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COCHRANE’S RADICAL R AFL-inspired scheme that will make V8s great again Former Supercars boss Tony Cochrane breaks his long silence to tell BRUCE NEWTON how he would make racing affordable and exciting By BRUCE NEWTON LEGENDARY V8 czar Tony Cochrane has proposed an AFLinspired spending cap to resurrect Supercars racing. Cochrane, who built Supercars into a commercial force during his reign from 1996 to 2012, has been chairman of the Gold Coast Suns AFL team since 2016 and says a “soft cap” on spending rather than the current focus on technical parity is the way to cut costs and improve the racing. He argued rigorous policing of a strict budget per car would open up the competition, while a basket of basic technical parameters for cars wouldn’t require such intense scrutiny. He suggested a $1 million per car budget per season, not including driver salary. The current budget to run a Supercar is around double that. “Everybody in the AFL gets a chance,” Cochrane told Auto Action. “If the cycle works perfectly, every seven to nine years, every AFL club will get into the ‘go zone’ to make it to the big dance in September (the AFL grand final), making a much more level playing field.” He put his plan forward during an exclusive and extensive interview with AA (see pages 24-27).
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As Chairman of the Gold Coast Suns, Tony Cochrane suggests there are things to learn for Supercars from the AFL. He’s seen here with former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. Cochrane has kept a low profile for most of the seven years since his departure from Supercars, but has recently started to voice his opinions. Intriguingly, he has been linked with one of several potential bids for Archer Capital’s majority share of Supercars, which is expected to be offered for sale once the next round of media rights from 2021 is completed.
But he maintained there is no particular reason for his higher profile than his continued passion for Supercars. Whatever the motivation, Cochrane is still clearly engaged with the category, concerned about its issues and convinced the AFL’s focus on cost control can benefit Supercars. “This is just my left field idea, which again, lots mightn’t agree with,” he said. “I wouldn’t try and technically
control the whole thing anymore. “I think there are parameters you have that the cars have to be in like weights. There are certain absolute locked-in parameters. “But then I would control the pitlane today by saying – and I’m just making this number up – ‘Every team can spend $1 million to go racing per car this year’. “Excluded outside of that is your driver contract, but included in that is your allocation of team personnel, your allocation of what you can spend on the car and then I would reverse-engineer the whole process. “I’d have lots of bean counters checking the teams constantly on money and not worry so much about ‘Oh, they’ve found a new way to build a new widget’.” It’s a radical idea and even Cochrane admitted he doesn’t know if it would work. Policing team spending would be an obvious challenge. “If I was still running the sport, I would spend whatever it would cost – I don’t know, pick a number, 150 grand – and I would spend the next four months getting somebody who’s got a good grasp of it to go off and prosecute it,” he explained. Punishment for a contravention of the cap would follow the AFL example. Overspends would be
NEW TV DEAL MUST DELIVER MORE Cocho on why it’s all about eyeballs
EVIVAL PLAN fined and the proceeds spread between rival teams. Cochrane is convinced the impact of a soft cap would be obvious. “You stop the arms race,� he declared. “I’m Tony Cochrane, I’ve just thought ‘I’m in a team and I’m going to spend $20 million a year’. “You can’t, right? So you stop the arms race and you give people a much more definitive way of going racing and knowing what their budget’s going to be for the year.� He conceded that such a strict spending cap would potentially impact high-profile performance capabilities like top speed. But he played down how much that would affect fans. “It’s going to be completely and utterly irrelevant,� he said. “There will be one or two fans sitting somewhere who’ve got the shits because the cars are no longer doing 300 km/h,
right? But for 99.99997 per cent of the population, irrelevant. “So things will be affected. Anytime you make a change, things will be affected. It’s trying to make sure anything we did didn’t affect what the fans wanted or thought.� Cochrane also played down the prospects of a spending arms race transferring to driver salaries. “The drivers are integral to selling the show, so that’s why I put the drivers outside the [soft cap],� he said. “However, the driver salary situation in Australia never goes completely off the Richter scale and the reason is because we’re only 25 million people. “We’re never going to end up with a Lewis Hamilton driving a V8 Supercar. So the driver thing is almost sort of balanced out, in some fashion or form.� And if you’re thinking the 2019 AFL Grand Final in which
Richmond absolutely smashed Greater Western Sydney is a pretty poor argument for Cochrane’s soft cap, he sees it exactly opposite. “No, no, no, you’re completely wrong,� he insisted. “The AFL Grand Final this year is living proof the system does work because a brand-new team that’s only eight-years old with no members compared to the team they were playing, which was 130-odd years old and more than 100,000 members. They both got to the big dance.� The Supercars equivalent, presumably, is a small team like Garry Rogers Motorsport being able to go head-to-head with a super-team like DJR Team Penske at Bathurst. “If you achieve that, then you would have achieved a magnificent result,� Cochrane concluded. “So that would be my ultimate.�
THE NEXT media rights deal is “mission critical� for the future of Supercars, argues former category boss Tony Cochrane. Significant income is an obvious requirement, but so is the need to make more coverage more cheaply available to more people. The current six-year $241 million deal covers 2014-2020 and has been controversial because pay station Fox Sports telecasts all events live while Network 10 covers only selected races in real time. Fox Sports also controls Australian streaming rights. “Yes, Fox are doing a magnificent job, but unfortunately they’re only catering for 30 per cent of the marketplace,� Cochrane said. “You’ve got to cater for the other 70 per cent of the marketplace for one simple reason; it’s one very, very crystal-clear reason. “Without proper eyeballs watching the sport, you don’t attract the sponsors to the teams. Without the sponsors in team-land, you are screwed, because that’s the nature of the business. That is how the business is set up.� Supercars has started talks for a new broadcasting rights deal, which will kick off in 2021. Cochrane predicted Supercars’ negotiations would take place in a particularly tough environment as the AFL, NRL, cricket and tennis seasons take an everbigger chunk of the rights money available. “The sports that are really up and about are the ones who have got the resources and the money to invest in how to go about it best,� he said. “So having capital to look at the whole media place is really, really important and in my opinion – and my opinion can be often wrong – there’s going to be a chasm in media rights between sports in Australia in the next five years.� Cochrane predicted that what he pointedly still calls V8 Supercars could be the best of the rest, based on the power of the Bathurst 1000 telecast and Supercars’ strength as Fox Sports’ top-rating motor sport property. “It could be one out, one back – and what I mean by that is it’s got a very compelling story, because as far as motor sport goes, it is easily the ratings winner in this country and New Zealand, by a mile.� BN
UP COMING RACE EVENT CALENDAR Brought to you by www.speedflow.com.au FORMULA 1 BRAZILIAN GRAND PRIX NOVEMBER 17 WRC RALLY AUSTRALIA NOVEMBER 14-17 SHANNONS NATIONALS THE BEND MOTORSPORT PARK NOVEMBER 15-17 SUPERCARS NEWCASTLE 500 NEWCASTLE STREET CIRCUIT NOVEMBER 23-24
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Champ takes defiant stand on Penske penalties By MARK FOGARTY NEWLY RE-CROWNED Supercars champion Scott McLaughlin is defiantly proud of his title despite the tarnishing Bathurst controversies enveloping DJR Team Penske. “I don’t care what anybody else thinks,” McLaughlin declared. “I’m proud of what we’ve done as a team.” He also decried the hostile environment against DJRTP this year as “this toxic paddock”. Along the Supercars pit lane, Shell V-Power Racing’s indiscretions at Bathurst have prompted outrage, despite the hefty sanctions. Most believe the penalties didn’t go far enough. Widespread sentiment within the sport is that McLaughlin’s Bathurst victory, certainly, and even his title are tarnished by his team’s actions. No one suggests that the Brisbane-based New Zealander’s is not deserving of his success personally – he is clearly the standout driver, performing at his peak – but the American-owned team’s tactics certainly taint his achievements this year. McLaughlin clinched his second straight championship by finishing ninth in the Sandown 500 after being relegated from fifth starting position to the rear of the grid as part of DJRTP’s penalty for an engine infringement in qualifying at Bathurst. It awkwardly capped a season during which he has so far scored a record 18 race wins, including the Bathurst 1000, amid on-going controversy. McLaughlin’s successful title defence was overshadowed by the pre-race announcement at the Sandown 500 that he had been stripped of his record-breaking Bathurst pole and DJRTP fined $30,000, plus his demotion to the back of the grid, for the technical transgression. For the full details of the stewards’ findings on the post-Bathurst check of McLaughlin’s practice and qualifying engine – and why it breached the technical rules – go to www.cams.com.au/docs/ default-source/default-document-library/260-stewards-decision-135---djrtp-(bathurst). pdf?sfvrsn=c5416c31_2. The sanction followed the controversy over DJRTP’s safety car scandal at Bathurst, for which
BJR to expand to four entries in 2014 By BRUCE NEWTON JACK SMITH will join the Supercars grid full-time in 2020 as part of an expanded four-car Brad Jones racing line-up. The 20-year makes a move into the main game that’s been forecast for some time and will drive a Holden Commodore ZB sponsored by familyowned transport company SCT Logistics. It is understood – but not confirmed –the Smith family has also invested in the Racing Entitlements Contract (REC) formerly owned by Jason Bright and team owners Brad and Kim Jones that will underpin the entry. Smith will join Nick Percat and Macauley Jones in the team, the latter’s extended tenure officially confirmed last week. But incumbent Tim Slade and Matt Stone Racing refugee Todd Hazelwood both remain in contention for the fourth car. That seat is one of the diminishing number of possible options remaining for unsigned drivers looking for a place on the 2020 Supercars grid. The driver line-ups at Walkinshaw Andretti United, MSR and one seat at Team Sydney remain unannounced. While Chaz Mostert is in-place at WAU and there
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“TITLE NOT TARNISHED” the team was fined a record $250,000 ($100,000 of which is suspended until the end of 2020) and docked 300 teams’ championship points. There was also the persistent suggestion that the new Ford Mustang had a major aerodynamic and centre of gravity advantage that prompted a series of parity adjustments during the season. A subdued McLaughlin bristled at the suggestion that his Bathurst win and championship had been tarnished by his team’s serious breaches of the sporting and technical rules. “Nuh, nuh, nuh-uh,” he said emphatically. “I don’t care what anybody else thinks. I’m proud of what we’ve done as a team. “There’s always conjecture and, basically, I reckon the majority of the people are pretty upset about our year and they have been from the start when we started winning. So, whatever, we push on as a team – I’m proud of everyone.” His own reaction to Sunday morning’s announcement of the Bathurst engine penalties was “just disappointment”. He added: “I was like ‘Oh, well, we’ll just suck it up’, really. What could I do? It was a race that was four weeks and we’re getting penalised for it now. It probably sucks more so to lose the time (qualifying
Image: Ross Gibb
lap record-breaking Bathurst pole) because I thought it was a really good lap from my end and we had a fast car all weekend. “Anyway, we raced with a different engine, we won the race, so whatever.” He clearly doesn’t understand the dissent and resentment DJRTP’s persistent pushing of the rules to the limits and serial transgressions have generated within the sport and among all but oneeyed Ford fans. Although he didn’t celebrate his early championship success overtly, McLaughlin expressed extreme pride in the achievement despite his bitterness about the highly charged political atmosphere this year. “I’m proud of winning Bathurst and I’m proud of winning the championship, don’t get me wrong,” he said. “But off track, it’s just been political and, unfortunately for the sport, it’s getting like that and has been like that all year. “So we’re just going to have to push on and fight ’em off (Triple Eight for the teams’ title) because I think we’ve fought off a lot this year and I think we’ve done a good job to stay together as a team. “I will celebrate, but we don’t want to take anything away from Triple Eight and what they did
SMITH CONFIRMED
Image: LAT
is widespread belief along pitlane Garry Jacobson will replace Hazelwood at MSR, their team-mates are still being finalised. Newly crowned Super2 champion Bryce Fullwood is emerging as the favourite to take the second seat at WAU, while Zane Goddard, Will Brown and Jake Kostecki have all been linked with the unique split-driver program that is under consideration at MSR. Meanwhile, Scott Pye (Team 18) and Andre Heimgartner (Kelly Racing) have recently been confirmed in drives they were tipped to fill (see separate story). Smith’s move into the main game with BJR
comes after three years racing in Super3 and Super2 for the team. In that time he has been mentored by Kim Jones’ son Andrew, who is also his manager. Smith has competed in four wildcard outings in 2019 with a best finish of 20th at Hidden Valley. He was Hazelwood’s co-driver in the Pirtek Enduro Cup and the pair managed three 20th-place finishes, although there were some promising runs in the MSR Commodore. “I am very excited about 2020, my first year as a full -time Supercars driver,” Smith said in a statement. “Over the past four years I have experienced
today. They won the race. “I’ll just go with my friends away from this toxic paddock.” He’ll save his full-on championship celebration with his team until after the season-ending Newcastle 500 in two weeks. “We’ll have our time to celebrate in Image: LAT Newcastle and, bloody oath, we will because I love that track, I love going there, we’re always fast,” McLaughlin said. “If we could have a couple of race wins, it’d be awesome and that’s when we’ll do our celebrating.” His horror Sunday at Sandown came on top of wrecking his previous Mustang in a from bellringing crash in qualifying at Surfers Paradise, scratching him from the GC600 and delaying his coronation until Sandown. McLaughlin and co-driver Alex Premat were in a brand-new car, recovering from their back-of-thegrid start and a 15 seconds pit lane penalty to finish in sight of the leaders. He is now looking to wrap up his championshipwinning season with wins at next week’s Newcastle 500 finale. For more on McLaughlin’s thoughts of how he wants to finish the year, go to autoaction.com. highs and lows amongst various categories, but it has all been a lead up to next year, where the real work will begin. “BJR has been my home for the past three years and I feel great about competing in my first full time year with them. “There are a lot of aspects of this sport that I have learnt, and I look forward to continuing that learning next year. I am very grateful for this opportunity and it is going to be a big year for myself, family, team and sponsor group.” BJR’s expansion to a four car squad comes after 10 years running three cars. It debuted in 2000 running a single car and expanded to two cars in 2002. “I think four cars is better than three because it gives us more depth … This entry is properly funded so there is a lot of legwork we don’t have to do with this one,” said Brad Jones. “It’s going to help the business.” Smith will share a boom with the Cooldrive entry driven by Macauley Jones, which is underpinned by a REC owned by the Blanchard family. “One of the things I am really looking forward to is not sharing a boom with a car from another entry,” said Brad Jones. “Matt Stone has been fantastic as a team to pair up with, but this is an opportunity to get all our guys practising and get them up to speed.”
Image: Ross Gibb
SUPERCARS FORMS FAN COUNCIL BY BRUCE NEWTON ARE YOU a passionate Supercars fan? Then standby you might be hearing from the category soon. Supercars intends to form a fan council in 2020 to provide input from the grandstands on the future direction of the category. The development and finalisation of Gen3 technical rules due for introduction in 2022 provides impetus for the council, but its brief will be wider than that. “It’s around a discussion (of where) the entire sport is going,” explained Supercars CEO Sean Seamer. “Part of that will be Gen3.
“The strategic plan is to have a better qualitative dialogue with our fans. We obviously understand what they do and don’t like based on when they do tune in and when they don’t tune in and which events they come to. “That’s quantitative data, what we want is a qualitative conversation with important fans, both the die-hard fans but also the light users.” NASCAR also has a fan council, but it has 25,000 members and engages them at least twice monthly by email. Anyone can join and as long as you keep participating you stay a member.
But the Supercars selection and engagement process will be entirely different. The Supercars fan council will comprise 10-12 members and will meet quarterly in 2020. At the end of the year a call will be made on its value and whether it will be continued. “We’ll identify key influencers of ours through social media, we’ll look at the most frequent attendees and put a bit of a shortlist together and see who we can approach to pull them together,” said Seamer. “But we’ll obviously want a broad
EXCLUDE THEM! FORGET THE fines. More exclusions and stiffer points penalties are the only way to stop controversies such as those committed by DJR Team Penske. That’s the view of Holden factory team boss Roland Dane, who says monetary fines make little impact on teams as well funded as DJRTP, which is owned by the American billionaire Roger Penske. DJRTP copped a $250,000 fine ($100,000) suspended and the maximum 300 teams championship points penalty when Fabian Coulthard “backed-up” the field behind a late-race safety car at the Bathurst 1000. Coulthard and co-driver Tony D’Alberto were also dumped to the back of the field post-event by CAMS stewards. But Scott Mclaughlin and Alex Premat retained their race win, which stirred plenty of controversy. Making an already turbulent situation more heated, on Sunday morning of the Sandown 500 CAMS announced a $30,000 fine for DJRTP after it was found McLaughlin’s Bathurst qualifying engine had illegal valve lift in some cylinders. It’s the third significant indiscretion by the team in just over 12 months. Back in 2018 DJRTP was also fined $30,000 ($15,000 suspended) for using the wrong dropgear in McLaughlin’s car at The Bend.
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DJRTP has stated all three errors have been innocent mistakes. However Team Penske boss Tim Cindric - who flew into Australia for the engine hearing conducted at the Sandown 500 – was not prepared to face the media last weekend and explain why it keeps happening. “It’s only one team,” lamented Dane. “We as a championship are not used to this sort of behaviour. “To me fining teams that have got as much money as they have is a waste of time. Exclusions and more points, those are the only things.” Dane is especially incensed by the Bathurst safety car imboglio, which potentially impacted on the results of many cars in the field. “I could not hold my head up high with Holden, Red Bull and the rest of our sponsors if we did something like occurred at Bathurst. I wouldn’t be able to, not that I would ever want to. “I hope we are not going to see this sort of thing, but unfortunately it’s been a rough few weeks.” Separately on television, BJR team owner Brad Jones expressed his disappointment at the fine handed down for the engine breach. “I think it’s very easy to draw a conclusion quickly, but my initial reaction is, I don’t
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demographic to contribute to that.” Getting fans in who attend events live is seen as critical to the fan council’s structure. “From our research this is category or a sport you have to see ea and smell,” said Seamer. “It’s a visceral experience. We know the people that come to our events have the best understanding of the product, so that would be a primary focus for us.” The establishment of the fan council follows on from the formation of the Supercars manufacturer council in 2019.
Image: Ross Gibb
think the penalty’s probably hard enough,” Jones said. “I think if the bits aren’t right, then the bits aren’t right, so therefore the penalty needs to be substantial. “They’ve checked the race engine and it was fine so when you put it together with the other thing that happened (Bathurst), it’s not good,” Supercars CEO Sean Seamer told media at Sandown that penalties were being reviewed for 2020, although there had been
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no specific submissions from teams calling for harsher punishment for contraventions such as the Bathurst safety car. “When we finalise our operations manual for 2020 we put together a list of suggested penalties that then goes to CAMS and the FIA,” he explained “They will look at local precedent, they will look at FIA precedent if a local precedent doesn’t exist. “Our updated suggested penalties will go through towards the end of this year.” BN
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SVG: “I FEEL NOTHING”
KELLY RACING has confirmed that Andre Heimgartner will continue with the team in 2020 completing its two car driver line-up. Heimgartner and team boss Rick Kelly will be the only two drivers in a downscaled Kelly Racing squad, which will make the switch from Nissan Altimas to Ford Mustangs next season.
FORMER SUPERCARS Champion James Courtney, who is leaving Walkinshaw Andretti United at the end of the season to race for a new Sydney Based team, has requested his future bosses sign up his current co-driver Jack Perkins. The pair have been long-time Pirtek Enduro Cup partners and Courtney is keen for Perkins to remain his co-driver after the pair claimed another podium finish at The Mountain.
LOSING THE Sandown 500 with just over 10 laps to go ranks among Shane van Gisbergen’s most disappointing moments in Supercars racing. Van Gisbergen was holding a comfortable lead following an epic drive from 24th to first along with co-driver Garth Tander when the right-rear suspension of his Triple Eight Holden Commodore ZB collapsed. He was able to persevere for another lap but elected to pit because the amount of smoke made it obvious the tyre would not survive to the finish. “I’m feeling nothing at the moment,” admitted van Gisbergen. “It’s up there (as a loss) because of where we started and how fast the car was. Never winning this race before makes it hard as well.” Van Gisbergen, who suffered a heartbreaking miss at Bathurst in 2014 and has still yet to cross the line first at Mount Panorama, won’t get the chance to win his first Sandown 500 any time soon, as the 500km enduro format transfers to The Bend and the Melbourne track reverts to two 200km sprints in 2020. But van Gisbergen is hardly alone in missing out; 2019 Supercars champion Scott McLaughlin, his team-mate Fabian Coulthard, Tickford Racing star Chaz Mostert, 2017 Bathurst winner David Reynolds and veterans Will Davison and James Courtney are amongst the Supercars superstars to have never won this race. By contrast, Sundays winners Jamie Whincup (5) and Craig Lowndes (6) have 11 wins in the 500 between them.
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There were other ramifications from the loss as well; van Gisbergen/Tander’s 17th place finish dropped them from the lead of the Pirtek Enduro Cup into second place behind Whincup/Lowndes. It also meant T8’s teams’ championship score took a hit, leaving the factory Holden squad with a 116 point deficit to DJRTP heading into the Newcastle 500 season finale. In the drivers’ championship van Gisbergen has also fallen back into the clutches of Whincup in the battle for second behind McLaughlin. Only 116 points separate them with up to 300 points to be won across two 250km races. “It would have been perfect a 1-2, we would have got our team goal,” said van Gisbergen. “It’s a shame a mechanical failure ended it”. Tander started second-last on the grid – only ahead of the penalised McLaughlin/Alex Premat DJR Team Penske Ford Mustang – after van Gisbergen self-admittedly stuffed up at the first corner of his qualifying race on Saturday and t-boned Anton De Pasquale’s Erebus Commodore.
A long 72-lap stint from Tander brought the car into contention and van Gisbergen took the lead from Whincup just before the final round of stops. “It was awesome, I could see how good the car was with Garth and tyre life, how quick he was,” van Gisbergen said of the fight to the front. “Then I got in and got told the times the top three were doing with the tyre degradation and I thought ‘I’ll take it easy’. “The tyres didn’t go off, so I knew we had a rocket and kept pushing. “So yeah it (the failure) was a shame. I just come out of the last corner and thought it had really good traction … but it just didn’t come back up as it normally does. “I tried to carry on and saw how much smoke there was and knew it wasn’t going to last 10 laps.” Team boss Roland Dane described the failure as “selfinflicted” but wouldn’t speculate on what specifically went wrong. “There will be a reason,” Dane said. “It’s just a question of analysing why in a methodical way, which we will do. “It’s 99.97 per cent sure it’s self-inflicted we, just have to understand how.” BN
FIGHT FOR TEAM SYDNEY THE USUAL joking David Reynolds has shown a much more serious side, by getting behind the Curb the Rage campaign. The former Bathurst 1000 Champion has been working behind the scenes with his management company, Push Talent Management, to raise awareness about road rage violence.
SEVEN-TIME BATHURST 1000 winner Craig Lowndes revealed an AC Delco ‘Project Monaro’ promotional vehicle at Holden’s headquarters in Port Melbourne fbefore Sandown. A unique creation built over five months, the ‘Project Monaro’ will be given to one lucky Holden customer as a prize. What started as a well-worn 2004 CV8 Monaro with 214,000km on the clock is now a tribute to the commitment of Holden and a small group of enthusiastic project partners.
IT HAS been confirmed that Macauley Jones will remain in Tim Blanchard’s Team Cooldrive Supercars entry run by BJR in 2020. Jones made his full-time debut at the start of the 2019 season.
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By BRUCE NEWTON A TUG of war has broken out for the rights to Team Sydney. The Webb family and Sydney property developer and racer Rod Salmon are now running rival bids for the deal, when originally they were meant to team up and work together. A meeting scheduled for Wednesday (November 13) was due to review the plans and make a call on the future of the first Supercars team to be run out of Sydney since 2003. For the first time since confirming the Team Sydney plan at the Bathurst 1000 – after the news was broken by autoaction.com.au – Supercars is publicly hedging its bets about when the team will be rolled out. “It (Team Sydney) needs to be done right, that’s the number one priority,” Supercars CEO Sean Seamer told media at the Sandown 500 last weekend. “It doesn’t have to be done fast, it needs to be done right.” Right now, the plan is for a two-car team to be based in a temporary facility at Sydney Motorsport Park in 2020 ahead of moving into an allnew headquarters in 2021. The team is intended to run two Triple Eight Holden Commodore ZBs for James Courtney and an as-yet un-named second driver. The Webb family was to supply its existing Racing Entitlement Contract (REC) to the deal, while Salmon was
Tekno and Salmon are now rivals in Supercar bid
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to purchase another from among the three Supercars had ‘on the shelf’. Salmon was never officially named as part of the deal, the official press release issued at Bathurst only referring to Tekno boss Jonathon Webb “finalising agreements with new partners”. But the Webb and his father – and Tekno REC owner Steve - and Salmon have not pursued their mooted deal. At Sandown last weekend there were strong rumours the Webbs were going it alone and Salmon was out of the picture. But sources close to Salmon insist that he remains fully committed to the project, has no interest in aligning with the Webbs and believes he has the legal upper-hand in terms of agreements with parties relevant to the deal.
Those parties include the NSW government – which is tipping in $33 million to develop a motorsport centre of excellence at SMP – the Australian Racing Drivers Club (ARDC) – which runs SMP – and the Confederation of Australian Motorsports (CAMS). Whoever ends up being Team Sydney, Supercars is clear it must race two cars, meaning the Webbs have one REC to secure or Salmon two. RECS are currently quite cheap, valued at about $200,000 each. Seamer indicated Wednesday’s meeting was a key milestone for the project. “We will be reviewing the plan for Team Sydney next Wednesday and be looking to be finalising REC transfers or sale of RECs not long after that,” he said. “So we are pretty much out of time,
we have a view on what the different parties want to do so we are about a week away from a decision and confirmation on that.” Asked if there was a chance Team Sydney may “fall over”, Seamer replied “not at this stage”. “Our priority is making sure that we get the chance to work through the business plans and making sure everything is planning to be executed at the highest possible level given the importance to Supercars as a category, as a sport and for the NSW government as well,” he said. Seamer explained there were a number of urgent priorities that had to be resolved. “There are certain things that need to be done in the next week in terms of REC transfer and driver market. What the building is going to look like etcetera, less important. “But getting the REC sorted out and getting the drivers sorted out and making sure the NSW government is happy with the plan and making sure the ARDC is happy with the plan, that’s the priority for the next couple of weeks.” Webb was taciturn when approached about the future of Team Sydney by Auto Action. “Nothing has changed from my point of view,” he said. “You (media) can assume what you want to assume, as you have all done to date anyway. I am not making any comment on it.”
SIMONA TO QUIT SUPERCARS By MARK FOGARTY FAST FEMME Simona de Silvestro has confirmed that her full-time Supercars career will be over at the end of the season. De Silvestro will switch to a factory drive with Porsche in an unspecified series next year. Her new role will be in addition to her previously announced test driver deal with the German manufacturer’s new Formula E team. She announced the approaching end of her ground-breaking three-year Supercars campaign on the eve of the Sandown 500. “I won’t be racing in Supercars next year,” de Silvestro told Auto Action. “I’m going to be racing for Porsche overseas.” AA revealed last month that she was set to quit Supercars. The 31-year-old Swiss national’s last race as a Supercars regular will be next week’s season-ending Newcastle 500, which will also be her farewell appearance in a Kelly Racing Nissan Altima. She was never going to continue with KR, which is cutting back to Mustangs for Rick Kelly and Andre Heimgartner in 2020. De Silvestro has left the door open to returning next year as a co-driver in the endurance races or a one-off wildcard entry at Bathurst. Retail giant Harvey Norman is set to
resume backing her if she achieves her aim of securing a front-running co-drive or guest appearance. “There are possibilities for me to do the enduros, which is something that I’m really going to keep in mind and a wildcard could also be a possibility,” she said. De Silvestro became the first female to compete full-time at the top level of Australian touring car racing in 40 years when she joined the then factory backed Nissan team in 2017. She has struggled for three seasons as a member of Kelly Racing’s four-car Altima squad and was only interested in staying in Supercars if she could secure a competitive drive. Her efforts were superseded by an offer of a factory backed Porsche drive overseas, believed to be in GT racing. “I can’t really say exactly what it is now because it’s going to get announced in December,” de Silvestro said. “I got a really good offer and I think for my career’s sake, I really think it’s where my future is and where the best opportunity is for me to be successful. “I think with Porsche it’s something pretty exciting because no matter what car I’m in, it’s going to be a competitive car and for me it’s really something that is quite special.” She paid tribute to the support of Harvey Norman CEO Katie Paige, who backed the former IndyCar racer and
Sauber F1 test driver from her first wildcard appearance at Bathurst in 2015. “Having Harvey Norman backing me the last five years also created this opportunity (with Porsche), to be honest,” she said. “Thanks to them, I was able to race here and show my skills.” De Silvestro admitted that she and Harvey Norman wanted to stay in Supercars, but there were no front-running seats available. “To be honest, we were really trying to get a good drive in Supercars,” she said. “Harvey Norman was really keen to continue, and we got to a couple of months ago and were just looking at all the options – if it was here in Australia or if it was overseas. “At the end of the day, if you’re not with Penske or Red Bull, it’s difficult. My chance with Porsche is putting me in a situation like driving for Penske or Red Bull. It’s a really amazing opportunity and pretty much what Katie Paige and Harvey Norman stood for. “They gave me this opportunity to get to where I need to be. Unfortunately, it’s not here in Australia, but it’s a big win in the sense that somebody like Porsche signs me to go racing for them. “If I do something in Australia (in 2020), they’ll be involved, for sure.”
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She is optimistic about her chances of returning next year in a competitive co-drive in the Enduro Cup or a frontrunning one-off at Bathurst. “It’s on the cards, definitely,” de Silvestro said. “I’ve really enjoyed my time in Supercars. Definitely, I feel like that I haven’t ticked the boxes that I should have, but in the circumstances that we were in this year, I think it would have anyways been very difficult. “That’s how racing goes sometimes. You need to be at the right place at
the right time and, unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. This year, for example, the whole Nissan thing (withdrawal of factory backing) made it a bit tricky. “I would love to come back for Bathurst and given the right chance, the right team and all that, I think it can be successful. So I’m definitely going to keep my mind pretty open about it. “I definitely won’t forget Australia. I love it here and it’s definitely going to be strongly on my mind for next year to try to do the enduros or a wildcard, for sure.”
