Auto Action #1814

REVEALED HIGH-POWERED BIDS FOR SUPERCARS

CONFIRMED PERCAT STAYING PUT IN ’22

PER-FECT MATCH BJR STAR TARGETS GEN3 ATTACK PENSKE PALS

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MARK FOGARTY details the powerful bids being made for premier V8 racing

SALE OF THE CENTURY

SUPERCARS ON THE BLOCK

TWO HIGH-POWERED groups are preparing to make bids to buy Supercars, with both promising to become long-term owners.

Amid widespread confirmation that a Supercars sale is “in play”, V8 legend Mark Skaife and maverick telco entrepreneur Peter Adderton are leading rival buy-out plans.

Skaife has combined with leading sports marketing agency TLA to mount a takeover bid, while Adderton has formed a consortium of racing identities.

Five-time ATCC/Supercars champion Skaife is working with former Collingwood AFL star Craig Kelly, the CEO of TLA, assembling a powerful proposal to buy Supercars from private equity owner Archer Capital.

Boost Mobile chief Adderton has formed a bid group with five-time world 500cc motorcycle champion Mick Doohan, ex-racer Paul Morris, and expat BTCC boss Alan Gow. SCT transport mogul Peter Smith – who owns the REC that underpins son Jack’s BJR entry – is also linked to the high-powered syndicate.

Australian Racing Group, which made a previous offer to buy Supercars, could also be in the mix.

With negotiations at a delicate pre-formal bid stage, none of the principals of the two main bids are prepared to talk.

However, Auto Action has gathered broad intelligence that confirms the Adderton- and Skaife-led buy-out plans.

The bids differ markedly in that the Adderton group is proposing to purchase 100 per cent of Supercars for total control, while the TLA bid would just be for Archer’s majority share, leaving the teams with 35 per cent.

AA understands the price difference is $100 million for a total takeover or as little as $30 million if the teams retain their stake. Around $60 million is Archer’s target.

Archer Capital bought Supercars in 2011 for a reported $180 million as part of a basket of venture capital investments, selling the other components – including fast food chain Red Rooster – for a big profit.

Archer hasn’t funded Supercars in recent years and is looking to get out at the current market price, having made money for most of the life of its ownership.

It is now actively seeking expressions of interest to on-sell Supercars by the end of the year.

Porsche Carrera Cup racer Tim Miles, who brokered the sale of Supercars from Tony Cochrane’s SEL to Archer, is again fielding interest and potential offers.

Several sources have confirmed the Adderton consortium and Skaife’s TLA-backed bid as the primary contenders.

Both groups are pitching their case as longterm custodians of Supercars rather than shortterm profiteers.

TLA is Australia’s largest sports marketing company, with international links.

It is deeply involved with the AFL, representing a host of star players and coaches, and other leading sports.

TLA manages Skaife, who post-racing has become a Supercars broadcast star, and Kelly briefly ran Holden Racing Team under Skaife’s ownership in the mid-2000s.

Adderton has aligned with Morris, Gow and Doohan, plus possibly Smith.

The core group have long-standing ties.

Adderton was a major Super Touring team supporter in the mid-to-late 1990s, as well as partnering in the two-litre series with Gow and Morris’s father Terry.

Gow and Morris Snr were drivers of TOCA Australia, modelled on the BTCC and a bitter rival to Tony Cochrane’s V8 Supercars in 1997-98.

Image: Insyde Media

Adderton returned to Supercars sponsorship three years ago after a 20-year absence from Australian racing, building the Boost Mobile brand in the USA. Ironically, he now has the money and enthusiasm to take over Supercars.

His interest is backed by Gow and Paul Morris, who made his name as a driver in Super Touring.

“It’s the TOCA Oz dream team,” one observer wryly remarked.

They are all extremely wealthy, love V8 racing and have strong historical ties.

Gow’s interest in taking a stake in Supercars is important because he has maintained the BTCC’s success for nearly 30 years.

He would be a great boss of Supercars in the Gen3 era, returning home from the UK for a final fling.

Gow would not comment when contacted by AA, just as Adderton is reticent to show his hand.

But sources with knowledge of the talks maintain they are complicit in a bid for Supercars, just as Skaife is driving TLA’s interest.

Skaife and Kelly mounted an unsuccessful takeover effort with international partners around 2017.

A group of rich team owners also made an offer, rejected because it was too low. Their bid was around what Supercars, with the teams’ continued shareholding, is worth now.

Sources have confirmed Supercars has called for preliminary expressions of interest, with firm bids still to come.

“Supercars is in play,” an informant confirmed.

Supporters of the TLA and Adderton pitches have informally explained the advantages of each.

TLA proponents point to the organisation’s expertise in managing big sport – and a commitment to fostering Supercars permanently.

“It’s SEL on steroids,” an insider said, referring

to Tony Cochrane’s group that revolutionised V8 racing with a takeover of the ATCC in 1997.

“It’s not private equity. They’d be in it for the long haul.”

With Skaife’s urging, TLA sees the untapped potential of Supercars as a heartland national sport.

“It needs a proper sports business applying proper sports business disciplines to how it runs,” an informed source said. “TLA are the right partners for the teams to grow the sport.

“The next custodian of the sport is fundamental to the future of the game. If you don’t have the right partner, that’ll be the end of the sport.”

On the other side, supporters of the Adderton consortium maintain the teams must be cut out of an ownership stake for Supercars to prosper in the future.

“It needs a radical overhaul,” an insider said.

“Whoever buys it needs to be a rainmaker.

And the teams need to be removed from any ownership.

“All roads lead to them being removed. Archer just want to get their money and be gone.”

The fight for control of Supercars is in the very early stages, according to another source connected with the Adderton group.

“We’re in discussions, nothing further,” the informant observed. “We need to look further under the bonnet. So far, it’s just kicking the tyres.

“We’re not very far down the road. It’s a group of guys interested.”

The source emphasised that the ex-Super Touring group would continue Supercars as a V8 category.

“There’s no intention to change the formula,” the person said.

A Skaife/TLA supporter dismissed Adderton’s consortium as “a bunch of cowboys”.

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PERCAT LOCKS IN FOR

Nick Percat explains to BRUCE NEWTON why he’s re-signed at BJR and why he’s confident Gen3 is a competitive boost for him and the team NICK PERCAT has declared himself and Brad Jones Racing a strong championship contender in the new Gen3 Supercar era.

This week the star driver formally confirmed a handshake deal with team owner Brad Jones to race together again in 2022, extending a partnership that began in 2017.

As we reported last issue (Auto Action 1813) Percat had gone to Triple Eight boss Roland Dane in a bid to replace retiring Jamie Whincup, but was not successful.

After that, Jones moved to lock in him into his team once more.

“We have just extended it for next year,” confirmed Percat. “We just cruise along year by year. It’s on a handshake agreement and we are loyal to each other.

“We just look at each-other and say ‘yep we’ll go round again’. That’s what happens.

“It’s very hard to follow where my contracts are at normally because it’s just what Brad and I decide at random locations, be it at the toolbox at Bathurst while we’re watching a practice session, or in his office or wherever it is.”

Percat explained the relaxed nature of the deal reflects the relationship between the two men.

“He’s a lot more than a boss to me, he’s a very good friend,” he said. “I lean on him for things that have nothing to do with motor sport, so he’s not my boss. We’re two

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racers that want to go well and we’re doing it together.”

Coinciding with the renewal announcement, the Albury team has rolled out renders of the Chevrolet Camaro Percat will probably drive in the Gen3 era, which is currently scheduled to kick off in August 2022, midway through the 2022 season.

Presented in the colours of current primary sponsor R&J Batteries, the render is something of a tease, as BJR is yet to confirm whether it will swap from its current squadron of Holden Commodore ZBs to the Camaro or jump back over the red-blue divide to the Ford Mustang (BJR ran Falcons from 2000 to 2007).

Still, in for a penny or in for a pound, as BJR also revealed renders of a Camaro in the CocaCola colours of Percat’s team-mate Macauley Jones.

Percat, the 2011 Bathurst 1000 winner and 2016 Adelaide 500 champion, has steadily climbed up the grid in his time at BJR; 19th in 2017, 10th in 2018, ninth in 2019 and seventh in 2020.

Last year the South Australian native managed his first two wins for the team at Sydney Motorsport Park and in Townsville secured his first-ever Supercars pole position.

This year he runs seventh in the championship and has finished in the top 10 in six of his last seven starts, including the

Saturday turday podium in Darwin.

Percat is casting back to the last technical overhaul of the Supercars category in 2013 when Car of the Future replaced Project Blueprint, for championship inspiration.

BJR’s Jason Bright and Fabian Coulthard won five races between them that year, including Coulthard’s memorable victory at COTA in Texas and Bright’s light-smashing win in the Jason Richards Trophy at Pukekohe.

“With Gen3 there’s potential there, because generally when there’s been a change in rules or car, the engineers at BJR do a very good job,” Percat explained.

“The Gen3 project will be pretty exciting because it takes away a few elements that your Triple Eights and DJR might have over us.

There is no doubt some of the teams spend more money in the engineering department.

“BJR has a really good close-knit group that just want to build a fast car and Gen3 takes away some of the flexibility some of the other teams get to play with in budgets or having extra engineers drawing parts up and so on.

“I think we definitely have good potential coming into the new car, so hopefully it’s a case of history repeating itself.”

And that’s where championship ambitions come in.

“If everyone at Brad Jones Racing isn’t aspiring to that [winning the championship] then I am probably not at the right place.

“For me I come into every season optimistic

TITLE SHOT and we always have new parts on the car that could make the difference. So I’d be disappointed if anyone at BJR wasn’t thinking Gen3 was a big opportunity for us.

“We want to come out and hopefully at least stand on the podium a lot more often. Do that and you find yourself in championship position.

“I wouldn’t be doing this if I didn’t think I could win the championship.”

Such is his focus on results, Percat says he doesn’t care if BJR stays in the General Motors fold and opts for Camaro or swaps back over to Ford.

It’s a significant concession from Percat, whose family has strong ties to Holden and GM. Three generations of his family worked Holden plants in Adelaide. Percat has only ever race Holdens since he first race in Supercars in 2020.

“I’m at the point where I just want to win,” said Percat.

“I don’t care which one we race as long as we pick the fast one somehow.

“I’m obviously from a very passionate and loyal Holden or GM family, but I guess that’s all over now. I just want to be in the fastest car I can be.”

Percat, who will be 33 in September, is confident he will be able to extract the best from whatever car he ends up racing.

“I feel I am driving very well; I feel like I am maximising the car we have at BJR more often than not and taking it to Tickford, and Walkinshaw. DJR have been in reach.

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“The maturity side has come a long way.

Five or six years ago I might have been faster in one lap pace when I absolutely ragged the absolute crap out of the car and jagged a lap in qualifying. But now I feel the whole package is better.

“There is no cost in me trying to improve what I am doing, so I am always trying to go better.”

Brad Jones told Auto Action keeping Nick Percat at BJR simply made sense.

“Nick fits perfectly with the team, we have a great relationship. We have been together for a really long time now and I am looking forward to him being the team leader at BJR and doing what he does.”

Jones acknowledged there had been approaches to Percat about his services from other teams, but revealed he had moved quickly to lock him away.

“We did a deal quite early in the year. I am in no doubt other people were talking to him but he is doing a great job for us and I didn’t want to lose him.”

Jones said Percat’s input would be valuable as the team and category evolved into the Gen3 category.

“It’s always important to have experience in the team. It will be a balance between that experience, the engineering and all the stuff we have got going on.

“We know were he fits in terms of drivers, so it helps us to have an accurate yardstick.”

Percat is the first confirmed renewal at BJR for 2022.

Jones’ son Macauley is expected to return for a fourth year, while Jack Smith looks likely in the family-owned SCT Logistics entry.

Todd Hazelwood’s future with the team is also yet to be clarified.

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JONES ENGINEERS MORE SPEED

By BRUCE NEWTON WHILE NICK Percat aims for championship glory with BJR, his team-mate Macauley Jones’ fight to establish himself on the grid has made some important progress.

It’s been a tough slog for Jones since he joined the championship in 2019, but the second-generation racer had his consistently best qualifying in Darwin, going 12-12-9 in the three sessions, the latter result equalling his best ever grid position set in Sydney last year.

Jones says improving levels of communications with his rookie engineer Tom Wettenhall is a key reason his qualifying dramatically improved.

The next step, Jones readily concedes, is converting those strong grid positions into race results, something he didn’t do at Hidden Valley.

Jones, who drives a Coca-Cola backed Holden Commodore ZB for his father’s team, went only 17-20-20 in the races, leaving him in a frustrated 23rd in the championship.

Wettenhall has been at BJR since 2013, but until 2021 had been a data engineer for a variety of team drivers.

“Working with Tom has been a big change,” said Jones, who paired with highly experienced Julian Stannard in his first two championship seasons.

“I feel like we are really starting to understand each other and getting the most out of the relationship.”

Jones said Wettenhall had even started clarifying his definitions of car traits to make sure they were talking about the same thing.

“He sent me a message to explain what the definition of understeer is in his eyes,” Jones said. “It was interesting to hear what his take on understeer is and how he pictures it in his head.

“It means I can then interpret it that way for him.

“It’s such an important thing and in this category you need everything you can get.”

Jones said his drop down the order in the Darwin races was predominantly about him not maximising car speed in the early laps. Being spun out in race three didn’t help either.

“It’s definitely an area we are working on, those early five laps,” he said. “I am getting pushed around a little bit in the first couple of laps. It’s not what we want to happen but it’s part of that learning process.

“We just have to keep being up there.”

Jones, who works full-time alongside his father at BJR between meetings, says his progress since joining the championship hasn’t come as quickly as he wanted, but his determination to succeed remains undimmed.

“I am definitely not where I wanted to be,” he admitted. “I want to be further up the front and consistently up the front. You just have to keep at it, this game isn’t easy. I plan to just keep at it, I am a racer at heart.”

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MOSTERT INDYCAR CHANCE New contract triggers potential test post-COVID

By BRUCE NEWTON DISCUSSIONS HAVE started to get Supercars star Chaz Mostert into an IndyCar. While at the early stages, the prospects of an IndyCar test and/or a drive of a LMP2 sports car are very real for the Queenslander.

Mostert’s new multi-year deal with Walkinshaw Andretti United (WAU) was announced two weeks ago and the test opportunities spring straight from that.

That’s because WAU co-owners Zak Brown and Michael Andretti are both deeply involved in IndyCars, while Brown is also part-owner of World Endurance Championship LMP2 outfit, United Autosports.

Andretti Autosport is also involved in a wide variety of categories including Formula E, Extreme E, Indy Lights and IMSA sports car racing.

It should be stressed that none of the involved parties have specifically linked Mostert with an IndyCar or LMP2 drive, but the deep links the co-owners of the Supercars team have with those categories make them an obvious candidate.

While all parties are keen to make a test happen, Mostert’s opportunities to fly off overseas and have a drive are obviously limited by the pandemic and current international border closures and quarantine restrictions.

“Of course we’ve discussed it but nothing’s set in stone,” said WAU co-owner Ryan Walkinshaw of Mostert’s opportunity to test vehicles from the Brown and Andretti stables.

“Basically, you can’t leave Australia if you want to come back, there’s an aggressive amount of red tape.

“We are obviously going to see what we

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can do; we have spoken about giving him some tests in other categories and we’ll see how we go from there.

“But for the moment - and Chaz has probably told you this himself – his ultimate commitment is getting the Supercar championship and that is the focus.

“Anything else that will come from that in the future is absolutely secondary.

“We’ll cross that bridge once the travel restrictions are reduced.”

It’s being stressed the test (or tests) would not necessarily be a precursor to an overseas ride, although Mostert himself has more than once made plain he potentially fancies racing outside Australia and beyond Supercars sometimes in the future.

“I am not 100 per cent certain I would want to race Supercars forever, so we’ll just see what happens,” Mostert told Auto Action.

“I am pretty lucky to have three awesome team bosses in Ryan, Michael and Zak and they are obviously involved in different things around the world.

“I just want to try and keep my mindset open and at the moment Supercars is the focus to try and battle for the championship and then we will see what unfolds from there.”

While the versatile Mostert would no doubt enjoy any racing car he gets to drive – he’s won the GTLM class at the Daytona 24-hour in a factory BMW M8, currently leads TCR Australia in an Audi RS3 LMS, is battling for the local GT3 title and is third in Supercars in a WAU Holden Commodore ZB – the prospect of him having an IndyCar test has widespread appeal among racing fans.

Not only would it be great just to see how the 29-year old handles the 750hp

openwheeler, but it would also link him back up with Scott McLaughlin, the three-time Supercars champion who made the shift to the US series this year with Team Penske.

Mostert and McLaughlin have a rivalry dating back to their childhood years racing in go karts.

Mostert would have the choice of some topline equipment to test in IndyCars.

Michael Andretti’s Andretti Autosports is regarded as one of the big three teams in the championship, and includes young gun Colton Herta and former Bathurst wildcards Alexander Rossi and James Hinchcliffe on its roster.

Brown is CEO of McLaren Racing which has invested in Arrow McLaren SP. This team is led by rising Mexican star, Pato O’Ward who has won twice in 2021 and sits second in the championship.

While both teams employ the spec Dallara chassis, Andretti runs Honda engines and Arrow McLaren uses Chevrolet.

O’Ward’s first victory earned him the promise from Brown of a test of a McLaren Formula 1 car at the end of the season.

Brown has also promised current Aussie McLaren F1 driver Dan Ricciardo a drive of an ex-Dale Earnhardt 1984 Chev NASCAR, after he scores his first podium for the team.

While much lower profile in Australia, United Autosports is a highly successful sports car racing team, having claimed the LMP2 class in both the WEC and at the Le Mans 24 Hour in 2020. But it also runs entries in a variety of other categories.

An LMP2 closed cockpit sports car weighs in at about 930kg and is powered by a V8 engine with about 560hp. That makes for attention-getting performance.

COY MOSTERT ON T8: NO DISCUSSIONS CHAZ MOSTERT has coyly side-stepped explaining how close he came to signing for Triple Eight as Jamie Whincup’s replacement.

The 29-year old Queenslander and Walkinshaw Andretti United announced a new long tern multiyear deal two weeks ago.

That snuffed out speculation Mostert was a chance to swap to the Banyo team.

Mostert has always been a favourite of T8 supremo Roland Dane and as one of the elite talents in the category, was on the team’s list of candidates, something Whincup himself confirmed to AA in April.

“I personally had no discussions,” Mostert stone-walled. “All I can personally say is I had no discussions.”

That suggests Mostert’s manager Dave Ellis acted as the intermediary, which makes perfect sense. But Mostert wasn’t going there.

“I don’t remember any discussions, the focus for me was to see how our team was going forward. Our team was excited to lock me down sooner rather than later going forward and I feel that is the best thing going forward.”

While his new deal was only recently announced, Mostert said he re-signed not long after the Tasmanian Supercars championship round in April.

“I think it was not long after Tasmania, so we’ve kept it hush-hush for a while,” he said. “It’s definitely been a couple of months that the team has known.

“We have been juggling COVID and all that kind of stuff which has made it harder.”

Mostert has broken through for two wins in the 2021 Supercars championship this year and sits third in the championship. BN

QUESTIONS REMAIN OVER REC RESULT A FULL-TIME 25-car Supercars championship grid in 2022 is not yet guaranteed, despite Tickford’s successful Racing Entitlements Contract (REC) tender.

Existing REC holders don’t have to confirm their intent to enter in 2022 until October, while the fate of the REC Matt Stone Racing failed in its bid to purchase, is still somewhat unclear Some Auto Action sources say it is now definitely off the table for 2022, while others insist it is still potentially available.

Supercars, which announced the results of the tender on the Friday of the Darwin Triple Crown, says it won’t comment any further on the REC process.

The mystery third party remains just that.

Supercars says its received “interest” from several parties to purchase RECs, but only named Tickford in its statement.

Tickford’s return to a full four car squad in 2022 means there are many as two seats that could change drivers or it could all remain stable.

Cameron Waters and 2022 rookie Thomas Randle (see separate story) are locked in, while James Courtney’s future involvement is a commercial decision dependant on his backer Peter Adderton and his Boost Mobile operation.

Image: Motorsport Images

Jack Le Brocq is under pressure in his second year with the team to deliver consistent top 10 results. He could be moved out if he can’t.

The team’s expansion to four cars might work in his favour, as could the relative dearth of established talent that could replace him.

MSR issued a short statement on the day

of Supercars’ announcement but has not commented publicly since.

Its key message was it remained committed to expanding to a three car team in 2022.

How it does that is unclear at this point. One way would be to purchase a REC from another holder.

Collateral damage in all this appears to be

the rookie Blanchard Racing Team, which is sharing a boom with the Boost-backed Tickford Racing customer entry this year.

If the grid does end up at 25, BRT would be an orphan in the pitlane with the added expense of bringing more people and equipment to each round to service the Cooldrive car at pit stops. BN

GIZ NOT TAKING TITLE FOR GRANTED

By MARK FOGARTY

Image: Motorsport Images

RUNAWAY SUPERCARS championship leader Shane van Gisbergen is still not taking his title claim for granted.

Van Gisbergen returned to supremacy at the Darwin Triple Crown, winning both Sunday races.

He was leading the Saturday race until a jammed wheel nut restricted him to 13th.

With eight wins from 14 starts this season, SVG is ranking title favourite.

He leads Red Bull Ampol Racing teammate Jamie Whincup by 221 points, with WAU’s Chaz Mostert a further 53 points back.

The Gold Coast-based Kiwi looks unstoppable, but he will not feel safe until a strong result in October’s Bathurst 1000, the scheduled third-last round.

“I’m trying to win every race,” van Gisbergen told Auto Action. “But you still have Bathurst and the points lead is nowhere what one day there is worth (300 points).

“The championship can change pretty quickly at Bathurst, so we still need to take it race-by-race and score as many points as we can until then. It can change pretty quickly.”

SVG believes he and Triple Eight are operating at their peaks after two years of domination by DJR Team Penske and Scott McLaughlin.

Both Penske and McLaughlin are gone.

“I feel like every time I’m in the car, it’s capable of being up the front,” van

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Gisbergen said. “The team is really enthusiastic and motivated. It’s an awesome place to be at the moment – the vibe in the team is really good.

“Loving it. It makes a difference.”

He admitted the Saturday wheel nut disaster at Hidden Valley – now identified and rectified – was a big blow to him and his team.

“We were all pretty gutted about that,” he lamented. “It could have been a perfect weekend. But you get over it pretty quickly after a day like Sunday.

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“The debrief was still pretty intense, but we do know the reasons the wheel nut stuff happened. So it’s good to have closure on it and reasons why it won’t happen again.

“We lost 50 points in that race, which was tough to take.”

SVG is proud of his Saturday race firstcorner dive-bomb on Anton De Pasquale, which indirectly triggered a carambolage.

“That was one of the best moves I’ve ever pulled,” he grinned. “I was stoked with that.

And the crash wasn’t my fault!

“I saw his head move in the mirror. I saw

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him see me move to the right and then when he reacted to that, I went the other way. Then I didn’t think it was going to stop, but it did.

“It worked out pretty well.”

Van Gisbergen is supported by seven-time champion Jamie Whincup, in his farewell season before taking over a team principal of Triple Eight.

But he doesn’t regard Whincup as backup, still reading him as a formidable rival and still potential title challenger.

“I don’t think he’s ready to be a wingman yet,” SVG declared. “He’s still well in the hunt and every time he jumps in the car, he’s not thinking about retirement or team managing.

“You can see how much effort he’s still putting in. I find it pretty cool.

“He’s always a good yardstick. When Jamie’s in the car, you know it’s at its best.

It’s still cool to watch the man at work – I’m still always learning from him. It’s pretty impressive.”

Van Gisbergen misses arch-rival fellow Kiwi Scott McLaughlin, uplifted to IndyCar

by Team Penske after winning three straight Supercars crowns.

“I miss the rivalry,” SVG said. “ For sure, he made me push myself. Not like the others aren’t, but I loved racing against him.

“I know that at Darwin, I wouldn’t have been able to do that move on him at Turn 1.

“I miss him, of course. I miss that competition, but I also like winning a bit more as well!”

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FRONT-RUNNER DAVISON “PINCHING HIMSELF” A win is the next step for 2021 Supercars feel-good story

By BRUCE NEWTON

WALKINSHAW ANDRETTI United confirmed that it has retained Chaz Mostert in 2022 and beyond, after he signed a multi-year extension with the team. After joining the Clayton squad in 2020, Mostert secured a podium finish and lap record in his first round at the 2020 Adelaide 500. Mostert has gone on to win at Symmons Plains and more recently Darwin, the team’s first victories since 2018, and currently sits third in the 2021 Supercars Championship. RV

SEVEN-TIME SUPERCARS champion Jamie Whincup says he is departing the team to give youth an opportunity. “The reason why I’m stepping aside is to give young talent an opportunity,” he said. “Whether that’s in our team, even if it’s not, even if we pick up an existing driver, then that spot will become available for an up and comer.” DM

BRAD JONES Racing driver Nick Percat kept his podium finish in Darwin, despite having illegal tyre pressures. While Percat keeps his podium, BJR has been stripped of the 86 points team points it earned from the race. Percat was under investigation for running with tyres pressures under the mandated 17psi, during its time on the grid time. However, the Commodore never raced or lapped the circuit with these low pressures and therefore Percat was not penalised. DM

THE REMAINING tickets for this year’s Bathurst 1000 have gone up for sale. Previously a pre-sale took place for people who had bought tickets for the 2020 ‘Great Race’. The fans given preferential treatment as Supercars was restricted to a small crowd number at the event last year, a large majority unable to attend due to crowd restrictions. However, tickets are now on sale to everyone for stands and campsites. DM

THE CHANNEL 7 coverage of the Darwin Triple Crown far out rated the corresponding event on Network 10 last year. The Darwin Triple Crown was just the second Supercars event that the Network had covered and gained a total audience of 2.22 million people across its platforms during two-day coverage. It was a staggering 19 per cent up on the corresponding Supercars Championship shown on Network 10 at Darwin last year. DM

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REJUVENATED Will Davison admits he is still pinching himself at the turn in his racing fortunes.

Left on the sidelines in 2020 when COVID claimed Phil Munday’s operation, Davison was scooped up

by DJR for 2021 in one of the feelgood stories of the off-season.

He underlined his return to a frontrank team with two pole positions, a qualifying lap record and two second places on Sunday at Hidden Valley in Darwin last time out, behind dominant championship leader Shane van Gisbergen.

It was Davison’s first pole position since 2014 and brought his podium tally up to seven for 2021.

Heading into the Townsville 500 and the first street race of 2021 he lies fourth in the championship standings, 274 points behind van Gisbergen.

However, emphasising there’s still learning to be done, Davison’s best day in 2021 was preceded by his worst, when he could only qualify the Shell V-Power Ford Mustang 24th and finished 14th.

Davison is part of a double driver change at DJR in 2021. He and former Erebus Motorsport driver Anton De Pasquale replaced IndyCarbound Scott McLaughlin and Fabian Coulthard, whose contract was not renewed.

Davison actually started his full-time Supercars racing career at DJR in 2006 and then drove for two powerhouse outfits – the Holden Racing Team and Ford Performance Racing – before periods at smaller teams Erebus, Tekno Autosports and 23Red Racing.

“Every now and then I do pinch myself as to moments last year and the uncertainty of what had happened,” Davison told Auto Action.

“I always told myself things happen for a reason and if you put enough good out in the universe in one way shape or form – whether that was driving a race car or something else – something good will happen.

“I never wanted to be the victim, I never wanted to say poor me, I just let it be what it was.

“I still had an extreme desire to go racing so deep down I am still pinching myself. I am just so happy I have this opportunity to be with this team, not only because we are competitive but also just because it is an awesome team.

“It is so professional, such good people. It’s enjoyable and refreshing after five or six years in customer outfits; still awesome racing, but in a different level of racing.

“It’s really special and I am just glad for this opportunity. I am really loving my work and going racing again.”

Promisingly, Davison predicted more strong results from both De Pasquale and himself as the year progressed.

“To have two new drivers in a championship-winning team in a category that is so incredibly tight is always going to be tough,” said Davison. “We have always been very realistic with our expectations.

“We have been respectful of what we are up against and the process at hand. All in all I think people are starting to get confidence now and belief that things are good.”

In his own case, there is still the chase for his first win since the 2016 Bathurst 1000, which he is convinced is not that far away.

“To have seven podiums is quite a good start,” Davison said. “Of course I would have loved a win but you just have to put yourself in contention in top three and top five positions all the time, and you will get wins.”

Image: Motorsport Images

Davison says he is staying neutral when it comes to who will be his co-driver at the Bathurst 1000 in October.

His older brother Alex has been recruited in as a back-up in case Scott Mclaughlin cannot get back from the US Indycar commitments in time to comply with quarantine rules and drive in the race.

“I am not barracking one way or the other,” said Davison.

The Davisons have driven together in the 1000 four times – twice with Erebus Motorsport and twice with 23Red racing. Their highlight was finishing fourth together in a Mercedes in 2014.

But Will Davison – a two times Bathurst winner - acknowledges going to Mount Panorama in the #17 Mustang would represent his brother’s best chance to win the race.

“Alex understands the situation and he has happy … what will be will be.

“I’d love him to have a great opportunity in a good car. It would be really good for him. Forgetting the brotherly thing, he is there because he is very experienced and very solid.”

Davison is conscious having McLaughlin back in #17 would only boost its victory chances.

“Having Scott come and drive at Bathurst with you is just unbelievable, it’s nearly too good to be true,” said Davison. “The team adores Scott and he’s a legend, so obviously they would love to have him back.

“To have Scott back would be a pretty rare opportunity.”

ADP’s learning curve RISING STAR Anton De Pasquale heads to the Townsville 500 determined to keep building his pace and reducing setbacks.

The first street race of 2021 on July 9-11 will be the latest challenge for the 25-year old, in his first year with DJR. De Pasquale is eighth in the championship standings, but that doesn’t do justice to the pace he has displayed this year.

He has won one race at The Bend and qualified on pole three times, but also been blighted by bad luck and his own occasional mistake.

For instance, he claimed pole for race 11 at The Bend but was foiled by an engine failure. In Darwin, he was on pole for race 12 but was smashed out at turn one.

Also in Darwin, he stalled at a pit stop and ran off the road trying to make up positions.

De Pasquale says he focussed on learnings he can glean from the setbacks and applying them to his next races.

“You always look at what you could have done differently and try and learn from it,” said De Pasquale. “But in emotional terms you just move on, you can’t change it.

“It’s a very hard sport and when you make a mistake or something goes wrong, it’s very obvious. The idea is to learn from your mistakes, move on and be better.

“We are probably a little more competitive in qualifying,” De Pasquale said of his 2021 form. “We just need to run the races a little bit better; driving-wise make a couple of better decisions here and there and make your life a bit easier really.”

De Pasquale has raced in the Supercars championship event at Townsville for the last three years for Erebus Motorsport.

He finished 19-17 in two 200km races in 2018 and 11-4 in 2019. Across six sprints over two weekends in 2020 he went 10-87-5-16-ret (steering failure). BN

SUPERCARS TARGETS SYDNEY GEN3 DEBUT THE SYDNEY SuperNight round next year is when Supercars plans to commence the new era, racing the Gen3 machines for the very first time.

A couple of weeks ago the expected and almost inevitable decision was made to delay the rollout of the Gen3 Supercars Championship machines.

Surprisingly, rather than postpone the introduction until 2023, Supercars elected to delay it half a season, now scheduled for a mid2022 launch.

In a media conference, category CEO Sean Seamer announced further details about the Gen3 introduction next year.

“We’re targeting Sydney Motorsport Park,” he said when asked by Auto Action in a media conference. “Primetime (free-to-air

TV), at night, in a major metropolitan area. It ticks all the boxes for a new product launch.”

Seamer elaborated, saying that SMP is an incredibly realistic target, he believes that only a very significant and unforeseen setback could halt the August Gen3 debut in 2022.

“That’s what we’re targeting,” Seamer said. “Barring another outbreak, god forbid, or any other challenges, that’s a very achievable timeline.

“We are still going flat out, the teams are still going flat out and developing the cars, we’re doing everything that we can.

