Auto Action #1750

FROSTY’S HOLDEN FIRST LOOK AT FORD DEFECTOR’S 20 19

COMMODORE

..COM.AU COM.AU

SCOTT

SINCE 1971

THE LOT!

McLAUGHLIN HEADED FOR PENSKE SUPERSTARDOM

TURBO T ERRIERS

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Issue #1750

Nov 29 to Dec 12, 2018

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TCR OZ INVASION BEGINS

SO LONG, FAREWELL

GOODBYE TO FALCON, LOWNDES AND NISSAN

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LATEST NEWS

BIG PENSKE FUTURE FOR McLAUGHLIN Roger reveals USA racing plan for newly crowned Supercars champ

BY MARK FOGARTY

INTERNATIONAL RACING icon Roger Penske has endorsed newly crowned Supercars champion Scott McLaughlin as a future star in America.

Penske confirmed that there are preliminary plans to take McLaughlin to the USA once he has solidified DJR Team Penske’s place as the leading V8 racing operation.

The billionaire businessman/team owner also acknowledged that beating Roland Dane’s Triple Eight powerhouse to the driver’s title was a highlight of his more than 50 years in motor sport.

He declared that Triple Eight supremo Roland Dane was ‘The King’ of Supercars team owners.

Following McLaughlin’s title-clinching performance in Newcastle, Penske revealed that his breakthrough championship success opened the door to opportunities with Team Penske in America. “Now that he has that (Supercars title) behind him, I think we gotta look at a plan for him to get him to the US to do something,� Penske told Auto Action. “So that would certainly be part of the program and we haven’t outlined it specifically, but it’s certainly something that we want to do, for sure.�

The majority owner of DJRTP runs front-running teams in IndyCar, NASCAR and IMSA sports car racing.

McLaughlin has declared his ambition to race in NASCAR, but his most likely path as a road racer with no open-wheeler experience is Team Penske’s Acura sports car program and NASCAR Xfinity and Monster Energy Cup Series road

course races.

Penske, 81, who was at Newcastle to witness McLaughlin’s triumph, rates the 25-year-old New Zealander highly among the pantheon of stars who’ve driven for him over half a century, including Australian Indianapolis 500 champion Will Power. “He’s a superstar in my mind and what he’s done for us has been amazing,� he said. “The skill set he has, he’s at the very top. I think as a road racer in this series, competing at the highest level, the number of poles, the number of wins, over the past two years, that speaks for itself. “I don’t need to augment that – you just look at the numbers on the board. He’s such a nice guy and when he has a tough day, he still comes out smiling and knows how to handle himself.�

In ultra-high praise, Penske likened McLaughlin’s resilience to Indycar legend Rick Mears, who is still with Team Penske as a driver coach/consultant. “He’s quiet and has that smile, but when it’s time to go, he just seems to be able to dig deeper, which is so important,� he said. “And Rick could do that as well. McLaughlin is just a perfect mirror image.�

In fact, Penske admitted that McLaughlin has exceeded the high expectations he had when he was signed from Garry Rogers Motorsport’s doomed Volvo operation at the end of 2016. “Quite honestly, he’s given us a lot more than we ever thought possible,� he said. “Just watching him in that blue suit driving that Volvo, we never

THIS WEEK’S RACE CALENDAR

realised the gold piece that we were going to get.�

McLaughlin’s post-race Saturday victory at Newcastle boosted Team Penske’s race win tally this year to 30 and his title capped a stellar season for the trans-Pacific enterprise.

As well as Power’s Indy 500 success, Team Penske won its first Brickyard 400 at the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway and garnered a second NASCAR Cup crown with Joey Logano.

Despite losing the teams’ championship, which was regained by Triple Eight, Penske rated winning the drivers’ crown as a highlight against the local might of Dane’s benchmark operation. “When you think about Triple Eight and what Roland has put together here, people might think he’s The King,� he declared. “Well, he is The King.

We’re just glad to be in his court, I guess.�

He further rated Dane as a major rival among all the leading team owners against whom he has battled in IndyCar and NASCAR. “He’s a unique guy,� Penske acknowledged. “He’s smart, he’s a businessman and he certainly prepares a race team at the highest level. He attracts the most talented people “Obviously, (Chip) Ganassi’s one of my big rivalries on the IndyCar side, and then you take NASCAR and you get four or five teams that you’re racing every weekend. But that’s why we do this. It’s about winning, it’s about building a brand.�

He added that when he arrived in Supercars in 2015, he identified Dane’s operation as the benchmark.

“When I first came here, and you saw his operation and you saw what he did on the track, I said ‘That’s the guy we gotta beat. We have to be able to get to his level and we gotta get there soon.’ “It took us three years, but you can’t just get to the top overnight. I don’t care who you are, it takes time, and to me that’s a real important part of this.�

Despite questions about Fabian Coulthard’s long-term future with DJRTP and his weak support of McLaughlin over the season, Penske expressed his satisfaction with the whole team effort this year. “I don’t want to take anything away from Fabian,� he said. “Fabian’s been a very vital teammate for us, too, because it takes two to tango here.

The whole operation is outstanding. I think the new Holden had a little bit of edge on us at the beginning. I think we’ve made our car better.

We’re really excited to see the homologation of the Mustang and to come here with a brand that’s relevant to the market place. “I understand the Mustang has had real good market share here over the past couple of years.

We race Ford Mustangs in the US, so it’s a brand we’re supporting on a worldwide basis. “Overall, the guys have done well here and I think our competitiveness has been very good.�

There will be an extended interview with Roger Penske in the next issue of Auto Action, on sale December 13

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KEED JOINS FROSTY AT TEAM 18 Superstar driver and engineer join forces as Charlie builds for 2019

BY BRUCE NEWTON SUPERSTAR ENGINEER Phil Keed is the latest impressive addition to Charlie Schwerkolt’s rebuilt Team 18.

Schwerkolt, aggressively pursuing the success that has eluded him so far as a stand-alone team owner, confirmed last week he had convinced Bathurst and championship winner Mark Winterbottom to swap from Ford to Holden, replacing Lee Holdsworth in the driver’s seat.

Schwerkolt revealed at the same time he has secured Irwin Tools as the team’s new naming rights sponsor, replacing Preston Hire.

Keed will be handed control of the development of a Holden Commodore ZB that will look the goods in Irwin Tools colours – as our rendering above shows – as well as significantly overhauled and updated under the skin to incorporate the latest technology from Triple Eight Race Engineering.

Schwerkolt is clearly enthused about the operation he is building for 2019, even if he won’t talk about engineering and staffing ahead of an announcement that is expected in early December.

“I am incredibly enthusiastic about my new sponsor group coming onboard … as well as keeping my current partners like

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Pulsar watches and Fuchs, in the 10 at the end of the who are staying on,” year for sure.”

Schwerkolt said.

Intriguingly, the technical “I am also excited about update of the Team 18 Frosty coming onboard. He Commodore won’t be didn’t win a championship as simple as you might or Bathurst by fluking it. He expect, as it has been can drive, so I’m sure he running a unique front will deliver. He is going to upright in 2018 rather than have the right equipment, a Triple Eight design. he is going to have the After a long struggle right package, and he is to tune the upright, going to have the right Holdsworth showed people, the right sponsor strong form in Newcastle, and a team owner who suggesting progress has wants to win.” been made. But now we It would be a significant understand the car will be turnaround for a team fitted with the T8 upright. that has endured some Winterbottom has Charlie Schwerkolt and new horror patches, including made it clear racing T8 recruit Mark Winterbottom.

Holdsworth’s shocking equipment was a strong 2016 Darwin shunt that forced him to miss factor prompting him to swap teams. three events.

“I’ve tried so many years to beat “It’s been a tough road and incredibly them,” Winterbottom said. “Blood, sweat hard, but that makes you tougher,” and tears, but look at the data – eight Schwerkolt said. championships out of the last 11.

“We are going to try as best we can. It “I am looking forward to driving that car would be awesome if we are in the 10, and now go against them in the same and that’s where we want to be. We think equipment. I feel good about that.

Frosty can do that. It would be great to be “It will be cool to race them in the same

gear, work with them, and ultimately still try and beat them. Hopefully we will be all up there fighting for a championship.”

Keed has already visited Team 18’s Mount Waverley workshop in Melbourne’s southeastern suburbs and conducted a thorough inspection of the ZB, a racer he has not previously worked on.

The personnel line-up Keed will work with will change, as Winterbottom is bringing several staff with him from Tickford Racing.

Team manager Jeff Grech will leave the squad but could remain employed within the larger Schwerkolt business empire.

Keed, a graduate of Sydney University, cut his motor racing teeth working for Subaru’s WRC program, then returned to Australia in 2003, where he joined Team Brock and commenced a long and fruitful relationship with Jason Bright.

Keed moved to Ford Performance Racing and then to Brad Jones Racing, where he joined with Kiwi driver Fabian Coulthard.

Keed moved with Coulthard to DJR Team Penske in 2016 and they delivered the US-owned outfit’s first championship race victory at Symmons Plains in 2017.

However, his deal with DJRTP was not renewed for 2018 and he has spent a year sitting out of motorsport.

Illustration by SS Media

KELLYS PLAN OWN V8 Generic engine crucial part of pitch to new manufacturers

BY BRUCE NEWTON KELLY RACING could develop its own V8 engine to help it lure a new manufacturer into Supercars in 2020.

The team has been working on the generic V8 for three years and is so confident it is the right way to go that the radical plan is being incorporated into pitches soon being made to potential new vehicle partners.

Japanese brand Nissan ended its sixyear association with the family owned operation at last weekend’s Newcastle 500, and the hunt is on for a car to replace the ageing Altimas that will run one more season.

The Kellys would far prefer to unite with a new manufacturer than become a customer team and make redundant much of the self-sufficient structure they have built at their Braeside base.

While acknowledging a manufacturer may have its own engine option to offer for Supercars racing, Kelly Racing co-owner Todd Kelly told Auto Action they were far outnumbered by potential bodyshapes that would fit the standard category rolling chassis.

That makes a generic engine a preferable alternative to the multimillion dollar cost and years of development required to make a production-based engine competitive, as per the well-documented struggle the team endured with the Nissan VK56DE V8 engine.

“We have to have an engine solution

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that we won’t need to spend the first three years trying to develop,” Kelly said. “We need an engine solution – whether it be aligned with (a new) brand or generic Kelly Racing engine – that can plug in that car and at the [2020] Adelaide 500 can be in contention for the win.

“That [generic V8] has taken en us three years to do and we are at the point where we think we have a good solution to roll into a manufacturer.

“So the manufacturer discussions are starting to really wind up now, because the last thing I want to be in is a situation where they say, ‘What are we doing for an engine?’ and have a blank look on the other side of the desk.

“But now we have a solution on it, it’s going to cost us a bit of money but it will be a good long-term solution if the category is going to stay with the same engine rules and power rules we currently have.”

While coy about revealing significant detail, Kelly made it clear the generic engine would be a quad-cam engine rather than the traditional pushrod design that has dominated the championship.

“The only way to be competitive against the other engines is to have

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everything the same,” said. “This same ” Kelly said [pushrod] engine has been developed over 25 years, so the conrod lengths, the bore and stroke, the whole architecture of the engine blocks, everything is specifically evolved for what our rules are.

“An incoming engine has to have as many of these things – it not all – exactly the same to be on the money.”

Kelly admitted the up-front cost of the engines would still be expensive, but ongoing maintenance and servicing would be cheaper than current Supercars engines.

He said the generic V8 would be offered for sale to other teams.

“If we went ahead with what we are talking about, and I was a one or a two-car team that had an engine deal but didn’t do any of the work myself, I think it [the generic V8] would be an extremely compelling case for anyone to consider.”

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IF IT has to race one of the existing options in 2020, Kelly Racing has op indicated the new Ford Mustang would in be preferred ahead of the Holden Commodore ZB. Co But instead of campaigning the ex existing pushrod Ford V8 in the car, th the Kellys would look to use either its ow own generic engine or develop a racing ve version of the multi-valve Coyote pr production engine.

It could opt for the Coyote engine because of its own experience with be the DOHC Nissan VK56DE engine th and because its architecture lines up an closely with current Supercar technical cl rules. ru Todd Kelly said there hasn’t been a lot of investigation into the Coyote because its development would not take long.

“It’s more of an easy one to implement because a lot of that stuff [performance parts] exists. We probably only need seven or eight months to pull that one off. It’s a Plan B, but certainly not a Plan A.” As for the Commodore, Kelly made it clear he was not attracted to the parts supply arrangement for the ZB, which are restricted primarily to homologation team Triple Eight Race Engineering.

“If we go and buy all our parts off Triple Eight and do an engine deal, I could basically shut down 75 percent of my business and service the cars out of a garage.

“But what does that make us as a team? Why would somebody want to come and partner us and sponsor us when we are just a customer?”

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LATEST NEWS

By MARK FOGARTY

GARRY ROGERS Motorsport will continue next year without the backing of the Wilson Group, which is pulling out in the wake of a senior management upheaval.

Wilson Parking and Security, along with its medical subsidiaries, are withdrawing all motor racing sponsorship after a decade as a major benefactor.

As well as GRM’s title sponsorship, the end of Wilson backing will affect the Porsche Carrera Cup, Touring Car Masters and Australian GT. Under recently deposed Melbournebased worldwide chief of the Hong Kongbased group, John McMellan, Wilson was a major backer of Australian motor racing, headed by title sponsorship of DJR and GRM cars over the past decade.

However, following McMellan’s abrupt departure from the company last month, his replacement is winding back Wilson’s motor racing involvement.

McMellan is a key backer of the Australian Racing Group, which has the local commercial rights to international TCR touring cars and the S5000 ‘big banger’ V8 open-wheelers.

As well as GRM, Wilson’s unilateral withdrawal will be costly for veteran John Bowe, whose TCM program was underpinned by McMellan’s support.

GRM founder/owner Garry Rogers confirmed that his team had lost Wilson’s backing, which moved from DJR when the Melbourne team switched to factory-backed Volvos in 2014.

“They’re out,” Rogers told Auto Action.

“We need to find another sponsor. We will not be financially supported by Wilson next year.

“The new bloke has decided not to go into

GRM LOSES WILSON BACKING motor racing in any form next year. They reckon it’s done the job for them for 10 years and they don’t want to do it anymore, so that was that.

“Simple as that.”

Wilson’s withdrawal also jeopardises GRM’s Super2 program, although Rogers is adamant it will continue following Chris Pither’s success this season – the squad’s first ever title in Supercars.

Rogers, who supports GRM from his own fortune accumulated from decades in car dealerships and property investments, declared that he will continue with Garth Tander and James Golding next year, retaining long-time support from Valvoline.

“Sponsors come and go, and Wilson have been absolutely fantastic,” he said.

“Of course, it will affect us because you have to change your signage, but that’s really insignificant these days. We’ll have to

go and get another contributor to assist with Valvoline.”

His son and day-to-day team boss, Barry Rogers, admitted Wilson’s late withdrawal would be a strain on the tight-knit team.

“It’s a problem,” he told AA. “We don’t have a replacement for Wilson. At least we have Valvoline’s continued support.

“But we’re committed 100 per cent and nothing will change with our drivers.”

Rogers Jnr’s reference to Tander’s and Golding’s status was in response to widespread rumours that Lee Holdswoth was looking to return to GRM with Preston Hire backing, ousting rookie Golding.

“We’ve had a number of drivers with budgets approach us, but we’re sticking with James,” Barry Rogers declared.

Added Garry: “No change planned.

But they can change after every race. No

TICKFORD EYES LE BROCQ

By BRUCE NEWTON

A TUG OF WAR has broken out for the services of highly rated rookie Jack Le Brocq.

The Team Tekno driver is the subject of interest from Tickford Racing to replace departing superstar Mark Winterbottom, who is headed to Charlie Schwerkolt’s Team 18 Irwin Holden.

Sources close to the blue oval confirmed strong interest in Le Brocq from Tickford.

However, Auto Action understands Le Brocq is contractually tied to Tekno for 2019 and is expected to honour that commitment.

Tickford Racing boss Tim Edwards declined to make any comments about the Ford team’s driver plans for 2019.

Team Tekno owner Jonathan Webb acknowledged interest from other teams in Le Brocq but also declined to comment on the record.

Le Brocq finished top rookie in the Supercars Championship in the Truck Assist Holden Commodore, one positon ahead of impressive Erebus youngster Anton de Pasquale.

Clearly, 26-year-old Le Brocq is highly rated by Tickford, for whom he raced in 2016 in Super2. He also shared the Monster Energy Falcon with Cam Waters in the Pirtek Enduro Cup that year, scoring fourth at Bathurst.

Meanwhile, Macauley Jones is expected to be confirmed within days as the driver of the Cooldrive Holden Commodore for the 2019 season.

The second-generation racer will make the jump full-time into the Supercars championship after five years racing in Super2 and serving as an endurance co-driver at his father Brad’s team, Brad Jones Racing.

He will replace retiring Tim Blanchard in the Blanchard family owned entry run out of BJR.

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“There are three drivers we have looked at very closely and we are now at the point where we are finalising all the details to make an announcement,” Tim Blanchard told AA. “We have made the decision on one, so unless something falls over in the meantime – and I am pretty confident it won’t – then it’s pretty much all done.”

Several other Supercars drivers have still yet to nail down their futures.

With continued substantial backing from Preston Hire, Lee Holdsworth looks well placed to continue as a full-time driver. Potential seats include Tickford Racing to replace Winterbottom, or potentially Team Tekno if Le Brocq negotiates an exit. Nissan has as many as two seats available depending on how the search for funding goes, so he could land there as well.

Resident Kelly Racing drivers Andre Heimgartner and Michael Caruso’s futures at the team depend on funding negotiations underway at the moment. Caruso, who is now receiving career guidance from former Holden Motorsport boss Simon McNamara, is known to have tested the waters with some top teams for endurance co-drives in 2019.

Super2 star Garry Jacobson appears set to graduate, as he has substantial support, while the prospects of Alex Rullo and new Super2 champion Chris Pither stepping up appear less likely.

Pither, who had one full-time season in the Super Black Falcon in 2016, won the 2018 Super2 title, but admits he currently lacks the funding to buy his way back into the main game.

Richie Stanaway’s time at Tickford Racing appears done and dusted, with the confirmation 23Red Racing and Will Davison will be run as a customer entry out of Campbellfield.

one has a guaranteed drive.”

Both Rogers admit that GRM’s performances this year have been way under par and are demanding that all team personnel lift their game for next year.

GRM is also looking at joining the new TCR Australia championship, much like it mixed V8 Supercars and Super Touring in the 1990s.

“We’re in the motor sport business,” said Garry, who is also interested in S5000.

“If we could get it to stack up as a business case, we’d do it. But that will be a decision for Barry to make. I’m still here, but I rely on Barry to make those decisions now. If he wants to do it and can get it to financially stack up, I like the idea.

“In my opinion, TCR should run as a support category to Supercars. I just can’t believe they don’t.

“They’re very affordable.”

SUPERCARS RECS IN LEGAL WRANGLE

By MARK FOGARTY

THERE COULD still be 26 cars on the Supercars grid next year if the returned RECs are sold soon.

Triple Eight handed back its third Racing Entitlements Contract before 2019 entries closed last month, while Tickford Racing returned its fourth licence.

The RECs are due to go out to tender, but there are legal problems that Supercars is endeavouring to

By BMARK resolve if FOGARTY potential buyers are to be allowed to enter the 2019 series.

The prime contender to join Supercars is wealthy GT racing entrant Scott Taylor, who has ready committed to buying Craig Lowndes’ ZB Commodore.

Jamie Whincup’s ZB is going to Matt Stone Racing in a customer deal for Todd Hazelwood to graduate to a current car.

The fate of the returned RECs is in the hands of Supercars’ legal counsel Anthony Hogarth, who is preparing advice for the final board

of directors meeting of the year on December 5.

“That’s still commercial in confidence,” Supercars chief executive officer Sean Seamer told Auto Action about the state of play of the orphan RECs. “We have to play it with a straight bat.”

Asked whether there will be only 24 cars on the grid next year or possibly 25, Seamer hedged: “We’re still working through that.

That’s what we’re clarifying.”

Scott Taylor Racing, which was earlier due to seamlessly take over the third Triple Eight Lowndes entry, appears to be the only viable of one of the two handed-back RECs. Taylor is already closely aligned with Triple Eight, which is helping run his Mercedes-AMG GT3 in February’s Bathurst 12 Hour with Vodafone backing and a Lowndes/ Whincup/van Gisbergen driver super-team.

we do have someone over from the States, it’s better for them to run in the morning and we run in the afternoon, rather than them running on the Saturday and us running on the Sunday.

“The idea of the Gold Coast 500 and the endurance race at Pukekohe split opinions.”

Seamer also revealed Supercars would be comfortable sharing top billing with an IndyCar return in 2020, as flagged by the Queensland government.

“We’re open to anything,” he said. “We’re working with them closely to lock down what the future looks like. We’re all going in the same direction. We want to spice it up, do something different, do something new.

“Whether we do that with or without Indy or with or without NASCAR, and when and how that looks like, we’re still a fair way off that.

Obviously, our ambition is to get that worked through by the end of Q1 (late March) next year.

“We’re not precious. There’s a certain attraction around NASCAR just because we don’t need to change the track in order to accommodate them. But we’ll have to see what happens over the next few months. It’s still early days.

“I need to get over to the States and sit down and chat to people. We’ll just see how it goes.”

Seamer, whose wife is American, plans to meet with NASCAR and IndyCar bosses in January following a family Christmas visit.

However, Seamer admitted that Brisbane Street’s and IndyCar’s desire to shift the Gold Coast event to late February/early March would be a problem for Supercars.

“That time would be difficult for us because of Adelaide and then the Grand Prix,” he said. ”That timing would be very difficult. It’s also not the best time for weather, either, which is why it was moved in the first place. Very hot and wet then.”

Added a Supercars spokesman: “The premier (of Qld) is not talking about one or the other.

This not about having a 600 or Indy. It’s about having both.”

The only potential for the return of Indycars to the shortened Surfers Paradise street course is the height of the trackside catch fences.

Seamer will visit NASCAR and IndyCar chiefs before the end of January. He will visit Indianapolis, Daytona and Mooresville, North Carolina.

NZ ENDURO AND GC 500 REJECTED

By MARK FOGARTY

NEXT YEAR’S Surfers Paradise street fight will remain as twin 300 km mini-enduros.

Supercars has confirmed that moves to make the Gold Coast event a single 500 km endurance race has been rejected by the teams.

It will continue in its Gold Coast 600 format despite becoming the second rather than third and final leg of the Pirtek Enduro Cup in 2019’s reordered calendar.

Also thrown out was a suggestion to turn the Auckland event, which has swapped places with the Sandown 500 to take over the pre-Bathurst 1000 mid-September slot, into a two-driver enduro.

The formats for next year’s 15 Supercar events are due to be announced to coincide with the on-sale date of this issue of Auto Action (Thursday, November 29).

It will confirm that the rescheduled Auckland SuperSprint and Gold Coast 600 retain their recent race formats.

Supercars chief executive Sean Seamer confirmed that both events will stay as they are.

“It’s not happening,” Seamer told AA of the idea to make Pukekohe as two-driver, singlerace enduro. “It was discussed because the teams were interested in getting more co-driver

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mileage before Bathurst, but that event will be staying as two single-driver races. It will not become an endurance race.”

He also affirmed that the Gold Coast round would continue as two 300 km races on the Saturday and Sunday.

“It will stay as the 600,” Seamer said. “We had discussed the idea of doing it as 500 km single race just because it was so close to Sandown, keep the formats the same, but after racing there last month, the punishment that the drivers and the cars get, it’s too much to expect people to do one 500 km race.

“It’s just too much. The other thing is, for any international categories that may be with us, if

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SUPERCARS HELD its annual awards night on Monday, with David Reynolds taking the coveted Barry Sheene Award for the second consecutive year as the best and fairest driver in the championship.

Open-wheel convert Thomas Randle won the Mike Kable Young Gun Award and Tom Walkinshaw was posthumously inducted into the Supercars Hall of Fame.

All the winners were as follows: Barry Sheene Medal: David Reynolds, Penrite Erebus Motorsport 2018 Supercars Champion: Scott McLaughlin Champion Team Award: Red Bull Holden Racing Team 2018 Supercars ARMOR ALL Pole Position: Scott McLaughlin, Shell V-Power Racing Hall of Fame Inductee: Tom Walkinshaw Champion Manufacturer of the Year: Holden Most Popular Driver – Fan’s Choice: Scott McLaughlin Best Event – Fan’s Choice: Red Rooster Sydney SuperNight 300 Mike Kable Young Gun: Thomas Randle, Tickford Racing Dunlop Super2 Series Champion: Chris Pither, Garry Rogers Motorsport 2018 Dunlop Super2 ARMOR ALL Pole Position: Chris Pither, Garry Rogers Motorsport ECB SuperUtes Series Champion: Ryal Harris Boost Mobile Supercars E-Series Winner: Matthew Bink Best Presented Team – Fan’s Choice: Shell V-Power Racing Supercars Media Award: Ian O’Brien Virgin Australia Best Volunteer Group: CrownBet Darwin Triple Crown

THE CHASSIS for the new-generation FIA F3 Championship, which replaces GP3, has been revealed. Dallara designed and built the car based on the current GP3 chassis. It is powered by a naturally aspirated 3.4-litre Mecachrome engine, with power going through a six-speed Hewland gearbox.

The top speed is expected to be around 300km/h, with a 0-100 time of 3.0s. The new chassis includes a halo and DRS, while revised front suspension provides a new range of set- up possibilities.

AUSTRALIAN RALLY driver Molly Taylor has been to Italy to test Top Run Motorsport’s TCR-spec Subaru Impreza WRX STI. Taylor described the car as a real weapon, but with Subaru rumoured to be interested in entering TCR Australia, it may not be the last time Taylor drives the TCRspec Impreza.

YOUNG KIWI Liam Lawson has cleanswept the final round of the Asian F3 Championship in a guest appearance.

Lawson dominated the weekend, starting from pole in each race, winning the opener by 8.7s, and the second by 22s. The final race ended in a red flag, but Lawson was 4s clear when it was halted.

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SEVENTH MUSTANG PLANNED FOR 2019 Wildcard car planned for rookie outings in Supersprints

By BRUCE NEWTON

A SEVENTH Ford Mustang will be prepared to race in the Supercars championship in 2019.

Phil Munday’s 23Red Racing will have the car built to cater for potential wildcard entries at Supersprint events, joining the six full-time Mustangs to be raced out of the DJR Team Penske and Tickford Racing stables.

“There are a lot of people who would love to get into this game in a current-spec Mustang, so I think that’s … beneficial to the sport,” Munday said.

The plan is a spin-off from the team’s new customer deal with Tickford Racing, made possible when the former factory Ford team relinquished one of its RECs for 2019.

While mooted for some time, the deal was completed only at the Newcastle 500 last Sunday morning by Munday and Tickford co-owner Rod Nash.

Based on the current Milwaukee Racing Mustang Falcon FG X – which was ex-Tickford – the team’s Mustang will be based and serviced at Tickford’s Campbellfeld base.

It will be a homecoming for Will Davison, who raced for team – then known as Ford Performance Racing – between 2011 and 2013.

The second 23Red racing

Mustang will be based on an FG X Falcon Super2 car bought by Munday earlier this year.

“We will reskin our Falcon FG X Super2 as a Mustang and put all the latest and best stuff into it,” he said.

“I think running a single-car team in this sport and getting to the point where you want to be is near impossible. To get into that pointy part of the field, garage 26 is almost impossible to get to qualify in a good spot.

It is brutal down that end of the pitlane.”

“That will be a full-spec Mustang Supercar ready to run in wildcard events next year because you can’t run a Mustang in Super2.

“There are a few people who have expressed an interest in doing a wildcard next year.”

23Red was established in late 2017 by the long-time Supercars

sponsor, who effectively took control of Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport.

It was set up in Kilsyth at one of Munday’s own factories and he revealed an ambitious plan to expand into Super2 and eventually add a second car in the main game.

Munday says racing out of pit bay 26 in 2018 has been a stark experience.

“I think running a single-car team in this sport and getting to the point where you want to be is near impossible. To get into that pointy part of the field, garage 26 is almost impossible to get to qualify in a good spot. It is brutal down that end of the pitlane.”

Moving in with Tickford Racing will mean Davison could be as high as garage five and will be treated as a full-time driver, pre- and debriefing with his teammates and having full access to data and engineering support.

“It is an honour and relief to be in that situation where we can be a contender in the championship,” Munday said.

Most 23Red employees are expected to make the transition to Tickford Racing but it is not known if team manager Rob Crawford and engineer Rob Palermo will be among them.

12 HOUR SUPERTEAM SCOTT TAYLOR Motorsport and Triple Eight Race Engineering are set to form a formidable partnership heading to the Bathurst 12 Hour next year.

The alliance brings together three-time Bathurst 1000 winning partnership and 2017 Bathurst 12 Hour co-winners Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes, with the duo piloting a Mercedes-AMG GT3 under the banner of TeamVodafone.

Joining the duo will be Whincup’s Red Bull Holden Racing Team partner and 2018 Supercars runner-up Shane van Gisbergen, winner of the 12 Hour in 2016.

STM recently won the Australian Endurance Championship and has been a strong contender in the 12 Hour for many years, finishing runner-up earlier this year, with Whincup, Kenny Habul, Tristan Vautier and Raffaele Marciello sharing the drive.

Lowndes is excited to have the old band back together in what was an era of great success as TeamVodafone from 2007-2012.