FULLWOOD EMERGES AS WAU FAVOURITE BRYCE FULLWOOD who clinched the 2019 Super2 Series with a round to spare is hotly tipped to take the second Walkinshaw Andretti United seat. The Territorian who has been co-driving alongside Andre Heimgartner in the #7 Kelly racing Nissan Altima throughout this year’s Pirtek Endurance Cup has emerged as the favourite for the WAU seat. When approached by Auto Action and asked if a deal was close to being signed Fullwood admitted he is having discussions with WAU. “It is certainly not close (to being completed),” he said. “We’re still talking to other teams, I know they’re still talking to other drivers; look we’re definitely speaking to them as we are with other people as well.” “I’d absolutely love to get something over the line there, but we’ll just have to wait and see how it all pans out and what opportunity best presents itself for us.” The 21-year-old also confirmed that he has been in discussions with
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Brad Jones Racing but admitted it is a very competitive silly season in which to find a seat. “They are our two teams (WAU and BJR), but there are lots of other people out there still and as you know there’s a lot of drivers out there with a lot of experience trying to get back in that are out. You’re up against some pretty good people, it’s going to be a very silly season,” he explained. When asked if a Supercars seat does not come fruition he said he feels that he has done all he can is Super2 and that it is an important time in his career. “Not sure what the plan is (if no seat is found), I’m full sights trying to go into the main series,” he said. “I feel like I’ve done my time and apprenticeship in Super2 and you can’t race in it your whole life, there has to be a time where you move on. If you can’t go up, you race up north or go back to work, it’s a critical time.” DM
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WORLD DESCENDS ON BATHURST GARAGE1 HAS announced that Tim Brook will debut the first Cupra Leon TCR car in the final round of the TCR Australia Series at The Bend Motorsport Park. The reigning Toyota 86 Racing Series winner previously drove a Honda Civic Type R TCR for Wall Racing at Winton Motor Raceway.
THE INAUGURAL Australian S5000 Series calendar has been revealed. The series will kick off on the streets of Albert Park as a support to Formula 1 at the Australian Grand Prix. From there the series moves to Sydney Motorsport Park, Winton, The Bend Motorsport Park, Phillip Island and will conclude at Sandown Raceway. A non-championship event will also be held at Mount Panorama with the date yet to be revealed. DM
A SPECTACULAR launch took place last Tuesday (November 12) for the Australian Racing Group’s plan for the fifth event at Bathurst, which it won the rights to back in September. The Bathurst International will showcase the various classes under ARG’s stewardship, including TCR, TA2, Touring Car Masters, LMP3 prototype sports cars and S5000. The event will be held on December 4-6 2020 in a joint venture between Motorsport Australia (CAMS), ARG and the Bathurst Regional Council. The weekend schedule is planned to feature a two-driver, 500km TCR event, an S5000 round featuring invited international talent pitted among local stars, a TA2 grid combining American, Asian and Australian races, the retro Touring Car Masters class and the first visit of LMP3 race cars to The Mountain. This event will be a non-championship affair as drivers aim to be the International King of the Mountain. Competitors are eager to take to The Mountain in what is an end of year blast at a such a special venue. “Bathurst is one of the best race tracks in the world – it’s a kind of mix between Spa and Macau,” said Lync & Co WTCR driver Andy Priaulx.
“It will be fantastic to drive there in a TCR car that will perform really well over the top. I have very fond memories of my previous experiences on the circuit and I am sure that the TCR race will provide a very exciting show. I’m looking forward to hear all about it.” ARG Director Matt Braid is excited by the new venture and believes international interest will be high. “The Australian Racing Group is pleased to announce our Bathurst International event at Mount Panorama,” said Braid. “This event was presented as a true opportunity to bring a new International focus to Bathurst. Up to now there has been limited opportunities for international drivers to compete at Australia’s best race track in cars they are used to racing in their home series’. “With the variety of categories on offer at the event, and a date that comes after most global
series have concluded means the Bathurst International will see international drivers, teams and their cars compete head to head with Australia best drivers across multiple races over the event weekend.” A sentiment shared by Bathurst Regional Council Mayor Bobby Bourke. “We are excited to partner with ARG to bring this exciting new event featuring a range of cars and drivers from all over the world to Mount Panorama,” said Cr Bourke. “An event of this calibre will bring an international focus to the racing circuit not seen before. “Mount Panorama has a reputation as one of the best racing circuits in the world. The international exposure of this event will elevate Mount Panorama’s prestige and showcase the racing circuit and Bathurst to a global audience.” HM
TA2 ADDED TO ADELAIDE 500 LINE-UP THE 2020 TCR Australia Series prizes have been announced, with the winner of next year’s series awarded a wildcard entry in either a WTCR or significant international TCR event. The second TCR season will see a Rookie of the Year title awarded too to the highest placed rookie, the recipient receiving a test day with a European TCR team.
WALL RACING has completed the rebuild of the John Martin car that was heavily damaged at Phillip Island. This means that the team now has four Honda Civic Type Rs at its disposal. For the final round Tony D’Alberto will remain in his new car and Martin will switch back to his original car, while the remaining two cars are yet to be filled.
EVENTS SOUTH Australia has confirmed that the TA2 Muscle Cars will be among a strong support lineup at the 2020 Adelaide 500. In a deal struck between the Australian Racing Group, the TA2 Muscle Car Series and Events South Australia, Adelaide fans will witness the debut of the category, which consists of Ford Mustang, Chevrolet Camaro and Dodge Challenger race cars on an Australian street circuit. Second-generation racer Aaron Seton was victorious last weekend in the season decider at Queensland Raceway, defeating former GT racer George Miedecke in a thrilling finish. It’s these drivers that Adelaide 500 General Manager Alistair MacDonald believes will further cement the event as the leading Australian domestic motorsport weekend. “We are delighted to host the TA2 Muscle Car Series at our event in 2020, more importantly as their first
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ever street circuit outing in Australia,” said MacDonald. “The on track racing line-up is stronger than ever with a quality range of support categories, appealing to all motorsport enthusiasts and event goers.” TA2 Muscle Car Series manager Craig Denyer is confident the category will add to the quality support bill the event already plays host to. “This event is a major turning point for TA2 which has grown incredibly
quickly in just two seasons as a national series,” said Denyer. “The Superloop Adelaide 500 is the benchmark when it comes to fan engagement and our teams and drivers can’t wait to perform on the national stage and show everyone just how great the TA2 Muscle Car Series really is.” Also, glad to bring the deal together was Australian Racing Group director Matt Braid after partnering with TA2 back in August.
GOLDING EXPLORING ALL OPTIONS ALL THREE GT Championship calendars have now been confirmed. The regular GT Championship will run six rounds, starting with races at the Bathurst 6 Hour event in April, with the remaining five rounds taking place on the Supercars’ schedule finishing at Sandown. The Endurance Championship contains three rounds, starting with the Bathurst 12 Hours and then the final two rounds at Phillip Island, both four hour races. The inaugural GT4 Championship will be run over six rounds beginning with Phillip Island and ending at the Bathurst 1000 meeting.
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AFTER GARRY Rogers Motorsport announced it would withdraw from Supercars at the end of the current 2019 season, James Golding has found himself on the 2020 drivers market. Although it has been a difficult period for Golding he explained that he saw the writing on the wall and wasn’t truly left in the lurch. “I knew it was leaning towards that for probably a month or so,” Golding told Auto Action. Despite this he is unsure as to whether he will have a full-time seat next year saying that he is looking at all options. “I’m not sure exactly (whether he will be racing
full-time), obviously you want to be driving full-time ideally,” he said. Golding felt being picked up by a big team was impossible unless it was for a co-driver role. “In terms of being picked up by one of the top teams, there is better potential with a co-drive,” he said The 23-year-old feels this may be the best way to make a return to the Supercars grid in the following seasons. “That could possibly lead onto a full-time drive with the same team, so we are looking at a few different options at the moment,” he explained.
“This will be TA2’s biggest event that they have competed at, and the real winners are going to be the fans. They are modern, popular muscle cars that make all of the right sounds,” said Braid. “The racing will be close too. There are a number of really great drivers who will line-up on the TA2 grid next year, and we know they are going to put on a great spectacle for the Adelaide race-goers.” The announcement comes after just a month ago Supercars attempted to block the category from the Adelaide 500 support bill due to intellectual property issues and comes after TCR Australia’s planned round at the event was also blocked in June. TA2 joins Super2, Carrera Cup, Touring Car Masters and the returning Stadium Super Trucks in supporting the opening round of the Supercars on the streets of Adelaide. HM
“Nothing is locked in yet so we are just going to have to see what happens.” Golding said that he wants to do well for Garry Rogers who has been a team owner in the Supercars Championship since 1996. “It would be good to finish off with a good result for Garry who has been in the sport for so long, hopefully we can do that for him,” he said. DM
PENSKE BUYS INDY LOCK, STOCK AND BARREL APPROACHING HIS 83rd birthday early in the new year, Roger Penske just can’t slow down. The man who has done and won virtually everything in motor sport has pulled off the deal of his long life, agreeing to buy America’s most famous racetrack and its top open-wheeler series. Penske is acquiring the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the famed 110-yearold, 4 km oval track in Indiana, and the IndyCar Series, in which the Indianapolis 500 is the crown jewel known as ‘The Greatest Spectacle in Racing’. Within a month of conquering the Bathurst 1000 and receiving the US Presidential Medal of Freedom from Donald Trump, Penske has done a mega deal to add to his automotive industry and motor racing empire already valued at US$32 billion (A$46.5 billion) and with 64,000 employees. Rival IndyCar team owners Chip Ganassi, Michael Andretti and Bobby Rahal have welcomed the purchase from the Hulman family that has owned ‘The Speedway’ for 74 years. The takeover is being done through Penske Entertainment, a new division of the Penske Corporation. No price has been announced because the companies on both sides of the transaction are privately-owned and not required to reveal all details. The deal will cost Australia’s IndyCar
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star Will Power his race strategist – a role ‘The Captain’, as Penske is universally known, has performed in recent years. Penske has won the Indy 500 a record 18 times – the past two years with Power and Frenchman Simon Pagenaud – and the IndyCar Series 15 times, including with Power in 2014 and American Josef Newgarden twice in the past three years. The tycoon has been in love with Indianapolis and Indy racing since his father took him to IMS in 1951. His latest business coup comes a year after the death of the Hulman family matriarch, Mary Hulman George, and has been pieced together in six weeks. Tony George – a third-generation member of the Hulman family who was behind the split in American open-wheeler racing that kept Penske away from the Indy 500 for several years – announced the deal with ‘The Captain’ overnight. George said that, while the sale was “emotionally difficult” for the Hulman family (known to be deeply divided), Penske was “the ideal steward” for IMS
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WILDCARD COUSINS Jake and Brodie Kostecki are now in the thick of the silly season with the Kostecki Brothers Racing Team looking at running its own squad in Supercars. When asked if they were looking for a seat in 2020 Brodie revealed to Auto Action that the Super2 team is looking to make the step up into Supercars next year. “We are sticking to our game plan of trying to find some funding for next year, for our own campaign and it is full steam ahead trying to get our team up and running.” When asked to confirm that it was in Supercars Brodie replied. “Not in Super2.” With Kurt Kostecki also part of the three car operation in Super2, it is possible that at least one of the three Kosteckis could enter the Supercars Championship with at least one REC still in the hands of Supercars. At Sandown in mixed conditions Jake and Brodie impressed putting the car eighth on the grid and remained in the thick of the action throughout the race. “I think maybe because we are a wildcard nobody wanted to give us any room at all,” Jake felt. Jake was involved in an incident at Turn 4 with Michael Caruso which put the Tickford driver multiple laps down as he came into pit for repairs. Later on in the race with Brodie behind the wheel he
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and IndyCar, and his “energy, leadership and resources” could take them to new levels. Penske said he trusted that his credibility would ensure there were no perceptions of conflicts of interest with him remaining an IndyCar team owner. He alluded to potential new events at IMS – perhaps a 24-hour race – and an expanded presence for NASCAR, in which he is also a top team owner, and even a return of Formula 1, which disgraced itself there with a six-car race in 2005. Perhaps Supercars in time? “We’ve got to try some things,” Penske said. “I am prepared to take a risk. “No risk, no reward.” Given his local racing and business interests, his takeover of IndyCar could assist efforts for a long-awaited return of the series to Australia. As revealed by Auto Action, IndyCar is eying a double-header with Supercars at Sydney Motorsport Park as soon as 2021. Geoffrey Harris
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came to lap the Monster sponsored Caruso and Cameron waters car, Brodie chucked him the bird on the way through as he felt he was held up. “He was just parking in the middle of the corners him and Cam were just playing games, if they want to play like that, that is fine, I’ll just keep running my own race and deal with that out of the car like a man,” Brodie said reflecting on the incident. It has certainly been an interesting couple of months for the cousins Jake and Brodie who both made their Supercars debut at Bathurst. The debut didn’t go well Brodie nearly passed out on the warm up lap due to carbon monoxide poisoning and resulted in Jake starting the race for the team. This was followed by a heavy crash for Jake around halfway through the race, the severity of the incident put the Gold Coast round in doubt for the West Australians. However the pair stayed made it, stayed out of trouble and finished in 18th and 16th in the two races, before finishing 16th at Sandown and 24th in the Enduro Cup. Dan McCarthy
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BETTER LATE THAN NEVER NISSAN ALTIMA driver Andre Heimgartner admitted that there is annoyance within Kelly Racing that car pace has improved drastically since it announced its switch to Ford Mustangs in 2020. After scoring his best career Supercars result, Kiwi Heimgartner feels that his #7 Altima has been very quick in recent rounds but hasn’t shown the true pace until now. “Bathurst we were pretty fast, one of only five or six cars to get into the 2m 03s which was really good, that week it didn’t go our way due to my mistake and at the end and Gold Coast through various reasons didn’t work out either,” he recalled. When asked if there is frustration within the team as the spike in performance has come so late in the cars life, he confessed there had been. “Yeah definitely,” he acknowledged. “There has obviously been a few conversations (within the team) about carrying on with the car but there are many facets to it obviously. “Having a car that is so old from a commercial point of view isn’t good, along with the speed point of view, and having to be the homologating team puts a lot of stress on the team as well. “It is just a lot easier to change over to the Ford, obviously it is quite ironic that it is starting to come good now, but they have always been half alright if you hit them in the window, for us it has been finding that window that has been the struggle.” After qualifying third his co-driver Bryce Fullwood took to the wheel for the 20-lap co-driver race, after a spin he was still able to finish fourth and was catching the Red Bull Holden Racing Team cars towards the end of the race. Heimgartner had nothing but praise for his Super2 Series leading co-driver who is looking for a full-time drive next year. “He spun but didn’t fire off, to his credit he gathered it all up kept a cool head and in those situations, it can go either way and it can all be a slippery slope,” Heimgartner said. “To have someone like Bryce I really want to utilise his speed and so far we haven’t been able to do that.” After the well-publicised collision in Turn 1 between Anton de Pasquale and Shane van Gisbergen Heimgartner was able to pick up a superb second place, which is where the Altima will start for the Sandown 500 later today. “Hopefully we can get a good start off the front row, try and keep it clean and try and get a good result because we have recorded two DNFs and a 21st so far, so it is pretty horrendous.” DM
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RETURNING AUSSIE JOINS TCR AUSTRALIAN SPORTS car driver James Allen will compete in his homeland for the first time after announcing he will contest the final round of TCR Australia at The Bend Motorsport Park. Allen will contest the event in Ash Seward Motorsport’s newly acquired second Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloce TCR. The European-based competitor has most recently raced in various prototype machinery worldwide
including the top-tier LMP1 Dragonspeed BR Engineering BR1 Gibson in the World Endurance Championship sixhour events at Shanghai and Fuji in 2018. His association with Dragonspeed also allowed him to complete an IndyCar test earlier in the year. Prior to this relationship, he experienced success in the European Le Mans Series with G-Drive and Graff Racing, winning two races in 2017 to finish the
season third outright. The seat fitting has taken place and Allen is eager to take on The Bend. “This is the first front wheel driver car that I’ve raced, and probably the heaviest race car I’ve ever driven too, so it will be a whole new game,” said Allen. “I’m definitely looking forward to it. It’s always nice to try something different, but I had a test at Winton and that helped me get up to speed. “At the moment, it’s just a
one-off race for me. If I enjoy it, I’ll look into doing it next year if it doesn’t clash with any of my racing in Europe, and it will be nice to race back at home for once! “I’ve been watching the TCR Australia races online. It looks close and it looks like it will be good fun. I’m just excited to get amongst it.” The final round of the inaugural TCR Australia Series takes place at The Bend on November 15-17. HM
WHINCUP SUGGESTS FURTHER SANDOWN IMPROVEMENTS SEVEN-TIME Supercars Champion Jamie Whincup feels that further track changes, though is impressed by the track upgrades made to Sandown since the field last visited the Victorian venue 14 months ago. Whincup believes that the partial track re-surface and the changes made to the outside of the fast Turn 6 have really improved the safety of the circuit, but thinks that the extended run-off could result in some conjecture. “The improvements are to the track are great, certainly from a safety perspective,” he said. “But a strip of grass (on the outside of Turn 6) would have been nice, it’ll be a judge of fact there all weekend, hopefully no one crosses that line and ends up in any issue.” Resurfacing on sections of the track has made the track faster and more difficult for drivers to negotiate Turn 9. “The extra grip down there is certainly making it more of a corner
to attack, you get it wrong you are in the gravel, once you are in the gravel you are bogged and it is all over,” Whincup explained. “But the track is definitely faster than it was last year.” The four-time Bathurst 1000 winner was surprised the run-off at the tight turn was not altered. “I went in there (Turn 9 gravel trap)
got bogged, red flag,” the Red Bull Holden Racing Team driver recalled. “It would be great to get an improvement down there, to go through the gravel trap and be able to drive out the other side would be handy. “Would’ve been nice to have done that when all the earthworks were getting done.” DM
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RALLY AUSTRALIA TO STILL GO AHEAD
THE HYUNDAI WRC Team has made a late decision to sit out Andreas Mikkelsen for the final round of the season at Rally Australia. It has called on the services of Irishman Craig Breen, who drove for the team at Rally Wales and is a former full-time driver for Citroen. As well as this, Mads Ostberg’s WRC return has been delayed after Citroen driver Sebastien Ogier slipped out of title contention in the penultimate round. As a result, the French manufacturer felt it no longer needed Ostberg’s assistance.
KURT BUSCH and Monster Energy have signed a multi-year deal to remain at Chip Ganassi Racing in the NASCAR Cup Series. When the original one-year deal was signed last year, it was expected to be Busch’s final season in the championship, however the 41-year-old will remain in the series for the foreseeable future.
ORGANISERS OF the final World Rally Championship Rally Australia event for the foreseeable future are hopeful that a much-modified event will still take place, after bushfires ravaged the Northern New South Wales coast. “Rally Australia’s thoughts are with the NSW community, especially the people who have lost loved ones, livelihoods and homes as a result
of the fires in northern NSW,” a spokesman said. “Public safety is our uppermost consideration in planning for Rally Australia next week. “We will provide further information about any revised plans as it becomes available.” Competitors contesting the Rally Australia Cup, Rally Australia two-day title and the final round of the Australian Rally
Championship have already been informed that those events would not proceed. Entrants have been invited to partake in demonstration runs at the beachfront Super Special Stage and Raleigh Super Special Stage, with those who withdraw encouraged to donate the entry fee to the Rural Fire Service. The rally is scheduled to take place on November 14-17. HM
INDYCAR SQUAD Arrow McLaren SP has confirmed that 2018 Indy Lights champion and recent Red Bull junior reject Patricio O’Ward will join the team in 2020, alongside the reigning Indy Lights champion Oliver Askew. This means a blindsided James Hinchcliffe, who made his Bathurst 1000 debut last month, has been left without a seat in the team. IMSA SERIES squad Acura Team Penske will field an unchanged full-season driver line-up in 2020. Reigning Champions Juan Pablo Montoya and Dane Cameron will be joined in the long distance endurance races by 2019 Indianapolis 500 champion Simon Pagenaud. In the other car Helio Castroneves and Ricky Taylor will also return, and be joined in the longer races by former Indy 500 winner Alexander Rossi.
AUDI HAS revealed its updated R8 LMS GT4 car, which now features ABS and Traction Control systems that can be adjusted by the driver. The new car utilises the same steering wheel as the R8’s GT2 model, which contains two rotary switches for ABS and TC that are centrally located in the steering wheel, directly within the view of the drivers.
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HACKETT EYES BATHURST AFTER FINISHING runner up in this year’s Australian GT Championship, Peter Hackett is eyeing an upgrade for next year and a return to the Bathurst 12 Hour. After being announced as the opening round of the Australian GT Endurance Championship, the international event is expected to feature a stronger Australian presence than in recent years. Hackett is eagerly awaiting whether the homologation is passed on the new Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo before the 12 Hour deadline. “I represent Mercedes-Benz and AMG as part of its driving events and academy in Australia, so it really makes sense for me to be in the
latest cars that are available and the new Evo is out next year. Whether it is eligible for the Bathurst or not, nobody knows,” Hackett told Auto Action. The long-time GT competitor confirmed he will back on the grid next year and is eager to return to Bathurst, where he has experienced success. “At the moment we’re looking forward to next year, which means selling the old one and getting a new one,” Hackett said. “The new car performance-wise isn’t different, it’s more a cosmetic upgrade from the front axle forward and rear axle back essentially, but the engine and gearbox are still the same.”
“The 12 Hour is now part of the Australian GT Endurance Championship so if we’re going to have a real crack at the title, we need to be at Bathurst. We’ll be in touch with our colleagues to find out if the new car will be homologated for the 12 Hour. “I haven’t raced since we finished second in 2014, so it’ll be good to go back again.” It is believed local efforts from Honda and McLaren will be part of the entry. Reigning 12 Hour winners Earl Bamber Motorsport has also announced its intention to defend its crown, while KCMG has confirmed the entry of at least one Nissan GT-R GT3. HM
A TASTE OF F1 AT TEAKLE AUTO SPRINT THE ROAR of Formula 1 will be heard around Port Lincoln, South Australia, when the Teakle Auto Sprint is held on April 11-12. A car from the good old days of the sport’s pinnacle will be showcased at the event, the 1988 Larousse Lola owned by Brenton Grigoul. It will perform demonstration laps in Port Lincoln, as it has done previously at the Adelaide Motorsport Festival. Another highlight will be the attendance of Jim Richards, the seven-time Bathurst winner and inductee
into the Australian Motor Sport Hall of Fame, who is not only a patron of the event, but will also compete in his Porsche 911 GT3. Dan Day is expected to be the man to beat in his heavily modified Subaru Impreza WRX STi, having won the event two-times previously. Entries are now open for the community-based event, which involves the local high school, various businesses and emergency services each year. Details can be found at: https://portlincolnautostreetsprint.com.au/. HM
MIKE RAYMOND CHANGED THE FACE OF RACING THE WAY motor racing is presented and described on television is a lasting tribute to Mike Raymond. More than four decades ago, Raymond changed the way our sport is covered and called, and what we see and hear today is his legacy. Broadcasts of Supercars and all levels of racing, as well as trackside commentary, are the way they are because of his original influence. His promotional flair also established the template for innovative, personality driven TV coverage and his vision fostered technological advances that immerse viewers. Raymond was one of the fathers of V8 touring car racing as we know it, laying the very foundations of Supercars. Few people have had such a profound effect on racing in this country than Mike Raymond, who has been taken by pneumonia at age 76. Tributes have flowed from the
broadcasting and racing world – and rightly so. A big man with a big heart for all forms of motor sport, Raymond revolutionised TV coverage of circuit racing and the promotion of speedway – his first love – in Australia. His influence grew in the 1980s, when he was director of sport at ATN7 in Sydney, which drove the nascent Seven Network’s coverage of the ATCC, Bathurst and Amaroo Park. He was just as prominent in the rise of speedway in the mid-to-late 1970s as the inspired promoter at Liverpool City Raceway, the long defunct tarmac bowl that hosted some of the biggest names. Raymond was the voice of Australian touring car racing until 1996, when he retired following a heart attack just before the onset of Supercars. His impact was such that he deservedly gained induction to the Australian Motor Sport Hall Of Fame and the Bathurst Legends Lane.
Perhaps his biggest contribution, though, was being a driving force of the change from international Group A to Holden versus Ford V8s in 1993. That was the genesis of what became V8 Supercars in 1997. Ironically, Raymond clashed with Supercars founder Tony Cochrane, but they are inextricably linked in the development of V8 racing as it is today. Like any agent of change, Mike Raymond had his detractors back in the day. Too loud, too flashy, too inyer-face in that XXXL red jacket. But, in hindsight, he shaped the way we watch racing at home, as well as driving what became Australia’s premier, world-class touring car category. MF
RANDLE JOINS S5000 FIELD AT THE BEND FRESH OFF his Sandown 500 podium, Thomas Randle will return to his origins in single-seaters when he contests the second round of S5000 at The Bend Motorsport Park. Although entries will be down to 10, the quality of the field remains high with Supercars contemporaries Anton De Pasquale and Will Brown joining the Tickford Endurance driver on the grid, while sports car aces James Winslow and Ricky Capo are also confirmed. Previous to his Supercars career, Randle was a race winner overseas in British F3 and competed in the highly competitive Formula Renault Eurocup. His biggest successes include the 2014 Australian Formula 4 Championship and the 2017 Toyota
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Racing Series, but he is eager to take on this new challenge. “I’m really excited to get back to my single-seater roots and to come off a podium result is fantastic; I was actually at Sandown when the S5000s ran,” Randle told Auto Action. “It’ll be the first time I’ve been in a wings and slicks car since I did Formula Renault in Barcelona at the end of 2017 and that was my Toyota Racing Series
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winning year. I’m not under estimating the competition or what it’s going to be to drive these cars, I’ve heard they’re a bit of a beast, a challenge.” “I’m just going to have heaps of fun.” Randle will reunite with his British F3 engineer Marcus Koch and links up with Team BRM for the event, which headlines the final round of the Shannons Nationals. Other categories competing include the final round of the inaugural TCR Australia Series with Cupra, Peugeot and a third Alfa Romeo joining the grid, while Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge, the Australian Prototype Series, Australian Production Car Series and Excel Nationals are also part of the program. HM
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TOURING CAR MASTERS CONFIRMS 2020 SCHEDULE WITH 2019 season now over, the new TCM category managers, Australian Racing Group confirmed an eightevent 2020 TCM schedule, which includes two visits to Mount Panorama for the first time in the series’ history. Both TCM category manager, Rowan Harman and ARG Operations Manager Ken Collier spoke about the changes to the calendar, as well as looking to the long-term future of TCM. Although yet to be officially announced, an expanded free to air television package is expected to be part of the changes to the TCM series. It was also confirmed that the appointment of a category technical adviser would be announced in the near future and although yet to be confirmed, this role will be to look into vehicle parity and review technical regulations with a view to long term cost reductions and closer racing for the category. The seven-round 2020 championship calendar features an even split between Virgin Australia Supercars Championship and Shannons Nationals events. The year will then be concluded by a unique non-points event at Mount Panorama. The calendar includes a broad mix of major meetings, calendar staples and drivers’ circuits. The series will commence at the 2020 Superloop Adelaide 500 on February 20-23, Shannons Nationals at Sydney Motorsport Park on March 27-29 and Winton SuperSprint on June 5-7, before returning to the Shannons Nationals in early July at a venue yet to be confirmed but rumoured to be either Morgan Park in QLD or if negotiations can be finalised, a return to QLD Raceway. Next then will be the Phillip Island Shannons round on August 21-2,3 prior to the first of two trips to the Mountain, the annual visit to the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 set for October 8-11 next year. The seven-round championship will again conclude at the Sandown Supercars event on November 20-22, while a special nonchampionship event will be held in conjunction with the fifth
Bathurst event later that year, alongside TCR Australia, S5000 and more. While race formats are not planned to change significantly in 2020, broadcast and TV coverage information is expected to be announced shortly. TCM category manager, Rowan Harman described the 2020 Paynter Dixon Touring Car Masters calendar as represents a broad mix of events and circuits that will ensure TCM reaches as many fans as possible and give competitors bang for their buck. “We’re happy to continue our longstanding relationship with the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship with four key events spread throughout the season,” Rowan Harmon said. “Our appearance at three Shannons Nationals rounds brings us alongside fellow Australian Racing Group (ARG) categories, including TCR Australia and S5000. We’re confident that TCM’s presence at those events will add even more value to that growing program. “Completing the year at Mount Panorama is an exciting proposition for our competitors with details about that unique season-ending event to come in due course.”
2020 PAYNTER DIXON TOURING CAR MASTERS 1.FEBRUARY 20-23: Superloop Adelaide 500, Adelaide, SA
2.MARCH 27-29: Shannons Nationals, Sydney Motorsport Park, NSW 3.JUNE 5-7: Winton SuperSprint, Winton Motor Raceway, VIC 4.JULY 4-5: Shannons Nationals, Location TBA 5.AUGUST 21-23: Shannons Nationals, Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit, VIC 6.OCTOBER 8-11: Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000, Bathurst, NSW 7.NOVEMBER 20-22: Sandown Supercars, Sandown International Raceway, NSW NC. Date TBA: 5th Bathurst Event, Bathurst, NSW
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THREE AUSSIES and Kiwi Jaxon Evans raced in the final Porsche Supercup Series round in Mexico. In the opening race of the weekend, Evans caused a collision at Turn 2 which resulted in a drive-through penalty, however the former Australian Carrera Cup champion recovered to finish 14th. Australian Joey Mawson came home eighth while his fellow Team Australia teammates Stephen Grove and Marc Cini finished 17th and 21st respectively, Grove second in the Pro Am class. In Race 2 Evans pounced on a fierce battle ahead to steal an excellent third place finish, while Joey Mawson finished just outside the points in 11th. Again Grove finished second in Pro Am, 22nd outright, with Cini in 24th.
JAY ROBOTHAM finished the Asian TA2 Series on a high, claiming two race victories with his New Zealand co-driver Paul Manuell at the Chang International Circuit in Buriram, Thailand. The duo qualified first for Race 1 and 2 but were disqualified from both for a technical infringement which put them to the back of the grid. In the opening race the pair charged through the entire field to take victory and were able to do the same the following day. In the second race Robotham started in the car and when he handed the car over at the halfway stage to Manuell he sat third. Manuell continued the charge and caught the leading cars in the closing stages. He made the most of the fierce battle to take the lead, holding on to take the victory. The results lifted Robotham to second in the series in his debut campaign.