“Adrian (Burgess, Supercars motorsport chief) and his team are putting in huge hours, no one’s taken their foot off the gas.

“That extension of timeline affords

Image: Motorsport Images

us a lot more testing, durability work, getting everything into a position that we’re extremely comfortable with, and also allows for more modest expectations around international freight.

“If we had to air freight every single component for the car, the cost would start blowing out.

“That’s really what that extra time has bought us, that’s why we didn’t want to wait any longer than August next year to get ready to go out there.”

However, Supercars has a much more immediate focus, getting the

prototypes completed.

“Our priority right now is to get working on getting the prototypes out there, so people can see and hear how great these cars actually are,” Seamer expressed.

The target is for the prototypes to be run in demonstrations at the Sydney Motorsport Park SuperNight event this year, 12 months before its anticipated debut.

The round this year takes place from August 20-22 and gives organisers just over two months to complete the prototypes. DM

F1 SAFE FOR 2021 MELBOURNE RETURN

By MARK FOGARTY AUSTRALIAN FORMULA 1 race director Michael Masi is confident F1’s stringent heath protocols will convince the Victoria government to allow the AGP to go ahead in November.

Masi believes state health authorities will let F1 into Melbourne without the requirement for two weeks in hotel quarantine.

F1, the FIA and the Australian Grand Prix Corporation are working with Spring Street to allow the event to go ahead from November 18-21 with a localised ‘bubble’.

F1 personnel would be restricted to travel from the airport to their hotels and the track, with the F1 paddock at Albert Park closed to outsiders.

Without pre-empting the government’s likely attitude, Masi emphasised that F1 would work with Victoria health authorise to ensure a safe event.

He highlighted F1’s successful conduct of races around the world since the coronavirus crisis struck 15 months ago.

The 2020 F1 Australian GP was the first

major international sports event cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Very few cases have been recorded in F1 since racing resumed almost a year ago.

Masi thinks an accommodation can be agreed without the current requirement of two weeks’ hotel quarantine for international arrivals.

He doubted F1 would come to Melbourne if the restriction were still in force.

“For F1, doing two weeks’ quarantine is not acceptable,” he said. “Every other event has accepted our protocol as being safe.

“I don’t see it as feasible for the F1 circus to come and do 14 days quarantine.”

F1 cancelled the Canadian GP in Montreal because authorities there demanded a fortnight in quarantine.

Sydney-born Masi thinks F1’s proven ‘biosphere’ approach would work for Melbourne, with F1’s up to 2500 contingent limited to travelling from the airport to hotels to the track and back.

They want to arrive on the Wednesday and leave by the Monday.

“That would absolutely make sense – and

Image: Motorsport Images

it’s not a foreign thing for us,” Masi said.

“Having to do quarantine on arrival, I don’t see it as a viable scenario. We’ve proved we can travel around with so many people safely.”

He explained that F1 and the FIA had a proven system of safeguards, working closely with local health authorities.

“All the options need to be explored and recognised,” he added. “The F1 family has managed and respected all the various health protocols. Also relevant is the high vaccination rate within the paddock. More than three quarters of the paddock have been

vaccinated, many having had both shots.

“All of those factors need to be taken into account. The aim is to have no impact on the local community from a health perspective.

“As an Australian, I would love for us to be in Melbourne in November. It’d be nice to come home for an Australian Grand Prix, and I’m well aware the AGPC and Motorsport Australia are working hard with the relevant authorities to make sure it can happen.

“We want to deliver an Australian GP in the safest possible manner.”

Masi is among the many in the F1 paddock who have received full vaccination.

KGR REVIEWS ITS SEASON

By BRUCE NEWTON

A MAJOR engineering debrief has bolstered hopes at Kelly Grove Racing it can end its yoyoing performances.

Last week’s review of the 2021 pace of the Ned Whiskey and Penrite Ford Mustangs, driven respectively by Andre Heimgartner and new recruit David Reynolds, had to deal with some wild 2021 variations.

In turn the new-look team has experienced: • The high of Reynolds’ Sandown podium • A disappointing outing for both drivers at Symmons Plains • The elation of Heimgartner’s win at The Bend and; • A lack of competitiveness in Darwin that included the two cars occupying the last row of the grid for the opening sprint.

“You can’t get much more inconsistent than winning then back of the grid,” said team coowner and technical leader Todd Kelly.

Kelly was cautiously optimistic after the debrief.

“We worked through the year so far and it was a productive day. We’re looking forward to Townsville.”

The most recent challenges in Darwin included a clear struggle to come to terms with the super-soft tyre, brake and understeer issues for Reynolds and a suspension breakage that put Heimgartner out of the final race.

While the team has committed to a full development program on its Mustangs until the very end of their life midway through the 2022 season, Kelly explained the failed part was not a brand new design.

“There was a single kerb impact, it didn’t just break from driving around,” explained Kelly.

“We’ll have a look at the in-car footage and damper travel and speeds and all that stuff and assess whether it needs to be beefed up. But it went through Sandown and we’ve given them a really hard time without any failures. There are a couple of nasty kerbs at Darwin if you hit them wrong.”

KGR’s commitment to a full development program of its Gen2 Supercars stands in contrast to some rivals teams that have backed away from that process as they focus on Gen3.

KGR is in a unique position as its

Image: Insyde Media

predecessor Kelly Racing traded in its Nissan Altimas for Ford Mustangs only at the end of 2019, had a rushed summer build program and then spent much of the 2020 season on the road because of the pandemic, where virtually no significant development progress was possible.

Over the summer the team transformed into KGR with the buy-in by the Grove family and the recruitment of Reynolds and his highlyrated engineer Alistair McVean.

“We’ve got all infrastructure here to make new things,” explained Kelly. “We are here to race and here to be successful, so we are prepared to develop the cars right up until the very last car race they get used in, whether it be engine or suspension.

“Why would we back off? At the end of the day we will be selling the cars so whoever buys them doesn’t want the development to have stopped six or 12 months ago.”

As part of that drive to maximise its 2021 results, KGR has also committed to building a brand new Gen2 Mustang for Heimgartner that should debut in August.

As reported in Auto Action 1813, KGR has also confirmed it will stay with Ford in the Gen3 era and has already ordered two complete chassis from Pace Innovations.

It teased the look of the new cars last week by releasing renders of Gen3 Mustangs in the current Penrite and Ned Whiskey liveries.

“That looks pretty cool,” Kelly enthused. “It’s a really proper looking Mustang.”

MOTORSPORT OPPORTUNITIES Category Manager • Category Administration Manager • Operations Manager

The Australian Racing Group (ARG) is the largest private owner and operator of Motorsport categories across Australia and New Zealand.

ARG owns and operates several high-profile categories and events, including the TCR Australia Series, the S5000 V8 open-wheel category, GT World Challenge Australia, Trans Am, Touring Car Masters and Australian V8 Touring Cars. ARG also holds the rights for the Bathurst 6 Hour and Bathurst International race events and Race Tasmania.

Due to the planned expansion of our key events in 2022, this has now created additional opportunities within our motorsport operations team. We are now recruiting for the following roles.

We work with our categories and stakeholders in a collaborative style and excellent communication and customer focused attributes are critical for success in this role. Our operations team works in a supportive and outcomes-based style, they support each other to achieve results.

You must be able to work with and within a team environment.

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Candidates ideally will have relevant experience in these or similar positions within high level motorsport or have a good understanding of motorsport operations.

There is obviously a need for interstate travel and flexibility in working hours to support the operational needs of the business.

The ability to work out of ARG’s offices located in Melbourne and Sydney is preferred but not essential. A competitive remuneration structure will be offered to the successful candidates.

In order to apply for one of these roles please email a copy of your current curriculum vitae and a covering letter to: recruitment@australianracinggroup.com We anticipate a high number of responses, and only successful candidates progressing to the next stage will be contacted.

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IN RACE 2 of Australian Superbike Championship action at the Darwin Triple Crown, title contender Troy Herfoss suffered a crash on the opening lap at Turn 3. He was taken to Darwin hospital and since then has undergone surgery. Herfoss was operated on for six hours with doctors repairing a compound fracture in his right humerus and upper-right femur to reattach the broken ball joint. A broken right tibia was also treated, and he underwent a blood transfusion. DM

LAST WEEK TCR Australia outfit Ash Seward Motorsport took to the track for a test at Winton Motor Raceway. Utilising the mid-season break ahead of the postponed Morgan Park, round Holdsworth emerged very pleased with the test as he aims to recapture his early season form in his Alfa Romeo. Holdsworth was the sole driver as his teammate Jay Hanson departed the team in recent weeks. DM

RANDLE TARGETS TOP 10 IN DEBUT SEASON AFTER A lot of speculation, Thomas Randle has been officially confirmed as a full-time Tickford Racing driver for the 2022 Supercars Championship.

Randle is currently contesting three Wildcards rounds with the team before he drives alongside one of the Tickford Racing drivers in the Bathurst 1000.

The reigning Super2 Series winner was incredibly unlucky not to secure a position on the grid this season.

However due to Tickford losing a Racing Entitlements Contract (REC) during the off-season, he was forced to remain on the sidelines.

Instead, the team signed Randle on a multi-year contract beginning as a Wildcard and endurance driver this year with the plan to step up in 2022.

With Tickford reclaiming a fourth REC for next season it took just a couple of hours for Tickford to confirm Randle had a seat.

After scoring two top 10 finishes in his first two Wildcard appearances, Randle told Auto Action that he targets a top 10 championship finish in his debut season.

“Certainly want to be in the top half of the championship, I don’t think that’s unachievable,” Randle told AA. “The ultimate goal would be top 10 in the championship. I’ve seen sometimes you can get

SUPERSOFT? GT TROPHY leader Brad Schumacher is aiming to upgrade his current older-spec Audi R8 GT3 Ultra, to enable he and co-driver Tim Slade to compete in the Australian GT Endurance Championship. Slade was originally scheduled to share Schumacher’s current model but Pro-Am does not encompass the older generation GT3 models. However, impressive performances in his near 10-year-old R8 has spurred the Bathurst businessman to search for a current-spec model. HM

TCR AUSTRALIA rookie Ben Bargwanna has credited an Australian motor sport legend for his development during this season, but not teammate and father, Bathurst 1000 winner Jason Bargwanna. He credited his Garry Rogers Motorsport engineer Greg Crick. “My engineer Greg Crick, he’s been just amazing,” said Bargwanna. “He has a lot of experience in the world of motor sport and he has a bit of experience form the Super Tourer days, so he’s got plenty of knowledge.” DM

YOUNG KIWI star Callum Hedge completed two days of Toyota Racing Series testing at Hampton Downs last week. Better known in Australia for his efforts in the second-tier Porsche Sprint Challenge for Earl Bamber Motorsport, Hedge impressed over the course of the two days. RV

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IN DARWIN THE Supercars Dunlop supersoft tyre finally made its debut, however teams and drivers were disappointed by its lack of degradation.

Many drivers felt that the supersoft tyre was too similar to the usual soft compound used by the Supercars Championship over the past several seasons.

The tyre was designed to degrade quickly, producing diverse strategies and lots of on track passing, as drivers on old tyres slid around the racetrack, but this did not materialise.

The Hidden Valley Circuit it not known for tyre degradation; however, it was thought that the supersoft tyre would have made more of an impact.

Championship leader Shane van Gisbergen explained his feelings towards the trye, saying that they great to drive on but not so good for racing.

“As a driver, like they’re awesome, they provide massive grip and they feel great to drive, but my theory is that they have a bit too much grip,” he said after winning the two races on Sunday.

“They’re not sliding, so they’re not wearing.

“There’s not massive marbles and stuff like I thought they would be, you’re not actually sliding the tyre.

“It’s mainly thermal deg and that’s why I thought the racing was worse, you followed and (your tyres) got hotter quicker.”

Gisbergen believes that at a track like Townsville or Queensland Raceway – two venues notorious for extreme tyre wear - they would be a good compound.

“A track that eats tyres, I reckon these

up in the top 10 or top 12 early on in the year but then as the year goes on, you can see where the championship insurance comes from the regulars. “(But) I just want to do the best job I can with the team, as cliche as it sounds.

“Focus on what we’ve got to do, work with my teammates and the results will come.

“I think it’s important not to put too much pressure on myself and after having done all the championships I’ve done in my career, I’ve been put in a lot of very high-pressure situations before, I feel like that’s only going to help next year.”

Randle will enter the Supercars Championship in a unique season as Supercars is set to introduce the Gen3 machines mid-way through the 2022 season.

The Victorian explained that he is not focussing one the latter half for better performances, he wants to deliver every time he is on the track.

“I’m just going to be focusing on every race,” he said. “Gen3 will happen in the second half of the year but we’re still going to be testing cars still and Image: Motorsport Images

developing the current cars.

“It’s important to still have a strong first half, I want to come out swinging, every race to me matters.

It’s not like ‘oh yeah this is alright’ and just focus six months down the track.

“Every race and every session I’ve got to be driving at my best, that’s just how it is, I’ve got to be performing at a very high level.”

After two very strong Wildcard outings at The Bend Motorsport Park and Darwin, Randle hopes to continue to iron out the mistakes before he makes his long-awaited full-time debut.

“The Wildcards are really good in teaching me the race craft and the extra aggression you need,” he said.

“It gives me a chance to make silly mistakes early on, like for example when I stalled in the pit lane on Saturday.

“It’s not such a big issue when you’re doing wildcards but when you’re not going for a championship it would be.” DM

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By BRUCE NEWTON & MARK FOGARTY

tyres would be really good (there), but you’d have the dangers of the marbles at Townsville, which is already out of control.”

Van Gisbergen believes that the tyre pressure were also too low in Darwin, which did not assist the planned degradation.

“But maybe the tyre pressure needed to be higher for this round, you see all the teams with their tyres in the sun and bleeding them down, and the true pressure is probably 14 or 15 for everyone.

“Probably a bit of the problem, you can bleed so much out of the tyre because it’s so hot here. I think it was good but probably not what we intended.”

Former Bathurst 1000 winner Nick Percat remarked that over a long stint the tyre felt very similar to a soft tyre.

“My first comment after practice 1 was ‘is it the same tyre’,” Percat recalled. “I did a pretty massive stint on the supersoft.

“As a category we wanted to see some big tyre deg and I was sitting there kind of waiting for it, like are we going to see it. But it didn’t come, I just drove around, and it felt very similar to last year.

“Hopefully next time they’ll bring out maybe a super, super, super, super duper soft, it’d be good to get some proper deg, like before I was in main game (the noughties).” DM

AUSTRALIA WAS teetering on the verge of a major COVID-19 resurgence as Auto Action closed for press on Monday.

What impact it would have on the July 9-11 Townville 500 Supercars event remained unclear.

The outbreak was centred in greater Sydney, where no Supercars are currently based, as Team Sydney had elected to stay in Queensland between the Darwin and Townsville events.

That means the full 24 car grid was expected to front in Townsville, unless the situation deteriorated in Queensland – which had a handful of infections in the Brisbane area – or Victoria – which has been emerging successfully from its latest lockdown.

Following Melbourne’s hard lockdown, greater Sydney and Brisbane – and surrounding areas – are now also subject to travel

Image: Motorsport Images

restrictions. If Victoria extends border bans to regional NSW and Queensland, next week’s Townsville 500 could be in jeopardy.

The six Melbourne-based teams, safely returned after Darwin, may not be able to return if both states’ COVID-19 situations don’t improve.

The recent Melbourne lockdown forced the Vic teams to isolate in NSW for two weeks before entering the NT for the Darwin Triple Crown at Hidden Valley.

Supercars Media key personnel had also been moved into Queensland direct from Darwin to protect the broadcast.

The impact on support categories scheduled to run in Townsville was also playing itself out. Super Trucks, Super2, Carrera Cup and Toyota 86 are all scheduled and confirmed for Townsville as of last Monday.

For updates on what will be an evolving situation check into the autoaction.com.au website.

SUPER2 NOT THE ONLY PATHWAY MOTORSPORT AUSTRALIA has released a revised Superlicence Point System, which will be used to determine if a driver is eligible to compete in the Supercars Championship.

The difference between the 2020 Superlicence Endorsement Application form is subtle yet substantial, as it will force many drivers to get a dispensation.

In 2020 a driver had four ways of obtaining a Superlicence, by accumulating the required 13 points in the junior categories over the last five years, have contested three Supercars rounds in five years, finish in the top six of the Super2 Series, or have international Gold Class FIA certification.

If none of these were applicable, you would have to apply for dispensation to race in the Supercars Championship.

Within the new 2021 Superlicence Endorsement Application there are a couple of subtle differences, most notably changing the word “or” to the word “and”, as well as altering the Super2 rule slightly.

To be handed a dispensation now, drivers must have accumulated the 13 points and (the notable change) one of the following: “Contest three rounds of the Supercars Championship within the last five years, finish in the top six of the Supercars Championship, compete in at least six rounds of the Super2 Series, or have an international Gold Class FIA certification.”

This means that unless a youngster is returning

from a successful period overseas, they will have to have contested a near full season of the second-tier Super2 Series or hope to obtain a dispensation.

The director of motor sport and commercial operations at Motorsport Australia, Michael Smith, explained that while the Super2 rule is new, dispensations will still be given to drivers who have not driven in the series.

“The only change we have made this year is the Super2 requirement,” Smith told Auto Action.

“I do need to emphasise that, it (Super2) isn’t a requirement, it’s just a pathway, and we understand that there will be people that will warrant a Superlicence that don’t go through that pathway.

“Of course, logic tells you that it’s the secondtier category for Supercars and therefore, it is a supercar license and that carries weight.

“But we also recognise that there’s going to be people that don’t go down that path and that doesn’t mean they won’t get a Superlicence at all.

“There’s a number of examples, Simona de Silverstro for example, she wouldn’t have qualified under any of that criteria and yet, I don’t think anyone could argue that she wouldn’t warrant a Superlicence.

“So over and above all that, we’ve still got the ability to give dispensation and of course, if someone has achieved 13 points, it’s almost a guarantee that they will be granted a Superlicence.”

Several drivers young drivers now have the

required points but would have to go through the dispensation process, as they have not competed in Super2.

These drivers include former Australian Formula 4 champion and S5000 Championship driver Luis Leeds, as well as his GRM teammate Nathan Herne.

“Ultimately, he would go through that dispensation process, but Luis has won national championships, he has raced in Europe, Luis is a very high quality driver.

“They are the sort of examples, yes, they’ll have to go through a dispensation process, but I don’t think anyone would argue that drivers of his (Luis’) calibre wouldn’t be able to get a Superlicence.”

Last year Herne was not given a Superlicence to race in the Bathurst 1000 as a Wildcard with Garry Rogers Motorsport.

Supercars said it was all Motorsport Australia’s decision, however Smith confirmed that the Supercars commission has a say on the matter.

“Any dispensation is jointly approved by us and Supercars,” he said.

When asked if this has always been the case he simply replied, “yes.”

Supercars Wildcard drivers Greg Murphy and Russell Ingall will both have to go through the dispensation process, as they have not raced in the required Supercars rounds over the past five years.

However as Bathurst legends, they should have no issue getting dispensation.

“Greg Murphy will go through a dispensation process,” he said.

“I don’t think anyone would argue that Greg isn’t a suitably equipped to drive a Supercar at Bathurst.” Dan McCarthy

FURTHER DISPENSATIONS WILL NEED TO BE GIVEN

DUE TO change in the Superlicence point systems for various Motorsport Australia categories, Nathan Herne now has enough points however falls at the hurdle of not having competed in enough Super2 events.

Last week Motorsport Australia announced that the points awarded to a whole raft of national categories had changed.

One of the main notable changes was the increase in points given to the S5000 Australian Drivers’ Championship, which now awards 12 points to the winner, as many as the Super2 Series and GT World Challenge Australian Championship.

As the allocation is awarded to categories over the past three years, Herne’s fifth in the inaugural Australian S5000 Championship awards him with enough points to hold a Superlicence, but requires dispensation due to a lack of Super2 starts.

“We’ll keep fighting on and pressing on, I have got the points now I guess, that’s the one goal I wanted to get this year,” Herne said to Auto Action.

“But moving forwards we have just got to make our way around it and see if we can get one.

“I’ll definitely apply for another one (with dispensation) and see where it takes me, it is a hard old world and we’ve just got to wait and see what happens, I’m just ticking off all the boxes I can to get a Superlicence one day.

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“If I went back through the old emails from last year and why I got turned down, I’ve ticked every single one of the boxes.

“A lot of people are in the same boat as me, you do one year of Super2 and that’s it, that is all your money spent.”

As well as this, drivers in the National Trans Am Series will also be given points for the first time with seven on offer to the winner of the series.

TCR Australia also had a boost in points putting them on par with the Porsche Carrera Cup Series.

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The boost in Superlicence points to the Australian Racing Group categories TCR, S5000 and Trans Am is welcomed by ARG CEO Matt Braid, despite the Super2 addition.

“From our point of view we’re not too concerned about that,” Braid told AA. “We are very, very pleased that obviously our categories have got some in that Superlicence points ladder.

“I think very clearly, you look at the drivers that have been awarded a Superlicence, it’s mainly through dispensation.

“I don’t believe that will affect the right drivers in our categories being able to progress to get a Superlicence.

“I’m very confident it won’t impact the quality drivers that comes through our categories.”

Braid explained that he understands the logic of having to go through Super2 and that dispensations will continue to handed out to many drivers.

“Super2 and Super3 is a pathway category to Supercars and that’s certainly understandable and very rational,” Braid said.

“We look at the Superlicence points, it’s a Supercars license point system, those conditions are obviously around aligning to their chosen pathway so that’s understandable.

“But that’s why the dispensation option in there too.” DM

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AFTER A seven-year stint running the factory Aprilia outfit, Gresini Racing has announced a two-year deal with Ducati to be a satellite team. The Italian team also announced an all-Italian rider line-up with Enea Bastianini and Fabio Di Giannantonio. Bastianini is contesting his debut MotoGP season racing for the Avintia Esponsorama Racing team, while di Giannantonio races for Gresini in Moto2 and will make the step up in 2022. DM

MOLLY TAYLOR has been recruited by M-Sport to compete in three World Rally Championship rounds. The 2016 Australian Rally Champion will return to WRC competition driving the all-new four-wheel-drive M-Sport Fiesta Rally3 for three gravel outings in WRC3. It is Taylor’s return to M-Sport machinery after making her WRC debut as part of the 2011 WRC Academy (now Junior WRC). Taylor will contest three events, Rally Estonia July 16-18, Rally Greece and Rally Finland. RV

AFTER WINNING the MotoGP round in Germany, Marc Marquez opened up about his lengthy recovery, including advice he sought from Australian Mick Doohan as he continues rehabilitation after a near career-ending injury suffered last year. “Of course, I try to find motivations and some reference,” he said.

“One of the guys I spoke to and understand his situation is Mick Doohan, because of his big injury in 1992 and when he came back in 1993.”

RV

SINCE RETIRING from the NASCAR CUP Series, four-time champion Jeff Gordon has been a NASCAR commentator for Fox Sports in the states. However, at the end of this year the popular figure will return to Hendrick Motorsports. Gordon will jump behind a desk as the executive manager, effective from January 1 2022, and becomes number two to chairman

SEVERAL WEEKS ago Aussie Remy Gardner was officially announced as a 2022 MotoGP rider with the satellite Tech3 MotoGP outfit, however his teammate is yet to be named.

Tech3 boss Herve Poncharal says the decision will be made during the European summer break. Candidates include Danilo Petrucci and Iker Lecuona who currently race for the team, Gardner’s Moto2 teammate Raul Fernandez and Moto3 rookie sensation Pedro Acosta. DM

12AutoAction

WATERS: IT’S NOT GOOD ENOUGH IT WAS a challenging weekend in Darwin for Supercars Championship contender Cameron Waters, who finished outside of the top five in both races on the Sunday.

After the conclusion of action in the Top End, the Tickford racer said that the performance was simply not good enough.

The Tickford Racing driver started all three races outside of the top five positions on the grid, chaos ahead enabling him to finish second on Saturday, however on Sunday Waters was not so fortunate.

On Sunday, starting from seventh and 12th, Waters finished seventh and eighth respectively, while championship leader Shane van Gisbergen won both races.

After the race Waters explained that the pace simply wasn’t there for any of the Tickford Racing Mustangs over the weekend, particularly in qualifying.

“We’ve had two bad rounds for pace, Tassie and here,” he said after the final race. “We just couldn’t really find what we were lacking all weekend.

“We qualified in seventh and 12th and that’s pretty bad for our expectations, we managed to race forward in that one which was nice, but it’s not good enough.

“We’ll go back to the drawing board and work out what we’ve got to do to make these cars go a bit quicker. It’s a long old year, so it (the championship) is not over yet.”

It wasn’t just championship leader van Gisbergen who had a good day.

Dick Johnson Racing driver Will Davison started on pole in both Sunday races and converted them into a pair of second place finishes.

As a result, Waters has slipped to fifth in the championship behind Davison, both nearly a full round behind van Gisbergen after only five

Image: Motorsport Images

events.

Waters, a former Sandown 500 winner and race victor at The Bend Motorsport Park in the previous round, explained that he was only lacking a couple of tenths.

Waters felt that if one thing was better, it would have improved the whole car considerably, however over the weekend Tickford was unable to get on top of the issues.

“A couple of tenths a lap and you’re there

(up the pointy end),” he explained. “When you make the balance better it helps tyre life, it helps a lot of things, so if we find the little bits that we’re after, I think we’ll improve a lot, but we’ve just got to work out what that is.

“We were all having similar issues with our cars, we’ve got a lot of good engineers back at the workshop, we’ve got good drivers and a lot of information, so we’ll put our heads together and we’ll come back stronger in Townsville.” Dan McCarthy

we want to make it in the years to come.

“They see it as a great marketing platform to again deliver what they need. We’re very pleased that they’ve signed another long term commitment (as naming rights sponsor) for the International.”

As Supercheap and Repco have a rivalry blossoming, AA asked Braid if he was afraid the competition could affect any potential relations with Repco in the future.

“You never like to see competition get bad,” he said. “But I think if there’s competition between brands in motor sport, that actually means that motor sport in Australia’s quite healthy.

“We’ve got a strong relationship with Supercheap, quite obviously now strengthened by this announcement, and that allows us to promote them very heavily.

“Other brands will be attracted to that too, so I think having Supercheap as a partner and maintaining their support really helps the reputation of ARG, the categories we have and the events we have. I think it’s a win, win.”

The announcement also coincided with tickets going on sale for the inaugural Bathurst International, with camping available at both the bottom and top of Mount Panorama.

The McPhillamy and Paddock campgrounds will each be open, while children under 12 can attend the event for free.

The Bathurst International will take place from November 26-28 and showcase many of the feature Australian Racing Group categories headlined by S5000 and TCR Australia. DM

SUPERCHEAP AUTO BACKS BATHURST INTERNATIONAL AFTER BEING dropped as the naming rights sponsor of the Bathurst 1000, Supercheap Auto has been announced as the title sponsor of the Bathurst International on a long-term deal.

Supercheap Auto is already the naming rights sponsor of the Australian Racing Group owned TCR Australia Series, and this new deal further cements the relationship between the two new parties.

It continues a rich history of the Australianowned company sponsoring a major event at Mount Panorama.

This follows on from a lengthy 16-year stint as the naming rights partner of the Bathurst 1000 from 2005-2020, at which time it was controversially dropped by the Supercars Championship and replaced by rival international company Repco for this year’s event.

ARG CEO Matt Braid is delighted to get Supercheap Auto on board in what he described as a long-term deal with the event.

“It’s absolutely fantastic,” he told Auto Action.

“Supercheap are undoubtably one of the best and most passionate sponsors in Australian motor sport. They like what we’re trying to do with the ‘International’ and what

THE AUSTRALIAN Racing Group continues to expand after taking on a raft of categories and more recently, events, with the company now looking to grow its 12-strong staff numbers.

ARG now owns TCR Australia and New Zealand, the S5000 Australian Drivers’ Championship, GT World Challenge Australia, National Trans Am, Super3, Touring Car Masters, the Bathurst 6 Hour, Bathurst International and Race Tasmania.

“We’ve built a good team of people up,” ARG CEO Matt Braid told Auto Action.

“But the expansion of the category side and now branching further into the event side, has meant we really need to arm the team with more resources.

“Hence why we’re certainly looking for some people to join the team on the category side to help us to help the management side.”

ARG is currently offering three positions.

It is on the lookout for a Category Manager, a Category Administration Manager and an Operations Manager.

This will take some of the increasingly sizable load off the existing staff.

In recent weeks the ever-popular retro Touring Car Masters category has appointed Scott McGrath as its Technical Manager, following the resignation of Paul Taylor from the position a month prior.

While the racing in TCM is as strong and exciting as it has ever been, the competitor numbers have dropped.

Braid explained that ARG is talking to the drivers who have left to understand their

ARG CONTINUES GROWTH PLANS

reasons, in a bid to draw them back to the series.

“What we’re doing is working with the current competitor group and talking to the previous competitor group and car owners - because there are cars that are sitting there ready to go - just to find out what’s going to keep building the strength and momentum in TCM as we go forward,” Braid explained.

“We really want to closely with competitors, both current and lapsed, because we know

there’s some great competitors out there in great cars, “We’d love to get them back in and talk to them individually and see what their circumstances are, why they aren’t going racing, and what could bring them back, is it a commercial issue or a regulation issue, etc.

“What are the barriers to bring them back, and that is ongoing at the moment.”

Braid explained his dedication to the category and vows to return to grid sizes of 25 cars.

“We’ll continue to focus on it but it remains a really good category,” he said.

“It’s a fan favourite, the competitor group are very, very passionate and very invested in the series.

“We certainly want to make sure that the momentum keeps pushing forward and get it (the grid size) into the mid-20s.

“A mid 20 grid size is where TCM has been and deserves to be (again) and where we want to see it return.” Dan McCarthy

AMBROSE JOINS GRM!

TWO-TIME SUPERCARS champion Marcos Ambrose has joined Garry Rogers Motorsport, in the new role of Competition Director.

The former Supercars team that now operates a myriad of cars across Australian Racing Group categories including TCR Australia, S5000 and Trans Am, has added the six-time NASCAR winner for an involvement in a number of areas of the business.

Ambrose, who also recently expanded his involvement in motor sport by joining the Supercars broadcast team at select events, will contribute his expertise in driver coaching, racecar preparation, engineering and team operations to GRM, as part of the new role.

“Having Marcos as a part of GRM is not only fantastic for us as a team, but for the sport and the categories we are competing in,” said Garry Rogers, team owner.

“We all know Marcos is one of the most

respected racing drivers Australia has ever produced.

“You also don’t win two V8 Supercar championships and race for ‘The King’ Richard Petty in NASCAR, without developing a sharp perspective on how to go motor racing.

“That’s not just driving the racecar, it’s working with commercial partners, it’s the mechanical side, it’s organising a team … right down to how you pack the transporter.

“We have a brilliant and experienced team but we never stop learning, and the input of Marcos will no doubt help to bring out the best in all of us.”

The opportunity to join GRM has evolved from Ambrose’s recent return to motor sport as crew chief helping friend and fellow Tasmanian, Owen Kelly, racing a GRMprepared Ford Mustang in the Trans Am Series.

“My relationship with Garry Rogers goes back to the early days of my racing career.” said Ambrose.

“Not many people probably know it but Garry and his longtime sponsor Valvoline supported me in Formula Ford.

“Recently I have enjoyed getting involved with my good friend Owen Kelly and helping him return to motor sport in the Trans Am Series, where GRM has been preparing Owen’s car between races.

“From that, Garry and I chatted about helping the team where I could, both in terms of racing and the future growth of the GRM business.

“Garry and Barry (Rogers’ son) run one of the most established race teams in

the country and from what I have seen to date, they have a very skilful and energetic workforce.

“I have always been passionate about winning and I also enjoy the engineering side of motor sport. Working with the team at GRM gives me a great opportunity to experience both.” Rhys Vandersyde

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LATEST NEWS

VALE JOHN LEFFLER THE 1976 Australian Gold Star winner John Leffler died in Sydney on June 21, 2021.

‘Leffo’ was a 1970s single-seater star, and a Sydney Sports Sedan hotshot in a workssupported Morris Cooper S before that.

