Auto Action #1779

BRUTE FORCE BENTLEY BELTS BATHURST SINCE S IN NCE 1971

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O’WAR E L S S U T E H T FOR TA2

COURTNEY LIFELINE

OSCAR NOMINATION

Team Sydney confirmed

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Piastri on path to F1

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THE NEXT AUSSIE F1 HOPE

Schoolboy S h lb O Oscar Pi Piastri t i hhopes success with ith R Renaultlt thi this year will ill hhelp l hi him graduate d t tto motorsport’s t t’ bi big titime OSCAR PIASTRI is the best placed Aussie since Daniel Ricciardo to enter motor sport’s top level.

The 18-year-old, who won Europe’s most competitive junior formula, Formula Renault Eurocup, enters his first year in the FIA Formula 3 Championship with a team that dominated the 2019 season and has gained support from one of the best junior academies in the world.

The UK-based school student will contest his maiden F3 season with the prestigious Prema Powerteam, which guided all of its drivers to a 1-2-3 clean sweep of the outright standings led

by Russian Robert Schwartzman. The team has won the Italian F4 Championship, ADAC Formula 4 Championship, Formula Regional European Championship and Formula 3 Euro Series with another Australian, Ryan Briscoe.

The Prema deal is just one piece of the jigsaw puzzle. Piastri’s selection for the Renault Sport Academy is the crucial link between making the next step from the junior formulas to the grid of Formula 1. The importance of this is clear when a majority of the current Formula 1 field rose through the junior ranks with support from the likes of Red Bull, Mercedes, Ferrari and Renault.

These combined give Piastri possibly the best opportunity any Australian driver has had of making it to Formula 1. Despite this, he realises it’s no certainty and the hard work has just begun.

“I think I’m certainly not getting ahead of myself and there’s still a long way to go to get to Formula 1,� Piastri told Auto Action. “There are quite a few drivers who make it to Formula 3 or Formula 2 and still don’t make the cut. “The closer you get to Formula 1 it’s almost the further away you get. “The seats available in Formula 1, there are a couple of seats a year if you’re lucky, so I haven’t really thought about it too much, just taking it year by year on what I have to do to achieve my goals. If I achieve my goals of winning races and championships then hopefully a Formula 1 seat comes naturally.�

Piastri completed a Formula 3 test with Prema late last year and having worked further in depth with the team approaching the first race of the season in Bahrain in March, he is assured that he will be in the championship race. “Prema have been superb integrating me into the team, it’s a real family environment,� said an enthused Piastri. “I’d say it’s something I haven’t experienced with a race team, the amount of involvement not only on-track, but off-track, just little things like in getting to know each other and team building. “Prema have been great in terms of that and its race pedigree on the track, though it will be a bit tighter in Formula 3 this year after the team were a

dominant force in 2019, but there are going to be a fair few contenders within Prema and the teams around us. “I’m confident I can fight for the championship again, but certainly it won’t be an easy task.�

Piastri is already reaping the benefits of the unrivalled support of the Renault Sport Academy, which provides finance, training and a direct link to the Renault Formula 1 team — including Australian Formula 1 driver Daniel Ricciardo. “Having the support of Renault and being in the Academy sets up a lot of opportunities going towards Formula 1,� Piastri said. “The financial support is a massive help along with all the facilities the Academy provide training on the physical and mental sides, sim time, engineers and Daniel (Ricciardo) and Esteban Ocon, whose brains I can pick.�

Piastri has already toured the factory and has become a regular visitor, and he is ensuring that his fitness is at its top level ahead of an important season in his career. “I’ve done a bit of physical training at Renault in Enstone and I’ve been on the sim as well for a bit of an insight on how it works, how Formula 1 engineering works,� Piastri said. “I’ve spent a little bit of time there now we’re getting closer towards the season. “My involvement, especially in the training

side of things will ramp up. I’m training as hard as ever to be ready and I think I handled the two days at Valencia well, so I’m pretty confident in my physical ability. “I’m going to be pushing really hard for the championship and I think you can guess that Renault want me to win the championship.�

Reviewing his last four seasons, Piastri’s success last year in Eurocup, which bought seven wins, 11 podiums and five pole positions, is the clear highlight that has earned him the opportunities that he has accepted. “My success over the last few years has been pretty good with second in British Formula 4, eighth in the first year of Eurocup, then the championship last year so I’m really looking to use that Eurocup championship as a bit of a springboard for the rest of my career,� Piastri said. “It’s certainly the highlight of my career so far and bought me some amazing opportunities with Renault Sport Academy and Prema. “I’m Looking forward to kicking off this year as I finished last season. “Hopefully the success keeps coming.�

Of note, the chassis that delivered Piastri his title is coming to Australia, although plans are unknown on whether the youngster will complete any demonstration runs.

Heath McAlpine

Read Oscar’s first exclusive monthly Auto Action column on page 15

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TRANS AM TUG O’ WAR EXPLAINING THE TUSSLE FOR TA2 MARK FOGARTY investigates the struggle for control of popular low-cost V8 coupes that could rival Supercars PEACE TALKS have begun to try to settle the dispute over control of the popular second-level TA2 V8 muscle car racers, which are also at the centre of a licensing wrangle.

After falling out over a planned co-operative agreement, Trans Am rights holder Australian Racing Group and TA2 Muscle Car Series promoter Peter Robinson are in discussions to revive the deal.

They fell out over arguments about who controls imports of the Australian-spec TA2 control chassis and engine, which are draped in bodywork resembling the Ford Mustang, Chevrolet Camaro and Dodge Challenger.

Robinson’s PBR organisation, while acknowledging ARG’s rights to Trans Am brands in Australia and New Zealand, maintains it is the exclusive agent for the American-sourced TA2 package as raced here.

Auto Action has learned that TA2 stakeholders met in Bathurst last Thursday to thrash out a compromise arrangement with ARG. While ARG was not represented at the meeting, senior executives of the fast-growing promoter were aware and supportive of the TA2 summit.

In the background, Supercars is believed to have looked at TA2 to inform the Gen3 regulations, which are due in 2022.

Talks are continuing to resurrect

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the agreement for ARG and PRB to co-operate on the Trans Am National Series, which will join the Shannons Motorsport Australia Championships, starting at this month’s Adelaide 500.

ARG is adding TA2 to its line-up of TCR, S5000 and Touring Car Masters, offering competitors in the control spec V8 category a chance to run at major Motorsport Australia-sanctioned meetings with free-to-air TV coverage on the Seven Network.

The TA2 Muscle Car Series runs outside the FIA in the unaffiliated AASA-run Australian Motor Racing Series.

TA2 would be a popular addition to ARG’s portfolio as the low-cost V8 racers are a great spectacle.

ARG is committed to the Trans Am National Series, expecting about 20 TA2 entries in Adelaide.

The squabble over TA2 is complicated and confusing.

Essentially, PRB has been running the control category — successfully — outside the official channels, sourcing cars in an exclusive agreement for Australia and NZ with Howe Racing in the US. While it suggests it has a local trademark for TA2 Muscle Car Series, PRB says it has no agreement

with Trans Am Race Company, the American group that owns the worldwide Trans Am brands.

ARG has the Australasian rights to Trans Am and TA2 through its acquisition of the Touring Car Masters category management agreement from Motorsport Australia, which included Trans Am marques.

ARG director Matt Braid insists the group wants to work with PRB to give TA2 competitors a choice, allowing it to continue running in the AMRS under the terms of the licence with TARC. “We had an agreement and, to be quite frank, are still talking to him on the basis of allowing that to happen under our agreement,” Braid told Auto Action.

“We have that discretion locally as the licence holders.

“It’s up to us, but it’s not about creating any sort of war.

“He has a great series that we want to see him to be able to retain while we run the series we want to run, and then the competitors are actually free to go between both if they wanted to.

“So there’ll be no restriction on him and no restriction on us.

“If anything, it’s providing a higherlevel platform for those who want it.”

PRB spokesman Craig Denyer confirmed talks were going on with ARG “about moving forward harmoniously”.

Denyer said: “We’re trying to work with ARG. The talks are positive.”

He claimed PRB was expecting up to 60 cars in the TA2 Muscle Car Series by the middle of the year.

Part of the discussions to reunite

This month’s big Adelaide 500 meeting will give most Australian motorsport fans their first chance to see TA2 cars in action.

ARG and PRB is agreeing on a three-year freeze of the current local TA2 specs.

Motorsport Australia regards ARG as holding the category management rights to TA2 in Australia, maintaining PRB “is not licensed or approved

by TARC in the US, nor approved or affiliated with Motorsport Australia”.

MA chief executive Eugene Arocca said: “By virtue of the Touring Car Masters category agreement, ARG are the rights holders to the Trans Am 2 category as far as we are concerned.

“We will continue to work with ARG

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with this exciting category as part of the Shannons Motorsport Australia Championships.”

Including TA2 in the ARG program could attract leading teams like Garry Rogers Motorsport, already involved in TCR and S5000 — and with extra capacity and V8 expertise after its withdrawal from Supercars.

Peter Robinson claimed that he fell out with ARG over reported moves to go to more costly American Trans Am rules.

“I thought there was some skulduggery going on in the background I didn’t know about,”

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Robinson told AA. “I said, ‘We can’t move forward with this,’ so that’s when the split happened.

“If you’re threatening me with bringing other cars into the country, that is a dealbreaker. You’ve lost the essence of why TA2 works.

“I’ll stay with AMRS and you guys do whatever you want.”

However, Braid is adamant the Trans Am National Series will stick with the local TA2 cars for the “foreseeable future”.

“We have the rights to all Trans Am classes. However, from an Australian point of view, the specifications of TA2 is what we’re targeting for our series, given that there’s already a significant competitor group here already,” he said.

“Our intention is to have ongoing dialogue because I think we’re

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actually very close to achieving what we originally set out to achieve for both of us.

“So it’s more a case of making sure that everyone’s happy and that we know the way forward.

“We don’t set out to cause problems or create politics. By the nature of who we are and the culture we’re trying to establish, while we’re a business, it’s actually for the good of racing and why create battles when you don’t need to?

“Our view is that there is a harmonious outcome that should be achieved here, which is what the original intention was and we’re still aiming to work with Peter on that — and I think he’s doing the same.

“Our intention is that we will run the current TA2-spec cars in the National Series for the foreseeable future.”

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MUSTANG GETS ANOTHER AERO CUTBACK

By MARK FOGARTY FORD’S ALL-conquering Mustang is being given another aero “haircut” for the coming season.

After two rounds of parity tests, Supercars has decreed that the Mustang’s rear wing has to be lowered and moved forward, along with modified end plates.

The front splitter and undertray have also been modified.

It is the two-door Ford’s second major cutback since the furore over its aero advantage began at the start of last season.

The accompanying images show the changes on a DJR Team Penske Mustang.

The rear wing is lowered by 50mm and moved forward by 90mm, with reshaped end plates that have the same surface area as last year.

In addition, a 10mm tall Gurney flap is added to the rear deck extension.

The photos show DJRTP’s prototype parts, with the team promising the raceready versions will be “much neater”.

The Gurney flap shown is made from alloy metal, while the final spec will be carbon-fibre bonded to the composite boot lid extension.

DJRTP has also revealed the Mustang’s revised front splitter and undertray design.

The main change is that the undertray length has been reduced to reduce downforce, in line with Supercars’ bid to reduce overall downforce by 12 per cent with front and rear trims.

The Mustang’s splitter has also been reprofiled, as shown in the accompanying shots.

The 2019-spec front splitter assembly (red) has a notch/indent at the bottom.

The new front bar, shown in primer grey, has that notch/indent below the outboard brake duct filled in.

In addition, the rear section of Mustang’s undertray has been trimmed to reduce front downforce.

The modifications are the result of Supercars’ two revised VCAT (Vehicle Control Aerodynamic Test) sessions at the Oakey Army Aviation

TThe Th he ch changes han anggees to to tthe he M he Mustang usta us tang ng ng aero package are designed to reduce the overall downforce by 12 per cent.

The front splitter has had changes made in the areas highlighted.

Images supplied

Centre in southeast Queensland.

Revised and fortified straight-line aero testing pitted the Mustang against the Commodore to produce more accurate downforce and drag measurements in a bid to end the parity debate.

It is reported that the Commodore’s rear wing and end plates are unchanged.

The maximum wing angle for both cars is slightly reduced and the front undertrays trimmed to lower downforce. As well as improved parity, the changes are aimed at reducing overall aero downforce by 10-12 per

cent to improve close-running racing.

The Mustang’s latest cutback follows the substantial aero trim enacted at the Perth SuperNight round last year.

For the first time, consolidated data from the VCAT process has been distributed to all teams, not just the homologation squads.

DJRTP is responsible for homologating the Mustang and Triple Eight handles the validation of the Commodore.

They provided cars and drivers for both VCAT sessions at Oakley, running them in different configurations and ride

heights on the Oakey runway.

Downforce and air drag were measured across repeated 200km/h coast down runs.

The updated aero packages will be tried for the first time in the pre-season test at The Bend on February 18.

Eight Mustangs — two more than last year — will take on 16 Commodores at the season-opening Adelaide 500 from February 21-23.

For the first time since 2012 the Supercars championship will be a strictly Ford versus Holden contest.

Lowndes: It’s Scotty or Shane for the 2020 title And Mostert will surprise with some strong performances for Walkinshaw

By BRUCE NEWTON AUSSIE MOTORSPORT icon Craig Lowndes expects Scott McLaughlin and Shane van Gisbergen to fight out the 2020 Supercars championship with Chaz Mostert his dark horse.

While the three-times touring car champion is expecting the new control shock absorber rule to shake things up, he still believes the two Kiwi stars and their respective teams — DJR Team Penske/Shell V-Power Racing and Triple Eight Race Engineering/Red Bull Holden Racing Team — will continue to rule the roost.

“I have no doubt it will be a Red Bull or Penske combination of car and driver that will stand on the top step at the end of the day,” said Lowndes.

“They have consistency and continuity year-toyear and they are well resourced, so they are going to be very hard teams to beat.

“We say it every year, but this really is a year where you are really going to need to find those tenths of a second. I think every little part of the car — whether it’s tyre pressures, camber, geometry and now shock — that makes a small advantage will be highlighted.”

Should McLaughlin win the title he will become only the fourth driver in ATCC/V8 Supercars/ Supercars to three-peat, following Ian Geoghegan, Mark Skaife and van Gisbergen’s teammate Jamie Whincup.

If van Gisbergen — who has finished second to Mclaughlin the past two years — takes the championship, it will be his second title, following

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on from 2016.

“Shane or Scotty out of all of them because they seem to be able to adapt to not having the car perfect,” said Lowndes.

“I’d say either Scotty or Shane.”

The third driver Lowndes nominates to potentially be in contention is Whincup, with whom he now co-drives in the Pirtek Enduro Cup after his retirement from full-time Supercars driving at the end of the 2018 season.

“Jamie is very quick when the car is right,” said Lowndes.

Lowndes is also hoping for a more broadly competitive season this year. Last year 20 of the 32 championship races were won by DJR Team Penske and 11 by Triple Eight, with Tickford Racing the only other team to break through, with one win.

“When you have two teams that clean sweep the whole year it’s no good for anyone,” Lowndes said.

“It’s especially no good for other teams who are trying to give their sponsors value for money.”

Lowndes predicts the control Supashock shock

absorbers will have a bigger impact on the racing than aerodynamic revisions made over the summer to reduce the downforce of the Holden Commodore ZB and Ford Mustang.

“The teams wipe all their (shock) knowledge clean and start afresh,” said Lowndes.

“So the advantage a Penske or a Red Bull had over the other teams will diminish.

“I think that will be good for the category.

It’s going to hurt the major teams that had the investment in that side of it.

“As for the aero … I think they (Supercars) are pretty confident when they roll out for Adelaide that if a Commodore dominates or the Mustang dominates it’s not going to be because of the aero package.

“It’s going to be down to other things.”

Lowndes experienced the impact of added downforce during the Pirtek Enduro Cup last year and is hopeful the cut Supercars is aiming for will improve it by lengthening braking distances, slowing cornering speeds and reducing aero turbulence for

following cars.

“In 2019 if you weren’t qualifying up the front you knew you weren’t going to get a result, which is not how Supercars had been in the past,” he said.

He predicts Adelaide will start to tell the story on shock behaviour, but the teams will have to wait until Albert Park for concrete evidence of how much impact the aero changes have.

“Melbourne’s a street track … but it has very high-speed corners on which the aero will have more effect,” he said.

His tip that Chaz Mostert will be a dark horse may surprise some, given the Queenslander moves from Tickford (with engineer Adam De Borre) to Walkinshaw Andretti United, which has struggled in recent years.

But he believes Mostert’s talents and a fierce desire within the team to improve will produce improvement this season.

In particular he cites the ambition of co-owner Michael Andretti as being an important factor.

“Chaz going to Walkinshaw might just inspire them to lift and find some new things and I’m sure Michael Andretti will have no desire to linger in the mid-pack for another 12 months,” said Lowndes.

“They have had a complete refresh of drivers and engineering changes as well, so if they get their ingredients right with the aero and the shock they have as good a chance as anyone else to win races.”

Lowndes, who will spend much of the Supercars season in his Fox commentary role, expects to get his first chance to sample the revised ZB Commodore at the Tailem Bend test immediately before the Superloop Adelaide 500 season opener.

“The plan is to do some laps in the cars and find out what it’s all about,” he said.

DANE SEARCHES GLOBE FOR TALENT Whincup’s replacement could be an international

By BRUCE NEWTON TRIPLE Eight team boss Roland Dane is considering an international talent search to replace Jamie Whincup when the seven-time Supercars champ retires.

As Auto Action recently reported, Whincup will soon decide if he will race on beyond this year.

Dane says he doesn’t know what Whincup’s decision will be and he doesn’t have a locked-in replacement.

But looking beyond local shores for a new driver to join Shane van Gisbergen at the Red Holden Racing Team fits with his long-held belief that the uniquely Aussie touring car class doesn’t require an Aussie or New Zealand passport to be successful.

“I think there are a lot of good drivers in the world,” said the T8 boss. Dane has had a long history of recruiting international drivers to his Supercar team, especially in the days before full-time drivers were forcibly split for long distance races.

Frenchman Yvan Muller won the Sandown 500 with Craig Lowndes in 2005, while another Frenchman, Sebastien Bourdais, saluted with Whincup on the Gold Coast in 2012.

Yet another Frenchman, Alex Premat, won the Pirtek Enduro Cup with van Gisbergen in 2016.

Other internationals who have driven for T8 through the years include the late Allan Simonsen and Briton James Thompson.

In 2013 Swede Mattias Ekstrom and Briton Andy Priaulx were surprise contenders in the Bathurst 1000 in the X-Box Holden Commodore wildcard entry campaigned

by T8.

“One thing I have had always had an awareness of is there are more drivers in the

world than just Australia,” Dane told Auto Action.

“If there is an outstanding local talent, of course it would be silly not to be looking at them, but there’s also some outstanding talent in the world who are very adaptable and smart.

“People think they take forever to adapt to the cars but we have had some people who have shown they are very adaptable and smart.”

While Dane has definitely had some success with internationals, drivers drawn from outside Australia and New Zealand have yet to experience sustained success in the Supercars championship.

Swiss Simona De Silvestro has just departed after a three-year struggle, while highly-rated Europeans Maro Engel (Erebus) and Robert Dahlgren (Garry Rogers Motorsport) lasted just a single year.

The unique nature of Australian front-engined rear-wheel drive V8 Supercars, including their heavy weight, locked diff, low-grip rubber and limited aero have always been cited as factors that have challenged internationals.

Limited testing and tyre allocations have also been a factor. Last year Walkinshaw Andretti United ran a wildcard at Bathurst for IndyCar drivers Alexander Rossi and James Hinchcliffe despite those limitations, and they struggled to 18th place, two laps down.

DJR Team Penske majority owner Roger Penske has played down his chances of running a wildcard, despite a roster of talented drivers, until testing and tyre rules free up.

Dane says a key attribute any T8 driving candidate must have is versatility.

“Mattias Ekstrom and Yvan Muller were both examples of very versatile drivers — ice racing, rallycross, front-wheel drive, rearwheel drive, etcetera.

“At the end of the day it depends how much time people have got. You can see with Alex Premat. When he first came along he struggled, but he became pretty sharp in the right Supercar at the right time.

“If they are in the right team — looked after the right way — then international drivers can be good.”

Dane said he was confident the team’s commercial partners could be persuaded to support the signing of an international.

“If I can show to the sponsors why I have done it, why not,” he said. “If you get it right it becomes a point of difference, it becomes interesting.”

Team Sydney can be “pretty special” Seamer talks up new twocar squad ahead of launch

By BRUCE NEWTON AHEAD OF its launch tomorrow, Supercars boss Sean Seamer has predicted Team Sydney can achieve “pretty special” performances.

Based on the old Tekno Autosports, the new squad makes its public debut on Tuesday at the 2020 Supercars season launch at Sydney’s Circular Quay.

Sponsors and the identity of James Courtney’s teammate in the squad — reported to be 2018 Development Series champion Chris Pither — are expected to be unveiled on the day.

The team, led by Tekno Autosports owner Jonathon Webb, will campaign two Triple Eight-sourced Holden Commodore ZBs underpinned by the existing Tekno Racing Entitlements Contract (REC) and one taken “off the shelf” from Supercars.

The squad is expected to shift from the Gold Coast to temporary headquarters in Sydney after the championship opener in Adelaide.

Seamer indicated the new team would take time to gel but was bullish about its prospects.

“I think we have all got to be realistic because they are putting a lot of people together and going to two cars … so they have a lot of work

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to do,” the Supercars boss said.

“I think those guys have got all the key ingredients to put together something pretty special.

“They have good a driver line-up, they have got good sponsors, Jonno (Webb) has a good track record.

“He had a tough year last year but he has won Bathurst in different categories.

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“So they have everything there, but all teams do. So how they unlock those ingredients is entirely up to them.”

Supercars has plenty of skin in this game as basing a team in Sydney has been an important commercial and marketing goal for some time.

There are multiple partners involved in the project. They include the NSW government

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— which is tipping in $33 million to develop a motorsport centre of excellence at Sydney Motorsport Park, where the team will eventually be based — the Australian Racing Drivers Club, which runs SMP, and CAMS — the Confederation of Australian Motorsports.

Team Sydney was initially meant to be a co-operative effort between Tekno Autosports and racer and investor Rod Salmon.

However, that partnership broke up late last year and the Webb family took control of the project.

Early in January Auto Action revealed Team Sydney had “collapsed” with Courtney on the hunt for an enduro co-drive. Two weeks later it reported it had been “saved” after renewed efforts by Courtney to revive the project.

However, as far as Seamer is concerned, those issues were overplayed.

“Obviously Jonno (Webb) was going to do it with a partner and then decided not to,” Seamer said.

“He’s been pushing on the whole time in the background.

“I’m not sure where the information came from to the contrary, but they have been working really hard behind the scenes on sponsors and drivers and contracts etcetera and are pretty happy to be rolling out a car at our launch on Tuesday.”

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BATHURST 12 HOUR COMES OF AGE

Analysis bY MARK FOGARTY MOUNT PANORAMA is special. Any endurance race there is eventful and enthralling.

Sunday’s Bathurst 12 Hour was another thriller with a feel-good result. But most Bathurst 1000s and Bathurst Six Hours in the past decade have also been memorable.

The cliché that the last hour of an enduro at Mount Panorama is when it all happens is true. Like the last nine holes of a golf major, when it comes down to the clutch at Bathurst, more often than not, it all breaks loose.

Bentley’s dramatic victory in the Bathurst 12 Hour was yet another example of the magic at The Mountain.

All the drama in practice and qualifying – aided by the stifling weather – set up a dramatic race. And it didn’t disappoint.

The Bathurst 12 Hour is a truly big event internationally and becoming increasingly important locally.

It’s just a pity that this year it clashed with the finals weekend of the Australian Open tennis, which moved a week later.

Previously, it had the first weekend of February to itself and received a lot of mainstream media coverage as the last major sports event of the summer.

This year’s 12 Hour was an all-star cast of GT internationals, Supercars stars and major manufacturers.

The event has a mix of top drivers and diversity of exotic cars that excite hard-core enthusiasts.

The crowd at Mount Panorama was noticeably bigger, indicating the 12 Hours’ local appeal is growing.

Bentley’s long-awaited victory was popular and internationally attention-getting.

The Bentley Continental GT3 is the most unlikely racer. It’s a big, bulky brute that looks like a block of flats compared with the lowline Audis, Porsches, Ferraris, Lamborghinis and Mercedes-AMGs. But GT3’s Balance Of Performance equation makes the big Bentley competitive, especially at Bathurst.

Bentley has come close a few times in recent years, but this time the M Sport-run team had the pace, strategy and luck to win.

Remarkably, the twin turbo 4.4-litre V8 Continental GT3 is run by a team whose core expertise in world championship rallying, not circuit racing.

It was great to see something different win the Bathurst 12 Hour against the combined might of AMG and Triple Eight.

If nothing else, the race proved that our best Supercars drivers are

competitive in the global GT3 category.

Sunday’s race confirmed the 12 Hour is a worthy and strong second to the Bathurst 1000. The latter is a national sporting tradition and unlikely to be challenged.

But the 12 Hour is well on the road to much greater popularity and interest.

Also, as a viewer, the Fox Sports/7mate simulcast was a great success.

The Supercars Media-produced coverage was comprehensive and informative, and the combined hosting team of Chris Stubbs, Neil Crompton and Mark Beretta, commentators John Hindhaugh, Richard Craill and Johnny Palmer, and the pit reporting team led by Chad Neylon left no stone unturned.

That the race was won by such a storied marque as Bentley – which dominated the Le Mans 24 Hours in the late 1920s with leviathans Ettore Bugatti dismissed as “lorries” – only added to the armchair alure.

Big congratulations to drivers Jules Gounon, Maxime Soulet and Jordan Pepper, and team boss Malcolm Wilson, for such a hardfought and popular victory.

Heath McAlpine

SYDNEY SUPERCARS LAUNCH

Apart from the unveiling of Team Sydney’s surprise Coca-Cola backing, Supercars’ season launch confirmed what we already knew.

By MARK FOGARTY THIS YEAR will celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Australian Touring Car Championship.

The Supercars championship is the successor to the ATCC, which began as a single race at the Gnoo Blas street circuit in Orange, western NSW, in 1960.

The inaugural ATCC title was won by the late David McKay in a Jaguar 3.4.

The ATCC title is awarded by Motorsport Australia to the winner of the Supercars crown, with his name inscribed on the official trophy.

The ATCC’s 60th anniversary will be celebrated in Orange by the Gnoo Blas Classic Car Club later this month at the site of the original race, now known as Sir Jack Brabham Park.

The three-time F1 world champion was synonymous with the street track in the 1950s before going on to F1 fame.

The circuit ceased in the early 1960s because of the increasing fame of the Mount Panorama circuit at nearby Bathurst.

The Supercars season launch was held at Circular Quay on Sydney Harbour.

The Supercars championship will start at the Adelaide 500 from February 20-23.

As well as revealing Team Sydney, a two-car team led by 2010 champion James Courtney, the launch highlighted other changes this year.

New this year: • Revised technical and aero package for closer racing • Eight Ford Mustangs taking on 16 Holden Commodores • Three teams moving to two car operations: Matt Stone Racing, Team 18 and Team Sydney (Tekno Autosports) • Brad Jones Racing expanding to a four-car operation • Four rookies including 2019 Super2 champion Bryce Fullwood • A redesigned calendar featuring 14 championship rounds over a 42-week season across Australia and New Zealand • Sprint rounds moving to 2 x 200 km races • The return of the Sydney SuperNight race under permanent lights at Sydney Motorsport Park • Pirtek Enduro Cup commencing at The Bend 500 • Championship’s first visit to Hampton Downs in NZ

The pre-season SuperTest will be held at SA’s The Bend Motorsport Park on February 18.

“There’s plenty of reasons to look forward to this year’s championship, with a new technical package set to improve things on track, whilst the championship moves across one of the most well-rounded calendars we’ve ever had,” Supercars supremo Sean Seamer said.

