Auto Action #1810

MONSTER MAN WATERS LAYS IT ALL ON THE LINE

REVEALED MSR’S MUSTANG OPTION

STONE JNR TO REVIVE FORD LINK?

BLUE BLOOD TEXAS RANGER

SCOTTY STARS IN OVAL DEBUT

JUMPIN’ JACK FLASH MILLER BREAKS THROUGH

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INTERNATIONAL RESCUE: SUPERCARS CALLS IN AMERICAN EXPERTS MARK FOGARTY reveals that F1 1 and elping IndyCar motor master Ilmor is helping develop Gen3 V8s RENOWNED FORMULA 1 and IndyCar engine maker Ilmor has been hired to help develop Supercars’ Gen3 V8s.

Auto Action has learned that Gen3 versions of the Ford and GM ‘crate’ motors will be sent to Ilmor in America for parity validation.

Ilmor has a long history of developing race-winning engines.

Supercars will switch to Ford’s 5.4-litre Coyote-based V8 and GM’s 6.2-litre LS3.

The change means balancing the disparity of the low-cost motors – DOHC 4 valves per cylinder versus pushrod two valves.

The Ford ‘Aluminator’ can rev higher, but the LS3 will produce more torque.

Supercars is working with local engine developers Mostech (Ford) and KRE (GM) to develop ‘crate’ V8s that are cheaper and longer lasting.

It has targeted a maximum of $60,000 for a Gen3 motor, compared with more than $100K for the existing five-litre V8.

While teams have confirmed the Ilmor link, nk, Supercars is not commenting. But informed ed sources verify that the American branch of Ilmor, based at Plymouth, Michigan outside de Detroit, has been commissioned to validate the parity of the Ford and GM motors.

“We plan on working with them to support the technical parity between engines,” an insider said.

According to the informant, Ilmor – which masterminded Chevrolet’s 2.2-litre turbocharged IndyCar engine – is not involved in development of the Gen3 ‘crate’ te’ motors, which are being tuned here by Mostech and KRE. The source revealed that Supercars’ well-established parity measures would be used to balance performance between thee disparate engines, suggesting the GM LS3’s 3’s capacity may not be retained.

“Our technical parity formula will be applied going forward,” the insider said. “We have experience in achieving parity between een pushrod engines (Ford, GM) and DOHC engines (Mercedes, Nissan, Volvo).

“No decision has been made regarding the capacity of the GM engine.”

Ilmor has been commissioned because it has transient dynamometers, which aren’t available here.

Transient dynos measure performance and

simulated durability much more accurately than a standard water brake dyno.

“With a water brake dyno it’s basically linear throttle application,” a source familiar with the Ilmor program explained. “But with a transient dyno you can put in effectively vely a Motec file or an Atlas file and you can simulate the load on an engine and the rev range for an entire lap.

“You could do 10 Bathurst 1000s in a row with an engine.

“It’s the best way of doing durability ty testing and it’s also a better way of trying to paritise two different engines from a clean start.

“It’s the right way to do it because there is no other way to test the engines and that durability testing is going to show where the weak spots are.

Locally developed versions of the Gen3 Ford 5.4 litre V8 and GM’s 6.2 litre V8 will be off to Ilmor in America for partity validation.

Ilmor’s involvement is significant because the company, which has divisions in the USA and the UK, has been a leading race engine developer for more than 30 years.

It developed some of the most successful motors in F1 and Indycar history.

Initially backed by Roger Penske, llmor was founded by ex-Cosworth engineers Mario Ilien and Paul Morgan in the late

1980s. They developed winning F1 and Indycar motors.

Ilmor’s Chevrolet and Mercedes turbocharged V8s dominated CART in the 1990s. Its latest Chevy twin-turbo V6 vies with Honda for IndyCar supremacy.

The American division is also a force in NASCAR truck racing and the ARCA feeder series.

In F1, Ilmor designed the early Mercedes-

Benz V10s that powered McLaren to world championships in 1998/99 with Mika Hakkinen.

The company’s facility in Brixworth, UK, was taken over by Mercedes in 2005, forming the basis of the operation that developed the all-conquering hybrid V6 that has dominated since 2014.

Ilmor in America was also behind the Honda IndyCar powerplant from 2003-11, switching to Chevy with Penske support in 2012.

Co-founder Ilien is still involved in the UK operation, which helped Honda’s F1 program a couple of years ago.

It is understood Penske is no longer associated with Ilmor directly outside Chevrolet’s IndyCar engines, which power Team Penske, including Scott McLaughlin’s fourth entry.

Ilmor is involved in the development of Chevy’s next-gen 2.4-litre twin-turbo V6 hybrid power unit, due in 2023.

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STONE AND FORD COULD REUNITE

Holden team considers heritage move as Gen3 deadline looms

By BRUCE NEWTON LINKS BETWEEN the Stone family and Ford could be re-forged in the 2022 Supercars Championship.

Matt Stone Racing, coming off one of its best championship weekends in its fouryear main game history in Tasmania last month, has revealed it could shift back to the blue oval and race Ford Mustangs from next year.

It has set itself June 30 as the absolute deadline to decide whether it swaps from the Holden Commodore ZB into the Gen3 Chevrolet Camaro, or jump the red-blue divide into the iconic Ford pony car.

Team co-owner Matt Stone told Auto Action the decision could come sooner than that.

“I actually think June 30 is pushing our luck a little bit, we are probably going to have to order chassis and parts before that date,” he admitted. “That’s about as late as we could get away with it.”

These Nick Moss-created com-gens are a clear indication of how either car could

look with current team sponsorship. The Ford is in the colours of Unit Clothing, the backer of Jake Kostecki, while the Camaro shows off Zane Goddard’s Yellow Cover insurance livery.

Of course, there could also be a third car in the team’s garage in 2022. MSR has lodged an expression of interest in obtaining one of two Racing Entitlement Contracts (RECs) currently up for tender

by Supercars. Ford team Tickford Racing has also lodged an EOI. A third as yet unidentified EOI is understood to have been received.

A decision on whether MSR is successful in its REC quest will be known in June.

A third REC could form the basis of new SuperLite program for two young drivers – as per Goddard and Kostecki in 2020 - or underpin an entry for an established talent.

“There is a sense of ownership for us in the SuperLite program,” said Stone.

“It doesn’t really work for us in a two-car team but it makes perfect sense as a third car.

“But in saying that, a solo driver going for

an outright position could also be a good thing.”

MSR has also hinted it could at a later stage expand to the maximum four cars allowed under Supercars franchise rules.

Stone made it clear that the introduction of Gen3 had provided the opportunity to make the change of marques.

“We’ve been sponsored by Holden in the last two years and Holden no longer exists,” he said. “So essentially from our perspective there are two new marques next year, Ford or Chev, neither of which we currently have an arrangement with.

“So in my mind we have to make decision which way we go.”

There are precedents for MSR to go for either GM or Ford, although romantics will be barracking for Ford.

That’s because Matt Stone is the son of Jimmy Stone and the nephew of Ross Stone, the partners in Stone Brothers Racing. He actually got his start in the SBR workshop before setting up MSR in 2011.

SBR was a Ford factory team in the halcyon V8Supercars days of the 2000s

and won three consecutive drivers’ championship with Marcos Ambrose (2003, 2004) and Russell Ingall (2005).

SBR also played a critical role in the development of more recent Supercars champions Scott McLaughlin and Shane van Gisbergen, who both raced for the team in the championship and Super2 respectively.

MSR also currently runs Aaron Seton in Super2. He is the son of Ford hero and two-time ATCC/V8 Supercars champion Glenn, who also consults to MSR in an engineering role.

“Our team has won the Super2 championship for General Motors in 2017 with Todd Hazelwood and the Ute Championship before that in a Ford with Ryal Harris,” said Stone.

“So, the history of MSR has seen championship success with both brands.

“Then of course my father Jimmy and uncle Ross in the SBR days had a long history and a lot of success with Ford.”

MSR debuted in the Supercars championship in 2018 running Hazelwood MSR is already looking ahead to Gen3 ... this could be the livery of its 2022 Chevrolet Camaro.

4 AutoAction

MSR is considering a change from GM to Ford, a nod to the team’s family history.

in an ex-DJR Team Penske Ford Falcon FG X, but struggled and swapped back to its Super2-winning Holden Commodore VF midway through the season.

It has stuck with Holden ever since and currently runs two Triple Eight-spec Holden Commodore ZBs and has a technical alliance with the Banyo-based Supercars powerhouse.

That alliance is a factor in potentially staying with GM. T8 is the official homologation team for the Chevrolet Camaro.

In Tasmania Goddard showed careerbest form, qualifying fourth ahead of both factory T8 cars driven by van Gisbergen and Jamie Whincup, before finishing a commendable seventh. It underlined a steady rise in form for MSR in 2021.

“We have built up a two-car team in Supercars over the past three years with General Motors and whilst we are fairly happy with our overall progress, we need to see what that will look like under the new Gen3 cars.,” said Stone.

“There is a still a lot of information to gather before we can make a decision. We have learnt a lot over the past 10 years, and we will be applying all those learnings as we make this decision too.”

The team has confirmed it is in discussion with both GM, represented in Australia by GMSV, and Ford, as it works towards a decision.

“We are currently evaluating all aspects of both brands,” said Stone, who

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Long term decision

MSR could go Camaro (top) or Mustang, a decision that Matt Stone (above, celebrating with his team) says is imminent. Computer generated images by Nick Moss.

shares ownership of MSR with Brisbane businessman and amateur racer Jason Gomersall.

Two factors the team cites that could help swing some Ford support its way is its youth policy and the current imbalance in numbers on the grid.

MSR argues the current youngest Ford driver, 26-year old Anton De Pasquale of DJR, has raced more than four years in the championship. It believes a youth squad could be just what Ford needs to keep its line up fresh and exciting.

“We are very proud of our history and support of drivers that we believe in,” said

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Stone. “Whether that’s experienced front runners like Ambrose and Ingall back in the SBR days or supporting new talent like we are now with Zane Goddard and Jake Kostecki in Supercars and Aaron Seton in Super2.

“It was SBR that brought in Shane van Gisbergen and Scott McLaughlin and they’ve turned out ok.”

If MSR is successful in gaining a third REC and moved to Ford, and Tickford gained a fourth REC, that would even numbers up from 16 Commodores versus eight Mustangs today, to 14 Chevs versus 12 Ford in 2022.

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THE STRONG linkage his father Jimmy and uncle Ross have with Ford in Supercars racing is a not a logical reason to jump to the blue oval, but Matt Stone concedes the emotion of it appeals to him.

“The Stone family obviously have a long history with Ford and that would be something we would be foolish not to consider, but we also have a more modern heritage with Holden,” he said..

“It is very much a factor, but we do have to make the decision based on what is the right thing for MSR over the next five years, which is what you could say is the life of the next Gen3 cars.

“We will evaluating this decision with a long-time mentality and picking one [brand] we will be sticking with.”

Stone also downplays the negative experience running an ex-DJRTP Falcon FG X for part of the team’s 2018 rookie season might have on a decision.

“We had a bad run with Ford and we probably didn’t do it in the right way; it was the end of the FG X and the timing was bad,” Stone said.

“You could say we had the same disappointments with Holden in that they have left the sport.

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Triple Eight ZBs unchanged since 2020 Dominant winning run comes despite development freeze

By BRUCE NEWTON TRIPLE EIGHT Race Engineering has flogged its Supercars Championship opposition in 2021 without making any significant changes to its Holden Commodore ZBs since the Bathurst 1000 last October.

Instead, the team’s engineering resources have been almost entirely devoted to the development of the Gen3 Supercar, which is on a tight deadline to debut in 2022.

The move has parallels with F1’s dominant team, Mercedes-AMG, which ceased development of its 2020 racer mid-season to focus on its 2021 car. It still won both drivers’ and constructors championships for the seventh year in a row.

Despite freezing development of its ZBs while other teams continue to search for speed with new upgrades, T8’s Red Bull Ampol Racing Commodores won eight Supercars races in a row from the 2020 1000 through to the second sprint at Symmons Plains.

The streak was finally broken by Walkinshaw Andretti United’s Chaz Mostert in the final outing of the Tassie weekend.

Dominant championship leader Shane van Gisbergen won seven of those races, while Jamie Whincup won one and runs second in the title chase. The team is also a runaway leader in the

Images: Motorsport Images

6 AutoAction

teams’ championship with DJR already trailling by 506 points.

“It’s more set-up finessing now, we haven’t bolted anything new on to the car since last year,” T8 technical director Jeromy Moore confirmed to Auto Action.

“There are still little bits and pieces we look at, but we are not going out and doing a new uprights, we are not looking at the last thousandths of a second.

“We don’t want to drop the ball for this season because it’s as important as any other, but no doubt we have thrown the majority of the grunt of the design guys onto Gen3.”

Triple Eight is one of two homologation teams involved in the Gen3 program along with DJR. The T8-fabricated Chev Camaro chassis was recently unveiled while DJR and Pace Innovations are yet to reveal the Ford Mustang equivalent.

T8’s design and engineering skill have also been heavily called upon for many other aspects of the Gen3 program, including the design of a new control front upright.

T8 has one engineer working full-time on Gen3 while the rest of the team’s engineers have split their time between racing the current cars and the 2022 project.

“It’s a very difficult balance,” Moore said. “We don’t have unlimited resources, so trying to find the right compromises knowing how much you

have to put into one side of things versus the other [is difficult].

“I try to unburden as much as possible the race engineers to still focus on doing what they need to be doing. You can’t let the racing fall behind, we are doing the best we can to not compromise our results.

“For sure we are not developing new things for these cars, that’s where it’s a compromise, we know.”

Moore, who returned to T8 last year after a highly successful five-year stint with Porsche Motorsport in Europe, highlighted one key area that had allowed T8 to set the pace without developing its ZBs further.

“There is a lot to be said in motorsport for consistency, especially Shane, the team.

“All last year he was strong, just lacking a little consistency. The car also had a few mechanical errors and we have ironed those out through the design work last year.

“So now the car is robust and we have the setup window more in the right spot and Shane is just on the perfect form.

“It is definitely not all Triple Eight set-up, we have to put some credit into the guys behind the steering wheel.

“It’s just trying to get that balance right between making sure the effort you put into racing is giving you the best benefit set-up wise, making

sure you are controlling that while also making sure the Gen3 project is powering on as best as possible.

“In the end it just comes down to hours, just comes down to work. You just have to do more in the end. You can’t knock off at 4.30 or so for a long weekend, or Easter. There’s no magic.”

Moore said he hadn’t calculated the hours put into the Gen3 project and didn’t want to.

“We try to have Sunday off here and there, but generally its 13-14 hours a day, six-seven days a week. We didn’t have any Christmas break, I was working through there. Going further back, we worked through Covid, we didn’t stop.

“It’s been good, we like the challenge as a company, we enjoy the designing, we enjoy that side of things and it’s been a good challenge to balance that and racing at the same time.”

Moore backs paddles THE DEBATE is raging along the Supercars pitlane about whether the Gen3 Supercar will use paddle shifters or the existing sequential shifter.

Supercars has indicated both will be tested, but Moore personally expects paddle shifters to get the go ahead.

“I think so, yep,” he says.

“If after two rounds people are paddle shifting it will be forgotten if the racing is tight and everyone’s fighting.

“I think the main thing is making sure the cars are reliable and cheap to run but the racing is really tight. Then small details are not as critical.”

Key in all this is a swap from the current shifter’s mechanical linkage to an electric actuator that prevents expensive over-revs.

“In the end we are trying to save costs and to do that you need to not have the engine over-rev on downshifts, to do that you need shift rejection and to do that you need electric actuation of the gearbox,” confirms Moore.

It could be that both those in favour of retaining the stick – the drivers are in this camp - and those who want paddles - the team owners – could find a compromise setting: retain the stick with electric actuation.

This solution is known to have its supporters within Supercars, which is overseeing Gen3 development.

LABOR PLANS TO MAKE SA THE HEART OF MOTOR SPORT

By DAN McCARTHY SOUTH AUSTRALIAN opposition leader Peter Malinauskas believes that Adelaide can become the motor sport centre of the nation, should he be elected in 2022.

The Labour leader has already signed a memorandum of understanding with Supercars CEO Sean Seamer which will see the legendary event return.

As well as this, Malinauskas has pledged funding to the Adelaide Motorsport Festival, an event that ran successfully for several years before government backing was cut.

Malinauskas sees South Australia and particularly Adelaide as the heart of Australian motor sport.

“Well before the state government announced the abolition of the Adelaide 500, they also announced that they were getting rid of the funding to the Adelaide Motorsport Festival,” Malinauskas recalled to Auto Action.

“This is a burgeoning event that was coming along, and was delivering more than $3.5 million dollars in economic benefit to the state. It was growing year on year and really added to that sense that Adelaide was a motorsport centre of the nation.

Image: Motorsport Images

“We’re going to bring back the Adelaide 500, we’re going to reinstate funding to the motorsport festival and put Adelaide right back on the map at the heart of motorsport in our country.”

“South Australia has an exceptional cultural history when it comes to motorsport, but also motor vehicles, generally.

“We are the home of Holden, we were the first place to host a F1 championship Grand Prix and we had the best Touring Car event in the country, if not the southern hemisphere.”

The inaugural Motorsport Festival took place in 2014 and was attended by 1800 people which grew substantially until its final year, 2018, when 50,000 people attended the event.

The event was split into three, the Classic Adelaide Rally, the Gouger Street Party, and the Victoria Park Sprint.

Since the demise of the event, the owners of The Bend Motorsport Park (the Shahin family), located around 100km south-east of Adelaide, have run their own motorsport festival.

However, Malinauskas explained that if the Adelaide event returns along with the

Adelaide 500, it will not trigger a rivalry or war of words.

“It’s not a city versus The Bend proposition, we think there’s the capacity for both,” Malinauskas said.

“They are different events, and they complement each other and they both benefit from the existence of each other.

“In fact, Supercars made it clear that they believe in both and one without the other isn’t the same.

“It’s one of those cases of the total is greater than the sum of its parts, we have both events, they can work with each other.”

OPPOSITION LEADER SAYS INFRASTRUCTURE SALE NO DETERRENT TO ADELAIDE 500 RETURN IN 2023 SOUTH AUSTRALIAN opposition leader Peter Malinauskas remains committed to reviving the Adelaide 500, despite confirmation that the infrastructure for the event is being auctioned.

Late last year Premier Steven Marshall and the SA Liberal government axed the Hall of Fame Supercars event, citing COVID-19 as the key reason along with decreasing attendance figures.

Malinauskas immediately responded by signing a memorandum of understanding with Supercars CEO Sean Seamer, to bring back the event should he be elected to power at the next state election in March 2022.

However, it has now been revealed that the Marshall government has tasked a company to auction off the 16 storage containers full of infrastructure including concrete barriers, packed away grandstands and bridges.

Reports suggest the proviso is to sell the infrastructure before the next state election.

This has infuriated Malinauskas, who is helpless to stop the Liberal government.

“Look, we are not going to be

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deterred on this,” Malinauskas told AA. “We’re serious about bringing the race back. This won’t change our plans.”

Malinauskas said that the event’s future will not be determined by the sale of the infrastructure.

“We remain fully committed, we believe in it (the event), it’s the right thing to do,” Malinauskas said.

“If we win government, this race is coming back.

“We’re going to make sure it’s bigger and better than before!”

Malinauskas revealed there are options in regard to either buying back or leasing the infrastructure required.

“There will be a whole range of options,” he responded. “There’s every chance that the people that buy it (the infrastructure) will be buying it hoping that we get elected and can lease it back to us.

“There are a range of options here, but if the equipment is sold, that purchaser will be looking for a use of that equipment, they may well sell it back or lease it back to us, time will tell.”

It is understood The Bend Motorsport Park has or will

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purchase barriers and bridges, but either way Malinauskas does not view this as a hurdle.

“I know that The Bend is a great Australian venue, and the Shahins are very much committed to that venue and so they should be, they’ve made an outstanding investment,” he said.

“Of course, if the Shahins purchase some of this equipment

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then naturally we would be entering into discussions with them, potentially, as a result of forming government, to see if there is a way to access that equipment in the event that we need it.”

Malinauskas explained that he continues to remain in touch with Supercars and promised some announcements for the event would be made soon.

“On a number of levels, we’ve been keeping in touch with Supercars including with teams and drivers,” he said.

“To answer your question, yes they’ll be further announcements and further opportunities for us to demonstrate our commitment to this event, in the lead up to the next state election.”

Dan McCarthy

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LATEST NEWS

QUINN SET TO BUY QR & LAKESIDE

By MARK FOGARTY

THE DARWIN Triple Crown Supercars event has been extended to a three-day event with practice beginning on Friday, June 18. Two 30-minute practice sessions for Supercars will take place on the Friday along with a support schedule comprising the Australian Superbikes, Stadium Super Trucks and local categories including Improved Production, HQ Holdens and Commodore Cup. HM

A ROOKIE test took place at The Bend Motorsport Park, and away Erebus drivers Brodie Kostecki and Will Brown rolled out along with Bryce Fullwood Walkinshaw Andretti United driver, Jack Smith who races for the Aubury based Brad Jones Racing team, while Super2 driver Aaron Seton joined Matt Stone Racing full-timers Zane Goddard and Jake Kostecki. The test was open to drivers who have completed in less than two Supercars championships. DM

PROACTIVE BOOST Mobile boss Peter Adderton is serious about backing a wildcard entry at Bathurst for New Zealand legend Greg Murphy. Adderton wants Murph to come out of retirement to co-drive with compatriot Richie Stanaway, who is also not racing. Both Kiwis have been backed by Adderton at key stages of their careers. Some regarded the suggestion as tongue-in-cheek in response to the Russell Ingall and Broc Feeney SuperCheap Auto backed wildcard, but Adderton maintains he is deadly serious. MF

TCR AUSTRALIA driver Dylan O’Keeffe will fill in for Chaz Mostert when the GT World Challenge Australia Series joins the Supercars support card at The Bend Motorsport Park.

Due to his commitments in the Repco Supercars Championship, Mostert will not be able to partner Tony Bates for the third round of the GT World Challenge Australia Series.

O’Keeffe, who has previously driven Bates’ the Audi R8 at the Bathurst 12 Hour, will step into Mostert’s place at The Bend. RV

SUPERCARS ROOKIE Will Brown is eager to keep proving the doubters wrong, after completing a test at The Bend Motorsport this week. “When you see some of the comments around the team, you always want to prove people wrong and I think we’ve done that this year for the first few rounds,” Brown told AA. HM

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WEALTHY ENTHUSIAST and patron Tony Quinn is close to finalising his takeover of Queensland Raceway and Lakeside Park.

Quinn and current owner John Tetley exclusively revealed to Auto Action that they in serious talks about the sale of both southeast Queensland tracks.

They confirmed early this week that the deal was a close being done.

Quinn is looking to add QR and Lakeside to his portfolio of racing investments, headlined by his 40 per cent stake in Triple Eight Race Engineering.

The Scotland-born entrepreneur also owns a local race series and two tracks in New Zealand, where he established his business success.

“It’s looking positive,” Tetley said.

“I’m running out of reasons to say no.”

Added Quinn: “The deal is close.

We expect it to go ahead.”

Tetley was sent a sale contract at the end of last week.

“There is a formal offer on the table, which I’m looking at,” he said.

It is expected the buy-out will take at least a week to finalise.

Quinn is due to meet with Ipswich and Moreton Bay council officials next Monday (May 10) to discuss their support of the tracks’ futures.

When AA revealed his bid last week, the business and racing tycoon was confident it would go ahead.

“If I were a betting man, I’d put money on it,” Quinn said. “It’s in due diligence.”

Tetley, 76, revealed he is ready to sell QR and Lakeside to secure their long-term futures.

“I have a duty of succession with the venues,” he said, noting that he has no family to take over the running of the tracks. “It’s going to happen one day.”

Quinn, 63, already owns the Hampton Downs and Highlands Park circuits in New Zealand, and has

Image: Motorsport Images

made a bid for the Taupo track.

He also owns Aussie Racing Cars and recently became a major co-owner of Triple Eight Race Engineering, as well as being a regular competitor in GT racing and Targa road rallies.

Quinn made his fortune from VIP Pet Foods and revived iconic confectionery maker Darrell Lea. His latest venture is beef snack brand Local Legends, which backs Fabian Coulthard’s Team Sydney entry in Supercars.

Both Quinn and Tetley admitted they had been in on-and-off discussions about a QR/Lakeside buyout for many years.

“There’s certainly been a lot of talk over the years,” Quinn said.

Tetley asserted that Quinn had “been chasing me for 15 years to sell them to him”.

Eccentric and independent, Tetley has been operating QR at Willowbank outside Ipswich, on the southwest outer fringe of metro Brisbane, for 21 years. He took over the classic Lakeside International Raceway in northern Brisbane in 2008, remaining it Lakeside Park.

He claimed QR was booming, while Lakeside’s potential was restricted by local council noise limits.

“It’s a very successful business we have at QR,” Tetley said. “It’s a going concern.”

He claimed Quinn was one of

three bidders for QR and Lakeside, setting their price at “many millions”.

Tetley vowed that he would sell the tracks to the buyer who would guarantee their long-term future, which looks like Quinn.

“I’m not going to do a dump-andrun,” he declared.

Scotland-born, Gold Coastbased Quinn is most interested in preserving Lakeside, which he thinks could become an “Aussie Goodwood”, referring to the revived English track that hosts major historic events.

“It’s a treasure and it’s important that we protect it,” he said.

Fast and challenging, the 2.41 km hillside circuit, opened in 1961, hosted international GP-style races in the Sixties and was a staple of the ATCC until 1998.

It closed in 2001 and was re-opened by Tetley in ’08 as a national-level circuit.

Queensland Raceway, opened in 1999, is known as “The Paperclip” for the shape of its 3.12 km layout.

It was a Supercars regular until last year.

Along with his bid for Bruce McLaren Motorsport Park at Taupo in NZ’s central North Island, Quinn admitted his offer for QR and Lakeside on top of his Triple Eight investment was keeping him busy.

“There’s a few things going on,” Quinn dryly observed.

QUINN WANTS EXTRA NZ EVENTS TONY QUINN expects at least one of his NZ tracks to host a second Supercars event in the future.

He owns Hampton Downs in the North Island and Highlands Park in the South Island.

Hampton Downs was set for last year’s NZ appearance until the coronavirus pandemic intervened.

Supercars has reverted to Pukekohe for this November’s return because it is within the Auckland region, attracting backing from NZ’s biggest city.

Hampton Downs, a more modern circuit not far down the motorway, is just outside the Auckland area.

“The problem is it’s not in Auckland,” Quinn said.

But he is confident as Supercars round will happen at Hampton Down “eventually”, believing back-to-back events with Pukekohe would be sustainable.

“I think Kiwis would embrace it,” he said. “I think the Auckland market could take it” He is also considering a ‘boutique’, spectator-restricted event at Highlands Park, which is 80 km from Queenstown on the South Island.

Quinn thinks it could work with a maximum crowd of 10,000 paying a premium to attend a TV-focused event. MF

WATERS REJECTS TRIPLE EIGHT MOVE

By MARK FOGARTY FORD FRONT-RUNNER Cam Waters has confirmed his long-term commitment to Tickford Racing.

During an extended interview, Waters rejected speculation he was in the running to replace Jamie Whincup.

Asked if he had been approached to join Triple Eight, he was unequivocal: “No, I have not.”

Waters and Chaz Mostert have been nominated as the top targets to join Shane van Gisbergen.

Waters revealed he thinks Mostert has already signed with Triple Eight from next year.

“I heard he’s already got the deal,” he declared.

Image: Motorsport Images

On speed, if not results, Waters has been SVG’s main challenger in his Mobster Energy Mustang so far this season As already reported by Auto Action, he wants to win a Supercars title with Tickford.

“I’m enjoying where I am,” he

said. “Tickford and Monster Energy put their faith in me and, for me, I feel like I’m in a spot now where I can repay them for having a bit of a leap of faith.

“So I want to continue on and try to give them the results and, hopefully, a championship.”

Waters also revealed Tickford has first call on him.

“I’m pretty sure Tickford are going to take up that option,” he confided, “Tickford have an option on me and I’m not really thinking about where else I can go.”

In the interview, Waters also talks about his rivalry with former teammate Mostert and their frequent run-ins.

“Chaz and I have a healthy rivalry,” he said. “We race each other pretty hard – perhaps too hard at times.

“There’s a bit of drive to beat him, for sure.”

For more on Waters’ clashes with Mostert and his championship challenge, see ‘Up Front With Foges’ on pages 22-25

Image: Motorsport Images

MILLER ANSWERS HIS CRITICS

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SCOTTY STARS IN TEXAS

By MARK FOGARTY SUPERCARS CHAMPION Scott McLaughlin stunned the IndyCar fraternity in his oval racing debut at the daunting Texas Motor Speedway.

McLaughlin finished a close second to fellow Kiwi Scott Dixon in the first of two races at the high-banked 2.4 km track, followed by a strong eighth.

His runner-up finish to childhood hero Dixon on Sunday morning (Australian time) was exceptional, followed by a strong top 10 performance on Monday morning our time.

Split between night and day races at the fearsome TMS track where run at lap speeds of up to 354 km/h.

“I came in with the goal of two top 10s, but walked away with a second and an eighth,” McLaughlin told Auto Action. “We had a very good car for both nights.”

He acknowledged that racing hard around the dizzying track was challenging.

“These boys play hard,” he said.

“You really have to hold your ground

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in the drafts. There’s a fair art to it.

“It wasn’t until the last restart today that I felt comfortable. I was very proud to get a couple of awesome results. Strategy was key and we used it to the best advantage.”

He was a close second to defending six-time IndyCar champion Dixon in the 483 km opener, then finished 11.89 seconds behind first-time race winner Patricio O’Ward in 603 km second race.

Along with the rest of Team Penske, McLaughlin had the second of his Pfizer COVID-19 vaccinations after the second race.

He will visit New York with his wife Karly this week before heading to Indianapolis for the ‘Month Of May’ leading up to the Indy 500.

He is a newfound fan of the New York Mets baseball team, as followed by his wife’s family.

McLaughlin is looking strong for the Grand Prix Of Indianapolis on the IMS road course on May 15 and is looking forward to the May 30 Indy 500.

He has tested at the 4 km Indy superspeedway, which is not as punishing physically as TMS.

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“It’s completely different” he said.

“You don’t get bashed around nearly as much at Indy. At Texas, your body is just getting smashed.

“You’re pulling 4-5 g’s and you’re quite disorientated at times. It’s fullon.”

Despite Team Penske’s winning record in the Indy 500, McLaughlin has no doubt the sudden-death fourlap qualifying run will be a huge test.

“It’s probably going to be the four most stressful laps of my life,” he admitted. “But I’m really excited by the challenge.

“There’s a lot more you can do with the car. You drive it there at Indy, whereas at Texas you’re just hanging’ on.

“Nothing compares with Indy – it’s very cool.”

McLaughlin, the only rookie at Texas, is eighth in IndyCar Series points after four races.

He trails leader Dixon by 54 points in a long season of mixed oval, road course and street events that will showcase the triple Supercars champion’s versatility and adaptability.

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AUSSIE JACK Miller responded to his critics by winning the Spanish Grand Prix in Jerez, his second of MotoGP career win and his first with the factory Ducati outfit.

It had been a long winless drought for the Queenslander with his last race victory coming in the wet Dutch TT with the Marc VDS Honda outfit back in 2016.

After scoring four podiums with the satellite Pramac Ducati outfit in 2020, Miller was promoted to the factory squad, however his first three races with the official team did not go as planned.

Miller scored two ninth place finishes in Qatar and crashed out of the Portuguese Grand Prix, in the meantime his teammate Francesco Bagnaia scored two podiums and a sixth.

Despite being only three races into the new relationship, pressure was starting to mount on Miller’s shoulders.

“We put ourselves up on this pedestal (the factory team), we’re there to be critiqued,” he said. “As soon as things aren’t going good it turns like that, but it is what it is, it’s part of the territory, (you’ve got to) take it in your stride.

“All I wanted to do was just focus on what I could control, that’s me and my training and the way I approach races.”

The Aussie and his team strategists put a lot of effort into race simulation runs in practice, rather than spending time on one lap pace, and this clearly paid dividends.

After the second race in Doha, Miller confessed he was suffering from serious arm pump issues and elected to get surgery to rectify it between the second and third rounds.

It was ironic that midway through the Spanish Grand Prix race leader Fabio Quartararo would also suffer from severe arm pump which cost him a potential victory.

At the end of the race Miller was overcome with emotion which showed what it meant to the Queenslander.

“It’s out of this world, honestly. Ever since that (first) chequered flag I’ve been on this bloody roller coaster and it just keeps going. One minute I’m crying and sobbing like a baby and next I’m just so angry, like I don’t know, it’s just too hard to even put into words.

“It always takes a bit of load off, you can just focus on that sort of thing but I definitely think the way we approached this weekend was the correct way to do it, and we need to try and keep that training.” Dan McCarthy

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LATEST NEWS

ALBERT PARK, Bathurst and the Gold Coast headline the second season of the S5000 Australian Drivers’ Championship later this year. The three events will make up an International Series run within the regular 2021/22 S5000 Championship, as Auto Action predicted last month. S5000 will also return to Sandown in September where the class debuted amid much fanfare as part of the Shannons Motorsport Australia Championships for its opening round of the 2021/22 season. DM

THE FANATEC GT World Challenge Australia Powered by AWS field at The Bend will be bolstered by two brand new Audi R8 LMS EVOs. Joining the field for Round 3 are two of the brand new latestspecification Audis to be run by Melbourne Performance Centre for Bill Papas and Eric Constantinidis. Papas has upgraded to the new car after competing at Phillip Island in an older model Audi, while Constantinidis will make his national racing debut. HM

A NEW name for the chassis which competes in the S5000 Australian Drivers’ Championship has been revealed.

Designated the Rogers AF01/V8 after consultation with key stakeholders, it comes after being termed S5000s without an official name, since the class debuted at Sandown in 2019. The name recognises Garry Rogers Motorsport’s influence during the development of the package and its role constructing all S5000 chassis. HM

GRANTS HAVE been awarded to 11 Victorian Motorsport Australia affiliated clubs, as part of the State Government’s Community Motorsport Program. The program is to assist grassroots motor sport in improving facilities, training grounds and equipment, with more than $2.1 million awarded in the first round of grants. DM

AS PART of the Community Motorsport Program (see above) the MG Car Club has received the largest funding. The custodians of the Rob Roy hillclimb in Christmas Hills will use its $494,894 to improve the venue including resurfacing the roadways along with the complex, and construction of a new undercover area. DM

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KGR to pitch new deal Heimgartner

WE WANT ANDRE!

ANDRE Heimgartner is a wanted man at Kelly Grove Racing.

The super-fast Kiwi’s contract with the team formerly known as Kelly Racing expires at the end of this year.

The 25-year old is in his fourth year with the squad and is currently placed 11th in the championship.

He is highly rated along the Supercars pitlane and has been mooted as a potential replacement for Jamie Whincup at Triple Eight Race Engineering, with the seven-time champion retiring at the end of 2021.