AFTER ALREADY claiming the U.S. F4 Championship, Aussie Josh Car had a difficult final round of the series in a record 38 car grid as a support to the US Formula 1 Grand Prix in Austin, Texas. Starting from sixth on the grid, Car made his way forward and found himself in contention for the one lap sprint to the finish. Involved in a big tussle for the lead with Michael d’Orlando, the two collided eliminating both. In the second race Car qualified 0.84s quicker than the rest of the field to start from pole. However he could not convert the win and was further awarded a 5s post-race penalty for causing a collision, and as a result he finished ninth.
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PERONI EAGER FOR 2020 F3 RETURN A DISAPPOINTING end to his maiden FIA Formula 3 campaign in 2019 has spurred Tasmanian Alex Peroni on as he recovers from severe injuries sustained at the penultimate round of the championship at Monza. A charge from 17th to sixth ended when Peroni ran wide at the Parabolica and hit a sausage kerb, which launched his car into the catch fencing. The 18-year-old cannot remember much of the accident, from the impact with the kerb to hospital where the seriousness of his injuries were revealed. “The last thing I remember is just before hitting it [the kerb] and then I’ve got this snapshot in my mind of sitting on top of the barrier with the front nose of the car through the fence, then the next one is at the hospital,” Peroni told Auto Action. “I saw it [the incident] a few hours after in the hospital. I was pretty shocked. There’s no trauma
from it and I couldn’t put myself there. It’s so crazy, sort of like a video game.” Reflecting on an up and down season with Campos Racing, Peroni admitted he was disappointed by his results but is eager to continue the partnership next year, as is the team, with budget again being the main constraint. “It wasn’t a year we hoped or expected, to be honest,” Peroni said. “We had quite a strong winter testing, especially at Barcelona and we started the year off alright particularly in qualifying. But we were unlucky in Barcelona and Paul Ricard. There were also a few other races where we were comfortably in the top 10, but got taken out or had problems. “If you look at the results, it appears we had a horrid year, but we demonstrated potential and we always
AUSTRALIA SECOND IN INAUGURAL MOTORSPORT GAMES IN THE inaugural FIA Motorsport Games, which took place at the Vallelunga Circuit in Italy, Australia finished joint second with a gold and a bronze medal. Australia was one of 49 counties that were represented in the Games across the six events. Australia competed in three, the Digital Cup (Esports), Formula 4 and GT Cup. Grove Racing father and son duo Stephen and Brenton Grove drove brilliantly in treacherous conditions in GT Cup to claim a Bronze Medal. “It is always cool to do it by yourself, let alone with your father. The thing that stood out for me was when we were on the podium and we were able to talk about what we had just done and let it sink in,” Brenton told Auto Action.” The pair finished the qualifying race in eighth, giving them that starting position to start the feature race. Stephen made a great start and by the time his stint was up he had climbed to fifth. Brenton then took to the wheel as the rain worsened, and for this reason on lap 19 the safety car was called. Brenton found himself seventh when racing resumed, making a great restart and quickly jumping from seventh up to fourth. The 22-year-old then gained a further place when Belgium was handed a
had strong race pace.” Peroni is currently at home in Tasmania recuperating from back injuries, for which he has to wear a brace until January, meaning that his planned trip to Macau has been cancelled. Work continues on setting up a budget for next year, though this has taken a dent with the damage caused at Monza. A fundraiser is set to take place on November 15 at the Wrest Point Casino in Hobart, with guest speaker Peter Windsor. Continuing in Formula 3 is the prime aim for Peroni and he is quietly confident he can garner the support to get there. “It’s a long road to get there and this is probably going to be the biggest challenge we are going to face, but I think we have an underlying confidence that we can do it,” Peroni concluded. HM
PADDON HOPEFUL OF PART-TIME RETURN
drive through penalty for an earlier incident, allowing the Groves to take third place. Cody Nikola Latkovski represented Australia in the Digital Cup and won the Gold Medal. Excelling in the qualification races, he started second on the grid in the final. Racing on the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, a very bold four stop strategy paid off and he was able to take the win. In Formula 4, Aussie representative Luis Leeds finished just outside the medal placings in fourth. Starting the weather affected feature race from eighth, Leeds looked comfortable from the get go and worked his way maturely and quickly through the field to claim fourth place. Brenton said he felt the inaugural games was a great success and will grow from here. “It was really well organised. SRO and the FIA don’t do things by halves, they make sure they throw their full weight behind whatever they do,” he told AA. “We were lucky to be there the first time and I think it going to grow bigger and bigger each year and who knows maybe we will get the call back to go next year.” DM
NEW ZEALANDER Hayden Paddon will return to the top-tier World Rally Championship, when he contests the final round of the title in Australia though believes he is unlikely to make a full-time WRC return in 2020. The former Hyundai works driver is a winner on the WRC stage, taking victory on Rally Argentina in 2016, but a tough 2017 left him demoted to part-time duties last year and dropped ahead of this year’s championship. Although Paddon is eager to re-join the WRC field on a fulltime basis next year, he admits that the possibility is unlikely due to the limited number of seats available. “Obviously I want to be back in WRC, there is no secret about that, but it is pretty tough now, there are not a lot of seats around,” Paddon told Auto Action. “I think to be back full-time is unrealistic, I don’t think we are going to be able to get that.” Paddon’s goal is to try and secure a part-time deal, as he had with Hyundai in 2018. “If we try and put together
some limited program next year working up to Rally New Zealand then that would be great, that could be the best we could hope for at the moment.” he explained. The 32-year-old will make a cameo appearance this weekend at Rally Australia driving for the M-Sport Ford team. He was scheduled to drive in Rally Finland but suffered a mammoth crash before the rally and the Fiesta was unable to be repaired in time. Paddon spoke to AA about his goals for this weekend after not driving a WRC car competitively for 12 months. “Obviously we always want to be competitive and we will of course be pushing and doing the best job we can,” he said. “We just have to make sure we go and enjoy ourselves; we’ve got to be realistic when we haven’t been in the car for 12 months. It will be harder for us but for sure, we will try and do the best job we can.” DM
AA’s peeved pundit derides the latest DJR Team Penske scandal and pays tribute to broadcasting legend Mike Raymond IT SEEMS I spoke too soon. As I lamented Supercars’ nightmare fortnight last issue, I postulated that it couldn’t get any worse. I was so wrong. Last Sunday morning’s bombshell that DJR Team Penske had copped another Bathurst hit – this time an engine irregularity – was the right news at the absolute wrong time. Scott McLaughlin is poised to clinch back-to-back championships and out of nowhere, CAMS drops the bomb. Seriously? Once again, for the umpteenth time, the sport’s transparency is rightly called into question. Two things first. McLaughlin is the victim in all this. Another DJRTP Bathurst controversy only taints his win there and, indeed his title. Not his fault. But the team has a history of unintentional technical transgressions. Team Penske has a long history of pushing the regulatory limits – and the past two seasons suggest they’ve strayed over the line too often.
As one experienced observer noted, they’ve replaced Triple Eight as the most hated team in pit lane. No mean feat. It would be easy to dismiss DJRTP’s Bathurst engine infringement as just another ‘Oops, we did it again!’ incident, like last year’s Tailem Bend drop gear snafu. Not at all. The team broke the technical rules and that is it. Intent, degree or performance gain or not are irrelevant. A breach is a breach. McLaughlin’s Bathurst racewinning engine was legal, so all good there. But along with the safety car scandal and the Mustang parity debate, it all inevitably casts a pall over his achievements this year. Unfairly and unnecessarily, his title is tarnished, tainted. But the real issue here, once again, is the process of informing the media – and, therefore, the public. We in the media got distracted by the safety car incident sanctions and forgot the #17’s
motors were being checked. But CAMS and Supercars should have informed us that the investigation had been delayed – understandably – until after the GC600. Next step: after the valve lift irregularity was discovered, we should have been notified of the apparent irregularity and that a stewards’ inquiry was pending. Plus when and where that deliberation would take place. The fact that the stewards reviewed and judged the case late on the Saturday evening at Sandown was news to most in the Supercars community. This imbedded culture of secrecy CANNOT continue. Got that, CAMS and Supercars? CANNOT CONTINUE! I’m sick of the sport being made to look ridiculous because of this institutional ‘mind your own business’ attitude. No, major potential rule breaches are our business – and, certainly, the fans deserve to be kept informed. Doesn’t happen in truly major sports like AFL, NRL, cricket or even tennis. It’s more akin to the
covert administratation of cycling, athletics and swimming swimming. And how well has that gone? A few people on Sunday evening at Sandown suggested that in celebration of McLaughlin’s second straight championship, I might write something positive for a change. Chance would be a fine thing. I’d love to be more positive – after all, deep down, I am a fan – but Supercars and the teams make it impossible. Between them, plus CAMS, they keep treading on themselves. Sorry – not sorry – I cannot gloss over, much less ignore, the glaring flaws in motor racing’s governance. It is a disaster. I’ll rejoice in praising rather than criticising once the system is fixed.
VALE: MIKE RAYMOND
AN HISTORICAL giant of racing has passed away. Mike Raymond’s death last week hit me hard. Just weeks ago I had visited him for an extensive interview. As you’d expect, it was a fascinating and revelatory conversation. At the time, he seemed as fit as the robust individual who survived a heart attack and a quadruple by-pass more than 20 years ago. For my tribute to Mike, please got to autoaction.com. au/2019/11/08/mike-raymondchanged-the-face-of-racing. Next issue, to honour him, we will present the interview, which very sadly was his last.
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THE ALFA Romeo Formula 1 team has confirmed an unchanged driver line-up for next year, as the team has re-signed Antonio Giovinazzi, leaving just four unconfirmed Formula 1 seats. Once again Giovinazzi will share the garage with 2007 F1 World Champion Kimi Raikkonen and has shown a real upturn in results.
MORE TEAM personnel changes within Renault sees former McLaren and Ferrari technical chief Pat Fry join the team. Fry played an important role in helping McLaren turn their fortunes around and emerge as the fourth best team on the grid, before parting ways with the British team this year.
McLAREN HAS ended its partnership with Brazilian lubricants company Petrobras with immediate effect. The announcement was made just two weeks before the Brazilian Grand Prix with signage on the two McLarens being removed, two-years short of the fiveyear deal signed in 2017. SOON TO be Renault refugee Nico Hulkenberg feels that his last chance at a race seat has been filled by Antonio Giovinazzi. The German Le Mans winner feels that it is not the right time in his career to return to Williams, the team that gave him his Formula 1 debut in 2010. It is likely that Formula 2 driver Nicholas Latifi will fill the vacant Williams seat alongside Briton George Russell.
SIX-TIME world champion Lewis Hamilton will do a vehicle swap with Moto GP legend Valentino Rossi. Monster, which is a major backer of both the factory Mercedes Formula 1 team and the Yamaha Moto GP team, has pushed to get the two world champions to make the switch. This will occur on December 9 at Valencia, a week after the F1 season concludes in Abu Dhabi.
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FINGER POINTING and speculation swirled around Ferrari’s sudden drop in straight-line speed during the United States Grand Prix. Prior to the weekend the FIA, after a query from Red Bull, had issued a technical directive clarifying the fuel flow limits to the engine. Max Verstappen, who finished third in his Red Bull Honda, was asked if he was surprised that Ferrari, which has been very competitive since August, had not been in the mix for the podium spots. “Not surprised,” Verstappen said. “At all. About it. After what came out. So that explains everything.” What came out? “The piece of paper,” Verstappen replied, referring to the technical directive. Verstappen took things a step further when he told a Dutch TV station that Ferrari’s slump was “what happens when you stop cheating.” Ferrari angrily and staunchly denied any wrongdoing. “Nothing at all,” Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto said at a postrace media briefing attended by Auto Action when asked if the team had to make any changes to its power unit after receiving the directive. “I think it’s a joke,” Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc said of Verstappen’s comments. “He has no clue. He’s not in the team. So we know exactly what we are doing. I don’t know why he’s speaking; he doesn’t know anything about us.”
FERRARI SUDDENLY LOSES PACE
Binotto declared that Ferrari tried a different setup with more downforce in the corners which therefore made the car slower on the straights. The other teams were certainly monitoring things. “We had a discussion
about the data from the race and the speed trace looks totally different to the last few races,” said Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff. “Whether it’s down to the technical directive or down to another issue I honestly don’t know, as we can’t look
into what Ferrari has done.” If hypothetically a team was doing something in contravention of a technical directive before it was issued – is that a grey area? Or going further than that? “If someone was doing what the technical directive
THE HEAVY COST OF BETTER RACING CLOSER AND more competitive racing will come at a heavy cost as the minimum weight of the cars will rise from 743kg to 768kg in 2021. The next generation cars will also be about three seconds a lap slower. But they will be designed to create more overtaking by reducing the dirty air wake so that a car can follow closer to the one in front. Racing car drivers want to race other drivers in racing cars. “That is what we all want,” Daniel Ricciardo said when Auto Action asked him about the 2021 rules package, “so hopefully they can pull it off. The positive is that it will be better than what it is. Will it be everything? Who knows, but it will be better. As long as there is progress.” Far too often over the years F1 has been more about high-speed processions of cars rather than wheel-to-wheel competition. And that’s why Ricciardo doesn’t mind lapping a bit slower. “I don’t care,” the Aussie said. “One of the most fun years I had in F1 was 2014, and the cars were
eight seconds slower than now. As long as we are racing close and hard. Anything that is going to be close is exiting. I’d rather have good racing than single file lap records. Then we might as well do time trials for the rest of our careers. So I’m okay with three seconds slower.” Ricciardo’s former Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen is not concerned with what the 2021 cars will look like. “It doesn’t really matter how it looks,” Verstappen said, “as long as it gives us better racing and we can follow better. Of course we want to be within two seconds, three seconds of what we are doing now, definitely, because if it’s going to be about four or five it’s not what we want. It feels a bit too slow. But I think this is just the start of it. I’m sure that teams will come up with a little bit of a different look as well. So let’s just find out over time how it’s going to work out.” The drivers lobbied for lighter cars, but they did not get their wish.
“None of the decisions are in our hands,” Sebastian Vettel said. Vettel has adopted a wait and see attitude about the 2021 cars. “When we get to drive the cars for the first time, we’ll find out how much slower they are, how much scope there is in the regulations, how much freedom the teams have and so on,” he said. “So it is not entirely fair now to say it’s bad or judge it as good or bad. We need to wait a little bit. Certainly the going up trend in weight is the wrong direction.” George Russell summed it up: “As long as it (the 2021 package) improves the racing and brings the field together that’s all I care about.”
RICCIARDO: MCLAREN OUT OF REACH
clarified, it would have been foul play,” Wolff said, “and the way the technical directive was formulated, it was a severe breach of regulation, so there was not even any talk of grey areas.” But just how slow
was Ferrari in Austin? Sebastian Vettel missed pole position by a mere 0.012 of a second. Leclerc, meanwhile, was using an older specification and high mileage engine. Both Ferrari drivers struggled
to get their tyres switched on in the race, and Vettel retired with suspension problems. It will be interesting to see how Ferrari matches its rivals in the final two rounds of the season in Brazil and Abu Dhabi.
RENAULT’S GOAL this season was to finish a solid fourth in the constructors’ championship, but instead it has watched the fourth placed McLaren team steadily draw away. So is McLaren now out of reach in the constructors’ championship? “Yes,” Renault driver Daniel Ricciardo said. “They have been a target for us this year, but we have to accept that they have been better than us this season. More times than not they are going to be faster than us. It is just how it is.” Auto Action asked McLaren driver Carlos Sainz if he believes that the balance tipped towards his team. “In qualifying pace it looks like since Singapore (round 15) we’ve managed to find something that switches on the car in qualifying,” he said, “and in the recent qualifying we’ve had a decent advantage over them. But in race pace that is not the case.” Sainz was proved right in the race in Austin where Ricciardo finished fifth ahead of Lando Norris and Sainz in the McLarens despite qualifying behind them. Nico Hülkenberg took ninth in the other Renault. “In qually we are not always able to extract the most out of it because it is easier for us to make a mistake or not get the setup spot on,” Ricciardo said after the race. “But then in the race, once the pace comes off and you are not on the
limit of the tyre, that is where our window expands naturally for the pace. And that is why we are able to come back a little bit towards them.” The net result is that McLaren has a 38-point lead over Renault with two races remaining in 2019. It will take some freak results by both teams for Renault to snatch fourth. Ricciardo is not despondent. “We are not going to give up,” the Aussie said, “but looking ahead to next year hopefully we can bring them back towards us. They have made gains on the front of the field, so ideally we will make gains on the front with them as opposed to them falling back to us.” Renault will add two senior people to it team next year. Former Benetton/ McLaren/Ferrari senior engineer Pat Fry will join the squad. And Dirk de Beer, who used to work for Ferrari and Williams, will replace Peter Machin as head of aerodynamics. Ricciardo says the new additions are needed. “This year it still has not been perfect,” he said, “so the team is still moving some parts to try and tidy some scenarios up. I have not worked with Pat Fry before, but he obviously has a lot of experience. From what I see, the team is recognising there are still some places where we can be better.”
RULES REACTIONS “CHANGE CAN sometimes be scary, but you’ve got to embrace it.” That’s the stance of Red Bull team principal Christian Horner when asked for his reaction to the significant regulation changes coming in 2021. The new rules package was one of the main talking points in the COTA paddock, and it will continue to be so for a long time. One reason for that, according to Horner, is that the regs will continue to be evolved and refined. “It’s still quite immature in design,” he said of the 2021 car. “I think there’ll be a lot of technical clarifications over the next 12 months, because it’s quite a big removal from where we are here. It’s something now for all the engineers to get their teeth into. I’m sure teams will split their time between 2020 which is an evolution of this car, and then the all-new car for 2021.” Former McLaren boss Ron Dennis opposed any sort of spending restrictions. New team leader Zak Brown welcomes the budget cap but would have preferred the original proposed US$150 million annually than the US$175 million. “You can put on just as good of a show for the race fans spending less,” Brown said, “and then be in a position to be able to provide a bit of a better return for your shareholders. What was presented
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(the original US$150 million plan) was a better financial model that would have produced the same race results, maybe even arguably better race results because it would concertina the field that much more.” Even though Williams spends nowhere near $175 million, the cap will help the team survive. “We’re all very aware of how unsustainable at the moment Formula 1 is from a cost perspective,” noted deputy team principal Claire Williams. “So, to have a level of cost capping at this first juncture is really important to teams like ours. I don’t think that can be underestimated.” Horner has warned that 2020 will be the most expensive year ever as the teams go on spending sprees before the cap arrives in 2021. Cyril Abiteboul, head of Daniel Ricciardo’s Renault squad, called the 2021 regs “an important milestone.” “It’s a first step,” he said. “It’s in Renault’s opinion a step that’s going in the right direction for a sustainable sport, so let’s see what’s coming next.” Ferrari could have used its (unpopular with the other teams) sole right to veto the changes but decided against doing so. But Ferrari team
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principal Mattia Binotto stated that there is “still much to do” on the regulations. “I would avoid to say that it is locked down,” he said. “This is still at a starting point where altogether now we need to collaborate, improve furthermore what is certainly a good set of regulations.” It will be interesting to see how much different the 2021 cars are compared to the blueprint unveiled at COTA.
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F1 INSIDER
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with Dan Knutson
HAMILTON: MASTERPIECES AND DEMONS THE 56 laps of the United States Grand Prix lasted one hour, 33 minutes and 59.801 seconds for Lewis Hamilton who crossed the finish line in second place and 4.148 seconds behind his Mercedes teammate and race winner Valtteri Bottas. Hamilton’s second place secured his sixth drivers’ world championship. Neither driver, nor Max Verstappen who finished third in his Red Bull, would have a minute to themselves for a while. After they climbed out of their cockpits they did the TV interviews for the worldwide audience, and then there were the podium ceremonies. From there they went directly to the TV “pen” for a dozen or more interviews for broadcasters around the world. Then it was straight on to the media centre to talk with the journalists. Every driver is different of course. Ayrton Senna soliloquies were mesmerizing. But I remember Nigel Mansell being unable to expound on what it meant to him to win the championship when he clinched the title by finishing second in the 1992 Hungarian Grand Prix. Finally, a journalist asked race winner Senna if he, having won three championships, could tell us what that had meant to him and therefore what Mansell
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might be experiencing. As always, Hamilton opened his heart to us. “You’ve talked a lot about what this all means to you,” I said to him. “You’ve also not had a moment to yourself. Is there a time – tonight, tomorrow, next week – when you sit down and really reflect on everything?” “Usually the reflection comes at the end of the year when work finishes,” he replied, “and you can just take a load off and just sit back and have a beer. I will
be with my dogs, with my feet up and just only then you can have a moment to grasp how great a year it has been. In my mind, I’m so grateful to this sport for giving me a life and giving my life purpose. Also, with social media, we have this platform where you can also have an impact on people. So I’m grateful for the position I’m in. I really like the idea of trying to create a masterpiece. I think we all should be challenging ourselves to create our own masterpiece in some way,
shape or form, and mine’s not finished.” Before that beer, however, Hamilton said he was really focused on the final two races of this season. You would think that a driver at the peak of his career would not have to deal with demons and the dark side, but Hamilton revealed that he does. “There’s always the darker side that’s always trying to pull you down,” he said. “I don’t know how you guys wake up in the morning, but
I look in the mirror and I’m trying to lift myself up and say: ‘Yes, you can do it. Yes, you are great. Yes you can be fit if you go and put that time in. Yes, you can win this race if you do the right steps and you continue to believe in yourself, and no one else is going to do it for you.’” Hamilton said he was hit hard by the death of mentor and friend Niki Lauda who passed away on May 20 at age 70. “It really was upsetting and I miss him dearly today, and I didn’t realise how much I loved the guy,” he said. “That was a tough pivot point for us. And also we lost a young kid in Spa. (Anthoine Herbert who died in the Formula 2 accident during the Belgian Grand Prix weekend.) “I saw it on the TV, I saw it happen. When something like that happens, it can put lots of doubts in your mind and batting that off and thinking: ‘OK, jeez, is it time to stop or shall I keep going, because there’s lots of life afterwards.’” Hamilton is one of the greatest racing drivers of all time. But he is also a caring human being who is willing and capable of revealing his inner feelings. He is not done winning races and championships, nor is he done telling us about demons and masterpieces after he has stepped out of the car.
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OPINION THE CHALLENGE OF SANDOWN SAFETY BY DAN McCARTHY Staff Journalist IN RECENT history Sandown Raceway has been plagued by big incidents and accidents that have caused major delays and race cancelations, though fortunately without serious injury. Safety in motorsport is paramount of that there is no question. The latest upgrades to Turn 6 at Sandown were essential to Supercars signing a multi-year extension with the Victorian venue. Nonetheless, the rest of the track contains little of the run off found at more modern circuits. Apart from the outside of Turn 6, old-school guard rails line much of the 3.1km Sandown layout. The problem isn’t the guard rails themselves so much as the length of time needed to repair or replace them, after a major hit. Three separate accidents on three different days caused delays and early race finishes at the Sandown 500 race meeting due to this lengthy repair work. Craig Thornton, competing in the Toyota 86 qualifying session, crossed up over the new Turn 7 kerbing and lost the rear of his car. He missed all the new state of the art tyre barriers and catch fencing, and instead crashed heavily nose first into the outside guard rail on the approach to Dandenong Road. This delayed the following Supercars session by 40 minutes and meant that it actually started 10 minutes
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after it was scheduled to end. On Saturday it another day, another crash, and another guard rail repair. This time it was Ryal Harris in his TCM Chevrolet Camaro who clipped the inside wall on the exit of Turn 9. Despite the crash happening early in the TCM race, it was forced to finish behind the safety car as yet more lengthy repairs were required. The big one from the weekend was John Iafolla, who had a massive Toyota 86 crash on Sunday that made national television news. This resulted in both the stopping of the 86 race and subsequent abandonment, and also the cancelation of the final TCM race as repairs took place. This is not acceptable to the spectators who pay money to see racing, not to watch
a fence being fixed. At a professional event such as a Supercars meeting it makes the sport look unprepared and unorganised. Out of Turn 6 Iafolla had flown off the track, hitting and being launched off one guard rail before being tripped into rolling multiple times and squashing the tray of a support vehicle. Iafolla walked away and the marshals in the utility also escaped uninjured, but had he hit the tractor or landed on the cab of the ute just a metre one direction or the other, it could have been a different story. At the recent Historic meeting in October, Will Faulkner had a similar crash in his Formula Ford, on the back straight just prior to the new turn 6 complex. Such was the momentum of the accident that it launched the car’s engine and gearbox into the side of a fire vehicle,
resulting in the removal of the original flag marshal point. Faulkner sustained a broken foot in the accident. Also earlier in the year, a heavy crash in the S5000 feature race for Alex Davison resulted in the cancelation of the race and a two hour delay for fence repairs. What concerns me is the fact that all of these incidents have occurred since the track’s most recent round of safety improvements have been made. These are not freak accidents, they are general racing incidents that have highlighted the sport’s dangers for drivers and trackside marshals. The challenge for Sandown Raceway is to find a practical solution to continued safety improvements that allows delays for any repairs to be kept to a minimum.
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We take a look back at what was making news 10, 20, 30, 40 years ago 1979: HOLDEN DUMPS Dealer Team! General Motors-Holden’s managing director Chuck Chapman announced that the manufacturer had ‘achieved a position in Australian touring car racing where it has tendered to dominate the sport.’ It was believed that Holden dealers were making plans instead for a privately funding the team. If that wasn’t big enough news, Allan Moffat declared he wanted to go Japanese and race a Mazda RX-7 in 1980. 1989: VN FOR 1990. On a brief trip to Australia, Tom Walkinshaw announced that his team was to be headed up by loyal lieutenant Win Percy and moving to Holden Special Vehicles’ premises in Notting Hill (Melbourne), as it developed the long awaited VN-model Group A Commodore. This ended the association Larry Perkins had with HRT since 1988. In a year that had been dominated by the Shell Ford Sierras, Dick Johnson and John Bowe went over the ditch to continue the pair’s unbeatable season at Pukekohe.
1999: MIKA HAKKINEN sealed his second 1 World Driver’s Championship title with W victory in Suzuka. Despite the best efforts of v Ferrari, which had Eddie Irvine in contention, F Hakkinen led the entire way to clinch the title H by two points. There was also Champ Car tragedy when 24-year-old Greg Moore lost tra his hi life in an accident at California Speedway in the final event of the season. For 2000, Moore Mo was supposed to join the Penske team. tea 2009: JUST AS it always does, the silly 2 season was making all the news headlined s by b Fabian Coulthard turning red after the dissolution of Paul Cruickshank Racing. He d was w set to join Walkinshaw Racing as a fight for fo RECs was on with Lucas Dumbrell and Tony T D’Alberto, with each after a licence from fr the departing Tasman Motorsport. Meanwhile, Greg Murphy looked set to join M Kelly K Racing.
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Team patriarch Garry Rogers and his 2IC son Barry reminisce on the highlights of GRM’s soon-to-end Supercars era THE RINGTONE chimes the theme from the 1960s cartoon classic Popeye The Sailor. This is so Garry Rogers. A whimsical phone ring that matches his colourful persona. The familiar ditty – well, to those of a certain age, anyway – also recalls a time when a younger Rogers’ forearms were reminiscent of spinach-powered Popeye’s bulging limbs. Even well into his ’70s, he is still a larger-than-life character. For more than two decades, he has donned outrageous outfits on the grid as an antidote to a sport that mostly takes itself too seriously. His stunts and pranks have been a big part of the appeal of the little team that occasionally could. One wonders what crazy outfit Rogers has in store for GRM’s final appearance in Supercars at the Newcastle 500. It will be the end of an era – but not of Garry Rogers Motorsport in racing – that has given so many drivers their start in V8s. The roll call of Rogers discoveries is long and distinguished. It includes Steven Richards, Jason Bright, Garth Tander, Jason Bargwanna, Lee Holdsworth, Michael Caruso, Scott McLaughlin and James Golding. And, of course, Jamie Whincup, whom he sacked after a
Images: Ross Gibb/LAT GRM is longest established team in Australia racing by far… Garry Rogers: But we’re not going anywhere. This is what we need people to understand. We’re just not going Supercars racing anymore – for all the reasons I’ve stated. Yes, but a big chunk of that history is in Supercars, going back to 1996. So what were the highlights of your time in V8 racing? GR: There’s no doubt that the Bathurst win in 2000 was the biggest thing. Everyone strives to win Bathurst and the fact that we did it with a lot of the same crew that are still here today means so much. One of the things that amazes me today is that they talk about how a combination of a tall driver and a short driver doesn’t work. That’s bullshit. They’re just too spoiled rotten. Tander was seven feet and Bargs was a midget, but that worked. They got in and out of the car
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desultory season in 2003. Right choice, wrong decision, as history proved. But at the time, Whincup wasn’t delivering and Rogers’ most famous misjudgement is part of a rich history that is more about passion than achievement. GRM traces its origins back to car dealer Garry’s first foray into racing in 1963. He made his name in sports sedans and touring cars in the 1970s and ’80s before becoming a prominent team owner in Formula Ford, Super Touring and finally V8s in the 1990s. In Supercars, GRM’s highlights are a Bathurst 1000 win in 2000 with then youngsters Garth Tander and Jason Bargwanna and a handful of subsequent race wins before its glory period as the Volvo factory team with McLaughlin from 2014-16. That’s when GRM proved that with proper backing, a frontrunning car and a rising superstar driver, it could compete with the best. In the final instalment of a tell-all interview, it is mainly Garry recalling the highlights of GRM’s time in Supercars, as Barry had to leave for a meeting not long into the second half of the conversation.
without a problem and they did the job. And in fairness, Bargs was the one who really laid the foundation of that win. His performance at the start of the race in those conditions was tremendous. He drove fantastically in difficult conditions to set us up for the victory. That was undoubtedly the highlight for us in V8/Supercars. But then the back-to-back wins with the Monaro in 2002/03 were also very special. In Supercars, though, the deal with Volvo was also very worthwhile, not only from a results point of view, but also very satisfying because it was almost all done in-house. The guys out in that workshop, they designed that car, they built them and tested them and made them competitive. And then to have Scotty (McLaughlin) drive it so well, it just all came together. Scotty was a very big part of all that. I pulled him out of the development series and was immediately a superstar. I mean, no one would have known how good he was going to be. I had an inkling that he was pretty good, otherwise I wouldn’t have put him in.