“It’s sort of like the old rat pack back together again, although we’ve got Shane on board,” Lowndes said.

“The car has lots of memories of when we had Vodafone on the Supercar. It’s great to see the old colours back, great memories for that era.

“It’s going to be nice. Obviously the three

Van Gisbergen, Whincup and Lowndes welcome back the Vodaphone colours on their Mercedes 12 Hour car.

of us are very compatible and we know the circuit very well. To have all three of us in one car is very strong. The car for me, I’ll need to get my head around it, but I’m sure that’ll come pretty quickly.”

Whincup is equally enthusiastic that he can add to his 2017 victory and runner-up position in this year’s event, with a strong team behind the entry.

“To team up with Scott Taylor Motorsport again and then combine that with Triple Eight Race Engineering, then to have both my

teammates in the car as well, combine that with Vodafone on board, it’s fantastic.

“I’m really looking forward to next year’s event,” Whincup said. “Lowndesy and I and Team Vodafone competed at Bathurst for many years, so it’s good to get the band back together.

“I’m looking forward to teaming up with Lowndesy again, but both years Shane has been opposition for me, so it’s good to be in the same team for an all-out assault.”

The acknowledged GT specialist of the trio,

van Gisbergen is expecting a tough contest to start off the racing season.

“I think every year the event gets bigger and bigger,” van Gisbergen said.

“More European teams and drivers come out, more Australian Supercars guys jump in it too, and it just seems to get tougher and tougher every year and the fans support that.

Hopefully it’s an even bigger race next year and we can put on a good show.”

The 2019 Bathurst 12 Hour takes place on January 31-February 3.

EVANS TAKES VICTORY IN PORSCHE SHOOTOUT REIGNING CARRERA Cup Australia champion Jaxon Evans has won this year’s Porsche Motorsport Junior Programme Shootout, which was held at Paul Ricard in early November.

The 22-year-old wins 225,000 euros to go towards contesting next year’s Porsche Supercup, alongside a comprehensive Porsche Motorsport training program that features on-track coaching, psychological and media relations training, and a significant training regime.

“It was certainly a strange feeling, that’s for sure,” Evans told Auto Action of being selected by the jury. “I was actually driving in my car to pick up dinner, I saw my phone was ringing and it had Germany come underneath the number. I was nervous as soon as I saw that.

“I wasn’t sure what to expect.

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It could have been some very, very good news or sort of heartbreaking stuff, but once I was talking to them and I was understanding that they had selected me as a Porsche Junior for 2019, it was a ‘words can’t describe’ moment.

“I was over the moon!”

The shootout victory cements Evans’ future plans. It is a weight lifted off the 22-yearold’s shoulders as he heads to Germany for Porsche’s prizegiving ceremony next month to collect his Australian Carrera Cup title and meet with Porsche management to sure up his plans for next year.

Evans emulates McElrea Racing stablemate and close friend Matt Campbell, who took the Carrera Cup title and the Shootout in 2016.

The Porsche Junior, currently competing with DempseyProton in the World Endurance

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Championship ‘Super Season’, was one of the first people Evans told and he is looking forward to renewing the partnership.

“It was really cool to tell Matty, and he was just as excited as I was. It was really cool to see that he was happy to win it and basically know that he’s going to have a roommate for 2019.

“Obviously, Matty doing it before me and me following in his footsteps, it’s going to benefit me a lot him having done it all before because I’ll have someone that is from Australia.

“I’m really excited for it.”

The decision on what team Evans competes with in Supercup next year is up to he and manager Andy McElrea, with Campbell helping the duo make a decision.

“I’ve certainly spoken to Matty about what team’s fast and Porsche don’t make the decision

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on who we run with. We have to do some research and talk to some teams. Basically, present [to Porsche] the options that we are happy to go with and they’ll let us know if it is okay and if it isn’t it.

“We haven’t confirmed to run with the same team Matty did, but we have a close relationship there with Fach Auto Sport.

“We’ll keep those options open

and when I head over to Germany I’ll be able to have a chat with a couple of other teams as well and take the best steps for me.”

This leaves Evans’ Bathurst 12 Hour plans up in the air as he was scheduled to drive with Tony Walls in the Objective McLaren, but the Kiwi hopes he will be fitted into one of the Porsche-backed entries.

HEATH MCALPINE

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SUPERCARS CONSIDERS S5000 FOR NZ

BY MARK FOGARTY AND BRUCE WILLIAMS S5000 COULD make a non-championship appearance at the Supercars event in New Zealand next year.

Australian Racing Group is in discussions with Supercars to add S5000 to the support program of the Auckland SuperSprint at Pukekohe Park Raceway from September 13-15.

The inaugural ARG-run CAMS Australian S5000 Championship will be staged at Shannons Nationals events in 2019.

Supercars chief executive Sean Seamer confirmed the big-banger V8 open-wheelers were being looked at for a one-off engagement at Pukekohe.

“We’re still talking to them (ARG) about the 5000 potentially for NZ next year,” Seamer told Auto Action.

“It’s just a matter of them getting some racing under their belts and deciding whether that event works for both of us.

“We know that the Kiwis love those

5000 cars, so we’re in discussions around Auckland.”

The combined TCR/S5000 launch at Sydney Motorsport Park was attended by several highprofile Supercars figures.

Senior Supercars management was represented at the car launch by chief operating officer Shane Howard and marketing and communications chief John Casey, along with team owners Brad Jones and Garry Rogers.

According to Seamer, two of his top-ranking executives were there as enthusiasts in an unofficial capacity.

“We all got invited,” Seamer said. “We obviously know (ARG backers) Brian (Boyd) and John (McMellan) and (ARG director) Matt (Braid). Shane and JC went out.

“They were particularly keen to have a look at the 5000 car. Nothing more to it than that.”

Howard and Casey, as well as Jones and Rogers, also spent a lot of time looking at the

TCR cars. Seamer admitted that Supercars was keeping an open mind to the TCR Australia series, which is also run by ARG, and to the prospect of them joining the undercard at selected Supercars events after 2019.

“It’s just a matter of them building up their grid sizes and making sure that the racing’s good,” he said. “They’re doing that through Shannons Nationals next year and we’ll see where it goes from there.”

Other interested Supercar people getting a close look at the 2-Litre cars included Garry and Barry Rogers, Brad Jones and Jason Bright, with both Jones and Bright indicating a genuine desire to put TCR programs together.

Drivers who sampled the four TCR cars included 2014 Bathurst 1000 champion Chaz Mostert and current Supercar endurance co-drivers James Moffat, Tony D’Alberto and Macauley Jones.

Mostert drove the Hyundai i30 N, Moffat

completed laps in the Honda Civic Type R, Leanne Tander and Jones steered the Audi RS3, and D’Alberto undertook a handful of laps in the Volkswagen Golf GTI. The Australian S5000 Championship will consist of six rounds at Shannons Nationals events, which includes visits to Sydney Motorsport Park, Phillip Island, Winton, Sandown and two rounds at Australia’s newest venue, The Bend in South Australia.

It is anticipated that these modern, sleek race cars, powered by a sealed 5.0-litre 560hp V8 Ford Coyote ‘Aluminator’ engine, will break the outright lap records at almost all of the venues it visits.

The world-class open-wheel category is also investigating opportunities to hold nonchampionship events, pending discussions with other racing promoters.

For more on the TCR series launch, see our feature story starting on page 30.

PAPADOPOULOS REMAINS FIRST OFFICIAL PRESIDENT SUB TWO MINUTES AT BATHURST THE TWO-MINUTE barrier was broken at Challenge Bathurst on November 16 when German ace Christopher Mies pushed an Audi R8 Ultra around Mount Panorama in 1m59.291s.

The time counted as a new track record as Mies was competing in a CAMS-sanctioned event.

Audi Sport Customer Racing Australia chief Troy Russell had predicted before the Friday sessions that the record lap was on.

“There was no way we could have done that sort of time on Thursday due to the traffic,” he had said. “But for the final session today (Friday) we will take some of the weight out, removed the restrictors, make some other changes and give it a crack.”

The second day worked better as well, with group sessions redefined for closer lap time matches.

Mies used the Audi in which Geoff Emery claimed his second Australian GT Championship. Mies was sharing it with Garth Tander, who had less than half the time in the car and was second-fastest with a 2m0.331s lap.

It was thought that the Jim Manolios-owned Lamborghini Huracan went out in the last session without restrictors and returned a 2m4.948s with Dean Canto at the wheel.

More than 130 took part in the two days of the Sprint portion of the event before two days of Regularity. In total, over 400 cars competed.

Yasser Shahin, Craig Baird and Tony D’Alberto shared a

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Mercedes Benz AMG GT for fourth-fastest time, ahead of Adrain Dietz (Huracan), Tony Walls (McLaren 650S) and Dimitri and Theo Koundouris in an Audi.

Formula 4 driver Ryan Suhle did the tenth-fastest time in the McElrea Racing Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge car that Jimmy Vernon raced this year. Next best was David Stevens in a Porsche 911 Cup ahead of Darren Barlow in his 1.0-litre Stohr WF-1, Manolios and Vince Muriti (Audi).

The event ended badly for local Brad Schumacher and his recently acquired Lotus V6 Cup Car R. He speared off the track before Griffins Bend and slammed into the concrete wall at 243km/h. He suffered a torn ligament in his knee and sustained deep tissue bruising to his legs, chest and pelvis in what was his first crash.

Schumacher said he and his team were unsure exactly what went wrong. Prior to the incident it had run well – as evidenced by a 2m12.645s class lap record.

“We don’t know if we had a tyre failure rear left or potentially another mechanical component to unsettle the car so radically,” he said.

Others who had issues included Richard Gartner (Lamborghini Gallardo) with two blown tyres and Peter O’Donnell (BMW 335i) had a tailshaft let go, while Lloyd Godfrey (BMW M Coupe) and Nathan Halstead (991 GT3 Cup) were involved in separate on-track incidents.

GARRY O’BRIEN

ANDREW PAPADOPOULOS will remain as president of CAMS for a further three-year term after being re-elected unopposed.

Papadopoulos has been CAMS President since 2009 and is excited that he will continue to be in the role until at least 2021.

“It is truly an honour to be CAMS President, and to be re-elected for a further three years is very humbling,” Papadopoulos said.

“It’s an exciting time to be part of motor sport – there is strong growth at the grassroots level, with a record number of affiliated clubs, and we are regularly seeing an increase in the number of licenceholders across Australia. This certainly illustrates that there are many positives for us as a sport to celebrate.

“Of course, motor sport always presents its challenges, which we as a Board continue to work through, but there’s no doubt the sport is in a strong position, as is CAMS itself.

“We know there is plenty of work still to do, and the entire CAMS Board and all our dedicated staff and volunteers are committed to ensuring motor sport in Australia goes from strength to strength.”

Under Papadopoulos’s reign CAMS has increased its financial position each year and continues to maintain it heading into his new term.

“We are on track to record another surplus in 2018 and that will all go back into ensuring the sustainability of the sport,” he said.

“A new and larger CAMS head office will also open in Melbourne next year, ensuring that we have the space and resources available to our staff to allow the continued growth of motor sport in Australia. It will also provide space for members of the motor sport community to access, whether for training, meetings or otherwise.”

Fellow board members Tony South and Graeme Emerton were also re-elected as vice-presidents for a further 12 months.

AA’s normally blasé pundit rejoices in the new Supercars champion and the amazing driving he witnessed at Rally Australia NO DISRESPECT to Shane van Gisbergen, but Scott McLaughlin is a much better Supercars champion. Nothing to do with driving ability and everything to do with personality.

Scotty Mac is the popular and out-going new champ the sport needed. He is a great face for Supercars, especially as his ascension coincides with the departure of Craig Lowndes – at least as a full-timer.

McLaughlin is the natural successor to Lowndes as the ‘people’s champion’. The new New Peter Brock, if you like.

Scotty is an exciting driver, an effusive personality and naturally likeable. He is well on his way to superstardom and, despite the strictures of being a Penske driver, he adds much-needed colour, interest and personality to mainly bland Supercars driver-scape.

Apart from David Reynolds, who verges on being too ‘out there’, McLaughlin is the only front-runner who expresses himself with enthusiasm and candour. As popular as he is – and will remain – Lowndes is always guarded and uncontroversial in what he says to the media.

Which is not a sledge against SVG. He is a sublimely talented driver who would have been an exceptionally worthy second-time champion. His unbridled burnouts and donuts are awesome – although Scotty’s tyre-frying celebration at Newcastle was right up there as a spectacle.

The problem with Giz is his public persona outside the car. Flat as. Which is a shame because away from the spotlight he is thoughtful, interesting and engaging. And you have to admire his ‘race anything anywhere’ ethos.

But Shane is essentially a shy young bloke who is uncomfortable in front of a broadcast camera or media microphone. He’s NZ motor racing’s equivalent of F1 Finns Mika

Hakkinen and Kimi Raikkonen. Dry, deadpan personalities when in the public gaze, voluble party animals in private.

On sheer speed and driving flamboyance, McLaughlin and van Gisbergen are closely matched and represent a rivalry for the ages.

If only they were Aussies, their combat would embrace the nation.

Still, McLaughlin has the charm and ebullience to attract huge support and reenthuse the Ford faithful in a Mustang from next year. The only question is, how long will he stay in Supercars?

McLaughlin has NASCAR ambitions and Roger Penske is deeply impressed by his newest champion. There are plans well afoot to insert ‘our’ Scotty into Team Penske’s American operation, most logically in its Acura sports car road racing program and NASCAR road course races.

At just 25, McLaughlin has a big future ahead of him with Team Penske in the USA. Which would additionally suit him because his fiancé Karly is American. It all fits.

So make the most of Scotty while he’s here.

Because odds are that won’t be for very long.

Meanwhile, his fan-engaging inspiration, Craig Lowndes, will endure as the sport’s biggest name – along with Dick Johnson – in semi-retirement.

Supercars’ tribute to CL before Sunday’s deciding race was an absolute triumph. His lap of honour and pit lane guard of honour

were fitting and inspired farewells for our greatest champion.

I have to admit that, as he walked the length of the pit lane amid universal applauds from everyone, I teared up and there was a lump in my throat. It was a moving tribute for which Supercars must be congratulated.

It won’t be the same without CL at every event, but he will be an exceptional ambassador because he will remain a presence in the paddock.

THE WORLD Rally Championship is arguably the most exciting form of mainstream car racing. Actually, there is no argument. WRC is the most exciting spectacle. Full stop.

I attended Rally Australia at Coffs Coast and I had a ball. It was my first rally for more than a decade and my first WRC experience since Rally Oz in Perth in 2003.

Now, Foges in the forests is not what most of you would think is my natural environment.

In fact, media colleagues and motor sport officials were surprised to see me in the media centre at Coffs Harbour, much less out in the dust and dirt watching stages.

In fact, rallying is a big part of my past.

As a young reporter, I covered the Southern Cross Rally – an international event of almost world championship status in the mid-to-late 1970s – several times.

I was out in the dead of night waiting for the screaming sound and blazing headlights

to flash past deep in the bush somewhere.

Same for classic rallies such as the Alpine in Victoria and the spectator friendly Castrol International near Canberra.

During my time based in London during the 1990s, I also went to many WRC and British Rally Championship events.

Perhaps the most fun I’ve ever had covering a motor sport event was following the Monte Carlo Rally in 1994. Charging between stages in a Ford Sierra Sapphire RS Cosworth – the sedan version of the iconic three-door that in racing form dominated international touring car racing in the late ’80s – on twisting mountain roads was thrilling.

WRC drivers are awe-inspiring. They are on the absolute limit everywhere all the time.

Standing almost within arm’s reach of the tracks during Rally Oz, watching the Ford, Hyundai, Toyota and Citroen guns fly past in a flurry of dirt and dust, was invigorating.

The Ogiers, Neuvilles and their like are constantly just a blink or a sneeze away from disaster. Talk about life at the limit. It is the best driving – aka barely controlled chaos – you’ll ever see.

The logistics of Rally Oz are mind-boggling, and that it goes off each year almost without a hitch is impressive. The enthusiasm of the region and the officials is heartwarming. Access to the action for media and spectators verges on dangerous, which is refreshing in these Nanny State times.

The amenity of the organisers, drivers and teams to the media is a lesson for F1 and Supercars, while the WRC+ Live streaming coverage is state-of-the-art spectacular. Also impressive to this latter-day tar baby were the service park and sub-tropical scenery.

The WRC teams bitch about performing in the middle of nowhere, but an increased paid attendance of more than 83,000 over four days belied their concern. Add a knife-edge battle for the world title and the Coffs Coast came up trumps.

The organisers concede a Super Special stage near Sydney will have to be concocted to secure Rally Australia’s future in the WRC beyond next year.

But to experience absolutely amazing driving, book your rally holiday to Coffs Harbour in 2019 right now.

You won’t regret it.

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F3 TEST FOR PERONI TASMANIAN ALEX Peroni is set to participate in official testing for the FIA Formula 3 Championship at the Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi this week.

The test, to be conducted from November 30-December 1, will see Peroni team up with one of the leading F3 teams, Campos Racing.

After announcing his F3 intentions in the last issue of Auto Action, Peroni is looking forward to gaining experience in a machine a level above his previous Eurocup Formula Renault chassis.

“I’m incredibly excited to be testing for the 2019 FIA Formula 3 Championship,” Peroni said.

“It’s actually a double-step up from Formula Renault, because the new Formula 3 car will have a lot more power – 410bhp compared to 210bhp – and more aerodynamic downforce.

“But after four years in junior development categories, I’m ready

for the challenge of racing in a toplevel series.

“This year was at times frustrating, because there weren’t many races where we had the speed to challenge for wins or even podiums.

“I was usually competitive on twisty, low-speed tracks like Monaco, Pau and Hungaroring, especially when there wasn’t a lot of grip. But as a racing driver you want to be competitive all the time.

“I’ve put all that behind me, and am fully focused on the three-day test at Abu Dhabi in the week after the Formula 1 Grand Prix.

“Abu Dhabi is very important for drivers planning to race in the new

FIA Formula 3 Championship next year. It’s their last chance to show the teams their capabilities – not just how fast they are on the track, but how they work with race engineers too – before the end of the year.

“It won’t be easy driving a faster car on an unfamiliar circuit, but it’s something I’ve had to do before.

I’m really looking forward to the challenge!”

Work on finding a strong budget continues for Peroni as he pushes to be more consistent and also be on the grid for next year’s FIA Formula 3 Championship.

Competition for spots is strong, as the new class combines the

GP3 and FIA F3 categories. Peroni acknowledged the importance of a solid budget.

The CAMS Foundation is helping in that regard after hosting a night for prospective supporters for Peroni’s international career in Melbourne on November 16, something the teenager feels is crucial to reach his goal of Formula 1.

“It’s great that the CAMS Foundation has stepped in at this crucial stage,” he said. “Now I’m more optimistic than ever of securing the funding to achieve my ultimate goal of racing in Formula 1.

“I’ll keep doing everything I can to justify their support into the future.”

DISAPPOINTING END FOR MAWSON AUSTRALIAN GP3 driver Joey Mawson has ended a tough maiden GP3 season with a finish just outside the points at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi.

Mawson showed front-running pace during practice, finishing the final session fifth-fastest, but it didn’t transition into qualifying, where he struggled and was at the tail of the field.

After suggesting he’d have his elbows out during the opening race, Mawson made a great start to charge his way to within reach of the top 10, but a collision forced him into the pit. This dropped the Arden Motorsport driver to 20th, and with a lot of work to do in the final race of the year.

“After starting at the back, I made some early positions before contact with another competitor left me with damage to my front

wing,” Mawson said after Race 1.

“I had to pit to get it replaced and therefore finished where I started.

“It is disappointing because I had some reasonable speed and was confident of being able to finish somewhere around the top 10.

“It’s now time to focus on getting through the opening few laps safely and gaining as many spots as possible in today’s race and finish the year off with a solid result.”

It was a reverse of fortune for Mawson in the second and final race of the season as he charged through to finish just short of a points finish in ninth.

Mawson finished his debut season in GP3 in 13th with 38 points, with a best placing of third at Paul Ricard.

Frenchman Antoine Hubert won the title from Nikita Mazepin.

LIFESTYLE RALLY FOR ENTHUSIASTS STARTING IN Geelong and running through to Sunday (December 2), the Targa Florio Australian Tribute 2018 is a lifestyle touring event that takes in regional Victoria’s scenic driving roads, along with fabulous food and wine with iconic classic cars loved by enthusiasts the world over.

Competitors will cover more than 1100km

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through the City of Greater Geelong, Bellarine Peninsula, Surf Coast Shire and Great Ocean Road, Colac Otway Shire, Mornington Peninsula, Bass Coast Shire and the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit, the Haunted Hills Hillclimb Circuit, Gippsland and Yarra Valley Shires.

Competitors have come from across

Australia, the United Kingdom, Italy, Hong Kong, Singapore and the USA, all vying to win the event. They are competing in three categories, Classica Trofeo (classic cars from 1906–1976), Ferrari Tributo (Ferraris since 1977) and Supercar Trophy (modern exotic supercars from 1990).

GARRY O’BRIEN

MOFF FOR PEAK HOUR OF POWER

AUSTRALIAN TOURING car legend Allan Moffat will take part in the opening of this year’s Adelaide Motorsport Festival, the Peak Hour of Power, on Friday November 30.

A tribute car to the Group C Mazda RX-7 he drove to the 1983 Australian Touring Car Championship will be driven by the four-time Bathurst and four-time ATCC winner, as one of 21 cars to take on the Gouger Street Party traffic.

The car that Moffat took to the 1983 title was written off in an incident at Surfers Paradise International Raceway during the 1984 season when he tangled with a backmarker and slid into an exposed tree stump on the outside of the fast Turn 1.

Moffat suffered a fractured sternum and broken finger in the incident, thus ending his tilt at back-to-back titles.

The tribute car features period-correct Peter Stuyvesant livery, full Group C bodykit and wheels.

The Adelaide Motorsport Festival takes place from November 30-December 2.

TAMASI TAKES TITLE

VICTORIAN STEVEN Tamasi has taken out the Australian Sports Sedan Series after winning the final round of the year at Phillip Island’s Island Magic meeting on November 24-25.

It was a resounding victory for Tamasi, as he cleanswept the event to take the title.

This completed a consistent year for Tamasi and his team, with two round wins and three second places giving the Holden Calibra-Chev driver a comfortable series win.

Runner-up Thomas Randle was on duty in Super2 at Newcastle and was unable to participate at the meeting.

Tamasi had to fight off challenges from Phil Crompton (Mustang) and Michael Robinson, who had his best run to date in the recently rebuilt Holden Monaro.

A 32-car field fronted at Phillip Island, with Tamasi setting pole with a 1m30.8626s to head Crompton, Robinson and Tasmanian Alex Williams, while the only other title contender, Steve Lacey, was seventh.

Race 1 confirmed Tamasi as the series winner after a steering issue forced Lacey to retire.

The Calibra finished 8.2s ahead of the battling duo of Crompton and Robinson, a mere .03s separating the pair.

Sunday saw two more comfortable wins for Tamasi, including the 50K Plate Trophy race, as Crompton maintained his runner-up position ahead of the BMWChev driven by Shane Woodman.

In the 10-lap 50K Plate, Tamasi led from start to finish, recording a 12s victory over Crompton, who again was pressured to the flag by Robinson. Lacey recovered to finish fifth, falling two points shy of taking third in the points.

Full coverage of the Island Magic meeting will appear in the next issue of Auto Action.

GRAND PRIX RECEIVES MAJOR GONG THE 2018 Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix has received the top award at this year’s SPIA Asia Awards in Thailand.

This year’s event was awarded the Best International Sporting Event of the Year trophy at the Centara Grand and Bangkok Convention Centre on November 21.

It was a very successful night for the Australian Grand Prix after it won gold in Best International Event of the Year, Best Integrated Marketing Campaign for a Sports Event, and Best Live Experience at a Sporting Event (voted by the public).

Australian Grand Prix Corporation CEO Andrew Westacott was on hand to receive the awards in front of a variety of representatives from global sporting agencies, governing bodies, international sports federations and Asian brands, event organisers and industry suppliers.

“As an organisation we are thrilled to have been recognised by leaders of Asia’s tourism and sports industry amongst an extremely high-calibre field of entrants.

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“These awards are a credit to the talented AGPC staff and extended Grand Prix family that make this event possible,” Westacott said.

“The Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix has proven to be more than just a race – it has evolved to become a four-day festival-style showcase that attracts visitors from across Australia and around the world, whilst promoting Melbourne and Victoria to millions of fans globally, creating value for the State of Victoria.

“It is also a benchmark for international events not only in Australia but around the globe because of the undeniable economic benefits the event generates for Victoria, including job creation, industry development, reputational enhancement, community involvement and civic pride.”

Judges of the 2018 SPIA Awards received hundreds of submissions from 47 different countries covering 22 categories. Each submission was judged by a panel of high-profile industry experts in a stringent fourstep process.

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INTERNATIONAL LATEST

Toyota continued its dominance of LMP1.

A RED flag-affected flag affected six-hours six hours of Shanghai failed to interrupt Toyota’s dominance of the World Endurance Championship, with Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Jose Maria Lopez taking their second consecutive victory.

“The team did a great job and Mike and José did well again; I’m really pleased to win again,” said Kobayashi.

“My stint was a hard one because I came out behind the Safety Car and there were many other cars from other categories around me in heavy rain with very little visibility.

“I concentrated on minimising risk and overtaking cleanly, with the belief that the Safety Car would need to come out again. When it did and we were leading, I just focused on keeping a gap.”

Conway had to fend off teammate Kazuki Nakajima after a late-race Safety Car bunched the pair up, but the Brit finished 1.419s ahead. This came off the back of Nakajima eating into the lead held by the sister car, with the margin dropping from 30s to 18s after the final pit stops, before Matevos Isaakyan’s SMP Racing BR Engineering BR1 AER spilt debris across the track, forcing a late introduction of the Safety Car. The margin was further reduced to just 3s, but Nakajima was unable to find a way through, leaving Conway to take victory.

Earlier, the race was stopped due to the severe weather, but once the race resumed the pair of Toyotas traded the lead.

Sebastien Buemi took advantage of a Lopez mistake to take the lead before a Safety Car switched the positions back, as Fernando Alonso was delayed by a red light at pit exit.

This subsequently dropped him to third behind the Mikhail Aleshin, Jenson Button and Vitaly Petrov SMP Racing BR1, but their positions were soon reversed to restore a Toyota 1-2.

Aleshin, Button and Petrov continued to secure third place and the team’s first podium of the season.

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Racing continued its strong season by taking a home LMP2 victory, with Gabriel Aubry, Stephane Richelmi and Ho-Pin Tung holding off a late challenge from the Dragonspeed Oreca 07 driven by Roberto Gonzalez, Pastor Maldonado and Anthony Davidson to take win number three of the year.

The Signatech Alpine A470 Gibson finished third after the TDS Racing Oreca of Loic Duval pitted on the final lap, giving drivers Nicholas Lapierre, Pierre Thiriet and Andre Negrao a surprise podium.

It was a breakthrough result for Aston Martin in GTE as Marco Sorenson and Nicki Thiim took the new-generation Vantage GTE’s maiden victory.

Initially, it was an Aston Martin 1-2, but the Porsche 911 RSRs overhauled the second Vantage GTE shared by Maxime Martin and Alex Lynn. Gianmaria Bruni and Richard Lietz were first, quickly followed by teammates Michael Christensen and Kevin Estre, with both maintaining a comfortable championship lead.

Australian Matt Campbell took victory in GTE-Am with Julian Andlauer and Christian Ried, ahead of series leaders Patrick Lindsey, Jorg Bergmeister and Egidio Perfetti, and teammates Matteo Cairoli, Khaled Al Qubaisi and Riccardo Pera.

The Dempsey-Proton Racing team was on course for a 1-2, but Bergmeister relegated Cairoli to third on the final lap.

Alonso, Buemi and Nakajima hold a five-point lead over their Toyota teammates heading into a four-month break before the season resumes at Sebring on March 15.

Points: Alonso/Buemi/Nakajima 102, Conway/Kobayashi/Lopez 97, Laurent/Menezes/Beche 73, Lotterer/ Jani 63, Senna 45

WET AND WILD

Aston Martin scored a maiden GTE win with its new-generation Vantage.

MADNESS IN MACAU THE 65TH annual Macau Grand Prix was marred by a serious incident for German driver Sophia Florsch, which overshadowed Dan Ticktum defending his title.

Ticktum dominated the race from the outset, but he had to contend with a number of Safety Cars and Red Flags, including the incident involving Florsch and Tsuboi.

After a restart, Florsch was in 16th, but approaching Lisboa it all went wrong for the 17-year-old German after she tangled with another driver on the approach, which ripped two wheels off her car, meaning she was unable to stop and collided with Japanese F3 champion Tsuboi. The resulting contact ramped Florsch over the safety fence and into a marshals’ and photographers’ compound.

Florsch suffered spinal injuries and had successful surgery. Two photographers and one marshal were also injured in the incident.

Ticktum made an early break on the restart, while behind Sacha Fenestraz, Callum Ilott and Joel Eriksson battled among themselves.

Eriksson won out and was soon in pursuit of Ticktum, but it was soon apparent the young Brit was holding his margin before a Safety Car was

Dan Ticktum made it back-to-back Macau Grand Prix wins after a dramatic race.

ca called to collect the stricken car of En Enaam Ahmed.

E Eriksson had his chance on the restart, but bu failed to take it as Ticktum built a gap of 1.513s to take a comfortable victory.