But even if he misses there, it would be easy to see Heimgartner being in demand elsewhere, as the merry go-round of driver movement cranks up.

Asked if he wanted to keep Heimgartner, KGR’s

largest individual shareholder Stephen Grove was succinct. “Yes.” Grove, who established KGR with Todd and Rick Kelly in January, said the newness of the organisation had stopped negotiations kicking off as yet.

“This is the last year of his contract with us, we haven’t started any discussion with him,” confirmed Grove.

“We are three or four months into the process [of setting up KGR], we wanted to get the team settled and we wanted to show him what we can bring to the team.

“I would imagine in due course we would start to have some discussions about 2022 and beyond.”

Grove said Heimgartner’s fundamental talent was key to his appeal to KGR.

“The thing about Andre is he has an enormous amount of raw speed, he is very gifted. It’s about getting him to continually improve.

“Supercars take a while as drivers come through to develop. He is starting to hit his straps now and we want to keep working with him.”

Grove also played down any prospects of Kiwi Le Mans winner Earl Bamber moving into Supercars, as has also been mooted as part of the Triple Eight speculation.

Bamber, who has a long relationship with the Grove family through Porsche sportscar racing, will co-drive Heimgartner at the Bathurst 1000.

“I understand, Porsche is planning a big program and Earl is part of that,” said Grove.

“Porsche and Ferrari and a lot of the teams are going back to Le Mans and Earl will be part of the Porsche program.” Bruce Newton

WHINCUP’S HISTORIC WIN

WHILE JAMIE Whincup’s win at last month’s Symmons Plains SuperSprint helped his championship battle with team-mate Shane van Gisbergen, the retiring Supercars champion has acknowledged the wider significance of the occasion.

Whincup won the first 105km race on the Sunday, which is almost certain to be the last he will contest at the Tasmania bullring as a professional racer.

It also brought his win tally at Symmons Plains to a record 13, three ahead of his Bathurst 1000 co-driver Craig Lowndes and nine ahead of Triple Eight team-mate van Gisbergen, who is the other active driver with the most victories.

Whincup’s achievement and farewell from Symmons Plains didn’t get much attention, in accordance with his wish that his final season not be a funeral tour. But he admitted to having some reflections over the weekend.

“That wasn’t front of mind but I certainly was thinking about that,” said Whincup.

“I don’t want to talk about the funeral tour but it could be the last time I race here professionally.

“You look at GT racing and all that sort of stuff and it probably won’t come here. So it was certainly in the back of my mind this could be my last time here, so to finish on the podium I couldn’t be happier.”

Whincup’s win was his first since August 2020 and first with new engineer Wes McDougall, following the transfer of David Cauchi to work

Images: Motorsport Images

with van Gisbergen.

Combined with second and fifth place in the other two Symmons Plains races, Whincup also slightly narrowed the points gap to 139 points to van Gisbergen, who won the first six races of the season and went 1-2-6 in Tassie.

“It’s very nice to get a win, it gives me confidence but also gives Wes some confidence, it gets the ball running and gives us confidence that if we do a good job we are in contention,” said Whincup.

“I really want to make sure it’s clear we have been working together. Cauchi and SvG could have made it a lot harder for us [at Symmons Plains on the Sunday] but they didn’t. We worked together to get as many points as we could.

“I think we were 1-2 for the round and got a heap of team points. That’s the priority, not me trying to get five points off SvG.” T8 dominates the teams’ championship ahead

of DJR and if it holds that position, will resume the prestigious and tactically important garages at the end of pitlane in 2022 from the Ford team.

Whincup will also replace Roland Dane as team principal next year.

“I’d love to be in the end garage, I’d love to be team principal in the end garage, 100 per cent.

That’s up to all of us to a do good job, we’ve made a good start but as we know, it’s a long year,” said Whincup.

For the record, Whincup raced in Supercars for the first time at Symmons Plains in 2005.

He drove a Holden Commodore for Tasman Motorsport, finishing 18th in race one, retiring from race two, and finishing 30th in race three.

His first two victories came in 2007 in his second year driving a Ford Falcon for T8. He also scored a second place in the first race of the weekend behind Garth Tander, driving for the HSV Dealer Team. BN

KGR MUSTANGS ‘25 OUT OF 100’

New team owner says pace improvement coming

By BRUCE NEWTON NEW SUPERCARS team owner Stephen Grove says development of the Kelly Grove Racing Ford Mustangs are at only 25 per cent of their potential.

Grove has vowed to continue development of the Gen2 Mustangs in search of constant top 10 pace and results, even as the team prepares for the arrival of the new Gen3 formula in 2022.

The objective is to move up in the teams’ championship and therefore the garage order, as the closer to the exit, the better it is for strategy.

“The teams championship is really important for us – it’s important for any team – because you do really want to get further up the grid,” Grove told Auto Action.

“So we have to keep an eye on getting up the grid with this current car and that will help us next year with the new car.”

Grove owns 50 per cent of KGR, which emerged from the old Kelly Racing team last January, while brothers Todd and Rick Kelly share the other 50 per cent.

The Kelly family remain in sole control of the old team’s manufacturing and engine building facilities.

Following the retirement of Rick Kelly at the end of the 2020 season, KGR secured ace driver David Reynolds, his engineer Alistair McVean and sponsor Penrite for 2021.

Reynolds has already scored a podium for the team at the wet Supercars championship Sandown round, while the team’s other driver Andre Heimgartner and the Ned Whiskey Mustang have shown promising pace.

Reynolds sits seventh in the championship and Heimgartner 11th as the championship heads for Tailem Bend.

“We want to consistently have both cars in the top 10 and that will then take care of itself in the teams championship,” Grove said.

“It’s really important we get into the top 10 and build some belief, we build the new Gen3 cars and progress.

“We have two exceptional drivers and both of them can win a championship, we just have to give them the infrastructure, the cars, the people and the process to make that happen for them.”

Grove said so many changes were being

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made now because there was so little development of the then brand new Fords last season when the team was on the road for months during COVID-impacted 2020.

“I think we have made in the order of 10 or 11 pretty significant changes to the car and we are still building,” Grove told Auto Action.

“We still have a lot more to go, we are still rolling stuff out, it just takes time to change things.

“There were a lot things that needed to change and it just takes time.”

Grove explained the team is also spreading its attention to Gen3. He revealed one of his initiatives had been to bring in consultants familiar to him through his Grove Motorsport business, best known for racing Porsches in the GT3 class.

He described these consultants as overseeing “the bigger picture stuff rather than race weekend stuff”.

“If you go back to 100 per cent we are probably at 25 per cent [of development with the current car],” he said.

“We really want to develop the car and we’ve got some really smart people, and we’ve brought in some people externally that we’ve known through the industry, that are really helping us and now it’s just about building and improving.

“We are chasing 10ths of seconds and it is so hard, but we know where we are going and the road map is pretty good.

“We also have to keep one eye on Gen3 because we have to make sure we build that, but we can’t take the emphasis away from where we are.”

Grove underscored his belief that Gen3 had to be introduced in some form in 2022, even though there is substantial scepticism along pitlane whether the program will be ready.

“I am very confident we will have a Gen3 car,” he said. “Whether we will have a new motor I am not sure, whether we will have paddle shift or the standard shift I am not sure either.

“But I am very confident we will have a Gen3 car. I think the industry needs it. That’s was a real driving force for us to come into the Supercars; the concept, the reduction in costs, the evenness.

“So I am pushing pretty hard to make sure for our little team we say ‘yep, we want to continually press on with this’.”

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AUSTRALIAN WILL Power will continue with Team Penske after signing a multi-year contract extension. The 40-year-old whose contract was due to expire at the end of the season confirmed his new deal during an NBC TV interview broadcast during qualifying for the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.

“Man, it’s fantastic, I really love being at the team. They’ve been very loyal to me.” Power said. RV

A FURTHER 10-car entries will be added to this year’s Tatts Finke Desert Race after the event committee decided to expand the field for the June 11-14 event. This makes sure five Australian Off Road Championship entrants can complete the full-allotment of events as Finke is the second round of the title. A further five entries on the waiting list will also be accepted.

This extends the Car entries taking part in the Tatts Finke Desert Rally to 175. HM

RECORDS ARE expected to tumble on Sydney Dragway’s new surface. Forming part of the New South Wales Government’s $33-million upgrade to its facilities to the Sydney Motorsport Park precinct, the major upgrade is the resurfacing of the dragstrip, but other areas to receive a refresh include improvements to the grandstand, corporate facilities, lighting and power, amenities and general maintenance. HM FORMER DUAL Australian Rally champion Geoff Portman has passed away after a long battle with cancer. A worker in the Forestry Commission, Portman won the 1981 and 1982 ARC titles together with long-time co-driver Ross Runnalls, a partnership widely acknowledged as one of the most successful in Australian rallying history. This added to his three Victorian Rally Championships. The pair met while completing forestry school in Creswick, Victoria. HM

MCLAREN ARROW SP IndyCar Series driver Patricio O’Ward has earned a test with the McLaren F1 team at the post-season Abu Dhabi rookie test. McLaren boss Zak Brown said that if O’Ward won an Indycar race this season, he would get the chance. O’Ward won the second doubleheader race at Texas Motor Speedway last weekend. DM

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TCR TOYOTA COROLLA CONFIRMED TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Argentina will lead the homologation, development, production and sales of a Corolla TCR sedan for competition.

Last year, plans for a Corolla TCR were floated, but remained unconfirmed, however with support from Toyota Gazoo Racing of Japan, the new model is already in the technical and engineering stage by the team, which is responsible for the manufacturers Super TC2000 program.

Coordinating with TCR creators WSC through the technical approval process, the Corolla Sedan TCR will be able to compete in competitions around the world including TCR Australia.

This adds to the marque’s programs in the World Endurance Championship, World Rally Championship and GT programs through its Lexus brand, while locally Toyota has made a large investment into the Australian Rally Championship by supporting the build of two Toyota Yaris AP4s at Neal Bates Motorsport.

“We are proud to have received authorization from our headquarters to be responsible for homologating, developing, manufacturing and sales of a Toyota´s competition vehicle for TCR competition,” said President of Toyota Argentina and CEO of Toyota Gazoo Racing Latin America.

“It shows that Toyota Motor Corporation’s

trust in us and our motorsports industry is relevant. For us, it is a double satisfaction, because our team will be responsible for the expected arrival of Toyota to the TCR series around the world and also because this project will give us the possibility of promoting Argentina’s Motorsports industry to the world.”

This marks the fourth Japanese manufacturer to reveal a model fitting the burgeoning touring car category’s regulations with the Honda Civic Type R a favourite among customers worldwide and developed through its Italian team JAS Motorsport.

This was expected to be joined by Mazda USA’s stillborn 3 TCR, which was canned at the start of last year.

Top Run Motorsport also developed a Subaru Impreza WRX, which Kelly Racing ran two during the inaugural TCR Australia Series.

WSC president Marcello Lotti is excited to attract further brands to the class.

“Six years have been passed since TCR was launched and new manufacturers are still joining,” he said.

“We now welcome the arrival of Toyota, a

giant of global automotive that has always been deeply involved in motorsport activities.

“The appointment to Toyota Gazoo Racing Argentina for developing, building and marketing the Corolla TCR marks another important milestone in the success of the TCR concept.”

Australian Racing Group’s Matt Braid is encouraged by another manufacturer supporting TCR. “Through our connection with WSC, we’ve been exposed some intel that has been coming through over the past 18 months-two years, who’s looking, who’s interested, so we did know Toyota was looking,” said Braid.

“We do know of other manufacturers doing evaluations on TCR as well behind the scenes so the Toyota one coming to fruition off the back of rumours is really pleasing.

“Given the power of the brand here and elsewhere, it’s a huge shot in the arm for TCR from the point of view of being such a competitive manufacturer-based series.”

No timeline has been set for the Corolla TCR’s release. Heath McAlpine

S5000 BUILDS TOWARDS SUMMER AFTER STARTING in January, the inaugural season of the S5000 Australian Drivers’ Championship concluded at Sydney Motorsport Park on May 2, but category development manager Chris Lambden has declared there’s more to come.

Transitioning to the summer months, the S5000 Australian Drivers’ Championship begins at Sandown in September, but the big confirmation was the category’s Triple Crown comprised of the Australian Grand Prix, Bathurst International and the Supercars finale on the Gold Coast.

Lambden declared interest from overseas was high, despite the complications presented by the global pandemic.

“I hope we would have somewhere around 1416 for Sandown,” Lambden told Auto Action.

“I’ve already heard from a few overseas drivers, who want to do the Triple Crown so I probably need to sit down with Garry and Barry to convince them to put a couple more cars together.

“At the moment, there’s 17 in existence, I reckon it’d be a dream come right to have 20-cars for the International Series.”

And the quality of drivers eager to come race down under includes two featuring the two highest development categories on their CV. “I’ve had some enquiries already, again I’ll have to leave it until its fully signed off, but there’s a guy who’s done Formula 2 recently very keen to come here and an English Formula 3 guy,” Lambden revealed.

“That’s the kind of talent we’re going to attract with this.”

Growing the field is a target for Lambden, but also retaining his current competitors remains high on the agenda.

“I’m happy that it is a great first step, we didn’t have quite as many cars as I would have hoped COVID played a part in that and a couple of people couldn’t do it,” he explained.

“It was just important to get through that first series, just to establish as a serious category and there are people who have been watching in the background and are now asking me or Barry and Garry (Rogers) about cars.

“The first priority is to lock people into the seven-round Gold Star beginning later in the year.”

New teams are expected to join the Gold Star next season, however Lambden only hinted, which those may be.

“You’d probably describe them as existing teams that are currently participating in the sport or in recess, so I’ll leave it up to them to say what they want to say when they want to,” Lambden teased.

Not only did Joey Mawson pick up silverware for winning the Gold Star, but supporters Alan Galloway and Wasyl Rosati also picked up the ‘Patron’s Cup’.

“There are a number of cars on the grid thanks to that ‘Patron’ programme, and it’s something I’m keen to develop as a superb means of assisting good young drivers into S5000,” said Lambden.

“Alan and Wasyl have in fact made two cars available this season – for Joey (Mawson) and Thomas (Randle) – and, wouldn’t you know it, they finished 1-2. Without their support, it’s unlikely either would have been on the grid.

“Both have confirmed they’re in for the long term, and so I’m thrilled that they have earned this recognition – they’re the perfect example of the ‘Patron’ programme, and I hope will encourage others who have now seen how strong S5000 is going to be, to do the same. Dan McCarthy

THE BEND UNDER LIGHTS ‘A MATTER OF TIME’ AFTER A portion of the most recent Shannons Motorsport event took place under lights, The Bend Motorsport Park founder and managing director Sam Shahin told Auto Action that it is ‘a matter of time’ before his venue starts to host night racing.

The most recent round of the Shannons Motosport Australia Championships took place at Sydney Motorsport Park.

Racing on Friday and Saturday ran into the night with a variety of categories lit up by the new light towers that align the New South Wales venue.

Shahin was in Sydney competing in the Porsche Sprint Challenge and revealed intentions to run night racing at his South Australian venue soon.

“Could you see a fully lit Bend Motorsport Park, I’d say absolutely, it’s a matter of time,” Shahin told AA. “Could we see night-time racing soon at the Bend Motorsport Park, I’d say absolutely because it’s relatively straightforward to

SWINGS & ROUNDABOUTS actually temporarily light a track. There have been examples in Australia over the last 10 years of racing at night with temporary lighting, “It can be done, it’s inefficient and it’s not cost effective, but it can be done.”

Shahin explained that he would look into temporary lighting in the short term, and with more government backing permanent infrastructure beyond that. He also explained that he needs the support of events and category owners to get behind night racing for it to be worthwhile.

“You can of course run events under temporary lighting,” he said. “It’s an incredibly expensive bit of infrastructure and Sydney Motorsport Park has been wonderful recipient of the generosity of the New South Wales Government.

“We have an exceptional relationship with our government, they haven’t been as generous, but it’s a smaller state and the resources are far more limited.

“You need event owners and event

organisers to be committed to running under lights, there has to be a case, I think the jury will still be out with how successful this event has been.

“I think everybody would agree that it’s novel. Whether it adds a new element to motorsport and most importantly to the paying public, hat will come out of the wash of this event, so we’ll watch with interest and of course do what we need to do.”

As always Shahin wants The Bend to be as up to date and modern as possible and believes that SMP has taken a great initiative.

“I’m interested in everything that every facility does, but I’m equally interested in doing better because the standard has to continue to improve,” he explained.

“Sydney Motorsport Park has taken the initiative and hopefully they’ll push every other facility to improve.

“I think this is very good for motorsport in general, what parts of it get adopted by other facilities is yet to be seen.” DM

MAWSON’S SWEET TITLE JOEY MAWSON earned the first S5000 Australian Drivers’ Championship after a dramatic final race, however he believes his rollercoaster season and final race drama makes the title much more sweeter.

Heading into the final race, Mawson simply had to finish to win the title, but he left the track at the opening turn where he bounced through the gravel trap and miraculously recovered.

Further drama followed when Ricky Capo lost control and hit the wall approaching Turn 2 with Mawson narrowly avoiding the stricken car.

“Just to be a part of history is an amazing thing, to get the Gold Star particularly after all the battles we have had this season,” he told Auto Action.

“Getting to do the (opening) round straight out of quarantine, not having enough budget until Thursday the week before Phillip Island and Sandown (to compete).

“Behind the scenes there were a lot of stresses, it just makes it all the more worthwhile and all the more enjoyable, now

to enjoy this championship!”

Mawson described the final race of the weekend as ‘nerve racking’ as nearmisses nearly altered the narrative of the championship.

“That last race was so nerve racking,” he said.

“I have been struggling with my starts all weekend, I managed to get a better one, but Jimmy (James Golding) was still a rocket off the line.

“I went into Turn 1 really tight defending the line on the inside and I hit the bump very awkwardly and it catapulted the car into a massive snap,” he recalled.

“When I corrected the snap, it shot me to the right, with the angle that it shot off at, at one point I thought I was going in the wall, it looked really bad from my side.

“After I gathered it back up and got back out on track the car didn’t feel fine, I was scared to push it because I thought a wishbone or something might have been damaged, after the next few laps the car felt okay.

“Then when the crash happened with Capo, that was another massive scare because there was a lot of debris on the track when I went by.

“Thankfully, in the end we managed to finish the race and it was enough to win the championship.”

The title was hard fought against the likes of two-time Gold Star winner Tim Macrow, reigning Super2 Series winner Thomas Randle and former Supercars driver Golding.

Mawson was elated to beat the big names, describing the title as a big relief.

“It was a really good field with Jimmy, Macrow, Tom and even the fresh young guns Luis Leeds, Nathan Herne and my teammate Kaleb Ngatoa,” he highlighted.

“I just want to say a massive thankyou to Form 700 and Alabar for giving me this opportunity, it’s the most fun I’ve had in any car. DM

AFTER STRUGGLING at Bathurst, HMO Customer Racing struck back at its home circuit, Sydney Motorsport Park where it took two wins through Josh Buchan and concluded the weekend with a double podium.

Balance of Performance was a talking point after Bathurst as the Hyundai i30N TCRs struggled up and down the Mountain, with the HMO Customer Racing particularly vocal.

A BoP change was released prior to SMP, but the Hyundai remained unchanged, while the series leading Audi RS3 LMS TCR received a 20kg weight increase, running at +10kg and a ride height increase of 10mm to 70mm.

Peugeots lost 20kg, while Renaults did too at -20kg and the Volkswagen Golf GTI had its ride height lowered by 10mm to 60mm.

Hyundai’s i30N TCR received no alteration with HMO Customer Racing’s Nathan Morcom put it down to SMP’s layout suiting the Korean offering.

“There was a BoP change prior to this round, nothing happened to our cars it’s just we’ve come to a track that suits our cars more than other circuits,” Morcom told Auto Action.

“The same as the Hondas, we’ve all struggled in a straight line up at Bathurst, but this track has a lot more bends in it and the Audi had a BoP change in the form of 10mm ride height and some weight, so that sort of helped bring them a bit closer to us.

Honda struggled at Symmons Plains and again at SMP, but this time due to tyre degradation with the package limited in this area due to the set-up allowed in terms of BoP, despite receiving a weight break of 10kg.

“Race 1, John had a ripper start, led then slowly dropped back relative to our pace in P3, but with a lap and a half to go had a tyre delaminate,” said Wall Racing’s David Wall.

“It’s a common theme up and down pit lane, it’s more common for our cars, that’s the difficult part.

“All the cars are BoP’d on a different tyre that allows for a lot more aggressiveness than we can get through with running here.

“It’s very hard and very difficult for everyone here, the drivers, the engineers to do something when they’re doing the best with what they have to work with.

“I couldn’t be happier with how our guys are driving and what we are able to produce.”

Wall expects tyres not to play as much of a part at the final two rounds at Morgan Park and Sandown, believing the Honda will be better suited to the next event at the rural Queensland circuit.

“Morgan Park should suit our cars, it’s nowhere near as abrasive as Sydney Motorsport Park and we will be able to run our cars a little more aggressive like everywhere else,” he concluded. Dan McCarthy

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LATEST NEWS

TARGA TRIBUNAL MEMBERS REVEALED THE MEMBERS of an investigatory tribunal established by Motorsport Australia in response to the tragedies of Targa Tasmania have been revealed.

Chair Garry Connelly was the first confirmed at the announcement of the tribunal, utilising his experience in both rallying as well as a Formula 1 steward and member of the World Motor Sport Council, to lead the investigation.

Joining Connelly on the Tribunal will be multiple Australian Rally Champion Neal Bates, while fulfilling the role of executive officer will be Motorsport Australia general manager of people & culture Tamara Joy, who will assist the tribunal.

Mathew Selley is another Tribunal member and is an FIA International Gold Steward, a member of the FIA Stewards Panel for Formula 1 and Formula E, a member of the Australian Motor Sport Appeal Court and since 2017, has been a co-chair of the Motorsport Australia Supercars Stewards Panel.

As well as a participant and winner of rallies outright, Selley was also a commissioner of the Australian Rally Commission between 2015 and 2018.

Bates is a four-time ARC winner and runner

Images: Angryman Photography

up, who has also contested 11 Bathurst 1000s, plus his team recently completed the build of two Toyota Yaris GR AP4s for rallying competition.

“On behalf of everyone at Motorsport Australia, we extend our condolences to the families and friends of those competitors who tragically lost their lives while competing at Targa Tasmania,” said Motorsport Australia CEO Eugene Arocca, on confirming the tribunal.

“We also extend our sympathies to the wider Targa and motorsport community impacted in recent days, including our officials. This is a difficult time for the entire motorsport family and we continue to offer our support and guidance to all.

“Motorsport Australia remains in close contact with the event organisers and Tasmania Police, and is committed to working closely with other relevant government authorities as they also investigate these incidents.

“The announcement of an investigatory tribunal will allow Motorsport Australia to look

closely at all aspects of the incidents and determine a number of recommendations that will be put to the Motorsport Australia Board for consideration.”

Fellow Australian governing body, the AASA, which runs the Australian Tarmac Rally Championship, explained the scenario from the organisation’s point of view.

“As a process, after the various pieces of news over the weekend, we’ve spoken to our underwriters to let them know a, that this has happened, b, where they actually stood and let them know we were reaching out to Australian Tarmac Rally to discuss with them, we obviously met with them last week,” Stephen Whyte told Auto Action.

“The biggest thing is our underwriters are confident and are fully supportive of our processes, and our planning that we already have in place.

“Our condolences to the three competitors that lost their lives, their families and friends, and the most important thing to remember is that they were

also customers of ours too.

“Whilst they were on a Motorsport Australia event, they were also AASA competitors.

“Targa is a very different rally, there’s a lot of high-speed stuff, which is very unique compared to the events that we hold. Our events aren’t highspeed events, mountain climbing, tight and twisty, we work with Rallysafe and the event promoters to put in virtual chicanes to reduce speed.

“There’s no doubt there will be learnings out of it. Our obligations as a sanctioning body will be to take on board what is learnt from these events and make sure our competitors, officials and our promoters continue to be involved in the utmost safety and with the utmost responsibility in those areas.

“What effects it will have? Hard to tell, but what I can tell you is we have Snowy River Sprint in May, where we will absolutely provide a show of strength and support to our competitors and the ATR management team, to enjoy the sport that they love.” Heath McAlpine

VICTORIAN STATE RACE SERIES

ROUND 3 – PHILIP ISLAND 15-16TH MAY

CATEGORIES COMPETING BMW E30 - HQ HOLDEN - MG & INV BRITISH - IMPROVED PRODUCTION - SALOON CARS - SPORTS SEDANS - SPORTS CARS - HYUNDAI EXCELS HISTORIC TOURING CARS - PORSCHE 944 CHALLENGE - FORMULA VEE - FORMULA FORD

Tickets for spectators are available via EventBrite:

https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/vscrc-round-3-phillip-island-2021-spectators-tickets -152937208307

The event will be covered by Blendline TV.

14 AutoAction

th Luke West iith wit

ASIAN COLLABORATION RULED OUT A COLLABORATION between the GT World Challenge series in Australia and Asia has been pushed back, due to the global pandemic.

Slated originally when the SRO’s involvement in Australian GT competition was rumoured last year, Asian teams were contacting Australian Racing Group’s Ken Collier to inquire about entering the hallmark Bathurst International.

However, with Australia’s tightening border restrictions Collier is doubtful any teams will make the journey, but didn’t rule out drivers from Asia or Europe participating at ARG’s marquee end of year event.

“Ideally that would have happened at the end of this year, but I don’t think it will,” Collier told Auto Action.

“We were going to do some co-promotion through

GT World Challenge Asia, particularly the Bathurst International event.

“That was something we spoke about with the SRO very early on and everyone was very excited about that, especially the Asian teams, which were contacting me directly even before the announcement was made.

“The SRO was confident there would be some cars for that and maybe (some) even stay over for the 12 Hour in 2022, and there would have been European drivers coming over for that as well probably to support local teams. “(But) I can’t see that happening at this point.”

It comes as the first four rounds of GT World Challenge Asia have been postponed until the second half of the year. Heath McAlpine

GT ENTRIES TO GROW

THE REJUVENATION of GT racing in Australia is underway and so far global promoter SRO’s involvement is being given a big tick of approval by all involved.

GT World Challenge Australia manager Ken Collier is pleased with how things are progressing so far.

“The first two rounds, given they were problematic from a COVID sense, to have everything lined up and to have most cars on the grid was quite good,” said Collier.

“I think GT globally is in a good place and the same applies to Australia, of course.”

Collier believes the series can get back to where it was five years ago, when fields were at 30 entries of current-spec GT3 models consistently.

“Back in the glory days of 2014-2016 we had a lot of new cars into the country and lots of support from the individuals that are involved in GT racing, who as we know are mostly amateur guys willing to put in a lot of money to not only support their own hobby, but bring others through into the category,” he said.

“That’s all very important and that’s all coming back, I think.”

An influx of new machinery has already started with two Evo-specification Audi R8 GT3 LMSs for Eric Constantinidis and Bill Papas, while another new model

also from Germany will arrive later this season.

“It’s a German one, but it’s not an Audi,” Collier quipped.

“There’s two more championship Audis coming to Tailem Bend in Amateur, which continues to grow and is critical, because those guys own the cars.

“The other car I mentioned is expected to be a Pro-Am car and another mooted to arrive later in the year for a current team is expected to be in the same class. But I think they will only run the endurance events at the end of the year.

“All of the cars I’m aware of that are coming into the country are current specification evo.”

Heath McAlpine

LARGE ENTRIES CONTINUE FOR VIC STATE MORE THAN 250 entries have been received for the third Victorian State Circuit Racing Championships round of the season and the first at Phillip Island.

Improved Production features the largest field of the weekend and is expected to feature a David vs Goliath battle.

Perennial frontrunner Rob Braune’s BMW E30 is well suited to the Phillip Island layout, but the Holdens of Damien Milano, Jarrod Tonks, Kaide Lehmann, James Atkinson and Andrew Rhodes-Anderson will provide a challenge.

The nimble Nissan S13 Silvia of Paul Cruse has been the car and driver to beat this season, but a spin last time out at Winton leaves him in recovery mode.

The Circuit Excels return to the Island a month after participating at PIARC’s Access meeting where Hugo Simpson dominated the event. Adam Bywater, Kai Allen and Jarred Farrell were among the pacesetters

in the Trophy Class, while Tim Rowse, Paul van Warrt and Brendan Avard were contenders in Masters.

There is a big entry for the non-national Formula Ford round of 24, while adding to the open-wheel numbers is the spectacular Formula Vees with an equally impressive 19 entries.

Hitting the mark of 21 for this meeting is a recent Auto Action ‘The Cost of Racing’ subject, the Porsche 944s with Cameron Beller leading the charge there.

Also solidly supported are the MG & Invited British Sports Cars, Saloon Cars, Sports Cars, Sports Sedans, HQ Holdens, BMW E30 and Historic Touring Cars.

Action is promised between 9am-5pm across both Saturday and Sunday on May 15-16. An Adults weekend pass costs $30.00, Sunday only $25.00, Saturday $20.00 and kids under 16 admitted free all weekend. HM

RACES WITH time-certain finishes are the new blight on Australian motor sport. They undoubtedly took the gloss off last weekend’s TCR round at Sydney Motorsport Park.

Time-certain finishes are bad enough when they clip laps from longerdistance Supercars races, but they are a crippling blow to the credibility of the short, sharp sprints on the Australian Racing Group’s program.

Eastern Creek’s third and final TCR race was Sunday’s main event – the climax to the weekend – yet this 30-minute affair featured just two or three laps of green running. Two safety car periods inside that half-hour filled the race’s allotted telecast time on Seven. Thus, the chequered flag was waved before any meaningful contest could play out. Michael Caruso was declared the winner and Seven scurried off to the football, leaving a bad taste in motor sport fans’ mouths.

It was simply not good enough and needs to change. Fast.

Time certain-finishes are bad enough for viewers – and competitors, of course – but they simply rip off paying trackside punters who couldn’t care less about television commitments. I was one of those and invested a day of my life watching the action live at SMP as a spectator. Others in my group were also dirty it all ended abruptly. Unless something changes, I don’t think I’ll bother attending the corresponding round next year.

The siren doesn’t sound on football matches early if there are delays and car races should similarly be fully contested.

So what’s the solution? For starters, more time needs to be built into the telecast and race schedules to accommodate a credible main race with adequate green laps. In the very least, the first five laps under safety car should not count towards the race distance. Fuel the cars for a greater distance and let them rip.

I’m loath to criticise ARG as I’m a big believer in what they are trying to achieve on the Shannons Nationals front. The line-up of categories at the Creek last weekend was simply superb, catering for all tastes – the big open-wheelers of S5000, the classic muscle of Touring Car Masters, modern silhouette Trans-Am machines and the hot hatches of TCR. Yet, there were many times on weekend when I felt like I was in the audience for the filming of a television show, rather than attending a major race meeting.

Wandering around the venue I had very little idea what was going on.

In days gone by, a punter like me could purchase a printed program with the schedule and the list of competitors in each event. That information was supplemented by spectator-focused info delivered by on-course announcers.

I really hate the new practise of merely pumping the television commentary over the Public Address system, a trend started by Supercars.

I have no drama with the play-by-play TV commentary being used over the PA during the actual races – as the cars usually drown out the PA speakers anyway – but there should always be a dedicated announcer updating those trackside in between races (when TV goes to a commercial break) on the schedule, results and developments. This otherwise ‘quiet’ time is currently going to waste.

I’ll cut ARG some slack as it has been a breath of fresh air to local motor sport and has overcome many challenges. I simply hope as ARG builds its series activities for punters like grid walks can be added to the program, so fans can get up close and personal to these cool cars. And when social distancing is a thing of the past, autograph sessions can return. Such activities are pre-requisites of being a race meeting’s headline act.

On the plus side, those TCR cars were well presented and looked a real handful live through the super-fast turn one. Their skittishness here merely added to the sense of speed and required driver skill. They looked difficult to drive, which is a big plus when most other cars look like they are on rails.

I must say it was a buzz to be present when one of the most storied titles in local motorsport, the Australian Drivers Championship, was decided. Joey Mawson was a worthy winner of the renewed Gold Star and deserves to have that honour pinned on his racesuit. It was fitting that a lad from Western Sydney achieved that goal a stone’s throw from home.

Like everyone else, I had been waiting a long time to see S5000 in the flesh and felt the earth’s rotation quicken when the field of 10 blasted off the grid. Sitting in the grandstand, it was a fingers-in-the-ear moment, for sure. More please!

Luke West wrote his first Auto Action column in 2000. Today Revved Up surveys motorsport’s changing landscape. Contact via @Luke_West (Twitter) & aarevvedup@hotmail.com

Images: Rebessa Hind

www.autoaction.com.au

AA’s columnist got his backside Creekside for a fan’s view of ARG’s action.

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FORMULA 3 PREVIEW

THE NEXT AUSSIES

Two Australians return to contest the third-tier FIA Formula 3 Championship this year, a season which DAN McCARTHY predicts will be an intriguing one OF LAST year’s Aussie quartet, Calan Williams and Jack Doohan are both set to return for a second crack at the FIA F3 Championship this season.

Reigning champion Oscar Piastri has been promoted to Formula 2, and threetime podium finisher Alex Peroni has moved to America to pursue an IndyCar career, after both were F3 contenders in 2020.

Last year Williams and Doohan failed to score an F3 championship point, but if off-season testing is anything to go by, they shouldbe doing so this year on a regular basis.

In the off-season Doohan has moved from HWA Racelab to front running Trident team.

Last year Trident finished second in the Teams’ Championship with two of its three drivers claiming race wins and frequent podiums.

In 2021 Doohan will be expected to deliver the same results.

On many days in 2020 the son of fivetime 500cc Motorcycle World Champion Mick was up the pointy end of the time sheets, but couldn’t convert pace into points.

Doohan is not the only relative of a world champion at Trident this year, though, with David Schumacher, son of Ralf and nephew of legendary Michael also moving into the team.

Elsewhere, West Australian Williams returns with Jenzer Motorsport. The Swiss team has competed in the third-tier category formerly know as GP3 since 2010.

As recently as 2017 the outfit finished third in the teams’ championship, but in recent years have slid down the order.

g Pre-season testing m for Jenzer with saw a return to form Williams topping several sessions. The test of anyone at the Australian was fastest two-day Barcelona test and again fastest in the final Austrian test session.

This came off the back of a strong postseason test last year.

Williams said although testing went supremely well, he will not let his confidence turn into arrogance.

“I have still been putting in loads of work during the off-season,” said Williams. “I can feel a lot of improvements there and can see a lot of improvements, which I am really, really happy with.

“I have a huge amount of confidence coming off the tests. I was really, really happy with how they went, but that cannot turn to arrogance.

“Sticking with the same team is really good. You know all of the people and you have formed those relationships with everyone. You already know that you all work together really well.

“We are heading into the season knowing how each other communicates and that can only improve. As much as anything, it avoids any confusion.”

The West Aussie believes that the new three race format, like the one used in Formula 2, will be a test of driver fitness.

