AUTO ACTION’S Formula 1 man on the streets of Monaco, LUIS VASCONCELOS takes a look at all the potential goings on if the F1 driver market.
THE 2025 Formula 1 drivers’ market has ground to a complete halt in the last 10 days, despite a number of drivers being in a hurry to define their futures.
But, with more good drivers than seats available for next year, the ball is very much on the teams’ side, and Red Bull, Audi, and Williams have decided to play a waiting game for now, while Alpine and Haas seem happy to wait for the next couple of developments before making their moves.
At Red Bull, the renewal of Sérgio Pérez’s contract seems to be a formality, despite the Mexican’s clear drop in form and his reluctance to accept a one-year deal. Horner’s preference for Daniel Ricciardo hasn’t been validated by the Australian’s pace in this first third of the season – and
yet Yuki Tsunoda continues to not feature in the team’s shortlist of possible Verstappen teammates, in spite of his outstanding performances so far this year.
Much to the frustration of Carlos Sainz and his management, it’s clear that Horner has no desire to revive the driver pairing Toro Rosso had in 2015, and the expectation in Monaco was that Pérez’s new Red Bull contract should be announced in a matter of days.
Mercedes has essentially decided to gamble on putting young Andrea Kimi Antonelli alongside George Russell next year but is delaying the announcement to allow the Italian to focus on his Formula 2 campaign.
Sainz is now faced with three options that won’t give him any chance to fight at the front in the next couple of years: join Audi, Alpine, or Williams.
James Vowles’ team looked set to sign a deal with Valtteri Bottas during the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, but when Sainz surprisingly
showed he was open to signing a two-year deal with the British team, everything was put on hold. The Spaniard’s camp is determined to secure his immediate future in the next couple of weeks and, once he makes his move, other pieces will quickly fall into place.
Bottas’ B-plan, should Sainz end up at Williams, is to sign with Haas, the American team having made a firm offer for his services. He’d be racing alongside Oliver Bearman, who looks set to do his first full Formula One season with Haas in 2025.
At VCARB, the 2025 lineup will only be considered after Red Bull has made its choice of a second driver. While the team has an option over Yuki Tsunoda’s services, the Japanese driver has suddenly become a hot commodity in the market, as other teams have been massively impressed with his current form, consistency, and rising profile thanks to his starring role in Netflix’s Drive to Survive Isaak Hadjar and Liam Lawson are also on the Italian team’s list, so there’s no rush in making
a choice as none of them are free to sign elsewhere.
Alpine seems to be taking a backseat in the market, with Bruno Famin being comfortable that his two current drivers have no better options open to them.
He is also aware that veterans like Sainz or Bottas, as well as youngsters like his own reserve driver Jack Doohan, the company’s WEC driver Mick Schumacher, and many others, may end up in need of a seat, and they are all reasonably competitive.
Famin’s bluster after Ocon’s crash at Monaco appears to be just that, and no changes are likely at the squad this year, meaning Doohan is unlikely to receive a surprise F1 promotion.
For now, everything is on hold, with Sainz at the centre of the market, but once the Madrid-born driver makes his move, expect Audi, Williams, and Haas to follow quickly with their 2025 lineups, with just the two Red Bullowned teams and Alpine keeping seats open for next year.
Supercars will return to SMP for the now traditional Night meeting.
SUPERCARS IS reportedly well underway with an expanded 2025 calendar, a version of which has been floating around the scene so other categories can start pre-planning around the biggest motorsport category in the country.
Our sources are reporting that there will be 14 rounds on the calendar with the return of Winton, Queensland Raceway and The Bend to replace the sparsley attended Bathurst sprint round. The Bend has already been confirmed as a two-driver endurance race and, with the Sandown 500 remaining on the calendar for the foreseeable future, this will give the series three such races again for the first time since Covid intervened.
Supercars has expressed a desire to start the season on the east coast of Australia, and was initially leaning towards Queensland Raceway but may now be looking at Sydney Motorsport Park two weeks prior to the Australian Grand Prix meeting in mid-March. Both QR and SMP are talking night races,
but the late sunset at that time of the year in Sydney may make twilight a more accurate reflection.
Winton and Queensland Raceway’s return will have its way paved by an agreement between Supercars and its Teams Racing Charter (TRC) holders to forgo the extra income owed for racing at both tracks by not paying extra appearance fees for the home round. It means that the Queenslandbased teams will not get an extra payment (believed to be $50k per car) for running that race, and likewise the Melbourne (and Albury) teams for Winton.
This proposed agreement is part of ongoing negotiations regarding several components of the TRC which should see a revised charter in play for next season.
The Perth street race is unlikely for 2025, but will likely make an appearance in 2026 along with a second New Zealand round, most likely at Highlands Motorsport Park on the South Island.
Many people feel that 15 is the minimum number of rounds in a season to get enough regular action to keep people’s attention on the championship as the economy continues to tighten. The possible 15th round could be a much talked-about street race in the Hunter Valley, using the infrastructure from Newcastle which Supercars already owns and is not thar far away.
Race formats will also come up for discussion, with concerns in Perth that two 100km races doesn’t give enough action, and that such a short weekend carries the same points as Bathurst.
A return to international racing has also been mooted, with plenty of inbound attention worthy of Supercars consideration.
Auto Action has been told that the organisers of the Las Vegas Grand Prix approached Supercars about creating the undercard for the late-night race, but that a paying entity eventually shut down the deal. Qatar has also been in discussion with Supercars about a similar deal for its Grand Prix, which is
one reason why the 2024 calendar has finisher earlier than normal – to allow for its possible inclusion even this year, although that now appears only a slim chance.
Singapore has also long been discussed, but its timing in relation to Bathurst remains poor.
POSSIBLE CALENDAR
• Sydney Motorsport Park or Queensland Raceway
• Australian Grand Prix
• New Zealand, Taupo
• Perth
• Darwin
• Townsville
• Queensland Raceway or Sydney Motorsport Park
• Winton
• Symmons Plains
• The Bend 500
• Sandown 500
• Bathurst 1000
• Gold Coast
• Adelaide 500
OWNERS, Racing
Australia Consolidated Enterprises Ltd (RACE), has recorded a significant revenue increase for the 2023 year to $126.57m on the back of the shortlived return of the Newcastle 500, and also a solid improvement in its EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation).
RACE Chairman, Barclay Nettlefold, said the figures demonstrate the underlying strength of Supercars in terms of revenue and earnings and puts the sport in a strong place moving forwards.
Sponsorship revenue was up 16.4% to $40.4 million, ticket income rose by 28.3% to $16.3 million and corporate hospitality income up 34.4% to $12.1 million. The 2023 results were affected by $20.5 million in one-off items, including Gen3 payments to the racing teams, the buy-back of a Teams Racing Charter to reduce the number of participants to 24, and the write down of balance sheet items that were no longer required.
An upbeat Nettlefold said Supercars was not standing still and that it was investing in the future.
“Across 2023, RACE and Supercars achieved solid financial results and made substantial progress towards our long-term objectives,” he said.
“Today we’ve announced our results for CY23 (Calendar Year 2023), which show an increase in 12.5% revenue in Supercars, with an EBITDA increase of 16.2% on a nominalised basis. It also reflects our investment for the future in the results.
“What you’re seeing is something that the board is happy with moving forward. We’re encouraged by the result. We’ve our AGM at 11:00 today
with our shareholder group (one hour after the media briefing), and we’ll be seeking to invest more money in the sport for the future. There’s an absolute recognition that we need to keep growing the sport, racing more, having more events.
“That means in a domestic environment and then also the consideration of our international plans.”
He added that, while Newcastle boosted the revenue numbers, its effect on profits was not as equivocal and that its loss in 2024 may not be felt as harshly as many believe.
One of the keys to continued expansion of the sport is a reworking of TRC, and Nettlefold says work is ongoing in that respect.
“We’ve set up a committee with the teams and we’re reviewing the TRC commercials around what’s best for teams, what’s best for RACE and what’s best for the sport. There’s a common ground, it’s the original document that we started with, but it’s not going to change or prohibit our investment and our expansion of the sport.
“There’s some areas in it that probably don’t work for teams as much as it doesn’t work for RACE. Hence why we’ve got a bigger focus moving forward of working closer with the teams, because it’s in everyone’s interest. It’s in their sponsors’ interest, it’s in our sponsors’, it’s in our fans and their fans.”
TELEVISION COVERAGE of Supercars is getting a revamp and update as Nathan Prendergast (right) settles back into the top slot.
Prendergast stepped out of Supercars at the start of 2022 but, after time on the international screen with supercross and Formula One, he has returned to supercharge his contribution to touring cars.
He is now the go-to-guy for all official coverage of Supercars as Head of Broadcast, including the growing content in the digital world, but is focussed again on the television package for Foxtel and the Seven network.
His role is likely to become even more pivotal as Supercars looks to boost its value during negotiations – likely later this year – for a new broadcast deal.
“It’s great to be back. There is lots to do and I have plenty of fresh ideas,” Prendergast told Auto Action
His work has already begun and is reflected in the on-air crew, as well as his hands-on work in the television control room.
“There is a lot going on in both the broadcast and digital space” he said.
With such depth of talent we are able to mix up the commentary pairings during practice to give extra
experience for some and increased insight from others.”
“We’re looking to keep things fresh. Mix things up. Get people working together in new and different ways.”
Prendergast pointed to Craig Lowndes’ roving brief as a trackside analyst.
“He is great at talking about what the cars and the drivers are doing. He can convey that to the audience,” he said.
Lowndes is now regularly at the side of the circuit, pointing to differences in driving lines, car set-up and even throttle application in corners.
At the recent round in Perth, he gave valuable insight at ’The Bowl’ in how different drivers trying to maximise their speed without damaging their tyres.
But he did not reveal the secret to his personal success in Perth, where he scored 16 wins from 58 starts for a 28 per cent strike rate.
The Perth broadcast also saw Neil Crompton doing a pre-race grid walk, something which works well with Martin Brundle in Formula One, starting right from the back.
The long-time lead commentator has also been more active this year as a reporter and analyst in the pitlane.
“It’s about shifting things around. Giving people a new challenge and providing fresh insights for views,” said Prendergast.
“Everybody can learn something from the others on the team.”
On the commentary front, Prendergast has also shuffled the order by splitting the regular pairings of Neil CromptonMark Skaife and Chad Neylon-Garth Tander.
The headliners still have the booth for the main events, but are moved around through practice and qualifying.
“It gets everyone thinking about their roles. Watching the others, and working with them in a different way, is also good for everyone.”
Prendergast promises more changes and improvements through the 2024 season but is not going into detail.
He also refused to comment on the potential for changes to the broadcast crew ahead of the 2025 season.
CAMERON WATERS and Will Brown will become the latest Supercars stars to compete in the NASCAR Cup Series at Sonoma where they feel the need to “look after each other.”
After the path was blazed by Marcos Ambrose, last year Shane van Gisbergen and Brodie Kostecki competed at the top level.
On Sunday, June 9 two of the 2024 Supercars championship contenders will join them in the Toyota SaveMart 350.
Waters will build from his Truck Series appearances by steering the Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing Ford, while Brown will drive the #33 Richard Childress Racing Camaro Kostecki steered at Indianapolis last year.
The Triple Eight driver made it clear that Supercars remains his top priority and hopes the special experience enhance his campaign in the #87.
Brown also revealed his NASCAR opportunity spawned out of his drive in the World Racing League with RCR at Texas late last year.
“Mine has probably been on the cards for four weeks – it came about pretty quickly with Richard Childress,” Brown said.
“I did a race there with them last year at COTA and I guess I had a pretty good start to the year here with Supercars and thought I could probably reach
out again and see if there was any opportunities over there.
“I was able to get a deal done which was awesome – to race over there will be great. Hopefully I can get more experiences and more knowledge and bring it back here as well — it’s pretty cool to do a NASCAR race.
“I started talking to Cam and he said he’s doing it as well and I thought ‘that will be pretty cool’. Hopefully we can have a good race over there and have a good time.
“I have no plan on moving over there (America).
“I will be racing Supercars for a long time as I love it but I would love to add a couple of NASCAR races each year whether we are doing 12 or 20 weekends a year.
“The more races I can do the better I will be.”
From his time racing trucks at Martinsville and Kansas, Waters believes he and Brown will need to look after each other against the NASCAR stars.
“Obviously I have done two Truck races which has been a massive
experience and a massive eye-opener,” said Waters.
“It will be great to do Sonoma which is a road course and in a car that’s more similar to what we race over here.
“I was super pumped and then when I heard Will was doing it, I was just a little bit more excited again.
“They race pretty wild over there so hopefully we look after each other!”
The race at the snakey Sonoma layout begins at 5.30 AEST on Monday, June 10.
Thomas Miles
BOTH CAM Waters and Tickford are still optimistic of a Supercars title challenge after getting the “monkey off our backs” at Wanneroo.
Over the first four rounds of 2024, Tickford has experienced all of the ups and downs from crashes and flying wheels, but luck was finally on its side in Perth.
It was a reverse of 2022 when Waters suffered a penalty for track limits and lost a win to Will Davison having taken the chequered flag first, a 5s penalty to leader Chaz Mostert saw the Monster Mustang victorious in Race 10.
After a “shit start” to 2024, Waters said it is an enormous lift for the Tickford team to return to the top step.
“It means so much for everyone,” he said.
“This year the vibe in the team has been amazing, everyone is really positive but we have had so much bad luck and all
these things going wrong that don’t usually happen.
“It was nice to go my way, nothing had gone my way this year, so I will take them however I can get them at the moment.
“We probably didn’t quite have enough car speed early on, but the way we have all grouped together and worked at it to get better race cars makes me super proud to be part of this team.
“It has been an awesome weekend and what I like is we were consistent across every session.”
Waters rose from 15th to fourth in the championship in one weekend and admits he is just in the fight for the crown, 381 points adrift of leader Will Brown.
“I’m hanging on by my fingernails,” Waters said.
“(The Perth) weekend was all about getting some car speed
and putting a lot of the bad luck behind us, and trying to convert a bit of that car speed.
“For Tickford, it’s all about getting faster and being more consistent week in, week out. And we’ve just got to do a lot of winning now.”
Despite the breakthrough, Tickford boss Rod Nash knows there is still work to do.
“I think we’ve turned the corner now with the Mustang. With all the changes we’ve just had to keep learning,” Nash said.
“We’d still like to fly under the radar, and we feel the monkey is off our backs, but we won’t get too cheeky too soon.
“At Darwin we’ll do the same as Perth, be rock-solid in both qualifying and the race, and then see where we are in the championship.”
Thomas Miles
Bathurst has already begun for Garth Tander. As the five-time champion at Mount Panorama looks for a sixth Peter Brock Trophy in October, he is ramping up his preparations.
Tander began his 2024 campaign with a GT start in Portugal and is now planning for more GT testing, and perhaps races, in addition to a limited Carrera Cup campaign.
It’s all part of the plan at Grove Racing to ensure Tander is a solid partner for young Matt Payne during the Supercars enduro season and keeps sharp after his 47th birthday.
“Can we win Bathurst? I don’t see why not,” Tander tells Auto Action as he looks ahead to another endurance campaign in a black Mustang.
“My plan is to not be the weak link. And the plan from now to then is to eliminate any of the potential weak links.”
Tander is continuing his co-driving and mentoring work at Grove Racing, in addition to his commentary commitments on Supercars Television, but he sounds most excited when he talks about racing.
His first overseas trip to Portugal, to share a Mercedes-AMG GT at the rolling Portimao circuit, did not go to plan but he said he was happy with his pace.
“I got up to speed pretty quickly. My onelap speed is not what it was when I was 25, but I’m not employed for my one-lap speed any more.
“We were leading before the first pitstop. Brenton started and dropped back to fifth,
which was the smart play, then we slowly got to the lead.”
T ander got a single stint in the driver’s seat before the Grove car was sidelined by fuel pump problems and a fire, and was happy to keep the booming Benz up at the front.
He said there is nothing planned that will require his passport, although he is likely to test the AMG GT and then have at least one local start.
“If the Groves were going to do more stuff and they asked me, then yes I would be happy to race with them again. But it’s not something I’m actively chasing.”
But he is preparing to return to the Carrera Cup, where both Brenton and Stephen Grove have raced in the past and where youngster Oscar Target is continuing his development under the Grove banner.
“I’m doing Carrera Cup in Sydney,” he said.
“We’ll do something similar to last year. I did a Carrera Cup race and a GT race in Australia with a different team.”
Tander knows he will be happy to be racing at Bathurst but is concentrating on his wider role with Grove Racing.
“It’s now more about my integration into the race team so I can help the team go forward. It’s probably no different to how things were when I was at Triple Eight,” he said.
“That’s not to say I don’t want to go and win races, but the motivating factor is integrating into the team. My desire to destroy others is probably not what it was, from a competition perspective.
“What happens every year is you don’t drive the Supercar. Then you drive the car and realise how much you still enjoy it.”
SPECULATION MOUNTED in Monaco that Jack Doohan could possibly make a shock Formula 1 debut for Alpine at the Canadian Grand Prix on June 7-9 following Esteban Ocon’s poorly executed move on his teammate.
However, the realities of a sudden F1 debut coming to fruition are less than likely, partly because Canada is considered a treacherous track for a rookie, and Ocon would still have his subsequent five-spot grid penalty to serve later. A financial penalty is the more likely scenario for Ocon in the short term, as well as the notification his services will not be required in 2025.
Alpine boss Bruno Famin’s patience seems to be running thin with the Frenchman, which does open the speculation for Doohan’s chances of the seat in 2025.
Overheard speaking to a French media outlet, Famin was quoted as saying:
“Esteban’s attack was completely out of line. It wasn’t what we wanted to see. There will be consequences. We’re going to have to make a tough decision.” Sky F1 pit-lane reporter Ted Kravitz then saw Famin take
Doohan aside for a serious chat, which further fuelled the talk of an F1 debut for the Aussie to snowball.
“I will say that I saw Famin on the roof of the Alpine pit building – he called Jack Doohan, the reserve driver, over for a chat. They had a chat. I don’t know what the chat
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.
was about. And then Jack Doohan left and went down the stairs,” Kravitz reported … “Things are afoot at the Alpine team.”
Doohan has spent 2024 in a non-racing role, opting to focus on his reserve driver roles with the French team rather than compete a third Formula 2 season.
Outside of any past F1 drivers that are in current reserve roles, Doohan has likely clocked the most mileage in actual F1 machinery.
His recent in-seat activity includes running plenty of distance in the 2022-spec Alpine A522 at Zandvoort in mid-May whilst, more immediately, Famin noted pre the incident in Monaco that Doohan pulled an all-nighter in a sim to help give them more guidance heading into Monaco’s vital qualifying where Gasly took P10 in Q3.
“Credit (for qualifying) must be given to the simulator work at Enstone and our reserve driver Jack Doohan, who did a great job overnight to try a few things out and improve the car set-up.”
TW Neal
EPISODES OUT EVERY WEDNESDAY
JOSEF NEWGARDEN has won his second Indy 500, going back-to-back in a memorable and rain delayed race at The Brickyard in front of more than 400,000 fans. With the lead changing almost lap-by-lap after the final pitstops, Newgarden had to fight off challenges from Alexander Rossi, Scott Dixon and then a shattered Patto O’Ward who took the lead at the start of the final lap before Newgarden moved back into the lead around the outside in Turn 3.
Newgarden is just the sixth driver in 108 years to go back-to-back, and did so without key members of his crew who were under a team suspension, including his engineer Luke Mason and Team Penske President and strategist Tim Cindric. Jonathan Diuguid and Raul Prados substituted for Cindric and Mason, respectively, at both the IndyCar Grand Prix and the Indy 500.
It was Team Penske’s 20th win in the race. Scott McLaughlin was running strongly until the last round of pitstops where a clutch issue robbed the pole sitter of the edge needed to compete at the end, losing time getting moving and never getting back into the leading group. He finished in sixth. Kiwi Scott Dixon finished third and Aussie Will Power crashed out on lap 145 of 200.
“They can say whatever they want after this point; I don’t care anymore,” Newgarden said of the critics who have lambasted the team. “I’m just so proud of this team. They crushed it. Crushed it. Luke, Tim – they’re
MATT CAMPBELL is not the only Aussie in a Porsche with a shot at victory in the Le Mans 24-Hour race. There is also Yasser Shahin.
He has been a stand-out in his first season in the World Endurance Championship and will arrive in France fresh from success in the 6-Hour race at Spa in Belgium.
Shahin is not expecting anything special in his first visit to Le Mans, and definitely not predicting a win - or even a podiumbut is relishing the challenge of the WEC battles in his Porsche 911 GT3 R.
“I’m taking my racing to the highest level,” Shahin told Auto Action.
“Nobody is there for shits and giggles.”
Joining the crack Manthey team out of Germany, famed for its successes in the Nurburgring and victory this year at the Bathurst 12-Hour, has given Shahin the right tools for his new job.
It’s effectively a Porsche factory team, even if GT3 LM competition is restricted to private entries with a mix-and-match driver line-up.
Shahin, as a Bronze driver in WEC, is effectively the anchor for his combination with veteran Richard Lietz and youngster Morris Schuring.
“There might be only tenths between the Pro drivers, but the difference in the Bronze drivers can be over a second,” he said.
“Got we’ve got 18 of the best drivers in the world competing. It’s not sprint racing. It’s more of a thinking man’s racing.
“You’ve got to manage the tyres. Manage the car. Manage yourself. It’s an interesting format.
“The training and preparation is 10 times what I’ve done before.”
Although there are nine races in the WEC series, starting in Qatar in February and finishing in Bahrain in November, Le
not here today, but they’re a huge part of this. I’m just so proud for everybody at Team Penske. That’s the way I wanted to win the thing, right there.”
For O’Ward, second was a bitter pill to swallow again.
“It’s hard to put it into words,” O’Ward said. “So close again. I put that car through things
I never thought it was going to be able to do. Sometimes I said, ‘Aw, that’s it,’ and somehow I came out of the other side of the corner.
“Oh, man: It’s just so painful when you put so much into it, and then two corners short ...” It was only the fourth time in Indianapolis 500 history that the race was decided by a last-lap pass. Newgarden also achieved that feat last year by passing Marcus Ericsson onlLap 200.
Self-proclaimed as the world’s greatest motor race, the 2024 races boasted an event-record 18 of the 33 starters leading at least one lap, with McLaughlin the lap leader with 64. There also were 649 on-track passes, the most in the Indy 500 since 2017.
BACK-TO-BACK WINNERS OF THE INDY 500
• Wilbur Shaw (1939-40)
Mauri Rose (1947-48) Bill Vukovich (1953-54) Al Unser (1970-71)
• Helio Castroneves (2001-02)
• Josef Newgarden (2022-23)
Mans is the big prize.
Despite the win at Spa, it’s two troubled races at the start of the year which worry Shahin.
“It would be silly to think we could be contenders. We’re a long way off,” he said.
“We have really back luck in the first races. I don’t think we’re contenders at all, to be honest.
“But we started the year thinking if we could get a top six finish, and maybe one
podium, that would be great. To win at the third race …
“We’re moving up. I think we’re clearly in the top six cars now.”
What that means at Le Mans is anybody’s guess, but Shahin is always optimistic and always giving 100 per cent.
“Our motto is ‘If you’re going to do something then do it properly’. Victory belongs to people who immerse themselves properly in the challenge.”
OSCAR PIASTRI has become the fifth Australian to score a podium finish on the famous streets of Monaco, finishing second only behind home hero Charles Leclerc in a “tricky race.”
Piastri started on the front row after a special qualifying effort and overcame a tense battle with Carlos Sainz to secure the runner-up position.
The #81 did push Leclerc during the closing stages before ending up 7.152s adrift at the chequered flag after 75 laps on the one set of Hards.
However, it is automatically one of the biggest highlights of Piastri’s career after he followed in the footsteps of Sir Jack Brabham, Alan Jones, Mark Webber and Daniel Ricciardo as fellow Australians to stand on the podium and was the quickest to do so, in just his second attempt.
The McLaren driver in the Ayrton Senna tribute livery could not hide the smile as he accepted the silver trophy from Charlene, Princess of Monaco.
Piastri admitted it was a special feeling standing on the podium for the first time in 2024 after carrying momentum from recent races into an impressive weekend behind the wheel around the unforgiving streets of Monte Carlo.
“I’m very, very happy,” he said.
“Third podium in F1 certainly doesn’t get old, but very happy to have it here in Monaco, especially. It was a tricky race.
“If there’s one podium apart from your home podium that you want to stand on, it’s probably here. So, very, very pleased for the whole team.
“I think especially for our side of the garage, it’s been a promising few weekends now and nice to finally get a good result out of it.”
The 70th Monaco Grand Prix will be remembered for its wild start and Piastri himself had a close call with Sainz.
The Aussie said the Sainz scrape left a
“big number” of lost downforce on the sidepod but the red flag ensured some repairs could be made.
Piastri also admitted he thought about ‘having a look’ into Turn 8, but Leclerc was a man on a mission and “reacted just quick enough.”
However, the podium is a sweet reward for pace and persistence for Piastri, who has had plenty of speed, but little to show for it in recent races.
He was challenging Max Verstappen for victory in Miami before the Safety Car and
Sainz clash ruined his race, while a grid penalty robbed him of another front row start at Imola.
Piastri believes the last three weeks and his shiny new trophy gives him plenty of optimism.
“I think there have been three very different circuits in the past three races, and we’ve been competitive at all of them,” he said.
“Miami was probably one of our worst circuits before this year. Imola has always been kind to us, but we had a very strong
weekend there
“Let’s say our car’s never been the strongest in the slow corners, and this weekend we’ve been very quick again, so I think we can be confident wherever we go.
“I feel like we don’t have to rely on the high-speed circuits like we did last year to get our results, which is a very exciting thing to have going forward.
“I think we can definitely be in the fight every weekend.”
Thomas Miles
SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN said he “gave it my all” from pole position in a thrilling Indianapolis 500 won by Penske teammate Josef Newgarden.
After leading the field past the bricks for the first time, the 2024 Indy 500 started brilliantly for McLaughlin.
The ‘Yellow Submarine’ controlled the field throughout the first half of the race as the Kiwi actually led the most laps of the day with 64, which were the first of his career.
However, as the race went on, McLaughlin did not quite have the speed of the likes of Newgarden and Pato O’Ward and slipped to seventh as the finish approached.
A late move on Kyle Kirkwood saw McLaughlin take the chequered flag in sixth as Newgarden passed O’Ward at the penultimate corner to give Team Penske a 20th Indy 500 win.
Although the 2024 race was a much
happier affair than his previous attempts and well ahead of his PB of 14th, McLaughlin was upset he wasn’t drinking the milk.
“I just gave it my all, all month. It’s just
emotionally draining,” McLaughlin said.
“Unfortunately, that’s my best run and I’m upset about it obviously. You’re a competitor.
“But Team Penske won and that’s
the main thing. Congrats to Josef (Newgarden) and his No. 2 team. Great for Shell, great for Pennzoil.
“This place just kicks your butt and you’ve got to come back stronger next year.”
McLaughlin was understandably low after the race, with the dream of becoming the first ever to win both the Indianapolis 500 and Bathurst 1000 well and truly alive after qualifying.
He recorded a four-lap average speed of 234.220mph to eclipse Aussie teammate Will Power in an all Penske front row.
“It’s just incredible,” McLaughlin said after taking pole.
“It’s going to take a while to sink in. It is a super cool place to be on pole.
“I just went out and enjoyed it. I felt like those two runs that I had today were some of the best laps I had ever driven.”
Thomas Miles
TEAM 18 will carry its experienced co-driving line up into the 2024 Supercars enduros with Warren Luff and Michael Caruso returning.
Caruso will carry on his partnership with Mark Winterbottom for a fourth straight year in the #18, while Luff will have an 18th different Great Race codriver in David Reynolds in the #20.
As was the case last year, Luff is on loan from Walkinshaw Andretti United, where the veteran works on the Super2 program.
Both Luff and Caruso will be at Team 18’s test day this Thursday at Winton as it searches for speed following a tough Perth SuperSprint.
David Brabham has scored a win in his own car, the Brabham BT62, in the GT Cup Championship in Britain. Sharing the car with its owner, Paul Bailey, Brabham resumed his winning ways at the Brands Hatch circuit where the pit straight is named after his late father, Sir Jack Brabham.
BENDIX HAS teased the Indigenous livery design that will adorn Nick Percat’s Camaro in Darwin on June 14-16, designed by Wadawurrung’s BillyJay (BJ) O’Toole. The palette of colours tell the unique Wadawurrung Country story (an area which represents the area of Ballarat through to Geelong) telling the creation of its landscape.
“We are so excited and moved by BJ’s artwork and the detailed thought and messaging he’s put into the piece. I think with this livery adorning the Bendix Racing Camaro, we’ll have a winning car in Darwin,” Bendix CEO George Kyriakopoulos said.
THE FUTURE of the iconic Sandown Raceway is once again up for discussion with fans given the chance to have their say in the next month.
The Melbourne Racing Club is proposing significant changes to the historic horse and motor racing venue with the proposal seeking “to enable the redevelopment of the land for predominantly residential use including approximately 7,500 homes” which means the Sandown motor racing circuit would be no more.
Sandown is steeped in motor racing history, being opened in 1962, hosting events such as the Australian Grand Prix and Sandown 500, which will celebrate a 60th anniversary this September.
The traditional September enduro is one of the most treasured prizes in the Supercars season, with Peter Brock winning it nine times and Jamie Whincup enjoying a sixth last year.