“The calendar and new sprint format underpins a more well-rounded profile of entertainment over our event weekends to ensure as many people are able to enjoy everything we have to offer.

“We’ve upgraded our broadcast graphics and there’ll be more behind the scenes programming to make sure that even if you’re at home, you’ll have a front row seat to all the action.”

Series sponsor Virgin Australia airline will again be committed to enhancing the fan experience with special deals.

“With thousands of Superfans expected to travel to each event, we’ve increased flights to Supercars events and we’re looking forward to playing our part in helping fans arrive at the next race rested, relaxed and ready to cheer on your team,” said Virgin Australia Chief Experience Officer Danielle Keighery.

Fox Sports will broadcast every practice, qualifying and race live and ad break-free.

Network Ten will show the Adelaide 500, Townsville 400, Bathurst 1000, Gold Coast 600, Sandown Super 400 and Newcastle 500 live and free, with Saturday/Sunday highlights of the other eight events.

CARSALES REMAINS AS TCR AUSTRALIA SPONSOR TCR AUSTRALIA Series naming rights sponsor carsales has extended its partnership throughout the 2020 season, as a result the growing 2-litre pocket rocket category will continue to be known as the carsales TCR Australia series.

In the upcoming season the series will expand, visiting new venues including the Mount Panorama Circuit in Bathurst. A standalone nonchampionship TCR event (the Asia Pacific Cup) will kick off the season at the 2020 Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix.

Australian Racing Group CEO Matt Braid is pleased that carsales has elected to continue the partnership into this season.

“Australian Racing Group is delighted to have carsales extend its partnership with the TCR Australia

Series,” Braid said.

“We feel that the synergies between TCR racing and the core business of carsales is just as relevant as the racing product itself. For us, it’s the perfect fit.”

In 2020 the TCR Australia Series coverage moves to network Seven with every race of the series broadcast live and free on the channels of Seven and live-streamed on the network’s digital platform 7plus.

“We’re thrilled to extend our relationship as naming rights and media partner for the carsales TCR Australia Series in 2020,” said Kellie Cordner, chief marketing officer.

“It was great to see so many young up-and-coming drivers star in the 2019 inaugural series. The full driver and teams line-up for 2020 looks just

as exciting.

“We are pleased to be supporting the growth of this internationally relevant new category. With a wider free-to-air television footprint in 2020, we see the series going from strength to strength.

“Australians love performance cars and they love hot hatches and there is a real connection between the cars and brands racing in TCR Australia and those that consumers search for and buy on carsales.”

In the 2019 TCR series five different brands claimed victories, this could grow as up to 10 manufacturers are expected to contest the series this year.

The first points paying round of the carsales TCR Australia Series takes place at Sydney Motorsport Park from March 27-29. Dan McCarthy

DE BORRE FOLLOWS MOSTERT TO WAU CHAZ MOSTERT will continue his relationship with engineer Adam De Borre at Walkinshaw Andretti United.

The Clayton based squad confirmed that it recruited De Borre to join their engineering group as race engineer on the #25 Holden Commodore for the 2020 Virgin Australia Supercars Championship.

It sees the pair extend their association having worked together for six of the previous seven Supercars seasons.

“It’s wonderful to have Adam join the engineering group here at Walkinshaw Andretti United.” said Mathew Nilsson.

“He has a fantastic pedigree in motorsport, and will certainly add to the experience of the group as we look to continue our progression.

“Having that stable relationship with Chaz is also critical. There will be a lot of new elements for Chaz to adjust to early on in the season, so to have that familiarity between the two of them is a huge bonus, and a formula that is proven.”

De Borre joins the team with over a decade of experience in the Supercars paddock, having worked with teams such as Garry Rogers Motorsport, Tony D’Alberto Racing, DJR Team Penske, and Tickford Racing. He also has experience in British, FIA and Australian GT

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“It’s really exciting to be joining such a strong and experienced group at Walkinshaw Andretti United in 2020. It’s a team with so much history and I can’t wait to add to with Chaz.” said De Borre.

“To be able to stay with Chaz for the start of our seventh season together is fantastic and I hope all the experience gained over the past six seasons will help us guide the car to the front.”

De Borre has already started in the Walkinshaw Andretti United office with work in full swing as the team prepares for the upcoming SuperTest on February 18 at The Bend Motorsport Park. Rhys Vandersyde

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COKE RETURNS WITH TEAM SYDNEY Have to hand it to Jonathon Webb, he’s pulled a blinder with Coca-Cola branding of James Courtney’s Team Sydney Commodore.

Comment By MARK FOGARTY NOBODY SAW the return of Coke to major Australian motor racing sponsorship coming – least of all, we in the media.

Ironically, amid great secrecy, the deal was exposed when the CocaCola liveried car was caught uncovered on its way to its reveal at the Supercars season launch.

It is a welcome surprise to see the iconic red and white livery back – and great for Supercars, which has been lacking big-name consumer brands outside the automotive industry for a long time.

Coca-Cola emblazoned all over the new Team Sydney’s primary entry is an emphatic way to announce its arrival.

So hats off to Webb, team principal of the squad formerly known as Tekno Autosports, for scoring a major coup by securing the backing of the world’s best known and most popular soft drink.

Coke is among the Holy Grails of sports sponsorship and many big Supercars teams have tried and failed to interest the local bottler, CocaCola Amatil.

Of course, Coca-Cola is a storied commercial brand in Australian motor racing, most famously as sponsor of Allan Moffat’s iconic TransAm Mustang 50 years ago.

It made a famous comeback in the mid-1990s as sponsor of 1987 world motorcycle champion Wayne Gardner’s V8 team.

Diet Coke also backed the BMW Super Touring team and extended to Paul Morris’s initial foray into Supercars.

That was in the era when Amatil was run by enthusiast Dean Wills, scion of the WD & HO Wills tobacco empire, which supported race teams under the Craven Mild, John Player Special and Benson & Hedges cigarette brands.

Amatil got out of the tobacco business at the end of the ’80s and returned to racing sponsorship with Coca-Cola in the mid-to-late 1990s.

Coke hasn’t been a major team backer for more than 20 years.

Assuming it is The Real Thing, Coca-Cola’s return to Supercars as a primary team sponsor is a huge promotional boost for the sport.

It also bestows great credibility on the Team Sydney initiative, which not so long ago was in grave doubt amid an ownership dispute.

Behind the scenes, Webb and Courtney brought in former Holden Motorsport manager Simon McNamara as an informal advisor.

It is understood that McNamara, who is the head of innovation and commercial projects at the Western Bulldogs AFL club, helped broker the Coca-Cola deal.

Although he has been linked to a management role at Team Sydney, McNamara is staying with the 2016 AFL Grand Final winners.

Team Sydney will run two Triple Eight-built Commodores with a full customer technical support deal.

Courtney’s #19 lead entry will be joined by a #22 car, expected to be piloted by 2018 Super2 champion Chris Pither.

The team will relocate from Tekno Autosport’s Gold Coast base to western Sydney later this year before moving to a dedicated facility at Sydney Motorsport Park.

Team Sydney is part of a $33 million dollar upgrade of SMP that will include permanent track lighting and a motor sport industry hub.

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BATHURST ‘WANTED US TO WIN’ BENTLEY M-SPORT team manager Matthew Wilson was still in awe this week of what his team achieved over the Bathurst 12 Hour weekend with Sunday’s stunning victory.

Son of M-Sport founder Malcolm, Wilson struggled to speak when reflecting on the team’s first Bathurst 12 Hour win.

“Massive win,” he told Auto Action. “I think that there’s two on the list, one of them Bathurst and the other one is Spa. We’ve come really close at both, but this is just amazing.

“We’ve had our fair share of ups and downs here over the years. It was just the most incredible weekend, really.

“I still can’t believe it.”

The M-Sport team had to win the hard way after both Continental GT3s struck problems over the course of the weekend, the most spectacular of them being Oliver Jarvis in the #8 after a brake fault sent him into the tyre wall at The Chase.

“Basically, we worked from the accident happening until close to midnight, so I think the boys probably had two or three hours’ sleep and they managed to get the thing straight,” Wilson said.

“The drivers came in the morning and couldn’t believe it, the cars looked brand new.

“It has been incredible because I think the #8 surprised everybody. It had literally zero track time and Seb Morris (new Bentley signing) has never been here before, so I think they did an incredible job in the race. That’s probably the only negative out of the whole thing, I just wish that had finished.

“They certainly would have been in the top eight, that’s for sure.

“The boys did an absolute incredible job, really, and that’s credit to them.”

The race winning #7 wasn’t without trouble, either. An engine change earlier in the weekend put the team on the back foot as both entries

missed the last Friday practice session and the marque failed to feature in the Top 10 Shootout.

The race was a different story and the passion was displayed after the race by the whole team, but for Wilson it was a relief after so many Bathurst heartbreaks for the manufacturer.

“We’ve come so close here, even from our first time here in 2015,” Wilson said. “I think we’ve had a couple of podiums and been leading right up until very close to the end. Last year there was a real potential to win as well.

“We’ve had our fair share of Bathurst ups and downs, but finally it’s come good.

“Bathurst either wants you to win or it doesn’t and this year it wanted us to win. I always believe that — this place is so unique and this year was our time.”

Preparing for Bentley’s expanded customer program is now the focus for M-Sport as several teams will represent the brand all over the world this year, including at GT’s crown jewel, the Spa

24 Hour. “Our goal at M-Sport is to also support the growing customer base as well that’s coming,” Wilson said.

“It looks like we’re going to have six or seven cars in the endurance series back in Europe and potentially even nine Bentleys at Spa, which is an incredible achievement as well.”

M-Sport is best known as the long-time Ford team in the World Rally Championship and recently achieved the impressive statistic of 250 points finishes in a row, making it a big start to the season for the Cumbria-based squad.

“I think that’s an incredible achievement as well,” Wilson said. “I don’t think that will ever be broken in WRC, but I think there is something about the big endurance races that just requires every single member of the team to be on their game for 12 or 24 hours. It’s a very different feeling, but both incredible achievements considering we’re only in February.”

Heath McAlpine

AUSSIE INTERNATIONAL Matthew Campbell says he would be happy to race his entire European career for the German manufacturer Porsche.

The 24-year from Warwick, Queensland, has been promoted into Porsche’s factory driving squad this year and says he hopes to stay there until he finishes his international stint some time in the distant future.

“I am content doing what I am doing with Porsche because it is where I wanted to be for so long and the level I wanted to be,” Campbell told Auto Action.

“Anything can happen and anything can change, but I would love to stay in Europe for the next 10 or 15 years and then come back to Australia.”

Even beyond his driving career, Campbell says he’d be happy to keep working for Porsche.

“Porsche thinks about their drivers after their career,” Campbell said. “In my first year I had a sit-down with one of the big bosses and he was like, ‘Look, if you’re around for a long time what would you like to do after you retire and what can we do to facilitate this’?”

Campbell cited the example of former factory driver

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Campbell’s a lifelong Porsche fan

Marc Lieb, who now works in the customer sales area with the company.

Campbell has been within Porsche’s official structure since winning the 2016 Australian Carrera Cup and coming out on top in the annual international young driver shootout.

He started as a Porsche Junior in 2017 and then became a Young Professional. He celebrated his promotion to full

factory status with third place in the GTLM class at the Daytona 24-hour in the 911 RSR last month.

His program this year includes the World Endurance Championship, IMSA and the InterContinental GT Challenge.

This year he is scheduled to compete at 18 race events compared with an incredible 29 last year.

“I think last year was on the limit,” he said. BN

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Image: LAT

Lowndes’ European unfinished business Image: LAT

AUSSIE EXEC PROMOTED TO TEAM PENSKE SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN won’t be the only DJR Team Penske “find” at the American parent race team if, as expected, he moves to the States next year.

McLaughlin would join DJRTP executive Chris Wilson, who has been appointed head of marketing at Team Penske.

Wilson caught the eye of Penske Corporation chief Roger Penske and Team Penske president Tim Cindric with his commercial work at DJRTP, helping to attract major sponsors like Shell.

He succeeds Team Penske marketing and communications director Jonathon Gibson,

who has been promoted to Penske group marketing chief in Detroit.

Wilson will be based at Mooresville, North Carolina, from where Team Penske operates its NASCAR, IndyCar and IMSA teams.

He made his name in Supercars as the commercial manager of Stone Brothers Racing and, after a brief consultancy with Holden Racing Team, joined DJR Team Penske in late 2015.

Wilson was promoted in November and moved to Mooresville late last month.

DJRTP is looking for a replacement to take over his key commercial role.

McLaughlin is waiting to hear if he will be recalled by Team Penske to the open pre-season IndyCar test at Circuit Of The Americas on February 12-13 after his impressive rookie test at Sebring last month.

Team Penske is also looking at entering the Brisbane-based Kiwi in at least one road race this year ahead of a possible switch to the IndyCar Series next year.

Even if he doesn’t get promoted to the open-wheeler squad, it is expected McLaughlin will be transferred to the US for NASCAR or IMSA duties.

Mark Fogarty

MOSTERT ABANDONS TCR PLANS - AGAIN FOR THE second straight season Chaz Mostert has had to shelve his bid to race in Australian TCR full-time.

Instead a guest appearance in a sprint round or a co-drive in the November 500km international are what he’s aiming for.

Last season Tickford Racing’s links with Ford stopped him from racing a Hyundai i30N in the TCR for HMO Customer Racing.

This year Mostert has shifted to privateer Holden team Walkinshaw Andretti United, ending any brand conflict, but again he’s discovered obstacles.

This time round he’s not revealing what they are, although finances are being hinted at.

“I won’t do full-time TCR this year. It got a bit tricky with certain things,” Mostert told Auto Action.

“It’s a lot different (to 2019). There are other reasons behind it. The decision was more from my point of view.

“What I had to do to get there was unachievable this year, unfortunately.

“But in saying that, I wouldn’t put it past an appearance at some point in a sprint round of the Bathurst endurance race.”

The only other commitment Mostert has outside racing a Supercar this year is the Sebring 12-hour in the same Rahal Letterman Lanigan M8 GTE he co-drove to the GTLM win in the Daytona 24-hours.

CRAIG LOWNDES regards a potential start at the Le Mans 24-hour this year as a chance to complete some unfinished business in European racing.

The Supercars superstar, who retired from full-time competition in 2018, has identified both the Le Mans classic and the Spa 24 Hours as races he would like to contest this season.

It would be third time round for Lowndes in Europe, who had a single unsuccessful year in Formula 3000 in 1997 and then made a failed bid to drive in the Nurburgring 24 Hours in 2011.

“I’d like to go back,” Lowndes confirmed. “I still reflect on the time I did F3000 and wish I had a second year.

But it wasn’t to be.

“There are major tracks around the world you’d like to compete at, just go and do some different stuff.”

Lowndes raced for Porsche-supported customer team Earl Bamber Motorsport at the Bathurst 12 Hour last weekend and a drive with a Porsche team in Europe would also seem to be the most likely option.

“Porsche Australia know what I’d like to do, it’s just a matter of where the opportunities lie in terms of seat line-up,” said Lowndes.

“Porsche is an option … (other) teams are more than willing to offer you a seat if you come with money. So there are always options.”

However, the task of getting a drive at Le Mans in a Porsche 911 RSR is by no means an easy achievement.

Only factory drivers are entered in the GTE Pro class, leaving Lowndes to find a drive with GTE Am team.

But his options are limited by his platinum status, despite being a Le Mans rookie.

“That does hurt when you try to get a seat in a car,” he said.

The Spa race might be an easier task, as it is open to GT3 machinery.

One obstacle not in his way is his Supercars commentary deal with Fox, as neither Le Mans nor Spa clash with Supercars dates.

The B12H was Lowndes’ first drive outside the Triple Eight structure for 15 years and came after he was squeezed out of the Mercedes-AMG GT being campaigned by the team.

“For me it is unusual to be on a racetrack racing against them (T8) when they are circulating as a car as well,” Lowndes said.

BN

FOR SALE GROUP A FORD MUSTANG Originally built by Ken Davison and Lew Kramer in late 84 and raced Bathurst in 85 as a privateer vateer team.

The Mustang first raced at Bathurst in 1985 and in 1986 and competed at many other tracks including Oran Park, Amaroo, Surfers Paradise and Lakeside in Australia until 1989, then purchased and raced in New Zealand competing at Manfield and Wellington street race in New Zealand, placed into storage in 1992.

Car was purchased 2017 and restored by Hopper Car Construction who have restored four Group A Mustangs of the period including the Greens Tuff Dick Johnson car. Since rebuild the car was used at Hampton downs for the first time in 2019 at a Bathurst revival meeting.

O Fitted with a fresh 302 Ford Windsor built to Group A specs R302 block, World

Product heads, steel crank, JE pistons, Eagle rods Boss 302 length, sliding pick up sump, MSD ignition.

O Gearbox is BMW Getrag close ratio homologated correct part O Floating hub rear housing with Harrop Detroit locker centre and 28 spline axles O Harrop front hubs period correct part Australian homologation as per Johnson/Perkins Greens Tuff Mustang

O Bilstein shocks period correct part O Rebuilt brake calipers, AP rear and

Lockheed front, fitted with all new rotors and pads.

O Fitted with new race wheels

The vehicle is fully restored and presented in its 1986 Bathurst 1000 livery 00 live ery OOKKS. Every Everry part part as built builtt and re estorred and comes with ORIGINAL LOGBOOKS. restored and is completely as new ready to use. Comes complete ready to run with spares including engine, gearbox and diff, all sheet metal and two spare sets of rims.

240NZ$ with free freight delivery to Australia

FOR FURTHER DETAILS CALL Ken Hopper (NZ)64 9 4164347 BH EMAIL dandkhopper@xtra.co.nz

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AFTER THE split between the TA2 Muscle Car Series and the Australian Racing Group (ARG), the latter has announced its own series titled the National Trans-Am Series running the V8 Trans-Am 2 (TA2) cars. A six round calendar has also been confirmed which will start later this month of the streets of Adelaide before joining the Shannons Motorsport Australia Championships at Sydney Motorsport Park, Winton Mortor Raceway, The Bend Motorsport Park, Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit and concluding at Mount Panorama, Bathurst.

TCR TEAM owner Rene Munnich has confirmed his place on the inaugural TCR Asia Pacific Cup grid driving a Wall Racing Honda Civic Type R. The 42-year-old owns the ALL-INKL.COM Munnich Motorsport WTCR team, which is one of two factory-supported Honda squads. Munnich is excited to race down under for the first time, especially as part of the Australian Grand Prix meeting. DM

THE TA2 Muscle Car Series has confirmed it has aligned itself with the Australian Motor Racing Series (AMRS). As a result they have released a brand new calendar that will see the muscle car category headline the AMRS with six rounds held across four states. Starting at Winton Motor Raceway the series will travel to Morgan Park, The Bend Motorsport Park, Queensland Raceway and Sydney Motorsport Park before heading back to Queensland Raceway for a second time.

New Zealand-based team Track Tec Racing has confirmed its second driver for the Asia Pacific Cup meeting at the Australian Grand Prix. Former New Zealand Toyota 86 Championship winner Jack Milligan will campaign the second Audi RS3 TCR at the inaugural event, joining the previously announced Dutchman Stan van Oord. HM

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MCLAREN PASSES THE TEST IN IT’S first major endurance race campaign, 59Racing came away with second outright, Silver Class and the race’s fastest lap during what was the McLaren 720s GT3s debut trip to The Mountain.

Ben Barnicoat failed to make it through the practice sessions three years ago, but joined Alvaro Parente and Tom Blomqvist on the Bathurst 12 Hour podium after a strong drive from the trio all day.

It comes despite the new chassis arriving at 59Racing’s Melbourne headquarters just two weeks before the event, however it failed to impact the team’s result at 5:45pm Sunday.

“As much as I say the program was a last-minute effort, the plan was there,” Barnicoat told Auto Action. “I was lucky to do Challenge Bathurst back in November so that was our plan just to get a few laps.

“We got a new car, which only arrived into Australia just over two weeks ago so the boys had to get that race ready, all the team had to come from Europe, the WEC race in Sao Paolo got cancelled so a few of the guys came from that.”

The 23-year-old Brit spoke fondly of teammate Alvaro Parente, who qualified the 720s GT3 on the front-row setting up an attacking opening stint by Barnicoat.

“Alvaro’s [Parente] deal was quite late, but as soon

as I found out he was in the car I pushed very hard for it,” he said.

“We were teammates in 2017 and he is probably the best I have had.”

As a McLaren Customer Racing factory driver, Barnicoat led part of the development phase of the new model, which debuted last year and gave a glowing review after the 720s GT3s first big challenge.

“It performed amazingly well,” he reflected.

“We were concerned about overheating with it being so hot. It didn’t miss a beat all day long.”

“We had a small clutch issue that cost us a little bit of time and it was one of the reasons why Tom [Blomqvist] got a drive through penalty. But other than that, it was amazing.

“Twelve hours around here is nearly as tough as doing a 24-hour race in some places because the kerbs are quite aggressive and the pace was so quick, we were flat out all the way.

“I’m just happy about the car, I think it’s been a great upgrade.”

Australian GT regular for 59Racing, Fraser Ross won the Silver Cup alongside Dom Storey and Martin Kodric, who held the fastest lap of the race until the closing stages on the way to eighth outright.

Ross announced the debut of the 720s GT3 at the corresponding event last year and debuted the model at the Australian Grand Prix on the way to fifth in the AGT standings.

“The squad for this weekend was put together in November, they have done an amazing job, team owner Alex Franes has done an amazing job to get all this happening,” he reflected.

“Two-cars and McLaren support it’s incredible. We competed with the world’s best out there and got P2 outright, plus we won Silver Cup.” Ross has been associated with McLaren since 2017 and discussed his relationship with the brand, as its head honcho came to witness the team’s result.

“It’s been an amazing journey with McLaren, I ran the 650s GT3 for a couple of seasons and to be involved in some of the testing early on with the 720s GT3, to race the car at the Grand Prix, which we won,” he told Auto Action.

“We have amazing support from McLaren Customer Racing, we also had McLaren Automotive CEO Mike Flewitt attend this weekend, which is incredible.”

There is nothing confirmed for Ross this year, although it is expected that he and 59Racing will compete in Australian GT. Heath McAlpine

NEW S5000 TUBS ARRIVE

THREE NEW S5000 race cars could feature at the opening round of the 2020 Australian S5000 Championship after a new batch of tubs have arrived at Garry Rogers Motorsport.

This means that potentially 17 S5000s could line-up at the Australian Grand Prix and 20 by the end of the year after GRM confirmed another three tubs are on order.

“When we took the original cars on, the aim was to have 14 for the first event, which we achieved,” said Barry Rogers, director GRM. “Our overall objective was to have a total of 20 cars in the country, because we believe that this category has all of the ingredients to be a successful, exciting show.

“Any reasonable motorsport category needs to have at least 20 cars, so we’ve stuck with the plan, and this is the first instalment towards that.

“GRM has not wavered from its commitment to this class. All of our team really love being involved and we are extremely proud of the staff and what we’ve have been able to achieve.

“There will be no problem getting these cars ready. We were able to build 14 cars in a short space of time, so these three will come together quickly and will be ready for some pre-season testing.”

James Golding, Tim Macrow and Braydan Willmington have all committed to

the championship so far.

Category manager Chris Lambden is confident a quality S5000 field will take on the 2020 championship season.

“Completion of these additional cars is another great step in the introduction of S5000,” said Chris Lambden.

“Behind the scenes, we are close to finalising a strong line-up for the 2020 championship. Motorsport has become expensive in some areas, and so the significantly cost-controlled budget that we are able to offer – along with the challenge of driving what will be the fastest race cars in Australia, and NZ, in a prestige national championship – is proving attractive.

“There have also been some good ‘evaluation’ tests of late, all of which points to a quality line-up.” HM

DIXON’S FAILED 1000 PLANS DIXON REFLECTS ON ABORTED 1000 EFFORTS FIVE-TIME INDYCAR champion Scott Dixon spoke to Auto Action exclusively about his failed plan to enter the Bathurst 1000 upon his debut at the circuit at last weekend’s 12 Hour.

The Kiwi revealed that he and Bathurst 12 Hour co-driver Rick Kelly have been trying for years to contest the Bathurst 1000, but Dixon pushed back due to his lack of experience at the circuit, which only extends to being a spectator in 1993 and 1997.

“Rick and I have been trying to do the 1000 together for a while, I didn’t want to do it because I felt like I needed to do the 12 Hour first.

I don’t want to go in and wreck somebody’s program,” he told Auto Action.

“It’s been odd, I keep in touch with a lot of the guys down here between Rick and Todd, [Scott] McLaughlin and Fabian [Coulthard], Mostert, I talk to them on a regular basis.”

Dixon believes it will be difficult for him to have a crack in The Great

Race, although he will have the experience of the 12 Hour under his belt, manufacturer conflict being a major problem as his IndyCar team Chip Ganassi Racing are a factory Honda outfit.

“It’s never that easy,” Dixon lamented.

“Manufacturer-wise is always the nightmare the crossover. It’s weird, there are so many things to jump through with Chip [Ganassi] and his side, then you’ve got manufacturerside, the crossover and the insurances you have to take out, it’s not easy.

“I think the way you’d do it is a Wildcard entry, at least you get some testing, that’s the hardest thing and a lot of people don’t realise this these days that even 10 years ago you could come try and do that race and you’d get a lot of testing before you’d go do it, but you can’t do that now.

“It makes crossover really tough.”

Dixon reflected on his first taste of a Supercar, which occurred more

than 20 years ago as a budding open-wheel driver in Formula Holden. It was a tough adaption to make as his IndyCar rivals Alexander Rossi and James Hinchcliffe found out during last year’s 1000.

“The Supercar is so different, I remember the first time I drove in 1997 with HRT, your mentality is so different especially going from something with a lot of downforce,” he explained. “I always find that going from a car with a small amount of downforce to a heavy downforce car is way easier than going the other way.

“If you can do it well, it’s definitely a big reward.

“I think what a lot of people have been doing lately with a lot of crossover is nice to see, but it’s never that easy.”

Dixon alongside Kelly and young gun Jake Dennis finished the Bathurst 12 Hour in __ driving the Castrol R-Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage GT3.

Heath McAlpine

RACE-WINNING HERITAGE QUALITY VALUE & SUPPORT Tilton Engineering strives to produce the best racing parts and service for drivers and racing teams dedicated to their sport.

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WEEKLY USA TILTON AIR FREIGHT DELIVERIES

ENGINEERED FOR SUCCESS NEW TICKFORD signing Jack Le Brocq will head into the opening Supercars round in Adelaide with extra confidence after spending time with renowned driver coach Rob Wilson.

The latest trip was the third Le Brocq has made to Wilson’s English base where he works with a variety of drivers, which includes a number form Formula 1. The lessons were taught on an aerodrome in a Vauxhall Astra where Wilson picks particular areas in which a driver can work on.

“He takes you out for a few laps and shows you what he wants you to do,” Le Brocq told Auto Action.

“He exaggerates how he wants you to drive the car, then you jump in and go around while he talks you through it,” said Le Brocq.

“It’s back and forth all day just nutting it out, I suppose the easiest way to do it is he puts a little bit of science into the driving and going back to basics a little bit.

“From that aspect is pretty cool, he just breaks it all down for you and makes you really think about how to drive a car quickly to get the most out of it.”

Le Brocq has found plenty of benefits through Wilson’s teachings, which will also carry through to his new engineer

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Tim White. After being involved at Tickford Racing last year, White brings with him European experience and made the trip to Wilson’s school to learn further about his driver.

“He [White] sits in the car all day and he takes in everything that is going on,” explained Le Brocq.

“He hears a bit of feedback from Rob and what I’m giving back. Especially for a new relationship like we’ve got, it’s probably good for Tim as he starts to work out how I operate in the car, but further from that as well he starts to pick up my lingo and what we’ve learnt from Rob into driving the car at a race track.

“There are so many little aspects that go into a car, there are so many things you can change in your driving to help speed and set-up without changing the chassis too much. It also opens the engineer’s eyes as well to not focus 100 percent on the squiggly lines, it brings them back to basics as well.”