“I think that the experience of a season in F3 has helped me to improve in a lot of ways,” continued Williams. “I have stepped up my fitness a lot in the last few months as well, because that will be absolutely key this year with the new format, with three races a weekend, and two in one day.”

Despite showing a lack of pace in testing, Prema Racing still enters the

Images: Motorsport Images

Calan Williams is back for another crack at the FIA F3 Championship title, sticking with the Jenzer team for a second consecutive year (top). There will be much interest in how Arthur Leclerc goes (above) while Aleksandr Smolyar (below) is back again with ART.

season as favourites, after dominating the last two Teams’ Championships.

Prema will field an all-new driver line-up headlined by Arthur Leclerc, the younger brother of Ferrari F1 driver Charles.

While Leclerc makes his debut, he will be joined by Olli Caldwell and Dennis Jack Doohan has moved to the Trident team for 2021 and will be looking to score wins and a title.

Hauger who have both had a season’s F3 experience under their belts.

After narrowly missing out of the F3 Drivers’ title with Theo Pourchaire, ART Grand Prix will field an experienced trio.

Frederik Vesti finished fourth with Prema last year and is the only driver who finished the series in the top 10 to return.

He is joined at ART by Aleksandr Smolyar who raced with the team in 2020, while Juan Manuel Correa returns to open-wheel racing after his near life ending accident at Spa-Francorchamps several years ago.

Another man to look out for is reigning Formula Renault Eurocup champion Victor Martins, who steps into the F3 with MP Motorsport The opening round takes place this weekend in Barcelona from May 8-9.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

16 AutoAction

Spain, Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, May 8-9 France, Circuit Paul Ricard, June 26-27 Austria, Red Bull Ring, July 3-4 Hungary, Hungaroring, July 31-Aug. 1 Belgium, Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Aug. 28-29 Netherlands, Circuit Zandvoort, Sept. 4-5 United States, Circuit of the Americas, Oct. 23-25

INTERNATIONAL

NEWS Images: Motorsport Images

MCELREA SOLID AT ST PETE

JOSH CAR grabbed two podiums to begin his 2021 Formula Regional Americas campaign.

Car qualified sixth for the opening race of the weekend and with strong pace methodically made his way up to second as the chequered flag fell. Disappointingly Car was unable to take to the grid to start Race 2, however was back out on track for the final race. Again, he charged through the field to finish third and now sits second in the standings behind Kyffin Simpson.

TOMMY SMITH competed in Round 1 of the newly merged Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine. The championship has seen the Formula Renault Eurocup series combine with Formula Regional European Championship, to create the ultimate European step into the FIA Formula 3 Championship. It was a difficult opening round for Smith at Imola, the S5000 steerer crashing out of the opening race exiting Turn 7. In Race 2 Smith made his way up from 24th to finish 21st. DM

KIWI HUNTER McElrea has continued to fight at the pointy end of the field in the IndyPro 2000 series, while Aussie Cameron Shields had a more difficult weekend at St Pete.

Round 2 saw McElrea finish both races in the top five, though no doubt disappointed not to convert pole position into a win.

In Race 1 Brandon Eves, McElrea and Christian Rasmussen raced nose to tail lap after lap.

Just before the halfway point McElrea made an unforced error which left him vulnerable to an attack. Rasmussen ran around the outside at Turn 1 to snatch second position.

“I’m disappointed because I made that mistake,” McElrea recalled.

“Braden, Christian and I were all together, not catching or pulling away.

“I want to win, so that’s disappointing, but you can’t feel too badly when you’re on the podium.”

Aussie Shields suffered an issue which forced him to miss the start of the race and go down two laps.

He finished a lonely 14th to collect seven points.

McElrea had qualified on pole for the second race and held the lead, but it was clear he was lacking pace compared to his rivals.

Rasmussen took the lead from McElrea with a well excicuted move at Turn 1 just before half distance and broke away.

A late race safety car was deployed for a crashed Jack William Miller, which left a handful of green laps when the race restarted.

McElrea was forced to defend second position but on the final lap at Turn 1 Mexican Manuel Sulaiman took p2 and on the run to the line McElrea was pipped to the podium

by Reece Gold, the margin less than 0.02s.

Shields qualified 12th and sat as high as 10th at the midway stage but like McElrea, was shuffled back on the final restart and finished in 11th position.

In the championship McElrea sits third, while Shields is 10th.

Dan McCarthy

PERONI CONSISTENT IN U.S

TASMANIAN ALEX Peroni has continued his solid start to the 2021 Indy Lights season with two top 10 finishes on the streets of St Petersburg.

The former FIA Formula 3 Championship driver started the season with a fifth and a sixth in the opening round, and continued that consistency in the second event.

At St Pete Peroni qualified seventh for Race 1 and stayed in position for the first several laps, before making his way past Linus Lundqvist.

Just before the halfway stage of the 35 lap encounter Lundqvist tried to retake Peroni, and the pair made contact at Turn 1. Peroni fell behind Benjamin Pederson, while the Swede was forced to pit for repairs.

Devlin DeFrancesco crashed out of a comfortable second position soon after and saw the safety car called.

With just a couple of laps to go Pederson tried to take fourth position at Turn 1, got it all wrong and spun, handing Peroni fifth position where he remained until the finish.

Peroni qualified in fifth for the second race however a poor start saw him shuffled back and by the exit of Turn 1 he sat in ninth.

He was briefly promoted to eighth when Toby Sowery pitted to replace his damaged front wing but then Peroni’s Carlin teammate hit the wall at the final turn, and as a result the safety car was called.

In the closing laps Peroni closed onto the back of Robert Megennis but was unable to find a way past.

After four races the Tasmanian sits seventh in the standings.The next round is on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course on May 14-15.

Dan McCarthy

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LATEST NEWS

VIDAU MAKES CARRERA CUP RETURN MAX VIDAU will return to Porsche Paynter Dixon Carrera Cup Australia for Round 2 at The Bend Motorsport Park in South Australia this weekend.

The 2017 Australian Formula Ford Champion, was a race winner in the 2019 Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge series with the Sonic Motor Racing squad before making the step up to the Carrera Cup Australia competition at the start of 2020.

Until the pandemic halted the remainder of the season.

Due to a budget shortfall, Vidau was unable to contest the opening Carrera Cup Australia round at Sandown earlier this year, but will now make a ‘one-off’ return at The Bend this weekend.

“We missed the first round because of budget constraints. We had the chance to do it, but fell short, so we have decided to go round by round and see how the season plays out,” said Vidau.

“We did the test at Tailem Bend last week.

We were straight on the pace, which was encouraging, but the field this year is super competitive, so we’ll need to be on our game in every session.

“I’ve been keeping sharp driving in a 410 sprintcar. I’ve had some heat wins and went under the 20 lap record at Murray Bridge recently.

“When we are in the Cup car, it feels like you have 10 seconds to think about what you are doing, but in sprintcar you have one

second, so when you get in the Porsche, it seems more chilled out.

“Sonic always gives you a good car. The team was very fast at Sandown in the first round, so I’m looking forward to getting into a competitive car and having no excuses.”

Vidau’s addition to the team bolsters Team Sonic’s current driver line-up to four cars

in total, joining the two Bob Jane T-Marts entries of Michael Almond and Simon Fallon, as well as Michelin Junior driver, Aaron Love.

“Max is a driver that we’ve seen come through our Formula Ford ranks, and it’s great to get him back into Porsche and Carrera Cup,” said Ritter.

“It was a shame that we were not able to get him into a car for Sandown, but we know that he will be able to get in and be on the pace very quickly at The Bend.

“Having a four car team, with four extremely good drivers, is a great result for us and we’re looking forward to seeing how we go against the very competitive field.”

To reacquaint himself with the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car, Vidau and Sonic conducted a test at The Bend last week, giving him a chance to get his eye back in the game before he takes on the competitive field.

Round 2 of Carrera Cup Australia commences this Friday with two practice sessions at The Bend ahead of qualifying and three races, including a 45-minute enduro. Rhys Vandersyde “Having a four car team, with four extremely good drivers, is a great result for us and we’re looking forward to seeing how we go against the very competitive field.”

To reacquaint himself with the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car, Vidau and Sonic conducted a test at The Bend last week, giving him a chance to get his eye back in the game before he takes on the competitive field.

Round 2 of Carrera Cup Australia commences this Friday with two practice sessions at The Bend ahead of qualifying and three races, including a 45-minute enduro. Rhys Vandersyde

GT ENTRY LIST FOR THE BEND REVEALED

A STRONG 19-car field has entered the third round of GT World Challenge Australia set to take place at The Bend Motorsport Park in South Australia this weekend.

The fast flowing 4.95km International layout suits the GT cars well, so some good quality racing is expected around the Tailem Bendbased track.

Heading into Round 3 reigning Bathurst 1000 winner Garth Tander and Yasser Shahin lead the championship in their Audi R8 LMS Evo. Shahin will be quick at The Bend with a distinct home track advantage as a co-owner of The Bend facility.

The duo dominated the opening round at

Phillip Island, and took a further race victory at Bathurst, ensuring the pair hold a sizable lead in the four round sprint championship.

Tander and Shahin, along with several other GT competitors enjoyed a test at The Bend recently, leading into the three-day race weekend.

While Tander and Shahin are the runaway leaders, the Triple Eight Race Engineering Mercedes Benz remains within striking distance as it is also yet to finish off the podium this season.

The Am driver Prince Jefri Ibrahim will be joined by Broc Feeney in the silver #888 Merc this weekend – his third different teammate in as many rounds.

Shane van Gisbergen was set to race alongside the Prince throughout the season, however due to his mountain bike crash the Kiwi was forced to miss the opening round, subbed out by seven-time Supercars champion Jamie Whincup.

Van Gisbergen returned for Round 2, but as the third event takes place at a Supercars round Triple Eight has drafted in one of its Super2 drivers Broc Feeney to take the wheel.

Another Supercars driver unable to race is Chaz Mostert, he will be replaced by TCR Australia frontrunner and most recent pole sitter Dylan O’Keeffe alongside Tony Bates in the Bostik Audi.

Mostert and Bates currently sit third in the

standings behind Prince Ibrahim.

In the Amateur class, Tony Quinn has been the man to catch in his Local Legends Aston Martin Vantage.

The GT veteran was undefeated at the recent round at Mount Panorama and currently holds a strong 27-point class lead over Andrew MacPherson and Ben Borter in their Lamborghini Huracan.

The GT Trophy Series is a close title fight, Brad Schumacher in his Audi R8 leads Brett Hobson’s Nissan.

The entire GT field will practice and qualify on Friday, followed by two one-hour races, one on Saturday and the other Sunday.

DM

EXPOSED: TRIPLE EIGHT OPEN-WHEELER PLAN

By MARK FOGARTY

SUPERCARS KINGPIN Roland Dane is behind a top-secret plan to create a new national junior open-wheeler formula using Australian-made cars.

Auto Action can reveal Dane’s scheme is to replace the aging Formula Ford and unsuccessful F4 categories with up-to-date, cheaper singe-seaters dubbed ‘Formula Australia’.

It has been learned that the Triple Eight Race Engineering boss is establishing a separate, highly automated manufacturing facility in Brisbane to build new-generation junior open-wheelers for Australia and, ultimately, Asia.

Dane confirmed he had “a concept” for a new national single-seater starter series.

He also verified that he is building an additional high-tech factory close to Triple Eight’s existing factory for “future diversification”.

Dane has pitched Motorsport Australia with the idea to establish a cost-effective junior open-wheel pathway to Formula 1 and IndyCar, replacing FF and F4.

The latter FIA-endorsed wings-and-slicks single-seaters were a costly ‘white elephant’ for MA, which in its former guise as CAMS spent more than $2 million to buy 20 cars.

F4 ran from 2015-19, collapsing due to high costs as FF staged a big comeback despite losing national championship status.

FF numbers have boomed at state level due to extremely low costs, although in the confusion, it has lost its standing as a training ground for Supercars.

Image: Motorsport Images

Motorsport Australia has established a working group to look at a long-term replacement for Formula Ford.

Sources close to the national governing body insist that at this stage, Dane has “no authority” to purse a new national junior open-wheel initiative.

Leading multi-class driver development squad Sonic Motorsport, run by Mick Ritter, has been linked to preparing and running the cars in the proposed Formula Australia, which would be a one-make control category.

The so-called Formula Australia singleseater will be a low-cost chassis based on a carbon-fibre central tub with tubular spaceframe front and rear extensions.

The project has been kept super-secret and further details like engine/transmission and tyres, plus aero configuration, are shrouded in mystery.

Triple Eight’s planned move make lowcost junior open-wheelers for Australia and ultimately the wider Asian region is backed by new 40 per cent owner Tony Quinn.

Australasian motor racing philanthropist Quinn is keen on fostering a new junior development category.

He also sees to business potential of the enterprise, underpinned by heavily automated production.

Dane has commissioned a new factory not far from Triple Eight’s inner Brisbane base at Banyo, close to the airport in Eagle Farm.

Chassis production will be highly automated, utilising robotics.

Dane categorically denied the factory was

also designed to ‘mass produce’ Gen3 Supercars chassis and bodies for overseas markets.

He denied speculation that he was negotiating foreign Gen3 rights.

“I’ve never discussed it with them,” he declared. “I have no interest in that.”

Dane is working to expand Triple Eight as he steps back from the day-to-day running of Red Bull Ampol Racing.

Jamie Whincup will retire from full-time racing at the end of this season to take over as team principal from next year.

Dane is fighting hard to keep Gen3 on track for next year amid concerns it won’t be ready in time.

Triple Eight is the Camaro homologation team and has led the development of the Gen3 control chassis.

Dane is looking to create a legacy as he approaches his 65th birthday in October.

His scheme to produce racing cars would be supported by research and development tax credits, which have long offset Supercars teams’ development costs.

Triple Eight is looking to build at least a third of the planned Gen3 Supercars field next year, producing extra Camaros for Team 18, Team Sydney and possibly Matt Stone Racing (which is considering a switch to Mustang).

The expansion into southeast Asia could also involve Prince Jefri Ibrahim, heir to the sultanate crown of the Johor region in Malaysia.

Triple Eight is running a Mercedes AMG GT for Prince Jefri in the Australian series, co-driven by Shane van Gisbergen and Whincup.

His Highness’s rich backing could extend to financing Anglo-Australian Dane’s aspirations to Australia’s north.

management as we saw some bad tyre delamination on the soft tyre last year,” he recalled.

“If it’s like that again it’ll definitely make the racing interesting and it’s a real opportunity to score a strong result. I’m pumped and ready for the challenge.”

Hazelwood believes that the qualifying car needs to improve to allow him to maximise the race package.

“We’ve got to work a bit on our qualifying as we’ve been struggling to maximise our performance and every session this season, we’ve ended up six or seven spots further back

from our race pace which is hurting our results,” Hazelwood explained.

“On a positive note, we’ve passed cars in every race so far this year, but we need to do better and hopefully The Bend is a turning point.”

The black, orange and silver livery itself will draw attention with support from 3M Films and PPG. Scandia also returns for a second round taking the coveted bonnet sponsor.

TRG Transport Solutions is one of Australia’s leading transport companies and managing director Tony Musolino is looking forward to continuing the partnership with Brad Jones Racing,

“We are delighted to showcase our business on BJR’s Supercar for a second year running,” Musolino said.

“TRG prides itself on giving back to the community by contributing to local sporting teams and events so it’s a pleasure to assist with this local race at The Bend and support SA’s own, Todd Hazelwood.

“We are honoured and proud to be a part of the BJR team and the 2021 Supercars Championship.”

While support categories take to the track on Friday, Supercars on track action begins on Saturday May 8. DM

NEW LIVERY FOR HAZELWOOD

BRAD JONES Racing has announced TRG Transport Solutions as the sponsor will align with Todd Hazelwood’s Brad Jones Racing ZB Commodore this weekend at The Bend Motorsport Park Hazelwood is a proud South Aussie and is pleased to be back by a local company at his home track.

Round 4 of the Supercars Championship, the OTR Supersprint will be held at Tailem Bend just over an hour south-east of Adelaide and Hazelwood is looking forward to racing in front of his home crowd.

“I’m super excited to be back racing in my home state for the first time in 2021 and with the return support from TRG Transport Solutions,” Hazelwood said.

“It’s fantastic to continue our relationship from last year and I’ll be giving it my all to get the South Australian supported Supercar to the front of the field.

“The Bend has been good to the team in the past and hopefully we can continue that success and score a bag of points.”

The former Super2 Series winner highlighted that tyre management will be a big factor to success this weekend.

“The key factor at Tailem Bend will be tyre

LATEST NEWS

S5000 SOLE ARG CATEGORY FOR AGP

THE OPENING round of the S5000 Australian Drivers’ Championship Triple Crown at the Australian Grand Prix will be the only Australian Racing Group category on the support bill.

Confirmed by ARG CEO Matt Braid, previously announced categories TCR Australia and Touring Car Masters will not return to the bill at the rescheduled event on November 18-21 due to the Bathurst International occurring the weekend after.

“It doesn’t fit with us,” Braid said.

“It’s a great event, but we’ve got our calendar, we’ve got the Bathurst International the weekend after so a lot of our teams can’t do that turnaround. We couldn’t race at the Grand Prix, then do Bathurst.

“S5000 is the only category we can do logistically.”

Outlining further details for ARG’s marquee event at Bathurst, Braid admitted the global pandemic has put a significant dampener on the international component of the event, albeit the categories participating are recognised worldwide.

“We’re looking at it from the point of view COVID has impacted the ability to actually fulfil the international theme of that event,” he said.

“At the core of the International, the categories we have are all internationally recognised race categories, so that still remains the idea being that we can get international teams and drivers to actually participate at Bathurst in categories that they know.

“This year, it’s not going to be possible. I can’t

Image: Motorsport Images

see teams coming across although we are expecting a few Kiwi teams to come across for TCM and TCR, but we drivers are still speaking to us about Bathurst opportunities.

“We may not get teams coming out, but we may have a few drivers in each category.”

Given the circumstances preventing ARG’s original idea for the event from coming to

fruition, Braid revealed lofty ambitions and aims for its growth in the coming years.

“In the perfect world, we’ve got our Australian and New Zealand TCR guys lined up, we’ve got six-teams from Europe, we look at Trans Am, we’ve got six or seven guys in cars from the States, in TCM we have guys coming across from New Zealand, GTs coming from Asia,

that’s where we want the International to be, but that won’t happen this year,” he admitted.

“We might be lucky to get some international participants, but at a much smaller scale than we ideally aim for or hope for.

“But in saying that, we want to build it because that will be something distinctly different for Bathurst.” Dan McCarthy

ARG LOOKING AT SMP NIGHT RACES

AUSTRALIAN RACING Group CEO Matt Braid explained that they are looking into the concept of running a meeting under lights on TV after the success at Sydney Motorsport Park.

Braid was impressed by the spectacle of Touring Car Masters, the National Trans Am Series and the S5000 Australian Drivers’ Championship qualifying under lights.

The big sticking point however is the TV scheduling, with the ARG coverage generally the lead into the Saturday and Sunday night AFL games.

This makes it difficult to run a televised night race, however discussions are continuing to be made between ARG and Channel Seven.

“We’ve been looking at it for a while, the beauty of this facility is you can do it and it looks great,” Braid told <i>Auto Action<i>.

“It is the first time that I had seen cars in the flesh under lights here and it looked great last night, it’s an absolute spectacle.

“But looking good and appealing to the right audience at the right time is also key, you are either doing it for a crowd and you have got to do it at the right time when you can get a crowd out, or alternatively you are doing it to get a huge audience on the broadcast.

Braid revealed that discussions took place to make the event a night race but the stars simply did not align.

“We have the capability to do it,” he said.

“There would be the desire to do it, but it has

Image: ARG/Daniel Kalisz Photography

got to fit in with the broadcast window.

“We weren’t able to explore that this weekend on that basis given that it doesn’t fit in with Seven’s plans due to the content that they have (this weekend) and also where we fit.

“They like where we fit and drive their broadcast on this time on the weekends, so they are quite happy with that, we did float the idea of what could be done, but it didn’t work for now.

He felt that while it has not worked to

this point, discussions will continue going forwards.

“It is certainly that is an ongoing conversation for the future of how we can do some night racing here and broadcast it as well,” Braid concluded. Dan McCarthy

VALE: BOBBY UNSER THREE-TIME INDIANAPOLIS 500 winner Bobby Unser has died aged 87 at his home in New Mexico.

One of the most outspoken and popular drivers in American open-wheel history passed away on Sunday.

Unser was born on February 20, 1934 in Colorado Springs, Colorado, as the third of four brothers. When he was only one his family moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico – the city forever associated with the Unser family racing dynasty.

Unser went on to do incredible things in motorsport, he is one of just 10 drivers to win the 500 at least three times, taking victory in 1968, 1975 and 1981, Unser and Rick Mears are the only drivers to win it in three different decades.

He was one of six members of the Unser family to race in the Indy 500. Bobby and his brother Al, a four-time winner, are the only brothers to win the race and both did so with Roger Penske’s team.

“There simply was no one quite like Bobby Unser,” said Roger Penske, chairman of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Team Penske.

“Bobby was a ferocious competitor on the

Image: Motorsport Images

track, and his larger-than-life personality made him one of the most beloved and unique racers we have ever seen.

“Bobby brought so much to Team Penske during his time with our team, including a memorable victory in the 1981 Indianapolis 500.

“Beyond his many wins and accomplishments, Bobby was a true racer that raised the performance of everyone around him. He was also one of the most colourful

characters in motorsports.

“Throughout his time as a driver, a commentator and an ambassador of our sport, Bobby’s stories and his passion for racing were legendary.

“Our thoughts and condolences are with Lisa, the Unser family and Bobby’s many friends and fans during this difficult time.”

Bobby Unser also was well known and admired for his work in and out of the cockpit before his Indianapolis 500 and IndyCar driving

career started and after it ended.

Aside from IndyCar success, Unser dominated the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb before he ever turned a lap at Indianapolis and would go on to become a popular IndyCar colour analyst on national telecasts in the 1980s and 1990s after retiring as a driver.

Unser is a member of numerous motorsports Halls of Fame, including induction into the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame in 1990. Dan McCarthy

COX CONCEDES TCR TITLE FIGHT IS OVER TCR AUSTRALIA front runner Jordan Cox believes that the DNF in the second race of the weekend at Sydney Motorsport Park has taken him out of contention for the 2021 title.

Front-wheel-drive ace, Cox had a great start to the season in his Garry Rogers Motorsport Alfa Romeo by winning two of the first three races at Symmons Plains.

However, since then Cox has suffered a lot of bad luck, mechanical failures as well as being the innocent victim in a couple of incidents, scoring one podium finish since the Tassie round.

After the retirement in the second race at SMP, Cox declared his title hopes for 2021 were over.

“That was it,” he said to Auto Action.

“We were looking at second and that was absolutely realistic just with consistent good solid points, but that one’s just ruined it for us basically.

“The only way we can climb back is through others misfortune which you never wish upon them, but yeah that’s the only way we could rocket up the order.”

In the remaining three rounds Cox has simply one target one target, winning races.

“Yeah we’ll just send it! That’s it,” he said.

Cox explained the pace in his Alfa Romeo has not disappeared, but reliability has proved to be an issue.

His Alfa GRM teammate Michael Caruso suffered from mechanical issues early in the season, however at SMP, the two-time Supercars race winner broke through to take

Image: Motorsport Images

his first TCR podium and then race victory.

“My car was good, but we are a bit inconsistent, probably hasn’t shown our true pace, Caruso proved they (the Alfa Romeos) had pace,” Cox said.

“I was a genuine third fastest in practice.

In qualifying if we didn’t have the boost hose go, putting it all together we were top five for sure. So, pace wise we’re okay, just consistency and reliability wise we are not.”

Cox showed that pace in the final race, charging from the back of the field to finish in a staggering seventh position.

The Sydneysider was forced to start from the back of the grid after he failed to take the start of the second affair.

On the warm up lap he was forced into the pits with a serious mechanical issue.

“We’re just we’re just warming up the tyres doing a normal procedure and just broke an axle,” he said.

“The way it broke was quite strange, it was not a normal twist and tear that you would see in an axle. It is an odd one, shouldn’t have happened but it has.”

The next round takes place at the technical

Morgan Park venue in Queensland, a circuit many TCR drivers have not visited let alone driven on.

Cox is confident GRM will rebound and get near the pointy end despite it not being an Alfa suited track.

“We’ll still be there or thereabouts, it is a good solid car,” Cox said. “We are a good solid team that is consistent at trying to get the most out of the car, we know the pace is there, we’ve just got to put it together and perform and we will be there or thereabouts.” Dan McCarthy

LATEST NEWS

WICKENS MAKES DRIVER’S SEAT RETURN FORMER INDYCAR Rookie of The Year Robert Wickens returned to the driver’s seat after his Pocono crash in 2018, which left him a paraplegic.

At an all-Hyundai track day at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, the 32-year-old Canadian drove a Bryan Herta Autosport Hyundai Veloster N TCR modified with hand controls for its regular driver Michael Johnson, who is paraplegic “I’m appreciative of the opportunity Hyundai and Bryan Herta have provided, and a big thanks to Michael Johnson for this collaboration,” Wickens said.

“It’s been a journey getting here and the experience on track today was incredibly rewarding.

Working with the team, dialling the car in, gaining speed and improving the handling – it was awesome. The Veloster N TCR was a blast to drive.

“Once I got comfortable with the car, I began to understand what I need for my own accessibility to move forward.”

A star in junior open-wheel formulas, Wickens first in the

Formula BMW USA series in 2006 before heading to Europe where he finished runner up in FIA Formula 2 in 2009 and won the Formula Renault 3.5 Series in 2011.

He progressed to DTM, which he contested between 20122017 where he finished a best of fourth in 2016.

Transitioning back to openwheelers and IndyCar with Schmidt Peterson Motorsports for 2018, where he won the Rookie of The Year despite missing the final three races of the season due to the crash at Pocono, which damaged his spinal cord and extremities.

Ever since, Wickens has tracked his journey through social media to become an inspirational figure in his aim to overcome the spinal injury and to restore full function of his legs.

Team owner Bryan Herta lauded Wickens on his comeback.

“We’re fortunate to be in a position to provide Robert a chance to get back in a race car,” Herta said. “We knew

with his expertise and ability; we’d benefit from his valuable feedback. He did a great job getting up to speed quickly, and we look forward to being a part of the next phase in his journey back to racing.”

Australian Will Power recently compared IndyCar rookie Scott McLaughlin to Wickens, who impressed upon his debut in the top-tier North American class by scoring one pole and four podiums in his maiden campaign.

HM

MOSTERT’S WINNING TCR RUN ENDS

RECENT SUPERCARS race winner Chaz Mostert failed to extend his three-race winning streak in TCR Australia, however added to his margin in the title fight.

Mostert’s Melbourne Performance Centre Audi RS3 LMS TCR was one of many TCR models to undergo Balance of Performance changes prior to Round 4 at Sydney Motorsport Park last weekend.

The Audi was elevated 10mm in ride height and gained 10kg adding to the 60kg compensation weight the Supercars star was already carrying due to his performance in Bathurst qualifying.

Achieving his worst qualifying of the year in fifth before going on to score a third, second and sixth in the three races, Mostert admitted his results were better than what he expected.

“It’s been a tough weekend for us,” he told Auto Action on Sunday. “I think our performance has probably been from fifth to 10th, but I think we’ve been very lucky in the races to have two podiums this weekend.”

Also, the BoP played its part with Mostert highlighting different models are competitive at different venues, which spices up the series.

“You find that throughout the series, there are certain cars that suit different tracks,” Mostert said.

“I think the Audi and the Peugeot suited Bathurst really well, that type of track.

“The Peugeot was very quick across the top, but then we were pretty quick just at

Image: ARG/Daniel Kalisz Photography

the end of the shoots being a four-door sedan and that type of drag.

“Then you come here (SMP), I think the Hyundai’s, this was their track and in saying that I think the Renaults too, but they just had a bit of bad luck over the weekend.”

Mostert extended his margin at the top

of the standings to 106-points as secondplaced placed driver coming into the series, Aaron Cameron crashed out of the final race elevating teammate Luke King into the runner up slot.

The next round in Queensland at the rural Morgan Park Raceway is according to

Mostert be another challenge for the Audi.

“I wouldn’t say Morgan Park is an Audi suited circuit,” Mostert said. “I would say it’s a very Alfa strong circuit and even possibly the Hondas and Peugeots.

“I think it will probably be the type of track they will excel at..” DM

SUBSIDIES IN THE PAST AUSTRALIAN RACING Group CEO Matt Braid has reiterated prospective entrants into TCR Australia will not be provided aid monetary aid in acquiring cars, which was prevalent during its maiden season in 2019.

To get the burgeoning category started in Australia, ARG bought a number of cars into the country including the two Volkswagen Golf GTI TCRs entered by Jason Bright and the pair of Kelly Racing Holden Astra TCRs among others. Freight was also paid for in some instances to enable a strong grid of entries to take part in the series two years ago.

Braid said it won’t happen in the future as interest continues to grow upon Toyota’s entry through its South American distributor in Argentina.

“We did that in the early days to help some people get started and in some cases we actually had a couple of cars ourselves, we even paid freight to help people get cars in early to save time,” Braid recalled.

“That’s a thing of the past.”

According to Braid, prospective entrants are organically being drawn to

Image: ARG/Daniel Kalisz Photography

manufacturers as he expects the number of marques on the grid to grow based on the enquiries received.

“I think this one we won’t have to touch on,” Braid said of the Toyota. “I’m pretty sure there has been people on the phone already making enquiries and that’s the pleasing thing for us.

“Whenever there has been a new brand

being talked about, whether it be MG, even Fiat and the Geely stuff too, the guys were quick to jump on it with enquiries being made.

“We haven’t had to start those enquiries we just keep an eye on someone who is going to buy cars.

“We think overall that early-20s as being the number for this year and ideally growing for 2022.”

Also revealed was the stillborn Mazda project led by its US division maybe back in the development stages after it was cancelled last year.

“I think the Toyota and the Mazda product, that looks like it will be restarted, those two brands will be highly targeted amongst the competitors,” Braid said.

Dan McCarthy

VALE – GEOFF PORTMAN

Image: AA Archive

FORMER DUAL Australian Rally champion Geoff Portman has passed away after a long battle with cancer.

A worker in the Forestry Commission, Portman won the 1981 and 1982 ARC titles together with long-time co-driver Ross Runnalls, a partnership widely acknowledged as one of the most successful in Australian rallying history.

The pair met while completing forestry school in Creswick, Victoria before teaming up in rallies from 1975 where Portman drove a Holden FC. Later progressing to a Datsun 1600 where he

formed a highly successful alliance with Datrally proprietor Les Collins.

An early leader of the 1979 Repco Round Australia Trial, Portman was drafted into the Howard Marsden-led factory Datsun Rally Team for 1980, with which he won the title in 1981.

This added to his three Victorian Rally Championships.

A focus on circuit racing for the Japanese brand forced it to pull out of the ARC after his championship winning season, but Portman realigned with Collins and Datrally to build the ‘Grunter’.

This very powerful Datsun 1600 delivered his second title in 1982, defeating amongst other entries the exfactory Fiat 131 Abarth of Greg Carr.

Progressing to a Nissan Bluebird during the ensuing years, Portman’s impact on the sport continued off the stages as he mentored many young drivers through his rally driving school and worked with aboriginal communities to interest indigenous youth in motor mechanics and technical areas.

Portman returned to rallying in 2005, winning one of his six Alpine Rally titles

that year. A record he shares with Carr and Frank Kilfoyle.

In 2012, Portman was diagnosed with Neuroendocrine Tumour Cancer, losing his battle on April 20.

Portman will be honoured at the Australian Rally Hall of Fame event in June, being posthumously inducted.

An incredibly popular figure in rallying circles, Auto Action sends its condolences to the Portman family, friends and the extended rallying community.

Heath McAlpine

LATEST NEWS

SUPERUTES ARE GO FOR THE BEND BOTH THE weekend race format and the entry lists have been announced for the first round of the revised V8 powered Superute Series set to kick off at The Bend Motorsport Park this weekend.

In total 13 of the new V8 engined Superutes will race at the fast and flowing South Australian venue. The field includes five brands, Toyota, Holden, Ford, Mazda and Mitsubishi.

The previous turbo diesel iteration of the SuperUte Series proved very unpopular with spectators and viewers alike, so from 2021 the entire field will run with a control Chev LS3 V8 motor.

As well as improved performance and sound for fans, the switch to a control engine will ensure improved parity between the different brands.

The opening round consists of two practice sessions on Friday, a qualifying and race on THE MOTOR sport community was shocked to hear of the death of Mal Brewster, who was killed in a road accident near Cowra NSW on April 21. Brewster raced a Mini, a Torana and a RX7 and took in several Bathurst events between 1967 and 1980. He also competed in Formula Junior, Formula 3 and Clubman cars. He was an integral part of the HSRCA where he provided competitors assistance to improve their driving skills and car setup. He instigated the track walks at Historic race meeting that took place at Amaroo Park, Oran Park and Wakefield Park, despite a major accident which left him with a fractured back, and a bad leg and ankle that left him with a permanent limp. Auto Action extends our sympathies to his wife Gaye and his family.

Garry O’Brien

Saturday and two races on Sunday.

The first Sunday encounter, Race 2 for the weekend will see the top half of the field reversed based on the results in Race 1.

The 13-driver list for Round 1 includes some drivers with experience racing incarnations of Aussie ute racing while there are several new names joining the category.

Heading into the series Ryal Harris has to go in as the favourite, the Queenslander has won three V8 Ute titles and the inaugural SuperUtes series and has recently become an established Touring Car Masters contender.

For the 2021 V8 SuperUte season, Harris will jump back into the Mazda BT50 in which he won the 2018 title.

The 2019 Toyota 86 Series winner Aaron Borg is entered for the opening round as well as Cameron Crick who finished as the runnerup in the 2019 SuperUtes series.

Two more well-known names are Craig

Woods and Ben Walsh make returns each in a Hilux.

Former V8 ute front-runner, South Australian racer Craig Dontas makes his full-time racing return in a Mitsubishi Triton.

This entry list also includes a pair of fatherand-son combinations. After racing against each other in Toyota 86’s, Gerard and Jaiden Maggs will continue their intra-family rivalry in the SuperUtes.

While Michael Formosa will make his racing debut alongside his son Chris in a second Allgate Ranger Racing entry.

Craig Jenner makes his first circuit racing appearance in a Mazda BT50, while The Bend Motorsport Park Operations Manager Wayne Williams, aboard a Toyota Hilux.

South Australian George Gutierrez will make his SuperUte debut after graduating from the Toyota 86 Series.

The event also marks a new partnership for

the local with South Australian solar energy company Go Sunny jumping on board for the next step in his career.

Gutierrez purchased the former Charlie Schwerkolt Team 18 Holden Colorado SuperUte and completed the V8 conversion at home.

“The opportunity presented itself late last year to make the step up from Toyota 86s by purchasing the Holden Colorado SuperUte,” said Gutierrez.

