Auto Action #1823

RACE TO THE FUTURE SUPERCARS SALE REACTION

P O T S S S E PR SUPERCARS HYBRID FUTURE REVEALED

BACK ON TRACK NEW STARS ROUGH UP THE OLD GUARD

THE AUSSIE VOICE OF INDYCAR

LEIGH DIFFEY – AUSTRALIA’S OTHER INDYCAR STAR

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SUPERCARS HEADED FOR HYBRID FUTURE! Cross-shareholding and ARG acquisition also on the cards as wider audience and new manufacturers sought

THE NEW owners of Supercars, RACE, have revealed that Australia’s high-profile touring car category is targeting a ‘hybrid’ future.

The move, slated to cement the category’s international “relevance and sustainability”, and open it up to a wider international marketplace and additional manufacturers, is along with other detailed information revealed in an investment document circulated by Melbourne investment brokers FIIG, offering secure investment bonds in RACE, which refers to the 2023 Gen-3 as being a “hybrid-ready” car. At the same time, an initial cross-shareholding between Supercars and ARG is revealed, along with the potential for Supercars (RACE) to ultimately acquire ARG wholly, creating a single Australian motorsport giant.

In part, the document, which contains previously never-published financial facts and figures, says: “V8 Supercars is targeting to introduce a hybrid-ready car (Gen 3) from the 2023 season which is currently under development. Gen3 cars represent the next generation model of Supercars including a redesigned chassis and engine (V8 Supercars will own the intellectual property on the chassis design) and is intended to ensure the sustainability of the sport by re-establishing the link between racing and road going versions (initially with Camaro and Mustang), while keeping the excitement of close racing, and facilitating growth of the sport through the entry of new competitors.

“The move to the Camaro and Mustang model is partly driven by a desire to adopt a car model which is in use beyond Australia and New Zealand, and therefore support the penetration of V8 Supercars events beyond its current target market.”

While this does not infer that the 2023 Supercar will be a full hybrid and may well be initially powered by the traditional V8 power units currently being developed, it does confirm a move to hybrid power sources is considered and catered for as part of the future of Supercars. ¬It also doesn’t necessarily signal a move away from a V8 – while a 5-litre V8 is not a turbo car (and turbos are a significant source of re-generated power, as in an F1 car), there are other sources of energy, for example braking systems and other moving parts, which can constitute ‘hybrid’ power source.

“Another key consideration for the new standard is the reduction in acquisition and operating costs, estimated to be about 30% to 40% lower than with the current standard, which will further support the sustainability of existing participants and may encourage other manufacturers to join the grid.”

The same document reveals the likely make-up of the RACE Board – plus an initial cross-shareholding between Supercars and ARG, and even the potential for Supercars to wholly acquire ARG in the not too distant future: “RACE is expected to have a board comprising of seven members, including Barclay Nettlefold (Chairman, TGI Sport, Founder of News Corp Outdoor,

EYE Corp and QMS Media Group), Craig Kelly (CEO, TLA Australia, with over 30 years’ experience in the Australian sports industry), Mark Skaife (5x Supercars champion and 6x winner of Bathurst 1000), John McMellan (ARG Representative), a second ARG representative (yet to be confirmed), Stephen Macaw (Henslow Representative) and one additional member, to be appointed.”

And: “Under the new ownership model ARG will assume an initial largest single holding at 31% of V8 Supercars, dropping to 25% once the value-add equity is fully vested in two years (with V8 Supercars in return taking a 30% ownership stake in ARG), meaning the two institutions should have aligned interests. Importantly ARG also holds the rights to the only two other Bathurst race events permitted by legislation outside of the two currently held by Supercars and these are well demonstrated to be high-performing assets.

“In addition, V8 Supercars has an option to acquire the remaining 70% (ED: of ARG), an option we believe is highly likely to be exercised in the next two-to-three years. The acquisition and merger provides for the first time in Australia a unified “whole of sport” offer which will ensure enhanced media

reach and content including a suite of products aligned to other series across Europe, USA and Asia which should enable greater bargaining power for V8 Supercars at the point of the media contract renewal.”

With all that in mind, the document dismisses the likelihood of serious independent competition for Supercars in the future (ie as per the US with NASCAR and IndyCar), noting ARG’s ownership of categories such as S5000 which, under the same ownership ‘umbrella’ are likely to feature on Supercar events such as the Gold Coast.

Other details of interest to emerge since the announcement by Archer Capital last week, include the make-up of the purchasing group.

It seems that the non-reference to TGI/ TLA in Archer Capital’s announcement, which puzzled some observers, is correct – TGI/TLA are apparently not investing in the project, rather fulfilling a service-provider role. That leaves ARG as the prime investor in RACE, with individual investors also part of the initial purchase, and now private investors, who are being sought to offset transitional debt involved in the deal.

by Auto Action staff (Turn the page for Supercars teams’ reaction to the sale).

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LATEST NEWS Motorsport powerbrokers ...

ARG’s John McMellan (left) and Supercars CEO Sean Seamer have plenty to talk about...

Image: Bruce Williams

AND THE WINNER IS ...

By Paul Gover, News Editor

THE RACE into the future of Supercars has begun.

Archer Capital and the Supercars teams have sold their series to the RACE consortium, which will take control from the start of 2022 with the promise of more promotion, better events, and a new-age focus on drawing younger fans.

The official confirmation of the transaction, for a rumoured but not-confirmed $100.3 million (including $57.5m to Archer Capital) came on October 28 after months of speculation and a complicated tender process that started with three bids and ended with two of the contenders joining forces for a successful take-over.

“Archer Capital can confirm that it has reached an agreement to sell its majority shareholding in Supercars to Racing Australia Consolidated Enterprises Ltd (RACE),” said the official announcement.

“RACE is a consortium led by Melbourne Entrepreneur Barclay Nettlefold, together with the Australian Racing Group and Henslow. Henslow is a business that specialises in private capital raising. Henslow’s mission statement says it is ‘an independent advisory firm with global reach that supports and partners with growing companies, entrepreneurs, managers and investors’.

“The new ownership group has operational experience and brings significant marketing clout to Supercars and is excited about aligning the major circuit racing categories in Australia.

“Transition of the shareholding will be completed by the end of the year, with RACE starting to engage in planning for 2022 with Archer and management.”

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For now, there are more questions than answers but there is plenty of positive talk from both the old and new owners.

“We set out to find a new majority shareholder that would be able to build on the work that Archer and the management team have done over the past five years,” says outgoing chairman, of both Supercars and Archer, Peter Wiggs.

“The expertise that RACE has in sport, media, marketing and digital will enable just that.”

For Nettlefold, a total unknown to almost anyone in or around Supercars, the objective is clear.

“The RACE Board and I look forward to combining our collective resources, heralding an exciting new era in the growth of a sport that all Australians love,” he says.

There are far more questions than answers at the moment, from the all-new Teams Racing Agreement to the final wash-up as Archer closes the investment fund it operated during its time with Supercars.

Even so, Supercars CEO Sean Seamer is clear on the objectives.

“We want to get people back to the racetrack. We want people to experience Supercars its best. RACE will be bringing a range of capability from marketing to digital communication, and more, that will raise the profile of the sport,” he tells Auto Action.

“I think you’ve got a partner there that has amazing sports, marketing and media experience, combined with some great circuit racing categories.

“Ultimately, us working closer together will be good for the sport. There is a tremendous amount of capability in that group. The passion they will bring is for

the benefit of everybody.”

Seamer also paid tribute to Archer and Wiggs for their work during their time with Supercars.

“Peter Wiggs needs to be thanked for what he has done for the sport and business. He doesn’t blow his own trumpet but he has been an outstanding leader.”

The first rumours of a Supercars sale surfaced more than two years ago, with several contenders including a consortium led by Mark Skaife, and he is also instrumental in the new deal.

But there are many players, both public and behind-the-scenes, who have helped to drive the sale.

“There has been a lot of speculation, but the formal sale process didn’t start until six months ago,” says Seamer.

He says the timing of the sale could not be better, for everyone involved.

“The groundwork is all there. You only have a look at what’s been done with the new broadcast deal, as well as Gen3 and how brilliant those cars will be to look at and the benefits they bring for the teams.

“When you layer-in the experts in sports marketing, you’ve got the perfect recipe for a strong period growth.

“Let’s put Covid behind us and look forward to a period of extraordinary growth. We’re going through the planning for 2022 right now.”

An upbeat Seamer is happy to talk now that the deal is done.

“I think the biggest thing that we’ve all got to do is to get away from the survival mode that we’ve been forced into by Covid-19 over the last two years.

We’ve got to get ourselves, collectively, energised and get past Covid. We need to get to Newcastle next year and come back with a bang.

“That’s not unique to Supercars, but we need to get back to the level of 2019, and better, from the first round next year. We’ve got to motivate and inspire everyone to get on that journey.”

The new RACE organisation is yet to be announced, but will include a significantly different Board and teams’ representatives only attending as observers during those meetings.

But Seamer is clear on one thing.

“In terms of me, in my role as CEO, it’s my intention to continue to lead the business,” he says.

“Archer and Peter Wiggs have been very good partners to the sport, but there are capabilities that exist in the network that we haven’t had access to in the past. I think it will have a measurable impact on the fan experience.”

He says it is too early to talk about the championship calendar for next year, but promises that work is progressing strongly.

“It’s still too early. I’m working with John McMellan (from ARG and now a key player at RACE) and my team on what 2022 looks like, and that starts with the calendar. We’ll be at Newcastle and the AGP, but we’re still working to align everything from there.”

So, what about talk of a born-again Canberra street race and, provided there is a change of government in South Australia, a return of the Adelaide 500?

“I think it would be very very difficult to put a street race together next year in Canberra. We want to be there, but it needs to be done right.

“Absolutely we want to be back in Adelaide and we can fit it into the calendar,” Seamer says.

See the latest Adelaide 500 political fallout in news on page 16.

NEW OWNERSHIP REACTION

By Paul Gover, News Editor THE OWNERSHIP change at Supercars has been welcomed by the whole pitlane.

Team bosses are universally supportive of the move, and not just because the RACE package promises them more money.

In some ways, the change from Archer to RACE ownership parallels the situation in Formula One when Liberty Media bought out Bernie Ecclestone and shifted the focus to growing a younger and much larger audience with things like improved media coverage, creation of the ‘Drive to Survive’ television series, greater access to drivers through social media, and an expanded calendar.

“It looks like they understand what Australia’s motorsport fans enjoy. They are definitely arriving with the best intentions,” Craig Lowndes tells Auto Action.

For the heavyweights in the Supercars’ pitlane, the arrival of RACE is more than just a change of ownership.

“I think it has the potential to be a game changer for the business,” says Roland Dane, the head of Red Bull Ampol Racing.

“It represents an incredible opportunity for us to grow our sport, and reach our potential,” says Ryan Story, co-owner of Shell V-Power Racing.

Dane and Story agree that there is already a solid and successful foundation, but the RACE team will have the ability to lift Supercars racing to a new level.

“People talk about Supercars as though it is smashed, and it’s not. The fact is that there are a great many people watching it and there are a lot of commercial partners involved in the sport as a testament to that,” says Dane.

“We would like more and we, as teams, feel TGI and the assets that sit under that umbrella will help us expand the reach of the sport. I don’t think the spectators are going to see anything straight away, because a lot of what we do is not broken. I think it’s more

long-term in improving the exposure and promotion of the sport.”

This is the reaction from each of the Supercars team principals: BRAD JONES, Brad Jones Racing “I think it will be good. The new ownership will be even more engaged, and they’ve been involved in sport before. The timing is right, too.”

BARRY RYAN, Erebus Racing “It’s positive. What Archer did was good, but with pro-active new owners things will get even better. And for the teams it gives us a bit more stability.

JONO WEBB, Team Sydney Archer has done a bloody good job but the new crew have some very good ideas. It’s only positive from my end.”

STEPHEN GROVE, Grove Racing “We’re really rapt with the ownership change. We thank Archer for what they’ve been able to do, and the way they worked through the pandemic, but to work with the new owners into the future is really exciting for us.

“We’ve got a marketer that’s running the sport and that’s what we desperately need for the sport in this country, as well as their expertise in running major events.”

RYAN STORY, Shell V-Power Racing “It presents an enormous opportunity.

To have a majority shareholder and key stakeholder who is fully invested in growth, and to put in place a key strategy, is going to be great for Supercars and motorsport in general.

“That takes nothing away from Archer, specifically Peter Wiggs, who has been integral to the sport, specifically supporting the teams for the past few years, we only have this now because of that, no question.”

“However, it represents an incredible opportunity for us to grow our sport, and reach our potential.”

“The capacity for growth is almost exponential. It’s all about ensuring we are

accessible, and building on the growth and support for the drivers.

“The drivers are key to the personality of Supercars, the heroes and villains. People can pick sides. I think we’ve lost a bit of that.

“We can encourage the emotion from our drivers. That’s how we’re going to get our fans back on board. That’s not just rusted-on fans, but new arrivals and younger arrivals.”

CHARLIE SCHWERKOLT, Team 18 “I think it’s a great thing for the sport. We need investment in the category.

“We need to make the drivers into superheroes. We need the push so we can genuinely be a top-tier sport in Australia.”

TIM EDWARDS, Tickford Racing “I think it’s pretty exciting. That’s the reality.

Change is good.”

MATT STONE, Matt Stone Racing “I think it’s a good thing and the group have all the understanding and capacity to bring Supercars to a new level. Having the teams focussed on racing can only lead to more positives.”

TIM BLANCHARD, CoolDrive Racing “It should be exciting. They’ve got a good background in sport and should take it to the next level.”

BRUCE STEWART, Walkinshaw Andretti United “We’re excited and we’re looking forward to welcoming RACE. There are obviously some very talented and experience people in their organisation. It also means that the teams are still involved.”

ROLAND DANE, Red Bull Ampol Racing.

“The new ownership group is underpinned by TGI which incorporates TLA, amongst others, and primarily they are sports marketeers.

“The success of the first decade and a half of Supercars came from the aligning with SEL, who were also sports marketers. TGI is the same on steroids, in many ways, and a modern version with the concentration on digital assets that these people bring to the party in the current era.”

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YOUTH TO THE FORE AT SMP

By Paul Gover, News Editor ANTON DE Pasquale derailed the SvG express on the return to racing in the Repco Supercars Championship.

The youngster looked like Scott McLaughlin as he wheeled his Ford Mustang to the front of the field during the first of four consecutive weekends of racing at Sydney Motorsport Park.

De Pasquale was quickest in every practice session, took pole position for all three races, and won two of the 32-lap SuperSprint events.

“All good. We had a good few races,” says De Pasquale, in a massive under-statement.

The only black mark for him and Shell V-Power Racing was Race 2, when he botched the start and was then disqualified from fifth after a mix-up over tyres in the pits.

Will Davison looked likely to pick up the pieces until a dashboard failure cruelled his chances as van Gisbergen jumped him during a slow pitstop to re-set his car’s electronics.

So van Gisbergen actually won the Sydney SuperNight and also extended his championship lead over second-placed Jamie Whincup to more than 300 points, the critical number for his second title as it’s the amount up for grabs at the Repco Bathurst 1000 in December.

“I feel like we are better than we were here last year. This is not our strongest type of track, so I do feel we are strong,” said van Gisbergen.

“We do need to find some speed. Our strength is tyre life, so maybe we can give up some of that for a bit more speed.”

There were lots of mixed results at SMP, with both Brodie Kostecki and Will Brown reaching the podium for Erebus Racing and Nick Percat taking a third for Brad Jones Racing on a track where he has won in the past.

“The car was great as soon as we rolled it out of the truck. Just ride-height changes and lots of polishing,” Percat laughs.

Kostecki was a little lucky to get his result under lights on Saturday night, as Brown only lost the spot to a pitstop error, but when Brown took the fight up to De Pasquale on Sunday afternoon it showed Barry Ryan’s boys were on top form.

“We definitely used the break to good effect.

Everyone put in some good ideas. It was definitely a team effort,” says Kostecki.

“We had spurts of pace but now we feel like we know where we’re going. There were about 10 potential solutions and we used the break to find the right one.

“This used to be one of our worst tracks and now it’s one of our best. So that’s good.”

But it was De Pasquale who set the standard at SMP, showing the sort of class and commitment that made McLaughlin a three-time champion.

He was confident in the car, and he was getting what he needed, with the result translating into speed and success.

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GROVE THE FINAL JIGSAW PIECE

A licence exemption is the only thing delaying the final field for the 2022 Repco Supercars Championship.

By Paul Gover, News Editor GROVE RACING is waiting until this year’s season is complete before filing a request for an exemption for Matthew Payne, the speedy young Kiwi it hopes to inject into the series as teammate to David Reynolds.

Payne is set to race both Super2 and Carrera Cup through to the Bathurst 1000 meeting, but there is no certainty that he will get a dispensation on his Superlicence.

There is some suggestion that he might not qualify, as the process involves both Supercars and Motorsport Australia and includes a requirement to complete a full season in Super2, but team boss Stephen Grove tells Auto Action that the team is focussed on Payne.

“We’re clearly working on Matty. He will be racing Super2 and Carrera Cup through to the end of the year,” he says.

“He will have his points, he will have two rounds of Super2 under his belt – Sydney Motorsport Park and Bathurst – so it seems silly that he would have to do four rounds next year to make it up to six.

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“But there is a process and we need to follow that process. I’m not in favour of that, and not because of Matty Payne, but because there needs to be other avenues to Supercars. If you’re cutting that off, you’re cutting off anyone trying to come to Supercars from other categories.”

Grove says his team has a fully-rebuilt Nissan Altima ready for Payne, one of the cars previously built and race

by Kelly Racing, and he is happy with how the youngster has come through his early test laps in both Super2 and Supercars machinery.

While Grove, and Supercars, waits on Payne the rest of the field for 2022 is set and includes a number of driver moves and driver swaps up and down the pitlane. The only driver without a seat is Zane Goddard, who is leaving Matt Stone Racing.

Nick Percat is now confirmed at Walkinshaw Andretti United, the outfit once known as the Holden Racing Team and where he won the Bathurst 1000 with Garth Tander in 2011 and cut his teeth as a Supercars youngster.

“It’s pretty exciting to be heading back. It will bring completion to the plan that Tom Walkinshaw and Martine originally had for me at HRT, to be racing the #2 car for them,” says Percat.

“I left them at the end of 2014 and now I’m trying to return home and repay their original faith. There is some unfinished business. I want to keep the dream alive.”

For Todd Hazelwood, who is also leaving Brad Jones Racing but heading to Matt Stone’s crew, there is enthusiasm for 2022 and beyond.

“They have Triple Eight equipment and the team has grown a lot since I was last there. Hopefully we can drive the team forward and kick some goals together,” he says.

Then there is Cam Waters, who has just been renewed with Tickford Racing and Monster Energy as an obvious championship challenger next year.

“I’m pumped to have a new deal and go around again. I love being in the team and I’ve got a sick sponsor. I want to get on and focus on winning races and championships,” Waters says.

SEASON 2022 RUNNERS AND RIDERS RED BULL AMPOL RACING Shane van Gisbergen Broc Feeney

SHELL V-POWER RACING Anton de Pasquale Will Davison

TICKFORD RACING Cam Waters James Courtney Thomas Randle Jake Kostecki

WAU Chaz Mostert Nick Percat

BRAD JONES RACING Andre Heimgartner Bryce Fullwood Macauley Jones Jack Smith

EREBUS Will Brown Brodie Kostecki

COOLDRIVE Tim Slade

GROVE RACING Matthew Payne?

David Reynolds

TEAM TEKNO Fabian Coulthard Garry Jacobson

MATT STONE RACING Todd Hazelwood Jack Le Brocq

TRIPLE 8 RENEWS GM DEAL

By Paul Gover, News Editor The Bulls will continue to race in red until at least the end of 2023.

General Motors has renewed its backing for Triple Eight Race Engineering for two years, through to the first season of the Gen3 era in Supercars, despite the closure of its Holden operation.

T8 will continue to field its Red Bull Ampol Racing Team Commodores in 2022 before switching to the all-new Camaro coupe in 2023.

The deal is confirmed by GM ANZ, which will use its motorsport involvement to continue the promotion of a number of its brands ACDelco, GM Trade Parts and GMSV - on the cars.

“Holden has been a part of the motorsport landscape in Australia and New Zealand for over 70 years - and we’re proud to be continuing this legacy with this announcement,” says Marc Ebolo, managing director of GM ANZ “Our relationship with Triple Eight is a highly visible reminder to Supercars fans that there is ongoing support for Holden genuine parts and servicing.”

Roland Dane says the renewed deal continues a link which has been in place for more than a decade.

“We’ve been the official Holden homologation team since 2016 and the unofficial one since 2010,” Dane says.

“We’re now the homologation team. They haven’t got a factory team as such any more.”

Dane confirms the deal was inked with GM ANZ but has a link much higher in the GM world.

“It’s a local decision that’s made completely in agreement with the people in GM over there in Detroit. The people over there know full well what’s going on.”

He refuses to be drawn into details, especially on funding, but confirms it is an extension of the two companies existing deal.

“It’s both financial and technical,” Dane says.

The continued tie-up with General Motors extends an arrangement with the red brand, although broken during the years when T8 raced Falcons in Supercars, that stretches back to 1996 when Triple Eight became the official Vauxhall factory team in the British Touring Car Championship. It was in the heady days of Super Touring competition, when major makers splashed multiple millions on racing in the UK, and the team’s original drivers included Dane’s great mate and former Formula One racer Derek Warwick and BTCC champion and regular Bathurst visitor John Cleland.

Looking ahead, Dane expects the GM link to continue strongly into the future.

“I think it means that we carry on representing the brand for the foreseeable future as the homologation team, and continue to develop the Gen3 car for everyone.”

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FULLWOOD GRABS BJR DRIVE AFTER MONTHS of speculation, Bryce Fullwood will move from Walkinshaw Andretti United to the Brad Jones Racing outfit, effectively in a direct swap with Nick Percat, looking to remain with the team for a period.

In his near two seasons in the Supercars Championship with WAU, Fullwood scored a podium finish at The Bend Motorsport Park last year and has recorded multiple top 10 finishes.

Fullwood is excited to be joining BJR next year and explained the reasons why the team appeals to him.

“BJR is a team that really runs on passion, they’ve probably got the most passion up and down pit lane,” Fullwood said to Auto Action.

“Everybody there eats, sleeps and breathes racing all day, every day of the week.

“For me, being with a team that is in charge of their own destiny, in designing their own parts and building their own cars is something that appeals to me.

“That’s similar to WAU and one of the reasons why WAU appeal to me also. Just for me, it just opens up some opportunity to develop and be able to help drive the team forward.”

Fullwood has only signed for 2022 at this stage, but would like to remain at the team when the new Gen3 era commences in 2023.

“For me, the aim will be to just cement myself within the team, get to know everybody in the team, be excited to go racing and hopefully work with the team for some time.

“They certainly did prove to be very competitive when the COTF car came out, and I think they’re quite big at not

over-complicating things there, which I think was potentially a contributor to all of that.

Fullwood will be joined at BJR in 2022 by his former housemate Andre Heimgartner who moves from Kelly grove Racing.

The former Super2 Series winner previously raced with Heimgartner in the Pirtek Enduro Cup and is boosted by the opportunity to race alongside his mate.

“For me moving forward, Andre is a guy who’s a very, very hard worker,” Fullwood said.

“He’s not a show pony kind of guy.

He’s all about head down and bum up and hard work bring results and that’s the way I go racing as well, so looking forward to working with him, it’s going to be good fun.” Dan McCarthy

FULLWOOD UNDERSTANDS WAU DECISION WAU OPTED for experience over youth in chosing 2011 Bathurst 1000-winning driver Nick Percat over Bryce Fullwood, but the Northern Territtorian understands the decision.

“For sure I understand why things are happening the way they are– I completely get it,” Fullwood told AA. “This sport is a cutthroat industry and that’s just the way it is, so, I completely get that and I’ve been proud to be a part of the team through the rebuilding process.

“Obviously the team wanted a big change when Chazzy (Chaz Mostert) and I came on board, and, the culture that is in the team here now is absolutely awesome, and I feel proud to

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have been a part of building that.”

Fullwood stepped straight out of Super2 into the WAU outfit.

During the two year spell at the team he has had some massive highs, including a podium finish at The Bend Motorsport Park.

He has had some challenging moments also which he mainly attributes to lack of experience compared with his Bathurst 1000-winning teammate Mostert.

“I think there’s probably a small amount that he’s eight years ahead in inexperience to me,” Fullwood said.

“If he wasn’t doing a better job than me with eight years more experience ... well that’s just not the way it works.

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“Definitely, there’s times when I haven’t done the best job, but I’ve been very lucky that I’ve had a very supportive team.

“Chaz has been really keen to try and help me learn along the way, but I’m going to be the first to admit there’s always things we can always do better.

“There’s been weekends that I haven’t gone very well, but I’ve always had my head down and bum up and worked as hard as I can to rectify some of those things.”

Fullwood looks fondly back on his time at WAU and will be forever thankful for the opportunity the team gave him.

Obviously WAU gave me my shot to the main series and that’s something that I’ll never forget.

“I’m the first rookie that they’ve brought through into the main series for a really long time and so I really respect that, and I’m quite proud of that.

“I’ve learned a lot here, obviously – they’re pretty big operation. They’re a big professional team and it’s been really good to learn how a main series team goes racing, obviously, coming straight out of Super2.

“To work with Chazzy has been awesome. He’s a driver that’s in his element at the moment in his prime and to learn from someone on his calibre has been awesome. So for me, I’ve loved every minute of it, it’s been really awesome.”

Dan McCarthy

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THE SUPPORT classes and schedule for the final Sydney SuperNight have been revealed. S5000’s Tasman Series joins the Super2 and Super3 categories on the show, as well as the Toyota Gazoo Racing 86 Series. Another ARG-owned category, the National Trans Am Series allso joins Supercars for the final of the Sydney Motorsport Park SuperNight events. As previously reported, the fourth Sydney event will feature dual 250km Supercars races, with one on Saturday and one on the Sunday. DM

TRIPLE EIGHT Race Engineering Bathurst wildcard pair Russell Ingall and Broc Feeney have completed their third test day at Queensland Raceway, as we approach the 2021 ‘Great Race’. Ingall and Feeney were joined by fellow Supercars Championship squad Team Sydney at the circuit, as preparations ramp up for the Bathurst 1000. The #39 Triple Eight Holden ZB Commodore debuted its new Supercheap Auto livery for the first time during the test. JN

SUPERCARS CHAMPIONSHIP organisers have confirmed the latest ever Bathurst 1000 start time, with the 2021 edition of the ‘Great Race’ to commence at 12.15pm local time. The 2021 edition of the Bathurst 1000 will be a unique event taking place over six days with a total of nine support categories. The time has been moved back so drivers will not be competing in the expected sweltering December heat for quite as long as temperatures late in the day will decrease. DM

LE BROCQ TARGETS TOP 10 WITH MSR AFTER TWO seasons with Tickford Racing, Jack le Brocq has found a new home, securing a mutli-year gig with rising outfit Matt Stone Racing and is targeting a top 10 championship result in the first year.

With Tickford, le Brocq recorded a race victory at Sydney Motorsport Park and a further podium at The Bend; however this year has not been so strong, failing to finish in the top five so far in 2021.

Le Brocq is excited by the opportunity at MSR, a team which he believes will bring the best out of himself and for this reason is targeting a solid championship position in his first year.

“Next year it’d be great for us to be in the top 10 in the championship,” le Brocq said to Auto Action. I think that is going to be good goal for us – anything above that we’ll 100% take for sure.”

“But to be honest, I don’t see why we can’t keep pushing forward.

“They (MSR) has made some great progress already over the past couple of years.

“I think if we keep going with this pace and with everything they’ve got in the pipeline as well, the team at MSR are looking really strong. To be honest I

SUPERCARS CHAMPIONSHIP leader Shane van Gisbergen believes that Triple Eight Race Engineering have made a leap forward at Sydney Motorsport Park compared to last year. In 2020 van Gisbergen failed to take a win across the six races at SMP. However, he has already broken through this year with a victory in Race 21. “I feel like we are better than we were last year,” van Gisbergen said in a press conference attended by AUTO ACTION. DM

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“I’m looking forward to it, I think we’re gonna work well together and move the team forward.”

Le Brocq feels his time at Tickford has been used wisely and looks forward to taking that to the next stage of his career.

“It’s been an interesting one this year,” he expressed. “It’s been a very tough time to come into it into a new team, especially as big as what Tickford is.

“It’s a very interrupted racing season, for myself it’s been quite difficult.

“But all in all it’s been good, we still had some really great results. Probably not where we wanted to be, but we’ve achieved a lot.

I’ve learned a lot as a driver, got a lot out of learning off Cam (Waters) and JC (James Courtney), so it’s something I’m really excited to take forward into my future in Supercars.”

Dan McCarthy

Image: Motorsport Images

TEAM SYDNEY CARS GET A BIRTHDAY

By Paul Gover, News Editor

EREBUS MOTORSPORT has announced a continued sponsorship deal with WD-40 which will continue into next year. The Victorian based team has announced that Will Brown will be backed

by WD-40, keeping the blue and yellow WD-40 livery that he ran in his Bathurst 500 Supercars Championship full-time debut in February. WD-40’s deal with Erebus will see both Brown and his teammate Brodie Kostecki backed by the brand at the Bathurst 1000. DM

think everything is possible for us, I’m really excited about it.

“It is going to be a great thing for myself, the team are a great sort of family knit environment. I think that for myself as a driver that’s going to suit the way I operate and the way I need to be able to go racing, so I’m really excited for that. I can’t wait to get out there with the boys.”

Le Brocq will be joined by former Super2 rival Todd Hazelwood at the Queensland-based operation next year.

He believes the South Australian’s prior experience at the team will help him.

“It’s good for Todd coming back to MSR – he’s got some experience here; he knows a few of the guys and understands how the team works,” Le Brocq said.

“That alone in itself is going to be great because Todd is going to be able to help me get up to speed with how the team works and fast track our progress going into the team and really getting 100% out of what we need to do.

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THERE WAS a birthday celebration at Sydney Motorsport Park but not for any of the drivers or crews.

Instead, it was the two Commodores at Team Sydney were celebrating their return to action with Fabian Coulthard and Garry Jacobson from a major makeover.

“We gave them a birthday,” team boss Jono Webb tells Auto Action.

“The key to what we’ve done with the cars is to put on a better show for the last five rounds of the championship.”

Both the team’s ZB Commodores started life at Triple Eight Race Engineering, the #19 in the first batch and the #22 after doing aero test work for the ZB, and were returned to T8’s Brisbane base in Banyo for a major update during the Covid break.

“We just took the time to go right through them. We had the time. And there was a front-end upgrade,” Webb says.

“We’re identical now with the two Red Bull cars, 100 per cent. I think that’s maybe only worth about half-a-tenth, but it makes the drivers and engineers happy.”

Webb is not prepared to talk about the cost, beyond admitting the work got

close to a six-figure sign-off.

“It costs a lot. They are just expensive cars to run. They are not getting any cheaper.”

The job was done by a mixed group from Team Sydney and T8, with the cars stripped down completely and then rebuilt.

“It needed time, it wasn’t a quick turnaround. Both cars were at Triple Eight for the majority of the break. They only got kicked out when they needed to re-work the workshop (as T8 was moving its engineering machines to a new satellite workshop).

“The biggest thing is having the time to go through the cars.”

Webb also confirms that he is continuing with his T8 supply deal into the Gen3 era.

“We’ve got an order for two Camaros.

Normally what I do is, when T8 build a new batch of cars, they build two for me.

“The timing? Whenever Roland builds them for us. I’m not in a hurry any more with the delay, so whenever they are ready ...”

The return of the cars coincides with Team Sydney’s return to its temporary race base close to Sydney Motorsport Park. The former Tekno base on the Gold Coast has now been leased and

Webb confirms work will soon begin on a permanent home in Sydney.

“Thankfully, we’re back in the old green shed. In the two years since we’ve been Team Sydney we’ve been lucky to have three or four months there.

“It makes it very difficult when you don’t have a home workshop. Or a home state or anything else.”

While the cars have had a makeover, Webb has also been giving himself as a tweak to prepare for his co-driving role with Coulthard at Bathurst.

The former 1000 winner, with Will Davison, says he has focussed on his fitness and also lost trimmed-down through 2021.

“I’ve lost a little weight so it’s the same seat and everything with Fabs. I lost a bit of weight, so it’s even the same belts.

Normally I have to crack the belts a bit but I don’t this year.

“I drove the car for the first time at our test the other day and felt right at home.

I’m really looking forward to it very much. I enjoyed it last year.

“I made the decision (to co-drive) quite early this year. Actually, unless a better option came up, I made the decision on Sunday at Bathurst last year. I enjoyed myself, I had a good time driving, and I think I did a good job.”

HAZELWOOD: MSR WILL BE CONTENDERS TODD HAZELWOOD will re-join Matt Stone Racing after signing a multi-year deal with the Queensland outfit, and he firmly believes that the team will be front-running team in years to come.

It is almost a homecoming for Hazelwood who previously spent six years with the team before joining Brad Jones Racing in 2020.