Eriksson E and Fenestraz completed the podium. po Meanwhile, M supporting the traditional Formula Fo 3 Grand Prix, the FIA GT World W Cup race was won by Schnitzer Motorsport’s M Augusto Farfus, giving re retiring team boss Charly Lamm a fa fairytale farewell.

T Brazilian held off the advances of The M Mercedes driver Raffaele Marciello, but a m mistake from the latter meant that Farfus ga gained some breathing space before

Maro Engel took up the challenge and started to reel the BMW driver in.

Engel failed to catch Farfus, while Mercedes driver Edoardo Mortara rounded out the podium finishers.

Gabriele Tarquini took the inaugural WTCR title after fellow Hyundai driver Yvan Muller was unable to reach third place to snatch the crown from the veteran Italian.

The Audis showed significant pace over the course of the weekend, which was fulfilled by Jean-Karl Vernay and Frederic Vervisch each taking a race victory.

The final race win of the season was taken by Esteban Guerrieri (Honda).

LOGANO TAKES MAIDEN CROWN JOEY LOGANO has won the 2018 NASCAR Cup Series, by winning the title decider in Miami ahead of Martin Truex Jr and Kevin Harvick.

In the Championship 4 Playoff round, the contenders’ points are reset, so whoever finished highest of the four lifted the title. These contenders were Logano, Truex, Harvick and Kyle Busch.

All four drivers stayed up the front and out of trouble all day, but as the sun set things started to heat up.

Kyle Larson was second and in contention to win the race when he touched the wall, resulting in a puncture with 74 laps to go.

The incident resulted in a Safety Car, which saw all the championship contenders pit. Logano led the restart ahead of Truex and Harvick, while Busch dropped to ninth with a slow stop.

In 14 laps Busch fought his way back up into the

top four. With 49 laps remaining Truex took the lead from Logano, Truex having better long-run pace while Logano had superior speed after the restarts.

In the final green flag stops Truex’s Toyota fell off the jack, causing a slow stop. Logano and Harvick had faultless stops, while Busch elected to stay out.

This was until a Safety Car was deployed when Brad Keselowski hit and spun Daniel Suarez. All contenders elected to pit, and Busch came out of the lane leading Truex, Logano and Harvick – the Championship 4 in the top four positions with 15 laps to go.

On the restart Busch dropped back to third, leaving Truex to lead Logano, but with Logano’s superior restart pace it was going to be hard for Truex to keep him behind. With 12 laps to go Logano swept around the outside of Truex, holding the lead to the finish and taking the championship.

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s w e n e n Formula O RICCIARDO’S NEW PASTURES DANIEL RICCIARDO is off to new pastures at Renault after 150 Formula 1 races in the Red Bull family, and 100 starts for Red Bull Racing. He had seven wins and 22 other podium visits during the partnership.

The Aussie made some changes to his helmet for the season finale in Abu Dhabi.

“I have a little note on the helmet which just says ‘cheers’, but it’s a bit more meaningful than that,” he told reporters in the Abu Dhabi paddock. “I gave some wings to the honey badger and he’s drinking a Red Bull. Just to kind of symbolising. I’m using the wings they gave me to take off and go on my next journey, but I’ll still keep Red Bull close to me. It’s been a big part of me.”

He said he managed to keep his emotions in check during the days leading up to his last race with the team.

“What is helping me not think about it is that I’m not retiring,” he said on the eve of the race. “If I was retiring it would be a different story. But I’m just moving next door. It has certainly made me realise that I’m not ready to retire.

Just ready to say goodbye and do a good race, finish strong, try and have a good chat on the radio and say some funny shit. So they can miss me more next year!”

Ricciardo was disappointed to

finish fourth in Abu Dhabi. He really wanted to end his time with Red Bull with one more podium, and one more ‘shoey’ drink on the podium.

He had said it had been a scary decision when he decided to switch to Renault. Is he even more scared now than when he signed?

“Scared probably sounded good for the papers,” he replied. “At the time knowing, yes, I’m doing this, no I’m not staying at Red Bull, those decisions at the time were scarier than now with the reality of it. The reality for me is exciting.

There’s certainly a little bit of nerves with that, but it’s more excitement for sure.”

And what does he expect from himself next year?

“More from myself in terms of I’ll always want more. I expect more from my presence in the Renault team. Nico Hülkenberg is experienced and he’s been around, and I want to become part of that team very quickly. And have a presence in the team, and be another source of push and fire and motivation. I’m expecting to carry good work ethic and to bring the people around us to work on what they have. Obviously, the driving I will always keep improving, but I want to just try to figure out how to bring the team to the next level, be engaged in the whole process and not get lazy.”

A REMARKABLE RETURN NOTHING IS impossible. That’s how Robert Kubica sees his return to Formula 1 in a racing role with Williams in 2019.

It is a remarkable comeback for Kubica, who last raced in F1 in 2010. He suffered severe injuries – including a partially severed right arm – in a rally accident in February 2011. It seemed like the F1 career of a driver who many rated alongside Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton was over. But Kubica never gave up hope.

“From a human point of view, I see the point that it’s a story which probably nobody has believed,” said the 33-year-old Pole.

“The only ones who probably never gave up was me and people who were around me.

But we all knew that it might be something not achievable.”

Kubica nearly secured the Williams race seat for 2018, but the team eventually decided to put rookie Sergey Sirotkin alongside Lance Stroll. Instead, Kubica contributed his prodigious technical feedback as a test driver and consultant.

“This gave me the opportunity to understand a bit more about the car from a

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technical point of view, and it gave me the opportunity to understand it from a different perspective about how the team works.”

The 2018 Williams drivers brought a lot of money to the team. But Stroll is off to Force India and Sirotkin’s backer, SMP Racing, says it was its decision for Sirotkin to part company with Williams.

“We were unpleasantly surprised by the team’s performance level at the start of the season, and the car’s development rate also turned out to be not high enough,” SMP said in a statement.

Williams, therefore, needs cash.

Kubica’s teammate will be F1 rookie George Russell. He is a Mercedes protege, but Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff said the company will contribute neither money nor discounted Mercedes engines to Williams.

Kubica’s sponsors will bring more than 10 million euros to Williams, and the team will pay his salary out of that and put the rest into car development. Money did not secure Kubica a race seat at Williams – his talent and tenacity did that – but that sponsor contribution is a welcome bonus for the team.

Next year there will be new technical rules and new-spec Pirelli tyres, so “this is the perfect moment for me,” Kubica said.

“That’s why I decided to go for it – I’m feeling ready.

“You have to be realistic. It will not be easy.

It’s been a big challenge to get into F1. It will be an even bigger challenge from a sporting point of view to make sure I’m delivering

what we’re expecting from my side. I’m not scared at all.”

The Williams car was very uncompetitive throughout 2018, so next season is going to be a challenge for the team and its two new drivers.

But no matter what happens, it will also be the season of one of the most extraordinary revivals in the history of Formula 1.

MIXING IT UP

THE SUN set on the 2018 Formula 1 season when the chequered flag came down at the end of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. When the new 2019 season dawns with the Australian Grand Prix, the starting field will be all mixed up compared to the grid in Abu Dhabi.

Only two of the 10 teams will retain the same driver line-up. Five-time world champion Lewis Hamilton will be back at Mercedes alongside Valtteri Bottas, and Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen stay on at Haas.

But the rest of the field contains all sorts of changes. Five, maybe six, of the 20 drivers who raced this year have departed the series, at least for now. Three, maybe four, rookies will be making their debuts, along with two returning veteran drivers.

Ferrari: Sebastian Vettel will be joined by Charles Leclerc, who spent his rookie season at Sauber.

Red Bull: Max Verstappen is back with a new teammate, as Pierre Gasly moves over from Toro Rosso.

Renault: Daniel Ricciardo leaves Red Bull to join Renault regular Nico Hülkenberg.

McLaren: Both Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne have left F1 for different racing pastures. Former Renault driver Carlos Sainz teams up with rookie Lando Norris, who has graduated from Formula 2.

Force India: There will be a new yet-to-berevealed team name. Sergio Pérez is back, while Lance Stroll has jumped ship from Williams.

IN THE NEWS TWO OF the main news stories from the last GP of the season were that this was Fernando Alonso’s final Formula 1 race, and the dispute between Haas and Force India over whether the latter is eligible for prizemoney after entering as a new team in August.

Alonso is off to the Indy 500 and the World Endurance Championship after 312 F1 starts, 22 poles, 32 wins, 65 other podiums, 1899 points earned, and two world championships.

“I’m 37 and I raced here 18 years,” he said in Abu Dhabi. “It’s half of my life with a lot of talented engineers, designers, mechanics, the media, everyone.

“We shared a lot of days over the seasons and I think that’s the best thing that I will always remember about F1. How you approached these kinds of races, the philosophy behind a grand prix, the preparation, and the discipline in all areas of the team.

“Now, racing in other disciplines, other series, you realise that F1 is a step higher and it’s just trying to find perfection in everything, every weekend, every two weeks, all around the world.

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This was probably the best memories I will get from here.”

Asked if he is leaving F1 forever or for now, Alonso replied for now.

“I needed a break and I needed to find again motivation, to relax a little bit,” he said. “It’s been a busy year. But in 2020 I’m open for different things. Maybe a full season in IndyCar or a full season in Formula 1 again. You know, there are things that are in the view.”

While the Haas/Force India dispute had nothing to do with Alonso, one thing he won’t miss about F1 is the politics and infighting between teams.

After Force India emerged from receivership with new owners and a new entry, Racing Point Force India, it was considered to be a new team.

The rules stipulate that each team must own the intellectual property to the design of its car.

Haas filed a protest in Abu Dhabi saying that the new Racing Point Force India was running a car created by the old team. Haas also believes the new Force India does not qualify for the socalled “column 1” prizemoney payout that is only given to teams that finish in the top ten in the

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constructors’ championship in two of the previous three seasons.

The stewards handed down an eightpage document that ruled that the team “is a valid entry in the 2018 Formula One World Championship because the FIA, under Article 8.5 of the Formula One Sporting Regulations, has absolute discretion to accept or reject an application to compete in the Championship and under Article 8.1 has the right to accept a late entry if a place is available.”

In other words, it’s our championship and we can do what we want.

Haas has filed an appeal, so this will drag on into the off-season.

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Stroll’s move means there is no space at Force India for Esteban Ocon. The latter had a handshake deal with Renault, but Ricciardo ended up with the team, so for 2019 at least Ocon has no ride in F1.

Sauber: Now that his second stint at Ferrari is over, Kimi Räikkönen heads back to Sauber, where he began his F1 career in 2001. His teammate is rookie Antonio Giovinazzi. Sauber’s two new shoes displace Marcus Ericsson, who is off to IndyCar, and Leclerc.

Williams: An all-new line-up with Robert Kubica, back racing in F1 after eight seasons away following his rally accident in 2011, and rookie and Formula 2 graduate George Russell.

Sergey Sirotkin is out of F1 after a single season in F1 with Williams.

Toro Rosso: After two years away from F1, Daniil Kvyat returns to Toro Rosso. The other seat remains the last one open in F1 for next year.

Rookie Alexander Albon is a prime candidate, but that depends on negotiations to get him out of his Formula E contract with the Nissan e.dams team.

Kiwi Brendon Hartley continues to insist he has a long-term Toro Rosso contract. His improvement in form in the latter part of the 2018 season helps his cause to stay at Toro Rosso. But as of the final 2018 race the team had made no official statement on its driver line-up.

So, all in all, a lot of change on the Formula 1 front for the 2019 season that kicks off in Melbourne on March 17. And that’s going to spice up the show for the fans.

Australia’s motor sport authority since 1971 Publisher

Bruce Williams 0418 349 555 Associate Publisher Mike Imrie Editor-At-Large Deputy Editor

Mark Fogarty Heath McAlpine

Creative Director/ Production

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Special Contributor Bruce Newton National Editor Intern Online Editor

Garry O’Brien Dan McCarthy Rhys Vandersyde

Contributing Writers Australia Garry O’Brien, Mark Fogarty, David Hassall, Phil Branagan F1 Dan Knutson, Dieter Rencken Karts Frank Joseph Speedway Geoff Rounds Photographers Australia Dirk Klynsmith, Ross Gibb, Darin Mandy, Mark Walker, Rebecca Thompson, Mick Oliver, Wayne Jones, David Batchelor, Randall Kilner, Rhys Vandersyde International LAT Images Cartoonist Emeritus John Stoneham Advertising Manager Bruce Williams All Advertising enquiries bruce@overdrivemedia.com.au (0418) 349 555 Editorial contributions may be sent to Auto Action. No responsibility will be accepted for their safety. If you require the return of any sent item or items, please attach a separate, stamped and fully addressed envelope

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AA SCOOPS MAJOR MEDIA AWARDS AUTO ACTION’S Mark Fogarty has won the major prizes in the Supercars Media Awards.

Fogarty was judged as the Best News Reporter of 2018 for his slew of revelatory stories since his return to AA in March.

He was also acknowledged for breaking the biggest Supercars news story of the year.

Known throughout the industry as ‘Foges’, AA’s legendary Editor-AtLarge won the Best Breaking News Report for his super-scoop on Ford Australia’s return to racing with the Mustang.

Following weeks of investigation, Foges broke the Mustang scoop on AA’s web site the day before the official announcement.

His awards were validation of Auto Action’s renewed emphasis on breaking the big news in Supercars, with most of this year’s major developments revealed in the magazine or at autoaction.com.au.

Fogarty paid tribute to the tight-knit AA editorial team, led by publisher/ co-owner Bruce Williams.

“These awards are as much for them as they are for me,” Foges said.

“Their hard work and enthusiasm has re-established AA as a news-breaking force and industry agenda-setter.

“These are the awards of which I am most proud because they acknowledge this extraordinary team effort.”

AA contributing lensmen Dirk Klynsmith and Daniel Kalisz also won major awards for their outstanding photography.

AA was a prime contender for the Best Publication and Best Feature Writer awards.

The Supercars Media Awards were announced at the Newcastle 500 on

Friday evening at a function attended by the sport’s main media players.

Sponsored by Hino trucks and Castrol oils, the awards recognise the year’s most outstanding reporting and photography of Supercars, plus the best broadcast, digital, social media and PR initiatives.

The event also saw two inductees to the prestigious Supercars Media Hall Of Fame.

The latest legends are the late Barry Lake, a prolific writer and accomplished competitor, and veteran photographer Glenis Lindley.

The induction of Lindley, who has been capturing the major moments of Australian touring car/Supercars racing for more than four decades, was a significant milestone.

She is the first woman to be elevated to join the motor racing media greats.

Among the other major award winners was the ‘Voice Of V8s’, Neil Crompton, who was deservedly named Best Commentator.

Auto Action now available in a digital download edition IN KEEPING with the times and being aware that many people live in a digital world, we have now made Auto Action available as a downloadable digital edition, which means you can read exactly the same high-quality publication on your laptop, home or work desktop computer, or your portable device.

The other big advantage is that you can purchase it anytime and we will make the publication available on a Wednesday night, meaning you can get the full 60-page magazine before it goes on sale at the newsagents.

We will also be offering some great extra content, so keep an eye out on the Auto Action web site www.autoaction.com.au While it’s not free, the digital edition is still great value at $5.00 per edition, or you can purchase a full yearly subscription (25 issues) for only $112.50 (you save $12.50).

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F1 INSIDER - OPINION TIME TO RETHINK THE EXPANSION AND SO the 2018 Formula 1 season has come to an end in the desert sands of Abu Dhabi. When it started a long, long time ago it was snowing. No, I am not talking about the Australian Grand Prix, although some of us in Melbourne got soaked by rain that weekend.

The on-track activity in 2018 started in Barcelona with two four-day pre-season tests in late February and early March.

When I awoke on the third day I looked out the window and saw a blanket of heavy, wet snow. It was beautiful but certainly not conducive to track testing. Most of the snow melted late in the day with a cold rain, but the drivers did just a few laps.

After a four-day break, I was back at the track for the final four days of testing, which ended on March 9. It was sunny and balmy.

The last of the 21 races, in Abu Dhabi, took place on November 25, with two days of testing scheduled at the same circuit straight afterwards. There were also two mid-season two-day tests. So for the F1 workers the busy on-track season ran from February 26 to November 28.

That’s a long time to be on the

road, in the air, at the track and away from home and family.

There are 21 races again in 2019, but the season starts one week earlier, in Melbourne on March 17, and ends one week later in Abu Dhabi on December 1. So pre-season testing in Barcelona also kicks off a week earlier, on February 18, and the final test day in 2019 will be on December 3. That’s an even longer time away from home.

One reason for the expanded schedule is to avoid the triple-header that happened this year with back-toto back races in France, Austria and England, which put a real strain on team personnel.

As an F1 journalist I have it far easier than the team people.

But we all look forward to the mandatory F1 three-week shutdown in August. And during the off-season I really have it better than the team folks who are working flat out day and night to build the new cars. There is a proposal to have a mandatory one-week factory shutdown

around Christmas Christmas. That would be a good idea to give people time at home with their families.

Chase Carey, boss of Formula 1’s parent commercial company Liberty, says the goal is to eventually have 25 races. The proposal is that most of them will be two-day weekends, and only a few would retain Friday practice, which would become more of an open testing session. These would be at circuits that already draw a good attendance over three or four days.

While one less track day would ease some of the workload on the crews, they would still be away from home 25 times for races.

And on back-to-back races they will still be away no matter how many days of practice. If there is a weekend off between two races outside of Europe, many team people stay out for the duration.

Even now there are regular members of the F1 circus who do not go to every race. Add more races and the teams, already strained to the limits, will have

to start rotating personnel.

Trouble is, only the big teams can afford to do this, so it is just going to get worse for the people w working for the smaller tteams.

But, unfortunately, I doubt tthat any of this is going to rrestrain Liberty’s plans for eexpansion. It’s a lot easier fo for the top team people and o other bigwigs who can zip ho home in first class or private je jet for a couple of days. I su suggest they spend an entire se season traveling cattle class an and being away from home for long periods of time like the rank and file. It would give them a whole new understanding of what the workers have to endure. Of course, that will never happen.

To go back to the beginning, it was unusually cold in much of Europe this February, and snow is rare in Barcelona. Still, heading to Barcelona next year I will pack my winter gear to wear if needed when testing begins on February 18 for the long, long 2019 season.

Who knows, it might even snow again.

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19

BRUCE NEWTON analyses Scott McLaughlin’s breakthrough title triumph and Shane van Gisbergen’s narrow defeat, as Craig Lowndes bid farewell as a full-timer

THE VICTOR AND THE VANQUISHED CHAMPIONSHIP REDEMPTION FOR POPULAR KIWI SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN’S 2018 Supercars Championship triumph was built on the wreckage of his last-lap disaster at Newcastle in 2017.

This year, there were no crashes and only tears of joy.

This year, the penalties were handed out next door.

This year, the only contact with Craig Lowndes was a handshake before the icon went out for his final race as a full-time driver and McLaughlin went out to become champion.

This year, instead of desperately defending late on Sunday afternoon, McLaughlin pulled the DJR Team Penske Ford Falcon FG X aside from the lead and handed the win to a looming David Reynolds. The championship was the objective above all.

“This is bloody good,” McLaughlin smiled as the sun set Sunday evening over his greatest day in motorsport.

“So relieved. Last year was just a massive kick in the guts and we have used that all year to come back. We have turned that negative into a positive.

“I am so proud to get this for everybody at Shell V-Power Racing. It’s just immense. It was nice to finish off with a podium yesterday and today.”

New Zealand born and bred and proud of it, but Australian-based since he was nine, McLaughlin takes his first championship at age 25 in his sixth full-time season of Supercars racing.

He made his debut, subbing for an unwell

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McLaughlin admits that last year was “a massive kick in the guts” that motivated his 2018 title charge.

Alex Premat in a Garry Rogers Motorsport Commodore, in the final race of 2012 at Homebush, the same day he won the Super2 title for Ross and Jimmy Stone.

He won a championship race on home soil in New Zealand and finished 10th for GRM in his rookie Supercars season. The transition from Holden to Volvo and his impromptu, excited ‘jandal’ comments in Adelaide showed off his extrovert personality.

It was no surprise he was being dubbed ‘the new Lowndes’.

Fifth in the championship in 2014, eighth in a mechanically ill-fated 2015 and then third in 2016 wrapped up his time at GRM. “I owe a lot to Garry Rogers and it was a hard decision to leave that team,” McLaughlin said. “He was the one who gave me my start and he is still a massive supporter of mine.”

In 2017 he shifted to DJR Team Penske, associating himself with two of the great names in motorsport, Australian touring car

icon Dick Johnson and US global motorsport powerhouse Roger Penske. Speed and success have followed. And now, as far as McLaughlin is concerned, his ultimate racing goal has been achieved.

“This is huge. I never dreamed of going to Formula One or anything like that, I dreamed of being on this [Supercars] trophy.

“There are some pretty amazing people on this trophy, people I have looked up to since I was a young kid karting, and it’s just very cool to have my name on that trophy.

“It’s also the first championship for DJR Team Penske since the joining of the (two) teams. So it’s an unreal, surreal moment. I am very proud.”

McLaughlin won the title in front of his father Wayne, mother Di, sister Sam and fiance Karly. His parents have backed his racing since he was six. After 10 years of karting he made the unusual step up straight into Super2 racing.

“I owe a lot to my mum and dad, and it’s a pretty proud moment for us.”

One person was missing though – McLaughlin’s grandmother, Imelda.

“I don’t want to get all sobby, but Gran and I were best friends. She passed away in 2015.

“I said to her, ‘I am going to win Bathurst and I am going to win the championship, and when I do I am going to thank you in each speech.’

“It’s all aligned today and I am sure she is pretty proud.

“This is a pretty emotional day for my family … it’s something I have worked on all year, it’s been a pressure-cooker year.”

And a pressure-cooker weekend.

McLaughlin arrived in Newcastle with a 14-point lead over Red Bull HRT’s Shane van Gisbergen. It added up to winner take all.

McLaughlin was also conscious that Roger Penske would be in town for the finale, just a week after Joey Logano had won the

SVG: THE FIGHT WAS TAKEN OUT OF OUR HANDS

Gutted loser rues title-killing official intervention SHANE VAN GISBERGEN will spend his summer churning dirt and going sideways. Think of the saddle of a dirt bike as his therapy couch.

It won’t be the fact fellow New Zealander Scott McLaughlin got the best of him that SvG has to digest, it’s the penalty he received on the final day of the championship.

What had been a two-point gap after an epic last-gasp win on Saturday turned into fifth place and a yawning 53-point deficit courtesy of a 25-second penalty for a refuelling infraction.

Van Gisbergen prides himself on his fairness and to him this punishment simply did not seem fair.

It took the wind out of his motivational sails and he drove to a distant fourth place on Sunday, the front inner guards of his Holden Commodore ZB flopping limply out into the open as if to match his mood.

“I don’t want to keep knocking the series, but everyone was pretty dejected,” van Gisbergn told Auto Action. “We just feel the championship fight was taken out of our hands.

“I still gave it my all on track and did everything I could, but we just got stuck behind James Courtney and that just made it tough.

“It’s one of those things; it was going to be the most tense day in history, it was going to be amazing for the sport, amazing for everything.

“I was so looking forward to a straight fight. It was going to be epic. But the buzz just got taken out of the whole place.”

Van Gisbergen’s personal disappointment didn’t stop him NASCAR crown for Penske Racing.

“I definitely felt the pressure … but I just tried to stick to my objective and drive to my limit.”

When he ran out of fuel on the last lap on Saturday and van Gisbergen took the lead with two corners to go, McLaughlin’s points advantage was cut to just two points. The pressure definitely ramped up then!

“That wasn’t ideal,” McLaughlin said.

“But I knew the objective was to beat Shane; that hadn’t changed.”

But a refuelling breach on Saturday resulted in a 25-second penalty handed out on Sunday morning to his Holden rival and he was dropped to fifth place.

The gap blew out to 53 points.

Instead of having to beat van Gisbergen for the title, McLaughlin now simply had to finish near him.

In the end, van Gisbergen never posed a serious threat and finished a dispirited fourth in the final race.

With the penalty still to be ruled on, McLaughlin admitted he struggled to sleep on Saturday night. He also revealed mixed feelings about gaining an advantage over SvG via the stewards.

“I put more pressure on myself when he did get the penalty because there was more to lose,” he revealed. “It was kind of

LOWNDESY’S CLOUDED FAREWELL Holden hero bows out in a haze of tyre smoke and emotion from paying tribute to McLaughlin, with whom he has waged an incredible all-out war on track this season.

“You only get an inch with him, but you get that inch,” he said . “It’s awesome racing all the time; he’s a brilliant driver – a brilliant qualifier, but a brilliant racer as well.

“I have nothing but respect for him. He has a championship now and I am sure he will get a couple more.”

For all the drama on the final day, the 2016 Supercars champion still takes many positives out of the 2018 season. They include seven wins, six poles, second in the championship and a key role in reclaiming the teams’ championship for Red Bull HRT. “I am really proud of the team. We started good and then we had an average early part of the year, then turning it around and understanding these new cars.

“From mid-season on we were really strong, all three cars. The way everyone pulled closer together and worked really hard on set-up was special. We came back and gave it a good nudge.

“It’s tough to take, but we’ll celebrate together tonight. The teams’ championship is still awesome and we’ll come back next year.”

And no doubt stronger than ever.

He will spend the summer at home in New Zealand with his family, exploring the many petrol-fuelled pursuits he loves.

“I’ll be fine within a week or two,” van Gisbergen said. “I’ll get back on a motorbike or find something to drive. I’ll be happy in a week.”

déjà vu because I also had the points gap to Jamie [Whincup] last year.

“It made me more nervous, but it didn’t change what I had to do. It didn’t affect how I had to execute and it didn’t affect how I drove the car. It’s something I have worked on since last year, not to count your chickens too early.

“When the penalty was handed down, I just pretended that it was still a two-point gap.

“The last 40 laps of the race were the longest of my life. They were counting the laps down and they were taking so long, so I just said, ‘Stop, don’t do it any more.’ And then I was just trying to drive it straight.”

The intensity of the competition provided by van Gisbergen makes McLaughlin’s championship all the more worthwhile.

In the end they won 16 of 31 races between them (nine to seven in favour of McLaughlin) and 18 of 31 poles (12 to 6 McLaughlin’s way).

The two New Zealanders banged doors all year. At Pukekohe, even after the racing was over...

“It’s an intense battle and a lot of people can say what they want, but there is a tremendous amount of respect between myself and Shane. We battle hard and

fair on track. Obviously one or two times one of us has had a hissy fit, but it’s been a battle to the end with him and it’s been amazing.

“I think we ended up 500 points clear of third place and that just shows how consistent we were.

“I definitely want to catch up with Shane later and have a beer.”

The battle also demonstrated the superiority of DJR Team Penske and Triple Eight Race Engineering over the rest of the field.

In 2017, with Ludo Lacroix swapping to the Ford team, the Falcon had a pace advantage over the VF Commodore.

But the new ZB Commodore swung the balance back the other way this season. DJRTP has had to re-engineer the ageing Ford to hang in there, making McLaughlin’s win all the more meritorious.

Chances are, McLaughlin, van Gisbergen, DJRTP and T8 will be fighting for the championship again in 2019, and beyond. And next year, of course, comes the Mustang.

“It’s exciting. I think it’s going to be like that for a number of years,” he says.

But right now it’s all about Scott McLaughlin, Supercars champion.

“This is the pinnacle,” he beamed. “So stoked, so stoked.”

RESULTS OF 23rd and 11th weren’t what Craig Lowndes was hoping for in his final full-time Supercars drive, but the people’s champion still bowed out in smoky style last Sunday in Newcastle.

“I wanted to do a bigger burnout than Scotty, so hopefully that came true,” he laughed. “The rear tyres need a warranty job, but it’s nice to blow off a bit of steam after a long day.

“Big thanks to the fans, it’s been a hell of a weekend.”

The other highlight was the way Lowndes was farewelled by the Supercars community before his final race. He walked the length of pitlane to his gold-painted Autobarn Commodore, past an honour guard of his rivals and, finally, the Triple Eight squad he has raced for since 2005.

Some joked around – Garth Tander took a selfy, Chaz Mostert had his race suit autographed – all applauded, and a few hugged him emotionally. Lowndes himself struggled to control his emotions.

“That was amazing, it blew me away,” he told Auto Action. “To walk down the pitlane with all the pit crews and all the drivers and then to lead everyone out for the final time was really special.

“We’ve got a lot of respect for everyone involved, so it was nice to go out there and have everyone cheering us on.”

Ever since he announced his retirement in Townsville, the focus on Lowndes has been huge. Still easily the most popular driver in the category, the appearances, media commitments and fan attention reached a “crazy” crescendo in Newcastle.

But, except for a rare public display on Saturday of the hardened and competitive racer that resides behind the legendary smile – prompted by a collision with Scott Pye in pitlane – Lowndes dealt with it all in his usual relaxed manner.

“It was hectic at times, no doubt about it, but it’s a good problem to have,” he said.

If the weekend’s results didn’t go to plan, the season did. Finishing fourth in the championship – the seventh time he has achieved that in his time at T8 – was a redemptive fightback from a disappointing 2017 when he and rookie engineer John ‘Irish’ McGregor managed only 10th.

“My last year, to be fourth in the championship and to have three Triple Eight cars in the top four is not too bad,” Lowndes said.

“Irish has come on in leaps and bounds, and it really has been an amazing journey to work with him and show him he can be a race winner.”

Not only a race winner, but a Bathurst winner. It was only a couple of months ago Lowndes was standing atop his Commodore with Steven Richards celebrating his seventh win at The Mountain.

Between that, the championship top four finish and the reality of it all being over, were there any regrets seeping in on Sunday night about stepping back?