“For us, the SuperUtes series was a realistic next step from Toyota 86’s.

“We have done the V8 conversion work in house at George Gutierrez Motorsport to get ready for the series. It has been quite the challenge.

“It has been an absolute hectic couple of months leading up to this week and I’m eager to get underway this Friday and get some laps under my belt.” DM

VALE, MAL BREWSTER

Mal Brewster at the wheel of the Peter McLeod Mazda RX7 Sandown 500 1980.

PANCIONE WIN HELPED BY EXTRA MILES ON THE weekend Christian Pancione broke through to take his maiden Porsche Sprint Challenge round victory and race wins, he feels racing in selected rounds of the national top-tier Carrera Cup series is contributed to the success.

Sprint Challenge is the second-tier national Porsche Series before drivers step up to Carrera Cup and beyond that Porsche racing internationally.

At Sydney Motorsport Park, the second round of Porsche Sprint Challenge Pancione won his first-round and this came hot off the back of an impressive Carrera Cup debut at Sandown Raceway.

“The extra laps that I’m doing in Carrera Cup is contributing a lot,” Pancione told Auto Action. “Having that extra seat time is always is going to help.”

“Carrera Cup is at such a high level, it’s definitely improved my racing skills and my race craft, so it’s played a massive part in this weekend’s results definitely.”

The opening round of the 2021 season Sprint Challenge season at Phillip Island was not the start that Pancione was looking for, he scored two fourth places before the third race was declared a non-event.

Pancione explained that he worked hard between events to return at SMP fighting for wins.

“The first round didn’t go to plan,” he admitted. “It was just a weekend that didn’t go away, didn’t quite have the pace over my

teammate who had the upper hand all weekend.

“But I really worked hard with the team off track, training and everything so I came into this weekend with a better mindset to go for the win.”

And win he did, after qualifying second Pancione made an electric start and took the lead from his pole sitter Ryan Suhle.

From that moment on Pancione was not touched and took his maiden win in the category, in what is his second season in the Pro class.

“The first one it was it was just a big bucket list tick,” Pancione said. “Just to get that one out of the way, gave me that huge confidence coming into the second race knowing that I can just do the same thing, get a good start and try pull a gap.

Pancione was unable to do that in the second encounter as Suhle remained right on his tail for the duration of the 45-minute race.

Under relentless pressure the Victorian did not put a foot wrong and came home to take his second victory, and after the race he described it as the hardest fought win of his career.

“Race 2 wasn’t as straightforward, Ryan

was pushing me the whole way it was not an easy race,” he said. “Especially being a 45-minute race as well, it was tough.

“Out of all my go karting and previous races that was definitely at the top as the hardest victory!”

Pancione finished a close second to Suhle in the third and final encounter and was

enough to give him the round win. Pancione hopes that this will be good momentum leading into his second Carrera Cup round at The Bend Motorsport Park this weekend.

“Its been a long time coming (the first race win), so it’s good to tick that box and have that momentum going forward,” he said.

Dan McCarthy

TEAM PENSKE AND PORSCHE REUNITE

MORE THAN a decade after ending its prototype collaboration in the American Le Mans Series, Team Penske and Porsche will renew this relationship to contest the FIA World Endurance Championship and IMSA Weathertech SportsCar Championship.

The partnership resumes as Porsche Penske Motorsport where two LMDh prototypes will contest the top class of each series with the contract running for multiple years.

Porsche Penske Motorsport’s LMDhs will debut in the 2023 season alongside the Hypercars, which debuted at Spa last weekend and it is expected a customer racing program will complement the factory team as early as the maiden season.

At a weight of 1000kg, the chassis is based on an LMP2 and will be powered by a 500kw hybrid drivetrain.

Chairman of the executive board of Porsche AG, Oliver Blume revealed two bases will be set-up in Germany and the US. “We are delighted that we were able to get Team Penske to form this partnership,” said Blume.

“For the first time in the history of Porsche Motorsport, our company will have a global team competing in the world’s two largest endurance series. To this end, we will be setting up team bases on both sides of the Atlantic.

“This will enable us to create the optimal structures we will need to take overall victories at Le Mans, Daytona and Sebring, for example.”

Porsche join Audi and Acura as confirmed manufacturers for the new LMDh, whilst Toyota debuted its Hypercar at Spa as it awaits competition from Peugeot, Alpine and Ferrari in

this class.

“As of 2023, Porsche will compete in the major endurance racing series. Our intention is to support and shape the new era with our LMDh prototypes,” said Michael Steiner, Board Member for Research and Development.

“Not only will we be keeping our fingers crossed for the four factory cars we have in total, but also for our customer teams. The new LMDh vehicle will also be entered as a customer car in both series as early as the 2023 season. These partner teams will be given our full support. Whatever insights we gain from our factory effort will also be shared with them.”

Fritz Enzinger, head of Porsche Motorsport is delighted to confirm its renewed alliance with Team Penske.

“Porsche and Penske share a proven track record of success. This partnership had a lasting impact from 2006 to 2008 on what was then the American Le Mans Series,” said Fritz Enzinger, Head of Porsche Motorsport, delighted about the renewed collaboration with the US team.

“Team Penske has made a name for itself with an almost unparalleled success story in motorsport. In the long list of victories to date, however, the name Le Mans has been missing.

I hope that we will finally be able to chalk up this success as of 2023 with Porsche Penske Motorsport.

“This would then mark Porsche’s 20th overall victory at the Sarthe - a dream come true.”

In its form as Porsche RS Sport, the previous partnership contested three season of ALMS

between 2006-2008, which followed on from a successful campaign together in the 1970s with the Porsche 917 in Can-Am. Roger Penske expressed his excitement for the new program.

“This is a proud day for our entire Penske organization. We have represented Porsche on the track or in our businesses for more than six decades. The heritage and success we have enjoyed together is unparalleled throughout our history,” said Penske.

“I can’t wait to get started as we build a global racing program with Porsche that will compete for wins and championships well into the future.”

The new announcement continues Porsche’s North American sports car entry after ending its GTLM program last year.. HM

with Dan Knutson

Images: Motorsport Images

FORMULA 1 has announced that the Japanese Grand Prix will remain at the Suzuka Circuit for at least another three years. The multi-year extension has been agreed between F1 and race promoter Mobilityland. This will see the FIA Formula One World Championship continue to visit the iconic venue until at least the end of the 2024 season. The fast but twisting figure-of-eight track has been a driver favourite since it first appeared on the calendar in 1987. DM

ALFA ROMEO has confirmed the 2020 Formula 2 Championship runner-up Callum Ilott as its reserve driver for the remainder of the season. Ilott will share duties with former Grand Prix winner Robert Kubica. When the Pole is unavailable due to sports car commitments, Ilott will take his place filling in for Kimi Raikkonen or Antonio Giovinazzi should either be unable to race. Last week the Englishman drove an Alfa Romeo in FP1 in Portimao. DM

CANADA FIRST TO CRACK THE AMBITIOUS plan by Formula 1 to stage a record 23 races this season hit its first snag when it was announced that the Canadian Grand Prix will be canceled for the second consecutive year, due to COVID-19.

Formula 1’s resilience to bounce back was then quickly demonstrated by signing up the Turkish Grand Prix to take over Montreal’s June 11 – 13 dates.

It is highly doubtful that there will be 23 races this year.

The pandemic is raging in Mexico City and Brazil’s São Paulo. Will the tragic situation in those countries have improved enough by late October and early November so that the 2500 members of the F1 fraternity feel safe enough to make the trip?

Other countries also aren’t that keen to have those 2500 people plus, maybe fans as well, descend on them.

Japan is still sorting out protocols for the Summer Olympics in July, and what happens there could influence what happens with the F1 race in October.

While the Monaco street race will go ahead on May 23 (with only local residents

permitted to attend), Singapore is not showing a lot of enthusiasm for its street race the weekend prior to the Japanese Grand Prix.

But the races in Australia, the U.S., Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi are expected to go ahead.

Germany’s Nürburgring is the first reserve to replace any other cancelled races.

Canadian officials certainly were not going to allow 2500 F1 folks to enter the country without a mandatory 14 day quarantine.

Holding the race with no fans in attendance was not an option for Canadian Grand Prix

promoter Francois Dumontier because the track would have to pay for the rights to host the race, but it could not then recoup that through ticket sales.

Formula 1 will continue to impose its own strict pandemic rules, no matter what countries host races this year.

“The Formula 1 community will continue to travel this season with stringent safety measures that allowed us to travel safely to 12 countries and deliver 17 races in 2020,” F1 said in a statement. “The measures have proven to be highly effective with over 78,000 COVID-19 tests conducted last

THE HONDA PORSCHE? TWO FORMER F1 drivers will team up in the Le Mans 24 Hours this year, father and son Kevin Magnussen and Jan Magnussen.

The younger of the two, Kevin, has made his aspirations to race in the French classic clear for many years and now that his F1 career has come to a halt, he has taken up the opportunity to race with his father in an LMP2-class Oreca fielded by High Class Racing. The race takes place from August 21-22. DM

AUSTRALIAN OSCAR Piastri ended FIA Formula 2 Championship testing with the second fastest time, on the final day in Barcelona. On Sunday April 25, Piastri sported an ANZAC Rising Star logo on his #2 Prema Racing machine, which was blisteringly quick throughout the day. At the end of the test Piastri was just 0.16s off the pace set by Brazilian Felipe Drugovich.

The Uni-Virtuosi racer was the only driver throughout the test to break into the 1m 27s bracket. DM

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THE CURRENT Honda F1 power unit project could eventually morph into a Porsche F1 power unit or even an Audi F1 power unit.

This is, of course, Honda’s last year in F1.

Red Bull will take over the entire Honda F1 engine project and move it to Britain. The power unit facility will be located next to Red Bull’s F1 chassis facility in Milton Keynes.

While Red Bull will run the engine programme, it could lease the name of the engine to anybody. The rumor is that it could be the Volkswagen Group, which owns the Porsche and Audi brands. But Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said it will be a Red Bull.

Still, this could be a cheap, convenient and easy way for an auto manufacturer to eventually get involved in F1.

In F1 only Ferrari, and now Red Bull, have their chassis and power unit facilities on the same site.

“We are assembling an exceptionally talented group of people together and we are only at the beginning of that journey,” said Horner.

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff was asked during a press conference, which Horner also attended, prior to the Portuguese Grand Prix if he was concerned about losing personnel from Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains (HPP) to Red Bull Powertrains, plus the subsequent loss of IT, and if this would spice up the battle with Red Bull on a different level.

“I guess it was expected that this would happen, and this is just a battleground such as the one on track,” Wolff said. “You (referring to Horner) need to acknowledge that and the last few weeks were certainly very much…”

At this point Horner interrupted and said: “Busy!”

Busy indeed.

Red Bull has hired Ben Hodgkinson who is currently the head of

mechanical engineering at HPP. But Wolff no doubt will have put a ‘gardening leave’ clause in Hodgkinson’s contract, that will require up to 18 months between jobs before he can join Red Bull.

The current power unit rules are frozen until the end of 2024. So Red Bull will have to design and build an entirely new power unit for 2025.

All in all, HPP has a huge head start on the Red Bull programme.

Yes, Red Bull is acquiring Honda’s IP, machines and equipment, but Honda’s fourth era in F1 only began in 2015.

Ilmor was founded by Mario Illien and Paul Morgan in 1983. The independent British company built engines for Roger Penske’s IndyCar team, and then entered F1 in 1991 supplying engines to Leyton House. General Motors’ sold its 25 per cent share to Daimler-Benz in 1993. Daimler then became the sole owner of Ilmor in 2005, and that morphed into what today is HPP. For now, Red Bull can recruit more skilled people from HPP and other tech companies to create a new power unit … no matter what it will eventually be called.

DAN: MORE LAPS NEEDED

Images: Motorsport Images

season with only 78 positive results, a rate of 0.1 per cent. So far this season we have conducted over 12,000 tests with 14 positive cases, again a rate of 0.1 per cent. This is alongside the vaccines that a number of teams have already received and the good rollout of the vaccine in the UK, where seven of the 10 teams are based. We will continue to operate in a way that protects the safety of our personnel and the communities we visit.”

But the bottom line is that there is uncertainty about how many countries will actually be F1 hosts in 2021.

DANIEL RICCIARDO, Fernando Alonso, Sebastian Vettel, Sergio Pérez and Carlos Sainz are all very experienced and talented drivers.

They also have something else in common which is, ironically, that they all need more experience. Not F1 experience in general, but specific experience driving the cars of their new teams.

All five of them switched teams during the off-season. All five of them had just 1.5 days of pre-season testing after splitting the mere three days with their teammates, plus, so far, just a few race weekends.

Between them, the five drivers have won six world championships, 80 pole positions and 91 grands prix. Plus they have celebrated on the podium many times after finishing second or third.

But it takes time to adapt to a new car and a new team.

“It is just getting used to the new car and finding the limit,” said Daniel Ricciardo, who

switched from Renault to McLaren.

“Jumping into another team and trying to learn something, not from scratch but probably halfway, when the level is so high, then the gap shows.

“It is really the track time because it is really feeling the limit of the car, and knowing where that is, and getting comfortable with that,” the Aussie added.

Alonso has an even bigger challenge, coming back to F1 after two years of IndyCar and sports car racing.

“I don’t know where I am currently in terms of percentage,” he said.

“As I said before the season started, it will take a few races. It is the same for the people that changed teams as well for this year, because there are things on every team that are different in terms of steering wheel feedback, pedal feedback, the way the car responds to different things, kerb riding, braking performance, tyre degradation. These

are things that you discover with races and with experience.

“It is even bigger for me because it’s not that I changed teams, I changed sport, basically. It will take time. It is not an excuse. I just need to work harder and prepare the things better into the weekend. I changed teams and I changed categories many times in my career and it was never a problem. It will not be a problem this time either. Soon, we will be 100 per cent.”

Vettel has been hampered by reliability woes and having the slowest car in this group of drivers.

“Mostly it is the feel of the car, getting on top of the procedures and all that and just mileage in the car,” he said.

“Car performance-wise we know we are not quite there yet, so it’s very easy to say what you’d like to have more (of).”

Driving the team’s simulator is a good aide, but for these five drivers there is no substitute for more laps on the track.

HAMILTON: BACK FOR MORE IN 2022 LEWIS HAMILTON is sure that he will be back racing with Mercedes for a 10th season in 2022, but he has left the retirement door cracked open.

He currently has just a one-year deal with the team, which he signed in January.

Hamilton detests testing but he volunteered to do a two-day test helping Pirelli evaluate the new 18-inch tyres that F1 will use in 2022.

“I plan to be here next year,” he said, “and I want to help Pirelli in helping them lean towards having a better product. It’s something the drivers, all of us, have wished for: more performance tyres. It was important for me to see, to gauge the tyre, what the starting point is, and what differences I can help with. From a sport, from a driver point of view, we want more mechanical grip in our tyres and less degradation.”

But he backtracked when pressed on the subject of 2022.

“I’m pretty spontaneous, that could always change,” he admitted. “I don’t know; I’m enjoying this battle we’re having (with Max Verstappen) it’s getting more exciting; it’s been even more of a challenge. I continue to love working with this team.

It’s encouraging to see the steps, for example, my team are making towards becoming more inclusive and more diverse.”

Hamilton and Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff have not started negotiations for 2022 yet, but they won’t prolong those too much longer.

“We learned our lesson that we wouldn’t leave it

until the Christmas holidays,” Wolff said. “That was definitely taking it too far. I think we are in a very good place and our relationship is growing stronger every year. It’s about time to give it a little nudge and start to speak, and this is what we are going to do soon.”

If Hamilton stays on, that cuts the chances of Mercedes protégée George Russell getting a ride with the team from 100 per cent down to around 25 per cent.

Mercedes wouldcertainly slot Russell into the seat vacated by Hamilton. But will Mercedes consider replacing Valtteri Bottas with Russell? Bottas has just one win in the past 19 races – up to and including the Portuguese Grand Prix – but Bottas has also had mechanical woes, slow pit stops and just plain bad luck.

“Many times it could have worked for Valtteri,” Wolff said of Bottas winning races. “We continue to support him.”

So how will Wolff decide between Bottas and Russell if Hamilton does not head out the retirement door?

“I hope one day that I wake up and it becomes clear,” Wolff said.” I think we need to look into the season and how the next races unfold and then it is a judgement call I believe. Not a very scientific response but I haven’t got any (idea) at the moment.”

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GIVE SPRINTS A CHANCE ALTHOUGH I am a Formula 1 purist and traditionalist, I support the plan to experiment with three “sprint qualifying” races this season.

And so do many of the current F1 drivers.

“I’ve always said that we need to have some sort of different format at different races through the year,” Lewis Hamilton said.

“Some tracks, particularly like Monaco for example, it’s beautiful to be at but it’s not an exciting race necessarily.

I like that they (F1) are open minded, making changes.

“From those experimental weekends hopefully the sport will learn a lot on how we can deploy better races moving forward.”

The sprint races will be staged at Silverstone, Monza and one “flyaway” track.

At these events qualifying will be held on Friday afternoon, and that will set the grid for a 100km (about 17 laps) sprint race on Saturday afternoon.

The results of that race will determine the grid for Sunday’s full-length 300km grand prix.

“It will make the weekend a bit more intense; less time to prepare to come up with a final set-up very quickly after you just hit the track,” Sebastian Vettel said, “but it will be the same for everyone.”

Fervent F1 fans like me enjoy watching the cars circulate around the track during Friday’s practice sessions, but it is a bit of a non-event.

Things have been better this year because the two sessions have been cut from 90 to 60 minutes. That has added some intensity to the day because the teams and drivers have 60 fewer minutes to get all their work completed.

“I think the change would just bring a bit more excitement,” George Russell said of sprint races.

“Three days of proper action as obviously not a lot of people are interested in practice. But now qualifying Friday before the main event … it’s an interesting concept.

“We’ve got to give it a chance and see how we get on, but I’m excited for it, and if it brings action and

excitement it is in the best interests of everybody.”

The reduced practice time will hurt the drivers with less experience, but rookie Yuki Tsunoda still supports the concept.

“It’s good to do something different and challenge it,” the rookie said.

“Sprint races are a good idea. I think for me, it’s good.

If we have a sprint race, we don’t have free practice two or three to prepare for qualifying. We have only one free practice and go straight to qualifying, so as a rookie it’s a little bit of a difficult situation.”

Points – 3, 2, 1 – will be awarded to the top three finishers in the sprint races.

“For me it doesn’t change much,” Pierre Gasly said.

“We’re going to try it. We’ll see how it works. If it works, for sure it will increase the interest of the Friday spectators on site, so maybe the numbers will rise for that day.

“But I don’t really get it why only the top three will get points. In any case, (Lewis) Hamilton, (Valtteri) Bottas and (Max) Verstappen are

WHAT’S IN THE NEXT ISSUE ON SALE MAY 20th

not in ‘our’ championship, so I think it won’t change much for us.

“For the future, we’ll have to see how these three races work and then reflect on what will come out.”

One thing that is vitally important is that Saturday’s race doesn’t become the main event.

“I’m quite happy that we are trying this,” Charles Leclerc said.

“I think that it’s good that we have three grands prix where we will try this. The most important thing is that it won’t devalue the Sunday event, which is the main race and should remain the main race.

“But to have a sprint race might be interesting. We will also see the cars be pushed to the max from the first lap to the last lap, which will be nice for us drivers.”

If the sprint race concept doesn’t work out, Formula 1 bosses Stefano Domenicali and Ross Brawn say it will be dropped.

But if it does work then more will be added in 2022.

For now, I say let’s not knock it until we’ve tried it.

Supercars at The Bend; Spanish Grand Prix; Indycar action; All the latest news & views; 60 years on, Black Jacks 61 IndyCar assault

with Mark Fogarty

THE FOGES FILE AA’s perplexed pundit questions the return of a legend and wonders about Supercars’ handling of the comeback RUSSELL INGALL’S Supercars comeback at 57 is unusual, but not unprecedented. It is also, depending on your viewpoint, either a masterstroke or ill-advised.

Leaving aside the debate about the wisdom of Ingall’s return for the moment, it is certainly among the most ambitious old age returns.

He will be the first ATCC/Supercars champion to contest the Bathurst 1000 at such an advanced vintage since the late, great Peter Brock.

And let’s not sugar coat it – Ingall is very old in this context.

The last successful senior citizen in the 1000 was Jim Richards, who won at 55 with Mark Skaife in 2002.

That was Brock’s comeback year from his 1997 retirement, with his final Bathurst appearance in 2004, when he was 59.

Neither was worthy of his standing as a record nine-time winner of the Mount Panorama touring car enduro.

So you have to wonder if Ingall is being realistic about a comeback at the top level at such high mileage.

He hasn’t raced for nearly two years and has been out of Supercars since his final enduro campaign in 2016.

And to be brutal, his previous return in TCR’s inaugural season in 2019 was flattered by a mixed field finding their feet in a new category.

Hence, my conflict about his Bathurst Wildcard entry alongside fast-rising teenager Broc Feeney.

It’s great to have such an established star – and such a colourful character – as Ingall back at Bathurst.

It’s also a publicity coup, garnering welcome headlines.

But many would argue that such interest is an indictment of Supercars’ lack of personalities.

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There’s no doubt Ingall is still a capable racing driver. His latent talent and undiminished competitiveness are unquestioned.

He is a tough old bastard, no doubt.

But he is 57. Time takes its toll. His reflexes and fitness, no matter how hard he trains, aren’t as good as they were even five years ago.

Sure, experience and guile can bridge some of the gap over 1000 km at Bathurst, but not all of it.

If his pace is close to Feeney, something is very wrong.

Ingall deludes himself if he thinks he can contend for victory or even a podium without the intervention of chaos – which, of course, is not unusual in the Bathurst 1000.

The fact is that, even at his peak, he wasn’t a serious threat at Mount Panorama since he and Larry Perkins came back from last to win in 1997.

Look, it is easy to dismiss Ingall’s Bathurst bid as a last grasp at glory.

It’s a great story with a possible, but unlikely, fairy tale ending.

You certainly can’t blame him for grabbing the late-life opportunity with both hands.

However, if there were ever a time to rest on his laurels, this would be it.

‘The Enforcer’ is a V8 legend with a title and two Bathurst 1000 victories. He is a Supercars Hall Of Famer in waiting. Why tarnish that legacy by taking the risk of struggling in an opportunistic, publicity driven return?

Ingall doesn’t need to prove himself. He was

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one of the best in his day.

But his post-SBR years were ordinary and his retirement from full-time racing at the end of 2014 was appropriate.

In his later years in Supercars, his renowned lack of qualifying pace, offset by an ability to gain ground in races, was highlighted. He was a beast from the back.

He didn’t excel in his enduro co-drives, making you wonder why his partnership with Feeney – even if run by Triple Eight – will be any different.

Ingall has carved himself a career as a popular media pundit.

He was on the Fox Sports coverage from 2015-18, replaced by the newly retired Craig Lowndes in ’19.

The switch did not please a lot of fans, who enjoyed Ingall’s forthright – if sometimes disjointed – critiques.

Ironically, Lowndes has been marginalised this year.

Ingall regained his media profile with the popular Enforcer And The Dude podcasts with Paul Morris.

His return at Bathurst in October will make some history, but whether it will enhance his reputation is highly debatable.

SUPERCARS SNUBS SUPERCHEAP

SADLY NOTICEABLE in Supercars’ coverage of the Ingall/Feeney Bathurst 1000 wild card was the lack of acknowledgement of Supercheap Auto’s involvement.

The story on the official web site mentioned Supercheap just once and there was only

one photo showing – very partially – some signage.

We all know Repco replaced Supercheap as title sponsor of the Bathurst 1000 and the wild card entry is classic ambush marketing.

But Supercars actively avoiding meaningful mention/display of Supercheap’s opportunistic entry smacked of pettiness.

While I understand the commercial realities of Repco’s big investment in the sport, almost ignoring a major team sponsor – even if it is a direct rival – is troubling.

Where does it end? Limited coverage for Shell V-Power Racing because BP is the official fuel supplier?

If Supercars allows teams to receive support that clashes with its commercial partners, exposure must be uninhibited.

There are suggestions there was pressure exerted to downplay Supercheap’s newsworthy gambit, but hopefully it was no more than Supercars trying to do the right thing – however misguidedly – for its series sponsor.

Mind you, Supercheap Auto is hardly unsullied in all of this.

Its reaction to simply being outbid for naming rights to the Bathurst 1000 has been petulant.

Snipey TV advertising around its backing of the TCR Australia Series and minor support of Red Bull Ampol Racing to get prime exposure in telecasts suggests sour grapes.

In racing, all major sponsors should be treated equally – but some, it appears, are more equal than others.

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DEFENDING TICKFORD’S HONOUR

the

black knight Ford star Cam Waters opens up about trying to stop Shane van Gisbergen’s championship charge and why his rivalry with Chaz Mostert is so intense AT THE Bathurst 1000 in October, Cam Waters will celebrate a decade in Supercars. He earned a start at the big race in 2011 by winning a racing TV reality show, which gave him the profile to forge a Supercars career.

So it’s taken a while, but Waters is now established as a V8 front-runner, leading Tickford Racing and on speed, if not results, he is Shane van Gisbergen’s main title rival.

Despite three pole positions, Waters remains winless so far this season because his Monster Energy Mustang fades in race trim. It’s a fast combination that lacks SVG’s flair and Triple Eight’s consistency.

Mildura-born, Melbourne-based Waters, 26, has come into his own since taking over from arch-rival Chaz Mostert as Tickford’s team leader last year.

He has added to his armoury by racing speedway Sprintcars to hone his skills, just as SVG sharpens his edge by racing anything, anywhere.

Waters came to prominence as a 17-year-old Formula Ford star who won the inaugural Shannons Supercar Showdown in 2011, earning a drive at Bathurst with Kelly Racing.

It wasn’t a distinguished debut, but Waters persisted and won the support of the then Prodrive Racing (ex-FPR), which backed

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him in the second-level Dunlop Series in 2015, winning the title and earning graduation to the main game in ’16 after also subbing for the Bathurst-injured Chaz Mostert in the season’s final three events.

He broke through with victory in the 2017 Sandown 500, aided by Richie Stanaway in awkward conditions. A Tickford Racing slump meant he didn’t win again until the last race of last year’s second of back-to-back events at Tailem Bend.

Waters has matured into one of the best Supercars drivers, his Bathurst 1000 pole and close second to van Gisbergen last October highlighting the ability that has him nominated as a contender to replace Jamie Whincup at Triple Eight.

He is a hard racer, renowned for not being afraid to bang panels, especially with former teammate Mostert. He doesn’t give way easily – or at all.

His black and bright green Monster Mustang is a feared vision in anyone’s rear view mirror. They know they are in for a physical assault.

Waters is normally as quiet out of the car as he is aggressive behind the wheel. But over lunch at his regular haunt in a bayside Melbourne southern suburb, he speaks his mind, enjoying the thrust and parry of inquisition.

Next stop, The Bend. You went well there last year, so is this where you turn it around?

I wouldn’t say turn it around. We haven’t had that bad of a start to the year, really.

Without the power steering failure (in the first race at Mount Panorama), we’d be second in the points and a lot closer to Shane than what we are now. Obviously, we’ve had a few that have gotten away, which is frustrating. Our package does some things really good and then some things not so good. Going to The Bend, we’re coming off some really good resultss there last year and I think it should suit our package more so than what Tassie did. So I think we’ll be stronger than what were in Tassie, but I’m not thinking we need to turn it around as such, but we probably should capitalise on it.

When I say turn it around, I mean some wins.

Yeah, I think we’ll be going to a place where we’ll have a better package to be able to challenge for wins, for sure.

Were you left a bit shell-shocked

by Shane winning six in a row?

There are a few ways you can think about it, but there were probably a few moments where we gifted it to him on a plate and there were a few where we were surprised by how quick he actually was. I would have loved to have fought him a bit better at, say, Bathurst on the Saturday – Sunday they were even quicker – and then obviously at the Sandown Saturday race, with us all fighting, gave him another win.

So he probably shouldn’t have won six in a

row, but he did. I think the main thing that was highlighted is how much race pace they’ve had lately.

When someone is on a streak like that, do you think ‘Oh, shit, this is over’?

Nah! Mate, the year’s only just begun, really.

After Saturday Bathurst, you think we just need to make sure we bank points at times where we’re not super-strong and I think we’ve definitely done that. You need to have your bad days not being too bad and we’re only three events in, so we still have plenty to fight for through the year. One bad race for him (SVG) and it’s all different. It’s not game over, that’s for sure.

I guess you’d expect Tickford to get better, along with DJR, and Chaz is right in it.

Oh, for sure. It’s going to be a fun year.

There are a few different teams that can fight for wins and be up the front. DJR will take

a little bit of time to be up there consistently, I think, but they’re getting on top of it. They have two good drivers and Chaz is right up there now. His car’s been pretty good lately and, obviously, Triple Eight have the runs on the board. It’s going to be good having that competition. For us, we’ve been very strong from the start of the year, but we’re definitely not happy with how we’ve been going and we’re working really hard in the background to find that pace we need.

The car has raw speed. It’s consistent race pace that’s lacking, right?

That’s pretty easy to see. It’s evident that we need some race pace, but the great thing is that we have the raw speed there. It’s harder if you’re looking for raw speed and race pace, whereas if you’re only looking for the one thing, that really helps. And it helps understanding why your car does what it does and probably helps you with the other part of it. So we’re in a good position that we probably have the fastest car, really, in qualy trim over one lap, it’s just the other part we need, and we have ideas. We have a lot of smart guys back at the workshop working hard on it and it’s only three rounds in, so we still have lots more to fight for.

So is the problem that to generate that speed, the car’s working its tyres really hard and that’s the problem in the races?

There are lots of different elements that contribute to tyre life. That could be one of the reasons, maybe. We can switch a tyre on quite well and that could be half the reason why we struggle in the races, but it be other things that we have to look at as well.

Otherwise, the team is operating at a very high level, isn’t it?

The team have done an amazing job so far.

I’ve been with them for a few years now – 2016 was my first year – and to be part of that journey has been very rewarding. For me, I’ve gone from a rookie to step up into a lead role in a relatively short time and the team has progressed as well. We went through a little bit of a period where we were struggling (2018-19) and to see them get out of that was very encouraging. They’re really

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Cam Waters is congratulated by Tickford team boss Tim Edwards after scoring pole position for the 2020 Bathurst 1000.

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Cam Waters is racing Sprintcars when he can (right), confessing it is more challenging than he thought it would be. Waters in earlier Tickford days (below) with team stars Chaz Mostert and Mark Winterbottom.

working well together now, so there are lots of positives to take out of the start of the year and even the finish of last year, and I think we’re only going to get stronger.

There’s been a noticeable difference, I think, in your performances since Chaz left.

I’ve definitely stepped up into that role, for sure. When I first came into the main game, I was relying more on Frosty and Chaz, and I learned a helluva lot from them. Then to see them leave and for me to step up into that role, I’ve really enjoyed it. It required a different way of thinking about my racing, but at the same time I’ve had really good teammates around me also to help me and I’ve been able to help them. I think that’s a big thing, having a team that’s unified and working for the same goal, which we didn’t always have at Tickford in the past. It’s the best I’ve seen everyone working together and that’s really helped contribute to the results.

It strikes me that you’ve been a slow burn. One way or another, you’ve been in Supercars nearly 10 years and full-time since ’16. Did it just take you a long time to hit your stride?

I think when I stepped into the category, the competition was bloody tough and there were a lot of good teams. In my first (full-time) race, I came fourth at Adelaide,

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wh which was a pretty good effort.

Ip probably just lacked a little bit of consistency at times, bu but then I won the Sandown 50 500 in my second year, which w was pretty good. Then the te team went into a bit of a lull p period, which probably hurt m my ability to showcase what I was capable of, but at the ssame time it probably made me stronger and maybe a better driver. So I wouldn’t sa say it’s a slow-burn – I feel like I’ve been driv driving pretty good for a few years, but I’ve definitely taken another step up last year and even this year. A bit of it is time and experience. These cars are very unique to drive. The other thing is having everything around you to be able to showcase what you can do.

And to some extent, you came out of the shadow of Chaz, who was the star of the team.

Chaz obviously took over when Frosty left.

He was getting the results and he had the experience, so everyone looked to him as the lead driver – and that was probably OK for me because I was still learning. I watched how he handled that role and when he left, I naturally took over. I was already trying to beat him when we were teammates and even more so when he left. Chaz and I have a healthy rivalry. We race each other pretty hard – perhaps too hard at times.

your brother. You just want to beat him. I don’t see him ever race anyone else as hard as he races me and I probably race him harder than anyone else. But we’re not enemies. It’s just that we seem to qualify alongside each other – Sandown every race and again at Symmons – and we get into it. The other way to look at it is that if you’re racing someone so often, there’s probably more chance that at some point you’re going to have tangles. It’s so well documented now that any time we’re close together, people jump on it pretty quick. I love racing him. He races hard and so do I. I think he’d say the same.

Could you talk to them? What’s your status for next year?

So there is an extra edge when you go wheel-to-wheel with him?

And, of course, next year everything could be up for grabs if Gen3 goes ahead.

We just step it up a notch. I wouldn’t say I want to run into him as soon as I see him, but we just try a bit harder to get past each other.

Next year could be a very different kettle of fish, depending on if it happens or what happens. It’s almost going to be like a reset, I think, so you have to consider that in your movements as well.

Now, the other thing you two have in common is that you’re both seen as the obvious candidates to replace Jamie Whincup.

You’ve been doing a lot of Sprintcar racing. Has SVG started a trend for Supercars drivers to race regularly in other categories?

I heard he’s already got the deal.

That’s interesting. But if not, would you consider leaving Tickford to join Triple Eight?

We often qualify next to each other and we always race each other pretty hard, so I guess contact is inevitable. There’s a bit of drive to beat him, for sure.

You always have to weigh up your options and you work out what’s best for you. But it’s already been documented in Auto Action that I’m enjoying where I am. Tickford and Monster Energy put their faith in me and, for me, I feel like I’m in a spot now where I can repay them for having a bit of a leap of faith. So I want to continue on and try to give them the results and, hopefully, a championship.

Why? Is there needle between you and Chaz?

Have you been approached by Triple Eight?

I wouldn’t say needle, but it’s like racing

No, I have not.

Well, you’ve been described as crash magnets.

I have an option and I’m pretty sure Tickford are going to take up that option. To be honest, I’m not really thinking about it at the moment. For me, it’s more about what we talked about earlier in the convo, but Tickford have an option on me and I’m not really thinking about where else I can go.

I enjoy where I am, I like the people I work with, I have an amazing sponsor group and great fans. It’s more about giving them what they want, which is race wins and a championship.

There are probably a few different elements to why I do it, but I grew up watching my dad (Chris) race speedway in Modified Productions. I’ve been racing them for a couple of years and I’ve won in that, and the progression on dirt was to something with more grunt. I’ve already done Late Models, so speedway’s F1 would be Sprintcars.

For me, it’s go race one of them, step outside my comfort zone and see how I go. And to be honest, it’s been a lot more challenging than I thought it was going to be, but I’m actually loving the challenge. It’s a completely different way of driving and there’s so much more to it than you think.

