODIE KOSTECKI HAS GONE FROM THE BRICKYARD TO THE BEND WITH A MAIDEN SPRINT SWEEP, PUTTING A POSITIVE NOTE ON A TOUGH WEEK OFF THE TRACK FOR EREBUS AS THE #99 HELD OFF A KEEN PAIR OF TICKFORD DRIVERS TO EXTEND HIS CHAMPIONSHIP LEAD. TIMOTHY W NEAL REPORTS …

THE FINAL Sprint format of the season saw the circus travel to Tailem Bend for Round 8 and the first South Australian hit-out of the year.

The challenging track was a welcome return to a longer style circuit, with its 4.9km 18-turn layout the longest track since the AGP, offering up three 20-lap races.

After Townsville and Sydney it was the third straight round with the Dunlop soft tyre but The Bend would prove far kinder on that specific compound than the latter two rounds, as teams carried five sets of premarked tyres into qualifying and the races, with seperate sets allocated for the two practice sessions.

Although it was the second straight two-day program, there’s always a tremendous sense of value with the SA track, with the smooth and fast Albert Park-like circuit always offering up a good show with its long sweeping corners.

Prior to Tailem Bend, the dreaded P word may have come to its suspected Gen3 conclusion as the Mustangs entered the round with new engine mapping which was tested and confirmed at the recent SMP ride day.

The new map was seen as a final bid to even the parity ledger with the dominant Camaros, to provide more stable power delivery out of the corners.

A big topic of conversation after SMP was the Gen3 steering rack, and whilst the cars went in with the same equipment – although slightly reinforced with tightened elements – post-event testing would trial some new elements which will be a welcome addition to the heavy kerbing at Sandown for the year’s first enduro.

Despite the eventual Erebus Camaro dominance, The Bend offered up an entertaining weekend where the Chevy’s were reeled in by some resurgent Mustangs,

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including a feel good weekend for the Tickford team and its Castrol car.

Three drivers entered this round knowing that they’d definitely be elsewhere in 2024, with several others facing a fight to keep their main-game careers alive, as the stirring of Silly Season saw an explosive beginning in the lead up to Tailem Bend.

In terms of the championship leader, he returned from his Indianapolis NASCAR debut and performed, despite all the Silly Season chaos that reared its head in the Erebus shed. His cool demeanour saw his dogged grip on a maiden title tighten ever so slightly.

SATURDAY

The opening session of the OTR SuperSprint was a bright one for Tickford, as Thomas Randle continued his love affair with The Bend by topping Practice 1.

Rookie Matt Payne also had his boots on as he and Randle were the only drivers to crack the 51-second mark.

The benchmark was a 1:50.838, with the top five cars also going to the Mustangs in a season first, with Will Davison, Cam Waters, and Anton De Pasquale showing good signs with the new engine mapping.

The Triple Eight garage was embroiled in a familiar story, as Shane van Gisbergen’s Camaro returned to the sheds with more steering rack issues and, again, it was a stumped engineering team.

The second session opened with a mishap for James Courtney, as he couldn’t get his Mustang turned in through the final corner. After going onto the pit lane grass, he drifted back into the opposite wall to make a small mess of his left rear.

The session would go to Feeney with an early lap of 1:49.990, but he’d go backwards a bit with an altered setup in the back half.

Once again, SVG cut a despondent figure as his problems continued in his replacement chassis from SMP. Randle was quick again to go second over Mostert, whilst Payne made the top-10 again, with David Reynolds also joining him for Grove, as once again, the Mustangs outdid the Camaros with seven in the 10.

QUALIFYING

The championship leader put in a blitzing lap to take the Race 20 pole in the three part knockout with the quickest time of the day, laying down a 1:49.581.

His fifth pole of the year topped the in-form Randle, who swooped late to fall short by 0.366s, with Waters and

Supercars RACE REPORT Round 8 – THE BEND

A solid weekend from Feeney ended with an unfortunate incident.

Below: Waters was among the Ford improvers with the latest mapping programme.

Been here before ... SVG wasn’t happy with the steering feel in the T8 Camaro.