Hazelwood drove for MSR for four years in the second-tier Super2 Series, notably winning the title in 2017, before both he and the team stepped up to the Supercars Championship together at the start of 2018.

Since Hazelwood departed, the team has expanded to two cars and he envisages that the team will go places, particularly when the Gen3 regulations are set to be introduced in 2023.

“I see no reason why we can’t be further up the grid (in the next era),” Hazelwood told Auto Action.

“In 2019, it was the first year for MSR working with a Triple Eight car and we were knocking on the door of the top 10 nearly every event that we went to.

“I feel like the team has moved along

a considerable amount during that time, so to team up once again and knowing full well of what the team’s capable of, if not even more since I was there last, no doubt we’re going to be contenders moving forward.”

As the team joined the Supercars Championship one year into the Gen2 era, the Queensland operation sees the new era as an opportunity to progress up the grid particularly signing both Hazelwood and Jack le Brocq on multi-year deals.

“I think it is exciting for the sport,” Hazelwood said. “As we saw when the Car of the Future first rolled in there were some teams that really took to the new set of rules well and used that as a window of opportunity to get some great results against the bigger teams.

“For the team at MSR that is putting in a lot of work behind the scenes to continue that growth, I think come 2023 ,with good stability and good line-up in place, there’s no reason why we can’t be consistent.”

“Having some stability moving

forward with the Gen3 era as well. That was a big key element for both Matt and I moving forward. “(I’m) looking forward to seeing what we can achieve together, because there’s a fair level of unfinished business from our end that we that we want to achieve together.”

The South Australian hopes to claim the first podium and race victory with the outfit.

“From my point of view podiums are certainly not unachievable,” he expressed. “If I’m able to do that with MSR at this stage it would be the team’s first podium.

For me it would be really special, considering all the stuff that we’ve done together in the past, if I was able to get that that first podium and first win with MSR, that’d be very special.”

Dan McCarthy

GODDARD NOT DONE YET

By Paul Gover, News Editor

ZANE GODDARD could be back at university, studying architecture, in season 2022.

That’s not what he wants, and probably not what he deserves, but he knows that the reality in Supercars means youngsters need cash as well as talent.

Goddard, a 22-year-old Gold Coaster, flew out of the blocks at the start of the year when he lapped quickest for Matt Stone Racing at the pre-season test at Queensland Raceway.

He also qualified fourth in Tasmania, where he scored his best result with seventh place, but the rest of the year has not gone as well.

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But now he is the obvious casualty from the annual game of musical chairs that sets the grid for the following year.

He is out of MSR as the team fields Jack Le Brocq and Todd Hazelwood next year.

“Obviously, I want to keep racing.

The priority is that I want to get into the Supercars main game, full-time,” Goddard tells Auto Action.

“There are a few options here and there. But it’s sort of unknown at the moment. I’m waiting on a few things.

“I want to be in Supercars, whether that’s next year or the year after, that’s definitely the focus.”

Goddard has already begun his university work and intends to keep

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going, racing or not.

“I’m doing part-time university at the moment, studying architecture.

I’ll keep that up. I can do a couple of subjects each semester.”

Looking back on season 2021, Goddard can still find reasons to smile.

“This is my second season in Supercars, but my first full-time. I’ve been racing cars since I was 15 and karting since I was nine.

“There have definitely been highlights. And sometimes when it’s gone really well.

“I wouldn’t’ say I’m down on it. But I’m at the stage where I want to prove myself.

“If you crack the sads and don’t try

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that’s no good for anyone.

“What I want is a proper shot. A lot of people get stuck in the rut where they pay to drive for their whole career.

I want to go for it, and try and get results.”

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EREBUS ROOKIES SHINE IN SYDNEY SUPERCARS CHAMPIONSHIP rookies Will Brown and Brodie Kostecki were over the moon after celebrating respective race podiums for Erebus Motorsport, making the team one of the big winners from the return round at Sydney Motorsport Park.

Kostecki began the weekend with a bang by securing third place in Race 20, while Brown overcame disappointment from that same race to earn his maiden podium in Race 22.

Speaking after his breakthrough achievement, Brown was elated.

“It was awesome for Erebus to be up there this weekend and consistently battling with these guys so really happy with it and the turnaround,” Brown said in a press conference which included Auto Action.

“It’s great for the crew. Obviously, there was a big change up there last year when Anton left us.

“For us to be up there with two rookies and having a lot of fun doing it, that’s what motorsport is about.”

Brown could have broken his podium duck a day earlier, but a 16sec pitstop saw his hopes of running at the front dissipate.

It was a regretful moment for the 23-year-old, who ended up finishing fifth, but he refused to let the error dampen his spirits after a successful weekend.

“The car was fantastic,” Brown said.

“Race 1, the pitstop was pretty disappointing.

“I think we made the right choice to go for tyres in that race, but we just made a bit of a balls up there.

“Apart from that, it was really good.”

For Kostecki, it was a second career podium after a strong drive in which the Holden Commodore driver cleared Nick Percat on the penultimate lap to finish third.

Combined, the Erebus pair achieved the team’s best race result since 2017.

Kostecki followed it up with a fourthplace finish in Race 21, while Brown conserved his tyre stocks in finishing 11th.

The former believed the results over the round were just reward for the team after its work during the forced break.

“It’s been a really good start to Sydney and the team has used the break to good effect,” Kostecki said in a media conference including AA. “We’ve been trying to work on a few issues that have made us inconsistent throughout the year.

“We had about 10 solutions to our problems so far this year and it took until the eighth or ninth solution, two months in, to work out where we could be better.

“For both cars to be in the top five was pretty cool.”

Celebrations returned in Race 22 when Brown earned his spot on the steps, finishing runner-up to weekend pacesetter Anton de Pasquale.

“It’s cool to be on the podium, he said.”

The results see Brown jump Kostecki in the points standings, with both Erebus drivers now ninth and 10th in the Driver’s Championship.

Josh Nevett

10 AutoAction

ENGINEER SILLY SEASON BEGINS WHILE THE Supercars Championship driver silly season is coming to a close, the engineer moves are just starting – notably commencing with both Triple Eight Race engineers announcing they will depart the team at season’s end.

Shane van Gisbergen’s engineer David Cauchi has been with the team for many years, foremerly as Jamie Whinup’s engineer. Now, however, has taken the role of Grove Racing Team Principal from 2022, replacing the departing Todd Kelly.

One catch is that when Cauchi leaves Triple Eight he will be forced to serve six months gardening leave, sitting out for half a year before he returns with Grove Racing.

“I’m very excited and grateful to Brenton and Stephen for the opportunity to join Grove Racing in 2022,” Cauchi said of the announcement.

“It’s a new role and a thrilling opportunity in a team with a deep and long history in the sport, and I am looking forward to being a part of this new chapter in their story.”

Team owner Stephen Grove was pleased to get someone of Cauchi’s calibre onboard, someone who has been at a team when it has recorded no less than eight Supercars Championships.

Image: Motorsport Images

“Once we went through the ownership changes, it was essential that we found the best possible person we could to help take on some of Todd’s critical roles, and we believe we have found that person in Cauchi.

“He has vast experience and know that he will fit well into the family culture of the team. We look forward to him starting with us in 2022”.

While Cauchi walks out the door, so does his fellow Triple Eight engineer Wes McDougall who joined from Matt Stone racing at the start of the year.

In their place is a mixture of youth and experience.

Triple Eight Race Engineering has poached long-time Brad Jones Racing engineer Andrew Edwards.

The race-winning engineer has worked with Nick Percat for numous seasons but will step up to be the engineer of Shane van Gisbergen, as well as fill the role of Chief Designer.

Broc Feeney will have a familiar face when he steps up to the Supercars Championship.

Feeney and his Super2 engineer Martin Short will make the step up together into the main game.

The pair have worked together well so far this season, with Feeney holding the Series lead with two rounds remaining.

Short will work under the guidance of the team’s Technical Director, Jeromy Moore, and Team Manager, Mark Dutton, and the duo will have the full support of Triple Eight’s engineering department.

“We’re really happy to be welcoming Andrew to the team,” said Jamie Whincup 2020 Triple Eight Managing Director.

“He’s a very talented engineer and will bring a heap of experience and new knowledge. Shane (van Gisbergen) is looking forward to working with him and building a solid relationship, which is so important between a driver and engineer.

“We have every confidence in Marty (Martin Short). He and Broc have delivered the goods time and again this year, and he’s adapted so well to everything Triple Eight has thrown at him since he started with us in 2018.

Dan McCarthy

QUINN TAKES OVER QR TRIPLE EIGHT Race Engineering co-owner Tony Quinn will take over the lease, management and operations of Queensland Raceway.

Auto Action broke the news that Quinn was close to purchasing the circuit in April, with the GT racer now officially taking control of the day-to-day running of the circuit 45 minutes southwest of Brisbane.

Since then, John Tetley and Tony Quinn signed a pact under which the latter will take over the lease, management and operations of Queensland Raceway.

While Quinn’s focus is on Queensland Raceway, Tatley will focus more on the other Queensland Raceways Pty. Ltd. circuit, Lakeside Park.

“What Tony and I have achieved with this pact is a cooperative model so that we can continue to deliver a seamless set of events for our respective customers,” Tetley said.

“Tony can focus on expanding the scope and potential of Queensland Raceway and I can give my attention to securing the future of Lakeside and grassroots motorsport.

“We have moved through COVID and with the support of the two local members, Steven Miles (Deputy Premier) and Shane King (Member for Kurwongbah) along with the new CEO at Moreton Bay Regional Council, Greg Chemello, the future for Lakeside is bright again.

“After recent meetings with those people, and their appreciation of our contribution to the success of the Australian Paralympic cycling team, the Formula Student initiative and club charity days such as the BMW one that raised $10,000 for worthy causes two weeks ago; we now have the confidence to double down on our existing $5M plus investment in Lakeside.”

Quinn, a long-time GT racer is happy to sign the agreement and believes it is the best outcome for everyone involved.

“The way we have set this up everybody will be a winner,” Quinn said.

“With my experience and connections, Queensland Raceway will be firmly cemented into the position of South East Queensland’s premier motorsport facility.

“With the Qantas announcements last Friday the world is opening up again and we need to be ready to capitalise on both the tourism and growth opportunities that will bring.

“There is also an enormous TransTasman synergy to be had by sharing the expertise into our Queensland and New Zealand operations.

“Our major contribution for QR will be to bring the experience we have with the premier events and ancillary activities that we have developed in NZ. “Obviously, there will be some positive changes coming to QR next year. We are working with John on the calendar for 2022 and expect to publish it within the next few weeks.

“You have our commitment that we will meet the expectations of all existing QR customers in 2022.

“It looks to me like everyone is a winner out of the work John and I have put in in the last five months.”

The Racers and Track action operations will be moved into the Lakeside offices in the future.

Queensland Raceway is the most used car racing circuit in the state, as the 3.12km circuit at Willowbank is located only 45 minutes southwest of Brisbane.

It is used by Queensland-based Supercars teams as their local test track, while other local teams from other national categories continually test there.

The circuit was opened in 1999 and is still the second newest perminent circuit built in the nation.

Queensland Raceway hosted its first V8 Supercars round in 1999 and for several seasons hosted a pre-Bathurst 500km race.

Quinn already owns New Zealand’s Hampton Downs and Highlands Motorsport Park and is expected to complete the purchase of Taupo Motorsport Park shortly, after a second deal was recently approved.

Quinn has motorsport running through his veins – a long-time Australian GT frontrunner the New Zealand resident bought a 40 percent stake in Triple Eight Race Engineering earlier in the year.

Quinn currently owns the pocket rocket Aussie Racing Cars series and, formerly, the GT Championship.

Dan McCarthy

HOW INVOLVED WILL GRM BE IN SUPERCARS? AS A significant ARG shareholder, team owner Barry Rogers is now a shareholder in the Supercars Championship, but how involved will he be in the business of running the V8 series or returning to the series?

Rogers, team co-owner of 2000 Bathurst 1000 winning outfit Garry Rogers Motorsport, is now a partial owner of the championship.

He explained that, while he is a shareholder in the business, he will make suggestions about the Supercars Championship, while his main focus remains on the Australian Racing Group categories S5000, TCR and National Trans Am Series.

“As group, we (the Australian Racing Group) have got a fairly reasonable shareholding in the whole arrangement and representation on the board,” he said to Auto Action.

“We’ll certainly have our direction of where we want things to go and it’ll be up to the management to meet the

sort of things that we think, need to be done.”

Rogers believes that not much needs to change; the ownership just needs to think about the collective rather than a specific individual.

“Not a lot needs to change. People think there are big things that need to change – it’s not big things, just little tweaks that need to happen.

“At the end of the day, when you make decisions, just think, is that in the best interests of the sport, or is it in the best interests of an individual?

“If your answer is it’s an individual, then you are making the wrong decision.

“If you make the decisions that are right by the sport, and when I say the sport, that’s the fans and the competitors, if it works for the sport that is the way to go.”

He believes control must be taken from the teams and that will allow the sport to flourish.

“There was a lot of self-interest at times that had to be managed with the teams,” he said.

“The whole show is absolutely first class – we want to get the stage that they focus on racing, and we focus on making the business run and the business thrive and if the business thrives, the teams benefit.

“If everyone focused on what they have got to do well, I think they’ll be success.”

Rogers revealed to AA it is very unlikely that he will return as a competitor in Supercars as GRM is heavily invested in the Australian Racing Group categories – S5000, TCR and National Trans Am Series.

“We’ve certainly got plenty going on at the workshop currently. Garry and I haven’t even

spoken about whether we’d look at getting back into Supercars,” he said.

“We’ve always said that we’re involved in motor racing ... you’d never say that could never ever happen, but I would say it’s very unlikely we’d get back into Supercars.

“I think we’ve got plenty going on with what we do in ARG categories, it’s not like you couldn’t compete in Supercars, even with some ownership of the whole thing, but I just think that really our focus, is really on our TCR cars, S5000s and Trans Ams. Dan McCarthy

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PATRIZI ON TALENT ROAD TO SUPERCARS!

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By Bruce Newton

THE NEXT generation of NASCAR Cup Series cars has hit the track at Bowman Gray Stadium in North Carolina. NASCAR enlisted the help of Hall of Famer Tony Stewart as well as ex-drivers Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Clint Bowyer to turn laps, while Goodyear technicians and NASCAR officials gathered tyre data. The purpose of the test was to determine the optimal tyre selection for the 2022 ‘Clash at the Coliseum’ exhibition season opener in Los Angeles on February 6. JN

FORMER FORMULA 1 driver and Le Mans 24 Hour winner Nico Hulkenberg has completed an IndyCar test with McLaren Arrow SP. The German participated in a driver evaluation session with the team at Barber Motorsport Park where he jumped behind the wheel of Felix Rosenqvist’s #7 machine. The 34-yearold F1 veteran completed over 100 laps of the 3.83km circuit throughout the day. He is emerging as a candidate for a third seat at the team in 2023. DM

THE METEORIC rise of teenager Mathew Payne is proof more attention should be paid to young talent emerging from Karting by the Supercars championship and it teams, argues his manager Michael Patrizi.

He even urged Supercars’ new owners to create an equivalent to the US Road to Indy stepladder, that provides a scholarshipfunded path to the IndyCar championship and the Indianapolis 500..

“Supercars-land – apart from the drivers themselves – takes very little interest in Karting,” Patrizi told AUTO ACTION. “I am advocating we need to do more for our talent here in Australia … There is so much talent coming out of karting in Australia.

“If we don’t so something with it, our motorsport will miss out.”

Payne only stepped into a racing car for the first time late in 2020 and after one season in Australia Carrera Cup the New Zealander is expected to graduate to the Supercars championship with Grove Racing in 2022.

Payne is also the founder member of the Grove Junior Team, which was established in 2021 and designed to identify and groom young talent for motorsport success.

It is one of few such programs run by Supercars entities, another being the Erebus Academy.

Before his motor racing debut in the 2020-21 Toyota Racing Series – which he won – Payne had scored multiple NZ karting titles and in 2020 commenced a European career with Birel ART. However

that was foiled by the pandemic and he has raced locally since then.

Patrizi, 37, is a former Kart title winner who had a crack at openwheeler racing in Asia and Europe before returning home to contest Supercars for three largely fruitless full-time seasons.

Patrizi owns the successful Karting business Parizicorse and is a driver manager. He is also a long-time friend and business associate of fellow West Aussie and Formula 1 driver, Daniel Ricciardo.

Apart from Payne, Patrizi is also involved with the Dutch Karter Marijn Kremers, who was recently selected to take part in the McLaren driver development program shootout.

Another karter backed by Patrizi is Hugh Barter, the young Australian who won the Richard Mille shootout in 2020 and finished second in French F4 in 2021. In this year’s shootout, another Australian karter associated with Patrizi, Oscar Targett, finished second.

Patrizi argues the success of all these drivers in making a fast transition from shifter Karts to top-level racing is proof that long graduation programs through a succession of junior formula isn’t necessary for drivers aspiring to race in Supercars.

“If the kids can adapt they don’t learn any bad habits,” he argued.

“The way I look at it, the kid that spends two years in a Formula Ford, two years in a Super3, two years in a Super2 and then tries to go to a Supercar, well they have had six different engineers over that period of time telling them how to drive a car that aren’t driver coaches.

“By doing all those programs they learn bad habits. Kids that go from top-level karting and go through a proper program they are already 50 per cent in front of the kid that doesn’t do that program.

“We don’t see that at the moment, because very few people have any feelers at that level in Australia.”

The Road to Indy program takes through up to three categories on their way to IndyCars – F2000, Pro 2000 and Indy Lites.

As the Australian equivalent would have a sedan racing final goal, Patrizi envisions a program that places a star karter in a funded seat in Super3. The opportunity would then exist for championship winner to be funded into guaranteed Super2 and Supercars drives.

“Telling them they’ve got to do all these other categories at state level before that is just funding the industry. And that’s fine, but here we’re talking about elite talent.”

Patrizi made the point that any young Aussie with international openwheeler aspiration should head overseas without getting involved in car racing here.

“If you want to be an openwheel racer you don’t do any car racing in Australia. You finish your Kart racing at 14 and head to Europe.”

FOR AUCTION HOLDEN VX V8 EUROPCAR SUPERCAR Built in 2000 by Les Small - Advanced Vehicle Design from a New body shell supplied by Holden Motorsport for Mike Imrie IMS Motorsport (hence Vin# MILS001) the car has competed in over 30 V8 Supercar Shell Championship rounds.

2000 HOLDEN EUROPCAR V8 SUPERCAR • VIN/Chassis: MILS001 • Engine Type: GMS – Gibson Motorsport Chev 5 Litre • Engine Number: GMS#VR22 • Transmission: Hollinger 6 Speed • Build Date: 2000

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THE RACE CAR HAS COMPETED IN 3 BATHURST 1000S

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The car was driven after Bathurst by Tomas Mezera in the remaining Shell V8 Supercar Championship rounds under the Europcar banner not only in Australia but also New Zealand.

• IMS001 has had some quality drivers over the years including Peter Brock, Allan Grice, Paul Morris, John Faulkner and motorcycle ace Darryl Beattie who all completed testing/development laps.

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demonstration events, now sanctioned by the VHRR. • The car is 100% complete and eligible and ready to race in various categories, a spares package and pit complete the history. equipment is included.

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ARG/Daniel FITTED WITH: GMS – Gibson Motorsport Chev 5 Litre engine #VR22- 620Horsepower. Gibson inlet manifold, dry Kalisz sump, triple plate clutch, Hollinger 6 Speed H pattern gearbox, Harrop 9inch Insyde Media diff housing, Harrop 3.5 ratio diff centre, MoTeC dash and ECU, front shocks Ohlins canister fully adjustable, rear shocks Penske canister fully adjustable, Harrop pedal box, adjustable balance bar, cockpit adjustable sway bars F&R, adjustable watts linkage, Harrop 6 Spot front brakes 380mm discs (front), Harrop 4 Spot 330mm discs (rear) 2 Sets Speedline Wheels.

DRIVERS (HAVE DRIVEN IN TESTING): • Peter Brock • Alan Grice • Paul Morris • John Faulkner • Daryl Beattie • Ryan McLeod • Dean Crosswell • Terry Wyhoon • Tyler Mecklem • James Small

AUCTION DETAILS:

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12 AutoAction

ashley@burnsandco.com.au

@burnsandcoauctions

LMCT 11428

with Oscar Piastri

Image: Motorsport Images

TICKFORD STRUGGLES IN SMP OPENER CAMERON WATERS had a round to forget at Sydney Motorsport Park, as Tickford Racing registered just two top 10 finishes between its three cars.

Lead driver Waters was particularly down on form, coming home 13th in both of the first two races before improving to sixth in the final encounter.

It was Race 22, when the Victorian squad seemed to remedy some of their issues, as all three cars finished in the top 12.

Speaking at the conclusion of the weekend, Waters was optimistic despite the frustrating run of results.

“It’s good to finish the weekend with a sixth in the last race, we still have a lot of work to do,” Waters said.

“We took some big swings at the car today and I’m still not totally happy with it, but I think we’ve made some inroads and hopefully something we can work on through the week.

“I said it last night but we’re better than what we showed this weekend, everyone knows that, so we’ll put our heads down and come back stronger next week.”

Waters finished the weekend fifth in the Supercars drivers’ championship, losing spots to Will Davison and Chaz Mostert after entering the resumption of racing in third.

Experienced teammate James Courtney had

an equally difficult round in Sydney, coming home 22nd, 18th and 12th.

Outgoing driver Jack le Brocq was arguably the best performer of the Tickford squad, charging through the field in Race 22 to eighth in his best finish since the first race of the season at Mount Panorama.

The 29-year-old was 21st and 14th in the previous outings.

Tickford Racing Team Principal Tim Edwards echoed the thoughts of Waters in his post-round assessment.

“The results still aren’t where we need them to be, but the team put in a ton of work and ended up with a decent, hard-earned result to finish the weekend,” Edwards said.

“We did make some progress with the cars, but we can’t lose sight of the fact that by our standards this weekend was pretty poor.

“We have a lot of data to pour over and a lot of work to do to get the cars where we need them.

“Hopefully we can build a little bit of momentum off of this afternoon’s result.”

Tickford will welcome Thomas Randle’s wildcard entry next weekend for the second of four SMP rounds, with the 25-year-old making his third race appearance of 2021 at an event that includes night races on both Saturday and Sunday.

Josh Nevett

MOFF PROGRAM EXPLAINED TWO-TIME SUPERCARS race winner James Moffat will contest only the one round of the National Trans Am Series round this year.

Moffat will race a Ford Mustang emblazoned with tribute livery to his father Allan Moffat’s legendary Coca Cola sponsored car in the 70s.

The second-generation racer will conduct one final day of testing on the 11th of November at Winton Motor Raceway before heading to Sydney Motorsport Park.

Moffat will not be racing the Garry Rogers Motorsport Mustang at Bathurst as he has to preference his TCR Australia Series commitments and Bathurst 1000 drive alongside Supercars Championship contender Cameron Waters.

“He won’t be at Bathurst,” team owner Barry Rogers told Auto Action.

“He’ll do TCR at Bathurst, but we had to make a choice – TCR or Trans Am at Bathurst – because really to do, Trans Am, TCR and the 1000 is a big ask.

“He’s paired up with Cam Waters There’s a lot of people who can win that race, we know that these

days, but certainly they are a real shout to be at the pointy end come the end of the 161 laps.

“The TCR stuff all finishes on Saturday, so he can focus on his race for Sunday and for an experienced guy like Moff, that won’t be a problem, but we thought best to leave the Trans Am out of it.”

Rogers expressed how much Moffat jnr is looking forward to driving the Mustang.

“Moff is really looking forward to it, the history of the car, the red Mustang, Coca Cola car,” he said.

“That tradition and bit of history from his dad, I think Moff is really proud to carry those colours.”

Dan McCarthy

For more www.autoaction.com.au

SIX WEEKS down from Sochi and four weeks to go until Formula 2’s next round at the new street race in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and I can’t wait to get back into the car.

It’s not that I’m counting days or that we’ve got anything like first world problems, but the big breaks between race weekends this year have been painful when all you want to do is race.

The 2021 schedule and race formats – 24 races in eight weekends over 10 months – have made it difficult when you want to get into a flow, but it has been the same for everyone else.

What that has meant, though, is that when race weekends come around, it’s been critical to be ready right from the outset, mentally, physically, and with our race set-ups.

There have been no let-ups in training with my trainer Kim Keedle, sessions in the gym at Alpine F1, or meetings with my PREMA engineers, either on Zoom or at the team’s headquarters in Italy.

For Jeddah and the final round, a week later in Abu Dhabi, I’ll be back at PREMA later this month to also spend time in the simulator getting “match fit”.

We’re heading into the last two rounds as the form team, having taken the last three poles and two Feature Race wins in a row, and we’ve got a handy points lead, but we can’t take anything for granted.

I’m hoping everything goes smoothly, but if the season does come down to a title fight like the last two years in Formula Renault

Eurocup and Formula 3, then it won’t be anything new, and I’ll fight as hard as I can and do my best with no regrets.

I WANT to send a huge “thank you” to respected motor racing author John Smailes for including me in his brilliant new book “Formula One. The Australian and New Zealand Story”, which details every Aussie and Kiwi driver to have attempted or Insyde Media succeeding in reaching F1.

John interviewed my parents and me earlier this year about our journey to this point.

I’ve seen an advance copy and to be included as “the future” amongst Aussie and Kiwi F1 greats like Sir Jack Brabham, Alan Jones, Denny Hulme, Mark Webber, Danny Ricciardo, and more is humbling.

“Formula One. The Australian and New Zealand Story” is released this week and, like Auto Action, is a must-have for all motor racing fans.

THE BEST news of the past few weeks for all of us Aussies abroad is the opening back up of the international borders and a change to quarantine rules, making coming home that much easier.

I did the 14-days in hotel quarantine at the end of last year and while it wasn’t too difficult, not being locked up for two weeks means spending more time with family and friends, which I’m looking forward to at the end of the season.

Hopefully, the F2 championship trophy can come along for the trip.

Cheers, Oscar

information contact Tim on 0424 091 167 AutoActionMagazine

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LATEST NEWS

TASMAN SERIES GRID FILLING UP

THE S5000 Tasman Series grid is taking shape with two drivers signing up to take part in the two-round championship over the last fortnight.

Garry Rogers Motorsport team principal Barry Rogers revealed to Auto Action that two of his drivers will join that list, including one new name to the open-wheel S5000 machines.

TCR Australia Series front-runner Aaron Cameron (pictured, right) will jump behind the wheel of an S5000 in the opening round and may also race at the second event up on The Mountain at Bathurst.

Cameron is a former open-wheel racer, competing in Formula Ford competition and has set himself a top five target.

“I’m certainly not rocking up just to make up the numbers,” Cameron told Auto Action. “I don’t do that ever, to be top five is well and truly realistic.

“Guys like James Golding and Joey Mawson are certainly the ones to be beat and having Golding as a teammate certainly helps, so we’ll be able to base everything off his data and get a good feel for where I need to improve over the weekend.

“I hope that once we get into racing, we’re top five consistently and maybe even fighting for a podium.”

Cameron drove around a dozen laps at Winton Raceway last week and will complete a full test on the 11th.

Garry Rogers Motorsport also announced since our last issue that his TCR teammate Ben Bargwanna will

steer an S5000 at SMP also.

Both Cameron and Bargwanna will complete a full test in S5000 machinery next week.

“We’re doing a full test day on the 11th of November to get to grips with it,” Cameron said.

“Both me and Ben will try and smash out as many laps as we can to come to grips with the cars – I think that should be enough to give us a pretty good baseline before we come to Sydney.”

Luis Leeds raced for the team in the inaugural S5000 Championship and will return for the entire Tasman Series.

Leeds will race for GRM in a car prepared and run by AGi Sport, a team which returns to S5000 action after competing in the category in the exhibition events back in 2019.

“He’ll be running Sydney and Bathurst this year,” Rogers revealed to AA “Adam Gotch from AGi Sport is going to give us a hand, Adam and Luis have

got history back from Formula 4 days, and we thought that’s probably a good relationship there.

“We haven’t got all the staff to be able to do that, so AGI will be will be assisting with our S5000s at Sydney and Bathurst.”

Elsewhere, Super2 Series frontrunner Jordan Boys has signed up to race for the expanding two-car 88 Racing outfit.

Dan McCarthy

Shifting issues for Superutes A NUMBER of Haltech V8 Superutes had driveline issues across the series’ second round at Sydney Motorsport last weekend. Concerns that there might be an inherent problem within the drivelines have been alleviated by Luke Sieders who has been an intricate figure in the development of category in its switch from turbo diesel to V8 power.

Newcomer to the category Matt McLean broke a shifter and a stopped a practice session before he had clutch and diff problems. Round one winner (at The Bend) Ryal Harris completed the opening race, having to hold the ute in fourth gear before completing the last race without fourth altogether.

Chris Formosa was another to also have clutch issues.

14 AutoAction

Sieders said the problems have been driver induced on the most part. “What it is, the drivers have been out of the seat for awhile and they have come back quite aggressive.

“The production-based Tremec T66 gearbox (the same that was used in the V8 Utes some years ago) is a synchro box and has been a proven product. It is not a Hollinger or an Xtrac, you can’t flat shift and some driver were flat-shifting.

“The Superutes don’t have a carbon ceramic clutch like what Supercars and the like have – you have got to have some finesse and a few of the guys have been a bit brutal with them, and there have been a few that had no problems.”

Sieders added that there is a driving style – but in

saying that we will at some of those areas where they can reinforce, make some adjustments, and make them a little better.

Garry O’Brien

SETON EXITS TRANS AM

PRAGA TO RACE GROUP2A

AARON SETON has withdrawn from the FRESH OFF the announcement thatrounds, Praga will final two National Trans Am Series beabandoning distributing his its highly successful R1 race car shot at the title. down under, Australia/New Zealand director Instead, the Trans Am leader will focus on Rick has revealed more details about his Campbell Super2 Series campaign for Matt Stone the machine’s category eligibility and local Racing, where he sits 16th after six races. demand.

Driving for Harris Racing, Seton is currently Now that theclear ANZofbranch Praga’s global four points NathanofHerne in the series network has been confirmed, the manufacturer contested by Ford, Dodge and Chevrolet V8 aims to havebut its car machines, hasentered decidedintoAustralian forgo his racing title bychances early 2022. in a bid to accelerate his Supercars Campbell has said that the R1 will initially fit development. into“It’s Motorsport Australia Group 2A category, been a really difficult decision, but we comprising of ‘Sports Cars, open closed’. have decided not to contest the and remaining “At stage looking at the twothis Trans Amwe’re Australia rounds at Motorsport Sydney Australia 2A category,” Campbell told AA. Motorsport Park and Bathurst,” Seton wrote “Hopefully, we’re hearing some noises that on Facebook. there may eventually bedecision a new prototype “We have made this to fully focus category that will include cars, on our Super 2 programLMP-type at those events. obviously the Radicals, andPragas.

“Firstly, thank you to the Harris Family for “But that’s a bit of a To Begave Advised, the opportunity that they me 4more yearsjust ago noises we heard at this stage. to drive their Trans Am car and their support As it stands since then! at the moment the 2A category is where we’d “We havesit.” all developed so much over the The Pragaand R1 have has performed well in itsthat initial seasons created memories I will stints in the UK, USA, and Europe, recording cherish forever. over 30 wins and podiums as Glenno well as winning “Also, thank you to Pappa and Chris the 2020 Britcar Endurance Championship.

Topp for the endless amount of hours that The features a lightweight (643kg), havedesign gone into developing the car!

Because composite monocoque powered by 272kW of your work, I have full confidenceaevery time four-cylinder engine. that I go on track.

Campbell believed demand for the R1 “Finally, thank youthat to all the people who would come from both competitive racing outfits and amateur enthusiasts.

“We have an expectation and a hope and a

have backed our Trans Am program over the drive this willfor notme only become yearsand anddesire made that it possible to chase involved in competitions, but we also see a my dream! bigger market in terms of a track day warrior,” “I’m looking forward to seeing what the Campbell said. future holds, continuing to develop as a “As long as peopleon can onoftrack, we a driver and working myget goal becoming believe that the car will generate a significant professional Supercars driver.” amount of interest and and takefinished off from on there.”

Seton won five races the The Praga R1 is set to be offered for $400,000 podium in every outing during this year’s on Australian shores and has generated strong Trans Am Series, proving himself as a force in interest beyond its initial two-car distribution. the category.

“We would, based onpreviously our projections, expect The 23-year-old also excelled in that we can sell initially somewhere in the the TA2 Muscle Car Series in 2019, taking top vicinity eight13towins 10 cars,” Campbell honoursofwith from 24 races. predicted.

“We are on the verge of signing an official Trans Am rival Herne was disappointed to distribution agreement through a very hear that Seton had left the series. significant player currently the Australian “Sad to hear guys,” Herneincommented onauto market to represent us in different states as Facebook. well.

“I was looking forward to finishing the “A massive caveat that is people’s championship battlearound with Aaron and the team access to the track because this is a track only on track. car, a Porsche GT3 RS or something “Allnot thelike best for Super2, a few more rounds that you can track and road.” and you guys will be untouchable!”

