Auto Action #1795

IN OR OUT? TOYOTA AND FORD ON GEN3 SUPERCARS

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SINCE S INCE 1971 1971

FIRST LOOK REVIVED VALVOLINE COMMODORE

COMEBACK WHY GRM IS RETURNING FOR BATHURST 1000

IT IN W N A C I Oscar Piastri sets his sights on the F1 world title

Issue #1795 Sept 24 to Oct 7 2020 $8.95 INC GST

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RECALLING BAD BOY ALLAN GRICE

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I’M IN IT TO WIN IT! F1 world championship is the goal for Aussie sensation Oscar Piastri

By BRUCE NEWTON AUSTRALIA’S NEXT Formula 1 world champion.

Pure and simple, that is the objective Oscar Piastri has set himself.

Having won a cliffhanger FIA Formula 3 Championship at Mugello in midSeptember, the 19-year old openwheel star is set to graduate to Formula 2 in 2021 and could feasibly be in Formula 1 as soon as 2022. “If I get into F1 I’d obviously like to win that as well,� Piastri told Auto Action. “Being F1 world champion would definitely be the goal. “I am not going to aim to get to F1 so I can run around in 15th or 16th, although at the beginning of your career that is probably likely. “But I would like to think I can try and fight for a world championship one day, if I make it to F1.�

If he succeeds in his goal Piastri will be only the third Australian to claim motorsports’ highest driving honour, following on from Sir Jack Brabham in 1959, 1960 and 1966 and Alan Jones in 1980.

The UK-based Melburnian knows he still has room for improvement as a driver. The good news is he has a pretty strong handle on what he needs to work on to progress and become an F1 champion. “I need to get everything together,� he explained. “In years previous I would say my biggest strength has been qualifying pace and just outright speed. “This year it was definitely not that and was more race craft and race intelligence and race management. I was a little bit surprised that was my strength this year and qualifying wasn’t. “If I can merge my previous qualifying pace with what I was doing in the races this year, then that would be pretty formidable. “I have shown I can do a lot of the things required to be a top driver at any level, it’s now just being a bit more consistent and putting it all together every weekend at all times.�

Piastri won the F3 championship

in his rookie year driving for the powerful Italian Prema Racing team.

The year before he won the Formula Renault Eurocup series at his second try, after swapping to the French R-ace GP squad from the British squad Arden Motorsport.

On his way to the F3 championship Piastri won two of 18 races, claimed six podiums and four fastest laps.

Piastri’s path to F1 is being smoothed by his membership of the Renault Sport Academy for young drivers and his management by Australia’s most recent F1 driver Mark Webber and his partner Anne.

It is thought Piastri will get

his first F1 test with the Renault this year, although no details have been announced and the man himself professes not to know anything as yet. “I would like to be in an F1 car this year but as yet I don’t have any plans or instructions that I will be in an F1 car,� he said. “Obviously I would love to be in one but I haven’t heard anything about it yet.�

Piastri says he will have a mix of emotions leading into that first test, but one feeling would dominate. “The main (emotion) would be excitement,� he said. “The first time in an F1 car when it happens - or if it ever happens - you could argue it could be a career changer or just a stepping stone on to the future. “I would be a little bit nervous and just try and impress as many people as I could, but you’ve got to realise what you are doing, you are stepping into the fastest calibre of cars ever made. “You have got to enjoy the moment for sure.�

The one test drive Piastri knows he will definitely complete in 2020 will be with his new F2 team in Bahrain in December, after the final round of the championship.

Piastri is said to have offers on the table from all the top teams. That would logically include Prema, which is leading the drivers’ standings with Mick Schumacher and the teams’ standings.

Uni-Virtuosi Racing which runs second has Renault Sport Academy member Guanyou Zhou as a driver.

Another RSA driver, Christian Lundgaard is third in the standings for ART Grand Prix, which is fourth in the teams’ pointscore. “I expect a decision on a team will be made reasonably soon. In the space of the next few weeks I would assume,� Piastri said. “It’s basically down to my family and I on who I want to go with.

We’ve got some good options on the table. It’s 99 per cent down to me. “My management Mark and Anne (Webber) are going to be guiding me and giving

me suggestions as well. Renault have their suggestions on where they think I should go, but ultimately the decision is down to my family and I. “I think both my management and Renault will respect my decision because we have got some good options on the table. I don’t think there is going to be a bad call.�

F2 will add to Piastri’s knowledge bank as it throws pit stop racing into the mix. He also steps up to a more brutal car.

The F2-spec Dallara is powered by a 3.4-litre turbocharged V6 engine making 460kW, while the naturally-aspirated F3 pumps out about 280kW. “In F3 the most important thing was learning how to switch on the tyre for qualifying and then manage them through the race,� explained Piastri. “In F2 it’s going to be more about the tyre management side of things rather than purely trying to extract pace from them over a lap. “In F2 while qualifying is still important, the longer races with the pit stop and different strategies, it becomes more about race strategy and how you deal with it in the race. “Some of the F2 races have been pretty crazy with tyre degradation, so that will be a learning process.�

Piastri admits at this early stage he is unsure how he will perform in F2. But his ambitions are high. “The last two years have been very successful so I would like to continue that momentum,� he said. “I am not expecting it to be an easy challenge to go out there and win it, but people in the past have shown that’s possible. “I’ll come back to you in a few months after the Bahrain test and see what I say.�

Mark Webber Piastri is our best F1 prospect since Daniel Ricciardo Former F1 star Webber likens his young charger’s thinking approach and smooth, unspectacular driving to alltime great Alain “The Professor� Prost. “He’s a mini-Prost, really,� Webber declared. “He just slides under the radar and keeps winning the sheep stations. It’s a good ability to have.�

He cautiously agrees that Piastri is our best F1 prospect since Daniel Ricciardo. “Well, the form card says yes,�

Webber said.

However, he won’t be trying to rush Piastri into an F1 junior role, targeting success in F2 next year as the priority. “Friday (F1) sessions or testing, none of that’s happening next year at all – but it’s just nice to have the Superlicence tucked away at this stage for the next few years,� he said. “Focus on F2 and then we’ll see. It’s up to Renault. “They have some other guys in their stable, but we have a very good relationship with them and Oscar has good momentum going.�

Webber did allow that Piastri’s Renault F1 junior driver status offers a tantalising future opportunity. “It will be a big, big day when that happens, massive, if they want him to have an F1 test, but we’ll have to wait and see when they’ll want to put that in front of him,� he said.

Piastri is likely to be rewarded for his F3 title success with a drive in a pre2018 Renault F1 car later this year. “That’s something that was spoken about,� Webber said. Contributing Mark Fogarty.

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LATEST NEWS

STOP PRESS: GRM to fight for Herne Superlicence GARRY ROGERS Motorsport will fight a Motorsport Australia decision not grant Nathan Herne a Superlicence dispensation.

Announced as Auto Action closed for press on Monday evening, the decision excludes the TA2 driver from the Bathurst 1000 grid.

“In considering the circumstances and the driver’s experience, as well as the fact that this dispensation is being requested for one of the most challenging

motorsport events and venues in the world, Motorsport Australia has decided not to provide a dispensation to Nathan Herne,” Motorsport Australia CEO Eugene Arocca said.

“Motorsport Australia has consulted with the Supercars Commission who are aligned with this decision, given the nature of the event and the location in question.

“Nathan has also yet to compete in any Supercars event, and has no Super2 or

GRM returns to the Supercars grid and its heritage at the Bathurst 1000

By HEATH McALPINE GARRY ROGERS Motorsport is back on the Supercars grid and back to the future.

In an Auto Action exclusive, the popular Melbourne team’s wildcard entry into this year’s Bathurst 1000 is revealed here for the first time.

The Valvoline-backed Holden Commodore ZB will be campaigned by rookies Tyler Everingham and Nathan Herne, while its look has been devised by legendary Holden warpaint creator Peter Hughes.

Appropriately it’s 20 years since Garth Tander and Jason Bargwanna took GRM’s only Bathurst 1000 win, in a Valvolinesponsored Holden Commodore VT. Just as appropriately, GRM’s only Supercars entry for 2020 will carry the race number 40, the first ever run by team founder and patriarch Garry Rogers.

GRM’s return to the grid comes after Rogers made the heart-breaking decision to exit the category at the end of the 2019 season, due to a funding shortfall and his concerns about the escalating costs of competitiveness.

Now, in a passionate plea to Supercars

4 AutoAction

Super3 experience, so consideration of the risks of stepping straight into a Supercar at the top level at Bathurst was a part of our decision making process.

“The Superlicence requirement was introduced in 2016 by Motorsport Australia and is intended to maintain the highest safety and driving standards across the sport.”

Speaking from Winton where GRM was setting up for a two-day test with Herne

and team-mate Tyler Everingham, shocked team co-owner Barry Rogers said the appropriate avenues to have the decision reversed would be investigated.

“We are going to press on with testing and we will press on with the licence matter,” said Rogers. “That is a totally unreasonable decision as far as we are concerned.

“You’ve had drivers given dispensations who have had less Superlicence points

GIVE THE KIDS

hierarchy, his son and team driving force Barry Rogers is encouraging teams to increase opportunities for young drivers.

“We’ve hit some hurdles to get this wildcard happening, there’s some out there that like to see us back, there’s some that don’t want to see us back, and certainly it’s a shame the politics in sport very often overrule what the fans want to see,” Rogers declared.

“The fans want to see people given opportunities, they want to see fresh faces and all that, but there certainly is a bit of a boys’ club in motorsport and certainly at the high-end they are very protective of their little bit of turf.”

Rogers said GRM encountered difficulties in obtaining a Superlicence for Trans Am driver Herne.

“We’ve hit some hurdles with that, but we’re overcoming them,” admitted Rogers.

“To bring another young fella from a different track, he’s [Herne] had to do it the hard way and that’s what it’s all about, and that’s what the fans want to see, they want to see this.

“If a kid’s got enough talent to get a start such as a Nathan Herne, then it shouldn’t

matter what he’s done in the past. If he’s got the talent, that’s what you want to see.”

Everingham hasn’t had the same licensing challenges as Herne, as he has progressed through the Supercars system with Super3 and Super2, and won the Supercars’ Mike Kable Young Gun Award in 2019.

“We’re really, really looking forward to give him an opportunity at Bathurst,” said Rogers.

GRM has a proven track record as a developer of young talent that has included current Supercars Championship contenders Scott McLaughlin and Jamie Whincup, multiple Bathurst winner Steve Richards, and Supercars champion Tander.

Rogers believes the chance his father offered drivers during his tenure in the category doesn’t occur anymore, resulting in the loss of the sport’s next potential stars.

“If there weren’t people like Garry out there to seriously invest in young talent nothing would come through,” Rogers said.

“It is such a commercial business these days, if your driver doesn’t have a budget,

they don’t race.

“I go back to the good old days where you pick up a guy like Steve Richards, [Jason] Bargwanna or Tander that … had no money or a budget. They came here and Garry nurtured them and bought them through the system.

“You wouldn’t have those drivers on the grid if wasn’t for a person like Garry.”

GRM will call on its experienced line-up of drivers from TCR Australia in James Moffat, Michael Caruso and Jason Bargwanna, to guide the two youngsters.

Also onboard calling the shots is longtime GRM engineer Richard Hollway, who Rogers believes will be the perfect mentor to Everingham and Herne.

“Richard Hollway (is) arguably the most experienced engineer in pit lane and a very calm person,” Rogers explained.

“He’s a father of young boys himself, he understands young people, he doesn’t get flustered, he keeps the driver calm, he understands after the 25 or 26 years he’s gone to Bathurst, he knows every bump, he probably knows every bit of tarmac on that track.

“Certainly, you couldn’t get a better

than he has had, you’ve had drivers who have been under the minimum age for a Superlicence who have been issued licences in the past.

“That fact Nathan hasn’t come out of the Supercars family through Super2 and Super3 is totally irrelevant, when he has been racing a high-powered car that some would say is more difficult to race and has a similar terminal speed to a Supercar.” BN

REPCO SUPERCARS ENGINE Championship sponsor expected to back category V8

By BRUCE NEWTON AUTO PARTS retailing giant Repco looks set to claim naming rights to the Supercars Gen3 category V8 engine, scheduled for introduction as soon as 2022.

The deal is aligned with its recently announced sponsorship of the Supercars championship and the Bathurst 1000, to go with its backing of DJR Team Penske.

While fundamentals such as the engine’s technical base are yet to be resolved, Auto Action understands Repco is onboard to have its brand on the cam covers.

Students of Australian racing history will appreciate a Repco-developed Oldsmobile V8 powered Jack Brabham to his 1966 F1 world championship and Kiwi team-mate Denny Hulme to his title in 1967.

Repco also developed 5.0-litre V8 engines for the big banger Formula 5000 openwheeler category in the 1970s, which were adapted for local touring car racing.

These days Repco is purely an auto parts

Digital Image: Peter Hughes

A GO! person to really guide them on what the pitfalls are and all the things that can happen up there.”

Rogers said his father would join with Hollway to form a formidable mentoring combination for Everingham and Herne.

“These two young drivers … couldn’t have two more wise and experienced people with them.

“There is no better mentor of the young guys and a disciplinarian.”

Rogers believes Everingham and Herne will make the most of their Bathurst chance.

“We’re very confident with these two young guys that they’ll represent themselves well,” Rogers said. “That’s important because … those opportunities may come once in your lifetime, so you have to make the very most of it.

“Garry’s invested the dollars into them and I think he’s got a pretty wise head on his shoulders.

“We wouldn’t be doing this if we didn’t think we couldn’t prepare a good car and put two guys in the car who we believe will do themselves proud in our team.

“We’re looking forward to getting to Bathurst.”

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retailer and a subsidiary of the US General Parts Company (GPC). It has been on an expansionary path in Supercars since joining with DJRTP in 2018.

The concept of the Supercars category engine is to be a cost-effective lowmaintenance solution for existing teams looking to reduce budgets or new teams to enter the category.

It could also serve a team that secures a new manufacturer for the category that doesn’t want to go to the expense of a bespoke engine development program, or simply doesn’t have an engine of its own to employ.

But the Repco Supercars engine is not intended to be a mandatory control powerplant that all teams would have to use.

For instance, a factory-backed team such as DJR Team Penske could continue to develop its own Ford engines, although it might have

to shift away from the current pushrod to the dohc Coyote under Gen3.

It does appear extremely unlikely – in contradiction to earlier expectations - the Coyote could be the basis for the category engine. That follows comments from Ford’s global motorsport boss Mark Rushbrook in a Wheels magazine interview.

“We think it would be confusing for the sport, for the fans, if there was a Ford or Ford-based engine in another brand’s body,” Rushbrook was quoted as saying.

Auto Action reached out to GPC Asia-Pacific boss Rob Cameron for comment on the Repco Supercars championship engine, but did not hear back before deadline.

In other Gen3 plans revealed since the last issue of AA deadline, Supercars has tendered for a new control fuel system. As part of the new spec, the fuel tank capacity would rise from 111 litres to 130 litres.

ROOKIES READY TO RACE

By HEATH McALPINE SHOCKED AND excited Bathurst 1000 rookies Tyler Everingham and Nathan Herne are eager to tackle Australia’s greatest race.

Everingham is the reigning Supercars’ Mike Kable Young Gun Award winner after a breakthrough debut season of Super2 in 2019, including a maiden victory at Sandown.

A previous V8 Touring Car Series (now Super3) winner, Everingham will be the more experienced of the duo and described the opportunity as once in a lifetime.

“It’s really awesome. It’s been a bit of a rough year with restricted racing with COVID in Super2, but it’s a dream come true,” Everingham told Auto Action.

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“To be debuting in the main game at the Bathurst 1000, it’s really a big deal, and I can’t thank GRM and all my sponsors enough for making that happen.

“It’s a massive opportunity, it’s a really once in a lifetime thing.”

Initial discussions surrounded a Super2 campaign for Everingham this season.

But due to GRM’s interest in entering a Wildcard, talks centred on a Bathurst 1000 berth as the year progressed.

“We had been approaching a few people about possibilities of running the Super2 program [in 2020],” Everingham explained.

“Garry and Barry had said that they weren’t interested in Super2 but they would think about running the Wildcard, so [when they called] we jumped at the opportunity while we could.”

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Herne is a rising star of the Trans Am field and was stunned to receive the call up.

“Garry and Barry and the whole GRM team are just genuine humans, they just give it a crack,” he told AA. “I’m just absolutely grateful for this opportunity and I can’t think of anyone else who would give someone (like me) who hasn’t gone through the Super2 and Super3 ranks, an opportunity like this to showcase what they can do.”

Both drivers are completing two-days of testing at Winton as this issue goes to print.

They will race GRM Chassis 24 at Bathurst, which had been campaigned

by James Golding in the 2019 Supercars Championship.

Contributing Dan McCarthy

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LATEST SUPERCAR

NEWS

Image: LAT

MAXIMUM OF 4000 FANS AT BATHURST The 2020 Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 will be limited to a maximum of 4000 spectators each day from October 15-18.

After much planning and consultation between the NSW Government, health officials and Bathurst Regional Council, tickets are limited to just 4000 and camping has been banned for the first time in the event’s history, due to COVID-19 restrictions.

“Whilst we are disappointed that we can’t have a full crowd at Bathurst, we’re delighted to offer even limited attendance,” Supercars CEO Sean Seamer said.

“A racetrack like Mount Panorama is not as easy as a stadium to prepare in a COVID-19 compliant way, due to the lack of dedicated seating.

“We thank the NSW Government and Bathurst Regional Council for their ongoing support of the event and for working with us

on a plan that will allow fans the opportunity to see a new king of the mountain and championship winner crowned on October 18.

“We understand a number of fans will be disappointed that camping and normal ticketing opportunities are not available this year, however the safety of everyone attending the event is our main concern at all times.”

Spectators will not be permitted at the top of the Mount Panorama, while patrons will remain in reserved seating areas at Murray’s Corner, Hell Corner, Pit Straight East and Pit Straight West.

Bathurst Regional Council Mayor, Cr Bobby Bourke, has welcomed the announcement by Supercars regarding this year’s Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000.

“Council is pleased that the 2020 event is able to proceed and while it will look very

different to previous years with limited crowd numbers, we appreciate the work that has gone into planning for a COVID-safe event

by Supercars and the various government agencies.

“The Bathurst 1000 is an iconic event worldwide and to be able to proceed in 2020 is a credit to all involved.

“We look forward to welcoming the teams and a small number of fans to Bathurst for the event, and sharing the excitement of the event with thousands of others who will be joining us from their loungerooms.”

All current ticket holders have the option to hold their ticket over to the event in 2021, with existing ticket holders receiving priority to purchase tickets as this issue goes to print.

For the first time since 2000, the legendary Bathurst event will be the season finale.

Dan McCarthy

TICKET INFORMATION • Up to 4000 Reserved Seating tickets will be available per day for the 15-18 October event • Reserved seating at the bottom of the mountain only • No public camping • No access to paddock area/back of garages throughout event for patrons • No autograph sessions with drivers • No access to top of the mountain • All existing ticket holders will be given two options: - Roll over their 2020 ticket which will be valid for the 2021 event - Refund as per the normal Ticketek refund process

TYRES TO GET A REST OUT WEST

TYRE BLISTERING should be a lesser issue when the Supercars championship makes its debut on The Bend Motorsport Park’s West circuit this weekend, but the layout is forecast to produce plenty more burly racing and lots of passing opportunities.

The move to the shorter 3.4km circuit from the 4.9km International layout eliminates the high-speed triple-apex right-handers that blistered left-rear soft tyres, produced extreme degradation and some great racing.

Instead, the track turns right at turn 6 and rejoins on what we knew last weekend as the straight between turns 13 and 14.

Last weekend was the first time Supercars raced at The Bend using soft tyres.

This weekend each car will again be allocated five sets of soft Dunlops to get through qualifying and three sprint races. Saturday qualifying will again culminate in a top 15 shootout.

“We think as a team that will be really good for racing, that there should be some good passing opportunities,” Triple Eight race Engineering team manager Mark Dutton told Auto Action.

“The drivers get less rest around the West Circuit also, not

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Image: LAT

that they get a lot of rest [around the international circuit].

But it’s busier, it’s a busy layout and so that should play a part as well as the race goes on that maybe fatigue plays a larger part throughout the race … and we see some great passing and some really close races.

“So we’re actually really excited to run that track.”

The factory Holden team has experience at the West

circuit, having used it for a ride day in 2019.

Seven-time champ Jamie Whincup will be hoping that parlays into an advantage over title rival Scott Mclaughlin, who leads the championship by 215 points.

But if the DJR Team Penske Ford Mustang driver extends that advantage to 300 points by the close of racing, he will become the first driver since Whincup in 2011-13 to score a championship three-peat and can then go to the Bathurst 1000 unemcumbered by a fight for the championship.

Each of the three race wins at The Bend are worth 100 points, with a further 300 points on offer at Bathurst.

“It (the 300 point buffer) is within reach if Jamie has a bad day,” said McLaughlin. “But at the end of the day you don’t wish bad on anyone, you just go out and race.

“We are just focussing on making the job easier for ourselves down the track and if we can make it bigger than what it is now, that would be fantastic.”

McLaughlin acknowledged a 300-point buffer heading into his Bathurst defence would be a positive.

“It would change (our approach) completely … you could be a bit more aggressive. But we will worry about that if we ever get the chance to.” Bruce Newton

SCOTTY’S INDYCAR FUTURE Amid rampant speculation about Penske’s pull-out, MARK FOGARTY outlines why the Supercars star is set for a move to America ON THE verge of his third straight Supercars crown, Scott McLaughlin is looking more likely than ever to switch to IndyCar next year.

McLaughlin will make his COVID-delayed racing debut in the IndyCar Series at the season-ending Grand Prix Of St Petersburg Grand Prix in Florida on October 25.

That’s just a week after the rescheduled Bathurst 1000, meaning he will have to make a mad dash to the States the day after the Supercars finale.

The call-up to race a fourth Team Penske entry at the St Pete street circuit is seen as a precursor to a full-time move to IndyCar in 2021.

As well as the big effort to give McLaughlin race mileage following his impressive pre-season tests, a future in America for him is further fuelled by doubt about Penske’s future in Supercars.

Latest speculation is that Roger Penske will sell his majority share of DJR Team Penske to minority stakeholder and day-to-day team chief Ryan Story, who will be joined by Gold Coastbased former team owner Paul Morris as a major partner.

As part of the deal, Team Penske would uplift McLaughlin to the States on a long-term IndyCar deal, accompanied by his race engineer and technical guru Ludo Lacroix.

DJR Team Penske sources reject the speculation will leave Lacroix will leave Australia or Morris will buy in to the team.

Team Penske president Tim Cindric recently confirmed that a decision on the supersquad’s future in Australia was still to be made.

While many in Supercars believe a Penske pullout is certain, there could still be a reprieve as DJRTP is fully funded with on-going agreements with major sponsors Shell and Repco, as well

as subsidiary backers, and continued Ford support.

Even if Penske stays, it is accepted that McLaughlin will be transferred to the States, especially if he secures his Supercars threepeat title – as is now almost inevitable – not to mention successfully defending at Bathurst.

McLaughlin has made no secret of his desire to compete in IndyCar full-time, while speculation he could be joined by Lacroix is consistent with the Frenchman’s interest in applying his engineering and design talents to American racing.

Lacroix has worked in Australia since following Triple Eight here in 2004, masterminding a string of winning Supercars for Roland Dane before defecting to DJRTP in 2018.

He had a huge influence on the design and aerodynamics of the Mustang, which has dominated since last year.

Although he has no background in openwheelers, Lacroix is a student of racing car design and, more importantly, has a winning rapport with McLaughlin as his trackside engineer.

The departure of DJRTP’s two key performance figures would trigger major driver changes, especially under new ownership.

Anton De Pasquale remains the ranking favourite to replace McLaughlin – especially with Morris linked to the DJR takeover – and a Penske withdrawal could also put the second seat up for grabs.

De Pasquale is the obvious available choice to step in for McLaughlin, particularly as he is at loggerheads with Erebus Motorsport over a renewal.

He is the best available talent to take over.

Despite Fabian Coulthard’s strong performance

at The Bend, winning a race and the round overall, speculation continues to swirl around his future with the Staplyton squad.

He is vulnerable if Penske pulls out, with persistent rumours that sidelined dual Bathurst champion Will Davison is firmly in the frame to rejoin DJR, where he started his full-time Supercars career in 2006, ending the team’s long win drought in 2008.

As the speculation about DJRTP swirls, McLaughlin is poised to close out the Supercars championship as soon as the second Bend SuperSprint this weekend.

If that happens, he will be let loose at Bathurst to go for an uncontroversial and uncontested second win before he jets off to America.

