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FORGET THE DRIVER MARKET – THE MOST
SHIP. BUT WHERE TO?
GENIAL ENGINEER Adrian Newey has handed in his notice and is set to leave Red Bull Racing in coming months, a shock move that will put an end to a co-operation that started back in 2005 and has made the Austrian team the most successful Formula 1 outfit of the last two decades.
Newey’s decision came as a consequence of the turmoil Red Bull has been going through since Team Principal Christian Horner was publicly accused of innapropriate behavior by his Personnal Assistant, the 65-years old engineer deciding it was time to move on once it became clear Horner wasn’t going to resign from his role as team leader. From the moment Horner’s scandal broke out, Newey’s discomfort with the situation has been quite obvious, the veteran engineer feeling the team’s integrity had been breached and losing personal confidence on the man who first convinced him to swap McLaren for Red Bull and was, for way over a decade, his biggest ally inside the Austrian structure.
Things started to change from the moment Horner mounted an internal coup, immediately after Dietrich Mateschitz’s passing, to try and get rid of all Austrian influence inside Red Bull Racing, splitting the team in two factions and making the working environment a lot more difficult than it had ever been before.
Being quite sensitive to these kind of issues, Newey focused on his work and produced, in the last two years, two of his best cars ever, but Horner’s scandal was the straw that broke the camel’s back, with the engineer opting to leave Red Bull as quickly as possible.
A spokesman for the Austrian team said on Thursday that “Adrian is contracted until at least the end of 2025 and we are unaware of him joining any other team,” but several sources from Red Bull’s technical department have privately confirmed they have been informed of Newey’s imminent departure.
One source added that, in a turnaround of events, Technical Director Pierre Waché has signed a contract extension earlier this month, the Frenchman finally opting against moving to Ferrari once his current contract expires. That indicates Waché was already aware Newey was finally leaving Red Bull Racing, allowing the French engineer to become the technical leader of the team, something he had long had an ambition for.
WHILE IT is certain Newey will leave Red Bull Racing as soon as possible, his next destination is not yet certain. Some reports, from normally reliable sources, indicate the British engineer has accepted an offer from Ferrari and will be able to combine two of his dreams together – work for the mythical Scuderia and also with Lewis Hamilton – but there are also suggestions he may have accepted a multimilionnaire offer from Aston Martin to lead the Silverstone-based team until the end of 2030!
At Ferrari it is clear that Stelantis Chairman John Elkkan has put all his weight behind Frédéric Vasseur’s leadership and is giving the Frenchman free hand to hire whoever he wants, no matter the cost. Getting the services of Adrian Newey would certainly boost Ferrari’s chances of getting the 2026 Technical Regulations spot on and would also attract quite a few younger engineers to move to Maranello, knowing they would have the chance to learn from the most successful engineer in Formula 1 history.
Aston Martin’s offer is believed to be the highest ever made to an engineer in motor racing, with a reported 100 million Euros contract on the table, valid for five years, that would put Newey only behind Verstappen and Hamilton in the list of the highest paid Formula 1 personnel.
Joining Stroll’s team would also allow Newey to continue to live in the UK and in his current home, something he’ll surely value, while a deal with Ferrari would certainly force him to spend most of his working days in Maranello.
Nevertheless, the attraction of being with Ferrari and the prospect of being the man who finally took the Scuderia back to the World Championship title – since 2007 no Ferrari driver has been crowned Champion – cannot be undestimated and that’s why the majority of observers believe Maranello will be Newey’s next and final destination in Formula 1.
A THIRD option for Newey is to simply walk away from Formula 1 – he certainly doesn’t need the money ...
The Englishman has recently been quite scathing of the new-for-2026 regulations, describing the engines as “strange – they will act as generators almost all the time. It seems the new 2026 engines will work the other way round to traditional hybrids – the propulsion will be mainly electric, supported
F1 GOAT? Indisputably. Newey is about to clinch his 27th Drivers/Constructors championship. More valuable than any driver ... Image: MOTORSPORT IMAGES
by the thermal motor when necessary. That’s the opposite to now, when the electric power is a ‘plus’ to be used on occasions.”
If that’s not enough to send a shiver down the spine of most traditional F1 supporters, the clincher, for Newey, could be the planned delivery this year of his new yacht, along with an already expressed desire to sail around the world.
British shipyard Oyster is building Newey’s 27.4m model 885 yacht, with some technical input from the man himself – of course.
Don’t be surprised if, after what will be 14 F1 Drivers championship and 13 Constructors crowns (including 2024), the
most successful individual in F1 – ever –decides to call it quits.
The good news for F1, in that case, is that at last other designers may have a better chance of success …
LuisVasconcelas/Chris Lambden
QUEENSLAND RACEWAY is expected to open the 2025 Supercars championship without the emergence of a suitable marquee event to replace Newcastle.
In addition to Queensland Raceway, Supercars is also negotiating with the West Australian Government to move its round from Wanneroo to the streets of Perth.
The season will likely expand to 13 rounds, with The Bend getting its already announced endurance race and the Sandown 500 likely to run again.
The likelihood of the Tony Quinnowned Queensland Raceway rejoining the calendar came to light when it was revealed that Supercars wants to the start the season on the east coast of Australia, and Sydney Motorsport Park is keen to remain a night race, which is not possible
in February because of the late sunset time.
Queensland Raceway hasn’t hosted a round since 2019, but the circuit has undergone significant facilities upgrades since Tony Quinn took over the lease, management and operations of the track in October 2021.
All the Queensland based teams use the track for testing.
A return to Queensland Raceway has long been mooted, with more than half the teams using it as their test track and its ability to draw crowds. It hosted rounds of the Supercars Series from 1999 to 2019, and has been pushing for a return since coming under the ownership of Tony Quinn who has been upgrading facilities at the track.
With the opening three rounds likely to be
Queensland Raceway, the AGP and Taupo, the series is starting to take shape, with the next rounds likely to remain Perth, Darwin and Townsville as the next rounds.
Perth is the interesting one. Word of a possible Perth street track first leaked to Auto Action a month ago, but details were sketchy, including where the track would be located. With iEDM, where Mark Skaife is the director of motorsport, now involved, plans are accelerating, and now all that is required is for the WA government to decide if it will proceed with the plan.
If the deal is done, expect an announcement in the lead-up to the Perth SuperSprint in three weeks time.
With The Bend also making a return with an already announced endurance race, the series could grow to at least 13 rounds,
with three two-driver endurance races given that Sandown appears to have been given a stay of execution.
The one remaining piece in the puzzle is Destination New South Wales which would like to retain its position at the start of the calendar, but doesn’t appear to have a suitable venue. The speculation surrounding a street race in the Hunter Valley has so far not amounted to a solid solution, and the proposed permanent track known as Black Rock Motor Resort is not yet past planning stages, leaving NSW without a viable option given the failure of the sprint race at Bathurst to attract any crowd or interest.
A draft calendar is floating among the other major series in Australia to allow the pre-planning of other events.
• Queensland Raceway
• Melbourne SuperSprint
• Taupo Super400
• Perth (possible Street Race)
• Darwin Triple Crown
• Townsville 500
• Sydney SuperNight
• Symmons Plains
• The Bend 500
• Sandown 500
• Bathurst 1000
• Gold Coast 500
• Adelaide 500
with ANDREW CLARKE
JUST UNDER 10mm of rain was dumped on Taupo for the first Supercars race on the track, and the big wet provided Dunlop with the first proper test for its new wet tyre which it introduced last year. The new tyre is based on a soft compound, whereas previously it was a harder compound, and Dunlop’s Kevin Fitzsimons said it held up well, even when a dry line was forming on parts of the track in the mid part of the race.
“We’ve had that since the start of last year at Newcastle, we had a wet quali session at the Grand Prix, which caught a lot of people off guard because they all had high pressures like they would with the old wet,” he said. “It was back-to-back qualifying then. It was partially dry track, and all those things, so that was worst-case scenario. There was a bit of a “Wow, this thing blisters pretty quick,” but the
actual performance I was really impressed with.
“It actually wore out like the old wet used to,” he said of the Taupo run, “but the racing was good, and the track was drying and everything – they were coming off worn out, but they looked pretty good.
“It’s a massive drop in mix – it’s a lot softer than the old tyre. I’m genuinely really happy with it, and the general consensus from the people up and down pit lane, I was actually getting a lot of nods and thumbs up.”
He said a number of teams gambled on the track drying while others banked on a full wet, which meant there were plenty of different tests for the tyre during the 60-lap race.
“It was the track that’s wet and the surface was holding the water to a certain extent by the look of it, but then when it was starting to dry out, the tyre was genuinely hanging on and generating a fair chunk of grip and everything, but it didn’t blister, which I was really glad about.
“Had it been a different scenario, with the drying track that was very, very dry in places and stuff like that, we may have seen some blister and everything, but that’s where you drive to the conditions and everybody’s got the same tyre … we’re all playing with the same tool-set.
“We’ll go away with a massive amount of data there now to have a look at, but all the engineers have got a real handle on it. It was very interesting sitting in the hub, looking at the pressures, how close they all were to nailing the same sort of cold pressure and the running temperature.”
TONY QUINN appears to be well down the path in planning for a second New Zealand Supercars round in 2026 and, while other tracks would like to have a crack, he has Supercars tacit approval after the stunning success of the Taupo round. But, he says, first he needs to bed down Taupo next year before setting up back-toback rounds across The Ditch.
Quinn who owns three tracks in New Zealand prior to transferring them to the Tony Quinn Foundation for perpetuity, says he prefers Highlands Motorsport Park near Queenstown for a number of reasons, but also acknowledges that two back-toback rounds will need to use sea freight rather than air so the teams can have their transporters with all the spares required for repairs.
A fortnight of Supercars would be a tourism boon for New Zealand with much of the travelling circus finding things to do in New Zealand for three or four days rather than fly back to Australia between races.
In response to Supercars Chairman Barclay Nettlefold’s comments on the Auto Action website that a second round depends on Quinn’s appetite, Quinn responded that he thinks “it’s essential, a no-brainer” and that he has more than just the appetite – he has the wherewithal to make it happen.
While Hampton Downs is halfway between Taupo and Auckland and seems like an easy get, Quinn said there were issues which meant that was not a viable option, especially around the infrastructure required to get adequate crowds at two nearby events.
Quinn said that for the Taupo weekend, he had hired every makeshift grandstand on the North Island which was his crowd limiting factor for Taupo, and that to do
Hampton Downs as well within a week would be a struggle.
He also urged caution on trying to get back-to-back New Zealand events too quickly.
“What this sport has to do is sell the sizzle. The sausage is just the sausage, and we just witnessed the sausage—that’s the race. But we have to sell the sizzle, the event.
“So, I’ll tell you the problem because it’s all a good idea. If you want to make money, you would not do it next year. We want to come back here, but what we want to be doing is selling the sizzle.
“What will happen is that after a couple of years, normally, the crowds will drop back a bit. So, I would do Taupo here next year, but sell the sizzle and go to either Hampton Downs or Highlands in 26.
“If you go to Highlands, it’s got to be special. You’re not coming to Highlands to go round and round for a few hours. It’s got to be a format that would be different.”
In terms of ‘special’, Auto Action floated the idea of a two-driver endurance race where one of the drivers had to be from New Zealand, which Quinn and Nettlefold thought was worth exploring. Quinn also said concerns about the facility at Highlands Park were wrong, and that he could easily deal with any perceived issues.
“If they can race in Tasmania or Darwin, no disrespect, we can race at Highlands. In case you haven’t noticed, I get things done.”
Highlands Park is a short drive from Queenstown, another one of New Zealand’s holiday towns. This means the infrastructure to cope with the influx of race fans is already there. A recent event in the area had crowds in excess of 60,000, three times what would be expected as a crowd for the Supercars event.
Andrew Clarke
THERE ARE seven motor racing tracks in New Zealand, all FIA Grade 3 or higher which is all that is needed to host a Supercars round.
Here’s the PR spin on all the New Zealand tracks that could host a round of the Supercars Championship Series, if called upon:
1 - HIGHLANDS MOTORSPORT PARK
HIGHLANDS MOTORSPORT Park isn’t just a track; it’s a sanctuary for the seasoned racer. With its sprawling 4.5km layout and three distinct tracks, it’s a playground for the elite, reserved for those who crave a challenge beyond the ordinary. From the labyrinthine forest loop to the heart-stopping carousel, every corner demands respect and precision, making it a haven for the experienced driver seeking the ultimate test of skill and nerve.
2 - TAUPO INTERNATIONAL MOTORSPORT PARK
TUCKED AWAY in Taupo, Taupo International Motorsport Park is a testament to evolution. From its humble beginnings as a 1.6km dirt track in 1959 to its modern-day incarnation boasting multiple configurations, it’s a journey through time and technology. With its unique anticlockwise layout and the ability to host dual events simultaneously, the park embodies the spirit of progress, inviting racers to carve their own legacy with every turn.
3 - HAMPTON DOWNS MOTORSPORT PARK
NESTLED IN northern Waikato, Hampton Downs Motorsport Park stands as a testament to both innovation and homage. Since its inception in 2008, the track has echoed the legendary curves of racing’s most iconic circuits, from Bathurst’s infamous big dipper to the blind crest of Nürburgring. It’s a place where every corner tells a story, where the essence of global racing culture converges on New Zealand soil.
4 - MANFEILD CIRCUIT
MANFEILD CIRCUIt isn’t just a racetrack; it’s a playground of possibilities. With its dynamic configurations spanning 1.5km to 4.5km, it’s a canvas for speed enthusiasts to paint their adrenaline-fueled dreams. From banked corners to hair-raising straights, Manfeild beckons both amateurs and professionals alike to test their limits. Its drifting section, hailed as one of the nation’s best, adds an extra dimension to the thrill, making every lap an unforgettable experience.
5 - EUROMARQUE MOTORSPORT PARK AT EUROMARQUE Motorsport Park, history meets versatility. Since its inception in 1963, this Canterbury gem has been a haven for speed demons, offering seven different track configurations ranging from 1.1km to 3.38km. Its storied past is etched into every inch of asphalt, from the lightning-fast straights to the heartpounding hairpin bends. And with the longest drift section in New Zealand, it’s a mecca for adrenaline junkies and drift enthusiasts alike. It is often referred to by its old name of Ruapuna Park.
6 - TERETONGA PARK IN THE heart of Invercargill lies Teretonga Park, a timeless icon of New Zealand racing heritage. Since 1957, it has stood as a testament to speed and precision, its sweeping corners and daunting straights challenging drivers to push the limits of both machine and skill. As the world’s southernmost FIA-graded track, it’s not just a venue; it’s a pilgrimage for racing aficionados seeking the thrill of the southern winds and the rush of true speed.
7 - TIMARU INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY PERCHED ON the rugged landscape of the South Island, Timaru International Raceway is a battleground where nature and asphalt collide. Since its inception in 1967, it has tested the mettle of racers with its unpredictable weather and treacherous turns. From the notorious Turn 5 to the ever-looming threat of wet weather, every lap is a dance with danger, a testament to the resilience and skill of those who dare to conquer its twists and turns.
BRAD JONES RACING BOUNCED BACK FROM A HORROR MEETING AT THE AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX AND RECORDED ITS FIRST WIN OF THE GEN-3 ERA. ANDREW CLARKE SPOKE WITH JONES …
ANDRE HEIMGARTNER’S breakthrough win in Taupo snapped a streak of 10 podiums without nailing the top step since rejoining Brad Jones Racing at the start of 2022. Recording the first Supercars win at the track was also significant for team owner Brad Jones, who was visibly moved at the end of the race with a race win in New Zealand with the #8 – the late Jason Richards number at BJR – on the door always carrying a little more power.
It was Heimgartner’s first win since 2021 and BJR’s first since 2020.
“Unusual circumstances, right? But to be able to rebound and have the cars fast and win is great on any day, and especially to be here at Taupo for the first race in Car 8. There’s a lot of nice things about it,” he said. Turning to Heimgartner, he said the win was a great reward for effort and, even though it was a little while coming, he said the 28-year-old had not underperformed.
“I feel he has delivered a number of times, but today’s performance ... he didn’t put a foot wrong,” Jones said. “Andre didn’t put a foot wrong in really treacherous conditions where lots of people did.
“He was getting a huge amount of pressure and he just kept on hitting his mark. There were people all around him, he’s got a lot of pressure from Chaz – and we put pressure on them in the pit stop. And then the Shell cars came at him at the end, and then he turned it on the last five laps and drove away from them. I think it was a really measured performance by him that just shows you what he’s capable of doing.
“I feel like he has proven to me certainly time and time again that he’s a real deal. And it’s nice that today everyone got to see that.”
Jones was referring to another blinding BJR pitstop which allowed Heimgartner to jump Will Brown in the pits, giving him a lead he only briefly conceded on the next round of stops.
The bounce back to the top was even more significant for Jones after a tough Grand Prix meeting saw all four cars lacking pace. At Taupo, all four were quick, and Jaxon Evans nailed his first top 10 finish in his rookie season.
“At the Grand Prix we had the four slowest cars, so I’m not crazy enough to think that everything is just cured,” he said tempering his enthusiasm. “The conditions were tricky today as well, so I don’t know. Today we were the yardstick and you’ve got to take each little win as you get it, and today that’s enough for me.
“But in practice and qualifying, we
The team that’s not trying to make friends or look after sponsors!
It’s hard and it’s fast and sometimes it’s a bit rough, but we call it how we see it and pull no punches.
Plenty of analysis and lots of opinion from some of the most experienced motorsport media people in the business - Bruce Williams, Paul Gover and Andrew Clarke.
had pretty fast cars too, so I think we’ve definitely made some progress from where we were at the Grand Prix. But this category, at the moment, can be a bit up and down – I’m not having an epiphany and thinking that everything is fixed now.
“Our problem has been when we turn up, we’re fast for the first couple of practice sessions and then we don’t qualify well. And then, certainly at the Grand Prix, we had no race pace, so it’s nice to be turn up, go fast, and then qualify and race well.
“The jury’s probably still out a little bit, but I feel like we’re making some progress. There’s always work to do.
“It is a pressure relief, but I’ve been doing this a long time and at the end of the day, for me, you take every success on face value. We won a race today, we’ll celebrate that tonight, tomorrow we’ll come back, we’ll work as hard as we can, and we’ll try and win another one.
“But there’s no guarantees. We’ll go through the same procedures and do all the things we want. It’s more coming off the Grand Prix where we had such a terrible weekend where you have a really hard look at yourself, what this has managed to do for this team is prove we’re more than capable of winning. So that’s a positive, but it’s not a guarantee.”
NEW EPISODES OUT EVERY WEDNESDAY
DICK JOHNSON Racing has battled a monster off-season after taking over the engine development program for the Fords, adding considerable work to its already packed program that also includes Ford’s homologation operations as well as the race team.
But now it has finally put that workload behind it with a stellar round at Taupo that moved it from 10th in the pitlane to fourth with three podium finishes from the two races.
Will Davison now sits ninth in Championship on 489 points after finishing second and 19th, but is only 31 points off fourth place which a good Sunday would have yielded for the veteran. Anton De Pasquale in the other car had a pair of thirds and is 12th in the title race on 436 points.
Team Manager Ben Croke admitted at Taupo that the start to the season had been tough, but he says the team was stretched with the added workload but can now see some light at the end of the tunnel.
“It’s good, it’s a nice feeling to be able to get on the podium, but it’s also a nice feeling to get on the podium competitively,” he said after the wet Saturday race. “We were competitive in practice yesterday, qualified really well, didn’t really get the best draw with the rain the way the Shootout came, but competitive again in the wet today.
“It’s great to see everyone in the team smiling and up and about. Confidence breeds confidence.
“When you’ve been as far up as the other end of Pit Lane as we have and you end up down here, everyone likes to have a little shot at times, but hopefully they’ll make the long walk down here and say, well done.”
Croke said he didn’t like the view from the entrance to pitlane and that the entire team had worked hard to get up the order, but it didn’t lose focus on what was required.
“We just focused on the tasks, there were glimpses at the AGP. Anton
qualified in the top 10 of all four races at the AGP. Will was actually the fifth highest point scoring car for the weekend.
“We just had to take the positives out of that weekend. There were some other things that made the weekend look probably worse than what it was. So, we stayed focused on the job at hand, and kept preparing well and really focusing on us and doing our job well.
“You’d like to say there was none, but probably you’d be lying,” he said of extra workload taking on the engines on top of the homologation process. “We did three or four test days with cars, and we’ve still got some engineering staff doing bits and pieces here and there, covering some roles. It’s had an impact. It’s hard to put a number on it or measure that
impact, but it has to a degree.”
But the work has been critical to the future of the team, as well as the Ford teams in general. With an acknowledged aero and engine disadvantage to the Fords for most of 2023, it was critical to get parity for 2024. Croke now accepts the aero is now right, and he says the engines are also 99 percent there.
“I think it’s pretty good now. The Fords were in competitive situations to win races at the AGP, and we’ve been competitive here this weekend. If it’s not right, it’s pretty darn close.
“It’s important to get it right, and that’s why we do it. We want to be masters of our destiny, so to speak, and make sure that it’s done right and make sure that all the Fords are benefiting from a job well done. We’re pretty confident and in
a reasonable place there, so it’s time to focus on us.”
On the engine map changes for Taupo he said it was “just small little tweaks at low RPM, little bits and pieces.”
There are a few more things they are looking at with the engines before the much-vaunted transient dyno test is run to finally lock down engine parity after Ford has been chasing a tune to match the Chevrolet since the start of the Gen3 program. He, like Rob Herrod before him, is keen to point out that this has been a matching job, not a performance issue with the Coyote engine de-tuned for Supercars.
With the huge workload around parity nearly done, Croke says his team can now focus on being a race team again, and setting its sights on Triple Eight.
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The 2024 Supercars Champion, Brodie Kostecki made his highly-anticipated return to action at Taupo and endured a mixed weekend.
“We had a really good day getting both cars in the Shootout and started off the second row in third.” Kostecki said on social media.
“It was a disappointing way to end the day and we have a few things to work on before we head to Perth.”
Now with the tricky return round under his belt, Kostecki will be much better prepared heading to Wanneroo where he memorably took the fight to SVG last year.
ENTRIES FOR the opening Australia F4 Championship round, at The Bend this weekend, are to be finalised after the first test day takes place, on Wednesday. Entries are expected from AGi Racing, Team BRM, and Jam Motorsport (which is based at the circuit). Unfortunately, Tim Macrow Racing has advised that its entry has been withdrawn. Promoters TopSpeed have announced that the top five drivers after the third round in Queensland will be invited to attend Sepang International Circuit for the five-day Scuderia Ferrari Driver Academy Asia Pacific and Oceania Selection Program event, provided they meet the selection criteria.
THE LATEST batch of Speedway Australia Hall of Fame members have been revealed ahead of June’s Gala Dinner.
Renowned promoter David Lander, legendary Speedcar and Sprintcar dual champion Phil March (here being advised of his honor by Speedway Australia CEO Darren Tindal), West Australian Speedcar Ace Neville Lance, Ipswich based team owner and parts supplier Ian Boettcher and West Aussie solo motorcycle trailblazer, Chum Taylor are the new inductees.
Taylor’s Hall of Fame announcement was made via an online video call to his son Glyn in Greater Manchester in the UK, drawing tears for a legend who now battles advanced dementia.
THE TONY Quinn Foundation is about to take an even bigger step in the evolution of New Zealand Motorsport.
Tony Quinn has made moves to lock away the future of motorsport in New Zealand by ‘gifting’ his three New Zealand circuits – Hampton Downs Motorsport Park, Taupo International Motorsport Park and Highlands Motorsport Park – into the Tony Quinn Foundation. Speaking at Taupo, Quinn said the decision to ‘donate’ the three tracks to the Foundation was made so that the future of his three tracks and their role in NZ Motorsport was secure.
“In case you’ve missed it, I’m fairly well invested in the sport. And it’s not for my personal gain, because the three tracks in New Zealand are all being moved into a trust, a legacy trust. And they’ll be run by a board of trustees, all Kiwis. So that when I’m dead and gone, the thing carries on. And my job is to hand it over as an asset, not a liability.”
The move shifts the TQF up another gear after its formation in 2021. To date, TQF has supported Kiwi racing drivers and invested in driver training – owning three circuits and managing many millions of dollars of assets is a much bigger thing.
“The Tony Quinn Foundation has Jackson Rooney in a Toyota 86 that we are supporting this weekend,” one of the TQF Trustees, Daniel Gaunt said on the grid at Taupo.
“There’s half a million dollars
a year pledged to New Zealand racing drivers, that stretches from internationally where we’ve got Liam Lawson (Red Bull Racing F1 reserve driver), Liam Sceats (USF Pro Championships) and Callum Hedge (Indy NXT) and then locally we support the Best Bars Toyota 86 Championship and the Castrol Toyota Racing Series.
“It’s a great thing, there’s a lot of support for New Zealand drivers at the moment through the Tony Quinn Foundation, through the Giltrap family, and we’re just a small piece of the puzzle trying to do our thing, make a difference.
“The wheels are in motion to for his gift of New Zealand circuits and the world-class facilities that he provides. It’s amazing what he is doing. There are not too many people that can say that they’ve got a hundred million tied up in racetracks around the world, and they are just going to give them away.”
Gaunt runs the academy at Hampton Downs where he leads a team that educate kids on the track from gokarts to cars. He also sits on the board of Motorsport New Zealand. Andrew Clarke
CAM WATERS and Tickford once again walked away from a Supercars round in 2024 wondering what could have been, but were pleased by their race pace.
Despite having his fair share of dramas and bad luck, Waters still fought hard enough to secure 10th in the chase for the Jason Richards Memorial Trophy.
The Monster Mustang showed great speed with Waters snatching his opportunity in the wet to take pole position.
After two tough rounds it appeared to be the big chance for the #6 to finally turn its season around, but there was heartbreak just metres after the start due to a tangle with Tim Slade.
Despite being at the back with damage, Waters put his head down and soldiered on, on the wet track,
rising all the way back from 23rd to eighth after 60 hard-fought laps.
The Mildura racer later labelled it as one of his best ever comebacks.
“You know I went from first to last before Turn 1 and then, with a damaged car, we got back to eighth and got some really solid points,” Waters said.
“So, that was obviously a really good race for us.
“I think probably one that kind-of got away.
“We definitely had a speedy car and if it was straight I think we probably could have won it – but It is what it is.”
On Sunday Waters just missed out on the Shootout but still rose three positions to get ninth and record back-to-back top 10s.
Although luck has largely been absent from the Tickford leader, he is starting to string together a consistent
set of results with five top 10s from the last six races.
This is why Tickford’s Rod Nash is encouraged by the speed of his Mustangs over a race distance.
“We’ve got fast cars and that’s the real positive,” he said.
“This was the first weekend where we weren’t sitting in the engineering meetings looking for pace.
“Both drivers worked well to recover from problems in the races, but we didn’t have the strategy on Sunday.
“We’ve got something to work with now. We’ve got to do a better job on set-ups, but we’re definitely on the right trajectory with our car speed.
“We like Perth, so I’d like to think we have something good to work with for the next meeting.
“We’ll definitely put a lot of focus into continuing our improvement.”
Thomas Miles
unfortunate
TEAM PENSKE is in the spotlight after it was retrospectively disqualified from the IndyCar season opener at St Petersburg. IndyCar announced that both Scott McLaughlin and teammate Josef Newgarden were excluded from the first race of the year due to a push-to-pass restart breach.
Newgarden dominated the race, while McLaughlin scored a strong third place. However, Aussie Penske team-mate Will Power was not disqualified and only
received a 10-point penalty. All three entries received a $25,000 fine, while McLaren’s Pato O’Ward is now the winner of the race.
After an extensive review of data from the race on the Streets of St. Petersburg, it was revealed Team Penske used the overtake system in breach of Rule 14.19.15 and Rule 14.19.16.
To add further intrigue to the situation, Team Penske dominated the following round at Barber which took place just days after the big news. McLaughlin and Power
finished first and second respectively in both qualifying and the 90-lap race (see race coverage page 52).
McLaughlin admitted he was “not aware” of the drama at St Pete.
“First and foremost, I am proud to be a member of Team Penske,” he said.
“I fully stand with every one of my teammates. Simply put, a mistake was made.
“I have the highest level of integrity and it is important to protect both my own
SHANE VAN Gisbergen has “learned a lot” from a massive fortnight that saw him take on the wild Talladega Superspeedway and the ‘Monster Mile’ at Dover for the first time. SVG faced the daunting prospect of racing in both the NASCAR Xfinity and Cup Series at the fastest oval in America. He had to settle for 22nd in the Xfinity Series and 26th in the Cup Series races at Talladega, but the results do not tell the full story.
The Kiwi rookie led in both races and was on track for strong top 10 finishes only for some bad luck to strike at the death. When the Xfinity Series race went into Overtome, the #97 started the green-whitechequered sequence up in fourth, only to run out of gas as soon as he tried to put the foot down.
A day later, against the big boys in the Cup
Series, with four laps to go, van Gisbergen made a run leading the top lane towards the top five but all of his momentum was sucked up when Ty Gibbs and Kyle Busch jumped in front.
Van Gisbergen admitted he was still getting his head around the unique high-speed chess of draft-racing at Super Speedways:
“It was pretty different and a lot of fun moving up front,” van Gisbergen told FRONTSTRETCH.
“At the start I couldn’t get anyone to push me and they just dropped me ... left me for dead in the middle.