“No, I am really excited about what the future holds,” Lowndes insisted. “Hopefully there are some new things on the horizon.

“I am comfortable within myself I made the right decision.”

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In a revealing exchange, newly crowned World Rally Champion Sebastien Ogier opens up about the agony of leaving M-Sport to return to Citroen and why he’s not chasing the other Seb’s all-time record haul of WRC titles

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INCE 2004, only Frenchmen with the given name Sebastien have won the World Rally Championship. Seb Loeb swept nine straight titles before retiring from full-time WRC competition, leaving the way clear for Seb Ogier to win the next six in a row.

Ogier, 34, clinched his latest – and arguably most difficult – crown in the dramatic showdown at the season-ending Kennards Hire Rally Australia on the Coffs Coast in northern NSW. It was a fitting climax to a knife-edge battle.

As his title rivals, Thierry Neuville and Ott Tanak, fell by the wayside, Ogier drove his M-Sport Ford Fiesta WRC with just enough measure to avoid trouble on the fast and treacherous forestry roads. He won only a single special stage – the final Power Stage – to finish fifth and seal his sixth crown.

With his faithful co-driver Julien Ingrassia – also now with a sextuplet of titles – Ogier recovered from a slump in the first half of the season to round up Neuville and the hot-finishing Tanak.

It was another remarkable triumph for the sport’s second-greatest driver with Malcolm Wilson’s semifactory Ford squad, beating the mighty Hyundai, Toyota and Citroen full factory teams to the drivers’ championship for the second year in a row.

Ogier, whose first four titles were with the allconquering VW squad, is leaving M-Sport to return to Citroen, where he started his professional rallying career, to lead a renewed effort by the French manufacturer.

The heir to Loeb’s WRC throne doubts he’ll challenge his mentor/nemesis’s record nine titles as he looks ahead to a quieter life in circuit racing after his two-year Citroen stint – seeking to establish his own historic mark by winning world titles with three manufacturers.

Once brittle and brooding, Ogier has matured into a

THE JOY OF SIX

thoughtful and passionate champion whose ascension among the rally gods is assured by his latest success.

In a shared interview, dictated by time constraints, we spoke with him late on the Thursday after the shakedown for the Rally Australia. We’ve left in his thoughts on how

What’s the plan for the weekend to win the title?

Well, at least it’s an easy answer to this question. The plan is to do everything we can to win it. For that, of course, the main target is to focus on Thierry (Neuville) and try to stay ahead of him. At the same time, Ott (Tanak) is still a chance, so we cannot afford to have a bad weekend. I don’t exactly know what will be the strategy, but at the start of the weekend the plan is to start as fast as we can and, yeah, do what we need to do to win it.

Obviously, this event is sensitive to being first on the road. Do you have any ideas on how you can make that work for you?

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he would approach the event because they are an insight into his approach to the razor-edge existence of a top WRC pilot.

Ogier’s measured and methodical performance to secure the title mirrored his thinking beforehand.

If it stays dry, it won’t be an easy start to the rally for me. I will suffer from being first on the road. The forecast is for a little bit of rain overnight and I always hope there will be some humidity on Friday morning on the road, otherwise I expect to lose time.

But if there’s more rain coming in the weekend, then it can become a very challenging rally. Here, when it rains, I’ve been there a couple of times in those conditions and it’s very tricky. There is a lot of changing grip in the forest and it’s hard to read it.

So if it becomes wet, it will be very challenging for everyone.

confident and not believing in yourself, then you have no chance to achieve anything. So I’m always confident. I know we can do it, but I also know I’ll have to be at my best to do it. It’s been a very tight season, with big fights at most of the rallies.

And, actually, I’m lucky to be back in the fight because two races ago we were 23 points behind and our chances were not looking so good.

Now our chances are there again and I intend to play them well.

Regardless of the conditions, are you confident of doing well?

If it’s changeable weather, it’s going to be changing for everyone. In these conditions, of course, it will be tricky, but that’s rally. We’ll have to handle it

Of course, I am. If you are not

You’re not worried if the conditions are changeable?

well. Of course, I would prefer these (wet) conditions over it being dry, because if it’s dry it’s clear I’m going to suffer at the start of the rally and it’s clear that it makes it harder for me. If it rains, it’s hard for everyone.

w working with their heart a bit differently.

On the human side, d it was beautiful – and that goes r right up to the top of the team. It’s n secret that I have a very good no re relationship with Malcolm (Wilson).

It was very emotional to see how m much emotion he had last year w when we won the title. He’s doing it, definitely, even with more passion th anyone in this rally world. That than wo title was well deserved after world so many years trying to get it, and it wa a privilege to be part of that and was to live that. I’m very happy I was able to offer him this emotion.

Will M-Sport still be competitive without you?

It’s hard for me to answer this question, especially as we don’t know yet the line-up for next year.

I think only Teemu Suninen has been confirmed for the team. He is definitely a young talent. He has shown some speed already, but it’s going to be only his second full season next year. It’s never easy, but if he has what it takes, he might be able to still show great things next year. If you look at history, every driver that became world champion was able to show pretty quickly good things. So we’ll have to see.

Also, of course, it will depend on the development that they will be able to do, because I think this year we started the season well, but then we were definitely lacking a bit of performance through the second half of the season and it was making our life difficult. I know there were some updates planned for the beginning of next year, so let’s see if it gives them the chance to make a step forward.

Did they stop telling you about the updates when you announced you were leaving?

Well, of course, they were planned for some time. I was hoping to get some of them this year. There was an engine update I was hoping to get, but unfortunately we didn’t manage to get it for this year. I know there is still some development in the US from Ford Performance and they should have it for the beginning of next year. An engine update, of course, is always a straightforward gain of performance. When you have more power, for sure you gain.

Every other change of set-up, you’re never really sure if you gain because it’s often a compromise. But engine power, of course, it’s always a gain.

Are you taking a risk by moving back to Citroen?

Of course, there is always a risk in every move you do. But it’s an exciting challenge as well. And it is a challenge, so it’s for sure difficult to know really what to expect. I don’t have a guarantee of performance, but the team and the car have shown some potential recently and, for me, I’m excited by the challenge. To try and win the championship with a third different team, that for sure would be a great achievement for me. Also, there are many people at Citroen who were there when I started my career, and I still have really good relations with them and I’m happy to work with them again. So, at this time of my career, I thought that it was the best direction to take, considering all these

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Between them, the French Sebs – Loeb (left) and Ogier – have won the past 15 world rally titles. arguments, and I’m looking forward to it.

Is winning the world championship with M-Sport, which isn’t a full factory team, your biggest achievement?

It’s always difficult to say if it’s the biggest, but I believe that it’s a big one, yes.

Of course, joining this team, we had no idea what we could achieve and no idea if we could ever make it. And at the end, what we’ve done is great. I would have signed up for that in any case. And now that we are here, in contention for a second title in a row with this team, I want it even more. I hope we can secure that and finish on a high. Definitely, if we manage that, that would be a fantastic achievement for me, but also for the team because, of course, I’m not making anything alone. We brought some positive energy and experience, which definitely helped the team to make a step forward compared to the past, but we managed that because the people also gave 120 percent all the time with what they have, with the budget they have, and they can also be very proud of how they raised their game compared to the past.

So has it exceeded your expectations?

Honestly, yes. I always hoped, at least. I was hoping for that, that’s clear. When I decided to join M-Sport two years ago, it was definitely because I had seen the potential and I thought something was possible.

But, still, even with some good hopes, like I said before, I would have signed up for this anyway, because it’s been a great experience.

It was also a very nice human story.

So often like this, when you have less financial capacity than the others, that brings the people a bit more

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together, you can definitely feel it.

I cannot say there was no heart in my previous team – there was a fantastic atmosphere at Volkswagen and I had a great time there – but here you feel also that people are

Yo You’re saying it’s more like a family?

Yeah, exactly.

Six world titles moves you closer to the record, which is not out of

the question because you have a good number of years left in your career.

prefer to focus on the present, but I’ll certainly be excited when the day comes.

I see your question coming.

You’ve been a big critic of the fastest driver starting first on gravel stages. It’s a bit better now…

Well, you would seem to have a good chance of matching or beating the record.

It’s not in my plan. I announced recently that I’m joining a new team, but it’s also been announced that it’s a two-year contract. And really honestly, right now I see it as my last contract, as my last two years in the sport. Right now, I’m getting more and more different priorities, and also I’ve been travelling away from home for many years now. I mean, I can’t complain, it’s a dream job and I wanted to do it.

I was dreaming about it when I was a kid, so I’m very thankful to have the chance to do it. But also, at some point, I now see myself doing something different after these two years with Citroen.

Oh, it’s not really better now. OK, it is, because it was (the first) two days. That was a disaster. Even now (just Day 1), my point of view is it is still not really fair, especially with a championship like we have today with four teams really close to each other. Every team has drivers able to win rallies. It would be even better

What’s next after WRC, then?

There is no other really concrete plan yet. My wish was to do more rally and I’m glad that we found what I think nk is an exciting option for the next two years.

After that, there is no real plan. The only thing I can say is that I will look for a championship that gives me more free time, which is not so busy as the WRC. That means, for sure, I will still look to having some driving, some adrenaline, because I need it to be happy. But what I see right now is that I want to spend more time at home after these two years.

So some sort of circuit racing because it doesn’t require as much time?

Exactly. In WRC, it’s more than a full week when we are outside Europe and we also have a lot of testing.

Do you enjoy circuit racing?

Yes. But I have to be honest, I know I have very little chance to have the same success in any other category of motor sport. But what I want to look for is to have fun at this point.

And, of course, to have fun with my character. I certainly hope to not be ridiculous and have a good performance. But also I’m aware that it will be a difficult time to go into circuit racing. I cannot say right now I’m looking forward to the challenge because it is a bit too far away. I

24 AutoAction

to have a proper qualifying like we used to some years ago and let the fights decide. There are still frustrating situations. For example, temporary drivers coming for only a couple of events in the season – and I don’t speak necessarily about (guest appearances by) Loeb. There were other cases like this where they came and did well. I used to say we have the most guest-friendly

rules in motor sport.

We do d everything to help the guest drivers take the spotlight. For the main drivers in the championship, who are cha doing the full season, doi you cannot say that there are no frustrating the moments. I think Thierry (Neuville) has said recently that it’s not really normal that it’s like this. You know, my point of view hasn’t changed, but I just don’t talk about it anymore because at the end of the day it was just costing me a lot of energy.

And also, very often people didn’t understand it and sometimes I would look negative because of that. But I’m straight ahead in my shoes and my point of view hasn’t changed. For me,

it’s a world championship and there is no reason in a world championship to try to make artificial winners. It should be about the best winning every single time.

This is only really an issue on gravel events, right?

Yeah, yeah, exactly. On tarmac, it can turn around, although there are some tarmac events where starting first becomes an advantage. But there are only three real tarmac events in the season because even Spain, which is two days on tarmac, you start the first day on gravel, which is a disadvantage, and then you have tarmac. So in the end you have only Monte Carlo, Corsica and Germany.

Three out of 13, next year 14.

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Ogier has dabbled in circuit racing, here he guest drove in the DTM at the Red Bull Ring. He finished a best of 12th.

My impression is that your relationship with Sebastien Loeb used to be strained.

Is that correct?

Loeb is an all-time legend. How is it when he pops back into the WRC for these guest appearances?

Ah, honestly, it was exaggerated a lot in the media. Often the media is looking for this kind of story. The truth is, there was some tension at some times, yes. But, first of all, that’s far behind us now. I always have had, but today I would say even more, a lot of respect for him and I enjoy to see him.

In Spain, it was really nice to see him and (co-driver) Daniel Elena back, and we had a good time together. I was the first one to call him during recce to have a dinner together and I invited them to dinner.

Like you say, he is a legend, he’s the most successful driver in the sport. So, of course, when he comes back he gets a lot of attention, but that’s well deserved. That’s completely normal. I take that very easily. It’s just normal for me. He deserves it.

Yeah, it’s fine. We don’t see each other very often, that’s the thing. But when we see each other, I’m always happy to see him.

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Is he still hard to beat?

Well, he proved it in Spain by winning again.

Of course, he must have lost a bit of speed, maybe, but not that much. Of course, he had the best road position on the Friday and then he had a clever tyre choice on Sunday to win the rally, but still… He did what he had to do to win the rally. It’s more than respectful to achieve that when you’ve been out for some time and only back for three rallies this year.

So you have a good relationship now?

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SON OF A GUN He is the son of the most successful driver in Formula 1 history, and Mick Schumacher is quickly forging the same winat-all-costs persona that took his father to seven World Championships. The pressure of bearing the Schumacher name hasn’t fazed the 19-year-old after securing the FIA Formula 3 title this year, and looks to be on the way to a career in motorsport’s top tier

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BY DAN KNUTSON

CHUMACHER. It is one of the most famous names in the history of Formula 1. Germany’s Michael Schumacher set a string of stunning records: seven drivers’ titles; 91 victories; 68 pole positions. He retired at the end of 2012. And in 2018, his son Mick Schumacher, at 19 years old, won the European FIA Formula 3 Championship.

Mick was only seven when his famous father retired from F1.

Michael and Corinna Schumacher always fiercely guarded the privacy of their children, Mick and Gina-Maria. Some F1 drivers bring their kids to the track. Felipe Massa’s son Felipinho was a paddock regular. But the Schumachers’ children were kept out of sight. When Mick started competing in karts, his family and their lawyers worked diligently to keep the journalists and photographers from publishing anything.

But as Mick started to rise up from the low rungs of the sport, the family’s insistance on privacy had to slacken. Still, it was only towards the end of this year, Schumacher’s fourth season in formula car racing, that he has been permitted to do a few interviews outside of the mandatory race weekend press conferences.

Born on 22 March 1999, he began racing karts in 2008 using the pseudonym Mick Betsch (his

mother’s maiden name) to avoid the publicity that inevitably comes from being the son of such a famous father.

Mick graduated to car racing acing in 2015 and competed in Formula 4 and nd Formula 2000. In 2016 he finished second in the German and Italian Formula ormula 4 Championships. He moved ed up to the FIA European Formula 3 Championship in 2017 and had no wins and just one podium finish in 30 starts.

Things started slowly in Formula 3 this year, and his first F3 win did not come until the 15th race of the season in Spa. He then won six more races es to clinch the championship.

One area that Schumacher her acknowledges he needs to improve is hiss qualifying pace.

“It’s a big step from F4,” he told Autosport magazine, “just because you have a lot more downforce; nforce; you have to really be ablee to push at 105 percent, because ause if you don’t maybe you’re a bit slow, which was maybee the case last year. I really tried to do the best I could in every session, and maybe it was trying

Schumacher was the surprise European Formula 3 champion (above), and Sainz Jr knows the perils of carrying a famous name (left).

to be a bit too good, and therefore being a bit too conservative in qualifying.”

Races, however, are a better scenario.

“I think that’s something you either have or you don’t,” he says, “and I just had that from the beginning in karting, where I was really able to quickly make decisions and be able to take also the right decisions. Karting was a bit of a closer battle, just because the track is smaller, so you have to be more aware of who is going to have a spin in front of you, and put yourself in a place to make up the most positions.”

SECOND-GENERATION DRIVERS

Alonso enjoyed many battles with Schumacher Sr, and broke the dominance the German enjoyed in the early 2000s.

SONS OF F1 drivers going racing are nothing new to the sport, of course. There have been second- and even third-generation drivers from the Brabham, Hill, Villeneuve, Andretti, Lauda, Prost and Rosberg families to name just some of them.

The sons all say having a famous surname opened doors for them early in their careers, but there were drawbacks as well, and eventually they had to prove themselves on the track.

Renault and soon-to-be McLaren driver Carlos Sainz Jr is the son of Carlos Sainz, who won the World Rally Championship in 1990 and 1992 and was runner-up four times. Was having a famous father a help or a burden?

“Both,” Sainz Jr replies. “At the beginning of your career when you are young and go into karting, there is an amount of pressure to cope with in lower categories, especially in karting with all the parents around telling their kids the first one you need to beat is Mick Schumacher because that will make you look even better.

“It was the same with me. In karting there was a crazy amount of pressure, just by being the ‘son of’. a “And then as you go through the categories you just accept it, you just mature with it. You get used to it. And it a can c even be a help.

“His name Schumacher can also help. But if you don’t win w and deliver the results you never are going to get into F1.

F So results first and then all the rest.”

CHAMPION’S VIEW C

W WORLD CHAMPIONS Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso Al both raced against Michael Schumacher. Do they think th the Schumacher name will be an asset or a burden to Mick?

“I “ don’t think it will be a burden,” Hamilton says. “Michael is named n the greatest driver of all time, he’s got the most titles, title so there will 100 percent be a Schumacher back in F1, partly because of the name, but secondly because he’s doing doi a great job. He’s obviously got a lot of talent, as his dad had, just like Keke and Nico (Rosberg). Just like when Fern Fernando has kids, I’m sure an Alonso will be here again.

Eve if I have a kid who wants to race and even if he’s no Even goo he can make it to F1 because of the name. good

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While drivers such as Verstappen, Brundle, Senna and Stroll have made the jump from F3 to F1, Schumacher looks destined to move into Formula 2 next season.

“I REALLY TRIED TO DO THE BEST I COULD IN EVERY SESSION, AND MAYBE IT WAS TRYING TO BE A BIT TOO GOOD” “He (Mick) is doing a really great job and he’s a really great kid as well.

“He’s been a part of our team a couple of weekends. He is very attentive. He’s got a great talent, as his dad had, so I don’t think it will be a burden. I think it could be great for the sport.”

Alonso has never met the young Schumacher.

“You only see the results from the outside,” Fernando said, “and he has a great talent and he will be good for the sport, to have the Schumacher name again in F1. Let’s see what the future brings, not putting extra pressure on him, which I’m sure he has enough already. Let time decide.”

THE NEXT STEP

LIKE AYRTON Senna, Martin Brundle and Lance Stroll, Max Verstappen jumped straight from Formula 3 to Formula 1.

“I can sympathise with the pressure he is having,” Verstappen says of Schumacher. “Now it is all about making the right decisions in his career to try to get to F1. But to win the F3 championship is very good.”

By winning the F3 title, Schumacher amassed enough points to be granted the FIA super licence needed to race in F1, but there are only a couple of F1 seats still open for 2019 and Mick is not connected to them. Toro Rosso, which pounced on Verstappen and has a history of bringing young drivers into F1, has had no contact with

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Schumacher, and team boss Franz Tost says he is not interested in signing him.

Ross Brawn, who worked with Michael Schumacher at Benetton, Ferrari and Mercedes, believes if Mick wants to prepare properly for F1, then Formula 2 is the next logical step for him. Formula 3000/GP2/Formula 2 has been the final step on the path many a recent driver has taken to F1, including Lewis Hamilton, Romain Grosjean, Nico Rosberg, Nico Hülkenberg, and now for 2019 Lando Norris and George Russell.

The tragedy, of course, is that Michael is not there so see his son race.

The senior Schumacher suffered severe head injuries in a snow skiing accident in late December 2013. After six months in a medically induced coma, he spent a long time in a French hospital.

He is now in a private clinic on the Schumacher estate in Switzerland. His true condition is a secret closely guarded by the family. Every now and then a story will pop up on the internet about Michael Schumacher this or Michael Schumacher that.

They are all speculation. The only updates – and there are none – would come from the Schumacher family or an official spokesperson.

Mick Schumacher faces a seemingly impossible task in trying to match his father’s records. He needs to forge his own path, no matter what his surname is and no matter what people may say.

SPECIAL SPA SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS is a special place for the Schumachers. It was at this challenging Belgian circuit where Michael Schumacher made his Formula 1 debut with Jordan in 1991.

How that chance came about is part of racing lore.

Bertrand Gachot had gone to jail in England after an altercation with a London cabbie in which Gachot had sprayed CS gas in the man’s face.

Jordan needed a replacement driver fast, and a deal was done to put the 22-year-old Schumacher in the car.

He qualified an outstanding seventh, but his race lasted just a few hundred metres as he burned out the clutch.

Benetton snatched Schumacher away from Jordan before the next race. And one year later, back at Spa, Schumacher won the Belgian Grand Prix. It was the first of his 91 F1 victories, including six at Spa. Schumacher grew up in Kerpen, Germany, which is just 115km from Spa. Hockenheim, home of the German Grand Prix, is 250km from Kerpen, so Spa and the Nürburgring were really Schumacher’s home tracks. Vast numbers of German spectators would come to Spa every year to cheer for their hero. Many camped near the track and partied late and loudly into the night.

In 2012, Schumacher’s final season in F1, the Mercedes team held a reception in the Spa paddock to celebrate the 20th anniversary of his first victory. I went up to Michael, shook his hand, and jokingly said: “You won’t remember, but I was here when you made your debut in 1991.”

He said: “I do well remember.” He was just being polite, of course, because there was no way he’d recall me from the blur of faces in

the paddock that weekend. But he did know me well from the countless questions I’d asked him in press conferences during his subsequent 300 races.

During the 2017 Belgian Grand Prix weekend Mick Schumacher drove his father’s 1994 Benetton B194 for a lap around Spa. Rather than stand in the pits and see him flash by, I walked deep into the thick Ardennes forests in the middle of the circuit. I heard the Ford V8 engine screaming and blipping through the gears all the way around the fabulous seven-kilometre track. It sounded just like Michael lapping all those years ago.

After the lap, Mick was interviewed on the pit straight by Pat Symonds and Ross Brawn, who worked with his father at Benetton.

“It was awesome” Mick said of the experience. “We had a bit of understeer to be honest. To be able to drive the F1 car here was amazing.”

Brawn commented: “You can’t come to Spa without thinking of Michael. It was Michael’s circuit.”

At Spa on July 28, 2018, Mick won his first European Formula 3 Championship race. Just like his father’s first victory at the track, Mick won in mixed weather conditions. The maiden win, the first of eight for the year, paved the way for Mick to win the 2018 crown.

“Obviously it all started with Spa,” he told Autosport magazine. “Spa is a very special track for me and my family, and we were able to be constantly quick from there on. It was important for everybody. It shouldn’t have happened that late - that’s for sure!”

Spa-Francorchamps is indeed a special place for the Schumachers.

Schumacher Junior took his father’s Benetton B194 for a spin through the Ardennes in 2017.

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C A P M I N SUDDCE H HITS TOWN TCR LAUN

BY BRUCE WILLIAMS

A

ll the hype and talk that has surrounded the TCR Series reached a significant milestone last week when Australian Racing Group and CAMS held the official launch of the TCR category at an exclusive invite-only media and competitors day at Sydney Motorsport Park.

It was a solid turn out, with lots of familiar and indeed surprising faces on hand. Among the interested parties were senior Supercar officials, team owners Brad Jones, Garry and Barry Jones and plenty of other potential TCR team owners, drivers looking for an opportunity, TCR car suppliers looking for customers, and the motorsport media, all interested to see what all the hype is about.

The presentation was conducted by Australian Racing Group, with plenty of CAMS heavies on hand, including CEO Eugene Arocca.

ARG Director Matt Braid was the frontman.

“We’ve been talking about it now for a while, with lots being said and plenty of speculation, but here we are and now it’s real and you can see several currentspec cars on track and up-close,” Braid announced to the standing room only crowd.

It was a slick presentation, with plenty of category information and lots of positive facts and figures, all designed to impress.

Braid pushed the significance of the international aspect of the TCR series and its world-wide appeal and reach: “TCR is the fastest-growing category in the motorsport world; there are 17 national TCR series already in operation, with four new additions for 2019 – France, Japan, South America and now Australia. In addition, there are a number endurance series around the world that cater for TCR cars.

“The TCR series is unique in so much as it has national competitions that feed into regional series, that can feed into the world TCR series.”

Braid reinforced the ability for locals to compete in other regions and on the world TCR stage, and with TCR now having a big presence in Asia it’s not an unfounded claim.

“We see that it’s really possible for an Australian driver or team who successfully competes in TCR Australia could also compete competitively at the regional and ultimately the international level because the cars and technical regulations are all the same.

“The transferability of TCR technical and sporting regulations is very favourable and allows Australian

Supercars star Chas Mostert was one of the drivers in hand to sample one of the new TCR cars. touring car talent to potentially ply their trade internationally, and equally some international drivers can potentially come to race in Australia.

“TCR has the largest manufacturer involvement of any race category in the world, with 13 brands of manufacturers who have currently homologated TCR cars, 10 of which are on sale here in Australia.

“We are hoping to announce a live free to air broadcast TV partner and/or a Foxtel program in the next few weeks.”

While nothing is confirmed, Auto Action has been hearing for some time that a potential free to air deal to televise the Shannons Nationals on a channel such as 7Mate is close to being confirmed.

THE PROPOSED RACING PROGRAM AND TECHNICAL REGULATIONS CAMS technical man Jamie Augustine confirmed that Australia will adopt the international TCR technical rules 100 percent, with minor local changes to the way the series is run via the sporting regulations.

CAMS and the category managers will work together to create and finalise that aspect of the program.

Announced several weeks ago, TCR Australia will be run alongside the Shannons Nationals, taking in all seven rounds of the official CAMSbacked championship.

The 2019 series will be a sprint race-based series, with three 30-minute races over the weekend, but ARG is looking at the potential for enduro-style races in 2020 and beyond, with Braid noting: “All the cars are built with the options to be capable of long-distance races, so we would be advising all competitors to order their cars with the refuelling and other enduro-spec options.”

There is no doubt that TCR has a huge variety of The HMO Customer Racing Hyundai i30 N arrived just days before the launch and was one of four TCR cars to be put through its paces

30 AutoAction

potential race cars and customer programs to choose from. While Braid pushed the point that several of the key TCR brands of cars had already set up agents in Australia, he acknowledged that there is nothing stopping teams privately importing their own new or second-hand race cars, although he did reinforce the fact that any TCM vehicles that race here have to be current-spec and currently homologated cars.

One piece of information that seemed to spark lots of comment in the competitors briefing was that for the 2019 kick-off of TCR a maximum of a 20-car field would be imposed, with a limit of five cars from each car model/manufacturer.

The implication was that if you wanted one of the perceived faster cars it was time to act, a point that seemed to raise the hackles of not only several potential team owners but also race car importers who have a couple of the more popular and competitive TCR cars.

He also said that at this stage there were no plans to bring in a franchise-style arrangement to TCR. “No, we won’t be looking at a franchise system, but who knows down the track...”

MICHELIN ANNOUNED AS THE TCR CONTROL TYRE “The decision to select Michelin as the tyre supplier was based on their experience in Asian and European TCR competition, their comprehensive level of support they are able to provide on and off track, and their intention to use the TCR Australia series in their consumer marketing activities,” Braid said.

Michelin is no stranger to TCR series worldwide, and TCR Australia will join TCR Asia, China, Scandinavia, Thailand and the Spanish Endurance Championship as the current championships that use the control Michelin tyre.”

It is believed that a maximum of eight tyres will be allocated to each car for a race weekend. Michelin’s PR and media manager for Australia, Angus Thompson, told Auto Action: “We will supply one compound (hard) for TCR Australia. This is the same tyre currently used in TCR Asia and TCR China.”

COMPETITOR AND SUPPLIER FEEDBACK All four TCR Series cars that have arrived in Australia were on hand for demonstration – the Audi RS3 LMS, VW Golf GTI, Honda Civic Type R and Hyundai i30 N, the latter having arrived only days before the launch.

Several Supercars drivers who sampled the four TCR cars included 2014 Bathurst 1000 champion Chaz Mostertand and current Supercars endurance co-drivers James Moffat, Tony D’Alberto and Macauley Jones.

Mostert was enthusiastic and asked several questions in the team briefing while also sampling the HMO Customer Racing Hyundai i30 N. “They are actually quite comparable to a GT3 car in terms of driver satisfaction,” the former Bathurst winner commented afterwards, “and overall I think TCR is pretty cool. It will be great to see a big field of these, with toe to toe racing.

T

CHAS MOSTERT AFTER SAMPLING A TCR RACE CAR:

“I THINK TCR IS PRETTY COOL. IT WILL BE GREAT TO SEE A BIG FIELD GOING TOE TO TOE” There’s a lot of potential in the series.” Mostert said.

Also sampling cars were several current frontrunning Toyota 86 series competitors, including Luke King, and Nic Carroll, who both enthusiastic about driving the cars and the potential to be part of the local TCR series.

Lee Burley from MPC represents Volkswagen Group Motorsport and told us that he thought it was an important day for the future of the TCR category in Australia.

“It was a good positive day and a big step forward for the category – great information and presentation from ARG about the TCR program for 2019 and where it’s all headed,” Burley said.

“While we haven’t sold any cars yet, we’ve had several serious enquires about the purchase of Audi RS3 LMS TCR and VW Golf GTI TCR cars, and several potential drivers wanting information on lease options, but until we are being asked about delivery times, freight options and costs then nothing is confirmed.

“In the short term we are working on our first order for a full list of parts to support a TCM program. We will carry a big range of parts to suit the three cars we will support, and a customer that purchases a car from us won’t need a big inventory of spares, just the basic stuff and maybe some painted-up bumpers and guards etc. We will stock all the big items, including engines, transmissions and

suspension, with full back-up of technical support and set-up information.”

David Wall will be distributing the Honda Civic Type R TCR cars and was happy: “We had a very successful day. For the the first day of a brand new series it went perfectly, I have several people talking to us now regarding the purchase of a Honda Type R, and some of those people are pretty serious.”

The signs are positive that TCR will work in Australia; its affordable and should have a good profile, with the potential for great racing – and now that it’s all out in the open, it will be down to potential competitors to decide if this is a category, they want to be part of into the future.