It also held the pre F1 Australian Grand Prix in 1964, 1968, 1972, 1973, 1976 and 1978, when the likes of Sir Jack Brabham and Jim Clark were victorious.
A six-person Sandown Racecourse Advisory Committee has been appointed by the Minister for Planning to advise the Minister on all relevant matters associated with the proposed redevelopment of the Sandown Racecourse.
However, part of the process includes public consultation, with submissions open between Monday, May 20 to 23.59 Monday, June 24.
When the window for public consultation closes, the Sandown
Racecourse Advisory Committee will conduct a public hearing process, likely between August and October, while a directions hearing will take place on July 17.
One section of the information sheet about the proposed Sandown redevelopment did include the question will horse racing and motorsport continue at the site?
The following is the statement on the topic:
“The current process is to consider the potential redevelopment of the land. Any changes to horse racing or other existing uses such as motorsport will be subject to future decisions by Racing Victoria and Melbourne Racing Club members.
Information about the future of racing at the site can be found at mrc.racing. com/sandown-planning.”
The future of Sandown has been an ongoing talking point over time, especially recent years.
Whilst the 500km race is celebrating
THE ANNUAL MotorSport New Zealand Awards Evening held last Saturday night in Christchurch celebrated the country’s top motorsport talent for 2024, recognising a stellar lineup of recipients for their exceptional achievements and contributions to the sport.
The highest accolade of the evening, the Jim Clark Trophy, was awarded to Brendon Hartley, the FIA World Endurance Champion. Hartley secured his fourth FIA World Endurance Championship in 2023. This trophy is presented annually to a New Zealand driver who exhibits outstanding sportsmanship, natural ability, and the most commendable racing performance of the season.
The prestigious Lupp Trophy was awarded to Angus Fogg for his efforts in promoting Historic Touring
Car racing. This award honours a competitor in Classic and Historic racing who exemplifies exceptional sportsmanship, meticulous vehicle presentation, and the core values of the Classic and Historic movement.
Liam Sceats, the current New Zealand Grand Prix winner and Formula Regional Oceania runner-up, received the Steel Memorial Trophy. This accolade is given to a junior driver who demonstrates dedication, skill, and professionalism in their racing endeavours.
Hayden Paddon was honoured with the Rally Founders Trophy, which recognizes a rally competitor who excels during the rally season on both national and international stages. Paddon clinched the New Zealand Rally Championship title in 2023 and triumphed in the European Rally Championship.
60th anniversary
The
The 2024 Sandown 500 will be held on September 13-15.
Thomas Miles
MotorSport New Zealand President Wayne Christie commended the award winners for their impressive accomplishments and contributions to the sport.
“Tonight we celebrate the great achievements of our competitors over the past season and recognize the achievements of our people across the whole of the sport,” Christie remarked. “All of our premier award winners, Brendon, Angus, Liam, and Hayden, have shown that New Zealand is a nation brimming with motorsport talent capable of performing on the world stage.”
The McLeod Commodore at speed, prior to the shunt. Image: MARK HORSBURGH.Above The in-car (courtesy Supercars). Right: The first contact.
CAMERON McLEOD and Cooper Murray have slightly differing takes on the “really scary” crash that brought the Super2 action in Perth to an early end.
McLeod and Cooper Murray were fighting for position coming out of the ‘Bowl’ at Wanneroo, but front-to-rear contact from the Eggleston Motorsport car sent the Coke Commodore spearing off track.
It was a near identical incident to Scott Pye’s infamous 2013 crash but, on this occasion, McLeod’s car went airborne and was sent into a horrifying roll at the fastest part of the track, flipping three times.
“I don’t know why but it felt like it went for an eternity. It was a really, really scary experience,” McLeod reflected to Auto Action
“It was like you were in a matchbox car and you were thrown down a flight of stairs by a toddler.”
It was not until Wednesday that the stewards confirmed Murray had been disqualified from the race.
A hearing took place on Sunday, before being adjourned at the request of Eggleston Motorsport.
It was reconvened on Wednesday where Murray accepted a reckless driving charge and the disqualification.
McLeod believes that is a fair penalty.
“It is pretty fair,” he responded.
“I was reading around people saying it was completely my fault and some pretty rude stuff.
“But I did not really care because I knew I was in the right and had already seen that footage and just had to wait until the vision went out.
“The only reason why it looked like there was overlap is because he was already under my rear bar.
“I knew he was there which is why I blocked, but I also knew there was no overlap so I could keep moving over.
“I got the feeling I was pushed forward and then a spin out rather than a straight hit in the side, so I knew he just hit me in the rear bar and had me off.
“I knew it as soon as it happened and it is just disappointing.”
Whilst Murray accepted the charge, he
was “disappointed” by the decision and believed “both drivers played a part in the incident.”
“Following on from the incident in Race 2 on the weekend in Perth I wanted to clarify my position following the penalty I have been handed by the stewards,” Murray wrote on social media.
“First and foremost my best wishes to Cam after that nasty crash, I am glad he is ok.
“I am disappointed by the Stewards’ decision post-race; in my opinion there were contributing factors to the incident that weren’t illustrated from the onboard.
“I believe both drivers played a part in the incident. I pride myself on being one of the hardest but fair racers in the field and ultimately we were two young blokes having a crack.
“As disappointed as I am with the outcome I have accepted the penalty from the stewards and will press on.”
Thomas Miles
THE PLANNED return of Supercars champion Brodie Kostecki (right) to the Trans Am field has been delayed due to car complications.
Anticipation was building ahead of this weekend’s SpeedSeries round at The Bend thanks to the presence of Kostecki at TFH Racing.
The 2023 Supercars champion was in line to steer a third TFH Racing Ford Mustang alongside Todd Hazelwood and younger Josh Thomas.
However, “car faults” have surfaced on the Mustang and, with not enough time between now and the race weekend, TFH Racing has taken the difficult decision to delay the entry.
Despite not having a car to drive, it has been confirmed Kostecki will still be in the garage, using his expertise to help the team chase Trans Am success.
“After testing the brand-new car at QR earlier in the month,
some car faults found on the day could not be fixed” said TFH Owner Brett Thomas.
“After further investigations and discussion, both Brodie and the TFH Racing team have agreed that the car itself is not ready and have decided to withdraw from this event and postpone Brodie’s return to Trans Am.”
In addition to Trans Am, TFH Racing will also field cars in the Hi-Tec Oils Super Series round at Morgan Park Raceway in the Formula RX8 Series this weekend.
Kostecki was in line to cut his first racing laps in Trans Am since his cameo appearance in 2022.
But fans will have to wait with a 19-car field taking on The Bend’s West Circuit this weekend.
James Golding is the current championship leader, by 22 points over James Moffat.
Also racing at The Bend will be GT World Challenge Australia, TCR, GT4, Porsche Sprint Challenge, Precision National Sports Sedans and Australian Production Cars.
Thomas Miles
Queensland Speedway Spares is part of the Performance Wholesale Group and is dedicated to bringing the best brands and product range available at the most competitive prices for the speedway industry.
Queensland Speedway Spares is part of the Performance Wholesale Group and is dedicated to bringing the best brands and product range available at the most competitive prices for the speedway industry.
Queensland Speedway Spares is based in Brisbane, with a non-smoking, clean and modern work environment. We are offering a full time position for a QSS Salesperson.
Applicants must be committed to achieving customer service excellence and possess a desire to work as part of a team.
Queensland Speedway Spares is based in Brisbane, with a non-smoking, clean and modern work environment. We are offering a full time position for a QSS Salesperson.
Mechanical experience within the automotive industry and /or extensive open wheel race car experience is preferred.
Applicants must be committed to achieving customer service excellence and possess a desire to work as part of a team.
To pursue this opportunity in strict confidence please send your application and resume to:
Karlene Morrison | Performance Wholesale Australia | 6 Cronulla Court Slacks Creek QLD 4127 karlenem@pwa-au.com | www.performancewholesale.com.au
Mechanical experience within the automotive industry and /or extensive open wheel race car experience is preferred.
To pursue this opportunity in strict confidence please send your application and resume to:
Karlene Morrison | Performance Wholesale Australia | 6 Cronulla Court Slacks Creek QLD 4127 karlenem@pwa-au.com | www.performancewholesale.com.au
Queensland Speedway Spares has all your open wheel speedway race parts!
NEXT MONTH’S Finke Desert Race will feature a Chevrolet Silverado ZR2 Off-Road Racer piloted by Craig Lowndes with Dale Moscatt as co-driver, and with Racer Industries stepping in to equip the Aussie stars with Sparco apparel and equipment, also supported by HULK 4X4 and ignite lighting.
“Chevrolet Racing and Racer Industries are aligned in our objective to provide Craig and Dale with the most reliable and competitive equipment to get the job at Finke … that’s why we’ve chosen these leading products from Sparco, HULK 4X4, and Ignite Lighting,” Chris Payne said, GM of Chevrolet Racing.
Racing gets underway between Alice Springs and the Aputula Community on June 7-10.
Previous Auto Action Ad Manager, Joseph Lenthall, debuted his new Improved Production Racing E36 BMW M3 earlier this year after four years out of the category.
Using an Ex-Production class car as the base, he’s modified it to suit the IPRA rule set with a bigger engine, wheels, brakes, tyres and some electronic upgrades. A fresh coat of paint and some cool graphics courtesy of JLM Lubricants and it looks the part. Joseph’s been serving on the IPRA NSW committee for over a decade and it’s great to see him back on track.
MICHAEL HAZELTON left his mark on the RX8 Cup by overcoming Robert Scott and taking out Round 3 at Sydney Motorsport Park.
Hazelton took pole with a 1:47.8 time which was half a second clear of Jett Blumeris. This set him up for an opening race win, but a missed gear proved costly in Race 2 where he got caught up in some Turn 2 chaos and Rob Scott took full advantage. Hazelton ended up at the back of the grid but this did not stop him from taking out the final two races and charging to round victory. Round 4 is also at SMP on August 2-4 – full coverage of last weekend’s event will be in the next issue of Auto Action
THERE’S NOTHING like the thunder for yesteryear at Winton Raceway, and the 2024 VHRR Festival of Speed is fast approaching, with the nations ‘Action Track’ expecting its entry list to easily breach 300 on-track cars for the August 2-4 outing.
One of the Victorian Historic Racing Register’s (VHRR) flagship events, this year’s theme centres around the iconic Holden vs Ford story with each category being well represented, as well as a bumper display of well over 500 club display cars from all over the great motoring state of Victoria; that also includes a select group for the annual Shannon’s parade.
On the Holden vs Ford front, Saturday will feature the two makes in a Group C only race, with a good representation from the end of the
class era, with machines such as the John Goss and VHRR member Keven Bartlett’s 1974 XA Falcon Coupe Bathurst winner, as well as Holdens introduction Torana SLR/5000 & L34 machines.
Bumper fields will also be on track for Group C & A, as well as massive entries for Group N, Group S, and HQ Racing, whilst this year’s Super Sprint Events will entail Tribute Cars and the always popular Historic Sports Sedans.
There will also be plenty of traditional VHRR open wheel action with Formula Fords and Formula Vees, whilst the MG and Alfa racing fields will have over 35 entries. Yet another event for this year’s outing also includes the 60-year celebration of the Ford Mustang.
The first-ever race win of any Ford Mustang on the planet was right here in Australia in November 1964 with Norm Beechey at the wheel, and the VHRR is inviting all owners and Mustang car clubs to join them to mark the occasion.
Both the Saturday and Sunday will be live-streamed on various platforms, proudly making it the only true Historic Racing Event in Australia to be Live Streamed over both days.
There are few other venues in the country that can provide what Winton has to offer for such an event, with its typically superlative trackside viewing options providing a timemachine like experience for all race fans.
TW Neal
MASON KELLY has revealed a snapped conrod sparked the race-ending fire to the youngster’s promising Sunday Super2 race in Perth.
After qualifying fifth, Kelly was on track for a careerbest top five finish until Lap 10 when his #22 Mustang, once raced by Uncle Rick Kelly burst into flames.
It forced Todd’s son into a heart-breaking retirement and brought out the first of two red flags in the shortened race.
After returning to the team’s Melbourne base and undergoing an inspection, it has been determined a conrod snapped and split the sump, leading to oil spreading, resulting in fire engulfing the car.
As a result, Kelly Racing has begun a full rebuild of the burnt Mustang ahead of the next round at Townsville on July 5-7.
“It was a spontaneous failure,“ said Kelly.
“The engines were still well within life – the plan was to always take them out after Perth as they still had a test day’s worth of life in them and were due to become spares.
“We suspect it’s a conrod that has gone through the sump, with the oil coming out of the engine and spreading throughout the car resulting in it catching on fire.
“It’s gone all the way through the car as the oil spread to the back so the boot lid is burnt to a crisp and most of the panels have melted in some way.
“There will be a lot of brake, clutch and electrical lines in addition to a lot of hardware, which will be going in the bin. It’ll be basically stripped back to a shell and rebuilt.
“At Perth, we demonstrated the pace to be up that front and I believe we can continue this for the rest of the season.”
Thomas Miles
AFTER A two-year hiatus, the countdown for the return of an independently-run TARGA Tasmania is down to just 11 months, earmarked for April 28 in 2025.
The return of the country’s largest tarmac rally has faced unprecedented challenges after the multiple fatalities in 2021 and 2022, which led to the suspension of all TARGA activity by Motorsport Australia (MA) in May of 2022 until an independent review –with a panel put together by MA – could be undertaken.
Under the guidance of CEO Mark Perry, TARGA organisers have been navigating the event’s return since the subsequent split with MA that soon followed, with the next major milestone now coming in the last week of August when the coroners inquest into the fatalities will take place.
Back in 2022, Tarmac rallying was paralysed across the country after the 90 recommendations from MA’s Safety Review Panel were released, with the three main TARGA events ceasing all over the country, except for the TARGA West which moved over to the AASA, becoming Tarmac West.
The Adelaide Rally was the only event under MA’s sanctions in November, 2023,
with entries coming in at a mere 19 cars after the vast majority of late-model sports cars were put on the banned list.
With TARGA’s only hope of survival being a split with MA as it prepared for a return after the coronial inquest, a fully
independent model – in line with what happens in many other countries around the world – has been its way forward, with an insurer already having been found to guarantee a path back to tarmac racing in the Apple Isle.
Independence means a greater control over licensing in regards to who can or can’t obtain one for TARGA competition, as well as the ability to implement a formal training program – known as the TARGA Academy – which will effectively prepare all competitors.
Independence also ensures that the legacy and history of the Tasmanian event is maintained, with all previous eligible TARGA cars to remain viable, along with its unique and challenging 2000km course.
Plus, for those interested in the TARGA Tour, entrants can also be assured that the historical 120km/h speed limit category will also be retained.
This isn’t the first time that TARGA has pushed on after a split with MA (then CAMS), doing so in 2007 when it partnered with the then Mick Ronke-run AASA in 2007.
At the time, it also led other categories to follow suit in gaining independence from the country’s main governing body. Will this be history repeating itself with another exodus? Time will tell.
TW Neal
AUSTRALIAN INTERNATIONAL DRIVER, BUZZ BUZAGLO (DECEMBER 19, 1940 - MAY 23, 2024) DIED IN A MELBOURNE AGED-CARE FACILITY LAST WEEK AGED 83. HE WAS AT THE FOREFRONT OF A GROUP OF EARLY 1970s OZ COMING-MEN IN THE UK ...MARK BISSET REFLECTS
WHEN CHILDREN, Buzaglo and Alan Jones met racing billy-carts on the daunting drops of Melbourne’s Balwyn. Neither could ever envisage that, in 1973, they would share an F3 grid during the British GP weekend.
Bored with his dunny-roll salesman career in 1965, Buzz jumped ship for the obligatory stint in The Olde Dart.
He landed a job at London’s trendy Revolution Club, then, via a connection met there, he and a mate landed jobs as extras and car jockeys during the making of perhaps the most iconic race-flick, Grand Prix, throughout Europe, in 1966. His easy manner soon led to friendships with Jochen Rindt, Bob Bondurant and James Garner amongst others.
Buzz had the time of his life, including surviving – and escaping from – an evening drink with Grand Prix director John Frankenheimer’s bored wife when it became clear John wasn’t joining them, and Buzz concluded cocktails were not on the agenda …
Garner thought so much of the young Aussie that he asked him to deliver his Shelby Mustang GT350 from Clermont Ferrand to Monza.
Buzz thought, “I’ll have a piece of this racing driver caper,” and started saving.
By early 1970 he had a Merlyn Mk11a Formula Ford. Another chance encounter involved Tim Schenken – who progressed to an F1 Frank Williams De Tomaso Ford that year – doing some test/tweaking laps of the car at Brands during his first test session.
With natural pace, Buzz took the first of 12 1969-72 FF wins at Brands wearing a pair of overalls given to him by Rindt. He also experienced the perils of take-no-prisoners British FF when a monumental Croft accident landed him – comatose and with a broken leg – in the Cheshire Hospital.
Good results followed with Pallisers WDF2 and WDF3 before Buzz grasped the ’unfair advantage’ with a swoopyslippery Dennis Falconer bodied Elden in 1972.
Well supported, Buzz was tipped to take the BOC FF Championship but settled for the BARC South West Championship after a bad crash at Croft hospitalised him again, with a fractured leg.
While well-placed in the first annual FF Festival at Snetterton, his chances were cruelled by electrical problems. Five future GP drivers were in that field: Danny Sullivan, Patrick Neve, Tiff Needell, Hans Binder and Larry Perkins.
The best placed of the Australians
present – Buzaglo, Perkins, John Leffler, Bob Skelton and Peter Finlay – was ‘Larrikins’ who finished third in the first Elfin 620.
Buzz progressed to a limited six-race F3 program in a March 733 Ford in 1973. Despite limited testing, he showed plenty of pace including a late season second place and lap record at Croft.
During the F3 British GP support he started his heat without being able to fasten his harness. Fired up, “I drove like the clappers including passing my dentist, John Sheldon, on the outside of Woodcote with three wheels in the dirt,” he told his friend, ace-journalist Mike Doodson. He finished seventh in the final, from the back of the grid. “You sure had your eyes-on this weekend,” Alan Jones told me in the paddock later!
Things looked better still for 1974 with a well-funded March 743, but woeful Holbay-Ford engines cruelled his season before young-thruster Tom Pryce – whose F1 career had stalled – was tipped into Buzaglo’s Monaco F3 GP seat. Fitted with a cheater-engine which thwarted the F3 air-restrictor rules, Pryce dominated the meeting.
The game was up for Buzaglo who bore no malice towards Pryce for the use of an engine destined for his use – neither driver was in on the ‘fix’. Without further opportunities Buzz returned to ‘civvystreet’, selling cars successfully in the UK and back home from ‘83.
“Yes, I suppose things worked out okay, I have no regrets,” he told Doodson in 2022. “I’ve been blessed in life … I don’t want to pump up my tyres but with that engine I could have finished in the topthree at Monaco. I firmly believe, maybe, possibly even in F1, that I could have got a good seat …”
Buzz Buzaglo ‘lived the dream’ in a manner many of us envy … and comfortably thereafter to tell the tale. Not all of his contemporaries did ... Auto Action extend its condolences to Buzz’s family and many friends around the world.
ADAM GARWOOD’s Touring Car Masters round win at Wanneroo saw the Victorian driver leave Perth with the series lead after his VB Commodore outlasted 2022 champion Ryan Hansford in the finale.
Despite some engine issues following his Race 1 podium, the #2 Develon Equipment machine also encountered oil pressure issues in the last race, where he made it two from three after he was awarded the Race 2 points following a penalty to Joel Heinrich.
“It’s been a long time coming, I guess. We’ve had a few race wins here and there and been in a couple of tiebreakers … it’s good to finally get one,”
Garwood told Auto Action
“It was my first time racing at Wanneroo, so I can’t complain too much about that. Apart from the engine issue on Saturday we didn’t touch the set-up all week – it was faultless all weekend.”
Though it’s now a family owned car after it was purchased late last year, the car’s builder and previous owner Gerard McLeod still runs the Commodore for Garwood on race weekends.
“Gerard’s got it running right on the money and It’s developed a fair bit since we’ve owned it, but it’s as much his win as it is mine. He raced it a few
times, but it was a lot heavier and ran with fewer revs … it’s turned into a very reliable machine now.”
Garwood’s battle with Hansford’s Torana A9X (above) proved an entertaining stoush from the front row, with the two making some contact into Turn 1 before he settled enough to control the final 17 laps.
“We’d saved the tyres all weekend so we had the outright pace with the leftover rubber, but we did have an oil pressure sensor issue with three or four laps to go, which was a bit of a scare, but it was faultless aside from that.”
With a 25-point series lead heading into Round 3 in Darwin, Garwood is
also confident that the car has the grunt to keep on with the challenge.
“The car is getting better with every race meeting. After starting the Perth round in fourth overall to now lead, it shows that it has the right stuff to keep up the front.
“Darwin won’t be an issue in the heat for the handling for the longer races – it now looks after its tyres and brakes really well, so it’s a good package.”
The TCM series heads to Hidden Valley to continue its independent and revitalised year as a Supercars support act, with the classic machines set to hit the track on June 14-16.
TW Neal
ROUND 2 of the Precision National Sports Sedans sees a replenished 17-car grid head to The Bend’s west track following their opener in Tasmania, including a big Supercars entrant.
With some notable names absent, Peter Ingram’s Mazda RX7 took a clean-sweep to head up the pointscore early over Geoff Taunton and local driver Kim Barwick, with the NSW racer sounding a warning shot for the returnees.
After some disparity at Symmons Plains, Round 2 will also see a return to the category’s Hankook control tyre across the field, as well as some stellar new machinery.
Whilst 12-time champion Tony Ricciardello will still be absent owing to his legendary Alfa Romeo GTV still waiting on parts, another champion, Jordan Caruso, will be returning for the first time in ’24 in the John Gourlay-built Audi A4.
The field will also welcome back Supercars driver Thomas Randle for the first time since his epic Wakefield Park clash with Ricciardello back in 2018.
Randle will drive a powerful SAAB 9-3 with 6L Chevrolet engine, and on the shorter 3.4 km track, will certainly be shaking up the front of the field.
The other returning name that most Sports Sedans fans will be aware of is Tasmanian Brad Sheriff in a brand new weapon (not the Bathurst car) – a Nissan R34 GTR, a 6-cylinder turbo beast that is well-built and fast.
Also returning for another crack is Tasmanian Kim Barwick who finished third in Round 1, but this time he’ll be in a Skyline R32.
Matthew Ingram’s RX8, Steve Tamasi’s Calibra, and Steve Lacey’s new MARC GT SS, as well as Taunton’s GT SS, are all expected to be potential winners on the shorter track.
It’s a good spread from throughout the country, with the local SA field being short-on numbers due to unfortunate engine issues across the board from the recent state round.
“It’s great to go back to SA, in particular the west circuit which none of us have been on before,” category manager and racer Michael Robinson told Auto Action
“It’ll make the racing closer and very entertaining with the calibre of machines we have, which will be great for
the TV audience.
“We’re looking at one minute 10/15 second laps, which will make it tight. And having Thomas (Randle) there will raise the standard immensely with his professionalism and high standards.
“There’s about five or six cars that can win it, which is something this category has been working toward.”
The round will be a part of the Shannons SpeedSeries, with action getting underway on May 31-June 2, and will be televised live on 7plus.
TW Neal
YOUNG AUSSIE open-wheeler racer Alex Ninovic has continued on with his brilliant start to the 2024 British F4 season, taking a double at Round 3 – his maiden wins in British F4 – at Snetterton in trying conditions,
The former national KA3 Karting champion has had a seemingly comfortable transition to the Pirelli tyres in the Tatuus F4 T-421 after a solid first season with Rodin motorsport in Spanish F4. The wins (his first in Europe) take him up to second in the pointscore, 30 points behind British leader Deagen Fairclough. The humble young man took two poles over the course of the weekend, making it three for the year, entering the third round having already taken podiums at
Donington and Brands Hatch.
Along with his two fastest laps in Races 1 and 3 in the course of taking two wins, the New South Welshman also put in a barnstorming effort in the reverse grid Race 2, coming from P12 to finish fourth.
“I never like to overestimate how I might be going, and coming into the weekend I wasn’t expecting to take two wins at all, so it was an amazing result,”Ninovic said post-race.
“It was a weird race (Race 3), a couple of laps from the end the rain came from nowhere, soaking the whole track and bringing out the red flag.
“We had a good start however and had a nice big gap, so really happy with the
performance, as well as the team getting a one-two-three to finish the weekend.”
To capture the first win of his Junior Formulae career in Europe, Ninovic was lightning from lights out but a Safety Car with seven minutes remaining in tough conditions resulted in a one-lap dash to the finish. To guarantee his win, the Rodin youngster put in the fastest lap of the day to get the monkey off his back.
He now heads to Thruxton on June 8-9 with wind in his sails and chance to challenge for the championship lead.
“Thruxton will be a challenge,” he said looking ahead, “It’s long without too many corners so it’ll be some tight racing.”
TW Neal
Nincovic shows the way to the British F4 grid at a damp Snetterton. Image: JAKOB
IN INTERNATIONAL terms, Calan Williams quietly continues to prove that he is currently one of Australia’s most prolific young GT3 exports.
After making the leap from Formula 2 during the 2022 season and signing with the powerhouse Team WRT, the WA product has backed up his 2023 Gold Cup Drivers and Sprint titles by again leading this year’s GT World Challenge Europe pointscore (overall and Sprint) after two rounds in the Silver Class.
Alongside new British teammate Sam De Haan in the #30 BMW M4, Williams backed up his Brands Hatch podium sweep with two victories in Italy, as well as finishing in the outright top-10 in both races (overall P6 in the finale), a feat he also regularly achieved in Gold class last season against the world’s best.
“Really strong weekend for Sam and me. Two wins in Silver and overall points in both races as well, which is a very nice way to finish off,” Williams said.
“We are looking very strong for the rest of the year, but we obviously keep pushing as we never take things for granted … but yes, I’m very happy with this weekend in Misano!”
The double now sees the young pair with a 20 point advantage over their nearest rivals, with Williams looking to emulate fellow Aussie Jordan Love’s efforts in 2023, when he also took out the Silver class honours championship.
Next up for Williams is the 24 Hours of Spa where he’ll race for team OQ by Oman Racing on June 26-30, with fellow Aussies Matt Campbell and Jordan Love also confirmed starters.
TW Neal
AMERICA CONTINUES to prove a good breeding ground for our young open wheel racers, with two Aussies taking chequered flags in the opening round of the F4 United States Championship.
A contingent of four young Aussies took on the first round at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, with Nicolas Stati (Crosslink Motorsports/AGi Sport) and Daniel Quimby (Atlantic Racing Team) taking wins in Races 1 and 2 respectively, whilst Connor Roberts (Team Roberts Racing) took a podium sweep.
Stati’s teammate Alex Crosbie also performed well, with a high of fourth place in the finale.
Race 1 winner (Stati), the AGi Sport product has shown plenty of promise since the backend of 2023 after winning his first international race in the F4 South East Asia Championship in Sepang for the Adam Gotch-run team out of Sydney.
“It was a great race, I’d like to thank the Crosslink Kiwi Motorsport AGi Sport team for the awesome car,” Stati said.
“I really like this Ligier JS F422 car. It’s more stable to drive and easier to maintain quick lap times than some of the other cars I’ve driven in championships around
the world.
“The engine sounds really cool. It’s just a lovely car to drive.”
Race 2 also saw an Aussie hat-trick, with Quimby outlasting Roberts and Stati, whilst a sweep was then denied by young Argentinian Pablo Benites Jr, who held off Roberts and Stati in a fiercely close five car stoush.
Topping off a good two weeks for the Aussies in the US, Lochie Hughes also impressed just a few hours south in Indiana, securing second place in the USF Pro 2000 Championship with a third place at the Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park.
The former USF4 champion (2022) from Surfers Paradise now sits just one point off the championship lead after the oval race, with the series heading to Road America for Round 5 on June 6-9 and then Mid-Ohio on June 20-23.
classic Indy
finish
VERSUS INDY VERSUS CHARLOTTE – NOW THERE’S A TASTY ‘AWARDS’
WHEN THE Monaco Grand Prix ends up being scheduled in the last weekend in May, you know you’re in for a couple of days when – as sports comics Roy and HG used to put it – “too much sport is barely enough …”
(Actually, it was US writer Mark Twain who is credited with originating the quip: “Too much of anything is bad, but too much whisky is barely enough,” he said). Monaco Grand Prix; Indy 500; Coca-Cola 600 (Charlotte) – three of the biggest motor races in the world, on the same day, separated by an ocean and time zones. Thanks to early race incidents and delays in Monaco and weather delays in Indianapolis, it turned into one of those late night/early morning things when real race fans who have to be at work can, at least these days, have their ‘device’ nearby (if they’re subscribed to the relevant provider – even if the eyelids are a bit heavy …
It also serves as something of an instant comparison between three globally-followed motorsports. Good things? Great things? Bad things? …
In some ways, it’s unfortunate that F1’s entry to the May debate is Monaco. There can be good Monaco races and bad Monaco races. This was a truly bad, boring one – a shocking advertisement for the global elite formula. It’s
usually about tyre strategy anyway, if anyone is going to progress, but this time, even that was gone – the lap one carnage red-flagged the race and took away the whole strategy thing.
With half of the field stuck with doing the 76 laps of the restart on a single set of Hard tyres, the other half on Mediums, it was almost farcical. Thank goodness it wasn’t a regular Red Bull Show ... The upsides were a feel-good win for Chalres Leclerc and a thoroughly professional second place for his ‘adopted son,’ our guy Oscar, after his superb P2 qualifying effort. His aggressive ‘around the outside’ defence through Turn 1 at the first start is a sign of things to come … F1 has some decisions to make.
