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14-17 NOV 2024

HORSEPOWER SPEAKS: SANDOWN LIFELINE GETTING STRONGER

THE ONGOING BATTLE TO CONTROL THE MELBOURNE RACING CLUB, THE OWNERS OF THE SANDOWN HORSE AND CAR RACING FACILITY, HAS TAKEN A SIGNIFICANT TURN IN THE PAST COUPLE OF WEEKS AND IT COULD MEAN A LIFELINE WILL BE HANDED TO THE FAMOUS MOTOR RACING VENUE. ANDREW CLARKE INVESTIGATES ...

MRC COMMITTEE member John Kanga

triggered a Special General Meeting at the end of a recent committee meeting which could see a complete overthrow of the committee and a total commitment to retain Sandown for both horse and car racing.

Kanga has said that his Save Our MRC group wishes to retain Sandown as a racetrack and only look at the MRC potentially developing surplus land.

That is good news for motor racing at Sandown, as the car racing track there is within the confines of the racetrack area and, like horse racing, has been there for many years.

The incumbent Chairman, who Kanga is seeking to remove, is reported to want to redevelop the whole site area, which would spell the end for both horse racing and car racing at Sandown.

“Horsepower needs to be retained at Sandown,” Kanga told Auto Action. “Sandown belongs to the members, and I believe the members don’t want to lose it … I don’t want to lose it.

“I am fully aware of its motor racing history and the importance of it as a car racing track. We need to keep our all our tracks – it is that simple.

“But Sandown also provides a vital driver training facility, and I worry about how that can be replaced in South-East Melbourne.

“Our request for a Special General Meeting goes quite a bit deeper than just Sandown too; it is vital for the Melbourne Racing Club that we get this right, and that the voice of the membership is heard again.”

Kanga dropped his SGM bombshell a couple of weeks back at the end of a committee meeting and despite, a letter signed by the other members of the committee at the time rejecting the push, two of his fellow committee members, Allison Saville and Caitlin Kelly, have offered belated support with an email outlining allegations of a ‘toxic culture’ and ‘bullying’ inside the committee.

During the past two years, the committee of

the club, which has plans to sell Sandown and invest further into its leased Caulfield facility, has been slowly shifting towards the retention of the historic facility – but an SGM would make that shift complete if Kanga’s numbers are right.

While most of the battle for Kanga and Save our MRC group is with regards to Caulfield, Sandown forms a key plank in its plans moving forwards.

Sandown is acknowledged as one of the better horse racing tracks in Australia, and overseas trainers favour it over Werribee as a quarantine point.

Kanga says he is cognisant of the history of Sandown and its connection to motor racing, and his group will work hard to keep it as a going concern – but the final straw for him was some of the changes at Caulfield as well as his desire to keep Sandown open.

“I got on the Board, worked out what had happened and was planned and have tried to fix it,” Kanga told The Herald-Sun recently.

“When the new mounting yard opened, the problems were obvious to everyone. They’re systematic problems. The members, jockeys, trainers and owners were all unhappy.

“There is urgency now. That’s why the members have got behind it (the SGM push), the industry has got behind it – we have been galvanised and are united.”

Having secured more than the 150 signatures needed to request an SGM, Kanga says the club is now legally obliged to hold a members vote which must be held forthwith. He added that a vote would give the members a chance to decide whether their voice had been listened to.

“We have overwhelming public and member support, which everyone can see. They are legally obliged to call the meeting. Let the members vote and decide.”

At present, the MRC seems to be avoiding the need for the SGM and appears set to hold its regular AGM (where half the committee is up for re-election) in preference to the SGM which may leave it in breach of its own constitution.

Motorsport fans can make a difference by joining the MRC (it’s moderately inexpensive – see QR code) and getting involved in the upcoming vote so long as they are members before the vote is called.

A significant number of the submissions to the State government’s Sandown Racecourse

Advisory Committee (SRAC), which will decide if changes to the Planning Policy Framework which are required to allow for a subdivision at Sandown hearings, were from motor racing people – which has not fallen on deaf ears.

The final report of the SRAC is yet to be released.

HOW TO JOIN THE MRC AND KEEP HORSEPOWER AT SANDOWN.

THE SIMPLEST way to join the MRC and have a voice is via a Mornington Membership, which also grants members access to Sandown as part of its privileges.

SANDOWN HISTORY

HORSE RACING activity at the venue started in 1888 as Oakleigh Park and, in 1892, it was renamed Sandown Park. In March 1904, Australia’s first ever motor race was held there – and the mingling of horsepower has been a feature of the venue ever since.

The venue was abandoned in 1931 during The Great Depression and lay dormant until 1960 when the Victorian Amateur Turf Club merged with the Victorian Turf Racing Association and Williamstown Turf Club and raised enough capital to buy the land and redevelop it.

The Light Car Club of Australia built the car racing track and hosted its first race in 1962, three years before the first horse race at the new Sandown Park. The first Sandown endurance race was held in 1964 and it hosted its first Australian Touring Car Championship Race in 1965, making it the oldest venue on the calendar.

Sandown, one of the most panoramic and historic race tracks, could be saved. Image: PETER NORTON

AND DOOHAN MAKES THREE…

NEXT SEASON, IF ALL GOES TO PLAN ELSEWHERE, JACK DOOHAN’S ENTRY INTO FORMULA 1 WILL MAKE IT THREE AUSTRALIANS AT THE TOP ECHELON OF WORLD MOTORSPORT. AUTO ACTION’S ANDREW CLARKE SAT DOWN FOR AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH OUR 19TH F1 DRIVER ...

WHEN JACK Doohan took a step back from racing last year, from the outside it looked like his Formula 1 dream was over. The reality is nothing was further from the truth – there was a plan that had not come to fruition.

He buried himself deep inside the BWT Alpine F1 team, pounded out the kilometres on the simulator; tested and developed the car and proved his worth.

Before he went to Zandvoort on the weekend that he was announced as the 778th – providing there are no more debuts this season after Franco Colapinto last weekend – driver to race in F1, and the 19th from Australia, he was smashing out the laps on the simulator at Alpine’s F1 headquarters in Enstone not far from Silverstone trying to find some speed for Pierre Gasly and Estebon Ocon’s race cars.

The 21-year-old, technically from the Gold Coast but really a world nomad, like most started in karts (think two Aussie championships), but he didn’t stay there long and nor did he stay in Australia.

With a father like Mick, the five-time 500cc World Motorcycle Champion, there was a worldliness about the young driver who was racing in Formula 4 at the age of 15 and enough understanding about how the motor racing world works.

Openwheeler racing in Australia is not strong and Motorsport Australia has been struggling to give it definition for ages, so it was Europe and Asia.

He was a winner in F4, F3 and then F2 and became part of the Alpine Academy that took Oscar Piastri (even if it didn’t elevate him to F1). His move into F1 comes at a critical time for Alpine. It has been on a slow decline of late and, despite winning a race a couple of years back, doesn’t feel like it has quite adjusted to the new ground effects rules.

It is struggling with engines – as the only team running the old Renault engine it lacks the development money – which is why it may not be running its own engine in the 2026 era.

But all that said, it feels like it has hit rock bottom and is ready to rise again. And

Doohan is important in that, having proven his worth as a development driver along with the decision to concentrate on Alpine this year rather than throw another pile of cash at F2.

“It was very much strategic. I had various options to go and race in all categories other than Formula 1, for this year,” he said in exclusive chat with Auto Action. “But it was the right decision for myself and the team, to ensure that I focus on Formula 1.

“We prepare as much as possible, with my role – as well as being reserve driver at all 24 rounds – plus my commitments in the simulator and an extensive testing

program. There ended up being no option for another program.

“And I think you could say at this point in time that we made the right decision.”

Ever since Estebon Ocon’s departure from Alpine was announced, Doohan was thought to be the front-runner to replace him, but with a few changes at the top end of Alpine it took a little while to lock down. Then, two days into the summer break, he put pen to paper.

In some ways, though, he felt like he was already an F1 driver – just without sitting on the grid. With the simulator work, he has done every Grand Prix and more.

“I’ve done a lot of driving ontrack and offtrack and the simulator’s been a great tool to acclimatise myself with a lot of different set-up changes, working with difficult machinery and really getting the car into better windows.

“It’s provided great opportunity for me as well to show my skills and show what I’m able to do in these situations, working with the engineers and the team back at base. I was grateful to have the opportunity. I think we’re working well in the sim and I think it helped me land this seat.”

He’d prefer more seat time in the real car, but he has valued that time, as clearly has the team. Without the physical demands of racing, he’s kept up a pretty rigorous training regime which he says has him fitter than he has ever been, and he’s been specifically training for the demands of an F1 car.

The simulator at Enstone and the training are two components of getting ready for F1, and he’s topped that up with heaps of work on his simulator at home to make sure his racecraft is up to speed.

“I’ve been racing on my home simulator for seven to nine hours a day online with many of the drivers who are on-track –the likes of Max, Lando and a lot of the other boys, who are on the sim and racing online. It’s something that I do during the season as well.

“This year, obviously, I haven’t been on track. Someone who did the same thing as me is another guy – don’t know where he is from, called Oscar Piastri – and it hasn’t worked too bad for him!” Jack laughs.

“I race everything from, GT3s to F1, F4, Super Formula, MX5, down all the way to Formula Vee. So, to be honest, anything that’s at a good circuit, a good combo, and something that’s also going to be a bit challenging.

“I do private testing on the sim for circuits that I’ll be heading up to. But for racing I want to put myself in situations and difficult places and in weird tracks and weird combos.”

Auto Action got a sniff of the signing over the Spa weekend and we ran Doohan on the cover, but then big Alpine

Jack has travelled the accepted pathway to F1 – most recently via F2 in 2023 and, this year, P1 laps in the F1 Alpine (main pic). He has a handy mentor (below) who knows a thing or two about winning ... Right: It all started in karts and then the move overseas. Far right: And Auto Action was first to alert Aussie fans to the news ...

management changes delayed the announcement to the point where we were getting nervous.

But the deal was done then and signed while AA was printing.

For the past few weeks, Jack just had to hold his tongue.

We tried to get to get it out of his father … no luck. We tried to get our man inside F1, Luis Vasconcellos, to get us a definitive answer. Crickets.

Then last week at Zandvoort, it was finally announced and Doohan could relax. “I was looking forward to it being out and public, but once I had put pen to paper, I was happy to keep quiet for as long as I needed to – just to know that I was signed and that it was official, was more than enough for me.

“I signed two days, after the conclusion of the mid-season, on the Wednesday after Spa.”

And now it has been whirlwind of media and the like. The buzz in Australia about having three Aussies on the grid has been huge – admittedly Dan Ricciardo is not confirmed yet – and has been equally as well received elsewhere.

“It seems like it was very well received, and I’m grateful for that and I’m very happy that also people are genuinely happy for me and the position that I find myself in.”

The team, even though it was once Renault, doesn’t have its origins in the turbo-charged cars of the 1980s; rather, this one has evolved from the 1981 Toleman team, which then became Benneton and Lotus F1 before being purchased by Renault and branded as such, complete with a Renault

engine. Alpine is to Renault as AMG is to Mercedes, so the team is really still Renault even though it has been called Alpine since 2021.

It has one win, for Ocon, at Hungary in 2021, and three podiums since the rebrand. This season has been tough, with only a handful of points and some internal

grid and, I perform as I know I can, I’m sure we’ll be finding ourselves in good positions.”

Pragmatic and grounded.

In closing we mused about an all-Aussie podium, which to be fair will be a stretch –but now we have him thinking.

“That’s something I’ve not even thought

the race, get points, get a podium, championship. I don’t want to run each necessary step and I don’t want

“It would mean a lot to me to win a Grand Prix. It would mean everything this is achieving my lifelong dream of

Melbourne where he is scheduled to make his Formula 1 debut, which is quite fitting.

but with that sort of success the dreams will be flying among all young Australian racing Australian kart championships last where Jack first started to make a name though, its

SUPERCARS DRIVER DOMINOS FALL AS 2025 TAKES SHAPE

THE FALLOUT FROM AUTO ACTION’S BREAKING OF THE MASSIVE NEWS THAT ANTON DE PASQUALE HAD BEEN SIGNED TO TEAM 18 STARTED A RAPID ROUND OF RESPONSES. THE SUPERCARS DRIVER SIGNINGS ANNOUNCEMENTS CAME THICK AND FAST … HERE’S HOW IT ALL WENT DOWN ...

MORE OF the driver dominos for the 2025 Supercars season fell into place last week with a series of announcements triggered by some high-profile signings and rugs being pulled out from under the feet of other high-profile drivers.

It was no secret that Peter Xiberras at PremiAir Racing wanted to sign Brodie Kostecki, but when he was told by sources at Symmons Plains that wasn’t going to happen, he then turned his attention to Anton De Pasquale, and he thought he was ready to do a deal when … Well, here’s our diary for the past two weeks.

SUNDAY, 18 AUGUST

ALL THE talk late on Sunday in Tasmania was that 2023 Supercars champion Brodie Kostecki was going to do a deal with Dick Johnson Racing for 2025. It has been clear for a few months that Kostecki’s future lay outside of Erebus where he won his title, and the signing of Cooper Murray was proof of that plan, even if that signing was not confirmed by Erebus or Cooper himself. But the deal had been done, given Murray had informed Jamie Whincup, his team boss for the T8 wildcard program.

Xiberras was now resigned to missing out on his man and lined up another target … enter De Pasquale.

Left: Peter Xiberras and PremiAir Racing have missed out on two potential signings. Below: An early release must have been negotiated between Erebus and DJR for this announcement to proceed ... The presence of Erebus chief Barry Ryan at the announcement does suggest that common sense has broken out ...

Opposite top: Anton de Pasquale – had to go for DJR to get Kostecki, but was soon snapped up by Team 18.

Opposite middle: Erebus is going with its traditional ‘young talent’ approach – Cooper Murray (here with Barry Ryan) replaces Kostecki.

Opposite bottom: It wasn’t anticipated, but after a successful 20-year full-time career in Supercars, Mark Winterbottom’s future will be that of a co-driver.

THURSDAY, 15 AUGUST

KOSTECKI IS finally believed to have put pen to paper on a deal with Dick Johnson Racing and Anton De Pasquale was told he was not required for next season. ADP had been chatting with Xiberras, who had flown to Brisbane to meet him, but was reportedly given the cold shoulder.

Charlie Schwerkolt had gone cold on the idea of running Mark Winterbottom in 2025, and he made his move on De Pasquale. By the time the weekend was done, Anton had committed to Team 18 for 2025 after being linked initially to Grove Racing and then PremiAir before being part of the bombshell signing that effectively sacked the 2015 series champion.

MONDAY, 26 AUGUST

THE FIRST inkling that something was up at Team 18 started to surface with talk that a couple of rookies believed that the #18 was open for next year. By the time the day was done, we’d heard for the first time that De Pasquale had signed a deal.

This is the day, if you read the word on social media, that Mark Winterbottom was told Team 18 was headed in a different direction, which was a big shock for the bloke who had been earmarked for a management role within the team when his time was up.

TUESDAY, 27 AUGUST

FIRST IT was one phone call, and then there was another followed by another. Anton De Pasquale had signed for Team 18, and Mark Winterbottom was done.

What was not clear early was whether this was a mutually agreed decision, or a onesided moved.

We started putting the story together, and early in the afternoon we published the story ‘De Pasquale to replace Winterbottom at Team 18’, and that triggered instant responses by the interested parties.

First it was Frosty who took to social media to explain what was going on – clearly it was not mutually agreed – and then Team 18 sent out a media released under a 5pm embargo announcing De Pasquale.

“It’s exciting to have Anton De Pasquale join the team next year,” Schwerkolt said in the announcement. “Anton’s a clear standout in the next generation of drivers coming through the sport. He’s a proven winner and has what it takes to be a future champion of the sport.

“It’s great to have Dave and Anton back together and it’s an exciting driver line-up to take us through our next growth phase.

“I’d like to thank Mark for his contribution to the team. We have shared some great successes together, including our first pole position and race win, and have enjoyed every step of the journey together along the way.”

WEDNESDAY, 28 AUGUST

WITH THE Team 18 news now confirmed, the pressure moved to Queensland and Dick

Johnson Racing, with Kostecki apparently either not able to sign a deal until October 1 or not able to announce what he was doing until that date.

A curious media callout was sent just after mid-day declaring, “A significant sporting announcement concerning key competitors in the Repco Supercars Championship is scheduled to take place tomorrow Thursday August 29, 2024, at Norwell Motorplex in Queensland,” which our sources reckoned was the announcement of the Kostecki deal.

At the risk of overhyping, the statement continued by offering, “This major media event is highly anticipated within the motorsport community and will set part of the scene for the future of the sport.”

At such short notice such a ‘significant’ announcement should probably have had an online component, but who are we to tell Queenslanders that the rest of Australia exists?

neither am I. We’re focussed on winning.

“When you put the camera on people like that, they look miserable. More this year, because of what’s happened.

“If you look at the same race last year, we haven’t seen a big difference. He’s just an intense person.”

He certainly looked OK at Norwell.

And through it all Xiberras, who was approached by someone no longer in Kostecki’s life last year, is left to continue the hunt for a replacement driver for Tim Slade.

The drag racer is now learning a little more about the cutthroat nature of Supercars and its second language – that of lies and subterfuge.

The upside is that he now has plenty of time to work it out with all the name drivers –aside from Frosty – locked away. Xiberras has not ignored the idea of changing both drivers, but without a superstar that is less likely.

Brad Jones Racing, which is traditionally

THURSDAY, 29 AUGUST

THE BIG announcement was the fact that Kostecki had signed with DJR, but also thrown into the party was the formal announcement of Cooper Murray at Erebus Motorsport, complete with Barry Ryan in attendance … which is strange if you believed the narrative coming out of the Queensland media during the first half of 2024.

Kostecki admitted that ‘personal issues’ impacted the start of the year, but he looked happy and comfortable when talking about next season. In an even more curious move for the narrative, he was even seen on socials later having a drink with Paul Morris, Murray, and Barry and Loretta Ryan.

DJR wanted Kostecki and it had to work out whether it kept the steady and fast hand of Will Davison, or the younger De Pasquale. It opted for the veteran who will now run his ninth season for DJR, and his fifth in this stint.

“We acknowledge and thank Anton De Pasquale for his contribution to the team and wish him well for the future. The hard decision was to let Anton go; the easy decision was to pair Will and Brodie together,”

DJR Team Principal Ryan Story said.

Barry Ryan was keen to explain Kostecki’s apparent mood at the tracks, saying that is another thing being misrepresented.

“He’s pissed off and angry and I’m the same. It’s hard to be happy after what’s happened.

“I think he’s over the whole thing and how we’ve been treated and how he’s been treated this year.

“But there have been times at the track ... if you look at Brodie last year there are times when he doesn’t look happy because he is so competitive. He is not a smiley person –

very late in confirming its drivers, still has to confirm the drivers in its second garage, given it is unlikely to change the main two drivers. Jaxon Evans, we think, goes on – one season is not enough to work it out – but Macauley Jones has surely had enough seasons to prove his worth and there may be change there.

It has been a fascinating Silly Season, but from here it settles a little. Maybe.

Andrew Clarke

EREBUS TARGETTING A BATHURST WIN

THE BRODIE KOSTECKI SAGA IS DONE AND DUSTED AND EREBUS IS NOW TOTALLY FOCUSSED ON THE BATHURST 1000. WITH EVERYTHING OUT IN THE OPEN, BARRY RYAN WAS HAPPY TO TALK IN DETAIL FOR THE FIRST TIME ...

By Bruce Williams

AFTER LAST week’s dual announcement that Brodie Kostecki will drive for Dick Johnson Racing next season with youngster Cooper Murray arriving to fill his seat at Erebus, the defending Supercars champions are looking to snatch the biggest prize from a difficult year.

Erebus boss, Barry Ryan, told Auto Action he was happy to have ‘lanced the boil’ on the Kostecki situation with confirmation of the new deals and he now wants to move on.

“It’s sort of a relief, in a sense,” Ryan said.

“I’m more relaxed about it. I just want to move on.

“He’s found a new team and we’ve found a new driver. It’s as simple as that.”

The tumultuous 2024 season has rocked Erebus after it climbed to the top of the Supercars world last year, and it has been the toughest of Ryan’s career. With Kostecki talking about his personal struggles for the first time, Ryan feels the outside world may start to understand a little about what was going on.

“It was caused by lies and innuendo, and that’s probably the worst thing,” he says of the beating he and the team took in parts of the media and social media. “You can’t defend it. You want to defend everything, of course, but you see how it affects your family as well, and that hurts.

“I’ve never really had mental health issues, but this is the closest I’ve been to going ‘Shit, I don’t want this’.

He said both he and team owner Betty Klimenko looked at walking away from the sport, but they have rediscovered their mojo of late as they focus on Bathurst and next year with another rookie driver.

“There is no denying we’ve both got a pretty strong pact that we want to see the year out and win some races,” Ryan said.

“And hopefully win Bathurst. That’s the biggest thing we’ve been talking about and focussing on.

“Brodie is going to be a bit more relaxed for the rest of the year, knowing where he’s going and knowing that we’re going to move on and that makes a big difference when you get in a car as a race driver.”

Looking at the Kostecki saga, Ryan is calm as he tells his side.

“What the media portrayed of Brodie and our relationship forced the break-up. It’s like someone having accused you of cheating on your partner and then you are trying to stay together.

“Sometimes you’ve just got to break up. That’s the best way to think of it. A clean sheet of paper. We both needed to move on.”

Moving on also includes bringing Cooper Murray into the main game with Erebus, continuing the theme of promoting young talent into the main Supercar series.

“We have signed Cooper for two years. If he wins a championship, then that’s fantastic. If he wants to go to the next team then we’ll give him our blessing,” Ryan said.

“He’s a pretty good kid. He fitted in straight away. Easy to get along with.

We’ve had the opportunity to give him a

The Auto Action RevLimiter podcast

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.

couple of test days with the team.

“He is focussed on winning and what he wants to do with his career.”

Ryan also confirmed that Jack Le Brocq is confirmed for season 2025 and rated his first year at Erebus.

“It’s been a bit unfair on Jack, because he expected to roll in with Brodie as his teammate. The sun was shining, big sponsors on the car, and his world crashed as well,” he said.

“Overall, he has out-performed Brodie in a lot of the sessions and a lot of the races this year. He’s got to be pretty proud of that.

“If Brodie is 100 per cent, then Jack has got to be very, very close, if not equal to Brodie. The momentum isn’t there where we want it, but Jack has done a really good job.

“He’s a young guy and that makes a big difference.

“If he wasn’t the person he is then it probably would have been a tougher battle because of what he’s had to put up with –that he shouldn’t have had to put up with this year.”

He also accepts that he may lose engineer

“It could happen. But at the moment George is with us, and he is contracted to us until the end of the year.

“George is one of the biggest gentlemen in the pitlane.

“When he’s ready to make a decision I’m sure we’ll sit down and talk about it and if he leaves, it will be on the best terms possible.

“We’d love to keep him, but we understand sometimes this driver-engineer relationship ... you can’t break it up, no matter how hard you try.

“If that ends up happening it would be sad, but we’ll say ‘good luck’ ...”

NEW EPISODES OUT EVERY WEDNESDAY

George Commins as well as Kostecki, with Commins likely to stick with Kostecki and move to the DJR.

Ryan was on hand at the Queensland announcement of Kostecki’s DJR deal for 2025. Below: Kostecki with engineer George Commins – who may move to DJR with his driver.

Images: SUPERCARS, PETER NORTON

NO STOPPING SVG

THE AMERICAN adventure of flying Kiwi Shane van Gisbergen is showing no signs of slowing down, with his dream of securing a full-time seat in the NASCAR Cup Series already a reality.

Even though his first season in the USA is far from complete, a full-time promotion from the Xfinity to the Cup Series is locked in.

Next year, van Gisbergen will follow in the footsteps of Marcos Ambrose and race with Dale Earnhardt Jnr’s iconic #88 for the team where it all started in Chicago, Trackhouse Racing.

It completes a remarkable journey for SVG who, in the space of just 13 months, has gone from having never driving a NASCAR before to winning on Cup Series debut, racing and winning in the Xfinity series and securing a coveted seat in the big league.

While Ambrose took two years to rise through the ranks from Supercars, the Truck Series and finally the Cup Series, van Gisbergen is surprised by how quickly things have progressed, but knows there is still a mountain to climb:

“It’s been a pretty awesome 18 months, and a huge life change,” van Gisbergen said.

“Everything he (Trackhouse owner Justin Marks) has said will happen has happened.

“I never thought it would happen this quickly, and I’m very glad we’ve done the learning this year in Xfinity.

“Kaulig Racing has been great to work with – and also a lot more races to finish the year now.

“It’s been a huge learning experience, but I’m just excited to get full time in the Cup Series next year.

It is going to be massive and very difficult for sure but I think I am ready to be thrown into the deep end.”

Whilst, for some, making the step up could be intimidating, van Gisbergen believes the transition will be made easier by racing the Next Gen Camaro, which feels much more familiar to the versatile Kiwi than the current Xfinity Camaro.

“The Cup car is more relative than anything else I have driven around the world. They feel like a normal race car,” van Gisbergen said, “whereas the Xfinity car is completely foreign to me. But I am glad I have done this year to learn because I had never known any of the tracks, formats etc.

“We have definitely done our preparation the right way and building up with more Cup races.

“Time will tell next year.”

Off the track, the naturally reserved van Gisbergen admitted the sheer overwhelming size of the teams, facilities, crowds and media in America compared to the Australian scene has been “crazy.”

Another adjustment will be his first taste, this year, of NASCAR’s unique ‘Playoffs’ knockout system that decides the champion with a onerace showdown in Phoenix.

Thanks to his three wins, van Gisbergen is already one of the top contenders in the Xifnity Series and is eager for the new challenge when it begins at Kansas on September 28.

“I have not been involved in it yet but the Playoff races are going to be massive pressure-cookers, especially that third race if you have had a bad first two,” van Gisbergen said.

“I am looking forward to being part of that pressure and seeing what it feels like.

“Losing our crew chief (Bruce Schlicker) has hurt a lot. Bruce was a huge part of the Kaulig team on the Xfinity side.

“I have full confidence in Kevin Walter, the new guy, but it is tough.

“Hopefully we can keep growing and get into a little bit of a better place team-wise before the Playoffs start.

“The first round is a tough one and you just have to survive that and have three good races.

“Certainly if you make that final four it is a real pressure race ... it is crazy.

“From a fan point of view and spectacle it is pretty full-on and interesting to watch.

“But being on the other side of the fence, hopefully we get to experience it – I don’t

know what it will be like having a whole year come down to one track.”

Trackhouse’s faith in SVG is so strong, with boss Marks believing he can be a Playoff contender straight away in the Cup Series.

“There’s not a lot of experience in the Cup Series – some unknowns, a lot of hard work – but Shane checks a lot of boxes for a really, really compelling story and building great business for this sport,” Marks explained.

“We wouldn’t be doing it if we didn’t think this guy couldn’t win lots and lots of Cup races and be a Playoff contender.”

To enhance his preparation, van Gisbergen will enjoy six extra Cup Series starts this year and will drive 7-8 Sprintcar races in NZ this summer.

Thomas Miles

‘SVG’, as the Americans prefer to call him, will take over the #88 previously campaigned by Dale Earnhardt Junior.

STOP / GO

DUTTON PENALISED FOR RANDLE PUSH

Triple Eight Race Engineering Manager Mark Dutton has received a reprimand by Motorsport Australia (MA) for his contact with Thomas Randle at the Tasmania SuperSprint. In the aftermath of Race 18 of the 2024 season, Tickford’s Randle went over to the T8 garage to apologise for spinning Broc Feeney, where Dutton denied him entry to the garage with a push. MA’s reprimand is similar to the reprimand given to Barry Ryan for a similar incident with Mark Winterbottom at Pukekohe in 2022. MA released a lengthy 1,404 word statement on the incident, citing rule Rule B6.5.1.1 on intentional physical contact.

AUSSIES FLOOD FERRARI ACADEMY

Eight young Aussies will participate in the 2024 Ferrari Driver Academy’s Asia Pacific and Oceania Selection Program in Sepang, Malaysia, on September 15-18. Costa Toparis, Dante Vinci, Harrison Duske, Lincoln Evans, Seth Gilmore, Nicolas Stati, Tyler Calleja, Cohen Kokotovich and Jesse James Samuels, are among the 13 drivers who will show their skills in front of Ferrari experts in F4 machines on the ex-Formula 1 circuit. They’ll fight for limited places in the world final for a place in the FDA, where Aussies youngsters such as James Wharton have found success in recent years.

NEW LEADER AT GROVE RACING

GROVE RACING has bolstered its leadership with Troy Bundy (left) joining as Chief Executive. Part of a restructure, Brenton Grove (middle) will move from CEO to Executive Director, reporting to Executive Chairman Stephen Grove, while David Cauchi (right) remains Team Principal. Bundy comes to Supercars with more than a quarter of a century of sporting experience, his latest role being head of the GT racing program for Porsche in North America. He’s also been Head of Motorsport for Porsche Cars Australia and played a part in the Junior Development program, overseeing the likes of Jaxon Evans and Cameron Hill who were coming through the ranks.

DIFFEY COPS A WHACK

NASCAR FANS ARE NOT ALL HAPPY

By Paul Gover LEGENDARY BROADCASTER

Leigh Diffey has been forced to defend himself after making the switch to the NASCAR commentary booth.

The transplanted Australian moved from IndyCar to NASCAR as play-by-play commentator at the Daytona 400 and a group of fans have been quick to criticise him –and his Aussie accent.

Despite kudos from drivers – including Denny Hamlin –he used social media to explain the situation and to fight his corner.

“There’s not single broadcaster on the planet who’s going to please everybody,” Diffey said in an impassioned plea on TikTok.

“We race because we love the sport; we race because we love the entertainment. It’s a business as well, but the fans are the ones who need to be satisfied and I’m doing my best for you – is my message.”

Diffey had called NASCAR in the past, but the new move makes him the lead commentator for NBC Sports for the rest of the season and into 2025.

It comes after more than a decade as the anchor for IndyCar television coverage.

Ahead of Daytona, Diffey told Auto Action how much he was looking forward to the move.

“It’s going to be fun,” Diffey said.

“It’s the beginning of something new for me. I’ve done NASCAR before, but not as my main motorsports activity and job. It’s going to be nice to have that singular focus and do the last 12 races of this year.”

Diffey commentated IndyCar for more than a decade, including covering six Indianapolis 500s, but this year alone he has also been part of IMSA sports car and Supercross broadcasts.

He worked flat-out to prepare for the NASCAR challenge, learning the cars, drivers and teams to ensure a seamless roll-out into the broadcast booth.

He dived into NASCAR directly after leading the NBC Sport coverage of track-and-field events at the Olympic Games in July.

“Since getting home from Paris it’s been head-down, in full homework mode. It’s been watching a lot of tapes, learning all the people. It’s a lot of research,” he said.

He also said he is looking forward to the Play-offs and the pressure as the stock car series reaches its decider.

“It funnels down to a climatic moment at the end. You’ve got the season-long race to make it to the Playoffs. When it gets pared down it builds a lot of drama towards the end of the season,” he said.

Diffey is asking for time and consideration for his new role in the broadcast booth.

“My message would be that the NASCAR fan base is a sacred group of people and I have the utmost respect for it, and for the sport and I feel privileged to be here and to have the position of commentating for you,” he said.

“I’d like them to know that just how seriously I’m taking it. Hopefully people can see from last weekend in Daytona how seriously I take my research and to be prepared, not for myself, my employer, but for the fans, for the viewers.”

FRASER CHASING REDEMPTION

THERE WILL not be many more determined drivers on the Supercars grid than Declan Fraser at Sandown.

Fraser is desperate to make the most of a new chapter in his career as Andre Heimgartner’s co-driver at Brad Jones Racing.

It comes after a tough rookie full-time season at Tickford where he finished second-to-last in the championship with one top 10 before the Ford squad dropped him as it downsized to two cars.

Fraser, who has prepared by racing GT World Challenge Australia for Triple Eight, taking a special win at The Bend, is extremely confident of chasing career-best results with Heimgartner.

“I was stoked to get the call from Brad at the start of the year,” Fraser told Auto Action

“I was not sure what I was going to do and felt like I did not get the right opportunities to prove who I was after winning the Super2 championship.

“So to come into BJR with Andre already having a win, I know the car will be fast and I feel like we could get some podiums at

Sandown and Bathurst.”

After going from the highest of highs securing a Supercars dream to the big low of seeing it suddenly disappear at Tickford, Fraser feels he has unfinished business.

“Emotionally it was incredibly hard,” he said of the Tickford departure.

“It was something I had been working towards my entire life.

“I was there on a multi year contract, so to have it cut short like that was a bit of a shame but that is life in the industry we are in.

“I am more looking to the future now and I do have something to prove.

“I know how good I can be given the right environment so I will do my best for Andre and BJR.”

Thomas Miles

VAUGHAN READY FOR WILDCARD

BRAD VAUGHAN is primed to take on the opportunity of his career as he makes his Supercars debut in the Chahda Motorsport wildcard at Sandown.

Vaughan will team up with Matt Chahda in a Triple Eight Camaro that, unlike 2022, will compete in both the Sandown 500 and Bathurst 1000 enduros.

With Vaughan also carrying on his Super2 campaign, the 20-year-old will get a mountain of seat time.