“Then at the end I didn’t really understand how to keep Chase (Elliott) right on me to keep the speed up and then someone jumped in front of us and screwed the top lane.
“It takes a while for people to trust you. They see the yellow stripes.
“I felt like I was pretty stable and managed gaps, trying to be as smooth and trusting as I could.”
A week later the Kaulig Racing driver took on the fast banks of Dover and initially battled, only qualifying 31st.
However, van Gisbergen put in another fighting drive to rise up to 18th.
Post race the Kiwi revealed it had been a “pretty tough couple of weeks” following the recent passing of his mother. Her last name, Wallace, featured above the door of the #97 Xfinity car.
Van Gisbergen enjoys a week off before taking on Darlington on May 11, while this weekend Cam Waters will race his Truck around Kansas.
Thomas Miles
reputation and that of the team.
“I was not aware of the situation with the software. In this instance I used a single, very brief (1.9s) deployment of push-to-pass in a section of the track exit of Turn 9 where it is typically utilised throughout the race.
“I hit the button out of habit, but I did not pass any cars nor did I gain any time advantage.
“The data, which IndyCar has, confirms all of this information.
“While I accept the penalty I want to be clear that I did not gain an advantage over my competitors.”
Power also wanted to make it clear he did “nothing wrong.”
“I was disappointed to learn about the penalty that we received this week from IndyCar,” Power wrote on social media.
“There was an oversight by our team and I was unaware of the situation until it was brought to our attention following Long Beach.
“As per the rules, I did not utilise the P2P capabilities during any start or restart during the St. Petersburg race.
“While I accept the penalty, I want it to be known that I did nothing wrong and followed the rules.”
Thomas Miles
NICO HULKENBERG will leave Haas at the end of the 2024 Formula 1 season and return to Sauber ahead of the Audi era.
Haas has confirmed Hulkenberg’s departure from the American team after a two-year stint comes to the end at this year’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
The 36-year-old German who has the most Grand Prix starts without a win or podium will reunite with Sauber, whom he raced with back in 2013.
In that season he scored points on 10 occasions with impressive top-five finishes in Italy and Korea during a strong finish for 10th in the championship before returning to Force India for the start of the Turbo Hybrid era.
However, Hulkenberg has “fond memories” of his time with the Swiss team and is looking forward to reuniting one year before it turns into Audi where he will be a German face for the German brand.
“I’m returning to the team I worked with back in 2013 and have fond memories of the strong team spirit in Switzerland,” said Hulkenberg.
“The prospect of competing for Audi is something very special. When a German manufacturer enters Formula 1 with such determination, it is a unique opportunity.
“To represent the factory team of such a car brand with a power unit made in Germany is a great honour for me.”
“We are very pleased to welcome Nico
DAVID REYNOLDS’ steering issues
summed up “an average” weekend in Taupo for Team 18, which lost significant ground in the teams championship.
After showing strong pace at both Bathurst and Albert Park, Team 18 crossed the Tasman sitting a strong third in the Teams championship.
But with no top 10s recorded in New Zealand, and Mark Winterbottom and Reynolds finishing the final race 17th and 24th respectively, the Mount Waverley squad slipped to sixth with Erebus, DJR and WAU all moving ahead.
Sunday was especially tough for Reynolds, who initially held 13th during the early laps before rising temperatures and a steering issue ultimately saw the #20 finish last as the only car not on the lead lap.
Outside of retirements it is Reynolds’
lowest race finish since the 2022 season opener at SMP.
He said the dramas made life extremely tough behind the wheel at the twisty and technical circuit.
“The Sunday race, I had a bit of a drama, big steering drama,” Reynolds said.
“It was like a power assist drama, engine heating drama.
“There was a lot going on – I’d turn into a corner, the steering would lock up, and I’d just go around the outside; and other times I’d turn in to be super loose, and almost spin, so it was really hard to drive.
“We ended up a lap down so, all in all, It was quite an average weekend but we’re going to learn a lot.”
Meanwhile, Winterbottom simply struggled for pace and battled to rise into the top 20 before a late move on Will Davison ensured the #18 came home 17th.
back here in Hinwil from 2025 and to compete with him in Formula 1,” Sauber’s Andrea Seidl commented.
“With his speed, his experience and his
commitment to teamwork, he will be an important part of the transformation of our team – and of Audi’s F1 project.
“Right from the start, there was great mutual interest in building something long-term together.
“Nico is a strong personality, and his input, on a professional and personal level, will help us to make progress both in the development of the car and in building up the team.”
After a 2023 season that contained just the one points finish, Hulkenberg has already scored in three of the five races so far in 2024.
Haas Team Principal Ayao Komatsu said Hulkenberg’s experience has been valuable for the American team.
“His experience and feedback have proved invaluable to us in terms of improving our overall performance – a fact that’s clearly evident in both his qualifying and race performances in the VF-24 this season,” Komatsu said.
“There’s lots more racing to go this year, so we look forward to continuing to benefit from his inputs throughout the remainder of the 2024 season.”
More F1 news on pages 20-22.
Thomas Miles
‘Frosty’ felt more was possible than 11th in the rain but he had nothing in the dry.
“I think in the wet, we missed an opportunity there, but in the dry ... that was all we had,” Winterbottom said.
“We really struggled with pace, there’s
no hiding behind it. We just weren’t good enough, so we will go back and continue to work.
“Then we’ll go to Perth and try and turn around a bad weekend.”
Thomas Miles
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THINGS WILL look a little different when the SpeedSeries heads to South Australia for the fourth round of its 2024 calendar at The Bend Motorsport Park later next month.
Series organisers have opted to switch layouts to the shorter 3.41km ‘West’ circuit configuration used by Supercars in the second leg of the 2020 doubleheader as opposed to the more familiar 4.95km ‘International’ layout which Supercars, the Australian Superbike Championship, and other top categories have used in recent years.
In addition to mixing up the action, the decision to race on the less frequently used, shorter configuration circuit, is also considered to be a move to cut down on resources and costs, as fewer marshals and camera crew are required.
There’s been a mixed reception to the decision, with TCR competitors such as Tony D’Alberto expressing disappointment for opting to use the shorter circuit.
“I’m pretty devastated to learn that information. I was really looking forward to going to The Bend and racing on the International layout,” D’Alberto told Auto Action
“While I haven’t raced on it, I have driven on the West circuit configuration during track days for clients. However, from a driver’s and purist’s point of view, driving the International circuit is quite exciting, and the cars really lend themselves more to racing around the traditional layout.”
The upcoming event, which gets underway in late May, will also mark the long-awaited return for the SpeedSeries to both South Australia and The Bend Motorsport Park, following an almost five-year hiatus from racing at the venue. D’Alberto is one of the only drivers who competed in the inaugural event back in 2019.
“I’ve got great memories there; we had a very strong car years ago, and you tend to get great racing there, and with some top categories in action, it should be a fantastic event,” the 2022 TCR Australia champion reflected.
The next round of the SpeedSeries will be at The Bend, which runs from May 31 to June 2. Jason Skylass
WITHIN THE last two years Nathan Herne has experienced all the highs and lows that motorsport can offer.
From being the undisputed king of Trans Am in Australia, winning back-to-back titles with GRM, Herne chased his dream in America, competing in the TA2 Series.
But that dream was dashed after just a year, leaving the ‘Lismore Bullett’ with nowhere to race in 2024.
Now he is back in Australia and racing all on his own, having taken matters into his own hands by setting up his own privateer team for the remainder of the 2024 Trans Am season.
It is an old-school operation, with the 21-year-old racing, testing, setting up and fixing the Dodge on his own with only three others including his dad assisting on race weekends.
Herne made his comeback at Symmons Plains where he led his first three laps, only for a puncture to put him on the back foot.
More tyre blistering battles at Phillip Island mean Herne’s bets result has been fourth in his comeback.
Reflecting on his journey back to the
Trans Am grid, Herne admitted he did not think it would look like this, but he will give it everything to make the underdog approach pay off.
“For me, it is something I have never thought about but recent events made me really knuckle down and think what would be next,” Herne told Auto Action.
“It has been very tough, when I was in America there were a few times where I felt I was let down. I also let the team down at times as well but i never really got the opportunity to show what I have got, which is still gut wrenching.
“Now I have no excuses and that is why I am doing this and after last year I want to do it properly.
“I am starting at 6am and finishing at 9pm seven days a week which is what I have to do to compete with the best.
“It has been a good challenge and made me more of a complete driver, and to do it with people I enjoy being around is great.
“I have to take a step back to admire that I can run a car myself but I am too competitive to do that and want to try and win as many races as I can.”
In something of a fairytale, Herne is
conducting the personal Trans Am return with a car that means a lot to him.
He is steering the same Dodge Challenger he won his first Trans Am title with in 2021 and admitted it is special to reunite with the car but, given he must not only race it, but also fix it, he is a lot more aware of every scratch.
“It is tough having been with GRM and a big team behind me in America and now coming back doing a solo operation,” Herne said.
“Now I have to do all the repairs pretty much by myself so when I am racing I am definitely thinking more about the damage and consequences.
“I have tried to leave as much as I can in 2021 shape without affecting this year.
“That was the year that set off my career off the back of the Super Licence thing, which crushed me.
“I am hoping to do a repeat this year by flicking the switch again and there is no better way than by racing the old girl again.
“But with the experience the field has, it will be very hard to get to that point.”
Thomas Miles
THE VICTORIAN Historic Racing Register (VHRR) has confirmed the date of its Phillip Island Classic event for 2025.
The huge Historic festival will run through March 6, 7, 8 and 9, the weekend before the Australian F1 Grand Prix, at Albert Park.
This returns the event to its traditional Labour Day long weekend spot (Monday March 10 is Labour Day).
It does, however, also now clash with the Adelaide Motorsport Festival (March 8/9).
THE 2021 Moto2 World Champion, broke through for his first-ever podium in an action-packed race in the Netherlands after holding off former MotoGP rider Andrea Iannone to claim third place. Gardner also revealed in a post-race interview that he came close to retiring following his disappointing year in MotoGP.
“There was one point where I could maybe retire and do something else. I think I’ve put in so much work, but finally, good things come to the people who work hard and it finally pays off” said Gardner.
The maiden podium sees Gardner move up to eighth in the standings ahead of the next round of the championship.
TARGA WILL host a new TARGA Academy event in Mount Buller next year from January 31 to February 2 2025.
The new event will be focused around teaching participants the key skills required to complete tarmac rallies and get a taste of TARGA prior to when the events return later in 2025.
The opening day will see competitors spent “suitable time in the classroom” before the fun begins on the weekend where on-course practice sessions will take place on the Saturday and the TARGA Academy Sprint is held on Sunday.
The TARGA High Country is scheduled to make a long-awaited comeback in its traditional window of November 15-17 in 2025
CAR Masters racer
Andrew Fisher is excited to be back in action for the second round of the championship, following a huge shunt at the season-opening event at Bathurst.
His #09 Jesus Racing Holden Torana A9X, affectionately named ‘Mary’, sustained damage to its front suspension, as well as a bent front rail. Following the shunt, Fisher reached out to Garry O’Brien and his team at Bendigo Retro Muscle Cars to assist in the rebuild of the car.
“We sat down with Garry, worked out a plan, and they took us on, and they’ve done a great job. They’re very precise in what they do. They do complete rebuilds for fastidious car owners like myself,” said Fisher.
The repair job also wouldn’t have been completed without the help of Fisher’s two volunteer crew members, Marc Waddell and Andrew Martin, who spent hundreds of hours
ensuring the car is back and stronger than it was before the crash at Mount Panorama.
“I had two of my guys based there full-time who worked alongside Garry’s guys during the rebuild, and the workmanship that they do is fabulous. Garry is a real keen enthusiast when it comes to these cars, so you’ve got someone who cares about it as much as we do.”
“It’s been a long process, and we also took the opportunity to improve a few
wearing issues we had with the car.”
2024 has been a year of change for the Touring Car Masters as ownership of the category has been transferred from ARG to now being run independently.
“There’s a change of ownership, however, it’s also back to the future with a lot of the guys who are passionate about the category back in the fold running it,” added Fisher.
The change of ownership has also meant the series has moved away from being part of SpeedSeries rounds to realigning itself with Supercars, with five of the six 2024 rounds being held at Supercars-run events.
“That’s something we were all pushing for, and it’s great to be part of the Supercars support program.”
The TCM series heads to Perth for the next round of the championship, which runs from May 17 to 19.
Jason Skylas
NEW ZEALAND’S greatest motorsport patron and general philanthropist, Sir Colin Giltrap has died, aged 84 after battling ill health after a fall last year.
Giltrap was a massively successful car dealer who grew a single dealership into a huge chain, known initially as European Motor Distributors, catering for just about every brand of vehicle from that part of the world, in particular luxury brands.
His support for drivers –both NZ and even Australian – is legendary. It goes back as far as our own Larry Perkins (supporting the newborn Perkins Engineering race team), but more recently includes many names such as Scott Dixon, Shane van Gisbergen, Liam Lawson, Mitch Evans, Earl
passed away on Thursday 18 April aged 80.
Gill started racing in an Elfin sports car that he accepted as payment for a business transaction in the late 1960s until it was replaced with a Ford Anglia to compete in Sports/Racing Closed, a Category that became Sports Sedans.
He was always a Ford man, moving on from the Anglia to the ex-Geoghegan Mustang, then the David ‘Chocolates Robertson V8 Capri, after a lengthy rebuild after a fire at Sandown.
The ex-Gowans Celica was an exception, before the Glenn Seton AU V8 Supercar and, last of all, a BF Falcon.
Gill was not just a competitor – he had a large input into motorsport administration.
He was elected to the position of Secretary of the Australian Sports Sedan Association in 1971 and became the voice of the ASSA in the incredibly lengthy and robust negotiations with CAM. for the first set of Regulations for the Category.
Gill was elected as the President of the ASSA in 1975, 1982 and 1984, once again guiding the ASSA through a push by CAM. to make major changes to the Sports Sedan Regulations in the 80s.
Gill was the third ASSA Life Member and achieved the
Bamber, Brendon Hartley and others. It is a long list.
He was the man behind the NZ team franchise during the A1GP era which brought that series to NZ three times.
Apart from his significant support for motorsport, in particular young drivers, Sir Colin is remembered for funding the appearance of Tiger Woods at a NZ Open golf tournament, but also donated to causes such as the Canterbury Earthquake Appeal, Breast Cancer Foundation, the Starship Foundation and notably, the Bruce McLaren Centre at Auckland University.
AA sends its thoughts to Lady Jenny Giltrap, sons Richard and Michael, and the Giltrap family – including grandson/racer Marco.
Gill
ASSA’s Driver Champion Award in 2013.
He was also a member of the Victorian Motor Race Panel and as the Chief Observer for the CAMS Observed Licence Tests conducted at Calder through the 80s/90s. Prior to becoming involved in motorsport, Gill played football for Prahan in the VAFA and Richmond in the VFL.
He also served as a councillor for Prahan for a number of years and was elected to the position of mayor for the final two years of the existence of Prahran as a local Council. Like all of us, Bob was not without his flaws – however he lived his life to the fullest, engaged so many of us in his life and did his best to be an all round good bloke.
Condolences to Rebecca, Brad the entire Gill Family. Colin Smith
IT IS all systems go at Warrnambool’s Premier Speedway with its long awaited new track surface expected to be installed later this week.
The much-discussed dark, black clay that has been in use for the last three seasons and caused headaches by being too inconsistent, swinging from slick to abrasive, as well as lacking visibility, has now been removed.
Currently taking up the entire centre garage section of the Warrnambool paddock, is 3000 cubic metres of orange clay, which will be the new track surface.
In recent days the team at Sungold Stadium have been preparing the base material to ensure the new clay can be included next week in a process that has cost a six-figure sum.
Premier Speedway General Manager Michael Parry confirmed the recent works and hopes the new racing surface will be in place by the end of the week.
“The weather has hampered the team’s efforts to get it finished but the current status is that all the black clay has now been removed and the base of the track is just about finished,” he told Auto Action
“The guys will use some GPS points and form the sub base to get all the angles and shape of the racing surface to a consistent point.
“We have the new racing surface
in the pit area at the moment and as soon as the sub-base is all shaped and packed in the clay will be installed with a consistent thickness of the new racing surface.
“Our plan is to have the track finished weather depending by the end of (this) week and have the new racing surface installed.”
Reflecting on the much-maligned previous darker clay, Parry said after “numerous attempts” to make it work, change was the only option.
After “accelerating our search” in the last six months, Premier Speedway was “fortunate” to find some new clay within 8km just two weeks before its Easter deadline.
This ensured the team could use the critical post Easter window to get the new track surface ready prior to winter.
Whilst its early days, Parry said the new clay is a “step in the right direction” but he knows there is still lots of work to do to make sure Premier Speedway can put on a show in 2024/25.
“We have listened to feedback and made the decision prior to Christmas to go public with our challenges and that was to say to all our competitors and patrons that we are not turning a blind eye to the issue and are committed to putting on better racing,” he said.
“We have to earn our stripes again but are confident we can do that and put on some good racing in 2024/25.”
Thomas Miles
DATE SET FOR ANNUAL CLASSIC PREMIER SPEEDWAY has also been busy revealing its 2024/25 Summer of Speedway calendar. It means the 2025 Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic will be held across three nights, starting on Friday, January 24 and wrapping up on Sunday, January 26.
2024/25 PREMIER SPEEDWAY CALENDAR
NOV 2: Sprintcars/Wingless Sprints
NOV 16: Sprintcars/Jack Willsher Cup Formula 500
DEC 14: Max’s Race Sprintcars/V8 Dirt Mods
JAN 1: Sprintcars Speedweek
JAN 5: Speedcars/Wingless Sprints Summer Slam
JAN 19: Sprintcars
JAN 24: Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic Night 1
JAN 25: Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic Night 2
JAN 26: Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic Night 3
FEB 21: V8 Dirt Modified Australian Championship
FEB 22: V8 Dirt Modified Australian Championship
MAR 15: Sprintcars
APR 5: Pro Sprintcars
APR 20: Sprintcars Easter Trail
NOT EVERYONE WAS CONVINCED ABOUT TAUPO AS A VENUE FOR THE SUPERCARS FOLLOWING THE DEMISE OF THE MUCH-LOVED PUKEKOHE. HOW DID IT GO? ANDREW CLARKE WAS THERE ...
TAUPO HAD its doubters. Now it doesn’t.
The Tony Quinn-owned track in the middle of the North Island of New Zealand delivered just the sort of fillip that Supercars needed after a lacklustre start to the year at Bathurst. Quinn, who owns three tracks in New Zealand that he will soon transfer to the Tony Quinn Foundation for safe keeping, always wanted Taupo for the race – he just had to convince Supercars it was the right choice.
He did that, jumped through the hurdles required with the New Zealand government, and now, after the circus missed only one year in Aotearoa, he has proven he knew what he was doing with a total sellout of Saturday and Sunday at Taupo on corporate and general admission, teasing New Zealand into the idea of back-to-back races in 2026.
“A fantastic crowd, fantastic,” he said from the pitlane after the first race. “And it’s the first time for a very long time that they have been genuinely sold out—genuinely sold out, not ‘Tony Cochrane’ sold out.”
“Honestly, the town loves it. You talk to Will and Broc – they go downtown – they love it. Everybody’s got an ego, right? When they go to Melbourne to the Grand Prix, nobody knows them. But when they’re here, they walk downtown, go to a coffee shop, everybody’s in. And it’s all positive.”
In response to RACE Chairman Barclay Nettlefold’s comments on the Auto Action website that a second round depends on Quinn’s appetite, he responded that he thinks “it’s essential, a no-brainer” but that first he wanted to lock down Taupo with a repeat effort in 2025. He talked about selling both he sausage and the sizzle, with the sausage being the race and the sizzle the event.
He knows it is going to be hard to top the inaugural event, but if you know Tony Quinn,
you’ll know he loves a challenge, and he’s up for the fight.
Everyone in Supercars spoke positively about the race weekend despite the rain, which was officially only 9.2mm for Saturday but seemed much more. About half the crowd remained through the downpour, underlining the commitment of the Kiwi fans to Supercars.
With the dormant volcano Mount Tauhara shrouded in low clouds for the first two days of the weekend – a sign the locals said meant rain was near, as if we hadn’t worked that out ourselves – and steam vents at every vista, there was every chance the weather could have ruined the weekend. But, strangely, it didn’t.
In some ways, it enhanced the vibe and generated a racing spectacle. But the race on Sunday, in sunshine, was better.
The track layout left looked a little ‘Mickey Mouse’ with 14 corners overs it 3.5km and Supercars’ media guide says ‘it is a technical and tight circuit, and requires patience in the
low-speed corners and commitment through the fast sections’. The seven direction changes in front of the pits are regarded as the low speed section before the circuit opens up a little into the section developed for the A1 Grand Prix cars in 2006.
Quinn has only owned the circuit since 2021 and he has invested heavily in the venue to maintain its FIA Grade 2 accreditation, and to build it into a proper business before it gets handed over to the Tony Quinn Foundation for perpetuity.
Taupo’s layout suits Supercars, and the view from the Turn 12 grandstand at the end of the long straight adjacent to the highway is as good a view for car racing as you get anywhere in Australia. You can see the entire circuit.
A beaming local MP, Louise Upston, raved about the benefits of the race to Auto Action while standing on the grid for the start of the Sunday race.
“We’ve double the population of Taupo and filled the hotels,” she said. “This has been
such a great event for the local community, and we’ve been able to show Taupo to Australia.”
It was too early, she added, to measure the economic benefit, but filling the hotels and restaurants in Taupo on a weekend when it would not have been the case, was proof enough that any investment from the government was worthwhile.
She didn’t say it, because it is not her electorate, but it bodes well for Highlands Motorsport Park to do a similar thing for Queenstown in April 2026.
Out in the packed stands – every portable grandstand on the North Island was in Taupo – the fans embraced Supercars. It wasn’t Pukekohe with that breathtaking circuit and the huge crowd embankment, but it was special, nonetheless.
Riley Massey from Auckland made a weekend of Taupo with his family, although it only him and his son, Cole, who went to the track. They sat in the grandstand at Turn 12 and had a view of the entire track.
“I think the event’s been really good despite yesterday’s weather … it was a bit miserable’” he said. “But in terms of getting around and getting to and from the track, it’s been pretty seamless I thought.”
Massey hadn’t been to Pukekohe, so couldn’t talk about that, but he was dragged out by Cole to this event.
“It’s my first one in a long time. We came mainly because of my son’s enthusiasm for motorsport and the fact that it’s his birthday soon so we thought we’d treat him and sort of wrap it into a birthday present, basically.” Next door to Massey was Auckland’s Peter
“But as you saw yesterday, people came in here and didn’t worry about the rain. The rain tried to bugger it, but the Kiwis wouldn’t let it happen. They came out in the rain and the snow and the sleet with their umbrellas and their raincoats, and they wanted to come and see the racing.
“A hundred percent we’ll be back next year. I’m quite amazed it worked in Taupo. I actually thought it would be better close to a big city like Auckland, but it’s really been a huge success in the central North Island. It is different and I’m quite amazed – I think it’s better than Pukekohe.”
Chris Neville-Smith runs Australian Sport Marketing, which runs corporate entertainment at Supercars races and other sporting events. He’s seen plenty of sporting events, and even he was impressed.
This has been such a great event for the local community, and we’re been able to show Taupo to Australia ... “ ”
Johnston, ‘PJ’, in the corporate suites at the same corner. PJ is a motor racing person, he’s actually the chairman of Rally New Zealand and has been part of several of the support groups for kiwis heading overseas –but he was at Taupo as just another fan and the boss of gvi.kiwi.
“A fantastic weekend. Kiwi’s are passionate about their motorsport,” he said. “We’re a great breeding ground for great drivers and great mechanics, and obviously a lot have gone to Australia and been very successful.
“It’s quite unbelievable today. I thought it’d be quite hard to get people here, but it was actually pretty easy. I think the event itself has been well managed – it was easy to drive and get into the place, and the corporate facility is lovely. We’ve all found our way; we’ve all found a bed somewhere.
“This event’s phenomenal. The town’s embraced it amazingly and Supercars has done a really good job I think of putting the whole track together. I see a big future here, definitely,” he said.
“We’ve got about 80 to 90 guests here for the weekend and some accommodation and all that sort of stuff across four different teams. It’s been a successful weekend.”
He thinks a second weekend, if run like this one, would be a success and urged all involved to give it support.
“I think it’d be good for the New Zealand government as well as Supercars. Good for the New Zealand economy in terms of the whole supercar fraternity, going back-toback and doing some more touring around New Zealand and go down to Queenstown or Wellington or Christchurch or whatever.
Make us all stay for a week.
“I think it’s a big step up from Pukekohe and I think they’ve done a bloody good job in making this thing work from a town perspective and a track perspective. I think the facilities are better here and its proximity to town, to Taupō and the accommodation, is great. The restaurants, bars, all that sort of activity – there’s a lot to do around here.
“It feels great. I reckon the town’s got a
good vibe to it and they’ll learn from year one in terms of a couple of things to not do or add to it next year to make it even better.”
At AA, we’ve started our own planning now for an extra day or two, but keeping some up our sleeves for 2026 when we will be in New Zealand for at least 10 days to cover both the Taupo and Highlands events. Tony Quinn and Barclay Nettlefold told us it is happening … and we’re believers now!
and Dan Brkic have soared to their maiden Junior World Rally Championship podium in just their second attempt, in Croatia.
In just Gill’s third tarmac rally and second sharing the WRC spotlight, the Newcastle product finished secondbest behind the more experienced Estonian Romet Jurgensson.
Gill’s second place was the first time an Australian has been on a World Rally Championship podium since Brendan Reeves finished third in the junior category at the 2012 Acropolis Rally in Greece.
The 20-year-old was delighted with the breakthrough result as he now sits third in the championship.
“Rallying on tarmac is quite a foreign experience for an Aussie from Newcastle,” Gill said.
“But Dan and I put in a huge amount of work in the lead-up to the Croatia Rally, so to come home with a podium finish is a great reward.
“We still have three rallies left in the Junior World Rally Championship, so we’ll continue to work hard and try and build up as many points in the upcoming events.”
Despite the strong result, Gill started on the back foot after a spin lost 53s and a puncture on Stage 3.
But Gill found his groove in the afternoon as back to back stage wins helped him to emerge third overall by the end of the day when “it seemed to all click.”
Gill carried on his momentum into the weekend by finishing second in Saturday’s opening two stages, which vaulted him ahead of Norbert Maior and into second overall.
A tight victory over Jurgenson on Stage 14 tightened his grip on the position by more than a minute at the conclusion of the second day despite losing some time in Saturday’s finale. After starting Sunday with plenty of speed, finishing the opening stage third, just 3.1s off the pace, Gill “just focused on being consistent” until the finish.
A pair of ninths and a 10th place in the final three stages proved to be enough to secure second.
Gill was 2m35.1s away from winner Jurgenson, but was a 1m20s ahead of Maior.
Boosted by some silverware, Gill and Brkic will turn their attention to Rally Italia Sardegna on May 30-June 2.
Thomas Miles
SPORTS SEDAN racer and category president Michael Robinson is putting the final touches on a new Ford Mustang he plans to unleash against his fellow competitors later this season.
Robinson, who has been a mainstay of the category and known for racing his iconic Holden Monaro for many years, will be making the switch to the blue oval in the next few months and believes that the move to the Mustang will lead to improved handling and performance.
“The Mustang should be significantly better than the Monaro. It’s quite a lot lower in its centre of gravity and better in its weight distribution, so cornering should be improved,” Robinson told Auto Action It will be a momentous occasion when the car finally hits the track, considering
the project has been in the works for a number of years.
“I’ve been building my Mustang for two and a half years, and before that Riverside Racing, who originally built the frame, worked on it for a couple of years, so it’s been a project about five years in the making. I’m hoping to get the car out on track sometime in the next few months,” shared Robinson.
The Ford Mustang brand has gone through a renaissance period in Australia since it re-entered the Supercars Championship and Robinson’s Sports Sedan will differ from the Supercars iterations fans have become familiar with in recent years.
“It’s a Mustang body which we’ve shaped differently from Supercars. It’s quite a bit wider, all fiberglass and carbon
fibre panels, paddle-shift gears, and it’s got a Chevrolet 6-litre engine with about 750 horsepower compared to Supercars which run at around 600 horsepower. So the car is lighter, wider, and hopefully a fair bit faster, which is the plan.”
Robinson has also enlisted the help of former Supercars and Sports Sedan driver Darren Hossack, who will get in the car and shake it down before its racing debut.
The Sports Sedan category has experienced a resurgence in recent years since it has linked up with both Supercars and the SpeedSeries as part of their support card lineup, with around 25 entries expected to take part in the next event at Tailem Bend.
The next National Sports Sedan Series round is on May 31 to June 2
AFTER BEING forced to use a mixed bag at the Symmons Plains opener, everyone will be racing on the same Hankook tyre when the Precision National Sports Sedans breathe fire once again at The Bend.
The historic opening round being the first in Tasmania for the best part of three decades produced great racing, but it was impacted by a tyre supply issue.
For 2024, the category’s control tyre is supplied by Hankook, but there were not enough to go around the entire 16-car field.
As a result of not enough stock being on hand, there was a small disparity in tyre performance during the weekend.
However, that will not be the case when the Sports Sedans return at Tailem Bend at the end of May.
Precision National Sports Sedans
President Michael Robinson confirmed that whilst it was a headache in the Apple Isle, the issue has now been rectified.