Even if the title fight is still mathematically alive at the deciding Bathurst 1000, short of catastrophe, he will wrap it up at Mount Panorama.

If he were to win at Bathurst, his IndyCar engagement would disrupt the traditional Mondayafter-Bathurst media blitz.

A late morning/early afternoon flight to the USA would mean he would only be available for very early Monday morning appearances in Sydney.

He will fly to Charlotte, North Carolina, arriving late Monday, October 19 (because of the time difference).

McLaughlin will then likely have a new seat fitting at Team Penske in nearby Mooresville on Tuesday, because he has lost a little weight since his tests at the beginning of the year, along with simulator sessions before he heads to St Petersburg on the Thursday or Friday.

The simulator he will use to prepare for the St Pete street course is almost certainly the GM Racing virtual race facility he tried secretly last year.

It’s a frantic schedule he hopes will not be compromised by jet lag for what will be a final audition for a Team Penske IndyCar deal, even though he will not be expected to excel in his rushed debut at a difficult street track.

Under current border restrictions, McLaughlin would have to quarantine in a hotel in Brisbane on his return from the USA – if he can get a flight back within the weekly incoming limits.

However, as his wife Karly is American, if she can accompany him, he may elect to stay until they can return easily – or permanently if his Team Penske IndyCar promotion is confirmed.

AUSSIE COMPANY’S $1 BILLION POT OF F1 GOLD

By GEOFFREY HARRIS A HUSH-HUSH Australian company can be revealed as being close to the biggest shareholder in Formula 1, with a stake in the sport’s American owner Liberty Media that could be worth as much as $1 billion.

Sydney-based Caledonia (Private) Investments Pty Ltd has been building the stake since early 2018 – a year after Liberty took control of F1 from Bernie Ecclestone and CVC Capital Partners.

At Liberty’s peak price on America’s Nasdaq stock market the 17 million shares Caledonia now owns would have been worth A$1.15 billion.

However, despite a big recovery from the market crash that came with the arrival of the coronavirus pandemic, the price at which the stock has traded recently – around US$35.50 a share – has still been about 27.5 per cent below its peak.

Caledonia’s holding was smaller at the time of the February-March crash, but it bought about

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three million shares in the downturn and at the end of last week its investment in Liberty was worth about US$606 million – more than A$830 million.

It owns 8.4 per cent of the F1 company.

The only bigger shareholder in Liberty is US investment giant Vanguard Group at 8.69 per cent.

Caledonia has existed for almost 30 years, at first investing exclusively on behalf of the Darling family whose fortune was built on growing wheat.

After a few years Caledonia began investing for a few other wealthy Australians, including Gretel Packer – daughter of late TV, publishing and gambling tycoon Kerry and sister of James.

Although it remains a private company, the financial press has reported that Caledonia has produced returns of about 20 per cent for its investors in some years, but there have been hiccups in recent times.

Its joint chief investment officers are Will Vicars, who arranged the division of Kerry Packer’s financial legacy between siblings James and

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Gretel, and Mike Mesara, son of Sydney horse racing identity and former top stockbroker John Mesara.

Caledonia has only about 30 employees, with a New York office as well as its headquarters on Macquarie St., Sydney.

While Ecclestone made F1 a huge money-spinnerr in almost 40 years at the helm, the rivers of gold dried up for Liberty in the first half of this year with the season postponed by the pandemic.

Its revenue in the June quarter, without grand prixx race fees and TV rights income, was only US$24 million compared with US$620 million a year earlier. er.

However, its financials will be rebounding now, with 17 GPs in the second half of the year.

Caledonia has about a dozen other investments apart from Liberty.

It has said that “we see ourselves as strategic partners to the management teams of our companies”.

The Australian Financial Review has describedd Caledonia as “notoriously tight-lipped” but “not hat afraid to own 20 per cent or more of a stock that it thinks will be a long-term winner.”

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LATEST NEWS

SUPERCARS

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AUTO ACTION expects the cancellation of the Bathurst 12 Hour to be confirmed this week. It comes as travel restictions are not expected to ease ahead of the February 5-7 event. The race features a large international contingent of teams and drivers with the current climate severely hindering the ability to hold the event. It is expected that the opening round of the Supercars Championship will replace it.

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SUPERCARS HAS announced that its Eseries will make a return, with an expanded pro sim racer line-up.

Backed by new Supercars title sponsor Repco, the pro competition will take place in late October, following the conclusion of the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship at the Bathurst 1000. It’s also expected to feature at least 19 drivers, with three already confirmed being former Supercars full-timer James Golding, All Star Eseries wildcard Fawzan El-Nabi, and Emily Jones. RV

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TEAM SYDNEY has confirmed its co-drivers ahead of next month’s Bathurst 1000. Team owner Jonathan Webb will partner Alex Davison and Bathurst veteran Steve Owen returns to the Supercars grid, to co-drive alongside Chris Pither. Webb won the Bathurst 1000 in 2016 driving with Davison’s younger brother Will, while Owen is a two-time runner up in The Great Race. He last drove for Tickford Racing in 2018. This quartet of drivers have a combined 59 Bathurst 1000. DM

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LOCAL SOUTH Australian company TRG Transport Solutions will remain title sponsor on the #14 Todd Hazelwood Brad Jones Racing Commodore for this weekend’s OTR SuperSprint at The Bend Motorsport Park. The proud South Australian driver has had a breakout year in 2020, scoring his first podium at Sydney Motorsport Park and a maiden pole position on the streets of Townsville. DM

INSURANCE COMPANY Shannons has taken over the naming rights sponsoring of the Supercars Championship safety car and course vehicles.

The deal commenced last weekend at The Bend Motorsport Park in South Australia and will continue until the conclusion of the 2020 season at next month’s Bathurst 1000. Shannons replaces telecommunications provider Vodafone, which assumed the naming rights sponsorship role of the Ford Mustang safety car back in 2018. DM

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O’KEEFFE PAIRS WITH HEIMGARTNER FOR BATHURST Co-drivers will get up to four hours practice at Mount Panoramas

By BRUCE NEWTON THE CONFIRMATION Cooldrive Commodore entrant Tim Blanchard will share with Macauley Jones and rising star Dylan O’Keeffe will join Andre Heimgartner in the Ned Racing Ford Mustang has completed the entry list for the 2020 Bathurst 1000.

Blanchard will drive with Jones for the first time since they finished 10th together in 2016, while O’Keeffe will be making his Bathurst 1000 debut.

The good news for Blanchard, O’Keeffe and their fellow co-drivers is they will get as many as four hours dedicated practice at Mount Panorama leading into the Great Race to make up for their lack of wheel-time during the year.

Last year at Bathurst two one-hour sessions were reserved for additional drivers.

The Bathurst 1000 is the sole two-driver endurance race of the years thanks to the calendar chaos inflicted by COVID. The traditional co-driver practice at Supercars championship rounds have also been prevented by the coronavirus.

Rookies co-drivers who can get to The Bend this weekend will get the chance to have a hit-out in the first session of the weekend.

This is the compromise solution to a debate reported in <i>AA<i> 1794, where some teams were pushing to allow a co-drivers session for anyone who could get to the South Australia track, while others opposed it altogether.

Blanchard and O’Keeffe’s confirmations by Brad Jones Racing and Kelly Racing respectively followed on from Team Sydney pairing team owner Jonathon Webb with Alex Davison and recruiting veteran Steve Owen to share the Coke Commodore with Chris Pither.

Jack Perkins was also confirmed recently to codrive the SCT Logistics Commodore with rookie Jack Smith.

O’Keeffe was due to land back in Australia on September 25 and enter two weeks quarantine after making his WTCR debut in Belgium for Renault.

The 22-year old has Supercars main game experience as a late replacement for Richie Stanaway in a Garry Rogers Motorsport Holden Commodore ZB on the Gold Coast last year.

He also raced to fifth in the 2019 Super2 series for GRM and fifth in TCR Australia for Ash Seward Motorsport.

Given the pace displayed by Heimgartner at The Bend last week, O’Keeffe potentially finds himself in a front-running car if that form translates to Mount Panorama.

“I’s been a little while since I’ve driven a Supercar however I’m confident I’ll adapt to it quickly and be able to be competitive with the other co-drivers,” said O’Keeffe.

“We’ll have a few practice sessions before the big race which will give me plenty of time to acclimatise, get to know everyone and learn the car.”

Speaking to the media after The Bend 1 Supercars Commissioner Jamie Whincup said co-drivers would have significant practice time at Bathurst.

“The saving grace is there is seven hours of practice including the warm-up before we get to the race and the race is six hours,” said Whincup.

“From what a birdy told me there will be a few more co-driver sessions; maybe three or four of that seven hours will be co-driver only. So they will get heaps of running at the circuit they will race at before the big race.

“While most co-drivers haven’t done anywhere near the amount of laps they would do in a normal year, they will probably get a little more at Bathurst.”

FORD SUPERCARS FUTURE SECURE – FOR NOW

By MARK FOGARTY NEWLY APPOINTED Ford Australia boss Andrew Birkic has cautiously confirmed the company’s commitment to Supercars, amid dissent from Detroit over possible Gen3 technical changes.

Birkic indicated the company would continue support next year before reviewing its involvement once the Gen3 rules, due to be introduced in 2022, were announced.

While there is no fixed timeframe for Broadmeadows’ participation, he emphasised that Supercars needed competitive, entertaining racing between different makes that was market relevant, for Ford to remain.

His stance aligns with the position of Ford Performance racing chief Mark Rushbrook, who has also questioned the direction of Gen3.

Rushbrook opposes moves for Supercars to homologate the shape of the cars without manufacturer involvement and the adoption of a standardised control engine, even if it were based on Ford’s Coyote V8.

As well, he is insistent that Ford would only be interested in staying in Supercars if there is a new rival to replace Holden.

Birkic, who professes to be a long-time rally fan with an interest in Supercars and F1, maintained that under his new reign, Ford Australia wanted to remain in racing.

“In terms of where we’re going, we certainly are committed to motor sport,” he said,

adding some key riders.

“We want the series to be competitive – I think that’s really, really important. But we want it to be high profile as well and I think that’s really important. We want the sport to be competitive and we want people to be watching it, whether it’s on TV, online or at the track.

“I think it’s really, really important that it’s entertainment. And we want it to be relevant. It needs to be relevant to what we sell and I think with Mustang, we’re incredibly lucky.

“Certainly, we’ll continue to work with the Supercars team and we look forward to participating.”

Birkic has taken over as president and chief executive officer of Ford Australia from Kay Hart, who was a big supporter of the Blue Oval’s return to Supercars with the Mustang.

Broadmeadows funded the development of the Supercars Mustang with extensive technical assistance from Ford Performance in Detroit.

Ford also provides support to Mustang teams DJR Team Penske, Tickford Racing and, from this year, Kelly Racing.

When pressed on Ford Australia’s continued involvement, Birkic said: “As far as I know, we’re committed to motor sport and that’s where we are.”

As clarification, spokesman Damion Smy added: “Actually, we don’t have a clock on Supercars. There’s no end date for us, so we’ll keep going for the foreseeable future.

“There’s no timeframe for us in terms of participation, so we’re working with Supercars on Gen3 and when that becomes public, we’ll happily comment.

“But at the moment, there’s no end in sight for Ford’s involvement in motor sport in Australia.”

Asked if he were looking ahead to Gen3 and 2022 positively, Birkic replied: “We’d certainly welcome more manufacturers and we have to ensure the costs are controlled.

“As Damion said, there is no clock. We want the series to be competitive, we want it to be entertaining, we want it to high profile, we want it to be relevant. And if we can get that formula right, then we’re committed.

“Ford has always been in motor sport. It’s part of our DNA and part of our heritage, and as long it’s relevant and has the right formula, then I’d like to continue that investment.”

“Total speculation and rumour” says sales and marketing boss

Toyota dismisses Supra Supercar

By BRUCE NEWTON ONE OF Toyota Australia’s most senior executives has hosed down expectations the company is considering a factory-backed Supercars campaign after the Gen3 technical regulations roll out in 2022.

While being developed with a 2765mm wheelbase, Auto Action has also reported the Gen3 platform is expected to retain the option to flex its wheelbase, so that the bodyshapes of smaller cars aren’t distorted too much in the Supercars homologation process.

The compact Toyota Supra two-door sports car is the vehicle consistently mentioned as benefitting from such a plan and Australia’s biggest newvehicle seller continues to be linked via pitlane rumour with a Supercars championship campaign with Triple Eight Race Engineering.

But Toyota Australia sales and marketing chief Sean Hanley dismissed that as “total speculation and rumour”.

“It’s not something I have heard of,” he told Auto Action in an exclusive interview.

Toyota has been linked on and off with Supercars programs for at least 20 years, but has consistently opted for other categories such as the Australian Rally Championship and has more recently invested in the successful 86 one-make series that is a staple on the Supercars support program.

Hanley said that is where the Toyota will continue to spend its motor racing money.

“Right now our focus is Australian rally and that is being done through our support of the Bates family, who represent us through Toyota Gazoo Racing Australia,” said Hanley.

“We have the Toyota GR 86 series that will continue through to the end of 2022.

“But we really have nothing further to announce regarding Toyota Australia’s motorsport efforts at this time.”

Turning to Supercars, Hanley said he wanted to be absolutely clear, so he did not mislead or start incorrect rumours.

“There are currently no plans around Supra or entering V8 Supercars under the new rules at all.

“Anything you are hearing is purely speculative.”

Hanley investigated Supercars and ultimately rejected involvement in 2015, when he was running Toyota’s luxury brand Lexus in Australia, although he did sign up to provide support vehicles.

He said Supercars events provide “a good platform” for the promotion of the 86 sports car and the Gazoo Racing (GR) brand under which Toyota markets its performance vehicles and motor racing.

Hanley revealed he was not being kept up to date on the progress of the Gen3 tech regs or aware that Toyota was being consulted about them.

“We’re always interested in developments in Supercars because we have an active interest in the total event and we have an active interest in motorsport, but we are not directly involved in policies or procedures in relation to the new rules at all.

“But we do like to be in contact of course, not because we have any plans to enter at this point but because we are always interested at looking at opportunities. That is just the right thing to do in business.”

Hanley was also not aware of any proposals pitched by Supercars teams to woo Toyota into a racing program.

“That’s not to say it hasn’t happened somewhere else at Toyota but I haven’t been involved. I know I would get involved at some point if it was a serious approach.

“I am not aware of any direct discussions on a formal basis around our involvement in the Supercars with any team on the Toyota side.”

Asked why Supercars teams have been unable to convince Toyota to join the championship despite decades of effort, Hanley was diplomatic.

“We think Supercars is a really important event for motorsport in Australia and that’s’ why we are part of it in some way,” he said.

“We really love the event in every way and we think it appeals to the Australian audience and it’s deeply in the Australian culture.

“In the end for us it does come down to priorities, but it also gets down to product and product alignment to that event and product appeal beyond that event to the marketplace.

“All of these things we look at.”

DARWIN THE PICK FOR BATHURST QUARANTINE Victorian Supercars co-drivers opt for the NT over Sydney CBD

VICTORIAN SUPERCARS personnel will quarantine for two weeks in Sydney or Darwin, ahead of the Bathurst 1000.

In Sydney, co-drivers and team members can hub at an apartment block in Sydney CBD organised by Supercars.

In Darwin, they will be allocated to supervised accommodation determined by the Northern Territory government.

The cost of the accommodation will be borne by the occupant or their organisation and will not be subsidised by Supercars.

Queensland is not an option for the Victorian drivers and team personnel because gaining an exemption to quarantine there is a far more difficult process than New South Wales or the NT. At this stage it appears Darwin is a far more popular option than Sydney among team personnel.

That’s probably because additional – if still limited - freedom of personnel movement is allowed at places like the Manigurr-ma residential village in Howard Springs, outside Darwin.

In Sydney, however, those quarantining will have access to a gym but will have to stay within the bounds of the property.

Co-drivers headed to Darwin include three-

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time Bathurst 1000 winner Garth Tander, who will team with Shane van Gisbergen in a factory Holden Commodore ZB in the Great Race.

DJR Team Penske’s Tony D’Alberto, who will share with Fabian Coulthard, will also head to Darwin for two weeks.

Both Melbourne-based Tickford co-drivers, Michael Caruso and James Moffat, will go to the Northern Territory capital. Caruso will share with Lee Holdsworth in the Great Race while Moffat will be with Jack Le Brocq.

James Golding, who will be with Mark Winterbottom in the Team 18 Irwin Commodore, is another bound for the Northern Territory.

“It’s been pretty sudden getting ready to head up to Darwin for quarantine,” said Golding.

“I knew it was going to happen eventually but it will be good to get the quarantine done earlier and get back to the Gold Coast to join the team and prepare as much as we can before Bathurst.

Newly-confirmed Kelly Racing co-driver Dylan O’Keeffe is expected to quarantine in Sydney for two weeks from September 25, after flying back into Australia from his WTCR debut. O’Keeffe is due to share the

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NED Mustang with Andre Heimgartner.

Dale Wood, who will share the Castrol Mustang with Rick Kelly, is headed to Darwin.

Wildcard entrant Garry Rogers Motorsport will have 13 personnel requiring quarantine and it is offering them the choice of Sydney or Darwin for their two week sojourn.

In great news for David Reynolds, his regular engineer Alistair McVean is scheduled to rejoin Erebus Motorsport for Bathurst, after enduring the Melbourne lockdown with his family since July. He will quarantine in Sydney.

One driver expected to avoid quarantine is Jack Perkins, confirmed in the last few days to Jack Smith in the SCT Logistics Racing Holden Commodore ZB. Perkins lives in rural Victoria on the family farm six hours out of Melbourne and has a cross-border permit that allows him to enter New South Wales despite the border closure.

“We’re just working through all that to make sure I’m doing all the right things and the government mobs are all happy with that,” said Perkins.

“In theory, common sense will prevail, following all the guidelines we should be okay to get over there.” BN

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LATEST LATES S T NEWS

GM HOLDEN’S former proving ground, situated just outside the Victorian country town of Lang Lang, has been sold to Vietnamese car company VinFast. VinFast was founded in 2017 and has been receiving assistance from legendary styling house Pininfarina, polus BMW and Magna Steyr in producing its concept models. The company has an agreement with General Motors to distribute Chevys in Vietnam, and has now employed several ex-GM Holden engineers making Australia its first overseas VinFast branch. HM

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TOYOTA RACING Series regular MTEC Motorsport is aiming to re-join the Australia S5000 Championship grid after being an inaugural team at the opening event at Sandown. Headed by the experienced Bruin Beasley, MTEC is forging a reputation as a development team, after aligning itself with perennial Formula Renault Eurocup team R-ace, prior to the last TRS season earlier this year. Beasley is eager to join the likes of Team BRM and AGI Sport as regulars in the S5000 championship. HM

IT HAS been announced that The Bend Classic will become an annual Father’s Day weekend event, following the success of the 2020 meeting. The 2020 edition of the event took place two weekend past at South Australia’s The Bend Motorsport Park for a second time, showcasing the best of cars and motorsport history, with unique road cars, ‘80s F1 cars and old V8 Supercars, just to brush the surface. It was the first time that The Bend Classic took place on Father’s Day weekend, after the inaugural event took place in December ast year. DM

THE FORMULA Ford Association has officially announced the cancellation of the 2020 Australian Formula Ford Championship.

The committee that makes up the Formula Ford Association has continued to strive to deliver a season, but the latest COVID-19 driven lockdown restriction extension in Victoria, coupled with the border closures, has forced the association to cancel the national Formula Ford title. It will be the first time since the category’s inception in Australia in 1970 that a national level Formula Ford series will not be run in this country. DM

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COURTNEY MISSES FORD BACKING DESPITE A strong start to his career as a Ford Supercar driver James Courtney has yet to actually be officially endorsed by the blue oval.

While the other seven Mustang drivers on the grid display some form of backing from Ford, Courtney is unsponsored.

Look carefully and you won’t spot a blue oval badge on his racing suit or the merchandise of his sponsor, Boost Mobile.

The Ford logo does appear on the Mustang he races, reflecting the backing the Tickford Racing team gets from Ford.

After an abortive start to the season with Team Sydney, Courtney joined Tickford with the support of Boost Mobile when the Supercars season resumed at Sydney Motorsport Park in June, after a three month COVID-enforced break.

He took over the 23Red entry previously driven

by Will Davison and backed by Milwaukee Tools.

The lack of Ford personal sponsorship is being publicly put down to the hurried way Courtney joined Tickford after the season had commenced.

But privately, some AA sources indicate Ford Australia management was cautious about embracing someone so long a factory driver for arch-rival Holden.

New Zealander Kay Hart was Ford Australia president and CEO when the call on Courtney was made. She has since been promoted out of the role and been replaced by Australian Andrew Birkic.

“The deal with Peter Adderton was done very quickly and we don’t as yet have a relationship with Peter nor James for logo use,” a Ford spokesman said.

“If the arrangement continues into 2021 then it would make perfect sense for Ford and Peter to also come to agreement on use of the Ford logo on their merchandise and James’ race suit.”

While Courtney had a tough time at The Bend last weekend, he has proved competitive since he joined Tickford.

Having contested 21 races with Tickford so far, the 2010 series champion has qualified in the top 10 six times, finished in the top 10 nine times and claimed one podium – second in race one at Darwin 1. He is 14th in the championship.

At Bathurst he will partner with rising Super2 star Broc Feeney in the Boost Mustang. It will be Feeney’s first start in the Great race and Courtney’s 15th. Bruce Newton

BATHURST ON PYE’S MIND MOVING UP the field and up the points ladder in a strong debut season with Team 18, Scott Pye is focussing on a big result at his happy hunting ground at Mount Panorama.

The 30-year old has a great record in the Bathurst 1000, finishing no worse than seventh and twice finishing second, since he debuted in the race in 2012.

In 2020 he will be joined by West Aussie Dean Fiore in the DeWalt Holden Commodore ZB. “I always think about Bathurst,” Pye told Auto Action. “Bathurst is a long day and I never think about the result, but it is on my mind and it is one big item on my bucket list I want to tick off.”

Pye joined Charlie Schwerkolt’s team this year as it expanded to two cars. The best result for Team 18 in the Great Race was sixth in 2019 for Mark Winterbottom and Steven Richards.

Pye’s 2020 season has been highlighted by a run of podiums through the Darwin doubleheaders. He’s also finished inside the top 10 in 10 of his last 12 races, helping him move forward to 10th in the drivers’ championship.

But he’s also qualified only four times in the top 10 through those races, pointing to both his

single-lap weakness and passing strength.

The good news at Bathurst is you’ve got 1000km to fight back from a poor grid slot!

And there’s no doubt Pye has demonstrated he’s as good at making a pass as anyone in the Supercars field. He even picked up $5000 from Boost Mobile boss Peter Adderton for his hardcharging efforts in the race one of Townsville 2.

“When you think Bathurst it’s a long day, the race doesn’t really start till the last couple of stints,” said Pye. “I am all about trying to improve the race car and making sure that at a place like Bathurst we’re in the fight when it comes time at the end.

“That’s why I think we have done well in the

past, you have to tune a race car there and that starts before that event.”

Pye will team at Bathurst for the first time with one of the category’s best engineers in Phil Keed.

He and Keed have been together since the resumption of the Supercars season in June at Sydney Motorsport Park and have built a steadily stronger relationship.

“I am already thinking about how we can make this race car better, about how we can manipulate this car during a race and make it work if it is uncomfortable at any point,” said Pye. “That is what Bathurst is about.” BN

th Luke West iith wit

AA’s long-time columnist reflects on Bathurst’s clipped crowd

PERKINS’ RUN CONTINUES IT WILL be start number 15 for Jack Perkins, when he suits up for next month’s Bathurst 1000.

But it’s been a tough road to get there.

Perkins was scheduled to co-drive alongside Will Davison in the 23Red Racing Ford Mustang, but when that team pulled out of Supercars during the category’s hiatus due to COVID-19, the son of six-time Bathurst winner Larry was left without a seat.

However, he will line up in this year’s Bathurst 1000 partnering Brad Jones Racing youngster Jack Smith at The Mountain.

Reflecting on the past five months, Perkins said it was a difficult set of circumstances to encounter.

“It was a pretty tough situation

to be honest,” recalled Perkins.

“I worked pretty hard during the Christmas break to get myself a competitive, race winning co-drive.

We’d already done that and to have the carpet pulled out from under you is a pretty tough pill to swallow, but it is what it is.”

Perkins explained to Auto Action that he received some interesting phone calls, but a relationship with Smith’s engineer Paul Forgie paved the way for him to fill the codriver’s role.

“It was a trying couple of months, but I’m really happy with where it’s all ended up with Jack Smith and Brad Jones Racing, which are in good form,” Perkins said.