To ensure he is ready, the South Australian has competed in everything from Excels, Saloon and Hyper Cars in recent weeks, plus got his first drive of the Camaro at Winton last week.

In addition to the racing, he has also been soaking up advice from Tickford stars Cam Waters and Thomas Randle, plus Dean Canto to feel prepared for the challenge.

“It is starting to sink in, but will be one of those things where until you are on the grid and Cam Waters flies past you you will think ‘wow I am here’” he told Auto Action

“The Sandown 500 has six practice sessions, qualifying, warmup, 161-lap

race, plus a full Super2 weekend with two 40-minute races – there are more laps in one weekend than what I have done all year combined.

“It will be a lot, but I have had some good advice on how to attack it physically and mentally. I feel prepared for it.”

How the biggest opportunity of the 2022 Super3 champion’s short career arose was

END OF SUPER3?

THE 2024 Dunlop Series could be the fifth and final season that features Super3 with Image Racing’s Terry Wyhoon revealing it is no more.

Whilst the road for Super2 is clear with the transition from Gen2 to Gen3 equipment not arriving until 2027 at the earliest, Super3 could be coming to a sudden stop.

Super3 became the official third tier of Supercars in 2019 where Broc Feeney was crowned champion and 23 cars took on the opening round at Phillip Island.

Post COVID, the field halved but still consistently floated around 10 or more cars.

However, this year the field has dropped from five cars at last year’s Adelaide finale, to just two at its lowest in 2024.,Whilst that figure will rise to four at Sandown, the category is struggling to attract drivers and teams despite plenty of Project Blueprint and Gen2 VFs, FGXs and Altimas floating around.

As a result, Image Racing boss Wyhoon revealed 2024 may be shaping up as the finish line for Super3.

“It appears that it has reached an end,” he told Auto Action

“I am a bit surprised and mystified why we did not get interest in Jobe’s (Stewart) championship winning VF.

“It is disappointing there is not more Super3 this year because I think there are a lot of cars out there eligible for the category ... but it is what it is.”

One of the potential reasons Wyhoon pointed towards was the fact to run a ZB in Super2 costs the same as running a VF in Super3, which is a point of frustration for the veteran team owner.

He fears that removing the third tier takes away an important stepping stone for drivers on their way to Supercars.

“It was always a big step so I thought Super3 would be good to fill that,” Wyhoon said.

“It is a great place to learn without any pressure, learning the same tracks and

simply through a short conversation.

“It was a little bit coincidental. We were parked next to each other at a test day before Townsville and I just asked ‘how are you guys going looking for a co-driver?’,” Vaughan recalled.

“They said they had not found yet so I put my hand up and suddenly we had something signed before Townsville.

“They were adamant they wanted a Super2 driver who had not been given an opportunity and I fitted that bill.”

Whilst Vaughan sits outside the top 10 in his second Super2 season with Tickford, he has shown flashes of speed taking three podiums and poles since his debut.

Although things “outside of my control” have not gone his way in Super2, Vaughan feels there is nothing to lose and everything to gain when he realises his dream and steps up to Supercars.

“The good thing about a wildcard is I don’t really have any pressure,” he said.

“It is not like I am with a top team where there is the championship pressure.

“We can just go out there and enjoy it and hopefully we are racing somewhere in the top half of the field.

“Bathurst is such a cool thing right, ever since I was little that is where I wanted to race.

“We are going to have a Triple Eight car and pit crew doing the pit stops this time so all the ingredients are there that were lacking the last time they ran a wildcard.”

Thomas Miles

cars and like Jobe you can beat a lot of the Super2 drivers.

“(But) Super2 is strong and only going to get stronger.

“At the end of the day, if you want to

race main game Supercars, you need to be in Super2, showing the field, winning races and then you might get phone calls.”

Thomas Miles

Image: MARK HORSBURGH

Image: PETER NORTON

STOP / GO

HISTORIC LAPS FOR GRM’S NEW PEUGEOT TCR

GARRY ROGERS Motorsport has notched up a major milestone in its build of the worldwide Peugeot 308 P51 TCR. It hit the track for its maiden shakedown with Ben Bargwanna behind the wheel at Sandown on August 30. The 18-month journey from design to track included an engine sent to Modena, Italy, for certification from WSC Sports – global rights holder of TCR. It is hoped the 308 will debut at SMP in October. “To see not just a new car but one we designed and developed in-house roll out, was an extremely proud moment for all of the crew here at GRM,” GRM Director Barry Rogers said.

UNIQUE ADELAIDE 500 SPEEDWAY REVEALED

THE LOOK of the first ever speedway at the VAILO Adelaide 500 has been revealed. Illustrations of the temporary NAPA dirt speedway – 342m long and 17m wide – located within the Parklands Street Circuit are now visible for fans to see. There will also be 8000 capacity bleacher seating, with the overall management and advisory committee led by Doctor in Dirt Science, Allan Barlee. Already signed up for the mammoth $100,000 prize purse are Oz stars like Lachlan McHugh, Jock Goodyer and James McFadden. The 2024 VAILO Adelaide 500 will be held from November 14-17.

NO SANDOWN SUPER2 FOR PERKINS

JACK PERKINS won’t perform double-duty and race his popular Peter Janson-liveried BRT Mustang in Super2 at this month’s Sandown 500. After winning in Townsville in the same colours, James Courtney’s codriver and second generation racer has been denied after a tweak to Rule 6.2.6 which added Sandown to Bathurst with the rule that ensures Supercars teams don’t set-up Super2 programs for their co-drivers on enduro weekends.

“Not only have we already started preparing the car and marketing campaigns for Sandown, but we have very little time to make or think of a potential Plan B,” a disappointed Perkins said.

NEW CLAY FOR BIG PREMIER NEW YEAR

THERE’S PLENTY of news coming out of Warrnambool’s Sungold Stadium Premier Speedway ahead of the 15-date 2024/25 season, with track upgrades, a new calendar, naming rights sponsors, and new on-track initiatives on the cards.

First up is the announcement that local business Sungold will enter its 20th year as the naming rights sponsor, which General Manager Micheal Parry told Auto Action had become a point of pride.

“To have a local sponsor supporting the venue for that longevity, especially these days ... it’s hard to find partners like that,” Parry said.

“It’s great to have what is an iconic brand in the Southwest associated with our venue and club.”

Total Tools will also remain a sponsor for the fourth season of the eight-round, $10,000-to-win, Sprintcar Track Championship.

Also for this upcoming calendar, the club has decided to revert back to the older-style clay, which will return the racing characteristics back to what competitors had prior to the newer darker soil that was used over the last three seasons.

A return to the more orange clay will provide a more consistent surface than the darker stuff and is sourced from close to where the old surface material came from.

There has also been alterations to the track shape with the straight flattened out, meaning drivers will have to get off the throttle into the corners with the increased banking at the top of the track.

“We’ve tried to make it more of a technical track, so it’s not as easy for drivers just to actually hold the throttle flat and hang on,” Parry added.

“I guess it’ll force them to use their head a little bit more as it won’t be

quite as easy to navigate.

“With the flattened straight and increased banking, we’re tried to create two really good lines of racing.”

Another all new addition is the three-night $5,000 winnertake-all 360-LS Sprintcar Track Championship on Nov 16, Feb 22, and March 29.

There’s also February 8 for the All-Sedans night, as well as the national V8 Dirt Modified Australian Championship of Feb 21-22 and, of course, the iconic Grand Annual Championship on Jan 24-26.

There is also an extra Sprintcar night on Jan 19 as a ‘soft opening’ in the lead-up, with off-track festivities in the planning.

It’s a huge year, and it all kicks off on November 2 with Sprintcars and Wingless Sprints.

TW Neal

VALE: LAURIE O’NEIL

By Paul Gover

LAURIE O’NEILL, who backed the careers of a group of frontline racers through the 1960s and 1970s, has died at 98.

That list of his champions includes Frank Matich and Ian ‘Pete’ Geoghegan, who raced singleseaters and sports cars owned by the successful businessman.

He was also instrumental in the creation of Sydney Motorsport Park, which was built on land he originally purchase as a rubbish

tip but re-purposed for racing after failing to get approval.

O’Neil, who made his fortune from waste collection and disposal, was the youngest of eight brothers from Adelaide but made his name and fortune in Sydney.

He was also a successful car dealer with Porsche, Ferrari and Aston Martin franchises.

Among the race cars he owned were a Lotus 19, the Porsche 911S used by Geoghegan to win the 1976 Australian Sports Car

championship, and a later Porsche 935 Turbo.

He also commissioned the Holden Monaro Sports Sedan (above) originally raced by Geoghegan. O’Neil owned a vast number of classic and collectible cars over the years, including an ex-Le Mans Ferrari LM250, a 1957 Jaguar XK-SS Roadster, a1957 Bentley Continental S1 Fastback, a 1960 Ferrari 250 GT Pininfarina Coupe and a 1964 ex-Shelby American Ford GT40.

Laurie O’Neill commisioned legendary car builder John Sheppard to build him a Sports Sedan for Ian ‘Pete’ Geoghegan to race ... The Monaro was born. Image: MIKE JACOBSON

QR GETTING DIRTY

TONY QUINN CONTINUES HIS UPGRADING WORK AT QR WITH AN EXSPANSION ON THE HORIZON

By Paul Gover

QUEENSLAND RACEWAY

will get a dedicated dirt track under new plans by Tony Quinn.

It would be used for off-road training and potentially for rally runs – as well as hosting fans when, and if, the Brisbane track returns to the Supercars trail.

Quinn, the biggest track owner in Australasia, said it is part of his ongoing improvements to the Brisbane facility.

“We’re looking at it. It will give me something else to do,” Quinn told Auto Action

“There is a lot on the western boundary. I think it’s about 100 or 150 hectares.

“We could do it behind the back straight, but that would only be small. It kinda makes sense, but it’s not a ‘must-do’. So, if it all works out and the council is sensible …

“You won’t be able to pound round it all day. But you could have a morning out there.

“We’ll listen to what people want, and if it makes sense we’ll try it. And if it works we’ll continue with it.”

Quinn said there is potential to expand the pool for work at QR and rally organisers have also spoken about using any new track.

“We do get enquiries from manufacturers about four-wheel drive stuff. The suggestion is we could use it for that kind of stuff, but when the V8s come we could use it for camping.”

While Quinn is only getting started on the dirt-track idea, he is well advanced on the ongoing upgrades to facilities at QR.

“We are building some more stuff at QR before Christmas. We’re going to built a walkway over the pits, joining the big

building with the new spectator terrace.

“From corporate, you will be able to walk to the next set of garages.”

Quinn said he will continue to expand the new covered benches in the spectator areas, which have brought comfortable seating with shade sails for protection from the sun.

MOLLY WANTS A NEW CAR

TAYLOR HAS A SPORTS CAR DREAM

By Paul Gover

MOLLY TAYLOR wants to drive a Subaru BRZ in the 2025 Australian Rally Championship.

But there is a major obstacle to her sports car dream – money.

It will cost around $500,000 to scratchbuild a BRZ with a turbocharged engine and all-wheel drive suitable to challenge the Skoda and Toyota Rally2 cars that currently dominate the series.

Taylor, who is also a front-runner in the Extreme E championship, ran out of puff in this year’s ARC driving a production class Subaru WRX. Now she is doing the research to potentially turn her dream into reality.

“It’s an idea in my head. We want to get the conversation started,” Taylor revealed to Auto Action. This is just kind-of like a thought bubble in my head. It’s not official or endorsed by Subaru Australia.

“If we want to compete for outright wins we would have to do something like that. I think it would be mega.

“The problem is that I would need $500,000 to build it. If someone comes up with the cash, then yes I’d do it.”

Taylor has been driving a WRX (pictured) owned by Tasmanian businessman Craig Brooks, but their deal has just ended as Taylor returns to Europe to continue in Extreme E.

“It’s an amazing car for what it is. We’ve been able to get some third fastest times overall,” she said.

The BRZ dream is not totally crazy, as Tommi Makinen built a Toyota 86 to a similar specification when he was head of the GR team in the World Rally Championship. The car even came to Australia and was driven by Makinen and Toyota supremo Akio ‘Morizo’ Toyoda ahead of Rally Australia in Coffs Harbour.

She has also spoken to Darryl Bush, the recently-retired technical chief at Neal Bates Motorsport and the man responsible for building a long-string of car.

“There is no reason why it couldn’t work.

“That’s just a continual thing,” he said.

“I encourage the guys to listen to the customers and, so long as it’s not too whiney, we go and do it.

“That’s the good thing. We don’t have to report to a board or government department. We just go and do it.”

I’ve spoken to Darryl about it. With all the Rally2 cars now it would be far more costeffective to buy one of those. But Subaru doesn’t have one,” Taylor said.

But her main focus for now is on Extreme E and the latest leg in Portugal.

“We’re leading the points. I would like to say there is a high chance of another championship.

“It’s more competitive than it’s ever been, but if everything goes well we’ll be in contention.”

SELLARS SENDS STATEMENT

TASMANIAN HARRISON Sellars was relieved to put a frustrating couple of rounds behind him by sweeping a thrilling Formula Ford championship round at Sandown.

Having gone from being near the top to dropping out of championship contention, Sellars switched his attention to winning races and it paid off in Victoria.

The Altatek Racing driver collected a maximum haul of 61 points at Sandown by taking pole and all three races wins.

But he had to earn them, with his biggest margin of victory a meagre four-tenths across the whole weekend.

“It has been a long time coming,” a relieved Sellars told Auto Action

“We had a great start to the year and then unfortunately, due to circumstances out of my control, I wasn’t able to stay in the championship hunt.

“So it is really nice to finally put a weekend together, especially with a clean sweep.

“It was a great weekend of close racing. It was not like I cleared out in front – I had to work for it really hard –so it was really enjoyable.”

Sellars said a key to keeping his hungry rivals at bay was managing the tow up the straights at Sandown.

“For us the tow was huge all weekend, especially up the back straight,” he said.

“You really had to be smart with where you positioned the car.

“I was probably the worst car coming out of Turn 4 which actually helped because the others were too close to get the full tow.

“The last race was strange because I was leading rather than being second coming onto the last lap so I made sure my run onto the back straight was good as possible and held on by the skin of my teeth.”

After some tough times at Morgan Park and Symmons Plains, Sellars said the championship is now out of the window and he is just chasing race wins – a mindset that has worked well so far.

“I am just caring about race wins now,” he said.

“I could not care less about points anymore and I am just taking each race as it comes.”

The final round of the 2024 Formula Ford Australia season is at Phillip Island on October 4-6.

Thomas Miles

XIBERRAS TO RACE AT BATHURST

PREMIAIR BOSS TAKING THE WHEEL ...

By Paul Gover PETER XIBERRAS

will be on the starting grid at Bathurst in October.

The PremiAir team owner plans to take the next step into circuit racing after making his debut last month at Winton.

But ... and it’s a big one ... he will not be racing a Supercar.

Instead, Xiberras will be back behind the wheel of the historic Holden VK Commodore he owns.

“The opportunity is there, so why not?”

Xiberras told Auto Action

“You know what, it’s Bathurst. It’s the track everyone wishes they could run on,”

His Commodore is the Group A car originally raced by New Zealander Graeme Crosby, who competed for Suzuki in both MotoGP and World Superbike races in the 1970s and 1980s. When he retired from bikes, Crosby competed in touring car races in Australia and New Zealand with backing from Bob Jane T-Marts.

“It’s a 1985 VK Group A Commodore.”

“I drove it at Winton Festival of Speed, in the combined Group A and Group C cars.

“I have done a little bit of other stuff, but that’s the first time I’ve raced the car. Believe it or not, I ended up third in my class. It was a bit of a shock. I didn’t think I’d go that good.” said Xiberras.

Xiberras has no great ambition for his Bathurst racing, which will be done “with a couple of mates” and without any connection to the PremiAir crew in Supercars.

“The plan is the same as Winton. Start at the back, get used to it, and get faster and faster. And hopefully my last lap is my quickest,” Xiberras said.

“What’s the objective? Keep it on the black stuff and keep it off the walls.”

Comparing touring cars and circuit racing to Xiberras’ big love of Top Fuel drag racing is obvious to the successful businessman.

“It’s a different discipline.

“It is just a ton of fun, and a  good way to enjoy the car you own.”

He said that, at 56, he has no plan for any serious touring car competition.

“I’m too old for that.”

But the two-time Australian Top Fuel champion is committed to chasing more wins and titles in that category.

“My first hit-out will be January next year. It’s the same-old, same-old.”

Comparing Top Fuel with circuit racing is simple for Xiberras.

“Top Fuel is like going to drink cordial. Circuit racing is drinking water!” he said.

“Top Fuel is concentrated – 20 minutes is compressed into 30 seconds.

“Top Fuel is more of a buzz, and probably more exciting for me personally.

“Still, I get the same enjoyment for different reasons.

THE FIGHT for glory in Touring Car Masters is more competitive than ever, so drivers need to push hard to get over the line and one doing some preparation is Danny Buzadzic.

The last TCM round produced some thrilling racing for victory with Jamie Tilley on top and Adam Garwood extending his championship lead 43 points albeit after some big battles. Buzadzic also appeared in victory lane after

beating Marcus Zukanovic in a thrilling photo finish.

In order to gain a potential advantage ahead of the category’s next round at the Sandown 500 meeting, Buzadzic has been busy racing his Allan Grice liveried Torana at that very circuit.

He competed in Vic V8s at the recent Victorian State Race Series at Sandown and took a commanding final race win with his

“Circuit racing is ultra-cool because I can drive a car I used to watch on TV and think ‘Im doing the same thing as you guys’ ...”

BUZADZIC’S EARLY GAIN

straight-line speed especially impressive against his rivals.

“It worked out really well for us and fell into place brilliantly,” Buzadzic told Auto Action

“This has been perfect preparation. I have really enjoyed it and they have ran the event very well with a great bunch of blokes and characters in this category.

“It gives us great conditioning for the next round which will be main game for Touring Car Masters.”

Having raced the Torana in TCM spec, Buzadzic carries plenty of confidence to the 500.

“We ran it very similar to Touring Car Masters with Hoosier tyres and have done a lot of testing like changing the shock absorbers around,” he recalled.

“I was able to drive the car a lot better by the end of the weekend, so I have it preset for the TCM round.

“The biggest thing was the brakes. I was able to carry a lot of speed through the corners. We just need to qualify better (but there are still a couple of little vibrations to look at).

“We will use this as a platform and would like to think we can be at the pointy end of the field.”

Thomas Miles

Image: REBECCA HIND/REVVED PHOTOGRAPHY

Peter Xiberras has already had a gallop in his VK Group A Commodore, a car originally raced by New Zealander Graeme Crosby.

Image: NEIL HAMMOND

Image: REBECCA HIND/REVVED PHOTOGRAPHY

Image: WISHART MEDIA

TARGA BLOW KEY MOTORSPORT AUSTRALIA EXECUTIVE IS OUT

By Paul Gover

THE FUTURE of the Australian Rally Championship, and several other major motorsport categories, has been thrown into doubt by a major loss from Motorsport Australia.

Adrian Coppin, the driving force behind the ARC in recent years and also the operational boss for the Shannons SpeedSeries, has resigned.

He is also giving up his roles as the event secretary for the Australian Formula One Grand Prix and oversight of the Australian Off-Road Championship.

Coppin has been one of the key figures for everything short of the Supercars Championship, providing background organisation and on-theground logistical leadership.

He was also responsible for oversight of the category management deals between Motorsport Australia and both Supercars and Carrera Cup.

He has quit with immediate effect but, as yet, there has been nothing official from Motorsport Australia.

Coppin joins a number of other highprofile exits from Motorsport Australia, including the resignation of corporate affairs boss Paul Riordan, since the arrival of the organisation’s new CEO, Sunil Vohra, less than a year ago.

Auto Action has been told of widespread unhappiness at Motorsport Australia and that the loss of Coppin and Riordan follows Praven Sinnan, who left a long-term post to work at the Miami GP. However, Motorsport Australia did salute Riordan when he departed on September 16.

“I’d like to congratulate Paul on a terrific tenure at Motorsport Australia,” Vohra said in a statement.

“Paul has been an important member of the senior leadership team for many years and overseen media and communications, along with broader strategic initiatives for the organisation. Paul has been a sounding board for many in the organisation and the broader industry and leaves a strong legacy.”

That legacy is now in doubt with the departure of Coppin, who has been the operational star of second-tier motorsport.

The ARC, in particular, is expected to suffer after Coppin’s concerted efforts to grow competitor numbers and finesse the title rounds over recent years.

He had even been working on a

potential plan to bring the World Rally Championship back to Australia with an event using a ceremonial start in Sydney and a competition base in Bathurst.

Coppin was reluctant to give any background to his decision when contacted by Auto Action. He has been a lifelong motorsport competitor and official, competing successful in the Australian Rally Championship and driving in Rally Australia when it was based in Coffs Harbour.

He lives in Brisbane and has two young children, a partial influence on his decision to quit.

“I’m just focussing on my own business,” was all he told Auto Action

THE UNCERTAINTY around Targa Tasmania’s 2025 return date will continue after the August 26-29 Coronial Inquest into the 2021/2022 deaths of Shane Navin, Leigh Mundy, Dennis Neagle, and Anthony Seymour, was postponed indefinitely.

The four-day hearing was initially set back by a day, before it was then suspended indefinitely owing to “illness of key court personnel”, with the inquest listing officially recorded as:“Adjourned to a later date. To be confirmed.”

In response to the setback, Targa CEO Mark Perry released a statement saying that:

“This week’s scheduled coronial inquest taking place in Hobart has been delayed due to circumstances beyond our control.

“We are currently liaising with the Coroner’s Court to set new dates for the inquest to be held in the foreseeable future.

“When we have these dates confirmed I will be able to update you further on this and the possible flow-on impacts to our planned return of Targa Tasmania on 28 April 2025.

In the meantime, I ask that you remain positive about TARGA’s future and continue to advocate for these iconic events.”

Any cemented plans to move forward will now have to wait until the hearing can be rescheduled, which could be a lengthy process.

The delay is not only a blow for the uncertain future of Targa tarmac events, but for the family members of the deceased and other registered witnesses – including the TRCAA (Tarmac Rally Competitors Association of Australia) – who had travelled to the Hobart Magistrates Court for the hearing, only to be informed of the postponement on the day of its planned commencement.

For the time being, the course of action remains the same for Targa organisers, with the subsequent Inquest findings set to forge a definitive path into what the future of all Targa tarmac events will look like; whilst importantly maintaining the competitive spirit of Targa that will still validate and attract continued interest for prospective entrants, avoiding any notion that it will simply be a ‘touring’ event.

Along with a new insurer and the continued public backing of the Tasmanian government, and whilst the immediate future of the iconic event remains unclear, the dedication and work behind the scenes remains steadfast.

TW Neal

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VALE: CAMPBELL LITTLE

CAMPBELL LITTLE WAS ONE OF THE GREAT THINKERS OF PITLANE. A SOURCE AND A CONFIDANTE, AND THE EXPLAINER TO ME OF COMPLEX ENGINEERING THINGS I WOULD HAVE NO IDEA OF UNDERSTANDING IF NOT FOR HIM. HE WAS ONLY EVER A PHONE CALL AWAY. I AM GOING TO MISS HIM ...

MY FIRST connection with Campbell was when he was working with Frank Gardner and then Tony Longhurst, and then that strengthened when he joined Stone Brothers Racing, given I had also worked for the Stones when they were doing things with Andrew Miedecke.

In the past couple of years, we’ve had fun standing around the back of the garages, sharing stories of families and dogs, looking at each other’s photos while letting me look at other bits of data to build my understanding of what was going on. What we liked about talking personal stuff at the track in high visibility areas was that it started people wondering what information we were sharing with each other, which most of the time was nothing.

If it wasn’t a personal chat, more often than not it was him explaining how something works to me, or giving me his view on engineers he thought had no idea about what they were doing. Instead of complaining, he thought they should just learn to listen and park their egos. “Why don’t they do this,” he often offered as free advice

which some took, and others didn’t to their detriment.

Even at the start of this year when he started with the TV crew, he kept them all on top of what was happening.

And if you doubted his input there, just think about the two most recent telecasts, when his health took a savage turn for the worse and he was absent. He had ideas too for other ways to improve what he was doing but, like when all lives are lost before their time, those ideas are lost too.

When he first got sick with pancreatic cancer, he took on a fight not many win. And while he didn’t get the ultimate victory, the small wins along the way gave him more quality time with his wife, Clare and three daughters Ellyse, Georgia and Jess, and more time to do what he loved doing most – motorsport.

His early passion lay not in cars but in motorcycles, racing on both road and dirt tracks around his hometown of Lismore, New South Wales. In 1979 he did some work for American speedway riders Bruce

Penhall and Bobby Schwartz and soon found himself in the UK working in motorsport with Honda Great Britain. When he returned to Australia he met Frank Lowndes, who had experience working with Peter Brock. Lowndes connected him to Frank Gardner and so he joined Gardner’s BMW Australiabacked Group A team.

By 1988, that team had become Tony Longhurst Motorsport and had transitioned to a Ford Sierra before returning to BMW, and he scored his first of five Bathurst 1000 wins.

Little then moved to Toyota’s twolitre racing team but, by the mid-1990s, New Zealand brothers Ross and Jimmy Stone invited him to join their embryonic team.

The trio’s impact was significant, culminating in Jason Bright and Steven Richards winning the 1998 Bathurst 1000. With the Stone Brothers’ approval, he also worked with Triple Eight when they ran in the Super Tourers race at Bathurst and when Roland Dane entered the Supercars world, he turned to Little to help him out.

He played a crucial role in recruiting Craig Lowndes in 2005 and, with Jamie Whincup alongside him, the team celebrated two more Bathurst 1000 wins.

In 2009, he became the category technical director at V8 Supercars but that didn’t work so well and he was back in ‘team-land’ with Ford Performance Racing after less than a season. By late 2013, he joined Dick Johnson Racing, which was about to partner with Team Penske.

He eventually returned to Supercars to contribute to the development of the new Gen3 project.

Earlier this year, he joined Supercars’ telecast team, offering technical advice for broadcasts while managing ongoing health treatments.

In a sport where drivers are rated as the superstars, the general public often misses the real stars of the sport –Campbell Little was one of those. Auto Action extends its thanks to Clare for sharing him with us for so long. He will be missed by many in pitlane, especially me. Andrew Clarke

Image: PETER NORTON

ANTONELLI CONFIRMED AT MERCEDES

MERCEDES FORMALLY confirmed that 18 year-old Andrea Kimi Antonelli will partner George Russell in 2025, just a few hours before the start of the FP3 session for the Italian Grand Prix, on Saturday.

Ironically the announcement came after the young Italian driver had crashed heavily at the start of FP1, after what was only his second flying lap ended up with spin and heavy impact into the barriers on the outside of the Parabólica corner.

Mercedes had put pressure on the youngster, handing him Soft tyres for his first ever laps in a Grand Prix weekend, and a low fuel load. Toto Wolff even reached into the cockpit to have a few words with his charge seconds before he headed onto the track.

Antonelli responded to this pressure by setting a blistering pace on his very first timed lap. After a couple of cool-down laps he was going even faster when he lost the rear of the car and crashed heavily, hindering George Russell’s preparations for the rest of the weekend.

That, of course, didn’t affect the planned announcement on Saturday morning, Toto Wolff stating that “Our 2025 driver line-up combines experience, talent, youth and out-and-out raw speed. We are excited about what George and Kimi bring to the team both as individual drivers, but also as a partnership.

“Our new line-up is perfect to open the next chapter in our story. It is also a testament to the strength of our junior

program and our belief in home-grown talent.

“Kimi has consistently shown the talent and speed needed to compete at the very top of our sport. We know it will be another big step up, but he has impressed us in his F1 testing this year and we will be supporting him every step of the way in the learning process.”

As for the 18-years old, he was obviously delighted with the confirmation of his promotion to a race seat next year:

“It is an amazing feeling to be announced as a Mercedes works driver alongside George for 2025. Reaching F1 is a dream I’ve had since I was a small boy; I want to thank the team for the support they’ve given me in my career so far and

the faith they’ve shown in me.

“I am still learning a lot, but I feel ready for the opportunity. I will be focused on getting better and delivering the best possible results for the team.”

Luis Vaconcelas

NEWEY HESITATES ON ASTON MARTIN MOVE

ADRIAN NEWEY is yet to decide what he’ll do from the moment he’ll leave Red Bull Racing, early in April of 2025 and has apparently missed a tentative deadline imposed by Aston Martin to put pen to paper on the contract the two parties had agreed.

That was the understanding of some leading figures of other Formula 1 teams when AA spoke to them during the Dutch Grand Prix weekend. Some believe the genial engineer is still looking at the offers made by Ferrari and Williams; others more convinced that Newey’s favorite alternative to joining Lawrence Stroll is simply going into semi-retirement, leaving Formula 1 altogether, to devote part of his times to projects in other areas he’s interested in. According to senior sources from a team that is still hoping to sign Newey, his manager, Eddie Jordan, and Lawrence Stroll had agreed the basic terms of a future contract and handed the dossier to their respective lawyers, as the two sides started working on the many small details Formula 1 contracts involve.

Newey had yet to give the OK to the deal, asking for a couple of weeks to continue to evaluate his future options, but it’s believed the veteran engineer had agreed

to give his final answer by the end of the F1’s summer shut-down – on the Monday before the

That deadline, however, came and went without Newey reaching a final conclusion. He has reportedly informed Stroll that he

needs more time to make his decision, as other projects – in Formula 1 and elsewhere – seem to be quite attractive for the 65-years old engineer.

With Ferrari expected to announce its new technical structure immediately after the Italian Grand Prix, we won’t have to wait for long to know if Newey has finally accepted the offer to join the Scuderia or not

If he hasn’t, then the chances of him joining Aston Martin become extremely high, as he’s unlikely to be willing to take on such a long-term project as the one James Vowles admits Williams will require to get back to the front of the field.

Alternatively, Newey might just turn his back on Grand Prix racing and go looking for other challenges, particularly in yacht racing – one of his many other passions –while seriously cutting down his working hours and having more time to devote to his hobbies, including yacht and historic car racing and mountain biking.

After all, at this point, it’s not about the money …

Pit lane rumour at the weekend, at Monza, hinted at a possible announcement early this week.

Luis Vaconcelas

Dutch Grand Prix.

Timing is everything ... with his Mercedes announcement coming next day, Antonelli ‘binned’ George Russell’s car in his P1 rookie stint – but the team wasn’t concerned ... some of his corner speeds were spectacular ... Images: MOTORSPORT IMAGES

WILLIAMS MAINTAINS GT WCE TITLE LEAD

IT MIGHT not have been the dominant class round that Team WRT has come to expect from Calan Williams in the GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup, but a vital podium in France has kept himself and team-mate Sam De Haan in the title lead.

It’s Williams’ second season in the #30 BMW M4 GT3 at one of the world’s leading GT teams, and he’s hoping to make it two class titles in a row after securing the Gold Drivers title in 2023.

After a long wait between Endurance rounds, the Sprint Cup returned to Magny Cours for the penultimate round, but mechanical issues after practice meant the #30 BMW didn’t qualify as high up the field as usual, finishing Race 1 22nd outright and fifth in class.

Another tough qualifying appeared to put a line through their weekend, starting 23rd on the grid and fifth in class, but a powerful drive home saw them snatch third in class and rise to 14th overall – their seventh podium in eight races.

“We started on the back foot following some issues on Thursday, and had to play catch up from there,” Williams said.

“Managed to get a podium in Race 2 which was a good way to end the weekend, as it’s been a tough one for us!

“The crew did a mega pit stop as per usual, and the car ran well which enabled us to fight through the field with good pace. We’ll keep working hard ahead of the final round at Barcelona … we maintained a solid lead in the class championship.”

After racing in both the Endurance and Sprint in 2023 for WRT – where he shares the garage with the likes of Valentino Rossi – the former FIA Formula 2 driver has only taken up the Sprint rounds for the team this year.

The final Sprint outing of the year heads to Barcelona on October 11-13, where Williams and De Haan will start with a 21 point lead (16.5 for a win) over Mercedes pair Aurelien Panis and Cesar Gazeau.

TW Neal

NINOVIC PILING ON THE WINS IN UK

ALEX NINOVIC has continued his stellar British F4 season, this time taking another win and a podium in the fourrace outing at Donington in the East Midlands.

The young Aussie entered the eighth round affair requiring just one podium to equal the record for Australian driver podiums in the stepping-stone British series which stood at 15 – held by the now McLaren F1 race winner Oscar Piastri in 2017.

Ninovic not only equalled it with a strong drive-from-behind race win in the opener from the second row, but surpassed that tally with a second place in the finale.

That took his race win tally to four

to go alongside his 12 podiums, nine of which came in a streak stretching over four rounds from Snetterton to Zandvoort, which leaves him second in the pointscore.

To equal Piastri’s win record of six, he has six races at Silverstone and Brands Hatch remaining.

The next best record for an Aussie was the recently announced Alpine F1 driver Jack Doohan, who took nine podiums and three wins in 2018.

After Race 1, the quietly spoken and measured #12 Rodin driver was happy to quote his win tally and described the outing.

“Fifteen podiums with four wins… hopefully I can keep that tally going,”

Ninovic beamed.

“To start from third and take first by Turn 1, I’m pretty happy with that. We had Safety Cars coming in and out until the final minutes, where I managed to pull a gap … it was five minutes of precision.

“At the moment we’re a fair way behind in the championship after some unlucky results previously, but I’m looking to maximise every race I can … I’m not really looking to hold back and play it safe, I’m pushing hard.”