“We have changed control tyre brand supplier from Kuhmo to Hankook for the next three years but the stock that we had was not enough for cars that ran with
a slightly narrower tyre,” he told AUTO ACTION.
“There were a mixture on Yokohama, Michelin and Kuhmo but that will be resolved with the stock on the ship that will come in so everyone will have Hankook tyres at The Bend.
“That is in our series regs, so they will have to conform with that.
“It was a difficult in Tasmania because all three tyre brands work differently so some
felt advantages and disadvantages
“The current supply of tyres was meant to come in early January – but it is a worldwide issue so they were not in stock.
“We only had last year’s stock which was not enough. So, if they could not fit the size that was available then they were allowed to run their own brand.
“At the end of the day the fastest lap was still done on a Hankook.”
Thomas Miles
RACE CAR SAFETY HAS COME A VERY, VERY LONG WAY SINCE THE TRAGIC EVENTS OF IMOLA 1994 – BUT HAVE WE BECOME JUST A BIT TOO SAFETY CAR TRIGGER-HAPPY?
THE SIGHT of an estimated three million Brazilians lining the streets of Sao Paulo when Ayrton Senna was laid to rest is something not easily forgotten. His country loved him.
The Senna movie captured the whole thing so eloquently and, of course, every April 30/ May 1, the motorsport world is reminded of the horrendous weekend – now 30 years ago – when not only Senna, but another young driver, Roland Ratzenberger, lost their lives in two violent, high-impact crashes.
Ayrton was, as the movie concluded, just unlucky. Cause of his exit from the track aside, a stray piece of suspension was the cause of his fatal head injury. Nine out of ten times, he’d have walked away.
Thirty years is a long time –Ayrton would have been 64 last month if he was still with us and who knows what he would have got up to had he walked away from the crash, and then after his F1 career had ended. I’m pretty sure he’d have mopped up the championships won by Williams drivers in the aftermath – Damon Hill and Jacques Villeneuve’s – and the contest between he and Michael Schumacher, that was just starting to warm up, would have been fascinating.
There are those who believe he was destined, given his concern over the last period of his life for the children of Brazil, for politics. Imagine how that might have been – President Senna? …
Forever young, as they say. Ayrton will always be remembered as the slightly complex champion who divided opinion around the world – an unquestioned talent, mixed in with some occasional tactics that created animated discussion everywhere.
The immediate aftermath of Imola 1994 saw a significant investment by F1 in improving driver safety, on a scale not seen since Jackie Stewart first broached the subject of the terrible toll back in the 60s and 70s that made driving in Formula 1 so dangerous – back then, they were like WW2 fighter pilots, with a correspondingly modest life expectancy.
Carbon-fibre cars had already been around since the McLaren MP4/1 in 1981, but
with the carbon primarily as a performance gain – stiffness, strength, less weight. But it was after Senna’s crash, live on global TV, that the next steps were taken – with a total safety target, rather than performance. Crash testing; side intrusion regulations and so on over time and, in particular, the now standard ‘halo,’ have led to the incredibly high level of in-car safety enjoyed by today’s F1 stars – and singleseater racers world-wide. Ask Romain Grosjean, who walked away from that awful-looking fiery crash four years ago that, in years gone by, would have undoubtedly killed him. Allied with parallel progress in track safety – gravel traps, impact-reducing ‘Safer’ fencing inside the concrete or armco barriers, and so on – driver (and spectator) safety around the world has reached unparalleled levels. And the wider motorsport
world has benefitted from it. However, with it has come an increasingly ‘zero-risk’ approach to race management. The slightest thing anywhere near the racing surface, be it a parked or crashed car, or something that has fallen off a car, will invariably bring out the Safety Car – even if it’s 30 or 40 metres off the circuit itself, but inside the perimeter fence. Throughout the sport, increasingly, major races, strategic races, Grands Prix are turned into raffles when a Safety Car is called. No-one is seeking to ban the Safety Car – far from it. There are times when it is essential. But, if there’s a car parked 20m off the road, up against the fence, on a straight (or even nearer the track edge), could the stars be considered smart enough to bear that in mind? To go by on the other side of the road even? Of course they could.
Our F1 heroes these days are being wrapped in cotton wool. Sky TV’s ex-F1 driver, now commentator, Martin Brundle, has suggested on more than one occasion that, without some degree of risk, Formula One isn’t a challenge. Risk management by a driver at 300kmh is what it’s all about; overly cautious risk management by an underinstruction race official is perhaps another thing …
Other ‘danger’ sports haven’t gone quite so far with ‘risk management’. Horse racing has barely changed its modus operandi for decades. On average, one jockey suffers fatal injuries every year in Australia, but racing carries on as normal the next day. People still fall off Mount Everest trying to climb it. And how does MotoGP get away with it? …
Within the insurance spectre that we are told is the reason for the zero-risk approach in car racing, there must be potential for common sense to reduce the number of race-ruining Safety Cars, surely. Yellow flags, double yellows are – assuming base intelligence among competitors – a perfectly viable alternative on many occasions.
These days, there’s even the technical ability for Race Control to control car speeds remotely, for single sectors of race-tracks, if required. None of this needs to increase risk, if done properly.
Is there a basis for a discussion – at Australian level?
Sure. Is the sport being just a bit too cautious about it all – to its entertainment detriment? Yes. Will anything happen? Doubtful. Which is a shame. Fans are bored by Safety Cars –there were 12 during the recent Bathurst Six Hours … Motorsport, particularly closed-circuit racing, is remarkably safe these days. The priority needs to return to the show; improving it for the fans. Cutting down on Safety Car interventions would be a good thing. There’s nothing wrong with common-sense … and there’s technology to fall back on to assist.
I’m pretty sure Ayrton, who was a pure racer, would agree. He was a full-on racer and a risk-taker, if necessary, who polarised the sport – but the sport, and his nation, idolised him for it. Safety is one thing, for sure; but cotton wool is another …
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AFTER A four-week break, and a pretty good race meeting at Taupo in New Zealand, we now have to wait another four weeks before Supercars are on track again, in Perth.
I don’t know who is really in charge up there at Supercars HQ, but they need to take a leaf out of just about every other motorsport’s book and either add some more races (please) or compact the season down so there is no more than 2, maybe 3 weeks maximum between events.
Look at F1 – though no-one is saying that Supercars could possibly run 20 races a year economically, F1 does keep people’s attention (even if you do know the result before the race starts). Look at Speedway – racing several times a week across Summer. Look at Toyota 86s even – they don’t start their series until July and it finishes in October, a far more sensible calendar for both teams I would think, and fans. How about nrunning the main series, over Summer, starting with Sandown 500 and finishing at the Grand Prix, with a separate Sprint series, four events maybe, to keep teams busy across winter.
Is there a reason why Australia is the only contry in the world (that I know of) that runs its motorsport season across winter instead of summer?
Mick Allardice Calloundra, QLD
Editor’s note: Some interesting thoughts and questions
Mick. Australia used to run its motorsport across summer, and there’s been occasional chat about moving it back, but no real sign of change.
BRODIE IS BACK BUT WE STILL DON’T KNOW WHAT HAPPENED
It’s great to see Brodie Kostecki back with the Erebus Team and
looking competitive at Taupo, but none of us fans really know what happened, why he was missing for the first two races, and how things were put right, after all the drama and the team’s loss of key sponsors.
While everyone is entoitled to personal privacy, this is a profesional sport and I think they, or Supercars, owe their fans some light shed on what happened. If I was to guess, it looks like Brodie was being pulled in several directions by advisers, sponsors etc, and maybe assumed that the team would allow him to break his contract and move on, as it was with Will Brown.
But as champion, I can understand Betty, or any team, wanting their champion to stay on, especially if there was a solid contract, which it looks like there is. That aside, I hope the ‘happy’ team on show at Taupo is for real and that they can get back to their winning ways.
Ed Ackhurst Bundoora, VIC
Editor’s note: You may be correct Ed, but the team has, mainly under legal advice I suspect, chosen to say little and just get back to business. It has certainly been a strange time, but the signs are that it is business as usual.
It was interesting to see successful Supercars co-driver Dave Russell doing so well at Taupo in the Carrera Cup events, so why has he moved away from the Erebus team after being so successful with them, to go to PremiAir, with respect a less experienced team? He has anchored Kostecki to third, fourth and second in the past three Bathursts, so why change?
Peter Harlowe Gosford, NSW
Good question, Peter. Think it has something to do with the whole Kostecki drama and Dave
OUR READERS HAVE COMMENTED ON F1, SUPERCARS AND MORE ... TAUPO/BRODIE’S BACK
Ronald J
Nice he’s back, but Ford still hasn’t won a race. Even BJR now has a win. Something’s not quite right, is it.
Allan Ferris
Good to see the champ back. So silly that they’ve dropped two rounds and no show to catch the Triple Eight cars for the championship.
understandably only wanting to drive with Brodie. With Brodie at one point considered unlikely to drive at all this year, David may have made a decision to move then, and there’s suggestions the team (Erebus) may have already committed to another co-driver over that time.
It was good to read about another up-and-coming driver going down the Formula Ford path in your last issue.
It was also good to see Formula Ford racing at the Supercars Taupo meeting, and putting on probably the best race of the whole weekend in its Sunday championship decider. When will Supercars here look to support Formula Ford on its programme instead of some of the rubbish it currently puts out as support races?
Val Gregory Epping, VIC
I read an article recently (on an overseas F1 site) which reckoned that nearly half the current Formula 1 field shouldn’t be there, that is they are there due to “commerial reasons”.
If you think about it, Stroll is the obvious one (Daddy’s team) and the likes of Sargeant at Williams, possibly Tsunoda (Honda), maybe Zhou, but it would seem to me that most of the other mid-fielders are reasonable choices. Maybe they are referring to Perez – he does seem way short of his team-mate most of the time?
Stefan Kidwell F1 Fan Woodville, SA
Not sure where you heard that, Stefan. Yes, there’s drivers in all areas of motorsport securing their spot with ‘commercial’ support, but half of F1? Maybe you should stay away from dubious overseas F1 websites and stick with AA!
Nigel Patterson Taupo showed the advantage of running races at proper race tracks, not all expensive street races. Spectators could see most of what was going on, not just 200m of track. So how about QR, Phillip Island, Winton regaining events.
MadRacer
When it’s dry the Camaros still have an advantage over a race distance. Or are all the Ford teams simply not up to it. If they could stop the wheels falling off ...
Supercar fan634
Slade had an opportunity to shine, but risked it all on a shrinking gap.
Formula 1
Barry J Keith
The current F1 rules were meant to promote competition which, if you took Red Bull out, is not too bad. Maybe all Liberty needs to do is pay out Adrian Newey so he doesn’t ruin it all with the next new rules in 2026.
Warwick80210
I know Lance Stroll isn’t the first to get a drive because the family owns the team, but this is getting ridiculous. Thrashed by a 42 year-old team-mate.
ColinGHart
Did I see that the Australian Grand Prix is thinking of replacing F3 with the new F1 Academy (womens) Series. Please, nooooo. Nothing against any female racers, but they should race in F3 if they are serious.
NASCAR/XFinity
Mo Bradford
Following Van Giz, but it’s a bit of a raffle at the end of their races, from fifth to nowhere at Talladega. If the crashers don’t get you, you’ll run out of fuel!
TALK ABOUT a pioneer.
Marcos Ambrose was diving deeply into the unknown when he parked his Supercars career in 2005 for a shot at the big time in the USA.
He had a pair of tin-top titles, but still had yet to claim the big one at Bathurst, when he rolled the dice on a career in NASCAR.
But that was, and still is, typical of Ambrose.
He bites off more than he can chew, then chews like crazy.
The first time he abandoned his home in Tasmania he was a 22-year-old on the traditional route to Europe, hoping to make it to Formula One up the single-seater ladder.
But he never had enough money, despite his talent, commitment, and a family connection to the Van Diemen world of Formula Ford through his father – and company founder – Ross.
So he returned to Australia and rebounded into V8 Supercars, where he made an instant impact and rattled lots of front-running cages.
His battles with Mark Skaife, classic Ford-versus-Holden stuff, were brilliant. I can still recall the time they collided at Oran Park, on the first lap of Friday practice, and Ambrose also laughed as he remembered it.
But if this is too much of a history lesson for you, let’s fast-forward to today.
Shane van Gisbergen is a rising star of NASCAR, Brodie Kostecki
also has his long-term sights set on the USA, and Cam Waters is working hard to get more starts in the NASCAR truck series.
They are all following Ambrose.
“There is no barrier. You’ve just got to be good,” Ambrose said this week, talking about the gold rush to NASCAR.
“You’ve got to find opportunities. And I worked really hard to get opportunities. The only reason it worked out was I showed enough promise in the early races for them to keep me on.
“It’s a journey. You’re not going to do it in a week.”
It’s ironic that one of his hobbies was gold panning, because he definitely struck it rich during his time in the ’States.
The early days in trucks were not easy, but eventually he became a road-course specialist with a string of victories in both the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series.
Ambrose never got a frontrunning ride at the top level, but he was solid and did plenty to keep his place for nearly a decade.
These days, after returning home for a failed comeback in Supercars – he pulled the pin because he was not competitive – he is
concentrating on his family, as he teaches his wife Sonja to play golf and supports the early racing careers of his daughters Adelaide and Tabitha. He has also helped to create a world-class holiday resort in Tasmania while battling some health problems.
““I love golf It’s a mental challenge. And a personal quest.
“I am enjoying golf again I’m playing with Sonja; and dad is 84 and he’s off 18. It’s not easy to get beaten by an 84-year-old.
“In this era of my life and what’s getting wrong, it’s a nice distraction.
“We’re just trying to give the girls a really good life experience. They are doing some racing now and Adam Macrow is helping out.
“Adelaide is younger and a participator. Tabitha is having a go. She’s going to be okay.”
But Ambrose has a new role as the go-to guy for anyone looking at NASCAR.
“They certainly talk to me first. I‘ve had a lot of conversations with a lot drivers,” he said, without naming any names.
“Plenty of people are looking. They are not satisfied with what’s here. It’s not enough for them.” So what is his advice?
“You have to prove you’re not in the ‘Can’t get it done’ category. They want to see the best guys running hard and going for victories.
“The people who have gone over there are the racer’s racers. You’ve got Cam doing his Sprintcar thing.
“And Shane is the same. Shane loves racing.
“For both Cam and Shane it’s going to hold them in good stead. You need to race – it’s not a show.
“Brodie has been over there before, and he’s a fantastic driver. He was already over there. We shared the same bank manager!
“He’s already proven on the short tracks. He will go great if he gets the opportunity to go back.”
Ambrose knew it would be tough in the ’States but he had done an incredible amount of research and preparation at home, forged new alliances in NASCAR, and raced hard from day one.
“The word ‘barrier’ never entered my mind. I’d get picked on at the racetrack. People do you wrong. But as soon as you could give it back the same, then you’re in the respect zone.”
“If you’re an exciting driver, and different, the sponsors and team and crew will get behind you.”
Not surprisingly, the 47-year-old is not taking the credit for the gold rush despite his early prospecting work.
“Shane has done more for Australian drivers trying to get there than I ever did. He’s doing a commendable job on the ovals.
He’s doing a really fantastic job, and I expect that to continue.”
But he has a word of caution.
“Clearly people are looking for options. They want to get paid more. You’ve only got a small window as a race car driver to get things done.
“But there is not room for everybody. There are a bunch of Americans who want to do it as well.”
So, what’s the bottom line for any Aussies looking across the Pacific Ocean to NASCAR?
“They love a winner. They love someone having a go.
“America is great like that. They reward and celebrate winners.”
But he also has more words of caution.
“Ken Schrader told me early on, when I was driving for the Wood Brothers: ‘You know my secret? I just don’t cause any trouble. And I’m still here’.
“He was probably 50 and running in the Cup series. So … don’t be a problem. Blend in.
“If you have a bad day, you have to bin it. Don’t blame everyone but the sun. That doesn’t work …”
TOTO WOLFF is trying to turn the tables on Christian Horner, revealing at the end of the Chinese Grand Prix that he’s hoping to get Max Verstappen to join Mercedes from the start of 2026.
During the many years of the German team’s domination, between 2014 and 2021, Horner was often trying to find ways to get to Wolff, trying to destabilise the internal situation in the team. But now that it’s Red Bull and Verstappen that are winning week in, week out, Wolff has started to play the game and Horner doesn’t seem to be enjoying it.
Having briefly analysed why the W15 was only the fifth quickest car in Shanghai, Wolff decided to speak about the drivers’ market and, conceding that Verstappen will remain with Red Bull next year, hinted there are serious negotiations going on with the Dutchman’s management regarding the 2026 season.
On top of that, the Austrian hinted that he isn’t the one pitching a deal to the Verstappen clan, saying that “I don’t think anyone can sell anything to Max, Jos [Verstappen] and Raymond [Vermeulen, manager]. With their combined understanding of motorsport, whatever you say isn’t going to change anything. I believe it’s a question of how they feel, where the future is best for them, considering a lot of factors.”
Then, showing tremendous confidence in his team’s project, he insisted that “I think we’re in a very good position for 2026. We are ambitious with the targets we’ve set
for the fuel, and I think that if we’re able to produce a decent chassis, we’re a good value proposition. But who knows?”
And then, pouncing on the instability created by Horner’s scandal inside Red Bull, Wolff also explained that, from his point of view, having the quickest car may not be the only criteria Verstappen wants fulfilled to race for a team:
“There are so many factors that play a role for a driver joining. Clearly when you look at it from the most rationale point of view, you can say ‘well that’s the quickest car in the hands of the quickest driver. But I don’t think that this is the only reason you stay where you are’.
“For, let’s say, simple minds, that might be the only reason why you stay in the car and that’s it. But maybe there’s more depths to some people that consider other factors too and I think Max has more depth. Are we happy to convince him? I don’t think it’s a matter of convincing – Max knows motor racing better than anyone. He will take decisions that he feels are good for him. And I think a few factors play a role, but he’s the one that is going to trigger some more domino stones to fall … but everybody is waiting for what he’s going to do.”
And making it clear that he wasn’t the one who initiated conversations with
Verstappen’s management, Wolff added that, “we have conversation with many drivers, exploring the opportunities. I’m really not good at selling to be honest, I think I try to do nothing. It is down to facts – overselling something in order to attract someone or something isn’t the right way.
We’re having a development trajectory, we’ve set ourselves ambitious targets that we believe are necessary in order to perform on a strong level.”
And he then concluded by saying that “if I was Max, I would stay with Red Bull in 2025. But I’m not Max – he’s in the quickest car but there’s other factors …”
WOLFF’S WORDS were quickly relayed to Christian Horner and seriously irked the Red Bull Team Principal.
While he was clearly expecting to face questions about Verstappen’s total domination in Shanghai, he found himself subjected to a barrage of questions about Verstappen’s commitment to the team and clearly didn’t enjoy the experience.
Surprised that questions focused only on what Wolff had said, Horner initially trying to play it cool, claiming that “I’m going to think carefully what I say here.”
After a pause, he continued, asking “have you spoken to Max about this? Because if you speak to Max, it’s not about pieces of paper, at the end of the day. We know that he has a contract to the end of 2028. It’s about how he feels in the team and the relationship he has in the team and the way he’s performing.”
Then, turning his sights to his archnemisis, Horner fired:
“I don’t think Toto’s problems are his drivers. I think he’s probably got other elements that he needs to be focusing on rather than focusing on drivers that are unavailable.”
With many questioning why Verstappen hasn’t completely shut down all the
speculation about his immediate future, a frustrated Horner fired back, but wasn’t his usual fluent self while trying to put an end to the rumours:
“I don’t know how many more times he needs to say it. So, he’s said it numerous times. I mean he’s …” He then interrupted
himself, declaring that “I’m not going to get drawn into … I think sometimes it’s just designed to create noise. Today we moved ahead of the amount of races that Mercedes have won in the modern era. So, the team’s in form. Why on earth would you want to leave this team?
“Mercedes are the third team, behind their customers at the moment. So, I would think Toto’s time would be better spent perhaps focusing on the team rather than the driver market.”
And then, after another question on the same subject, he finally stated that “I can assure you that there is no ambiguity as to where Max Verstappen will be next year,” before making a very feeble attention to turn the tables on Wolff, by asking “have you heard George Russell is out of contract at the end of 2025? Maybe he might not be so keen to stay in 2026. So, you know, the market moves around …”
The games they play …
THE CHINESE Grand Prix was the first event of this season where Ferrari never looked competitive and the frustration felt by its drivers was palpable in the unusually hard way the fought each other both in the Sprint and in the race. Both on Saturday and Sunday, Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz clashed on track, as they were fighting for position.
Even though they both played the
situation down, it was clear that as the season progresses and the Spanish driver gets closer to leaving the Scuderia, tensions between the two are likely to rise and that could cost the Italian team some valuable points.
Starting only from sixth and seventh place on the grid on Sunday, with Leclerc ahead of Sainz, the two Ferrari drivers lost positions in the first couple of corners as
they fought each other hard. Russell and Hulkenberg managed to get ahead of both red cars, but the Monegasque got by the Haas driver before the end of the first lap, so, as they crossed the line for the first time, Leclerc was down to P7 with Sainz two positions behind.
The Spanish driver, who recovered to finish the race in fifth place, said at the end of the race that “what we did between the two of us, in the first couple of corners, cost both of us one or two positions,” adding that “we both lost positions to a Mercedes and a Haas – that cost us quite a lot in the race.”
Asked to elaborate, Sainz was quite economic with his words but made it clear that “both of us were fighting, went wide and two cars that shouldn’t have got past us did overtake us.”
Leclerc dismissed the incident as “one of those things that happens in the first corner – nothing much,” but it was clear he still hadn’t digested the clash from Saturday morning, as the two SF-24s banged wheels going into the hairpin, three laps before the end of the Sprint Race.
Sainz had been fighting hard to get past Alonso since lap eight but the two Spanish drivers clashed on lap 16, the Aston Martin driver getting a puncture for his troubles while Sainz’s car lost a few parts and was lacking downforce. Having already lost a position to Pérez, Sainz went defensive into the hairpin, slid wide and hit Leclerc’s SF-24 right rear wheel with his left rear, leaving the Monegasque incensed as he said on the radio “he always fights harder with me than with anybody else!”
At the end of the Sprint, in which he finished fourth, Leclerc openly said “I think Carlos went over the limit,” but played down the incident, adding that, “to be honest,
I have crossed the line also myself in the past and, when this happens, we normally have a discussion, we clear the air. We went through that in the past already and it went really well. So, I have no worries that it will be the case also this weekend, but today he went a bit over the limit. But contact between us is something to be avoided.”
Having calmed down a bit and managing to finish right behind his team mate, Sainz explained that “I was doing everything I could to defend and sliding … had a bit of a moment there with Charles.”
Then the Spaniard added that, “I apologise if I did something over the limit, but we were all racing really hard today, and I was doing my best to keep it under control out there.”
On Sunday, Leclerc added that “we spoke briefly before qualifying and much longer after qualifying with Fred and everything is fine,” but refused to get into details, saying that “sometimes I went over the limit and sometimes he went over the limit, but it’s part of the game and now we’ve had a discussion and it’s fine.”
His actions at the start of the race, as he pushed his team-mate wide into Turns 1 and 2, showed the Monegasque had a point to prove to Sainz, but Team Principal Frédéric Vasseur didn’t seem too concerned with the situation. As both drivers went straight into the engineering meeting after completing their post-race media duties, the Frenchman said “I didn’t speak with them,” also explaining that, “I didn’t really watch the start on TV.” Nevertheless he’d seen enough to comment that “I think that Charles was quite wide on the first one or two corners, but there was no contact … we lost the position. It was not the best outcome, but we’ll discuss with them after the meeting is over.”
FORMER GRAND Prix and Le Mans winner Johnny Herbert has revealed he received “a torrent of death threats” in the aftermath of the penalty imposed on Fernando Alonso by the Australian Grand Prix Stewards, for his role in George Russell’s crash very close to the end of the Melbourne race. Herbert was one of four Stewards on the panel, but seems to have been singled out by Alonso’s fans because he was the only former driver on the panel and, also, because the Aston Martin driver had a live spat with him during an interview, when the former Lotus, Benetton and Stewart driver was a commentator for Sky TV.
In an interview with an online platform, Herbert explained that “I got a torrent of death threats via social media. I am lucky I have got broad shoulders. I find it pathetic that I was the one thrown under the bus.”
The popular British driver than recalled that “It goes back to Bahrain two years ago, I think, or even some years before, when he was with McLaren. Alonso had been on the radio slagging off the engine almost every race saying it was like a GP2 engine. He was really vocal. I was working for Sky and said if Alonso didn’t like it he should leave the team. I didn’t say retire.
“Then he came up to me live on air in Bahrain and had a dig at me saying he was a world champion and would not retire and become a commentator because you were not a World Champion. The fans then used that as a weapon against me after Australia.”
A man who has lived the last 36 years in constant pain, following an horrific F3000 crash that nearly caused a double amputation, Herbert clearly has the mentality to survive online abuse, but revealed that “there were messages with dagger emojis at the bottom of the screen; people saying we know where you live, we will come for you,” he said.
“Most of them were Spanish. They should have understood because it was so clear how and why the decision was arrived at in the statement that was put out. People were also saying because I had never been a World Champion I was not qualified to have a say in it.”
Nevertheless, Herbert will remain an FIA Steward. As he expained:
“It has not put me off stewarding. It’s all part and parcel of it unfortunately. I was the Drivers’ steward in Melbourne so when it is a Driving steward, he is the one who gets the hard time. I accept it. It is not an issue. The threats lasted for two weeks and still are coming. It is part of the social media world where everyone has an opinion but don’t have the facts to back it up.”
And then, mirroring demands made by Lewis Hamilton, Lando Norris and other top drivers, Herbert added that “it happens too much now. Athletes, officials in many sports get bombarded with death threats. And many do suffer a lot because of it. The filth and abuse happens in all walks of life, even to ordinary people. Those platforms should be on top of it. But they are not. They allow it to happen. I don’t understand why – they should take action. But they say they cannot find a way of stopping it. I don’t believe that.
“I can laugh about it – we are lucky that it doesn’t affect us. But it does hurt many people. When it does happen, action should be taken. Something has to be done about it. But I never hear anything being done.”
Still, a couple of things clearly upset him, Herbert mentioning “the comments about knowing where I lived. The daggers and the threats that they were going to hurt me. I don’t get the mentality of people who do that. They are not true Formula 1 fans and I am sure Fernando would be embarrassed if he knew that his fans were doing that.”
FORMULA 1 is set to approve a change to the points system in the next month, with the top 12 finishers of each Grand Prix scoring, two more than under the current system.
The fact there are currently five teams clearly ahead of the rest of the field has meant that, for the smaller five teams, there are hardly ever any points up for grabs, making it difficult for them to satisfy their sponsors and motivate their staff as well.
Discussions about a revamped points system started immediately after the first two Grands Prix of the 2024 Formula 1 World Championship. In Bahrain, the top five teams – Red Bull, Ferrari, Mercedes, McLaren and Aston Martin – monopolised the top 10 at the end of the race and, one week later, in Saudi Arabia, only Nico Hulkenberg and Haas managed to break into that domination thanks to Lance Stroll’s heavy crash at the start of the race.
After five Grands Prix, only three drivers from outside the top teams have been able to get into the points, with RB’s Yuki Tsunoda scoring seven points, while the Haas duo has also managed to get into the scoreboard, Hulkenberg with four points and Magnussen with one.
The other seven drivers competing regularly this year – Daniel Ricciardo and the driving pairings from Alpine, Williams and Sauber – are yet to score
If the proposed new points sytem was in vogue now, Daniel Ricciardo would have some points reward for efforts to date rather than a blank ...
a point, with the new system currently under discussion aiming to give the smaller teams something tangible to fight for.
The proposal, which will be discussed and voted on at the start of next month, when the Formula 1 Commission meets up in Geneva, keeps the current points system unchanged up to seventh place, but then changes to allow up to the 12th finisher to score as well.
Currently points are awarded from 25 to the winner to one point to tenth – the order being 25-18-15-12-10-8-6-4-2-1 –but that will be changed, with the new system awarding points as follows: 2518-15-12-10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1.
While it’s widely expected the new system will be approved in the next couple of weeks, it will be only in 2025 that the change will come into effect, as you cannot change the scoring system in the course of a season. But if you were to apply the new system to the current championship, then Esteban Ocon, Alex Albon, Zhou Guanyu and Daniel Ricciardo would already have had something to celebrate, as they all finished inside the top 12 at least once, leaving just three drivers with no points on the table: Gasly, Bottas and Sargeant.
Speaking about the proposal, Ferrari’s Fréderic Vasseur indicated he won’t block the change but warned against further quick reaction if there are similar
situations in the future.
The Frenchman said that “I’m not against it and, coming from Alfa Romeo’s perspective, I perfectly understand the frustration that sometimes you are doing a mega weekend but, if there is no DNFs in front of you, you finish P11 and the reward is zero. You can finish P11 or P 20 and the end result is the same, so I can understand the frustration for this.
“Now, if you do this and next year you have six teams in front, you will say it’s the same again, let’s extend it to the top 13 … but we have to pay attention to avoid too many changes. But, as I said before I’m not against the change.”
His former driver – and potential beneficiary of the new system – Valtteri Bottas, also put his weight behind the new format, the Finn saying that “where we are as a team, yes, I’m completely for it. If you are in a top three, top four team, then you don’t mind – that’s how it goes. For us, yes, and to be fair for everybody, yes.