Le Brocq isn’t feeling the weight of expectation and believes the most pressure will come from within himself.

“At times I’m my own worst critic and put the most pressure on myself to succeed,” Le Brocq said. “I’ve got full confidence in myself and I’ve got an absolute awesome team around me, who have already proven to me how great they are.” HM

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R-MOTORSPORT, WHICH ran the Aston Martin Vantages in DTM last year has pulled the pin on the program after just one season. The season the Swiss team struggled to score points with its quartet of cars and at the end of the season split with engine supplier HWA. All year the Aston Martins could not keep up with their German rivals Audi and BMW and it is believed that R-Motorsport approached the latter to secure a replacement engine for this year but since then the Swiss squad has had a change of heart and withdrawn from the series.

SMILING ASSASSIN Craig Breen has been called on to drive in the third factory Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC car at the second round of the FIA World Rally Championship this weekend in Sweden. It was expected that nine-time champion Sebastien Loeb would drive in the snow of Sweden, but Irishman Breen was chosen for the Swedish event to maximise the best available road position. The rally will take place from February 13-16.

THREE-TIMES British Touring Car Champion Matt Neal has suffered some serious injuries after a mountain bike crash. The 53-year-old factory Honda Civic Team Dynamics driver was taken to Worcester hospital with a clean break to his collar bone, multiple fractures to his shoulder, a broken rib and a punctured lung, which later collapsed. Neal says he’s confident that he will be back for the season opening round from March 28-29.

THE DAKAR Rally officials have sadly announced the death of Dutch rider Edwin Straver, 48, after he succumbed to injuries suffered in the event. Straver fell while 124km into the second-last stage of the famous race and was flown by helicopter to a nearby medical centre. He suffered a break to one of his upper neck vertebrae and died eight days after the crash occurred. Auto Action sends condolences to his family and friends.

THE VENUE for the second FIA Motorsport Games has been announced. Subject to World Motor Sport Council approval the event will take place in France at the Paul Ricard Circuit. The inaugural Motorsport Games was organised by the FIA last November.

12 AutoAction

PANCIONE MAKES THE MOVE LEADING MICHELIN Sprint Challenge contender Christian Pancione is eager to take the title this year as he joins McElrea Racing.

The Victorian finished fifth with Ash Seward Motorsport last year after winning Class B the precious season, but after visiting McElrea’s Queensland-based workshop he is confident he can take out the title.

“Just the professionalism and mannerisms McElrea have,” Pancione said about his first impressions of the team. “The crew are very, very articulate with everything they do. Already a lot of work has been put in behind the scenes for the year and there’s definitely been a lot of preparation ahead of this season.”

Pancione was expected to be one of the contenders

last season but he scored a solitary pole position and failed to take a maiden win, but he believes that is set to change.

“It had its ups and downs, its positives and negatives,” Pancione said of his first season.

“Obviously, we had some rounds where we were competitive and some where we were pretty much off the pace.

“It’s very exciting to move to McElrea.

“It has had great success, winning last year’s GT3 Cup Challenge, so I’m joining the team as reigning winners, which does put a little bit of pressure on.

I know I’m in the right spot and I have the best opportunity to fight for the title.”

The McElrea development formula is a proven

success as drivers Matt Campbell and Jaxon Evans continue to have success overseas, while the winner of last year’s title, Harri Jones, is making the step into Carrera Cup this season.

The aim is simple as he follows in the footsteps of Campbell and Jones.

“Our goal is the title — I don’t want to settle for much less than that,” he said.

“McElrea must be doing something right because two of its drivers have won the Porsche Young Driver Shootout. I’d just love the opportunity to do that.

“It’s something that I’m pushing for.”

Auto Action also believes that wildcard appearances in Porsche Carrera Cup Australia are also on the radar.

Heath McAlpine

GULF WESTERN OIL ALIGNS WITH TCM THE POPULAR Touring Car Masters category will welcome Gulf Western Oil as its naming rights partner for the 2020 season.

Founded in 1988, Gulf Western Oil is Australia’s largest family-owned manufacturer of lubricants, with the capacity to manufacture 60 million litres of oil a year. The lubricants brand manufactures and distributes its product for various disciplines, including industrial, commercial, automotive, rail, marine and mining markets.

The brand has a strong history of supporting Australian motor sport, as Gulf Western Oil managing director Ben Vicary said.

“Gulf Western Oil is delighted to announce a partnership with Touring Car Masters as the naming rights partner of this iconic series.

“We have had a long relationship in many areas of motorsport and saw TCM as one of the best fits for us.

Image: Ross Gibb

“We look forward to partnering with TCM and seeing the Gulf Western Oil logo proudly displayed on all team vehicles throughout the 2020 season.”

Prizes for teams and category awards will also be supplied by Gulf Western Oil. “Gulf Western Oil is an Australian success story,” said Nestora Strintzos, Australian Racing Group general manager, commercial and partnerships.

“Gulf Western Oil remains a family-owned business with a passion and history for supporting

motorsport, where their competition lubricants are trusted to lubricate high-horsepower engines in a range of disciplines.

“These are attributes that go handin-glove with the values of TCM. “We are proud to welcome Gulf Western Oil to TCM, and to be working with their enthusiastic, proactive team.”

On the back of Gulf Western Oil as named as sponsor comes confirmation of the TCM 2020 calendar, which will have the category competing on three

JOHN HARVEY AWARDED OAM ON AUSTRALIA Day popular Holden man John Harvey, who won the Bathurst 1000 in 1983 was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia.

Harvey can add this to his increasing list of honours after being inducted into the Australian Motorsport Hall of Fame in 2018. The now 81-year-old continues his impressive Australian Motorsport legacy for his work both on and off the circuit.

Harvey’s latest achievement as an OAM recipient sees him join fellow motorsport legends including Craig Lowndes, Mark Skaife and the late Graham Hoinville.

Sydney-born Harvey developed a passion for motor racing at a young age starting his career in Speedcar racing on the Speedway, but in 1964 Harvey made the switch to the tarmac when his career really picked up speed. Harvey’s first title came in 1966 when he won the

Australian 1.5 Litre Championship as well as finishing as runner-up in the Australian Drivers’ Championship.

In the early ’70s Harvey claimed back-to-back Australian Sports Car Championship titles before winning the Toby Lee Series in 1973 in a Holden LJ Torana.

In 1979 driving for the Holden Dealer Team the Victorian finished a career best third in the Australian Touring Car Championship after claiming the opening round at Symmons Plains Raceway in Tasmania.

In 1983 Harvey won the Bathurst 1000 alongside the late great Peter Brock and Larry Perkins.

In 1988 driving a Holden VL Commodore SS alongside Allan Moffat and Tony Mulvihill they claimed class honours in the Spa 24 Hour race.

Harvey was also team manager for the Holden Dealer Team overseeing significant success. DM

Supercar rounds and three Shannon’s Motorsport Australia Championship rounds.

The 2020 Gulf Western Oil Touring Car Masters will see Touring Car Masters compete at the Morgan Park venue for the first time. The season finishes at the Bathurst international, which will see the category visiting Bathurst for the Supercars 1000 event only four weeks earlier.

Rd1: Adelaide 500 (Supercars) 20 – 23 February Rd2: SMP (SMAC) 27 – 29 March Rd3: Winton (Supercars) 5 – 7 June Rd4: Morgan Park (SMAC) 3 – 5 July Rd5: Phillip Island (SMAC) 21 – 23 August Rd6: Bathurst 1000 (Supercars) 8 – 11 October Rd:7 Bathurst International (ARG) 13 – 15 November

Image: Ross Gibb

Image: Insyde Media

YOUNGSTER IN AWE OF MOUNTAIN

BOLD FUTURE FOR MARC THE BATHURST 12 Hour was the first for MARC Cars Australia under new owners as a determined plan for the future awaits.

The Australian-developed MARC car first debuted in 2013, driven

by Ryan McLeod, but just two weeks ago it was announced Geoff Taunton and Alyson Fradgley had purchased the company from its founder.

Taunton has raced MARC Cars since 2015 and decided to take the plunge due to the passion he has for the product, which he plans expand upon.

“Certainly, the belief in the product,” Taunton told Auto Action. “It is first class with PACE Innovations doing all the chassis and the work that isn’t actually seen. PACE don’t get a lot of recognition out of what is in a MARC car and it is absolutely first class, the workmanship is perfect.

“My ambition since I got into it was to give it a home to get it into its own series like TA2 and I’d like to in 12 months go to for example AMRS and do our own series.”

Taunton’s ambition is for MARC Cars to have its own series suited to businessmen as well as young drivers who don’t have the budget to jump into Super2, forming another pathway towards Supercars.

“The competitors can do it at that level on a very strict budget, yet they can also grab the car the next week and do Australian GT,” Taunton said.

“I feel there are so many gentleman racers out there who would be perfect for a MARC car and they don’t know it’s there.

“I would like in the future to see everyone say, ‘Come on, do 12 months in a MARC car then you’re ready for Super2,’ that would be my goal in life.

“I’m going to work very closely with Matt Stone Racing.

“He has got a couple of customers that have gone to him to put their son in a Super2, but the budget isn’t quite there so that’s why we set up the apprenticeship program because he’s going to steer those guys my way.”

An update will be made to the current MARC I to make it more affordable, MARC II will stay the same as plans to increase the market internationally are in fruition.

“James Kaye has just bought one to go to the UK, we’re looking to head into New Zealand, then the US,” Taunton said.

“This weekend we are helping run the RHC Jorgenson/Strom BMW so we are in negotiations to get that team into a MARC II and be an agent there and is something that I would be really pleased with.”

While the initial design stage of the MARC III has been completed, it isn’t ready for manufacture just yet, but makes sure an old rivalry is relit.

“There’s a MARC III coming, it has been designed already,” said Taunton. “It is the opposition make, we want to bring back the good old-fashioned GM vs Ford at this level.

“So yes, it will be a Camaro body with a LS that goes up against the Mustang.”

Heath McAlpine

COMPLETING DOUBLE duty this weekend, 16-year-old Bayley Hall found out what The Mountain can offer in both good and bad ways.

The Queenslander ran the Combined Sedans in a MARC I Ford Focus V8 and joined Supercars enduro driver Warren Luff, Geoff Taunton and Brad Schumacher in a MARC II competing in Invitational Class.

Hall finished third in each of the three Combined Sedans contests to finish second in class, but the 12 Hour campaign was fraught with problems including two fires in pit lane and an engine change early in the race.

Reflecting on his second trip to Mount Panorama, Hall was still pleased despite the trouble that happened during the event.

“Pretty awesome in the overall sense of it, starting early was cool for me,” Hall told Auto Action.

“It started off all right, just the dramas started coming. Once the first happened, it just kept compounding so it was a little unfortunate for the team. After three and a half hours in the garage we got the car back out, I had two one-hour stints, which for me is really all I could have asked for.

“Not the result we wanted, but I can’t thank the team enough for getting us back out there.”

Changing between the two models of MARC Cars aided Hall across the weekend as he played his role and kept out of trouble.

“We ran pretty well, I finished third outright in all three races and second in my class for the round so I’m really happy with that,” he said. “Changing between MARC I and II, I had to learn to be adaptable between the two, I hit my times consistently and that was what I was here for.”

Luff is mentor to Hall and his advice over the weekend helped his protege significantly heading into a busy year of racing in GT-1 and a return to The Mountain at Easter for the Bathurst 6 Hour.

“He was great this weekend,” Hall said of Luff. “I learnt a few techniques to driving fast and safe, which was good and gave me a lot to think about for the next few rounds of GT-1.” HM

ROUND 1 - SANDOWN RACEWAY - FEB 14-16

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VALE: ROD BARRETT 1960-2020 233 CARS SIGN FOR OPENING VIC STATE ROUND IT MAY be a new decade but the Victorian State Circuit Racing Championships is as strong as ever with a big entry list for the opening round of the 2020 season.

The first round of this year’s series takes place at the historic Sandown Raceway from February 14-16 and will see a vast array of categories and cars flood to the venue.

A total of 233 cars have entered the meeting across a total of 13 categories ranging from the always popular big banger Sports Sedans to the MGs, Formula Ford and Holden HQs. The always entertaining Hyundai Excel category, which featured as a support category to Supercars at Winton Raceway last year ,will field a massive grid of more than 50 cars.

This will see the front-wheel drive Korean cars formed up on the grid all the way back around the final corner.

The slipstreaming nature of the Sandown circuit always produces bumper-to-bumper racing in all categories and the Excels are no exception. With the usual front runners Ben Grice and Adam Bywater entered they are sure to produce good action.

It isn’t just the Excels with a big field.

Improved Production also boasts a 40-car grid that includes the always competitive Nathan Robinson in his BMW E46 M3 2004. Robinson never finds himself too far away from the powerful 2001 HSV Senator driven by Luke Grech-Cumbo. As always the category shows tonnes of variety from hatchbacks such as a Ford Focus and Honda Civic to a Mazda RX7 or VK Commodore.

The Sports Car series will be joined by the national Australian GT Trophy series for the opening round of its season. The already impressive Sports Car entry list includes Wayne Mack in his Ferrari 458 GT3 car, the always fast Joseph Ensabella and Arthur Abrahams in the 2019 Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo.

An impressive 25 cars are entered for the opening round of the Victorian Sports Sedans series.

They include Dean Camm in his Corvette, Francois Habib in the ex-Tasman Motorsport Holden Commodore Supercar and Terry Hamilton in his 2011 VE Commodore.

Spectators can drive in and up to the Red Hill car park, which is one of the best vantage points around Sandown International Raceway to watch every second of the weekend’s action.

Dan McCarthy

14 AutoAction

FEW INDUSTRY executives were as passionate about motor racing and cars than Rod Barrett, who has died aged 59 after a long battle with cancer.

Well known and liked in the motor sport and motoring industries, he was a passionate enthusiast and, above all, a true gentleman.

Even in his last days, while resigned to his fate, he retained his positive outlook despite the ever-increasing difficulty of communication.

Hobart-born Barrett was an accomplished amateur racer who gave up his professional aspirations as a driver, despite showing promise in UK sedan racing in the 1980s, to embark on a distinguished commercial career.

His marketing and promotional flair propelled him to senior executive positions with major global brands like Coca-Cola and BP. Racing was his passion/ obsession and he excelled as Ford Performance Racing’s commercial director in the mid2000s.

So much so that he was appointed general manager of Ford Performance Vehicles in 2007, guiding the Prodrive-owned fast Falcon division through arguably its peak until 2012.

Among his achievements was bringing legend Allan Moffat back into the Ford fold as an FPV ambassador.

Unfortunately, Barrett’s vision was cut short by the changing dynamics of the car industry

in Australia and Prodrive’s impending withdrawal from the joint venture with Broadmeadows.

High on his agenda was a modern Phase 5 reincarnation of the iconic Falcon GT-HO, which even his boundless enthusiasm and drive couldn’t achieve.

In all my years of dealing with him, I found him to be unusually honest, perpetually upbeat and always enthusiastic.

He loved racing and was never happier than when he competed – and regaled about his adventures – in historic racing.

Former Auto Action editor and long-time close associate David Segal, whose PR agency

consulted with Barrett during his time running FPV, paid tribute to his fallen friend.

“Rod was just plain and simple, a good bloke,” said Segal, echoing the thoughts of so many.

“He was passionate, he was loyal and he loved motor sport.

“He was a true enthusiast for all things motor racing and the automotive industry, strongly opinionated at times and an insightful observer.

“Rod had an absolute passion for everything he did, and his knowledge of Australian motor sport and our performance car heritage was ridiculous – encyclopaedic, in fact.

“Rod understood the FPV buyer like no other boss before or since, and the products produced under his reign stand as the best ever produced by the brand. FPV’s success in that period stands as his legacy.”

Barrett was formerly married to Mark Webber’s partner Ann Neal and their son Luke, as far as he was concerned, was his greatest achievement.

All at Auto Action offer their condolences to Rod’s family and his closest friends.

RIP Rod Barrett, enthusiast, racer and industry leader. He will be sorely missed.

Mark Fogarty

PERKINS PATRON OF PHILLIP ISLAND CLASSIC

THE PHILLIP Island Classic Festival of Motorsport will again host more than 500 entries when the 2020 edition of one of the world’s largest historic race meetings takes place from March 6-8.

The incredible 500 entries will boast names such Jim Richards, Larry Perkins and Greg Murphy, who are just a number of the legends that will attend this special Australian event.

From far and wide across Australia people come to take part in the event. Every state of Australia has at least one entry as well as overseas drivers from New Zealand, the UK and even the US. The internationally recognised event has featured as one the top six biggest historic events in the world on multiple occasions and the attendance figures are growing year on year.

Six-time Bathurst 1000 winner Larry Perkins is the patron for the 31st edition of the event, which will take place next month. He and his son Jack Perkins are currently busy at Perkins Engineering HQ working hard to restore the last V8 Supercar raced by Larry Perkins for the event.

The car was famously crashed at The Cutting in 2003, as Perkins ascended The Mountain on an out lap he was distracted and hit the wall heavily.

Auto Action will be speaking to Larry and Jack Perkins about the restoration in the next issue of the magazine (#1780) out on February 20.

Jack Perkins will steer his father’s car during the event, but Perkins it is not the only famous surname that will attend the event.

New Zealanders Richards and Murphy will get behind the wheel of some very wellknown Australian Touring Car Championship cars.

Thirty-five time Bathurst 1000 starter Richards will get back behind the wheel of his JPS BMW 635 while four-time Great Race winner Murphy

will drive Richards’ BMW M3.

Many eyes this year will be on the UK Chevron B6 Sports Car, the historic 1939 Maserati 4CL Grand Prix car and the legendary Porsche 356.

Several anniversaries will be celebrated, including the 40th anniversary of Alan Jones winning the Formula One World Championship and the 60th anniversary of the Armstrong 500 which later became the Bathurst 1000.

As always a total of more than 1000 cars will be on display from dozens of different manufacturers, while on-track Sprints for the 5L Touring Cars will be held across the race days. Everyone under the age of 18 is admitted free at the gate.

Dan McCarthy

with Oscar Piastri

W AUSSIE PAIR TO TACKLE BRITISH GT INTERNATIONAL AUSSIE GT drivers Nick Foster and Martin Berry have been named as Optimum Motorsport pilots for the 2020 British GT Championship.

This year the team switches to running a McLaren 720S as the squad has become a McLaren customer racing team and also has plans to run a GT4 car.

In the past two British GT Championships the team has won the senior class with Aston Martin.

Good mates Foster and Berry will form a Pro/Am partnership as they both make their British GT debuts this season and are looking forward sharing the car.

“I am fortunate to be partnering up with the very talented and fellow Aussie Nick Foster, together with the support of the fantastic team at Optimum Motorsport as we take on the championship in the very capable McLaren 720S GT3,” said Berry.

“I am hugely excited to be competing in British GT for the first time, a championship with such a deep history and across some incredibly iconic tracks.”

Berry began racing GT cars three years ago, winning the Ferrari Asia Pacific Challenge in 2017.

Last year Berry scored a class podium in the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup. It will be a very busy 2020 for Foster who, as well as competing in the British GT Championship, will conclude the current season of the Asian Le Mans Series and drive in selected rounds of the Intercontinental GT Challenge.

Foster is looking forward to the new challenge that the British championship will present.

“It’s a very strong championship, so I’m expecting an exciting year ahead,” Foster said.

“Optimum has a great track record in this championship, and I’ve worked with the guys once already in testing, so I know it will be good.

McLaren has great pedigree on a global stage, so there is a lot to look forward to.

“There’s a lot for us both to learn in a new team and a new championship. There’s the ‘old school’ tracks — something I’m very used to in Australia — with limited run-off, big kerbs and plenty of undulation. I’m looking forward to cracking on.”

The season’s first meeting runs at Oulton Park from April 11-13.

Dan McCarthy

LAWSON MOVES TO HITECH FOR FORMULA 3 RED BULL junior driver Liam Lawson has been named as a Hitech Grand Prix driver in the FIA Formula 3 Championship this season.

The Kiwi, who contested the inaugural FIA Formula 3 Championship last year with MP Motorsport, finished the season in 11th after collecting two podiums along the way.

Lawson was the youngest driver on the grid last season and the 17-year-old is looking to build on that experience this year.

Last season the Hitech Grand Prix team finished second in the teams championship behind the all-conquering Italian squad Prema Powerteam.

The British team scored four victories last year, with both Juri Vips and Leonardo Pulcini claiming two race victories.

This has Lawson very optimistic for the season ahead.

“It’s a very cool opportunity with Hitech,” Lawson said.

“I saw last year just how strong they are — it’s a great team to be involved with. I had my year gaining experience last season. There was a lot to learn, including how to manage the tyres, etc, and it is time to make use of that now and it’s obviously very important to be in a top team.

“We want to be winning races and pushing hard for the championship.

“Of course it is an incredibly competitive series. There is no doubt it will be tough but the goal is certainly top three.”

The Kiwi driver finished as runner-up in the German F4 Championship in 2018 and Euroformula Open Series last year. He is currently competing in the Toyota Racing Series after winning the New Zealand category last season.

In the Formula 3 Championship Lawson will be joined by fellow Red Bull academy driver Dennis Hauger, and Hitech GP team principal Oliver Oakes is excited to bring through Red Bull Racing’s next juniors.

“We are really pleased to have both Dennis and Liam join us in F3 this year

and to continue our partnership with Red Bull for a further season, retaining the trust from them to work with their talented drivers,” Oakes said.

“Their ability behind the wheel has continually impressed us, so we’re looking forward to a successful season ahead.”

Lawson and Hauger will be joining Renault junior Max Fewtrell in the three-car team. Last year the Briton, driving for ART Grand Prix ,also scored two podiums in the Formula 3 Championship.

Lawson will join four Australians, Oscar Piastri, Alex Peroni, Jack Doohan and Calan Williams, in the Formula 3 championship, which kicks off in Bahrain from March 20-22.

Dan McCarthy

Barcelona and I can’t wait for elcome to my first more sim time. column for Auto Daniel’s a great character and Action!

I’m looking forward to spending The team at Auto Action more time with him this year. In have supported me from the addition to having a few laughs, beginning of my career, so I’m pleased to now be a contributor I’ll pick his brain about how he handled things through all the to the magazine and be able to stages of his career as we’ve give you all a bit of an insight both taken the same pathway into my journey. in moving from home to Europe The year has started with a with the dream of racing in F1. bang and there’s been a lot In among the meetings, squeezed in already, but it’s an exciting time in my career and I announcements, and training, there’s been school and a quick wouldn’t have it any other way. trip home to spend Christmas You would have already read and New Year’s the big news with my family, elsewhere in this “Daniel’s which was very issue or on the AA a great special, spending website that I’ve character time on the lake at signed with Italy’s Yarrawonga.

Prema Powerteam and I’m Now I’m back to contest the looking in the UK and 2020 FIA Formula forward to I’ve had my head 3 Championship, spending buried in the text and also with the more time books as I’ve Renault Sport with him this only got until July Academy. year” when I finish my Prema is the General Certificate reigning teams of Education champion and its A-Levels (the UK’s equivalent drivers filled the podium in last of Australia’s VCE or HSC) at year’s F3 title chase.

Haileybury in Hertfordshire In October, I had an (about an hour from London) opportunity to spend two where I board. days testing with the team It’s a busy time but it’s only at the official F3 rookie test just the beginning and I’m in Valencia and we topped excited about what the future the final session. From that holds. experience, I know I’m in The F3 Championship kicks excellent hands.

After the test, I headed to Abu off a week after the Australian Grand Prix in Bahrain on March Dhabi for that final round of the 22-2, and all nine rounds will Formula Renault Eurocup with again be broadcast live on Fox R-ace GP and we were lucky Sports with its F1 coverage. enough to come away with the I hope you’ll all be watching championship. and cheering me and my fellow Out of winning the title has Aussies — Jack Doohan, Alex come the opportunity to Peroni, and Calan Williams — sign with the Renault Sport on as we fly the Aussie flag Academy, which is wonderful with pride. recognition and a massive honour and privilege for me.

The academy nurtures up and coming racing drivers with the goal of placing them in F1 and the ultimate target of having one of its drivers becoming a future World Champion with the Renault F1 team.

In addition to much-needed financial support, Renault’s impressive program has the tools I need to develop and improve myself in and out of the car, with fitness programs, mentoring, engineering development, and guidance.

I’ve already spent time at the F1 team factory in Enstone where I met Daniel Ricciardo and had my first F1 simulator experience.

It felt awesome driving the virtual F1 car around

Oscar’s next column will appear in Auto Action’s issue on sale March 5.

LATEST NEWS

WEC, IMSA TO UNITE ENDURANCE RULES THE ACO and North America’s sanctioning body for endurance racing, IMSA, have used the weekend of the Daytona 24 Hours to unveil their decision to declare a rules convergence of the top endurance racing categories.

The FIA World Endurance Championship and Imsa SportsCar Championship have run as the two major endurance championships for years under different rules and race formats.

ACO and IMSA together have established the basis for joint regulations to govern the new Le Mans Daytona Hypercar (LMDh) class, with the objective of WEC running the regulations from September next year and the IMSA series from January 2022.

This means that cars eligible to race at Daytona, Sebring and other American circuits will now be able to race at Le Mans and SpaFrancorchamps. Surprisingly at this stage no confirmation has been made that WEC manufacturers such as Toyota, Aston Martin and Peugeot, who have committed to the new regulations, are allowed to branch out and compete in the IMSA. In recent years WEC has run to LMP regulations with the top-tier LMP1 and secondary LMP2 classes, while the IMSA series’ second tier class runs LMP2 regulations, the top category has run to DPi regulations.

The new joint platform is a response to the wishes of multiple

manufacturers, and the CEO of the FIA World Endurance Championship Gerard Neveu is excited for the change.

“The big winner today is endurance racing as the door is now opened to many additional competitors to compete at the highest level on both sides of the Atlantic with the same car,” Neveu said.

“The two sanctioning bodies should be congratulated for their vision and spirit of collaboration.

“Le Mans Hypercars and the new LMDh cars racing together at Le Mans or Daytona will be an incredibly exciting prospect for endurance fans across the world.”

The LMDh cars themselves will be based on a new common chassis using elements of the Le Mans Hypercar and LMP2 chassis.

They will be built by the four current LMP2 manufacturers, Dallara, Ligier, Multimatic and Oreca.

IMSA and the ACO confirmed that more technical details will be revealed during the weekend of the Sebring 12 Hour

and the 1000 Miles of Sebring in March.

At this stage we know the LMDh cars will use a common hybrid KERS system on the rear axle. The design of this will be modifiable and developed according to the brand of the manufacturer that will provide the engine power for the car.

IMSA president John Doohan believes it is a momentous announcement in endurance racing history.

“On the eve of IMSA’s 51st season of competition, future race fans will regard today as one of the most significant of all time for IMSA, the ACO and the world of sports car racing,” he said.

Dan McCarthy

KANAAN PULLS PIN ON INDYCAR CAREER

VALE JOHN ANDRETTI, 1963-2020 INAUGURAL GOLD Coast IndyCar Grand Prix winner John Andretti has died after a battle with colon cancer.

Andretti, 56, was a member of America’s first family of racing.

He was a nephew of 1978 F1 world champion and IndyCar legend Mario Andretti and cousin of second-generation star Michael.

While John Andretti failed to match their success, he was an accomplished driver in CART, NASCAR and American sports cars in a career of more than 20 years.

His only CART win was in the first IndyCar GP on the Surfers Paradise street circuit in 1991, driving a Team VDS Lola-Chevrolet.

He beat IndyCar legends Bobby Rahal, Rick Mears and Danny Sullivan.

His other cousin, Jeff — the younger son of Mario and third-generation racer Marco’s uncle — also competed in the race.

Andretti competed in the 1988 Bathurst 1000, co-driving a VL Commodore with Garry Rogers. They failed to finish.

He won two NASCAR Cup races and was the first to do the Indianapolis 500/Charlotte 600 same-day double in 1994.

He died after relapsing last year following

16 AutoAction

a diagnosis of colon cancer in early 2017.

Andretti Autosport, owned by Michael, and IndyCar paid tribute to John Andretti.