But the fact is, he certainly proved to be better than even I thought. If you look at that finish between him and Whincup in the Volvo’s first race (scoring a thrilling second at Adelaide in 2014), performances like that really stick in your mind. Another one that sticks out in my mind was Holdsworth’s win in the wet at Oran Park in 2007. Those are the great memories for all of us here. I also loved going up on the hill at Bathurst and sharing a few drinks and waffling a bit of shit with the characters up there.
speaking to Chrysler and we thought that deal was on. That, really, was probably what got the Volvo deal up. We had spoken to Volvo previously and they were indecisive. Then when they heard we’d speaking to Chrysler, all of a sudden, within one day, we’d done a deal with them. They rang up and it happened. Matt Braid (now running ARG) was the managing director of Volvo Australia at the time and then the deal went to Sweden, and we started dealing with them directly and also Christian Dahl at Polestar, which was then a separate entity.
You always liked to be colourful. GR: I do like to be colourful. And I still might finish up this year doing something very colourful. I haven’t made up my mind yet. You mentioned the Volvo deal, which made GRM a front-runner. More remarkably, no one saw it coming. GR: No, they didn’t. We’d been
Barry Rogers: It was on the back on Volvo Australia wanting to introduce the Polestar performance road car. So you’d cast a wide net that snared Volvo? GR: We’d spoken to a lot of manufacturers. But so had all the other teams because Car Of The Future opened Supercars to other manufacturers and everyone thought
Garry Rogers credits Jason Bargwanna with setting up its 2000 Bathurst victory.
“Let’s give it a go”. ” B Butt none off us was really ll getting anywhere, except we had the discussion with Chrysler. And as I say, that was the thing that really sparked the decision out of Volvo. We’d had previous discussions, but all of a sudden, I think they thought “Gee, we’d better do this, otherwise we’ll miss out”. Chrysler seemed a natural fit because they sell a rear-wheel drive V8 sedan, whereas Volvo didn’t sell anything remotely like
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that. They were th t Th completely out of left field. BR: It was great for their brand at the time. It was fantastic. Turned out to be an inspired choice. The S60 racer exploited the rules fully. GR: Yes, it did, but we abided by the rules. When we built those cars and everyone started squawking about the centre of gravity and the aero
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this and the aero that, we bent over backwards to fit in and to get that car to what everyone wanted, not what we wanted. We abided by the rules. Then today, when I look at all the stuff that goes on behind the scenes, no one is making a decision and saying “Do this or don’t turn up”. If it was still like it was when we developed the Volvo, we wouldn’t be gone. It was a car very similar to what’s working now. A bit smaller and a coupe-like shape. GR: That’s right. But also the engine ngine was great. Mattias Evensson at Polestar, he was the engine man in Sweden, working with ‘Gypsy’ (longtime GRM engine-builder Jeffrey Marshall) here. Really, Mattias and his band of warriors did any amazing job with that engine. BR: It was only reliability (in the second season) that let us down. It was on a par with the Chev and Ford right from the start. GR: Oh, it had great power. Amazing for what it was – basically, two Yamaha four-cylinder motorcycle engines put together to make a V8. And it was a production engine that had already been discontinued. [Barry Rogers excuses himself to go to a meeting.] Unlike the Nissan, it was a match for the Holdens and Fords straight away. We had reliability issues when they started fiddling around with bearing tolerances and things like that. But between Mattias and Gypsy, they worked through the problems and they got it working again in the third season. It was really great. What was also great was the high-pitched sound it made. I was a bit negative about that at first, but it really grew on me. And the fans loved the sound of that car. And then the Volvo deal came to an abrupt halt at the end of 2016. What happened? GR: OK, let’s make this very, very clear. We always knew the deal was for three years. It was never, ever any longer – and we knew that when we entered into the arrangement. Then, towards the end of the deal, because of the success, I suggested to Volvo in Sweden that maybe it would be worthwhile to explore the opportunities for a new contract or a renewal of the existing one. They came back and said “Well, yes, that’s probably not a bad idea”. So we then put forward a business plan to
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them for us to be able to have a new contract with them and that was all going along in a very positive manner manner. There was never any indication from anyone associated with Volvo or Polestar that they didn’t want to continue. Then out of the blue we got a phone call – and this was after we’d had various dialogue backwards and forwards – and we were summoned to a phone conference with Volvo, thinking this was a positive about the announcement. Anyway, they covered their backs brilliantly with their political statement. They just had a one-liner saying that Volvo will not be continuing in Supercars, period. That was it. Then when we asked for an explanation, they wouldn’t give us one. It was just, that’s it, that’s the decision, done and dusted. Then we had various conversations to try to get them to explain their decision, but they just wouldn’t make any statement of any kind. Because they’d previously indicated that they would continue, we decided that wasn’t good business practice and we took them to court, and they settled the matter. So they were adamant they were never going to let you keep the cars to run privately? While they didn’t say it directly – they were very careful about what they put into correspondence – it appears they were concerned… What I heard was that many, many years ago, when they were racing Volvos in other parts of the world, they let people keep them and they ended up being turned into sports sedans and things like that, which they thought damaged the Volvo image. We were never intending to do that. We just wanted to run them in Supercars, but that didn’t happen, so all three cars and all the spare engines were sent back to Sweden as part of the settlement. We moved on and so did they. We kept nothing. I think the cars are in the Volvo museum in Gothenburg. Did you ever seriously consider
running the Chev engine in them? Well, we mentioned that as well, but the engine wasn’t the issue. They’d just decided that that was that. We could’ve put the Chev engine in it, but to be frank, I wouldn’t have liked to have done that. That car was a moment in time. And, as history will show, it was an absolutely great car with great results, and certainly great for us as a team and great for Scotty. Particularly in the Supercars era, you’ve had a great track record of spotting young driver talent. How satisfying has it been to launch the careers of so many established stars? People have said to me time and time again, when the drivers have Two GRM young guns ... James Golding talks to Scott McLaughlin.
moved on, “Oh I bet you wish they hadn’t done “Oh, that”. Now way. I feel so, so proud that I’ve been able to help so many young drivers. And not just drivers, but also the people I have around me. For those drivers to be able to showcase their ability with us, and then be sought after by other teams and reap the financial benefits, is fantastic. Look, it’s common knowledge along pit lane that I’m no ‘Generous George’ as far as driver salaries go. The fact of the matter is that I spend what I can afford to spend. But I’m also realistic enough to know that when I can’t pay that particular party for what they can bring to the show and they’re able to get it somewhere else, good on them. I feel really proud when I see all the success those guys have
“We could have put the Chev engine in it but to be frank, I wouldn’t have liked to have done that.”
The one that got away. GRM discovered Jamie Whincup (right) but sacked him after only one season. Jamie then went on to become the most successful driver in Touring Car/Supercar history with Triple Eight. had. And it wasn’t just drivers. There are all the people we trained who’ve gone on to greater things – engineers like Pierre Orsi, who’s now the chief aerodynamicist at the Mercedes F1 team. He’s a great story. He came to
us 20 years ago as a French uni student who came to Australia to marry an Australian girl. I’ll never forget Pierre turning up for his job interview at our old workshop in Glen Waverley. He was typical of
that well ell educated ed cated person pe son who ho thought tho ght you had to dress up for a job interview. He turned up in a suit that was made for his grandfather and a shirt that was made for his great-grandfather and a tie that you wouldn’t wear to a baddress contest. Fair dinkum, it was the funniest thing. He walked in the door and I thought “You’ll do me”. Anyone that wants a job that bad has to be good. He’s a high-flier in F1, but I still speak to him regularly. And the one that got away, Jamie Whincup? [Laughs] Yeah, well, he did get away. I actually sacked him, can you believe that? But it may have been the making of him. He and I don’t have a problem. I love my life, I enjoy what I do and I want to be able to look people in the eye. If I think in my opinion I’ve
ight thing e than done the right thing, I’m mo more comfortable with my decisions. Let me tell you, when I have a shave in the morning, I’m happy with what I see. If other people aren’t, well, that’s their bad luck. Jamie has said that he regards his time at GRM as a great apprenticeship, so he doesn’t hold it against you. No, no. I don’t think any of them do. The Garth thing (dropping Tander this year for Boost-backed Richie Stanaway) was messy, but the fact of the matter is, it’s probably the best thing that could have happened for him (enduro co-drive at Triple Eight with Shane van Gisbergen). Someone had to pull the string and that was me. I’ve had a very interesting life. Very, very interesting and enjoyable.
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S K A E R B COCHO ! E C N E L I S HIS S E O G S R A C R E P U S F O FOUNDER ON THE RECORD AT LAST
T Tony Cochrane built V8 Supercars Su into a formidable sporting enterprise during his 16 years at the helm, but has remained largely silent since. Seven years after he departed, Cochrane tells BRUCE NEWTON exclusively why he is speaking out and what Supercars needs to do to ensure its future Images: LAT/Gold Coast Suns LOVE HIM or loathe him, you can’t ignore Tony Cochrane. Anyone connected with Supercars racing knows the name and has an opinion one way or another about him. Saviour, villain, brilliant, bombastic. The debate about the South Australian-raised Queenslander flared from his first public declarations in the Sandown 500 paddock in 1996. By the time he departed from the $300 million business V8 Supercars had become in 2012, Cochrane’s official title was executive chairman. He liked to be described as ‘benevolent dictator’; many who dealt with him removed the prefix. When he left, Cochrane was disgruntled, tired and unhappy with new owners Archer Capital. He needed a change and pretty much dropped out of public sight as far as Supercars went. No haranguing from the sidelines, no dial-a-quote access for journos and very rare appearances in the paddock. “I purposely stayed mute for the first five years for two very simple reasons,” Cochrane told Auto Action. “Number one, there’s nothing worse than the guy who steps down and steps away barking instructions from the sidelines, so I just didn’t see any point in me saying anything. “Coupled with that, I thought there were some bloody stupid decisions being made, so what was the point in jumping in and giving walking commentary on that? “But second point – and the second point’s actually probably stronger than the
first point – I got busy doing other things that were just not in that sphere. In fact, for the first four years after I finished up, I worked overseas an awful lot. “I lived in Australia, but I would be overseas all the time, so I just wasn’t observing it anywhere near as regularly.” We’re sitting in the boardroom of Cochrane’s private Gold Coast office. Surrounding us is plenty of evidence of the varied business life he has led across the sports and entertainment promotion industry. Frank Sinatra, The Rolling Stones, V8 Supercars – Cochrane still calls it V8 Supercars – and, of course, the Gold Coast Suns AFL club. He joined the board of the struggling Aussie rules club in 2014 and assumed the presidency in 2016. It’s been a tough road. The Suns again finished on the bottom of the ladder this season, derided for their lack of competitiveness. The silver lining has been the significant concessions the AFL has granted the club going forward. Cochrane campaigned for them and won them despite widespread opposition from the Victorian clubs and the scepticism of the footy media, which is also predominantly Melbourne-based. In fact, having dealt with Cochrane throughout his Supercars reign – and realised that for all his bombast and sometimes outrageous behaviour, he delivers what he promises far more often than he doesn’t - it’s been amusing watching the footy industry, especially the journalists, grappling with him. AFL journos are the peacocks of the Aussie media world, feted and stroked
and almost as much celebrities as the footballers they cover. Yet in more than one interview or press conference, Cochrane has comfortably got the better of them. He is quick-witted, happy to be confrontational and rarely backs down. Tackle him on a subject and you better know your facts and be willing to persevere, because you can bet Cochrane will. “Everybody underestimates me,” he mused. “That’s been the story of my life. “I think that people get suckered into my sweeping statement or outrageous statement and feel ‘Oh, look, he’s obviously a bit of a dill and therefore it will be easy to pull his pants down’. That’s my theory; I could be hopelessly wrong. “All my working life I’ve gone a lot further than what people thought I was going to and because of that, they tend to underestimate you. Because they then underestimate you, sometimes you’re able to achieve much greater things that what everybody thinks is possible and certainly that was true in V8 Supercar days. “A lot of people learned a very hard lesson to decide to take me on and came off the worse for wear in that process. But that’s the cut and thrust of normal business and that kind of life. “It is, and always will be, that the big dog’s going to win out. Suits only some people, but that’s how it is.” Over the past year or two, Cochrane has slowly started to re-engage with Supercars racing. In 2018, he wrote a column in the Gold
Coast Bulletin lamenting the decline of the Gold Coast 600, then did a follow-up where he admitted to being a closet Ford fan. Earlier this year, he appeared on Russell Ingall’s and Paul Morris’ web TV show Enforcer And The Dude and showed off his limited-edition Ford Mustang Bullitt. It was like he had never been away. Cackling voice, hard-edged opinions and still, very clearly, a passion for V8 racing. “Probably because of Skaifey, really, I’ve started to take a bit more notice and I’ve started to get a bit more involved and started to have a bit more of a look,” Cochrane confirmed. ‘Skaifey’ is, of course, Mark Skaife, the five-time series champion and six-time Bathurst winner. He and Cochrane have long had a close bond. During Cochrane’s time, Skaife served on the Supercars board, was the first chairman of the Commission and the architect of Car Of The Future. “He’s been a bit of a catalyst to get me talking and thinking about the sport generally a bit more,” Cochrane said. “And, of course, my wife’s always been a motor sport fan and out of the blue at the end of last year, they asked Thea whether she’d go on the board of CAMS. “So because of that, I’ve suddenly taken a bit more of an interest as well because Thea wants to sit there of a night-time and discuss various aspects of motor sport in Australia with me.” Cochrane joined his wife at the Australian Grand Prix, where he had his first good look at Supercars in a few years. He also attended the Gold Coast
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“Everybody underestimates me. That’s been the story of my life. All my working life I have got further than people thought I would.” 600 last month. As a punter sitting in the stands, what did he think? “I thought the qualifying was more exciting than the races,” he replied. “It was a bit processional. But, then, if I can go back two weeks earlier, I thought the last three hours of Bathurst this year was as compelling TV as I have ever watched.” The quality of the racing, Bathurst and television. They are all key themes for Cochrane when it comes to Supercars. His view is the championship has declined from the heights of its popularity and profitability under his management, but he remains confident of its future. “I am, by nature, an optimist,” he said. “So to the ones in the V8 fraternity that still seek out my opinion, I still say it’s all recoverable. It mightn’t get back to its very high, but I think it can get back to something pretty close to it. “I remain completely optimistic that the wheel will turn and the management group that are there now have got the best opportunity to get it right. Fingers crossed. “The next media deal is critical, mission critical. So that’s got to be done and done properly. And then you’ve got to turn a lot more attention to looking after the fanbase and then almost simultaneously with that, you’ve got to put a lot more attention into finding a better way for pit lane to operate.” Cochrane’s never been in any doubt that Supercars is a business in a subset of the entertainment industry, fighting for its share of a limited dollar across the Australian and New Zealand markets. As ever, his solutions are a combination of cutting costs
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and growing incomes. The former first. He has been disturbed by the way the 2019 season has devolved into a round of tit-for-tat parity adjustments as Supercars has alternately sought to slow the Mustang and speed up the Holden Commodore and Nissan Altima. The impact on the racing has been substantial and as far as Cochrane is concerned, the end result of a trend that’s been allowed to flourish since he departed. “One of the problems with racers – and this is so true of so many team owners I’ve known over the years, great blokes that they are – is they all want to beat the other bloke. They all think the holy grail of that is ‘I’ll find a widget or I’ll find a way or I’ll tune something up or I’ll be smarter than the guy next door and invent something that will get me one second around the track quicker’. “The problem with that is, you’ve got to save them from themselves and the only way you can do that in my humble opinion – and I’d like to think my track record almost proved my story correct – is you’ve got to have a benevolent dictator at the top who says ‘You’re not doing that’ or ‘You’re going to save $1 million a year and this is how we’re going to do it’. “If you let them work on it, they’re all for saving something in some area where they’re not very strong. And another area where they’re strong, they’re all for defending it and going ‘Oh shit, you can’t touch this area, we’ve been doing it this way for too long. We can’t change it’. “I think what’s happened is, after the Cochrane era, that has been allowed to
flourish in Supercars. It’s flourished at the cost of the sport, so you’ve got to pare that back. “I give no better example than my old mate Garry (Rogers) walking out the door. Motor sport needs characters. Garry Rogers, love him or hate him, outstanding character, funny as. There are so many great Garry Rogers stories. “You can’t let those sorts of guys leave because they’re getting frustrated. So you have to control that eco system much better than they are. That’s absolutely priority.” His AFL-inspired solution – as we delve into in more detail on pages 4-5 – is a budget cap per car season, excluding driver salary. He nominates $1 million per car, but admits that’s an ambit figure. “That is your allocation of team personnel, your allocation of what you can spend on the car and then I would reverse-engineer the whole process,” he explained. “I’d have lots of bean counters checking the teams constantly on money and not worry so much about ‘Oh, they’ve found a new way to build a new widget’.” And growing the income stream? Cochrane’s view is unambiguously clear. Media rights are the critical element. “If you’ve got a strong broadcast deal and you’ve got strong eyeballs with that deal – and that means the ratings that go with it – then you can give your team owners the best chance to succeed because they can get genuine sponsorship on their cars.” Cochrane outlined. “They can have a number of people attending, so they’ve got
a real chance selling merchandise. It flows on. It just has a natural flow.” The current $241 million six-year media rights deal, negotiated by then V8 Supercars CEO James Warburton in 2014, delivers all races lives to subscription station Fox Sports, with selected marquee events also broadcast free-to-air by Network 10. Fox Sports also controls local streaming rights. Cochrane is adamant the next deal, being negotiated now and due to commence in 2021, must open up access to Supercars telecasts so more people can watch more of it free or much more cheaply. While trailing goliaths the AFL, NRL, cricket and tennis, Cochrane is convinced Supercars could be well-placed for a good deal based on its current strong numbers and the jewel in the crown that is the Bathurst 1000. “It (Supercars) could be one-out, oneback,” he declared. “And what I mean by that is it’s got a very compelling story. As far as motor sport goes, it is easily the ratings winner in this country and New Zealand, by a mile. “V8 Supercar ends, there’s daylight and then there’s somebody else, whoever it is. That’s the truth, the real figures. “So, V8s might be able to carve out if they’re clever – and they’ll have to be clever because they’re in a frightening new world of competition – a very, very special and financially rewarding media rights deal. And I hope they do. I really hope they do. “I didn’t spend 17 years of my life building it up to see it go down the toilet.
So I think they’ve got a real opportunity.” Some things have already “gone down the toilet” and some of them annoy Cochrane more than others. For the first time since 2012, Supercars reverts to a pure Ford versus Holden battle in 2020. That doesn’t bother him so much. “Today, manufacturers out there are all on struggle street,” he said. “With the exception of Formula 1, no manufacturer today writes big cheques for motor sport. It doesn’t happen anymore, I don’t care who it is. “Assuming you want to pay people in the sport, whether they be drivers, whether they be mechanics, whether they be analysts, whether they be team owners; it doesn’t matter who. If you want to pay them, then you have to find ways to run the sport so that it has effective income streams excluding manufacturers. “Whoever they may be, as nice as they may be, as wonderful a people as they may be, they do not have the resources anymore, globally – and certainly in Australia – to tip into motor sports.” It does expose one of his regrets, though. He believes the dictator was too benevolent when it came to framing the Car Of The Future rules under which Nissan, Volvo and Mercedes AMG (via Betty Klimenko’s millions) were lured into the sport. “In hindsight, on the law of probability, it was more right than wrong,” Cochrane observed. “Was it perfect? No, it was not. I think there were things that could have been done better. “I come back to the fact that it was trying to get everybody on board with the decision. We allowed a little bit too much group therapy, not enough dictatorship. “If I had my time over again in that particular aspect, I think there would have been some things I would have slammed my fist on the table and said ‘We’re not doing that’. “I don’t want to get into nitty gritties because I don’t want people that might read this article to think that I’m having a personal crack at them because I’m not. What I’m saying is that we probably allowed too many voices and too much debate.” If Cochrane has regrets about COTF, his attitude is much darker about the lack of overseas races on the calendar. In his time, Supercars visited China, Bahrain, Abu Dhabi and, in 2013, the Circuit Of The Americas in Texas. The latter lasted only the first year Tony Cochrane was the architect of the Circuit of the Americas deal which, much to his disappointment, lasted only one of its five contracted years.
These days Tony Cochrane is the controversial Chairman of the Gold Coast Suns AFL team.
of a five-year deal he negotiated “All these clowns in Australia who wrote ‘Oh, there was only 200 in the grandstand, what’s the point?’ But we weren’t going to those places to sell tickets. We were going to those places because of the TV right deals we were starting to get up globally. “We were very well remunerated to go to those places. You know, the only cost to a team to go to Austin, Texas was to get themselves to the reight, the airport. Everything was picked up – the freight, airlifted people, the accommodation – and then they got a big cheque on top of all of that.” Cochrane is derisive about James Warburton’s search for races in Asia throughout his term. Apart from a demonstration event in Kuala Lumpur, they came to nothing. “Every one of those races took place in a country called Mirage,” he dismissed. “Not one of them got up.” The passion and frustration Cochrane feels over the loss of the category’s international races is palpable. It’s obvious he is still very much engaged and connected with Supercars. He’s still a small shareholder, too, although he admitted Warburton told him years ago it was “worthless”. It prompts the obvious question, would he ever come back and run the sport again? “I’m not coming back,” he said firmly. “I’m not coming back,” he repeated for good measure. “Those days are behind me. They’re in the past.” Yet it seems a waste that a bloke so steeped in Supercars, so passionate about it and so understanding of its positives and negatives, would sit completely on the sidelines. Here is a huge well of knowledge, an agent of change, a natural provocateur just waiting to be tapped. Put it that way and there is a concession, a twinkle of interest. “To me, it’s all about who was doing the asking and what was the premise?” he allowed. “You never say never, but I’m working on a very big project at the moment in America and I’m pretty happy with that. “It would all depend on who was doing the asking, what was going to be the criteria. What were they trying to achieve, you know? “But it’s a great sport. Am I still passionate about it? Yes. Do I still love it? Yeah.”
THE THOUGHTS OF (FORMER) CHAIRMAN COCHRANE TC’s forthright views on a range of contentious topics. On the threat of TCR to Supercars: “Here we go – Super Touring, Ross Palmer’s Nation’s Cup, TCR. We’re going to go through it all again, but the reality is you can talk the talk and make out you’ve got the biggest thing and the newest, fanciest widget and it’s going to be so unbelievable, we’ve got so much money behind it and we’ve got so many manufacturers. “You can do all of that, but the reality is, when you expose yourself running your own show up at Bathurst, my God, you are absolutely in the spotlight. There’s nowhere to hide. “History in this country proves that that V8 Supercar model – with or without manufacturers because it’s gone through lots of years with both – has got the two most critical things going for it. It’s got the fan base and it’s got the eyeballs watching on media. Whatever the media is, it’s got the eyeballs there. “So I don’t see that changing radically if the management of V8 Supercars are on their toes. They should be planning and should be well ahead of the curve.” On the structure of the Supercars board: “We went from a board of nine in my time; we had three SEL people, we had four team owners and two independents. For most of the V8 Supercars time after I left, the board was four people. So I would encourage them to add independents. “Hopefully, it brings some stability to that debate we just had about parity and team orders and commissions and all of these wonderful things that they all allow themselves to be caught up in.” On sacred sites: “I made a huge error really early in my time when somebody asked me about Bathurst and I said ‘There are no sacred sites in Australian motor sport’. That was absolutely 100 per cent Tony Cochrane saying bullshit. “Bathurst is an absolute sacred site for Australian motor sport
and, in particular, it’s a sacred site for V8 Supercars.” On his greatest achievements running Supercars: “Making the pit lane so profitable. We were a very, very profitable sport and the teams got fantastic dividends, so that always used to please my jollies. “I like the fact that we became for a period of time in Australia a mainstream sport. We did have major column inches in every paper in Australia. We featured regularly on nightly news services in sport and we had a huge audience. “I loved the fact that I singularly started events like the Clipsal 500 through my initiative. I saved the Gold Coast event not once but on three occasions, through largely my initiative. “I love the fact that we got all that money to develop Darwin as a racetrack, to get the whole pit complex and everything rebuilt in Perth, and to raise 30odd million to rebuild Bathurst completely.”
ON THE MISTAKES
“I think Canberra was a really dumb decision. It wasn’t a dumb decision to do a street race. It was a dumb decision to agree to the time of the year (June). I should have woken up to that one better than I did. “I should have dug in and refused to go there in the middle of their winter because it happened to be a long weekend when everybody left Canberra. That was pretty stupid.” On the future ownership structure: “Forget who might buy it (if/ when Archer Capital sells its controlling stake) because I’m not privileged to any inside knowledge as to who might be a potential buyer, but I do believe when that happens, you’ve got to restructure the business. “It’s got to go back to perhaps a 51/49 split – 51 per cent to company X that buys it, or individual X, or whatever entity that is, and 49 per cent the teams. It’s got to become much more to a 50/50 thing. “I think you’ve got to have real alignment in the two groups.”
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O T K C A B E R U T U F THE F1 CHANGES INSPIRED BY T S A P R E L P SIM
AA’s Formula 1 expert DAN KNUTSON explores the sweeping changes in store for 2021 and beyond THE WORLD of Formula 1 will be considerably different – and yet retain its heritage – in 2021 as new technical, sporting and financial regulations come into force. The new regulations, unanimously approved by the FIA’s World Motor Sport Council, were introduced at a press conference attended by Auto Action at the Circuit of the Americas during the United States Grand Prix weekend. Formula 1 chairman and CEO Chase Carey; FIA head of singleseater technical matters, Nikolas Tombazis; and Formula 1 managing director, motor sport, Ross Brawn gave the presentation to the media, along with FIA president Jean Todt via video link. From 2021 onwards F1 will have: *Cars that are better able to battle on the track; *A more balanced competition on the track; *A sport where success is determined more by how well a team spends its money, not how much it spends – including, for the first time, a fully enforceable cost cap (starting at US$175m, with plans to reduce this number in the future) in the FIA rules; *A sport that is a more sustainable business for those participating; *A sport that continues to be the world’s premier motor racing competition and the perfect showcase of cutting edge technology; “The new rules have emerged from a detailed two year process of examining technical, sporting, and financial issues in order to develop a package of regulations,” Carey said.
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Formula 1 Managing Director Ross Brawn (left) and FIA head of single seater technical matters, Nikolas Tombazis present the new 2021 F1 regulations to the media.
“We made many changes during the process as we received input by the teams and other stakeholders, and we firmly believe we achieved the goals we had set out to deliver. These regulations are not a cure to all our issues. They are an important and major step, however, and this is an ongoing process. We will continue to improve these regulations and take further steps to enable our sport to grow and achieve its full potential.”
CLOSER RACING
A HUGE amount of research went into how to create cars that are better able to battle on track, and most of this was concentrated on the aerodynamics of the cars. “We have simplified the front wing to create weaker vortices around it, in
this way giving less opportunity to the teams to control the wake of the front wheel,” Tombazis explains. “There are no barge boards anymore. Currently, the barge boards are massively complicated devices. “The (2021) car is fundamentally a ground effect car. It’s got a long diffuser starting from the front of the side pod, going underneath and finishing at the very back. That is fundamental for the flow structures that we tried to achieve.” Currently, a car that is trailing another car by one car length only retains 55 per cent of its downforce levels compared to when running in clear air. In 2021, the trailing car will retain 86 per cent of that downforce. “The simulations show that is should achieve cars following each
other much more closely and more able to attack the front car,” Tombazis notes, “which, ultimately, is what we are seeking.”
AERODYNAMIC REGULATIONS
THE 2021 cars will look different from the 2019 cars in a number of different aerodynamic components including: nose, front wing and endplates, engine intake, sidepod intake shape, sidepod coke shape and engine cover spine, brake ducts, plus rear wing and endplates. “There’s been quite a lot of discussion about eventual differentiation between the cars and shape differentiation,” Tombazis says. “We do expect there to be numerous areas where cars will look different to each other. There are quite
The official artist impression of how a typical 2021 F1 car will look under the new regulations.
a lot of areas where we see still notable performance and visual differentiation. “We have, of course, restricted some areas because there are some areas that are key to this wake performance, and we don’t want to throw away that massive advantage.”
TECHNICAL REGULATIONS
policing the following will become standardised: high pressure and primer pumps; piping; flow meter as now; damper; and prescribed collector and certain internal components. TRANSMISSION SYSTEM: Analysis showed considerable savings can be obtained if gearbox R&D costs
are eliminated, and this is obtained through configuration freezing for a certain period. In order to not “lockin” a performance differential for a team, gearbox dimensions have been defined in a more restrictive manner. One complete redesign will be allowed in a five-year cycle. Driveshaft geometrics will be
simplified for cost reasons. SUSPENSION, STEERING AND TYRES: The 2021 objectives are: simplification of suspension; ban of hydraulic suspension; simpler inboard systems (springs, dampers) and banning of inerters; kinematic restrictions to resolve the poorly regulated area outside of the wheels;
BESIDES THE aerodynamic changes there are many other significant modifications to the technical regulations including the following. POWER UNIT: For the most part there will be a carryover of the current status quo, but there will be some cost reductions via: increased weight; material restrictions to commercially available; and the obligation for equal spec between manufacturers and customer teams. FUEL AND ENGINE OIL: There is a strong desire to increase environmental relevance of F1 fuels. For 2021 there will be a doubling of renewable content of fuel to 20 per cent, and from 2022 onwards a commitment to further increase these numbers. FUEL SYSTEM: For legality and F1 cars in 2021 and beyond will have simplified front wings to create weaker vortices, giving the teams less opportunity to control the wake of the front wheels.
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Larger internal cockpit dimensions will not penalise tall drivers.
separation of suspension structures and their fairings; larger wheels (18 inch) with standard supply; retaining of tyre blankets at least for 2021 and 2022 but at a lower cost; and prescribed design hubs, nuts and wheel retention. BRAKE SYSTEM: Bigger disks (from 278mm to 330mm); simpler disk geometry; fewer and larger diameter holes; and postponement of standard supply until 2023. CHASSIS AND HOMOLOGATION: Larger internal cockpit dimensions to not penalise tall drivers; increased side beam dimensions for side impact safety; prescribed front floor structure to protect chassis on kerbs, but also to stop teams from seeking an unfair advantage like flexy floors. SAFETY IMPROVEMENTS: Better debris containment in the event of an accident; research to contain debris by adding a rubber membrane within some components; work to prevent the whole front wing detaching from the car; tethering of some rear components; increased frontal energy absorption
“If you fraudulently breach the financial regulations, you will be losing your championship.”