“I think the more points there are, and even in the Sprint, I think it’s better, we’ll see even more competition. It would be good, I would vote for that!”
As no-one has been negative about this new proposal so far, it’s almost certain it will be approved at the next meeting of the Formula 1 Commission and will come into effect from the start of the 2025 World Championship.
STEFANO DOMENICALI (above) stopped in Bangkok on his way back to London from Shanghai, the Formula 1 CEO meeting with Thailand’s new Prime Minister, Srettha Thavisin, who took office just eight months ago. Although the Thai government qualified this meeting as a “courtesy call,” a spokesman for the Prime Minister’s office admitted that there are ongoing talks for the country to host a Formula 1 Grand Prix and even indicated in which area of the capital a proposed street race could be held!
When rumours started circulating that Domenicali had targetted organising 30 Grands Prix per year, to increase Liberty Media’s income to a maximum (with the Americans then bumping the price tag of the Commercial Rights to over 40 billion US dollars and selling it to Saudi Arabia’s national investment fund), many in the paddock dismissed it as an impossible dream.
But the Italian’s latest moves, inviting the Mayor of Incheon to attend the Japanese Grand Prix and now meeting up with Thailand’s Prime Minister, show he wants to expand the calendar as soon as possible, adding more races in Asia, to add to the ones already held in Suzuka, Shanghai and Singapore. It has been revealed that Domenicali and Prime Minister Tavashin had already met during a conference call made earlier this year, where the “economic base for a future deal” was discussed, according to the Thai’s government spokesman. Mr. Tavashin was in France early in March and took the opportunity to discuss, in an online call with the Formula 1 CEO and his team, what would be the requirements for Bangkok to host a street race in the near future, the government being aware the country’s tourism industry is very much in need of a boost after traditional visitors were turned off by the military regime that ran Thailand for almost a decade, from 2014 to late 2023.
Having seen what Formula 1 has done to the image of other countries, the Thai government wants to join the calendar and has indicated the street race would evolve around the Democracy Monument, in the Rattanakosin island area. A spokesman for the government stated that “preliminarily, if it is possible to organise a Formula 1 race in Thailand, we want to arrange it on the road – possibly on Ratchadamnoen Road, inside the Rattanakosin Island”, he concluded.
Mark Webber/Red Bull did a street demo in Bangkok some years ago...
IMOLA! NO OTHER CIRCUIT’S LOCATION IS ASSOCIATED WITH A PARTICULAR EVENT THE WAY IMOLA IS TO AYRTON SENNA’S DEATH. A SHAME, FOR THE AUTODROMO ENZO E DINO FERRARI HAS, OF COURSE, BEEN THE STAGE FOR SOME GREAT BATTLES AND HISTORIC MOMENTS – BUT IT IS A PERFECTLY UNDERSTANDABLE REALITY ...
THE BRAZILIAN was the first Formula 1 driver that became much bigger than the sport. His fatal crash was seen live on TV by hundreds of millions of fans, his funeral attended by over three million Brazilians who lined up on the streets of São Paulo to pay him tribute. And because there was never a definitive conclusion about the causes for his crash, the mystery added to what the Senna myth already was.
There is no doubt Senna raised the bar for Formula 1 drivers in so many ways. Quickly understanding how important physical fitness was in Formula 1, the Brazilian worked hard and hired Nuno Cobra, a renowned São Paulobased trainer to help him.
Senna was also the first Formula 1 driver to have his own press officer and welcome all the media for questions, in Portuguese, Italian and English after every qualifying session. He contacted journalists and magazines personally to get his message across, while getting on his side some of the more influential journalists of the time, to make sure he would have good press.
His interviews were lengthy, each and every answer carefully worded – nothing was said by accident; everything was said with a purpose. And his pioneering deal with Fuji TV, back in 1987, gave him so much visibility in Japan that he quickly became the local fans’ idol, a status that winning three titles with Honda only fortified. It is widely known that Senna also moved the goal posts in terms of racing etiquette, but not necessarily in a good way. His “let me through or we’ll crash” attitude got him involved in an unusual number of accidents for someone with such talent and winning mentality. And with the authorities of the day failing to penalise some of his more blatant moves, his attitude was picked up by the younger generation, starting from karting.
With very few real friends on the grid – Thierry Boutsen and Mauricio Gugelmin were the exceptions – Senna made sure his rivals treated him differently than they did the other top drivers. At the time, blue flags were merely an indication and back-markers could defend from the leaders … he instilled such fear on the second half of the grid that he would gain full seconds on the likes of Prost or Piquet once they started lapping the slower cars.
Even with wheel-to-wheel racing he made sure he’d been given all the room he needed while giving nothing to his rivals –and it was only with Nigel Mansell that this policy didn’t pay off.
Two episodes I was told of by then young drivers, one of them made famous in the Senna documentary, will tell you all you
need to know about the way the Brazilian perceived his place in Formula 1:
When Mika Hakkinen, making his McLaren debut in Estoril, in 1993, outqualified him by less than half a tenth of a second, Senna couldn’t comprehend how he’d been beaten and demanded the Finn explain to him how he was quickest in one particular corner. Jokingly, Hakkinen said “big balls” and Senna’s reaction was tremendous. The Brazilian exploded, asking Hakkinen “how many races have you won? How many championships have you won? How many pole positions have you scored?” before leaving the motorhome so furious with the Finn that he only talked to him many weeks later, at the final Grand Prix of the season.
That same year, with Damon Hill in the dominant Williams-Renault, he sought the British driver out at the end of a race where they had battled for position, warning him to “never do that to me again” in reference to a defensive move made by the younger driver. And when Hill replied “but I’ve seen you do it to other drivers,” the
answer came sharp and quick: “you didn’t hear what I said –never do that to ME again!” Point taken.
Quick? Certainly. Driven?
Undoubtedly. Ultra-professional? Like no other at the time.
Charismatic? Of course, in a way that I’ve only felt with Mario Andretti and Carlos Sainz Sr. A genius at the wheel and a master politician out of the car – but also a divisive personality within the paddock, even 30 years after his passing.
For Auto Action’s tribute to Senna, 30 years after his tragic death, see page 28.
WILL BROWN LOOKS LIKE HE’S HAVING A BALL. THERE’S THE ROSY, RED CHEEKS AND A SMILE THAT SEEMS ETCHED INTO HIS FACE, BUT HE TOLD ANDREW CLARKE YOU SHOULDN’T LET THAT FOOL YOU …
WILL BROWN is at the forefront of change in the Supercars series, part of a wave of youth that is sweeping away the veterans and creating a new look at the front of the field. Today we talk about Brown, Broc Feeney, Matt Payne, Cam Waters and Brodie Kostecki as the front runners, with Brown the most experienced of them, with 110 races to his name.
They have replaced the veterans and the middle-aged racers as the new wave. Only Chaz Mostert seems to carry any sort of threat to the 20-somethings, as Brown leads the charge in 2024 to likely give us another new champion – the 26th in the sport’s 60 year plus history – after his great racing mate, Kostecki, did the same last year.
Brown’s off-season move to replace Shane van Gisbergen was a big thing, not the least
of which was because he was contracted to Erebus for 2024. When the move became possible, Brown spoke to team owner Betty Klimenko who let him go with her blessing.
Triple Eight is the most successful team in Australian touring car racing; why wouldn’t you go there? So he did and now, three rounds into the 2024 championship, he holds a lead over new team-mate Broc Feeney.
“It’s been a great start to the year obviously,” he said. “You know, moving across to the new team was a big thing and to be leading the championship and having a few race wins has been awesome.
“It was a big change. I’d been with Erebus for six years and then moving across to Triple Eight … they’ve got a lot more of a corporate sort of structure. There was a little bit of
learning to do but yeah, it’s been great. I’ve enjoyed working with everyone and it’s just been a bit of fun so far.”
There has been a serious ramp up in the level of corporate schmoozing at the new team to add to the winning.
“They have more sponsors on board and with that comes more sponsorship appearances, but also there are meetings to prepare for weekends and a lot of different things. It’s just a bit more of a corporate structure than a family environment sort of thing.
“It’s been great. I think it makes you step up to the next level and I think I’ve done that this year, but working with people like Andrew Edwards in the team has really helped as well. He completely understands that every driver is probably a little bit different.
It was a big change. I’d been with Erebus for six years and then moving across to Triple Eight ... “ ”
“Anywhere that he can assist me – having the data and having the experience of working with Shane, if he can give me any knowledge from what Shane used to do, I’m always willing to take that sort of information on board because Shane did such a good job while he was here. If I wasn’t going to do that, I wouldn’t be in the position I am now.
“I wouldn’t say I’m feeling the pressure yet. Obviously racing Broc quite closely for the races and the championship, I think we’re both putting a bit of pressure on ourselves by being so close to each other.
But I think overall you got to take each race as it comes and that’s something that Andrew’s big on – don’t concentrate too much on the championship early in the season; concentrate on trying to execute and win as many races as you can and the championship will come from there.”
Last year was his best chance yet at the title. He led midway through the year before Kostecki went on a rampage while his form dropped off. He ended the season in fifth place, but he says even then he wasn’t looking at the last race of the season until it
was the last race. But now the focus is more firmly race-to-race with Triple Eight knowing what is required to win championships – it has 10 of the past 20.
“I don’t think so, to be honest,” he says on whether his focus has shifted. “Apart from last year where I ended up finding myself in a position where I thought I was in the championship hunt, a lot of the other times I was sort-of a rookie just trying to win a race each time out there.
“So, sometimes your demeanor or whatever would change a little bit when you go out there – you’re not just trying to win it or bin it, but you still try to win races.”
season fell apart which was disappointing. I really felt like I did a good job last year and I felt like we were genuine championship contenders.
“To be honest, I can’t put a finger on why it happened. Obviously, there’s always going to be some disruption with what I did by announcing I was going to Triple Eight, but I don’t think there was anything being done there. I think it was just a disappointing end to the year.”
time it got to the stage of being able to do it, I believe Caltex pulled its funding and that reduced what they could do with me, so it didn’t go ahead.
“Roland guided me a little bit with getting into Super2 with Ben and Rachel Eggleston.
“You look at Red Bull and you always want to be a Red Bull athlete when you’re a young athlete in nearly any sport. But Triple Eight as well, they’ve done so much in the past … so I think every driver in some way is going to dream of ending up where I am.
I’m pretty serious. I think most people would say up and down pitlane that I joke and I like to have a good time ... “ ”
In 11 races last year he went from a sevenpoint championship lead to sitting fifth, 624 points away from his teammate. He had five wins and 11 podiums through the season, but only one podium after he hit the lead in the series at Townsville.
He doesn’t quite understand what went wrong. He doesn’t think it is because he said he was leaving Erebus, but he’s digging deep to understand to so he doesn’t let it happen again.
“Not lose the championship hopefully,” he says when asked what he will do differently.
“Last year it was a tough one … I was leading it up to Townsville. So, midway in the season, I got back to the lead of the championship, and then the last half of the
Erebus was well-prepared for 2023 and Gen-3 and the year got off to a flyer at Newcastle.
Not getting past the first lap of the penultimate race didn’t help – that is what allowed Mostert to jump him into fourth. Other than that, it was that his new teammate was on fire; and Triple Eight is just a race and title winning machine. Who wouldn’t want to go there? Not Will Brown, that’s for sure.
Betty Klimenko understood the pull, and she let him go. Triple Eight was the first Supercar team he ever dealt with, several years ago, and was almost signed to run a third car for the team.
“Roland Dane was actually the first team owner I ever met with. It was after I won the 2016 Toyota 86 Championship. I think he was looking at what was next after Craig and Jamie and so I went down to Triple Eight with my dad and we met with him.
“There was a contract on the table. It took a while to go back and forth and, by the
“I think Betty helped a lot in the early stages and had a plan for me. Money weas getting tight by the end, so she funded my last season in Super2 with Terry Wyhoon, which was great. Replacing Anton was always the plan – I’m not sure if they knew or had an inkling that Anton might have been going to DJR, but at the time they signed me to replace one of them – or they were looking to buy another REC and put three cars on if she had to.
“I had my plan and knew what I had to do. I also had co-driven for the team for three years and so I think it just all sought of fell into place. And I think I’d learned enough to jump in and do a good job – it wasn’t jumping in too early.”
He loved the two-rookies-in-one-team outfit that was Erebus in 2021, with he and Kostecki learning the ropes together while the team started planning early for Gen3.
“I think that Brodie was talented enough as well that we worked so well together in our close-knit group that we were able to succeed fairly early. I was able to get a race win in my first year which was awesome, but
I think it actually worked in the opposite way to what a lot of people thought.
“Sometimes I think it pushed us even more. With an older driver you just expect him to beat you; where we didn’t expect either one of us to beat each other. I wanted to beat Brodie, and he wanted to beat me, but it was a healthy relationship.
“I think I had a close relationship with a lot of people in that team. And I’m sure some of the people in there would have looked at me leaving as a bit of a stab in the back, which I completely understand. It was a massive, massive move and probably came out of the blue and it wasn’t an easy decision … well it was but it wasn’t as well …”
Growing up in Toowoomba, Brown played Rugby Union as a young kid. Perhaps fortunately, he got an injury that prevented him from playing, and he turned to karting to get the competitive urges out of his system. It was the perfect time for him to bail out of the crash and bash of Rugby and into the crash and bash of karting – he says he didn’t grow at the same rate as his mates, and that was going make rugby a challenge. But not karting.
He won a state title and nearly snagged a national title … and then he started looking at cars. First it was Formula 4 and Formula Ford, and then Toyota 86s. The openwheelers taught him car control, the 86s taught him racing. But he was racing and racing a lot. He won titles in F4 and the 86s.
Super2, as mentioned, involved a transition from Ben and Rachel Eggleston – who have been critical players in several careers – and then Terry Wyhoon with Image Racing.
“They’re like family,” he said of the Egglestons. “To be honest, I’ve probably got to give credit for my career to my parents, but also Ben and Rachel. They really helped me out in my early days in Super2 – they are just fantastic people for guidance and all that sort of stuff. So, yeah, that’s where my career started and where it started to become more professional and not just a hobby.”
Off the track, Brown seems relaxed and happy go lucky. He still works in the family car dealership, he loves flying and sometimes flies to Brisbane rather than drive. He smiles, a lot, with that trademark open mouth fly-catching grin. But, like Craig Lowndes, don’t let the outer skin fool you. He says once the helmet goes on, he’s different.
The
have it
“I’m pretty serious. I think most people would say up and down pitlane that I joke and I like to have a good time. But I’m pretty serious when I hop in the car and I want to win. And I’ll do what I have to as well.
“It’s been great working with Triple Eight. They probably had someone like myself with Lowndsey back in the day. But teams adapt and I also adapt and that sort of stuff. I haven’t had any dramas yet.
“It’s winning and the hunt I guess that motivates me. Even on the weekend,” he said of Taupo, “having to claw my way back through, but each weekend having to keep trying to put your best foot forward, to be on pole all the time and win the race, it’s just the competitive side of me. If we play a game and somebody goes, ‘Oh yeah, that’s a draw,’ I’m not happy. I don’t want to draw – I want to either win or lose … but preferably win.
“That’s sort of how I am. I’ve always been competitive from a young age, and I think that’s what helps me in racing. I’ll go the extra mile to win the race.”
Perhaps the only time he tempers his attack is when he is racing his team-mate.
At Triple Eight, at the moment, they are allowed to race so long as they don’t touch each other.
He did give Feeney a fair whack at Taupo –we saw the cracked front bumper – but he tried to avoid it, where normally he’d be giving them a bit more of a hurry-up.
“Me and Broc have worked so well together already and I’m really enjoying that side of it. But we’re so close on lap times. So, it’s quite hard for the team even on the weekend. You’re racing so closely with your team-mate for the win. It’s been interesting but it’s also been ... there hasn’t been any dramas with it in any way.
would have liked to beat me, I would have liked to beat him, but I’m sure he’ll put one over on me soon.”
“We’re racing hard. We’re both out there racing hard for a win. I definitely feel like I showed him the respect that was deserved of a team-mate and didn’t probably do what I’d do if it was a different team.
Now he is in the frame for the championship for the second year in a row, so that remains his focus. More so than Bathurst.
“To be honest this year if I could choose it’d be the championship. I think I
throughout a year and I can deliver on each weekend. So, that’s what the championship is all about. Bathurst … we’ve seen people win it that have been sixth or seventh in the championship that year.
“But I’ll try to be greedy this year as well, because I will be trying to win Bathurst! That’s for sure.”
TOMORROW, MAY 1, it is 30 years since motorsport lost one of the greats – if not the GOAT, depending on your view.
It was one of the great tragedies of modern sport and, however differing people believe the accident was caused, it was the sheer one-in-a-hundred bad luck of a suspension part piercing his helmet which ended Ayrton Senna’s life. It was, of course, a doubletragedy weekend at Imola, with young Austrian Roland Ratzenberger losing his life the day before, after a very high-speed impact with the concrete barriers.
From that weekend came a flood of changes to F1, successfully aimed at protecting drivers from similar danger.
Most motorsport fans know the Ayrton Senna da Silva story well. After a young life in karting in Brazil and several local championships, he headed to Europe in mid1978 to take on the best in the world in karts, with a pair of frustrating second places in the World Championships before debuting in the British Formula Ford Championship in 1981 (he won); the British FF2000 Championship in 1982 (he won) and the British F3 Championship in 1983 – yes, he won …
as
That year, he was offered a number of F1 test drives – Williams, McLaren, Brabham … but ultimately decided to go with the relatively new Toleman team for his 1984 debut – on his own terms … less pressure.
He all but won Monaco in the pouring rain, moved to Lotus in 1985, won his second race there (Portugal) and again at Spa later in the year.
He remained at Lotus for two more years, the second seeing the team secure a Honda engine deal, netting a couple of early-season wins before the big move – to McLaren, along with Honda, came in 1988.
There he would team up with (already) twice world champion Alain Prost and the rivetting personal battle that ensued, which continued after Prost left for Ferrari in 1990, began.
Ayrton’s three championships were won in those four years, brought to an end by the arrival of the sensational ‘active suspension’ Williams F1 car in 1992.
Having watched as his arch-rival Prost came back from a sabbatical year in 1993 to cruise to a fourth world title in the Williams, Ayrton’s chance to join the team came in 1994 – having managed to win five races in 1993 in a McLaren powered by a ‘second-choice’/ customer Ford V8 engine … history shows that not many in F1 win too many races in a car not seen as the best at the time ... However, the teams (including his McLaren boss Ron Dennis) had successfully lobbied for active
suspension to be banned, and so the Williams was not the car it had been when Ayrton arrived at the start of 1994.
Then came Imola, and the tragic ending of a career, controversial at times, of the great Ayrton Senna.
THERE’S NOT a lot that isn’t known about the brilliant, complex Ayrton Senna, but on this anniversary, AUTO ACTION has spoken with a number of people whose paths intersected with Ayrton – on the inside from his time in karting, learning from one of the greatest; through to those who knew and worked with him along the way, especially in F1.
You may learn something new, smile at a funny tale, or nod at the appreciation of the man by his colleagues and peers. Whichever, this is our tribute to one of the F1 greats who left in such sad circumstances, 30 years ago …
Our thanks to everyone who contibuted their Senna memories ... some personally written, some over the phone. RIP Ayrton Senna.
AYRTON’S
THE MOTORSPORT world was shocked when, a couple of days before Christmas, in 1992, Ayrton Senna tested an IndyCar at Firebird Raceway, Phoenix. Things were a bit shaky at McLaren at this point but was it really likely that Ayrton might race an Indy Car in 1993? Who else would you discuss this with other than EMERSON FITTIPALDI, the double World F1 Champion, at the time still winning races in Indy Car for Marlboro Team Penske – five that year, including the opener at Surfers:
“I REMEMBER I first met Ayrton when he was quite young, racing karts in Brazil, winning all the championships. I was testing the Copersucar F1 car, at Interlagos – must have been ‘76 – and he and his father wandered into the pits. He was so shy …
“Later, once he became established in Europe, we would catch up at the end of the year, usually at a very nice Italian restaurant in Sao Paulo.
“That year, 1992, things weren’t going that well with McLaren and Ron Dennis in terms of a 1983 contract, so I suggested he should look at doing the Indy 500.
“We talked about it, and he became more and more interested.”
(There was a history, going back to Jack Brabham, Graham Hill and Jim Clark in the 60s of F1 drivers driving in the ‘500’).
“So I rang Roger (Penske) to see if we could organise a test – at Firebird Raceway (Phoenix) – a week or so later. It was a very short road circuit – we didn’t use it much unless we were testing for Long Beach – but we were going to test nearby at the Phoenix oval anyway.
“Ayrton wanted to run at the oval too, but Roger said no – too big a jump first-up. Probably a good thing – Nigel (Mansell) had a huge crash there a few months later, almost broke his back …
MARTIN BRUNDLE , the long-time Fox Sports TV commentator and former F1 star was Senna’s prime opposition during the 1983 Formula 3 season.
IT WAS a privilege to race against Ayrton over 11 years, although it didn’t always feel like that at the time!
“So we flew to Phoenix and he did the test on December 23. Back then IndyCars and F1 cars weren’t that different – the layout was very similar. The track was pretty dirty to start with; I did a few laps, then Ayrton took over.
“He said it was fun to drive; and he went pretty quickly …
“We then went to the oval, where I ran some laps. I remember, he jumped on the quad-bike and went out to the exit of one of the corners and literally leaned on the concrete wall. I’m going past at pretty high-speed … I could see his head is not much more than a foot or two away from the car … he said he wanted to ‘get a feel’ for the speed!”
In the end, a race-by-race McLaren deal for Ayrton came together for 1993, so it never went any further. But it was on the agenda – and might well have further down the track had fate not intervened.
A 1983 Formula 3 race at Silverstone summed up his talents for me. I beat him away from the start and led down the Hangar straight into Stowe. It was pouring with rain and he went down the outside, very deep, into that legendary corner. I thought he’d gone off, but he went all the way round the outside and somehow passed me. The ‘karting line’ I know, but he was way out there.
The race was red flagged because there was a big shunt behind us. On the way to the grid for the restart I decided to try Ayrton’s line into Stowe. I aquaplaned in a massive puddle, skated across the grass, skimmed the barriers, but somehow survived.
He beat me off the grid for part two of the race and won in treacherous conditions. I finished second and, on the podium, I said to him “your line into Stowe didn’t work in part two” to which he quickly replied, “I didn’t try it – it was too wet …”
As we would see many times in his F1 career, especially qualifying a 1300 horsepower turbo car on qualifying tyres which wouldn’t quite last a complete lap, he knew where the grip was before and during a corner, whereas us mere mortals knew where the grip was during and after a corner.
A god-given talent ...
STEVE HALLAM was Ayrton’s engineer at Team Lotus and, ultimately followed him to McLaren a couple of years after Ayrton moved, where he ultimately rose to the role of head of race engineering. His most vivid impressions, though, were the early ones, at Lotus … In Australia, of course, Steve is also remembered as MD for HRT (2012-13) and team manager for Tekno (2014-15). He is currently manager of team support and engineering at Toyota Racing Development, in California.
I FIRST encountered Ayrton back in 1982. Team Lotus were conducting a tyre test for Goodyear at Donington Park and somehow (my memory has faded somewhat) we were sharing the track during an open test day where when we were ready to run the F1 cars, the others on track would stop whilst we ran an number of sets of tyres; then they would go back out whilst we reviewed data with Goodyear before going again.
Anyway, Ayrton was there with Rushen Green Racing and he was driving an FF2000 car. At that time, the name on the car was Ayrton Senna da Silva, which was later that year changed to simply Ayrton Senna. We did not speak on that day, nor the next time which was at Hockenheim later that year in August. Supporting the Grand Prix that year was an EFDA FF2000 race in which Ayrton was competing. He was on pole (no surprise that year, or any year for that matter). The race started and, with it being run on the old circuit, there was going to be a while before the FF2000 cars came around again.
When they did, there was just one car, Ayrton’s car, and for what seemed an age (I even thought there must have been an accident behind him) there were no others – until the following group emerged trying to give chase …
We spoke for the first time in 1984, at Hockenheim of all places. We were in the garage next to Toleman, whom he was driving for and, with the garages separated by wire mesh partitions, he was looking through the mesh at Mansell’s car (Ed: On which Steve was engineer) and the temperature stickers on the intercooler installation. By this time, we were close to signing him to drive for us and he made a comment to me about the intercooler temperature and how if his (Toleman) car saw that temperature he would lose a lot of power! This moment in time was effectively the start of our friendship – as it was not too long after that when Peter Warr announced that Ayrton would be replacing Nigel at Team Lotus. Peter asked me to look after him for 1985 … and so his career with Team Lotus began. He came to Ketteringham Hall later that year and all of us started to get to know one another. During that winter, Ayrton developed Bells Palsy, which froze one side of his face, which was why, in all of the launch photos taken with Elio and the Type 97T car which we raced during 1985, Ayrton has a lop-sided smile. Ayrton became a winner in only his second race for Team Lotus following a memorable drive at Estoril in torrential rain. He and I worked together as race engineer and driver for the next three years until he moved on to McLaren. During that time, all of us at Team Lotus shared many fond memories with a truly magnificent driver and wonderful human being ...”
RICHARD WEST held senior commercial roles with McLaren and Williams F1 teams and was, on May 1, 1994, Director of Marketing and Sponsorship at Williams. These days, he is an in-demand motivational speaker and marketing consultant.
AS WE head towards the 30th anniversary of Ayrton’s untimely passing, I find myself reflecting as I do frequently at this time of year on both the complexity and warmth of Ayrton, the driver, the businessman, the humanitarian we lost on that awful weekend at Imola. Along with Roland Ratzenberger, Formula 1 lost two outstanding individuals, both of whom I had the pleasure of knowing and, in the case of Ayrton, someone I had worked closely with in the amazing 1988 season at McLaren and then at Williams when we convinced him to come across to us for the 1994 season.
Much is written about his driving and complex mental skills on track – I shall not try and add to those comments for they are many in their recollections of him. What struck me most in dealing with him personally at promotional and PR events and latterly in contract negotiations at Williams throughout the Summer of 1993, was his incredibly focus, his attention to detail and the simple fact that he expected the same from everyone he dealt with. He gave 100% and he demanded you gave the same.
In mid-September 1993, I had just landed in Paris CDG from London to attend a meeting with a senior OZ wheels representative. Literally as I got to the hotel, my phone rang. Frank (Williams) and I shared a secretary and she told me very directly I had to be back in the UK and at Frank’s house that evening as it was time to put pen to paper with Ayrton confirming him as a Rothmans Williams Renault driver for 1994 and beyond.
Making my apologies, I raced back to the airport and several hours later I was there with Frank, Peter Goodman our company lawyer, Julian Jacobi, at that time Ayrton’s manager, and of course, Ayrton, who had just arrived from Brazil.
We spent some 90 minutes pouring over the contract, even though we had gone through it many times and then, having clarified one or two points, Ayrton put his signature to it, sealing him as a Williams Driver. Frank beamed across the table, we all shook hands and then, without asking, Ayrton reached across the table, turned my diary around and wrote in it, ‘Many thanks Richard, Ayrton Senna, I’m looking forward to a good future!’… Nine months later at Imola on May 1, I interviewed him, with Damon, at just past mid-day on race day in our hospitality area in front of our guests – a few hours later he was gone …
The diary page he signed for me sits framed within a wonderful Ayrton print by the late Craig Warwick and hangs on my office wall to this day.
On May 1, 1994, F1, the Brazilian people and all of those who knew and worked with him lost a friend and a true inspirational individual.
When I find myself needing inspiration, when I find myself searching for focus, I look at that picture and I read those words. Thank you Ayrton for the gift you gave me in those respects – you are sorely missed. RIP.
Although KEITH SUTTON is most famous for building Sutton Images into the world’s most successful, independent motor sport photographic agency, less well known is that he was, for the first three years of Ayrton Senna’s car racing career, his personal photographer and PR manager. They met at an early Formula Ford event, in 1981, when Ayrton saw the young Sutton’s lens peering out from behind the barriers and asked if he’d supply some photos for the newspapers back in Brazil. The relationship grew from there and, as the youngster’s career blossomed, there were some interesting and poignant moments along the way!
“It became obvious when he did a one-off F3 race at Thruxton circuit at the end of 1982, after the winning the British and European Formula Ford 2000 championships, with Rushen Green Racing, that he was going to be a star. “First time out, at Thruxton he just blew them all away,” Keith told AA
“Those were the days when PR meant a load of hard copy, typed press releases and black and white prints being mailed, especially to interested parties including all the F1 Principles and specialist motor sport magazines around the globe … it’s changed a bit since then ...
“It did mean that, in terms of the first F1 tests, in 1983 –in a Williams
(at which I was the only photographer), and later a Brabham and ultimately Toleman test, I was aware, confidentially, of what was coming. The Williams drive, in particular, was a careerdefining day for him.”
The McLaren test, after the Williams debut, was more public – shared with other young drivers, as a prize for winning the Autosport Award”.
“In the end, quite late in the process, he chose to go with Toleman – very much a small team – as it would mean debuting without the pressure that would be on at the top teams and he would be doing it on his own terms, without having to commit to the extended management deals that some of the others wanted – however this meant no commitment to a 1985 seat!
“It was a great time. To celebrate, after he’d won the F3 championship, I remember Dick Bennetts’ West Surrey Racing team and his family descending on a pub near the team’s headquarters in Shepperton … beers all round.
“We were basically great friends and were forever discussing our ambitions to make it to F1, him as a driver and me as a photographer”.
