Auto Action #1884

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SAINZ NEXT AS ALONSO OPENS THE STARTER’S GATES

By Luis Vasconcelas

FERNANDO ALONSO’S sudden commitment to Aston Martin for the next two years at least (see F1 News pages), has for now calmed the driver market considerably. So what happens next?

This year’s silly season had promised to be the wildest ever. With only seven current drivers under contract for 2025, there has been 13 seats theoretically available for next year and, for a bit, it looked like that number was going to up when Max Verstappen made veiled threats that he would quit Red Bull if Helmut Marko was ousted from the Austrian team. Wile father Jos had opened discussions with Toto Wolff, the Dutchman’s management had also entertained exploratory talks with Aston Martin.

But, for now, things have calmed down in Milton Keynes and the three-times World Champion now looks set to see out his contract, which runs out until the end of 2028. With Verstappen expected to stay put, and with Pérez finally accepting his number two role and securing three second places in the first four races of the year, the Mexican is seeking a two year extension, that will keep Red Bull’s line-up unchanged for six straight years.

That’s also because Daniel Ricciardo is underperforming. Inside Red Bull, Tsunoda is believed to be Aston Martin (ie Honda) bound by 2026; Lawson would be too green to join the Milton Keynes-based Red Bull squad and neither Sainz or Albon seem interested in joining the leading Formula 1 team as long as Verstappen is there.

So, with Red Bull’s line-up unchanged, the rest of the puzzle will start following into place soon, as most teams will sign their 2025 drivers on multiple years’ contracts.

CARLOS NEXT

WITH AUDI in a hurry to decide its line-up for the next two years and imposing an end of April deadline to the drivers it’s negotiating with, Carlos Sainz is considering his options and, while the Spaniard and his management weren’t keen to wait until the end of July to learn about Mercedes’ decision regarding Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s promotion to Formula 1, Aston Martin was an interesting alternative for them.

But wily old fox Fernando Alonso was not

about to be outmanoeuvered by anybody and, as soon as he realised Red Bull and Mercedes weren’t going to offer him anything for next year, sat down with Lawrence Stroll and signed a new two-year deal that will, effectively, set the ball running in the drivers’ market, after everyone froze and waited in the aftermath of Hamilton’s shock decision to move to Ferrari.

Now Carlos Sainz is the man at the centre of the drivers’ market and with one option taken away from his horizon, he’s likely to be the next to move – and soon.

A move to Red Bull, replacing Pérez, is not attractive while Verstappen is there and, after years of great partnerships with Lando Norris, at McLaren, and Charles Leclerc, at Ferrari, the man from Madrid is unlikely to be attractive by an inevtitable confrontational relationship with the Dutchman, that would be even harsher than the one they experienced when teamed up at Toro Rosso between 2015 and May of 2016.

Waiting for Mercedes to make a decision on Antonelli is too risky, so Sainz’s logical move will be to sign with Audi asap – that will allow Andreas Seidl to also get Nico Hulkenberg quite quickly, so he can announce the team’s future line-up in the next few weeks.

THE REST

THAT WILL leave Valtteri Bottas and Esteban

Ocon as the best of the current driver prospects in the market and, while both are still also targetting a deal with Audi, they now know it’s safer to look elsewhere for a deal for the next couple of years.

Even if Ocon has been the leading Alpine driver so far this year, the team sees more potential for success with Gasly, so a longterm deal is on offer for him – but Ocon will now try to extend his own contract, which could well frustrate Jack Doohan’s hopes of being promoted to the race team next year, on the back of an extensive private testing program.

By the time we’ll get to this year’s midseason break, Mercedes should have enough reassurances that Andrea Kimi Antonelli is the real deal and he’ll be offered a longterm contract with Mercedes, while, out of alternatives for 2026 and 2027, Russell will also get a two-year contract extension – so the Mercedes line-up will remain unchanged for at least three seasons. If Antonelli is not ready, though, Wolff will be left with the need to find someone to partner Russell for 2025 alone … it won’t be easy to find a quick driver willing to be just a seat-warmer for Antonelli…

That will leave only Williams, Haas and Racing Bulls with seats to fill.

With the benefit of a more solid financial situation, Williams will be able to keep Alex Albon for the long haul. It is also very likely James Vowles will recall Valtteri Bottas, to provide experience, technical expertise and a good team atmosphere, at least until the end of 2026. By then, there will be new talent on the market, Albon may be attracted to a bigger team, so all bets are open for the future of the team’s line up.

Losing Hulkenberg to Audi will certainly make Gene Haas work hard to retain Magnussen for a couple more years. The new management is very impressed with Oliver Bearman and will do everything it can to convince the team owner to give the promising youngster a two-year deal. That would leave just Racing Bulls, the decision from Helmut Marko likely to come, as usual, as late as possible.

With Liam Lawson likely set to return to Grand Prix racing quite soon, the New Zealander is set for a couple more years with the Faenza-based team and, from 2026, is likely to be teamed up with Isaak Hadjar, the most promising of the company’s young drivers’ program.

Your move, Carlos ... With one option now gone, Carlos Sainz needs to lock something in ... soon.

Image: MOTORSPORT IMAGES

KOSTECKI IS

BRODIE KOSTECKI HAS FINALLY TESTED THE #1 EREBUS MOTORSPORT CAMARO IN PREPARATION FOR HIS RETURN TO THE SUPERCARS CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES, BUT THE CONTROVERSY CONTINUES TO FUEL SOCIAL AND OTHER MEDIA. ANDREW CLARKE REPORTS …

BRODIE KOSTECKI is back in action this week at Taupo and the news, while positive, has also brought the trolls out again. In a prepared statement by Erebus and Kostecki, the driver said he was “excited to be back behind the wheel again,” and then added again that he “needed some time away to prioritise my health.”

Kostecki won his first championship last year and led Erebus to its maiden Teams’ Championship after brilliantly adapting to the new Gen3 cars, before a troubled off-season saw him miss the opening two rounds of the season. He recorded his first race win at the Australian Grand Prix meeting last season before adding another five wins and 17 podiums to round out the year a comfortable winner of the title from Shane van Gisbergen.

Possible issues between Kostecki and the team came to light around Christmas time at the Auto Action office with as-yet unsubstantiated statements around a WorkCover claim appearing before our investigations brought things to a head with a media outlet breaching protocol after a briefing from Supercars.

A carefully worded statements from Erebus followed (with quotes from Kostecki) and Supercars CEO Shane Howard hinted at mental health issues after a tough season, in his statement. Erebus at the time confirmed that Kostecki was a “valued member of our team” while Howard was more direct, and in his statement said we “understand the gravity of Brodie’s decision”, and “the challenges he may be facing at this time.”

It is clear there were more issues going on behind the scenes, and plenty of people claiming to be in the know took to social media, fanning the fires that eventually cost Erebus at least three sponsors and nearly $4m in revenue for this season alone, as well as significant reputational damage.

A reshuffle of Erebus was apparently made to ease some of Kostecki’s concerns, with Barry Ryan moving into a pure CEO role and Brad Tremain being appointed Team Principal for 2024, before it became clear Kostecki wasn’t going to start the season.

As the negotiations with Kostecki continued, Erebus decided to enforce its driving contract with Kostecki for 2024, rather than accede to all his requests.

While Erebus lost sponsors during

the media outfall, the team wasn’t the only one to take a hit. One team owner who wants to remain anonymous, said Kostecki had also taken a hit, estimating his value in the marketplace had halved over the incident.

“If he was worth $800,000, I reckon he’d only be worth $400,000 now,” the team owner told Auto Action.

Regardless of that, Kostecki is now back and thanked the team for its patience in a statement released by Erebus last week.

“I’m grateful for the support, privacy and time Betty, Barry, and the team have given me,” he said.

Erebus CEO Barry Ryan said Kostecki’s return would be a boost heading into the third round of the Championship with the team currently fifth in the teams’ standings.

there was no sign Erebus Motorsport had any intention to negotiate.”

Clearly, however, Erebus has negotiated the return of Kostecki to the team, which many didn’t expect a month ago.

After nearly three months of pointed criticism of both Erebus and Supercars from Boost Mobile founder, Peter Adderton, Kostecki was asked as a part of his return to the cockpit to remove Boost Mobile signage from his helmet, a request that Kostecki complied with, much to Adderton’s dismay as expressed in a series social media posts.

BACK

“On behalf of Betty and the team, we are pleased Brodie is ready to drive again,” Ryan said. “Having Brodie back to work alongside Jack as he becomes more familiar with our cars will be a positive for our entire team.”

Ryan also acknowledged Todd Hazelwood’s efforts at short notice, with Hazelwood dropping back to endurance driving responsibilities for the team where he will most likely co-drive with Jack Le Brocq.

“A big thanks to Todd; he performed brilliantly under considerable pressure and scrutiny, so hats off to him,” Ryan said. “We look forward to having him at the test day this week and back in the seat for the enduros later in the year.”

It was hoped that Kostecki’s return could have allowed everyone to move on, but elements from inside either Kostecki’s current or former camp have sparked up and have taken to social media and other outlets to continue stoking the fire.

There has also been leaks of legal documents in the dispute, with Nine’s Wide World of Sports reporter Simon Chapman claiming to have seen an email that he described as carrying ‘aggressive’ legal threats after Kostecki sought to have his contract with Erebus terminated.

The letter was sent by Erebus Motorsport’s lawyer, Sven Burchartz of Kalus Kenny Intelex, and Chapman used it to imply a level of bullying towards Kostecki, but in reality it was nothing more than legal moves to protect Erebus’s rights in a dispute that cost it millions of dollars in sponsorship.

“According to Kostecki’s lawyer,” Chapman’s article read, “Erebus Motorsport said in its letter that it expected Kostecki to comply fully with his contractual obligations to the team. The driver’s lawyer labelled the potential injunction and threats to sue an “aggressive response” to Kostecki’s request to terminate the contract.”

He also reported that “in communications from Kostecki’s representative, it is said

Adderton said that, because of Kostecki’s compliance with Erebus’s requests that he would pull out of all involvement with motorsport globally, while firing shots at everyone in the vicinity for not telling the truth as he sees it, and for upsetting his 87-year-old father.

What that means for Boost Mobile is not yet clear. A few weeks after declaring in January that he was going to stop Boost Mobile negotiations with Supercars because of the Kostecki saga, Boost announced it was going to sponsors the Pole Award for 2024.

Many have chosen to see the request for Kostecki to remove the Boost signage as continued ‘bullying behaviour’ by Erebus boss Betty Klimenko despite a complete lack of evidence in relation to it.

All parties directly associated with Erebus and Kostecki have chosen not to speak in any detail yet about the saga, but no doubt we’ll hear more – especially if Kostecki fronts a media conference this weekend.

Other unresolved issues include the past and ongoing roles of some of those close to Kostecki and Erebus, including Nathan Cayzer.

Cayzer was Kostecki’s manager last year but doesn’t appear to have any ongoing relationship with Kostecki today. On his LinkedIn profile, Cayzer lists himself as Event, Infrastructure & Design Manager for the South Australian Motorsport Board as well a director of Cayzer Management, but he has gone quiet of late.

LOWNDES SAYS KOSTECKI WILL BE FINE

CRAIG LOWNDES says he expects Kostecki to hit the track at Taupo like he had never been away. Lowndes, who missed a round in 1999 during to injury struggled a little on his return to the cockpit, but was then winning at the next round.

Talking at the Supercheap Auto wildcard launch last week, Lowndes said Kostecki would be fine, helped partially by the entire field racing at Taupo for the first time.

“To be honest, because he’s been doing it for a number of years fulltime, I don’t think it will take too long to get back into the swing of things,” Lowndes said. “And actually, to be honest we’re going to a circuit where, unless you’re a Kiwi, you probably haven’t raced on it, so everyone’s going to go there with a bit of level playing field.

“Not everyone’s going to know what the circuit’s like, so I think that’ll help him a bit. But by the same token, he’s got to get back into that rhythm.

“What’s going to be interesting is to see how he gels back in with the team and how everything that worked. Because, you know, teams evolve and they restructure things, they do things differently, and it doesn’t take long to get out of synch with all that.

Kostecki hits the track at 10:55 am Australian East Coast Time this Friday, with races on Saturday and Sunday.

“I’ll be going in and out of garages and working out what’s going on, so I’ll spend some time there.”

Cuttiing laps at Winton, as defending champion Kostecki re-acquaints himself with the Erebus Camaro. Right: The man in black – low key return ... Images: GEOFF COLSON/SUPERCARS

ALPINE NOT FOR SALE

UNDER SIEGE Alpine boss Bruno Famin has come out on the official Formula 1 website and declared the French team, once known as Renault, is not for sale despite media speculation.

The French works manufacturer is struggling at the bottom of the Constructors’ championship in 2024 with no points to date, but Famin, at least publicly, doesn’t see Alpine as operating on life support after the 2024 car has failed to show any significant speed.

Despite the setbacks, Famin stands firm in his assertion that Alpine is not for sale, reaffirming its dedication to promoting the Alpine brand globally through motorsport.

“Everybody [on the board] understands it is not an easy challenge,” Famin told f1.com: “It’s a very difficult challenge – we owe a lot of respect to our competitors. To fight ahead, we have to raise the bar, raise our level – we need to improve.

“In the history our team, previously

we were strong in those moments.

“We want to use those difficult moments now. We know everyone has ups and downs. We are in a down –but we will use the opportunity to be

stronger very soon and for sure make the necessary changes within the team to reach our goals.

“The car we have now is the result of previous management. But what is important is what we are doing now. And I’m happy with what we are doing. Of course the way is very long, and we have a lot to improve.”

With the current cars expected to be used in large part next year, the final under the current regulations, Alpine could be in for a tough two years.

With Andretti F1 blocked from joining F1 in its own right, Alpine was seen as a possible target for a quick entry into the sport’s top echelon. Andretti has now opened its new F1 offices in Silverstone’s Business Park, while preparing a new facility nearby to house all its European operations, including Formula E, F2 and F3, as well as F1 should that eventuate.

A buyout of Haas by Andretti has long been rumoured and now remains its easiest path to F1.

Andrew Clarke

AUSTRALIA OPENS MASSIVE 2025 F1 SEASON

AUSTRALIA WILL return to seasonopening duties next year, kicking off another massive 24-race Formula 1 World Championship in 2025.

The 2025 Australian Grand Prix will take place from March 14-16 as the opening rounds of the season have been reschduled to avoid Ramadan.

Melbourne became the traditional season opener when it took over the Australian Grand Prix from Adelaide in 1996 and hosted the opening round all the way until 2006 when the Commonwealth Games were on.

In 2007 normal service resumed and the F1 season opener was staged around Albert Park every year until 2019 aside from 2010 when the season started in Bahrain.

COVID-19 wiped out any chances of racing down under in 2020 and 2021 and, despite the race returning in 2022, it has been bumped to being race three.

However, in 2025 Melbourne will be again be the traditional home of the season opener and another record crowd is expected after an estimated 452,055 attended in March.

The key figures of the Australian Grand Prix are delighted by the news.

“We’re proud that Melbourne will be launching the Formula 1 season in 2025 – with the epic Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix attracting more 452,000 this year and boosting local businesses and jobs,” said Minister for Tourism, Sport and Major Events Steve Dimopoulos.

“Melbourne is the sporting and major events capital, and our unique city is what makes this race unlike any other on the calendar so we look forward to welcoming visitors from across Australia and around the world next March.”

“After the resounding success of the

Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix 2024, we are already looking forward to 2025 and the opportunities we have to continue to grow and improve the fan experience,” said Australian Grand Prix Corporation CEO, Travis Auld

“We know fans are excited for Melbourne to be the season opener, and the debut of Lewis at Ferrari will make it an even more highly anticipated race.”

There are further reshuffles after the Australian round has kicked the season off in style.

To avoid Ramadan, both the Bahrain and Saudi Arabia races that have started the last three seasons have been moved to April.

As a result, China jumps to earlier than ever as Round 2 one week after Melbourne, whilst Suzuka retains its new early April slot as Round 3.

The Middle East back-to-back races are followed by Miami, whilst the European season fires up at Imola on May 16-18.

The iconic Monaco Grand Prix will be held on May 23-25, which is in the middle of the first triple-header of the year, between Imola and Spain.

Canada continues to be in the middle of the European races prior to the traditional favourites of Spielberg, Silverstone, Spa, Budapest, Zandvoort and Monza.

The final European race of the year is at Baku ahead of the flyaway races that kick off in Singapore.

An American circus follows from Austin, Mexico City, São Paulo and Las Vegas, with the latter part of a triple header also involving Qatar and Abu Dhabi to end a record-equalling season.

Thomas Miles

branded Renault … at the start of the project in the 1970s, everyone was laughing at us – and

FORMULA 1 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP CALENDAR

Bruno Famin – Alpine not for sale. Image: MOTORSPORT IMAGES

Australia will be the scene for Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari debut in 2025 ... Image: MOTORSPORT IMAGES

RUSSELL MOVES TO PREMIAIR

EXPERIENCED CO-DRIVER David Russell will make the big switch to PremiAir Nulon Racing in 2024 after a successful stint at Erebus.

Despite having initially signed to stay with Erebus in 2024, Russell will now steer the #31 Camaro alongside James Golding at this year’s Sandown 500 and Bathurst 1000 enduros.

The 42-year-old has mountains of experience at Bathurst, making his Great Race debut back in 2003 and not missing a race since 2010.

After stints at Fernandez Racing, Tekno, Kelly Racing/Nissan, Tickford and Matt Stone Racing, Russell was at his best at Erebus.

When sharing the #99 with Brodie Kostecki the pair’s worst finish was fourth with two podiums in 2021 and 2023 led by the runner-up finish last year.

Now Russell is looking forward to a fresh challenge with Golding.

“I am thrilled to finally announce that I am joining PremiAir Nulon Racing,” Russell said. “Jimmy’s performance at Bathurst earlier this year was outstanding, and I am eager

to partner up for some fantastic outcomes in the endurance races this September and October.”

In addition to the Great Race, Russell has podium finishes in each of the two, three, six, 12, and 24-hour Bathurst events, while he is a Carrera Cup veteran with 36

podiums and will be racing in the one-make category at Taupo. Golding has already had a number of co-drivers, including James Moffat, Garth Tander, Richard Muscat, Mark Winterbottom, Scott Pye and Dylan O’Keeffe with three top 10s at Bathurst.

He is hoping to utilise the experience of Russell in 2024.

“I am looking forward to driving alongside Dave. He has a lot of experience that will add great value to our team,” Golding said.

“I haven’t worked or driven with him previously, so I am interested to see how he goes about it. Everyone is different because of the experiences they have had, so there is always something to learn from one another”

PremiAir Nulon Racing boss Peter Xiberras was delighted to confirm his signature.:

“We are very pleased to finally be able to announce that David is joining our team for our 2024 endurance campaign,” Xiberras said.

“He has won at Bathurst in basically everything except a Supercar, where he has come oh-so-close with a second place at the 2023 event alongside 2023 champion Brodie Kostecki.

“There is no doubt he is highly experienced when it comes to the Mountain and to Supercars, and we are very excited to see what he and Jimmy can do in the #31 this year.”

Thomas Miles

EYES FORWARD FOR PAYNE

MELBOURNE MAY be a tale of ‘what could have been,’ but Matt Payne heads to his first home race full of confidence.

Despite only being at the start of his second Supercars season, Payne is in a purple patch of form stretching back to Gold Coast last year.

After ending his rookie season with a win, he has carried that momentum into 2024 with back-to-back podiums in Albert Park.

The youngster even led the final two races at the Australian Grand Prix, but both of them ended in tears.

However, the Grove Racing talent still sits seventh in the standings, much higher than 14th last year.

The next stop for Payne is, fittingly, his first home race at Taupo and he feels both driver and team have the form, confidence and speed to chase special results and even contend for the iconic Jason Richards Trophy.

“It will be my first time racing Supercars in New Zealand in Supercars and the atmosphere will be something to remember,” Payne told Auto Action

“Obviously we definitely got on top of the car at the end of last year and have had a pretty strong run this year as well.

“At Bathurst we were probably not as fast as we wanted to be but at the AGP we had the car speed with a few good races and got unlucky in the others.

“That was a tough pill to swallow but the car speed is promising so it is good timing for us having this race now.”

Reflecting further on the Melbourne SuperSprint where Payne was taken out of the lead in back to back races from separate incidents with Cam Waters and Chaz Mostert, the Kiwi has moved on.

He revealed he has spoken with both of the Ford rivals involved and is ready to go all in

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on home turf.

“Obviously we qualified really well and had pretty decent race pace, so those two podiums were really promising,” Payne said.

“The Red Bull cars have been really hard to beat so it was unfortunate to be in the lead and have it taken away.

“Both times we were in a pretty good spot to have a chance of winning the race. But that is the way it goes sometimes and you have to move on quickly.

“I have spoken to both Cam and Chaz and we are all good now, just water under the bridge.

“Good to go to Taupo with a clear mind and focus on the job of being as fast as we can and win.”

With Kiwis Payne and Richie Stanaway behind the wheel, Grove Racing has celebrated Supercars’ return to Aotearoa with a special NZ-style livery that will shine on track. Thomas Miles

Image: SUPPLIED

NO REGRETS FOR HAZELWOOD

TODD HAZELWOOD naturally wishes he will be racing at Taupo this weekend, but he is glad to see the champion return and believes Erebus will now be a greater force.

With Kostecki absent from the first two rounds, enduro driver Hazelwood received the call up to be the substitute in car #99 for the Bathurst 500 and Melbourne SuperSprint events.

He put in a solid effort at short notice, scoring three top 10s with a best result of sixth to be ninth in the championship, two spots ahead of Jack Le Brocq and around 50 points away from the top five.

Whilst Hazelwood had flown over to Taupo in preparation for a third drive and he will vacate the #99 for Kostecki to drive the #1, he always knew his job and is grateful for the unexpected drive.

“The mindset for me was always just taking it on a round by round basis,” Hazelwood told Auto Action

“Barry (Ryan) Betty (Klimenko) and the whole team at Erebus were very clear and very good to work with around the whole scenario.

“I always knew there was the possibility of Brodie stepping back in but never knew when he was going to pull the trigger and come back.

“It is great to see BK back behind the wheel and I think the team will be in great shape.

“It was still a great opportunity because they were two rounds I did not expect I was going to do.

“It has been a great experience. More laps behind the wheel of a Supercar are always great and it warms me up perfectly ahead of the enduros.”

However, the natural racer in Hazelwood does wish he was taking part in the Taupo Super400, believing the new track could suit

the reigning champions.

“From a selfish point of view I was really looking forward to going to New Zealand because I think that will be a circuit that would really suit the TFH Hire Camaros,” he said.

“Both Jack and I have worked really closely together across the first two rounds and felt like we had just started to find our feet and get some good momentum.

“I felt like the first two rounds were probably two that I personally haven’t been as strong at.

“The hard tyre was a bit of a curveball at Bathurst and the Grand Prix was a track we struggled at more than expected.

“But I feel like tracks like Taupo and Perth are ones where the Erebus cars would be in their own element.”

Thomas Miles

REYNOLDS CLOSING IN ON SILVERWARE

DAVID REYNOLDS has enjoyed a fast start to life at Team 18 and is closing in on silverware heading to Taupo.

Despite not standing on the podium, Reynolds sits a strong fifth in the championship, while his new team sit a strong third in the teams standings.

Considering the 2017 Bathurst 1000 winner has not finished in the top five of the standings since 2018 and Team 18 was down in seventh last year, it’s an impressive effort.

The #20 fell one spot short of the podium in the dramatic Saturday evening race of the Melbourne SuperSprint, while it has been in the top 10 in four of the six races.

Reynolds admits he is delighted with how life at Team 18 has progressed so far and feels a podium is not far away, even if a lot

of potential is still to be found.

“It is a really good start to the year for us,” Reynolds told <Auto Action<I>.

“Considering where we ended last year, it is awesome to be third in the teams championship and I am fifth in the drivers, while Mark (Winterbottom) is ninth.

“It (a podium) is close, but there is plenty more to unlock and a lot of things we are trying to work on within the team to become better.

“It is a journey but everyone is really cool and happy and it is a fun place to be.”

Whilst acknowledging it is hard to compare the revised Camaro to last year’s Mustang, Reynolds has picked up on some subtle differences.

“At the end of last year I got four podiums in a row and obviously won a race and if

everything went perfectly I felt like I could have won all four races which is how good my car was,” Reynolds reflects.

“I have gone to another team and manufacturer and the results are not quite as good but it is hard to compare.

“The wind tunnel testing changed both cars a little bit but as far as I can feel it is a similar car.

“It does feel a bit bigger but that is just the perspective when you are sitting in the car.”

Thomas Miles

Todd Hazelwood leads a train of cars at Albert Park. Image: PETER NORTON EPIC SPORTS PHOTOGRAPHY

CARRERA CUP CROSSING THE TASMAN

FOR THE first time the Porsche Carrera Cup Australia series will hop across the Tasman to race in New Zealand.

Having only previously held rounds in Australia and Malaysia, this weekend’s trip to Taupo will be a significant one with the likes of Harri Jones and Dale Wood looking fast at the Albert Park opener.

The logistics required to make the Taupo round happen included 11 40ft containers and 35 tonnes of freight.

The total freight weighs more than 35,000 kilograms, whilst 19 Australian cars will also be joined by some Kiwis racing on home turf.

Young gun Ryder Quinn will also be one to watch on a track his father Tony owns after scoring his best qualifying and race results at the Australian Grand Prix. He admitted he was a touch surprised by the upturn in pace from last year, but revealed it comes from a busy off season for the versatile racer.

“Our race pace has always been quite strong but our qualifying speed has let us down in the past,” Quinn

told Auto Action

“In Melbourne we had my best ever quali in a Cup car so I have exceeded my expectations a little bit, especially being so early in the season.

“(But) I have worked very, very diligently over the off season because unlike others in this series this is only my third year of motorsport – so it is a steep learning curve.

“Where our true pace is going forward will be determined by quali.

“I hope I have unlocked that next step and can carry that through for the rest of the season, but it will take a lot of work and focus.”

In addition to the Carrera Cup, domestic categories such as NZ Formula Ford, Toyota 86 Championship NZ, and Central Muscle Cars will also be sharing the spotlight with Supercars.

Thomas Miles

WITHIN TWO years, Cooper Murray will rise from being stuck on the sidelines to making his Supercars debut with Triple Eight Race Engineering.

Murray is the new face of the Supercheap Auto #888 wildcard program, which was revealed in Melbourne last week and he will race the Camaro for the first time against all the full-time stars at the Darwin Triple Crown, in addition to the enduros with Craig Lowndes.

He follows in the footsteps of Broc Feeney, Declan Fraser and Zane Goddard in getting a chance to shine at the most successful team in the land and the 22-year-old admitted the gravity of the opportunity is hard to comprehend.

“I am super excited,” Murray told Auto Action.

“To get my main game debut at Darwin will be an amazing opportunity to learn as much as I can.

“Then to do the endurance season alongside a legend like Craig Lowndes will be unbelievable.

“It has happened quickly but it is something I have worked towards and wanted for a very long time.

“I work hard every day to try and make this happen and to finally kickstart it and get this opportunity is a dream. I will do all I can to make it work.”

It is a rapid rise for Murray, who “nearly broke a tear” at the livery launch due to the big crowd in attendance and who, in 2022, was not racing at all.

Up until that point Murray was actually aiming to rise up the Porsche pyramid, having impressed in both Sprint Challenge and Carrera Cup before it came to a dead end.

“That is why you compete in the Porsches is to get in the Junior Shootout and emulate Matt Campbell,” he said.

“I was sort of stuck between a rock and a hard place.

“I took part in the Porsche Junior Global Shootout in the November prior but did not receive the results until nearly the new year.

“So by the time we received them it was all too late. We wanted to do Super2 but there were no good options left and I was left with nothing to do unfortunately.”

Now, fast forward 18 months after scoring two wins and taking at Super2 level with Eggleston Motorsport, Murray has the chance of a lifetime to race for Triple Eight in Supercars.

In his short time at the team, Murray has already impressed his famous co-driver.

“When we learnt that Cooper was coming on board, talking to the Egglestons about how they perceive him and they said his work ethic, the way he trains, and

approaches race weekends were brilliant which really excites me,” Lowndes said.

“He is a good young kid and if we can give him a little bit more of a helping hand I think he can go a long way.”

Having already integrated with the team at Banyo and attended race meetings, Murray will test the #888 Camaro Before the big debut at Darwin, Murray will test the #888 on May 28.

