Auto Action #1818

CRASH TEST DUMMIES SIMS MAKE SUPERCARS SAFER

EXCLUSIVE WALKINSHAW BID TO REVIVE TWR LINK

SUPERCAT!

GEN3 JAGUAR PLAN EXPOSED

V8 MID-TERM REVIEW

COOL DRIVER

TANDER’S REPORT CARD

TIM SLADE SPEAKS OUT

Issue #1818 Aug 26 to Sept 8 2021 $9.95 INC GST

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CRASH TEST DUMMIES SIMS MAKE SUPERCARS SAFER

MARK FOGARTY details how the controversial Gen3 change means drivers will be much better protected THE GEN3 Supercars chassis is designed to be safer as well as cheaper to repair.

Sophisticated simulation software has been employed to improve crash protection in the new Mustang and Camaro racers, due around this time next year.

Supercars and the Ford and GM homologation teams – DJR and Triple Eight respectively – have developed the Gen3 chassis update using Computer Aided Design (CAD) and Finite Element Analysis (FEA).

Developing the design in the virtual digital environment means a physical crash test of the chassis is not required.

The crashability has been validated by Sydney company Human Impact, which is approved by the FIA and Motorsport Australia to verify simulated crash test data.

Supercars crash-tested a Project Blueprint VE Commodore in 2010 and subjected a Car Of The Future prototype to a side impact assessment.

But according to Supercars head of motorsport Adrian Burgess, who is leading the Gen3 project, computer software advances mean a costly physical crash test is no longer needed.

“The science now in CAD and FEA is far more sophisticated than it used to be,” Burgess told Auto Action.

“Human Impact has done simulated tests whereby you apply force and load to certain places around the chassis.

“The amount of deflection is measured using computer simulation. So we don’t need to do a physical crash test anymore. We’re very happy with the design’s safety.”

Supercars crash-tested this Project Blueprint VE Commodore in 2010 but has used sophisticated simulation software in the virtual digital environment to validate the safety of the new Gen3 Supercar. Image from official Supercars crash test video.

The Gen3 chassis is designed to absorb more impact front and rear while retaining the integrity of the central ‘safety cell’ structure.

According to Burgess, the Gen3 chassis is “over-engineered” to protect drivers in big crashes while making it easier and cheaper to repair front and rear damage suffered in less serious accidents.

“Our current chassis is very strong,” he said. “We’ve had a fair few big accidents, so the thought process around this chassis is that it’s an evolution and we’re quite comfortable where it’s ended up.

“We have all the loads and impact data from our big accidents. You don’t make it to the size of your biggest impact. You have to factor in 1.5 or even two times the force we’ve ever seen with these tests. You over-engineer.

“To the best of our knowledge and our experience, the chassis is overengineered and built stronger than hopefully you’ll ever need.”

Burgess revealed the Gen3 chassis has improved front and rear ‘crumple zones’ to absorb heavy impacts while making superficial damage easier to fix.

“With the Gen3 car, we’re going to what we call a clip system,” he explained.

“You have the main survival cell and front and rear you have clips. Well, those clips are designed in such a way to compress with a given sized load.

“But you don’t want to be changing clips every time you have an accident, so there are probably three or four crumple zones at either end of the car that are designed to deform with given amounts of energy.

“There are numerous crumple zones at either end of the car.”

The Gen3 chassis incorporates other safety advances.

The slightly wider platform allows the driver to be located further inboard, increasing side impact protection.

Leg safety is increased with more shielding around the steering column, which also gains a crushable structure.

Like the ‘collapsible’ steering columns in roads cars, the wheel will deflect 100 mm forward in a heavy front-end impact.

Currently, the column sheers at the steering rack without the wheel moving towards driver.

The new system is similar in concept

to the collapsible steering column used in F1 for more than 30 years, which Burgess helped develop at McLaren.

The Gen3 Camaro and Mustang will also have roof hatches to aid access by medical teams.

While not big enough – nor designed for – extraction, the hatch will enable rescue crews to access injured drivers and administer immediate aid before conventional removal through the doors.

As part of the design of next year’s Gen7 Cup cars, NASCAR has conducted physical crash tests – with controversial results.

Burgess maintained that Supercars was not in the same league of crash severity.

“With the size and speed of their crashes on the ovals, that warrants a lot more time and energy being spent on physical crash tests,” he said. “We keep an eye on what they do and incorporate anything that’s applicable.”

Burgess emphasised that Supercars was always looking at new safety developments, ready to implement improvements as soon as they were available.

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JAGUAR SUPERCAR BID Walkinshaw Andretti United plan to race Gen3 F-Type reached global board

By BRUCE NEWTON CHAZ MOSTERT racing a Jaguar F-Type Gen3 Supercar? In 2020 it appeared close to a green light!

But the bid to have the British sports luxury brand join the Australian Supercars championship has at very best been put on-hold or, more likely, been stymied for good.

Multiple Auto Action sources inside and close to the Supercars championship and automotive industry here and overseas insist reemerging championship heavyweight Walkinshaw Andretti United drove the project, which traces its beginnings back to late last decade.

Initially, the focus was said to be on racing a facsimile of the XE saloon, a

plan triggered by the emergence of the 441kW XE SV Project 8 supercharged V8 limited edition production car that was briefly offered for sale in Australia for $349,000 as a track-only proposition.

But as the coupe-friendly Supercar Gen3 technical set emerged, the F-Type two-door two-seater replaced it as the preferred choice. Appropriately, Jaguar’s F-Type based Supercar could certainly have looked spectacular!

Digital images by Tim Pattinson Design are based on the colour scheme of Jaguar’s Formula E program.

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the production F-Type is sold as a V8 in Australia, albeit as an all-wheel drive.

These computer generated images depict what a Jaguar F-Type Supercar could look like.

AA has established Jaguar is not the European brand Supercars boss Sean Seamer has recently referenced.

He has confirmed he is subject to a Non-Disclosure Agreement about a potential entry into the category beyond 2022.

But there’s no doubt Supercars was fully aware of Jaguar’s interest, sources inside the racing industry insist.

Rumours of Jaguar potentially joining Supercars have circulated on and off in the category for some years. AA has been pursuing the story since early 2019.

AA understands the proposal had made its way to global Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) management by early 2020 for consideration and a potential sign-off.

However, the COVID crisis is believed to have ended the chances of a global green light as JLR’s board reacted cautiously to uncertain times.

Its motorsport investments have focused on the all-electric Formula E world championship, in which New Zealander Mitch Evans has just finished fourth for Jaguar.

It has also since been announced Jaguar will become an all-electric road-

All in the Family

D CONFIRMED car brand in 2025, putting a finite life on the F-Type as it is currently known.

Jaguar Land Rover’s Australian office was contacted for comment and responded with an emailed statement: “We receive many proposals seeking JLR Australia’s participation in a range of motorsport categories, however any discussions we may have between parties were done so on a confidential basis.”

So what engine might have powered a Jaguar Supercars entry?

One candidate would have been a racing adaptation of the 5.0-litre AV-V8 Gen III aluminium-alloy DOHC engine fitted to the F-Type and several other JLR models.

Another could have been a bespoke build-up of a racing engine out of off-the-shelf parts. A Supercars control engine has also been mooted for Gen3 and could have been a candidate.

It is understood an F-type Supercars program was not being pitched as a multimillion dollar commitment.

The design and homologation of racing body panels and aerodynamic parts is accepted in the Supercars industry as being achievable under $500,000.

An off-the-shelf engine program is also affordable in

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motor racing terms.

It is understood wellfunded WAU with its strong international backing would have been prepared to pay for much of the development program in return for an intellectual property (IP) rights to the F-Type and some commercial support from JLR. The fact that one of the category’s pre-eminent drivers and brightest personalities in Mostert would have been onboard was also a huge positive in terms of both race-winning potential and a positive personality for marketing purposes.

Bringing Jaguar into Supercars would have been a huge fillip for WAU, which has no particular enthusiasm for racing the Gen3 Chevrolet Camaro developed predominantly by arch-rivals Triple Eight Race Engineering.

A link-up between Jaguar and Walkinshaw has real symmetry to it, as renowned racer and automotive businessman, the late Tom Walkinshaw, raced Jaguars at the Bathurst 1000 in 1984 and 1985.

Tom Walkinshaw is the father of Ryan Walkinshaw, the chairman of the Walkinshaw Automotive Group, which is a co-investor in WAU along with United Autosports and Andretti Autosport.

A Jaguar presence in

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Australian touring car racing traces back to the very first championship conducted as a single race at the GnooBlas circuit in Orange, NSW, in 1960 won by David McKay in a Jaguar Mark 1.

For more on Jaguar’s Aussie racing heritage see our story at right.

WAU team principal Bruce Steward refused to comment when contacted by AA. However, at a press conference at the 2020 Bathurst 1000 Ryan Walkinshaw said COVID-19 had cruelled negotiations with a brand new to Supercars that went “very far”. He did not name the brand.

He also stated at that time that WAU was still in discussions with other brands. “There is genuine interest there,” Walkinshaw said.

Like many other prestige brands such as Alfa Romeo, Lexus and Volvo, Jaguar struggles for cut-through in the Aussie market against the might of the big three Germans Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz.

Of that lot, only Volvo has bitten the bullet and gone Supercars racing, while Alfa has been linked with a program more than once. Lexus also looked at Supercars last decade before passing.

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THE WALKINSHAW family Jaguar connections are among the sport’s most impeccable, given its 19801990s Group A XJ-S and Group C XJR Le Mans victories.

Not that the lustre of the Coventry marque in Australia started with them.

The introduction of Appendix J rules for Australian Touring Car racing from 1960 provided a platform for Jaguar to demonstrate what great road and racing cars the twin-cam XK six-cylinder powered Mk 1/2 sedan was.

Fitted with 3.4-litre engines, David McKay and Bill Pitt won the single-race Australian Touring Car Championship in 1960-61 at Gnoo Blas and Lowood.

When pugnacious Brunswick motor-trader Bob Jane bought a Mark 2, he swept all before him at Longford and Mallala, in 1962-63.

Jane dipped out in 1964 at Lakeside, his engine’s power exposing driveline shortcomings, then Ford’s Mustang finally rained on Jag’s parade from 1965.

Rule changes kept the Coventry lads uncompetitive in the ATCC, but the release of the big XJ-S 5.3-litre V12 coupe changed things.

John Goss was the first to see the car’s Group C potential – and a different shape and nameplate to offer sponsors – racing one in standard’ish spec at Mount Panorama in 1980.

His entries got progressively better in 1981 (with Barry Seton) and 1982 (Bob Tullius).

In 1984 he returned in a much-improved car shared with Tom Walkinshaw. Fitted with a TWR engine, the pair’s race was over before it started, when they were hit from behind by John Tesorio’s Chev Camaro off the grid.

TWR raced a team of Group A XJ-Ss in the European Touring Car Championship from 19821984. Walkinshaw won the ’84 title, the team took five victories.

With Australia’s adoption of Group A regs, who can forget Bathurst 1985 and the marvellous spectacle of three, howling V12 British racing green TWR Jags.

Tom Walkinshaw shared his 450bhp, 1400kg, fuelinjected, five-speed machine with Win Percy. They started from pole – the plucky Scot did 170mph down Conrod during the Top-Ten shootout – alongside another car shared by Jeff Allam and Ron Dickson.

The third machine was shared by Goss and Armin Hahne, and with a dose of perseverance and karma, they won from the Johnny Cecotto/Roberto Ravaglia BMW 635CSI, with Walkinshaw/Percy third.

That the Walkinshaw’s pitched the Supercar opportunity is fitting.

Tom Walkinshaw leveraged the Jaguar relationship he started with the Group A program into an emotional Le Mans return, backed by CEO John Egan.

TWR designed and built a staggering run of carbonfibre, Group C endurance Jaguars, still powered by modified 7-litre versions of their venerable roadgoing V12.

These Silk-Cut-purple weapons of war finally triumphed over the Porsche juggernaut at Le Mans in 1988 and 1990, and took the World Sports Prototype Championship in 1987-88 and in 1991.

Mark Bisset

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TWO-HORSE RACE FOR SUPERCARS

By MARK FOGARTY SUPERCARS’ NEW ownership is just weeks away, with two powerful groups left in the running.

Sports marketing agency TLA has combined its bid with promoter ARG, while a high-powered consortium with News Corp support is the other contender.

Both proposals involve a complete takeover, buying out the teams as well as majority owner Archer Capital.

As first revealed by Auto Action, Archer wanted $60 million for its 65 per cent share.

To gain total control by also buying the teams’ 35 per cent holding, the price has jumped to $80-90 million, according to informed sources.

The teams can veto any deal, but a big cash bonus and a guaranteed annual income is likely to win their support.

Both bids are believed to be offering the teams around $750,000 a year per entry for the next five years.

The TLA/ARG bid is backed by international sports impresario

Barclay Nettlefold, a former champion yachtsman and boss of Swimming Australia.

Nettlefold’s global TGI Sport owns TLA, headed by former AFL star player Craig Kelly. V8 legend Mark Skaife is the front man of the bid.

They have combined their pitch for Supercars with the Australian Racing Group, which effectively runs the second level of Australian racing.

ARG’s consolidated bid is based on the “synergies” of TLA’s sports marketing and promotion expertise, and ARG’s event management skills.

The rival bid formerly fronted by Boost Mobile boss Peter Adderton has evolved into a more powerful syndicate.

It has been joined by News Corp, although to what extent is unclear.

Through a connection with the News-owned Brisbane Broncos NRL team, the consortium of Adderton, BTCC boss Alan Gow, motorcycle world champion Mick Doohan, Paul Morris and transport mogul Pete Smith has attracted the media giant’s support.

An insider revealed that News

Supercars majority owner Archer Capital sales negotiator Tim Miles (left) has a lot to discuss with Supercars team representatives including Roland Dane (right).

Image: Ross Gibb “number crunchers” are evaluating Supercars’ worth.

The pair of finalists are deep into due diligence, following which they will make firm offers.

That process is due to end soon, with a decision by the end of next month.

A team boss confided: “It’s all coming to a crescendo”.

Both final bids have strengths and potential benefits, with the TLA/

ARG consortium touted as “a once in a generation opportunity” to coordinate the promotion of Australia’s main categories.

The main attraction of the ‘Adderton’ group is the involvement of Alan Gow, the expat Aussie who has maintained the BTCC’s success for most of the past 30 years.

If successful, Gow would be actively involved in a new-look Supercars administration.

HEIMGARTNER “LIKELY” TO STICK WITH GROVE RISING KIWI Supercars star Andre Heimgartner says he is “most likely” to sign with Grove Racing for a new deal beyond 2021.

But he also admits he’s not past the point of potentially accepting another deal with another team.

The 26-year old currently drives the Ned Whisky Ford Mustang for Kelly Grove Racing, which becomes Grove Racing in 2022 after Stephen Grove completes his buyout of the Kelly family from the Melbourne operation.

Grove, who only bought into what was Kelly Racing last summer, has made it clear he wants to keep Heimgartner onboard.

Heimgartner, who joined what was then Kelly Racing in 2018, has now confirmed his desire to stay with the operation with a new multi-year deal.

“My likelihood is staying (with Grove), that’s what we are trying to do,” he told Auto Action.

“You would be stupid not to have your ear to the ground looking at what other opportunities there are.

“You never say never, but I’d probably say the most likely outcome is me staying where I am.”

Heimgartner first broke into Supercars with Tickford Racing satellite Super Black Racing then spent a season with Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport before dropping out for the 2017 season.

He has steadily progressed since

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Image: Motorsport Images

joining Kelly Racing, scoring his first solo podium (Phillip Island) in 2019, his first pole (Sydney Motorsport Park) in 2020 and his first win (The Bend) this year.

His main frustration is a championship finishing record that belies his pace; 14th in 2020 has been

his best result. He currently runs 12th but has been as high as eighth this year.

Heimgartner has been linked with a variety of potential drives beyond 2021, including the coveted seat at Triple Eight as Jamie Whincup’s successor.

But he says the key thing going

forward is certainty he’ll be racing in Supercars.

“It’s all positive,” he said. “I will definitely be in the series for the foreseeable future. It’s just trying to get a deal done that works best for me and where I will be happy and all that sort of stuff.

“I think we will have that sorted out soon. I guess this big break [triggered

by COVID] has given everyone time to have the talks, have the negotiations and go from there.

“I am happy with how everything is sitting at the moment.”

Heimgartner joined Kelly Racing as the replacement for team co-owner Todd Kelly. Heimgartner says he is looking forward to the new Grove-owned direction, but also acknowledged the contribution of the Kelly family.

“There is a lot happening with the change of ownership with the team and it’s been very interesting to be a part of it,” he said.

“Obviously I was with Kelly Racing for a long time and to see the transition has been interesting. I think it is all positive.

The Groves are going to bring a lot to the team and they have big ambitions and big plans going forward.

“So I think it is exciting for everyone.

“The Kellys have moved on to some other aspects. They put a lot of effort in for so many years and it’s good to see them enjoying life and focussing on some other things.” BN

MCLAUGHLIN REVEALS MASSIVE SET-UP SWING Rookie wants his IndyCar to feel more like Supercar

By Bruce Newton SCOTT McLAUGHLIN is going back to his Supercar set-up roots in an attempt to finish his maiden IndyCar season off on a high.

The Team Penske rookie claimed fourth place on the Gateway Motorsports Park short oval last Saturday night (US time), a result only bettered by his second at Texas in May. But a stellar result still eludes the threetime Supercars champ on the road or street courses that make up the bulk of the IndyCar calendar. Eighth-place in his first visit to the Indy road course is his best finish.

After a two week break the championship finishes up with a west coast swing through the Portland and Laguna Seca road courses and the finale on September 26 on the Long Beach street track.

“We’ve taken a massive swing with the set-up,” McLaughlin revealed. “What I have been lacking is feel from the car and what I want from it, it just hasn’t been working where we have been going.

“We have gone back to almost making

it feel like a Supercar, just in terms of how I approach driving the race car, because I am so stuck in that driving style.

“If we get it to the point where I can drive the IndyCar at speed similar to how I drove the Supercar then I think we can make a lot more progress.”

Essentially, McLaughlin says that means making the Chevrolet-powered Dallara corner more on the nose and looser in the rear.

“I am just trying to make it a little more sharper, turn the wheel a little bit less, just have a bit more point in it.

“Sometimes you can’t do that with chassis but there are a couple of little things we can do within the car to do that for me.

“So certainly a little bit different to what the other guys are asking for, but they have driven openwheelers their whole life and they just have different driving styles.”

McLaughlin has tested at Laguna Seca, but has no experience of the other two venues apart from simulator time.

“It’s a big three weeks for sure,” he said.

Image: Motorsport Images McLaughlin currently runs 13th in the IndyCar drivers’ championship and harbours ambitions of landing in the top 10 by the end of the year.

He has extended his lead in the rookie of the year standings over F1 refugee Romain Grosjean after the Frenchman finished 14th in his oval debut at Gateway.

McLaughlin qualified 11th at Gateway and picked his way forward through the chaotic early laps to settle into the lead group in a race defined by long fuelsaving runs.

“This [Gateway] result has been building for a while,” McLaughlin said. “It’s just I haven’t got qualifying right and that’s been really annoying for me.

“I have had reasonable speed in all the practices, I just haven’t got it together in qualifying. A decent result like that isn’t just good for me, it’s good for the team.

“It was a nice little reward after a challenging few months since the Indy 500.”

One of the most pleasing aspects of the result at Gateway for Mclaughlin was a set-up package developed during his recent test at the venue being used by other team cars.

Team-mates Josef Newgarden and Will Power finished first and third respectively.

“I was really proud of that because basically the package that Josef ran was what I ran and what I built over testing,” McLaughlin explained.

“For me to build a car and at my third attempt get it to the point where it is a winning package felt really good.”

Meanwhile, Mclaughlin confirmed he still had no definite answers about his chances of coming back to Australia to race in the Bathurst 1000.

“We are still trying to go through getting the approvals and whatever. It is moving forward, but right now I don’t have an answer for you.

“We are trying to make it if we can.”

COURTNEY READY TO GO FOR 2022 … AND BEYOND Veteran raced with broken shoulder, but he’s feeling great

By BRUCE NEWTON SERIOUSLY INJURED for at least the fourth time in unusual circumstances, James Courtney says he is recovering quickly, feels rejuvenated in his personal and racing life, and has no intention of retiring any time soon.

Courtney, 41, is the oldest driver on the Supercars grid but is having a strong season sitting ninth in the drivers’ championship.

He is out of contract at the end of the season, but wants to race on into the Gen3 era currently due to start in August 2022.

The signs are good that he and sponsor Boost will stay at Tickford Racing, where he has emerged as team leader Cam Waters’ wingman this season.

“I am loving and enjoying my racing so much, really looking forward to what Gen3 and the future has to offer,” Courtney told Auto Action.

“I am pretty honest and harsh with myself and if I didn’t think I was up to it and couldn’t get the results I wouldn’t be doing it. I still think I have plenty to give.”

Last time out at the Townsville

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Image: Motorsport Images

double-header Courtney qualified and finished in the top 10 three times out of five, despite a broken right shoulder suffered in a ‘dads v kids’ rugby game when tackled by his 11year old son Cadel.

Courtney only revealed the injury recently when he was diagnosed with three fractures, a torn AC joint and ligament damage, at a friend’s new radiology centre.

“It happened two-and-a-half months ago and I was quiet about it and got on with. I could do everything I was before,” he said. “The only reason I brought it up was I thought it was funny.”

Courtney has suffered a litany of serious injuries; in 2002 the rear wing fell off a Jaguar F1 car while he was

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testing at Monza. It took at least 12 months for him to recover from that 300km/h shunt.

In 2013 his right leg was broken when Alex Premat t-boned him at Phillip Island. In 2015 at Sydney Motorsport Park he suffered five broken ribs and a punctured lung when he was hit by a flying metal sign stirred up by a hovering helicopter.

“They’re definitely not boring incidents and there have been quite a Motorsport Images few,” reflected Courtney.

“Everything I have had is on my right side; the Jaguar thing, the Premat hit, the helicopter thing was all my right-side. The shoulder is on the right.

“My left side is mint and brand new, my right is pretty screwed!”

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This latest incident has done nothing to quell Courtney’s enthusiasm for racing. He says he’s found a happy home at Tickford and wants to stay beyond this year.

That combined with the widelyreported dramas in his personal life being in the past, are keys to his good form, he says.

“I am loving my racing, my personal life is fantastic, so there is a lot of good stuff and I think my frame of mind is probably better than it has been for a long, long time.”

Courtney and loyal backer sponsor Boost joined Tickford mid-2020 to take over Will Davison’s seat, made vacant when team owner Phil Munday had to withdraw from the championship because of COVID. An extension of his deal is yet to be confirmed, but Courtney says he is happy to wait and see what happens “I am just super-comfortable in myself and my results, my racing and my attitude that I am sure they are going to sign me because I am doing well.

“And if they don’t I am sure someone else will.

“I have good relations with Boost and EFS Solar and that’s fantastic. I still have a lot of partners who want to be involved with me and my racing, so the future is good.

“Something will happen. We will know when we know.”

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LATEST NEWS

BRAD JONES Racing still lead the Pit Stop Challenge standings, despite a strong performance from Walkinshaw Andretti United in Townsville. BJR sit on 124 points, while WAU has climbed from fourth to second on 101 points. At the Townsville SuperSprint the WAU pit crew helped Bryce Fullwood claim the Race 17 points, backing that up with a win in Race 18 on Chaz Mostert’s car. Dick Johnson Racing Team dropped to third as a result. JN

WALKINSHAW ANDRETTI United has unveiled Chaz Mostert as its 2021 Supercars Eseries All Stars entry. The 29-year-old will return for the upcoming edition of Supercars Eseries alongside professional gamer Dayne Warren, who will represent the team in the Pro Series. Mostert will race in the #25 WAU machine. In his second year for WAU, Mostert is fourth in the Supercars Championship standings, just eight points behind Cam Waters. JN

WHINCUP REPLACEMENT TO BE ANNOUNCED BY MONTH’S END FUTURE TRIPLE Eight Race Engineering team principal Jamie Whincup revealed that his replacement in the #88 ZB Commodore will be named before the end of this month.

The seven-time Supercars champion and four-time Bathurst 1000 winner Jamie Whincup will step away from the championship as a full-time driver at the end of this season, as he moves into a management position, filling the role currently taken by Roland Dane.

Whincup’s departure makes way for another driver to fill the #88 seat, and since February when the announcement was made, much speculation has surrounded this opportunity though the Queensland operation has remained tight-lipped.

When speaking in a Supercars.com video to Supercars Championship broadcaster Chad Neylon, Whincup announced that the mystery driver will be revealed by the end of August.

“We are not far away Chad,” Whincup revealed. “We’ll let everyone know who my replacement is before the end of the month, so watch this space!”

Even before the start of the season in February, when Whincup’s retirement was announced, people were speculating about who would fill the vacated seat.

Expect more revisions to Supercars calendar

By BRUCE NEWTON

TEAM 18 has confirmed that Scott Pye and S5000 race winner Cooper Webster will be its drivers for the 2021 Supercars All Star Eseries.

Pye will commandeer the #20 DEWALT Racing Holden ZB Commodore in the online racing series, returning to the simulation racing competition after participating in the inaugural All Stars ESeries last year. In the Pro ESeries, Webster will be pitted against professional sim racers in his #18 Holden ZB Commodore, after Mark Winterbottom gave up his spot. JN

NEIL CROMPTON will make his return to the Supercars broadcast team for the upcoming 2021 Supercars ESeries. Crompo confirmed that he will host the opening round of the Eseries. The Supercars Hall of Fame member has been recovering from prostate cancer since his diagnosis in May, missing Supercars Championship rounds in Darwin and Townsville.

The remaining commentary spots will be filled

by Eseries regulars Chad Neylon and Jonathan Simon. JN

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THE SURGING wave of COVID infections driven by the highlyinfectious Delta variant means significant doubts hang over the future of the 2021 Supercars championship, as currently structured.

As Auto Action closed for press on Monday August 23, NSW and Victoria - the two states currently scheduled to host four of the five remaining events - were in lockdown.

The fifth and final championship event is the Gold Coast 500 in Queensland, which currently has its border shut to outsiders.

Bathurst, home of the blue ribbon Supercars 1000km race at Mount Panorama, had six confirmed COVID cases as of last Monday.

Supercars announced a revised calendar in late July that paused the championship until Winton on October 2-3, followed by Phillip Island October 23-24, the Bathurst 1000 on November 4-7, the Sydney SuperNight on November 19-21 and the Gold Coast 500 on December 3-5.

Supercars is contractually committed to delivering 12 events in 2021 and finishing the season with the Gold Coast 500.

Pushing back the calendar has given Supercars time and room to move on further calendar adjustments.

It also allows time to establish what level of public attendance events can run with, or whether they will be TV only as some were in 2020.

Bathurst was shifted back specifically in the hope of a substantial live audience

Image: Motorsport Images At just 18-years-old, Queenslander Broc Feeney is the favourite to take the seat.

Feeney currently races for Triple Eight Race Engineering in the second-tier Super2 Series, and leads the title after three rounds.

After competing for Tickford Racing in the Super2 Series and Bathurst 1000 last year, Feeney moved to Triple Eight for 2021.

In addition to his Super2 commitments for the Queensland squad, Feeney will race at the Bathurst 1000 as part of the team’s wildcard entry.

The former Super3 Series winner will team up with two-time Bathurst 1000

winner and 2005 Supercars champion Russell Ingall, for the 2021 edition of the ‘Great Race’.

As reported by Auto Action a couple of weeks ago Feeney and Ingall had their first official test in the Supercheap Auto sponsored Triple Eight Commodore at Queensland Raceway last week.

Another name to have been thrown around to replace Whincup is Brodie Kostecki but Erebus Motorsport has clarified that he will be racing for the team again in 2021.

We should know who the #88 driver is when the next edition of AA goes to print.

Dan McCarthy

COVID IMPACT CONTINUES Image: Motorsport Images

after it was restricted to just 4000 fans per day in 2020. There is a chance it could shift back further into December.

The question that will surely be raised at some point will be whether proof-ofvaccination could or should be required to attend events.

A Supercars board meeting scheduled for mid-week may lead to some clarifications.

Supercars CEO Sean Seamer has scheduled a press conference for today (Thursday August 26).

On Monday, Supercars would offer only a place-holder statement.

“Supercars is committed to delivering the next five rounds of the 2021 Championship and is working with all relevant governments and health departments to ensure this occurs safely. While Supercars shares the ongoing COVID-19 related frustrations of all Australians, particularly those on the east coast, we are working hard to deliver the remaining races and we once again thank our fans for joining us on this journey. We are committed to our 2021 season, including racing at our premier event, the Repco Bathurst 1000.”

Considering the situation in NSW, where infections now top 800 a day

and the western suburbs are the epicentre of an outbreak that may not be controlled for months, the chances of the Sydney Motorsport Park event going ahead look grim.

The challenge for the Gold Coast race will be committing significant finances to the construction of a temporary circuit when interstate visitors may not be allowed to attend or the region might even be in lockdown because of a COVID flare-up.

As options narrow and venues are eliminated, the chances of back-to-back events taking place are undoubtedly growing. For instance, Phillip Island might host two events in a row because the Australian Grand Prix Corporation is understood to have a booking that covers two weekends.

Queensland Raceway is the official back-up venue if any events fall off the calendar, while The Bend in South Australia might come back under consideration.

But access to any venue depends on the local COVID situation and the attitude of the relevant state health department.

The stance of Supercars teams could also play a role in all this. Victorian teams especially won’t be excited about the potential prospect of more quarantines, after spending more than 100 days on the road in 2020.

There is the chance the full 12 events won’t be achieved if the COVID situation gets further out of hand. Last year 10 events were completed.

The avoid-at-all-costs scenario is the Bathurst 1000 gets cancelled, something that would be disastrous for revenues of the teams and the championship.

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SECOND WAU SEAT BEING DECIDED WALKINSHAW ANDRETTI United is in the process of deciding who its second driver will be alongside Chaz Mostert next season.