He commenced racing a Simca powered Austin Healey Sprite at Oran Park’s inaugural February 1962 meeting.

A series production and Sports Sedan Mini fixture, the late ‘60s crowds together with Wayne Rogerson’s Falcon XT V8, Peter Brock’s Austin A30 Holden, and the Cooper S’ of Lynn Brown, Don Holland, Lakis Mantikas and others.

His Formula Ford opportunity arose when a friend, Alan Vincent, became ill. Leffler took to the Bowin P4A like a duck to water, then raced

another well enough to secure the coveted Grace Brothers sponsorship in 1972.

Together with mechanics Paul and Steve Knott and Bowin Designs’ chief John Joyce, Leffler formed a winning partnership.

They won the 1973 Formula Ford Driver to Europe Series aboard the wedgy, variable rate suspension Bowin P6F, then progressed to F2 in 1974.

An Amaroo Park crash scuttled his championship hopes, but Leffler’s Bowin P8 Hart-Ford (pictured above) was one of the quickest cars, along with the Birranas of

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THE GOULBURN Mulwaree Shire Council extraordinary meeting on the approval of Wakefield Park’s DA has been adjourned to July 13.

The meeting to hear from those in support and against the Council’s planning department recommendation to deny the DA, took place on the night of June 22.

After 18 public forum speakers put forward their views for both sides of the debate, then councillors discussed the matter for 90 minutes and adjourned after midnight.

They agreed that greater clarification was needed in regard to noise. They felt that the DA could be approved if real-time noise data was made available to residents. Noise concerns were centred more at their place of residence rather than at the track.

The circuit’s Operations Manager Dean Chapman came away with mixed feelings.

“We are disappointed that our altered recommendations were not addressed.

series-winner Leo Geoghegan and Bob Muir.

Leffler did well in a few drives of Max Stewart’s Elfin MR5 Repco in the 1974 Gold Star, developing a taste for the 5-litre machines that he satisfied for the balance of his career.

The Bowin P8 Chev was more challenging car than its 1.6-litre sibling, but still carried Leffler to fifth in the 1975 Gold Star. He led the soaking wet AGP at Surfers and looked the goods, until drowned electrics ended his race.

With Joyce easing out of racing car construction, Leffler bought a Lola

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“We already have a robust noise mitigation framework in place, and we are enthused by the amount of support that is with us.”

One online petition had well over 8000 signatures and most of the meeting attendees were circuit supporters.

The planners’ report would go to a further

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PROPOSED ILLUM INATED PYLON BUILDING IDENTIFICATION SIGN. SIZE TO BE CONFIRM ED. NOM INALLY 3.6m W x 20m H

meeting, and so too the supplementary report with suggested consent conditions, for councillors to appraise if they wanted to approve the DA. Councillors have also requested more information on 18 points which include the study of noise issues and how they are

T400, another machine with variable rate suspension. All of his promise was realised in the ‘76 Gold Star win, and second place in 1977.

Leffo’s Touring Car experience background ensured good Manufacturers Championship rides.

His best were seconds at Sandown and Bathurst. In Melbourne he shared Bob Morris’ Holden Torana GTR XU-1 in 1974, and at Mount Panorama, Allan Grice’s Holden Torana SS A9X in 1978.

Leffo did it the hard way, preparing his car and funding it from his successful garage business. Support by British Leyland, BP and Grace Brothers allowed mid-career progression that his talent splendidly realised.

John Leffler (May 27, 1940-June 11, 2021) quietly retired from the sport, never too far from it, until dementia took hold four years ago.

Auto Action extends its condolences to his family and many friends. Mark Bisset

handled at Phillip Island. They want to check signage, pre-race activities, start times, and changes to the operational regime.

They will be looking at changes to static noise testing, location of monitoring equipment, providing sound data through the circuit’s website, compliance conditions and to scrap the 1993 consent.

Circuit owners, the Benalla Auto Group’s CEO Chris Lewis-Williams conceded that before his time, Wakefield Park hadn’t been vigilant with noise limits in the original 1993 content.

“It wasn’t a good document,” he said.

“We are doing our best to be a good neighbour.

The facilities are dated and need to be developed.”

Councillors agreed that they, along with all parties, want to see the facility remain viable and stated that they are searching for a compromise.

They also want the matter resolved before August, when the next council elections take place.

If the DA is approved with altered consent conditions, it may impact the venue’s operating costs.

“Regardless of the decision on July 13, we have to consider our core customers, that is, grassroots motor sport, and they need to be looked after.

“We don’t want to pass a financial burden onto them,” Chapman concluded. Garry O’Brien

MARC CARS ANNOUNCE STAND-ALONE AMRS

IN 2022 the popular Australian-designed and engineered MARC Cars will have its own race series, as part of the Australian Motor Racing Series Program (AMRS) program.

Currently, MARC Cars run as a class within the recently rebranded AMRS run Super GT Australia category as well as within Sports Sedan championships around the nation.

MARC Cars owner Geoff Taunton feels the move to a dedicated grid is the next step in catering for his growing customer base, however was quick to say that competitors can still continue racing in Super GT Australia.

“As a local operation, we pride ourselves on building close relationships with our customers and catering for their specific needs,” Taunton said.

“A lot of our customers enjoy endurance racing and some have competed at premier races in this country, like the Bathurst 12 Hour, as well as taking their cars overseas and competing in some of the world’s most prestigious international events.

“Locally, there was a desire from our car owners

14 AutoAction

to race exclusively against people with identical equipment, so we’re very appreciative the AMRS has enabled us to run a category exclusively for MARC Cars in 2022.

“Of course, owners of MARC Cars will be able to continue racing in Super GT Australia if they so desire.”

The original MARC Cars prototype was created in 2013 by Ryan McLeod and was a Ford Focus body powered by a 5.0 litre Ford Coyote V8 engine.

It proved to be a success and in the following years Mazda 3 bodyshell machines were also built.

In 2018 MARC Cars Australia launched the MARC II V8 machines, the second-generation model featuring a more powerful 5.2 litre version of the Coyote V8.

The MARC II machine also ran with a more aerodynamic Mustang-inspired full carbon body, with a paddle-shift operated Albins 6-speed transaxle gearbox.

McLeod sold the business last year to Taunton, with experienced team manager Alyson Fradgley overseeing day-to-day operations.

Fradgley explained that the new MARC Cars category will be split into classes, one for MARC I machines and the other for the faster MARC II cars.

“We’ll be opening the field up to both Marc I and II vehicles competing for their own championship within separate classes, as well as giving our competitors plenty of track time with multiple practice sessions and 60min races over the weekend,” Fradgley said.

“The feedback we’ve received indicates it will be a popular series, we’ve already fielded enquiries from a number of competitors including young drivers who want to taste a V8 race car at an affordable level, before moving up through the ranks.

“Our workshop has both MARC II & MARC I Chassis’ available for build prior to the launch of the series next year, so we are eager to welcome new car owners into the MARC family.” DM

th Luke West iith wit

AA’s columnist examines more motorsporting start-ups and considers the effect they’ll have on traditional racing.

V8 CLASSIC RACING SERIES ANNOUNCED THE AUSTRALIAN Auto Sport Alliance (AASA) has announced a brand new V8 Classic Racing Series, which will see some of Australia’s oldest V8 Supercars take to the track and compete as a category on the Australian Motor Racing Series (AMRS) schedule later this year.

The series will be known as the Kumho V8 Classic Racing Series in a partnership between Kumho Tyre’s national motorsport agent, David Atkin, and the AMRS. The category’s inaugural round will take place at Queensland Raceway on 6-8 August, ahead of a full five or six-round series on the 2022 AMRS program.

Atkin’s business Prime Race Services will manage the series on the AMRS schedule.

It will consist of V8 Supercars no longer competitive in the Australian Racing Group-owned Super3 Series.

V8 Supercars built between 1993 and the end of the Project Blueprint era in 2012, will be eligible to compete. Holden Commodores from the VR and VS right through to VEs, while Ford Falcons dating from the EF and EL era all the way to the FG. Previously these classic machines have run in the Kumho Cup class and were unable to fight for outright race wins.

Prime Race Services is confident the abundance of eligible vehicles will see fields grow in future rounds.

Atkin said the creation of the Kumho V8 Classic Racing Series will be a good playground for the older cars, and is hopeful that more cars will come back out the shed now that they are on the same track as Super2 and Super3.

“There are millions of dollars of race machinery, components and assets sitting idle and the creation of this new series will enable car owners to return to the circuit, thanks to the support of Kumho and cooperation of AMRS,” Atkin said.

“Kumho is passionate about delivering value to the competitors, and has committed to a generous support package that includes a low entry fee, a travel expense subsidy, a tyre price subsidy and a prize pool of cash and tyres.”

Atkin said the AMRS provides the perfect platform for the new-look V8 class.

“AMRS’ business philosophy has four pillars of operation: value, fun, respect and engagement,” he said.

“All of the competitors as well as Kumho believe AMRS will deliver the ideal environment for a highly competitive and exciting race category.”

Each round of the series will consist of two 20-minute practice sessions, a 20-minute qualifying session, two 20-minute sprint races and a 25-minute feature race.

The Kumho V8 Classic Racing Series will be part of the AMRS live stream broadcast package. DM

WHAT A WHIRLWIND FIVE-YEARS CLOSED THREE months prior, Auto Action was reborn thanks to the passion of Bruce Williams and Mike Imrie, which continues today with more than 120 issues produced since.

I had the joy of being involved up until the current issue.

I’d like to describe the production style as organised chaos, but we always got it out to the printers, thanks to a small primary team and backed up by a loyal brigade of contributors.

Being involved during the past year and a half was tough due to a multitude of factors, but as reliable as ever Auto Action continued to be produced, which is a proud accomplishment. This period gave us as a creative team the opportunity to create feature series including The Cost of Racing, Young Guns, Privateers and so on.

I didn’t get many cover stories – I think two – but it was awesome to speak to some motor sports greats, as well as lesser lights. The best interview subject for me was ‘Wild’ Bill Evans as we recalled his career with Datsun in the 1970s, as a follow to Nissan bowing out of Supercars in 2018.

Auto Action is in good hands and long may it continue.

Heath McAlpine

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THE WORLD is changing awfully fast right now and there is no greater example of this than in motor sport. New racing series and concepts are seemingly popping up everywhere right now.

In fact, it’s been a trend of the last few years, driven by the emergence of electrification, shorter-sharper attention spans, and new ways television is delivered and consumed.

Formula E and the W Series have emerged internationally, while here in Australia we’ve had TCR, S5000 and TA2 quickly take a prominent place on the local racing scene. Incredibly, the last few months have seen three new motorsport categories born overseas, all of them entirely new concepts.

Last issue’s Revved Up column examined one of these, Extreme E, the startup electric off-road SUV series designed to save the planet. If you read that column, you’ll know I was less than enamoured with Extreme E, highlighting that it was more style over substance. The narration, commentary and colour pieces were so over the top – including a declaration that Extreme E was “the greatest adventure of all-time” – it all came across as a greenwashing exercise.

Since writing that column another electric series has fired up – Pure ETCR, the electric version of the TCR hot hatch class. From what I can gather, the ‘pure’ part of its title refers to zero emissions. It sounds a bit wanky but the series overall is otherwise substance over style.

Pure ETCR’s chiefs are billing it as “the world’s first all-electric multibrand touring car championship” and “an electric shock to the motor sport landscape.” It’s quirky, entertaining and doesn’t take itself too seriously.

It scored further browny points with me when one of the series big wigs declared that its purpose was NOT to save the planet. It aims to be an entertaining and credible motor sport contest with real world relevance for the motoring industry.

Pure ETCR’s tagline of ‘real electric car racing’ is a jibe directed at Formula E, a series that’s the darling of those eager to stand on an environmental platform but dismissed by the vast majority of motor sport enthusiasts as irrelevant and uninteresting.

Pure ETCR has adopted a rallycross-style format of short races, or ‘battles’, over approximately 10km. These are quick-fire spectacles using greyhound racing-style starter gates, where cars funnel into the first turn, invariably bashing panels. Winners progress through the competition to a final. Clever!

The first ever round was held in late June at Vallelunga in Italy, where Cupra driver Mikel Azcona emerged victorious. The Spaniard beat such notables as Mattias Ekstrom and Jordi Gene in a field populated by other electric Cupras, Hyundai Velosters and Alfa Romeo Giulias.

Azcona was made to wear a silver crown during the podium celebration and will don the Goodyear #FollowTheLeader jacket as the series inaugural points leader. As I said, quirky. But it worked for me.

The championship will play out over five rounds, visiting circuits in Spain, Denmark, Hungary and Korea between now and October. To learn more, visit pure-etcr.com or search for the telecasts on YouTube.

I don’t want to get too bogged down discussing Pure ETCR’s pros and cons, as you should check it yourself to see if it floats your boat. I do, however, want to encourage Auto Action readers to sample the many new forms on offer.

The polar opposite to Pure ETCR is the new Superstar Racing Experience, founded by American racing luminaries Tony Stewart and Ray Evernham. This oval-based series uses slab-sided (rubbin’s racing!) stockcars powered by 396ci Ilmor V8 engines. SRX is best described as IROC meets NASCAR with Stewart taking on 2021 Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves, fellow IndyCar veterans Marco Andretti, Tony Kanaan, retirees Paul Tracy and Willy T Ribbs, plus NASCAR names Bill Elliott, Michael Waltrip and Bobby Labonte. This is pure entertainment based on big personalities, something lacking elsewhere in motor sport.

What’s the next new racing category on the horizon, I hear you ask? Get set in 2022 for FIA Electric GT. Who knows what else will follow.

These new series will either replace or shape existing categories. For instance, I don’t think it will be long before Pure ETCR’s rallycross for tarmac format will be used by some existing circuit racing series as a new qualifying format.

Of course, at some stage you would think that the electric series will merge with their internal combustion engine siblings.

Surely ETCR and the regular garden variety TCR will do so in the near future.

And imagine a Bathurst 12 Hour where the race is decided by a team able to extract the best range – and fewer pitstops – from their car’s battery or fuel tank. Done right, that could really be worth seeing.

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

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16 AutoAction NEWS FEATURE LATEST

Image: Motorsport Images

DOOHAN TARGETS F3 TITLE AUSTRALIAN JACK Doohan, son of fivetime 500cc Motorcycle World Champion Mick, broke through to take his maiden race victory in the FIA Formula 3 Championship at Circuit Paul Ricard in France.

Doohan mastered the drying conditions on wet tyres, charging from fifth to first position and went on to win the race from championship rivals Dennis Hauger and Victor Martins.

The victory in the French Feature race propelled Doohan to third in the championship and afterwards he was asked if the title was now the target.

“100 per cent, 1,000 per cent, that’s the objective and that is the goal and that’s the ultimate, so we’re not going to stop until we get there,” he told Auto Action.

The Formula 3 Championship is the official

Image: Motorsport Images

third-tier Formula 1 championship which last year was won by fellow Aussie and Auto Action columnist Oscar Piastri with Prema Racing.

Doohan believes that the team he now races for, Trident Motorsport, has closed the gap to the Prema this year, however he says that the red cars still have a slight pace advantage.

“I think we (Trident) have upped our game as a team,” Doohan said. “As you saw in the Race 2, they (Prema) were 1-2-3 for the majority of the race and it seems quite easy to put it in the window.

“I still think they have a pace advantage, but I feel like we’re getting closer and we can capitalise on it and when we have our thing hooked up, we definitely have an equal chance to beat them and so we just need to

build on that and keep working.”

Doohan is racing for Trident after making the move from HWA Racelab in the off season.

Last year was an incredibly challenging year, Doohan failing to score a point all season, delivering his best finish of 11th in the final race.

The 18-year-old Red Bull junior driver explained the differences between the car at HWA Racelab last year and at Trident in 2021.

“The car just suits my driving style better, I have more confidence in it,” he revealed.

“It’s more reliable, when I turn in the rear it won’t step out, so I can build on that and when I have that trust in the car, then I can push it further and further.

“It’s not just a car, it’s everything, it’s the

VINALES SET TO LEAVE YAMAHA YAMAHA HAS officially announced that it and Maverick Vinales have agreed to part ways at the end of the current season.

The team confirmed that the rider who qualified on pole and finished second in last weekend’s Dutch TT at Assen requested an early release from his contract, that was due to expire at the end of 2022.

“It is with sadness that we will say farewell to Maverick at the end of the year.” said Lin Javis, Yamaha Motor Racing Managing Director.

“We are in the middle of our fifth season together and over the years we have achieved many highs but also had to manage many lows.

“After the German GP, which was the most difficult weekend of our partnership, we had important discussions in Assen and came to the conclusion that it would be in the interests of both parties to go our separate ways in the future.

“Yamaha will put in their maximum effort –

16 AutoAction

atmosphere of the team, “Their passion to win and to do well is just at my same level, which helps tremendously. It’s not just a nine to five, an income or a job, they do it because they love to.”

Doohan reflected on the emotions of the first win after a challenging 2020.

“After everything last year, all the bad moments and being down in the dumps, it’s really easy to lose yourself,” he said.

“A very big thankful to Trident for giving me the opportunity this year and providing me with the car that I can show my potential in.

“It was pure emotion, all that hard work last year and obviously no points and absolutely nothing to show for it.

“This year being able to show it, so it kind of all came out.” Dan McCarthy

as we always have done – to give full support to Maverick and finish this season in the very best way possible.”

Since joining Yamaha in 2017 Vinales has suffered mixed results on the M1, prompting the manufacturer to replace his prefered engineer Esteban Garcia with Silvano Galbusera earlier this season.

“This partnership has been very significant to me over the last five years, and it proved a difficult decision to part ways.” said Vinales.

“In these seasons together, we experienced both great achievements and tough times.

“However, the underlying feeling is of mutual respect and appreciation. I am fully committed and will strive to achieve the best results for the rest of the season.”

Rumours swirled around the Assen paddock linking Vinales to a potential move to Aprilia at the end of the season, although Vinales brushed off those suggestions when asked at the press conference after the race. RV

TRANS AM BATHURST 100 FORMAT ANNOUNCED THE RACE format for the inaugural Trans Am Bathurst 100, to be held at the Bathurst International, has been revealed.

Over the entirety of the event held at the Mount Panorama circuit, cars will spend more than two hours in total on track, negotiating two 25-minute practice sessions and three separate races.

Race 1 consists of a sprint of 10 laps, forming the grid for Race 2 to follow.

The results of Race 2, which is competed over the same length, will be combined with points from Race 1, to produce the grid positions for the main event.

A 16-lap Trans Am Bathurst 100 finale will conclude the new Mount Panorama Trans Am event, with the winner of Race 3 lifting the first Bathurst 100 trophy.

There are already 25 entries locked in for the event approaching the June 30 early bird entry deadline, and this number is expected to grow.

National Trans Am Series’ Bathurst category manager Liam Curkpatrick said the event is a future cornerstone of the Trans Am calendar.

“The Bathurst 100 is a special and significant event for Trans Am,” said Curkpatrick.

“We will not only be a feature category of the Bathurst International event, we will also have increased track time, which of course includes the 100km Bathurst 100 race.

“Add live, free-to-air television

coverage and the Trans Am Bathurst 100 will be the highlight of the Trans Am racing year and an iconic event for years to come.”

The 2021 Trans Am series is currently a two-horse race between Aaron Seton

and Nathan Herne, who sit on 722 and 718 points respectively.

There are two races to come at Morgan Park Raceway and Sandown, before the series climax at Bathurst from November 26-28. Josh Nevett

WINTON LONG CIRCUIT HISTORICS 2021 ONE OF the historic racing calendar favourites, the Winton Long Circuit meeting, is back, bigger than ever on August 7-8, 2021.

Over 230 entries have been received, and climbing – all the usual Covid 19 caveats apply.

Races are being held for most historic classes; single seaters, sports cars and touring cars, plenty for all tastes and every reason to travel to Benalla.

Firmly established as the Winton Festival of Speed feature race, this year’s Just Cars 50K Cup for Historic Touring Cars has a near-capacity field of 39 cars.

17 V8s are entered, including the

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Mustang Fastbacks of WA’s Darryl Hansen and Victorians Andrew Lane, Michael Miceli, Andrew Clempson and Joe Calleja.

The ’68 Trans Ams of Chris Stern, Alan McKelvie and NSW’s Ben Wilkinson bolster Blue Oval numbers.

Tony Hubbard and Brent Trengrove’s Camaros lead the fight for the General.

Mazda RX2s always do well, with Sports Sedan star Darren Hossack joining the fray. Quick sixes feature too; the Les Walmsley, Rob Burns and Glenn Miles Chargers will be up there, along with Qld’s Craig Allan’s red-hot Torana has beaten the V8s outright at Phillip Island.

Variety is the spice throughout the

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field which includes the rapid Bill Trengrove’s Falcon Rallye Sprint, Harry Draper’s Datsun 1600, Gabriel Digenis and Rob van Stokrom’s BMW 2002s, Rob Burns’ Alfa, David Crabtree’s ex-Lawrie Nelson V6 Capri, three Cortinas, a Volvo 122, Valiant, an XK Falcon, with a Simca Vedette rounding out a field of depth and breadth.

Big fields of Holden HQs and Formula Fords will provide plenty of close racing and the odd spill.

The Sports Sedan field has two cars entered which make the trip from Melbourne mandatory on their own.

Carey McMahon’s ex-Graeme Whincup Chev 350 Monza, which was built by the vastly talented John

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Riordan, Darryl Seidel and Ron Harrop in 1985. It was the ‘ducks-guts’ then and still is.

More famous and successful is the Peter Fowler built 1980 Mercedes Chev raced by John Bowe, Brad Jones and Bryan Thomson; Shepparton’s finest won the 1985 Australian GT Championship in it.

Tickets are available for pre purchase on-line only, note that cash sales at the Winton gates will not be available.

All pre-purchased tickets must be printed and presented at the Gate for scanning. Mark Bisset Follow this link to purchase your ticket: https://www.ticketebo.com.au/ wfos2021

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17

with Dan Knutson

THE TURKISH Grand Prix has been reinstated to the 2021 Formula 1 calendar. The event, which will take place at the Intercity Istanbul Park between 1-3 October, replaces the cancelled Singapore Grand Prix which had been scheduled for the same date. Originally, the Turkish Grand Prix was added to replace the cancelled Canadian Grand Prix on 13 June.

But international travel restrictions due to the pandemic forced Formula 1 to drop the Istanbul event. DK

IN 2023 the Russian Grand Prix will take place at a new purpose-built circuit just outside of St Petersburg. The Autodrom Igora Drive, designed by well-known F1 track designer Hermann Tilke, will replace the rather unpopular Sochi Autodrome. Sochi has hosted F1 every year since it joined the calendar in 2014 on the site that hosted the Winter Olympics. The new circuit is just 150km from the border of Valtteri Bottas and Kimi Raikkonen’s home country of Finland. DM

THE POLE positions that Max Verstappen scored at the French and Styrian Grands Prix were the first that he has taken in a row in his F1 career to date. In fact it was the first time that Red Bull Racing had taken back-to-back poles in the turbo Hybrid Era, which began in 2014. The last time Red Bull achieved this feat was when Sebastian Vettel scored the final two poles of the 2013 season, in America and at a wet Brazil. DM

LIKE THE Australian Grand Prix circuit, the Yas Marina Circuit will be tweaked ahead of this years Formula 1 race. It is hoped these changes will improve overtaking around the 5.5km circuit in Abu Dhabi, when F1 concludes its season. Major modifications will be made to the north hairpin (Turn 7), the south marina (beginning at Turn 11), and the hotel section (beginning at Turn 17). DM

THE ASTON Martin F1 team has revealed the new technical structure it hopes will take it to the front of F1, as it mirrors the most successful teams. Following the recent promotion of Andrew Green to the role of chief technical officer, the reshuffle will see him supported by three technical leaders, a performance director, an engineering director and a technical director. DM

18 AutoAction

THE WOLFF WIND UP MERCEDES TEAM boss Toto Wolff has a sly sense of humour. On the Friday of the French Grand Prix weekend some members of the British media asked when the decision would be made whether to keep Valtteri Bottas in 2022 for a sixth season or replace him with George Russell.

Wolff calmly stated it would be some time during the European winter, adding: “I don’t know if it’s December, January or February.”

“Yes it was a wind up,” he admitted the next day. “Because you get asked this question so often. So what’s the delay? Two drivers for one seat. Two drivers that still can have a great career in F1. And I want to just see Valtteri’s full potential this year, and continue to observe George in driving for Williams and handling their situation.”

Asked about the constant rumours that Russell is a shoe-in to replace Bottas, Wolff said: “I think Valtteri knows that the only answer to these rumours is to perform on track.”

Bottas is indeed focusing on his racing.

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“It’s going to require a lot from us as a team before we make any decisions together,” the Finn said. “I haven’t really allowed myself to think about that too much because that can become a distraction, I’ve learned that. So, it will come at some point.

For now the gut is not saying anything. I just want to win races and get the results that I’m aiming for personally.”

This is the third and final year of Russell’s Williams contract. Williams wants the British driver to stay, but how long can he

keep the team in limbo while waiting for a decision from Mercedes?

“Nothing’s set in stone for next year,” he said. “I’m still a Williams driver. I haven’t signed any contract, so I’m fully focused on my job at the moment. Hopefully my future gets settled one way or another, maybe come the summer (August) break. But right now I’m just enjoying the racing, focusing on that; the better job you do on track the more chance you have to secure a future.

“F1 is obviously a ruthless sport. There’s

OCON IS LIKE PROST

ESTEBAN OCON has qualities similar to fourtime world champion Alain Prost. And that is one of the reasons why Alpine/Renault renewed his contract through to the end of 2024.

What impresses team and Alpine CEO Laurent Rossi about Ocon?

“A lot of things actually,” Rossi said. “First off, he’s a great fine-tuner. He reminds me a lot of Alain (Prost). He’s very good at extracting the maximum out of the car and constantly improving it. He’s fast too. Give him any car, he’s fast. He shows it in every qualifying.”

Fellow Frenchman Prost drove for Renault’s F1 team from 1981 through 1983. Prost won nine times driving for the French squad, while the rest of his 51 victories were with McLaren, Ferrari and Williams.

As for wins, the team to be with to do just that since 2014 is Mercedes.

Ocon, like George Russell, is a Mercedes protégée. While there is little doubt that Russell will end up driving for Mercedes sooner or later, Ocon’s contract firmly locks him in at Alpine until 2025.

“We have a mid- to long-term view of things at Renault,” Rossi said. “We want to be here for a long time, so we wanted to secure that first step. The first step is three years. We’ve seen enough of Esteban – we know he’s good. I don’t want to be here again, looking for another driver after two years, when the recent past shows that it never really turns the right way. If you have a good driver, you want to keep him.”

That long-term plan was, of course, centered around Daniel Ricciardo. The Aussie surprised a lot of people, including the bosses at Red Bull, when he revealed that he would leave Red Bull at the end of 2018 and move to Renault.

And then, before the first race of the pandemicdelayed 2020 season, Ricciardo decided to switch to McLaren in 2021.

This opened the door for Fernando Alonso to make his return to F1 and, for the third time, to Renault. The plan is to develop a super team with Ocon and Alonso at its core.

“Esteban a very good teammate,” Rossi said.

“When I say ‘teammate’ not just to the other driver but also to the rest of the team. He’s basically pushing everyone up and it shows.

He’s a great guy to have in the team.

“Beyond the F1 driver, he’s a great guy. He’s humble, very generous of his time, constantly giving his time, even to us helping in the larger picture. He always offers to chime into the development of the new cars or the brand or in any step of work. So it’s really good to have him around.”

FULL HOUSE WORRIES HAMILTON

only a spot for 20 drivers, and you’ve got to be on your A-game. You can’t get too carried away looking into the future because if you start having a bad run of form suddenly everything can change, so max attack.”

Like Bottas, Lewis Hamilton only has a contract with Mercedes for 2021.

Hamilton is keen to continue in 2022, but Wolff says he has not ruled out a Bottas/Russell pairing next year. Or is that another wind up?

THE WORLD of Formula One is returning to normal, but only in certain parts of the world. And, as far as Lewis Hamilton is concerned, it might be a bit too much too soon.

During the past 12 month many F1 races took place behind closed doors, or with limits on the number of fans permitted to attend.

But that is changing.

The recent French and Styrian Grands Prix each had 15,000 fans on race day. The Austrian Grand Prix, scheduled one week later and at the same track as the latter race, planned for 100,000 spectators.

The British Grand Prix, at Silverstone on 18 July, will be a full house affair with over 140,000 fans on race day. Silverstone staged two races last year without spectators.

“I’m kind of split,” Hamilton said of his home race. “I can’t tell you how excited I am to see people, and the British crowd, as it is the best crowd of the whole year.

Last year we didn’t have them, so we were unable to see them and feel the energy they bring to the weekend. I watch the news so I hear about the (COVID-19) cases going up massively in the UK, so on that side I worry for people, naturally.

“It’s been great we’ve had people at the last race and not heard any negative things coming from that,” Hamilton said, referring

to the French Grand Prix. “But I like to err on the side of caution and slowly build up, rather than go at full pelt and use our British fans as a test pen.”

The decision to have a full house at Silverstone was not made lightly. Even Prime Minister Boris Johnson got involved. To enter the track grounds, fans must have taken a COVID-19 test within 48 hours or prove that they have received the vaccine.

Silverstone’s team is working closely with the UK Government’s Event Research Programme experts and particularly the Director of Public Health in Northamptonshire, on the specific conditions of entry that will enable the event to operate safely.

While not taken in haste, the decisions to permit 100,000 fans at Austria’s Red Bull Ring and 140,000 at Silverstone shows how rapidly the pandemic situation is changing.

All the remaining F1 races in Europe (and Russia) this season will have fans attending, but the permitted numbers could go up in the coming weeks.

Meanwhile, all reserved seats for the United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of The Americas have been sold.

The race organisers – at least those without major government backing and Silverstone is one of them – are keen to have the spectators return because ticket sales provide their main source of income from these events.

DEVELOPMENT DILEMMA RED BULL’S four consecutive victories show that the team now has a faster car than Mercedes.

And that trend looks set to continue as Mercedes has halted development on its 2021 car to concentrate on the radical changes in the technical regulations for 2022.

Red Bull, meanwhile, is still updating its 2021 car.

“It is a very tricky decision because we are having new regulations not only for next year but the years to come,” said Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff.

“A completely different car concept, and you’ve got to choose the right balance and pretty much everybody’s going to be on next year’s cars.

“Red Bull brought trucks, vans Thursday and Friday (to Austria) with new parts. It’s a strategy, and one that proves to be successful as it stands because they were simply in a league of their own from a car pace wise.”

Wolff was referring to Max Verstappen in the Red Bull defeating Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes in the Styrian Grand Prix. Hamilton said afterwards that he needed some upgrades to challenge Red Bull and Verstappen.

“The championship is not only played with adding aerodynamic parts,” Wolff said, “because at a certain stage even the ones like Red Bull who keep on adding parts need to switch all of the

development into next year. And that means all the exploitation of the car around the set-up work, the tyres, and the optimisation of how we are running will become a very, very important part.

“It would make no sense to put a week or two or months back on the current car, as the gains wouldn’t be anywhere near the gains you’re making on the 2022 car.

“Having said that, this is far from over. We had a very difficult weekend in Austria with no weapons in our armoury

to win. But we will be winning races this year and will be fighting as much as we can for every single result.”

The big teams can no longer just throw money into parallel development programmes because of the US$135 million budget cap introduced this year.

“What Mercedes do is very much their business,” Red Bull boss Christian Horner said.

“We’re just focused on ourselves. We know that Toto likes to throw the light somewhere else, so I can’t believe that

they’ll go through the rest of this year without putting a single component on the car.

“Of course it is a balancing act between this year and next year, but if that means we’ve all got to work a bit harder than the other teams, we are fully up for it.”

Red Bull last won the drivers’ and constructors’ world championships in 2013, and Mercedes and its drivers have won both titles ever since then.

Perhaps that will tip Red Bull into keeping on developing its 2021 cars.

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19

LATEST NEWS

J KOSTECKI NEEDS CONSISTENCY MATT STONE Racing driver Jake Kostecki knows the team has the pace to finish in the top 15, but the next step is to deliver it on a more consistent basis.