Thomas Miles

MURRAY HONOURED BY TRIPLE EIGHT CHANCE LAWYERS THAT KNOW MOTORSPORTS

Image: PORSCHE CARRERA CUPA

NZ TO BEGIN PIT STOP CHALLENGE

THE NEW Pirtek Pit Stop Challenge will begin as early as the Taupo Super400 this weekend.

The new format will see the finalists decided across six preliminary rounds with pit crews required to be at their best over 12 races.

Real time pit stop times will determined the four fastest crews across the selected races ahead of the Bathurst 1000 finale.

The other qualifying events will be Perth, Darwin, Townsville, Sydney Motorsport Park and Symmons Plains with Brad Jones Racing chasing a sixth straight title.

McHUGH PAUSES AMERICAN CAMPAIGN

LACHLAN MCHUGH has paused his American campaign with Deuce 5 Motorsports to “have a break” after a busy summer.

McHugh was planning to race in America for a third time in 2024 off the back of a bumper 35-race 2023/24 season that included 12 feature wins, but he has decided now is the right time for a break from the race seat.

“I’m really sorry to the team, all our sponsors and supporters. I don’t like letting anyone down, but I just need to have a break from racing and come back recharged next season,” McHugh said.

“Driving on bigger and more flowing tracks teaches you how to keep the car a lot straighter and carry a lot more momentum.”

Despite passing his American schedule, the team states McHugh will be back sporting the #A1 for SRV Racing in 2024/25.

THE RAIN IN SPAIN … AT INDIANAPOLIS

Reigning Indy 500 Champion Josef Newgarden, Team Penske Dallara IR-12 Chev, was quickest around the famous 2.5-mile ‘Brickyard’ before prevalent precipitation shortened the first Indy Open Test on April 10. Newgarden’s time of 39.338sec/228.811mph led impressive NASCAR guest Kyle Larson and Scott Dixon on 39.7554 and 39.7622 respectively.

NASCAR star Larson showed no signs of struggling to adjust to life behind the wheel of the McLaren Chevrolet at Indianapolis, surging to second with 226.384mph.

Scott McLaughlin was sixth quickest and Will Power 16th.

Opening day of the Indy 500 is Tuesday, May 14, with the big day Sunday, May 26.

LIBERTY ACQUIRES MOTOGP

F1 OWNER Liberty Media has concluded an agreement to acquire MotoGP, by purchasing 86% of Dorna, the Spanish-based company which owns not only MotoGP, but also Moto2, Moto3. MotoE, the World Superbike Championship and the new Women’s World Championship.

The deal, which values Dorna at Euro4.2 billion (A$6.9 billion), is expected to be concluded by the end of the year.

Both Francesco Bagnaia and Marc Marquez, at a Circuit of the Americas press conference last week (pictured), welcomed the move with the obvious comments: “I’m happy with the news, because what they did in Formula 1 was super big and made a difference,.” Said Marquez. They are specialists, but the target is to try and attract the young generations and to create big names like for example in the past when it was Valentino, Pedrosa, Lorenzo, Stoner, all big names that bring more people.”

Bagnaia concurred: “Liberty Media have great ideas to improve our situation, because they know what to do. They helped F1 reach its maximum peak ever, so it will be a great opportunity for MotoGP.” The deal will, however, need to be examined by competition authorities in several countries. Is there likely to be any effect on Formula 1 as a result of the acquisition – other than the concept

VALE BEV BROCK FAREWELL TO A WARRIOR

being floated for potential ‘joint’ events – although, why would you if individually F1 and MotoGP events are ‘sell-outs’?

One theory that has been suggested is that acquisition of MotoGP, ripe for growth and development, could precede Liberty’s sale of F1 – having raised it to close to an overall potential in terms of size and profitability. An interesting thought ...

THERE WAS much more to Beverley Brock than her three-decade partnership with Peter Brock. She earned an OAM in 2016, one of the highest honours for public service in Australia, for the good works she did for less-fortunate people and for the help she gave to generations of women who needed help, guidance and support.

She was always ready to take up the lead, or take up the slack, when something important needed to be done.

She was born on January 15, 1947 just outside of Perth as one of seven children. She studied education, going on to teach science and home economics before connecting with Brock and taking on his name, although the pair never married.

Now she has gone, passing at home in Melbourne on April 7 after fighting cancer for two years, but leaving behind a wonderful legacy.

In the motorsport world, where she was universally known as ‘Bevo’, she was the rock who anchored Peter Brock through his glory days as the

Bradman of Bathurst.

She was a constant presence at racetracks across the country from the late 1970s, often while lap charting Peter’s races in the early days and then organising the giant signing sessions for his legion of fans as his career wound down.

On the home front, it was Bevo who allowed PB to do his best work. The matriarch of the Brock clan did the hard work behind the scenes, keeping things running smoothly on the home front while also ensuring Peter was on time, in the right corporate clothes, with the right briefing, for his endless series of public appearances.

When he put on the public face as ‘Brockie’, it was Bevo who was standing behind him. She was the mother to three children – James from a previous marriage, then Robert and Alexandra with Brock - and in recent years the family clan had grown to include seven grandchildren including the youngster she called ‘Little Peter’.

Beyond her own family, Bevo

was the mother figure for many hundreds of people who she helped through their life challenges.

When times were bad, Bevo was always at the other end of the line with support and advice and comfort.

Over the last few years she focused her time and passion on The Skyline Foundation, Melbourne Rotary, Public speaking and her ever expanding family.

There were troubled times after Brock’s death in a rally crash in Western Australia, but Bevo did her best to keep things moving forward. She fought her cancer diagnosis for two years, maintaining close contact with her giant circle of friends and offering advice and support despite her own illness.

“Her loss will be immense as her presence, wisdom and support can never be matched,” James, Robert and Alexandra said in a statement announcing her passing.

Beverley Brock, as you might expect, will be farewelled with a private celebration of her life.

Paul Gover

AUSTRALIAN F4 FACING ENTRY RACE

WITH TWO weeks to go prior to the first test day, entry numbers confirmed for the Australian F4 Championship – to be hosted by Chinese-based promoters of the UAE Formula 4 Championship, TopSpeed – are looking modest.

TopSpeed has imported a fleet of F4 cars used in the UAE series to contest four rounds in Australia (The Bend x2, QR and SMP, with a finale planned at Sepang in Malaysia in September.

Following the Drive to Survive phenomenon, Formula 4 is booming in Europe and the Middle East, populated by a new breed of well-funded youngsters coming out of the World Championship karting sphere.

As one close observer told AA: “the kids over there no longer want to be David Beckham – they want to be Max Verstappen …”

However, F4 struggled to gain traction in its last, CAMS-supported, iteration some

years back (2019 was the last season) and it seems as though, allied with modest numbers potentially coming from karting in Australia with $250,000+ budget, that reluctance may repeat.

As AA closed for press, we were able to identify 5-6 entries for the opening round, while TopSpeed responded to an enquiry last week with “The entry list is still being finalised. Once it is completed in the coming weeks, we will send it through to you.”

Key among the F4 supporters here in Australia is Adam Gotch of AGi Sports, whose ongoing role with the Ferrari Academy sees him taking young Australians overseas – to Asia, Europe, and the US, where F4 grids are at capacity.

Adam told us that “what I found interesting in the overseas markets the last 18 months or so, they’re not afraid to start with small grid size and build it from there.

I was at a round of the Spanish F4 series last month – it’s the second year they’ve run this pre-season warmup series. Last year they started with eight cars and dropped down to six cars at one point. Last month they had a capacity grid of 40 cars (from 56 that had applied to enter).

“Let’s give TopSpeed some space to grow this thing. It’s one of the reasons the first round is at a State-level event, out of the spotlight.

“Long-term, we’ll need to encourage kids from the Asian markets down here, and NZ. They see value in it, less than half the price of an F4 season in Europe. It’ll need all the elite-level karters from the region to get us to, say, a 16-car grid late in the season or next season.”

With AGi set to field up to four cars, a single entry from Tim Macrow Racing and a reported (unconfirmed) potential entry from open-wheeler specialists Team BRM looked like forming the core of the entry.

...

WEBSTER’S PLANS ON HOLD

WHEN THE Eurocup-3 championship series kicks off this weekend, at SpaFrancorchamps, it will be without talented Australian Cooper Webster in the field.

After finishing a strong second in last year’s GB4 series in the UK, the former S5000 contender and his team –expanding from Evans GP to Versa Evans GP due to a partnership between the pre-existing Evans team with Cooper’s Australian team, Versa – was set to field a three-car team in the Eurocup-3 series. Eurocup-3 is an eight-round series, created in 2022 as an alternative to the FIA Formula Regional Euro Series. It features a number of mainly Spanish teams, using the same Tatuus F3 T-318 chassis used in the Formula Regional series, but fitted with an updated body kit, a new intercooler and a battery kit, along with a 270hp Alfa RomeoAutotecnica engine, and Hankook tyres. It also is 25kg lighter than the FRECA car.

However, as Cooper’s manager and Versa team co-owner Toby Pope told AA last week, “unfortunately the two other drivers who had agreed to commit to the series with us, failed to meet a deadline to formalise the deal – which left the team in no position to continue this season.”

It means that Webster’s plans are up in the air, with no confirmed drives for 2024. “We’ll have to see what we can do in terms of some one-off things – perhaps Macau, later in the year,” Pope added.

In the meantime, Webster remains a part of the Red Bull Sim championship, involving 40 of the world’s best Sim racers – he recently finished fourth in the latest contest. He will also head off shortly to take part in a Red Bull training camp, in Austria.

Formula 4 is booming in Europe and in the Middle East, here at Yas Marina.

Cooper Webster, #37, starred in GB4 last year

ANDRETTI STEPS UP F1 CAMPAIGN

ANDRETTI HAS not tempered its dream of racing in Formula 1, having opened a new facility at Silverstone, also revealing plans to enter Formula 2 and Formula 3.

Both Michael and Mario Andretti opened the 40,000 square foot facility which features an aero department with a mechanical department also on the way as the team also plans on taking over an adjacent building.

“This is going to be mainly for F1, these two facilities, but we also want to bring in our Formula E team and start integrating it here,” he said.

“Our goal is to have an F3/F2 team to help support the F1 team, and then maybe even a WEC team.”

TARMAC WEST RETURNS

After three years, the popular four-day tarmac rally endurance event held in and around Perth is back, from September 12-15.

In addition to the traditional flat-out stages for rally drivers is a Time Speed Distance class. Open to anyone with a AASA licence, a standard car and a helmet, TSD drivers are required to complete each stage to the nominated time. There are also classes for modern or classic cars where the entrant nominates the top speed: either 200, 165, or 130km/h. Be there!

FLASH AUDI REVEALED

Australian fashion brand PIT LANE CLOTHING has unveiled a stunning new livery for the Audi R8 LMS to be driven by Andy Taylor in the second round of the Australian Production Sports Cars Championship being held at Sydney Motorsport Park this weekend, 10-20 April.

“We are world’s fastest fashion brand – we wanted a design which looks fast even standing still,” Managing Director Jack Atley said. In a masterful bit of automotive graphic design, the Audi does indeed look a-million-bucks.

TCM CHANGES CONSIDERED

TOURING CAR Masters is considering some technical changes to “tidy up and simplify the regulations” in the future.

As the revived category under new management reflects on the Bathurst season opener and builds towards the next round in Perth, it is considering how to conserve costs.

In an email sent by TCM Management Tony Hunter outlining plans, one of the proposals was focused around the reduction of RPM in V8 engines.

For engines up to 5.2 Litres it would be 7600rpm, whilst for over 5.2 Litre engines the figure would be 7000rpm.

Another proposal on the table is

allowing all cars to utilise the the same type of ignition system with TCM engines being allowed to run a system with no distributor and an Ignition Control Units (ICU): The Distributor on an engine may be replaced by a sensor system,” read the proposal.

The Ignition Control Unit and or an additional  device must be fitted to the system to facilitate the activation of a maximum RPM as specified in the regulations.

The unit controlling the RPM must be able to be sealed. Freedom of choice of the ICU is allowed. This will remove the necessity re wiring etc and specified ICUs, and

distributors, but will also make the application of RPM success penalties no longer practical.

Therefore, RPM success penalties will no longer apply and all cars will return RPM as per regulations but the success weight penalties will be applied as from and including Round 1.

Success Weight penalties will be applied to Invitational Entries.

Elsewhere the finale is still yet to be finalised, whilst there is a hope for 20-25 entrants per round, but five new cars could be on the way soon.

The 2024 Touring Car Masters season resumes at Perth on May 17-19.

Thomas Miles

WALL RACING’S TIME IN THE SPOTLIGHT

WALL RACING has had a busy time with the stewards recently with Tony D’Alberto losing his appeal from Tasmania, but Brad Harris (pictured) having a win taken and reinstated in Phillip Island.

Although D’Alberto’s Race 1 win at AWC Race Tasmania initially received points, they were removed on the following day after a GRM protest and so he parked his Honda for Race 3.

After the appeal was dismissed, D’Alberto took the opportunity to provide some further explanation behind his side of the story:

“The outcome from the Motorsport Australia tribunal hearing did not go in our favour, but that’s not to say that the issues that snowballed and turned Tassie into a major headache for myself, my team and other competitors weren’t heard or dismissed,” he wrote on social media.

“I didn’t want to take this matter to a tribunal. I certainly didn’t want to sit out the last race.

“But the simple facts are, my weekend was turned on it’s head through a procedure mistake that the tribunal agreed happened and shouldn’t have.

“As competitors we have to abide by the rules that Motorsport Australia outline. This is where the confusion sets in.

“Will we see change in the future? I genuinely hope Motorsport Australia and TCR Australia look at what happened and make changes for a fairer future.

“If by taking the stand achieved nothing but force conversations on how to improve this series, then I see that as a win.”

Wall Racing again appealed a stewards decision, at Phillip Island,

after Harris lost his Race 2 win due to a 5s penalty for a jumped start.

But replays suggested this was not the case and eventually, around 90 minutes after the chequered flag, Harris had the win reinstated and Wall Racing was successful.

“We went back to our vbox and you could clearly see it was just a really good start,” Harris told Auto Action

“They made a mistake at Race Control.

“I nailed the start and the car was definitely stopped when I took off.”

Thomas Miles

Image: REBECCA HIND REVVED PHOTOGRAPHY

NEW MUSTANG’S DREAM DEBUT

THE

the perfect start to its racing life in Australia

collecting back-to-back wins at Phillip Island.

In the hands of long time Ford dealer and racer George Miedecke and Tickford young gun Rylan Gray, the new GT4 Mustang won both GT4 Australia races.

It follows on from the successful global debut of the Ford Mustang GT4 which also won its first ever competition race at Daytona in January. Miedecke, who “bleeds blue” was very honoured and a touch to surprise to enjoy such a successful start and write the car into history.

“This is amazing. To be honest I did not know what to expect coming in with such a late start,” Miedecke told Auto Action

“But the new Multimatic-built Ford Mustang GT4 was exactly what they said it was.

“The thing is it suits Australian drivers because we are used to these big front engined, rear-wheel drive cars with high horsepower V8s and, to be honest, it just felt right!

“It has that DNA and drives like it looks with that American muscle feel.

“The little McLarens and Porsches have a lot of corner speed but once you put the power down in this thing, it is off.

“It drives like a Mustang and it was a great car all weekend.”

Despite the seamless nature of the wins, the pair had a busy week on and off the track.

Having only taken delivery of the new Multimatic-built car on Tuesday and tested it on Thursday, it was a big undertaking for Miedecke Motorsport.

It was not until qualifying, when Gray calmed pole position, that they fully unlocked how to get the most out of the new Mustang.

But Miedecke revealed delivery delays meant the famous debut almost never happened.

“The car was completed in late January and the original plan was for it to be on display at the Grand Prix but it got held up in Customs,” Miedecke said.

“It was pretty dangerous because if it had been held back for one more day it may not have been here.

“We are very blessed because you can’t just buy a car from Multimatic –there is a job interview style program.

“We have had a Ford Performance engineer with us this weekend and the communication and connection from here back to Canada, England and America makes us one big Ford family. That is what helped us nail the setup for qualifying.

“We only just got it right for qualifying and ever since then it was great.

“We will try and ring the last bit of performance out of this Mustang for the rest of the season.”

Thomas Miles

NEW Ford Mustang GT4 enjoyed

by

Image: ALISTAIR BROOK

PEDDER DECLARES GAME ON

SPEED IS STILL THERE FOR FORMER CHAMPION

By Paul Gover

FORMER NATIONAL champion Scott Pedder has declared ‘game on’ in his battle with Harry Bates for this year’s Australian Rally Championship.

Pedder was only fifth at the season opener in the ACT, (pictured) but his speed in the Canberra forests was second only to Bates. With more to come, from the driver and the car, he believes he could become a two-time champion by the end of the year.

He will start with an intensive development program on his Skoda Fabia Rally2 ahead of the second leg of the series in Western Australia next month.

“There is a lot to come. We’ll get the car right. Get a couple of days of testing before Perth,” Pedder told Auto Action.

“No need to worry about Glenn Macneall. He did a fantastic job, he was sensational on the pace notes.”

Pedder has had an on-and-off rally career through recent times, after driving for the Mitsubishi factory team in the days of the Lancer Evo. He tackled a string of World Rally Championship events but has now committed to a full-on attack before he gets too old.

“I’m 47 but I don’t feel old,” he laughed. He admits there is plenty of ‘coulda, woulda, shoulda’ feedback from Canberra, but concedes he was never going to beat Harry Bates at his home event.

“I think, considering what our car was like and how well Harry was going in the new Yaris, it was probably as good as we were going to get.

I was very rusty, and the car wasn’t perfect. I’d give myself a five out of ten.

“It just wasn’t my best performance. I need to work on that for the next one.

“I think we’ve got a great package, but they had a lot of advantages in Canberra.”

Even so, he had plenty of speed before a pair of punctures at the very end of the event.

“We were second on the Power Stage so we’re essentially fourth in the championship.”

Heading west, Pedder said there is more work to be done in every area and that gives him plenty of encouragement.

“I think potentially I’ve got a bit more upside than him for the other events,” Pedder said.

“I think it’s going to be a really interesting battle in WA. On pace, it’s

probably a two-horse race.

’There are a bunch of guys who are fairly fast, nipping at our heels, but the pace is myself and Harry.”

“Harry certainly had the road position advantage in Canberra and they were the better crew. But if he’s car 1 and we’re car 3 in Perth then we’ll have a bit of an advantage in road position.”

Pedder also knows he has to keep scoring strongly at every event to push for the title.

“It’s game on. It’s very hard to compete against Harry because he’s a good bloke,” Pedder said.

“But I’m not spending all this time and all this money to come second.

“It’s not easy. But that’s what makes it so exciting. And that’s what will make it so good when we win.”

LEWIS READY TO LAUNCH

ANOTHER BATES BOY HEADED FOR THE WRC

By Paul Gover

LEWIS BATES has taken another giant step towards his first start in the World Rally Championship.

A runner-up spot in the Rally Of Canberra and his first kilometres in the latest Toyota Yaris has him primed for Rally2 competition in the Portugal Rally in May. It will be his first WRC start as he becomes the third member of the Bates’ clan to compete at the top level of world rallying.

His older brother Harry drove Rally New Zealand and father Neal competed in Australia, New Zealand Indonesia.

The Bates program began when he forged a relationship with fellow driver Luke Anear, owner of the booming SafetyCulture company, that led to him testing a Ford Fiesta Rally1 car in the UK with the M-Sport factory team.

Anear is behind the move into Rally2 in Portugal but the program is much more complicated.

Bates will be driving ‘his’ new car, which has been built in Finland and will be shipped to Australia after the Portugal outing to continue his efforts in this year’s

national championship.

The first of the full-factory Yaris Rally2 cars has already run and won in Australia, as Harry Bates and Coral Taylor finished on top in the Rally of Canberra ( Lewis got his first kilometres in the Rally2 car on the day after the season opener as part of his preparations for Portugal.

“The plan was always to try and drive the Rally2 ca for peace of mind. By end of the day I felt extremely comfortable in the car, which is all we can hope for.”

Now the hard work begins.

“I leave for Europe in about a week. I’ve got to pre-rally tests planned, both in Portugal,” he told Action.

“I’m going to be driving my own car, even though it’s in Europe. It’s being run by a French team. Harry is coming to Portugal to help me.

“I’m feeling a lot of excitement. The nerves probably won’t kick in until closer to the event.”

Although Bates drove the Yaris built by

WISHART MEDIA

Neal Bates Motorsport in Canberra he believes he will have no trouble adapting to the factory-built Rally2 contender in Europe.

“For me, it’s all about the experience. I’m not putting too much pressure on on myself to get a result,” he said.

“It’s one of the bigest rallies for WRC2 entries this year, so it will be very competitive and a very challenging rally. Over the years the rally has got more and more rought. If get the end and have a clean weekend, and driven well, then I’ll be happy,” he said.

Image: WISHART MEDIA

WELL AND TRULY ON THE ROAD

BETWEEN RACKING UP POINTS, BIRTHDAYS, AND EVEN HERITAGE REVELATIONS, IT’S BEEN A BUSY TIME FOR OUR YOUNG F1 STAR …

IT IS my first time racing at the Shanghai International Circuit this weekend and it will be the same situation in a few weeks at Imola for the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix.

We can obviously practise on the simulator back at the factory but there is nothing like getting used to it in the flesh and getting laps on the board in the car.

When you’ve never raced at a track before, it’s all about learning, lap after lap, and building up the knowledge. It makes the practice sessions critical for confidence and feel.

Most of my race weekends were like this last year and it means you have to hit the ground running and adapt fast.

China is going to be a tricky one due to the fact that it will be the first Sprint race on the F1 calendar this year too. That means I’ll only have one practice session, on Friday morning, before we get under way with Sprint Quali on Friday afternoon.

(Interesting fact: I actually have some Chinese heritage in the family. My great great grandfather was Chinese so I think that makes me 1/16 Chinese – although I may have got that calculation wrong!). I’ve heard a lot about the superhigh g-force turns in the middle sector and I’m looking forward to

Oscar Piastri’s

FORMULA 1 WORLD

taking them on in F1 machinery. It’s always special to push the cars to the limit.

We have the slightly revised format for Sprint weekends this year with the Sprint race itself and grand prix qualifying on Saturday, so it will be interesting to see how that goes.

Four consecutive points finishes on the spin has been a solid start to the season and it would be good to keep that run going with another positive weekend in China. That’s put us in decent shape in the Constructors’ Championship and that consistency will be crucial throughout the season.

Things didn’t quite click in

Suzuka to the same level as they did in 2023, but it has still been a very encouraging start to the season for the team and we can look ahead with optimism. We know we have some areas to work on but the car is competitive and we are in a much stronger position that we were this time last year, which is down to the efforts of everyone at the factory.

In the break between Japan and China, I’ve been back at MTC for engineering meetings and simulator practice as well as having some training sessions and some rest after a busy few weeks.

I was lucky enough to spend a bit of time at the Great Barrier Reef after the Australian Grand Prix, learning more about some of the coral restoration initiatives that are being put in place by McLaren and the Great Barrier Reef Foundation –and I also managed to spend a few hours exploring Tokyo before we headed on to Suzuka. It feels like a while ago now, but given I haven’t done a column since, the reception in Melbourne in March around the Australian Grand Prix was incredible and I feel lucky to be a home driver with so much support. Thanks to everyone who turned out and cheered for me.

Thank you also for all the birthday wishes that I received at the start of the month when I turned 23. It was a really nice

moment to receive a Michael Jordan-themed cake from the team on the morning before qualifying and I had some lovely messages sent to me online.

I’m a big fan of the Last Dance documentary on Netflix and loved learning about Michael Jordan’s mentality and drive to push those around him on.

Enjoy the racing and I’ll be back with my next column soon.

OSCAR IS PROUDLY SUPPORTED BY

Oscar’s ‘Australian’ helmet went down well with fans. Image: PETER NORTON

Above: 23 – a famous number and name, very appropriate for Oscar’s birthday cake from the team.

Image: MOTORSPORT IMAGES

A STAR RETURNS; ANOTHER DEPARTS

GO ON, admit it: you’re giggling in anticipation, hoping like hell that the returning Brodie Kostecki pulls something out of the bag and puts the TFH Camaro on pole for one of the races across the ditch this weekend.

Why? Because, despite his dramatic withdrawal from motorsport, following his departure as a personal Kostecki sponsor as part of the Erebus/Kostecki ‘raprochement’, Mr Boost Mobile, Peter Adderton, still has – until the end of the year I guess – the commitment for the company’s brand on the Supercars pole award.

Remember the scene when a Triple Eight driver didn’t don the Boost cap at the pole presentation at Bathurst (conflict with the team’s Vodafone deal)? Imagine how it’s going to be if Special K were to step up to take the pole cheque, given everything that’s gone on in the past week or so … They can have all the regulation they like (and they’ve tightened up the wording since) but – as with Alan Jones who, back when he raced in the Australian Touring Car Championship, in the early 90s, was rumoured to have prepaid a year’s worth of ‘Non-attendance at Drivers Briefing’ fines, so he didn’t have to bother – I could see Betty and the team being prepared to cop the fine if the situation arises …

Cap-gate 2?

Having said that, and to be a little more serious, it would be a bit of a surprise if either of the Erebus cars

with Chris Lambden CL ON CALL

were to get that close to the front row this time around, as the team re-loads. Have a look around at who is now right up there. The parity stuff looks to be about right, and the number of cars/drivers that you can realistically bracket as ‘potential top five’ contenders has grown significantly over the Summer.

Erebus earned its front-running spot last year by doing the best job in pit lane in preparing for the first season of Gen-3. Barry Ryan’s guys built their own cars early and were ready to go, ahead of the pack –and it showed. But it looks like the ‘peleton’ may have caught up.

The road back to the front won’t be easy, whether or not BK is the missing link.

I feel sorry for Todd Hazelwood. An A-Team opportunity fell out of the sky, and now it’s gone.

But kudos to Paul Morris who, if the chat is correct, played a mediation role in getting the band back together. Or, as some insist, was it a sobering look at various commercial/ contractor legal documents? Or both?

Anyway, Brodie’s return adds another layer of interest to an event

across the water this weekend that already has plenty. It’s no surprise that Taupo is a sell-out – per head of population, motorsport interest in NZ is way more than Oz – indeed, given the space they have available (which is why I guess Taupo ended up as the venue rather than Hampton Downs, which is a bit less ‘spectator-friendly’), it’s a wonder the new ownership team didn’t drag in more temporary grandstands. Betcha it’s something to do with ‘resource consent’ – a sort-of OH&S nightmare they have over there!

A quarter of the grid are Kiwis – is that the biggest proportion yet, at 25%? It all adds fuel to the suggestion that NZ could and should host a pair of consecutive weekend events – another on the other island perhaps – that would do very well crowd-wise.

IT WAS sobering to hear a few weeks ago that Bev Brock’s battle with cancer wasn’t going well and then, a week or so ago, that it had taken someone it’s been a privilege to know along the way. Reaction to the news was predictably wide-spread and positive

for the person who indelibly made up half of The Brock Show for nearly 30 years. It was a challenging role, but one Bev carried off with style and aplomb.

Most people around the sport have a ‘Bevo’ story. She and Peter were very good to us when we kicked off Australasian Motorsport News back in 1993. Peter agreed to do a column for us, for free. Those who were around at the time must remember Idiosyncracies – the most apt name for a written piece ever, given Peter’s philosophical approach to life at the time! Every deadline Monday, Bev would literally hand-write Peter’s dictated words and fax it through to our office. Occasionally, I think she might have tidied it up a bit along the way … And of course, further back, was the #10 car. Somehow, I stumbled into the funding to put a small privateer Sandown/Bathurst team together in

1988 … literally five weeks before the Sandown 500 (you could do that in those days!). We were in a desperate hurry to do something and, knowing both the Mobil Commodore VLs were sitting there (the team was running BMWs after the GM split …), I raced around to have a look. Peter was away somewhere, so in a 15-minute negotiation, Bev sold me the #10 car … for just $40,000 (less engine), which we would rapidly turn into a ‘Walkinshaw’ racer.

As an aside, It got damaged quite badly the following year (Oran Park, concrete wall, backwards, say no more …) and we built a new car, putting the ‘old one’ and its associated bits to one side, eventually disposing of it for ‘not a lot’. This was, of course, before old race cars became valued ‘collectibles’ … It also ended up as “The Last Car Peter Brock won Bathurst in.” It was, of course, eventually restored and, these days, resides in the US in the care of solar power entrepreneur and Bathurst 12 Hour winner Kenny Habul (who back in 1992 was a teenage ‘helper’ at the Brock team!) and is worth a fairly healthy sevenfigure sum. Sometimes you could shoot yourself …

But it was Bev who did the generous deal that got us going back then ...