The ability to change tyres at a virtual restart red flag, and have that count as the compulsory change, clearly doesn’t work. Even the commentators saw that. Change the rules, guys. Worse, though, for Monaco, is the modern F1 car. Being nearly 25
percent bigger and heavier than the classic cars of earlier decades, it has outgrown this classic track. Quite simply, there’s no room to pass. But guess what? It’s about to get even worse. The new-for-2026 regulations, increasing the batterypower input further, means the cars will be even bigger, and heavier, than the current trucks.
F1 boss Domenicali is now joining the call to dump the hybrid formula in favour of e-fuel-powered normally-aspirated engines when the next change is scheduled –2030 – as a means of improving the show. But is this the time for F1 to make a really big call? The manufacturers might be a bit pissed, but for the sake of the sport, is this the time for F1 to put on its ‘big-boy’ pants and dump the hybrids this time round – ie, deep breath, re-write the 2026 regs (maybe hold back a year, to 2027) based on normally-aspirated engines and proper f1-sized cars? … The sport is so commercially based now, and with four – soon to
be five – engine manufacturers in the mix, it would be an enormous call, and probably very highly unlikely. But back in simpler days, F1 could and did make big calls … Meanwhile, across at Indianapolis, a four-hour delay due to weather saw 300,000 fans file back into the stands for the Greatest Spectacle in Racing and what a cracker it was; one of those last-lap classics – a gutsy outside pass in Turn 3 on the last lap delivering a two-in-a-row win for Penske’s Josef Newgarden, over a distraught Pato O’Ward. Newgarden was soon over the fence, in the crowd, and back in pit lane it was a sea of emotion as O’Ward was almost in tears and dropping the ‘f’ word to the interviewer. Phew …
There was drama and patriotic interest everywhere. Kiwi pole man McLaughlin struggled with a clutch and set-up issues and was just – only just – out of the final reckoning, sixth. But his amazingly durable compatriot, Scott Dixon did it again – getting his Hondapowered car home in third amid a sea of Chevs … Australia’s interest, Will Power, was up there too but it was his outof-the blue and out-of-character lap 145 crash which created the yellow which took fuel mileage out of the equation for the field and probably set up the spectacular finish.
Super-talented NASCAR star Kyle Lawson, in his Indycar debut, almost stole the limelight – right in the mix until a simple pit entry speeding penalty took him out of the front pack. He finished, took a breath, and headed for the chopper to get to Charlotte for the 600, where his car was being piloted through at least half of the race by ‘alternate’ Justin Allgaier – who was in the top 20, on the lead lap as 200 of the 400 laps ticked by. Shane van Gisbergen too was on the lead lap at Charlotte, a few spots back from Allgaier and, given the randomness of NASCAR and with 200 laps to go, well in the frame. OMG … the editor is screaming for the copy for this page; it’s 11am on Monday,and Kyle Larson and some thunderstorms are closing in on Charlotte, North Carolina. What next! (ED: as Larson walked into pit lane, a lightning strike halted the race – it was ‘called’ and never restarted …). But if you look at this classic weekend as a USA versus F1 entertainment contest, it’s sadly a no-contest. Indy was a cracker. To be fair, Monaco certainly doesn’t show F1 at its best, but returning F1, and Monaco in particular, to some form of real excitement requires a couple of big decisions … and, you know, if that was the case across the Atlantic, Indycar would do it …
THE BATHURST 12 Hour race will return to its traditional early February race day in 2025 from January 31 to February 2.
The 23rd running of the 12 Hour GT endurance race will also include a Track to Town parade before the on track action starts with practice on Friday.
Qualifying and the fight for the Allan Simonsen Pole Award will take centre stage on Saturday before the 12 Hour race goes from dawn to evening on the Sunday. It will remain the opening round of the Intercontinental GT Challenge, having done so since 2016.
Organisers believe there has already been “strong interest” in the 2025 race with a host of brand-new models including the Ferrari 296 GT3, Ford Mustang GT3 and Chevrolet Corvette GT3 becoming eligible to compete for the first time.
This year the 12 Hour took place slightly later on February 16-18 to coincide with the Supercars season opener which also took place at Mount Panorama on the
following weekend.
But with no plans for such a doubleheader to repeat in 2025, the event is going back to its usual time which will “avoid clashes with other major international races, ensuring the maximum opportunity for the world’s best GT teams and drivers to attend.”
“It’s great to have the dates locked in for 2025 and know that the world will return to Mount Panorama across the January 31 –February 2 weekend next year,” Bathurst 12 Hour Event Director Shane Rudzis said.
“We need to be flexible and dynamic in scheduling the race to ensure it fits within the international calendar each year which is why the date has shifted two weeks earlier in 2025.
“The level of interest and excitement in the race is already high and we’ve had fantastic discussions with current entrants and new teams and brands who are keen to race next February.
“At the same time, we continue to review
all elements of the event to continue the improvements already put in place in 2023 and 2024, to not only grow the event but add to the experience for everyone attending.
“We’re very proud of the growth of the Bathurst 12 Hour. We’ve seen over the last two years huge crowds, camping records broken, amazing world-class vehicle demonstrations on track setting scintillating lap times, legends of world motorsport coming back yearly, amazing activations and car displays, plus much more.
“Where to from here? Stay tuned!”
SRO Motorsport Group founder and CEO Stephane Ratel said the date change is an important one.
“2025 has the potential to be the biggest Bathurst 12 Hour yet thanks to several new manufacturers entering the GT3
space and a growing number of Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia Powered by AWS entries,” he said.
“This is a bucket list event for international teams and drivers, and also highly prized by manufacturers, but a strong domestic environment is vitally important for any Intercontinental GT Challenge round to truly flourish.
“Indeed, it is a cornerstone of the series’ philosophy.
“Moving the date back to its traditional slot also avoids clashing with the Asian Le Mans Series - a major consideration for our local and regional base.”
FOR THE second year in a row, Mark Winterbottom had a tough time racing around Wanneroo and he is eyeing an upcoming test to “bounce back.” Winterbottom struggled throughout the Perth SuperSprint, qualifying 23rd and finishing 16th on the Saturday before being 23rd on the grid and 20th at the chequered flag on Sunday.
To rub salt in the wounds the veteran thought he had the pace to make a leap on Sunday morning, but a block from Ryan Wood denied him a flying lap in the death of Q1.
It is the second year in a row the #18 battled at Wanneroo, with Winterbottom finishing no higher than 18th during the 2023 weekend where he became the third driver to notch up 600 race starts.
“What a tough weekend. We came here
with a lot of hope and just didn’t go our way,” Winterbottom said.
“My qualifying car was actually quite decent, but traffic hurt us (on Sunday).
“When the car came back on the track
and I didn’t get my lap in, you get one lap on a set of tyres, so that was that and it put me back in the pack.
“When we’re back in the pack, we thought we’ll have a swing on the set up
and try something completely different and there’s definitely bits that I know we can work on with it, but it was a bit of a guess and we just didn’t get it right.”
Winterbottom is now looking ahead to a timely test where he hopes Team 18 can unlock some things before it heads to the scene of its famous win at Hidden Valley.
“Thankfully, we go home and get a test day before Darwin,” he said.
“We’ve got so much stuff to test, and we’ll bounce back.
“I know we’ll bounce back, but we’re just at the point where we just keep getting kicked in the guts a bit and you start to get frustrated.
“We’ve got a good team and we’re going to a round next that clearly we enjoy.”
Thomas Miles
WHILST WANNEROO is one of the most historic circuits in Supercars history, support for a switch to a Perth street race is growing.
In the lead up to last weekend’s Perth SuperSprint, word of a Perth street circuit was dropped and plans started accelerating.
With Mark Skaife’s iEDM involved, all that is required is for the WA government to decide if it will proceed with the plan.
The first Supercars/ATCC round at Wanneroo was held back in 1973 when
Allan Moffat prevailed in a Ford Falcon XY GT-HO.
From 1978, the sandy, tyre-chewing circuit has been an annual part of the season with the exception of 2010 and 2019-2022 due to COVID.
Whilst the race is still well supported, like many races it is clear the grass banks are not as full as they were two decades ago.
However, victorious Tickford and WAU team leaders Rod Nash and Bruce Stewart were both vocal in their support of taking the WA round to the streets of
the capital.
Whilst Tickford owner Nash said the Perth street race is no new idea, he would love to see it.
“That has been a discussion for the last 15 years,” Nash said.
“But it is Perth and it would be great to freshen it up with a street circuit.
“We have plenty of infrastructure there at Fremantle from the old days of the America’s Cup and everything else.
“But where that would go Supercars are working away with that, but it would be good to see.”
WAU CEO Stewart said bringing the race to the people will be a big factor.
The distance between the Perth CBD and Wanneroo Raceway is 43.5km.
“The commercial support would be huge in the city,” he said.
“There are some big companies here with lots of mining support so it can only be good.
“I love coming out here, it has been great for a long time.
“But in that respect any time you go to a street circuit it is exciting and a new crowd is always good.”
FOR THE first time in 2024, Ford held sway by topping six of the seven sessions at the Perth SuperSprint, but Jamie Whincup is not worried.
After the first three rounds where Triple Eight was mainly unchallenged, it was the Tickford and Walkinshaw Andretti United Mustangs setting the pace around Wanneroo.
Chaz Mostert was in a league of his own on Saturday taking both pole and the race win comfortably, while on Sunday it was Cam Waters’ to do the double.
Often waving the Chevrolet flag was championship leader Will Brown, who was the highest placed Camaro in six of the seven sessions.
He was the only Camaro to finish on top by recording the fastest time in Saturday morning’s Practice 2, while he made good pace on fresh tyres late in both races to collect a pair of podiums.
With Fords taking 15 of the 21 available positions in the top three across all seven sessions, the Mustang was clearly better suited to the 2.42km layout.
However, Triple Eight Race Engineering Team Principal Jamie Whincup said his team simply did not perform at the same level as its Ford rivals.
“I am 100 percent comfortable,” Whincup said.
“There was nothing this weekend that indicated a parity issue.
“Everyone was going hard and we just didn’t do a good enough job.
“We were going alright but just didn’t quite have the pace this weekend.
“Tickford and WAU did a very good job with fast cars and we didn’t maximise.”
Reflecting on the fortunes of his two drivers, Whincup was pleased with Brown’s pace in both final stints.
But he admitted there is some work to do on the Broc Feeney side of the garage.
Feeney’s ultra-impressive start to 2024 took a slight step back in Perth as he had his first podium-less round in six events since Gold Coast last year.
Qualifying was the big issue with the #88 missing Q2 on Sunday, but the youngster was still able to make progress in both races to finish fifth and seventh.
“It was a solid weekend,” Whincup said.
“When Will was coming through we rolled the dice with four tyres for each car which meant you drop back in the pack but give yourself an opportunity.
“We were praying for a late safety car at the end and would have been in a much better position, but we just didn’t quite have enough pace.
“Broc qualified poorly and made his bed when he qualified 12th.
“We will go away and work our why we were not the quickest.”
Thomas Miles
Image: MARK HORSBURGH
Image: MARK HORSBURGH / LAT IMAGES
COOPER MURRAY has pushed his preparation for a Supercars debut at Darwin into top gear by testing at Queensland Raceway.
Both Murray and Craig Lowndes enjoyed laps of the new look #888 Supercheap Auto Chevrolet Camaro wildcard around the “Paperclip.”
But the focus was on the youngster as he prepares to make the switch from his Eggleston Motorsport Super2 ZB Commodore to the Gen3 Supercar.
Murray will make his Supercars debut as an extra to the 24-car field at the next round, the Darwin Triple Crown at Hidden Valley.
Murray said the QR test have him a good chance to tick a number of boxes and adapt to the “steep learning curve.”
“Today has been great. We’ve been getting through our program and I’ve been getting used to driving the Gen3 Camaro around,” he said.
“There hasn’t been much of a difference compared to what I thought there would be – I got used to the car in the first couple of sessions which was really good.
“I got a couple of green tyre runs, some pit stop practices and some race runs under my belt, so I’m feeling really good before Darwin.
“It was my first time doing pit stops today and they were surprisingly easier than I thought.
“I’m learning to stop on the marks and hit the pit board which is a steep learning curve, but I’m so glad I’ve got that under my belt before Darwin.
“Lowndesy has been a big help today, I’m sure he’d want more laps but unfortunately for him I’m hogging them all!
“It’s been great to work with him and compare data which will only help us improve before enduro season.”
Lowndes said he also enjoyed the chance of assessing the slightly revised Gen3 Camaro.
“The day’s been really positive. There were a lot of things we wanted to achieve today which we did,” Lowndes said.
“For me to get back into the car and get used to what the new Gen3 cars are all about was really important.
“They’ve obviously had a bit of a face lift since last year which was a
THE 2023-24 season for Hessions Auto Parts Grafton Speedway concluded on Saturday with Kaleb Daly and Jordan Biviano the big winers.
Amongst a solid field of RSA Street Stockers competitors from around NSW, the annual Stocksville 100 resulted in Daly coming out on top in the 40-lap feature race.
He managed to defeat Jakob Lesha and Adrian Williams to the chequered flag, while the top-five finishers were completed by Geff Rose and Luke McNabb.
Two of the favourites heading into the Stocksville 100 were defending champion Shane Carlson and Casino’s Connor Reeves, but they both encountered issues that prevented them from challenging for Saturday’s win.
Carlson had his event brought to a premature end in the second 20-lap event, while Reeves was forced to retire from the feature race during the middle stages.
Earlier in the Stocksville 100, the three 20-lap heat races saw wins shared between Daly, Lesha and Connor Reeves.
In the $1,000 to win Dash for Cash, current and three-time NSW Champion in Production Sedans Biviano was the class driver of the field, but it wasn’t plain sailing.
really positive outcome.”
The seven-time Bathurst 1000 winner was also impressed with how Murray handled himself and is “very confident” about the enduros.
“For Cooper, in Super2 they obviously don’t do a lot of pit stop practice, so we did a lot of work in that area so he could get used to going in-and-out of the pit bay,” Lowndes said. “He’s been doing some race starts, getting some longer runs under his belt and a few tyre saving strategies which he’ll continue to learn at his first solo race in Darwin, which are very important when we get to Sandown and Bathurst.
“It’s also the first time Cooper has worked with Wes (McDougall, Race Engineer) which is important because that combination is going to have to be strong.
“Cooper knows this is a step up from Super2, and he’s embraced it.
After starting from the second row for the feature race, Biviano, battled with the likes of Madison Harkin, local Geoff Hayes and Goulburn’s Craig McAlister throughout the 30-lap event.
He only gained control of the lead in the closing stages away from Harkin. At the fall of the chequered flag, Biviano managed to defeat Harkin and Mark Quirk.
The top-five finishes were rounded out by Christopher Polsen and Brendan Hayes.
Gold Coast’s Mark Taylor scored an upset result in the AMCA National feature race, when he came away with the spoils by outpacing Jai Jones and Tony Blanch in third
Fourth and fifth was the Queensland duo of current NSW Champion Steve Potts and Brett Robotham.
Taylor managed to lead the feature race for the entire 20-lap distance.
The support classes resulted in the feature-race wins going the way of Brock Stubbs (SSA Junior SedansTop Stars - Gold Cup), Poppy Airey (SSA Junior Sedans - New StarsGold Cup), Jeremy Wade (RSA Four Cylinder Sedans) and Will Butler (Modlites).
Daniel Powell
“He’s very focused and confident on what he wants to do, and I’m really delighted he’s come on board this year and I’m feeling very confident going into Sandown and Bathurst.”
THE THIRD round of the Australian Formula Ford Series was one to remember for Kobi Williams, who took his first pole, race and round win.
Williams was on fire around Sydney Motorsport Park, overcoming the likes of Eddie Beswick and Jack Bussey.
Williams took pole with a 1.34.1867 in an extremely competitive qualifying where three tenths covered the top five. He made the most of the clear track to keep the lead on the opening lap, but there was one driver who was on the move.
Liam Loiacono was flying and only needed a single lap to rise from 10th to second.
Loiacono then soon started applying the pressure and snatched the lead from Williams before Cody Maynes-Rutty joined the fun.
However, Maynes-Rutty spun out moments after seizing upon second place.
Now Beswick was in the fight for the lead, but Williams was able to overcome the challenges to take a special win. Beswick was able to snatch second from Loiacono and Zak Lobko.
After a foggy start, drivers were greeted with near perfect conditions on Sunday morning for race 2.
Williams, Beswick and Maynes-Rutty would resume their rivalry in Race 2.
Williams got another strong start, but Beswick was able to snatch the lead on Lap 4.
Despite numerous attempts lap after lap including a big move at Turn 1, Williams was unable to find a way past for the remainder of the race.
Maynes-Rutty took a very impressive third having bounced back from a tough opening race.
Turn one proved to be a tricky spot, with Bussey and Daniel Frougas spearing off the track at different times during the race. Bussey and Loiacono did well to hang on when they came unstuck at the same spot at separate times, both collecting foam brake markers in the process and going on to finish fifth and sixth, respectively.
In the third and final race Williams got yet another great launch off the line and went side by side with Beswick into Turn 1. This time he made it stick as Maynes-
Rutty also followed through. It proved to be an interrupted race with Lachie Mineeff being beached in the sand trap after contact and Lobko being spun by Bussey.
“A big thanks to Dad and Adam for all their hard work on the car this weekend,” Williams said.
“Also, thank you to Mike Borland and
everyone from Borland Racing for all their help this weekend.
“Thanks to everyone for the great racing and Formula Ford and Sydney Motorsport Park for putting on a great event. I’m looking forward to the next one.”
The 2024 Australian Formula Ford Series next heads north to Morgan Park Raceway on June 14-16.
AFTER A wash out in January at Avalon, the prestigious Wally Anskaitis Cup to Rushworth Speedway for a one-off, but another issue restricted the track time.
On this occasion cars were able to get on track, but the finale was cut short due to a major accident involving Shawn Ward and Johnny Rouse.
Both drivers emerged unscathed but with significant damage to the catch fence meant no further racing was possible and Chris Fowler was awarded the crown on qualifying points.
In the first qualifying race, Terry Brown was in complete control until the last lap when his engine started to miss and he drifted down the field, handing the win to Alex Myers.
Australian champion Peter Robotham suffered dramas in Heat 2 with his chain letting go.
The fight for victory was a thrilling one with Myers and Fowler fighting all the way.
After going side by side for long periods, it all came down to the final lap where Fowler got by Myers to take victory by just 0.061s.
Fowler then put himself in the box seat after taking what would become an important victory in the final qualifying race over Matt Kamolins and Paul Perry.
In the A Main Myers got the jump as the green flag dropped and led Fowler and Brown.
Images by VERN PARKER PHOTOGRAPHY
However, the race barely got a chance to develop before being interrupted from a scary and unfortunate crash.
Coming off turn two on lap one
Rouse and Shawn Ward made contact launching Ward skywards into a series of flips landing in the catch fence as Rouse slammed the wall and also took a tumble. The red-light stoppage
button was immediately switched on and due to the extensive damage to the catch fence, the race meeting was declared closed.
Both drivers were able to walk away from a very scary crash, Ward a little sore however cleared of serious injury.
As 50% of the race had not been concluded, the race was declared on qualifying points with Fowler winning
from Myers, Kamolins, Perry, and Brown.
The ‘Stinger Chassis’ Masters series conclusion has Fowler winning his third Masters Series championship ahead of Terry Brown and Peter Robotham.
Dean Thompson
DMT Sports Media
For Victorian Grand Prix Midget Racing Association
PUBLISHER Bruce Williams
EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Andrew Clarke
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NATIONAL EDITOR Thomas Miles
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FORMULA 1 Luis Vasconcelos
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RUBBISH! READERS TURN ON POMMY PUNDIT
I’M SURE you think it’s great that Auto Action is now distributed all over the world with your digital magazine, but why do we have to put up with reading about some Pommy git who decided to bag our drivers?
It’s bad enough that we have to listen to British drivers like Lando Norris, George Russell and Lewis Hamilton whingeing when they’re driving their Formula 1 cars, but to run a letter from a bloke (Howard Lee of Bedford, England, Auto Action, #1886 A FAN FROM THE OLD DART TAKES AIM) who is rubbishing our blokes is absolutely ridiculous.
I don’t know why you did it..
shut Mr Howard Lee’s trap. Auto Action, please arrange for us to witness him eating humble pie when the time comes.
After seeing Cameron McLeod’s accident, we all hope he is okay.
Nomadic Phil Wandering around WA
Publishers Note: Phil, it sounds like you had a great time at Perth’s Wanneroo Raceway, and it’s fortunate that you went this year because we keep hearing that it might be a street race in Perth for next years event. Your concern for young Cameron was well founded – he is a good lad and apart from being a bit stiff, he is in good spirits. All that’s needed is a big rebuild effort for a very badly damaged car.
Let’s face it, if it hadn’t been for the McLaren team stuffing up Oscar Piastri’s qualifying run at the San Marino Grand Prix there’s a fair chance Oscar would have been on the front row for the race. And if he had started on the front row it might have been Oscar rather than Norris taking it up to Max Verstappen in the race.
So please don’t run letters from jerks slagging our blokes off. Right?
Ron Meadows Bendigo, Victoria
PIASTRI WILL MAKE LOUDMOUTH EAT HIS WEASEL WORDS
WHAT A hide Howard Lee (AA #1886) has got criticising Australian F1 drivers.
The old Poms, eh, they can’t shed themselves of that born-to-rule mentality, can they?
Is the expression “sense of entitlement”?
Lando Norris has been going OK but compared to Max Verstappen he’s probably a ‘bridesmaid’, which is what your Mr Howard Lee is insinuating our guys are or have been.
Mr Lee, the facts are that Mark Webber and Daniel Ricciardo were stiffed by Red Bull playing favourites, given preference to Sebastian Vettel, firstly, and then Max Verstappen. Verstappen has proven himself to be top of the class, but Vettel’s form against Ricciardo in 2014 and then over several years at Ferrari and later suggest that, in reality, he wasn’t any better than Webber. Webber’s long retired now and Ricciardo may not have long left or get a top drive again anyway, but let me tell you there won’t be any stopping Oscar Piastri.
He’s made of steely stuff, McLaren has worked its way back to being a top team and, even if it can’t give Piastri a car to win in, his talent is so obvious that another one team will. Mark Webber, as his manager, will see to that.
Oscar Piastri’s performances will
Tom Johnson, Newcastle, NSW
Publisher’s note: Auto Action received numerous communications in response to Howard Lee’s letter. We are open to readers expressing a diversity of views - and certainly the responses were strongly opposed to Mr Lee’s opinion. The two letters we have chosen to publish on the matter were, shall we say, the more moderate. Some others contained language we couldn’t print. We love readers having a point of view, but please keep it clean and reasonable.
WHAT A fantastic race meeting it was at Barbagallo Raceway.
It was our first time at this racetrack and the whole weekend was jam-packed with exciting racing and plenty of action.
Fords had great representation on the Supercars podium on both days.
Will Brown extended his championship lead over his Red Bull teammate Broc Feeney.
And how good are the next group of drivers in the Dunlop Series?
Kai Allen, Cooper Murray and Cameron McLeod, just to mention a few.
Might be some changes of full-time drivers in Supercars next season!
A big shout-out to Mason Kelly, who had a weekend to forget – a nasty crash with lots of damage on Saturday, then an engine letting go in Sunday’s race.
It really touches the heart when dad Todd Kelly drives the truck across the Nullabor to Perth from Victoria, then runs the outfit while Mason drives the Mustang on race day.
Both are on the tools keeping the dream alive on race weekends and in between races.
It’s fantastic bonding for father and son.
OUR INVETERATE correspondent likes what he sees in NZ ...
IN AMERICA there is an annual nonchampionship event called the All-Star Race which is very popular with drivers, the teams and the fans.
Why not create a similar kind of annual race in Supercars in Australia?
It could be either a non-championship or a championship round.
The format could consist of a 20-30 lap All-Star Open Race, then two 50-lap races with compulsory pitstops.
Like in NASCAR, a Supercars All-Star Race could have awards for the best-performing teams.
There are already first, second and third-place trophies for the drivers in each Supercars race and in an All-Star Race maybe there could be first, second and third-place trophies awarded to the best performing teams for each race at the event.
While a Supercars All-Star Race meeting could not be run exactly like the NASCAR All-Star Race it could have similarities and could become very popular and attract large crowds and high TV ratings.
It could be held permanently at one circuit, perhaps Phillip Island or Sandown, or perhaps it could rotate with the permanent circuits in Australia taking turns in hosting it.
Maybe Super2 could take part on the same day and have their own All-Star races as a major support event?
Malcolm Webster Boronia, Victoria
Publisher’s note: The NASCAR All-Star Race is open to all drivers who have won a points-paying Cup Series race during the previous or current seasons, past All-Star Race winners who compete full-time and past Cup Series champions who compete full-time. All drivers not already qualified for the All-Star Race are eligible to qualify through the All-Star Open, a preliminary race that sees the top two finishers plus the winner of a fan vote advance to the All-Star Race. That explanation courtesy of CBS Sports. A tick, as always, for your thinking, Malcolm, but can see one potential hurdle – Supercar teams and sponsors would not want any car or driver sitting idle during any race.
THE AUTO ACTION READERS LOST NONE OF THEIR PASSION
DISCUSSING THE BIG MOTORSPORT NEWS ON SOCIAL MEDIA…
PERTH STREET RACE?
Ryan Hare
Keep Wanneroo! If you want a Perth street race, add it as an additional round, not a replacement.
Happy to be corrected, but I feel like permanent circuits have more and better viewing points for spectators.
Charlotte Barry No to street race! We go to the circuit every year, no problem. \ The popularity downturn is not the fault of the track, rather a reflection of the declining interest in the Supercar series. The number of rounds is a joke! Put the cars on the track, let them race more often ... maybe then the crowds will get excited and come!
Geoff Garbin
The time has come for Perth to have a street circuit. Wanneroo is outdated, and hard to get in and out of. Also watching it on TV the place looks boring.
Malcom Webster
The Sandown Complex should be given a Heritage listing so it can’t be demolished for a housing development.
Tony Rodda History and tradition in sport is important especially in motor racing. Nothing better than the Sandown 500 leading into Bathurst. We’ve lost some of our iconic brands, let’s not lose our great tracks.
Barry Bundy
‘Public Consultation ‘ just means that you will have your chance to say something before they just ignore you and do what they want anyway. It’s a matter of time before it goes the way of Oran Park and Amaroo Park which is sad as it is a great track with so much history.
Rod Bender
What a joke! If he was ‘under’ his bumper then there was overlap and moving right “to block” only served to cause the accident.
John Street
Correct decision, Cooper should of backed out of it as anyone with a touch like that would cause him to lose control.
Nathan Finch
Reading some of the comments is interesting. This is the same thing that happened to Scott Pye on the front straight a couple of years ago. It’s not on and bloody dangerous.
IMOLA IS my happy place in Formula One.
It’s where I first went for a grand prix fix, way back in 1982, and even watching remotely each year through the television renews my passion.
Imola looks amazing when the sun is shining and the grandstands are filled with the rabid Ferrari fans.
It oozes passion and excitement and happiness.
The memories of my race day at the San Marino Grand Prix –it is a tiny sovereign state like Monaco and so was able to have an F1 race despite its location inside Italy – are still clear today.
I was with a group of Australian motoring journalists who arrived as guests of Alfa Romeo and we were quickly rubber-stamped with credentials including pitlane access. Try that today . . .
We took a tour of the circuit with some of the group grabbing Vespa scooters, got up close to the cars, and joined the tifosi –it’s the Italian word for a superfan in sports – up on the hillside to celebrate the event.
The race itself was not great, as one of the long-running financial
disputes between the FIA and teams meant the grid was decimated without the Britishbased teams.
Still, Ferrari wowed its fans as Gilles Villeneuve and Didier Pironi circulated at the front and even swapped places a few times. When Pironi betrayed his team-mate with a final pass against team orders it lit the fuse for the crash which claimed the angry Canadian ace during practice for the following GP, at Zolder in Belgium.
It’s that sort of history which makes Imola so special. It’s all about emotion.
In my office I have a painting of Villeneuve and Pironi at Imola on that fateful Sunday afternoon and I can still remember the threehour bus ride after the finish – just to get from the pits to the autostrada for the three-hour
ride to our hotel.
This year’s event included celebrations for the life of Ayrton Senna, who died at the flat-out Tamburello which didn’t even look like a corner to my rookie eyes in ’82.
The best thing about the commemorations organised by four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel was when he took to the track in one of Senna’s race winning McLarens. He owns the car and loves it, which is why he was happy to give it a real ragging instead of just dribbling around in front of the fans.
His MP4/8 is from Senna’s final season with McLaren and the howl of its 3.5-litre V8 Ford engine was just plain fantastic. Google it now and turn up the volume.
Watching all three days of Imola
2024, at a circuit now named in honour of Enzo and Dino Ferrari and hosting the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix to celebrate the local region, was fantastic.
It’s an old-school circuit with a climb and a perilous descent, packed with corners that require talent and commitment.
Edging the gravel traps closer to the exits of the corners meant there were proper consequences for a mistake. And there were plenty of mistakes.
There were spins and shunts as the latest F1 cars behaved like petulant prima donnas when their aero was upset by gusting winds and the high-speed changes of direction at corners like Aqua Minerale.
And isn’t it great to talk about a track with proper corner names, not just the numbers loved by the pitlane engineers who have flooded the grand prix world.