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RACE of AGES

The 1968 London To Sydney Marathon captured the imagination of the public at a time when transcontinental travel by car was dangerous and difficult. Former Australian rally champion BOB WATSON recounts the escapades and drama of the nearly 17,000 km torture test across the world

I

N 1968 conditions in England weren’t good; the Pound Sterling had been devalued, manufacturing was in a slump and an atmosphere of gloom pervaded the country.

Sir Max Aitken, chairman of Beaverbrook newspapers, which owned the Daily Express newspaper, called a lunch meeting with senior editorial staff members Jocelyn Stevens and Tommy Sopwith. The group discussed the idea to organise an event that would attract worldwide attention and provide an opportunity to showcase British manufacturing’s products.

The outcome was the London to Sydney Marathon, the greatest motoring adventure since the Peking to Paris race of 1907.

The Marathon quickly captured the imagination of car companies and sponsors globally, including the Australian press. Sir Frank Packer, chairman of Australian Consolidated Press, offered co-sponsorship from the Sydney Daily Telegraph, which was quickly accepted by Aitken.

The entry fee was set at £550.

First prize was to be £10,000, plus a superb trophy consisting of a silver crescent and a golden globe of the world marked with the Marathon route, standing 72cm high and worth £500.

Second and third placegetters won £3000 and £2000 respectively, with another £2000 for the highest placed Australian crew.

The event was open to four-wheel passenger cars with no more than six seats, and station wagon derivatives.

Commercial vehicles, motor homes

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Surprise winners Andrew Cowan (centre, above), Brian Coyle and Colin Malkin received a tumultuous welcome when their Hillman Hunter arrived at the ceremonial finish in Sydney at Warwick Farm (above). The ill-fated Lucien Bianchi set the pace from Perth in his Citroen (left).

and four-wheel-drive vehicles were not eligible. The mechanical specification was free – that is, there were no restrictions to the modifications that could be made. The engine and body could not be changed during the event and these parts were marked at preevent scrutiny of the cars.

All participants, from those organising the rally to car companies, as well as fuel and tyre companies, then swung into action.

The organising committee was chaired by former racing driver and sailor Sopwith, with another experienced rally competitor, Jack Sears, appointed as secretary. The committee included Dean Delamont (later to become Chairman of the Royal Automobile Club), Tony Ambrose and Jack Kemsley.

Various problems became evident, including the refusal of the Burmese (Myanmar) government to allow passage of the event, difficulties arranging transport of the rally cars

from Colombo to Australia and the closure of the Suez Canal due to the Arab-Israel war.

Entries started pouring in from around the world for the great adventure. The field was limited to 100 cars due to the available space on the liner Chusan, which was to take the cars from Bombay to Fremantle.

Entries were received from 14 different countries, with Great Britain (57) and Australia (18) accounting for the majority. Others came from France (5), Russia (4), West Germany (3), Ireland (2) Switzerland (2), Holland (2), USA (2) and one each from Norway, Kenya, Poland, Italy and India.

The major car manufacturers were keen to be involved, sensing an opportunity to promote their products in the 11 countries the Marathon passed through. Ford Motor Company of Britain, Australia and Germany all entered teams, as did British Leyland, Rootes Group, Holden, Moskvitch from Russia and DAF from Holland.

There were strong factory supported private entries from Porsche, Citroen and Volvo, along with a second tier of privately sponsored entrants running cars similar to the factory entries, no doubt hoping for factory help if the big guns faltered.

The massive task of planning the 16,000km course was completed in time to allow teams to do a reconnaissance if they wished, or could afford it. The Castrol oil company sent an experienced crew to compile route notes for the teams the company was sponsoring. Tyre and fuel dumps had to be set up in remote locations across the world, and servicing had to be organised. Local car clubs were recruited to man control points. It was a massive organisational task.

Ford of Britain entered four Ford Escorts led by Roger Clark and Ove Anderson, while Dieter Glemser and Martin Braungart headed Ford Germany’s three-car Taunus attack.

The strongest driver line-up appeared

to be the British Leyland-entered cars of Paddy Hopkirk/Tony Nash/Alec Poole, Rauno Aaltonen/Henry Liddon/ Paul Easter and Tony Fall/Mike Wood/ Brian Culcheth in Austin or Morris 1800s, backed up by a similar 1800 from BMC Australia for Evan Green, ’Gelignite’ Jack Murray and George Shepheard.

Entries of Citroen DS21s for Lucien Bianchi/Jean-Claude Ogier and Robert Neyret/Jacques Terramorsi had factory support, as did the Porsche 911S models of Pole Sobieslaw Zasada/ Marek Wachowski and East African Edgar Herrman with Hans Schuller, and a Rootes Motors-entered Hillman Hunter driven by Andrew Cowan/Colin Malkin/Brian Coyle.

The surprise packet of the event were the three Harry Firth-prepared Ford Falcon entries from Ford Australia.

The big cars, along with the Daily Telegraph Holden Monaros headed by David McKay, were regarded by the European experts as being too large and too heavy for the journey.

The marathon started at London’s Crystal Place sports complex in front of 80,000 people. The field of 98 cars lined up, a colourful scene adorned with advertising stickers, kangaroo bars and, in the case of the two

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Press barons Sir Max Aitken (left) and Sir Frank Packer (centre) sponsored the London to Sydney Marathon. Harry Firth (far right) masterminded Ford’s teams’ prize-winning Falcon GTs.

factory prepared Porsches, cage-like constructions to support oil coolers, spare wheels and deflect the dreaded kangaroos expected in the outback.

At 2pm on November 24, the Ford Cortina GT of Bengry/Brick/Preddy left the dais first to get the rally underway.

The route travelled from London to Paris, and then across Europe into Turkey, with checkpoints at Turin in Italy and Belgrade in Yugoslavia.

This was easy travelling, although tiring for crews. However, in Turkey poor roads and the presence of slow-moving smoke-billowing trucks, sometimes three abreast, added a dangerous element.

The first serious competition came in Turkey. The stage from Sivas to Erzincan was 175 miles (283km) of

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loose dirt, gravel and mud, while rising to 7000 feet. It was to be covered in two hours and 45 minutes.

Clark stamped his authority on the event by being fastest, six minutes late, averaging nearly 100km/h.

The pursuit of Clark was headed by the Ford Taunus of Gilbert Staepalare, Paddy Hopkirk’s BMC 1800, Glemser (Taunus) and Lucien Bianchi (Citroen).

Fastest Aussie was Bruce Hodgson, followed by Ford teammates Firth and Ian Vaughan. The best Holden runner was Barry Ferguson.

The next test was across the Lataband Pass to Sarobi in Afghanistan. Clark was fastest again, but he was matched by Hopkirk, Bianchi and Staepalare. Evan Green was fastest Australian with eight

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minutes lost, with Firth‘s Falcon and the Holden Monaros of Doug Whiteford and Barry Ferguson close behind.

A long but non-competitive run to Bombay followed, although crews were tested by the erratic traffic and the crushing crowds.

In Bombay the surviving 72 cars were loaded onto the SS Chusan for the 10day trip to Fremantle, with the Aussies telling stories of monster kangaroos and six-foot-tall Bunyips.

The drama exceeded expectations in Australia, as the Western Australian Police made themselves known by booking competitors for having sirens and flashing lights fitted to their car roofs. The police were generally making themselves unpleasant.

The course headed northeast from Fremantle to the gold mining ghost town of Youanmi and then south to Marvel Loch. The first test was 190km from Marvel Loch to Lake King.

The organisers provided the following information in a bulletin: “The countryside is undulating and from each ridge the straight road ahead can be clearly seen, but on the crests of certain ridges the road takes a sharp bend and these well-concealed hazards may prove the undoing of a driver who is not concentrating”.

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The Falcon GT humbled Holden’s Monaro GTS in the Marathon, exposing decisive differences in official versus unofficial factory efforts.

The latter part of the section proved extremely testing, deteriorating to rocky outcrops and high ridges in the centre of the road, which was very narrow, with cars brushing the scrub on each side.

The dust was thick, which gave the early cars a big advantage.

Fastest were Clark’s Cortina again, joined by Staepalare’s Taunus and Bianchi’s Citroen. Vaughan (Falcon) and Cowan’s Hillman Hunter were again close behind as the cream was beginning to rise to the top.

A long run of 1460km across the Nullarbor Plain to Ceduna was no problem for the leading cars. Bianchi in the amazing Citroen averaged 97mph (157km/h) over the rough gravel.

However, the next section from Ceduna to Quorn in the Flinders Ranges produced drama, as Clark’s Cortina had burnt valves after the long high-speed Nullarbor crossing and

was running rough. In a magnificent sporting gesture, teammates Ken Chambers and Eric Jackson gave the cylinder head from their Cortina to Clark, and it was fitted at Port Augusta.

They had been running ninth at Fremantle. Clark booked in 14 minutes ess late at Quorn after a hair-raising drive over the Pichi Richi pass.

The Flinders Ranges caused some havoc. Again, from the Organiser’s Information Bulletin: “Competitors turn right to cross the Elder Range a by a scenic track [now the Moralana Scenic drive] punctuated by creekss res which vary in width from a few metres es to several hundred. Indeed, at times hey competitors will wonder whether they ds are expected to motor up river beds rather than on the intended roads.””

One of the leading group, Evan Green in a BMC 1800, suffered rear wheel bearing failure while running fifth. The failure occurred not long

Horrifc scene of the crash that cost Lucien Bianchi victory close to the finish when he ploughed int a spectator’s car. Miraculously, no one was killed. Holden officials (inset) hoped for success but their Monaros (top, with some curious Afgans) came up short.

34 AutoAction

after Green had allegedly helped Andrew Cowan’s Hillman Hunter back on to the road after an ‘off’. George Reynolds rolled his Monaro in sand near Mingary and the crew ended in hospital, while Ferguson’s Monaro broke a shrink ring.

Through Broken Hill, Menindee and Gunbar, the field reached Wangaratta in northeast Victoria, facing a testing time over the Great Dividing Range. The Edi to Brookside stage followed a littleused State Electricity Commission u r road over Goldie’s Spur, a rough s steep mountain track with massive d drops over the side. Zasada in the Po Porsche was looming as a threat, d dr dropping only one minute, with Ho Hopkirk close. Clark was back on form, for while Bianchi, Staepalaere, fo Aaltonen and the consistent Falcons Aa of Vaughan, Hodgson and Firth continued to press on.

The course then climbed over Mount Hotham to Omeo, where further points losses were incurred by the leaders.

Zasada and Staepalaere were flying, as were Bianchi, Cowan, Clark and Hopkirk. Vaughan did well to be first of the Falcons.

At this point the leaders were Bianchi on 34 points from Clark on 39 after a brilliant recovery from his burnt valve problem, with Hopkirk and Staepalaere tied on 40. Cowan’s Hillman was in fifth on 46 and Harry Firth sixth in the leading Australian Falcon on 49.

The final stages of this mad dash across Australia could not have been scripted by even the most creative fiction writer.

Not long after leaving Omeo, secondplaced Clark broke an axle and spent valuable time fitting one taken from a local’s car. After the Ingebyra stage Bianchi was still clinging to a slim four-point lead over Staepalaere’s Taunus, with Hopkirk and Cowan not far behind.

Author John Smailes has captured the essence of the excitement and intrigue of the London to Sydney Marathon in a new book, as Mark Fogarty explains

Then on the final Hindmarsh stage over the Big Badja, Firth had rear axle problems and was forced to wait for one of the following Falcons carrying a spare.

But still the drama was not over.

Staepalaere hit a cattle grid post and broke a steering tie rod, costing him any chance of a high placing. His misfortune allowed Cowan into second.

At Hindmarsh Station the rally seemed settled; Bianchi had proven that he and the Citroen were the best.

But then the unbelievable happened.

On the final transport stage to Nowra, a spectator’s car, travelling legitimately against the direction of the rally on an open road, collided head-on with the Citroen, driven by Ogier while Bianchi slept.

The super-light Citroen was crushed by the impact and Bianchi was badly injured and rushed to hospital. It is suspected that Ogier, in his exhausted state, reacted as he would have done in Europe, and pulled to his right to avoid the oncoming Mini. The two people in the Mini were also hospitalised and their car totally wrecked.

Paddy Hopkirk was first on the scene and stopped to check the accident scene.

The 56 survivors from the 98 who started at Crystal Palace had driven non-stop for 67 hours across Australia.

Cowan drove to the event finish at Warwick Farm racecourse in Sydney, no doubt happy that he, Brian Coyle and Colin Malkin, and their well-prepared Hillman Hunter, had won the world’s most amazing rally, though threy were subdued by Bianchi’s tragedy.

Cowan proved his victory in the Marathon was no fluke by winning the only other ‘real’ marathon, the 30,000km Singapore Airlines London to Sydney rally of 1977, in a Mercedes Benz. He also won five Southern Cross Rallies for Mitsubishi and is acknowledged as the greatest longdistance rally driver of all time.

Post-rally, Hillman was besieged by orders for Hunters, to the point where they were embarrassed by lack of stock.

Sir Max Aitken’s inspired brainchild had done its job!

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IT WAS the last great motoring adventure.

Fifty years ago, racing from London to Sydney was an extraordinary test of endurance, reliability and fortitude. It was also extremely perilous.

Competitors raced through Eastern Europe, which back then was still firmly behind the Iron Curtain. They charged through Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan, where bandits were an everpresent threat.

Once they arrived in Perth – after a leisurely boat trip from India – it was a full-on torture test on transcontinental outbackk and back-block roads that even a Ford Ranger Raptor would treat with respect.

Seriously, the 1968 London to Sydney Marathon was epic. Today, you could do it in a Kia Picanto. Not back then. Half a century ago, even bespoke endurance rally cars were fragile machines. And the roads were rubbish.

The London to Sydney was harsh and cruel. Lucien Bianchi pantsed the might of Ford (three teams from the UK, Germany and Australia), British Motor Corporation, Rootes (hey, don’t laugh, they were big back then) and Porsche to lead until within sight of the finish in a Citroen DS21.

Almost home and hosed, Bianchi and codriver Jean-Claude Ogier (who was behind the wheel for what was supposed to be a leisurely transport section) were pole-axed in country NSW. Spectators in a Mini going in the opposite direction crashed head-on into the French flyers.

Looking at the wreckage, it’s hard to believe anyone survived. But they all did.

Simply miraculous.

Scotsman Andrew Cowan – he of the later domination of Australia’s prestigious Southern Cross Rally – inherited victory in a Hillman Hunter. Consider that. Paddy Hopkirk was second in an Austin 1800.

Sounds like a celebration of shitboxes.

Not quite. An XT Ford Falcon GT was third and Ford Australia’s three-car entry won the teams’ prize.

You wouldn’t read about it. Except you can, in vivid and illuminating detail.

Veteran journalist and spin doctor John Smailes has written a book to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the Marathon.

As a junior journo, he jagged the assignment to cover the event from start to finish for Sydney’s Daily Telegraph newspaper (then the flagship of the Packer media empire).

Talk about a plum – but admittedly tough – assignment for a rookie reporter.

Smailes followed the marathon in chartered planes in the company of legendary hacks David McNicoll and Harold ‘Dev’ Dvoretsky. Probably won’t mean

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anyt an yth th to you, but anything bbaacckk in the day, they back weere w re ink gods. were w 11 and I was I was eennth th enthralled.

I followed tthhe newspaper the ccoov ov coverage of the Ma Ma Marathon’s progress an lapped up an and th newsreel th the repo re ports. rttss.. Somewhere Soom m mew eew whheerree in in my archives – a reports. euphemism for long-unopened boxes in storage – I have the official program for the event, which was sponsored by The Daily Express in London and The Daily Telegraph in Sydney. And this was well before the days of Rupert Murdoch’s global media empire.

If you’re under 40, you can’t understand the magnitude of the event. But if you read Smailes’ insightful book, Race Across The World (Allen & Unwin, RRP $32.99), you’ll appreciate how amazing it was.

There’s extraordinary new detail of how the event was conceived and organised – or not – and what happened along the way.

And, typically for a newspaper-trained oldschool scribe, Smailes floats a conspiracy theory about the accident that changed the outcome so close to the competitive finish.

He even tracked down the surviving occupant of the rogue Minii – who had never spoken too the media before – to get the other, never reported side of the story. It is investigative gold.

What fascinated me most was how Smailes – one of my main influencers when I was starting out – reported on the event, given the crude communications back then. Cassette tape recorders were new-fangled devices…

Filing from exotic diffffic di icul icul ultt.. I know kno now locations was extremely difficult. because even a decade later, what you had to go through to send stories back to Australia was a nightmare.

Now, with email and smartphones, reporting from almost anywhere is a doddle. But 50 years ago, telecommunications were awkward and very expensive – if they even existed.

According to Smailes, covering the Marathon was as much an adventure for the chasing press as the competitors.

instagram.com/autoactionmag/

“It certainly was,” he recalls. “We were only marginally faster than the cars.”

Despite following the event from London to Bombay (now Mumbai) in the fourengined turboprop Vickers Viscount, it was a scramble at every stop to catch the leaders, find out what happened and then set off again, furiously bashing out hardcopy stories on a typewriter before finding a telex machine or landline telephone at the next destination.

Among the more memorable incidents, Smailes recounts an exciting interlude in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan.

“There was one telephone in the hotel and 98 competing crews all wanted to use that one telephone,” he explains. “David Benson from the Express decided it was a better idea if we shot across town to the British embassy and filed from there.

“The problem was that the town had gone Marathon mad and there was all sorts of police activity in the streets, holding people back and what have you. We hopped in a cab, started to go across town, and we were chased by a police car. The cab driver, to his credit, decided to keep going, which I think was the better of the two options.

“Benson swore that he heard gunfire. I’m not absolutely certain, but when the gates of the British embassy shut behind us, we both let out a huge we sig of relief because si sigh w very dangerous. itit was We filed our copy from We the embassy and then th the rreetu tu returned to the hotel in the miid of the night. m middle “T was the kind of “T “That stuf st uffff we were doing right stuff the way th w across Europe the and Asia. an A and “IIn Australia, it wasn’t that “In muucchh easier because there m much werree party we p were lines (shared pphhon onee exchanges rather than phone pprriv ivaatte te lines) that weren’t private avai av vai aila lab exclusively to us. available Peeeop P oppllee had been sent out People specifically to wherever we landed (usually remote landing strips) to race it back maybe 100km to the nearest place from where they could send our copy.”

Like the gruelling trek itself, covering the Marathon required stamina, ingenuity and perseverance. Smailes’ recall and diligent follow-ups in Race Across The World bring both expeditions to life in a vivid and entertaining read.

It is much more than just history retold.

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FAIRYTALE FINISH FOR THE CHAMP Another dominant display from World Champion Lewis Hamilton capped off another year of Mercedes superiority in F1. Fittingly, Sebastien Vettel was second and Max Verstappen finished the season with a fifth consecutive trip to the rostrum – denying teammate Daniel Ricciardo a podium in his final race for Red Bull Report: DAN KNUTSON

LEWIS HAMILTON capped off his championship-winning year with an 11th pole position and 11th victory in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. The driver who finished second in the championship – Sebastian Vettel – also finished second in the race. And Max Verstappen, surely a future world champion, joined them on the podium.

Daniel Ricciardo was disappointed to finish fourth in his final race with Red Bull. The Aussie actually led from lap 16 to 32 by using a late pit strategy, but in the end it didn’t work out.

Hamilton started on the pole for the 81st time and led until the end of lap seven, when Mercedes took a risk and had him pit early for tyres. He then had to get to the finish on that set of Pirelli super soft slicks. The gamble paid off as he retook the lead on lap 33, after Ricciardo finally pitted.

“I’ve been able to be a better me all year long,” Hamilton said, “and I will continue to try to work on that and try to work on the energy that I’m projecting to people. I had a lot of fun in the car today. I love driving; I loved driving every minute today and I hope I have many more days to go.”

Just like in the championship itself, Vettel and the Ferrari could not catch Hamilton in the race.

38 AutoAction

“He’s the champion and he deserves to be the champion,” Vettel said of Hamilton. “It’s been a tough year. I tried everything until the last lap. Catching a little bit, a little bit, but I think he controlled the pace at the front. I would have liked it to be a little more wheel-towheel. Our whole team will try to come back stronger to make sure we give him a harder run into next year.”

After a rocky start to the season, Verstappen ended it with five consecutive visits to the podium in his Red Bull.

“It wasn’t easy from the start,” he said of the race. “The engine had a bit of an issue, which meant we lost a few places in the opening lap. Once we had sorted the problem I was able to get on the attack and enjoy some really nice overtaking, especially passing (Valtteri) Bottas. I never really had a shot at getting past Seb (Vettel).

“I struggled in the closing laps a bit because I couldn’t see. My visor was covered in oil from the back of Pierre Gasly’s car. If I wiped it, it made it worse.

It was like driving through fog.”

Ricciardo was disconsolate with fourth.

“It wasn’t the most exciting race,” the Aussie said.

“It (the late pit stop) put me out of reach with the leaders. I don’t know if we had many other options. We could have

ABU DHABI GP – YAS MARINA, 25 NOV 2018 POS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 -

Vettel (above) couldn’t match Hamilton, while Ricciardo just missed the podium.

DRIVER Lewis Hamilton Sebastian Vettel Max Verstappen Daniel Ricciardo Valtteri Bottas Carlos Sainz Charles Leclerc Sergio Perez Romain Grosjean Kevin Magnussen Fernando Alonso Brendon Hartley Lance Stroll Stoffel Vandoorne Sergey Sirotkin Pierre Gasly Esteban Ocon Marcus Ericsson Kimi Raikkonen Nico Hulkenberg

CAR Mercedes Ferrari Red Bull/Renault Red Bull/Renault Mercedes Renault Sauber/Ferrari Force India/Mercedes Haas/Ferrari Haas/Ferrari McLaren/Renault Toro Rosso/Honda Williams/Mercedes McLaren/Renault Williams/Mercedes Toro Rosso/Honda Force India/Mercedes Sauber/Ferrari Ferrari Renault

LAPS 55 55 55 55 55 55 55 55 54 54 54 54 54 54 54 46 44 24 6 0

GAP 1h39m40.382s +2.581s +12.706s +15.379s +47.957s +1m12.548s +1m30.789s +1m31.275s +1 Lap +1 Lap +1 Lap +1 Lap +1 Lap +1 Lap +1 Lap Oil leak Oil leak Retirement Electrical Collision

Points: Hamilton 408, Vettel 320, Raikkonen 251, Verstappen 249, Bottas 247, Ricciardo 170, Hulkenberg 69, Perez 62, Magnussen 56, Sainz 53, Alonso 50, Ocon 49, Leclerc 39, Grosjean 37, Gasly 29, Vandoorne 12, Ericsson 9, Stroll 6, Hartley 4, Sirotkin 1.

Constructors: Mercedes 655, Ferrari 571, Red Bull-TAG Heuer 419, Renault 122, Haas-Ferrari 93, McLaren-Renault 62, Force India-Mercedes 52, Sauber-Ferrari 48, Toro Rosso-Honda 33, Williams-Mercedes 7.

Any thoughts Mercedes might have had of gifting Bottas a win disappeared with the Finn’s late-race pace.

Leclerc showed early why Ferrari has signed him for 2019, while Hulkenberg walked away from a huge crash he described as looking spectacular “but nothing really dramatic”! pitted earlier and kept track position.

It’s always hard to know. I was just a bit helpless at the end. I couldn’t really do much. The pace advantage (on new tyres) initially was strong. And then it fell away quite quickly. We probably just weren’t quick enough.

“I would have loved the podium, so I can’t be ecstatic with fourth, but as a whole, the time here (at Red Bull Racing) was good, some amazing memories and a lot of things I’m sure I’ll reflect on in a few hours.”

What’s next for Ricciardo?

“The next week I’ll close everything off with Red Bull, be a few days at the factory, then the following week start to initially know a few people at Renault.

Then go home to Australia and switch off for a bit. It’s been a long season. So looking forward to going home, talking to the sheep and cows on the farm – they

get me! – and not doing a whole lot for the first few days.”

The race started with a scary accident as Romain Grosjean’s Haas tipped Nico Hulkenberg’s Renault into a barrel-roll.

The car ended up smoking and upside down. Tense moments for Nico until the marshals carefully righted the car.

“I’m all fine,” he said later, “it is just the normal disappointment when you are

out on lap one of the race. I was racing Romain into Turn 8 and we both locked up. I went really wide and he went even wider and I thought he ran off the track so I thought I had Turn 9 to myself. I went to take the apex but obviously he was still there, so we made contact and then the rest we’ve seen. A couple of flips, which looks spectacular but nothing really dramatic.”

Kimi Raikkonen’s 151st and final race with Ferrari ended after just six laps when his car stopped on the pit straight.

Fernando Alonso finished 11th in his 312th and – for now at least – his final F1 race. After the cool-down lap, Alonso joined Hamilton and Vettel on the pit straight. The three drivers – with 11 world titles between them – did smoky donuts, much to the delight of the fans.

“It was magic,” Alonso said. “The whole weekend has been amazing, and the inlap was not planned. It was a nice touch by them, so thank you Sebastian and thank you Lewis. They are both great champions and I feel very privileged to race with them.”

And so the 2018 Formula 1 season came to an end. And the 2019 season will begin just 110 days later with the opening practice session for the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne.

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39

RACE REPORT

Newcastle, Races 30 & 31

XXXX

MAKING AMENDS Report: Heath McAlpine Photos: LAT/Dirk Klynsmith/Ross Gibb/ Insyde Media

delivered on every count.

Saturday’s qualifying was dominated by the Red Bull Holden Racing Team, which locked out the front row, but on the second row was DJR Team Penske. But the first race didn’t start well for either title contender, as Jamie Whincup and Fabian Coulthard got the jump on their teammates, before the reigning champion soon amended that by letting his Kiwi teammate through. Van Gisbergen soon broke away.

Coulthard gave way to McLaughlin on lap two, but Whincup soon became the cork in the bottle, holding up the chasing pack to give Gizzy a significant gap before the first round of pit stops.

These occurred for the leading contenders on lap eight, when Coulthard and Whincup took

RACE 30

MATURITY AND experience delivered Scott McLaughlin his maiden Supercars Championship on the streets of Newcastle, characteristics that have been a constant theme of his year. He and his DJR Team Penske crew have been all about gaining redemption after last year’s panicfilled conclusion, but it was a nearfaultless performance from all involved.

On the other side of the garage wall, Red Bull Holden Racing Team may have made mistakes and gotten away with them last year, but a key mistake not only made the challenge for the title tough, but dropped morale within the crew.

It was a drama-filled finale that

40 AutoAction

The inter-team battle was between the teammates not the rivals as Coulthard and Whincup clashed.

A final pit stop blunder dashed van Gisbergen’s title hopes after crossing line first in a thrilling conclusion

McLaughlin costed to the line and had to walk back to the podium as his Falcon spluttered to a halt metres after the finish.

McLaughlin’s improved attitude and maturity won him the title. Much the same can be said of DJR Team Penske.

Reynolds finished the year with a popular win over new champion McLaughlin (above), but there were few smiles for Lowndes, Percat and series runner-up van Gisbergen (below).

RACE 31

service, the Kiwi emerging 4s ahead, though after dispatching Lowndes and Reynolds quite easily Whincup ranged up on the rear of the second DJR Team Penske Falcon.

It was an intriguing battle. The pair battled side-by-side through Turns 11 and 12, but only Coulthard emerged after he collided with Whincup, sending the RBHRT Commodore into the tyre wall. The officials determined that no further action was required, and Whincup continued.

McLaughlin was the first title contender to pit, on lap 26, and short-filled to try and jump van Gisbergen, but it failed because a lap later his title rival pitted and continued to hold the lead. McLaughlin battled to forge a way through on the race leader, but a Safety Car was soon called.

Coulthard made a big mistake entering Turn 1 and contacted the outside tyre wall with force; his stricken Falcon was flung into the path of Nick Percat, tearing the righthand-side panels off the Brad Jones Racing Commodore. James Courtney was also involved, dragging debris from Percat’s car, and the next big hit was a double blow for Brad Jones Racing, as retiree Tim Blanchard slammed into the side of the stricken DJR Team Penske Falcon.

Pit stops ensued and, using the fuel vent, McLaughlin was able to complete his 140L fuel drop with just his second stop, while van Gisbergen was forced to pit twice under the Safety Car and lost the lead.

The news was worse for Craig Lowndes after he damaged his steering in his final fulltime start when he contacted Scott Pye in pit lane after the latter was double-stacked.

Lee Holdsworth had replicated his strong pace from last year’s corresponding event and led the race, but a restart violation meant he was given a drive-through penalty, allowing McLaughlin into the lead.

It was a comfortable lead for McLaughlin, as van Gisbergen had Reynolds putting pressure on him while he conserved fuel and tyres for a run at the end. Reynolds even tapped the rear of the RBHRT Commodore at the Turn 11 hairpin after he locked up, but van Gisbergen soon began to eat into McLaughlin’s lead by small increments.

Radio chatter became more and more urgent for McLaughlin as his fuel situation became worrying, and his title rival started to close significantly.

The final lap was a thriller as McLaughlin struggled to juggle fuel saving and a determined van Gisbergen, with the move for Whincup and Coulthard were at it again, but this time it was the DJR Team Penske driver that was damaged.

the lead made at Turn 11, with McLaughlin defenceless and van Gisbergen crossing the line first and closing the points gap to just two points with one race remaining.

McLaughlin’s dire fuel situation was realised when he barely crossed the finish line and immediately pulled up.

Reynolds rounded out the podium, with Whincup fourth after a solid comeback drive.