Everyone has a ‘Bevo’ story. She was a genuine, interested, ‘peopleperson’ – as you will have read and heard over the past week or so.

Remembered with a smile.

Back behind the wheel. Kostecki testsed at Winton a few days after his return was announced. Will he slot straight back in? Image: GEOFF COLSON/SUPERCARS

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Angryman Photography, David Batchelor, autopics.com.au, David McIntee - DMAC Photography, Geoff Colson - Colson PhotographyMark

TIME TO RETHINK THE SUPERCARS PHILOSOPHY

IT’S TIME Supercars had a rethink of how and what they do. It shouldn’t be a part time operation, more a professional business, maybe something like AFL.

The drivers need more racing, the race fans want more racing, plus a greater number of cars and drivers, at an affordable price.

All the drivers want more race time – as you can see, they are off chasing drives overseas, in other classes. Anything to get a bit of race time. We are losing our best drivers to overseas series; we don’t provide enough race time for them here. It must be a bit boring sitting around to race one a month on average, with only a few hours racing time. The daily fitness training 365 days a year, just to get to drive 12 times a year.

What would happen if AFL only provided 12 rounds of football a year? The cost to run an AFL team for the year would be more than the cost to run a race team for a year. Even in the off-season AFL takes up to ive pages of the newspaper every day.

They need to be doing more for the race fans in Australia/NZ, instead of restricting the field to 24 cars just so they can maybe race overseas once a year. We should 30 cars racing every second week for a least 9 months of the year. It is an Australian series for Australians. If it costs more to send 30 cars to NZ so be it. They support supercars all years not just the one race in NZ. 30+ cars plus wildcards at Bathurst would make the Bathurst race more entertaining.

Supercars may be reducing costs to the teams, but not the Australian families that like to attend – costs to attend a race day are going through the roof. Supercars needs a new business model instead of lining its pockets with money. This will only work short term until we all can’t afford to attend, get bored and lose interest with the lack of cars and race meetings and find something else to do.

Peter Warburton Huntly, VIC

GT3 A BETTER OPTION THAN GEN-3?

HEY GUYS, thanks again for your amazing work, glad to see the level of commitment to physical print for subscribers remaining. Really something we appreciate, to have a physical magazine instead of an IPad to read.

If you’ll bear with me (the postexam delusion is kicking in a bit), I have a somewhat audacious prediction of how Supercars could be moving forward in future.

Right now, as much as it pains me to say it, Supercars isn’t looking at bringing any new OEMs to the sport anytime in the foreseeable future. As we’ve seen in the past, the amount of time to develop a fast, reliable car is not only expensive but rarely if ever successful without bucketloads of investment and patience. So, with the loss of the Camaro in the US market (at least in its current guise), what could we expect?

The investment and statements coming from the Blue Oval, more precisely the head office ‘Stateside, has me optimistic for the future of Ford’s investment in various Mustang projects. In terms of Supercars, I can’t see them going anywhere.

As for GM? Not too sure, maybe they’ll be around for the next few years but I have a feeling the Camaro could end up falling away in a similar fashion to the Falcon and Commodore.

What am I suggesting? Simplebring GT3 regulations, specifically with chosen cars that fit the vibes of Supercars.

I’m thinking cars that either a) have a big, front-engined look similar to what we have now, or b) some history in the sport. Perhaps some Mercedes, Porsche and BMW involvement could work. Hopefully this could give the series some long-term security, increase international driver appeal, and generate corporate interest that translates to an improved calendar, more cars on the grid, and more bums on seats!

Fletcher Kendall ACT

OUR READERS HAVE COMMENTED ON TWO NOTABLE EVENTS ...

BRODIE’S BACK

Paul McF

“apparent disagreement between team and driver…” Nah, press release confirmed health issue, and they’re all happy campers ...

Victor McLaughlin

SPECIAL K RETURNS TO EREBUS

WELL THAT caught us all by surprise, just when we assumed Hazelwood would steer the car for the rest of the year.

But again, no real explanation from anyone concerned with it, so we are left to speculate.

My guess is that when they got down to the legals, Kostecki could have left himself open to compensation for the team by not completing his contract (and costing the team its sponsors).

Who knows? Will be interesting to see how Brodie goes in NZ.

Steven Ashwood

Capalaba, QLD

AM I alone in thinking that the ‘personal health’ reason being given by all parties in the Kostecki/ Erebus story is a red herring? Is that code for ‘disagreement’? From what we hear, Kostecki has been out and about with friends and associates all this time, not looking too upset with life.

Willl we ever know? What happens at the end of this year?

Mary Hamilton Oaklands Park, SA

Getting the Band back together? It’s going to be interesting to eventually discover how this was negotiated. There’s a suggestion that, Paul Morris, who must know everyone involved, may have mediated.

Allan Visser

Langwarrin, VIC

RIP BEV BROCK

It was a shock to hear of the passing of Bev Brock this week. There will be many motorsport people out there who will have met Bev, especially during Peter Brock’s career, including myself and my partner. She was obviously a strong personality who always seemed to have time for the fans who congregated wherever they went. RIP Bev, it was great to have met you.

Matthew Dietrich Gold Coast

I suspect Brodie’s preference is to actually be able to race this year, but should’ve made this decision before Round 1. Now he has no shot at defending his title, a team that’s lost all their major sponsors, he’s had to cut ties with his personal sponsor, and likely won’t have any NASCAR races this year.

Lee Roberts

Flat black helmet is not a good look.

Jo-Ann Koch

Lots of judgement in the comments with no substance. Can we all just accept that he’s back racing and move on?

Garry Critchley

Paul Morris has helped Brodie, mediate a satisfactory outcome.

RIP BEV BROCK

David Whitehead

Nicely said Auto Action – Bevo was a second mother to me when I worked for HDT and we shared many amazing experiences on that roller coaster. Forever greatful to a strong and loyal person – you kept it all real!

Carolynn Hanna

Wonderful lady. Met her several times when my son was chasing autographs. Always smiling and helpful. Condolences to her family.

Lachlan James Sheeke

Behind every great man is a great woman, and Bev was one of the greatest. RIP to an absolute legend of our time.

Matthew Green

RIP Bevo. A dignified and class act of a human being.

Andrew Ringrose

I’ll never forget the day at Oran Park where my Dad, my eldest daughter (who was in a pram then) and myself met Brocky. Bev took my daughter and played with her for 40 minutes while we all chatted, Bev included. RIP to a generous, caring soul.

Reader Fletcher Kendall is among those who believe that GT3 is the way for Australia’s professional league to go after Gen-3. It’s certainly an international success – but should Australia follow the crowd or seek to maintain the ‘uniqueness’ of its ‘touring car’ formula? Image: MOTORSPORT IMAGES

The BMW pack heads a range of cars into Turn 1 after one of 12 Safety Car restarts.

A SIX-HOUR FLASHBACK

A RACE THAT REFLECTS THE REAL HISTORY OF MOUNT PANORAMA …

YOU CANNOT get enough of Bathurst.

Well, I can’t. The opening round of this year’s Supercars championship tested the friendship, but Mount Panorama has just bounced back with the running of the Bathurst 6-Hour. Apart from the racing itself, there was also the attendance.

Supercars was so ashamed – is that the right word? – by the turnout for its event that there was no official crowd figure. No numbers, either, for the broadcast.

In contrast, the organisers of the 6-Hour were happy to report a three-day attendance of 18,033 people.

It’s not a huge number, and only the third-highest on record, but it’s a reflection of an event which works for ordinary race fans and also brings a huge contingent of drivers and teams to race at the holy of holies. Probably a quarter of the people at Mount Panorama, or more, were either competing or organised in the running of the event.

“More than 300 competitors competed across the 6-Hour

with Paul Gover THE PG PERSPECTIVE

and six support categories at the event as the focus on local competition returned to the event, giving it a sensational ‘grass roots’ feel throughout the main and support race paddocks,” the organisers said afterward.

“The event enjoyed a digital audience reach of more than 1.3m people – an event record – with more than 750,000 video views recorded on social media channels. That corresponded with a return to free-to-air TV this year with extensive coverage on SBS and SBS Viceland, as well as coverage on Fox Sports and Kayo Streaming.”

So, what about the coverage?

It was good stuff, with a solid line-up of motorsport experts anchoring the television pictures.

These were people who knew what was happening, why it was happening, and who was involved in what was happening.

And the event itself?

Some people have dismissed the 6-Hour as a private playground for too many BMW owners.

What rubbish!

Yes, the podium places were filled by BMW drivers but their efforts were also anchored by some of the most-talented drivers from the Supercars world, with youngster Jayden Ojeda in the winning M4, Thomas Randle in the second-placed M2, and Will Davison – after sitting on pole but being hampered by a gearbox problem – third in an M3.

The battle between the three hero drivers in the closing stages

of the race was fantastic; as good as anything seen recently in the Supercars’ sandbox.

And what about fourth place?

It was taken by a Volkswagen Golf. Yes, you read that right – a Volkswagen Golf, which finished in front of a Ford Mustang, with Aaron Seton on the driver roster. There were a couple of Mercedes-Benzes in the Top 10 finishers.

But it was the number and variety of cars which made the 6-Hour so interesting. It was like the days when the Bathurst 1000 was filled with various classes and cars, each battling for their individual honours.

It genuinely looked like a showroom showdown, right down to the long-running battle between a Mustang and a Camaro for V8 bragging rights.

Now, there are people who believe the cars in the 6-Hour are too highly modified for racing, and there were plenty of retirements and mechanical problems.

But is that a problem?

Not for me. I like to see cars

which look quick and are able to battle through the race, something reflected in the variety of BMW models which took a turn at the front.

What happens next?

There is a move to turn the 6-Hour into a headline race for the new-age GT4 sports cars which are currently flooding into Australia alongside a growing number of GT3 racers.

It’s partly to shine a spotlight on the GT4 cars, which otherwise are completely overshadowed by the super-speedy GT3s.

Some say it’s to make the Bathurst 12-Hour safer, because amateur GT4 drivers are so much slower than the professionals in GT3, but I wonder …

Back in 2014, I raced a Fiat 500 against the GT3 cars and never had a moment’s worry. They were fast, we were slow – we stayed out of the way.

For me, the 6-Hour is fine as a pinnacle point for club racers who want to cap their career with a race at Mount Panorama. Nothing should be done that changes that.

Image: RICCARDO BENVENUTI

Why join them when you’re beating them anyway?

Fernando ruled out joining Mercedes shortly before he and Aston Martin announced a two-year driving extension plus a subsequent advisory role. ...

ALONSO’S “LIFETIME” ASTON PROJECT

FERNANDO ALONSO surprised the F1 world last Friday by confirming a long-term contract with Aston Martin – extending beyond the next two years at the wheel, most likely into an advisory/management role.

Alonso explained his quick decision to remain with Aston Martin, saying that “I’m extremely excited to keep racing and keep racing with this team, at which I feel at home.”

Right from the start of the season the veteran had explained that his first priority was to understand if he still wanted to commit a few more years of his life to racing in Formula 1, before deciding what would be the best move for him.

Speaking immediately after Aston Martin’s announcement, the Spaniard stated that, “I needed a few races or few weeks to really think about myself – if I was ready to commit for more years in Formula 1 –

because the calendars are just a little bit more intense now, the car as well, the commitment ...”

He then added that “my love for Formula 1 and my love for Aston Martin didn’t change, but I just wanted this time to really speak with myself and make the decision and the commitment. Formula 1 takes all your time, all your energy.”

Once again, Alonso explained that, “you have to give up basically everything in life to keep racing, and I wanted just to speak with myself to see if I was ready to do so.

“Once I took the decision – I think it was after Australia – I sat with Aston, which, again, is exactly the same as what I said in February would be my first priority, and it was not too difficult. We both wanted the same – I wanted to keep racing with Aston Martin, Aston Martin also wanted to keep me in the seat. When two parties want something,

at one point you reach an agreement.”

Nevertheless, the Spaniard admitted he had contacts with other teams, without mentioning Mercedes and Red Bull by name:

“I did speak with other people as well, yes. I think it’s normal when you enter negotiations – you need to balance a little bit what is the market. You need to listen to everyone else as well. It’s just a normal procedure, and I think it’s fair to listen to all the proposals and see how the market moves.

“In my head, Aston was the logical thing for me to do. In the end, it was also the best and I felt the most wanted in Aston Martin. All the other conversations were just light, and never came to any conclusions or something like that.

“Maybe more time was needed – all these kinds of things – while, with Aston, it was a clear desire to work together, which was

the same that I had. That’s why it came very easily.”

With Alonso secured as team leader for another two years, Lawrence Stroll’s son Lance is set to continue alongside the Spanish driver for at least another season.

The Canadian billionaire continues to believe Lance has the potential to be a championship contender, in spite of abundant evidence to the contrary and, for Alonso, he’s the ideal team-mate as only four or five times per year he manages to run him close. That helps the Spaniard direct the development of the car the way he believes is the best.

So this pair will be heading into its third straight season together in 2025 … but for the following year, with Honda starting a partnership with Aston, could it finally be the time for Yuki Tsunoda to move out of the Red Bull structure and remain with Honda, by partnering Alonso?

AUDI’S RUSH UNSETTLES DRIVERS’ MARKET

THE FORMULA 1’s drivers market is experiencing it’s biggest frenzy ever, a consequence of just one-third of the seats for 2025 being already taken and, also, the rush future entrant Audi is in to sign up the two drivers that will join Sauber at the end of this year and carry on into the first two seasons under the new Technical and Sporting Regulations, until the end of 2027.

That much has been acknowledged by Red Bull’s Helmut Marko who, like many Team Principals from other teams, would like to wait until the end of July – as it’s traditional – before making their future choices.

The veteran Austrian complains that, “the drivers market has exploded in April, and normally no-one talks seriously in April.

It is ridiculous, but we won’t jump into this game ourselves. We will wait and see, and only then make the best choice later on.” He then hinted that future rival Audi was behind this unusual frenzy,

saying that “I don’t know what is going on. I have heard that Audi is making pressure, but it is a little bit strange for a newcomer to make pressure on the drivers market.”

Needing a strong line-up to satisfy the company’s Board of Directors, Andreas Seidl has targetted Carlos Sainz and Nico Hulkenberg as its favourite pairing. The Spaniard, who is having his best ever start of the season on what is his final year with Ferrari, has been offered a three-year deal with an option for further two, as he’s seen as the best driver available in the market for the long haul – Verstappen, Leclerc, Norris, Piastri and now Alonso are all locked into long-term deals – but it is not in Carlos’ best interest to rush and sign a contract, when Mercedes and Red Bull and are also potentially interested in his services for next year.

Hulkenberg, a personal Seidl favorite since they worked briefly together in the Porsche WEC program, has the advantage of being German and, therefore appealing for Audi’s home market – but

turning 37-years old in August, he cannot be considered a long term option for the team, so a two year deal seems to be what’s on offer for him.

Aware that Sainz may not be willing to commit himself too quickly, as his rating continues to improve with every Grand Prix he does – he’s three for three in podium finishes this year, including his sensational win in Australia – Seidel has also opened negotiations with Esteban Ocon’s management, as the German believes the Alpine driver could be a good alternative to Sainz, at least until the likes of Russell or Albon are free in the market.

Current Sauber driver Valtteri Bottas is seen by Seidl as a back-up alternative, but the engineering team has been trying to convince him to keep the experienced Finn for another two years, as they appreciate his feedback and have seen that, every time they give him a half competitive car, Bottas delivers.

According to German sources, Audi wants to have its drivers signed by the

and The Hulk

middle of May, so it will be interesting to see if any other teams jump the gun too and secures its future drivers that early, to prevent them from joining the Hinwillbased team 10 months before the start of the 2025 season.

Images: MOTORSPORT IMAGES

Favourites? Sainz

...

SUZUKA CRASHES STRETCH WILLIAMS RESOURCES

WILLIAMS’ SPARE parts nightmare got worse at Suzuka, after both drivers had heavy crashes in the first part of the track, leaving James Vowles’ team in further trouble to make sure it will have two chassis with all the new upgrades available for the forthcoming Chinese Grand Prix.

Logan Sargeant’s heavy crash at the Dunlop Curve, midway through the FP1 session, left him without a car to take part in FP2 but the American was unaffected, as bad weather rendered the session a non-event, so he didn’t lose much track time compared to his rivals.

He was, however, forced to revert to the old front wing and floor spec, as there was onely one spare set available and that was kept as reserve for Albon’s car. Given drivers have to keep the same spec of all parts from qualifying to the race, this decision reduced the chances of any of them being forced to start from the pits in case they damaged one of the new parts in qualifying.

Then, at the start of the race, Alex Albon was pushed off by Ricciardo, seriously damaging his car – so much so that the team was forced to send it back to the factory, where repairs are already under way, to try and get it fixed in time for the Chinese Grand Prix.

Before being able to check the damaged car, Team Principal James Vowles said that, “the car was sitting around inside Turn 5 for a while – we’ve taken some pictures of it and I suspect,

SANCHEZ IN TALKS TO JOIN ALPINE

One month after the departures of Technical Director Matt Harmann and Head of Aerodynamics Dirk de Beer, Alpine’s restructuring may have not been completed yet, according to sources close to the French team.

the responsibilities of making the most important decisions with other engineers.

it will be delivered back to us soon. It looks like a little bit of damage again on the front-right, but let’s see how bad it is when we get it back.” He then added that, “it looks like it’s repairable to me, but that was through images taken.”

Reflecting on how challenging the start of the season as been for Williams, the English engineer admitted that, “the last two weeks have been tough. I think if you take any team … to have three major accidents where you’ve pretty much taken out all equipment on the car, is enormous. Taking that across a season, you can deal with it; taking it across just a few races is difficult.”

And on the subject of how much further back the development of the car and the completion of the third chassis will be, Vowles admitted that, “the impact of it will be what you’d expect. We’re making spares as quickly as possible in the background but, ultimately, it will have an impact on performance as we can’t bring as many updates. The updates that were on the car unfortunately are broken, so we’ve got to build those stocks back up and get going again.”

Nevertheless, Vowles issued a vote of confidence in his crew, stating that, “one of the huge strengths of this organisation is resilience It’s been through so much across the last 10 years; we’re going to pick ourselves up and get going again. The encouragement I take, is that we’re going to pick ourselves back up, go to China and come back swinging.”

The name of David Sanchez was circulating fast in the Suzuka paddock, many believing the Frenchman, who stayed just over three months with McLaren, is on his way to the Enstonebased team, where he could take the role of Chief Technical Officer, to sit above the three Technical Directors recently promoted by Bruno Famin. Following the departures of Harmann and de Beer, Alpine restructured its technical team. Currently, the department has a three-heads leadership, with Ciaron Pilbeam, being Technical Director (Performance), David Weather Technical Director (Aerodynamics) and Joe Burnell, Technical Director (Engineering). The three men currently report to Famin directly, but the team lacks a clear technical leader and that’s the position Sanchez could fit into. The Frenchman’s technical competence is not questioned by anyone in Formula 1, his successive departures from Ferrari and McLaren being due to his inability and/or unwillingness to work in structures where he’d have to share

At Ferrari, Enrico Cardille, in charge of chassis and aerodynamics, and Enrico Gualtier, running the Power Unit’s department, have equal status and Sanchez had to report to the former, something that is not within his personality.

When McLaren hired him, the Frenchman assumed he was going to be fully in charge of the technical department but, on arrival at Woking, he found himself on equal footing with Rob Marshall and Peter Prodromou, then being very clear, just a couple of weeks after he started his new job, that the role didn’t suit him.

Given Alpine is still lacking an undisputed technical leader – and that’s the role Sanchez has been seeking for quite a while – it is widely believed the Frenchman will be announced as the team’s new Chief Technical Officer as soon as his gardening leave from McLaren comes to an end at the start of July, allowing him to join Enstone still in time to have an influence on the design of the 2025 car and, more importantly, to be the man defining the key features of the brand new A526 that will have to conform to a completely new set of Technical Regulations.

Team principal Vowles must be getting tired of this ....

After Ferrari (pictured) and a very short McLaren spell, could Sanchez find his perfect role at Alpine?

DRIVE THROUGH PENALTIES BACK IN THE GAME

THE FORMULA 1 Working Group is analysing a proposal for harsher penalties to be imposed on drivers who gain positions and a lasting advantage by going over the track limits, in a bid to avoid the repetition of what Kevin Magnussen did in Saudi Arabia, to the benefit of team mate Nico Hulkenberg, who scored Haas’s first point of the season thanks to the Dane’s actions.

The drivers feel that a 10-second time penalty is too harsh in certain circumstances, as it’s twice as much as they used to get until the end of 2023. And while the FIA and the teams can see their point, if the offence is just going over the track limits three or more times, they also feel drivers have to have a big enough deterrent that will make them

stay within track limits at all times rather than abusing the wide run-off areas that are now so common in Formula 1.

The fact that Magnussen actually had two 10s penalties in Jeddah, the first for squeezing Albon into the wall on the exit of the banked corner, the second for passing Tsunoda by cutting Turn 2, proved that time penalties are not effective when team strategy comes into play.

In Saudi Arabia, the Dane held up Tsunoda and a large group of cars, including Albon, Ocon and Sargent, making them lose more than two seconds per lap to help Hulkenberg open enough of a gap to pit and resume ahead of all of them.

It is now clear the only way to put an end to

those sorts of games is to impose a drivethrough penalty to any driver who overtakes a competitor by going over track limits. Given those penalties have to be served within three laps of being handed out, there will little to be gained by not giving the position back, something that will become optional until one lap after the offence was committed –and if that’s not done then the drive-through penalty will be handed out automatically.

To have the means to police all moves, the FIA is ready to increase the number of people working from the remote Race Control in Geneva, with 20 people being necessary to be watching the on-board cameras of one driver each, from the start to the end of the race. That way they’ll be able to

report immediately to the Race Director any infraction and, after Neils Wittich has a quick look at the footage, he’ll instruct the team to order its driver to hand the position back.

All this should be achievable in around 30 seconds, so the drivers will be informed of their imminent penalty less than a lap after their foul and will have to give the position back immediately or face a time-consuming drive-through penalty.

The change in the regulations will have to be rubber-stamped by the Formula 1 Commission in due course, but sources from the FIA told us it’s expected the rule will change in time for the Miami Grand Prix or, at the latest, before the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, both next month.

BIANCHI REMEMBERED 10 YEARS ON

ON THE year that marks the 10th anniversary of his tragic accident, Jules Bianchi was remembered by some of his peers at Suzuka.

As usual, Charles Leclerc and Pierre Gasly walked to the scene of the Frenchman’s accident to lay some flowers and have a moment remembering their friend, but even three times World Champion Max Verstappen, who had little contact with Bianchi, admitted it was really nice that people still talked about the man that would have been a Ferrari driver had he not passed away.

Verstappen admitted that “it’s those days that you don’t really want to think about too much.” He then explained that “personally, of course, I didn’t really know Jules that well, but we all have friends in common that did. He was incredibly talented and, for sure, he would have achieved incredible things in Formula 1. I think everyone was pretty sure about that.”

The Dutchman went on to say that “it

was a very bad day for everyone in the sport but, again, we learned a lot about safety that day. Unfortunately, it seems that sometimes these kind of things need to happen for safety to improve. It’s not what you like to see, but that’s how it seems to work in life.”

And, in conclusion, he admitted that, “I do find it nice as well that he will always be remembered. There are things in his name – charities, like the go-kart races his dad still organises to always remember

his name, because he definitely deserves that.”

A personal friend of Bianchi, Leclerc remembered that “it was Jules who got my manager to speak with Ferrari; it was him that got this ball rolling and, of course, he was a personal friend. Our parents were friends, our families are still close … we did a lot of things together and, because he was a few years older than me, he was a huge help throughout my junior years.

“I remember him very often but, of

course, when I get to Suzuka his presence is felt even more. He was a friend, first of all, a great influence and a super talented driver as well.”

Having crossed paths, albeit in different categories, with Bianchi in karting, Pierre Gasly explained that “I think Jules will always be remembered for who he was, I think, obviously as a driver, but also just as a human being. He was extremely kind and was an example for a lot of drivers, but especially in France.”

The Alpine driver reminisced that, “I remember when we were in the French team, all young drivers – Antoine, Esteban, and many other young kids – obviously looked up to him as the next big thing in Formula 1 because everyone, I think, agrees that he would have eventually made it to Ferrari. So, it’s definitely very, very sad, you know, to remember what’s happened. I think he left, definitely, his mark in Formula 1 and also beyond it. And it will definitely be always remembered.”

Kevin Magnussen was a ‘very naughty boy’ in Saudi Arabia, hogging the apexes and exceeding track limits to protect his team-mate – holding up a queue headed by Yuki Tsunoda ...

Pierre Gasly never forgets his countryman. Right: A cute young kart racer Leclerc with his godfather.

THE MOST RELENTLESS OF COMPETITORS!

FERNANDO ALONSO (his full name includes his mother’s maiden name, according to the Spanish custom) spent the last couple of months insisting he first needed to understand if he was prepared to sacrifice a few more years of his personal life to remain in Formula 1, before then opening talks with teams that might offer him a contract for 2025 and beyond.

I don’t think there was anyone in the paddock, including the Spanish champion, who doubted for a second he would try to find the best available car to continue racing at the highest level, as his public words were just a way of understanding who’d come calling, urging him to stay in Formula 1 and join their team.

With Hamilton on his way to Ferrari and Sérgio Pérez’ contract expiring at the end of this year, there are two very attractive seats still vaccant for 2025 and, of course, Alonso explored both routes.

Even if Mercedes is going

with Luis Vasconcelos F1 INSIDER

through a third straight year of disappointment, it’s still a fantastic team and with the Power Unit regulations changing for 2026, chances are the Germans will come up with a tremendously competitive package, just like they did in 2014, the last time the Power Units were changed.

As for Red Bull, they’re currently the most competitive team and joining them for 2025 would certainly put Alonso much closer to that elusive 33rd Grand Prix win he’s been chasing so hard. Sure, Max Verstappen has made Red Bull his own team, but Alonso would have been confident that he’d be able to turn things around and beat the Dutchman in a straight fight.

This second door was shut quite quickly, when Christian Horner made it clear Sérgio Pérez is deserving of another contract, happy that in-team driver rivalries are not something he has to deal with, as he’s got enough on his plate trying to save his job and push the Austrian side of the operation out. A VerstappenAlonso pairing would be the last thing he needed, as it would be a matter of (short) time before tensions would rise!

Then, there was Mercedes, where the priority is to get Andrea Kimi Antonelli into the team as quickly as possible. In the internal announcement he made hours before Lewis Hamilton’s move to Ferrari was made public, Toto

Wolff told his staff he had always regretted losing Verstappen to Red Bull in the summer of 2014 because, unlike the Austrian company, he didn’t have a Junior team to place the Dutchman in, and he wasn’t going to make the same mistake again with Antonelli.

His faith in the young Italian prodigy is so big, Wolff genuinely believes Antonelli can do in 2025 what Hamilton did in 2007, in his rookie season, and be up there from day one. What was on offer to Alonso was to wait until the summer break before knowing if Antonelli gets the Formula 1 promotion next year – and that was not acceptable for the Spaniard.

The only other competitive seat available was his own, so the deal with Aston Martin was done quickly and gives Alonso a couple of things he always wanted: a team revolving around him, with a team-mate that’s hardly ever a threat. Plus, Aston Martin is a team that is growing in facilities

and personnel like no other, is clearly trying to get Adrian Newey to join in, and from 2026 will be the Honda works partner. In spite of his fiery relationship with the Japanese manufacturer when they were together at McLaren from 2015 to 2017, Alonso still admires the company and the feeling is mutual, as several Honda veterans told us in Suzuka.

Add to that the fact Aramco is the leading company in e-fuels, and it’s clear the 2026 Aston Martin-Honda combo will be competitive – and that’s what drives Alonso in the first place.

What is most admirable is that his passion for racing, his desire to win and his willingness to put the rest of his life in the background have not wavered at all and, if anything, they seem bigger than ever.

Yes, he’ll start his 400th Grand Prix later this year, but it’s clear Fernando Alonso is far from done with Formula 1 and that’s something we all have to be in awe of.