As for the future, suggested Super2 wraps upCampbell its 2021 season with that Praga may look to expand their product range if rounds at both Sydney Motorsport Park and their on-track success continues.

Mount Panorama.

“Discussions have already had,” will The Beaurepaires Sydneybeen SuperNight Campbell said. host Super2 as a support to the Supercars “This is obviously their flagship product, Championship from November 19-21, so Ibefore would the surmise it’s a case of walk beforeitsyou second-tier category holds run. finale as part of the Bathurst 1000 event.

“Once that’s happened, we’ll be looking to Josh Nevett extend with additional products which will be very much focused on the race car models they offer.” Josh Nevett

th Luke West iith wit

AA’s columnistCOLUMNIST considers REFLECTS the importance of AA’S LONG-TIME ON events at Le MansTO THE WITNESSING SUPERCARS’ RETURN TRACK AT SYDNEY MOTORSPORT LAST WEEKEND’S 24 Hours of Le Mans PARK. won’t go down as the onethink of the classics, yet itfrom wasattending a hugelya significant I don’t I have come away race meetingevent with so nonetheless. many mixed feelings. On one hand it was great to be back spectating The 89th running of the 24 Heures du Mans marked the start track with buddies.classic On the other, up toage.

SMPThere ofatathe new era forsome the French – the rocking Hypercar last weekend merely highlightedannouncement all that’s wrong with Supercars was also a game-changing regarding the cars nowadays.

I know its chiefs are trying to address some issues, which will contest the GT classes from 2024. yet therewere are sodevelopments many other concerns the category’s masters are for These with substantial ramifications motor sport’s premier seemingly oblivious to. divisions and races globally, with a rub-off effect Let me explain…

First for the Australia. positives. Really enjoyed being armed with a ticket The first Hypercar-flavoured Le somewhat inclusive of a car pass allowing you toMans drive was into the venue and park underwhelming on the track with Toyota scoring its fourth up to the fence to watch proceedings. And then driving around the consecutive win at Le Sarthe, against some pretty flimsy venue to easily check outtop vantage points. I guess this was a luxury opposition in the new division. ofToyota’s such an GR010 expansive facility being limited 10,000 per day. aIn truth, Hybrids finished 1-2,toleading home there would have been half that many there, which is a worry. ‘grandfathered’ LMP1 Alpine entry and the only other two allnew Hypercars, the Glickenhaus 007s.

Next, SMP is a venue best enjoyed at night. The new lighting Good on the American minnow for havinga acar’s crack against the system is sensational.

It somehow accentuates speed, Japanese powerhouse.

It will be fascinating to see how the tiny bringing fancy paint schemes to life. Can’t quite explain the manufacturer fares when other big guns arrive. And let me tell phenomenon, but it all looks more spectacular and exciting – like you, they’re coming in numbers. pyjama cricket under lights. soonerspecialist there’s a tight evening Peugeot joinsdoes the–Hypercar funThe in 2022, racing session of short,too. sharp racesFerrari giving in punters three- or four-hour team ByKolles Then 2023.aMeantime, Le Mans show the better.

Hypercars will be joined on track by marques competing in America’s LMDhraces class in IMSA. an awkward moniker Of the support I enjoyed the LHDh, Sports Sedans and Utes, which denoting Le Mans Daytona hybrid, has And already attracted are now V8-powered, thus faster and racier.

I enjoyed Carrera commitments fromas, Acura, andcategory.

Porsche.I’m Others will Cup not being there, I’m soAudi, over BMW that boring sure it’s follow, lured by the prospect of competing in IMSA and at Le great for competitors and Porsche, but it’s a dud for paying punters, Mans. particularly given its prime possie on race schedules.

Excitingly for Antipodeans, Team Penske will operate a Anton De Pasquale’s coming of ageand wastwo greatmore to see,inbut pair Porsche prototypes in IMSA thethe World biggest positive for me was Will Brown’s competitiveness all Endurance Championship. This means Penske’s IndyCar stars weekend. going to cheer for the effervescent Browny from nowout Will PowerI’m and Scott McLaughlin will be well-placed to fill the at the blue ribbon events. Half on, line-ups as the sport desperately needs12newand stars24-hour with personality.

Thefield convergence of charisma sportscarbypasses rules globally – previously the have either had or Supercars’ drive forthe US and European scenes have done their own thing – means perfection has stripped them of their personalities. we are entering a golden era. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it How good was Brown’s charge in the finale, for the most part again, sportscar racing is the next big thing in world motorsport. missed the TVtocommentators whodrain were too busy with their money There’sbylikely be a significant of manufacturer matesy in-jokes, tyre discussion and giving us Surely driving lessons. away from Formula 1 in the years ahead.

Mercedes-Benz It’s a sad reflection on our sport that aerowash prevented Brown will be lured to Le Mans and Daytona. There’s only so much credibility be gained from beating an energy from have atolunge at De Pasquale.

Yes, I know he useddrink up hiscompany tyres ininF1, despite thethat self-importance ofthe Red the chase – and Anton controlled gapBull.

– but #99’s rubber F1 snobs should was a ittime, admittedly 50-odd didn’t suddenly fall offknow a cliffthere the moment reached #11. How did years ago, when sportscar racing and single-seaters shared the we get to the point where our racecars have such large aero devices billing as motor sport’s top dogs. History might just be about to that hinder passing? The architects of the current cars need to be run repeat. out of town. racing provides many things that are important Endurance I’m sure the cars are enjoyable as andthe challenging to drivetowards and to automotive manufacturers world heads engineer.

But the current racing is boring for fans.

Reduce theamong aero hybridisation and electrification – reliability and range them.

Funds currently invested elsewhere willAs soon be diverted and tyre grip. Then remove the artificial influences. someone toonsportscar racing. social media wrote, Supercars is now “an overly sterile, overly Hopefully Australia will gain a WEC round. The Bend’s January managed conga-line.”

2020 hosting of the Asian Le Mans Series was surely an As highly professional and informative as the TV commentary is, indication of the venue’s ultimate intentions. it’s now toooffocused on what’s important racethe team Perhaps more significance locallytowas Lebosses, Mans race engineers and ex-racing drivers. organisers’ announcement that GT3 cars will replace GTE It’s especially wrong this ultra-popular highly technicalGT commentary is now2024. machines in the event’s classes from This follows development that GT3rather cars than will be the only pumped overthe the PA system at racetracks, giving machines used in IMSA’s GT classes from next year.

GT3 trackside punters relevant spectator-friendly information suchAsasifthe wasn’t already a juggernaut. running order.

Potential new manufacturers will be able to develop cars that Supercars’ new regime can’t come to power soon enough. are eligible to race at Le Mans – and just about everywhere else.

Hopefully there’s a Tony Cochrane-like among the plethora of Chevrolet is now odds-on to buildfigure a GT3-spec Corvette.

As acronyms the newFord ownership base follow who is suit morerefan-focused.

I’ve noted inbefore, may even its Mustang, with Let’s sport start with mixing the formats making for the next three weeks at in that motor chief MarkupRushmore positive noises regard.

Now stop and of an annual SMP. In the very least, it’s consider not too latethe for implications the final weekend to feature Ford vs GM500km battletwo-driver at Bathurst each February the 12toHour? a traditional enduro to show someinrespect the What effecttraditions. might that have on theme1000? category’s Otherwise wake up when we get to Bathurst!

Luke LukeWest Westisisaalong-time long-timeAuto AutoAction Actioncolumnist columnistand andauthor authorofofThe The Immortals ImmortalsofofAustralian AustralianMotor MotorRacing: Racing:the theLocal LocalHeroes.

Heroes. www.autoaction.com.au www.autoaction.com.au

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US HEADGEAR

LATEST NEWS

Image: Motorsport Images

SA PREMIER BEHIND 500 AXING

ON THE one-year anniversary of the Adelaide 500 axing the South Australian Labor Party has revealed that the South Australian Premier was heavily involved in the decision.

Last year, SA Premier Steven Marshall maintained that the SA Tourism Commission (SATC) made the decision – however it has been discovered that he was in discussions about the event cancellation in June, four months prior.

“This was an agonising decision for the SATC board which represents industry, don’t forget, so it’s not a Government decision – it was a recommendation from this board of industry people,” Marshall said last year.

Secret Freedom of Information Documents have been revealed showing that the SATC was also asked to implement $2.5 million in cuts to the event, essentially running the race into the ground.

“It is now clear Premier Steven Marshall has his fingerprints all over the decision to axe the Adelaide 500,” he said.

“The Premier sought a high-level briefing regarding the decision long before Supercars were advised.

“The Premier also oversaw a Budget that

enforced cost-saving measures onto the Adelaide 500, essentially running it into the ground.”

In emails between the SATC and Marshall’s office, the Premier received a high-level briefing in the middle of last year in relation to cancelling the race.

The government opposition claims that upon request for the documents, the SATC attempted to hide the emails – citing reasons around commercial in confidence.

The matter was referred to an Ombudsman who determined the reasons were unfounded, and ordered their release.

The email detailed it would require the Premier to “take all the expenses and risks into account in order to make an informed decision”, and the SATC asked that it be noted the briefing document was “yet to be discussed with the SATC Board”.

The Malinauskas Labor Government has already promised to revive the Adelaide 500 should they win the election and, in AA’s page 4/5 story, Supercars CEO Sean Seamer discusses the matter of street events under the new ownership.

Speaking to AA’, Malinauskas said, “the track is there, there’s no regulatory

prohibition from the racing going ahead. It just takes the leadership at the wheel.

“Major Events are coming back – we’re transitioning towards living with COVID. More than that, there’s a lot of pent up demand out there for people to attend major events, particularly motorsport.

AA asked if making the venue a heritage listed site would allow for more permanent motorsport facilities around Victoria Park, such as the stands and pit facilities remaining up all year round.

“That’s not something we’re contemplating,” Malinauskas said.

“We believe that there is a model that can be pursued that still allows for temporary infrastructure to be set up and set down in a way that was quicker than what was the case previously.

“We’re looking for any improvements to ensure that the event goes ahead, provides the amenity for fans that is required, but also doesn’t disrupt Victoria Park more than is necessary.

“We think there’s effort to be made there and we’ll be contemplating all the options and how to achieve that.”

Dan McCarthy

SYDNEY CONSIDERING F1 BID IT HAS been reported that Sydney is considering making a bid for the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix – however, even if they could ‘steal it’ NSW could not take the race until 2026, at best ... Victoria and the Australian Grand Prix Corporation have signed a contract to run the Australian Grand Prix until the end of 2025.

Seven News in Sydney is reporting that high level talks are underway to see if it would be viable for the New South Wales city to host the Australian Grand Prix.

With Australia getting on top of the COVID-19 pandemic, the New South Wales government sees it as an opportunity to boost tourism and bring money back into the economy.

Sydney has dreamed of hosting a Formula 1 Grand Prix on a number of occasions – however plans have previously never made it past the initial stages.

The closest Sydney has ever come to any F1 action was when Mark Webber performed a demonstration run over the bridge in 2005 driving his V10 powered Williams.

It has been

16 AutoAction

confirmed that for safety reasons as well as traffic inconvenience, that the Sydney Harbour Bridge itself could not be used as part of a racetrack.

An initial proposed layout would see Formula 1 cars race under the world-famous Sydney Harbour Bridge, through The Rocks and towards Barangaroo.

It is thought that new Barangaroo precinct would be the ideal location as the base for the pits and paddock area.

Sydney believes its backdrop of worldfamous sights would be the perfect place for the Australian Grand Prix to take place – it has five years from this stage to make it happen should they wish.

It has been a difficult run for the Melbourne round which had to call off the event just hours before cars hit the track for practice due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The event was also set to take place earlier this year before it was delayed to November, before being cancelled for a second consecutive year.

Some reports stated that the event in Melbourne might be cut from the calendar entirely if the event does not take place next year – however, the Australian Grand Prix Corporation denied these international rumours by announcing the date for the Australian Grand Prix in 2022.

Reportedly NSW’s investment minister Stuart Ayres is leading the push to hold the event in New South Wales.

Sydney Motorsport Park in Eastern Creek is being discussed as a potential back up.

The venue previously hosted international open-wheel racing in the form of the now defunct A1GP series, but would need to undergo several changes to meet the strict safety requirements to host a Formula 1 event. Dan McCarthy Image: Motorsport Images

WHEN DANIEL Ricciardo arrived for the US Grand Prix wearing a 10-gallon hat he set a trend for trendy headgear that lasted for the whole weekend.

When he drove out of the pitlane at the Circuit of the Americas, before racing to a solid fifth that was described by McLaren team boss Andreas Seidl as his best drive yet for McLaren – yes, including his win at Monza – he proved his point.

Ricciardo was wearing a tribute to his American hero, the late Dale Earnhardt, and was followed by a posse of other racers who used their helmets to salute the capacity crowd in Austin.

His jet-black helmet carried his usual McLaren sponsor tags, as well as his signature ’The Honey Badger’ tag on the back, but otherwise was unrecognisable from his usual street-art inspired lid and a fitting homage to the NASCAR hero.

Fernando Alonso also switched designs for the US GP, under tight F1 regulations on switches – initiated by old-timer Bernie Ecclestone when Sebastian Vettel seemed to be changing helmets after every session – but his helmet was not inspired by the American event. Instead, it was a tribute to the people of La Palma, part of the Spanishruled Canary Islands, who are suffering under a massive volcanic eruption.

Yuki Tsunoda also switched lids for the weekend, but his design had a Japanese theme – as it was originally intended for his home grand prix at Suzuka. It also added emphasis as the Honda-powered racers at Red Bull and AlphaTauri switched branding to the American-centric Acura label for the race.

Charles Leclerc also changed hats for the race, although his design had nothing to do with America and everything about saluting his backing from the Richard Mille watch company.

But George Russell went all-in for Texas, as he declared himself the track sheriff for the weekend.

“Sherriff GR, reporting for duty,” he tweeted as he unveiled a western-look design with sheriff’s stars on the sides and top.

Lando Norris was every more enthusiastic with his weathered stars-and-stripes design, declaring “AMERRRRICCAAAA” on twitter.

“You don’t get much more Texan than this,” said the Haas team, revealing a similarlyweathered design for Mick Schumacher, which also had the Texan star – it’s known as the Lone Star State – on the back.

Nikita Mazepin also got involved for the home race for the Haas squad, and his helmet picked up a rattlesnake pattern, Texas longhorns – from the cattle of the same name – around the Haas logo, a horseshoe around his logo and a cowboy hat on the side.

For Valtteri Bottas, whose Australian partner, champion cyclist Tiffany Cromwell, designs his helmets, the design was a complete departure from normal and focussed on the street art of Austin.

“A tribute to the awesome city. The live music capital of the world and known by its cool street art,” tweeted Bottas.

By Paul Gover, News Editor

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COURTNEY PREACHES ENTERTAINMENT FOR NEW ERA TICKFORD RACING driver James Courtney has some simple advice for the new owners of the Supercars Championship… more entertainment, less technology.

Speaking before the resumption of Supercars at Sydney Motorsport Park, the 41-year-old veteran was outspoken in his recommendations to RACE, who will take over ownership of the organisation next season.

“I think as a sport you get carried away in making it more of a business,” Courtney began.

“We’re a show, we’re entertainment and if we’re not entertaining, we’re not going to be drawing the crowds or drawing the marketing dollars.

“So, I think the most important thing we have to focus on is making sure racing is entertaining.”

Among Courtney’s suggestions were reconsidering car performance, increasing the field, relaxing car contact regulations, and improving off-track entertainment.

“If bringing car performance back makes it more competitive, or having bigger fields brings everyone a bit tighter, then that’s what we need to do,” Courtney said.

“First of all, we are a show, so we just have to make sure it’s entertaining.

“Try to open it up a little, allow us to ram a little bit more, make it a bit more action packed, maybe don’t fine us if we start abusing each other.

“The amount of money they (RACE) are paying for the championship, those guys will want a return so hopefully we do head down that path.”

In an era where technology reigns king, the 15-year experienced campaigner urged the new Supercars owners to not follow the path of prominent overseas categories.

“Let’s not try and make it a Formula 1 Championship, with all the crazy technology in the car,” Courtney insisted.

“I think it’s a waste, the people on the hill don’t see it or understand it, I struggle to, so let’s go back to basics and concentrate on the entertainment element.

“Bring back the concerts and make it more of a day, a whole festival rather than super technologically advanced car racing.

“Entertain the crowds when we’re not actually on track, get the fans in the pit lane again and mix it with them.

“When I first started it was amazing, you would have hundreds of thousands of people at the events.

It’s not a hard

formula. They’ve done it before.”

Archer Capital sold its controlling stake in the Supercars Championship to RACE in recent weeks, however it will take until the end of the year for the sale process and ownership transition to occur.

Josh Nevett

BAIRD NAMED AS STUTT’FEST AMBASSADOR SUPERCARS CHAMPIONSHIP Driving Standards chief Craig Baird has been announced as one of a pair of event ambassadors for the upcoming STUTT’FEST Porsche three-day motorsport festival.

Baird has had an esteemed career in one-make Porsche racing, tallying up 11 Carrera / GT3 Cup Challenge titles.

The 51-year-old holds the Porsche Carrera Cup Australia title record, with five to his name.

Baird will be joined by a second Porsche legend in an ambassadorial role, which will see the pair headlining both the pre-event promotion and the event schedule when STUTT’FEST gets underway at Winton Motor Raceway on January 14-16.

With such a decorated history in Porsche motorsport, Baird was excited to represent the brand at STUTT’FEST. “It was pretty easy to say yes when the guys at the event rang and asked if I’d like to take on this ambassador role for STUTT’FEST,” Baird said.

“My relationship with the Porsche

brand goes back a long way and I’ve been fortunate enough to have a huge amount of success while driving Porsche racing cars.

“The Porsche motorsport community is a great group of people, there’s so many people involved in clubs – and just those who own the cars – around Australia that are so passionate about the brand. That goes for those who are putting on this event, too.

“STUTT’FEST is a great concept, similar in a lot of ways to the Rennsport events held around the world, and it sounds like there’s going to be a lot of things to do on and off the track.

“I’d want to be part of it as a fan, but if I can help spread the word and make the event a success, even better.

“I’ve done a lot of laps around Winton, so I’ll have to try and get myself a steer of something that weekend and blow the cobwebs out!”

Originally from New Zealand, Baird began his racing career in open wheelers before shifting into Touring Cars, and later, GT racing.

He recorded a race win in Supercars and has also won the Bathurst 12 Hour twice.

Entries for STUTT’FEST ’22 will open in early November, for all aspects of the event.

On-track categories will include multiple classes for Porsche GT3 Cup

cars, 944 Challenge, IROC Challenge, 911 Turbos and heavily modified vehicles, Classic Porsche’s, Group N / S Historic cars and regularity / speed events.

The event will be held at Winton Motor Raceway between January 14-16, 2022.

Josh Nevett

LATEST NEWS

OJEDA SECURES BATHURST CO-DRIVE SUPER2 SERIES front runner Jayden Ojeda has officially secured one of the last remaining co-drives for the Bathurst 1000.

After an evaluation test earlier this year, Matt Stone Racing has now confirmed that Ojeda will team up with Zane Goddard in the #35 entry for this year’s Great Race.

“I’m thrilled to be teaming up with Zane for the Bathurst 1000 in the #35!”, Ojeda said.

“It has been a chaotic year so far, so I am looking forward to heading to Bathurst and turning some extra laps.”

Team Owner Matt Stone indicated that he has been reviewing the co-driver options for his team’s young drivers.

MSR is the last team to formally announce its codrivers for the Bathurst 1000.

“We have been assessing our co-driver options for a while now and wanted to have a good look at the top Super2 talent as well as some experienced drivers.”

Stone said.

“We generally prefer to support the younger drivers, but at the same time this is Zane’s Championship so the most important factor is to have a safe pair of hands who understands the role of a co-driver and will work well with Zane and the team.”

At just 22 years of age, Sydney-sider Ojeda already

has one start in the Bathurst 1000 to his credit, as a last-minute addition to the GRM wildcard entry alongside Tyler Everingham last year.

Ojeda has been a regular front runner in Super2 the past two years and currently sits third in the championship standings with two rounds remaining.

“After a solid performance in Super2 so far this year, and the advantage of having done his first Bathurst 1000 race last year, we decided that the time was right for Jayden to deliver a solid enduro performance this year with our team,” Stone continued.

“We think that the combination of Zane and Jayden can deliver a very good result in the Yellow Cover Racing car if everything goes to plan.”

Rhys Vandersyde

MIEDECKE SURNAME TO RETURN TO TCM AT MT PANORAMA THE MIEDECKE surname will return to the Touring Car Masters series at this year’s Bathurst 1000.

George Miedecke, the son of 21time TCM race winner and Aussie motorsport legend Andrew, will make his TCM debut with Whiteline Racing at Mount Panorama this November 30-December 3.

He will do so racing the same car his dad raced for the Adelaide-based team.

Miedecke will join Adam Bressington in the two-car Chevrolet Camaro team as the Whiteline squad shuffles their already successful line-up for the final round this year.

It will complete something of a careerlong ambition for Miedecke as he follows in his father’s footsteps by driving one of TCM’s most iconic cars.

Regular driver Bressington will jump aboard the team’s race-winning 1970 Camaro RS at Bathurst: border restrictions unfortunately keeping Queenslander Mark King on the

sidelines for the event this year.

That will allow Miedecke to drive the iconic 1969 Camaro SS raced so successfully by his Dad – one of the most successful car and driver combinations in TCM history.

“It’s very cool and to be honest, I never thought I would get the opportunity to drive that car,” Miedecke said.

“I spent a lot of my formative years in racing watching Dad drive that car or racing together at the same events like the Clipsal 500.

“It was always a bit of a dream of mine, not necessarily to drive in TCM, but more specifically to drive for Bob and Shaz (Middleton, team owners). They have run such a good show for such a long time.

“Dad drove that car for six or seven years straight and that car and my early years of racing, are super connected.”

Miedecke, who continues to race – his last start came in the Bathurst 6 Hour Production Car enduro in April – said

while he wasn’t searching for the Bathurst opportunity it was one he couldn’t turn down.

“We’ve got a lot of stuff going on at the moment and I didn’t really need to do this, but when Dad rang me and said Bob had been on the phone and wanted me to drive the car, I said ‘Hell yes! How do I make this happen!”

“It’s really exciting but it’s also a big ask,” he added.

“TCM has a lot of very good cars and really good drivers and I think it will be tough given the amount of practice we get; I’ll still be getting to know the car on the last lap of race four, I reckon.

“At the same time, I’m lucky that over the years I have done a lot of laps at Bathurst – this will be visit number 13 or 14 to the Mountain.”

Miedecke Senior started 49 TCM rounds between his debut in 2010 and retirement from the class in 2016, all of them for Whiteline Racing.

The family relationship goes back even further than that, with Miedecke having

raced NASCARs for the team – headed up by Bob and Sharon Middleton – well before they joined TCM. George’s addition to the grid will further build on the family theme within TCM, with three second-generation drivers set to feature on the Bathurst grid.

Alongside Miedecke, Cameron Mason (son of 2007 TCM champion Steve) and Jamie Tilley (Son of TCM legend Brad) are also entered.

The Bathurst event, the fourth round of the series, will see four races contested to decide the 2021 Touring Car Masters titles across all three classes.

TCM hits the track on Tuesday, November 30, with races on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

The Whiteline duo are likely to be contenders in what is shaping to be a strong TCM field to decide the 2021 titles; 19 cars currently entered for the Bathurst event ahead of entries closing.

Dan McCarthy

LATEST NEWS

CAMPBELL ON PORSCHE

RADAR FOR 2023 LE MANS MATT CAMPBELL could be racing a prototype for Porsche at Le Mans when the company returns to the race as a factory team in 2023.

The talented young Aussie is already on the list of hopefuls who are being assessed at Porsche, according to the German manufacturer’s newly appointed head of motorsport.

“It’s too early to say, because we are just putting together the driver line-up for the LMPh. What I can say, for sure, he is one of the people we are looking at, “says Thomas Laudenbach, speaking from Germany.

“I personally think he has a great future. As a driver … I like his driving style.

“I think he is mature enough not to push the car into the wall too often, but he has the right amount of aggression. And I think that’s great.”

If Campbell gets the callup for Le Mans he would join an impressive list of Australians who have raced for outright victory, led at Porsche by Vern Schuppan.

Laudenbach says the criteria for Le Mans drivers is about to change, as the new LMPh will have a Balance of Performance system that will put the emphasis on youth, speed and aggression. He believes the days of taking older drivers because they are safe and reliable will

CONCUSSION RULES MARQUEZ OUT OF ALGRAVE MOTOGP MARC MARQUEZ has been ruled out of this weekend’s MotoGP round in Portugal after suffering a concussion during training.

Winner of the last two rounds, Marquez fell while completing his usual off-road training session on the weekend in preparation for the upcoming round at the Algarve International Circuit.

The Repsol Honda Team released the following statement confirming the Marquez would not race this weekend: “This past Saturday Marc Marquez, while preparing for the Algarve Grand Prix with one of his standard off-road training sessions, suffered a fall that caused a slight head concussion.”

“After a few days of rest at home and seeing that he was still unwell,

today Marquez has been assessed by doctors in a medical check-up to evaluate his current status.”

“As a precautionary measure, this coming weekend Marquez will not contest the Algarve Grand Prix.”

It will see the Spaniard miss another race after sitting out the bulk of last season after breaking his arm in a serious fall at the opening round at Jerez.

Marquez only returned from that injury for the third round of this year’s campaign, which was also held at the Algarve International Circuit.

After a slow start, Marquez has secured three wins so far this season and is returning to the front running form that saw him secure six MotoGP titles.

Rhys Vandersyde

be gone, as a growing number of major carmakers battle for victory.

“The driver will be even more important in the future. You won’t be in the position to put a driver in who is three or four-tenths off the pace. How you choose drivers will be different from what we have known in the past.”

Apart from Le Mans, Laudenbach has strong ideas about Porsche’s racing future with growing electrification, where he says there will not be a battery-electric contender for Carrera Cup-style series’ for some time yet.

“If you talk about a customer car, like Carrera Cup, it will be three to four years down the road,” he says.

“It’s not easy to give a precise answer, but if we talk about customer motorsport . . . it’s very important that we have a base road car. Otherwise, it is too expensive.

Therefore, we need a base as a road car and so far, we are not intending to take the Taycan.”

Talking about Australia, Laudenbach is hopeful that the easing of Covid-19 travel restrictions will mean Porsche can be involved in next year’s Bathurst 12Hour race.

“Bathurst has always been one of the great races, and a very special race,” he says.

“If the Covid situation allows it we will be happy to come back to support that race.”

He says Porsche has clear rules on its customer racing programs, and the 12-hour qualifies as one of the events it likes to support.

“We make a clear separation between factory racing and customer racing. We have clear rules; if it is one of the big races, and it is a good team we will, if we can, go in with our drivers. And perhaps some technical support, and some financial contribution.”

Paul Gover, News Editor

DOOHAN AMONG STANDOUTS IN F3 TESTING AUSTRALIAN JACK Doohan topped the timesheets on the opening day of post-season FIA Formula 3 Championship testing in Spain, before backing it up with the fifth fastest time on Day 2.

Driving for new Dutch F3 team Van Amersfoort Racing, the 2021 championship runner-up topped both the morning and afternoon sessions on Day 1 at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia.

Doohan was brought in to help the team get up to speed in F3 and showed his talent by setting a time 0.1s faster than his opposition.

Van Amersfoort Racing are a wellcredentialed open-wheeler team in Europe, currently fielding cars in the Formula Regional European Championship, Euroformula Open Championship, German Formula 4 Championship and Italian F4 Championship.

In the test, Doohan topped the timesheets in Valencia with a lap of 1m 22.402s beating ART Grand Prix duo of Victor Martins and recently crowned Formula Regional Europe champion Gregoire Saucy.

Doohan remained among the frontrunners in the second day

of testing, setting the fifth fastest time.

Doohan clocked a 1m 21.521s lap in the morning session, during which quicker times were produced than the afternoon.

He could only register a 1m 23.541s time in the second period, placing him 29th of the 30 drivers running.

PREMA Racing driver Jak Crawford topped the timesheets for the day, setting a 1m 21.368s lap.

ART Grand Prix’s rookie Saucy and Trident’s Roman Stanek finished behind the American in second and third, with the fastest

three times all posted in the morning session.

MP Motorsport debutant Franco Colapinto topped the afternoon session, although his lap of 1m 21.759s was 0.391s off the morning’s best time.

Saucy was once again in second, followed by Caio Collet.

Crawford was also topping the charts at the midway point of the second outing but ended the afternoon in eighth.

Doohan completed 174 laps over the course of the two days, 73 on the first day and 101 on the

second.

The 18-year-old finished second to Dennis Hauger in the 2021 F3 season, falling 26 points short of a breakthrough title.

The trident racer managed four wins and three extra podiums over the course of the season.

Doohan has spoken about having several Formula 2 offers on the table for next year.

There is one day of F3 testing remaining at the time of writing, completing a three-day stint in Valencia.

Josh Nevett and Dan McCarthy

TANAK OUT FOR ITALIAN WRC FINALE OTT TANAK will miss the World Rally Championship finale in Italy for family reasons.

The Hyundai Motorsport driver will be replaced by Teemu Suninen, who joined the squad in the lead up to Rally Spain where the Finn drove a Rally2 i20 to second place in WRC2.

Tanak announced his decision on social media, two weeks out from the season concluding Rally Monza between November 18-21.

“I’m gutted to say this, but unfortunately I’m not able to participate at ACI Rally Monza due to personal family matters,” Tanak wrote on Instagram.

“This is a tough decision to make, but it’s a needed one.

“I wish the very best of luck to our team for the final round of the championship, there’s still much to fight for!”

As a result, it will be up to Suninen, Thierry Neuville and Dani Sordo to fight for Hyundai in the manufacturers’ title standings, as they attempt to overcome a 47-point deficit to Toyota Gazoo Racing.

Toyota needs five points from the final round to wrap up the result,

but Hyundai are still a mathematical chance to achieve the feat at the three-day asphalt event.

Hyundai Motorsport released a statement confirming the team changes for Rally Monza.

“We have a last-minute change in our crew line-up for ACI Rally Monza,” the statement read.

“Sadly, Ott Tanak (and Martin Jarveoja) will be forced to miss the event due to personal family matters.

“We wish Ott all the best and we can’t wait to see him back in action with the team in 2022!

“Meanwhile we welcome Teemu Suninen and Mikko Markkula to the WRC team as the Finnish duo will replace Ott and Martin in the Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC for the season finale in Italy.”

Tanak is currently fifth in the WRC drivers’ standings, with a win to his name in Finland in February.

Just last week, Tanak took part in a 2022 rally simulation with Hyundai’s prototype i20 Rally1 machine, as preparations ramp up for the introduction of new hybrid machines into WRC next year.

Josh Nevett

with Dan Knutson

FORMULA 1 United States Grand Prix winner Max Verstappen has declared his victory at Circuit of the Americas (COTA) a ‘bonus’ in the title race.

The Red Bull Racing driver overcame history books that were heavily weighted in Mercedes favour, the Silver Arrows having won five of the six races before the latest encounter. Verstappen now leads the championship standings by 12 points over Hamilton with five rounds remaining due to the Brit finishing runner-up at COTA. JN DESPITE BEING locked in a battle with McLaren for third in the FIA Formula 1 Constructors Standings, Scuderia Ferrari has turned its attention to 2022. With the radical new regulations set to be introduced in 2022, many F1 outfits have already turned to designing and constructing their machines. Ferrari team principal Binotto has announced he will miss at least two further grands prix to focus on next year’s machine, after already skipping the round in Turkey. DM

THE ULTIMATE prize in Formula 1 may have eluded Aussie Daniel Ricciardo up until now, but the McLaren driver is confident he can become World Champion at the Woking-based squad.

Ricciardo sits eighth in the drivers’ standings approaching the end of his first season at McLaren, but still holds the strong self-belief that he can reach the pinnacle. “I’m still here [in F1] because I believe I can win a title,” Ricciardo said on the ‘Beyond the Grid’ podcast. JN

PIRELLI HAS concluded its comprehensive 2021 on-track testing programme of the new 18-inch Formula 1 tyres that replace the current 13-inch size next year. Former F1 driver Daniil Kvyat drove an Alpine F1 car fitted with the 18-inch wheels and tyres in wet conditions at the Paul Ricard circuit in France. The switch to new low-profile tyres required an intense research and development programme that featured both indoor and outdoor testing. DK

AFTER APPEARING to be on the verge of heading towards IndyCar, American F3 racer Logan Sargeant has been signed by Williams Racing to join the team’s Driver Academy. Sargeant had been scheduled to test with IndyCar squad AJ Foyt Racing at Barber Motorsports Park next week, however the American has withdrawn from the test and has since been announced as joining the iconic Formula 1 teams junior development program. RV

18 AutoAction

Images: Motorsport Images

SAUBER SALE STALLS ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT owner Michael Andretti’s bid to buy the Sauber Alfa Romeo F1 team has stalled after he broke off negotiations because the asking price ended up too high.

According to sources, Sauber’s current owner, billionaire businessman Finn Rausing, had agreed to sell 80 per cent of the team to the Andretti family for US$350 million (A$466mm). Indeed, Andretti had already toured the team’s factory in Hinwil, Switzerland.