“John was a loving husband and father, a devoted son and a trusted cousin,” an Andretti Autosport statement said. “He was a philanthropist, an advocate for the sport, a dedicated teammate, a driven competitor and, most importantly, a dear friend.

“He fought hard and stole back days the disease vowed to take away. He helped countless others undergo proper screening, and in doing so saved lives.”

IndyCar Series and Indianapolis Motor Speedway chief Mark Miles lauded Andretti’s fight against cancer and related charity work. “John’s true mission was helping others, whether through his countless hours of charity work, especially with Riley Children’s Hospital here in Indianapolis, or by the colon screening campaign he started in April 2017 after he was diagnosed with cancer,” Miles said.

“John’s positive attitude and selflessness throughout his brave fight inspired all of us and will be a legacy that will continue forever.”

Mark Fogarty

POPULAR BRAZILIAN IndyCar driver Tony Kanaan has announced that he will retire from America’s top open-wheel series at the end of this year.

This season the 45-year-old will contest a part-time campaign running in the five oval races for A.J. Foyt Enterprises.

Kanaan’s IndyCar career highlights include taking the series title in 2004 with Andretti Green Racing and winning the 2013 Indianapolis 500.

He still holds the record for the fastest 500 in history, boasting an average speed of 301.64km/h.

Before entering his 23rd season in American open-wheel racing one of the fan favourites decided to pull the reins and complete only a partial campaign.

“I walked into this sport as a 23-yearold with lots of hopes and dreams and I can say, without a doubt, that I accomplished everything I wanted,” Kanaan said.

“I feel and know I can still do this for a long time, but like everything else in life, there is also a cycle in racing.

“For a long time I’ve been asked when I would retire and my answer was always the same. The day I wake up in the morning and feel like I can’t do this any more, that’s when I’m going to retire.”

Kanaan has stressed that it is not the end of his career, just IndyCar, as he plans to continue racing in other

categories such as the IMSA SportsCar Championship, World Endurance Championship or Brazilian Stock Cars.

“I’d love to still be involved with IndyCar to some degree. I’ve also had offers to race in a number of different series, but that’s not my priority at the moment,” Kanaan said.

“Unfortunately, there are other things one should take into consideration when planning the future and probably the most important one is what are the options that are available.

“For 2020, my best option was to race the five ovals of the NTT IndyCar Series season. I’m not done with racing, that’s for sure.”

His IndyCar career began in 1998 with Tasman Motorsports, which was owned by Steve Horne (now chairman of the Supercars Commission) after the Brazilian claimed the Indy Lights series for the squad the previous year.

Since then Kanaan has amassed 17 race wins, 78 podium finishes and 15 pole positions in 377 starts His final season, dubbed the TK Last Lap, will start with the Indy 500 on May 24, before he races at Texas Motor Speedway on June 6, Richmond Raceway on June 27, Iowa Speedway on July 18 and lastly at Gateway Raceway on August 22.

Dan McCarthy

AA’s peripatetic pundit reflects on a long overdue return to his racing roots THE SIGHT, the sound, the smell. As much as I love toplevel circuit racing, nothing thrills like speedway. In particular Sprintcars.

The big-winged beasts roar and soar around dirt bullrings, slewing sideways as they unleash 900 horsepower of V8 fury. This is racing at its visceral best.

To the surprise of most, speedway is part of my motor sport heritage. As a lad, despite no speedway racing of consequence in the Melbourne area, I was fascinated by speedcars and solos.

Whenever I was in Sydney for race meetings at Oran and Amaroo Parks, I’d head to the Sydney Showgrounds and Liverpool City Raceway for the Saturday night “skids”.

Even the paved LCR bowl was enthralling, with epic midget and sedan contests.

I missed the rise and dominance of Sprintcars, but they always captured my interest.

Finally, I got to see them in action recently at Premier Speedway at Warrnambool in southwest Victoria. It was more than 40 years since I’d been there, but little — and a lot — had changed.

The venue looked much the same: grassed banks for the spectators, affording great viewing, and a rudimentary

Image: Richard Hathaway

pit paddock. But it was clearly a place for hard-core enthusiasts.

No swanky motor homes or corporate hospitality enclosures.

Just sophisticated haulers and surprisingly — to me — advanced Sprintcars. They may seem basic, but they’re intricate machines.

Aussie Sprintcars is full of local world-class heroes like Grand National winner James McFadden, Kerry Madsen, Brooke Tartnell, Scott Bogucki and Jamie Veal.

It also has a lot of highprofile followers. For example, I bumped into Garth Tander, crewing for his mate Mike Van Bremen, and Supercars driver patron James Rosenberg.

They are diehard Sprintcar enthusiasts.

They were both surprised

to see me, not realising speedway was a big part of my formative years as a motor sport journalist.

Sprintcars also attract fans who follow all forms of racing.

Regular reader Phil from North Dandenong bailed me up in the paddock for a wide-ranging chat. He was interesting, informed and passionate, quizzing me about everything from F1 and Supercars to TCR and more.

It was the sheer visceral appeal of Sprintcars, though, that really excited him and his mate (whose name I didn’t quite catch; apologies), also a long-time follower.

They’d made the more than three-hour trip because they love the primal racing.

Big-winged, old-look, front-engined open-wheelers

packing more than 900 horsepower (671kW), sliding wheel-to-wheel around a quarter-mile (402m) clay coliseum. The Sprintcars lap Premier Speedway in just over 11 seconds.

It’s fast, furious and fascinating. No wonder V8 stars like Tander, Paul Morris and Russell Ingall talk excitedly about racing or driving Sprintcars.

I went on the Saturday of the Australia Day weekend Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic to interview NASCAR star Kyle Larson. That went well, as you will see next issue.

I couldn’t stay for the racing, but I stood among the rank and file to watch practice and qualifying.

The guttural roar, sideways spectacle and stench of

methanol fuel were intoxicating.

So, too, was the flurry of fine dirt that flew into the spectator area. It all brought back so many memories.

This is real racing. No holds barred, mano a mano competition.

Premier Speedway is n neither sophisticated nor f flashy, but it is a racers’ h heaven.

My conversation with K Larson confirmed Kyle th appeal of Sprintcars the to hardened racers. He is th American equivalent of the dr drive-anything-anywhere Su Supercars star Shane van Gi Gisbergen.

L Larson has his own World Of Outlaws team and revels in his dirt track versatility.

H had a shocking visit He A to Australia, dogged by bad weather, crashes and mechanical failure. But he is keen to come back because the Sprintcar competition here is world class.

My brief visit to Premier Speedway was a glimpse of raw racing, reminding me of the basics of this branch of motorsport. Noise, power and close-fought racing.

Speedway has an undeservedly bad image in the mainstream media. Has done as long as I’ve been in the game.

What makes it “dirty” is exactly what makes it appealing. Sprintcars are raucous, unruly racers unleashed on a slippery surface, spewing rooster tails of compacted clay.

Can’t think of a better combination of speed and spectacle.

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FORMULA 1 will conduct an online auction to raise money to help victims of the Australian bushfires.

The sale started on January 22 and will continue until February 9 for exclusive experiences and until February 16 for merchandise. Some of the merchandise on offer is Aussie Daniel Ricciardo’s racing gloves and shoes and the race suits of Red Bull racing drivers Alexander Albon and Max Verstappen. Red Bull will also be offering meet and greet opportunities with its drivers, as will Mercedes, McLaren, Racing Point and Williams. Renault and McLaren will also be offering a factory tour. All this and much more is still available.

FORMULA 1 has finally confirmed persistent rumours that its managing director of commercial operations, Sean Bratches, has stepped down from the role after three years. Bratches will stay connected with the sport acting in an advisory role from the US. Bratches improved the reach of Formula 1 and was responsible for the Netflix Drive to Survive series as well as helping to create the F1 podcast and see the additions of the Netherlands and Vietnam events to the calendar.

MIAMI GRAND Prix organisers have announced several changes to the proposed street circuit layout to be used from next year after complaints from nearby residents. As before the circuit will navigate around the iconic Hard Rock Stadium home of the Miami Dolphins NFL team, however after consulting businesses, scientific experts and locals the decision has been made to not use Northwest 199th St.

AFTER BEING away ffor two years, Fernando Alonso is planning to make a return to Formula 1 next year. He will turn 40 on July 29, but he is not worried about that.

“I don’t think age will be a problem,” Alonso said in an interview with F1 Racing. “These cars, with no fuel stops, are not so demanding. You drive seven or eight seconds (a lap) slower on a Sunday than you do on a Saturday.

Also, with the new 18-inch wheels it will change the handling of the car and everyone will need to reset the way they drive.”

If Kimi Raikkonen remains in F1 next year he will be 41 and Lewis Hamilton will be 36.

It is possible to take a year or two off from F1 and still be able to win when you come back. Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Niki Lauda proved that.

But Michael Schumacher struggled when he returned after three years away. He was 41 when he joined Mercedes in 2010. To be fair, the team was not all that competitive during Schumacher’s three seasons there.

It finished fourth or fifth in the constructors’ championship.

Schumacher had just one podium finish and no wins.

Mercedes had just one win during those three years, and that was in 2012 with Nico Rosberg.

It was only in 2013, after Schumacher had retired again, and when Hamilton had joined the team, that Mercedes started to be quick. Schumacher

THE OLD AGE FACTOR

Images: LAT

probably could have won in 2013, although he would have been 44 by then.

“Michael came back to F1 in an era of Pirelli when the tyres were very sensitive,” Alonso said. “We had developed skills to take

care of the tyres and not overheat them, and he was struggling more because of that. In 2021 this won’t be a problem for me.”

Hamilton was asked at last year’s season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix what he

thought about a possible Alonso return to F1.

“I’d be more just happy that I won’t be the oldest here,” Hamilton laughed.

“So welcome an older dude, he can come along.

Fernando’s obviously a well

CHINA’S F1 ON, DESPITE VIRUS MCLAREN’S FORMER competition director, Frenchman Eric Boullier, has been named as managing director of the French Grand Prix among major changes to the event. The event has also outlined a “mobility plan” to help spectators attend the Grand Prix at the Circuit Paul Ricard. Boullier helped the French Grand Prix return to the Formula 1 calendar in 2018 and has already made plans to improve overtaking around a circuit that has been heavily criticised for its lack of racing action.

THE SECOND-tier Formula 2 Championship will grow next year with the addition of an 11th team.

British-based Hitech Grand Prix expands its racing program into the Formula 1 feeder series. Last year Hitech finished as runner-up in the teams’ standings in the Formula 3 Championship behind the Prema Powerteam.

18 AutoAction

AS THE death toll in China from the coronavirus climbed past 200 and the number of confirmed cases rose above 7000 around the world, the World Health Organisation declared it to be a global health emergency.

F1’s commercial owner Liberty Media and the FIA are both monitoring the situation in China, but so far the Chinese Grand Prix scheduled for April 19 has not been cancelled.

Protocol requires the event organiser rather than the FIA or Formula 1 to initiate the process of cancelling a grand prix. But as of the beginning of February the organiser of the Chinese Grand Prix had made no public statements about whether the race would go ahead.

If the Chinese Grand Prix is indeed cancelled, it would be costly for both Liberty and the teams.

China will pay $US50 million ($A75 million) this year for the privilege of hosting the grand prix, and that money is split between the teams and Liberty. So their financial interest in having the

race go ahead is understandable. But is it worth putting the lives of the F1 crew members and the 100,000 fans who attend the race at risk?

At present that decision has been taken out of the hands of the organisers, the FIA, Liberty and the teams because governments have stepped in. But whether this still remains the case in midApril remains to be seen.

The governments in Australia, Great Britain and other countries are telling their citizens not to travel to China. Several international airlines including British Airways — seven of the 10 F1 teams are based in Britain — have cancelled all their flights to China until March or April.

The FIA is closely monitoring the coronavirus situation.

“Following the coronavirus epidemic that broke out in China at the beginning of the year, the FIA is closely monitoring the evolving situation with relevant authorities and its Member Clubs, under the direction of FIA Medical Commission

President, Professor Gerard Saillant,” an FIA statement said.

“The FIA will evaluate the calendar of its forthcoming races and, if necessary, take any action required to help protect the global motor sport community and the wider public.”

Meanwhile, the World Athletics Indoor Championships has been postponed. The Chinese women’s football team was placed in quarantine in Australia, and the World Cup skiing in China has been cancelled.

The 2011 Bahrain Grand Prix was the last F1 race to be cancelled as a result of an emergency situation in the host country, when protests erupted during the Arab spring.

TECHNICAL BOOSTER SHOTS

accomplished driver.

“It’s interesting to see in the past, with drivers wanting to come back, like Michael (Schumacher), and it’s something you’ve done your whole life.

“I don’t think it (Alonso returning) would be bad for the sport.

“Ultimately, there are a lot of young kids on their way up and there are only 20 seats.

“He has also had his

period of time there, but if there are no other good youngsters coming through, then (there could be a seat for Alonso).

“And so I would welcome it”

THE TECHNICAL departments of the Renault and Williams teams have received much needed booster shots.

Renault, and drivers Daniel Ricciardo and Esteban Ocon, will benefit from the fact that Pat Fry is able to join the team much earlier than expected in his new role as the chassis technical director.

Williams, and drivers George Russell and Nicolas Latifi, will benefit because David Worner, who will be the chief designer and Jonathan Carter, who will be deputy chief designer and head of design, both of them with many years of experience in the sport, will soon take up these positions.

Fry, who has worked for Benetton, McLaren and Ferrari, replaces Nick Chester, who was with the team for 19 years.

Fry was McLaren’s engineering director in 2018 and 2019. When it was announced last November that he would be moving to Renault, McLaren put him on “gardening leave”. This is a period of time where he would not be permitted to work for either team, thus preventing him taking McLaren’s latest technical secrets to Renault.

It was expected that Fry would only be able to start work for Renault in September, but some behind the scenes negotiations between McLaren and Renault cut that back to February.

McLaren’s closest challenger in last year’s

constructors’ championship was Renault — although Renault’s challenge faded — so it is surprising that McLaren would allow Fry to join Renault early. McLaren will continue to use Renault power units this year before switching to Mercedes next year.

Fry will therefore be able to attend the launch of the 2020 Renault R.S.20 in Paris on February 12, and then be at the track when pre-season testing begins in Barcelona on February 19.

The fact that Williams finished last in the constructors’ championship in 2018 and 2019 and earned just eight points in two years is glaring proof that something is lacking in the team’s technical department.

Williams has not had a chief technical officer since Paddy Lowe left last June after being on leave of absence since the beginning of the year. Deputy team principal Claire Williams said repeatedly last year that the team was in no rush to find a replacement for Lowe.

Worner is currently responsible for the Red Bull Racing/Scuderia Toro Rosso Synergies initiative and has been working in F1 since 1997. Carter began his motorsport career in 1979 with Reynard, and most recently was head of composite design at Renault.

Williams still does not have a chief technical officer or a technical director, but Worner and Carter will certainly help fill some of the gaps in the team’s technical department.

ASTON MARTIN RETURNS TO F1 ASTON MARTIN has been associated with Formula 1 with its title sponsorship of the Red Bull team, but now the sports car firm, famously known as the favourite car of fictional secret agent 007 James Bond, will officially become an F1 team.

Racing Point will change its name to Aston Martin next year after the team’s billionaire owner Lawrence Stroll formed a consortium to buy 16.7 per cent of the ailing British sportscar maker.

Aston Martin, which entered a few F1 races between 1958 and 1960, has a rich history in sports car and endurance racing.

The Canadian Stroll, who made his fortune in the clothing industry with brands such as Tommy Hilfiger and Michael Kors and is the father of Lance Stroll, who drives for the Racing Point team, has invested 182 million pounds ($A358 million) in the 107-year-old Aston Martin and will join the board of directors.

Over the years the F1 team founded in 1991 by Eddie Jordan has had several names and owners, switching from Jordan to MF1 to Spyker to Force India to Racing Point.

“He brings with him his experiences and access to his

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Formula 1 team,” Aston Martin chief executive Andy Palmer told Reuters. “We’ve talked a lot in the past few years about wanting to be clearly rooted in luxury, and obviously Mr Stroll knows an awful lot about luxury.”

Stroll said: “I look forward to working with the board and management team to continue to invest in the development of new models and technologies and to start to rebalance production to prioritise demand over supply.”

This deal means that Aston Martin’s title sponsorship of the Red Bull team will not be renewed after the end of this year.

“Red Bull Racing has agreed to release Aston Martin from its Formula 1 exclusivity clause, which in turn has allowed it to generate the necessary investment required to refinance and pursue alternative opportunities within the sport,” the team said in a statement.

The technology partnership between Red Bull Advanced Technologies and Aston Martin will continue until the Aston Martin Valkyrie hypercar designed by

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Adrian Newey is delivered. The first batch of 150 cars will be delivered to buyers this year.

While Aston Martin’s sports car sales have been troubled, the manufacturer will soon offer for sale its first SUV, called the DBX. Writing in Motor Trend magazine, Australian journalist Angus Mackenzie said that the “DBX drives better than any other luxury performance SUV on the market today.”

The DBX will inject much needed funds into Aston Martin, just like the SUV sales did to Porsche.

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w

F1 INSIDER

with Dan Knutson

POSSIBLE TEAMMATE TENSION SO, FERNANDO Alonso is going to make a Formula 1 comeback next year after a two-year absence.

He reckons that he will get a ride with one of the big three teams, that his age won’t be a problem, and that he has figured out a weakness in Lewis Hamilton that will allow him, Alonso, to gun for his third drivers’ world championship.

That is what Alonso told a pressroom colleague of mine, James Roberts, in an interview with F1 Racing magazine. All heady stuff, but I am far from convinced.

Frankly, and I’ve said this before, I don’t think that Red Bull, Ferrari or Mercedes would be interested in Alonso despite his talent.

Red Bull has its long-term future solidly focused on Max Verstappen, and Ferrari on Charles Leclerc. Both are 22.

The situation is a bit different over at Mercedes where Lewis Hamilton just turned 35. Alonso will turn 40 midway through next year. Will Mercedes want two ageing but vastly experienced drivers? I reckon the team would prefer George Russell, now 21, or, if they can pry him away from McLaren, Lando Norris, now 20.

Rumours circulated that Daimler was considering selling its works F1 Mercedes outfit because it needs to cut costs and, furthermore, would prefer to be associated with Formula E as the automotive world moves

Image: LAT

towards electric vehicles.

The speculation was that Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff and billionaire Lawrence Stroll, who already owns part of Racing Point, would buy the Mercedes team. It would be rebranded Aston Martin as Stroll is also interested in buying a stake in the exotic car company.

But Daimler CEO Ola Kaellenius has denied that the team will be sold. Still, even with Daimler’s purse strings, would it want to pay for Hamilton and Alonso? Hamilton

reportedly is asking for an annual pay raise to 55 million euros for a new contract after the current one expires at the end of this year. Unless he is willing to race for glory rather than money, Alonso will also demand a high salary.

But let’s assume Hamilton remains with the team rather than moving to Ferrari in 2021 and that Mercedes or Aston Martin does indeed sign Alonso.

Would Wolff really want a Hamilton/Alonso partnership?

Wolff admits now that it was

difficult to manage the tension between Hamilton and Nico Rosberg during their four years as teammates from 2013-16.

By contrast, the relationship between Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas has been positively harmonious these past three seasons.

There certainly was tension between Hamilton and Alonso in their season as McLaren teammates in 2007. Alonso had just won two world championships and wasn’t expecting such a challenge from the upstart rookie. To

be fair, there was much more friction between Alonso and team boss Ron Dennis, with Alonso expecting Dennis to keep Hamilton under control so Alonso could win the title.

All of that, of course, led to the infamous finish to the 2007 season with Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen winning the drivers’ championship with 110 points, while Hamilton had 109 points as did Alonso.

But time heals all wounds.

Alonso returned to McLaren in 2015 when Dennis was still there, albeit no longer directly running the team. And over the years the respect and even friendship grew between Hamilton and Alonso.

But what would be the situation if they became teammates again in 2021?

Both, of course, would be aiming to be world champion.

Would Alonso accept team orders the way Bottas does?

Would Wolff want to deal with the inevitable rising conflict between Alonso and Hamilton?

Can Alonso and Hamilton be teammates? They would have no choice if Mercedes or Aston signed both drivers, but it would be an uneasy partnership. And maybe a driver from a rival team would win the championship by a single point.

But I reckon this is a moot point because much as I would like to see him back in F1, I don’t think Alonso will get a ride with Mercedes or Red Bull or Ferrari.

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OPINION E85: TIME FOR A CHANGE?

By MARK FOGARTY Editor-At-Large SUPERCARS’ CHANGE of fuel supplier from Shell to BP raises a big question: Why is V8 racing persisting with E85, which is irrelevant on the forecourt?

You can’t buy E85 — a blend of sugar cane-derived ethanol with at least 15 per cent premium unleaded petrol — from BP, Shell, Mobil or even Caltex, which made much of a commitment to it a decade ago.

The only E85 retailer is United, which preceded Shell as the official Supercars fuel supplier after the switch to ethanol in 2009.

The racing blend is still available at limited United outlets.

The high-octane mix is favoured by owners of high-performance turbo fours and rotaries.

Only cars with anti-corrosive fuel systems can run on E85, including Supercars. Almost no new road cars can run on it.

Make no mistake, this new threeyear deal with BP is about money, not eco credentials. Just as the previous agreement with Shell was a branding sponsorship.

Like Shell, BP is sourcing E85 from an outside supplier because the British petroleum giant — which also owns Castrol lubricants — doesn’t make or sell it at petrol stations.

At least the company claims some ownership of the formulation of the Supercars fuel, announcing that “Melbourne-based BP fuel technologists have been involved in the blending and quality testing of the new fuel blend, and are very excited to provide a consistent and quality fuel for the entire field of the Supercars championship”.

But the fact remains that the “BP” fuel Supercars will use and promote from this season is not the petrol you can buy. The relationship with the major brands’ lubricants — BP’s

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Dan McCarthy

National Editor

Garry O’Brien

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Rhys Vandersyde

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Castrol Edge, Shell’s Helix, Caltex’s Havoline and Mobil 1 — is much closer.

The oils Supercars teams use are very similar to, if not the same as, what you buy off the shelf or are supplied when your car is serviced.

While we welcome BP’s extended commitment — on top of BP Ultimate and Castrol Edge support of Tickford Racing and their title sponsorship of Rick Kelly’s new Mustang — we question promoting a fuel product on which none of the Supercars field runs.

E85 promised to be the new “green” petrol, using the waste of sugar cane production for a sustainable supply that would significantly reduce reliance on fossil fuel — aka oil.

Supercars jumped on the E85 bandwagon as some car makers rushed to Flex fuel compatibility.

Most notably, Chrysler/Jeep and GM, including Holden. They boasted their models could happily run on E85 and Caltex dived in with Holden, announcing big plans for widespread availability.

Holden even brought out twice F1 champion Emerson Fittipaldi to extol the virtues of E85, which dominates in his native Brazil.

Within a few short years, though,

E85 was a bust and Holden stopped selling — or, at least, no longer promoted — Flex fuel models. Those little green badges on the rears of Commodores, Cruzes and Captivas disappeared.

To my knowledge, Caltex hasn’t sold it for some time and BP, Shell and Mobil have never gone beyond E10 with blended fuels (and only because it is mandated in NSW as the default regular petrol).

There is the argument that E85 is a “cleaner” fuel, emitting less CO2 and consisting of a majority of locally produced ethanol rather than refined oil. But there is a conflict between the branding and the availability.

Even BP admits E85 “will not be available for customer purchase, as BP’s focus remains on delivering its premium BP Ultimate 98 ULP fuel for Australian drivers, designed to bust engine dirt in just two tanks”.

BP Ultimate was the fuel used by the field in the Supercars-run Bathurst 12 Hour and it is perhaps time that V8 racing looked at going back to pump petrol.

Even F1 uses gasoline that is a sophisticated version of what you get from the bowser.

Until synthetic fuels are perfected, racing on 98 octane premium would at least make Supercars’ fuel

relevant to the retail market.

The Gen3 rules coming in 2022 would be a good opportunity for the fuel supply to accurately reflect the branding.

Major brands like BP, Shell and Caltex are always welcome, but it would be better if their branded sponsorships reflected their retail products.

The reality is that a standard fuel, supplied to the teams at little or no cost, like control tyres, is a good deal. But for the sake of transparency, it should be the same petrol you and I can buy.

You could say the same for the cars, which are only related to production models by shape, but that, I’m afraid, is a long-lost cause.

Supercars based on road-going body shells are, sadly, a thing of the past.

Gen3 is the opportunity to go back to premium petrol — and the spectacular exhaust flames — because the change involves cost.

Engines would have to be reconverted, yes, but to cheaper fuel systems that don’t have to withstand ethanol’s corrosiveness. It could be part of the further cost-saving controls envisaged from 2022.

A return to 98 ULP would be easy, sensible and road-car relevant.

We take a look back at what was making news 10, 20, 30, 40 years ago 1980: After winning the Australian Touring Car

22000: It was a good start to the new millennium forr

Championship with Ron Hodgson Motors in 1979, before the team disbanded, Bob Morris announced that he would join forces with Craven Mild Racing and teammate Allan Grice. The uneasy relationship did not yield results. In his title defence Morris finished fifth, scoring one solitary race victory. In the world of Formula 1 Frenchman Rene Arnoux broke through to take his first race victory ahead of Renault teammate Jean-Pierre Jabouille. Australian Alan Jones rounded out the podium.

oour Australians competing overseas. Mark Webber w was handed another chance to test an Arrows F1 ccar. It was the second time Webber had driven an AArrows in as many months and he would become th the squad’s official test driver for the 2000 season aalongside his F3000 racing program. While in AAmerica Aussies Skip Jackson and Brooke Tatnell w were also given top US Sprintcar seats. It was a big w week as Volvo withdrew from the Australian Super TTouring Championship, citing cost.

1990: Ten years later in the lead-up to the 1990 Shelll

22010: Holden motorsport manager Simon

Ultra Australian Touring Car Championship it appearedd that Allan Grice was set to pair up with another driver, this time Larry Perkins, as both were struggling to gather enough money to compete in the full campaign. In the end Grice sat on the sidelines with no budget, while Perkins with just Castrol backing took it round by round and completed the season.

Grice joined the Holden Racing Team for the enduros winning the Bathurst 1000 with Win Percy.

McNamara declared that Ford would be “no competition” in 2010 after Triple Eight Race Engineering moved from blue to red in the off-season..

McNamara felt that he had the two strongest teams in Triple Eight and the Holden Racing Team, however come the end of the season it was Blue Oval team Dick Johnson Racing with James Courtney who claimed the drivers’ title. Kelly brothers Rick and Todd re-signed Jack Daniels for the 2010 season and were ready to win start winning races.

Australia Garry O’Brien, Mark Fogarty, Bruce Newton, David Hassall, Bob Watson F1 Dan Knutson Speedway Geoff Rounds Photographers Australia Ross Gibb, Rebecca Hind, Mick Oliver, David Batchelor, Randall Kilner, Rhys Vandersyd, Richard Hathaway International LAT Images Advertising Manager Bruce Williams All Advertising inquiries bruce@overdrivemedia.com.au (0418) 349 555 Editorial contributions may be sent to Auto Action. No responsibility will be accepted for their safety. If you require the return of any sent item or items, please attach a separate, stamped and fully addressed envelope

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Five-time Bathurst 1000 winner Steven Richards explains why he decided to retire from Supercars co-driving even though he felt he still had a few good years left in him THEY MAY be New Zealanders, but the Richards are arguably the first family of Australian touring car racing.

Between them, Jim and Steven Richards have 12 Bathurst 1000 victories, and remain the only father and son combination to have finished on the podium.

Add Jim’s four ATCC titles and Steve’s front-running Supercars career, and the Richards name has been at the forefront for four decades. As a second-generation driver, Steve has managed the rare feat of emerging from the shadow of his famous dad.

For the time being, the Richards dynasty in ATCC/ Supercars has come to an end, with Steve announcing his retirement from co-driving. Since finishing his full-time V8 racing career at the end of 2010, he scored three of his five Bathurst 1000 wins, establishing himself as the most successful co-driver of the past decade (in fact, he is the only secondary driver to share victory more than once since series regulars were stopped from partnering in the enduros in 2010).