Image: MOTORSPORT IMAGES

CAM’S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE

IT’S BEEN A HECTIC TIME FOR TICKFORD’S SUPERCARS STAR AS HE MADE HIS US NASCAR

IT STARTED well before SVG’s gamechanger in Chicago, and perhaps the seeds were planted even earlier, in a childhood of speedway in Mildura, but more than 12 months work finally came to fruition for Cam Waters with his NASCAR debut in the Craftsman Truck Series at Martinsville, VA.  With long-time manager Chris Jewell – who pulled together the funding – at his side, Waters jetted out of Australia on the Tuesday after the Grand Prix and worked his way to Martinsville via Cleveland, Sandusky and Charlotte. He skipped the Cedar Point theme park in Sandusky (with the second most rollercoasters of any other place in the States!) and headed

straight to ThorSport Racing team, the longest tenured team in the Truck Series.        The adventure included a stop-over in Charlotte and ended with a nightmare trip home with flight delays and the like, to get ready for Taupo. Cam's been busy ...

THIS IS CAM’S PERSONAL DIARY …

MARCH 26 (TUESDAY)

DEPART MELBOURNE for LA, arriving in the USA on the same date as we left and spent the night at LA Airport to try and stay ahead of the sleeping curve.

Arrived in Cleveland, Ohio on the 27th before driving the hire car one-hour to Sandusky and the Sawmill Hotel. Dinner then bed with an early start beckoning in the morning.

MARCH 27 (WEDNESDAY)

UP AT 6am, breakfast and a short drive to ThorSport’s race headquarters, which is huge and part of a large industrial estate owned by Duke Thorson (team founder), which includes his Seal Master businesses and a 5/8th mile Speedway, which we joked would have been nice to have had a run on. There are a total of 24 NASCAR trucks on the premises and staff of over 120 people!

Met the team, including my crew chief/ engineer Josh, then did a facility and factory tour and meet-and-greet before doing some ergonomic fitment for my #66 TRADIE Truck, which is still in plain matt black livery. Lunch with Team Principal Jason Hedlesky and some of my team before heading back to the race shop for some media work and a photo shoot.

Departed for the hotel at 6pm and dinner and an early night with some jetlag creeping in.

MARCH 28 (THURSDAY)

ANOTHER EARLY morning start at ThorSport and while it is sunny with blue skies the temperature never climbs above 9deg C! Completed my medical to conform with NASCAR requirements (that took almost two hours, such is the level of thoroughness required). I also had to complete other documentation to conform with NASCAR protocols. More meetings and planning for the weekend ahead with the livery starting to take shape with each passing hour.

MARCH 29 (FRIDAY)

ANOTHER FREEZING start to the day with ice on the rental car – used the room key to clean it off but we were delayed by 10mins or so … This is all new – brrrr ... The Truck is on the set-up patch today with plenty of suspension tuning and ride

Spent

height work going on. A team meeting to go through rules and regulations is held as we also try to speak a similar racing language, and despite English being our native tongue there are so many things we refer to with different wording and description. Hood/ Bonnet, Pounds/Kilo, MPH/KPH, Pit Row/ Pit Lane, Under Caution/Under Yellow, Petrol/Gas etc etc.

A reasonably early finish to the day with it being Good Friday and we head back to the hotel about 4pm. Hit the gym for some weights and a run, before a dip in the pool (indoor, thankfully!) and a nice hot spa.

Cam heads William Sawalich (#1) as the race wears on.

Far left: Even in Craftsmans Trucks, the full-on NASCAR Driver's Intro is part of the show.

Top: 'The office' is a bit different to a Supercars Mustang ... Above: ThorSport's facility is impressive ... Images: MOTORSPORT IMAGES, CHRIS JEWELL

MARCH 30 (SATURDAY)

A DAY in transit and a nine-hour drive from Ohio to Charlotte, which started off in torrential rain before the sun arrived about a third of the way into the trip, arriving in Concord/Charlotte at 4pm and to glorious 24-degree weather. It was a pretty smooth trip with no dramas on the Interstate, despite it being the Easter long weekend.

MARCH 31 (SUNDAY)

MORE TIME in the gym then caught up with SVG and Jess (Dane) for some Top Golf and a quiet beer … didn’t realise Shane was a ‘lefty’ and he hit a bloody good ball too with those long levers of his!

APRIL 1 (MONDAY)

DROPPED MY new TRADIE race suit off at K1 in Martinsville and then visited Penske HQ. Wow ... the size of the joint is just amazing, by far the biggest racing facility I have ever seen and we only saw the NASCAR wing of the building, which also houses the IndyCar and Sports Car programs. Pretty quiet for the rest of the day – finally found a decent coffee place, recommended by fellow Aussie expat James Small, engineer at Joe Gibbs Racing on Martin Truex Jnr’s car.

APRIL 2 (TUESDAY)

ANOTHER VISIT to a local NASCARapproved clinic for a baseline impact test,

essentially an evaluation to provide a baseline number should any incident result in concussion. Without doubt, NASCAR is very thorough with their racing protocols. Spent some time in the mega-impressive Ford Performance simulator learning Martinsville, with my engineer Josh dialing in from ThorSport in Ohio and former NASCAR race-winner David Ragan on hand to provide me with some tips to help accelerate the learning.

Completed some pit stop practice in one of ThorSport’s older trucks in a factory complex in Mooresville. Note: NASCAR pit crews attend the events as specialists and do not do any other work on the cars – just the pit stops – and they practice continuously.

APRIL 3 (WEDNESDAY)

A MORNING gym session followed by some more time in the Sim, which was as good as fully booked, with all the Ford (Cup, Xfinity and Truck) drivers on hand doing last-minute prep work for the weekend ahead, which is a necessity as there is zero testing allowed throughout the racing year.

APRIL 4 (THURSDAY)

DEPART FOR Greensboro – an hour and a bit drive. We’re staying here for four days as accommodation in and around Martinsville is scarce – but the drive to the track is only just under an hour.

APRIL 5 (FRIDAY)

and that was our target time. Unfortunately for me the track rubbered-in massively and I had to watch with frustration as car after car pipped my time by fractions of a second and I ended up in P22, a whopping 0.3s from pole!

Race time was full of NASCAR funk with the driver intros opening proceedings just as the sun was going down and with the temperature dropping to 4deg C! I was actually quite surprised when I was introduced, with a pretty good reception while also hearing some Aussie voices in the crowd.

or the fun and having made it so far into the race without any incident was pretty satisfying – which is not to say that I wouldn’t have loved to make it to the end of the race. The team were really good about it all and happy I was giving as good as I was getting, while my race times were among the top-12 fastest which was pleasing.

APRIL 6 (SATURDAY)

The race was WILD, absolutely insane – I loved the relentless action, while working with a spotter for the first time was also something new. I split my strategy thinking into wanting to make the first 20-laps, then 50, then 100 with a long-term view of getting

The race was WILD, absolutely insane – I loved the relentless action, while working with a spotter for the first time was new ... “ ”

ARRIVED AT the track to meet the team and it’s brisk but sunny. Attended a driver/ ‘rookie’ briefing in the morning then sat down with Josh to work through our practice plan and how to maximise the single 15-minute session we get prior to solo qualifying to be held over two flying laps. Practice was good despite being in the first group on a very green track and I quickly acclimatised to the 5/8th mile oval layout, which is a mixture of concrete and asphalt. While the sim is a great tool to learn on, there were a few ‘real time’ surprises once I got up and running. With just one set of tyres available to all competitors, I pitted after 10-minutes and was P3 (out of 17 cars in my group) at the time, before ending the session in fourth spot and 12th overall from the two combined sessions.

I was the second car on track for qualifying, which was always likely to work against me, as the grip increased with more running but I was really happy with my qualifying time of 19.7s. Pole at Martinsville last year was 19.8

to lap 180 of the 200-lap race before looking to step things up. Sadly, after going up and down the order on a slightly different strategy, which saw me running as high as 11th at one stage, lap 177 saw disaster when I lifted for a car that had spun ahead at T2 and was belted from the rear. It was the second similar incident in 10 laps and, while I managed to continue after the first hit, the second one saw my Ford F-150 pretty knocked about as the TRADIE Truck turned into a TRADIE Train with radiator coolant spewing out like a geyser. It was a shame, but not altogether unexpected as the historical form of the truck racing at this venue is always dictated by incidents and late-race carnage. Just prior to the first hit we were running between two cars that finished eighth and 10th at the end, so who knows what might have been. Not that any of that spoiled the learning

A PRETTY cruisy day after a restful morning before heading to the long-time Ford-backed team, Wood Brothers Racing, and their very impressive museum about 45-minutes from Martinsville. I went there last year and it really is an incredible place, with so much NASCAR history dating all the way back to the first ever races held on Daytona Beach. Went to the track after that and watched Shane’s Xfinity race and it was great to see him come home just outside the top 10 at the finish.

APRIL 7 (SUNDAY)

WE SPENT some time with the senior management team at Ford before taking in the NASCAR race in one of the Martinsville corporate suites, which provided a great view of the circuit and its surrounds.

APRIL 8 (MONDAY)

DROVE BACK to Charlotte from Greensboro and departed for LA mid-afternoon with a full day stopover to chill out before heading back to Australia.

APRIL 9/10 (TUESDAY/ WEDNESDAY)

IN TRANSIT. Few flight delays, but …

APRIL 11 (THURSDAY)

A LONGER than desired delay leaving LA after ‘technical issues’ saw us enduring a 26hr flight back to Oz, and the fun didn’t stop there with a domestic changeover in Brisbane also being part of the return leg … home in Melb later afternoon, just in time for peak-traffic ��.

Ford's corporate box was a great place to watch the NASCAR race from. Far left: It's a tight oval –heading Mason Massey during practice. Above: When David Ragan is offering advice, it's worth listening. Right: It's tight in there –someone (Jake Garcia, #13) gets sideways and there's nowhere to go ...

Images: MOTORSPORT IMAGES, CHRIS JEWELL

GOING INTO THE KIWI’S LAIR …

FOLLOWING THE demise of the iconic Pukekohe venue, Supercars was going to have to find a new venue if the muchanticipated annual fly-in to NZ was going to continue.

And with three of the country’s prime circuits owned by Tony Quinn, there was an obvious discussion to be had about which venue would host Australia’s professional league.

While many thought that Hampton Downs, just an hour south of Auckland, might be the obvious choice, Taupo is considered a better spectator track – most of it can be seen from just about anywhere around the fence line.

So, the decision was made that the championship would host what will be known as the ITM Taupo Super400 just outside the pretty lakeside resort town, slap-bang in the middle of NZ’s North Island.

Extra grandstands – though not as many as the big-time A1GP era (when the crowd reached 33,000) – have been erected and

THE SUPERCARS CHAMPIONSHIP IS HEADED FOR A WHOLE NEW EXPERIENCE IN NEW ZEALAND THIS WEEK AS IT DESCENDS ONTO THE TAUPO INTERNATIONAL MOTORSPORT PARK. HOW HAVE THE TEAMS PREPARED FOR IT AND WHAT CAN THEY EXPECT? TRACK SCHEDULE

the promoters announced a ‘sell-out’ a couple of weeks back.

The Taupo track existed for a long time

(from as far back as 1959) as a local club circuit, but underwent a major rebuild and upgrade in 2006 thanks to a group of enthusiasts who took shares in it, shooting for the stars with the FIA Grade 2 International (the only one in NZ) 3.5km layout which will greet Supercars teams. It was aimed at hosting international events and, in January 2007, did just that with a round of the 2006/7 A1 Grand Prix championship – 24 national teams going head-to-head in Zytek-powered Lola single-seaters. (Australia finished a lowly 13th in that series). Taupo hosted three rounds, until the series was discontinued at the end of 2009. Australia’s best result came in that final season, with John Martin taking us to eight outright in a reduced seven-round series, the last A1GP season, as a switch a new Ferrari-powered car put the whole series in financial difficulties from which it never recovered.

The Taupo track was renamed Bruce McLaren Motorsport Park, but that changed to Taupo International Motorsport Park following its purchase by Quinn in November, 2021.

FAMILIARITY

WHILE MOST of the Kiwis lining up this week have some experience of the track – having raced, or at least tested, there on their way up the ladder, for most of the Aussies, it’s a different story.

While driver simulators are an option these days, there’s nothing like real cars on a real track so, since the Grand Prix, there’s been a steady stream of Australian Supercar drivers and engineers popping across the Tasman to get a few laps – many in borrowed Toyota 86s!

Conclusions have been very much the same across the range.

Parts of the track have been resurfaced, others not, and allied to some slightly offcamber corners, the verdict seems to be that tyre ‘deg’ will be the name of the game. “The first section reminds me of Perth and then the next bit has a bit of Winton before

the super-long left hander at the back, which is also similar to Perth, while going back onto the front straight is like a street circuit – so it has bit of everything,” Team 18’s David Reynolds told AA after he, teammate Mark Winterbottom, team boss Adrian

Burgess and a couple of engineers spent a morning at the track.

“I did race there once, 15 years ago, in Carrera Cup. Going back, you’d think you’d remember it, but it’s kind-of different – but once you do a couple of laps it all comes back.

“It has a lot of character, bumps, and difficult corners that lead into other ones. With a lot of tyre deg likely, you’ll be able to pass pretty much anywhere by waiting ’til the car in front burns up its tyres … as long as you look after yours.

“It’ll be a fun weekend as no-one has any data or preconceived ideas, so it will be interesting to see who rolls out the best.”

Burgess confirmed the conclusions:

“Yes, it’s quite like Winton, if you were looking for a comparison,” he told AA. “Lots of kerbs; some off-camber corners and a number of surface changes – four to five patches of new surface then back to the old … So tyre deg will be an issue, and you’ll need to ride the kerbs well.

Penrith Racing Kiwi, Matt Payne, surprisingly, has never raced at the venue, but has tested a number of times, in various cars, along the way:

“I did a test in a Formula Ford there, as well as two days in a TRS car … and of course drove a Toyotas 86 there last week!

“They have done a lot of repairs – on three or four corners there is a new surface, which makes it quite tricky, affecting the braking and exit zones.

“The old surface has degraded to almost the same style as SMP … that is, it is quite gritty, like a cheese grater! There are a lot of left-handers, so it’s going to be pretty heavy on the right side, so it will be crucial to have a good car to keep the tyres on it.

“Regardless, as a Kiwi, it’s going to be cool to race there – I grew up watching A1GP there and Super Tourers, so it will be awesome …”

Apart from Supercars, the Australian Carrera Cup Series provides the primary supporting races, along with NZ Formula Ford and Central Muscle Cars championships.

Scenic ...Taupo from the air – the resurfaced corners (dark) are visible. Just about every pairing has popped across to do laps in a Toyota 86 – including Erebus pair Jack Le Brocq and Todd Hazelwood (above left – the latter now making way for Kostecki) and the PremiAir duo, Slade and Golding (top right).

Above right: The last time a huge crowd packed into Taupo was in 2008, when Kiwi Jonny Reid snatched pole in the A1GP series ... Right: There's a squad of Kiwis looking to impress at home ...

Above: The Jason Richards Memorial Trophy is at stake .

JOE FAWCETT

CLIMBING THE (MOTORSPORT MOUNTAIN

JOE FAWCETT IS ANOTHER PROMISING RACER TO JUMP FROM KARTS TO FORMULA FORD – AND HAS ALREADY CLIMBED ONE MOUNTAIN – THE MOUNTAIN! EDWINA WILLIAMS CHATTED TO THE BOY FROM BALLARAT …

FROM RACING his first go kart at age seven, to lining up for the Australian Formula Ford Series at Mount Panorama, Joe Fawcett has come a long way in a decade …

For the 18-year-old Ballarat Grammar student and reigning Victorian State Race Series Formula Ford champion, driving at Bathurst has always been a goal.

He had the opportunity to make his dream a reality over Easter during the Bathurst 6 Hour.

“The track itself is incredible and like nothing I’ve ever driven before … really,” he said.

“There’s not much room for error.

“It was good racing, although most of our races were under Safety Car because there were a few crashes, which I managed to stay out of and kept the car straight.

“We were a bit unlucky in qualifying because there was a red flag halfway through on my good lap.

“We were 13th in qualifying, ninth in Race 1, sixth in Race 2, fifth in Race 3, so there was some good improvement.”

Fawcett was born into a motor racing family; his father Mark was a long-time rally driver.

He grew up surrounded by land where there was plenty of room to drive around in a paddock bomb.

Although he first sat in a go kart at about three years old, his first karting competition experience was in the nearby country township of Haddon where the Ballarat Kart Club is based.

countries, aged 10 to 13 years old, and I finished eighth in that.”

Fawcett raced karts nationally for a few more years before the COVID-19 pandemic arrived, but he and his dad made use of the lockdown period, deciding to buy a Formula Ford race car.

In 2022, Fawcett started racing his Formula Ford in the Victorian State Race Series.

“The first round was at Sandown. I don’t think it was a great weekend,” he laughed. “There was a lot of learning to do.”

That season was interrupted by pandemic restrictions, but by 2023 he had momentum and was flying.

“Last year was the first full year of Victorian State Series that we did in the Formula Ford,” he said.

“Coming off 2022, we’d learned all the tracks in the Victorian series and learned the car quite well.

“A few other competitors had progressed through, so we were amongst the top runners for the 2023 season ... and I won that championship.”

Fawcett had success in the series’ first round at Sandown, qualifying fourth.

“In the first race I was leading until the last lap, then I got taken out. I finished that weekend fourth overall, which was pretty good,” he said.

“That progressed through to state series in karting when I was about 12 or 13 years old,” Fawcett said.

“We did a few years in the national championship for karting as well.”

In 2018, aged about 13, Fawcett went to Italy to compete in the world final.

“I did really well – it was quite different to racing in Australia,” he said. “There were 150 different competitors from 60 different

We can talk between the pits and the driver, so throughout the race, dad was keeping me updated on where the other kid was ... “ ”

“Me and dad did a bit of research about the next step, because I felt I was starting to grow out of karts, and karting as a series was going in a direction we weren’t that keen on,” he said.

“We had a look around and, especially with the Supercars drivers in Australia, they all went through Formula Ford as a category, so it seemed to be the logical step.

“We talked to a few teams and got a bit of advice on a good car to buy. We got it, pulled it apart, rebuilt it, and got to know the car.”

“The next one was in Winton where I came second in every race. Winton is the track we do a lot of our test and practice days on, so I’m pretty familiar with that track and knew we would do well.

“After that round, there was not many points between the top three.”

His closest competitors didn’t have a great third round at Winton, putting Fawcett into first place in the championship by three points.

“Fourth round was at Sandown where the national series and the Victorian series raced together.

“Overall I was seventh or eighth in the races, but out of the people with Victorian points, I was first or second. That put me 20 to 25 points in front in the championship.”

Coming into the last race of the final Victorian State Race Series round at Phillip Island, there was one point between Fawcett and old karting rival Jake Santalucia.

Chasing the pack down through the esses at Bathurst ...

“I just had to finish ahead to win the championship,” he said. “Beforehand, I was trying to get myself mentally prepared and calm myself down, realising that I could do it. “The car was right and I knew we were starting ahead of the person in second, so I didn’t have to win the race – I just had to be ahead of Jake.

“We can talk between the pits and the driver, so throughout the race, dad was keeping me updated on where the other kid was.

“Throughout the middle of the race, we battled together, passing each other.

“The adrenaline was going and I was pretty nervous, but excited, and trying to focus on the race at the same time.”

When he got the series win, Fawcett said all the hard work he and his father had done over a long period of time had paid off.

“We spent our whole year, even before that, getting the car ready, getting myself ready, and when I I crossed the line ... I

realised I’d done it, and it was a relief,” he said. A member of the Borland Racing team, Fawcett has his own race engineer, Andy Nethercote.

“We go through all the on-board video and the data from the telemetry system on board to figure out how I can drive the car better and what I can do to be faster,” he said.

“From when we first got the car to now, there’s been an insane amount of change. I’ve gotten more consistent, better at racing –everything.

“I enjoy the satisfaction you get out of working with a team, especially when it really pays off and I qualify well or finish well in a race.

“I don’t race to win, for popularity or money or anything, I do it because I love it, I love working with the team and with dad. That’s the best thing about it.”

Although he’s now competing in the sevenround 2024 Australian Formula Ford Series, Fawcett is busy enough away from racing.

He’s currently completing Year 12 and his Victorian Certificate of Education, studying subjects including Physics, Chemistry, and Maths Methods.

“I did systems engineering last year which I think did help me with the race car,” he said. “It was fairly hands on and good to learn some skills in building and managing a project.”

Looking ahead to the rest of the national series, Fawcett said he’s keen to drive at Sydney Motorsport Park and Tasmania’s Symmons Plains for the first time.

“I think we’re going to be fairly competitive this year, based on Bathurst,” he said.

Fawcett’s ultimate goal is to race Supercars, but in the nearer future he would like to get a drive in a Porsche Carrera or Toyota 86. Although he’s already got his own racing style, he’s a fan of the “fast and aggressive” way Michael Schumacher drove and he idolises Scott McLaughlin.

“I’ve always looked up to them,” he said.

Formula Ford at Bathurst – an experience and a half for any up-and-comers ... Below: Racing with Formula Ford champ Matt Hillyer at the Island.

Left: Running with Borland Racing, Joe works on the car with his father Mark and has a team of supporters. Images: BEN ROEHLEN/PACE IMAGES

Below Left: Yup, it all started in karts – 2015 ...

THE FIRST McLARENS –IN DISGUISE

THE FIRST RACING CARS BUILT BY BRUCE McLAREN WEREN’T McLARENS. SIXTY YEARS AGO, IN 1964, BRUCE WAS STILL CONTRACTED TO THE COOPER CAR COMPANY, SO THE EXQUISITE TASMAN SERIES CARS WERE … COOPER T70S. BUT MAKE NO MISTAKE, THEY WERE ‘ALL-BRUCE’ AND LAID THE FOUNDATION FOR THE TEAM THESE DAYS KNOWN AS McLAREN INTERNATIONAL. THEY TASTED SUCCESS, BUT IT ENDED IN TRAGEDY … MARK BISSET TELLS THE STORY

BRUCE MCLAREN’S second place in Longford’s South Pacific Trophy on March 2, 1964 won him and his new team the first Tasman Cup.

But his face was tinged with sadness as he stood atop the victory dais with Graham Hill on that hot summer day. His American teammate, Timmy Mayer, had died during practice in his other Cooper T70 Climax.

It had been a roller-coaster ride, and in the end tragedy overwrote the glory of victory. How did it all happen?

By 1962, Bruce McLaren was the Cooper team’s #1 driver after his friend and mentor, Jack Brabham left the Surbiton outfit to form his own marque together with Ron Tauranac.

Cooper had peaked. Other teams were passing them by – the great innovators of the era, Lotus, was the prime example.

Charlie Cooper was reluctant to allow Bruce the engineering input Jack had been

given out of fear he too would leave “and take our secrets just as Brabham did.”

This was a double-edged sword. The more Bruce felt his input was ignored, the more likely it was he would depart for pastures anew. Bruce decided that he would go it alone at an appropriate time.

In the days of few World Championship Grands Prix – less than 10 a year unlike the 24 we have scheduled in 2024 – most of the stars of the day contested these ‘Tasman’ races – the first Tasman Cup was held in 1964 – with a bit of sand, sea and sun on-the-side.

start and prizemoney then sold the car to multiple Australian GP winner, the great Lex Davison; grand-dad to current-gen racers Will and Alex.

But Bruce had a taste of doing his own thing and rather liked the flavour.

Chessington (UK)-based Cyril Atkins built a Cooper T60 chassis for Bruce to use in non-championship 1962 F1 races. When the BRM V8 engined car proved a fizzer, Bruce re-purposed the car as the T62, a 2.7-litre Coventry Climax FPF four-cylinder powered Formula Libre car for the 1962/63 New Zealand and Australian summer internationals.

The Kiwi’s T62 was immediately

The first Tasman series comprised eight rounds: Levin, the NZGP at Pukekohe in the North Island then Wigram and Teretonga in the South Island ... “ ”

successful, winning the 1962 Australian Grand Prix at Caversham, Western Australia, and was then victorious in the bulk of the 1963 internationals: Wigram and Levin in New Zealand, Sandown and Longford.

Sporting success was matched by financial returns. Bruce won plenty of

McLaren had an average 1963 GP season in a year dominated by Jim Clark aboard Colin Chapman’s revolutionary monocoque Lotus 25 Climax, and McLaren’s attention turned to the upcoming first ever Tasman Series, after New Year.

The Kiwi had a clear vision of his 1964 Tasman contender: a simple, slender, spaceframe 2.5-litre FPF-powered machine, built for short 100-mile (160km) races.

When Charlie Cooper equivocated about competing without adequate start money guarantees from wild-colonialrace promoters, McLaren decided to go it alone.

THE FIRST McLARENS

THE RESULTANT Cooper T70 was designed and built at Cooper’s Surbiton workshop by McLaren and his Kiwi friend and master-mechanic, Wally Willmott. While Cooper components were used throughout, the two machines are now universally regarded as ‘The First McLarens’.

Timothy (Timmy) Andrew Mayer had commenced racing an Austin Healey 100 in 1959, then switched to Formula Junior, winning the 1962 US FJ Championship in a Cooper run by his big brother, lawyer Teddy.

Exhibiting some speed in a works/Ken Tyrrell Cooper T67 in Europe in late ‘62, he then raced a Cooper T53 Climax in the US GP at Watkins Glen, qualifying 12th of 20 starters but retired with ignition problems. These performances, and strong Cooper and Lotus sportscar drives throughout 1963, impressed John Cooper so much that the young American was offered a 1964 Cooper works-F1 drive.

McLaren got on well with the Mayers, members of a loaded, establishment Pennsylvania family. Bruce soon did a deal with Teddy to run Tim in a second T70 in the 1964 Tasman Series.

Bruce McLaren Motor Racing Ltd then comprised Bruce and Pat McLaren, Teddy Mayer and Kiwi journalist/administrator Eoin Young as directors.

While Teddy assisted in negotiations with race organisers, Willmott and Tyler Alexander, the key technician in Mayer’s outfit, finished the cars.

By September 1963, the first T70 was tested by Bruce and Timmy at Goodwood before shipment to Auckland in time for the season-opening Levin International on January 4, 1964.

TASMAN CUP WINNERS

THE FIRST Tasman series comprised eight rounds: Levin, the NZGP at Pukekohe in the North Island then Wigram and Teretonga in the South Island. Then followed a fortnight to ship the cars to Port Melbourne for the Australian GP at Sandown, before heading north to Warwick Farm, then Lakeside … then Longford in Tasmania as a finale.

That ’64 Australian race program was crazy. The final round at Longford was a 2350km two-day tow and overnight ‘Princess of Tasmania’ ferry ride across grumpy Bass Straight for the exhausted crews.

McLaren, at speed, in the T70 – Warwick Farm. Image: JOHN ELLACOTT. Top left: Mayer on the grid with mechanic Tyler Alexander, who went on to a long engineeering and organisational career, mostly with McLaren International, only retiring in 2008. Image: TYLER ALEXANDER Top Right: NZGP Blast-off, Pukekohe – McLaren shared the front row with Tasmanian John Youl (#8) in this 'qualifying heat' ahead of Denny Hulme (#5) and local Kerry Grant. While McLaren won, Youl went on to finish fourth in the GP and fifth in the Tasman Series.

Image: TERRY MARSHALL

Above left: McLaren and Timmy Mayer – Master and pupil ... Above right: Timmy Mayer in the pits at Wigram – with Tyler Alexander alongside and Teddy Mayer. Above: The boss, Bruce McLaren in his fanous #47, the Tasman Series winner, with mechanic and T70 co-builder Wally Wilmott. Images: ROSALYN STUART Images: T MARSHALL, R STUART, J ELLACOTT

To do something well is so worthwhile that to die trying to do it better cannot be foolhardy. It would be a waste of life to do nothing with one’s ability, for I feel that life is measured in achievement, not in years alone – Bruce McLaren “ ”

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Cooper T70 (1964 Tasman Series)

CHASSIS: Multi-tubular steel spaceframe with steel-skin panelling brazed to the four main centre-section tubes to create a ‘semi-monocoque’

TOTAL WEIGHT: 955lbs – 434kg

SUSPENSION: Front – Alford & Alder forged steel uprights, upper and lower wishbones, coil spring/shock units and adjustable rollbar. Rear – Magnesium uprights, single top link, inverted lower wishbones and single top radius rod either side, coil spring/shock units and adjustable roll-bar

STEERING : By Cooper-Knight, rack and pinion,

WHEELS/BRAKES: 15-inch Cooper mag-alloy wheels, Girling disc brakes

ENGINE: Coventry Climax FPF 2.5-litre, DOHC, two-valve, four cylinder, fed by twin-58 DCO Webers and giving around 240bhp @ 6800rpm

GEARBOX : Cooper-Knight C5S five-speed transaxle incorporating ZF limited slip differential

The logistics of running two cars in eight championship races and heats, in two countries over nine weeks, will not be lost on you; it was a real a baptism of fire for Bruce’s small, young team.