He now returns to Silverstone on September 21-22, where last time out he scored a hat-trick of podiums on the GP circuit.

TW Neal

QUIMBY SWEEPS ONTARIO

IT’S AN all-Australian fight for the title in the Formula 4 United States Championship with one round remaining, after Daniel Quimby completed a hat-trick of lights-to-flag wins at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.

Making it a season high five-win year for the Sydney-sider, his dominance shut the title gap to just five points to fellow Aussie Nicolas Stati, whilst third place was also occupied by Connor Roberts, making it three youngsters from Oz vying for the championship.

The only other podium outside of those three went to Kiwi youngster Alex Crosbie, who races for the Crosslink Kiwi Motorsport team alongside Stati.

But for Quimby, his satisfying sweep makes for a tense final round at the Circuit of the America’s on October 31November 3.

“It was an awesome weekend, both Connor and Nicolas, and everyone was pretty quick this weekend. Atlantic Racing Team did a great job; the car’s been awesome,” Quimby said.

Roberts ended the weekend with a third and back-to-back second plays, whilst the championship leader, Stati, went second, fourth, and third across the three outings.

There were more Aussie podiums in the southern part of the globe, with two drivers featuring on the steps in both Japan and India.

Jesse Lacey managed his third Japanese Formula Regional Championship podium of the year at Motegi, keeping up his good form after winning in Okayama in the round prior.

His third place in Race 2, and a fourth and sixth in the corresponding races either side, have him third in the title race with four races remaining, all at Fuji Speedway across September and October.

And in the F4 India Championship , former Aussie FIA Formula 3 racer Hugh Barter took out his third straight series win by taking Race 1 in the unique night race on the Chennai Street circuit.

After two rounds, Barter holds the title lead by 14 points over South African Aqil Alibhai, as he hopes to emulate Cooper Webster in becoming the second straight Australian to claim the South East Asian title with his next outing at the Kari Motor Speedway on September 13-15. TW Neal

Ninovic could match Oscar Piastri’s podium count in the British F4 championship ... Image: MOTORSPORT IMAGES

Quimby (middle) celebrates with Aussie mates!

McFADDEN’S BIG WEST COAST SWING

AUSSIE SPRINTCAR star James McFadden has continued his rich vein of form in the world class High Limit Racing series, taking out his second win on the West Coast Swing to continue his rise up the leaderboard.

After taking the win at Placerville mid-August, the #83 Roth Motorsport dirt-tracker took out the 3/10-mile oval event at Oregon’s Douglas County, the track’s debut event in the new Larson/Sweet owned series.

And with the field then staying on the West Coast with a trip north to Washington, McFadden continued his red-letter month with a third and a second place in the Saturday and Sunday A Mains at the famous Sage Fruit Skagit Nationals at Skagit Speedway.

It also meant that McFadden finished in the top-10 in every event of the High Limit West Coast Swing.

The win and podiums ensured McFadden continued his rise up the leaderboard against the world’s best, with the NTborn racer currently sitting sixth overall after Washington.

For his aforementioned victory in Douglas County in front of a jam-packed stadium, McFadden acted quickly from the second row – a result of winning Heat 3.

After moving into second behind Justin Sanders, it took him nine laps and two restarts to mow down the #2X, then surviving an intense bout with lapped traffic and a red flag to keep his lead on the 3/10 mile track.

After taking out his fourth US A-Main of the year (three High Limits/one World of Outlaws) at Placerville, McFadden spoke in Victory Lane with his son Maverick in his arms.

“We had a really good car… #83 Toyota Mobil 1 car was spot on. We’ve worked really hard over the last three months and it’s showing up.

“It was also Dennis’ (Roth Motorsports co-owner) birthday yesterday, so to stand in Victory Lane for him is awesome.

When asked about the young Aussie kids like Jock Goodyer and co coming over, McFadden also gave an insight into making the leap to America.

“As a kid you grow up watching these guys race and you

want to be a part of it. Australia is a small country (Sprintcarwise) and you try your butt off over there, and then you come here and get your arse handed to you, night in, night out.

“You eat a little humble pie but you keep digging and you keep learning, and then you get your chance like I did with Roth.

“The competition is insane here.” TW Neal

McRAE RETURNS TO EUROPEAN WINNERS CIRCLE POWER STILL IN THE FIGHT

YOUNG AUSSIE rally driver Max McRae returned to the class winners circle for the second time this season in the European Rally Championship, taking out the Junior class with a dominant Sunday display in Wales (right).

The 20-year old nephew of Rally great Colin McRae took to the Rali Ceredigion alongside British co-driver Cameron Fair in their Rally4 Peugeot 208, and also gave the top-ten a nudge as the highest placed RC4 machine, finishing only eight-tenths short in 11th overall.

But in the Junior stakes, he came from behind on the Sunday to overcome Swedish Junior ERC rival Mille Johansson in the Opel Corsa Rally4 by 46.4 seconds after entering the day 3.3 seconds in arrears.

“It’s been a good weekend. We’ve been top-three (Junior ERC) overall and in stage times all weekend, and we won the Power Stage pretty comfortably,” McRae said.

“I’m happy with the way everything went, but it wasn’t an easy one – the conditions were quite tricky.

“There wasn’t a lot of rain, but there were some damp places and a lot of corners where the cars ahead had cut through them, pulling a lot of mud and gravel into the road.

“It was demanding to have so much

mud around in some of them, but that just made the win all the more satisfying.”

Unfortunately for McRae, with only one round to go in Poland (Rally Silesia, October 11-13) the Junior title is just out of reach, but he does enter round tied on wins with Johansson, after the Perth born Scottish-Aussie youngster took out the season opener in Hungary.

IN OTHER positive Trans-Tasman news to come out of Wales, Kiwi rally star Hayden Paddon took a vital outright victory in his Rally2 Hyundai to remain the ERC leader in his quest for a second straight European title.

His closest point challenger, Frenchman Mathieu Franceschi finished in third, leaving Paddon with a clear path to victory in Poland after his 1:47.3 win over Italian Andrea Mabellini.

TW Neal

TWO-TIME IndyCar champion Will Power is still in the frame for the 2024 Astor Cup Trophy after the penultimate Milwaukee double-header oval round (see page 50 for race reports).

After winning in Portland the round prior and taking out second and 10th in the Midwest, the 43-year old Penske veteran shut the gap to 33 points ahead of the oval finale in Nashville on September 15, but he will require the near-unflappable Chip Ganassi Spaniard, Alex Palou, to falter once more.

Power was in the frame for the win in Milwaukee’s Race 2, but a restart spin-out on lap 131 dropped him from the top-five, meaning he couldn’t take full advantage of Palou’s rare mechanical issue, with the

“It was a faster than normal restart, or maybe it was starting back there (in fifth), and I was in second gear … it just caught me by surprise,” Power said of the incident.

“I did not expect that. I was really happy to keep it off the wall and not get hit by anyone. We lost a lap changing that wing.”

Whilst Palou is yet to claim an oval victory across two championship seasons, Power has 10 across his career, with 2008 also being his only (and IndyCar’s last) appearance at the 2.1km Tennessee oval.

“It’s long shot now,” Power said of his title chances.

“God gave us a chance there and I kind of let it go. That’s the season man! You just can’t have those mistakes.”

TW Neal

FULLWOOD CRASHES IN BJR TEST

ON A big day of Supercars testing and Brad Jones Racing has suffered a massive setback after a Bryce Fullwood crash.

With the enduros on the horizon, BJR is one of seven teams testing at Winton on Tuesday, but its plans hit a massive setback.

Following a brake pad change, Fullwood spun at Turn 3 and fired into the outside fence on the exit of the

right hander.

The incident arrived just two hours into a big testing program, with the lost time a big blow for Fullwood, new co-driver Jaylyn Robotham and the #14 crew.

Fullwood revealed admitted both he and the team made the familiar mistake of forgoting to pump the brake pedal, which led to the accident.

“I sort of feel like it’s my first day on

the job,” Fullwood told Supercars.com.

“The boys changed the brakes, which we change a lot, but they actually changed the whole brake package, and didn’t tell me the pump the brake pedal up.

“Obviously I didn’t touch the brake pedal until I got to Turn 3.

“When I got there, I had no brakes.

“We were going out to do a pit stop sequence, I wasn’t up it, cold set of

tyres, sort of cruising around.

“You don’t realise how fast going slow is in these in these cars.

“Obviously ran down to Turn 3, no brakes, and into the fence driver’s side.”

Despite the setback, BJR still has its three other cars in action at Winton and are joined by all of its fellow Victorians in BRT, Tickford, Team 18, Grove Racing, WAU and Erebus.

MAGNUSSEN HIT WITH RACE BAN

KEVIN MAGNUSSEN has been handed a one-race ban and will miss the Azerbaijan Grand Prix after exceeding the season limit for penalty points following his collision with Pierre Gasly at the Italian Grand Prix.

Attempting to overtake his Alpine rival down the inside of Turn 4, the Haas driver locked up and was unable to avoid making contact at the corner, however, neither car sustained damage.

Magnussen went on to finish in P10, taking home one championship point while accumulating two additional penalty points.

The tenth-place finish marks Magnussen’s third successful points-scoring effort this season, and his first point at Monza in 10 years.

Sitting on 12 penalty points after the Italian Grand Prix, the out-of-contract driver has reached his total and incurred a one-race ban to be severed at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in two weeks.

Speaking before the confirmation of the one-race ban, the 31-year-old said he was “happy with our race”.

“I don’t know what’s going on with these penalties,” Magnussen said.

“I mean, what’s the point? We had a slight contact into Turn 4, no damage on either car. It had no consequence, nobody lost anything. We both missed the corner but, hey, we’re racing.

“I just don’t get the point, honestly. I saw Nico almost had 300km/h, almost hit the barrier with the contact with [Daniel] Ricciardo and he (Ricciardo) got five seconds. I got 10 seconds for this. At this point, I don’t know what’s going on.

“Happy with today’s point, happy with the balance and the performance in the car and

the strategy, so we can take that onwards.”

Declared “wholly to blame for” the incident, the stewards’ verdict stated that Magnussen did not drive in a “safe and controlled manner through the manoeuvre” and was in breach of Article 4.2 of the FIA Formula One Sporting Regulations.

“The Super Licence of the driver of Car 20 is suspended for the next Competition of the 2024 FIA Formula One World Championship,” the note read.

“Following this suspension, 12 penalty points will be removed.”

Asked if he intended to discuss the original penalty with the stewards, Magnussen added: “Yeah, I have to. It doesn’t make any

sense. It makes zero sense.”

A familiar face to Magnussen, the last driver to receive a race ban was his former teammate, Romain Grosjean.

In 2012, the then-Lotus driver caused a multi-car crash at the start of the Belgian Grand Prix, the catalyst for his race on the sidelines.

The news of the Dane’s suspension rounded out a busy day on track in Monza for the Haas team, with Nico Hulkenberg also upsetting the stewards with his ontrack behaviour.

Originally, the German driver found himself a victim after being squeezed onto the grass by Daniel Ricciardo on

the opening lap, however, after taking revenge on the Australian’s RB teammate, Hulkenberg was soon hit with a 10-second penalty for causing a collision with Yuki Tsunoda.

The heavy contact at Turn 1 resulted in the #22’s retirement from the race, and left Hulkenberg to finish out the Italian Grand Prix in a wounded VF-24.

On a positive note for the team, the onerace ban could pose the perfect opportunity for Oliver Bearman to jump back behind the F1 wheel, with a potential Haas debut on the cards in Baku ahead of his full-time arrival in 2025. Reese Mautone

TOYOTA UNLEASHES NZ GT4 ASSAULT

TOYOTA GAZOO Racing New Zealand has announced it will add GT4 to its growing Kiwi pathway for young drivers.

Toyota will field two GR Supra GT4 EVOs in the new Toyota 86 Trophy Series in New Zealand.

Whilst it is unclear which team will run the cars, Toyota has confirmed it will receive factory technical support and access to parts.

“We know there is a huge amount of talented young racers in New Zealand and we believe this pathway could put them on the radar for TOYOTA GAZOO Racing’s LMPh World Endurance Championship programme and the GT3 programme coming in 2025,” TGRNZ Motorsport Manager Nicolas Caillol said.

“It’s is a well-trodden path for other manufacturers and we believe it can work for New Zealand as well as the GR Supra GT4 EVO has proved it is an excellent car for continuing driver development.”

The announcement follows the recent trip to Germany made by Kiwi Toyota 86 drivers Tom Bewley and William Exton.

The pair got to compete for KCMG in a Toyota GR Supra GT4 in the latest round at the famous Nurburgring and they finished 17th on debut.

After their impressive performances in their respective Toyota 86 championships, Aussie Rylan Gray and Kiwi Brock Gilchrist did the same trip last year.

Both drivers felt they were competitive in the Toyota in a field full of German giants such as BMW, Mercedes and Porsche.

“It’s really good under brakes,” said Toyota 86 Champion Bewley.

“It’s going to be very strong in that regard and also keeping the tyre alive and being strong even when the tyre is past its best.

“On top of that, the controls are very easy and for the driver it is a simple car, not too complex.”

“It’s definitely a cool car to drive,” added Exton. “Around New Zealand it would be a very competitive.”

“The performance of all of those young drivers has convinced us that GT4 is a natural progression and of course we want to support this talent as much as we can all the way through to representing Toyota on the world stage and hopefully achieving great success,” Caillol said.

TICKFORD LOCKS IN ENDURO PAIRINGS

TICKFORD HAS locked in the driver pairings it will chase Sandown 500 and Bathurst 1000 glory with at Winton.

As expected, James Moffat will continue his partnership with Cameron Waters for a fourth straight year, while Thomas Randle will share the #55 with Tyler Everingham.

Having stood on the podium for their first two years, but suffered a DNF in 2023, Waters and Moffat will be determined to be fighting at the front once again.

The pair fell 3s short of Chaz Mostert in 2021 before backing that up with a third in 2022.

However, their run of podiums finished last year on Lap 71 when Moffat hit the wall at The Dipper.

Having scored wins in two of the last three rounds, Waters comes to the enduros in hot form and confident of success with an experienced and familiar partner in Moffat, who has stayed sharp by racing Trans Am.

“I’m excited to team up with Moff again,” Waters said.

“He always fits right in with the team, and we’ve got good momentum going, so I’m keen to see what we can achieve at Sandown and Bathurst.”

“It’s always an exciting time of the year, and I’m really happy to be back with Tickford Racing,” Moffat said.

“Looking forward to teaming up with Cam and the crew.”

Randle is also hoping to take a big step forward and challenge for victory in the enduros for the first time after displaying impressive recent speed.

Highlighted by a SMP podium and Symmons Plains pole, the #55 has been very fast over the last three rounds.

Just like last year when he took a hattrick of podiums at The Bend, Randle is peaking at the right time of year and is excited by the prospect of racing with Everingham.

“I’m looking forward to teaming up with Tyler,” Randle said.

“He’s got great experience, is easy-going, and I think we’ll make a great pairing

heading into Sandown and Bathurst.”

For Everingham, this is the biggest opportunity of his Supercar career so far.

He has co driven with Jayden Ojeda at GRM, Scott Pye at Team 18 and Tickford with Declan Fraser.

Having recorded a best finish of 16th, he will be determined to set a new PB.

“I’m excited to be back with Tickford for the enduros, and I can’t wait to team up with Thomas and work with Chris (Stuckey) again,” he said.

Tickford CEO Simon Brookhouse is hopeful of scoring some trophies with these pairings.

“We’re thrilled to have James and Tyler with us for the 2024 endurance races,” he said.

“James brings experience that is crucial in these events, while Tyler’s speed and determination are fantastic additions to the team.

“We’re confident they’ll be highly competitive at Sandown and Bathurst.” Thomas Miles

IMAGE RACING WELCOMES YOUNGSTER FOR SANDOWN ASSAULT

IAMGE RACING will field a huge four-car assault at the Dunlop Series Sandown round with youngster Antonio Molluso to debut in an ex Shane van Gisbergen Falcon.

Molluso will make his Super3 debut in van Gisbergen’s final Stone Brothers Racing FG Falcon raced back in 2012, seeing the Project Blueprint era return to the category.

With Image Racing also fielding Tony Auddino in a VF Commodore, the Super3 field will double from two to four cars, while Bailey Sweeny will also debut with the Terry Wyhoon led squad at Bathurst.

Molluso has prepared for the step up by completing the recent Precision National Sports Sedans Series round at the same circuit in a sister SBR FG Falcon that was raced by Tim Slade in 2012.

“It is exciting. We will see how we go in the FG,” Mulloso told Auto Action.

“I will try to tag along the back of them and hopefully pass a few cars and see what happens.

“I would love to do Supercars and the goal is to get there.

“It won’t be easy but got to start small and have a bit of fun along the way which is all you can really do.

“We just used the Sports Sedans round as testing really. Trying to get some miles in, learn a bit before getting faster and more consistent.

“I am getting more comfortable. It was slow at the start of the weekend, but have built up the pace. It has

been a while since I was last in the car so running more laps is what it is all about.”

It is a great opportunity for the Melbourne raised 20-yearold, who has had limited racing miles with the Sports Sedans round his first of 2024 after doing a pair of Kumho Touring Car rounds last year.

The connection between Mulloso and Wyhoon sparked at an evaluation day last year in Winton.

“Antonio is a good young fella, who did two Kumho rounds with us last year and wants to have a crack in Super 3,” Wyhoon said.

“It is the last chance to run a Project Blueprint car (in Super3) so we thought it would be a smart idea to give him some laps three weeks before racing at the same venue.

“It is a big ask, but it is perfect prep.

“There are no expectations or pressure on him. He will just have a go, have some fun and we will see where he ends up.”

Thomas Miles

HEARTBREAK FOR

OSCAR PIASTRI says “it’s hard not to be very disappointed” after losing the victory in Monza, running out of laps on his pursuit of the one-stopping Ferrari to see McLaren claiming a bittersweet 2-3 finish at the Italian Grand Prix.

Losing out to the adored home team’s brave pitstop strategy, Piastri, who stopped twice during the 53-lap scorcher, was forced to settle for a painful silver medal.

Joined by his teammate on the iconic podium, McLaren’s fears of it being their ‘race to lose’ came to life in front of the Tifosi as they finished the weekend with a 2-3, however, still carving down the points margins in both championships.

“Yeah, it hurts. I’m not going to lie, it hurts a lot,” Piastri said.

“We did a lot of things right today, you know, there were a lot of question marks on the strategy going into the race.

“Yeah, from the position we were in with the tyres looking like they did, doing a one-stop seemed like a very risky call, and in the end it was right.

“So, yeah, very, very happy with the pace, with the race that I managed to achieve.

“Just when you finish second, it hurts.”

Before the disappointment had sunken in, Piastri’s 53-lap race was a bold one.

The 23-year-old wasn’t happy with settling for what seemed like a secondplace finish behind his teammate, taking matters into his own hands as they launched off the line in a move Lando Norris described as “too close for comfort”.

Lining up side-by-side on the grid, the front row-occupying McLarens were each other’s greatest competition for the Lap 1 lead.

Speeding at the five lights, Norris’ streak of poor starts looked set to end as he covered off Piastri into Turn 1, however, the #81 was quick to fight back.

The Australian pushed his way past Norris around the outside of Turn 4 in an aggressive but clean overtake for the lead, leaving Norris in a state of shock, and soon to be overtaken by Charles Leclerc.

“I mean, I braked later and got around the outside,” Piastri said.

“There wasn’t really much more to it than that.

“Yeah, you know, we both got through unscathed.

“I knew once I hit the brakes, you know, I kind of got ahead a bit and yeah, I knew I was kind of entitled to stay on the outside.

“And yeah, ultimately, for 38 laps of that race, it put me in a race-winning position.

“So yeah, for me, it was just a good first lap.”

Settling into the lead, the race looked near-certain to be Piastri’s second career victory before Ferrari changed tactics.

Leclerc was a constant threat to Piastri during the first medium tyre stint of the race, running within the McLaren driver’s

DRS range and setting continuous fastest laps.

Piastri was reprieved of the threat on for just one lap, with Leclerc pitting in reaction to a successful undercut executed by Norris.

Making his way into the pitlane on his next tour of the Autodromo Nazionale Monza, Piastri commenced the middle stint of his race with Alex Albon acting as a buffer between himself and his winhungry teammate.

The concept of ‘Papaya rules’ was aired across the McLaren radio waves, a concept believed to mean the #4 and #81 were allowed to race each other, however, within the agreed parameters of leaving more space than they would with their rivals.

On Lap 24, the lead was Piastri’s once

again with Norris 1.8 seconds behind and Leclerc 2.3 seconds behind.

Cautious of his teammate, the boy from Brighton was released from Norris’ threat when the #4 was called into the pits for his second stop first.

At the same time, Piastri was asked his opinions on running the race as a onestopper, a call which he opted against and ultimately lived to regret.

“In hindsight, (we should have gone for the one-stop) but, you know, everyone’s a legend on Monday after the race or, you know, at the chequered flag.

“Today, unfortunately, we got it a bit wrong, and, you know, myself being a big part of that, we had everything to lose from being in the lead of the race.”

Reese Mautone

DICKER DELIGHT, HISTORY FOR MCNEILL

SAM DICKER is now a two-time Australian KZ2 champion after a stunning drive in the SP Tools Australian Kart Championship finale where younger Isaac McNeill made history at Oakleigh last weekend.

The fifth and final round of the 2024 season wrapped up at Oscar Piastri’s former home Oakleigh Go-Kart Club.

Despite arriving in Melbourne five points behind season-long leader Joshua Fife, Dicker put himself on the path to glory by getting pole and the first two heats.

The finale proved to be a thriller as Dicker led from pole, but Fife hunted him down to take the lead.

However, he had enough points to clinch the title and allowed fellow WA driver Nik Mitic through to get third in the standings.

Queensland’s Isaac McNeill created history by becoming the first driver to win both junior championships in the AKC era. He kicked things off by securing the premier junior category, KA2, title and then produced something special in KA3 Junior.

McNeill pushed hard in the finale to overhaul points leader Jack Szewczuk and also beat home Samuel March to do the double.

Whilst McNeill was busy collecting wins, Ayce Buckley scored a maiden AKC podium in KA3 Junior, while Sam March was up front throughout.

Max Walton was another to taste the ultimate glory twice on the one day winning both the KA3 Senior and X30.

NZ

RALLY star Hayden Paddon and co-driver John Kennard stand on the verge of a second straight European Rally Championship title after taking out the Rali Ceredigion in Wales in dominant fashion.

After making history in 2023 as the ERC’s first non-European winner across 70 years, Paddon has admittedly had a tougher year in his Hyundai i20 N Rally2, with this also being his first ERC win since Portugal back in March of last year. Despite that, his consistency has him on top the table in 2024 despite only one podium finish prior to Wales, with his ability to keep in the fight and avoid retirements having been the key, with no other drivers having had more than win apiece this season.

His closest opponent, Frenchman Mathieu Franceschi, has had two retirements on the other hand, and with only one round remaining in Poland,

KA3 Senior he

as

and Jace

held onto the title on a tense weekend. A perfect boost before he goes to Europe to compete for the BirelART factory in the World Championship in the United Kingdom.

Walton then took wins in X30 after some good fights against Pip Casabene and

Paddon has a 27 point advantage with 35 up for grabs.

The veteran Kiwi stars did all the heavy lifting on the opening day with a dominant seven out of eight stage wins. And although he could afford to be cautious on Sunday, he still found the speed to take out the Power Stage

points on his way to a 1min 47.3 second victory over Italian Skoda driver Andrea Mabellini.

“It was a very good weekend, everything has just gone like clockwork. It’s full credit to the guys in the team because they’ve been working hard all year to get things dialled in with the car and everything has

champion Brad Jenner.

Harrison Hoey followed in the footsteps of Dicker by securing back to back Australian Kart Championship crowns in the TaG 125 Championship.

He entered the final 23 points clear of Jason Dowson, who had to win to stay alive. The title rivals found themselves side by side at the fastest corner on the track and leader Hoey speared off into the gravel.

Whilst Dowson scored an important win, Hoey was lucky to survive to off track scare and impressively recovered to third and cemented the crown.

Archie Bristow will be a name to watch after he completed a near-perfect Cadet 12 campaign after surviving challenges against Cooper Folley and Oscar Singh.

In one sprint Oliver Williamson overcame Jarvis Hindle by the barest of margins after they crossed the line side by side with less than a tenth the difference.

The 2024 SP Tools Australian Kart Championship season was celebrated with a dinner at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre.

Thomas Miles

clicked a lot, even this weekend,” Paddon said.

“Not only the car but the tyres have been working well in the conditions, as well as the pace notes from John, when everything works, it’s easy.”

On the fact that they’ve not popped the champagne since 2023 in the ERC, he says that the win is a timely relief.

“We’ve been chasing this feeling for quite a while, and finally, this weekend, we got that feeling.”

“…It’s a relief. It’s been a very, very tough season, not for a lack of trying, but to put it right this weekend, and to do it reasonably comfortably, is a huge credit to the team.

“The job’s not done yet but it makes it a lot easier for the last one.”

It was also Paddon’s second ever win at Rali Ceredigion, having also won there in 2021.

Tim W Neal

In

beat Amos Orr

Matthews

Mika Lemasurier

NXT UP

AUSTRALIAN LOCHIE HUGHES IS BOUND FOR INDY-NXT AFTER WINNING THE USF PRO 2000 CHAMPIONSHIP IN AMERICA, THE PENULTIMATE RUNG ON THE ROAD TO INDY LADDER. TIMOTHY

along with being the 2024 USF Pro2000

The Turn 3 Motorsport youngster claimed five wins, six podiums, and four poles in overcoming American challenger Nikita Johnson by 40 points, sealing the title at the Portland Grand Prix finale.

His crucial win, from pole position, in Toronto the round prior set up the dominoes at Oregon where he sealed it with a sixth position in Race 1, before finishing on the podium in the finale.

Hughes now swaps the USFhomologated Tatuus machinery for the Mazda-powered Dallara Indy NXT machinery, featuring push-to-pass, and the grippy Firestone tyre as utilised in the pinnacle IndyCar series.

From Indianapolis, Hughes spoke to Auto as he arrived back at his adoptive State, where he admitted the achievement

“I’d say it hasn’t really sunk in – it’ll do so when I sign the deal for next year, knowing that the scholarship’s going to fund a lot of it,” Hughes said from his home in Carmel, Indiana.

“It’s what these USF championships are for – there’s nowhere in the world that does anything like it. I’m pretty excited for

“I admit I’m in a weird state right now having just finished a championship I won – I can have a little celebration, then all of a sudden you have to move on quickly with planning … that’s racing I guess.”

He credits his success this season to the team at Turn 3 Motorsport run by Pete and Mandy Dempsey, and gave some insight

into what it meant for them and him after clinching the title in Race 1.

“I’m so happy I went with them – they’ve been like family, and a team that’s done everything for me, including helping me just to get on the grid this year. From the mechanics to the engineers to Pete and Mandy, they’ve been so influential.

“When I won the championship, I came into pit lane and the whole team was crying. It was something I’ve never seen from a team before. It was such a rare and special feeling ...

“When you have a championship lead, Portland is already a scary enough track with Turn 1 being a bit of a lottery, and then it rained just before the race, so the nerves were pretty high.

“As soon as we got it done, the release of emotion that everyone showed was pretty cool.”

After being in a similar title-potential position in 2023, Hughes grew in stature in ’24, which he credits to the team environment, the learnings he’s collected, and the tremendous podium/win streak between Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS), Indianapolis Raceway Park (IRP-oval), and at a familiar Road America (Rounds 3-5), where he took three from three.

“The team environment was vital, and also learning from past mistakes both on-and-off track with the mindset you need. Especially with $681,000 on the line and you’re driving for your career …

it was a different feeling.

“I felt more complete and didn’t have as many things that were out of my control like last year. Every time we had an opportunity to win we maximised it.

“Road America is a track I’ve poled every time I’ve been there. We were tied in points there and had a perfect weekend to give us a massive points lead, which enabled us to take less risk for the remaining rounds.

“And last year I had my first oval race at IRP, which was great for confidence this time around. That podium, with pointsand-a-half on offer, was vital for us to keep touch. I knew what the right feeling with the car should be and how to navigate lapped cars. It’s no secret you need a good car on an oval, and everything was better than last year.”

In terms of a mentor, Hughes has also had IndyCar great Will Power to lean on, a relationship he’s fostered over the years.

“Will has been of great help. We’ve developed a good relationship since I’ve been in the States, and he’s always been interested in how I’m doing and calling me up. He’s a champion of a bloke and a fellow Queenslander, so I’m hoping to carry the Aussie torch and make IndyCar in the coming years.”

In the coming months, Hughes will likely drive the Dallara IndyNXT machine for the first time at the Road to Indy Chris Griffiths test on the IMS road course in October.

Left: Lochie Hughes celebrates his breakthrough title. Below: Lochie Hughes kicked off his campaign perfectly with victory at St Petersburg. Images: USF CHAMPIONSHIPS

The Turn 3 Motorsports team greets Lochie Hughes as he seals the title.

TIME FOR A CLEAN-SHEET RETHINK?

WHAT A week it’s been in the Australian Supercars Silly Season –with a 20-year veteran eased aside at Team 18, an established driver moving in there from DJR, making room for the current defending champion to slot into Dick’s team, with Kostecki’s spot at Erebus taken by a young rookie.

It all happened in a few hours, with Auto Action’s first confirmation of Mark Winterbottom’s departure from a full-time seat at Team 18, last Tuesday afternoon, setting off the chain reaction of frantic, all-in-thecorrect-order, press releases from the relevant parties.

In terms of the sport in this country, you could hardly have a bigger headline week. The specialist media went big, of course. The general media – print, online, TV news – didn’t, to be honest, exactly light up, apart from a handful of press-release-originated stories. Given the consequences of all that news, the news ‘reach’ was pretty underwhelming for what was Supercars’ equivalent of the ‘Petracca drama’ (AFL) or the latest ‘white powder’ NRL scandal.

Is Supercars boring the world at large? Certainly, the wider media’s interest in Australia’s domestic pro category has waned. Remember when it was Holden versus Ford? Brock versus Moffat? Skaife versus

Ingall? Maybe it has become just a bit so-so.

What to do? Following recent news that Supercars is prepared to review everything and anything for ‘Gen-4’ – a great start – and Auto Action’s format discussion (last issue), I was ruminating on it all for this column on Saturday when someone yelled out from the lounge: “Come quick, Djokovic is being beaten by Popyrin!” He was. And he did (get beaten).

And 24 hours earlier, young Spanish star Alcaraz was similarly despatched from the US Open, by an unseeded Dutch player.

All incredibly tense and dramafilled. Two of the top three seeds on their way to the airport. I’m not a particular tennis fan, but this was sport at its most rivetting. Ruthless. Spectacular. Dramatic. Tense. Hmmmm. So, is there any way Supercars could approach this level of human drama? Do-or-die stuff?

AA’s recent suggestion that a version of NASCAR’s Playoffs

would enliven the later stages of the championship is worth discussing. Is narrowing down the title chase to a four-way contest within the final race a means of creating that tension? Maybe. It certainly creates some ‘elimination’ tension as the year progresses to its climax. How about something that ‘puts it on the line’ a bit more often –like every time the teams line up? It’d be a longer-term tweak, but if everything’s up for discussion, why not?

First, dump Gen-3 as soon as sensibly possible. It’s been an expensive (for teams) drama, with costs of running, as well as component ‘fixes’ way too high. Steering rack problems; spindle breakages; wheel nut strips; bell-housing cracks (new version designed/produced/sold to teams); and now rear bolt-on chassis clips cracking (an updated/replacement version is in the wind) …

I feel a bit sorry for Tim Edwards, who postponed semi-retirement

to take on the top engineering role at Supercars under the title of GM, Motorsport, only to find most of his time being spent fixing design problems inherited from before he started.

Replacement for Gen-3? NASCAR. NASCAR was touted back when the Gen-3 decision was made: Road-circuit-spec NASCARs. Plenty of them. Why? So each two-car Gen-3 team can step up to three race cars.

Expensive? Not really – think about it. Depending on who you listen to, they’re somewhere between half and two-thirds the cost of Gen-3 cars; and they’re obviously a bit more robust! Between-event preparation should thus be much less costly – staff required for three probably no more than to maintain two of the current Gen-3 cars.

And you’re getting a 50 percent increase in bodywork acreage to sell to sponsors …

And you might well retain the two current Gen-3 engines – already sorted and equalised – and match in a Toyota. Oh yeah, a third ‘manufacturer’ …

Following so far? So now, there’s 34 cars instead of 24 (BJR already has four ...). That in itself is a big plus – 10 more talented young racers in Australia’s pro racing league.

Excitement factor increased.

And then, the coup de gras … excluding the long-distance races for obvious reasons, set a grid size limit of 32. That means two miss out for each race.

Example: the two-day, double 250km race Saturday/Sunday format: The bottom two from Race 1 qualifying are parked for the day (but eligible to re-enter Race 2 qualifying where, again, the bottom two miss out).

Tough? Sure. Qualifying pressure at a new level. Performance pays; non-performance has a cost – no matter who you are. A bit like the US Open, huh …

Debate the fine detail but, all of a sudden, there’d be even more riding on qualifying – for every event. Think of the drama.

Obviously, with just 24 Gen-3 cars in the field, dumping two isn’t an option, but with 34 cars …

Up against the raft of sports now competing for public attention – and dollars – Australia’s pro motorsport category does need to think long and hard about the show in years to come and consider all the options.