Why did you decide to retire from Supercars?

Mostly opportunity. I had been talking to Charlie since May last year about what a normal job might look like for me, doing something within his organisation. It didn’t necessarily have to be Team 18, although still being involved in motor racing and Supercars at the highest level is attractive.

I was just starting to think about the future and what the realities were for me continuing to co-drive when I’m closer to the end of that than the beginning of it.

Anyway, it evolved quite quickly when all of a sudden around mid-year there was talk of a second car and recruiting more staff.

While I knew Charlie, I didn’t really know him as a person and the more I got to know him through the year, I could see more of what his vision was about, how passionate he was about it and, more to the point, what a good person he was. So going back a bit, we’d almost worked out a transitional role over the next two to three years of me going from starting part-time two or three days a week at Team 18, still doing some of my own stuff — which I still intend to do, mind you. But then Charlie said “Look, I’m a bit

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At 47, Melbourne-based “Richo Jnr” has taken a fulltime non-driving job at Team 18, assisting owner Charlie Schwerkolt on the commercial side of the newly expanded two-car operation. He hasn’t retired from driving as he plans to continue racing, potentially in the TCR Australia Series.

Richards will also continue guiding the racing aspirations of his 19-year-old son Clay, who is looking to graduate from karting to state-level Formula Ford in Victoria. FF is where Steve started, winning the national title in his second season in 1995, and it is not out of the question that some time in the next decade we’ll see a third generation “Richo” in Supercars.

snowed under, I need a bit of help, would you consider coming on full-time?” And, of course, doing a full-time role is no place for a co-driver. So for me it was, “Well, there are some realities to all this,” and I went home and had a chat to my wife Angela. I also talked to a few people close to me about it so I could get it right in my own head that I was making the right choice because once you step out (of co-driving in Supercars), you’re not going to step back in.

So it wasn’t because you felt you were falling off the pace?

No, no, not at all. I thought I did a really good job at Bathurst in terms of being very close to the pace of Frosty. I was just a fraction off at Gold Coast, but, no, it wasn’t anything to do with that. It was the fact that these opportunities don’t come along very often. Yep, maybe it’s a little earlier than I thought, but you never know when the end is going to be and it’s better to finish on a good note rather than not actually being able to get a drive anymore. I just thought I’d love to stay in the business and in Australia the top of the tree is Supercars. It gives me flexibility to do lots of things while

still being involved. My role in the team is mainly helping Charlie on the commercial side of the business — something I’m not unfamiliar with through our own racing programs over the years. I’ll also be utilising my experience to help all sides within the business. I can relate to the drivers, I can relate to engineering, I can help out across the board. It’s another thought process from someone who has a bit of experience.

It sounds like it wasn’t actually a difficult decision.

It wasn’t in the end, but it was initially because we’d been talking about a parttime transitional role over a number of years to all of a sudden coming in one day and having it thrust in front of you. And that was a bit confronting because I hadn’t considered that. I thought I realistically had another three years, maybe five, as a co-driver. I definitely hadn’t considered stopping because I really enjoyed it, but after being involved with the team over the course of the year and understanding where Charlie was going with it, it just got me more and more enthusiastic to be part of the process to help the team get where

it wants to be. It just seemed like a smart decision in the end.

Is it an apprenticeship for a team management role in the future?

Oh, I think nowadays, at teams at that level, there isn’t an over-arching person.

I think you have to have a lot of good people in various roles. But I think having a cross-section of experience at all levels helps decision making a little bit and that’s definitely what I’m excited about, adding my input under Charlie’s vision. So I’m working directly alongside Charlie, (team manager) Steve Henderson and (technical director) Phil Keed, as well as with Frosty and Scott.

It’s a pretty broad brush. It’s future-proofing me, that’s what I’m hoping. I don’t just want to be there to sit around and not have an input.

You’ve been with top teams, so do you see potential at Team 18?

Yeah, 100 per cent. Motor sport’s all about the people involved and the process of recruiting good people is always hard. It has to be balanced by supporting those

Richards is looking to “future-proof” himself by working behind the scenes at Team 18.

Images: LAT/Supplied

good people with other good people and creating a succession system. The only way to grow and stay at the top, and you’ve seen it with Roland at Triple Eight, is continual promotion from within, but recruit the right people in the first place and that’s happening within the team. You don’t like to say it’s a long-term thing because if you don’t do it sooner rather than later, you’re not going to be around for very long. It’s all about the people and we are recruiting the right people, which will enable us to technically work better, gain some results and then the sponsorship will follow that.

You have Frosty, an established star, now joined by Scott Pye, who’s perhaps been underrated. How do you see them working together and will that combination move the team forward?

I think it will. You have two very good drivers — one who’s very experienced and by no means at the end of his career.

Frosty still has a lot to give to the team in terms of capability. There are not too many better racers out there. And then you have Scott Pye, who’s a young up-andcoming guy. Probably hasn’t yet shown

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his full potential, so I expect them to work really well together in moving thee team forward, creating a competitive environment within the team that will lead to greater things. But it’s not going to be easy. Team 18 has gone from a one-car team built on Charlie encouraging Frosty to come across to all of a sudden going to two cars.

We probably weren’t doing the onecar team job well enough. We were getting there, though, and you have to take the opportunity to jump in when you can. It’s exciting that we’ve moved to two cars, but the challenge is enormous.

As you said, you’re still planning to do some racing outside Supercars. So before we look back on your career in Supercars, let’s look forward to what else you’ll be doing. What are you looking at?

I’ll be totally honest, getting into the Team 18 role hasn’t given me much time to think about other things. But I still have very good

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relationships with the people I’ve been associated with in the past and they’re keen to continue with something. But it has to be something outside the Supercars arena because it’s going to be unbelievably busy at Team 18.

I’ve scaled down the Steve Richards Motorsport operation, so whatever I do will be outside that umbrella and it’ll essentially be bringing my team of people to somewhere else. Carrera Cup, probably not.

I was a driver that was hoping to be paid to go racing and all of a sudden when tthe musical chairs stopped, it was a little more apparent that drivers had to have money or bring sponso sponsorship to be able to be paid to S I was a bit of a product of that drive. So e of 2010, I reckon. Because at the end resu were average in 2010, even my results la flourish, there was already with a late someon in the wings bringing a big someone sponsor (Will Davison with backing from a unit of Telstra) that filled that gap.

Why not?

Cost. Found it hard to raise the money in the last couple of years to do it.

GT, you wouldn’t not consider it, but a lot of their rounds this year are at Supercars events. And then there’s the ARG stuff. A few things up for consideration at the moment.

Did you live up to your own expectat expectations as a race driver? Did acc Jim’s accomplishments set a very high bar?

Richo believes he still had plenty of life left him as a Supercars co-driver, remaining competitive at his beloved Bathurst when he reunited with Mark Winterbottom last year.

tho I never thought of it, to be honest. It was never ever on my radar. My attitude was alw that I’d always go and do the best I could. backgr My background was that I started as an me aircraft mechanic and in the early years did my time on the cars in the workshop at Garry Rogers Motorsport, and I was really thankful for any opportunity that came my way and I never made an excuse for my performance. I always put my hand up if I made a mistake and I always just did my best whatever the situation. So I never ever really thought about trying to measure up to Dad. I just went out every weekend to do the best I could and it worked out. Right at the start, when people asked me about that, I said if I could be even a quarter as good as what Dad was, I’d be very happy.

All I wanted to do was win a Supercars race — and I did that. Of course, the first win was Bathurst ’98! I’m so thankful to have lived my dream doing what I love. I certainly don’t have any regrets.

He certainly didn’t push you into racing, did he?

There’s chat that you’re looking at TCR. R. Yeah, definitely. My eyes are wide open to everything at the moment and it’s about where you can provide the best value to the people who are supporting you. And by the looks of things from the outside, TCR may be able to provide that through the TV package and that sort of thing. So I’m looking at it, for sure. But it would be as a driver for someone else, not with my own team. Looking at my future, I want to keep driving for a long time, but I’ll be more focused on trying to help build a Supercars team into a successful operation.

The highlights of your Supercars career are obviously the five Bathurst 1000 wins. Does one stand out as particularly special?

They were all awesome because they mean different things for different reasons.

The easiest thing to say is that your last is always your best because you’re not going to win any again. I was lucky to win one, let alone five. The first one (in 1998 with Jason Bright) with Stone Brothers was special because of the circumstances, having come back from overseas. The second one, winning back-to-back, with Murph (at Gibson Motorsport) was great because during the year it didn’t look like we were going to be competitive at Bathurst. And then 2013 with Frosty was special because I’d been with Ford Performance Racing for seven years (five full-time) trying to get that result for them. And then, of course, winning two with Lowndesy was amazing, particularly in 2018 in his last season as a full-timer. So they all stand out for different reasons. But there are also some great times during your career when no one other than yourself would know how well you’ve driven. Looking back to the days at Larry’s team, we were a Holden team, but there were six HRT/TWR Holdens we were racing against and there were two Stone Brothers Falcons, but we were still competing for the championship. They were really good times, too.

What do you regard as your peak in Supercars?

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From a results standpoint, 2003-06. But feeling ready and from an emotional standpoint, the FPR days because I really thought that the resource was all there to do a really good job, but for one reason or another, we couldn’t quite do it. I definitely feel like the doors closed too early for me with the Supercars career— and for one reason and another, 2009 and ’10 were disasters. We went from the BF to the FG Falcon, but then midway through ’10 when we swapped chassis, all of a sudden the results came back again. Qualifying was better and I ended up second at Homebush in my last ever full-time race. I felt like I was driving better with FPR, but we didn’t quite have the competitiveness we expected. It was a missed opportunity. I really thought that with the resource of Prodrive and the amount of staff that it was the right place to go. They’d been through some torrid times, but that seemed to be ending.

However, it was another four or five years before they really hit their straps in terms of a competitive organisation. They certainly didn’t reach their potential when I was there.

It seemed as though when we went from BF to FG in 2009, both Frosty and I had tough years. And to be honest, the GFC (global financial crisis) happened in 2008-09 and

Richards was a title contender with Larry Perkins’ team in the mid-2000s.

Richo reckons Team 18 is gathering the talent to move forward as a two-car operation. The Melbourne-based outfit will unveil its new Irwin and Stanley tools liveries on February 11.

I remember the first time I went out to test a Formula Ford at Calder. It was with Mike Borland in one of his original cars and Dad and I were driving out to the test and Dad said to me, “Are you sure you want to do this?” Not with a view to discouraging me from doing it, but he knew just how hard it was. But once I’d driven the car, I was hooked and whatever came about from that was a bonus. I had to make my own way, though, because at the time Dad was at the peak of his career, so he found it difficult to be 100 per cent involved in what I was doing. Thankfully for me, I was hands-on n enough that I could take on a lot of the work on the cars in the early days — FF

and stuff — so it was just about how much you wanted to do it. If you wanted to do it that much, you’d find some way to get the car to the track.

When I was working as a mechanic at the airport, I was lucky enough that my boss would give me a bit of time off.

That was the only way it could happen and so that’s the way it happened.

Of course, you’re now going through a similar situation with your son Clay.

Mixed emotions?

Steve has won five of the Richards family’s 12 Bathurst 1000s, the last two with Craig Lowndes (above). His son Clay (left) is poised to become the third generation racing Richo. most mos do. It’s not going to be easy, but he loves love it. It’s everything to him.

Is it difficult for you to watch him race?

His first f test day and the first race at Phillip Island Islan were excruciatingly scary. He fronted up for f his first race at Phillip Island and halfway halfw through the first lap it rained, and he’d never driven a car in the wet, so it was frightening.

But he handled it really well. frigh A little bit. I’d really like to think that we could give him an opportunity along the same lines as Dad gave me. If we can somehow fund him a couple of years for him to do some Formula Ford, that to me is still the best route for a young driver.

That’s what I’d like to do. He’s doing an apprenticeship as a motor mechanic, so if you look at how he’s doing it and what he’s going to have to do to make it in racing, it’s almost mirror image of what I did. Like me, he also came to it later in his childhood than

Who knows, maybe one day he’ll add to the 12 Bathurst 1000 wins the family already has.

Yeah, maybe. But if he gets to have a year in state-level Formula Ford, that’s a huge bonus for him. He’ll get to live something of what we’ve done and we’ll see where it goes from there. It’s the old story, though.

You have to find the money to do it and it’s not easy.

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ALL SYSTEMS GO

Despite a stressful fortnight Kelly Racing is close to completing its build of two Ford Mustangs before the opening Supercars round in Adelaide. Assembly is well under way, as HEATH McALPINE writes PROGRESS ON Kelly Racing’s pair of Ford Mustangs is rapidly developing as the clock ticks down towards the Supercars Supertest at The Bend Motorsport Park on February 18.

The long-awaited arrival of the first crankshafts was a major relief and enabled the team to start building an engine to be homologated by Supercars.

This first engine will be a spare for Adelaide, while the next two will be the engines Rick Kelly and Andre Heimgartner will use for Kelly Racing’s Ford Mustang debut.

“We have three out of six, so enough to make three engines,” Kelly told Auto Action.

“The first one is pretty much assembled now and we’ll soon complete dyno

Ke Racing crew work on the Kelly first of their Ford engines, KR001. fir It’s all hands on deck as all the It’ days count down before the cars da hi hit the track and lots of the time-consuming finer detail work tim has begun. ha

testing, which is pretty exciting because it will be Kelly Racing’s first Ford engine to fire up in the dyno test to make sure everything’s right.

“Then it’s off to Queensland next week for the homologation.”

The crew led by Kelly have worked day and night to complete the engine

build and development phase of the program. He is confident that all the bugs will be ironed out ahead of the tight homologation testing schedule.

“It’s not a lot of time to test it, but the guys have already put in a lot of hours getting all of the fine details right in the

engine eng build and we’ve been through this process before, so thro there shouldn’t be any issues the when we fire it up — but you never whe know,” Kelly said. kno The engine assembly itself has Th come together almost perfectly, which bodes well for the rest of the engine construction stage.

“Everything came together as we expected, which is amazing considering the crankshaft was the first part that was

Work on Andre Heimgartner’s Mustang is more advanced than Rick Kelly’s. Heimgartner’s has the wiring loom, race seat, steering, pedals and gearshifter are all in place. The body panels have been test fitted and painted for the final assembly. Progress with its chassis is further advanced than with Kelly’s all-new Kelly Mustang.

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COUNTDOWN - DAYS REMAINING: 14

Part Five

The parts the team has been waiting for have arrived and Kelly Racing’s builders can start preparing the engines for race day. After lots of testing the crew are proud to have their first Ford engine complete, although the hold-ups they’ve encountered with engine parts supply means they will have only one spare for the two cars in Adelaide. designed and ordered for the engine before any of the rods, pistons and any of the other crucial bits were even thought about,” Kelly said.

“We basically had to do all the calculations of the rods and pistons based on what the crankshaft was and it all fitted together the way it should. The next two should come together pretty quickly. That first engine that goes up to Supercars comes back to us in bits and that will have to be reassembled for Adelaide. That will be our spare engine.”

The machine shop is a hive of activity and will be for the next fortnight — making engine parts for the three additional engines that won’t make the trip to the opening round, plus adding to the spare parts surplus.

“The machine shop is still flat out producing some of the large parts like the engine sumps and the bell housings for the gearboxes, so we’re still flat out to make parts to get those three Adelaide engines built,” Kelly said.

“Also, we’re still making parts for the next lot of engines, which will total six when we’re finished.”

The composites area is just as busy producing cooling ducts for both the radiator and engine intake in preparation for the Supertest. A lot of the high consumable parts like rear bumpers have been mass produced as spares for the first couple of rounds.

“There are still a couple of parts that we’re making from scratch, like the radiator ducting that connects the engine to the car, that’s in the process of being done now,” Kelly said. “As we’re using a modified version of the airbox we had with the Nissan, we had to make our own radiator ducting, have a tool made, go through the whole process of designing it to fit the car, which is cool. The guys will have it ready to go by the time the cars are ready for their engines.

“A lot of the larger body panels like front bars, doors and bootlids are just sitting there ready to bolt on to the car.

“The guys have already test fitted all of those body panels to get them positioned correctly before proceeding with the rest of the car assembly.”

Kelly Racing received a visit from the Supercars technical department

to examine the two Mustang chassis in terms of construction, welds and where the underbody panels were placed, which all checked out. The category ensures that a chassis strictly conforms to the homologation papers, guaranteeing parity.

“We had Supercars’ technical department come to the workshop a fortnight ago just to inspect everything and check how we were travelling, and there were no problems,” Kelly said.

“We receive all the CAD drawings from DJR Team Penske (the homologation team) and follow those documents, including the molds for all the composite panels, so there is not much you can really change.

“The only thing that is unique about our Mustangs is the engine and the air box and ducting, whereas the actual car assembly is identical to all the other

Fords on the grid.”

The assembly process is also well under way. Heimgartner’s Mustang is nearly completely fitted out, while Kelly’s is not far behind. The crew are eagerly awaiting parts to get that chassis to the same stage.

“Andre’s Mustang is really far into the build,” Kelly said with enthusiasm. “It has its wiring loom and body panels are currently in the paint shop after being test fitted. The entire interior, including race seat, steering, pedals and gearshifter, is in location so the crew are making great progress with that chassis.

“We’re still waiting on a few parts for Rick’s Mustang to get up to that same stage, but once those items arrive ... we’ve basically figured everything out where everything goes on Andre’s chassis so the second one will come together more quickly.”

The livery for Kelly’s Castrol Mustang is complete, joining Heimgartner’s previously released Ned Whiskey example, which has enabled the team to start the paint process.

“A lot of the panels are currently being painted; we’ve locked in the liveries so we know what colours the Mustangs will be, so we can begin preparing the bodywork to be installed,” Kelly said.

Designer Tim Pattinson is producing the artwork for Kelly Racing’s Mustangs.

“The livery for Rick’s Castrol car is all locked in. We’ll be revealing that on February 10,” Kelly said.

“That’s going to be pretty exciting, it’s going to be something different to what we’ve had in the past and it should be a hit with the fans.”

Both liveries and final assembly will be covered in Auto Action’s next instalment of Project Pony.

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Although not a traditional form of motor sport, Sim Racing as an e-Sport is fast becoming a serious competition. HEATH McALPINE explores how this new sensation has driven the world of racing into another dimension.

Images: iRacing/Supercars THERE IS much conjecture about whether Sim Racing can be considered a motor sport — traditionalists say no, young bucks may say yes. This article is not about proving it either way, but giving an informed guide to what is fast becoming a popular hobbyturned-professional way for racing aficionados to spend their time.

The programs that dominate the market, such as iRacing, Assetto Corsa and rFactor are a long way from the Playstation and XBOX lines of games that Mark Skaife spruiked 20 years ago. The seriousness in the development of these programs is demonstrated by the detail produced to make them. Everything from scanning entire circuits and cars, to the amount of set-up changes that can be applied, is astounding stuff.

It’s a long, long way from the days of playing Trial Mountain on Gran Turismo 2, that’s for sure.

Even more impressive is not only the integration of the software into real life use, but how professionalism of Sim Racing has permeated through team managers, drivers and even engineers. Although this

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Teammates Josh Rogers and Jarrad Filsell performed strongly for Walkinshaw Andretti United, taking out first and second places. type of e-Series doesn’t carry the fanfare of shooting and strategy type games such as League of Legends yet, organisations ranging from car manufacturers to race teams right up to categories including Supercars and the sport’s pinnacle, Formula 1, realise the importance of this format.

It’s changing the face of the sport by creating an accessible way to enter

motor sport, and to say some of these kids don’t have what it takes is a lie.

One example is Jann Mardenborough.

He was the third winner of Nissan’s GT Academy back in 2011 and has since progressed through various disciplines, including prototype sports cars, GTs and open-wheelers, but is now driving as a factory Nissan driver in SuperGT.

Although a virtual world, it parallels in near-exact detail a majority of what happens in real life and this is why it is fast becoming an invaluable training tool for current drivers, who not only use it for that format, but also as a hobby. Some of Supercars’ top drivers, including title rivals Scott McLaughlin and Shane van Gisbergen, and young gun Andre De Pasquale, are avid sim racers and regularly race against members of the public.

Coverage of these events is accessible through livestream and studio shows. This easy entrance is why its popularity is growing, according to Supercars e-Series pit commentator Jonathan Simon.

“It’s pretty easy to access. If you class it as a type of motor sport it’s even cheaper than karting and you can utilise more than just at the weekend,” Simon told Auto Action.

“It gives drivers an avenue to race during the week from home and is a good training tool that maintains your muscle memory.

“When you play a game like NBA2K or FIFA the skills from those games don’t filter through to real life, while in Sim Racing it means you may be as good in real life and vice-versa.

The Supercars e-Series is gathering momentum (left and above) and in 2020 it will see the Ford Mustang replace the FG FFalcon Fa allc lcoonn ((right). righ ri ghtt)).

“Max Verstappen has just jumped into iRacing and he has already proven to be one of the top sim racers in the world.”

Simon has been involved in Sim Racing for more than a decade and believes the growth has been steady compared to other e-Series, which is allowing errors to be found and rectified before the format hits its peak.

“It has been a steady growth for Sim Racing. It hasn’t blown up as much as other e-Series have, which could be a good thing or a bad thing,” he said.

“Sometimes with these things you don’t want it to blow up too quickly.

“It gives everyone an opportunity to experiment and make mistakes, which could range from technical issues to race formats and presentation to fans.”

Having started as a sim racer six years ago, Brenton O’Brien has gradually transferred into the management of one of Australia’s most successful teams, Evolution Racing Team, and has transferred this experience into real life after being employed at Winton as the circuit’s event sales and marketing manager.

O’Brien told Auto Action the growing professionalism of Sim Racing had sparked debate about whether it should take that next step.

“There was a bit of conflict on the way through because not everyone wanted it to go to the professional level,” O’Brien said.

Equipment used by sim racers and drivers honing their skills has become highly sophisticated.

“Some were happy just doing what they were doing — they didn’t want to implement change.

“With the professionalism that has been bought into it ... it has certainly now taken that next step when businesses, sponsors and the media as well are becoming involved.

“I think there has been a rapid acceleration probably over the last six to12 months.”

ERT mainly concentrates on the local Supercars iRacing series, but has previously had success in the World GT3 Championship and rallying, but the emergence of the Supercars E-Series last year meant the team turned its focus back.

Drivers affiliated with the team ran with the Walkinshaw Andretti United

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and Garry Rogers Motorsport squads in the E-Series. These deals were aided by O’Brien as part of his management role, which extends to event and driver organisation, of which there are 21 of them.

“At the moment its more driver and event management,” O’Brien said.

“I organise test sessions, organising liveries, keeping sponsors up to date, making sure each car has the right drivers registered.

“I also do a lot of the strategy as well, pre-planning enduros.

“When you’re establishing a team, it’s a good 35-40 hour job. By the time you send your sponsorship proposals out, help organise series, it’s full-time for a while.

“But at the same time if I didn’t enjoy it, I wouldn’t be doing it.”

Just as it is in real life, sponsorship is a huge part of racing and the seriousness is replicated.

“The days are gone where you just send the sponsor an email saying can xxxxx xxxxxyou xxxxx xxxxx come on board and have a look,” xxxx xxxxxO’Brien xxxxx xxxxx said.

“These days, we’re asking professional people to join a professional image, so that is what we portray. We put together a professional sponsorship proposal, including all the facts and figures, what’s in it for them, what’s in it for us, what we can show, where it gets highlighted, the viewership.

“Like we do in business, we’ve got to sell the product to see why people want to come on board and it’s just not a case of sending one email agreeing and saying that’s good.

Getting sponsors is the easy part, keeping them is when the work really needs to start.

“We’re at a stage where our drivers

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Like the FG Falcon, the VF Holden Commodore will make way for its replacement, the ZB Commodore. Most of the worlds best drivers use simulators to stay on top of their game.

Next time you racing DDuck 23 you never know who it might be.....

do get paid. It’s performance-based, but if a new sponsor comes on board we could get to a stage where we pay them an amount that could further help them along, not live off, but with university payments etc.”

O’Brien is expecting the Supercars e-Series to expand this year and

believes it adds further to the integrity of Sim Racing.

“There are plans for the Supercars e-Series to continue and get stronger for 2020,” he said.

“There are already talks under way to continually improve the Supercars category within Australia in

co co cooperation with Supercars. It gives it m mo more credibility if you’re working with the the real industry and that’s what we want wa to continue to do.”

The T inaugural winner of the Supercars e-Series was Josh Rogers, S an a accomplished karter and Sim racer, who is regarded as one of the ra best in the world. The 19-year-old b is a winner of the Porsche e-Sports Supercup and the VRS GT iRacing S World Championship Series, racing W for f overseas team Coanda Simsport.

Rogers is the classic example of hobby turning into profession. He h started five years ago and now works sta as a Sim Racing instructor.

“I got into it back in 2014, basically just a few karting mates jumping on and having a good time,” Rogers said. “Certainly, in the last couple of years it’s something that I take quite a bit more seriously, getting into the World Championship Series and the Supercars e-Series.”

Preparation for a race meeting is vastly different between virtual and reality, because of accessibility.

Rogers can complete a test each day on the circuits he will contest on the weekend during the week, a situation Supercars teams only dream off.

“Throughout the race week you’re always on the Sim at least once every day, but there’s 10-15 hours preparation throughout the week trying to get yourself and the car dialled in,” Rogers said.

“With the multiple tracks, you’re trying to put in that effort across the board meaning that you have to adapt a whole lot more quickly in terms of different situations. We don’t have 50-60 people working on the car to get it going as fast as you can. For e-Series it might be five. As a driver it is no different to real life. You try and get the most out of the car, while

Josh Rogers has a big moment in his #92 Porsche.

also trying to feel the car to provide good feedback to progress the car forward.

“I look at data, sometimes I set the car up by feel, but there are a lot of different options in iRacing when you talk about set-up.

“Brake bias, toe adjustment, caster, camber, springs, shock absorbers, high-speed lowspeed dampers, compression rebound, gear ratios and all sorts of things so it’s a combination of all that in trying to find out what works and what doesn’t.”

The growth of e-Sports has extended to prizemoney being awarded and although Rogers has accumulated a small sum, it is not enough for him to turn to Sim Racing full-time.

“Not at this stage,” Rogers said. “The tricky thing with prizemoney is that it is something that is not always guaranteed, it’s not at the point yet where you can make a living.

Some people can, but it’s not at the level where everyone can. In the next couple of years it’ll be great to see and with the rate it’s progressing, it’s possible.”

As Sim Racing rises in popularity the technology associated with its software continues to improve at a rapid rate.

Simon Feigl works with simulators daily and even helped during preparation of the IndyCar Wildcard entry in last year’s Bathurst 1000, indicating the close similarities between the two.

“I was showing Alexander Rossi and James Hinchcliffe when they were here at Bathurst what is possible on iRacing just in terms of sharing team data, set-up, and they were blown away,” Feigl told Auto Action.

“It was like I was their engineer showing them what to do.

“To give you an indication of what you can do on iRacing, we were modelling the WAU Commodore in preparation for Rossi and Hinchcliffe so they could prepare ahead of Bathurst. I was driving the sim and we were adjusting things like drag, aerodynamic downforce — there are some things you can’t do because it’s a black box. We ended up getting the car very similar in its drag and downforce loads, setting lap times close

to James Courtney’s in 2018, so we were basically getting a fully accurate version of the car ready for those guys who came here because they had very limited running.”

The motorsports industry overseas regularly uses Sim Racing to find basic set-ups for particular tracks and even to digitally build cars.

“I was fortunate enough to go to the Sim Racing Expo in Germany last year and I was able to meet the guys that won the DTM with Rene Rast, Team Rosberg,” Feigl said.

“The team have a really comprehensive simulation program and they said that some of the benefits directly translate to simulation.

“They actually laser-scan tracks and hold that IP. Some tracks they have that the Audi Sport Sim don’t, including Lausitzring and Oschersleben. Team Rosberg went there.

“They dominated every time.