The full-time Supercars rookie had a rollercoaster weekend at Hidden Valley, the round started superbly, topping Qualifying 1on Saturday, he missed out on Q2 by 0.01s. In the race he moved his way forward to score his first top five finish in the championship.

However, contrasting fortunes and pace on Sunday meant that Kostecki failed to finish inside the top 20.

Kostecki believes that on Saturday he was one of the fastest drivers on the racetrack but a change in setup produced

the opposite of what was desired on Sunday.

“I genuinely believe our pace was probably close to the top five in that (Saturday) race,” he said to Auto Action.

“We qualified up there and we finished up there, we just executed the whole day.

“We made a couple changes overnight - I don’t think anyone leaves their car the same unless they’re winning the race, or probably not even then these days so we made a couple of changes and unfortunately just detuned it.

“Introduced a little bit of inside for locking and the car didn’t turn as well.

That was opposite of what we wanted, we wanted it to turn better.”

While Kostecki and his MSR teammate Zane Goddard have had sporadic strong results so far this season, they are yet to string a full round together.

Kostecki feels that if this can be achieved, then he will be a top 15 championship contender.

“We can get good results now, it’s just piecing a whole weekend together and getting everything happening in one weekend,” he said.

“I want to get into the top 15 of the championship this year, and I don’t think we are too far away at the moment, I think I’m only going to get faster and the team is going to get faster.”

Kostecki believes this can partially

be attributed to the fact that he has a different engineer at almost every round.

“I’ve had a few different engineers,” he said.

“Every round so far, we’ve had to swap engineers which hasn’t been in our favour.

“We are just getting used to each other, hopefully we can start putting a whole weekend together.

“We don’t have the full-time people in the workshop at the moment because of COVID. That might pay a little bit to part there, but for sure we’re going to sort it out for the rest of the year, and hopefully get some people on board.” Dan McCarthy

Townsville round going ahead as scheduled however, concerns have been raised about what restrictions might be in place.

A number of Supercars teams and personnel are also affected by the lockdown with Triple Eight based in Brisbane.

Dick Johnson Racing, Matt Stone Racing and Team Sydney are all on the Gold Coast.

While a significant number of Supercars drivers from Melbourne-based teams also live in the area.

Supercars had also arranged for a number of

their Sydney-based staff to be in and around Brisbane to avoid issues with the outbreak in New South Wales.

Victoria has now listed both Southeast Queensland and Townsville as Red Zones, requiring Victorians returning from these locations to complete 14 days quarantine a major issue for the Victorian Supercars teams.

Supercars released a statement regarding the Townsville event on Tuesday.

“In light of the upgraded restrictions in Queensland, Supercars will continue to adhere

to all government health advice as we proceed towards our next event in Townsville from July 9-11,” it read.

“As always, we will continue to monitor the situation in Queensland and around Australia, to ensure the health and safety of our staff and fans remains our highest priority.”

The Queensland lockdown is the latest in Australia over the last few days with Perth, Darwin and Sydney all already under lockdown in response to three separate COVID-19 outbreaks around the country. Rhys Vandersyde

TOWNSVILLE ENTERS LOCKDOWN JUST OVER a week out from the scheduled Supercars round in Townsville, the northern Queensland city plunged into lockdown.

Townsville one of the latest cities to be caught out, with a number of COVID-19 outbreaks around Australia.

The Twonsville outbreak began when a hospital worker from Brisbane travelled to the region while infectious.

The snap three-day lockdown includes a number of south eastern Queensland local government areas, incorporating Brisbane, Gold Coast and Ipswich, is due to end on Friday, a week out from the event.

“The risk is real, we need to act quickly, we need to go hard, we need to go fast.” announced Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk.

“I want to just say to everyone, I know we’re in the middle of school holidays, and I know people have made plans, but we’ve just got to do this.

“There’ll be a lockdown for three days, I don’t want it to be 30 days, so we just have to do this.”

“So, from 6pm tonight (Tuesday), until 6pm on Friday, Southeast Queensland, Townsville City, Palm Island, and Magnetic Island, will go into lockdown.”

Supercars remains committed to the

CARRERA CUP LEADER BOLTS TO THE BORDER PORSCHE CARRERA Cup Australia points leader Cameron Hill has bolted to Queensland to ensure he can take part in the next scheduled round in Townsville from July 9-11.

The Canberra-based driver made the decision along with his father to pack up the race car and equipment and headed to Queensland to ensure he will be able to retain his series points lead.

The escalating COVID-19 situation has seen a raft of state border travel restrictions enforced as Townsville, along with a number of other cities around Australia are currently under lockdown.

Hill and his father are currently located just north of the Queensland-New South Wales border in the regional town of Goondiwindi.

“With Sydney in lockdown and borders closing everywhere, we decided we needed to get ourselves to Queensland at the earliest opportunity,” said Hill.

“Had we stayed in the ACT any longer, there was a high risk we wouldn’t have been able to enter Queensland and I would have missed the Townsville round, which would have been

disastrous for my title campaign.

“It’s not a cheap exercise, as we have to accommodate ourselves for an extended period – it shows how determined we are to win this championship.

“It’s just dad and myself on the road at the moment; hopefully the rest of our ACT-based crew are able to join us but in a worst-case scenario, the two of us could run the car.”

Hill confirmed that he originally planned to head straight to Townsville, however, yesterday’s announcement of the lockdown of the city has forced a change in plans.

“We’re just sitting tight in Goondiwindi for now and seeing what happens,” Hill continued.

“Hopefully the situation in Townsville will settle down and the lockdown will end, as

scheduled, by the end of this week.

“We’re all desperate to get back on the track, so we’re keeping our fingers crossed the round can go ahead as planned.”

A number of other Porsche Carrera Cup Australia teams are also affected.

Auto Action understands that Wall Racing made arrangements to relocate to Queensland ahead of the lockdown of Greater Sydney.

While McElrea Racing, Earl Bamber Motorsport and TekworkX Motorsport are all located on the Gold Coast, also currently under lockdown.

Supercars has confirmed that it is committed to the Townsville event going ahead and are monitoring the current evolving COVID-19 situation around Australia. RV

WILLIAMS TO GET STRONGER

CALAN WILLIAMS scored his maiden podium in the FIA Formula 3 Championship round at Circuit Paul Ricard, and believes he will only get stronger as the season progresses.

Last year Williams debuted in the third-tier Formula 1 series however scored no points, despite running in the towards the front on several occasions, bad luck cost him a top 10 finish.

Williams remained with Swiss outfit Jenzer Motorsport this year and has already seen an upturn in pace.

In the second round Williams broke through to score not only his first points, but his maiden podium and backed it up with an eighthplace finish in the second encounter.

Williams believes two key factors to the 2021 success have been from himself.

“I’d say from my side, I’ve certainly made some massive steps in terms of physical and mental fitness and performance through my work with Formula Medicine,” he told Auto Action.

“We’ve also been making use of a lot more resources than we did last year, so I now have my manager/mentor Mick Kouros working with me. He has got a huge amount of experience in motorsport.

“We’ve also been using the Dallara simulator, which is incredible technology, I certainly learned a lot from using that as well.”

However, Williams feels the biggest thing has been continuity, as he is one of only two drivers that remained with the same team

during the off-season.

He feels this has helped him get the best from the car.

“I think the biggest step up with the team is the continuity side of it,” Williams said.

“The fact that I’ve stuck with them (Jenzer) and continue working with them means that everything just flows a lot easier with myself and the team.

“We understand exactly what each other needs, so when the team need something, I understand how it is, and when I need something they likewise understand.

“The efficiency of communication between myself and the team has certainly improved and that’s really valuable.”

The West Australian explained that he will continue to get stronger as the season

progresses, as he and the team grow closer and he continues to improve.

“Obviously I was really happy with the result and I take a huge amount of confidence from that.

“It’s a great result and I think it really shows our potential, it’s a great indicator for a strong season to come,” Williams explained.

“There’s still room for improvement, there’s definitely massive room for the results to climb even higher.

“I think as long as I perform strongly, have a great season from here on in, I think we’re definitely still in for a top five finish.

“I have full confidence that the season will continue to get stronger, and my results will improve even more throughout the year.”

Dan McCarthy

ALPINE GIVE ZHOU F1 OPPORTUNITY FORMULA 2 front runner Guanyu Zhou will get the chance to take part in his first-ever Formula 1 practice session at the Austrian Grand Prix this weekend with the Alpine F1 Team.

The Alpine Academy member and current team Test Driver will drive Fernando Alonso’s car for the hourlong FP1 session at the Red Bull Ring, in the second of two back to back events at the venue.

Zhou will become the first Chinese driver in eight years to participate in an F1 weekend.

“Driving in FP1 at a Formula 1 Grand Prix weekend is like a dream coming true and another step closer to my ultimate goal of becoming a Formula 1 driver. It’s going to be a very special moment.” said Zhou.

“I’m preparing myself as much as I can to be ready and also ensure that I’m able to complete all the targets and plans that the team have set me to do.

“There have not been many Chinese drivers in Formula 1, so to be behind the wheel of an F1 car during a race weekend is going to be a very proud feeling.

“It’s going to be even more special that I’m driving Fernando’s car as he inspired me to pursue a career in racing when I was young.

“I’m very happy with my achievements so far and I’m very thankful for the support I have from those around me. My aim is to maximise this opportunity and I’m really looking forward to it.”

Zhou leads the Formula 2 point standings ahead of fellow Alpine Academy driver and Australian Oscar Piastri.

“I am delighted to see Zhou’s development and progress from when he first set foot in the Academy in 2019 to having his first official FP1 session this weekend at the Austrian Grand Prix in Formula 1.” said Alpine Academy Director Mia Sharizman.

“It has been a long but rewarding process with Zhou putting the hard work in behind the scenes to get to this point in his career.”

“The fact that he is now leading the Formula 2 Championship is proof of this hard work and dedication and we are all looking forward to seeing him in a Formula 1 car this weekend.”

Formula 1 action at the Red Bull Ring resumes on Friday with two practice sessions ahead of the Austrian Grand Prix. Rhys Vandersyde

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

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Editor-At-Large

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

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BACK IN 1987 and 1988, and again from 1992 through to 1996, when Goodyear was the sole tyre supplier in Formula 1, Goodyear’s management and PR would ruefully refer to the “axle steel effect.”

F1 axles and what type of steel is used for them – and other mundane components – don’t create much publicity…until something goes wrong.

It was the same with the tyres. Without a tyre war to whip up some interest, about the only time the Goodyear name got into the news was when something went wrong.

Pirelli has been F1’s sole tyre supplier since 2011, and boy has it been in the news lately!

Initially, Pirelli thought that the left-rear tyre blowouts on Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin and Max Verstappen’s Red Bull during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix were caused by debris.

But deep analysis revealed a different reason.

“The running conditions expected were different to the actual running conditions,” Pirelli’s racing boss Mario Isola said, “and that created

the failure. The failure was a circumferential cut on the inside shoulder for both the tyres and was the same failure mode.

“When you have a lot of energy going into the tyres with a pressure lower than the expectation, the result is that on the sidewall you have what are called standing waves.

Standing waves are putting a lot of energy into the inside shoulder of the tyre and at a certain point the tyre breaks.

This is what happened and why we had the situation we had in Baku.

“We assume running at a certain pressure with margin will be okay for the tyre,” Isola added. “In that case, we did not achieve the conditions (required), not because the teams were doing something against the regulation but because they were looking for performance and that created a different scenario.

And that was because the tyres were running at a lower pressure than expected. And that created the failure.”

Red Bull and Aston Martin are adamant that they followed Pirelli’s tyre pressure and other guidelines.

“The current system

is that we impose some parameters,” said Isola, “and these parameters are the starting pressure, the maximum temperature in the blankets and the maximum end-of-straight camber. Why we impose these parameters is because they are measurable and measurable in a way that is not creating any doubt.”

For the following race, in France, Pirelli and the FIA issued a technical directive that raised the minimum rear tyre pressure by two psi to 21.5psi. The front tyre minimum stayed at 21.0psi.

There were no tyre failures throughout the weekend.

Pirelli beefed up its tyre structure for 2021 following the tyre failures last year, at the British and Tuscan races.

And now Pirelli has a new prototype range of tyres with much stiffer constructions, which the drivers will test during the first practice sessions on Fridays of grand prix weekends.

Pirelli is keen to get the finalised construction into production before the races at Spa, Monza and Suzuka – tracks that put a very high load on the tyres.

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Ideally, the FIA and Pirelli should be able to monitor the pressures and temperatures of the tyres when the cars are out on the track.

The teams have their own sensors to do that, but there is no uniformity. That will all change next year when all the teams will have the same standard 18-inch wheels and sensors.

“Ideally the important parameters to police on the tyres are the running conditions,” Isola explained.

“The running conditions are: the running stabilised pressure, the load, the speed, the camber. Some of these parameters are not enforceable simply because we don’t have the tool to do that.

“At the moment, they are complying with the regulations,” Isola said of the teams. “If the same thing happens next year, with a standard sensor, and we have imposed a running pressure, in that case they are against the regulations.”

So it looks like even without blowouts (please no more of those!) tyres are going to be getting some attention for a while.

Townsville Supercars; Austrian F1 Grand Prix; Australia’s Racing Heritage Series - Cheetah Mk6; racing from around the planet; all the latest news & views

with Mark Fogarty

THE FOGES FILE AA’s peeved pundit laments the lack of serious shows on TV about motor sport MY FAVORITE TV shows are about Aussie Rules footy. Not because I’m an AFL fan – far from it – but because they are two of the liveliest programs on air. One is a hard-hitting discussion panel and the other is a comedy show.

What I know about AFL – or any football code, really – you could put on a fingernail.

I must be one of the few people who grew up in Melbourne without being interested in, much less devoted to, Aussie Rules.

In a further irony, my first professional job was as a junior footy writer. You can imagine how well that went …

I’ve just never been into any sort of footy – or cricket or basketball, either. It’s not that I’m not interested in sport outside car and motorcycle racing. I spent more than a decade covering tennis, golf, America’s Cup and Olympic and Commonwealth Games.

Still, anyone who knows me well will be surprised that the two TV shows I enjoy most are AFL-centric.

In the footy season, I never miss Channel 9’s Footy Classified and 7’s The Front Bar. One entertains me because it is confrontational and the other because it is just flat-out funny.

FC features robust debate twice a week between hard-nosed sports journo Caroline Wilson, ex-star players Kane Cornes and Matthew Lloyd, grizzled ex-coach Ross Lyon, and conflicted broadcasters Eddie McGuire and Craig Hutchinson.

The conflict enthrals me. Keeps me informed about AFL – so I’m not a compete social leper to my footy head mates – while enjoying heated discussion and probing questions.

Bear with me. This eulogy to a couple of AFL shows is going somewhere.

The Front Bar is hilarious and informative at the same time. Co-hosts Andy Maher, Mick Molloy and Sam Pang are footy tragics who treat the game with reverence and disdain at the same time.

Journo/broadcaster Maher is the straight man, the foil to comedians Molloy and

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Pang. Their chemistry is on a par with Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond.

They take the piss, yet they attract legends and big-hitters of the game onto the show.

The guests get into the spirit, revealing uproarious anecdotes from their careers.

Even straight-laced toffy AFL chief Gill McLachlan has fun on The Front Bar. Could never imagine Supercars supremo Sean Seamer embracing such irreverent banter.

You don’t need to understand Aussie Rules to enjoy TFB because it is a comedy show first and foremost. Gags galore and wry, cutting observations.

So, finally, here’s my point. Where are the investigative and funny TV shows about Supercars and/or motor sport on Fox Sports and Seven?

There is a slew of discussion/analysis/ debate programs on AFL, NRL and cricket on Fox Sports. Plus revealing interview shows like Open Mike (where veteran AFL writer Mike Sheahan quizzes the game’s greats) and Robert ‘Crash’ Cradock’s incisive exchanges with cricketing legends.

Seven also has value-add AFL discussion shows, but The Front Bar is a huge hit with footy fans and non-followers alike.

Fox Sports and Seven have major investments in motor sport, but they don’t go behind the scenes like they do with footy.

Fox Sports has week-nightly AFL 360 and

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NRL 360 shows, but where’s Supercars 360 or Motor Sport 360 – even just once a week?

Foxtel owns all the major motor sport properties, so you’d think a regular discussion/analysis show would be a walkup start.

Not so. There was a push to do it five years ago. I know because I was flown to Sydney to take part in screen tests for possible cohost combinations. Those try outs remain on the cutting room floor …

Under James Warburton (now Seven’s big chief), the Supercars Media-produced Inside Supercars weekly show on Fox Sports in 2016 tried to inject some controversy into the program.

AA newshound Bruce Newton, News Corp sports journo (turned successful book author) James Phelps and I were semiregular guests, enlivening the show with scoops, debate and dissent.

The ratings loved us – the teams didn’t.

We were unceremoniously shutdown because the teams hated our unvarnished thoughts and hard questions. Not even Warbo could save us.

That show died, anyway, because it was limp as. Even hardcore fans dismissed it.

Since then, the sound of meaningful debate about Supercars on TV has been crickets chirping …

Seven has a chance to do in-depth shows as the self-proclaimed ‘Home of Motor Sport’.

Jack Perkins’ Motorsport Classics and Mark Larkham’s Supercars 101 are all very well, but they’re hardly broad appeal.

How about a motor racing version of The Front Bar? A tongue-in-cheek weekly look at racing that could draw a casual audience as well as committed fans.

To be unoriginal, call it The Bumper Bar. Same format – blokes (or women) bantering at the pub. You’d have a straight man journo to direct traffic/be the brunt of jokes, plus a couple of racing-aware comedians.

I’m thinking Damien Power – established stand-up comic brother of IndyCar ace Will – and car nut funny man Merrick Watts.

Or funny women who are into cars and or racing.

Worth a try, wouldn’t you think?

Just as a hard-hitting Footy Classifiedstyle dissection of Supercars would get a following, a humour-based look at V8 racing would not only be popular, but expose the sport to a much wider audience.

Motor sport is just as rich a vein of discussion, debate and dissent as football – and potentially just as funny.

You wonder why my favourite viewing is a pair of disparate AFL shows?

Because they exist, informing and entertaining someone who otherwise doesn’t care.

It’s about time racing fans had similar choices.

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LEGEND’S ILL-FATED STAR WHOSE RETURNS FAILED

In the conclusion of brief ‘60s star Spencer Martin’s story, MARK FOGARTY delves into his life after retiring as an Australian champion A TALL plume of black smoke rose in the distance.

Snatches of the commentary on the public address system made it clear returning star Spencer Martin had crashed heavily at the other end of the circuit.

I was 12 and watching from the outside of the rise at the end of the back straight at Sandown. I’d ridden nearly 10 km there on my bicycle from Glen Waverley, where I grew up, to see my first motor race live.

I didn’t know much about Spencer Martin, except an awareness he was someone special. His fiery crash in the

HDT Monaro GTS350 left an indelible impression.

More than 50 years later, I am talking to Martin about his meteoric career, including that seminal moment for a reporter-to-be.

His big crash in the 1969 Sandown Three Hour was the end of what could have been a Brock- or Moffat-like touring car career. Martin was that good.

In just eight seasons, he soared to the very top, winning back-to-back Australian Drivers’ Championships in 1966/67. Then he retired, walking away at his peak.

As Martin explained last issue, he quit because the remuneration was too low and the risk too high. But his pair of Gold Star titles were far from the end of his racing appearances, which continued until 2006.

In between were many ‘comebacks’ – so many returns that he rivalled famous reprisers Dame Nellie Melba and John Farnham. Just nowhere near as successful.

There was a handful of outings at Bathurst and a late-life surge in international historic racing.

Sydney based Martin, 81, is still an active enthusiast

Martin’s most serious comeback – of many – was with the new HDT at Sandown in 1969. Partnered by former open-wheel rival Kevin Bartlett, he was a front-runner in the Monaro GTS350 until spectacularly outed by brake failure.

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COMEBACKS

PART TWO

IMAGES: Autopics.com.au/Dave Williamson/John Ellacott/AA Archives

– he was a guest at the recent Ron Tauranac tribute meeting at Sydney Motorsport Park – and likes to drive fast road cars. He is also a recent convert to the thrills of motorcycle riding.

Along with his recently self-published book, which details his supernova-like initial career and the interesting cars like the Ferrari 250LM he raced, it is all a far cry from when he left Bob Jane Racing as Australian champion at the end of the ’67 season.

He started a trucking business, which as well as property investments, set him up for life.

“A really good mate of mine who I used to knock around with when we were teenagers, he was in the trucking business,” Martin recounted. “He cut his hand badly and he asked me if I’d drive his truck. I said ‘Yeah, I can do that’.

“That was in the middle of ’67. I drove his truck for a few weeks while his hand repaired and I got to see how

much money was involved in what he was doing.

It certainly beat going back to my trade (motor mechanic/panel beater), so I ended up buying a truck and thats how it started..

“My mate helped me get into the trucking business. I was making a hundred times more money than I was making in driving racing cars. It was really good.”

Martin was tempted back to racing by Ford team boss Harry Firth with a low-key return in an XT Falcon GT auto for the 1968 Bathurst 500.

No idea what they were thinking as it was in the same outright Class D as the manual 302 XTs, but there it was.

He qualified seventh but finished 42nd with Cortina touring car star Jim McKeown.

It was a quirky factory entry, but Martin did

Spencer today (above), trying out a Brabham at the recent Ron Tauranac tribute meeting at SMP. He starred in historics internationally from the early 1990s until 2006, when he finally quit racing at 67.

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Martin escaped the fiery Sandown Monaro crash (above) by crawling through the driver’s side window and crawling away to safety. Ironically, soon after, he was injured in a road car accident, ruling him out of the Bathurst 500 – and possible touring car stardom.. enough to put him at the top of Firth’s list when the curmudgeonly race and rally impresario defected – unwillingly – to Holden in 1969, establishing the Holden Dealer Team.

“I must have impressed him because I believe I was the first guy he rang when he wanted a driver for the Monaro 350,” Martin recalled. “I think he was going to pay us $300. It was a little bit of money and I thought I’d be safe in a sedan car, so I decided to go around again.”

He was partnered by former singleseater rival Kevin Bartlett and they were in contention at Sandown until Martin ran out of brakes, flying off at the end of the main straight and hitting the meagre barrier backwards, the car bursting into flames.

“Allan Moffat was leading in the Falcon 351 and I was just barely hanging onto him, but I was using all the car up and the brakes were getting a bit how-ya-goin’,” Martin remembered. “I was pumping up the pedal with my left foot and then jumping on it with my right foot at the end of the main straight, but that time when I got to my braking mark,

the pedal went right to the floor.”

Still supremely skilled, Martin went into emergency mode to limit the looming catastrophe.

“The Armco’s coming at you at a great rate, so I purposely backed it in,” he said.

“It’s amazing how strong you get when you’re looking at death and I got hold of the handbrake and pulled it out of the dash. At the same time, I turned the car hard left, which spun me around.

“I went across the grass backwards and into the barrier. It seemed to take a long while. I had time to duck down in the seat and get ready. We’d only used half a tank of fuel and those Monaros had a muffler going right across the back, so when it hit, it drove the muffler just about right inside the fuel tank, it hit that hard.

“There was a big fire, but the ambulance and the firies were right on that corner.

They were on the job pretty quick. I couldn’t get out of the car because the doors were jammed, so I had to climb out through the window. The heat was enormous.

“I scrambled away on my hands and

Martin was a front-runner at Bathurst in 1970 in a privateer Torana XU-1, co-driven by club racer cousin Bob. He maintains, though, that he was again a victim of ‘Horrible Harry’ Firth.

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knees, and the ambo bloke took me to the ambulance to make sure I was all right. I think he got as big a shock as me because it was a fairly horrific accident, but I wasn’t hurt.”

It was clear to Martin that Monaro’s brakes had failed, but the legendarily harsh

Firth blamed his star driver.

“They took the car down into the pit area and Harry said ‘Well, it’s got brakes’,” Martin remembered. “So I said sarcastically ‘Well, I must’ve pushed the clutch pedal in’.

“He was just being ridiculous. What happened was that when it had cooled

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Two ‘open wheeler rivals hard at it’. Martin’s first comeback was in an automatic XT Falcon GT at Bathurst in ’68 (above). He is seen here being chased through the ‘Dipper’ by his long time rival Kevin Bartlett. Martin was fast in the slush-box GT in qualifying but struggled in the race. Still, Harry Firth took note and saw him as his HDT star for ’69.

Spencer’s star had already been on the rise in 1965, when he piloted Scuderia Veloce’s gorgeous Ferrari 250LM (below).

Martin retuned to Bathurst in 1970 in a Torana XU-1 with his cousin Bob, who was a handy club racer. They finished 11th after a drama caused by Firth’s parsimonious intel to Holden privateers.

“Well, once again, Horrible Harry,” Martin

down, it got a little bit of pedal back. Harry always blamed the drivers because he had to save face. Harry was horrible. How’s my luck. Three difficult team bosses in a row.”

He was referring to driving for notably difficult team owners David McKay (Scuderia Veloce, where Spencer got his start), Bob Jane (for whom he won the ’66/67 national titles) and then the equally ornery Firth.

Vindication for the Sandown Three Hour accident came 20 years later.

“Frank Lowndes (father of V8 legend Craig) said to me ‘Did you ever find out why you ran out of brakes in the Monaro?’” he revealed. “Back then, Frank was the head mechanic at HDT – a lovely bloke – and when I told him I didn’t know what had happened, he confessed that he’d fitted the wrong brake pads.

“He said ‘You had standard brake pads, mate’.”

Martin was due to drive for HDT at Bathurst two weeks later, but a bizarre road accident ruled him out.

“There were two weeks between Sandown and Bathurst,” he said. “One night I was out with my brother (Gerald), who was a very wild man. We’d had a lovely dinner and a couple of glasses, and coming home there was a really big hill over the back of Lane Cove (on Sydney’s lower north shore).

“I thought my brother was aware of where

rued. “We were leading the race at one stage and the fuel pump failed. The valves in the fuel pump were expanding with the heat and weren’t allowing enough fuel to go through.

“Harry knew about all this and had the ceramic valves, but the privateers still had the fibre ones in there. We were going really good for a while.”

Martin then concentrated on his transport business and didn’t think about racing again until he reconnected with David McKay in 1978. As well as a former leading driver –

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we were and I said ‘Let her go, bro’ and he did. I thought he was going to hit the brakes at the top, but we went flying over the brow of the hill and landed on the front bumper bar, that’s how steep it was.

“The impact was so hard it bent the roof and smashed the subframes and all sorts of stuff, and I ended up in hospital with a crushed disc from the landing. I decided to wait a week to see how I recovered, but after a week in hospital, I got out of bed and I could hardly walk, so I rang Harry and told him I couldn’t compete at Bathurst.”

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inaugural ATCC champion in 1960 – and Scuderia Veloce team owner, McKay was a prominent motoring writer and Ferrari dealer in Sydney.

Martin drove for him in ’64/65 until they fell out.

After a reproachment, including all-access trips to F1 races, McKay convinced him to co-drive a stock standard Volvo 242 GT in the ’79 Bathurst 1000.

My question: What were you thinking?

Really?

“Well, you’re right,” he said. “Yeah, really?”

He explained that he agreed because he’d made amends with McKay – although somewhat unwittingly.

“It was a little bit scratchy for a while but we made up,” Martin said. “He took me overseas with him to some grands prix and then he asked me if I’d like to drive a 242 at Bathurst.

“It sounded like a Ferrari – I’d never heard of a Volvo 242. Anyway, I put my hand up and said I’d do it.”

Famously, the Volvo was a productionspec slug that got in the road of almost everyone at Bathurst – most notably Peter Williamson, carrying the first RaceCam in his Toyota Celica.

“Willo gave us plenty,” Martin recalled. “I tried to keep out of everybody’s way. David said he was only out there while I knocked off to have lunch. He was probably past it by then.

“It wasn’t too bad. It didn’t look like we were going to get into the race because the thing was so slow. But luckily in qualifying on Saturday it was pissing down rain and I got it up to about the middle of the field.

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The infamous Volvo 242 GT at Bathurst in ’79. Road-registered, stock standard and street-tyred, it got in everyone’s way.

Martin admits it wasn’t his best decision…

“In the defence of the Volvo, I’m sure it’s the only car you could’ve fuelled up and done the whole race again straight away. It was basically stock standard. We even had Uniroyal steel belted radial road tyres on it.

It just kept going around and around and around.

“Anyway, yeah, not a good look, but I think it kept the old man (McKay) happy. I did it because David gave me a tremendous opportunity. I didn’t win the Gold Star under his banner, but he gave me the chance that got me there. We became friendly again and it ended pretty well between us.

“He was hard to work with, but he was a good journalist and a good driver in his day.”

Martin shied away from racing until his wife Vicki died prematurely at 45 in 1990.

Friend and car collector Kerry Manolas invited him to race his Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa at Silverstone – and he never looked back.

“I thought ‘Bugger it, why not?’”, he said.

“I was financially fairly well established by then, so I thought I’d go back to what I love doing.”

He raced historics successfully in Europe and the USA for 15 years, highlighted by wins in an ex-Rodriquez bothers Ferrari 196S. In between, he had one more outing in the Bathurst 1000 in ’93, sharing a Bob Holdenrun Toyota Corolla with his son Matthew and journeyman Dave McMillan.

They didn’t finish, but Martin enjoyed the experience.

“That was just something I thought would be good to do,” he said. “It was a real thrill to race with my son.

“It was a social occasion for me, but it was nice to be out there again.”

Spencer’s last race was at the 2006 Tasman Revival meeting at SMP, driving the ex-Mildren Brabham BT23-Alfa Romeo V8 raced by Frank Gardner and Kevin Bartlett.

Owned by restorer/collector Paul Moxham, nearly 40 years after his last single-seater appearance, he was narrowly beaten by John Smith’s F1 Lotus 49 Cosworth V8.

“We had a good race and I was very happy because John was a very creditable driver and I was happy to hang onto him at

my age (then 67),” Martin said. “After that, I decided it was time to call it a day. I’d had a good run.

A couple of comebacks and I survived it all.

“A lot of people said I was silly to drive in that last race, but I enjoyed it, it was a lot of fun.”

These days, Martin plays golf and rides his Yamaha MT-07 motorcycle.

His daily driver is a Mercedes-Benz C350, replacing previous Porsche 911s.

He regularly drives classic sports cars from others’ collections – with equal respect and disdain.

“Once you drive a modern car, classics are just horrible,” he admitted.

Part of his legacy is having raced the iconic Ferrari LM250 in 1965, fuelling his enduring enthusiasm for Maranello’s machines.

“The greatest car I’ve driven fairly recently is the Ferrari 812 Superfast – 800

horsepower, V12, 9000 rpm, four-wheel steer, massive brakes,” he gushed. “Gee, that’s the drive of your life.”

Ferrari figures large in his self-published book, co-written with veteran international automotive journalist Peter Robinson.

It is a labour of love inspired by his father’s annotations of his life in the horse and cart era of transport.

“My kids know I’ve driven racing cars, but they don’t really know what I’ve done,

In just a few years, Martin established himself as a single-seater ace. He won Gold Stars in the Bob Jane Racing Brabham in 1966/67, then quit at just 28. Despite F1 potential, he stopped because meagre money wasn’t worth the risk.

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Martin is still active as a guest at historic meetings.

Here he is with former open-wheel stars Warwick Brown (left) and Paul Bernasconi (centre) at SMP last month. and my grandkids would never know, so I started to scribble a few notes,” Martin noted. “I showed them to a mate of mine and he said ‘Yeah, there’s enough in here for a book’. So I got in touch with Peter Robinson and he said ‘Wow, this is a real story, this is good’.

“With his help, I’ve produced a decent story. We had a lot of laughs and we’ve become really good friends.”

Martin’s standing in the ‘60s was such that triple word champion Jackie Stewart, leading F1 journalist Peter Windsor and recent Aussie F1 star Mark Webber contributed to the book.

It has sold well – “Amazingly so,” according to Martin – and underlines how successful he was in so few years.

“Looking back, it was,” he shrugged. “But at the time, you were just doing the job and getting the job done. You’ve used the words persistent and relentless to describe people, and that’s what you have to be to get to the top.”