“I’m certainly glad to be where I am.”

It will be the first time Perkins fills

the mentoring role in a co-driving partnership, something he is excited to provide to Smith.

“It’s an exciting thing for me to lend my experience,” enthused Perkins.

“I’ve been, especially the last few years, working with more experienced guys that I’m learning off and now there is an opportunity to pass on my knowledge.”

Also a factor is the form of Brad Jones Racing, which has taken two wins this season.

“The best thing is it’s a good environment, good team and the cars are fast, which is half the battle,” said Perkins.

“I’m really looking forward to the challenge in helping him (Smith) to get a good result for the team.”

Heath McAlpine

HOLDEN TO MARK BATHURST FAREWELL THE END of the Holden’s glorious relationship with Mount Panorama will be celebrated at this year’s Bathurst 1000.

General Motors made the call to axe the brand last February, ensuring this October’s race would be the last time a factory-backed Holden raced at Mount Panorama.

It will also be the final appearance ever for a factorybacked Holden in Australian touring car/Supercars racing, as the October 15-18 event is the final round of the 2020 COVIDimpacted calendar.

Holden Commodores will race on in the 2021 Supercars season but without any input from the brand, which is due to be wound up by December 31.

Holden has declined to share details of the celebration with Auto Action, but we understand there are two key components.

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One involves a display of historic and important Holden racers from the company’s Bathurst history, that could also include demonstration laps of the circuit.

Separately, a documentary covering Holden’s involvement in championship racing and Bathurst is being prepared for broadcast during the Bathurst telecast.

It is understood Holden’s media partner AME is compiling the documentary.

It will certainly have a lot of ground to cover, as the Holden brand has won the 1000 and its

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500 mile predecessor a record 33 times via the Monaro, Torana and five generations of Commodore.

Those cars have been piloted by some of the greatest talents ever to grace Australian racetracks; Peter Brock, Mark Skaife, Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup to name a few.

Holdens have also been campaigned by great racing teams including the Holden Dealer Team, the Holden Racing Team and Triple Eight Race Engineering, run by powerful pitlane figures such as Harry Firth, Tom Walkinshaw and Roland Dane. BN

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HAVING JUST 4000 spectators – and no campers – attend each day of this year’s Bathurst 1000 meeting is disappointing. Especially when NSW’s football stadiums can, from October 1, fill 50 per cent of their seats.

At first glance it seems Bathurst spectators have been dudded. But stadiums have the advantage of having reserved and numbered seats, making it easier to meet government requirements mandating contact tracing. With only 500 permanent grandstand seats at Mount Panorama, Supercars’ job of hosting big crowds was so much harder and more expensive. Hence demand for 2020 Bathurst 1000 tickets far outstripped supply.

I’m sure Supercars pushed hard to have more spectators, but I’m not sure their major partner in the event, Bathurst Regional Council, was quite so eager.

And I don’t blame the Council for that.

Remember two things: BRC is, obviously, the local government, acting on behalf of its ratepayers and citizens; and the true custodian of the Mount Panorama circuit. The venue is its baby.

There is no organisation involved in Australian motorsport that I respect more than Bathurst Regional Council. It had the foresight and smarts to create the fabled circuit 80-odd years ago and has magnificently managed the site ever since, at considerable cost, for the city’s benefit. BRC has always pulled the right rein to steer the venue into the future.

More than one Supercars figure has beaten his chest over the years as if that entity controlled Mount Panorama. But the true caretaker is the BRC. Bathurst, like Supercars, will take a bath this year.

And you know what? Many people in Bathurst weren’t too fussed at the prospect of hosting tens of thousands of out-of-towners, including many from former and current COVID hotspots. The city of Bathurst has not recorded a COVID-19 case in months. It wants to keep it that way.

Quite apart from meeting NSW Government regulations, the possibility that a visitor to Bathurst brings the virus with them and spreads it on race weekend is a genuine and reasonable fear in the NSW Central West.

You only have to look to the reaction of Bathurst’s residents to a visit in midAugust from a soccer club from Bankstown, in Sydney’s west, to gauge the feeling in the race’s host district. It was a major talking point in town and helped firm many opinions regarding the biggest weekend influx of the year.

As Bathurst’s Western Advocate newspaper editorialised, “Very few of us right now would willingly venture into Bankstown knowing there are active cases of COVID-19 in that community, so why should it be any different for people travelling from that community into ours?”

Some might consider this selfish, but put yourself in a Bathurst citizen’s shoes.

Banning campers this year was certainly the right decision, as social distancing while camping is impossible.

I’m actually surprised that race tickets weren’t only offered to Central Westerners. If you’re not from the district and you’re holding a valid ticket, I reckon you’ve found motorsport’s equivalent of a Willy Wonka golden ticket.

THE IMPLICATIONS of greatly reduced Bathurst spectating numbers are slowly sinking it.

Firstly, with this being the last Great Race contested by teams officially supported by Holden, most red army members won’t get to farewell them trackside. So it will be a rather subdued sendoff for the most popular and successful marque in the race’s history. True, there will be Holdens in the race next year – maybe even the following year, too – but it won’t quite be the same without factory involvement.

Next, hundreds of long-time attendees will have their sequence of consecutive Great Races broken. I know of one chap who has attended every single Bathurst classic since the event’s inception in 1963. He is now considering his options.

And I know the ‘management’ and ‘guests’ of the Bathurst Hilton campsite, dating back to 1983, are philosophical about watching on from TV for once.

The 30-odd Hilton guests will be back next year, but I wonder how many other campers, especially those whose principal interest in the race is supporting the Holdens, will get out of the habit of making the October pilgrimage? If they sample the race ad-free on Fox Sports...

Expect plenty of debate during race week as to the merit of hosting visitors.

Grenade!

Finally, a special shout-out to Supercars crews who have kept the show going all these months – and will remain away from home until after Bathurst.

Lads and lasses, you’ve achieved something special. The wider motorsporting community salutes you.

The bottomline? It’s remarkable the race is a goer at all in these COVID times.

We still get to enjoy it on television. Even with just 4000 punters per day, tell me of a bigger or more significant event being held in regional Australia this year since March?

Luke West wrote his first Auto Action column in 2000. Over time, ‘Reverential Ramblings’ evolved into ‘Revved Up’ as Luke surveys motorsport’s changing landscape. Contact via @luke_west & aarevvedup@hotmail.com

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SUPERCARS

Image: LAT

THE FIA World Endurance Championship will revert to a more traditional schedule with fewer races in 2021.

Citing the ongoing economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the WEC will be scaled back to six races across North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East, and highlighted by a new race at Monza. The 24 Hours of Le Mans will return to its traditional June date in 2021, after being delayed this year. RV

INDYCAR HAS announced that on August 6-8, 2021 the series will race on the streets of Nashville, Tennessee for the very first time. The circuit will be located in downtown Nashville and around the Nissan Stadium, which will serve as the paddock for the race weekend. The 11 turn 3.49km track incorporates the Korean Veterans Memorial Bridge, making the Music City Grand Prix one of the only motor races to cross over a major body of water. DM

Image: LAT

IN THE lead up to the 2020 edition of the Le Mans 24 Hours, front running LMP2 team Signatech Alpine Elf announced that it will make the step up to the top-tier LMP1 class in the World Endurance Championship for the 2021 season. The #36 team finished third despite suffering mechanical issues at Le Mans this year, after winning the class in 2018 and 2019. Signatech Alpine will enter the LMP1 category by utilising a rebranded Rebellion R-13. DM

Image: LAT

SEVEN-TIME NASCAR Cup Series winner Jimmie Johnson will make the switch to IndyCar in 2021 ... yes you are reading that correctly! After just one test of an IndyCar, the 45-year-old has signed up to compete in a fourth Chip Ganassi Racing Honda on the street and road courses in 2021 and 2022. It has also been announced that four-time ChampCar Series winner Sebastien Bourdais will return to the IndyCar grid, to contest the final three races of the 2020 season with AJ Foyt Racing before joining the team full-time in 2021. DM

Image: LAT

A REDUCED 102 car field will line up to contest this years Nurburgring 24 Hour race. Despite the smaller grid size, big name drivers and high-profile teams have entered the endurance classic. The front running SP 9 FIA GT3 class itself contains 31 machines, with Audi, Mercedes, Ferrari, Porsche, Lamborghini and BMW all being represented . Australian Matt Campbell will line up in a #911 Porsche. DM

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BATHURST INT RELIES ON OPEN BORDERS A DECISION on the Bathurst International hinges on the re-opening of borders, particularly the New South Wales and Victorian border, as preparations are underway for the November 12-15 event.

The motor sport extravaganza at The Mountain is scheduled to feature 10 categories across the four-day event, including the Bathurst 6 Hour production car race.

ARG CEO Matt Braid underlined the importance of border reopenings as a majority of classes taking part at the event are non-professional competitors, who are unable to complete the current quarantining process.

“We don’t need every single border in the country to be open, we’ve got competitors who are keen to come across and race even with quarantine,” Matt Braid told Auto Action.

“Obviously they’re smaller in number because many of our competitors in other categories don’t have that capability, both from a time and budget point of view.

“Everything is changing by the day.

Quite clearly we’re working closely with Motorsport Australia and New South Wales Health, and also with Supercars, (which is) currently doing its plan. That’s off the back of what is approved for Supercars is likely to be achievable for us from an event perspective.

“The difference between Supercars and ourselves, given the number of categories we’ve got and the diversity of the competitor-base, the borders are still going to be an issue for us.”

Due to this, a question mark hangs over the likelihood of all 10-categories competing at the event, which Braid is keeping a watching brief over.

“At this stage we aim to have most, albeit talking to some of the categories the situation has changed for many of them because in some cases they’re professional teams, in other cases they really are amateur drivers and they don’t have the ability to come,” Braid said.

“We are talking to them very regularly and trying to keep up to date with where they are at. It is going to be a case of gauging the

support of the categories we’ve got going and making sure we’ve got a good enough field.

“If we are running a big event at Bathurst for a category, we want to have the right numbers for it. We just have to look at it logically and realistically.”

The recent announcement of 4000 capped attendance at Bathurst is a promising development for ARG, as it is in conversations on whether fans will be trackside.

“Numbers for the event we believe at this time are fine, the biggest issue for the event is probably deciding on spectators or no

spectators,” Braid explained.

“We’re in those discussions at the moment.”

Braid emphasised that the Bathurst 1000 will be used as a guide to how to conduct the International.

“We’ll get clarity in the next coming days, weeks, particularly as New South Wales Health has looked at all various sporting venues and Bathurst is in the mix for that around the 1000,” he said.

“We’ll follow the lead of that event in consultation with Motorsport Australia and just see what transpires.” Heath McAlpine

BATHURST 1000 SUPPORTS TAKE SHAPE SUPERCARS is in the final stages of locking down the support program for this year’s Bathurst 1000, which is expected to feature a historic element.

Auto Action understands that retro will return to The Mountain as Group N Historic Touring Cars will combine with Heritage Touring Cars to form a grid.

Group N is heavily supported as a historic category covering models built before 1973 that raced in Australia. This class will showcase Bathurst’s Series Production era through the Ford Falcon GT-HO, Holden Monaro and Torana GTR XU-1.

Heritage Touring Cars complete the theme as it features the actual cars that raced during the Group A and C eras of The Great Race.

Many entrants are finalising preparations for Bathurst in these classes.

Originally slated to be a support to the Bathurst 1000, the Toyota GAZOO Australia Racing 86 Series will likely see a number of entrants contesting four non-points paying races at The Mountain.

As the majority of teams which contest the series are Sydney-based, a sole-Toyota 86 event is achievable albeit it cannot be part of the national series, as many other drivers are unable to enter New South Wales without needing to quarantine.

Last weekend at The Bend, Aussie Tin Tops

was confirmed as joining the Bathurst 1000 support bill.

Debuting at Townsville I, it proved an entertaining and popular format, as entries grew for the category’s event at The Bend.

Although Australian GT planned to fulfill its role as a support category at Bathurst with solely New South Wales-based competitors, it is expected these will be within the Aussie Tin Tops class.

Bathurst has previously hosted a similar

category in the form of Combined Sedans, which is a regular support of the Bathurst 12 Hour and features entries of the same ilk, ranging from Super3 to Production Car teams.

However, due to the border restrictions entries will come out of New South Wales only.

Super2 returns to the schedule after being canned earlier in the month, but its reinstatement hasn’t been popular within the majority of the competitor group. HM

RALLY AND CIRCUIT TO COLLIDE AT SHANNONS ROUNDS PLANS ARE underway to combine circuit and rallying events in a celebration of motor sport.

Previously envisioned to occur this year at The Bend Motorsport Park as a combined Shannons Motorsport Australia Championship and Australian Rally Championship round, plans have now been put into place to explore the format further in 2021.

“We’re really keen to look at those opportunities,” Shannons Motorsport Australia Championships director Michael Smith told Auto Action.

“We now promote all of those properties; the Australian Rally Championship, Australian Off Road Championship and the Shannons Motorsport Australia Championships, and any opportunities where we can bring those together as a bit of a celebration of motor sport, we’ll actively pursue.”

Preparations remain in the early stages but Smith is confident that multiple disciplines will be on show at The Bend, ahead of further expansion of the concept in the future.

“We’ve had some discussions with Tailem Bend and also the South Australian Government about

that concept,” confirmed Smith.

“We’re quite confident we’ll be able to do that stuff in the future and possibly even next year.

“Imagine going to Tailem Bend and you might have TCRs or S5000s in the paddock, but it’s also the service park for an Australian Rally Championship round, with a super special out on circuit during the Saturday night.

“It’s not often you get an opportunity to see those disciplines all in the one place at the one time, and I guess we’re uniquely placed to deliver that.” Heath McAlpine

SANDOWN DOUBLE-HEADER? A SANDOWN double-header for Shannons Motorsport Australia Championship categories is being developed to be held in late-November, early-December.

“We’re still working on it,” said Shannons Motorsport Australia Championships director Michael Smith.

“We have plans in the pipeline

to run some back-to-back consecutive events for the Shannons in late-November, early-December and try to finish the year with a big bang.

“Our focus at the moment is to see what we can deliver this year. We’re quietly confident that we’ll be able to deliver something at the tail end of the season, which hopefully will give us an

opportunity for us to reflect on a crazy year and have some fun.”

Australian Racing Group CEO Matt Braid is still weighing up the opportunity to compete at Sandown, two weeks after the Bathurst International.

“That’s another date in the calendar that’s available, so we’ll have a look at that too,” he said.

“Any opportunity we have to go

racing before the end of the year, we’re going to ascertain how we can do that, and how it can look. It’s too early to call at this stage.”

Depending on the Victorian Government’s road map target being met will determine whether spectators will be in attendance, however Smith hopes it will be the case. HM

CO-DRIVERS CONFIRM PRACTICE LAPS THE 30-MINUTE rookie session scheduled at The Bend Motorsport Park this Saturday will predominantly be used by Supercars Championship teams to field young co-drivers.

This includes the likes of Brodie Kostecki, Tom Randle and Broc Feeney, who will all be competing at The Mountain this year.

Both Kostecki and Randle confirmed to Auto Action that they will be participating in the rookie session.

“Yeah I’ll be in it,” he Kostecki said. “Leading up to next weekend hopefully we can sort out driver change practice, the seat mold and everything like that.

“Just trying to prepare as much as possible and try to cross the t’s and dot the i’s as much as possible.”

During the large break since the last Super2 round, Kostecki has been keeping race sharp at the Norwell Motorplex.

He’s also been racing a Hyundai Excel in Townsville, all in preparation to race alongside

Anton de Pasquale in the Bathurst 1000.

“It’s really good to be around all the Norwell guys. Obviously it’s pretty hard to go racing at the moment and we’re pretty fortunate being based in Queensland,” he said.

“Anton has been around as well, we’ve been banging around doing laps together just trying to prep as much as possible for the big one at Bathurst.”

Randle also confirmed his participation in the rookie session for Brad Jones Racing, before sharing the car with in form driver Nick Percat at Bathurst.

“For practice zero or whatever it is called I’ll be in the R&J Batteries Commodore, so that should be good,” he told AA. “The rookie co-driver session on Saturday morning will be the last time I drive the car before going to Bathurst.”

The Sandown 500 podium finisher and current Super2 Series leader drove a Bentley Continental GT3 machine at The Bend last weekend, taking all

Image: Insyde Media

three race wins in the Tin Tops category.

Randle feels these extra miles in the Supercar and the Bentley will be really useful when the fourday weekend commences at ‘The Mountain.’

“The Bentley was all about getting some race miles because I hadn’t driven in two months, it’s just about keeping race fit,” Randle explained.

“Brad (Jones) has been working hard to get that P zero session next weekend for co-drivers. I think it’s pretty cool because the last time I drove Nick’s car was in the pre-season test at Tailem Bend.

“It will be nice going into it having had those extra miles and it’s credit to BJR for allowing me to drive the car this year in the Bathurst 1000.” DM

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OPENING 2021 ARC ROUNDS ANNOUNCED MOTORSPORT AUSTRALIA has announced the dates and locations for the opening three rounds of the 2021 Australian Rally Championship.

It is proposed that next year’s schedule will include six events, the announcement coming a week after the 2020 season was officially cancelled due to the border closures currently in place.

Announcing the first half of the calendar early enables competitors to prepare sufficiently for next year’s title, as well as allowing state championship organisers to plan its events around ARC rounds, explained Motorsport Australia director of motorsport and commercial operations Michael Smith.

“It’s fair to say we all wanted more rally action in 2020 but with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, this hasn’t been possible,” Smith said.

“With this in mind, we wanted to announce our 2021 calendar as soon as possible and we’ve worked closely with our respective event organisers to make this possible and they have been terrific.

“This early announcement will allow all competitors plenty of time to prepare their cars and lock away their rallying plans for the first half of 2021.”

An official pre-season test will kick off the 2021 ARC season in Ballarat on February 16, before the opening round is the National Capital Rally based in Canberra on March 20-21.

The Forest Rally in Western Australia follows on May 1-2, before heading to the Apple Isle to tackle Rally Tasmania on June 26-27.

From there plans are fluid, with ongoing COVID-19 related restrictions and border closures to be monitored by Motorsport Australia before further decisions are made.

Smith explained that the COVID-19 pandemic

will not simply disappear, and therefore the calendar will be changed if necessary.

“We know the COVID-19 pandemic won’t disappear overnight, and we will continue to constantly monitor the border situation and any local restrictions, to make sure our events can run safely and welcome as many competitors as possible,” Smith said.

“2020 has been a difficult one for everyone, but it is worth acknowledging that both RSEA Safety & Hire and Hoosier Tires have been terrific in their support of our efforts to deliver events both

Image: LAT

A TRIBUTE service for legendary Brabham and Ralt designer Ron Tauranac will be viewable online for six months.

The link is: https://www.FuneralVideo.com.au/ RonTauranac Tauranac died on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast on July 17, aged 95, and only a small private funeral could be held because of the pandemic.

The Australian Racing Drivers’ Club and the Historic Sports and Racing Car Association of NSW, of which Tauranac was patron, arranged a memorial service at Sydney Motorsport Park in the middle of this week (mid-morning Wednesday, September 23) limited to 100 invited guests.

Among those paying tribute, either by video or in writing, were Bernie Ecclestone, designers Sir Patrick Head and Professor Gordon Murray, legendary Honda chief Nobuhiko Kawamoto, engine builder John Judd, and Australian racing identities Larry Perkins and Tim Schenken. GH

14 AutoAction

in 2020 and into the future.”

As previously reported by Auto Action, no Australian Rally Championship will be contested in 2020, however competitors will be able to compete for the RSEA Safety Motorsport Australia Cup at this year’s National Capital Rally in November.

Free entry into 2021 ARC events will also be up for grabs through the Hoosier Challenge, in which competitors in 2020 state rounds will be given the opportunity to also take advantage of Hoosier Tire’s buy three, get one tyre free offer.

The remaining three rounds of the 2021 ARC will be announced in due course.

2021 RSEA Safety Motorsport Australia Rally Championship Calendar Pre-season test & launch day: Ballarat, Victoria, 16 February, 2021 Round 1: Netier National Capital Rally, Canberra, 20-21 March, 2021 Round 2: Make Smoking History Forest Rally, WA, 1-2 May, 2021 Round 3: Rally Tasmania, Launceston, 26-27

PERONI WANTED MORE CAMPOS RACING driver Alex Peroni returned to the FIA Formula 3 Championship in 2020 taking three podiums and a top 10 finish in the standings, but admits he hoped for more.

The podiums and frequent top 10 finishes were a solid improvement on his debut season in 2019 with the Spanish team.

When asked to sum up his season Peroni described the nine rounds as “hot and cold.”

“We had high expectations and high hopes coming into the year and I think we definitely fell short,” an honest Peroni told Auto Action.

“But look, we had those positive results and I hope I showed what I can do this year.

“It was a shame that we just made too many mistakes and just didn’t have the consistency this year to have a good championship, but I’m glad we had those weekends where we were up the front.

“We had the potential to be top five in the championship I feel at some points.

“I’d say it was a was a decent year, I’m

Image: LAT

happy to have got those good results to show I can complete at the front.

“But I’m disappointed that we had those weekends where we just couldn’t even score points, so I guess we were one extreme to the other this year, but I’ve learned a lot as always.”

Peroni has had some great highlights, including a second-place finish behind fellow Aussie Oscar Piastri in Spain and memorable drives through the field, like in Monza where he came from 16th to finish fifth.

However, it was this first race of the season when he finished third that Peroni calls his season highlight.

Due to COVID-19, the nine-round season was condensed into 11 weeks, something very rare in motor sport.

“I honestly really enjoyed this year, I thought it was cool racing every weekend,” Peroni explained “It’s very hard on the team, the mechanics

and the engineers who have to pack everything to go to the next race and prep everything.

“They haven’t got time to service the cars at the workshop, so they have to do it at the track, so it’s a lot harder on them.

“Luckily for us drivers we can have a little bit of downtime between races.”

The Tasmanian is working on plans to make the step up into the FIA Formula 2 Championship in 2021 as he feels he has done his time in the third tier.

“We’re looking to make that step up, there’s a lot of things to work out in making that step, so many factors in moving up, we’re working and that’s definitely the goal,” he told AA. “It’s not ideal to do another year in F3, if you’re not in the top teams it’s very hard to finish up the front, so we’ll try and get a seat next year in F2. But it’s still super early and still a lot of time to work and think about it.” DM

WTCR FORM BODES WELL FOR RENAULT A STRONG performance in WTCR has grown Dylan O’Keeffe’s confidence ahead of TCR Australia’s opening round at Bathurst in November.

Driving the newly upgraded Vukovic Motorsport Renault Megane RS TCR, O’Keeffe was impressed by its results across the opening WTCR weekend in Zolder.

“It’s much improved,” O’Keeffe told Auto Action. “The handling is better and the car is more responsive to changes. I think it’s a car that will be suited to a wider variety of circuits.”

And does this bode well for his future campaign with Renault Sport GRM? “I think it does,” he said.

“There’s no doubt the competition in Australia is very good, but not quite at the same level as WTCR. In TCR Australia, I’ll be hoping to be on the podium every race, that’s for sure. If we can make our TCR Australia car as good as the WTCR ones, we’ll be competitive.”

Reflecting on the weekend, O’Keeffe said it gave him an insight into what it took to compete at TCR’s highest level.

“I found the experience really beneficial for my career,” O’Keeffe said. “Obviously, I had done TCR racing in Australia, but nowhere else. I think the experience will help me back in Australia, I learned a lot from the professionalism of how the (WTCR) series is run.

O’Keeffe’s results were strong across the two races, finishing 13th and 12th in a Megane RS TCR that carried an extra 10kg due to being a Wildcard, on top of the 30kg placed on the model due to running a non-control ECU. All things considered, O’Keeffe left Zolder happy with his results and eager to explore further opportunities in WTCR with Vukovic Motorsport.

“I felt my performance was about the best it could have been,” O’Keeffe said.

“I probably could have qualified slightly higher up because I made a mistake on my best lap, but in the races I felt I got the most out of it.

“Overall, I felt we kept improving the car all weekend and maximised its performance. If we had a full season to continue refining the car, I think we would be well on top of it.

“I’ve achieved my goal of being the first Australian driver in WTCR but yes, I’d love to race in it full time.

“I know I can do it now and do the job, so hopefully in the future I can come back and do a full season. I’d love to go to some of the more iconic circuits such as Macau.

“We’ve shown we can do the job, now it’s a case of getting some partners on board to support a full campaign.” Heath McAlpine

BROWN KEPT EYE ON RIVAL’S CAMPAIGN REIGNING TCR Australia winner Will Brown has signalled his intent to replicate rival Dylan O’Keeffe’s Wildcard appearance in the WTCR. Brown became part of Hyundai Customer Racing’s Junior Driver program earlier this season and kept an eye on O’Keeffe’s maiden run in WTCR. “I definitely kept up with what was going on there,” Brown told Auto Action.