“They had the drivers and engineers in tune, they knew exactly what to do in the car, what kind of components, what kind of settings to apply.

“Out of the box, they were way ahead of the other teams at these tracks.”

“The technical director at Team Rosberg told me that he used to work in NASCAR and they used simulation as an engineering tool.

“They basically built the car, all of the componentry, it’s like a CAD drawing of the car from an engineering standpoint. They could modify a component built within the computer, run it around a track in the actual simulation so it was a computer-generated simulation, but then incorporate the driver into the loop where they will drive it and feel the differences.”

It’s an amazing development and is only set to continue. The future is bright for Sim Racing and is indeed not a danger to motorsport as we view it now, but is further expanding its reach. The adrenaline of sitting behind the driver’s seat can only be found in one place and it is not behind a computer screen.

Whether fans like it or not, Sim Racing is here to stay.

Xxx x x x Xxx x x x Xxx x x x Xxx x x x Xxx x x x Xxx x x x Xxx x x x Xxx x x x Xxx x x x x x x Xxx x x x Xxx x x x Xxx xxx

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31

DAS PORSCHE JUNGE WAFFE* (*the Porsche Young Gun)

Fast becoming a one-make specialist, Cooper Murray is determined to climb the Porsche pyramid, hoping to emulate Jaxon Evans and Matt Campbell as an international factory driver. DAN McCARTHY speaks to him about his rapid rise Images: Porsche TEENAGER COOPER Murray has very quickly established himself as a 911 ace, rocketing into the spotlight by taking race victories in both national Porsche categories.

Although Murray stepped into a Formula Ford for the first time just three years ago, he took soon took out races in that category before adding numerous more in Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge and last year in Porsche Carrera Cup Australia.

Like most drivers, the young Australian trod the traditional pathway through karts at the age of 10 after some coaxing by his motorsport loving parents.

“I was never really into racing,” he told Auto Action. “I grew up in a racing family with Mum and Dad. “Mum raced go karts and dad raced HQs, so I was always at the racetrack. “(But) I was never a fan of being a race car driver. Dad convinced me to race go karts and from the first race I loved it.

“I was hooked.”

In the six years that Murray raced in karts he bagged six state championships and two Australasian Cadet class titles.

He then stepped up to race in Formula Ford in September 2016 before entering

32 AutoAction

Murray won several races in his debut Porsche Carrera Cup Australia season. full-time the following year.

“I did a full season in Formula Ford just to learn how to drive a race car with an H-pattern, heel and toe and everything like that,” he said.

“Finished second in the Victorian Championship and narrowly missed out on a top five in the Australian Championship.”

The 18-year-old told AA that he felt pursuing the open wheeler path in Europe was too expensive and so it became a choice between the Supercars path or a sports car career.

“We compared the Porsche pyramid with Supercars and the Porsche path gave us a lot more opportunities,” he said.

“How its junior scholarship works and the support its drivers receive all the way through — young kids my age get the chance to be a Michelin Junior driver, which also gives them the chance to win the scholarship, to create a dream career racing over in Europe.

“We thought it also gave us an opportunity for a Supercars pathway as David Reynolds and Fabian Coulthard also started off in the Carrera Cup Series. We thought Carrera Cup gave you two options, Europe or Supercars.”

So the next step was to tackle the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge, the second tier of Porsche racing in Australia, with Ash

Seward Motorsport and from the word go it was a natural fit.

“Everything started at that first test day, it just clicked for me driving the Porsche,” Murray said.

“I’ve just felt at one with it the whole time, it suits my driving style and how I drive a race car. Every time I get in one of those cars it puts a huge smile on my face.

“We went into the year with no expectations as it was my first year in tin-top racing, so we took it as it went and first race of the year I ended up winning it by 20 seconds.”

Mid-season Murray was unstoppable. He won five races in a row and led the series heading into the final race.

But a clutch failure left him stranded on the grid before he was collected by another competitor, denting his title hopes.

“As soon as the lights went out, I let go of the clutch and obviously there was no clutch to let go of. No matter how

Murray drives for Ashley Seward Motorsport in the Carrera Cup series (left). The Victorian performed strongly in Gt3 Cup Challenge Australia, finishing the season in second place (right).

Murray takes a round win in last year’s Carrera Cup Series at Townsville. much I took the clutch in and out it was like it was in neutral, so I couldn’t move anywhere,” anywhere ” he said. said “In a season you need to have no DNFs and be consistent but unfortunately I had one DNF, which was my fault, and then the clutch failure that was out of my hands — they ruined our season.”

This mechanical issue was enough to allow him be overhauled by the consistent Simon Fallon, who snatched the title from Murray’s grasp. Despite that, many positives were taken from the experience in the GT3 Cup Challenge.

“We had no expectations, to be the most successful driver in terms of race wins,

poles and round wins that season,” he said. “It was a brilliant year.

I took the confidence from that year year, knowing how fast I was, into Carrera Cup. “Staying back in GT3 Cup Challenge would have been pointless, having already been to those tracks and already proved in that series that I was fast enough and that I could’ve won the championship.

“We thought it was better to step up to Carrera Cup earlier and learn more sooner rather than later.”

After the success in GT3 Cup Challenge, Murray continued to drive for Ashley Seward Motorsport in the top-tier series and started the season with several top five finishes, but in mid-season he made the move to McElrea Racing.

“Getting the lap record at Albert Park in an Ash Seward-prepared Porsche shows it was definitely fast enough, but we thought the best decision for my career was the route through McElrea,” he said.

“They had got two Carrera Cup Series winners in the previous three years and both of those drivers have gone on to win the junior scholarship and become Porsche drivers over in Europe.”

The change yielded almost instant results. In his second round with the team in Townsville Murray took his first pole position and cleanswept the weekend.

“Every team and car is different. They are never going to be the exact same,” he said.

“It’s all the little things that make the difference, the one percenters.

“Every time I get in the McElrea car I have the confidence that the engineering team are going to have the setup on point and I can go out and drive the thing.”

In the remaining rounds, Murray finished outside the top four only once and concluded his debut season in an impressive fifth place in the series.

Throughout last year Murray’s car lacked sponsorship and he feels a deal is essential if he is to complete the entirety of the series this season.

“Last year having no sponsors made it tough for us,” he said. “This year we need sponsors to go racing — we are working really hard at the moment because it is not easy getting sponsorship.

“Getting wins and podiums towards the end of the year ultimately has helped me a little bit, but still not enough.”

Murray hopes that he can qualify for the Porsche shootout this year and follow the pathway set by former Australian Carrera Cup winners Campbell and Evans to become a Porsche factory driver.

“The long term plan is give it my best this year and see how we go and hopefully we go and do the junior scholarship and obviously try and replicate what Matt and Jaxon have done,” Murray said.

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33

NASCAR

EYES ON THE CUP

The 2019 NASCAR Cup Series continued the recent pattern of down-to-the wire title fights, but there are some interesting changes this season, writes DAN McCARTHY Images: LAT THIS SEASON’S NASCAR Cup Series will again provide the platform for NASCAR’s elite to battle it out for the premier title in stock car racing in a gruelling schedule of 36 points-paying races.

Although eventual champion Kyle Busch came out of the blocks with all guns blazing last season, a major mid-season slump opened the door to his rivals to close the gap and challenge for the title.

Despite the form drop, Busch made it through the Playoffs and scraped into the Championship 4.

After sitting second for most of the Playoff campaign, Busch was able to capitalise on a rare mistake by the Joe Gibbs Racing crew of teammate Martin Truex Jr to take his second NASCAR Cup title.

It was possibly the closest Championship 4 campaign ever since the concept was introduced in 2004. The Championship 4

consisted of Joe Gibbs Racing trio Truex, Busch and Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin, while the odd one out was 2015 runner-up Kevin Harvick driving a Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing.

Limited changes to these teams and drivers means the final quartet from last season will head into this season as favourites.

Despite winning several other titles in 2019, Team Penske failed to have the success it had with Joey Logano the previous season after its trio of drivers struggled to demonstrate consistency.

Despite this Brad Keselowski, Ryan Blaney and Logano cannot be ruled out as contenders for the title for this season.

The biggest change for the 2020 season isn’t through the rules, but with a radically revised calendar, particularly in the 10 elimination Playoff races that conclude the season, which will provide an extra challenge with more track diversity.

Joey Logano and his Team Penske teammates will look to rebound after a challenging 2019 campaign.

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AutoActionMagazine

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Kyle Busch won the 2019 NASCAR Cup Series (above). This season Chevrolet drivers will compete in the new ZL1 1LE (left).

Darlington Raceway and Bristol Motor Speedway replace the HomesteadMiami Speedway and Dover International Speedway.

Homestead’s absence means that for the first time since 2001 it will not host the final race of the season. Instead the track will host a race towards the start of the season in March.

Phoenix Raceway, which has hosted the penultimate round of the series since 2005 will take its place as the finale.

These changes listed are the main alterations to the 2020 schedule, but many other changes have occurred, which according to the NASCAR executive vice-president Steve O’Donnell came as a result of fan feedback.

“The fans and the industry as a whole have been vocal about the desire for sweeping changes to the schedule, and the 2020 slate is a reflection of our efforts to execute against that feedback,” O’Donnell said.

Ahead of the 2020 season it was announced that Chevrolet, one of the three brands in the Cup Series, will make the switch from the current Camaro ZL1 that debuted in 2018 to the Camaro ZL1 1LE. The highest placed Chevrolet driver last

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season was Kyle Larson, who finished the season sixth with Chip Ganassi Racing.

This season is also slated to be the last for the current Gen-6 car as the Next Gen NASCAR is set to debut next year with the goal of introducing further original equipment manufacturers to the category.

As always there are several driver changes ahead of the 2020 season, but unlike last season these moves are not in the leading teams.

The biggest change is within the Stewart Haas Racing team.

The departing Daniel Suarez moves to Gaunt Brothers Racing and will be replaced by last season’s NASCAR Xfinity Series runner-up Cole Custer.

This year will also be the final season that seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson will contest the series before retiring at the end of the year.

Australian James Davison, cousin of Supercars drivers Will and Alex, will make his debut in the NASCAR Cup Series in a one-off drive for Jonathan Byrd Racing at the first points-paying event of the year, the Daytona 500.

The season begins with the non-points Busch Clash at Daytona on February 9.

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RACE REPORT

Bathurst 12 Hour Mount Panorama

BENTLEY BOYS DELIVER

After years of trying the M-Sport Bentley team breaks through to take its first Bathurst 12 Hour victory. The 12 Hour began in the very early hours (bottom left).

Report: HEATH McALPINE Photos: Ross Gibb/Insyde Media

IT WAS the most dramatic lead-up to a Bathurst 12 Hour in history — and that was just for the M-Sport Bentley team.

An engine change and rebuild split between the pair of Continental GT3s failed to put the team off as it scored a breakthrough victory on The Mountain, thus ending the heartbreak of previous campaigns.

It was a dominant second half of the race for Maxime Soulet, Jordan Pepper and Jules Gounon, who now become heroes at the

38 AutoAction

Bentley factory in Crewe.

The three started out of the top 10 in what was possibly Bathurst’s most competitive field. The start was spectacular — leader Patrik Pilet was immediately accosted by Maxi Buhk and the GruppeM Racing MercedesAMG GT3 slid down the inside at Hell Corner to take an early lead. He was followed by Ben Barnicoat in the 59Racing McLaren 720S GT3.

Pilet sat in third, but the KCMG Nissan GT-R GT3 started by Alexandre Imperatori was looming and passed

the Absolute Racing Porsche 991 GT3R on lap 3, almost immediately bridging the gap that the two leaders had established.

Meanwhile, Rick Kelly started the lone R-Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage GT3, but a mistake at Turn 1 dropped the multiple Bathurst 1000 winner to the rear of the GT3 field.

An electronic glitch forced Kelly to change the fuel settings in-car and it began to move forward once the problem was resolved.

Lap 7 was when Barnicoat made his move, a daring overtake executed on the inside of Buhk at The Chase, of which contact was inevitable. But it was only light contact and the two continued unharmed. The McLaren’s pace was hot, dropping to a 2m 04.876s on lap 10 after previously lapping in the low 2m 05s.

The Porsches were cautious. Pilet

and Craig Lowndes in the lead Earl Bamber Motorsport 991 GT3R were dropping positions, but each knew that the superior fuel economy of the German thoroughbred would hold them in good stead for the rest of the day.

A mistake from the veteran at The Chase dropped the EBM Porsche down to 10th position by lap 15.

After its incident during Practice 5, the second Bentley was repaired to perfection, according to Alex Buncombe, and was charging through the field after starting from pit lane, 23rd by lap 14.

The sun was beginning to shine as Barnicoat extended his advantage to be 3.6s ahead of Buhk entering lap 17. Imperatori remained just 0.8s back with Pilet more than 7s further away leading a pack of five including

As the sun breaks through on Mount Panorama the Bentley emerges as a real contender (top). Triple Eight earns itself a podium position (above left), while the McLaren 720S (right) finishes an inpressive second.

Mercedes-AMG GT3 pair Luca Stolz and Maximilian Goetz in the Triple Eight Race Engineering Merc, Jordan Pepper driving the lead M-Sport Bentley Continental GT3, and the Orange1 FFF Lamborghini Huracan GT3 piloted by Marco Mapelli.

There was a scare for the JAS Motorsport Honda NSX GT3, with IMSA Penske DPi driver Dane Cameron at the wheel, when he encountered the lapped Wall Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 exiting The Cutting. The American clipped the kerb and was airborne, but remained unscathed, so much so that he set the fastest lap of the race, a 2m 04.3237 from 15th place.

However, the debuting Japanese sportscar retired with an electronics glitch after punctures had earlier interrupted its race.

After an hour had passed, the first pit stops began to take place.

Markus Winkelhock, in one of the three factory Audi Sport Customer Racing Australia Audi R8 GT3 LMS, handed over to Mattia Drudi, while Walkenhorst Motorsport driver Nicky Catsburg ceded to Chaz Mostert in the lone BMW M6 GT3.

Next was the leader. Barnicoat came in for a fill of fuel, as did Buhk, with both continuing the battle for

another stint. Lowndes, Cameron and Frederik Vervisch, in another of the factory Audis, were next as Pilet led a Porsche 1-2-3 before pitting after 36 laps, handing over to Mathieu Jaminet with the Absolute Racing 991 GT3R in third.

The sister Absolute Racing Porsche of Dirk Werner pitted a lap later, handing the lead back to Barnicoat, who led from Buhk, Goetz, Maxime Soulet in the lead Bentley, Stolz, Andrea Caldarelli, in the Orange1 Racing FFF Lamborghini, Imperatori, Lowndes and Mostert.

A clean start ended just before the 90th minute when the Pro-Am Garage 59 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 of Come Ledogar clipped too much kerb at The Esses and hit the tyre wall, then the concrete wall, requiring the safety car.

Walkenhorst pitted again under safety car, swapping Mostert with Catsburg and topping up fuel.

The restart was clean as Barnicoat led away, but Imperatori made a mistake entering Murray’s Corner, dropping behind Calderelli and Lowndes into ninth, adding to the positions he lost during the pit stop.

Another safety car followed after the Wall Racing Lamborghini hit the concrete at The Dipper with Julian Westwood at the wheel.

Barnicoat chose to pit for fuel, tyres and a drive change to install Alvaro Parente behind the wheel during the latest race interruption, giving the lead to Goetz. Jaminet, Soulet, Stolz and Caldarelli completed the top five as the second hour closed.

Imperatori continued to charge in the KCMG Nissan. The horsepower advantage was demonstrated when he overtook Stolz in one of the new Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evos along Mountain Straight with a side draft.

Goetz pitted for fuel, tyres and a driver swap to Jamie Whincup, but another safety car was needed when two of the Sport Customer Racing Audis tangled at McPhillamy Park, with Garth Tander the victim.

Teammate Dries Vanthoor ran wide over the hump approaching Skyline, leaving Tander the opportunity to slide down the inside, but he lost the rear and copped a touch from his teammate on the way through, hitting the tyre wall heavily.

This launched a spate of pit stops, including by the entire top 10 and the leading M-Sport Bentley and KCMG Nissan lost position.

It was a long safety car, in fact half an hour or 12 laps in length, but it was a Mercedes-AMG 1-2-3 with a pair of Pro Class Evos sandwiching the Silver Class Craft Bamboo Black Falcon,

though this moved out of the way quickly.

Felipe Fraga led the way, having taken over the GruppeM Mercedes, followed by Yelmer Buurman in the similar Pro Class Craft Bamboo Black Falcon entry, while Parente in the 59Racing McLaren still remained close behind the duo.

The battle was fierce in the midpack.

JP De Oliveira was continuing Imperatori’s charge in the KCMG Nissan, while the Walkenhorst BMW dropped out of the battle after pitting to replace the bonnet and race tape the grill. This dropped the team off the lead lap as Augusto Farfus took over the reins, but this entry retired after overheating problems caused by hitting a kangaroo dropped it out of the running.

Leader Fraga pitted after 37 laps, putting fuel, tyres and Raffaele Marciello in the Mercedes-AMG, but then a pair of Audis found trouble.

The Silver Class Audi Sport Customer Racing Australia R8 LMS GT3 stopped on track with an engine failure, while its similar Pro-Am was spun at The Grate by a charging Whincup, luckily only just touching the wall. It still forced Marc Cini to head to the pits after the chasing pack had avoided the stricken Audi.

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39

RACE REPORT

Bathurst 12 Hour Mount Panorama

Bentley roars into the lead in the fifth hour (left), Mercedes dominates early but falls short (middle), while defending race winner Campbell leads the Porsche charge in fourth (right).

As it neared four hours McLaren, Bentley, Porsche and Nissan held the top positions in what was a steady portion of the race.

JP De Oliveira dropped the Japanese marque out of the battle when he pitted on lap 96 to hand over to Edoardo Liberati.

Three laps later Parente, Jules Gounon in the Bentley, and Vanthoor all pitted, the big winner being the brash British brute, which jumped the McLaren to take the effective lead.

Scott Dixon also pitted in the R-Motorsport Aston Martin, handing over to Jake Dennis.

The team still remained in contention after coming back from earlier problems.

Despite another driver at the wheel of the GT-R GT3, it didn’t stop it from

40 AutoAction

continuing its overtaking masterclass, flying past Vervisch up Mountain Straight.

Dennis Lind also followed after taking over the Orange1 FFF Racing Lamborghini.

At the front it was heating up between the M-Sport Bentley and the GruppeM Racing MercedesAMG GT3 heading towards the end of hour five. Pepper held a slight 0.252s advantage from Marciello, but although the two were battling it didn’t affect their pace as Buurman remained 9.5s behind.

Marciello successfully dived underneath Pepper at The Chase and quickly bridged a 1.314s gap, while Buurman began to close behind.

The disastrous weekend continued for R-Motorsport. Dennis bought the

lone Aston Martin into the garage for a new splitter and a brake pad change, falling five laps behind.

Worse came for the lead Absolute Racing Porsche 991 GT3R driven by Pilet, as a puncture over the top of The Mountain dropped the pole-sitter down the order.

The car was undamaged and lost a lap, but strangely the team merely changed the tyre, failing to complete a full stop.

What cruelled GruppeM Racing last year was penalties — four to be exact — and this time it was penalised 15s when the car controller left the front of the Mercedes to inspect any potential damage, which contravenes regulations. The same penalty was also applied to the lead Absolute Racing Porsche.

The only Audi contender pitted after one of Winkelhock’s tyres delaminated at The Chase. He pitted and handed the car to Drudi. But when the R8 LMS GT3 returned to the track the right rear tyre was rubbing and shooting plumes of smoke for the next three laps.

Approaching the halfway mark three manufacturers filled the podium positions. Soulet led for Bentley from Maro Engel in the Craft Bamboo Black Falcon Mercedes-AMG GT3, the margin being 2.508s, while early leader Ben Barnicoat sat a further 22.851s behind.

Audi Sport Customer Racing Australia’s day went from bad to worse when a transmission problem halted Dries Vanthoor across the top of The Mountain. He limped back to

Crowds flock to Skyline to see the GT cars fly down The Mountain. The Grove Racing Porsche goes on to win the Pro Am class.

The Team 59Racing McLaren on its way to winning the new Silver class. Trofeo Motorsport’s rebuilt Lamborghini (bottom left) and the #4 Grove Racing Porsche heads into the final turn (bottom right).

the pits, even stopping on Conrod Straight to restart the R8 GT3 LMS to fix the problem, but to no avail.

Another delaminated tyre for Drudi at McPhillamy Park forced him to limp back to the pits with the team having to investigate the problem further.

A 36-lap stint from Shane van Gisbergen ended on lap 159 when he bought the Triple Eight Mercedes-AMG into the pits, handing over to Whincup.

Meanwhile, the Orange1 FFF Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 had always been in contention and was mounting a serious challenge on its Bentley, McLaren and Mercedes rivals.

Calderelli pitted the Lamborghini, behind the other contender, Nissan, putting De Oliveira in the GT-R GT3.

Then came drama for two of the contenders. First a MARC II lost its rear window, which was struck by Barnicoat in the leading McLaren, then the EBM Porsche pitted not only for a service but to complete a brake change in the garage to be fresh for Vanthoor’s stint.

Barnicoat then pitted, leaving Gounon to retake the lead, 21.657s

clear of the GruppeM Racing Mercedes-AMG driven by Fraga with much the same margin back to Buurman. But, crucially, Gounon was a lap ahead of his key rival De Oliveira in the KCMG Nissan.

A breach for the lead 59Racing McLaren after a pit lane speed infringement — it was turned off early — resulted in a 30s hold at the next pit stop.

The contending Orange1 FFF Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 suffered a fuel pump fault on Mountain Straight with Lind in fourth at the time.

After more than four hours without an interruption, the safety car was called and the top four positions pitted, as did the KCMG team, which succeeded in gaining its lap back by servicing quickly.

Another to get its lap back was the Absolute Racing Porsche with Matt Campbell at the helm.

Lind restarted, but very slowly as he intermittently stopped at various sections of the circuit.

Pepper back at the wheel of the Bentley led Stolz and Blomqvist with still the 30s penalty to serve.

Behind the leading trio was van Gisbergen, who stole fourth from

CLASS BEST IN TOP TEN

THE PRO Am and Silver Class winners scored top 10 results in the Bathurst 12 Hour with Fraser Ross, Dom Storey and Martin Kodric finishing eighth and Ben Barker, Stephen and Brenton Groves coming 10th.

The 59Racing McLaren 720S of Ross, Storey and Kodric had a faultless run and conceded the Silver class lead only on pit strategy. It was at these times that the Black Falcon Mercedes piloted by Patrick Assenheimer, Sergey Afanasiev and Michele Berettatook took the class lead.

Ultimately they would cross the line second but would be penalised 270s, which put them back to third behind the Aston Martin of Andrew Watson, Olivier Hart and Roman De Angelis. Both classified two laps behind the winner.

Fourth went to Liam Talbot, Dean Canto, Marcel Zalloua and Grant Denyer (Lamborghini Huracan) ahead of Brett Hobson, Kurt Kostecki and Garth Walden (Nissan GT-R), which lost time to fixing a fuel leak.

The Adrian Deitz, Tony D’Alberto, Julian Westwood and Cameron McConville Lamborghini was the class’s first casualty, crashing over Skyline on lap 45. A blown engine spelled the end for the Audi R8 LMS of Tony Bates, Geoff Emery, Max Twigg and Dylan O’Keeffe.

Overheating was the only concern for the Grove/ Barker Porsche GT3 R as the team battled Porsche rivals David Calvert-Jones, Romain Dumas and Jaxon Evans and ultimately finished a lap ahead to take the Pro Am victory.

Third went to the Audi of Marc Cini, Dean Fiore and Lee Holdsworth, which was lucky to survive being tapped and spun by the Triple 8 Mercedes on top of the mount. Next were the Kenny Habul, Dominik Baumann, Martin Konrad and David Reynolds Mercedes, which dropped several laps because of a broken axle.

Four of the five class entries were finishers with the Aston Martin of Alexander West, Chris Goodwin, Come Ledogar and Maxime Martin crashing out early and bringing out the first of five safety cars.

Garry O’Brien

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41

RACE REPORT

Bathurst 12 Hour Mount Panorama

The #76 Aston Martin is in contention for a podium until merchanical issues strike (above left), Nick Percat along with Aaron Cemeron and Broc Feeney take the Invitational class by over 100 laps (above right).

De Oliveira at Griffin’s Bend.

But the importance of regaining that lap was reflected in his position on the road.

Liberati pitted the KCMG Nissan, releasing Seb Morris in the second M-Sport Bentley, which had made gradual progress through the field to be placed well inside the top 10.

It pitted as Oliver Jarvis took over, but its Nissan rival not only got skipped by the Bentley but dropped down a lap.

This situation didn’t last for long as the lead Bentley pitted and Pepper handed over to Soulet, allowing both the KCMG Nissan and the Absolute Racing Porsche of Pilet to return to the lead lap.

This left Stolz in the lead, but he

pitted a couple of laps later to hand back over to Buurman, giving van Gisbergen the lead, before he pitted the next lap.

The lead then fell into the hands of another Mercedes, this time the GruppeM Racing entry of Buhk.

Buhk then pitted from the race lead, followed by the second-placed Absolute Racing Porsche of Cairoli, just as Jarvis spun the repaired Continental GT3 exiting The Dipper, thanks to a flat tyre — amazingly missing the concrete.

Although he kept the Bentley running he was unable to flick it the right way, dropping out of contention with officials

The Earl Bamber Motorsport #1 crew can’t defend their title after losing multiple laps with a rotor change (left). The Sun Energy car looked likely for a solid result until it suffered an issue late in the race (above).

Th sole KCMG Nissan is running strongly but in the last half hour makes an unscheduled stop The (to (top). The #188 Aston Martin (above) finds the wall hard in the early hours of the race and BMW (be (below) falls out of contention, as the class winning Grove car is being refuelled.

de deploying the safety car.

Goetz G on the restart left plenty ple of room for the leader Soulet, So but had to defend from Buurman Bu approaching Griffin’s Bend.

Ben The Bentley of Soulet made ma the perfect restart and held a 3.172s lead after the opening ope circuit, which grew thanks than to the duelling Mercedes pair of Goetz and Buurman.

Also Als keeping in contention was the KCMG K Nissan. With Liberati still at a the wheel it started to loom th three in the front. on the Buu Buurman made a move on Buhk who defended strongly Buhk, H Corner on lap 236, into Hell ra wide, losing position to but ran

Liberati while the lead was now 10s in favour of Soulet.

A mistake from Buhk exiting Murray’s Corner appeared to cost him third place, but Liberati was unable to challenge.

Just as this battle for second continued to be fierce, it was playing the 59Racing McLaren 720s driven by Parente back into contention.

The Mercedes-AMG boys weren’t doing each other any favours as Soulet still held a comfortable 10s lead from Goetz with small contact made between him and Buhk under brakes at Murray’s Corner with the Nissan still on their tails.

But Buhk finally succeeded in making a move at The Chase, sliding down the inside and holding him out as Liberati

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43

RACE REPORT

Bathurst 12 Hour Mount Panorama

CARNAGE CORNER PRACTICE AND qualifying, particularly on Saturday, proved to be car killer sessions: five entries were unable to survive and take the start on Sunday morning.

KCMG Nissan was the first to be hit when a fault in the rear suspension sent Josh Burdon into the wall at Reid Park, chassis damage forcing its withdrawal.

Bentley was next when a braking issue at The Chase sent Oliver Jarvis’s Continental GT3 into the tyre wall, though it made the start.

Not so the HubAuto Corsa Ferrari 488 GT3 after fter Daniel Serra lost it at McPhillamy Park, which proved a common theme theme.

A tap from Cameron McConville in the Wall Racing Lamborghini Huracan ended Sam Shahin’s

also fancied a crack along Mountain Straight, which just failed to come off.

Buurman and Craft Bamboo Black Falcon were first to blink, pitting early to get into fresh air after just 24 laps, compared with the KCMG Nissan, which was at 32 laps before it pitted the next lap, as did Parente in the 59Racing McLaren passing on to Barnicoat.