The race itself was filled with tension and tactics, even if it’s hard to pass.
“Honestly it is just a fantastic track and I wish we had more of those on the calendar,” said Max Verstappen.
“It felt unbelievable to drive a
qualifying lap here; there are a few old-school tracks that we have on the calendar which are really exciting and what I fell in love with when I started watching and racing in Formula One.”
It’s that emotion which got me hooked on F1 and the passion built through the times when Adelaide was home to the Australian Grand Prix. The track had challenges and jeopardy and the eager fans were just like the tifosi in Italy.
The move to Melbourne created a much bigger event but, despite being slick and professional, it has never had the emotion of Adelaide – even when a Ferrari wins and the Italian community goes wild in celebrations.
As the grand prix calendar grows each year, and more soul-less Tilkedrome circuits bring giant bags of cash but zero emotion to Formula One, we should all celebrate Imola and Monza and Spa and even the wide-open spaces at Silverstone. They provide the heart and soul of Grand Prix racing.
So who won at Imola in 2024? The same as always - me.
THAILAND’S BID to host a Grand Prix has moved much closer to being successful after the country’s Prime Minister, Srettha Thavisin, made a visit to the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix on race day.
The Thai politician was very open about his government’s wish to organize a Grand Prix in the streets of Bankgok and allegedly shook hands with Stefano Domenicali on a deal that will take Formula 1 to the ‘Country of 1000 Smiles’ from 2027 or, latest, the following year.
While securing the deal was his first objective with this trip to Imola, Thavisin also used the opportunity to meet with Red Bull’s shareholders and with Christian Horner, as the Thai government wants the energy drinks company, as well as the national petrol company, to support the costs of hosting the Grand Prix in Bangkok.
The Thai politician enjoyed his time in Imola, making it to a Formula 1 grid for the first time in his life and spending a considerable amount of time speaking to Christian Horner, both standing in front of Max Verstappen’s Red Bull RB21 as it was sitting on pole position.
If Domenicali and Thavasin agreed terms, in principle, during their Sunday meeting, the official contract between Formula 1 and the Thai government won’t be signed in a hurry, as there are quite a few crucial details that need to be ironed out.
First of all, the Thai govermment has to guarantee the funding for the duration of the contract and is waiting to hear from Red Bull about its interest in being part of the funding
of the project. Secondly, Hermann Tilke and his company haven’t yet finalised the choice of the layout of the street circuit that will run close to the Chao Praya river, on the eastern side and close to downtown Bangkok, as the area lacks wide enough roads that could make for an interesting circuit – alternatives are being sought.
And, finally, Bangkok faces competition from Incheon, in South Korea, to get a spot in the calendar, as Asian races are expected to start rotating from 2027, but with Singapore and Japan looking secure for yearly races, they’ll be vying, with China, for a permanent spot as the two countries don’t want to be part of the rotation, at
least at the start of their contracts. Time, for all of them, seems to be of essence, but given Bangkok has clear support from the central government, while Inchon’s backing is essentially coming from local authorities, it’s fair to assume Thailand is the front runner to become the next Asian country to host a Grand Prix.
ALPINE’S FORMULA 1 team looks set to change hands, with three different bidders allegedly interested in taking over the French team.
The poor results Renault’s sporting brand is having in the market have convinced the group’s CEO, Luca di Meo, that the entire marketing strategy of Alpine needs a serious re-think, with resources being redirected to improve the road car operation rather than continuing to invest in the Formula 1 program.
The A524’s dreadful start to the season didn’t help the team’s case and, even though the recovery done since the Bahrain test has been remarkable, the best Alpine can dream of, at the moment, is to make up enough ground to finish the championship in sixth place – the initial target was to overtake Aston Martin and try to finish the season comfortably inside the top five in the Constructors’ Championship.
According to sources from the team, de Meo is open to listen to bids and three candidates have been mentioned in circles close to the Italian. But it’s worth noting that just six weeks ago Alpine flatly denied
there was any intention of selling it’s 76% capital in the team, so these stories may be coming from external sources, trying to bring the price tag down.
In Imola there was a lot of rumours surrounding a possible takeover of the team by Renault’s Chinese partner Geely, but it was also mentioned that Swiss bilionnaire Deborah Mayer – owner of the Prema and Iron Lynx teams, as well as an outstanding collection of supercars – was
interested in expanding his empire into Formula 1, being keen on buying Alpine’s controlling position in the team.
The third bid is a bit more mysterious, as it is apparently fronted by a former team boss but funded by an investment fund from the Middle East.
From the information gathered in Imola and Monaco, di Meo’s conditions for the sale of his company’s interest in the team include the Alpine name being kept as
team identity until 2030 and, also, the continued use of the French Power Units for the same period of time.
While the second condition should be an easy one to accept, as the cooperation between Enstone and Viry-Chatillon has drastically improved in the last few years, the first condition could deter two of the three bidders, as they would want to impose their own identity and promote their own sponsors.
Geely, on the other hand, being partner of Renault, could be open to keeping the Alpine name afloat and, given the links with the French manufacturer, seems to be the front runner for this potential takeover.
With quite a few hints that Zhou Guanyu could be back with Alpine next year – having been part of its racing academy for three years – many believe his hiring will be an outcome of Geely’s takeover – something that should be clear in a couple of months, as the drivers’ market is now in full gear and should be virtually shut by the time the mid-season break starts.
IN A spectacular U-turn, Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali is campaigning a return to normallyaspirated engines from the start of 2030, the Italian explaining that with sustainable fuels available from 2026, the sport will be already doing a great job in helping the car industry to reduce the carbon emissions of road cars and that the need for hybrid Power Units won’t be there anymore! Meantime, the Italian has revealed that the 2026 Technical Regulations are almost fully defined, explaining that “in recent weeks there has been an alignment between the various parties involved, and the publication of the 2026 regulation should take place on June 1. The FIA will then explain the changes, which are many, and it will be important to clarify as best as possible, because I have read a series of considerations that do not correspond to what the new regulation will be.”
With the drivers bitterly complaining that the current generation of cars are way too heavy to be agile and pleasant to drive, the Formula 1 supremo showed he’s in full agreement with them, but blamed the problem on the current generation of ‘motorisations’:
“The sore point, but unfortunately necessary at the moment, is related to the weight of the single-seaters. By confirming the ‘hybrid’ Power Unit
solution also for 2026, a significant increase in weight is inevitable. If we compare a projection of the 2026 single-seater with 10-year old cars, we realise that weight has become a significant issue.”
“All the drivers would like to have lighter cars and, personally, I would also like a slightly more exciting sound.
“But on this last front we are working to try to increase the number of decibels – from the research we are carrying out it emerges that all the markets, and all age groups, want to hear a more important sound as well as the energy that only a vibration of a certain type is able to transmit when you are close to the track”.
Then, to the complete surprise of everyone, Domenicali made it clear that Formula 1 is prepared to go back to normally aspirated engines, something most fans and almost all the drivers would be very happy with:
“As soon as the 2026 regulation is defined, we will start thinking about what the next step will be –i.e. the 2030 engine. It is a personal consideration of mine, not yet shared with the teams, even if we have spoken about it with the FIA: if sustainable fuels will do the job we expect, we will need to carefully evaluate whether to continue with hybridisation or whether better solutions will be available.”
neck out and urged Mercedes to hire Andrea Kimi Antonelli as his replacement, the seven-time World Champion taking a stance in defence of hiring young drivers, very much like McLaren did with him back at the start of the 2007 season.
The Mercedes driver was asked if he believed Carlos Sainz would be a worthy replacement for 2025 and, while praising the Spanish driver, made his preference for Antonelli clear:
“I think Carlos is a great driver, so I think wherever he goes I think he would be a positive for any team. Honestly, I have no idea what Toto’s plans are, but I think, for me, taking on a youngster would be ... if it was my job, I would probably take on Kimi.”
That’s a very big endorsement from the biggest name in the sport, but Hamilton knows exactly how quick the young Italian is going in testing with Mercedes.
It has now emerged that George Russell shared a 2022-spec Mercedes W13 with Antonelli in a private test in Silverstone and that his lap times seriously impressed the engineering team.
That performance, coming on the back
of two very impressive tests at the Red Bull Ring and in Imola, seem to have now fully convinced Toto Wolff that putting the youngster alongside Russell for 2025 is a low risk option, so what the Austrian is now trying to do is to convince James Vowles to put Antonelli in the second Williams for the last part of the season, starting in Monza – immediately after the young driver becomes 18-years old – to accelerate his learning curve and get him readier to start the 2025 season with Mercedes.
For Vowles, the proposal would have to include a direct gain for his team, financial or technical, but he too is aware of Antonelli’s potential, having followed his progression from his days in karting until his first races in Formula 4.
However, he British engineer is not certain he wants to keep Logan Sargeant alongside Albon for another eight Grands Prix, as the battle for points is heating up at the back of the field. So, if he really feels he needs a more competitive and consistent driver in the second car sooner, he may replace the American earlier and that would shut the door for Antonelli to come on as his replacement from the Italian Grand Prix onwards.
ANDRETTI GLOBAL has announced that veteran Pat Symonds has joined its Formula 1 team with the role of Executive Engineering Consultant.
Clearly, the American company is continuing to expand its resources without having any guarantee that an entry for the 2026 Formula 1 World Champion will ever be accepted, after seeing the Commercial Rights Holder flatly refusing to give it a place on the grid for next year – even after the FIA accepted Andretti Global’s bid from a sporting point of view.
Symonds has spent the last few years working for the FIA as its Chief Technical Officer, but with the chassis
2026 regulations just 10 days away from being published, his job for the Federation was finished and when the offer to join Andretti’s bid came, the 70-year-old took it immediately.
Although he’s not expected to be at the factory every day or attend all the races, should Andretti Global finally get an entry into Formula 1, Symonds’ profound knowledge of the 2026 Technical Regulations and his 43 years of experience in the sport will be tremendously valuable for the American team.
On top of that, he’ll be working closely with Technical Director Nick Chester, whom he knows very well from the many years
they spent together at Enstone for the team now running under the Alpine banner.
No wonder then, that Chester was more than delighted to welcome his former boss into Andretti, saying that “I have had the pleasure to work with Pat in the past and he has a wealth of knowledge we can draw upon”, adding that, “Pat will bring expertise across technical areas and team operations in his role as Executive Engineering Consultant that will help us develop the team.”
The announcement made by Andretti fails to include any quote from Symonds, which is a very odd thing, but there’s a statement from Michael Andretti, in which he sends a message to Formula 1, based
on the confidence someone with the British engineer’s pedrigree has deposited on his team.
The former McLaren driver stated that, “we couldn’t be more excited to welcome Pat to the Andretti family”, reminding everyone that, “Pat’s keen understanding of aerodynamics, vehicle dynamics and Formula One power units will be instrumental as we continue to build a competitive team. I believe his expertise has been pivotal in shaping the narrative of Formula One and his vote of confidence in joining our effort speaks volumes. I’m really happy with this next step as our work continues at pace.”
RED BULL performed one of the best recoveries of its history at Imola as, after a very difficult Friday and a slightly better FP3 session, the team turned things around enough for Max Verstappen to secure his eighth straight pole position and transform it into a tight win on Sunday.
During both Friday sessions, Max Verstappen was terribly unhappy with the handling of his RB21, the front end of the car lacking the usual grip that the Dutchman so much needs to perform at his highest level. In those two hours of practice, Verstappen had three major offs and was seen putting two wheels on the gravel on least as many occasions, the car being a handful to drive.
After a lot of work was done back at the factory overnight, Verstappen found in FP3 a car he could drive to his style but still lacking a bit of balance. Further changes for qualifying worked a treat for, while the RB21 remained quite difficult to drive on the limit, it had become quick enough for the Dutchman to beat both McLaren drivers in a tight battle for pole position.
Team Principal Christian Horner was
full of praise for the work done back in the simulator, admitting the turnaround performed by his team was much more than what he could have hoped for on Friday night:
“It was a big dive and that’s why you must never underestimate the broader team in the factory, the simulator drivers. Credit where credit is due; the essence of a team is being able to respond when
things aren’t going well and we managed to turn it around. If you would have asked if we could get this result on Friday, all of the analysis would have said ‘no way’. but we managed to turn it around and win the race.”
The English manager singled out Sebastian Buemi as the simulator driver responsible for his team’s remarkable turn of fortunes.
Even if his final Formula 1 season was completed back in 2011, Buemi has remained an integral part of the Red Bull family, dovetailing his racing for Toyota in the WEC and also a Formula E program with many hours of work in the Milton Keynes simulator.
Asked what was the main factor for the team’s recovery, Horner immediately fired back “Sebastien Buemi”, before explaining that, “we did a lot of work on set-up on Friday into Saturday, to move the balance and get the balance into a much better window, and for 60 percent of the race we were anywhere between six and eight seconds clear of the rest. It was just the second half of the stint on the very hard tyre, we started to give away performance.”
For the Swiss veteran this was the first time he received the credit many inside Red Bull believe he deserves for the very hard work he’s been putting in over the last 13 seasons and also a demonstration that experience and technical knowledge count probably more than just raw speed when you are doing simulator work for a Formula 1 team during a Grand Prix weekend.
WE’VE NOW had three consecutive Grands Prix where there was no Max Verstappen and Red Bull domination, something we hadn’t experienced in the last 18 months.
Things can always go wrong at any time, even for the most impressive teams, like it did for Red Bull and the Dutch driver last year in Singapore, but when the struggles are in evidence in three completely different circuits like Miami, Imola and Monaco, you know they are not coincidences –this is becoming a bit of a trend.
In Monaco, after qualifying, Max Verstappen gave a very detailed explanation of what was going wrong with the RB21 over the kerbs and bumps and made it clear he isn’t expecting any improvement in these areas until the end of the year. The Dutchman said that, “the car is like a go-kart – it’s like I’m running without suspension.
“It’s jumping around a lot, not absorbing any kerb strikes or bumps or camber changes. On the last corner, the amount of times I jumped almost into the wall was really incredible.”
Having radioed in that the car was terrible in Turns 5 and 10 (Mirabeau and the new chicane for you and me), Verstappen explained that, “In T10, you have to ride the kerb; in T5 it’s a bit different, but the problem is that over any camber change our car just doesn’t work or doesn’t absorb it. It happens in T5, and we then lose time.”
And then, he added that, “these are only the corners I
mention; we don’t even mention the corners that we are really shit around here, so this is something we know and just drive around it.”
If one week before, in Imola, Red Bull had performed one of the biggest turnarounds of form in recent years, with the work done by Sebastien Buemi in the simulator paying off, Verstappen had already stated on Friday, after the practice sessions, the problem in Monaco was not solvable with set-up changes –something he confirmed at the end of a qualifying session that was quite poor by his standards: “We tried a lot of things on the car, literally nothing made it
better, so you’re just stuck. Not much you can do. We really tried to optimise it, but at one point you’re stuck with that. You can see in the second sector we are so bad, just because I can’t touch any kerbs as it just upsets the car too much – just lose a lot of lap time and it is incredibly difficult. And the others can go over the kerbs I’m forced to avoid …”
“We’ve got some ideas on how to improve, but we’re going to still struggle in bumpy tracks or where kerb-riding is key to the lap time”, Verstappen explained.
“We’ve had this problem since 2022, but for the last years we had a car advantage and it gets masked a little bit, as we gain a bit in the corners with no high kerbs. But with everyone catching up, naturally, when you’re not improving your weakest point, you get found out and that’s what happened this weekend.”
You sense there’s no panic setting it at Red Bull – yet – but there’s genuine concern. After all, there’s quite a few bumpy tracks coming up before Singapore. Kerb-riding is crucial in places like Montreal and Monza, so a solution must be found quickly, even if, as Verstappen explained, “this is part of the nature of the car and that’s something we cannot change.” Maybe, just maybe, the team is missing the creativity and experience of Rob Marshall, who was let go because, according to Horner, “he had moved to other areas of the team and his salary was an issue within the budget cap rules.”
Given the way the veteran is changing McLaren’s operations, Horner may have underestimated his real value, particularly in moments like this, when you need to think out of the box and come up with creative solutions to get out of trouble…
IN PART 1 OF OUR CONVERSATION WITH SHANE VAN GISBERGEN, HE TALKS ABOUT HIS SETTLING INTO THE US AND ENGAGING HIS BRAIN IN NEW FORMS OF RACING. HE CHATTED WITH ANDREW CLARKE ...
LAST JULY, Shane van Gisbergen’s racing life turned on its ear in a way no-one expected. He was always a chance to win the race, and we told Drew Brown from Trackhouse that he would, but no-one really understood what that was going to mean. A chance?
And when he did, the stats were there to amplify the story. The first driver to win on debut in 60 years. He was 1.5 seconds a lap quicker than anyone else late in the race after his early race fuel saving was thwarted by the race being shortened. Once he was off the leash, he was stunning.
The US stood and watched, astounded by his brilliance.
But it was a perfect storm in many respects. It was wet, which suited him. It was a street race and NASCAR had never done one of them – but that was his stock of trade in Australia.
No simulator could prepare anyone for that combination, no matter how good and real to life it is.
But it was more than that. He was different
and snuck into the qualifying top 10 when Chase Elliott crashed while trying to keep up with him, and qualified third. Standing out on the track and watching, the margin in the technique was visible. He was sliding the car on power out to the wall while the regulars were steering out there.
Drivers’ noses were out of joint, and you got the feeling they wanted to teach him a lesson in the race. But they couldn’t. He smashed them, and in that moment his life’s trajectory changed.
Supercars was the then, but NASCAR was his future. He knew that, and everyone who was there with him knew it, from his Triple Eight engineer Andrew Edwards, partner Jess
what has been more impressive is how he is adapting to the ovals and bringing Aussie and Kiwi racing fans on the journey with him. He chatted with ANDREW CLARKE before heading to the iconic Charlotte Motor Speedway for back-to-back duties in the Xfinity and Cup Series cars.
AC So, Shane, how’s it been? Do you feel like you’ve settled?
SvG I think it’s almost six months now since we moved and it’s been obviously challenging.
I’m learning stuff every week – different tracks and different teams and stuff like that. The biggest thing is there’s so much racing and every week is enjoyable. It’s different. I feel like it’s gone pretty well, but it’s hard to change that mentality from being in the top three every week to now 15th or 20th is a good result. It’s very different in this sport, and that’s what happens – even in the Cup Series. It’s hard to get into the top 10, so you have to change your expectations.
and little-old me.
Now, in 2024, he is on the journey, and the driver T8’s Mark Dutton says has the highest racing IQ he’s ever seen is taking on the new challenge. We joke that you can almost see his big brain analysing early in the races, and then he puts it all into action in the closing laps. We’re now just a little over a month away from his Chicago return where he has a chance at winning in both Xfinity and the Cup Series. And even if he does win both,
AC I think it is one of the things that Australian race fans have got to come to grips with, isn’t it? That top 10’s an achievement in NASCAR.
SvG Every week it’s so difficult here. If you look at Ross’s [Trackhouse teammate Chastain] results for the year or Daniel’s [Suarez, also a Trackhouse teammate] and one week they’re first and then they’re 20th. And even Kyle Larson has a lot of outside top-10 finishes. It’s just so competitive and so difficult in these races to get it right the whole time. It is a lot less predictable, I guess.
AC Which is probably why the playoffs is such a great format, isn’t it? Because you can fall out of the running fairly easily, but as long as you can win races, you’ve actually got a chance in the championship.
SvG Yeah, it’s interesting. I don’t know too
I think it’s almost six months now since we moved and it’s been obviously challenging ... “ ”
much about that yet. I haven’t experienced the playoffs, but hopefully I’ll get the chance to this year. But it’d be interesting to see what that pressure is like every week if you’re not doing well on points and you’re full pressure to get a win to get in. It’s pretty different and unique to the way the championship works.
AC It is different and keeps it alive to the very end, which probably you wouldn’t like sometimes as a driver given you’ve had a few of them sewn up early…
SvG Yeah, not when you’re the guy out front winning. But I’ve always found it interesting watching NASCAR. You have no idea, when it comes down to that last race, who’s going to win and turn up and be the best of the day. It’s a lot of work for a whole year to have one day decided. It’s interesting.
AC Now how about settling in? I know when I sat with Scott McLaughlin last year in Charlotte, he said that he felt like that was home and he couldn’t see himself ever leaving. Is that your vibe about the place? Is this where Shane van Gisbergen belongs?
SvG I guess so for the moment. The only negative for me is it’s so far from New Zealand. But Australia never really felt like home either – always New Zealand for me. So, it’s just the same thing living away from home. It’s just a lot further now.
AC And Jess is working now, does that make a difference?
SvG Yeah, for her. She’s got a cool job and at the tech centre and stuff for GM and the stuff she’s going to experience, I think it’s really cool. It is good she can do her own career.
AC So let’s get a little bit into the racing side of it. I mean, you’ve done short tracks and you’ve done superspeedways and everything in between and you’ve done a road course, you’ve done all sorts of things. So let’s talk a little bit about; let’s do the short tracks for a second then the way the cars move around and so forth ... how hard was it to get a grip on that part of it?
SvG It’s just difficult with no practice and new tracks. It is not just the style of racing
that’s different on the short tracks – everyone fights for every position and you can drive these cars flat out all the time. The tyres here are really good compared to what I’ve been used to in terms of how hard you can drive on the tyre. It makes it good just being able to drive flat out the whole time.
AC The car’s moving around with the aero –has any of that surprised you on the ovals or has it been what you expected?
SvG It’s very different and the Xfinity cars, the way they work, is very unique. When you hear the guys talk about the Cup Cars and how they don’t get sucked around and don’t pull you loose, they push the outside
car away rather than getting sucked in, that’s normal for me. That’s everything I’ve ever known in racing. It seems the old style of cars, where they rely on the side force and stuff, that’s what I’ve had to really learn this year. That’s quite different. But I’m more interested to see what it is like when I’m in the Cup car next week, what that’s going to be like – it sounds more normal, I guess. The way the air works there is normal for me, but different for everyone here.
AC The whole idea of the drafting and bumping and pushing people along and all that sort of stuff – did that take much to get to come to grips with?
you’re doing 290, 300 km an hour … the cars are just big billboards moving through the air, basically. I’m just learning how to place the car, position the nose to move around and make grip or take away grip – it’s very interesting and very sensitive, I guess, to positioning and balance. It’s pretty cool.
AC Good to hear you’re still talking in kilometres per hour!
SvG I’m trying to convert and learn all I can. But when I’m driving it’s a bit hard to process sometimes.
AC How do you find having a spotter?
SvG The guy I’ve got, Frank, he’s very good. He’s an ex-driver himself, so he has been able to give me a lot of tips and stuff and sometimes it gets too much and I just tell him, and then sometimes I need more info. And the more info I give him, he’s able to adapt what he’s saying.
It’s just become the normal now to where I couldn’t drive without one on an oval. But on the road course, they just don’t talk as much to me. I ask them not to – you don’t really need it, but I still get some information; but ovals, I get a lot.
AC Chicago last year the spotter was critical in getting through that big crash, wasn’t he?
SvG Yeah, just saying how it was blocked and warning me. I think we were all full panic when we saw so many cars piling into one spot.
AC Are you surprised Supercars teams haven’t started to adopt a spotter?
SvG Now that I’ve had one, you’d want one at first corners and stuff like that. The Supercars were ... especially last year, the vision was very difficult, so it could be good. But on road course you need two or three guys and that just adds to the expense because the spotters are professionals and it would be very, very expensive and add up in Australia. But I’ve often thought that, and having one for the first corner would be good for sure.
AC The magnitude of the sport is so different where you are – there’s so much more money involved and it’s kind of next level. Even just the way they practice the tyre stops and those sort of things with a crew that only does pitstops. You can’t envisage that in Australia, can you?
SvG To drive, not really. I did qualifying on a track I’ve never seen before one-handed. You just drive around flat out and you’ve got your other hand blocking the airwaves to take some air resistance away. It’s pretty interesting. But it’s difficult in the races. You’ve got to get people to trust you. Daytona was my first race like that, and I didn’t do very well because I didn’t know the flow of the race yet; the way the cars would stack up into the corner, and I kept running into people and caused one crash by misjudging it. But now, after I went to Talladega, I felt much more comfortable and more aware of the surroundings and had to manage the race and even got to lead some laps, which was pretty cool at that moment. But it’s definitely difficult knowing how to place yourself in the right spot for the end of the race.
The air works so different when you’re doing 290, 300 km an hour … the cars are just big billboards moving through the air, basically ... “ ”
SvG No, not at all. Here, the pit crew guys don’t touch the car – they are there to do pitstops and that is all they do. It’s very impressive.
At Trackhouse they have their own gym routine and they practice on the single nut or the five lugs. It’s pretty cool to watch them and how much pressure they’re under and there’s five team's worth of people fighting for four spots as well. It’s very cool how it works.
AC The Superspeedways and the restrictorplate races are intriguing from our point of view. How challenging was the first one of those?
AC But you made a third line at Talladega and people kind of got into it and then they bailed out and left you out there. It needs a bit more of a commitment from other people to get there, doesn’t it?
SvG You can’t do it on your own and they’re very manufacturer aligned. Every time I got in front of Fords, they’d just drop me. If I was the leader, I got to the lead and if it was a Ford or a Toyota, they’d just leave me hanging. I didn’t really know that so I needed to get more aware of who’s who and what manufacturer they are, which isn’t easy because everyone is in different paint every week here, so it’s hard to learn who you’re racing, but that’ll come with time.
AC Cup Series versus Xfinity – obviously aero and things like that are different – is it hard to jump between the two on the one weekend?
SvG I’ve done it twice, but it hasn’t been too hard in that sense. The road course was pretty difficult. We had a rough run with our Cup car, but at Talladega it was easy. The cars are reasonably similar. You've just got to remember the 'H-pattern' versus sequential, but I think Charlotte next week will be the biggest test for that.
AC What have you enjoyed most about doing this?
SvG Just realising how much I still love racing and competing. I was pretty worn out and sick of it last year; how it was all going and then racing every week this year and even when it’s going bad, and even when I make a mistake or the team doesn’t do something right, there’s another race next week. I think I’ve done 15 or so races already this year, and I would’ve probably only done a handful at home. I think it’s crazy the amount of racing you do, but just how much I’m enjoying it, enjoying the challenge, enjoying driving the cars and learning something every week, is great and I love it.
I went to Sonoma last week and did the wheel force test – where they measure the loads that the tyres go through. They’ve got a new tyre, a new surface, so they’ve got to know how much grip there is and what to expect there. It’s all technology I didn’t really know about or how it all worked. It was really cool and eye opening. We verified our work and made sure it feels like it does in the real car and in the simulator and it was cool to learn so much and learn how that data correlates, how it shows up and how it feels. But unfortunately, it’s all technology that's hidden from the public ... but it’s amazing what the manufacturers do.
AC I was talking to Steven Grove the other day and he’s putting a couple of simulators in at Grove Racing, and he’s never been over and looked at what they’re doing at NASCAR. Until you’ve seen what they do you’ve got no idea. ... SvG I spoke to Richie [Stanaway] about those sims. That sort of stuff is out of touch unless there is manufacturer money in the sport. I haven’t seen Toyota’s or Ford’s, just the GM one, but I assume they’re the same. It’s amazing the level of resources and how committed the manufacturers are to the sport.
Join us next issue as we continue the conversation and take a look at his return to Chicago, the influence of Marcos Ambrose and learning ovals and taking us on a ride with him.
THE FORD MUSTANG IS BACK ON THE WINNER’S LIST, WITH THE FIRST MUSTANG GT4 WIN IN THE WORLD HAPPENING RIGHT HERE IN AUSTRALIA. AUTO ACTION’S PAUL GOVER HAS SPOKEN TO SOME OF THE KEY PLAYERS BEHIND THE BUILDING AND IMPORTATION OF THE FIRST OF THESE NEW GT4 CARS ...
The Mustang GT4 won its first race in Australia, at the Ford 60th Anniversary PI event.
Left: The cockpit is ‘all race’ ... Fuel filler system is accessed from the rear of the car.
Above (top to bottom): Tilton adjustable pedal assembly; Front air intake; The driver-cooling aircon system.
Top right: George Miedecke and Rylan Gray took the first ever win for the Mustang GT4 ... with Andy Miedecke (third from left) and the crew ...
Right: ‘Mad Andy,’ as he is known, confers with the team’s engineer for the weekend-Brendan McGinniskin-Australia’s leading engineer with Ford Performance Motorsport.
Far right: Under the bonnet ... five litres of Ford muscle.
Images: Ford Motor Company
“I THINK GT4 is a great category,” says Andrew Miedecke.
“It was the first decision we made to continue racing. It’s a very well-run series and you know that every brand has a Balance of Performance (BOP) and you know if you win you’ll be driving pretty well.
“There was obviously an affinity to Ford through our dealership. It’s not like we have a Porsche dealership.
“The Mustang seemed to be me to be a very practical car to run. The cost of the car itself is just about the most expensive GT4 car, but the costs of running in the long term will be a lot less.”
Miedecke is a thinking racer and applied logic and experience to his move to GT4.
“The big races to win will be held at Bathurst. If you’re going to have BoP, against a mid-engined Porsche or McLaren, you’ve got to have more straight-line speed. And you know what happens with straight line at Bathurst.”
With the decision made, the next challenge was getting a car.
“It took a while to get onto Multimatic. It took a little while to get through and get it happening, but once I sent my money, I got build number six and they have been great to deal with.
“We got the car on Tuesday night before Phillip Island. There was a bit of a problem with clutch alignment and a filter problem, as well as fitting radios and the data gathering systems for SRO.