McLaren and Brabham (Brabham BT7A Climax) won three rounds apiece – McLaren was strong in New Zealand and Brabham in Australia – but Bruce had more consistency so he lifted the cup by six points from Jack. Another youthful Kiwi, Denny Hulme was third in a works Brabham BT4 Climax, he too looked ‘the goods.’

Mayer was immediately quick in elite company which included Graham Hill, Frank Gardner, Frank Matich and Chris Amon, the latter just out of high school.

Mayer started well with second behind Denny Hulme – the 1967 World F1 Champion had raced FJ in Europe in 1963;

he wasn’t an F1 driver at this point – and McLaren third at Levin.

Bruce won at Pukekohe and at Wigram with Timmy third, and eighth after throttle troubles caused a pitstop. At Teretonga the Cooper boys dominated, swapping the lead throughout before McLaren won with Mayer right behind in a near deadheat.

Across the ditch in Australia Brabham and McLaren had a magnificent dice at Sandown before Bruce punched a neat hole in his FPF’s block. Mayer was fourth having run second until fuel problems intervened.

Warwick Farm was a tricky, technical track, but the lanky, handsome Yank wasn’t fazed at all. He gave his team leader a tap up the Colotti (gearbox) while navigating Creek Corner on the first lap; the hairpin’s famous bugler then launched into the Last Post. Mayer was third behind McLaren with Brabham up front.

On Lakeside’s fast sweeps Mayer popped his Cooper on the front row several days before his 26th birthday, then led the race easily after Matich retired with a popped FPF, before he too succumbed to a ventilated Climax. These hard-worked, short-stroke 2.5 FPFs were delicate little flowers if only slightly over-revved. Brabham won with McLaren third.

PERILOUS LONGFORD

AFTER LAKESIDE the teams drove to Port Melbourne and then crossed Bass Straight to Devonport. An hour later the crews contemplated bucolic Longford, sitting in beautiful undulating, green, grazing and cropping pastures bisected by the picturesque South Esk river.

To walk the remains of this wild road circuit first used as a track in 1953 is still intimidating. It was a 7.2km-long smorgasbord of roadside real estate terror – narrow bumpy roads, trees, culverts, barbed wire fences, houses, bridges with fast approaches and stout posts, lots of

Timmy Mayer crosses the Viaduct at Longford during Friday practice. By the end of the day, the young American would be dead ... Image: LYN GIGNEY Top left: On test at Goodweood, September 1963. Image: GP LIBRARY. Above: Timmy Mayer ponders the rear of the slim, lightweight Cooper ... Image: TYLER ALEXANDER

Opposite: Mayer on board, sans bodywork. Image: ROSALYN STUART. The cockpit was very simple ... Far right: With current owner Adam Berryman wartching on, the #47 T70 took pride of place at the 2024 Victorian Governor's AGP Welcome, in March. Images: MARK BISSET

undulations, two 260kmh straights and the occasional kangaroo. The most daunting section was the downhill, fast-right plunge past the Longford water tower at the top of Pit Straight into the gulley between the Hobart-Launceston railway line high to the drivers left, and the Mountford farm’s barbed wire fence to the right. At the bottom was minimal runoff before a sharp left-right combo under the imposing red-brick railway viaduct.

Then the cars straightened, still building speed over rough-as-guts Kings Bridge, one of two South Esk river crossings on the course, complete with scuba-divers at the ready in case of an Alberto Ascari or Paul Hawkins Monaco ‘moment.’

Mayer’s Cooper exited the bridge apexing right and then commenced the straight, fifth-gear run along Union Street towards Longford village and the 90-degree right-hander at the Country Club Hotel.

It was here during Friday afternoon practice that things went tragically wrong for Timmy on only his second stint on this most unforgiving of circuits. There was a hump in the road, taking it flat was key to a good time, but takingoff and landing the car square was critical. So too was braking upon landing after the car had settled on its springs and shocks.

Whether Tim’s take-off was poor or a cross wind unsettled the car, or perhaps he braked a tad too soon we will never know. In the blink of an eye, control of the car passed from Tim into the lap of the gods.

The Cooper slewed sideways, hitting one of dozens of plane trees lining each side of Union Street. The impact broke the T70 in two, propelling the hapless driver through the air to land metres from a group of 50 spectating schoolchildren. He was lifeless, his neck was broken. The steaming hot, shattered Climax engine landed between Mayer and the haybaleprotected kids.

Poor Garril Mayer, Tim’s wife was distraught, inconsolable back in the pits as news filtered through. So too were Teddy and Tyler. Bruce didn’t run on Saturday as he dealt with the immediate impacts of the tragedy. He took the start from the back of the grid on the Monday race day. The show had to go on. Mayer would have wanted it so.

Bruce finished 10 seconds behind Graham Hill’s Brabham BT4 Climax, setting the fastest lap at 113.05mph; he did 259kmh along The Flying Mile. McLaren’s points secured him and his team the first Tasman Championship. It was a remarkable mind-over-matter drive of grit, guts and determination.

The Mayer family’s political connections ensured Australian red tape didn’t prevent the speedy repatriation of Timmy home where the formalities were completed, allowing the close-knit family to grieve. Bruce penned a tribute to his young team member which could, in the end, also apply to himself when his own life was cut short just six years later:

“Who is to say that he had not seen more, done more and learned more in his few years than many people do in a lifetime? To do something well is so worthwhile that to die trying to do it better cannot be foolhardy. It would be a waste of life to do nothing with one’s ability, for I feel that life is measured in achievement, not in years alone.”

However, Bruce, only six months older than Timmy, had proved he could successfully blaze a path of his own. He had assembled a team, raised the funds, designed and built two cars, then raced them to win an intensely contested international title under unrelenting pressure, and then disaster, over nine weeks. It was the start of a motorsport dynasty.

Once Teddy Mayer overcame the initial emotional impact of his brother’s death he decided his future was in racing. With Teddy’s – and Tyler Alexander’s –decisions made, Bruce then had his core team in place when he left Coopers, at

the end of 1965, with Mayer taking on the businesses key financial and administrative management role.

This group took McLaren Cars way beyond Bruce’s death at Goodwood in 1970 through until 1981, when Mayer exited stage left, and Ron Dennis took command, then on into the present global road and racing colossus McLaren has become.

In 1966 McLaren entered F1; in 1967 Bruce’s McLaren M6A Chev won the CanAm Cup; the following year Bruce took the marques first Grand Prix win at Spa. McLaren was well on the path to greatness within five years of the foundation of Bruce McLaren Motor Racing Ltd.

In many ways the mix was in place at the start of that ’64 Tasman. It’s somewhat sad and ironic that Timmy Mayer’s death resulted in big brother Teddy’s decision to embrace racing rather than reject it; the Bruce and Teddy Show preceded the Bruce and Denny Show …

In F1, McLaren have outlived all but Ferrari – and it all started with a car which, contract-wise, had to be called something else.

McLaren International remains at the peak of Grand Prix racing, and the sport will never forget the man who began it all – the quietly brilliant racer, engineer and leader of men, the vastly underrated Bruce Leslie McLaren.

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FROST TAKES THE CHOCOLATES

A LATE CHARGE SAW TATE FROST TAKE VICTORY IN THE 2024 RUNNING OF THE ANNUAL EASTER SPRINTCAR TRAIL ...

ONCE AGAIN all the big names descended on the action-packed three-night trail crisscrossing the Victorian and South Australian border from Avalon to Borderline and Premier Speedway.

The Easter Sprintcar Trail has marked the unofficial end of the Sprintcar season dating back to the 1980s.

It proved to be an up and down weekend for Jock Goodyer.

Emphatic wins at both Mount Gambier and Warrnambool ensured Frost was the winner of the crown in 2023/24 and showed why he is a rising to star to watch.

RACE 1 AVALON

AS IS TRADITION, the Easter Sprintcar Trail ignited in front of a packed house at Avalon Raceway where drivers tried to get their campaign off to a flying start.

Jock Goodyer and Daniel Pestka were drawing battle lines as early as the opening heat where they went head to head with the #T22 prevailing by just over a second.

The second heat was another nail-biter with Dennis Jones chasing eventual winner Domain Ramsay all the way, while Jamie Heyen was an opening lap victim.

Although Frost would ultimately take it all home, he had to settle for second in his first race after being beaten by Brett Milburn by 1.5s.

Heat 4 was a competitive affair with the likes of Goodyer, Brock Hallett and Pestka racing hard and it was the latter who prevailed.

Ramsay continued his fine form in the

penultimate heat to take pole position before Frost showed a signs of things to come bug dominating the final dash, beating Glen Sutherland by 2.7s.

The B Main was a clean affair with all 11 cars making it home in the 11-lap journey.

The top two positions were unchanged throughout, with Mathew Symons leading home Jordan Rae by 1.2s.

Grant Anderson managed to overcome Marcus Green in a tight battle for third.

Ramsay started from pole and led away, controlling the first eight laps, but during this period Pestka was on the move.

Pestka started third and jumped to second ahead of Brett Milburn before switching his attention to leader Ramsay.

The pair swapped places on lap eight before Ramsay dropped out of contention in dramatic style.

Ramsay made race-ending contact when trying to pass a back marker, seeing a

potential win disappear.

This allowed Pestka to take the lead and he was never threatened from there, cruising to a 2.2s triumph.

There was also a lot of movement deeper in the pack with Bobby Daly starting eighth, dropping to 12th before fighting back to seventh.

During the early race shuffle, Goodyer shot from fourth to to second and held position for three laps before dropping behind both Milburn and Frost.

He was able to quickly jump Frost to reclaim third and held it from there as Pestka took the win ahead of Milburn.

Hallett was a big mover, starting 13th but salvaging fifth with a last-lap move on Dennis Jones.

Despite the likes of also Marcus Green, Tim Hutchins, Mathew Symons and Stephen Spark retiring there were few cautions throughout the race.

RACE 2 BORDERLINE

THE ROADSHOW then crossed into Croweater territory to race around the ‘Bullring’ of Borderline Speedway.

Although only 21 cars raced in the Blue Lake City, there was still plenty of entertainment for the crowd.

Hallett carried on to show strong speed by taking out a fast opening heat ahead of Goodyer.

By night two, Frost had found his stride and collected Heat 2 by just nine-tenths ahead of Pestka and Scott Enderl.

The locals went ballistic on the hill when Mount Gambier’s own Glen Sutherland took victory in Heat 3 ahead of Parker Scott, while Hallett fell from sixth to last on the road on the penultimate lap, while Jason Wilson retired a tour short of home.

Only four-tenths split the leaders in Heat 4 where Grant Stansfield led Luke Dillon.

Due to the smaller field, only seven cars took part in a flat-out B Main which lasted just short of two minutes.

A strong getaway helped Milburn jump Rae off the line to take the win with Ross Jarred in third.

The stage was set for the 30-lap finale under lights with Pestka and Frost on the front row ahead of Goodyer and Tim Hutchins.

Pestka retained his lead, having overcome a challenge by Frost on the inside, who had

Daniel Pestka raced out of the blocks with victory in Avalon.

Brock Hallett had pace but could not quite reach the top step.

The Borderline podium of runner-up Jock Goodyer, winner Tate Frost and third-placed Daniel Pestka.

Rising star Tate Frost celebrates his crushing win.

also lost second to Goodyer by the time the pack got to Turn 3.

Stansfield and Hutchins completed the top five as the field spread and settled down in the early laps. Stansfield was a big mover, shooting up three spots on the opening lap alone.

On lap six, lapped traffic became a factor as Goodyer caught the back of leader Pestka.

Three laps later the #T22 got a great run up the back straight and threw in a challenge for the lead at Turn 3.

Goodyer initially slid down the inside to snatch it, only for Pestka to immediately regain track position at the following corner with the switchback. Despite the battle, it was the man in third place who made a massive impression on the race on lap 12.

Frost enjoyed a brilliant exit from Turn 2 and caught Goodyer napping. The #T62 carried its momentum by going high through the final bend which proved to be enough of a slingshot to also mount a challenge for the lead.

Frost and Pestka went side by side from Turn 1 to the approach of turn 3 where it appeared the #T62 made it stick.

But the lapped Matthew Symons and Jordan Rae boxed Frost up high and not only allowed Pestka back into the lead, but also Goodyer to come close.

Eventually Frost’s speed proved overwhelming when the lapped duo disappeared as he dived down the inside of Pestka at Turn 1 to steal the lead at exactly the mid-point of the race.

He was immediately able to open four car lengths on Pestka, who was fighting with Goodyer when the first caution arrived on lap 17 for the spun Tim Farrell at Turn 4.

Frost nailed the restart going high and rebuilding his strong lead straight away as

Goodyer had a crack for second but could not make it stick.

The pair traded blows for a number of laps before Parker Scott rotated right in front of them at Turn 3.

This brought another restart with five to go and it was the same story with Frost flying away.

Goodyer was able to jump Pestka on this occasion only for another caution to arrive with three laps to go.

As Frost and Goodyer charged home to the chequered, Pestka and Hallett had a mighty fight for third.

Despite multiple position changes, Pestka was able to retain the podium place.

RACE 3 WARRNAMBOOL

FROST HAD shown what he was capable of at Borderline Speedway, and carried on his momentum with another emphatic drive a day later at Premier Speedway to wrap up the Easter Trail title. Pestka started strongly once again by taking out the opening heat by 1.7s whilst Scott didn’t make the finish and crashed on lap six. Heat 2 produced even more drama with some big names being caught up in it.

After contact with another car Goodyer barrel-rolled out of the sprint, while Hallett also lost six laps with a flat tyre.

Jack Lee did a good job to beat Frost in Heat 3 which was marred by a big crash that took out David Aldersley, Symons, Brett Smith and Marcus Green.

Rae triumphed in Heat 4 where Ross Jarred became the latest to register a DNF.

Peter Doukas joined the list in a big way with a big crash on the opening lap of the penultimate heat that was won by Veal, while Frost ominously took out the final heat.

Frost and Lee shared the front row but the latter did not last long, bringing out the first caution as early as lap two.

Although it was disappointing for Lee, it meant fans got to enjoy the dream scenario of the points leader Frost and his nearest rival Pestka front the field at the restart.

Pestka briefly hit the lead when Frost “saw a yellow light on a truck on the highway or something and backed off”.

But it was clear Frost had the superior pace by immediately responding and never being challenged again, driving into the distance from lap seven onwards.

He opened up a big lead when the yellows arrived for the stopped Steven Spark on the main straight on lap 16.

It was at the following restart where Hallett made his move, jumping both Veal and Pestka to surge to second.

The race was interrupted again on lap 19 when Tim Farrell suffered a barrel roll.

It opened up an opportunity for Hallett to have a crack, but Frost had an answer for every challenge and more, controlling the final laps to win by 0.4s.

Hallett had to settle for second ahead of third placed Pestka, while Veal and Rae rounded out the top five. Thomas Miles

Tate Frost set a scorching pace along the Easter Trail. Images: CLUTCH LIFE MEDIA

Grant Stansfield and Luke Dillon lead an angry pack of cars down the back straight of the ‘Bullring.’

Ross Jarred sends some (expensive) smoke signals.

SPEEDWAY

MANDERS WINS THE BATTLE: KINGSHOTT WINS THE WAR

THE FINAL three rounds of the Maddington Toyota Sprintcar Series ran over the last 2 weeks: an Easter-weekend double-header running on Good Friday at Bunbury Speedway and Easter Saturday at Perth Motorplex, with the Maddington Toyota Grand Final being held at the Motorplex on Saturday April 6.

Bunbury was a chaotic affair, highlighted by an early race red-flag which eliminated Jamie Veal and Dylan Menz, whilst Dayne Kingshott and Kris Coyle suffered heavy damage in the incident.

During the red flag period, both the Krikke Motorsport and Merger Motorsport teams were able to repair their cars, allowing Kingshott and Coyle to join the rear of the field at the restart.

Former series champion Jason Kendrick made his way to the front of the field after winning the B Dash to start on the front row. Kendrick led from the restart and held off all challengers – even from defending champion James Inglis, who led the charge to try and snatch the win.

Kendrick ultimately rode home as the winner, breaking a two-year drough ahead of Inglis in second and Ryan Lancaster claiming his first podium of the season.

Less than 24 hours later, the teams descended upon Perth Motorplex for the Asphalt Recyclers Australia Gold Cup, the penultimate round of the series.

Dayne Kingshott and Kaiden Manders put in the hard work during the early part of the race program, claiming the A and B Dashes to start on the front row of the 30-lap feature race.

The feature event didn’t make it very far before the chaos began, as Jamie Veal flipped on the front straight during the start – bringing on the red lights before a lap had been completed.

Kingshott continued to lead the race at every restart, only ever being challenged early by Kaiden Manders.

Callum Williamson began to charge from deep in the field – starting down in 16th, he was lucky to keep the car rolling forwards after getting caught up in an incident with Jamie Maiolo in the first half of the race.

Callum continued his charge forward, despite the late-race charge for the lead –Kingshott managed to hold the margin over Kaiden Manders and Callum Williamson on the podium!

Heading into the final round – the maths had been checked multiple times and it was clear ... all that Dayne Kingshott needed was to start the feature race and he would collect enough points to be confirmed as the new Maddington Toyota Sprintcar Series Champion with the Krikke Motorsport #2 entry.

That didn’t stop him from pushing hard however, claiming a heat race win and a hard-fought win against Kaiden Manders in the Revolution Racegear B-Dash to

start on the front row for the 30-lap grand final feature race.

Callum Williamson joined him on the front row after he won his heat race and the A-Dash to secure his seventh pole-position of the season.

Kingshott made a great start in the early laps to lead the feature race, before Williamson went for an ambitious move on lap five, clipping the wall in Turn 4 and turning the #3 upside down and ending his race.

“I just messed up; I wanted to get the win. Win it or bin it, but definitely binned it. It was fun, while it lasted” said Williamson in a post-incident interview.

Kingshott continued to lead the field on the restart, while Kaiden Manders started to move forward, moving up to second before the halfway mark of the race which saw Taylor Milling forced to retire from the race, and brought out the yellow flags.

The caution period was a gift for Manders, who made the race winning move on Kingshott with 13 laps remaining – and claiming his first feature race victory of the season.

Kingshott had no reply, but did enough to

still stand on the podium ahead of James Inglis who drove a brilliant race from 13th to third.

Kaiden Manders’ first race win of the 2023/24 season was enough to also secure him the overall win in the Maddington Toyota Triple Crown mini-series running across the final 3 rounds of the championship, pocketing $5,000 for the race and an additional $3,000 for the triple crown victory.

Dayne Kingshott secured the 2023/24 Maddington Toyota Sprintcar Series, delivering his first championship for Krikke Motorsport ahead of outgoing champion James Inglis and Bradley Maiolo after 18 rounds of racing.

Kingshott also secured a $24,000 payday for the series win, plus a bonus of $2,000 for being second in the triple crown standings.

“Pretty happy with the podium,” he said.

“We’re just happy to start the feature tonight, its getting tougher and tougher (to win the series) every year.

“I’m absolutely pumped to put my name on the trophy, especially in the Krikke Motorsports hot rod. I hate points racing, but hey … here we are.”

The Maddington Toyota Sprintcar series is set to return in October 2024, with an even larger prize pool on offer in the 25th anniversary season of Perth Motorplex.

Chris Mitchell

Dayne Kingshott celebrates his title success.

Images: RICHARD HATHAWAY PHOTOGRAPHY

Kayne Manders conquered the finale at Perth Motorplex.

Callum Williamson showed speed, but his season ended in disaster.

AUSTRALIAN CHAMPIONSHIP EXCITEMENT BUILDS

DESPITE THE Australian V8 Dirt Modified Championship in Bundaberg being just under a month away, excitement is building already. A wide open field of 10 potential winners are set to chase the title at the 460-metre Carina Speedway track on May 4-5.

So far in the 2023/24 season, the form driver has been 2014 Australian Champion David Clark.

This summer alone he has taken the Queensland and Victorian Titles, as well as being the current leader in the Mr Modified and 5 Star Dirt Series point standings.

Aside from Clark, there has been five-time Australian Champion and fellow Queenslander Kevin Britten is hungry to create more Australian Championship history by becoming the event’s first six-time winner.

When it comes to this season’s form, Britten has collected three feature wins and currently sits second in the 5 Star Dirt Series.

Andrew Pezzutti, who is regarded as one of the veterans in the V8 Dirt Modifieds, recently came out on top in the inaugural Bruce Maxwell Classic.

This victory has no doubt filled Pezzutti with added confidence as he aims to try and capture another Australian Championship to add to his 1993 victory.

It hasn’t been the best of runs this season for Mark Robinson (pictured), but as a four-time Australian Champion he is confident he can turn his form around.

Other drivers to look out for heading into this season’s Australian Championship are youngsters Ryley Smith and Blake Eveleigh, along with the likes of Zac McDonald, Joshua Rose, Steve Milthorpe, and Andrew, Taylah Firth and Chris Corbett.

In the lead-up to the Australian Championship at Carina Speedway on May 4 and 5 there will be the $5,000 to Win Champion of Champions at Hi-Tec Oils Toowoomba Speedway on the Saturday night of April 27.

Daniel Powell

WATERS GOES BACK TO BACK

JAROD WATERS has “one-upped” Supercars brother Cam by securing a second consecutive national crown in the race for the SSA Modified Sedan Title.

Waters (pictured) proved his win in Albany last year was no fluke, by being a consistent force throughout the race for the 2024 title at Carrick Speedway in Tasmania over the Easter weekend.

He secured a front row starting spot alongside Joel Berkley with a heat win and three second places.

But when the 40-lap feature began, Waters was immediately on the pace and charged into the lead as Berkley was swamped.

Local hope Jakobe Jetson surged to second, closely followed by Max Clarke, restricting Berkley to fourth.

Waters was able to quickly establish a solid lead before it was wiped out by the opening yellow caused by Brad Herbert’s

incident at Turn 3.

However, the #1 shared away again only for another caution to arrive due to Matt Nelson burying himself into the turn 4 wall.

This time Clarke was able to keep up with Waters at the restart but the latter was able to resist any challenge.

Instead an almighty battle for second broke out inside the final 15 laps which culminated

in Boss and Chrystie going side-by-side into the final corner before the chequered flag.

It resulted in contact Boss able to edge in front through the final turn to claim second with Chrystie settling for third.

However, Waters was in another league and cruised to back to back successes in his Mercedes.

Jarod was thrilled to continue the Waters family history and go a title clear of his Tickford based brother.

“It’s been a massive four years because we started building the Mercedes during Covid lock down,” Waters said in victory lane.

“But there’s been so many hours in the shed, especially in the lead-up to this event, just in development, and it’s paid off!

“Dad won so many events in Modifieds throughout the 1990s and Cam won a national title in these as well, but it’s good to get one-up on Cam too!”

DAVIS RECLAIMS AUSTRALIA # 1

AFTER AN absence of six years, Chris Davis (pictured) was able to put in a masterful performance and reclaim the Australian Lightning Sprint Title last Saturday night at Goulburn Speedway.

The 31-year-old from Balaclava in the southern highlands of NSW last won the Australian Title in Lightning Sprints back in 2018 at Tamworth Speedway, but his return to the top step of the Australian Title podium not only came by virtue of leading the 25-lap feature race from start to finish, but it was made even more special due to the fact it was achieved at his home track, Goulburn Speedway.

“The Australian Title is the biggest event of the season and it’s a fantastic feeling to finally get the Australian Title back in my keeping,” expressed Davis, who also set a new lap record around Goulburn Speedway with a time of 13.235 seconds.

“Goulburn Speedway hasn’t hosted a lot of Lightning Sprint races meetings over the years, but it was great to run our Australian Title there, as the track really suits our form of racing and makes for quite a spectacle.

“Another personal bonus for me running at Goulburn Speedway, which is just up the road for me, was that a lot of my family and friends were able to be there, which made winning the Australian Title even more special.”

Leading into the Australian Title decider, Davis was the form driver after he won the pole shootout and was the highest point scorer across the heat races with a win and a second place finish respectively.

Apart from his Australian Title triumph, Davis was the favourite heading into the event after winning the NSW Title at Gilgandra Speedway the previous month.

For Davis, he not only has two Australian Title wins to his name but two NSW Title victories over his 10 years in the Lightning Sprint class.

Daniel Powell

Images: ANGRYMAN PHOTOGRAPHY

Image: WE LOVE OUR CARS PHOTOGRAPHY

STATE TITLE GOES TO GRUMPY BANDIT BUCKLEY

THE VICTORIAN Grand Prix Midgets title went on the line at Wangaratta City Raceway and Adam Buckley took it home, but only after some significant drama.

Despite heavy rain arriving in the lead-up to the race, when cars hit the dirt, the track was locked down and fast from he drop of the first flag.

There was drama in the opening heat won by Alex Hudson-Myers.

Australian champion Peter Robotham tried a pass on the inside of Gary Bowyer and hit the kerb on the pole line sending the car in the air getting stuck on the kerb – spinning to miss the action was Florrimell.

Hudson-Myers was the next major casualty with his hopes of getting back to back wins were destroyed when he hit a rut and fired into the fence.

The following barrel roll caused too much damage to continue and his chase for the national title was suddenly done, while Florrimell made the same mistake and hit the fence after his drive chain came off.

Meanwhile Bowyer was in fine form and stayed out of trouble to take the win before Kamolins prevailed in the third and final heat.

In the end the consistent Fowler emerged as the top points scorer to secure pole

position ahead of Brown, Kamolins and Buckley.

But it was Brown who shot into the lead as Fowler hit the infamous Turn 2 rut and brushed the fence, slipping to fourth.

By lap eight, Fowler shot to second with Buckley in tow until significant drama on lap 11 turned the race on its head.

Rouse’s left rear broke, sending him spinning in Turn 1 in front of the race leaders Brown and Fowler, who both had nowhere to go.

Brown’s car connected with Rouse’s, whilst Fowler backed into Brown’s car. With just four laps to go Brown’s dreams

of a maiden state title were dashed, while Fowler managed to make the restart, only for his luck to run out with a broken front right steering arm.

This reduced the former leader to a crawl and by lap 14 Fowler made contact with Ward.

During the chaos Buckley had snatched the lead but had to resist a mighty lastgasp challenge by Kamolins at the final restart.

However, Buckley remained calm to lead home Kamolins and Ward to be crowned Victorian champion.

Thomas Miles

ROOKIE AUSSIE TITLE RAMPAGE

THERE WAS no shortage of racing action during the Australian Modlites Title at Grafton Speedway, as teenage rookie Ryan Silcock (pictured) upstaged his more established rivals.

Since debuting in Modlites at the beginning of this season, the Queenslandbased Silcock has shown plenty of promise, which included winning the South Australian Title earlier in the season.

But the 17-year-old’s rookie season in Modlites went to another level when he drove to victory in last Saturday night’s Australian Title.

Silcock was in outstanding form throughout the two-night Australian Title, where he topped the point standings on night one and then carried that form through to the second and final night by qualifying on pole position for the Australian Title deciding feature race and dominating the entire 25-lap journey.

Despite coming out on top, Silcock was very lucky to finish, after he was involved in an incident on lap 21 with the crashing lapped car of B-main qualifier Jacob Carlier, which caused front-end damage

to Silcock’s car.

In the closing stages, Silcock’s frontend damage got worse, and he greeted the chequered flag on pretty much three wheels, after his inside front wheel had collapsed.

Despite his very best efforts, current NSW, Queensland and Victorian Champion in Corey Stein, who had chased after Silcock when he moved up to second on lap 16, had to settle for second.

Completing the podium was Terry Leerentveld, who sat in second behind Silcock for the first half of the race, before he was passed by Stein.

The top-five finishers were completed by another ex-Australian Title holder in Kyle Honour and Mitch Pammenter in fourth and fifth place respectively.

Finishing ninth was Gollschewsky, who had an unhappy Australian Title defence, where he had started the feature race from

position nine and that was where he ended up finishing.

The Firecracker 50 Lapper for RSA Four Cylinder Sedans was fought out on the Saturday night, and it saw the race run without a single stoppage and the win went to teenager Jeremy Wade. Brodie King was the next best in second and the only other driver on the lead lap, while third place on the podium was filled by Dallas Barnier.

On the Friday night, Isobelle Jennar was the feature race winner in the RSA Four Cylinder Sedans, and she downed Jeremy Wade and veteran Keith Urquart at the completion of the 15-lap event.