Bryce Fullwood is currently in the position; however many drivers are bidding for the seat at the frontrunning Melbourne based outfit, next season.

The Northern Territorian has had a difficult season to date after what was a promising debut season in the Supercars Championship last year.

Late last year Fullwood scored a podium at The Bend Motorsport Park, however that momentum did not carry into the first portion of the 2021 season. Meanwhile, his teammate Mostert has been a championship contender, taking two wins in the first half of the season.

Fullwood has had an upturn in speed during the last four rounds which have seen him consistently fighting in, or just

outside, of the top 10.

WAU team principal Bruce Stewart explained that performances this year will have a big factor in the decision.

“Firstly, he’s a great young kid,” Stewart said on a Supercars.com video.

“We want to see if we can grow him and be that driver alongside Chaz.

“But as we’ve said along the way, we’ve always got to look at the results and keep looking at performance, because we want to keep improving and consistently improving with the top few teams.”

Stewart was asked to elaborate on whether on track results are key to whether the 2019 Super2 Series winner keeps his seat.

“Always,” he said. “Always in regard to how you perform.

It’s unfortunate, we haven’t had events in August and September, because that

just helps you keep the momentum.

“It went reasonably well in Townsville 2 and then you kind of stop for a while, take away a few of those wheels for a while, until you get to go again in October. So that makes it a little bit more difficult.”

The team is reportedly taking other considerations into account.

“We’re just looking at those scenarios right now,” he said.

“But ideally Bryce is just such a great young bloke and great talent, he’s awesome for us culturally around the place, that is a huge part of the consideration.

“We’ve got five rounds to go.

Unfortunately, it’s all pushed back into those last three months.

“It makes it a little more hectic to get it done. But yeah, we’re looking at all those things right now.”

Dan McCarthy

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KURT KOSTECKI NOT JUST LOOKING AT WAU WALKINSHAW ANDRETTI United Wildcard driver Kurt Kostecki admitted to Auto Action he is not wedded to the team and is able to look elsewhere for a full-time Supercars Championship seat in 2022.

The 23-year-old West Australian has already completed two of his three Wildcard appearances this year and impressed with a top 10 finish in Darwin.

The result at Hidden Valley Raceway was the best ever finish for a Wildcard driver and turned heads up and down the Supercars paddock.

Kostecki hopes that these strong Wildcard results will give him a leg to stand on when hunting for a seat in 2022.

“Having done these rounds in the main series recently, the aim is to put me in the frame and put my hat in the ring for next year,” Kostecki explained to AA. “We’re working really hard to try and get something there and I hope that having a good result in Darwin puts me in a good position.”

Kostecki admits that while Walkinshaw Andretti United has given him the opportunity this year, it was agreed that he could spread his wings and find a full-time drive elsewhere.

“With how tough it is, a lot of drivers wanting to get into Supercars, we’re looking around as much as we can at the moment, we’re starting talks,” he said.

“The goal for Walkinshaw was to help me get a leg up and get into the series next year, we have to see how it pans out and

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Image: Insyde Media hopefully I’m on the grid full-time next year.

“It’s all business. So for them (WAU), they’ve got to put themselves in the best Motorsport Images position, whether that’s with me or not.”

The humble Kostecki is grateful for the opportunity that has been presented to him this year and feels that he is improving every time he gets behind the wheel.

“I’m just grateful that I’ve got this opportunity,” he said. We’re just working hard and trying to get my foot in the door, and this puts me in the best position.

“They’ve (WAU) been awesome with me so far and we’ve been working hard to put a good product out on the track every time we get into a session.”

In Darwin, Kostecki was often ahead of regular driver Bryce Fullwood, not bad for someone who has only contested 15 Supercars Championship races.

“The number one comparison are your teammates, so if I can do what Bryce is doing in the car and even what Chaz (Mostert) is doing at the next round, it definitely puts me in a good position.”

Kurt Kostecki is expected to be announced as a Matt Stone Racing co-driver in coming weeks alongside his brother Jake.

Dan McCarthy

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9

LATEST NEWS

S5000 CHAMPIONSHIP team 88 Racing has announced an expansion to a two-car outfit for the Tasman Series later this year. Melbourne team owner Albert Callegher confirmed that two cars will be run out of his operation, with a separate sponsor to run on the car alongside the existing #88 entry. The team had success in the opening season with former Hyundai Excel racer Cooper Webster taking victory at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit. DM

THE 2022 Australian Top Fuel Championship will visit at least three states over six rounds.

The new national series includes two races in Victoria, two races in Sydney, a round in Western Australia and a yet to be confirmed location for the Grand Final. The first round is scheduled for January 21-22 at the Sydney Dragway before visiting Calder Park in Victoria two weeks later.

DM

WINTON MOTOR Raceway will host the 2021 Australian Formula Ford Championship from November 12-14, joining the Australian Motor Racing Series for its event. Along with the national competition, the Victorian Formula Ford Championship will also hold a round at Winton to replace its Sandown International Raceway event that was cancelled in July. It will be the third round of Australian Formula Ford and the fifth round of the Victorian Formula Ford season, after several COVID-19 interruptions. JN

THE WORLD Time Attack Challenge 2021 event has been postponed until April of 2022 because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

The World Time Attack was scheduled to take place at Sydney Motorsport Park in New South Wales, but due to ongoing lockdowns organisers have been forced to push the event back by six months. The new rescheduled event will now take place on Friday April 1 and Saturday April 2 next year. DM

THE 2021 Historic Leyburn Sprints will go ahead from September 11-12. A full program of competition and off-track events has been confirmed, which has overcome changes to lockdown and border restrictions in Queensland.

On the 25th anniversary year of the event, the original dates of August 21-22 were called off, requiring organisers to reschedule. Despite the hurdles so far, the initial anticipated field of 200 historic classic competitors remains. JN

10 AutoAction

RANDLE CAN RACE IN OTHER CATEGORIES THOMAS RANDLE, who has already signed to race for Tickford Racing full-time in the 2022 Supercars Championship, will be able to continue branching out and racing in other categories, as he has throughout his junior career.

The reigning Super2 Series winner elected not to defend his crown in 2021, instead deciding to contest three Supercars Wildcard rounds as well as a co-drive with the team at the Bathurst 1000.

To keep himself busy when he is not behind the wheel of a Supercar, Randle has been driving the famous Randle family Saab Sports Sedan, as well as contesting the inaugural S5000 Australian Drivers’ Championship.

Shane van Gisbergen and Chaz Mostert are two Supercars drivers that will jump into almost anything, and Randle explained that he has permission from Tickford Racing team principal Tim Edwards to race other categories going forwards.

“Tim’s very good, reasonable and very easy to talk to about these sorts of things,” Randle said to Auto Action.

“He’s got no issue with S5000, no issue with Sports Sedans, and look if there any other things that were to come up, I’d just swing by him and generally he’s pretty reasonable.

“Unless it was a car that didn’t have a roll cage or something that was extremely unsafe, I mean I’d turn that down first anyway.”

Randle still feels that the national Sports Sedan Series is a good category to keep yourself fresh as a Supercars driver and why Kelly

Racing driver Andre Heimgartner raced in the series at Round 1.

“He’s got no issue with Sports Sedans because he knows the history for us, the Randle family,” Randle said.

“On and off I’ve been racing that car since 2014 and at our first round at Wakefield Park Andre Heimgartner was running in Mark Duggan’s Aston.”

“That’s great for me because I’m up against a current driver as well and it’s great, it’s perfect mileage when you’re not in the supercar especially as a guy doing the wildcards this year, but even next year if there’s gaps in between.

“It’s a six-speed sequential sedan with no ABS, no traction control and more power, which is probably better for power control with natural traction control if you like, the drivers foot.”

Although the team has no objections

to Randle competing in the S5000 Championship, the 25-year-old admits he is unlikely to run in the series as he turns his attention his Supercars career.

“Obviously if the events were to clash, Supercars would obviously be the priority.

“But we haven’t really been looking at doing the next series, just been focusing now on Supercars and focusing on our Wildcard program the 1000 and then next year because I believe that is where my future lies, hopefully it can be a long future.

“I mean look, I wouldn’t turn down a drive (in S5000), but it all comes down to securing backing as always.

We’ll see what eventuates but at the moment, the focus is on Supercars.”

Dan McCarthy

TRAVEL EXEMPTIONS UNLIKELY FOR MURPHY AND STANAWAY EREBUS MOTORSPORT team principal Barry Ryan has admitted that the team’s planned Bathurst 1000 Wildcard entry is on shaky ground due to the COVID-19 border restrictions.

A couple of months ago the team announced that they would run a third ZB Commodore at the Bathurst 1000 this year, for four-time Bathurst 1000 winner Greg Murphy and former Sandown 500 winner Richie Stanaway.

Both are Kiwis who, thanks to the recently closed travel bubble, are now stranded in New Zealand unable to make it across to Australia anytime soon without a travel exemption.

However, Ryan does not believe that an exemption will be given to either driver, and will need the travel bubble between the two nations to reopen before the 1000, scheduled for the first weekend in November.

The travel bubble is currently scheduled to open in mid-September, but with the COVID-19 cases rising in multiple Australian states as well as New Zealand, this will likely be delayed.

Ryan was asked if the team needs the travel bubble open to allow the highly anticipated Wildcard to occur.

“Yeah definitely,” he said in a Supercars.com video. “Unless we can get exemptions which I don’t think is going to happen.

“The bubble is supposed to open on

the 17th of September, but I can’t see that happening.

“The way it is in New South Wales now and Bathurst is obviously going to be a question again, and New Zealand’s got cases now.”

Ryan said that he is not looking ahead too far, he is only focused on the coming days as it is impossible to see what the future holds with the global pandemic.

“It’s all up in the air, he continued.

“We’re just planning like it’s a perfect world at the moment, and hoping the calendar we have got in place stays in place and we can obviously get Murph and Richie over here for a bit of testing.

“Really at the moment, that’s about

all you can do (look a couple of days ahead), but we’re obviously full steam ahead trying to prepare a Wildcard car for Murph and Richie,” he continued.

“Next year hasn’t really come into our head yet, but obviously, as a category, we have got to think about it, but it’s really hard as a team to plan that far ahead.”

When the Wildcard was announced at the start of June, both Murphy and Stanaway said that they were taking on the Wildcard as they knew they could get many laps and several days of testing before The Great Race, however this seems less likely as the weeks go by.

Dan McCarthy

MULTIPLE FORMULA FORD MANUFACTURERS NOW LIKELY FORMULA FORD is now likely to remain as a multiple manufacturer category after Motorsport Australia took note of competitor feedback.

Motorsport Australia Director of Motorsport and Commercial Operations Michael Smith opened up to Auto Action about the current state of play in the incredibly popular Australian Formula Ford category.

Smith explained that the original idea Formula Ford now appears to be substantially less likely after listening to competitors views.

“We’re really wanting the DNA to stay the same,” he said to AA. “I know one of our preliminary recommendations was to look at a single manufacturer path,” he said.

“Whilst the (Formula Ford) working group hasn’t formed a view, one way or another on that, I think we’re coming around to the view that, potentially a multi-manufacturer format would be a better path to go, because that’s consistent with what Formula Ford has always been in this country.

“We had the stakeholder forum, we then had the survey, and then we invited people to make submissions.

“We’ve taken the time to speak to every single one of those people or email every single one of those people.

“I guess as a consequence of that we’ve come around to the view that perhaps a multi-manufacturer concept is the way to go.”

Smith feels that if they can get the rules right, then a multi-manufacturer series will continue to work successfully.

“In order to do that (a multi-brand category) you have to get the rules right, we know that, it’s a lot simpler to craft a set of rules when you’re only have one homologated manufacturer.

“But ultimately, if we’re, wanting to achieve or carry on the philosophy of Formula Ford Racing we need to be able to do it in a multi-manufacturer environment.”

Smith believes the reason that Formula 4 did not work in Australia was because it did not appeal to the Australian motor sport scene, this is why it is essential that Formula Ford remains as close as possible to its roots.

“Formula 4 didn’t work here,” he admitted. “It’s clear, people are very passionate about Formula Ford Racing “Our thinking is have it as an

evolution of Formula Ford Racing, as distinct from trying to introduce something that’s entirely new that we know with our Formula 4 experience hasn’t worked.”

Smith also admitted that the plan for a 2023 introduction along with the reintroduction of championship status is looking ambitious.

“If I’m being really honest, I think 2023 introduction might be a bit ambitious at this point,” Smith felt.

“But we haven’t formed a fixed view on that, the Formula Ford Association of course, will be key to all of this as well.

“What I will say is our current thinking is to run Formula Ford, the current cars as a national series next year, and then at a point in time, whether that’s 2023 or 2024, we will introduce a new car as a championship.

“We’d run existing cars in parallel with the new ones as sort of a mixed grid and that would happen for a period, broadly speaking, I’d be anticipating that it’d be three to five years, something like that.

“I guess ultimately, it depends on the take up of any new car. DM

VALE: MARGARET HARDY – FORMULA FORD’S GUIDING HAND

ONE OF the country’s longest serving category administrators Margaret Hardy passed away from cancer on Thursday August 19.

Hardy was involved in motor racing for decades and was known for her dedication to Formula Ford.

Hardy joined the Light Car Club as the office manager and began working with the Australian Formula Ford championship 1978, doing paperwork for the category throughout the ‘80s.

Early in the following year she became the administrator of the category and was tasked with organising national series events, a role she held until 2013.

She has dealt with many of Australia’s motor sport stars over the years and was well-known as a hardworking and passionate worker.

In her time as category manager seven-time Bathurst 1000 winner Craig Lowndes, reigning 1000 victor, Will Davison, David Reynolds, Chaz Mostert and Anton de Pasquale are just some

of the illustrious names that won in the category.

Hardy assisted all of these drivers on their route to Australia’s top-level.

She was liked by all who knew her in the industry which is why the motor sport community is sad to hear of her passing.

During her time in the category, she was named a Life Member of the Formula Ford Association.

Formula Ford Association representative Phil Marinon said she remained very connected to the category.

“Margaret was a tireless Administrator for Formula Ford Association and also the AFFM including category manager for the national competition,” he told Auto Action.

“Her attention to detail and ability to support the competitors has been very strongly acknowledged on social media and is undisputed.

“Margaret was a very private person

and was always focused on the result rather than looking for accolades.

“Margaret was very dedicated to all things Formula Ford and has recently assisted the association in the production of a book on 50 years of Formula Ford in Australia and disappointingly will not get to see the final result.”

Many Australian racing legends past

and present took to social media to send their condolences.

Outside of Formula Ford, Margaret also took on roles such as the race secretary for Sandown Raceway.

Hardy was diagnosed with Inflammatory Breast Cancer in 2019 and went into Stage 4 in May. Auto Action sends its condolences to her friends and family. DM

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LATEST NEWS

THE FIA World Endurance Championship will return to three continents in 2022, following confirmation of the calendar for next season.

The 2022 schedule features six WEC races to be held across Europe, Asia, the Middle East and North America. Season 10 will see the WEC return for the 1000 Miles of Sebring after a two-year absence due to the pandemic. The season-opening 1000 Miles of Sebring will take place on March 18. RV

THE FIA World Touring Car Cup has released a revised schedule for the rest of 2021, replacing its Asian leg with three new European venues. Rounds at Autodrom Most in the Czech Republic, Circuit Pau-Arnos in France, and Sochi Autodrom in Russia will all make their series debuts to complete the calendar. WTCR planned to head to Asia for the final three rounds in South Korea, China and Macau, but strict quarantine requirements have quashed those events. JN

TASMAN CUP PRIZE POOL ANNOUNCED A $50,000 prize pool has been put on offer for drivers contesting the S5000 Tasman Series this November.

The winner of the two-round Tasman Series will receive a total of $30,000 for their efforts, the runner-up $10,000 and third $5,000.

In addition, the highest placed New Zealander or international driver will be awarded $5,000, making up the $50,000 total prize pool.

As previously announced the relaunched Tasman Series will be contested over seven races across two major events.

“A $50,000 prize fund reflects the prestige in which ARG holds the return of the Tasman Series,” said Australian Racing Group CEO Matt Braid.

“It is an iconic brand and the rewards on offer for those competing needed to reflect that.

“Investing in a prize fund shows that we are committed to giving the S5000 Tasman Series the best possible launch pad with which to build a long-term future for it and S5000 as a category.

“It also offers the potential of a significant return to those who enter the series and have some success.”

It is hoped that the additional bonus $5000 for international competitors

Daniel Kalisz

will attract more New Zealand and overseas drivers.

“The $5,000 bonus for the top international driver will help add to the value proposition for those coming from New Zealand, or further afield,” Braid explained.

“A potential $35,000 windfall, should they win the series, is a worthwhile return over and above a chance to win the Tasman Cup and compete at two iconic circuits.”

The Tasman Series was first contested between 1964 and 1975, with the winner receiving the ‘Tasman Cup’, a trophy co-owned by Motorsport Australia and Motorsport New Zealand.

The revival in 2021 will start at the legendary Mount Panorama circuit as part of the inaugural Bathurst International, from November 26-28, before concluding a week later with the Gold Coast 500.

Prior to those two events the official ‘Twilight Tasman Test’ will be held at Sydney Motorsport Park.

At this point the sporting regulations of the two rounds have not been finalised.

Currently being discussed are the qualifying and race formats which are set to be an evolution of those used in the inaugural S5000 Australian Drivers’ Championship.

The final points structure and grid determination system for the seven races (four at Bathurst and three on the Gold Coast) will be confirmed in the coming weeks.

Organisers have said that the new regs will continue to provide a mixture of rewarding race winners and promoting close competition throughout the series.

All seven races will be broadcast live on the Seven Network or Fox Sports in Australia and Sky Sport in New Zealand. Dan McCarthy

GRM LAUNCHES NEW DRIVER INITIATIVE PORSCHE’S FORMULA E team has locked in current drivers Pascal Wehrlein and Andre Lotterer for the 2021/2022 Formula E World Championship season. The German duo finished 11th and 17th respectively in the 2020/2021 Formula E standings, both having achieved a podium finish. Lotterer is a 39-yearold veteran of motor sport and a three-time winner of the Le Mans 24 Hours. Wehrlein is 13 years his junior and was the 2015 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM) Champion. JN

IOWA IS set for a double dose of the IndyCar Series racing next year, with a doubleheader scheduled for July 23-24. After a year away, the series will return to Iowa Speedway for a race on each day of the weekend. IndyCar has held 15 races at the track since it opened in 2006. Two-time IndyCar Series champion Josef Newgarden won at Iowa’s last event, one of his three victories at the venue. JN ANDREAS BAKKERUD returned to the World Rallycross Championship with a podium in Sweden, finishing third at Holjes. In an ES Motorsport Skoda Fabia, Bakkerud made his first Euro RX series appearance of the season after missing the World RX season opener in Spain last month. The two-time Super1600 category winner finished 1.088s behind winner Thomas Bryntesson, while Jean Baptiste Dubourg finished second in his Peugeot 208.

JN

12 AutoAction

GARRY ROGERS Motorsport (GRM) has unveiled a new driver training program, which is set to be launched in Tasmania by Competition Director Marcos Ambrose.

The GRM Combine is designed to provide young drivers with a range of racing experiences, in a controlled environment, with professional coaching.

The initiative will give developing drivers four days on track at Symmons Plains Raceway and Baskerville Raceway, in active GRM TCR, Trans Am and S5000 race cars.

Championed by two-time Supercars Championship winner Ambrose, the GRM Combine is currently scheduled for late 2021.

Participants will have strong direction throughout, receiving coaching from Ambrose, GRM’s TCR drivers James Moffat and Dylan O’Keeffe, and S5000 pilots James Golding and Nathan Herne.

The professional drivers will take GRM Combine youngsters for skid pan sessions and passenger laps, as well as setting benchmark laps for the students to chase.

There will also be a progression system within the program to familiarise drivers with their machines, before testing their wares on the track.

To prepare for the frontwheel drive, turbocharged, four-cylinder machines as raced in the TCR Australia Series, drivers will firstly drive a Hyundai Excel.

With the experience of a TCR and Trans Am car under their belt, drivers who demonstrate advanced skills will have access to a Rogers AF01/V8 S5000 open wheeler after bridging laps in a Mygale Formula Ford.

Outside of the driver training, Combine participants will be offered an optional week of work experience at GRM’s facility

in Dandenong South, Victoria.

The inspiration for the GRM Combine came from the time Ambrose spent in America, when the NASCAR race winner came across many similar programs.

Ambrose joined Garry Rogers Motorsport in June after several years off the motorsport grid, and was confident in the vision of his new program.

“Fundamentally, this is all about the best form of training a driver can get – that’s track time, and in racecars which are at the upper levels of the sport,” Ambrose said.

“One of the critical factors for drivers aspiring to a motorsport career, and their families and sponsors, is

knowing what path to take in the sport.

“The GRM Combine is a chance for young drivers to sample a variety of high-level racecars – from front-wheel drive to rearwheel drive V8 and open wheel – and see where they are at with the coaching and benchmarking of GRM’s pro drivers.

“Our intent is to assist drivers with identifying that next step.

“This is not a driver search or an audition, but at the same time we are always looking for the next wave of talent, and anyone who displays the right skills and attitude could certainly end up racing for GRM in TCR, S5000 or Trans Am.” Josh Nevett

SHANNONS REPLACES SANDOWN ROUND DUE TO the COVID-19 pandemic, the Shannons Nationals round scheduled to take place at Sandown Raceway in September has been replaced by a second round at The Bend Motorsport Park in South Australia.

Tailem Bend will now hold a doubleheader event with two rounds for Australian Racing Group categories TCR Australia, the National Trans Am Series and Touring Car Masters, held over one weekend.

The additional round will occur on the same October 15-17 weekend and will create a jam-packed schedule running alongside several other national series.

Race formats and scheduling for the new Shannons Motorsport Australia Championship doubleheader event is yet to be announced.

However Auto Action understands that two different layouts at the South Australian venue could be used.

Joining TCR, TCM and Trans Am will be the GT World Challenge Australia, which will not change format and

continue to host its round of the Motorsport Australia GT Endurance Championship, run as a three-hour two-driver race for GT3 and GT4 sports cars.

Although excited to see a doubleheader and Motorsport Australia categories come together in South Australia, Motorsport Australia Director of Motorsport & Commercial Operations Michael Smith is disappointed not to be returning to Melbourne in 2021.

“We know how popular the Sandown round of the Shannons Motorsport Australia Championships can be, with huge crowds attending the Victorian event in recent years,” Smith said.

“Unfortunately, with the Victorian lockdown looking like extending into September, we have been forced to make the call on this event now for the certainty of fans, competitors and our sponsors.

“We’ve worked closely with the Melbourne Racing Club over recent months and thank them for their efforts in trying to make this event a reality.

“That said, we’re absolutely thrilled to be heading to The

Bend for a massive fortnight of motorsport in October.

“With back-to-back weekends of the Shannons Motorsport Australia Championships, alongside the Motorsport Australia Rally Championship, and the SXS Motorsport Australia Championship also featuring, it promises to be two events that cannot be missed.

“I’d like to thank our competitors and category managers for their ongoing support and flexibility throughout 2021, as well as our sponsors who have been extremely supportive

of these changes and the Championships more broadly.”

Australian Racing Group CEO Matt Braid is pleased that racing will be shown on Seven at The Bend, despite the uncertain times.

“Having to drop Sandown from the calendar of our categories was one of the hardest decisions that we have had to make during these recent times,” Braid said.

“We feel for fans of our categories who have been anticipating a return to racing in Melbourne.

“However, the creation of a

‘two-in-one’ race meeting at Tailem Bend is going to be one of the most exciting race weekends that Australian motorsport fans have seen in some time.

“Whether watching at home on the Seven Network or at the track, there will be non-stop racing action from our topclass categories over the entire weekend.

“It will also be fascinating to see how the teams and drivers deal with the packed race schedule, and it will be great to watch it all unfold at The Bend in October.” Dan McCarthy

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WINTON ANNOUNCES MANAGEMENT CHANGE BENALLA AUTO Club, the owners of Winton Motor Raceway, has appointed Bruin Beasley as the operations manager of the facility.

Beasley joined the Winton operation in April with a focus on improving the facilities at the rural country Victorian venue.

Since then, Beasley has come to understand the business and the opportunities available to the venue and has become a key asset to the running of the facility.

For this reason, he has been promoted into the role of Operations Manager effective immediately.

Beasley is looking forward to the new role, and is excited by the opportunity to use his worldwide motor sport background to further improve the customer experience at Winton Raceway.

“Taking on the Operations Manager role at Winton is an amazing opportunity,” Beasley said.

“Winton has been part of my life in one way or another since early childhood, I hope my experience on the ground can help the venue to continue to grow.”

Beasley is a former Team Manager

at Erebus Motorsport and also worked at Garry Rogers Motorsport, overseeing its TCR Australia program.

Beasley also started up MTEC Motorsport, a team with a rich history in open-wheel competition, running cars in Formula Ford, Formula 4 and New Zealand’s Toyota Racing Series.

Chris Lewis-Williams, the CEO of the Benalla Auto Club, looks forward to working with Beasley in an increased capacity going forwards.

“Having someone with Bruin’s

motor sport credentials leading the team at Winton Raceway will allow us to bring changes and improvements across the whole business,” said Lewis Williams.

“Although we are surviving tough times at the moment, this announcement is a further illustration of the vision and support of the Benalla Auto Club Board and their aim to see continual improvement in our businesses and offerings to the motor sport community.”

Former Holden Racing Team manager Jeff Grech will continue to

THORNBURROW DETERMINED TO CLOSE THE GAP EDAN THORNBURROW may already be overachieving in his debut Australian Trans Am season, but he says he is still working hard to push for the title.

The young Sydney local currently sits third in the standings on 601 points for Team Sydney Property Care, behind Nathan Herne on 718 points and leader Aaron Seton on 722.

As the calendar currently stands there is a double round scheduled at The Bend Motorsport Park for October 15-17, followed by the Trans Am Bathurst 100 season finale at Mount Panorama.

With three opportunities to make points gains, Thornburrow is hopeful that he could push for the championship.

“By the end of the year we do want to close the gap up and to try and fight for regular podiums throughout the races, Thornburrow told AA. “Where that leaves me in the standings and going into the next year, I’m not sure.

“But of course, the goal is to always keep pushing for podiums.”

The 18-year-old has yet to claim a podium in the 12 races so far but has been a picture of consistency to regularly finish in the top five and rarely outside the top 10.

Moving to the Trans Am category from driving a Toyota 86 in the New South Wales

14 AutoAction

Production Touring Car Championship, Thornburrow is aspirational yet satisfied with how he has adapted to high-powered V8 racing thus far.

“It is the self-accomplishment of being able to have made it into a national category and going and racing with really high-class drivers and mixing it in with them,” Thornburrow said.

Looking to the future is difficult for Thornburrow, as Australian motor sport is currently in a state of limbo caused

by COVID-19 lockdowns and border restrictions.

However, the Year 12 student plans to stay in Trans Am for the short term while gaining seat time elsewhere whenever it is possible.

“Next year, the plan is to stay in Trans Am,” Thornburrow said.

“After that, I’m not too sure if there’s opportunities to go elsewhere, whether its categories around Australia or international.

“The short-term goal is to stay in Trans Am and then maybe do the occasional Toyota 86 Series round, or a production car race.”

Trans Am returns at Tailem Bend from October 15-17.

You can read more about Thornburrow’s motor sport journey in the Young Guns feature of this issue of AA. Josh Nevett

lead the facilities and projects team at Winton Motor Raceway.

This group is responsible for bringing improvements and developments to the Winton Motor Raceway site in both the short and long term.

Grech is excited by the decision made to focus on improving the facility at Winton.

“I look forward to the challenge of developing and improving the Winton facility for all our customers to enjoy for many years to come,” he said. Dan McCarthy

PRAGA TO RACE GROUP2A FRESH OFF the announcement that Praga will be distributing its highly successful R1 race car down under, Australia/New Zealand director Rick Campbell has revealed more details about the machine’s category eligibility and local demand.

Now that the ANZ branch of Praga’s global network has been confirmed, the manufacturer aims to have its car entered in Australian racing by early 2022.

Campbell has said that the R1 will initially fit into Motorsport Australia Group 2A category, comprising of ‘Sports Cars, open and closed’.

“At this stage we’re looking at the Motorsport Australia 2A category,” Campbell told AA. “Hopefully, we’re hearing some noises that there may eventually be a new prototype category that will include LMP-type cars, obviously the Radicals, andPragas.

“But that’s a bit of a To Be Advised, more just noises we heard at this stage.

As it stands at the moment the 2A category is where we’d sit.”

The Praga R1 has performed well in its initial stints in the UK, USA, and Europe, recording over 30 wins and podiums as well as winning the 2020 Britcar Endurance Championship.

The design features a lightweight (643kg), composite monocoque powered by a 272kW four-cylinder engine.

Campbell believed that demand for the R1 would come from both competitive racing outfits and amateur enthusiasts.

“We have an expectation and a hope and a

th Luke West iith wit

drive and desire that this will not only become involved in competitions, but we also see a bigger market in terms of a track day warrior,” Campbell said.

“As long as people can get on track, we believe that the car will generate a significant amount of interest and take off from there.”

The Praga R1 is set to be offered for $400,000 on Australian shores and has generated strong interest beyond its initial two-car distribution.

“We would, based on our projections, expect that we can sell initially somewhere in the vicinity of eight to 10 cars,” Campbell predicted.

“We are on the verge of signing an official distribution agreement through a very significant player currently in the Australian auto market to represent us in different states as well.

“A massive caveat around that is people’s access to the track because this is a track only car, not like a Porsche GT3 RS or something that you can track and road.”

As for the future, Campbell suggested that Praga may look to expand their product range if their on-track success continues.

“Discussions have already been had,” Campbell said.

“This is obviously their flagship product, so I would surmise it’s a case of walk before you run.

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

AA’s columnist considers the importance of events at Le Mans LAST WEEKEND’S 24 Hours of Le Mans won’t go down as the one of the classics, yet it was a hugely significant event nonetheless.