But then Rausing, who would retain 20 per cent of the team and remain on the board of directors, demanded an additional US$250 million (A$333m) up front to guarantee that the team would have the funding to survive the next five years in case one of the major sponsors – perhaps even Alfa Romeo – dropping out.

Andretti was due to meet with representatives from Isrelo Investment AG and Longbow Finance, Rausing’s

companies that own the team, in Austin during the United States Grand Prix weekend.

But, after the revelation of Rausing’s new demands, Andretti did not make the trip halfway across the U.S. Some of Andretti’s representatives were, however, in Austin.

Andretti has not given up on his plans to own an F1 team, but unless he can renegotiate with Rausing, his chances are slim because the other nine teams have solid owners. Perhaps fellow American Gene Haas will grow weary of F1 and sell his team to Andretti ...

The no-sale also ends speculation of Andretti bringing in American IndyCar driver Colton Herta as a teammate to Valtteri Bottas, who has a three-year contract with Alfa Romeo.

With just 13 starts and one podium, with McLaren in 1993, Andretti’s sole F1 season was not a success – especially compared to father Mario, who had 128 starts, 18 poles, 12 wins and was world champion in 1978.

However, Michael had a successful racing career in IndyCar and is now a team principal and team owner in the series. But he is going to have to wait a little longer before he can become an F1 team owner.

MAKING STEPS IT HAS taken Daniel Riccardo a while, but the Australian is finally adapting his driving style to suit the McLaren MCL35M. He qualified sixth for the United States Grand Prix and finished fifth, ahead of Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes), Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) and McLaren teammate Lando Norris.

“It was most definitely a very strong weekend from Daniel,” said McLaren team principal Andreas Seidl. “I think it’s fair to say, together with (winning the Italian Grand Prix at) Monza, it was probably his strongest weekend together with us.

Maybe even fair to say that it was his best weekend so far, on a track that has a lot of different corner types.

“I’m very happy with what he could pull off this

Image: LAT

weekend. It was a great performance from his side to keep Valtteri and Carlos behind for the entire race and being under massive pressure.

“It’s just another confirmation that, since the summer break, he continues to improve and be more comfortable in the car. It’s good, it’s encouraging and at the same time he is saying there is still a lot more to come, which is good.”

Ricciardo acknowledges that he still has to make steps to continue to improve.

“I don’t think he’s fully comfortable in our car yet in any condition or track layout or situation,” Seidl said.

“With him now getting more and more used to it, spending more time in our car, doing laps, it’s just natural that there is still a lot more to come from this side, which is obviously encouraging. It was a great weekend from his side in Austin and a very strong drive in the race where he showed why we wanted to get him onboard.”

McLaren is in third

place in the Constructors’ Championship – a mere 3.5 points ahead of Ferrari.

McLaren has no more updates coming for the car or the power unit this season.

Ferrari, meanwhile, has made a significant step with its power unit. The Scuderia,, therefore, was able to pile a lot of downforce on the cars of Charles Leclerc and Sainz but still retain good straightline speed at the Circuit of the Americas.

“The differences between McLaren and us are very, very small,” Leclerc said.

“So obviously when we put the new engine in we gained a little bit; it was enough to put us in the best position possible. Even though 2021 is a season where we are focusing on 2022, we still had two or three upgrades this year that pushed us to perform better every time. So the fact we’ve been quicker than them recently is down to the two or three upgrades that we brought this year.”

STATISTICAL FORMBOOK THERE ARE “lies, damned lies, and statistics.” According to Wikipedia, the phrase describes the persuasive power of numbers, particularly the use of statistics to bolster weak arguments.

But, according to statistics compiled

by Auto Action, Reuters and other F1 news outlets, things are tilting in Max Verstappen’s favour in his duel with Lewis Hamilton for the 2021 Drivers’ World Championship. Red Bull’s Verstappen has a 12 point lead over the Mercedes drivers with five races remaining.

Hamilton has won five of the 17 races so far this season, while Verstappen has racked up eight victories. Since the beginning of the F1 championship in 1950 only one driver has won eight or more times and not become the champion. Ironically, it was Hamilton who was on the top step of the podium 10 times in 2016, but he finished second in the championship – just five points behind Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg.

Even if he wins all five of the remaining races, Hamilton will still fail to match 2018, 2019 and 2020 when he won 11 times. But Verstappen can tie the record of 13 wins in a season set by Sebastian Vettel in 2013 and Michael Schumacher in 2004.

Hamilton has never won the championship when he was not leading the points prior to the United States Grand Prix. But he was trailing Verstappen both before and after this year’s race.

Stats or no stats, the 2021 title could go either way ...

But of course one DNF by either driver could swing the balance by 25 points. And the performance balance between the cars of the two teams also continues to swing back and forth.

“We have to be careful in the team that we are not always swinging between mania and depression, but instead eke forward with our understanding of the car,” Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said after Verstappen defeated Hamilton in

Austin. “The general feedback was that Mercedes are dominating and what is Red Bull going to do about that?

Fast forward 24 hours and it’s gone the opposite way. So it is about really exploiting the car, how do we tune the product and deliver the performance?

And that is what is going to make the difference between losing and winning.”

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner said “you have to attack.”

“Twelve points is nothing and it can disappear very quickly as we have seen previously,” he added. “So we have to keep attacking the race weekends as we have been and get the most out of it we can. With five to go, the pressure only gets bigger.

“You’ve got to chuck the formbook away. It’s very tight between the two teams.”

And, perhaps, chuck out the book of statistics as well.

RICCIARDO’S JOY RIDE

IT WAS easy to see that Daniel Ricciardo’s grin was wider than ever because the Aussie wore an open face helmet when he drove Dale Earnhardt’s #3 NASCAR stocker around the Circuit of the America.

“I think everyone’s very glad I wore an open face helmet,” said Ricciardo, who also spun some doughnuts. “It was sick ... it was so much fun. It’s so different as well, so I’m definitely going to get my kicks out of it just because it’s so raw and foreign.

“Then the noise, kind of smashing gears, the driving position ... everything is quite unique. I mean, it’s Dale’s car! He’s one of my all-time heroes so that was surreal.

It was good fun and I think to do it here as well … if we rented a private track somewhere in England, it wouldn’t have had the effect. So I am really grateful that Zak (Brown) flew it out here.”

McLaren’s CEO Zak Brown, who owns the car and keeps it in his private collection in the

www.autoaction.com.au

UK, promised Ricciardo that if he finished on the podium this season he would get to drive the car.

Daniel won the Italian Grand Prix in September.

“It started off life in 1983,” Brown said. “It’s actually Ricky Rudd’s car that won at Riverside.

I was at that race. And then it got converted to Dale Earnhardt Sr’s car in the ’84 and ’85 season, and won a handful of races, so it’s the real deal.”

Wrangler was the sponsor so the car had a yellow and blue livery. The classic black paint job came later when Goodwrench became Earnhardt’s main sponsor.

Earnhardt always used #3 on his cars, which is why Ricciardo has the same number on his car.

“I’m happy for Daniel,” Dale Earnhardt Jr. tweeted. “I’m also appreciative for how he celebrates my father. That makes a lot of dad’s family members and fans smile.”

Earnhardt Sr. lost his life in a last lap accident in the 2001 Daytona 500.

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“I immediately got goosebumps,” Ricciardo said when told about the tweet. “Honestly, if I was in a

instagram.com/autoactionmag/

private setting and he told me that … I’d have maybe cried a little bit.

It was pretty crazy. I say crazy but

‘happy crazy’ to just be appreciated by that family in general. I am such a fan and after Senior, I was a massive fan of Junior.

“I was watching every NASCAR race for years. I’d wake up and watch Junior drive, win the 500, win the 500 every February. I don’t know. It was pretty cool just to be recognised and appreciated for having support for his dad.”

Earnhardt Sr. always wore an open faced helmet. When he found a fullface helmet in Dale Jr’s racing kit he dumped it in the rubbish bin!

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Publisher Bruce Williams bruce@autoaction.com.au 0418 349 555 Editorial Director

Bruce Williams

Deputy Editor

Dan McCarthy

News Editor

Paul Gover

Staff Journalist

Art Director

Neville Wilkinson

Production

Josh Nevett Caroline Garde

National Editor

Garry O’Brien

Historics Editor

Mark Bisset

Online Editor

Rhys Vandersyde

F1 INSIDER

with Dan Knutson

REVOLVING RACES THE SOLUTION?

Contributing Writers Australia Bruce Newton, Mark Bisset, Garry O’Brien, Geoffrey Harris, David Hassall, Bob Watson, Bruce Moxon, Gary Hill, Craig O’Brien, Mick Oliver, Martin Agatyn. Paris Charles Formula 1 US Correspondent

Dan Knutson Mike Brudenell

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WITH THE United States Grand Prix in the books, there are now only five races left in this record 23-race season. There will be 23 Formula 1 rounds in 2022 as well, and that could expand to 25 in a couple years.

That’s the maximum number permitted by the rules, but then that number used to be 17…

Former F1 czar Bernie Ecclestone believes the sport is diluting itself by having too many races, and that there should be no more than 18.

But more races mean more money for the teams, Formula 1 and the FIA. And there are countries and markets around the world that F1 wants to be in, and countries that are keen to host F1.

“The demand we have from different countries and venues to get a slot in the F1 calendar is tremendous,” says F1’s CEO Stefano Domenicali.

Africa, for example – either in Egypt or in Morocco or, most likely, in South Africa as the country has a turn-key circuit at Kyalami ready to go.

Furthermore, some countries would like to hold two rounds – China at the current venue outside Shanghai and at a new street track in Beijing; Russia at the current Sochi circuit and, in 2023, the new street track in St. Petersburg.

And now that the Miami race has been established for 2022, F1 is seeking a venue for a third race in the United States.

Indianapolis Motor Speedway owner Roger Penske really wants F1 to return to Indy. And there have been some initial talks with New York City officials.

Officials from Las Vegas were in Austin during the United States Grand Prix weekend to discuss having a race in their city.

“I’ve had the opportunity to meet recently with F1 leaders, and I’ve appreciated their time on this topic,” Nevada governor Steve Sisolak told the New York Times.

“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: the silver state is quickly becoming the entertainment as well as the sports capital.”

The problem with a race in Vegas is where to stage it. Seeing F1 cars scream down the famous Strip would be cool. But the Casino owners don’t want anything obstructing access to their establishments. Moreover, the traffic on The Strip is horrendous, and all that traffic would have to be diverted onto other roads.

On the other hand, F1 is booming in the US thanks in part to the Netflix Drive to Survive series. The Austin race was a sellout, with 400,000 fans at the track during the three days of the weekend.

“It feels like this is our acceptance into the US,” Lewis Hamilton said at The Circuit of the Americas. “I hope we get more races out here, and I hope that the sport continues to grow because you can tell just how great the fans are out here.”

The casinos and the other businesses in Las Vegas would certainly like to have over 100,000 race fans visit the city.

The solution for the high demand for grands prix looks to be a concept that has been discussed before – a revolving race calendar.

There would be about 15 established countries that would get permanent race dates. Melbourne, Monaco, Montreal, Monza and Miami, for example.

Then, the other countries – with the highest bidders getting priority – would rotate through, getting a race every couple of years.

Are 25 races at a variety of venues too much of a good thing? It certainly is a good thing for the bank accounts of Formula 1, the teams and the FIA! I agree with Ecclestone that F1 could reach an oversaturation point. TV viewership could decline because not every fan is going to devote 25 weekends a year at home in front of the TV. They might choose to do their own “revolving” by picking and choosing what races they want to watch and skipping the rest.

BACK ON TRACK NEW STARS ROUGH -UP THE OLD GUARD

THE AUSSIE VOICE OF INDYCAR

LEIGH DIFFEY – AUSTRALIA’S OTHER INDYCAR STAR

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WHAT’S IN THE Supercars: SMP 2 and 3 – news and coverage; and Brazilian Grands Prix; 60 Years of NEXT ISSUE, ON Mexican Winton Raceway; The Rise of Supercars’ Next Generation ...

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with Paul Gover with Mark Fogarty

E IV T C E P S R E P ’S R E V O G THE FOGES FILE AA’s proud pundit rejoices in the return of the Tasman Cup and defends F1 ENTHUSIASTS OF a certain age have longed for the return of the Tasman Cup championship.

In our youth, it was the pinnacle. A summer series in New Zealand and Australia that was virtually a southern Formula 1 title.

From 1964-69, the Tasman Cup saw F1 stars race here for a crown second only to the world championship, which back then was decided over as few as eight Grands Prix.

Jack Brabham, Jim Clark, Bruce McLaren, Denny Hulme, Graham Hill, Chris Amon, Piers Courage and Jochen Rindt were just some of the big names who spent January and February Down Under.

In the later years, their 2.5-litre variants were test cars for the coming three-litre F1 season.

OCTOBER Bathurst the is like, The TasmanWITHOUT series showcased well,locals you get the picture .. top – Frank Matich,. Spencer For asKevin long Bartlett as I canand remember, Martin, Leo Mount Panorama has dominated my Geoghegan, among others – against year. the best in the world.

Whenwhen I wasF5000 just a took kid, itover wasfrom about Even stocking the up with snacks 1970-75, Tasman Cupand hadthen spendinginternational the whole day in front of the immense prestige. television asend-of-season Moffat battled Oz-only Brock in This year’s the early 1970s.series for S5000, revived Tasman Later, as by a journalist, theAustralia annual trip endorsed Motorsports and to Bathurst highlight of any NZ, won’t bewas the the same, but it will thrill year. It was less fun driving back to diehards.

Melbourne running the rounds gauntlet The future and prospect of four of NZ theand after-midnight speed patrols in another four in Australia around Albury, although I eventually in January/February, mimicking realised thatishanding the wheel to the original, intoxicating for someone else twonew. of my co-pilots enthusiasts old –and Big-bore V8 got the blue-light treatment - was open wheelers driven by local andthe best strategy.aces racing for an historic international Nothing matches coming over the title – what’s not to like? hill into Bathurst andyou seeing Mount If you’re under 40, may the have no Panorama sign.important It still givethe meTasman gooseconcept of how bumps.

Cup was.

The other for me, and I When I washighlight a kid, it was pre-eminent. admit that on it’sholiday something special F1 heroes here,very racing – even forseriously a journalist 20-plus visits, almost – forwith a prestigious is walking on the grid before the start.

Look at the line-up for the Warwick Farm Tasman Series round in 1968 – front row Jim Clark, Graham Hill, Chris Amon; second row Piers Courage, Denny Hulme; third row Frank Gardner ...

DELAYED ... BUT IT’S BATHURST!

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crown. But fun in the sun was the main appeal.

I missed the semi-F1 glory years, but I’d read about them. I became involved in the F5000 era, when Matich, Graham McRae and Peter Gethin were Imagine walking onto the ground the big stars. ahead of the AFL or NRL final, The first story I ever wrotegrand – published 10Auto minutes before of ago play,– in Action nearlythe 50start years and about talkingMcRae to heroes areTasman often was andwho his ’72 also friends. Leda GM1.

Cup-winning when Covid-19 meant ILast paidyear, tribute to McRae on our web the much-smaller pressdeath. contingent site following his recent In the was largely restricteddays, to the early F5000 Tasman heMedia was the Centre, was bad enough, but thistitles time man to beat, winning successive around I was genuinely homesick for from ’71-73.

Bathurst.

In 1975, my first year as a But now, asjournalist, racing has resumed, professional I reported themy spirits have Tasman title lifted. shoot-out at Sandown Yours too, I’m prepared to bet. between Warwick Brown, Johnnie Four straight at Sydney Walker and Kiwiweekends Graeme Lawrence Motorsport Park is far from ideal, butin (who won the crossover 1970 series the best – andDino). only – way to get the aits2.5-litre Ferrari Supercars going ahead John Gosschampionship won the race after and to pave the way for the Repco Walker’s fence-ripping crash, with Bathurstsixth 1000.place clinching what Brown’s Rightbe now, the countdown would theI’m finalinto Tasman title. and looking forward The Great I also reported – andtoperhaps helped Race almost as much looked hasten – the demise of as theI Tasman forward to Christmas when when I was athe Cup championship in 1976, kid. summer series was split into the F5000 Peter Stuyvesant (NZ) and Rothmans THE CHEERS whenStill Max Verstappen (Aus) Internationals. seven races took pole position for the US Grand

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in Jan/Feb, just not cojoined under the Tasman Cup banner – although, sponsored by the same tobacco company.

I wrote a comment piece in The Australian after the ’75 series Prix will staythe withuncomfortable me for quite atranswhile. denouncing There was a bigearning cheer when Lewis Tasman alliance, approbation Hamilton quickest on–his in NZ. Butwent I called the split andfinal was qualifying at the Circuit the of the not popularrun when I covered ’76 Americas, but the across grandstands standalone series The Ditch. erupted Mighty hisa The newwhen Tasman CupMax will did evoke number. storied history while ushering a new It was much the same when generation of open-wheel stars.

Verstappen went to across Once it extends seventhe or line moreto win a race that satisfied theitAmerican events in NZ and Australia, will appetite for action and tension and a be truly worthy of the Tasman Cup grandstand finish. championship title.

Everyone on the Foxtel feed from Austin F1 wasIS talking about an American WHY INTOXICATING breakthrough, guest of analyst AT HIS peak asfrom president the Danica toMosley LA resident Jenson FIA, the Patrick late Max observed Button and the Mr Shouty, that Formula 1’sresident fascination was David Croft. by suspense. underpinned With an official attendance Mosley’s view was that, like of the rarity 400,000 over the race weekend and of goals in soccer, the anticipation of Croftyresults complaining he could upset or greatthat battles in F1 not kept get ainterested. dinner reservation, something fans definitely happened at the US GPfor .

He was right.

F1 followers have Perhapsendured it’s the appeal of theand decades dominations Verstappen-versus-Hamilton battle boring races for the prospect of a for the crown, or thethriller. insider view once-every-so-often from that has maderaces F1 more OneNetflix of those redeeming was understandable, or the chance for a

the recent Hungarian Grand Prix. It had everything: drama, suspense, fierce racing and an unexpected winner.

Motorsport Images There was Lewis Hamilton, alone on the grid on intermediate tyres as the rest flooded into the pit lane to change Covid-normal weekend at the races, to slicks ... never seen that before! orWith the the promotional work ... the whatpitabout rest starting from lane Danny Ric inscramble, that Earnhardt NASCAR? in an unholy it set the stage ... that Liberty Media has done since for a thriller – and it was. itHamilton’s took control of Bernie Ecclestone’s fightback was train-set. confirmation of his brilliance.

In reality, all in of his that.underdone Out front, it’s Ocon Hamilton hit a new fan base in Alpine held has off Sebastien Vettel, the USA, Ricciardo Lando Norris maximising his Astonand Martin. are fun and relatable, Sergio Behind them, battles and galore – Perez hasAlonso obvious appealoff toHamilton the giant Fernando fending Mexicanthe population in the USA. proved ex-world champion Whatever is, it what is working.

Spaniard stillit has it takes.And the new GPisata Miami lift There lessonnext here.year Mix will up the thingsand again. order outsiders have a chance.

Which getsbe mesaid thinking about Albert Same could for Supercars.

Park in the 2021.

When field gets out of order, Some people have written that the anything can happen.

We watch race will not and will lose F1 races out happen of duty, occasionally its place on F1 calendar, but the rewarded bythe epics. latest relaxing of the Covid For all its predictability, thenoose prospect around Australia toenthralled. a genuine of an upset keepspoints F1 fans returnso of often, the Australian Prix Every a race isGrand riveting. next April.was Theone date changed but Hungary of has those rare thrillers everything be much from bizarreelse startshould to uplifting finish.the same as normal.

It is why F1 is worth watching. You Just like know.

Bathurst in December, I just never cannot wait.

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THE VOICE OF CHOICE The Voice of IndyCars has had a distinctive Aussie twang for several years ...

Leigh Diffey is one of Australia’s greatest motorsport exports, even if he has never raced.

The one-time star caller for Supercars is now a worldwide television presence as the face – and voice – of IndyCar racing in the USA. He has never lost his Queensland twang, or his Downunder sense of humour, yet still banks a seven-figure salary from the giant NBC network and this year fronted its track-and-field coverage from the Olympics Games.

Report: Paul Gover Images: Motorsport Images IF YOU ask Leigh Diffey to name the best racing driver in the world, right now, the answer will come as a shock.

It’s not Lewis Hamilton, or Max Verstappen, or Alex Palou or even Shane van Gisbergen Diffey goes for Kyle Larson, and he should know.

The transplanted Queenslander has his finger on the pulse of all forms of motorsport, from Formula One and MotoGP to Supercross and IndyCar and NASCAR, in his role as the motorsport front man for the giant NBC Network in the USA. It’s a massive change, and a huge achievement, for a Brisbane boy whose original dream was to call the homegrown Supercars.

“How do I describe myself? I’m a broadcaster,” Diffey tells Auto Action from his American home, deep in the green belt just outside New York City.

The kid who started as a trackside

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commentator for local motocross, where he spruiked his youthful mate Darryl Beattie, is now a 50-year-old veteran who has been at the tip of Supercars broadcasting, lived in London to commentate the World Superbike Championship, and is now at the top of his game – and his business.

Apart from anchoring the live coverage of the IndyCar World Series, Diffey has just completed another Olympic Games with NBC, this time as the lead commentator for track-and-field. And he has a big role in broadcasting of Rugby.

But back to Kyle Larson.

“The best driver? In anything?

“Currently, in the world?,” says Diffey as he searches for an answer to the question. As always for Diff (or ‘Stiffey’) it must be The Right Answer.

“One of the best drivers in the world, by far, is Kyle Larson. The guy is in a car about four times a week. And he has just dominated NASCAR this year.

“I also think that, at the age of 41, what Scott Dixon is doing is still incredible.

“It’s tough, because I think it is so subjective. It’s like polls – someone says it’s The Top 100 drivers of 2021.

You read it and say ‘Really?’

“It’s the subjectivity of it that bothers me. How do you grind out a matrix?

“What I like is the retro way that modern drivers are looking at racing now. They want to do the Rolex 24 at Daytona. They want to try and do Bathurst. Alexander Rossi goes off to do the Baja 1000.

“To me, that’s the best driver in the world – the driver who wants to do the most racing in the world. So it harks back to stepping outside your comfort zone.”

He searches for an answer to the question.

As always for Diff (or ‘Stiffey’) it must be The Right Answer.

The IndyCar ‘A’ team (top) – Diffey, Calvin Fish and AJ Almendinger at work ... Kyle Larson (centre) has been the revelation of the NASCAR world and Diffey is a huge fan. The greatest thrill, though, has been lapping the Indy 500 oval with the great Mario Andretti ...

One driver who has done it all, from NASCAR and IndyCar to Formula One and Sprintcars, is Diffey’s good mate Mario Andretti. He is clearly in awe of one of the greatest all-rounders of all time, likely best of all, who took him for a two-seater IndyCar ride at more than 320km/h around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2019.

“It was a life changing experience,” says Diffey.

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“He did scare me a little bit. I was taken aback by the violence of it. He said we got up to about 190 milesand-hour.”

But what also impressed Diffey, the professional and not just the race fan, is the commitment by the then 79-yearold.

“In between passenger runs he comes in to the pits and tunes the car. He is full-on.”

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It’s a similar commitment to the focus and vision, hard work and research – and talent – that took Diffey all the way to the top of his chosen career.

“I raced motorbikes when I was a kid. And I still have my first bike, here in the garage. It’s a Honda MR50 and it’s about to be sent off for restoration.

“I raced until I was 16 or 17. And then I stopped and did school. My mate

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Darryl Beattie grew up the same, and his mum was my school teacher. Darryl came to our local bike club and the rest is history.

“That’s how I got into commentary.

My brother raced, Darryl raced, I would go to the meetings and knew all the people. I was just hanging around.

“The folks at the club said I’d made a few speeches and done pretty good, and asked me if I’d do the commentary.”

Was there ever a temptation to try car racing?

“Not really. You go for a fun go-kart meeting and I’ll always be in on that.

I’ve had the opportunity to drive cars on a track, but what do I have to win or what do I have to lose?

“I’m not in my position because I’m a professional car racer. I’m a professional broadcaster who knows racing.”

Now, aged 50 and living comfortably in Ridgefield in Connecticut, just outside New York, Diffey says he is happy with the lifestyle for his wife and two children.

But he also knows what it took to uproot himself from Australia, where he could still have been in the commentary booth with Neil Crompton, to chase a dream in the UK and then the USA.

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How, then, do his listeners react to his Aussie accent?

And has he ever tried to modify it?

“I first came here almost 20 years ago.

It was 2002. It was after living in London for two years, and I had two years back in Australia in ‘05 and ’06.”

Diffey was prepared to do anything, and he did – even helping to get PWR radiators established in the ’States and delivering parts from his garage.

“We lived in Charlotte, North Carolina.

We moved up here when I was doing Formula One. And I was also doing a NASCAR studio show. It gave me four more months a year at home with my family.

“The travel was brutal and I was away from home so much, it made sense to move. NBC Sports headquarters is less than half-an-hour away and the nearest airport, the easiest one, is La Guardia in New York.”

So, how many days does he now spend on the road?

“It’s a lot. But at least I’m going to the racetracks. It’s not like I’m just going

Bottom and above right: Diffey’s last year behind the Supercars mike was 2005.... Above left: Legend Richard Petty - a ‘what-if’ Diffey ‘dinner’ guest ...

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to a studio. I only missed one work weekend because of Covid. And I was doing MotoGP and studio updates on rugby.”

And what do the locals think of him?

“Ridgefield is a nice town. They don’t know I’m from Carol Park, Brisbane,” he laughs.

“My wife was born in Australia but raised in Canada. Our boys were born in Atlanta, so they have American accents but have a lot of Australian in them.”

What’s the best thing about living in the ’states and working for NBC? “The pay-cheque?” he laughs again.

“There is always so much to do and so many different places to go. This weekend I can be in Connecticut, next week in Chicago, next week Indy. We recently had the three-week swing on the West Coast with IndyCar.” Diffey works hard, very hard, and knows that comes from his early days in Australia.

“I’ve always been that guy who does different things. I’ve been doing it for that long that I’m used to it. If I only did one thing I’d be looking for the next thing.

“I’m doing IMSA sports cars.

Supercross. IndyCar. COTA (Circuit of the Americas) for MotoGP. “Then I click into doing rugby. We have different rugby tournaments on the network, Sevens, World Cup, Olympics, European championships. The one I regularly work on, which happens every week, is called Premiership Rugby in the USA. “I think it has been one of the keys to my longevity is that I can do different things. I have to go right back to the beginning, because Channel 10 helped me to be that way.”

Working the Olympics has been a highlight for Diffey for nearly a decade.

“It was my fourth games, as I’ve done two Winter and two Summer games.

Versatility is the name of the Diffey game: COTA MotoGP (above); IMSA (below), F1 chat with Lewis and Co (bottom), and even indoor Supercross ...

“This was my best games by a long way, as bizarre as that sounds.

“I had the privilege of doing track-andfield. There was enormous faith put in me by NBC. That wasn’t lost on me.

It was the hardest I’ve worked, but the most rewarding” How, then, do his listeners react to his Aussie accent? And has he ever tried to modify it?

“I’m not sure I could change it. I could do a bad Southern accent,” he laughs, again.

“I’ve been here long enough that people know me and they are used to it. The Olympic broadcast audience only hears me every two years, but for the motorsport audience I’m pretty sure they are used to it.

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“There is nobody on US television that sounds like me. It’s easy to know it’s me. I guess that’s kinda nice.”

It’s also nice to be living in the USA, with a big country-style home and a big American Dodge RAM pick-up, but where is home for Diffey?

“Home is America, for now. It’s very difficult to answer that question. Home was Australia for the first half of my life.

And the USA has been home for the second half.

“I wish I had a more flexible schedule that allowed me to come back for more periods of time. It’s somewhat frustrating, because I miss my family and friends. So we have a system where they can come to us.

“The last time I was in Australia was

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June of 2019. I was literally there for four days.”

So what does he miss?

“Just the easy-going nature of Australian people in general. I miss those early morning walks to the beach.

I miss Aussie coffee.

“Many people describe Australia as a little America. But Australia is unique in so many ways. I just love being there.”

Speaking of Australia, does Diffey keep tabs on the latest news in Supercars racing?

“I honestly don’t have time. I feel guilty about that,” he says, and there is no laughing.

“It was such an important part of my history. But I stay in touch with it by social media.”

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Now, getting back to the original question, about the world’s best driver, it’s time for Diffey to switch things up.

Which four drivers, today and not from the past, would Diffey invite to dinner?

This time he cannot stop smiling as he rattles off the guest list.

“Because of who he is, and because he is a friend, you put Mario right at the head of the table,” says Diffey.

“You put in The King, Richard Petty.

You would put in Tom Kristensen, as Mister Le Mans. He’s a great bloke.

“And then you would put in Dick Johnson. He would spice it up. And also the fact that when DJ raced at Sonoma in California in NASCAR, all those years ago, he called Richard Petty a prick . . .”

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CHAPMAN’S INDY MISSILE:

LOTUS 29 FORD V8

Dalton) Car Graphic cover (S Lotus 29 Ford Sports

Images: Motorsport Images, Ford Motor Company Archives, Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum

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Above: Ain’t she sweet! Lotus 29 Ford #R2 postqualifying. Colin Chapman, Jim Endruweit, David Lazenby, Colin Riley and Jim Clark

“Among the 250,000-spectator throng at the Memorial Day Classic, Chapman was impressed with the pace of the traditional 4.2-litre Offenhauser four-cylinder, twin-cam powered front-engined roadsters… ”

Dan Gurney at speed in R1 during the first Indy test, March, 1963.

Jack Brabham and John Cooper started the British Indy Invasion in 1961. Then Dan Gurney grabbed the baton with Lotus, Ford and Jim Clark in 1963 – they were robbed of victory too! Mark Bisset tells a tale of good-old-boys and tradition trumping infidels and technology.

DAN GURNEY took a deep breath, along with the rest of the racing world, as Lotus chief Colin Chapman unveiled the revolutionary F1 Lotus 25 Climax at Zandvoort during the 1962 Dutch Grand Prix weekend.

That year the Californian great was racing Porsche grand prix cars and sportscars, and he saw the immediate potential of a similar IndyCar design. John Cooper and Jack Brabham had proved the speed of new-fangled rear-engined designs at the Brickyard with their tiddly 2.7-litre Cooper T54 Climax in 1961, the same year Gurney debuted at Indy.

Gurney approached Chapman with the notion of a monocoque chassis Indy Lotus and enticed the ever-restless entrepreneur Stateside with the offer of a free round-trip air ticket.

DAN AND COLIN ON TOUR Among the 250,000-spectator throng at the Memorial Day Classic, Chapman was impressed with the pace of the traditional 4.2-litre Offenhauser four-cylinder, twin-cam powered front-engined roadsters, but was equally stunned by their post-war technology.

Seeing easy pickings would be overstating things, but the opposition and the US Dollars on offer was attractive.

Gurney raced Mickey Thompson’s impressive Buick V8 stock-block mid-engined car designed by Englishman, John Crosthwaite. He was in contention, running in the top-10 until transmission problems ousted him after 92 laps.

Gurney had contacts (Jacque Passino) at Ford thanks to a one-off Holman-Moody NASCAR drive at Daytona not long before.

Ford were in the early stages of their Total Left: Red hot: 255cid pushrod, aluminum V8. 343lbs, circa 360bhp. Right: Anxious looks from Lotus/FoMoCo/Autolite/Firestone reps – Indy, March ‘63

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Performance motorsport revolution and he figured they may be interested in an Indy campaign, inclusive of building an engine. Chapman was already a recipient of the corporate’s largesse in the form of Ford UK’s Lotus Cortina program.

The California Kid organised a meeting of he, Chapman, and senior Ford executives at their Dearborn HQ in July 1962. Their pitch – based on the pace and fuel economy of Dan’s ’62 Mickey Thompson ride – was a pump fuel-fed pushrod OHV engine giving 350bhp from 255cid, weighing no more than 350 pounds, fitted to a chassis akin to the epochal Lotus 25. This machine changed the engineering of racing cars to this day, and won the 1963 F1 World Championship in Jim Clark’s hands.

In short, they proposed a less powerful, smaller, lighter, more fuel and aerodynamically efficient Indy car, which would make fewer stops, be quicker through the corners while giving nothing away down Indy’s long chutes from the 415bhp, 2130 pounds, hitherto dominant Indy roadsters.

That approach was discussed with Ford and agreed, subject to further research and testing.

Chapman returned to Hornsey and started to think about the core elements of what became the Lotus 29, together with Len Terry who had designed and drawn the Lotus 25 to Chapman’s concept.

THE COURTING COUPLE: TESTING, EVALUATION AND DESIGN Ford’s resources were devoted to a detailed study of Indianapolis and its peculiarities. They gained an understanding of the existing paradigm by hiring the Rodger Ward driven AJ Watson-built Watson Offy and wiring it with a whole raft of sensors to provide comprehensive Indy performance data, the analysis of which was assisted by then new-fangled computers.

Lotus received the same treatment after the US GP at Watkins Glen in October when Jim Clark drove his 1.5-litre 180bhp Lotus 25 Climax V8 at Indy; it was decades since such a small capacity engine had run there!