All 2021 F1 cars will be heavier ... minimum weight will go from 743kg to
ENFORCING THE FINANCIAL REGULATIONS THE OBJECTIVES of the financial regulations are, according to the Formula One Group, “to promote the competitive balance and the sporting fairness of the championship. And to ensure the long-term financial stability and sustainability of the F1 teams while preserving the unique technology and engineering challenge of F1.” The annual cost cap of US$175 million has been set at a level that will facilitate a reduction in performance differentials while maintaining the unique technology and engineering challenge of F1. Attempts to control costs or introduce budget caps in the past have failed. The Resource Restriction Agreement in 2010 was supposed to guide the teams into progressive restrictions of things like testing, wind tunnel time used, number of staff and more. It didn’t work. “The crucial thing about the financial regulations now
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is that they’re part of the FIA regulations,” says Formula 1’s managing director of motor sport Ross Brawn. “So the sanctions from breaching financial regulations will be sporting penalties of some sort, depending on the severity of the breach. “We had the Resource Restriction, which was a gentleman’s agreement between teams; well, there’s not many gentlemen in the paddock I’m afraid, and that was a failure. “But this (the new budget cap) has teeth. If you fraudulently breach the financial regulations, you will be losing your championship. So it has serious consequences if teams breach these regulations. Monitoring the teams’ finances, along with financial experts within the FIA and Formula One, will be Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Ltd., which is one of the four largest accounting organisations in the world.
“Deloitte are one of the experts in sports finances,” Brawn says. “They’ve been very involved with the football world, and you can see the positive effect it’s starting to have.” The timeline for the implementation of the financial regulations allows the teams to voluntarily submit their financial data for 2019 and 2020 without risking any financial or sporting penalties. But, on March 31, 2022, there is a mandatory submission of 2021 financial data with application of financial and sporting penalties in case of procedural and/or financial (minor/ material) breaches. “They will need development, like any new regulation,” Brawn cautions. “I fully expect we’re going to have challenges in the future to implement this. But, it’s absolutely essential, for the good of F1, that we have a control on the finances and how much you spend in F1.”
COMPRESSING THE WEEKEND
Ultimately, the FIA expects that each 2021 F1 car will look quite different as the teams develop them. The official artist impression simply provides a taste of what the cars could look like.
via a longer nose; increased side chassis strength and new more comprehensive side impact structure; improved headrest and its attachment to the chassis; and consequential increase of wheel tethers due to the larger wheel mass. MATERIALS: There will be a comprehensive rewrite of materials’ regulations primarily for clarity and cost reasons. The cost reduction will primarily be achieved for metallic
materials. Composite materials will largely remain status quo. The concept that materials must be commercially available will be introduced. WEIGHT INCREASE: All these changes come at a cost of increased weight, something that is unavoidable but also unpopular with the drivers. The minimum weight of the car will go from 743Kg to 768Kg. The main contributors are the bigger wheels (increasing from 13 inches to 18 inches) plus the tyre mass; five more kilos added to the power unit; an increase in certain standard or prescribed parts; and improved safety components.
FINANCIAL REGULATIONS
SPORTING REGULATIONS
THE FUTURE
THE 2021 sporting regulations will be quite similar to those in 2019 but some key changes will include: reorganisation of the sporting articles for clarity and consistency; eventual increase of number of races to a maximum of 25; compression of the weekend format from four to three days; power unit dyno limitations; and reduction of wind tunnel and CFD simulations.
FOR THE first time financial regulations have been included along with the sporting and technical regulations. The first ever budget cap of US$175 million is based on 21 races and will increase or decrease by $1 million for each race above or below 21. A number of things do not come under the cap including: marketing costs; depreciation and amortization; drivers costs; non F1 activities costs; costs of maintaining historic cars; FIA entry fee and drivers’ super-license costs; year-end bonuses; and the three highest paid persons costs. “THE GOAL has always been to improve the competition and action on the track,” Carey says, “and at the same time make the sport a healthier and attractive business for all. One of the most important initiatives we will be addressing as we go forward is the environmental impact of our sport. We will be launching plans to reduce and ultimately eliminate environmental impact of our sport and business.”
Tightly written aerodynamic regulations aim to have the next generation of F1 cars looking a lot cleaner than the current ones.
AS THE number of races increases from 21 this season to a record 22 next year and eventually to a maximum of 25, one of the objectives of the new sporting regulations is to reduce the traveling strain and time away from home for the F1 crews by compressing the race weekends from four to three days. Currently the teams must submit their cars for scrutineering on the Thursday. The drivers and other team personnel have a number of media and PR commitments plus engineering meetings on the same day. There are two 90-minute practice sessions on Friday, a 60-minute practice session and qualifying on Saturday, and the race on Sunday. Monaco, with its traditional Wednesday/Thursday/ Saturday/Sunday schedule is the exception now and will be in the future. The plan for 2021 is to have scrutineering and the media/PR activities on Friday morning, and then the two practice sessions – perhaps shortened to 60-minutes each – on Friday afternoon. It remains to be seen how much of that can be squeezed into Friday and what will have to be eliminated. Several F1 PR officers told AA that losing the Thursday media day will reduce the amount of exposure F1 gets worldwide. A number of tracks hold very popular pit walks on the Thursday so that fans can get a closeup look at the F1 cars, and it is not yet known how a shorter weekend will affect those. The Saturday and Sunday schedules will remain the same. Suggestions to reduce the schedule to those two days were rejected. “Our promoters rely on a three-day race weekend,” F1’s Ross Brawn says. “We’ll still get pretty close to the same amount of track time, but we’ll make it more efficient. The teams feel they can come to a race meeting at least one day later than they currently do. The number of working hours that the teams will be permitted to carry out (over the three days) will be reduced as well.” But will this really reduce days away from home for the crews? “It will definitely benefit some of the people of the race team,” McLaren team principal Andreas Seidl tells Auto Action. “The most affected people by this heavy calendar are the mechanics. We have an ongoing discussion between the teams and Formula One about doing any further changes, but it is still early days. At the moment from what we can see it does not really affect our schedule for our mechanics.” Furthermore, team members will still be forced to be away from home extra days during back-to-back race weekends even if they are spending fewer days at the track.
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NEXT IN-LINE?
Having one-upped Formula 1 star Daniel Ricciardo already, Australian Oscar Piastri is well on the way to joining him on the F1 grid says HEATH McALPINE IT’S RARE to come across an 18-yearold as mature as Oscar Piastri. The young driver has had to grow up fast after transitioning his life across to Europe to pursue his Formula 1 dream. Based in the United Kingdom, his family has remained in Australia watching him from afar, though his father Chris has undertaken a number of trips to see his son race. Piastri has risen through the ranks rapidly since jumping from karts to openwheelers in 2016 contesting the UAE
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F Formula l 4S Series, i ahead h d off embarking b ki on a full-season in British Formula 4 the next year. Moving into the ferociously competitive Formula Renault Eurocup series in 2018 proved a masterstroke as he
emerged as one of em the th lead rookies and proved favourite for this p season’s title. s That favouritism proved worthy as he fought off a w strong campaign i from MP Motorsport’s Victor Martens to take the crown by 7.5 points, continuing a successful run for his French team R-ace. The pressure was heavily weighted on Piastri, because two second place
finishes at the final round at Abu Dhabi would not be enough to take the crown, he had to win to defeat Martens. “I knew that I couldn’t come second in both races because I would have lost by half a point,” Piastri told Auto Action. “Going into it, I had a good feeling that it was either him [Victor Martens] or I who were going to finish first and second in both races. I knew I was going to have to beat him in one of them (at least). I was thinking to myself, ‘it’d be nice to do
Oscar Piastri has celebrated a number of victories this season, but his last in Abu Dhabi’s operner was the most important. it in the first race’, so in the second race there would be a lot less pressure and that’s how it ended up.” Although, his weekend wasn’t quite as plain sailing as that, especially when Martens countered Piastri’s previous track knowledge with a serious pace advantage during practice. Some of this pace could be attributed to the Aussie readjusting to his Formula Renault, after completing an F3 test with leading team Prema Racing. “I had a few things going for me. I had been there three times before and he had never been there,” Piastri said. “But after the first practice session where he was 0.8s up on everyone, we were like ‘well that advantage has gone.’ “I was quietly confident because our pace in the dry had been good, but Martins was also a lot stronger than at the beginning of the year, so I knew it was going to be tough. I was pretty concerned after practice 1 I have to say, when he was 0.8s up. I was still getting used to the Renault [Eurocup car] after the Formula 3 test. “After the official FP1 when he was still 0.4s up the road and it was an MP
Motorsport 1-2-3. I was thinking ‘gee, this doesn’t look good.’ I think it was 0.05s in the final practice session and even still I was hoping to dethrone him after he had come off four poles, three wins and a mistake in the last race at Hockenheim dropped him out of another potential win, his confidence was high.” A win on Saturday meant Piastri was in the box seat on Sunday, needing only to finish seventh nth to take the crown, which had eluded ed many Australian youngsters including ding Daniel Ricciardo. Despite a touch from a fellow competitor early in the race, Piastri finished a safe fourth to clinch the crown and convert favouritism into reality. “I haven’t really thought about that to be honest, being the first Aussie to win is cool,” reflected Piastri. “Funnily enough, my engineer this year was Ricciardo’s engineer when he finished second, (so) we joked that I was one up on Ricciardo already. “Especially with Eurocup, I think across Europe it is pretty highly regarded stepping stone. I think Eurocup and Formula 3 are the strongest championships around during the last two seasons, especially after the merging of the two F3 and GP3 titles, it was a very strong field.” That last statement by the young Australian points to next year’s challenge. Formula 3 is on Piastri’s horizon after participating in rookie test days with the R-ace has a successful history in Eurocup and Piastri continued that with his title win. A move to Formula 3 beckons next year.
Here Piastri takes a ‘home’ victory at Silverstone. The 18-year-old will complete his A-levels next year. category’s benchmark team, Prema Racing. “It was a very positive two days. I did the GP3 test last year, so I had a little experience and I had to learn Valencia as I’d only been there for one day in British F4,” Piastri recounted. “For the speed of car, it’s a pretty small circuit, but it was good. “The first day was just learning the car in the wet but I’m going to be driving the car in the rain at some point, so it was good mileage. “The second day, especially the afternoon, was very positive. In the morning we had a chassis loom break mid-way through so they spent the rest of the session fixing that, which meant I had one or two more sets of new tyres compared to everyone else in the afternoon, that was pretty fun.” It was a successful test and a taste of next year’s season for Piastri, who is currently in negotiations to join the Renault Sport Academy, the French manufacturer’s junior development program. This will further aid his pursuit
of a F3 drive, joining fellow A li C l Willi f h Australian Calan Williams after he was recently confirmed at Jenzer Motorsport. Two other Aussies, Alex Peroni and Jack Doohan, are also aiming to make the grid, the former after an accident ended his debut F3 campaign early. Reflecting on his title winning year, we asked what made the difference compared to the previous season for Piastri? “Last year the biggest struggle I had was my teammate situation,” explained Piastri. “I was learning on my own. R-ace had four good drivers, so it could try four different things, we were basically trying one thing each session. “I don’t think I’ve seen someone that wants to win as much as Thibaut [de Merindol, team principal R-ace]. He is a great driving force for that team and it was a pretty eye-opening experience.” A new challenge beckons for Piastri now as the competition intensifies to join names including Jones, Webber and Ricciardo as Australian Formula 1 heroes. Piastri leads the charge of hungry drivers from down under eager to join those legendary names.
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THIRTY YEARS AND COUNTING Thi year’s This ’ BBathurst th t 1000 markk a 30-year partnership synonymous in Australian motor sport, that of Neal Bates and Toyota. The former Australian Rally Champion reflects here with DAN McCARTHY on his many memories Images: AA Archive/Toyota Australia IT’S RARE in motor sport that an association lasts so long, but Neal Bates and Toyota have achieved just that. Bates debuted with the marque on the tarmac, contesting the 1989 Bathurst 1000 alongside bike racer Michael Dowson, but has since forged a career as Toyota’s leader on the dirt and lately has taken a step back to witness a new generation upholding the Bates/Toyota alliance. What followed were four Australian Rally Championship titles, victory in Targa Tasmania, a class win in the Bathurst 1000, while World Rally Championship opportunities arose through the Japanese marque’s Toyota Team Europe WRC squad headed by Ove Andersson. Looking back over the past 30 years, Bates was amazed at how quick time had gone and recalled how the relationship began. “It is pretty amazing, you don’t even think about it (being with Toyota three decades), it just goes along until someone mentions it then you look back and go ‘that is a long time’,” Bates told Auto Action. “Toyota ran a Star Search competition in 1989, myself and Michael Dowson won that and then we got to drive at Bathurst in a Corolla.” The pair won their class, coming home in 17th position outright, a lap clear of the next best car in class. “Toyota signed me up to be a touring car driver at that stage, but then the team folded,” Bates recalled. As a result the Canberra-based driver set his sights on the Australian Rally Championship with his own team Neal Bates Motorsport (NBM) from 1991. He experienced reasonable success in his first two seasons but things improved when Coral Taylor joined him as a codriver in 1993, on the recommendation of former driver Murray Coote. “If I look back on it, I could drive very well and I was probably in disarray with the rest of it,” he recalled. “Coral tidied all that up and was amazingly good at co-driving and organising the team, which then allowed me to just concentrate on driving.” The pair had instant success winning their first three titles as a pairing from 1993-1995 in the ST205 Celica, which Bates told AA was the car that he was most fond of. “It probably wasn’t the best car we drove but we had amazing success
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Neal Bates was Australia’s most successful rally champion for many years, partnered as always by Coral Taylor. Both have children who have gone on to win rally titles too.
with it, we won every rally in 1995 except for Rally Australia, where we had problems. We also won Targa Tasmania that same year,” he said. Then from 1996-2002 Possum Bourne and Subaru won the following seven championships, so it wasn’t until 2008 that Bates and Taylor won their fourth
and final title in a NBM-developed Corolla S2000. “Possum and Subaru were incredibly good,” he said. “They (the series) changed the rules and allowed more suspension travel and various things; when you look back the Subaru was probably a better car.
“We were using Dunlop tyres at the time and Possum was using Pirelli. We led a lot of rallies (but) had excessive tyre wear and got punctures. I changed to Michelin but I should’ve done that earlier. Dunlop was incredibly loyal to me and I was incredibly loyal to them. When you look at loyalty the majority of the time it has got plusses but every now and then there are negatives.” It was in this period that Bates was given the opportunity to drive for Toyota Team Europe in selected WRC events, partnering with WRC champions Didier Auriol and Carlos Sainz during the next three seasons. “The first time I drove it was in Indonesia in 1997 before I did Rally Australia.” “I look at that and think it was amazingly good, but out of everything I did with Toyota, it was probably the worst time. “Even though I look at it as an amazing opportunity, I didn’t get to set the car up how I wanted to, I didn’t get to test. It was just throwing me in the car and saying see you later, so I just found the car incredibly difficult and certainly not to my liking. “But once we got it to our liking (in the Australian series) it was an amazing car, the best car I ever drove, it just did everything incredibly well.” Bates remains team principal of NBM which is now the factory Toyota Gazoo Racing Australia squad, for which his sons Harry and Lewis both drive a Yaris AP4. The Australian Motor Sport Hall of Famer is impressed with the technology in the Yaris compared with the cars he drove. “The Yaris is way faster than what those cars were because everything moves forwards with suspension travel, shock absorbers, development in tyres,” he said. “To compare it, I hopped in the world rally car against Harry in the Yaris, Harry would cream me, because everything has just come so far forward.” Out of everything the 54-year-old has achieved, he highlights Harry’s ARC title this year as his proudest moment. “For one it is your son, but we built the car and developed the car for him to do that in, so that is exceptionally nice from all angles,” Bates said. He admitted that as a very nervous father it is not easy having your sons drive for the team and tends to steer clear of giving them advice wherever possible.
Neal Bates was asked to come up with the technical package for the one-make Toyota 86 series. His team also provides the technical support and resources to make it all work.
Harry and Lewis aren’t the only second generation drivers to currently be competing in ARC, as Coral Taylor’s daughter Molly has had success winning the 2016 championship competing for rival Japanese brand Subaru. “Obviously that is interesting because Coral is involved in our team at the rallies. She’s got a blue wrist band on and is helping us wherever she can, but probably deep down hoping that Molly wins, it is an interesting
dynamic,” Bates explained. Bates has been retired from full-time ARC competition 10 years but he still loves to compete in classic rallies. “I only did one event this year which was the Bega Rally. One of my things next year is to try and make more time to do a little bit more myself because I do miss it. I started rallying because I loved it and I still love it now,” he said. As well as this Bates is heavily involved in the Toyota 86 Racing Series as NBM provides all the technical
support for the one-make series. Bates spoke to AA about how the deal came about. “Toyota had an idea to do a one-make 86 Series with Mike Breen. I worked with Mike in 1989 when I first started with the Star Search program,” he recalled. “Mike was instrumental in the 86 Series happening. He spoke to us about it and asked if we could come up with a package that would be reliable and cheap for people to race, and we
set about coming up with that package. “I have to say I’m very proud. The cars are strong, reliable and they are cheap to run, so I think that we have met the brief, they are an incredibly economical race car that are still quick.” Bates said he really enjoys the role as the series technical support because he simply loves what he does and loves to help people. “There is a lot of fantastic people. I enjoy helping people in motorsport because I’ve been incredibly fortunate to do what I love for a lot of years and it is nice to be able to help people,” he said. Bates finished by reflecting on his incredible 30 year relationship with Toyota. “People say to me how or why. I’ve worked very hard for Toyota and I think they have been incredibly loyal to me, the relationship has just worked,” he said. “I’ve enjoyed what I have done and I think that is an incredibly important part of it. I struggle to even look at other brands because I’ve been involved with one brand for so long.” The final round of ARC at Rally Australia takes place from the November 14-17. Harry Bates has already sealed the title but Lewis Bates and Molly Taylor go into the event tied for second in the standings.
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SUN, SWEAT AND GEARS
eets of Newcastle. The str y ist tw d an ht tig the on es lud nc co hip The 2019 Supercars Champions ll a lot to play for sti is re the , ins pla ex HY RT CA Mc N DA as driver’s title may have been decided but
Falcons have been a staple at Newcastle the past two years, so there will be much interest in how the Mustang performs this year. Chaz Mostert (right) will simply be looking to leave Tickford in style.
Images: LAT ONCE AGAIN, for the third straight year, the final round of the 2019 Supercars Championship will take place on the Newcastle beach front. The championship may already have been wrapped up but every driver will be out to prove a point at the concluding round. All drivers will need to quickly get back in the swing of the single driver sprint race format after coming off the back of the three endurance events. Newcastle’s final round consists of two 250km races held each on Saturday and Sunday. The peerless Kiwi Scott McLaughlin may have taken back-to-back titles, but he and his DJR Team Penske teammate Fabian Coulthard are locked in a very tight battle with the Red Bull Holden Racing Team for the Teams’ championship. The two factory teams, DJR Team Penske representing the Blue Oval and the Red Bull Holden Racing Team for The General, had also hotly contested the title in the previous two years. In those seasons the team which won the Drivers’ championship has lost out in the fight for the Teams’ title, so is this a good omen for the Red Bull sponsored squad?
36 AutoAction
The fight appeared run and won by DJR Team Penske at the end of September, but after the 300 point penalty for the Bathurst safety car incident and a woeful round for the team at Surfers Paradise, the door has been well and truly opened for Jamie Whincup and Shane van Gisbergen to snatch victory away from the Ford team. During the penultimate round at Sandown, van Gisbergen wrapped up second in the Driver’s title while the battle for third is still closely fought between four drivers. Whincup, Coulthard, David Reynolds and Chaz Mostert are all very much in the running for the third spot in the Drivers’ championship. Seven-time champion Whincup comes off
a string of solid results including a victory on the streets of Surfers Paradise with codriver Craig Lowndes. One blip however was the controversial incident in New Zealand, when Whincup overtook the safety car and was given a drive-through penalty resulting in him finishing in 16th. The other three drivers in contention have struggled in recent rounds. After a sensational middle period to the season, since Townsville Coulthard has battled to finish inside the top 10. The New Zealander has found it challenging to extract consistent pace out of the Mustang compared to his teammate McLaughlin, resulting in a drop from second to third in the standings.
Since scoring four consecutive podiums Si across acr the Queensland Raceway and The Ben Bend Motorsport Park rounds, Tickford Rac Racing driver Mostert has had a fraught run of results. In New Zealand and at Bath Bathurst the #55 Mustang driver found it dif difficult to stay away from teammate Cam Cameron Waters, the pair collided at both even events, wiping each out of contention. It g got worse for Mostert, who had a big crash during the Saturday Top 10 Shootout on G Gold Coast, which wrote off his car and resul resulted in the 27-year-old missing both races that weekend. Rey Reynolds has had a patchy season in 2019, a lack of consistency from his Erebus Motorsport ZB Commodore hampering his climb towards title contention. This was emphasised by a difficult Bathurst campaign, beginning with a crash in practice with co-driver Luke Youlden at the wheel, followed by a lowly qualifying position of 22nd. But the race was a different story as the duo charged to fifth in a sign of returning pace, which carried onto the Gold Coast, where a confidence building third concluded a tough run of results. Reynolds’ form on the Gold Coast bodes well for Newcastle as the two circuits share similar characteristics and he was a winner there last year.
Irrespective of titles, van Gisbergen and McLaughlin are sure to be battling for race victories on the streets of Newcastle.
TV TIMES (AEDT) FOX SPORTS Thursday 21 November 4:30pm - Supercars Trackside Friday 22 November 10:30am Saturday 23 November 9:20am Sunday 24 November 9:10am NETWORK 10 Saturday 23 November 12:30pm – 18:30pm Sunday 24 November 12:30pm – 18:30pm
SUPERCAR SESSIONS (AEDT) Friday 11:30am-12:00pm 3:25pm-3:55pm
Practice 1 30 mins Practice 2 30 mins
Saturday 10:50am-11:10am 1:15pm-1:40pm 4:15pm-6:15pm
Qualifying 20 mins Top Ten Shootout 25 mins Race 31 95 laps
Sunday 11:20am-11:40am 1:20pm-1:45pm 4:15pm-6:15pm
Qualifying 20 mins Top Ten Shootout 25 mins Race 32 95 laps
Supercars’ third visit to the Newcastle street circuit is highly anticipated. It is always an exciting and drama-filled end to the season. With only four races held at Newcastle to date, yielding three different race winners, it is tough to pick a favourite heading into this year’s event. McLaughlin has taken two victories at the circuit while Whincup and Reynolds have one apiece. On street circuits McLaughlin has been the fastest all season but has also been involved in incidents that have cost big hauls of points at Townsville, Albert Park and particularly the Gold Coast. It is likely once again that Whincup, Reynolds and van Gisbergen will be the biggest threats to McLaughlin during this final round. Tickford Racing has shown strong speed in its Ford Mustangs throughout 2019, despite taking
only one race victory this season, which was back at the Australian Grand Prix with Mostert. Despite this, it is hard to rule out Mostert, Waters or the street circuit specialist Lee Holdsworth for a race win. In Newcastle expect the unexpected, every Supercars race at the venue has been dramatic throughout and has proved a very big challenge for drivers. As a result mistakes are common and safety cars are almost a given. So alternate strategies could be used and a surprise winner may greet the chequered flag first. One thing is for sure, although the Drivers’ title is wrapped up, everyone will be keen to dethrone Scott McLaughlin in Newcastle.
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Formula One
Round 19 US Grand Prix
THE MAGNIFICENT SIX Lewis Hamilton clinches a magnificent sixth championship while Valtteri Bottas wins the race
Report: Dan Knutson Images: LAT ALL LEWIS Hamilton needed to wrap up the world championship was to earn a mere four points in the final three races of the season. But Hamilton has not won 83 Formula 1 races and five, soon to be six, world crowns by cruising for points. He approached the 2019 United States Grand Prix the same way he does every race – aiming for victory. He qualified way back in fifth place after accidently hitting the brake balance adjuster on his steering wheel during qualifying. His Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas, meanwhile, earned the pole and converted that into his sixth career F1 win. Prior to the 56-lap race around the
extremely bumpy Circuit of the Americas, it was a far from certain if thee best strategy would be to pit once or twice for Pirelli tyres. “I made some solid progress since last year on a track I struggled with,” Bottas said “It was not an easy race. Even though the start went as planned, it was strong, also the first stint. But for me, Plan A was to do one stop, but Max (Verstappen) pitted quite early, moved to two stops, so I had to try to cover him and then I went for two stops as well.” Hamilton, meanwhile, babied his tyres to make them last long enough so that he only had to pit once. He led twice, therefore, when
The greatest driver of his generation celebrates his sixth World Championship (aove). Ferrari were strangely off the pace in Austin, raising suspicions about the impact of a new FIA directive on fuel flow limits. Bottas stopped, but in the end, he finished in the runner up spot and just 0.854 of a second in front of a hard-charging Verstappen in the Red Bull. “I was thinking, ‘OK, I’m starting fifth, I’ve got to figure out how do I get to first,’” Hamilton said. “That’s all I’m thinking all day: how I could win this race? And so, I nursed those tyres the best that I could possibly do. And I think that’s probably been a real strength of mine this year. I think I’ve always been able to do that kind of thing, but to get the car in a position where you’re able to do that, and each year I’ve been getting better at it.” Hamilton’s second place was preserved by Kevin Magnussen’s brake failure. The
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McLaren were strong again, Carlos Sainz even passing Sebastian Vetel’s Ferrari in the opening laps before finishing eighth, behind his equally impressive teammate Lando Norris (above).
Lewis Hamilton shows off yet another title trophy (above) while Daniel Ricciardo was more competitive for Renault, sixth this time. Max Verstappen (above) was in the mix as usual for Red Bull but not ultimately quick enough to race for the win. His teammate Alex Albon stormed from the rear of the grid to fifth, in an impressive drive. stranded Haas brought out the yellow flags. “On the last few laps the yellow flags hurt me,” Verstappen said, “and I couldn’t pass after the straight, otherwise I think we could have finished second. After the race I realised I was missing quite a big piece of my floor, which is a shame as I think we could have been even more competitive otherwise. I had a good start and then I tried to follow Valtteri, but it seemed like they had a bit more pace than us, so to finish roughly five seconds behind him is a good achievement, especially considering our car damage.” Missing from the mix was Ferrari, which has been so strong since the Singapore Grand Prix. Sebastian Vettel retired on lap seven with suspension failure, while Charles Leclerc struggled home to finish fourth. “It was a really tough race,” he said, “especially during the first stint where the front tyres did not feel right. It was difficult to find the grip and we have to look into how exactly that happened. The other two stints were a bit better, but not good enough. Our competitors were just too quick, so it was a rather lonely race.” Rivals pointed fingers at Ferrari, saying that the Scuderia’s sudden lack of pace and straight-line speed was because of a recent FIA directive regarding fuel flow limits had forced Ferrari to make adjustments. Ferrari staunchly denied that, and said the team had merely experimented with high downforce levels on the Texas track. Renault driver Daniel Ricciardo followed up his eighth place in Mexico with a sixth place
at COTA. The Aussie qualified ninth, behind McLaren rivals Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris, but he managed to beat both of them. Auto Action was there to hear what he had to say after the race in which he made only one pit stop. “The start was fun; the first lap was cool,” Ricciardo related. “I went back and forth a bit with Lando. Initially I got him, he got me back and then I got him a few laps later. Then he could see that his one stop was not going to work behind me, so they called him in for a two. “Actually just before that Alex Albon had boxed for a two. I know that he has more pace with the Red Bull, but he came back through us so quickly. So when I knew that Lando had pitted for a two stop, I feared that the last few laps of the race were going to be not too fun. He got on my gearbox in the last corner. But I held him off. One more lap and he would have got by me. It was nice to be sixth and beat McLaren and get more points. Two good weekends in a row now.” As for Hamilton, he has no plans to ease off now that the championship is clinched. “I’m just too competitive,” he said when asked by AA what comes next. “I’m thinking OK, we’ve got two more races to go, how am I going to do a better job, how am I going to improve in qualifying? There’s two more qualifyings to try and get pole, how am I going to see if I can potentially pull out a lap like I did in Singapore last year? How am I going to work it that I can be at the front of both of those? I’m always just looking to improve and I really love being in this sport.”
RESULTS ROUND 19: US GRAND PRIX Pos 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 -
Driver Valtteri Bottas Lewis Hamilton Max Verstappen Charles Leclerc Alexander Albon Daniel Ricciardo Lando Norris Carlos Sainz Jr. Nico Hulkenberg Sergio Perez Kimi Raikkonen Daniil Kvyat Lance Stroll Antonio Giovinazzi Romain Grosjean Pierre Gasly George Russell Kevin Magnussen Robert Kubica Sebastian Vettel
Car Mercedes Mercedes Red Bull/Honda Ferrari Red Bull/Honda Renault McLaren/Renault McLaren/Renault Renault Racing Point/Mercedes Alfa Romeo/Ferrari Toro Rosso/Honda Racing Point/Mercedes Alfa Romeo/Ferrari Haas/Ferrari Toro Rosso/Honda Williams/Mercedes Haas/Ferrari Williams/Mercedes Ferrari
Laps 56 56 56 56 56 56 56 55 55 55 55 55 55 55 55 54 54 52 31 7
Gap 1h33m55.653s 4.148s 5.002s 52.239s 1m18.038s 1m30.366s 1m30.764s 1 Lap 1 Lap 1 Lap 1 Lap 1 Lap 1 Lap 1 Lap 1 Lap Accident 2 Laps Brakes Hydraulics Suspension
Points: Hamilton 381, Bottas 314, Leclerc 249, Verstappen 235, Vettel 230, Albon 84, Sainz 80, Gasly 77, Ricciardo 46, Perez 44, Norris 41, Hulkenberg 37, Kvyat 34, Raikkonen 31, Stroll 21, Magnussen 20, Grosjean 8, Giovinazzi 4, Kubica 1. Constructors’: Mercedes 695, Ferrari 479, Red Bull-Honda 366, McLaren-Renault 121, Renault 83, Racing Point-Mercedes 65, Toro Rosso-Honda 64, Alfa Romeo-Ferrari 35, Haas-Ferrari 28, Williams-Mercedes 1.