So there’s that and then down the track, I might be able to go to America and race one. They’re obviously pretty big over there, so there are a few different elements to why I’m racing Sprintcars. I’m also doing it with a

Cam Waters won his first Supercars race, the Sandown 500, in 2017 (below). He made his debut in the category at Bathurst in 2011, after winning a reality TV show, where he shared with Grant Denyer (bottom).

personal sponsor, McQuinn Electrical, and I’m loving it. It’s a lot of fun and a completely different environment to Supercars. It’s intense racing, but overall much more relaxed.

How different and difficult is racing a Sprintcar?

They’re massively different. Obviously, lots of power, lots of aero. It’s about understanding the wing and your inputs.

They’re so fast and so violent, but you have to be so smooth in the thing as well.

I think it can only help me in the Supercar.

Now when I get in the Supercar, things happen a bit slower in a different way, but the smoother you are in a Supercar, the quicker you’re going to go. So I think it’s good training and it’s not going to teach me anything bad.

You have to be fast because otherwise, they don’t work, do they?

You have to be on the throttle, using all 800 horsepower, because if you’re not, you’re going to be understeering and it’s not going to be quick. So you have to drive the thing fast for it to do what it’s meant to do. And it’s all well and good to do it when you’re by yourself when you’re practising, but then put 10 other cars around you in a heat race, all wanting the same piece of dirt, and it’s not so easy. There’s lots going on.

And you think it’s making you a better Supercars driver?

I think so. Being able to adapt and think quicker, I don’t really see how it can hurt me in any way. If it were, I’d reconsider why I’m doing it. The only thing that’s not been good is the seating position. It’s bloody weird. It’s like driving a bus, so when I got back into the Supercar, I was so low that thought I was driving an old Honda Civic.

But I’m over that little hurdle now and I can adapt between the two.

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As I mentioned earlier, you’re coming up on a decade in Supercars. You got your start by winning a TV reality show, which must seem strange now.

I look back on it and I still don’t believe it happened. It’s all a bit bizarre when you say it out loud. But it definitely played a big part in getting me where I am today. Maybe not necessarily from a driving point of view, but it definitely helped get my name out there and helped me attract sponsorship to set me up to get through the Dunlop Series. It wasn’t just a young bloke going up to Bathurst to crash – it did get my name out there.

At 17, you were the youngest driver to start the Bathurst 1000 – maybe too young?

I don’t know if I was too young. I just think the preparation going into it could have been managed better and then all the practice up there was wet, so I went into a dry race with no real experience in the faster conditions and that in itself was very challenging. If practice had’ve been dry, it would’ve given me enough laps to settle down into a rhythm and I probably would’ve been right in the race. But it was what it was and still taught me a lot. It was pretty cool to get through and win it. The way it went at Bathurst wasn’t what we all would’ve hoped, but we fixed the car and still finished the race. I learned a lot and got the opportunity to go back there the next year with Jesse (Dixon, 2012 Showdown winner) and we got through it without crashing. So the whole experience taught me a lot and got me noticed enough to be given the opportunity in Super2.

We talked earlier about SVG and his hot run of form. Without Scott McLaughlin around, is there a different air about Shane?

I don’t know if he’s more confident now that Scott’s not around or if he’s somehow

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lifted his game. I’m not really sure. It’s an interesting question. I feel like he’s stepped it up this year, but also the Triplee Eight cars are much better. It would have been around Townsville last year that those cars definitely improved and since then they’ve been very strong at most tracks. I think this year he’s been very consistent, but he hasn’t been unbeatable. We’ve been able to race him and probably could have won a couple of races already f things had’ve gone our way a little more. I’m not sure his form is about Scott being gone. I te. just think he’s had a very good run to date.

Are you still unhappy about the parity situation in the races?

Yeah. I think you can tune any car to be quick in qualifying. Race pace is something that we’ve lacked and, for me, the ZB is better in race trim than the Mustang. Definitely, there are more ZBs at the front in the races than Mustangs.

When I said all that at Tassie, it wasn’t sour grapes because we were getting beaten. It was just something I thought Supercars could look at and into, and if there is something, fix it. They haven’t got it right in the past, so maybe they need to look at it again. There’s no more to it than that.

Does the team share your concerns?

Yeah, they definitely know what I’m talking about and others in pit lane do also.

So you haven’t just gone off on a tangent, gone rogue?

No, not at all. At the end of the day, you just want parity. You don’t want an advantage, just what’s fair and the same.

This season is the last for Jamie Whincup…

The GOAT!

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Indeed. How influential has he been on your career?

Oh, I have so much respect for Jamie. He was winning a lot of races for Ford when I was in karts and he was guy to look up to. From going from watching him to racing him was very cool.

I think he still has a few more years left in him if he wanted to, but obviously he has other ambitions. I have a pretty cool photo of me with Jamie when I was in karts. I wish him all the best with what he’s trying to do with Triple Eight.

He’s still a fierce racer, isn’t he?

Jamie and Shane are definitely different to race.

Jamie is so methodical and I feel like he’s very good leading in a rhythm. Shane’s a little more flamboyant and creative, just a different way of racing. Shane thinks a little more outside the square. But they both race very well and are very good drivers, just very different.

But Jamie still doesn’t hand you anything, does he?

No, he races you just as hard as Shane will, for sure. You just know you’re racing a different person. I wouldn’t say Jamie was any easier to race, just different. He’s tough to beat, which is why he’s won seven championships. It’s been awesome to race against someone of his stature and to be able to match him now is pretty cool. Hopefully, I can beat him in his final year.

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BALANCING ACT

Two of the most populous motor sport categories on the planet utilise a form of equalisation termed ‘Balance of Performance’. It’s much maligned or praised depending on its effect but as HEATH McALPINE investigates, how does it achieve the goal of parity PARITY IS a word which makes any motor sport fan, official or competitor shiver.

It reared its ugly head again at the most recent Supercars round in Tasmania, and has been a constant in motor sport during Auto Action’s 50year existence.

However, in recent years the term Balance of Performance has entered the sport’s vernacular and become prominent due to the rise of the GT3 category across the world, a lead followed by its touring car equivalent, TCR. Balance of Performance (BoP) is a set of category regulations designed to equalise the racing performance of a variety of different models through aerodynamics, weight, horsepower and engine management, to prevent one model from dominating.

It also has the added benefit of expensive technical development.

In GT3, it was used effectively to enable niche manufacturers such as Morgan, Ascari and Lotus to compete during the early days of GT3 against sports car powerhouses Porsche, Ferrari and Aston Martin.

BoP in the current day allows the bulky Bentley Continental to compete in the same races as the Audi R8, the Nissan GT-R and the Lamborghini Huracan.

Although a formula which has sparked much debate, BoP has largely succeeded in its aims to produce close, fair competition and

TCR’s BoP rules has succeeded in attracting enormous manufacturer interest in the category, which in itself means the rules are constantly challenged as new cars come in. Here the 12 WTCR brands are lined up at Spa Francorchamps in Belgium.

has seen its use expanded to other categories such as GT4, GTE, the aforementioned TCR and IMSA’s top class DPi class.

Sports car racing organising body SRO’s BoP system is a result of more than 25 years of experience running various GT events globally, including in Australia through the Bathurst 12

Hour and local GT World Challenge series.

GT3 is unique in that it features models with different mechanical configurations, engine types, aerodynamics and chassis, which all need to be equalised for close racing.

To do this, two compulsory tests are hosted by the SRO at the Paul

Ricard (France) track to analyse each GT3 model where they are driven by the same professional drivers. The gathered data is used to form the BoP, which can then be altered from circuitto-circuit depending on a certain car’s characteristics.

SRO starts the process by examining areas that would have the biggest influence on lap times, such as torque, power, weight and aerodynamics, before the original homologation files are viewed.

The engine then undergoes dyno testing and then all that data is put into in-house simulation software, from which four figures are extracted to allow for different circuit configurations.

By testing, SRO takes out the possibility of sandbagging as the same tyres, fuel mixture and engine settings are used.

The target is for each model to be within 0.3s of each other.

The WSC organisation, led by TCR founder and creator Marcello Lotti, is more flexible with its BoP set-up as it constantly evolves during the season.

Just like the SRO, independent drivers test each model after dyno, wind tunnel and Centre of Gravity tests are completed.

Dyno testing and advanced computer dynamics are key to creating a successful BoP. Hyundai’s i30N TCR racer undergoes analysis here.

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Global sports car category GT3 (above) was the first to use BoP and remains the poster child for this parity approach, given the enormous difference in mechanical configurations of the cars competing.

BoP has also enabled smaller manufacturers like Morgan, Ascari and Lotus to compete with the likes of Porsche, Mercedes Benz, Audi, Lamborghini, Bentley and McLaren.

TCR Australia started the season using the 2020 BoP settings from the top-tier WTCR and TCR Europe titles, which completed seasons last year whereas locally it was abandoned.

These BoP figures were unchanged for the first three 2021 TCR Australia rounds, which were highlighted by particular brands either dominating or straggling.

Alfa Romeos were strong at Symmons Plains, while Honda struggled, Audi led the way at Phillip Island, then at Bathurst Hyundai struggled.

In the latest BoP bulletin issued just prior to the most recent round at Sydney Motorsport Park, the Hyundai received no changes, even though many of its rivals did, while two new TCR models were included in the process.

Lotti admitted if everyone was happy with the BoP, he’d be worried, and is confident of the system the WSC employ.

“Less we touch, better it is,” Lotti told Auto Action.

“We have this kind of process, we have a dyno test for the engine, we compare all the different calibration of the map that stays in their hands that is limited imposed by the technical regulations.

“After that we move to the wind tunnel, then we look at the Centre of Gravity that is clearly an important point.

“When we collect all this, we keep in consideration that the data we receive from the past event and from the last event of the previous season, and with all this information our technical engineering finds the first.BoP for the season.

“We take the technical data and balance the different model of car to that. Clearly, we can’t take into consideration who drives the car and who manages the team or the running of the car.

“From all the data and from all the

experience that we have, also from last season in TCR Europe or WTCR, it was well balanced.

“Clearly, you have to understand that in the series if there is a team or driver a little bit more higher level compared to the rest of the grid, we cannot take into consideration the performance of the driver or the team to adjust the BoP.” The changeable BoP settings during the season is unique and enables the technical staff at WSC to alter if required.

“If the BoP needs to be adjusted for any reason, we do, we’ve done it in the past,” said Lotti.

“Last year for example, TCR Australia didn’t race, but all European championships started late in September and we had no complaint about the BoP. It was well balanced so we didn’t change.

“Our technical team receive data from all TCR championships, they receive it then it is put inside their

system where different tyres, different circuit. If there is one make that has an advantage from Thailand to Australia to America or China, the technical department propose to adjust the BoP for this reason.

“We have a technical working group from TCR where we are trusted by the manufacturers.”

A complicated beast, BoP continues to work well in both GT3 and TCR, and assists in attracting new manufacturers or tuners to these already diverse fields.

BoP allows manufacturers to enter the sport without the expected constant development required in traditional categories of the sport.

Yes, there are complaints, but as witnessed in TCR Australia so far this year, or GT World Challenge’s various series, one model may not be strong at a particular circuit, but could be at another.

It’s swings and roundabouts some would say.

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Toowoomba born Lotus engineer John Joyce returned to Australia in 1967 after four years away. With the experience gained, he built 56 Bowin singleseaters between 1968 and 1976. Mark Bisset tells the story of Bowin, an all-too-short-lived championship winning marque.

Images: oldracephotos.com/Autopics.com.au/Bowin Cars and Joyce family/ Michael Rowe/Auto Action Achives THE BELLE of the ball at Lakeside’s 1968 Gold Star round was Glyn Scott’s brandnew Bowin P3 Ford FVA F2 car.

John Joyce’s stunning light-blue machine’s raw aluminium monocoque chassis and nickel-plated suspension glistened in the Queensland sun.

That Joyce had worked with brilliant Lotus chief Colin Chapman was readily apparent in the P3 design’s detail.

With Project 3 (P3), Joyce placed a monocoque stake firmly in the ground of the conservative, competitive Australian racing car market at the same time as his opposition were building spaceframe chassis cars.

Over in Edwardstown, Adelaide, just as Joyce finished the P3, Garrie Cooper was toiling on his first Elfin 600s – after four years building the Mono, he chose a spaceframe for his next single-seaters.

John Vincent Joyce was born in Toowoomba on April 4, 1938. Interested in all things mechanical, he studied Electrical Engineering while simultaneously commencing Project 1, a Cooper Formula Junior he updated and raced while completing his degree.

Project 2 followed. This Koala-Ford Formula Junior was built in Joyce’s grandparent’s Toowoomba shed in 1962.

Its specifications included a spaceframe chassis and magnesium wheels cast by Joyce in the Toowoomba foundry.

With the usual Aussie penchant for the Old-Dart, Joyce jumped a ship to Southampton in 1963; Swinging-Sixties London was booming.

Queensland’s finest found a job as a washing-machine repair man, then “A mate suggested I apply for a Project Engineer position at Lotus Components. I got the job from 300 who applied! It was a great time to be with Lotus, given the road cars, single-seaters from F3 to F1, Indianapolis, plus sportscars and touring cars being built.

“I was involved in a lot of projects, including the Lotus Cortinas and the 30 Ford sportscar, which had many problems. I worked on race and rally versions of the Elan 26R and the 27 monocoque open-wheeler.”

When promoted to Lotus Components Chief Development Engineer, Joyce had overall responsibility for all of Lotus’ production racing car output. His moniker was also attached to types 23, 35 and 41, and let’s not forget the mid-engined Europa road-car and its type 47 Ford racing cousin.

The innovative Norfolk company also supported his study of aerodynamics at the North Hampshire College of Technology.

“My world was thrown upside-down when my brother, Frankie, died in a car accident. About then my mother fell ill, it

Glyn Scott, Bowin P3 Ford FVA, Sandown Tasman, February 1969. Scott was ninth in the race won by Chris Amon’s Ferrari Dino 246 246.

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Glyn Scott pushes the first Bowin. chassis P3-101-68, the Ford FVA powered P3 at Surfers Paradise in August 1969 (above). At right on thee cover of Sports Car World (October 1968) alongside Geoghegan’s Sporty Cars (then Australia’s Lotus importer) first Lotus Type 46 Europa at Warwick Farm. Joyce had been Senior Project Engineer on the Europa, the first volume produced mid-engined road car. was time to come home, I gave six monthsnotice to Lotus.

“I was torn, Colin Chapman rang about a job on the ’68 Lotus 56 program. The radical wedge-shaped car was to be powered by a Pratt & Whitney gas turbine engine harnessing its power with a 4WDsystem. I told him I didn’t have the time, but he was pursuasive of course! It was great to be able to apply my knowledge to the aerodynamic models of the car, and then see it go so well at Indy in 1968.”

Before returning home – through August, September and October 1967 – Joyce designed much of the 2-litre P3, and had patterns produced for the wheels, rear uprights and steering rack.

Joyce used the Boeing 707 trip home productively. The name ‘Bowin’ was a play on Boeing, the tag-line ‘Bowin: Born to Win, Bred to Win, Bound to Win’ came later.

‘Goin’ Bowin’ was another of the adman’s tags used in the horsepower press of the day.

Fellow Aussie Ray Parsons joined Joyce in the P3’s construction. He too was returning after a Lotus stint, as a mechanic and occasional driver.

Among his exploits, Parsons helped ease Allan Moffat into the Lotus Cortina fold in the US in 1964 and prepared Jim Clark’s 1965/6 Tasman Lotus 32B and Lotus 39 Coventry Climax 2.5 FPFs. Piers Courage was Parson’s 1968 Tasman charge. At the series end he sold the Brit’s spare 1.6-litre Cosworth FVA engine to Queensland racer Glyn Scott, who became the first Bowin customer.

Fellow banana-benders, Joyce and Scott went way back to the early-’60s when both raced Formula Juniors in Queensland.

Rather than set up shop in Queensland, Joyce located Bowin slap-bang in his target market, leasing premises at 18 Consul Road, Brookvale on Sydney’s northern beaches.

Work progressed quickly. Designed for relative ease of maintenance, the P3 monocoque was of the open-top bathtub type. It projected as far forward as the front suspension, albeit the car’s pedals, master-cylinders and radiator picked up off a tubular steel outrigger.

At the rear, the chassis extended to the back of the car where it supported the engine and Hewland FT200 five-speed transaxle; the rear suspension was mounted to the transmission in part. The tub incorporated two 12-gallon FPT fuel-cells, one each side of the driver.

The P3’s suspension was utterly conventional. At the front were two unequal length wishbones, coil-spring/Armstrong damper units, and at the rear single toplinks, inverted lower wishbones, coil spring/ Armstrong damper units, with fore and aft location by two radius rods. Sway bars were adjustable front and rear.

The magnesium, four-stud wheels were 13 inches in diameter and 8/10 inches wide front/rear. Cast iron brake rotors of 9¾ inches in diameter were clamped by Girling AR calipers.

Towards the end of the build, Scott’s long-time mechanic Norm ‘The Duke’ Mellor assisted in the slinky machine’s completion at Brookvale, gaining valuable knowledge of the gizzards of a car he was to look after for the next few years.

Mellor’s time with Scott went all the way back to the 1953 establishment of Glyn Scott Motors at Rosalie in Brisbane’s inner-

west, and construction of Glyn’s RepcoHolden (the Holden-Repco engined Cooper T23 copy raced in historic events by Nick McDonald) in the mid-’50s.

In the early ‘60s Scott raced a succession of FJ and ANF1.5 Lotuses plus a Lotus 23 Ford sporty.

The P3 was a step up into the Euro F2 category which was slated for Australian commencement in 1969.

Ultimately, after CAMS’ dithering, the 1969 and 1970 F2 championships were single-race events run concurrently with the final Gold Star rounds at Warwick Farm; both races were won by Max Stewart’s Mildren Waggott 1.6 TC-4V. The F2 McLaren M4A FVAs raced by Niel Allen and Peter Macrow, Scott’s Bowin and Stewart’s Mildren raced among the ANF1 2.5-litre big-league. Their 210bhp engines lacked the puff of the 270-290bhp Alfa Romeo and Repco V8s used by topguns Kevin Bartlett, Leo Geoghegan and John Harvey.

Chassis P3-101-68 was completed and tested at Warwick Farm in early July 1968.

Scott’s great mate, Leo Geoghegan, was in attendance; the pair, Joyce, Parsons and Mellor soon had base-line suspension settings sorted.

The car debuted at Glyn’s home track, Lakeside, a fortnight later, but it wasn’t a happy weekend with a failure in the new FT200’s diff.

Gary Scott, Glyn’s son and former openwheeler and touring-car ace recalls “John Joyce stayed with us in Brisbane during the early running of the car. Dad got on well with John, he loved the P3 and encouraged Joyce in creating Bowin as a marque. I remember them getting the car running,

going quicker and quicker in the garage. On one occasion the cops booked Dad when he took the P3 for a quick test on the road.”

Third place in Surfers’ Gold Star round in August behind Bartlett’s Brabham BT23D Alfa and Geoghegan’s Lotus 39 Repco was a portent of the win to come at Sandown in September, on a day all the 2.5s failed.

Among the much stronger 1969 Tasman fields a pair of ninths and eighth in Lakeside’s Australian Grand Prix was a reasonable haul in the three Australian rounds contested.

Bowin completed another P3 for Ian Fergusson in July 1969. The ANF2 car was fitted with a Lotus-Ford twin-cam engine.

Fergusson flew the Bowin flag on the hills and circuits with this car and an F2 P6 in the mid-’70s.

Scott contested four of the 1969 Gold Star rounds; fourth, fifth and seventh were his best results at Symmons Plains, Surfers

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A detail of the Koala Ford FJ rear suspension (above). Note the Lotus 18 type short upright. This one-off Joyce designed car had alloy rear uprights and wheels which were cast at JJ’s local, Toowoomba foundry. The Koala FJ has raced in Europe in the modern era and now lives in Bunbury, WA with Mike Rowe.

Paradise and Warwick Farm.

In May he journeyed to Fuji for the JAF Japanese Grand Prix, finishing fourth in the race won by Geoghegan’s Lotus 39 Repco. The big Australian contingent comprised Kevin Bartlett (Mildren-Alfa), Max Stewart (Mildren-Waggott), and Garrie Cooper (Elfin 600D Repco).

Stewart was second, demonstrating the punch of Merv Waggott’s 1.6-litre TC-4V amongst the Ford and Mitsubishi fourvalvers.

Australia’s adoption of Formula Ford was a boon to local manufacturers from late 1969, not least because imported cars were banned in the class’ early years.

The P3 spawned a P4 spaceframe (such a chassis type was and still is required by

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the FF regulations) variant to suit. Bowin built one car in 1969 and five in 1970, including a demo/show-car for the Ford Motor Company.

“The P4 was a fantastically successful, championship winning car because it was so easy to set-up and drive. It was still winning titles (Bob Skelton 1972, John Leffler P4A & P6 in 1973, John Smith 1977, John Wright 1978) in the late ‘70s”, Joyce explained to me in 1997.

The final P3 built, Barrie Garner’s, was delivered in June 1970. The quick hill climber raced his beautifully prepared and presented car with beefy Holden Red-six installed with great success, until replacing it with a Bowin P6 a halfdecade hence.

The rear of Scott’s P3 with its Hewland FT200 gearbox behind the Ford FVA engine. Suspension is typical of the period, with a single top link, lower inverted wishbone, coil spring/Armstrong shock, and magnesium alloy uprights.

Note the inboard brakes and two radiusrods each side.

Scott contested three Tasman rounds in 1970, the Japanese GP and the first Gold Star round at Symmons Plains, then put the car to one side in favour of a new Elfin 600B Waggott.

The Brookvale-brigade’s reputation for fine workmanship was recognised by Pat Burke’s choice of Bowin to build a new tub for the McLaren M4A which was such an important part of later F5000 star, Warwick Brown’s ascent.

The winds of ANF1 change blew between a 2-litre Asia-Pacific Formula and Formula 5000 in 1968-1969. It was far from clear which way constructors and competitors should jump. CAMS announced 2-litre as the path, then buckled under pressure from the F5000 lobby, producing a weird

compromise which kept no-one happy.

The 1970 Tasman Cup allowed 2.5-litre and F5000 cars, whereas the 1970 Gold Star, the final ANF2.5 year, didn’t allow F5000; that year, Niel Allen and Frank Matich’ McLaren M10Bs, so successful that summer, sat idle in their respective Sydney workshops.

The 1971 Tasman was run for 2.5-litre and 5-litre cars, while the Gold Star was for 2-litre and F5000 machines.

In that whacko-environment, so difficult in which to make sound commercial decisions, Joyce sat-on-his-hands, mainly building P4A Formula Fords in 1969/70 while considering his future model options.

The result was the radical, edgy-wedgy, variable-rate suspension P6 spaceframe, and P8 monocoque FF, F2 and F5000 designs first built in 1971.

These later variants will be the subject of another Bowin instalment, as part of our Australia’s Racing Heritage Series.

Ian Fergusson’s Bowin P3 Ford twin-cam (above) at Warwick Farm in P3A-103-69 in 1970.

John Leffler steps out of his Bowin P4A Ford (right) after winning the opening round of the ‘73 Driver to Europe FF championship at Phillip Island. He won five of nine rounds- two in this P4A and three in the new P6. Leffler was the most successful of all the Bowin pilots in P4/P6/ P8 cars.

Ian Peters in the ex-Scott P3 Ford twincam, at Mallala Historics in 1984 (below).

Peters, is now in the process of rebuilding and fitting the original Ford FVA engine.

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TCR RISING Jay Hanson has shot into the spotlight this year as a frontt runner in the TCR Australia Series. But this should come as no surprise as the 17-year-old holds a enviable record d in junior categories, as DAN McCARTHY explains JAY HANSON came to the wider attention of the sport on his TCR Australia debut, when he crossed the finish line third at Symmons Plains.

In doing so Hanson briefly became the youngest TCR Australia driver to finish on the podium, though he was later demoted to seventh for in-race contact with Bathurst 1000 winner Chaz Mostert.

Nevertheless, Hanson’s pace was clear for everyone to see.

“We weren’t expecting a lot out of this year, it’s more a learning year for myself,” Hanson told Auto Action.

“The first round started off really, really well to be up the front. We had a little bit of bad luck in Race 1 coming together with Chaz and in Race 2 with James Moffat, but if you look

32 AutoAction

at the speed that we have had at each round, it’s really good!”

With multiple top 10 finishes, Hanson has quickly established himself as a rising star of the TCR ranks.

At the beginning Hanson appeared destined for a career on two-wheels.

However, after several injuries and a Christmas present at the age of 10, his attention turned to four wheels.

The kart Santa gifted Hanson became the starting point for his rise up the motor sport ranks. Despite only spending a handful of years in karting, he had phenomenal success.

“Coming from a family that hasn’t had a motor sport background, it was really cool just to be able to even get a

state title,” he said.

“A lot of people stay in go karts for a lot of years and never get a state title. To be able to win a national title in that short amount of time, I was over the moon and so was my family.”

Despite taking up the prize to race in several world karting events in Europe and America, Hanson never had his eyes on an international open-wheel career.

“We thought we’ve won a prize, an arrive and drive package overseas, so we thought we’ll go over there, see what it takes and meet a few connections,” Hanson explained.

“That was a once in a lifetime

STAR opportunity and if we didn’t take that, I don’t think I’d be the person I am today.

“But we knew what it took to get overseas from being friends with Oscar Piastri and Jack Doohan.”

During his final year of karting in 2018, Hanson began searching for the next step and in doing so tested a Formula Ford with noted junior development team, Sonic Motor Racing Services.

Hanson finished his karting career with a staggering 12 state titles and two national championships, before racing with Sonic in the Australian Formula Ford Series in 2019.

“Formula Ford gave me the best opportunity to learn car control,” he said.

“It teaches you the basic fundamentals of racing, they’ve got a semi-slick tyre which has not got a lot of grip. Obviously you learn the likes of heal and toeing etc.

“We thought it was a great category to step into, if you look at all the drivers in Supercars now, a majority have stepped up through Formula Ford especially with Sonic, the likes of Nick Percat and Cam Waters.”

Normally, drivers progressing into Formula Ford start competing at state level for a season, but Hanson elected to jump in the deep end, straight into the national series for 2019.

“I thought I was capable of bringing it up to them, we did show a lot of positive signs of speed and that we could be out the front,” he felt.

“Although we just had to work on a few little things, at the end of the season we topped it off (with a race win) and I was able to be beat (champion) Angelo Mouzouris and the likes who had been racing for many years.

“It was a big step from go karts, but it was an awesome opportunity.”

Jay Hanson started in his career in karts at the age of 10 (below) and won 12 state and two national titles. He then moved up to Formula Ford (above), contesting the national series in his rookie year and winning the last race of the season.

In his maiden season, Hanson finished seventh in the series, recording three podiums including a win in the final race of the year at Phillip Island.

Taking a slightly different route once again, rather than staying in Formula Ford and having a crack at the title in his second year, the Victorian elected to join the burgeoning TCR Australia Series.

“We did say to Sonic we’ll most likely be in it (Formula Ford) for two years with them,” Hanson recalled.

“But watching TCR throughout the 2019 season, it started getting really big and we thought it would

be a great opportunity to jump in there and be the youngest driver in TCR. The publicity we’ve gotten from doing that (being the youngest driver), you can’t get it anywhere else.

“TCR’s a great chance to step up into something different, we could have raced Formula Ford again but jumping into TCR turned out good for us.”

Midway through 2019, category promoters Australian Racing Group (ARG) ran a TCR rookie test at Winton Motor Raceway, and Hanson drove an Ash Seward Motorsportprepared Alfa Romeo Giulietta

Jay Hanson has been a front runner in his first season in TCR in the Ash Seward Alfa Romeo (below), teaching vastly experienced teammate turned motor racing mentor Lee Holdsworth how to extract pace for the Italian racer.

Veloce TCR. Hanson knew Seward from his karting days and together the pair worked out a deal to contest the 2020 TCR Australia Series, however due to the pandemic the season never took place.

Hanson then signed to drive with the team for 2021 and has started strongly.

“They are quite a lively car,” he described. “They take a lot of getting used to, the first 40 laps or so was quite mind blowing to be honest.

“Getting more track mileage (during the pandemic year) really helped me before jumping into a race scenario. Just learning the car a little better and getting bit more comfortable with it.”

This season, Hanson shares the Ashley Seward Motorsport garage with multiple Supercars race winner Lee Holdsworth, who has become a key mentor to Hanson as he starts to forge a career in the top-tier category.

“To be able to share a garage with him is really cool,” Hanson feels.

“He brings a lot of knowledge and input into our setups.

“I sort of taught him the car when he first jumped in it and now I’m trying to learn some things back from him.

“We lean in the same way with car setup and we’re both on the same page, which is a good thing.”

Hanson believes racing the likes of Holdsworth, Chaz Mostert, Michael Caruso and Tony D’Alberto in TCR Australia is great for his career.

“When you’re out there you just think they’re another driver and you want to get in front of them,” he said.

“Obviously if you do get out there and beat these (big name) drivers, it’s giving yourself a lot of publicity and it’s quite an eye-opening thing for TV viewers.”

Hanson admits WTCR is a future target of his, however for the time being he is solely focussed on his national TCR exploits.

“WTCR is a very big goal of mine,” he said.

“We’ll just race in TCR Australia for the moment, take it year-by-year, round-by-round.”

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AUSSIE MOTOR SPORT HEROES BROUGHT TO LIFE FOR KIDS

FIVE OF Australian motor sport’s legends have come to life in a brand-new series of children’s books.

Bathurst legends Peter Brock, Dick Johnson, Jim Richards and John Bowe, as well as Australia’s first female and youngest rally champion Molly Taylor, are celebrated in the five full-colour books that take young readers on a ride through the highs and lows of their racing adventures.

Written and published by experienced motor sport media man Grant Rowley, the limited-edition books are available for pre-order now and will be released in July.

The first five books, entitled ‘Little Heroes’ retail at $19.99 each plus freight and handling and, due to the limited print run, are sure to be a collector’s item.

Rowley says that he drew on his passion for the sport and his admiration of the stars in creating the ‘Little Heroes’ collection.

“I’ve grown up with motor sport. Ever since I watched Dick Johnson crash through trees when I was two years old, not a day has passed where I haven’t thought about race cars,” he said.

“The ‘Little Heroes’ books are my tip of the hat to these five superstars of our Aussie motor sport scene.

“Cartoons and drawings are another life-long love of mine. I guess I’ve never really grown up! I still love watching cartoons, and I feel there’s no better way to celebrate the lives of these great drivers than through illustrations and some easy-to-read poetry.”

Each book features eight original pieces of artwork, directed by Rowley with the artistic contribution of celebrated design team Avoltha. The books also contain a biography on each of the heroes, plus a stats bank that ensures their place as a fun, entertaining and informative collectors item.

Pre-orders for the five limited-edition books are open now at: http://www.networkr.com.au/buy

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Formula 1

Round 3 Portuguese Grand Prix

FIERCE FIGHT

Lewis Hamilton won in Portugal after battles with Max Verstappen and Valtteri Bottas Report: Dan Knutson Images: Motorsport Images FOR THE third consecutive grand prix this season Lewis Hamilton had a fierce fight with Red Bull driver Max Verstappen, and his Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas joined in on the action.

“That was such a tough race, physically and mentally, keeping everything together,” Hamilton said after claiming his 97th Formula 1 victory. “Right on my limit.”

Verstappen finished second. Bottas wound up third.

This was no easy runaway victory for the seven-time world champion. He had to overtake both Verstappen and Bottas to claim the win.

Bottas qualified on pole, with Hamilton a mere 0.007 of a second slower. Verstappen lined up third. They ended lap one of the 66-lap race in that order, and then spent until the end of lap six behind the safety car after Kimi Räikkönen shattered his front wing hitting Alfa Romeo teammate Antonio Giovinazzi.

On the restart, Verstappen slid inside Hamilton to take second place. Four laps later Hamilton reclaimed the spot and set out after Bottas. Going into Turn 1 at the start of lap 20 Bottas blocked the inside so Hamilton swept around the outside to take the lead.

“I feel like maybe Red Bull lost a little bit of performance this weekend,” Hamilton said, “because I don’t think we improved. But from the last race to here I think they took a sidestep closer to us this weekend, for whatever reasons.

“But this is great, this is what we all live for, we live and breathe for, to get up and fight and try and pull out the smallest bits of performance to be able to fight a great competitor.”

Verstappen’s take: “Something about this track really does not suit our car. I think in general this was a bit of an off weekend in terms of grip and overall pace. We knew last year that we weren’t particularly strong here, so this year has been a bit better and we managed to finish ahead of one Mercedes,

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Although he was beaten to pole position, Lewis Hamilton raced to his 97th career Formula 1 victory after overcoming both Max Verstappen and Valtteri Bottas.

Bottas led the field away in Portugal (above) but was eventually passed by Hamilton, who swept around the outside on lap 20 (below) to claim the lead.

but it wasn’t quite good enough to get them both.”

An exhaust sensor failure cost Bottas precious power and the opportunity to close in on Verstappen late in the race.

“When you start from the pole position, you have only one target for the race and that is to win the race,” Bottas said. “It didn’t happen so I’m disappointed.”

Red Bull’s strategy of not having Sergio Pérez pit for tyres until the end of lap 51 might have paid off if there had been a safety car late in the race. He led from lap 38, but dropped to fourth after his stop. From the start Pérez did not have the pace to stick with Bottas, Hamilton and his own teammate Verstappen.

As for Daniel Ricciardo, the Aussie had a sloppy qualifying so lined up 16th on the grid in his McLaren. He passed three drivers on the first lap and eventually finished ninth.

“It is a better day than yesterday,” he said after the race.

“Thankfully it is not worse otherwise I am not really sure what kind of day that would’ve been! Everything I planned in my head to happen or execute in the race I was more or less able to do. I wanted to attack on the first lap and take a few risks, and I felt I did and it paid off. Then just chipped away through the race. I was able to put in some moves, and move up through the field, so I was able to release some frustration. Ninth is okay from where I was.”

The positive outcome was that Ricciardo made another step in understanding the McLaren, which is a different beast to the Renault he drove the previous two years.

“There certainly were moments in the race where I took some confidence,” he said, “and there were some flashes of good speed and good pace and management. But there are also mistakes and more notes to feedback. I made a step forward in understanding a bit more what I want in the car. I feel like a lot of the mistakes came through the same thing or the same limitation. I do not think that means waiting for an update, I believe there will be something on the car where we could just change the set-up to help in the areas where I’m struggling.”

Kimi Raikkonen’s Portuguese Grand Prix lasted just one corner (above) after he ran into Alfa Romeo teammate Antonio Giovinazzi and destroyed the nosecone, triggering a safety car. Charles Leclerc (below left) was sixth for Ferrari while Alpine (below right) found some much-needed pace, Esteban Occon leading home Fernando Alonso.