However, van Gisbergen’s final pit stop was shrouded in controversy after it appeared the car was lowered off the jacks with the fuel coupling still attached. Race officials deemed this against the regulations and on Sunday morning van Gisbergen was given a 25s penalty – the equivalent of a drivethrough – that relegated him to fifth.

McLaughlin’s points margin was now a more managable 53 points.

It was a flat RBHRT squad that now headed into the final 95 laps of the season with a mountain to climb. The same could have been said of Whincup last year, but McLaughlin is a different driver and DJR Team Penske are a different team.

Reynolds put in a mega lap to take pole.

McLaughlin just fell short and lined up on the outside of the front row. Behind, van Gisbergen lurked alongside Garth Tander McLaughlin short-filled, which set up a comfortable margin back to the RBHRT pair.

There was no panicking like last year.

on the next row of the grid, but the two teammates who could play a role in how the championship panned out were in the lower reaches of the top 10, Whincup seventh and Coulthard ninth.

Reynolds and McLaughlin started well, while van Gisbergen fell back behind Tander, but this was remedied after a daring pass at Turn 8, though the veteran gave him room and allowed a clean pass.

Unlike last year, it was an RBHRT driver who panicked, as van Gisbergen made another mistake, locking up at the start of lap two.

McLaughlin, meanwhile, held a comfortable margin over his rival, while also not letting Reynolds move too far ahead.

Teammates Whincup and Coulthard were unable to claw their way through the pack – leaving it a two-man title fight that McLaughlin was winning – but the pair renewed their battle from the previous day.

This time, though, it was the DJR Team Penske Falcon that copped the damage as another collision (on the same corner!) sent Coulthard into the tyre wall, causing significant damage.

The Safety Car was called to clear the mess up and this is where Ludo Lacroix Winners are grinners.

Mclaughlin was left to taste the spoils of victory after sealing his maiden title.

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41

RACE REPORT

Newcastle, Races 30 & 31

T Tense moments t iin th the garage ffor veteran team owners Dick Johnson and Roger Penske before Scott McLaughlin finally claimed DJR Team Penske’s first championship. made a crucial call. He short-filled McLaughlin again, which jumped him ahead of Reynolds and into a clear lead. It wasn’t all plain sailing for the man in red as he had radio issues, but in a sign of his better fortune this year, it soon rectified itself.

There was nothing van Gisbergen could do as the title kept slipping away, with McLaughlin easily holding a 4s lead to Reynolds, the margin needed to retain the lead with his require fuel fill, despite Reynolds won the weekend for Erebus (top and below), while Heimgartner (above) scored a pair of top 10 finishes in Nissan’s last Supercars event. encountering lapped traffic.

Lap 52 was key, as McLaughlin and both Reynolds pitted, remaining in lodge behind the wheel. The team have one last go at the title. DJR the order in which they entered the pits. relayed that if a Safety Car was called Team Penske played with the idea of The lead was soon a comfortable the problem was to be rectified and fitting McLaughlin with new tyres if 1.5s, while van Gisbergen had his new tyres were to be bolted on to the opportunity arose, but it was shot left-inner guard tear from his car and down.

But there was no need for another Safety Car, and the only closing drama was contact from Tim Blanchard that sent Simona De Silvestro into the wall. Both recovered and De Silvestro argued with her team over the point of pitting, despite the trail of bodywork behind her Altima.

If one guard wasn’t enough, van Gisbergen’s other inner front guard also peeled off, but the damage had already been done and he was left to finish fourth.

Reynolds was charging and with 10 laps to go was starting to shine the blowtorch on the title leader. On lap 91 the decision was made to let the Erebus man through for another victory, which of course he was delighted with, carrying a champagne bottle and a beer onto the podium.

However, it was all about McLaughlin as he made amends and delivered on the promise that was shown from the team/driver partnership last year. It was a Kiwi double, too, as Chris Pither took out the Super2 title, and it came a week after Joey Logano gave Penske a NASCAR Cup title.

It was a year of highs and lows, but McLaughlin’s improved attitude and maturity won him the title. Much the same can be said of DJR Team Penske.

42 AAutoAction utoAction

RACE RESULTS RACE 30 95 LAPS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 NC NC

Scott McLaughlin David Reynolds Jamie Whincup Scott Pye Shane van Gisbergen Mark Winterbottom James Courtney Andre Heimgartner Rick Kelly Simona De Silvestro Anton De Pasquale Lee Holdsworth Todd Hazelwood Cameron Waters Michael Caruso Will Davison Richie Stanaway Tim Slade Jack Le Brocq James Golding Chaz Mostert Garth Tander Craig Lowndes Nick Percat Fabian Coulthard Tim Blanchard

FASTEST LAP

95 laps +7.006s +16.488s +18.706s +21.230 +36.707s +40.945s +46.157s +48.336s +50.393s +52.772s +55.896s +59.458s +1m 02.504s +1m 03.740s 94 laps 94 laps 94 laps 93 laps 91 laps 90 laps 90 laps 88 laps 42 laps 41 laps 41 laps

▲2 ▲5 ▼1 ▲8 ▼4 ▲ 16 ▲1 ▲ 18 ▼7 ▲8 ▼5 ▼7 ▲4 ▲5 ▲5 ▲8 ▲8 ▼4 ▼4 ▲1 ▼5 ▲1 ▼ 14 ▼ 14 ▼ 21 ▼ 13

Jamie Whincup 1m 11.1932s

RACE RESULTS RACE 31 95 LAPS 1 David Reynolds 95 laps 0 2 Scott McLaughlin +4.609 0 3 Jamie Whincup +17.159s ▲4 4 Shane van Gisbergen +42.839 ▼1 5 James Courtney +44.386s ▲1 6 Andre Heimgartner +45.209s ▲3 7 Chaz Mostert +45.424s ▲7 8 Garth Tander +46.704s ▼4 9 Lee Holdsworth +47.169s ▼4 10 Scott Pye +48.503s ▲ 13 11 Craig Lowndes +49.893s ▲1 12 Nick Percat +56.535s ▲1 13 Mark Winterbottom +1m 08.238s ▲ 5 14 Cameron Waters 94 laps ▼3 15 Tim Slade 94 laps ▼7 16 Anton De Pasquale 94 laps ▼1 17 Rick Kelly 94 laps ▼1 18 Jack Le Brocq 94 laps ▲2 19 Michael Caruso 94 laps ▲5 20 Will Davison 94 laps ▼3 21 Todd Hazelwood 94 laps ▲4 22 Tim Blanchard 94 laps ▼3 23 Richie Stanaway 94 laps ▲3 24 Simona De Silvestro 94 laps ▼2 25 James Golding 87 laps ▼4 26 Fabian Coulthard 75 laps ▼ 16 FASTEST LAP Jamie Whincup 1m 10.7936s Final points: McLaughlin 3944, van Gisbergen 3873, Whincup 3433, Lowndes 3225, Reynolds 3206, Mostert 2807, Pye 2608, Kelly 2515, Coulthard 2477, Percat 2290, Slade 2249, Winterbottom 2192, Tander 2139, Courtney 2073, Davison 1927, Waters 1873, Heimgartner 1775, Caruso 1765, Le Brocq 1673, De Pasquale 1524, Holdsworth 1443, Golding 1418, De Silvestro 1323, Blanchard 1277, Stanaway 1214,

2018 Dunlop Super2 Series Newcastle: Round 7

PITHER GIVES KIWIS ANOTHER TITLE NEW ZEALAND native Chris Pither secured the 2018 Dunlop Super 2 Series in Newcastle with a second place finish in Race 1, before Sunday’s second race was stopped and no points awarded.

It was Pither’s first championship in the series and also delivered Garry Rogers Motorsport its first title in Supercars racing.

Paul Dumbrell secured second in the series and third went to Garry Jacobson.

Thomas Randle was the best of the rookies in eleventh place.

The final round result went to Brodie Kostecki, ahead of Pither and Will Brown.

“That race was going exactly to plan,” Pither said after the second race was stopped due to a crash involving Kristian Lindbom. “Obviously it would have been nice to have seen it out, but it sounds like Kristian is alright, which is the main thing.

“I’m over the moon for the entire team, there’s a lot of people that all play a role in putting a championship together. I’m just the lucky guy that gets to steer the car around the track.

“Racing is my life, I put everything into this and I’ve had a few cracks along the years and haven’t, to be honest, put that many championships together. I guess 2015 was probably our best shot, with Ice Break Racing, and we didn’t end up doing the final round when I joined Super Black.

“To put the whole year together and get the job done is a bit of a relief, and a big box ticked for me as a bucket list thing,” concluded Pither, who came to Australia in 2005 to pursue his dream and picked up the moniker ‘The Kiwi Kud’.

Continuing his great form in the second half of the season, Kostecki led throughout the first race, winning by a comfortable 4.2s in his Kostecki Brothers Racing VF, while Pither improved his points lead by finishing second. The Kiwi had a 59-point buffer with 150 points on offer going into the final race.

Kostecki led polesitter Pither away from the start of Race 1, while behind was a first-corner melee that involved Dean Fiore (Matt White Motorsport Nissan Altima) and Thomas Randle (Ford Falcon FG/X).

Fiore’s teammate, Jacobson,

was hit hard from behind while Bryce Fullwood (Matt Stone Racing VF) took avoiding action by going down the escape road. The Safety Car was deployed to recover the Fiore and Randle cars.

Brown (Eggleston Motorsport VF) was third before surrendering the spot to teammate Dumbrell, who was srill a title contender. Brown got it back later when Dumbrell overshot at Turn 2. That allowed Jacobson through as well and

Delight for Chris Pither after clinching the Super2 title for Garry Rogers Motorsport on the streets of Newcastle.

Photos: Dirk Klynsmith

he pressed Brown all the way to the flag.

Zane Goddard (Brad Jones Racing VF) finished sixth in front of Jordan Boys (Image Racing VF), Mason Barbera (GRM VF), Jake Kostecki (VF) and Nathan Morcom (EM VF).

Shae Davies (Paul Morris Motorsport FG/X) was running as high as fifth until he smacked the concrete, and Macauley Jones (BJR VF) was seventh before an incident involving Kurt Kostecki earned him a drivethough penalty. Jones ultimately finished 19th.

Pither (VF) beat Brodie Kostecki in the charge to Turn 1 at the start of the second race when it initially looked like the latter might have won the drag race to the corner.

Dumbrell grabbed third and was in a good stoush with MWM teammates Jacobson and Rullo. He lost out to the two Nissan drivers briefly before repassing them.

The race was suspended after Lindbom (Holden Commodore VF) hit the concrete wall heavily at Turn 10 and careered into the tyres at Turn 11.

There was a long time delay while repairs to the barriers were made and the race was declared a non-event.

Pither had been leading Dumbrell when the race was stopped. Jacobson was next from Rullo, Brown, Kurt Kostecki, Jones, Boys, Adam Marjoram (Image Racing), Davies and Pither’s teammate, Mason Barbera.

GARRY O’BRIEN

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Touring Car Masters - Newcastle Round 8

BOWE TAKES FINALE, JOHNSON THE CROWN THERE were winners everywhere in the final round of the Paynter Dixon Touring Car Masters Series at the Newcastle 500.

Adam Bressington powered to a pair of race victories on the final day of the season, and John Bowe sealed the final round of the 2018 series – but the winning didn’t stop there.

Steven Johnson wrapped up the outright title with a series of consistent performances to go back-to-back in his Team Johnson 1969 Ford Mustang.

And Cameron Tilley won a thrilling ProAm class in the final race of the year, while Jim Pollicina sealed the ProSports class – his third different championship in three different categories this year.

After Bowe had powered to a straightforward victory in Race 22 of the series on Saturday, a fired-up Bressington proved the man to beat in Races 23 and 24 as he stormed to back-to-back Sunday wins.

He took the lead early on in the second race, slipping past Bowe when the former champion accidentally hit the kill switch in his Holden Torana.

Once Bressington was ahead, Bowe hustled the leader hard for the remaining laps, but the Whiteline Racing driver proved astute in defence to take the win from Bowe and Ryan Hansford (Holden Torana).

Johnson finished a quiet fourth to almost put the championship beyond doubt heading into the finale.

The final race of the year was even better than the ones before, Bressington and Bowe going head to head for the full 12-lap duration, with the Camaro again providing too strong to complete the Sunday double.

Bowe was second and Johnson third, the latter doing enough to seal the title and the former sealing the overall round victory thanks mainly to the bonus points he scored for pole earlier in the weekend.

Johnson’s championship came thanks to supreme consistency. He won 14 races, failed to finish only twice and never finished a race lower than fifth.

Bowe was a persistent

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challenger throughout and ultimately finished runnerup for the second straight season. The five-time TCM champion has now finished either first or second in the series every year since 2011.

While attention was on the outright title, the battle for the ProAm class championship was similarly intense and ultimately went down to the final race of the year.

A challenging start to the weekend saw erstwhile series leader Cameron Tilley overhauled by Hansford by the conclusion of Race 23, a 42-point margin turning into a 26 point deficit heading into the last race.

The weekend turned on the first lap of the finale when Hansford broke an axle moments after the start, as the field headed uphill to Turn 2.

The resulting non-finish for Hansford, and a typically tenacious drive from Tilley to ninth position, saw the Pacer driver return to the top of the standings and claim the title by just seven points in a thrilling conclusion.

Andrew Fisher won the ProAm Class for the round, a strong, consistent and reliable weekend seeing the Jesus Racing Falcon GTHO finish each race in the top six outright.

Rob Hackwood powered the Wellpro Racing Pontiac Firebird to second in ProAm, with Hansford third despite his final race DNF. Jamie Tilley won the ProSports class in his Ford Mustang, including a career-best sixth outright in the final race.

Title contenders Jim Pollicina and Leo Tobin completed the podium for the round, while Pollicina wrapped up the class title with two races to spare – his first class win in TCM and third title of the 2018 season.

Tobin finished second in class for the year and Ian Woodward third.

The series returns in Adelaide in less than 90 days.

Next Round: Adelaide 500, February 28-March 3 www.touringcarmasters.com.au

Bressington took a pair of wins under great pressure from Bowe.

Round 8 Results PRO MASTER: John Bowe 208, Adam Bressington 189, Jason Gomersall 171 PRO AM: Andrew Fisher 162, Rob Hackwood 159, Brad Tilley 129

PRO SPORTS: Jamie Tilley 132, Jim Pollicina 119, Leo Tobin 105 OVERALL POINTS: Johnson 1390, Bowe 1331, Bressington 1187, Gomersall 1016, King 951

Bowe failed in his pursuit of the title (below) as Johnson went back-to-back in his Mustang. Photos Dirk Klynsmith

Supports Newcastle TIM BROOK secured the 2018 Toyota 86 Racing Series with three solid results at the final round.

Brook, who comes from Oran Park (the suburb on the site of the old circuit), posted a fourth and two second places to beat Luke King for the title, while Cameron Crick secured third.

The three races in Newcastle featured three different winners – Declan Fraser, Luke Youlden and Liam McAdam.

Fraser dominated the lead-up sessions and was the class of Race 16 (the weekend’s first outing), winning from Youlden, with King fending off Brook for third.

Fraser had won the start and gradually cleared out to a 4.5s advantage.

Initially it was David Sieders in third as King ran wide at the first corner. King dropped to fifth behind John Iafolla before he fenced himself before the end of lap one.

King then had to fight his way past Sieders, who fell back to sixth at the finish, while McAdam charged to fifth.

Seventh was Zane Morse from Nic Carroll, Jaylyn Robotham and Jonathon Webb.

Broc Feeney made up several places to finish 11th after he was relegated eight grid spots for contact with George Gutierrez at Turn 11 in practice.

Luke van Herwaarde was penalised even more, with a rear of grid relegation for crashing out Will Cauchi.

Cam Walton was an early casualty in qualifying with a broken diff but made up 14 places in the race.

Youlden led Race 17 from the start, initially heading Fraser, King and Brook.

King moved past Fraser on lap three and over the ensuing laps angled to get by the race leader, only to be tagged and spun around as a result of contact with Fraser. That elevated Brook to second ahead of McAdam, Carroll, Morse and Sieders.

As the final lap started, Carroll tapped the back of McAdam, whose tow hook

BROOK FLOWS ON TO 86 TITLE

Brook (above) kept out of trouble and was rewarded with the 2018 Toyota 86 series. Fraser (left) was fast qualifier and won the first race.

pierced the oil cooler on Carroll’s car.

The resultant oil dump at Turn 1 made the track slippery enough for King to slide into the tyres and get hit by Jake Klein and Kane Baxter-Smith.

Youlden became the first Toyota guest

driver to win a race since Warren Luff won at Phillip Island last year. He beat home Brook, McAdam, Morse, Sieders, Robotham, Webb (in the second guest car) and Emily Duggan, who kept out of trouble throughout.

Turn 1 was the scene for a similar drama in Race 18, the last of the year, with Morse, Robotham, van Herwaarde and Iafolla all crashing together there.

Sieders was luck to just brushed by.

Brook was the early leader until passed by McAdam, while Youlden remained third throughout.

Having started 19th and passing many cars as well as escaping the multi-car accident, King crossed the line fourth, but a subsequent penalty dropped him to eighth.

Webb was elevated to fourth ahead of Richard Peasey, Zach Loscialpo, Gutierrez, Fraser and Crick.

Crick and Gutierrez were also the recipients of post-race penalties.

GARRY O’BRIEN

HARRIS ATONES WITH SUPERUTE SERIES WIN HE MISSED out on winning the last V8 Ute Racing Series in 2017, but Ryal Harris can gain satisfaction in taking out the ECB SuperUtes Series in its inaugural season.

Driving the Peters Motorsport

Mazda BT50, Harris finished third for the round and ended up with a 38-point advantage over Craig Woods in the Sieders Racing Team Toyota Hilux, while New Zealander Tom Alexander (Ross Stone

Racing Holden Colorado) finished the season third.

With two race wins, Alexander was the round winner ahead of Woods’ teammate Ben Walsh.

Harris won the reverse-grid race to be third for the weekend.

The opening race was an all-the-way winning effort for Alexander, although it wasn’t easy as he had to fend off Aren Russell (Mitsubishi Triton) throughout.

Woods eventually toppled Aaron Cameron (Mazda BT50) for third. Walsh finished fifth ahead of Michael Sieders (Triton), who had crashed in qualifying, while Harris came from the rear of the grid after coming in underweight.

The half-points Race 2 grid featured two Safety Car periods, the first before the end of the first lap after Cameron was bundled into (and almost over) the tyre barrier out of Turn 2.

The second happened just after the race resumed when contact with Woods turned Steve Wilson’s Isuzu D-Max.

Harris quickly overcame Matt MacKelden (Hilux) to take the win, while Walsh was third ahead of Alexander, Richard Mork (Ford Ranger), Justin Ruggier (Colorado), Russell, Sieders, Woods and Charlotte Poynting (Hilux).

A strong third place in the final race was enough for Harris to take out the inaugural series. Behind race winner Alexander, Harris seriously challenged Walsh but couldn’t find a way past.

Ruggier was fourth ahead of Cameron, MacKelden and Sieders, whose teammate, Russell, was a lap one, first corner casualty, smashing his Triton into the tyre barrier.

Woods retired mid-race with a broken rear A-arm.

GARRY O’BRIEN

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LATVALA WINS BRUTAL RALLY AUSTRALIA

By HEATH McALPINE

JARI-MATTI Latvala secured Toyota’s first World Rally Championship manufacturers’ crown since 1999 by winning the final rally of the year in Coffs Harbour, but it was Sebastien Ogier who outlasted his rivals to take his sixth drivers’ title.

It was a case of mixed feelings for Toyota as Latvala took a 32.5s victory to secure its first title in 19 years (and continue an unbroken record of a victory a season since 2008 for the Finn).

It was disappointment for Ott Tanak, who was a remote chance to take the drivers’ title. Toyota’s lead man ended the rally in retirement, as did Hyundai’s contender Thierry Neuville, leaving Ogier to win yet another World Rally Championship.

It was a cool and collected drive from Ogier, who has done it all before, as he finished a secure fifth in what was a chaotic rally from the outset.

The opening leg chucked up a surprise as Citroen’s Mads Ostberg took an early lead, despite struggling with understeer during the opening two stages before extending his margin to 5.4s by the time the field headed to service after the third stage.

It was incredibly tight behind between Esapakka Lappi and Latvala, with 0.4s separating the Toyota teammates, while Citroen’s strong form was backed up by

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Craig Breen in fourth, 1.2s further behind. id Kiwi Haydon Paddon made a solid ve for start, running fifth in what was a drive his career, while Tanak’s weekend got off to a poor start as he hit a jump, which launched the Yaris onto two wheels and into a bank. The resulting impact resulted in the left-rear tyre coming off the rim.

Neuville was also in trouble as he nearly rolled his Hyundai after hitting a bump, which lifted the rear of the i30 into the air.

The Belgian ran ninth, while Ogier trailed behind in 10th after making a wrong call on set-up.

“We were hoping for a bit of dampness but unfortunately it was not,” Ogier admitted. “It was the normal condition here to open the road. I was pushing hard, I had a good feeling, but the road is getting faster and faster with every car.

There’s not much I can do.”

Hyundai’s Andreas Mikkelsen was the first major retirement after damaging his radiator in a ditch.

Ostberg pressed on his advantage through the afternoon leg, extending his

lead to 6.8s over teammate Breen as the Irish d i struggled t l d with ihb k issues driver brake throughout the day.

Latvala finished the day in third, 1.9s off the second Citroen, but Lappi was the biggest loser as he lost 20s after the Yaris took on water in the engine during a water splash and dropped to sixth, behind teammate Tanak. The Estonian also fell foul of the same water splash, tearing the front aero off the car, resulting in the handling being affected.

Paddon was ahead of the Toyota duo in fourth, but the first of the championship moves were made in the lower half of the top 10 when M-Sport drivers Elfyn Evans and Teemu Suninen slowed to allow teammate Ogier into seventh.

This was of even greater benefit when Neuville made a mistake at a chicane and stalled his engine, which was then followed by a puncture. Altogether, these issues dropped him 45s and into 10th.

Ostberg’s lead was shaky after the

a, opening stages of Day 2, with Latvala, Paddon and Tanak all closing in on the ads Norwegian through the Nambucca H Heads region. A mix of Michelin’s hard and medium tyres for Ostberg led to the rally leader struggling, but worse unfolded for Breen after a sticking throttle lost him 12.5s, dropping him to fifth.

Neuville’s rally failed to improve as the conditions went against the title contender and he remained in 10th, losing further ground to Ogier.

The Urunga stage proved pivotal, as Latvala snatched a 3.2s lead ahead of teammate Tanak while a dejected Ostberg sat 4.8s behind the Toyota duo.

Further despair was inflicted on the Citroen team when Breen clipped a bank, causing damage to the C3’s left-rear wheel and suspension, losing 1m 20s, before a further 30s was lost on the Raleigh stage and 4m of penalties were incurred when he arrived late.

Latvala may have taken his first win in 18 months (top), but Ogier made it six titles (above).

GLENNEY VICTORIOUS, EVANS SEALS TITLE

Damage from a water splash hurt Tanak’s charge. Worse was to come...

Ogier played it safe throughout the rally, with teammates Evans and Suninen playing shotgun, as his title rivals faltered.

Paddon continued his strong run to be 12.4s off the lead, while Lappi took adva advantage of Breen’s issues to be fifth ahea of Ogier, just as another mistake ahead from Neuville dropped him further time after hittin a bank in Urunga and damaging the hitting sus suspension.

Th The afternoon was all Tanak’s as he ove overhauled teammate Latvala to carry a 21 lead into the final day. A stunning 21.9s run of six stage wins out of 10 gave Tanak an outside chance of the title, as Latvala str struggled with worn tyres and was unable to repel his teammate.

Paddon moved ahead of Ostberg into th to remain within touching distance third o the Toyota pair, while Ostberg fell to of f fourth as the balance of his Citroen caused f frustration.

Rain that had been forecast all weekend fell overnight ahead of the final day of competition, and many drivers were caught Neuville went quakers in this rally, going off a number of times.

out by the tricky conditions. Rally leader Tanak slid off during the Sapphire stage and ended in the trees, dropping 20s during the extraction process.

Latvala held a 5s lead, but knew that he was required to yield the position to Tanak through the final afternoon.

Paddon continued in third, holding a comfortable buffer over Ostberg and Lappi.

Neuville continued to experience a torrid rally. Through the opening Coramba test he clipped a bank, then he was caught out at the same point as Tanak during the Sapphire stage.

This continued to aid Ogier’s title hopes, the Frenchman running conservatively and doing all he needed to retain his title by holding down sixth.

Two excursions for Breen meant roadside repairs had to be undertaken to stem an oil leak heading to the conclusion of the rally.

As if there hadn’t been enough chaos

during the rally, it threw up another pair of surprises, as Ogier’s chief rivals failed to make it to the finishing ramp. In what had been a mistake-riddled rally, Neuville made one final error after swiping a bank and ripping a rear wheel off, stopping three stages from the end.

Another slide into a tree forced Tanak out, his Yaris having no drive.

This left Latvala to take his first victory since Sweden 2017, but confirmed Ogier as a six-time champion, a perfect farewell to the M-Sport team ahead of his move to Citroen in season 2019.

“It has been an incredible season, so close,” said Ogier.

“Not so long ago we were thinking it was going to be tough to grab this title, but we never gave up. We gave everything, with a fantastic team behind us who kept fighting, and in the end we grabbed it in the last rally.

It’s so emotional.”

A relieved Latvala was happy to get through the treacherous conditions.

“It has been too long, almost two very long years,” the rally winner said. “I was losing hope that I would win a rally, but these tricky conditions went my way.”

Paddon threaded his way through the carnage to take his second podium of the year and maybe secure a drive for next year, while Ostberg finished a strong rally to round out the podium ahead of Lappi.

POINTS: Ogier 219, Neuville 201, Tanak 181, Latvala 128, Lappi 126, Mikkelsen 84, Evans 80, Paddon 73, Sordo 71, Ostberg 70.

IN THEIR first event driving a Skoda Fabia R5, Steve Glenney and Andy Sarandis took out the final round of the Australian Rally Championship, while Eli Evans and Ben Searcy in another Skoda survived a brutal rally to win the national title.

“This one had more twists and turns and I didn’t know who was going to win it, even though I had a good points lead coming into this event,” Evans said after taking his fourth ARC crown.

“It was a strange year, but between the top three teams it was awesome.

We pushed each other to the limit all year and I’m pleased that we managed to hang on for the Australian Rally Championship.”

Maiden winner Searcy was also delighted: “It was amazing. It’s great.

I’ve come so close the last two years in a row. To finally actually get one, it’s awesome, I’m stoked, really happy.”

A damaged radiator on the opening day’s stages proved a major setback for Evans, as fellow title contender Harry Bates grabbed the early advantage fresh after announcing increased support from Toyota Gazoo.

Molly Taylor’s run at the championship ended early as she suffered a major accident on the day’s second stage. Thankfully, Taylor and co-driver Malcolm Read emerged unscathed from the factory Subaru Impreza WRX STI. Incredibly, on the very next stage championship leader Evans landed heavily after a jump and the Skoda suffered a damaged radiator, ending his day as well.

It wasn’t easy for Glenney either, as the Skoda suffered a flat tyre, which was further compounded by a spin and stall, dropping him to eighth. But a combination of attrition and a strong recovery placed Glenney second at the end of the day.

There was also heartbreak for Bates and co-driver John McCarthy on Day 2.

Holding a comfortable 3m lead heading into the afternoon’s stages, their Toyota Yaris AP4 stopped with mechanical issues, leaving Glenney to take a 7m lead into the final day.

It proved enough for Glenney to take the win ahead of the Subaru Impreza WRX STI of Luke Anear and Jon Mitchell, in just Anear’s third gravel rally. Rounding out the podium were Andrew Penny and Rhys Llewellyn in another Subaru.

Having resumed on the second day, fifth was enough for Evans to take the title, 19 points clear of Glenney.

Penny and Llewellyn took out the ARC2 class, while 2WD fell the way of Lindsay Collits and Brad Dawson in their Holden Commodore Ute, though Adam Kaplan and Aleshia Penny took the 2WD Championship.

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s w e n Y A W D SPEE Photo: Ray Ritter

AFTER YEARS of trying, Max Johnston has finally won his first Sprintcar feature. The popular NSW racer grabbed line honours in the third round of USC SA from Luke Dillon and Matt Egel.

He steered the DTM-owned Cool Chassis #4 to victory from the second row after recent stints in Sydney and Toowoomba speedways. Johnston, who has also raced NASCAR Trucks and competed in the tough World of Outlaws, was stunned after the win. “I still can’t believe this. This is such a great opportunity and I can’t thank my car-owners, Darren and Tracey, enough for their commitment to our racing program,” Johnston said.

Photo: Richard Hathaway

JAMIE MAIOLO has spun his car backwards across the finish line to narrowly claim the annual King of Wings Sprintcar race at the Perth Motorplex. It was a narrow 0.299s that eventually separated Maiolo from tenacious runner-up Jason Kendrick, with multiple lead changes in one of the best races ever witnessed at the venue. Maiolo hit the lead early and from lap 27 to the 37th lap (37 to signify the number of years the King of Wings has been running), it was on between the pair. In the 360 Sprintcars feature, Tom Hooper won the 20-lap A main from Ben Butcher and Michael Keen.

Photo: 44Photography

REED’S LUCKY ESCAPE A SERIOUS crash that hospitalised Matthew Reed wasn’t enough to stop him returning to the top.

Reed, a veteran of Sprintcar racing for more than 25 years, sustained neck and back injuries at Premier Speedway in early November.