The support classes resulted in the feature races shared between Kevin Britten (V8 Dirt Modifieds), Paul Reeves (AMCA Nationals), Brock Stubbs (SSA Junior Sedans - both Friday and Saturday night), Hayden Fleming (RSA Junior Sedans) and Kaleb Daly (RSA Street Stockers).

The eighth and final 2023-24 season race meeting at Hessions Auto Parts Grafton Speedway is going to be held on the Saturday night of May 25.

Adam Buckley celebrates the Victorian Grand Prix Midget title.

Image: VERN PARKER PHOTOGRAPHY

Image: BUTCHER PHOTOGRAPHY

SUPER2 STAR VICTORIOUS ON THE DIRT

SUPER2 DRIVER Brad Vaughan overcame his rivals to win the Wingless Sprint Classic at Horsham’s Blue Ribbon Raceway.

Over of 30 competitors nominated with teams travelling from as far as the Northern Territory and South Australia to take on a stacked field of Victorians. Across two rounds of qualifying heats the likes of Cameron O’Brien, Steven Hateley, Todd Moule and Michael Conlan took victories to qualify up front for the feature.

At the drop of the green Moule asserted his dominance as Conlan quickly fell back to fifth while local racer Chris Ansell advanced from sixth to second and closed in on the run away early leader.

By the halfway point, Ansell had

successfully made his way to the lead before retiring to the infield.

This is where Vaughan made his move, hitting the lead after a short but intense dogfight with Moule.

After finally getting by on lap 22, Vaughan sealed his maiden Speedway feature race win ahead of Moule and O’Brien.

SHARING THE top billing was the sixth and final round of the Southern Street Stock Series.

The 26 competitors raced six qualifying heats and a last chance B Main.

Morris Ahearn went undefeated to claim pole while Zack Yeoman advanced to the 30-lap final after winning the B Main.

Ahearn led Blomeley, before the latter

snared the lead on lap 13 and controlled the field until the halfway reset. Ahearn found strong speed racing in the other direction to snatch the lead with four laps to go and be victorious in his Holden Commodore.

SUPPORTING THE event were the ever popular crowd favourite V8 Trucks and Production Sedans. Luke James had a solid night in the V8 Trucks to claim the opening heat race and the 8-lap final from pole sitter Nathan Bird and opening heat winner Fletcher Mills.

Dehne Sparrow proved too strong in the Production Sedan final taking a flag to flag victory in the 12-lap feature followed by Marcus Hams. Paris Charles

HOT RODS AND FAMILY RIVALRIES ALIVE

THE ALEXANDRA and District Speedway

Club was buzzing across two busy days of racing featuring the the ‘Dirt X Industries’ Sports Sedan Power Series and the Speedway Drivers Association of Victoria (SDAV) Hot Rods.

Two rounds of the Power Series awaited the Sports Sedans with a bumper nine-heat program prior to the feature.

Josh Service started the weekend with an impressive victory including passing three competitors in one move, followed by wins to Brendan Miller, and his brother Damien Miller.

There was drama in Heat 3 where current Victorian champion Jamie Lock and Shannon Burke had contact which resulted in the state champion’s car flying up and over in turns one and two and out of the weekend with a severely damaged race car.

Ian Thomsen, Jack Van Bremen and Riley Balins won the remaining features.

Thomsen led the way in the opening night feature but only lasted one lap before

suffering a flat right rear tyre.

Brendan

not end until the finish.

On the final lap pressure from the older Miller

him sneak to a thrilling .075s win over his brother.

Another nine heat races were up on Night 2 and both Thomsen and Caleb Lincoln bounced back from dramas with immediate wins.

As a result Thomsen led Damien Miller in the second feature which was disrupted by a big crash on lap seven.

Miller, Balins, Meakins and Lincoln were all left the race after a Josh Service spin created a car-park pile up.

With all the exists early in the race, Thomsen regained control and cruised to a 3.5s win over Dale Smith.

The SDAV Hot Rods also competed in two separate events and both Andrew Kemp and Shannon Meakins started in style by leading every lap of their respective heats.

Come the 15-lap final it was Meakins who delivered, leading every lap to beat Kemp by 8s.

Meakins did not slow down on night 2, setting a 15-lap record to fly to a huge win in just 3:48.334 over Roberts and Kemp.

Dean Thompson DMT Speedway Media

BUCKLEY DOES IT AGAIN

ADAM BUCKLEY secured a third Grand Prix Midget win at Goulburn Speedway in Round eight of the Gulf Western Oil Super Series. The action was on from the moment the green flag dropped with Buckley (pictured) starting a rivalry with Gary Bowyer.

The pair were the class of the field, flying from the back to the front on the opening lap alone of the first heat.

Their battle was not decided until the final lap where the pair went side by side down the back straight.

But Bowyer got the better drive in turns three and four to take the win by the slimmest of margins.

This set the scene for the remainder of the night as Buckley pinned the ears back out front and took the Heat 2 win from Bowyer and Jay Hall.

But in Heat 3 Buckley fell asleep at the wheel as the entire field roared past him when the green flag dropped and Bowyer assumed control.

By lap three Buckley was wide awake and surged to second behind Bowyer.

The big prize was the 12-lap final where the top point scorers were sent to the rear of the field.

Ayden Boesel assumed the pole position but off the line the first of the big moves came from the inside third row as Buckley was not caught napping this time around.

He moved around the outside of Black, Kermond and Boesel into second behind leader Hall, who also moved forward quickly from fourth.

Bowyer also jumped to third with all moves from the top three made within two turns of the first lap.

On lap two Buckley moved around the outside of Hall and into the race lead, whilst Bowyer also got by.

There was no stopping Buckley as he cruised to a crushing win by a quarter lap over Bowyer and Hall.

Black was the only retirement with fuel flow issues.

Dean Thompson

Miller then led with his Damien Miller right behind and the brotherly battle did

saw

Bradley Vaughan – Wingless Sprint winner. Image: PARIS CHARLES

Ian Thomsen ended a dramatic weekend of Sports Sedans on top.

Hot rods put on a show at Alexandra.

Images: IMAGE WORX - STEVE MITCHELL

GOODYER MAKES HISTORY WITH THIRD NATIONAL TITLE

JOCK GOODYER added a historic third Australian Championship to his resume in dramatic style at Avalon Raceway with a last lap pass to secure his maiden Australian Pro Sprintcar Championship.

After trailing local Jake Smith for 39 laps, Goodyer dove to the inside of turn one and came away with a spectacular win and in the process, joining Robbie Farr and Jamie Veal as the only drivers to have captured the #1 in both Open and 360/ Pro Sprintcar competition.

Goodyer has become the first driver in history to claim a national title in all three “winged” speedway categories, having won the Australian Formula 500 Championship in 2020 at Simpson Speedway, the elite level Australia Sprintcar Championship in 2023 at the Perth Motorplex and now the Dirt X Industries Pro Sprintcar Championship at Avalon in 2024.

“Firstly, I have got to thank Domain Ramsay for allowing me to drive this car and Hayden Kendrick making the right calls tuning it up,” he said.

“During the race I couldn’t believe how good the #72 (Smith) was through the traffic.

“I just couldn’t bridge the gap. Then I felt the rubber come in and I kept looking at the lap counter, so I knew it was my last chance, so I drove it hard in there.

“The rubber was hard to catch but I got it just right. Honestly, I was in the best position being second as I could see where he was running but I left it the last opportunity and we got it done.

“To win both Titles is pretty cool. In fact, I have now won all three of the winged classes when you add in the F500 Title, so maybe it’s time to retire now I have won them all!”

Goodyer is also the second driver to claim a podium in both Championships, with his victory backing up his third placing in the 410cc Championship at Warrnambool in January.

The final spot on the podium went to Tim Van Ginneken, who charged from position nine on the starting grid. This was an outstanding result considering that he didn’t think he would even be competing at this year’s Championship and “just wanted to finish.”

For Van Ginneken this was his second on

the podium after finishing as the runner-up in the Title at Kalgoorlie in 2019.

Just off the podium was four times Champion Ryan Jones who recovered well after starting from position 12 while Victorian Matthew Symons was the first LS powered Pro Sprintcar across the line in fifth. After running in a podium position for a majority of the race Daniel Pestka faded back to sixth late in the race with Chris Soloman finishing in seventh place.

Defending National Champion Mark Caruso finished a creditable eighth

considering he had no brakes for a majority of the final while Josh Buckingham and Ricky Maiolo completed the top 10. Only two drivers were officially classified as nonfinishers with Brett Milburn and Tate Frost failing to greet the chequered flag. At certain stages of the race both Milburn and Frost ran as high as third in the standings with Milburn spinning in turn 3 on lap 9 while Frost rolled on the front straight on lap 18 after contact with the slower car of Phil Micallef.

HUTCHISON TAKES BAIRNSDALE CLOSER

MATT HUTCHISON ended the 2023/24 Bairnsdale Speedway Association season on top by taking out the Division 2 Hot Rods Victorian title.

It came on a night where four new track records including a new one lap record in the Division 2 Hot Rods that broke a six-year-old record.

Hutchison and Jordan Haley began at the front of the field for the 30-lap title event with Jason Seymour and Mel Tatterson behind.

Haley quickly assumed the lead on lap one putting Hutchison behind him whilst Tatterson got the jump into third spot.

Early on Fraser Crittenden hit the top five until his race came to an early end.

Hutchison hit the lead on lap 16 and a lap later Tatterson surged to second as Haley’s race came to an end.

Hutchison then brought the field home for his first title victory just 0.749s ahead of Tatterson, Angus, and Alan Ward who were the last four racers standing after a gruelling race.

In Ladies Standard Saloon competition Bree Walker was a dominant force and commanded the lead from start to finish.

She overcame Simone Taylor and Elise Halliday, whilst setting a 15-lap track record for the class of 5:29.300.

Open Standard Saloon competitors competed in the Standard Saloon Stampede feature with nine heat races required to determine the feature race field.

Andrew Miles and his brother Chris began at the front of the field for the 25-lap feature race with former Victorian champion Jacob Vuillermin and local Bairnsdale man Jamie Curtis behind them.

Vuillermin quickly assumed race control by lap two whilst Andrew Miles’ perfect night came to an end on lap 14.

Vuillermin was untroubled on his way to victory with Stewart and Yeomans, completing the podium.

In Junior 1200 Sedan competition Ella Sheedy started the final with Chase Doherty alongside and the pair put on a show.

They swapped stints sharing the lead on multiple occasions until Sheedy’s race came to an end as she rolled over hitting the turn four pole line. This ensured Riley Taylor took the win ahead of Doherty. However, Sheedy enjoyed some redemption by taking out the Junior Standard Saloon win in the final round of the ‘Next Generation Showdown’ series.

Hunter Carey led until he lost his grasp on victory with five laps to go when Sheedy flew past to get redemption from her earlier rollover in the 1200 class.

Rounding out the support class action was the Limited Sportsman and Darren Adams took the final by just 0.185s from Jayden White.

Dean Thompson

Image: IMAGE WORX - STEVE MITCHELL

WILD SPRINTCAR RACING IN TOOWOOMBA

IT WAS standing room only at Toowoomba Speedway for Sprintcars, Speedcars and Super Sedans and they didn’t disappoint.

A total of 20 Sprintcars made it into the Grand Final in the Queensland Speedway Spares Ultimate Sprintcar Championship with Nicholas Whell having a career highlight  with a brilliant run in the Stars Dash to get the win ahead of Lachlan McHugh and Cody Maroske.

He and McHugh shared the front row for the start, and the Aussie champ got the jump and secured the race lead as Maroske snatched second from Whell.

The pair kept trading places until Luke Oldfield slid underneath Maroske only to tag the wall and hand it back to Maroske.

The battle between Oldfield and Maroske continued, with Oldfield again switching to the top through lapped traffic as Whell closed in on McHugh.

Enter Brent Kratzmann who wasn’t giving

up and proceeded to put Oldfield back one spot and Whell before the lap was completed.

Kratzmann and Whell continued to trade places back and forth in a thrilling battle until Oldfield made his way underneath both of them.

Oldfield had a few big looks underneath McHugh while waiting for the right time to pounce and then Kratzmann relegated McHugh to third briefly as McHugh got back past Kratzmann a lap later.

McHugh and Oldfield were wrestling for the lead just as Jayden Peacock flipped right in front of them.

Oldfield was unlucky and made contact with Peacock’s car ending his night dramatically.

With three laps remaining Kratzmann inherited ahead of McHugh and the latter raced around Kratzmann to snatch the lead with just half a lap remaining.

But the race was brought to a stop once again when Jessie Attard flipped over in turn four.

The race was declared, and with Kratzmann, as the leader of the last completed lap with McHugh second, ahead of an impressive Whell in the drive of his career to date.

Despite losing the battle, McHugh was still the overall champion.

Harry Stewart put in an excellent drive holding back a number of challenges in the final of the Ultimate Speedcar Championship.

Stewart started on the front row alongside Kaidon Brown for the 30 lap final and the action was intense.

With a few laps left to run the race changed dramatically when Scott Farmer clipped the wall in the main straight, cutting the right rear tyre and bringing on the yellow lights.

From the restart Stewart now had Brown right behind him on the fence and winding up.

With two laps to go Brown bumped the wall in turn two slowing his progress and this was all Stewart needed to cross the finish line for victory.

Zac Pascoe won the Ultimate Super Sedan Championship Grand Final but it was JJ Hamilton who became the overall Championship winner.

It was the Pascoe family all stood on the podium at the end of the 30 lap feature father Matty in second, and Zac’s brother Brad came from midfield to finish third.

The next event at Hi-Tec-Oils Toowoomba Speedway will be the Cush Clothing Late Model Queensland Title on Wednesday night April 24 and the Hanceys Turf Australian Late Model Title April 26 and 27. David Budden

WHITTLE WINS EIGHTH TITLE

SCOTT WHITTLE is now an eight time Standard Saloon State champion after postrace scrutineering and subsequent appeals have been heard following the chequered flag at Alexandra Speedway

Local racer Wayne Sheerman took second place ahead of Jack Yeomans and Jack Braz. Just under 50 competitors vied to hold the number one plate for the next twelve months and the meeting opened with five heat races before the 35-lap final.

Thirty-five laps awaited the title race starters to see them through to a state champion with Whittle, Forrest, Yeomans, Sheerman, Aaron Meakins, Shane Stewart, Mark Miles, Jack Braz, Jeff Blencowe, Ardley, Aaron Marshall, Cecil, Andrew Miles, Hill, Blake Smith, Barber, McCabe, Chris Miles, Mitch Blencowe, Lansdown, Fythe, Gooding, Warren, and Spring the qualifiers.

At the drop of the green flag, Whittle secured the front spot ahead of Sheerman but the race had an immediate stoppage. After all the hard work to win the B main event, Ash Fyfe slammed the main straight concrete wall with huge force resulting in a red-light stoppage.

Across the next five laps after the restart Mark Miles moved ahead of Meakins into fifth place whilst Whittle continued out front as competitors neared the halfway mark. Things changed briefly on lap 17 when Sheerman made a move through traffic and into the lead and held that through to lap 22 where Whittle assumed control of the race once again.

A different look to the front five by the time they reached lap 30 with Harry Cecil who began way back on the sixth row had worked his way into fourth with Miles behind in in fifth whilst Whittle still led the race.

Towards the end of the race Forrest hit the concrete and so did Ardley after a tough night brought on the caution lights. This setup a two-lap dash to the finish after a caution period on lap thirty-four finished the title race off with Sheerman making a pass on Whittle on the final lap where the two cars made contact.

Sheerman crossed the finish line first only to hear the Stewards in the one-way earpiece advise that due to a pass under the pole line he would be penalised two spots.

As a result Whittle is the new Victorian champion, ahead of Sheerman, who is the Victorian #2 once again and Yeomans third for the first time.

Dean Thompson

Image: MAD MATT

Image Worx - STEVE MITCHELL

REDHEAD ON TOP

THE NEW South Wales Rally Championship season fired up on the biggest stage and Josh Redhead (above) rose to the occasion. The opening round of the NSWRC shared the spotlight with the Australian Rally Championship at the Rally of Canberra event. Redhead proved to be the fastest in his Hyundai by beating a pair of Subaru challengers by just over a minute to start 2024 in style.

But the season opener almost didn’t happen as a massive rain showers descended on the capital in the build-up. The weather ensured the entire first day of

running was washed away which meant the entire rally was on the line on Sunday.

As a result what was supposed to be Stage 7, called Long Jack, was actually the opening stage.

Although Redhead eventually won, it was actually Tony Sullens, who raced out of the blocks.

He dominated the opener in the Peugeot 208 AP4 by going 15s faster then the rest of the field.

But Sullens hit a road block 11.2km into the 17km Charcoal Kiln stage where he lost a massive four minutes and 42 seconds.

Redhead took the opportunity with open arms by winning the stage by 19.7s over Michael Harding and marching to a rally lead he would not let go.

Harding hit back at Bald Millpost, but Redhead’s speed meant only 3s was chipped off the deficit.

The return leg of Long Jack proved to be a thriller with just 1.4s separating the leaders. This time Sullens was back on the pace and was able to edge out the eventual winner.

The pair contained to trade blows with Redhead sneaking ahead in the penultimate stage by just under 4s.

Determined to finish a comprehensive performance on a high, Redhead blitzed the final stage, winning it by 4s over Sullens and Harding.

The trio were in a league of their own with more than 30s to the nearest competitor A Penny, who still did enough to secure third as Sullens fought his way back into the top five overall.

NSW rally drivers have a month to prepare for the return of the Coffs Harbour Rally which will take place on the rescheduled date of May 25. Thomas Miles

SPEEDY SHAPKARIS CULLEN DEFEATS THE DEATH STAR

MORE THAN 70 competitors took on a doubleheader of Motorsport Australia WA State Speed Event Series action, but none were in the same postcode as Rhyan Shapkaris (right).

Shapkaris was a dominant figure in his #117 RJS Phoenix and was the only one to record a 1m12s time around the Collie Motorplex.

His top time of 1:12.7638 saw him convincingly take out Round 2 of the season by the big margin of 0.89s.

Robin Mullett in his Nissan Silvia was next best and the only driver within a second of Shapkaris.

He won a tight battle for second against Justin O’Hehir with just threetenths splitting the pair.

A big 2.5s gap followed to next best David Baxter in the Porsche 718, while Ryan Goldberg’s Honda ensured there were five manufacturers in the top five.

But there was never any real doubt that Shapkaris was not going to win, having posted his fastest time on just his second tour of the long circuit.

His RJS Phoenix rose even higher on the Short Circuit, blitzing the course within three laps to win by a huge margin.

Shapkaris recorded a blistering 44.9078s to go a full 2.4s quicker than his nearest rival.

That was O’Hehir, who was half a second faster than fellow Subaru WRX driver Jensen Herbert.

Although Shapkaris’ speed was clear, he was aided by the fact that pre-event contenders Cosi Sorgiovanni and Phillip Morley both withdrew after practice, while Round 1 winner Tom Hamlett joined them on the sidelines without registering a single lap on Saturday.

Shapkaris admitted he wished his rivals were in action and revealed the rapid weekend did not go completely to plan.

“Not how I wanted to win both days on the weekend with both Phil and Cosi having issues on the Friday and withdrawing,” he said.

“I came into the weekend with a goal to set personal bests on both tracks after doing some suspension changes after Round 1.

“I did but it may have come at a small cost with hurting the engine on my PB lap but I’ll see when I pull it down.”

The Motorsport Australia WA State Speed Event Series heads to Wanneroo Raceway on May 4.

Thomas Miles

THE SECOND round of the 2024 NT Motorkhana Championship took place at Hidden Valley Raceway on Friday, April 5 with a theme of Star Wars.

The six courses competitors tackled were aligned with this theme having been renamed favourites Kessel Run (Renno Diamond), Alderaan Explosion (Nucleus), Lightsaber (Historic Straight Slalom), and Death Star (World Tour).

There were also two customdesigned courses with Darth Vader and X-Wing, both of which proved very popular as some attendees even dressed up with Obi-Wan and the crew of the Millennium Falcon present in the 23-driver field.

Adam Cullen won five courses and second in the final registered 179 points, which were enough to take Outright honours, the first win for his GR Yaris in over a year.

Round 1 runner-up and reigning champion Travis Humm again took second, with a win in his NB Mazda MX5 on the final course backing a mix of podium positions for 173 points. Following his seasonopening win, MR2 Spyder driver

Mitchell Davis was slightly less consistent, finishing fifth or higher on each course and recording 164 points for third place.

Davis still leads the championship with 71 points to Humm’s 70, while Cullen is now third with 68. However with each driver dropping their worst round at the end of the year, Davis and Cullen are now arguably tied for the lead with a win each.

In the Ladies category Susan Byrne improved on Round One by achieving a perfect score of 180 points, as did Ben Craig in the Juniors.

Sam Hensen and Lydia Nixon were again second and third respectively in the Ladies, while 2023 Junior Champion Cohen Dunne collected his first points round for 2024 and took second with a solid 173 points. Newcomers Lincon Broughton and Zane Mckay tied for third with 160 points.

Round Three will be the first of the year with courses involving reverse direction and will be held under lights at Hidden Valley on Saturday, May 18.

Adam Cullen

NSW HILLCLIMB WASHED OUT

A TOTAL of 41 cars were ready to take on the third round of the New South Wales Hillclimb Championship at Huntley on April 6-7. There was plenty of excitement after two successful opening rounds, but the drivers unfortunately never got the chance to put the foot down. The hosting Wollongong Sporting Car Club was in the middle of the significant storms which soaked the NSW region over the first weekend of April.

As a result, the event was cancelled with the Huntley Hillclimb course severely effected by the weather.

Streams of water appeared around the circuit, leaving paths of trees, rocks and branches everywhere all over the track, whilst parts were even flooded.

The next event is Kempsey at Mount Cooperabung on May 5-6.

RACING HEATS UP IN THE NT

RACING RETURNED TO the hot and Humid Hidden Valley Raceway for the Annual Ross Hanning Memorial in the 2024 North Australian Motorsports Club Pointscore Championship.

The car count may not have been the most impressive, but the racing was entertaining.

The day started with a mixed Qualifying that included all categories HQ Holden, Circuit Excel, IP, and the Hidden Valley exclusive, Commodore Cup.

After the starting grids had been sorted, proceedings started off with an eight lap race for both the Holden HQs and Hyundai Excels.

Youngster Connor Kroonstuever enjoyed a good launch off the start and was unfazed nor touched for the eight lap journey in the Excels ahead of Dakota Masters and Aleeanz Volts.

But the big battles were in the HQs with Tony Whitehair and NT1 Stavros Mostris going at it.

Eventually Whitehair came out on top, as the only DNF was 14 year-old DKA Karter Noah Grosser having electrical issues on lap one.

Peter Anderson completed the Holden HQ podium.

IP and the Commodore Cup then enjoyed their first racing laps around the Valley since September, with another eight-lap dash.

David Ling soared to the Commodore Cup lead by dropping a set of 11s at the drop of the green.

But this did not stop an amazing battle with Ling ultimately coming out on top ahead of Ian Roots, Shane Smith and Geoff Cowie battle all race long.

In IP Ross Salmon came out on top after a returning Evan Bartlett suffered tyre issues and only completes three laps.

After the V8s finished the HQs and Circuit

Excels returned for Race 2. Again, Kroonstuever’s start was unmatched and he went on to dominate and win from Grosser, who was second with Biting on his heels.

Behind there was another intense contest with Whitehair and Mostris but this time it was Stavros who was victorious in the HQs as Anderson settled for third.

In the second race featuring the thundering V8s, Salmon was on pole with the #14 car of Ling on his outside, Ian Roots in and Smith completing the second row. Ling did his best to stay side-by-side with the Club-sport off the line but just came up short into Turn 1.

He was forced to slot into line for the duration of the race as Roots and Smith fought hard for second. Evan Bartlett also had a scrap with Cowie despite electrical issues hindering his performance.

In the Excels finale, Kroonstuever completed a near-perfect weekend to take the lead off the start line, and cruised to the chequered flag.

It was another close contest for the remainder of the podium spots with Masters and Bathurst top 20 finisher Aleeanz Voltz in the Lachlan Sohns owned #5 car in the mix. Masters had the pace to be second best with Sam Hoskins finishing in fourth.

With the HQs not far behind it saw the resumption of the rivalry between Whitehair and Mostris.

Again the NT1 would emerge at the top of the table with Anderson in third, while the only DNF was Grosser with yet again more electrical issues.

With the Ross Hanning Memorial run and done, that marks the end of the first round for NAMSC.

Jake Dunn Northline Media

SUPER SPRINTS FIRE UP

MORGAN PARK Raceway hosted the first C Series round of the Warwick District Sporting Car Club 2024 Super Sprints series on April 6-7.

The first round of the C series Super Sprints was for some reason a little light on entries with some competitors being a little turned off by the weather, which could have had many thinking they were in Melbourne.

The smaller entries meant lots more track time with a total of 10 runs being completed on the 3km ‘K’ track, each consisting of three laps per run.

Due to a wet build-up the first run was very damp with many taking some not so desirable racing lines.

Unfortunately, there were a few who found themselves sliding in for a close look at some unforgiving tyre bundles.

It was not for the faint of heart nor did it favour the more high-powered cars

running on slicks.

On the second run of the day, in true Warwick form, the clouds moved on and the sun came out drying the track and giving everyone the opportunity to have a red hot go.

All the Groups for the 2024 C series are rolling starts. This has proven to be popular with competitors and spectators alike.

The juniors class ran as rolling starts too, although instead of racing the clock, they competed like a regularity event, keeping

as close to as possible to their nominated lap time.

The outright fastest for the weekend was Phil Sutcliffe in his Ginetta G50Z, followed by Jackson Halloran in a Mazda RX7, then Craig Montgomery in a Mitsubishi Evo.

The next round of the C series is on May 25-26.

Before then the A series returns on April 2021 with free entry for spectators.

Pete Trapnell

Ross Salmon shows the way in Improved Production. Below left: Connor Kroonstuever dominated in Excels. Right: Ling heads Smith out of Turn 5. Images: JAKE DUNN NORTHLINE MEDIA

Phil Sutcliffe was too fast in his Orange Genetta. Images: PETE TRAPNELL

Matt Clift producing flame and tyre smoke in the Mazda R100.

CLOSE CALL

THE DUNLOP Destiny Series, featuring a big field of 63 Hyundai Excels, produced plenty of competitive racing at the Bathurst 6 Hour over the Easter long weekend.

Ethan Grigg-Gault emerged victorious after a fast but only just across three closely fought races.

The tone was set in qualifying when Tim Colombrita took pole with a 2:51.2600,

OSBORN WINS AGAIN

Osborn started perfectly by leading a 1-2

4s in a quiet opening race where the top four positions were unchanged across the four laps.

The race was interrupted by one Safety Car period due to Scott Goding, who was the last of five retirements.

Osborn and Baxter led away at the start of Race 2 and the pair even swapped spots the thing was called off due to a multi-car pileup at Forrest Elbow.

The third and final race was a clean seven-lap affair and Osborn made the most of it, cruising to a 7s win.

Baxter again came second to ensure a 1-2 after a contest with Andrew Magilton, who broke through for one lap before the status quo returned. Despite no stoppages there were three retirements.

The third place was enough for Magilton to edge out Ryan Woods for third after the pair both finished on 325 points behind the all conquering #1 and #51 HQs.

which was just 0.02s ahead of Jarred Farrell.

But in the race Grigg-Gault had the pace and rose from seventh on the grid to the lead by lap 6 and eventually took out a 2s win ahead of early leader Colombrita.

The second race was heavily interrupted by Safety Cars with only three of the seven laps being under green flag conditions

after six cars retired.

Although Colombrita led the first five laps, he was again overwhelmed by Grigg-Gault, who regained control on the penultimate lap and won by a second with Hugo Simpson again in third.

After finishing second best twice, Colombrita turned the tables in the shortened finale.

He pounced on a slow getaway from Grigg-Gault, who fell to fourth before two Safety Car stoppages arrived before the reds were shown for incidents around the track.

Despite dropping to fourth, Grigg-Gault retained the overall victory as only half points were awarded for the final race.

NOTHING IN IT

NOTHING COULD split Dan Smith and Josh Craig at the end of a three-race weekend in the Australian Pulsar Racing Association.

Both Smith and Craig collected 430 points from the three races but two wins to former ensured the #313 claimed overall honours.

The #1 of Craig was in P1 at the start but lost it by lap 2, setting up a tense sprint to the flag.

Nothing separated the rivals throughout as Smith held on by just half a second as the entire top three also containing Scott Tidyman set record-breaking pace.