The 89th running of the 24 Heures du Mans marked the start of a new era for the French classic – the Hypercar age. There was also a game-changing announcement regarding the cars which will contest the GT classes from 2024.

These were developments with substantial ramifications for motor sport’s premier divisions and races globally, with a rub-off effect for Australia. Let me explain…

The first Hypercar-flavoured Le Mans was somewhat underwhelming on the track with Toyota scoring its fourth consecutive win at Le Sarthe, against some pretty flimsy opposition in the new top division.

Toyota’s GR010 Hybrids finished 1-2, leading home a ‘grandfathered’ LMP1 Alpine entry and the only other two allnew Hypercars, the Glickenhaus 007s.

Good on the American minnow for having a crack against the Japanese powerhouse. It will be fascinating to see how the tiny manufacturer fares when other big guns arrive. And let me tell you, they’re coming in numbers.

Peugeot joins the Hypercar fun in 2022, specialist racing team ByKolles too. Then Ferrari in 2023. Meantime, Le Mans Hypercars will be joined on track by marques competing in America’s LMDh class in IMSA. LHDh, an awkward moniker denoting Le Mans Daytona hybrid, has already attracted commitments from Acura, Audi, BMW and Porsche. Others will follow, lured by the prospect of competing in IMSA and at Le Mans.

Excitingly for Antipodeans, Team Penske will operate a pair Porsche prototypes in IMSA and two more in the World Endurance Championship. This means Penske’s IndyCar stars Will Power and Scott McLaughlin will be well-placed to fill out the line-ups at the blue ribbon 12- and 24-hour events.

The convergence of sportscar rules globally – previously the US and European scenes have done their own thing – means we are entering a golden era. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, sportscar racing is the next big thing in world motorsport.

There’s likely to be a significant drain of manufacturer money away from Formula 1 in the years ahead. Surely Mercedes-Benz will be lured to Le Mans and Daytona. There’s only so much credibility to be gained from beating an energy drink company in F1, despite the self-importance of Red Bull.

F1 snobs should know there was a time, admittedly 50-odd years ago, when sportscar racing and single-seaters shared the billing as motor sport’s top dogs. History might just be about to repeat.

Endurance racing provides many things that are important to automotive manufacturers as the world heads towards hybridisation and electrification – reliability and range among them. Funds currently invested elsewhere will soon be diverted to sportscar racing.

Hopefully Australia will gain a WEC round. The Bend’s January 2020 hosting of the Asian Le Mans Series was surely an indication of the venue’s ultimate intentions.

Perhaps of more significance locally was the Le Mans organisers’ announcement that GT3 cars will replace GTE machines in the event’s ultra-popular GT classes from 2024.

This follows the development that GT3 cars will be the only machines used in IMSA’s GT classes from next year. As if GT3 wasn’t already a juggernaut.

Potential new manufacturers will be able to develop cars that are eligible to race at Le Mans – and just about everywhere else.

Chevrolet is now odds-on to build a GT3-spec Corvette. As I’ve noted before, Ford may even follow suit re its Mustang, with motor sport chief Mark Rushmore making positive noises in that regard. Now stop and consider the implications of an annual Ford vs GM battle at Bathurst each February in the 12 Hour?

What effect might that have on the 1000?

Luke West is a long-time Auto Action columnist and author of The Immortals of Australian Motor Racing: the Local Heroes. www.autoaction.com.au

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BIG FORTNIGHT FOR VINALES JUST DAYS after being signed by Aprilia for the 2021 MotoGP season Maverick Vinales and the factory Yamaha MotoGP team have mutually agreed to terminate their 2021 contract, with immediate effect.

After the ninth round of the MotoGP season in the Netherlands it was announced that the two parties would end their two-year contract for 20212022, with the Spaniard departing at the end of 2021.

Since then, Yamaha has suspended the former Moto3 champion.

They believed that Vinales was deliberately trying to blow up one of its engines at the conclusion of the Styrian Grand Prix.

Following the recent events in Austria, both parties reached an agreement to separate with immediate effect.

“In Assen Yamaha and Vinales already announced the mutual decision to cut short their original 2021-2022 program and to finish it at the end of 2021,” said Yamaha Motor Racing Managing Director Lin Jarvis.

“A commitment was made by both rider and team to continue to the end of the current season, with the team guaranteeing its full support and the rider giving his maximum efforts, so that we could finish the project ’in style‘.

“Regretfully at the Styrian GP the race did not go well or end well and consequently after deep consideration by both parties, the mutual decision was reached that it would be better for both parties if we end the partnership earlier.“ Jarvis explained that this would be better for both Yamaha and Vinales, and that a replacement rider would be found.

“The early separation will release the rider to be free to follow his chosen future direction and will also permit the team to focus its efforts on the remaining races of the 2021 season, with a replacement rider – yet to be determined,” he continued.

“I would like to express Yamaha‘s sincere gratitude to Maverick.

“Yamaha will continue to cherish the good memories and appreciate the work both parties put into the 4.5 years spent together that brought us eight race victories, 24 podiums, and two third places in the 2017 and 2019 overall rider standings.

“We wish Maverick all the very best in his future endeavours.”

Vinales started off the season with a victory in Qatar, however, while his younger teammate Fabio Quartararo has leapt into the lead in the championship, Vinales has finished on the podium just once since.

Image: Motorsport Images Vinales did not expand on the statements made by Jarvis, but confirmed that he would no longer race for the factory Yamaha team.

“I will always have great respect for Yamaha and wish them the very best, Vinales said.”

The news was announced days after Vinales was confirmed as a 2022 Aprilia team rider alongside Aleix Espargaro.

“We are extremely happy to announce that we have signed Maverick Vinales, a very high-level rider and one of the purest talents in

MERCEDES DEPART FORMULA E JUST DAYS after securing the FIA Formula E driver and teams titles, Mercedes has announced that it will leave the series at the end of the next season.

Dutch driver Nyck de Vries won the ABB FIA Formula E Drivers’ World Championship title for Season 7 (2020-2021), while the German manufacturer claimed the Teams’ World Championship on home soil, in the final round of the season in Berlin over the weekend.

The subsequent announcement of its departure from the series has Mercedes joining the likes of fellow German manufacturers Audi and BMW, who will also end their support of teams ahead of a switch to new Gen3 regulations for Season 9 (2022-2023).

“Mercedes-Benz today announced that it will conclude its ABB FIA Formula E success story as a team entrant and manufacturer at the end of Season 8, in August 2022.” read a statement from the manufacturer.

“Since HWA Racelab first took to the track in Season 5, laying the foundations for Mercedes’ Formula E entry, the goal has been to create a benchmark team at every level.

“A first Mercedes win for Stoffel

16 AutoAction

Image: Motorsport Images

Vandoorne in the final round of Season 6 was followed by a strong start to Season 7, setting up the team’s championship challenge in only its second season.

“This culminated last weekend in Berlin when Nyck de Vries and the Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team became the first ever all-electric motorsport world champions, by winning the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship Drivers’ and Teams’ titles.

“In parallel, Mercedes-Benz made the strategic announcement in late July that the brand will be ready to go all-electric at the end of the decade, where market conditions allow.

“As part of the new strategic

direction, the brand has deliberately chosen to shift resources for this accelerated ramp-up of electrification, including the development of three electric-only architectures to be launched in 2025.

“Therefore, Mercedes will reallocate resource away from its ABB FIA Formula E World Championship programme and towards applying the lessons learned in competition to product development in series.

“Moving forward, the company will concentrate its works motorsport activities on Formula 1, reinforcing the sport’s status as the fastest laboratory for developing and proving sustainable and scalable future performance technologies.

the premier category.” said Massimo Rivola, Aprilia Racing CEO. “Our project has now been enriched with the value that Maverick brings – a World Champion who has confirmed his talent as a top rider in MotoGP – at a time of great change.”

“After bringing a completely revamped bike to the track and having consistently established ourselves in the group of protagonists, we are also facing a switch in status as a Factory Team now, in order to take Aprilia to success.” Dan McCarthy “While Mercedes-Benz will depart Formula E at the end of Season 8, the team’s leadership group has begun exploring options for the team to continue competing in the series during the Gen 3 era, including a potential sale to new owners.”

The Formula E team was started

by HWA Racelab for Season 5 before switching to a full manufacturer program under the Mercedes-EQ banner.

Organisers for the series have announced that they will explore options to see the team continue in Formula E beyond the end of Mercedes involvement.

“Mercedes have been a valued partner to the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship during Gen2,” said Jamie Reigle, Formula E CEO. “We look forward to working with the team to explore options for their entry for Gen3 which commences from 2023.

“Six of the world’s leading manufacturers are committed to Formula E’s Gen3 technology roadmap and expanding calendar of global cities.

“In partnership with the FIA, we will introduce financial regulations to enhance the financial sustainability for Formula E’s teams and manufacturers, ensuring our sport continues to serve as the driving force in the shift to electric mobility.”

The 2022 Formula E season is scheduled to get underway in Saudi Arabia in January.

Rhys Vandersyde

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THE COLLECTION THE ULTIMATE AUSTRALIAN MOTOR SPORT COLLECTION An opportunity exists to own a unique collection of Australian motor sport history.

“The complete HSV/HRT success story all in one remarkable collection.”

JOHN CRENNAN “This is the car that took me to so many remarkable victories”.

MARK SKAIFE

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LATEST NEWS

WHINCUP REPLACEMENT SET SINCE AUTO ACTION went to print Triple Eight confirmed living legend Jamie Whincup’s replacement will be revealed early next week.

Red Bull Ampol Racing released a teaser video on Tuesday that nominated August 31 as when Shane van Gisbergen’s new 2022 teammate will be announced.

The hot favourite to take over record seven-time Supercars champion Whincup’s seat is Super2 star Broc Feeney.

The 18-year-old is set to be promoted as Whincup retires at the end of the season to become Triple Eight team principal, replacing founder Roland Dane.

Feeney, son of 1980s Superbikes star Paul, is the front-runner because of his potential and connections.

Also, established stars who could have filled Whincup’s seat are off the market.

Chaz Mostert has re-signed with WAU, while Cam Waters’ renewal with Tickford Racing is expected to be announced early next month.

Triple Eight has decided Whincup’s driving successor and will make the long-awaited announcement next Tuesday.

A gala media launch on the Gold Coast is planned.

Whincup, 37, is still racing for his eighth V8 crown. He is second to van

Gisbergen with five scheduled rounds to go.

He will step down from full-time racing to become team principal of Triple Eight.

Whincup is a team co-owner, holding a 19 per cent share. Majority owner is business and racing entrepreneur Tony Quinn with 40 per cent, with Jessica Dane holding 30 per cent and her father retaining 11 per cent and chairmanship of the Triple Eight board.

Feeney’s appointment is reminiscent of Whincup’s surprise signing in 2006.

Whincup was a low-cost partner to Craig Lowndes, but he quickly outshone the superstar to win the 2008/09/11/12/13/14/17 titles.

He also won the Bathurst 1000 four times – and lost three more.

Feeney is a bigger risk, but he is the best available talent.

He will have a year to ease into the main game and the mid-season planned transition to a Gen3 Camaro, ready to challenge SBG and contend in 2023.

All will be revealed next Tuesday…

Mark Fogarty

Image: Motorsport Images

WINTON FESTIVAL OF SPEED CANCELLED THE 2021 edition of the Winton Festival of Speed has been cancelled due to a COVID-19 outbreak in country Victoria.

It is the second year in succession that the popular classic event has been unable to occur because of the pandemic.

The hotspot that caused country Victoria to go back into lockdown was a man from Shepparton that tested positive for COVID-19.

Shepparton is just under an hours drive from Winton Motor Raceway, however it was decided that the whole of the state would join Melbourne in lockdown.

The Winton Festival of Speed was originally meant to take place from August 6-8, however it was postponed due to the lockdown originally and pushed back until the week of September 16-18.

At this point, although country Victoria is set to end its lockdown on September 2, a massive cap of just 300 people within the venue will mean that the event cannot go ahead.

The Winton Festival of Speed Race Committee sent out a press release expressing their sadness at cancelling the 2021 edition.

“Just a short note to advise that we

have reluctantly arrived at the decision to cancel the WFOS for 2021,” it read.

“Unfortunately, the current advice is that even if we come out of lockdown as scheduled on 2nd September, we will have the same restrictions in place which limit numbers to a maximum of

300 on site.

“It is also highly likely that the same restrictions which impacted entrants’ accommodation will also apply.

“We have deliberately taken the decision now as we want entrants to have as much notice to cancel

accommodation ensuring they can have deposits refunded.

“We have spoken with Winton Motor Raceway and Motorsport Australia who are all in agreement with our decision.”

Dan McCarthy

BAUTISTA SIGNS FOR DUCATI ALVARO BAUTISTA will ride for Ducati in the 2022 Superbike World Championship, leaving Honda after two years at the outfit.

The Spaniard will join Michael Ruben Rinaldi at Aruba.it Racing – Ducati, the team where Bautista took the competition by storm in his debut 2019 season.

This signing follows the departure of Scott Redding from Ducati, who has elected to shift allegiances to BMW for 2022.

Bautista has large shoes to fill as British rider Redding has registered 10 wins on the Italian machine since taking over in 2020.

Redding sits third in the points standings as a result, just ahead of teammate Rinaldi who is sixth thanks to a scorching home round early in the season which yielded two wins and a second placed finish.

After failing to secure a MotoGP World Championship spot in 2019, despite regularly finishing in the top ten for Aspar Ducati and winning a World Championship in 2006 in the 125cc Grand Prix class, Bautista began his WorldSBK career at Ducati.

The WorldSBK rookie made an immediate impact, defying critics and the quality of Jonathan Rea to win his first 11 races.

Rea would have the last laugh, powering home to secure the title by 165 points ahead of Bautista in

Image: Motorsport Images

second, whose form dropped away in the second half of the season.

However, Bautista’s impressive first WorldSBK effort earned him a lucrative contract with Honda Team HRC, signed to lead their title assault on a new CBR1000RR-R bike.

Since that high point, the 36-yearold has managed just the one podium finish for Honda at Aragon last year.

Bautista finished ninth in the 2020 championship and is currently 11th just past the halfway point of the 2021 season, a far cry from the results he achieved at Ducati.

Honda is also dead last in the manufacturers’ standings, 57 points in arrears of fourth-placed BMW, while Ducati sit clear of Yamaha at the top.

2022 rider movement and lack of bike speed has paved the way for Bautista to move back to Ducati, where he took 16 race wins aboard a Ducati Panigale V4 R in 2019.

Bautista now has six rounds to turn around his form at Honda before leaving the team at the end of the season.

Yamaha’s Toprak Razgatlioglu is tied at the top of 2021 riders’ championship with six-time WorldSBK champion Rea. The next round will be held at the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours in France from September 3-5.

Josh Nevett

CADILLAC TO RACE IN LMDH CADILLAC HAVE become the latest manufacturer to commit to the new IMSA SportsCar Championship prototype category, Le Mans Daytona h (LMDh).

The American brand will develop a car to run alongside Acura, Audi, BMW and Porsche in the class that debuts in 2023.

Cadillac has entrusted Dallara, the current constructors of its Cadillac DPi-V.R machines, with the development of the LMDh chassis.

The Cadillac DPi-V.R has had great success in recent years, leading the 2021 DPi manufacturer standings after sweeping the driver, team and manufacturer championships in 2017 and 2018.

Current Cadillac partner teams Chip Ganassi Racing and Action Express Racing will continue their association with the manufacturer into the LMDh era.

The Cadillac LMDh is slated to make its competition

debut in January 2023, aiming towards a 24 Hours of Le Mans berth later in that year.

Cadillac Global Vice President Rory Harvey was looking forward to ongoing success in the new category.

“We are excited to compete at the top level of international motor sport in the LMDh class beginning in 2023,” Harvey said.

“We are excited to carry forward our success and continue to transfer our learnings and technology

from the track to our production vehicles.

“We have had great success with the championship-winning Cadillac DPi-V.R and look forward to building on that record into the future with the next generation Cadillac LMDh.” LMDh cars will compete alongside Le Mans Hypercar (LMH) entries in the top-tier class of the championship, replacing the current Daytona Prototype international

(DPi) category as agreed

by IMSA, the Automobile Club l’Ouest (ACO) and the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA).

LMDh entrants will not be limited to IMSA competition, also qualifying for the FIA World Endurance Championship, which Cadillac will enter.

IMSA President John Doonan was encouraged by the rapid uptake of LMDh amongst manufacturers.

“Cadillac’s decision to continue its successful

IMSA prototype program further validates the LMDh platform,” Doonan said.

“The combination of costeffectiveness, technical relevance and the ability to compete for overall victories in the world’s most important endurance races has clearly resonated with five manufacturers so far, with even more expected in the future.”

LMDh was announced in January 2020 and will be based around a cost-capped car that will produce over 500kW from the combination of an internal combustion engine and a hybrid powertrain.

Action Express Racing Team Manager Gary Nelson and Chip Ganassi were enthusiastic about the new platform as the news and developments roll in.

“The IMSA LMDh category is looking to be very competitive with multiple manufacturers,” Nelson said.

“We are looking forward to the new international prototype formula and running the Cadillac LMDh,” Ganassi shared.

“We are looking forward to developing the car with Cadillac and Dallara over the next year and a half.”

Josh Nevett

with Dan Knutson

SCUDERIA ALPHATAURI team boss Franz Tost has revealed that he is keen to retain drivers Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda for 2022. While Alphatauri is yet to confirm its line-up, Tost is pleased with Gasly and Tsunoda who have led the team to sixth in the championship, 20 points ahead of Aston Martin. Individually, Pierre Gasly is eighth in the Drivers’ Championship and Tsunoda is 13th. JN

REMI TAFFIN has departed Alpine F1 Team by ‘mutual agreement’, after more than 20 years. Taffin was the head of Alpine’s Formula 1 power unit division and previously worked as race engineer for Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso in the Renault days. Taffin’s role is set to be distributed between existing staff members.

Alpine currently sits fifth in the constructors’ standings. JN

FERRARI TEAM Principal Mattia Binotto believes that the team of the driver responsible for causing a crash should fork out the damage bill. That statement was made as Binotto revealed Ferrari’s repair bill is $4 million for 2021 so far, including non-crash damage. Most recently, Charles Leclerc incurred significant damage which wrote off his engine in the Hungarian Grand Prix, after heavy contact from Lance Stroll. JN

KEY POINTS GAIN IF LEWIS Hamilton wins the drivers’ world championship by three or less over Max Verstappen, people will look back at where Hamilton gained those three points.

Of course, the championship will be decided over the course of all the races this season, and the Mercedes/Red Bull tangles in Britain and Hungary resulted in a swing of many more points than a mere three.

But when the stewards disqualified Sebastian Vettel from his second place in the Hungarian Grand Prix because there was less than one litre of fuel in his Aston Martin AMR21 at the end of the race, that promoted Hamilton from third place (15 points) to second place (18 points). He now has an eight point lead over Verstappen.

The 18 points that Aston Martin forfeited also really affected the constructors’ world championship standings. Alpine is currently fifth with 77 points ahead of AlphaTauri (68) and Aston Martin (48). Without the disqualification the order would have been: Alpine (75), Aston Martin (66) and AlphaTauri (64). Millions of dollars in prize money are at stake.

Mercedes, which has won the constructors’ championship every year since the hybrid era started in 2014, has a 12 point advantage over Red Bull.

Aston Martin did not get into this pointless mess by trying to bend the rules, but rather because of a malfunctioning fuel system. Once upon a time some teams would use illegal fuel but then run the tank dry so that

the fuel could not be analyzed. So now there must be at least one litre of fuel in the fuel cell when a car returns to the pits.

There was only 0.3 of a litre in Vettel’s tank, but the team’s data showed that there were 1.74 litres in the car, albeit not in the tank because of a systems failure. Due to a loss of fuel cell pressure, the air pump in the fuel cell activated a maximum output.

By pumping air through the fuel cell, a significant amount of fuel was inadvertently discharged from the fuel cell of the car.

But the stewards countered that the regulations state that there must be at least one litre in the tank. It is up to the teams to make sure that their cars are legal at all times.

UNCERTAINTY RED BULL Racing Chief Technical Officer Adrian Newey has responded to the technical scrutiny of rivals, labelling it as a ‘compliment’ rather than criticism. The RB16B machine has been supreme this season, drawing the attention of Mercedes along with others. Red Bull’s rear wing was questioned during the Spanish Grand Prix for its alleged excessive flex. “In many ways it is a compliment to the team to find ourselves under such scrutiny from others,” Newey said in an interview. JN

HAAS TEAM Principal Guenther Steiner will seek to temper the risk-taking ways of drivers Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin after several expensive collisions. Steiner said that the pair needed to be more sensible in their driving to minimise both financial and results hits. Haas is bottom of the constructors’ standings, three points behind Alfa Romeo. JN

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THE JAPANESE Grand Prix is the latest race to fall victim to the pandemic.

Scheduled for 10 October, the event has been canceled even though the Tokyo Olympics took place successfully, albeit without spectators.

“It is unfortunate that, for a second consecutive year, it has not been possible to hold the Japanese Formula 1 Grand Prix at Suzuka,” said Koji Watanabe, Honda’s chief officer for brand and communication operations.

“As Honda, we are particularly disappointed, because this is the final year of our Formula 1 project and we know that so many fans were looking forward to attending the event.”

Formula 1’s CEO Stefano Domenicali has his work cut out to try to maintain 23 races on the schedule this season.

It is essential for Formula 1 to maintain a full schedule or it will have to refund income generated by a number of TV networks, as well as series sponsors such as Rolex, Pirelli and Heineken.

A big problem is that Turkey, Mexico and Brazil are on Britain’s “red list” which means that anybody returning

to the UK from those countries must endure 10 days of quarantine in a government approved hotel.

Seven of the 10 F1 teams are based in the UK, so their only unacceptable alternative would be for the crews to be away from home for many weeks.

It is likely that the Circuit of the Americas outside of Austin, Texas, will host a second grand prix. Covid cases are surging in the state. But Texas governor Greg Abbott, who has tested positive for the coronavirus despite having been vaccinated, is an ardent opponent of mask and vaccine mandates.

Meanwhile, São Paulo’s governor João Dória is on record that he wants

the Brazilian Grand Prix delayed by one week to 14 November. The plan is to have a sellout crowd. But Dória said: “Everyone will have to show proof of completed vaccination when collecting their tickets, and also wear protective masks at all times they’ll be inside the circuit. By the end of September the entire population of the State of São Paulo will be fully vaccinated and that should give Formula 1 enough confidence to come to Interlagos.”

The reality is that the fate of the races in Turkey, Mexico and Brazil are very uncertain, whereas the races in the USA, Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi will definitely happen. And Bahrain is standing by to fill in any gaps.

Images: Motorsport Images Aston Martin requested a right of review of the disqualification, but the stewards turned it down because the team did not produce a significant and relevant new element of evidence which was unavailable previously.

This was the same reason the stewards used when they refused to review their decision to give Hamilton a 10 second penalty for knocking Verstappen out of the British Grand Prix. Red Bull wanted the stewards to give Mercedes driver Hamilton a harsher penalty.

Aston Martin considered filing another appeal, but the Silverstonebased team has now dropped the matter in order to reboot, concentrate on the second half of this season as well as prepare for 2022.

DUTCH DELIGHT THE ZANDVOORT circuit, much to the delight of the orange-attired Max Verstappen fans, will host the Dutch Grand Prix for the first time since 1985.

The classic track, located in the sand dunes next to the North Sea, was supposed to have an F1 race last year, but the event had to be canceled because the Dutch government would not permit fans to attend due to COVID-19.

Originally, the race organisers hoped to have a sellout crowd of 105,000 this year, but the government has restricted that to 67 per cent of the full capacity.

“For me, the glass is two-thirds full,”

sporting director Jan Lammers said.

“We’re just going to do it.

“The three companies behind the Dutch Grand Prix, Circuit Zandvoort, SportVibes and TIG Sports, have decided to invest in the future of F1 in the Netherlands,” the former F1 driver added. “The belief in the ambition to organise the biggest Ultimate Race Festival in the world remains the primary goal for the coming years. This year, admittedly, in a bit more modest form, but despite that, the battle for the world championship will be fought in a beautiful orange ambiance in the stands.”

There is concern that some of the ardent Verstappen fans might be rude – or worse – to Hamilton. They

booed him after the Hungarian Grand Prix. Lammers has urged them to be respectful of the seven-time world champion.

The inclusion of the Zandvoort event means that there will be three classic races at three historic tracks on three consecutive weekends.

It starts with the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps on 29 August followed by the Dutch round and then the Italian Grand Prix at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza.

All three races are confirmed, with fans permitted, as is the case with the Russian Grand Prix on 26 September.

After that, however, the race schedule gets a bit murky and will be subject to change.

people sitting on the pit wall with dust and grit. Alonso was demonstrating his anger over the fact that the team had not ordered Hamilton to let him take the lead.

Later in the season, in Hungary, the drivers played games in the pits during qualifying. Both were trying to delay the other so that they could not get an optimum qualifying lap time.

At the end of the 2007 season,

Ferrari’s Kimi Räikkönen won the drivers’ world championship with 110 points. Hamilton and Alonso were second and third with 109 points each.

Team orders would have brought that championship to McLaren.

Alonso returned to Renault in 2008 and again in 2021. These days Alonso and Hamilton are good mates who respect each other’s driving abilities.

“2007 was a very important season for me,” Alonso told Sky TV. “Lewis came into F1 like a tsunami with all his talent and abilities and results, immediately results. That was intense and also challenging for everybody.

“Looking back, and I think Lewis will think the same, we have no issues between us. We had a very tough competition, but fair. Honestly, I think he as well as the team didn’t handle the situation well.

“I don’t want to blame Ron (Dennis, then team principal), I don’t want to blame a particular name; but as a team and as a management, we were too young, too ambitious and no one guided us.”

Ironically, Alonso returned to McLaren in 2015 when Dennis was still the boss of the British team.

ALONSO BLAMES MCLAREN MANAGEMENT FERNANDO ALONSO blames the management at McLaren – and not Lewis Hamilton – for the feud between the McLaren teammates in 2007.

And all of that led to Alonso leaving McLaren after just the first of what was a multi-year contract.

After winning the drivers’ world championship with Renault in 2005 and 2006, Alonso moved to McLaren in 2007. His teammate was a rookie driver called Lewis Hamilton.

It was not in Alonso’s contract, but he just assumed that as a double world champion he would get the number one treatment over a rookie. The McLaren management certainly should have made it clear to both drivers that they would be equal number ones.

Hamilton was fast, very fast. He celebrated on the podium in each of

the first nine races of the 2007 season.

Hamilton’s first of what were 99 wins by this year’s F1 summer break came in round 6, the 2007 Canadian Grand Prix. Then he won again in round 7, the United States Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Alonso finished second.

During that race at Indy an angry Alonso drove off line on the dirty part of the straight to shower the McLaren

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Bruce Williams

Editor-At-Large

Mark Fogarty

Deputy Editor

with Dan Knutson

Dan McCarthy

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Josh Nevett

Production

Jason Crowe

Special Contributor

Bruce Newton

National Editor

Garry O’Brien

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Mark Bisset

Online Editor

F1 INSIDER

Rhys Vandersyde

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

Paris Charles Formula 1 US Correspondent

Dan Knutson Mike Brudenell

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Image: Motorsport Images

LAUDA’S LAST F1 WIN THE DUTCH Grand Prix returning to Zandvoort this year for the first time since 1985 is great news.

I was there for the 1985 race that turned out to be Niki Lauda’s only victory that season and the 25th and final championship F1 win of his career.

I dug out a race report I wrote back then for a U.S. publication about that event.

“It finally happened,” I wrote. “We waited all last year but never saw it. We watched the first 10 grands prix of this season without it ever occurring. And we watched the first 60 laps of the 70-lap Dutch Grand Prix and did not see it. Then finally after waiting for so long, race fans around the world finally saw McLaren team-mates Niki Lauda and Alain Prost in a head-to-head battle for the lead. For the last 10 laps we were treated to a fantastic duel between two of the best drivers in the world.”

This was, of course, Lauda’s last season in F1.

A week earlier, at his home Grand Prix of Austria, he had announced that he would be retiring at the end of the year.

In 1984, Lauda had won the drivers’ world championship by a mere half point over Prost. But 1985 was not a good final season for Lauda who finished a distant 10th in the championship, while Prost had five victories on his way to securing his first world title.

Anyway, getting back to Zandvoort 1985, Nelson Piquet put his Brabham BMW on pole alongside the Williams Honda of Keke Rosberg. Prost shared the second row with Ayrton Senna (Lotus Renault).

Lauda? He was down in 10th.

Rosberg led the first 19 laps but retired with engine woes.

Prost took over the lead on lap 20 ahead of Senna and Lauda. A lap later Lauda, who had made a superb start

WHAT’S IN THE NEXT ISSUE ON SALE 9 SEPTEMBER

and jumped up to fifth on lap one, stopped for tyres and dropped to seventh.

On lap 34 Prost, having made his stop, was now third behind Senna and Lauda. But all was not well as Senna’s Renault engine began acting up.

“The water temperature started rising and the engine cut out, probably over one of the bumps on the pit straight, and both the McLarens got through,” said Senna who would finish third. “Then the oil light came on and so I took it easy.”

With 10 laps to go Prost was right on Lauda’s tail.

“I had to push very hard to catch Niki,” he said On some sections of the track Lauda could pull out several car lengths, while at other times Prost was centimetres behind him. It was hard but clean racing between two drivers who had won a total of 45 grands prix.

Once, when they came up to lap Huub Rothengatter’s

Osella, Prost dropped two wheels on the grass and was barely able to pull the McLaren out of a vicious slide. And then he was again right behind Lauda, dodging right, dodging left, and looking for a way by. But there was no way.

“I think Niki today was very tough to beat,” Prost said.

Lauda: “I was driving to the limit.”

The margin of victory was a mere 0.232 seconds, which at that time was the seventh closest finish in F1 history.

Sixteen of the 26 starters retired. Let’s hope that the 2021 Dutch Grand Prix does not have that many drivers drop out of the race.