He used the description to segue to his admiration of Mark Webber, with whom he has been closely associated for more than 20 years.

“Persistent and relentless describes Mark to a T,” Martin said. “I think they’re the best words ever for Mark Webber.

“He also had plenty of talent, of course. You’re

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going nowhere without that.”

Webber stayed with the Martin family in Sydney in his first season in the Formula Ford national championship, racing alongside Matthew Martin.

The Martins and the Webbers became close friends.

“I was with Mark at Le Mans in 1999, when his Mercedes flew into the air,” Spencer said.

“Mercedes offered him IndyCar and DTM, but Mark was only interested in F1.

“Mark never lost his focus on F1. That’s all he ever wanted to do. His persistence as well as his talent got him there.

“He was insistent and relentless. F1 was all he ever thought about. He’s also a good bloke and will always be the same.”

Octogenarian Martin keeps close track of racing, but he is not a fan of Supercars. He is, however, very keen on S5000 – not surprising given his open-wheeler roots.

“I think that has a lot of future,” he declared.

Spencer Martin is a largely forgotten Australian racing star who deserves greater recognition.

He at least should be inducted into the Australian Motor Sport Hall Of Fame.

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It was a case of the old and the new when Team Penske teammates - veteran Will Power and rookie Scott McLaughlin - sat down with AA’s Mike Brudenell at Belle Isle Park before the Detroit Grand Prix doubleheader WILL POWER, the 2014 NTT IndyCar Series champion, and Scott McLaughlin, the three-time Australian Supercars title winner, are running the No. 12 Verizon 5G Team Penske Chevrolet and No. 3 PPG Team Penske Chevrolet, respectively.

Power, 40, originally from Toowoomba, Queensland, and McLaughlin, 28, from Hamilton, New Zealand, couldn’t be more different in some respects but also more similar in their appetite to win races.

On and off the track, they are a formidable pair, certainly, but each with a great sense of humour and an unbridled passion for driving.

What’s it like to be a Team Penske driver – the pros and cons?

WP: To me, there are only pros, because you are given the equipment and opportunity to win, week in, and week out. If you are behind the eight-ball, they have the resources and they quickly work it out. I feel very fortunate to be with Team Penske – all the wins, the poles, the (series) championship and winning the Indy 500. It was all made possible driving for these guys. There is pressure, not so much from the team, but from yourself to perform.

SM: I think from my perspective, the pros have been opportunity. I always wanted

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to come to America, but never thought I’d get the chance. The whole reason I signed with Roger (Penske) was there was an opportunity there. If we met our goals (in Supercars), then potentially we could get across to America. Now I’m here and living an amazing life in America and racing IndyCar. It is obviously very special. The pressure? Well, you are held in high regard when you are a Penske driver. You do put a lot of pressure on yourself to perform at this level.

Your pathway to Team Penske and IndyCar were way different. What was it like?

WP: My pathway was trying to get to Formula 1, while always keeping an eye on IndyCar. When I was young racing Formula Ford in Surfers Paradise, the Indy cars would be there. I was blown away by the horsepower, the sounds, the way the track rumbled – it was awesome. It is really a raw, brutal car. I got a test in F1, but I had an opportunity to get paid in 2006 (Champ Car), and at that point, I was in debt and needed a job. I started with Team Australia and Derrick Walker and later with KV Racing Technology. My biggest break (2009) was when Helio (Castroneves) had his taxation evasion case and Roger and Tim (Cindric) hired me to drive in his

absence. I just wanted a foot in the door and show my potential. It went from there.

I was in the right place at the right time.

SM: Initially, I focused on Supercars and staying in Australia. My mom and dad didn’t like open-wheelers. They were nervous about it. But I was always a guy who wanted to challenge himself and look for opportunities. Initially, I thought Penske

would have looked at me for their NASCAR program. But I had always been an IndyCar fan of road and street courses and ovals.

We won three championships in V8s and now I’m here. Just incredible.

What do you two have in common?

SM: I think Will and I are cut from the same

Penske partners ... Will Power and Scott McLaughlin in Detroit (above) ... Power leading McLaughlin on the Detroit street track (main, far left). McLaughlin’s car wore iconic Pennzoil livery for this year’s Indianapolis 500 (left) while Power’s carries Verizon 5G colours (bottom left) for the season.

Images: Motorsport Images/Mike Brudnell

How important were your families in your early racing careers?

WP: My mom and dad were instrumental in me getting here.

They funded my junior categories. They have been massively important. I couldn’t have done it without them.

SM: They (parents) put their nut on the line, for sure. They sacrificed, sometimes to the detriment of their health. But at the end of the day, it has all paid off.

clot – we come from Down Under, cloth basically bas the same area. Will has a funny accent. acc We talk the same lingo.

WP: WP We talk fast, or so people here in America A think we do. We both like to joke around. Scotty swears a lot though. tho Is there a pecking order at Team Penske?

Pe WP: W I’m on the top of the pile, there’s no n question.

SM: S Anyone who has won the Indy 5 is definitely up there, like Will and 500 S Simon (Pagenaud). Josef Newgarden i your American guy, very confident. is I the rookie. I’m obviously right at I’m t bottom of the heap. the

You guys have fun?

WP: We do – but, of course, Scotty can be a bit disrespectful. Seriously, though, we do get along off the track, but it can get fierce between us in a race.

SM: On the track, it’s game on, for sure.

That’s how it should be. But we will help each other if need be.

Are you both clean drivers?

WP: I think we are. I think you can trust us both. In fact, I think the standard of racing in IndyCar has cleaned up a lot in recent years.

SM: I agree with Will – the younger guys coming in are fast and aggressive, but I think they are doing a good job in keeping their cars on track.

The Pandemic – how have you handled it?

WP: It’s been tough on everyone. I was worried I’d never experience another Indy 500 before I retired. It seemed like days and weeks were just dragging along. I thought, this is going to take years and years before we get back to normal, and it has taken a long time. But it is cool to see things opening in America now and fans coming back to racing. I was worried about my family’s health, because you saw the horror stories.

But everyone I knew who got Covid recovered, thankfully.

SM: It was nerve-wracking for everybody.

I locked myself down quite a bit. I didn’t want to go out if I didn’t need to.

Am I right, Will – did you buy your folks a farm, or something like that in Toowoomba?

WP: No – where did you hear that?

SM: It’s got llamas on it.

WP: Why would I buy them a farm?

Everyone thinks Toowoomba is countryfied.

It’s a city of 150,000 … it’s the “Garden City.” I won the “Carnival of Flowers” backto-back there. It was pretty cool.

SM: You won a go-kart race? I didn’t know that.

WP: No, I grew roses. Won the competition in ’04 and ’05.

SM: Wow! WP: I’m bloody joking, mate!

When do you know The Captain is happy?

WP: Simple – when you have won.

Finishing second or third is like kissing your sister.

SM: I agree, when you win …

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29

Scott McLaughlin has a dream introduction to Indycar competition, stepping into arguably the category’s top team. His Dallara-Chevrolet (piting above & racing at right) is very different from his last ride, in the DJR Team Penske Ford Mustang in Supercars (bottom right).

Will Power congratulates former teammate Helio Castroneves (top) on victory in this year’s Indianapolis 500.

Early days in Australia (above), Power aboard his Formula Holden at Winton in 2002. Power’s Penske-run 2021 DallaraChevrolet (right) demonstrates the development of open-wheeler racers over the subsequent 20 years.

WP: If you don’t win, you know, Scott, you’ll eventually get fired.

Your reaction to Helio Castroneves’ fourth Indy 500 victory?

WP: It was so cool – and I got to race someone in my era who is a fourtime winner. Helio and I battled for a championship and spent a lot of time together. It was great to see him win and win for another team. He was just super smart and strategically placed himself to win. And just think, he’s been second in the race three times.

SM: It was just amazing. You couldn’t ask for a better guy to sell the Indy 500 and IndyCar. He makes us all look like super-heroes. He’s a legend.

30 AutoAction

Supercars – any chance of teaming up?

WP: We want to do Bathurst together. I think that would be awesome. I want to do that.

SM: We’ve talked about it a few times. I’d love to run with Will there.

WP: Covid was certainly a big hit on the series and the Speedway. But the job Roger and his team has done has been incredible, no doubt about it.

Your futures in racing? You recently resigned, Will, with Penske.

WP: I will definitely stay in America. It just depends on what I’ll do after I retire as a driver at Penske. There is no time limit set in IndyCar. We will see how it goes. I’m not like Scotty – he’s on the line this year. He’s got to win. Yep, I’m (expletive) determined to win another championship.

SM: I want to be here (Penske) as long as I can. I know I have to perform. I’m married to an American like Will. I don’t have visa issues. And I’m not going to get fired like Will said.

Young Tassie driver Alex Peroni is competing in Indy Lights, at many of the same tracks you run. Have you met him?

WP: I’ve met him once. He’s good.

SM: He hasn’t reached out that much. Saw him at Indianapolis. He seems like a cool guy.

Did you guys take a pay cut (at Team Penske) during the Pandemic: WP: (In a deadpan manner): Massive, massive, mate.

SM: But we were still getting paid a lot.

WP (interjecting): The teams did what they had to do.

During the Pandemic, how important has Roger Penske been in keeping IndyCar viable?

SM: Look, there couldn’t have been a better person to have been in place in the series and the Speedway (IMS) than Roger. It’s the only way we’ve come back out of this as we have.

What do you think of going to paddle shift in Supercars?

SM: I think if they do, there’s going to be drama. I’d like to see the series keep its DNA. Supercars is going to have to cut costs. Let’s keep the DNA with the car if at all possible.

WP: I’d be down for the paddle for sure.

Be easier for me to drive at Bathurst.

Your thoughts on your Indy 500 finish?

WP: (Who placed 30th, spinning in the pits and finishing three laps down): We were looking like a top five for sure. But the brakes failed. So frustrating.

SM: (Who finished 20th on the lead lap and was named Rookie of the Race): It was just a difficult day (penalised for speeding entering pit lane). But we learned plenty for next time.

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31

In search of ‘the unfair advantage’, Australian team-supremo Alec Mildren built Frank Gardner a Brabham BT11A Maserati. It went like a rocket but disappeared just as quickly.

MARK BISSET tells the tale of the most obscure Tasman Cup contender of all

Alec Mildren’s

EROTIC, EXOTIC BRABHV12AM - Maserati 2.5

HORDES OF excited spectators ran for the pit-counter as they heard the hard-edged, sonorous V12-howl of Frank Gardner’s Brabham-Maserati as he flew between Warwick Farm’s Polo and Leger Corners during practice for the February 1966, Tasman Cup round.

The distinctive song-of-the-12 was rare in these parts, David McKay’s Ferrari 250LM being the exception. The Maserati had a hard-edged F1 note, rather than the silkier sports-racer sound of the 3.3-litre Maranello V12.

With an influx of new cars, pit-pundits were adjusting to the bark of the 1.9-litre V8 BRMs among the familiar 2.5-litre Coventry Climax four-cylinder hordes, when the Australian international’s yellow rocket took to the track.

Gardner’s wild British-Italian-Australian stallion was something else; the sound was unbelievable, as were its wheel-spinning antics as he struggled to control it.

Maserati works pilots, J-M Fangio, Jean Behra and Harry Schell had the same challenge

harnessing the potent 2.5-litre V12 when it was fitted to their F1 250Fs in mid-1957.

Alec Mildren ‘nicked’ the 1960 Australian Grand Prix and Gold Star. He fitted a 2.9-litre Maserati-four to his Cooper T51 at a time when 2.5 Climaxes were rare in Australia; his Unfair Advantage then served him well.

By 1965 the retired racer, prominent team owner, and Sydney Maserati dealer again looked longingly at the Modenese companies inventory to create a winning mount for Gardner.

The laconic Whale Beach garageman turned racer returned home annually from tur Europe where he mixed F1, F2, touring Eur cars ca and sports-racers, in one of the most mo diverse careers of any driver.

The T 1959-1960 world championship winning Coventry Climax FPF engine wi was w the perfect solution for Australasian Formula Libre racing.

Fo Initially the 2.7 ‘Indy’ dominated, with occasional interlopers like the BRM o P25s and Buick V8 used by Scarab in P 1962.

1 Commonsense prevailed when the Tasman Cup was created as a 2.5-litre T f formula, it gave the locals half-a-

chance against visiting hot-shots toting the same Climax engine The first Tasmans were won by Bruce McLaren and Jim Clark, their Cooper T70 and Lotus 32B used Climax power, but V8 engines were coming in 1966.

BRM returned to the South Pacific for the first time since 1961, their semi-redundant F1 BRM P261s increased in capacity from 1.5 to 1.9-litres. Repco-Brabham Engines’ 2.5-litre V8 would be race-tested that summer in advance of the ’66 GP season.

While in Italy on one of his regular trips, Mildren checked out Maserati’s stock of Tipo 9, 2.5-litre V12s developed to maintain the Maserati 250F’s 1957 edge. Ultimately Fangio won the drivers and constructors championship using the car’s usual DOHCsix, so there wasn’t huge pressure on the V12.

The all-aluminium, DOHC, two-valve, twinplug, six-Weber carbed V12 initially gave 300bhp, rising to 320bhp, and peaked at 12,000rpm.

Maserati took the V12 equipped chassis 2523 to Monaco. The drivers all tried it, even Fangio struggled with its hairtrigger power-delivery and lack of mid-

J Juan Manuel Fangio in a 2.5-litre Tipo 9 V12 engined Maserati 250F during practice aat Monaco in 1957. He won in a normal-spec six-cylinder 250F. Image: Motorsport IImages

32 AAutoAction t A ti

The Brabham BT11A Maserati IC-3-64 in the Warwick Farm paddock (above). Its Maserati’s Tipo 9 V12 engine was exotic; 12 cylinders, six Weber 38IDM carbs, four camshafts, 24 valves, two distributors, 24 plugs, four coils and four exhausts. Frank Gardner (right) exiting Polo Corner during practice at that meeting. Image: John Ellacott range punch. Two V12s ran in the nonchampionship Reims GP; Behra had piston failure and Menditeguy’s gearbox was hors de combat.

At Monza for the Italian GP, Fangio and Behra drove the V12 “with great élan and they were cornering in long slides, with the engine screaming at high revs and the wheels spinning,” Denis Jenkinson wrote in MotorSport.

Behra, fifth fastest, led for several laps, then pitted for tyres, but his engine failed after 50 laps. Stirling Moss’ Vanwall VW57 won from Fangio’s 250F-six and Von Trips Lancia Ferrari 801.

Fangio won his fifth and last world championship but it was the last-hurrah for Maserati. It was a long-overdue title for the 250F, a competitive tool in works and privateer hands since its first appearance in 1954.

The Orsi family withdrew Maserati from racing, such was the financial pressure.

The V12s were out to one side, albeit some 3-litre, mid-engined variants of the Birdcage sportscar were built in 1961-2.

Alec Mildren wasn’t the only team-owner

interested in Maserati’s old V12 in 1965. Cooper negotiated a supply of engines for their monocoque T81 1966 GP cars, it was the first season of the 3-litre formula.

Cooper’s Tipo 9 engines were updated variants of the old design – subsequent winners of the 1966 Mexican and 1967 South African Grands Prix – Mildren ordered one of the 2.5-litre engines, untouched in specifications since Fangio’s days.

Soon the exotic cargo crossed the Pacific ifi on an Alitalia Boeing 707 bound for Sydney.

After clearing Mascot customs, the V12 was unpacked by Mildren’s long-time chief mechanic Glenn Abbey at Mildren’s raceshop, opposite his Alfa Romeo and Maserati dealership on the Pacific Highway, Pymble.

Abbey picks up the story.

“Midway through the year Alec began planning for the 1966 Tasman. He was the Maserati distributor and had a successful history racing Maserati engines. He ordered a new V12 and gave me the job of installing it in our 1964 Brabham BT11A (IC-3-64) chassis.

“This required “Thi i d cutting i off ff the h chassis h i behind the driver’s seat and lengthening it by many inches.”

Another challenge was making a bellhousing or adaptor plate to mate the engine to the existing Hewland HD5 transaxle.

“With the help of Bob Grange and Stuart Randall, we got the thing running by December 1964, then took it out to Oran Park to test.

“Frank Gardner did several laps, made chassis adjustments, then went out and did some fast, very spectacular laps with lots of wheelspin and tyre smoke. He lapped in the

43s, then 43 h iti lost l oilil pressure, that h was the end of the day.”

Kevin Bartlett also did a few laps at Oran Park, “It was nowhere near driveable enough to do a 100-miler. The carbs had huge flat-spots and power delivery was like a light switch - on or off! We had little throttle control at all. In addiion we needed time to get the chassis right.”

“The pressure loss was due to oil starvation. The oil was not getting through the system quickly enough. In those days the oil tank was in the nose. The pipe from the tank to the oil pump was too small as it turned out. But the real problem was that

AutoAction 33

Bob Grange, Glenn Abbey and Stu Randall install the beefy Maserati V12 into chassis IC-3-64 in the Alec Mildren Racing workshop in Pymble (above left) and in the Warwick Farm paddock (above right). Images: Kevin Bartlett/Autopics.com.au the bottom end was fried and we had no spare parts or engine in Australia.”

In addition, Randall recalled that “the chassis extension wasn’t stiff enough, Frank reported extreme flexing”, this was a problem which could have been solved had the team persevered with the 315bhp engine.

“There was no time to repair it and get it to New Zealand, so the next day Alec decided to buy Bib Stillwell’s BT11A (chassis IC2-64) and FPF engines. Stillwell had just retired, having won his fourth Gold Star onthe-trot. We ran that car in all the NZ races and the Australian rounds,” wrote Abbey.

“After the post-mortem ... we decided to rebuild the V12 with new parts flown from Italy in time to do the last Australian races at Sandown and Longford.

“Gardner didn’t think the car would be quick enough at Lakeside or Warwick Farm, mainly due to throttle response ... it was equipped with six double-choke downdraught Weber carburettors that didn’tt allow good throttle progression. You either had too much power and lots of wheelspin, or it was too slow out of a corner.”

In the event the car was taken to Warwick Farm and Sandown. The Farm made sense given its proximity to homebase, whereas Sandown’s two long straights would give the missile a good gallop.

With that, the Mildren crew left Stu Randall to rebuild the exotic V12, and flew to Auckland.

Gardner was eliminated in the NZGP at Pukekohe from row four of the grid.

Jim Clark’s Lotus 39 Climax stripped first gear, and in the process of going around the poleman, Gardner collected Andyy Buchanan, eliminating both cars.

At Levin he qualified second and should have won; Gardner always regarded that race as the Tasman round which got away from him.

He set a lap record 2.1 seconds better than Clark’s 1965 record and towed the field along for 26 of the 28 laps, only to have a Hewland failure, gifting Richard Attwood’s BRM the win.

Despite Gardner’s pace, the 1966 Tasman was the year of the ‘multi cylinder engines’ Maserati 250F 2.5 V12 engine bay Pescara 1957 (above). Former GP driver, then Cooper team manager Roy Salvadori testing the new F1 Cooper T81 Maserati at Goodwood during April 1966.

Images: Bernard Cahier/Motorsport Images

34 AutoAction

as Mildren anticipated. BRM’s Jackie Stewart comfortably won the title with four wins, while his teammates Graham Hill won two, and Attwood one.

At Wigram Gardner qualified second, then had another accident on lap 3 when his Brabham’s front brakes failed; he brought the car to a halt with the rears - Stewart won.

At Teretonga, the southern-most racetrack in the world, he was on pole and bagged second place points behind Stewart’s P261.

Jim Clark and Jackie Stewart were two of the quickest young dudes on the planet.

Despite that, Gardner, nearly a decade older than Stewart, served it right up to them in a year old car.

It was then off to Sydney and an appointment with his V12 equipped BT11A. “The V12 Maserati engine has plenty of urge.

The Italian engine looks like a plate of spaghetti. A mess of high-tension leads connect the 24 spark plugs which fire its 12 cylinders ... the engine develops about 305bhp” wrote The Canberra Times’ Ken Blair in his pre-race build up.

While the Brabham Maserati was quick in a straight line, howling along Hume Straight – really giving Creek Corner’s resident bugler something to get excited about – the power delivery was like a light switch, either on or off, making throttle control tricky at best.

The issues were the same as those experienced by Fangio, Behra and Schell in 1957. This was unsurprising given the engine was the same, no development seems to have been done.

Gardner quickly decided his familiar, chuckable, Climax engined car was the go on the highly technical Farm layout come raceday.

Clark’s Lotus 39 Climax won from Hill’s BRM P261 and Gardner, who started from grid three and was 40 seconds adrift of Hill after 45-laps.

The Tasman circus then headed north to Lakeside for the Australian Grand Prix.

Gardner was again second to Hill, this time Gard seconds adrift.

17 se A week later at Sandown, all eyes were on Jack Brabham’s Repco w 22.5-litre V8 engined Brabham BT19 as tthe field commenced practice; the pride oof Australia made its local debut.

Despite its glorious exhaust note, Gardner was almost unnoticed in the G BT11A Maserati and, all too soon it was BT over. The engine had done so many ov miles in testing it needed a rebuild, and m blew! ble And that was it for Mildren’s BrabhamA

This is the Brabham BT11A chassis IC-3-64 when it first arrived in Australia in late 1964. It was first raced by Frank Gardner in the 1965-6 Tasmans, before being taken over by Kevin Bartlett. Once returned to its original configuration, this was the car in which Bartlett set the first 100mph lap of Bathurst.

Cooper’s F1 T81 Maserati 3-litre V12 at Monaco in 1967 (above). Gardner flashes along the Pit Straight at Warwick Farm in 1966 (above right). Further engine detail (right) shows the beautiful workmanship of the long engine and neat installation.

Images: Motorsport Images/Mildren Collection/Autopics.com.au Maserati experiment.

The team had only one engine, there was no spare. With a considerable development program needed – Maserati were totally committed to their F1 Cooper commitment – and a better chassis solution required, IC-3-64 was converted back to standard specifications and refitted with an FPF. In Bartlett’s hands the car ran Spencer Martin close in the 1966-7 Gold Stars, and did the first 100mph Bathurst lap.

Bartlett recalls the exotic V12 being crated up for return to Italy.

Oh to have heard the Mildren Brabham BT11A Maserati winding its 12-cylinders out to 9000 rpm along Longford’s FlyingMile, had it run there in the summer of ‘66.

It was indeed one of the more interesting mighta-beens!

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Supercars RACE REPORT Round 5 - Hidden Valley, Darwin

COMMODORE BACK TO FRONT

Cam Waters, winner Chaz Mostert and Nick Percat soak up the sun and the accolades after success in the first race at Hidden Valley.

R Report: Dan McCarthy Im Images: Motorsport Images/Insyde Media

PRACTICE – GETTING TO GRIPS P

AFTER THE Mustang domination at The Bend Bend, Holden fought back in winning all three races at Hidden Valley Raceway, the Darwin Triple Crown.

It took a little longer for Round 5 to take place as Winton was postponed due to a COVID-19 outbreak in Victoria, which meant that a six-week gap before Supercars action returned.

Championship leader Shane van Gisbergen was back to his winning ways, taking two of the three races in Darwin.

The opening race,however, was won

by Walkinshaw Andretti United driver

Chaz Mostert after a number of his rivals fell by the wayside.

Overall, the 2014 Bathurst 1000 winner collected the most points over the three races and as a result has edged up on the Triple Eight Race Engineering duo van Gisbergen and Jamie Whincup, both ahead of him in the championship.

Darwin also featured the debut of the new supersoft compound Dunlop tyre which, prior to the weekend, only two test drivers, Jamie Whincup and Will Davison had ever driven on.

B BECAUSE OF the new supersoft ty tyres, the two 30-minute Friday p practice sessions were treated very differently to normal. d Generally, teams would perform multiple short runs in order to find m th the perfect setup, however in Darwin many teams elected to do long runs. This was to find out what the compound would do over a race stint and find where, or if, the tyre grip or performance would drop off.

In the first practice Brad Jones Racing driver Nick Percat topped the timesheets, however he completed the least amount of laps with 16.

The BJR Commodores generally perform well when the grip is high, so it was no major surprise to see the former Bathurst 1000 winner on top of the time sheets.

His 1m 05.1695s time was 0.121s faster than Dick Johnson Racing driver Anton de Pasquale and 0.136s faster than Cameron Waters. Both Mustang drivers were looking strong on the back of their first wins of season at the previous Tailem Bend round.

Scott Pye scored three podiums in the six races at the venue last year and again looked strong in the Darwin

heat, fourth in p1 from his teammate Mark Winterbottom and Chaz Mostert.

Notably both Triple Eight machines were outside of the top 10.

Shane van Gisbergen was having issues with his front splitter which saw him spending several minutes in the lane before also spearing off at Turn 1 late in the session.

He finished practice 1 in 11th, nearly 0.5s back from Percat, while his teammate, seven-time champion Jamie Whincup was 14th.

Practice 2 was red flagged just seconds into the session when local Territorian Bryce Fullwood came to stop metres from the pit lane exit.

His bonnet pins had not been fastened and under the acceleration forces out of pit lane, it flew up and covered the windscreen, forcing him to come to a halt.

Not quite as many laps were completed in the second session as drivers pushed the limits.

There were spins for Jake Kostecki, Anton de Pasquale and Will Brown.

In his last full-time event at Hidden Valley, Whincup ended the day at the top of the leaderboard.

Pye was next from de Pasquale, Percat and Will Davison, Mostert and van Gisbergen.

Chaz Mostert won the opening race at Hidden Valley, beating former teammate Cam Waters and BJR’s Nick Percat.

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Boost Battle. Veteran James Courtney and rookie Brodie Kostecki dispute territory in the Territory (above) in a fight for sponsorship supremacy. Ultimately they collided though honours were pretty much evenly shared across the three races.

Van Gisbergen was third ahead the second Team 18 driver Pye and Percat, while Whincup ran wide at the Turn 6 hairpin and qualified in sixth.

Forced to used old rubber after a mistake in Q1, championship contender Waters qualified in seventh alongside Mostert, who was also forced onto second-hand tyres.

Tim Blanchard Racing driver Tim Slade was next, from Top 10 Shootout debutant Goddard.

There was carnage on the opening lap of the first race (above), taking out Anton de Pasquale, Todd Hazelwood, Jack Smith and Fabian Coulthard. Nick Percat had a strong weekend (below), finishing in the top 10 every race including a podium.

QUALIFYING RACE 12 – SUPER SUPRISES ON SUPERSOFTS

AFTER WINNING his maiden Supercars race at Hidden Valley last year, in 2021 de Pasquale topped his first Top 10 Shootout, and with it earnt his third successive pole position.

An additional two Wildcards, Tickford racer Thomas Randle and WAU pilot Kurt Kostecki, meant that a total of six drivers were eliminated from the opening segment rather than the usual four.

The first ever Supercars qualifying session on the new supersoft Dunlop tyre threw up some unexpected results as the track evolution was far more than

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many teams anticipated, and caught several big names out.

Former champion James Courtney would start from 21st ahead of Brown and Tickford racer Jack le Brocq.

The biggest surprise was Dick Johnson Racing driver Will Davison. While his teammate would start from pole, Davison qualified 24th ahead of just the two Kelly Grove Racing cars, David Reynolds ahead of his teammate and previous round Race 1 winner Andre Heimgartner.

The surprises continued.

After topping the opening segment of qualifying Matt Stone Racing driver Jake Kostecki missed out on a Q3 spot

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by just 0.01s to his teammate Zane Goddard.

Macauley Jones was 12th from Brodie Kostecki, Fabian Coulthard, Kurt Kostecki and Todd Hazelwood, who rounded out the top 16 ahead of Randle, Jack Smith, Fullwood and Garry Jacobson.

In the Top 10 Shootout de Pasquale took pole, however Team 18 driver Winterbottom was faster in the first two sectors before the former champion and Bathurst 1000 winner ran wide at Turn 11 and lost 0.4s, though his time was still good enough to qualify on the front row.

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RACE 12 – CHAOS REIGNS SUPREME

DESPITE STARTING from eighth position on the grid Mostert stayed away from the chaos that ensued around him and cruised to a comfortable 12.39s victory, his second race win with WAU. Many of his title rivals were either caught up in collisions or suffered pit stop problems, and this allowed Mostert move through the pack with little stress to take an emphatic victory.

His friend and great rival Waters started alongside him on the grid and also benefited from the carnage to finish a strong second.

Percat was third, his first podium of the year, however a question mark hung over his head until the next morning as the #8 Brad Jones Racing Commodore’s tyres had fallen under 17psi on the grid.

As he did not race on the tyres he was not disqualified, however for breaching the rule the team lost all 86 points that Percat earned.

The action had begun at Turn 1 on lap 1, as a nudge ended up triggering a multi-car collision and six laps under safety car conditions.

As the lights had gone out for the 38-

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Supercars RACE REPORT

Round 5 - Hidden Valley, Darwin

As ever there was action aplenty at Hidden Valley. After qualifying almost at the back on Saturday, Will Davison (left) scored two pole positions for Sunday’s races. Unfortunately the DJR Mustang just didn’t have the pace to hold off Shane van Gisbergen (below) for the wins, finishing second in both. Will Brown (above) scored a trio of top 10 finishes.

lap race, race pole sitter de Pasquale made a solid start as did Winterbottom alongside him, however the former champion suddenly slowed and pulled over to the right, an electrical issue briefly caused his engine to die and cost him places several places.

Leader de Pasquale went defensive on the approach to Turn 1, but not defensive enough, as van Gisbergen fired down the inside and snatched the lead.

De Pasquale held back in an attempt to undercut van Gisbergen on the exit should he run wide. However unbeknownst to him, Pye touched the inside kerb and was all locked up.

Pye clouted and spun de Pasquale around and the field scattered to avoid the DJR Mustang, however Winterbottom was unsighted and collected the rear of de Pasquale’s machine.

Moments later the Brad Jones Racing cars of Jack Smith, Todd Hazelwood and Team Sydney driver Fabian Coulthard all ploughed into de Pasquale.

Pye was dealt a drive-through penalty for causing the collision but avoided the melee at Turn 1 by taking to the grass, as seven-time champion Whincup and Goddard followed but fell to the back of the pack.

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This left van Gisbergen out front from Percat and Mostert, the New Zealander leading a large portion of the race and appeared to have one hand on the race winning trophy.

However, an issue getting the leftrear off his #97 machine during the compulsory pitstop cost the championship leader 30s and dropped him to the rear of the field.

Mostert breezed by Percat on lap 11 at Turn 1 and was untroubled from that moment on, romping home to take his second win of the year.

It was not until lap 31 that Waters eventually made his way past Percat after a great duel for position.

The Boost Mobile boys, Brodie Kostecki and Courtney, were fighting for fourth in the closing stages before they collided at Turn 5.

Kostecki re-joined illegally at Turn 7 without going between the tyre bundles and as a result was handed a fivesecond penalty post-race, dropping him from fourth to ninth.

Courtney finished fifth but likewise received a 5s penalty but not for the clash, his was for a safety car restart infringement dropping him to 10th, and promoting Kostecki to p8.

Kostecki’s Erebus Motorsport teammate Will Brown crossed the line in sixth but inherited fourth thanks to the penalties.

Matt Stone Racing driver Jake Kostecki scored his first top 10 finish in fifth ahead of his brother Kurt.

This meant that all three Kosteckis finished inside the top 10 for the very first time in Supercars’ history.

Slade finished the race in seventh ahead of the penalised Brodie Kostecki and Randle, while Courtney rounded out the 10.

Fullwood finished the race in 11th ahead of Whincup, while van Gisbergen recovered from the pitstop drama to finish in 13th, just ahead of Davison.

QUALIFYING RACE 13 & RACE 14 DOUBLE DELIGHT FOR DAVISON

ON SUNDAY in qualifying Davison was a step ahead of the rest, taking not one, but two pole positions.

It was an identical top three for both races with Davison ahead of van Gisbergen and de Pasquale.

In Race 13 qualifying, Davison took pole by a staggering 0.288s from van Gisbergen and 0.4s to de Pasquale.

After the heartbreak of Saturday,

Winterbottom qualified fourth ahead of Brown, Whincup and the struggling Waters.