The Indy novice did about 100 laps, with a best of 143 mph without too much effort. “Ford engineers were impressed beyond their wildest expectations,” Lotus historian Andrew Ferguson wrote – the speed of the Lotus through corners was far superior to the Watson.

After that, Lotus’ Jim Endruweit and Dick Scammell took 25 chassis-R2 to Dearborn where Ford engineers scrutinised it.

While work progressed on an aluminium 255cid (as mandated by USAC regs) version of Ford’s cast-iron production Falcon/Fairlane 260 V8, the giant corporate projected the performance of a

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1600-pound 350bhp Lotus.

Using the 25’s drag coefficient, turn-speeds, and dynamic weight transfer information they calculated an average corner speed range of 137.5mph-141mph, lap speeds of 146-155 mph – 150.5mph if the engine developed 365bhp…

There wasn’t too much going on at Lotus ... production of the Elite and 7 road cars, development of the Elan, F1, construction of customer racing cars and road/race Lotus Cortina programs … but by October Len Terry had commenced drawing the Lotus 29.

It was conceptually the same as the 25 – so much so that when Terry listed his design credits in his biography, he didn’t add the Indy types 29 and 34 as he regarded them as 25 offshoots.

By December, the rear frame, centre bulkhead and instrument panel, top and bottom channels, chassis jig for construction, steering rack, undertray and engine bulkhead were complete.

Colotti provided their existing Type 37A four-speed gearbox, which was modified to Lotus requirements. By January the suspension, oil tank, water, and oil radiators and driveshafts were drawn. Four FPT rubber, rupture-proof fuel bags (total capacity 42 gallons) were given special dispensation for use by USAC, a concept to be shortly adopted by them across the board.

The chassis was a tad-stiffer than the 25 due to the IndyCar’s slightly deeper and wider side-members. Front suspension comprised top rockers, lower wishbones and inboard coil spring/ shocks while at the rear the same 25 cocktail of single top links, inverted lower wishbone, two radius rods and coil spring/shocks were used.

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FoMoCo engineer about to test the torsional rigidity of R1. Dearborn, March ‘63.

Adjustable roll bars were fitted front and rear.

The car was designed and built with symmetrical suspension but raced with the chassis offset 2.375 inches to the left – achieved by having longer suspension links on the right side than the left.

Lotus 29 uprights were a stronger mix of magnesium and zirconium rather than magnesium only as, on the 25, hubs accepted alloy peg-drive Dunlop knock-off wheels.

Ford engineers, led by Bill Gay, Executive Engineer of Advanced Engines, were not as excited about development of a production based V8 as a DOHC, two-valve fuel injected V8. But, fortuitously, Bill Innes’ Engine and Foundry Division had already commenced R&D on an aluminium variant of the 260.

Principal Design Engineer Bill Macura and

Richard Chen developed their race engine in three stages. Initial development was done with a cast iron 260 motor before they used modified patterns to create their Stage 2 sand-cast aluminium block and cylinder heads. Most aspects of the standard engine required design changes, although these were barely discernible externally.

Using cast-iron dry cylinder liners and four-bolt main bearing caps for bearings one through four, created a strong bottom end which housed a forged-steel crankshaft. Rods were modified shot-peened and polished 289 hi-po items.

The bore was reduced from the standard 3.80 inches to 3.76 inches, but the stroke remained at 2.87 inches to give the mandated maximum USAC capacity of 255cid.

The heads incorporated aluminium-bronze valve

Gurney, Chapman and Clark happy during practice. The single-seater packaging challenge of the lovable, lanky-yankee clear!

Dan was Jim’s most feared F1 rival.

March ‘63 Indy test; Chapman’s joblist grows.

Above: Clark, Chapman and Gurney ponder the missing ancillaries of a race 255. guides and double valve-springs. When rocker studs failed, a rocker shaft with cast, malleable iron rockers replaced them. Four bosses were added to the exhaust manifold side, and four studs to the intake side of the heads to improve gasket sealing.

Combustion chambers were modified, intake and exhaust ports enlarged, as were the valves. The compression ratio was 12.5:1 while carburetion evolved from four 46mm, to 58mm downdraft Webers.

Neat touches included a magnesium front cover and Autolite’s new breakerless, transistorised ignition.

TESTING, TESTING AND THE MONTH OF MAY

By November ’62 the engine was testing in a race Galaxie; by early ’63, Series 3 engines weighed 343 pounds and developed 352-365bhp at 7100-7200rpm. These engines were used by Clark

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Above: Parents and first-born. Len Terry, Chapman, Endruweit (beside Clark in 29 R1) and the build-crew at Lotus, Cheshunt, UK early March 1963.

Right: Clark in R1, Indy first test, March ‘63. Note bathtub monocoque, stack-exhausts and symmetrical suspension. And the roll-cage – bolted to the engine ... Really!

Bottom: Start ya bastard! Clark, Gurney and supplier reps, Gasoline Alley, Indy March ‘63. and Gurney at the Indy tests in March 1963.

Back at Cheshunt, chassis R1 was completed in early March before Clark tested it at Snetterton, fitted with symmetrical suspension, stack exhausts and Lotus wobbly-webs (wheels). Jim broke the lap record all the same!

R1 was then prepared for a run on Ford’s Kingman, banked 5-mile oval test track in Arizona, where Dan saw, and tested it for the first time. He proved its pace – it could lap Indy at 150.50mph despite carburetion and throttle linkage niggles, and, more critically, valve stud breakages.

Chapman and Gurney flew to Dearborn to thrash out the engine issues, while Jim Endruweit and Dave Lazenby towed the car there and prepared it for tests at Indy over the March Sebring 12 Hour weekend; there Gurney raced an AC Cobra powered by the Indy V8.

R1’s engine arrived at Gasoline Alley on the Saturday, devoid of some of its ancillaries. These were purloined from rented Fairlanes, rather proving the relationship between the road and race engines!

Clark drove the car late on Sunday, circulating in the 140-144mph bracket using symmetrical suspension, then again on Monday at 146mph, before poor weather intervened.

Jim returned to Europe. Dan, fresh from Sebring, then took over. He tested Dunlops and Firestones and changed the final drive ratio, then on Wednesday evening did a 59.78 second, 150.501mph. Only Parnelli Jones’ Watson Offy ’62 pole had ever been quicker. And this, with stack exhausts and those wobbly-webs (wheels)! There was plenty more to come…

At Cheshunt, Lotus completed Clark’s 29-R3 and Gurney’s 29-R2 in time for the interminably long Indy-month-of-May. It involved 22 days of running, or total potential practice time of 174 hours. “Or to put it another way, just one month at the Speedway was equal to over 27 Grands Prix or 2.75 years of Formula 1 practice,” wrote Ferguson. Crazy, but that was the tradition.

The Dunlop wheels were cracking, so the team acquired one set of scarce Halibrands which were modified to suit Lotus hubs.

With qualifying time short before Clark and Chapman returned to Europe – 66 cars were chasing 33 grid spots – Jim did a 58.3 second, 153mph lap. Then the trick wheels were transferred to Dan’s car who lost it and clobbered the turn one wall backwards. Dan was okay, but the car and Halibrands were damaged.

The following day Jim’s four-lap qualifying

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“Gurney pitted again for tyres, he ran a different set up to Clark, and then again two laps later as a wheel was loose.”

average was 149.750mph despite an unfavourable wind, using the strengthened, narrower, Dunlop wheels. Then Dan set off in The Mule–R1, but ended his run after three laps – he was stuck with the 149.019mph he had done on the Sunday; Clark would start fifth, and Gurney 12th. Jones won pole with 151.153mph speed; there was still plenty of kick in those old-tech, highly refined, fit-for-purpose roadsters!

Before race day, sufficient Halibrands were procured for both cars, while Ford’s Bill Gay sorted Bill Stroppe’s stock-car crew to look after Lotus’ critical pit work.

RACEDAY: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK The sheer noise and scale of 250,000 spectators attending the Memorial Day classic is not to be believed. In 1963 the field had perfect race conditions, a 22-degree day under a clear blue sky.

After the politicians, brass bands and marching gals had done their thing, the Chevrolet pace car took the field up to 90mph and released 14,000-horsepower. Jones’ Watson took an immediate lead and was soon 14 seconds up the road from Gurney, in ninth and Clark 10th.

At 100 miles, Dan let Jim through as his engine had lost its edge (a cam lobe had worn off).

Parnelli upped his pace to cover his additional pitstop, but Lotus matched him. Jones stopped under yellows on lap 62 – his experience meant he worked the yellows better than Lotus – when Clark led. Gurney stopped on lap 92, taking on three

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tyres (his left-front was ok) and fuel in 42 seconds.

Clark pitted three laps later for the same combination of tyres and fuel – his stop was 32 seconds. Clark was then third, 40 seconds adrift of Jones in the lead, from Jim Hurtuboise’s Novi. Clark inherited second place after the last surviving crowd-sentimental-favourite, Novi, retired on lap 102, black flagged for dropping oil.

Then Jones pitted under a yellow and maintained his lead, the gap to Clark got out to 47 seconds, and remained much the same.

Approaching Jones’ final pitstop circa lap 160, there was another car into the wall, and another yellow, so he pitted.

A race official pointed to oil dripping from the Watson during the pitstop – he was on the move after 21 seconds. Gurney was third, while Clark started to gain ground on Jones – by lap 177 the gap was five seconds. On lap 178 Eddie Sachs’ Watson spun on the oil but continued.

Then Jones’ Watson puffed blue smoke as he backed off for the corners, but the gap to Clark increased to nine, then 10 seconds as the oil leakage continued.

Gurney pitted again for tyres (he ran a different set up to Clark), and then again two laps later as a wheel was loose.

Chief Steward and ex-racer Harlan Fengler had warned drivers before the race that dropped oil would incur instant disqualification.

Jones’ crew chief, Johnny Poulsen visibly remonstrated with Fengler in front of the main straightaway crowd. Clark did his best to keep his car under control “on a track now awash with oil, waiting for the lead car to be black flagged.”

Then Jones’ car owner, long-time entrant JC Agajanian – multi-millionaire pig farmer, race-track owner and USAC director – joined the fun, also lobbying Fengler. Chapman, with smoke coming out of his ears, joined in, but was told to bugger-off as the car in question was not his.

Fengler called for binoculars…

Meantime, Clark was having trouble passing cars, including one huge slide which took him towards the wall – then one of the crowdfavourites, Eddie Sachs, lost it on the oil,and his Watson went straight into the wall.

‘Goddammit!’ thought Fengler.

On the one hand he didn’t want his decision to cost a driver his life. On the other, his personal bias was to his countrymen and those to whom he owed his livelihood rather than a few visiting ‘Limeys in a

Above: It’s all happening. Gurney’s R3 in Gasoline Alley. Note unstressed engine, offset suspension, Colotti ‘box and extractors/megaphones.

Above left: Gurney from Clark early in the race.

Below: Gurney brought Yamaha as his sponsor - his crew looked after R3.

Bottom: Smiles from Gurney and Clark despite copping the rough-end of the USAC-pineapple.

Inset (opposite): Ford makes the connection between race and road V8s.

Opposite centre: Overhead shows the sheer economy of Lotus packaging Opposite bottom: Oily Parnelli Jones en route to winning, Watson Offy roadster.

funny-green car.’ (with respect to Dan Gurney!).

Then two officials reported it was water Jones was dropping, Agajanian denied the car was dropping anything. An official held the black flag but didn’t use it.

If an American car/driver were in second place perhaps Fengler’s decision would have been different.

With three laps to go, and a gap of 22 seconds to Jones, Clark accepted his second place; Jones won from Clark, then AJ Foyt in another Watson Offy, with Gurney 7th having also completed 200 laps.

While Lotus, Ford, Clark and Gurney carried off their disappointment with great aplomb, a protest was not the way they – Ford in particular – wanted to win, there is little doubt they were shafted by the Indy Establishment.

Other drivers weren’t so conciliatory. Eddie Sachs and Roger McCluskey both blamed Jones for their late-race accidents. Sachs publicly disputed the matter with Jones at a function the following day and copped a knuckle-sandwich for his troubles.

The insular Indianapolis 16th Street entrance sign read ‘Indianapolis Motor Speedway – World Capitol of Auto Racing’. The ruling-junta held firm, the infidels were at the gate but jumping it was still two, long years away for Lotus, Ford, Chapman and Clark!

PUB AMMO • Chunky Chapman’s monocoque chassis that wasn’t! He described his new Lotus 25/29 as having a “twin-tube ladder frame” or “bath-tub”.

That ‘monocoque’ descriptor was a motornoter’s construct which stuck.

• FoMoCo’s aluminium, pushrod, Weber carbed AX-230-2 Indy 255cid V8’s are members of

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racing royalty, the Windsor small-block V8 family, whose race credits include Le Mans 24 Hour and Bathurst 500 wins.

• The Young Gurney’s back-street hot rods were Ford-flattie powered, so hooking up with the Blue Oval was natural to him! Mutually beneficial too, they won Le Mans together in 1967 when Dan shared an All-American victory with AJ Foyt in a 7-litre Ford GT Mk4.

• There was plenty of chassis’ variety among the 33 Indy starters – 11 different makes, albeit only four were rear-engined, the two Lotuses and a pair of Thompsons, the latter using pushrod Chevs.

• In addition to the two Ford V8’s were three 181cid supercharged Novi V8s. The balance of the field, 26 cars, were 4.2 Offy-powered.

• Firestone created a run on 15-inch tyres when they produced such boots for the light Lotuses.

Roadster racers dumped their 17-inch covers to grab the performance gain they perceived was in part due to the tyres, so there was a shortage of 15-inch tyres and Halibrand wheels to carry them. Frustrated by the lack of supply, AJ Foyt approached Goodyear, who supplied tyres in practice, but not the race. In so doing he ignited the Akron giant’s entrée into international racing. They got the hang of it pretty-quickly too, winning an F1 World Championship with our-very-own Jack Brabham in 1966.

• Chapman first met with Ford in July 1962; his contract with them wasn’t signed until after the 29’s Indy test in late March 1963. He was a racer to his core – and a gambler – given the staggering amount of Lotus time and money invested to that point.

Reference credit: ‘Team Lotus: The Indianapolis Years’ Andrew Ferguson.

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HOW TYRRELL BECAME MERCEDES F1 A team that started off with just five mechanics in the late 60s has grown, through many ownership changes, into the dominant force that is Mercedes AMG. DAN McCARTHY looks back at how Ken Tyrrell’s operation became an F1 powerhouse

Images: Motorsport Images TYRRELL, A Formula 1 team owned and operated by the late Ken Tyrrell won multipul Formula 1 titles with Sir Jackie Stewart, has now become one of the most successful Formula 1 teams in history in its latest incarnation, Mercedes AMG. But how did that little British team based in Tyrrell’s timber yard become a factory outfit for a German sportscar brand?

In 1952, Ken Tyrrell began racing a Cooper Formula 3 machine, but after moderate success he came to the conclusion that his talents were in team management and not behind the wheel.

Fast-forward 12 years and a young Scotsman by the name of Jackie Stewart turned up to test an F3 Tyrrell.

He impressed instantly, lapping faster than Bruce McLaren in the same car.

Stewart would go on to win the 1964 British F3 title and begin his F1 career with BRM, in 1965, however the pair remained in close contact.

Tyrrell was now keen to make the step into F1 and, in 1967, witnessed first-hand the new Ford V8 DFV engine assist Jim Clark to victory in the Dutch GP. Tyrrell purchased five of those very engines and with the support of Matra, entered F1 as a team owner under the name of Matra International.

Tyrrell’s deal with Matra saw him given free chassis and, in exchange, he provided drivers, engines, tyres, sponsorship and mechanics.

In 1967, Stewart was approached by Tyrrell to drive for the new Formula 1 team from the following year.

“Ken offered me the choice of £5 and a share of the winnings or £10,000 in return for 10 percent of my worldwide income for 10 years,” Stewart told AA several years ago. “I guessed there would be money in becoming a professional, so I went with the £5 ...”

The first year, with just five staff members at the team, Stewart won three races and finished as the runner-up in the ‘68 championship to

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Jackie Stewart, Matra MS10 Ford, US GP, Mexico 1968

Banzai Bellof on the hop. Stefan Bellof, Tyrrell 012 Ford, Monaco GP practice in 1984; a sodden race he may well have won had it gone the full distance ...

Graham Hill in the legendary Lotus 49.

Success continued in 1969 as Stewart, Tyrrell and Matra powered to their first world championship.

Stewart dominated the title that year, winning five of the first six races and scoring nearly double the points of his nearest title rival, Jacky Ickx.

For the start of the new decade, Matra wanted Tyrrell’s team to run with its own V12 engine. Stewart performed one test with the new motor and described it as “peakier than the Himalayas.”

As a result, Tyrrell decided to stick with the old faithful 3.0L V8 Cosworth, and started a relationship with March which lasted less than a season.

Tyrrell knew the March 701 was not a good chassis and elected to become a constructor despite having no previous chassis building experience.

For the final three races of that season, Stewart used the first Tyrrell machine, the 001. Despite retiring in all three, he did take pole on the team’s championship debut in Canada.

Stewart and Tyrrell had incredible success from the first race of 1971, obliterating the opposition to win the 1971 and 1973 world titles.

Before the ‘73 season ended, Stewart had told Ken Tyrrell of his desire to depart the sport at season’s end due to th loss of several close friends.

Tyrrell saw this as an opportunity to promote Stewart’s French protégé Francois Cevert as the team’s lead driver from 1974.

Sadly, during qualifying for the final round of the season at Watkins Glen, Cevert crashed heavily and was killed.

Stewart elected not to race in what would be his final Grand Prix – not that anyone knew it at the time. Tyrrell not only had to face the loss of one of his drivers but find an all new line-up for 1974.

He took on the fearless Jody Scheckter and reliable Frenchman Patrick Depailler.

Scheckter scored two wins in 1974 and a victory in 1975 – however the success of Stewart was not replicated, mainly due to lack of money to develop the cars compared with other teams.

In order to keep up with Ferrari, McLaren and Lotus, Tyrrell’s chief designer Derek Gardner knew that he had to think outside of the box …

And think out of the box he did – four races into 1976 Depailler turned up with a six wheeled Tyrrell, the legendary P34.

The car was designed to be as aerodynamic as possible – with four small wheels at the front it was thought to be more aero efficient than normal F1 cars with two big wheels.

The concept was well thought out, but ultimately yielded only moderate success. Scheckter won the 1976 Swedish Grand Prix from pole position.

Over the two seasons the P34 achieved 14 podiums.

Tyre brand Goodyear stopped developing the small wheels tyres, which made it difficult for the P34 to remain a competitive package.

Depailler had a reasonable season in 1978 when the team reverted to four wheels; however as the years went by the expense of Formula 1 grew as it moved into the ground effect era.

Tyrrell began to fall down the pack and recorded its final race victory in the hands of Michele Alberto at Detroit in 1983.

Ken Tyrrell, circa 1975

The team had a reasonable 1984 season – however, Tyrrell was disqualified from the entire championship for “taking on additional fuel” (which at the time was illegal).

The cars also had illegal fuel lines, ran on illegal fuel, while lead-filled water was also pumped into the cars during late-race pitstops ...

After that the team never found the same form, scoring occasional podiums over the next decade and a half.

At the end of 1997, and in poor health, Ken Tyrrell elected to sell the team to well-known engine builder Adrian Reynard and British America Tobacco (BAT) who would take control from 1999, renaming the team as British America Racing (BAR).

“I want to stress that that we have chosen to sell,” Tyrrell said. “We were not forced to sell and our assets currently exceed our liabilities by £2m. “However, we have not been able to put together the funds required to compete at the highest level.”

Ken Tyrrell was set to remain with the team in 1998 but quit before the season began, after he fell out with new team principal Craig Pollock (the latter chose Ricardo Rosset over Jos Verstappen for sponsorship revenue).

The call from Pollock was not the correct one as Rosset failed to qualify for multiple races in 1998, and the team failed to score a point all season.

The first season of BAR saw the team sign 1997 F1 champion Jacques Villeneuve.

The Canadian was a logical choice as Pollock had been the manager of Villeneuve for much of his career.

The car was bult by Reynard at a brand-new factory in Brackley, England, which is still used by the Mercedes F1 team to build chassis.

BAR cars would be powered by 1998 spec Renault RS9 engines built

by Mecachrome and rebranded as Supertecs, but again the team failed to score a point and as a result a deal was made with Honda.

The Japanese manufacturer agreed to re-join Formula 1 as an engine supplier for the first time since 1992 with McLaren (Footwork continued to run with old Honda engines in 1993).

Honda toyed with the idea of becoming an official F1 team but instead elected to join as an engine supplier for both BAR and Irish operation, Jordan.

Several Honda staff worked at the Brackley based factory, and this created a much better package.

The team became consistent point scorers and, in 2001, Villeneuve scored two podium finishes.

Despite this, British American Tobacco were not satisfied Just prior to the 2002 car launch, Pollock resigned, replaced by well-known and popular Prodrive chairman David Richards.

Lift off at Brands Hatch, Race of Champions 1971. Stewart’s Tyrrell 001 Ford on pole, beside Denny Hulme’s McLaren M19A Ford, with winner Clay Regazzoni, Ferrari 312B2, on the outside.

Left: Tyrrell P34’s secrets laid bare. Derek Gardner listens to Patrick Depailler in 1977. Goodyear’s relative lack of interest that season cost the team dearly.

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Pollock was soon followed out the door by chief designer, Australian Malcolm Oastler, and Reynard.

With changes occurring left, right, and centre, performances in 2002 and 2003 slumped – however in that second year the team agreed to a couple of deals which would help them in years to come.

Firstly, they signing promising young British driver Jenson Button, as well as a deal to become the exclusive Honda powered team from 2003. The building blocks had been laid.

2004 was a breakout year for the team – the outfit finished second in the Constructors Standings, Jenson Button claimed 10 podiums and new teammate Takuma Sato picked up one also, although a victory eluded the pair.

As good as the season was, the year did not end how the team would have anticipated. BAT decided to sell up as tobacco advertising would no longer be allowed on cars on European circuits from July of 2005. Without the opportunity to advertise its products, British America Tobacco had no reason to stay in the sport.

BAT sold its 45 percent stake in the British outfit to Honda. However, Richards also saw this as an opportunity to depart and focus on his blossoming Prodrive business.

“I think we delivered a five-year-plan in three years, so it’s come a little bit ahead of time,” he said. “But you shouldn’t look at this as a downer – it’s been a very positive sign and BAT is over the moon.”

Richards was replaced by Nick Fry as the new era began.

BAR remained the team name for 2005, but the 2004 results were not replicated, scoring just two podiums all year.

At the end of the season, Honda bought the remaining 55 percent of the etam and became a full-on F1 manufacturer team for the first time since 1968.

Button had signed a contract with Williams for 2006. However, Honda bought it out for US$30 million and Jenson signed a multi-year deal with the Japanese manufacturer.

The 2006 season started strongly for Button and new teammate, former Ferrari driver Rubens Barrichello, although results were sporadic.

Button won Honda’s first grand prix in 39 years in a wet and wild day at the Hungaroring, in which he marched up from 14th on the grid.

In total, 2007 and 2008 yielded just 20 points as Honda failed to deliver a fast or reliable 2.4L V8 engine.

The sole positive occured late in 2007 when former Ferrari technical director Ross Brawn joined Honda as team principal, while Fry moved to the role of chief executive.

Throughout 2008, Brawn worked on the 2009 car as a radical new rule set would be introduced. Traction, stability control and ABS were to be banned, the slick tyre returned, and there were many aerodynamic alterations.

Brawn believed he had come up with a strong design – however on December 5 2008 Honda dropped a bombshell Honda was out ...

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Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichelo lead the pack at Monaco – Brawn BGP001.

First and second in 2009, as they were in Melbourne, the duo shown with Ross Brawn (below) on the Albert Park podium.

Button had signed a contract with Williams for 2006.

However Honda bought it out for $30 million US and Jenson signed a multi-year deal with the Japanese manufacturer.

From Tyrrell, to Brawn, to Mercedes the latest and most successful iteration has claimed seven Drivers and Constructors Championships. Lewis Hamilton and team boss Toto Wolff, right.

“This difficult decision was made in light of the quickly deteriorating operating environment facing the global auto industry brought on by the sub-prime problem in the United States, the deepening credit crises and the sudden contraction of the world economics,” said Honda CEO Takeo Fukui.

The global financial crisis meant the Japanese brand could no longer tip in its estimated $463 million annually.

Honda planned to close the factory immediately, laying off all 700 staff members. However Ross Brawn persuaded Honda otherwise.

He, along with Fry and Honda attempted to find buyers – however

after months with no legitimate bid, the situation looked bleak.

Businessman Brawn soon realised that he and Fry were the only people that could save the team, and so on March 5, 2009, Honda announced that it had passed the ownership onto Brawn – at a total cost of £1 ...

“In many ways it has proven to be a much fairer solution for all the people working there, (rather) than (what) closing it would have been, and Honda to their credit accepted that,” Brawn said on the Beyond the Grid Podcast.

Honda also gave the team £100 million to start with, an incredible gesture to Brawn and his team.

“I would like to thank Honda for the fantastic co-operation and support we have received throughout this process,” Brawn said at the time.

A portion of the money went into purchasing engines from Mercedes-Benz, a decision that was made because the engine was made locally and simply fitted the alreadydesigned chassis better than the Ferrari unit. However a team name had yet to be determined.

“There were a lot of names talked about,” Brawn revealed on Beyond the Grid. “None of them resonated. There were some old names that had been discussed.

“It’s actually one of the oldest teams in Formula 1, a few name changes, but company registration goes back a long way. Calling it Tyrrell was discussed, yeah.”

Brawn re-hired Button and elected to hire Barrichello over rookie Bruno Senna, the nephew of three-time champion Ayrton.

Caroline McGrory, the team’s legal counsel, came up with ‘Brawn GP’, a name that everyone agreed ... the team was good to go!

Due to the lateness of the team purchase, Brawn GP missed the opening pre-season test, but shocked the F1 world when they arrived in Barcelona and were comfortably the fastest car. Hmmm ...

Many people in the industry thought that Brawn was running with low fuel in a bid to entice sponsorship ahead of the opening round. But when the cars rolled out at Albert Park for round one of the season, these theories were soon dismissed. Button and Barrichello romped home to a historic 1-2 finish and the momentum continued from there.

English ‘veteran’ Button incredibly won six of the first seven races, and held a remarkable championship lead at the halfway stage of the season.

At this point though, many other teams had copied Brawn’s performance enhancing tweak, the ‘double-diffuser.’

Brawn could not develop during the season due to a lack of budget, so other teams began to chip into Button’s title advantage.

Button scored just two more podiums in the second half of the season; however he was consistent, only failing to score on one occasion.

An incredible drive from 14th on the grid to fifth in the penultimate round of the season in Brazil secured the long-awaited title for Button.

With Barrichello taking two wins and a further four podiums, Brawn GP also became the Constructors’ World Champions.

Despite the success of 2009, with a very limited budget, Brawn knew that this would be almost impossible to replicate. So, on November 16 2009 – less than 10 months after Brawn

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GP was formed – Daimler AG, in partnership with Aabar Investments, purchased a 75.1% stake in the team.

The Brackley based outfit became the factory Mercedes team.

There were further team changes.

Reigning champion Button departed after receiving an offer he couldn’t refuse at McLaren, while Barrichello also left for Williams as a pair of German drivers joined the outfit.

Brawn would be reunited with seven-time champion Michael Schumacher who came out of retirement, while promising secondgeneration racer Nico Rosberg joined the squad.

Brawn and Fry kept a 24.9% stake in the team, and it was the former who continued as team principal until the end of 2013.

Despite the Mercedes budget, the team failed to replicate Brawn’s emarkable successes. From 2010-2013

Rosberg won three grands prix.

Schumacher scored his final podium, in Valencia 2012, before he hung up his helmet for good.

In his place came 2007 champion Lewis Hamilton who collected a win himself in 2013.

Toto Wolff joined the team that same year and became team principal as F1 waltzed into the new V6 turbo-hybrid

era in 2014The team hit the ground running and has never relented, Although a visionary, Ken Tyrrell could never have imagined his seven-man team in 1968 would become an empire of 950 full-time employees.

Mercedes has claimed seven consecutive Constructors and Drivers world championships, dominating like no other team in F1 history.

Top: Stewart exiting Druids Hill at Brands during the March ‘71 Race of Champions, with the Tyrrell 001 in original spec – in July Gardner/Tyrrell introduced the ‘sportscar nose’ which half the F1 field adopted shortly thereafter.

Right: Jenson Button claimed his first pole at Imola in 2004 and finished in second, BAR 006 Honda.

Below: Pit garage, Mercedes-style ...

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KYLE

GURTON

LATE BLOOMER It took Kyle Gurton 17 years to get his first taste of motorsport, but since then he has not looked back. JOSH NEVETT spoke to him about playing catch up and racing in the National Trans Am Series.

FROM HIRE karts to the National Trans Am Series in four years.

It may sound like the plot of an epic Hollywood blockbuster, but it is actually the most succinct summary of Kyle Gurton’s motorsport timeline so far.

The 21-year-old sits ninth in his debut Trans Am season and is utilising every ounce of experience he has gained from a whirlwind few years of development.

For even the most perceptive onlooker, it is hard to tell that Gurton’s career had the humblest origins.

“It all started when I was young and dad used to watch the V8 Supercars on TV, I was really into it and watching it alongside him,” Gurton explained to Auto Action.

“I enjoyed all the biffs that used to happen between the old blokes back in the day when it was real racing going on.

“But I only started racing about four years ago, over in WA.” Gurton was paying to lap his local karting track just as thousands had done before him, but something stood out about the Queensland teenager.

“I was just doing some hire karting up on the Tablelands, and the owner of the hire kart place picked up on me and said I was quite good, and I was faster

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than everyone else,” Gurton said.

“He asked me if I raced karts and I said ‘no, I don’t’.

“He didn’t believe me, but I ended up entering into a little kart race and getting on the podium.”

Since then, Gurton has quickly climbed the ranks, testing himself in a variety of categories and locations.

State F1000 in Western Australia was the first step after karting, testing the inexperienced drivers adaptation skills that would soon become a strength.

“I did some driver training and evaluation over at Barbagallo Raceway with Arise Racing and it sort of just kept going,” Gurton said.

“It was my first time driving an actual race car.

“To go from just a kart to wings and slicks was quite a surreal feeling, trying to get used to that.

But, nevertheless, it was an amazing experience.”

With just three rounds of F1000 and a handful of Formula Ford races under his belt, Gurton proceeded to throw himself at every opportunity in 2019.

He took part in seven separate competitions, spanning across state lines, international borders and car types.

Kyle Gurton’s resume includes Formula Ford (above), WA’s F1000 formula (right), and Toyota 86s (opposite).

“My first proper year of racing when I was involved in championships there was a fair bit on the plate,” Gurton understates.

“I was just always driving anything I could get my hands on, I didn’t mind driving whatever and whenever because I was so new to it all and I was so keen to try and learn as much as I could.

“There was the Formula Ford Championship in Victoria and I dabbled in a bit of national series stuff, just to see how high the level of Formula Ford was.

“Then, a lot of racing for Aaron Cameron in the Toyota 86 Series.”

With experience came results, highlighted by a Bathurst 6 Hour triumph in April.

“We (Cameron and Gurton) ended up winning Class C of the Bathurst 6 Hour with Cooper Murray,” Gurton proudly recalls.

“That was my first time at Mount Panorama and it was quite the surreal experience racing at an iconic track like Bathurst.

“I was so excited, just

driving around, trying to do a bit of sightseeing as I was driving.”

Gurton also finished third in the Victorian Formula Ford Championship that year for Sonic Motor Racing Services.

On reflection, the young racer believes he reaped the rewards of an intense schedule in driving improvement.

“I reckon throwing myself in the deep end gave me no choice but to learn how to drive a car hard and fast,” Gurton said.

“I think it was quite beneficial because depending on what car I was driving I could relate it to how a different car handles, it worked hand in hand.

“To have driven all the different cars, it pays off at the end of the day.

“I believe if there wasn’t such a thing as COVID I’d still be racing as many categories as I can, but the way it is you race whenever you get the chance now.”

After hitting the track just five times in 2020, it appeared as if Gurton’s momentum may have been stifled.

But since the eager driver made the jump into full-time V8 tin top racing this year, the National Trans Am Series has displayed his talent to the masses.

Driving the #2 Ford Mustang for Garage 1 Racing, Gurton has driven his way to ninth in the standings, with back-to-back podiums at Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit in March.

It is safe to say that the Trans Am formula has stolen the heart of the series rookie.

“Trans Am was the first V8 car I had driven, and I just fell in love with the sound and the power straight away,” Gurton declares.

“The experience of driving a Trans Am car is second to none.

“Everything about it, the noise, the power, the simplicity of the car. It’s all just been everything I love.”

It has not all gone to plan in Gurton’s debut season though, with a pair of retirements at Mount Panorama taking him out of title contention.

Therefore, perspective has been the key this year.

“We had a pretty rocky start to the year, working out the car and ironing out all the little issues,” Gurton said.