“It was cool to see an Aussie go over there and do it.”

Through his link with Hyundai, Brown is eager to explore overseas appearances in the future.

“If there’s an opportunity, I’ll be going over and having a race, that’s for sure,” Brown said.

“It’s definitely something Hyundai with the junior program and I want to do. It’s just working it out.

Dylan’s was because Garry Rogers Motorsport are helping out quite a lot with the Renaults.

“It’s a little bit harder with Hyundai because it is one of the frontrunning manufacturers, so to get a run in that, a lot of its factory drivers are already there. But, it’s something I want to do and hopefully sometime in the future we can do.” HM

CRASHTAG APP LAUNCHED A NEW application aimed at changing the way crash data is captured and analysed has been launched.

Developed in association with the Australian Institute of Motor Sport Safety (AIMSS), Crashtag is a free app that allows users to provide detailed reporting live on the scene of a motor sport incident, before the information is sent to a database where it can be analysed post-event.

AIMSS Chair Garry Connelly is excited to announce Crashtag after four years development.

“Crashtag will revolutionise motorsport safety and allow us to analyse crash and medical injury data like never before. If organisers and officials wish, the app will ultimately replace the need for paper reports.

“AIMSS and the FIA both perform incredible work to improve safety in motorsport using the existing crash data and injury reporting methods.

“Crashtag will further build upon and support that work, with improved data that can be provided directly from a crash site, and then uploaded to our secure servers, where motorsport’s best and brightest safety

researchers can investigate and learn lessons from each motor sport incident.”

Although initially only designed for the domestic market, the FIA has pushed the app on to the international stage.

“Initially, we are aiming Crashtag at competitors and officials here in Australia, but in conjunction with the FIA we have broader plans for Crashtag,” said Connelly.

“We foresee that ASNs around the globe and even spectators will be able to utilise Crashtag.

We’ve seen in many incidents that spectators have recorded video or photos of crashes that might not be captured by anyone else.”

Plans are already in place for Crashtag to be rolled out in the United Kingdom, at least one other country in Europe, and the developing motor sport market in Sri Lanka.

Support for Crashtag has been received from the FIA, through the FIA Innovation Fund, AIMSS and Motorsport Australia. Small, yet generous donations received through Motorsport Australia licence renewals have also supported the development of Crashtag.

Image: LAT

“I’d like to thank everyone who has helped us getting Crashtag up and running, in particular the FIA which has supported the app throughout the development phase. The FIA Innovation Fund’s support will allow Crashtag to be utilised at motor sport events around the world,” said Connelly.

Motorsport Australia CEO Eugene Arocca praised the team behind the development and release of Crashtag.

“Crashtag is an exciting development for motor sport, not just here in Australia but around the

world, and AIMSS has done a terrific job in getting this app into the sport,” Arocca said.

“Motorsport Australia will actively promote Crashtag to our members, and we are certain that our competitors and officials will be among those to see a benefit from the app’s development, changing the face of motorsport safety in the years ahead.” HM For more information on Crashtag turn to Pages 42-43. Or head to www.crashtag.com.

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FULLWOOD DELIVERS ON QUALIFYING POTENTIAL REIGNING SUPER2 Series winner Bryce Fullwood was the latest driver to score a maiden Supercars podium during a thrilling Race 25.

An excited Fullwood was pleased to have converted his front-running qualifying pace into a solid race result at The Bend Motorsport Park, revealing he was surprised to take a trophy home.

“I didn’t think we’d be getting any trophies this year so I’m super stoked,” enthused Fullwood. “[I’m] Still trying to [let it] sink in. We’ve had some pretty strong qualifying speed and we’ve been struggling to convert in the race so [I’m] just really excited we’ve been able to make some changes since Townsville and it’s all looking pretty promising.”

The Territorian has been a consistent performer in qualifying, but has failed to deliver on race day. Fullwood’s previous best result was a seventh in Race 12 at Sydney Motorsport Park II and eighth in Race 21 during Townsville I. On older tyres, he qualified 13th in the Top 15 Shootout before converting that into fourth place on track, but a 15s penalty for championship leader Scott McLaughlin elevated the rookie into the final podium spot.

Fullwood paid tribute to the WAU personnel, which not only continues to develop its pair of Commodores away from its Melbourne workshop, but has done so with limited running.

“For the team, street circuits have

MOTORSPORT RESTARTS IN VICTORIA MOTORSPORT AUSTRALIA has announced that it will permit motorsport events in regional Victoria starting from tomorrow.

The confirmation comes as Stage 3 restrictions are implemented across regional parts of the state tonight allowing circuits including Winton and Phillip Island to host races, tests and track days.

Winton has already confirmed it will hold a test and tune day next week.

Ongoing restrictions mean that no travel can be made between regions within Victoria and this includes for those attending or competing in motorsport events.

Motorsport Australia director of motorsport and commercial operations Michael Smith explained it was a step in the right direction for Victorian competitors, fans and officials.

“Initially, these changes to restrictions will allow regional events to go ahead with local competitors and officials only, allowing the return of some smaller grassroots events,” Smith said.

“Unfortunately, there will still be no travel allowed between regions to help limit the spread of the virus, but we’re hopeful Victoria will continue to progress through the various steps and we can start to permit more events in the months ahead when the restrictions allow.”

Smith expects further motor sport events to take place in Victoria in the next few months as the state recovers from a second wave of COVID-19 cases.

“We’re in regular dialogue with the State Government and we expect more motorsport to happen across Victoria in the coming months which is certainly great news for those in Victoria who have been unable to compete for several months,” he said.

Any event that does take place in regional Victoria from 17 September must comply with all the government restrictions, as well as Motorsport Australia’s Return to Race strategy.Motorsport Australia’s Return to Race strategy. Dan McCarthy

primarily been its strength, but in saying that after this short period the team has been working really hard on trying to develop its cars still, which has been a pretty tough ask while there’s been no testing,” Fullwood lauded.

“The team has certainly not been sitting on their hands, we’ve had new parts at many different venues this year trying to pave a way forward.

“I think there’s been some really good progression.” Heath McAlpine

FORMULA FORD CHAMPIONSHIP CANCELLED THE FORMULA Ford Association has officially announced the cancellation of the 2020 Australian Formula Ford Championship.

The committee that forms the Formula Ford Association has continued to strive to deliver a season, but the latest restriction extension in Victoria coupled with the border closures forced the association to cancel the national Formula Ford title.

This will be the first time since the category’s inception in Australian in 1970, that a national Formula Ford series will not be run in the country.

Past Formula Ford national series winners include Larry Perkins, Russell Ingall, Craig Lowndes, Jamie Whincup, Chaz Mostert and Anton de Pasquale.

Although disappointed by the cancellation, the Formula Ford Association’s focus has now turned to 2021, which will continue to deliver

a competitive, affordable and diverse national series.

Work has begun on constructing a calendar for 2021 with dates and circuits to be released in due course.

Formula Ford racing continues at a statelevel in many states across Australia, however in New South Wales and Victoria are currently unable to hold events due to restrictions.

In a statement, the Formula Ford Association thanked competitors, organisers and other parties for the ongoing support provided through these unprecedented times.

“We thank all of the car clubs and organising committees in each state for supporting Formula Ford and allowing us to race, and we also thank many of our national competitors who have opted for state championships this year to stay fit for 2021,” the statement read. DM

SUPERCARS TV DEAL DONE THE NEW Supercars championship broadcasting deal has been signed and sealed and is expected to be announced Thursday.

Auto Action sources intimate with the new arrangements confirmed its completion and announcement timing.

Under the new five-year deal, subscription channel FoxSports will continue as the primary live broadcaster of all Supercars events, while Network 10 will be replaced by the Seven

Network as the free to air partner.

According to report in the Australian Financial Review, the new five-year deal is worth around $200 million and commences in 2021.

It replaces a $241 million six-year deal active from 2015 to 2020 that expires after the Bathurst 1000.

Seven will reportedly increase the amount of FTA Supercars content compared to 10.

Supercars joins an increased line-up of motorsport on Seven as it already has a deal to cover Australian Racing Group events and categories.

Seven chief executive James Warburton is a former Supercars CEO and still has shares in the business. He is also an ARG board member.

We’ll have more on this story as details are announced. BN

TRIPLE EIGHT KNEW BLISTERING WOULD BE AN ISSUE TRIPLE EIGHT Race Engineering team manager Mark Dutton is adamant that the blistered tyres experienced by the factory Holden squad was no worse than the degradation than that of its rivals.

The Bend Motorsport Park round provided mixed results between its two entries.

Shane van Gisbergen took one race victory, but it was little consolation for the multiple-time teams’ champions.

However, the Kiwi was affected by tyre blistering during Race 25 and teammate Jamie Whincup fininshed lowly in the opening two races due to the same problem.

Despite this, Dutton believes his team was no more affected by high tyre degradation than others.

“The really highlighted ones were (Race 1) in which Shane [van Gisbergen] went from first backwards in a very spectacular fashion at the end of the race,” Dutton explained to Auto Action.

“So that’s why it looked a lot worse for us. We worked hard to rectify that

for Sunday, but it was happening in Race 2 and Race 3 as well.”

Dutton felt clean air was crucial for good tyre life at The Bend across the weekend.

Both van Gisbergen and Jamie Whincup were compromised when they each received a 15s pitstop penalty for separate first lap incidents.

This dropped each down the order into the mid-pack.

Van Gisbergen’s tyre life was improved on Sunday when he led during Race 26 and Whincup’s were the same when running third in the following event.

“When we were in positions where we could dictate a bit more and manage the tyres in fresh air, you’re not getting any hot air on the front, then you can control the outcome and the blistering a lot better” Dutton said.

“When you’re fighting for positions and you’re in amongst it, you don’t have the luxury of doing it the way you want to necessarily do it.

“It’s just a function when you’re in the pack, you’re in the dog fight. You’ve got

to fight and try and come best the other side.”

Dutton admitted that the team underestimated the high degradation after first experiencing it at the Supercars Supertest in February.

“We always knew that was gonna happen, it was a known issue before the event, but the decision was still made to run (the event) on softs, so it wasn’t a surprise that it was happening,” he told AA. “It caught a lot of people by surprise just to what extent that (the blistering) happened.

“The blistering was seen at the test day at the start of the year, it was always a known thing coming here that it was going to happen.

“We thought we’d done enough for Race 1 setup and driver wise to make that not as large of an issue, clearly we hadn’t.

“The penalty was far greater than you could have predicted, so that’s something that we definitely didn’t do as well as we could have on Saturday but improved it yesterday.” Dan McCarthy

McLAUGHLIN: HOLDSWORTH MOVE WAS ON CHAMPIONSHIP LEADER Scott McLaughlin was left disappointed after an eventful Race 25 at The Bend Motorsport Park where he was penalised 15s for contact with Lee Holdsworth.

It was the second incident involving McLaughlin during the race after Jamie Whincup made a lunge for the lead at Turn 17 on the opening lap resulting in the pair leaving the circuit.

His title protagonist was penalised 15s and finished 19th after tyre degradation hampered both Triple Eight Race Engineering Holden Commodores.

However, the controversial moment between Holdsworth and McLaughlin occurred at Turn 14 when the reigning champion attempted a pass down the inside, but contacted the rear of the Tickford Racing Mustang, spinning the veteran.

This resulted in a 15s penalty, dropping him to 15th at the finish.

Post-race, McLaughlin was left disappointed by the decision.

“I don’t agree with it at all,” McLaughlin said.

“That move on Holdsworth for me was on and I had a crack.

“I wanted to try to get on the podium with my teammate, congrats to Fabian for the win, but for some reason the stewards didn’t agree with it.

Relating to his incident with Whincup, McLaughlin believed he did everything in his power to avoid contact with Holdsworth, putting the onus on the driver being overtaken to also provide sufficient space.

“I fully understand being in control of your car and diving down the inside but the whole time I was in control, there was no lock up on my left,” he explained.

“The guy on the outside has to give you some space so it’s up to him as well.

“I was stuck, I couldn’t go any further on my left. What can I do?”

Holdsworth was left frustrated by the incident, dropping from fourth to 13th by the conclusion.

“I think he’s driving in desperation for some reason,” Said Holdsworth. “I don’t know why he would, he has the championship nearly in the bag.

“It’s a bit disappointing, I gave him room. I saw him go for the pass and I gave him a car width on the inside and he tagged me midcorner.

“I’ve got as much load on the rear as possible so it spun pretty easily from there.”

Heath McAlpine

LATEST NEWS

CAMPBELL OUT OF NURBURGRING 24 HOURS AUSTRALIAN MATT Campbell will not contest the Nurburgring 24 Hours this weekend after positive COVID-19 tests within Porsche team following the Le Mans 24 Hours.

In total three people within the Porsche GTE Pro team tested positive to COVID-19 following tests conducted at the Circuit de la Sarthe on Sunday.

At this point in time Porsche has not confirmed the names of trio or what role they each have within the team.

As a result of the positive results and in consultation with the Robert Koch Institute (the public health institute in Germany) Porsche has made the ‘precautionary decision’ to isolate its factory drivers set to compete this weekend.

For this reason, Porsche has been forced to cut its number of entrants into this weekend’s 24-hour race, electing to not allow any drivers that contested the French classic to race at the Nurburgring.

This directly affects nine drivers including Matt Campbell, his Nurburgring teammate Julien Andlauer, Richard Lietz, Patrick Pilet, Romain Dumas, Michael Christensen, Kevin Estre, Thomas Preining and Matteo Cairoli.

“People’s health comes first for us,” said the vice President of Porsche Motorsport

Fritz Enzinger.

“Given the current situation, it’s very clear to us that we put the needs of many ahead of our sporting goals.

“We’ll do everything we can to give our customer teams the best possible support in the upcoming race by providing operational personnel and available works drivers.”

A total of six Porsche entries in this weekend’s 24-hour race event have been affected by this announcement, including

the #911 Manthey Racing machine which was set to be driven by Campbell.

The #911 Porsche dubbed “Grello” by fans, was immediately withdrawn from the race with two of its four drivers (Campbell and Andlauer) unable to take part, as well as the majority of its crew which worked on the two GTE Pro Porsches last weekend.

“We made this decision with Porsche Motorsport,” said Manthey-Racing managing director Nicolas Raeder.

“We, our ‘Grello’ and the Nordschleife

belong together. But under the circumstances, it’s obvious to us all at Manthey Racing that the health of everyone involved in the 24-hour race takes priority.”

Porsche is in discussions with the other affected teams to seek solutions to enable the remaining 911 GT3 Rs to compete.

Porsche’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship team of Nick Tandy, Laurens Vanthoor and Fred Makowiecki has also pulled out of the latest round at Mid-Ohio. DM

RARE CAUSE OF MILLER RETIREMENT CONFIRMED JACK MILLER has revealed the reason for his sudden retirement from Sunday’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

The Australian riders Pramac Racing team confirmed he was unable to continue after a visor tear-off strip from championship rival Fabio Quartararo was sucked into his Ducati.

The rogue strip covered the Ducati’s air filter and forced a furious Miller into an

early retirement from the race.to an early retirement.

“I am very sad because I had started well and we could have had a good race, we had all the right conditions to make it,” said Miller.

“Unfortunately, it was nobody’s fault, it was a very unlucky day because a tear-off entered the airbox.”

When Miller brought the bike into the

lane he loudly shouted that the Ducati had no power. Upon inspection, the Pramac mechanics found1 the tear-off with the number #20 on it within the air intake which is believed to have caused the power loss.

Miller, who started the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix from second position, made a great start to lead the field around the first several corners before dropping down the

order and then retiring at the end of lap 8.

However despite recent setbacks, Miller remains in championship contention just 20 points behind fellow Ducati rider Andrea Dovizioso who currently leads the standings.

MotoGP returns this weekend in Spain for the Catalan Grand Prix at the Circuit de Barcelona Catalunya, a track at which Miller finished in the top five last season. DM

TEAM18 BATHURST PREP HINDERED REPAIR WORK completed this week has slightly hampered Team 18’s Bathurst preparations after Mark Winterbottom was caught up during Race 27’s opening lap drama.

Contact between Triple Eight’s Shane van Gisbergen and Kelly Racing’s Andre Heimgartner at Turn 17 kicked off a concertina that resulted in heavy collision between Winterbottom and James Courtney.

It topped off a difficult weekend for Winterbottom, who placed 17th and 15th in the opening pair of races, dropping to 12th in the points after the weekend was complete.

Damage from the incident was minimal, but eats into the team’s limited parts inventory ahead of the Bathurst 1000 next month, though parts will be sent to Ross Stone Racing where the team will prepare for The Mountain.

“It’s done both sides,” Henderson told Auto Action. “Look, it’s not the world’s biggest accident, but when you’re a team that’s been on the road as long as we have it’s a difficult one and it’ll consume a lot of our spares.”

“In particular as a customer team we don’t do a lot of in-house stuff we farm things out, so for us being on the road is not ideal heading into Bathurst.”

Factoring in the three-week turnaround between the second leg of The Bend Motorsport Park

double-header and Bathurst, preparation is already underway to enable team personnel a break before the season finale.

“We’ve done a lot of prep leading up to this round, knowing that the turnaround to Bathurst was short,” Henderson explained.

“We did a couple of additional things, hoping that might help our turnaround, but we will consume a lot of parts we have prepped in order for Bathurst, we’ll consume a lot in repair this week.”

Having strip the Commodore earlier this week, components are on the way back to the team’s supplier, Triple Eight Race Engineering to be restore ahead of The Great Race.

“A lot of the parts are already on their way back in Queensland,” Henderson told AA.

“From here we’ll go back to Ross Stone’s to prepare for Bathurst.

“A couple of trucks left Sunday night for Queensland, so we’ve got some parts on board there to go predominantly back to Triple Eight for service and repair.

“The rest of them, doors and what have you, they are pretty much throw-ways, so we’ll just get into our spare parts there.”

Initial contact damaged the left-hand-side bodywork, with replacement spares currently being manufactured and being sent to Ross Stone Racing, while the originals will be repaired.

“We’ve got a fabricator, George Smith back in Melbourne, he will do some new doors to send up to us, we’ll rebuild the damaged ones between Tailem Bend II and Bathurst,” he said.

Courtney’s impact was more emphatic and in turn has required more attention as well as components ahead of this weekend’s event on The Bend’s West layout.

“Courtney hit that right rear wheel that seems to have done the majority of the damage,” he said.

“We’ll use some of the spares, not all of them but you don’t expect to use all the parts on say a right rear corner.

“We’ll pretty much be using uprights, lower arm, top arm, rockers all that sort of stuff, almost one of everything in there.

“Ordinarily we damage one thing and replace it, but you don’t expect to replace all of it, so it’ll eat away into our spares catalogue that’s for sure!” DM

SUPERCARS LOOKING TO IMPROVE FAN EXPERIENCE MORE PRACTICE SESSIONS AND PERSONNEL FOR BATHURST SUPERCARS IS looking for a new digital media partner to expand its online presence and provide more free content to fans.

A tender document calling for submissions for proposals for a “Supercars Digital Transformation” has been issued.

It is the latest request for a bid for a supply contract, following guidelines issued for Gen3 control pedal box, brakes, wheels and fuel system deals.

The plan is to upgrade Supercars’ digital and social media outlets to better service fans with more live and around-the-clock coverage via online platforms.

“Supercars’ ambition is to be a part of every Australian household,” the tender document preamble begins.

It adds: “Key strategic pillars for the business moving forward include ensuring the longevity of the sport, developing an always-on media strategy, optimising the event calendar, further enhancing the at-event experience and increasing our digital footprint.”

Supercars says more fan engagement is the aim.

“The sports broadcasting landscape is in a time of flux.

What we are witnessing is digital and technology platforms enabling a complete reinvention in the way fans consume and engage with the action and their sporting heroes.

“In a highly competitive sporting and entertainment landscape, Supercars vision is to deliver seamless and

engaging digital experiences that keep up with emerging technologies and platforms, builds the footprint of the sport and maximises commercial opportunities.

“Our approach to digital will always be about the fan experience – whether we are using new technologies to augment the trackside experience or connecting as many people to the live-action in the most immersive way as possible.”

The tender document comprehensively outlines the requirements for the hosting of a redesigned web site and an enhanced mobile app, as well as greater data capture.

Supercars also wants to explore the option of integrating a COVID-19 tracking capability in the app, which would complement traditional broadcasts and “help drive tune in”.

Another major aim of the digital revamp is to more effectively commercialise the big audiences of Supercars’ web site, app and social media channels – that is, attract more advertising and sponsorship.

It appears Supercars is looking to outsource its digital product, most of which is now created in-house by a small team, from February next year.

The existing supercars.com website was launched in 2015 and the Supercars mobile app has been running since 2017. MF

CO-DRIVERS WILL enjoy more time behind the wheel before the Bathurst 1000 after Supercars confirmed the schedule for next month’s championship finale.

Seven one-hour practice sessions will feature across the four-day event, three are co-driver dedicated.

Concerns surrounded the lack of running for co-drivers during the year due to the COVID-19 restrictions and limited motor sport events conducted this year.

Debuting co-drivers including Broc Feeney and Brodie Kostecki will participate in Saturday morning’s dedicated Rookie session at The Bend Motorsport Park this weekend, while others will serve time quarantining in Darwin or Sydney as revealed by Auto Action.

The three co-driver specific sessions are split across the opening three days of the event.

Also announced was the allowance of 12 performance and four non-

performance personnel per two-car team as part of this year’s only endurance event.

As reported by Auto Action, a combined historic touring car field comprising Group N and Heritage Touring Cars will be among the support package.

The Toyota Gazoo Racing Australia 86 Series will contest four non-points scoring races across the weekend.

After being reinstated to the support program, Super2 and Super3 will hold two 100km sprint races.

Confirmed on the weekend was the addition of the new Aussie Tin Tops formula to the Bathurst 1000 line-up.

This debuted at Townsville I and recently supported last weekend’s The Bend Motorsport Park.

The recent opening of South Australia’s border with New South Wales allows a larger contingent of competitors to take part in these categories.

The Bathurst 1000 will be held on October 15-18. HM

NEWS EXTRA

E V I S U L C X E

ONWARDS AND UPWARDS Australia has a new motorsport hero in FIA F3 champion Oscar Piastri. He explains what he’s learned during a tumultuous 2020 and where he’s headed next.

Australian motorsport is celebrating 19year old Oscar Piastri’s thrilling victory in the FIA Formula 3 Championship.

The F3 rookie, driving for the powerful Prema Racing squad, took the title in the F1-feeder series after nine hectic rounds in just 11 weeks.

In 2021 Piastri will graduate to FIA Formula 2 as he continues his climb towards his goal of becoming Australia’s third F1 world champion.

Now managed by Mark and Anne Webber and a member of the Renault Sport Academy, Piastri is expected to have his first drive in an F1 car before the end of 2020.

Piastri, who has provided updates on his progress this year to his fans back in Australia via his Auto Action column, spoke with BRUCE NEWTON about what he learned from his successful F3 campaign, and how he is preparing for the next steps in his increasingly successful career.

On his feelings a few days after wrapping up the F3 title.

“It’s definitely sinking in more and more.

I am obviously very happy and the main feeling I am getting is I am proud of what I have been able to achieve and seeing all the support – especially from everyone at home. It is really awesome to see and it make me feel like I have done something pretty good.

“The way the season has gone, some of the issues we have had, I am proud of how I have dealt with that and how the year has gone in terms of results as well.”

On the most significant issues he faced and overcame.

“Mainly the DRS (drag reduction system) issues. For the first six rounds we had some kind of technical issue.

Some weekends it was a couple of laps

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in practice and then others its was every session of the weekend. It’s never nice going into any session – especially six weekends on the trot – where you don’t know if the car is going to work this time.

“To be honest we still don’t actually know how the DRS issues got fixed. We changed literally everything on the car. The only thing we didn’t end up changing was the actual chassis and the engine loom, because the technical guys advised us not to do that. I think we changed the radio loom five or six times and that seemed to fix it most of the time, then it would happen again a couple of sessions later.

“But I guess the last time we changed it stuck and (it) worked for the rest of the year. It was a bit of a mystery but we definitely didn’t leave any stones unturned trying to fix it.”

On the value of winning the F3 title.

“I have to look at it as another a step towards F1. I am definitely going to enjoy the next few weeks especially and celebrate it, but my journey is far from over.

I hopefully still have F2 and F1 left on the ladder. I can’t get complacent and think ‘I am F3 champion how good is this’, I have to keep pushing.