Mostert ran off the road at Turn 1 at the start of his final run, therefore had to try and complete a time on one lap old supersoft tyres. He limited the damage and qualified in eighth ahead of Pye and Percat.

It was a tighter up the front in quallie for Race 14, but again it was Davison who took pole, outqualifying van Gisbergen by 0.118s.

De Pasquale was third ahead of Whincup, Courtney, Pye, Percat and Winterbottom.

Brad Jones Racing driver Jones quallied a joint career best ninth ahead of Mostert, Brown and a frustrated Waters.

RACE 13 – VAN GISBERGEN IS BACK

ALTHOUGH DAVISON was quickest in qualifying it was van Gisbergen who got the better of the DJR driver in the race to Turn 1 and went on to take his seventh victory of the season.

Starting on the front row van Gisbergen made a slightly better start

RESULTS RACE 12 HIDDEN VALLEY 38 LAPS

Tom Randle (above) made his second Wildcard appearance, here leading Tickford teammate James Courtney.

After an ordinary first race, retiring all-time champion Jamie Whincup (above) found the podium in the final two events. than Davison, enabling him to out-drag the pole sitter to Turn 1 and take the lead before the braking zone.

From there van Gisbergen controlled the race out front, unable to pull away. He drove a mature race, did not burn out the supersoft tyre and took the win by 1.5s.

For van Gisbergen it ended a barren run in Darwin, the Kiwi having not won in the NT since 2016.

Behind him a race long battle ensued for the minor podium positions and included Davison, Mostert, Whincup and Winterbottom.

From fourth on the grid Winterbottom made the best start of anyone and fired around the outside at Turn 1, briefly held second but a snap of oversteer saw him fall back several places on the exit.

Mostert had made considerable ground on the opening lap, jumping from 10th to sixth and elected to stop early on lap 9.

The early undercut paid dividends for the WAU driver who was able to leap up the order and found himself battling Davison for an effective second position.

Lap after lap Mostert remained on the tail of Davison unable to find a way through.

Whincup with much fresher tyres caught up to the fighting

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pair, just as Mostert’s tyres began to drop away.

This allowed Davison to scuttle away as Mostert was harassed by the seven-time champion; despite his best efforts Mostert could not keep Whincup at bay.

The Triple Eight driver fired down the inside at Turn 1, Mostert fought back up the inside on the exit and ran side by side through turns 2, 3 and 4, before Whincup prevailed at Turn 5.

Mostert held onto fourth, holding back Winterbottom and de Pasquale in the final laps of the race.

De Pasquale had been fighting for a podium position but a pitstop problem with the rattle gun cost him several seconds.

Waters finished in seventh ahead of Brown, Percat and Courtney who rounded out the top 10.

sequence, before van Gisbergen pulled out a margin once more and took the win by 2.3s.

Davison came under pressure from his good mate Whincup in the closing laps of the race but didn’t falter, the two-time Bathurst 1000 winner finishing second position, and taking his seventh podium of the season.

After making the undercut work in Race 13, Mostert and the WAU went for the overcut in the final race.

Mostert was one of the last drivers to pit, and with fresh tyres he moved forward quickly and closed in on Whincup in the final few laps.

However, Mostert had used a lot of his rubber to get back onto the tail of Whincup and did not have enough of a speed advantage to find a way past.

After missing out on a top five finish due to a penalty on Saturday, Courtney rebounded to finish as the highest placed Tickford Racing driver in fifth.

Percat capped off a strong weekend by bringing the #8 ZB Commodore home in sixth position, just 0.7s ahead of Winterbottom.

From his lowly grid position in 12th Waters limited the damage to finish in eighth.

The Blanchard Racing Team and Erebus Motorsport had a war of words in the pit lane, both pointing the finger at the other operation for ‘playing games’ in the lane.

On the race track it was BRT and Slade who prevailed, finishing ninth ahead of Brown in the rival Erebus Commodore.

Wildcard Randle briefly fell to 12th, but a bold move at Turn 1 saw him finish the race in 11th position.

The man he repassed was de Pasquale.

The DJR front-runner fought for a podium again until he made a couple of unforced errors, firstly stalling in pitlane, and then one lap later spearing off the road at Turn 1. He recovered to finish in 12th.

RACE 14 – GIZZY ONCE MORE

AS HE did in the previous race, van Gisbergen beat pole sitter Davison to Turn 1 and set up his second race victory of the day.

Davison briefly closed the gap to within a second after the compulsory pitstop

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Pos 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 nc nc nc nc

Driver Chaz Mostert Cameron Waters Nick Percat Will Brown Jake Kostecki Kurt Kostecki Tim Slade Brodie Kostecki Thomas Randle James Courtney Bryce Fullwood +26.497 Jamie Whincup Shane van Gisbergen Will Davison Andre Heimgartner Zane Goddard Macauley Jones Garry Jacobson David Reynolds Jack Le Brocq Scott Pye Mark Winterbottom Anton De Pasquale Todd Hazelwood Fabian Coulthard Jack Smith

Laps/Margin 38 laps ▲7 +12.390s ▲ 5 +15.361s ▲ 2 +23.314s ▲ 18 +24.763s ▲ 6 +25.244s ▲ 9 +25.660s ▲ 2 +25.730s ▲ 5 +25.984s ▲ 8 +26.421s ▲ 11 s ▲8 +26.704s ▼ 6 +28.509s ▼ 10 +29.240s ▲ 10 +30.089s ▲ 11 +35.349s ▼ 6 +36.924s ▼5 +37.117s ▲ 2 +37.467s ▲ 6 +39.622s ▲ 3 +2 Laps ▼ 17 +9 Laps ▼ 20 +38 laps ▼22 +38 laps ▼ 8 +38 laps ▼ 11 +38 laps ▼8

RESULTS RACE 13 HIDDEN VALLEY 38 LAPS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 NC

Shane van Gisbergen Will Davison Jamie Whincup Chaz Mostert Mark Winterbottom Anton De Pasquale Cameron Waters Will Brown Nick Percat James Courtney Jack Le Brocq Bryce Fullwood Scott Pye Todd Hazelwood Brodie Kostecki Fabian Coulthard Andre Heimgartner David Reynolds Tim Slade Macauley Jones Zane Goddard Jack Smith Kurt Kostecki Jake Kostecki Thomas Randle Garry Jacobson

38 laps +1.532s +6.679s +9.042s +9.532s +9.810s +12.342s +16.617s +17.145s +21.681s +22.401s +24.995s +25.506s +28.507s +29.681s +30.108s +30.395s +30.908s +31.376s +37.623s +40.619s +48.870s +55.455s +1 lap +7 laps +20 laps

▲1 ▼1 ▲3 ▲4 ▼1 ▼3 0 ▼3 ▲1 ▲6 0 ▲3 ▼4 ▲5 ▲8 ▲6 ▲1 ▲3 ▼6 ▼8 ▼1 ▲4 ▲2 ▼ 10 ▼8 ▼2

RESULTS RACE 14 HIDDEN VALLEY 38 LAPS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 NC

Shane van Gisbergen Will Davison Jamie Whincup Chaz Mostert James Courtney Nick Percat Mark Winterbottom Cameron Waters Tim Slade Will Brown Thomas Randle Anton De Pasquale Fabian Coulthard Bryce Fullwood Jack Le Brocq Scott Pye Kurt Kostecki Garry Jacobson David Reynolds Macauley Jones Todd Hazelwood Jack Smith Zane Goddard Brodie Kostecki Jake Kostecki Andre Heimgartner

38 laps +2.320s +3.030s +4.018s +5.729s +11.928s +12.659 +13.205s +17.695s +22.046s +22.302s +22.750s +26.551s +27.596s +27.901s +30.262s +35.413s +38.401s +39.654s +40.469s +41.849s +43.692s +46.718s +57.619s +58.395s +34 laps

▲1 ▼1 ▲1 ▲6 0 ▲1 ▲1 ▲4 ▲5 ▲1 ▲5 ▼9 ▲4 ▲8 ▲4 ▼ 10 ▲8 ▲6 ▼4 ▼ 11 ▼1 ▲1 ▼5 ▼3 ▲1 ▼ 13

Points: Van Gisbergen 1361, Whincup 1140, Mostert 1131, Davison 1087, Waters 1064, Winterbottom 861, Percat 827, de Pasquale 762, Courtney 744, Brown 741, B Kostecki 737, Heimgartner 722, Pye 690, Fullwood 663, Reynolds 644, le Brocq 634, Hazelwood 581, Slade 562, J Kostecki 548, Goddard 532, Coulthard 416, Jack Smith 382, Jones 378, Jacobson 353, Thomas Randle 260, K Kostecki 222

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Formula 1 Round 7 French Grand Prix

TWO STOP OR NOT? Max Verstappen’s two stop strategy topped Lewis Hamilton’s one stopper Report: Dan Knutson Images: Motorsport Images TO PIT or to not to pit – for the second time – that was the question that decided the outcome of the French Grand Prix.

Max Verstappen defeated Lewis Hamilton by 2.9 seconds in France to win for the third time this season.

It was a close call either way.

The pre-race models all pointed to a one stop. Pirelli’s soft compound tyres were not durable enough for the race, so for the front runners it would be a case of qualifying and starting on the medium compound and then pitting for the hards and doing a long stint on them to the finish.

That one stop strategy almost worked for Hamilton and the Mercedes team.

Red Bull switched Verstappen to a two stop, and on fresher tyres he was able to hunt down Hamilton and take the lead with just over a lap to go.

France was the first race when the FIA’s new stricter rules to combat flexing wings were enforced. Although the long straight at the Le Castellet circuit would be the perfect place for a dropping rear wing drooping to increase straight-line speed, Verstappen was still able to grab pole position with the now more rigid rear wing.

Hamilton qualified second.

Verstappen took the lead at the start of the 53-lap race and then threw it away when he went off the track at Turn 2.

“I turned in thinking it was fine and then suddenly I kept losing the rear,” he said.

“I had to go off track and then I lost the position. Of course I was really upset at the time, but you also have to think ahead.

It was still a long race and a lot could happen. I just tried to follow.”

Running second behind Hamilton, Verstappen pitted at the end lap 18 to switch from medium to the hard compound Pirelli tyres.

Mercedes kept Hamilton out for an extra lap before bringing him in for the hard compound. It was a slow lap for Hamilton, and a fast one for Verstappen on his

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Max Verstappen (above) celebrates his third Grand Prix victory of the 2021 season, though he only took the lead from Lewis Hamilton (top) for the final time on the second last lap.

Lewis Hamilton (above left) took the lead at the first corner when Max Verstappen ran wide, while Daniel Ricciardo (above right) finished sixth in his most competitive outing for McLaren to date.

new tyres. As Hamilton exited the pits Verstappen passed him.

“We had the quicker car probably,” said Mercedes boss Toto Wolff. “We lost the race at the stop. We had a solid threesecond gap to protect against the undercut and that wasn’t enough, and from there on we were on the back foot. The two stop was a danger for us because Sergio Pérez was in the way, and we got it wrong today.”

Red Bull kept Pérez out until the end of lap 24, a one stop strategy switching to the hard compound tyres that would net him third place.

Verstappen was back in the lead but not for long.

“We can’t keep this up to the end of the race,” he radioed to the team, referring to the life of his hard compound tyres.

Pitting from the lead can be risky, but Verstappen came in for another set of the mediums at the end of lap 32. Hamilton had an 18 second lead with 20 laps remaining.

But he did not keep it.

“As soon as I was getting close I could see Lewis on the tyres he was on, they were really worn and there was not much left on it,” Verstappen said. “As soon as I got in the DRS with the top speed and the wing level

we chose, it was a fairly easy pass, but of course also having fresher tyres. It worked out but it was very tight.”

Hamilton wound up second.

“They (Red Bull) just had better strength all weekend,” he said, “and just considering that we had such a difficult Friday I’m really happy with today’s result. Of course we didn’t win and we were in the lead, but I had no tyres left at the end and unfortunately lost the position. But still it was a good race.”

Pérez was able to hunt down Valtteri Bottas to take third place. Bottas was furious that Mercedes denied his request during the race to pit twice.

It was Alpine’s home race and again the French team showed strong pace in qualifying, less so in the race. Fernando Alonso eventually finished eighth but is increasingly a factor at events.

Carlos Sainz leads Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc (above). Despite good pace in qualifying, the race was a major disappointment for the famed Italian team.

Red Bull teammates Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez celebrate (above), first and third.

2021 FRENCH GRAND PRIX 2021 53 LAPS

Williams’ George Russell was fast as always in qualifying but 12th was as good as it got in the race. The Brit remains pointless thus far in the 2021 season.

McLaren was the best of the rest with Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo starting eighth and 10th and finishing fifth and sixth respectively.

“It was the race we were hoping for but not the one we expected,” Ricciardo said. “I don’t think we expected our closest competitor to score no points, and for us to be the best of the midfield with both cars.

“That was our dream race and we managed to pull it off. I’m really happy with the race, although if I’m honest, I wasn’t totally happy with the car. I was struggling from the laps to the grid and then for the whole race. But it seemed like everyone else, besides Lando, was struggling more. It was a fun race.”

Despite still not being happy with the car, this was the first time Ricciardo felt comfortable enough in the McLaren to lean on the car.

“I used my preferred style to get my elbows out and have some fun and talk a bit of smack on the radio,” the Aussie said, “so it was good and I enjoyed it.

“At the end I was playing a bit of defense so unfortunately was not able to attack for the whole race. But I thoroughly enjoyed the first stint.”

McLaren’s closest competitor was Ferrari.

Carlos Sainz started fifth and Charles Leclerc seventh but faded back to 11th and 16th. Sainz had pitted once and Leclerc twice.

Pos 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Driver Max Verstappen Lewis Hamilton Sergio Perez Valtteri Bottas Lando Norris Daniel Ricciardo Pierre Gasly Fernando Alonso Sebastian Vettel Lance Stroll Carlos Sainz George Russell Yuki Tsunoda Esteban Ocon Antonio Giovinazzi Charles Leclerc Kimi Raikkonen Nicholas Latifi Mick Schumacher Nikita Mazepin

Team Laps Red Bull Racing 53 Mercedes 53 Red Bull Racing 53 Mercedes F1 53 McLaren 53 McLaren 53 AlphaTauri 53 Alpine 53 Aston Martin 53 Aston Martin 53 Ferrari 53 Williams 52 AlphaTauri 52 Alpine 52 Alfa Romeo Racing 52 Ferrari 52 Alfa Romeo Racing 52 Williams 52 Haas 52 Haas 52

Margin

2.904s 8.811s 14.618s 64.032s 75.857s 76.596s 77.695s 79.666s 91.946s 99.337s 1 Lap 1 Lap 1 Lap 1 Lap 1 Lap 1 Lap 1 Lap 1 Lap 1 Lap

Points: Verstappen 131, Hamilton 119, Perez 84, Norris 76, Bottas 59, Leclerc 52, Sainz 42, Gasly 37, Ricciardo 34, Vettel 30, Alonso 17, Ocon 12, Stroll 10, Tsunoda 8, Raikkonen 1, Giovinazzi 1.

Constructors’: Red Bull Racing 215, Mercedes 178, McLaren 110, Ferrari 94, AlphaTauri 45, Aston Martin 40, Alpine 29, Alfa Romeo Racing 2

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Formula 1

Round 8 Styrian Grand Prix

RED BULL RUN

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen dominated the Styrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring Report: Dan Knutson Images: Motorsport Images

MAX VERSTAPPEN started from pole position and led all 71 laps of the Styrian Grand Prix at Red Bull’s home track in Austria.

Title rivals Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes could not match the pace of the Red Bull Honda and settled for second.

Red Bull has now won four consecutive F1 races – three for Verstappen and one for Sergio Pérez. The last time Mercedes had a losing streak of four consecutive races was back in 2014.

Pérez probably would have finished third, but the Red Bull crew had a rare slow pitstop. That opened the path to the podium for Hamilton’s teammate Valtteri Bottas.

It was a record 16th time that the same three drivers shared an F1 podium.

Unlike many of the F1 races so far this season, there was no duel between Verstappen and Hamilton.

It was crucial for Verstappen to get a good start and keep ahead of Hamilton who qualified second. Verstappen did just that, and already had a 1.5 second lead at the end of lap one.

“The first stint was all about managing the tyres,” Verstappen said after his 14th F1 victory.

“I could see the pace was quite strong while looking after tyres. It has been sometimes a bit different in previous races. We worked quite hard to try to make that better, and today that was very good. After we stopped to go on the hard (compound Pirelli slicks) that was a really enjoyable stint just to drive.

“We had to go through a bit of traffic, with like 12 cars in a row, but once we cleared them I could just keep my pace quite consistent to the end, and the car was super nice to drive.”

Once Hamilton realised that he could not catch Verstappen, he backed off to conserve his tyres.

Hamilton then pitted with two laps remaining to get a set of the soft compound tyres, so that he could get the bonus point for clocking the fastest lap of the race.

“They were way too fast today for us,” Hamilton said of Red Bull and Verstappen.

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Max Verstappen led all the way from pole position, giving him three wins in four races.

And his Red Bull is now officially the fastest car in F1, out-pacing even the Mercedes in a straight line.

“I knew that we were going to be somewhat behind in single-lap pace. There was around a quarter of a second difference in lap pace on the long runs.

“We gave everything we could, but they’ve obviously made some really good steps forward over these last few races, and the straight-line speed has picked up a lot.”

Pérez, who switched to a two-stop strategy, closed in on Bottas in third but ran out of time and wound up fourth.

“It’s really clear that, at least on this track, Red Bull is faster,” Bottas said.

“Checo (Pérez) was putting a lot of pressure on me. If we want to keep up with them, we can’t do as much tyre management. I definitely can feel that they are faster on the straight.

I think they have a bit more of an efficient package overall, so we have work to do.”

Overall, it was a fairly processional event.

Charles Leclerc did carve his way from last to seventh. Leclerc tangled with AlphaTauri driver Pierre Gasly on the opening lap; Gasly retired and Leclerc had to pit for a new front wing.

“From the second lap onwards I would rank

this as one of my best races so far in F1,” said Leclerc, who has two career victories in the series.

“The car felt amazing, the pace was there, and I took every opportunity to make a strong recovery.

“In terms of performance, we extracted the maximum from the car. This shows how much work has gone on behind the scenes.”

Daniel Ricciardo, meanwhile, had a miserable race.

The weekend started off well for the Aussie when he clocked the second fastest lap time on Friday in his McLaren. But he only managed to qualify 13th while his teammate Lando Norris would start the race third on the grid.

“At the end of the first lap, however, Ricciardo was up in ninth place. But on lap seven his engine suddenly lost power in Turn 1. He changed some settings on the steering wheel, and the engine came back on song at Turn 8.

By that time he had dropped back to 13th.

“Everyone I passed on lap one I waved back past me,” Ricciardo said. “It was disheartening because I had such a great start, and I was on a preferred strategy with the medium (compound) Pirelli tyres. It felt like the cars ahead would have struggled on the softs, and we were in a really good position.

After that, it was difficult to make moves being in dirty air.”

Norris finished fifth.

“I was ahead of (Ferrari driver Carlos) Sainz who was on the same strategy and he finished sixth,” Ricciardo said.

“That was us today. We could have been fifth and sixth again as a team as we were in France. When this sport is low it is really low.

“We’ll reset over the next few days and come back again and make it happen next week – hopefully our luck turns.”

The Red Bull Ring will host back-to-back races with the Styrian and Austrian Grands Prix on consecutive weekends.

So that provided the opportunity for Ricciardo and all the drivers except Verstappen to have a better race.

STYRIAN GRAND PRIX 71 LAPS Pos 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 DNF DNF

Driver Max Verstappen Lewis Hamilton Valtteri Bottas Sergio Perez Lando Norris Carlos Sainz Charles Leclerc Lance Stroll Fernando Alonso Yuki Tsunoda Kimi Raikkonen Sebastian Vettel Daniel Ricciardo Esteban Ocon Antonio Giovinazzi Mick Schumacher Nicholas Latifi Nikita Mazepin George Russell Pierre Gasly

Team Laps Red Bull Racing 71 Mercedes 71 Mercedes 71 Red Bull Racing 71 McLaren 70 Ferrari 70 Ferrari 70 Aston Martin 70 Alpine 70 AlphaTauri 70 Alfa Romeo 70 Aston Martin 70 McLaren 70 Alpine 70 Alfa Romeo Racing 70 Haas 69 Williams 68 Haas 68 Williams 36 AlphaTauri 1

Margin 35.743s 46.907s 47.434s +1 Lap +1 lap +1 Lap +1 Lap +1 lap +1 Lap +1 Lap +1 lap +1 Lap +1 Lap +1 Lap +2 Laps +3 Laps +3 Laps Power unit Collision

Points: Verstappen 156, Hamilton 138, Perez 96, Norris 86, Bottas 74, Leclerc 58, Sainz 50, Gasly 37, Ricciardo 34, Vettel 30 Constructors’: Red Bull Racing 252, Mercedes 212, McLaren 120, Ferrari 108, AlphaTauri 46, Aston Martin-Mercedes 44, Alpine 31, Alfa Romeo Racing 2 Charles Leclerc put in a storming drive in his Ferrari (above) after tangling with Pierre Gasly’s Alpha Tauri on the opening lap. Gasly was out on the spot but after pitting for a new nosecone, Leclerc raced from last to seventh, just beind his teammate Carlos Sainz ... albeit both were a lap down on the winner.

Valtteri Bottas (above) managed to grab the final podium position when Sergio Perez had a slow stop, withstanding the pressure from the second Red Bull. Lando Norris started fourth in the McLaren-Mercedes (above centre) but finished fifth, while George Russell was outstanding again in the Williams, qualifying 11th before engine problems ended his race.

Daniel Riccardo was second fastest on Friday in Practice 2 but his weekend went south from there (above). Lance Stroll held off Fernando Alonso in the mid-field battle (below).

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MOTOGP Report: DAN MCCARTHY Images: MOTORSPORT IMAGES SIX-TIME MOTOGP World Champion Marc Marquez showed why he is a legend of the sport, taking a shock win in the German Motorcycle Grand Prix at the Sachsenring.

Emotions came pouring out when Marquez crossed the line, as it was his first victory in 581 days and his first since the near career ending injury at Jerez last year.

Coming into the weekend Marquez had recorded three straight DNFs for the first time in his career and was keen to put that record straight.

One record he wanted to keep was his undefeated record at the Sachsenring, winning the last seven from 2013-2019.

But coming into the weekend it appeared unlikely that Marquez would taste the victory champagne.

Australian Jack Miller was in the hunt for the win, he sat second at one stage before falling back and finishing in sixth.

Heading into qualifying factory Yamaha rider Fabio Quartararo was looking to take his sixth consecutive pole position, however, he was pipped by fellow Frenchman and nearest championship rival Johann Zarco by just 0.011s.

After taking provisional pole position Zarco crashed heavily at Turn 5. Though he was uninjured, the accident stopped any riders from improving their times.

Behind Quartararo Aleix Espargaro scored Aprilia’s first front row start since the Australian Grand Prix in 2000, from Miller, Marquez and factory KTM rider Miguel Oliveira who won the previous round at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

Several big names were littered down the field.

Miller’s factory Ducati teammate Francesco Bagnaia was 10th ahead of Suzuki rider Alex Rins. Reigning champion Joan Mir qualified 17th, just ahead of Franco Morbidelli.

While his Yamaha teammate Quartararo qualified in second, Maverick Vinales was second last, the worst qualifying result of his MotoGP career.

In the race itself Marquez made

MAGNIFICENT MARQUEZ

Marc Marquez took a shock win in the Geman Motorcyle Grand Prix, his first since serious injury last year.

his intentions immediately clear at Turn 1, an aggressive move up the inside saw him exit the corner in second place from fifth on the grid.

After exchanging the lead several times with Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro, Marquez made the move stick at the final turn on lap 2, and from that moment on was never headed.

Early on Marquez kept the pack bunched together, however an isolated shower fell on the circuit on lap 5, and that was when the Spaniard elected to break away, instantly gapping the pack.

At this stage Oliveira was buried in fifth, but made his way to second as the tiny rain shower dispersed.

By then Marquez had pulled a

sufficient margin out front.

Lap by lap the Portuguese rider edged steadily closer to the Repsol Honda.

From 2.5s, Oliveira cut the margin down to 0.8s, and with only a handful of laps remaining it looked as though the race for the win was on.

However the factory KTM rider had used all the goodness from his tyres and fell away.

Marquez took the victory with a margin of 1.61s, and in doing so ended HRC’s barren run.

Oliveira finished second, his third successive podium finish.

Quartararo did not have the pace of the leading duo, and came home

in third to further extended his championship lead.

Binder made it two factory KTMs in the top four, beating home the Ducatis.

Miller started strong but faded, whereas his teammate Bagnaia struggled to stay in the points early, but late on was one of the fastest riders on circuit.

In the end Bagnaia took fifth from Miller on the final lap of the race.

After starting on the front row Aleix Espargaro finished in seventh, ahead of pole-sitter Zarco, reigning champion Mir and Pol Espargaro.

Alex Rins was 11th, from Jorge Martin, Takaaki Nakagami, ninetime champion Valentino Rossi and his half-brother Luca Marini, who rounded out the points finishers.

Behind Enea Bastianini, incredibly both Franco Morbidelli and Maverick Vinales rounded out the finishers, outside of the points.

Standings: Quartararo 131, Zarco 109, Miller 100, Bagnaia 99, Mir 85, Vinales 75, Oliveira 74, Binder 56, Aleix Espargaro 53, Marquez 41

THREE IN SUCCESSION AUSTRALIAN REMY Gardner dominated the eighth round of the Moto2 Championship at the Sachsenring in Germany and extended his championship lead.

In doing so Gardner became the first Australian to take three successive victories in the intermediate Motorcycle World Championship.

Coming into the weekend Gardner and his KTM Ajo teammate Raul Fernandez had finished 1-2 in the previous three races, with the Spaniard winning in France, and Gardner winning at Mugello and Barcelona.

Gardner held a slender 11-point championship lead heading into Germany when the title was turned on its head.

Fernandez qualified on pole position for the German Grand Prix alongside Fabio di Giannantonio and Gardner.

Di Giannantonio did not make a good start and allowed Gardner to take second before Turn 1.

The KTM Ajo riders immediately pulled a gap and by the end of the first lap were over a second clear of the

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rest of the pack.

On lap 2 down the hill and into Turn 12 Gardner made his move up the inside to take the lead.

Gardner immediately put his head down in an attempt to gap his Spanish teammate, a strategy that paid off.

Trying to keep up with Gardner, Fernandez was forced to push over the limit and tucked the front of his motorcycle at Turn 3, crashing into the gravel trap.

For Fernandez it was his first retirement in his rookie Moto2 campaign and with Gardner out front, a massive blow to his title hopes.

From that moment on Gardner was never threatened and cruised to his fourth Moto2 race victory.

Aron Canet claimed his second podium of the season finishing 6.1s behind the Aussie, with VR46 rider Marco Bezzecchi coming home third ahead of di Giannantonio.

Sam Lowes inherited fifth after picking off Marcel Schrotter on the final lap.

Xavi Vierge, Joe Roberts and Ai Ogura threw away topfive finishes on the final lap, all in separate incidents.

IN MOTO3, Australian Joel Kelso stayed out of trouble and finished in 17th position on debut.

The Aussie was subbing for the injured Maximilian Kofler in the CIP Green Power KTM outfit.

While many riders fell down the road Kelso remained on two wheels and was only a couple of laps away from finishing in the points.

However he was caught and passed by Darryn Binder, Andi Farid Izdihar and Deniz Oncu late on.

DM

FERNANDEZ FIGHTS BACK

IT WAS another Red Bull KTM Ajo 1-2 in Moto2, this time with Raul Fernandez getting the better of Aussie Remy Gardner.

This time however, the two Ajo riders were pushed to the limit by both Marc VDS Racing Team riders Sam Lowes and Augusto Fernandez, in the end the quartet were separated by just 1.879s.

Raul Fernandez had pole from Gardner and Lowes, however Aron Canet made a great start and led for the first several corners.

The two Ajo teammates made contact on the exit of the opening turn but escaped unscathed, with Gardner in second.

Lowes was quick early and disposed of Gardner and Canet to lead at the end of lap 1.

On lap 2 in a battle with Ai Ogura, Raul Fernandez ran wide and dropped to ninth position, however he kept his head down and did not lose focus.

At this point his teammate Gardner grabbed the lead and thus began an incredible exchange at the front for the remainder of the race.

By lap 7 Raul Fernandez made his way past Canet and it did not take him long to catch up to the leading

AUSSIE JOEL Kelso returned for the second week in succession, replacing the injured Maximilian Kofler for CIP Green Power in Moto3. As he did the week before, Kelso kept his nose clean and again finished the race in among the series regulars. Kelso was classified in 22nd position out of the 25 finishers, a good finish after being thrown in the deep end at Assen.There Kelso had also stayed out of trouble and finished 17th position on debut.While many riders fell down the road Kelso remained on two wheels and was only a couple of laps away from finishing in the points, however he was caught and passed by Darryn Binder, Andi Farid Izdihar and Deniz Oncu late on. DM

VR46 OFFICIALLY ENTERS MOTOGP trio who continued to battle away, costing themselves time.

Raul Fernandez was flying and on lap 14 of 24 passed his teammate Gardner who had dropped to fourth, and planned to make light work of the Marc VDS riders.

He did just that, flying past Lowes on lap 16 and race leader Augusto Fernandez (no relation) on lap 18 to take the lead.

Immediately the #25 KTM Ajo rider set a time that the MARC VDS riders could not match and pulled a comfortable margin.

Gardner found a new lease of life in the final seven laps of the race but it looked as though he was unable to find a way onto the podium.

However, his persistence paid off, overtaking Lowes on lap 22 and Augusto Fernandez on the

penultimate lap, and that was the way it remained.

Raul Fernandez took the win by 1s from Gardner, Augusto Fernandez and Lowes.

Canet crashed out of the race with five laps to go. DM Points: Gardner 184, R Fernandez 153, Bezzecchi 128, Lowes 99, di Giannantonio 73

NUMBER FOUR FOR QUARTARARO

Report: Dan McCarthy Images: Motorsport Images

FABIO QUARTARARO dominated the 90th edition of the Dutch TT. Once the factory Yamaha rider found his way into the lead he pulled a large margin and took his fourth race victory of the season.

His factory Yamaha teammate Maverick Vinales was fastest in three of the four practice sessions and qualified on pole position.

But when it mattered it was the championship leader who took the race win from Vinales and reigning champion, Suzuki rider Joan Mir. Australian Jack Miller crashed at Turn 5 on lap 15 and despite getting back on his factory Ducati, he was soon shown the mechanical black flag for a damaged machine, forcing him to retire.

After taking victory a week prior, Marc Marquez was lucky to walk away from a frightening high side in Friday’s second practice session.

As a result, Marquez found himself in Q1 with a bunch of championship contenders.

Miller was the only Ducati to progress, leaving Johann Zarco, Francesco Bagnaia, Jorge Martin, Marquez and Brad Binder all fighting to make it out of Q1.

It looked as though all was said and done, and Bagnaia and KTM Tech3 rider Iker Lecuona would progress.

However, Zarco snuck across the line just in time and set a blistering lap, propelling him to the top and eliminating Lecuona.

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From delight to heartbreak in just six days, Marquez crashed again in qualifying and thus qualified in 20th, the worst grid position in his MotoGP career, yet still ahead of Binder in 21st.

Q2 saw the two Yamahas trading the top spot lap after lap, but in the end it was Vinales who prevailed, scoring his first pole position of the year.

He pipped Quartararo by a mere 0.07s, after scraping through Q1 managed to put it on the front row of the grid.

Takaaki Nakagami was the highest Honda rider in fourth, from Zarco, KTM’s Miguel Oliveira and Suzuki’s Alex Rins.

Miller was on a fast lap at the end of the session but a crash stopped him from improving.

He qualified in eighth ahead of Aleix Espargaro, Mir, Pol Espargaro and Valentino Rossi, who was having his best round of the year to date.

At the start of the race the two Yamahas made an even start at the front, however the pair nearly made contact on the run to Turn 1 and forced pole sitter Vinales to lift off the throttle and plummet to fifth.