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RACE REPORT
Sandown Races 28, 29 & 30
SWEET AND SOUR BULL
Report: Heath McAlpine Photos: LAT/Dirk Klynsmith/Ross Gibb/Insyde Media
IT WAS a dramatic conclusion to the Pirtek Enduro Cup, with a Red Bull Holden Racing Team victory after a dominant weekend by the factory squad. However, it was also a bittersweet victory, for Triple Eight as a 1-2 was cruelly taken away from them in the closing stages and the Driver’s Championship confirmed beyond doubt in the favour of Scott McLaughlin. Marking the end of the traditional Sandown 500 event for the time being as the endurance race moves to The Bend Motorsport Park in 2020, the weather played its usual role, despite the move from the traditional September date. Damp conditions proved particularly tricky with the event’s unique format of two separate driver races where the combined results produces the grid for the 500km main event. These races often provide the most action of the year and Sandown’s latest events didn’t disappoint. Qualifying showcased the changeable weather conditions as a downpour at the halfway mark meant teams clambered for wets, though these weren’t necessary when the rain cleared and allowed a flurry of late times. It was the championship leader Scott Mclaughlin who prevailed with a 1m 07.774s on his very last lap,
Whincup and Lowndes won the Sandown 500, joined on the rostrum by the Tickford pairings of Mostert/ Moffat and Holdsworth/Randle. There was action aplenty all weekend (below).
handing co-driver Alex Premat pole for the first race. Jamie Whincup had just been pipped by his title rival, while Andre Heimgartner produced another fine performance in third, capping off a week where he where had been re-signed at Kelly Racing. Speaking of the Nissans, Garry Jacobson Scott McLaughlin earned pole position but was penalised & had to start at the back.
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was also impressive in fifth behind Shane van Gisbergen. Just like on the Gold Coast, Craig Lowndes made the perfect start in the #888 in the first sprint race and Premat a rather sluggish one, which hampered Bryce Fullwood as the Frenchman cramped the Super2 Series leader for Garth Tander stormed through the field from the back row.
space, placing the Nissan on the marbles. Fullwood did well to hold on and not cause chaos at Turn 1, but dropped into fourth behind Will Brown, as Garth Tander also moved across to consolidate second, while Premat held onto third. Lowndes continued to extend his lead throughout, 0.7s over his teammate Tander before it began to rain. The battle for fourth was intense between Super2 rivals Fullwood and Brown, but it was the latter who won out and was aided by a slick 360-degree spin by the Nissan approaching Turn 4. Touching the ripple strip exiting Turn 3, the Super2 series leader (later winner) did a full 360 and continued, though it hampered Premat. Although not having the pace of DJR Team Penske, Tickford were close. It was a case of déjà vu, though, when James Moffat and Thomas Randle tangled. Suspension damage ended the race for Moffat, who argued it had started at Turn 6 a lap before, when Premat had cut the back esses. Out front, Lowndes cruised to a 2s victory ahead of Brown after he passed Tander during the closing stages. Fullwood followed the lead trio home in fourth, running out of laps to make an impression. The second sprint race was controversial almost immediately. McLaughlin made an The WAU Commodores were again strong in an endurance race.
Sandown’s inclement weather really mixed up the action at Sandown, a Nissan starting on the front row for the 500.The wet outfield caused plenty of spectacular moments (bleow) while Scott Pye/ Warren Luff combined again for fifth in the Sandown 500.
electric start, which didn’t go unnoticed by van Gisbergen as he defended heading into Turn 1, which resulted in him missing his brake marker. He struck an innocent Anton De Pasquale and both spun, with the RBHRT driver retiring and his victim recovering to 11th. However, the DSO Craig Baird penalised De Pasquale with a drive through for the incident, demoting him to the rear of the field ... for which Baird later apologised as he acknowledged his error. Unlike the earlier co-driver event, half the teams had gambled on slicks on a very wet track, which aided De Pasquale in his salvage act to 13th. Whincup had shared the front-row with De Pasquale and headed into Turn 1 in front, which is where he remained throughout the 20-lap affair. Heimgartner stayed out of trouble to finish second, some 7s down the road ahead of David Reynolds. The race was a disaster for some including the likes of Cam Waters, Scott Pye and Nick Percat on slicks, but on the other hand favoured some led by Brodie Kostecki in eighth, Mostert on the comeback trail in ninth, Todd Hazelwood in 11th and Simona De Silvestro in 12th. After his rapid start during his race, McLaughlin had struggled with over inflated tyres, but worse was to come.
A technical breach coming out of the Bathurst weekend annulled not only his qualifying and Top 10 Shootout times, but demoted the championship leader to the back of the grid for the Sandown 500 with his team being fined $30,000. This meant that after van Gisbergen had his DNF, both title contenders started off the back row for the Sandown 500, the final leg of the 2019 Pirtek Enduro Cup. Out of 22nd on the grid, Pye was the only ‘primary’ driver to start the race on a now dry track and he quickly clawed his way to 10th. All eyes were on Tander and Premat from the back, though. The former GRM racer was exceptional during the opening stages, 16th at the end of the opening lap and further progressing from there, Premat on the other hand failed to replicate this progress. Tander’s rise was made easier after Alex Davison, Brown and Tony D’Alberto all stalled on the grid, forcing the field to fan across the wide expanses of Sandown’s front straight. Premat’s struggle was further compounded by a 15s penalty placed on the team after its first pit stop, when a crew member dropped the title leading Mustang while the fuel coupling was still attached. This mattered little to Lowndes as he held off an eager Fullwood during the The Kostecki wildcard entry earned the ire of the Tickford Cam Waters/ Michael Caruso duo.
opening stages, while the real mover off the start was Jake Kostecki. And he wasn’t shy on getting the elbows out either as many competitors found out, one such being Luke Youlden. After his stall, D’Alberto was making a small recovery and in a willing battle on the outer reaches of the top 20, though his progress ended when Chris Pither tried his luck at Turn 10, spinning the second DJR Team Penske Mustang as a result. Tander had by this time caught the tail of the top 10, while his teammate Lowndes continued to extend his margin out front, which by lap 14 was 1.5s over Fullwood. This further grew to 3.4s before the pit stops came thick and fast, purely fuel and tyres for the leaders. There was disaster for Fullwood when he was caught speeding in pit lane and handed a 15s penalty to be taken at his next stop. Randle was also entering calculations after he emerged ahead of Fullwood in the pit stop, but let his Super2 rival back through almost immediately. The lead also had a Super2 flavour, the Kostecki Commodore at the front until it pitted where it collided with Pither when exiting, though it wasn’t the last pit incident for the Kosteckis. While it had been a rather subdued opening stint, but that changed on lap 30. Shane van Gisbergen & Garth Tander had the Sandown 500 won until a late race suspension failure.
Dale Wood was eager to make up position on Muscat but the latter defended valiantly. Just as the Nissan attempted to pass, so did Youlden, and the two collided on the back straight pitching the Nissan into the wall, then back onto the track collecting the lead Erebus Commodore, which spun into the wall with severe damage. It was day done for both. Lap 35, the race got back under way and the Kosteckis were again involved in a tangle, this time with Michael Caruso on the exit of Turn 4. Kostecki made a robust pass and stayed wide, the two making wheel-on-wheel contact with the Tickford Mustang coming off second best. The other team car with Randle at the helm jumped to third when he passed Fullwood at Turn 1 on lap 41. This aided both Tander and D’Alberto, who was also advantaged by the safety car to jump the Nissan as well. It was Tander who continued his charge by completing the exact same pass on consecutive laps, first Randle, then Jack Perkins around the outside at Turn 10. Randle also tried to replicate the pass, but Perkins played hardball and the rookie was sent onto the grass. Brown was also moving up, eighth by lap 47, however this was halted by a delaminating tyre causing him to lock up at Turn 1 and change of strategy as he 2019 Pirtek Endurance Champions Jamie Whincup & Craig Lowndes.
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RACE REPORT Sandown Races 28, 29 & 30
A race of changing fortunes ... the 97 Red Bull Commodore had it won until this late-race drama (above), the Kosteckis were in the wars after a strong start (below), Lee Holdsworth was emotional when he made the podium for the first time since his Mercedes days (bottom).
pitted just four laps shy of his minimum requirement. Lowndes handed over to Whincup in the lead on lap 54, while Fullwood and Perkins also handed over to their primary drivers. Moffat did so a lap later, but RBHRT left Tander in the lead, easily keeping pace with the main series drivers on a split four-stop strategy, coming in on lap 70. Emerging in third, van Gisbergen made light work of Warren Luff and started to eat into his teammate’s lead. His title rival McLaughlin had taken over from Premat, but remained down the order in 16th, still enough to take the title. By lap 85, it was a battle between the two RBHRT Commodores, 19s separating the pair with van Gisbergen now in clear air. A fraught Pirtek Enduro Cup campaign for Hazelwood dipped further into despair when the ECU had to be remapped, though the problem proved to be an injector blockage. With every lap the gap between the leading teammates closed, down to within 10s after the second last round of stops and van Gisbergen had green tyres.
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RACE 28 RESULTS 20 LAPS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Craig Lowndes Will Brown Garth Tander Bryce Fullwood Thomas Randle Alex Premat Luke Youlden Michael Caruso Richard Muscat Alex Davison
20 laps +2.594s +3.592s +5.614s +7.450s +11.753s +14.373s +14.938s +19.275s +19.461s
▲1 ▲4 ▲1 ▼1 ▲6 ▼5 ▲1 ▲7 ▲1 ▼2
RACE 29 RESULTS 20 LAPS
The battle was also heating up for third between Coulthard, Mostert and Holdsworth. By the close of the final round of pit stops, the Tickford boys had jumped into third and fourth, but these were to be podium places once the final round of drama played out. Lap 131, van Gisbergen had taken 1s out of his teammates lead and was right there. A slight mistake at Turn 9 by Whincup provided the perfect opportunity and he snatched the lead as Jamie headed to the pits to take his final service. Five laps later, van Gisbergen pitted, fitting new tyres for the run home and emerging 7.1s clear of his teammate. It was
hot work for van Gisbergen and victory appeared just reward for a stunning drive, but motor sport is cruel, as we saw on lap 149. A bolt connecting the crossmember and shock absorber had dropped out, leaving the rear wheel tucked into the bodywork, which also rubbed a groove in the tyre. He lost three laps as his crew repaired the RHRT Commodore. This handed victory to Whincup and Lowndes, along with the Pirtek Enduro Cup. It was a comfortable 21s win with Mostert and Moffat finally redeeming a result with second, ahead of Holdsworth and rookie Randle. It had been five years since the veteran Holdsworth had stood on a podium. Pye celebrated announcing his plans for 2020 with a stunning drive in fifth alongside Luff, while Coulthard bettered teammate McLaughlin for the first time in a while to just miss out on the podium with D’Alberto. Although sealing the championship with ninth isn’t what McLaughlin may have envisioned, that’s the way it panned out, leaving the only the team’s title to be decided on the streets of Newcastle.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Jamie Whincup Andre Heimgartner David Reynolds Will Davison Scott McLaughlin Fabian Coulthard Lee Holdsworth Brodie Kostecki Chaz Mostert James Courtney
20 laps +7.380s +9.635s +9.733s +14.118s +14.227s +14.9061s +15.529s +15.641s +20.030s
0 ▲2 ▲4 ▲6 ▲1 ▲7 ▼2 ▲ 13 ▲ 16 ▲8
RACE RESULTS 30 161 LAPS 1 Jamie Whincup/Craig Lowndes 161 laps 0 2 Chaz Mostert/James Moffat +20.631s 6 3 Lee Holdsworth/Thomas Randle +24.255s ▲ 3 4 Fabian Coulthard/Tony D’Alberto +28.936s ▲ 1 5 Scott Pye/Warren Luff +40.092s ▲ 17 6 Will Davison/Alex Davison +41.341s ▼ 2 7 James Courtney/Jack Perkins +42.736s ▲ 2 8 Andre Heimgartner/Bryce Fullwood +45.141s ▼ 6 9 Scott McLaughlin/Alex Premat +46.896s ▲ 16 10 Anton De Pasquale/Will Brown +52.912s ▲ 2 11 Nick Percat/Tim Blanchard 160 laps ▲6 12 Mark Winterbottom/Steve Richards 160 laps ▲2 13 Tim Slade/Ash Walsh 160 laps ▲6 14 Richie Stanaway/Chris Pither 160 laps ▲4 15 Simona De Silvestro/Alex Rullo 160 laps ▼4 16 Brodie Kostecki/Jake Kostecki 160 laps ▼9 17 Shane van Gisbergen/Garth Tander 159 laps ▲7 18 Macauley Jones/Dean Canto 159 laps ▲2 19 Jack Le Brocq/Jonathon Webb 159 laps ▲4 20 Todd Hazelwood/Jack Smith 148 laps ▼ 10 21 Cameron Waters/Michael Caruso 145 laps ▼8 22 Rick Kelly/Dale Wood 128 laps ▼6 NC James Golding/Richard Muscat 155 laps ▼8 NC Garry Jacobson/Dean Fiore 144 laps ▼3 NC David Reynolds/Luke Youlden 30 laps ▼ 22 FASTEST LAP Shane van Gisbergen 1m 08.2440s Points: McLaughlin 3614, van Gisbergen 3064, Whincup 2968, Coulthard 2791, Mostert 2705, Reynolds 2517, Waters 2387, Davison 2369, Holdsworth 2323, Percat 2298, Courtney 2107, Pye 1980, De Pasquale 1979, Winterbottom 1951, Heimgartner 1764, Slade 1727, Kelly 1706, Hazelwood 1480, De Silvestro 1465, Golding 1437, Le Brocq 1223, Jones 1218, Jacobson 1092, Stanawy 1029, Randle 732, Caruso 643, Pither 507, Blanchard 499, Smith 461.
Sandown Round 6 Super 2 Jordan Boys’ pace surprised everyone at Sandown. Tyler Everingham (below) won his first Super2 race after graduating from Super3.
FULLWOOD SECURES SUPER2 TITLE Race Report: Dan McCarthy Images: Insyde Media/Ross Gibb ANYTHING THAT could happen did in the penultimate round of the Super2 Series at Sandown Raceway. The wet weather played havoc, but two new race winners were crowed and so was a new champion. Territorian Bryce Fullwood had a difficult penultimate round but nevertheless he did enough to win the 2019 Super2 Series with a round to spare. In the opening race Matthew White Motorsport driver Tyler Everingham claimed his first victory in his debut season. In the second race, birthday boy Jordan Boys took victory in dry conditions with a lights to flag victory. Fullwood qualified his Altima on pole position for the first race of the weekend and led Boys into
the first turn. Boys then ran wide, demoting himself behind both Tom Randle and Will Brown. At turn 4 Jack Smith turned Matt Chahda around and received a 15s penalty as the result. On lap 3 Everingham had an excursion out of the penultimate turn and lost a number of spots as did Will Brown just behind, who spun. The recovering Chadha touched the back of Brenton Grove on the approach to Turn 2 on lap 4, which spearing Grove onto the wet grass and heavily into the outside wall. As a result the safety car was called as the rain got heavier, with Brown, Boys and Jack Perkins among the first drivers to pit for a change of tyres, with Brown dropping places in the lane due to a slow stop. The following lap Fullwood, Randle and Ash Walsh pitted, before Everingham and others
stopped a further lap later. The stops shuffled the grid massively by the time racing resumed on lap 8 and Tickford Racing driver Randle was the first to make a mistake, locking everything up at Turn 1 and clipping the rear of Fullwood, spinning the Altima driver around while he took to the grass. After the restart Everingham
Bryce Fullwood (centre) had a difficult round but still wrapped up the 2019 title.
was making light work of the conditions as he charged through the field and very quickly found himself in the lead, after overtaking Kurt Kostecki on the 10th lap. A couple of laps later Kostecki ranged back up onto Everingham and moved up the inside down the back straight. Everingham impressively held on around the outside but had to concede heading into Dandenong Road corner. However into Turn 11, seconds after claiming the lead, Kostecki ran through the gravel, re-joining in fourth. The now second placed Dylan O’Keeffe also wanted a piece of the action but threw away second with just a couple of laps to go. At the end of the race Everingham took the win from Smith whose 15s penalty dropped him to ninth, promoting Kostecki to second and O’Keefe to his first Super2 podium. Boys was handed a pit lane penalty for a pit lane infringement and finished the race in 13th position, however he bounced back brilliantly the following day to claim pole position.
The Image Racing driver then led into Turn 1 from Jack Perkins and Fullwood, who was coming under immediate pressure from Brown. By the end of lap 3 Boys had already pulled out a comfortable lead on the trio behind. On lap 7 of the race Brown made his first move on Fullwood at Turn 4 before attacking him several times more over the next few laps, all to no avail. It wasn’t until lap 15 that his patience paid off as Fullwood got a poor exit onto the back straight, allowing Brown to get a good run and take him before Turn 6. That is the way they stayed with Boys taking Image Racing’s first race win since 2007 ahead of Perkins, Brown and Fullwood, who with a fourth place finish was able to clinch the title. It was a three way tie for first in the round on points, with the highest finisher in the final race, Perkins, getting the nod from Brown and Kostecki in third. POINTS: Fullwood 1636, Kostecki 1271, Goddard 1167, Randle 1129, Everingham 973, etc.
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TCM Sandown Round 7
BOWE 99 NOT OUT Report: Dan McCarthy Images: InSyde Media and Ross Gibb
THE FINAL round of the 2019 Touring Car Masters circuit was an attrition filled event, littered with many incidents and accidents in the three race weekend at Sandown Raceway. It was a Holden dominated round in which Toranas took all three race victories, with John Bowe winning two and Auto Action publisher Bruce Williams winning the round’s Trophy Race. However, Steven Johnson did enough to take yet another TCM title in ‘Mustang Sally.’ It was the Trophy Race which kicked off proceedings early on the damp Saturday morning, and it was Williams who started from pole alongside the Mustang of Cameron Mason. As the green flags waved to start the race Williams immediately burst into wheel spin and allowed Mason to nose ahead heading into Turn 1. Williams braked later but Mason was able to squeeze around the outside to pinch the lead. Just behind, Rob Hackwood collided with Cameron Tilley, who spun around back into the path of Hackwood and the innocent Peter Burnitt, wiping all three cars out of the race and requiring the assistance of the safety car. John Bowe and Steve Johnson were at the front of the field again, the former taking his 99th win in the TCM category.
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Bruce Williams won the Trophy race but broke a lower control arm rod end in race 2. The lengthy safety car meant that when the race got going again, it was a one lap sprint to the finish. On the restart it was Williams who made the better start and went around the outside of Mason.
The move put Williams back into the lead which he held until he crossed the line to secure his second win of the season, while Mason came home second ahead of Tony Karanfilovski in third. The second race of the day was a cracker between the top four drivers. Steve Johnson led away from pole ahead of Bowe, while Ryal Harris overtook Seton for third. However Harris threw it away taking a tour of the gravel at Turn 9, falling comfortably outside the top 10. On lap 3 at Turn 1 Bowe made an early and decisive move up the inside of his mate Johnson to take the lead. A couple of laps later Andrew Fisher ran wide at Turn 1, allowing Williams to have a go around the outside at Turn 2 which would give him the inside for Turns 3 and 4. However, Williams suffered broken suspension and hit the wall on the outside of Turn 4, though he limped around to the finish nonetheless. By lap 7 the top four of Bowe, Johnson, Seton and Adam Garwood closed up and on the following lap Bowe was forced
to defend, which the two-time Bathurst winner continued to do so until the end. The four cars were nose to tail in the closing laps, engaging in a thrilling battle, however the order remained the same with Bowe taking his 98th TCM victory ahead of Johnson, Seton and Garwood, the top four separated by under 1.8s at the line. The final race on Saturday had the potential to be a classic but was cut short. Johnson made a poor start relieving Bowe of any pressure straight away. Harris continued his shocking weekend on the opening lap, running through the grass between Turns 2 and 3, before colliding with Jim Pollicina out of the penultimate turn, shooting him out through the grass. On lap 3 Seton flew past Johnson for second place down the back straight and set about catching Bowe in the lead. Also on lap 3 Garwood managed to overtake Adam Bressington, after dropping behind him on the opening lap. Harris was recovering quickly and into Turn 9 on lap 4 made a move up the inside on Marcus Zukanovic, however the XD Falcon driver was on the wet outside kerb, lost the rear and it spat them both off the road at a 45 degree angle. Zukanovic avoided the wall but Harris in his Chevrolet Camaro was not so lucky, clouting the wall heavily on the left side. The safety car was deployed to recover the vehicles, which was done quickly, however lengthy repair work to the fence meant that the race finished behind the safety car. Bowe took his 99th win from Seton, and by finishing third Johnson claimed his third consecutive TCM series victory with Bowe second and Ryal Harris in third. Pollicina did just enough to hold off Seton and Hansford for ProAm title honours. In ProSport despite not competing in the final round Allen Boughen did enough to win the ProSport title from Burnitt and Ben Dunn.
TCM POINTS Johnson 1137, Bowe 1066, Harris 995, Bressington 989, Pollicina 817.
Sandown Round 4 Toyota 86/ GT
SHUNT SHORTENS TOYOTAS
Race Report: Garry O’Brien Images: Insyde Media
THE FOURTH round of the Toyota 86 Racing Series at Sandown was circumvented with a big race 12 accident on the opening lap. Running seventh, John Iafolla’s Toyota flew across the road at turn 7 into the armco on the inside, bounced off a tender vehicle and landed on its side. The driver emerged from the crash and was taken to hospital for precautionary checks. The race was immediately red flagged and not restarted, leaving Aaron Borg the round winner ahead of Luke King, Tim Brook, Jaylyn Robotham and Dylan Thomas. With Borg’s previous two race wins, this elevated him to the lead in the points ahead of Brook. Iafolla’s accident wasn’t the first time for the weekend a fence was damaged, as qualifying was shortened by a heavy shunt into the armco at Dandenong Road Corner (turn 9) by Craig Thornton. Until that point, series leader Brook was the fastest and would start the first race (race 10 in the series) from pole. Second fastest was King ahead of Borg who was second in the points. King led at the start, ahead of Borg, Brook, Robotham, Dylan Thomas, Jaden Ransley, Ben Grice, Lachlan Gibbons and Iafolla, who would be penalised 5s post-race. Behind them, Luke van Herwaarde and Zach Loscialpo had contact at turn 1, which also caught out Liam McAdam who was the innocent victim.
PEDAL DOWN. PERFORMANCE UP.
The Toyota 86s turned it on at Sandown with some great racing and mega accidents. Aaron Borg (left) won the round. At turn 1 on lap 8, Borg slipped past King and held on for the win. Any chance the latter had to regain the front running was negated with Loscialpo bunkered at turn 9 and local yellow flags in place for the last lap. Behind them, Brook was third from Robotham, Thomas, Ransley, Grice and Gibbons. Borg also won at the next encounter (race 11) where he led at the start from King, Robotham, Brook, Grice and Ransley. King grabbed the lead around the mid-point, held it for a couple of laps before Borg was back in front after a better run out of turn 4, where King appeared to miss a gear. Brook was just behind them at the flag once he was able to displace Robotham who held onto fourth in front of Gibbons. The next group was headed by Iafolla ahead of Ransley, Thomas, Grice, Richard Peasey, George Gutierrez and Jarrod Whitty.
A THIRD GT TITLE FOR EMERY K&N has a long history in most international motorsport categories. K&N products are designed to excel in the demanding conditions of racing and give you the performance Race Report: Garry O’Brien Image: Australian GT
FOR THE third year in succession Geoff Emery is the Australian GT Champion. He wrapped up the outright title in the second of three races, then to cap off the season the Audi R8 LMS Evo driver won the final race of the season. With two race wins, the round was won by Peter Hackett (Mercedes-AMG GT3) over Emery with Liam Talbot (Lamborghini Huracan) third. David Cramton (Reiter KTM X-Bow) topped GT4 for the weekend, while Ryan Millier (Lamborghini) and Joseph Ensabella (Porsche 997 GT3 Cup) was best of the Trofero Challenge and Trophy classes. Hackett took out the shortened first race, crossing the line ahead of Mark Griffith (Mercedes) and Talbot. Fourth went to Fraser Ross (McLaren 720S GT3) who took over from Ryan Simpson. The latter had set the early pace before the longest of the compulsory pitstop. There was then a further delay with a door latch issue. Emery was next and behind the five Championship class cars, Ensabella headed Millier and Dale Paterson (Chev Camaro GT3). In GT4 Dean Koutsoumidis (KTM X-Bow) came in ahead of team mate Crampton. The only non-finisher was Tony Bates (Audi) who stopped
as the leaders began their last lap. The car went into shutdown mode with an oil pressure sensor failure. He had to be physically removed too, having torn a hamstring earlier. Race two went the full 40mins with Hackett leading all the way aside from the pitstop. Ross hounded Hackett until then. Simpson couldn’t reel Hackett sufficiently enough and finished second. Third went to Talbot ahead of Ensabella, Emery and Griffith, who spun at turn 2 on the second lap. The third race was without Ross/Simpson after the fire bomb went off during race two, and Paterson was out with engine dramas. Then on the out lap, Dean Koutsoumidis (GT4 Reiter KTM X-Bow) had an incident just after pit exit. Emery pitted early, outside the pit window, for wet tyres and came through to grab the lead off Hackett on the penultimate lap. Third went to Talbot, who was the race leader but had to serve a drive-through penalty for a pit lane infringement. Griffith also opted for the additional early pit visit and ultimately finished fourth ahead of Millier, Nick Karnaros, Ensabella, David Greig (Porsche 991) and Crampton. Points: Emery 1537, Hackett 1438, Tander 868, Twigg 824, Ross 814.
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s w e n Y A SPEEDW
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“GET ON WITH IT” SAYS TRANSPORT MINSTER OVER SYDNEY SPEEDWAY
DESPITE STRONG promises from the NSW government, it now seems very likely that a new Speedway won’t be ready for the 2021 racing season. Transport Minister Andrew Constance said he was “going to keep my word” and have a new track erected quickly to minimise any disruptions to racing, The Transport Secretary Rodd Staples told a Budget Estimates hearing that the replacement racetrack may not be ready in two years’ time, when the Sydney Speedway operators are evicted from their Granville site to make way for the Western Sydney Metro. The government has pledged to build a new speedway track somewhere in Western Sydney, most likely at Eastern Creek, which could cost upwards of $30 million. The government has promised the new venue will have similar facilities to the current track known as Valvoline Raceway - meaning the speedway will require a 460m clay banked track, 3,500 seat grandstand, space for 6,500 people in general admission areas, corporate boxes, foodstalls, parking for 500 vehicles and a merchandise shop. “I’ve had the discussion with the
Image: Art of Speedway
secretary of the department, and the bureaucracy is in no uncertain terms getting the message – build it, because quite frankly there is a good site at Eastern Creek,” Mr Constance told 2GB. “When I spoke to the bureaucrat he said – ‘I was just concerned about the planning approval process’ – well get on with it champ, I don’t want to publicly denigrate a good secretary but he’s just got to get on with this.” Mr Constance said the new speedway was “not a complex build”, comprising of a clay track, a grandstand and some asphalt pit lanes.
“If the secretary has got concerns about planning approvals well then we will go and fix it, but the commitment here is to continue the sport,” he said. “Seriously, don’t get me wrong, but it was bureaucratic waffle … Two years to build a speedway? For goodness sake, they built Newcastle light rail, the construction in a 12 month period, so I’m pretty confident we can put a clay track down, build some stands for the fans, put in a pit, it’s not complex work. “If there is a planning problem, let the Ministers go and fix it … we want a continuance of the sport, that’s a guarantee from the government,” he said.
“We’ve got good transport people working on this project, so I don’t want to hear any excuses or concerns about planning or anything else, the instruction’s clear, and I made it clear to the secretary.” Sydney is seen as the most important market in Australia and professional speedway racing could possibly die if a new facility isn’t found soon. “I never ever want to see the speedway moved again in this city. I mean we’ve seen speedways moved half a dozen times over the decades. Eastern Creek is the best site and the bureaucrats have been instructed to get on with it,” he said.
BRAZIER HEATS UP FOURTH GENERATION racer Jordyn Brazier created Australian Sprintcar history after finally grabbing an elusive feature victory The quietly spoken 23-year-old son of multiple national Sprintcar champion Garry, grandson of Steve and great grandson of Stan, added to the rich history of Valvoline Raceway, by becoming the first family of three generations to all win Sprintcar feature races at the venue. “It’s been awhile, there’s been so many times I’ve come close, it’s good to finally get a feature win,” Brazier told Auto Action. “I reckon like they all say the first one’s the hardest to get, so they (wins) can roll on now. I found the rubber early on the track and passed a lot of cars early so that was the key for me.” In what was a fitting result during a week that the long term future of the iconic Parramatta venue is in doubt, one of the families that has put their heart and soul into both its creation and it’s current existence, stood on top of the podium the very next feature race on what was appropriately
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dubbed “Old School Night.” In a striking-looking Sprintcar painted in his father’s famous title-winning livery, Brazier drove a measured race to fill the podium with young men who now have the world at their feet in Daniel Sayre and Michael Stewart. They are typical of the new breed of Sydney Sprintcar racing - smooth, clean cut and fast and in their early 20’s. “It was good to have the family colours back on the car, I’ve been wanting those for years ever since I started. It’s a sport my family has lived in for years and it was good to see Pa happy, he doesn’t show much emotion. Image: Art of Speedway “Everyone was just excited to get that first win. The response after the win has been amazing, so “We’ve all been to America and I felt that’s been cool,” Brazier added. the difference not going to the USA this In his career so far Jordyn has been season. It gives you more experience, it’s programmed to do as many laps made me a lot faster and smother that’s as possible in as many places as for sure.” possible, including the famed Knoxville A secret to Brazier’s burgeoning racing Raceway where his Dad Garry is still a career has been having his best friend household name. Chad Behrens in his corner calling the
shots alongside Jordyn’s family. “Things with Chad have been slowly building, he’s a good help and I think we’re working well together. We have some good support on crew also with Darren Moody as well and some of my other friends come too, I think things are building nicely.”