My goal is not be an F3 champion in the long run, it’s to be an F1 champion. So I still have to push hard and get back to work in the next few weeks.”

On what his plans are for the rest of 2020.

“I don’t really know that much about what the rest of the year holds. I am not expecting any more time behind the wheel except, hopefully, the F2 test in Bahrain at the end of the year. I would imagine that Renault have some kind of plans for me back at base. So I will start having discussion about that with them in the next few days and weeks.

Oscar Piastri fought a battle all year with PREMA teammate, American Logan Sargeant (above), the points lead swinging back and forth several times during the season.

“Unfortunately I won’t be getting home to Australia any time soon, I will be keeping myself busy in the UK for quite a while.”

On when he expects a decision on which F2 team he will go to will be made and who will have input into that.

“I expect a decision on a team will be made reasonably soon. In the space of the next few weeks I would assume. It’s basically down to my family and I on who I want to go with. We’ve got some good options on the table. It’s 99 per cent down to me.

“My management Mark and Anne (Webber) are going to be guiding me and giving me suggestions as well. Renault have their suggestions on where they think I should go, but ultimately the decision is down to my family and I. “I think both my management and Renault will respect my decision because we have got some good options on the table.

I don’t think there is going to be a bad call.”

On the characteristics he is looking for in an F2 team.

“Hopefully, they are winning races. That is the main criteria!

There are other criteria that matter but obviously that is by far the most important one, who is going to be able to give me the best car.”

On preparing for his first F2 test.

“Mainly it’s physical training.

From what I have heard the F2 car is a bit of a step-up physically from F3. So definitely a lot of training in the gym or on the bike or running.

Hopefully at some point I will get into a simulator.

“I have been to Bahrain before so it won’t be a completely new challenge, but it would be nice to have a bit of preparation in a sim if possible.”

On the new challenges he will face racing in F2.

“It will be somewhat a learning process. In F3 the most important thing was learning how to switch on the tyre for qualifying and then mange them through the race. In F2 it’s going to be more about the tyre management side of things rather than purely trying to extract pace from them over a lap.

www.autoaction.com.au

“In F2 while qualifying is still important, the longer races with the pit stop and different strategies it becomes more about race strategy and how you deal with it in the race.

“Some of the F2 races have been pretty crazy with tyre degradation so that will be a learning process.”

On the expected – but yet to be publicly confirmed - F1 test with Renault in 2020.

“I would like to be in an F1 car this year but as yet I don’t have any plans or instructions that I will be in an F1 car. Obviously I would love to be in one but I haven’t heard anything about it yet.

“I think it’s better to be overprepared than under-prepared, so my training for F2 is obviously going to help for F1. In F1 there is a lot more buttons on the steering wheel, so getting in the sim just to learn steering wheel functions is pretty important.

“But at the moment all I can do is train physically and make sure I am in the best shape I can be.”

On his attitude and emotions leading into an F1 test.

“The main (emotion) would be excitement. The first time in an F1 car when it happens - or if it ever happens - you could argue it could be a career changer or just a stepping stone on to the future.

“I would be a little bit nervous and just try and impress as many people as I could, but you’ve got to realise what you are doing, you are stepping into the faster calibre of cars ever made. You have got to enjoy the moment for sure.”

On how he needs to improve to become a competitive F1 driver.

“I need to get everything together.

In years previous I would say my biggest strength has been qualifying pace and just outright speed.

“This year it was definitely not that and was more race craft and race intelligence and race management.

“I was a little bit surprised that was my strength this year and qualifying wasn’t. If I can merge my previous qualifying pace with what I was doing in the races this year then that would be pretty formidable.

“I have shown I can do a lot of the things required to be a top driver

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at any level, it’s now just being abut more consistent and putting it all together every weekend at all times.”

On being able to retain his love of racing in an increasingly professional hard-nosed environment.

“If I wasn’t finding it fun I’d be pulling the pin. At the moment it’s pretty hard not to enjoy it. I think the biggest difference from when I started in Karts to now is the level of seriousness. When you start in Karts you jump in, drive around, hope you’re quick and that’s about it.

“But now you have a whole bunch of other tools to help you and a lot more people to try and impress and make a good impression on.

“A lot of it is still about me and trying to get as high up the ladders of motorsport as I can, but I wouldn’t be able to do that without all my sponsors and so on. When I am at the track and driving it’s all about me and trying to do the best job I can. But away from the track you have to make sure you are making people happy and making sure they know you appreciate their support.

“I definitely can’t do that by myself and I am very grateful for all the sponsors that I have had and have. now On his F2 objectives in 2021.

“I have no idea! It will depend on what team I end up at and then try and formulate some goals from there. The last two years have been very successful so I would like to continue that momentum. I am not expecting it to be an easy challenge to go out there and win it, but people in the past have shown that’s possible.

“I’ll come back to you in a few months after the Bahrain test and see what I say.”

On his objectives if he does reach F1.

“If I get into F1 I’d obviously like to win that as well. Being F1 world champion would definitely be the goal if I make it into F1.

“I am not going to aim to get to F1 so I can run around in 15th or 16th, although at the beginning of your career that is probably likely.

“I would like to think I can try and fight for a world championship one day if I make it to F1.”

instagram.com/autoactionmag/

WEBBER: PIASTRI HAS WHAT IT TAKES

By MARK FOGARTY RETIRED AUSSIE F1 star Mark Webber is backing newly crowned F3 champion Oscar Piastri to go right to the top.

Webber is managing and mentoring Piastri, guiding the Melbourne teenager through his F1 apprenticeship with the Renault Sport Academy.

He believes Renault will be looking to accelerate Piastri’s ascension after winning the FIA F3 title at his first attempt.

“Oscar has certainly overperformed this year and surprised them in a good way,” Webber said. “They knew he was very handy – that’s why they signed him up – but they didn’t realise he was going to take the whole shebang out.

“He certainly blindsided them with taking the championship, so he’s given them a fantastic headache, which is good.”

Along with his partner Ann Neal, Webber is reviewing offers for Piastri to graduate next year to F2, the traditional F1 feeder series.

“It was already starting to get some pretty good momentum before the (Mugello) weekend with the F2 teams, so we have some big decisions to make in the next month or so on which team he’ll go with,” he said.

“We [had already] made the decision in the middle of the year that he would step up, given his performances.

“There’s no resting on any laurels here. We have to keep the ship going and keep getting the maximum out of him.”

Webber has been especially impressed with Piastri’s maturity and mental discipline, which he thinks will take the youngster all the way.

“It’s his analytical approach,” he said. “It’s very measured and his mind management is extraordinary. That’s what won him the championship.

That’s what made him look a step above everybody else, particularly in the first half of the season.

“On points, it looks like the back of his season wasn’t as strong as the front – and it wasn’t, but overall he was the step above in terms of the way he could handle the racing scenarios and how composed he was in a field which naturally should be hotheaded.

“He’s mature beyond his years in that sense, just being incredibly calm and analytical.

Prema was very impressed with how he coped with stressful scenarios. Very, very composed in the car, which is extraordinary.”

Webber is enjoying his mentor role, helping Piastri avoid the mistakes he made in the junior ranks and learn from his own rocky path to F1.

“You don’t have to tell him too many things twice,” he observed. “My hindsight is his foresight. I got beaten a lot and I can tell him why I got beaten a lot because of the operators I was against.

“So I’m trying to give him as much knowledge as I can at this point in his career to make life easier for him and make him more of a package with those gradient steps along the way, whatever the particular battle is or whatever’s going on in that phase, whether it’s engineering or driving or tracks or travelling, dealing with Renault F1, whatever.

“There are always just some little things which a young lad may not learn until after the fact, so whatever we can do to put that in front of his mind before he jumps these hurdles, it’s always good.”

If border restrictions on returning Australians are eased later in the year, Piastri plans to come back for a summer break with his family, who have been forced to stay in Melbourne due to the lockdowns.

Otherwise, he will stay in Europe to prepare for his Renault-backed graduation to the FIA F2 championship next year.

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with Dan Knutson

Images: LAT

RENAULT WILL rebrand its Formula 1 team as the Alpine F1 Team in 2021. The French manufacturer announced that its presence in top-level motorsport will switch over to its concept and performance brand, as part of an organisational restructure. Alpine holds an impressive motorsport history in sports car and endurance racing, most recently in the FIA World Endurance Championship in the LMP2 class, as Signatech Alpine. RV

THE RENAULT Formula 1 team is in discussions with the FIA about the end of season young driver Formula 1 test at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi. The French manufacturer is pushing for returning twotime champion 39-year-old Fernando Alonso to take part in the test, despite obviously not being a ‘young’ driver. Renault feels that as Alonso has been out of Formula 1 since the end of the 2018, he should be eligible for the test as he has a lack of recent miles. DM

SAFETY FIRST SAFETY NOT the show is the number one priority for the FIA. That’s the verdict of Aussie Michael Masi, who is the FIA’s race director.

“Absolutely not!” Masi said after the crash infested Tuscan Grand Prix, when he was asked if the FIA is spicing up the show at the expense of safety. “From an FIA perspective, safety is paramount, full stop. End of story.

In my capacity as race director and safety delegate that’s point blank where my role is as sporting integrity and safety. And anyone who says otherwise is quite offensive personally.”

The multi-car accident occurred while Valtteri Bottas was leading the field around for a restart after the safety car pulled off.

The lead driver sets the pace, and Bottas chose to go slowly whereas Lewis Hamilton usually streaks away. So the drivers further back, who were already accelerating, got caught by surprise.

Carlos Sainz, Nicolas Latifi, Kevin Magnussen and Antonio Giovinazzi all ended up with wrecked cars. The stewards later reprimanded 12 drivers.

“The stewards conclude that the root cause of this incident was the inconsistent application of throttle and brake, from the final corner along the pit straight, by the above drivers,” the stewards said in a statement.

Image: LAT

“The stewards acknowledge the challenges the location of the control line presents at this circuit and the desire of drivers to take advantage of the restart.

“However this incident demonstrates the need for caution to be exercised in the restart situation and note that there was an extreme concertina effect which dramatically increased as it moved down the field.”

The dirty dozen were: Sainz, Latifi, Magnussen, Giovinazzi, Daniel Ricciardo, Esteban Ocon, George Russell, Sergio Perez, Lando Norris, Daniil Kvyat, Alexander Albon and Lance Stroll.

Masi explained that there are four critical phases during a safety car restart: “The first phase is we advise all teams through the messaging system which is what is also seen on the graphics: that the safety car is in this

lap, so that therefore prepares all of the teams to advise their drivers accordingly. From there the next stage is at a predetermined point at each circuit generally the safety car boards are withdrawn, however the yellow flags continue to be waved. Once the safety car is clear from the circuit the yellow flag is withdrawn and the green flag is displayed at the control line only.”

The drivers are not allowed to overtake until they reach the control line. Several drivers complained that the safety car lights were turned off very late.

“They can criticise all they want,” Masi said.

“If we have a look at a distance perspective from where the lights were extinguished to the control line, probably not dissimilar, if not longer, than a number of other venues.”

Masi stated that he sees no reason for the safety car restart rules to be revised.

INE-VETT-ABLE

Image: LAT

IN THE days leading up to the Tuscan Grand Prix, legendary Italian manufacturer Ferrari announced that it would withdraw its appeal against the Racing Point’s brake duct penalty.

This is significant as Ferrari was the final team still pushing for a harsher penalty and now brings to an end the controversial saga. The Scuderia Ferrari squad elected to withdraw the protest as it felt it was in the interests of all parties to avoid a long, drawn-out legal battle that distracted from its on-track campaign. DM

THE MCLAREN Group has announced plans to sell its factory, in the midst of a larger plan to solidify the team’s future in the sport long-term, following the challenges that the coronavirus pandemic has placed on the company. The plan is to sell the Norman Foster designed McLaren Technology Centre, built in back in 2003, and then lease it back.

Earlier this year the British team agreed a £150m loan arrangement with the National Bank of Bahrain to shore up its finances. DM AS REPORTED by Auto Action in the last issue, four-time F1 champion Sebastian Vettel has purchased Nigel Mansell’s 1992 championship winning Williams. However, Vettel has admitted he had to back out of purchasing a Ferrari F2004 driven by Michael Schumacher due to cost. It was not the car that Schumacher claimed his seventh and final title in, but an F2004 used by the 91-time Grand Prix earlier in that season. DM

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Image: LAT

IN THE end, it was inevitable that Racing Point would want to sign Sebastian Vettel.

He is, after all, a four-time world champion with 53 F1 victories in the books. And it was inevitable, even though he had a contract for 2021 and 2022, that Sergio Pérez will be dropped to make way for Vettel to become teammates with Lance Stroll next year.

But it was not inevitable that Vettel would accept the offer from Racing Point, which will change its name to Aston Martin next year.

Vettel has been having a miserable year on the track in the Ferrari SF1000, and that was capped off

by Ferrari informing him back in May that he was not part of the team’s plans moving forward.

Retirement was a serious option for Vettel.

“It wasn’t an easy call because the last weeks and months have been quite intense – a different and new situation to be in,” he said of his decision to join Aston Martin. “From day one I felt like I wanted to remain in F1 if there was something that really attracts me.”

Vettel’s original plan, of course, was to help rebuild Ferrari into a world championship winner, just like fellow countryman Michael Schumacher did 20 years ago.

But things just did not work out for Vettel during his five years with the Scuderia.

He is only 33, so Vettel has plenty of time to help build Aston Martin into a top-level team.

The Racing Point RP20 – a direct copy of the championship-winning Mercedes W09 – has been fast at times this year, and it should be quick next year because the technical rules will remain mostly the same.

But what Vettel is really looking forward to is getting stuck into the 2022 project, when major changes to the technical regulations are coming along with a budget cap. The Silverstone-based team has usually punched above its weight, and it knows how to be lean and mean.

That bodes well for Aston Martin in 2022.

Vettel sees a more level playing field between the top and the midfield teams.

“For the first time the team will be in a position to have probably the same money as other teams, and show what they are capable of.” he said.

“Anything I can do to help … I’m very excited and looking forward to it … it’s coming at the right time.”

WHERE DOES PEREZ GO? ONLY TWO teams – Haas and Alfa Romeo – have yet to confirm their 2021 driver line-ups, now that it has been announced that Sebastian Vettel will replace Sergio Pérez at Racing Point/Aston Martin next year.

Well, actually Red Bull has yet to name who Max Verstappen’s teammate will be, but it will be either Alex Albon, Pierre Gasly or Daniil Kvyat.

As usual, driver supply far exceeds demand. But Pérez would be a good choice for both Haas and Alfa Romeo. He has lots of experience working with small teams; he is fast; he is a proven podium finisher; and he comes with millions of dollars from his sponsors.

Kimi Räikkönen certainly has experience, with over 320 starts in F1, but he turns 41 in October.

So, will Alfa Romeo instead opt for Mick Schumacher, the 21-year-old son of seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher, who is currently leading the points in the FIA Formula 2 championship?

Current Alfa Romeo driver Antonio Giovinazzi and Mick Schumacher are both members of Ferrari’s Young Driver Academy, and Ferrari is keen to promote its protégées. And both Haas and Alfa Romeo have strong links with Ferrari.

Image: LAT Former F1 drivers Gerhard Berger and Mika Häkkinen believe that Schumacher is ready to graduate to F1.

What about current Haas drivers Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean? Their contracts expire at the end of competitive market at the moment. I don’t worry about it too this year, so are they confident that they will still be with Haas much. I just try to do my best on track.” next year?

What is Grosjean’s situation with Haas for next year?

“You never really know,” Magnussen said. “The one thing “Very similar to Kevin,” Grosjean said. “Just going to do my I’ve learnt in F1 is that you can never be sure. You have to do best and let’s see what we can do in the future.” the best every time in the car and just wait and see what the The Haas team is considering up to 10 drivers including future holds.

Pérez, noted team principal Guenther Steiner.

“There are some very good drivers on the market, so it’s a “Everybody’s considered who is on the market,” Steiner

said. “We lay everything on a table and then we see what we want. What do we want to do? Do we want to keep the drivers we have got? Do we want experienced drivers? Do we want to start with young drivers? Do we do a mix of it? Everything is on the table.”

Everything is indeed on the table. After all, Pérez recently still had a Racing Point/Aston Martin contract for 2021 and 2022.

So the driver market can change, then change again.

NO MAGIC BULLET THE POLITE way to describe Ferrari’s Tuscan weekend would be “bittersweet”.

The Tuscan Grand Prix was officially called the Formula 1 Pirelli Gran Premio Della Toscana Ferrari 1000, to honour and celebrate Scuderia Ferrari’s 1000th world championship Formula 1 race.

But in that race the best the team could muster was 10th with Sebastian Vettel and eighth for Charles Leclerc. And only 12 cars finished the race.

After nine races Ferrari is sixth in the constructors’ championship with 66 points.

Mercedes is first with 325 points. The last time Ferrari finished a season outside of the top four constructors was when it was fifth in 1981 and 10th in 1980.

“We’re in a hole now, and we know we’re in a hole,” Ferrari’s CEO Louis Camilleri acknowledged to Sky TV. “It’s a confluence of factors, but anything I say will come across as excuses, and we’re not into excuses.

“So what matters is to focus on the issues we have and to work hard with determination to get back to what we consider to be our rightful place.”

The problem so often in F1 is that a team can fall from being competitive, very quickly and then take a long time to get back to the top. McLaren did that in 2013 and is only now getting back up to speed.

But Camilleri is hopeful that the major technical rule changes coming in 2022 will

help Ferrari leverage its way back to the front.

“Realistically it’s going to be tough,” Camilleri said when asked if Ferrari can make a step in 2021.

“In F1 we are always fighting time, both on the track and in developments, and there’s no magic bullet. So, we’ll take time. I’m hoping with a bit more flexibility in the regs next year we can at least step it up from where we are (now). Mercedes, hats off to them, they’ve done an incredible job, and we’ll see in 2022 with the new regs whether it creates a reset.”

Ross Brawn, who was the technical director at Ferrari when Michael Schumacher won five consecutive titles, warned that there will be no quick turnaround.

“I’ve been fortunate to see a large part of Ferrari’s 1000 races, including of course a memorable period working there,” Brawn, who is now F1’s director of motor sports, told the official F1 website.

“I have fond memories of my time at Maranello. We enjoyed a lot of success, but only after several tough years putting the building blocks in place.

“Ferrari have a lot of work ahead of them to return to the front. A kneejerk reaction never solves a problem. A structured plan is needed – and the time given for it to come together.”

There are going to be more bitter moments for Ferrari before it can again taste sweet success.

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

with Dan Knutson Image: LAT

Bruce Williams

Editor-At-Large

Mark Fogarty

Deputy Editor

Heath McAlpine

Production

Jason Crowe

Special Contributor

Bruce Newton

Staff Journalist

Dan McCarthy

National Editor Online Editor

F1 INSIDER

Garry O’Brien Rhys Vandersyde

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

Formula 1 Dan Knutson, Photographers Australia Ross Gibb, Rebecca Hind, Mick Oliver, David Batchelor, Randall Kilner, Rhys Vandersyde, Richard Hathaway, MTR Images, Bruce Moxon International LAT Images Advertising Manager Bruce Williams All Advertising inquiries Bruce@autoaction.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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Image: LAT

TANTALISINGLY CLOSE

DANIEL RICCIARDO came tantalisingly close to getting a podium finish in the Tuscan Grand Prix, The Aussie pretty much had third place nailed down until the race was red flagged for Lance Stroll’s accident. Then in the final 14 lap sprint to the flag, the Red Bull of Alex Albon had more pace than Ricciardo’s Renault. The end result: Albon third and Ricciardo fourth.

Renault found some tweaks in the car set-up back in July at Silverstone, and in the subsequent races on the low downforce tracks of Spa and Monza, the car was competitive.

But the Mugello circuit, which hosted the Tuscan Grand Prix, is a high downforce track. So after that race I asked Ricciardo if those tweaks also seemed to help out on the high downforce track.

“Yeah,” he replied. “We might be a little bit sad that we got so close to a podium today, but when we step back and look at the performance, it was a track that we did not really expect to be particularly competitive on.

It is a higher downforce one; it is the type that we have not

been particularly strong on.

Barcelona style circuits are not our strengths. So good progress on that style circuit today.

“That is really encouraging, it gives us a bit encouragement coming to other high downforce circuits. So it looks like we are getting the car in a better place.

“It is still so close in that pack, but on Sundays our race pace is solid. So if we qualify towards the front, it puts us in a good place on Sunday.”

Ricciardo and Renault team principal Cyril Abiteboul have a pact. Some people call it a bet, but that’s not really the case here, because Ricciardo has nothing to lose. The deal is that if Ricciardo gets a podium finish this year, then Abiteboul has to get a tattoo. However, if he does not get a podium finish then Ricciardo does not have to put up anything.

The deal is that Ricciardo gets to choose the tattoo, but Abiteboul gets to choose where it goes on his body.

“I saw some mockups of the Mike Tyson face tattoo on Cyril,” Ricciardo said. “But he chooses placement, so it is

definitely not going to be on his face. I would not be cruel and get him like a rubber duck or something. I’ll get them something so it is a good memory. Maybe the destination where the podium happens, whether it is that circuit or that city or country. We will see.

We could just get him a little trophy tattoo, maybe a shoey.

We’ll cross that bridge when we get there, but I’m sure I’ll be flooded with ideas. Much to his dismay.”

The “shoey” is, of course, Ricciardo’s champagne-filled driver boot that he drinks from when he is celebrating on the podium.

After nine races – consisting of three tripleheaders – in 11 weekends, the drivers and teams got a weekend off before the Russian Grand Prix.

The drivers always say they’re happy to race every weekend, but how tough has it been mentally and physically for Ricciardo?

“I’ve enjoyed the triple headers,” he said. “I’ve enjoyed just getting on with it. But by the end of every tripleheader you do feel it. I think everyone feels it. It is good while it lasts, but

WHAT’S IN THE NEXT ISSUE ON SALE 8 OCTOBER

once it’s done, it’s like all I want to do now is lay horizontal! I’m looking forward to trying to catch up on a bit of sleep. As well with the racing, you have adrenaline, and you’re not sleeping in your own house, with not much of a schedule, so you’re not really getting awesome sleep as well in hotel rooms and whatever.”

After Mugello, Ricciardo is now looking forward to racing on some of the other one-off tracks like the Nürburgring, Istanbul and Portugal’s Portimao.

“I think it is going to be fun,” he said. “A bit of an unknown for a few of us. Even Mugello, learning the track on Friday. I drove it many years ago but learning it in a faster car is cool.

You try and pick up some lines and some tricks, and that whole process of learning is really fun.”

What was also fun for Ricciardo was finding out that the Renault worked pretty well on the high downforce Mugello circuit, and that bodes well for some of the upcoming races.

Not to mention some tattoo parlor getting some extra business.

Bathurst 1000 preview; The Bend Motorsport Park #2; Russian Grand Pirx from Sochi; all the latest News & Views; State racing, rallying & offroad from around the country

with Mark Fogarty

THE FOGES FILE AA’s normally pessimistic pundit sees some good for motor sport coming out of the COVID-19 FOR ALL the grief it’s caused, the coronavirus pandemic has forced motor sport administrators to be creative and adaptable. New formats and approaches have been adopted out of extreme necessity – and in many cases are proving successful.

In Supercars, the rapid-fire weekends are action-packed. Formula 1 is more interesting, if not more exciting, with a new variety of tracks. Both show that double-headers at the same venue can work.

Supercars and F1 are just two examples of how convention can be overturned when drastic measures are required.

A small but useful gain from COVID-19 is that we now know racing can be changed more radically than was previously thought possible.

If anything useful is to come from the human and economic tolls of the coronavirus, it is that thinking differently is the key to a brighter future. There are more efficient and effective ways of doing things, which sports – as just one example in this global crisis – have embraced because they’ve had to for survival.

We’re far from out of the woods yet, but lateral thinking is here to stay – you’d hope. Long-term, motor sport should be better off for the stringencies and rationalisations imposed by the pandemic.

Supercars is showing fewer people are needed in administration and organisation, and that team personnel can be reduced, without a noticeable impact on the on-track spectacle. The racing is no worse for the cutbacks – in fact, you’d argue it’s been better.

It means fewer jobs, but Supercars already needed to cut costs to ensure teams would survive. COVID-19 has hastened the cull that was always coming. For the overall good of the

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Supercars industry, it had to happen.

The wind-back has been accelerated under the initial safety net of government wage subsidies and financial support for businesses. Next year, once all borders and lockdowns are lifted, will be the real test.

Hopefully, Supercars’ impressively decisive and well-thought-out action plan to get a credible season done under duress, will carry forward.