But let’s hope that this year’s race is as memorable as the 1985 version. It might not be a battle between teammates, but Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen have some unfinished business. And we know who the fans will be cheering for!

Belgian & Dutch Grands Prix; British MotoGP; 60 Years of Mallala; Young Gun Reef McCarthy; more on Supercar silly season; Australia’s own Formula 1 engine, all the lastest news & views.

with Mark Fogarty

THE FOGES FILE AA’s profound pundit pays tribute to a pair of iconoclasts who have influenced his long career FURTHER ALONG in this issue, we celebrate the achievements of New Zealand legend Graham McRae, who died early this month at the ripe old age of 81. Our historian Mark Bisset recounts McRae’s career scrupulously, revealing an enormously talented driver/engineer/ constructor.

Certainly, McRae’s legacy is worthy of extensive i acclamation, especially so long after the peak of his accomplishments. Not much was heard of him in the past 40 years or so and the passing of time meant he was almost forgotten.

His death was particularly poignant – and sad – for me. Forgive the indulgence, but he had a profound impact on my long career in journalism.

In fact, I may not have got my start without him. In early 1972, when as a 15-year-old I decided writing about motor racing was a way in, I identified McRae as an interesting story.

He was at the peak of his powers, dominating Formula 5000 in the Antipodes and making a name in the UK with his self-designed car.

In ’72, his Leda GM1 – resplendent in Day-Glo pink STP livery – was the F5000 to beat down under.

McRae – nicknamed ‘Cassius’ for his showmanship – won the Tasman championship three years running from ’71-73, beating – most notably – Aussie F5000 ace Frank Matich.

His success in his post-McLaren M10B self-designed Leda, named for his production deal with an English race car builder, seemed a logical subject to explore.

So with dubious authority, I fronted McRae at Sandown in late February ’72 and announced I had been assigned to write a story on him for Auto Action.

I may have over-stated tthe vaguest interest of th then AA editor James L Laing-Peach…

Anyway, bold as, th this gangling teenager w with his primitive tape re recorder convinced Mc McRae. He invited me to joi join him in his car at the bac back of the old Sandown pits for the chat.

W With him was a glam glamorous woman in som some sort of fur coat. She was sceptical, he was iindulgent. d I’m in the back seat, microphone extended, asking him earnest questions about how the Leda GM1 came about.

A few weeks later, my unsolicited contribution was published in AA. In hindsight, it was a very ordinary story.

But it launched my career and I will be forever grateful to McRae for indulging that precocious kid.

Sadly, I never had any meaningful interaction with the head-strong Kiwi after that.

By all accounts, McRae was difficult to the point of obstinacy. But he was at a level just short of F1 and excelled in the USA, winning the rich L&M series in ’72.

He disappeared in the ’80s, but he remained an historical figure. Attempted touring car comebacks didn’t do his talent justice.

Our appreciation on pages 32 - 37 recognises Graham McRae’s stature in the golden era of big banger openwheel racing.

AN AMERICAN LEGEND

ARDENT FOLLOWERS of Indycars over the past half century will know of Robin Miller, perhaps the most forthright and opinionated motor sport journalist the world has ever known.

Miller, 71, is certainly the straightesttalking sports reporter I know – or have ever met – and the pundit I admire most.

Graham McRae (above) had a profound impact on Foges’ career, granting the precocious 15 year old an interview which was subsequently published in Auto Action (far left).

Images: Gavin Hatfield/AA Archives Unfortunately, his exceptional insights never appeared in Australian media.

However, in the internet era, if you have been a dedicated fan of CART/ Champcar/IRL/IndyCar, you will have read and watched his unvarnished commentary of major American openwheel racing’s civil war/reunification/ revival.

In which case, like me, you will be upset to learn that this iconoclastic word warrior has terminal cancer and, by his own acknowledgement, is in his last days.

IndyCar has rallied to his plight following a recent near-death incident and he is held in such high regard that he has been inducted into the American Motor Sports Hall Of Fame, alongside his heroes like AJ Foyt, Parnelli Jones and Mario Andretti.

Miller is friends with all the Indy greats, who recognise his uncompromised approach. They have had famous runins, but came to appreciate his lack of bias. Everyone in racing was fair game for questioning.

As a writer, Miller has always

impressed me. He is clever, candid and concise.

His candour cost him his job at the Indianapolis Star newspaper when he questioned – rightly – Tony George’s leadership of the Indy Racing League in the midst of the CART versus IRL civil war.

Miller rebounded as a writer/critic/ analyst on web sites and IndyCar broadcasts.

He was firmly in the Champcar camp, but he acknowledged its flaws. His forthright views got him banned from writing for Champcar’s web site.

Reunification finally happened in 2008, when IRL absorbed Champcar to create the unified IndyCar Series.

Throughout, Miller criticised, cajoled and called out the bad management of both series.

He was right and continued as a hardedged analyst and news-breaker. He is still the most connected media person in IndyCar, despite his debilitation.

Miller deserves his enshrinement as an American motor sports legend because he consistently campaigned for a better deal.

o

www.autoaction.com.au

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OLD IS

Young veteran Tim Slade opens up about his reborn Supercars career with the newest – and smallest – team on the grid

NEW AGAIN IF IT seems like Tim Slade has been around for a long time, it’s because he has. More than a decade after his debut in Supercars’ main game, Slade is back after a year off – and starring.

He has shown unseemly speed with the debutant Blanchard Racing Team, putting the CoolDrive Mustang in among the big dogs. Not every time, but enough to get attention.

A forgotten driver and a new one-car squad upstaging bigger names. The impact has been more than the results, which see Slade languishing in 17th place in the championship.

But Slade, just turned 36, is a veteran of 350 Supercars races whose promise was never realised. Just two race wins and two pole positions – and a well-earned reputation as a ‘nearly man’.

Yet, at the opening round at Mount Panorama, he defied all expectations for him and BRT, parking his Tickford-built Mustang on the front row next to Cam Waters’ pole-winner for the first 250 km race.

OK, it didn’t end well, Slade pitching it into the fence while battling for third. Wrecked the car and ended his weekend. But he and BRT made their mark.

A tight-knit team and an under-rated driver could take it to the big boys. In a hastily rebuilt spare car, Slade has shown flashes of brilliance – as well as predicable setbacks.

Getting a second chance in the main game is rare. Stepping out last year, was that a calculated risk or were you forced to sit it out?

I loved my time at BJR, but yes, there were reasons why I left. The results weren’t coming in 2019 and it just became pretty hard to deal with, week in, week out, where you couldn’t be where you really wanted to be.

We found the problem and then we were back on track, but I think it just burned me out a little bit. I had lots of discussions with Brad. I respect Brad massively and we had – and still have – a great relationship, but it was kind of a case of if things didn’t change, I couldn’t really continue because it wasn’t good for either of us and definitely wasn’t enjoyable for me. In a way, it was one of those situations where I kind of wanted someone to make the decision for me rather than having to make it myself. Brad wanted to change things up and obviously he put Todd (Hazelwood) in. I didn’t want

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Gold Coast-based Slade – born in Sydney, but raised in Adelaide – has been an enigma over the past decade. Fast, but unlucky. Never quite there.

Right team, wrong time (SBR). Wrong team, wrong time (Erebus, Walkinshaw Racing, BJR – although with the latter, his only wins at Winton in 2016.)

He stepped away last year, opting to co-drive with Scott McLaughlin at DJR Team Penske in the enduros. The coronavirus pandemic reduced the deal to just the season-ending Bathurst 1000, ably partnering McLaughlin to fifth place.

The gamble paid off, his pace and presence of mind convincing beyond doubt already converted Tim Blanchard, himself an under-performed prodigy in Supercars.

Lantern-jawed Slade – engaged and already a father – is enjoying the unheralded revival of his Supercars career and speaks frankly about his renewed chance.

For me, this has been an interview a decade in the making. I would have expected it to have happened years ago, but he never did quite enough.

Now Slade – under-rated, over-looked, dismissed – has emerged, along with CoolDrive Racing, as the surprise of the season so far. He is also thoughtful and mature, providing an honest insight into the rigours of top-level racing.

to continue in the sport if I wasn’t in the right situation. I’m not the type of person who just wants to be there for the sake of being there. I want to be there in the right environment and have the best possible chance of getting the results and it has to be enjoyable as well. So, basically, I weighed up what was still left at the end of 2019, which wasn’t much, and put together the co-drive with DJR. At that stage also I was doing a lot of stuff overseas with HubAuto in GT, so I was actually looking forward to the year ahead.

It was perfect for where I was then, just being a bit burned out by the Supercars circus after so many years of doing the same thing. I was looking forward to doing the three endurance races with the best team and the best guy and the best car, and having three shots at winning races there, and the opportunity to do some bucket-list GT stuff overseas in the Intercontinental Championship, which includes the Spa 24 Hours. It was going to include Le Mans as well. But obviously that all

changed with the pandemic. Then the enduros were scaled back to just the Bathurst 1000, so there wasn’t really the earning capacity – that disappeared with the drive going from three races to one. Travelling overseas also became too hard, so that ruled out the GT stuff. Having the opportunity to watch Supercars from home sparked a bit of love again and I got talking to a few people towards the end of last year.

I just love the situation I’m in now. It’s a small team with minimal people and minimal bullshit and politics, which you sometimes get with bigger teams. We have some good people, and we’re just head-down, bum-up and get on with it. It’s also awesome working with the Blanchard family. They’re extremely good people and I’ve known them for a long time, going back to the go-kart days racing against Tim.

How did the connection with the Blanchards come about?

We’ll come back to that. Your performance as Scott McLaughlin’s co-driver at Bathurst put you back on the map and got you back in the game, didn’t it?

I was actually working for them at CoolDrive for a few months last year when I had nothing going on and got bored. I rang some friends to see if there was some work available and Tim had a position available. Not that that planted a seed or increased the chances of getting the drive at their new team. Tim and I didn’t really speak too much until he knew exactly what he was doing. For sure, having the time away has been really good for me.

I don’t know, to be honest. That weekend was a funny one. Scotty qualified second and he had a really good opening stint. I was actually really quite pleased with my stints until the strategy didn’t go our way because of the safety car. But I felt it was a good thing for me, being in the best car with the best team. I was going up against

Images: Motorsport Images/Ross Gibb

the A-plus guys in Shane and Chaz and Cam. I thought it was a good od opportunity to see where I was at. I was a little bit disappointed after er that stint where those guys passed me an and nd pulled away, but then once I had ad a lo look ook at all the timing analysis and compared omparred myself to Scotty and other co-drivers driverss with their lead drivers, I was actually tually fairly happy with my performance. nce. It was just a nice thing to have in your back pocket when it came to talking alking to someone about coming back in n ’21. I wouldn’t say it got me over the line, but b it was a nice bit of ammo to have. ve.

Was it a revelation to drive a top ca car ar at last?

Yeah, yeah, it was awesome. It was actually something that I was really eally looking forward to. I wish we’d had the opportunity to do the three races races.. en with h I guess when you’ve never been ere’s one of the top teams – well, there’s only ever been two top teams at any one time – you’re always kind of

After an enforced year out from a full time Supercars drive, Tim Slade has returned in 2021 with the new Blanchard Racing Team. It’s been an impressive comeback for the veteran of 350 Supercar races.

SLADE FACT FILE

Age: 36 Born: Sydney (raised in Adelaide) Lives: Gold Coast: Family: Engaged to Danielle, son Jordan Career: FF and F3 2003-06; V8 DVS ’07/08; Supercars ’09-now Supercars races: 350 Wins: 2 Poles: 2 Podiums:17 V8 teams: Paul Morris Motorsport 2009; SBR/Erebus 2010-13; Walkinshaw Racing ’14/15; BJR ’16-19; DJRTP ’20 Bathurst 1000; BRT ’21 Long-time benefactor James Rosenberg (noted backer of SA drivers)

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wondering how they go about their business and what they do differently.

So it was really cool to see the team at first hand and be a part of it, and I definitely learned some things that I can use now and in the future. I’m not talking about set-up of race cars or anything like that because that’s not something you get to see. But just generally how they go about it all was enlightening.

How big a difference is there between a car, say, just outside the top 10 and a front-runner?

The main difference is the teams. The two top teams are consistently up there with all their cars.

They have the recipe and they know what works at each different track.

They’re more consistently in the window, so therefore they don’t have to throw as much at it to get the speed.

It reminded me of back when I raced Formula Ford. I had the opportunity to do it with the best team (runner-up in the 2006 FF title with Sonic) and just like DJR, they weren’t throwing the kitchen sink at it all the time. It was pretty much “OK, we only need a little bit here and there, so to achieve that we only need to change a little bit here and here”.

I guess when you’ve had a career like I have in Supercars, where you’ll have flashes when the car is really good one weekend or one day, but you don’t really understand why that happened or how to replicate it, that’s the most frustrating thing. As a driver, I don’t feel I do anything different on those rare good days. The majority of the guys at the top level are extremely good, and it’s down to the car and the team they have around them to actually generate the speed.

There’s obviously a difference between good and really good in terms of stringing a race together and then a championship. But back your question, a top team like DJR has the philosophy and the recipe that make the difference.

Going into this season, joining a brand new one-car team looked like a risk. So what was the reasoning to take the deal with BRT?

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Tim Slade in action in the CoolDrive Mustang (top) and earlier days, celebrating race wins with the BJR team at Winton in 2016 (above).

I just had a lot of trust and faith in Tim Blanchard. He’s been around the game a long time and we’ve known each other since karts. We were teammates in Formula Ford at Sonic (Blanchard subsequently won the 2007 title, Slade having moved to the Supercars development series) and also at BJR. The Blanchards run a very successful big family business (CoolDrive Auto Parts) and they’re the type of people that if they’re going to do something, they’re going to do it properly. And with Tim having been around Supercars for a long time, he knows what’s needed to create a successful team. I knew what was in the pipeline and I felt he had ticked all the main boxes. I’ve said all along that all the main boxes have been ticked. We have some good people and there’s no reason why we can’t go and get some decent results throughout the year.

It must have been a shock, though, first time out at Bathurst, to be on the front row of the grid?

It’s different being on the inside versus you guys looking in from the outside.

Like I said, I feel like we ticked all the boxes, so it wasn’t such a big surprise.

We have some very smart people, although we’re still lacking some staff and we have some very inexperienced

people as well, so there’s a fair mixture in there. So I can see why it shocked a lot of people. But I knew we had essentially the same (Tickford Racing) hardware as Cam Waters, who was on pole for the Bathurst 1000 and did it again there for this year’s first race.

I have a very good engineer (Mirko De Rosa, ex-Erebus) and the car was screwed together properly, so the speed to me wasn’t a massive surprise.

It was obviously awesome to achieve that, but if the car is put together properly and the recipe is right. I’ve been around long enough to be able to put together a fast lap.

It was vindication of your ability and experience to get the job done in the right car.

Well, yes, but being at Bathurst was a factor. Even though I missed almost all of last year, my previous race was Bathurst in 2020 and that was the same for everyone else as well. So it’s not like I stepped back into it with everyone else having done 12 events and me having done none. You’re still behind a little bit, but when I jumped back in, it didn’t feel foreign to me. I’d done plenty of work with DJR in the lead-up to the Bathurst 1000, got plenty of laps there, and then there was a ride day and a test day before this season started.

It’s still not much when you jump into a car that is different and an engineer who is also very different to what I’d previously worked with. I think it’s kind of good and bad that we hit the ground running at Bathurst because it then sets expectations for the rest of the year.

The base Tickford car is obviously very speedy around Mount Panorama, but you don’t have the same circumstances for every other race after that. Each track is unique, with different surfaces and corners. At Bathurst, Mirko and I were able to get our heads around the car very quickly. In saying that, I still feel as though we’ve had a lot better potential than our results so far this year. Probably the small new team side of things reared its head after Bathurst as far as lots of little things. Not having full-time mechanics and different parttime guys in for the first few events of the year. Mistakes creep in, which is to be fully expected. We always expected there’d be teething issues, so it’s not like it’s a surprise. And then you go back to short sprint races that place a big emphasis on pit stop times. For example, you could be running inside the top 10 and then you come in and you lose a few seconds, and suddenly you’re out of the top 10. You’re 12th instead of eighth or ninth and it looks like nothing. The team has shown very good potential at most events so far. I don’t think there’s a weekend this year that we’ve come away from scratching our heads. At some point throughout a weekend, there has been a decent bit of potential there.

So what went wrong in that first race at Bathurst? In contention for the podium, then you crash. Ouch.

Yes, we were behind Will (Davison), who was third, but it’s a hard track to pass on. Probably what made it even more frustrating was that I had settled for fourth, deciding that if I just stayed there and maintained a bit of pressure, I still had a chance to get on the podium. My only hope of getting past Will was if he made a mistake. I know what happened in that on the downshift, it went to a false neutral between two gears briefly and then I hit the shift again and it went down

two gears instead of one, causing compression lock and then the rest is history. It did happen in a couple of other spots previously, but not with the same consequence. It caught me off guard in a pretty bad spot on the track.

I’ve had it happen before in other cars, but this time it happened in the wrong place.

It trashed the car and you had to switch to the spare from the next event at Sandown. Any difference?

It’s so hard to tell track-to-track. You go from Bathurst, which probably has the best surface, hard tyre, tallest diff ratio, to Sandown, which is the polar opposite. But, no, I don’t notice any difference. The guys built up that spare car better than the first one, just because they were able to build it from the ground up themselves and do it how they wanted. Everything that was bolted onto the car was brand new or fresh, so I’ve never had any doubt in my mind that it’s not as good as the other one.

There’ve been some highs and a lot of lows so far this season. Was that fourth place in the first race at Townsville 2 more indicative of what you’re expecting once racing resumes?

When you say a lot of lows, I wouldn’t say there’ve been lows at every race meeting. Obviously, the Bathurst one hurt massively, but I feel that every other event after that I can give you reasons why we didn’t finish further up. Even in the lead-up to Townsville, we had good outright speed at Tailem Bend, qualifying third. We should have finished top 10 in all three races and had a bloody good shot at a podium in the second race of the weekend.

And then at Darwin, more top 10s.

We just kept chipping away and we had some good pace during the first weekend at Townsville. The second weekend there started well, but our qualifying speed disappeared and the last race was a real struggle. We knew the car was pretty kind to its tyres after Townsville 1, and not that we put less effort into qualifying, but we thought the sprint races at the second Townsville would give us a better chance in the races with the limited number of tyres.

We just threw all our eggs into the race car basket and we did a full race e simulation in the one and only practice.

We knew what sort of numbers we had to hit based on the first weekend.

Qualifying was disappointing, but we thought we could end up somewhere pretty decent, which we did in the first race (gaining 15 places). It was really satisfying because it was a whole week in the making. It was just nice for a plan to come off. (He made up 12 places in the second race to finish 12th before struggling to 22nd in the final race.)

What do you think your prospects are for the rest of the season?

I think we’ll be better prepared. I’m not saying we were under-prepared before, but we’ll be more prepared as

a team. The guys are building up that first chassis again, so I think I’m going to back in that for whatever turns out to be the return event. We also have a full-time mechanic now, so that should ease the load off of everyone and potentially help our pit stops as well, just having a full pit stop crew there in Melbourne that can train together and build on that. It’s a massive break and it has the potential to be even longer if we don’t go racing again in October, so it’s not like you’re speaking to your engineer every day, trying to work out how to go faster. Because Mirko’s had to multi-task so much because we have been under-staffed a little, I haven’t had the opportunity to ring him up and speak for hours at a time. He just hasn’t had the time to do that. He’s just a no-fuss, get-on-with-it kind of guy, which is how I like to go about it as well. I don’t think we’ll be re-engineering the car. It’ll be more about being better prepared and trying to maximise what we have, and having this time available is good for that.

It’s fair to say you’re a veteran now, with more than a decade in the main game. You’ve always been fast, so did you just have a knack for being in the wrong place at the wrong time?

Oh, I don’t know. The only thing I’d say, looking back on my career, is that I probably wish I hadn’t moved around so much. It became more evident to me in the past couple of years how important it is to have consistency with teams. But in saying that, things changed as well, which forced me to switch teams. Early on, I had some

Mustangs six months apart: Co-driving Scott McLaughlin in the 2020 Bathurst 1000 (right) and racing the BRT CoolDrive machine at 2021’s Sandown Supercar Championship round (above).

A tale of two Tims: Tim Slade (left) talks to team boss Tim Blanchard (right). really good progression at SBR – my last weekend with them finished with a pole, a second, a fourth and fifth in the championship (in 2012). Then it became Erebus Motorsport with the Mercedes and it was like starting all over again. I just feel as though in a category that’s so tough and competitive – especially if you’re not one of the small handful of A-plus guys – that you really need to keep on building with a team. But that aside, my career has been very similar to others outside the top two or three teams.

then I’ll be the first person to admit that my time is up. But there’s nothing really to suggest to me that that time is near. I feel that whenever the car is capable or we get it right, then I can be somewhere near the front. I feel like I’ve learned a lot in the past couple of years, whether it’s improving my health and fitness or on the racing front.

So do you feel you have a few good years left in you?

James Rosenberg has been a significant figure in your career. Is he still involved?

Yes, I do. It goes back to the start of the conversation. I don’t want to be racing Supercars just for the sake of it. I want to be in there getting the best results possible, enjoying it and performing.

When I’m not or when I feel as though I can’t and I’m not getting the results,

Do you have a deal for next year and beyond?

Next year, yeah.

Yes, he’s involved with the team, so the relationship continues. James has been supporting me or helping me ever since I made the transition from karts to cars back in Adelaide.

My early years in Supercars were thanks than to him (Rosenberg owned the REC that underpinned Slade’s SBR Falcon entry from 2010-12).

We’ve remained friends and the W opportunity was there this year o for f him to be involved again with BRT. It’s actually cool to have him B and a his wife Deb involved again – it reminds me of the SBR days, which re were really good. w They’ve supported so many young Th guys gu over the years.

Supercars MID-YEAR REVIEW

WORDS OF WISDOM Supercars’ newest ex-champion commentator Garth Tander tells MARK FOGARTY who has stood out so far this season

HE STARTED the season as a pit lane pundit and support race commentator. By the fifth event in Darwin, he was elevated to co-caller of the main Supercars action.

Already being groomed as a future voice of V8s, 2007 champion and four-time Bathurst 1000 winner Garth Tander helped cover for the absence of Neil Crompton, who took time off for treatment of prostate cancer.

Tander, defending Bathurst co-winner with runaway championship leader Shane van Gisbergen, has proved to be an articulate and astute commentator. His thoughtful analyses and insights have added to the TV coverage.

He applied that same acumen to providing an expert overview of the Supercars season so far in the midst of a COVID-induced extended mid-season break.

Tander also nominated and rated his Top Five – with a surprising inclusion.

While the championship has been dominated by van Gisbergen, GT hails the depth of competition behind the mercurial Kiwi.

“One person stands out, but if you park him to one side, it’s incredibly competitive,” Tander asserts. “Everyone will say Shane has been dominating the championship – and to a degree that’s true – but if you look at the battle amongst everyone else, there’s no real standout.

“So whilst one guy has done an exceptional job, the rest of the championship’s incredibly tight.”

He concedes that SVG’s performances amid a normally crippling shoulder injury – suffered in a mountain bike accident after

Images: Motorsport Images

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the season-opener at Mount Panorama – have been masterful.

“Shane’s clearly the standout guy, for sure,” he said. “Even right at the start of the championship at Bathurst, he picked up where he left off at the end of the 1000.

“He’d been back to New Zealand and raced anything that had four wheels on it – and some that had two – and had won in everything over there, so his form going into this year was very strong.

“The performance at Sandown was exceptional given his physical limitations, but there’ve been a lot of races this year where he hasn’t qualified strongly but he’s been able to get his way through the pack and get points in the bank. Winning races is nice, it’s fun, it’s cool, but it’s those real hard-fought claw-your-way-out-oftrouble type drives that are what win you championships.

“He’s had a couple of them already this year – he’s not the only one, but he’s obviously the high-profile one – and that’s why he has almost a round worth of points up his sleeve.”

Of the rest, Tander gives one challenger a slight edge.

“I think realistically Cam Waters has been the next best,” he decided. “Behind Shane, Waters, Chaz Mostert, Jamie Whincup, Anton De Pasquale and Will Davison are very close. It’s so tight between those guys.

“The points may not say that for one reason or another, but on individual performance and individual speed and individual accomplishments so far this year, they’re all together. But I think the one that stands a little bit above them is Cam Waters.

Image: Ross Gibb “Just the way that he has stood up more this year. His speed’s always been strong, but he’s stood up more in the sense that none of Shane’s tricks really work on Cam anymore. It takes a little while to build up that armour, to be able to have that sort of defence – and he proved that at Townsville 2 in the last race.

“He put up a really resolute defence.

Shane threw everything at him and couldn’t get the job done. So Cam is the one who to me stands slightly ahead of the rest of that chasing pack.”

Tander acknowledges the sheer grit of Red Bull Ampol Racing’s senior superstar Jamie Whincup, who is not bowing out without a fight.

“Would you expect any less?” he asks rhetorically. “The guy’s won seven championships because he’s relentless.

Image: Motorsport Images

The only drama that Jamie has this year is that the guy who has the exact same tools as him is in this purple patch of form.

“Jamie’s been through that phase of his career where everything he seemingly touched turned to gold and now that’s happening to Shane. The fact that Jamie is second in the points shows that he is not laying down, that’s for sure, and wants to go out every bit a winner.

“What I really enjoyed watching was the shoot out on the Sunday at Townsville when it was him and Shane battling it out, and Jamie returned serve by putting it on pole by three tenths of a second. Jamie’s had more than 100 pole positions, yet the way that he was so elated with that result just showed everyone how keen he is to still get results.

“You could easily forgive him for resting on his laurels. He has just about every record there is, but he hasn’t taken his foot off the gas and I think that’s really impressive. There’s certainly no lack of hunger.”

Tander makes some interesting observations about Dick Johnson Racing without Penske and Scott McLaughlin.

“I think the transition is not so much without Penske as more about being without Scott,” he said. “That whole team with the involvement of Penske was built around Scott’s driving and his results. And when you take out the major ingredient, you lose a little bit of direction for a period of time.

Garth Tander says Shane van Gisbergen has proved he’ll do anything to win races. And that Cam Waters has proved he won’t let the Kiwi dictate terms to him.

2021 “It certainly would not have been easy for Anton (De Pasquale) or Will (Davison) to step into that team in the shadow of Scott and pick up where he left off. I don’t think anyone would have expected that – and if they did expect that, they probably weren’t reading the play that well.

“They’ve both started to become comfortable in the environment, both starting to find their feet. They’ve shown glimpses of pace. Anton’s been on pole and won a race, and probably should’ve won another race but for a mechanical issue. Will’s been fast enough to win races.

“Of all the teams, I’d imagine they’re the one that would now be taking the most advantage of this extended break.

It enables them to look at how they can improve and give them a lift going into the second part of the season.”

Outside the top three teams, Tander has been impressed by new standalone CoolDrive Racing with returnee Tim Slade and Erebus Motorsport’s rookie pairing of Brodie Kostecki and Will Brown.

“I think the whole Blanchard Racing Team/Tim Slade story has been exceptional because it’s very easy to underestimate the scale of the job that’s needed to be done there, to set up a team from scratch,” he observed. “The way they came out and had speed straight away at Bathurst – how close was it to being almost a Cinderella story, being on the podium in their very first race?

“It’s been a little bit bumpy in the meantime, but at Townsville 2 again they pretty much outsmarted the whole field on strategy (in the first race to finish fourth). They’re certainly doing a very good job. Tim’s driving very well and making the most of the package that he has. He’s done a great job.

“I think Brodie and Will Brown together have done very well. Brodie’s been more

Image: Motorsport Images According to Garth Tander, although he hasn’t had all the results he’d hoped for, we are seeing a more mature Chaz Mostert this season. in the headlines because he had that podium in the wet at Sandown, but Will’s doing every bit as good a job. A lot’s been made of them being rookies in the championship. By definition, yes, they’re rookies, but in reality, not really.

“They’ve both done a lot of miles in these cars. OK, they hadn’t driven a Supercar at some of the tracks, but they’ve shown that’s not really a hinderance.”

Tander’s over-achiever is Matt Stone Racing.

“The ones that have impressed me that probably aren’t on anyone’s radar are the MSR boys, Zane Goddard and Jake Kostecki,” he said. “There’ve been occasions where they’ve popped up in

the 10. For two young guys having their first full year in the championship, I think they’ve done a pretty good job.

“It’s been really exciting and encouraging to walk into that garage after they’ve popped it into the top 10 and see the great atmosphere. It reminds me of the very early days at GRM when Bargs (Jason Bargwana) and I were there. MSR is a little team taking on the big teams with two young guys and doing a good job with them.”

Tander could possibly play a pivotal role in van Gisbergen’s title quest. They will defend their Bathurst 1000 crown, although by early November (or later) it could all be over.

“Everything’s pointing that way, but until

it’s mathematically sealed, anything’s possible,” Tander cautioned. “Who would have predicted after Bathurst that he’d fall off his mountain bike and break his collar bone? No one.

“Given the form that he’s in, given the form the team are in and the way they’re extracting speed from the car, he’s looking very strong for the title.

“But what this long break does, we don’t know. There’ll be someone after this break who’ll come out stronger than they were before. What effect that has on everyone else in the championship, who knows?

“Shane is the favourite, but I still feel like there are a couple more storylines to go before everything’s resolved.”

GT’S TOP FIVE One of them you won’t expect

1 Shane van Gisbergen

He’s the standout, for the reasons already discussed. It will take something pretty impressive to beat his performance at Sandown. He put himself through that pain and showed he’s prepared to do anything to win races. That was a mental blow to his competitors.

2 Cam Waters

He looks much more comfortable in the team leader role at Tickford and has really started to stand up to Shane. He’s not letting Shane dictate to him when they go head-to-head and that’s been great to watch.

3 Jamie Whincup

What can you say that hasn’t already been said? He’s relentless, still hungry, still determined. He’s going out on his terms.