“At the end of 1983 I did a deal with Arai helmets of Japan, who had recognised what he could do for them, and they offered him, apart from free helmets, US$100,000 a year. By then, he was transitioning to what he needed with F1 on the horizon – a full-time manager – but being new to these types of contracts they lost their momentum by trying to do a deal with Bell helmets, and by the time they
got back to Arai, they’d ‘moved on’ … I was on 10 per cent, so that was very disappointing as I was needing cash to grow my own business!
“Of course, it wasn’t too much further down the track that he did end up with a long-term Arai deal, undoubtedly for a bit more …
“After us jointly moving into F1 In 1984, those three years remain one of the best periods of my whole motor sport photographic career … then, to watch as he went on to the success
that he had, from up-close, behind a camera, was terrific.
“May 1, 1994 was simply a tragedy, but if there was a single good thing to come out of it, which was already in the planning process, it was the beginnings of the Ayrton Senna Institute, founded that year, which under the guidance of his sister Vivienne has materially helped the education of millions of underprivileged Brazilian kids.
Ayrton drives an F1 car for the first time – Donington, July 19, 1983 ... Top: Dining with the Senna family – Father Milton, Mother Neyde, brother Leonardo, sister Vivienne and Ayrton’s grandmother ... Above left: conferring at a Formula Ford event and (right) celebrating with a beer – with West Surrey Racing and the Senna family at a Shepperton pub after winning the 1983 F3 Championship. Left: PR, Sutton-style, back in ‘83. Images: KEITH SUTTON
ADRIAN BURGESS, Supercars’ recentlydeparted Head of Motorsport (Now Team Principal at Team 18) was at McLaren from 1991, as a mechanic, primarily on the test team before moving up to number one mechanic, for Mikka Hakkinen, in the mid-90s.
“Everything you hear about Ayrton’s sensitivity inside the car is true. He’d be driving in down pit lane, back in the days before we had TPMS (Tyre Pressure Monitoring Systems) to monitor things on the run, on the radio, telling the mechanics it needed half a pound more in the right-front, or whatever, before anyone got near the car with a tyre gauge. And he was inevitably correct.
“It made our job, when he was in the car, easy. The feedback was phenomenal.”
At that stage, Gerhard Berger had already joined McLaren and it is well-and-truly acknowledged that the German’s penchant for practical jokes started to relax Senna a little – who had always erred on the serious side.
Yes, all that stuff is true – Ayrton’s brand new carbon-fibre ‘indestructible’ briefcase being ‘tested’ by Gerhard by throwing it out of the helicopter they were in …
There were fire extinguishers going off in hotel bedrooms in the middle of the night; passport photos being replaced by ‘other’ images; credit cards glued together; but there was an occasion when the McLaren test team itself got involved in the frivolity:
“We were going to do some laps at a little track in Wales – Pembrey. Ayrton had never been there before so, after we’d warmed the
car up in the Paddock we sent him out – in the wrong direction,” recalls Adrian.
“It took a couple of laps before the penny dropped. He stopped on the straight, did a huge burn-out turnaround and set off in the right direction! …”
Burgess isn’t quite sure the Brazilian thought through his move to Williams:
“When he decided to leave McLaren, for 1994, the Williams team had a huge advantage with its active suspension set-up, and I presume he thought he’d walk in there and make the most of it, as Prost had.
“But he hadn’t reckoned on Ron (Dennis – McLaren team boss). The day after he learned from Ayrton that he would be leaving, Ron started lobbying … as you do … and of course active suspension was banned …”
WARWICK BROWN was a star of the 1970s Formula 5000 era – Tasman champion in ’75, Rothmans International champion in ’77 and’78 (with Team VDS), before driving a 5000-based Lola to second in the ’78 US Can-Am Series for the same team.
He quit the sport at the end of ’79 and became a commercial pilot – by the late 80s specialising in steering private jets for a Sydney-based aero company. Later in his career, he flew many a ‘Medecins Sans Frontieres’ rescue mission for Aussies injured or seriously ill overseas.
However, in November of 1993, out of the blue, he was called in to fly yet another ‘celebrity’ from Sydney to Adelaide and back. It turned out to be Ayrton Senna …
While Ayrton had his own private jet back in Europe, he chose to fly commercial for the very long haul to Australia – and it brought a couple of champions, from different eras and worlds, together.
“WE WERE flying Cessna Citation 2s back then – very nice plane, and always with top catering … lobster and so on …” says Warwick, these days happily retired – but still very much with an eye on motorsport – in Sydney.
“Someone had mentioned to him about my background, so there was obviously something to chat about – especially once we were airborne and I could pop back into the lounge area.
“He was just a normal, conversational
guy – knew about F5000 and so on – so it was just a pleasant chat. He had a couple of his entourage with him and, like I said, a relaxed, easy-going trip – on the Tuesday or Wednesday – down to Adelaide.
“I dropped them off, flew back to Sydney, did another couple of jobs, watched the race on
experienced
TO SEE Ayrton Senna with tears in his eyes was something I will never forget.
It was a huge reflection of the man, not the racer, and the depths of his genuine emotions. It happened in Adelaide, when members of his local fan club organised a special presentation to their hero.
It was a remote control model aircraft.
Senna was totally overwhelmed by the generosity and consideration of his fans, who presented their gift just after he had spoken to the media at one of the Adelaide press conferences.
He had tears, real tears.
Watching it happen felt a little intrusive, but Senna was totally caught up in the moment and was only focussed on the small group of eager fans.
Adelaide was like that.
There have been memorable moments in Melbourne at the Australian Grand Prix, but
Adelaide was very different and far more special. It was the last race of the season and everyone was relaxed and happy, even when the title was on the line.
For me, the highlight every time was watching Senna on his qualifying laps.
In the days when he was driving a JPS Lotus, with the explosive Honda turbo engine in the back, a few of the local journalists would trek down to the first chicane to watch from the stand which was always deserted except when it was reserved for photographers at the race start.
Senna’s commitment through the left-rightleft series of bends was always absolute. Often the car was not enjoying things. It would buck and jump and fight to be freed.
He was always in control, but barely.
It was, without doubt, the most impressive performance I’ve seen in a grand prix car. It still chills me, today.
No wonder that piece of track is now called the Senna Esses.
And then there was the final night in 1993, when Senna was called up by Tina Turner
TV, and picked him up on the Monday.
“And boy, was there a difference. This had been his last race for McLaren – he’d won, and I guess it must have been a full-on weekend, because he was completely drained.
“He more or less crashed once on board …
He looked exhausted; burned out.
“He had a reputation for putting absolutely everything into a race weekend – it seemed like this was his first chance to literally ‘switch off’. That was of course Ayrton’s last visit to Australia, the horible events of May 1, 1994 watched live on TV by one of Australia’s own great champions …
his
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WHILE CAR racing ‘discovered’ Ayrton Senna in 1981, it was the two years prior, going head-to-head as teammate with perhaps the greatest kart racer of them all – Terry Fullerton – that first moulded Ayrton Senna, the complete racer. CHRIS LAMBDEN, by chance, watched it all happen from very close quarters ...
“WE’VE GOT A f***ing problem,” said Terry Fullerton as he wandered into the workshop at Zip Karts, in Hoddesdon, just north of London.
Through being ‘right-place, right-time’ I’d found myself as full-time mechanic for the guy acknowledged as one of the best, if not the best (kart racers) of all time. The man. For a racer from far-away NZ, it was like dying and going to heaven – though not without its associated pressures to not screw up …
This was August 1978, and the year had gone amazingly well. ‘TF’ as he was (and is) known, had also done a deal to use the engines from an up-and-coming Italian manufacturer, DAP, which to date hadn’t won a major event, but was looking promising.
We had, in fact, won every event we’d entered so far that year, all over Europe – including DAP’s emotional first big win, at the season-opening big deal Champions Cup, at Jesolo in Italy; the British Championship; European Teams’ event; and others. Every single one. And, up close, I was learning bucket-loads about how and why this guy was the star he was and how to go racing properly …
That week, TF had gone down to Parma, near Milan, solo, to do some engine testing with DAP in the World Championship lead-up. They had test chassis etc there, so I didn’t need to go.
So, a problem? What problem?
“There’s this kid turned up, from Brazil. He’s with DAP, with us … he’s never driven on Bridgestones before and he’s bloody fast …” Only he didn’t say ‘bloody’ …
That was Ayrton Senna da Silva.
Ayrton did that 1978 World Championship, showed some flair, and finished sixth with a consistent run, in a championship won by American Lake Speed after a number of ‘seeds’ fell over – including Fullerton, the former champion perennially unlucky at the sport’s biggest event.
A month later, Ayrton raced in the Japanese Kart Grand Prix, at Sugo – again a steady fifth in the main event. He didn’t feature in a video of the event. If only they’d known … Early in ’79, TF left Zip Karts (for a full-on deal with DAP, who agreed to produce chassis bearing his name), making he and Ayrton – who’d come back for the whole year – full team-mates. At the same time, I’d ended up agreeing to be editor of Kart & Superkart, a new magazine being launched with funding from Zips, which meant that I was able to watch, from very close quarters, as Fullerton and his young challenger went head-to-head big-time over the next two years at all the big races.
And, as Fullerton himself summed up many years later, in racing terms, in that time, the boy became a man.
At times, it was like Senna v Prost would later be, at McLaren. Intense, tough, occasionally ruthless. But it turned a boy racer into the driver that car racing ‘discovered’ in 1981 when he launched his career via Formula Ford.
Ayrton watched and learned from his team-mate – though it got so intense in the end that they had to operate from separate marquees …
Apart from increasingly adopting TF’s no-prisoners approach on-track, Ayrton also came to understand Fullerton’s intensive and organised approach to testing/ practice, systematically back-to-backing two or three chassis (each slightly different in spec – wheelbase, materials, steering angles …), up to five slightly different spec engines, and even a handful of different carburettors (a key twostroke variable) that he had and wouldn’t let out of his sight. And all that on a single, consistent set of Bridgestones, before looking at what the tyre manufacturer had to offer for the particular event, once the track was well rubbered-in.
The young Ayrton just wanted to be fastest in every session. Changes were a bit random and there were new tyres going on quite regularly through practice..
Come qualifying, Fullerton would put the best combo together (which he most likely hadn’t even driven as a combined set-up), and he’d knock Ayrton off by threetenths or whatever, and the youngster wasn’t happy … Tyres, at that level, were a key ingredient. And while identifying fast rubber from the options Bridgestone would bring to events was one thing, Fullerton always had an eye to the long-race performance – not least the deciding final at the 1980 Jesolo event where he – on something a bit more durable – hunted his Brazilian rival down and forced his way past on the last lap, to win the Champions Cup. That led to the famous pushing, fully clothed, of Fullerton by a clearly frustrated Ayrton da Silva (who hadn’t yet adopted his mother’s maiden name) into the hotel swimming pool! But Ayrton watched and learned. Totally logical, hard-working, and focussed. Impolite even. That was Fullerton. At the race track, nothing got in the way that might distract from winning. No idle chat; no socialising. Total focus.
Ayrton absorbed whatever he saw and experienced of all this over that two year period and he grew in confidence rapidly. From the ‘79 World Championship through the whole of 1980, to the 1980 World Championship, he was increasingly right on it. He finished second in both those world championships; deserved to win at least one of them … something which gnawed at him so much that he returned briefly to karts for the two following years, for the prestigious Jesolo and World Championship events. But, by then the international kart engine formula had changed, DAP wasn’t as competitive, and the gap in Ayrton’s resume remained. While a bit more sociable away from the race track, neither could help but be instinctively super-competitive if any competitive circumstance arose. Anything.
Fullerton, for example, played squash to stay fit and his club, in North London, also had a full-sized snooker table. Occasionally, he’d invite me down for a game or two, after lunch. You’d drive in knowing full well that he’d been there since the doors opened, at 9am, practising …
When we went to Japan (Sugo), Ayrton and Terry were invited by our hosts, Yamaha, to go and ride some trail bikes. What could possibly go wrong? …
And so quiet was the Sugo hotel, at the track, at night, that a casually thrown glass of water ended up as a full-on buckets of water war in the corridor outside our rooms. Competitive? Hell yeah. So yes, I am certain that it was the influence of the guy who Ayrton acknowledged in that 1993 press conference in the Senna movie, Fullerton, which was responsible, to a significant degree, for his evolution, from the talented but slightly naïve young racer who first appeared, to the complete, focussed, analytical, occasionally ruthless racer who wowed the car racing world from 1981 onward.
The kart fraternity knew that if Ayrton got into cars at any level, he’d make an impact. And, when Ayrton and Alain Prost were going at it as they did at McLaren in 1988, for most of the top-level Euro karting crowd of the late 70s, it was simply deja-vu. Deja-vu? When Ayrton edged Prost towards the pit wall in that infamous moment in
Portugal in 1988, my mind flashed back to the World Kart Championship of 1980, at Nivelles, in Belgium.
It was during the ‘crunch-time’ third and last final, when a young Brit, Alan Gates, got a run on him onto the straight and pulled alongside. Ayrton simply edged across, nudging the Brit off the track at pretty high speed – the Englishman spun through 720 degrees, amazingly without hitting anything.
Wow, I thought at the time, that’s capital ‘A’ aggressive ... It was the side of Senna that others were occasionally to see on the road to, and in, F1.
Ayrton finished third that day, one place short of the points that would have won him the title. But he had given everything, and more. And before ever driving a Formula Ford, which came next, he was exhibiting the total package that would eventually take him to the top of the world ...
Terry Fullerton turned a young Ayrton into a totally focussed racer. Since retiring from racing, ‘TF’ moulded several successful drivers through karting, including Paul di Resta, Ant Davidson, Dan Wheldon and Allan McNish and still mentors young kart drivers today ... Bottom: Not all roses – Jesolo, 1981 and Ayrton is assisted by his young wife, Lilian, after a big shunt ended his weekend.
A LAST lap pass has sent Jock Goodyer (above) to victory lane in a Sydney International Speedway thriller on April 20.
The 410 Sprintcars meeting went down to the wire as Jordyn Brazier led the final lap with Goodyer on his tail.
The former Australian champion used his experience to make a last-gasp move at the final turn and it paid off.
It was a historic success for Goodyer as it ensured he would become the first driver to win an event in each state and territory in the single season.
“Another last lap pass to get the top spot,” Goodyer wrote on social media.
“I cannot thank the whole Saller Motorsport team enough for letting me drive their car, had so much fun racing with them.
“The track was awesome, on the fence but also had a bottom. This track is heading in the right direction!
“This win now makes us the first to win in every state in a single season.”
A total of 31 cars took part and one of the fastest initially appeared to be Matt
Dumesny, but his night ended early with a big rollover.
The feature was a 30-lap affair where Michael Stewart started on pole and marched on to an early lead.
But his race came unstuck when he tripped over the lapped car of Alex Attard.
As a result Daniel Sayre took over control of the race but his time at the top was also short-lived as Brazier’s pace became overwhelming with 13 laps to go.
Brazier looked destined for glory enjoying a 4s advantage as the race entered the final stage.
But Goodyer was on fire in the run home and slashed down the deficit with six laps left, to set up a thrilling battle. It was not decided until the final corner where Goodyer flew around the outside of Brazier and claimed a thrilling win by three-tenths of a second.
Sprintcars return to Sydney International Speedway on May 11. Thomas Miles
NATIONAL CHAMPION Nathan
Brackstone-Thorne (right) emerged victorious on a night of thrills and heartbreaks to win the 23/24 Victorian Production Sedan title at Alexandra and District Speedway.
After six qualifying races and 35 laps of feature racing, Brackstone-Thorne overcame his rivals. He started on pole alongside Brad Warren but, with many laps around Alexandra to his name, it was the latter who was quick to assume control on lap one.
Scott Hawkins from Leeton and Richard Cook from Queensland were the first two drivers to suffer issues with their cars and retired, before Dehne Sparrow, Felicity Roycroft and top-five runner Stephen Laidlaw followed them infield also.
With 20 laps completed, Warren still led the race as Healey pushed forward and moved himself into second a head of Brackstone-Thorne.
He then hit the lead briefly before a penalty of two spots enforced during a late race caution put him back behind Warren and Brackstone-Thorne.
The race took another turn when Warren suffered a left front suspension component failure, which Brackstone-Thorne took advantage of and moved to the lead of the race at the resumption finishing ahead of Mills and Healey to claim the Victorian title victory.
Also competing in a feature event was the Goulburn Ovens Sedan Association as their drivers competed in the latest ‘Blue Shed’ series round and first time at Alexandra in a number of seasons.
Nathan Shortis hit the front on lap one from his front row starting position
followed by Justin Brockley and Marty Bassett.
It proved to be a quiet race with Shortis leading the whole way ahead of Brockley and Bassett.
After winning all three heat races in the Junior 1200cc Sedans, Xander Baxter would rip around Alexandra Speedway to claim a victory in the final ahead of Alexandra member Brody Barton, Tylor Claridge, Dayne Murdoch another from the host club and Chase Doherty.
Alexandra members Luke Fallon, David Donegan, and Ian Thomsen all shared
heat race wins in the Sports Sedan class before Thomsen led every lap in the final to back up his last start win at Alexandra in the Power series events.
On points, in the Speedway Sedans Australia 1500cc cars, Blake Beach finished ahead of Maddie Beach and Will Fallon.
Matt Nelson a winner of multiple state championship races himself led the charge for Alexandra in the Street Stocks, winning all three heats and then the final in a perfect night of Street Stock racing for himself. Leigh Gooding finished the final in second ahead of Tyler Barton.
Starting from the second row in the final, Jasmin Molloy would move to the lead of the race by lap four, however Mannix and McGraw kept the pressure on the leader.
It proved to be a nail biter as Molloy would hit the finish line just 0.060s ahead of Mannix and 0.217s in front of third placed McGraw.
Racing returns to Alexandra Speedway on May 11 with Junior Sedan Promotional Association events, a Ladies Standard Saloon series round, plus more.
Dean Thompson
HOLLYWOOD’S BEST producers could not script a blockbuster movie better than the thrills, spills and excitement on offer at Horsham’s Blue Ribbon Raceway.
For Penola’s Dave Gartner this was the case in the 20-lap Super Sedan final. From outside of the front row Gartner made the most of clear track as he slingshot his way round the outside of pole-sitter Brock Atkins to lead the charge of the cast of the fast.
Many were ready to put pen to paper to mark Gartner in their race program as the white flag came out and then came the unthinkable as Gartner pulled to the infield with an unknown mechanical issue. Atkins then inherited the lead and negotiated the final 16 seconds without incident to claim the winners purse.
Jamie Collins claimed the runner-up position and, one lap further back, were Dave Mackenzie, Ricky Ashmore and local racer Danny Smith to round out the top five.
A STRONG field of Wingless Sprints provided the crowd with some exciting racing as they ran in close quarters over the 25-lap final.
Jeremy Pearson led the race, from pole, for
the first 15 laps before a successful challenge by Robert Whiteside saw him take control and led for the next nine and three-quarter laps as he and second generation racer Jayden Lock encountered lapped traffic on the final corners.
One went high and the other low, allowing Lock to poke his nose by 0.189s in front as the duo drag raced to the line in what was too close to call by the naked eye.
THE ANNUAL running of the Kev Baker Challenge is a special event for the category, especially for the reigning Victorian Champion, Jock Baker.
Baker was unstoppable, winning all three heat races to be the highest point scorer going into the 15-lap final which would see an inverted field and fastest to the rear.
From pole position Daniel McLeod led the opening nine laps while Baker sliced his way through the field to take command with just five laps to run. From that point he set sail and all seemed to write itself ... however with just two laps remaining Jock would pull to the infield with a blown motor, handing the lead back to McLeod to cross the line just 0.041s ahead of Rod Hetherington with Craig Ansell and Daniel Hurley to round out the top four.
THE FRONT row of the 20-lap final saw the experienced Trevor Perry and New South Wales Champion Justin Paul square off. Paul got the jump and never looked back while Perry chased hard.
As the duo approached the final set of corners Paul slightly hesitated as he negotiated some slower traffic– this gave Perry the opportunity to make his move and take the lead with the chequered flag in sight to win by the barest margin of just 0.438 of a second.
Duane Cordina was next, followed to the line by Bowen Donkers, Bree Simpson, Aaron Stubbs, Terry Brown and Tania Hallett.
DRAMA CONTINUED in the 10-lap final for the big rigs. Luke James claimed line honours only to be relegated two positions after the Chief Stewart deemed an infield pass, handing victory to Nathan Bird over Fletcher Mills, James, Jaryd Carman and Wes Bell.
THE JUNIORS were again divided into two categories, the Top Stars and the lesser experienced New Stars. James Peacock came from fourth place on the grid to win the 20-lap Top Stars final, taking victory over Miller Throckmorton, Jake Bradley and Cruz Farrell for the first four home. Steane Cosson, Flynn Annett, Max Leersen, Pary Das, Tamika Simpson and Tristan Jarred for the top 10.
The New Stars final was dominated by Brad Marshall and Jaylen Knight who were separated by a mere 0.881 after 20 hardfought laps. Axel Robinson finished third and one lap in arrears, followed by Jack Mills, Lily Dannatt, Elizabeth Flavell, Hudson Moorfoot and Cruz Abela.
Paris Charles
THE DIRT Modifieds put on a show at Nyora Raceway and Zac McDonald (above) marched his way to the Fast 50 title.
McDonald proved himself as the one to beat early by being one of four different winners from as many heats before taking pole position with a 14.410 second time, just a little faster than David Clark.
An 11-driver field began the 50-lap feature event with McDonald leading the way from Clark, Daryl Hickson, Marcus Reddecliffe and Michael Ardley.
Reddecliffe became the first of the top six to drop out of the race on lap 27 whilst Taylor moved into fifth.
Despite being challenged by Clark in second, McDonald passed the chequered flag half a second ahead of Clark and Hickson to take the win.
Ladies Standard Saloon competitors competed in the fifth round of their Victorian series and Elise Halliday led every lap of the 15-lap final.
She held off every attempt by Caroline Allen to win by 0.195s with Bronwyn Miles third.
Sports Sedans also hit the track with Inverloch racer Braidan Webster coming up with the win.
Chris Aarts led the final early before Webster hit the front on lap nine and would control the race from there.
The Junior Standard Saloon competitors raced for the Nyora track championship with eight keen starters in the field.
Tom Braz was a dominant figure, leading all 15 laps in the final to leave victorious in front of Hill, and Chase Ingram.
Standard Saloon action was spiced up with the visit of Victoria number two racer Wayne Sheerman.
Sheerman showed his quality by leading all 15 laps and get the win in front of Kacey Ingram and Owen Cecil.
Nyora Raceway returns to action once again on May 18 with a huge Demolition Deby and Wingless Sprints featuring.
Dean Thompson
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 1 and came away with a spectacular win, 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 for 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 nine while Frost rolled on the front straight on lap 18 after contact with the slower car of Phil Micallef. Thomas Miles
MATT HUTCHISON (pictured) 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 unexpected 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 4 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
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.
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 on April 26 and 27.
David Budden
SCOTT WHITTLE (right) is now an eighttime Standard Saloon State champion after post-race 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 12 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.
There was 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, having worked his way into fourth with Miles behind 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 34 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
THE BIGGEST field of late models ever assembled to fight for the 2023/24 Australian National title at Toowoomba and Joe Chalmers put in a mighty drive to finally have the #A1 on his door.
But first up for grabs was the Queensland title Twenty of the best drivers took to the track headed by Brent Vosbergen and Joe Chalmers started on the front row for the 35-lap decider.
Vosbergen got the better of the start as Chalmers went straight to the top but it didn’t work out as Todd Bayley settled into third, only for Darryl Grimson to demote him a lap later.
The first interruption arrived due to Daniel Cassidy rolling to a stop in turn four. From the restart Vosbergen led the field again, only for the yellow lights to return with seven laps to go when Darren Kane and Darryl Grimson made contact, with Peter Nicola and Aaron Barnes also involved.
Vosbergen was able to survive the late sprint and be a deserved winner of the 2024 Queensland Title. With Wednesday’s Queensland Title now in the record books it was time to concentrate on the main event, the Australian Title.
After Friday night’s heats Chalmers sat on top of the points ladder followed by Brad Smith.
There was drama from the start as Brad Pascoe bumped the wall, which allowed Chalmers to hit the lead with Vosbergen in third.
With the lead cars deep in lapped traffic, Vosbergen went high and flew around Pascoe and into second as the latter momentarily slowed.
Pascoe soon found himself under pressure from Kane, who snatched third.
With 20 laps to go Chalmers now started to realise Vosbergen was some superb was on show.
Kane then joined the fun with eight to go and levelled up with Vosbergen, who closed the door quickly.
Next time around Kane tried again and made it work before threatening to take the lead only for the yellows to arrive and be forced to restart third and the race settled.
With one lap to go caution again came when Mitchell Gee spun on the exit to turn four.
This setup a thrilling two-lap dash for glory and Chalmers nailed the restart to claim a
tense win.
Kane slipped underneath Vosbergen to snatch second in the closing stages.
Having suffered engine and gearbox problems earlier in the campaign and come close so many times, Chalmers was buying to finally be on top.
“I have come the bridesmaid seven times so this is amazing,” Chalmers said.
“It is the end of the season for us so a lot of the gear is quite worn out.
The engine issue was a bit of a pain for us on the Wednesday but we got on top of it and the engine was faultless.
“The gearbox started holding up towards the end but I was going to win it no matter what it took.
“When Kane got around me I thought we are not going hard enough here so got it done.
“Tyres were the big thing and the crew made the right call, but the track was unreal and I could run there every night of the week.”
In the Super Rooster V8 Dirt Modified Champion of Champions Kevin Britten goes into this weekend’s Australian Title in Bundaberg with confidence after winning the
feature race.
He held back numerous challengers from David Clark while driving with a flat left side front tyre. Clark led the race for a while until Britten regained the race lead mid race. Zac MacDonald finished third.
Nathan MacDonald won the Toowoomba Steering and Suspension Smackdown Series after a clean sweep winning both Modified Sedan feature races on, Friday and Saturday nights.
The AMCA Queensland Title was won by Steve Potts from Steve Price and Tim Reidy.
Queensland won the State of Origin Demolition Derby in a crash and bash affair that had the capacity crowd on their feet to complete the 2023/24 Toowoomba Speedway Season.
David Budden
LOCAL HERO Jacob Jolley emerged from the battle of Lismore to win the 2024 Australian Wingless Sprint Racing Championship title.
Despite the weight of local expectation and the painful memory of the loss of his Uncle Paul O’Neill Jolley produced a special drive in the gruelling 40-lap A-Main. Incredibly it was a story of the stars aligning with the late Paul O’Neill being 27 when he won his first national title, Jason Jolley (Jacob’s Dad) was 27 when he won his title and Jacob is 27 as he celebrates his first national title win.
It was an emotional victory for the team but also one that had its share of good fortune for the team with stumbling oil pressure troubling the N1 racer throughout the race.
“I was talking to myself and to Paul a lot during the race just praying that the motor wouldn’t give out,” Jacob said.
“I just kept focusing on hitting my marks
and had to remind myself to breathe,” he smiled after the race.
Jolley was near faultless all weekend with three heat wins and runner-up to Luke
Weel in the Preliminary A-Main on the Friday night, but the result was hardly a given with Victorian Travis Millar mounting a fierce attack in the dying laps to really put some pressure on as the chequers flew.
Millar had come from the third row of the grid to storm forward where he finished right on the bumper of Jolley and probably had some glimpses of a potential pass for the win as the leader ran wide a couple of times at the exit to turn four in the last three laps.
Weel was the preliminary night A-Main winner and backed that up with a fine third
place finish.
”I really wasn’t coming because in the past Lismore hasn’t been a happy hunting ground for me,” he admitted.
“But I’m glad Kirste and I decided to make the trip. We’ve had a fantastic title.”
South Australian Rylan Furler had a scare on Night One when the S26 purged oil from the motor but the problem was smaller than originally feared overnight and Furler sizzled to fourth behind Weel in the Title fight from the inside fifth row initially.
Furler led home a trifecta of talented South Aussies with Mount Gambier’s Mitch Broome in fifth and Adelaide’s Jack McCarthy sixth.
Former national champion Kyle Mock began on the front row alongside Jolley and was rarely out of title contention until he rode out a vicious flip whilst battling Millar for second on the main straight. Incredibly Mock was the only DNF of the race.
Images: ANDY TICEHURST MEDIA
Image: TONY POWELL
IN ANOTHER first for the NSW Grand Prix Midget Racing Association, five GP Midgets made their way to Oakburn Park Speedway in Tamworth for a one-off race meeting.
Gary Bowyer, Wally Kermond, Gavin Black, and Adam Buckley made the trip along with Bowyer’s ‘White Ant Racing’ loan and development car, which was made available to a local Karting racer, Micah Barnes.
With $1,000 prize money up for grabs, there promised to be some willing action for the chocolates.
Kermond started from pole position with Barnes the local alongside.
There was not going to be any mucking around at the start of the feature race and as expected Bowyer and Buckley both flew from the rear of the pack to the front on lap one. Black was having pushing issues with his steering and this was affecting his desire to keep pace with Bowyer and Buckley.
Buckley’s race car seemed to be powering along better and was keeping pace with Bowyer who was holding a consistent thirty metre lead through the race.
Unfortunately, Kermond’s car did not make it out for the feature and then on lap eight, Barnes who was in fourth at the time encountered a broken front shock top mount and was called infield by the race stewards bringing on a yellow.