If Supercars can create bolt-on sporting drama, like last Saturday at the US Open – which was just a goddam tennis match after all –then why not?

with Chris Lambden

PUBLISHER Bruce Williams

EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Andrew Clarke

CREATIVE DIRECTOR Caroline Garde

NATIONAL EDITOR Thomas Miles

HISTORICS EDITOR Mark Bisset

FORMULA 1 Luis Vasconcelos

US CORRESPONDENT Mike Brudenell

SPEEDWAY REPORTER Paris Charles

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Reese Mautone, David Batchelor, Edwina Williams, Siena Roperti, Gary Hill, Geoffrey Harris, John Lemm, Martin Agatyn, Paul Gover, Chris Lambden, Pete Trapnell, Ray Oliver, Steven Devries, Timothy W Neal, Toby Cooper, Craig O’Brien, Dan McCarthy,

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Email: editor@autoaction.com.au

Postal: Suite 4/156 Drummond Street. Oakleigh Victoria 3166

WELL DONE JACK, PITY ABOUT THE TEAM YOU’RE IN CONGRATULATIONS TO Jack

Doohan on securing a drive in Formula 1 next year.

Reckon he will do Queensland and Australia proud.

It will be terrific to see Jack and fellow young Aussie Oscar Piastri representing us on the big stage, and perhaps Daniel Ricciardo still too.

It will be worth the late Sunday nights to see them all in action. Work will have to wait on Mondays! Just have some reservations that Jack’s seat is with Alpine. Not sure about the future of that team.

Mark Webber got Oscar out of there even before his debut, and that has proved to be a very smart move.

Am suspicious about Flavio Briatore being involved with Alpine now. That guy had a life ban at one time. How on earth has he resurfaced?

Nick Moore Caloundra, Queensland

KOSTECKI DEAL WITH JOHNSON A WIN-WIN-WIN

ALL’S WELL that ends well.

Brodie Kostecki joining Dick Johnson Racing next year is a winwin.

Brodie obviously has had a disrupted season this year and DJR isn’t quite where it was in the Penske days.

But Brodie and DJR getting together is just a natural fit - one of the great young talents of the Supercars Championship with the heritage team of the series.

It’s a ‘marriage’ that was just meant to be.

Hope it goes well for all concerned, including Erebus, who needed some clean air after the kerfuffle at the start of this season.

My biggest wish is to see DJR, Ford and Brodie Kostecki rack up a whole lot of championship wins.

Go get ‘em, boys.

Alan Sykes Morningside, Queensland

FAST FORWARD, ER FORD – ALL ROADS LEAD TO THE MOUNTAIN

AFTER ANOTHER entertaining and somewhat controversial round of

WEBSTER’S WARBLE

Our inveterate correspondent again makes the case for the retention of Australian motor racing’s one permanent jewel in a major metropolitan area.

SOCIAL DISCOURSE

WITH SUPERCARS SILLY SEASON HITTING TOP GEAR, IT WAS A FRANTIC TIME ON AUTO ACTION’S SOCIAL HANDLES …

the Supercars in Tassie, bring on the enduros.

So many of the teams have really come of age in the sprint races, producing a great spectacle.

But now a different game looms – the almighty challenge of the enduros.

Who will be the team to conquer these, including Mt Panorama?

My wildcard is Matt Payne and Garth Tander.

While the Bulls, WAU and outside chance Tickford are fighting for the championship points, Payne and Tander are a serious contender.

I appreciated Tander’s talent as a Lion driver, but as a Ford nut I couldn’t cheer for him.

Now he’s steering a pony again, after some bad luck in previous outings, he’s in favour.

Watch out, it will be on, they say. Get your backside trackside for the enduros.

Back in SA now after 23,000km of NT and WA.

Getting the Ranger and van ready to travel to the Bathurst 1000.

Nomadic Phil

TEAMS HAVE USED AND ABUSED RICCIARDO DOING DONKEY WORK

WELL, THE cat’s on the loose in Formula 1.

Max Verstappen no longer has that Red Bull advantage.

McLaren took ages to act on what Ricciardo told them about their cars.

Look at Norris now, getting cheeky and super confident.

F1 driver egos are like eggshells – easily grown and just as easily crushed.

Norris was nothing early in his career in McLaren cars, but he put Ricciardo down.

McLaren boss Zak Brown made a scapegoat of Ricciardo and sacked him, but the problem was their design team at that time and the poor cars they produced.

Ricciardo still won a Grand Prix in a poorly-performing McLaren.

He seems to be used as a test driver for poorly-performing F1 cars.

Remember his test drive not so long ago in a real Red Bull, almost beating Verstappen’s time.

Ricciardo has copped some cruel blows but, admittedly, copious financial rewards.

Eric Schloss Ricciardo fan, age 81.

BRIBIE ISLAND QLD

SANDOWN MUST BE KEPT AT ALL COSTS, WHICH ARE NOT GREAT ANYWAY

I’VE TOUCHED on this before, but the Sandown motorsport and horse racing complex is an iconic Australian sporting venue and its long-term future is under threat.

Victoria needs more houses built, but that should not come at the expense of Sandown.

Sydney’s Oran Park Raceway made way for new houses and is now long gone for ever.

The Victorian government should step in and help keep Sandown as a motorsport and horse racing venue for decades to come.

The government could work with the owner of Sandown, the Melbourne Racing Club, to help keep it operating and give it a makeover as well.

The government could offer the MRC financial incentives to give the motor racing circuit a resurface and some of the infrastructure an upgrade.

Sandown is a great location and if it was given financial incentives and a makeover it could host some more major motorsport and horse racing events.

It could also be used to host more smaller-scale expos and suburban corporate conventions, in turn making Sandown a lot more financiallyviable business.

The Sandown 500 endurance race is Sandown’s largest annual event, with last year’s event attracting more than 70,000 people over three days.

Sandown must be retained as an iconic Australian sporting venue.

As the Victorian government is supporting the proposed Avalon motorsport complex, which will be great for Melbourne’s west, how about doing the same for Sandown?

The cost to give the Sandown’s circuit a resurface and an infrastructure upgrade will be a fraction of the cost of an Avalon complex and it is an essential major venue for Melbourne’s east.

Let’s see it happen.

Malcolm Webster Boronia, Victoria

ANTON TO TEAM 18, FROSTY OUT

Matthew Sell

Hmmm I don’t see that as a good move for Anton. I honestly think PremiAir would have been a better option than Team 18. Will be also interesting what happens to Frosty.

Ross Murdoch

More of a DJR fan than ADP fan, but DJR never gave him the car he needed. Ludo was not the answer and the team is better without him.

Stephen Pine I would love to see Winterbottom back at Tickford where he had lots of success. He is too good to retire.

Mark Gifford

Mark went one year too long and it is time for co-driver gigs. I have always liked Frosty and he did deserve to be spoken to before signing Anton.

Brian Sweeney I guess this might give Anton the opportunity to prove the believers right. If Charlie and his team give him a good car, this is his chance.

SUPERCARS PLAYOFFS?

Glenn Corrigan

I actually don’t mind the play-offs idea. Been watching NASCAR all year and can see how important a win in the normal championship is for the drivers to guarantee a spot. Not a popular opinion, but I can see the benefit on both sides.

Billy Who Leave Playoffs for NASCAR. Instead adopt their longer races and less practice sessions.

Daniel Scicluna

The Playoff system exposed itself when someone who was almost dead last booked himself into the Playoffs. So please Supercars, the fans do not want it and it would lead to more problems in the paddock.

CHANGING SUPERCARS FORMATS?

Michael Symon

The dropping of iconic circuits like Winton was such a mistake. The camping and community that that event built was amazing and Supercars in their shortsightedness just made the decision to walk away easy.

Sam Henderson I will say that overall, 2024 has been better for the category than last year was, but they really need to get everything in order to ensure this category can keep going and not go in a direction that alienates more fans.

Sandown ... the battle to keep the classic venue continues. Image: MARK HORSBURGH-LAT

IT’S A DATE (OR

IS IT?)

IT’S SEPTEMBER and there is still no sign of the official Supercars calendar for 2025.

Auto Action has already published its provisional calendar for next year, based on the best insider information, but it’s not the same as the real thing.

Can it really be so hard?

Britain won the gold medal sprint to have its 2025 calendar out first.

The BTCC dates for next year were published on May 15, an effort as impressive as Jess Fox’s double-gold performance in kayaking at the Olympic Games.

Speaking of the Olympics, the dates for the next two events –way out in 2028 for Los Angeles and 2032 in Brisbane – are also confirmed and ready for inclusion on the calendar for anyone who enjoys their sport.

Motorsport?

Formula One has confirmed all of its dates for 2025 including Jack Doohan’s first home GP at Albert Park from March 13-16, so has IndyCar, and so has the World Rally Championship.

with Paul Gover THE PG PERSPECTIVE

Supercars? A donut.

Drawing another parallel with the Olympic Games, the calendar performance at Supercars is about as impressive as ‘Eddie the Eagle’ in ski jumping or ‘Eric the Eel’, a 100-metre swimmer from Equatorial Guinea who had never even seen a proper 50-metre pool before he arrived for the games in Sydney in 2000.

Switching back to Supercars, a couple of words come to mind: madness and lunacy.

It’s madness that the calendar uncertainty needs to drag on so long, year after year, and lunacy to expect fans to wait so long before planning their motorsport holiday dates for 2025.

The volunteer officials who allow

the Supercars races to happen, and who often use their holidays to get to big events including the Bathurst 1000, must also be getting more and more frustrated.

Of course, there are reasons why dates can be problematic.

So many Supercars’ events are backed by state government funding that they get the Big Calls on timing.

Why else would Symmons Plains be run in the depth of winter in Tasmania, if the state tourism board was not looking to get interstate visitors?

And you have to wonder how that worked.

Look also at the disasters in NSW.

Firstly, the event in Newcastle,

which polarised locals and eventually led to its cancellation.

Then the crowd failure this year when the opening round was run at Mount Panorama.

Now it seems that Sydney Motorsport Park will host the season opener, at a track which consistently fails to draw a crowd, because of a deal with the state’s government.

Supercars finds itself chasing extra cash as it looks to grow the calendar (back) to 14 events in season 2025, so tourism money could be the key to Winton.

In the case of Queensland Raceway, Tony Quinn is fired up and ready to go. If he gets a date.

What sort of business goes into a new financial year, which started way back on July 1, without a full-year program into 2025?

What about the spreadsheets and business plan?

What about the staff holidays, the travel bookings, the hotel rooms?

Argh. It’s enough to give anyone a brain freeze.

Then there is the ongoing juggling of the commercial considerations with the needs of teams, who want to be paid more to do more events.

And let’s not get started on the impact of the calendar situation, and the teams’ involvement, on the upcoming negotiations for a fresh broadcast deal for Supercars.

If it sounds too hard, it probably is too hard.

Why else would it take so long?

Which brings us to another question mark, over New Zealand.

For once it’s not about the location of the Kiwi leg of the Supercars’ series, which is locked into the excellent – and Tony Quinn owned – track at Taupo.

Instead, how is it that Taupo can confirm its date for 2025, April 1113, when the rest of the calendar is still a work in progress.

Not only that, but the Taupo date was announced on July 10. At least the Kiwi Supercar fans can plan their holidays around their event!

Bathurst is among the dates yet to be confimed for 2025. Image: MARK HORSBURGH

WHY WILLIAMS CHOSE COLAPINTO …

WILLIAMS’ CHOICE of Franco Colapinto as the team’s replacement for Logan Sargeant was a very important statement by the team and its leader, James Vowles.

While it is clear that the young Argentinian driver won’t be able to race for the Grovebased team over the next two years, as Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz are already contracted until the end of 2026, the choice of the most promising prospect of the Williams Academy is a statement of intent.

Coming days after Alpine finally promoted one of its own young drivers for a race seat in 2025 and immediately before Mercedes were set to confirm teenage sensation Andrea Kimi Antonelli as Lewis Hamilton’s replacement for 2025 and beyond, the decision to put Colapinto in the second Williams shows that mentalities are changing in Formula 1 and the teams are now putting a lot of faith on the work done by their own academies rather than insisting on hiring experienced drivers who are already past their prime.

Of course, putting a rookie in a car before Formula 1 headed to Monza, then Baku and Singapore is a serious risk. Williams’ main reason for dropping Sargeant was the number of high-speed crashes he suffered, costing the team millions of pounds and putting the development of the FW45 in jeopardy as the focus was shifted to production of parts – so putting a rookie in the car may seem to defy logic.

However, in spite of its high-speed nature, Monza is actually a relatively easy circuit for new drivers, as Nyck de Vries proved, in a Williams, two years ago. The fact the track has been completely ressurfaced and features brand new kerbs, puts everyone almost in the same

boat heading into FP1 on Friday.

If one looks at the realistic options that were available for Vowles, his decision to take Colapinto makes perfect sense.

Liam Lawson seemed to be his first choice but Red Bull made it clear that the Kiwi could be loaned only on the condition he could be recalled at any time, thus not guaranteeing his stay with Williams until the end of the season.

Then, there was Mick Schumacher, who was pushed by Toto Wolff and Mercedes. The German, however, hasn’t raced in

Formula 1 since the end of the 2022 season and the main reason Haas didn’t keep him was, like Sargeant, the frequency and violence of his accidents – so there was no guarantee he’d be a better option than the American.

Finally, Vowles also had a look at Felipe Drugovich but decided that the Brazilian too was a risk, as he hasn’t raced in single seaters since the end of 2022, when he secured his Formula 2 title, and would also be a complete rookie in Formula 1 terms.

By bringing in Colapinto, Williams validates

its own young drivers’ program, puts someone with a bit of knowledge of the car in the FW45 – the Angentinian did extremely well in his FP1 outing at the British Grand Prix – and a driver who is familiar with the technical team, the procedures and Alex Albon too.

What the team will do with Colapinto from the end of the season remains to be seen, but for now the talented youngster has nine Grands Prix to make his mark and put himself in the shop window for future seasons.

… BUT COLLEAGUES FEEL FOR SARGEANT

LOGAN SARGEANT’S sacking from Williams came as a bit of a shock to his fellow drivers and there were quite a few spontaneous reactions from them when the teams assembled at Monza.

Former team-mate Alex Albon went even further, issuing a public message to the American driver as soon as the team’s decision was announced.

The Thai wrote that “I know first-hand how brutal this sport can be and it’s tough to see Logan leave the team mid-season.” Then, directing his message to the young American driver, he added that “you gave it your all brother and it’s been a pleasure being team-mates with you. I know whatever you do next, you’ll be awesome.”

At Monza, Albon was not too keen to go into details of how the internal situation had been, but admitted that “I think clearly it was quite a late decision, so I didn’t hear so long before the announcement.”

But the Thai was determined to keep private what he had told his former teammate in person, saying that “what we said this week with Logan, I’ll keep that behind closed doors.” Again, he praised the

American driver, saying that,“he’s a great guy, and we got on very well. I think he’s got a bright future ahead of him. And I feel for him, for sure. But I’ll leave it like that.”

Former Formula 3 rival Oscar Piastri was also sad to see his friend leave, explaining that “I sent him a text yesterday, and he seems OK. It was a little bit of a shock. Obviously it wasn’t an easy time for him in

Formula 1. I think it was much more difficult for him than maybe I expected it to be going into Formula 1. For me, his potential was much greater than what was on show in Formula 1 for whatever reason it might be.”

Like Albon, the young Australian seems to rate Sargeant a lot higher than most Formula 1 observers:

“I know first-hand, being his team-mate

in the junior categories, racing him in basically everything, I know how quick he is. I don’t think the change was completely unexpected. For whatever reason, he wasn’t able to show everything he’s got, because in the junior categories he was genuinely one of the quickest guys I went up against. I think his potential is much greater than what some people see.”

Even a veteran like Carlos Sainz made a point of sending a message of support to the American when asked about Franco Colapinto’s Formula 1 debut:

”First of all, a word of encouragement for Logan, who is no longer racing here. It’s always hard for any driver to lose his seat midway through the season. It’s always hard for us to see a colleague leave this way, but Formula 1 is a tough world.”

Like Piastri, the Ferrari driver believes that “Logan has a lot more talent than people here seem to believe, because you don’t get the results he got in other categories if you don’t have the talent. Things didn’t work for him in Formula 1, but I wish him the career he deserves wherever he races next.”

Last week turned Franco Colapinto’s career on its head – and the youngster made an impressive Grand Prix debut. Images: MOTORSPORT IMAGES

One crash too many ... Logan Sargeant leaps from his burning Williams. The crash and its cost has set back the team’s development programme.

DOMENICALI WANTS ROOKIE SPRINT

FORMULA 1’S CEO has revealed that he’s trying to put together a plan that will see all teams field a car in a Sprint race at the end of the post-season Abu Dhabi test, with only rookie drivers allowed to take part.

On the Tuesday after the last race of the season every team will have two cars testing for the whole day, one for its regular drivers, the other for one or two rookies. As all the cars and part of the race teams, as well as at least 10 rookies will still be at Yas Marina, Domenicali thinks it’s a good idea to organise a Sprint race the following day.

The Italian revealed that “there is a project on the table, namely the possibility of organising a Sprint race for young drivers in Abu Dhabi.”

The Formula 1 CEO added that “we are reflecting on how to give young people the opportunity during the Yas Marina test to shine and gain experience – not only by driving in the test, but also in a competitive context. It would certainly help their training, aimed at making them prepared for the next step.

“We will talk about it in detail by the end of September to understand the feasibility of this idea.”

A few teams are very enthusiastic about the idea, especially Mercedes, Alpine and Haas, who will enter Kimi Antonelli, Jack Doohan and Oliver Bearman in next year’s championship and would love to give them a taste of Formula 1 racing before the start of the 2024 season.

But it’s precisely because those three teams, and Mercedes in particular, could gain an advantage that other teams, like Ferrari or McLaren, are not too keen on seeing this innovative initiative go ahead.

There are, of course, a lot of logistical and sporting hurdles that need to be considered before the full proposal is made to the Formula 1 Commission.

First of all, there’s the matter of the budget cap, that would have to be adjusted to allow the teams to run a car for a qualifying

session and a Sprint race without going over their limit. Then there’s the problem of engine mileage, as all teams have done their calculations regarding the usage of the Power Units and will now need to have at least one unit capable of doing more than 200km without going over the recommended limit.

And then, of course, there’s the issue of the mechanics and engineers’ working schedules – such a plan would keep them in Abu Dhabi for one extra day, the

equipment would get back to the factories one day later than planned and, with the new mandatory winter break looming, there would be even less time to get all the necessary work done before the shutdown. All return tickets to the UK, France, Switzerland, Italy and Japan, as well as other countries, would have to be changed too – a huge logistical nightmare for the teams – so there are quite a few hurdles to be cleared before this plan gets the goahead.

ROTATION PLAN COULD SAVE DUTCH GP

THE FUTURE of the Dutch Grand Prix hangs in balance, with the race promoter repeatedly insisting his privatelyowned company has no means to compete with some of the new tracks and cities vying for a slot in the Grand Prix calendar and openly asking for public funding to be able to keep the Zandvoort race in the World Championship. Robert van Overdijk has openly admitted his company is not in a position to match the finantial deals accepted by the likes of Madrid to keep hosting the Grand Prix.

Fully aware that 2025 is the last year in his contract with Formula 1, the Dutch businessman is now suggesting the only way to keep Zandvoort in the calendar is to agree a rotation system with the Belgian Grand Prix from the start of 2026.

Speaking to Dutch media, van Overdijk admitted that “at the moment the risks we would have to take to sign a new contract are too great. But of course we are doing everything we can to see if a race after 2025 is

still possible,” adding that “it is clear that the situation is precarious.”

Pointing in the only direction he seems to believe could keep the Dutch Grand Prix in the calendar,van Overdijk explained that “we know that Formula One Management wants to reduce the number of races in Europe. There is talk of a rotation system for certain races. But nobody knows exactly how it will all work. We have a contract up to and including 2025, but it is not certain at the moment whether we will remain in the program beyond that.”

Former Formula 1 driver and Le Man winner Jan Lammers, who runs the event since its return to the calendar, also admitted that “this decision lies with the FOM” and pointed out that “it is still too early to say what will happen after 2025.”

It’s somewhat ironic that the Dutch Grand Prix’s future seems in danger when Stefano Domenicali keeps pointing to the Zandvoort event as an example to all new Grand Prix promoters, insisting the way the Dutch provide a full ‘event,’ with Formula 1 experiences combined with plenty of concerts and other activities, being presented as a template for current and future Grand Prix promoters.

The Dutch Grand Prix organisers told local media that delegations from other eight Grand Prix were in Zandvoort to study, on site, how the local promoters provide a full experience to the paying fans, hoping to be able to reproduce some of their ideas in their own events.

But Zandvoort’s facilities are among the worst in Formula 1 – from the Paddock Club, to the two small paddocks, to a terribly unsuited press and phogtographers’ room – Domenicali also wanted his guests to see how things can no longer be done in Grand Prix racing.

Rookie Sprint candidates? Most will come from the 2024 Formula 2 grid ...

Zandvoort’s seaside circuit – great event but modest facilities.

STRIKE THREATENS ALPINE’S SEASON

RENAULT’S DECISION to shut its Formula 1 engine program and redirect the resources the French manufacturer has in Viry-Châtillon hasn’t gone down well with the workforce.

A meeting between the union representatives and CEO Luca di Meo didn’t bring the results the French engineers and mechanics were hoping for, the Italian remaining firm in his decision to stop the company’s Formula 1 engine program and making Alpine become a Mercedes customer team.

The workers thus decided to take active steps to show their opposition to the project and try to put pressure on Di Meo to perform a U-turn on his decision. In a statement issued last week, the French workers said that “the project to close the Renault F1 engine project in Viry-Châtillon continues to agitate employees, as is logical.”

That’s why it was decided a general strike would be held last Friday. All work in Viry-Chãtillon stopped, as a first warning to the company’s management. With all the cars and Power Units already in Monza, the strike had no effect on the team’s operation at the Italian Grand Prix, but a group of workers also attended the Monza event, to take part in a public protest held inside the circuit.

Explaining their oposition to this shutting down of the Formula 1 engine

program, the representatives for the workers stated that, “in addition to the disappearance of Formula 1 activities on French territory, rich in almost 50 years of history and 12 world champion titles as an engine manufacturer, it is also an attack on the international influence of French industrial excellence that is at stake.”

Without calling into question the Group’s Alpine brand project, employees are convinced that this project can be done without sacrificing French Fomula 1 engines.

Around 100 employees arrived at Monza and occupied parts of two stands, displaying banners that urged Renault to change the decision – and all of them wearing a white t-shirt with the Alpine logo, the #ViryOnTrack message and a black armband, At the same time, the engineers and mechanics working on Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon’s cars wore a black armband to show their support for the movement.

According to French sources, if there is no positive reaction from Renault’s Board of Directors, it’s not out of the question a longer strike will be organised, potentially affecting the team’s participation in some of the upcoming races … so it’s quite clear there’s a lot of tension inside Alpine and Luca di Meo may have a bigger problem on his hands than he was anticipating.

HAAS SETTLES DEBT TO URALKALI

THE DISPUTE between Nikita Mazepin’s sponsor Uralkali and the Haas F1 Team came to an end on the Monday after the Dutch Grand Prix, when the Russian company, owned by the driver’s father, Dmitry, informed the Dutch authorities that it had received the payment imposed by a Swiss Arbitration Court, as well as having taken possession of a 2021-spec VF21 that was also due as part of the contract between the two parties for the 2022 season.

Mazepin was set to have his second Formula 1 season with Haas when the Russian invasion of Ukraine started on February 24 2022, while a pre-season test was being held in Barcelona. With the United States government taking strong measures against all Russian commercial interests almost immediately, Mazepin still did half a day of testing the following day but Gene Haas and Gunther Steiner decided to terminate the contract with the driver and his sponsors, prompting the return of Kevin Magnussen to Formula 1.

Right from the start Uralkali disputed the basis of that termination and demanded to get back the money that had already been paid, with Haas unwilling to do so, basing its decisions on the measures imposed by the US government and the personal sanctions that were quickly imposed on the Mazepin duo.

Eventually the two parties agreed the matter should be settled by an Arbitration Court and the decision

came earlier this year, with Haas told to pay back nine of the US$13million it had already received from the Russian company, as well as handing a VF-21 used by Mazepin in what turned out to be his only Formula 1 season.

However, with making payments to Russian banks being quite complicated due to the sanctions imposed on them, Haas delayed the return of the money. So Uralkali got a Dutch court to order the impounding of all Haas material in Zandvoort until the payment was made.

With Swiss, Emirati and Chinese banks involved, it was finally possible for Haas to pay the money due – but the money only arrived in Uralkali’s account on Monday morning after the Dutch Grand Prix.

The Russian company issued a statement saying that “Uralkali confirms that we have received in full the payment owed by Haas (including interest and fees) following the ruling of the Swiss court of arbitration. We have also collected the race car owed to us under the terms of the sponsorship agreement. As such, Uralkali has notified Dutch authorities that they may release Haas’ assets from arrest as an interim measure, and Haas is free to take them out of the Netherlands.”

That was done as quickly as possible on Monday morning, as the cars and all the material were already loaded on the trucks. So the American team got away with what was just an eight hour delay, which didn’t hamper its preparations for the Italian Grand Prix.

Monza was unaffected by Alpine’s staff strike – with many in the grandstands –but it could get more complicated .

Nikita Mazepin’s F1 career ended with the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

PROMOTING TALENT IS THE WAY TO GO

AFTER MANY years of investing in their driver academies without really making good use of them, Formula 1 teams are starting to believe the work done by their talent spotters, drivers coaches, mental trainers and so on and promoting young talent into Grand Prix racing.

In Monza, Williams gave Franco Colapinto the first of nine Formula 1 outings, after sacking Logan Sargeant and, as it was widely expected, Mercedes announced Andrea Kimi Antonelli will be paired with George Russell next year. Those two decisions came one week after Alpine announced Jack Doohan will replace Esteban Ocon from the end of this season, showing there’s a clear new trend that is picking up, even among the top teams.

At a time when Red Bull, the team that first invested in a huge young drivers’ program, has four seats but only one is occupied by a driver that, many years ago, came through their program – Daniel Ricciardo – the

with Luis Vasconcelos F1 INSIDER

rest of the field is finally reaping the rewards of the work that started over a decade ago.

Mercedes will actually go racing in 2025 with two products of its driver academy and Toto Wolff was happy to praise the work done by those in the German structure that look after that program. The Austrian was happy to say that “most of the credit needs to go to Gwen [Lagrue] who manages our academy and his team, because they are able to scout from a very early age onwards.

“We, as Mercedes, wouldn’t have found Kimi. He was 11 years old and we saw the results on track and obviously working with the kart teams, but it’s amazing to see

the result. George, on the other hand, actually found us. He put his best suit on and went to see me in my office with a PowerPoint presentation.

“With Kimi it was Gwen who found Kimi. It’s good that we are now in 2024 with two Mercedes juniors who we were able to support from very early stages of their careers.”

Alpine, who will have in Doohan – the first product of its drivers’ academy promoted to the Formula 1 team – learned with the huge mistake made by Laurent Rossi, who let the highly talented Oscar Piastri slip through his fingers and move to McLaren, did the same testing program with both Australians and

has prepared the youngest of the two in the best possible way to start his Grand Prix career.

At Williams, there will be no room for Colapinto to race next year, as it will be Carlos Sainz joining Alex Albon, but Haas has already confirmed Ferrari young driver Oliver Bearman will be Esteban Ocon’s teammate.

And you can put a good bet on Liam Lawson racing for VCARB in 2025, meaning that at least five recent products of the racing academies will be on next year’s grid.

It’s true that after looking for talent, early on, most Formula 1 teams realised their driver academies could be very nice money-making machines, as wealthy or wellbacked drivers were ready to pay top money to be part of their programs. For their money, they were getting access to Formula 1 facilities, from simulators to mental and physical trainers, from testing two-year old Grand Prix cars to

extensive learnings in marketing and communications’ skills. At the same time, it’s clearly prestigious to be connected to a Formula 1 team, so the advantages for the youngsters were obvious.

That’s why we saw programs with more than 10 drivers involved, when clearly two-thirds of them didn’t have what it takes to make it to Formula 1. But now the teams are going back to basics and picking their youngsters for all the right reasons.

In fact, one can almost say that if you’re nor part of a Formula 1 team’s driver academy your chances of making it to Grand Prix racing are quite slim. With the increase in the profits generated by Formula 1 the teams can afford to go and pick the best under-10 drivers in karting, work with them for a good decade and then put them in their main teams, knowing fully well what to expect from them after preparing them down to the last fine detail for their debut in motor racing’s prime category.

Franco Colapinto finished just 13 seconds behind his experienced team leader on debut at Monza – F1 team academies are delivering the goods ... Image: MOTORSPORT IMAGES

SANDOWN 500 PREVIEW

HISTORY UP FOR GRABS

THE SANDOWN 500 IS THE FIRST OF THE PAIR OF TWO-DRIVER ENDURANCE RACES FOR 2024 – AND THE TRADITIONAL TEASER FOR BATHURST. ANDREW CLARKE LOOKS AT THE ROOKIES AND THE DRIVER PAIRINGS THAT WILL SHAPE THE RACE ...

THE RACE to become the 51st winners of the Sandown endurance race is as hot and intriguing as ever.

THE ROOKIES

Roland Dane, many years ago when still running Triple Eight, said this race is harder to win than Bathurst, and history shows it has a more varied winner’s list than the great race – albeit with lots of Jamie Whincup in there – which is perhaps proof that is true.

The distance is enough to challenge, but not enough to allow you to recover from major issues – you don’t often see pairings come back from a lap down and stand on the podium as we have seen in the Great Race.

The introduction of the ‘wave-by’ rule will change all of that, with any car that is not on the lead lap scoring a wave-by the Safety Car.

That change has been made to clean up the race for the lead by removing the backmarkers, but the unintended consequence is to for cars to get a lap back.

This won’t happen in the final eight laps, however, with lapped cars running through the pits to get them out of the train, but that is another story (see our interview with Tickford’s Sam Potter on Page 30-31).

The one 'given' in motorsport is that speed wins more races than luck, and that luck alone has never won a race that we know of.

So, quick driver pairings and a quick car are needed, and the contenders are lining up.

There is also a truck-load of learning in what is the traditional lead-up race to Bathurst, but also one that carries its own honour and significance.

THERE’S ARE eight drivers making their Sandown 500 debut this year with Ryan Wood heading the list as a lead driver, and Kai Allen, Aaron Cameron, Cameron Crick, Cameron McLeod, Cooper Murray and Brad Vaughan all lining up as co-drivers for the first time.

Matt Chahda will also spearhead a wildcard for himself and Vaughan, making the #118 car the least experienced in the field, but no doubt having a ball getting ready for Bathurst.

Of these rookies, Wood (with Fabian Coulthard) is a contender of sorts given he is yet to climb onto the podium in the Series. We know from Mostert’s speed that the Walkinshaw Andretti United car is good enough – it will come down to how much Wood has learned during the season.

Each outing he gets better, and Coulthard is a steady hand who will provide stability with enough speed.

Allen also gets a run with a contender, jumping in the famous #17 car with Will Davison, who has yet to take a win at the track that his family helped make famous ... and infamous. Allen is on track for his second Super2 title and will drive with Grove Racing next year, so there will be plenty of pressure on his young shoulders.

But he’s shown speed and an ability to stay out of trouble, which is why he is collecting titles.

Murray is sharing the high-profile Supercheap Auto wildcard with Craig Lowndes who has six wins in this race. We’re not expecting fireworks here, but they will be near the pointy end when the final lap ticks over.

Murray, like Allen, is expected to line up in the main game next year.

Crick is lining up with his mate Cam Hill at Matt Stone Racing – there has been plenty of speed there of late so they are a good Top 10 contender if not a little more. Both Hill and Crick have won the Bathurst 6-Hour Race, but not together (as has been reported elsewhere as far as we can tell).

Likewise, McLeod who has starred and won in just about everything he has raced, but who has found his first season in Super2 a bit of a challenge, with that big crash in Perth getting plenty of TV time. He is racking up the kilometres as he pushes for the main game in 2026 and running with Tim Slade will give him seat time with an experienced hand from whom to learn.

We have no expectations for Aaron Cameron – a 24-year-old class winner in the Bathurst 12-Hour and S5000 series champion, who also runs in TCR for Garry Roger Motorsport – who is driving with Aaron Love. It has been a tough year for the Cooldrive car, but we may learn a little more about Love with this pairing than we do about Cameron.

We have little expectation with Vaughan and Chahda. This and Bathurst is childhood dream stuff for Chahda, but for Vaughan it is a little more than that. The Tickford Super2 racer is looking at a career and getting to the finish will probably be enough for this weekend.

THE STARS

SOME OF the star drivers of the series will be heading to Sandown with star co-drivers, while a couple of the serious contenders will be sharing with lesser lights who do a job.

How will Scott Pye (Will Brown), Todd Hazelwood (Brodie Kostecki) and Declan Fraser (Andre Heimgartner) transition into the co-driver role? And, as the most recent full-time drivers, how much of an advantage is a season of Gen3 heading into the Sandown 500?

Through all of that we have the star pairings, with Chaz Mostert and Lee Holdsworth leading the way as the 2021 Bathurst winners, and the power pairings at Red Bull Ampol Racing with Brown/Pye and Jamie Whincup back with Broc Feeney, for what we are hearing may be the final run here for the six-time winner of the race and the reigning champ.