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4 Chaz Mostert

He probably hasn’t had all the results that he’d hoped for this year, but when he has had the car right, he’s been very, very fast and a real threat. And when the car hasn’t been right, there’s been a real steely determination to make it competitive. I haven’t seen him throw the toys out of the pram when it hasn’t gone his way. We’re seeing a more mature Chaz this year.

5 Zane Goddard

He’s doing a really good job. If you’d asked me before the start of the season, he wouldn’t even have been on my top 15 list. But his performances, particularly in qualifying, have been outstanding.

There’ve been a lot of races where he’s got himself up to the back part of the 10 where he’s come from deep in the field.

I think he and MSR are doing a great job with what they have.

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Supercars MID-YEAR REVIEW

VIEW FROM THE DRIVER’S SEAT There are 24 drivers on the Supercars grid and that means 24 different views of how the season has gone so far and how it may pan out going forward. BRUCE NEWTON spoke to three of them at very different stages in their careers to gauge their views.

THE VETERAN: James Courtney

Team: Tickford Racing Boost Ford Mustang Age: 41 Supercars seasons completed: 15 Best championship finishing position: 1st (2010) Current position in drivers’ championship: 9th 2021 qualifying average: 12.5 2021 finishing average: 10.6 Best finish: 4th Race 10 - The Bend BABY-FACED James Courtney is the oldest driver in the championship and even despite the broken shoulder he suffered in James Courtney is having his best Championship campaign since 2014 and enjoying life at Tickford. a casual rugby game earlier this year, you Image: Motorsport Images can’t keep the smile off his face. were some promising performances in a really reflects in the work life as well.

As candid as ever, Courtney says he is in learning year.

“The results have been good, but there a better state mentally than he has been With engineer Brendan Hogan headed have still been silly mistakes like Bathurst. for years. He’s enjoying life at Tickford and off to the new Blanchard Racing Team, Without that we would be a lot further up in enjoying his private life again after some Courtney teamed up with Brad Wischusen the championship. much-documented turmoil. for 2021 and shifted garages to line up “Speed-wise, we [Tickford] have It’s all led to something of a resurrection alongside team leader Cameron Waters. closed up the gap to the front of the grid for Courtney. If the championship didn’t Apart from a Bathurst wall-banger the compared to what it as last year. That restart in 2021, his ninth place would be result has been consistent top 10 racecomes down to working as team. Cam his best driver’s championship finish since likes the stuff I like and we are working well 2014, when he was seventh for the Holden pace and with Jack Le Brocq struggling, a role as Waters’ primary wingman. together.”

Racing Team.

Courtney joined Tickford partway through the 2020 season. He’d started the year On his season so far: Expectations for the rest of the at Team Sydney but that lasted only one “It’s been well-documented the last few season: race meeting there before he and sponsor years have been horrendous for many “Of course, I want to be further up in the Boost Mobile split with Jon Webb’s reasons, but I am mentally and emotionally championship than I am. Obviously the car operation. very much there now. I’m in a great place can get the results because Cam has got a They rejoined the championship after with a really good bunch of guys around couple of wins, which is awesome. the COVID break, taking over the Ford me in the racing as well as away from the “We are looking at taking second in the Mustang vacated by Will Davison after circuit with my partner and the kids and all teams’ championship off the DJR guys and team owner Phil Munday was forced to that sort of stuff. if we can achieve that it will be a mad win Images: Motorsport Images withdraw from the championship. There “So my personal life is fantastic and that for us.

28 AutoAction

“I have to step up my game and be more consistent in qualifying and be able to start at the front and be able to take some of the points off those guys when we can.”

The championship so far: “This year the DJR guys have stayed the same or dropped a little in outright car speed, while the Triple Eight guys have stepped up and taken over that little bit.

We have also come a little closer as a team.

“So I’d say it’s been a little tighter than it has been for a while. There is more variety in the results.

“Even through Shane has been dominant with his race wins he has still had to work pretty hard, in that he has sometimes qualified poorly and raced unbelievably well.

“As a team they [T8] have not made many mistakes. You can’t really fault them, they are always going to be there.”

What happens for the rest of the season: “I don’t think Triple Eight will lose any speed.

“But depending on what races and where we go and if those guys need to be away for a long period of time that might affect them a little bit, in terms of team morale and energy within the organisation.

“That was hard for our guys last year spending so much time away from their families.

“So it will be interesting to see if we do go into a quarantining situation how that will affect the Queensland-based teams, because they haven’t had to really do it.”

2021 “Since then we’ve got four top fives and we‘ve been consistently up around the top 10. Our consistency and our racecraft is just building.

“We should have already got a podium this year at Tailem Bend [in race nine] when we decided to press on a bit longer and pit later [and finished 11th].

“There’s been a lot of learnings in your first year, you’ve just got to get everything right. In Super2 the field was spread out a bit and you could make a mistake and not lose a position. In the main series a small mistake in qualifying or the race can lose you a lot of positions.”

THE RISING STAR Andre Heimgartner

Team: Kelly Grove Racing Ned Ford Mustang Age: 26 Supercars seasons completed: 5 Best championship finishing position: 14th (2020) Current position in drivers’ championship: 12th 2021 qualifying average: 13.1 2021 finishing average: 13.5 Best finish: 1st Race 9 - The Bend IT’S BEEN a breakthrough season for Heimgartner, who displayed speed and maturity to claim his first Supercars win back in May at The Bend.

The flying Kiwi’s talent has never been doubted, but his first season in Supercars at Tickford satellite Super Black Racing in 2015 was an unhappy experience that was cut short.

He moved to Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport in 2016, but was never going to get a chance to shine in the resource-poor team.

It took a late call-up to the 2017 enduros at Brad Jones Racing for a more mature Heimgartner to remind everyone of his talent. He’s been a fixture at Kelly Racing – now Kelly Grove Racing - ever since.

Apart from his win – achieved from pole and despite a five second time penalty – Heimgartner’s season has been a rollercoaster as the restructured team struggles to gain consistent performances from its Ford Mustangs.

The 26-year old has also been in the news because he is out of contract at KGR and is said to be the subject of multiple offers.

On his season so far: “We were really happy at the start of the year because we made some good gains .. and then we had the win, so we thought we were going forward in leaps and bounds.

“But it’s been frustrating at times … because there’s been four rounds starting with Tasmania where the car has been really bad. The last three rounds have been a real struggle on my side of the garage.

“At the moment … it’s the drive of the car, really struggling to get the power down and lateral drive and all those sorts of areas. Whenever we change that to try and compensate, we lose in other areas.

“We were eighth before we had these really bad rounds, so we should be up there. We are lacking consistency, we are trying to understand how to make the cars go faster and what’s required to do so.”

Expectations for the rest of the season: “We are doing lots of stuff to develop the car and the more time we have the better.

There’s a laundry list of things we need to improve and need to do.

“Come the end of the year we should be pretty strong because we are pushing on hard with development and trying to understand everything.

“The rest of the tracks we go to are

Stephen and Brenton Grove (left and centre left) and Todd Kelly (right) celebrate Andre Heimgartner’s pole position at The Bend. Image: Motorsport Images pretty strong for us. So the objective for me will be getting that early-season form back with our car, be fighting consistently in the top five again and get a couple more podiums.”

The championship so far: “This year is the closest I have seen it. If your car is not quite there it really shows.

“We are in that pack where if your car is really good you can be in the top five, but from there all the way back to 15th - we have such quality teams and drivers now - making little mistakes and not having the car 100 per cent seems to punish you much more.”

What happens for the rest of the season: “I think we are going to see some variation because we are going to different styles of track. The co-drivers will also change anyone can win the e it up, a yo e ca e 1000. We have Earl Bamber coming for Bathurst and that well. att bodes we ellll..

“The same people ople who have won this year will still be up u the front, but hopefully it’s not one dominant minant force at all of them.”

THE ROOKIE IE Will Brown

Erebus Motorsport p Holden Commodore port Age: 23 Supercars seasons so ons completed: 0 Best championship s ship finishing position: o N/A on: Current position on n in drivers’ championship: 10th 2021 qualifying g average: 12.1 2021 finishing average: 12.4 Best finish: 4th Race R 12 – Darwin WILL BROWN h has a as long been marked e for ed success. Erebuss Motorsport rates him so highly h it guaranteed hly the 2016 Formula la a 4 and Toyota 86 champion a full-time -time 2021 Supercars drive all the wayy back in 2019.

Will Brown has long been ear-marked for success. His rookie season for Erebus Motorsport has been impressive and he currently sits 10th in the championship chase.

But the ever-smiling Toowoomba used car salesman started his full-time Supercars career in the worst possible way, with a heavy crash in practice for the season-opener at Mount Panorama.

Happily, it’s been a steady upward trajectory from there, to the point Brown sits 10th in the drivers’ championship at the head of the ‘young gun’ pack with his team-mate and fellow rookie Brodie Kostecki in 11th.

It’s been an impressive display from Brown, Kostecki and the entire Erebus Motorsport squad, which suffered more upheaval than any other Supercars team when forced to go on the road for long periods of 2020.

Not only were two new drivers recruited for 2021, but there was also a new engineering structure to support them.

Brown has been paired with engineer Tom Moore, who steps up full-time after working driver o g with former o e team ea d e David a d Reynolds at some 2020 rounds.

On his season so far: “It’s been an exciting and positive first half of the year. I’ve had a lot fun and that’s probably why we have been doing so well.

“It was nice they didn’t fire me after Bathurst. I probably did everything a rookie shouldn’t do … by putting it straight in the fence. But I didn’t let it get me down and team was great.

Expectations for the rest of his season: “I’d like to finish top 10 in the championship, that’s the main thing.

It’s exciting to be ahead of all the other young guys, but I don’t really think about that much.

“I’d like to get a podium and I think that’s achievable.”

The championship so far: “Nothing has massively taken me by surprise stepping up onto the grid. I wasn’t naively expecting the racing to be easy or anything like that.

“The racing’s definitely tough. In Supercars you have got the 24-25 best drivers in Australia going for it, so the racing is a lot tougher and a lot harder.”

What happens for the rest of the season: “I don’t think there will be a massive change. When you roll into the track you know DJR and Triple Eight are very consistent and at eac each track and co sse a d good a ac a d drivers like Chaz then you have Mostert and Cam Waters who w wh o are very consistent as well.”

Supercars MID-YEAR REVIEW

UNCERTAIN FUTURE

MARK FOGARTY reflects on a promising season derailed by COVID chaos

IT’S BEEN a Supercars season to remember – mainly because it has happened.

The rest of the year is not looking so good. As the Delta variant of COVID-19 runs riot in Sydney and Melbourne, the chances of the series conclusion as scheduled are minimal.

Forget NSW and Victoria in October and November – Winton, Phillip Island, Bathurst, Sydney Motorsport Park, not going to happen.

Stand by for the Bathurst 1000 after the December 3-5 Gold Coast 500 – if at all.

The latest COVID outbreaks are so infectious that NSW and VIC are going to remain out of bounds to the rest of the nation for months.

Not out of the question is a southeast Queensland hub to wrap things up with multiple rounds at Queensland Raceway and the Gold Coast 500. Less than ideal, but if it gets the season done, Supercars will do what it takes.

That includes the unthinkable prospect of no Bathurst 1000. Unless NSW is free from the grip of the pandemic by December – or reaches 70-80 per cent full vaccination and throws the state open – it may not happen.

A substitute two-driver enduro elsewhere is not out of the question. But unlike the AFL Grand Final, destined to be staged interstate for the second year in a row, the Bathurst 1000 is not really portable.

It is all about the unique appeal of a long-distance race at Mount Panorama.

QR, The Bend or even Phillip Island would be poor substitutes.

Let’s hope it doesn’t get to that. But the reality is that the second half of this season is more uncertain than this time last year.

No one expected COVID-19 would return with such vengeance and

Image: Motorsport Images

It’s unthinkable ... but will the Bathurst 1000 (above) happen at all this year? At best it might happen after the Gold Coast 500 ... Veteran Will Davison (below left) has been particularly impressive in his return to a top team, while Cam Waters (below) has really stepped up & is a now serious contender.

Image: Motorsport Images effectively lock down the country. The Delta variant is so infectious that the outlook for renewed freedom is months, not weeks.

It all started so well. Bathurst, Sandown, Symmons Plains, The Bend. Then VIC blew up again, followed by NSW. Winton was postponed, Darwin happened and Townsville doubled up.

Shane van Gisbergen has a stranglehold on the title. He has been heroic, winning at Sandown – including an extraordinary drive-through-thefield success in the wet – with a busted shoulder.

Such grit, such flair, such insouciance has rarely been seen behind the wheel.

Despite his 11 victories from 19 races, the competition has been fierce in his

wake – and enhanced by some of his recovery drives.

Cam Waters has stepped up, Jamie Whincup remains relentless, Chaz Mostert shines, and Anton De Pasquale and Will Davison are right on the cusp.

Veteran Davo has been particularly impressive, pushing future superstar ADP. Without Penske and Scott McLaughlin, DJR is missing that tiny edge while Triple Eight has regained its imperious mojo.

Special mentions to new standalone Blanchard Racing Team and returnee Tim Slade, and Brodie Kostecki.

BRT and Slade – one of the ‘lost boys’ of Supercars in the past decade – have defied logic and precedent with their occasional front-running pace.

It is great to see a small team

challenging, just as Matt Stone Racing’s Zane Goddard has made incursions well into the top 10.

Brodie Kostecki was brilliant in the wet at Sandown. He is a mongrel racer who takes no prisoners and respects no reputation.

The larger Kostecki also dismisses the media. Feisty and frank, he doesn’t suffer fools and once he establishes himself as a consistent contender, his blunt approach will be a breath of fresh air.

I look forward to brittle exchanges with Brodie. It’s been a long time since a Supercars driver was prepared to confront media interrogation.

Supercars is now in a strange stasis, waiting on circumstances outside its control to determine how it will finish the season.

FOGES’ FAB FIVE Season scribe’s succinct verdicts 1 Shane van Gisbergen Superlative skill

2 Chaz Mostert

Excitement machine

3 Jamie Whincup True champion

4 Cam Waters

Emerging superstar

5 Will Davison

Amazing comeback

Images: Motorsport Images

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Shane van Gisbergen has a stranglehold on the title while teammate Jamie Whincup (the pair at left) remains relentless.

2021 MID-SEASON STATS

Supercars MID-YEAR REVIEW

Drivers’ Standings 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

HITS AND MISSES DAN MCCARTHY looks at the winners and losers in the first half of the 2021 Supercars Championship

Teams’ Standings

Image: Motorsport Images

HIT - SVG ON A ROLL

IN THE first half of the 2021 Supercars Championship, reigning Bathurst 1000 winner Shane van Gisbergen has been in remarkable form.

A total of 11 wins and 15 podiums in the first 19 races is certainly one of the most dominant starts to a Supercars/ATCC title.

Triple Eight Racing has stepped up in 2021 as it looks to wrestle both the drivers’ and teams’ championship back from Dick Johnson Racing, which lost the support of Roger Penske at the end of last season.

Van Gisbergen has also raised his game along with the team and has asserted himself as the driver to beat, after the departure of three-time reigning champion Scott McLaughlin at the end of 2020.

The Kiwi started the year with a real hunger to win a second title, having not won it since 2016.

He claimed the first six races of the season including victory with a broken collarbone from 17th on the grid at Sandown, one of the drives of his career.

Van Gisbergen has certainly shown that he is the man to beat this season.

In the first seven rounds has pulled out a near 300-point (one event) margin on the rest of the field, including his seven-time championship winning teammate Jamie Whincup.

HIT - EREBUS REVIVAL

AFTER A challenging season last year, both its drivers and lead engineers departed the Erebus Motorsport squad.

Armed with two Super2 Series graduates and two new lead engineers, Erebus is delivering solid results.

Brodie Kostecki and his experienced engineer George Cummins secured a podium in the fifth race of the season, at a wet and wild race at Sandown.

His teammate Will Brown has also been very solid. Although he has not claimed a podium, the charismatic 23-year-old has bagged several top five finishes.

Last year Anton de Pasquale and David Reynolds finished eighth and 12th in the drivers’ championship respectively.

After taking on two rookies it was expected that Erebus would fall down the order this year, however this has not happened. Brown sits 10th with Kostecki just behind in 11th.

The fact Erebus is fighting for a top 10 position in the championship with two rookies is mightily impressive.

The two teammates complement each other well and this has contributed to the success.

With further track time under their belts, expect strong results and possibly some Images: Motorsport more podiums in theImages second half of the season.

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Shane van Gisbergen Jamie Whincup Cameron Waters Chaz Mostert Will Davison Anton de Pasquale Mark Winterbottom Nick Percat James Courtney Will Brown

THE NEW TEAM ON THE BLOCK

THE SINGLE car Blanchard Racing Team (BRT) has surprised many with its solid top 10 results and occasional podium bids, in the first half of its inaugural championship.

Tim Slade qualified the CoolDrive sponsored car second on debut at Bathurst and in the race was hunting down Will Davison for a podium finish until he crashed on the run to Forrest’s Elbow with just a couple of laps to go.

Despite a difficult couple of rounds, Slade and BRT have now scored seven top 10 finishes with a season best of fourth.

One weakness in the first half of the season has been one lap speed.

Although Slade qualified on the front row in the first race, since then it has been a hard slog in qualifying.

Tyre life appears to be a strength of the package with Slade pitting early and completing large stints to great effect in Townsville, strong tyre life enabling him to uncut many rivals in the pitstop sequence and retain the spot.

This enabled him to leap from 19th to fourth in Race 1 and 24th to 12th in Race 2. If one-lap pace is addressed the team will no doubt have a strong end to the season.

CONFUSED - KELLY GROVE RACING INCONSISTENCY ALTHOUGH KELLY Grove Racing has shown signs of promise with a win for Andre Heimgartner and a podium for David Reynolds so far this season, a clear lack of consistency is disappointing for the Ford Mustang outfit.

In the off season Stephen and Brenton Grove bought into Kelly Racing and saw David Reynolds and his gun engineer Alistair McVean also join the team.

However, the Kelly Racing inconsistencies are still there, jumping from one end of the field to other.

After one of the most challenging rounds of his career in Tasmania, in which Heimgartner finished outside of the top 20 on legitimate pace twice, the following round on Saturday at The Bend Motorsport Park, the New Zealander was the class of the field dominating the day with pole and a comfortable race victory.

These inconsistencies are something that the Braeside team has struggled with running Ford Mustangs, however when the car is in the sweet spot it is one of the cars to beat.

In recent weeks the Grove family have bought the team from the Kellys in its entirity and will see a new era begin in 2022.

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MIXED BAG - MOSTERT CONTENDER, FULLWOOD STRUGGLING

WALKINSHAW ANDRETTI United has made another step forward in 2021.

Last year Chaz Mostert scored five podiums with the team but generally seemed to be a rung below DJR Team Penske and Triple Eight.

However in 2021 WAU and Mostert have made that crucial next step, the two parties achieving their first win together in Tasmania and since then secured another victory in Darwin.

Overall Mostert has collected more trophies than he did throughout the entirety of 2020, showing how he has moved forward with a second year in a ZB Commodore.

Mostert is now a consistent podium finisher and fighting for race victories on a regular occurrence.

On the flipside his teammate Bryce Fullwood has had a very challenging start to the season.

The Northern Territorian ended his rookie season quite positively, occasionally outperforming Mostert and scoring his maiden podium finish at The Bend.

However, his second season with the outfit has not started as he would have liked.

In recent rounds Fullwood has taken a step forward, often seen around the outskirts or just inside the top 10, however the former Super2 Series winner will be hoping for more in the second half of the campaign.

MISS - #44 AND #5

WHILE LEAD Tickford Racing driver Cameron Waters is in scintillating form winning two of the last three races, his two teammates are not delivering to the same degree.

Both James Courtney and Jack Le Brocq have failed to score a podium let alone a win in the first half of the season.

In his first full-time year with the squad in 2020 Le Brocq claimed two podiums including a race victory at Sydney Motorsport Park.

He ended last season quite strongly with

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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

Triple Eight Race Engineering Dick Johnson Racing Tickford Racing (#6 and #44) Walkinshaw Andretti United Team 18 Erebus Motorsport Brad Jones Racing (#8 & #14) Kelly Racing Matt Stone Racing Brad Jones Racing (#96 & #4) Team Sydney Blanchard Racing Team Tickford Racing (#5)

Wins

Shane Van Gisbergen Cameron Waters Chaz Mostert Jamie Whincup Andre Heimgartner Anton De Pasquale

Podiums

Shane van Gisbergen Jamie Whincup Will Davison Chaz Mostert Cameron Waters Anton de Pasquale Brodie Kostecki David Reynolds Andre Heimgartner Nick Percat

Poles

Shane van Gisbergen Cameron Waters Anton de Pasquale Will Davison Jamie Whincup Chaz Mostert Andre Heimgartner

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consistent top 10 finishes but has been unable to replicate that this year, scoring just four top 10 finishes with a season best sixth place in the opening race of the year.

Courtney is having a slightly better season, however the 2010 Supercars champion has only finished in the top five twice.

Both Le Brocq and Courtney will be fighting for their seats, and quite possibly their careers, when the season featvities resume.

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GRAHAM ‘CASSIUS THE FOURTH KIWI Kiwi racer/constructor Graham McRae achieved F5000 greatness but there are those who believe he had the talent to follow the great McLarenHulme-Amon Kiwi trio into F1. His independent strength of will was perhaps also his weakness.

MARK BISSET looks back at a colourful career.

MARCEL RENAULT and Vincenzo Lancia were racer-car constructors of some scale in motoring’s grandperiod, but the 1950s to 1970s is the era in which such characters flourished in large number.

Think John Cooper, Colin Chapman (Lotus), Ron Tauranac (Ralt/ Brabham), Eric Broadley (Lola), Garrie Cooper (Elfin), Jack Brabham (Ron Tauranac/MRD built Brabhams), Bruce McLaren, Derek Bennett (Chevron), Dan Gurney (Eagle), Jim Hall (Chaparral), Frank Matich, Adrian Reynard … and Graham Peter McRae to name a few.

McRae’s cars are less in number than that produced by all of the above, other than his arch-rival Matich, but for a short period the McRae F5000 cars were among the best there was.

Born in Petone, Wellington, New Zealand on March 5, 1940 the talented racer and constructor died in a care home in Auckland earlier this month, sadly, with virtually nothing to show for his storied career.

McRae’s later years were characterised by mental health issues,

which were ultimately assisted by medication.

Dreams to attend university and become a fighter pilot were scuttled when his father took him on as an apprentice in his Miramar engineering business.

At 17 McRae was smitten by racing after a day at Levin. Tom Clark’s Maserati 8CM was one of the cars which impressed him the most – Clark would later play a pivotal role in his career.

Graham opened his own-machine shop, building an Austin A70 engined Maserarri in which he started racing.

After dabbling in other cars, when funds permitted, he bought an old Brabham BT2 Ford 1.7 twin-cam and over 1967-8 he developed the car and mastered it.

The self-constructed McRae 69 Ford 1.5 twin-cam followed. It was a jet which dominated the 1968-9 NZ National Formula Championship

Miss Surfers Paradise Raceway with race winner Graham McRae in 1972 (above).

M M McRae at the then Leda Cars workshop in early 1972 (left) with three of the 14 GM1s G GM M built at Poole, Dorset, UK (left). Superb image by Terry Marshall of McRae in n the GM2 Chev (below), at the New Zealand Grand Prix, at the Wigram Royal New N Ne e Zealand Air Force base in 1974.

Images: Motorsport Images/Terry Marshall - tgmarshall@xtra.co.nz Auto Action Archives

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S’ MCRAE against high-calibre racers Ken Smith, David Oxton and Bert Hawthorne.

Strong showings including a stunning sixth at Levin in the ’69 NZ Tasman round resulted in his choice as NZ Driver to Europe. He did a half dozen Euro F2 rounds in a Brabham BT23C Ford FVA – his best was fourth behind Rindt, Ickx and Courage in the GP Limburg at Zolder.

His foray into the F5000 big league was funded by (now Sir) Tom Clark’s Crown Lynn Potteries – at the instigation of ex-racer Ross Jensen – who bought a McLaren M10A Chev for McRae’s use in the 1970 Tasman Series.

McRae took to the 500bhp McLaren like the proverbial duck to water, winning at Teretonga and Surfers Paradise. Graeme Lawrence won the series in the Ferrari 246T which Chris Amon had raced to victory in 1969.

McRae’s widely-used ‘Cassius’ sobriquet was bestowed upon him

by American racer Ron Grable’s team-manager, John Hilton, during that wonderful summer after a jibe or three about lap-times.

A similar inbuilt confidence to the famous pugilist was to be a mixed

blessing for the racing Cassius …

Back in Europe, with a new M10B Chev, Graham bagged several second placings before winning the final Brands Hatch round. It was a significant breakthrough a long way from home. Peter Gethin’s McLaren M10B won the title, while other top-guns included Mike Hailwood, Howden Ganley, Frank Gardner, Trevor Taylor and Reine Wiesell.

McRae returned home and brained them in the ’71 Tasman with his highly modified M10B. Winning at Levin, Wigram and Sandown, he took the first of three Tasmans on the trot. Frank Matich’s McLaren M10B Repco-Holden and Niel Allen’s McLaren M10B Chev were second and third, with Gardner’s works Lola T192 Chev fourth; there was plenty of depth in that field.

When the Kiwi returned to the UK in early 1971 it was to a works-supplied McLaren M18 – unfortunately not their best work.

His Team Trojan machine had the shortest life of any racing car when Graham boofed it bigtime in private practice at Snetterton, before the series’ second round. He went off sideways at Russell, hit the bank, took flight, landed upside down before the car rolled back onto its

Levin, New Zealand 1969. McRae’s self-built McRae 69 Ford twin-cam 1.5 holds off Graeme Lawrence’s Ferrari 246T (above). McRae’s modified McLaren M10B Chev leads at Pukekohe in 1971 (below). Images: Terry Marshall

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wheels; it was rooted but the hapless driver was ready to fight another day!

He missed six rounds then returned with a vengeance to win at Mallory in May aboard the old M10B, in a timely reminder of who was the class of the field.

In mid-1970 Graham arranged with Malaya Garage’s Malcolm Bridgeland to garage, prepare and transport his McLaren to meetings together with the Leda team. The Leda F5000s were designed by Len Terry, a 1960s design rock-star with GP/Indy credits with Lotus, Eagle and BRM. McRae got to know the Billinghurst crew pretty well.

At Monza in June ’71 McRae practised Terry’s Leda LT25 to get a feel for the car. Trevor Taylor finished second in his LT25 Chev behind Alan Rollinson’s Surtees TS8 Chev – clearly the car had some merit.

McRae won in the old McLaren at Thruxton on August 1, the day the F5000 world changed; the Lola T300 (T242) prototype debuted in Frank Gardner’s hands. It took a couple of rounds before FG took the T300’s first win; McRae knew he needed something special for 1972.

Graham explored his ideas with Len Terry, his thoughts influenced by his McLarens, the Leda LT25, the Lola T300 and the competitive, pregnantbellied BRM P153/160, McLaren M19 and Tyrrell 001-002 F1 designs.

Trevor Lister recalls, “Graham was determined to set his engine as low as physically possible; he redesigned the sump so there was minimum possible clearance between the crankshaft and the

bottom of the sump enabling a lower engine installation and reduced ground clearance.”

The resultant Leda LT27 is conceptually McRae’s, with the detail design and drawings Terry’s.

Lister recalls McRae’s ingenuity, “At one stage we encountered continual cracking of the brake discs and Graham decided he would drill holes to improve the cooling by dissipating the heat build-up. I remember him standing at the drill-press for hours one day drilling dozens of holes in the discs. I believe he was the first to do this in F5000 and it was copied by some teams, even in F1. He also grooved the discs from inside to outside to improve the clearance of brake dust. Again, other teams copied very quickly – but some had the grooves running the wrong way!”

Leda’s ’72 plan was for McRae and Taylor to race LT27s in the Euro F5000 Championship, but Graham first had his Tasman title to defend.

The other local tough-nut, Matich, figured he had a winning package.

His new Matich A50 Repco-Holden won out of the box at Warwick Farm, taking the November 1971 Australian Grand Prix from John Surtees and others.

In addition, there were works Surtees, Lola and Trojan Cars (McLaren) entries for Mike Hailwood, Frank Gardner and David Hobbs.

Not to forget local aces Kevin Bartlett and Max Stewart.

McRae’s Leda GM1 Chev (as the car was entered in New Zealand and Australia) was a neat, squat, fast machine fitted with a powerful,

McRae only appeared in one F1 race, the British GP, at Silverstone 1973. He drove the Frank Williams Iso IR Ford, qualified 28th but did not take the race restart.

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Graham McRae alights from his GM1 Chev in a crowded Brands Hatch pitlane in July 1972 (above). BRDC International F1/F5000 Trophy in 1972 (below). McRae finished eighth, here ahead of Peter Gethin in the F1 BRM P160, which was sixth.

reliable, Louis Morand Chev. Replete with dayglo-red STP livery it looked the goods. And it was.

McRae won at Levin, Wigram, Surfers Paradise and Sandown, taking pole at Pukekohe, Levin and Wigram. Fast on a variety of circuits, Leda had a competitive customer car to meet Lola T300 and Chevron B24 opposition that season.

Cassius returned to Britain, racing the same chassis to DNFs at Brands, Mallory and Snetterton, before opening his Euro-win account at the April Brands Hatch round.

After a few races Malaya Garages withdrew their support of the race team, leaving the drivers high and dry before London insurance broker John Heynes came to the rescue. He acquired premises in Poole, Dorset and installed McRae in charge. Terry resigned his directorship of Leda Cars Ltd and relocated his Design Auto business to his home, Autosport magazine reporting Len’s business relationship then was as a Leda Cars shareholder.

From July 1, 1972 the LT27 was re-named the McRae GM1.

Fourteen cars were built in 1972/1973, the quickest of which was Allan Rollinson’s. Leda’s sales brochure until then described the car as ‘Leda Type 27/GM’, which clarifies conjecture about the car’s designation before Heynes’ takeover.

Among the corporate manoeuvring McRae had races to contest. STP, having enjoyed their ‘72 Tasman, extended sponsorship for campaigns in the US and Europe.