Despite not making the best of starts, the mighty Ducati power allowed Bagnaia to take the lead into Turn 1 as riders continued to jostle on the opening lap.

At the end of lap 1 Bagnaia led from Quartararo and Nakagami,

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while Vinales had got back up to fourth from Zarco.

Marquez had volted from 20th to 11th, while his old rival Rossi went the other way, falling from 12th to 21st.

On the second lap Zarco made a forceful move on the Rins, the Suzuki rider being forced through the gravel and fell to the back.

Out in front Bagnaia was holding up a 10 bike train and although Quartararo kept overtaking him into the Turn 16-18 chicane, Bagnaia would immediately retaliate on the run to Turn 1 with his superior power.

On lap 6 Quartararo overtook earlier in the lap and this meant that the Italian was not close enough to overtake him on the pit straight, and within one lap the Frenchman pulled out a 0.5s lead on Bagnaia.

Despite his best efforts, Nakagami was unable to make the move on Bagnaia stick and in the end it was the Japanese rider who made the mistake, allowing Vinales and Zarco by on lap 14.

The very next lap Bagnaia was forced to serve a long-lap penalty for abusing track limits which dropped him to ninth, however just a corner

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later Miller fell off his Ducati and was soon after forced to retire.

Out front Quartararo rode a mature race, held the gap out front and took the win by 2.75s.

His teammate Vinales came home in second, scoring his first podium since his victory in the opening race of the season.

Mir aggressively worked his way forwards and finished an impressive third, after muscling past Zarco on lap 19.

Zarco came home just 0.4s behind in fourth from in-form factory KTM rider Oliveira.

Bagnaia held off a hard charge from Marquez and Aprilia rider Aleix Espargaro to finish in sixth position.

Errors flooded in at the midway stage of the race and resulted in Nakagami dropping to ninth ahead of Pol Espargaro, Alex Rins, Brad Binder, Danilo Petrucci, Alex Marquez and Enea Bastianini. Rossi crashed out on lap 7.

Points: Quartararo 156, Zarco 122, Bagnaia 109, Mir 101, Miller 100, Vinales 95, Oliveira 85, A Espargaro 61, Binder 60, Marquez 50

THE ARAMCO Racing Team VR46 outfit has officially announced its entry into MotoGP from 2022 as a satellite Ducati outfit, signing a three-year deal with the Italian manufacturer.

The Tavullia based team penned a deal with Dorna Sports to participate in MotoGP for five years through until the end of 2026.

Aramco Racing Team VR46 will be running two Ducatis from 2022-2024 with Pablo Nieto, the current team manager of the SKY Racing Team VR46 in Moto2 and Moto3, stepping up to the job in the premier class.

Rossi’s VR46 outfit has raced in Moto3 since from 2014-2020 and in Moto2 since 2017, most notably winning the intermediate class Teams’ Championship last year.

The new team sees a joint venture take place between the VR46 Team and Saudi Aramco and is part of Tanal's investment plans for Entertainment Sports & Media related to Saudi Vision 2030.

Rossi explained that while discussions took place, in the end it was obvious that Ducati was the manufacturer of bike to choose.

“We spoke with a lot of different brands,” he admitted. “But when you do this type of negotiation you have to consider a lot of different things.

“You have to consider the price of the bike, you have to consider the support and everything.

“At the end (it) remained Yamaha and Ducati and we decided Ducati.

“But first of all, when we speak together we have a very good relationship with (Ducati Corse Sporting Director) Paolo Ciabatti, but also with (general manager) ‘Gigi’ (Luigi) Dall’Igna.

“They will do a great effort next year with a lot of a lot of bikes. The bike is competitive, I think at the end is because we have more things to share together with Ducati, especially growing up the Italian riders, I think this was the main reason at the end.”

Dall’Igna is delighted to have the Aramco Racing Team VR46 team onboard as one of four Ducati MotoGP teams on the grid in 2022.

“We are very pleased to have reached this agreement with VR46 for the next three years,” he said.

“VR46 has also shown that it is able to competently manage a successful team in Moto3 and Moto2 and therefore we will strive to provide the maximum technical support to their new team in MotoGP, (we are) convinced we have found in VR46 an ambitious and motivated partner like us, with a common goal to achieve great results together.” DM

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PALOU PREVAILS

Report: DAN MCCARTHY Images: MOTORSPORT IMAGES SPANIARD ALEX Palou inherited his second career victory Indycar on the penultimate lap of the Grand Prix of Road America, when the luckless Josef Newgarden suffered a mechanical issue.

The win earnted Palou his fifth podium finish in the first nine races of the season and sees the former GP3 Series winner retake the series lead.

Australian Team Penske driver Will Power finally had some luck go his way and he earnt his first podium finish of the season since the opening race at Barber Motorsports Park.

His Kiwi teammate Scott McLaughlin struggled at the fast and flowing Road America circuit.

After starting from 17th, the reigning Supercars champion made his way up to 14th.

Palou started from fifth on the grid, drove a mature race, and late on the Chip Ganassi Racing young gun stormed through the pack taking Newgarden on the safety car restart with two laps remaining.

“It always feels awesome even if it’s your lucky day or just because you have really good pace,” Palou said. “We’ve been close, (on the) Indy road course, Detroit, Indy 500, and today I was like, ‘Oh, no, we need to get that win.’ A win is a win, it’s always the best thing.”

Palou led just five of the 55 laps however great pace kept him up the pointy end and in contention.

In taking the victory Palou became the first Chip Ganassi Racing driver other than Scott Dixon to earn two victories in a season since Dario Franchitti in 2011.

Pole sitter Newgarden dominated the race at Road America, leading a total of 32 laps and looking set for his and Team Pesnkle’s first win of the season.

But for the second straight race he was overtaken within the last handful of laps.

This time the two-time champion was leading the race when it was restarted, however he was unable to select sixth gear and then things got worse.

“Down the front straightaway, as soon as I got to fifth gear, I tried to shift to sixth, and it didn’t take the selection, so I was stuck in fifth,” Newgarden said.

“I was trying to get it up to sixth gear, and it wouldn’t go, then I got stuck in fifth in Turn 1.

“I finally got it to go down, and I just could not get it to upshift after that. I got it to first, essentially, and tried to stay out of the way.”

Newgarden would eventually be classified down in 21st position.

This promoted Andretti Autosport driver Colton Herta up to second position with Power in third.

A mechanical failure cost Newgarden’s Aussie teammate Power a victory at Detroit when Power’s #2 Chevrolet would not restart after a red flag period.

“I don’t know what the luck (is) with our team right now,” Power said. “But with Josef to have a gearbox issue on the penultimate bloody lap, almost the race won, like we were in Detroit, it’s just heartbreaking.

OGIER BOUNCES BACK TO WIN SAFARI RALLY SEBASTIAN OGIER has seized an unlikely win for Toyota, after a gruelling Safari Rally in Kenya.

The Frenchman, who was third heading into the final day of the event, pounced when longtime leader Thierry Neuville dropped out of the running following a suspension failure, after hitting a rock with his Hyundai i20.

In its return after a 19-year absence from the World Rally Championship, the iconic Safari Rally proved to be an especially tough event with the sand and rocks claiming several key contenders.

Ogier, the championship leader heading into the event, won the opening super special stage to hold a narrow margin before the field headed into the African plains.

A damper failure for the seven-time champion saw him struggle as he bounced his Toyota Yaris through the next few stages, losing time on the leaders.

Elfyn Evans, Dani Sordo, Kalle Rovanpera, Oliver Solberg and Lorenzo Bertelli all faired Images: Motorsport Images much worse during the opening day of the rally.

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The front right wheel was ripped out of Evan’s Toyota with just a couple of corners remaining on SS3 while in a strong position.

The Welsh driver had to retire before the end of the stage.

While for Hyundai’s Sordo, a high-speed crash on the same stage saw his i20 buried in a ditch.

Despite the Spaniard’s best efforts, he was unable to resume.

Rovanpera was in second place on the verge of stealing the lead when his Toyota ended up beached in sandy ruts of SS7.

Hyundai’s Neuville emerged from the chaos, surviving two punctures of his own, to hold the lead at the end of the opening day of the rally.

Heavy rain on the second day of the Safari Rally added to the challenge, and Ogier used it as an opportunity to claw back some of the ground he lost on the opening day.

The Toyota driver won three stages to move himself up to third in the overall standings.

Hyundai’s Ott Tanak had been challenging Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta for second place when the rain arrived. But he then lost two

minutes trying to demist the windscreen on his i20.

Neuville made the best of the conditions dodging the local wildlife, to extend his lead to over 57 seconds at the end of the second day.

However, it all became unravelled for the Hyundai driver on the opening stage of the final day, SS15.

The right rear suspension on Neuville’s i20 collapsed after contact with a rock during the stage. And while he was able to crawl to the end of the stage he would be unable to complete the rest of the day’s running.

Neuville’s failure opened the door for a two-way battle for the lead between Toyota teammates Katsuta and Ogier for the remainder of the day.

Ogier used his years of experience to carve his way through the remaining stages, stealing the lead from his Japanese teammate to win.The event’s return was one of the key reasons the

“I couldn’t believe it when he was pulling off to the side (to let us through).”

Reigning champion Scott Dixon finished the race in fourth ahead of ex-Formula 1 drivers Romain Grosjean, Marcus Ericsson, Alexander Rossi and Takuma Sato.

McLaren Arrow SP driver Pato O’Ward came into the race in the lead of the series but struggled to find his feet all weekend; ninth was the best he could manage ahead of Max Chilton.

Kevin Magnussen made his IndyCar debut subbing for the injured Felix Rosenqvist but failed to make the chequered flag.

Points: Palou 349, O’Ward 321, Dixon 296, Newgarden 261, Pagenaud 255, VeeKay 243, Herta 242, Ericsson 239, Rahal 228, Sato

Image: Red Bull Content Pool

Frenchman deferred his retirement from the sport at the end of last season.

Katsuta held on for second place, his first WRC podium result ahead of Tanak. M-Sport’s Gus Greensmith and Adrien Fourmaux rounded out the top five at the end of the rally.

Local hero Onkar Rai won the WRC3 class, seventh in the overall standings.

Ogier’s win extends his margin in the WRC overall standings to 34 points over teammate Evans. Rhys Vandersyde

KYLE BUSCH LIMPS TO VICTORY Report: DAN MCCARTHY Images: MOTORSPORT IMAGES INCREDIBLY, WITH a NASCAR stuck in fourth gear Kyle Busch managed to save enough fuel around Pocono Racway to take his second victory of the season.

Busch made his last stop on lap 95, one more than rivals Denny Hamlin and William Byron, enough to allow him to nurse his Toyota Camry to the finish.

In the dying stages of the race both Byron and Hamlin ran out of fuel ahead of him and Busch cruised to a 8.654s victory over in-form driver Kyle Larson.

“Yeah, stuck in fourth gear, about out of gas, just saving, just riding, playing the strategy the best we could with what was given to us,” said Busch.

The win was Busch’s fourth at Pocono and 59th time in his career, the most among active drivers and ninth of all-time.

“Just can’t say enough about everybody on my team, everybody at Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota, TRD, all the work they’re putting in,” he continued.

“Sometimes these races aren’t always won by the fastest car. But I felt we had the fastest car, even though we were in the back

Images: Motorsport Images

and behind and having to come through and persevere through being stuck in fourth gear, no clutch, all that stuff. It’s all burned out.

Nothing left in this Camry.

“Really great to pull off another win here at Pocono. Feels good.”

With the victory, Busch also ended a sixrace winning streak for Hendrick Motorsports.

Larson started the race from the rear of the grid after crashing while leading in the final corner of Saturday’s race.

Also on a fuel-saving strategy in the closing laps, early race contact with Hamlin buried him in the field but under caution his crew pounded his bonnet back into shape and secured it with tape.

Team Penske driver Brad Keselowski led a race-high 31 laps but elected to play the safe game and pit on Lap 132 of 140.

As many drivers ahead ran out of fuel or also pitted, he made his way up to third, one spot ahead of fellow Ford driver Kevin Harvick.

Bubba Walace finished fifth, scoring the first top five finish for the new 23XI team that debuted this year under the co-ownership of Hamlin and NBA star Michael Jordan.

Ryan Blaney finished sixth ahead of Saturday’s winner Alex Bowman, Ryan Preece, Tyler Reddick and Joey Logano completed the top 10.

Despite running out of fuel, Hamlin was classified in 14th and thus retains the series lead.

The day prior, the first leg of the Pocono doubleheader took place and was won by Bowman from Busch, Byron, Hamlin and Blaney.

Australian James Davison finished both races inside the top 30, 28th in Race 1 and 30th in the second encounter.

At Nashville a week prior Larson took his third straight victory, continuing to demonstrate he is a real championship threat.

MORTARA EMERGES OUT FRONT

IN FORMULA E Edoardo Mortara burst into the championship lead after recording a win and a third-place finish at the Autodromo Miguel E. Abed in Mexico.

It was a new track for the series and out of the gates it was Porsche driver Pascal Wehrlein who took pole position.

The former Formula 1 driver dominated the race, crossing the line in first, and it appeared as though he had finally bagged his maiden Formula E race victory.

But just seconds after crossing the finish line he was disqualified for a technical infraction, as Porsche failed to declare tyres that Wehrlein raced on.

This promoted Lucas di Grassi to first position from Rene Rast, the pair delivering Audi a 1-2 finish.

Di Grassi and Rast marched through the pack from eighth and 10th respectively to earn the hard fought and emotional 1-2 for the team.

For both di Grassi and Audi it was their first victory in the all-electric championship in over two years.

Mortara was promoted onto the podium in third from Alexander Sims and Jake Dennis.

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On Sunday like di Grassi previously, Mortara ended a two-year winless drought to take just his second Formula E race victory.

It was a controlled performance from second position on the grid, however it was not an easy victory.

Mortara was pressured in the final quarter of the race from Wehrlein, however it was the latter that made the first mistake and dropped away from the Swiss driver.

That mistake gave Mortara some breathing room and allowed him to cruise to his second Formula E victory, and with it take the championship lead.

After the heartbreak of Saturday, Wehrlein rebounded to cross the line in second place, however post-race once again Wehrlein was dealt a penalty, this time five seconds, demoting him to fourth.

This promoted New Zealander Nick Cassidy to second, his maiden Formula E podium finish, while Nissan driver Oliver Rowland finished in third. DM

Points: Mortara 72, Frijns 62, da Costa 60, Rast 60, Evans 60

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AUSSIES WIN IMSA CLASSES

MAZDA MOTORSPORTS’ Harry Tincknell put on a masterful fuel conservation run in the final stint to win the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen.

The Multimatic team took advantage of a short fill in their final stop with 50 minutes left to run in the race at Watkins Glen International, to gain track position on the Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-05 entry of Olivier Pla and Dane Cameron.

From there, Tincknell managed to fend off challenges for the lead while hitting the required fuel numbers to take the win, along with teammates Oliver Jarvis and Jonathan Bomarito, by just 0.965 seconds ahead of Pla. The run to the end of the race was so tight on fuel that the Mazda DPi prototype ran out as it made its way around the 3.4-mile circuit to return to the pits. Tincknell had to be collected by the safety car to make it back to victory lane.

Rounding out the podium in the outright standings, as well as the DPi class, was the Konica Minolta Acura entry of Ricky Taylor, Alexander Rossi and Filipe Albuquerque, which

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started from pole position.

In the LMP2 Class, WIN Autosport Oreca entry of Tristan Nunez, Thomas Merrill and Steven Thomas took the win ahead of the PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports entry.

Australian Scott Andrews took the win in LMP3, alongside his Riley Motorsports teammates Felipe Fraga and Gar Robinson.

Fraga drove the final stint, fending off a challenge from the CORE Autosport entry of Colin Braun, Jonathan Bennett and George Kurtz to take the win by just 1.635 seconds.

GTLM honours went to the Corvette Racing entry of Jordan Taylor and Antonio Garcia, who managed to hold off the two BMW Team RLL entries.

Meanwhile, the WeatherTech Racing Porsche entry that fellow Aussie Matt Campbell was slated to race only competed 3 Laps.

Australian Aidan Reed took out the GTD class in the Turner Motorsport BMW M6 GT3 he shared with Bill Auberlen and Robby Foley.

Rhys Vandersyde

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INTERNATIONAL

ACTION APLENTY IN BTCC Image: Motorsport Images

VICTORIES WERE spread across three drivers in the third round of the British Touring Car Championship at Brands Hatch.

Tom Oliphant, Tom Ingram and Adam Morgan all took race wins, in what was a mixed bag of results for everyone up and down the field.

Although Ingram took a race win, reigning champion Ash Sutton’s consistency enabled him to extend his lead in the championship.

Oliphant was the only driver to finish on the podium more than once during the weekend, doing so in both Races 1 and 2.

Team BMW’s Oliphant took an impressive victory in the opening race, having made a stellar getaway from the second row of the grid, storming through to take the lead before Turn 1.

The 30-year-old then drove a mature race out the front of the field holding off threetime champion Gordon Shedden.

Shedden’s teammate Daniel Rowbottom bogged off the line in pole position, fell down the order but recovered well to claim his first ever BTCC podium.

Ford Focus driver Jake Hill beat home championship front runners Sutton and Ingram.

It was these championship contenders who fought for the win in the second race of the weekend.

Race winner Oliphant led for 26 of the 27 laps and looked set to take back-to-back wins for the first time in his career.

However, Ingram made a lunge on the final lap into Paddock Hill Bend to secure victory, his second of the season in his Hyundai.

A car-sized gap was all that was left open and Ingram slotted his machine up the inside, and there was slight contact when he completed the pass at Druids.

With Ingram taking the lead, Sutton eyed his opportunity to take second as the Infiniti Q50 ran side-by-side with across the finish line, with Sutton snatching second by 0.038s. Rowbottom came home in fourth just ahead of Cook.

Race 3 saw Morgan take the ninth victory of his career to date, however this was significant because it was his first not in a Mercedes.

Morgan took the win in his BMW 330i M Sport machine after leading the race from start-to-finish.

Jack Goff secured a maiden rostrum for the all-new Cupra, beating home Aiden Moffat after an epic battle. The pair swapped position on multiple occasions, but in the end, it was Goff that prevailed.

DM Points: Sutton 116, Ingram 113, Cook 90, Turkington 77, Hill 73

YOUNGEST WTCR WINNER THE SECOND round of WTCR took place at the Estoril Circuit in Portugal.

Reigning champion Yann Ehrlacher won the opening encounter, while Hungarian Attila Tassi won Race 2. Very few drivers performed well in both races, Santiago Urrutia being the only one to finish both races in the top five, continung his form so far this season.

The opening race was won by Ehrlacher, his first victory of 2021, after he beating pole position starter Gabriele Tarquini and into the first turn.

Ehrlacher lead home a Lynk & Co 1-2-3 with his Uncle Yvan Muller finishing in second position ahead of Urrutia.

Hyundai driver and former champion Tarquini was forced out of the race with tyre damage.

Jean-Karl Vernay and Nestor Girolami both

retired, allowing Tiago Monteiro who finished fourth to take the series lead.

Home hero Monteiro was set for a certain victory in the second race of the weekend, however with just a few laps to go his bonnet came loose and he was forced him to pit for repairs.

His Honda team-mate Tassi picked up the lead and went on to take his maiden WTCR victory and in doing so became the youngest winner in the categoriy’s history at the age of 22.

Tassi had to fight off a trio of Hyundais in the final five laps, beating home Vernay, Norbert Michelisz and Tarquini respectively. DM Points Vernay 61, Tassi 56, Muller 56, Urrutia 56, Monteiro 52

GT3 DTM ERA KICKS OFF THE NEW era of DTM arrived with a bang as GT3 machines replaced the Class One Touring Car regulations and delivered two exciting 50-minute sprint races at Monza.

Although reigning champion Rene Rast has departed to focus on his Formula E duties as a factory Audi driver, the new GT3 regulations have still attracted a lot of well-known names.

Newcomers include former Red Bull F1 driver Alex Albon and F2 front-runner Liam Lawson, as well as retaining DTM frontrunners Nico Muller, Timo Glock, Marco Wittmann and Mike Rockenfeller, just to name a few.

A diverse range of GT3 brands were represented in the opening round, with Audi and BMW both returning in the new era and joined by Ferrari, Lamborghini and Mercedes-Benz.

The two races in Monza produced very different results, withImages: no single entry finishing both races in the top five Motorsport Images positions.

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After qualifying in seventh, a great start and a great use of the undercut strategy enabled New Zealander Lawson to lead the race after the pitstop sequence.

Despite having much older tyres than the drivers chasing him, the Red Bull sponsored Ferrari driver could not be caught and took both his and Ferrari’s first victory on debut in the series.

The Kiwi won by 1.63s from pole sitter Vincent Abril and Maximilian Gotz, while Albon stormed through from 14th to finish in fourth.

On Sunday, birthday boy Kelvin van der Linde took pole position and converted it into victory, a great present for his 25th.

Lawson started alongside of him, with Kelvin’s brother Sheldon in third.

Like Lawson, it was Kelvin’s first round in the series and he put in a faultless performance to take the win,

Image: Motorsport Images

beating home DTM veterans Muller and Lucas Auer.

In Race 2 Lawson had a couple of spins and finished 14th, however still sits second in the points standings.

DM Points: K van der Linde 36, Lawson 27, Muller 22, Abril 21, Albon 18

AUSSIES SHINE IN F3 Report: Dan McCarthy Images: Motorsport Images/Kyle LARSON BOTH AUSSIES competing at the Circuit Paul Ricard in the FIA Formula 3 Championship recorded personal best results, with Jack Doohan scoring his maiden race victory and Calan Williams his first podium.

Qualifying in F3 is close as always, and in the end Frederik Vesti qualified on pole ahead of Dennis Hauger and Victor Martins.

The Aussies were also towards the front, Doohan in fourth while Williams qualified 12th, which awarded him pole for the inverted top 12 opening encounter.

The race was a thriller, the half a dozen cars swapped and changed positions lap after lap in the tow of one another.

From pole position Williams made a blinding start and comfortably led into Turn 1, did not put a foot wrong and remained out front until lap 7, when he was overtaken

by Logan Sargeant into Turn 1 and Ayumu Iwasa at Turn 11.

At one stage Williams fell to fifth, however several drivers had abused their tyres early and this allowed the Jenzer driver to fight back.

He overtook Sargeant for fourth on lap 17 and remained there until the end of the race.

Post-race Iwasa was handed a five-second penalty for an off track overtake which saw Williams promoted to the podium.

While Williams scored his first podium, Doohan scored valuable points, the Queensland Trident driver earning two points for finishing seventh, and an additional two for setting fastest lap.

Out front, Alexandr Smolyar took his second win of the season ahead of Martins and Williams.

Leclerc marched from the back of the grid to finish 12th and with it pole position for the second sprint race.

Leclerc converted, taking his maiden F3 championship victory, from Hauger and Martins.

Both of the Aussies again moved forward, Doohan from sixth to fifth, while Williams went up from 10th to eighth.

The feature race grid was determined by the positions set in Friday’s qualifying session, however any form guide was thrown out the window as a brief torrential rain shower lashed the circuit just prior to race start.

Doohan from fourth made a poor start off the line, fell to fifth and remained there for the first several laps, however as the track began to dry the Trident driver began his march forward.

By lap 11 Doohan had made his way up to second position, 2.5s behind race and championship leader Hauger.

On lap 14 Doohan caught Hauger, making a move at the final turn. Hauger was able to get the run out the turn and pulled back past on the pit straight.

However, a determined Doohan swung the Trident around the outside at Turn 1 and the pair went side by side around Turn 2, before the Aussie eventually prevailed at Turn 3.

Hauger remained with Doohan in the closing laps but the race leader did not crack under pressure.

Doohan marched home to take his maiden F3 victory by 1.55s from Hauger, Caio Collet and Martins.

Williams ended the wet race just out of the points in 12th position, finishing where he started.

Doohan now sits third in the championship, while after no points in Spain, the podium sees Williams on the fringe of the top 10.

Points: Hauger 66, Martins 60, Doohan 58, Novalak 49, Caldwell 41

UNLUCKY PERONI

AUSSIE ALEX Peroni was incredibly fast in the fifth round of Indy Lights at Road America, however the Tasmanian’s results did not show his true pace.

Peroni struggled in qualifying and started from ninth in the opening race, but at Turn 1 the Tasmanian took advantage of first-corner chaos to vault himself up to fourth.

Peroni worked his way further up the order, first taking third and then overtaking Swedish title contender Linus Lundqvist for second place.

However once in second and on course for his best result in the second-tier IndyCar series, the gearbox in his Carlin began to faulter and ultimately packed up, forcing him to retire for the second straight race.

Lundqvist regained second, only to come under pressure from Benjamin Pedersen and Robert Megennis.

Pedersen took second from his teammate with a brave move around the outside at Turn 5 with a

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lap and a half to go, and was soon followed by Megennis, leaving Lundqvist to finish in fourth.

Peroni’s weekend appeared to be getting worse when he made contact with another car early in the second race.

On lap 2 Peroni and Toby Sowery made light contact, spinning Sowery into the wall, while Peroni had to pit for repairs as a safety car was called.

The caution allowed Peroni to catch up to the back of the train and allowed him to stage the best drive of his season to date.

After finishing seventh in Race 1, David Malukas responded to win the second encounter and with it retake the championship lead.

Megennis finished in second position, however behind him an epic battle took place.

In the end Frost just about kept a hard charging Peroni at bay to round out the podium finishers.

DM

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p ra w S L A N NATIO

JESSUP SHOWS THE WAY Image: Insyde Media

THE THREE Middy’s Combined Sedans races at Hidden Valley on June 19-20 were all won

by Rod Jessup.

In his Improved Production Holden Commodore VE, race one went Jessop’s way after he passed Tim Playford (Mazda 808 turbo). Third was Matt Logan (VE) ahead of Stephen Johnstone (Commodore VP), who passed Ross Salmon (HSV Clubsport) on the final lap.

In the second race Jessup won the start and led throughout. It was close finish as Logan,

once he overtook Playford, closed and placed just 0.06s away. Behind Playford, it was Salmon and Johnstone.

Contact between Jessup and Logan in race three spun the latter, who resumed 23rd.

Jessup continued in front for the duration with Johnstone second ahead of Playford. Salmon was second before he faded back to 12th as Logan rebounded for fifth.

Commodore Cup cars chased the IP Holdens with David Ling and Gabriel Thorbjornsen nose-to-tail and clear of Ryan Robson in race

one, while Brad Fullwood started at the rear for a class fourth and 10th outright.

Ling was sixth in front of Craig Wright (Under 2.0-litre IP Ford Escort) in race two.

Thorbjornsen was second with Fullwood third. The latter was best in race three, fourth outright, as Ling and Thorbjornsen were next, split by Wright.

The best of the Hyundai Excels was Nash Morris with first in race one after a long place-swapping dice with Broc Feeney, they finished 0.15s apart. Feeney hit back to beat

Morris in race two with Rylan Gray third. The Morris/Feeney battle resumed in race three until Feeney had a moment at Turn 1, speared off and finished fourth behind Ben Gomersall and Gray.

South Aussies dominated in the HQ Holdens ranks. In race one, David Smith was the initial leader before he finished third behind Darren Jenkins and Darryl Crouch. Race two produced the same top three before Jenkins made it three wins, as he just held off Smith while Crouch was third in the last. GOB

FUEL STRATEGY BRINGS FREEDOM ECONOMY RATHER than outright pace delivered victory to Mark Defanis and Jamie Augustine, in the inaugural Harrop Freedom Four Hour at Winton Motor Raceway on June 19.

The pair qualified their Holden Commodore VF fourth fastest and won the event by 17.3s over Dean Lillie and Jarrod Tonks in a HSV GTO. Also completing 140 laps were Ian McLennan and Luke Grech-Cumbo (Holden Monaro), and Ben Schoots and Wayne Always (Mazda RX7), split by less than half a second.

Covid lockdown greatly affected the entries with no interstaters able to attend. Furthermore two cars were out before the race started. The Mick Downey/Craig Piergrosse HDT-lookalike Commodore VB lost oil pressure and the Ryan

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Image: Niko French

Carter/Jeremy Payne BMW E30 suffered valve train issues.

The win for Defanis and Augustine was due to one less six-minute pitstop for fuel than their immediate rivals. They did do three stops, as was the case for the others, but the last was for a driver change. Lillee and Tonks led the most laps, 81, and were closing on the leaders over the final laps but tyre life negated an enduo victory.

The race for third was even closer, so close

that contact between the two resulted in the RX7 having a spin before a fightback to almost snare third place.

The event went safety car free, with fifth place going to Dean Coutts, Chris Exner and Rod Bender (E30) on 127 laps, four more than Francois Habib and Nick Kerr who shared a Nissan Skyline.

The Hyundai Excel of Ric Newman and Chris Stilo broke a CV joint after 97 laps, as did the Cam McConville/Kym De Britt Holden Astra

turbo very early on.

Continual engine dramas forced Melinda Price and Josh Hunt to withdraw their Hyundai Sonata after 37 laps. Father and son Robert and Tom Baird along with John Perkins were the first retirees as their Mazda RX7 suffered an engine issue.

Race organisers Ravage Raceworks were pleased with the outcome given circumstances and say there will be further similar events, even a likelihood of another this year. GOB

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All things historic with Mark Bisset

Image: Dunks Media

ALBANY’S SLIPPERY STREETS INCLEMENT WEATHER did not have any effect on the 30th running of the Around the Houses on June 6, which also commemorated the 85th Anniversary of the original race in Albany, West Australia.

The Burson Auto Parts Albany Classic and Mt Clarence Hillclimb, held the day before, were both put on by the Vintage Sports Car Club of WA, and saw more than a 150 classic motor cars showcased throughout the WA long weekend (one week earlier than other Australian states).

It started with the Mt Clarence Hillclimb on June 5, just over 2.5km out of the Albany city centre.

The first hillclimb was held there in 1938. In 1957 it was the venue for the Australian Hillclimb Championship (won by Lex Davison in a Cooper Irving) and this year celebrated with 43 entrants given four opportunities to post times.

Fastest with a time of 29.06s was Dick Ward in his rotary powered Fiat Abarth with a best of 29.06s. That was 0.14s quicker than John Webb in a Radical SR3 RSX. The pair had a handy margin on Peter Morley (OMS CF10), Layton Ridgway (Ford Cortina), Roy Simon (Mitsubishi Starion) and Rubin Sadique (BMW E30 M3).

The main event took place on the Sunday with the streets of Albany turned into a mini racetrack.

Albany had been the first town on the mainland to host what is now referred to as a street race.

In 1936 the inaugural event was run over a 2.5 mile (4.0km) road circuit laid out through the middle of the town.

It included a Grand Prix for bicycles and the Albany Tourist Trophy for cars, attracted in excess of 10,000 spectators, and continued along the same lines for nearly 30 years.

In 1991 the VSCC and the City of Albany recreated the event for cars.

Whilst not a race as such, the Albany Classic has successfully run each year since, apart from 2020 where it was cancelled due to Covid, and has become one of Albany’s icon events.

These days it is conducted in a regularity-style format with groups of 20 to 30 in multiple runs.

The track is 1.5km long through the heart of the business district, and overlooks Peace Park and Princess Royal Harbour.

There were also car club and other displays, food stalls, bands, children’s entertainment, and competitions that made the event a real family festival. GOB

Image: Brian Shanahan

WEBB’S FIRST HAY VICTORIAN MATT Webb narrowly won his first Hay Mini Nationals on June 14, and became the first winner in a Mini since 2007. The winners since then have all been driving Mokes, except for a one-off win in 2011 by a Mazda 121.

Whilst Covid fears and restrictions, including a lockdown in greater Melbourne, saw entries reduced to 61 rather than the usual 110-120, what was lacking in numbers certainly wasn’t in quality.

Cancelled last year due to Covid, this was the 53rd running of the event, held just outside of the NSW town of Hay. Rain during the week settled the dirt surface, ensuring fast conditions.

From Pheasant Creek, north of Melbourne, Webb

drove a Mini Clubman and finished just ahead of two previous multiple winners in Mokes, Kelvin Goldfinch of NSW (four wins) and Declan Dwyer of South Australia (eight wins) by 0.3s and 1.6s respectively.