Then there are those that stick with the tried-and-true with co-drivers like Garth Tander (Matt Payne), Warren Luff (David Reynolds) and Tony D’Alberto (Anton De Pasquale) carrying high value within their teams.

On current form, Mostert and Holdsworth start this as the favourites, marginally in front of Cam Waters and James Moffat. The two Ford drivers are the form horses of the series with wins in four of the past six races and five more podiums to boot, meaning they have nine of the most recent 18 trophies.

The battle here is between the co-drivers. Neither has raced much this year, meaning they head into the endurance races a bit cool.

Last year, Holdsworth was solid, while Moffat crashed at Bathurst which started raising doubts over whether he remains up to the challenge given a co-driver’s first job

is to stay out of trouble. The next is to run to a number, which he does, but not with the speed of some of the others – if he needs to put the foot down, is he up to it?

Triple Eight cars are always in the frame at the endurance races. The engineeringrich outfit rarely makes a strategy error and normally has enough driving chutzpah to do whatever it wants. Brown and Feeney are sitting one and three in the Championship, so we know they are capable and Whincup is among the best we have ever seen in Supercars. Scott Pye is transitioning to being identified as a co-driver and is looking for the elusive pair of endurance wins that eluded him as a main game driver. The only other star pairing we want to look at is Payne and Tander at Penrite Racing. Payne has been a little bit off the pace of late, but the engineering top end in the team is as good as anywhere outside Triple Eight – and both drivers can do the job. We’ll know in the first session on Friday if they are a chance on speed alone. Sandown carries its own unique set of challenges – the distance is a challenge in itself – and, unless there is a 'weather event,' we expect the winner from one of these five cars. But hey, we’ve seen different winners already this year, so why should that stop now?

The rest you can work out from the entry list and let us know what you think.

SANDOWN 500 WINNERS

YEAR DRIVERS

1964 Ralph Sach/Roberto Bussinello 1965 Frank Gardner/Kevin Bartlett

Tony Roberts/Bob Watson

Allan Moffat/John French

Far left: The Erebus cars led into Turn 1 last year, and it was Brodie Kostecki who almost chased down winners Feeney/Whincup (above) as the race wound out. Left (top to bottom): History suggests the Triple Eight cars will be right in the mix; Cam Waters pits during the 2023 race – another serious contender; Craig Lowndes and Cooper Murray will pilot Triple Eight's wildcard entry. Below: On form, can Chaz Mostert be considered the top seed? Images: MARK HORSBURGH, PETER NORTON

PLAN A, B AND WHATEVER … HOW TO WIN THE SANDOWN 500

By ANDREW CLARKE

THERE WILL be a lot of pressure on Sam Potter and his ilk at the Sandown 500. Potter is the lead engineer for Cam Waters in the Monster Energy Mustang, the bloke on the other end of the mic and, in many respects, his job is more complex than that of the drivers in the classic endurance race.

All the driver has to do is go fast and keep out of trouble. But Potter and his mates on the headphones have to work out how fast they want him to go; what is the lap time number they want to see? When do Waters and Moffat need to pit? How does he get Moffat to 55 laps as early as possible, which is harder this year with the lead drivers

having to start the race for the first time.

It is all about windows and numbers that move with Safety Cars and the like, in a race that even on a good day is not easy to win.

“There’s some different elements to the Bathurst race that make it a little easier. You don’t really have to take degradation into account, particularly on the Hard tyre,”

Potter says when comparing our two famous races. “Whereas at Sandown, you’ve got the Supersoft tyre, which has a lot more deg.

“There’s also risks of going a lap down with a shorter lap time, and getting a lap back in the past has been hard at Sandown. But obviously, with the new rules this year, the ability to get your lap back is a bit easier.”

With a lap time at Sandown around half that of Bathurst, the risk of dropping a lap is very real with such a long fuel fill. The cars will need two full fills to get through the race, which means around 76 seconds in the air, but tyres will be a more limiting factor than fuel when it comes to stopping.

“I think you should be able to get 55 laps on a tank of fuel plus or minus two on that, so you could get your full co-driver laps done in one tank, but I think the tyre is going to want to give up before the tank of fuel. Last year, people were doing 40 laps on the tyres, which would put you on a three-stopper.

“The sooner you get your main driver in at the end the better. But to do that early, you’re going to have to add a stop. You have to weigh up the pros and cons of the degradation and the loss in track position.

"As soon as you get a Safety Car, the strategy options are changed up instantly. If we see a Safety Car in the early part of that race, it’ll push it more towards a fourstopper at least, I think.

“You’re definitely making sure you’re not going to fall into traffic that might hurt your progress. This year, with starting your main driver, you probably want to try and get your co-driver in as soon as you can. But that’s going to come at the cost of that first stint length, which there’s a

few different strategy options.

“Depending on how quick your co-driver is, you could technically do the race with your co-driver doing half the race and your main driver doing the other half. If your codriver is up to that, then you’ve got quite an advantage. But even with the degradation, it’s probably unlikely.”

In terms of co-drivers, he’s happy with James Moffat, saying he’s got nothing to prove – which means he’s happy to just do the job required of him.

The strategy planning is not about exact numbers; it is all about windows and what you might do inside pre-defined laps after certain triggers. For example, you might have decided the pit window for the first stop is anywhere from lap 10-20, so if there is a Safety Car on lap eight you most likely won’t stop … but then again, you might!

“You’ve got to think on your toes, but you’ve also got to do as much groundwork as you can so that the number of difficult decisions you’re making have already been made. Just make sure you’ve got the tools in place to adjust your strategy options on the fly, as well as working out when you can get the minimum laps done for your main driver or co-driver.

“Before the race, you go through different strategy options where, if there’s a Safety Car here and we’re on our Strategy A, then these are the laps that we take. You might give yourself some hard and fast rules in terms of how many laps you’ve completed since the last time you pitted as to whether you take another stop on a Safety Car.

“You’ve got to be flexible with that because if it’s only one more lap to get in before you get your co-driver laps complete, you consider just doing the extra lap.”

Then you must juggle double stacks, meaning that one of the first challenges is for your car is to be the leading car inside your own team – you don’t want to be the one

having to sit idle in pitlane while your teammate takes a long drink.

The fuel fill rate has been lifted this year from around 2.3 to 2.4 litres per second, which is about 50 seconds for a full tank, to around 3.4 with the new fuel hose, meaning about 38 seconds for a full tank. It will reduce the pain of a double stack, but it will still hurt, so it is best avoided if you can.

“We’ll try to get on alternate strategies early, so that if we do get in a Safety Car it might minimise that damage.

“The lead car gets preference but, if it is us, we make sure we keep the second car in the loop with what we’re planning so they can work around the first car’s strategy.

But normally, as an engineering group, we discuss with the race radios the different options that each car has and what the primary car’s thinking – and that includes the data engineers, the two race engineers, and then Brad Wischusen, the engineering manager.

“Effectively, I’ll tell Brad what I’m planning and thinking, and he’ll make sure that that’s not going to trip over the other car or vice versa.”

All the conversation between Potter and Wischusen is done over an open radio, meaning Chris Stuckey, Thomas Randle’s engineer, can hear the whole thing. There are no secret discussions, and no wasted words. They are not talking footy scores, only what matters for the race given that is where their entire focus lies. The drivers may get a break – the engineers don’t.

“We generally try and keep it to points of the race where it’s a bit quieter, maybe just after a pit stop or just after a Safety Car where, I guess, it’s just ticking off the laps. Once it gets closer to the point of whether or not you pit, you just let the other engineer know what your intentions are if there is a Safety Car or what

lap you’re planning on pitting green, and then they can work around that for their strategy.”

Sandown is a 161 lap race, and each driver is required to run 54 laps which, because of the location of the timing line, actually needs to be 55 laps. They want to get the co-driver done as early as possible, which means they may split it into shorter brackets using the concept of 30 to 40 laps on a set of tyres.

Two green stints in that range and the job is done, with hopefully around half the race left to run when the lead driver jumps in. You can call that a double or triple stint depending on the tyres.

While the wave-by rule helps to reduce the risk of going a lap down, you want to avoid it. So Potter keeps that in mind when calling stops, as he does with where the car re-appears on the track – which can be manipulated by how much fuel goes in. You don’t want to get in a fight with slower cars having a fight on a different strategy.

A lot of the work, however, is done in the workshop before getting to the track.

Symmons Plains gives a pointer, with a similar set-up required, so some of that form guide travels across Bass Straight.

“Speed’s always your best friend. Any strategy will look good if you have the car speed. That comes with the car looking after its tyres as well and the drivers too.

“If you look at last year, a lot of the codrivers who were in the fast cars were some of the co-drivers that we’ve seen up there over the years, and some were matching the main driver. That just shows that the car speed was there for that car, and the best strategy is to have the fastest car.”

In terms of set-up, he says the cars needs to work over bumps and be kind to the rear tyres. Then they think about other parts, like making sure the car is easy to drive at the pinch points of the lap, like Dandenong Road. A locked tyre there could easily end in a sand trap or worse.

“The only better race to win is the Bathurst 1000. The 500 is always a big day, and there’s a lot of work that goes into that day, and there’s a lot of luck that needs to go your way. You can help yourself out with the luck aspect by making sure you have a fast car, keeping yourself out of the traffic that you don’t want to be in and making sure you hit the options that you want to when you want it, and keeping on the strategy option.

“That is optimal for the day.”

With higher fuel flow, pit stops will be shorter in 2024. Anton de Pasquale takes on fuel and tyres in the Shell car last year. Above: Sam Potter (right) with Tickford lead driver Cam Waters in Tassie –communication between the two is paramount. Right: Shorter refuel times will help, but 'stacking' (here James Courtney stuck behind Waters, last year's 500) is to be avoided ... Images: MARK HORSBURGH

A Safety Car can turn the strategy upside down in seconds ... Above: Cam Waters and Richie Stanaway took out the Sandown 500 back in 2017, the team then running as Prodrive Racing. Images: MARK HORSBURGH, PETER NORTON

60 YEARS OF FANTASTIC SANDOWN ENDURANCE

OVER THE last 60 years, Sandown International Raceway has been holding major endurance races for the premier touring car categories of the time. It started out as the Sandown 6 Hour, then became the Sandown 250 (miles), Sandown 400 and then it grew in distance to a 500 km endurance race.

As a stand-alone event, the Sandown 500 has grown to be one of Australia’s biggest and most important races on the Australian

motorsport calendar, and Melbourne’s (nearly) annual enduro quickly established itself as the traditional stepping stone to Bathurst. It has a special history of its own.

The daunting Dandenong Road complex always catches drivers out and has produced wild moments in recent years, while the patchy and bumpy track surface and high kerbs provide plenty of charm for the fans watching on in the heritage-listed grandstand.

All the touring car icons have won the Sandown 500, but none dominated it quite like Peter Brock, with a record nine victories, including an extraordinary seven in a row.

The modern-day master is Jamie Whincup and, in what is expected to be his last Supercars endurance season, he is chasing more history in 2024, trying to make it two in a row after winning the event last year as a co-driver to Broc Feeney.

Over the last three decades the race faced a number of challenges from losing Supercars to not being staged all together, but a strong crowd filling the stand when it roared back to life last year was proof it still holds a special place in the Australian racing calendar. With Sandown now in its sixth decade and 50th edition, Auto Action takes a step back in time and reflects on the unforgettable moments of past six decades.

19 64 SANDOWN 6-HOUR AND DAVO’S BIG BITCH

BY THE end of 1963, the rise and rise of touring car racing was obvious to all. The Australian Racing Drivers Club had chestmarked the Armstrong 500, shifting the race to Mount Panorama after the Phillip Island Auto Racing Club couldn’t afford to repair the damage to its tarmac wrought during the October 1962 Armstrong won by Harry Firth and Bob Jane aboard a works Ford Falcon XL. This pair repeated the dose in a Ford Cortina GT at Bathurst in ’63.

Melbourne’s terribly-pucka Light Car Club of Australia was keen to grab a slice of the tourer glory and money and set about organising a Six-Hour enduro for Groups 1 and 2 cars, to be held on November 29, 1964.

A Who’s-Who of drivers entered in a mix of factory and privateer entries: BMC UK Morris Cooper S cars were raced by Peter Manton and Brian Foley, Paddy Hopkirk and John Fitzpatrick, and Timo Makinen and Rauno Aaltonen; while the FoMoCo entered Bob Jane and George Reynolds in a Lotus Cortina. Allan Moffat entered his similar ex-works car, sharing with Jon Leighton. Nissan Motor Distributors were in on the ground floor of touring car racing too, fielding Datsun Bluebird SS entries for Brian Muir and Bill Brown, and Spencer Martin and Ron Clarke. Other big names included later Gold Star/ AGP winners Kevin Bartlett, Frank Matich, Doug Whiteford and Lex Davison. Most of the spectator interest was in the Big V8s – it has been forever thus! – and no less a driver than 1959/62 Indy winner Rodger Ward shared a Studebaker Lark with Warren Weldon while British nobleman, Sir Gawaine Baillie shared his Ford Galaxie with Davison. It was Baillie’s portly, 425bhp, 427cid two-door Holman Moody-built Ford Galaxie Fastback that provided much of the race’s excitement. This commenced with the

citizens of twee High Street, Armadale when, unable to fit the car on a trailer, Davo rumbled it up High Street, with a bit-of-wellie shaking the windows of frock salons en route to AF Hollins’ workshop ...

A portent of things to come arose when a Melbourne Herald reporter got the ride of his life when Lex’s demo of the Galaxie’s pace included its loss of braking power on the drop down to the Dandenong Road Esses!

Moffat’s Group 2 Lotus Cortina – just acquired from Team Lotus in the US, of which he was a member – arrived after practice had finished, while Jane’s Lotus Cortina threewheeled around in characteristic style.

Race morning dawned fine and sunny, 27,000 Melburnians rocked-up to enjoy a spectacular race.

Davison was among the Studebaker Lark V8s up front and took the first stint, spectacularly bagging-em-up and disappearing into the distance, lapping the tailenders before the end of lap two.

By lap 40, Davison led Moffat but needed six-pumps of the brakes to get a decent pedal. On lap 47 he got no response on the 170kmh run along Pit Straight before the second gear, slow, Peters left hander where the tail whacked the fence.

He then struggled to stop the beast at the Hollins pit. The offside front brake had worn

through both pads and one of the backing plates allowing a piston to contact the disc, damaging it and the caliper. The caliper was replaced in 22 minutes. Baillie rejoined in 30th place, eight laps behind the leader – still with the damaged disc fitted – while a spare was tracked down via the on-circuit PA system!

Moffat’s Cortina clobbered the fence too, so the race became a duel between Jane’s Cortina and the ultimate winner, Alec Mildren’s Alfa Romeo Giulia TI Super, driven by Alfa factory driver Roberto Businello and Sydney’s Ralph Sachs.

Baillie came in after 20 laps and handed over to Davison. On lap 91 Lex had total brake failure, again at Peters. He lost some speed by jamming the car into second but muffed the change into first gear, thereby losing the opportunity to lock the rear wheels and spin the car.

So, utterly a passenger, he ploughed headlong into the fence

The Galaxie smote the timbers at 120kmh, smashed through the planks and displaced a 12-inch diameter fence post which drove the right front wheel back against the firewall, then stopped halfway through the fence, nose down on the edge of the six-metre drop into the dam.

The car didn’t fall because the front of it was resting on the hefty fence post.

Lex’s door was jammed shut, the right-hand door was locked, but eventually he got out, severely shaken but okay.

The Ecurie Australie team, on Pit Straight, ran the short distance to his aid to hear his immortal words repeated many times down the decades since:

“The big bitch nearly killed me!” Davison exclaimed to Baillie and Ashton.

And so finished the first Sandown enduro –long the traditional Bathurst warm-up – many of which have been equally exciting.

Mark Bisset

The national flag has flown to release the first ever Sandown long distance race, with the 'big boys' dominating the front of the grid. Left: In the end the win went to the reltively little – but reliable – Alfa Romeo Giulia. Images: AUTOPICS.COM.AU-

AFTER A stop-start beginning, by 1974 the Sandown endurance race had established itself as a major part of the Australian motor racing season.

Having been originally run over six hours, it re-emerged in 1968 as a three-hour event and became the traditional lead-in to the Great Race.

At the start of the 70s the race became known as the Sandown 250, being held over 250 miles, and provided man and machine the perfect test around the high speed Melbourne circuit.

The Group C era was in full swing, with the Australian manufacturing giants Holden and Ford slugging it out for supremacy both on the race track and in the car yard.

The arrival of the LH and SL/R 5000 Torana saw Brock and Holden dominate the Australian Touring Car Championship.

Brock went on a (Ballroom) blitz winning five of his seven starts, while Colin Bond ensured the Holden Dealer Team’s dominance continued into the opening round of the Australian Manufacturers Championship at Adelaide.

When the field headed to Melbourne for the Sandown September classic, the 'General' once again made a fast start.

For the first time in the event’s history, Allan Moffat did not start on pole after Brock and Bond locked out the front row.

Brock took pole with a 1:17.1s, which was six-tenths clear of his teammate, while Moffat was third, a second adrift.

While the Torana was fast over one lap, it

did not take long to realise it was Moffat’s Ford Falcon XB GT Hardtop that resembled the #1 hit of the day, Stevie Wright’s Evie, and had the greater endurance.

Under bright, sunny skies the flag dropped and Moffat roared away, streaking ahead of the two HDT Toranas to take the lead.

Brock immediately attached his Torana to the Falcon’s tail and held on grimly as they came out of Shell where the battle not only involved car racing, but also hand gestures.

To the delight of the fans Brock waved his fist at his Ford rival, inferring that he was being baulked.

Moffat’s response was a quick 'V' sign just before he hit the brakes going into the following left-hander.

After an intense first 10 laps, Brock could not keep up with Moffat’s unrelenting pace and the HDT star drifted back, while Bond held third despite leaving a trail of smoke.

The first big drama came on lap 15 when

Brock pulled into the pits with smoke everywhere due to the electric scavenge pump playing up.

This took Brock well out of contention and he ended up a distant 10th, 10 laps down.

It ensured Moffat enjoyed a 16s lead over the nursing Bond, but in more heartbreak for HDT, he would also soon encounter issues.

On lap 103 Bond made an unscheduled third visit to the lane having reported gearbox issues and stopped for good.

This prompted Bob Morris into second to give the Torana fans something to cheer

about and Murray Carter’s Falcon up to third.

But no one could challenge Moffat, who completed a commanding flag-to-flag triumph by the huge two-lap margin.

Despite a puncture, Tony Farrell’s Mazda did enough to secure Class C convincingly, while Classes B and A went to Ray Gilson (Alfa Romeo 2000 GTV) and Bill Evans (Datsun 240K) respectively.

Thomas Miles

1974 1984 SANDOWN 250: FLAG TO FLAG FORD

BROCK BUSTER

THE FIRST ever Sandown enduro held over 500km had a familiar feel to it, with Peter Brock taking a ninth and final victory.

The 1984 Castrol 500 was a significant one for even more reasons, also being the first held on the short-lived and last under the local Group C regulations.

And just like at Bathurst, Brock was the boss when the last of the 'Big Bangers' took on Sandown.

A massive crowd of 43,000 gathered at the Melbourne circuit to see the field roar, with Brock racing the all-new dayglo HDT VK Commodore for the first time.

Although the #05 would go on to dominate, this was not clear during qualifying as drivers came to grips with the slower and twistier layout.

There was high drama in the newly redeveloped pits on Friday when Chris Clearihan and Moffat’s Mazda team had an altercation that led to the former being prohibited from competing in the race.

The driver who could not be beaten over one lap was George Fury, who flew in the Nissan Bluebird to pole.

Fury was just a tenth ahead of Allan Grice, who kept big names Dick Johnson and Brock on the second row.

When the flag dropped, Fury got a steady start, but could not match the big V8s as Johnson and Brock flew past on the outside.

Johnson, in the Greens-Tuf Falcon, took the lead while Moffat survived a coming-

together with the Harris Commodore. Grice had strong early speed and had an entertaining scrap with Brock as Johnson built a solid 5s lead.

By Lap 34 the right rear of the #05 was deflating and Brock pitted to hand over to Larry Perkins.

Johnson dived into the pits three laps later, but the Green machine left with a broken second gear and the #17 was the first high-profile retirement.

Fury was the next victim as his Nissan turbo was overheating and lost a large amount of water.

Suddenly Allan Grice found himself in the lead with a sizeable advantage, ahead of John Harvey and Jim Richards, while Brock was back in fourth.

However, as the race entered the second half the war of attrition only grew.

Richards’ BMW was the next to retire due to a broken diff, while the #25 HDT Commodore of Harvey and David Parsons had door dramas. Incredibly the pair had to gallantly hold the door closed through left-hand bends

Grice’s time in the lead came to an end on Lap 89 with a slow pit stop due to a recalcitrant seat belt buckle.

However, they would only race for another 13 laps before a transmission failure.

All the drama ensured that Brock emerged with a commanding one-lap lead over the Moffat Mazda.

The #05 cruised to the chequered flag after 129 laps of racing, securing a record ninth win for Brock in the Sandown classic. Having won nine of the 12 Sandown enduros throughout the Group C era, a Brock win was a fitting finale for the 'Big Bangers.'

Thomas Miles

was Moffat at his peak – running away from the less-than-reliable Toranas ... Image: AUTOPICS.COM.AU

Banger era, Brock's

Sandown 500, from the quirky Mazda RX-7 of arch-rival Moffat (below). Image: AUTOPICS.COM.AU

SANDOWN 500 PREVIEW

WORTH THE WAIT

AFTER 18 years of trying, Dick Johnson was finally a winner of the Sandown 500.

The 1994 event was one of the first endurance events run since the abandonment of the Group A era and was the formative days of what became V8 Supercars and eventually what we know today as Supercars.

The long time Ford icon first took on the Melbourne classic when it was called the Hang Ten 400, in 1977, and was a contender on numerous occasions.

But in 1994, Johnson and his co-driver John Bowe did it from 14th on the grid in what was described as one of the toughest Sandown 500s ever, being a 161-lap sprint.

“At last! This has been a long time coming. I have got the monkey off my back,” Johnson, who also raced with a coccyx injury, said post-race. “We have been close a number of times, but at least I will be able to hang the hat up one of these days and say ‘I have won the Sandown 500’.”

The drama of the big race started as early as qualifying when Melbourne’s fickle weather added an extra complication – heavyweights Glenn Seton, Johnson and Allan Grice were all out-qualified by production car entries.

Taking pole, to the delight of the crowd, was Peter Brock, only for Mark Skaife to take the lead with the #05 dropping to third.

In a further blow for the Holden Racing Team, the sister #015 entry had to take to the pits after Brad Jones had a collision at the opening corner.

They lost two laps and immediately dropped out of contention.

However, this did not stop a young kid called Craig Lowndes from making an impression. Lowndes, in his first ever touring car race, set faster lap times than not just moreexperienced co-driver Jones, but also big name team-mates Brock and Tomas Mezera.

This kind of pace ensured they still scored a backs-to-the-wall top five finish ahead of Brock, who sacrificed second with a late 'off.'

Even though the #17 started back in the pack, Bowe was on fire and needed just 30 laps to complete a charge to the lead.

But the race was not over yet, as a slow first stop due to the innovative decision to change

brake pads straight away meant Johnson slipped to fifth and more than 20s adrift.

However, Bowe overcame Brock after the final round of stops – the #17 was too fast to reel in.

The DJR star built a commanding 43s advantage over the rest of the field, only for a late Safety Car to destroy that and trigger an eight-lap sprint to the flag in challenging and wet conditions due to the Ayoub/Conway VL being stuck in the Turn 1 sand.

Despite the increasing rain, no one could compete with Bowe as he powered on to a 4.9s triumph over Skaife and Jim Richards, while Larry Perkins and Gregg Hansford overcame significant front end damage to stay on the podium.

Bowe, flying home, was full of praise for the EB Falcon.

“This was the best touring car I have ever driven,” Bowe said. “Other than a slightly soft brake pedal it was as good at the end as it was at the beginning.”

The 1994 was a genuine pre Bathurst hit-out and the combination of Johnson and Bowe would go on to take victory at the 1994 Bathurst 100 in the DJR Shell Racing Falcon.

At this stage the Sandown 500 event

was putting some tough years behind it, where it had struggled to even attract a TV broadcaster and naming right sponsors.

Big crowds were back to watch the V8s roar around the high-speed venue as DJR and HRT dominated before Larry Perkins won the final Sandown 500 of the 20th century in 1998.

Thomas Miles

1994 SANDOWN 500 RESULTS

UNPREDICTABLE BEAST

AFTER PETER Brock had 'owned' the Group C era, the Group A generation of the Sandown 500 was refreshingly competitive.

Only four different drivers stood on the top step from 1973-84, but when Group A burst into action that figure rose to 12 with a number of different makes also victorious.

The first Sandown 500 held under the new regulations was in 1985 when Jim Richards and Tony Longhurst led a BMW 1-2. There was a lot of excitement in 1986 as Peter Brock and Allan Moffat joined

forces and started the #05 on pole. However, this proved to be the start of the Nissan Skyline dominance with George Fury becoming the only driver to record back-to-back Sandown 500 Group A wins with firstly Glenn Seton and then Terry Shiel.

For 1988, Ford ended its 14-year drought thanks to Moffat taking a sixth victory.

The faster and shorter 3.1km circuit made a welcome return in 1989 and has been used ever since.

Although the Ford Sierras dominated qualifying, Richards and Mark Skaife

brought Nissan back on top.

But the might of the Sierras was soon too overwhelming as Seton and Fury teamed up again to lead a Ford top four in 1990.

The 1991 edition was an odd one with only six of the 16 cars finishing, the lowest ever. Leading the way were underdogs Mark Gibbs and Rohan Onslow in their Skyline GT-R.

The final Group A Sandown 500 came down to the wire as Larry Perkins fended

Paul Morris by 0.97s.

grandstand finish that gave Perkins

a surprise win in the older model VL Commodore, a popular final chapter of an unpredictable era.

won the last Group A Sandown 500, in 1992. Image: AUTO ACTION ARCHIVES

While Dick and JB powered to a well-earned win, the debut of a kid called Craig, co-driving with Brad Jones, (below) was a pointer to the future ... Images: SUPERCARS-AN1, AUTO ACTION ARCHIVES

2004

THE PRO AND THE PLASTERER

THE TURN of the century also brought about plenty of change to the Sandown 500 enduro. With the V8 Supercars enduro heading to Queensland Raceway, the traditional home instead hosted a pair of Nations Cup 500s in 2001 and 2002.

Instead of Holden or Ford being victorious, Ferrari and Lamborghini appeared in victory lane before V8 Supercars brought its September race back to where it belonged in 2003.

It ensured the 40th anniversary of the preBathurst enduro was on the biggest stage of all in 2004.

Whilst the forecast day-long wet weather failed to materialise, it still caused chaos with countless drivers getting stuck in the mud, including the eventual winners, Marcos Ambrose and Greg Ritter.

All up there were 12 Safety Cars required to to extricate cars from the mud and Ritter was extremely lucky not to be one of them.

The #1 SBR Pirtek BA Falcon had dominated the opening stages, leading 84 of the first 100 laps until Ritter locked a rear brake and skated off at the end of the pit straight.

He ventured into the Turn 1 bog, but unlike many others he managed to slither his way back to the tarmac.

After an excruciating wait, car #1 slipped from first to 10th, leaving Ambrose to perform a rescue mission.

But the Tasmanian did that, amazingly, in the space of just eight laps having set a new lap record in the process.

As leader and teammate Russell Ingall

dodged a spinning Jim Richards at Dandenong Road, Ambrose pounced and snatched the lead from the #9.

Whilst many more found trouble, none of the Holdens could snap Ford’s grip on the race with Ambrose/Ritter, Ingall/Cam McLean and Steven Johnson/Warren Luff locking out an all Falcon podium.

“It was an incredible day,” Ambrose reacted.

“It is great for Greg and I and our team to get a 1-2. Winning for Ford is a great reward in their home town.

“It is very special to win my first endurance race.”

During the journey, Mark Skaife’s similar

salvaging drive crumbed before his eyes when chaos struck in the chicane.

The HRT star was an innocent victim when countless cars were involved in incidents following a wild spin for Jason Bright.

The #2 Commodore suffered significant front end damage when Glenn Seton was spun into him coming out of the final corner.

A new nickname for WPS Racing developed, called 'We Produce Safety Cars' – its two Falcons almost constantly in trouble either spinning or sliding off the road.

The craziness of 2004 summed up a golden era of the Sandown 500 where every edition in 2000s was a cracker.

The return race of 2003 was almost one of the biggest underdog wins ever, only for Jason Richards to slide off at Dandenong Road and give Skaife another success after an epic hailstorm.

Skaife found himself in another titanic battle in 2005 with Craig Lowndes – this time the Triple Eight driver prevailed having slashed a 30s advantage for the HRT star, who nursed a broken front splitter to the finish.

The next instalment was even better as Jason Bright kept Rick Kelly at bay by just 0.16s in the event’s closet finish ever.

Lowndes and Jamie Whincup again proved their class to take the 2007 edition, but suddenly, after a run of unforgettable races, the 500km enduro was moved to Phillip Island for the next four years.

Thomas Miles

MUCH LIKE Bathurst, no driver other than Peter Brock will be called King of Sandown – but Jamie Whincup is certainly the modern heir to the throne.

Whincup is level with Craig Lowndes and Allan Moffat with the second-highest amount of Sandown 500 wins, with six, and could even get level with Brock this year.

Incredibly, all six have come in the last 10 Sandown 500s and the 2014 edition was one of the most dominant.

Whincup and Paul Dumbrell were close to unbeatable at the 'Home of Horsepower' and a decade ago were untouchable, leading 150 of the 161 laps.

The #1 drivers not only won the main event, but also topped qualifying and the two sprint races that set the grid.

The ease of their weekend was summed up by Whincup after his 84th win:

“Our day was pretty straightforward. Not much more to report,” Whincup said. Their speed was evident from the moment lights went out as Dumbrell nailed the start and flew away from the pack in ominous fashion.

Only Johnathon Webb in the #97 could remotely keep up with him as the top two were going almost a second per lap faster than the rest.

The race strategy did not quite go to plan however, as a Safety Car appeared on lap 43, about a dozen laps too early than ideal, forcing the co-drivers to complete significantly more laps than the minimum.

This was when the race of the #33 Volvo of Scott McLaughlin and Alex Permit was destroyed as they got stuck behind a stationary Oliver Gavin in the pits.

The big moment came late in the piece, on lap 130, when Lee Holdsworth had a scary shunt at Dandenong Road.

Holdsworth lost control on approach to Dandenong Road, found the inside grass before veering across the track and went head-on hard into the tyre barrier.

The impact was so hard and vicious it sent the Mercedes E63 AMG airborne briefly and spinning through 360 degrees three times.

An errant wheel also struck Jason Bright, being the latest blow on a tough day for the #8 VF Commodore.

This set-up a race-deciding 21-lap run to the flag and, just like all day, Whincup cruised to

the chequered flag to complete the first win from pole since 1996.

The Holden Racing Team completed the podium with James Courtney giving Greg Murphy a 38th and final career podium.

But it was nearly a disaster, with Garth Tander charging home after earlier doublestacking ... the two HRT Commodores had some close calls.

Craig Lowndes did not have the same fuel

economy and settled for fourth ahead of an impressive drive from young

Scott Pye, who pushed a struggling DJR to fifth. In the end Shane van Gisbergen could only manage sixth, battling power steering dramas in the final stint.

Overshadowing the on-track action was the bombshell news that Team Penske was coming to Supercars with DJR, and was bringing Marcos Ambrose with them from America.

After the 500km enduro returned home in 2012 after a stint at Phillip Island, it was Triple Eight heaven.

Despite the infamous qualifying sprints being thrown in to shake things up, Triple Eight has won all-but three since, with some thrilling finishes shared by Prodrive (now Tickford) and HRT (now WAU) the exceptions in 2015, 2016 and 2017.

Thomas Miles

Triple Eight Racing has dominated the Sandown 500 over the past 10 years ... Image: PETER NORTON

ACTION MART

TURBO-CHARGED CELEBRATIONS

GCG TURBOCHARGERS, a leader in the distribution and servicing of turbochargers, is celebrating its 45th anniversary this year, marking four-and-a-half decades of industry innovation and growth.

Founded in 1979 with just three dedicated staff members, GCG has grown into an international powerhouse with over 40 employees across four countries, and service/ distribution centres in Sydney, Brisbane, and Tokyo.

journey and its plans for the future:

“As we celebrate our 45th anniversary, we’re not just looking back at our achievements but also looking forward to the future.

“We’re investing in new technology, state-of-the-art equipment, and most importantly, in our people.

Over the past four-and-ahalf decades, GCG has built a reputation for expertise, service and dependability within the automotive, transport, agricultural, and marine industries.

The company has forged strong relationships with the world’s leading turbocharger brands, offering a comprehensive range of products and services that meet the needs of a diverse clientel.

GCG’s commitment to quality and innovation has been recognised with numerous accolades, including two prestigious Global Distributor of The Year awards from Garrett, the world’s biggest turbocharger manufacturer. These awards highlight GCG Turbo’s dedication to delivering exceptional products and services to its customers.

Brett Lloyd (above), CEO of GCG Turbo, reflected on the company’s

“Our team is the backbone of our success, and we are committed to providing them with the tools and resources they need to continue driving innovation and growth.”