“SIGN UP” SAYS FARR
VETERAN RACER Robbie Farr is calling on all motorsport fans in three countries to sign a petition to keep Speedway racing in Sydney. Moments after winning his second straight Sid Hopping Shootout at Valvoline Raceway, Farr pleaded with all Australian, New Zealand and American supporters to put pen to paper. The track, close to Sydney’s geographic centre at Parramatta, will be shut as soon as possibly mid-next year to make way for a marshaling yard for a new, mostly underground rail line. “Let’s get this tabled in Parliament. Once it’s gone, we can’t get it back,” said Farr, who drives for current Sydney Speedway owners Barry and Felicity Waldron. “Barry, Felicity and Wade Aunger have been working tirelessly on behalf of the sport to get to this point. It’s still
Image: Gary Reid
devastating to consider losing such an iconic part of the sport, and in fact the largest part of my own racing career, but at least now we have an actual tangible commitment that we will survive as a sport moving forward. This would not have happened if as a collective group Speedway fans didn’t stick together and apply the pressure that they did,” Farr said. Farr’s most recent win was his 129th and comes exactly 30 years ago to the day since he first stood on a podium in Sydney, then at Liverpool Raceway. Farr flashed home to win from Ben Atkinson, who broke a two-year drought and well-deserved podium finish with Sydney favorite Sam Walsh third then followed Jordyn Brazier and
Matt Dumesny. “I stood on the podium for the first time as a 16-year-old that night and was third. I am stoked to win a race that pays tribute to the man who created this amazing racetrack, Sid Hopping. Thanks to the boys for giving me a great car tonight.” Farr has recently showed his genius behind the wheel with his maiden feature win in a late Model. He now holds a unique record of being the only driver to get feature wins in both 410 and 360ci Sprintcars, Speedcars and Late Model divisions. “This place means the world to me,” Farr said. “This one’s for Sid and all of the Hopping family, for all that they have done to make this sport what it is.”
BROWN TO TASTE CHILI BOWL EXCITING SPEEDCAR prodigy Kaidon Brown is set to compete in one of the richest races in the USA this month. Kaidon Brown and Matt Wood Racing will partner for a stout 2019/20 American campaign, the 2018 Australian Speedcar champion racing at selected events during mid-November and at the world-famous Chili Bowl during mid-January in Oklahoma. Brown, 19 of Glendenning in NSW, will be behind the wheel of a new Spike SR-11x Chassis at Placerville looking for a share of the $130,000 purse over the two nights, in the richest two-day midget race in USAC history. A trip to Bakersville in California then awaits before returning to race in Tulsa early in Image: Gary Reid 2020. “I’m really excited and it’s come as a shock. There’s big Brown carries good form to the States with feature wins in money on the line and it’ll be really competitive. I’m going over Toowoomba and more recently in Sydney, where he took a clean there for the experience and hope to make a Top 10 finish,” Brown sweep of heats and the A-Main ahead of Michael Stewart, Darren said. Jenkins, Matt Jackson and Harley Smee.
MCFADDEN BACK TO USA AUSTRALIAN SPRINTCAR superstar James McFadden will return to the United States in 2020 for his biggest-ever campaign. The 30-year-old Warrnambool driver made a stunning national debut at Premier Speedway earlier this month ahead of a busy national season, which includes all rounds of World Series Sprintcars. Soon after, his biggest American schedule awaits him, again joining forces behind the wheel of ex-NASCAR racer Kasey Kahne’s Sprintcar. “I had a really good time over there and I’ll go back,” McFadden told Auto Action. “I will run a round 90-100 shows, so it’s going to be a bit busier than we were this year. “I’m not saying what the schedule looks like over there yet, but we won’t be doing all World of Outlaws rounds, we’ll do some and then pick and choose, a bit like this year.
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front row, and led from start to finish in a tense feature. Tate Frost almost derailed McFadden’s night with 26 to go after he spun on turn four with the Monte Motorsport driver managing to avoid race-ending damage. “We had a lot of front-end damage and I was trying to conserve that and not crash basically,” McFadden said. “We filled the front up with mud Image: Geoff Rounds and lost a few parts off the front, “We all have the one goal in mind and which made it really difficult to drive, and it that’s to go to the top at the Knoxville was just about getting the car to the end. Nationals.” “You can’t really take much away from it The Australian champion transferred but the car feels good and we have a good his American form into victory as he package,” he said. took the third round of the SRA Series “It’s a new chassis design, new wings - it’s at Warrnambool narrowly ahead of basically a new package. Queensland’s Luke Oldfield, finishing a “This racecar is beautiful it’s probably one mere just 0.0059 seconds on the finish line. of the nicest cars I’ve ever driven. We’ll still McFadden started on pole, with the fast be in the #WA17 and do as many races as Oldfield joining him for company on the we can.”
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Image: Richard Hathaway
IF THERE’S a race that means a lot to Western Australian Sprintcar drivers it’s the annual Bonza Bradford 57 that pays tribute to the late Ian “Bonza” Bradford. This year from pole position it was Daniel Harding victorious, albeit with a lack of brakes, holding on to take the time-honoured event from recent feature winner Callum Williamson and Mitchell Wormall at the conclusion of the 30-lap A-Main at the Perth Motorplex.
Image: 44photography
MULTIPLE NATIONAL champion Mark Robinson recorded a comfortable victory in the V8 Dirt Modified Lord Mayor’s Cup at Lismore Speedway and is setting his sights on winning his fourth Australian Championship. From the pole he was never headed, taking the chequered flag well clear of Chris Polsen and Josh Rose. “I couldn’t have asked for a better way to start the season with a win in front of my home crowd. Robinson’s next outing will see the team travel to Sydney’s Valvoline Raceway on November 30 for additional seat time at the venue. “With the Australian Championship being held down in Sydney later this season, it’s important to get down there and get some laps,” Robinson said. TEXAS MOTOR Speedway was the venue for South Australia’s Scott Bogucki to cap off his 2019 season with a win in the American Sprint Car Series. He took the lead on lap three of the 30-lapper and had Tony Stewart in hot pursuit and eventually won from Aaron Reutzel (due in Australian next month) and then Stewart in third. “This is unbelievable. We’ve been struggling lately. I knew he had a run. It’s hard sometimes to tell when you’re leading where to go, but it didn’t look clean enough to have rubbered up down there. I knew I had to make myself as wide as I could be, but it was a lot of fun getting to slide Tony like that,” Bogucki said. THREE ROUNDS into the 12-round Sprintcar Racing Association’s series and the much-travelled Grant Anderson of Albury now holds a handy 201 points lead from Brett Milburn and defending champion Corey McCullagh. Both Anderson and Milburn had a night they’d rather forget, crashing out of contention at Premier Speedway while McCullagh got home in sixth behind round winner James McFadden.
Image: Ray Ritter
CALLUM HARPER put controversy behind him to win the 20-lap Super Sedans feature at Murray Bridge, defeating Paul Blenkiron and Kym Jury. Harper, a multi national champion in two divisions who was recently banned from racing at Avalon Raceway, showed his class after days of drama. He was told in a ruling by the governing body that – “Speedway Sedans Australia are concerned that the material used in the construction of your T22 Bandit Super Sedan chassis, registration may not be within the confines of Section 2 roll cage”.
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4 SECURED FOR CHAMPIONSHIP PLAYOFF NASCAR DENNY HAMLIN has taken a crucial victory at the ISM Raceway, which secured him a spot in the deciding Championship 4 race to take place this weekend. Hamlin joins Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Martin Truex Jr, Kyle Busch and Stewart-Haas Racing driver Kevin Harvick in a winner take all final race at Homestead-Miami Speedway. After spinning out of contention at Texas Motor Speedway a week prior, Hamlin fell 20 points below the cut line for the Championship 4. But with victory he was automatically given a spot in the top 4, denying Joey Logano, Kyle Larson, Ryan
Blaney and Chase Elliott of the opportunity. “I can’t believe it,” Hamlin said. “I told them today in the meeting, I said, ‘I’m going to give everything I’ve got to make up for the mistake I made last week,’ that’s all I got. “This race team worked so hard this whole year. They deserve to be there. I put them in a bad hole last week.” The victory was Hamlin’s sixth this season, the 27th of his career and his second at ISM Raceway. Hamlin led a race-high 143 laps, which included 142 of the last 146, and built a lead of more than 12s before surrendering the top spot for four laps during a cycle of green-flag pit stops.
Hamlin’s advantage was more than 9s when the fifth and final safety car was deployed. However he was able to hold on and take the victory from Kyle Busch by 0.377s. When the race came down to a restart with three laps left, Busch couldn’t keep up with his teammate and finished 0.377s behind the #11 Toyota Camry. Blaney finished a further second back ahead of Larson, Harvick, Truex, Erik Jones, Clint Bowyer. Logano and Brad Keselowski who rounded out the top 10. Logano finished ninth on Sunday and ended the Round of 8 fifth in the
standings, standings seven points behind Busch, who grabbed the last spot in the title race. Logano led 93 laps and the Penske driver also won the second stage. He was out front until Hamlin passed him for the lead on Lap 177 and from that point onwards, Logano fell like a stone.
TOYOTA BEATEN IN WEC! REBELLION RACING has brought Toyota’s dominance in the World Endurance Championship LMP1 category to an end, with an exciting victory in the 4 Hours of Shanghai. It is only the fourth time in WEC history that a non-Hybrid car has won a race, is just the second win for the Swiss Rebellion team and the first that it has won on the track, after inheriting the win when both Toyotas were disqualified from the British round last season. Bruno Senna, Gustavo Menezes and Norman Nato finished over a minute ahead of the leading #8 Toyota Gazoo Racing car of Sebastien Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima and Brendon Hartley. In taking the victory former Formula 1 driver Senna became the first driver to win a race in all four WEC classes. The #7 Toyota entry of Jose Maria Lopez,
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Kamui Kobayashi and Mike Conway rounded out the podium, despite serving a drive-through penalty for a jump start. The two Team LNT cars came next, the #5 Ginetta beating the sister #6 car which both also had to serve a penalty for a jumped start. In the always competitive LMP2 class the #37 JOTA car driven by Anthony Davidson, Antonio Felix da Costa and Roberto Gonzalez claimed their first race victory of the season, giving the team its first win since 2015. Jackie Chan DC Racing finished second on home soil with its drivers Gabriel Aubry, Ho-Pin Tung and Will Stevens. Paul di Resta, Filipe Albuquerque and Phil Hanson rounded out the podium in LMP2 by taking third driving for United Autosports, the trio fighting back from an early extra stop to remove debris from the air intake. Signatech Alpine’s Thomas Laurent, Andre Negrao and Pierre Ragues finished fourth in the #36 car, while elsewhere the #42 pole sitting Cool Racing car retired due to an electrical
WEC problem caused by damage. In LMGTE Pro, Porsche drivers Kevin Estre and Michael Christensen were promoted to the victory after the #51 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE Evo was disqualified following post-race technical checks. The Italian car did not meet the minimum ground clearance of 50mm. The sister #91 Porsche 911 RSR with Gimmi Bruni and Richard Lietz at the wheel finished in second ahead of two Aston Martins, the #97 and #95 cars finishing third and fourth respectively. The victory for Porsche sees the German marque extend its points lead over Aston Martin by 17 points in the standings.
The #90 Aston Martin of Jonny Adam, Charlie Eastwood and Salih Yoluc took their second consecutive GTE Am class victory for British team TF Sport. Jeroen Bleekemolen, Larry ten Voorde and Ben Keating finished in a season best second place in the #57 Team Project 1 car with second overall in their Porsche 911 RSR. After contact on lap 1 Darren Turner, Paul Dalla Lana and Ross Gunn made an incredible comeback to claim third position. Australian Matt Campbell, alongside Riccardo Pera and Christian Ried, finished a disappointing 10th in class.
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NSW FINALE DECIDES SEVERAL TITLES Race Report: Garry O’Brien Images: Insyde Media/Riccardo Benvenuti
NSW CIRCUIT Race Championships campaigned the seventh round at Sydney Motorsport Park on October 26-27, to finalise their 2019 champions.
SPORTS SEDANS
Garnett Patterson was on top in Formula Racing Cars.
THREE SEPARATE dices in race one was the highlight. Grant Doulman (Ford Falcon/ Chev) battled Steve Lacey (Chev Camaro) in a tight struggle before the latter had a small miscue at turn 11. Behind them Scott Reed (Ford Mustang) and Stuart Inwood (Chev Corvette) continually swapped positions for third. So did Phil Ryan (Datsun 28ZX/Chev) and Willem Fercher (Holden Monaro) for seventh behind Mark Duggan (Aston Martin/Chev) and Warren Millet (Holden Commodore VZ) until Fercher’s clutch expired. Lacey had the outright championship wrapped up. Just as well as he had a suspension failure early in race two. Race leader Doulman retired with a rear suspension drama and Inwood barely moved off the start, suffering a broken axle. Reed won ahead of Duggan, Millet and Ryan, but the Mustang’s engine was gone. Doulman was back for race three and made quick work getting through to win. Late in the race Inwood passed Duggan for second while Millet was fourth.
respectively ahead of Boland, Proglio, Allan and Darren Parker.
Diemen) once, to further enhance his points advantage for the title.
HOLDEN HQS
FORMULA FORDS
SUPERKARTS
THE NUMBER one stayed with Brett Osborn for the fourth time in a row, after he won the three races at round five. In each he had to ward off Chris Molle, his major threat for series honours. In race one, Jason Molle trailed in third until overheating and pitting, leaving third a tight battle, which was ultimately taken by Luke Harrison over David Proglio and David Allan. The latter held off Proglio for third in race two while Harrison was busy, keeping Shaun Boland at bay. Rear of grid starters Jason Molle and Ian McLean were the stars of race three, coming through for third and fourth
Meanwhile Stephen Champion loomed behind which was good enough to take the overall championship.
FORMULA RACING CARS
OVER THE weekend Garnett Patterson (Dallara F307) was never headed to win the fifth round. Second in each race was Aaron McClintock (F301) which enough to secure the outright championship. Greg Muddle (F301) and Phil Morrow (F304) were in contention for second in the series and were third and fourth in race one. Morrow DNF’d out or the second encounter, leaving Muddle ahead of Graeme Holmes (F304) before Muddle scored another third in the last ahead of Holmes and Morrow.
Although he won the final race, Treven Spiteri fell short in Improved Production.
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DOUBLE-POINTS put extra pressure on combatants in the final round. Cooper Allen (Mygale) came in as series leader but a DNF in race one hurt. The race was an easy workout for Lachlan Ward (Spirit) with victory over fellow Duratec runners Zach Bates and Dan Hoolihan (Mygales). Allan hit back to finish between Ward and Bates in race two, before a see-saw battle in the last earnt him a narrow win over Bates and Ward. The latter took the state championship ahead of Bates and Cooper. In the Kent class, it was a threepeat for Mitch Gatenby (Spirit) over Scott Tidyman (Mygale) twice and Shane Nichols (Van Brett Osborn dominated with a clean-sweep.
THERE WASN’T anything at stake as far as the titles went but the racing was tight, particularly in race one where Mark Robin (125cc Avoig) won ahead of Adam Stewart (Anderson) by just 0.0012s. Tony Moit (Anderson) the 250 International title winner won the second outing but was out for the day. Lee Vella (125 Avoig) took the last two ahead of Robin and Stewart while Aaron Cogger (Avoig) lingered behind in fourth, having already picked up the 125cc title. John Dunn (Anderson) also had a troubled day, not finishing race three or four but he was already in the 250 Nationals overall winner.
SUPERSPORTS
IT WAS a Radical SR8 domination of the outright placing at the final round with Nick Kelly leading home Neale Muston in all three races. Darren Barlow (Stohr) chased them throughout the first two races and was the leader in the last until they both got by. Alex Kenny (Juno) was expected to challenge but pulled out of the opener when the oil pressure light came on, his day done. That left fourth between the Radical RR3s where John Beck scored initially before Peter Clare collected in the next two.
THE ROUND win with two firsts and a second were enough for Harrison Cooper (Honda Integra) to secure the 2019 title. He was a runaway winner of race one as Kurt Macready (Nissan Silvia) and Jason Hendy (Nissan 200SX) diced for second. The former was in front for three laps before Hendy slipped by. Hendy chased Cooper throughout race two before turning the tables in race three, winning ahead of Cooper. Second in the series David Williams (Honda Civic) finished the first race fourth, was third in the second due to Macready retiring, and third in the last. Therefore, Williams stitched up second in the series ahead of Craig Wildridge (Ford Escort).
IMPROVED PRODUCTION O2L
VICTORY IN the final race of round five didn’t do quite enough for Trevan Spiteri (Mitsubishi EVO) to secure the series. He had the advantage coming into the weekend but finished fifth in race one and coasted to halt in race two, whilst in second place and on the final lap. Meanwhile Michael King (EVO) was winning, taking out the first two races and placing second in the last to secure the title. Peter Hennessy (BMW E36 M3R) scored a second and a pair of thirds to finish second for the round and third behind Spiteri in the series. Nathan Rourke (Ford Falcon AU) was third first-up ahead of Scott Tutton (EVO) but couldn’t repeat it in the next two. Tutton was third in race two ahead of Steven Engel (Mitsubishi) before Jordan Cox finally had his Suzuki Swift GTi working and came through for third in the last.
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NATIONALS wrap brien compiled by garry o’b
TWO NATIONAL category series wound up at the Ipswich Classic at Queensland Raceway on November 2-3 where despite dramas, Aaron Seton took out the TA2 Muscle Cars and John Magro recorded an unprecedented benchmark in Formula 3.
PERFORMANCE MAX TA2
SETON’S WEEKEND was off to the perfect start with an all-the-way win in the first of four races, but then he spun at turn one of race two’s opening lap and his Mustang was collected by the unsighted Andrew Miedecke (Challenger). The race was postponed by race officials due to fading light and restarted the following day. With a full restart, Seton chased Nathan Herne (Challenger) throughout. Seton only had to finish the final race to secure the season title and was lucky to do so, crossing the line with flat tyre. George Miedecke (Mustang) finished the season second, with 2018 title holder Ashley Jarvis (Camaro) third. By winning the final round, Herne was catapulted to fourth, tied on points with Hugh McAlister (Mustang).
SETON TAKES TA2 CROWN honours with Joe Barbagallo (Porsche) who finished the weekend with a fourth, a third and a DNF. The Mazda MX5s sported several different winners with Grant Watson in races one and two, and then Tim Janke in the last two.
AUSTRALIAN FORMULA 3
MAGRO CONTINUED his winning streak at round six, taking out the three races, making for an unbeaten 18 starts for 18 wins. Second for the round and the series went to Josh Buchanan with a very close result in race three. In each outing Reilly Brook (Mygale) chased the two leading Dallaras to the flag. Roman Krumins was very close behind in the last after Gerrit Ruff was fourth in the opening two races. Krumins’ result in the last enabled him to steal the National Class series win as Ruff suffered a drive shaft failure midway through.
AUSTRALIAN TRANS-AM
John Magro remained unbeaten in Australian Formula 3, completing a perfect season (above). Wayne Hennig also dominated in Production Sports (below). Images: MTR Images
TRACK ATTACK EXCELS
ROUND EIGHT was a busy one with championship races on Saturday and followed up with a two-driver 50-lap enduro. In the lead-up to the latter, Darren Whittington won two, but it was not enough to beat overall Scott Green who took out the series. Third spot overall went to Broc Feeney. Josh Richards won race two, having started eighth. Whittington and Will Brown led the early laps of the long race before Brett Parrish and Jaylyn Robotham took control for the remainder. They won by 3.5s over Feeney and Declan Frazer with Green and Frank Mammarella third. Whittington and Brown were fourth ahead of Seiton Connor-Young and his father Trent Young.
QUEENSLAND TOURING CARS WINS IN all four races of round six were not enough for Steve Hay (Holden Commodore) The Trans-Am muscle cars put on a show at the Ipswich Classic.
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OUTRIGHT AND 6.0-litre honours were shared between the Pontiac Firebird pilots Ian Palmer and John English, with a pair of wins each. Fastest qualifier Anthony Tenkate (Ford Mustang) was third in each outing. Alwyn Bishop was at the helm of Palmer’s Plymouth AAR Cuda and notched up three fourths and a DNF. In the 5.0-litre ranks there was little between Mustang drivers Sean Evans and Sean English, with Ron Prefontaine not far away in race one. The latter came through to head them in race two, until a slip-up allowed Evans the win. Drama at turn four in the third race spelt the demise of Evans and gave Prefontaine the class win before English took the last.
HISTORIC TOURING CARS to take out the Group A1 title. That went to Chris Sharples (Holden Monaro) after he managed two seconds and two thirds. Pierz Harrex (BMW) had enough points to take second in the series while on track, Chris Brown (Commodore) was third in race one and placed second in the next. Brown netted a fourth in race three behind Dean McMahon (Monaro) but wasn’t there for race four, where McMahon was second. Leonard Meiers (Commodore) was the best of the A2s in race one before Matt Haak (Commodore) topped the class for the remainder. Meanwhile the points for the year
went to Stuart Walker in his Commodore. In Group B it was Steven Harper (Ford Falcon AU) all the way to also take the title.
PRODUCTION SPORTS
TAKING ALL the races at the sixth round more than secured Wayne Hennig (Porsche 997) the Invited outright points for the year. He won the opener ahead of Andrew Adams (Ginetta G50) and Lachlan Harburg (997). Harburg went on to take three second spots while Adams’ day turned bad with a series of DNFs including losing a wheel. Harburg was in a tight battle for the 2B Class
AFTER A fourth in the first race behind Grahame Wrobel (Ford Mustang), Graeme Wakefield (Mustang) and Stephen Scales (Chev Camaro), Peter Baguley (Holden Torana XU-1) came out with a decisive victory over Wakefield. Meanwhile Bruce Dummett (Torana), who was a retirement out of the first contest, edged out Wrobel and Scales for third. The next encounter was a tight one with Wakefield scoring over Baguley by just 0.4s as Wrobel took third ahead of Andrew Hinz (Datsun 1600) and Graham Streat (Torana). Scales and Dummett were both retirements. The weekend closed with a Top 6 Handicap which Baguley just won ahead of Jim Waugh (BMW 2002) and Wakefield. GOB
UP FOR grabs was the Torque Trophy and Trevor Roy Young Memorial Trophy, as well as several state championship titles, at Barbagallo’s October Race Meeting on the last weekend of the month.
Image: Neil Ham mond
TROPHIES AND TITLES TO GO
F1000
TWO RACE wins gave Tayla Dicka overall victory. She led the first throughout from fellow Stohr pilots BD Soutar-Dawson and Adam Lisle. Soutar-Dawson passed Dicka on the second lap of Race two, but had an off at Turn six and retired. Dicka won while Stuart Kostera (Stohr) edged out Lisle at the finish. Race three went to Kostera, passing Dicka on lap seven. Lisle retired which elevated Madeline Stewart (Stohr) to third.
IMPROVED PRODUCTION
VICTORIES IN the first two races went to Michael Sciorio (Subaru Impreza) over Nik Mitic (BMW), despite the second being a reverse grid. Sciorio led the last but this time Mitic was able to pass and retain the lead despite a 5s penalty for a jumped start. Dion Panizza (Holden Commodore) finished third in all three.
FORMULA VEES
THE FIRST race saw David Caisley (Jacer) lead before David Campbell (Jacer) passed him. A mistake then dropped Caisley to last. Mark Horan (Jacer) led only to surrender to Campbell. Then it was Rod Lisson (Sabre) in front, holding off Horan with Danny Carro (Sabre) third. In the second, the lead swapped between Horan, Lisson and Campbell before Caisley came through on the last lap to win, from Campbell and Lisson. Caisley had a runaway win in the last as Campbell held out Lisson and Horan for second. In the 1200s, Franz Esterbauer (Ribuck) and Jack Sheldon (Polar) shared the wins.
Image: Mick Oliver
EXCEL CUP
BETWEEN DEAN Hill and Robert Landsmeer, the races went two to one. Hill headed Race 1 initially, but Landsmeer won narrowly as Carlos Ambrosio placed third. The second race was a reverse grid where Jason Wroth led from Ambrosio and Mason Harvey. Hill soon came through to win from Landsmeer while Harvey was third. Landsmeer managed to lead on lap six before Hill re-gathered and just won.
SPORTS SEDANS
WITH A layoff and a re-livered Ford Falcon AU, Darren Boland led Race one from Ron Moller (Chev Camaro) and Grant Hill (Falcon). But after a safety car Moller won ahead of Boland and Hill. Ryan Humfrey (Falcon/Chev) took an early reverse-grid Race two lead. When the safety car came out, Humfrey slowed but Moller, Boland and Hill all copped 30s penalties. Hill took the lead from Boland and Moller, who won. Race three was subjected to two safety car periods before Hill scored narrowly from Moller and Humfrey.
SPORTS CARS/STREET CARS
RICHARD BLOOMFIELD (Porsche 996) took three wins as Neville Stewart (Porsche 996) finished with two seconds and a third, and John Roderick (Lotus Exige) scored
two thirds and a second. Street Cars were also fighting for the Torque Trophy, which was taken by Andrew Stevens (Nissan 180SX) for the second time in a row. Denver Parker (Nissan Skyline R33) took three seconds and Paul Kluck (Skyline) three thirds.
HISTORIC TOURING CAR
UNBEATEN IN the four championship races was Grant Johnson (Holden Torana XU-1). He led all the way in the first from brothers John and Brian Bondi in their Holden Monaros. In the second, John Bondi was again second as Greg Freeman (Ford Mustang) came through from the back to take third. Johnson won from Freeman and Bondi as a 5s penalty cost Freeman the race. Johnson took his fourth win from Simon Northey (Mustang) and Don Behets (Ford Galaxie). The slower cars were given a 50s start in the Trevor Roy Young race. Randle Beavis (Lotus Cortina Mk1) bolted with Johnson grabbing second ahead of Bondi.
FORMULA FORDS
IT WAS a bad start for Robert Appleyard who ended up upside down with three corners off his Van Diemen during qualifying. Braedyn Bowra (Stealth) came to a stop early in Race one. Thomas Hamlett
COALFIELDS TAKE THE LONG WAY COLLIE MOTORPLEX’S long circuit was used for the Coalfields 500 last month, encompassing Formula Classics, Formula Vees and Historic Touring Cars, along with four Regularity classes, all put together by the Vintage Sports Car Club of WA.
FORMULA CLASSIC
FORMULA CLASSIC
OVER FIVE races Michael Henderson (Ralt RT4) was unbeaten, as Simon Alderson (Van Diemen RF88) secured five seconds ahead of David Turner (Ralt RT4). Russell Sewell (Lola T800) had a major blow up in the last race.
HQs
FROM THE outset Marc Watkins held the lead in Race 1 just holding of Michael Howlett while Adam Butler took third. The second race was a reverse grid where Mick Woodbridge opened a 4s lead on the first lap. By lap three Watkins was running second and narrowed the gap. But he had to settled for a close second as Howlett snared third. Race 3 Watkins won from Howlett with Woodbridge in close pursuit. Mick Oliver
with two very close wins. Sheldon led the opening lap of race four and then Esterbauer was in front for the duration. Sheldon meanwhile was embroiled in the battle for second before losing out to third-for-the-round Brett Scarey (CD-Vee) and MacKenzie Matthews (Gerbert).
FORMULA VEES
ONE NON-FINISH cost Michael Henderson (Ralt RT4) the overall victory. He easily accounted for the combined field in races one and two before being disqualified from the third. He hit back to win the fourth and finish second among the historics behind Allan Ould (Aztec AR9 F3) who carded with three outright fourths and a fifth. Of the more contemporary racing cars, Simon Alderson in his Van Diemen RF88 Formula Ford 2000 was unbeaten, and took three outright seconds and one win. Craig Thompson (RF82 FF2000) was third in the opener before being edged out by Harvey Leys (Chevron B19). Leys also finished ahead (second) of Thompson in race three, but was out on the first lap of the last.
(Stealth) got the jump at the restart with Simon Ridgewell (Van Diemen) and Joshua Matthews (Stealth) filling the minors. The second race was red flagged when Bowra clipped wheels of Jim Ridgewell’s Van Diemen and they ended up in the wall. After the restart Hamlett was never headed, winning from Matthews and Simon Ridgewell. In the final race Hamlett left the rest and collected the championship win. Matthews retired leaving Ridgewell second from Craig Jorgensen (Van Diemen).
THE PENULTIMATE and eighth round was taken out by Austin Pearson (Jacer) ahead of Rod Lisson (Borland Sabre). In the 1600s Pearson won all four encounters, ahead of Lisson, comfortably in two but less so in the others. David Caisley (Jacer) was third in race one but lost out to Lachlan Beresford and Mark Horan (Stingers) on the last lap of the second. Horan had the advantage for scoring third in race three until Horan took it away midway through. Caisley was seventh but fought back in the last race, nabbing third on the final lap, and finishing fourth for the round behind Horan. There were several close finishes in the 1200s after Franz Esterbauer (RiBuck) led all the way in race one. Second placed Jack Sheldon (Polar) diced with Esterbauer through races two and three, coming home
HISTORIC TOURING CARS
A PERFECT weekend was spoilt with a DNF in the opening race for Grant Johnson, due to oil fluctuation problem from being over-full. He was leading the opener in a Holden Torana XU-1 before being sidelined after three laps. That paved the way for Simon Northey (Ford Mustang) to take victory over Owen Satchell (Ford Escort RS1600) and Don Behets in the big Ford Galaxie. Johnson had to come through the field to win race two, grabbing the lead on lap five of six and headed Northey, Behets and Satchell to the flag. Johnson led all the way in race three where Satchell held second for the first lap before being demoted to third by Northey for the duration. Behets was in trouble from the start, stopping on lap two which allowed Lance Stannard (Morris Cooper S) to take fourth. The last produced the same finishing order with Gary Crosswell (Chev Bel Air) fifth. GOB
Ricciardello’s category milestone AT THE recent Sandown Historics, Tony Ricciardello reached a milestone not many will ever achieve. In Sports Sedans he took out his 11th national championship/ series title. The weekend didn’t go without dramas as his helmet was knocked back at scrutineering and he had to borrow Ben Grice’s to compete. Ricciardello responded with pole position for round five of the DEA Performance National Sports Sedan Series. Phil Crompton (Ford Mustang) was out with an engine issue and Shane Woodman (BMW/ Chev) would miss race one, attending to a cracked chassis. Ricciardello led the first race until a big moment at turn one ultimately allowed Jordan Caruso (Audi/Chev) through to take the win. Just behind in third was Alex Williams (Mazda RX7 Turbo) clear of Steven Tamasi (Calibra/Chev) who gambled on wet tyres and Dean Camm (Trans Am Chev Corvette). Caruso led race two where at turn one saw Williams overshoot and spin, while Birol Cetin (Chev Camaro) pushed Tamasi and spun before further contact put both out. Ricciardello eventually went through to win ahead of Caruso with Camm next ahead of Michael Robinson (Monaro/Chev) and Jim Pollicina in his TCM Holden Torana A9X. Ricciardello won race three and the round, with Caruso 1.1s behind for second for the round and the championship. Williams finished the final race of the season in third spot ahead of Camm, Robinson, Cetin, Tamasi, Pollicina, Colin Smith (Monaro/Chev) and Dean Lillee (HSV GTO). Just outside the top 10, finishing 11th in both Sunday races, was Woodman and that was enough to secure him third in the series. GOB
“Coming up at the nation’s action and spectator tracks” Wakefield Park
www.wakefieldpark.com.au November 15 Test & Tune Only November 16-17 Wakefield Park’s 25th Anniversary Race Meeting November 18 Speed Off The Street/Test & Tune November 22-23 Wakefield Park Motor Race Series Rd 2
Winton
www.wintonraceway.com.au November 14 Test & Tune – Cars & Open Wheelers November 15-17 AMRS Winton November 19 Performance Test Day November 22 Test & Tune – Cars & Open Wheelers November 23 AROCA
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NATIONALS wrap n compiled by garry o’brie
ROUND DECIDER AT MORGAN PARK THE QUEENSLAND Circuit Racing Championships culminated with the fourth round at Morgan Park on November 2-3.