It certainly looks like the two-day, three-race format has hit the sweet spot for sprint events. Rapid-fire practice and qualifying sessions followed by short races is great for viewers. Even better is no refuelling and lightning tyre stops, the latter enlivened by different strategies.

Stick to the soft compound rubber, though, and let the varying degradation of the tracks dictate the stops.

Better still, in concert with the introduction of Gen3 in 2022, add a super-soft Dunlop for qualifying shoot outs and a real limited-life wildcard option in the races.

And ditch the Top 15 Shoot Outs. Too many, too long. Top 10 on super-stickies

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would be awesome.

The Bend SuperSprint 1 last weekend was action-packed. The crashes triggered by van Gisbergen, Whincup and McLaughlin added to the drama. Le Brocq and Heimgartner showed they can mix it at the front when they get the chance.

There is now the prospect that the racing will be even more frantic on The Bend’s shorter, tighter course this weekend. Or will the elimination of key fast, high-load corners dumb it down?

I realise there are economic implications of the compressed weekends and calendars, but the privations of this season have necessitated organisational, operational and technical reforms that confirm there is a different and better way for the future.

Add the return of trackside crowds next year and Repco’s extraordinary infusion of sponsorship, and Supercars is set for a big ‘normal’ year in 2021.

WEBBER’S WORDS

As Oscar Piastri’s manager, Mark Webber is obviously biased.

But he doesn’t dismiss the potential of

Australia’s other F3 contestants, Jack ”Son of Mick” Doohan and Tassie trier Alex Peroni.

Webber thinks 17-year-old Doohan has time to shine, while he is a big rap for F3 sophomore Peroni.

“Obviously, Jack had a rough time with the team he was with and that’s no fair reflection of Jack’s talent,” he told me. “And Pironi in his second year, I think he’s driven very well at times, no question about it.”

More on Doohan: “Hopefully, he’ll have a much better crack at it next year, a fairer crack. And Jack’s still young – he’s a lot younger than Oscar.”

Webber is very impressed with Pironi, who came back from his Monza aerobatics last year, without a big budget. As a natural talent, he rates Peroni highly.

“It’s so cut-throat and he’s had some very good performances at certain venues, but the consistency hasn’t been there – and Campos didn’t have the best car at all,” Webber assessed.

“When you’re always qualifying mid-pack or further back, it’s always very hard to move forward. I think he started the season well.”

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HARD AND FAST

PART ONE

In the latest of our series talking to racing greats, controversial touring car legend Allan Grice tells MARK FOGARTY about his rise from pastry cook to baking Brock at Bathurst IMAGES: Autopics.com.au/AN1 Images/AA Archives IM

G GRICEY. THE controversial u underdog who enlivened touring c racing for a decade from car the th mid-1970s. Allan Grice’s unimaginative nickname still u resonates r with hardcore fans 3 years after his last great 30 s success.

Gricey was a villain and an underdog. Biffed and bashed his way to fame in privateer machinery, enhancing his appeal by speaking his mind.

Two Bathurst 1000 victories – in 1986 and ’90 – secured his legend status. But there was so more to – and so much more that could have been for – the “former Cessnock pastry cook”.

He took the battle to Peter Brock in the tobacco team wars of the ’70s and early ’80s. He recovered from being

dumped by impresario Frank Gardner.

Grice, who turns 78 on October 21, was a battle-hardened pro who could’ve been an open-wheel ace. Or an international sports car endurance star ( he performed credibly in two Group C appearances at Le Mans). Or a NASCAR front-runner (complete with Akubra black hat).

He was one of the best touring car drivers in the world, as evidenced on the few occasions he had the right equipment on the international stage.

Grice had grand ambitions. He conceived the Australian National Motor Racing Team to take on the best in Europe in 1986. Backed by Qantas and Fosters, he would field a Holden Commodore in the ETCC and then the following year’s world touring car championship with the best Australian racers as his co-drivers.

Peter Brock, Dick Johnson, Larry Perkins, Alan Jones, Vern Schuppan and other excellent Aussies would join

him in the big Euro enduros. It was all set, including Canberra’s imprimatur, until Brock announced his own offshore campaign.

Also known as ‘Wingnut’ for his prominent ears, Grice as ever rebounded and scored a dominant win at Bathurst in ’86 – a victory regarded as the last true privateer success in the annual October classic.

Gold Coast-based Grice also holds the distinction of having been a member of the Queensland parliament. For those who know him well, the idea of “the honourable member for Broadwater” is a contradiction, but true to form, he was as forthright on the floor as he was when he raced.

Nothing has changed. The apprentice pie- and cake-maker who left school at the end of 1961 and a few years later began what would be a tumultuous career in racing, remains unrepentantly outspoken.

Gricey first attracted attention in a Torana XU-1 backed by the Cessnock Holden dealer. He was especially effective at Amaroo Park. It’s long forgotten that Grice was a budding open-wheeler driver in the mid-to-late 1960s in small-bore cars like this Elfin Mono. He also excelled in 1968 Singapore GP in ex-Bartlett 2.5-litre Brabham-Climax until outed by a broken gearbox.

How and why did you get into racing?

I really don’t know. I was never interested as a kid. I didn’t have go-karts or anything like that. I went to a motor race meeting at Warwick Farm with a couple of mates from Maitland and I was just transfixed. I made the decision on the way home that I was going to do that somehow. So then I had to figure out how to do it. The first car I bought was an MG TC that was already modified for racing and I won my first ever race at the Warwick Farm club circuit, and then I wrote it off at Oran Park in the second race! My next car was an Elfin Clubman and then I got an F3 Elfin Mono powered by an 1100cc Holbay Ford. It was as quick as any of the F2 (1500 cc) cars. Then I moved up to an F2 Rennmax, which I effectively hired from (later ‘Gold Star’ champion) Max Stewart and ran it myself.

It’s little known that Gricey was a budding single-seater star. He finagled a drive in the

1968 Singapore Grand Prix, starting from pole position and battling with eventual winner, Elfin founder Garrie Cooper, until his aging Brabham’s gearbox broke. How he got there is a typical Gricey story of tenacity and guile.

I ran into a brick wall sponsorshipwise to keep racing, so I decided I had to think outside the box. I’d read about the Singapore and Macau Grands Prix, so I thought I’d turn my attention to southeast Asia. I found out who to contact and put together a scrap book of my F2 exploits, and I went over to Singapore to meet the expatriate Poms who were organising the Singapore GP (run on the old Thomson Road street circuit).

As it happened, they knew someone who was looking for a car and a driver. That was P H Wong, a wealthy Chinese fellow who was looking to advertise his business. He wanted to know how much it would cost to buy a car that would win and I figured a Brabham with

2.5-litre Coventry Climax or something similar would do the job. So I went back to Australia and ended up buying the one Kevin Bartlett had been driving for Alec Mildren (Brabham BT11A).

My patron bought that and he also bought my Elfin Mono as a back-up. He was opening a new business to service expatriates’ cars, so it had an English name – it was called Newton Enterprises, which was on the cars. I put it on pole and then the gearbox broke in the race.

In his early touring car years, Grice was routinely described in the media as a “former Cessnock pastry cook”. It wasn’t journalistic licence.

Cessnock is near where he grew up in Maitland in NSW’s Hunter Valley region north of Sydney.

I was a pastry cook by trade. In those days you didn’t have a lot of options. You went into the family business, which happened to be cake shops. I learned the trade from my uncle in Coffs

Harbour and then went to work for another uncle in Cessnock, and then finished up back in the business in Maitland. It enabled me to work a full-time job at night in the bakehouse and drive a truck for the local dairy during the day, and on the weekends I wasn’t racing, I’d drive a cab. So I was on two-and-half wages and that was my sponsorship. That’s how I got started.

Grice finished sixth in the 1972 Australian F2 championship, contesting a limited program in an ex-Max Stewart Mildren/Rennmax. He also began his touring car career, racing a Torana XU-1 run by Holden dealer Cessnock Motor Works. His do-or-die efforts eventually attracted the attention of cigarette giant WD & HO Wills, which was moving into motor racing sponsorship, following the lead of rival Phillip Morris. In 1973, its Craven Mild brand backed Paul Older’s BMW 2002 sports sedan, opening the door to Grice.

Classic Gricey shot (left): pounding through The Dipper in his A9X. He starred in under-three litre racing in a Mazda RX-3 (above left), winning the ’76 Rothmans Sun-7 series at Amaroo Park. Grice debuted the Torana SL/R 5000 ahead of the HDT in ’74 and then turned the upgraded SL/R 5000 L34 into a race winner. Always aggressive, he’s seen here in a classic sideways slide.

Grice’s press-on style in Torana L34s and A9Xs made him a fan favourite. He nearly won the 1975 ATCC, losing out to MHDT’s Colin Bond after disqualifications resulting from the long-running thermostat saga. Congratulated by Holden sales chief John Bagshaw (below), whose support of racing extended to limited help for fair-skinned and freckled Grice (hence the ever-present hat). An unhappy time in factory backed JPS BMW (bottom) in ’81 triggered spectacular split with Frank Gardner.

They went along to watch him at his first race, which was at Amaroo Park, and I was driving the XU-1 that day. John Goss tipped me arse over head in our heat race and we brought it back to the pits and the boys belted and bashed back into shape for the final – including using somebody’s belt to hold the door closed. We were late to the grid while we found the right sort of belt, but I won the final and beat Goss.

The crowd went mad because we’d gone from last to first. (Wills promotions manager) Phil May decided to champion me and he recommended to management that Craven Mild back me. That’s how that started.

Grice raced under the Craven Mild banner from ’74, joined by Ian Geoghegan in the John Sheppard-built Monaro sports sedan. Gricey had the distinction of racing the Torana SL/R 5000 V8 before the HDT and the next seven years became the enfant terrible – and a fan favourite – of touring car racing. Success was slim, but he was renowned for being a gutsy, outspoken and uncompromising competitor in an era of exceptional talent. He was also a privateer battler against the factory backed Holden team.

It was difficult taking on the factory team, but it’s never been easy, has it? It’s not an easy game and you have to be prepared to have a crack, which is what I did. I was always an aggressive driver, which was partly my nature and partly necessity. I was always prepared

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to dive under somebody going into a corner. The problem was often that when I made that decision, there was room, but by the time I got along side, the other bloke had turned in. It didn’t usually end up well for them because I was committed. I wasn’t going to back off. There were a lot of good steerers around in those days. I think one of the rarely mentioned abilities that I had was in setting up

the car up. A majority of the times that I beat th pe people like Brock was towards the end of a ra race when their tyres had gone off because of the set-up of their car and mine were still strong, s so I’d have a better car for the latter laps. la Brock was obviously quick, but he would often adapt his technique of driving to w what w the car was doing. So as the tyres were giving up, he and others would adapt their g style and finish up with a worse product than I had. I’d come over the top of them because I still had grip. That ability to set up a car for its tyres stood me in good stead throughout my racing career. I always had good tyre contracts because my feedback was very precise. You’d go to a tyre test and they’d often set traps for you. You know, they’d put four psi less in the front k

“The Corvair was an F5000 with bodywork. It was a weapon. It was so good it led to the eventual demise of sports sedans as a top category.”

Gricey dominated the 1978/79 sports sedan titles in “Killer Corvair” (top). Wife Christine has been with him all the way (above right). In 1980/81, Gricey was a front-runner in the sports sedan/GT transition in a BMW 318i Turbo (above left). Among the many Commodores of Grice was the fast STP Roadways Racing VH in ’83. Contentious collision at Amaroo in ’76, pushing Colin Bond off at the top of the hill (below), was the source of friction between them for many years. Grice was never far from controversy in those days. left. If you picked that up, then they knew you understood what the car was doing and weren’t just compensating for any deficiency. People like Brock would be just as quick or quicker in testing, but they’d rag one tyre because it was four psi less than the others. They’d also mix up the compounds. The tyre technicians had confidence in my ability to feel what the tyres were doing. That why I always had good tyre contracts that were also quite lucrative. [He started with Bridgestone and then moved to a long-term alliance with Yokohama.]

Your best shot at winning a touring car championship was in 1975, which was a very controversial season. Talk about the infamous thermostat incident that arguably cost you the title.

Anybody who knows me knows I wouldn’t know a thermostat from a con rod. A person who shall remain nameless built the engine and he was the bloke who didn’t put the thermostat in, which certainly wasn’t known to me. My attitude was always that the car had to be kosher. He left the thermostat out and at Surfers Paradise Harry Firth went to the scrutineers and told them that they should pull the water pump off Grice’s car because he didn’t it had a thermostat.

So they pulled the water pump off and, sure enough, there was no thermostat there. It was in the glovebox. I didn’t know about that either.

Strangely, a week or so after that, said mechanic handed in his resignation and went to work for Harry Firth. The sequel is that a short time later, Harry sacked the person because he couldn’t be trusted [hearty laughter].

Grice raced under appeal until his objection was rejected, scrubbing the points he earned in three events and relegating him from potentiall title-winner to third. He was also never far from m controversy over rough driving, perhaps most infamously in an incident with Colin Bond at Amaroo Park in 1976. They came together on the opening lap over the hill of the tight Sydney circuit, with Bond’s HDT Torana pushedd completely sideways in the midst of the pack

by Grice.

Did you punt him off?

It takes two to tango. I thought I had the overlap. Did I punt him or did he close his line up? I think it was a bit of both. I wasn’t to be crowded.

His famous Bathurst 1000 victory with chicken farmer Graeme Bailey in ’86 (top, above right, below) is rated by Grice as his most satisfying success because he “put the Brock crush on Brock”. His often-forgotten versatility exemplified by winning the 1984 GT title in the fearsome ex-Bob Jane Chevy Monza, owned by regular patron Alan Browne.

And so we move on to internationally accomplished Frank Gardner’s arrival at Craven Mild Racing as team manager in 1978. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but the relationship ended in acrimony – and Gricey without a drive – at the end of 1981, the first year of the JPS BMWs. Frank put a prop in to WD & HO Wills when he was building the Corvair. They were impressed with all his international experience and they asked me to go and have a look at it to see whether it was worthwhile sponsoring. It was Tom Nailard’s car – Frank never built it. It was an F5000 with Corvair tin on it. I went back and told them I thought it’d be very competitive and, on that basis, they did a deal to back him with their John Player brand.

He ran it for a couple of years and then he went to Wills – not to me – and said he wanted to retire from driving and suggested that I take over driving it. He also convinced them to put him in charge of the Craven Mild Racing operation.

It wasn’t so bad. You won the 1978 and ’78 sports sedan titles in the Corvair. That must’ve been a weapon.

Oh, it was an F5000 with bodywork. Chassis, suspension, brakes, engine – all from Lola F5000s. The design was Tom Nailard’s, who did a bloody brilliant job. He started building it up, but he couldn’t afford the F5000 engine to go in it. That’s where Frank came in.

He could get an engine and he bought the car – on condition that Tom had first option to buy it back. Of course, he never got that option, did he? [The car was ultimately stripped off its F5000 running gear and the bodywork

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GRICEY FACT FILE Age 77 Born Maitland, NSW Lives Gold Coast, QLD Occupation Businessman Racing career 1966-2005 Championships Australian Sports Sedan 1978/79, Australian GT 1984, South Pacific Touring Car 1986 Major race wins Bathurst 1000 1986/90, Bathurst 12 Hour 1991 Other Hon. member for Broadwater, QLD 1992-2001

Alliance with master mechanic Les Small kept Gricey competitive in Commodores in the Group A era. Bob Jane was a regular supporter, perhaps seeing in the mustachioed, red-headed rebel a kindred anti-authoritarian spirit. scrapped.] The thing was so good that it began the demise of sports sedans as a major category, morphing into GTs. As my dear departed mother Gladys used to tell me, “Son, if you can’t speak well of somebody, it’s better not to say anything at all”. So I have nothing to say about Frank Gardner… [chuckles] So how did you fall out with him?

We used to get on pretty well. I can’t remember ever having a blue with him. But in hindsight, I think it goes back to Bathurst in 1977. We had two Torana A9Xs – a sedan and a hatchback – and we always thought we’d race the two-door. We tried to keep the miles down on it, so most of the testing and practice was done in the four-door. Frank was changing this and changing that, and at the end of a practice session, he said “Righto, Gricey, that car’s ready to go. Put a new set of tyres on it and I reckon you’ll do a 2 m 24 s.” Without scheming or trying to upstage him, I said “I’ve just put a new set on it, Frank, and I did a 22 dead”. And there was absolute silence. That’s when I reckon he turned.

Without knowing, I embarrassed him. Looking back, I think he had it in for me from then.

Gardner got control of the Wills sponsorship, leaving Grice vulnerable when things finally came to a head after a difficult season with the Group C BMW 635 CSi in ‘81.

I think he just carried this chip on his shoulder from the time that I embarrassed him in the pits at Bathurst. At the time, it didn’t not occur to my thick head that everybody was listening.

I remember back then that you didn’t agree with his philosophy of setting up cars.

Memorably, you described his approach as setting them up for driving in the snow at the Nurburgring.

That’s true. They were so soft, floppy and shitty. The BMW was the worst. I hated driving that thing.

Undaunted, Grice bounced back in 1982, teaming up with Re-Car boss Alan Browne

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at Bathurst to finish second after winning pole with the first 100 mph (160 km/h) lap at Mount Panorama in a touring car. He repeated the feat in 1986 in a Group A Commodore, going on to a ‘crushing’ win with gentleman driver/financier Graeme ‘Chickadee’ Bailey.

Gricey was so fast he was able to carry slow co-drivers.

You got your revenge at Bathurst in ’86. How did you do that?

We put the Brock crush on Brock. We had the best handling car, we had the best tyres (Yokohamas) and we probably had another four horsepower. But more importantly, we had the ability to put the power on the ground, not slide out of the corners, which most of the others did in that era. (Poultry magnate) Graeme Bailey paid for it and in his limited time behind the wheel he didn’t put a foot wrong. Guys like him and Browne were enthusiast gentlemen drivers who were decent enough peddlers with the right encouragement. I always respected them because during that time, I couldn’t have gone racing without them.

Which was more satisfying Bathurst win – ’86 or ’90?

The first one because, as I said, we put the Brock crush on Brock. He always used to do that – get out in front and run away. That’s what I did in ’86. I really enjoyed that one for that reason. Any time I could beat Brock, I was very happy. He was the benchmark.

Also in ’86, AG contested several rounds of the European Touring Car Championship in a Commodore supported by Bailey. Grice outperformed Brock on sheer speed. Part of has advantage was incessant testing and development of Yokohama tyres, with the

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sheer mileage making him razor sharp at Bathurst. Indirectly, it all resulted in a factory Nissan drive in the ’88 ETCC alongside later HRT partner in crime Win Percy. Results with the HR30 Skyline GTS-R in a limited program were unimpressive.

We ran two cars. The original plan was to prepare for a full tilt in ’89 with the R32 Skyline GT-R. In fact, I did some testing with it at Suzuka and Mount Fuji. That first year was to learn the circuits and find out what we needed to win the following year and have a decision on that by June. We were even thinking of bringing the GT-R to Australia to do more testing on the circuits here. So it was a two-year plan, but it never eventuated.

Oh, what a tangled web we weave. Nissan’s European motor sport operations were then run by Howard Marsden, former Ford Australia team boss and Nissan Australia race and rally chief. Marsden masterminded Broadmeadows’ official return to racing in the early 2000s. He was also one of the architects of “Godzilla”, the eventual killer of Group A. From testing the GT-R, could you tell it was going to be the monster it became?

Yes. My only reservation was that I thought it was too heavy. I thought it’d be very fast, but I also thought it would wear out tyres and brakes and all that sort of stuff. They did undertake a big weight reduction program, so they did take some notice, and I think that helped the car enormously. [The R32 GT-R racer was refined to its peak in Australia by Fred Gibson’s Nissan-backed team.]

Next issue: Gricey on his NASCAR adventures, against-the-odds win at Bathurst in 1990 and unlikely stint as a member of parliament.

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Credible appearance at Le Mans in a Porsche 956 in 1984.

Faster than Brock in a limited budget privateer Commodore in ’86 ETCC.

Who remembers he drove a Nissan R88C at Le Mans in ’88?

Nissan ’88 ETCC campaign supposed to precede “Godzilla” factory assault.

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Williams becomes a Formula 1 force: Alan Jones (foreground, tended by Frank Williams) and Clay Regazonni’s Williams FW07s being prepared in 1979. The Swiss would go on to win Williams’ first grand prix but it would be the Australian who won its first world title.

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THE END OF AN ERA

Monza marked the end of the Williams family involvement in Formula 1, a period that spanned seven World Driver’s Championships and nine constructors’ titles. Auto Action Formula 1 correspondent DAN KNUTSON reflects on his first memory of a team that grew to be one of the most successful in history

AS I have mentioned before in Auto Action, back in 1977 my mate Earl and I drove my 1966 Triumph TR4A halfway across the United States to attend the United States and Canadian Grands Prix.

There were no pit garages in those days of course, so all the teams were housed in a long shed at both Watkins Glen and Mosport. We spent many, many hours in those sheds watching the mechanics work on the cars.

Way down at one end was a March 761 that was driven by Belgian Patrick

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Neve and the entrant was listed as Hollywood March Racing. But the real entrant was the new Williams Grand Prix Engineering. Neve brought funding from the Belgian beer company BelleVue. The plan for Frank Williams and his partner Patrick Head was to build their own car, but that would not run until the 1978 season, so Williams went shopping. He considered the Penske, as that team was winding up its F1 operation, as well as a Shadow or a Tyrrell, but finally decided on a March.

And it was that March along, with the other F1 cars in the garage, that Earl and I spent so much time observing.

Now, Frank Williams must’ve been there, but I don’t actually recall seeing him. But then at the time he was not a big name like Ken Tyrrell or Colin Chapman, who I well remember seeing in those garages.

Because of some of the stumbling efforts he had when he first tried to get into F1, Williams was affectionately known in the paddock as “Wanker Frank.”

When he did set up his own team with his own car, Williams had a discussion with former Auto Action contributor Mike Doodson on what it should be called.

Doodson jokingly suggested “Wanker Ford.”

They also discussed what sort of chassis number the car should have.

Ken Tyrrell was Williams’ hero at the time, and Tyrrell had named his first car the Tyrrell 001. But Williams said he would not designate his first car as the Williams 001 because he said he would never build 100 cars. And so when

Williams Grand Prix Engineering partners Frank Williams and Patrick Head with the first car of their own design, the Williams FW06 (top of page). Patrick Neve aboard the team’s first entry, a March 781 (top centre). Earlier Williams efforts included running Piers Courage in a Brabham BT26A in 1969 (top centre) and Art Merzario in a Iso-Marlboro Williams in 1974 (above left). Alan Jones was spectacular and fast in the first Williams-built car, the FW06 (above, centre). Frank himself celebrates another victory in 1980 (above right). the new car made its debut in 1978, it was called the Williams FW06 because Frank considered it to be his sixth F1 attempt.

I wonder if he ever thought he would eventually see the Williams FW43 all these years later.

Ironically, Williams would go on to have far more success with his F1 team than that which Tyrrell achieved.

Like I said, I do not recall seeing Frank Williams in the garages of Watkins Glen and Mosport. But he soon became a familiar sight on TV and when I

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started going to some F1 races in the early ‘80s. It was that classic Frank Williams look – white shirt with green accents, green trousers, Goodyear cap, clipboard and stopwatches.

Later on, when I got to know him, I discovered another Frank Williams “look” and that was what I would call a fierce gleaming smile, which he would display when he was really satisfied with something.

Williams was totally dedicated to motor racing and F1, to the point where he would even go into the factory on

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Christmas Day instead of spending time with his family. It is well worth searching out the Williams documentary film that came out in 2017. It shows the success of Williams, but also takes a blunt assessment of the cost to his family. I also recommend trying to find the book by Doug Nye called ‘RACERS The Inside Story of Williams Grand Prix Engineering.’ It covers everything from Frank’s early days in motorsport right through to the glory days of winning the world championship with Aussie Alan Jones in 1979.

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Speaking of Australians, I really thought that the combination of Mark Webber and Williams would be a success, when he signed up for the 2005 and 2006 seasons. After all, it would be the tough Aussie paired with the no-nonsense Frank and Patrick. But it was not to be.

In fact, Williams had only won once in 2004, and since then the team’s 114th and final victory to this point came when Pastor Maldonado won the 2012 Spanish Grand Prix.

As the 2006 season wound down,

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The Williams team in 1981 (above left) and Keke Rosberg in the Williams FW08 on his way to the World Championship in 1982 (above right). Alan Jones was the driver that put Williams on the map in 1979 and 1980, and the Williams FW07 of 1980 was the car that established its winning credentials (right).

Webber made the very wise choice of switching to Red Bull for 2007.