As GCG Turbo enters its next chapter, the company remains focused on expanding its global footprint, enhancing its service offerings, and continuing to build strong relationships with customers and partners around the world. For more information on the range of products and services visit gcg.com.au

PUSHING BOUNDRIES WITH MORE MATES

CAN-AM IS pushing the boundaries of performance with the next evolution of performance sideby-sides vehicles (SSV) with the Maverick R MAX X rs SAS.

The Maverick R MAX X rs X builds upon the success of the Maverick R platform with a new four-seat configuration that allows riders to share the thrill and adventure with family and friends.

“At its core, Can-Am is a brand that is all about pushing the envelope and creating the ultimate experience for every type of rider, from ranchers to outdoor enthusiasts and racers,” said Julie Tourville, Director, Global Marketing, Can-Am Off-Road at BRP.

“We are continuing to blaze the trail in the SSV category with the introduction of the Maverick R MAX. From adding brawn to your workday, to conquering the desert, to playing in the mud, the Can-Am lineup of SSVs is built to do it all.”

Since its introduction last year, the Maverick R is powered by a Rotax 240-horsepower engine paired with a dual-clutch transmission (DCT), tall-knuckle suspension design and cutting-edge technology.

For 2025, Can-Am is claiming to be taking the Maverick R experience to the next level and designed for passenger comfort, the four-seat Maverick R MAX boasts the most spacious rear passenger seats in its class.

Can-Am engineers optimised the seven-speed DCT for multipassenger riding with a 40% shorter low-gear ratio, improved torque control for low-speed manoeuvres and reinforced components for

maximum durability. In addition, the select Maverick R MAX packages benefit from an updated 10.25-inch touchscreen display that features built-in GPS, front and rear cameras available at any speed and enhanced visibility of transmission gears and drive modes.

For more information on the range of Can Am side-by-sides visit can-am.brp.com/off-road/ au/en/models/side-by-sidevehicles/maverick-r.html

NAILING NORTHLINE

IT WAS a busy period at Darwin’s Northline Speedway with a double-header of racing on August 24-25.

Image: CBM MEDIA/CRAIG MITCHELL

A strong field of interstate drivers joined the locals and Sandgroper Trent Pigdon came flying out of the blocks in Heat 1 after a restart to blitz the field. Kale Quinlan appeared to have resolved his gremlins from his last outing to take out Heat 2.

The Feature race loomed to be a beauty with Charge and Pigdon on the front row, but it was Chris Harrison that belted out to an early lead.

Back in the field it was Quinlan and Loader who came together in Turn 3 resulting in Loader tipping over onto his side.

Harrison held the lead for the first 11 laps until Pigdon forced his way through on lap 12 to assume the lead.

Meanwhile Jordyn Charge was commencing his assault on the pack having dropped as far back as sixth place but by lap 13 had made his way into second spot in his pursuit of Pigdon out front.

It all came down to the last three laps with Charge closing in on Pigdon at a rapid rate and it wasn’t until the last lap as the two exited Turn 2 that Charge snatched the lead.

Going into Turn 3 for the last time encountering lapped traffic it was a case of three-into-one was never going to work and there was contact.

It left Pigdon to hit the wall in Turn 4, while Charge secured his third Feature race win in

a row whilst Manders now inherited second with Harrison relegated to third.

On Sunday, Heat 1 began on a rapidly drying surface producing dusty conditions however it was Charge to lead the way home ahead of Manders and Pigdon in third place.

After a couple of false starts in Heat 2 it was Pigdon who danced away to a big win. Charge was “in charge” for the 25-lap feature race and was never headed for the whole race distance.

Manders held down second for the whole race but was then disqualified for apparently not going to scales after the race.

This saw Pigdon promoted to second spot and Zack Grimshaw elevated into third spot for the Feature race results.

The Wingless Sprintcars began their Duel in the North with 20 cars nominated.

Heat 1A saw disaster for Jamie McInnes after a tangle in Turn 1 which resulted in heavy contact with the wall, ending his race.

Out front Blake Walsh made his way through to the lead on lap six whilst Jarrod Goldoni won a tight battle for second.

Matt Sealy took off like a scolded cat in Heat 1B to go flag to flag for the win ahead of Keelan Edwards as Daniel Goldoni, went from seventh to third.

McInnes returned from his earlier mishap to lead away in Heat 2A but had a race-long duel with Walsh and the latter emerged on top.

McInnes holding sway to win ahead of Walsh and Jarrod Goldoni in third.

Daniel Goldoni made a clean getaway in Heat 2B to go flag-to-flag.

Walsh basically owned the 25 lap Feature Race to lead every lap. Behind him all sorts was going on with Mathew McLennan the first to retire on lap 5 and then Keelan Edwards car “lost steam” and pulled infield on lap nine.

Will David spun twice, while Chris Ansell was out on lap 18 and then William Prest was infield as well on lap 20.

McInnes and Davis made wheel contact exiting Turn 2 onto the backstraight and somehow kept going.

Sealy secured second place and Goldoni finished third.

Walsh carried on his form by winning Heat 1A and Jaenke hunted them the Goldoni brothers.

Sealy then led Heat 1B from start to finish as David then spun in Turn 1 with two laps to go.

Daniel Dennis led Heat 2B for the first six laps before being overhauled by Prest but it was ultimately Walsh, who took the coveted pole position for the Feature race.

Once the green flag dropped it was Walsh who disappeared into the distance.

Pocket battles broke out behind him in a fast race with only the Goldoni brothers and Keelan Edwards designated as nonfinishers, having pulled infield.

Jason Davis followed home in second place and Cameron Jaenke in third position. Scott Kernahan/ SK-MotorPics

Jordyn Charge does just that into Turn 1. Above: Blake Walsh dominated the Wingless Sprintcar feature. Images: JAKE DUNN NORTHLINE MEDIA

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CHASING THE PRESIDENTS CUP

THE PRESIDENTS Cup went on the line at Darwin’s Northline Speedway where both Sprintcars and Wingless Sprints went racing, reports SCOTT KERNAHAN

THERE WERE seven cars nominated for the Presidents Cup Challenge for the Sprintcars with Jordyn Charge primed to go back-to-back in the Ekins Motorsports entry.

Trent Pigdon was looking for a change of luck after some wretched fortune so far in the last couple of rounds at Northline Speedway.

Local star Hayden Brown was also looking for redemption after suffering fuel line issues last time out.

Charge was the early pacesetter in Hot Laps laying down a 13.310s lap ahead of Brown who set a 13.496s and Pigdon with a 13.496s.

Going into Time Trials it was again Charge who led the way dialling in with a 12.359s flyer ahead of Pigdon’s 12.476s and Chris Harrison with a best lap of 12.515s.

This is where disaster struck for Hayden Brown with damage to the engine in the #77 mount which ended his night straight away.

Problems also for Kale Quinlan in his debut night for the season with mechanical issues ruling him out of qualifying and Heat 1.

Jordyn Charge led proceeding in Heat 1with an all the way win for the 8 lap journey ahead of Pigdon and Zack Grimshaw home for third in the second Ekins Motorsports entry.

Chris Harrison was another

withdrawal from Heat 2 also suffering engine woes which ended his night as well. Zack Grimshaw showed good pace out front to record a welldeserved win ahead of Pigdon and Charge.

Kale Quinlan was a late starter using the two-minute rule to get his mount out on track.

Five cars were on deck for the 25 lap Feature Race with the withdrawal of Brown and Harrison.

It was Trent Pidgon who blasted away from the front row to lead for the first 13 laps of the race before Jordyn Charge ran him down and took the lead from lap 14 and was never headed from there to take out his second Feature Race in a row. Pigdon remained in second spot with Grimshaw securing third spot.

There was drama as early as Heat 1A of the Wingless Sprints with favourite Jamie McInnes drifting up high at Turns

1 and 2 and contacting the wall, tipping the #44 machine over.

Youngster William Prest led from the front to record the win ahead of Mathew McLennan and Cameron Jaenke.

Disaster struck the returning Keelan Edwards in Heat 1B (been away on work related duties) when he drifted up into the wall in Turns 3 and 4 and struck the wall on lap 5.

Subsequent damage ruled him out for the night in an unlucky incident.

Kyle Wiseman was a non-starter after suffering battery terminal problems in the Wiseman Motorsports #77 machine sending him infield prior to the start of the race.

Raymond Walliss took the win ahead of Jarrod Goldoni and Zane O’Toole.

Cameron Jaenke led all the way in Heat 2A whilst Sean Tiedeman held down second spot for most of the race but was then swamped to finish fifth.

Daniel Goldoni continued his resurgence by finishing second and Mathew McLennan in third.

Matt Sealy led all the way in Heat 2B whilst behind it was Kyle Wiseman who drove a mighty race to finish third with Jarrod Goldoni claiming second spot.

The Mid Pack dash over eight laps saw Daniel Goldoni (the Smiling Assassin) lead all the way with Jamie McInnes returning from his earlier misdemeanour to finish second and Kyle Wiseman in third place.

Cameron Jaenke flexed his muscles in the Wiseman Motorsport #56 machine to take out the win ahead of William Prest and Matt Sealy.

The 30 lap Feature Race roared into life with Cameron Jaenke taking the field to task out front, while it was Steve Barlee who retired first on lap one. Ty Ede then followed suit on lap five.

Scott Murdie spun on lap seven but rejoined and then William Prest retired on lap 11. Jeffrey Tiedeman then brought out the red-light stoppage after rolling in Turn 3 on lap 14.

Fortunately, no serious injury was sustained in this incident and he was well looked after by the St John Ambulance paramedics on duty.

Zane O’Toole then worked his way into the lead on lap 13 and Jarrod Goldoni retired on lap 20. Mathew McLennan headed infield on lap 22 whilst in seventh position.

So, it was O’Toole who took out the win in a mighty drive in the #14 Total Tools machine ahead of Cameron Jaenke and Matt Sealy in third place.

Charge and Pigdon run the low and high lines respectively.

Below: Zane O’Toole took out the 30-lap feature in the Wingless Sprints ...

NATIONALS WRAP

WILLIAMS TAKES IT

THE BATTLE for the Imbil Forest Rally was a close one with little splitting Ryan Williams/Brad Jones and Ian Menzies/ Robert McGowan.

The pair were at close quarters throughout the fourth round of the Queensland Rally Championship, which went down to the wire across eight stages.

The tone was set from the opening 17km stage called Derrier, with just 9s covering the top three.

Leading out of the blocks was Williams, but he had Menzies and Glenn Brinkman for close company.

But it was even closer in Stage 2, Branch, where it was a dead heat between Williams and Menzies with both drivers recording 8m41s times. Also on the money was Johnsson, just 3s back.

It was high risk/high reward as there were also two retirements with Wooley’s 1999 Mitsubishi Magna breaking down and Van Der Wilk’s 1996 Subaru Impreza also having mechanical gremlins.

The times remained close when they took on the 8km of Colburn. On this occasion

Brinkman used his Dakar experience to edge ahead by 2s in his 2006 Mitsubishi EVO 9.

Williams secured second, which was enough to edge ahead of Menzies and hold onto the rally lead.

He extended his lead to 8s with another hard fought win over Menzies in the second run through Derrier where Brinkman lost time. But Menzies responded emphatically on Stage 5, which he not only won, but gained 9s on Williams.

The blistering time was enough to snatch the rally lead from Williams, albeit by just a single second.

However, Williams turned the tables on the second pass through Colburn, winning the stage and retaking the lead as Menzies set the third fastest time behind Brinkman.

The hammer blow then arrived in the penultimate stage, a third journey through Derrier.

Williams smashed the 17km pass, recording a time of 10m18s, while Menzies

was a distant 18s adrift.

This ensured the Subaru driver’s advantage grew to 25s with only one stage left.

Whilst the contest for the overall rally was on, the fight for third was even better as both Brinkman and Johnsson were even. In the end Williams rose to the occasion, winning the final stage by 6s and securing the rally win.

Menzies ultimately had to settle for second as the showdown for third went to Johnsson. Johnsson and co-driver Larisa Biggar eclipsed Brinkman by 8s.

Whilst the top four was full of 21st century Japanese giants, completing the top five was a 1979 Toyota Celica RA40 driven by Clay Badenoch and James Wilson, who won 2WD.

Winning the Clubman class was Shane Garner/Sylvie Garner, while leading Novice was Tyler Broughton/Brett Hausmann.

The final round of the 2024 Queensland Rally Championship is at Bomalbo on October 6.

Thomas Miles

GRBIC TAKES FINALE, BARKER GETS CROWN

Ararat in ideal conditions.

The track conditions were cool in the morning before the track warmed up during the day and provided good grip.

They were the clear leaders on the opening day before Grbic took proceedings to a new stratosphere.

His first attempt was Run 5 where he was the fastest, but the 42.73 was only the second fastest time.

However, Grbic then turned heads by smashing his final three runs with a series of blistering runs in the 40s window.

The fastest time of the trio of rapid runs was his 40.20s in Run 7, which ensured he took a huge 1.5s win.

Whilst Grbic was in a league of his own, David Harris also stepped things up in the final runs.

he did not take part in the final two rounds, leaving a thought of what could have been. He was able to hold onto third ahead of Zachary Hamlin and Brenton Byfield, who were separated by just 0.07s.

Despite not taking part in the season finale, Barker did enough to secure a maiden VHCC crown.

Three victories, a runner-up finish and a fourth place was enough for him to end David Mahon’s run of three straight titles. He had to settle for second with 52 points, 38 less than Barker.

Despite not taking part in the first half of the event, a thrilling string of late runs pushed Grbic

Out of the gates Damien Brand was fast, being the first into the 42s window.

Despite only recording a fastest time of 43.18s in the first four runs, Harris nailed his final two runs to be the only driver in the 41s area.

After a big finale, EZIUP AND GO Victorian Hill Climb Championship’s John Read said it had been a strong season.

A big field of 88 cars took on the steep and challenging 1.450km One

Hill course at

His 42.04s was the best part of a second clear of Derrick White, who was the only other driver to be in the 42s area across the first four runs.

With his penultimate run his 41.75s was enough to safely secure second ahead of Brand.

Brand’s 42.04s was set back in Run 3, but

“Participation in this year championship was well up on the post COVID years with an average of 92 competitors at each round. A wonderful result,” he wrote.

“We are currently planning the schedule for next year and will announce that soon.”

Thomas Miles

THE 2024 EZIUP AND GO Victorian Hill Climb Championship wrapped up on a high at Ararat with Mirko Grbic (pictured) taking the honours and Mike Barker being crowned champion.

all the way to the top.

Tree

Image: JOSH FEGGANS

Ryan Williams and Brad Jones were the fastest in the dust.

Images: CH IMAGES

Clay Badenoch and James Wilson pushed their Toyota Celica RA40 to the boundaries.

AMOS WINS ANOTHER LEYBURN

ONCE AGAIN Deam Amos (pictured) took outright honours in the 2024 Historic Leyburn Sprints that have been hailed as an unprecedented success.

Solid crowds, sunny skies and record entries gathered at the Queensland country town to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the 1949 Australian Grand Prix.

More than 240 historic, classic and performance cars contested the Sprints in a record-breaking field – however, a familiar name was on top.

Amos took a ninth outright Col Furness Memorial Trophy win in his Gould GR55B after completing the 1km closed street course in a time of 40.732s.

The fastest historic driver was David Cross in a Bowin Hay, having recorded a 52.520s time which was enough to win the Hayden Betts Memorial Trophy. Off the track was a grand success as

racing personalities Warwick Brown, Dick Johnson, John Bowe, Bruce Allison, Ron Harrop, Charlie O’Brien and Brian Gelding all attended.

Brown, who was the 1977 Australian Grand Prix winner, and Motorsport Australia President Andrew Fraser unveiled a 75th AGP Anniversary plaque.

Leyburn Sprints president Tricia Chant said whilst organisers hoped for a crowd of around 16,000 fans.

Whilst a final attendance figure is yet to be determined, Chant is believes it should exceed expectations once all receipts are counted.

“We had plenty of things planned for the Leyburn Grand Prix 75th anniversary, but the response was amazing and I’m sure has confirmed Leyburn as Queensland’s most popular motorsport event after Supercars,” she said.

“Saturday in particular was packed with happy, friendly people all day and into the charity auction in the evening. The atmosphere at night around town was magical, with many drivers bedding down beside their race cars in the street and campfire parties happening in residents’ front yards and at the campsites.

“And then during the day we had a fantastic grassroots Sprints competition, with everything from a 99-year-old Austin with an 84-year-old driver, to Ferraris, muscle cars and a 350 kmh Indianapolis 500 racer billed ‘too fast to win’ because Leyburn is just a tight course.

“I congratulate Dean Amos on his ninth win after a good battle with Warwick Hutchinson, who himself has four outright trophies here. Congratulations also to David Cross as the fastest driver in an historic car and to 16-year-old Jye Wickham winning

the Junior competition.

“It was a weekend with grassroots motorsport at its core, but that gave much, much more.”

In other prizes handed out, the Mike and Ann Collins Memorial Trophy for top Junior driver went to Joe Wickham in a Hyundai Excel, while the John Mellon Rookie of the Year was Sam Niven.

Michael Reid and John Tait both claimed the Alan Wickham Memorial Trophy as volunteers of the year as Keith Edwards claimed the John Butterfield Memorial Trophy.

The best car in Show ’n’ Shine was David Stark with his well presented 1970 Chevrolet Camaro Z28.

The best van was a Kennedy 14ft, Studebaker Silver Hawk from Len and Rosemary Kennedy.

Thomas Miles

NAMSC NT TITLE ON THE LINE

AFTER THE very hectic 2024 Yokohama Improved Production Nationals, the Dimet Tools NAMSC NT Titles were held, with returning stars such as Ian Roots and Evan Bartlett hitting the track. Northline Media’s JAKE DUNN reports…

THE FIRST category to go racing was the Circuit Excels and the timeless HQ Holdens, who went out on track together for an 8-lap journey.

Connor Kroonstuiver beat pole sitter Aleeanz Voltz off the line but battled for the remainder of the first lap.

Aleeanz would eventually prevail and build a 5s gap to take victory.

In the HQs there were tight battles with Anderson and Whitehair all race long, with the latter emerging on top, while Scab Bujnowski had some mechanical issues. For the first IP and Commodore Cup race, Rodney Jessup led from P2 in the VF as Geoff Cowie led the Cup pack in P3. There was some drama as Gary Dempsey got a bit too keen and made an off at T1 but would rejoin, while Rachel Beers would last just 2 laps.

The second race for the HQs and Excels saw the grid flipped where Whitehair held the lead early, only for to charge through the pack to claim P1.

This saw defending NT Champ Zac Hannon taking P2 away from Kroonstuiver. Anderson claimed class victory over Whitehair as Scab would report grip and mechanical issues, ending car #54s title hopes.

In the V8s Bartlett with Johnstone and Jessup starting in the back.

As the Commodores spread out, Jessup found his way back to the front of the grid early on and would win by over 15s as Johnstone had brake which allowed Rachel Beers to get her best result of the season.

Eddy Austin would keep his podium run from last race and would come across the line P1 in class.

For the third Excels race Voltz was on pole and took a commanding win, while lining up at the front of the HQs grid was Anderson.

Behind Voltz, Kroonstuiver and Hannon battled for the whole eight laps, with Hannon getting the upper hand. Anderson claimed the HQs victory ahead of Whitehair.

For the third race for the V8s Jessup was on pole, but it would be Johnstone that would get a better launch. Jessup followed close behind, but would not regain P1.

On lap four Gary Dempsey had an engine issue causing the #7 Commodore to be sidelined.

After the race was resumed Beers secure third after a successful race start.

Cowie came home P1 in class as Austin would continue the strong pace in car #30 finishing second.

For the fourth and final Excel and HQ race Voltz and Anderson were on their respective class poles.

Dakota Masters had issues on the first lap and came to a stop.

Meanwhile, Whitehair and Anderson continued all race with the latter getting the leverage needed for the HQ win.

Aleeanz came home with a 2s to Kroonstuiver.

Image: TRAPNELL CREATIONS

Geoff Cowie heads the Commodore Cup field.

NATIONALS WRAP

THE FIGHT for Australian Production Car Series honours had an entertaining crescendo at Phillip Island where Cameron Crick and Dean Campbell (pictured) prevailed despite some early dramas.

Crick and Campbell battled with the rear end of their #118 BMW throughout the weekend, but put that aside to overcome Simon Hodges/Mark Caine and Chris Lillis/ Josh Muggleton.

The opening race was about survival with tyre life the key focus.

Grant Sherrin looked destined to take victory, leading the way with only three laps remaining when disaster struck and the right rear tyre failed.

To rub salt into the wound, the front right quickly expired when he rejoined meaning the #27 had to crawl to the finish line down in sixth as Crick took a comfortable win.

The next hour-long outing saw drivers take it slightly easier, but it was another tail of woe for the Sherrins.This time Iain Sherrin was chasing the top two in the final 15 minutes before another suspected deflating tyre brought him into the pits.

It left Simon Hodges and Tyler Mecklem to fight it out for glory and the former’s BMW prevailed over the Mustang by a second.

Campbell ensured the #118 continued picking up solid points, while Sherrin rebounded to fourth.

Race 3 was an enthralling affair as the #21 and #118 took turns in the lead throughout the 30-lap journey.

Campbell and Hodges traded blows in their BMWs with the former leading early, but being unable to maintain track position.

Hodges was leading the way on Lap 26 of 30, but could not keep Campbell behind as he snatched the win at the death.

In the end only a second would split them at the chequered flag.

They were in a league of their own being the only drivers to finish on the lead lap, while third placed Muggleton had a similar battle with Hadrian Morrall.

However, that ended in tears with contact sending Morrall into a spin.

The fight for fifth also saw a clash as Buccini rotated chasing Sutton.

The fourth and final race had action from start to finish.

It kicked off instantly as Mecklem had a tough start and dropped back, allowing Crick to take control ahead of Caine.

To complete a disastrous weekend, Iain Sherrin brought out the first of two Safety Cars due to the #27 being stranded without power after a front right failure. This happened moments after Dean Lillis and Darcy Inwood clashed.

At the restart, Muggleton took control of the race only for the race to be neutralised again due to the stopped Tom Shaw.

This set up an exciting six-

minute sprint with weather also a concern as the rain rolled in.

Crick quickly moved to pass Mecklem, with Muggleton also pushing hard to get past the Mustang to set up an impressive battle with Crick.

The battle went all the way to the final lap, with Crick getting by Muggleton, only for the Camaro driver to take it back a few corners later.

However, Crick claimed the overall round win as the Muggleton Camaro

The A1 winner was Chris Sutton as Grant Inwood and Darcy Inwood did it in B1 and Brent Peters and Damien Croxon secured B2 and the C class was taken out by Allan and Rob Jarvis.

The penultimate round of the Australian Production Cars Championship is at Sydney

SNAKING HOME ON THE PACE WITH PIARC

PHILLIP

The

Daniel Stutterd

his attentions clear by taking pole by the huge 2.74s margin.

As a result Stutterd’s Camaro kept a sea of Porsches at bay to win by 4s over Andrew Hall.

But the tables turned in Race 2 as Stutterd led the

opening lap, but did not go any further. As a result Hall took over proceedings and led a Porsche top four.

Race 3 was the closest contest of with Hall’s Porsche 991 and Andy Tudor’s Audi R8 fighting hard.

Tudor finished with a flourish, but could not quite reign in Hall and fell less than a second short.

Stutterd was back in action in Race 4 and reminded everyone of just how fast he was.

The Camaro driver charged all the way to the top and won by a commanding 9s over Hall.

There was a busy schedule for Superkarts with lots of races taking place under sunny skies.

In the opening race the 125 Max Light stole the show with only half a tenth covering the top two.

After six laps Russ Occhipinti edged ahead of Lucas Quattrocchi by 0.05s, while Colin McIntyre put the #1 in P1 in 125 Max Heavy, while Rod Clarke took Super Heavy honours.

The second race was even more competitive as only a tenth covered the top three, but the result was the same.

Race 3 saw Quattrocchi prevail, but only just with only 0.003s, as the other results remained unchanged.

The final race was another nail biter as this time Quattrocchi and Occhipinti were joined by Ashlea Ford.

Only half a tenth covered all three drivers with Occhipinti having the last laugh getting the nose in front.

McIntyre completed a clean sweep as Brendan Kloot overcame Clarke for the first time.

There were smaller fields in the GB races with 125 Gearbox the biggest field. Todd Gardner and Luke Medley shared the spoils in 125 Gearbox.

James Strah had some good battles with Jeff Duckworth in Stock Honda.

After falling short in the first two races, Duckworth edged ahead in Race 3 by 0.0527s.

Strah had the last laugh, winning a thrilling finale by a slender 0.0072s.

Sunday’s running was mainly about the SuperSprint groups which were topped by Graham Bentley (Audi TT) Brett Zieren (Porsche 996t) Perry Spiridis (Porsche Carrera S) and Neil Haesler (Holden Monaro).

Thomas Miles

secured A2 honours.

THE

Island Auto Racing Club opened up the famous circuit for its ninth ‘Access’ event of the year and many put their foot down on a sunny weekend in August.

main show was the Kalus Kenny Intelex Victorian Sports Cars, which went racing on both days.

made

Image: SPEEDSHOTS PHOTOGRAPHY

Russ Occhipinti (93), Lucas Quattrocchi (51) and Ashlea Ford (40) battled for 125 Max Light honours. Image: REBECCA HIND/REVVED PHOTOGRAPHY

THE INAUGURAL GT Festival turned into a celebration for Ferrari fans as Arise Racing painted Phillip Island red.

The return trip to the iconic seaside venue saw the Ferrari 296s in a league of their own with the teammates sharing the wins.

It was clear in qualifying Ferrari would be tough to beat as Chaz Mostert and Liam Talbot ensured the #1 would take both poles on offer.

As a result Talbot flew into the lead when the first race began under sunny Saturday skies, while Peter Hackett was rotated by Paul Stokell at Souther Loop, while the stopped Lucchitti sparked an early Safety Car.

When racing resumed Brad Schumacher’s attempt to snatch second went badly wrong at Miller Corner and he spun to 14th, allowing Mark Rosser to hold position.

Once the driver changes were completed Mostert emerged with a handy lead and controlled the race all the way to the chequered flag, getting a vital 6s win over Alex Peroni/Rosser.

FERRARI HEAVEN BMW BLITZ

THE RETURN to Phillip Island for GT4

Australia was all about one car – the Cody Burcher and Tim Leahey BMW M4 (pictured).

The #22 BMW took both one-hour races on offer at the GT Festival, but had to earn it.

In the opening race, George Miedecke and Rylan Gray had high hopes of repeating their opening round success from pole, but were hit with a last-minute 25kg BOP adjustment. Ryder Quinn led the majority of the first stint, but his co-driver Steve Jakic dropped to 12th in the final stint.

The race had an early interruption with Steve Dukes having a wild moment at Doohan Corner.

After the stops it was Valentino Astuti, who emerged in the lead, but had the Burcher BMW breathing down his neck.

This set-up a thrilling 20-minute run to the flag.

However, there was high drama in the fight for third.

It appeared destined for Brendon Leitch, who was driving with Tim Miles. But a strong of record-breaking laps proved too much for the Audi’s right rear tyre which went pop.

To make matters worse, a drive-through penalty followed for speeding in the pits.

Evans in the sister Arise Racing Ferrari also had a flat in the final five minutes and dropped to ninth.

The late drama allowed Declan Fraser to get an unlikely podium for the #888 Mercedes after Hackett’s spin.

Marcel Zalloua and Sergio Pires took out Am honours after beating Garth Walden and Mike Sheargold.

Evans and Schutte then had their time in the sun on Sunday.

It was a dramatic race with a number of drivers finding trouble across the one-hour journey around the iconic circuit.

The Arise Racing GT Ferraris marked their dominance by charging into Turn 1

side-by-side, with Mostert taking the lead, while Evans dropped to third behind Jayden Ojeda.

In a crazy instance of history repeating itself, the Triple Eight Mercedes again rotated at Southern Loop, with Declan Fraser at the wheel this time.

Six laps later Evans was able to retake second place from Ojeda and establish the Arise Racing 1-2 once again.

Alex Peroni ran wide at Turn 1 moments before the Safety Car arrived due to Alex Gardner getting stuck in the gravel after contact with Ojeda at MG.

The next stoppage arrived just as the pit cycle was being completed after the other Aston Martin of Valentino Astuti collided with Shane Woodman.

In the pits the #1 Ferrari now driven by Talbot had dropped from first to fifth.

But he only needed one lap to account for both Brad Schumacher and the Grove Mercedes, while a drive-through for a pit stop infringement dropped Miles and Leitch out of the top three.

This left Talbot with seven laps to chase down his team-mate and he got extremely close, but fell three-tenths short in a formation finish summing up the dominance of the Arise Racing Ferrari 296s.

In GT3 Cup, Garth Walden and Mike Sheargold were well ahead of Theo and James Koundouris, while GT3 honours went to Scott Taylor and Paul Morris.

The fight for third was thrilling as Schumacher spun out with Grove leading Peroni, Paul Stokell and Peter Hackett as just six tenths covered the quartet. Ferrari’s brillance means what was a one-point lead for Mostert/Talbot is now 30 points as SMP awaits on October 18-20. Thomas Miles

GT WORLD CHALLENGE AUSTRALIA CHAMPIONSHIP AFTER ROUND 9

1: L. Talbot/C. Mostert 140 points

2: B. Schumacher/W. Brown 110

3: E. Schutte/J. Evans 106 4: P. Hackett/D. Fraser 101 5: B. Leitch/T. Miles 95

On Lap 25 of 34, Burcher had a look on approach to Miller Corner and MG, but could not get up far enough. However, Burcher nailed it on the following lap in grand style.

He sent it around the outside of Astuti at the wildly fast Doohan Corner and used all the track on exit to make it stick.

Astuti had no response and settled for second with all eyes now on the evertightening battle for third.

Hayman made a late move on Targett, but behind them was the much-faster Gray.

In the end Hayman had good late race pace in the McLaren to retain the podium. This proved critical with Hayman able to gain points on Gray, who could only jump Targett and get fourth.

In race 2 Gray led the opening lap, only for smoke to surface from the Mustang on the following tour, which led to a mechanical black flag and DNF due to a gearbox failure.

Gray was one of four DNFs that also included Jacob Lawrence, Anthony Levitt and Tom McLennan and Zoe Woods with the latter two clashing.

The #22 BMW of Burcher and Leahey once again controlled the field and this time emerged 4s clear of Marcos Flack and Tom Hayman, while Oscar Targett did it all on his own to get a podium in his first weekend of GT4.

In the Am Cup, Jacob Lawrence and John

Bowe were able to extend their points lead over Jamie Augustine and Peter Lawrence. Thomas Miles

GT4 AUSTRALIA STANDINGS

AFTER ROUND 7

1: G. Miedecke/R. Gray 155 points

2: M. Flack/T. Hayman 149

3: N. Morcom/T. McLennan 117 4: Jake Camilleri 85

5: Zoe Woods 72

Mostert and Evans head a Ferrari double. Image: RACE PROJECT

Image: RACE PROJECT

NATIONALS WRAP

CONSISTENCY IS KEY

HE MAY not have had the fastest car, but Peter Ingram further cemented his Precision National Sports Sedans Series championship lead with a composed drive at Sandown’s State round.

Although both Steven Tamasi and Thomas Randle had greater speed and powered ahead in the opening race, both found dramas.

One driver who critically stayed out of trouble was Ingram, who not only won the final race, but also snatched the round to further extend his championship lead with just one round to go.

With Supercars star Thomas Randle back in his SAAB and Tamasi determined to eat into Ingram’s advantage, a fascinating weekend was ahead.

The trio raced out of the gates with Tamasi beating Ingram and Randle to pole, while the rest of the field were 2s adrift.

This set the scene for a thrilling opening race where the fight for victory was unclear until the final moments.

As the thunderous roar of National Sports Sedans shook the famous Sandown grandstand, Tamasi’s Holden Calibra rocketed away from Randle as Ingram had a moment at Turn 1.

The fight for the lead ignited on Lap eight when Tamasi was held up by a back marker and Randle went on the attack with success out of the esses.

A titanic battle followed with Tamasi trying to pull off a ballsy move around the outside of Turn 1 before eventually prevailing at the following right hander.

But any hopes of it continuing were dashed just 30s from the chequered flag. A flat tyre sent Randle straight on and into

the tyres at the fast end of the back straight.

It was a bitter blow for the Tickford Supercar driver, who was looking forward to a big weekend preparing for the Sandown 500. But unfortunately the damage proved too much and Randle was ruled out for the remainder of the weekend.

Whilst Tamasi was victorious, it promoted Ingram to second and Steven Lacey to the podium.

In the opening sprint on Sunday, Ingram enjoyed a strong rolling start to snatch the lead in the run down to Turn 1 with Steven Tamasi and Steven Lacey slotting in behind.

The leading pair soon charged away from the pack during a tense fight for the lead in the early laps.

By lap four Tamasi was able to close the gap and pull into the slipstream of Ingram before having a look in the opening corner but could not sneak around the outside.

However, Tamasi did not give up and managed to complete the move in the Turns 2-4 complex and snatch the lead.

He proved unstoppable, winning by 8s over Ingram.

There was also an exciting fight for third as Lacey tried to keep Jarvis’ Monaro behind.

Joining them was Matt Ingram, who roared past Mark Duggan and Ray Hislop before

catching those chasing third.