Keen for revenge, Craig led the second

MINI MADNESS

The Mini Challenge turned out to be the car to have filling out the top six positions.

Much like when the Mini Challenge was last a support category at the Bathurst 1000 in 2008, there was plenty of action across the three races 16 years later.

Jimmy Campbell made a statement by taking pole by a huge 1.9s margin but the racing proved to be much closer.

Campbell appeared to be in control leading the first five laps until he stopped at Hell Corner. This vaulted Brayden Larkin into the lead

and he took the chequered flag ahead of Craig Lindsell and Neil Turner. Two cars were disqualified and three retired.

Campbell was back in business in Race 2 and was unstoppable.

He finished the opening lap eighth but only needed another four to fly to the lead and he controlled the final three laps to secure a 1.2s win over Lindsell and Neil Turner.

race from start to finish but it was far from a cruise around Mount Panorama.

He and Lachlan Gibbons had a flat-out sprint to the flag with the #1 taking the win by just two-tenths of a second in a thriller. Six seconds back was Tidyman, who made a last lap move to snatch third from Smith.

This setup a thrilling finale in the fight for the round win and again the leading pair produced a spectacle.

Craig controlled the first half of the race, only for Smith to strike back on lap five. This proved to be the deciding moment of the both the race and weekend.

The #1 pushed hard but fell half a second short as a second race win for Smith ensured he would also take the round on a count back. Gibbins also overcame Tidyman in a close fight for third.

Thomas Miles

Now on pole position Campbell was unstoppable and controlled the final race which ended after Safety Car due to Larkin and Lachlan Campbell both went off McPhillamy Park.

But Jimmy Campbell’s opening race DNF proved to be costly as the consistent Lindsell won the round ahead of Turner despite not winning a race.

Thomas Miles

Thomas Miles

MORE THAN 50 Holden HQs took on Mount Panorama but the #1 of Brett Osborn prevailed again.

ahead of teammate John Baxter by

Thomas Miles

Tyler Collins gets some air over Skyline.

Image: RICCARDO BENVENUTI

Lachlan Gibbons, Josh Craig and Dan Smith charge side by side into Turn 1 fighting for the Nissan Pulsars lead. Image: RICCARDO BENVENUTI

Despite a lock up at Griffins Bend, Brett Osborn had a perfect weekend in the HQs.

Image: RICCARDO BENVENUTI

MINIS RETURNED to the Mountain at the Bathurst 6 Hour for the Super Mini Challenge featuring a mix of Challenges and Coopers.

Brayden Larkin won the opening race of the Super Mini Challenge.

Image: RICCARDO BENVENUTI

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NEW YEAR, SAME GOALS

Although there was not positional change on the lap chart, little separated the leaders as the top three was covered by less than a second in race 2 won by Palmer.

AUSTRALIAN TRANS AM

THE PONTIAC Firebird of Ian Palmer set a blazing trail at the front of the Australian Trans Am field.

Palmer cruised to round honours winning four of the five races on offer.

However, it was not just a one-sided weekend as demonstrated by a thrilling qualifying session.

Palmer was relegated to second best behind John Prefontaine with only 0.0090s the difference.

Prefontaine managed to hold the lead from pole but the pace of Palmer proved overwhelming and went by on lap 3.

But it was far from over as Prefontaine’s Mustang hounded the back of Palmer for the remainder of the race with only 0.3s the gap at the chequered flag.

Despite Prefontaine dropping back at the end of the race, the fight was even closer in race 3 with Palmer leading Alwyn Bishop by just four tenths.

Prefontaine fired back brilliantly by soaring to a special win by charging past Palmer and Bishop.

But normal service resumed as Palmer took the finale and finished the round in style.

REPLICA TOURERS

THERE WERE many familiar colours making a return to the ‘Paperclip’ in the Replica Tourers and it was all about Holden.

The ‘General swept all five races and held the top three positions in the round honours.

The scene was set in qualifying when Luke Beveridge led a Holden top four in his VE Commodore with a 1:20.2320.

However, Beverage could only complete

seven of the nine laps which allowed Steve Hay’s VK to beat John Robinson by 4s.

Although Beveridge was back in action and put in a mighty charge, he fell just short of knocking Hay off the top step.

Now firing on all cylinders, Beveridge could not be stopped in the #73 and collected a 12s win.

The fight between Beveridge and Hay was much tighter in race 4 around the Clubman Circuit but the result was the same.

Round honours were sealed in the final race with Beveridge beating the lone Mustang of Geoff Russell with Hay an opening lap victim.

EXCELS

THE HYUNDAI Excels always produce close racing, but there was no doubting the leader of the pack on this occasion. Connor Roberts enjoyed the perfect weekend, taking all five races.

The only blip was qualifying where Luke Rinaldi snatched pole with a 1:31.7390 by 0.14s.

But Roberts got a great jump off the line which paved the way for a solid 2s win, while Rinaldi edged out Brett Parrish for second. Roberts won by the same margin in Race 2 where Caleb Paterson snatched second from Rinaldi.

Race 3 was a much tighter affair with the top five covered by just over 2s but the #73 remained on top.

Just one-tenth separated the Paterson and Parrish in the fight for second as Roberts was 5s up the road.

The finale became a war of attrition with nine cars retiring and Roberts ahead of the pack with Parrish winning a tight battle for second as 1.3s split poisons 2-5.

SUPERKARTS

IT WAS all one-way traffic in the Superkarts where Antonio Basile led home Timothy Weier in all five races with the Anderson Maverick the kart to have.

Basile gave a glimpse of his pace by taking pole by the huge 3.2s margin with a 1:14.7800 before controlling the opener where three karts failed to finish.

The #35 took its dominance to new levels in Race 2 where in just 8 laps Weier trailed by a distant 27s.

As Basile led Weier in the final three races, the attention turned to the much closer fight for second.

In the end Douglas Amiss edged out Craig Hillier by three points to get the final stop on the podium.

UTES/HOT HATCHES CUP

THE UTES and Hot Hatches fields were combined with Brendan Exner and John Davidson taking the honours respectively.

It was a competitive tussle for Hot Hatches honours but in the end the Hyundai Getz was the car to have. Despite not winning any of the five races Davidson won the round with pure consistency.

John Porter won the opener but had to settle for second ahead of Lester Ward, while Barry Mather won three races in his Mazda 2 but was forced to regret backto-back DNFs to start the weekend.

The Utes was cleaned up by the Ford FG XR8 of Brendan Exner, who had the perfect weekend ahead of Holdens Peter Clarke and John Young.

The next QRDC round is on May 18.

THE NEW Queensland Racing Drivers Championship fired up for 2024 at Queensland Raceway where five popular categories battled for glory…Thomas Miles reports.

Ian Palmer and John Prefontaine fight at the front of the Australian Trans Am field. Images: MTR IMAGES

Steve Hay locks up but retains the lead in his HDT style VK in Replica Tourers.

Antonio Basile was unstoppable in the SuperKarts.

John Davidson in the Getz leads the Hot Hatches into Turn 1.

HONDA’S NEW WINNER

A WALL Racing Honda prevailed in the TCRs at Phillip Island, but it was not the one that many would have expected, with Brad Harris having his moment in the sun.

Harris’ perfect Sunday was more than enough to secure a maiden TCR round win in just his eighth meeting.

He overcame consistent champion leader Ben Bargwanna and composed youngster Clay Richards, whilst some big names had some dramas.

The speed of the Honda Civic around the sweeping bends of Phillip Island was evident straight away as Tony D’Alberto led a Wall Racing 1-2 at the end of Friday.

If that was not a big enough statement, D’Alberto did it with record-breaking pace, which was only bettered in qualifying.

In his first drive back since ‘parking the car,’ he produced the fastest lap ever at Phillip Island with a 1:35.2163, four-tenths faster than ominously close team-mate Harris.

Despite Honda’s pace, Hyundai made the first move when the lights went out as defending champion Josh Buchan opened his account for 2024.

The race was won from the opening lap as Buchan pounced on both Hondas inside the first four corners and the #1 was untroubled from there.

The big moment was at Miller Corner where D’Alberto led, as Buchan and Harris ran side-by-side into the righthander.

But contact from the awkward moment sent the #2 off the road and the 2022 champion was never able to recover, starting first but finishing last.

Harris ended up being penalised 10s and it proved costly. He was in a racelong battle for second against Zac Soutar and won it with a big dive at MG.

However, he had to settle for ninth, boosting Dylan O’Keeffe to the podium in the Lynk & Co – making five manufacturers in the top five.

Harris and Wall Racing ensured the weekend’s pace did not go to waste on Sunday.

It was an all Harris brothers front row for the inverse top 10 race and Brad got a off to a fast, race-winning start, albeit with a contentious jump.

The eventual round winner set up his success with what appeared to be a brilliant getaway, leaving the rest of the field in his wake as his brother Will forced Aaron Cameron to the grass in a bid to defend second.

The drama only heightened when they reached Doohan Corner as contact

sent both Buchan and Glen Nirwan out of action instantly. The clash between the back marker and championship contender was a massive blow for the Hyundai driver.

Meanwhile, Cameron and Will Harris were still side-by-side and they danced their way from Siberia to Hayshed.

But Lukey Heights proved to be one step too far and the Honda was forced to tour the infield after contact.

Brad Harris emerged from all the opening lap’s drama with a 2s lead ahead of Cameron, who was joined by GRM teammate Ryan Casha in the top three by pouncing on Clay Richards with a strong move at MG.

Harris’ lead was wiped out by the arrival of a race-ending Safety Car caused by an unlucky Dylan O’Keeffe.

The Lynk & Co driver suffered a flat tyre right on the exit of the final corner, which sent the Ashley Seward Motorsport machine suddenly spearing into the gravel.

This proved critical as Harris had been handed a questionable 5s penalty for jumping the start.

Therefore when the results were first released Cameron led Casha in a GRM 1-2, but with not only onlookers, but even

the commentators perplexed by the jump start call, Harris regained the win he deserved roughly 90 minutes after the chequered flag.

Boosted by his success being reinstated, Harris dominated the final race from pole position.

Despite Richards getting a better start, the Wall Racing driver retook the lead with a smart move on the final turn of the second tour.

Richards eventually dropped down to fifth but it was still enough to wrap up a strong round result.

Bargwanna was next on the scene and secured second and the championship lead from Soutar while Cameron looked set to be third, only for a costly puncture on the penultimate lap to drop him to 10th.

After Honda’s love affair with the Island, TCR returns at The Bend on May 31-June 2.

Thomas Miles

TCR POINTS STANDINGS

AFTER ROUND 3

1: Ben Bargwanna 300 points

2: Zac Soutar 292

3: Josh Morris 278

4: Clay Richards 277

5: Jordan Cox 265

The other Wall Racing Honda – that of Brad Harris – took the points from the Island.

Image: REBECCA HIND/REVVED PHOTOGRAPHY

WORTH THE WAIT

THERE WERE a lot of expectations surrounding the GT World Challenge Australia season with big-name drivers and cars jumping on board, and the Phillip Island opener was worth the hype.

On Saturday, the reigning champion made a statement riding a ‘Prancing Horse’ whilst on Sunday an underdog clung onto a stunning victory in a defensive masterclass.

All eyes were on ultra professional newcomer Arise Racing, which brought two new Ferrari 296 GT3s and they flew out of the blocks, setting the fastest times in both qualifying sessions.

Chaz Mostert had to fight for his pole with the likes of Brenton Grove, Jayden Ojeda and Will Brown within half a second.

However, Mostert’s co-driver, Liam Talbot, showed no fear in the #1, taking Sunday pole by more than eight-tenths.

Despite being forced to start from fifth instead of pole due to a speeding penalty in the pits, nothing could stop the Arise Racing Ferraris from enjoying a dream debut.

In their first GT World Challenge Australia race, Talbot and Mostert soared to victory in a Ferrari 1-2 in a dramatic race in misty conditions.

Talbot showed speed early in the race, rising from fifth to second before handing over to Mostert.

Leading the way was Paul Stokell in the #181 Audi but their chances were brought undone when Renae Gracie spun after the Safety Car restart.

Meanwhile, Mostert was on the move and wrestled hard to retain the lead against Brendon Leitch.

But in the end the speed of the Prancing Horse proved too much as Jaxon Evans surged past to get second, while Leitch was also knocked off the podium by the Brad Schumacher and Will Brown Audi.

Just over 2s covered the top three before the race ended early after 28 laps due to a red flag caused by Benjamin Shoots, who had a big impact with the tyre wall.

Mostert fuelled hopes of clean sweep by leading from pole into Turn 1 but could not shake off Ojeda, who hung tough and was rewarded by snatching he lead on the inside of Southern Loop.

Brendon Leitch importantly snatched third from Will Brown, while it was wild behind with a chain reaction between Alex Peroni, Tony Bates and Garth Walden sending the latter spearing off past pit exit.

Amazingly Walden was able to carry on despite getting airborne during the bumpy ride into the paddock.

Despite getting track position, Ojeda was unable to shake off Mostert or Leitch, who

impressively stayed just over a second back, which put him in the box seat once the pit penalty times were incorporated.

The #1 Ferrari was first to pit with 25 minutes left but this is where things unravelled with Mostert handing over to Talbot, who suffered a drama leaving the lane and had to stop to avoid contact with another car.

The reigning champion’s race took a further turn for the worse when he arrived at Southern Loop.

With cold tyres and alarms on the dash, Talbot lost the rear and spun into the grass and as a result the #1 went from second prior to the stops to down in seventh and almost 50s off the pace.

He would eventually be able to recover to fourth, but the sense of what could have been was clear.

Although the Ferrari dropped out of contention, the race for the lead remained fascinating with Leitch handing over to Tim Miles to ensure the Audi driver enjoyed a handy lead over Paul Lucchitti/Ojeda and Brad Schumacher/Brown.

After snatching second from Lucchitti, Schumacher was flying and within five minutes Miles’ lead had been cut down from three seconds to just three-tenths.

However, Miles had his elbows out and

defended brilliantly. Schumacher had a number of looks at MG and into Doohan but the Audi was perfectly placed.

Eventually Miles’ defensive masterclass meant Schumacher cracked under pressure, spinning at Southern Loop, sacrificing second and only just holding onto third ahead of the fast-finishing Talbot.

Although Miles/Leitch won by 10s, that does not begin to explain how hard they had to work for the memorable win.

A thrilling season opener sets the scene for Round 2 at The Bend on May 31-June 2.

Thomas Miles

GT WORLD CHALLENGE SERIES POINTS AFTER ROUND 1

1: B. Leitch/T. Miles 37 points

2: L.Talbot/C. Mostert 37

3: B. Schumacher/W. Brown 30

4: P. Lucchitti/J. Ojeda 24

5: J. Evans/E. Schutte 24

MUSTANG MANIA

WITH THE Australian debut of the new GT4 Mustang taking place at an event named after the famous car, the winner was Ford, of course.

Veteran George Miedecke and young gun Rylan Gray steered the new Ford Mustang GT4 (right) to an unforgettably perfect debut, by clean sweeping GT4 honours at Phillip Island.

Whilst the new car looked perfectly suited to racing at the Ford Mustang 60 Years Race Phillip Island event, victory was far from certain.

As Miedecke wrapped his brains around his new toy and could only land the fifth fastest time, it was Sam Brabham who flew to pole in qualifying 1 as the only driver in the 1m42s window.

But Gray found top gear on the pony to smash the field by 1.3s to take Sunday pole.

Despite qualifying fifth, the #35 Mustang had good race pace, with Miedecke rising to second in the opening race before handing over to young gun Gray.

The Tickford Super2 driver was able to get track position and retain it over the McLaren of Marco Flack and Tom Hayman by just 0.7s to take a memorable win on debut.

The second one hour race was another

tight affair between the Ford and McLaren with 1s the difference across the opening stint.

It appeared Flack/Hayman were in the box with less time to serve in the lane but they were hit by a drive-through penalty for not completing the minimum pit stop time.

As a result they fell 18s adrift and eventually took the chequered flag 10s behind the Mustang.

On his own, Jake Camilleri performed in the Mercedes to join them on the podium, while Tony Quinn and Steve Jakic had a big incident at Miller Corner.

It will be interesting to see if the new Mustang can be reeled in at The Bend. Thomas Miles

Saturday winner Chaz Mostert in the new Ferrari guides the GTs through Doohan as Brendon Leitch (right) sets up the special win in third.

Images: REBECCA HIND/REVVED PHOTOGRAPHY

Garth Walden gets airborne during the first-lap drama on pit straight.

Image: REBECCA HIND/REVVED PHOTOGRAPHY

NATIONALS WRAP

TAMING THE ISLAND

IT WAS an open weekend of Trans Am racing at Phillip Island and, once again, James Golding emerged from it all on top.

Although James Moffat and Nash Morris took wins, a final race charge saw Golding fly to round honours and increase his championship lead on a tricky weekend where drivers had to carefully manage their rubber, whilst battling hard for position.

Drivers had tricky conditions to deal with in practice before the #31 GRM Mustang shot clear in qualifying.

Golding took pole with a blistering

1:31.3807, which smashed Nathan Herne’s previous lap record by 1.5s.

The opening race had a delayed start due to barrier repairs and when the lights finally went out it was Moffat who had the best reaction time.

The reigning champion swooped around the outside of Golding at Turn 1 to take charge, while further back they went up to four wide.

Nathan Herne shot up five spots to third before being edged out by Elliott Cleary as the Dodge Challenger struggled on blistered tyres and fell to eighth.

Moffat and Golding blazed away from the pack and the reigning champion was under pressure from his teammate at times.

However, Golding eventually had to settle for second as Moffat returned to the winner’s circle by 1.2s with Cleary a strong third.

The racing stepped up a notch on Sunday and Morris made the first big statement.

The #67 started fifth, but hit the lead by the end of the opening lap thanks to a soaring start.

Morris caught the likes of Modal and Golding napping with a soaring run from Stoner Corner to MG.

To make matters worse for the reigning

champion, Cleary also slid through the inside of Doohan Corner and the Racing Academy youngster fancied his chances at the lead.

However, he locked up at Miller Corner and and sacrificed second to Moffat, while Ben Grice spun Tom Davies.

Cleary managed to regain second momentarily before his tyres gave in on lap nine and retired.

This created some breathing space for the top three of Morris, Moffat and Golding, but the other Racing Academy entry of Boys was closing in.

Morris built a seven-tenths advantage but Moffat and Golding cut it down to under half a second on the final lap.

Despite the late challenge the #67 had enough in hand to hold onto an impressive win.

This set up a fascinating race for the round amid the balancing act with the tyres.

The final race and round win was ultimately decided off the line with a fearless first corner helping Golding to glory.

In a game of chicken, Morris, Golding and Moffat charged three-wide into the high speed opening Doohan Corner and it was the #31 driver who was the bravest.

Somehow they all made it through with Golding emerging on the other side with a strong half a second lead over Morris and Moffat.

Herne was forced to start from the rear of the grid due to a tyre penalty and shot up into the top 10 within the first lap, only to get spun. Despite the drama he still managed to stay in the 10.

With Golding and Moffat in front, the fight for third intensified between Morris, Slade, Boys and Hazelwood.

Boys was the worse off, being affected by

a hip and shoulder with Slade going into Miller.

Despite dropping to 15th, he made a stunning comeback to return to the top five and finish ahead of Slade.

Golding had built his lead to greater than a second but when the race crept into the second half, Moffat had cut the difference to less than a second.

However, smoke started appearing from the back of the #34 Mustang with just seven minutes to go and within a lap the reigning champion lost touch. In the end Moffat dropped all the way down to 13th and lost valuable points.

This released Golding, while Hazelwood and Morris had an almighty battle for second.

After multiple swings either way, Hazelwood secured second ahead of Morris, but the pair swapped positions when it came to round points.

But Golding was the man who came away with the spoils from a tricky weekend to increase his championship lead as a big break awaits before the Bend.

Thomas Miles

TRANS AM SERIES POINTS AFTER ROUND 3

1: James Golding 359 points

2: James Moffat 337

3: Jordan Boys 334

4:

TWO HORSE RACE

THE OPENING round of the Radical Cup Australia season was all about two drivers – Peter Paddon and Cooper Cutts.

The pair were in a league of their own at Phillip Island, sharing both race and round honours with the new First Focus Radical SR3 XXR showing plenty of speed.

Despite the two driving into the distance in the races, there were no signs of such dominance in qualifying as they were both beaten by Peter Clare.

Clare’s 1:41.0889 was just 0.0082s clear of Paddon, while Cutts had to settle for fourth.

But when racing began, no one could compete with Cutts and Paddon as they were the only two cars to finish the first race of the season on the lead lap.

Paddon held the lead before a safety car caused by Sue Hughes’ flat tyre arrived and Cutts snatched P1 after the restart.

From there Paddon had no answer as Cutts won by a huge 43s whilst Ash Samadi charged from last to third after being disqualified in qualifying.

Paddon then turned the tables in Race 2, taking out a much more competitive affair on Sunday afternoon.

Off the start Paddon and Josh Hunt went side by side through the first two corners before the former wrestled his way in front while Cutts sat third.

When the mandatory stops arrived, Paddon went long and it paid off as the Safety Car arrived for the spun Andrew Eldridge and stopped Stephen Champion.

By now Cutts had worked his way up to second and set his sights on the lead.

However, his hopes of victory took a massive hit when he had a moment at Turn 4 and lost time.

Paddon eventually won by 7s to enjoy the perfect response to Saturday.

Despite matching each other’s race results, the round went to Paddon for his qualifying effort.

The Radicals return to racing on the Supercars stage at the Perth SuperSprint on May 17-19.

Thomas Miles

James Golding got better as the weekend went on to take Trans Am honours.

Images: REBECCA HIND/REVVED PHOTOGRAPHY

Nash Morris raced hard against the likes of Elliott Cleary to get a strong podium finish.

Peter Paddon heads the Radicals out of Miller Corner.

SMALL MARGINS

THE STAGE is set for an ultracompetitive Porsche Sprint Challenge season after nothing separated Caleb Sumich and Brock Gilchrist at the Phillip Island opener.

Both Sumich and Gilchrist were tied on 132 points at the end of a tight weekend of racing with the latter emerging on top thanks to a final race win.

The youngest ever Pro field in one-make series history arrived on the grid with a number of fresh and returning faces.

It was Oscar Targett who was on point straight away, flying to pole with a category record 1:30.3286, 0.27s clear of Hamish Fitzsimmons.

The Grove Racing junior carried on that momentum by dominating the opening race of the season.

Targett cruised to a lights to flag success having overcome challenges from Fitzsimmons either side of an early Safety Car required after a dramatic opening lap.

A start-line incident claimed McElrea Racing teammates

Ramu Farrell won Pro Am and Jacque Jarjo took Class B.

After coming close in Race 1, Fitzsimmons hit back in Race 2 by emerging on top in a tense affair.

Fitzsimmons, Clay Osborne and Targett all shared different stints leading the Endurance 25-lap race.

In the end Fitzsimmons prevailed with a winning move on Osborne four laps from home, while Targett fell from second to third due to a 5s penalty.

He result set the scene for a tense showdown to the flag with all threee in contention and they put on a show.

Osborne wrestled with Fitzsimmons throughout the opening lap before Targett joined the fun on lap two and hit the lead following a Safety Car restart.

But crucially his move on Osborne occurred before they crossed the control line and the Grove Racing driver received a 5s penalty.

Ayrton Hodson and Brett Boulton, while Brad Carr had a spin at Miller Corner.

This put Fitzsimmons and

Osborne in the box seat but it was far from clear who would win.

Incredibly the pair made contact at MG and the clash took both contenders out of the race.

Following another Safety Car period, Targett led the field to the chequered flag, but he plummeted down to 12th due to the penalty.

This meant the seas parted for Sumich, who was the race and round winner despite tying on points with the third-placed Gilchrist.

Brett Boulton took two Pro Am wins but a DNF allowed Danny Stutterd to win the round.

Porsche Sprint Challenge returns at The Bend at the end of next month.

Thomas Miles

PORSCHE SPRINT

CHALLENGE SERIES

POINTS AFTER ROUND 1

1: Caleb Sumich 132 points

2: Brock Gilchrist 132

3: Oscar Targett 125

4: Hamish Fitzsimmons 114

5: Aron Shields 112

Caleb Sumich stayed out of trouble to take a dramatic opening PSC round at Phillip Island. Image: REBECCA HIND/REVVED PHOTOGRAPHY

DRAG RACING RECORDS TUMBLE AT THE BEND

THE RETURN trip to the Dragway at The Bend was a memorable one as the Top Fuel stars turned it on at the Riverbend Nationals, from April 5-7.

Much like the National Drag Racing Championship season opener in October, big crowds came to Tailem Bend and they were stunned by what they say.

Defending champion Damien Harris was on fire at The Bend, with his pace highlighted by his record-breaking run in Round 2 on Sunday.

After foreshadowing some speed in the opening round, Harris reached new heights in Round 2 by setting the new quickest and fastest Top Fuel 1000ft ET and MPH in Australia and outside of the US.

Fittingly Harris set the blistering 3.733 second, 529.81kph pass when racing against Peter Xiberras, who was the previous record holder, with a 3.742s time.

“Heyyyy that is allright! I will have to wait for that last number to sink in.” Harris said after being told the great news after the run.

“That’s really good. A bit of redemption from my mistake last round. This is fantastic. Thank you to the Rapisarda family for their continual support and the work everyone does. We will enjoy that one.”

Despite Harris stealing the headlines and carrying on his momentum all the way to the A Final, he would not raise the Gold Christmas Tree aloft at the end of the weekend.

It was actually Phil Lamattina who would take the top honours with a holeshot win in the decider.

Lamattina made his way to the A-Final with first a blistering side-by-side hole shot win (3.837 second / 514.5kph) against Wayne Newby followed by a solo run in Round 2 (3.824/485.45).

“Oh man!” Lamattina enthused in the bottom end.

“I won on a holeshot again? Oh my god!

“I can’t say enough about my boys –Shane back at the shop, Dean that has been doing so much work, Aaron, what can I say about him … my boys put this car back together and they are just the best.”

The B-Final went to Phil Read, who overcame Wayne Newby.

But the B-Final was over before it really began as Newby suffered an issue early in the run which allowed Read to let off early while still recording a 3.783 second, 493.19kph pass.

In the C-Final, Xiberras marked a decade of Top Fuel racing with PremiAir Nulon Racing by winning a solo 3.840 second 507.03kph run.

John Zappia and Russell Taylor resumed their rivalry in Top Doorslammer by winning their respective ways into another A Final.

In a battle that has been brewing for the last three rounds, the pair faced off in the A Final and Zappia emerged on top with 5.602 second 413.47kph pass, over Taylor’s 5.707 second 414.37kph run, delivering him backto-back event wins.

“That is awesome,” Zappia said.

“We put a little bit in it thinking we would just get it into ‘the nines’ but that is awesome anyway, that is a fantastic result.

“I finally did my job on the startline, I never saw him (Taylor), so I didn’t know what was going on, and we got the job done.”

Ronnie Palumbo claimed the B Final after overcoming Lisa Gregorian, who suffered gearbox issues all weekend.

Maurice Allen was a joyful winner of Pro Stock Motorcycle with a 7.438 second 251.94kph pass against Luke Crowley who red-lit the tree in his eagerness to get off the line.

Rob Dekert was chasing a Pro Stock hattrick of wins but just fell short.

Dekert once again made it to the A Final but red lit against Tyrone Tremayne.

Although Tremayne also red-lit, he took the win with a 6.873 second 320.56kph pass.

The Riverbend Nationals also saw the conclusion of the Aeroflow National Sportsman Championship Western Conference with the top two securing berths. The drivers that booked tickets in their respective categories were: Colin Griffin/ Jordan Spencer (Super Gas), Cooper Plummer/Sarah Osborne (Junior Dragster), Tony Antonino/Michael Jennings (Super Street), Dean Jamieson/Lucas Neagoe (Modified Bike), Tony Miskelly/Martin Mirco (Super Sedan), Kenny Stewart/ Simon Barlow (Modified), Glenn Henley/ Leon Davies (Top Sportsman), Dale Tucker/ Shaun Kerkman (Supercharged Outlaws), Craig Geddes/Matt Forbes (Competition), Steve Norman/Kim Fardella (Super Stock), Chris Allen/Edge Mallis (Competition Bike). The National Drag Racing Championship now heads to Sydney Dragway for the Gulf Western Oil Nitro Champs on May 3-5.