McRae duly won the US L&M Championship and would surely have done so in Europe, were it not for conflicting rounds. He won the Nivelles, Silverstone, Brands and Oulton Park rounds, finishing third in the title behind Gijs van Lennep and Brian Redman – Surtees TS11/ McLaren M18 and McLaren M10B/ Chevron B24 mounted respectively.

McRae faced strong opposition in the US from Redman, David Hobbs, Derek Bell, Peter Gethin, and Aussies Bob Muir and Kevin Bartlett – though not all did the whole series.

Despite being new to the country and its circuits, McRae’s small team, based in Irvine, Costa Mesa – the racecar towed behind a Chevy station wagon, with ace mechanic, and later driver John Wright and a gofer – won at Laguna Seca, Watkins Glen and Road America, to take the SCCA L&M Continental 5000 Championship from Sam Posey (Surtees TS11 Chev) and Brett Lunger’s Lola T300 Chev.

No other F5000 driver had a year like this.

McRae won the Tasman Series, including the Australian Grand Prix at Sandown (a very happy hunting ground for McRae – he won AGPs there in 1973 and 1978 as well, plus

McRae made one Indy 500 start in 1973, driving for Pat Patrick in an Eagle 72 Offy in STP colours. He did not finish but was classified 16th, enough to win Rookie of The Year.

the ’71 and ‘73 Tasman rounds!), the L&M series in the USA, and was third in the European title.

Into 1973 McRae won the Tasman, racing an updated GM1. Seeing off fields of great depth, GM1s won five of the eight rounds – McRae four and Rollinson one.

But it was the calm before the storm.

Lola’s T300 evolved into the T330.

It and the evolved T332 turned out to be the greatest F5000 of them all. A field of these jiggers in the US, and South African wunderkind Jody Scheckter’s Trojan T101, made life difficult, while engine blow-ups did the rest.

McRae’s versatility was demonstrated with an Indy drive via Andy Granatelli’s sponsorship of Patrick Racing. McRae popped

his Eagle Offy 16th on the grid, completing 91 of the 133 laps before a header problem, winning Rookie of The Year.

But it was a bitter-sweet weekend for Pat Patrick – Gordon Johncock’s Eagle won the race, but Swede Savage crashed badly, sucumming to post-surgery complications five weeks later.

McRae was then one of the ‘men-ofthe-moment’ – at 33!

Then, as now, a driver must grab and hold the spotlight with results to get F1 opportunities.

Ken Tyrrell’s offer of a race at Nivelles was declined given contractual commitments, and then, unfortunately, when the F1 planets aligned McRae’s career became the shortest there is.

The New Zealand Grand Prix at Pukekohe in 1974. Mcrae in his GM2 Chev was on pole with Peter Gethin (Chevron B24 Chev) alongside, while row two is John McCormack (Elfin MR5 Holden) and an obscured David Oxton (Begg). Image: Terry Marshall

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McRae exiting the Dandenong Road corner (above) en-route to his Sandown Park Cup victory in 1973 in the GM1 Chev.

Frank Williams offered McRae his second Iso IR Ford for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, a race made famous by Scheckter’s huge lap one Woodcote corner accident which took out half the field.

Graham’s Lucas injection throttle slides were jammed with sand kicked up in the multi-car shunt. He didn’t take the restart of the race, won by Peter Revson’s McLaren M23.

End of career.

Eight drivers raced Williams’ second car that year– Frank might have been well served by giving talented tester McRae some seat time to extract whatever the John Clarke design had to offer.

McRae needed a new F5000 and the GM2 was the result. meanwhile Heynes had concluded, like many before him, that the only way to make a lot of money out of motor racing was to start with much, much more.

The factory was sold to Roger Penske, who went on to build F1 and Indycars there.

The GM2 design rights and drawings were then sold by McRae to American entrant Jack McCormack, who built five ‘Talon MR-1’s. A dispute followed …

McRae’s life was filled with plenty of disputes …

The GM2 raced in the final ‘73 Euro round at Brands Hatch in October 21, before being flown to Melbourne for Sandown’s AGP in November. McRae duly won by two seconds from McCormack’s Elfin MR5 Repco-Holden and Walker’s similarly powered Lola T330.

GM2 was a superb McLaren M23-esque machine with rocker front suspension, deformable for 1974 with mandated side-

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The 1972 Tasman Cup at Levin (above) showing the depth of the F5000 field. McRae won in the Leda GM1 from Frank Matich (Matich A50 Repco-Holden), Frank Gardner (Lola T300 Chev) and Mike Hailwood (Surtees TS8 Chev). Image: Terry Marshall. McRae with the Calder Gold Star spoils in 1978 (left), collected in the McRae GM3 Chev. p pods and with careful attention to a aerodynamics.

McRae was prodigiously fast th throughout the ’74 Tasman. He st started from pole at Pukekohe and se set fastest lap at Levin, Pukekohe an and Teretonga, but DNF’d all races – ssecond at Teretonga was his only po pointscore.

A Across Tasman he was sixth,

second and seventh at Surfers, Sandown and Adelaide; the speed was there but reliability was not.

Peter Gethin’s VDS Chevron B24 won the Tasman title from Stewart’s Lola T330 Chev and Walker, John McCormack and Teddy Pilette – all on 21 points – driving Lola T330 Repco, Elfin MR5 Repco and Chevron B24 Chev respectively.

With money tight, McRae took the GM2 to the US. He initially raced a Talon, switched to a Lola T332, then raced the GM2 at Ontario and Laguna Seca. The final Riverside round was perhaps indicative of GM2’s speed; fifth behind the T332s of Andretti, Redman, Warwick Brown and Al Unser.

McRae shipped the car to New Zealand, developing its aerodynamics with a Ferrari-inspired blade front wing, and long fences atop each sidepod. It was quick too – those who deride it should look at the car’s qualifying pace rather than its dismal finishing record.

The GM2/MR-1 was on pole in McRae’s hands at Levin, Pukekohe, Wigram and Teretonga, with Chris Amon, in Jack McCormack’s heavy, underpowered MR-1, second on the grid at Pukekohe, Wigram, Teretonga, Oran Park and Adelaide.

McRae won at Wigram and Amon at Teretonga but Lola T332s won five of the six rounds, John Goss’ Matich A53 Repco the other.

In 1975 the Talon MR-1As were well off the Lola T332C’s pace.

McRae got with the strength and raced one, though a dismal season of finishes among flashes of speed was indicative of his lack of funds.

McRae’s best international days were over.

The Kiwi gave the ’76 Australasian Internationals a miss to focus on his final F5000 car. The GM3 Chev was radical looking with its wonderful Tyrrell P34 inspired perspex cockpit body section. The otherwise conventional car was built by McRae and Graham Lister in Costa Mesa.

McRae was crazy to build it with the US in the throes of ditching F5000 and replacing it with a central-seat 5-litre Can-Am formual. McRae raced it at Riverside as a single-seater, and then with no funds, converted it to CanAm. Bonkers.

In 1977 he raced it at Watkins Glen, Road America, Mid Ohio and Riverside, which yielded his best result – Q11/P6.

At season’s end GM3 reverted to single-seater guise for the 1978 Rothmans International Series in Australia. His old pace was there, but Q2/P3 at Oran Park his best result.

The car stayed in Australia. McRae, in his last competitive hurrah, won the ‘78 AGP and Gold Star; his two round wins were his last victories, including a tilt in the ’79 Rothmans.

The final changes to the chassis were made in New Zealand for CanAm races in the US in late 1980, 1981 and into 1982. But McRae’s final GM9 seasons were a waste of his talent, though he wasn’t the first to know when he should quit.

After a return to New Zealand in the late ‘80s, McRae constructed 38 beautifully engineered and built

McRae converted his GM3 to the GM9 Chev, to contest the 5-litre Can-Am series round at Watkins Glen in 1981 (above).

McRae’s GM2 Chev - note the blade front wing and side fences - with Kevin Bartlett’s Lola T400 Chev probing on the inside, at the Oran Park 100 in 1975 (below).

replica Porsche 356 Speedsters using 2-litre 914 engines and gearboxes.

Together with his Maserarri, McRae 1.5, and F5000 cars (inclusive of Talon MR-1) his total output is about 60 cars.

Mental health problems brought this strongest of men to his knees in the final decades of his life.

My recollections of McRae are all at Sandown, plus one Oran Park race. I witnessed all his Sandown wins except the first in ‘71. His ’72 Tasman/AGP victory was my first race meeting. That oh-so-fast, bellowing, lurid dayglo-red Leda GM1 and its confident, handsome driver is forever etched in my memory …

Last race for Graham McRae. The 1986 Bathurst 1000 sharing a factory Volvo 240T with Neville Crichton and John Bowe. They finished 11th.

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TIN TOP TALENT Edan Thornburrow T has never been far from the top throu throughout his motor sport journey. He spoke to N JOSH NEVETT about his growth and achievements over a blossoming young career.

IT HAS hardly been a conventional road through motor sport for Edan Thornburrow.

You will not find karting on his CV, nor will you find any open-wheel racing.

Rather, the Sydneysider has taken the path less travelled, ahead of establishing himself at a level this year.

Thornburrow now sits third in the National Trans Am Series in 2021, having demonstrated his driving prowess to television audiences across the country.

Professional racing was not always on his radar, however.

“My passion for racing began watching Dad going around in a Porsche 944, doing basic club days, track days and skid pan events,” Thornburrow told Auto Action.

“When I started to watch him, I thought ‘What age can I start doing that?’

“At age 12, I jumped straight into the Porsche and (was) doing Motorkhanas.

“It’s an old Porsche as well so it’s manual, no ABS, no driver aids.”

Motorkhanas, the manoeuvring of a car through tight cone-marked courses as quickly as possible, could be considered the Concord local’s first informal driver training.

Thornburrow will not forget his moment in the spotlight as the 2019 Motorsport Australia Young Driver of the Year (above) which capped off a strong year.

It was this introduction to motor sport that gave Thornburrow the fundamental skillset to progress through his teenage years.

“At 14, I did what dad was doing, basic track days, historic days at Sydney Motorsport Park, Wakefield Park and when it went to Philip Island a couple of times as well,” Thornburrow remembers.

“It was basically me and dad going to the track, and it was purely just a hobby.”

This may have remained the extent of the family’s involvement, if not for a chance encounter which set his racing career in motion.

“The Toyota 86 drive actually came about going to one of the (Toyota Gazoo Racing) 86 Series events here

A Toyota 86 took Thornburrow to a New South Wales Production Touring Car Championship win (left).

38 AutoAction

at Sydney Olympic Park, when they used to do the Supercars rounds there,” Thornburrow recalls.

“After talking to Dave Nicol the idea came about of actually building an 86 and running it in production cars.”

This move paid dividends immediately.

Under the watchful eyes of Nicol and his father Phillip, the youngster won Class D of the 2019 New South Wales Production Touring Car Championship and finished fourth outright.

Success was sudden and sustained through that season, a memory that the 18-year-old cherishes.

“I would say winning the production car championship is probably the most exciting moment. Winning the first race in the 86, that was an amazing time,” Thornburrow said.

Given these results, it is no surprise that Thornburrow does not regret skipping the traditional karting phase that most young drivers use as a motor sport base.

“I’ve had this conversation with quite a few people. I don’t think there’s really anything that I missed out on,” Thornburrow said.

“Jumping straight into a car, I guess I got to develop the skills needed to drive a car rather than possibly picking up things in a go kart which you may not be able to take to a car.”

Thornburrow was rewarded further after his triumph, receiving the Motorsport Australia ‘Young Driver Award’ as recognition of his significant milestone and evident potential.

Previous winners of the accolade include Supercars Championship race winner Anton De Pasquale and S5000 Australian Drivers’ Championship winner Joey Mawson.

“When I got that award, it was very rewarding because it showed that all the work that we had put in to get in the 86 had paid off,” a proud Thornburrow shared.

The colours might be the same but much has changed for Thornburrow in his transition from racing a familyrun Porsche 944 (right) to mixing it on the national stage in a Trans Am Ford Mustang (above).

“It was an amazing experience going down to Melbourne for the awards night, there were very high-class drivers there, and then there was me.”

With the racing world now at the New South Welshman’s feet, there was a decision to make.

After a period of deliberation, Thornburrow was set for a promotion to the National Trans Am Series.

“It had to be a category that was first of all cost effective,” Thornburrow explained.

“Second, it had to be a step up from what I was doing, and something that will give me the exposure to a wider audience of people.

“Trans Am just sort of fell into place.

I really like where the category itself is going, and how ARG (Australian Racing Group) are promoting it through their events.

“It is an international category as well, you’ve got Trans Am in Asia, America, there’s pathways, it’s not just a closed end thing.”

The success Thornburrow has had in his debut 2021 Trans Am Australia Series could only be described as unanticipated.

The Ford Mustang driver is third in the standings, behind only Aaron Seton and Nathan Herne, with a couple of rounds remaining.

Despite not registering a podium finish, Thornburrow has been a picture

of consistency, regularly gracing the top five.

Such results have put the exclamation mark on a meteoric rise.

“I had no expectations,” Thornburrow said.

“I remember the first test day jumping into the Trans Am and it was like my eyes had opened going down the straight for the first time, it was insane.

“To be completely honest, the idea was to learn throughout this year, and then being third on top of that is just a huge bonus.

“With all the names that you’ve got in there, to be in the mix with the front runners is a great experience for me.”

Off the track, Thornburrow is tackling the beast that is final year HSC studies,

attempting to balance his motor sport ventures with academic demands.

This makes his Trans Am success all the more impressive and bodes well for the pressure cooker motor sport environments on the horizon.

“Finishing Year 12 is probably the other biggest thing in my life, and we’ve got our HSC exams later in October,” he explained.

To combat the stresses of 2021, Thornburrow also returns to his motor sport roots.

The Porsche 944 in which he started his journey still sits in the garage, driven on the weekends in a slightly different manner to the days of Motorkhana.

“I’ve got the little 944 that was my first somewhat race car, but it’s my road car

now,” Thornburrow beams.

Partnering the 944 is, you guessed it, a Toyota 86. That machine is a bone stock road example without racing history, but it still brings back memories of Thornburrow’s 2019 season.

“I’ve got an 86 as well that I drive on the road. It’s a little manual thing, they’ve got no power. So, a turbo kit might be in the works. But I have to say the racing is a priority at the moment,” Thornburrow says with a laugh.

Progress through motor sport has been rapid for Thornburrow but, at least in the immediate future, the racer is satisfied with stability.

“Next year, the plan is to stay in Trans Am,” Thornburrow revealed.

“I like where the category is going, and how they continue to maintain that cost effective racing, with all the perks of going around Australia and the TV coverage that it gets.”

However, understandably this rising star is hesitant to set a ceiling on his development.

“There’s still a bunch of different opportunities in different categories around Australia and the world,” Thornburrow said.

“I started out in Porsches. To be honest, that’s the dream to get back into a Porsche.

“Whatever comes my way, I’ll jump into it.”

Edan Thornburrow has already earned national recognition and demonstrated an admirable tenacity towards prioritising self-improvement.

Whether it is in a Ford Mustang Trans Am at Phillip Island or racing Porsches in Europe, the future is bright for Concord’s young gun.

AutoAction

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BIKES

BONKERS BINDER TAKES WIN Report: DAN MCCARTHY Images:RED BULL CONTENT POOL SOUTH AFRICAN Brad Binder braved the wet conditions on slicks to win the Austrian Grand Prix for the factory KTM outfit.

Staying out on slicks was a very risky decision but it paid massive dividends, with the former Moto3 champion winning the second Grand Prix of his career and KTM a win in its home event.

The race was dry for much of the encounter, buta shower in the closing laps threw eveything up in the air.

Aussie Jack Miller pitted too early for wets, a gamble that did not pay off, and he finished outside the top 10.

For the second weekend in a row Jorge Martin scored pole position at the Red Bull Ring, however he had to do things the hard way.

The Spaniard began Saturday by missing out on an automatic Q2 spot in practice 3 and then crashed in practice 4, minutes before the start of qualifying.

This did not deter him, Martin performing under pressure to advance through the first qualifying session.

Martin then stepped up a level in Q2, breaking the lap record set by his Pramac Ducati teammate Johann Zarco on Friday.

The crucial time was set in the final

Brad Binder put together a sensational ride at the Red Bull Ring, staying on slicks in the pouring rain to win the Austrian Grand Prix (above), scoring KTM’s first win at home. Earlier in dry conditions, Francesco Bagnia, Marc Marquez and Fabio Quartararo battle for the lead (below).

moments of Q2, robbing championship leader Fabio Quartararo of the top spot.

Miller’s Ducati teammate Francesco Bagnaia qualified third ahead of Zarco, eight-time Motorcycle World champion Marc Marquez, Miller and reigning champion Joan Mir on his Suzuki.

Notably Binder qualified in 10th position.

Under threatening skies on Sunday, it was Bagnaia who made the best start and led into Turn 1 from Martin.

At the end of the opening lap Bagnaia led from Martin, Zarco, Marquez, Quartararo, Miller and Mir. These seven riders quickly pulled a margin on the chasing pack, however despite the history of Ducati domination at the track, it appeared that sole factory Yamaha rider Quartararo was fastest.

The Frenchman fell back to sixth on lap 1 after a mistake at Turn 6, however worked his way past all the Ducatis and Marquez’s Honda to lead briefly on lap 8, though it did not last long as Bagnaia blasted back by on the pit straight.

At the halfway stage Bagnaia led Quartararo and Marquez, there was a 1s gap back to Pramac teammates Martin and Zarco, while Miller and Mir were falling away.

On lap 18 of 28 the race was turned on its head as the rain began to fall.

At Turn 9 championship contender

Zarco made his first unforced error of the season crashing out of the race.

KTM rider Binder was becoming a threat, quickly catching and passed Miller, which saw the Australian pit for wets soon after.

On lap 25 the rain increased even more and saw Bagnaia, Marquez, Quartararo, Martin and Mir all pit, returning outside the top 10 but quickly catching the slick tyre runners as the rain continued to increase.

Binder was in amongst the leading group when the rain began to fall heavily, but was the only one who elected to stay out on slicks.

Despite losing 15s to the riders on wet tyres on the final lap alone, Binder stayed upright and took a remarkable victory.

After sitting in the lead for much of the race, Bagnaia recovered to finish second, having started the last lap in 10th.

Pole sitter and previous race weekend winner Martin finished third ahead of Mir. Italian Luca Marini remained on slick tyres and was phenomenal on the final lap, passing many of his fellow slick tyre rivals to earn a career high fifth position.

Iker Lecuona looked set for his maiden

FERNANDEZ CLOSES IN IN MOTO2, Raul Fernandez slashed his Aussie teammate Remy Gardner’s championship lead after taking victory at the Red Bull Ring.

For the first-time all-season Gardner finished outside the top five and his Ajo KTM teammate capitalised, riding an incredibly mature race out front to take his fourth win of the season.

From second on the grid Fernandez made a very strong start, however it was polesitter and former championship leader Sam Lowes who led into Turn 1.

It was a congested first turn further back in the pack.

Gardner was thinking championship, played it safe and backed out of a four-bike sandwich, so lost ground and fell outside of the top 10.

Further forwards on lap 3 Fernandez took the lead from Lowes, moving up the inside at Turn 3.

Ai Ogura and Augusto Fernandez pulled the same move on Lowes on laps 4 and 5 respectively.

At this stage Gardner had made his way back up

42 AutoAction

to ninth position, however, the Australian would struggle to make much further progress from this point.

It was an incredibly intense fight up at the head of the field, with none of the leading quartet putting a foot wrong.

With 10 laps to go it was still Raul Fernandez that lead from Ogura, Augusto Fernandez and his teammate Lowes.

By this stage Gardner had made his up to

MotoGP podium with just five corners to go, however was overtaken by the wet tyre riders and Marini, and finished sixth on his Tech3 KTM, still a career best.

Quartararo finished seventh ahead of Valentino Rossi, who briefly sat in the podium positions.

Alex Marquez ended the race ninth ahead of Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro, who had started the final lap in second position. Miller finished 11th.

Marc Marquez was the leader of the wet tyre runners, however with three laps left fell off his Honda at Turn 1, remounted but could only finish in 15th.

Points: Quartararo 181, Bagnaia 134, Mir 134, Zarco 132, Miller 105, Binder 98, Vinales 95, Oliveira 85, A Espargaro 67, Martin 64

seventh position and would remain there for the rest of the race.

Up front Fernandez looked to have victory in the bag, however with just a handful of laps remaining Ogura turned up the wick. The Japanese rider began to nibble into the Spaniard’s lead and managed to get the margin down to just 0.3s.

Fernandez saw the challenge and responded, extending his margin to 0.5s with two laps remaining.

The KTM Ajo rider went on to take victory by 0.845s from Agura who, despite missing out on the win, was still able to celebrate his first MotoGP podium.

A bit further back and just out of touching distance Augusto Fernandez held on to take third, his third successive podium finish, with Lowes in fourth.

Gardner finished a lonely seventh, his lowest position of the season to date and 13.657s behind his race winning teammate.

Fernandez’s win saw him cut Gardner’s championship lead down from 35 points to 19.

Points: Gardner 206, R Fernandez 187, Bezzecchi 159, Lowes 114, Canet 83

ALL SQUARE IN WSBK Report: Dan McCarthy Images: Motorsport Images AFTER 21 races it’s all square at the top of the FIM World Superbike championship between factory Yamaha rider Toprak Razgatlioglu and Kawasaki’s Jonathon Rea. For the second round in succession WSBK visited a new race venue, this time the Circuito de Navarra in Spain, and over the three races Ducati’s Scott Redding scored the most points to close the gap to the leading pair.

Redding scored the first two race victories, while Razgatlioglu fought back to win the final encounter.

The top three in the championship were in a league of their own, locking out the podium in each race.

At the start of race one, it was Redding who made the best jump and led into Turn 1, however reigning champion Rea made his way by at the Turn 6-7 complex.

Redding then withstood a brief challenge from Yamaha rider Andrea Locatelli.

Razgatlioglu started from eighth after a poor qualifying session, however quickly moved up to fourth on the opening lap.

At the end of lap 5, Redding got a better run out of the Turn 15 to make a move on Rea into the incredibly fast right-hander of Turn 1.

Once ahead Redding put his head down and gapped Rea, pulling out a gap of a second on Rea over the next handful of laps.

Further back, on lap 7 Locatelli ran wide and allowed his teammate Razgatlioglu onto the podium.

The order remained the same to the line with Redding taking the win by 2.519s from Rea, who survived a number of

THE IMMEDIATE departure of Maverick Vinales from Yamaha (see News) has triggered a rider shuffle for the Japanese manufacturer ahead of the next MotoGP round at Silverstone.

Yamaha has recalled test and reserve rider Cal Crutchlow to the factory Monster Energy squad from Petronas Yamaha. This leaves a space for Englishman Jake Dixon to make his MotoGP debut while regular rider Franco Morbidelli is still recovering from knee surgery. DM Ducati's Scott Redding (above) scored the most points over the three races. Toprak Razgatlioglu, Jonathon Rea/ and Scott Redding battled at the front (left) and head the World Super Bike points table.

mid-race scares. Razgatlioglu came home third ahead of Locatelli and Alex Lowes.

The elbows came out in the Superpole race between the championship contenders as they jostled for position up the front.

Redding went back-to-back, but the win was far from easy, the Englishman pushed by both his championship rivals throughout.

Once again it was Redding who led into Turn 1, however the star of the opening lap was Razgatlioglu who made his way from eighth to second.

All three title rivals led the race at some point.

Razgatlioglu led early when he took advantage of Redding and Rea, battling to move back into second before overtaking Rea at Turn 1.

The trio continued to battle, however it appeared Razgatlioglu did not have the pace of his rivals with both Redding and Rea making their way by.

It looked as though Redding had victory

in the bag but Rea closed to within striking distance on the final lap.

However, the Englishman held onto victory by just over half a second from Rea, while Razgatlioglu only just held Locatelli at bay.

In the final encounter, the pack was shuffled early on with Locatelli making a storming start from fourth on the grid to take the lead.

He was followed by his teammate Razgatlioglu as Rea went the other way dropping to fifth.

This would not last long, as once again the top three in the championship rose to the fore.

Rea, Redding and Razgatlioglu exchanged positions on the opening laps however once it settled down, it was the Yamaha rider who led.

Razgatlioglu pulled a margin by lap 17, but Rea had not given up, he was pushing and as a result made an error at Turn 15 and allowed Redding to latch onto his tail.

Another error by the Northern Irishman the following lap allowed Redding to make his way by.

Razgatlioglu went on to take the win from Redding, Rea, Lowes and Locatelli.

SWISS RIDER Thomas Luthi, the 2005 125cc World Champion, has announced he’ll retire at the end of 2021. The veteran sits behind only Valentino Rossi, Loris Capirossi and Andrea Dovizioso with 311 Grands Prix starts, including one season in the premier class. In 2022 Luthi will take on the role of PrustelGP’s Sporting Director, assisting in its Moto3 and Junior Moto3 World Championship efforts, as well as managing Swiss talent Noah Dettwiler. DM

THE MALAYSIAN Motorcycle Grand Prix has become the latest victim of COVID-19 related travel restrictions. The round scheduled for the Sepang International Circuit has been cancelled due to the ongoing pandemic. In its place, MotoGP will run a second round at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli, in what will be Valentino Rossi’s final race in Italy, on the weekend of 22-24th of October. RV

Points: Razgatlıoglu 311, Rea 311, Redding 273, Lowes 169, Locatelli 151

REDDING ANNOUNCES MOVE TO BMW

FACTORY DUCATI World Superbike rider Scott Redding has made the shock announcement he will depart the Italian team at the end of the season and move to BMW. This came as a suprise to the World Superbike paddock as Redding is a major championship contender with the Italian manufacturer this year.

The British rider joined the championship in 2020 and enjoyed success from the outset with three successive podiums and a win in just his fourth race.

Redding went onto second in the championship, behind only Jonathon Rea. In 2022 Redding will move to BMW alongside Dutch ace Michael van der Mark.

In a post on Instagram, Redding paid tribute to his Ducati colleagues, but said it felt right to join BMW. “This is a very special day for me to announce that I will be joining BMW

Motorrad Motorsport for the 2022 World Superbike Championship campaign,” he posted.

“They were the first manufacturer that really wanted me to sign for them in WorldSBK, and I’m thrilled that we have been able to reach this

agreement.

“This was a very difficult decision for me because I have enjoyed my time with Ducati immensely.

“I have raced for them in MotoGP, British Superbikes and WorldSBK. They helped me win the British Superbike title in my first attempt in 2019 and I was able to finish runner-up in my first season in World Superbikes with their support last year.”

It is thought that Ducati is once again pursuing the services of former 125cc World Champion and threetime MotoGP podium finisher Alvaro Bautista.

Bautista raced for Ducati in his maiden World Superbike season in

2019, winning the first 11 races that year.

However, several crashes mid-season saw the relationship between Bautista and Ducati sour and he departed to race for Honda at seasons end.

Since moving to the Japanese squad Bautista has finished on the podium just once and looks the likely candidate to reclaim the seat at Ducati.

Redding, meanwhile, is determined to give his all to win the 2021 title with the Italian manufacturer.

"My only focus now is to continue giving my maximum for Ducati and my crew for the remainder of 2021. We are still fighting to win the title and I’m determined to end our relationship in positive fashion."

For 2022 talks between BMW and van der Mark’s current teammate, 2013 World Champion Tom Sykes, are underway about a contract extension for 2022.

It is understood that BMW want to retain Sykes within the brand, offering him a ride on a satellite BMW. Dan McCarthy

AUSTRALIAN MOTORCYCLE legend Wayne Gardner has praised son Remy, who sits at the top of the 2021 Moto2 World Championship, ahead of a move to MotoGP next season.

Speaking to the media, the 1987 500cc Motorcycle World Champion was confident of Remy’s successful transition to MotoGP. “I’m sure we’re going to see him do very well in MotoGP,” Wayne Gardner said. “The bigger the bike for Remy the better because he’s a heavy sized lad. I think he’s going to be very strong and as quick as all these young guys.” JN

THE FOXTEL Group has renewed its broadcast rights for the FIM MotoGP World Championship from 2022 onwards, in a new exclusive multiyear deal. Every practice session, qualifying and championship race will continue to be shown live on Foxtel and Kayo. Complementing this will be renewed coverage of the World Superbike Championship. JN

AutoAction

43

LE MANS 2021 Images: Motorsport Images

TOYOTA HYPERCARS 1-2 AT LE MANS ALTHOUGH NOT a classic, the 2021 edition of the Le Mans 24 Hours delivered another dramatic race with heartbreak and action going all the way to the final corner of the race!

The 2021 edition will be forever known as the start of the Hypercar era at Le Mans, in which the two Toyotas finished 1-2 in an emotional formation finish.

Australians had mixed fortune, however an Aussie made it onto the podium after drama in the dying seconds of the race.

HYPERCAR

AFTER SEVERAL years of heartache, the #7 Toyota trio of Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway and Jose Maria Lopez finally achieved victory in the illusive Le Mans 24 Hour race.

The win was Toyota’s fourth in a row, but this one visibly meant a lot as it was the first in the new Hypercar era.

For the fourth time in five years Kobayashi qualified on pole position for the 24 Hour race, however luck

was finally on the side of the #7 machine as they powered to victory by two laps from the sister #8 Toyota machine.

Despite the two-lap difference the Toyota Gazoo Racing machines staged a formation finish, with the #7 and #8 crossing the line side by side.

The race began in wet conditions which caused incredible drama over the first hour.

In the top-tier Hypercar class the shocks began at Turn 2 on lap 4,

Motorsport Images

Images: Motorsport Images

44 AutoAction

after three laps behind the safety car for safety reasons Once the race went green the #36 Alpine made its way past the #8 Toyota and into second at Turn 1, as Sebastien Buemi elected for a cautious approach into Turn 2.

However all locked up, the #708 Glickenhaus with Oliver Pla at the wheel speared into the side of him.

It caused panel damage to the #708 machine which had never even been driven in wet conditions previously.