Running away with it was Soulet. He now held a handy 30.418s lead ahead of Goetz, who had Werner for company in the second Absolute Racing Porsche as just eight competitors remained on the lead lap with two-hours to go.

The M-Sport Bentley crew pitted, taking the leader Soulet, out, bringing Gounon in and putting new tyres on board for the run home.

This put Goetz in the lead, but not for long as Werner took

The Mount Panorama circuit catches its fair share of drivers out early in the weekend and the cars (left) were just two that didn’t make the race start. The BMW M4 won the GT4 class (below).

weekend week when his Triple Eight Mercedes-AMG GT3 made heavy contact with two walls at McPhillamy, w then was w collected by Tyler Everingham in a MARC II with dust impairing his vision.

The final big one was at The Grate where Marvin

advantage of a slide by the Triple Eight Race Engineering at The Chase to move down the inside.

Goetz pitted just two circuits later on lap 259 to make way for van Gisbergen and fresh tyres for the run home.

Engel kept Craft Bamboo Black Falcon in the hunt as the weather started to turn nasty.

The wind picked up and clouds closed in as the Mercedes-AMG GT3 passed the KCMG Nissan GT-R GT3 at Murray’s Corner, further enhancing its chances of victory.

Decision time arrived for Bentley, pulling in Gounon early because he was held up by Marciello.

Imperatori replaced Liberati in the KCMG Nissan GT-R GT3.

Absolute also pitted a lap later, Campbell in for Jaminet to close out the race.

Engel stayed in and received no tyres, the leader Marciello

followed a lap later. A blown tyre on Conrod Straight forced Gounon into the pits. Barnicoat also pitted, handing over to Blomqvist, who came under pressure from Engel and the two collided at Forrest’s Elbow.

Engel continued a late-race run, passing Thomas Preining, Triple Eight brought van Gisbergen into the pits to install new tyres on the working side, emerging in sixth, but KCMG GT-R was out with brake problems.

There was some final drama to play out as Marciello copped a puncture in the closing stages and was penalised post-race for a pit stop infringement.

This elevated van Gisbergen and Triple Eight to third ahead of a hard-charging Campbell on a day Porsche appeared to be out of sorts.

Bentley sealed the deal by 41s ahead of McLaren, Mercedes and Porsche.

BATHURST 12 HOUR TOP 10 AND CLASS RESULTS Pos 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Pro Am Silver GT4

Make Bentley McLaren Mercedes Porsche Mercedes Mercedes Porsche McLaren Porsche Porsche

Drivers J.Gounon/J.Pepper/M.Soulet B.Barnicoat/T.Blomqvist/A.Parente S.van Gisbergen/J.Whincup/M.Goetz M.Campbell/P.Pilet/M.Jaminet M.Engel/L.Stolz/Y.Buurman F.Fraga/M.Buhk/R.Marciello T.Preining/D.Werner/M.Cairoli M.Kodric/F.Ross/D.Storey L.Vanthoor/C.Lowndes/E.Bamber B.Barker/S.Grove/B.Grove

Team Bentley Team M-Sport 59Racing Triple Eight Race Engineering Absolute Racing Craft-Bamboo Racing Black Falcon GruppeM Racing Absolute Racing 59Racing Earl Bamber Motorsport Grove Motorsport

Laps 314 +41.524s +44.460s +45.990s +63.040s +67.795s +96.097s 313 laps 312 laps 312 laps

Porsche

B.Barker/S.Grove/B.Grove

Grove Motorsport

312 laps

McLaren

M.Kodric/F.Ross/D.Storey

59Racing

313 laps

D.Jorgensen/B.Strom/D.van Dongen

RHC Jorgensen/Strom

277 laps

N.Percat/A.Cameron/B.Feeney

Scandia Racing by Racer Industries

310 laps

BMW Invitational MARC

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Kirchoeffer hit the outside wall, which sent the R-Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage GT3 into a barrel roll.

This overshadowed Mercedes’ dominance in the sessions, but this didn’t extend to qualifying and the Top 10 Shootout where local Matt Campbell topped both to win the Allan Simonsen Pole Position Award.

HM

BMW PREVAILS, DESPITE DRAMA-RIDDLED RACE DRAMA BEFELL all the MARC II Cars, apart from the Invitation class-winning trio of Nick Percat, Aaron Cameron and Broc Feeney, while in the GT4s it was clearly Daren Jorgensen, Brett Strom and Danny van Dongen in their BMW M4.

Percat, Cameron and Feeney were never headed, didn’t put a foot wrong and their car ran faultlessly.

“We just went around and round,” Cameron said.

But the same couldn’t be said for the rest of the MARC IIs. The Hadrian Morrall, Tyler Everingham and James Kaye Mustang-bodied racer crashed out in qualifying and the Adam Hargraves, Cedric Sbirrazzuoli, Steve Owen and Daniel Jilesen car had suspension damage twice after hitting the wall.

The remaining one was also in the wars with two fires in the pit lane from a faulty overflow relief valve.

But they lost most of their time having to change a blown engine.

Mark Griffith, Dirk Muller and Harrison Newey were the early leaders in their Mercedes AMG in GT4 but lost 13 laps replacing a failed gear change compressor. They managed to bring that back to a seven-lap deficit by the end of the race.

In the meantime, the winning BMW was not without some dramas itself after taking over the lead. Towards the end an alternator failure meant the crew had to bring the car home on its battery. “We had a couple of hits and a vibration at one stage. We pitted more times than we really needed to,” said Jorgensen.

Garry O’Brien

Bathurst 12 Hour Mount Panorama

SUPPORTS

ANDERSON ANNEXES OPENING HONOURS Photos: Insyde Media

VICTORIES WERE spread among four drivers at Round 1 of the Aussie Racing Cars Championship Series where Josh Anderson overcame a poor start to take overall honours.

In the opener, the lead swapped between Joel Heinrich (Cruze) and Paul Morris (Altima) a couple of times before Heinrich had the front running after the last safety car resumption and held on to win.

Craig Woods (Mustang) had the better of Nick Simmons (Camaro) for third while Ben Walsh (Mustang) was next ahead of Kody Garland (Mustang) and Reece Chapman (Camaro). Anderson had qualified his Camaro on the front row but stalled at the start, resuming behind the field before firing up the order to finish eighth.

Anderson had qualified his Camaro on the front row but stalled at the start, resuming behind the field before firing up the order to finish eighth.

The first safety car came on the opening lap when Grant Thompson (Mustang) crashed, and the second was for Jaiden Maggs (Camaro) and Pawel Faber (Camaro) when they clashed.

The second race was led early by Morris.

Simmons took the lead on lap two before he was

Josh Anderson (right) hits the line to win the opening round of the Aussie Racing Car Series. slowed with a throttle issue to finish 19th. Woods was able to grab the lead and held it to the end.

Morris was third ahead of Heinrich, Walsh and Garland.

In the race three reverse top 10 Anderson started out of eighth position and scored a big 5.6s victory.

Woods looked likely to grab second when he passed Morris into The Chase on the final lap. But Morris sneaked back past at the last corner and Heinrich almost pinched third.

Garland was next clear of Ben Walsh (Mustang) who recovered well from a spin at Griffin Bend after contact with Kent Quinn (Aurion). The latter had started from pole position while front row partner Kyle Ensbey (Mustang) pulled to the pits before the race started.

The final shortened event had a safety car on lap 1, deployed when Heinrich and Walsh hit at Griffin Bend and Charlotte Poynting (Mustang) became entangled with nowhere to go.

The race resumed with a one-lap sprint to the finish, and it was on between Woods and Morris with Garland putting himself into the battle as well.

The two front runners brushed at The Chase and then Morris and Garland at Murray’s.

Through the drama Simmons sneaked through to first ahead of Anderson, Ensbey, Morris and Quinn.

Overall it was Anderson from Morris, Woods and Heinrich.

Garry O’Brien

BOSCHERT BEST IN THE MIX Photo: Insyde Media

DRIVING HIS refreshed Dodge-powered Chev Corvette, Paul Boschert was the best of the Wake Up Hostels Combined Sedans at Bathurst with an outright 11th after qualifying dramas before two victories.

He won the Spaceframe Class while Nathan Herne (Dodge Challenger) dominated the TA2 class. Among the V8 Touring Cars consistency worked for Warren Millett (Holden Commodore VZ) as the Chassis classes were taken by Mark Tracey (BMW/Chev), and Steve Hay and Glen Melling in Commodores.

Steve Lacey (Chev Camaro) won the first race after starting seventh. Over the opening laps he picked off those ahead and assumed the lead just before the safety car was deployed.

Jim Pollicina (V8 Touring Car Holden Commodore VE) was the early race leader. He finished second ahead of the fastest qualifier Tony Groves (MARC Mazda V8) with Herne fourth.

MARC I Cars driven by Jason Busk and Bayley Hall filled the next two positions ahead of Jimmy Vernon (TA2 Ford Mustang), Millett, Matt Cherry (Improved

Production Holden Monaro) and Scott Cameron (SS Commodore/Chev).

In the second outing Pollicina led all the way to be first across the line ahead of Boschert and Hall.

Pollicina grabbed the lead at the outset as pole-sitter Lacey was slow away.

As Herne shadowed the race leader, Lacey was battling with Groves and Hall. Lacey was soon second but a driveshaft failure sidelined him.

Then Groves crashed at Reid Park, which brought out the safety car. At the resumption Boschert, who was fifth, stormed through to second. That became a win when Pollicina was penalised 30s for passing lapped cars under yellows and relegated to 17th.

Herne also copped a penalty (5s), which relegated him to fifth behind Vernon and Millett after overlapping at the control line.

Boschert led from the outset in the third race, harassed across the top by Herne but with enough straight-line top end to pull away for the win.

Hall finished third with Pollicina next ahead of Millett, Jason Busk (MARC Car), Lacey, Gary Collins and Stephen Coe in their V8TC Commodores.

GOB

Terry Lawlor claimed round honours in Group S and Paul Boschert won the competitive Combined Sedans.

LAWLOR LEADS SHELBY QUINELLA Photo: Insyde Media

APART FROM the very start of race one, it was Terry Lawlor in his Shelby GT350 who led throughout all three Group S Production Sports Car support events at the Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour.

Race one pole-sitter John Harrison, also driving a GT350, jumped away better but was relegated to second in the charge up to Griffin Bend.

Doug Barbour (Porsche 911) held third for much of the race only to give way to Joe Di Bartolo (Chev Corvette) in the latter stages. The latter held on ahead of Barbour and the advancing Andrew Purvis in his 911.

Joe Calleja (Corvette) worked his way through from 18th to be as high as sixth.

But he ultimately finished seventh as David Cunneen (911) slipped past late in the race. They were followed by the 911s of Bryan Taylor and Stan Adler who started 37th after a rev issue in qualifying.

Lawlor and Harrison dominated the second and third races with a pair of one-two results. While they showed the way, intense racing prevailed in their wake where in Race 2 Di Bartolo held third until passed by Barbour.

There was a safety car deployed when David Baker’s Corvette broke its gearbox in the Cutting around the same time Ron Goodman’s Porsche 356 lost its flywheel on Conrod Straight.

After the race resumption, Di Bartolo was able to salvage third. Behind him it was a congested and tight finish between Calleja and the Porsches driven by Barbour, Andrew Purvis, Adler and Alex Walker. Calleja was later penalised 15s for passing before the control line.

Race 3 was shortened and the top three were Lawlor, Harrison and Di Bartolo. In a close contest for fourth it was Walker just in front of Barbour and Calleja.

Adler was a non-starter with a recurring back issue. GOB

“Coming up at the nation’s action and spectator tracks” Wakefield Park

www.wakefieldpark.com.au February 7 Track Day February 8 Motor Racing Australia Round 1 February 9 Motor Racing Australia Round 1 February 17 Anglo Motorsport February 20 Defensive Driver Training

Winton

www.wintonraceway.com.au February 8 Drift Cadet February 9 Drift Cadet February 11 BJR February 12 BJR February 13 Observed License Testing

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DAYTONA 24

AUSSIES SHINE AT DAYTONA

By DAN McCARTHY Images: LAT

FOR THE three Australians competing in this year’s Daytona 24 Hours, the race could not have gone any better.

In the opening round of the IMSA Weathertech SportsCar Championship, all three Aussies finished on the class podium with former IndyCar star Ryan Briscoe taking outright victory and Supercars driver Chaz Mostert winning the GTLM class battle.

Briscoe teamed with former Formula 1 driver Kamui Kobayashi, Kiwi Scott Dixon and Renger van der Zande in the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R to deliver the team its second straight Daytona victory.

The quartet bounced back from a late-race penalty to uphold Cadillac’s 100 per cent winning record since the top-tier DPi era began in 2017.

It was Kobayashi who crossed the line to take the win by 65s from the pole-sitting #77 Mazda Team Joest Mazda RT24-P driven by Oliver Jarvis, Tristan Nunez and Olivier Pla. The 58th running of the American endurance classic smashed both the lap and distance records — 833 laps were clocked up, totalling 4772.47km, after only six cautions were called throughout the event.

The race got off to an exciting start with drivers treating it more like a sprint race. Just three hours in Briton Harry Tincknell, driving the #55 Mazda, tried a risky move on the inside of the #7 Acura Team Penske DPi of Helio Castroneves at the Bus Stop chicane.

The two made contact, spinning the Brazilian The #77 Mazda trio led for a spell but could not match the pace of the Cadillacs, finishing second.

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Australian Ryan Briscoe and his #10 Cadillac teammates triumphed in the 24 Hours of Daytona. into the wall. Tincknell was given a drivethrough penalty for the incident.

Soon afterwards Kobayashi also incurred a drive-through, for speeding in the pit lane, dropping him 40s behind the leader.

All of this meant that Pla in the #77 Mazda was given a sizeable advantage early on, but this was short-lived, lasting just until the first safety car period.

As a result the #10 Cadillac quickly found its way towards the front and became locked in a fierce battle for the lead with the #77 Mazda that continued to the halfway stage.

It was at the 12-hour mark that the Cadillac began to pull out a margin, creating a big advantage heading into the final quarter of the race.

But when Briscoe took over from van der Zande in the 18th hour things began to unravel. The Aussie struggled with a mechanical issue that caused a loss of power steering, forcing him to stop on-track to perform an electronic recycle.

Soon after this he pitted from the lead under caution. He missed the red light on pit lane exit and was given a one-minute penalty,

dropping the team down a lap.

“I actually left the pit box and we’re right down at the end there, so the red light is over to the left as soon as I pull out of my pit box,” he said.

“When I pulled out, I was actually checking my mirrors to see where the competition was.

It’s my bad, I just didn’t see it.”

Several yellow flags benefited the #10 Cadillac and by the end of the 20th hour Briscoe had worked his way back to the front.

From there the team was unchallenged and pulled off a superb victory ahead of the #77

Mazda.

Joao Barbosa, Loic Duval and Sebastian Bourdais were the other main challengers in the #5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac, leading mid-race for a sustained period before finishing 20s behind the #77 Mazda in third.

Reigning champions Dane Cameron and Juan Pablo Montoya, joined by Indy 500 winner Simon Pagenaud, finished a disappointing fourth, five laps down.

The GTLM class was fought out all race by the two-car factory Porsche 911 RSRs and the BMW M8s squads.

Supercars driver Chaz Mostert won the GTLM class driving a BMW M8 (right).

The three cars swapped places countless times throughout the thrilling 24-hour encounter and by the end of the race there was just 18s between them.

With a few hours remaining the top three could not be separated — the #911 Porsche with Australia’s Bathurst 12 Hour winner Matt Campbell, Nick Tandy and Frederic

Makowiecki, the #912 Porsche driven by Laurens Vanthoor, Earl Bamber and Mathieu Jaminet, and the #24 BMW of John Edwards, Augusto Farfus, Jesse Krohn and Mostert.

With two hours remaining Edwards gave the #24 BMW to Krohn in the lead, but soon after the stop Tandy pounced to take first position and pull out a margin.

With an hour to go Australians performed strongly in the GTLM class at Daytona. Chaz Krohn was Mostert won the category in the #24 BMW (below), while Matt Campbell finished third (right). The reigning IMSA DPi champions started their title defence by finishing off the podium (below right).

Kiwi Supercars star Shane van Gisbergen had no luck in the #12 Lexus, finishing several laps down (above). back on the tail of the #911 Porsche, trying everything to find a way through. Eventually, with just 45 minutes to go, the Finn got through on the approach to the International Horseshoe. From there the #24 BMW was

never headed, taking the victory by 14s from the #911 Porsche. This meant that Mostert took the class win, while Campbell rounded out the podium.

In the GTD class Shane van Gisbergen, driving a Lexus RC F GT3 with Frankie Montecalvo, Aaron Telitz and Townsend Bell, finished the race 37 laps behind the class winners in the #48 Lamborghini Huracan.

In the small but competitive LMP2 class Ben Hanley, Henrik Hedman, Colin Braun and Harrison Newey came out on top in their DragonSpeed USA car. the

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WRC ROUND 1

MONTE CARLO

NEUVILLE NABS MONTE NAILBITER

By DAN McCARTHY Images: LAT/Red Bull Content Pool

BELGIAN ACE Thierry Neuville has broken through to take his first Rallye Monte-Carlo victory, the traditional season’s opener for the FIA World Rally Championship.

After the heartbreak of losing the event last year by just 2.2s, a determined Neuville charged from third on Sunday to claim the rally win and, with the end-of-rally Power Stage victory, took home maximum points.

In taking the win Neuville scored both his and Hyundai’s first Rallye Monte-Carlo victory and denied his long-time rival, the six-times champion Sebastien Ogier, a seventh consecutive Monte Carlo win.

“The target was to win this rally and take

revenge and it feels good right now,” Neuville said after the race.

“It’s something we’ve been fighting for for a very long time.

“Rallye Monte-Carlo is one of the most historic events that every WRC driver wants to win at least once, and we’ve done it.”

Ogier, driving for Toyota Gazoo Racing this year — his fourth team in five years — was still more than happy to come home second, overtaking his teammate Elfyn Evans on the final stage after completing the Power Stage just 0.016s slower than Neuville.

At the end of the rally the three were separated by just 14.3s, the closest margin between the podium finishers in the event’s history.

Th Thierry hierry Neuville wins his first Monte Carlo Rally (above), while Mo his new teammate Ott Tanak has a big crash (left).

Elfyn Evans led heading into the final day but fell to third.

Reigning champion Ott Tanak’s move from Toyota to Hyundai did not fare so well — he slid wide and off the edge of a bank. The front of the car nose-dived into a winery, sending the Hyundai into multiple flips and rolls before it came to a stop on a road below.

Fortunately Tanak and his co-driver Martin Jarveoja escaped the wreckage unhurt.

On the opening night of the event on Thursday drivers and teams faced two challenging stages. In the second the road was lined with ice, creating some ultrachallenging conditions.

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N Nevertheless all drivers adapted we to the conditions. well O Ogier was fastest in the opening sta from Tanak and Evans, with stage Ne Neuville fourth fastest, 6s off the pace.

H However, in the second icy test Neu Neuville was untouchable, 25.5 faster than anybody else in the 25.5s 25.5 stage.

25.5km At the end of the opening day Neuv led from Ogier, Tanak, Evans Neuville and nine-time champion Sebastien Loeb.

Two of the M-Sport Fords hit problems — Gus Greensmith’s car overheated, causing it to limp home, while Teemu Suninen’s Fiesta suffered a transmission failure.

Evans held the upper hand on Friday with a preferable road position in the icy morning loop, taking the lead of the rally. It was in this sequence of stages that Tanak suffered his major crash, putting the Hyundai team out for the remainder of the rally.

The icy roads had dried by the time the

Esapekka Lappi hits a straught section on one of the twisting roads of the Rallye Monte-Carlo (above), which contained a couple of night stages (left). Sebastien Ogier, driving for Toyota, finished second (below). second loop came around and this allowed Ogier to reel in the small gap that his Welsh teammate had created. The Frenchman won two stages in the loop and was able to overhaul Evans in the final stage. Neuville won that loop and closed on the pair, sitting 6.4s behind in third heading into Saturday.

Loeb remained a lonely fourth, th 47 47.5s 5 adrift d ift of Neuville and 48.3s clear of M-Sport driver Esapekka Lappi after the Finn had a brief excursion into a field with top-tier debutant Kalle Rovanpera in sixth.

On Saturday the top three remained tight.

The Th TToyota t pairi swapped d the th llead d on no lless than three occasions throughout the day.

The day’s opening two stages were treacherous on the icy roads, the two Toyota drivers separated by nothing with

Neuville theiri hheels.

N ill staying t i hot h t on th l The road had dried by the time the teams had returned for the afternoon loop and although Evans had a slight off through a ditch he held the lead at the end of the

day by 4.9s over Ogier. Neuville won three of the t day’s four stages but come the end of the t day he still remained in third, a further 1.5s back.

Loeb Lo was now 2m adrift of the lead after a spin sp late in the day. This allowed Lappi to close clos within 14.1s of the Hyundai. Rovanpera remained sixth, ahead of his fellow Toyota rem Gazoo Gaz Racing driver Takamoto Katsuta.

On the final day Neuville was in control from the outset. The Belgian won all four stages stag of the day, quickly catching and passing pass both the Toyota drivers to win the rally by 12.6s.

Ogier overhauled his teammate Evans to O take second position in the closing kilometres of the intense tarmac rally. Evans was still able to bring his car home in third, just 1.7s behind his teammate.

It was a disastrous final day for Loeb, who plummeted from fourth to sixth after an incorrect tyre choice. The Frenchman ran out of rubber early in the leg resulting in him dropping off the road and losing 30s.

Loeb nursed the car home and as a result was easily leapfrogged by Lappi, who finished fourth, with Rovanpera finishing an impressive fifth on debut.

Japanese driver Katsuta finished a career best seventh ahead of Suninen, who recovered from his opening night transmission failure to finish eighth.

WRC3 winner Eric Camilli collected two points for finishing ninth and Norwegian Mads Ostberg overcame a puncture to finish 10th and win the WRC2 class.

The second round of the season takes place on the ice and snow of Sweden from February 13-16.

Points: Neuville 30, Ogier 22, Evans 17, Lappi 13, Rovanpera 10, Loeb 8, Suninen 7, Katsuta 6, Camilli 2, Ostberg 1.

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MCFADDEN CLAIMS SECOND CLASSIC

By GEOFF ROUNDS Images: Richard Hathaway/Geoff Rounds

IN FRONT of a record crowd James McFadden nursed his car home to win his second South West Conveyancing Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic at Warrnambool’s Premier Speedway.

The popular 30-year-old professional Speedway driver had to abandon the traditional post-race doughnuts after suffering engine damage, much to the disappointment of the sold-out crowd — and McFadden.

“I dropped a cylinder on the final lap and I’m dead-set shattered I can’t do the doughnuts for the crowd,” McFadden told the crowd of more than 12,000 at the 48th running of Australia’s most prestigious Sprintcar race.

His efforts made it seven Classic victories for Perth-based Monte Motorsport after he led home previous Classic champions and countrymen Jamie Veal and Kerry Madsen to win by just 1.553s on Australia Day. The Warrnambool driver, who won in 2017, led for all but five laps of the 40-lap finale to pocket the $30,000 winner’s cheque.

Minutes after his historic win McFadden was elated by the realisation that he was joining Speedway legends and multiple Classic winners such as Garry Rush, Max Dumesny and US ace Danny Smith on the Classic honour roll.

“It’s special. It took me so long to get one.

There was so much pressure to get one and

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Jam McFadden (above) greets the flag for James his second Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic, giving the Monti Motorsport team (left) its giv seventh Classic victory. sev

now that we have two is really cool,” he said. ““It’s probably the hardest race to win in Au Australia.”

O Over the three days of the 2020 Classic Mc McFadden was clearly the driver to catch. He se set the fastest time trial on the second night of racing and was the top point-scorer overall he heading into the third day of racing.

O the opening night McFadden followed On ho home ex-Adelaide resident Scott Bogucki in th the 30-lap preliminary feature with American T Kaeding, the 2014 Classic winner, third.

Tim Bogucki, who now lives in California and is a a professional racer, hadn’t competed also at Warrnambool for six years — or ever won th — and was rapt with the improvement there he’d made.

“It’s a dream come true. I haven’t been here since 2014 and we were horrible,” he said.

“I hit a fence in the heat race and got a flat tyre and to come back tonight for the first time in all those years and get the prelim win is a pretty big deal.”

The second night’s racing turned back the clock, returning the Dumesny name to victory lane when 20-year-old Marcus Dumesny, of Sydney, grabbed his best-ever result at Premier Speedway Kyle Larson had a trip down under to forget.

A big dump and an engine failure saw his Classic chances go out the window.

Xxx x xx Xxx x xx Xxx x xx Xxx x xx Xxx x xx Xxx x xx Xxx x xx Xxx x xx Xxx x xx Xxx x xx Xxx x xx Xxx x xx Xxx x xx Xxx x xx Xxx x xx Xxx x xx Xxx x xx Xxx x xx Xxx x xx Xxx x xx Xxx x xx Xxx x xx Xxx x xx Xxx x xx Scott Bogucki is elated to win the opening night’s 30-lap preliminary final (right).B

Marcus makes sure the Dumesny name returns to the winner’s list while racing the likes of Kerry Madsen (left). He and Max Dumesny share the moment after Marcus took the big Saturday night win (above). There were plenty of big crashes over the three nights of racing with some big names getting caught up in drama. by winning the preliminary feature.

From pole position the youngest son of Max and Melinda Dumesny led home star drivers Kerry Madsen and American Cory Eliason in Saturday night’s 30-lap feature.

After a wild wing dance celebration with the chequered flag it was a kiss from very proud father Max, a three-time Classic winner, that sent the parochial crowd into raptures.

“It hasn’t really sunk in but it’s cool to be up here where our name belongs,” Dumesny said. “This is still sinking in, to be honest, to win here, in front of Mount Max, I honestly can’t believe it.

“Dad inspires my racing and I’m sure he’s

proud of our team right now.”

With the full house sign up the Classic A-Main saw defending champion Robbie Farr race to the lead from pole position as McFadden, from third, tucked into second with Eliason and Veal behind.

It was a smooth run for Farr until lapped traffic came into play on lap five and a lap later the defining moment of the race emerged. McFadden made a move on Farr entering turn one. He tagged the rear of Jack Lee’s car, which shot his car into Farr, who rode over Lee’s left rear wheel, sending him head first into the turn two wall and out.

Now in front, McFadden remained stoic

and soldiered on. Madsen had raced into podium contention from eighth grid position and stalked Eliason in second.

Americans Buddy Kofoid shifted from 15th to finish seventh and 2010 Knoxville Nationals winner Tim Shaffer jumped to sixth from tenth.

The leader was unchallenged in the final laps as he saluted the double chequers, albeit with an unhealthy car, while Veal and Madsen got by Eliason with two to run.

This recent win against 106 rivals adds to McFadden’s biggest US triumph in the Knoxville Nationals 360 last August and the recent 2019-20 World Series Sprintcar

Speedweek Championship win.

“It’s been a crazy year and a crazy weekend,” McFadden said.

“I think this is my best year, by a long shot.

We’ve just been consistently really fast.

This win here tonight is just so satisfying for all our team. Everyone here should be so proud of the Classic, it’s one of the best races in the world.”

Eliason was the highest placed American in fourth followed by Dumesny, Shaffer, Kofoid, Dillon and Tatnell while two-times Classic winner Steven Lines rounded out the top 10 in a race that took 45 minutes to complete.

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s w e n Y A W D E SPE KRIKKE MOTORSPORT won even before the 2020 Classic finale was run when they were awarded Best Presented Car and Crew. The sublime candy apple red Sprintcar piloted by Kerry Madsen was voted the best looking “Hot-Rod” (as the late Shane Krikke called his cars) by the Premier Speedway maintenance committee. “I had the colour picked out for a while and it’s come up even better than I thought it would,” said Krikke team manager Ryan Krikke. For the second straight year Madsen and KMS finished third. It was Madsen’s 10th podium finish in the Classic.

RACING FOR MUM THE 1997 Classic has long been regarded as one of the most memorable, for any number of reasons, but none more so than for the now iconic images of an elated Trevor Green alighting from the Green Brothers Racing S4 as the Classic Champion.