Feeney sharing the second row.

Although Mostert’s Mustang was lively, he stuck to the kerbs to take fifth, whilst the T8 garage managed to improve the state of the #97 Camaro, changing the power steering pump, and tightening and changing all the components on his steering rack to help him into sixth.

Payne earned a deserved top-10 spot to be next to Will Brown, whilst the last row went to Andre Heimgartner and Jack Le Brocq.

The 15 minute Q1 saw both Team 18 Camaros falling short, with Scott Pye and Mark Winterbottom not having the pace, with Declan Fraser finishing last, behind Jack Smith, while Todd Hazelwood also missed the cut.

Q2 was a disaster for DJR as both Davison and De Pasquale opted to sit out the late run in provisional P1 and P3.

12 cars would jump them by the chequered flag, with both drivers leaving plenty of pace in the sheds.

Nick Percat, Courtney, James Golding, Reynolds, Cameron Hill, Tim Slade, Bryce Fullwood, and Macauley Jones all missed the cut to make Q3.

RACE 20 - WHAT JET LAG?

Fresh from his maiden NASCAR appearance in Indianapolis, poleman Kostecki overcame a lightning start from Randle and Mostert to claim his fourth win of the season and extend his championship lead to 80 points.

His teammate and series contender, Brown, didn’t fare as well after having the front section of his body work removed in a three-car crash at Turn 1 that saw the #9

retired early.

Mostert made it five podiums for the year over Randle – second of his career – as Waters made it three resurgent Mustangs in the top four over SVG, whilst he may well have made it a podium were it not for team orders to hold off.

Whilst he was happy for Randle, he also said that he “probably won’t do that again.”

Randle got a great jump in the 20 lap, 100km opener, after grabbing second gear early and taking the first corner as Mostert also snuck past Kostecki.

It was a stark contrast to Randle’s front row start at The Bend in 2022, where a stall saw a disastrous impact with Heimgartner.

Big contact saw some sorry looking Gen3s as Brown lost the front of his car after getting contact from De Pasquale and then Le Brocq, whilst Smith unavoidably battered his front end after coming in late and taking out Hill.

With the flatbeds cleared, the lap 5 restart had Randle leading Mostert, Kostecki, and SVG who got a good jump early.

Randle jumped from a tight pack through Turn 18 as the pit-stop window opened shortly after.

Feeney took the early pit option for fresh rears, whilst Kostecki took Mostert with a big lunge at Turn 6 to give chase on the Tickford leader.

Randle was looking controlled out front at the halfway mark, as Waters got on the inside of SVG to move into fourth behind Mostert.

Kostecki loomed large in second, taking Randle on the inside on lap 11, as Randle and Mostert then peeled off together in a very tight pit entry.

They came out just over Feeney as Mostert attacked the Castrol Mustang with Feeney also in the game.

Kostecki took the overall lead after Waters and SVG pitted, as Waters emerged behind Mostert, while the gap between Randle and Kostecki was 37 seconds.

Kostecki took the pivotal stop with eight remaining, and on the exit he came out in front, on cold tyres, as Mostert took a huge lunge on Randle to take second as Waters was in shot of his teammate.

The #99 built the gap to over a second and a half whilst Randle stuck fast to Mostert.

A clearly faster Waters was asked to hold by Tickford garage, which he wasn’t overly happy about, especially as Randle went wide of his own accord on the last lap.

The Erebus leader was too good in the end, as Mostert made it a Mustang double podium with Randle permitted to hang on over Waters.

SUNDAY: QUALIFYING, RACE 21 AND 22

Back-to-back 15-minute qualifying sessions opened with Randle taking his first ever Supercars pole to become the 10th different poleman of the season and 71st of all time.

The Tickford driver put in a 1:50.068, initially over Grove’s Payne before Kostecki stepped up late to replicate Saturday’s front row just 0.05s off.

Payne held on for third whilst SVG shared the second row, next to the rookie.

The Mustangs got the better of the 10 again in a good sign that the parity talk might abate, with De Pasquale, Mostert, Fullwood, Reynolds, Davison and Percat filling the first five rows.