PRODUCTION TOURING CARS
THE FINAL of the three-round enduro series was an easy victory for Beric Lynton (BMW M3) with over a lap’s advantage on Justin Anthony (Mercedes AMG C63) who had the lead for the first lap only. Third went of Robert Gooley and Maika Terhorst sharing a Mitsubishi EVO X RS. Wade Scott and Taylor Hurford (EVO 8) held third until the round of pitstops but ultimately finished fifth behind Gerry Murphy (Holden Commodore SSV) who started out of ninth. Trevor and Andrew Symonds (HSV VY Clubsport) finished sixth just in front of David Horner and Lindsay Kearns (Ford Fiesta). Earlier in the Driver A race, Lynton won ahead of Anthony and Scott before Anthony turned the tables and had a
narrow victory over the BMW driver as Andrew Mill (EVO 7) secured third, just in front of Hurford.
IMPROVED PRODUCTION/ GEMINIS
IN HIS Mazda RX3, David Waldon was a four-time winner, fending off the BMWs of Jason Clements and Justin Wade. Clements was second on three occasions with Wade coming through in the last. In race one Brock Paine was third, but after that it was fellow Mazda RX7 driver Zak Hudson who showed the way. Among the Geminis, Tim Boyle won all encounters ahead of Mark Gray and Ryan McKinnon.
SPORT SEDANS/TRANS AM/ INVITED
AT THE head of the combined categories field, it was Shane Hart all the way in his Mazda RX7, winning each race from Chris Ching (Porsche 997),
Images: Trapnell Creations
Chris Hatfield (RCR T70 Spyder) and Adrian Blackwell (Holden Commodore VP). In Trans-Am it was a Wilson domination with Grant (Chev Camaro) taking three wins and Shane (Ford Mustang) one. Mustangs followed where Simon Trapp finished third in each, ahead of Shane Cowhan twice and Daniel Fleming twice.
FORMULA VEES
A MISHAP in the fourth race stopped Garry Hook (Sabre) from clean sweeping the third round, but he still won overall ahead of race four winner Alex Hedemann (Rapier). Scott Andrew (Rapier) had several good tussles with Brady Nicholls (Jacer) to secure third overall. Likewise, David Hedemann (Elfin NG) diced with Gerrit Van de Pol (Sabre) and Bruce Acheson (Manta NG) in the last two races to finish fifth overall.
CIRCUIT EXCEL
THE FIFTH round was taken out by Cam Wilson after a win and two seconds, which also scored him the 2019 state
title. Second overall was Cameron Bartholomew ahead of David Wood, both of which scored race wins. Chris Donnelley was fourth ahead of Ian Harvey, Tyron Gautier, Mark Goldspink and Brock Giblin.
SUPERKARTS
CAPPING OFF a dominant season, Tim Weier won all four of the sixth-round races in his 250 Anderson Maverick. He won ahead of the 125s of Peter Nuske (Peter Woodgate Racing Evo) and David Dyson (TWT Scorpion). Doug Amiss (Anderson) headed that pair in three races but went missing altogether in the other.
FORMULA FORD/RACING CARS/INVITED SPORTS
IN A depleted race one field, further reduced by a couple of DNFs, Tim Hamilton (Spectrum) won ahead of Nick McLeod (Van Diemen), Brady McHugh (Van Diemen) and Phil Kay (Dallara). Hamilton went on to take the next two races as well. Kay was second in race two ahead of Jarrod Costello
(Van Diemen) before McLeod bounced back for a second in the last in front of Costello.
HISTORIC TOURING CARS
OVERALL SOLID placings gave Teresa Campbell (Holden Torana XU-1) the overall round win. She finished with two seconds and two thirds while Warren Tegg (Torana) had a first up race win and took the last while Matt Clift (Mazda RX2) scored a pair of wins. Back from overseas Matt Campbell dusted off his Datsun 1200 and placed fifth overall.
SALOON CARS/HQ HOLDEN
LEADING THE way was Brock Mitchell (Ford Falcon AU) with the outright and Saloon Car win over Jamie Manteufel (Holden Commodore VT), who did spoil Mitchell’s chance of four victories with a win in the last. Third overall went to Cameron Klee (VT). Lindsay Kearns (AU) figured prominently in the opening races but not in the last two. In HQs it was Brandon Maddon with four wins, ahead of Joe Andriske who had three seconds and Brad Schomberg. GOB
OASTLER TAKES HIS FIFTH . . . JUST
INNES WINS HISTORIC HILLCLIMB
MALCOLM OASTLER made it five victories in six years when he won the Australian Hillclimb Championship outright at Mt Panorama on November 2-3. But it was a very tight win. He set a new record on the Mt Straight course in his self-developed O2L Formula Libre turbocharged Hayabusa-powered OMS28 at 34.88s. It was some 2s under the old benchmark, and just 0.02s ahead of Dean Amos (Gould GR55B/Nicholson McLaren V8). Third went to Dean Tighe (Dallara F398/Judd V8) on 37.92s from Doug Barry (Lola/Buick V6), Greg Ackland (Ninja GA8/Kawasaki Turbo) and Ron Hay (Synergy Dallara). Gary West’s week of drama started with a fire in his factory and continued with a misfire and an oil leak with his Pilbeam MP82/Nissan SR20 Turbo. Oastler was ominous that he would be the man to beat after edging under the record in practice and despite buckled rear wing mounts. He went fastest on his first official run and opted not to do the second. Amos missed the first run due to the late discovery of a crack at the back of the oil catch tank but went two tenths faster than Oastler the next time out. The latter was just over a tenth away on his last run of Saturday and the stage was set for an exciting Sunday. Both set their best times the next morning and with rain
THIS YEAR marked the 90th Anniversary of the Mt Tarrengower Historic Hillclimb and attracted over 80 car entries as well as many motor cycles on October 20. Hosted by the Bendigo Car Club for the past eight years, Mt Tarrengower, just outside of Maldon, is regarded at the oldest current hillclimb in Australia and possibly the second oldest in the world. The 1.6km course rises around 200m and was once used for the Australian Hillclimb Championship but became a restricted course for historic vehicles after a tragic loss of life at the venue in the mid-’80s. The fastest this year was Scott Innes (VW Beetle) competing in the air-cooled-only class with a time of 43.9s, well away from Liam Sales’ recod 42.2s in a Valiant Charger. Second on the day was John Geist (Group Sb Production Sports Datsun) 1.4s slower than
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Image: Captive Creations-DTK Photographics
on the way, were out to put it all on the line on run five. However the timing failed just as the group lined up, and by the time it was sorted, it was raining. Brett Hayward was sharing his Hayward 014/Hayabusa with his son Josh, who not only beat him but won Formula Libre under 1.3-litre and finished seventh. The father was second in class and ninth behind Warwick Hutchinson (O2L OMS28/Rotary Turbo). Tenth outright was David Mahon (Dallara F394) and third in U1.3L, while 11th placed Kevin Mackrell (Datsun 260Z/Chev V8 Sports Car) was the fastest tin top ahead of Stuart Inwood (Chev Corvette Sports Sedan). Next was the Westfield Megabusa driven by Zac Le Lievre from Phil Heafey (Mitsubishi EVO VI) and Nevil Shears (Nissan FTR R35). Karen Inwood (R33 GTR) won her class and was the fastest female while Riley McQueen (Holden Commodore) was also a class winner and the best junior. GOB
Innes and ahead of Colin Newitt in his Invitation Locost Clubman. Next was Graham Jenkins, also competing in the Invitation class in a Mazda RX7. Next was Jim Russell (Group K Ford) ahead of Rodney Thomson (Sb Datsun 2000 Sports), Conor Ryan (Group L Elgaram Jaguar), Jeff Haire (Group Nc Charger), Peter Murray (Invitation Holden Torana) and Peter Weymouth-Wilson in his Nc Morris Cooper S. It’s has been a very popular event among the vintage racers coming from most of south east Australia and covers drivers from as young as 16 to people in their 80s. Classes are made up from historic Groups J, K, L, M, N, O and S or the equivalent period, constructed as open racing or sports and touring cars. Individual thoroughbred or historically interesting sports and touring can also be invited. GOB
Image: John Doutch B Team Rally
Image: Xavier M iller Photograph y
A DNF DIDN’T STOP WINDUS/BRKIC THE FINAL round of the Hino Geelong Victorian Rally Championship, the MRF Tyres Akadamos Rally on October 20, was won by Richie Dalton and Dale Moscatt. But despite not finishing, Arron Windus and Daniel Brkic are the state title winners. Windus and Brkic (Subaru Impreza WRX STi) won the first heat, taking victories in two stages after a third and second in the opening pair. That was enough to secure the title, fortunately, as they
crashed out on the second stage of heat two. With the incumbent champs out, Dalton and Moscatt (Ford Fiesta) followed up their two heat and two second wins for second overall in heat one, for a stage second and two wins to take overall honours. They finished ahead of second heat winners Darren Windus and Joe Brkic (WRX) while Ivan Regester and Paul Humm (WRX) were third overall. Fourth place went to Justin Walker and Balise McNamara
(Ford Escort RS1800) who were second in the title chase, while a fifth place finish to the similarly mounted Luke Sytema and Adam Wright allowed them to surpass Warren Lee and David Lethlean (Mitsubishi Lancer EVO 9) for third in the championship, after the latter failed to finish the first heat. Completing the top 10 were Matt Lee and Annie Dougherty (WRX), Brad Till and Mitch Garrad (WRX), Alan Friend and Michelle Canning (Nissan Silvia), Nathan Berry and Luke Whitten (Fiesta) and
EXPERT FINISH TO SEASON
Image: Tim Allot
WEST AUSTRALIAN Rally Champions, John O’Dowd and Toni Feaver finished off the season with victory in the sixth round, the Johns River Make Smoking History Experts Cup on October 26-27. The final round of the Zestino Tyres-backed title had 38 entrants, covered 110 competitive kilometres over six stages in the plantations around Wellington Dam, south of Collie. O’Dowd and Feaver competed in five of the rounds this year with a perfect winning record in their Skoda Fabia and finished outright and co-driver champions. They won the Experts Cup with a margin of 2mins 19.8s over Stephen Oxley and Michael Wood (Subaru Impreza WRX STi). Third place went to Ben Searcy who
Brian Semmens and Daniel Parry (Nissan 200SX). The 2WD Championship went to Walker ahead of Sytema. Walker’s regular co-driver Blaise McNamara was away on maternity leave during the season which left Sytema’s co-driver Adam Wright to take out the codriver’s honours. Third place was clinched by Semmens and Parry after their battle with Adrian Stratford and Kain Manning (Daihatsu Charade) failing to finish the final outing. GOB
enlisted specialist navigator Steve Glenney to co-drive his Mitsubishi EVO 9, and secured second in the title ahead of Craig Rando and Matt Scafidi (WRX) who was fifth in the final round behind Brad Markovic and Glenn MacNeall (WRX). Peter Major with James Marquet, experienced his first gravel rally off road excursion on the first stage before getting back on track only to have to retire the EVO 9 due to a mechanical issue after stage four. Kody Reynolds and Anthony Staltari who also went off on the same corner before Glenn Alcorn and Shaun McMacken (Ford Escort MkII) came along, hit the rear of the stranded WRX and pushed it further down the hill.
In the 2WD competition, Razvan and Ioana Vlad (Ford Fiesta) topped every stage and won the championship. Finishing the rally second was Michael Joss and Megan Logue (Nissan Silvia S13) from Gregory and Deeann Flood (Mitsubishi Lancer). Rod Fowler and Keith Mayes (Peugeot 206 GTi) won the shorter format Clubman Cup segment ahead of Keven Hollingsworth and Simon Gratton (Suzuki Swift), and David Walbran and Bryden Coker (Lancer). In the Clubman Masters, also run over the first three stages, John Ludlam and Steven Proctor (Datsun 1600) beat Brock Nicoli and Lachlan Beresford (Hyundai Lantra) and Andy van Kann and Helen Lunsmann (Toyota Corolla TE27). GOB
CLOSE BLACKSMITHS TO QUINN THE BLACKSMITHS Inn Rally on October 26-27 was taken out by Nathan Quinn and Ray Winwood-Smith, 11s ahead of Scott McCloy and Ron McMahon with Bryan van Eck and Lizzy Ferme finishing third a further 2mins 39s behind. The event was the sixth and final round of the Pipe King AMSAG Southern Cross Rally Series on gravel roads in the Johns River and Coopernook areas, consisting of two stages repeated three times, and covering approximately 120 competitive kilometres with two service breaks. Van Eck (Toyota Altezza) kicked off by winning stage one before McCloy (Subaru Impreza WRX) headed stage two and took the overall lead. Stage three was won by Quinn in his aging Mazda RX2 to become the new overall leader. McCloy hit back to take stage four but not by enough to take the lead. Jayke Skeffington and Mark Patroni (WRX) trailed in fourth behind Quinn, McCloy and van Eck at this point. Skeffington won stage five to move to third place but the joint drivers’ points leader coming into the round, struck trouble on the final stage, and fell out of contention. Going into the final stage, Quinn led McCloy and van Eck was fourth. Despite also having a bad stage where he finished 20th, the latter held on to third overall. Equal on top drivers’ points Riley Walters, together with Jeff Williamson (WRX) finished fifth behind Jody Mill and Michael Bannon (Mitsubishi EVO 8). Sixth went to Ian Hill and Phil Bonser (Ford Escort) in front of Ryan McCloy and Robert Channon (WRX), Anthony and Paige Campbell (Holden Commodore), Jake Bramble and Josh Love (Nissan Pulsar GTiR) and Jack Wightman and Steve Beaufoy (Datsun 280Z). Jeff Davies and Dane Booker scored three top ten stage finishes and sat seventh before striking trouble and going out. Likewise the similar Datsun piloted by Michael and Tim Valantine hovered just outside the top ten until they too had issues. GOB
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NATIONALS wrap n compiled by garry o’brie
LOVELY DAYS AT LOVEDAY AFTER A difficult season, Matt Hanson together with Paul Chilianis sitting alongside completely dominated the Can-Am Loveday 350 off road event in their Unlimited class turbocharged Ford-powered Jimco, on October 26-27. Garry and Tamara Turnbull chased hard in only their second event in a new Unlimited Jimco/Chev, finished a well-deserved second ahead of giant killers Matt Curtis and Brad Traynor (Class 1 GCR Rhino/Nissan) who grabbed the Pro Lite class win. Next were Brett Rogers and Brett Richardson (Unlimited RIDS Joker/Chev). That made them joint Element Off Road AORRA South Australian champions after the two rounds, the 2018 champion Todd Lehmann with James Matthews in the Jimco/Chev finishing sixth. The champions were split by Brenton Forsyth (Southern Cross/Nissan) ahead of Alan Dixon and Jonathon O’Connor (Southern Cross/Nissan) and Jake Freckleton and Toby Hedrics (Thorn Built Wasp/Chev). Taking the Performance 2WD Class 5 and ninth outright were Chris Pickert/Bryan Brown/Geoff Pickert (Triton/Chev). They finished ahead of Extreme 2WD Class 4 winners John Smith/Grant Manion (Nissan Patrol). Class 10 went to Shane Waters and Michael Shipton (Southern Cross/Honda) while In Extreme 4WD Matthew and Andy Witmitz (Land Rover Discover Ute) and took out the 600 Challenge. Heath and Michelle Weedon (Nissan Patrol) took the Performance 4WD Class 7 honours while Glenn Pike and
Image: David Batchelor
Darryn Conn (Can-Am Maverick) comfortably topped the list in Class 6. Mick Heasman/Kevin Harrison/Dave Heasman (Hornet/Toyota) overcame all in Class 2 (Super 1650). With a healthy 40 plus field for the final event on the SA calendar, there were a few hard luck stories. Josh Wilson/ Andrew Panton (GET/Chev) were outright contenders until they ran into trouble on Sunday and only completed six laps.
Toby Whateley christened the new Trophy Truck but didn’t do many laps due to first race issues. Steven Graham (Tatum/Honda) had the fuel pump fail on the opening lap and Daryl Nissen (Sore/Nissan) didn’t last much longer, losing the coolant. Outgoing SAORRA champion Ian Barkla broke the gearbox in the Ford Maverick. David Batchelor
Image: Show N Go Photography
Image: Randall Kilner
EVANS’ NEAR IMPOSSIBLE VICTORY WINNING HIS first round at Mafeking Rover Park on October 26 also earned Jackson Evans the DEWALT Australian SXS Championship. He won the title ahead of James Shipp and Simon Evans, also making it a one-twothree for Polaris in the SXS Turbo class. Jackson Evans trailed Shipp by 12 points in third place going into the fourth and final round, kicked off with wins in three of the five heats, and trailed Shipp home in the other two. While Jackson Evans made short work of the semi-finals, Simon Evans just snuck through. Second before the round was Tim Liston but the Yamaha pilot who led the SXS Sport class would be a nonstarter after a disappointing semi. Jackson Evans needed to finish first in the final while Shipp had to
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place. Evans won the race, opting to take his Joker lap early which put him in front. Shipp finished last, having gone off the track. Evans took the win with just a two-point margin. Second for the round Simon Evans (Jackson’s dad and 2018 champion) surpassed Liston in the championship. Mitch Keyte (Polaris) was fourth for the round and held his fifth spot in the points score. Tom Evans (Polaris) was fifth at the Caveat venue ahead of Glen Ackroyd (Can-Am) and Shannon Leach (Polaris), who was the round winner in SXS Sport and second for the year in the class. In the final round, he was ninth behind Stephen Henry (Can-Am) and ahead of Shipp and class rival Robert Gussenhoven (Polaris). GOB
BOON BEATS BRANCH IN THE SAND AFTER 500 LAPS of the short off road course at Peron Dunes St Helens on November 2-3, Chris Boon finished 5mins 19.7s ahead of Chris Branch in the Tas Sand Enduro, the final round of the Tasmanian Off Road Championship. They were the only two drivers who finished all five 100-lap races and it was Boon’s first win in the event after nine attempts. Round three victor Branch (ProLite Hornet/ Nissan V6) won the opening race ahead of class rival Boon (Hornet/ Hayabusa). The gap between the pair was just 1min but Boon hit back with a 3min advantage at the end of the second leg. Boon also took out the third race, by 1min 52s before Branch reduced the margin with a 1 min 20s win in race four. The last was a 2min 47s win to Boon.
Third place went to Chris Shepheard (Sportslite Hornet/ Nissan) who started off with two third places before striking dramas with a broken CV joint in race three. He did come back with a couple of seconds over the last two outings. Kateland Marshall (Southern Cross Super 1650) was fourth in races one and two, then third in race three and four, but didn’t fare well in the last. Round four winner Andrew Giffard (Rivmaster/Toyota Super 1650) had issues in race four and didn’t start the last. He also had dramas in races one and three but did finish third in between. Mike Males (Can Am X3 Turbo), who was victorious at round two, and Michael Stalker (Yamaha XYZ) the season opener winner, also suffered DNFs over the weekend. GOB
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Image: Gympie Auto Sports Club
CHAPMAN DOMINATES DIAPER STATION IT WAS a trouble-free run for Clayton Chapman to win the sixth round of the Mickey Thompson Tires AORRA Queensland Off Road Racing Championship at Landcruiser Mountain Park, Jimna last month. The Diaper Station 100 took in six heats and 10 laps of the 10km course, with Chapman finishing in 1hrs 22mins 57.23s aboard his Unlimited class Razorback/Toyota 2JZ Turbo. Second and third were Tom Swinglehurst and Sybrand De Klerk, some 1min 24s and 2mins 17s behind respectively, in their Class 6 Can-Am Mavericks. For the 42 entrants, a heavy rain shower
overnight kept the dust to minimum for day one’s five laps over three heats. The next day it was a lot dustier. Following the top three were Luke Ayers (Unlimited Tatum/Chev), Michael Zacka (Class 6 Can-Am) and Troy Duff (Class 1 Jimco 2000 Series/Nissan), who posted wins on two laps but was hindered by electrical gremlins. Seventh was Brayden Mifsud (Class 6 Polaris RZR turbo) in front of Christian Trusz (Class 8 Nissan Patrol V8), Andrew Murphy (Class 1 Alumi Craft/Nissan), Richard Tassin (Can Am), Mark Reynolds (Class 8 Jeep/Ford V8) and Jason Keane (Class 10 Racer Engineering/GM Ecotec).
Nineteen runners completed the full 10 laps and included Mitchell Cross (66, Polaris RZR1000) and Jodie Allen (7, Toyota FJ Cruiser), winners of Class 66 and Class 7. There were many who didn’t finish including David Loughnan (broke axles), Brody Vohland (belt issues), Aaron Phillis (bent arm, clutch and brakes), Matt Gardiner (transmission) and Ethan Murray (flat tyre and no spare). Taylor Teichmann (throttle cable) went out, as did Ross Newman (roll over which broke the steering rack), Darren Angel (electrics), Myles Newborn (rear suspension), Justin
BLISTERING IN THE DESERT WHILE BEAU Robinson and Shane Hutt blazed through the Black Diamond Drilling Kalgoorlie Desert Race on October 26-27 for a big win, Darren Agrela and Ryan Barton went conservative to wrap up the West Australian Off Road Racing Championship at the sixth round. Over 40 entered the blast through the red dirt of the Kalgoorlie Goldfields, which started with an early Saturday morning prologue. That was headed by Robinson (Geiser Bros/Chev TT Extreme 4WD) nearly 20s clear of Shane Elphinstone and Adam Trewhella (Jimco Aus Spec/Nissan V6 Turbo Pro Buggy), with Scott Schiller and Jared Percival (SS Racetech/Chev) third. Championship hopefuls Agrela (Jimco/ Nissan Turbo Pro Buggy) and Mat Birnie and Rochelle Funneman (Can-Am Rotax SXS Turbo) were eighth and 17th respectively. Robinson set off first for the 120km section one and when Elphinstone and Schiller both lost time, he finished quickest by 2mins 22s over Harleigh Uren (Pro2/Chev Ext Image: Jason Galea
2WD). Troy and Deborah Schoen (SS ProHustler/Chev Pro Buggy) were third, ahead of Brent Smoothy and Aaron James (Geiser Bros/ Chev TT), Phil Shepley and Korey Smith (Chev Pro2 Ext 2WD), Dean and Jordan Terry (Jimco/ Chev) and Agrela. Disaster struck Birnie with a stick through the radiator and both Elphinstone and Dylan Nollas/Matt Boath (Polaris SXS Turbo Polaris RZR) rolled onto their sides in the final kilometre through the spectator section. Through Sunday’s two sections Robinson extended his lead over Uren.
Montesalvo (broken diff) and Les Thompson (second gear and both diffs). Andrew Theologhidis retired with front chassis rails bent from landing too heavily, while the double-entered Amy Vann/ Paul Vann (gearbox) and similarly-situated Scott Hopkins/Erica Eden (rollover) met the same fate. Zac Marsh (ECU), Daniel Hughes (drivetrain), Erica Eden, Stuart Chapman (oil leak), Brett Baker (engine mounts), Aaron Nicoll (oil pressure), Steven Kildey (diff) and Ross Challacombe (crank angle sensor) were also casualties. GOB
The attrition rate was high with the Pro Buggys of Troy Higgins/John Simmons (GET Perfomance/Chev) and Howell/Cornick out as well as the Sportslite class leaders Peter Barrett/ Kelvin Stacey with gearbox issues. Schoen sealed third outright ahead of Smoothy and Agrela. Mal Yeardley and Alex Cowan (BAT Spec 1/Nissan) were first in Prolite and SXS Turbo went to Colin Bevan and Michael Dodds (Can-Am). Ben and Luke Erceg (Racer Engineering/GM Ecotec) were the Sportslite victors whilst Jason Galea and Kiera Piercy (Yamaha YXZ1000R) were first in SXS Sport. Peter Mellington and Rod Barton (Tiger Buggy/Toyota) took out Super 1650 as Mark Murray/Jim Ingham (Nissan Partrol/ Toyota) and Graeme Bentink/Dylan James (Toyota 200 Series) won Extreme 4WD and Production 4WD respectively. GOB
Rally Australia, World Rally Championship, Australian Rally Championship Rd6, Coffs Coast NSW, Nov 15-17 Shannons Nationals Rd7, Production Cars Rd5, TCR Australia Rd7, Porsche GT3 Cup Rd6, S5000 Series Rd2, Prototype Series Rd5, The Bend Motorsport Park SA, Nov 15-17 Australian Motor Racing Series Rd6, Mazda RX8 Cup Rd6, GT-1 Australia Rd6, Winton Motor Raceway VIC, Nov 15-17 Till The Wheels Fall Off, Club Khanacross, Mafeking Rover Park VIC, Nov 15-17 QR Drivers Championship Rd6, Lakeside Park QLD, Nov 16-17 Tasmanian State Racing Championships, Improved Production Nationals, Baskerville TAS, Nov 16-17 Australian Supersprint Championship, Phillip Island VIC, Nov 16-17 Multi Club Khanacross, Springmount Raceway QLD, Nov 16-17 King of the Hill, Multi Club Hillclimb, One Tree Hill VIC, Nov 16-17 Ray Vestey Memorial Short Course Off Road, Colo Park NSW, Nov 16-17 Club One-Car Sprint, Reserve Raceway Millmerran QLD, Nov 16-17 Multi Club Hillclimb, Collie Motorplex WA, Nov 16-17 HSRCA Historic, Wakefield Park NSW, Nov 16-17 WA Circuit Racing Champs Rd10, Barbagallo WA, Nov 16 Club Motorkhana, The Quarry Bathurst NSW, Nov 16 Multi Club Motorkhana, Ringwood Park NSW, Nov 16 Top End Mud Racing Series Rd2, Downes Park NT, Nov 16 Multi Club Hillclimb, Boisdale VIC, Nov 16 Multi Club Khanacross, Colo Park NSW, Nov 16 Ricciardo’s Racers, Club Motorkhana, The Bend Motorsport Park SA, Nov 16 Multi Club Twilight Khanacross, McGrath Road Werribee VIC, Nov 16 Multi-Club Khanacross, Murwillumbah Showgrounds NSW, Nov 17 Multi Car Supersprint, Sydney Motorsport Park NSW, Nov 17 Multi Car Supersprint, Sandown Raceway VIC, Nov 17 Multi Club Khanacross, The Quarry Bathurst NSW, Nov 17 Multi Club Khanacross, Bryant Park VIC, Nov 17 Multi Club Hillclimb, Huntley Hillclimb NSW, Nov 17 Club Autocross, Deniliquin Sporting Car Club NSW, Nov 17 Club One-Car Sprint, Oakburn Park NSW, Nov 17 Multi Club Khanacross, Willowbank Raceway QLD, Nov 17 Multi Club Hillclimb, Ringwood Park NSW, Nov 17 The Evan Green Memorial, Multi Club Touring/Navigational Rally, Nov 17 Multi Club Autocross, Geelong Motor Sports Complex VIC, Nov17 Twilight Rallysprint Series Rd2, Sydney Dragway NSW, Nov 19 Coates Hire Newcastle 600, Supercars Championship Races 29&30, Super 2 Series Rd7, SuperUtes Rd8, Aussie Racing Cars Rd7, Toyota 86 Racing Series Rd5, Newcastle NSW, Nov 22-24
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WILD RIDE TOYOTA 86 driver John Iafolla walked away from a major accident in the final race at Sandown. On the opening lap of Race 3, Iafolla ran wide at the ultrafast Turn 6 and re-joined, but appeared to lose control and speared across the track into the inside guard rail. What followed was a massive impact, which vaulted Iafolla’s Toyota 86 into the air and a series of barrel rolls through the infield. It concluded with the 86 rolling onto the tray of a utility support vehicle parked on the inside of Turn 9, containing two marshals. The shocked marshals emerged unscathed from the incident and quickly came to the aid of Iafolla, whose wrecked car came to rest beside them. Fortunately, Iafolla was able to clamber out the remains of his racer and was quickly whisked by ambulance to the circuit medical centre. The Toyota 86 race was stopped immediately and then called early due to extensive guard rail damage, which delayed the day’s racing activities significantly. AA shooters Ross Gibb and Rhys Vandersyde captured the massive accident. DM
Retro Round Trial Crossword
Across
2. The #8 BJR car ran a Fujitsu sponsored car at Sandown. Who won races in a Fujitsu sponsored car in 2013? (surname only) 7. Driving a Holden Racing Team Commodore, who was Mark Skaife’s co-driver for the 1999 Bathurst 1000? (full name) 10. The MSR livery was based on the car that won the Super2 event at Sandown in 2009, but who was driving? (full name) 12. What number did Peter Brock run in the 1971 Hardie-Ferodo 500? 13. Who finished second to Bob Morris in the 1979 Australian Touring Car Championship? (surname only)
Down
1. The #21 car ran the original BJR OzEmail livery, so who drove alongside Brad Jones in this car in the 2001 Bathurst 1000? (surname only)
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3. WAU ran two 1999 Holden Racing Team liveried cars at Bathurst. Who won the championship for the team that year? (full name) 4. The black OzEmail car which finished third in the 2004 Bathurst 1000 driven by Brad Jones and John Bowe ran what number? 5. Tekno ran a 1979 championship winning Bob Morris livery, but how many rounds did Morris win that year? 6. The Team 18 Sandown livery was a tribute to which race series? 8. The Penrite Racing team paid homage to the black and gold BMWs run in the mid-80s, but what was the original sponsor?
9. At what circuit did Craig Lowndes famously roll in 1999? 11. Chaz Mostert and James Moffat paid tribute to Allan Moffat’s 1969 Ford Mustang. What was the sponsor on the original car? 12. How many Australian Touring Car Championships did Jim Richards win for BMW? 13. At Bathurst the RBHRT ran a HDT livery from 1971. One car was driven by Peter Brock, who drove the other car? (surname only)
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