The restart saw Bowyer lead from Buckley and Black with four laps to run.
Buckley seemingly found some extra drive and began gaining ground on Bowyer and on the white flag lap, they both came up behind Black on the front straight.
With Bowyer splitting to the high line and Buckley splitting to the low line, the GP’s ran three-wide past the start line, with Buckley down low moving into the lead ahead of Bowyer and Black.
On the final lap, Bowyer made a move up the inside of Buckley in turn one, with Buckley then cutting back inside Bowyer and the pair blasting down the back straight together.
Bowyer held a car length lead into the final corners and took the chequer, with Buckley on his inside and looking at his back wheel, Black taking third place. Dean Thompson
BORDERTOWN’S TOLMER Speedway will be a new addition to the Sprintcar Speedweek in the upcoming 2024/25 summer season.
The 2024/25 Sprintcar Speedweek schedule has been confirmed with the familiar stops of Murray Bridge Speedway, Avalon Raceway, Borderline Speedway and Premier Speedway all included in the post Christmas championship.
However, they will be joined by a new track in South Australia at Bordertown, making the roadshow feature five tracks in just seven days.
The multi-million dollar steep-baked circuit currently under construction will host Round 2 of the 2024/25 Sprintcar Speedweek on December 27.
Whilst earth works are still on going, Tolmer Speedway track worker Wayne Rowett is adamant Bordertown will be ready to host the sprintcar stars come the big day.
“We’re on target,” Rowett said.
“We’ve been working hard on many aspects of the facility and we’re really excited to be part of the Sprintcar Speedweek Series.
“Naturally there is still plenty to do before we open and we aim to have several test, practice and race event sessions completed before Christmas but it is absolutely our intention to add our own special Bordertown magic to Speedweek.
“It’s an honour to be included and we’re grateful for the show of faith from Murray Bridge, Avalon, Borderline and Premier, so we can’t wait.”
As the work at Bordertown continues to take shape, promoters and management of Avalon Raceway, Lara Borderline Speedway, Mount Gambier and Premier Speedway, Warrnambool enjoyed a first-hand glimpse and were impressed.
“The Speedway in Bordertown is spectacular already and it’s not yet completed,” says Avalon Raceway’s Jeff Drew.
“As the collective of promoting tracks of the Sprintcar Speedweek we couldn’t be more excited to welcome Wayne and Andrew Rowett and their team in Bordertown on board for 2024/2025.
“This is going to be a wonderful addition to the Australian Speedway industry and our annual Speedweek series specifically.”
2024/25 SPRINTCAR SPEEDWEEK SCHEDULE
DECEMBER 26: Murray Bridge Speedway, SA
DECEMBER 27: Bordertown Speedway, SA
DECEMBER 28: Borderline Speedway Mount Gambier, SA
DECEMBER 30: Avalon Raceway Lara, VIC
JANUARY 1: Premier Speedway Warrnambool VIC.
AFTER A long wait, Dale Martin and Tanner
James (below) became the latest names on the Australian Off Road Championship winner’s list by taking out the seasonopening Pooncarie Desert Dash.
The opening round proved to be a nail-biter after over four hours of racing. Martin took out the win by 40s over James Cook and Mitch Aucote on the final lap of the event, while reigning champion Travis Robinson and navigator Paul Currie rounded out the podium after overcoming a number of mechanical dramas.
Brent Martin and Andre De Simone started strongly and led into Sunday after taking out Section 1.
However, they were forced to stop halfway through Sunday’s second lap and retire.
This elevated Cook and Aucote into
the outright lead with a 40 second buffer ahead of the final lap.
But Martin and James produced the perfect run of the 106km finale to leapfrog Cook/Aucote and steal the win.
Having been competing for more than a decade, it meant a lot for Martin to finally stand on the top step.
“We’ve taken a few seconds and thirds over the years, but it’s been a long time coming to get first place. they’re hard to come by,” he said.
“We looked at the numbers (before the last lap) and my dad said that we can do it and to put the foot down.
“So, it was a bit of inspiration, a push from him, and a blinder of a lap where we didn’t miss a beat.
“Just every corner, every bump was perfect. And Tanner called a perfect race.
“We caught up to the back his (Cook) dust and got a feeling like, maybe we’ve done this.”
Whilst all eyes were on the fight for the lead, the fight for the final place on the podium was just as memorable, as Travis Robinson managed to snatch the final podium place by just two seconds.
The reigning champion did well to stand on the rostrum, having endured a handful of mechanical dramas after winning the Transportable Shade Sheds Prologue, but still finished only a minute off the pace.
Robinson started the final day ninth and made up significant time in the morning’s two laps before getting past the Pro Buggy of Aaron Haby on the final lap.
The leading Extreme 2WD class member was Beau Robinson/Shane Hutt in fifth place overall.
One spot back was Prolite winners Mel and Liam Brandle.
Behind the South Australian father-son duo were a trio of Pro Buggies led by Brett Rogers and Brett Richardson.
In the SXS Motorsport Australia Championship, Greg and Tori Campbell have provisionally won the class, after a big Sunday saw them overtake Saturday leaders James and Michael Mogford.
Other class winners include Jan Wisse and Emily Brandle in SXS Sport, Rick Chambers and Patrick Geraghty in Super 1650, Paul Tinga and Daniel Kelsey in Sportslite, Michael Shipton and Paul Chorlton in Performance 2WD, and Norman Parker and Mark Robertson in Production 4WD.
All roads now lead to the Finke Desert Race on June 7-10.
Thomas Miles
FORMER V8 SUPERCAR driver Alex
Rullo is now a star on the dirt and claimed a nail-biting opening round of the Western Australian Rally Championship.
Rullo and James Marquet won by just four seconds over Dylan King and Daymon Nicoli in their Hyundai i20 Rally2 in the Winvale Stages round based on a private property in the Bakers Hill region just east of Perth.
A total of 32 crews would tackle 10 short special stages, ranging from 4.6km to 7.6km in length and attracting 50% of championship points in very warm and sunny conditions.
Rullo kicked off his journey to victory perfectly by winning the opening 7.5km Helena special stage. He was chased by King in his recently acquired Toyota Yaris AP4, sparking a battle that would continue throughout the day with the pair swapping times finishing first and second on all remaining stages.
Chasing down the duo on SS1 were Subaru pairings Craig Rando/Scott Beckwith, plus Dale Faulkner/Rachel Ferrante.
Fifth on the stage was newcomer Thomas
Loughton and highly experienced rookie Michael Lloyd, debuting their Mitsubishi Evo X. Peter Rullo and Ben Searcy, fresh from their return from the WRC in Sweden, were sixth in their Hyundai i20 Rally2.
The highly anticipated debut of Tim Hiles and Morgan Ward didn’t go as planned with the pair hitting a big jump too fast and launching through one of the many gates and fences throughout the property.
They limped home in seventh place on the stage but didn’t continue too much further after losing a windscreen and then blowing
their engine.
King would take SS2 from Rullo, before the positions swapped in SS3 where Gary Mills and Mitchell Gray in the Peugeot 208 AP4 slipped into the top five on this stage.
The re-runs of the first three stages, as SS4 to SS6 saw much of the same, with the top six crews exchanging places frequently.
Stages 7 to 9 were the same three stages all run in reverse and, as Rando had an issue in SS7 and dropped time, Rullo Snr grasped the opportunity and moved into third place. From there until the end of SS10, there
were no further changes in the overall result, with Alex Rullo and Marquet taking the victory four seconds ahead of King and Nicoli.
Peter Rullo and Searcy grabbed the final place on the podium ahead of without doubt the drive of the rally from newcomers Thomas Loughton and Morgan Lloyd in fourth and first in the very competitive Production Cup championship.
The two-wheel drive win went to Tony Oates and Niamh Nairn in a Honda Civic ahead of the Mitsubishi Mirage of Sam Moody and David Christian.
The championship moves south to Busselton and Nannup for round two, the piggy back event to the ARC round next month.
Thomas Miles
THE CHASE for the Motorsport Australia Victorian Rally Championship has blown wide open, with the points leaders failing to score from either Heat at the Draper’s Civil Contracting Ada River Rally on April 20.
There are now at least five crews in contention for the title and the best seven of eight heats will count this year after Brad Luff won the Ada River Rally by 23s from Brendan Reeves (pictured).
Points leader Adrian Stratford (with Anthony Staltari) in a G4 spec Fiesta pushed too hard early on and a liberated conrod set off an oil fire on Stage 1.
Second placed, and from NSW, Josh Redhead (with Ray WinwoodSmith) in the ex-Nathan Quinn G4 Spec Hyundai i20 set fastest time on Stage 1 but returned to service with an electrical problem and retired the car.
All said they will do the rest of the championship, making the title chase the tightest for some time.
Another notable early retirement after a third-fastest time on Stage 1 was Darren and Michelle Crozier (WRX). They were lured into a large rock beside the road on Stage 2, caught out by the early road mixed conditions.
The Western District Car club again brilliantly ran the rally to schedule, out of the Noojee Heritage Centre. Well supported by the community including the Noojee Men’s Shed and
local businesses, the rally is a big deal for Noojee.
Road selection by Daryl King was universally praised with the new stage to the east up to Tanjil Bren a favourite.
Even international rally commentator Colin Clark posted on his social pages: “Hats off guys and girls, you’ve got a cracking little event here.”
The style of roads, well formed and flowing somewhat negated the advantage of the AWD cars and it was Brendan Reeves/Aiden O’Halloran (Datsun P510) who set the pace, winning taking 6 of 8 stages overall to win Heat 1.
Shadowing them were Brad and Jamie Luff (WRX) taking Stages 2 and 5 times but crucially, winning the last 2 stages to win in Heat 2.
They sit equal third on points, while Lee/Lethlean (Evo IX) with third place in each heat now lead the championship, withg Stratford/Staltari second.
Running parallel was the Victorian Club Rally Series and Wald/Elliott (Stanza) took their second win by just 0.5 seconds/kilometre from Semmens/Parry (200SX).
Even closer were Berwick/Stuchbery (Liberty) 7 seconds behind Semmens.
The next two rounds running after dark in May and June will decide the club title, with the first the Moonlight Meander on May 25 at Korweinguboora Recreation Reserve.
Alan Baker
THE MOTORSPORT Australia Queensland State Championship resumed at Queensland Raceway where a number of categories raced hard around the “Paperclip.”
QLD PRODUCTION SPORTS CARS PORSCHE WAS the car to have in the Queensland Production Sports Cars with the German brand boasting three of the top four.
Leading the way was Wayne Hennig, who took round honours but not without competition.
The #11 GT3 Cup driver converted pole into a lights-to-flag win but his momentum was disrupted by a dramatic opening lap in Race 2.
Hennig fell to fifth amid the drama but eventually worked his way back to second behind winner Mark Darling.
After squabbling for the first two laps Hennig was able to overcome fellow Porsche driver Darling to secure the round win.
HYUNDAI EXCEL
THE BIGGEST field on show was as usual the Hyundai Excels and they raced hard in mixed conditions.
Boosted by pole position, Matthew Boylett overcame some spirited challenges from Cooper Barnes and George Wood by six tenths after no less than five lead changes.
The rematch was a more quieter affair with Wood getting the upper hand after a decisive move on lap three albeit winning by only three-tenths.
The final race proved to be a thriller as Jackson Cooper not only joined the intense fight for the lead, but won it.
He flew from fifth to the lead on the penultimate lap after getting by Barnes and held on by the narrow margin of just 0.062s.
Despite finishing fourth best in the finale, Boylett did enough to take the round win.
THE FORMULA Vee battle for victory was even closer with little separating Alex Macdonald and Michael Westerhout all weekend.
The battle lines were drawn in qualifying where Macdonald took pole by a meagre 0.0040s.
They swapped stints leading the early
laps of until Westerhout gained track position before Oliver Seibel added an extra dimension by splitting the pair and securing second.
Despite drifting to third, Macdonald was determined to respond and did it brilliantly by winning Race 2.
This set up a winner-takes-all fight in the finale and Macdonald rose to the occasion, leading all 13 laps to win the race and round.
THERE WAS also some heated action in Formula Ford with David Rodgie taking out the opener by 5s.
But when Rodgie retired from Race 2, the fight for victory was alive as just a single tenth separated Liam Loiacono and Lachlan Evennett.
After winning Race 2 Loiacono secured the round in style with a dominant drive in Race 3.
THE HOLDEN HQ contest was all about a special comeback drive for Brandon Madden.
Madden was forced to start from dead last due to a decision from the stewards.
But Joseph Andriske still beat him to pole being the only driver in the 1m33s window and he carried on with a Race 1 win.
But Madden had pace to burn by soaring to second and once at the front, he could not be stopped and won the final two races.
IT WAS one-way traffic in Improved Productions/Sports Sedans and Invited with Daniel Crompton in a league of his own. Mustang driver Crompton won all three races with a minimum margin of victory of 13s, while Anthony Cox was second best in his SAAB 93.
The series now heads to Morgan Park on June 15-16.
Thomas Miles
THE NSW Motor Racing Championships kicked off at Sydney Motorsport Park on April 13. Five racing classes put on 15 entertaining races one one day. We coaxed BRUCE MOXON out of retirement to report back to us on the day’s events ....
A PAIR of 30-minute races for the only roofed classes provided some good racing. Geoff Taunton (MARC 2) led early before stopping on lap 10 with a mechanical fault.
This left pole-sitter Darren Currie (MARC 2) to head Jackson Shaw and Adam Hargraves home in their GTs. In the second race, Currie led from go to whoa, but never got far ahead of Shaw.
Taunton made his way through the pack to be third at the end, after a tussle with Michael Rowell’s MARC. Best of the Production Sports cars was Glenn Townsend’s Porsche, from Mark Hudders (Maserati) and Aaron Wemyss in his Lotus
ALEX KENNY took his Nova to a perfect day – pole, three race wins and leading every lap, plus a new lap record of 1m25.8712s.
Kenny headed Nick Kelly’s Wolf to the line in race one, from John-Paul Drake’s Wolf, which was best of the Prototype class. In the second race, the finishing order was the same, although Jason Makris held third for a while in his V8 engined car, before stopping midrace.
In the last race, Kenny shot away and set his second lap record of the day (having beaten the previous mark in the second race) finishing nearly a minute ahead of Makris, who’d come from rear-of-grid. Third went to Sprios Poulakis’s Praga Prototype, who’d been second for the first few laps.
WHILE A quick look at the results might suggest Daniel Frogas had an easy day, with three wins in his Mygale, the truth is that the racing was always close and results never guaranteed. Zak Lobko took pole in his Mygale and led the first race for the first four laps, before stopping on-track, bringing out the Safety Car. Recovery of his car meant the race finished under caution, Frougas heading Edison Beswick (Spectrum) and Cody Maynes-Rutty (Spectrum). Lobko didn’t start the second race, leaving Frougas, Maynes-Rutty Beswick and Lachlan Strickland (Mygale) to dispute the lead.
Several lead changes later they crossed the line in that order, with less than a second separating the four. Race 3 was also close. Once again it was Frougas, with Beswick next this time, then Maynes-Rutty. Lobko’s car was repaired in time to start the race from rear-of-grid, but a five-second penalty dropped him to an eventual ninth.
A SMALL but quality field, with the 250cc Karts of Lee Vella (Anderson) and Laurie Fooks (National) topping the grids. Vella took the first race after Fooks retired on the opening lap. Mark Vickers (Woodgate) was second after a race-long fight with Paul Battle’s CKR and Tony Moit’s Woodgate. This trio put on good racing all day and was a highlight. Race two, and Vella didn’t start, indeed, he was out for the day. Fooks took an unchallenged win after the race finished behind the Safety Car, after Justin Levis’s Rotax stopped on track.
Battle, Vickers and Moit were next. In race 3 Fooks took no prisoners, winning by nearly a minute after seven laps. Vickers, Battle and Stuart Robertson (Woodgate) disputed the minor placings, before Battle retired on lap 2. Vickers took second, from Robertson and Jock Dos Santos (BRM).
The final race was thrown into confusion when Fooks retired from the lead after three laps. Battle also stopped, a lap earlier while Dos Santos struggled for the first couple of laps with what looked like a fouled spark plug, before finding his speed again.
So Moit, Robertson and Vickers tussled over the lead for six of the seven laps, before Vickers dropped off the pace very late in the race. Moit and Robertson crossed the line abreast, the margin of victory to Moit being 0.07s.
THE THREE Vee races were typically close. Jason Cutts started race 1 from the back after an engine problem in qualifying. Craig Sparke (Jacer) led away from Darren Williams (Sabre) and Aaron Pace (Sabre). The lead went back-and-forth between Williams and Sparke, before Cutts (Jacer) joined the party on lap 7. Williams went on to win, from Cutts, Luke Collett (Jacer) and Simon Pace (Sabre).
Race two and Jason Cutts went to a 3.5 second win while his competitors fought over the scraps. Williams led for a couple of laps early before Cutts was able to pull away. Williams, both Paces and Luke Collett put on a top race for second, Williams taking that spot from Simon Pace, then Aaron and Collett.
Cutts pulled into the pits after the warmup lap with a clutch problem in the third race.
Once again Williams came out on top after a close race with both Paces and Collett. Several times the cars were three wide, with Collett taking second, from Simon and Aaron.
THE NEW TA2 Muscle Car Series season took off under lights at Sydney Motorsport Park and Josh Haynes was fast out of the gates.
Haynes was a dominant figure across the weekend, winning three of the four races with only Supercars star Todd Hazelwood beating him.
The #37 Mustang claimed a hard fought pole with a 1:32.0822 by just 0.0137s over Hazelwood as their rivalry began.
Haynes was in complete control of the Friday night opener and cruised to a comfortable win ahead of Hazelwood as speedway rookie Domain Ramsay had a big spin.
But the Supercars driver turned the
tables in Race 2 with a fast start to set up a thrilling battle.
Haynes pushed hard for the majority of the race but once he lost the rear he lost touch with Hazelwood, who added a TA2 win to his
resume at the second attempt.
After being unable to start the opener with clutch issues Josh Thomas went from last to eighth. Hazelwood appeared on track to take
another win in Race 2 until his diff broke, allowing Haynes to be back on top by 3.5s ahead of Thomas and Brad Gartner.
The Race 4 finale was disrupted with the reds being waved following a major incident. Hazelwood and Gartner clashed at Turn 11 which set off a chain reaction and blocked the track when Mark Crutcher and Lee Stibbs arrived.
Crutcher had a big impact with the wall and was taken to hospital for precautionary checks, while Hazelwood was disqualified. It confirmed Haynes’ round win ahead of reigning champion Dylan Thomas and Graham Cheney.
Round 2 is at Morgan Park on May 31-June 2. Thomas Miles
ROUND TWO of the South Australian Motor Racing Championship finally found its way to Mallala Motorsport Park on April 20 after being postponed in early March because of the hot weather.
SPORTS SEDANS had a good field with some new faces but it was Ian Wilson (TVR Tuscan) in the lone Production Sports Car that showed the way winning all three races comfortably.
Michael Bartsch was the best of the Sports Sedans, having a good run in his six-litre Toyota 86.
Steve Engelhardt (Holden Commodore) claimed P2 for the round after Nathan Mills (Datsun 1200 coupe) failed to start Race 3.
Scott Clements was third in the exMick Monterosso Escort restored back to Cosworth spec.
JASON PALMER (BMW E30) finally got some reliability to match his pace and climbed onto the top step of the Improved Production podium with two hard fought wins.
Anthony Norris (Datsun 1200 coupe) got it all together to win Race 3 which elevated him to P2 overall.
James Suttons’ (Mazda R100) third outright didn’t reflect how competitive he’d been, regularly leading and making Palmer and Norris work for every position and point.
NATHAN CLIFTON (Jacer V2K) made a clean sweep of F/Vee 1600 having an excellent run in the new car.
Matthew Bailek (Stinger 3) worked hard for second with
Marco Lima-Marques (Sabre 01) third after a good showing in Race 2. Sean Grimmond (Merlin PE08) should have been on the podium but broke a gearbox in Race 3.
Frank Chessell (Elfin Crusader) took and easy win in F/Vee 1200 after pacesetter Baxter Midwinter (Panther 1A) was disqualified from Race 1 for being under weight, dropping him to third overall behind Jay Thompson (Spectre).
NATHAN ROBERTS took the HQ honours comfortably ahead of Scott Allen and Anthony Bobridge after some close racing. David Lines (Commodore VZ) narrowly defeated Sam Milton (Commodore VT) for the Saloon Car win after finishing in the top two all day.
Mark Rosser (Commodore VY) was the best of the rest in a field that got smaller every race.
Round 3 of the South Australian Motor Racing Championship is back at The Bend Motorsport Park on May 3-5.
David Batchelor
THE SECOND round of the Warwick Warwick District Sporting Car Club 2024 Super Sprints A Series took place at Morgan Park Raceway on April 20-21.
Few could match the speed of Beau Hatton in his BMW, taking out outright honours ahead of Radical driver Anthony Shore as Chris Beard rounded out the podium in his Evo.
All the second rounds of the A,B and C series are being conducted on the old long-track, called track E. It is very much like the favourite K circuit except hurtling down
towards the big sweeper at full noise, you need to throw the anchor out and hook a right before a series of flip-flops then back onto the straight again. It’s a busy track and due to it being smaller in length, each run consisted of four timed laps.
The majority of Saturday was a typical stunning Autumn Warwick day with cool track temperatures and warm sunshine, but this would not last.
By the afternoon the clouds came over and the drizzling rain set in, and it continued that way for the rest of the weekend.
Fortunately, for many of the highpowered cars running on slicks, the mornings ideal conditions gave the opportunity to lock in a good run time while it was still dry.
Thankfully there was no major incidents apart from a few mechanical failures and the occasional play in the dirt.
The wet weather gave the juniors some valuable experiences of driving in the wet and testing the limits of grip. It also tested some of the more experienced drivers too.
But in the end there was no matching Hatton.
Peter Trapnell
IT WAS a busy weekend at Sydney Motorsport Park with a number of support categories at the Hi-Tec Oils Super Series event.
There was a total of six other categories joining the TA2 Muscle Car Series and one of the most competitive was Legend Cars Australia with three winners from five races.
Lachlan Ward (leading above) took the opener but dropped to third in the next encounter as Robert Hogan did the opposite and went from third to first.
Billy Finnegan then joined the fray by securing the third race until Ward became the first repeat winner in the penultimate affair. Despite Finnegan hitting back and winning the final race, Ward’s second place was enough to take a closely fought round.
Andy Hall emerged on top in a tight fight for Australian Production Sports dominated by Porsches. Wins in Races 1 and 3 proved to be enough for Andy Hall to win the round despite Rodney Forbes and Nick Mantikos also tasting success.
The first Formula RX8 encounter was dominated by Ryan Gorton who won by 14s but he didn’t feature in Race 2, claimed by Brock Paine.
The final two races were all about Rob Boaden as he went back to back.
There was nothing in it in Super TT as just three points separated the top three after four intense races.
Consistency was the key for Cory Gillett, who despite not winning a race, won the round.
Myles Jones won three of the four races but was forced to lament a DNF whilst Brent Edwards could only manage third despite winning Race 3.
Brett Mitchell had pace to burn in his Chevrolet Oztruck and took a hat-trick of wins on his way to Stock Cars Australia round honours.
Blake Tracey and Toby Waghorn shared the Hyundai Excel races between them but only one of them could win the round and that was Tracey.
Thomas Miles
THE 2024 Tasmanian Circuit Racing Championships have reached the halfway mark with round three at Bulk Nutrients Baskerville Raceway on April 20 and 21 - and the good news is that the majority of classes are still tight, with no clear favourites MARTIN AGATYN reports.
THE ONLY exception to the rule appears to be in Sports GTA, where Andrew Reader (Mazda RX-7) has reached a 184-point lead over his nearest rival after another dominant display, top qualifying, and winning every race, including the double-points final.
With 160 points per round still available, he’s still mathematically vulnerable, but unless he strikes a major drama in the second half of the season, he rightfully deserves to be called the championship favourite at this stage.
Meanwhile, Honni Pitt (Lotus Exige) had her best round of the season, but had to settle for a string of second placing behind the unbeatable Reader.
FURTHER DOWN the field, the Sports GTB title is very much alive, with Vlad Gala (Holden Commodore Ute) winning the round with three first and two second places in his first outing for the season.
Series leader David Walker (Datsun 1200 Ute) had a disastrous weekend with a DNF in heat four and a was a non-starter in the double points final, to lose his championship lead.
Meanwhile, Peter Galloway (Datsun 1200 Coupe) showed the importance of finishing every race.
His worst result was a fourth and best was a couple of seconds, gathering a nice haul of points to finish second for the round.
Mike Hamilton (Subaru Legacy) recorded one DNF, but was consistent in other races, including a win in the double-points final to take him to a 26-points series lead over Walker.
THE SPORTS GTC title is even closer after Steve Olive (Ford Falcon) and Michael Symons (BMW 125i) shared every victory between them – Symons importantly taking out the double-points final to go to a 10-point series lead over Olive.
HOLDEN HQ
THE MAIN event of the meeting for HQ
Holdens was the Laurie Kelly Memorial Handicap over 10 laps.
Wayne Nichols had been relatively quiet during the meeting with a fifth placing his best before the main event.
Subsequently, he was given a generous handicap of 8 secs, with only Shaun Hughes (3 secs) in front of him.
Otis Cordwell was the backmarker on 24 secs and did a good job to finish fourth, just
1.8 secs behind the winner.
Frontmarker Shane Hughes placed second after being passed by Nichols mid-race, with Neville Rattray (21 secs) third.
Sadly for Andy Bennett, the fairytale didn’t come true for his final race, finishing seventh and hanging up the helmet after not missing a single meeting in the past 10 years.
Meanwhile, championship-wise, the weekend belonged to reigning Tasmanian champion Andrew Toth, who won everything else, except for race two, in which he finished second.
Despite missing the second round of the series, it was good enough to move Toth into third for the series, with the consistent Neville Rattray, with a string of third places, now leading the championship from Andrew Bird, who had a trouble-plagued weekend.
AS USUAL, a big field of Hyundai Excels didn’t disappoint, with reigning champion Jeremy Bennett, Jackson Shaw and 14 yearold future star Oliver Wickham providing the entertainment once again at the head of the field.
Wickham continued to impress, setting a new lap record on the Saturday, but coming unstuck in race four when his bonnet flew up, causing him to pull over.
His charge through the field in the final from the rear of the grid was inspired and a bit of a weird sight, as the broken windscreen had to be removed, along with the integrated rear window and tailgate to prevent wind drag.
Despite the far from ideal aero, Wickham managed to work his way back up to third at the chequered flag.
Jeremy Bennett had to fight hard for the three races he won, to claim the round victory, while Wickham picked up the other two victories.
Jackson Shaw was the perennial bridesmaid with a bunch of second and third places, to maintain second place in the series behind Bennett, with Wickham still third and well within reach of the title with three rounds to go.
JASON HOUSE had the perfect weekend in a big field of improved production sedans, top qualifying, winning every race and the double-points and setting a new lap record in his BMW E92 M3, to move into second in the championship after missing the first round.
Series leader Ayrton Richardson (Toyota KE30) started the weekend well, but was hardly sighted on the Sunday.
However, he still managed to score enough points to maintain the championship lead, albeit by a significantly reduced margin. Michael Symons (BMX 125i), pulled double duty (also competing in Sports GTB), but struggled a bit and has now dropped to third in the series.
Anthony McKenzie (Ford Escort) scored a clean sweep in the under two-litre category and gave some of the outright contenders a run for their money throughout the weekend.
RICHARD GRAY (Bee Cee Jabiru) was at the pointy end of the Formula Vees for most of the weekend, with three wins and two second placings taking him to third in the championship, after missing the opening round.
Former multiple Australian and Tasmanian champion Noel Clark (Elfin NG2) had some great battles with Gray during the round, but a coming together with series leader Michael Vaughan (Spectre) in race two on the Saturday gave their crews something to do that night, with damage to both cars repaired for the third race on the Sunday.
Despite starting at the rear of the grid, Clark and Vaughan soon worked their way back into contention to challenge Gray again, with Clark winning heat four and the final. Vaughan managed to salvage enough points to retain the series lead, with Clark, who also missed the opening round, moving to fifth in the series.
A SMALL field of historic touring cars was dominated by John Talbot (Ford Mustang), who won everything on offer, to even further extend his series lead, with Roger Hurd (BMW 2002 TC) and Phil Shepherd (EH Holden) sharing the minor placings in the majority of races, with Hurd finishing second for the round and Shepherd third overall.
TAUPO HAD BIG SHOES TO FILL FOLLOWING PUKEKOHE, BUT THE TIGHT, TWISTY AND CHARMING LAYOUT MADE A MASSIVE IMPRESSION AT THE FIRST TIME OF ASKING WITH RAIN, TYRE WEAR, CLASSIC RACING AND CARNAGE MAKING THE NZ RETURN ONE TO REMEMBER. THOMAS MILES LOOKS BACK ON A MEMORABLE MAIDEN TRIP TO TAUPO ...
THE SUPERCARS field literally raced into the unknown as it took on Taupo’s tight 3.32km full of character for the first time.
With Pukekohe sadly no more and the Hampton Downs track not considered, the series faced a new and unique challenge in NZ presented by Taupo with countless surface changes.
With a strong crowd of 67,411 fans squeezing into the stands and banks and many more attending the Track to Town activation, it was clear how much the Kiwi fans missed the championship.