The fact that Ricciardo’s teammate Lando Norris finished fifth – the best of the rest behind the Mercedes and Red Bull teams – proves that there is plenty of potential to unlock from the McLaren.

Alpine certainly has unlocked some potential in its car as Esteban Ocon and Ferando Alonso finished sixth and seventh.

“It was a very good weekend in general,” Alonso said.

“The car has performed well, and we’ve made a big step forwards, fighting with the likes of Ferrari and McLaren in the race, which is different to where we were in Bahrain

and Imola. It was the first race weekend where I felt comfortable and could push the car hard.

“I think the progression we’ve made is very good. I think it could have been even better for us had we started higher on the grid. Performance on Saturday will be the key for the next two races in Barcelona and Monaco, so I need to focus on maximising my one lap speed.”

He’s right. Alonso, Ricciardo and the other 18 drivers can’t afford to make any mistakes in qualifying in the two events after Portugal because it is extremely difficult to overtake on those tracks.

Lando Norris (below left) ran strongly to fifth while teammate Dan Ricciardo (below right) was knocked out in first qualifying but recovered to ninth.

2021 PORTUGUESE GRAND PRIX 66 LAPS Pos 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 DNF

Driver Lewis Hamilton Max Verstappen Valtteri Bottas Sergio Perez Lando Norris Charles Leclerc Esteban Ocon Fernando Alonso Daniel Ricciardo Pierre Gasly Carlos Sainz Jr. Antonio Giovinazzi Sebastian Vettel Lance Stroll Yuki Tsunoda George Russell Mick Schumacher Nicholas Latifi Nikita Mazepin Kimi Raikkonen

Team Mercedes Red Bull Mercedes Red Bull McLaren Ferrari Alpine Alpine McLaren AlphaTauri Ferrari Alfa Romeo Aston Martin Aston Martin AlphaTauri Williams Haas Williams Haas Alfa Romeo

Laps 66 66 66 66 66 66 66 66 66 66 66 65 65 65 65 65 64 64 64 1

Margin

29.148 33.530 39.735 51.369 55.781 1’03.749 1’04.808 1’15.369 1’16.463 1’18.955 1 lap 1 lap 1 lap 1 lap 1 lap 2 laps 2 laps 2 laps accident

Points: Hamilton 69, Verstappen 61, Norris 37, Bottas 32, Leclerc 28, Perez 22, Ricciardo 16, Sainz 14, Ocon 8, Gasly 7, Stroll 5, Alonso 5, Tsunoda 2.

Constructors’: Mercedes 101, Red Bull-Honda 83, McLaren-Mercedes 53, Ferrari 42, Alpine-Renault 13, AlphaTauri-Honda 9, Aston Martin-Mercedes 5.

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37

INTERNATIONAL

NEWS

MCLAUGHLIN STARS IN INDYCAR OVAL DEBUT INDYCAR ROOKIE Scott McLaughlin scored a sensational second place on his Indycar oval debut, in the first of a doubleheader at Texas Motor Speedway on May 1-2.

McLaughlin was beaten home by multiple champion Scott Dixon in the opening race at Texas, before backing this up with eighth just a day later.

Pato O’Ward won the second race, and with it earned the opportunity to test a McLaren Formula 1 car at the end of the year.

Dixon dominated the opening 212-lap encounter, leading 206 of those to take a narrow victory ahead of his fellow Kiwi McLaughlin.

Qualifying had been cancelled due to rain, which also forced the race to be moved to an earlier start time.

Championship leader Alex Palou was on pole with Australian Will Power alongside.

It was Palou in front off the start, but Dixon followed demoting Power, then taking the lead around the outside on the front straight kink on lap 3.

Dixon then remained 0.3s ahead of Palou during the opening stanza, dropping Power slightly, who was 1s behind the duo as tyre conservation became key with a three-stop strategy possible.

By lap 40, the leaders had spaced out with Dixon 1s clear of Palou, while Power was now

3s behind and held a similar margin over Colton Herta.

Pit stops began with Graham Rahal on lap 50, but six laps later a caution was called when Sebastien Bourdais and Josef Newgarden contacted exiting Turn 2, sending the former into the wall.

Dixon, Palou and McLaughlin were unable to stop due to the pits being closed, but did so on lap 64, as those who pitted before in green conditions found themselves demoted down the order, which included Power now in 12th.

Dixon continued to head Palou at the front as Herta held third, while McLaughlin entered calculations in fifth.

The Kiwi was the first of the leaders to pit for the second time on lap 116 and held a 3.4s advantage from Felix Rosenqvist and McLaughlin, with traffic becoming a factor However a crash for James Hinchcliffe after being lapped by Rosenqvist caused another caution, as the Swede lost out leaving McLaughlin in second ahead of O’Ward and Palou.

On the restart, Dixon gapped McLaughlin, however during the closing stages it closed considerably, the former able to use all of his experience to hold off his younger compatriot by 0.264s.

O’Ward finished 1.5s behind in third, while Power finished 14th.

Images: Motorsport Images

Just a day later, the start of the second event in Texas was marred by a six-car pile up with Alex Rossi and Sebastien Bourdais among the victims.

Dixon scored pole and led away at the restart from Palou, while Jack Harvey was making a run, passing Power for third as the rest of the Team Penske quartet followed behind.

At quarter lap distance, Dixon led Palou as Harvey’s pace left Power and O’Ward closing together, which helped Josef Newgarden after the second round of stops. He jumped both Power and Harvey, though the latter retired due to a right-rear wheel bearing failure.

This forced another sequence of stops, which dropped Palou out of touch and Rahal was reinvigorated after the stops as he made a charge from outside the top five to be

challenging Dixon for the lead. However, with teams hoping to complete the remainder of the race with only one more stop on lap 153, Rahal cooled his challenge.

O’Ward went a lap later and it was to his benefit as he was leading, but his teammate Rosenqvist caused the next caution when his right-rear wheel fell off.

This proved advantageous to Newgarden who snatched the lead while his rivals were slowed in avoidance, leaving O’Ward second ahead of Rahal, while McLaughlin made steady progress to be just outside the top 10.

With 23-laps remaining, O’Ward made a run for the lead on Newgarden across the startfinish straight before successfully taking the inside line at Turn 3.

He quickly gapped Newgarden by 1s to take his maiden win and earn a Formula 1 test after team owner and McLaren boss Zak Brown made a deal with O’Ward post-Barber.

Rahal finished third ahead of Dixon and Herta. McLaughlin finished eighth to walk away from Texas with an impressive pair of top 10 results.

The previous weekend at St Petersburg saw Herta win from Newgarden and Pagenaud.

McLaughlin was 11th. HM Points: Dixon 153, O’Ward 131, Palou 127, Newgarden 116, Rahal 107, Pagenaud 102, Herta 100, McLaughlin 99, Power 99, Harvey 90.

BUSCH, FINALLY

KYLE BUSCH finally broke through for a 2021 NASCAR victory in a wild Kansas event, taking the lead with two laps remaining to win from Kevin Harvick and Brad Keselowski.

Busch won the opening stage with three of the 80 laps left, but it was Keselowski on pole and he led away as tyre wear began to impact the field, so much so that a competition caution was called.

It was Kyle Larson and Keselowski who both duked it out for the lead, but Busch made a late run to seal the stage.

If the opening stage was a close contest, the next was the opposite as Larson romped to a 5s victory ahead of Busch, but this was reversed in the final component of the event.

Images: Motorsport Images

38 AutoAction

Busch and Larson swapped the lead at the start of Stage 3, but Hamlin, Harvick and Joey Logano on two fresh tyres were in close proximity.

As the race reached its closing stages, Hamlin hit the wall after taking the lead from Larson and cut a tyre.

Two cautions towards the end bunched up the leaders with Larson still maintaining the lead from Busch, Keselowski, Blaney and Chase Elliott.

Busch was able to outlast his rivals after another caution ended with two-laps remaining, crossing the line to secure his first win of the season.

Championship leader Hamlin maintains this, despite finishing 12th, 87 points ahead of Martin Truex Jr heading to Darlington on May 9. HM

OGIER, BUT ONLY JUST… Report: DAN McCARTHY Images: RED BULL CONTENT POOL IN THE inaugural Croatian WRC round Sebastien Ogier pipped his teammate Elfyn Evans and Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville to victory in one of the closest finishes of all-time.

The event will be remembered not only for its diverse stages but the thrilling three-way fight for victory that went right down to the final metres.

Evans appeared to have victory in the bag when the Welshman overtook his teammate Ogier on Sunday morning, and held a 3.9s lead heading into the final stage.

Although Evans lost 3s over the first several splits he appeared to have the seven-time champion covered off.

However with just two corners remaining Evans slid wide onto the grass and cost himself crucial momentum down the long straight to the finish.

The mistake robbed Evans of victory, finishing 0.6s shy of Ogier, making Rally Croatia the second closest finish in WRC history.

Ogier’s 51st rally win will go down as one of his very best.

On the way to Sunday’s opening stage the Frenchman was involved in a crash with a non competitor. The passenger door

Image: Motorsport Images

was caved in and the Yaris’ aerodynamic performance was affected, but despite this Ogier was still able to claim victory.

The Frenchman was fined 7000 euros ($10,915 AUD) for the road accident and handed a suspended one event ban. Should a similar collision occur again within the next 12 months, he will have to sit out a round.

“The emotion for us now is super strong,” admitted Ogier.

“It’s been a crazy rollercoaster for us between the puncture and the issue (accident) this morning. I was glad to be still in the rally honestly. I guess that’s why

we do this sport, for this emotion.”

Evans came home a devastating second but vowed to return stronger in Portugal.

Neuville led at the end of the opening day, but a wrong tyre choice on Saturday morning cost him dearly, he finished third just 8.1s off Ogier.

Ott Tanak finished the rally in a lonely fourth position, 1m 17s behind his Hyundai teammate.

On his top-tier WRC debut, Frenchman Adrian Fourmaux finished fifth for M-Sport Ford, setting two fastest stage times along the way.

Takamoto Katsuta finished sixth ahead of

Gus Greensmith, Craig Breen, WRC2 winner Mads Ostberg and category runner-up Teemu Suninen, who completed the points finishers.

Entering the weekend 20-year-old Kalle Rovanpera led the top-tier championship, however the Fin fell off the road just 4km into the first stage and rolled through the trees.

He and co-driver Jonne Halttunen escaped uninjured, but the damage was too extensive to continue.

Points: Ogier 61, Neuville 53, Evans 51, Tanak 40, Rovanpera 39, Breen 24, Katsuta 24, Fourmaux 12, Greensmith 12, Sordo 11.

Image: Motorsport Images

Image: Motorsport Images

BATTERY LIFE DEFICIENCY TOYOTA STARTS NEW ERA WITH VICTORY TOYOTA HAS started the new Hypercar era of the World Endurance Championship in perfect fashion, by taking victory at the 6 Hours of Spa on May 1.

The lead up was filled with controversy as the new Hypercars were slower than the LMP2 entries in the class below, forcing the governing body ACO to adjust the relative performances.

In the end Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Kazuki Nakajima will go down in history as the first team to win in the new top-tier class, finishing 1m 7s ahead of the non-hybrid LMP1 Alpine A480 Gibson shared by Nicolas Lapierre and Matthieu Vaxiviere.

One lap behind after a trip off the road was the second Toyota driven by Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway and Jose Maria Lopez after scoring pole.

It was Buemi who led the first hour before a penalty was given to the Toyota for undercutting its minimum refuelling time requirement in its first stop, leaving the Alpine in front with Lapierre at the wheel.

Lapierre led past the halfway mark, but when he pitted during a fourth-hour safety

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car, Kobayashi took a 30s lead until he made a mistake at Bruxelles and ended in the gravel trap. The Alpine was reinstated as the leader; however strategy went against the French team.

Toyota elected to bring Nakajima in during the caution, while Alpine pitted 20 minutes after as it was forced to make another stop.

A final safety car to remove a GTE-Am Porsche assured the Toyota had sufficient fuel left to finish the race.

The leading LMP2 runner was the United Autosports Oreca 07 Gibson shared by Filipe Albuquerque, Phil Hanson and Fabio Scherer which took a dominant victory, converted from pole.

Neel Jani and Kevin Estre delivered Porsche victory in GTE-Pro, while Ferrari took Am honours through Emmanuel Collard, Nicklas Nielsen and Alessio Rovera in an AF Corsa 488.

Former Carrera Cup Australia series winners Matt Campbell and Jaxon Evans failed to finish in the Dempsey-Proton Porsche 991 RSR they shared with Christian Ried.

The next round of the WEC will take place at Portimao on June 13. HM

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ROUND 3 of Formula E was full of the usual drama, controversy and chaos that the category has become known for, and through it all Nyck de Vries and Jake Dennis took the race wins.

Race 1 of the weekend became a challenge for drivers to simply finish, however it wasn’t the wet weather that caused the issue, it was battery life.

At the end of the race just nine competitors were classified as finishers as the majority of the field ran out of battery power.

The race contained five safety car periods and in each the stewards took several lumps of battery life.

Race leader Antonio Felix da Costa led the final restart and elected to go early, forcing the race to go for two laps further rather than allowing the time to run down and making it a one lap sprint to the finish.

This left many drivers including himself with too little battery life to finish.

Former FIA Formula 2 Champion de Vries managed the race best, taking the win with just 0.1% of battery remaining.

Swiss driver Nico Muller finished second to score his first Formula E podium.

Stoffel Vandoorne started from the back of the grid after being stripped of pole for

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a technical infringement, however through all the mayhem he made his way onto the podium.

Former champion Jean-Eric Vergne slowed drastically to save battery power, taking six minutes on his final lap to pick up two points in ninth.

The second race was a lot less dramatic but equally as intriguing.

Slipstream was a massive factor with many drivers told not to lead the race under any circumstances, until the final five minutes.

However, when it mattered, they were squabbling amongst themselves and this allowed Dennis to take his maiden Formula E win.

Porsche’s Andre Lotterer came home in second, with Alex Lynn third.

After a tap from Norman Nato sent him off the track, Lynn recovered from seventh to finish third.

Factory Nissan driver Oliver Rowland came home fourth ahead of Nato, who was placed fifth after a 5s penalty for the Lynn nudge.

DM Points: De Vries 57, Vandoorne 48, Bird 43, Frijns 43, Evans 39

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MOTOGP

MILLER’S MOTOGP VICTORY

Report: DAN MCCARTHY Images: MOTORSPORT IMAGES

AFTER A tough start to the season Jack Miller rebounded emphatically by taking his first win with the factory Ducati squad and just the second of his MotoGP career.

It was a triumphant day for Ducati.

Coming into the weekend Ducati had won just one race around the technical Jerez circuit and that was way back in 2006, however the Italian brand bagged a 1-2 finish at one of its bogey circuits.

The win for Miller has propelled him to sixth in the championship, while his teammate Francesco Bagnaia has moved into the championship lead.

It was an intriguing affair as factory Yamaha rider Fabio Quartararo appeared in control and on his way to victory, but inadvertently suffered from arm pump and plummeted down the order in the closing laps.

It was quite a tense finish with several riders closing in on the Queenslander, but he held on to take his first victory since the Dutch TT in 2016.

Leading into qualifying Miller had shown no pace, the Aussie instead focussing purely on race simulation

runs.

Yamaha had won the opening three races of the season and was expected to be strong again in Jerez, as the technical nature of the circuit suited the Japanese chassis.

In qualifying this proved to be the case, Quartararo took his fourth straight pole position at the venue by pipping his satellite Yamaha Petronas SRT teammate Franco Morbidelli by 0.057s.

Using his teammate Bagnaia as a reference, Miller qualified on the front row, pipping Bagnaia who was forced to start from the second row.

Impressively LCR Honda rider Takaaki Nakagami was the fastest Honda and rounded out the top five.

Former championship leader Johann Zarco was sixth ahead of Round 1 winner Maverick Vinales and Aprilia rider Aleix Espargaro, followed by the two Suzukis of Alex Rins and

reigning champion Joan Mir. Seven-time world champion Marc Marquez suffered his worst career qualifying, in a lowly 14th.

At the start of the race the Ducati holeshot device worked its magic once again. It fired Miller into the lead at Turn 1 from Morbidelli and Bagnaia, as Quartararo dropped to fourth.

Before the race had time to settle into any rhythm Quartararo showed his intentions and began to scythe his way forwards.

On lap 2 Quartararo made his way

by Bagnaia and followed it up the following lap by overtaking his former teammate Morbidelli.

This charge continued and Miller could put up little resistance to the attack from the Frenchman. On the third lap into the Jorge Lorenzo turn Quartararo snatched the lead.

Miller tried to repass on the inside at Turn 1, but the Yamaha rider was stronger under brakes.

Quartararo then put his head down to gap the field, doing so on everyone but Miller.

Although the Aussie fell back, he remained in touching distance and forced the Frenchman to continue pushing.

The factory Yamaha man appeared to have the Australian covered until an unforced error on lap 14.

Quartararo ran slightly wide at a Turn 6 and appeared frustrated, shaking his head about. The 22-year-old later revealed that he was suffering from agonising arm pump and became a sitting duck for the bikes behind.

On lap 16 Miller breezed by, taking the lead from Quartararo who was 2s slower than a majority of the field, quickly dropping down the field with just nine laps remaining.

Miller looked to have the race win in the bag, however his teammate (who now sat in second) wanted to take his first win for the brand.

The Italian attempted a late race charge, slowly chipping into Miller’s lead but the Australian had it covered.

Miller took the win by 1.9s from his teammate, together scoring Ducati’s first 1-2 finish in three years.

Satellite Yahama rider Morbidelli came home in third, his first podium finish of the season, ending up only 2.5s off the race win.

After a horrid start to the year, Nakagami was comfortably the

quickest Honda rider all weekend and recorded his best result of the season to date in fourth.

Mir delivered another of his inconspicuous but affective rides to finish in fifth ahead of Aleix Espargaro, Vinales and former championship leader Johann Zarco.

Marquez plucked away during the race and finished in ninth position ahead of his teammate Pol Espargaro, Miguel Oliveira and Stefan Bradl.

A devastated Quartararo finished in 13th position to score just three points, ahead of Danilo Petrucci and Iker Lecuona.

Notable absentees from the points were Valentino Rossi who finished in 17th and Rins, who came home 20th after crashing early.

Standings after Round 4 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Francesco Bagnaia Fabio Quartararo Maverick Vinales Joan Mir Johann Zarco Jack Miller Aleix Espargaro Franco Morbidelli Alex Rins Brad Binder

66 64 50 49 48 39 35 33 23 21

AUSSIE WSBK ROUND AXED

DESPITE APPEARING on a revised provisional calendar two weeks ago, the Australian round of the World Superbike Calendar has been axed in place of the returning Czech Grand Prix round.

The Aussie round at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit is traditionally the season opening event round of the season, but due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic was set to take the slot as the final round this year.

A fortnight ago on the second provisional calendar Australia was listed however a date was yet to be confirmed.

In recent days due to the ongoing COVID-19 regulations in Australia, the FIM, Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit and DWO have agreed to

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cancel the 2021 WSBK round in Australia.

Phillip Island was the only round to host a WSBK race with fans last year as the pandemic had not affected the nation at that stage in February.

Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit general manager David Bennett confirmed that he is already working with the world championship to return it to its traditional spot on the calendar, as the season opener in 2022.

“Phillip Island has hosted more World Superbike events than any other circuit in the world,” Bennett said.

“We agree that now is the time to focus our efforts on the official test and season opening round in 2022.”

Bennett also highlighted that the event is under no threat with the existing longterm contract still in place.

“The decision not to run a round in 2021 will not adversely impact the continuation of the event,” he said. “The event is secured for the Phillip Island Circuit until 2027.”

WorldSBK executive director Gregorio Lavilla reiterated these statements, saying that the Australian event will have a slot on the 2022 calendar and beyond.

“Regarding Australia, all parties involved decided that analysing the latest changes in all major motorsport events and with the current uncertainty related to the pandemic, the best solution was to move the round to our usual

Image: Motorsport Images

start-of-the-season date in 2022,” he said.

“We look forward to returning there in 2022 with the Australian Round a key event of the Championship.” Dan McCarthy

GARDNER RETAINS MOTO2 LEAD Report: DAN MCCARTHY Images: MOTORSPORT IMAGES REMY GARDNER was in the thick of the action at Round 4 of the Moto2 World Championship in Jerez, Spain, on his way to finishing fourth.

After starting from pole position, fourth was a disappointing result for the Australian however he retains his championship lead.

Gardner finished the first three Moto2 races on the podium but was not quite

able to bag a race victory with the KTM Ajo squad.

Heading into the Jerez weekend Sam Lowes had taken pole for all three races, however Gardner ended that streak.

The young Australian took pole by 0.071s from Fabio di Ginnantonio and 0.086s to Marco Bezzecchi, with Raul Fernandez and Sam Lowes rounding out the top five.

When the lights went out to start the race di Ginnantonio got the best jump and just edged ahead of Gardner into Turn 1.

Gardner remained in second for the first third of the race, however his fast rookie teammate Fernandez, hot off the back of his maiden Moto2 victory, shot past Gardner on lap 8.

Gardner was struggling for speed at the midway stage and was soon overtaken by championship rival Bezzecchi.

It looked as if Gardner was a guaranteed fourth position until he found some extra pace with a handful of laps to go.

He attempted to make a move on Fernandez on lap 20 but this resulted in him falling behind Lowes, as the three became locked in a dual in the closing laps of the race.

Out front di Ginnantonio romped home to his maiden Moto2 race win ahead of Bezzecchi, who scored his first podium of the season.

On lap 21 Fernandez dropped behind both Lowes and Gardner and that was the way it remained.

THE GRESINI LEGACY CONTINUES AFTER THE passing of Gresini Aprilia Racing founder and team principal Fausto Gresini, a new team leader has been found, his wife Nadia.

The incredibly popular two-time 125cc Motorcycle World Champion passed away in February, after contracting COVID-19 late last year.

The multiple time MotoGP winning Gresini Racing has competed in the premier class since 2002 and since 2015 has run as the factory Aprilia squad.

It has been a tough period for the outfit which last year finished last in the teams’ standings in 2020, scoring just three top 10 finishes.

However, this season has started a lot stronger for the Italian team, with Aleix Espargaro finishing in the top 10 in all four races.

The appointment of Nadia Padovani – Fausto’s wife – as the new CEO, team

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owner and team principal is a further boost to the team.

Sons Lorenzo and Luca will also be heavily involved in the team, Lorenzo in administration while Luca will have more of a sporting role and is already working within the team.

“I would like to think that Fausto’s two families – ours and the racing one – have joined their efforts to bring forward everything he was planning, and especially the MotoGP,” Padovani said.

“To have an independent team in the premier class is surely something very demanding, with a team to be built from scratch. But I know everyone in the company is giving their 110 per cent to make his dream come true.

“Personally, I see it as a real mission, a challenge we will face – also and above all – thanks to the strength of Fausto, who is following us from above.”

Aprilia has signed to remain in MotoGP

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Image: Motorsport Images

for a further five years, however the manufacturer is expected to split with Gresini at the end of the season.

According to Padovani, it was Fausto’s secret wish to return to being an independent team and this will become a reality from 2022, as anticipated by the contract signed with Dorna at the end of

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last season.

“We’re currently speaking with several manufacturers and in a matter of few weeks we will reveal the details of our MotoGP project,” she revealed.

It has already been confirmed that the Gresini team has been in contact with Ducati. Dan McCarthy

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SMP

S5000 ROUND 4

MAWSON IS THE GOLDEN STAR

Report: DAN MCCARTHY Images: ARG/DANIEL KALISZ PHOTOGRAPHY/GAVIN SKENE DESPITE DOING things the hard way, Joey Mawson did enough to take inaugural S5000 Championship at Sydney Motorsport Park.

While Mawson took the title and Gold Star honour, Garry Rogers Motorsport driver Jamess Golding took home the Warwick Brown Cup forr winning the feature race.

Golding and Mawson were a step above the field for much of the weekend, the former taking ng two race wins and finished fourth in the reversee grid affair.

Coming into the weekend Mawson led the championship with a reasonable but certainly not insurmountable championship lead.

His Team BRM teammate Thomas Randle was second, just a couple of points ahead of twotime Gold Star Winner Tim Macrow.

The three GRM machines of Nathan Herne, Luis Leeds and James Golding remained in contention, however they needed a miracle to take the crown.

In qualifying under lights, championship leader

Joey Mawson celebrates winning the inaugural S5000 series and the Gold Star (above), while there was action aplenty among those fighting for second.

Mawson took pole position and with it the maximum 10 points, while his close rivals were on the third row behind the trio of GRM cars.

Golding qualified in second 0.28s behind the pole sitter with Herne ahead of Leeds on the second row.

Macrow qualified in fifth ahead of Randle, however one positive was that they would start on the second row for the inverted top eight grid.

Ricky Capo qualified seventh ahead of New Zealander Kaleb Ngatoa, who would start on

reverse grid pole. 88Racing driver Cooper Webster qualified ninth, ninth while Braydan Willmington rounded out the field.

As the lights went out to start the opening race Mawson made a good start but Golding’s was even better and the former Supercars driver immediately took the lead.

Herne also made a blinder and briefly took second from Mawson, however into Turn 2 the Trans Am ace went wide and allowed both Mawson and his teammate Leeds past.

The championship contenders further back

were we unable to make ground and were both overtaken

by Capo. ove The T race quickly settled into a groove and Golding was able to control the pace from the Go front, fron the Victorian taking the win by 3.22s ahead of Mawson who came home a lonely second.

M Leeds finished the race in third holding his L teammate Herne at bay late in the race. tea After A the strong start Capo sat in fifth for much of the t race, however he ran out of fuel with less than tha half a lap to go and came to a halt at Turn 8.

Randle and Macrow were locked in a battle and despite superior car pace, Macrow was unable to find a way past. Randle held onto fifth by 0.4s from Mawson.

Ngatoa went by Cooper Webster on the final lap of the race to secure seventh position.

Webster came home in eighth ahead of Braydan Willmington, who rounded out the nine finishers.

The inverted top eight grid race saw Ngatoa started from pole position, the Kiwi making a

S5000 had its final hit-out of its first series at SMP with a field of 10 cars (below left). Tomas Randle (below right) was never able to challenge Joey Mawson for the title.

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Joey Mawson celebrates with TeamBRM (above) while James Golding posed with the Warwick Brown Cup (at left).

solid start and led around the first several corners.

Off the line Randle and Macrow both made great starts and overtook Capo before Turn 1.

At Turn 2 Randle bowled it wide allowing his rival Macrow to take second position. In the early laps Macrow pushed the Kiwi, staying within striking distance for several laps, however Ngatoa responded setting several fastest laps to allow him to pull away from the two-time Gold Star winner.

Ngatoa continued to stretch the margin and took the win by 2.3s from Macrow. Randle crossed the line in a distant third, holding off an attack from Heat 1 winner Golding in the closing laps.

Mawson finished the race in fifth which enabled him to put one hand on the legendary Gold Star trophy.

Herne was overtaken by Mawson in the closing laps, however he kept his teammate Leeds at bay. After a mid-race spin Webster recovered to finish in eighth ahead of Willmington and Capo.

Kaleb Ngatoa wore new colours for the SMP finale but had a mixed weekend on track.

Mawson extended his championship lead slightly over the two heat races, but it was not enough to seal the deal.

However, he only had to finish the final race to win the title.

Heading into the feature Macrow and Randle were now the only drivers that could deprive Mawson of taking the inaugural title, however they needed to finish in the top two positions.

Golding that led into Turn 1 of the feature while Mawson made a solid start and tok a defensive line into the turn, however it nearly cost him the title.

Mawson got a snap of oversteer and skated off the road and through the gravel at high-speed at turn 1, plummeting to the tail of the field.

He was lucky not to hit anything but did pick up lots of gravel and dirt, the Team BRM driver electing to take it cautiously over the next couple of laps to make sure nothing was drastically wrong with the car after the off.

Another scare occurred when Capo crashed in front of him on lap 6 and, with debris on the circuit, Mawson nearly slid into the stationary vehicle.

After this latest scare Mawson elected to stay out of everyone’s way and bring the car home in eighth, enough to take his maiden Australian Gold Star S5000 Championship.

Out front Golding was unchallenged and took a commanding victory to take the Warwick Brown Cup. Golding led home a Garry Rogers Motorsport 1-2-3 with Leeds in second and Herne in third.

Leeds started on the fourth row of the grid but made an incredible start, sweeping up the inside on the run around Turn 1. He then overtook Herne to take second position at Turn 2.

Leeds held on from there to score his best result of the season in second, with Herne just 0.6s back.

The battle was on between Randle and Macrow, because whoever finished higher would take second in the championship.

The pair jostled for position on the opening lap with Macrow coming out on top early.

For much of the race Randle was looking behind rather than forwards as he was under immense pressure from Capo, however it was Capo who cracked first.

Pushing hard to overtake Randle, Capo ran onto the grass around Turn 1 and spun backwards into the inside wall, which resulted in the safety car being deployed.

Macrow picked up some front wing damage in the first couple of laps and this left him vulnerable around Turn 1 on the restart to Randle.

Macrow ran slightly wide and allowed Randle to place his Team BRM car up the inside on the approach to Turn 2 and pull the move off in the braking zone.

From there Randle was able to hold fourth and take second in the series, with Macrow in p5.

Webster came home an impressive sixth ahead Heat 2 winner Ngatoa.

Ngatoa had been ahead of Webster for much of the race but lost track position when he was forced to avoid the spinning Capo.

The champion Mawson finished in eighth ahead of Willmington.

POINTS

MAWSON 382, RANDLE 346, MACROW 339, GOLDING 329, LEEDS 307, HERNE 304, WEBSTER 209, CAPO 173, NGATOA 149, WILLMINGTON 148

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TCR

SMP ROUND 4

MAIDEN WINNERS IN TCR

J Josh Buchan (left & right) was impressive aat SMP, storming to two maiden TCR wins aand a second for the Hyundai team

Report: HEATH MCALPINE Images: ARG/DANIEL KALISZ PHOTOGRAPHY

IT APPEARED early on at Sydney Motorsport Park that Renault was finally going to break its TCR Australia duck.

However, it wasn’t to be as HMO Customer Racing’s Josh Buchan took back-to-back maiden victories and Garry Rogers Motorsport Alfa Romeo driver Michael Caruso his first TCR win instead.

Renault dominated practice and qualifying as Dylan O’Keeffe scored his first pole for the marque. Setting a 1m 33.386s lap, he edged the HMO Customer Racing Hyundai i30N TCR of Josh Buchan to the tune of 0.191s.

Backing up his Garry Rogers Motorsport Renault Megane R.S. teammate was James Moffat, who set third fastest time despite a spin.

A Wall Racing Honda Civic Type R TCR scored pole last time at SMP in 2019 for TCR Australia’s inaugural round, however John Martin lined up fourth and the driver who set that lap time two years ago, Tony D’Alberto, was seventh.

Series leader Chaz Mostert may have clean-swept Bathurst, but fifth was the best he could achieve in the MPC Audi RS3 LMS TCR.

Nathan Morcom was seventh ahead of D’Alberto, Michael Caruso, and the heavy Peugeot of Aaron Cameron and his teammate Jason Bargwanna.

Sadly, the weekend turned sour for O’Keeffe as the boost control module encountered a fault on the warm up lap of the first race, requiring the GRM mechanics to work under the bonnet of the Megane R.S. TCR on the grid.

This is against the rules in TCR Australia, so O’Keeffe was forced to start from pit lane.

Martin made the best start of the leaders to head the pack into Turn 1 and led for two laps before Buchan overhauled the Wall Racing Honda Civic Type R TCR at Turn 2, with Moffat following through as well.

Martin’s race didn’t improve as he

late lost a certain podium through later m a mechanical problem, dropping to 12th by the flag.

Ou front, Buchan continued to Out exte extend his lead, finishing with a 3.3s victo victory over Moffat and Mostert, who struggled with tyre degradation towa towards the end.

D’A D’Alberto and Morcom rounded out tthe top five as O’Keeffe finished behi be hin n GRM stablemate Cameron in behind 10th.

Jord Cox’s Race 2 ended before Jordan ra even started breaking an axle the race th warm up lap. on the Moff Moffat made a poor jump away at the start of race 2, allowing Buchan to take an unrivalled lead into Turn 1.

The Renault had dropped back to eighth as there was chaos behind when Jay Hanson and Martin contacted, spinning the Alfa Romeo across the field in the middle of Turn 1. The Ashley Seward Racing young gun emerged unscathed.

This put Mostert into second while another to move up was O’Keeffe, elevating four positions to sixth.

The two Renault

Dylan O’Keffee demonstrated the pace of the Renault (right) taking pole position before striking problems on the warm-up lap of the first race. Nonetheless he climbed back through the field to be a contender in races 2 & 3. John Martin leads race 1 into turn 2 (below).

teammates were running in tandem and contacted each other at Turn 9 on lap 2, while out front Buchan continued to lead by a comfortable 1s margin over Mostert, while Cameron (carrying 60kg BoP) in his Peugeot was struggling as lost significant ground to be 11th. There was a mid-race rub between Cameron and Morcom, which sent the Hyundai sideways, but he recovered quickly.

D’Alberto was third but Caruso and Morcom were able to move past as tyre degradation began to play a part.

Zac Soutar was another victim in Race 2 as an incident with Ben Bargwanna bent the toe-link in his privateer Honda Civic Type R TCR. There were further troubles for the Wall Racing pair with D’Alberto losing five positions to be 10th and Martin off

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Michael Caruso (bottom left) scored his first TCR win for Alfa Romeo, Chaz Mostert maintained his points lead (bottom right) and (right) Ben Bargwanna’s weekend came to a premature end when he got squeezed out in an incident in race 3 and found the wall.

the track at Turn 11 before entering pit lane la ne w with itith h da dama damage mage ge tto o th the e ra radi radiator. diat ator or..

Luke King was a big mover through the pack, climbing seven spots to seventh but this was eclipsed by Ben Bargwanna, who went from the back to ninth.

It was another Buchan domination as he led from start-to-finish to head Mostert home by 2.1s, while Caruso broke through to score his maiden TCR Australia podium.

At the start of Race 3 Caruso made a flyer from third to lead into Turn 1, despite Buchan’s best attempts to hold his position.

Behind, Morcom took Mostert for third, however there was a safety car after Michael Clemente’s Honda Civic Type R TCR failed to get off the line and was hit by Jason Bargwanna’s Peugeot.

The race was restarted on lap 4 but

was again neutralised when Aaron Cameron crashed exiting 1..

Came Ca mero ron n cr cras ashe hed d ex exit itin ing g Tu Turn rn 1 Ben Bargwanna had been slow through Turn 1, which checked up King, King Cameron and Holdsworth, Holdsworth resulting in the Peugeot being squeezed by the pair into the inside wall.

At the front, Mostert dropped further positions to O’Keeffe and Moffat at Turn 2, but Cameron’s retirement aided his title aspirations.

Holdsworth slowed during the second safety car to slot back into 16th behind teammate Hanson.

Race 1 retiree Cox climbed 12 positions in the two half circuits completed by lap 8, others to enjoy a similar charge were privateer Soutar in 12th and Wall Racing’s Martin in 13th.