“Over the weekend the car was reliable. We worked really hard. At first there was a bit of understeer, but we got it dialled-in by the start of qualifying.
“We were lucky to get away with a couple of wins thanks to George and Rylan Grey, who is a real up-andcoming talent. It helps to have the best drivers.”
But #6 is not the end of the track for Miedecke Motorsport.
“There are four in the works. That’s going to see out the production for this year.
“It’s been a very happy experience. And it’s good to see Ford getting passionate about cars. I think that’s going to make the difference.”
But there could be more to come.
“I think the GT4 Mustang is a perfect stepping stone for someone wanting to get into Supercars. It’s a Mustang, it’s got a front engine, it’s got MoTeC and a Holinger gearbox, so you can learn everything you need to help you graduate.”
THE ALL-NEW GT4 racer, commissioned by Ford Performance and built by Multimatic, is as important and sophisticated as Allan Moffat’s original TransAm.
It proved its pedigree on the 60th anniversary of the Mustang when George Miedecke and Rylan Gray swept the first round of the GT4 Australia championship at Phillip Island.
And the car had been in Australia for less than a week . . .
There are obvious parallels between the Miedecke car and Moffat’s original from
“For the Mustang GT4 program specifically, Kevin Groot is the Ford Performance Sports Car Programs Manager, reporting to Mark Rushbrook, Global Director Ford Performance Motorsports.”
The Australian team from Miedecke Motorsport was first to add fresh trophies for the latest Mustang and Andrew Miedecke, himself a formidable racer over more than 30 years and now the figurehead of the local Mustang program as well as a Ford dealer, knows the importance of the Phillip Island result.
It’s a very important part of the Ford Performance motorsport pyramid, which starts with the Mustang Dark Horse road car ... “ ”
the late 1960s, which was built by Kar-Kraft in Detroit and Bud Moore’s engineering workshop in South Carolina.
This time around, the Miedecke Motorsport machine is officially #6 in the built sequence for the 650-series Mustang GT4 racers.
“The program began in 2017 with the sixthgeneration Mustang GT4 and has continued into the all-new seventh generation model in 2024, based on the Dark Horse road car,” the motorsport manager at Ford Australia,” Ben Nightingale, told Auto Action
“This program ran in parallel, with some synergies with Mustang GT3. Some shared components, parallel development and testing was common across the two cars.
“On Sunday night, I was making our usual spaghetti bolognese to celebrate when the phone rang. It was a Detroit number and I wondered who was calling,” he told Auto Action
“The person on the other end said ‘It’s Jim. Jim Farley’.
“He’s the world CEO of the Ford Motor Company and I thought someone was taking the piss, but he was calling to congratulate the team on winning the first race.
“That shows the calibre of the bloke. And the passion he’s got.
“He was at the Members Meeting at Goodwood in the UK at the time, driving in a special race for 1964 Mustangs. He was
GEORGE MIEDECKE has driven plenty of race cars and said it was quick and easy to adjust to the Mustang GT4.
“I felt immediately at home. There was no adjustment period. I just got on it,” he told Auto Action
“I was within about a second of the ultimate pace by about lap three.”
The 38-year-old’s competition career has included everything from Production Cars and V8 Utes to Supercars, American stock cars, NASCAR and GT3 sports cars.
“Probably my favourite car up to this point was the Aston Martin V12 GT3 car. I’ve always loved the frontengined, rear-wheel drive, naturally-aspirated racing cars,” he said.
“But a GT3 car has evolved to a point where only the pros can get the best out of them. Amateurs, or people looking to get into this type of racing, would be better in a GT4.
“You can have a little slide without ending up in the fence. It’s much more forgiving.”
He said the car is rewarding to drive and would also be a good stepping stone towards Supercars.
“For someone who is on the touring car trajectory it is perfect. It’s a bit more forgiving than a GT3 car. Compared to a lot of the other GT4 cars, it has a proper Holinger transmission.
“It’s easier to play with the line; overstep and get it back. But it still demands a fair bit of commitment.
“The GT4 cars are now more of a baby GT3. The corner grip that you’re getting is remarkably high. And the aero, while not excessive, does work a little bit.
“It’s got the same tyres on all corners, a 305-section Pirelli. It’s a big tyre to have all the way around. It’s been a while since I’ve been in a GT car so after an hour I felt like my neck was hanging off.”
After racing – and winning – at Phillip Island, Miedecke has the perfect view of the current GT4 competition.
“The strengths of the Mustang are straight line and power down. It’s got remarkably good drive and a strong engine, comparably,” he said.
“It doesn’t make as much downforce as a McLaren, which is flat from MG to the start-line. I had to hit the brakes, just a tap, to turn into the last corner.
“It’s not as good on change of direction, but it has a strong engine and is a good package for Australia because the tracks favour power-down.
“I think it will be a good package over the year.”
For Miedecke, the cabin layout and interior space is also a bonus compared with more thoroughbred rivals.
“I’m 198 centimetres – that’s six foot six – and I’m comfortable in the car. We put the seat as low as it can go and we needed no adjustments.
“Rylan Gray is probably only 180 centimetres and we both had no dramas. Like the GT4 cars now, the seat is fixed and the steering wheel and pedals move backwards and forwards.”
The bottom line for the Mustang, Miedecke said, is simple:
“It’s fast.”
Scan the QR code to read the in-depth feature and track test of the previous model Mustang GT4 which appeared in AA issue #1757
POWERTRAIN
5.0-litre Coyote V8 engine with Bosch Motorsports MS6.3 ECU
Dry-sump oiling system
Twin-plate Tilton Racing clutch
sharing with Steve Soper, so I asked him to say hello as Steve had driven with me when I had the Ford Sierra in the 1980s.”
The GT4 car’s importance is also emphasised by Scott Bartlett, the global sports car marketing manager at Ford Performance.
“It’s a very important part of the Ford Performance motorsport pyramid, which starts with the Mustang Dark Horse road car,” he began.
“We see customers who are keen on motorsport being able to do track days in their Dark Horse, before graduating into the Mustang Challenge one-make series with the Mustang Dark Horse R.
“If they are successful and motivated to continue, they can step up into a Mustang GT4 in open competition and then potentially go all the way to GT3.
“GT4 is a key step in that program – and a perfect standalone for those looking to run in a cost-effective, competitive category with global appeal.”
The car’s early arrival in Australia is a reflection of the worldwide impact of the GT4 program.
“We see it as a perfect middle-ground for those looking to be involved in a competitive motorsport environment, without the pressure and cost of the high-end GT3 categories,” said Bartlett.
6-speed Holinger racing gearbox with pneumatic shift
CHASSIS
Multimatic two-way adjustable DSSV dampers
Unique rear lower control arm configured for coil-over springs.
Blade adjustable anti-roll bars, front and rear
Bosch Motorsport M5 ABS
Brembo brake discs and calipers
Alcon sliding pedal box
Forgeline 18” x 11” aluminium wheels
Slick racing tyres (brand dependent on series)
EXTERIOR
• Highly developed aero package maximised within GT4 rules.
• Natural fibre composite rear wing (newly developed)
• Natural fibre composite front splitter
• Natural fibre composite front dive planes
• Natural fibre composite hood with maximised louver size
• Natural fibre composite roof
• Natural fibre composite doors
• Natural fibre composite rear deck lid
• Lexan front windscreen, Lexan side and rear windows
“It’s eligible for all GT4 championships around the world, and is currently racing in GTWC championships in Australia, Europe, UK and the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge/VP Racing Sports car Challenge in the USA.” But back to the car itself and the story of the 650-series Mustang GT4.
The previous-generation car was based on a Shelby GT350 and developed by Ford’s GT partner company, Multimatic. It was established in 1984 as Multimatic Mechanisms to work on humble door locks but has evolved to become a high-tech engineering operation with production facilities for limited-edition road cars – including the Ford GT – and racing cars.
Multimatic had an Australian operation in Melbourne for a time and was looking to crack the code for local engineering work and racecar sales.
It imported a plain white GT4 racer for demonstration runs, including a cameo appearance at Bathurst, and one of the guest drivers at the time was Auto Action’s publisher Bruce Williams, who reported his findings with an in-depth feature in AA issue #1757.
“There are so many things to like about this car. It’s fast, it’s loud and I love it and it is totally fit for the job it has been designed and built to do,” Williams, a successful racer in addition to his publishing credits, said.
The build for the latest Miedecke machine is
Although he will not go into detail, there are tricky suspension mounts and a new level of electronic technology ... “ ”
typical of production-based racers.
“The body comes out of Ford’s Flat Rock Assembly Plant. It goes to Watson Racing outside of Detroit for seam welding then to Multimatic for assembly,” said Nightingale.
“Body build at Flat Rock is approximately 10 hours, with body prep at Watson also approximately 10 hours. Cage install and final assembly at Multimatic is in the region of 220 hours.”
The final car still looks much like a roadgoing Mustang, like all the GT4 contenders, but Nightingale said there have been lots of changes from the previous-generation racer.
“There is a more production-based engine with dual throttle bodies, built entirely at Ford,” he began.
“New aero components, wing and dive planes. The same Holinger RD6 transmission with revised mounting, updated driveshaft, clutch and flywheel.
“Larger brakes front and rear, new larger rear callipers. Fixed seat and sliding pedal box, where the older car had a sliding seat and fixed pedal box.”
Although he will not go into detail, there are tricky suspension mounts and a new level of electronic technology.
The turn-key price for the Mustang GT4 is $US280,000 ($422,000 Australian) and the order bank is full into the foreseeable future, despite rivals including the Mercedes-AMG GT and McLaren 720S.
“We will set no production limit – it will be set by demand. So, as many as there are people who want to race them,” said Nightingale.
“Australian customers can demonstrate their interest with Ford in Australia, or directly to Multimatic.
Cars will be built and delivered on a perorder, first-come, first-served basis.”
GRANT WILSON, an accomplished racer and car builder from the Gold Coast, has carved a niche for himself in the world of motorsport. With a passion for legendary American Muscle Cars, he has built replicas of Smokey Yunick’s ‘68 Camaro, Mark Donohue’s ‘69 Camaro, and the #15 ‘69 Penske Mustang.
His deep love for the USA scene, paired with his experience and love of classic American racing, has led to this exciting new venture, in partnership with Shelly Ives (with 30 years of Australian motorsport expertise) – both knowing the immense opportunities American tracks offer.
This dynamic duo is now offering Australian racers a unique opportunity to experience the thrill of American tracks.
team if you wish; or, if you want to bring the family along, you can turn the trip into a holiday with some sightseeing and shopping for your family while you’re at the track”.
Spots are limited (the team has three cars available in the US), with just one car remaining for the Circuit of The Americas (COTA) and Spring Mountain (Vegas) rounds.
Imagine consecutive weekends; two different tracks in just 10 days ... The unique combination of an endurance race one weekend followed by a sprint the next provides an unmatched racing experience.
‘Race in the States’ offers a superb selection of tracks with sprint and endurance racing opportunities. With careful planning, it allows racers to experience the thrill of back-to-back racing weekends on some of America’s most iconic circuits.
Competing within SVRA and NASA clubs, and racing as Class 6 and American Iron respectively, ‘Race in the States’ offers solid entries, ample track time, and dedicated practice days leading up to the events.
Packages are tailored to suit different budgets and preferences, from simple ‘Arrive and Drive’ experiences (you do everything yourself – they provide a car at the track); to comprehensive ‘Arrive, Drive and Sightseeing’ packages.
All the paperwork, licensing, travel details, accommodation, and even hire cars are sorted for you.
“You can compare it to being treated like a F1 driver,” says Shelly. “If you come solo you can travel with the
It’s worth noting that you can pair up with a mate, if you wish, to share the enduro and then race individually in separate cars in the sprint round – a fantastic way to experience two iconic circuits.
“We don’t have the same opportunities here as they do in the US,” Grant explains, “with our long breaks between race meetings and less of them. Plus, the cost of racing in the States across the 10 days is actually less than competing in a national category here for one weekend.”
This year’s schedule includes some of the most renowned circuits in the US, such as Laguna Seca, COTA, Thunderhill Raceway, Sonoma Raceway, and Buttonwillow Raceway.
‘Race in the States’ plans to expand its calendar to include more prestigious events, like the Daytona 24Hrs, Indianapolis and the Thunderhill 25-hour race – providing unparalleled opportunities to experience the very best of American motorsport.
For more info: send an email to raceinthestates@ gmail.com
SPRINTCARS HIT Mount Buninyong on Saturday May 11 and did not disappoint, on a smooth and racy track at Redline Raceway.
Josh Buckingham was keen to go backto-back in the C & H Trucking SRA Pro Sprintcars.
Buckingham put everybody on notice with a new Sprintcar Racing Association quick one-lap time for Pro Sprints of 12.013s for a single lap.
He then notched up a new 10-lap record also, of 2:01.979s in the opening heat on his way to defeating Matthew Symons and Michael Cunningham.
Not far off the new 10-lap time was Chris Solomon as he smashed the field in Heat 2 and he started on pole from Symons, with Buckingham back in eighth.
Solomon jumped out to the front of the
field from the drop of the green flag and led Symons and Jones early, who were both in the season-long points battle for the series championship.
Wren was suffering mechanical issues which would put a stop to his chances of a series win; however he battled on to ensure claiming a podium spot in the championship.
Buckingham made his way into the top five in the closing stages of the race.
But there was no stopping Solomon – as the chequered flag unfurled, he won by almost six seconds to Jones and Symons.
In Street Stock, action lap times from Scott Purdie, Steven Watts, Morris Ahearn, and Tim Hutchinson were just 0.2s off the fastest ever lap time at Redline for the class.
Watts immediately hit the front of the field at the unfurling of the green flag with
Purdie as the top five ran nose to tail.
By the tenth lap, nothing had changed except for Kinnear moving ahead of Ahearn, whilst Purdie tried everything to unsettle Watts and take advantage.
At the 15-lap finish mark, Watts claimed the win by just 0.290s from Purdie, Kinnear and Ahearn who were split by less than a second.
An unfortunate ending to the Standard Saloons feature event ended any chance of the Unlimited Sedans having a feature event with Ballarat local Lachie Chivers knocked out after he picked a fight with the never beaten concrete wall.
Battling for a race victory with his brother Austin and great mate Jacob Head, Chivers’ car hit the Turn 4 wall severely, very hard, and just in the wrong spot, which knocked him out cold behind the wheel.
WIMMERA MOTORSPORT fans enjoyed a huge treat of dirt flying action as Blue Ribbon Raceway came alive for a double dose of Speedway action.
The featured class was the Holden V6-powered openwheeled Wingless Sprints with solid field of 22 competitors.
The early goings of the final were frantic as several stoppages occurred, including the spectacular roll-over of Robert Whiteside.
Despite the chaos, Blake Walsh went on to capture an impressive flag-to-flag victory over Jayden Lock and Luke Johnson.
The third round of the Western Series for Production Sedans saw 16 competitors looking to take the $800 winner purse.
While Raymond Ussher went on to claim the win, he did not have it all his own way as Trevor Mills and Lucas Conder both had turns leading the event.
Heartbreak for Conder came on lap 16 when he retired just four laps from home, handing the lead and win back
to Ussher. Rounding out the podium was fast female racer Felicity Roycroft.
The VSC sanctioned Sports Sedans also provided some solid racing as Bendigo’s Kevin Clark took his Ford AU Falcon to Victory Lane.
Despite leading the first two-thirds of the 15-lap final, Mia Clarke could only manage third, behind Jason Berger.
The big rig V8 Trucks are a very popular part of the Blue Ribbon Raceway culture and again they provided some thrilling racing.
Luke James found the fastest way home in the 10-lap final to take the flag over Nathan Bird, Wes Bell and Jaryd Carman.
Jake Bradley showed the fast way home in the Junior Sedan Top Stars final with Pary Das, Jackson Warrener, Max Leersen and Darcy Dannatt following closely behind.
In the VSC 1200 Juniors, local racers Archie Thomas and Rebecca Johnstone ran in that order over the two heats and final as did Lily Dannatt in third. Thomas chalked up his
As Chivers car continued to idle through the infield, Bailey Sinclair noticed that his mate’s head was not upright and raced over to gain control of the car and raise Lachies head as paramedics arrived at the car to check on the driver.
Chivers was transported to a local hospital for care and the race was declared with 12 laps completed. Austin Chivers claimed victory ahead of Jacob Head and Ashley Cormack.
In Unlimited Sedans, Steve Hodder, a local Ballarat man, claimed a huge win in the first heat of the night in front of Super Saloon stalwart Ian Page.
Jimmy Harris took the next two heats to claim the event on points due to no final taking place.
Redline Raceway’s final event is June 1-2. Dean Thompson
On Sunday morning the Junior Quarter Midgets Association of Victoria resumed racing with 30 kids across four classes of competition.
Reed Muller won Novice 120cc, Junior Restricted went to Dusty Eastham, Open 120cc was taken out by Toby Lock, while Open 1600cc was won by Leah Balcombe. Paris Charles
JACK YEOMANS and Billy O’Donoghue
locked in some new career highlights by taking victories at Wahgunyah Speedway on May 19.
For local club members, the Lachlan Howie Memorial is one of the premier events of the season as it recognises a former member of the club who has passed-on.
Local Michael Fleming-Robertson started strongly, leading the main event off the line until Lap four where Yeomans made his move to the lead.
Warrick Howie moved into second on lap seven and on the very last lap he tried to go all the way.
Howie launched a pass to the lead –however Stewards deemed a penalty was required and after the chequered flag Yeomans was given the win from Howie, who had committed a pole line infringement.
Co-main eventing the evening’s racing was the Goulburn Ovens Sedan Association race, the G.O.S.A 1000.
Starting on the front row in the main event were Marty Bassett and Justin Brockley but it was third placed O’Donoghue who went straight to the front.
By the five-lap mark, Bassett was out of contention, due to mechanical dramas,
promoting Justin Ewert into the top three.
A couple laps later Ewert moved ahead of the second placed racer Brockley, only for Brockley to retake it on the last lap.
At the chequered flag, O’Donoghue claimed the win from Brockley and Ewert.
Racers in the big Unlimited Sedan race cars also held their own important series points event known as Lucky Sevens, round six, with drivers from Bendigo, Echuca, Geelong, Gippsland, and Melbourne’s Southeast.
In the 15-lap final for Unlimiteds, after dramas during qualifying, Travis Ramsdale made it on track with Trent Susol, Peter Farley, Nathan Lightburn, and Anthony McKean occupying the front two rows.
By lap five Ramsdale had passed a number of competitors to sit in second behind Susol with Farley in third.
Peter Schmetzer made some moves from the back of the field also and by lap 12, after starting at the rear, Schmetzer had moved into fifth. A lap later he was third – however came under ppossible sanction from the Stewards due to a starting cone infringement.
As the chequered flag unfurled, Susol crossed the line almost three seconds in front of Ramsdale, while Lightburn was promoted to third due to a two-place penalty from
Stewards on Schmetzer who was slotted back into fifth.
Production Sedans was all about Scott Hawkins, leading all 12 laps in the final race having also secured a perfect result of four wins in four starts. He defeated Andrew Cunningham from Heny and Brayden Creek.
Taijan Ussher set a new one lap, six lap and eight lap records in the recently-introduced to Wahgunyah Speedway Sedans Australia Junior Sedan class on his way to winning the night ahead of Zade Ussher, whilst Cooper Lack did not make the start line in the final.
Mick Mannix returned to racing after some time away with a bang in Sports Sedans.
He set a new one lap and 12 lap record for Sports Sedans at Wahgunyah in the feature event on his way to victory by almost 16 seconds. Mannix finished ahead of Kenneth Mankey and Martin Heiner.
Ladies Sports Sedans also saw some racing, with Tay Barnard setting a six-lap record during qualifying of 2:30.077s on her way to winning all three heat races. Things didn’t go according to plan in the final as Numurkah racer Cobie McGraw finished at the front with almost seven seconds back to Chloe Creek.
Dean Thompson
Wingless
WAIKERIE’S SUNLINE Speedway was full of racing recently, with six different categories going racing.
Headlining the card was the annual running of the Wally Francombe Memorial for Super Sedans. Paul Blenkiron led early before mechanical dramas retired him to the infield. Kym Hammerstein inherited the lead on the third lap and powered on to claim the win over Kym Leyson and Sarah Pope.
The Eastside Bearings Modified Sedans Series Final would be a commanding flagto-flag victory to Mildura’s Wade McCarthy. Steve Ellis came from fifth to second ahead of Trev Logan.
Dylan Richter’s purple patch of form in the Modlites continued with the feature win being his 10th straight.
Sam Lamont was able to win the race for second which was his PB, ahead of Colin Presland.
A clean sweep of two heats and the final saw second-generation racer Jack McCarthy have an undefeated run in Wingless sprints. Hayden Vickers put up a strong fight over the first third of the race, but eventually had to settle for second over Jesse Alexander. Nigel Reichstein took another Street Stocks success after overcoming veteran racer Carey Weston.
Weston led early but fell back to third at the end of the 15-lap journey behind third generation racer Ryan Buchanan.
The Junior Sedans were split into Top Stars and New Stars for the lesser experienced competitors.
Lachlan Brown had a memorable night in the Top Stars claiming both heats and the final over Jayden Garner and Ryan Burns.
In the New Stars final went to Bree McAllister in a flag to flag victory over Violet Thorne and Brodie Reichstein.
Paris Charles
ORGANISERS OVERCAME a threat of rain to go racing at Drouin Speedway.
In challenging conditions, the Wingless Sprints competed in four heat races and a final for their Gippsland Wingless Sprint series.
The 15-lap final took place with rain closing in and Ben Hodge shot away from the lead.
Tony Moule showed all his experience to charge his way through the field and soared all the way to an impressive second.
The only car he had no answer for was Hodge, who was 5s up the road with Scott Cole completing the podium.
In the Gippsland Cup action for Sports Sedans (pictured), Andrew Dike looked set to have the perfect day.
After leading every lap of his heats, he took control of the feature off the line.
On lap six however his race came to an end and Scott Angus assumed the lead spot. Angus went on to win from Cameron Dike, Chris Aarts, Ray Gould, and Gavan Dorain.
The Junior Standard Saloon drivers continued their development with six drivers in competition.
Bunyip racers Cooper Joynson and Ella Sheedy had a great battle in the first heat of the day.
But as the day went on, Joynson proved to
be a cut above, leading every lap of a 10-lap final over Sheedy.
Maddi Miles from Catani smashed the field in Heat 1 on the wettest track of the day in the Ladies Standard Saloons with Bree Walker 21s back.
However, Tegan Bullard led all the way from the front row in the final with Miles second, then Walker and Tasharni Murray. Matt Leek returned to victory lane with victory in the Standard Saloons.
Leek held firm from the front row as Kane Gibson dropped back as Jeff Blencowe, Aaron Cormack and Cadman moved ahead. Blencowe hassled Leek trying to take the lead and when the race was flagged off.
Dean Thompson
THE FIELDS may have been on the small side and some of the racing a bit mundane in certain classes, but the fourth round of the Tasmanian Circuit Racing Championships at Symmons Plains on May 18-19 had plenty to get excited about, reports AA’s MARTIN AGATYN.
AFTER MANY years of racing, veteran HQ Holden driver Neville Rattray wrapped up his first ever Tasmanian championship with two rounds remaining, despite not winning a round this year.
With only 160 points left and Rattray having a 199-point lead, he’s been crowned an early champion.
Consistency has been the key to his title, finishing third in round one and two, equal second in round three, and third in round four, steadily racking up the points for a welldeserved title.
In what proved the deciding round, Rattray finished third for the weekend, with Anthony Viney and Peter Madden sharing the honours in most races, except the double points final, which was fittingly won by Rattray, with Viney taking the round victory.
ONE OF the two lap records for the weekend came in the Hyundai Excels, where Jackson Shaw lowered the mark in Race 1.
As has been the case all season, it was Shaw, reigning champion Jeremy Bennett and 14 year-old revelation Oliver Wickham who distanced themselves from the pack and waged their own three-way war, with some exciting racing and multiple positional changes in just about every race. All three of them won races during the weekend, but it was the youngster Wickham who came out on top with three wins to take the round win and close the gap from third in the championship.
Wickham nearly made it four race wins, but a coming together on the final corner on the last lap of the double points final, gifted the victory to Bennett, enabling him to secure enough points to maintain a 17- point lead over Shaw, with Wickham a further 31 points behind in the championship battle.
THE OTHER lap record for the weekend came during Race 4 for Improved Production sedans – and it wasn’t at the pointy end.
Competing in the under two litre class for the category, Kyle Smith (Datsun 1200) managed to break a 20 year-old record for his class.
At times, Smith was also taking it up to the Over Two-litre boys as well, running fourth outright on occasions.
While Smith was quick at times, he couldn’t keep it up all weekend, finishing fourth in race four and third in the double points final.
It was enough for him to cost him the
overall victory, with the more consistent Leon Duggan (Ford Escort Mk1) winning the round and increasing his series lead over Mary White (Mitsubishi Mirage Cyborg, who finished fourth for the meeting.
Meanwhile, up at the pointy end of the Improved Production sedan field, Jason House (BMW E92 M3) continued his dominance, winning every race to take his winning streak to 15 straight victories.
However, after missing the opening round of the championship, he’s still playing catch-up to series leader Ayrton Richardson (Toyota KE 35 Corolla), who finished second in every race ahead of Anthony Martin (Holden VB Commodore), who was third for the round.
There was only a small field of Formula Vees, but the racing at the front was intense.
Richard Gray (Bee Cee Jabiru) and Noel Clark (Elfin NG2) bobbed up for wins over the course of the weekend, while championship leader Michael Vaughan (Spectre) was never far from the front to maintain his championship lead over Gray.
A SMALL field of Historic Touring Cars saw honours shared between John Talbot (Ford Mustang) and Phil Ashlin (Holden Torana), who had some great battles over the weekend. Talbot came out on top to win the round by just five points, helped by a victory in the final, to preserve his points lead over Ashlin for the title.
The Sports Sedans were virtually a twohorse race as well in another disappointingly small field. Steve Gangell (Holden VL Commodore) was fast all weekend with three wins and two seconds, and, with a number of his championship rivals absent, he’s taken an almost unbeatable lead in the series and can wrap it up with a good result in the fifth and penultimate round.
LANCE “SPIKE” Jones (Holden Torana) struggled with clutch issues on the Saturday, but came good on the Sunday to win races three and four, before lowering his colours to Gangell in the final.
Mike Hamilton (Subaru Liberty) extended his lead in Sports GTB with a solid weekend, which included three wins and two seconds. Dennis Howard (Nissan 350Z) struggled with fuel issues on the Saturday, but had largely sorted them out overnight with a stronger showing on day two, with two wins, including the double points final. Reigning champion David Walker (Holden VX Commodore) circulated strongly for a string of seconds and thirds to remain second in the series.
FURTHER DOWN the field, Michael Symons (BMW 125i) dominated Sports GTC, winning every race for a clean sweep, extending his championship lead over Steve Olive (Ford Falcon), who was second in every race as well.
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TODD HERRING and his rapid Mazda MX5 proved too mighty in the Pitcher Partners Sydney 300 run by Motor Racing Australia on a cold blustery day on May 18. RICCARDO BENVENUTI covered the action.
The fifth annual event is becoming an enduro classic for grass roots Motorsport with 60 cars taking on Sydney Motorsport Park.
The race winner started from pole position and led early on before being challenged by Jimmy Vernon/ Jackson Copeman in another MX5.
Vernon Passed him and took command for the first 15 laps before last year’s winner Benny Tran took control until the first of seven Safety Cars came out.
A badly-timed Safety Car period and subsequent Pit stop penalty ruined Benny’s chances, as third-placed Glenn Townsend in his Lotus Exige retired due to mechanical issues.
The middle part of the race was dominated by the consistent Garry Burges in his EVO X, only for excessive tyre wear and Safety Car periods to ruin his chances.
During lap 38, Vernon had a front-end failure at Turn 3 and speared into the tyre wall.
The clean up took some time and most drivers used this period to do their final pit stop.
As racing recommenced the Ian Salteri/Cem Yucel Golf claimed the lead.
The Geoghegan/Vincent BMW was running as high as second when it ran into problems and finished midfield.
Probably the biggest accident of the race was between the Oskar Butt/Troy Derwent’s Holden Astra
and the Myles Jones Honda Civic, at Turn 8.
Jones check up to avoid a car in front of him, the Astra could not stop in time, and it hit the slowing Civic.
Herring was lapping three seconds quicker than the leading Golf and a nail-biting finish was in store.
But unfortunately for the leader, the Bill Harris Commodore stopped and caused the final Safety Car with less than 10 laps to the end.
With a compressed field and his lead reduced, Salteri could not keep the fast Herring behind, who won the race from Aaron and Matthew Giuntini.
Alex and Dieter Holzl finished third outright in their consistent BMW M1 as the Salteri/Yucel Golf limped to sixth.
JEREMY HODGE MEMORIAL CUP
TWO ONE-HOUR races were held for the Jeremy Hodge Memorial Cup, which went to the Monique Sciberras and Wil Longmore duo.
In Race 1 the winners fought hard after starting in pit lane and making their way through the field ahead of Blake Patterson and John Marwick/Nick Hough.
Race 2 was affected by multiple pitstop infringements – nevertheless, Sciberras/Longmore triumphed from a great solo drive by Jackson Faulkner.
ALFA ROMEO/BMW E36
THESE CLASSES were combined in all three races. Jeff Barnes dominated the BMW’s winning all three races. Urs Muller won the first two races in the Alfa Class. Race 3 saw a great tussle between Muller and Matthew Cucuzza with the latter coming out on top.