“I’ve tried to not be too hard on myself, given that I’ve got bugger all experience compared to all the other young guns I’m racing against.

“I’ve only been racing for four years, and they’ve been racing in karts since they were seven years old, so I’m a bit harsh on myself but I should give myself more credit.”

Scheduled as a Supercars Championship support for the final Sydney Supercars event, Trans Am will hold its fifth round from November 19-21 and is followed by the final round, the Trans Am 100 as part of the Bathurst 1000 weekend.

With the announcements of

these events, Gurton is looking to make the most of the rest of 2021.

“We are just trying to finish as high as possible and go all out for these last couple of races to finish off the year,” Gurton said.

“We’ll try to get some of those Superlicence points that have been issued to Trans Am.” Looking beyond the current season, Gurton is keen to stay in the category that has treated him well so far.

“Assuming that we get a normal year, hopefully it’s going to be Trans Am next year,” Gurton said with confidence.

“Bits and bobs on the side, but mainly National Series Trans Am.” However, the main game of Australian V8 racing, Supercars, stands out in his aspirations.

“I would love to go into Supercars later on, but if things don’t work out then there’s also overseas options available,” he said.

While Gurton’s talent was initially spotted by the kart centre owner just four years ago, he believes he would not have made it this far without a rock-solid support network.

“My parents have been a really big part of my career so far,” Gurton concludes.

“Sonic Motor Racing Services have done a lot for me through Formula Ford and I really appreciate that.

“At this point in time Marty Brant and John Evans from Garage 1 have also really helped me along.”

With a can-do attitude, great team and growing reputation, there is no reason why Kyle Gurton won’t be telling his story for plenty more years to come.

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Formula 1

Round 17 US Grand Prix

SHIFT IN MOMENTUM A VICTORY in the United States Grand Prix for Max Verstappen and Red Bull Honda shifted the momentum by 12 points over world championship rivals Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes.

Report: Dan Knutson Images: Motorsport Images HAMILTON HAD won five of the previous eight at Austin’s Circuit of the Americas, but he ended up second this time as Verstappen earned his first victory in North America.

Verstappen qualified on pole while Hamilton lined up second, but it was Hamilton who was in the lead at the end of lap one.

Verstappen made his first pit stop to switch from Pirelli’s medium compound slicks to the hard compound tyres at the end of lap 11, a successful undercut to gain the lead over Hamilton who stopped three laps later.

By the time Hamilton had pitted and reappeared, Verstappen had a 6.7-second lead.

“We pulled the trigger early, but Max is doing a good job,” Red Bull team boss Christian Horner said. “It’s like a game of chess in this race. You can rest assured there’s not much in it between the teams.”

At the second round of pit stops, Verstappen again stopped before Hamilton who went eight laps longer to have much fresher hard tyres at the finish. He raced the Red Bull driver hard over the final laps, closing to within 1.333 seconds at the flag.

Verstappen and Hamilton both adopted the same medium-hard-hard

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strategy, while Red Bull’s Sergio Pérez in third (who only had one fresh set of hards available) did two stints on the medium followed by just one on the hard.

“The pressure was on for the whole race and not knowing how quickly Lewis would catch up,” Verstappen said. “I actually thought I had a decent start, but Lewis had an even better one. So we went for an aggressive strategy after losing the lead into Turn 1 and we pitted early in the first stint.”

Verstappen added: “Then for the middle stint we were in that undercut range, so we had to respond and we went for track position which made the last stint very long, especially in this heat. The last two laps were definitely difficult on the tyres – there wasn’t much grip left. But, then with two laps to go, I had the Haas in front of me and I was able to benefit from the DRS, so we managed to hang on in the end.”

Hamilton acknowledged that Red Bull has a better strategy.

“I don’t know what we could have done differently,” Hamilton said. “I think the team did a great job today and it was what we had. We’re going to at least the next two tracks (Mexico and Brazil) which are very strong circuits for Red Bull. So it’s going to be tough for sure.”

Hamilton started the day six points

behind Verstappen and that cap doubled after 53 laps.

“Unfortunately we weren’t quick enough to win the race today but we’ll just look forward and take it one race at a time,” said Hamilton who is aiming for a record eighth world championship. “There are two circuits that are strong for Red Bull so we’ll just try and minimise how strong they can be and

see if we can do a better job.”

Pérez had a rough time on his way to third.

“That was the hardest and longest race of my life,” the Mexican driver said. “I wasn’t feeling great before the race and then my drinks system stopped working on the first lap and with the hot weather today it was very physical and a pretty tough afternoon. I was struggling

Hamilton made the bet start (left) and the pair duked it out on the opening lap (below). The RB boys took a 1-3 result (left), while Lewis (right) couldn’t quite catch the leader in a very close finish. ‘NASCAR Dan’ took another strong (fifth) finish for McLaren (opposite).

massively and by lap 20 I was done ... so it was a shame I couldn’t keep up with Max and Lewis but there are a lot of positives to take from this weekend and back-to-back podiums are always nice.

“It’s a good result for the team, the undercut worked well and Lewis had no option but to cover me which helped Max out in front.”

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Aussie Daniel Ricciardo was thrilled to get some laps in Dale Earnhardt’s 1984 NASCAR stocker, and he was pleased to finish fifth behind Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc.

“We weren’t quicker than the Ferraris,” Ricciardo said, “so I’m happy to beat one of them. I had to defend pretty hard for a few laps there, so I’m happy to have held him (Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz) off. It was a tricky race. I was fighting quite a bit to hold what I had, but I think on paper fifth is really good.

It’s good points. We stole a little bit from Carlos, and Valtteri Bottas got him at the end, so that was a bit of damage limitation. We’ll come back in Mexico and hopefully have a bit more to show against them. The fans were awesome, the crowd was sick, hopefully they enjoyed it.”

Leclerc called it one of the most physical drives of his career.

“The rear was moving quite a lot and temperatures were high throughout,” the Monégasque driver said. “I am satisfied with my personal performance. I don’t think that I left much on the table today and I really pushed the car to its limit on every lap.

“Our pace was a positive surprise.

Although we are mostly focusing on 2022, the few upgrades we have brought this year have allowed us to make some important steps forward.”

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2021 U.S GRAND PRIX 56 LAPS Pos 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 DNF DNF DNF

Driver Max Verstappen Lewis Hamilton Sergio Perez Charles Leclerc Daniel Ricciardo Valtteri Bottas Carlos Sainz Jr. Lando Norris Yuki Tsunoda Sebastian Vettel Antonio Giovinazzi Lance Stroll Kimi Raikkonen George Russell Nicholas Latifi Mick Schumacher Nikita Mazepin Fernando Alonso Esteban Ocon Pierre Gasly

Team Red Bull Racing Mercedes Red Bull Racing Ferrari McLaren Mercedes Ferrari McLaren AlphaTauri Aston Martin Alfa Romeo Racing Aston Martin Alfa Romeo Racing Williams Williams Haas Haas Alpine Alpine AlphaTauri

Laps 56 56 56 56 56 56 56 56 55 55 55 55 55 55 55 54 54 49 40 14

Margin +1.333s +42.223s +52.246s +76.854s +80.128s +83.545s +84.395s +1 lap +1 lap +1 lap +1 lap +1 lap +1 lap +1 lap +2 laps +2 laps Rear wing Retirement Suspension

Points: Verstappen 287.5, Hamilton 275.5, Bottas 185, Perez 150, Norris 149, Leclerc 128, Sainz 122.5, Ricciardo 105, Gasly 74, Alonso 58, Ocon 46, Vettel 36, Stroll 26, Tsunoda 20, Russell 16, Latifi 7, Raikkonen 6, Giovinazzi 1 Constructors’: Mercedes 460.5, Red Bull Racing 437.5, McLaren 254, Ferrari 250.5, Alpine 104, AlphaTauri 94, Aston Martin Racing 62, Williams 23, Alfa Romeo 7, Haas F1 Team 0

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INTERNATIONAL

SUPER SUTTON REIGNS SUPREME IN BTCC Report: Josh Nevett Ashley Sutton celebrated his third British Touring Car Championship title with a final race victory at Brands Hatch, capping off a supremely consistent season.

The Laser Tools Racing driver provisionally secured the championship with one race remaining, providing an opportunity to finish the year in style with a swashbuckling win from fourth on the grid.

A trio of titles ranks Sutton level with Team BMW driver Colin Turkington, who closed out 2021 as the runner-up.

The newly crowned 27-year-old champion led the standings from June onwards, achieving five race victories and four additional podiums.

Sutton was on top of the world after

his triumph.

“It feels so good and winning the final race was the best way to finish the campaign off,” Sutton said.

“I could finally take the handcuffs off and do what I wanted to do, and it was absolutely amazing.

“To win the Teams’ and Independents’ titles too, it just couldn’t have been any better.”

The other big winner of the final weekend was Josh Cook, who began the round with a win.

The BTC Racing driver had a mathematical chance of taking the title at the beginning of the round, but even victory in the first race led to him falling out of the race.

Senna Proctor took second ahead of Halfords Racing’s Gordon Shedden, who completed the podium.

Adrian Flux, with Power Maxed Racing’s Daniel Lloyd was the first non-Honda finisher, while Daniel Rowbottom was fifth in a Civic Type R. Cook went back-to-back in the second encounter, however his achievements were overshadowed

by Sutton whose sixth-place finish decided the championship.

The former won in lights-to-flag fashion, while Lloyd came home second ahead of Shedden.

Turkington was fourth and Rowbottom completed the top five.

Sutton completed the campaign in

Image: Motorsport Images

style on the Sunday, taking victory in the final contest, at Brands Hatch.

The #1 Infiniti driver drove with freedom to pick off the early leaders and held off a challenge from Rowbottom, who finished second.

Tom Ingram completed the podium positions in the season finale.

Ingram headed home the MB Motorsport Ford of Jake Hill and Cook, who finished fourth and fifth respectively.

Points: Sutton 357, Turkington 306, Cook 303, Ingram 300, Hill 294

THEN THERE WERE FOUR He also won at Kansas Speedway, ramping up the pressure on rivals.

By winning the Martinsville encounter Image: Motorsport Images from outside the playoffs, Alex Bowman Report: Josh Nevett forced the final three Championship 4 spots to be clinched by points.

THE FOUR-CAR field for the NASCAR It was the Hendrick Motorsports Cup Series Championship 4 is set driver’s sixth Cup Series win, with four after the Round of 8 elimination race at of those victories coming this season.

Martinsville Speedway.

The result was bittersweet for Bowman Three of the four Championship 4 though, as teammates Larson and Elliott spots were up for grabs entering the will be racing for a championship next race and it was Chase Elliot, Denny week at Phoenix Raceway.

Hamlin, Martin Truex Jr. who qualified Elliot clinched his spot with a second to join Kyle Larson in the finale. stage win.

Larson was the only driver locked in Hamlin sealed his spot with a 24th before the Martinsville race after his place race finish at Martinsville, while win at Texas Motor Speedway to open Truex Jr. was just off the podium the Round of 8. in fourth, making it a Hendrick

Motorsports vs Joe Gibbs Racing final.

As a result, Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski, Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano missed out on the final cut of the season, eliminated from championship contention.

Busch was the closest to qualifying, falling just three points short to miss out for a second straight year.

Team Penske would be bitterly disappointed, with all three of their drivers failing to reach the final.

Keselowski will now not get the opportunity to represent Team Penske in a Championship race, as he transitions to Roush Fenway Racing as a driver-owner next year.

Blaney has yet to make it to a Championship 4.

The NASCAR Cup Series Championship 4 race will take place at Phoenix Speedway on November 8.

TOYOTA WINS, AUSSIE PODIUM IN BAHRAIN Report: Josh Nevett JOSE-MARIA Lopez, Kamui Kobayashi and Mike Conway took the overall victory in the World Endurance Championship 6 Hours of Bahrain, while Aussie Matt Campbell finished second in the LMGTE Am class.

It was a third straight win for the #7 Toyota Gazoo Racing Hypercar crew, who extended their championship lead over the sister #8 car driven by Sebastien Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima and Brendon Hartley by 15 points.

The latter team finished second in Bahrain, wrapping up the Hypercar World Endurance Championship title in favour of the Japanese manufacturer.

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The Alpine Elf Matmut team of Nicolas Lapierre, Andre Negrao and Matthieu Vaxiviere claimed third one lap down.

In LMGTE Pro, Kevin Estre and Neel Jani took a third win of the season in their #92 Porsche.

It was a rare WEC lights-to-flag for the pair, who started from pole position thanks to the efforts of Estre in qualifying.

The win means that Estre and Jani are just one point behind James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi in the LMGTE Pro title fight with one round to go.

Robin Frijns, Ferdinand Habsburg and Charles Milesi were victorious in LMP2, achieving a second straight victory in their Oreca.

There were two Aussies in action in

Motorsport Images

LMGTE Am, Campbell proving the more successful of the pair with his podium finish.

Driving alongside Christian Reid and Kiwi Jaxon Evans, Campbell sealed second place in the #77 Porsche.

Andrews was ninth in class in the #57 Kessel Racing Ferrari, 26th overall.

TF Sport scored its and Aston Martin’s first win since 2020 in the division, Ben Keating, Dylan Pereira, and Felipe Fraga climbing to the top from sixth on the class grid.

STANDINGS TIGHTEN IN WTCR Report: Josh Nevett JEAN-KARL Vernay and Frederic Vervisch did their best to narrow Yann Ehrlacher’s World Touring Car Cup standings lead, splitting the wins at Circuit Pau-Arnos.

Ehrlacher could only manage eighth and fifth place finishes in France, but maintained a 16-point ascendency with two rounds remaining.

With a first race victory Vervisch became the first two-time winner in the 2021 WTCR competition.

Starting from pole position, the Belgian led the full distance in his Comtoyou Team Audi Sport RS 3 LMS, beating out Thed Bjork and Gabriele Tarquini who completed the podium.

In Race 2, Vernay beat fellow Frenchman Yvan Muller and his Cyan teammate Santiago Urrutia to secure a home win that renewed his title hopes with four races remaining.

The Hyundai Elantra N TCR driver finished 1.531s clear of Muller, reclaiming second spot in the overall standings from Esteban Guerrieri.

Points: Ehrlacher 160, Vernay 144, Guerrieri 138, Vervisch 131, Muller 126

TAYLOR TRIUMPHS IN EXTREME E

AUSSIE MOLLY Taylor (pictured) and teammate Johan Kristoffersson have won the Extreme E Island X-Prix in Italy, extending their championship lead to 16 points with one round to go.

It was a third win in four races for the Rosberg X Racing pair, who overcame challenging wet conditions in Sardinia to defeat the ABT CUPRA XE team of Jutta Kleinschmidt and Mattias Ekstrom by 24.58s, who ran a season best second.

Speaking post-race, former Australian Rally Champion Taylor was proud of her team’s efforts to triumph after a difficult round.

“It was pretty slippery out there, so it was a bit difficult to judge at first,” Taylor said.

“From that point it was just trying to manage the risk and I think that is what we did really well.

“Johan brought it home and again it was just an amazing effort by all of the team.

“We had a very challenging weekend from our side, but we never gave up and are

very happy to be the winners here.”

JBXE drivers Kevin Hansen and Mikaela Ahlin-Kottulinsky rounded out the podium in Sardinia, earning a third top three finish for the season after suffering a spin and sustaining damage in the final.

Chip Ganassi Racing threatened to steal top honours in the first wet Final of the Extreme E season but was forced to rue what could have been when Sara Price crashed on Lap 2, causing terminal damage

that reduced victory hopes to tatters.

From the front of the field, Price and teammate Kyle LeDuc fell back and finished fourth.

Championship contenders and fastest qualifiers X44 did not cross the line in the Final, classified fifth after nine-time World Rally Champion Sebastien Loeb suffered broken steering on the course.

As a result of the retirement, Loeb and Cristina Gutierrez fell further behind the benchmark RXR team.

The fact that they appeared in the Final was a surprise, as the team had to rebuild its car after suffering heavy damage in the opening Semi-Final of the day.

Despite not appearing in the Final, the Andretti United Extreme E team of Timmy Hansen Catie Munnings retained third spot in the standings on 93 points.

The season finale of the inaugural Extreme E season is the Jurassic X-Prix, scheduled for December 1819 in Dorset, England.

Josh Nevett

YOU BARTER BELIEVE IT

PODIUM FOR MURRAY ON DEBUT AUSSIE COOPER Murray (pictured) made his debut in international Porsche competition as part of his reward for winning the Porsche Junior competition this year, impressively scoring a podium finish at Portimao in the French Carrera Cup series.

In the lead-up to the Porsche Junior Shootout, Murray was handed the keys to a current spec 992 cup car prepared by Martinet by Almeras.

The new Cup car is yet to make its way down under, however Murray was allowed to steer the machine in the lead up to the Porsche Shootout.

In the Shootout, Murray will go up against Porsche junior winners from around the globe, with the victor being taken on by the German manufacturer as an official Porsche junior.

Having never driven a 992 machine heading into the weekend, Murray drove at the undulating Algarve Circuit where he performed well in the highly regarded Series.

In qualifying Murray earned himself a seventh-place starting position for the opening encounter, but improved to start from fifth in the second of the two races.

Keen to take advantage of the opportunity in Portugal Murray shone in his debut race going on the offensive.

Despite never racing the car previously Murray took to it like a duck to water moving

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forward early at the technical Portimao circuit.

He claimed two places in the first two laps and then held off an attack from Jean Baptiste Simmenauer and Evan Spenle.

At the end of the race, he was classified in fourth, up three places from where he started.

In the second race Murray did much the same – he avoided a first lap crash at Turn 2 between Dorian Boccolacci, Marvin Klein and Ugo Gazil, which however allowed Alessandro Ghiretti to sneak through into second place.

Spenle made his way past Murray, but he was handed a five-second penalty for a bump and run early in the race.

As a result, Murray was classified in third position and stood on the podium in his first international race weekend, finishing 11.442s off the race winner.

“What an amazing opportunity it was to race and drive the new 992 generation 911 GT3 Cup car on the weekend in Portimao, Murray said after the event.

“The new 992 is completely different to the 991 Gen II Cup car I have been used to for the last three years, which meant having to adapt my driving completely and try not implement old habits from the current car.”

Dan McCarthy

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HUGH BARTER finished the French Formula 4 season in second after his best round of the year at Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours.

The young Aussie stood on the podium in each of the final three races, breaking through for his second win of the season in the final encounter. As a result, Barter ended the season on 227 points, just six shy of champion Esteban Masson and 17 clear of disqualified frontrunner Maceo Capietto.

The 16-year-old was incredibly grateful for the experience.

“This year I’ve been able to learn a lot on and off track, and I’m ready to keep learning and improving,” Barter posted on Facebook.

“I want to thank all the FFSA crew for helping me during the season. I want to thank all my sponsors for supporting and believing in me in my motorsport journey. And, last but certainly not least, I want to thank my dad and my mom for everything they do to help me achieve my goals.”

Fresh off a podium result at Circuit Paul Ricard, Barter rode his form into the final round with a second placed finish to begin the weekend.

The streak continued into Race 2, which saw Barter clinch a third consecutive podium, crossing the line third but inheriting second place after Capietto’s removal.

After adding in a final race victory, Barter completed the campaign with two race wins and eight additional podium finishes.

It was an incident between the first and third placed Frenchmen that secured Barter’s race win, as the pair collided during a desperate battle on the last lap of Race 3. Both were knocked out of the race running, clearing a path for the Australian who inherited his first victory since the opening round at Nogaro.

Josh Nevett

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BR IEFS

JAMES ALLEN took his place on the overall European Le Mans Cup LMP2 podium after finishing fourth in the season finale at Algarve International Circuit. Competing with Will Stevens and Julien Canal for Panis Racing, Allen helped to steer the #65 Oreca 07 machine to finish just outside of the race top three after starting from seventh on the grid. JN

MARCOS FLACK closed out the British F4 campaign in 11th place after a solid set of results at Brands Hatch. The Aussie continued on his late season improvement to finish sixth, 11th and fifth in the three races, adding consistency to his three podium results from throughout the year. Countryman Cameron McLeod finished 15th, seventh and eighth in each of the final races after joining the competition with three rounds to run. JN

SCOTT ANDREWS ended the 2021 season fifth in the Le Mans Cup LMP3 standings after a 15th place race finish at Algarve International Circuit in Portugal. Racing in the #22 United AutoSports car alongside Gerald Kraut, Andrews won two of the first three rounds at Barcelona and Monza but struggled to score points in the back end of the season. JN

CHRISTIAN MANSELL had a disappointing weekend in his final EuroFormula Open appearance of 2021, recording a best race finish of fifth in the season finale at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Participating in his third round for the season, Mansell finished 10th in Race 1 and slipped to 16th in the second contest, before improving to take fifth in the last race. Mansell recently completed the British Formula 3 Championship, finishing third overall. JN

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BIKES

BOTH FRANCESCO Bagnaia and his Ducati teammate Aussie Jack Miller believe that their hard tyre gamble at Misano resulted in them crashing out of the race at Turn 15. Both made the same last-minute call to run with a hard front tyre, believing it was the rubber to be on with warmer track temperatures. However, just moments before the start of the race, clouds rolled over the circuit, causing track temperatures to plummet. DM

FIM, THE governing body for motorcycle racing, has announced a raft of safety changes, including an increase to the minimum age and the introduction of a grid cap in its feeder series. Following the deaths of three teenagers in the junior ranks across feeder categories for both MotoGP and Superbike World Championship this season, a number of changes will be progressively rolled out over 2022 and 2023 in an effort to further reduce the risks associated with motorcycle racing. RV

DARRYN BINDER CONFIRMED AT RNF THE RENAMED and rebranded satellite Yamaha outfit, Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team (currently the Petronas sponsored outfit) has confirmed that it has signed Darryn Binder to race alongside MotoGP veteran Andrea Dovizioso next year.

Darryn is the brother of factory KTM rider and two-time MotoGP race winner Brad Binder. The younger of the brothers will make the move straight from the third-tier Moto3 World Championship into the premier class.

Binder has signed a one-year deal with an option to stay on for 2023.

In his time in Moto3, Darryn Binder has scored three podiums, including a race win in Catalunya last year.

This year the 23-year-old sits sixth in the championship after scoring just two podiums and would appear a risk to put on a MotoGP bike. However, the team which spied new MotoGP champion Fabio Quartararo has a history of taking risks.

“I‘m extremely grateful for this opportunity, as it has been a lifelong dream to race in the MotoGP category,” Binder said.

“I definitely didn‘t expect to make the jump straight from Moto3 to the highest class, but I do believe I‘m up for the challenge, and I‘m ready to put in all the hard work for 2022.

“My target at the beginning will be just to find my feet in the big class and learn as much as possible to get stronger and stronger throughout my rookie season.

“I would like to say a really big ’Thank you to Yamaha and the RNF MotoGP Team for everything they have done to make this possible as well as everyone who has been involved in getting me to this point.

“I‘m now just looking forward to riding the Yamaha YZR-M1 for the first time at the end of this season.”

RNF will be a mixture of youth an experience with Binder to share a garage with Italian Dovizioso, who has more than 230 race starts in the premier class.

Yamaha Motorsport Managing Director Lin Jarvis believes that Binder is a great choice for the brand.

“I want to give a warm welcome to Darryn,” Jarvis said. “We are delighted that he is joining the Yamaha line-up next year.

“We‘ve had many conversations

about who would be a good match for the new RNF MotoGP Team set-up.

“It‘s a fresh start for the Yamaha satellite team and that makes it all the more fitting to have a young and eager rider like Darryn join them, as Fabio and Franky did before him.

“For Yamaha, the primary mission of the satellite team is developing future MotoGP talents.

“Darryn has already shown on numerous occasions what he‘s made of in the Moto3 class. We know he is a fast and determined rider who has got what it takes to battle at the front of the pack.

“Obviously, the step up to MotoGP is significant and will take some adjusting to, but we feel that he‘s ready, and Yamaha and the RNF MotoGP Team will fully support him for this new and exciting challenge.”

OLI BAYLISS TO RACE WORLDSSP THE FRESHLY branded RNF MotoGP Team will sit alongside the Yamaha factory team in 2022, with the option for the partnership to be extended into 2023 and 2024. Former CEO of Sepang International Circuit and Team Principal Razlan Razali will remain at the helm of the team formerly known as Sepang Racing Team, which has the rights to an independent team in MotoGP until 2026. JN

MOTOGP RIDER Iker Lecuona will make the move into the FIM World Superbike paddock next year after inking a deal with the factory Honda team. The Spaniard has raced in MotoGP with the Tech 3 KTM squad the last two years scoring a career best sixth place finish in the Austrian Grand Prix earlier this year. He will be joined at the team by fellow Spanish WSBK rookie Xavi Vierge, a Moto2 veteran who has four podiums to his name. DM

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IT HAS been announced that second-generation rider Oli Bayliss will ride for the Barni Racing Team in the FIM Supersport World Championship on board a Ducati Panigale V2.

The World Supersport Championship is the second-tier division of the FIM World Superbike Championship (WSBK).

Oli is the son of three-time WSBK champion and MotoGP race winner Troy Bayliss.

Despite being only 18 years old, Bayliss is an Australian Superbike front-runner, scoring his first victory at Hidden Valley Raceway in June.

The Bayliss family chose the Barni Racing Team to take his career international, something he is very much looking forward to.

“I’m really happy to announce that I will be racing for Barni Racing Team in the World Supersport Championship on the Ducati Panigale V2,” Bayliss said.

“I’ve finished my school program, which means I can now put my focus

completely on racing motorbikes and training – and only that.”

Barni Racing team principal Marco Barnabo expressed happiness to invest in a talent that will show loyalty to the team’s programme.

“In 2022 we want to focus on young talents who can travel along together with us for a while,” Barnabo said.

“We want to help young riders to be, in the future, the next champions both in Supersport and Superbike.

“That’s why, when the opportunity to sign with Oliver for the

Supersport Championship came, we immediately decided to take it in agreement with Ducati.

“Luca Bernardi is 20-years-old; Oli is 18. We’ve never had such a young team, but I think this is the right time for this choice.

“For the first time we’ll be on track with two bikes both in WorldSSP and WorldSBK and at the beginning we won’t focus on results, but only on the growth of these two young riders.

“We were the first team to believe in bringing Ducati back to Supersport with the Panigale V2, and we’re very proud to see the interest arising around this bike and this championship.”

Bayliss’ arrival in the WorldSSP Championship comes 20 years after Troy’s first World Championship back in 2001.

Father Troy is delighted to see his son follow the path he forged over two decades ago.

“Oli has been brought up around racing, 2021 has been his first year on Ducati V4 R in the ASBK and taking the win in Darwin earlier this year came sooner than we thought,” he said.

“I think the move to Barni Racing Team is a great opportunity, I hope he enjoys the V-twin as much as I did.” Dan McCarthy

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CRASH HANDS CROWN TO QUARTARARO A DRAMA-filled second MotoGP race at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli, in the form of a crash from Francesco Bagnaia (right), confirmed Yamaha rider Fabio Quartararo’s maiden MotoGP title.

Out front it was Honda’s Marc Marquez who earned his second consecutive MotoGP race victory, admitting post-race that Quartararo was the man of the moment.

It looked as though the championship fight would go on to the penultimate race in Portugal – however with victory almost in the bag Quartararo’s sole remaining title rival Bagnaia crashed out of the lead.

Both riders had struggled in the damp practice sessions and were forced to compete in Q1.

It was the first time all season that Quartararo failed to automatically make the Q2 cut and was forced into Q1.

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Two riders progress into Q2 from the first segment and the contenders were continually switching positions at the head of the field.

However, in the dying stages Quartararo was pipped by not one, but three riders. He would thus be forced to start from 15th, the lowest starting position of his MotoGP career.

Bagnaia not only progressed into Q2 but in the wet qualifying session took pole from his factory Ducati teammate Australian Jack Miller.

Despite starting 1-2 on the grid, neither Ducati’s failed to make it to the finish. Both crashed out at Turn 15 due, it seemed, to their gamble to race on the hard compound front tyre.

Miller sat in second behind his teammate early in the race but fell as he attempted to keep Marquez at bay.

Fast forward to the end of the race, and Bagnaia had just broken away from Marquez – but as the temperatures dropped the factory Ducati rider crashed out of the lead with just four laps remaining.

Bagnaia made the identical mistake at the same corner as his teammate, allowing factory Honda rider Marquez to take the win.

It was the Spaniard’s second win in succession and first win on a clockwise circuit in over two years.

Not only did Marquez win, but his teammate Pol Espargaro finished in second, several seconds behind.

It was Espargaro’s first podium with Honda and rewarded the Japanese manufacturer with its first 1-2 finish in four years.

Third was Italian Enea Bastianini – in front of his home crowd he charged through the field and overtook Quartararo on the final lap to record the second podium in his rookie campaign.

Quartararo was third when both Bagnaia and Miguel Oliveira crashed out within seconds of each other ahead of him – an impressive ride from 15th on the grid.

Opting on the side of caution, Quartararo did not put up a massive fight on the last lap and came home fourth, enough to take his maiden Motorcycle World Championship.

His fellow countryman and early championship rival Johann Zarco finished fifth, ahead of factory Suzuki rider Alex Rins. The two factory Aprilias were next, Aleix Espargaro in seventh and Maverick Vinales eighth.

After starting on the front row, Luca Marini came home in ninth, just ahead of his half-brother Valentino Rossi. The Italian legend scored a top 10 finish in his final home grand prix with a mature and level ride.

2020 champion, Joan Mir, had a race to forget – he was handed a penalty for jumping the start, but before the Suzuki rider could serve it, he crashed out of the race at Turn 2 and wiped out birthday boy Danilo Petrucci in the process.

Dan McCarthy

GARDNER’S REPRIEVE AUSSIE REMY Gardner got away with one in Misano. The KTM Ajo rider came home a disappointing seventh, but was let off the hook when his championship rival Raul Fernandez crashed out of the lead.

It was a dramatic and thrilling encounter that was eventually won by pole-sitter Sam Lowes, his first since taking back-to-back race victories in Qatar to start the season.

The pole-sitter didn’t have things his own way, with the charging Fernandez coming through at the mid-way stage of the race.

At the start of the race, both Gardner and Fernandez made progress from their lowly grid positions, Fernandez from ninth and Gardner from 14th.

By lap 6, Fernandez had made his way up to second position and it looked as though the championship

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lead would change hands with Gardner buried in the back end of the top 10.

With his major title rival now in second position Gardner knew he had to make progress and fast – he attempted a move on Somkiat Chantra into Turn 14.

The lunge did not pay off ... the Aussie caught the rear of the Japanese rider’s bike causing Chantra to crash out of the race.

At the head of the field on lap 12 Fernandez capitalised on a mistake from Lowes to take the lead.

Gardner’s race was not going to plan, and he was dealt a further blow when he was handed a long lap penalty for knocking Chantra out of the race.

However, within seconds of Gardner receiving the penalty, the championship turned on its head once

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more as Fernandez spectacularly crashed out of the lead.

The Spaniard locked up his front wheel and was sent barrel-rolling through the gravel trap at high speed.

He was uninjured – however his KTM Ajo was destroyed.

This let Gardner off the leash. He served the long lap penalty and brought his KTM Ajo bike home in a lonely seventh position after Marco Bezzecchi crashed trying to make his way past the Aussie.

Despite finishing outside of the top

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five for the second time this season, Gardner was able to extend his championship lead to 18 points with just two races remaining Out front, Lowes cruised to victory, taking the win by 1.2s from his Marc VDS teammate Augusto Fernandez.

Fernandez overtook Aron Canet coming out of the final corner when the Spaniard’s bike began to choke, due to a lack of fuel. Dan McCarthy Points: Gardner 280, R Fernandez 262, Bezzecchi 206, Lowes 165, A Fernandez 151

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Supercars RACE REPORT

Round 8 - Sydney Motorsport Park

YOUTH ON FIRE AS SUPERCARS RETURN

AFTER A 100 day COVID-19 enforced break, the Supercars Championship roared back into life as Sydney Motorsport Park turned on the action and the floodlights for the first of four back-to-back rounds at the venue

Report: Dan McCarthy

Images:Motorsport Images/Riccardo Benvenuti/InSyde Media

THE MAN of the weekend was undoubtably Dick Johnson Racing driver Anton de Pasquale; the 26-yearold returned to action emphatically topping all but one session over the entire weekend.

Fastest throughout practice, he was fastest in all three qualifying sessions and in two of the three races, only a Race 2 disqualification letting him down.

Despite Andre’s domination, all three races were full of excitement and drama.

It was a weekend that saw young stars emerge with both Erebus Motorsport rookies Will Brown and Brodie Kostecki earning podiums across the weekend.

Three 125km encounters were on the menu across the round, with each requiring a compulsory stop with a minimum of two tyres to be changed.

With severe tyre degradation a feature of SMP, it was no surprise that the Dunlop rubber was the talk of the event, a theme that will continue for the next three weeks. The tyre choices and strategies certainly muddled up the order and shuffled the pack in an intriguing weekend of action.

PRACTICE – ADP OUT OF THE BLOCKS FIRING AS SOON as the cars rolled out of the pits in Friday afternoon’s first 30

Percat (left) continued BJR’s strong run at SMP, while Brown (right) grabbed his first podium.

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practice session, de Pasquale showed that he had the pace by asserting himself at the top of the table.