While he lay in his hospital bed, all he could think about was racing again.

He and his crew set about rebuilding the damaged car, and with a newly purchased 360 cubic-inch motor they headed to Moama’s Heartland Raceway.

His bad luck would quickly become good luck, winning the third round of the Sprintcar All Stars Series.

“I hurt my back and neck when my car landed awkwardly and got myself admitted

to Warrnambool Hospital,” Reed explained.

“Tests showed no breaks or fractures. I’m not exactly sure what happened. I got spun around in the air and felt a real hard impact, probably the bottom of the frame into the concrete pole line. Before the car had stopped spinning, I felt pain between my shoulder blades and neck.”

The former Victorian Sprintcar and multiple SRA champion survived to win the 25-lap feature at Moama, inheriting the lead from round one winner Dan Evans with just two laps to go when Evans’ motor expired.

Reed’s experience saw him eventually cross the line first from reigning All Stars champion Paul Solomon, Jordyn Charge and round two winner Michael Tancredi.

“I worked the high line and was surprised

Photo: Corey Gibson that they kept letting me through. I had nothing to lose. No one moved up and took the (high) lane so I just stayed there and that got us into position,” Reed said.

“I was never going to catch Dan and it was bad luck for him not to finish.”

ALL STARS POINTS AFTER THREE ROUNDS Michael Tancredi 1504 Mark Caruso 1494 Daniel Evans 1485 Brendan Guerin 1468 Phil Lock 1461 Jarman Dalitz 1444 James Wren 1437 Michael Holt 1378 Boyd Harris 1316 Shaun McClure 1287

FARR NEW ADVENTURE KLINTON HANCEY’S long drive from Queensland to Victoria’s southwest was worth it, with victory in the inaugural Victorian Modlites Championship. Hancey led home William Butler and Sam Gollschewsky at Southern 500 Speedway, Portland. In Broome, Western Australia, BK Halliday had another fantastic year to clinch the Broome Speedway Driver of the Year as well as the 2018 Modlites season highest point scorer.

THE NATION’S top Dirt Modified drivers were set to race for the Queensland title at Maryborough Speedway in 2019, but a change to the Five Star Dirt Series could attract even more of the best to the Sunshine State. Formerly a five-round series, which included four state titles and the Australian championship, the new format will be raced over seven rounds. The seven-race series will include four state titles, two blue-ribbon events and the final round at Archerfield Speedway. Drivers will race twice in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria, while points at the single Western Australia meet will be worth double.

REIGNING VICTORIAN Wingless Sprints champion Travis Millar has added Avalon Raceway’s Jackpot Invitational and Nyora Nationals to his impressive 2018-19 season. A front row start for the 20-lap feature was all that Millar needed to eventually win from last season’s Jackpot winner, Dayn Bentvelzen, and popular Mount Gambier racer Mitchell Broome, who put in a career-best drive from sixth.

ANTHONY BEARE has carried last season’s winning form to Ballarat’s Redline Raceway and emerged again as the 2018 King of the Mount for Street Stocks. The 50-lapper saw Beare battle with Matt Nelson early before Beare raced clear and won by 7s from Matt Nelson and Jason Degoldi. “For everybody to go out there and race as hard as we did without carnage in that 50-lap final is a credit to each and every driver,” Beare said.

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ROBBIE FARR has driven many racing cars and is currently following in the footsteps of Donny Schatz by making the transition to competing in the burgeoning Late Model class.

With national titles in the 1998 Speedcar and 2004 Australian Sprintcar championships, Farr is continually adding to that impressive list.

He most recent victory in the South Australian Late Model Championship saw him write himself into speedway history by winning features in Photo: Garry Reid Speedcars, Sprintcars and Late Model feature races.

Farr’s recent efforts have seen him American Vic Hill, with experienced equal the efforts of late Western crew chief Rick Slater for advice.

Australian star Mike Figliomeni, who Farr said the challenge is adapting won majors in a Sprintcar, Speedcar to different equipment: “Jumping and Super Sedan. from divisions is not easy to do. It’s a Farr, who now lives on the Gold massive driving style change. The Late Coast and sells coffees, has clocked Models have such a weight transfer up more than 700 race meetings in his with a rear steer in the back and you career, and now finds himself behind need to lift and pitch before you pick up the wheel of a Late Model built by the throttle as there’s no downforce.”

His first Late Model race at Sydney’s Valvoline Raceway while jugglng his regular Sprintcar duties saw him finish a creditable second in the 25-lap Late Model feature behind seasoned campaigner and former Sprintcar racer David Doherty, with Ben Nicastri third.

“They are completely different animals… A new challenge late in my career is exciting.”

STRAIGHT LINES TO VICTORY IT IS ALREADY obvious that the 2018-19 season is proving an absolute ripper for Steven Lines.

He has already opened his account with two victories in some stellar competition and he’s hoping it continues.

He has won the $10,000 Sprintcar Jackpot Invitational at Avalon Raceway and the opening round of the Ultimate Sprintcar Championship at Toowoomba Speedway.

A recent third in the Victorian Sprintcar title and podiums in Darwin added to the foundation for the 34-year-old’s busy season.

“We did what we did at the Jackpot and we will take that. It’s a great start for the year and hopefully it rolls on,” Lines said.

“If we have 50 cars it means everyone has to be on the top of their game and means I have to be on top of mine too.”

Lines will split his shows between Victoria and Queensland this season, with his car owners based in Brisbane and opting for races close to home.

“We are trying to pick up as many shows as we can between here and Queensland,” Lines said.

“I’ve run a few races up there early and came down to Avalon and Warrnambool. I finished last year with this car and everything is running smoothly. We just need to carry our speed.”

BELL FI FINALLY INALLLY RINGS

JACK BELL has beaten two of Australia’s best Formula 500 racers to win the prestigious Jack Willsher Cup at Premier Speedway.

The 21-year-old from Warrnambool led all 20 laps after starting from pole and survived a handful of restarts to score his first win in a prestigious race that had eluded him.

He proved too good for former national champion Dylan Willsher, who was aiming to win his grandfather’s race for the third time, and current Australian number one Liam Williams, who was looking for a third straight Jack Willsher Cup. “It’s certainly up there as one of my biggest wins,” said Bell, who was rapt to defeat such high-quality opponents in the annual event in honour of one of the division’s pioneers.

“It always brings a big car count and to do it at Warrnambool, where we’ve really struggled the last few years, is awesome.

“We’ve got a new car, but it’s not a lot different.

“You come here season in, season out and you just learn from mistakes.

“You know the calibre of drivers behind you so you’ve just got to put in 20 perfect laps and that’s all you can do.

“Liam’s the best right now but he’s also one of the greatest of all time, and Dylan is probably the best around Warrnambool, so to be able to get a win with them (in the field) is awesome.”

MURCOTT MAKES IT THREE JUST OVER 12 months ago David Murcott was in a purple patch of wins. Fast forward to now and he’s again in a similar position.

The seasoned Sprintcar campaigner returned to Premier Speedway and dominated from the front row to win his third Victorian Sprintcar Championship in a superb flag-to-flag victory.

The two-time Australian Sprintcar champion led home local hero Jamie Veal, who had also been second to Murcott in 2017, and third was Mount Gambier’s Steven Lines in a nonstop 30-lap affair.

Murcott, who is no stranger to the Warrnambool venue, added to his impressive record there with consecutive state titles and his third overall, his other being in 2006.

“I do like it here. It’s been okay to me over the years. The way the track was, the way they did the prep, it was important to get the lead and make the track work as well as it could for you,” Murcott said.

The win was the fifth state championship for Mat and Renae

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AMERICANS AMERIC CANS DDOWN OWN UNDER

Eastham and their Victory Lane Racegear team.

“We were lucky, we got the job done and the crew gave me a really good car,” Murcott said.

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“It gives us confidence. We have good speed to match it with them all now.

“You are only as good as your last race, so it’s good to get a win. It’s been a little while between drinks.”

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TWO OF the most exciting young talents in the United States are coming to Australia.

Teenager Gio Scelzi will make his debut early in 2019, and Harli White will return for her second visit Down Under.

Scelzi will drive for Geelong’s Domain Ramsey and Indy Race Parts proprietor Bernie Stuegben, while White is in the seat for Western Australian Terry Cutts.

At just 16 years of age, Californian Scelzi is the son of four-time NHRA champion Garry Scelzi and younger brother of Dominic Scelzi, who competed in Australia last season.

Scelzi became the youngest ever winner of a World of Outlaws feature this year and will make his Australian debut in January at Avalon Raceway in the annual President’s Cup, and finish at the Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic at Premier Speedway, Warrnambool.

White, 23, from Oklahoma, will make her second trip to Australia to contest the USA v WA Sprintcar Speedweek that kicks off at the Perth Motorplex on Boxing Day. “I’m really excited. I have never been to that part of Australia before, but I have heard good things about it so I am excited to see some different tracks and a different part of the country,” White said.

She last raced in Australia two years ago in Sydney, as well as contesting the 2016 Warrnambool Classic.

“There is a different format and things like that, but the Australian competition is just tough. Win, win, win – that’s what you are there to do – but I just want to go out there and be consistent and finish races,” White said.

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p ra w S L A N NATIO

FOUR CARS, ONE TITLE FEELING ALL the tension of the final round of the GT-1 Australia, Jake Camilleri took out the inaugural series as he watched co-driver John Goodacre take victory in the second of two 50-minute enduro races at Winton Motor Raceway’s fifth round on November 18.

After running solo in the opening three rounds, two in a MARC 2 V8 and one in a MARC Focus, Camilleri teamed up in Jason Busk’s MARC last time out before joining Goodacre for the final round.

Camilleri had the drive for Race 1 but lost many laps in the pits while his team attempted to rectify an engine problem with the MARC Focus.

In the meantime his main title rival, Matt Stoupas (Audi R8), won the race and reduced Camilleri’s lead to just 34 points.

Audis filled the top four spots, with Rod Salmon second ahead of Xavier West and Rio Nugara. Rick Mensa (Porsche GT3 Cup)

and Jamie Arratoon (Ferrari 458 Challenge) followed, in front of Lisa Montgomerie (MARC) and Mark Griffith (Ginetta G55 GT4). Camilleri was ninth, barely covering enough laps to be classified a finisher.

In the second race, Goodacre took advantage of a shorter compulsory pitstop handicap time to emerge in the lead after everyone had cycled through their stops.

He was able to take victory after Xavier West and Rio Nugara collided at Turn 1, just after the latter had completed his stop.

Goodacre won by just over 4s. Salmon allowed Stoupas through to second in the dying stages, with Mensa fourth ahead of Aarratoon, Griffith and Montgomerie.

Goodacre’s win in the second race guaranteed the title for a relieved Camilleri, and also secured Goodacre third behind Stoupas in the title overall.

Stoupas won the round from Salmon, with Camilleri/Goodacre finishing third.

Photos: Neil Hammond

KEENE AND ROSS JOIN TITLE WINNERS

SHAW’S FIVE GETS TITLE IT WAS another round win for Ric Shaw in the Mazda RX8 Cup, his fifth in the fiveround series, and that made him the 2018 series winner.

But to get this one was the toughest of the season, beaten for pole by Stephen McLaine and having no answer to New Zealander Aaron Prosser in the first two of the four races. But it was the two seconds in those races that clinched the title.

Ben Silvestro was third in the first race ahead of Terry Lewis, while McLaine fell back to fifth after a slow start.

The second race was marred by a heavy crash at turn two on the final lap for Simon Slade. McLaine improved to third place, while Silvestro wrestled fourth away from Lewis.

AT THE sixth round for the combined classes, only the Porsche IROC Challenge and Group 4 were to be determined and they were quickly resolved in the favour of Greg Keene and Gavin Ross.

A failed fuse prevented Sven Burchartz from qualifying so he had to start Race 1 at the back of the Porsche pack. That didn’t stop him from coming through to win.

Keene led early but a slip-up allowed Nick Cresswell to snare second while Keene just held off Nick Marentis.

Rohan Little finished fifth ahead of Glenn Postlethwaite (Holden Commodore) as the best of the Group 4s, as Ross retired his Commodore with a wayward power steering hose.

Already crowned Super 6 champion, Brent Edwards (Ford Falcon) was seventh while eighth-placed Wayne Williams (Falcon) was the best of the Utes.

Cresswell jumped away best in Race 2 and held off a determined Burchartz for a narrow win. Marentis spun off early and that allowed Keene to take third from Little.

Ross was next and secured the Group 4 title, while David Murphy was the best of the Utes, as Williams didn’t start – due to attending his son’s wedding.

In the third outing, Cresswell led early until spinning.

That gave the lead to Burchartz, who lost it to Keene at Turn 11 on the final lap. Marentis was third, as Ross headed Postlethwaite in Group 4s, Edwards again took Super 6s and Christopher Formosa (Commodore) held off Williams in Utes.

Formosa was the innocent party when Super 6 racers Brendan O’Connor (Falcon) and Michael Rice (Commodore) tangled into Turn 1 the first time. With racing about to resume after a safety car, Marentis stopped on track.

Once racing resumed, Keene led until he went off at Turn 9, which allowed Burchartz through ahead of Cresswell. Ross finished fourth from Postlethwaite, Edwards, Williams and Peter Dane in his troublesome Super 6 Falcon.

The third and fourth races produced intense battles between Shaw and Prosser where they swapped the lead on a number of occasions. In Race 3 it was Shaw from Prosser, with McLaine third ahead of Silvestro, Will Cauchi and Dunkley. Lewis retired late in the race almost as Brayden Slater over-stepped at Turn 12 and hit the tyre wall.

The round win was at stake in the last outing, and it was resolved at the final corner. Prosser looked to have Shaw covered as they began the final lap, but Shaw slipped up the inside of Prosser at Turn 12 to steal the race, and the round.

McLaine was again third across the line, finished third for the weekend, and secured the series runner-up spot.

Australian Motor Racing Series is back, bigger and better for 2019 GREAT CATEGORIES, FANTASTIC VALUE AND CLOSE RACING.

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A FINE COTTON, BUT McWHITE’S TITLE FUTURE RACERS driven by Chad Cotton and Craig McWhite dominated across qualifying and the four races, with Cotton taking out the fifth and final round, while McWhite just needed a couple of handy placings to secure the title.

Despite the one-sided score count, they did have hearty competition from the Aussie Race Cars piloted

by Brad Lemon, Garry Roberts and Peter Griffiths.

Just one second covered the top four in Race 1, called a lap early due to Brad Neilson’s Aussie Race Car having an engine detonation out of Turn 3.

McWhite ran second behind Roberts before pouncing

just two corners from home to claim victory.

Cotton was the one challenging Roberts in the second race, finally getting to the lead with two laps remaining. Third for McWhite was enough for him to wrap up the title.

In the third race, Cotton scored a comfortable win, as McWhite had to fight off Roberts and Lemon to secure second.

To conclude the round, Cotton came through the reverse grid format to win again, accelerating past race leader Lemon from the last corner to win by just 0.04s at the flag.

EXCEPTION WIN RATE FOR BURGE

Photos: Neil Hammond

TWENTY-TWO RACE wins for the season, including some epic fightbacks, ensured James Burge wrapped up the Legend Cars Australia Series after 12 rounds. It also secured him the coveted Race to the US prize, which is entry into the US Legend Car Nationals.

As with each meeting on the AMRS calendar, the Winton weekend included two rounds, with qualifying and two races making up Round 11, and a reverse grid race plus two more races making up Round 12.

After qualifying fastest on Saturday, Burge fell back early in Race 1 before fighting back and winning ahead of Ben Jagger and Zane Morse. Regan Angel was fourth from Josh Hourigan, Rick Christy and Brendon Hourigan, who recovered well after an early spin.

It was a similar scenario in Race 2, with Burge losing places because of contact on the second lap. But again he fought back, setting a new lap record on his way to another victory,

from Jagger and Brendon Hourigan, while Morse retired after he and Josh Hourigan went off at Turn 1. The latter came in sixth behind Christy and Stephen Chilby.

On the opening lap of the reverse grid race, Jagger and Luke King speared off at Turn 6 and Burge had contact with Ken Davis before Turn 10, which resulted in a Safety Car being deployed. Burge still charged to fifth behind race victor Angel, Brendan Hourigan, Bryan Neal and Morse.

Burge came through for a clear win in Race 4. Jagger was second and Morse third. Brendan Hourigan recovered from a spin that also involved Angel, who placed eighth behind Neal.

Burge had another win in the last race, in which runner-up Angel consolidated second overall ahead of Morse following a great tussle between them. In the final standings, Hourigan took the runner-up spot ahead of Jagger.

WOODS PIPS LINDSELL TO TAKE 2.0-LITRE FINALE AT THE final round of the Australian Motor Racing Series, held at Winton Motor Raceway on November 17-18, the regular categories were joined by a couple of AASA categories conducting their season finales.

2.0-LITRE SPORTS SEDANS/PULSARS

2019 AMRS

CALENDAR

THERE WERE spirited encounters between Sports Sedan racers Craig Lindsell (Mini Cooper S) and Brendan Woods (Toyota Corolla) in all three encounters.

Lindsell took out the first race after slipping past Woods at Turn 11 on the very last lap.

The Mini driver won the second race in much the same manner, chasing down early tearaway leader Woods, but the latter was able to withstand Lindsell’s attacks in Race 3.

Vince McNair (Honda Prelude) was third in Race 1 but spun inthe second while battling with Iain McDougall (Mini) for third. He recovered quickly to finish fourth. In the last, Shane Howard (Corolla) took third away from McNair and McDougall.

Steven Cannizzo completed a clean sweep of the Pulsars and topped the season points.

Cannizzo was only 0.4s ahead of Lee Nuttall while almost 5s ahead of Chris Hales in Race 1, but the battle for second in the next was tight, with Matt Butters just in front of Brad Connelly, who was second ahead of Hales in the third race.

VICTORIAN TIN TOPS

IT WAS a dominant Cory Gillet in his V8-powered Extreme TT Nissan Silvia S13 with a comfortable margin over

Van Der Hayden was a DNF in Race 3, which allowed Cooper Cappellari (Commodore) the class race and round victory. Again Gillett won, with Ryder second from Maclurkin, Hickey and McIlroy.

VIC V8S

the opposition in all three races.

Peter Ryder (S13) progressed to second in Race 1 before retiring. John Hickey (Super TT Holden Commodore) appeared to have second sewn up until Ashely Maclurkin (S13) came through from the back to grab the spot with one lap to go. John McIlroy (Super TT Ford Falcon) was fourth from Daniel Van Der

• Round 1 – Winton, March 9-10 • Round 2 – Morgan Park, April 6-7 • Round 3 – Tailem Bend, June 22-23 • Round 4 – Sydney Motorsport Park, September 28-29 • Round 5 – Wakefield Park, October 18-19 • Round 6 – Winton, November 16-17

Heyden (Production TT Commodoroe).

Gillett wrapped up the Extreme TT title with wins in Sunday’s races.

He had been briefly overtaken by Maclurkin in the second race but the latter spun at Turn 7. Maclurkin held onto second as Ryder stormed through to third ahead of Hickey, McIlroy and Van Der Heyden.

DRIVING HIS Ford Falcon XB Coupe, Victor Argento secured his third successive Vic V8s crown with a trio of third-place finishes. The three races were won by Len Cattlin (Ford Mustang), who was ineligible for outright points, while Craig Eddy (Holden Commodore) finished second.

Argento beat Eddy in Race 2, but received a 5s post-race penalty for jumping the start. Mark Houeix and Michael Budge battled for fourth position, Budge overtaking Houeix late in all three races.

GT-1, TA2, RX8 Cup, Legend Cars, Formula Fords, Formula 3, IROC Challenge, Group 4/ Super 6 Touring Cars/ Aussie Racing Utes and several new categories.

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NATIONALS wrap n compiled by garry o’brie

ALL WHITE IN HIGH COUNTRY FOR THE third time in succession, Jason and John White have won a CAMS Targa Australian Championship event, taking out the fourth round, the Targa High Country, on November 9-11.

The Tasmanians were dominant throughout in their Dodge Viper and finished 30s ahead of Matt Close and Cameron Reeves (Porsche GT3 RS). Close had won the three previous Targa High Country events, and was over 3m ahead of third-placed Jeff Morton and Stuart Benson (Lotus Exige).

It was White’s third victory in the Mt Buller-based event, but he did have to overcome some mechanical issues.

“The tyres were not coping and I thought we’d lost a lot of time, but we were surprised to see we had pulled even more of a gap,” White said.

“The car started to vibrate after that and we thought it was a delaminated tyre, but

A consistent Paul Stokell took out the inaugural Targa title.

The Whites and their Viper were dominant.

Photos: Angryman it was a big chunk of melted tar from the road that had stuck to one of the front tyres. We knew we had a bit of a gap, so we slowed down a bit.”

While the Whites also won Targa Tasmania and Targa Great Barrier Reef, the inaugural CAMS Australian Targa Championship went to Paul Stokell, who finished seventh with Malcolm Read in the navigator’s seat of his Lotus Exige.

Even though their Holden Torana broke down on the final stage, Michael and Daniel Bray had enough points in the bag to take the Classic GT Championship.

The class event win went to Mick Downey and Jarrod Van Den Akker (Holden Commodore), 30s ahead of Adam Kaplan

and Alisha Penney in their Mazda RX7, which also had tyre delamination issues.

In the Shannons Classic Handicap group, Graham Copeland and Josh Herbert looked like victors, only to have their 1941 GMC Jimmy Special succumb to a mechanical ailment. That allowed Colin Byrne and Michael Partridge (Alfa Romeo GTV 2000) to win from Peter Gluskie and Samantha Winter (BMW 325i).

Paul Dowie and James Marquet (Audi TT RS) dominated the GT4 class, Peter and Tristan Taylor (Lotus Elise) took out the TSD Trophy, Mark and Scott Meletopoulo (Exige) topped GT Sports, and Stephen Marlin and Stephen Horobin (Mitsubishi EVO IX) picked up Early Modern.

FOUR STAGES OF MUNDARING WINS

Oxley and Wood took victory in the forests of Mundaring.

Photo: BJP Photo

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PULLING OUT four straight stage bests enabled Stephen Oxley and Michael Wood to win the Light Car Club of WA’s 2018 Gravel RallySprint in the forests of Mundaring on November 10.

In their Subaru Impreza WRX STi, they finished the five-stage rallysprint in 28m33s, more than 30s ahead of the fellow Subaru crewed by Barry McGuinness and Glenn Alcorn, who had been fastest on the first stage.

After that, Oxley dominated, finishing the remaining three stages ahead of McGuinness to also take the 4WD class.

Coming in third overall were Lee and Joanne Mcilroy, which made for a Subaru podium lockout, while Kiel Douglas and Greg Flood in a Holden Commodore VS SS were the best of the rest, finishing fourth outright and winning the 2WD class.

In a Datsun 1200 coupe, Julian Wright and Jeff Huggins rounded out the top five as well as finishing second in 2WD ahead of Alex White and Lisa White (Nissan Silvia S13), who finished sixth outright.

EVOS DOMINATE OBERON UNBEATEN OVER all eight stages, Richard Shimmon and Katie Fletcher won the Oberon Rally, the sixth and final round of the AMSAG Pipe Kings Southern Cross Rally Series on November 3.

Based out of Black Springs, the stages (four, which were each run twice) made for a total competitive distance of 108.6km, all within the Vulcan State Forest.

Thunderstorms the night before left no bogey roads, which were rallied under perfect weather conditions.

Shimmon and Fletcher teamed up in a Mitsubishi EVO VII to win by 2m40s over Ron and Jo Moore (EVO VI) and Chris and Kate Jacques (EVO IX).

The latter pair alternated second and thirds over several of the stages and were split by 15s at the end.

In a couple of the stages, Joe Chapman and Adrian Grabham (Subaru Impreza WRX STi) featured in the top three and ended up fourth overall. They finished

ahead of Mark and Tristan Kent (EVO III).

The top five were all in Open 4WD. In sixth were Brian Newton and Ryan Price with their Honda Civic, also taking out Open FWD class. They finished ahead of the Classic entries of Richard Knight and Campbell Inglis (Datsun 1600), Darkie BarrSmith and Jono Forrest (Datsun 200B), Brett Wright and Rob Edwards (Toyota Sprinter), and tenth outright Jake Bramble

and Josh Love (Datsun 1200).

Behind the 11th and 12th outright-placed Classics of Tony Jordan and Mick Tuckey (Triumph Stag) and PJ O’Keefe and Paddy Skelton (Ford Escort) were the first of the Open RWDs. Richard Thomas and Toby Goldburg (Nissan S13) finished just ahead of class rivals Mick Tori and Jamie McIntyre (Toyota Altezza).

Shimmon and Fletcher headed an Evo clean sweep of the top positions.

Photo: Gravel Pics

WINDUS TAKES MAIDEN WIN DARREN WINDUS won the Australian Rallycross Championship open class for 2018 at Winton Raceway’s fourth and final round on November 1011 as Steve Glenney, Will Orders, Fionnan McCallan and Jarrod Keyte won their respective classes.

Windus (Hyundai i20) beat Justin Dowel (VW Polo) in the feature after early leader Arron Windus – Darren’s son – spun on the opening lap and retired his i20 with a broken driveshaft. The younger Windus had qualified fastest and won all three heats plus the semi-final.

That left Windus Senior to power to victory.

Dowel was second, his team having to repair his car after it suffered steering damage in the semi.

Marcus Walkem (AP4-spec Peugeot 208) finished third on his debut.

Despite being unable to contest the round, Troy Dowel claimed the AWD open class title based on his first three round results.

Steve Glenney edged out Cahal Carey to take the AWD Production class, both in Mitsubishis EVOs. Glenney won the heats, but was trumped by Carey in the semi.

Starting second in the final, Glenney used the

joker on the opening lap and benefitted from a clear track to take the win. Carey held out Richie Dalton (Polo) in a close battle for second. Making his debut, Matt Lee (S2000-spec Polo) finished fourth.

Orders dominated the 2WD category to cap off a championship-winning year, winning all three heats, the semi and final.

Jason Fitzmaurice (Toyota Celica) came out on top of an entertaining scrap for second with Conner McLeod (Commodore).

In the under 1.6-litre class, Fionnan McCallan (Hyundai Excel) and Zac Edwards (Mitsubishi Mirage) won the first two heats, but McCallan won the third to give him a grid advantage for the semi, which he won ahead of Edwards, Nathan Senior (Excel) and Shane Carey (Excel).

McCallan looked set to take the six-lap final but mechanical issues late in the race handed the win to Edwards ahead of Senior and Carey.

Side by Side (SXS) racing made its debut, with Jarrod Keyte (Polaris XP Turbo) taking the three heats, semi and final. Andrew Daniell withdrew late in the final, leaving Rob Plagemen to take second after Mitchell Keyte spun mid-race.

Darren Windus won after his son Arron, who had been dominant all weekend, spun in the final.

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NATIONALS wrap n compiled by garry o’brie

Clements took all four wins in Improved Production.

MORGAN PARK WRAPS QLD CAMS CHAMPS FOR THE fourth and final time in season 2018, Morgan Park hosted the CAMS State Race Championships on November 17-18.

IMPROVED PRODUCTION

JASON CLEMENTS won the four races, but Rod Lynch (Ford Escort) had the early lead in first two before Clements (BMW E46) surged ahead.

Brett Batterby (BMW E36) was third throughout but Brock Paine (BMW 130i), fourth initially, dropped to ninth, with Nicholas Jukes (BMW E30) improving two spots from sixth. In the second race Batterby fell to sixth while D’Arcy Wade (BMW E90) came up to third.

Clements led all the way in the third, with Lynch a non-starter. Wade and Batterby didn’t see the race out, so Royce Gregson (Escort) and Chris Balint (Holden Commodore) filled the minors.

The fourth race ended with Clements just in front of Wade, Lynch third and ahead of Gregson and Balint – that pair second and third for the round.

FORMULA FORD & INVITED

WITH THREE wins notched up, Tim Hamilton (Spectrum) was on track to get his fourth when the race was red-flagged. At the rerun, Jarrod Costello (Van Diemen) came through to blot Tim’s perfect weekend. Richard Peasey was second in the opening race, ahead of Costello, then finished third in the other races. Outside the Formula Fords, it was the Formula Vee drivers battling, with honours going to Paul Kellaway in all races.

RACING & SPORTS CARS

ABOARD HIS Dallara F3, Jason Hore won all races with Blake Varney (Dallara) second in each. John English (Van Diemen FF2000) scored a pair of thirds and two fourths to be third for the round.

Other third placings went to Dean Tighe (Brabham BT36) and Bruce McKenzie (Dallara), and Graham Smith (March 73) was fourth in all outings.

HISTORIC TOURING CARS

THREE WINS from four starts secured Matt Clift (Mazda RX2) the final round and his first Group N Hore was dominant in Racing & Sports Cars.

Photos: Trapnell Creations

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championship title. Second overall for the weekend went to Grant Wilson (Chev Camaro), who won a race and finished second twice. Rod Cannon (Ford Falcon GT) was runner-up in the opener.

CIRCUIT EXCEL

THE RACES at the final round were exclusively the domain of Seiton Connor-Young. With a second, a third and two fourths, Ross Street finished second overall. Frank Mammarella was also at the pointy end and finished third for the weekend.

Importantly, Mammarella was crowned the CAMS Champion and Series X3 Champion ahead of Brock Giblin and Kaden Olsen. Giblin had two seconds on the weekend and finished eighth, while Olsen was fourth overall.