However, Ingram ran out of time as just two-tenths split the trio.

In the end, the entire weekend hinged on one close call at the opening corner of the third race.

Tamasi struggled to put the foot down in the Holden Calibra as Steven Lacey got a flyer and rocketed through the front row to lead the field into Turn 1.

Ashley Jarvis’ Monaro also slotted behind the MARC car, whilst Ingram stayed on the outside.

However, Lacey locked up, sending the leading trio all wide into the run-off.

Tamasi had slumped from first to fourth, but his attempt to capitalise on the leaders’ mistakes was ruined as he too got out of shape, on corner exit.

As Tamasi made the direction change, he cut across the front of Mark Duggan’s Aston Martin, firing the Holden into the grass. The Calibra got airborne and suffered significant front splitter damage, dropping to the back of the pack.

“Steve Lacey and Ash Jarvis both ran deep into one to outbrake each other with front tyres smoking,” Ingram recalled of the incident.

“I was right in between them and

somehow avoided them and the rest of the pack. That was a case of luck really because there was not much more I could do.”

As a result of all the drama, Jarvis charged into the lead.

However, the Monaro only led until the start of lap five where Lacey dived down the inside at the opening corner.

Just seconds before the race-ending Safety Car was called, Ingram snatched the lead from Lacey down the back straight.

The incident was caused by Ray Hislop, who found the fence on the exit of Turn 3.

With the right wheel out of place and the FG Falcon standard, the race ended under Safety Car, confirming Ingram’s victory.

Behind them Tamasi put in a mighty drive from 11th to sixth saw him claw back important points, but it was not enough to stop Ingram from taking the round victory.

As a result he has extended his championship lead to 103 points over Tamasi with just one round to go at the famous Mount Panorama on November 8-10.

Thomas Miles

PRECISION NATIONAL SPORTS SEDANS CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS AFTER ROUND 4

Pos Driver Points

1 Peter Ingram 517 points

2 Steve Tamasi 414

3 Steve Lacey 377

4 Geoff Taunton 359

5 Matt Ingram 356

Thomas Randle and Steven Tamasi fought hard for the lead in the first race.

The flame-spitting Holden Calibra of Steve Tamasi was very fast at Sandown.

Peter Ingram remains at the front of the Sports Sedans field. Images: MPIX

CLEAN SWEEPS AT SANDOWN

SEVERAL DRIVERS across the weekend’s nine categories walked away with perfect performances at the fourth round of the Victorian State Circuit Racing Championships across August 24th & 25th, with several title races still in the balance with two rounds to come at Phillip Island and Calder Park.

STEVEN DEVRIES braved the unpredictable Melbourne weather to report in …

FORMULA FORD

HARRISON SELLARS (TAS) put a challenging previous weekend on home soil behind him and not just powered to pole position but walked away with maximum points for the round. He survived the relentless onslaughts of Cody Maynes-Rutty (NSW) and Edison Beswick (NSW), however Beswick’s strong points haul kept him in the lead of both the Victorian and National series titles.

Richard Davison continued his excellent run of results with another Kent class round win but could only manage two of the weekend’s three class wins. Andrew Torti picking up the remaining race victory, with second and third for the round taken out by Jacob Reed and Frank Harris.

SALOON CARS

TRAVIS LINDORFF (VX Commodore) was the top scorer for the round with 98 from a possible 100 points – owed to his two wins and a second place behind Super2 driver Bradley Vaughan (VX Commodore) in the category’s final race.

Lindorff’s 18 extra points for the round over runner-up and series leader Kerran Pridmore (Holden Commodore) brought him back into title contention, whilst Adam Lowndes (VY Commodore) pipped the defending state champion Daniel Johnson (AU Falcon) to third place for the round by a solitary point.

FORMULA VEE

ASH QUIDDINGTON made it a pole and triple-race victory feat for both open-wheeled cars for the event and extended his title lead in Formula Vee in the process. With three second-place finishes, Lee Partridge kept the title alive, with rookie driver Rocco Spinley scored as third for the round after a second consecutive weekend fighting in the lead pack.

However, the weekend was marred by two rare and heavy accidents for seasoned campaigners Jake Rowe and Nick Jones. While both drivers were able to walk away uninjured on both occasions, the same couldn’t be said for their race cars, which will require extensive repairs.

TOYOYA 86 SCHOLARSHIP SERIES

WHILST NOT part of the regular state categories, the final round of the GR Cup feeder series brought 26 cars to Sandown to decide the series winner.

Hayden Hume secured the round’s first two victories as several drivers pushed the limits of their machinery, with Ryan Tomsett, Ben Stewart, Ben Gomersall and Alice Buckley all enjoying a podium finish behind him.

However, several drivers including Hume ended up in trouble in the final race, with

a Safety Car forcing a one-lap sprint finish with the victory going to Gomersall, second to Tomsett and third to Will Longmore –the latter having started his weekend at the rear of the field following a qualifying infringement.

IMPROVED PRODUCTION

CHAMPIONSHIP LEADER Jarrod Tonks (VY Commodore) took the pole with one flying lap and then controlled all three races comfortably, becoming another driver to extend their title advantage over the weekend.

Second place in the feature race proved pivotal for Kaide Lehmann (VE Commodore) giving him a slender advantage in the race for second for the round over reigning champion Luke Grech-Cumbo (HSV Senator).

BMW E30s COMBINED FOR the weekend with Improved Production, Royce Lyne made it five victories in a row this season with three comfortable wins for the weekend. Alex Jory returned to the series with a trio of podium finishes but had to settle for a tie in second for the round with current series leader Ash Rogers.

A score of 88 points for Rogers compared

to 42 points for his nearest competitor in the standings, Martin Taylor, saw Rogers’ series lead balloon to nearly 100 points with two rounds remaining.

HYUNDAI EXCELS

THE FIRST two races of the weekend were dry, and Hugo Simpson headed Bradley James and Tyce Hodge on both occasions with some well-executed race craft. But when the rain came down during the event’s final race of the weekend, James mastered the conditions for the final victory ahead of Simpson and William Twining.

Simpson’s haul of 94 points vaulted him into the lead of the state title over the absent Jaylyn Robotham. Simpson ended up four points clear of James for the round, and 22 points clear of Hodge.

VIC V8s

BRIAN FINN (Holden Commodore) came close to a clean sweep of victories, but a rampaging Danny Buzadzic (Holden Torana) bounced back after a difficult opening race and a non-finish in race two to romp to the third race’s victory.

David Hender (Ford XY GT) was elevated to second for the round when Greg Lynch (HSV GTS) did not suit up for the final race, which also elevated Mark Houeix (Holden VY Clubsport) to third overall.

PORSCHE 944s

JAMES WESTAWAY repeated his clean sweep of Sandown in February with the same result for the round, taking home the maximum 100 points on offer and moving him several places up the points standings. With a trio of second-place finishes, Cameron Beller narrowed the series points advantage held by Chris Lewis-Williams to just 19 points – the series leader finishing third overall for the round.

Brian Finn steered his 1999 HRT inspired Commodore to victory in Vic V8s.

The #51 VX Commodore of Travis Lindorff was a dominant figure in Saloon Cars.

Harrison Sellars keeps the Formula Ford pack at bay.

Images: REBECCA HIND/REVVED PHOTOGRAPHY

Mason Kelly and Hugo Simpson bang doors fighting at the front in the Excels under gloomy skies.

SMASHING THE STOPWATCH

ONCE AGAIN THE YOKOHAMA WORLD TIME ATTACK CHALLENGE WAS A HIT, WITH TEAMS, DRIVERS, COMPETITORS AND FANS COMING FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD TO TAKE ON SYDNEY MOTORSPORT PARK ...

AS IS the custom of the unique event, stunning and ferociously fast modified machines flew around the famous NSW circuit across three big days of action.

Whilst many new vehicles turned heads, a familiar one stole the show once again.

For a record fifth time in a row, the RP968 won the Yokohama World Time Attack Challenge and achieved the feat in convincing style with Barton Mawer again behind the wheel.

Mawer, incredibly, broke his own lap record on each day, before eventually stopping the clock at 1:17.444s in the Supercheap Auto Superlap Challenge under lights.

Mawer’s winning lap was four-tenths faster than the previous Emtron Pro Class record.

He enjoyed a huge 7s margin over runnerup Swede Sami Sivonen, who steered an Audi R8.

Despite smashing his way to the top once again, Mawer felt a 1:16s was possible in the rapid RP968.

“I lost a few reference points in the dark and undercut in the braking at Turns 2 and 6,” he revealed.

“It was great to go through Turn 1 flat, although I thought I could have been faster.

“I will be back next year. It is up to (Rob) Pobestek, but I will come back on a pushbike if I have to because I just love this event.”

In addition to finishing second, Sivonen was also the winner of Pro Am by beating Texan Feras Qartoumy in a PA Chevrolet Corvette.

Qartoumy had a tough build up to the big weekend having endured a midnight engine rebuild on the Wednesday.

But by Saturday his Corvette was fully firing and banked a 1:26.893 to set-up a battle with Sivonen’s ‘Fat Cat’ Audi.

The American then rose to the occasion in the shootout by posting a personal best

When it mattered he found 2.7s to leapfrog to third with a 1:27.080s. Completing the top five were Aleck Kazakovski’s GotItRex GC8 and Drew Hall’s Croydon R34 GT-R.

There was high drama in the Open class.

When the cars first rolled out, Nathan Morcom raced out of blocks in his Mitsubishi Evo with an earl benchmark of 1:27.042s.

Come the weekend Rob Nguyen was pushing the boundaries and lowered the benchmark to a 1:26.319s in his Dream

Project S15 Silvia.

But this did not last long as Supercars star Tim Slade produced a blinder in his XTREME GT-R.

Despite suffering a front-end failure as he crossed the line, Slade still shot to the top with an impressive 1:25.935s.

Another to encounter drama on Friday was Benny Tran, who experienced an engine

failure as he crossed the line, but that was still enough to be in the top five.

Once again Barton Mawer and his Porsche 968 RP968 was an unbeatable combination.

He enjoyed a tight battle with Josh Boston all weekend and ended up taking it out by 1.3s. even faster in his Nissan Silvia S15 with a 1:25.543. in Clubsprint was also full of record-breaking times.

The class was won by the flying Subaru DC Jap STi of Trent Grubel, but only just with less than a tenth in it.

Grubel raced out of the blocks and broke his own lap record twice to take proceedings with a 1:32.234s.

It was an impressive effort given the Subaru’s 2.5-litre engine lost a piston on Friday afternoon and a spare engine was required that night.

Grubel had to go on maximum attack to win it as the class went down to the wire. He emerged just 0.04s clear of Alex Michalsky in his Plazmaman Mitsubishi Evo. Michalsky gave it everything in his Superlap Shootout lap, recording a 1:32.276s, but it was not quite enough to steal the victory.

Mike Garland was sitting third, but did not take part in the Shootout after finding the Turn 5 wall on Saturday afternoon.

Images: MTR IMAGES

The Garrett Advancing Motion International Drifting Cup put on a great show for the crowd.

Supercars driver Tim Slade behind the wheel of his Skyline.

Josh Buchan waved the flag for Rodin and NZ.

The solid crowd at SMP were not only treated to one-lap

of the Garrett Advancing Motion International Drifting Cup, which ran in the ‘Cup’ format with four pools of six pre-seeded drivers.

The highest point scorers went head to head in the Top 8 Elimination battles and those who made it to the decider were Luke Veersma, Alex Sciacca, Brodie Maher, Rob Whyte, Saxon Moyes, Matt Harvey, Masashi Yokoi, and Matty Hill.

With the intensity risen, Veersma, Maher, Moyes and Yokoi all stepped it up and progressed to the semis.

With a final berth on the line, Moyes overcame Yokoi, while Maher knocked out Veersma.

In the winner-takes-all final, Moyes edged out Maher to lift the Garrett Advancing Motion International Drifting Cup. In the third-place

In the Turbosmart

Adam Casmiri, Ryan Marshall and Jimmy Asaad filled out the minor placings.

Flying 500 Head-toHead, where drivers and cars come in off the

back of no preparation, George Tsitsos in the Precision Racing twin-turbo Audi R8 took

shootouts, but also plenty

Finn Sami Sivonen lets some sparks fly. Left: American Feras Qartoumy was fast in his Corvette.

Benny Tran recovered from this fiery moment.

Clubsprint competitors ready to attack SMP.

The fans again turned out in force for the WTAC.

NATIONALS WRAP

CHENEY/HUGHES TAKES TA2 1-2

THE TA2 Muscle Car Series Tag Team Enduro at The Bend was taken out by the youngest pair in the field – Jarrod Hughes and Tyler Cheney.

Hughes, 19, and Cheney, 16, led a PHD Motorsport 1-2 with teammates Grahame Cheney and Zach Bates next best, 21 points adrift.

The fight for second was a thriller with nine points covering three cars with the Jordan Cox, Elliott Barbour and Todd Hazelwood-led entries falling just short.

Tom Hayman took pole by a tenth, while the co-driver session was a thriller with Hughes taking the honours by 0.03s.

But early on it was championship leader Josh Haynes, who led the charge, taking two wins on Saturday.

Hayman led the opener from pole, but suffered gearbox dramas, which allowed Haynes to take over, while Thomas was penalised for contact with Hayden Jackson and Cheney.

In Race 2, it was the ‘B’ driver’s turn and Hughes hunted down Tim Brook in a two-car showdown.

The #118 got the job done with just three laps to go and ended up winning by 3s.

With average results combining the grid for Race 2, Haynes and Gartner led the field into Turn 1 where the thrilling sight of the leaders going four wide occurred.

Bates was the big loser, running off, but more drama was to come.

Contact between Haynes and Gartner sparked a chain reaction into Turn 2 and 3, as the latter was turned and collected by Elliot Barbour, Nicholas Bates, Chase Hoy and Domain Ramsay.

The race was red flagged before Haynes collected a 4s win over the impressive Hayman, who flew from 21st to second, while

Hazelwood just managed to avoid the firstlap chaos and salvaged third.

In the opening Sunday sprint, Hughes went back-to-back.

Tim Brook led early, only for Hazelwood to follow through.

But smoke started appearing from the front left corner of the TFH Mustang and Hughes hunted down the Supercars driver.

The youngster got him with three laps to go, while Hazelwood drifted to fourth on the final lap as Barbour and Cox also slipped by.

Gartner and Haynes had a battle Royale in Race 5, with Gartner having the early advantage before Haynes made the race winning move at Turn 1, lap three, while Hayman produced another massive comeback from last to third.

This set the scene for the sixth and final race of the weekend, the 17-lap enduro.

There was drama straight away as Brook, Hugh McAlister, Hayden Jackson and Russell Wright were all involved in a Turn 7 incident.

No one could keep up with Hayman, who had so much pace he pitted with two laps to go and still emerged with a 2s win.

But critically Tyler Cheney and Hughes

finished second, which was enough to secure the round win.

Meanwhile Haynes retained his championship leader over Cheney ahead of the penultimate round at Winton on October 4-6.

ADC

THE FIGHT for Australian Drivers Championship honours went down to the wire, but reigning HyperRacer champion Damon Sterling emerged on top.

Sterling had a weekend long battle with Hayden Crossland and despite the latter taking out the finale, the #26 ended up two points clear.

Upcoming Supercars debutante Brad Vaughan was also in the thick of the action early, taking a hard-fought Race 1 win.

Pole-sitter Lucas Stasi led early before his engine expired on Lap 3, which left Vaughan, Crossland and Sterling going for it.

Sterling showed off his speed in Race 2, setting a lap record before taking the chequered flag as Crossland rose from fourth to second.

There was high drama at the start of

Sunday as several cars came together at Turn 2 after Bradley Smith and Brenton Davey made contact. Vaughan was another early victim due to a fluid leak.

Out front Sterling charged to victory ahead of Crossland.

The final race saw Crossland take charge, but he had Sterling breathing down his neck. Despite the significant pressure, the #6 held on by a second to be victorious, while Vaughan recovered to fifth. Second place was enough for Sterling to take a tight round win.

THE CHEVROLET and Ford rivalry was back at The Bend in the form of Legend Cars Australia with Lachlan Ward putting the ‘Bowtie’ on top.

Ward was dominant in his Chev Coupe, taking four wins from a possible five.

Aidan Williams was a consistent figure fighting at the front of the field to amass enough points to be second, while Race 3 winner Robert Hogan was hurt by an opening race DNF.

It was all one-way traffic in the Formula RX8 Championship with Brock Paine taking pole and all four races wins ahead of Rob Boaden.

Despite being a small field, there were good fights in the Australian SuperTT Championship.

Blake Tracey took the opener, but was not seen again due to engine troubles.

This left Cory Gillett (Nissan S13) and Brent Edwards (Ford Falcon) to fight for victory and Race 2 was a thriller.

Gillett emerged victorious, but only by a slender 0.2s. After also being victorious in Race 3, his pursuit of a perfect Sunday was denied by Edwards as he turned the tables.

But Gillett did enough to snatch round honours.

Thomas Miles

The youthful team of Hughes and Cheney took out the Tag Team Enduro. Below: Tom Hayman leads the pack into Turn 1.

Damon Sterling took out the HyperRacer ADC series.

MARQUEZ SNAPS DROUGHT

AFTER 1043 days, Marc Marquez is finally a winner in MotoGP again after turning back the clock at Aragon.

Marquez was at his dominant best and crushed the field to take both the Sprint and Grand Prix in the northeastern Spain circuit. It was the first time the #93 had won since the 2021 San Marino Grand Prix and the first on board a Ducati.

Having taken pole by a huge eight-tenths, Marquez led every lap of both races and took the chequered flag by a healthy 4s over Jorge Martin and Pedro Acosta on Sunday.

Having missed out on points in the sprint, Australia’s Jack Miller rose from 15th to 10th.

The six-time MotoGP champion paid tribute to his support network after a tough journey over the last three years that included crashes, injuries and the shock switch from longtime home Repsol Honda.

“My first thoughts were all the people who have helped me during these very hard moments because I’m alone there on the racetrack, but behind me is a very nice team,” Marquez said post race.

“Some very nice people, a very nice family, very nice girlfriend, a brother, and all these people that are helping me day by day.

“One year ago, I was just thinking about (whether to) stop my career or continue.

“Some day I will retire ...

“But when I will retire, I will not have any question mark about my possibilities.

“I will try everything to be longer and longer and longer in my career and to be competitive.

“Also the Gresini team gave me this opportunity and I tried to enjoy it.

“I tried to use this opportunity like a rookie rider, like trying to work more than ever.

“And I’m super happy after that long

four years to come back at the top of the podium.”

Whilst the weekend was all about Marc, it was also a major moment in the fight for the championship with the younger Marquez in the spotlight.

A disastrous weekend for Francesco

Bagnaia has allowed Jorge Martin to shoot clear by 23 points.

After dropping back to seventh in the early stages, Bagnaia was on a comeback mission and with six laps to go was hunting down Alex Marquez for a hard-earned podium.

Bagnaia sensed an opportunity when the Gresini Ducati rider ran wide at Turn 12 and attempted to swoop around the outside at the following right hander.

But Alex’s front wheel clashed with Bagnaia’s rear at the apex and the collision saw the pair fire off in what became a scary incident.

As they skated through the gravel Bagnaia was trapped and body slammed by the Gresini Ducati GP23, while Marquez ended up airborne and landed on his own bike.

Incredibly both riders escaped serious

injury as they blamed each other through angry hand signals.

Whilst both were cleared of wrongdoing, Bagnaia was furious with Alex Marquez afterwards:

“It’s not that I have to explain a lot of things,” Bagnaia said. “The dynamic is what it is. It’s worrying that there are riders who do certain things.

“When I was on the inside I felt a hit of gas, and he didn’t stop accelerating until he threw me off.

“The worst thing of all, what makes me most angry, is the data. The telemetry reveals that, after the contact, (Marquez) went from accelerating 40% to 60%.

“It’s dangerous to race with someone who does these things.

“Normally, one tries to avoid contact, although the data shows that there are

people who do not see it that way.”

However, Alex Marquez felt it was up to Bagnaia to avoid the incident as the Italian could not see his Spanish rival.

“Nothing is going to change what happened,” Marquez said. “If anyone could avoid contact it was him, who knew I was there.

“I had no knowledge that (Bagnaia) was on the outside.

“The only thing I told the Race Direction members is that, if he had left a little more space between us and had not traced to the inside, nothing would have happened.”

The incident was a big blow for Bagania after an underwhelming Sprint race.

Whilst Marquez, Martin and Acosta cruised to a podium, the reigning champion struggled with wheel spin off the line and slumped to ninth, scoring just the solitary point.

Aleix Espargaro crashed after touching the rear wheel of Fabio Di Giannantonio, while Johann Zarco and Franco Morbidelli had separate incidents.

On Sunday Fabio Quartararo lost control of his Yamaha at Turn 5, while Maverick Vinales retired after five laps experiencing grip issues and Miguel Oliveira was a first lap victim.

Aragon kicks off a busy period of racing with the scene of Marquez’s last win, Misano, up next this weekend.

Thomas Miles

MOTOGP CHAMPIONSHIP AFTER ROUND 12

1: Jorge Martin 299 points

2: Francesco Bagnaia 276

3: Marc Marquez 229

4: Enea Bastianini 228

5: Pedro Acosta 148

He’s baaaack! It was a dominant weekend for the former champ – easily gapping Jorge Martin (bottom). Below: Brother Alex went out in a controversial clash with championship contender Bagnaia. Images: GOLD AND GOOSE

INTERNATIONAL

O’WARD AND SCOTTY MAC SPLIT THE MILE

THE PENULTIMATE round of the IndyCar season saw the double-header Milwaukee Mile go to Arrow’s Mexican driver Pato O’Ward and Penske’s Kiwi star Scott McLaughlin, whilst the title fight brewed in the background.

Heading into the round, Australia’s Will Power needed to stay ahead of championship leader Alex Palou to keep the title race alive.

Power managed that over both races to cut the lead from 54 points to 33 points with a second place in the opener and a fighting 10th in the closer.

But the weekend belonged to the two drivers who tied Power for the most wins this season, three apiece, whilst McLaughlin added a second oval win for the year – the second of his career – after a tense drag off with Colton Herta, who eventually finished third behind Scott Dixon (that podium also gave Dixon the all-time IndyCar podium record, his 142nd podium in his 400th start).

“That was the most fun race I’ve had in IndyCar,” McLaughlin said after the hectic finale.

“It was a blast. We just stuck with it. The car wasn’t quite good enough at the start, but we just tuned her up, and it was awesome. A lot better in traffic today, which helped a lot. (We’ll) Burn the house down tonight. That was awesome. I’m pumped.”

O’Ward came from eighth in the opener after McLaughlin started on pole, overcoming Power by 1.821 seconds, whilst Juncos Hollinger Racing’s fill-in, Conor Daly, provided plenty of entertainment for third place with a season high 51 in-race passes and a first podium since 2016.

The race was also defined by a late yellow, with Herta’s wheel coming off in pit lane, which greatly assisted Power against Palou, giving the Penske challenger a free

pit stop to put points distance on his fifthplaced rival.

Penske’s Josef ‘Oval King’ Newgarden was on pole for the finale, but in a race with plenty of story twists, was eliminated as part of a three-car wreck in Turn 1.

Palou and Power both had tough outings, with the Spaniard facing electrical problems to finish in 19th (29 laps down), whilst a costly restart spin for Power on lap 131 whilst in the frame in P5 sent him down the order, fighting back to gain some vital points in 10th.

In a race that featured 13 lead changes with McLaughlin holding 85 laps of them, the highlight battle was a thrilling wheelto-wheel affair with Herta prior to the sixth and final caution.

It was on lap 218 of 250 that he took the lead for good after three feisty laps, with Scotty Mac on fresher Firestone’s, with Herta previously having a seven-second cushion.

Herta then engaged in another thrilling duel with Dixon in the run home, with Dixon taking second to finish just 0.455s behind the winner.

The season ends at Tennessee’s Nashville SuperSpeedway on September 15, with McLaughlin a mathematical chance from third if he wins and the leaders both DNF, whilst Power also needs Palou to falter whilst ideally taking a victory.

TW Neal

INDYCAR STANDINGS AFTER 17 ROUNDS

Palou 525 Power 492

McLaughlin 475

Herta 462 Dixon 433

PORTLAND POWER-HOUSE

A DOMINANT outing at the Grand Prix of Portland saw Penske’s Will Power keep his Astor Cup hopes alive ahead of the Milwaukee double-header, with the Aussie reclaiming second in the pointscore.

The Team Penske shed put the botched restart in Round 14’s Illinois behind them as the ‘Thirsty Three’ made it four out of the last five, with the #12 Verizon Chevrolet storming home by 9.826 seconds over championship leader Alex Palou and teammate Josef Newgarden after leading 101 of 110 laps.

In his 19th IndyCar/ChampCar season, his season-high equalling third win was the seventh time he’s achieved three or more in a year, throughout a career that yielded 44 trips to victory lane.

Despite finishes of 12th and 18th over the past two races, the Toowoomba born driver ended Round 15 just 54 points (a race win’s worth) behind the leading Chip Ganassi Spaniard with three-races to make up the gap in his chase for a third title.

“I came here determined…We wanted to

get qualifying right and then execute in the race,” Power said.

“It’s not a last-ditch effort, but if Palou finished ahead of us today, it was going to be very difficult.

“We’re going to keep fighting ahead. A couple of bad races before this, but let’s see if we can get a championship.”

In the last circuit race for the year at the 12 Turn 3.1 km track, Power narrowly

missed out on a 65th career pole by +0.107 from Santino Ferrucci (AJ Foyt Racing’s first pole since 2014), as he looked to bag a second win in Oregon.

It only took until Turn 1 to stamp his authority and overcome the poleman, and seven more laps for Palou to slip into second, which is how they would largely remain - baring the pit cycles.

The Spaniard’s one solid chance for a pass came on Lap 26 in a race that only saw one caution.

Across three stops, Power started on the less grippy primaries, but found indomitable pace on the softer red walled firestones over his last two pit cycles having saved a set over qualifying, whilst Palou’s challenge lost touch on his final primary stint.

Heading into the final three oval races, Power last took Milwaukee in 2014, whilst remarkably, Palou is yet to capture an oval win into his fifth IndyCar season - two of which have yielded the title.

TW Neal

Scotty Mac took his second oval win for 2024, and is a mathematical title chance. Image: MOTORSPORT IMAGES

The win (and a Milwaukee podium, above) keeps Will Power in with a shot at the IndyCar title. Image: MOTORSPORT IMAGES

DARLINGTON’S WIN-AND-IN THRILLER

THE FINAL round of the NASCAR Cup Series regular season saw a remarkable finish between two drivers needing to take wins to advance into the final-16 playoffs. With two playoff spots available, #14 Stewart-Haas Racing’s (SHR) Chase Briscoe resolutely fended off Richard Childress’ Kyle Busch in Mustang Vs Chevrolet battle over the final 17 laps at South Carolina’s Darlington Raceway.

Briscoe achieved his second and most timely NASCAR victory by just 0.361 seconds, as he fended off the late charge from the high-line in the closing laps, as his Chevy challenger made several attempts to get underneath.

It was also the second week running where there’s been a win-and-in playoff qualifier in one of the most exciting finishes for a NASCAR season in recent memory,

with SHR’s final season as a NASCAR outfit still alive for a fairytale third title.

And with a tenth place finish at Darlington, the regular season championship also went to a 23X1 driver for the first time, with Tyler Reddick winning by a single point over Kyle Larson after a consistent two-win season - but Larson’s four make him the number one seed for the Playoffs.

But the night belonged to Briscoe and SHR.

“Everybody knows I’m a diehard Tony Stewart fan,” said a tearful Briscoe.

“To get this car back in Victory Lane for all

BURTON’S HISTORIC DAYTONA BOILOVER

THE 400 at Daytona last week produced a shock maiden win for second-generation racer Harrison Burton, giving the Wood Brothers Racing team its 100th NASCAR victory in a race of high drama and big wrecks.

The 23-year old North Carolina native claimed his first win in his 98th start with a memorable last lap pass, coming from the clouds to clinch a Playoff berth despite not even occupying the top 20 in the points standings.

It was also announced back in July that Burton – son of 21 race NASCAR winner Jeff Burton – was being let-go for Stewart-Haas’ Josh Berry at the end of the year, with his future in the sport remaining up in the air.

It was a massively popular victory in pit lane, as the #21 Mustang driver admitted being overwhelmed in the cockpit after making the deciding pass on two-time champion Kyle Busch in overtime, coming

courtesy of a push from second-time starter Parker Retzlaff.

The Woods team – a family that’s been in NASCAR since 1953, hadn’t won a race since Pocono of 2017, and now it’s come courtesy of a fired driver.

“I cried the whole victory lap, obviously I got fired from this job, but I wanted to do everything I could for the Wood Brothers,”

Burton said.

“To get them 100 wins on my way out ... it’s amazing. We’re in the Playoffs now!”

“To win in the way we just did, to beat the best in the business Kyle Busch across the line. It’s pretty fantastic.”

The race featured 16 leaders across 40 lead changes, with Burton leading the single lap, with two-multi-car wrecks running chance after chance, with only five machines reaching the chequered flag unscathed.

The OT finish came as a result of a sensational crash from none other than his replacement, Josh Berry, as he became wildly airborne after taking side contact from then race leader Austin Cindric.

Ahead of Darlington’s finale, only the one playoff spot remains seriously up for grabs, with familiar battler Bubba Wallace one of them, who sits just behind Chris Buescher in 16th, whilst Ross Chastain also remained a chance in 18th.

TW Neal

320-something employees, and to be able to race for a championship in their final year is unbelievable … we got one bullet left in the chamber, and that bullet hit.”

The race came alive with 30 laps remaining after Larson had dominated the opening two stages, with Briscoe coming from the clouds with a heroic three-wide move for the lead before a pile-up occurred moments after.

Bubba Wallace was also collected in that fracas, ending his Playoff hopes.

With Busch leading, the cars pitting for fresh rubber under the caution, he then cut swathe through the field to set up the battle with Briscoe after the restart.

The first Playoff round is at Atlanta Motor Speedway on September 8.

TW Neal

PLAYOFF 16

(Regular season wins carry extra seeding points for Playoff order) 1. Kyle Larson, 2,040 points 2. Christopher Bell, 2,032 points 3. Tyler Reddick, 2,028 points 4. William Byron, 2,022 points 5. Ryan Blaney 2,018 points

6. Denny Hamlin, 2,015 points

7. Chase Elliott, 2,014 points

8. Brad Keselowski, 2,008 points 9. Joey Logano, 2,007 points

10. Austin Cindric, 2,007 points

11. Daniel Suarez, 2,006 points

12. Alex Bowman, 2,005 points

13. Chase Briscoe, 2,005 points 14. Harrison Burton, 2,005 points 15. Ty Gibbs, 2,004 points

16. Martin Truex Jr. 2,004 points

REDDICK TAKES MICHIGAN DOUBLE OT

THE RAIN-DELAYED 400 at Michigan International Speedway was claimed by 23XI’s Tyler Reddick (above), who put himself in a strong position to claim the 15 point playoff bonus as series leader with only two races remaining.

The Monday restart after storms washed out proceedings on Sunday went into double overtime, with the race resuming with 149 laps on the board.

Reddick had been caught up as race leader five time in overtime situations this season, but he made it one from five this time out, holding off William Byron and Ty Gibbs by just 0.168 seconds to break Ford nine race wining streak in his #45 Toyota.

He dedicated his win to close friend

and late model racing legend Scott Bloomquist, who had tragically perished in a plane crash days earlier.

“The last couple days have been tough, but this really helps. This win goes to him,” Reddick lamented.

In controlling the race with seven laps remaining, Martin Truex Jr went loose into the Turn 4 wall, before he lost the lead on the restart to Byron, which was when Ross Chastain spun in the backfield causing the second OT.

On the final restart, Reddick was assisted from a push by fellow Toyota driver Gibbs, vaulting him to the top of the standings ahead of the final outings at Daytona and Darlington.

TW Neal

Briscoe snared a Playoff spot at the last possible moment ...

Images: MOTORSPORT IMAGES

INTERNATIONAL

FERRARI SERVES UP WEC UPSET

A THRILLING HYPERCAR FINISH BETWEEN THE PENALISED #7 TOYOTA GR010 AND THE AF CORSE FERRARI 499P SAW THE PRANCING HORSE COMPLETE A UNEXPECTED WEEKEND OF VICTORIES. TIMOTHY W NEAL REPORTS …

HOURS AFTER Charles Leclerc took an unlikely Formula 1 win for Ferrari at its spiritual Monza home, the Prancing Horse did it again across the Atlantic Ocean in the FIA World Endurance Championship, with the customer AF Corse 499P LMH Ferrari winning the 6 hour Lone Star Le Mans in Austin, Texas, at COTA.

In a race with championship implications, the Toyota #7 led into the final hour, only for a drivethrough penalty to cost them a comfortable lead after speeding under caution.

That led to the subsequently thrilling chase from the #7 GR010, as it tried to run-down the leading #83 Ferrari piloted by Robert Kubica/ Yifei Ye/Robert Shwartzman, with the latter at the wheel.

From an initial deficit of 9.5 seconds, the gap whittled away, looking precarious for the AF Corse team. But on a marbled track, the Toyota’s medium Michelin’s couldn’t handle the final push, going down by only 1.7s despite several off-track moments. The gap was also the second closest finish in WEC history (under green running).