STUART MCFADYEN claimed pole in the MX5 Cup but was not able to turn this into a race win. Tim Herring won Race 1 from Jett Herring and McFayden. Tim Herring had a DNF in Race 2, which was won by Jett Herring. Race 3 saw a rear-of-the-grid win by Tim Herring. Jett Herring was second and Aaron Herring in third made it a complete family affair.
IVAN SREJBER made it a clean sweep, with pole position and three from three wins. Jos Kroon came home in second place in all three races. Third place was shared between Russel Butler (Races 1 & 2) and David Grant (Race 3).
THE QRDC season resumed at the familiar home of Queensland Raceway on May 18-19 and were greeted with ideal conditions.
THE BMWs hit back in the Queensland Touring Car Championship round by sweeping the podium.
Robert Bellinger led the way as a final race DNF proved costly for the Commodore of Peter Bray.
A BMW whitewash was not on the agenda as the Holdens initially controlled proceedings.
It was a 1-2-3 for the ‘General’ in qualifying with Cameron Haak beating Bray by fourtenths, while Ballinger was fourth more than 2s adrift.
The opening race was then dominated by Holden with Haak’s Commodore ahead of Lee Gravolin’s Monaro, while Bellinger could only manage fourth.
By Race 2, Bray found his stride and and took a hard -ought win over Haak as Gravolin didn’t start, allowing the #72 BMW finally into the top three. Bellinger then crept up to second in Race 3, pushing Bray all the way as Haak retired on lap eight.
Race 4 was another close affair as Bray completed a hat-trick of wins but by now he was the only Holden in the top five and kept a swarm of BMWs at bay.
The round was turned on its head in the finale as Bray dropped out of the lead on lap six. The ever consistent Bellinger took full advantage and won the race and snatched the round over fellow BMW drivers Ben Malpass and Gary Lange as the Holdens dropped out.
CONSISTENCY WAS also the name of the game here, as just one win was enough for Timothy Weier to take Superkart round honours.
Russell Jamieson shot out of the blocks, taking the first three races on the bounce.
He had taken pole by over a second and took the hat-trick by the best part of 20s on each occasion.
However, his momentum was stalled in Race 4 when he was one of six DNFs in the dramatic 10-lap affair.
Critically, Weier beat Timothy Philp by 4s and despite dropping down to fifth in the finale, he did enough to take round honours.
The final race was a nail biter with Philp beating Ewen Burg by half a second.
ONE SLIP-UP also proved costly for Connor Roberts as Brett Parrish overtook him late in the piece to take the Time Attack Excels round.
Roberts started brilliantly, taking pole by half a second before taking the first three races.
They were not without battles however, with the first two both within a second. But Race 4 proved to be a turning point as Roberts retired on lap six.
This created a thrilling fight for victory as Tyler Collins and Josh Richards went headto-head.
The former emerged on top by a second as less than two seconds covered the top five. Suddenly the fight for the round was up in the air and Parrish rose to the occasion, surging 3s ahead of the field to snatch the race and round at the death.
The next QRDC round is June 29.
Thomas Miles
AFTER AN exciting Ross Hanning Memorial, the 2024 NAMSC Dimet Tools circuit racing championship held its second round at Hidden Valley Raceway.
With returning regulars like Rachel Beers, Evan Bartlett, Ross Salmon, Craig Wright, and Rodney Jessup debuting his brand-new Production VF Commodore, there was great excitement.
Despite the absence of Club President Shane Smith and multi-time champion David Ling on track due to repairs after Round 1, there was still action in the Commodore Cup. Garry Dempsey was back in action, while for the first time since 2016 ‘Fast’ Eddy Austin returned in the new car #30.
The day started with a mixed Practice/ Qualifying and Ross Salmon led in IPRA with Garry Dempsey leading the Commodore Cup.
In the Qualifying, Aleeanz Voltz overcame Noah Grosser P2 and Dakota Masters.
RACING BEGAN with HQs and Excels with Voltz dominating the race, finishing with a 20-second lead over Grosser, while Peter
Anderson and Tony Whitehair had a thrilling battle throughout all 8 laps.
The Thundering Commodore Cup and IPRA action saw Salmon grab pole position with Garry Dempsey close behind.
But Rossco took the lead, with Craig Wright’s Ford Escort showing agility.
Dempsey dropped back before retiring to the pit lane, followed by Wright due to a tire issue.
Ian Roots beat Geoff Cowie for P2, while Austin battled for P4 and Rachel Beers suffered a DNF due to overheating and Bartlett had mechanical issues.
Noah Grosser trailed behind Voltz in Race 2, while Anderson in HQ finished third on
track and first in class.
Several cars, including those of Wright, Salmon, and Bartlett, suffered mechanical issues after the opening race and they did not return to the track.
Despite this, the remaining cars still put on an exciting race.
Geoff Cowie won Commodore Cup #7 despite Dempsey being right behind him, while Eddy Austin was third in his second race since 2016.
Rodney Jessup retired after five laps and Beers finished sixth despite having overheating dramas.
Aleeanz Voltz dominated the final Excel HQ race in front of Grosser.
Anderson took P1 for HQs ahead of Whitehair
Garry
and Ian
They battled throughout the eight-lap race, but Dempsey ultimately came out on top. Dempsey started the final race on pole position but made a start error, allowing Roots to once again take the early lead. But to make his challenge even greater, Cowie then overtook Dempsey for second place and forcing the latter to come home third.
Roots went on to win with a 2s gap to Cowie, while Dakota Masters claimed her first Class win in fifth place.
Aleeanz had to pit due to mechanical issues, and Grosser, after 11 laps, was a nonfinisher.
The next event on the 2024 NAMSC calendar is the Improved Productions Nationals on July 19-21.
Story and Images JAKE DUNNNORTHLINE MEDIA
THE B-SERIES Super Sprints returned to Morgan Park Raceway for Round 2 of the 2024 Warwick District Sporting Car Club season.
The event was conducted on the old long track, called track E, where Matt O’Brien excelled.
This is a rather complex track using the main part of the K track before getting more technical towards the end.
It also doesn’t use all of the straight, giving some of the lower horse-powered cars a chance to level the playing field.
As nearly all the other Super Sprint rounds this year, the sun shone on most of Saturday only for drizzle to make life difficult in the afternoon and most of Sunday.
The wet and greasy conditions were definitely the ingredients for some difficulties for many drivers and a large amount had decided to retire event once the rain set in.
The event was run smoothly although it did not go without incidents.
Apart from many cars slipping off the track, there was the odd tyre wall contact here and there as well as a bit of car-to-car contact ... but nothing too serious.
There was a great variety of cars over the weekend with a bit of something for everyone.
The outright fastest for the weekend was O’Brien in a Mitsubishi EVO, followed by Mick McMillan also in a EVO.
Despite having some issues with a rear wing not playing the game, Brad Stehr took third in his Nissan 200SX.
Pete Trapnell
THE OLD-SCHOOL Australian Trans-Am season fired back to life at Queensland Raceway, where John Prefontaine stamped his authority.
Prefontaine was a dominant figure in his #21 Wood Brothers Racing style scheme, winning all four races.
But such a one-sided weekend was far from likely after qualifying where just 0.036s was the difference.
It was actually Russell Wright’s Mustang that had the pace, snatching pole by the skin of its teeth with a 1:19.8910.
Prefontaine had to settle for second best a fraction of a second away, while Ian Palmer was the next best six-tenths adrift in the Pontiac Firebird.
But Wright blew his advantage of pole position by making an uncharacteristic error at Turn 1.
This allowed Prefontaine and Palmer through and the #21 to cruise to a 7s win.
Behind him Wright and Palmer were in an intense fight for second best and the former managed to make up for his earlier mistake to emerge on top.
Sean English and Warren Wedley completed the rest of the top five in the clean race.
There were no concerns for Prefontaine as he went back to back by 6s.
Wright and Palmer resumed their rivalry for second place and this time Palmer won the battle in the Firebird with a late move.
English was a first lap victim, while Wadley
didn’t start.
In Race 3, all eyes were on Crossley and English as they fought tooth and nail for a spot in the top five, which eventually went to the Falcon.
The battle for the second remained an arm wrestle that saw Palmer sneaking ahead of Wright in an expanded field.
Prefontaine remained at his dominant best in Race 4 ahead of Palmer as English dropped out with dramas after three laps.
The finale was a move competitive affair with just 5s covering the top four but none could stop Prefontaine from completing a high five.
He was 3s ahead of Palmer, while Bishop was able to jump Wright to snatch fourth. With some missing due to parts, a larger field is hoped for when the Australian TransAms return to Queensland Raceway on June 28-30.
Thomas Miles
THE THUNDERDOME was reborn thanks to the Motor Events Racing Rome the Dome event on May 11.
The special two-day race was a significant one on many fronts, raising money for rare cancers, plus giving drivers the rare chance to race on the Thunderdome.
Across the two days, 348 laps were completed with 24 multi-driver entries seeing many makes represented from Nissans, Subarus, Holdens, Fords, BMWs and more.
But unlike other meetings, the winner of a Motor Events Racing round is the team that raises the most money for Race Cancers Australia.
That honour went to JAGA Racing, which donated an impressive $1050, almost double the next highest of Civic Unrest.
The race itself proved to be a twohorse race between The Buccaneers and Knucklehead Garage.
On the opening day, things were going the way of the Buccaneers after close to 200 laps of racing.
Knucklehead Garage was hurt by a broken exhaust clamp and found itself up to four laps down. However, the speed of the #47 Nissan 350z, plus a well timed fuel stop during a stoppage allowed then to jump back into contention.
Despite the best efforts of the Buccaneers squad, they could not stop Knucklehead
Garage from charging to a one lap win on the second and deciding day.
The Buccaneers squad of Malcolm Stenniken, Lindsay Stenniken, Callum Leahy and David Hanna tried tried their best, but just fell short.
“Our nemeses is always Knucklehead and we actually thought we would get them when they run out of fuel but they proved us wrong and made it through,” Malcom Stenniken said.
“Its a fun, friendly rivalry.
“For most of the time we circulated in a similar time to the Nissan 350Z, running 8-10s pretty consistently, but they were that little bit too quick for us.
“We relied on fuel strategy and driver changes, but they got a free fuel stop and was the big difference.”
Despite coming up second best, Stenniken, who competed in the Peter Brock Classic at Calder back in 1995, said it was a great event and a thrill to race on the Thunderdome for a good cause.
“The Thunderdome was great but it was very, very rough and abrasive with not much maintenance,” he recalled.
“It was tough on cars and very, very bumpy.
“But it is a good cause. The chief organiser’s wife passed away around two years ago due to a rare cancer so it always has a bit more meaning.”
Motor Events Racing attracted national exposure with some Supercars stars competing in the Clippy Cup last weekend, while the next event is the Boneyard GP at DriveIt NQ on July 13-14.
Thomas Miles
ALEX RULLO (above) has overcome his father Peter to take both the family bragging rights and Round 2 of the Western Australian Rally Championship. The state championship ran shotgun with the national Australian Rally Championship at the Forest Rally event on May 18-19.
No-one in the 21-car field could catch the Rullos, however, with Alex emerging on top after 1h47m50s behind the wheel. Boosted by a test with former Aussie WRC driver Chris Atkinson, the former Supercars driver turned rally driver proved too strong in the Forest Rally.
Rullo and co-driver Steve Glenney in the Hyundai i20 Rally2 emerged four minutes ahead of father Peter and his partner James Marquet, while the father-son combination were in a league of their own.
A further five minutes back was Craig Rando and Scott Beckwith, who fought well in a Subaru GD GTI P5 which is two decades older than the Rullos i20s.
Frank O’Shea and Kody Reynolds rounded out the top five.
Alex Rullo raced out of the gates by taking the opening stage by a commanding 13s over Dylan King.
A HUGE field of around 100 entries took on the original Rob Roy course at for the first time since 2022 in the 2024 Trydel Victorian Hill Climb Championship on May 19.
Weather conditions looked ominous and with the first runs kicking off on a dry but very cold track, it was a case of who was the bravest on their first runs, with conditions slowly worsening for those competitors near the end.
Conditions slightly improved for the Formula Libre cars at the start of Run 2, with Mike Barker sparking his way over the causeway and setting the fastest time of 19.58 seconds.
David Mahon improved on his second run to get down to a 21.32. David Bell went out hard on his first run with a 21.88, which was fast enough for third outright at the end of the day.
The always spectacular Patrick
Malanaphy was fourth fastest, clocking a 22.45 on his second run with Brian Portz fifth fastest on a 24.54 on his first run of the day.
With the difficult weather conditions, it’s no surprise to see the 4WD cars rise to the top, with fastest tin top (and third Outright) being Bell in his Subaru WRX (21.88).
He was followed by Brian Portz in his Subaru WRX (24.54), Emma Collyer in her Subaru WRX (24.84) as Jordan James in his Mitsubishi Evo Lancer (24.93) and Nathan Kuchel in his BMW 135i (25.60) rounded out the top eight.
Emma Collyer was also fastest female on the day, with her time of 24.84 netting her third fastest in Improved Production 4wd.
The Victorian Hillclimb Championship returns for round 5 at Mt Leura, Ballarat Light Car Club on June 1-2
Rullo’s dominance was disrupted on Stage 3 when King topped the times by 15s.
However, the #5 Hyundai was back on top for the remainder of the day, winning the three following stages to enjoy a solid 2m27s advantage over Peter Rullo.
The elder Rullo only held a 6s advantage over Rando.
King’s charge came to an abrupt end due to mechanical dramas.
The same fate was Dale Faulkner’s
Subaru WRX, Carter Smith’s 1975 Ford Escort, Adam Crich’s 1995 Mitsubishi Evo, Thomas Loughton’s 2008 Mitsubishi
Civic, while Robert Foley went off.
Normal service resumed on Sunday which was all about the Rullos.
Alex won the first five stages, but his hope of enjoying a perfect Heat was denied by his father.
Peter Rullo took an exciting Power Stage, edging his son by 4s with an equal gap to Timothy Hiles.
The next WA Rally Championship event is the 2024 Light Car Club of WA Grimwade Stages on July 6.
Thomas Miles
GLENN PIKE and Peter Hutchins (Razorback) claimed a narrow win in the 2024 GT Bobcat Mumbannar 160 on May 18. They won both their heats to lead home Dean Carter and Brad Jacob (Razorback) by less than a minute in the outright standings.
David and Matthew Hall/Jai Haworth (Murphy) were the next best narrowly heading off Darren and Lewis Oliver (Tinybuilt) with just over three minutes covering the top four finishers.
There was a bit of a gap back to Chevy and Jade Croker (Rivmasta) in P5 with Connor and Peter Corrigan (Raptor) hot on their heel and an even smaller gap back to seventh placed Brenton Davey (L200 Mitsubishi).
Aiden and Stacey Campagnolo (Can-Am) had a good day running strongly in the top 10.
The Tamblyns – James, Sophie and Kaitlin (Tabor) had some issues in Heat 2 which dropped them off the pace but the made it home in P9.
Simon Gubbins and Steven Penprase
picked up the pace in heat two moving to tenth by flag fall.
Two-time Mumbannar winners Andrew and Fletcher Murdoch (Element Prodigy) were out early with a broken water pump.
Class winners were Pike/Hutchins (Unlimited), Hall/Hall/Haworth (Class 1), Oliver/(Oliver (Class 2), Glen and Angus Shipp (Class 3) were a lap down in 18th outright.
Darren Mott (Class 4) just missed out on a top 10 finish, Davey took Class 5.
The Campagnolos took out their Class while Ferguson and Jakob Juzva (Yamaha) claimed the Class 6 win.
Connor Cooper and Daniel Oldaker (Nissan Patrol) were the last to complete full race distance winning Class 7 but only thanks to head gasket failure on the Patrol of Heath and Michelle Weedon who had comfortably run in the middle of the field most of the race.
Class 10 had the most cars in the field with the Crokers claiming the top spot.
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HARRY BATES and Coral Taylor put in a fighting performance to overcome a 2m23s deficit on the final day to snatch the 2024 Forest Rally in WA.
After the opening day of the Forest Rally, Scott Pedder was the driver to beat as Bates/Taylor suffered mechanical dramas and time penalties.
However, the reigning champions put in a special performance across the second heat and a big win on Stage 9 proved decisive as Pedder lost significant time with a broken cylinder.
Having dominated the Canberra opener, the latest success extends Harry Bates’ ARC championship lead, but the second success was much more hard-fought.
“I just wanted to say a massive thank you to Neal Bates Motorsport for their efforts,” Harry said.
“They had a fair few issues thrown at them this weekend from my mistakes and they worked and worked at it to make sure we had a good car.
“It was a real team effort this weekend and I am really proud of them all.
“It’s silly the mistake I made on Stage 1 but sometimes that’s when you can get the best out of yourself, when you have your back against the wall.”
On a dramatic opening day Pedder and Macneall took out maximum points.
They raced out of the blocks by winning Stage 1 where Harry Bates hit a hole and broke his suspension.
Although Bates/Taylor showed ominous form by winning four of the next five stages, they could not make a big impact on the
overall leaderboard, eventually settling for fifth place and the best part of two-and-ahalf minutes off the pace.
At the top of the leaderboard, Pedder/ Macneall found themselves in an arm wrestle with Eddie Maguire and Zak Brakey, plus Lewis Bates and Anthony McLoughlin, who overcame jet lag having arrived from a FIA World Rally Championship debut in Portugal earlier in the week.
The trio took turns in the ascendancy until Pedder and Macneall performed in the final
two stages to win Heat 1.
Pedder appeared to be the driver to beat heading into Sunday, but the Forest Rally was turned on its head on Sunday’s third stage when the Skoda Fabia R5 of Pedder and Macneall sustained a broken cylinder, causing the event leaders to limp home on the stage and lose significant time.
While the Heat 1 winners managed to finish the rally, any hope of winning the event was over as they ended the day almost five minutes off the pace and in ninth overall.
This opened the door for Bates and Taylor to win again, which they did.
Driving the new #1 Toyota GT Yaris Rally2, Bates and Taylor rose under pressure to ultimately win by 32.6s.
Maguire and Brakey scored enough points to secure second best overall, while Alex Rullo and Steve Glenney finished on equal points with Pedder and MacNeall but claimed the final place of the event podium due to total time countback.
A big battle emerged for second in Heat 2 as just six seconds separated Lewis Bates, Maguire and Rullo, who won the penultimate stage, heading into the day’s final stage.
As Lewis Bates took the rally-ending Power Stage, he sealed second for Heat 2 and fifth overall. while Rullo secured another podium.
Molly Taylor and Andy Sarandis won the ARC Production Cup after a brilliant Sunday. Taylor and Sarandis lost out on Heat 1 Production Cup honours when they received a late penalty on the final stage to fall behind Craig Rando and Scott Beckwith.
However, a near perfect final day saw them push to a two-minute win over Josh Wiedman and Nick Reid, while Rando and Beckwith had a troubled time.
David and Kelly Thomas completed a clean-sweep of ARC 2WD Cup stage wins, while Tony Oates and Niamh Nairn were victorious in the 2WD Classic Cup.
The Bosch Motorsport Australia Rally Championship continues next month with the Accent Benchtops Rally Queensland in Gympie on June 28-30.
That could also be a competitive affair with Harry Bates expected to receive stiffer competition.
Not only will Pedder be out for redemption, but Lewis Bates will finally be armed with his new weapon.
Harry Bates will no longer be the only one racing the new Toyota GR Yaris Rally2, with Lewis Bates receiving the latest model for Queensland, having got a taste of it at Rally de Portugal.
Thomas Miles
WITH TWO rounds to win in as many days, the Nitro Champs was always going to be a critical part of the 2023/24 National Drag Racing Championship Top Fuel season and Peter Xiberras took full advantage.
Having not really fired before Sydney, Xiberras was at his best at Sydney Dragway, winning both rounds to take his Top Fuel title hopes to top gear.
The day began with defending champ Damien Harris wasting no time setting down one of seven 500 kph+ Top Fuel runs of the day with a blistering 3.769s/524kph effort in a side-by-side pass over Xiberras (3.828s/510.11kph).
However, this was just the beginning of the story for Xiberras, who turned his fortunes around in Round 2 with a win over Phil Read, paving the way for his A-Final appearance and the chance at redemption against Harris.
Despite no time being recorded, Phil Read overcame Phil Lamattina in the B Final as Wayne Newby a broken crank to win the C Final.
In Top Fuel on Sunday, Xiberras immediately got to work to set up a repeat of his Saturday round win, laying down a 3.80 second, 514.83kph pass in the first run of the day over Phil Read, who went nowhere after a $20 part failure.
The PremiAir driver carried on his momentum to make the A Final a rematch from the day before, against Harris, thanks to convincing Round 1 and 2 performances. Xiberras’ effort was more than enough, winning on a holeshot with a 3.795 seconds at 514.7kph to Harris’ 3.793, 523.88kph effort. He became the first driver of the Top Fuel season to take a second round win and was stunned.
“This is unbelievable, I don’t know what to say, I am a bit gobsmacked actually,” Xiberras said.
“It has just been one of those weekends where things have fallen into place. There have been times where we thought we had blown it ... and it just comes in.
“I can’t thank my crew enough – we were here past midnight servicing. There was a little problem, we thought, with the rear end with the diff and we probably didn’t need to change it, but we did to make sure, so we pulled the diff out and put the spare in – these boys and girls are just amazing individuals and I can’t thank them enough.
“Without them I wouldn’t be doing this, so kudos to them.”
Newby overcame Rapisarda Autosport International teammate Shane Olive in the B Final as Read took the C Final.
With their qualifying completed on Saturday, the XPRO Nitro Funny Cars, Top Doorslammer, Pro Stock and FuelTech Pro Mod cars went straight into racing on Sunday.
To keep his XPRO Nitro Funny Cars title aspirations alive, Justin Walshe needed to win and did just that.
After beating Adam Murrihy to make it to
the final, Walshe was too good for Brandon Gosbell in the decider.
A 4.114 second 511.19kph pass proved too good for Gosbell’s 5.140/235.70kph effort.
In the B-Final, it was Morice McMillin all the way to take the win over Anthony Begley.
McMillin overcame rookie Josh Leahy in Round 2 where the latter impressively avoided a serious accident after the cabin of his Mustang filled up with clutch dust as he deployed his chutes. In the C-Final Adam Murrihy enjoyed a bye.
In Top Doorslammer it was a quintessential Australian start to the day when a kangaroo hopped across the dragway before the racing took centre stage.
Russell Taylor set a new quickest ET of the weekend in Round 1 to secure a spot in the A Final against Daniel Gregorini. However, Gregorini took possibly the slowest Top Doorslammer win after Taylor crossed the centre line and knocked out a timing block.
Lisa Gregorini set two PBs before the B-Final where she enjoyed a solo run after Ronnie Palumbo was unable to make it to the starting box.
In the C-Final, Top Qualifier and
title leader John Zappia was looking for redemption after losing to Jeremy Callaghan on a holeshot in Round 2, but sadly, this wouldn’t be the case. The 11-time champ was pushed back from the startline in a heartbreaking scene with fluid dripping from his Monaro, with the win going to Callaghan (10.491/133.8kph).
Craig Hewitt took D Final victory in style by delivering a massive wheel stand.
In FuelTech Pro Mod, only the D-Final was able to be completed where Greg Tsakiridis (7.950/206.52kph) overcame Neil Murphy (8.182 /193.05kph) in what could only be called a pedal fest.
The on-track action was halted due to an incident in the C Final where Joe Gauci’s Profab ‘67 Mustang got out of shape, hit the wall and slid to the deep end on its roof.
Gauci was able to walk away, but it brought an end to the on-track action with the the remaining FuelTech Pro Mod and Pro Stock finals to be completed at the Winternationals.
Eleven Aeroflow National Sportsman Championship brackets had taken to the track for their second round of the weekend, commencing with the conclusion of qualifying for Top Sportsman, Performance Bike and SuperComp, with Steve Fowler, Edge Mallis and Jai Schluter taking those honours respectively.
The classes that did not make it to the end will be concluded at a Sydney Track Championship in July, which will not be part of the Eastern Conference points.
The next NDRC round is the Winternationals finale at Willowbank on June 6-9.
Thomas Miles
JOEL HEINRICH left it late, but he snatched round honours from a weekend of fierce Aussie Racing Car action at Wanneroo.
Three drivers shared the honours across the four races, often with little between them at the chequered flag.
There were two early victims from a surreal incident in practice.
Asher Johnston had pulled off to the side of the track on the approach to the final corner after blowing an engine.
But in a freak turn of events, as Scott Dornan was charging down the hill, he slipped on the oil and careered into the stranded Johnston.
The heavy impact saw both cars ruled out of the weekend in devastating fashion.
Heinrich started his weekend from pole, but had to earn it, sneaking ahead of local Mason Harvey by a slim 0.03s.
Incredibly the margin was just as close in the opening race.
Harvey’s special hometown front row amounted to nothing as he stalled and, following the early Safety Car, Heinrich and Kody Garland traded blows.
Heinrich controlled the race from pole, but Garland cut his lead down in the closing laps and the race reached a crescendo at the final corner.
Garland made a last-gasp assault at the final corner and it paid off, muscling his way past the reigning champion and getting his nose ahead by just 0.03s, while Reece Chapman was not far behind in third.
Harvey unfortunately could not make the start.
Race 2 was another one that went down to the wire and this time the roles were revered.
PETER PADDON has well and truly made his mark on the Radical Cup Australia by sweeping Wanneroo with a perfect round.
Paddon took pole and both races out west to build a strong lead in the standings after the second round.
A one-sided weekend was not what many expected after qualifying where just 0.09s was the difference for pole.
Cooper Cutts pushed Paddon all the way, while the likes of Elliott Schutte, Bryce Moore and Cade Bell were all just three-tenths away.
Paddon led from pole and looked to retain the lead after the stops, but a Safety Car for the spun Adam Naccarata at the final corner saw Bell jump the leaders.
Bell pushed too hard trying to build an advantage and became the latest to get stuck in the Turn 7 sand, which allowed Paddon to return to the lead.
However, he was reeled in by Cutts, Schutte and Reindler/Moore in the final laps to setup a tense finish.
But Paddon stayed in charge and prevailed by half a second over Schutte as Cutts dropped to 11th due to a 30s penalty.
Following a tight 45-minute race, attention turned to sprints with a pair of 25-minute races wrapping up the weekend.
The early Sunday morning race was controlled by Paddon as he led all 18 laps.
However, Cutts followed him every step of the way being just a second behind, while Schutte made a late move to steal third from Bryce Moore.
Ian Oon and Andrew Connor both failed to finish.
For the second race in a row Paddon controlled every lap to complete the
Heading into the final lap, Heinrich found himself in second behind Chapman looking to find a way past.
Like Garland, Heinrich took aim on the last lap, this time at Kolb Corner.
He got by, but could not prevent Chapman from performing the switchback and taking the win, leaving the #1 to be second best by a slim margin once again.
Garland was a safe third with Cody Brewczynski fourth despite a clash with Brandon Madden, while Harvey put in a big comeback drive to eighth.
The inverted grid race was a fluctuating affair with both Josh Thomas and Madden leading early before sacrificing track position with mistakes.
These moments setup a fascinating multi-car battle for glory between Chapman, Madden, Ryder Quinn, Heinrich, Josh Anderson, Harvey and
Williams, who were all covered by a second.
Chapman made his decisive move on the penultimate lap to jump clear of the pack and take another win.
Heinrich had been close, but waited until the fourth and final race to finally stand on the top step when his patience was rewarded.
After an early Safety Car, Garland led the majority of the race and was in front of the #1 at the start of the final lap.
Heinrich had another look coming out of the Basin and contact over the hump send Garland into a spin.
Heinrich pressed on to take the race and the round win in dramatic fashion followed by Madden and Brewczynski. The Aussie Racing Cars are back in action at Townsville on July 5-7. Thomas Miles
perfect weekend with Cutts again in his wake.
However, it was not without its moments as Paddon and Schutte went side-by-side from Turn 1 to Turn 4 where the latter came off second best.
Light contact saw Schutte spin to the
back of the pack – he eventually recovered to seventh.
The fight for third went down to the wire with Cade Bell snatching it from Barton Mawer.
Round 3 is at The Bend on June 7-9.
Thomas Miles
ADAM GARWOOD and his VB Commodore are now round winners after beating Ryan Hansford on a countback in an entertaining Touring Car Masters return to Wanneroo.
For the first time in 11 years, TCM headed out west and it put on a show for the fans as a new winner emerged from Round 2.
Joel Heinrich raced out of the gates with pace to burn in his Chevrolet Camaro.
Hansford set the early benchmark in his A9X Torana, but Heinrich flew to a 1:00.3191s to be a tenth clear with Steven Johnson and Garwood not far behind.
The pack was shuffled for a nail-biting Trophy Race where Jamie Tilley rose to the occasion producing a special drive.
Tilley got the jump on Jim Pollicina off the rolling start, while Johnson and Hansford only hit the top 10 at the start of lap three.
But their charge was interrupted at the six-minute mark due to Moller having a massive crash on the approach to Turn 7. Moller lost control going down the hill and his VH Commodore spun head on into the concrete wall on the left-hand side. Unfortunately the damage ruled him out for the rest of the weekend.
This set-up a stunning five-minute dash to the flag where Hansford launched a counterattack for victory.
The #6 Torana sat down in seventh but took advantage of a squabbling train of Holdens to steadily rise towards the front in the closing laps.
After emerging on top in some fierce battles, Hansford only had leader Tilley ahead of him and applied the blowtorch on the final lap.
It went down to the very last corner where Tilley covered on the inside and Hansford launched a dive around the outside.