The #8 Toyota spun 180 degrees before he continued, however halfway around the lap it came to a stop, driver Buemi having to reboot the machine.

He did so successfully before the Swiss driver made a mistake and took an excursion down an escape road, all of which meant that #8 was right at the back by the completion of lap 1.

Most importantly, though, the car was surprisingly unscathed and slowly Buemi began to make his way past the GTE Am, Pro and LMP2 machines.

The #8 trio was then thrown a lifeline when the leading #7 machine suffered not one but two early race punctures, allowing the #8 Toyota back to within a pitstop of the leader.

The lead switched hands multiple times as one car would pit and then The delayed Le Mans 24 Hour race began in wet conditions with, predictably, the two Toyotas to the fore. However their race was not to be that straight forward.

Toyota celebrates an unsurprising win, the first in the new Hypercar era. Winners Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway and Jose Maria Lopez enjoy the podium (below).

the other, the two cars out of sync with each other.

The #36 Alpine was expected to be a threat to the Toyotas and likely would have been, were it not for two unforced errors in wet conditions early in the race, one in the first hour on the exit of Indianapolis.

The second one was more costly.

Lapping two GTE cars, the #36 Alpine spun into the gravel at the first Mulsanne Chicane, costing the trio two laps.

Out front, the fight between the #7 and #8 Toyotas was intense, but the #7 trio appeared to have a slight edge, and over the many hours during the night, began to increase the lead.

The decisive moment came with just over six hours of the race remaining when the #8 car came to a halt once again. This saw it lose over 80s and fall a lap behind the leading Toyota.

From then on the #8 had to nurse several issues including a fuel pump issue which saw Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Kazuki Nakajima forced to cut their stints short on several occasions.

In the closing minutes the #8 car went another lap down but enabled Toyota to set up a formation finish.

Kobayashi, Maria Lopez and Conway took their maiden Le Mans 24 Hour win ahead of the reigning champions Buemi, Hartley and Nakajima, two laps down.

In third, a further two laps down, was the #36 Alpine of Nicolas

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Lapierre, Andre Negrao and Matthieu Vaxiviere Vaxiviere.

Impressively and surprisingly, all five Hypercars finished the race and finished well, all of them locking out the top five positions in the race.

The #708 Glickenhaus on debut at Le Mans finished 2m 34.103s behind the Alpine, while a further three laps behind was the #709, which contained Aussie Ryan Briscoe.

LMP2

THERE WAS heartbreak and drama on the final lap of the race in LMP2, with the class leading machine coming to an abrupt halt in an incredibly tight finish at the line.

All this allowed an Australian to

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finish on the podium podium, James Allen for Panis Racing.

There is always one tale of woe at Le Mans, and this year it happened on the final lap of the race in LMP2.

Team WRT, in its Le Mans 24 Hours debut, looked set for a historic 1-2 finish.

The leading #41 of Robert Kubica, Louis Deletraz, with Ye Yifei behind the wheel, came to a stop out of Turn 3, just a few kilometres from the line.

Just seconds after the #41 machine came to a stop it appeared as though Team WRT wasn’t going to win at all, as the #28 Jota car was taking chunks out of the new class leader #31.

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Robin Frijns in the #31 machine held on by just 0.727s at the line, narrowly missing the flag waver as he held off the attack, overtaking the GT cars on the line.

It was incredible finish, after 24 hours of racing, the margin of victory for Frijns, Ferdinand Habsburg and Charles Milesi was less than a second from Tom Blomqvist, Sean Gelael and Stoffel Vandoorne.

The #41 machine’s retirement on the final lap meant that the #65 Panis Racing entry containing Australian Allen, Julien Canal and Will Stevens inherited the final step of the LMP2 podium, despite finishing a lap down.

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LE MANS 2021

The winning GTE Pro AF Corse Ferrari driven by James Calado, Alessandro Pier Guidi and Come Ledogar.

The podium was mightily impressive given the trio are a European Le Mans team making a one off appearance.

Despite completing the same number of laps, the rule at Le Mans says you must finish the race which the #41 did not do.

Although Team WRT and JOTA finished 1-2, it was the other cars that were faster throughout the race.

Obviously the #41 Team WRT car came to a halt on the final lap, but the pole sitting #38 JOTA spun off from the lead. Anthony Davidson had not long taken over from Antonio Felix da Costa when he lost a lap before he was put back on Australian James Allen made the podium in LMP2, third for Panis Racing with Julien Canal and Will track.

Stevens.

Other contenders fell by the wayside in incidents and accidents GTE PRO had subsided the Ferraris rose to including both G-Drive Racing cars, THE ORDER in GTE Pro was the fore. and the Racing Team Nederland shuffled just moments into the It was not an easy win for the machines. Two of the three United race as the Ferraris, Porsches and Italian manufacturer, but the AF Autosports machines collided with Corvettes were forced to navigate Corse team always looked in each other as night fell. their way through the slow LMP2 control.

Despite their challenges Australian machines in the wet conditions.

It looked as though a 1-2 could be John Corbett, adopted Aussie Early on the Corvettes were a big on the cards, however suspension James Winslow, and Tom Cloet surprise looking strong on in the wet failure with about half of the race finished 31st of the 61 starters. conditions, however once the rain remaining for the #52 machine saw

them fall out of contention.

The #51 consisting of James Calado, Alessandro Pier Guidi and Come Ledogar were pressured but never threatened by the #63 Corvette and took the class honours.

The #63 Corvette Racing trio of Nicky Catsburg, Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor finished on the same lap and kept the Ferraris honest, but were never close enough to attack.

Porsche put all three manufacturers in the top three positions with its #92 entry of Michael Christensen, Kevin Estre and Neel Jani finishing in third.

It was an all-Porsche battle for the final step of the podium in the final hours. With just under five hours to go, the #92 made its way by at Turn 1 and held on to the finish.

In fact, the #91 car was lucky to finish fourth after an off track moment with 70 minutes remaining which damaged the underfloor.

The LMP2 Team WRT entry (below) of Robin Frijns, Ferdinand Habsburg and Charles Milesi took victory only after the team’s other entry stopped on the last lap! Matt Campebell and Jaxon Evans teamed up for Porsche but were only fifth in GTE-AM (below cente). AF Corse celebrate (right) after winning GTE Pro and GTE Am.

Images: Motorsport Images

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ALTHOUGH PORSCHE and Aston Martin dominated qualifying in GTE Am, once again, as it was in GTE Pro, AF Corse took class honours for Ferrari.

The #83 trio of Nicklas Nielsen, Francois Perrodo and Alessio Rovera claimed victory by over a lap from the #33 TF Sport Aston Martin.

Former Carrera Cup Australia Series winners Matt Campbell and Jaxon Evans finished fifth in their #77 Depsey Proton Porsche. It was a challenging start for teammate Christian Ried in the wet conditions, however great stints from Campbell and Evans saw the trio sit in fifth when dawn emerged.

They remained in that position until the flag fell, an impressive finish with a total of 23 entrants in the class.

The #57 Kessel Racing Ferrari containing Australian Scott Andrews was fighting for a podium position mid-way through the night. However the car came failed to greet the chequered flag.

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INTERNATIONAL

POWERING UP THE STANDINGS Report: JOSH NEVETT AUSSIE WILL Power claimed a first IndyCar Series victory of the season in Indianapolis, adding to his impressive five-win haul at the venue.

The Team Penske driver finished 1.144s ahead of former Formula 1 driver Romain Grosjean and also held off Colton Herta, who came home third.

It was the 40th career IndyCar Series victory for the Queenslander, lifting him into fifth on the all-time win list.

Power was relieved to clinch the win after a couple of near misses throughout the season.

“So stoked to get the Verizon 5G car in Victory Lane. Oh, what a relief, man,” Power said.

“We needed that as a group.

“I can’t tell you how good these guys have been all year. Flawless

Image: Motorsport Images on pit stops. They’ve given me the car, and we’ve had some bad luck. I’ve made some mistakes, as well.

“When the yellow came and then another one, you’ve got to survive those yellows, we had a really good car. It’s tough to get by lapped traffic, but the car was solid out front.”

Power qualified on the front row in second behind polesitter Pato O’Ward.

From that advantageous grid position, Power was able to get off to a strong start at Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, sitting in second place for the opening stint of the race.

After biding his time, the 40-yearold took the lead from O’Ward after the first round of pitstops and wasn’t troubled thereafter.

Power racked up a 9-second margin before safety cars provided the only threat to Power’s lead.

In the #51 Nurtec ODT Honda, Grosjean’s second place finish was the equal best of his rookie IndyCar season.

For Herta, the podium result was a welcome return to form after a disappointing late-race crash in Nashville.

2016 Indianapolis 500 winner Alexander Rossi earned his season-best finish of fourth.

Polesitter O’Ward had to settle for fifth.

NEWGARDEN AND O’WARD THE WINNERS AT GATEWAY THE INDYCAR championship chase has tightened up considerably and the name at the top of the points table changed after a hectic race on the Gateway short oval.

Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden took the win ahead of new championship leader Pato O’Ward (Arrow McLaren SP) and pole qualifier and Penske team-mate Will Power.

Making the night even better for Penske was fourth-pace for rookie Scott McLaughlin. It was his second best result of the year, bettered only by second at Texas Motor Speedway in May. Four-time IndyCar champions Sebastien Bourdais delivered a hardfought fifth for AJ Foyt from 19th on the grid with Takuma Sato sixth for RLLR. Former championship leader Alex Palou scored no points after being knocked into the wall by Rinus Veekay at one of five early race restarts.

Palou took out Ganassi team-mate Scott Dixon in the same incident, accidentally ensuring the defending champion also didn’t take any points from the 260-lap Saturday night race.

O’Ward now leads the championship by 10 points ahead of Palou, with Newgarden third 22 points off the pace. Dixon has slipped from third to fourth 43 points behind. His Ganassi team-mate Marcus Ericsson rounds out the title contenders 60 points down. Mclaughlin is 13th in the championship.

The race’s early stages were also marred by a series of accidents and cautions that eliminated Ed Jones, Graham Rahal and Ed Carpenter and sent Simon Pagenaud to the back after Images: Motorsport Images a clash with team-mate Newgarden

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Scott McLaughlin was fourth on the Gateway short oval, extending his Rookie points lead (above). Penske teammate Josef Newgarden (left) was too good, winning comfortably.

Images: Motorsport Images

The early cautions also meant the race turned into an extended economy run as the leaders strived to get home in three rather than four stops. Chevrolet comfortably won that challenge, filling the first five finishing positions.

McLaughlin qualified 11th and picked his way forward throughout the race.

McLaughlin los extended his lead in the rookie of the year honours over Romain Grosjean, who finished a feisty lap down on his oval debut in 14th.

Newgarden took control of the race on lap 185 after leader Colton Herta was forced out with a broken driveshaft.

Other contenders to miss out included Herta’s Andretti Autosport team-mate Alex Rossi, who slid up into the wall on cold tyres after his final pit

stop. Ericsson nearly did the same, dropping him back to ninth at the finish after running in the top six.

Not only was McLaughlin pleased with the result but also that his strong test here a few weeks ago led to set-up improvements across the Penske squad.

“I’m glad my feedback has translated to some performance gains for all the guys and I ‘m really proud of that,” he told NBC post-race.

“It shows I am learning the car and getting better and more comfortable with it and trusting myself.

“That’s the biggest thing for my journey right now; trusting my ability and trusting what I want from the car.”

Newgarden praised McLaughlin’s role in his win, the third in six starts at Gateway for the Tennessee driver.

“I couldn’t ask for much more,” Newgarden said. “Everyone did a great job. I’m thrilled. We’ve got to keep going. We know this is going to

be a climb, but this goes a long way tonight.

“Any win is important for the year.

Wish we had a couple more to this point and were in a different position, but we’ve always got to fight with where we’re at and what we’ve got in our hands.”

O’Ward closed to within 0.5 sec of Newgarden at the flag but was dubious about making a lunge for the lead.

“It was a very solid points day for us,” O’Ward said. “I think we maximized what we could have gotten out of our car and our race.”

Palou had climbed into 10th place after starting 21st due to a nine-spot grid position penalty because of an unapproved engine change after last week’s IMS GP failure. In two races his 42-point championship lead has more than evaporated.

“I thought I was on the outside, and suddenly I got hit,” Palou said. “I had plenty of room with Scott, and Scott had plenty of room with the guy in front, and we just got hit. There was no space there. I don’t know where he (VeeKay) wanted to go.”

Veekay took full responsibility for the error: “I’m very sorry for Alex and Scott.

I had a really good restart on the inside of Alex and behind Scott. I get into turn one, and I was really focusing on Scott, just to stay behind him, and it just kind of stacked up.

“I tried to slow down, but we’re in oval spec, and I think just before I hit Scott, I’m even locking up the fronts.”

The championship now takes a two week break before resuming for the final three championship rounds at Portland, Laguna Seca and Long Beach. BN

ALBON ACES WHILE LAWSON LANGUISHES IN DTM Report: Josh Nevett KELVIN VAN der Linde extended his championship lead with a race win while Alex Albon secured his maiden victory in Round 4 of the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM) at the Nurburgring.

Kiwi Liam Lawson had a disappointing weekend, falling to fifth in the standings after finishing 13th in Race 1 and retiring from Race 2.

South African van der Linde got the jump on his rivals to begin the round, qualifying on pole with a 1m 26.052s lap.

This form translated into a Race 1 triumph for the ABT Sportsline driver, who won 13.503s ahead of Philip Ellis’ WINWARD MercedesAMG. Out of a packed 23-car field, guest driver Luca Stolz crossed the line second.

However, the German had the position stripped after he was dealt a 30-second time penalty for hitting a rival GruppeM Racing team mechanic when approaching his pit position.

Stolz was unable to score points regardless as a guest driver, so Ellis was promoted to second and hometown hero Mike Rockenfeller jumped from fourth to the podium places.

Porsche made its highly anticipated DTM debut, but there was to be no fairy-tale result for Michael Ammermuller, who had to retire his SSR Performance 911 from the race after just one lap.

Lawson had to settle for 13th after he was spun by Markus Winkelhock.

In Race 2, Albon became the first Thai race winner in DTM’s history lifting him to fourth in the standings.

GruppeM Mercedes-AMG driver Daniel Juncadella was second and Marco Wittmann was third for Walkenhorst Motorsport.

Maximilian Gotz registered his second fourth place finish of the weekend, ahead of Esteban Muth in fifth.

Championship contenders van der Linde and Lawson were both forced to retire after the pair made contact.

Lawson also had to serve a drivethrough penalty for the collision.

DTM action returns to the Red Bull Ring in Austria for Round 5 from September 3-6.

DE VRIES WINS DRAMATIC FORMULA E CHAMPIONSHIP Report: Dan McCarthy Images: Motorsport Images

New Zealander Evans was now in the box seat with his third-place DESPITE ONLY scoring position on the grid. four points in the final Dennis was ninth, round of the Formula E Mortara 11th and despite World Championship in holding the championship Berlin, Mercedes driver lead, de Vries appeared Nyck de Vries did enough to be the outsider after to win the title as his rivals qualifying 13th. fell by the wayside.

As the lights went Heading into the final out there was drama race of the season a immediately as Evans’ staggering 13 drivers were Jaguar suffered a still in contention to win the mechanical issue.

Images: Motorsport Images Formula E Championship, He did not move more however after qualifying than 10cm, forcing the only four appeared to have a realistic chance. field to take evasive action. Most did, however Of the four, de Vries was the only man standing at unsighted fellow title contender Mortara in his the end and claimed both his and Mercedes’ first Venturi slammed into the back of Evans, resulting title in the all-electric series. in a red flag for debris.

In the opening day’s race Audi driver Lucas Mortara was taken to hospital and suffered a di Grassi stormed to victory in what was the fractured vertebrae in the incident. final round for the German marque in the This put Dennis in the box seat however he championship. suffered a mechanical failure into Turn 1 when the DS Techeetah locked out the front row with Jean- race resumed, locking up the rear wheels and Eric Vergne ahead of reigning champion Antonio sending him sideways into the wall.

Felix da Costa, however in the race both lacked This pretty much handed the championship considerable pace. victory to de Vries, however the race and teams Di Grassi stormed through the pack with one of championship had yet to be decided. his best drives to beat Edwardo Mortara to the line.

De Vries’ teammate and pole sitter Stoffel Second position launched Mortara into second in Vandoorne was struggling for pace and dropped the standings, while Mitch Evans also jumped into behind several rivals, while Nato surged forwards contention with a third-place finish. from sixth on the grid.

Norman Nato scored his best result of the season Nato not only took the lead but went on to take a in fourth ahead of Jake Dennis who also jumped dominant victory from Oliver Rowland. into real contention.

Vandoorne came home in third after a late race Although 13 drivers were in mathematical charge from Andre Lotterer, Alexander Sims, contention by Sunday’s race it appeared as Pascal Wehrlien and Sam Bird who were involved though qualifying had eliminated the chances of in a heated exchange late on. many.

De Vries was in the middle of the scrap but pulled out of the fight, tthinking of both the drivers’ and teams’ championships.

He brought his Mercedes home in eighth to take his maiden Formula E Championship which comes just two years after he scored victory in the FIA Formula 2 Championship.

Incredibly, thanks to the 19 points collected in the final race by Vandoorne and de Vries, Mercedes leapt from fifth in the Teams standings to pinch the title.

A couple of days later Mercedes announced its departure from Formula E.

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BLANEY BEST OF THE BUNCH IN MICHIGAN RYAN BLANEY took his second victory of the season in the NASCAR Cup Series round at Michigan International Speedway, The #12 Team Penske Ford driver claimed the lead after a final crash-induced break in racing, holding of Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron by the barest of margins, 0.077s.

Byron’s teammate Kyle Larson was also close behind in third, producing a thrilling finish.

After second at Indianapolis in the last race, Blaney was able to continue his late season momentum, nullifying the early effort of Larson and Elliot who led for 70 and 68 laps respectively.

The 27-year-old was ecstatic with the result which took him to equal

fourth in the points standings.

“We got a great push by the 18 (Kyle Busch) on the restart and were able to get clear there,” Blaney said.

“Such a huge win for Ford, I’m fired up.”

Kurt Busch and Denny Hamlin finished fourth and fifth with Matt DiBenedetto, Kyle Busch, Chase Elliott, Brad Keselowski and Martin Truex Jr. rounding out the top 10.

The NASCAR Cup Series regular season finale will be a 643km race held at Daytona International Speedway on August 29. JN

MAGNUS AND URRUTIA JOIN WINNERS GILLES MAGNUS and Santiago Urrutia took the tally to eight winners from eight races in the FIA World Touring Car Cup Race of Hungary.

Both drivers were relatively unchallenged in their victories, winning from lights to flag and pressing their claims for the title approaching the halfway point of the season.

Championship leader Yann Ehrlacher managed to climb into top spot for Cyan Racing Lynk & Co, accumulating 29 points from the two races.

Magnus started the partially reversed-grid Race 1 from pole position after qualifying P10 in the Q2 session at the Hungaroring.

The Comtoyou Team Audi Sport driver led off the line and was trailed by teammate Frederic Vervisch for most of the race.

However, the finishing order was rearranged when Mikel Azcona shot past Vervisch on the last lap to steal second spot.

Ehrlacher also found his way past Vervisch to complete the podium.

Subsequently, Vervisch was relegated to fourth, in front of Thed Bjork in fifth.

In Race 2, Urrutia took over the running from Magnus to

lead all the way from start to finish.

The Cyan Performance driver effectively inherited pole position from Huff, who had to start from pitlane following suspension damage sustained in Race 1.

From there it was all Urrutia in his Lynk & Co 03 TCR, who won by 2.328 seconds from Vervisch.

Azcona completed the podium for Zengo Motorsport Services KFT, a further 1.059s back.

Girolami crossed the line second but was demoted to fourth after a 5s time penalty.

King of WTCR Ehrlacher finished fifth, in front of Yvan Muller and Bjork.

Esteban Guerrieri was eighth in his Honda, ahead of Race 1 winner Magnus and Attila Tassi.

The next round is the WTCR Race of Czech Republic, held at Autodrom Most from October 8-10.

JN Points: Ehrlacher 103, Urrutia 101, Vernay 87, Magnus 84, Vervisch 82

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INTERNATIONAL

NEUVILLE WINS ON HOME SOIL Report: Josh Nevett Images: Red Bull Images AFTER FIVE third place finishes Thierry Neuville took his first win of the FIA World Rally Championship season in his home event, Rally Belgium.

Neuville led for the majority of the rally, despite strong competition on Day 1 from Irish teammate Craig Breen.

The final winning margin was 30.7s between the two, the pair completing a one-two finish for Hyundai Motorsport.

The success was even more important for Neuville’s co-driver Martijn Wydaeghe, for whom the event win was a career first.

Neuville was thrilled with the result for both himself and Wydaeghe.

“We had a lot of pressure coming here but I felt quite comfortable all the weekend and I could rely on my team

and my car,” Neuville said.

“It was a pleasure for me to give this first win to Martijn here in Belgium. It should have come earlier, but we were unlucky. It feels good here now.

“We knew we had to deliver here, not just because it is our home event but because of the need to score big points for the championships.

“It was really special to do that final

st stage at the nicest circuit in the th world, just 15km from my hometown, h with friends and family fa cheering us on, and to be b able to do some celebratory doughnuts.” d It was a triumphant round for f Hyundai and its i20 machines, which reduced the gap to manufacturers’ series leaders Toyota Gazoo Racing to 41 points, after Neuville, Breen and 2019 champion Ott Tanak won 15 of the 20 stages.

The South Korean manufacturer broke a run of five straight event wins for Toyota, after struggling with reliability issues previously in the campaign.

Now sitting equal second in the championship alongside Elfyn Evans, a drought-breaking title is in the sights of Neuville, who has finished runner-up in the WRC Drivers’ Championship five times.

For Breen, the second-place finish was his second in succession after an identical placing in Rally Estonia.

Fresh off his victory in Estonia, Kalle Rovanpera secured another podium, finishing third in a Toyota Yaris, 43.1s off the pace.

Teammate Evans ensured the result did not come easily, threatening to deny the Finnish driver at various stages throughout the rally, and was actually ahead of his younger teammate heading into the final day.

Snatching the lead early on Sunday, Rovanpera then held off Evans to seal

BTCC TOP THREE SOLIDIFIED AT KNOCKHILL BRITISH TOURING Car Championship contenders Colin Turkington, Ash Sutton and Tom Ingram proved their worth over three races at Knockhill in Scotland, each claiming a victory.

Sutton was the most consistent of the trio, registering fourth, first and fifth finishes to extend his championship lead to 14 points over Ingram.

Turkington kicked off the round with a dominant performance in Race 1, leading from lights to flag.

Starting from pole, the 39-yearold quickly created a gap on the competition in his #2 West Surrey Racing BMW 330i M Sport.

Although a safety car brought the Images: Motorsport Images field back together, the four-time BTCC

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Image: Motorsport Images winner maintained his speed from the restart to chalk up a comfortable win by 4.254s.

The result took on added significance as it was the 100th win for West Surrey Racing, which has been part of the championship for 25 years.

Teammates Senna Proctor and Josh Cook completed the podium for BTC Racing in their Honda Civic Type R machines.

Championship leader Sutton was not

far off the pace in fourth.

The reigning champion returned to the top in Race 2, preventing Turkington from recording back-to-back victories.

Sutton made a race-defining move on the final lap, pouncing on a Turkington slip up under pressure.

The previous race winner led for 26 laps, but Sutton had the last laugh for Laser Tools Racing in his #1 Infiniti.

Behind Sutton and Turkington, Jake

his second consecutive podium, 6.5s ahead of Evans in fourth.

Championship leader Sebastian Ogier had to settle for fifth after suffering a tyre puncture on the opening stage of the final day.

The Frenchman finished 6.2s behind Evans, nevertheless extending his championship ascendency to 38 points, after scoring more Power Stage points in the final stage Tanak was sixth, after losing three minutes to the title frontrunners due to a puncture of his own, though a small consolation was that he picked up maximum Power Stage points.

After the top six WRC finishers, WRC3 entrants Yohan Rossel and Pieter Jan Michiel Cracco were seventh and eighth outright, ahead of Fabian Kriem and Belgian Vincent Verschueren.

Several drivers suffered on the challenging Belgian roads.

Takamoto Katsuta and Adrien Fourmaux retired after severe crashes.

M-Sport Ford drivers Gus Greensmith and Pierre-Louis Loubet also felt the wrath of the ditches, which impacted their finishing positions.

WRC returns to gravel in the next event, the Acropolis Rally Greece.

It will be the first held at the location since 2013 and is set for September 9-12.

Points: Ogier 162, Evans 124, Neuville 124, Rovanpera 99, Tanak 87, Katsuta 66 Hill completed the podium in his Ford Focus. Cook came home in fourth, and Scotsman Gordon Shedden finished fifth, 2.672s behind the victor.

In Race 3, Ingram got in on the act of the championship leaders to round out a weekend of close competition.

From fourth on the grid, the Hyundai driver moved through to the front, before sealing a win with a final corner overtake of polesitter Stephen Jelley.

Jelley was also passed by Proctor, who climbed the championship standings with a pair of second place finishes over the round.

Shedden and Sutton finished fourth and fifth, completing consistent weekends for the respective drivers.

In the Manufacturers’ championship, BMW is sitting atop the standings.

The BTCC is now at the halfway mark, with a further 15 races remaining.

The next round is at Thruxton in Hampshire from August 28-29.

Josh Nevett Points: Sutton 172, Ingram 158, Turkington 138, Shedden 129, Hill 128

MCELREA ON THE PODIUM IN ILLINOIS Report: Josh Nevett KIWI HUNTER McElrea picked up from where he left off in Mid-Ohio, securing a second consecutive podium in the Indy Pro 2000 Championship race at Gateway Motorsports Park in Illinois.

Braden Eves of Exclusive Autosport won the 55-lap encounter ahead of fellow championship frontrunner Christian Rasmussen, 0.731s behind.

Fresh off his second victory of the year, McElrea qualified fifth with a combined two-lap time of 1m 05.207s.

From the third row of the grid, the 21-year-old made a solid start moving into fourth place at the start the race.

The progress of McElrea was halted shortly after, however, by a yelow flag when Artem Petrov and Jack William Miller made contact at Turn 1 on lap 7 and slid off the tarmac into the wall.

At the restart the New Zealander took advantage of a bunched field to overtake James Roe, moving into third.

From there McElrea ran a lonely race to finish third, 7.679s clear of the Irishman.

The Pabst team driver was satisfied with his points haul.

“Overall, I’m happy with the weekend, it’s another podium, good points and we know we have good pace,” McElrea said.

“We dominated in testing, practice, warm-up. We had the best one-lap speed of anyone,

YOUNGSTER MARCOS Flack had mixed fortunes at Knockhill in the British Formula 4 Championship, managing a best of 11th across three races. The 15-year-old had a rough start to the round, failing to finish Race 1. Flack rebounded on the final day to finish midfield in 11th and 12th. Commenting on Twitter, Flack said: “Good to be able to make some progress in the final race. A tricky weekend all in all but we’ll keep pushing.” JN Hunter McElrea celebrates another podium (above) and in action (left) on the banked oval at Gateway Motorsports Park.

but we made a mistake in our qualifying setup and started fifth.

“That first green lap was madness, guys going three wide.

We really had to claw through – I probably under estimated how big the tow was on that first lap.

“I got into third on the restart from the yellow and I was one of the

fastest cars out there – I just wasn’t as close as I needed to be at the end.

“Considering all the bad luck we had in the middle of the year, we’ll take that and keep going.”

The result moved McElrea up to equal fourth in the championship with 264 points, alongside Petrov.

Danish driver Rasmussen is still the man to catch, out in front on 345 points.

American pair Eves and Reece Gold are second and third on 313 and 274 points respectively.

The Indy Pro 2000 action will resume from August 28-29 for a triple-header road course event at New Jersey Motorsports Park in Millville.

RED BULL Rookies Cup rider Harrison Voight is continuing his recovery, after sustaining a broken femur, fibulae, and tubular in July. The up-and-coming Aussie was injured in a crash at the Algarve International Circuit and is now undergoing physiotherapy twice a day. Kiwi Cormac Buchanan registered race finishes of 21st and 20th in the most recent round at the Red Bull Ring. JN

HORSTEN CLIMBS GB3 STANDINGS Report: Josh Nevett AUSSIE BART Horsten secured a podium finish in the final GB3 Championship race at Silverstone, whilst Ayrton Simmons excelled with back-to-back wins.

However, fellow Australian and championship challenger Christian Mansell failed to make up ground on title leader Zak O’Sullivan.

Mansell remains second, 108 points behind the 16-year-old Brit, who won Race 3.

In Race 1, Simmons took the lead early before surging to his third victory of the season.

The Chris Dittmann Racing driver was second on the grid but passed pole sitter Oliver Bearman almost immediately, who had a wheel nut issue which forced his retirement.

After the introduction of a safety car, Roberto Faria climbed from ninth on the grid to finish second.

The podium was completed by debutant driver Jonathan Browne, and a further second back in fourth was Mansell for Carlin.

Championship leader O’Sullivan was a disappointing 15th after an

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accident with Reece Ushijima and Sebastian Alvarez.

Frederick Lubin and Branden Lee Oxley finished fifth and sixth.

Hitech Racing’s Horsten was seventh to begin the round, his lowest points haul of the weekend.

Roman Bilinski and Elite Motorsport teammates Tom Lebbon and Javier Sagrera round out the top 10.

Simmons continued on his winnings ways in Race 2 to charge up the overall standings.

Starting from pole at the Silverstone Grand Prix Circuit, Simmons had to defend his position from a hard charging Bearman.

Recovering from a retirement in Race 1, Bearman finished just 0.676s behind Simmons in second.

Fortec teammate Roberto Faria claimed his second podium of the weekend in third.

O’Sullivan was fourth ahead of Horsten, who claimed fifth, an improvement on his first race result.

Simmons’ teammate Lee Oxley came home sixth.

One of the big improvers in Race 2 was Javier Sagrera, who drove

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from 16th on the grid to seventh, ahead of Ushijima.

Mansell recovered from 13th on lap nine to sneak into the top 10, along with Lubin.