SALOON CARS

DESPITE FINISHING third at the last round, Gary Beggs (Holden Commodore VT) had enough points in hand to take the CAMS title for 2018. But second was tight between Ford Falcon AU drivers Shayne Hine and Jamie Furness.

Hine finished up top of the points for the weekend after a first, a second, a third and a seventh, while Furness had two seconds and two thirds for a round second and victory in the Club Championship.

Beggs had two victories and was leading Race 3 until delayed with a fuel pump problem.

HQ HOLDENS/GEMINIS

THE HOLDEN mix was numerically balanced but Gemini drivers finished one-two-three, with Tim Boyle beating Mark Gray and Michael Dawes.

Best of the HQs was sixth-placed Nathan Locke, 1.1s ahead of Troy Stark and Gary Bonwick.

Gray easily won the second, but Locke had a far closer tussle with Stark, just 0.3s clear at the finish, then Boyle returned to his winning ways in the third ahead of Dawes.

In the HQs Bonwick edged out Locke, Stark and Gary Spies. Dawes took out the last ahead of Boyle while Locke again topped a close encounter with Bonwick and Stark.

Wilson won with ease in the Circuit Excels.

LAKESIDE FINALE CROWNS CHAMPS THERE MAY have been a cloud hanging over the future of Lakeside Park at its last meeting of the year, but the racing didn’t reflect it on November 17-18 for round six of the QR Drivers Championships.

going to Jonathan Bothamley (Formula 1), while the 125 Non-Gearbox went to Peter Nuske with a perfect score in his Peter Woodgate Racing kart.

Similarly, Scott Jamieson (Tonykart Honda) was the top dog in the 85s.

TRACK ATTACK EXCEL CUP

CLUBMAN SPORTSRACERS

THE COMBINATION of sprints and 30-minute races didn’t deter Cam Wilson from winning them all. He was a narrow winner in the first over Brett Parrish and John Sheridan, while the contest for fourth was close between Darren Whittington, Simon Winters and Mick McCloud.

The second race was called short when Greg Robertson crashed out of Hungry and his Excel ended up on its roof. Wilson had a handy advantage over Parrish, while Winters headed a three-way dice involving Whittington and Dave Shinners.

Wilson didn’t have it all his own way in the third encounter, where Parrish, crowned the title winner earlier, had the lead at times. In the end it was Wilson narrowly, while Winters shadowed them.

Cam Bartholomew made a brilliant start from fourth in the last, leading for several laps before succumbing to Wilson and Parrish, and ultimately failed to finish. Winters was third and Sheridan just held off Gordon Smith for fourth.

ITALIAN CHALLENGE

RECENTLY CROWNED F3 Series winner Harri Jones won all round races quite comfortably, armed with the best Italian weapon, a Ferrari 430 Challenge. Richard Shinkfield (Fiat X19 RSR) was a clear second in each while third was tighter, with Joel O’Farrell beating fellow Alfa Romeo pilot Reilly Brook, who then turned the tables in the next three.

SUPERKARTS

IT WAS a big mix of classes, where the fastest were the 250cc karts, and John La Spina (PVP) won all five races. Bernie Weier (Anderson Maverick) scored three second outrights as William Tait secured the others in his 125cc Stockman MR2.

Tait headed his class in four races, the other

PROSPECTS OF making the meeting looked grim for Simon Cilento with issues with his Radical SR8 before the meeting. Fortunately for him he did make it and – surprisingly to most – inflicted four defeats over Dave Barram in his usually invincible Chiron LMP003.

Barram did get one win while third overall went to Carmelo Bonaventura (Radical SR3), with four placings behind the leading two and one behind Grant Green (SR3), who was third in Race 5.

PRODUCTION TOURING

THE FOUR races in the fourth and final round were all won by Justin Anthony (Mercedes Benz C63).

He was in the comfort zone in each, downing Greg Symes (Mitsubishi EVO X) in the first two, and Gerry Murphy (Holden Commodore SSV) in the latter two. Third place was shared around, with Jason Simes (BMW M3 E36) and Nathan Townsend (Ford Falcon) getting a pair each.

Murphy ended up second for the weekend ahead of Townsend, Symes and Simes.

As the championship is class-based, the outright title went to Lea Medhurst and Chris Manley in their Class D Toyota 86.

QR SPORTS & SEDANS

THE COMBINATION of sedans saw Stephen Rushton have two wins in his former Supercar Ford Falcon AU. On a slightly wet track of race two, Cameron McLean drove Scott McLennan’s Mitsubishi Mirage to a win ahead of Rushton and Aidan O’Kane (Mazda RX7).

O’Kane took out the last, also taking out the Sports class and the outright title. Rushton won the Sedans for the year while the Production Utes went to Stephen Cook (Commodore), who was fourth at the final round, won by Troy Mongomerie (Falcon).

Hennig took out the Production Sports honours.

Photos: Digital Realism

LIGHTS ON FOR SEASON FINALE Photos: Mick Oliver

THE THIRD Nightmasters race meeting at Barbagallo Raceway on November 17 was the last on the West Australian Sporting Car Club calendar for the year.

HISTORIC TOURING CARS

COMING FROM third early, Graeme Woolhouse (Ford Mustang) came through to win the first race ahead of Greg Barr (Holden Torana XU-1), with early leader John Bondi (Holden Monaro) finishing third.

In the reverse grid second race, Ryan Beavis (Lotus Cortina) caused an early Safety Car when he pulled off in the esses with gearbox failure. In the meantime, Mick Moylan (Ford Galaxie) was given a 30s penalty for several indiscretions at the start.

David Ward (Porsche 911) led until Woolhouse took the lead and went on to win from Bondi and the much improved Don Behets, who finished down the order in Race 1 after spinning his Galaxie.

Barr returned for the last race after a DNF in the previous race to win from Bondi and Behets.

EXCEL CUP

OVER THREE Safety Car-filled races, Dean Hill won each time, setting a new lap record in the last. In the first he led home Greg Dicker and Robert Landsmeer, who was runner-up in Race 2 ahead of Brock McGregor, before the latter toppled Landsmeer in the last.

The Safety Car initially came out in Race 1 when Stephen McGregor took a right turn on pit straight and backed into the wall. Then it was out again when Lyndon Booth spun at the exit of the esses and Darren Seaton was unable to avoid him.

In Race 2, Luke Crutchley and James Daykin came to grief, which again brought out the Safety Car, and yet again in Race 3 when Booth and Simon Gassira clashed.

F1000

(Nissan S14) second twice before Craig Maloney (Subaru Impreza WRX) worked through to second in the last after failing to start Race 1.

AARON LOVE dominated with three wins from three starts. Stohr drivers filled all the top spots, with Adam Lisle second in the first and second before Kyle Gurton, who had been showing improvement all day, took second in the last race.

HQ HOLDENS

SPORT SEDAN/SPORTS CARS/STREET CARS

IN THE first two races, Grant Hill (Ford Falcon BF) dominated from the starts and had reasonable leads over Ron Moller (pictured above). The Chev Camaro was able to edge closer by mid-distance in both cases, and passed Hill for the win. Paul Fiore (BF) was third on both occasions.

The last 10-lapper saw Hill again get the jump, and when Moller caught up again he found Hill wasn’t going to give up the place without a fight.

For several laps Moller attempted to get the better of Hill without luck on

several occasions. It wasn’t until the penultimate lap that Moller managed to make a successful move.

Darren Boland was third.

Among the Sports Cars, John Roderick (Lotus) took three close wins over Neville Stewart (Porsche 997).

Andrew Stevens (Nissan 180SX) was unbeaten in Street Cars, with Paul Kluck

NINETEEN CARS fronted, and Marc Watkins won the first outing from Adam Butler and Mick Woodbridge.

The second race was a reverse grid event. Stuart Kenny led away for the first four laps, but Watkins and Woodbridge stormed through to take the top two spots on lap five, as Kenny just held off Michael Howlett.

In the last race, Watkins led from the outset, edging away from Woodbridge and Howlett as they duked it out for second. Ultimately, Howlett won out, getting by Woodbridge on lap nine.

Ryan Davis made consistent progress through the field to finish fourth ahead of Rory Sharp, Robert Roelofs and Peter Marsh.

MICK OLIVER

TASSIE CHAMPIONSHIPS NOW SORTED TASMANIAN CHAMPIONSHIPS for Sports GTB, Sports GTC, Improved Production and Historic Touring Cars were all decided before the final round, so not surprisingly the sixth and final round of the Tasmanian Super Series at Symmons Plains on November 18 resulted in smaller fields.

SPORTS GTA

HOLDING OFF all challengers, Scott Smith scored his first championship title. Racing his Porsche, Smith came into the weekend with a narrow four-point buffer over Layton Barker (Holden Commodore), with 150 points on offer. Although not in title contention, Brodie Maher (Mazda RX7) took the day’s honours. Smith didn’t win any of the four races, finishing either second or third, but was able to hold out Barker in each.

FORMULA VEE

VETERAN RACER Nino Bocchino claimed his second Formula Vee title in more than 30 years of racing, but the day was embroiled in controversy.

Bocchino (Elfin Crusader) led Justin Murphy

(Polar) by 44 points heading in and, after convincingly winning the first two heats, he was in the box seat to wrap up the title.

The third race produced a thrilling four-way battle with Bocchino, Wade McLean (Elliott), Dion Wyllie (Spectre) and teenager Taylah Heath (Bee Cee) all involved. Bocchino timed his run to perfection and looked a winner with 50m to go on the last lap, but slowed noticeably near the finish line, with McLean and Wyllie cannoning into him.

Heath steered clear of the carnage to record her first race victory in the highly competitive class, with Bocchino hanging on to second and provisionally claiming the championship. But it all could be subject to an official investigation into a post-race incident in the pit garage.

HISTORIC TOURING/IMPROVED PRODUCTION/SPORTS SEDANS THE MOST spectacular incident of the day involved John Douglas suffering a high-speed brake failure in his HTC Holden Torana XU-1 at

Photo: Angryman Photography

the end of the back straight, traversing the sand trap and making heavy contact with the tyre wall.

In his Excel Sports Sedan, Eric Taylor was first across the line in all four races, with Matt Grace (IP Nissan SX200) and John Talbot (HTC Torana) each finishing second twice.

Neville Rattray placed fifth twice and sixth once before winning the final race, the handicap. He crossed the line first on lap nine but crashed on lap ten, bringing out the red flag, which of course reverted the result back one lap.

HQ HOLDENS

REIGNING CHAMPION Peter Kemp only needed to finish in front of third-generation racer and teenager Josh Webster to wrap-up back-to-back titles. Despite some strong early challenges from Webster, Kemp had all the answers to hold him at bay in all four races.

MARTIN AGATYN

PHIL ASHLIN successfully defended his title with a hat-trick of victories. All he had to do was finish in front of former champion Andrew Toth. Ashlin’s brother Shane was riding shotgun and proved to be the spoiler to keep Toth at bay.

HYUNDAI EXCELS

“Coming up at the nation’s action and spectator tracks” Wakefield Park

www.wakefieldpark.com.au

November 30-December 1 Hi Tec Oils Drift Championships December 2 Track Day Club December 4 Trackschool December 9 Speed Off The Street/Test & Tune December 10-12 Aussie Driver Search December 13 Speed Off The Street/Test & Tune

Winton

www.wintonraceway.com.au

November 30 Test & Tune Cars & Open Wheelers December 1-2 HQ 4HR December 4 Performance Test Day – Sedans ONLY December 6 Test & Tune Cars & Open Wheelers December 7-9 Formula SAE Asia-Pacific

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55

NATIONALS wrap n compiled by garry o’brie

MALLALA OFFERED LAST POINTS CHANCE AS THE racing season closed out, the fifth round was the last opportunity to grab some points in the CAMS South Australian State Race Championships at Mallala on November 17.

CIRCUIT EXCELS

AS USUAL, the popular one-make category was the domain of Asher Johnston and current national champion Michael Clemente.

Johnston made his mark early, outqualifying the young Victorian and winning the first two races. Clemente upped the pressure in Race 2 and went on to win the final two races, giving him the outright win for the day as well as the state title.

Danny Errigo was best of the rest, although the result may have been different had Thomas Benford not failed to finish Race 3.

There were also some new faces in the field, namely SA Porsche guru Mark Buik, Robert Zoanetti (HQs), Naomi Malty (Saloon Cars) and Andrew Hobby.

Jenkins was a dominant winner in the HQs (above), as Forgan took the Vees (below). Photos: David Batchelor over the minor positions. Peter Holmes (Holden Commodore VT) was a lonely Saloon Car winner, with Luke Fraser’s Commodore going back on the trailer after qualifying.

FORMULA VEES

IN A close battle for 1600cc supremacy, Ben Forgan (Sabre 02) was the victor, while a spin by Brian Pedersen (Jacer F2K7) in the second race took some of the pressure off.

Second was good enough for Pedersen to claim the state number one, with Joel Oliver (Jacer V2K) a close third.

Things were a bit more strung out in 1200s, with Rod Kowald (Elfin NG) comfortably showing the way followed by the Spectres driven

by Jay Thompson and Lou Calicchio.

SPORTS & RACING CARS

THE OPENING race saw Andy Ford (Birrana 274) and Tim Kuchel (Brabham BT18) first and third in their Historic cars. Ford retired from Race 2 and Kuchel didn’t start Race 3, which meant that Jim Doig – who has done more than 900 races in his Motorlap ASP – was the overall Historic victor.

SPORTS CARS/IMPROVED PRODUCTION

Daniel Gonzalez (Wolf GB08CN) had a successful first outing, placing second across the line initially before winning the next two races from Ian Hills (Stohr).

In the only Formula Fords, Sam Woodland (Van Diemen RF06) led home Michael Woodland (Mygale SJ09A).

SALOON CARS/HQ HOLDENS

DARREN JENKINS assumed his usual position well in front of the HQ Holden pack, leaving David Smith and Tim McNamara to fight

AGAIN THE pacesetter was Marty Ewer (Porsche 991). Paul Mitolo (Ferrari 458) was comfortably the best of the rest, while Anthony Guistozzi (Porsche 997) picked up third. Emanuel Palyaris (Porsche 997) was looking good for second overall but spun on his own coolant in Race 2 and sat out the third while making repairs.

Josh Pickert (Holden Monaro) was the lone Sports Sedan and managed to ruffle a few feathers among the Porsches, despite losing his bonnet before a bad vibration ended his day.

Jamie Weir (Datsun Stanza) topped the IP points but had to fight hard to fend off Queenslander Kyle Organ-Moore (Holden Commodore VS), both taking two wins.

Ian Statham (Mitsubishi Magna) put in a strong performance to take the final podium spot. Lone Group N entrant Brett Munns gave his Holden Torana XU-1 a spirited run among some of the IP cars.

DAVID BATCHELOR

TRUCKER SETS RECORD AMID ENDUROS

Alexander and Maise Place (MX5) won Division D and were ninth outright.

Scott Walker and A Hughes (BMW 318is) were victors in Division E and tenth overall.

EXCELS

WITH COMMANDING wins in the lead-up sprint races for Paul Quinn and Ryan Reynolds, the duo were short favourites to team up and take victory in the 90-minute enduro. But an additional pitstop for a driver change put them down the order and Steve and Tom Dalziel recorded a significant victory.

Second place went to David Loiacono and Greg Ormerod, while third was a tight contest to the wire as Jackson Noakes, who did the event on his own, was just beaten home by Wayne Vinckx and Phil Bunter. Just half a second split them at the end.

Noakes finished the first sprint race second ahead of Jessica Martin, and Noakes was third in the second behind Matt Stockwell.

Quinn and Reynolds finished the enduro fifth ahead of Preston Breust/Wil Longmore and Martin/Stockwell.

THE FINAL open race meeting for the year at Wakefield Park on November 10-11 featured a milestone in Super Truck Racing, a dramatic conclusion to the 301 Grassroots Enduro, and longer-distance racing for Excels and Pulsars.

TRUCK RACING NATIONAL SERIES STEVE ZAMMIT collected a couple of records at the fourth and final round of the big rigs’ series this year. It marked the Kenworth T401 driver’s sixth title, and he also scored all four round pole positions and went on to win each outing this year.

Still he had some work to do after race one – which he won – as the engine dropped a valve insert. In the race he was a narrow victory over season-long rival Barry Butwell (Mack Superliner), while Shannon Smith (Kenworth T900) was third.

Robert Fern (Volvo White) was fourth ahead of Craig Yardy (Isuzu SBR), Butwell’s teammate Marcus Prillwitz and Anthon Tringali (International).

Lachlan Fern retired the second Isuzu in the field after it ran out of brakes.

Butwell came back to win the second of the championship races, just in front of Smith, while Zammit was further back in third spot. While Lachlan was able to get his Isuzu SBR home in this encounter, Yardy went out in his SBR with a suspected blown piston.

Zammit came back to take out Race 3, where further blown piston spelled the end for Smith and Lachlan Fern. The last race had just five starters, and then four finishers as Prillwitz was a retiree. In the meantime, Robert Fern took his maiden victory ahead of Zammit, Butwell and Tringali.

56 AutoAction

Zammit was unstoppable.

Photo: DOPhoto Prior to the drivers’ events was the teams’ event over two races. Prillwitz won the opener in Butwell’s Mack before Butwell was back in his own truck to take out the second.

WAKEFIELD 301

ALTHOUGH THE event only recognised the class results, there was the prestige of being the outright winner and that honour went to father-and-son duo, Urs and Tom Muller in their Mitsubishi EVO 5.

The race ended behind a Safety Car, 10 laps shy of its designated 137 laps, with Glen Townsend and Aaron Weymyss (Lotus Exige) second, and Brett McFarland and Nik Hough (Subaru Impreza WRX STi) third. The three were all in Division B and finished on the lead lap, although the latter crossed the line in the pitlane but was given the spot

because no “last lap” board was posted.

One lap behind in fourth was Nick Cox, who tackled the event solo in his BMW M3, while fifth place went to Michael Hall, Daniel Deckers and Luke Otten in their Division A Mazda MX5, which was hamstrung by only having fifth gear for the latter part of the race.

The race looked likely to go the way of Simon Hodges and Ian Salteri, who held a commanding lead until their Division A BMW M135i had a tailshaft failure, which resulted in the late Safety Car. Other strong contenders who fell by the wayside or had problems included Paul and Michael Cruze/ Shane Burns, whose Ford Escort Turbo ran out of tyres, and Benny and Jimmy Tran, whose Honda Civic was delayed by a wayward exhaust pipe.

There were no finishers in Division C while Phil

PULSARS

THE FINAL round of the Pulsar series was a closer result than anticipated. Daniel Smith took the series win, but not until after a dramatic first race.

Smith finished the first 60-minute enduro second behind Jamie and Josh Craig, but both – along with another five teams – were controversially given five-lap penalties for undercutting their designated pitstop times by the barest of margins.

That gave victory to Josh Heath, who was back in the fight for the title going into the second enduro, where just one point separated he and Smith.

The second race was won by the Craigs ahead of Grant and Harrison Inwood, teaming up after the latter’s car expired the day before with a broken gearbox. Smith finished fourth and significantly, ahead of Heath, which guaranteed him the title.

Photos: Brett Davey

DOUBLE UP FOR SPRINT QUEEN Hislop recorded his seventh national Improved Production title at The Bend (above), while Waldon took the Under 2.0-litre crown (below). Photos: David Batchelor

HISLOP STAYS NUMBER ONE IN IP WITH HIS seventh Improved Production Nationals title in 14 years, Ray Hislop will be keeping the number 1 on the side of his Ford Falcon BF. He made a brilliant comeback to win the Over 2.0-litre final of the 2018 Aldinga Towing IP Nationals at Tailem Bend on November 11.

Hislop dominated his first two heats, running away from the field. In the last heat he came up against his most likely challenger for the title, Adam Poole, and comfortably led the white Monaro until a blown tyre forced him out and handed Poole his third win for the weekend.

With Hislop starting the final well back in the pack (15th), Poole jumped into an early lead with Matt Cherry (Monaro) in hot pursuit. On lap 4, Cherry made his move, but Hislop was starting to hunt

the two leaders down. Cherry managed to stay in clean air for five laps before Hislop surged past and pulled away to take the win.

Poole had slipped back to fifth behind Scott Cook (Nissan S13) and John Callegari (Holden Commodore VN) by the time the chequered flag was waved.

Hislop and Poole had traded the lap record over the course of the weekend, but that was another record that went back to Tasmanian Hislop.

Sixth place went to Michael Naguib (Datsun 1600 Turbo, who finished ahead of Robert Braune (BMW E30), Aaron Lawrence (S13), John Woodberry (Mitsubishi Magna) and Grant Maitland (S13), tenth of the 50 starters.

In the Fleurieu Towing Under 2.0-litre final, luck went David Waldon’s way and

he won’t have to change the number 1 on his Mazda RX3.

Jordan Cox looked set to go all the way to the title in his 1200 Datsun Turbo coupe, winning every race until the engine let go in the last heat.

Waldon led from start to finish and won comfortably.

Peter Cusato (Ford Escort MkII) managed to occupy second for much of the race, but Harrison Cooper (Honda Integra) found a way past with about four laps remaining.

The Escort driver managed to hang on to the final podium spot, ahead of Wade Reynolds (Toyota AE86) and Velibor Tomic (Intergra).

Cox had the consolation of having his name next to the U2L lap record.

DAVID BATCHELOR

IF WINNING last year’s Australian Supersprint Championship was something, 62-year-old Vikki Paxton taking the 2018 outright title on November 3-4 was even more remarkable.

In 1991 she was involved in a bad crash at Amaroo Park and suffered a broken back, pelvis, ribs and jaw, as well as internal and neck injuries.

She capped off a heroic comeback by winning both the national and Queensland state titles last year and has now done the same this year.

However, this time she and her Toyota V8-powered Dallara F301 were taking on Wakefield Park, a circuit she had never been to before.

She had no practice laps, and some other issues to sort before posting the fastest lap of 57.3038s.

Her time was just over a second faster than the Ginetta G55 of Richard Perini (58.4671s), who posted his best on Saturday. He wasn’t able to compete on Sunday due to a blown engine.

Third-fastest was Stephen Fields at 60.6839s in a Radical SR8.

Three drivers posted times in the 62s bracket, namely Phillip Ryan (6.0-litre Nissan 280SX), Nik Kalis (Mitsubishi EVO X) and 2018 NSW Hillclimb Champion Doug Barry in his Reynard 92D. Seventh was Mathew Wootten (Nissan Skyline) ahead of Willem Fercher (Holden Monaro) and Adrian Eilson (BMW M4). The next two, Allan Martin and Scott Mckune, were not only fighting for their particular class win, but both VL Commodore drivers were battling for tenth and were split by just 0.031s.

SECOND TITLE FOR THE YEAR AFTER WINNING the Aussie Racing Car Series recently, Joel Heinrich added another title for the year when he won the MVG Saloon Car Nationals final at The Bend on November 11.

Driving a Ford Falcon AU, Heinrich started out of fourth position on the grid and became embroiled in a great tussle for the lead, before ultimately pulling clear.

Grant Johnson (Holden Commodore VT) was looking the strongest going into the final with four heat wins. He led the opening laps, before Heinrich and final heat winner Nathan Callaghan (VT) each had turns leading.

Johnson regained the lead on lap eight before an error at Turn 3 dropped him to fifth.

He recovered to finish third behind a fastfinishing Travis Lindorff (VY Commodore).

Matt Lovell (AU) and Johnson’s teammate Matt Martin (VT Commodore) made up the top five, followed by Thomas Walkom and Vince Ciallella in their Commodores.

Callaghan blew a tyre just one lap short of the flag.

Wayne King (VT) had looked a possible contender but was out after an early clash with Callaghan, and Brock Boley (VT) had a broken shifter.

Finishing eighth outright and best of the older class was Peter Holmes (VN Commodore) from Engels Leoncini (VY).

Second in the older class was Nick Hanlon (Falcon EA), while third went to Brandon Sharpe (VN) ahead of the EAs driven by Dylan Richter and Mike Dale.

DAVID BATCHELOR

Joel Heinrich added the Saloon Car title to his Aussie Racing Cars Triumph. Photo: David Batchelor

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57

NATIONALS wrap

Photo: Riccardo Benvenuti

n compiled by garry o’brie co

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58 AutoAction

ONE-HOUR ENDURO AT CHAMP FINALE THE NSW State Race Championships wound up at Sydney Motorsport Park with round seven on November 17-18, which included racing for most of the main state categories.

HQ HOLDENS

THE FINAL had a long-delayed start after Jason Molle’s car lost a wheel on the warm-up lap. Once underway, Brett Osborn and Duane Cambridge had a torrid battle for the lead. Osborn PRODUCTION TOURING CARS was never headed, but never got a HEADLINING THE meeting was a onebreak either as Cambridge was always hour mini-enduro, won by Mark Caine. shadowing the leader. Cambridge Lacey took three from three in Sports Sedans. Photo: Bruce Moxon Driving his HSV R8, Caine beat the Paul might have had more of a chance but Loiacono/Dieter Holzl Mitsubishi EVO away and was Barlow in Race 2, and in the third he had gear selection for a lurid slide part-way through the last lap. Glenn only headed during pit stops. problems that put him out. That race went to Kostinken Deering and Chris Molle had just as good a battle for Matthew Holt (HSV) moved to second a lap later and Pohorukov (SR3). third, with the nod going to Deering in the end. held that place until pitting on lap 18. Caine was one Osborn also finished first in the two earlier races, Neilson was third in the second outing, and Barlow of the last to pit, doing so on lap 20, which left Class Cambrige and Deering taking a second each. and Neilson filled the placings in the final.

D runner Eden Thornburrow (Toyota 86) leading for a couple of laps.

FORMULA CARS SUPERKARTS Following all pit stops, the status quo ante was ALL THREE races went to Nathan Gotch, virtually as WITH FOUR 20-minute races in one day, the drivers re-established, Caine leading from Holt. A late Safety he liked in his Dallara F307. In the first two races, he had short turnaround times for preparing their racers Car, when Paul Pearson crashed his SS Commodore, led home Graeme Holmes and Rod Brincat – also between events. The 250cc karts had a miserable day bunched up the field. This allowed Tony Virag, sharing driving Dallaras. In the final, Holmes jumped the start, – there were only three of them and they suffered from his HSV GTS with daughter Corinne, to challenge. then spun on lap four and dropped well down the order. shocking unreliability – and this left the 125cc karts to Virag made rapid progress at the restart, passing A few laps later, he spun again and was unable to dominate the wins. Lee Vella (Avoig Elise) took the first Clay Skinner (EVO) and Holt in rapid succession, restart, meaning the race finished under a Safety Car. two races, and the similarly mounted Aaron Cogger the crossing the line second.

Brincat and John Muddle were second and third, while others, including the trophy race. Tony Moit (Anderson Unfortunately, Virag was deemed to have infringed Aaron McClintock was next after starting at the back.

Mirage) was the best of the 250s, taking two seconds at the restart, passing the David Hassall/Stephen and a third.

FORMULA FORDS Stockdale Toyota 86 before the control line. The IN THE trophy race, Tom Sargent was able to turn the SPORTS SEDANS consequent penalty dropped them to eleventh. tables on Nathan Herne, after the two Mygale drivers STEVEN LACEY capped off the state championship The two preliminary races went to Virag and Holzl. had finished the other way around in both preliminary with three wins from three starts. The Chev Camaro races. Herne won the start but Sargent snuck ahead driver won 14 races from 18 starts this year, taken SUPERSPORTS part-way through the opening lap. Also in a Mygale, fastest lap in every race and wrapped up the title with a ALEX KENNY was the pre-event favourite in his Juno race to spare. This time out, he led every lap and won LMP3 and he duly took pole and won the opener ahead Finlay Allen had an off that brought out the Safety Car for a few laps. Despite constantly probing, Herne was comfortably from Stuart Inwood (Camaro) in Race 1 of Darren Barlow (Stohr WF1) and Mitchell Neilson unable to find a way past as Harrison Goodman took and Scott Reed (Mustang) in the following races.

(Radical SR3). third from Dan Holihan.

BRUCE MOXON A loose seat put Kenny back to second behind

LEGEND DAY FOR DAN

FOR THE third year in a row, Dan Day won the Trident Tyre Centre Legend of the Lakes Hillclimb at Mt Gambier on November 10-11.

Day’s highly modified Non-Registered 4WD Subaru Impreza WRX STi featured wider tyres and new suspension tweaks Day proved quickest at the Legend of the for this year’s event, and required fine Lake event. Photo: Turn 8 Photography tuning because Kevin Mackrell in his Sports Type Open & Closed 6.0-litre 8) was fractionally ahead of Kurt Wilson until Datsun 240Z set the pace. the Registered 4WD Subaru WRX driver pulled a Over the first six runs, Mackrell was fastest, setting the benchmark at 50.48s before Day went 52.89s on the final run to down his class rival.

It was a three-way battle to see who would quicker on his eighth attempt with a 50.01s flyer. make it into the top five, where Mirko Grbic (EVO Mackrell responded with a 50.20s before Day 7), after trailing the other two for the majority of sealed the win with tenth and final run at 49.98s.

It was a similar tale in the fight for the final the runs, edged ahead of Luke Bosman (EVO position on the outright podium, where for much X) by 0.1s on his final attempt. Damien Brand of the weekend Henry Beasley (Mitsubishi EVO (Lancia Stratos) had to settle for sixth.

Scott Limbert (Mitisubishi Mirage) posted times on Saturday that had him in the top three but was a no-show on Sunday and finished eighth ahead of Anthony Wallis (Nissan Silvia) and Oscar Matthews (EVO).

In what was a successful weekend for the South Eastern Automobile Club Of South Australia, more than 130 cars took part, contesting 19 classes.