The race was about to restart on lap 9 when Holdsworth stopped between Turns 8 and 9, forcing another lap

behind the safety car before the Alfa Romeo restarted.

Caruso led away as a time certain finish assured a two-lap dash and O’Keeffe had overlap on Morcom to take third and mount a challenge for the lead.

The Alfa Romeo of Caruso and Buchan’s Hyundai were weaving which allowed the Renault to close, and Morcom was back in the mix too.

POINTS

MOSTERT 452, KING 346, BUCHAN 335, MORCOM 327, CAMERON 321, HOLDSWORTH 315, MARTIN 308, COX 302, D’ALBERTO 290, SHIELS 266 Caruso skipped away as the three behind squabbled for the podium places, to take a 0.439s victory from Buchan, O’Keeffe and Morcom.

Moffat took sixth ahead of King and series leader Mostert, as he held off a challenge from Cox. However, a post-race penalty was handed to O’Keeffe for the restart overlap, demoting him down the order and elevating Morcom onto the podium.

The next round of the TCR Australia Series is at Morgan Park on June 2527.

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TRANS AM

SMP ROUND 4

SETON WINS TORRID TRANS AM BATTLE Report: HEATH MCALPINE Images: ARG/JACK MARTIN PHOTOGRAPHY AARON SETON won a rough and tumble Round 3 of the National Trans Am Series at Sydney Motorsport Park.

Seton and chief title rival Nathan Herne rubbed bodywork regularly as the pair continued their fight for the maiden Trans Am crown.

Seton led the way during evening qualifying under lights, but it was fellow Ford Mustang driver Owen Kelly who joined him on the frontrow, as Herne had to make do with third in his Dream Racing Australia Dodge Challenger.

Fourth was impressive rookie Kyle Gurton in another Ford Mustang, while hometown driver Tim Brook rounded out the top five in a similar model.

It was Kelly with the best start to lead into Turn 1 as Herne failed in his bid to slide down the inside of Seton, dropping to fourth behind

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Gurton, who was on the outside of Seton.

There was chaos in the mid-pack of the 30-strong field as usual.

Third-placed in the series Edan Thornburrow had electrical dramas in qualifying, unable to set a time.

He was charging from the back, however and the opening lap scuffles helped him climb nine positions.

Kelly and Seton were battling out front as Gurton dropped back, with Herne snatching third at Turn 11 on lap 3.

As the race entered its closing stages there were spins for Ian McAllister, Chris Pappas and Jason Hassett at Turn 7.

Kelly took a comfortable win ahead of Seton and Herne, while Gurton held onto fourth from Nash Morris.

Herne made a belter start to Race 2 and moved down the inside at Turn 1 on Kelly and Gurton, which sent them on the outside, while the Dream Racing Australia Challenger

Owen Kelly leads Aaron Seton but was unlucky again, when turfed off at turn one in race 2.

Seton leads the series from Nathan Herne (fourth here), the two continuing their tight title battle with five race wins apiece.

took the lead.

Kelly was unable to restart, resulting in a safety car.

At the restart Herne was under immediate pressure from Seton and Morris, while Ben Grice in his Dodge Challenger was behind, ahead of Brett Holdsworth.

Herne was able to sustain the pressure from Seton, while Morris dropped away as Gurton recovered from his opening corner incident to be eighth by lap 9.

With the news of a time certain finish, Seton was pressuring Herne, but it was to no avail as the New South Welshman took the win, and Morris completed the podium.

There was a moment within the Th mid-pack at Turn 1 as the final lap mid started with Chris Formosa, Hadrian sta Morall and Craig Scutella involved.

Mo Thronburrow also left the track at T Turn 3, but recovered to be 10th.

Tu Herne again led away into Turn H 1 iin the third and final race of weekend, as Morris pressured we Seton for second place.

Se Seton closed on Herne as the S opening lap was completed, but op at Turn 2 the leaders ran wide as

Morris took advantage to take first.

Side-by-side through Turn 6 through to Turn 8, Herne and Morris collided, allowing the latter into the lead from Seton.

An 18-car charge from the back from Kelly left him 10th after the opening lap.

Morris continued to lead as, behind, Seton and Herne continued to battle in second but the gap was closed quickly.

First Seton at Turn 2, then Herne at Turn 4 demoted Morris to third, before Brook also passed him at Turn 8. Morris was falling into the clutches of Gurton and Kelly, but these two tangled, dropping down the order.

Seton was able to hold on, taking his fifth win to draw level with Herne, who finished second ahead of Brook, Grice and Dylan Thomas.

Just four-points separate Seton and Herne heading to Morgan Park on June 25-27.

POINTS

SETON 722, HERNE 718, THORNBURROW 601, BROOK 584, MCALISTER 535, ETC

SMP

TCM

HANSFORD LEADS THE WAY IN TCM Report: HEATH MCALPINE Images: ARG/Daniel Kalisz Photography THE PETERS Motorsport Holden Torana A9X of Ryan Hansford took a clear overall win of Round 3 of Touring Car Masters at Sydney Motorsport Park.

In night qualifying, Hansford led the Ford XD Falcon of Steve Johnson by the scantest of margins, 0.07s in fact.

Series debutant Jamie Tilley was fourth in his Ford Mustang behind Bathurst round winner Ryal Harris’ Chevrolet Camaro, while a surprise fifth was Jeremy Gray in the Ford Capri Perana.

It was Ryal Harris who made the run at the beginning of Race 1, however Johnson held the ascendency into Turn 1 as Hansford dropped to third with Tilley and Bowe completing the top five, after a disappointing qualifying session for the category legend.

Harris was building the pressure and succeeded in completing a pass on Johnson at Turn 2, with Hansford also positioned to follow, but unable to complete the manoeuvre.

After qualifying well, Gray tangled with Jim Pollicina in his newly acquired ex-Jason Gomersall Holden Torana A9X, which sent the Capri into the

wall on the exit of Turn 5.

There was a change for the podium positions as Hansford slid down the inside of Johnson at Turn 2 and set about catching Harris. This didn’tt take long as the Torana A9X tried around the outside ide of Harris at Turn 2.

Side-by-side through Turn 1, Hansford and Harris managed to emerge cleanly as the lead changed at Turn 2, but the Chevrolet Camaro popped a tyre to drop out of the running.

Marcus Zukanovic was well back after qualifying, but bought his Ford XD Falcon through the field to be fourth on lap 9. He led a pack including Pollicina, the returning Adam Bressington in the Whiteline Racing Chevrolet Camaro vacated by Adam Garwood, and Cam Tilley in the Valiant Pacer.

Gerard McLeod, driving the sole Holden Commodore in the field, was in this pack too before an electrical problem lost him 10s.

Bowe also encountered problems to finish behind McLeod as Hansford took the win from Johnson and Tilley.

For the Trophy Race, Pollicina took his first win with his new A9X as he led home Bowe by 0.2s,

though the multiple Touring Car Masters series winner did lower the lap record held previously by Aaron Seton to a 1m 39.193s. Bressington completed the podium ahead of a recovering McLeod and Whiteline Racing teammate Mark King.

At the start of Race 2, Hansford led a three-way fight for second with Johnson, Jamie Tilley and Zukanovic, which resulted in the Ford Mustang toppling the Falcon duo.

King in the Whiteline Racing Chevrolet Camaro was a victim of Turn 2 with a spun.

Bressington was in the thick of the action driving the sister Camaro to King’s, battling Cameron Tilley, Johnson, Zukanovic and charging Harris, who started from the rear of the grid.

Zukanovic and Bressington battled vigorously allowing Cameron Tilley in the Pacer, Johnson and Tony Karanfilovski’s Ford Mustang to close in.

Bressington regained third as Zukanovic began to drop back, losing position to the Pacer as Harris was scything his way through the field to be seventh.

Hansford was still leading, but Jamie Tilley was closing in in second with Bressington, Cameron Tilley and Harris a further 6s back, all battling for the final step of the podium.

Harris continued his run towards the podium, passing Cameron Tilley at Turn 2 on the final lap, before Bressington made a mistake at Turn 6 to allow the Chevrolet Camaro through at the next corner.

Hansford won by 3.3s from Jamie Tilley, while Bowe completed the top five, demoting Johnson on the final lap with Zukanovic failing to finish.

Johnson made a belter start in the final race to be second into Turn 1 from seventh, as Jamie Tilley led the race briefly before the blue Falcon took the lead at Turn 2.

Bowe also took Jamie Tilley along the front straight as Hansford was swamped into Turn 1.

Harris was ranging behind Bowe and completed a move under brakes at Turn 6, whilst locking his brakes. Jamie Tilley was still lurking, as was a recovering Hansford, with those positions swapping at Turn 2.

Meanwhile, Johnson was 4.5s in front with the battle for the minors heating up between Bowe and Harris. Hansford entered the equation and disposed of the two to be second, as things got messy behind exiting Turn 2. Bowe and Harris contacted with both emerging very second hand from the incident.

In the end, Johnson took a 1.4s victory, the first in his Falcon, from Hansford, Bowe and Harris, while Jamie Tilley ran wide at the final corner, dropping to eighth.

Morgan Park is the next round of the series on June 25-27.

POINTS

BOWE 445, HANSFORD 435, ZUKANOVIC 398, CAMERON TILLEY 398, JOHNSON 387.

Ryan Hansford took the overall win at SMP, here leading an impressive Jamie Tilley. Steve Johnson (top of page) finally scored a win in the new XD Falcon.

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SMP AUSSIE RACING CARS, PORSCHE SPRINT

PANCIONE VICTORIOUS IN SPRINT CHALLENGE Report: DAN MCCARTHY Images: INSYDE MEDIA CHRISTIAN PANCIONE broke through to take his maiden Porsche Sprint Challenge round victory, holding off teammate Ryan Suhle to take two of the three race wins at Sydney Motorsport Park.

Coming into the weekend Pancione had not won a Sprint Challenge race let alone a round but nonetheless showed maturity beyond his years, holding Suhle behind him around the fast-flowing SMP layout.

Report: R eport: GA GARR GARRY RRY Y O’ O’BR O’BRIEN BRIE IEN N Images: INSYDE MEDIA THE ABBREVIATED third round of the Battery World Aussie Racing Cars Series Kody Garland snared wass go wa good od ffor or K odyy Ga od Garl rlan andd as hhee sn snar ared ed an overall maiden victory ahead of Nick Simmons Simm Si mmon onss and and Tom Tom Hayman.

Haym Ha yman an..

Morning fog on the final day of the Shannons Motorsport Australian Championships disrupted some of the support categories, particularly the pocket rockets. They had already been reduced from the usual four to three race before fog cancelled the third as well. At least they did get to race under lights.

Prior to that rookie Hayman (Mustang) in only his third outing, took just two laps to snare the top spot in qualifying. He was just a touch over 0.2s faster than series leader Josh Anderson and Simmons in their Camaros.

In Race 1 Anderson had a hard-fought battle with Hayman and crossed finish line 0.3 seconds ahead, after they swapped the lead on several occasions. Hayman was hit with a post-race five-second penalty, however still held second.

Behind there was great tussle where, on the final lap, Joel Heinrich (Cruze) seized third away from Simmons (Camaro) as Garland (Mustang) held off Craig Woods (Mustang). Next was Reece Chapman (Camaro).

Multiple HQ Holden champion Brett Osborn (Camaro) was eighth on his category debut. He finished clear of a threeway fight where Craig Thompson (Mustang) emerged ahead of Matt Nolan (Mustang) and Ryder Quinn (Euro GT).

The top 10 finishers from Race 1 were reversed for the next. Garland came through

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At the end of an eventful qualifying session under lights on Friday night which contained two red flags, it was Suhle who took pole position by just over 0.4s, while Pancione qualified on the front row just 0.02s faster than New Zealander Callum Hedge.

Sergio Pires was sixth, fastest of the Pro-Am drivers, ahead of Sam Shahin.

As the lights went out at the start of Race 1 Suhle made a great initial launch before his Porsche bogged down, allowing Pancione to take the lead into Turn 1.

On lap 2, keen to reclaim first position

Suhle was pushing too hard and ran wide at Turn 2, allowing Callum Hedge to have a look up the inside.

Suhle held on but locked up again at Turn 6, allowing Hedge to have another look at Turn 7 but to no avail.

This fight allowed Pancione to pull out a comfortable gap and he was able to cruise to victory by 2.4s from Suhle.

Hedge could not keep up with Suhle late on, finishing in third ahead of Bayley Hall and Courtney Prince. Shahin took ProAm honours.

In the longer 27 lap second race Pancione made another great start and pulled a small margin on the opening lap.

However, this was soon reeled in

by Suhle, forcing Pancione to drive a defensive race from that moment on.

It was an intense battle. Pancione had to defend on several occasions to keep

his rival behind, but neither driver put a foot wrong.

In the closing laps the intensity rose, but Pancione did not crack under pressure, taking the win by 0.6s from Suhle, with Hedge third.

Shahin won Pro-Am despite his steering wheel falling off in the latter stages, causing an off-track excursion at Turn 10.

In Race 3 Pancione shot off the line but this time was caught and overhauled

by Suhle. The Queenslander was able to sneak by up the inside at the Turn 8 hairpin to take the lead.

Once through, Suhle was unable to break away, though Pancione kept him honest, coming up 0.4s shy.

Pancione took a deserved round victory from Suhle, while Hedge finished third in the final race and round.

Shahin won the Pro-Am class after taking three victories.

SHORT BUT SWEET FOR GARLAND

for the victory from sixth, narrowly over Simmons and Woods.

Matt Nolan and Craig Thompson (Mustangs) were on the front row for the start. Thompson led the first lap while

Nolan slipped down the order. Thompson was tentatively ahead of Woods with Chapman third in front of Simmons, Heinrich, Hayman, and Anderson.

Shortly after, Woods hit the front only

to be passed by Simmons before they completed Anderson third comp co mple lete tedd la lapp 22.. A nder nd erso sonn wa wass up ttoo th thir irdd but a back-to-back victory evaporated when clutch thee cl th clut utch ch went, wen ent,t, and and he he retired retitire re redd at Turn Tur urnn 6.

Woods regained the lead by the end of lap three only to lose out to Simmons for the five. In the interim Garland progressed next five to second. Quinn was up to sixth when he parked on lap five after a wire came adrift on the fuel pump.

On lap 8, Garland hit the lead. Hayman passed Heinrich on the last lap for fourth.

Chapman chased them to the flag and was elevated one spot when Heinrich copped a five-second penalty.

Osborn who was seventh also had five seconds added and dropped a spot to Thompson.

SMP

PROD CARS, PROTOTYPES, RADICALS

SMOLLEN SMOKES PRODUCTION CAR FIELD Report: GARRY O’BRIEN Images: INSYDE MEDIA INSTEAD OF four MRF Tyres Australian Production Car Series races, there were three for a mere nine entries.

These were easily won by Shane Smollen in his BMW M4 ahead of Cem Yucel in his Volkswagen Golf R. Second for the most of race one was Dyane West until his HSV GTS expired and stopped out at Turn 2 a couple of laps from the end.

The race went safety car and was finalised one lap short of the scheduled distance.

James Keene (Golf R) picked up third spot after he passed Jake Camilleri (Mazda 3 MPS). Fifth was Chris Holdt (HSV Astra), followed by the Mini JCW Coopers driven by Michael Sloss and Richard Luff, and Allan Jarvis (Suzuki Swift Sport).

Despite a 5s penalty Smollen still had a handy margin at the end of the second race. Yucel was second and Camilleri third. Then followed Keene, Holdt and Luff. A lap down were Sloss and Jarvis.

Smollen crossed the finish line 25.5s ahead at the end of the 20-lap third race. Yucel won the start but his lead did not last long. Third was Camilleri clear of Keene, Luff, Sloss and Jarvis. Holdt was running fifth but fell out late in the race.

TWO SECONDS IS BEST FOR MAKRIS Report: GARRY O’BRIEN Images: INSYDE MEDIA WHILE HE craved a win, two seconds sat well for Jason Makris, as he won the opening round of the Australian Prototype Series ahead of John-Paul Drake and Blake Purdie. In the Radical class Peter Paddon was overall winner.

The event was held over two races after one was canned due to Sunday morning fog. Before qualifying Michael Nagib was lucky to walk away from a horrific crash when his West WR1000/ Kawasaki flipped several times.

Mark Laucke (Wolf Tornado) shot away

in front while pole sitter Drake had difficulty with his turbocharged Peugeot powered Wolf F1 Mistral at the start and trailed the field.

Phil Hughes had drama too. He was vying for space but because of the stalled car, his Radical SR8 was squeezed into the pit wall, which brought out the safety car.

Purdie (Aprilla powered Wolf Thunder) was a decisive victor even though at the end of the first lap he languished in 10th spot.

Second place went to Makris (Tornado) with Paul Trengove (West) next.

Drake was able to come through for fourth with Laucke next. Radical team mates and rivals Paddon and Chris Perini finished ahead of Stephen Champion (Radical), Ian Eldridge

(Stohr/Suzuki) and Glen Stallbaum (Wolf GB08/Honda).

It was close throughout race two as Drake triumphed by 0.2s ahead of Makris with Laucke third. Drake led all the way apart from where Laucke did get his nose briefly in front at Turn 2. But he overshot the corner enough for Drake to grab back the lead ahead of Makris, Purdie and Trengove.

Laucke managed to get back to third ahead of Purdie and Trengove.

Best of the Radical SR3s was Carmelo Bonaventura in sixth after Paddon spun at Turn 4 because of contact with Trengove.

Paddon recovered to finish eighth behind Stallbaum.

PERINI RACE DOUBLE EXTENDS SMP STREAK Report: GARRY O’BRIEN Images: INSYDE MEDIA CHRIS PERINI was in a class of his own when he took out both races in round two of the Radical Australia Cup. The new points leader made it five wins in a row at Sydney Motorsport Park and took the weekend honours ahead of Siegfried Fuhrmeister and Stephen Champion.

In the first race, over 50mins, Perini smoked his rivals on his way to a big win. It was daylight to second placed Fuhrmeister with Peter Clare home third.

Perini led from the outset over Peter Paddon, Fuhrmeister, Champion, Peter

Clare, and Max Medland. Kostinken Pohorukov pitted on the warm up lap and resumed a lap down while Warwick Morris had a poor start and trailed the rest.

Perini and Paddon were the first to do their pitstops and when they were all out of the way, it was Perini in front by 26.2 seconds over Fuhrmeister, with over 5s to Paddon who was looking for a way past Clare.

Paddon slowed in the latter part and conceded places to Champion and Susan Esselmont to finish sixth and the last car on the lead lap. Craig McLatchey was seventh ahead of Greg Kenny and Bill Medland.

Perini was again a clear-cut winner in the second race. Over 24s in arrears,

Pohorukov was the runner-up after he secured the spot on the 24th of 26 laps.

Champion had had a loose at Turn 2 and Pohorukov was through.

There had been a safety car for four laps before the first lap was completed. Clare spun at Turn 2 because of contact with McLatchey, who subsequently speared off at Turn 4. Greg Kenny spun off there as well but was able to resume.

Perini led until he took his mandatory pitstop and returned to the fray in fourth spot. Within five laps he was in the lead and driving away.

Outside the top three were Fuhrmeister, Clare, Esselmont, Max Medland, Bill Medland, and Morris.

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p ra w S L A N NATIO

MAGUIRE AND BRAKEY TAKE SOMBRE TARGA WIN DODGE VIPER team Eddie Maguire and Zak Brakey took outright honours in the 2021 Targa Tasmania, but under tragic circumstances.

The final two-days of competition were marred by three fatalities and saw the rally end under touring conditions, leaving Maguire and Brakey finishing 1m 57s ahead of the Nissan GT-R driven by Angus Kennard partnered by Ian Wheeler.

“It’s not the feeling we thought we’d get as we had been working 30 years for this,” Maguire said.

“I was my son Hunter’s age (four) when the first Targa Tasmania was on and it has been a dream to win this since then.

“It’s great to do it with Zak (Brakey) who is a good mate. We went to primary school together.

“My service crew, mum and dad and Jason White, have been amazing. I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for Jason, he’s a great mentor.

“I also want to offer my condolences to the family and friends of the people we have lost yesterday and today.”

Trevor Macleod and Steve Glenney finished third in another Nissan GT-R. Maguire led from the outset, however fellow Viper team Jason and John White were the early frontrunners until stalling at the start of the fifth stage. Mechanical woes forced the Whites to drop further time to be 38s behind Maguire and Brakey at the conclusion of Day 1.

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SIDDINS TAKES CLASSIC

Images: Angryman Photography “We had some serious electrical issues and stalled it at the start line of Golden Valley and it wouldn’t start, so we had to bump start it in reverse and we were lucky to get going again,” White said.

“We had a battery explode on the way to Poatina and we’ve had acid fumes all through the cabin. Hopefully we can fix it – if we can’t then we’re pretty much screwed.”

Third was the Porsche 911 GT2 RS of Jeff Morton and Daymon Nicoli a further 8s behind, not helped by the weather on Day 2 as rain arrived.

There were some high profile retirements during the second day including previous winners, the Whites. The duo’s Viper crashed on the Moorina stage when it cannoned off a dirt bank and caught fire,

both emerging from the incident unharmed.

Maguire now led by 1m 33s, despite helping the Whites extinguish the Viper’s fire.

Macleod and Glenney came into their own to move into second ahead of Kennard, while Morton dropped off the leader board.

On Day 3, Maguire extended his lead to close to an even 2m, as the Macleod and Kennard battle for second closed to within 13s.

Adding further pressure was a third GT-R for Tony Quinn and Kat Catford, while Morton took three stage wins in a row to elevate the Porsche to fifth in the outright standings.

Inclement conditions still impacted on the rally, but Maguire was in supreme form to extend his margin by 23s while Kennard took second from Macleod, who was plagued by a gearbox electronic glitch.

A charge by Kennard on the penultimate day was overshadowed by the death of Classic competitor Shane Navin, after crashing his Mazda RX-7 on the Mt Arrowsmith stage.

The same order remained with Maguire leading Kennard, Macleod and Quinn.

Following the tragedy of the previous day, the final competitive stages provided further anguish when Porsche team Leigh Mundy and co-driver Dennis Neagle were killed in a crash on the Cygnet 1 section.

As a result of the double fatality, organisers changed the remaining stages to touring, leaving Maguire and Brakey to take their maiden Targa Tasmania win in what was a downcast end to the event.

Heath McAlpine

JON AND Gina Siddins were victorious in the Classic standings driving their Datsun 260Z in what was a third victory for the duo in Targa Tasmania.

The pair dominated the event, finishing 6m 31s clear of the Nissan Skyline GT-R of Stephen Thatcher and Phillip Parker.

Victory in the Classic Handicap was taken out

by Ashley Yelds and Mary Hughes in a 1960 Volvo 122S. Yelds pushed hard in the earlier wet stages to establish an impressive 11m 25s lead by the end of the event.

Veteran Targa Tasmania driver Jack Waldron recorded an even more impressive win in Thoroughbred Trophy with Graham Mitchell in a 1981 Mitsubishi Sigma, to lead the field home by 12m 25s.

In other categories, Trevor McLeod and Steve Glenney scored a massive victory in Early Modern 4 competition in their Nissan GT-R. Second outright Angus Kennard and Ian Wheeler (2015 Nissan GT-R) also picked up the win in Early Modern 2 category with a 7m 3s margin.

The battle in GT Production was one of the most enthralling of the week, with Peter Nunn and Keith Johnstone (2016 Porsche Cayman GTS) battling Stephen Maguire and Stuart Benson (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 10) on a daily basis.

Maguire, who is the brother of outright winner Eddie Maguire, and Benson, hung on to win by just 18s.

The margin was even smaller in the Spirit of Tasmania Rookie Rallye, where Tyler Page and Ryan Sheehan (2007 Subaru Impreza WRX) won by just 8s over Tony and Sandra Seymour (2018 Lotus Exige).

The Seymours dominated the first few days of the competition, until they copped a speeding fine from Tasmania Police on a transport section, which also carries with it a five-minute Targa penalty.

In GT Sports Trophy competition Matthew Gibbens and Tim Jurd (2020 Lotus Exige) hung onto the win by just 1m 3s.

The Budget TSD (time, speed, distance) regularity competition was dominated by multiple previous winners Darryl and Peter Marshall in their 2002 Ford Falcon Pursuit Ute. Martin Agatyn

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WEIRS TAKE OFF ROAD ENDURO

THE 2021 Simpson 6 Hour off road racing event at Mt Ooraminna was won by Jack and Tim Weir when they crew their ProLite Jimco/Toyota to a comfortable victory.

The weekend of April 17-18 was a busy one for the Alice Springs Off Road Racing Club. After hosting the second round of the SXS Championship on Saturday, the club put on its own event at Mt Ooraminna on Sunday.

The Weirs had a 2mins 50.5s advantage as they took the chequered flag after 10 laps where David Brid and Mark Nietschke were second in their Extreme 2WD Bennett Trophy Truck/Chev V8. Almost 8mins further adrift in third place were Harry Weckert and Caitlin Stephens who were second in ProLite with a new acquisition after previously been in an SXS Sports Yamaha XYZ 1000.

Jacob Booth and Sam Golotta (Pro Buggy Porter/Chev) placed fourth and on the same number of laps as the winners. But as the final lap was outside the time limit, they

had a lap taken off and the duration time adjusted. Fortunate for them they retained their one place off the podium finish.

Also with nine laps completed were Darren, Chloe, and Donna Wright (Southern Cross/Mitsubishi) which gave them the Super 1650 class victory. Sixth and third in ProLite were Andrew Mowles and Robert McEwen (Razorback/Nissan) ahead of the SXS Turbo class winners Terry Schultz and Jason Edwards (Can Am).

The next two of the 21 starters were second and third in Ext 4WD with the Leighton Surr/Josh Lander/Joe Nicoleza crewed Ford Ranger/Chev eighth ahead of class Trophy Truck rivals Hayden Foley/Peter Baulch/Jess Foley. Tenth and Performance 2WD winners were Rod Berry and Petra Kelis in their Holden Commodore Ute. Garry O’Brien

UNLIMITED EFFORT FROM PLANT AND BURR

IN THEIR Class 1 Nissan V6-powered Jimco, Robert Plant and Ryan Burr took on the Unlimited big guns and came out on top at the inaugural Pooncarie Desert Dash, round one of the ARB Australian Off Road Racing Championship on April 17-18.

They showed they had pace from the start when they were fastest in the prologue. They were third at the end of section one, won section two and finished 10.7s in front of Aaron and Liz Haby, and Wayne Tabe (Unlimited Element Off Road Prodigy/Toyota twin turbo).

Class 1 buggys filled third and fourth places in the hands of Brent Martin and Andre De Simone (Jimco Aussie Spec/Nissan), and Brent’s brother Dale Martin together with Adrian Rowe (Tatum/Nissan). They were almost 6mins apart and 5mins 30s behind second place.

Fifth 50s away was Dan Wells in his single seat Class 10 Tatum Aussie Spec/Honda F20.

Sixty-four teams took on the 90km course about 50mins north of Mildura in NSW with 26 completing the event. Section one’s single lap finished off day one before section two on Sunday of two laps, a service break, and the final lap.

The Habys were the leaders overnight by 20.3s over Clayton Chapman and Adam McGuire (Unlimited Razorback/ Toyota turbo), Plant, Talbot Cox and Craig King (Racer Engineering Carbon/Toyota V8) and fifth placed Martin.

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Day two claimed Cox with engine maladies, and Carl Haby and Ashley Reichstein who were eighth after the first day. Other prominent Unlimited buggys out were the Craig Martin/Ben Dawson Alpha/Chev and the Andrew Murdock/Ben Rickaby Element Off Road Prodigy/Chev.

Chapman was unable to hold onto second as they succumbed to a failed MAP sensor 5km from the finish.

They limped to the line and were classified 19th.

Sixth place went to Andy Brown and Dan Hardman (Alumi Craft/Chev LS2) ahead of Jason and Kristy Richards (Chenowth Millennium/Nissan V6) and Class 4 winners Michael and Jake Denham (MickleFab Raptor Trophy Truck/Chev V8).

Dean Meginley and Jay Mitchell (Tatum/Honda K24) were second in Class 10 and ninth ahead of Glenn McIntyre and Brad Harvey (PMR 03/Nissan twin turbo). Class 6 went to Darren Frankling and Rob Hackney (Can Am Maverick/ Rotax) after early pacesetters, Ben Lugg, Brody and Tim Bower (Can Am) broke a swing arm. In Class 7 it was Heath and Michelle Weedon in front in their Nissan Patrol.

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FIRST OFF ROAD WIN FOR WALKER JOHN WALKER scored his maiden outright win in the second round of the Tasmanian Off Road Racing Series at Symmons Plains on April 24. The event consisted of a prologue and four 12-lap heats of the circuit adjacent to the raceway.

Chris Branch and Michael Stalker were the early pacesetters in Branch’s new ProLite and won the first heat by almost 90s from Walker (Payne/Nissan SR20 Sportslite single-seater). Also on the lead lap were Mike Males (CanAm SXS Turbo) and Chris Shepheard (Southern Cross/ Nissan SR20 Sportslite), despite rear suspension issues that proved to be terminal. Andrew Giffard (Rivmaster/ Honda Sportlite) suffered steering rack problems to only complete four laps.

Branch and Stalker were quickest again in heat two, but Walker was on a charge and only trailed by 11s at the chequered flag. Males was consistent again for a solid third place, a further 22s behind. The third heat was very eventful, Males rolled his Can-Am (not for the first time) on the opening lap. Branch was again in front, until a rear

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brake issue on the fourth lap saw his progressed curtailed.

Unfortunately, the heat from the brakes started a small grass fire, and officials red flagged the heat.

Branch’s dramas continued in the fourth and final heat with an electrical issue. Performance fell away and he lost valuable time. With the steering rectified, Giffard rejoined in the third heat and was in a strong position before the red flag. He continued his charge in the fourth heat to win by over a lap.

Meanwhile, Walker plugged away and stayed mostly drama-free, until electrical issues towards the end. He held on to third, 49s behind Josh Marshall in the Southern Cross/ Toyota 4AG Super 1650 normally driven by his wife Kateland.

Walker’s consistency saw him secure victory from Branch, who showed plenty of pace, but lacked consistency due to brake and electrical issues, with Marshall taking a welldeserved third. Martin Agatyn

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NATIONALS wrap n compiled by garry o’brie

Image: Elgee

SOUTH AUSSIE SCORES ANOTHER VIC WIN DAVID MAHON continued his domination of the EZIUP and GO Victorian Hillclimb Championship with an outright win at Bryant Park on April 18.

The South Australian was unbeaten on all four runs in his Dallara, setting a final fastest effort of 66.85s on the clockwise double-loop track configuration.

Mahon’s closest rival in the championship, Mike Barker was absent while he awaits repairs to his Hayward.

Another Hayward driven by Peter Minahan made his first appearance this year and took second outright.

He was just over 4s off the FTD pace while Wim Janssen, on just his second outing in his new Wimp Formula Libre, snatched third outright on his final run and moved to fourth in the championship.

Patrick Malaphany (Spanish Yacar

Wim Janssen drove his Wimp to a solid third outright in only its second outing Cross) finished fourth on the day.

Malaphany had brought along two of these buggy-style machines which are popular in European Hillclimbs.

With only two runs before a mechanical problem finished his day Mirko Grbic (Time Attack Mitsubishi EVO) was again the fastest tin-top on

75.54s which allowed him to hang on to second place in the championship.

Historics had a good showing in Group N with three Morris Coopers, one Volvo 122S, an Austin A40 Farina and a VW Beetle in the up to 2000cc class.

The Minis took the top three places headed by Steven Weymouth-Wilson

from Stephen Schmidt and Luke Patterson.

Larry Kogge (Holden Torana LJ) was the only over 2.0-litre entry. He put on his usual pace to finish 15th outright.

Maurice Harper again took the class win ahead of his wife Linda in their shared Corolla. Gary Hill

Image: Bob Taylor

David Mahon continued his run of outright wins at Collingrove.

MAHON CONTINUES HIS WINNING WAYS AFTER TWO round wins in the Victorian Hillclimb Championship, David Mahon was back on home turf to take out the first round of the Sporting Car Club of South Australia’s Collingrove Challenge on April 24.

With 84 other competitors entered for the Barossa Valley event, the current SA champion easily set the fastest time on the

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five of a possible seven runs that he made.

Even his first attempt of 29.47s was good enough for FTD, although the Hayabusapowered Dallara F394 driver’s fastest time came his on third go with a flash 28.62s effort.

This was 4.8s faster than the second placed David Walsh in his Nija GA7. Walsh

had left his best to last. On the final run he relegated Gavin Farley to third by 0.07s.

Farley was fastest tin top in his Mitsubishi EVO 7.

Half a second adrift was Paul Keen who took fourth spot in his Westfield XTR2.

Fifth place went to Alex Wilson (Audi A4) by a meagre 0.01s after Roy Michie

(Cheap BOSS) produced his best on the final run.

Richard Holland (VW Beetle) was less than two tenths of a second away while the remainder of the top 10 comprised Jason Bartsch (Mercedes A45 AMG), and David Coombe and Aaron Keen both EVO 7 mounted. GOB

Image: Tim Nicol

CHR

NOMETRIC

All things historic with Mark Bisset

Photo Credits: Reg Hunt via David Zeunert Collection and Rod MacKenzie

LING LANDS MEMORIAL THE SEASON starter for the Northern Australia Motor Sports Club and the Shannons Pointscore Championship was at Hidden Valley on April 18.

It was also the Ross Hanning Memorial, with the prestigious perpetual trophy going to David Ling.

Ling won all three races in Commodore Cup while Ross Salmon was unbeaten in Improved Production, but in the combined points the low entry numbers in the latter group ensure Ling took the overall result.

Salmon (Holden Commodore) had the wood on Steve Johnstone (Commodore) across the three races, with a 6s advantage in races one and two, and over 10s in the final race.

Ling was kept on his toes by Geoff Cowie

and Shane Smith in the first two races, while Gary Dempsey was fourth in both.

Debutant Gabriel Thorjornsen suffered tyre dramas in the first race, which became a retirement.

Then he had a fifth and finished the day with third ahead of Smith and Dempsey in the last.

In HQ Holdens there were three different winners across the three races.

Peter Anderson won the first by 0.21s over Dylan Bujnowski, with Stravros Mostris half a second behind.

The next time out, Bujnowski scored the win with Mostris second and Anderson third. Mostris picked up victory in the last ahead of Anderson and Bujnowski. Angela Agostini was fourth in each race. GOB

Jack Brabham blasts across Warwick Farm’s Causeway during the February 1968 Tasman round. His Brabham BT23E-1 was here Repco-Brabham 740 powered. It has since been restored with circa 295bhp 830 Repco inlet between the Vee, side-exhaust crossflow engine, the RBE’s ultimate spec Tasman 2.5 with which it mainly raced.