“He is a very aggressive, fast driver, a great driver,” Williams said back then, when I asked him for his opinion about Webber. “I thought he would not be as good as he has been. This year he is definitely driving faster than last year. He is more aggressive and more successful. Maybe our car is better this year than last year despite his relative position to other cars. But

every time I see him on TV he is on it. He has very good overtaking maneuvers, and of course on behalf of the team away from the track, he is just totally giving. He really tries hard for us.”

Frank Williams was such a passionate racer for all those years.

I think that had a lot to do with what kept him going since the road accident in 1986 that paralysed him.

In recent years he actually lived in a flat at the team’s factory, so that he

could always be near his beloved race cars.

I wonder and I worry how Frank is going to cope now that for the first time in many, many decades, he is not involved in motorsport.

Oh, by the way, back in 1977 Neve finished 18th, four laps behind the winning McLaren of James Hunt at Watkins Glen, and he retired on lap 56 of 80 with the loss of oil pressure at Mosport, which was won by Jody Scheckter driving a Wolf.

Nigel Mansell and Nelson Piquet were teammates, rivals and World Champions at Williams. The Brazilian is aboard the Honda-powered FW11B in Austria in 1987 (above left), sharing the podium with his victorious teammate Mansell in Mexico that same season (above centre) and the Englishman in the Renault-powered FW14B in Australia in 1992 (above right).

Belgian Thierry Boutsen in the FW13 Renault in 1989 (above left), Williams chief designer Adrian Newey in conference with Nigel Mansell and engineer David Brown (above, centre) in 1992 and Italy’s Riccardo Patrese in FW14 Renault in 1991 (above right).

Alain Prost was another World Champion with Williams in 1993 (above left). Frank Williams celebrates victory in the first-ever World Championship Australian Grand Prix event with driver Keke Rosberg in Adelaide in 1985 (above centre). Damon Hill at the same venue in the FW17, a decade later. He would go on to be World Champion for the team the following season. Williams was renowned for developing talented youngsters into winners and many went on to be World Champions, either with the British team or elsewhere.

WILLIAMS F1 FACT FILE

Williams Grand Prix Engineering Ltd Grove, Oxfordshire, UK Founded: 1977 Starts: 728 First win: 1978 British Grand Prix (Clay Regazzoni) Most recent win: 2012 Spanish GP (Pastor Maldonado) Race wins: 114 World championships – Drivers’ (7): 1980 (Alan Jones), 1982 (Keke Rosberg), 1987 (Nelson Piquet), 1992 (Nigel Mansell), 1993 (Alain Prost),1996 (Damon Hill), 1997 (Jacques Villeneuve); Constructors’ (9): 1980/81/86/87/92/93/94/96/97

FRANK’S F1 VISION

Former F1 reporter MARK FOGARTY recalls his dealings with Sir Frank Williams at the height of his wheelchair-bound powers THERE ARE three stalwarts of Formula 1: Ferrari, McLaren and Williams. They have lasted the longest, and scored the most race wins and championships.

Since the late 1970s, Williams has been the epitome of independence, often to its great cost.

It was – and remains – a reflection of founder Frank Williams’ vision.

A team of racers rather than a racing team.

Sir Frank has driven the third best squad in F1 history, overshadowing iconic Lotus, for more than 40 years with a singular aim – win races and championships.

It‘s been eight years since Williams’ last victory and 17 years since it was a genuine title contender.

The past few seasons have seen the sad decline of a once great squad, relegated to the back of the field.

Knighted in 1999 for his services to British motor sport, Sir Frank had guided his team from a wheelchair since 1986, when he became a quadriplegic following a road crash after a test at Paul Ricard in southern France.

He has finally – and, I suspect, reluctantly – given up ownership of his eponymous F1 team to secure its future in a new world in which his team cannot compete without huge capital input.

Williams was, arguably, the last great new

entrant in F1. No independent newcomer has come close since.

Led by Australian Alan Jones’ tenacity and talent from 1978-81, Williams became a serious player at the forefront until the late 1990s.

Alliances with Honda and Renault produced success. The record speaks for itself.

In my F1 days, I had a lot to do with Frank Williams. As disconcerting as it was to interview him on his ‘rack’ – a device from which he was suspended as part of his intensive care at tracks – he was always forthright and open.

Even better were the interviews at Didcot and later Grove. He was in constant touch by phone with everyone in F1. His days were dominated by gossip, aided by the big-button phone gifted to him by Nelson Piquet.

Sir Frank was quietly, croakily spoken, but the intent was always clear – win at all cost. He was a racer through and thorough.

Denied true mobility, he lived for – and thrived on – F1 gossip. He was also surprisingly enthusiastic and knowledgeable about his team’s successful few years with Renault in the BTCC at its height in the mid-1990s.

His fascination with F1 never diminished,

although l h h iti was sorely l testedd by b the h death d h off Ayrton Senna in one of his cars. The guilt never left him and remains a stain to this day.

Frank Williams has gone to few races in recent years. Not because he isn’t interested, but at 78, his survival as a quadriplegic is historic. He has the wherewithal for the best medical treatment,

but buut it his tenacity that has ha kept him alive for so long.

How he will cope now that the th team is no longer his is debatable.

He literally lived d through his team. th Sir Frank is the last surviving F1 F team founder whose name is on o the cars and his place in the sport’s history is immortalised. s Williams has a different future under new ownership. Whether it u will ill survive, i muchh lessre-emerge as a completive force, is problematic.

But McLaren’s turnaround, although not from such dark depths, provides a glimmer of hope that under the coming cost cap and with the right leadership, Williams can at least rise to the top of the midfield.

Jacques Villeneuve in the FW20 Mecachrome at Spa, a year after he won the ‘97 world title with the team (top) and Jenson Button in the FW22 BMW in Japan in 2000 (above). The Williams team rolls out for a photo in 2006, Mark Webber and Nico Rosberg the team’s drivers at the time (below left), Lance Stroll in the FW40 Mercedes in Baku in 2017 (below centre) and Williams celebrates its most recent win, in Spain in 2012, with Pastor Maldonado (below right).

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JONES SEALS THE TITLE

Victory in Canada for Alan Jones sealed the Formula 1 World Driver’s Championship, the first for an Australian in 14 years as DAN McCARTHY recalls.

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NELSON PIQUET came into the Canadian Grand Prix on a hot streak, the Brazilian having won the previous two races and led the points.

Alan Jones was on the back foot after suffering damage at Zandvoort, and had finished a disappointed second in Italy to his title rival.

But it was Jones who could seal the title at Ile Notre-Dame (now known as Circuit Gilles Villeneuve) due to the FIA points structure requiring a driver to drop their worst round.

Jones and Piquet were the only serious title contenders as Carlos Reutemann remained just under two wins behind.

The Formula 1 merry-go round continued as Alfa Romeo replaced the retired Vittorio Brambilla with rookie Andrea de Cesaris, RAM entered a second privateer Williams for American Kevin Cogan, Jochen Mass returned to Arrows after his neck injury suffered in Austria, and Mike Thackwell drove a third Tyrrell.

The combination of a qualifying-spec engine and an upgraded Brabham BT49 proved potent for Piquet as he took pole position by a staggering 0.836s.

Jones lined-up alongside, while Didier Pironi qualified on the second row aiming to end a barren run where just a sole point was scored from his previous five races.

Next was Alfa Romeo driver Bruno Giacomelli ahead of Jones’ Williams teammate Reutemann, Keke Rosberg, John Watson, de Cesaris, Jacques Laffite

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Australian Alan Jones celebrates his World Championship win and the Canadian Grand Prix race victory, aided on the podium by Didier Pironi who was finished third.

and the second Brabham driver Hector Rebaque, who rounded out the top 10.

Thackwell, after previously failing to qualify for Arrows in Holland, became the youngest ever Formula 1 Grand Prix starter when he qualified 24th (ahead of four non-qualifiers) at just 19 years of age.

One notable absentee from the grid was reigning world champion Jody Scheckter.

Incredibly, the South African had failed to qualify, after setting a time 4.3s off pole position!

His Ferrari teammate Gilles Villeneuve snuck into the field in 22nd position.

Conditions on race day were cold but sunny, with a scheduled 70 lap race to be run.

A poor start by Piquet enabled Jones to challenge on the inside and Pironi the outside, which proved pivotal as he two championship combatants touched with the Brabham spinning into the wall.

Piquet’s crash caused a chain reaction involving Derek Daly, Jean-Pierre Jarier, Villeneuve, Emerson Fittipaldi, Keke Rosberg, Mario Andretti and the returning Mass were all caught out, blocking the track. As a result, the red flag was shown, and the race halted.

Luckily for Jarier, Villeneuve, Fittipaldi, Andretti and Mass, each took over their team’s spare car. Rosberg’s car was repaired in time, but Thackwell had to hand his machine over to leading driver Jarier. This meant that the unlucky teanager and fellow Tyrrell driver Daly had to watch the race from the sidelines.

1980 Canadian Grand Prix

Nelson Piquet came into the weekend as the points leader and was incredibly fast in qualifying to score pole position, but a lap one incident ultimately cost him any chance (above). Home town hero Gilles Villeneuve just made the field in his uncompetitive Ferrari (below) unlike his reigning World Champion teammate Jody Scheckter.

Pos 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Ret Ret Ret Ret Ret Ret Ret Ret Ret Ret Ret Ret DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ

Driver Alan Jones Carlos Reutemann Didier Pironi John Watson Gilles Villeneuve Hector Rebaque Jean-Pierre Jarier Jacques Laffite Keke Rosberg Elio de Angelis Jochen Mass Jan Lammers Alain Prost Rene Arnoux Jean-Pierre Jabouille Nelson Piquet Mario Andretti Andrea de Cesaris Eddie Cheever Emerson Fittipaldi Bruno Giacomelli Riccardo Patrese Derek Daly Mike Thackwell Marc Surer Jody Scheckter Rupert Keegan Kevin Cogan

Drivers’ Standings

Piquet was also forced back into his qualifying car that still housed the powerful qualifying engine. The Brazilian was not bitter about the incident with Jones, simply brushing it off as a racing incident.

After a 40-minute delay the race restarted, and once again Piquet made a poor start allowing the three cars to run side by side into Turn 1. However this time they escaped incident, with Jones emerging in front of Pironi and Piquet.

The championship leader did not stay in third for long, breezing by the Pironi on the approach to Turn 3 on the second lap.

By the end of lap 2 Piquet was already on the gearbox of Jones and pulled off a move for the lead at the same corner one lap later.

Giacomelli was running a strong fourth and caught up to the back of Pironi on lap 7, however a rash move at Turn 3 forced them both off the track. Pironi was able to continue but Giacomelli damaged his skirts and was forced to retire.

As the race neared the one third distance Pironi was given a one-minute post-race for a jump start, which was a real blow for the Ligier driver who was keeping up with Piquet and Jones ahead.

Just a couple of laps later a championship changing moment occurred, when on lap 24 Piquet’s qualifying engine predictably expired in a big way, forcing the Brabham driver into retirement.

With Piquet out, Jones could now afford to just consolidate his position for the next 46 laps to become the new world champion.

At the end of lap 24, Jones led from Pironi who in turn headed an exciting battle for third featuring Watson, Reutemann, Prost and Laffite.

A long way back were the Renaults, suffering from a severe power deficiency, but as Jean-Pierre Jabouille completed lap 25 a suspension failure pitched his RE20 heavily into the tyre wall.

Just a week after announcing his move from Renault to Ligier for 1981, the Frenchman was stretchered away with two broken legs, bringing an early end to his season.

Rookie sensation, McLaren’s Prost was placed fifth behind teammate Watson, who was in the midst of battling for the final podium place with Reutemann. However, the Frenchman’s race ended when he too suffered suspension failure but unlike compatriot, Jabouille emerged uninjured.

Pironi was flying and by lap 44 had caught Jones, however a one-minute penalty post-race was to be applied to the Ligier driver for jumping the start, prompting the Williams driver to let him through.

Pironi quickly pulled out a lead and by lap 54 led Jones by 14.2s while Watson sat 32.3s back, comfortably ahead of Reutemann, Laffite and Villeneuve.

Watson looked as if he was on for his first podium in 18 months, but on lap 56 the Northern Irishman ran slightly wide at Turn 14 and spun.

Undamaged he rejoined, but had lost two positions to Reutemann and Laffite.

Out front, Pironi was in a league of his own and despite the minute penalty was beginning to threaten for a podium, which was then further aided by Laffite running out of fuel on the penultimate lap.

Pironi crossed the line in first, but it was Jones who won the race and an incredibly hard fought Formula 1 World Championship.

“I’m a pessimist by heart and I didn’t really believe it (winning the title) had happened until right now,” Jones said on the podium.

Talking with Jackie Stewart, Jones recalled the Turn 1 incident with Piquet.

“I did a very good start, I got in front of Nelson, I had a clear track in front of me and I had some corners to take. I don’t really know what happened after that because I couldn’t see behind me,” he said.

Reutemann came home in second to complete a Williams 1-2, with Pironi impressively rounding out the podium.

Watson came home in a frustrating fourth ahead of Villeneuve in his home race, while Rebaque scored his first points for Brabham.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10. = = = =

Alan Jones Nelson Piquet Carlos Returemann Jacques Laffite Rene Arnoux Didier Pironi Elio De Angelis Jean-Pierre Jabouille Riccardo Patrese Jean-Pierre Jarier John Watson Gilles Villeneuve Keke Rosberg Derek Daly

Constructor Williams Williams Ligier McLaren Ferrari Brabham Tyrrell Ligier Fittipaldi Lotus Arrows Ensign McLaren Renault Renault Brabham Lotus Alfa Romeo Osella Fittipaldi Alfa Romeo Arrows Tyrrell Tyrrell ATS Ferrari Williams Williams 62 54 40 32 29 28 10 9 7 6 6 6 6 6

Laps 70 70 70 70 70 69 69 68 68 68 67 66 41 39 25 23 11 8 8 8 7 6 0 0

Result 1h 46m 45.53s +15.54s +19.07s +30.98s +55.23s +1 Lap +1 Lap Out of fuel +2 Laps +2 Laps +3 Laps +4 Laps Suspension Brakes Suspension Engine Engine Engine Fuel system Gearbox Chassis Accident Accident Car taken by Jarier

Grid 2 5 3 7 22 10 15 9 6 17 21 19 12 23 13 1 18 8 14 16 4 11 20 24

Constructors’ Standings 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6. = = 9.

10.

Williams Ligier Brabham Renault Tyrrell Arrows Fittipaldi McLaren Lotus Ferrari

105 60 55 38 12 11 11 11 10 8

Carlos Reutemann’s Williams leads Jacques Laffite’s Ligier in a battle for third in the world championship title chase (above).

Didier Pironi won the race on the road (above centre) but was penalised for a jumped start, while John Watson (above) looked on course for a podium but spun late, rejoining to finish fourth for McLaren.

AutoAction

37

THE

TRADITIONAL PATHWAY

For more than 50 years, Formula Ford has been the development category of choice for many racers straight out of karting. As HEATH McALPINE discovered, most of the country’s top professional drivers learned their craft in Formula Ford.

IT’S T’S AMAZING to think hi k how h many off this hi country’s – let alone the world’s – top drivers have come out of Formula Ford.

A majority of the drivers on today’s Supercars grid, a few the current crop of Formula 1 drivers, and many more front runners got their very first taste of car racing in the Ford-powered open-wheel class.

Established as a transition category from karting and as a training ground to teach drivers the art of car control and race craft, the tightly controlled category was born in the UK in 1967.

The premise was simple … a rear-engined spaceframe chassis powered by a 1600cc Ford engine from the Cortina, wrapped in a flimsy fibreglass body with no aerodynamic embellishments.

With little change, Formula Ford continues to exist in that form around the world today.

Australia saw its first demonstration race in 1969, and the first series raced in 1970, won by Richard Knight in a locally built Elfin.

Legendary Larry Perkins won it in the same car in 1971 and since then, the rollcall of winners includes just about every big name in the sport here.

Jamie Whincup, Craig Lowndes, David Reynolds, Will Davison, Garth Tander, Russell Ingall and Mark Larkham are among the earlier era champions, and since 2009 there was a run of young gun titleists … Nick Percat, Chaz Mostert, Cam Waters, Jack Le Brocq and Anton De Pasquale.

Formula Ford lost its national championship status in 2013 with the controversial introduction of Formula 4, which ironically it has now outlived.

And it is also no longer a consistent support series to the Supercars Championship, having found a balance to its schedule between predominantly state-based events with the odd national-level meeting thrown in.

In a bid to reduce costs and make the category more relevant to its contemporary road car range, Ford Australia introduced

its 1.6 litre Duratec engine to Formula Ford replace the almost historic Kent engine in 2006.

The Duratec was the only eligible engine for several seasons, until the category took a step back from championship to series status in 2014, allowing the use of the Kent engine in a sub-class.

It is also no longer a consistent support series to the Supercars Championship, having found a balance to its schedule between predominantly state-based events with the odd national-level meeting thrown in. Cost cutting has been a major factor in the recent resurgence of the Formula Ford category, which up until a couple of years ago awarded a trip to America to contest the Road to Indy Shootout to the series winner.

Accessibility for competitors has grown due to not only the choices made by the Formula Ford Association in terms of its calendar, but also through technical regulations which put an emphasis on keeping costs down.

This has helped open the class up to genuine father and son teams, who prepare their entry together.

Alternatively, some competitors prefer driving for a professional Formula Ford team.

Borland Racing Developments, headed by Mike Borland the creator of the Spectrum chassis, Mick Ritter’s Sonic Motor Racing Services which utilises the French Mygale chassis, BF Racing led by Brett Francis, or Justin Cotter with Synergy Motorsport are among the professional alternatives.

That does not mean that father-son teams have no chance against the big teams, in fact last year’s runner up Zac Soutar was an example of a family-orientated squad pushing a big operation such as Sonic.

Carrera Cup racer Cameron Hill is another example of this when he won the series in 2015, while Cody Burcher and Cody Donald are two further father-son operations, and among the favourites for this year’s title before it was cancelled recently.

Iccy Harrington competed in Formula Ford during the 1990s and today heads up the category for the Association.

Harrington identified the importance of providing the value for money, especially more than ever today due to the growing number of categories targeting the same competitor market base, such as the Toyota 86 Race Series and Hyundai Excels.

“We try and keep the costs down as much as possible,” said Harrington.

This is why the national series runs a sevenround calendar on a variety of events.

“Our aim is to maximise the racing for as little cost as possible, that’s why we compete on various different platforms,” he continued.

“We do like to do one Supercars round per year, it gives the young drivers an opportunity to operate at that level and it’s good for their profile, but the costs jump up so much.”

First, there is a championship registration fee of $1600, though an early bird offer cuts that price down to $1400. If a competitor completes less than three rounds a season, a round-by-round $250 fee applies at each.

Due to the different event platforms the category races on, entry fees vary.

At a Victorian State Circuit Racing Championship round, the entry fee is $415 but at a Supercars event this jumps to $1650.

If a garage is added, the cost rises by at least $350, though this varies from venue-tovenue.

A weekend includes Friday practice at an extra cost of $210, but again this varies, followed by a 20-minute qualifying and three races.

Tyres is a constant as national competitors are required to purchase eight sets throughout

the season, one per round and two at the opening event. This is done to further save costs, as tyre buffing was becoming a problem within the category.

“Competitors have to buy eight sets of tyres, which eliminates anyone messing around with buffing,” Harrington told Auto Action.

“If you don’t control it, it gets out of hand and the costs get ridiculous. It was a tough thing to decide on because it locks competitors into eight sets a year, but it puts so much control on the rest of the aspects.”

A set of Yokohamas cost $10166 a set.

Another cost cutting measure iss the free supply of lubricants as part of a deal with Castrol, which was to begin this year after a long association with Shell.

Harrington explained that a major recent development in the category has been the technical alliance between the bigger teams and father-son operations.

“A privateer aligning with an existing team through a technical alliance is a popular way of competing and managing costs, by doing all the labour-intensive work themselves, then getting someone experienced to oversee,” he said.

However, these big teams offer predominantly arrive and drive national programs, with the top-tier approximately costing around the $150,000-$200,000 mark. This is a complete package consisting of car rental, maintenance, a dedicated

mechanic and engineer, catering, accommodation, car transportation, testing, tyres, entry fees and much more.

The next rung is around the $120,000 mark, but the package of support is not as comprehensive, though still includes the ontrack components such as testing, entry fees, mechanic and engineer, tyres etc.

A State level program is more accessible at $65,000 for five meetings and six test days.

Accident or engine damage due to negligence are not included in these costs.

Prizes are offered at the end of the year to the top three drivers in the national title.

The winner receives a Porsche Experience test day in Queensland with leading Carrera Cup team McElrea Racing, place second a day at Norwell Motorplex coached by Paul Morris, and third prize is a Freem motor sport clothing package.

The pole position award is a $200 Freem voucher for both the Duratec and Kent class.

Harrington believes the costs involved in the category are just right now but says increases will be hard to avoid.

“We’re always keeping an eye on it and we don’t want it to get higher than it is now, it’s in a good place,” he explained.

“It’s inevitable that prices (will) creep up. A few years back we changed around a lot and reduced costs, but they’ve crept up a little bit the last couple of years.”

Interested? The next step is to purchase a car.

There are two Formula Ford manufacturers that dominate the Australian scene, Spectrum and Mygale, while a smaller company in Sydney Listec is also making its mark.

Brake rotors cost around $200 each and two sets are generally needed for a national level season, with around 14 sets of pads at $150 each (above left). Basic chassis and suspensions are pretty robust (above, centre) and just need regular servicing, while highly-stressed components like driveshafts and uprights (above right) need crack testing every few meetings.

Enter Mike Borland. His Australian designed and manufactured Spectrum chassis has won multiple titles worldwide, plus launched the careers of many racing stars.

To buy a new Spectrum chassis you would expect to pay $75,000-$80,000 for a rolling chassis and this includes everything needed to hit the track except the Duratec engine, which for a new unit costs $20,000.

The engine is a controlled unit sourced from Victorian-based Cylinder Head Innovations, which also handles the rebuilds.

“It’s basically supply an engine, pay the price there, have a seat and have a day Winton, then off they go,” explained Borland to Auto Action.

“It’s a complete rolling, drive out the door solution.”

Value can be found in the second-hand market, with a title contending late model chassis priced for between $45,000-$55,000.

But Borland advises that a car that is priced lower than that could need an engine rebuild.

“If you’re going to buy a used car, if the engine’s done its three years and it needs a

rebuild the next year, you might pay $40,000 for the car. If the car has an engine that has just been rebuilt, prepare to pay more,” Borland advised.

“An early, early Duratec can be bought for the $30,000 mark, but those need a lot of work though they are good state level cars.”

The importance of all this is clearer when the cost of a rebuild is revealed.

“The things that change the price of the car is the engine,” said Borland.

“You’d probably get two-three years out of an engine rebuild unless you do something wrong. Engine rebuilds are expensive at $9000 but you only do it every three years.

“We budget $3000 on engines a year now, however back when I ran Mark Winterbottom, we budgeted $24,000 on engines, so that’s how good the Duratec is now.”

The tight regulations around engine development is where this large cost saving has been found.

“When we came up with the rules for the Duratec, we were pretty strict with the rules, so you didn’t have to spend hours and hours

on the dyno,” Borland explained. “There is a really small window that you can run with your exhaust system.

“We’re running the same system that we ran in 2006 when we built the first car.”

Moving onto the consumables, Borland Racing Developments change brake pads every meeting and test day, so a national competitor uses 13-14 sets a year at $150 each, provided

by Ferodo. State competitors expect to use 1012 sets a season.

National runners use two sets of rotors per season, state racers again won’t go through the same amount. These sets are made in-house

by Borland and cost $200-$250 each.

The purchase of new tyres is not a requirement for state competitors, so six sets will be used across the season as well as for testing.

“The Yokohamas are quite different to drive on than the Avons because they are road radial tyre and stiff in the sidewall. They require a bit of a particularly driving style that takes people a bit of time to get used to,” described Borland of the tyres.

“The driving style is very similar to a Supercar

where they have to really stop the car and lean on the tyre in the corners a lot, so it’s actually good training for Supercars with the tyres they are on and the driving style required.

“Dollar per mile though they are just fantastic.”

The four-speed Hewland dog box with open diff is largely bulletproof, but because of the tyres being heavier, it is harder on the drivetrain.

A development in the gearbox is Borland’s diff carrier, which further enhances reliability and is run by most teams through the field.

A downside is the $20,000 price of a new gearbox, though a rebuilt item is just as good.

“When we install one into a car it is generally a rebuilt second-hand gearbox with all new internals, because it’s way cheaper to do that than buy a new one,” said Borland.

Borland works through a routine when maintaining his fleet to ensure there are no failures during race meetings.