Leading the way will be both Top Fuel and Nitro Funny Cars alongside Top Doorslammer, Pro Mod, Pro Stock, Top Bike (exhibition) and the Aeroflow National Sportsman Championship. It will be high stakes with both Top Fuel and Sportsman contesting two rounds of racing on the one weekend. Thomas Miles

Record breaker Damien Harris ahead of his faster then ever run.

Maurice Allen holds aloft the Christmas Tree in front of the crowd.

Steve Norman was one of the few Sportsman drivers to secure a ticket to the grand final.

Phil Lamattina and Damien Harris face off in the Top Fuel A Final. Images: CACKLING PIPES PHOTOGRAPHY

BATES DOMINATES WET OPENER

THE ELEMENTS DID THEIR BEST, BUT NOT EVEN MOTHER NATURE COULD STOP HARRY BATES AND CORAL TAYLOR FROM ENJOYING THE PERFECT START TO THE 2024 AUSTRALIAN RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP BY DOMINATING THE RALLY OF CANBERRA ...

BATES AND Taylor were unstoppable behind the wheel of the first Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 car to compete in Australia, sweeping all six stages.

The reigning champions were in a league of their own, leading a Neal Bates Motorsport 1-2 ahead of Lewis Bates and Anthony McLoughlin, who finished more than a minute off in the older spec Yaris GR AP4. Completing the podium was former Supercars driver Alex Rullo, who is now growing in confidence on the dirt and snared third from Scott Pedder.

Toyota’s dominance came in wet conditions after heavy rain washed out all of Saturday’s action and created a delayed start to the 2024 Australian Rally Championship – but no obstacle proved too steep for the new Yaris.

Being the first to drive the Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 car on Australian soil was a feat not lost on Harry Bates, who was delighted to give the famous Japanese brand a debut success.

“Toyota Gazoo Racing overseas really wanted this win because it’s a new car for them and this is only the third chassis they’ve built, so it’s a big deal for them to be getting rally wins,” Harry Bates said.

“I felt like I had that pressure slightly sitting on me as well, but to come out and perform the way we did is a good effort by Coral and I, and by the team at Neal Bates Motorsport for getting us here with quite limited prep.

“Last year in Canberra, we had very straightforward weather conditions, and the battle was just a battle, where we had

to drive fast. But today (Sunday) felt like the weather threw a bit more at us and was changing all day long.

“I think the one thing that stayed pretty consistent all day was our pace, and to show the pace from the first stage to the last feels pretty nice.

“I think it was a tricky day, I have got some experience now in Canberra in wet conditions, which probably played in my favour, whereas I think some of the others were probably a little bit caught out by conditions.”

Despite plenty of excitement surrounding the nation’s capital, heavy rain threatened to spoil the party and it did.

Heavy rain saw the Oakey Camp Stages 1 and 4 “deemed impassable for two-wheel drive vehicles” and as a result, the conditions

meant the entire opening day was washed out.

However, patience was rewarded when the rally still went ahead when the skies cleared on Sunday in the Kowen Forest.

Bates and Taylor wasted no time in making an impression by opening up a huge 30s advantage in the opening two stages alone ahead of Lewis Bates.

This gap grew to beyond 40s once the morning loop was completed, whilst Scott Pedder and Glenn Macneall made their move on SS3.

They managed to split the Toyotas by surging to second with 10s on Harry Bates after coming within five tenths of the all conquering Harry Bates on SS4.

However, a puncture on the following stage

ruined Pedder’s hopes of a podium as he dropped to fifth.

Whilst the drama gave Lewis Bates some breathing space, it also setup a thrilling fight for third.

Alex Rullo/Steve Glenney held the high ground but had to battle with Eddie Maguire/ Zak Brakey deep into the final stage.

In the end Rullo and Glenney prevailed to join the Toyotas on the podium.

Molly Taylor and Andy Sarandis showed speed in their Subaru WRX STI to finish seventh outright and win the ARC Production Cup honours.

Like the overall winners, Taylor also enjoyed a perfect six out of six in class honours.

In other classes, Michael Harding and James Thornburn claimed ARC 4WD Classic Cup, Trevor Stilling and Claire Buccini comfortably won the ARC Classic 2WD Cup by a minute and a half, Justin Northage and Scott Muhling secured the ARC 2WD Cup, while Jaidyn and Lucy Gluskie overcame plenty of adversity to take out ARC Junior Cup.

The 2024 Australian Rally Championship heads to Western Australia for the Forest Rally on May 17-19 where the field hopes to somehow slow Bates and his new toy.

Thomas Miles

2024 ARC STANDINGS AFTER ROUND 1

1: H. Bates/C. Taylor 60 points

2: L. Bates/A. McLoughlin 42

3: A. Rullo/S. Glenney 39

4: S. Pedder/G. Macneall 34

5: E. Maguire/Z. Brakey

Harry Bates fell in love with the new Yaris by winning all six stages in Canberra.

Images: PETER NORTON EPIC SPORTS PHOTOGRAPHY

Lewis Bates fought hard in the older spec Toyota and had to settle for second.

Production Cup winner Molly Taylor drives past the die-hard fans.

Runners-up Lewis Bates/Anthony McLoughlin, winners Harry Bates/Coral Taylor and third place finishers Alex Rullo/Steve Glenney on the podium.

MIGHTY MAVERICK

MAVERICK VINALES is the new king of COTA after a sensational comeback ride to victory, while former Texas monarch Marc Marquez crashed out.

It was another dramatic weekend of MotoGP at Austin and Vinales’ Aprilia was unbeatable, winning both the Sprint and Grand Prix.

The unexpected success from as low as 11th on the opening lap ended a long dry spell for the Spaniard, who had not won on a Grand Prix since the 2021 season opener prior to his split with Yamaha.

Now after a perfect trip to Texas Vinales is third in the championship and the first ever rider to win with three different manufacturers in the MotoGP era and fifth overall.

“There have been a lot of long nights thinking and overthinking what I have to do to be back winning races,” a relieved Vinales said.

“Finally, I did it! I’m super happy to have never given up.

“But also to make everyone around me believe that  I have enough talent and dedication to be fighting for this.”

The pace of the #12 Aprilia was clear in qualifying as Vinales smashed the lap record to take pole position.

He was in a league of his own, being three tenths clear of the impressive rookie Pedro Acosta, who edged out Marquez with Jack Miller just outside the top 10.

The biggest drama in qualifying was championship leader Jorge Martin, who crashed twice on his way to sixth.

Vinales carried on his momentum in the Sprint, by getting the jump off the line ahead of Marquez and Acosta as Francesco Bagnaia slumped from fourth to 10th.

Any hopes of Marquez challenging for victory were dashed by the hot pace of Vinales, who shot into the distance.

This left the #93 under threat to the latest

rookie sensation Acosta and the pair traded blows on lap six.

But a mistake at Turn 8 not only allowed Marquez to secure second, but also Martin to pounce on the KTM Tech3 rider to snare a podium.

Miller wrestled hard with both factory Ducatis to secure seventh ahead of Bagnaia as five riders retired with three of them Hondas.

Although Vinales cruised to Sprint success, his journey to his breakthrough Grand Prix glory was anything, but easy.

Acosta flew off the line and into lead ahead of the tight Turn 1 where the slow-starting Vinales got barged all the way down to 11th by Bagnaia.

Miller had a sensational first lap, soaring from 11th to third only behind Acosta and Martin, who started exchanging stints in

the lead on lap two.

It was a case of third time lucky for Martin when he finally got by the rookie on lap four at Turn 7.

Knowing he could not afford Martin to check out, Marquez was also on the move and flew from fourth to second in just two corners, only for Acosta to immediately return serve.

By lap eight Vinales comeback was at full steam as he returned to the top five by passing Miller, who struggled to retain race pace and and dropped to 13th.

A lap later Vinales had a mighty wrestle with Bagnaia for fourth as Martin’s gap was slashed from nine-tenths to just one by Acosta.

The #31 then made a dive-bomb at the turn 11 hairpin to retake the lead, which opened the door for Marquez to follow suit at the end of the following straight.

Marquez made a statement by diving down

the inside of Acosta when they next arrived at Turn 1.

However, the #93 only led for another 10 corners before losing the front and crashing at the hairpin.

Marquez was “disappointed” knowing hopes of a breakthrough win disappeared due to an “unexpected brake problem”.

This put Acosta back in charge, but all eyes were on third placed Vinales who was hot on the heels of the leading pair.

Having accounted for Martin on lap 11, the Aprilia’s pace proved overwhelming for Acosta two laps later when the #12 hit the lead at the hairpin.

Soon Vinales was a second clear and he cruised to the chequered flag to secure a famous comeback win by 1.7s over Acosta. The big fight was now for third as Bastianini snatched it from Martin on the penultimate lap.

However, Martin still holds a solid championship lead after a special Americas Grand Prix ahead of a return to the familiar Jerez Circuit on April 26-28.

Thomas Miles

MOTOGP STANDINGS AFTER ROUND 3

1: Jorge Martin 80 points

2: Enea Bastianini 59

3: Maverick Vinales 56

4: Pedro Acosta 54

5: Francesco Bagnaia 50

Maverick Vinales celebrates his breakthrough Grand Prix win. Images: GOLD AND GOOSE

Pedro Acosta leads the field at the start of the Americas Grand Prix.

Not to be for Marc Marquez ...

ALL HAIL HENDRICK

THE LAST fortnight of the NASCAR Cup Series has been dominated by Hendrick Motorsports with two special wins for the famous team, at Martinsville and Texas.

Whilst Will Byron’s triumph around the ‘Paperclip’ was emotional for the collective, Chase Elliott’s breakthrough in the ‘Lone Star State’ on Monday morning was extremely significant for the driver.

Elliott snapped a 42-race winless streak in a tense Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 400 that featured a track record 16 caution periods and ventured into Overtime.

“It couldn’t feel any better,” said a relieved Elliott, who last won at Talladega Superspeedway in October 2022.

“Couldn’t be any more grateful for this journey and the fact, it hasn’t always been fun but certainly I have enjoyed working with our guys.”

Kyle Larson started on pole and dominated the majority of the opening stage, where the

only incident was suffered by the returning Jimmie Johnson.

Larson’s blazing run came to a comical end when the right rear wheel departed from his Camaro under a caution period and he was hit with a two-lap penalty.

To make matters worse for the #5, after charging back into the top 20, it spun at Turn 1 with just seven laps left.

This was just one of many cautions that littered the race, with many being caused by the car in second place.

The runner-up position remained unlucky to the very end as Elliott and Denny Hamlin fought for the lead side by side with two laps to go in regulation time.

But just as Elliott appeared to edge ahead of Hamlin, the #11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota got loose and rear-ended the wall, dragging the race into Overtime.

This saw the #9 forced to overcome Ross Chastain in a drag race from the restart and

again the Hendrick Motorsports driver kept his cool.

After being forced to slot into second, Chastain was tagged by Byron on the exit of Turn 2 and hit the fence hard, bringing the race to an end and confirming Elliott as the victory on a long and wild afternoon of racing.

It was the perfect follow up for Hendrick Motorsports after one of its most famous wins at Martinsville.

On the same weekend the Chevrolet

SVG RACING HARD

SHANE VAN Gisbergen got a taste of two of the hardest ovals on the NASCAR circuit for the first time and emerged from it with two solid race results. As always, there was plenty of drama around the congested half-mile bull ring that is Martinsville and, starting 13th, SVG stayed out of trouble and chased late despite a close shave.

As cars spun and crashed up high, van Gisbergen snuck down the inside and just missed the rotating #26 of Corey Heim, who was just one of 13 cars involved.

In the final stage, van Gisbergen hovered in and around the top 20 before some opportunistic moves in the final 40 laps soared the #97 up to 10th ahead of the final restart with three laps to go and overtime. SVG crossed the line 11th, his third best result of the season and he admitted the aggressive, door-banging style of racing was “some of the most fun I have ever had.”

The race was won by Marcos Ambrose’s final NASCAR Cup Series teammate Aric Amirola, who overcame both Sam Mayer and Chandler Smith in a thrilling finish.

Despite qualifying down in 33rd at the high-speed Texas Motor Speedway, van Gisbergen again made impressive progress on race day.

The Kaulig Racing driver was able to fight hard throughout the Andy’s Frozen Custard 300 and rose all the way to a respectable 18th place after a strong final stage having received a wave around at the final caution.

Van Gisbergen showed impressive composure and patience in his throughout a thrilling race where Sam Mayer pulled off a last-lap pass on veteran Ryan Sieg to win by just 0.002s – the second closest finish ever in NASCAR Xfinity Series history.

The pair ran side-by-side out of the final of the final corner and banged doors all the way to chequered

powerhouse celebrated four decades of racing in the NASCAR Cup Series, Byron steering the famous #24, led a Hendrick 1-2-3 with Larson and Elliott adding the cherries on top.

An early green flag pit stop on lap 297 proved to be the critical moment for Byron. With leader Hamlin not boxing until lap 299, not only Byron, but Larson and Elliott all leap-frogged the #11.

Like Texas, the Cook Out 400 was also decided in Overtime after John Hunter Nemechck’s fiery mechanical failure with three laps to go.

This left Byron and Elliott to fight for the win side by side at the restart and the #24 surged ahead across the final two laps to complete the famous win.

The wild Superspeedway of Talladega will provide plenty of drama and a few big ones this weekend ...

flag where just half a front splitter separated them. With three top 20 results in a row, van Gisbergen now sits 13th in the standings.

The challenges only increase for van Gisbergen, who faces the daunting prospect of racing in both the Cup and Xfinity Series at the wild Talladega this weekend.

Thomas Miles

Thomas Miles

Chase Elliott celebrates a drought-breaking win at Texas. Images: MOTORSPORT IMAGES

Shane van Gisbergen leads a train of cars through the tight oval of Martinsville.

Will Byron marks Hendrick Motorsport’s 40th anniversary with a victorious burnout in the #24.

INTERNATIONAL NORMAL SERVICE HAS RESUMED!

“AUSTRALIA WAS A HICCUP”, SAID MAX VERSTAPPEN AT THE END OF THE JAPANESE GRAND PRIX, A RACE HE DOMINATED FROM START TO FINISH, HAVING ALREADY SET POLE POSITION ON SATURDAY AND ADDING THE POINT FOR THE FASTEST LAP FOR GOOD MEASURE.

By LUIS VASCONCELAS Images: MOTORSPORT IMAGES

GIVEN THE characterictics Suzuka has, Red Bull was the hot favourite before anyone started to run on Friday, but it was only in the race that the RB20’s domination became clear, the Dutchman leaving third-placed Carlos Sainz more than 20s behind – gaining an average of 0.4s per lap …

Verstappen had been remarkably confident from the start of the season and, at the end of the race, made it clear the DNF in Melbourne hadn’t affected his inner belief he has the better car. That’s why, he said, “winning here is not a relief – it’s just nice to win, and it’s nice, of course, to win here in Japan. It’s always an important race for us.”

Paying tribute to the fans and to Honda, he added that, “we have a lot of support here and it’s great to win here in front of Honda, and basically have three cars in the points as well. Melbourne felt like a bit of a hiccup but what we did today, that’s what we want to

do, and that’s what we aim to do every single weekend.”

Nevertheless, with overnight rain making the track a bit green and temperatures soaring, there was some adapting to new circumstances going on and the first stint wasn’t the easiest one, as Max explained: “It took a few laps to settle in a bit with the car, but I think we made some good changes before going into qualifying, which helped today. After the first stint, some tiny

adjustments were made to the car and that helped me to feel even more comfortable. Whenever I needed to go faster, I could; whenever I needed to look after my tyres, I could. That’s always a very nice feeling to have once you’re driving.”

Verstappen’s control over the race was so obvious – the most exciting moment he had was probably a radio argument with race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase, regarding what needed to be done in front

wing adjustment at the next pit stop, midway through the 53 laps.

Laughing it off, Verstappen explained that, “we didn’t have an argument, but he was, like, ‘are you sure you want to do this?’ I’m like, ‘yes, I’m pretty sure’. Turned out to be wrong. So, he was right!

“But in a way, it also fires me up, because I’m thinking ‘Okay, even I’m not entirely happy with the balance now, I’ll still try to be as consistent as I can be’ without shouting back at him. But we have a great relationship. And it works well like that.”

Red Bull’s dominance was made clear by the fact that Pérez was second both in qualifying and the race. But, while on Saturday the Mexican ran Verstappen close, he had no answer for the Dutchman on race day. According to the veteran, “unfortunately, I think we got caught out with the increase of temperature and with the balance. We just couldn’t get on top of that in the first stint, which meant that the degradation was a little bit higher.”

The field pours into the esses for the first time. Verstappen is gone already, and even Perez has a break. Further back, it’s just starting to go bad for a sideways Ricciardo and Albon ... Above:

Alonso again ‘maximised’ the Aston Martin –here ahead of Piastri and Leclerc.

Then, it was a strategic choice that put an end to any hopes of fighting back, as he admitted: “With Lando having two sets of Hards, it just compromised our race a little bit more than I wanted to, as I had to cover him after he stopped early.”

Nevertheless, the Mexican found some comfort in the second part of the race, saying that, “already on the second stint things were a lot more under control, as we were able to get a better read on the balance. And I think by the time we got to the third stint, things were a lot better.”

FERRARI RECOVERS ON SUNDAY

BEATEN BY Norris in qualifying, Carlos Sainz made it to the podium for the third time in three races, admitting that “we knew our race pace was better than our qualifying pace. Not enough to go for a win because, starting P4 and given how good the race pace of the Red Bull is, it’s almost impossible to think about a win – but I was hopeful of achieving a podium.”

Sticking to the strategy instead of reacting to the others, Sainz admitted that “it was a very tough race, very strategic. The track condition changed a lot through the race. We went from a very sunny track, that we hadn’t had all weekend, to a very cloudy track. The degradation went down a lot and you could push a lot more on the tyres halfway through the race. And this changed the whole situation quite a lot. At one point, I thought the podium wasn’t possible, but then with a new Hard, the pace was mega, and I could get back onto the podium.”

Even more impressively, Charles Leclerc moved from P8 on the grid to fourth at the

end of the race, making the unloved onestop strategy work, so he was quite pleased with his Sunday:

“I don’t think there was anything we could have done better – pace was really good, tyre management was really good, communication was really good.” For him too, sticking to the game plan was crucial for the final result, as he had to resist the temptation to cover other drivers, admitting that, “in the first few laps I thought there was no way the one-stop would work, but from the middle of the first stint I felt it could work and we made it work!”

TYRE STRATEGY WORKS

AGAINST MCLAREN, MERCEDES

place was the best the pair could bring home. Feeling second place was within reach, McLaren called Norris in quite early, on lap 11, the undercut working a treat as, after Pérez and Sainz changed to their second set of Mediums, the Brit was up to second and the Ferrari driver had dropped 5s behind. Trouble was, on softer and fresher tyres, the Red Bull driver breezed past Norris on lap 22 and another attempt for an early second stop also didn’t work, as Sainz eventually caught and passed the McLaren quite easily, so P5 was the best available for the youngster.

WILLIAMS’ SPARE PARTS CRISIS WORSENS

WILLIAMS’ SPARE parts nightmare got worse at Suzuka, after both drivers had heavy crashes in the first part of the track, leaving James Vowles’ team in further trouble to make sure it will have two chassis with all the new upgrades available for this weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix. Logan Sargeant’s heavy crash at the Dunlop Curve, midway through the FP1 session left him without a car to take part in FP2 but the American was in luck, as bad weather rendered the session a nonevent, so he didn’t lose much track time compared to his rivals.

AS IN Melbourne, two weeks before, Red Bull and Ferrari opted for tyre strategies that were different to what McLaren and Mercedes did and, for the second race running, the two top teams were on the right path. While they kept two sets of Medium compound tyres and one set of Hards for the race, the other two top teams did the opposite, keeping the only two sets of Hards available per driver for Sunday. The logic behind it was, of course, the high degradation expected around this gruelling track, meaning that, on paper, running the hardest compounds would pay off. The downside, of course, was that Lewis Hamilton, George Russell, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri headed into the 53 laps without one single lap done on the Hard compound, so they were vulnerable if that tyre was not as solid as they’d hoped for.

Which, of course, was the case. Mercedes compounded its problem by fitting Hard tyres to both drivers for the re-start – the red flag being waved during the first lap after Ricciardo and Albon clashed in the Esses, hit the tyre wall and the race had to be stopped for new barriers to be put up. So Russell and Hamilton had no pace, the veteran’s issues compounded by minor contact with Leclerc on the re-start. In the end, seventh and ninth

Oscar Piastri’s race was less eventful, but quite frustrating, as he spent almost the entire 53 laps glued to Alonso’s AMR24 without being able to make a move. As he explained: “he had so much top speed I never got even half a chance to overtake him even with DRS”, before making a small mistake coming out of the chicane, “and that allowed Russell, through, which was disappointing”, he concluded.

ALONSO AND TSUNODA SHINE AGAIN

ONCE AGAIN Fernando Alonso was left on his own to fight Aston Martin’s battle, as Stroll was out in Q1, whereas the Spaniard qualified fifth … and with Leclerc’s one-stop strategy working, P6 was the best available for the veteran. With one set of each compound left for the race, Alonso had to do a lot of tyre management early on and was so pleased with his performance he reckoned, “this was one of my top five best races ever.”

Local hero Yuki Tsunoda secured another precious point for Racing Bulls, after being ‘best of the rest’ almost the entire weekend. Team-mate Daniel Ricciardo finally matched the Japanese in qualifying, starting in P11 right behind Tsunoda, but was out at Turn 5 after light contact with Albon’s Williams ended up causing severe damage to both cars.

He was, however, forced to revert to the old front wing and floor spec, as there was only one spare set available and that was kept as reserve for Albon’s car. Given drivers have to keep the same spec of all parts from qualifying and the race, this decision reduced the chances of either of them being forced to start from the pits in case they damaged one of the new parts in qualifying.

Then, at the start of the race, Alex Albon was pushed off by Ricciardo, seriously damaging his car – so much so that the team was forced to send it back to the factory, where repairs are already under way, to try and get it fixed in time for China.

Before being able to check the damaged car, Team Principal James Vowles said that, “the car was sitting around inside Turn 5 … we’ve taken some pictures of it and I suspect, it will be delivered back to the garage soon. It looks like a little bit of damage on the front-right again, but let’s see how bad it is when we get it back.” He then added that, “it looks like it’s repairable to me, but that was through images taken.”

Reflecting on how challenging the start of the season as been for Williams, the English engineer admitted that, “the last two weeks have been tough. I think if you take any team, to have three major accidents where you’ve pretty much taken out all equipment on the car, is enormous. Taking that across a season, you can deal with it … taking it across just a few races is difficult.”

And on the subject of how much further back the development of the car and the completion of the third chassis will be, Vowles admitted that, “the impact of it will be what you expect. We’re making spares as quickly as possible in the background, but ultimately performance will have an impact on it – we can’t bring as many updates. The updates that were on the car unfortunately are broken, so we’ve got to build those stocks back up and get going again.”

Nevertheless, Vowles issued a vote of confidence in his crew, stating that, “one of the huge strengths of this organisation is resilience – it’s been through so much across the last 10 years. We’re going to pick ourselves up and get going again. The encouragement I take, is that we’re going to pick ourselves back up, come to China, and come back swinging.”

Below, top to bottom: Jostling for some clear air and a clean run in qualifying; Leclerc almost, but not quite, made one-stop work; Max, Suzuka, April blossom; Yuki is incredibly popular at home ...

Inch perfect: Lando Norris, running close on ‘track limits’ – the modern F1 driver’s curse ...

2004 – TECHNICAL DRAMA AS NZ BECKONS

20 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK, AUTO ACTION’S ISSUE 1086, APRIL 21 2004, WAS HEADLINING A TECHNICAL DISPUTE BETWEEN A COUPLE OF V8 SUPERCARS TEAMS AND MANAGING GROUP TEGA (TOURING CAR ENTRANTS GROUP).

IT CENTRED around the use of an upgraded version of the muchcelebrated Holinger H6S gearbox which, the teams’ group decided, would be banned – with immediate effect – as it cited a different positioning of the gearchgange lever and the fact that not all teams would be in a position to acquire the updated version, although in terms of ratios and all other relevant specs, the newer version met the regulations.

The problem was, the “with immediate effect” decree from TEGA HQ overlooked the fact that both Perkins Engineering, and Ford Performance Racing had already loaded their cars for the trip to New Zealand, with the updated gearbox (RD6) fitted.

At the time, TEGA was in the midst of reviewing its gearbox options for 2005.

TEGA Chairman Kelvin O’Reilly said that” to allow an alternate

1974

PETER BROCK enjoyed the taste of an Amaroo easter egg as a dropped con rod in the warm up robbed Allan Moffat any chance of success.

Moffat was forced to withdraw, allowing Brock to take another win, leading from start to finish in a Torana top six.

It was a big blow for Moffat who had the pace earlier in the weekend, while Jim Stewart had a terrifying ride up an earth bank and into a bush. He emerged unharmed.

Over at Sandown Gordon Dickson’s “Unhappy little Honda” plopped into the drink upside down.

Even so, “gulping great mouthfuls of the horrible slime,” he managed to extricate himself to dry land.

For the second straight year Gary Baker took out the BP Desert Rally.

gearbox which is new to the championship, of a different specification, into use while that process is going on, really isn’t the most prudent course that the board can take.”

However Larry Perkins wasn’t happy. “We’ve had another really friendly directive from our good friends

1984

VERN SCHUPPAN was going to defend his Le Mans 24 Hours crown alongside fellow Australian superstar Alan Jones.

The all-Aussie pair was to drive one of the Kremer brothers Porsche 956s after Schuppan was given special dispensation from his Porsche contract following the works withdrawal of the German brand from the race.

Allan Grice enjoyed no competition on his way to “completely overshadowing the opposition” in the Australian GT Championships opener at Lakeside.

Grice bounced back from a slow start to fly home in the ex-Bob Jame Chev Monza.

Kevin Bartlett was the face of Mitsubishi’s offical return to Australian motor racing with the arrival of the Ralliart Australian Division, while Sandown was chasing a round of the World Endurance Championship.

LP planned to take the issue to the Stewards once the cars arrived in NZ, noting that he only had two of the older model ‘boxes available for the four cars his team was running.

For its part, manufacturer Holinger was similarly frustrated, having kept TEGA informed as it designed and developed the updated gearbox over the previous two years.

“TEGA has now decided to introduce a new gearbox specification for 2005, and they didn’t want an interim gearbox in 2004,” company head Peter Holinger said, while outlining the differences between the old and revised Holinger – centring mainly on better service intervals between overhauls.

TEGA was planning a switch to a tender process for a single gearbox supplier for 2005 (at this point, anyone could supply as long as ratios were correct). In the end, the Holinger RD6 became the category’s control gearbox, from 2008-2002.

Elsewhere, the issue noted the intention of Supercars tail-ender David Thexton to dispose of his level-two Supecars team licence, as soon as he could find a buyer.

up at TEGA saying, effective immediately, the gearboxes that we and FPR run are illegal,” he told AA in frustration.

“It’s disappointing to find that our directors seem to be so far off the mark. They are bringing the sport into disrepute, there’s no question of that.”

1994

DRIVERS LOOKED to finally have their wish with changes to the infamous and widely hated Peter Jackson Dash expected.

At that stage a lotto draw set the top six starting positions for the opening heat of the weekend, with fastest qualifier Peter Brock drawing fifth.

It appeared that, after Phillip Island, teams were finally able to get their wish of it being removed as Glenn Seton swept the two 16-lap sprints to end Mark Skaife’s streak.

A different streak carried on at Bathurst as Greg Hansford and Neil Crompton ensured Mazda took a hattrick of 12 Hour wins.

Fred Gibson revealed hopes to have cars racing regularly in Asia within the next 12 months with Mark Skaife spearheading the assault.

The enigmatic kiwi had been issued with a ‘performance improvement notice’ having finished below 30th in the 2003 championship – under which he would lose the license if he couldn’t finish better than 30th in the 2004 season … 30+ cars in Supercars races … imagine that!

2014

AFTER SUCH a fast start to life in Supercars, the new Volvo S60 attracted plenty of parity arguments.

But these were shrugged off by Garry Rogers, who made it clear his team was just going a good job: “I have not taken too much interest in it – I pride myself on my workforce and we have just done a good job.”

These followed an extremely open weekend at Winton where Lee Holdsworth famously steered Erebus Motorsport and Mercedes to a breakthrough win, while Fabian Coulthard and Mark Winterbottom also tasted success.

It proved to be the only weekend Triple Eight did not appear on the podium all year.

The Nico Rosberg v Lewis Hamilton rivalry hit new heights during a famous duel in the Bahrain desert while Esteban Gutierrez did a 360 ....

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