The Triple Eight Race Engineering cars looked on the edge, with both drivers having minor off-track excursions – Jamie Whincup ran wide at Turn 1 and Shane van Gisbergen locked the rears and ran down the escape road at Turn 6.

With the session coming to a close, a majority of the field elected to fit four new Dunlop Soft tyres on their cars, however, trailing setup options, the Triple Eight duo did not.

De Pasquale set his 1m 30.2816s benchmark late on, eclipsing longtime session leader and Tickford

Racing driver Cameron Waters by 0.3s.

However, Waters admitted after the session he was far from comfortable.

The best Holden driver in Practice 1 was Brad Jones Racing driver Todd Hazelwood, who scored his maiden podium finish at the track last year.

The sun faded and the floodlights were turned on for the final practice session where de Pasquale was able to lap 1.5s faster due to the much cooler and preferable conditions.

All cars looked more drivable and under control under lights – and again, it was not until the final two minutes that teams fitted the new tyres.

At the end of the day, de Pasquale was the only driver to break into the

1m 28s bracket, 0.235s ahead of his nearest challenger.

Whincup was second, while championship leader van Gisbergen ended the opening day in third, 0.574s off the pace of de Pasquale.

Erebus Motorsport driver Kostecki found himself just 0.015s seconds back from van Gisbergen in fourth and highlighted that Erebus Motorsport was on the money. Nick Percat, who took two wins at the venue last year, ended the day in the top five.

While de Pasquale was on the top of the timesheets, his teammate Will Davison was suffering from power steering troubles and ended the session in 22nd, 1.96s off the pace.

QUALIFYING RACE 20 – OVER HALF A SECOND THE HEAVY head wind on Friday turned into a significant tail wind on Saturday – however nothing could stop de Pasquale.

The qualifying Top 10 Shootout was incredibly tight ... until the last man out on track made the others look like they were standing still.

Fastest in all three sectors, de Pasquale went fastest by a staggering 0.528s, denying fast rookie Brown his maiden Supercars pole position.

Nevertheless, it was still an impressive time for the Erebus Motorsport driver.

Brown was the sixth man on the track and bettered many veterans including Whincup, Chaz Mostert and Waters to go to the top of the timesheets.

He was the closest to De Pasquale’s lap and deservedly qualified on the front row for the first time in his Supercars career.

After a big slide out the final corner to commence the lap, Davison recovered to qualify in third, just 0.013s shy of Brown.

Brad Jones Racing driver Percat once again found himself up the pointy end in qualifying, only 0.012s from Davison.

Brown’s teammate Kostecki made it two Erebus Motorsport drivers in the top five.

It was a disappointing session for the Triple Eight drivers – to the second sector van Gisbergen was on par with Brown’s time, but in the final sector lost nearly a tenth and a half and qualified in sixth.

Waters felt he maximised what he had and split the triple Eight duo in seventh position, ahead of future Triple Eight Race Engineering team principal Whincup.

Walkinshaw Andretti United driver Mostert ran two wheels through the grass at Turn 3 which cost him a couple of tenths and momentum – he would start from ninth ahead of Blanchard

Racing Team driver Tim Slade.

Both Kelly Grove Racing drivers, David Reynolds and Andre Heimgartner, just missed out on a spot in the Top 10 Shootout.

Reynolds was 11th, just 0.08s away from making it in, while Heimgartner would start on row six alongside him.

Hazelwood could not replicate Percat’s pace in the first qualifying session of the weekend and ended up in 13th.

Team Sydney’s Fabian Coulthard finished 14th in the two opening practice sessions and continued that consistency by qualifying in that position for Race 1, ahead of Tickford Racing driver Jack le Brocq.

RACE 20 – DE PASQUALE CRUISES HOME WHILE THE lights around the circuit were lit up, the lights on the gantry went out for Race 1 of the weekend.

It was an even jump on the front row between good mates de Pasquale and Brown, with the latter electing to hang it around the outside of the fast Turn 1.

Brown held it there at Turn 2, however the pair made slight contact exiting the left-hander allowing de Pasquale to pull ahead.

Davison, ever the optimist, swung around the outside of Brown around Turn 3, but found himself skating through the dirt on the outside of the track and fell behind van Gisbergen.

After a frenetic start, things calmed down and the top two began to quickly pull away from the chasing pack.

In fact, in the early stages, it was Brown who was the faster of the leading pair, harrying the back end of de Paquale’s Dick Johnson Racing Mustang.

Within three laps the former Bathurst 1000 teammates had gapped van Gisbergen by 1.9s, while Brown kept the gap to the leader at under a second for much of the opening stint.

At the end of lap 11 of 32, Percat was first of the top five drivers to flinch and pit for a new set of tyres.

By this time van Gisbergen had really started to chip into the leading pair’s advantage at the head of the field and by the end of lap 13 the top three were separated by just 1.7s.

Brodie Kostecki (above) was another of the new boys to put together a strong weekend ... while van Giz (below) did his besty to keep the young fellas at bay.

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Supercars RACE REPORT

Round 8 - Sydney Motorsport Park

PITSTOP

Tickford, and team leader Cam Waters (left), had a rough weekend; while DJR’s only real glitch was a single tyre change ...

Nick Percat was so happy with the way his car rolled out of the BJR hauler that he barely made any suspension changes all weekend.

“Just a bit of ride height adjustment. And we kept on polishing it,” he says.

The first thing Brodie Kostecki did after the podium for Race 1 was to hand his thirdplaced trophy to his Erebus team-mate Will Brown. “This should have been yours,” he says.

It appeared that Brown would have little resistance to hold the championship leader at bay and it proved to be the case.

On lap 14, exiting the final turn, with superior grip, the New Zealander simply pulled alongside Brown and breezed by down the straight before they even got to Turn 1.

At the end of lap 15 both de Pasquale and Brown came in for their compulsory stop.

While de Pasquale’s crew changed just two tyres (taking around four seconds), Erebus Motorsport chose to change all four of Brown’s tyres (which should have taken around eight seconds). Erebus would sacrifice a little bit of track position for far superior pace, going for glory and the race victory.

However, a fumble from Brown’s mechanics in the stop saw the rightrear wheelnut dropped, which cost them time. In the end, the stop took 16s and his chance of a maiden podium appeared in tatters.

Two laps later his teammate Kostecki entered the lane and Erebus again elected to change all four tyres this time it went smoothly and he was now in the podium hunt.

At the end of lap 19, van Gisbergen entered the lane, took on two tyres and re-joined just four seconds behind de Pasquale – however with six laps fresher tyres, he had a clear grip advantage.

In the pitstop sequence van Gisbergen had fallen behind Percat, but he quickly disposed of the South Australian, his eyes firmly fixated on the #11 Mustang out front.

However, before the attack began to mount, he received a radio call from his engineer David Cauchi telling him to consolidate second position.

In the opening stint, it appeared as though van Gisbergen had damaged his tyres and so the team told him to err on the side of caution and hold position.

This let de Pasquale off the hook and allowed him to cruise to his second victory of the season, by 5.15s, ahead of van Gisbergen.

Kostecki hunted down and passed Percat on the penultimate lap of the race – capitalising on a mistake from the BJR driver at Turn 4, he made his

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move up the inside successfully at Turn 6.

Brown harassed Percat throughout the last lap but had to settle for fifth place.

Mostert stayed out of trouble and finished the race in sixth, ahead of Davison, Reynolds, Whincup and Slade.

Coulthard finished a season-best 11th ahead of Team 18 driver Mark Winterbottom.

Waters had a day to forget. The Tickford Racing driver dropped through the pack throughout the race and finished in 13th, falling behind both Mostert and Davison in the championship.

QUALIFYING, RACES 21 AND 22 – TWO MORE FOR ADP DE PASQUALE was fastest in both of the back-to-back 10-minute qualifying sessions which determined the grid for Sunday’s daytime encounters.

The Victorian was in in a different league in qualifying for Race 21, 0.656s clear of Davison.

Kostecki backed his podium up as the fastest Holden in third ahead of Whincup, Percat and van Gisbergen.

Heimgartner qualified in seventh, from Mostert. Brown made a mistake in the opening session and would start from ninth, ahead of Slade.

Brown recovered from his Race 21 quali mistake to qualify on the front row for Race 22. The former Super2 driver was the only man all weekend to get within 0.5s of de Pasquale in qualifying – still 0.392s away however.

Further qualifying improvements for Triple Eight Race Engineering saw Whincup start from third alongside van Gisbergen on row two.

Kostecki picked up another top five start, edging out Davison by 0.001s.

Winterbottom qualified in seventh ahead of the BJR duo of Hazelwood and Percat, while Mostert rounded out the top 10.

The first of four events in four weeks saw DJR/Shell lay down the challenge to the rest of the grid.

Will Brown had a shiny new WD-40 race-suit for SMP 1. “It’s pretty good but a lot of sponsors now want a suit so they can keep it for promotion work afterwards,” Brown says.

Jamie Whincup is running a new helmet for the final five race weekends. It’s a new-generation fan-forced Bell, the first in Australia with much higher air capacity, and identified by the air inlet on the top left-hand side.

A tyre mix-up during the pitstops in the second race at SMP was costly for Shell V-Power Racing. Anton De Pasquale was disqualified from fifth spot after his crew put one of Will Davison’s tyres onto his Mustang. The team was also fined $20,000 (half suspended) by Supercars.

RESULTS RACE 20 SMP 32 LAPS

Once again championship contender Waters qualified outside the top 10.

RACE 21 – DJR FALTERS ...

CAPITALISING ON mechanical issues and an unforced error

by DJR, van Gisbergen took a surprising victory from sixth on the grid.

Pole sitter de Pasquale nearly stalled off the line and plummeted down the order, at the end of lap 1 finding himself buried in seventh position.

Things got worse for the team as the race progressed – on lap two teammate Davison, who was leading, lost all dash electrics – he could no longer see his gear, revs or speed, and was driving a little ‘blind’.

An aggressive opening lap saw van Gisbergen storm up into second place, including an impressive move on his teammate around the outside of Turn 6 and Kostecki into Turn 9.

Despite the dash blackout, Davison continued to pull away from van Gisbergen, with the margin stretched to 1.8s at the end of lap 5.

De Pasquale, keen to get back into clear air, was one of the first drivers to pit, along with Brown on lap 8.

Percat and Kostecki stopped just before the halfway stage of proceedings.

Although Davison had pulled out a 3s lead it became clear that he would have to perform a system reset during the stop to get his electronics functioning properly once more.

Upon entering the lane Davison drove into a world of problems – not only could the two-time Bathurst 1000 winner not see what gear he was in, he was unable to set the pitlane speed limiter or know what speed he was travelling at down the lane.

His three second margin deteriorated in a flash. Van Gisbergen pitted directly behind and was nudging the cautious Davison down the lane.

Davison’s crew changed four tyres while he reset the car; van Gisbergen took three and was able to leapfrog the DJR driver.

With one extra fresh tyre and a dash fully illuminated once more Davison was able to stay on the tail of his rival.

De Pasquale was now leading.

However, with much older rubber, he could offer little resistance to van Gisbergen who fired by at Turn 2 on lap 23.

Although he stayed right on the tail of van Gisbergen, a disappointed Davison could not break his five year winless streak and had to settle for second position.

In the fight for third, Kostecki was unable to fashion a pass to get by de Pasquale quickly and that allowed Percat into the frame.

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Three top-10s for Tim Slade (above) continued Blanchard Racing Team’s progress, while three top-10s, including a second in Race 21, was a solid result for Will Davison.

Percat quickly disposed of the pair of them and romped home to finish on the podium, in a strong third.

Eventually Kostecki pushed his way by de Pasquale, but it was too late to make any further progress so he had to settle for fourth.

De Pasquale crossed the line in fifth – however post-race was disqualified for (accidentally) using one of Davison’s tyres.

Slade made the undercut work to great effect. First to stop, the South Aussie had great tyre life and after the race had concluded, inherited fifth, having held Whincup, Mostert, Heimgartner and Reynolds late on at bay.

Waters could not improve on his disappointing 14th place in qualifying, finishing where he started.

RACE 22 – DE PASQUALE FENDS OFF BROWN THE FINAL race of the weekend saw de Pasquale hold Brown at bay in a thrilling 32 lap encounter.

Up front things were calm at the start with drivers more or less holding position, while further back down the field cars were going four wide.

Things looked to be travelling along nicely for de Pasquale in the final encounter until he was forced to pit several laps early. A large chunk of rubber had been ripped from one of his tyres – he would now have to nurse the tyres to the finish with 23 laps still remaining.

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At one stage de Pasquale held a 10s lead over Brown. However, the Erebus Motorsport rookie with six laps fresher tyres began to take chunks out of his margin.

Brown quickly caught de Pasquale and even started to tap on the rear of the Mustang, although he had to a degree used his tyres up trying to catch up the leader.

In the closing laps, Brown’s tyres fell off the cliff and he fell back away from de Pasquale who marched to his second win of the weekend by 1.26s.

Although he was unable to snatch the win, Brown earned his maiden Supercars Championship podium, coming hope in a comfortable second position.

Whincup was locked in an aggressive battle with his teammate Shane van Gisbergen.

In the end it was the seven-time champion who prevailed and took the final step on the podium ahead of his series leading teammate van Gisbergen.

Davison rounded out the day with a top five finish ahead of Waters, who concluded a challenging weekend with a sixth.

Then came Mostert, le Brocq, Slade and former champion Winterbottom.

After finishing on the podium earlier in the day, Percat finished in 11th place, just 0.013s ahead of James Courtney.

Coulthard was the only nonfinisher, due to a suspected driveshaft failure.

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Pos Driver 1 Anton De Pasquale 2 Shane van Gisbergen 3 Brodie Kostecki 4 Nick Percat 5 Will Brown 6 Chaz Mostert 7 Will Davison 8 David Reynolds 9 Jamie Whincup 10 Tim Slade 11 Fabian Coulthard 12 Mark Winterbottom 13 Cameron Waters 14 Todd Hazelwood 15 Andre Heimgartner 16 Macauley Jones 17 Garry Jacobson 18 Bryce Fullwood 19 Scott Pye 20 Jack Smith 21 Jack Le Brocq 22 James Courtney 23 Jake Kostecki 24 Zane Goddard

Margin 32 laps +5.159s +10.389s +10.963s +11.676s +16.936s +18.520s +22.593s +22.811s +27.516s +36.614s +37.136s +37.958s +38.592s +38.798s +41.789s +43.892s +45.061s +45.233s +45.382s +45.572s +53.908s +56.952s +60.728s

0 s4 s2 0 t3 s3 t4 s3 t1 0 s3 s4 t6 t1 t3 s4 s4 t1 t1 t1 t6 s1 t1 0

RESULTS RACE 21 SMP 32 LAPS Pos Driver 1 Shane van Gisbergen 2 Will Davison 3 Nick Percat 4 Brodie Kostecki 5 Tim Slade 6 Jamie Whincup 7 Chaz Mostert 8 Andre Heimgartner 9 David Reynolds 10 Todd Hazelwood 11 Will Brown 12 Bryce Fullwood 13 Cameron Waters 14 Jack Le Brocq 15 Scott Pye 16 Macauley Jones 17 Mark Winterbottom 18 James Courtney 19 Jack Smith 20 Zane Goddard 21 Jake Kostecki 22 Garry Jacobson 23 Fabian Coulthard DSQ Anton De Pasquale

Margin 32 laps +1.910s +9.440s +10.786s +16.860s +16.992s +17.547s +17.982s +18.394s +25.682s +31.601s +34.330s +41.197s +44.851s +48.531s +49.396s +50.279s +50.944s +53.620s +73.392s +76.619s +87.384s +1 lap

s5 0 s2 t1 s5 t2 s1 t1 s4 s1 t2 s3 s1 t2 s2 s2 t1 s2 s2 s3 s1 s2 t4

RESULTS RACE 22 SMP 32 LAPS Pos Driver 1 Anton De Pasquale 2 Will Brown 3 Jamie Whincup 4 Shane van Gisbergen 5 Will Davison 6 Cameron Waters 7 Chaz Mostert 8 Jack Le Brocq 9 Tim Slade 10 Mark Winterbottom 11 Nick Percat 12 James Courtney 13 Andre Heimgartner 14 David Reynolds 15 Brodie Kostecki 16 Macauley Jones 17 Jake Kostecki 18 Bryce Fullwood 19 Jack Smith 20 Scott Pye 21 Garry Jacobson 22 Zane Goddard 23 Todd Hazelwood DNF Fabian Coulthard

Margin 32 laps +1.262s +20.575s +28.166s +33.234s +34.543s +37.739s +39.461s +41.636s +44.136s +46.422s +46.435s +51.391s +55.242s +55.440s +56.739s +58.591s +64.493s +70.825s +71.160s +71.932s +78.317s +3 laps

0 0 0 0 s1 s6 s3 s5 s2 t3 t2 s5 s1 s1 t 10 s3 s6 t2 t1 s1 t1 0 t 15

Points: Shane van Gisbergen 2198, Whincup 1860, Davison 1735, Mostert 1702, Waters 1670, De Pasquale 1451, Percat 1342, Winterbottom 1272, Brown 1222, B Kostecki 1208, Courtney 1180, Heimgartner 1106, Slade 1088, Reynolds 1072, Hazelwood 1044, Pye 1036, Le Brocq 1024, Fullwood 1023, J Kostecki 808, Goddard 798, Smith 680, Jacobson 642, Jones 612, Coulthard 588

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SUPERCAR SUPPORTS

Image: Insyde Media

BORG BOSSES SUPERUTES RETURN AARON BORG won two of the three SuperUte Series races at Sydney Motorsport Park, taking the most points of any driver across the round.

Cameron Crick took out the opener in his Ryco Racing Mitsubishi Triton, but Borg fought back to win the final two encounters and take over the series lead after two rounds.

Crick started the weekend in ominous form, sweeping to a lightsto-flag victory in Race 1.

He crossed the line 4.2s ahead of fastest qualifier Borg, while Ryal Harris climbed to a podium finish from seventh on the grid in his Mazda BT-50.

Matthew McLean was fourth in a Toyota Hilux and David Sieders was fifth in his Mitsubishi Triton.

Race 2 began with a flurry of action, Sieders defending his reverse top-six pole position desperately.

Harris was involved in his undoing, however, when the pair made contact

at Turn 7 causing Harris to fire off the road and Sieders to drop out of contention with a blown tyre.

Borg stayed out of the carnage despite leaving the tarmac, winning from McLean who had a poor start due to a clutch problem.

Jaiden Maggs was third and Woods came home fourth.

Gerard Maggs rounded out the top five in a Mitsubishi Triton.

Michael Formosa was forced to

retire with broken front suspension.

With a Race 3 win Borg ensured that he accumulated the most point for the weekend in his Toyota Hilux.

The Sieders Racing Team driver led from start to finish, joined on the podium by Sieders and Crick.

Harris was fourth despite losing fourth gear, leading home Maggs and Formosa in his clutch-less Ford Ranger.

Josh Nevett

WHITE DEFIES ALL IN SUPERSPORTS

Image: Insyde Media

SHIELS ON TOP IN SPORTS SEDANS TWO SECONDS and a race win gave Brad Shiels (pictured) the overall win in round three of the NSW Kumho Tyre Sports Sedan Championship, which further increased his points lead.

Shiels was driving Joe Said’s two rotor turbo Fiat 124 and topped the points ahead of Birol Cetin (Chev Camaro), while Steve Lacey (Camaro), with two race wins, was equal third with Scott Cameron (Holden Commodore VS/Chev).

Lacey won the first 11-lap race ahead of Shiels and Cetin. Cetin led from pole sitter Shiels and Lacey.

On lap five Lacey grabbed second at Turn 1 and shadowed Cetin for another two laps before lapped traffic baulked Cetin at Turn 2 and allowed Lacey to pass.

Cetin was further impeded at Turn 5 and Shiels slipped by. A lap later Shiels and Cetin clashed at Turn 2 which put both off. They were able to recover to hold their places, even when Cetin had a spin a Turn 8.

Behind them came Cameron and Willem Fercher (Toyota 86/Chev) who diced with Chris Jackson until the Calibra/Chev spat out a rear brake pad. Michael King (modified

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Improved Production Mitsubishi EVO 8) ensued ahead Daniel Nolan (Mazda RX7) and Elly Morrow (Super 3 Holden Commodore VE).

Shiels won Race 2 after he ran around the outside of Lacey at Turn 2 on the first lap. Lacey was soon out with a broken axle, which elevated Cetin to second where he remained for the duration. Third went to Cameron clear of King, Morrow and Nolan.

A spin on the out-lap put Fercher to the rear and he finished sixth after a battle with Jackson and Greg Boyle (Nissan Skyline GTR). The latter slowed in the final laps due to a broken front half shaft and conceded eighth to Mick Bullis (Chev Corvette) back after fire in race one.

Lacey charged from 20th to win the final race ahead of Shiels with early race leader Cetin third after his tyres fell away and he lost ground with a moment at Turn 8. Cameron was fourth ahead of King, Boyle, Fercher, Morrow, Nolan and Jackson. It was not a good outcome for Bullis with a rear end collapse that sent him into the Turn 2 tyre wall.

Garry O’Brien

IN HIS V8 Hayabusa Radical SR8, Peter White overcame the challengers to take out the three races of the NSW Industrie Clothing Supersports Championship third round at Sydney Motorsport Park.

He led all the way in Race 1 to win by 1.2s from Alex Kenny (Juno/Ford Duratec) and Darren Barlow (Stohr WF1/Suzuki). Neale Muston was with them until contact with Barlow at Turn 5 on the last lap landed his SR8 in a tyre wall.

Fifth place went to Brad Shiels (four-cylinder Hayabusa Radical SR3) who had been dicing with Nick Kelly in his new Ford Ecoboost Radical SR10 until it suffered a puncture.

That elevated Peter Paddon (SR3 XX) to fifth, just in front of Mitch Neilson (SR3) and Chris Perini (SR3 RSX).

There was one Safety Car after Ollie Shannon (SR3 RSX) and Ryan Godfrey (SR3) had contact at Turn 6, and the former was stranded while Godfrey went onto eighth place.

The second race was even tighter and, although White won (pictured), it was never easy as Kenny and Barlow were all over him. Ultimately Barlow

snared second place with Kenny third, as he completed the last lap on three cylinders.

On the last lap, Neilson slipped past Paddon and Perini to snare fourth. Shiels was also part of the dice before an engine failure. Not far behind, Kelly was seventh in his charge from the back, ahead of Godfrey, Brianna Wilson (SR3 RS) and Shannon. There was an early Safety Car when Stephen Champion was tipped in a spin at Turn 2 and his Radical was hit by Ivan Srejber (PRB Clubman).

The scenario continued into Race 3 with White, Kenny and Barlow.

Kenny retired with a return of the engine misfire and Barlow lost touch because of a broken exhaust. In the interim Neale Muston (SR8) came off the back to finish 2.0s behind White in second while Barlow was third.

Next was Neilson from Kelly and a brace of SR3 variants in Perini, Godfrey, Shannon, Wilson and Clare.

Paddon was out on the first lap when tapped into a spin at Turn 3 before Shiels stopped off Turn 2 with a collapsed front upright.

Garry O’Brien

Image: Insyde Media

TOYOTA 86S

Bates unbeaten Image: Insyde Media

ZACH BATES was the dominant driver in the Toyota Gazoo Racing 86 non-championship event at Sydney Motorsport Park, unbeaten across the two completed races. Bates won both the first and last encounters and was in the lead when the middle race was red flagged after one lap due to a multi-car collision.

It was Bailey Sweeny who showed the early pace, however, setting the fastest time in practice on Friday.

The All4 Mechanical driver clocked a 1m 49.315s, outpacing Bates and Hayden Jackson to head into Saturday full of confidence.

Practice 2 produced the quickest laps, after Lachlan Gibbons was fastest in the first session and fifth overall.

Bates took the ascendency in qualifying the next day, earning pole position over Gibbons and Sweeny.

The teenager set a 1m 48.063s, just 0.071s quicker than Gibbons and 0.167s to the better of practice winner Sweeny.

From the front of the grid, Bates capitalised with a lights-to-flag victory, setting a new lap record on the way to a comfortable win.

In the first race of the third round for the year, Bates came home 4.1s clear of Gibbons who was second throughout, while Sweeney held off Hayden Jackson for the last place on the podium.

The latter was third for the opening couple of laps before Sweeny took the position away at Turn 2, defending grimly from that point up to the finish line.

Harrison Gray joined Jackson in pressurising Sweeny but had to settle for fifth behind the Team RSG driver.

Next to finish was Andrew Shah, ahead of Lachlan Dalton and Toyota guest driver Michael Caruso.

Marcus LaDelle and Ben D’Alia rounded out the top 10.

Race 2 abruptly reached a premature end, red flagged after just one lap without a result.

Off the line Bates was able to repel Gibbons’ challenge, establishing a lead in the second outing.

Sweeny slotted into third ahead of Jackson but ran wide at Turn 1 on lap 2, losing control on the dirt to the driver’s right.

Despite his helpless situation, Sweeny managed to stay out the path of oncoming rivals which could not be said for Shah.

Shah suffered a similar fate after entering the first corner too hot, sliding back onto the track before he was collected by Benjamin D’Alia on approach to Turn 2.

The #29 car then spun into the path of Clay Richards, who clattered into him again.

The three stricken cars were all left with significant damage, but all of the drivers were able to walk away from the incident uninjured.

Race 3 saw a return to normal programming, as Bates continued his winning streak with a victory.

The last race was dominated by Bates with a 2.36s victory over Gibbons.

Gray, Caruso and Sweeny battled fiercely for the final podium place of the weekend, with the latter coming out on top.

Gray and Caruso were fourth and fifth, while Ryan Gilroy ended up sixth.

Lewis Bates, LaDelle, Michael Sherwell and Alec Morse rounded out the top 10.

Lachlan Dalton was unable to finish after a poor start and then having the rear of his machine ‘contaced’ by Jackson, who came home a lap down.

Josh Nevett

Lachlan Gibbons (24) was the closest challenger to Bates (24) on Sunday afternoon (above), and Saturday (below) before a major shunt reduced the field a little ...

Image: Riccardo Benvenuti

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51

p ra w S L A N NATIO

BIG STATE OUTING AT QR THE WEEKEND of October 23-24 at Queensland Raceway put on the biggest state meeting of 2021 with 10 categories and over 200 entries at round eight, and stretched over two long days – the first of which went well into the night.

PRODUCTION TOURING

LUCKY THERE were two enduros scheduled as the first was stopped a quarter of the way in, due to a huge storm that started just after the start.

After a shootout win and in the lead for 34 of the 40 laps, Beric Lynton and Dalton Ellery (Class X BMW M3) took out the second race by 12s over teammates Tristan and Steve Ellery. Third went to Mark Griffith and Will Brown (A1 Mercedes AMG A45) 2.4s further adrift.

Karl Begg and Steve Jukes (M4) were the only crew to lead laps. They grabbed fourth with two laps to go off Brad Carr and Ash Jarvis (M3). Then came John Harris and Stephen Robinson (A1 Mitsubishi EVO X) ahead of the Class C victor Jake Camilleri who finished on the lead lap in his Mazda 3 MPS. Eighth placed Gary Beggs and Paul Manteufel (HSV Clubsport) won A2.

Behind Ben Gersekowski (BMW), and Paul Buccini and Brock Paine (BMW 135i), Mitchell Maddren (Toyota 86) was the D winner in 11th, and Steve McHugh and Michael Hopp (Suzuki Swift Sport) topped E.

TA2 MUSCLE CARS

VICTORY AT the final round gave Jett Johnson the TA2 Muscle Car Northern Series title. A series of top four finishes had Johnson (Mustang) ahead of Mustang drivers Matt MacKelden and Anthony Tenkate, Peter Robinson (Challenger) and Robert Leonard (Camaro).

Nash Morris (Mustang) won race one ahead of Russell Wright (Mustang) but retired from the lead of race two with a gearbox issue. Wright went onto to win ahead of Karl Begg and John McLaughlin, both in Mustangs.

Morris struck back in race three for a last to first victory in front of Johnson who passed Wright on the final lap. Wright had a broken axle before the start of race four which Morris comfortably took out.

Johnson was second while debutant Dalton Ellery charged to third after he missed race two with broken wheel studs and placed seventh in race three.

TRACK ATTACK EXCELS

THROUGH 30 LAPS of the double points race three Darren Whittington and Brett Parrish swapped the lead on several occasions before Whittington won by 0.12s. Treigh Maschotta had the best view of the exchanges as he held third place throughout.

Kai Allen finished fourth after he passed Cameron Bartholomew two thirds of the way through. Like many, the latter struggled whilst he learned the intricacies of the new tyre and was passed

by Bradi Owen on the last lap.

Whittington also won both the lead-up

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‘Jnr-Jnr ‘Johnson took out the TA2 round and series.

Lynton/Ellery (below) won the 40-lap Production race that went full distance.

Hayden Hume (below right) swept the Production 2-Litre Coupe events.

sprint races, the first over Maschotta, Parrish and Darren Currie, and the second from Parrish, Maschotta, Wen and Scott Green.

HQ HOLDENS

WITH STILL a meeting remaining, Brandon Madden wrapped up the title with victory in the sixth round. He had a win in the third of four races, and coupled with solid places, finished ahead of Jake Madden and Scott Andriske.

Dion Cidoni won the first encounter narrowly over the two Maddens, Tye Gray and Justin Van Twest, and also took race two. He had a little more breathing space ahead of Brandon Madden, Andriske, Jake Madden and Van Twest.

Brandon Madden won the third race ahead of Jake Madden (who won the last) and Andriske. Cidoni was fourth but a retirement in the last after two offs at Turn 2, the second of which resulted in fence contact when an axle departed, meant fourth overall. Gray had the misfortune of his car going up in flames but had a spare to continue racing.

FORMULA FORDS

FASTEST QUALIFIER Tom McLennan (Mygale) won the three encounters where in each he headed home James Piszcyk (Spectrum). Nick McLeod (Spectrum) was a close third in race one, scored another third in the next outing but didn’t start the last where Ryder Quinn (Mygale) was close behind the leading two. Kyle Evans (Spectrum) was out of commission in race one, and lucky to escape with

Images: MTR Images

minor injuries after another car landed on top of him in Turn 4.

PRODUCTION 2.0-LITRE COUPES THE TRIAL round drew a dozen entries, all in Toyota 86 where Hayden Hume clean swept the three races ahead of James Wilkins. With two thirds and a fourth, Ryan Casha rounded out the podium ahead of Alex Hadden who was third in last race after a fifth and fourth.

AUSTRALIAN TRANS AM

IT WAS a noteworthy swansong for John English after 51 years of motor sport to retire on. He won the last race and wrapped up the series, although Anthony Tenkate won the round which consisted of five races.

Tenkate (Ford Mustang) won the first two encounters and race four as English took out races three and five. Third overall and the best of the 5.0-litres was Ron Prefontaine (Mustang). With three thirds and fifth, Ian Palmer was set for a third overall until a coil issue put him out of race four.

FORMULA VEES

THREE RACE wins were not enough for Alex Macdonald (Jacer) to take the round as he DNF’s the first race with a throttle cable fault. That went to Tim Alder (Volks Engineering) who followed up with a threepeat of seconds. A melee at Turn 3 in race two depleted the field for the rest of the day.

Scott Andrew (Rapier) was caught up in it as was Chris Gregg (Stinger) and still managed to finish the day third and fourth respectively. Gerrit Van De Pol

(Sabre) was second in race one, and third in the next two but was a retirement in the last.

PRODUCTION SPORTS

WITH OUTRIGHT victory at round six, Darren Berry consolidated his 2X points lead as he headed the field in all three races. Chasing the Ginetta G50Z were several Porsches with class rival Steven McFadden (997) the best of them after three seconds.

Grant Sparks (GT3) was third overall ahead of Gerry Murphy (997) with the pair squared on 2F points for the round, ahead of Shane Wilson (GT3) after each had a third outright. In the 2F class Paul Ansell (Mazda MX5) was unbeaten ahead of Shane Plohl (Eunos Roadster) and Chris Battista (MX5).

QLD TOURING CARS

AT THE final round Lee Gravolin (Holden Monaro) stole the limelight off the title contenders with overall victory. He chased Chris Brown (Holden Commodore VT) home in the first two races and trailed him in the last until the second last lap when Brown’s fan belt let go. In finishing third behind Les Hanifin (VK Commodore), Matt Haak (VL Commodore) took the A class title.

Seventh outright was Gary Anger (VX Commodore) which was good enough to take the B class round and the title. His major rival Rob Droder (VS Commodore) lost any chance with a blown diff. Matt Devitt (BMW E46) took the C title although second for the round behind Matt Corney (BMW 318is).

Garry O’Brien

Image: Bruce Moxon

BACK ON TRACK IN NSW CIRCUIT ACTIVITY returned to NSW at Sydney Motorsport Park on October 23 and went into the night. It was the Motor Racing Australia’s fifth outing for the year. However Covid restrictions meant that some could not compete and therefore the categories would not be competing for points.

MRF TYRES PULSARS

PITLANE INFRINGEMENTS, drivethrough penalties and rain were the key factors in the feature one-hour under lights enduro which was won by Shane Tate. From 12th on the grid, he worked his way through to fifth before the five laps were deducted from the three front runners for undercutting the prescribed pit times.