The Torana tried to carry the speed, but the Mustang hung tough and forced
Hansford wide to cling on for a special win.
This gave fans a taste of what was to come in Race 1 where Hansford was able to go one better in a stunning style.
Heinrich led away from pole as Garwood jumped the Multispares Racing Torana to surge to second, while Tony Karanfilovski and Geoff Fane were both spun on a dramatic opening lap.
The opening tour concluded with Hanford snatching second from Garwood with a bold move at the final turn, moments before the Safety Car returned for the stopped Fane.
When racing resumed the top three sped away with Hansford increasing the pressure on Heinrich until Lap 9 when he went for it.
The 2022 champion made a big dive down the inside of the Camaro at Kolb Corner but caught the kerb and got out of shape.
Despite the Torana dancing, Hansford manhandled his machine to regain control and slide in front of Heinrich in a move for the ages.
On the final lap Heinrich tried to pull off the same move at the basin, but Hansford had covered it off, which left the former vulnerable to Garwood.
The Torana and Camaro went sideby-side until the chequered flag where Heinrich edged ahead.
The trio resumed their rivalry in an equally entertaining Race 2 where they diced throughout the 17 laps.
Hansford hit the lead on the inside of the opening corner and controlled until lap 12 when Heinrich went on the attack.
A switchback coming out of the final turn allowed the Camaro to hit the lead, but things turned when they arrived at the ‘Basin.’
Heinrich went on the inside, but Hansford defied the expectations of even Craig Lowndes and flew around the outside of the Camaro around the long right hander. Despite the special move, Heinrich
powered past on pit straight, while Garwood also passed the Torana.
Heinrich took the chequered flag first, but was disqualified due to interference during parc ferme, promoting Garwood to victory lane.
After surfing local car clubs for parts, Johnson was back in action and made up four spots to finish eighth.
With Heinrich starting at the back, the fight for the round win in Race 3 was between Hansford and Garwood.
They didn’t give an inch off the start and had Skaife-Ambrose style contact on the approach to Turn 1 but, unlike 2005, both stayed on the tarmac with the VB Commodore emerging in the lead.
Garwood was then able to open a handy buffer on Hansford, who left his charge for the closing laps, but a small mistake at Turn 1 ended his hopes.
Garwood led all 17 laps of the clean race to claim a maiden round win with Hansford 0.7s back, while Heinrich pulled off a special drive from last to third and Johnson also finished on a high with fourth.
The Touring Car Masters follow Supercars to the Top End and will race around Hidden Valley Raceway on June 14-16.
Thomas Miles
TOURING CAR MASTERS STANDINGS AFTER ROUND 2
1: Ryan Hansford 327 points
2: Joel Heinrich 308
3: Steven Johnson 303
4: Marcus Zukanovic 265
5: Andrew Fisher 149
THE WILD West lived up to its name with the fight for Super2 honours featuring battles, fires and roll-overs.
At the end of it all, Zach Bates added a maiden Super2 round win to the family’s ever-expanding trophy cabinet.
A Walkinshaw Andretti United victory did not appear likely at all for most of the weekend, however, given Eggleston Motorsport’s initial dominance.
But the entire round was literally turned upside down in a shortened, but wild final race.
Out of the gates, it was clear the Eggleston Commodores were the cars to beat.
In opening practice, four of the top five cars were Eggleston machines, while the entire top seven were Holdens.
Whilst Bates edged ahead in Practice 2, there was only one team seriously in contention for pole.
Cooper Murray survived a smoky scare to get pole position in the #88 after overcoming a challenge from Kai Allen.
As Murray left the pits to begin his polesetting run, his front left brake was on fire, but once the flames disappeared, he put the foot down to produce a 54.7855s.
At the same time, Allen was also doing a late push lap, which fell just 0.05s short, while Brad Vaughan was a lone Mustang and Cody Gillis impressed, setting the fourth fastest time despite being in the opening session with the slower cars.
THERE WAS drama before the start of the opening race as Vaughan suffered a starter motor failure.
Allen had no such dramas, flying off the line to leave pole-sitter Murray for dust, while Bates and Gillis slotted in behind.
Rookie Jarrod Hughes could not make the most of his impressive qualifying effort and slipped from sixth to ninth.
The race soon settled down and was on track to be a rare flag-to-flag affair.
However, things changed when the Safety Car arrived just 12 minutes from the finish. Fighting for 19th, Jett Johnson made contact with Callum Walker on the exit of Turn 1. The rotating ZB Commodore was then collected hard by Mason Kelly on the way through with the #22 Mustang also finding the fence.
This wiped out Allen’s lead and left a thrilling seven and a half minute chase to the chequered flag.
Unlike last year when Ryan Wood overpowered Allen, the Eggleston Motorsport driver nailed the restart to pull a second ahead within laps.
But there was a change in Super3 with Cody Burcher hunting down a damaged Thomas Maxwell within three laps.
Allen was never challenged by Murray following the restart and cruised to a 1.3s triumph to carry on his perfect start and take a hat-trick of wins.
HOWEVER, HIS hopes of making it four from four, on Sunday, were effectively ended by an uncharacteristic qualifying.
Allen left his lap to the death and could not maximise it, surprisingly only managing 13th. Instead, pole went to Vaughan, who snuck ahead of Bates by 0.03s as Max Vidau and McLeod impressed to lock out the second row from the first session.
Unfortunately for Vaughan, he would suffer starting issues for the second straight race.
On this occasion he was far too eager and jumped the start, which was an instant slam-dunk 5s penalty.
Behind him Bates, Vidau and McLeod went three-wide into Turn 1 where the WAU driver critically won.
The race had been running pretty calmly for the first 12 minutes and 10 laps until it was turned on its head following some wretched luck for Kelly.
Kelly was running a solid fifth until flames suddenly burst out of the front of the recently repaired #22 Kelly Racing Mustang – a blown engine (conrod). Fortunately the second generation racer was able to climb out of the smoky car.
The fire also left a mess on the track and a number of cars were slid off into the sand pit, including Hughes, Elliott Cleary, Campbell Logan and Lochie Dalton.
Due to a busy track clean up required, the red flag was waved with 21 minutes left on the clock, which kept counting down.
Racing resumed with four minutes left on the clock, but the racing did not last an entire lap.
Cameron launched a move down the inside of McLeod at Kolb Corner, which left the #92 ZB Commodore vulnerable to those behind.
Murray tried to take advantage, but gave the covering McLeod a nudge as they approached the rise.
At 200-plus km/h the contact sent McLeod spinning out of control in scenes reminiscent of Scott Pye 2013.
However, on this occasion the #92 Coke Commodore was kicked airborne and went into a horrifying roll, flipping three times before landing on its wheels. The reds returned instantly and the race was called.
Three days after the chequered flag Murray was disqualified for reckless driving. Despite the horror finish, McLeod was still credited with a career-best third place finish as Bates took the race and round win with Vidau behind.
Murray was second for the round before the disqualification, promoting the everconsistent Allen to the runner-up position and Cameron back to the podium.
In Super3 Burcher had a perfect weekend ahead of Maxwell and Tony Auddino.
The Dunlop Series returns at Townsville on July 5-7.
Thomas Miles
DUNLOP SUPER2 STANDINGS AFTER ROUND 2
1: Kai Allen 540 points
2: Aaron Cameron 480
3: Zach Bates 456
4: Max Vidau 384
5: Cameron McLeod 375
JUST WHEN THE 2024 SUPERCARS SEASON APPEARED TO BE GOING ONE WAY, FORD HIT BACK WITH A MIGHTY AND TIMELY PERFORMANCE OUT WEST, WHICH COULD SPARK SOME NEW CHAMPIONSHIP CHALLENGES … THOMAS MILES EXPLAINS HOW THE MUSTANGS HIT BACK ...
THE START of the 2024 Supercars season was a familiar tale, with Triple Eight and Chevrolet cementing the makings of another championship.
The Camaros won each of the opening eight races across a variety of circuits from the blast up Mount Panorama, the streets of Melbourne and twists of Taupo.
Despite the one-sided results, it was clear Ford had more ammunition to fight with than last year, but luck was not on its side.
However, the tide finally turned at Perth, which became Mustang country.
Spearheading the cavalry was Chaz Mostert and WAU, with the #25 the car to beat from just the second lap of the weekend.
Not only did Mostert remind the grid of his talent, but rookie teammate Ryan Wood had a breakout weekend and showed why he is a star of the future.
Cameron Waters also put a shocking start to 2024 behind him with a meaningful win.
Time will tell if this will be a turning point in the season, but it does fuel hope the remainder of 2024 could be a much closer contest between the makes.
FROM THE moment cars hit the track in WA, it was clear there was one driver to beat.
On his very first flying lap, Mostert nailed a 55.0930, which proved to be the best part
of two-tenths better than the rest of the field could manage over the following hour.
Whilst it was just practice, it was a massive statement by Mostert, who during much of his WAU career had struggled to even make the top 10.
“The car felt pretty good out of the gate – we went pretty aggressive in the session and probably made it a lot better. I’m very happy with my race car,” Mostert said ominously.
Cameron Hill was the big victim of practice, suffering a last-minute shunt at Turn 3 following a mechanical issue. The #4 Camaro crunched into the concrete hard with Hill later suggesting there should be a tyre barrier on the outside of the fast right-hander.
“It looks like we had a toe link issue and I lost steering. I obviously made the wall which is a shame,” Hill recalled.
“I just started the push lap on green tyres and just before Turn 3 I lost steering.
“There should be a tyre barrier because if something like that happens, you can hit the wall perpendicularly going very quick. It is maybe something to look at.”
RISE OF THE ROOKIE
WHILE MOSTERT carried his speed into Saturday, rookie teammate Ryan Wood captured everyone’s attention with a rapid turn of pace.
At the same venue where he set the Super2
world alight, Wood also announced himself to the Supercars paddock at Wanneroo. Whilst Mostert was in a league of his own taking a 25th career pole in the #25, the young Kiwi also had pace to burn in the sister Mustang.
Wood edged ahead of the likes of Cam Waters, Will Brown and Broc Feeney in Q3 to set-up the first WAU lockout since the HRT days of 2014 at Townsville.
Boosted by the flying lap, Wood made his latest exclamation mark as the rookie jumped the pro in the run into and around Turn 1.
After an initially even getaway, Wood had the better acceleration to edge slightly ahead before the opening hairpin.
The Kiwi then hung tough around the outside of the entire right hander and was
rewarded when he was able to sneak ahead of Mostert at the following left hander.
Wood showed no nerves in the lead, maintaining a half a second advantage until Mostert’s pace became too strong and the #25 easily snatched the lead with a cleanly, orchestrated move into the final corner on lap 14.
Critically WAU only put two tyres on the #2 and in the final 14 laps, the youngster could not keep the experienced Brown and Waters behind with the Triple Eight and Tickford drivers enjoying a tyre advantage.
But Wood put in a big fight, only losing his grip on third to Waters on the final lap.
Whilst the Kiwi was pleased with matching his career-best result, he was “gutted” not to stand on the podium for the first time.
“It was a really cool race but I am a little bit gutted not to come out with a trophy, especially after starting on the front row,” Wood said.
“We took two tyres and the two cars that passed me took four tyres. I learnt a lot, though, over a race distance.”
Although Wood missed out on the trophy, the established stars were full of praise for the youngster.
“Good on Ryan,” Brown said.
“I could tell he was blocking wherever he could and making it hard, but I had a lot of fun and it was a great battle out there.”
“I had such an awesome battle with Woody, he should be pretty proud of himself. He fought pretty hard and clean,” Waters said. Wood could not quite reach the same heights on Sunday. He qualified fourth, but had to start seventh after blocking Mark Winterbottom in Q1 and had a steady drive to eighth.
WAU’S WAIT FINALLY OVER AFTER PICKING off his teammate, Mostert enjoyed an untroubled journey to the chequered flag.
The ‘Mozzie’ controlled the field from Lap 14 onwards with masterfully maintained tyre life and race pace to cruise to a 4.9s win.
Although it was a relatively easy and expected win given the pace of the #25, it was an emotional one for both team and driver.
For Mostert, it was his first since the 2022 Adelaide 500 – in the 37 previous races he had accumulated nine podiums and 28 top 10 finishes.
For the team, it was the first since the squad once known as the Holden Racing Team made the controversial switch to Ford at the dawn of the Gen3 era.
The success also arrived at an unlikely venue given the last time a WAU/HRT won at Wanneroo was 6579 days earlier, when Mark Skaife won, back in 2006, whilst the team’s last WA podium was back in 2011 thanks to Garth Tander.
“It is nice to get a win finally – it has been a while,” Mostert said.
“It is a really good reward for not only all the Ford fans but also WAU.
“The first one for Ford is pretty special.
“Last year was pretty hard for us and we didn’t get a handle on the car but, since the Christmas break, we have had a different car, so this is a great reward for the boys and girls. They have kept chipping away.
“The test day last week was crucial. We learnt a lot coming into this weekend.”
HAVING BEEN on the Ford frontline for the majority of 2024, Penrite Racing was a small step off the pace in Perth. Whilst both cars were still in and around the top 10, the Grove Mustangs were never in the picture for poles or podiums.
Richie Stanaway had a costly weekend, dropping from fourth to 10th in the championship, mainly due to a strange incident at the start of Saturday’s Race 9.
After just missing Q2, the #26 started 11th and slipped to 18th by lap two.
By now it was clear Stanaway had an issue before he went face first into the concrete wall on the outside of pit straight.
The incident was an unusual one, with the #26 suddenly slowing exiting the final corner, leaving Aaron Love no chance to avoid making nose-to-tail contact and sending the Kiwi into the wall.
Stanaway confirmed his dramas started even before lights went out.
“We had a fuel pump failure on the way to the grid, and we weren’t able to rectify it,” Stanaway said. “Consequently, we were falling down the order, and it misfired at a bad time while exiting the last corner with a car right behind me, turning me into the wall and damaging the car quite a bit.”
Although Stanaway was able to reach the chequered flag on Sunday, it was another challenge, starting and finishing down in 17th.
Teammate Matt Payne had better speed securing back-to-back top 10 finishes, but
the latter was due to a rescue effort from grid position 16.
Penrite Racing will be determined to be back on the pace in the top end.
BRODIE KOSTECKI’S homecoming as reigning champion did not quite go to plan at Wanneroo.
Both Erebus cars rolled out with new paint schemes, including Kostecki, who shone with a 2014 retro livery.
But both the #1 and teammate Jack Le Brocq struggled to bounce back from early setbacks on Saturday.
Le Brocq had to start from the pits after failing to get away on the warmup lap due to a battery issue and managed 20th. Erebus Team Principal Brad Tremain later admitted “a procedure error on our end meant Jack didn’t make the start.”
When lights went out Kostecki found himself
touring the Turn 1 gravel after contact.
The team tried to fight back through a funky strategy by going 18 laps longer than the rest of the field, but it did not pay off, ending up a lap down in 22nd.
Sunday appeared to be a massive step in the right direction for Kostecki however.
The #1 qualified sixth and was looking strong in fifth until suddenly it was all over on Lap 19 due to an engine issue when the Camaro “dropped all of its water.”
It was Kostecki’s first DNF since Sydney 2021, 71 races ago, but he was not concerned and focused on the silver lining.
“The car was actually quite speedy there,” Kostecki said.
“I just tried to manage my tyres a little bit, and George (Commins) did a great job of tuning it up. The car was horrible (on Saturday).
“It was really pleasing to have some pace there, but it wasn’t our day.”
On the other side of the garage Le Brocq made it to the finish, but was the last to cross the line after being spun by Nick Percat.
As a result, Erebus slumped from third to eighth in the teams championship and needs to bounce back in Darwin.
THE RETURN OF THE MONSTER FOLLOWING MOSTERT’S breakthrough on Saturday, Cam Waters decided it was his time to shine on Sunday and he enjoyed some Wanneroo redemption.
The Monster Mustang was firing on all cylinders by taking pole in a wildly tight qualifying where the top four were covered by less than a tenth.
Waters led into Turn 1, but lost the lead by the end of the lap, having a “really weird” moment at the final corner where he lost control.
Critically, Waters regathered his Monster Mustang to sit in second, which proved critical.
but Waters was able to cut it down to 2.5s when it mattered.
It ensured Waters and Tickford could put a luckless start to 2024 behind them and also get redemption for 2022 when the Mildura driver lost a win at Perth for a similar time penalty for track limits.
“It has been such a shit start to the year –nothing has gone my way, so it is awesome to get the win and a few trophies,” Waters said.
“I don’t know what happened on lap one ... if there was something on the track, but I kept my head down with a fast car.
“It was only a few years ago I lost a race here due to a penalty, but bad luck to Chaz.”
Despite seeing a clean sweep disappear, Mostert took accountability for the racedefining penalty.
“Yeah, that sucks,” Mostert said.
Although Mostert once again led the remainder of the race and took the chequered flag, this time the win did not go to the WAU driver.
The turning point came on lap 28 when Mostert pitted and, against the request of the team, rejoined right into the path of Thomas Randle.
With the Tickford driver having to brake to avoid contact, Mostert received a 5s penalty.
As a result, the final stint became an invisible race with the gap at one point as high as 4.3s,
“I didn’t expect us to be really close with anybody else so we’ll have to go back and understand.
“You’ve got to lay it all on the line and I sent it out, I probably got a little bit hesitant. The radio call was, ‘Merge, merge, merge,’ but I swear I was clear, just, from my perception but I hesitated a little bit and then I still committed to it.
“So, yeah, a little mistake on my part there, so I’ll take that one and no doubt we’ll regroup, and come back.
“I feel robbed, I would have loved to have won today, but it wasn’t meant to be. I’ll take the fastest lap and P2 in that one.”
A PENALTY was also part of the fight for the final step of the Sunday podium, although this time it was highlighted for its lack of impact.
After the stops, Randle was sitting third, hoping to make it an all Ford rostrum, but behind him was a charging Brown on four fresh tyres.
All weekend, Brown had waved the Chevrolet flag, being the highest-placed Camaro in six of the seven sessions, including the only one to finish on top in Practice 3.
In the finale it was again the case that the #87 Triple Eight Camaro was taking the fight to the leading Fords.
Brown hunted down Randle and made an aggressive move at the final corner on lap 49, which sent the #55 into the sand trap.
Whilst the championship leader carried on to another podium, Randle slumped from third to fifth with Will Davison also sneaking past.
Brown was handed a 5s penalty for the front-to-rear contact, but it had little impact on the race with the Triple Eight driver retaining his third place.
Naturally both drivers had differing takes.
“I thought it was pretty good racing,” Brown said.
“I thought ‘I’m just going to hold my position, try the switchback,’ and I thought he moved under brakes.
“I hit the brakes because I thought he was coming across, and I locked a front trying to back out of what was happening with that.
“Then we ended up tangling, but I was as far left as I could go, so it is what it is.”
For his part, Randle said that “I just wanted to race him hard there for those few laps to try and get him to blow his tyres off, but there was contact and it sent me off into the dirt.
“Will got a penalty but it didn’t actually really matter for him.
“It’s kind of one of those things where, how far do you go with those penalties. Do you penalise the outcome or the action?”
To make things better for Brown, teammate Feeney “really struggled” and despite making ground in the races, he finished fifth and seventh to sacrifice significant ground to his team-mate in the championship.
After a sunny trip to Perth, more racing under blue skies await at the Darwin Triple Crown from June 14-16.
THUNDERSTORMS AGAIN played a part in America’s biggest day of motorsport on the nationwide Memorial Day holiday, with NASCAR’s longest event at the Charlotte Motor Speedway derailed on lap 246 of 400.
When the rain came in Stage 3, although light at first, severe thunder brought the red flag that favoured Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell, giving him his first win in the 600 in five attempts.
Prior to the rain, after a restart on lap 236, the #20 Toyota driver held sway over the in-form Brad Keselowski, whilst a series of late passes by William Byron saw him secure third at the halt of proceedings.
It’s been a strange year for the Oklahoma native but, despite a frustrating run of wrecks and high number of results at the back of the field, he has still stamped his playoff ticket following his win at the Phoenix Raceway in March.
Despite there being 151 laps left on the board, Bell’s race-high 90 laps in the lead sufficed his points haul.
“What a twist of emotions. I’ve never been through that kind of emotional swing in my life,” he said, reflecting on the moment the race was called.
“This is everything … Memorial Day isn’t about racing, it’s about honouring and remembering, and that those that have served allow us to do something like this on a Sunday evening.
“It’s been a trying eight weeks or so, but it feels so good just to have a great race where we could lead and pass cars and have great pit stops … hopefully it’s something we can build on and get back to being consistent.”
Another story of the day that didn’t get to materialise, though will get some hang time for other reasons, was highlighted by the huge cheer at the track when Hendrick Racing’s Kyle Larson appeared at the track with his race suit and helmet on.
Larson arrived fresh off the plane from competing at the Indy 500 (finishing in P18) after he started the day hoping to become the first driver since Tony Stewart to race all 1,100 laps in a day. But the four-hour delay in Indianapolis due to the weather meant he wouldn’t make the start of the 600. He opted to attempt a late join-in, in a bid for the double stage points on offer, but the race was called just as he pulled the strap on his helmet following a plane ride and two seperate helicopters just to get him there.
Now comes the issue that, under NASCAR rules, a racer can only participate in the Playoffs if he’s started every race, a rule which Hendricks will definitely appeal (and likely win) given his near-untouchable star factor.
In terms of the stage points on the day, Stage 1 was taken out by Byron – his first of the season. And after finishing third in the first stanza, Bell powered into the lead with 12 laps remaining in the second, finishing over Byron and Bubba Wallace.
Ryan Blaney provided the biggest accident of the day, doing serious damage to his Penske Mustang into Turn 2, whilst Stage 3 didn’t get to see any serious weight of racing.
The season now heads northwest for the Illinois 300 at the WWT Raceway, for the 300-lap Round 15 with Denny Hamlin (P5) having taken the series lead over Martin Truex Jr and Larson.
TW Neal
JOEY LOGANO (pictured) capped off a dominant day for ‘The Captain’ (Roger Penske), taking out the million dollar prize at the NASCAR All-Star race at North Wilkesboro Speedway the week before Charlotte.
It came just hours after Penske’s IndyCar squad claimed a front row lock-out for the Indy 500, whilst the lucrative non-points All-Star race was also delayed due to ‘double-duty’ racer Kyle Larson making the Firestone Fast-Six at Indianapolis, before jumping on a plane to make the North Carolina race.
Though Logano would prefer to add a points-paying win to his 2024 campaign, it was his second time taking out the All-Star million, romping home from pole, leading 199 of 200 laps over Denny Hamlin and Chris Buescher, whilst NASCAR also tried out a new experimental option tyre.
Hamlin threatened the #22 Mustang at times, eventually falling 0.636s short, with Logano’s crew also sticking with the softer
Option tyre throughout.
“I wish it was for points, but a million bucks is a lot of money,” the Connecticut native said.
“We did the first 100 laps on the option tyre,” he added in regards to the experimental rubber, “so why wouldn’t it last the second 100? That was our thought. It was an aggressive strategy.”
The race had a planned caution on lap 102 in order to change from the supposedly high-deg tyre option – which showed such little wear that many stayed on it, getting praise from many of the drivers.
The race will also be remembered for a decent post-race bust up between Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Kyle Busch, with the former landing a solid right hook in the garage after they had first tangled into the wall as far back as lap two, with both teams getting involved in the fracas.
For the record, Larson – the NASCAR points leader – finished fifth after switching from the 373 kph open-wheeler to the
AFTER BREAKING HIS DUCK IN 2023, PENSKE’S JOSEF NEWGARDEN KISSED THE BRICKS FOR A SECOND YEAR RUNNING AT THE 108TH INDIANAPOLIS 500. TIMOTHY W NEAL REPORTS…
IT JUST had to be a Penske Chevrolet on the top-step in 2024 after a front row lockout and, of the famed ‘Thirsty Three’, it was American Josef Newgarden that etched his name and his face back onto the Borg-Warner Trophy.
His back-to-back victory came via a lastlap overtake at Turn 3 on Pato O’Ward, who had in turn taken the lead from Newgarden at Turn 1– making it two years running that the #2 Chev had got it done at the death. In becoming the 11th dual winner of the Greatest Spectacle in Motor Sport he was also the first driver since Penske’s Helio Castroneves in 2001-02 to go back-to-back. After qualifying in third behind Antipodean teammates Scott McLaughlin (6th) and Will Power (DNF), Newgarden’s powerful final turn pass saw him irresistibly pull from Ward by just 0.3417s at the bricks, whilst evergreen Kiwi Scott Dixon took third (by 0.9097) in his 22nd attempt – a fifth podium to go with his 2008 win.
AFTER GIVING Roger Penske a record, extending 20th victory at the event, and taking down yet another slug of traditional Buttermilk, a wreathed Newgarden, fresh from an excursion into the stands, paid tribute to his closest rival.
“I knew we could win this race again; it was just a matter of getting it right,” Newgarden said.
“There’s no better way to win a race than that. I got to give it up to Pato (O’Ward). He’s an incredibly clean driver. It takes two people to make that work. It’s not just a
good pass, it’s also someone that you’re working with that’s incredibly clean.
“I take my hat off to him. He could have easily won this race, too, but it just fell our way. I’m just so proud of everybody. I’m proud of this whole team. Everyone that partners with us, Team Chevy. Just a great day.”
In a race that was delayed by four hours owing to thunderstorms and rain, Newgarden led the second most laps (26) whilst his polesitting teammate, McLaughlin, led the racehigh with 64, with worsening clutch issues putting paid to his attempt.
Watched by a crowd of well over 300,000, The 200 lapper featured 18 different leaders (all finishing on the lead lap) throughout, with the 49 lead changes the fourth most in its history.
The race had eight cautions all up (totalling 46 laps), whilst 11 cars failed to finish (eight by contact/three mechanical).
CHAOS FROM THE GET-GO
IT TOOK only one lap before high-speed mayhem ensued, with Tom Blomqvist
the paint to turn into Marcus Ericsson, whilst Pietro Fittipaldi was also taken out.
With Katherine Legge also going by the wayside with mechanical issues on lap 22, McLaughlin and the rest of the ‘Thirsty Three’ pitted in their starting order, before another caution flew on the 28th lap with Chip Ganassi’s (CGR) Linus Lundqivst becoming another Turn 1 casualty.
By Lap 56, three Honda’s had gone by the wayside, which also included CGR’s Marcus Armstrong and MeyerShank’s Felix Rosenqvist.
The mayhem at Turn 1 then continued on lap 88 when Colton Herta came unstuck there after charging from 13th into second, rejoining the back of the field after the halfway mark before finally turning it in.
After two more cautions and further retirements by the 107 lap, it was clear that McLaughlin and Newgarden were the main protagonists, with their teammate and P2 starter Will Power not recovering from early position loss under and around the plentiful cautions.
Double-duty racer – NASCAR’s Kyle Larson – took a pit-lane speeding penalty to put a line through his day on lap 131, with his flight to Charlotte still pending to try and make the end of the Coca-Cola 600.
After qualifying a remarkable P6, the stock car champion was a lap down as a result. Whilst Dixon came into the frame, Power’s tough day was finally put to bed when his back end snapped around Turn 2 and walled the car
After the lap 155 restart, Alexander Rossi, O’Ward, and Dixon traded the lead whilst McLaughlin held sixth despite clutch issues.
With O’Ward looking good on a lap 173 pit, Newgarden ran Dixon down in front of Rossi and O’Ward, whilst Larson (courtesy of an earlier Lucky Dog under caution) remarkably cycled into a shortlived lead, as did Kyffin Simpson, but when pit order was restored, the 14-lap run home saw Rossi and Newgarden as the most likely, followed by Dixon and O’Ward.
The latter found the power to pass the Kiwi into third, and he kept the passing up by passing Rossi and Newgarden for the lead, with the eventual winner returning the favour with four to run.
Despite having a good run to the back of the #2 Chev, O’Ward left it until the white flag to make his move, with the return of serve for the lead resulting in a wheel-towheel thriller though Turn 3, before the Tennessee native could be seen pumping his fist over the famous bricks.
TW Neal
FRANCESCO BAGNAIA had an up and down weekend in every sense, but bounced back from Saturday sadness to win the Catalan Motorcycle Grand Prix in grand style.
Bagnaia was kicking himself after crashing from the lead on the final lap of the Sprint, at Turn 5.
However, 24 hours later the Italian was celebrating wildly after he snatched the lead from Jorge Martin at the same left hander on his way to a critical redemption win.
Just a day after announcing his retirement, Aprilia veteran Aleix Espargaro showed he still has plenty of speed by taking pole position.
Espargaro’s 1:38.190s was 0.031s clear of Bagnaia, while Raul Fernandez gave Trackhouse its first front row while Martin could only manage seventh.
ESPARGARO WOULD convert pole into a fairytale Sprint race win, but it was no easy ride with five riders leading across the 12 laps and three of them crashing out.
Bagnaia flew off the line to lead the field ahead of Pedro Acosta and Fernandez, while Marc Marquez survived contact with Australia’s Jack Miller.
The Ducati #1 was unable to pull away and the eager Acosta launched a counter-attack, which allowed the opportunistic Fernandez to take charge.
However, hopes of a special Trackhouse victory were dashed when the Spaniard crashed at Turn 10.
Afterwards Fernandez said he was “crying like a baby” after making a “very stupid mistake.”
This saw Brand Binder take charge and he looked comfortable before his KTM also hit the turf.
After overcoming Acosta in more wheelto-wheel combat, Bagnaia headed the field and looked poised for a first Sprint win of the year – but it was not to be as he lost grip and found the Turn 5 gravel.