Championship contender Brown’s weekend got off to a tough start with this Turn 1 fracas.

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SUPERCARS of the under-cutters, emerging with the same gap on Randle and the #26 Penrite.

After going in for rears on lap 11 SVG came out in effective fourth, with the top four packed pretty tightly in a clean battle to the chequered.

Kostecki was reporting a bit of discomfort in the front end steering, whilst Randle was making slight ground.

With Pye as the last pitter on lap 15 the race was set for a tight finish, as the #99 Camaro went to the front, maintaining his slight advantage through nailing the last sector.

With a few laps remaining, SVG pinched his tyres with a big lock-up while trying to move on Reynolds, losing his podium spot as Mostert dived through as a result.

Mostert then took Reynolds at the beginning of lap 20 to wrap up third, two seconds off Kostecki who started to ram home his advantage over Randle who couldn’t find the extra gas.

Payne finished behind SVG in sixth, with De Pasquale, Fullwood, Feeney, and Heimgartner rounding out the 10.

Nick Percat emerged from a quiet spell with a great start, alongside Kostecki, and timely P4 in the final race.

The second session saw the #99 Coke Camaro salute for the second time of the weekend in a scintillating session, with Waters and Randle also going under the 50-second mark, whilst Percat was a surprise second row starter after Payne.

Payne opted to park up after posting a 1:50.080, and faced a nervous wait in the sheds for a maiden pole before being jumped by four cars at the death.

De Pasquale took sixth, with SVG, Davison, Courtney and Fullwood filling the 10 with the Ford’s once again taking the bulk of the ledger.

RACE 21 - MIRROR PODIUM

The penultimate race of the weekend offered up a repeat podium from day one, as Kostecki led a persistent Randle to the chequered flag, whilst Mostert made it a mirror sweep for the three drivers as he found great pace to finish it off.

It wasn’t all clean sailing for the #99 Erebus Camaro, as he was forced to hang on through the final half of the race with difficult front steering, but his unassailable pace through the last sector got him another 105 points to lift his title lead to 111 big ones.

An even jump gave Randle the advantage at the drop of the flag, but Kostecki was clean through the outride of

Turn 2 to take the lead, whilst some action in the midfield saw some cars turned in midfield with Waters, Davison and Le Brocq resigned to the rear after the MSR Camaro locked up into the pack with the race staying green.

SVG took P3 from Payne off the line, with Reynolds and Mostert in tow, whilst the #6 Mustang went into the garage with a bent steering arm, and Davison was getting around with a flapping left hand door.

Randle stayed under Kostecki’s wing through the third lap, whilst the #97 hung back to get some clean air on the tyres.

There were a few early responders when the pit window opened, with Reynolds making the most effective undercut, whilst the front runners stayed out as Kostecki held a 0.686s split to Randle who had 2.5s on the #97 Red Bull.

Payne battled SVG for third, whilst the #55 Castrol was slowly losing tenths on the leader, as he jumped to take fresh rears coming out in front of Reynolds.

Kostecki went in on lap 10 to protect him from the fresh tyres

Mostert exemplified the Ford improvement – thanks to a further engine mapping update – with a pair of podiums. Rookie Matt Payne (right) excelled in qualifying and grabbed a pair of top 10 race results.

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RACE 22 - FROM THE BRICKYARD TO THE BEND

A rampant Kostecki swept the OTR SuperSprint, throwing off a final challenge from Cam Waters.

Thomas Randle rounded out a beautiful weekend in third place, with the Tickford driver taking a composed podium sweep in the round where he also took his maiden Supercars pole.

It’s a much-needed points boost for Kostecki ahead of the 300-point enduro races, boosting his lead to 137 points, as SVG ended the weekend second in the championship despite a relatively modest weekend in which he used no

Supercars RACE REPORT Round 8 – THE BEND

It was a championship-boosting weekend from Kostecki. Above left: Two Tickford Mustang pilots shared the Race 22 podium. Below left: SVG pits for a pair of rears.