From second, Tate then passed Lloyd Godfrey (sharing with Josh Buchan) to take the win. Third went to Karl Raper who passed Tom Petrovich on the penultimate lap. The latter had undertaken two stops for good fourth result ahead of the first of the penalised teams in Charlie Viola.

Josh Craig was the pacesetter ahead of Tim Colombrita, Michael Osmond and 15-year-old karter Beau Pronesti – all three copped five lap strikes. Craig was also given a drive-though for contact with Ian Joyce at Turn 8, so too Pronesti for speeding in the lane.

After being easily the fastest in qualifying, Craig led the preliminary throughout while Jordan Cox who would be subbed by Godfrey for enduro, passed Pronesti for second. Dan Smith was next in front of Ben Sheedy and Osmond.

EXCELS

POLE POSITION went to Dylan De Bono before two victories for Cameron Brown and one to Lachlan Ward. De Bono had a bad start in Race 1 and dropped to seventh. Brown went ahead and stayed there while Ward displaced Shannon Williams for second. De Bono fought back to furth ahead of Ben Crossland and George Mawad.

Race 2 also went to Brown with Ward second. Third was between four cars where De Bono eclipsed Mawad by 0.036s as Williams headed Crossland.

Brown was in front in the last until Ward

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passed him midway through. De Bono later relegated Brown to third with Williams and Crossland next.

SUPER TT

POOR STARTS and a 5s penalty in one race failed to prevent Edan Thornburrow from blitzing the field in his TA2 Mustang.

His nearest rival was Mark Boudib (BMW GTR) who benefitted from Thornburrow’s poor start to lead race one briefly.

Ultimately, he finished a distant second in each foray.

Despite a 5s penalty Barry Kelleher (TA2 Mustang) held onto third in Race 1 ahead of Greg Boyle (Nissan Skyline GTR), Jim Pollicina (TCM Holden Torana A9X), Tom Vucicevic (Honda Civic) and Peter Dane (Trans Am Chev Camaro).

Boyle blasted to the lead at the start of Race 2, but he had to pit after two laps with a puncture. Kelleher was third again ahead of Pollicina, Vucicevic and Brad Harris (Mazda RX8) who edged out Mark Morsillo (Triumph Dolomite) and John Taylor (Peugeot 205 GTi). Pollicina was third in the last ahead of Kelleher and Boyle from the back of the grid was fourth.

PRODUCTION CARS

IN HIS Improved Production BMW E36 M3-R Peter Hennessy came out on top after a second, a third and a race win.

Jude Bargwanna was on track to be unbeaten when he won the first two races. But the team’s new Audi TTRS had a poor start in the third outing and struggled to make Turn 9 where it stopped and brought out the Safety Car. Fastest qualifier was Dimitri Agathos (Subaru Impreza WRX STi), and he started the first race in perfect fashion as he took a good lead. Unfortunately Steve Engel crashed his Mitsubishi EVO 9 on top of the tunnel and the race was red flagged. Bargwanna led the restart from the start with Hennessy able to pass Matt Boylan (EVO X) and Agathos. Kurt Macready (IP Nissan Silvia) shadowed them to the line.

It was a repeat for Bargwanna in Race 2 as Macready took second away from Hennessy. Boylan and Agathos were next clear of Sutton (WRX) who was outstanding off the line in race three

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Pete Hennessy (top) took the Production points, while Edan Thornburrow blitzed Super TT (above) - Images Riccardo Benvenuti. Below, Terry Johnson heads the MX5 Cup field.

for the lead, albeit a short one. After a DNF in race one Ben Algie (IP Nissan 200SX) came through for second ahead of Boylan and Macready. Agathos appeared to have the race in his keeping until sideline on the last lap, out of fuel.

MX5 CUP

DESPITE CONCEDING pole, Terry Johnson was able to lead the first race from start to finish where Stuart McFadyen was second on each occasion. David Johnson was third in race one from Steven Head as Michael Hall passed Ken Davis on the last lap.

The gap was close in the second race between Johnson and McFadyen as the former incurred a 5s start line infringement penalty. Head was third clear of David Johnson and Davis. Hall was a retirement but took out the last race ahead of Davis and Craig Barney.

Early leader McFadyen was a last lap retirement as Terry Johnson struck dramas on the final lap and finished fifth.

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SUPERKARTS

RUN AS the Steven Aaron Memorial round, Tony Moit (250cc Anderson Maverick) missed the first race but struck back to win the next three. Lee Vella (Anderson) was the best of the 125cc class, and took out race one before he followed through with three overall second places.

Luke Vitale was an early casualty, out of Race 1 and the rest of the day, with his 250cc Anderson running way too rich with fuel issues. Laurie Fooks (125 Raider) was out of the first too, as were class rivals Aaron Cogger (Avoig Elise) and Lauren Shand (Avoig).

Fooks fixed his problem for third in Race 2 ahead of Dylan Stephens (BRM Stock Honda) and Warren McGrouther (CRG Road Rebel) after a first lap red flag to retrieve James Stevenson’s stranded EVO. In race three Fooks was again a retirement as Cogger filled third ahead of Shand and Adam Stewart (Anderson). In the last it was Fooks third from Cogger, Shand and Stewart.

Garry O’Brien

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NATIONALS wrap n compiled by garry o’brie

FLOYD’S ROUND AND QLD TITLE VICTORY IN the Diaper Station 100 for Kye Floyd (right) has allowed him to take out the Mickey Thompson ARB Queensland Off Road Racing Championship for 2021.

Held at the Landcruiser Mountain Park, Jimna on October 23-24, Floyd took out the event by 7.23s over Zac Marsh which made it a one-two for Class 6 Can-Am buggies. Third place went to Stuart Chapman in the Unlimited Chenowth Millennium 2/ Mitsubishi turbo.

Clayton Chapman and Duane Deans in their team Razorback/ Toyota turbo were the ones to beat from the outset. They just led at the end of the first heat before extending the margin in heat two. But on the next outing, they lost the power steering and alternator belt. They were able to replace it out on the track. The time lost was around 6 mins.

Floyd finished the opening heat second and almost 10s ahead of March, Stuart Chapman and Richard Tassin (Can-Am). Marsh reduced the margin to Floyd in heat two by 6.8s and narrowly won heat three to further negate the gap.

Clayton Chapman charged back to take out the last two heats and finish ninth overall. Fourth place went to Josh Wiedman (Can-Am) when Tassin had a poor heat five.

The latter still finished fifth ahead of Class 1 winner Tony Fehlhaber

Image: Terry Hill

(Chenowth Millennium/Nissan).

Can-Am drivers Kye Camilleri, Brice Derrick and Ben Klein completed the event seventh, eighth and 10th.

As well as placing 11th and 12th, there was not much in the Class 8

battle where Christian Trusz (Nissan Patrol/Holden V8) edged out Ross Challacombe (Mitsubishi Triton) by 2.52s. In 15th and 16th Tyler Youman (Class 5 Toyota Hilux/Chev) and Brett Comiskey/Dan Mckenzie

(Class 4 Racer Engineering Trophy Truck/Chev) were the only ones to do the whole distance in their classes while Colin Gaven (Tony Parker Engineering/Toyota) won Class 2. Garry O’Brien

Tighe goes back-to-back at Cotton AS HE did last month at the previous round, Dean Tighe (pictured, right) won round six of the MG Car Club of Queensland’s state hillclimb series at Mt Cotton on October 23-24.

His best time of 37.54s in the supercharged Hayabusa Empire Wrath came on the ninth of 11 possible runs. The car feature some aero tweaks which looked positive until ripped off when Tighe hit a witches hat and ripped up the front. It forced him to revert to old aero.

Over 1300cc Formula Libre cars also finished second and third with Brett Bull (Van Diemen RF03K/ supercharged Kawasaki) and Michael Von Rappard (Dallara F392/supercharged Hayabusa) respectively.

Like many Bull missed the last two runs due to the hot conditions while Von Rappard was finished after four runs with supercharger dramas.

Fourth overall was David Quelch in his F/L up to 1.3-litre Honda DPQ03 ahead of Greg Tebble (Group R Van Diemen FF2000). Sixth and second in F/L up to 1.3-lt was Mitchell Allwood (Energy Firecat) and seventh went to Rick Miles (Kookaburra Formula Ford) who equalled his own category course record.

Just 0.03s behind was Ross Mackay in his Ford Escort Sports Sedan, the best of the tin tops ahead of Scott Anable (turbo BMW 325i Sports Sedan), and tenth placed Stephen Edwards (GS Yamaha R6FL).

Separate to the series runs was the end-of-day top six which Tighe won over Bull, Tebble, Miles, Mackay and Edwards. Garry O’Brien

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Image: Ian Colley

THRILLING END TO DESERT RACE

Image: Peter Rowling

IT WAS remarkable result in the Black Diamond Drilling Kalgoorlie Desert Race on October 23-24 which was won

by Nic Hicks and Mark Gater (pictured) by a scant 1.48s.

The West round of the BFGoodrich Motorsport Australia Off Road Cup was a combination of times from three sections of the approximate 135km course, none of which Hicks/Gater nor fellow SXS Turbo Can-Am pilots Jason and Kiera Galea who were second, won.

Hicks started the event 16th, was eighth in section one, third in section two and fourth through the final part.

The Galeas were seventh in prologue before finishing the sections ninth, second and fifth.

Many of the top contenders encountered trouble on the unforgiving course and either dropped down the order or out completely.

One of the hardest luck stories were Dean and Jordan Terry who looked certain to win the event after they won the first two sections and had a 15min lead. But the race was over when their Pro Buggy Tatum/Chev broke a $4 circlip that held the axle in place.

After taking out the shootout, last

year’s event winner Shane Elphinstone, together with Adam Trewhella, had a series of niggling problems with their Pro Buggy Jimco/Nissan turbo that had them well down the order in section one and nowhere in the next. They were easily the fastest on section three.

Third overall and first in Extreme 2WD were Brad Krepp and Kerry Yaxley (Nissan Navara/Chev) ahead of Jayden Grewar and Simon Hart (Can-Am), Paul Nappy and Gavin Cullen (Pro Buggy Penhall/Chev), and Gus Lacey and Chris Vollmer (Ext 4WD SS Racetech/ Chev).

Mowles’ Meaningful Memorial

THE MATT MORGAN Memorial, the second round of the Alice Hosetech & Industrial Supplies Jaws Contracting NT Titles was won by Andrew Mowles and James Page at Mt Ooraminna on October 16-17.

The Alice Springs Off Road Race Club’s event drew 20 competitors with Mowles and Page (pictured) Image: ASORCC victorious in the prologue and one of the four sections aboard their ProLite Razorback/BMW. The win by Mowles was particularly significant as the late Morgan was his and Eliza Agnew in their Super 1650 Holeshot/Toyota, with navigator and close friend of long standing. class rivals Darren, Chloe and Donna Wright (Southern Cross/ Mowles and Page finished 3 mins 5.4s ahead of Paddy Mitsubishi) next.

Geraghty in a singlehanded effort in his Sportslite Tiny Built/ Second in the prologue, Greg and Julie Hicks (ProLite Sollitt/ Suzuki. Geraghty won the final two sections and was 4mins Subaru) took the upper hand in the first section through two laps 48.6s ahead of third placed Jack Weir and Jackson Agnew and had a 12.3s lead over Mowles as they headed to the single (ProLite Jimco/Toyota). Fourth across the line were Tim Weir lap night section. However, the Hicks’ suffered a rare DNF there,

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In their ProLite Bullet/Nissan Stephen Ketteridge-Hall and Haylee Cowling were second in sections one and three but had a gearbox glitch on the middle section. They finished seventh ahead of class rivals Mark and Sam Cramer (Stevo/Nissan).

In other classes the 12th placed Jeremy Lia and Jamie Tilbrook (SS Racetech/Toyota) win Sportslite, Steve Pacey and Glenn Chaffer (Tiger/ Toyota) took out Super1650, and Nic and Sebastian Jennings (Toyota Landcruiser) was best of Production 4WD. Garry O’Brien

with a broken rear arm.

Mowles won the night outing ahead of Geraghty and had a 3mins 44s advantage for the last two single lap sections on Sunday. Despite the latter’s win in both, he could not make up the leeway.

Sixth outright and the Extreme 2WD winners were Shannon and Keioni Lander (Ford Ranger/ Chev) ahead of the SXS Turbo front runners, Jason Flavell and Bruce Thomas in their Can-Am. Performance 2WD honours went to Sarah McArthur and Tanya Webb (Ford Falcon Ute).

The night section wasn’t too kind to David Bird/ Mark Nietschke (Bennett Trophy Truck/Chev, crank angle sensor) or Jamie Debrenni/Sandra Cronin (Southern Cross/Toyota, clutch) with failures as they left the pits. Prior to that, Peter and Michelle Baulch (Rivmaster/Toyota 20v Silvertop) blew the gearbox, and Brad and Bradley Geraghty (Yamaha YXZ 1000) had a diff go.

The Leighton Surr/Josh Landers Ford Ranger/Chev had transmission issues throughout the event. They failed to finish the first section before they struggled on to 14th overall.

Garry O’Brien

AutoAction

55

NATIONALS wrap n compiled by garry o’brie

Rob Janney Memorial Race Meeting IT WAS mostly a non-championship round at Wanneroo on October 16-17, but it did recognise the work that the late Rob Janney gave to the West Australia Sporting Car Club. In his honour was the Rob Janny Memorial Time Challenge that attracted a number of exotic cars which included Russell Sewell in a Mercedes AMG GTR. Nick Orme in his Ford Focus RS was the overall points winner from Jamie Scott (Ford Escort MkII).

FORMULA FORDS

THREE WERE in contention to take the championship in Ben Leslie and Mark Pickett mainly, and Craig Jorgensen an outside chance.

Leslie (Stealth) and Pickett (Van Diemen RF01) exchanged the race one lead numerous times which kept Jorgensen (RF93) handy. On the last lap Leslie and Pickett came together to Turn 7 which put both out and allowed Josh Matthews (Stealth) to pass Jorgensen for the win as Simon Ridgewell (RF93) took third.

Matthews led at the start of Race 2 followed by Jorgensen and Marc Redman (RF92) as Pickett came from the rear of the field. Leslie’s title bid further diminished when his suspension collapsed which brought out the red flag. At the restart Jorgensen led away followed by Pickett who passed him on the final lap as Matthews tailed both.

Pickett edged out Jorgensen in the last but a 5s penalty dropped him to ninth.

It was still enough for Pickett to take the championship. Ridgewell crossed the line for an eventual second with Redman third.

FORMULA VEES

TWO WINS and a third gave the weekend’s outright and 1600cc honours to David Caisley (Jacer) while Brett Scarey (CD-Vee) had the 1200s all his own way.

Caisley and Rod Lisson (Borland Sabre) duked it out throughout Race 1 with Caisley the winner. Lisson incurred a 5s penalty which dropped him to third behind Jason Fowler (Jacer). The latter led Race 2 initially but was relegated to third as Caisley took his second win ahead of Lisson. In the last Fowler was able to edge out Lisson and Caisley in tight finish.

Callum Lamont (Sabre) scored second in race one within the 1200 class after a tight tussle with third placed McKenzie Matthew (Gerbert), Bruce Welsh (Jacer) and Andrew Lockett (Ajay 99). Lockett followed up with a pair of seconds ahead Lamont.

HQ HOLDENS

ALTHOUGH he won the three races, Michael Howlett had to work for them as he was challenged by Ryan Davis and Michael Woodbridge. The latter had his share of the front running but ultimately finished Race 1 second ahead of Davis who eventually passed Brian Pangler.

In Race 2 it Howlett, Davis and Woodbridge ran in unison with no order change. Howlett led the last before both

56 AutoAction

Jorgensen leads Pickett in a competitive Formula Ford field. Images: Mick Oliver Woodbridge and Davis led. Davis led on the final lap but was pipped at the post

by Howlett.

EXCEL CUP

UNDEFEATED OVER the three races was Ryan McNess while second place honours were shared between Brandon Sharpe with two and Stephen McGregor with one.

Newcomer Vagner De Souza headed the pack behind McNess in Race 1 until McGregor and Sharpe passed him on the final lap. Sharpe, McGregor and De Souza vied for the minors in Race 2 where it was Sharpe who emerged ahead of McGregor as Ruano Stumpf headed Darren Seaton and De Souza until a 5s penalty.

It was the same top three in Race 3 where Jackson Callo was fourth ahead of Stumpf.

HISTORIC TOURING CARS

NOT EVEN a last race handicap start could stop Clinton Rayner (Chev Camaro – pictured right) from three wins. He trailed early leader Graeme Woolhouse (Ford Mustang) before he went ahead and won from Ray Hepburn (Mustang) who had Stuart Young (Holden Torana XU-1) right behind him. Woolhouse was a late retirement.

Raynor led all the way in Race 2 as Woolhouse stormed through to finish second ahead of Hepburn, Don Behets (Ford Galaxie) and Young. Mini Coopers in the hands of Steven Wellstead and Trevor Fairs filled the minor places in the last.

FORMULA RACING CARS

THE THREE races went to Simon Alderson (FF2000 Van Diemen) although others were the pacesetters. The first was led by Martin Bullock (Chevron B20) followed by William Norman (Ralt RT4) and Ricky Virago (Ralt RT5) who soon went through the Turn 1 sand trap.

Bullock stopped on track with an ignition failure on lap seven. Norman avoided him but ripped off a front wheel off in the process. Alderson inherited the win from Andrew Nielsen and Stuart Kostera, both in RT4s.

Alderson led Nielson in the next outing, followed by Kostera who moved to second mid race. Bullock made it to third from his rear of grid start. Bullock had the lead after one lap of Race 3 but suffered another retirement and left Alderson the winner from Nielson and Leon Magistro (RT4).

FSR

RADICALS DOMINATED the results with Adam Lisle taking out the three races.

Max McRae was second in the first race before Aaron Love scored the runner up spots in the next two to take second overall. In fourth was Elliott Schutte who trailed the three all day.

SALOON CARS

A THIRD race win enabled Matt Martin to be the overall winner in his Holden Commodore VT. Rob Marcon (Ford Falcon AU – pictured, centre) won the opener ahead of fellow Ford drivers

Mason Harvey and Rick Gill. Marcon also took out the second race where Martin was second early until Harvey went ahead and left Martin to hold off Gill. Marcon looked set for a threepeat but retired from the last and left Martin to win from Allan Letcher (VT) who had a 5s penalty and dropped to fourth behind Vince Ciallella (VT) and Greg Dyson (AU).

SPORT SEDANS/SPORTS CARS

BOTH RACES were won by Grant Hill in his ex-Supercar Ford Falcon. Arthur Abrahams (Lamborghini) led Race 1 for the first four laps but lost pace which put Hill into the lead. Ultimately, Abrahams fell to fifth. Richard Bloomfield (Porsche 997) was second, and Ryan Humfrey (Falcon/Chev) put a late move on Walter Epple (997) for third. Race 2 was won by Hill from Abrahams and Bloomfield.

Mick Oliver

SPEEDWAYnews Queensland USC Round 1 winner Jock Goodyer flanked by Luke Oldfield and Lachlan McHugh.

Photo: Matthew Paul

GOODYER TOO GOOD IN QLD USC OPENER AN IMPRESSIVE car count of 37 Sprintcars teams rolled into the Hi-Tec Oils Toowoomba Speedway for the Will Power 500, opening round of the 2021/22 Ultimate Sprintcar Championship. Amongst the field was lone Tasmanian Jock Goodyer – yet despite travelling the furthest distance to be there he would find the quickest route to the chequered flag after a high speed game of cat and mouse through traffic in the 30-lap feature race.

At the drop of the green, Goodyer would pounce around the outside to lead the opening circulation, followed by Luke Oldfield who was quickly pressured

by Lachlan McHugh and Callum Walker; however the yellow lights would soon be ablaze for the first stoppage of the race as four cars tangled across the track – Ryan Newton spun across the track tagging Bryan Mann as Brett Minnett, Anthony Lambert both spun to a halt.

Mann would retire after the incident while the remaining three re-joined at the back.

At the restart, Goodyer would quickly gap the field until Jy Corbert tagged the wall bringing on another restart with 27 laps to run. Again, Goodyer cleared out. Oldfield remained in second while McHugh edged past Walker, who was the only one of the front running cars to be running the bottom of the track before retiring to the infield at the halfway mark along with Brent Kratzmann.

On lap 22 Goodyer had found slower traffic and from that point forward he would slice and dice the field in an express run to the finish line. As the laps narrowed to the pointy end of the race, Oldfield did his best to edge closer but was just not quite able to pull enough real estate to launch a successful strike at the leader.

McHugh would join the above mentioned duo to round out the podium. Darwin’s Ben Atkinson was the only other interstater in field, advancing from 12th to a creditable fourth to finish in front of Queensland guns Ryan McNamara, Cody Maroske. Newton recovered from his early misadventure to nail down seventh over Randy Morgan and local driver Nicholas Whell who was the final driver to finish on the lead lap. Tenth was Brett Minnett followed by Karl Hoffmans, Tim Farrell, Dylan

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Menz, Allan Woods and Adam Butler rounding out the finishers.

The six heat races were shared evenly, with Maroske, McHugh, Goodyer, Whell, Hoffmans and Oldfield each racking up the points. Oldfield would also claim the Corbert’s Group Pole Shootout, while Menz chalked up victory in the B Main event.

Running in conjunction with the big guns was the Petzyo Development Series for the less experienced Sprintcar competitors, which ran two heats and a 12-lap feature / C Main. Dan Moes proved to be the best among the group of 10 as he went on to claim victory.

Joining him in the podium celebrations was Jeremy Gaudry and fast female racer Erin Vanderreyden. Brad Keiler, Jason Bottin, Shane Matthews and Nicholas O’Keefe all completed the dozen circulations while Libby Ellis, Zack Howell and Tyson Lochwood failed to make the distance. Howell and Vanderreyden won the two 10-lap heat races.

The all open wheeled night of racing included support classes; Speedcars, Lightning Sprints, Formula 500s and V8 Dirt Modifieds. Kiwi ace Michael Kendall made the most of his front row start to claim an untroubled victory in the Speedcar 25-lap main event over Troy Ware in second, Scott Farmer would add a Kiwi flavoured bookend to the podium in third placing.

The Toowoomba Mobile Welding Lightning Sprint’s feature was claimed by Keith Blatch over Andrew Kimm and Tyler Stralow. Kristin Williams made a successful return to Formula 500 racing with an exhilarating last corner divebomb under race leader Jake Hooper who was negotiating lapped traffic, Adrian Farrell shared the podium. David Clark won a thrilling 15-lap main event in the V8 Dirt Modified’s after an epic side-by-side battle with Terry Leerentveld who committed to run the top side while Clark wheeled around the gutter.

Mathew Pascoe caught the leading pair in the closing stages before separating the duo to claim second and Leerentveld third.

Paris Charles

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‘The 0 Show’ Takes the Ray Tulk Memorial THE ALLWEST Plant Hire Ellenbrook Speedway brought down the curtain on their 2021 season by running the 14th Annual Ray Tulk Memorial for Late Models. Among a stout field of 15 competitors it would be Brad Blake to add his name to the prestigious winner’s trophy for the third time.

For the 25-lap feature event Blake would line up alongside pole sitter Jamie Oldfield, the two of them both claiming a first and second placing from their heats. The other heat victors were Jay Cardy and Paul Stubber, who occupied the second row, the latter lowering the existing 10-lap record by six seconds with a time of 2.59.636.

At the drop of the green Blake powered around the top side to claim the lead and set the pace of the race, Oldfield locked down second, while hard fought battles were engaged further back as Stubber and Cardy duelled for third. Stubber got the upper hand before setting his sights on second while brothers Jason and Warren Oldfield locked horns as they looked for any advantage in moving forward.

The top three continued to scrap until the seventh circulation when Oldfield appeared to slow, Stubber’s instinctive reaction was to spin to avoid contact, in doing so bringing on the yellow lights.

The field would restart in the above running order – however further back a cluster of cars tangled as they jockeyed for position bringing on another Indian file restart.

The restart proved fortunate for Jason Oldfield who advanced from fifth to second while Jamie Oldfield’s race would come to an end with terminal mechanical issues just three circulations after.

The second half of the race provided plenty of thrilling action as numerous hard-fought battles raged throughout the field as the finish line drew nearer.

Blake would take the victory, while Cardy made a late race pass for second to lead Jason Oldfield to the podium celebrations.

Paul Stubber, Daniel Ameduri and rookie racer Rod Musarra would round the top half dozen. Warren Oldfield, Ritchie Freeman, Damian Hudson and Ray Leonard registered as the top 10 who travelled the distance.

Also sharing the marque was the WA Limited Sprintcars for their opening round of 14 in the new season, and with 23 competitors assembled in the pit area they were all keen to bank early points.

In the end it would the reigning Western Australian Champion in Michael Keen proving why he wears the LSA#1 on his car.

While Keen claimed maximum points, he didn’t have it all his own way in the 25-lap feature event. Tim King led the first stanza before retiring with a broken power steering hose. Tim Boujos inherited the lead, his run coming to an end after tagging the wall while trying to negotiate his way past the back markers. From that point Keen led Alex Williams and Blake Jackson to Victory Lane.

Glenn Dickinson claimed the Hard Charger Award after advancing from 14th to fourth. Rounding out the dozen finishers were Damien Joyce, Brooke Newson, Mike Hanlon, Anthony Gaudio, Joel Ettridge, Clayton Dickinson, Stephanie Hanlon and David Guy. Failing to travel the distance were Mat Borgas, King, Brendon Dickinson and Boujos.

Heat victories were shared by Keen, then Boujos setting a new 10-lap record in the process with a time of 02:48.688, Joyce and King taking one apiece. Paris Charles Photo: ‘The 0 Show’ Brad Blake on his way to victory.

Photo: Richard Hathaway.

AutoAction

57

We take a look back at what was making news in Auto Action 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 years ago

B

A

Name: Images: AA Archives

1823 Crossword Test your Motorsport knowledge 1

3

4

2

5

6 8

9

7 10

12

11

13

16

17 19

1981 – ALLAN MOFFAT won a controversial final round of the Australian Endurance Championship at Surfers Paradise after Peter Brock was penalised. Brock won the race by an impressive 57.5s, but was handed a one-minute penalty for receiving a push start at the end of his compulsory pit stop. Dick Johnson had held second, but brake failure saw him hit an earth bank and roll.

1991 – DUE TO severe rain, the 1991 Australian Grand Prix in Adelaide was red flagged and cancelled after just 14 laps of running. Ayrton Senna was classified as the winner ,from Nigel Mansell and Gerhard Berger.

At the time, the race was the shortest in Formula 1 history – however that was bettered by the one lap Belgian Grand Prix earlier this year.

2001 – THEN HEAD of Supercars Tony Cochrane was fed up of playing second fiddle to CART (now IndyCar) at the annual Gold Coast event and he had a cunning plan to make sure it was V8 Supercars that got the attention. In the 2001 Gold Coast race, Gil de Ferran took his second consecutive title with Team Penske. His fellow Brazilian Cristiano da Matta won the race.

14

15

1971 – IT WAS another title for Holden as a third-place finish at Surfers Paradise was enough to secure Holden victory in the Manufacturer’s Championship. Peter Brock finished third for Harry Firth’s Holden Dealer Team, pipping Ford to the title by just two points.

The Rothmans 250 mile was won by Allan Moffat behind the wheel of a GT-HO.

18

20

2011 – MANY NAMES were being thrown around for a spot in the 2011 Supercars Championship. There were still vacancies at Rod Nash Racing, Kelly Racing, Garry Rogers Motorsport, Brad Jones Racing, Paul Morris Motorsport and Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport – the key contenders were David Reynolds, Fabian Coulthard and Alex Davison.

21 22 23 24 25 26

Created using the Crossword Maker on TheTeachersCorner.net

Across

Down

Quartararo win before stepping up to

11. Who is pictured rolling over in photo B?

rd Berger 1.made a guest appearance in the non2. Jack le Brocq will depart MotoGP? Tickford at the end of the season Gerhard Berger made a guest appearance (surname) nship ATCC round in Adelaide in 1985, what brand of after signing a multi-year deal whatconsecutive team? (abbreviation) in the nonchampionship ATCC round in 26. with How many Formula 1 12. Born in Scotland, I am an owner of Triple e drive Adelaide in 1985, what brand of car did he 3. Which Supercars Championship team Fullwood Constructors titleswill hasBryce Mercedes won?

Eight and last week I became an owner of hat Supercars join in 2022? (abbreviation) drive team will Jake Kostecki race in 2022?

Queensland Raceway? sports car 4.manufacturer sponsored Rothmans won 5. Which former Australian Drivers’ With what Supercars team willby Jake Down Champion is being (surname) akar in 1984? pictured in photo C? (surname) Kostecki race in 2022?

2. Jack le Brocq will depart Tickford at the 15. How many podiums did Bruno famously 8. finished thirdcarfor Tyrrell in sponsored the 1984 6. Who bagged his maiden end Supercars Championship pole What sports manufacturer of the season after signing a multi-year Giacomelli score in his Formula 1 career?

Grand Prix, was later (surname) position at Sydney Motorsport lastteam? year?(abbreviation) (surname)3. by but Rothmans won itsdisqualified? first Dakar in 1984? dealPark with what 16. How many British Touring Car WhoGiacomo famously finished thirdsit forfirst Tyrrell in second Which Championship will Championships has Jason Plato won?

Agostini and 7. Which car manufacturer left F1Supercars at the end of 2008,team before ntino Rossi11.and the 1984 Grand Prix, but(full was name) later 2022? (abbreviation) 17. At what circuit is the crash in photo B otoGP victory list,Monaco but who is third? the team led by Ross BrawnBryce wonFullwood the titlejoininin2009? disqualified?

5. Rins Which racing former Australian Drivers’ taken?

83 who became the (surname) first driver to win a WRC title in 9. What brand of bike is Alex in MotoGP this 13. Valentino Rossi and Giacomo Agostini sit Champion is being pictured in photo C? 18. With what team did Alain Prost make his Quattro? (surname) season? first andLee second on the MotoGP victory in list,his F1 debut with? many wins has Holdsworth claimed 10. Who won the 1963 Indy(surname) 500? (full name) but who is third? (full name) 6. Who Supercars 19. Alain Prost missed out on the 1984 CR Australia Series?

11. Who is pictured rolling over in bagged photohis B?maiden (surname) In 1983the who#12 became the first in driver Championship position Sydney Formula 1 World Championship by half is pictured14.driving machine photo A? 12. Born in Scotland, I am an owner of pole Triple Eightat and last to win a WRC title in an Audi Quattro?

23.

Allan Moffat teamed up with who to Motorsport Park last year? (surname) a point, who won the title that year? e) week I became an owner of Queensland Raceway? (surname) finish on the podium in his RX-7 in 1984?

7.

Which car manufacturer left F1 at the end (surname) brand of car is pictured in photo A? (surname) 15.

How many wins has Lee Holdsworth (surname) of 2008, before the team led by Ross Brawn 21. Who holds the record of most ATCC Moffat teamed up with who to finish on the podium 15. How many podiums did Bruno Giacomelli score in his claimed in his maiden TCR Australia Series?

24.

Aussies Alan Jones and Vern Schuppan won the title in 2009?

SMP race wins with 10? (surname) -7 in 1984? (surname) Formula 1 career?

18.

Who is pictured driving the #12 machine teamed up at Le Mans in 1984, but who was 9.

What brand of bike is Alex Rins racing in 22. Only one WRC driver not from has won es Alan Jones and Vern Schuppan teamed up at Le 16. How many British Touring Car Championships has Jason in photo A? (surname) their French teammate? (surname) MotoGP this season? the World Rally Championship since 2004, 1984, but who was their French teammate?

Plato won?

20.

What brand of car is pictured in photo A? 25.

How many Moto2 races did Fabio 10.

Who won the 1963 Indy 500? (full name) who is that? (surname) e) 17. At what circuit is the crash in photo B taken? many Moto2 races did Fabio Quartararo win before 18. With what team did Alain Prost make his F1 debut with?

1822 crossword answers 1 down – Bowe, 2 down – Senna, 319. down – Fittipaldi, across – five, down 6 across1 –World Lowndes, 7 down – MSR, 8 down – Giacomelli, 9 down – up to MotoGP? Alain Prost4 missed out5on the– Verstappen, 1984 Formula Albert ParkFormula 10 across –1 Rosberg, 11 acrosstitles – Prost, 11 down Championship – Plato, 12 across –by Mazda, – Vern across – Larry Perkins, 15 down – New Zealander, 16 across – Yamaha, many consecutive Constructors has half13a down point, whoSchuppan, won the14title that year?

17 down – Geoghegan, 18 across – Ickx, 19 down – Scheckter,(surname) 20 across – Percat, 21 across – Phil Brock, 22 down – Sandown, 23 across – Honda, 24 across – McLaughlin, 25 down – eleven, s won?

26 down – five, 27 across – Hulkenberg, 28 across – Ambrose,21.

29 Who across holds – Le Brocq the record of most ATCC SMP race wins with 10? (surname) 22. Only one WRC driver not from has won the World Rally AutoAction Championship since 2004, who is that? (surname)

C

58

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