HSRCA SYDNEY CLASSIC: RON TAURANAC MEMORIAL MEETING, JUNE 12-13

GET YOUR entry in or book a ticket for what promises to be a ripper meeting at Sydney Motorsport Park. Events are being held for all single-seater, sportscar and touring-car groups with feature races, parade laps and displays of Ron Tauranac designed Brabhams and Ralts. Repco’s Brabham BT19 Repco, Jack Brabham’s 1966 F1 championship winning mount, will be among a half-dozen F1 and Tasman Brabhams.

Aaron Lewis is running Jack Brabham’s 1968 Tasman BT23E in its definitive 2.5-litre Repco 830 V8 engined form, as raced by Brabham in the 1968 AGP at Sandown.

Allan Moffat and Ian Cook had a drive of this car in period while John Harvey was recovering from a big accident which came close to claiming his life during the ’68 Easter Bathurst Gold Star round, when a rear upright failed.

Harvey raced it in the 1969 and 1970 Australian Tasman rounds and the ’69 Gold Star (where he won Sandown). Its last Bob Jane Racing championship race was the ’70 Symmons Plains Gold Star round, which Harvey also won.

It then raced in West Australia with Ford twin-cam power, before being restored and raced in the modern-era by the late William Marshall, then Art Valdez took it to the US. Now restored by Lewis to his usual high standard – it broke-cover at Motorclassica five years ago – the Tauranac Meeting on June 12 will be its first since 1983!

Image: Ian Colley

Ian Mountain and crew with the brand-spankers IKM Peugeot Special, at the November 1954 AGP held on the Southport back-roads. Beautiful in light-blue, note the big SU which feeds an even bigger Wade-blower. It was Peugeot 1.5-litre OHV four-cylinder powered.

AMOS COTTONS ON TO RECORD PACE RECORDS WENT at the second round of the Queensland Hillclimb Series, as Dean Amos won round two at Mt Cotton on April 17-18.

Amos went faster than he ever had been before and broke his own track record in his Nicholson McLaren V8-powered Gould GR55B. On the seventh of 11 available attempts, Amos produced a time of 36.16s which undercut his previous benchmark set in late 2019 by 0.08s.

The over 1.3-litre Formula Libre class dominated the top places, with Dean Tighe second (supercharged Hayabusa engined Empire Wraith). Tighe went quicker in the top six at the end of the meeting but the 38.16s run did not count and he was still second to Amos.

Tighe took the runner-up spot ahead of

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Warwick Hutchinson (turbocharged rotary OMS 28) and Brett Bull (turbocharged Van Diemen RF03) in fourth. Fifth went to Ed McCane in his under 1.3-litre F/L DJ Racecars Firehawk, ahead of Greg Tebble (Group R Van Diemen FF2000).

The seventh best time went to Ross McKay who was the best of the tin tops. The Ford Escort driver broke the under 2.0-litre Sports Sedan previous best time twice on the first day, set a new best of 43.83s, and did not return for day two.

Michael Larymore (Production Sports Toyota MR2) finished eighth with Brian Pettit (Westfield SE Clubman), Rick Miles (Kookaburra FF91 Formula Ford), Jason McGarry (Caterham R300 Clubman) and James Heymer (Farrell Sports 1300) the next best of the 65 entries. GOB

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IKM PEUGEOT SPECIAL: DICK WILLIS

DICK WILLIS has acquired the Ian Keith Mountain Peugeot Special from Ian Tate. Dick is beavering away at its restoration, with a little luck we will see a car in early 2022.

Ian Mountain, a young Melbourne racer had this supercharged OHV 4-cylinder, supercharged Peugeot engined, spaceframe chassis car ready for the 1954 AGP at Southport. “By the ’55 Gnoo Blas meeting they nearly had the car sorted. “His death was a tragedy, he came off in a really dangerous, fast, down-hill part of the (Gnoo Blas) track lined with barbed wire”, Willis related.

“Harry Firth ended up with the parts, (and) for years they were stored at the Marne Garage, eventually he sold them to ‘Tatey’ in the HDT days. Gradually Ian did bits and pieces over the decades. I got intrigued in the car talking about it at one of the Gnoo Blas retrospectives, and kept in touch with Ian, we eventually did a deal.

“The chassis has been repaired, Ian did the body from the front wheels back. The nose is being done at the moment. Ian bought an engine way back about 1974. I’ve pulled it apart, it’s being rebuilt, tacho drives and the induction manifold are in process.”

Greg Smith has rebuilt the Wade supercharger at his Brighton Temple of Speed. It was pored over by a group of old-fogeys on Anzac Day – it did service on the HDT Torana Rallycross car back in-the-day! “Tatey rebuilt the MG TC ‘box with close-ratios. The nineinch Ford diff, cut-down for the de Dion rear axle set-up, is still there and ok.”

It is a fantastic little car, born just as the Coopers were becoming plentiful additions to our grids. We all look forward to seeing it Dick!

Get in touch with Mark if you have something of interest to share– mark@bisset.com.au

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NATIONALS wrap n compiled by garry o’brie

Images: John Lemm and David Batchelor

HISTORICS BACK AT MALLALA HISTORIC RACING returned to Mallala on April 17-18 after a two year break for the Action Line Marking All Historic.

Special guest was twice Australian Drivers’ Champion Spencer Martin, who was guest speaker at the Saturday night dinner as well as judge and trophy presenter in the Show and Shine.

He was also reunited with the Bob Jane Elfin 400 Repco sports car which he drove in 1967.

HISTORIC SPORTS SEDAN SUPERSPRINTS

TWENTY-FOUR entered and unfortunately the fastest two, Carey McMahon’s ex-Graeme Whincup Chev Monza and Simon Podlewski’s ex-Bryan Thompson Mercedes both dropped out with engine problems during qualifying.The Monza was repaired for Saturday’s second event, with locally borrowed parts.

Simon Pfitzner (Datsun Stanza) was quickest from Bruce Combe (Mazda RX7) and Aaron Hodges (Ford Escort V8) in the first sprint, before McMahon was fastest ahead of Combe and Damian Johnson (Toyota Celica) in the second.

McMahon was quickest in both of Sunday’s encounters, from Pfitzner and Combe in the first, then Combe and Johnson in the final.

GROUPS M, O & P

SEAN WHELAN (Brabham BT30) dominated and won the four encounters. He led home

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a battling Laurie Bennett (Elfin 600B) and Shane Kuchel (Brabham BT18) in the first, then easily won the next as Bennett, Kuchel and David Kent (Brabham BT21) fought over second. Bennett’s spin on the third lap dropped him down the field and left Kent to just pip Kuchel at the end.

This race was also notable for the retirement of both Elfin 400s. Mark Goldsmith’s Globe broke a driveshaft on the start line and Bill Hemming’s ex-Bob Jane version lost an oil line on the back straight on the third lap.

Race three included the Tim Kuchel Memorial Trophy for Group O, which Whelan took easily from Tim’s nephew Shane and Bennett. The final also went to Whelan, well clear of Kuchel and the Rennmax BN3 driven

by Wayne Seabrook.

Groups N & S

THE FALCON GTs of Kym Burton and Adam Smith jumped polesitter Josh Axford’s Escort RS1600 off the line. Axford then had his hands full to hold off Justin Elvin and Jason Armstrong in their Mini Cooper S’ for the remainder.

Smith made a better start than Burton in the next, while Axford bogged down on the line and was passed by the two Mini drivers.

Axford was soon into third, but the race finished under the safety car, after a collision

in the Northern Hairpin between Geoff Davis (Mazda RX2) and Philip Barrow (Holden FJ) which partially blocked the track.

Smith got away a little too eagerly in Sunday’s opener, incurred a 5s penalty and dropped to third behind Burton and Axford.

The two Falcons pulled away in the final with Axford again in front of Armstrong and Elvin, before Smith had a wild moment, on to the dirt towards the Northern Hairpin.

Burton fortunately saw this in his mirror and took evasive action as Smith shot across in front of him. Axford finished second from Armstrong, with Smith seventh.

GROUPS Q, R & F5000

ALL THREE Elfin MR8s built began the meeting but Sam Shahin’s was out after qualifying with a lack of gears. The F5000s started at the back of the Q and R field.

Andrew Ford (Birrana 274) won the four encounters with Kevin West in his refurbished Grantinni 3B in a dice with Jim Doig (Motorlab ASP 340) all weekend.

Dean Camm (Chevron B24) was fastest F5000 before he retired on the final lap.

Bill Hemming (MR8) headed a group from Rod Carroll (Lola T140) and Brenton Griguol (T142). With Ford ahead of Doig and West in the next, Hemming again took F5000 honours from Griguol and Carroll.

It was the same trio at the front in the third,

but Griguol spun straight after taking the F5000 lead. Hemming dropped out on the final lap with a broken gearlever, letting the Lola driver back in front from Mike Glynn (MR8) whilst Carroll also retired.

With Ford, West and Doig in the top places, Hemming’s repaired Elfin took F5000 from Griguol and Glynn in the final.

FORMULA FORD, FORMULA JUNIOR & FORMULA VEE

IN THEIR Van Diemen Formula Fords, Neil Richardson and Philip Oakes shared firsts and seconds over four races, with Glen Woodforde (Reynard) third each time.

Noel Bryen (Renmax BN1) took Formula Junior honours each time from Kim Shearn (Lotus 18), whilst Peter George and Don Grieveson shared Formula Vee wins.

GROUPS K & L

DESPITE THE best efforts of Shane Bowden (PRAD 5) and Michael Shearer (Ford A Special), Derek Foster (JAP-powered Cooper Mk6) was first in the three scratch races.

Shearer also won the Don Fraser Memorial for Group K cars.

The final was a handicap, Andrew Box (Dodge Special) won from Gerard Miller (Plymouth Special) and Bowden.

John Lemm

MRA TAKES CATEGORIES INTO THE NIGHT ENDURO RACES with a twist were featured at Sydney Motorsport Park as field raced under lights, part of a long one-day second round of the Motor Racing Australia Series on April 24.

HYUNDAI EXCELS

JUST DAYS after announcing their Bathurst 1000 tilt, Broc Feeney and Russell Ingall took a resounding win in the scheduled 90-minute enduro.

Before it was cut short to 73 minutes, Feeney qualified fastest and Ingall took the helm for the first half.

He led from the outset, saw off the challenge of Jess Martin (sharing with Zak Hudson) and diced with Cody Burcher (sharing with Cooper Murray), who led for six laps.

Ingall regained the lead and was able to steadily pull away before his stop 28-laps in.

Holly Espray (with Richard Espray) was second by that stage and followed Ingall in.

Feeney took over from Ingall and extended the lead.

“Russell did all the hard work, I just had to bring it home,” he said.

Espray surrendered places to Michael Clemente, who had taken over from Ben Crossland as well as Murray, third in the end. The Esprays crossed the line fourth but were relegated to 27th for a technical wheel infringement.

There were three safety cars, the first just 10-laps in when the Matt Woodward/Lachlan

home on the same lap were Stuart Robertson (NGB Arrow) and Wayne Horsewell (NGB Italkart Godzilla).

Vella’s closest class rivals Robin and Laurie Fooks (Raider) were prominent early before finishing sixth and seventh ahead of John Dunn (250cc Anderson Maverick), who was third in the sprint and another forced to take a late fuel top up.

Image: Riccardo Benvenuti

Ward entry had a tyre virtually off the rim. Just after the restart there was a multi car incident over the tunnel which affected Leis Buhagair/ Ray Cripps, Jeremey Hodges/Zak Bates, and Tom Macleod/Bailly Sweeny.

NISSAN PULSARS

HE MISSED the opening two rounds but when Josh Craig came back, it was like the reigning winner of the last two titles had never been away.

He won two of the three races and was in front in the third when it was canned.

This year’s points leader Tim Colombrita started Race 1 off pole and led the first lap ahead of Josh Haynes and Craig.

Colombrita incurred a pit drive-through, punished for weaving before the start.

In the meantime Craig passed Haynes, and a lap later, Daniel Smith had worked his way to third, overtaking Josh Haynes.

Craig saw off early challenges from Haynes to win Race 2 with Reynolds third. Colombrita worked his way to 11th before a spin at Turn 6.

The last race was only half a lap old when Greg Dufficy was caught out by oil at Turn 7.

It turned him sideways, and he was slammed

by Kane Alderton with nowhere to go.

Craig was in front ahead of Osmond, Inwood, Eberhart and Haynes when the race was stopped.

SUPER TT

DRAMAS BEFELL some of the front runners in the preliminary. The Benny Tran/Lloyd Godfrey Honda Integra stopped three corners in, and teammate Jimmy Tran (Honda Civic) spun a corner later.

Greg Boyle (Nissan Skyline R32) was slow away and trailed Todd Herring until there were two laps to go when he passed the Mazda MX5 for the win.

Tran was third but a 5s penalty dropped him to fourth behind Ben Mannix (Mazda RX7).

Boyle led the opening lap of the enduro before the Nissan was garaged and out. Herring took over the lead and led Tran until his compulsory pitstop three quarters of the way into the race.

Ross Wood (Skyline) showed the way for six laps, but a (too) late stop and a five-lap penalty put paid to a good result.

Tran was second by that stage and took the lead for the final two laps and won from Herring and Stuart McFadyen (MX5).

SUPERKARTS

AFTER LEE Vella (125cc Anderson Maverick) comfortably took out the preliminary sprint over Mark Robin (125cc Avoig Elise), it seemed he would also win the win the 50min enduro.

Following the compulsory pit stops Vella held a commanding lead of two laps but he had to make a late stop for fuel and re-joined was third.

On the last lap he passed the Non Gearbox karts of firstly Patrick Ross (Viper) and then Mark Vickers (Woodgate Evo) for a 7s victory. Also

MAZDA MX5 CUP

A HERRING win is normal, but Todd Herring elected to run his son’s non-turbo Mazda, which suited Tim Herring.

The latter won the first race although he trailed Curran Brennan until the start of the last lap. Rob Hay held off Richard Herring for third while Todd Herring did similarly so to Stuart McFadyen.

Tim Herring was first all the way in Race 2, so too Hay in second place. Todd Herring and McFadyen swapped spots a few times before the former prevailed.

In the last Hay was first across the line ahead of Tim Herring, who struggle in the closing laps with a misfire. But post-race both had 5s added which put them behind Terry Johnson and McFadyen.

ALFA ROMEO RACING

THE SECOND round of the Alfa Romeo series was won by Michael Musumeci with two wins and a second over the three races in his Alfa GT V6 3.2.

Darren Harris (Alfetta GTV 2.0) led Race 1 at the start but ultimately lost out to Musumeci and his dad Alfio (Alfetta GTV 2.0 Turbo). Matt Magraith (105 GTV) was fourth and just held off the closing Colin Wilson-Brown (1750 GTV).

While Michael Musumeci led Race 2 throughout, Harris looked to split a family one-two when Alfio had a moment on the last lap. But the latter came back to snatch second at the line. In this race Wilson-Brown toppled Magraith.

Harris won the last race after Michael Musumeci led on two occasions while Wilson-Brown took third away from Alfio Musumeci. GOB

LATE FINISH FOR QRDC ROUND THE ONE-DAY race meeting featured five classes and four races each and it went into the evening at Queensland Raceway, during the third round of the QR Drivers’ Championships on April 24.

TRACK ATTACK EXCEL CUPS

IN AN extraordinary round where Cam Bartholomew and Treigh Maschotta shared race wins with two apiece, qualifying was no indication of the final outcome.

Both started out of positions sixth and 10th respectively and after 12-laps of feverish racing the top six were covered by just 2s.

Bartholomew emerged the Race 1 winner over Darren Whittington, Jaylyn Robotham, Ryan O’Sullivan, Maschotta and Ryan Casha.

Maschotta won Race 2 when he snatched the lead on the last lap. Whittington was second ahead of Bartholomew and O’Sullivan.

Bartholomew hit back to take Race 3 from O’Sullivan with Connor Roberts third.

Under lights Maschotta won the last but second place ensured Bartholomew the round victory. Roberts was third in the night race.

QLD SPORTS & SEDANS

THE ADDITION of Production Utes and the new Hot Hatch Cup category made for an enormous field, where the outright wins over the four races went to MARC Cars each time.

Races 1, 2 and 3 went to Geoff Taunton in his MARC II Mustang before the results switched

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in the final when Lachlan Gardner in the MARC Mazda took victory after three seconds. They were best of QR Sports, with Steve Hay third in class driving a Ford Mustang.

In Race 1, Adam Hargraves (MARC) was third in front of Grant Elliott (BMW E36 M3/ Chev), who picked up thirds in the next two races but stopped in the last. After sixth in Race 1, Rob Droder (Holden Commodore VE) came home with a pair of fourths and then a third to take out QR Sports top honours ahead of Brett Ryan (Subaru WRX).

Production Utes went to Scott Tamati in Ford Falcon as class best in all four races with Brendan Exner (Falcon) second overall and John Young (Commodore) third.

Meanwhile, two Hot Hatch victories ensured Jed Murphy (Hyundai Excel) the round from Dylan Cothill (Mazda 2) and Trent Laves (Hyundai Getz). Sean Evans (Honda Jazz) scored two wins but a DNF in Race 3 put him out of the top three.

SUPERKARTS

THE LARGER capacity machines dominated, particularly Russell Jamieson, who took his 250cc International Anderson Maverick to four wins ahead of the similar National machine driven by Tim Weier.

In Race 1 rookie Greg Hack (Stockman MR2) won the 125cc class and took third outright when Jonathan Bothamley (Formula 1) slowed with an electrical drama. Fourth and the only other on the lead lap was Liam Hoy.

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The second race produced the same result while Peter Nuske (Peter Woodgatee Racing) again won Rotax Max ahead of Leighton Cook (Wildkart FY30) and was fifth outright.

Bothamley had sorted his issue and Image: MTR Images came through for third in Race 3 ahead of Hack. Nuske was fifth ahead of Ben Longland gland (Aarow) as Hoy DNF’d and followed up with another top five in the last, where Hack edged out Bothamley for third.

FORMULA VEES

THE FOUR races went the way of Alex Hedemann but to achieve it was the hard part as the Rapier driver had to fight off several challengers.

The top six in Race 1 were covered by 1.5s where Lachlan Murphy (Polar) initially led from Tim Alder (Rapier), Alex McDonald (Jacer) and Hedemann, who all held the advantage at some point. In the end it was Alder second from McDonald, Murphy.

It was not until the second half of Race 2 that Hedemann gained the ascendancy and went on to a more comfortable winning margin over McDonald and Murphy.

Murphy took the fight up to Hedemann in Race 3 and led on three occasions. He dropped back to second ahead of McDonald.

After five laps of the last Murphy took the lead for a couple and finished second ahead of Alder and Murphy.

QLD SPORTS CARS

NOT STARTING the last was the only thing that prevented Rielly Brook and his Formula 3 Dallara F306 from total domination after three race victories.

Likewise Ant Basile in his first Dallara outing was second in each and another not to start the last.

Chris Purvis (F3 Mygale M07) was an early casualty, as he crashed out of Race 1, which left Grant Green (Radical SR3) third in three races and the winner of the last – ahead of Bernie Harbeck in his Norma LMP3 each time. GOB

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s w e n Y A W SPEED

Report: Paris Charles Images: Richard Hathaway FOR THE final time in the 2020/21 Western Australian Speedway season, the winged warriors ventured to the Perth Motorplex for the third and final round of the Maddington Toyota Triple Crown Series.

With 18 Sprintcars assembled in the pit area, all the teams were keen to end the local scene on a high note and claim the $5,000 winner purse.

Following the form guide, Callum Williamson was the man to beat and rightly so, as the odds-on favourite didn’t disappoint with victory in both of his heat races to take pole alongside Kris Coyle, who top qualified with a 13.906 earlier in the evening.

Taylor Milling and Daniel Harding shared the second row for the 30-lap main event.

Dane Kingshott missed the race due to an ignition box fault, despite his crew rushing to change it before the event.

At the start, the field blasted into Turn 1 where all hell broke loose as Harding spun in front of the pack and as the rest of the field tried to avoid him, Andrew Priolo rode out a spectacular rollover after tagging the back of his brother David’s machine.

CALLUM WILLIAMSON WINS FINALE JASON PRYDE TAKES TRIPLE CROWN At the complete restart, Williamson quickly check out from the field and opened a handy lead ahead of Jason Pryde. Both were making the top side of the track work as the rest of the competitors started to separate from each other until a caution period on lap 16 when Trevor Reynolds spun at Turn 4.

Reynolds re-joined at the back of the 14-cars remaining while for Williamson the restart was business as usual as he read the track conditions exquisitely. Running low in Turns 1 and 2 then high in 3 and 4 he opened up another handy break until Harding’s challenging run ended when he

crashed at Turn 4 with 10-laps remaining.

Williamson again checked out, but the race was on for the minors as Taylor Milling and Kris Coyle were both on a charge, relegating the W14 of Jason Pryde back to fourth.

However, things quickly turned sour for Coyle, tagging the Turn 4 fence, ending his podium quest.

For the final five-laps, Williamson set sail again around the top and into victory lane.

Milling proved a worthy runner up, while Jason Kendrick made the most of the restart, advancing onto the final podium step after starting seventh.

Pryde was next, affording him just enough points to take the overall series win.

Following were Darren Mewett, AJ Nash, David Priolo, Troy Lawson, Matthew Cross, Trevor Jolly, Jaydee Dack and Trevor Reynolds.

Single heat race wins were shared by Daniel Harding and Jason Kendrick, while Callum Williamson collected a double.

After the three rounds were tallied, Jason Pryde proved consistency was the key to winning the Triple Crown Series with 424 points, just four points ahead of Jason Kendrick and AJ Nash third.

ECL DOMINANCE CONTINUES FOR LACHLAN Report: Paris Charles Image: Declan Brownse DUE TO mother nature’s unfavourable weather at Archerfield Speedway on April 24, the 10th round of the East Coast Logistics Sprintcar Series was rescheduled for the following day.

While Lachlan McHugh took victory in the 30-lap feature event, the path travelled proved to be challenging.

McHugh’s night started well, posting second quickest time behind top qualifier Dave Fanning, who stopped the clock with a 11.499. The field was so close that 23 of the 26 competitors were separated by less than a second.

McHugh’s run went to plan in his opening heat, advancing five positions from seventh to second, but such is the competitive nature of the game he then failed to finish his second heat. This dropped him to the bottom end of the top 8 and into the Bronze Shootout.

McHugh came back to win the Bronze, Silver and Gold Shootouts to secure pole position for the start of the A-Main.

Joining him on the front row was Cody Maroske with Jessie

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Attard and Callum Walker sharing the second row, while Fanning was fifth.

From the drop of the green, McHugh jumped to the front of the pack to lead the charge. By lap 7 McHugh had caught the back of the field with a wall of cars three wide in front. At this point, B-Main victor Allan Woods spun to a stop at Turn 3.

With clear track ahead McHugh again set sail until the halfway mark where lapped traffic came into play before the second

of the cautions transpired after Kevin Titman spun exiting Turn 4, relegating him to the back of the pack for the third and final stanza of the race.

Again, McHugh made the most of a clear track. Jessie Attard also benefitted from this restart, using the top side of the track to race from fifth to battle Maroske for second, before being reeled in and passed by Callum Walker.

McHugh again caught lapped traffic for the third time but he negotiated his way through, and this persisted for the remaining distance. This allowed Maroske to challenge in the closing stages, however McHugh had him covered in the run to the line and in doing so racked up his seventh ECL series victory from the 10 rounds contested to date.

Rounding out the top five was Adam Butler, who advanced from seventh, while Brent Kratzmann, Tim Farrell, Aaron Kelly, Randy Morgan and Dave Fanning dropped back through the field to round out the top 10.

Veteran racer Darren Jensen was next followed to the finish by Ben Hilder, Kevin Britten, Nicholas Whell, Kevin Titman, Anthony Lambert, Kristy Bonsey and Mark Pholi, the final competitor to cross the line. Allan Woods was the only retirement of the race.

Single heat race wins were shared between Woods, Titman, Corbet and Jensen, while well-travelled New South Welshman Jessie Attard took two.

LUKE DILLON KARATE KICKS THE FIELD

VICTORIAN TIN TOP TITLE TREAT! Report: Paris Charles Image: Shane Sharrock

Report: Paris Charles Image: Ray Ritter A LAST-MINUTE decision to enter the final Sprintcars SA Club show for the 2020 / 21 South Australian Speedway season at the Murray Machining and Sheds Murray Bridge Speedway proved fruitful for veteran racer Luke Dillon.

In just his second outing for the 2021 season, Dillon took a dominant feature race victory as he broke the 12-second bracket.

From the outset, Dillon set quickest time at the beginning of the night, stopping the clock with 11.259s. His closest rival was Daniel Pestka, who led a group of nine competitors under a second slower than the fastest time.

More importantly, the top 8 made the inversion cut, while the final four started from the back in all four heats.

Going into the final Dillon and Pestka lined up side by side on the front-row after mirroring each other’s results in the heat races, with a solid victory and a third place apiece.

While Dillon led comfortably, the race for second was the one to watch as Pestka and

Ryan Jones battled hard. During the closing stages, Jones’ persistence paid dividends as he managed to pass Pestka for second and follow Dillon.

Steven Caruso finished where he started in fourth and in doing so being the only non Triple X chassis in the top five.

New South Welshman Jessie Attard advanced from seventh to fifth followed by Lisa Walker. Young guns Max Vidau, Lachlan McDonough and Brent Fox rounded out the finishers.

Ben Morris and Joel Heinrich failed to

travel the distance after experiencing tyre delaminations and rookie Daniel Puddy crashed out early after hitting the Turn 3 wall.

Heat race wins were shared with one apiece going to Luke Dillon, Daniel Pestka, Ryan Jones and Jessie Attard.

Former Australia number 3 Carey Weston won the 15-lap Street Stock feature. The veteran racer taking his Ford Falcon to Victory Lane with Nigel Reichstein and Craig Buchanan flanking him on the podium.

Weston won two of the 10-lap heat races with Reichstein snaring a single.

MICK NICOLA JR WINS VICTORIAN SUPER SEDAN CHAMPIONSHIP Report: Paris Charles Image: Ray Ritter AFTER TAKING the South Australian Super Sedan championship only a few short weeks prior, second-generation driver Mick Nicola Jr continued his run of good form by winning the Victorian Super Sedan Championship.

It was Nicola’s maiden Victorian Super Sedan title at a rain swept Blue Ribbon Raceway in Horsham, as the venue hosted the event for the first-time.

Going into the 30-lap final Nicola Jr started from the second row alongside the well-travelled Tasmanian Champion Callum Harper.

Reigning New South Wales Champion Mick Nicola Snr and five-time Victorian Champion

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Lucas Roberts filled out the front-row.

At the drop of the green flag the field pounced but Roberts retired at the end of the opening circulation, ending any chances of adding his name to the championship record books for a sixth time.

Using the bottom side, Jamie Collins quickly advanced on the slippery surface from fifth to square up, side-by-side with Nicola Snr to challenge for the lead. Then Nicola Jr joined to make it a three-way battle for the lead as he seized the opportunity. He slingshoted around the outside of Collins on the fifth circulation.

Once in front, Nicola set the pace but Collins was up for the challenge as the duo stretched the distance back to the pack, so much so they were the only two competitors

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to break into the mid 16-second per lap bracket.

On lap 16, the leaders negotiated their way through the first of the slower traffic. Nicola Jnr went on to lap up to sixth place and take the express 30-lap feature ahead of Collins, who was a mere 0.835s behind.

Nicola Sr held Harper at bay for third with Ash Bergmeier rounding out the top five.

The South Australian duo of Kym Jury and Paul Blenkiron finished in sixth and eighth, respectively positioning Darren Giacometti between them in seventh. Ben Faulkhead and Lionel West rounded out the top 10.

The six heat race victories were shared with Nicola Jr the only driver to win two, while singles were shared by Collins, Nicola Snr, Harper and Roberts.

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A LARGE crowd gathered at Ballarat’s Redline Speedway for a sedan fest, with the top billing co-shared by the Victorian Championships for both the Late Models and Modified Sedans.

A thundering field of 14 V8-powered Late Models with competitors representing Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia and Tasmania put on some fantastic racing for the Forte Engineering Victorian Title.

After the heats were run, we would see Callum Harper and Todd Bayley sharing the front-row for the 25-lap feature race with Peter Nicola and Brendan Hucker behind.

Harper took an early lead followed by Bayley and Chevy Edwards advancing from fifth to third before the first race stoppage. From the restart Harper and Bayley thrilled the crowd with solid door-to-door racing as Bayley tried his best to work under Edwards before the second of the caution periods.

The frontline battle recommenced with Bayley sticking to the low side to snatch the lead, from that point the New South Welshman stretched his advantage, while a great three-way battle was in full swing for the minor placings until a late caution period.

With just two laps remaining and clear track ahead, Bayley led the field away for a green, white, and chequered finish.

Callum Harper, Brendan Hucker and Lachlan Onley rounded out the podium.

Fifth and sixth were the Edwards’ Chevy ahead of Brock, Mick Nicola, Wayne Belk, Will Lamb and Shane Belk.

Failing to travel the distance was David Robertson, Tim Pyke, Peter Nicola and SA’s Brad Gartner.

With a huge field of 40 Modified Sedans on hand to compete for the Victorian title, combined with the running of the Ern Overall Memorial, the racing proved an action pack affair.

As the competitors lined up for the 35-lap main event, three of the top four starting positions were occupied

by Mildura racers Jake Drewett, Jarod Waters and Wade McCarthy, with the Australian Champion Kye Walters thrown in for good measure.

At the completion of the incident packed 35-lap journey Jake Drewett took the Victorian Championship followed by Kye Walters, Jarod Waters and Wade McCarthy.

Scott Angus, Matt Gerlach, Aaron Bunton, Damien Miller, Chris Rieck and Michael Wicks completed the finishers.

John Dike, Nick Cockerill, Todd Atkins, Brody Chrystie, Cameron Dike, Dale Hallett, Lucas Conder, Ty Galley, Martin Hawson and Matt Nelson were all nonfinishers.

AutoAction 57

We take a look back at what was making news in Auto Action 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 years ago 1971: THE INAUGURAL Sunraysia 250 Desert Rally took place and was won by motorcyclist Bryan Clarkson on his Husqvarna 360. Over 140 competitors took part in the event just south of Mildura, it even featured Gold Star champion Kevin Bartlett on a Yamaha 250. Elsewhere Alan Moffat’s appeal against disqualification for ignoring a mechanical black flag for too many laps was over ruled and his disqualification stood.

1981: FOGES REVEALED that Datsun was likely to return to national touring car racing with a turbo charged version of its yet to be released Bluebird.

It was also announced that the then reigning Australian Rally Champion George Fury would lead the charge at the Bathurst 1000. It was a big week of national motor racing, Peter Brock the ATCC round in Adelaide, Tony Edmondson won in Sports Sedans, John Smith in Formula 2 and Geoff Portman in ARC.

1991: DESPITE DOMINATING the opening five rounds of the Australian Touring Car Championship, CAMS declared the all-conquering Nissan GTRs would not be slowed down to even up the competition until at least 1992. Internationally Ayrton Senna led home McLaren teammate Gerhard Berger in the 1991 San Marino, while a young Russell Ingall took his first race victory in the British Formula Ford Championship at Brands Hatch.

2001: THE BOSSES at Ford Australia were furious at the penalties handed down to Blue Oval boys Craig Lowndes and Marcos Ambrose at Eastern Creek. This robbed the Ford drivers of a 1-2 finish and meant that Holden’s unbeaten run continued.

In Formula 1, runaway Spanish race leader Mika Hakkinen was cruelly denied victory when his clutch failed on the final lap of the race handing reigning champion Michael Schumacher the win.

2011: CRAIG LOWNDES was preparing to race in the four-hour ADAC ACAS H&R Cup at the legendary 20.81km Nordschleife, alongside Warren Luff. Lowndes’ aim was to onto the Le Mans 24 Hours grid sooner rather than later. The new Pepsi Max colour scheme was also revealed on Greg Murphy’s Holden Commodore.

ACROSS

1. Jacky Ickx and Derek Bell won the Le Mans 24 Hours in 1975 sponsored by what brand?

6. How many times did Kevin Schwantz win the premier Motorcycle World Championship?

10. What is Cameron Waters’ best finishing position in the Bathurst 1000?

12. Nico Rosberg and Keke Rosberg won the F1 title with the same car number, what number was this?

13. Grand Prix Masters was a short-lived open wheel series for retired F1 drivers, who won the inaugural race in 2005? (surname) 14. Roberto Moreno scored his sole Formula 1 podium with what team in the 1990 Japanese Grand Prix?

15. Derek Bell finished third in the 1981 Bathurst 1000 alongside who? (full name)

and Isle of Man TT winner Mike Hailwood scored how many F1 podiums?

24. Who won the Hardie Ferodo 1000 with Peter Brock in 1975? (surname) 26. What is the nationality of reigning Formula E champion Antonio Felix da Costa?

27. Who scored Minardi’s first Formula 1 points? (surname) Images: Motorsport Images/AA Archive

17. Which Supercars/ATCC legend finished his career with 100 podiums?

20. Who is the reigning Australian Formula Ford Series winner? (surname) 21. Who was Craig Lowndes’ co-driver when he won his first Bathurst 1000? (surname) 22. How many times has Sebastien Loeb won the Dakar Rally?

23. Multiple time Motorcycle World Champion

DOWN

1. Which English Formula 1 World Champion was killed in a light plane crash in 1975? (full name) 2. Who won his first Formula 1 World Championship in 1975? (surname) 3. In what country was former F1 and Sportscar driver Howden Ganley born?

4. IndyCar legend Michael Andretti struggled in F1, with what team did he make his 13 Formula 1 starts?

5. For what team did Steven Richards make his Bathurst 1000 debut?

7. Prema Racing will field an F3 car for the younger brother of a current F1 driver, what is the famous surname?

8. What manufacturer has the most ATCC/ Supercars race race wins, with 578?

9. Who is the reigning FIA Formula 3 champion? (surname) 11. Who am I? I won races in GP2 and competed for Aston Martin in WEC before racing in Supercars for Tickford and GRM (surname).

16. Which rider won his final premier class World Motorcycle Championship in 1975? (surname) 18. Who is the winningest IndyCar driver across all eras? (surname) 19. Which Swiss driver is affectionately known as Mr Macau for his sensational win record at the legendary circuit? (surname) 21. Which former Bathurst 1000 winner won the 2010 Formula Ford Championship? (surname) 25. Who is the oldest driver to win the Super2 Series at the age of 35 years old?

1809 Crossword answers 1 down – fifth, 2 across – fourteen, 3 down – Todd Kelly, 4 across – Grice, 5 down – Edwards, 6 down – Keke Rosberg, 7 down – three, 8 across – Adam Macrow, 9 down – Rutherford, 10 down - DTM, 11 down – Jolyon Palmer, 12 across – McLaren, 13 across – Jones, 14 down – Larkham, 15 down – Murray Walker, 16 across – Kristoffersson, 17 down – Minardi, 18 across – Hungary, 19 across – Regazzoni, 20 across – XA, 21 across – twenty-seven, 22 across – second, 23 down – Murphy, 23 across – Mansell, 24 down – Lowndes, 25 down – five, 26 across – Whincup, 27 across – Brazilian, 28 across - French

58 AutoAction

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