QUALIFYING RACE 20 Pos Driver Pos Driver 1 Brodie Kostecki 2 Thomas Randle 3 Cameron Waters 4 Broc Feeney 5 Chaz Mostert 6 Shane van Gisbergen 7 Matthew Payne 8 Will Brown 9 Andre Heimgartner 10 Jack Le Brocq 11 Nick Percat 12 James Courtney 13 Will Davison 14 Anton De Pasquale 15 James Golding 16 David Reynolds 17 Cameron Hill 18 Tim Slade 19 Bryce Fullwood 20 Macauley Jones 21 Scott Pye 22 Todd Hazelwood 23 Mark Winterbottom 24 Jack Smith 25 Declan Fraser

RESULTS RACE 20 20 LAPS Time Time 1:49.5816 +0.3668 +0.3898 +0.4907 +0.6282 +0.8779 +0.9947 +1.0354 +1.0369 +1.3744 +0.8387 +0.8567 +0.8930 +0.9411 +1.0223 +1.0240 +1.0552 +1.1054 +1.2650 +1.4663 +1.3447 +1.4837 +1.4877 +1.4890 +1.4926

QUALIFYING RACE 21 Pos Driver 1 Thomas Randle 2 Brodie Kostecki 3 Matthew Payne 4 Shane van Gisbergen 5 Anton De Pasquale 6 Chaz Mostert 7 Bryce Fullwood 8 David Reynolds 9 Will Davison 10 Nick Percat 11 Cameron Waters 12 Broc Feeney 13 Jack Le Brocq 14 Andre Heimgartner 15 James Courtney 16 Will Brown 17 Declan Fraser 18 Scott Pye 19 Todd Hazelwood 20 Jack Smith 21 James Golding 22 Cameron Hill 23 Macauley Jones 24 Mark Winterbottom 25 Tim Slade

autoactionmag

Pos Drivers 1 Brodie Kostecki 2 Chaz Mostert 3 Thomas Randle 4 Cameron Waters 5 Shane van Gisbergen 6 Broc Feeney 7 Matthew Payne 8 James Courtney 9 Will Davison 10 Andre Heimgartner 11 Anton De Pasquale 12 Todd Hazelwood 13 David Reynolds 14 James Golding 15 Jack Le Brocq 16 Tim Slade 17 Mark Winterbottom 18 Nick Percat 19 Declan Fraser 20 Macauley Jones 21 Bryce Fullwood 22 Scott Pye NC Will Brown NC Jack Smith NC Cameron Hill

Laps 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 -

Race time 44:50.1082 +1.718 +3.092 +4.403 +6.010 +7.921 +8.146 +10.462 +11.687 +12.961 +13.632 +14.276 +15.343 +18.858 +19.438 +21.271 +21.587 +22.218 +22.821 +24.242 +25.894 +26.752 -

s3 t1 t1 s1 t2 s4 s4 t1 s3 s10 s3 s1 t5 s2 s6 t7 s6 t2 t1 t15 t8

RESULTS RACE 21 20 LAPS Time 1:50.0684 +0.0526 +0.2104 +0.4270 +0.4338 +0.4528 +0.4625 +0.4912 +0.4921 +0.4988 +0.5188 +0.5872 +0.6018 +0.6566 +0.7434 +0.8078 +0.8385 +1.0032 +1.2695 +1.3055 +1.3094 +1.3706 +1.4145 +1.4315 +1.4767

Pos Drivers 1 Brodie Kostecki 2 Thomas Randle 3 Chaz Mostert 4 David Reynolds 5 Shane van Gisbergen 6 Matthew Payne 7 Anton De Pasquale 8 Bryce Fullwood 9 Broc Feeney 10 Andre Heimgartner 11 James Courtney 12 Nick Percat 13 Will Brown 14 Declan Fraser 15 Scott Pye 16 Todd Hazelwood 17 Mark Winterbottom 18 Tim Slade 19 Macauley Jones 20 Cameron Hill 21 Jack Smith 22 Will Davison 23 James Golding 24 Cameron Waters 25 Jack Le Brocq

Auto_Action

less than five different steering arms, including one borrowed from the PremiAir garage.