This was only reinforced when they gritted their way a soaked Saturday, and were rewarded with some great racing.
Before cars hit the track there was a lot of speculation surrounding how well Supercars would race around Taupo, but now everyone cannot wait to come back with the round a massive success.
ALL EYES were on the 3.32km of varied tarmac on Friday where teams just had a solitary practice session to come to grips with Taupo.
Although almost everyone aside from the returning Brodie Kostecki had cut laps in a little buzzbox beforehand, the first time steering a Supercar around the twisty layout was the real deal.
Drivers made the most of the uninterrupted 90-minute fact-finding mission and two things were apparent early. The first was the impact of tyre wear with the significant surface changes eating rubber, whilst the other was the competitive nature of the timesheets.
Chaz Mostert finished the first ever Supercars session at Taupo fastest in a closely fought session with just half a second covering the fastest 17. In his first session with the #1 on the door, Kostecki emerged 12th.
The abrasive nature of the surface changes had drivers instantly comparing the track to the tyre-chewing Wanneroo.
“The surface takes me back to the old school Perth and it may be a little bit worse because there is one patch that gives you hope and then all of a sudden you get to the next corner and you are a long way past the apex,” Mostert said.
“I don’t expect there will be much follow the leader out there, cars will be going everywhere inside and outside with dirt and dust, so it will be about who can protect the tyres the best.”
WITH THE Taupo circuit being in the shadow of Mount Tuatara, it is an imposing figure in itself, but on Saturday it became an even fiercer prospect when the weather gods had a massive say.
challenge in changing conditions. It all came down to the final minutes where to the delight of the home crowd, Matt Payne fired the fastest time as the only driver to be in the 1m27s window ahead of three other Mustangs led by Anton De Pasquale, while Cam Hill was the top Camaro in fifth.
However, provisional pole proved to be the worst position to be in as the weather then turned everything on its head when it was time for the Top 10 Shootout.
After growing showers throughout the day, heavy rain arrived halfway through the onelap dash, washing away any hope of pole position for the last five cars.
The driver that clearly made the most of the conditions was Cam Waters. The Tickford driver with a point to prove skated to an impressive 1:34.7415. He was a full half a second ahead of Will Brown and Andre Heimgartner.
“It was obviously a pretty wild qualifying and I got pretty lucky with it getting wetter through the session,” Waters said.
“In saying that the car was pretty hooked up and felt good straight out of the gate.
“I have had a lot of bad luck this year so I will take some good luck now.”
LIGHTS OUT AND CHAOS
AFTER EXPERIENCING plenty of pain at Bathurst and Albert Park, Waters was determined to turn a corner and make the most of pole position in the first fully wet Supercars race since The Bend 2022 and the Gen3 era.
Approaching the race there was plenty of intrigue about the start with a suggestion the surface conditions would favour those
starting behind the front row.
From the drop of the clutch, this theory was proved straightaway as Waters endured the latest chapter in his nightmare start to 2024.
As Waters struggled to get the power down, Slade flew off the line from the second row and tried to thread his way between Brown and Waters.
But at the same time the Triple Eight steerer moved from driver’s right to left to cover and, with three cars aiming for the one spot, something had to give.
In the Supercars version of the infamous 2017 Singapore Grand Prix, Slade moved to avoid Brown, but could not evade Waters and the pair collided and careered into the inside wall.
Waters was able to soldier on and eventually complete an impressive comeback to eighth, but Slade’s race was over in an instant.
Slade was shattered that his best starting position for a year went to waste.
“Just super disappointed,” Slade said.
“Got a terrific start and tried to go through the gap and the gap closed.
“In hindsight I could have gotten out of the throttle and followed the car in front of me
but you are a racer and I had a really good start, went for a gap that was there and then it wasn’t.”
The drama was not over as fellow contenders Payne and Broc Feeney also rotated when the field eventually tip-toed their way around Turn 1 as Brown took charge.
The race resumed on lap four and Brown built a 2s lead inside two laps before the Safety Car returned.
Bryce Fullwood was running eighth and battling side by side with Hill, but a tag from Le Brocq sent the #14 spinning 180 degrees at Turn 11.
Due to Fullwood being stuck in the middle of the long left-hander the Safety Car returned and even more drama occurred in the pit lane as everyone took the chance to complete a compulsory stop.
Two parked Penrite Racing Mustangs created chaos, leaving Kostecki with nowhere to go and contact was made with Payne when the reigning champion tried to rejoin the lane.
Meanwhile, BJR showcased its Pit Stop Challenge skills to critically send Heimgartner in front of Brown and snatch
the lead after a 5.2s stop.
The action did not stop after the stops ,with Chaz Mostert snatching second off Brown, who soon found himself bullied down the order by a bunch of Mustangs.
Both David Reynolds and James Courtney charged more than 10 places to be inside the top 10, but their hard work was destroyed when Kostecki speared the #7 at Turn 1.
The reigning champion apologised for the incident and was handed a 15s penalty.
ALTHOUGH HOME hero Heimgartner was heading the field, a fairytale win was far from certain with Mostert breathing down his neck.
The #25 WAU Mustang was on the charge as it slashed the BJR driver’s lead within five laps.
Heimgartner and Mostert ran nose to tail across the next 20 laps in a tense battle with the #8 Camaro able to resist the pressure with strong drive on corner exit.
Mostert had applied the blowtorch to Heimgartner all the way until lap 40 when both leaders completed the final compulsory stop.
With Mostert rejoining ahead of Will Davison, the #25 remained Ford’s best hope of getting a maiden 2024 WIN.
It appeared the battle was going to resume at the back end of the race, but within a lap the wheels fell off Mostert’s pursuit of victory.
As Mostert completed his out lap, he started getting swallowed up by rivals as he crossed the line with the right rear tyre looking slightly out of place.
The tyre finally parted company coming out of Turn 4 and for good measure Mostert kicked his own loose wheel at the following corner. Thankfully the speeding wheel hit a barrier and came to rest.
It meant a possible win turned into a lowly P22 for Mostert, who labelled it as a “kick in the guts.”
“It wasn’t fitted properly.
He got the wheel on, done it up with the wheel nut, but unfortunately it crossthreaded to a
certain degree,” WAU Team Manager Anthony McDonald told Supercars.
“The wheel locked up, so he thought it was home.
“But the wheel clips weren’t there to hold the wheel nut on.”
DESPITE THE immediate pressure from Mostert having disappeared, it was far from certain Heimgartner would complete the special success.
He still had to tip-toe his way around the soaked circuit and he eventually did enough to lead home the two DJR Mustangs.
It was an emotional moment for the Auckland born driver, who had not won since The Bend 2021, whilst it was BJR’s first appearance in victory lane in four years since SMP 2020.
To put the cherry on top it was on Heimgartner’s home soil in Jason Richards’ #8 ...
“It is pretty unreal and I get a bit chcked up just thinking about it all,” Heimgartner said.
Davison put in a measured drive to take second in some of the “toughest conditions” he has uncounted in his 20-year career ahead of teammate De Pasquale, whilst WAU rookie Ryan Wood claimed an impressive fourth even though he believed a possible podium slipped away.
Strangly it was an ‘off’ day for Triple Eight with Brown clinging onto a top 10 and Feeney battling to 21st.
SUNDAY:
LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL THE SKIES had cleared on Sunday and that was not the reason why the home fans were cheering, thanks to Matthew Payne.
Driving with a special silver Kiwi livery, Payne just held out his rivals to take a hardfought and memorable maiden Shootout pole on home soil. His 1:26.8173 was less than a tenth ahead of Feeney, Kostecki and De Pasquale.
Despite the special sight of Payne starting his second home race from pole and leading the field off the line, he “struggled with tyre life” and could not pull off the fairytale result.
The #19 shot out of the blocks building a 2s lead, only to creep into the clutches of Feeney as the stint progressed.
By lap 11 Payne could do little as Feeney flew down the inside at the double right handers of Turn 5-6.
Soon the Penrite Racing driver was knocked out of the top three and came home a solid fourth.
BATTLE OF THE BULLS
WITH THE track staying dry, the 60-lap race became a game of tyre management and it was evident from the first stint that Triple Eight was in a league of its own.
Whilst Feeney was in cruise control, Brown had pace to burn and flew past De Pasquale to lock in a Triple Eight 1-2.
This momentum saw the #87 cut Feeney’s 4s lead to under a second by the time the final cycle of stops approached.
The leader boxed first and when Brown was serviced, he had to overcome a 2s deficit in the final 19 laps but had a clear pace advantage.
The #87 only took five laps to be on his teammate’s bumper to setup a thrilling fight for the lead as neither Red Bull took a backward step.
Brown tried to fly around the outside of Turn 11 twice and also had a look on the inside of Turn 6, but Feeney kept the door closed.
Brown’s relentless assault eventually paid off when he threw the Camaro over the Turn 5 kerb and dived down the inside at the following right hander.
The #87 muscled its way past and eventually cruised to a 3s win after a battle for the ages.
Both jousting Triple Eight teammates admitted they were wary of making too much contact, but still gave it everything with the victor claiming it was the “race of his life” and even better than his famous first-up win in 2021.
“It was hard to make the pass because there were not a heap of passing opportunities and I had to set it up,” Brown said.
“It was bloody hard not to make contact because with the tyre life I had I was so much faster mid corner, I was waiting a long time.
“When I got him it was a good move, but I locked the rears and thought ‘don’t put him in the wall’ and I don’t think I breathed the whole way in.
“Even though I was a long way back, I was able to get the better drive. It was awesome to have such a great battle for the lead.”
“You do have to be careful because if
we’d come together there would be big ramifications,” Feeney said
“But we raced as hard as we could, being super respectful, not rubbing panels all the time against someone I trust like Will.”
MUCH LIKE the fight for Race 8, the wrestle for the coveted Jason Richards Memorial Trophy also went down to the wire.
An impressively consistent weekend from De Pasquale with a pair of third places netted a 258-point haul.
This proved to be just six points more than Heimgartner, who put in a mighty charge at the end of Race 2 dreaming of bringing the trophy back to Richards’ last Supercars team.
The Kiwi flew from 11th to sixth as he finished 1.7s short of fifth-placed James Golding, who gained ground by pitting early.
It was a tough break for Heimgartner, who thought he did enough to bring the trophy back to Richards’ last Supercars team, only to fall one spot short.
“I actually got geared up a bit because I thought I had to make up two more spots and I did, but it ended up being I needed another one on top of that,” the Kiwi said.
“At Pukekohe last time I needed another 10 points to get the JR Trophy which does make it painful.
“But I saw Jason’s parents and they were so proud of what BJR was able to do.
“There is something special related to that number, car and team.”
Winning the JR Trophy marked a massive return for both DJR and De Pasquale, who struggled in the first two rounds but used NZ as a platform to rise from 21st to 12th in the championship.
De Pasquale was consistently fast throughout and winning the round was an honour not lost on him.
“To go from a DNS to winning the next round is pretty cool,” he said after being DJR’s first JR Trophy winner since Scott McLaughlin in 2018.
“We’ve been struggling at the start of the year to execute in races.
“To win the round and to win the JR Trophy is really, really special.”
Another tyre torture test awaits as the Supercars field travels 5,413km west to Wanneroo Raceway on May 17-19.
FOR THE first time in the 21-year history of the Porsche Carrera Cup Australia, there was a round in New Zealand and David Russell used the platform to break a record of his own.
Russell ended the longest wait for a maiden Carrera Cup round win by finally winning his first round in his 60th attempt.
Previously, the veteran had collected 14 podiums and finished second on six occasions, but Taupo was finally his time on the top step ahead of the resurgent Jackson Walls and impressive Nash Morris.
“To finally have it is good,” Russell said.
“We’ve had plenty of race wins and podiums but to get the monkey off the back, a round win, is good and hopefully we can continue to keep rolling with it now.”
The TekworkX Motorsport driver showed pace straight away by topping a tight qualifying session.
Nothing was in it as Russell snuck ahead of Harri Jones by just 0.012s with a 1:31.6739.
Angelo Mouzouris also showed speed to be just over a tenth away, while Dylan O’Keeffe was the only other driver in the 1m31s window.
But when it was time to go racing, the NZ weather had closed in and the track was soaked.
After four minutes behind the Safety Car, the field was finally set free with just 12 laps of racing possible.
Russell led away from pole with Jones having a look on the inside as Mouzouris settled into third with little position change.
Mouzouris made the first move by pouncing down the inside of Jones at the double right hander of Turns 4 and 5 to snatch second.
A tense battle developed between veterans Dale Wood and Fabian Coulthard for seventh. The pair raised eyebrows with a number of door-to-door moments until a mistake from the Kiwi at Turn 11, took the pressure off Wood. But this only proved to be momentary as a bigger moment for Wood running wide at Turn 9 allowed Coulthard to finally snatch the position.
The fight for the lead intensified inside the final three minutes as Mouzouris cut Russell’s lead to under a second.
Towards the end of the race Wood found himself under
pressure from Marco Giltrap and cracked.
The #992 spun on his own in front of Giltrap and, despite contact, both cars carried on with the former Supercars driver dropping from ninth to 14th.
Russell completed his composed drive in the wet to take a first Carrera Cup win since 2015 a second ahead of Mouzouris and Jones, while Morris won a tight battle for fourth.
Russell carried on his momentum in the Endurance Cup race, held in drier conditions on Sunday morning.
Jones stalled it off the line, forcing the remainder of the field to take evasive action from the 2022 champion on the front row.
But Marco Giltrap was not so lucky, also stalling but being clipped by Lachlan Bloxsom.
Dean Cook made a fast start, but it did not last long after contact with Harrison Goodman fired him into the fence.
The early chaos would call the Safety Car into action and racing resumed with 28 minutes to go.
Poleman O’Keeffe led Russell as the battle for third got physical as early as Turn 1.
Marcos Flack launched a move on Morris, and contact between the pair eventually paved the way for Jackson Walls to surge to third.
It only took half a lap before Russell stole the lead from O’Keeffe while, to make matters worse for Jones, he tripped over Ryder Quinn. He eventually recovered to 10th on track but a penalty for the incident dropped him to 13th.
Russell was never threatened and went back-to-back, 2s ahead of Walls.
The action was behind them with O’Keeffe falling from first to fifth inside five laps and Morris made him pay by rising to third.
Russell’s hopes of a clean sweep were denied in a flash by Walls in Race 3, who shot clear from the second row.
A lightning jump saw the #77 soar from third to first in no time, leaving Russell to defend second from Morris.
This proved to be decisive as Walls made a statement, marking a return to form with a 2s win over Russell with Morris able to secure third, just ahead of O’Keeffe in the intense sprint.
Morris’ speed in the rain carried over to the dry and he was able to do enough to secure an impressive round podium in the Ash Seward Motorsport machine.
In Pro Am, Adrian Flack was a dominant force taking out all three wins.
The Porsche Carrera Cup Australia returns to Australia for Round 3 at Darwin on June 14-16.
Thomas Miles
PORSCHE CARRERA CUP
CHAMPIONSHIP AFTER ROUND 2
1: H. Jones 253 points
2: D. Russell 242
3: J. Walls 230
4: D. Wood 200
5: R. Quinn 196
Images: PETER NORTON EPIC SPORTS PHOTOGRAPHY
AFTER A successful maiden Porsche Carrera Cup Australia round in New Zealand, both sides of the Tasman are looking to build a stronger relationship going forward.
A total of 19 Type 992 Porsche GT3 Cup Cars flew across the Tasman to take part in the historic round at the recent Taupo Super400.
The Aussies were joined by two locals and later on Kiwis Sam Fillmore and Rick Armstrong will join the Australian series later this year.
Both Australian and NZ Porsche Motorsport Management have said they are looking to strengthen their connection.
“We’re really pleased with the results of our New Zealand adventure,” Porsche Cars Australia Motorsport Manager Barry Hay said.
“Once we were there, everyone approached it in the right way and had a fantastic weekend. The racing was high quality and we put on a great show for the New Zealand fans which was a key objective.
“We will complete a full review of the event and see what the future entails. I think it is something we can do again, whether it’s next year or after a year or two is a question for later once the
reviews are complete and we have all the feedback from our stakeholders.
But there’s no doubting it was very a worthwhile exercise.
“The fact that the two Kiwi boys are keen to come and play in Australia later this year is testament to how well the weekend worked. They had a fantastic time, really raised their own personal level and competed wheel to wheel with the best Pro-Am operators we have. “The beauty of Porsche Motorsport is they can come and do that on our side of the ditch driving
the same cars the same way. It’s been a great outcome, and we can’t wait to see them in Australia later this year.
“We are working closer than ever with Nathan (Pilcher, Porsche Motorsport NZ Coordinator), Porsche Motorsport New Zealand and their team to build the relationship. It’s good for us, it’s good for New Zealand and it’s good for the sport, so we all want to grow it much bigger than it already is.”
Porsche Motorsport New Zealand Coordinator Nathan Pilcher echoed
Hay’s thoughts.
“The Taupo weekend was a huge success and great for the brand on both sides of the Tasman,” he said.
“First and foremost, Rick and Sam had a fantastic weekend and showed that our top guys in Porsche competition in New Zealand can absolutely compete head-to-head with the best in Carrera Cup.
“They’re well advanced in planning to come and compete in several Aussie rounds later this year.
“Porsche Motorsport has a huge and important history in New Zealand and having Carrera Cup on our shores was a key element in our plans to build it to a level where we know it can be.
“There’s already huge involvement by Kiwi’s in Carrera Cup and Sprint Challenge and we want to build that, while having a really strong base at home for them to use as a launching pad to Australia and beyond, or just as a great place to race a Cup Car or GT3 car.
“We’ve all got some great ideas about how we can grow the brand here in collaboration with what our Aussie cousins are doing, and this weekend was a huge and vital part of that.”
BLAKE KNOWLES has won the 2024 NAPA Auto Parts New Zealand Formula Ford Championship title after three closely fought races at the Supercars round held at the Taupo Motorsport Park. Just two-points separated Knowles from Seb Manson with Will Neale finishing in third. Also decided was the 2023/24 Giltrap Group North Island Formula Ford Series with the title going to last season’s winner, Dylan Grant, ahead of Mason Potter and Blake Dowdall.
Heading into the final fourth national round, Knowles had a handy 24-point lead over Manson with a maximum of 227-points on offer over three races. It was Manson who immediately dominated racing on Saturday, first setting the fastest lap in qualifying claiming two championship points and the $1,010.10 cash prize provided by the Hampton Downs NZ Racing Academy, then going on to win the first race, in the wet, from Grant with Neale in third and Knowles in fourth. This narrowed Knowles’ lead to just one-point while Neale was handily placed in third.
Knowles hit back on Sunday morning winning the second race from Manson and a fast-charging Zac Blincoe. This gave Knowles a ‘still narrow’ nine-point lead heading into the final race of the four-round championship.
The final 12-lap race provided some vintage Formula Ford racing and may be considered as having some of the best racing rivalry for some time with Neale winning the Ron Frost Memorial Trophy ahead of Manson, after an epic duel. Behind them was a battle for the final podium place with Knowles finishing ahead of Grant, Zach Blincoe and Fletcher. Third place for Knowles was enough to seal the overall and Class 1 national titles, two points clear of Manson with Neale in third followed by Potter, Grant and Izaak Fletcher.
Fletcher finished top Rookie ahead of Toby McCormack claiming the Stephen Gillard Memorial Trophy. Cameron Freeman was first in Class 2 ahead of Cameron Tanner and Jacob Cunniffe.
The round also doubled as the sixth and final round of the Giltrap Group North Island Formula Ford Series. This was also a closely
Images: GEOFF RIDDER
fought championship with Mason Potter five-points clear of Dylan Grant and Blake Dowdall 35-points further back in third, heading into the final round.
Three top five placings for Grant, including a podium in the opening race, gave him the both the overall and Class 1 titles, 36-points clear of Potter, who suffered a mechanical failure in qualifying meaning he would be starting from the rear of the grid in all three races. Dowdall took third followed by Zach Blincoe and Seb Manson. Shane Drake
won the Class 2 title while Toby McCormack won Rookie of the Series and a 237-piece SP Custom Series Tool Kit worth $3000, provided by NAPA Auto Parts and SP Tools.
Blake Knowles will receive a fully funded two-day Formula 4 test in the US with Kiwi Motorsport as well as a FT60 test compliments of the Tony Quinn Foundation while Cameron Freeman, winner of Class 2, has the opportunity to test a FT50 single seater provided by Toyota Gazoo Racing NZ.
NAPA AUTO PARTS 2024 NEW ZEALAND FORMULA FORD CHAMPIONSHIP TAUPO ROUND POINTS
1: Blake Knowles 890
2: Sebastian Manson 888
3: Will Neale 801
4: Mason Potter 735
5: Dylan Grant 697
6: Izaac Fletcher 645
7: Zach Blincoe 581
8: Caleb Byers 550
9: Dylan Petch 475
10: Toby McCormack 458
11: Daniel Kelly 420
12: Cameron Freeman 362
13: Cameron Tanner 334
14: Keith Miller 320
15: Jack Noble-Adams 297
16: Simon Hunter 143
17: Jacob Cunniffe 134
NAPA AUTO PARTS 2024 NEW ZEALAND FORMULA FORD CHAMPIONSHIP OVERALL POINTS
1: Dylan Grant 1146
2: Mason Potter 1110
3: Blake Dowdall 1063
4: Zach Blincoe 1054
5: Sebastian Manson 934
6: Blake Knowles 913
7: Will Neale 864
8: Toby McCormack 855
9: Shane Drake 802
10: Reagan Edwards 730
TOM BEWLEY wrapped up the 2023/24 Toyota 86 NZ Championship title with a trouble-free performance in Taupo.
Bewley went head to head with rival Will Exton, but a final race retirement due to clutch issues for the latter meant a simple fifth place was enough to clinch the crown.
Jackson Rooney also headed into the
weekend a mathematical chance of glory and started in a flash by taking pole ahead of Exton while Bewley was down in eighth.
Exton got the important jump off the line but lost the lead to Rooney and would ultimately have to settle for fourth, while Hunter Robb made great progress, rising from seventh to third.
wild offtrack moments and could only manage 18th and sixth respectively.
However the #4 driver produced a championship defining performance in the wet in Race 2.
Bewley started second alongside Will Morton and got a clean getaway to enjoy and unopposed run into Turn 1 and establish a comfortable lead that would never be challenged.
As Bewley danced on the slippery surface to secure his “most important win” rivals Rooney and Exton had
Aussie Alice Buckley excelled in second to be only the second woman to climb a Toyota 86 NZ Championship podium.
The final race was a more straightforward affair in more pleasant conditions with Exton’s exit due to clutch issues the only major moment.
Rooney ran away with it take a second win of the weekend ahead of Robb and Bloxsom as Bewley took the title with fifth.
Thomas Miles
THE CENTRAL Muscle Cars put on a show at Taupo with some old favourites producing some daring racing.
A retro Camaro v Mustang battle was evident from the start with Andrew Knight taking pole ahead of Angus Fogg with more than a second to next best Nicholas Ross.
When racing began under gloomy skies on Saturday morning, Knight carried on his momentum by taking out a commanding 6s win.
But he had to fight for it being as low as fifth before snatching the lead from three laps from Shane Holland home, whilst Fogg slipped to 11th.
The mixture of wet weather, a reverse grid and handicapped start added more spice to Race 2.
Michael Oldham led early before Clarke took over on Lap 3 and controlled the field from there as Knight fought all the way up to third.
On a drying track the handicapped start produced more drama in Race 3 with Gavin McLaughlin spinning from the lead but still retaining a thrilling win.
Earlier Steven Ross had a Dukes of Hazard moment, James Broadbridge
in his search for redemption.
The #11 black and gold Mustang hunted down leader Knight on the last lap and although he fell 0.1s short, the win was secured with the help of a 10s penalty for
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THE 2024 Croatia Rally was a thrilling three-horse race that went to Sebastien Ogier on a dramatic final day of FIA World Rally Championship action.
Having battled since the opening stage two days earlier, Thierry Neuville led the way by just 2.6s over Elfyn Evans with Ogier just a further 9s away with just three stages to go.
But the rally turned on its head on SS18 when both Evans and Neuville made extremely costly mistakes.
Neuville drifted into a grass bank and lost 23.3s, while significant damage to the i20N’s rear wing meant he had little to fight with across the final two stages.
The Hyundai driver revealed a late pace note proved costly.
“Definitely there is a frustration,” he told Autosport.
“The stage (where the incident occurred) was really tricky but what happened, happened.
“I tried my best to avoid it, but we were just far too late and when I got the pace note I immediately hit the brakes, but the corner was much tighter and there was nothing I could do.”
Meanwhile, Evans clipped a bank with the left rear, sending his GR Yaris into a spin and costing the Welshman 19.6s. He lamented his choice to run the hard tyre.
“For me, there’s a feeling of disappointment,” Evans said.
“We were too optimistic with our tyre choice (on Sunday) and with the hard tyre, it was a struggle in the second stage.
“This corner (where we spun) was quite full of mud and the rear came around.
“It was just a slippery place, hit the rear hard on the left and it just took off and
spun the car unfortunately.”
As a result of his rivals’ misfortune, Ogier stormed into the overall lead and top four finishes in the final three stages ensured the Frenchman took his first win of his partial 2024 campaign and 59th overall by 9.7s over Evans.
The Neuville v Evans battle was established as soon as the rally began with the Belgian edging out the Brit by 6s on the opening stage.
The pair went back and forth throughout a thrilling opening day on the asphalt and in the end they could not be split with identical times after 119.74km .
In addition to the hot pace up the front, to add to the challenges for the WRC teams was the weather.
The tarmac stages became increasingly wet as the day went on whilst light snow even began to fall at the start of Stage 5.
“It is very dangerous to be honest as we had no information from the route note crew, Neuville said.
“At that speed we are going, there are
plenty of surprises.
“You have to trust your feeling and keep your eyes wide open.
“Nobody told us it was going to snow in there.”
With nothing separating them, Saturday morning’s loop was hotly contested with Neuville and Evans carrying on their speed.
The intensity was highlight by SS10 where just 0.4s split Ogier, Neuville, Evans and Takamoto Katsuta.
But eventually back-to-back stage wins saw the Hyundai driver edge clear by 4.7s
before the arrival of some light rain on SS13 played into Toyota’s hands. Evans then made his move to win the stage and snatch the lead as Neuville lost 6.7s.
The momentum then swung back towards Neuville on SS14 on hard tyres to wrestle back the advantage after going “flat out.”
The maximum attack approach ensured the Hyundai driver won the last three Saturday stages and entered the final day with a 4.9s lead whilst Ogier kept in touch by by 11s off the pace.
To add further intrigue the leading trio opted for differing tyre choices at the start of the final day.
Evans found 2.3s on SS17 won by Katsuta before everything changed on SS18 where both the Toyota and Hyundai leaders came unstuck.
Whilst Ott Tanak, Katsuta and Adrien Fourmaux won the final three stages, top four finishes ensured Ogier prevailed.
Evans emerged second best but felt he received “zero reward” due to scoring the same amount of points as third-placed Neuville, with 19 under the new system.
Another quirk in the structure saw fourth-placed Tanak pick up 20, one less than Ogier despite finishing fourth.
As a result, Neuville retains a six-point lead over Evans as the season heads to Portugal on May 9-13.
Thomas Miles
2024 WRC STANDINGS AFTER ROUND 4
1: T. Neuville 86 points 2: E. Evans 80 3: A. Fourmauz 59 4: O. Tanak 53 5: S. Ogier 45
SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN has helped Team Penske end a tough week with a special 1-2 ahead of Aussie Will Power in the Indy Grand Prix at Barber.
After starting from pole position, McLaughlin was a dominant figure, leading a race-high 58 of the 90 laps around Barber Motorsports Park.
The New Zealand star utilised a threestop strategy to retain a comfortable 3.5s lead for the closing stages, only for the parked car of rookie of Christian Rasmussen to bring out a late caution.
This set up a tense two-lap sprint to the flag, but McLaughlin was cool under pressure to secure a fifth IndyCar win.
“We know our job; we know what we need to do,” McLaughlin said.
“I’m just super proud of the execution. A couple of yellows didn’t fall our way, but we just showed our pace. We just keep rolling, man.
“Definitely one of my best drives in terms of execution and just knocking out the laps.
“Our word now is execution, and we just executed to the highest we could. I’m super proud of them.”
Aussie Power overcame an engine change in the morning warm-up to follow McLaughlin home in second place.
The two Penske drivers did engage in some friendly fire after a restart on Lap 49 when the Aussie got by the Kiwi at Turn 5.
But McLaughlin responded at the start of the following lap when he fired down the inside of Turn 1 to reclaim the lead, which proved to be a critical move.
Power did venture off track which saw him drop to third during the middle stages, but he was able to recover to second ahead of the impressive Linus Lundqvist, who went from 19th to a maiden career podium.
“I got by (McLaughlin), and then he got a run on me and got back by,” Power reflected.
“I didn’t want to have two Penske cars out of the race with everything that has been going on. I was kind of easy on him in Turn 1.
“It is a hard-fought one-two for Penske. We were certainly fast, but a lot of strategy
plays into that. I made a mistake, just dropped a wheel off – I had been taking the outside line of Turn 5 and was kicking myself.
“But we were able to use our speed to come back out in front again.
“Stoked to be on the podium again and we are knocking on the door of a win.”
It was a dramatic race at Barber with a number of on-track skirmishes and even a manaquin (really) falling onto the edge of the track at one point.