The charismatic Green celebrated 30 years of competition at the 2020 Classic as car owner/crew chief for California’s Kalib Henry, who fought hard in his Classic debut.

KNOXVILLE RACEWAY flagman Doug Clark and his son Justin were the headline acts in what was dubbed the “Doug Down Under 2020 Tour” with 24 of their closest American friends.

Doug was the long-time flaggie at the famous US venue and retired this year. A tour was organised by popular announcer Wade Aunger and WA travel director Taylor Krikke, who were keen to have him wave his last-ever race on Australian soil. Both the Clarks flagged off races at Warrnambool, Mount Gambier and Avalon. “It’s been such an experience to come out here. It’s a beautiful country and the racing has been first class,” Doug said.

SOME OF the growth of future Classics depends on politicians. Premier Speedway officials are trying to get key telecommunications infrastructure in place. This year’s Classic was hampered by NBN problems. “The long and short of it is that the issue we have is around internet services and telecommunications,” Premier Speedway’s David Mills told Nine.

“We need to get some government bodies behind us to help push our cause. The Classic is a major event but people expect it to be live-streamed and when that doesn’t happen it reflects poorly on us.”

IT WAS a tough battle with Warrnambool City Council for West Australian team boss Steve Stathy even before the Classic began. He was told by council staff not to park his race transporter on the median strip opposite his usual motel, a stance that raised the ire of residents and speedway fans alike.

So strong was the backlash that a compromise was reached inside 24 hours. It seems the over-zealous council eventually did allow him to park for longer out the front of the motel.

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ONE CAR that stood tall during the Classic weekend was that of James Aranyosi’s.

Aranyosi raced his Donate Life Car in dedication to his late mother, Heather, at Premier Speedway during the 2020 Warrnambool Classic.

The Geelong-based driver proudly painted his car in the recognisable Donate Life in honour of his mother, who saved lives by donating her organs.

The Aranyosi family had the idea of branding their car after the 28-year-old tragically lost his mother to a car accident in May last year, and after she donated organs they vowed to champion the cause.

“The speedway community is just great.

They just get behind you with stuff like this,” Aranyosi said.

“It’s been fantastic to see a charity like Donate Life getting the exposure it deserves.

“I hope we’ve made a bit of a difference — we’ve managed to get a fair few signed up at the Fan Appreciation Day to donate their organs, so that’s a massive win for us.

“We just wanted to do a bit of a tribute car for Mum and raise awareness for such a great cause.”

Some of the biggest teams and sponsors got behind the car and the cause and the Aranyosi team is now keen to spread the Donate Life message at interstate race meetings in the coming months.

GR

MOTHER NATURE TAKES EARLY WINS FOR THE first time in their history management of both Avalon and Borderline Speedways were forced to make the tough calls and abandon both the annual Presidents Cup and Kings Challenge after qualifying.

Since the inception of both races run on consecutive days at Avalon and Mount Gambier just before the Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic the two events have book-ended the country’s biggest race, but not this year.

Wet weather was the winner after all qualifying heats were concluded at each venue, much to the disappointment of teams and fans.

“It’s a tough call for us and, I’m sure, Avalon, but you can’t do much about the weather,” said Borderline vice-president Andrew Broome.

James McFadden was the highest points scorer at Avalon, setting a time of 12.286s to pip Robbie Farr with a 12.319s second lap and then followed Kerry Madsen (12.342s) with American Shane Stewart fourth quickest with a 12.284s.

In front of a big crowd at Borderline for the 26th running of the Kings it was again a battle between these usual suspects with Stewart the fastest just ahead of McFadden.

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VEAL BREAKS NATIONAL TITLE DROUGHT Report: GEOFF ROUNDS Photos: Richard Hathaway

THE LONG wait is over for Jamie Veal after a breakthrough win in the 2020 Searoad Australian Sprintcar Championship.

The 31-year-old Warrnambool driver survived a crash-filled A-Main encounter at Latrobe Speedway in Tasmania to salute from Marcus Dumesny and former champion Kerry Madsen.

Veal led most of the way for his maiden national title victory, adding to his three third-place finishes in 2015, 2016 and last year.

“Finally, I’ve got the Australian title,” Veal said.

“Yes, it’s been a while, 13 years I think, so I’ve been chasing this win for a long time. Over the years we haven’t been really close to winning it, but we have always been in the hunt.”

Veal sat in the top three of the aggregate points over the two days of racing and he earned pole position alongside 2004 Australian champion Robbie Farr.

He had Farr alongside him for the championship race and at the drop of the green flag he immediately assumed the lead from Farr with James McFadden slotting into third.

Just four laps in and the reigning national champ Andrew Scheuerle somersaulted out of contention as did Tasmanians David Murcott, with front-end damage, and rising star Jock Goodyer ,who was forced infield with a flat right rear tyre.

At the restart Veal led the field away, as Farr slipped quickly down to sixth while McFadden challenged Veal hard for the lead and local hope Shaun Dobson joined in.

On lap 13 Dobson raced into second and moments later to the lead in what had become a ferocious race.

Three laps later Dobson, Veal and McFadden spectacularly raced three-wide up the main straight, and the fourth national Sprintcar championship to be held at Latrobe Speedway was about to change remarkably.

McFadden and Dobson made contact as

Veal withstands the pressure from McFadden and Shaun Dobson, who would both crash out while pushing for the lead, bottom left. Placegetters Dumesny, Veal and Madsen, left, share the presentation with major sponsors Chas and Owen

they battled for the lead into Turn 1 with McFadden eventually rolling his car. car Veal would somehow escape the carnage as Dobson emerged from his car clearly shaken by the impact of Farr’s car spearing straight into the side of his roll cage.

After the incident Farr was worried about

Dobson’s condition. condition “I just hope Shaun is OK. He took a pretty big whack from my car there,” Farr said.

McFadden’s chance at a third title was also crushed and he was bewildered by what had just happened.

“There’s no need to be driving like that so early in the race — this just sucks. We’ve led these things (Australian titles) for the last three years, then this happens,” he said.

For Veal the fairytale result he was craving was looming large with 20 laps to run.

He was controlling the race and leading Madsen and Marcus Dumesny, who had quickly improved from the earlier events and moved into third place.

Queensland’s Lachlan McHugh and Luke Oldfield exited late when they both crashed out in separate incidents. Brooke Tatnell suffered top wing damage trying to avoid Oldfield after racing from the B-main to inside the top six.

Marcus Dumesny backs up his strong performance at the Grand Annual Classic with a second at the 2020 titles, thanks to a late pass on Kerry Madsen.

A the restart and with a clear track in front At of him Veal was still dictating the race on lap 35 as Dumesny dived under Madsen for se second with four to go.

V Veal checked out and eventually raced ac across the line first from Dumesny, Madsen an Steven Lines. and Dumesny’s first national podium in Tasmania came almost 30 years after his Ta father Max won his first National crown fa att aanother Tasmanian venue, the Carrick Speedway.

S There was a sprinkling of history for Veal, too, as his first championship fo win came at the very track at which w he contested his first-ever Australian Sprintcar race in 2007. He also joins Farr Sp as a winner of both the Australian 360ci Sprintcar and the 410ci Championship.

Sp ““I think we got a bit lucky there at certain stages but it’s a long race,” Veal said. sta ““During the middle stages we faded a little lit bit with James (McFadden) and Shaun Sha (Dobson), who was very quick and, unfortunately, they came together. Then unfo Kerry showed his nose late, but the late Kerr cautions really helped.” caut Veal, Ve who pocketed $20,000 for his stunning efforts, was quick to thank the stun Latrobe Latro Speedway track crew who somehow turned a soggy and unraceable venue into a very racy Speedway surface. Rain threatened the event the day before and washed out racing after all the qualifying and stopped the A and B main features.

“Hats off to Latrobe. When we rolled up here at one o’clock today, I thought, wow, we’ll be lucky to be racing tonight,” Veal said.

He also confirmed his familiar #35 will be replaced with Australia #1 on his Sprintcar after forcing the traditional Championship ring on his middle finger during the infield presentations involving Tasmanian Speedway legends Tim Moncrieff and Chas Kelly.

“I tried to keep my rhythm and hit my marks,” Veal said. “We got lucky through the lapped cars. The track moved around a bit and it was challenging. I might need to get this ring sized to fit me though.

“I’ll have to change to No.1 now for sure.

I’ve waited too long.”

Veal will carry the new-look A1 until next year’s Sprintcar Title at the Perth Motorplex on February 5 and 6.

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s w e n Y A W D E SPE

TATNELL FUTURE IN AIR

SPEEDWAY VETERAN and multiple Australian Sprintcar Champion Brooke Tatnell has been in shock after being dumped from his overseas drive despite having a new deal sorted for this coming American racing season.

After four years with the Vermeer team the multiple Australian Sprintcar champion was advised in mid-January that his services were no longer required.

“Our 2020 American racing program plans received a setback, with communication from Anthony Vermeer that I will no longer be continuing as the driver of the Vermeer Motorsports #55,” Tatnell said.

“We were very surprised by the decision, especially in light of our 2020 season agreement Images: Richard Hathaway being in place and the preparation we had already commenced with.”

Tatnell a three-time Grand Annual Sprintcar back most years since, driving full time on the Classic winner who finished ninth this year from ultra-competitive World of Outlaws circuit from 1999 a starting position of 20th was grateful for recent support and remained optimistic a new venture to 2001. might open up soon.

His second campaign featured a major crash, In 2006 he was the reigning WSS and Australian which left him with two broken vertebrae, a fractured champion. sternum and a broken scapula in a shoulder.

By this time Tatnell was also an established figure “I guess I was lucky I didn’t continue walking around and thinking nothing of it,” he said at the in the US. time.

He first took on the Yanks in 1991 and has been

BLIGHT CRUISES IN TOUR 54 AutoAction

NEWLY CROWNED Australian Late Model Champion Kye Blight looks set to again compete in the US after dominating the 2020 aggregate in the annual WA v USA Invasion Tour.

The star driver stamped his authority on the tournament mainly during the final two rounds at Albany’s Attwell Park Speedway when he grabbed his sixth straight win of the season and won by an incredible 12 seconds and lapped every car except his fellow podium finishers.

Blight led and won all features and preliminaries, with a third on night one the only blemish as he collected 471

“Despite the disappointment at this time and, in particular, the timing, we are appreciative of the opportunity and the friends we have made that racing for the team for over the years has afforded us,” he said.

“But as one door closes, we firmly believe another will open, and we are keen to discuss our options with potential teams and partners for the new season.”

points to win from Warren Oldfield (431), American Joe Godsey (429) and Brent Vosbergen (414).

Part of the reason for Blight’s strong showing was experience he gained racing in the US with fellow Late Model competitor Paul Stubber. Blight said he had learned much during that time and couldn’t thank Stubber enough.

“I spend four months a year in America with Paul and Alice Stubber and I feel like this last 12 months we turned a corner,” he said. “I really have to thank those guys because they took me under their wing and I feel like I am here because of them.”

MAT PASCOE has added to his string of major wins with victory in the 45th running of the annual Super Sedan Grand Prix at Latrobe Speedway in Tasmania. The Queensland ace withstood many challenges throughout the 50-lap feature to record his third victory in the event, crossing the line first ahead of Darren Kane, Steve Latham, Trent Wilson and Jamie Collins, who came from 19th. Just days later Pascoe also won the Grand National in Tasmania from Mick Nicola and Steve Latham.

DRIVERS FELLED BY INJURIES SOME OF the world’s most popular drivers are still nursing injuries after a gruelling week of racing that they would rather forget.

American driver McKenna Haase was taken to hospital after making her debut at the 2020 Classic. She spent a night in Warrnambool Base Hospital after a nasty crash with James Aranyosi on night two.

Haase was sore and concussed and not feeling the best, but she returned to watch the Sunday night finale in good spirits.

“I have to thank the Thomas family

for going above and beyond taking care of me, as well as the top-notch Premier Speedway safety crew,” she said.

“It’s not how we wanted the tour to end, but I am grateful it wasn’t worse and thankful for the opportunity.”.

Fan favourite Darren Mollenoyux, of Warrnambool, was on crutches after his opening night when he suffered a hard landing in a racing incident. He had severe bruising to his knee and was forced to pull out of competition during his qualifying.

Terry Kelly got hurt in hot laps when the torque tube hit his ankle.

He started 15th in the Saturday C-Main but unfortunately because he was in so much pain he couldn’t continue.

Grant Anderson was involved in an unfortunate incident at Borderline Speedway the night before the Classic when crossing the finish line in his second heat. The driveline of his car blew out and he suffered cuts to his right leg. He was taken to Mount Gambier and competed at the Classic the night after.

PREMIER’S HONOUR FOR DUMESNY

IT WAS fitting that Australia Day 2020 was the backdrop to honour Speedway icon and three-time classic winner Max Dumesny.

The 60-year-old sat out this year’s event for the first time in just about 20 years and was presented with Premier Speedway life membership from long-time friend and supporter Barry Attrill just before the 2020 Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic final.

He was joined by his wife Melinda and sons Matthew and Marcus on the infield of the world famous venue for the presentation, saying he was grateful to Premier Speedway for the award.

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“I have so many fond memories of this place. I was a fouryear-old kid hanging off the fence in turn 4 when I started coming here. I loved barracking for Bill Wigzell here and I am very thankful to this sport and all it has given me and my family,” Dumesny said.

With Classic wins in 1992, ’94 and 2004 Dumesny hinted that his Sprintcar racing is scaling back “I didn’t expect anything like this,” he said. “It’s a track I grew up at and I’ve got some good memories from here.

I’m not sure how many more times I’ll be racing but I’m not quite finished yet. You never know what happens but I still love this sport.”

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AUSTRALIAN CHAMPION Kye Walters and Aidan Raymont staged a battle royal over 50 laps at the eighth running of the Kings Royal for Modified Sedans at Kingaroy Speedway in Queensland. Walters eventually prevailed and took the $10,000 first prize. From the start, pole-sitter Walters, of Torquay in Victoria, and Raymont put on an absolute clinic in front of a capacity crowd, constantly running the surface cushion just centimetres from the safety fence. The two swapped positions endlessly throughout the race and a late-race stoppage with five laps to go saw a grandstand finish that had the crowd on their feet. From the sixth row Mark Raymont finished third ahead of Matty Smith, who debuted his new Chrysler Centura racing from position 10.

BLAKE IWANOW successfully defended his West Australian Junior Sedan Title at Narrogin Speedway and became just the third to achieve the feat in the 43-year history of the event. The win was Iwanow’s 51st and last feature win in the category — the talented driver has retired from the class. From pole position Iwanow led all 25 laps and opened up a lead of 3.126s and broke the one-lap track record on lap 19 and proved dominant to win from Beau Oldfield, Riley Dunne and Jye Irving of Victoria.

RETIRED AUSTRALIAN Sprintcar racer Peter Murphy has bought Keller Auto Speedway in Hanford, California. Murphy, who retired from racing in 2013 after a near fatal crash also in California, promotes the Peter Murphy Classic at Tulare and is looking forward to his new venture. “I am just excited about this opportunity to run a great track like Hanford. My juices get flowing every year when the Peter Murphy Classic comes around. I am ready to take the next step and be just like Trump, I want to make racing great again,” Murphy said.

THE REIGNING World of Outlaws champion Brad Sweet has been judged the North American 410ci Sprintcar Driver of the Year for the first time. A panel of media members, promoters, sanctioning officials and manufacturers awarded the Californian 2180 points to easily defeat past winner Donny Schatz (1250) and 2019 Knoxville Nationals winner David Gravel (963). For the third time, Kasey Kahne Racing received the Team of the Year award which included wins at Eldora Speedway’s King’s Royal by Sweet in July, and also helped by Australian James McFadden’s superb win at the Knoxville 360ci Nationals. He finished 19th in the poll.

JAMIE MAY kicked off a busy Australia Day weekend of racing with a steady win in the annual Southern Rod Shootout at Simpson Speedway. The battle between the Super Rod and SDAV Hot Rod was intense with May taking the win for the Super Rods ahead of Shannon Meakens (SDAV), Neville Gange (Super Rods) and a fast-finishing Michael Coad (Super Rods).

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TOYOTA RACING SERIES ROUND 2

LAWSON ON SONG Liam Lawson had another solid round to consolidate his lead in the championship.

Images: Toyota

YOUNG KIWI star Liam Lawson continues to lead the Toyota Racing Series after taking a lights-to-flag win in the Feature Race at Teretonga on January 25-26.

It was Lawson’s only win of the weekend as MTEC Motorsport engineered by R-Ace GP driver Caio Collet took his and the team’s Brazilian Caio Collet took maiden win after a disappointing opening the opening round at Highlands Motorsport Park. The race win of second race was won by TRS rookie Emilien the weekend.

Denner, while Australian Jackson Walls had a breakthrough weekend.

An accident during qualifying for Chelsea Herbert resulted in a fracture in one of her vertebrae forcing her out of not only the weekend, but the rest of the series.

Collet made an impressive pass in Race 1 to take the lead from fourth place, then he went on to build a 4s advantage over the chasing pack headed by Gregoire Saucy and Igor Fraga, both completing the podium positions.

Lawson had an awful qualifying session, finishing 13th, but climbed to sixth by the conclusion of the race.

Denner then sprung a surprise in Race 2 by taking victory after starting from pole due to inverting the top eight finishing positions from the previous event. Holding off Lirim Zendeli and Ido Cohen for the majority of the race, Denner was composed

out out in front and took his first race victory in only his fifth circuit event.

Zendeli and Cohen had their hands full Z as Lawson tried to make a recovery after dropping back off the start, but he only dro climbed to third ahead of Cohen by the flag. cli Walls W sat on pole for the Feature Race, but bu it was Lawson alongside that made the th better jump and took a lead he never relented throughout the 25-lap n finale.

Walls was pressured by Igor fi Fraga Fr during the opening stanza, but a mistake dropped him to fourth behind behin Fraga and Yuki Tsunoda.

Out front, Lawson reset the TRS lap record at Teretonga as he moved 6s clear of Fraga, despite being hampered by a clutch problem. The reigning champion continued his run towards consecutive titles and has extended his lead to 14-points ahead of Fraga.

“We made a great start but we did have a clutch issue from the first race so we had to be careful,” Lawson said. “It was nice until about halfway through the race when we had a moment where the power dropped “I was freaking out but it came back. We have no idea what the problem was but thankfully it sorted itself out.” HM

Aussie Jaylyn Robotham claimed the lead of the series at Teretonga.

TWO OUT OF THREE AIN’T BAD AUSTRALIAN JAYLYN Robotham has taken two victories in the New Zealand Toyota 86 Championship third round at Teretonga.

Robotham won in lights-toflag fashion in both races, but fell short in the third as Peter Vodanovich cleaned up to spoil the Aussie’s chance of a clean-sweep at the January 25-26 meeting.

Despite having not raced at the circuit previously, Robotham took pole and

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headed a hard-fought pack of 86s. Campbell Stewart was alongside Robotham on the front row, but had to fall into second, while behind the leading duo Vodanovich, Connor Adam and Jaden Ransley all battled for the final podium place.

Adam dropped out with engine woes on lap 2, which allowed Vodanovich to close in on the leaders, creating a three-way dice for the lead.

At one point the leading trio

went three-wide through Turn 1, which compromised the speed of each allowing Ransley to close, but there was a worry behind the latter as championship rookie Ryan Wood pressed hard.

Up front, Stewart slowed out of the final corner on lap 10, which allowed Vodanovich to slide down the inside to take the place and his focus now turned to Robotham.

However, the Australian answered every challenge

to take the win.

Vodanovich pushed hard in the second race, but was unable to quell Robotham’s winning ways.

After the disappointment of the opening race, Stewart snagged his first podium.

Though he challenged for the lead throughout he was unable to penetrate the defence of Robotham.

This gave Vodanovich the chance to snatch second, which he did on lap 4 as an

eight-car train battled together led by Robotham. It was the Aussie who maintained the upper hand as Vodanovich took second ahead of Stewart The local got his revenge in the final race as Vodanovich led from start to finish and won by 1.5s from Robotham, but the results of the weekend means the Aussie now leads the standings by six points heading into Round 4 of the championship at Manfeild on February 14. HM

TOYOTA RACING SERIES ROUND 3

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FRAGA TAKES SERIES LEAD IT WAS an almost perfect weekend for Brazilian Egor Fraga, who not only took two out of the three race victories, but also claimed the lead in the 2019-20 Toyota Racing Series.

The third round of TRS took place at the well-known Hampton Downs Motorsport Park and it was a dramatic and championship-changing round. It was the e-Sports ace Fraga who shone through, with good speed, staying out of trouble and doing more than enough to take the series lead from Kiwi Liam Lawson.

Fraga became the fifth different winner of the season in Race 1 after shooting from the second row of the grid to take the lead into Turn 1 and from there was never headed. An early safety car bunched up the field, but the calm Brazilian dealt with the pressure well on the restart to quickly pull out a margin, and did enough to take victory.

Lawson started from the front row but made a poor start and dropped to fifth. After the early safety car entered the lane the With his two race wins Egor Fraga becomes championship leader.

Images: Toyota

championship leader quickly fought back to second, but by that stage he had used up his tyres and could not match his teammate Fraga. Petr Ptacek rounded out the podium ahead of Caio Collet and Franco Colapinto.

As the top six finishers were reversed for Race 2, Lawson started alongside championship rival Fraga on the third row.

Lawson made the best of the start, jumping from fifth into third at Turn 1. Up front Argentine Colapinto sneaked around Oliver Rasmussen to take the lead and gradually built a small gap early on.

Lawson sat third but could not find a way past Rasmussen. With just five of the 20 laps remaining the defending series winner launched a bold move up the inside to snatch second place.

The Kiwi then set about catching the Argentine, but with only a handful of laps left he could not catch the race winner.

Colapinto took both his and Kiwi Motorsport’s first win in the series, Lawson scored another second, ahead

of Rasmussen and Fraga.

The final race was one of attrition. Fraga led from the first turn and stayed well out of the way of the mayhem that ensued behind and in doing so he was awarded the Denny Hulme Memorial Trophy.

Lawson remained glued to the back of his teammate early on in the race, but the Kiwi slowed after a technical gremlin and seconds later he was hit hard by an innocent Spike Kohlbecker.

Gregoire Saucy came home second ahead of Yuki Tsunoda, but neither could match the speed of Fraga who was elated with the victory. “At the beginning I had a lot of pressure from Liam,” he said.

“I think we gave each other just enough room to race and at the end winning like this is very, very special. From here we need to keep the momentum.”

The penultimate round of the series takes place this weekend at Pukekohe Park Raceway.

Dan McCarthy

Multi Club Motorkhana, Greens Beach Road Kelso TAS, Feb 9 Multi Club Hillclimb, Huntley Hill NSW, Feb 9 Multi Club Khanacross, Bryant Park VIC, Feb 9 Multi Club Hillclimb, Ringwood Park NSW, Feb 9 Multi Club Supersprint, Mallala Motor Sport Park SA, Feb 9 Multi-Club Khanacross, The Quarry Bathurst NSW, Feb 9 Multi Club Motorkhana, TCCA Grounds McGraths Road Werribee VIC, Feb 9 Multi Club Motorkhana, The Northern Road Luddenham NSW, Feb 9 Multi Club Khanacross, Yawalpah Road Pimpama QLD, Nov 9 NSW Twilight Rally Series Rd4, Sydney Dragway NSW, Feb 13 State Circuit Racing Championships Rd1, GT Trophy Series Rd1, Sandown Raceway VIC, Feb 14-16 State Hillclimb Championship Rd2, Bryant Park VIC, Feb 15 Club Supersprint/Superkart Racing, Phillip Island VIC, Feb 15-16 Classic Car Show/60th Anniversary Touring Cars, Gnoo Blas Orange NSW, Feb 15-16 Multi Club Khanacross, Powranna Dragway Complex TAS, Feb 16 Multi Club Motorkhana, Sydney Motorsport Park NSW, Feb 16 Multi Club Khanacross, Booral Road Urangan QLD, Feb 16 Multi Club Motorkhana, TCCA Grounds McGraths Road Werribee VIC, Feb 16 Club One-Car Sprint, Oakburn Park Tamworth NSW, Feb 16 Multi Club Hillclimb, Boisdale-Newry Road Maffra VIC, Feb 16Club Autocross/Khanacross, Deniliquin NSW, Feb 16 Superkart Races/Modern Regularity, Mallala Motorsport Park SA, Feb 16 Adelaide 500, Supercars Championship Races 1 & 2, Super 2 Series Rd1, Porsche Carrera Cup Rd1, National Trans Am Series, Touring Car Masters Rd1, Parklands Adelaide SA, Feb 20-23 State Hillclimb Series Rd1, Highclere TAS, Feb 22 Off Road Breaky Bash, Alice Springs NT, Feb 22 QR Drivers Championship Rd1, Queensland Raceway QLD, Feb 22-23 Australian 1000 Rd1, Wakefield Park NSW, Feb 22-23 Mt Baw Baw Sprint, Tarmac Rally Championship Rd1, Mt Baw Baw VIC, Feb 22-23

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There aren’t many rld countries in the world where you’d see a kangaroo jumping down pit lane.

SKIPPY IS IN THE LANE! AUSTRALIA IS known kno n globally globall for its lovely beaches, sensational weather and unique range of animals.

In many countries around the world, people believe that kangaroos can be seen hopping down the road as we drive to the shopping centre or to a restaurant but this is very, very rare, unless you live in the bush.

Dozens of international tourists (drivers) descended on the Mount Panorama circuit last weekend to participate in the Bathurst 12 Hour, many of whom visited Australia for the first time.

Before the race weekend had even begun, Skippy made his annual 12 Hour appearance saying g’day to the international stars.

What was most surprising was the fact that Skippy found his way into pit lane on the Wednesday preparation day, as photographed here by Kiwi happy snapper Shane van Gisbergen, who is better known as a Red Bull Holden Racing Team driver in the Supercars Championship.

Sadly this creates a false sense of reality for the tourists who believe

the can sa e mone g they save money b by heading to the Mount Panorama circuit fe rather than visiting a zoo or wildlife park.

Clearly Skippy just wanted to give the international drivers a warm Aussie welcome.

In reality kangaroos have been causing mayhem around the Mount Panorama circuit for decades, creating incidents or featuring on highlight reels, but never has one entered the lane.

Who knows, maybe he was offered the position of roaming pit lane reporter alongside Chad Neylon and Shae Adam.

Drivers used to feel safe from Skippy once they entered pit lane. Well, no more.

From now on competitors will have to have to keep their eyes peeled for any further kangaroo cameos, both on the track and now in pit lane.

DM

NASCAR 2020 CROSSWORD

Across

1. Kyle Busch’s older brother races for Chip Ganassi Racing, but what is his first name?

6. Who is the defending Daytona 500 winner? (surname only) 7. What is the name of the rookie joining Stewart-Haas Racing in 2020? (full name) 10. In what team will 2017 NASCAR Cup Series Champion Martin Truex Jr drive for in 2020?

14. What number will Kevin Harvick run in 2020?

15. In what state will the final race be held?

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2. Ford, Chevrolet and which other brand compete in the NASCAR Cup Series?

3. How many race wins did Kyle Busch take in 2019?

4. Which Australian will make a cameo appearance in the 2020 Daytona 500? (full name) 5. What numbered car will Kyle Larson drive in 2020?

8. In the 2020 season three drivers will race for Team Penske, Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano and who? (full name) 9. Who is the reigning NASCAR Cup Series winner? (full name) 11. In what position did Jimmie Johnson finish the 2019 season?

12. Jimmie Johnson is retiring at the end of the 2020 season. How many Cup Series titles has he won?

13. Who departed the #41 Ford at the end of the 2019 season? (surname only)

Bathurst 12 Hour Crossword Answers 1 down – two 2 across – Longhurst 3 down – Shane van Gisbergen 4 down – Mercedes 5 down – Chiyo 6 across – Campbell 7 down – Mika Salo 8 across – Jonathon Webb 9 down – Ferrari 10 across – Liqui Moly 11 down – Mies 12 across – Craig Baird 13 down – one 14 across – Audi 15 across – Engel

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