It was a disastrous weekend for Will Brown’s title hopes as he finished in P13, falling to fourth in the championship in the same week he announced his 2024 departure from Erebus.

Kostecki started on the inside lane next to Waters when the race went green, with the Camaro taking the first series of corners, as Percat’s Mustang was an absolute rocket on the outside, taking a wide approach into Turn 1 to move into second.

Waters dropped into fourth but quickly took the spot back off Randle after everyone got through cleanly for the first time over the weekend.

Payne put the heat on Randle for fourth, as Waters took Percat to go second with Kostecki leading by 1.3s by lap 4.

Waters quickly stretched the gap to Percat and took large chunks of tarmac off Kostecki to get within 0.653s as the fastest on track.

Percat was taken by Randle, with the #55 aiming at a podium sweep, whilst a drama in the pits with a stuck wheel nut cost Payne plenty of time, ending a solid weekend for the rookie as he fell by the wayside.

Waters had seemingly used up his tyres by lap nine, with the split starting to extend, as Randle went in the pits at the halfway mark to protect his podium spot from Percat’s attempted undercut on him.

QUALIFYING RACE 22

Laps 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 19 16

Race time 38:22.2099 +1.068 +2.702 +3.642 +6.497 +6.686 +7.445 +10.824 +12.901 +13.415 +14.669 +16.232 +17.521 +18.077 +18.723 +23.487 +24.815 +26.280 +26.878 +27.149 +28.363 +41.607 +42.051 +1 Lap +4 Laps

autoactionmag

s1 t1 s3 s4 t1 t3 t2 t1 s3 s4 s4 t2 s3 s3 s3 s3 s7 s7 s4 s2 t1 t13 t2 t13 t12

Pos Driver 1 Brodie Kostecki 2 Cameron Waters 3 Thomas Randle 4 Nick Percat 5 Matthew Payne 6 Anton De Pasquale 7 Shane van Gisbergen 8 Will Davison 9 James Courtney 10 Bryce Fullwood 11 Broc Feeney 12 Todd Hazelwood 13 Will Brown 14 Andre Heimgartner 15 Jack Le Brocq 16 David Reynolds 17 Chaz Mostert 18 James Golding 19 Jack Smith 20 Scott Pye 21 Tim Slade 22 Declan Fraser 23 Cameron Hill 24 Mark Winterbottom 25 Macauley Jones

autoactionmag

After falling two seconds behind, Waters responded by going in for fresh rears, coming out in front of Randle and Percat, with the revived WAU Mustang close on the wing of the #55.

Kostecki took his compulsory pit, with the Erebus team making quick work of it to put the #99 in the box seat for the sweep.

With five laps remaining, the difference was 1.5s, but Waters was still the fastest on track with a three second buffer on Randle, who had a 1.4s split to Percat.

Waters took the margin down with two laps remaining, and was doing his all to chase down the runaway Coke Camaro, which needed to execute a clean final lap to take the sweep.

Although Waters was quicker, he ran out of time, as Kostecki completed a magnificent solo weekend.

THE SANDOWN 500 is back! For the first time since 2019 Historic Sandown track will see a welcome return for the much loved enduro on September 15-17.

Kostecki’s sweep of races at The Bend gave him some much-needed points haul ahead the Vic enduro which presents 300 points to the winner.

His lead of 137 points from SVG is a nice prelude heading into the two big enduro’s, with the T8 team left with four weeks to fix the Kiwi’s endless steering issues.