Now all roads lead to Indianapolis for the famous month of May with the next round on the road course race on May 11. Thomas Miles
KIWI SCOTT Dixon took Long Beach on the smell of an oily rag by holding off Colton Herta in a thrilling IndyCar battle.
The 2024 Grand Prix of Long Beach was a game of strategy with Aussie Will Power leading early before pitting during the first caution on Lap 15, triggered by Christian Rasmussen.
This meant the next 45 laps saw a number of different strategies, with Dixon going early and emerging with a 3s lead over Josef Newgarden once all the stops were completed.
With Newgarden on seven-lap fresher tyres and fuelled to the end, few expected the Kiwi to stay ahead.
Although Newgarden came within half a second of Dixon, he could not get by and a clash with Herta at the hairpin saw the Penske driver drop to fourth.
This vaulted Herta to second and he gave it everything to hunt down the #9 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, but couldn’t.
Dixon pulled off a fuel-saving masterclass with short bursts of push-
to-pass to complete the final 34 laps on one tank.
The Brisbane born Kiwi took a 56th IndyCar win and thought it was one of his best, believing he may not have made it home.
“Honestly, I didn’t think we were going to make it,” Dixon said.
“They kept giving me a (fuel) number,
and I just wasn’t getting it. Close but not enough and luckily, we were on the safe side there.
““That was tough, really tough. The stress level was high. Those guys were coming fast and strong.”
After leading the first 15 laps Aussie Power had to settle for sixth, 11s from the top five.
Marcus Armstrong was down in 12th behind rookie Theo Pourchaire.
Scott McLaughlin made a slight mistake in qualifying which meant the Penske driver started 11th.
But after fighting his way into the top 10, he looked in a decent position being on the same strategy as Dixon.
However, a gearbox issue on lap 70 forced McLaughlin to retire 15 laps from the finish.
“Obviously very disappointing to DNF with an Odyssey Battery Chevy that was so fast,” he said.
“I got us off on the wrong foot by missing a key corner in qualifying, losing a couple of tenths a second.
“We were much better than an 11thplace car in qualifying.
“Then you look at the race and we were on the same strategy as (Scott) Dixon and looked to be in a good spot for a solid day.
“The gearbox issue that ended our day was just the final straw.”
Thomas Miles
AN INSPIRED tyre choice helped Toyota snatch its first win of the 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship at Imola.
Mike Conway, Nyck de Vries and Kamui Kobayashi won the 6 Hours of Imola by 7.081s in the #7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid Le Mans Hypercar over the #6 Penske Porsche Motorsport 963 LMDh steered by Laurens Vanthoor, Andre Lotterer and Kevin Estre.
Aussie Matt Campbell completed the podium with a second straight third place alongside Michael Christensen and Frederic Makowiecki.
However, Ferrari appeared destined to secure a famous win on home turf at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari.
The Prancing Horse showed plenty of pace by securing the top three spots on the grid led by Antonio Fuoco’s 1:28.466 in the #50, while Estre and Campbell were best of the rest in fourth and fifth.
Ferrari retained its grip on the podium places throughout the first the first hour with
Nicklas Nielsen leading the way in the #50 499P before Antonio Giovinazzi took over the lead in the #51 as the race approached half distance.
Now with James Calado (#51) and Miguel Molina (#50) at the wheel, the two Ferraris carried on their battle for the lead with some thrilling door-to-door action.
After a yellow, de Vries arrived on the scene just as rain arrived to add a further headache.
Toyota made its ultimately race-winning move by boxing for wets, as did the Estre Porsche, while all the Ferraris gambled and stayed out on slicks.
It proved to be the wrong call as the Toyota and Porsche were multiple seconds faster per lap.
The Ferraris did not change tyres until four laps after the majority of the Hypercar field, due to believing the rain was “just temporary.”
However, any chance of even standing on the podium on home turf was effectively gone with the best of the Ferraris the Fuoco/ Molina/Nielsen #50 in fourth, 31s off the pace.
Although Kobayashi emerged in the lead in the rain, the race was for the win was far from over with the #6 Porsche on the Toyota’s tail.
Estre came close, but a mistake at Rivazza and a 5s penalty for overtaking under the Safety Car proved too much.
In LMGT3, Team WRT BMW enjoyed a fine day out by securing a class 1-2.
Well-timed driver changes ensured Darren Leung, Sean Gelael and Augusto Farfus took a 22s victory over the sister entry steered by Valentino Rossi, Maxime Martin and Ahmad al Harthy.
Despite being second best Estre/ Lotterer/Vanthoor have retained their WEC championship lead of 16 points ahead of the victorious Conway/Kobayashi/de Vries.
Next up is the 6 Hours of Spa on May 11. Thomas Miles
SEBASTIEN BOURDAIS and Renger van der Zande (pictured) needed just one set of tyres to win the Grand Prix of Long Beach IMSA sprint.
The decision not to change tyres ultimately proved to be a smart one for Chip Ganassi Cadillac Racing as the 100-minute Sprint went down to the wire with just half a second separating the top two cars.
It was a Cadillac 1-2 as Pipo Derani and Jack Aitken had to settle for a close second, while just a further 1.6s back was the first Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 of David Cameron and Felipe Nasr.
Track position proved to be key as overtaking was difficult around the Long Beach streets.
Derani gave himself and Aitken the best chance after taking out an extremely hard fought pole position.
His 1:11.388 proved to be just enough to edge out the BMW of Nick Yelloly by only 0.009s.
Not far behind was Bourdais, who had to settle for grid position three after being 0.023s off the pace.
It was fortunate Derani set his lap when he did as a later attempt to go even faster went horribly wrong and he went nose-first into the Turn 9 tyres.
The Brazilian saw the funny side and used the #1 sign to cover up the damage to the Cadillac.
Off the line it was the Cadillacs that took control with Derani leading from pole, but Bourdais jumping the BMW and snatching second.
The Frenchman had plenty of pace but could not find a way past the #31.
As a result Cadillac Racing looked left field to make the move and some strategy smarts did it.
When the leaders boxed to complete their compulsory stops and driver changes, no fresh rubber was put on the #01, whilst the #31 changed two.
This made all the difference with van der Zande being released with track position, while Aitken suddenly found himself unexpectedly in second.
Despite pushing hard on fresh tyres, Aitken could not get past with van der Zande expertly managing his rubber to take a tense victory.
IMSA now heads to the famous slopes of Laguna Seca on May 10-12.
Thomas Miles
A BLAZING late-race charge ensured Francesco Bagnaia could fend off Marc Marquez in a thrilling Spanish Grand Prix after Jorge Martin crashed out from the lead.
A second win of 2024, and at Jerez, was one of Bagnaia’s best as he started seventh and hit the lead on the opening lap.
But it did not take long for both Martin and Marquez to sneak ahead of him.
The #89 appeared to be in control until a mistake on lap 11 left the entire record crowd jaw-dropped.
The pressure of Bagnaia proved too much as Martin lost the front and crashed at Dry Sack, throwing away a potential 47-point championship advantage.
Instead it is now only 17 points after Bagnaia emerged victorious after a stunning scrap with Marquez.
The two stars battled hard and swapped stints in the lead through Turns 9 and 10 on consecutive laps.
Despite the Gresini Ducati appearing to have the pace, Bagnaia had an ace up his sleeve and a breathtaking and recordbreaking final five laps meant Marquez’s 917day drought between wins continues.
Marquez had pace to burn from the get-go as he was the only rider to record a 1m46s time in qualifying.
The #93 took pole with a 1:46.773, two tenths ahead of Marco Bezzecchi and six clear of Martin.
The 12-lap Sprint race proved to be a fight of survival with a staggering total of 15 fallers.
Brad Binder enjoyed a stunning start, blazing from fourth to first ahead of Martin and Marquez.
But the KTM rider only led eight corners before Martin blazed past while Aussie Jack Miller fell at the end of the opening lap.
As Bezzecchi and Bagnaia clashed, Marquez had slashed Martin’s lead that grew
to beyond a second and their fight ignited on lap seven when the #93 made a calculated move to snatch track position.
But Marquez’s dream of a first win in nearly three years was dashed just two laps later when he fell at Turn 9.
He was far from the only big name to do so, with Alex Marquez, Binder and Enea Bastianini all making the same mistake at Turn 5 and crashing in synch!
The mistake allowed Martin to cruise to a critical 2.9s win ahead of the impressive Pedro Acosta and Fabio Quartararo.
WARM CONDITIONS and a huge crowd welcomed the riders on Sunday and Marquez made the most of pole by leading the field into Turn 1.
But behind him Martin, Bezzecchi and Binder went side-by-side for second into the opening right hander and the KTM was the loser, being muscled down to sixth.
Miller flew from 15th to 9th and Acosta slumped to 18th after contact with Johann Zarco at Turn 5.
Meanwhile Bagnaia, who started from seventh, was on fire and hit the lead by the end of the opening lap after pulling off stunning moves on Martin and Marquez.
The #93 tried to fire an immediate response but slipped to third in doing so after Martin also got involved as the #1 stayed in control. However, the reigning champion made a costly mistake on the second trip to the final corner which sacrificed the lead to Martin.
Dani Pedrosa’s comeback did not last long as he lost the front end at Turn 8, while Aleix Espargaro caused a crash with Zarco at Turn 5.
Miller was the victim of a repeat accident at the same corner with Franco Morbidelli with the Pramac Ducati rider clean-bowling
the Aussie, who gave the Italian plenty of free advice in the gravel trap ...
But the biggest shock of all was the fall of Martin.
The championship leader looked to be controlling the race with Bagnaia behind, but lost the front of his Pramac Ducati and could not stop himself from sliding into the gravel.
The dramatic turn of events released Bagnaia to enjoy a comfortable that grew to 1.2s when Marquez passed Bezzecchi.
This setup a thrilling 12-lap tussle for victory and by Lap 19 the Gresini Ducati caught the back wheel of the factory Ducati after posting a race-record 1:37.655.
Now the crowd’s screams of support drowned out the roaring motorcycles as Marquez went for it.
The Spaniard launched down the inside of Turn 9 but Bagnaia switched back instantly to stay in front, but only after contact.
The following lap was an instant replay, albeit a clean one, as the factory Ducati opened up some breathing space with a stunning 1:37.449 on Lap 23.
Bagnaia crossed the line to start the final lap with half a second up his sleeve and he did enough to hold onto a famous victory.
Despite being second best, Marquez celebrated his first Ducati podium like a win, while Bezzecchi was also joyous for a first podium in 11 races.
A smashing Spanish Grand Prix has set the championship alight ahead of the French Grand Prix on May 10-12.
Thomas Miles
MOTOGP CHAMPIONSHIP
STANDINGS AFTER ROUND 4
1: Jorge Martin 92 points
2: Francesco Bagnaia 75
3: Enea Bastianini 70
4: Pedro Acosta 69
5: Maverick Vinales 63
DENNY HAMLIN secured a third win of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series by holding off Kyle Larson at Dover on Sunday.
Just 0.256s split the pair as they took the finish after a duel at the death around the ‘Monster Mile.’
Kyle Busch flew into the lead from the outside and controlled the early stages while the first cautions was caused by an out of shape Todd Gilliland.
Many took the opportunity to dive into pit road, where more drama unfolded as Tyler Reddick tagged and spun #43 sub Corey Heim after being serviced.
Ryan Blaney got the launch at the Lap 48 restart where Hamlin had a big lose up high.
Martin Truex Jr completed a big charge from 21st to Stage 1 victory which ended
under yellow due to a spinning Brad Keslowski.
Truex Jr won a battle with Will Byron to retain the lead when racing resumed but, as the second stage progressed, Kyle Larson had the pace and led the field home ahead of the next break.
Hamlin made a big charge on pit road when he won a three-wide drag race coming out of the lane to sneak ahead of Larson.
But when they returned to pit road on Lap 319, Hendrick Motorsports hit back by sending Larson ahead of the #11.
A crash for Ricky Stenhouse Jr triggered some disruptions inside the final 100 laps with a big wreck on the exit of Turn 2 at the following restart.
Carson Hocevar spun Bubba Wallace which came back down the track and took out big names Christopher Bell and Byron.
Hamlin regained control at the restart and led all the way to the final three laps when Larson made a late charge.
The #5 Chevrolet tried to get the drive by going up high but Hamlin stayed in the middle and kept his elbows out to take another victory.
Hamlin paid credit to his team performing in pit road during the final cautions to stay in front of the #5.
“Just a great team – they just did a great job,” said Hamlin, who led a race-best 136 of the 400 laps.
“I think the key moment, really, was Kyle (Larson) did an excellent job executing
during the green-flag pit cycle and then we were able to get the lead there on that restart, then got the caution that allowed us to control the restart.
“That was really the key moment for us – it certainly feels good winning here at Dover.”
Larson gave it a red-hot crack.
“I knew when I got within three carlengths, he was going to start moving around,” said Larson.
“I couldn’t really do anything. I was trying all sorts of different angles and speeds, all that.
“Nothing could generate enough speed to get close enough, I guess, to do anything. That was a bummer.”
Thomas Miles
THE RAPID Talladega Superspeedway produced its usual drama last week, with Tyler Reddick snatching the GEICO 500 in the final metres.
The mostly clean race was brought to life in the final stages where incidents saw the race reach a climax on the final lap.
Michael McDowell had done well to control the field for the final 20 laps to give Ford hope of finally getting a maiden win of 2024, only to perform one block too many and swing in front of Brad Keslowski, which triggered chaos.
Leader McDowell was spun from low to high and into the fence, causing cars to scatter all over the place as they took the chequered flag with the #7 of Corey LaJoie crossing the line on its side.
But it was Reddick who kept the foot down and flew from fourth to first in the final metres to take the win in the Michael Jordan backed 23XI Racing Toyota in the 33rd last-lap pass for the win at Talladega.
The opening two stages were clean affairs with the first being fronted by Austin Cindric by just 0.004s over Chase Elliott in a photo finish.
Fuel strategy became a factor in the second segment where Joey Logano denied Cindric going back-to-back.
The first major incident occurred on Lap 133 when Elliott got into Justin Haley, which saw the #51 fire straight into the side of Christopher Bell.
Bell spun across the track and slammed head on into the wall, while Chase Briscoe and Zane Smith were also involved.
A decent green flag spell followed as the race charged inside the final 50 laps and a group of Toyotas appeared to
have pulled off a smart piece of strategy.
A seven-strong flock of Camrys were racing single file together after making their final fuel stop with 36 laps to go.
But their teamwork ended in tears when John Hunter Nemecheck got into the back of Bubba Wallace, which fired Erik Jones hard into the outside fence.
Hamlin tried to avoid the drama along the bottom, but became collateral damage with Nemecheck rebounding from the wall and into the #11.
One of the few cars to survive was Reddick, who went on to win the race.
The race resumed with 28 to go and McDowell appeared to be placing his Ford in all the right places to retain the lead until it ended in disaster within sight of the chequered flag, allowing Reddick to be victorious.
“He (Keslowski) pushed me out,” McDowell said.
“I drove back to him and was able to get in front of him that very first time. But when I came back down, I barely wasn’t clear.
”It’s Talladega. You’re going for it, trying to get a win. We just came up short and took a lot of guys out with me.”
Thomas Miles
MAX VERSTAPPEN dominated the Chinese Grand Prix weekend, with a poor effort in Q3 for the Sprint race being the only minor glitch in an otherwise perfect weekend for the Dutchman.
Starting from fourth on the grid for the 19-lap sprint, the World Champion needed just nine laps to get to the front of the field, opening a gap of over 13 seconds in the remaining laps, to clear any doubts his rivals could have had about his superiority in Shanghai.
And yet, there was no lack of variables thrown into the equation on the return of the Chinese Grand Prix to the Formula 1 calendar, after a five years hiatus:
One – this was the first time the current generation of Formula 1 cars raced in Shanghai; Two – Pirelli had zero experience with its 18-inch tyres around this track; Three – the track had been partially resurfaced and then, surprisingly for everyone, treated with a product aimed at improving grip without anyone having the faintest idea of how it would affect lap times.
And, finally, this being the first Sprint event of the year, teams and drivers had just one Free Practice Session to try and get the set-ups right, knowing there would be a lot of track evolution between the end of that session and Sunday’s race.
Historically, Red Bull hasn’t been great in Sprint events, the initial set-up almost always a bit off the ideal while, since last year, Ferrari has hit the ground running, making life hard for Max Verstappen.
This time, however, the boot was in the other foot, as it was the Scuderia which struggled from start to finish and the Dutchman who won comfortably in both races.
Starting from pole position, Max held a surprise attack from Fernando Alonso at bay going into the first two corners, quickly pulled
away from the battle between the Spaniard and Pérez behind him and never looked back.
By lap 10 Verstappen’s gap to his teammate was already 7.4s and with Red Bull committing early to two stops he then carved his way through the field of those trying to extend the first stint, to be back in the lead on lap 19, six laps after his first tyre change.
The timing was perfect, as an engine failure in Bottas’ Sauber brought the Safety Car out, allowing for a second early stop, in which Red Bull performed their second double-stack tyre change of the day, so the only challenge for Verstappen after the second re-start –Stroll careering into the back of Ricciardo’s car caused an immediate second Safety Car period – was to manage his second set of Hard tyres enough to take them to the flag.
No wonder, then, the Dutchman was in such a relaxed mood at the end of the race: “All weekend we were incredibly quick.
The car was was just enjoyable to drive, on every single compound as well. I think we all survived the restarts well, and we had a car that was basically on rails – I could do whatever I wanted to with it. One of those weekends that are amazing to feel. What we did this weekend is fantastic.”
Indeed, it was.
Team mate Sérgio Pérez hadn’t really been able to shadow his leader and pull away from Lando Norris so, when Red Bull opted to use the Safety Car periods to do the final tyre change on both cars, he fell behind the McLaren driver and then simply had no pace to pass him, being forced to settle for third place.
SHOWING THAT even the very sophisticated technology available to Formula 1 teams is not bullet proof, McLaren did much better in
Despite McLaren’s ‘slow-speed’ issues, Norris outran Perez for second . Above: A big crowd turned up to see Max lead into Turn 1. Below: Sainz was lucky to make Qualifying after this biggie ... Below left: Hamilton was superb in the wet in the Sprint; Norris was unable to resist when Verstappen re-passed for the lead. Below right: Zhou Guanyu had his own post-race moment in front of his local fans ...
Shanghai than the team expected to, while Ferrari, who arrived with high hopes in China, only had the third-quickest car and was never seriously in the battle for a podium finish.
Lando Norris grabbed a commanding pole position for the Sprint race during a wet Q3, beating Lewis Hamilton by 1.261s (!) in spite of the start of his fastest lap being compromised by going into the gravel as he came into the pits straight. But he didn’t have the best of starts, pushing his luck too hard trying to hold off the Mercedes driver in the first couple of corners, drifting wide and dropping to P7! With a car that has one of the least efficient DRS set-ups in the field, he was unable to overtake the cars in front, finishing in P6 after the Alonso/Sainz clashed caused a puncture for the Aston Martin.
There were no such mistakes on Sunday and, with Alonso destroying his tyres early on trying to hold off Pérez’s advances, Norris passed the Spaniard for third on lap seven, pulling away immediately. With both Red Bulls pitting on lap 13, Norris moved into the lead and held it for six laps before bowing to Verstappen’s superiority.
Pitting under the VSC on lap 22 the Brit then moved to P2 one lap later, as Pérez stopped again and was not only able to keep Verstappen within sight but also able to pull away from the Mexican after the restart, to earn his second place on merit alone. Obviously, Norris was a very happy man at the end of the race:
“I’m surprised to be sitting here today, but it’s a nice surprise. Things came alive today –the conditions cooled down, the wind calmed down and both of these things, I think, played into our hands. That’s why if you had asked me what we expected for today, it definitely was nowhere near top three, or even maybe top five. So, a pleasant surprise.”
Oscar Piastri, on his first visit to this very technical circuit, scored points on both races, shadowing his team mate in the Sprint race, to finish in seventh place. On Sunday, McLaren brought him in one lap too late under the Safety Car, making him drop behind Russell and the two Ferraris, but it was the damaged caused by Stroll (read sidebar) that compromised his final result, as he could only salvage P8.
FERRARI
IN CONFIDENT mood on arrival in Shanghai, Ferrari left Shanghai puzzled with the SF-24’s lack of pace in all sessions. Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz completed both races in fourth and fifth place, respectively but were never in the hunt for a podium finish on Sunday.
The Spaniard had an eventful Saturday, being hit by Alonso as they fought hard for P3 and, with his car mildly damaged, tried an impossible defensive move against his own team-mate, leading to another clash that, fortunately for the Scuderia, didn’t cause any further damage to the two red cars.
He then crashed in Q2 for the main event but managed to bring his car back to the pits, so P5 at the end of the race was a good recovery.
Leclerc, who finally got over his qualifying woes, was clearly the faster driver on Sunday but couldn’t figure out why, particularly on the Hard tyres, he was lacking so much pace:
“Today is a bit of an outlier because, as soon as we put on the Hards, we were half a second off. So, that is very strange, because the strength of this car since the beginning of the year is it’s very solid in all conditions with all tyres.”
WITH LEWIS Hamilton qualifying and finishing second in the Sprint, Mercedes believed they’d turned a corner on the understanding of the W15 but that notion was quickly disproved by the facts. The veteran qualified only 18th for the main race, a lock-up into the hairpin dooming a lap that was already just above mediocre and made little progress in the first part of the race, to finish the 56 laps a disconsoled ninth:
“I thought maybe I tapped someone early on, because I have never had so much understeer in my life. I was turning in at slow speed and waiting, waiting, waiting. I thought I had damaged something, but it was just the set-up that I chose…”
With a far less eventful weekend than his team mate, George Russell didn’t reach the same highs as Hamilton did in the Sprint but avoided the lows experienced by his team mate. Eighth in the Sprint, Russell progressed to sixth in the main race, securing valuable points for Mercedes.
For Fernando Alonso this was an uncharacteristic weekend, in which his hunger for success seemed to cloud a bit what is normally his impeccable judgment. His defence of P3 in the Sprint went over the limit, as dive bombing Sainz into Turn 10 was never going to work, the resulting puncture taking him out of the race – with a penalty to add for his troubles.
In the main race he, again, went too far trying to keep Pérez behind. After a great start, the tyres gave up too quickly, allowing Norris a cheap overtake and, with Aston Martin’s tyre strategy banking on just one stop, a change to two stops forced the use of the Soft tyre – way too fragile for race conditions – so P7 was the best he could achieve.
With Stroll, again, failing to do justice to his car, Nico Hulkenberg won the midfield battle and scored another precious point for Haas, but Valtteri Bottas was the man on course to be best-of-the-rest until an engine failure forced him to an early retirement.
Mr Grumpy, Stroll, blamed everyone else for his embarrassing shunt ...
DANIEL RICCIARDO was effectively taken out of the Chinese Grand Prix and Oscar Piastri carried a damaged car for the last 30 laps of the race, as they both fell victim of a tremendously careless move from Lance Stroll.
With the SC ending after Valtteri Bottas’ stranded Sauber had been finally removed from a run off area, Verstappen slowed the field down going into the harpin, with everyone behind the Dutchman doing the same and staying in line. Everyone except, of course, the Canadian driver, who simply drove into the back of Ricciardo’s car, lifting the VCARB01 quite high and causing a tremendous amount of damage to the diffuser of the Australian driver’s car.
With his rear wheels way off the ground, Ricciardo could do nothing to prevent his front wing from hitting the rear of Piastri’s car, the McLaren also sustaining damaged to the diffuser and losing a serious amount of downforce as a consequence. Amazingly, Stroll refused to take the blame for the incident and continued to question the 10s penalty he duly received 10 laps later. According to the Aston Martin driver, “someone braked at the front of the pack – I don’t know, everyone stopped. The car in front of me just stopped, from like 60 to zero. A really stupid incident Someone hit the brakes and caused the concertina effect, I don’t know who.”
As a frustrated Piastri pointed out “everyone else didn’t crash into each other. In that kind of corner, you always need to expect that, as it did get quite close between a lot of us.”
As for Ricciardo, he had calmed down when he came to meet the media after the race, saying that “It’s a restart, so we don’t know what the leader is going to do. You have to be as vigilant as ever and just be prepared for any situation. I could see it was obviously bunching up into the hairpin, so everyone is backing up. But then, how hard he’s hit me, and pretty much put half his car under my car … it wasn’t a small lack of judgement. He was miles off. So, that, for me, is not an excuse.”
Stroll however insisted that, “I only got the penalty just because of the fact that I hit the guy! But I find that I just got a penalty because of the end result, that I hit Ricciardo, but it’s not like everything was normal and I just slammed into the back of him. There was a really odd concertina effect there. I would’ve liked to see the stewards take that into consideration a little bit more. It is what it is.”
On hearing he was being blamed for the crash, the Australian eventually vented his anger, saying that, “I watched his onboard, and he’s not even looking at me. You can see his helmet – he’s looking at the apex at the corner. I don’t know why he’s not looking at the car in front, unless his eyes are doing something funny. He was clearly focused on something else.”
Eventually the frustration got to the man from Perth once he heard Stroll blaming “an idiot” and his final response was not a pretty one: “Apparently I am the idiot here and it was my fault. I’m really trying my best not to say what I want to say, but f*** the guy!”
IN THE aftermath of that black weekend, early reporting of the key parties’ analysis of what had happened was, frankly, sketchy and in some cases incorrect, with reports that Williams team director Patrick Head had blamed Senna for the accident –quickly followed up with a more formal statement which said that:
“We are still studying the data, still gathering the information and at this stage we have reached no conclusions. All the relevant information is not available at present. I believe any initial conversations I had at the circuit have been taken out of context.”
Initial observations centred around whether the car had bottomed out, slowed slightly and lost downforce or –later – whether overnight adjustments to the steering column, which involved cutting and re-welding the steering shaft had seen the shaft break, with total loss of steering.
AA reported that, in the wake the previous day’s tragedy, in which Austrian Roland Ratzenberger lost his life after front wing failure on his Simtek F1 car, Senna had, that morning, instigated talks with former champs Niki
ALLAN MOFFAT rained on the Holden Torana SLR’s parade by taking a crushing ATCC win around Oran Park.
After a spate of pre-publicity surrounding the first public appearance of the new Torana, the main event was a Ford Falcon procession as Moffat led all 39 laps, 17.5s ahead of Peter Brock.
The open wheel racing scene was rocked by the news Repco would discontinue the manufacture of racing engines including the Formula 5000 Holden and Leyland based units.
Despite the news Ansett Team Elfin Manager John Lanyon stated “of course we are disappointed but we don’t believe Repco is about leave everyone high and dry.”
Laud and Alain Prost about re-forming a Grand Prix drivers’ safety committee.
The issue also contained an interview, conducted just a few days prior to the Imola weekend, in which Ayrton expanded on his ‘post-racing’ plans – including a recent investment in a company producing carbon-fibre mountain bikes – as he planned to grow the Senna ‘brand.’
Among the famous Senna quotes re-emerging in the issue was a particularly incisive one concerning his former team-mate Alain Prost:
“The biggest problem with Alain was that he wanted to go and play golf after every qualifying and he couldn’t because I was working hard in the garage. He kept telling me ‘let’s finish quickly, I want to play golf.’” Touche …
Elsewhere in an issue dominated by the tragedy, Mark Skaife rated the 10 circuits making up the Australian Touring Car Championship, in order of preference, while Steven Richards’ win in the latest Formula Ford Championship round and touring car racer Andrew Miedecke’s win in Targa Tasmania were reported.
But it was Senna’s death, a global sporting loss, that dominated the issue, best summed up by editor Graham Smith who concluded:
“A week after Senna’s death I still feel sick. I can’t talk about it without feeling distressed. He is gone. I just hope we can learn from him having been here …”
GERMAN PRINCE Leopold von Bayern was a surprise addition to the 1984 Bathurst 1000 grid with his drive being confirmed.
Von Bayern was given the plumb seat alongside Denny Hulme in Frank Gardner’s JPS BMW team. The pair ended up finishing 15th overall.
There was carnage at Calder Park where there were a number of serious accidents in the Australian Formula 2 and Sports Car Championships.
Sports car driver Alan Newton miraculously escaped only with a broken ankle after a spectacular 200 km/h crash from the lead.
Heading up the back straight into Qantas Corner Newton’s throttle jammed, and his car speared off before hitting a spoon drain and catapulting two metres into the air before slamming into the armco.
JASON BRIGHT and PWR put the V8 Supercars field on notice by ending Greg Murphy’s reign as the king of Pukekohe.
Wet weather forced all three races to be squeezed onto Sunday and Bright rose to the occasion, finishing second in the first before recording back-to-back wins to overcome Marcos Ambrose, while Murphy had to settle for third.
As Bright took victory, it was revealed a “top secret super alliance” between PWR and Walkinshaw was taking place.
After the latest troublesome race, HRT frontman Mark Skaife already conceded his championship chances were over.
LESS THAN a year and a half into life with Mercedes, Erebus Motorsport rejected reports of a shock switch to Volvo.
“Its definitely Erebus’ desire and intent to maintain our alliance with the brand we have invested so much in,” said CEO Ryan Maddison.
“There are no current plans in place to expand beyond the current two-car Volvo Polestar Racing at this stage,” Volvo said in a statement.
The rumours surfaced from the annual trip to New Zealand where Supercars made a rare racing appearance on ANZAC Day.
The Friday race was won by Jason Bright, who continued BJR’s special connection with Pukekohe. But it was Mark Winterbottom who lifted the Jason Richards Memorial Trophy after winning two of the four races.
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