In Race 3, Horsten completed a strong weekend with a podium as O’Sullivan returned to the winners list.

O’Sullivan won from Lee Oxley who finished on the podium for the first time in GB3.

Horsten was third, taking his weekend points haul to 58 points.

The key moment of the race came on lap five, when Bilinski, Faria and Oxley were involved in an incident which wiped out Faria and Bilinski.

After the chaos O’Sullivan took the lead and never looked back, winning his fourth race of the season by 8s.

Alvarez was fourth, in front of Bearman, Lebbon, Ushijima, Bryce Aron, Mansell and Lubin.

The next rounds of the GB3 Championship are at Oulton Park from September 11-12.

Points: O’Sullivan 399, Mansell 291, Faria 283, Simmons 276, Ushijima 271

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ALEX PERONI was just off the Indy Lights series frontrunners in Illinois, coming home fifth and sixth in respective races. Those results leave Peroni eighth in the overall standings, 143 points in arrears of David Malukas, who won back-to-back races at Gateway Motorsports Park. In Race 1, the 21-year-old climbed four places from his ninth grid to finish fifth in his first-ever oval race and claim the Hard Charger Award. Peroni fell one spot in Race 2, finishing sixth after another strong performance for Carlin. Teammate Christian Bogle had race finishes of eighth and ninth, placing him 11th on the overall leader board at this stage. There are three rounds left of Indy Lights for 2021 with a round at Portland International Raceway in Oregon from September 11-12, followed by two more races from September 18-19 at Laguna Seca in California. JN

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p ra w S L A N NATIO

NT TITLES DECIDED ON GALA DAY THE SHANNONS North Australian Motor Sports Club’s most recent round featured the Middy’s NT Title honours.

The four categories racing on August 15 saw Brad Fullwood, Rod Jessop, Peter Anderson and Zac Hannon all winners.

It was a big day at Hidden Valley Raceway with the inaugural Show and Shine, the NT Motorkhana Titles and Lapsprints on as well.

Improved Production and Commodore Cup were combined over their three races, with IP’s Jessop (Holden Commodore VE) qualifying ahead of category and Holden rival Steven Johnstone, while Ashley Smith suffered gearbox issues. Gabriel Thorbjornsen was the best of the Commodore Cup cars, ahead of Fullwood and David Ling.

Jessop was the outright winner of the two lead-up races as well as the Title event. Johnstone had n off and backed into a tyre wall, while Perth-

Commodore Cup combatants David Ling, Ashley Smith and Gary Dempsey. Image: Insyde Media

based Evan Bartlett (Ford Falcon AU) finished among the CC cars.

The latter group saw Fullwood edge out Thorbjornsen, who was relegated to third as they crossed the finish

A WALKY IN THE PARK FOR POINTS LEADERS IN A newly acquired Mitsubishi EVO 9, Jamie Pohlner and Adam Branford won the Copyworld Walky 100, round three of the South Australian Rally Championship, staged around Eudunda.

It was Pohlner’s third different car in as many rounds.

The points leaders’ time through the 12 competitive stages was 1 hr 13 mins 11.2s, which eclipsed second placed Stuart Bowes and Mark Nelson in their classic Mercedes 450SLC C by 1 min 37s.

Third spot went to Rob Hunt and Jeremy Browne (EVO 6), 1 min 40s further adrift. The three podium drivers were all rally veterans over 40.

Fourth place went to Ryan Poel and Bek Cutting (Subaru Impreza WRX) ahead of Daren Herring and Matt Woods (EVO 6), and Dave McDonough and John Caldicot (EVO 6).

Then followed Mark Povey and Brendan Dearman (Datsun Stanza), Bruce Field and Lyndon Wilson (Alfa Romeo GTV6), Glenn Campbell and Darran Ambose (Renault Clio), and 10th placed Craig Haysman and Julie Boorman (Triumph TR7 V8).

The early pacesetters were Nick and Ken Moore in their WRX. They were first in the opening stage, second in stage two and third in the following

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Walky winners Jamie Pohlner and Adam Branford get air in their new Mitsubishi EVO 9 (right), while second placed Stuart Bowes and Mark Nelson were strong in their classic Mercedes 450SLC (above).

one. But that was it as they retired with an engine misfire.

Pohlner took out the next nine stages where McDonough was second on four of them. Bowes might not have had the grip of 4WD but certainly the 5.0 litre V8 made up for it as he scored five seconds and the last two stage wins.

Hunt was in the top three on a few occasions while Dale Cagney and Patrick Hughes were prominent until their EVO suffered a broken driveline.

GOB

line in race one. Ling pipped Gary Dempsey in the reverse grid start to race two where Fullwood retired on the last lap after contact with Bartlett.

Fullwood came back to claim the

Title win, 0.1s ahead of Ling while Dempsey was third.

The HQ Holden group was joined by the debut of a fourth category, in the Hyundai Excels. The Excels lapped quicker and headed qualifying with Hannon ahead of Rossi Johnson and Lachlin Sohn in his first circuit racing outing.

Best of the HQs was Anderson over Gavin Thompson and Marion Bujnowski.

Hannon was first across the line in each of the races, beating Johnson in race one, and Sohn in the next two after Johnson succumbed to overheating issues in both.

Meanwhile Anderson was third outright in race one with Thompson 2.8s away in fifth, behind Sohn. The HQ pair were just 0.15s apart in race two as Anderson again showed the way before he took the Title by 15.8s.

Thompson failed to complete a lap which left Stravros Mostris second.

GOB

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Rod Jessup’s Improved Production Commodore dominated the combined Commodore Cup field, winning the lead up races and the Title. Image: Insyde Media

David Mahon clean swept the Challenge Hillclimb Series: Image: SCCSA

MAHON COMPLETES FOUR ROUND DOMINATION WITH A FTD at the fourth and final round on August 15, David Mahon has clean swept the Challenge Hillclimb Series at Collingrove.

The 61-year-old can now set his sights of winning the one round Motorsport Australia SA Hillclimb Championships on September 10-12, an event he won last year at the same venue.

Driving his Formula Libre up to 1.3 litre class Hayabusa-powered Dallara F394, Mahon posted sub 30s times on each of his eight runs (out of a possible 10) with a best of 28.87s, just 0.25s off his championship winning time.

Second fastest was Robert Ellis (Supersport Acrobat Mk1), a fraction under 3s off Mahon’s time.

Meanwhile it took three runs for David Walsh (F/L up to 1.3lt Ninja GA7) to secure third spot over Nathan Green (Road Registered 4WD Nissan Skyline GTR). The latter was also first of the tin tops ahead of fifth placed Alex Wilson

in his Audi A4, the pair split by 0.24s.

The next three were covered by 0.16s where David Coombe (Mitsubishi EVO 7) edged out Igor Gorpynyak (Volkswagen Golf R) and David Harris (Subaru Impreza WRX) for sixth spot.

Completing the top 10 of the 65 entries were Geoff Vardon (Datsun 1200 Coupe) and Allan Nitschke (Mitsubishi Cordia Turbo).

The Road Registered 4WD 2.0-3.5lt class, with six entries, featured a close contest with 0.08s between Coombe and Gorpynyak. Road Registered 2WD 2.0-3.5lt also had six competing and Jim Myhill (Renault Megane RS250) won that by 0.1s over Peter Mayer (Porsche Cayman S).

The day before was a Come & Try event which attracted five father/son and one mother/son combinations as part of 72 entrants for six untimed runs, all of which laid rubber down and made conditions ideal for the Challenge event. GOB

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NATIONALS wrap ed by garry o’brien led il pil comp co

PHILLIPS PAIRING BEST IN MID-WEST

Image: Brett Sandells THIS YEAR’S Cochranes Transport Mid-West Challenge on August 14-15, round three of the West Australian Off Road Racing Championship, was won by Stephen and Riley Phillips.

They took their Aceco/Cadillac Pro Buggy to a 6 min 47.07s victory over class rival David Rowett and Derrick De Bruyn (Chenowth/Toyota V8), with a similar time gap to third placed Brad Krepp and Kerry Yaxley (Extreme 2WD Nissan Navara/Chev L98).

The event was based at Eganu where competitors set up to tackle three two-lap sections of the 35km course, and covered 210km in total.

It was to be the fourth round until

the previously scheduled Bencubbin was washed out.

Harleigh Uren took out the Prologue in his Ext 2WD Pro 2/ LS2 ahead of the ProLite Bullet/ Nissan V6 crewed by Stephen and Brin Ketteridge-Hall. Uren also won section one by over 10s from Darren Agrela and Ryan Barton, with Phillips third.

Ketteridge-Hall was second until shifter problems set in and he didn’t register the second lap. There was a bigger problem for Mike and Mitchell Green with a fairly significant rollover in their Chev-powered Toyota Towcoma.

Uren was also quickest through section two, 29.5s ahead of Phillips

TURNER’S TURN AT MILCHESTER THE 2021 Markwell Demolitions Short Course Challenge at the Milchester Motor Sports Complex saw a win for Robert Turner on August 14-15.

Hailing from Townsville, Turner was the outright winner in his 5.7 litre Chev LS1powered Desert Dynamics and also won the Pro Buggy class. Chris Sollitt from Julia Creek was second in his 3.5 litre Subaru driven Sollittco Pro Buggy, with third outright going to Cloncurry’s Mark Bredden in his Sportslite Matrix, powered by a 2.4 lt GM Ecotec engine.

The event was the second round of both the Motorsports Queensland State Championship and the North Queensland Off Road Super Series at the complex off Mafeking Road, Charters Towers.

Competitors took in 11 laps of the 18km course in three sections, for a total distance of around 216 km. GOB

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Image: Og Ogmore - NQORA

with Agrela next ahead of Troy and Debbie Schoen (SS Hustler/Chev V8), and Ketteridge-Hill.

The third section was headed by Phillips from Ketteridge, Uren and the first of the many SXS Turbos in Colin Bevan and Robert Grundy (Can Am Maverick).

Overall Murray Kifer and Latia Rodgers were fourth and took out SXS Turbos ahead of Can Am mounted class rivals and fifth outright Jayden and Justyn Grewar.

Behind them came ProLite winner Jared Percival (SS Racetech/Toyota) who was the points leader before the event, Royce Gill/Ben Wraight (Can Am), Ken Styles/Josh Ellis (BAT Racing/Chev), Michael Davis/

Tate Dawson (Zarco/Nissan), and Malcolm Yeardley/Walton Sutton (Can Am).

SXS Turbos filled the next four places with the Can Ams of Kayne and Michael Nolias, Richard Batson/ Shane Price, Ash Sudholz/Michael Hidderley (Polaris) and Dylan James/Katie Chandler (Can Am), while Peer and Oliver were 15th and won Ext 4WD. Some of the fancied runners who had dramas included Keith Rance/ Luke Candy (Magnum Slingshot 2/ Chev l98, gearbox), Dave and Drew McShane (Bat Spec 4/Chev, fuel pressure), and Dannielle Joyce/Matt Hill (Al-Co Buggy/Holden, holed sump). GOB

HABYS GET ANOTHER IN THE Gotcha Glass Wynarka Enduro on August 7-8 it was a familiar sight where, after 14 gruelling laps, Aaron and Chelsea Haby (Element Prodigy/Toyota Pro Buggy) crossed the line first, their third SA Off Road Racing Association win for 2021.

It was bumper field for round four of the Multi Club Series with 45 entries.

Mel Brandle and the rest of his tribe ran a good pace in their Prolite Alumi Craft/Nissan as they cruised into second. Brenton Forsyth (Southern Cross/Nissan) found some reliability and hung on for third.

Andrew Fitzgerald and Maddy Barrett (Element Prodigy/Chev) overcame minor problems on Saturday to move up five spots and claim fourth, only 2s behind Forsyth and a 90s up on Darryl Nissen and Andrew Harness (SORE/Nissan).

Sixth was Chris Pickert and Bryan Brown (Performance 2WD Triton/ Chev) just clear of Shane Waters and Scott Watson (Southern Cross/ Honda). Shannyn Fitzgerald and the Andrews sisters, Jamie and Lauren (S&S Race Frames/Nissan), were the big movers. The moved from 18th on day one to come home eighth.

Sam Vanstone and Brad Cheer (RIDS Joker/Toyota) were next and

Image: David Batchelor again the team to beat in Super 1650. Gavin Chant and Ian Lightfoot (Southern Cross/Honda) made up the top 10 with Doug Carthew and Cindy Ball (Rivmasta/Nissan) next, working their way closer to that elusive top 10 finish.

Luke Erceg (ECE Honey Badger/ Nissan) ran as high as third but broke the rear suspension with three laps remaining. Adam Beirl and

Nyree Burmingham didn’t have the ideal debut in their Jimco/Chev, off to a slow start before some good laps, but ran out of go on Sunday.

David Adams (Desert Rat/Honda) and Doug Petty (Raceco/Toyota) had teething problem but should be on the pace when both buggies are sorted. Trevor Copeland (Jimco/ Chev) finished his first race in two years after finally getting on top of an

ongoing engine management issue.

In other classes John Smith and Grant Manion (Nissan Patrol) were the only survivors in Extreme 2WD. Aaron Harre and Nathan Dunn (Ford Maverick) took a lonely Extreme 4WD win, while Waters claimed Sportslite. There were no SXS Turbo finishers as Grant Winter/Geoff Brennan lost a wheel on the last lap.

David Batchelor

CAN AM MACHINES FILL CUP IT WAS an SXS Turbo class Can Am outright podium in the Zoom’s Inglewood Cup, where Kye Floyd and Aaron Holland won ahead of Jake and Steven Swinglehurst, and Zac Marsh.

Run in memory of off road racing identity Paul “Zooma” Zacka, a former Australian champion and member of the Holden Racing Team, the event took place on August 14-15 at the Sweedman’s Property located between Inglewood and Texas in Queensland.

It started with one lap of the 14km course as the Prologue/section one, and followed by section two over three laps. On day two there were a further three two-lap sections and the event finished with a single lap final section.

The winning margin for Floyd was a measly 18s after he and Swinglehurst went toe-to-toe throughout the 150km event. The former topped sections one, two and four while the latter won three and five, before they were equal on the last.

Marsh, who was third in 2020, squared the first run with Swinglehurst before a sixth on section two behind Swinglehurst, and Tom and Mitchell Swinglehurst (Can Am), Brett

Image: Terry Hill Comiskey/Daniel McKenzie/Corey Cooper (sharing the Invitation Racer Engineering 4WD Twin Turbo V8 Trophy Truck), BJ Duff (Sportslite Ausco MC-Lite/Kawasaki) and Jake Swinglehurst.

Marsh followed up with a section fifth, a fourth and two thirds to head home Pat Philp and Karin Barker in

their ProLite winning Jimco/Mitsubishi.

Behind fifth place Gary Taylor (Polaris Turbo) came three SXS Sports in Paul, Danielle and Isaiah Hutchinson, Mitchell and David Cross, and John Wisse, all aboard Polaris’.

Of those that went the distance, the Ellsworth sisters, Imogene and Bridget (Jeep Wrangler), topped Production

4WD and Luke and Tara McNicol (Toyota 80s/Chev) won Extreme 4WD. Inside the top five for much of the event, Tom Swinglehurst had a right rear knuckle break on the second last lap, while the third SRT Racing team crew of Kate and David Swinglehurst ran prominently until they put their car on its roof. GOB

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CHR

NOMETRIC

All things historic with Mark Bisset

Barbecued Extractors TWO OF my favourite raconteurs are historic racer/historians John Medley and Greg Smith.

The erudite Medley isn’t close-by, but Smithy is only a drop-punt away.

During his youth he did a decade long UK stint, including maintaining racer Bill Morris’ cars – some may remember him racing his ERA or Kieft in Australia. Williams Grand Prix Engineering co-founder and Technical Director, Patrick Head was a Leafield, Oxfordshire neighbour of Morris – and a Friday Scotch Night regular.

“He checked out Bill’s ex-Prince Bira ERA R12C one time and offered us some inconel tube to make a new exhaust, then arrived the following week with about eight-feet of it in the correct dimensions,” Greg Smith said.

“When next he came, he surveyed my extractor handiwork and said, ‘We couldn’t do that at Williams!’ ‘Oh, my ‘Orstralian did that on the barbecue,’ was Bill’s deadpan response, which brought us all to our knees. It wasn’t quite that simple.

“The bit he witnessed was me heating the coarse, moist sand on his bottomof-the-garden barby, to get all the moisture out of it before getting the inconel and sand red-hot to bend it.

“If you don’t dry the sand completely before you use it – with the end of the tube tamped – the sand expands to 1700 times its volume and would blow your head off.

“Patrick (now Sir) is a terrific bloke, he is interested, and interesting. We used to talk about all sorts of things in addition to current F1.

“Another time he was looking into the cockpit of the ERA and musing about its 1930s Wilson pre-selector gearbox, (and) he asked Bill how it worked, what was it like to race with and so on.”

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Prince Bira in one of his ERAs - ‘Romulus’ chassis R2B - at Crystal Place during the May 1938 Sydenham Trophy. Alfred Lace is behind in a Talbot-Lago T150C. Image: Motorsport Images

Such transmissions were common in racing cars and some road-cars then, later still in buses until the 1960s – automatic transmissions caused their demise.

“Do you think the gear-changing could be done electrically rather than mechanically?” Patrick asked.

“Yes, of course it can,” was Bill’s emphatic response. “Why are you so certain Bill?” Head replied. “Well, I’ve got copies of the electro-magnetic actuation design drawings they did 50 years ago!”

During the following week Bill gathered up the Self Changing Gears Ltd blueprints for this gearbox.

“After Patrick looked at them during drinks, he asked if he could borrow them, Bill obliged of course.”

The very next season Ferrari were first to race an electro-hydraulic actuated semi-automatic paddle-shift gearbox – John Barnard’s 3.5-litre V12 Ferrari 640.

“We think Patrick used the drawings to inspire his Didcot design team thinktank to consider what was achieved by Wilson, Cotal and others in the ‘30s but do it with modern electronics, which is of course exactly the way things went.”

What was revolutionary, and not completely reliable during the 1989 F1 season, is now of course a common road-car fitment.

The 1991 Williams FW14 Renault was Head’s (and Adrian Newey and Paddy Lowe) first car fitted with a sequential semi-automatic ‘box.

Oh to have been a fly on the wall during those long, languid Leafield evenings…

The Wharfies

ONCE UPON a time the wharfs could be a challenging place to operate, much of the activities seemed to be a little beyond the laws foisted upon the rest of us.

But Stan Jones’ new Maserati 250F GP car appears to have survived the most perilous part of its journey from Italy to Australia, from the SS Neptunia’s hold to the surface of Appleton Dock on April 22, 1956.

It was said that liberal supplies of Melbourne Bitter, and perhaps a contribution to the WWF’s Xmas Party coffers, smoothed the damage-free transition of Stan’s 1958 Gold Star and 1959 AGP winning chassis 2520 dockside.

That’s Alan Jones (above) sussing the cockpit while Stan, at left, ponders the whereabouts of his spare 3-litre engine and other bits. More booze needed perhaps?

The November 1958 Melbourne Grand Prix start image (left), with Stan on the left, indicates the Winds of Change. Stirling Moss won from pole from Jack Brabham, both aboard Cooper T45 Climax’. Jones’ ’59 AGP win was the last for a frontengined car in the nick-of-time. That’s young Alan (far right) leaning on the Zephyr …

s w e n Y A W D SPEE

Dancing on the Darwin Dirt!

Words: Paris Charles Images: Nakita Pollock

DARWIN’S 7MATE Northline Speedway fired up for back to back spectacular nights of racing with five classes running on each night.

The opening night consisted of all classes contesting for Alan Spooner Memorial honours. The Wingless Sprints, Street Stocks and Junior Sedans were kept busy running over both nights, while the Formula 500s and solos supported night one and the final night, which included Dirt Karts with the headlining MMS Civil 2021 Northern Territory Sprintcar Title.

New Look, Familiar finish for Lachlan McHugh

AFTER A successful venture campaigning a Sprintcar in America, Queensland’s Lachlan McHugh returned home and ventured straight to Darwin.

Sporting a brand new look and corporate naming-rights sponsor in Leigh Smith Yachts, McHugh competed against 33 other hard charging racers in the running of the 2021 Territorian Championship, held in lead up to the highly-anticipated Chariots of Thunder Sprintcar Series.

While McHugh may have already captured both the 2021 South Australian and Queensland championships, he was keen to add yet another. To claim this title he would have to do it starting out of position four and maintaining composure for the incident riddled 30-lap journey. Sharing the second row was the reigning Australian Champion in Jamie Veal, with the fast West Australian Callum Williamson and Apple Isle young gun Jock Goodyer the row ahead.

At the drop of the green Goodyer and Williamson jockeyed for the advantage however McHugh had other plans

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as he ripped around the top side to command the lead on the second circulation. Goodyer, Williamson, Veal, Robbie Farr and the first of the locals, Ben Atkinson, rounded out the top half dozen before Queensland teenager Jy Corbert brought on the yellow lights after smacking the turn two wall just one circulation further along.

At the restart McHugh would checkout in dominating fashion, pulling almost two seconds on the field while Veal and Farr relegated Williamson down the order. Trouble struck further back in the field when West Australian’s Ryan Farrell, who had returned to the wheelhouse of the family Goldstar Transport W95 Maxim after several seasons in hiatus, and Taylor Milling tangled, ending their runs.

McHugh again set sail in the NQ7 Leigh Smith Yachts KRE powered Cool, pulling away from the field only for the V2 C&H Trucking entry of Domain Ramsay to bring on the red lights after rolling onto its side and out of the race. At the recommencement Cody Maroske flipped in spectacular fashion on the same piece of turn two real-estate that brought the previous contenders unstuck.

Again, McHugh would checkout from the pack, working the topside of the track to his advantage, by one third race journey Hayden Brown and Brock Hallett would both retire to the infield without incident, before Robbie Farr relinquished his defence of his NT Title after bring on the yellow lights as he

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rolled to a stop against the wall with just 13 laps remaining with mechanical issues.

With clear track ahead McHugh again carbon copied his previous efforts to open a handy margin, Veal successfully challenged Goodyer and moved into second. With one third the distance to travel McHugh would start to again pick off the slower traffic and Goodyer would reclaim second over Veal, before setting his sights on chasing down McHugh as the leader struggled with lapped traffic.

Goodyer would close the gap and pull alongside the race leader and drag race down the down the back shute on the final lap, only for McHugh to claim victory by a mere 0.475 of a second.

Joining the duo on the podium would be Veal, who was happy with his first hit out after an extended break. Next was Williamson, Matt Egel and Tate Frost, followed by a trio of locals in Atkinson, Chase Karpenko and Jason Gebert.

Rounding out the dozen finishers from the 20 cars to start was Darren Mollenouyx and West Australian’s Daniel Harding, who had earlier in the evening set the quickest time in hot laps with a 12.153, and Jason Pryde.

The eight heat races produced eight individual winners with Jamie Veal, Brock Hallett, Jock Goodyer, Callum Williamson, Lachlan McHugh, Jy Corbert and Jason Gebert each claiming maximum points.

Supporting the Sprintcars were four other classes.

Jarrod Goldoni claimed a pleasing victory after snatching the lead with only six circulations remaining in the Saints Rego Centre Dual In The North 20-lap Wingless Sprints feature race.

Joining him in the podium celebrations were Zack Grimshaw, who won the Alan Spooner Memorial prelim feature on the night prior, and fast Victorian female racer Carly Walsh with a well-deserved third on her maiden visit to the Darwin venue.

Recently crowned Northern Territory Street Stock Champion Justin Brumfield again proved his dominance aboard the NT1 Sign Tech Holden Commodore, claiming both heats and feature race,

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winning by a commanding eight seconds over Jack Yates and Jake Koivumaki, the trio making it an all Holden podium.

Xavier Gotts parked his Junior Sedan in Victory Lane after passing River Spitzbath when the two made contact on the penultimate lap, taking the win over Deegan Sherwood and Harrison Turnbull. Spitzbath would claw his way back to fifth trailing Maddison Edge to the line.

The Dirt Karts victory went to Tony Brown aboard the 101 Lightning Kart over Tim Feehan and Cameron Jaenke.

Alan Spooner Memorial

THE NIGHT prior was the running of the Alan Spooner Memorial for all five classes. Alan was honoured for his efforts in working tirelessly for the Darwin Speedway Rider and Drivers Association and as life member of the club.

As mentioned above, Zack Grimshaw proved the man to beat in the Wingless Sprints claiming victory abord his Global Lighting Solutions entry in the 20-lap final, over veteran racer Jamie McInness and New South Welshman Troy Carey.

Formula 500 honours were taken by Queenslander Cameron Jaenke over Boysie Bartholdt and Mitchell Northey.

Again, the Street Stock class was controlled by the NT champion Justin Brumfield, who swept clean all three heats and the 15-lap feature race, while Jake Koivumaki and fast female Megan Henderson in the NT44 Totalcrete BA Falcon would join the boys on the podium.

River Spitzbath continued his strong run of form driving the Choices Flooring Mitsubishi to claim the Junior Sedan final, and rounding out the top three in the 12-lap final was Xavier Gotts and Harrison Turnbull.

While the Solos bikes ran dual features. Ayden Bridgeford was first to the finish in the opening final over Jarrod MacKenzie and T Owen, while the second of the finals was claimed by Connar Bridgeford over Johnnie Pope and Ryan Pope.

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We take a look back at what was making news in Auto Action 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 years ago 1971: FORD ANNOUNCED a new manager with the appointment of Howard Marsden, tasked with taking charge of the company’s national racing and competition activities. Marsden had a history in motor sport, starting as the co-founder of Alan Mann Racing. In 1966 he began his association with Ford with the GT40 program, before joining the Surtees F1 team and latterly Frank Williams’ organisation.

1981: DICK JOHNSON in his infamous Tru-Blu livery evened up the score with Peter Brock by winning the second round of the Endurance Championship at Oran Park. Johnson had a good battle against Kevin Bartlett’s Camaro, before pulling out a lead and taking the win. On the same day Bruce Allison won the inaugural National Panasonic Formula Pacific Series and John Latham won the Australian Sports Car Championship a week earlier.

Images: Red Bull Content Pool/ Daniel Kalisz/Motorsport Images

1991: AFTER SEVERAL weeks of uncertainty, the then Sandown Raceway promoter Jon Davison announced that the Transport Accident Commission of Victoria would sponsor the Sandown 500. It was only just over a week before the event, and without the support the event would not have gone ahead. Internationally Ayrton Senna ended Nigel Mansell’s winning streak in Hungary.

2001: UPON WINNING the 2001 Hungarian Grand Prix Michael Schumacher joined the greats. He not only equalled Alain Prost’s record of 51 Grand Prix victories but secured his fourth Formula 1 World Championship title to again equal Prost. AA looked at the favourites for the 2001 Queensland 500, while Cameron McLean revealed a new livery.

2011: SUPERCARS was talking to BMW, Hyundai and Kia about entering the Championship with the Car Of The Future regulations in 2013. A week after winning his first NASCAR Cup Series race at Watkins Glen, two-time Supercars champion Marcos Ambrose spoke exclusively with AA. The Tasmanian described it as his greatest win.

Across

2. Where did the opening round of the Supercars Championship take place?

5. Which driver scored their maiden Formula 1 Grand Prix victory in the first half of the season? (surname) 9. At what circuit did the inaugural S5000 Championship conclude this year? (abbreviation) 11. In what position does Cameron Waters currently sit in the Supercars Championship?

12. Who won the 2021 edition of the Indy500? (surname) 13. What has been Scott McLaughlin’s highest finish in IndyCar so far this season?

14. Who won the inaugural S5000 Australian Drivers’ Championship (full name) 15. At what track did Marc Marquez score

23. For what team did Luis Leeds race for in S5000? (abbreviation) 26. How many race wins has Shane van Gisbergen taken so far this season?

27. Who is Jack Miller’s factory Ducati teammate in MotoGP this year? (surname) 28. In what country did Valentino Rossi announce his retirement from Motorcycle racing?

29. Who won the 2021 Azerbaijan Grand Prix? (surname)

Down a win in the first half of the season?

19. Which driver scored their first Supercars Championship victory at The Bend Motorsport Park? (surname) 20. At what track did Will Power win his first IndyCar race of the season?

22. Who leads the 2021 Australian Carrera Cup Series? (surname)

1. Sebastien Ogier sits at the top of the FIA World Rally Championship, for what manufacturer does he drive?

3. Who won the first race of the TCR Australia season in Tasmania? (surname) 4. How many consecutive wins did Shane van Gisbergen score at the start of the Supercars Championship season?

6. How many times has Lando Norris finished on the podium this season?

7. How many race wins has Valtteri Bottas scored in 2021?

8. Which TCR driver won a race for Peugeot at Phillip Island? (full name) 10. One MotoGP rider has scored their maiden MotoGP victory this year? (surname) 11. At what track did Anton de Pasquale score his first win for DJR? (short name) 16. Who currently leads the 2021 FIA Formula 1 World Championship? (surname) 17. Who won the opening race of the MotoGP season in Qatar? (surname) 18. Maverick Vinales has announced he will move from Yamaha to what team next year?

21. Who took pole position for the Monaco Grand Prix? (surname) 24. Who won the first S5000 Feature Race at Symmons Plains? (surname) 25. How many times has Chaz Mostert won in TCR Australia so far this year?

1817 crossword answers 1 across – Wurz, 2 down – zero, 3 down – Briscoe, 4 down – Mulsanne, 5 across – Phil Hill, 6 across – Alonso, 7 down – seventy-seven, 8 down – Glickenhaus, 9 across – Porsche, 10 down – six, 11 down – David Brabham, 12 down – Kristensen, 13 across – third, 14 across – New Zealander, 15 down – Michelin, 16 across – Ickx, 17 down – Panis Racing, 18 down – Buemi, 19 down – Dunlop, 20 across – three, 21 down – Foyt, 22 across – McLaren, 23 across – BMW, 24 across – Aston Martin, 25 down – two, 26 down – Bell, 27 across – one, 28 across – Ferrari, 29 across – eighth, 30 across - Peugeot

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