RESULTS RACE 22 20 LAPS Time 1:49.4822 +0.4238 +0.5040 +0.5532 +0.5982 +0.6763 +0.6813 +0.6834 +0.7817 +0.8078 +0.8408 +0.8954 +0.9124 +1.0095 +1.0322 +1.0443 +1.0525 +1.0599 +1.0935 +1.1100 +1.1125 +1.2693 +1.3154 +1.3728 +1.3801

Pos Drivers 1 Brodie Kostecki 2 Cameron Waters 3 Thomas Randle 4 Nick Percat 5 Shane van Gisbergen 6 Will Davison 7 Anton De Pasquale 8 James Courtney 9 Chaz Mostert 10 Jack Le Brocq 11 Scott Pye 12 Andre Heimgartner 13 Will Brown 14 Jack Smith 15 James Golding 16 Todd Hazelwood 17 Declan Fraser 18 Matthew Payne 19 Cameron Hill 20 David Reynolds 21 Macauley Jones 22 Tim Slade 23 Bryce Fullwood 24 Mark Winterbottom 25 Broc Feeney

CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS AFTER ROUND 8 Laps 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20

Race time 38:20.9077 +0.946 +7.167 +10.275 +12.714 +13.906 +14.764 +17.415 +19.802 +23.572 +25.359 +26.618 +27.592 +28.820 +29.937 +30.530 +31.069 +31.244 +32.791 +33.351 +34.544 +35.515 +35.682 +41.851 +46.315

s2 s2 t1 s1 s8 s5 s9 s2 s5 s3 t4 s5 -13 s4 t4 s4 t1 t14

Pos Driver 1 Brodie Kostecki 2 Shane van Gisbergen 3 Broc Feeney 4 Will Brown 5 Chaz Mostert 6 Cameron Waters 7 Andre Heimgartner 8 Jack Le Brocq 9 Bryce Fullwood 10 Will Davison 11 Mark Winterbottom 12 Anton De Pasquale 13 Scott Pye 14 Thomas Randle 15 Tim Slade 16 David Reynolds 17 James Golding 18 James Courtney 19 Matthew Payne 20 Todd Hazelwood 21 Nick Percat 22 Macauley Jones 23 Cameron Hill 24 Jack Smith 25 Declan Fraser

Points 1895 1758 1667 1637 1582 1460 1458 1271 1188 1183 1150 1134 1086 1079 1041 1038 1026 989 935 873 819 814 771 703 662

s1 s1 t2 s1 t1 s1 t1 s1 t1 s4 t1 t2 t1 s2 s1 t1 -

www.autoaction.com.au I 61

ANZAC DRIVERS CROSSWORD ACROSS 5 Which Aussie won the LMP2 Pro Am class at the Le Mans 24 Hours once again in 2023? (surname)

27 Hunter McElrea sits second in the second-tier Indy NXT series – what famous team does he race for?

DOWN

6 Joel Kelso is a front-runner in Moto3 – in what city was the Aussie born?

1 Which Australian races in TA2 America? (surname)

8 Jordan Love races for which manufacturer in GT competition?

2 Daniel Ricciardo has returned to F1 mid-season; what team is he racing for?

9 Aussie Ryan Briscoe raced in the Le Mans 24 Hours Hypercar class for what team?

3 How many times on a Sunday has Jack Miller finished on the podium with his new team KTM?

13 Chaz Mostert won his class in which 24 Hour race this year? (name the track)

4 Shane van Gisbergen completed in a Truck Series race at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park – where did he finish?

14 Calan Williams races for which manufacturer in the GT World Challenge Europe Series?

15 Scott McLaughlin sits in what position in the IndyCar Series?

16 Matt Campbell is racing in the IMSA Sportscar Championship for Team Penske, who is his teammate? (surname) 19 In what position did Brodie Kostecki finish on debut in the NASCAR Cup Series?

20 In how many F1 Grands Prix has Oscar Piastri finished in the top five?

21 Scott Dixon won on the Indianapolis Road Course recently; in how many straight seasons has he now scored a win?

22 On the streets of which city did Shane van Gisbergen make his NASCAR Cup Series debut?

23 How many race wins has Will Power taken in IndyCar this season?

24 Callum Hedge leads which Formula Regional Championship?

25 Which Kiwi competes in the Super Formula Series? (surname)

7 Harri Jones contests what international championship?

10 What has been Hugh Barter’s best FIA Formula 3 Championship result this season?

11 Aussie FIA Formula 3 driver Christian Mansell finished second at which track?

12 Where does Jack Doohan currently sit in the FIA Formula 2 Championship?

14 Which Australian has won multiple IMSA LMP3 class races in 2023? (surname) 17 How old is Oscar Piastri?

18 How many feature wins has Jack Doohan scored in the FIA Formula 2 Championship this year?

20 What has been Daniel Ricciardo’s best Grand Prix result since he returned to F1 mid-season?

22 Marcus Armstrong competes for what team in IndyCar? (abbreviation) 26 Tommy Smith races for what team in the FIA Formula 3 Championship? (abbreviation)