The GB Staunton Award team’s trophy went to Mini Club of NSW for the 26th time. Hay Heroes, a separate knock-out slalom for Minis only, was watched by around 1500 spectators under floodlights on Saturday night.

It was won by Brock Haydon (Mini Clubman), with Junior Heroes going to Dwyer’s 14-year-old son Josh (Mini K), who won the Rookie Award two years earlier. John Lemm

Having moved to Australia, Carlo Massola and his mechanic ready for the off aboard, an Amilcar CGSS in in the 1920s.

AUSSIE ITALIAN WORKS DRIVERS THE USELESS stuff which pops into my head never ceases to amaze me.

Carlo Massola was a works-driver for Diatto of Turin. He contested the 1922 Targa Florio – a Grand Prix that year – aboard a 2-litre, four-cylinder Diatto 20S, but retired after completing only one of the four Medium Madonie 108km laps.

He moved to Australia to race in the mid-1920s, an upcoming tale, let’s not Lucio Cesario racing the factory Lancia LC2 ruin it.

Ferrari at Le Mans in 1985.

Carlo’s credentials got me thinking about Australians (he took Oz citizenship in 1929; yep ok, technically he wasn’t a skip at the time, but stick with me on this) who were works drivers for Italian road car manufacturers overseas.

That is, the ride was provided F.O.C. and they got paid for it; no renta-drives.

Chronologically the next was single seater pilot and sportscar ace, Paul Hawkins, who had a few Ferrari P4 drives in 1967. Hawkins’ CV included factory rides with Austin Healey, Ford, Porsche and Lola. He died a grisly death aboard a Lola T70 Mk3B Chev at Oulton Park in May 1969.

Tim Schenken is the easy one to remember for most of us. His stellar European career included two seasons racing Ferrari 312PB sports-prototypes with Ronnie Peterson; they won quite a few races together in 1972-3.

The last one, I think, is the most recent, Lucio Cesario.

Enfant terrible of early-1980s Formula Pacific, Cesario did a few seasons in Australian F2 and F Pacific before taking off for Italy. Auto Action recognised his early talent in his Cheetah Mk6 days and ran an article titled ‘Lucio Cesario: Australia’s Gilles Villeneuve’ which played a small but significant part in bagging his Lancia LC2 Ferrari, Group C sportscar drive.

Lucio got the interview with Lancia boss, Cesare Fiorio as a favour to Alba, whose car Cesario raced at Sandown in 1984. When Fiorio went through his folio with Fiorio, Lucio said it was the AA article which piqued his interest enough to give him a test at Monza.

Cesario was quick in the test and got a reserve/test/ occasional driver deal for 1985.

Turning back the clock to Lucio’s childhood, on a trip back to the mother-country family patriarch Gay Cesario had bought an Abarth Simca 1300GT, then did a fast blast with the family aboard from Rome to Naples, to ship the car to Port Melbourne.

Gay raced the rare car throughout Victoria until the late 1960s, then sold it. He then ran a quick prod-sports Fiat 124 Spyder, which had plenty of Abarth bits, in the early ‘70s.

Lucio kept track of his father’s Abarth-Simca, and after a couple of decades of chipping away at the owner, managed to buy it back in July 2019.

Lucio Cesario is in the midst of fully restoring his The restoration is now well father Gay’s rare Abarth Simca 1300GT at his new facility in Melbourne’s north. under way. Great stuff.

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NATIONALS wrap n compiled by garry o’brie

AMOS AGAIN AT MT COTTON DEAN AMOS continued on his winning way with another FTD at Mt Cotton, this time in the third round of the Queensland Hillclimb Series on June 19-20.

It was his second round win in row.

With up to 13 runs available to the 57 entrants over the two days, Amos took part in nine and produced a best of 36.31s. The time was just 0.15s shy of the new record he set last time out in his Gould GR55B/Nicholson McLaren V8.

Second place went to round one winner Warwick Hutchinson (OMS 28 RPV03/Rotary turbo) 1.45s away (pictured, right). Brett Bull (Van Diemen RF03 turbo) made it a Formula Libre 1301cc and over class whitewash with third outright.

Fourth place went to David Quelch in his Formula Libre up to 1300cc Honda DPQ03 ahead of Greg Tebble (Group R Van Diemen FF2000).

Ross Mackay was the best of the tin tops in his Ford Escort MkI and sixth outright.

Mackay only completed two runs, the first was a 10th of a second under the new Sports Sedan up to 2000cc benchmark he set at the last round, and the second shaved another 10th of that.

Image: Ian Collie

The only other class record to fall was in Road Registered up to 2.0-litre where Harry Doling (Toyota Celica) knocked 0.28s off the old mark.

Class rival to Mackay, Gavin Taylor (VW Golf) was seventh overall ahead

of Jason McGarry (Clubman Sports Car Caterham R300), Rick Miles in his Kookaburra Formula Ford, and James Heymer (Supersports Farrell).

Behind 11th placed Sebastian Black (AWD Forced Induction Subaru

Impreza WRX) over 2.0-litre Sports Sedans were the next three in the outright stakes, Scott Anable, Glenn Anable and Doug Anable, all in BMWs in varying configurations.

GOB

GOULD GETS A GRIP

Image: Blendline TV

IN A strong bounce back, Dean Amos was the outright winner of round five of the Mantic Clutch NSW Hillclimb Championship at the Mountain View complex on June 12-13.

Amos had an eventful month in the lead-up with a crash at the previous round in May, followed by a big rebuild that enabled him to take out the single round Queensland championship. To top that off he set the FTD of 41.60s, which is a new outright track record.

Second to the Nicholson McLaren

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V8-engined Gould GR55B driver was Dean Tighe in his supercharged Hayabusa Empire Wrath on 42.58s.

Current state champ Ron Hay (Synergy Dallara) was third on 45.77s as Over 2.0-litre Formula Libre class cars took the top three spots.

Fifteen minutes to the north of Grafton, the 968m course was resurfaced for the 2019 round which was won by Tighe, and the surface was STILL relatively green since Covid prevent a championship round last year.

Fourth and winner of the Up to 1.3-litre F/L class was Dave Morrow (Suzuki Krygger) ahead of the best of the tin tops, Greg Boyle in his Nissan Skyline GTR Sports Sedan. Then came another sports sedan, the VW Beetle driven by Wayne Penrose.

Greg Jones and his Locost Clubman was the best of the Open/Closed Sports Cars in seventh ahead of Tim Blake (Subaru Impreza WRX Sports Sedan), Andrew Fraser (Road Registered Chev Corvette) and Colin Mayman (Improved Production

Volkswagen Beetle).

Junior honours went to Cameron Brown (Production Nissan Pulsar) while the Fastest Lady was Karen Wilson. Her best time came on run two before Theo Poteris hit the embankment after the first left-hand loopback, in their shared AWD Ford Focus RS. Earlier Darryl Small had the throttle jam in his Holden VK Commodore Sports Sedan on the downhill curve and went through a wall and ended up at the fence. GOB

CLASS KING TAKES OUTRIGHT FRESH FROM a SXS Turbo class victory at the Finke Desert Race, Kye Floyd undertook the McCoskers Contracting 100 at Darts Creek one week later on June 19-20 and came away with the outright victory.

He and fellow Class 6 Can-Am Maverick X3 driver Bailey Coxon battled throughout and there was a mere 11.9s difference between them in the end.

Third place went Christian Trusz who trailed the leading pair by 2mins 7.5s in his Class 8 Holden V8-powered Nissan Patrol.

Situated just over an hour northwest of Gladstone, it was the third round of

Image: Capture the Dog

the Queensland Off Road Short Course Championship. The event was held over six heats, consisting of three over one or two laps of the 10km course on Saturday for a total of 50km, followed by a similar scenario on Sunday.

Coxon won the first heat over a single

lap before Floyd won the next two of two laps each, for a day one lead of 6.1s. Third at half distance was Trusz ahead of a swag of Class 6 Can-Am pilots in Kye Camilleri, Jarred Vanderhor, Richard Tassin, and Brady Vohland.

Like the day before, Coxon won the

first (two-lap) heat on Sunday which gave him a slight lead, before Floyd hit back with victories in the final two heats.

Despite losing out to Josh Weidman in those last two heats, Trusz held on to third spot ahead of Tassin, Vanderhor, and Brice Derrick (CanAm).

Weidman failed to finish the second leg and placed 19th overall, while Vohland was three places further back as he didn’t start the single-lap heat six.

With seventh Brad Hancock (Polaris RZR) took out Class 66 ahead of Ross Challacombe (Class 8 Mitsubishi Triton), and Rob Stieber (Class 10 Southern Cross/Mitsubishi).

Michael Topfer (Mitsubishi Pajero V6) was at the front of Class 7, Rowan Clarke won Class 4, Chris Walker took out Class 4, but the only Unlimited entry of Craig Krog retired with a clutch failure. GOB

MUSCLE CATEGORIES OUT FOR THUNDER MEET SIX CATEGORIES plus Supersprints and displays of muscle and desirable road and race cars, featured at the annual 2 Days of Thunder, held at Queensland Raceway on June 26-27.

TA2 RACING AUSTRALIA

THE OPENING round of the Promaxx Performance Exhausts TA2 Northern Series was taken out by Nathan Herne in his other (older) Dodge Challenger with a clean sweep of wins.

Ford Mustangs filled the next five places overall, in the hands of Russell Wright, Jett Johnson, John McLaughlin, Anthony Tenkate and Mark Crutcher.

Herne was in front throughout race one but front row starter Johnson slipped down the order to second last. Wright settled into second ahead of McLaughlin and Tenkate, as Johnson fought back to fifth. Johnson passed McLaughlin and Tenkate to finish third behind Herne and Wright in race two. Sixth was a battle between Crutcher and Adam Hargraves until they clashed at Turn 3 on the last lap, and the Chev Camaro driver copped a 30s penalty.

It was a similar result among the top five in race three. Crutcher saw off Chris Pappas (Mustang) and Peter Robinson (Challenger) for sixth. Pappas went off at Turn 3, and then Jason Hassett (Camaro) and Warren Wadley (Mustang) clashed there shortly after.

Johnson made it to second in the last, and finished just behind Herne while Wright held off McLaughlin for third.

AUSTRALIAN TRANS-AM

FORD MUSTANG pilot Anthony Tenkate was the overall winner of the round. His wins in the first three races set the groundwork before John English (Pontiac Firebird) came through to win the last two.

English was the fastest qualifier and led race two until near the end, where an issue relegated him to fourth. He came through to finish second in the next two races ahead of Russell Wright (Mustang) before the latter failed to figure in the last.

Third overall went to Alwin Bishop (Plymouth Duster) after scrapping with fellow Mopar pilot Ian

h Mitchell in his slipstream as they took the had chequered c flag in race two, before they were split b Hargraves in the next. Hargraves finished off by w two seconds ahead of Elliott with Mitchell with fo fourth in race four and Axle Donaldson (MARC F Focus V8) fourth in the last.

HISTORIC TOURING CARS H Palmer (Plymouth AAR Cuda). In fifth was Ron Prefontaine (Mustang) who was the best of the 5.0-litre runners ahead of Mike Collins and Patricia Chant in their Mustangs.

QR SPORTS & SEDANS

MARC CARS, in particular Geoff Taunton (MARC II Mustang), dominated overall. He won each of the five races and most of them comfortably.

In an identical car, Adam Hargraves finished with three seconds but failed to finished race two before he stormed through to fifth in race there.

Second overall for the meeting went to Grant Elliott in his LS-powered BMW E36 M3 with a fifth in race one, and followed up with two fourths and two thirds.

Race one had the Mustangs one and two with Lachlan Gardner (MARC V8 Mazda) third in front of Grant Draney (Chev Monte Carlo Stock Car), Elliott, Stephen Coe (ex-Supercar Holden Commodore VE) and Brett Mitchell (OzTruck Chev Silverado).

Gardner was second in race two ahead of Draney and Elliott in the next two races. The latter

T FOUR victories for Grant Wilson (Chev THE C Camaro) were all close ones, three over David Waddington (Ford Falcon XY GT) and one ahead of Grahame Wrobel (Ford Mustang).

Waddington did manage one first place when he pipped Wilson in race three.

While the three V8s had the pace, it was smaller engined cars that fought over the final overall place.

It eventually went to James Anderson (Alfa Romeo GTV) after finishing third in race one and then following up with three fourths. Allan Sanderson (Ford Cortina) was fourth overall with some solid results that included two fourths and two fifths.

FORMULA VEES

WITH THREE wins and two seconds Tim Alder (Rapier) was the overall winner ahead of Alex Hedemann (Rapier) and regular Excel campaigner Holly Espray (Stinger).

Hedemann took the lead off Alder after the opening lap which became a first-up victory. The race was determined after six laps and before Alder and third placed Alex Macdonald (Jacer) clashed at Turn 3.

An accident in the pack did not impeded race two

where Alder edged out Macdonald and Hedemann, the three covered by 0.12s. Just behind were Espray and Michael Westerhout (Elfin).

Hedemann struck back in race three with a tight win over Alder as Espray was third. Alder won the fourth, in a close result over Hedemann with Espray third.

In the last Alder won over David Hedemann (Bee Cee Jabiru) as Espray placed third just in front of Scott Andrew (Rapier) and Chris Gregg (Stinger).

QLD TOURING CARS

HOLDENS WERE at the forefront across all races with Stuart Walker (Commodore) the overall and Division A victor, ahead of Lee Gravolin (Monaro) and Matt Haak (Commodore).

Div B honours went to Simon Winters over Shannon Cane and Gary Anger (each in Holdens) as Andrew Knight (BMW E36 323i) took out Div C from Matt Devitt (E46) and Luke Beveridge (320i).

Chris Brown (Commodore) and Murray Kent (Torana) duked it out through race one with the former getting the win by half a second.

Both were early retirees in race two with a puncture and blown clutch respectively. Walker was the winner from Haak with third to Gravolin over Lange.

Walker won the third as Haak and Gravolin had little between them for second and third, with both clear of Lange. Fourth placed Brown took out the last two races with Gravolin second in both those as Walker collected a couple of thirds, each in front of Haak. GOB

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NATIONALS wrap d by garry o’brien ed ile pil comp com

RACING BECAME A NIGHT DELIGHT AN OIL spill late in the day which covered a large proportion of the Wanneroo track, caused racing to be delayed for an hour on June13. It resulted in the last five races of the WA Statee Championship June Meeting being reduced and turned the event into a Nightmasters when the lighting was turned on.

Arthur Abrahams had two wins in the Lamborghini Huracan (above) but lost one with a penalty. Peter Pisconeri picked up two wins in Historic Touring Cars. Images: Mick Oliver

SPORTS SEDANS/SPORTS CARS

SPORTS CARS came out on top in the two races with Richard Bloomfield (Porsche 997 GT3-R) and Arthur Abrahams (Lamborghini Huracan) the winners, while Ryan Humfrey didn’t make life easy for them in his Sports Sedan Falcon/Chev.

In race one Grant Hill (Ford Falcon BF) led from Abrahams and Bloomfield until he slowed, and Bloomfield went through to the lead. Four laps later Ron Moller (Chev Camaro) beached at Turn 1.

At the same time Bloomfield had a moment at Turn 4 and Abrahams went past, not seeing the yellows. Abrahams crossed the line first but was penalised for passing under yellows. Bloomfield was given the win from Humfrey and John Zelesco (Ferrari 488 Challenge).

In the second race Bloomfield led away from Humfrey and Zelesco. Later Abrahams took the lead and Moller was up to second ahead of Humfrey and Bloomfield. Moller the spun off at turn 6 which brought out the safety car.

Abrahams won from Humfrey and Bloomfield.

FORMULA FORDS

RACING WAS close in the three events. Craig Jorgensen held off fellow Van Diemen driver Mark Pickett in race one before the latter prevailed in the next two for the overall points.

Third in the opener was Josh Matthews (Stealth) after Ben Leslie (Stealth), who was as high as

ra racing started, Andrew Stevens (Nissan Skyline) d dominated with three wins from Paul Kluck ( (Nissan R32 Skyline) and Jason Hallam (Nissan R Skyline).

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second, d spun att Turn T 7 on the th last l t lap. l The lead change several times in race two before Pickett won from Matthews, Jorgensen, and Leslie, with just 0.6s covering them at the flag. The third race was stopped when John Van Leeuwen (Van Diemen) and Simon Matthews (Royale) clashed at Turn 4. The re-run was another close stoush with Pickett the winner from Leslie, Matthews and Jorgensen, who was just 0.43s away from the winner.

HISTORIC FORMULA RACING

A COUPLE of 5s penalties did not alter the end result for Simon Alderson, who easily accounted for three race wins in his Van Diemen RF88 FF2000. Martin Bullock (Chevron B20) was second in each outing. In his first race at Wanneroo, Bill Norman (Ralt RT4) was third in race one. After that Andrew Nielson warded off Ricky Virago (RT5 Supervee) for third in race two, and Leone Magistro (RT4) in the last.

FORMULA SPORTS RACING

AFTER CHASING Adam Lisle (Radical SR3 RSX) for part of race one, Gianni Lutzu (Stohr F1000) ultimately made the pass and went onto win while Max McRae (Radical SR3) was third.

Lutzu followed up for a second race victory over Lisle and McRae, after an interruption when Luke Lustini put his SR3 RSX on its side at Turn 5.

Lutzu lead away for a threepeat, but McRae was close behind and pulled off a winning move when he drove around Lutzu in Turn 7. McRae went on to win as Lisle made a last lap pass on Lutzu to take second.

In each race Elliott Schutte (SR3) was fourth, twice in front of Stewart Burns (Pheonix F1K) and Andrew Malkin (SR3), before the latter toppled Burns in the last.

STREET CARS

IN FRONT of a small field that was further reduced when several experienced problems before the

A ALL-the way win in the opener paved the way AN fo for John Callegari (Holden Commodore) to win t meeting. Although beaten out of second place the by b Nik Mitic (BMW E36 M3), Reuben Romkes ((Holden Monaro) bounced back in race two to llead all the way as Mitic held off Callegari for second.

The last race saw Callegari get the jump from Romkes. Romkes came back to lead for the next two laps and then Callegari slipped past to take the win from Romkes. Mitic was third while Kevin Simonsen (Subaru Impreza WRX), who was fourth in the first, failed to finish the other two.

HISTORIC TOURING CARS

FORD MUSTANGS fought it out for overall victory in the three races. Ray Hepburn led race one until Peter Pisconeri charged ahead for the win. Third went to Stuart Young (Holden Torana XU-1) while Don Behets (Ford Galaxie) dropped from a front row start to ninth, before a fightback ended in a couple of DNFs and a fifth behind Simon Northey (Mustang) in the last.

Hepburn was best away in race two and this time managed to hold off Pisconeri. Hepburn could not repeat in the last, although he crossed the line first. A 5s penalty relegated him to third behind Cono Onofaro (Mini Cooper S). Young, who was third in race two, was out on the opening lap.

SALOON CARS

Brock Boley heads the Saloon Cars field on his way to two wins in his VT Commodore.

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WITH TWO wins Brock Boley was the Pro and overall winner in his Holden Commodore VT. Both those outings were led by Grant Johnson (VT) before Boley was able to get by for the wins.

In the last it was Johnson’s turn to come from behind for the win. In each race Robert Marcom and Mason Harvey filled third and fourth in their Falcons ahead of Chas Hoy (VT).

In Pro Am (for the older cars) Brock Ralph (Commodore VP) was unbeaten across the three races. He led all the way to beat Michael Koberstein (Commodore VN) and Michael Holdcroft (Falcon EA), who was second in race two head of Justin Chaffey (BN). Koberstein had second in the last until passed by Koberstein.

Mick Oliver

s w e n Y A W D E SPE

SAM BRUMFIELD’S BUTCHER MEMORIAL Words: Paris Charles Image: Paris Charles SUNLINE’S WAIKERIE Speedway fired up for the final time of the South Australian Speedway season and headlining was the annual running of the Steve Butcher Memorial for Street Stocks.

Traditionally this event has attracted huge fields with competitors keen to end the season on a high note but this year the numbers across all classes were down when compared to previous years.

Despite a field of just seven Street Stocks the 15-lap feature event proved to be another classic Holden vs Ford affair.

After claiming one heat race a piece, the front row would see Sam Brumfield’s MJS Tree and Stump Removals Falcon squaring up alongside the Whyalla Earthworks Commodore of Michael Brown.

At the drop of the green flag the Commodore of Brown would carry more momentum through the opening corners to lead, followed by the Falcons of Brumfield, Keith Moore and the rest of the field tucked in tightly behind them. Brown continued to lead over the opening three laps before an untidy entry into turn three would see him spin out of contention, bringing on the only yellow light of the race.

Brown would re-join for the Indian file restart from the back while Brumfield would make the most of clear track ahead and pounce to a handy lead. Bradley Sherridan was the first entry to retire after blowing a tyre at just over half race distance.

Sam would continue his march to the chequered flag but had to survive a late race challenge from his brother Darren, who had chipped away coming from sixth to second in his Commodore, and before too long the brothers were locked into an epic Holden V Ford affair as they swapped positions several times in the closing stages.

Darren Flatman retired to infield just short of race distance with a wisp of smoke trailing from his Commodore while the Brumfield brothers continued to run door to door.

All eyes were glued to the upfront action. On the final lap Darren again threw up a challenge as he drew along the outside of Sam, however the atter had the preferred line though the final corners and held on to claim the narrowest of victories by just .135 of a second.

Keith Moore completing the podium while Michael Brown had fought his way back to a creditable fourth placing, and rounding out the five finishers was the Commodore of Jason Gantz.

The day saw a wide variety of Speedway Sedans represented in the supporting classes; these events would also be the conclusions of the various class track championships. Super Sedans, Modified Sedans and Junior Sedans plus Modlites and Classic Sprintcars were also on the card.

The Super Sedan’s were dominated by birthday boy Kym Jury who remained undefeated in both heat races and the feature event. Mick Brougham claimed the runner-up position in the main event ahead of Neville Nitschke and Shane Lambe.

Sarah Pope, Mitchell Rigney and Andrew Leech failed to run the feature race.

Ben Whitehead also proved dominant to defeat Tony Hardy, Bronte Perkins, Mark Janssan, David Haseldine and Paul Hayes in the Modified Sedans final.

In the closely fought Junior Sedan finale Drew Flatman defeated Callum Crossing. With both boys due to move up from the Junior ranks the two combatants gave it everything they could at a tilt for their final Junior Sedan victory. Riley Greig, Lucas Warnett and Lincoln King completed the top five.

Scott Webb completed his season the best way possible by remaining undefeated in both heat races and coming from the back of the field to claim the Modlite 12-lap feature event, ahead of Patrick Hewitt who had won the previous three feature races.

Brian Chadwick, Jacob Carlier and Justin Chadwick rounded out the top five.

A field of Classic Sprintcars provided a series of spirited demonstration runs for the large crowd on hand.

ECL ROUND 13 LUCKY FOR AARON KELLY

Words: PARIS CHARLES Image: DECLAN BROWNSEY

HOLLYWOOD COULD not script a more action packed and emotionally charged finish for Round 13 of the East Coast Logistics Sprintcar Series at Brisbane’s Archerfield Speedway.

Ryan McNamara would lead the charge for 29 and half of the 30 laps, but with nothing to lose as substitute driver for the East Coast Piplines Racing team Cody Maroske laid it all on the line in a last lap tilt at victory, while Aaron Kelly would make the most of a late race opportunity to sweep through with half a lap remaining to claim the honours.

After winning the top six dash race, Ryan McNamara would start the 30-lap main event from pole position with Adam Butler showing great form to share the front row.

At the drop of the green flag, McNamara made the most of his KRE power plant and jumped to open a handy race lead aboard the Titan Garages Q88 entry, followed by Butler, Callum Walker, Aaron Kelly in fourth while Brent Kratzmann picked off two positions on the opening circulation.

Sadly for Butler he grazed the turn four wall and fell back through the field with an ill handling car, while on the flip side 16-year old Jy Corbert was working his way forward from eighth.

An entertaining three way battle for second erupted with Walker, Kelly and Kratzmann trading blows with the latter continuing his express run forward and into second, while Cody Maroske loomed in the hunt for the front and quickly moved into second as the race leader had stretched his legs to lead by almost half a lap with just five laps to run.

McNamara looked for a way through heavy traffic ahead, at times three wide across the track, and this

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in 11th after a busy night at the wheelhouse of the Victorian Dickerson Motorsports entry, advancing from the B Main and competed in the Speedcar 50 lap event. Brodie Tulloch was next followed by B Main victor Bryan Mann, Kristy Bronsey, Kevin Britten, Tim Farrell and Michael Saller.

Sadly, Mitch Gowland and Paul Rooks would tangle together in the final corner, falling agonisingly close to travelling the full distance, the only two not to greet by the chequered flag in the 19 car field.

Single heat race wins were shared by Brent Kratzmann and Kevin Titman, while Darren Jensen and Kevin Britten doubled up with two apiece.

Smee Smiles In The End

allowed Maroske to hunt him down and close in on the lead.

With one lap to run all eyes were on the lead duo and Maroske cashed in all his chips with a do or die attempt to slide underneath McNamara and the two touched, sending the race leader around for a 360 spin though he kept the car going. Michael Sellar would spin to a halt while trying to avoid the whirling McNamara and this brought on the only caution of the race, setting up a green, white and chequered finish.

For the dash home McNamara would lead with a wounded front wing, making the car a handful to steer, while behind Kelly, Kratzman, Maroske, Walker, Corbert and a dozen others lined up for the Indian File restart.

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McNamara held sway for the first of the two laps but with a half a lap remaining Kelly shot underneath as they raced down the back shoot and Kelly emerged as race leader with two corners remaining, going on to claim his maiden feature race victory aboard the Raw Metal Corp Q7 J&J entry.

A dejected McNamara showed his emotion as he climbed out of the car, while Kratzmann would join them on the podium. Maroske was next followed

by Corbert, who recorded his best finish to date and Kevin Titman advanced into the top half dozen, dropping Walker back to seventh followed by the veteran duo of Darren Jensen and Richard Morgan.

Butler salvaged a top 10 finish after running second in the early laps.

New South Welshman Kaiden Brown would finish

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ALSO FEATURING was the TFH Helmet Hair 50-lap Jim Holden Midget Classic, which provided plenty of thrills and spills in lead up to and including the gruelling main event.

After a challenging night of failing to finish any heats or B Main race, Nathan Smee would be forced to start from the back of the bus in 22nd position.

With such a lengthy journey before him Smee worked his way forward and claimed the $3000 winner’s purse.

This relegated Matt Smith to the runner up position and Michael Stewart claimed the final step of the podium in third. The New South Welshmen would outclass their northern rivals as they filled the top five positions, with Matt Jackson and Kaidon Brown, who had also shared the back row with race winner Smee.

Troy Ware was the first Queenslander home in sixth spot, followed by Kaleb Currie, Matt Geering, Brad Dawson, Harley Smee, Chris Singleton, Nathan Mathers, Kody Stothard and Connor McCullough, who was the 14th and final finisher of the marathon Speedcar event.

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B We take a look back at what was making news in Auto Action 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 years ago 1971: THEN CAMS National President Doug Stewart took victory in the Castrol GTX Championship rally alongside co-driver George Shepheard, driving a Mitsubishi Colt Galant. Richard Harris and co-driver Garry Connelly came home in second in their Mazda.

Dave Cuthbert and Andy Chapman won the aptly named Experts Trial, which proved to be a tough test for the Victorian Rally Championship competitors.

1981: FORD LEGEND Dick Johnson Racing won his first Australian Touring Car Championship, after pipping Peter Brock to victory by 0.2s at Lakeside.

It was a winner takes all finale, whoever won the race would win the title and the two remained nose to tail throughout. Reigning Formula 1 World Champion Alan Jones was on the hunt for a Bathurst 1000 drive and had already spoken to many of the front running outfits, including Dick Johnson Racing and the Holden Dealer Team.

1991: IT WAS confirmed that the 1991 Bathurst 1000 would be an all Group A affair, as the ARDC had backed down and abandoned its plans to implement Improved Production cars into the legendary Australian endurance race.

Mazdaspeed’s unique green and orange liveried car won the Le Mans 24 Hours by two laps with Johnny Herbert, Bertrand Gachot and Volker Weidler at the wheel. Mark Skaife led home Jim Richards in a Nissan GT-R 1-2 finish at Mallala in the ATCC. 2001: DICK JOHNSON Racing driver Paul Radisich dominated the Shell Championship Series in Perth. The round victory followed on from his teammate Steven Johnson’s win in Canberra and had Ford Racing boss Howard Marsden claiming the Blue Oval would win the Bathurst 1000 that year. While Michael Schumacher won in F1 at the Nurburgring, Aussie youngsters Mark Webber and James Courtney were turning heads in the junior classes.

2011: HOLDEN RACING Team driver Garth Tander explained why he had signed a multi-year deal with the factory Holden outfit, despite its performance slump. The late Sir Stirling Moss decided to call time on his incredible racing career.

The Tasmanian V8 Supercars Championship round at Symmons Plains appeared to have run its course, however there was a push to save the event.

A Images: AA Archives

Across

3. At which circuit is the Formula Holden in photo B taken?

4. Who is the driver pictured in photo B sitting on the wheel of his Formula Holden? (surname) 7. Which CART legend won his first Indy 500 for Team Penske in 1979? (surname) 10. What make of Formula Holden is pictured in photo B? 11. Who is the only Australian to win the British Touring Car Championship? (full name) 13. Peter Brock and Jim Richards won the 1979 Bathurst 1000 by six laps, but who finished second with Larry Perkins? (surname) 14. How many turns does the Townsville street circuit contain?

15. At which European venue is the Porsche in shot C taken?

16. Who has won the most Supercars

25. Which driver won his sole Formula 1 World Championship in 1979?

26. At the age of 47, who is the oldest driver to win the Indy 500? (surname) 27. How many years did Damon Hill run with #0 throughout his Formula 1 career?

28. Jamie Whincup holds the record of Townsville wins, how many does he have?

C

Down

Championship/ATCC races for Ford? (surname) 18. Driving a Ford Sierra, who did Alan Jones finish on the Bathurst 1000 podium with in 1988? (full name) 22. Who took the first ever pole position at Townsville in 2009? (surname) 24. With what team did Jack Le Brocq make his Supercars debut as a co-driver at Sandown in 2015?

1. Which Australian finished second in the 250cc class in 1978 and 1979?

2. Who holds the record for the most amount of F1 races without a win? (surname) 5. When the Bathurst 12 Hour was revived in 2007, Craig Baird, Paul Morris and Garry Holt won the race driving what car marque?

6. Who was the only driver to score points

for Formula 1 team Zakspeed? (surname) 8. How many times has a Volvo won the Bathurst 1000?

9. Who won the inaugural Dakar Rally in 1979 riding a Yamaha? (surname) 12. The Porsche in shot C is being driven by which Australian Sportscar champion? (full name) 16. What does a driver drink after winning the Indianapolis 500?

17. Who is behind the wheel of the green Formula Ford at Sandown Raceway in shot A? (surname) 19. The first Monaco Grand Prix to run to the now traditional 78 laps was run in 1985, who won the race that year? (surname) 20. The only Welsh Formula 1 race winner (non-championship)? (surname) 21. Who am I? A Scot, I won the Tasman Series three times, Formula 1 championship with Lotus twice and the Indy500. (surname) 23. Only driver to win the Gold Star and Touring Car Championship in the same year? (surname)

#1813 Crossword Answers 1 across – Ascari, 2 down – Red Bull, 3 down – NASCAR, 4 down – Percat, 5 down – De Pasquale, 6 across – Wall, 7 down – Morris, 8 across – Andretti, 9 down – Tyrrell, 10 across – Skaife, 11 down – Argentinian, 12 across – Renault, 13 down – Ehrlacher, 14 down – Will Brown, 15 across – Rossi, 16 down – Youlden, 17 across – fourteen, 18 down – Webb, 19 across – McLaughlin, 19 down – McCarthy, 20 across – Zakspeed, 21 across – twenty-five, 22 across – Russell, 23 down – Escort, 24 down – Lorenzo, 25 down – Flash, 26 across – Villeneuve, 27 across – two, 28 across - Mansell

58 AutoAction

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