It was a notable effort from Toyota’s Kobayashi/Nyck de Vries/ Mike Conway outfit, as they also carried the biggest BoP weight gain and power cut heading into COTA.

But for the Ferrari trio, it was a first top-flight WEC win for all three drivers, and also the first time that a 499P machine has won a race other

than the Le Mans 24 Hour in its two seasons.

It also provided one of the great tales in motorsports, as Kubica becomes just one of just a handful of drivers alongside Fernando Alonso and Mark Webber to have won an F1 race and a topflight WEC race.

For a driver who almost lost his life in a rally crash in Italy in 2011, then having a partial arm amputation as a result, it’s an historic feat.

““This is something special, and it has been a tough race. We can be happy … we knew it would be critical with tyres and traffic management, but the car worked super well. It started well, it finished even better. We couldn’t have hoped for a better Sunday,” Kubica noted of the win.

Adding to Ferrari’s boon, It was a vital third spot for the #50 factory 499P of Antonia Fuoco/ Nicklas Nielsen/Miguel Molina, with the Le Mans winning team finishing 24.502 seconds off the the Toyota, leaving the two teams tied on 113 championship points with two rounds remaining, whilst the number #6 Porsche 963 led by Kevin Estre still leads on 125 points after their sixth place finish.

The first stanza of the race had the three Ferrari machines in a threatening one-two-three position after a fast beginning from the front row lockout of the #51 and #83, whilst the BMW and Cadillac

machines then came into contention by the second hour.

The next phase become a battle of rubber, as some front running teams gambled with medium and hard compound combinations under fluctuating track temperature, with the #83 opting for a single hard in the right-rear and staying in the top three all race, a vital long-range choice against the all medium setup of the chasing Toyota at the end.

The #2 Cadillac V-Series.R ultimately took a season high fourth, and along with Alpine #35 A424 in fifth, enjoyed much improved pace to be podium threats, whilst the BMW M Hybrid V8s were quick early, before a series of penalties and errors relegated them to 8th and 13th. Porsche will again lick its wounds with a sixth and seventh, after they again lacked pace on the straight lines (a working trend), whilst the sole Lamborghini lacked all-round pace, both Peugeot’s had familiar mechanical woes.

In the LMGT3 class it was an Aston Martin domination with the #27 AMR GT3 winning by 20.538 seconds over the championship leading Manthey PureRXCING Porsche, whist Aussie Yasser Shahin was in the third placed Manthey EMA Porsche, retaining second in the title race.

The seventh round of the WEC championship now heads for the 6 Hours of Fuji at Japan’s Fuji Speedway on September 15.

Cool-looking shot as the winning Ferrari is caught with the traditional COTA backdrop. Left: The #8 Toyota finished two laps down. Images: MOTORSPORT IMAGES

LAST TO FIRST

BRAZILIAN McLAREN junior Gabriel Bortoleto made headlines of his own in Monza by charging from last to first in a stunning performance in the FIA Formula 2 Feature Race.

After firing his Invicta machine into the gravel in qualifying, Bortoleto started last in both races.

He rolled the dice on strategy by going longer than most of his rivals on the SuperSofts in the first stint and it paid off handsomely.

Thanks to a well-timed Safety Car, Bortoleto rejoined fifth, but importantly in the net race lead.

Once those running the inverse strategy pitted, Bortoleto was unbeatable in clean air and cruised to a commanding 9.4s win over Zane Maloney.

With Isack Hadjar missing the points, Bortoleto was able to make big gains in the championship and slash the Frenchman’s lead from 41 to 10.5 points.

The Formula 2 field arrived at Monza with a new driver in Oliver Goethe, who ditched his F3 title campaign to replace the Williams bound Franco Colapinto.

Racing got off to a frantic start as Zak O’Sullivan clashed with Goethe and Andrea Kimi Antonelli in the Rettifilo chicane.

Meanwhile, Hadjar had a slow start and fell to 13th and Paul Aron dragged the front wing of Zane Maloney as the Safety Car was required on lap one.

Starting from eighth due to a grid penalty was Ollie Bearman, who made strong

progress throughout the race highlighted by a wheel-to-wheel battle with Victor Martins.

By lap seven the PREMA driver was in the lead after pouncing on a lock up by Marti at the Rettifilo.

As Marti fell to fourth, Martins was now Bearman’s nearest rival, but the Haas bound driver was never put under serious threat and won by 1.6s.

In the Feature Maloney started from pole with title rivals Hadjar and Aron right behind.

Aron was taken out of contention immediately as Pepe Marti lost control at

Whilst

a

Hadjar was also forced onto the escape road.

Maloney was the lucky one to avoid the drama and take a commanding lead, but a lap eight Safety Car turned the race on its head.

ThIs was caused by Dennis Hauger, who spun Ritomo Miyata and the stoppage pushed Bortoleto on the path to unlikely glory.

As a result Maloney had to settle for second ahead of Richard Verschoor and Antonelli.

F2 fires back up at Baku on September 14-15. Thomas Miles

FORMULA 2 CHAMPIONSHIP AFTER ROUND 11

1: Isack Hadjar 165 points

2: Gabriel Bortoleto 154.5

3: Zane Maloney 135

4: Paul Aron 124

5: Jak Crawford

FORNAROLI SNATCHES F3 TITLE

THE 2024 FIA Formula 3 title fight went down to the bitter end where a stunning last-corner move saw Leonardo Fornaroli snatch it from Gabriele Mini.

Australia’s Christian Mansell was also in the thick of it, fighting at the front of the field and ended up being a key player at the conclusion of a wild run to the flag where the championship changed hands on multiple occasions before Fornaroli’s final lap heroics.

After Tim Tramnitz took the Sprint Race where Fornaroli finished ninth, one place ahead of Mini, the Trident driver entered the finale with a slender three-point advantage.

He also had track position on the grid having secured pole position, while Mini was right behind him in third.

However, Fornaroli threw this advantage away by taking a trip through the gravel at Ascari and dropping to fifth after an early Safety Car caused by a three-car crash at the same chicane. At the same moment, Mini passed Mansell for third and the effective crown.

Despite missing the end of his nose, Mansell retook third from Mini, which brought the championship contenders nose-to-tail once again.

When they arrived at Ascari on lap eight,

Fornaroli sent it down the inside to reclaim the lead and he looked in control for the next 12 laps.

As they started the penultimate lap, Fornaroli, led Mini and Mansell in positions 2-4 before the title fight came down to a grandstand finish.

Mini used the tow to great effect to fly past his title rival with DRS as they entered the opening chicane.

But critically when they arrived at the

second chicane, Mini followed the “back him up” radio message, which forced Fornaroli to lock up and concede third and the championship lead as Mansell flew around the outside in a Piastri-esque move.

As they started the final lap Mansell was the meat in the championship-deciding battle with Fornaroli needing to get past the Australian.

He had a first crack at the Turn 4-5 chicane, but could not stop himself, forcing

both drivers to go wide.

It all went down to the very last corner with Mini weaving his way down the final straight, but this did not stop his Trident rival from going for it.

Fornaroli sent it down the inside of Mansell at the fast Curva Parabolica and remained fully committed to steal third from the Aussie, who ended up running wide.

With Fornaroli following home Mini, the Trident driver snatched the championship in the most thrilling circumstances.

In the end it was arguably the best result as Mini ended up being disqualified post race – with his tyres running below the minimum regulated tyre pressures.

Flying under the radar in front of the titanic battle was Sami Meguetounif, who took a commanding win, while Mini’s disqualification pushed Mansell to a fifth podium of 2024 and impressive fifth in the championship.

Thomas Miles

FORMULA 3 CHAMPIONSHIP AFTER ROUND 20

1: Leonardo Fornaroli 153 popints

2: Gabriele Mini 130

3: Luke Browning 128

4: Arvid Lindbald 113

5: Christian Mansell 112

the first braking zone and slammed into the Estonian.

Aron was forced into

dramatic retirement,

A sensational last-to-first drive sees Bortoleto close in on championship leader Hadjar. Image: MOTORSPORT IMAGES

Imagine snatching the F3 title at the last corner of the last race ... Fornaroli did! Image: MOTORSPORT IMAGES

A CRUSHING ‘AWAY’ WIN!

STORY: LUIS VASCONCELAS IMAGES: MOTORSPORT IMAGES

LANDO NORRIS broke Dutch fans’ hearts by beating Max Verstappen on the Red Bull driver’s home turf.

More than the fact that the McLaren driver secured his second Grand Prix win, it was the fact he actually overtook his rival on track, with tremendous ease, and went on to win by more than 20 seconds that shocked the home crowd – and Red Bull’s management as well!

Qualifying had already shown the British driver was the man to beat at Zandvoort, as he was 0.356s faster than Verstappen on a very short lap – a massive margin. However, with his recent record of terrible starts and first laps, even Norris wasn’t celebrating his pole too much and, inevitably, his fears came true in the first few seconds of the race.

Sitting behind his team-mate on the grid, Oscar Piastri was ideally placed to see what happened, as for him too, things went south quickly:

“Both of us had good reaction times and initial launch, but I could see he was getting a lot of wheelspin and I could feel I was getting it too!”

That allowed Verstappen into the lead and Russell into P3, but Norris didn’t lose his cool. Although the Dutchman soon broke away from DRS range, the gap between the two championship contenders was never above 1.5s and tyre degradation seemed to be on McLaren’s side.

That was soon confirmed by lap 12, when Norris gained 0.4s in just one lap and started getting the benefit of DRS, but it was only on lap 18 that he made the move that sealed the result of the Dutch Grand Prix. Saving as much battery as possible for the final part of the lap, Norris overtook Verstappen with tremendous ease and simply pulled away with tremendous authority.

In just eight laps he left Verstappen 5.6s behind, pitted one lap after his rival and, on the Hard tyre his superiority, was even clearer. In fact, Norris had so much in hand that he waited for the last lap to set the fastest lap of the race, on Hard tyres that had already covered 45 laps!

Having dealt a serious morale blow to Verstappen, Norris did all he could to hide his joy, but admitted that “it’s just not often that I’ve been in the lead and being able to control

things and do what I want to do, look after the tyres and have clean air and stuff like that. And all of this makes a big difference at the end of the day.”

The McLaren driver explained that “I didn’t expect things to go as well as it did. After getting done into Turn 1 and off the line, I was actually just surprisingly calm – maybe because I’m a bit used to going backwards at the start. I’m very prepared for those kind of scenarios”, he half-joked, adding that “I was very calm and just thought ‘OK, well, what can I do now?’ And that was just to look ahead, start saving tyres, see what I had pace-wise. But even by laps 10 to 13, I managed to catch Max a little bit again and started to gain quite a bit of optimism that I could actually pass him on track.

“I had two opportunities. The first one, I wasn’t quite close enough. The next lap I did

it and I could get my head down from there.” Norris made no bones about the fact that, “this whole weekend, I think we’ve had the best car.”

He then added that, “we’ve, on average, had the best car, for sure. We’ve not had a dominant car at any point this season, I would say. Even if you go back to Hungary, as much as people hate me to say it, Max was still very quick in Hungary. He just didn’t have a great race, but his pace was still very, very strong.

“We have more information than people do on the outside, so we can comment in much more factual ways than people can. We’ve had on average the best car.”

Going back to his self-critical ways, the British driver then admitted that “we probably should have won two, three more races as a team, but we didn’t. And we’re not saying anything more than that. You know, we should have won, and we didn’t, and it’s because I didn’t do a good enough job.”

PIASTRI DISAPPOINTED WITH P4 FOR OSCAR Piastri, fourth place, 27.3s behind his team-mate, was a very disappointing result.

Although losing places to Russell and Leclerc off the line, the young Australian believed things had started to go wrong 24 hours earlier:

“The start is one part of the puzzle. Realistically it started with qualifying, just not being competitive enough. Then

That’s P1, Lando, on Max’s patch! Above (top to bottom): Hamilton made progress from a mid-feld grid. Gasly was a top-10 runner all weekend, even in the damp practice sessions.

Norris took one look at Verstappen, then ‘did him’ on the next lap ...

Leclerc surprised even himself, with perfect strategy, holding Piastri at bay. Below: Opening lap at the high-banked Turn 4 – Piastri tries the inside run to regain theird from Russell, but without success.

Sainz too moved forward from a grid 10 start –here leading Hulkenberg on the opening lap.

the start obviously didn’t help things – it boxed us in a little bit. The pace was quite strong and the car was quick today but I just spent about 60 of the 72 laps within a second of the car in front so that made life pretty painful.”

Making no excused, Piastri stated that “when your team-mate wins by 20 seconds, clearly there are things to work on and improve. I’ll try to make sure I am back in the game next week.”

Neverthless, there was reason for some optimism, as he admitted:

“Clearly the car is very quick and I think for myself, in clean air, I felt pretty strong”, concluding that “I just need to make sure that I am joining in on the fun.”

“IT’S ALARMING, BUT NO PANIC!”

MAX VERSTAPPEN suffered his first home defeat since the Dutch Grand Prix returned to the calendar but was quick to admit that “there was nothing more I could have done.”

“We had a good start, so we tried everything we could today, but throughout the race, it was quite clear that we were not quick enough, so I tried to be second today. I’d rather win today, but I can’t win all of them. I’m always very happy with P2 …”

Even though he led for the first 17 laps of the race, the home hero soon started to tell his team the RB10 lacked in grip, particularly in Turn 10, saying that “the car doesn’t turn at all”.

A couple of laps later he added that “the tyres are just numb – I have no grip” and soon Norris was through and into the distance.”

Clearly disappointed, Verstappen admitted that “the whole weekend has been the same. I had pretty much the same balance from FP1 all the way to the race. The limitations are the same and it’s just very hard to solve at the moment.

“It just seems like we are too slow, but also quite bad on degradation at the moment.

Using the new floor, while Verstappen opted for the previous one, the Mexican did better in qualifying than in the race, complaining that “the tyres simply didn’t work, no matter what we did in the race.”

And despite him having his best Sunday since Miami (!), McLaren gained 12 points on Red Bull in Zandvoort, cutting the gap in the championship to 30 points – so the battle for the Constructors’ title is definitively on!

MERCEDES FADES

AWAY ON SUNDAY

HAVING BEEN in the mix in qualifying, George Russell harbored hopes he could get to the podium after passing Piastri off the line, but soon found he didn’t have the pace to keep the Australian behind for long and, worse, tyre degradation was an issue.

A slow pit stop put him behind Leclerc and things didn’t get better on the Hard compound, so, figuring out there was no way forward, the Brit did a second stop, for Softs, that effectively cost him two places, admitting “we’ll be doing a lot of head scratching tonight …”

Hamilton, who had dropped to 14th on the grid after incurring a blocking penalty in Qualoifying, finished a few seconds behind his team-mate, admitting that “I had a lot of fun today!”

FERRARI SURPRISED BY SUDDEN BURST OF SPEED

FERRARI LEFT Z andvoort massively surprised by the SF-24’s speed on Sunday, Charles Leclerc ending up on the podium when, by his own admission, he believed he’d be fighting to finish fifth, at best.

“That’s a bit weird because I think the last few years we’ve been quite good on that. Something has been going wrong lately with the car that we need to understand, and we need to quickly try to improve.”

Looking at the gap to the winner, Verstappen admits there’s a trend but refused to hit the panic button:

“Something in the car has made it more difficult to drive. The last few races already, they haven’t really been fantastic. That, in a sense, was already a bit alarming. But we know that we don’t need to panic. We are just trying to improve the situation. And that’s what we are working on. But Formula 1 is very complicated”, he concluded.

If there was any solace for Red Bull it came from the fact that, for once, Pérez was in the battle somewhere near the front, finishing sixth, ahead of the two Mercedes.

Having been unhappy with the handling of his car in qualifying, Hamilton was adamant that, had he started from where Russell did, he would have held on to P4!

“If I just qualified like I should’ve qualified, let’s say fourth for example, then I would’ve finished at least fourth.”

GASLY WINS MIDFIELD BATTLE

IF ASTON Martin was the class of the midfield in qualifying, Pierre Gasly finished ahead of Fernando Alonso at the bottom of the top 10, scoring two valuable points for Alpine.

The Frenchman had a great start, “and I got around the outside of the two Aston Martins in Turn 1, so that set me up for a good race.”

The A524 was considerably more competitive all weekend than in the two previous races, leaving Gasly quite optimistic for what’s coming ahead “as we have a few interesting upgrades coming – not immediately, but as soon as possible.”

The Monegasque was quite despondent after losing 0.9s to pole man Norris on Saturday, but a good start and excellent tyre management set him in good stead. Undercutting Russell, the Ferrari driver opened even a gap to Piastri, the last of the front-runners to change tyres, and after seeing the Australian quickly cut the deficit, was surprised to find he still had enough in reserve to keep the McLaren driver at bay.

A delighted Leclerc admitted he was “very, very surprised,” adding that “I’m not very often happy with a P3, but I think we can be extremely happy with the job we’ve done on a difficult weekend for the team.”

The Monegasque insisted that “we’ve been struggling from Friday until the race”, revealing that “today we found some more pace, executed a perfect strategy – we undercut two of our competitors there– and then we managed to keep them behind. So, a really strong race for the team.”

As usual Leclerc went on the attack right from the start, admitting that “I knew it was a big opportunity. I didn’t know that later on we would also have the pace to keep Pérez behind. But I knew that the first lap was an opportunity for us to gain one or two positions. I went for the pass. It all worked well. But never would I have thought that I would stand on the podium after such a difficult race for the team.”

Carlos Sainz, who started 10th and finished fifth, was equally as pleasantly surprised as his team-mate, admitting that “after qualifying, I was a bit pessimistic and a bit underwhelmed by the way the day went and how the weekend was going.”

However, the Spaniard became optimistic “straight away from the laps to the grid, the car in high fuel was feeling quite a bit better than yesterday in low fuel and I felt like we could do something a bit better than our predictions were, which was to finish P7 or P8 in a good race behind the top cars.”

That was confirmed: “Very quickly I managed to pass the midfield to get in a good spot with the tyres and in the second stint we started attacking Perez and Russell to actually pass them in the end. A really good performance.”

Team Principal Frédéric Vasseur, who had been less downcast than his drivers after qualifying, explained he expected a bit of a better Sunday “because from the beginning of the season, it’s a little bit like this – we are in a better shape on the long stint, on tyre management than in one lap pace. And from lap one, we were in a good place, in a good position, the drivers had a good feeling with the car, and we didn’t have to do more than this, take risks, and it was a perfect approach.”

Right:

LECLERC MAKES THE MOST OF McLAREN’S GIFT

Report: LUIS VASCONCELAS

Images: MOTORSPORT IMAGES

CHARLES LECLERC gave the more than 100,000 adoring Tifosi a tremendously popular win at the end of a thrilling Italian Grand Prix. More than three months after finally winning his home race with a dominant performance in the streets of Monaco, the Scuderia driver also won Ferrari’s home race, giving his team a very emotional result.

There is no doubt the massive aerodynamic upgrade the SF-24 got for this weekend helped Ferrari finally join the fun at the front of the field after two very difficult months, but there’s also no denying McLaren botched another opportunity to win and score what would have been an important one-two – in a weekend where Red Bull was nowhere near its three main rivals and all Max Verstappen could do was salvage a sixth place, thanks to Russell’s first lap issues.

The first part of the job was done off the line, as Leclerc managed to close on the three cars in front of him and, when the Mercedes driver had to go into the runoff area to avoid hitting Piastri’s car, the Monegasque found himself in third position.

A few second later, as Piastri and Norris went side-by-side into the second chicane, the doors opened, again, for him, as the British driver’s line was compromised on

exit and Leclerc passed into the first Lesmo corner.

On the Medium tyres, McLaren had a bit of an edge but only by lap 12 did the gap for Piastri started to open. Then came another crucial moment for Leclerc, as McLaren pitted Norris at the end of lap 14 and, when Ferrari stopped Leclerc one lap later, it was already too late to keep the position and that’s why the Monegasque reacted angrily, asking, “why do we pit when we have already been undercut?”

Unbeknown to him, the seeds for his unexpected home win had been planted, as Norris started to push hard to try and get to the back of Piastri’s car.

By lap 22 came the radio message to Norris that “you are allowed to fight Oscar, under

papaya rules” and, having listened to what Team Principal Andrea Stella said after the race, that likely meant that he was free to push and cut the gap, to then be given the possibility to undercut his team mate without, like in Hungary, being asked to give the position back, as he’s now clearly, the team’s only candidate for the title. Norris, however, not only didn’t manage to cut the gap, he also pushed Piastri into going faster than the Australian wanted – if the plan was to avoid a second pit stop. With their cars’ left front tyre suffering too much, Norris was called in on lap 32, while Piastri was kept out for an extra six laps. That, however, was still not enough for Norris to undercut Piastri, as he had lost a couple of laps trying to find a safe way to get past Verstappen.

At the same time, Ferrari stuck to its original plan – Leclerc had followed the instruction of not pushing too hard in the first couple of laps on the Hard tyre. With 14 laps to go Piastri found himself needing to recover from a 18.5s deficit and with Sainz to get past too, so for Ferrari to stick both its drivers to the one-stop plan was a no-brainer.

The plan worked to perfection and a jubilant Leclerc admitted that “it’s an incredible feeling. Actually, I thought that the first time would just feel like this, and then the second time ... if there was a second time winning in Monza, wouldn’t feel as special. But, my God, the emotions in the last few laps were exactly the same, like in 2019!

“Monaco and Monza are the two races that I want to win every year. Obviously, I want to win as many races as possible and the World Championship as soon as possible but these are the two most important races of the season, and I managed to win them this year. So, it’s so, so special.”

Carlos Sainz, who was even more convinced that sticking to a one-stop was the way to go, was beaten by the two McLarens and settled for fourth place, the Spanish driver ruing that “we stayed maybe five, six laps out too long, because it cost me six, seven seconds of race time to stay out on a grained Medium, thinking that the others that had stopped on lap 15 were going to a two-

The McLarens are allowed to race each other as long as they don’t run into each other – Piastri did just that, leaving room as he spectacularly caught Norris napping and went around the outside ...

Ferrari took a huge gamble on the onestop strategy – and it paid off as Leclerc’s ‘grained’ Hard tyres cleaned themselves up, paving the way for a spectacular Ferrari win.

stop and I was the only one on a one-stop. “Then, by the time I realised it was a onestop, even for the guys that, especially for Charles that stopped so early, I had lost too much race time…”

WINNING TAKES

MORE THAN SPEED

McLaren’s dreaded problems at the start were not seen in Monza, as Norris and Piastri managed to keep their respective positions into Turn 1, but then things started to go wrong for the British team very quickly.

Piastri went on the attack into the second chicane, outbraked Norris around the outside and grabbed the lead – but his team mate had a very compromised line out of the Della Roggia chicane and dropped behind Leclerc. Suddenly, that expected one-two finish became harder work than the team was hoping for, especially because the young Australian wasn’t pulling away from the Ferrari driver and Norris was also unable to make any inroads on the Monegasque. The early stop put Norris ahead of Leclerc but, by both going flat out, the two drivers used the left-front tyres too much and the second stop became inevitable for both, costing them the possibility to topple Leclerc. For McLaren there have been some hard lessons that have taught Andrea Stella and the drivers that having the fastest car is not enough to win all the races.

That’s why the Italian admitted that “we will have quite a bit to review together with the drivers.”

Speaking about the first lap pass, Stella explained that, “we have to understand their point of view and then we will assess together whether they were fully compliant or not. We will take the learning, if there is any learning they need to take, and then we will apply the ‘papaya rules’ such that they allow us to pursue in the best possible manner both the Constructors’ championship and the Drivers’ championship.”

Tellingly, Stella admitted that, “we have to

now be in the condition to acknowledge that not only the Constructors’ championship is possible, but even from the Driver’s point of view. If we are going to achieve both, we need to put the team in condition and Lando in condition to win both championships.”

So, clearly, the British driver is McLaren’s priority for the remainder of the season. And yet, Stella didn’t even consider swapping positions in the last few metres, as that would have handed three extra and precious points to his leading driver …

Norris, of course, was not happy with Piastri’s first lap move, being quite monosyllabic about the whole thing:

“I wasn’t expecting him there, after the first corner. If I had, I would have defended harder, as I could have braked later … But there was no contact, so he did a good job…”

Piastri, for his side, made it clear that, from his point of view “I braked later and got around the outside. There wasn’t really much more to it than that. We both got through unscathed. I knew once I hit the brakes, I kind-of got ahead a bit. I knew I was entitled to stay on the outside. Ultimately, for 38 laps of that race, it put me in a race-winning position. So, for me, it was just a good first lap.”

How costly for Norris’ title chances? That can only be judged at the end of the season.

MERCEDES IN NO-MAN’S LAND

Mercedes’ amazing run of good podium finishes came to a stop in Zandvoort and things only got marginally better for the German team in Monza.

Russell’s P3 in qualifying lifted the team’s hopes as a frustrated Hamilton insisted he’d cost himself pole position with two mistakes on his final Q3 lap, but the race showed the

Silver Arrows were no match for McLarens and Ferraris.

Russell was out of contention by the first corner, surprised by Piastri’s move and damaging his car’s right-front wing endplate against a polyester block in the first chicane’s escape road, so an early and lengthy pit stop was required. Under the circumstances, he did well to recover to P7, passing Pérez after a very hard battle that was very much on the limit of what’s acceptable.

Hamilton, for his side, admitted that “even if I’d started further up, the best I could have maybe done was to finish one place better, as we simply didn’t have the pace for McLaren and Leclerc. So, we’re still not completely out of the woods…”

ALBON WINS MIDFIELD BATTLE

As in qualifying, Alex Albon was best of the rest, but the Thai had a very hard job to do to secure P9, as different strategies put him behind Magnussen.

An attempt to pass the Dane was rudely dealt with and knowing the Haas driver had already a 10s penalty for a collision with Gasly early on, Albon just looked after his tyres. However, Magnussen’s pace on the Hard tyres was better than expected, so there was just 0.8s between the two at the end, after the penalty was applied, but in the Williams’ driver favour.

For Magnussen the worst news was that the two penalty points he was handed for that collision have taken him to the 12-points threshold that triggers an automatic one-race ban, so he’ll be sitting out the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, becoming the first driver since Romain Grosjean, back in 2013, to suffer such a penalty.

RED BULL LOST AND CONFUSED

MAX VERSTAPPEN was quite pessimistic at the end of the Italian Grand Prix about his chances of winning a fourth straight title, even though he’s still 62 points ahead of Norris.

Seventh in qualifying and only sixth in the race, finishing 37s behind the race winner, Verstappen was unhappy with the car’s balance and pace, as well as with the tyre strategy, a slow pit stop, and what he felt was slack work from some of the people in the garage.

As the Dutchman said: “we were too slow, the pit stop cost me a bit, I couldn’t run full power for most of the race with the engine because we had a little issue, and I think, also, strategy-wise we could have done a better job to be, at least, a little bit more competitive in the fight.

“It wouldn’t have changed the position, but I think we didn’t do our optimal race.”

A radio message close to the end of the race caught everyone’s attention, when the World Champion warned that “people in the background should stay awake, even if it’s just for sixth place.” He later explained that “it had to do with my battery percentage, because there are certain levels you’re at, and modes you use ... I could see it topping up and at one point I asked if I could go into a faster mode, and they said ‘oh, you can …’

This is an obvious thing that you need to be on top of. I know I’m not racing anyone, but that shouldn’t matter –it’s still a Formula 1 race where you have to maximise everything.”

Sérgio Perez was actually closer to his team leader than usual, 17s behind by the flag, but that was only good enough for P8. Still, thanks to McLaren not making the most out of their chances, Red Bull left Monza still eight points ahead of its rival in the Constructor’s Championship.

The momentum, though, is entirely on McLaren’s side and Red Bull needs to pull something out of the bag pretty quickly as the British team will learn how to win races more regularly, and with Ferrari making a clear step with the new upgrade, the number of rivals between the papaya and the blue cars is set to increase, unless, in Milton Keynes, they manage to reverse the trend of the last two months.

Lewis Hamilton improved slightly, for fifth – ahead of the Red Bulls. Left: The Monza podium is spectacular ...

Turn 1: Russell is headed down the escape road. Colapinto was impressive, here dicing with The Hulk.

ONCE UPON A TIME – 50 YEARS OF AUTO ACTION

2014: AMBROSE COME-BACK CONFIRMED: PENSKE COMING TO AUSTRALIA

TEN YEARS ago, Marcos Ambrose was coming back home to V8 Supercars, was to drive a Falcon in 2015 as part of the merger of teams owned by Dick Johnson and Roger Penske.

The merger, known as DJR Team Penske, would be based at Johnson’s shop in Stapylton.

Ambrose, who was to turn 39 in January, had won V8 titles in 2003 and 2004 before embarking on a career in US stock car racing.

With nine races left in the season, Ambrose had two career Sprint Cup Series victories and stood 23rd in the standings in the #9 Ford of Richard Petty Motorsports.

Ambrose had won four races in NASCAR’s second-tier series, known then as the Nationwide Series, including that year’s race at Watkins Glen (New York) International.

The missing ‘ticked box’ on Ambrose’s NASCAR resume was his lack of a win on an oval track.

Team Penske President Tim Cindric, who was to attend the next month’s Bathurst 1000, told AA that he met with Johnson’s 30-person staff in June, and

1974

THE HOLDEN Dealer Team started the 1974 Manufacturers Championship in ominous style after Colin Bond claimed the Chesterfield 250 at Adelaide.

Bond overcame a gearbox drama that forced him to spend much of the 104-lap race in top gear.

However, the #2 HDT Torana SLR 5000 still won by a huge five-lap margin over Murray Carter’s Falcon, while Tony Farrell put Mazda on the podium.

Peter Brock led early from pole position, but had to retire after just 10 laps due to engine dramas.

There was high drama at Surfers Paradise which played host to the second round of the Australian Formula One Championship. Kevin Bartlett made an impressive comeback from a big crash earlier in the year to take the opening heat, but he could not stop the consistent Max Stewart from taking round honours after winning Heat 2 in his Lola T330 Chevrolet.

was satisfied with the personnel and infrastructure.

The US portion of the team would include longtime NASCAR Technical Director Nick Hughes (best known for work with Michael Waltrip Racing) and Team Manager Jeff Swartwout (who led Penske’s RS Spyder effort in the American LeMans Series and Penske’s Nationwide Series program).

Penske, who attended the previous year’s season-ending Sydney 500, had told AA that he was considering a delay of the V8 program to 2016, and Cindric said that nearly was the selected path.

“We certainly thought about it, Cindric said. “But after Ambrose decided he was definitely going back (to Australia) for next year and our business there continued to expand, we figured we might as well go ahead with it (for 2015) even if we’re behind a bit.”

Penske’s organisation, the most dominant racing entity in US motorsports, didn’t figure to be behind long.

1984

JOHN BOWE became the 1984 Australian Gold Star champion with one round still to go after a convincing drive at Wanneroo. Three wins in Perth secured the crown and brought an end to Alf Costanzo’s dominance, who had won the previous four titles.

The fight for the Australian GT title was much closer with Alan Grice extracting a slim five-point lead after winning at Surfers Paradise.

It was a well-timed success for Grice in his Chevy Monza as he held ambitions to join the World Endurance Championship round at Sandown later in the year.

There was shock in the F1 world as Tyrrell had been banned from competing in the 1984 championship.

It stemmed from a violation of fuel and ballast regulations, plus 62kg of lead balls being found in the water tank of Martin Brundle’s car after the Detroit Grand Prix.

Ambrose was delighted to return to the championship he once dominated.

“The chance to return to Australia and drive for DJR Team Penske is a unique and incredible opportunity,” he said.

“I admire Roger Penske as a global motorsport and business icon and this is a perfect means for Roger and the Penske organisation to expand those footprints.

“I grew up watching Dick Johnson race and I have raced his winning team myself, so I am fortunate to now be

1994

OFF THE track at Sandown a big development occurred as the “Super” 5L V8s being developed by the teams had been banned by CAMS.

A new generation of V8s featuring twin fuel injectors per cylinder and heavily revised computer software, generating around an extra 15 horsepower were being developed. However, CAMS put the brakes on it in response to a call from TEGA on cost fears.

“I’m disappointed because I had sent the first half of the year working on very complicated software that is now out the window,” Fred Gibson said. “All the teams were aware of the sheer stupidity of spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to be equal,” Larry Perkins said.

Two Brits were not seeing eye to eye in F1 after a clash at Monza left Johnny Herbert calling Eddie Irvine an “arrogant idiot.”

able to drive for his team.

“Even at this early stage, the level of skill and collaboration I’ve seen in DJR and Team Penske - performance, preparation, staff, and communications - has been exceptional on both sides.

“Bringing Team Penske to Australia is a win and will have significant benefit to Australian motorsport.

“I realise the series and the car is different than it was 10 years ago, but I am confident in what I’ve accomplished and what I’m capable of.”

2004

THE TEAM Dynamik unauthorised testing case was resolved and the small Adelaide team was found guilty.

But rivals were still furious at the outcome.

Team Dynamik was fined $104,000 without further sanctions as it claimed its breached run at Woomera was in the name of research, not racing.

“Team Dynamik was simply carrying out scientific evaluations for purposes other than racing,” owner Kieran Wills said after a 20-hour hearing.

“The amount of the Team Dynamik fine is laughable,” Kees Weel said.

“Everybody down the pit lane is disenchanted by the outcome – everybody.”

“I was very disappointed,” AVESCO’s Tony Cochrane responded.

“Nothing much shocks me any more with CAMS judiciary rulings.”

32nd 32nd

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