The dramatic twists fittingly opened the door to Espargaro, who took a dream win by nine-tenths over the incredible Marquez, who flew from 14th to second, ahead of Acosta.
Martin was not at his best and settled for
fourth, while Miller put in a solid ride to get some points in seventh.
SUNNY SKIES greeted riders on Sunday and Bagnaia, Acosta and Brad Binder all got good jumps and went into the opening corner side-by-side for the lead, with the #1 emerging in P1.
Espargaro slumped from pole to fifth, while Fernandez also struggled to utilise Trackhouse’s first front row with Martin shooting into the top four and Miller rising from ninth to sixth.
However, the Australian threw away an important points finish by crashing at Turn 10, which would become a hot-spot.
As all this unfolded, Martin hit the top three, while rookie Acosta started applying the blowtorch on leader Bagnaia. The GasGas youngster did get by, only for the Italian to to sneak back beneath him with an aggressive switchback where the pair almost rubbed shoulders.
When the field next arrived at Turn 10, Acosta was now on the defensive, being picked off by Martin to produce a familiar feel to the top two.
Then, on the following tour, the PRAMAC Ducati rider completed his charge to the lead by diving down the inside of Bagnaia.
Acosta also picked off the reigning champion and set his sights on Martin in pursuit of a maiden win.
However, Acosta pushed too hard, tucked
the front under and crashed out at Turn 10.
This released Martin, who was now a second clear of the field, while Bagnaia had an even bigger advantage over Espargaro as the riders entered the second half of the race.
However, Acosta also pushed too hard, tucked the front, and crashed out at Turn 10.
This released Martin, who was now a second clear of the field, while Bagnaia had an even bigger advantage over Espargaro as the riders entered the second half of the race.
But Bagnaia was quietly planning a laterace assault and perfectly managed his tyre life to go on the attack. Within a handful of laps, suddenly Martin’s lead was decimated and the Spaniard had no answer for his rival.
Bagnaia appropriately chose Turn 5 to launch his move and, once through, there was no stopping him.
Also on the move was Marquez who blazed past Fernandez and Espargaro to take another stunning podium from 14th – he marked it by dancing on the tyre barriers.
Acosta was also not messing around, having incredibly recovered from his crash to return to the points with 14th.
Enea Bastianini had a tough race, crossing the line ninth but lost it for deliberately ignoring long lap penalties.
MotoGP heads to the rolling hills of Tuscany for the Italian Grand Prix on June 2, the perfect scene for Bagnaia, who hopes to carry on his fightback.
Thomas Miles
MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP AFTER ROUND 6
1: Jorge Martin 155 points
2: Francesco Bagnaia 116
3: Marc Marquez 114
4: Enea Bastianini 94
5: Maverick Vinales 87
him through Moto3 and straight into the second tier with a season-high finish in Spain. Up until the Round 6 excursion to Catalunya, the dominant 2023 European Moto2 champion (above) has been confidently moving up the grid as he finds stability and consistency on the #81 Kalex machinery.
The first full-time Moto2 representative for Australia since Remy Gardner took the 2021 title, 18-year-old Agius rose from 12th on the grid to finish in fifth place, and was in contention for the podium in a tight group that finished fourth to sixth.
It comes two weeks after he was threatening to move up into top-10 and into deeper points contention when he qualified an impressive P8 at the Grand Prix de France’s Le Mans Bugatti circuit, eventually taking points in P13 – his second career points finish prior to Spain after he also took P14 in Portugal.
Prior to the Le Mans round he declared that he was “knocking on the door for something bigger,” and with his tail pipe up, he’ll head to Italy’s Mugello Circuit on June 2 with a further point to prove, sitting 16th with a bullet.
TW Neal
THE F2 Sprint Race saw reverse pole man Taylor Barnard claim a maiden F2 victory for himself and AIX Racing. Barnard outpaced Gabriel Bortoleto around the streets of Monte-Carlo in a chaotic, incident-riddled Formula 2 Sprint Race. Holding on through the late Red Flag.
MP Motorsport’s Dennis Hauger completed the podium places to achieve a third-place finish in the Principality.
The Formula 3 Sprint Race was redflagged after a dramatic lap one pile-up, that saw five cars, including Australian racer,Christian Mansell, crashing out at
Casino Square. Once restarted, it was Nikola Tsolov who avoided later chaos to claim his maiden F3 victory.
MP Motorsport driver Tim Tramnitz’s bravery into Sainte Devote was rewarded with a second-place finish ahead of Tsolov’s ART teammate Laurens van Hoepen, rounding out the podium positions on Saturday. Running as the sole remaining Australian, Tommy Smith kickstarted his haul of redeeming results with a P13 finish in the Sprint, making up six places from P19.
MANSELL’S GREAT F3 PODIUM. THE ACTION ramped up for both
categories’ Feature Races, with both Australian F3 drivers ending the Monaco Grand Prix weekend on a respective high.
After securing a Group Pole and an overall starting position of P2, Mansell achieved a lights-to-flag second-place finish, challenging Prema Racing’s Gabriele Minì through three Safety Car restarts to end the weekend on the historic podium.
Smith also seized his best result of the season, converting his P18 start into a proud 12th-place finish. The Van Amersfoort Racing driver capitalised on his competitors’ mishaps, inheriting positions from those who fell victim to the tough challenge posed by
the Circuit de Monaco.
As for the 42-lap F2 Feature Race, Zak O’Sullivan had pure luck to thank as he claimed his maiden F2 victory following a perfectly timed late Virtual Safety Car. The man who started in P15 finished the Monte Carlo outing ahead of a livid Isack Hadjar. Paul Aron kept up his consistent streak of podium finishes in P3, promoting him into the lead of the championship despite the Estonian still yet to record a win. F2 and F3 will have a short break ahead of the next round of racing in Barcelona, which will take place at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya from June 21-23.
COLAPINTO’S LAST LAP F2 WINNER
A THRILLING last-lap overtake rewarded MP Motorsport’s Franco Colapinto with his maiden victory in Formula 2, just one of many headlines following the conclusion of a dramatic Sprint Race in Imola.
Despite losing a position during the incident-riddled start, the Argentinian battled through the early chaos from P3 to secure the win ahead of Hitech Pulse-Eight’s Paul Aron and Rodin Motorsport’s Championship leader Zane Maloney who claimed the final podium place.
In the main event, Isack Hadjar made a well-deserved return to the top step, putting on a masterclass defensive display against Invicta Racing’s Gabriel Bortoleto after fighting from P3. Completing the Feature
Race podium was Joshua Dürksen who took the chequered flag in third place, claiming his and AIX Racing’s first F2 podium.
FIRST TIME WINNERS IN F3 FOLLOWING POST-RACE penalty
confusion, the Formula 3 Sprint Race also crowned a maiden victor. Initially losing the win to a five-second penalty for a Safety Car infringement, Oliver Goethe’s first place ahead of Noel León was reinstated after the chequered flag.
MP Motorsport’s Tim Tramnitz held onto P3 during the dramatic outing, completing the F3 Sprint podium. Goethe couldn’t secure a clean sweep in the Feature Race, with Trident’s Sami Meguetounif stealing the lead from the Campos Racing driver mid-race.
Meguetounif earned his first F3 victory, with home racer Leonardo Fornaroli’s thirdplace finish rewarding the Italian with the lead in the Drivers’ Championship.
For our Australian F3 drivers, it wasn’t a standout weekend.
Christian Mansell recorded a P12 finish in the Sprint and ended the Feature Race in P20, while Tommy Smith settled for P24 on Saturday and P27 on Sunday ahead of F2 and F3’s trip to Monaco.
Reese Mautone
Report: LUIS VASCONCELOS
Images: MOTORSPORT IMAGES
YOU’D BE forgiven for looking at the final result of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, seeing that Max Verstappen won for the fitth time this year and thinking “well, that’s boring”… The fact is the Dutchman and Red Bull had to work harder for this win than on any other occasion since the start of 2023, Friday being one of the team’s most difficult days in a long time and the final 10 laps of the Imola race a nerve-wracking experience for the World Champion.
This being the first ‘normal’ weekend since the Japanese Grand Prix, after two sprint events, the teams had three hours of Free Practice to fine tune the set-up of their cars. That’s why Red Bull, Ferrari, Mercedes, Aston Martin and some of the midfield teams broughout significant upgrades to this race, avoiding the risks inheritent to making big changes on Grand Prix with one single practice session before qualifying.
While Ferrari and Mercedes hit the ground running, Red Bull found the RB21 was all over the place from the start of FP1, Verstappen having three offs during the day and complaining “the front simply doesn’t turn in”.
That meant there was a lot of work to be done back in the factory on Friday night and simulator driver Sebastien Buemi earned his money, Team Principal Christian Horner openly crediting the Swiss veteran for putting the RB21 in a much better operating window for the rest of the weekend.
That, however, didn’t mean the car was both quick and easy to drive and, with both McLaren and Ferrari legitimely fast enough to fight for pole, Red Bull needed a vintage Verstappen lap to secure the top
spot in qualifying. Vintage Verstappen and the unusual help of Nico Hulkenberg, who gave the Dutchman a much welcomed tow all the way down to Turn 1, which proved to be decisive for the World Champion to beat Piastri, Norris and Leclerc for pole!
A DECISIVE FIRST STINT
WITH SUCH a tight battle for pole, the expectations were for a tremedous battle at the front all the way but, after a handful of laps, it suddenly looked like Verstappen was easing away to victory as, on the Medium tyres, he opened a big gap and, after 21 laps, Norris was already 6.5s behind. Game over, we could genuinely assume.
Fortunately motor racing is not that predictable and, having found a better balance for the Soft and Medium compound tyres, Red Bull found that on the harder compound the RB21 was not that efficient, as Verstappen explained:
“As soon as I swapped to the Hard tyres –maybe not the first five to 10 laps, but after that – I was like, ’I’m not sure I can bring this to the end’, because the tyres just fell out of
the operating window and it was just like driving on ice, really snappy.
“In Turn 7 I almost ended up in the grandstand, at some point. Just very difficult … some really weird lines that I had to take. Those last 10 laps I was really trying to survive with the tyres and then, suddenly, Lando really picked up pace. I could see him catch up, I was not sure if I could keep him behind, but I was just trying to do the best I could, pushing as hard as I could with the grip that I had. And, luckily, it was just enough laps.”
That the RB21 was still very difficult to drive was proven by Pérez’s poor weekend, the Mexican falling in Q2, having a reasonable recovery early on but then going off at Rivazza, salvaging a P8, 54s behind his teammate. That told its own story.
For Norris, his car came alive in the last 15 laps, after being unable to even shadow his Dutch friend from the start. Pushing hard in the early laps, the McLaren driver saw the Medium tyres’ temperatures go up, had to start managing them after just four laps and, while he could keep Leclerc at bay, Verstappen simply pulled away easily.
Things didn’t look better for the Brit on the Hard tyre, as Leclerc started to cut the gap, Norris complaining that, “I’m pushing as hard as I can” until the Ferrari got inside DRS range.
Pushing harder, Leclerc went over the limit at the Variante Gresini on lap 47 and while the time loss was barely one second, the underside of the SF-23 got slightly damage and his pace dropped.
Suddenly, Norris found his Hard tyres hitting their sweet spot and he quickly started cutting the gap to Verstappen, from 7.4s on lap 44 to just one second at the start of the last lap.
Half happy, half frustrated, Norris admitted that “I was just praying for one more lap. I just did everything I could – I was pushing like hell to get there and catch up and have a chance. But as soon as you get within two seconds, you start to lose downforce and grip. The tyres started to overheat again and I kind of struggled for a couple laps.
“Once I understood how I had to drive again, I managed to get there, and was just 0,7s at the end. With one more lap, at least he would have had to defend into Turn 1 and maybe something could have come from that … but one lap too late. It’s a shame, but it is what it is, and we just struggled too much in the beginning of the race.”
FRÉDÉRIC VASSEUR had played down the visually impressive upgrade Ferrari brought to Imola, and the stopwatch proved the Frenchman was right. Yes, the SF-23 had improved but so had Red Bull and McLaren, so the order at the front seen in Miami didn’t change in the Scuderia’s home race.
After a very promising Friday, with Leclerc
leading both sessions, first McLaren and then Verstappen got the better of the Italian team, but the Dutchman’s advantage was all gained in the first kilometre of the track.
A puzzled Leclerc explained that “I think we basically lost everything at the start of the lap. For some reason, we had a slightly different power strategy compared to McLaren and Red Bull and we lost everything on the run down to Turn 2. Max, on top of that, had the slipstream. But this is something we’ll have to look into because, especially on a track like this, track position is absolutely everything.”
By the end of the first sector the Monegasque was already 0.317s behind Verstappen and as he completed Q3 with a deficit of just 0.224s, it’s easy to see Leclerc’s reading of the situation was correct.
In the race the Ferrari driver slowly pulled away from team-mate Sainz and, by remaining within undercut range from Norris, forced the McLaren driver to an earlier than
ideal tyre change. On fresher tyres, Leclerc pushed very hard and twice got within DRS range before missing his braking point at the Variante Gresini and being forced over the grass to avoid spinning.
From then on his pace dropped but the podium was not in danger, as Piastri had lost too much time behind Sainz in the first stint, so he, at least, gave some satisfaction to the more than 100,000 tifosi that attended the race. Sainz, who complained of an unidentified issue with his car in qualifying, was also unable to follow his team-mate in the race, losing out to Piastri in the pit stops to end up in a discrete P5.
LONELY RACE FOR MERCEDES
UNABLE TO match the pace of the three faster teams, Mercedes was clearly the fourth team in Imola, their drivers having quite different races.
On the Medium tyre it was Russell who managed to stay close to the top five,
Hamilton making his life harder by going over the gravel at Acqua Minerale on lap 26 which put him in traffic after the only pit stop, so his time loss was doubled to 8s.
On the Hard tyre though, it was Hamilton who had better pace and, with the two Mercs way clear of Pérez and the veteran getting closer and closer to Russell, the team opted to pit the youngster, swapping their positions, but giving Russell the chance of scoring the extra point for the fastest lap – which he did.
Unimpressed, the young English driver said that “all weekend I’ve been ahead of my team-mate. I was ahead the whole race, comfortably. Then I sort of lose the position for the sake of it. We got the extra point. I’m not going to talk about it tonight. It’s P6 … it’s not for a podium or a victory…”
Lance Stroll and Yuki Tsunoda completing the top 10, the Canadian salvaging two points for Aston Martin after a difficult weekend thanks to a very long first stint, while the Japanese was one of the stars of the weekend, with very impressive speed in practice and qualifying. A bad start put him behind Hulkenberg and forced him into an early pit stop to achieve the undercut, a strategy that left him vulnerable to those, like Stroll, on much fresher tyres in the last 15 laps of the race.
“OSCAR’S PENALTY was entirely our fault – it was due to an operational mistake”, confessed Team Principal Andrea Stella.
The Australian was on an out-lap, close to the end of Q1, when he got in Magnussen’s way, the team failing to warn the youngster there was a car on a flying lap catching up fast.
The penalty was a slam dunk and had a terrible cost on Piastri’s weekend.
A surperb lap in Q3 was only bettered by Verstappen but, instead of lining up on the front row, the McLaren driver found himself fifth on the grid. Unable to pass Sainz until the pit stops, Piastri got ahead of the Ferrari driver thanks to a timely undercut but, by then, Leclerc was too far up the road for anything better than fourth place to be achieved.
Legitimely, the young man from Melbourne felt this was an opportunity that had been taken away from him:
“It was basically impossible to overtake today. I tried my best – I had 20 laps behind Carlos trying to get past and just could never get close enough. They made DRS shorter this year; I hope they make it longer again, because it was pretty boring for me. I think that was the most we could have done today, which is a bit of a shame considering how much pace we’ve had this weekend – but that is how it goes sometimes.”
Nevertheless, Piastri had good reason to be happy with his own performance on his first Formula 1 outing at Imola: “P4 was a consequence of where we started. The last two weekends have been really good for the team, but I think they’ve been very strong for me as well. I think probably two of my better weekends in F1. I’ve been happy with how I’ve been performing.
“Obviously in Miami we know what happened there, and here the penalty has not helped today. I think, for me, I did the most that I could in my control and I can be happy with that.”
For Daniel Ricciardo the weekend turned into a damage control exercise after the Australian was stunned by Tsunoda’s pace in practice, but the veteran improved quite a lot for qualifying and made it into Q3. Like his team-mate, the start was poor and cost him two positions. The early stop didn’t help, so P13 was the best he could achieve.
As Ricciardo admitted, “the race pace wasn’t as good as we’d hoped for. I think in the laps we had in clear air we showed some pace. We probably have a tenth, maybe two, on Hulkenberg. So, I think the race would have looked very different if we had got a better start.”
Report: LUIS VASCONCELOS
Images: MOTORSPORT IMAGES
WHEN EVEN his fiercest rivals admit they’re happy another driver has won a race, then it’s clear that his victory was fully deserved. From Lewis Hamilton to Max Verstappen, from Fernando Alonso to Pierre Gasly, the number of drivers who rushed to congratulate Charles Leclerc as soon as he showed up in the interviews area at the end of the Monaco Grand Prix proved no-one was capable of holding anything against the local hero, who had twice been cruelly denied of a win on the streets where he grew up and still lives.
For Leclerc, this was clearly the most emotional win of his career and he had no problem admitting that repeated thoughts of his late father, and close friend Jules Bianchi, were coming to his head over the last 15 laps of a race he led from start to finish. A clearly emotional Leclerc admitted that “no words can explain what I feel”, adding that “the fact that twice I’ve been starting in pole position and couldn’t quite make it, makes it even better in a way.”
Trying to put his thoughts in order the Ferrari driver openly said that “it means a lot, obviously. It’s the race that made me dream of becoming a Formula 1 driver one day. I remember being so young and watching the race with my friends, obviously with my father, that has done absolutely everything for me to get to where I am today, and I feel like I don’t only accomplish a dream of mine today, but also one of his’.”
Then, came the revelation that, “it was a difficult race emotionally because, already, 15 laps to the end, the emotions were coming.
“I have to say that I was thinking about my Dad a lot more. It was a dream of ours for me to race here and to win, so it’s unbelievable. I was also thinking of all the people who helped me get to Formula 1, like Jules, but on a track like Monaco, you have to be on it all the way to the end. It was very difficult to contain those emotions, those thoughts again, of the people that have helped me to get to where I am today.”
In his typical candid way, Leclerc admitted that, “I realised two laps from the end that I was struggling to see out of the tunnel just because I had tears in my eyes. And I was like, ‘f**k, Charles, you cannot do that now. You still have two laps to finish’ ...”
The Monegasque dominated the weekend from start to finish and even a couple of hiccups never put his success in doubt. A last minute change of Power Unit before qualifying didn’t affect his confidence, nor
did the need to pit early in Q1 to get out of traffic and remove some plastic that had got attached to his car. One single flying lap was enough to get him into Q2; he breezed through this second session, leaving himself a good margin and then did two quick laps in Q3 that were both good enough for pole, the third of his career in home soil.
RED FLAG TOOK STRATEGY OUT OF THE EQUATION
EVEN IF you’re on pole position in Monaco, where overtaking is nearly impossible, there’s always room for things to go wrong. The start is the first possible hurdle; deciding when to do the only tyre change the second, and getting involved in someone else’s accident remains a possibility even when lapping slower cars.
Leclerc must have thought he’d done half the job as he clearly won the start
from Piastri, who had to defend strongly from Sainz, only to see the red flag come out as he exited the tunnel. Behind him, a massive accident involving Pérez and the two Haas drivers had blocked the track so, for 40 minutes, Charles sat in the pits, later admitting that was an uncomfortable situation:
“Once I put the helmet on for the restart I was perfectly calm. But when you have so much time to think and really nothing to do, as the car was fine, the tyre choice was obvious and so on, you can get nervous about the second start, about avoiding incidents ... so during that period it was the most uncomfortable I felt all week!”
As Leclerc said, the tyre strategy for the restarted race was obvious. Ten drivers had lined up on the grid with the Hard tyres, the other 10 with the Mediums, so, knowing track position is key on this narrow street circuit, the 16 surviving cars lined up for the second start with the opposite choice, the goal being to go to the flag without any further stops. That put an end to any flimsy hopes the Mercedes and Verstappen might have had of getting a break with a late Safety Car as, having opted for the Hard tyres for the original start, they now faced 75 long laps on the Mediums, just hoping to get them to the end of the race.
At the front there was no change of positions, the top 10 at the end of the first lap remaining unchanged until the end. Gaps opened and closed depending on everyone’s moods, some drivers – more notably Sainz, Tsunoda and Gasly - backing up their direct rivals to make sure they wouldn’t get a free pit stop later on in the race.
HAVING LEFT Imola 56 points ahead of Ferrari in the championship, Red Bull saw its advantage shrink to just 24 points after a dreadful weekend in Monaco. And we’re now in a series of three consecutive races where the RB20’s superiority has been seriously challenged – Norris winning in Miami and narrowly missing out on beating Verstappen in Imola, while this weekend the Dutchman was never in contention for a podium finish and ended up where he started, in sixth place, between the two Mercedes. Lucky to get a reprieve after getting a puncture for contact with Piastri in the first corner. Sainz was more circumspect in the second start and then just stayed between the two McLarens all the way to the flag. His main goal was to make sure the gap between Norris and Russell would never get big enough for his former team-mate to pit, put new tyres on and resume still ahead of the Mercedes driver. So the gaps changed many times, depending on Russell’s pace relative to the duo.
For Mercedes the result could have been better if the team had done things right when it was decided Hamilton would do a second stop on lap 51. The British driver needed a combination of two things to get ahead of Verstappen: a blistering out lap and that Russell would back the Dutchman up by a couple of seconds, as then the current World Champion wouldn’t be able to react.
Bird’s-eye view as the leading quartet work their way around Sainte-Devote after the restart. Left: The Mercs were virtual alsorans ... Below: Piastri – a deserved result for an A-grade performance.
1-2-3-4-56, around ‘Virage Antony Noghes’.
But neither happened, Hamilton later telling us that “I was told the out lap wasn’t crucial, so I just brought the tyres in gently but then saw Max get out of the pits a few seconds up the road …”
For his part, Russell claimed that “I was only told to hold Max by Turn 12, when he was already all over the back of my car. I didn’t understand why, but by then it was too late to make him lose time as he pitted at the end of the lap.”
For the Red Bull driver, “this was a horrible weekend”, but he was remarkably calm, insisting that, “other tracks will favor us, but there will be others, the bumpy ones and those where you have to go over the kerbs, where we’ll suffer again. So, we first need to understand why we struggled so much here and then come up with solutions to make sure we minimise the issue before the next bumpy track.”
Once again Yuki Tsunoda dominated the midfield battle, securing P8 and putting
The Frenchman was very lucky to survive heavy contact with teammate Esteban Ocon in the first lap, the Alpine mechanics managing to repair his car in time for the second start.
For Ocon there wasn’t such luck, and he also earned a seriously admonition from Team Principal Bruno Famin and a five-places grid penalty for the Canadian Grand Prix.
McLAREN WAS the only team capable of challenging Ferrari in Monaco, with Oscar Piastri having the upper hand over the much more experienced Lando Norris almost from the start of practice.
The Australian, who had a running joke going with Leclerc after a humorous exchange in social media, did an amazing job in qualifying and didn’t put a wheel wrong on Sunday, deserving the 18 points he took home.
A relatively poor first start allowed Sainz to try a hazardous move into Turn 1 and, if the contact between the two was minimal, the Ferrari got a puncture and the McLaren had damage to the floor and one sidepod.
Piastri had no doubt that “I didn’t do anything wrong – he tried something that wasn’t on so, yes, we clashed again …” but then refocused for the second start, saw that Leclerc was doing a lot of tyre management and gave the Ferrari driver a bit of a fright with an attempt to pass him at Portier, on lap 18: “I kind of knew that once I showed my hand in where I was going to try and overtake, that he would probably be wise to it from there. I managed to get very close in Turn 7, one lap.
Leclerc duly made sure the Melburnian was never again within striking distance so Piastri accepted P2 and once the pace really picked up, his focus turned to keeping Sainz behind as the leader was way out of reach.
A podium, especially in Monaco, is always something to celebrate, so the youngster was quite pleased with his entire weekend at the end of the race: “Charles has been mega all weekend – they’ve been quick from the very first lap. It would have taken something pretty special in qualifying to outdo him. The opportunity was almost there, but it would have taken probably the best lap of my life. So, I’m happy with P2. A good result for the team, so I’m very, very happy.”
Unable to match his younger teammate in qualifying, Lando Norris was gracious enough to accept that “Oscar drove extremely well all weekend; he did a great job in qualifying and didn’t make any mistake in the race. He managed to beat one Ferrari today, when they had the quicker car, so congratulations to him, he fully deserved his second place. For the team, this was a very good result – we gained a lot of points on Red Bull, we’re competitive at a track where we struggled in previous years so, even though I would have obviously loved to finish on the podium, I’m happy with what we achieved as a team.”
PETER BROCK AND HOLDEN WERE BACK IN BUSINESS AFTER A BREAKTHROUGH FIRST ATCC ROUND WIN IN FOUR YEARS AND FIRST FOR THE HOLDEN RACING TEAM.
“PETER PERFECT” began his assault on The Creek by resoundingly taking pole in qualifying, and then proceeded to confound his critics and rivals alike by running away with both 16-lap heats.
Most observers believed Brock had opted for a soft compound tyre to grab pole in front of visiting HRT boss Tom Walkinshaw.
It was expected that the tyres would succumb to the pressures of racing come race day and he would then fall back into the pack.
It was vintage Brock on race day, however, and the 49-year-old legend snatched the lead at the start of each race and simply raced away, while his rivals squabbled over the crumbs, just as he did when he was racing at his peak in the ‘70s.
The only blemish on the day was his failure to finish the three-lap Peter Jackson Dash on Sunday morning – the gearshift lever on his Mobilbacked Commodore broke.
While the win served to remind
PETER BROCK put himself in the box seat to win his first Australian Touring Car Championship crown after victory in Surfers Paradise.
Brock enjoyed an untroubled run to victory in the penultimate round of the season over Bob Morris and Dick Johnson.
It all-but confirmed his first title in the first race meeting where the Holden Dealer Team ran with Marlboro stickers. Bob Jane was being celebrated, knocking off the “supposedly invincible” Charger driven by John McCormack in the Marlboro SS Series at Calder Park.
Lionel Ayres was also in fine form, taking full points in the Australian Sports Car Championship.
everyone that the nine-times Bathurst winner is still a force to be reckoned with, it also represented the first ever Touring Car Championship race, and round, win for the Holden Racing Team since it was formed in 1988.
Prior to this year’s series, the closest the team has come to winning a round was at Lakeside in 1990 when Win Percy finished third. This year however, Brock has been steadily pushing towards the front with a handful of minor placings before the Eastern Creek breakthrough.
The combination of an on-form Brock, Holden and Bathurst is irresistible. Brock has won the big race nine times, the last coming in 1987 just before he split with the company. He has since raced BMWs and Ford Sierras in the race, but has never remotely looked like winning –that is until Eastern Creek.
Brock will share the 05 Commodore with Tomas Mezera in October. Mezera, like HRT, will be looking for his second win at the Mountain. He last won there in 1988 when, as Tony Longhurst’s co-driver, he drove a Ford Sierra to victory.
HRT’s last Bathurst win was in 1990 when Win Percy and Allan Grice combined in a VL Commodore.
Until Brock’s breakthrough, it was the only race win to the team’s credit.
A EUROPEAN influx to the Bathurst 1000 was being predicted after the Australian Racing Drivers Club confirmed the eligibility of FISA Group A cars.
The ARDC’s Phil Harrison said “several leading European teams are expected to lodge entries. Initial indications are that approximately one-third of the field will be Group A cars.”
Bob Morris made good his racing comeback in spectacular style with a runaway in round 5 of the ATCC at Oran Park.
Morris’ second consecutive win in the Mazda RX-7 having overtook Peter Brock when the #05 dropped out with a broken driveshaft.
AS MICHAEL Schumacher charged to another dominant win at the Nurburgring, Williams aimed to find an answer through a pair of former world champions, that never happened. Rumours went into overdrive about the possibility of both Jacques Villeneuve and Mika Hakkinen returning to Formula 1 with Williams. Reports suggested both men were bored with retirement and the 1997-1999 world champions could be in line for upcoming tests with Williams. Kiwi IndyCar star Scott Dixon also said “I definitely haven’t ruled out F1” despite signing a long term deal with Chip Ganassi.
A limited number of pit garages at the renovated Mount Panorama came as a blow for a number of Konica second tier series teams, who were set to be denied a chance to compete in the Great Race. It came as “a real slap in the face” to team owners, with only 35 cars eligible for the Bathurst 1000, saying goodbye to the traditional privateer entries.
CHAZ MOSTERT’S flying start to his first full Supercars season at FPR came as no surprise to those from within.
“I don’t really care what people think, I believed in him and he is driving how I expected him to drive,” then FPR boss Tim Edwards said.
“Ask Frosty – he expected him to be delivering like he is.” Daniel Ricciardo stood on the F1 podium for the first time on the famous streets of Monte Carlo, joining fellow Aussies Jack Brabham and Mark Webber.
Ricciardo was third, only behind the dominant Mercedes, but it was a tense podium as winner Nico Rosberg and runner-up Lewis Hamilton had a difference of opinion ....
Hamilton was furious, being convinced Rosberg had shafted him from pole due to a lockup at Mirabeau, denying the Brit from completing his final Q3 push lap.
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