1 down – Imola, 2 across – eight, 2 down – eleventh, 3 down – six, 4 across – five, 5 across – Bottas, 5 down – Belgium, 6 down – Perez, 7 down – fourth, 8 down – three, 9 across – fourth, 10 across – two, 10 down – thirteen, 11 down – Hungary, 12 across – AlphaTauri, 12 down – Australia, 13 down – two, 14 across – seventh, 15 across – two, 16 across – two, 17 across – Szafnauer, 17 down – Sargeant, 18 across – Alonso, 19 down – one, 20 down – seven, 21 across – zero, 22 across – Gasly, 23 across – Ocon, 24 down – ten, 25 across – three

We take a look back at what was making news in Auto Action 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 years ago

1973 FORD DOMINATED a wet opening round of the Australian Manufactures title at Adelaide International Raceway.

Works driver Fred Gibson, driving the striking brand new Ford Falcon GT hardtop, took a resounding win despite being penalised a full minute for refuelling the car with the engine running. Whilst there was no doubt around Gibson’s win there was confusion over the minor places. Ian Diffen’s Valiant was initially listed as second ahead of Kevin Bartlett and Allan Moffat, who was second on several lap charts. HDT’s Peter Brock started on pole, but got bogged in the muddy outfield.

1983 TWO YEARS before it became a reality, the first ‘surprise’ reports of an Adelaide street circuit hosting a Formula 1 Grand Prix emerged. As part of South Australia’s 150th jubilee celebrations, state premier John Bannon made plans public with a proposal to host the race in 1986, a year after it actually became a reality.

On the track, George Fury and his Nissan Bluebird continued to blow people away, winning a second straight Australian Endurance Championship race at Oran Park.

Dick Johnson led 70 of the 100 laps, but his victory hopes disappeared thanks to a 100-plus second pit stop.

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1993 HOLDEN AND Ford were locked in a game of political brinkmanship over changes made for the following 1994 ATCC season.

Ford wanted to boost the performance of its EB Falcon, but Holden has also made “outrageous” counter-moves.

Damon Hill went back-to-back, taking a tense Belgium Grand Prix having scored his first win a week earlier.

Whilst Budapest fell in his lap, the gloves came off as Hill held off Michael Schumacher by just 3s.

Ayrton Senna finished fourth, but provided an insight into his character behind the helmet in an exclusive interview.

2003 MARK SKAIFE declared he and HRT were still in the championship fight despite having endured a “very, very tough” year.

The fighting words arrived after Marcos Ambrose and SBR dominated Oran Park.

Ford mourned the loss of Howard Marsden, 61, who was a racer and a “key player shaping the Australian motorsport landscape” for more than three decades.

The loss of 23-year-old driver Stewart McColl at Phillip Island also sent a shockwave around the racing community. At Budapest Fernando Alonso showed why he was the next big thing by scoring his first win for Renault in crushing style as a 22-year-old.

2013 NISSAN’S AND James Moffat’s first win together in Supercars seemed like a fairytale, but it caused an eruption inside the paddock. After Moffat led home teammate Michael Caruso in a Norton Nissan one-two trialling fuel at Winton, a pit lane war broke out. Jamie Whincup cried “this isn’t primary school athletics” and teammate Craig Lowndes claimed “you have to earn your stripes” but Moffat was “really disappointed” and Todd Kelly called his rivals “sore losers”.

On Sunday Mark Winterbottom made a championship statement before James Courtney finally returned to victory lane for HRT as Whincup had a shocker.

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