“We generally do things on a three-meeting cycle, so we’ll pull bits apart and do crack testing on components because we don’t want things to break,” he said.

“We’ll crack test the input shaft, driveshaft and a couple other components in the drivetrain. We try to make the cars less resistant, so we don’t run seals and wheel bearings, so we need to service those and uprights regularly.”

Borland’s next rising star is New South Wales driver Cody Burcher, who with his father Shane has contested the past two Australian Formula Ford titles.

Burcher senior is very hands on, completing the maintenance and preparation himself, while receiving aid from Synergy Motorsport on race weekends in terms of data and set-up.

Burcher purchased a chassis for his son with the help of Borland three years ago for $45,000, then altered a few items to better suit their needs, costing a further $2000.

Support from Borland is provided at every meeting through a parts truck, but Burcher also has a small selection of components that are generally needed throughout the weekend.

“I’ve always been independent so I keep a small inventory of parts such as control arms, push rods, gears, dog rings, clips, bolts and springs, that (can) get you out of trouble on the day,” he explained.

Burcher outlined the tie-in with Synergy Motorsport.

“It’s purely data,” Burcher said. “Last year I took over preparing the car completely, transporting it, but when we get to the track Justin [Cotter, team owner Synergy] scales it and set it up. If Spectrum has enjoyed Formula Ford success across the globe. These Australian designed, manufactured and developed cars are the equal of anything coming out of Europe or America.

40 AutoAction

CO$T$ GUIDE SERIES REGISTRATION

$1400 early bird, $1600 otherwise

ENTRY FEES

Vary between $415-$1650 depending on event

CHASSIS PURCHASE

Brand new $75-$80,000, used $30-$55,000

ENGINE

Control CHI engine $20,000, rebuild $9000

GEARBOX

Hewland 4-speed dogbox $20,000 new, used $6000-$12,000 Typical Formula Ford action ... tightly packed, highly-competitive racing (above) is at the heart of the category. Very few front line professional drivers in Australia have not done their time in Formula Ford. Cody Donald is a front runner in the truncated 2020 season.

something needs to be changed, Justin tells me to do it, so I handle that. Justin then takes over helping Cody with his driving through data.”

This comes at a cost of $1200-$1500 depending on the round.

Servicing is no problem. Burcher shares the same sentiments that Borland holds in advising that a set of plugs and leads might be needed at the start of the year, then a change of oil and filter halfway through the year, and that is really all.

Dog rings and gears is where serious money can be spent Some competitors may spend up to $1200 on gears but the Burchers only go through one gear and dog ring per event.

The clutch costs $200 but is very sturdy.

Prep for each event takes roughly a day, but if it is a major service, then expect to at least double that time.

“If it was just a smaller prep it takes me eight hours by the time you do a wheel alignment and a few other items,” Burcher said.

“If it was a big one like wheel bearings or clutch or change the thrust bearing in it, you’d double that to 16 hours, with that being checked every 30-40 hours.”

Burcher estimated that 40-litres of fuel is used across a race weekend, purchased through Race Fuels at a cost of $60 over the course of a race event.

www.autoaction.com.au

TYRES

Yokohama AO48 $1016

BRAKES

Pads $150 each Rotors $200-250 each

SEASON BUDGETS

National Professional Team: $120-$200,000 Father-son: $40,000-$50,000 State Professional Team: $65,000 Father-son: $20,000-$30,000

ENGINEERING PARTNERSHIP At $6000 per round and a budget of approximately $42,000 a season, the Burcher’s are almost frugal but frontrunners, nonetheless.

“You don’t have to be with a big team, you don’t have to do that. You can be a father and son team, plus have someone there to help you on the day with data,” Burcher advised.

“There are heaps of people around, but they don’t ask, they just assume you have to go with a team and pay big money to do it.”

Cody Donald is another participating in the series as part of a father-son operation and noted that an onboard camera and radio device are required at national level.

“A GoPro camera for national events is

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Auto_Action

compulsory at a cost of around $400,” said Donald.

“Radio communications are also a necessity to speak to the driver and communicate when (there are) incidents are out on circuit.”

A radio set-up costs approximately $2000.

Formula Ford remains one of this country’s strongest development pathways and the work undertaken during the past five years has led to the category’s rejuvenation.

And for those on a tight budget or just wanting a bit of fun, cost-effective racing, the Kent Class is ideal and surprisingly competitive with the Duratec cars.

$1200-$1500 per round

REQUIREMENTS Radio $2000 GoPro $400

Australian built Spectrums and Listecs, and French Mygales are the chassis which dominate today’s Formula Ford fields.

AutoAction

37

a smashing new idea

Four years in the making, Crashtag is a new app that is set to streamline incident and crash reporting during motorsport events.

As HEATH McALPINE details, Crashtag revolutionises the way data is acquired and distributed

CRASHTAG IS a new Australian designed and developed app that streamlines the process of data acquisition for safety and research at motorsport events.

The idea behind the app arose from a study undertaken by the Australian Institute of Motor Sport Safety (AIMSS) in 2016, which looked into safety in rallying and determined that incidents at events often went underreported or unreported.

It was found that this was because the process of reporting was cumbersome for the volunteers involved in the event.

From those findings, Garry Connelly, FIA Formula 1 race steward and Australia’s sole representative on the FIA World Motorsport Council, devised the idea of an app that would condense all this paperwork into one device.

“One of the things that we discovered in the AIMSS research was that something like 60 per cent of rally crashes were never reported,” Connelly explained to Auto Action.

“It’s quite understandable because the reporting process is paper-based, laborious and time consuming for a lot of the organisers because they’re volunteers, who have spent months, even years, organising an event. The last thing they want to do in the weeks after the event is spend time filling out pages of forms, and a lot of the information needs to come from many different sources such as scrutineers, doctors, marshals and organisers.

“Secondly, in rallies there are crashes where there are near misses or minor injuries, particularly at a lower level, where the team comes in with a service crew, picks up the car, takes it home, and the driver may go to the doctor on his own, so the organisers know little or nothing about it.

“So I thought the best way to overcome this was to have an app that allowed multiple people to input data, and this app could bring the information together to make it really easy for the organisers to then look at it after the event, to compile a detailed. report “Often the best photographs, video and descriptions of what happened

42 AutoAction

Born from a need to streamline accident reporting and data acquisition in rallying, Crashtag will be extended for use in all aspects of motor sport incidents. Images: LAT

come from spectators, so we’ve got a version of the Crashtag app for spectators to add reports, which could be very useful because they may have information that no one else knows.”

The bonus of having this data in a digital format like Crashtag is that it creates easy access to relevant findings that will assist researchers to in making more informed decisions about where and when money is spent on improving competitor safety.

Crashtag has different user formats compatible for use by competitors, stewards, organisers, medical personnel, media and even spectators, all of which can open the app if an accident is witnessed.

A central feature of Crashtag is the questionnaire. Tailored to an individual’s role at a motorsport event, the questionnaire, when completed, enables information and photos of the incident to be uploaded. Further, Crashtag makes it possible for a user to record where the damage is on the car, and that is all stored in a secure database.

If out of mobile range, the app stores the data until it can send it when coverage is resumed.

The smartphone app is free and

available now from the Apple App Store or from the Google Play Store for Android devices.

Initially developed for rallying, all motorsport disciplines will ultimately be covered by the app, just like the various levels of users.

Questions can be tailored to be specific to competition categories from Supercars to GT, hillclimbs, rally raid events, all sorts of open-wheelers and much more.

Recognising the demographical spread of officials and others involved in the sport, Crashtag will soon be available for tablet devices as well.

At this stage, testing has taken place at both real and desktop events, a limitation brought about by the lack of motorsport events occurring in Australia and globally this year.

Crashtag is now set to be released through four ASNs in Australia, France, the UK and the developing market of Sri Lanka, before being distributed worldwide.

The FIA is fully supportive of Crashtag app initiative and has provided funding for its development via the FIA Innovation Fund.

“We had a version that would work in Australia, but before we released it

the FIA decided it would like to have it globally, to front-end the World Accident Database it runs”, Garry Connelly explained.

“That meant we couldn’t run just the one app because each country has different data protection laws, plus you don’t want the ASN of one country looking at all the crash data from another.

“You have to quarantine each country, and that took a massive re-write of the software, so because there’s basically 140 nations in the FIA, effectively there has to be 140 different apps.

“It’s been a massive undertaking.”

With the FIA’s involvement, further features were added to Crashtag, enhancing its capabilities.

“We already had the FIA crash report form and medical report form, but the FIA also wanted the ability to upload audio files, so if someone was doing a post-crash review, they could just record comments to upload and attach to the incident,” Connelly said.

Just as there are various user levels in Crashtag, it’s the same for the data acquired from past incidents that can be accessed by researchers with a specific area of interest.

“The safety people will want to know if there

was damage to the helmet or where the roll cage broke, what model seat it had, what type of fire extinguisher,” Connelly said.

“There are all these different layers, and we have the ability to turn on or off particular questions easily, without having to involve the software developers for various users.”

The format of Crashtag in its initial form is only the start, with further updates planned that are expected to elevate the app into a critical communication tool.

“Importantly, one update will provide the ability to forward data to the inbound hospital, with a full report on the condition of the patient,” said Connelly.

“Another will have the ability to link it to Rallysafe or, for example, the accident data recorder in a Supercar, so there’s a whole range of enhancements we can add to this.”

Crashtag’s use outside of a motor racing application is also being investigated, such as for road car or even military use.

For further information log onto: www.crashtag.com To Download the free app head to the Apple Store or Google Play Crashtag features a user friendly format that enables questions to be catered to the role held by first responders to an incident.

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Formula One

Round 8 Tuscan GP

BONKERS Lewis Hamilton wins a hectic race while Daniel Ricciardo was disappointed with fourth place Race Report: DAN KNUTSON Images: LAT

THE TUSCAN Grand Prix was a wild and crazy affair. Lewis Hamilton started from the pole in his Mercedes and scored his 90th F1 victory – he is now just one victory away from tying Michael Schumacher’s all-time record of 91 wins.

But if that sounds predictable, in the intervening 59 laps in Tuscany there were three major accidents, two red flags, two standing restarts, a safety car restart and controversy.

And the upshot of all that was that only 12 of the 20 starters finished the race.

One of those was Daniel Ricciardo who took fourth after starting eighth in his Renault.

The Aussie was a bit dissatisfied with that because he had been running third, and briefly second,

46 AutoAction

Lewis Hamilton won again for Mercedes (main and above left) but it was anything but a straight forward day. Daniel Ricciardo held third for Renault late in the race but could not fend off Alex Albon’s Red Bull for the final place on the podium (above). Max Verstappen, who was expected to challenge the Mercedes duo up front, only made it as far as the second corner (below). before Red Bull’s Alex Albon got by and went on to earn his first podium finish.

“Hectic!” Hamilton said afterwards.

“Such a rollercoaster ride emotionally and physically.”

Ricciardo was asked about his emotions after the race.

“I am somewhere in the middle,” he replied. “I am bouncing from happy and fulfilled, to a little bit sad. We did all we could. At the very end we did not have that last bit of pace to hold onto the podium. We are getting close, and to see happiness in the team and also some disappointment with a fourth place, that is a good place to be.

Everyone is hungry.”

Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas was disappointed to wind up second after leading earlier in the race.

“The first race start was absolutely perfect and the restart,” he said. “I managed to keep my position and felt like the pace was good. Once I lost the position to Lewis (Hamilton)

at the second start, I tried everything I could to get it back but I couldn’t. He obviously was faultless today, and it was a pretty crazy race. It really feels like we had three races today instead of one.”

Albon, of course, was elated with third place.

“It was a tricky race,” he said. “We weren’t very good off the line so a lot of the overtakes had to be on the track. It made it exciting. We had a really good car today, and fortunately we were able to extract it and do the overtakes when we needed to.”

The “three races in one” started with the first ever F1 race at Italy’s Mugello 15-turn circuit.

Bottas qualified second but grabbed the lead from Hamilton at the start.

But just three corners into the race, Max Verstappen’s Red Bull lost power,

After being beaten away by teammate Valterri Bottas at the original race start, Lewis Hamilton got the upper hand at the two restarts (above). Here Daniel Ricciardo goes around the outside of Bottas to hold second briefly at the final restart.

Crashes were the story of the Tuscan Grand Prix. Lance Stroll destroyed the Racing Point late in the race when something failed (above left) and sent him into the fence. The first restart (right) was a shambles and took out four cars. Fortunately there were no major injuries. Lando Norris was steady for McLaren, sixth. and he got hit by Kimi Räikkönen’s Alfa Romeo. Also caught up in the accident were Romain Grosjean (Haas), Carlos Sainz (McLaren) and Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri).

So, just one week after winning the Italian Grand Prix, Gasly was out of the race. So too was Verstappen. The rest of the drivers involved got going again.

Out came the safety car until the end of lap six. Bottas kept the restart pace very slow, which as the leader he is entitled to do. But a bunch of the drivers further back, however, started to accelerate.

Antonio Giovinazzi’s Alfa Romeo rammed into Kevin Magnussen’s Haas and Nicholas Latifi’s Williams. And then Sainz ran into Giovinazzi’s disabled car.

Nobody was injured, but the slow pace by Bottas caused controversy.

“It was a very dangerous situation,” Giovinazzi said. “Everyone around me was already up at full speed, but suddenly there was (Kevin) Magnussen almost stopped in the middle of the track. (Nicholas) Latifi avoided him but I just didn’t have the time.”

Sainz agreed.

“We really need to look into what happened and figure out what triggered the whole situation, to make sure it never happens again,” he said. “It’s not the first time these restarts have got dangerous when you’re at the mid-to-back of the field, and something needs to be done.”

The race was red flagged so that the wrecked cars of Latifi, Magnussen, Giovinazzi and Sainz could be cleared away.

Hamilton snatched the lead after the standing restart. Then, on lap 48, Lance Stroll had a huge shunt in his Racing Point.

“I’m okay after what was a big impact,” Stroll said. “It all happened so quickly, but it felt like a puncture.”

The race was red flagged again. And Hamilton again took the lead after the standing restart.

Ricciardo, now third, briefly snatched second from Bottas. The Australian, when on the medium compound Pirelli tyres prior to the red flag, had the pace to stay ahead of Albon. But in the closing laps, with all the drivers now on the soft compound slicks, Albon was quicker and took third place away from Ricciardo.

Hamilton, meanwhile, was savouring his victory.

“I’m pretty exhausted,” he said, “but it feels fantastic to win such a crazy race. It’s all a bit of a daze and felt like three races in one day. It was incredibly tough out there; this track is phenomenal. Valtteri (Bottas) was pushing me hard, so it wasn’t easy at all.

With all the restarts and the focus that was required, it was really hard.”

While the Tuscan Grand Prix is a race to be remembered, that was not the case for Ferrari, which was celebrating its 1000th championship F1 race.

The Ferrari SF1000s had a special burgundy livery, which was a faithful reproduction of the shade of red worn by the very first Prancing Horse F1 car, the 125 F1, which debuted in the 1950 Monaco Grand Prix.

Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel finished eighth and 10th respectively.

“It’s very tough at the moment,” Leclerc said. “So we need to keep our heads up and stay motivated.”

TUSCAN GRAND PRIX 59 LAPS

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 -

Lewis Hamilton Valtteri Bottas Alexander Albon Daniel Ricciardo Sergio Perez Lando Norris Daniil Kvyat Charles Leclerc Kimi Raikkonen Sebastian Vettel George Russell Romain Grosjean Lance Stroll Esteban Ocon Nicholas Latifi Kevin Magnussen Antonio Giovinazzi Carlos Sainz Jr. Pierre Gasly Max Verstappen

Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team Aston Martin Red Bull Racing Renault DP World F1 Team BWT Racing Point F1 Team McLaren F1 Team Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda Scuderia Ferrari Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN Scuderia Ferrari Williams Racing Haas F1 Team BWT Racing Point F1 Team Renault DP World F1 Team Williams Racing Haas F1 Team Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN McLaren F1 Team Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda Aston Martin Red Bull Racing

2h19m35.060s 4.880s 8.064s 10.417s 15.650s 18.883s 21.756s 28.345s 29.770s 29.983s 32.404s 42.036s Retirement Brakes Collision Collision Collision Collision Collision Collision

Points: Hamilton 190, Bottas 135, Verstappen 110, Norris 65, Albon 63, Stroll 57, Ricciardo 53, Leclerc 49, Perez 44, Gasly 43, Sainz 41, Ocon 30, Vettel 17, Kvyat 10, Hulkenberg 6, Raikkonen 2, Giovinazzi 2, Magnussen 1.

Constructors: Mercedes 325, Red Bull-Honda 173, McLaren-Renault 106, Racing Point-Mercedes 92, Renault 83, Ferrari 66, AlphaTauri-Honda 53, Alfa RomeoFerrari 4, Haas-Ferrari 1.

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RACE REPORT The Bend Races 25, 26 & 27

BLISTER IN THE SUN

Report: Heath McAlpine Images: LAT/Dirk Klynsmith/Insyde Media

TYRE DEGRADATION proved the deciding factor at an action-packed weekend of racing at The Bend Motorsport Park, where Fabian Coulthard broke through for his first win of the year and his teammate Scott McLaughlin extended his championship lead.

PRACTICE – MIXED CONDITIONS PROVE DIFFICULT TO MASTER

The opening few practice sessions were held in dry conditions, but under threatening skies, which opened by the completion of practice ahead of qualifying.

Macauley Jones topped the timesheets in the the opening rookie practice session, setting a 1m 50.179s to head Garry Jacobson by 0.483s.

Bryce Fullwood followed, 0.538s off the pace ahead of Chris Pither, Jack Smith and Zane Goddard.

In the slippery conditions, Scott Pye and even championship leader McLaughlin were among a number of drivers to find the grass during the session.

Tickford Racing appeared to have locked out the top three positions with two minutes remaining, but it was another strong performance from Fullwood which elevated him to the top.

His 1m 48.258s was only eclipsed in the last 30-seconds by Shane van Gisbergen to the tune of 0.136s.

Waters and Holdsworth finished behind after being 1-2 for most of the session, while Andre Heimgartner appeared well on his way to reversing Kelly Racing’s form slump in fifth, with McLaughlin seventh and title rival Jamie Whincup, 20th.

Rain grew heavier during the second practice session as many struggled using dry set-ups, and only a few changed to better suited springs.

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The Bend’s long and challenging layout promoted plenty of incidents, such as Jamie Whincup spinning Scott McLaughlin on the opening lap of the first race of the weekend (above left) and then McLaughlin later spinning Lee Holdsworth in the same race (above right). There were penalties for both Whincup and McLaughlin.

Fabian Coulthard topped the session, logging a 1m 48.343s to better Nick Percat by 0.230s.

Chaz Mostert, Whincup and Pye followed on a more suited set-up, while van Gisbergen placed last after limited running. McLaughlin was 16th, David Reynolds 21st and Todd Hazelwood 23rd, but not a lot could be taken out of the session.

QUALIFYING RACE 25 – VAN GISBERGEN REVELS

Conditions continued to improve during qualifying and van Gisbergen left his run until the end to top the first segment with a 1m 48.249s.

A late run of laps by McLaughlin, Mostert, Whincup and De Pasquale demoted Heimgartner to sixth, after he had sat second.

Fullwood was another to impress again, topping the timesheets and was on course to improve on his next lap, but dropped his Walkinshaw Andretti United Commodore into the dirt.

James Courtney made it through in 13th, but spun on his warm up lap, demonstrating the perils of driving off line.

Smith, Jones, Pither and Goddard failed to make the cut.

The battle to make the Top 15 Shootout was led by Heimgartner for the duration, a 1m 48.226s doing the job early.

However, Coulthard elevated himself to the top, while van Gisbergen lowered it further to a 1m 47.611s.

De Pasquale was nervous as he sat 15th while Hazelwood completed his final flyer, but fell short to be eliminated along with Pye, Jacobson, Winterbottom and Alex Davison.

TOP 15 SHOOTOUT – GRIP SHORTAGE THROWS UP SURPRISE

The story surrounding the Top 15 Shootout was a lack of grip, though Mostert found enough of it to take his maiden pole for WAU in impressive fashion.

Completing his lap in the middle of the session, Mostert nervously watched as McLaughlin went closest to toppling his time, falling 0.005s short.

Last to go was van Gisbergen, but he only managed a time to place him third, to start alongside teammate Whincup.

A lock up for Coulthard at Turn 6 dropped him from a potential second to fifth, while De Pasquale climbed nine positions to be sixth.

Although Tickford appeared strong before

the Shootout, Jack Le Brocq was its best performer in seventh. Right behind was Lee Holdsworth in ninth, a further row back was Waters and Courtney 14th.

Kelly and Heimgartner moved up to be inside the 10, Reynolds struggled in 12th, Fullwood placed 13th and Percat made a mistake on the exit of the final turn to finish 15th.

RACE 25 – A THRILLING OPENER

A perfect start for McLaughlin was a stark contrast to Mostert, who was swamped by the Triple Eight Commodores by Turn 5.

The race was turned on its head at the penultimate corner of the opening lap, when Whincup made an ambitious move down the inside and locked the rears, the subsequent clash forcing both title protagonists off the circuit.

A 15s penalty was given to the Triple Eight driver for the move.

This handed van Gisbergen a 0.6s lead ahead of Mostert, while De Pasquale overtook Coulthard in the opening corners to assume third place.

Both title contenders pitted as soon as the pit stop window opened, Whincup also taking his 15s penalty as both fitted two tyres.

Shane Van Gisbergen and Jack Le Brocq battle for the lead in Race 22, while Fabian Coulthard looms behind. After a fierce battle Coulthard took his first win of the year ahead of Le Brocq.

DJR Team Penske and the Red Bull Holden Racing Team did battle at the front as usual, with top honours shared during the weekend (above).

Bryce Fullwood (right) made history when a penalty elevated him to third in Race 25, the first ever Northern Territorian to score a Supercars podium.

In front, van Gisbergen was on a circuit of his own, 3.1s clear of Mostert and a 1m 50.562s fastest lap emphasised his dominance.

Mostert fitted two tyres, but stalled when he pitted on lap 7. This provided a small opportunity for Coulthard to pass during the stops, but he fell short.

The next lap, van Gisbergen pitted also for two tyres and emerged just in front Le Brocq, who had worked the undercut strategy perfectly to be in a race winning position.

However, there was concern in the Triple Eight pit as a badly blistered tyre had been taken off the Kiwi’s Commodore.

De Pasquale pitted and his tyres were pretty shabby as well.

Mostert was also under pressure, Coulthard making a lunge at Turn 18, which he completed on the main straight, while Holdsworth was also ranging up behind his former teammate.

Mostert continued to fall, first to Fullwood, then Heimgartner and McLaughlin, who sat eighth after his opening lap off, and finally Kelly.

Le Brocq continued to shadow van Gisbergen, the margin remaiing at around 0.3s as the Tickford Racing Mustang appeared more than a match for the Triple Eight Commodore.

The pressure was growing from Le Brocq as he made a move for the lead at Turn 17 on the wounded van Gisbergen.

But this hurt the Tickford driver, who was run wide by the Kiwi at the final turn, allowing Coulthard into second.

Le Brocq’s tyres were the best out of the lead trio and he was back on the rear of Coulthard

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in no time, with Holdsworth was also entering calculations.

McLaughlin in sixth was closing in, too, as was Fullwood in fifth, with four laps remaining.

It was a real struggle for van Gisbergen. He dropped a wheel off at the final turn on lap 20 giving Coulthard a slight opportunity, which he was unable to take.

It only appeared a matter of time before van Gisbergen was going to lose out, but he wasn’t.

Three hungry Mustangs were, soon to be four as McLaughlin closed in fast.

Van Gisbergen ran wide again at the final turn and had to defend heavily from Coulthard, which allowed Le Brocq back into the fray.

A perfect dive at Turn 6 moved Le Brocq back into second but that was undone when he tried to pass van Gisbergen at Turn 17 around the outside.

Just as this was occurring, McLaughlin attempted to pass Holdsworth for fourth, which resulted in contact between the two, spinning the Mustang and earning the championship leader a 15s penalty.

Back to the lead, van Gisbergen had to yield to Coulthard and Le Brocq at Turn 1, and he fell to ninth by the close.

Le Brocq pushed Coulthard hard during the final two laps, a gap of 0.469s split the two at the end.

As for third, McLaughlin crossed the line there, but dropped to 15th as a result of the Holdsworth penalty. Thus Fullwood took his maiden podium.

Behind, Heimgartner lead a return to form

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for Kelly Racing in fourth, ahead of a charging Waters, Kelly and another rapid performance from Pye, De Pasquale, van Gisbergen and then Courtney completed the top 10.

Mostert finished behind Percat in 12th, while Whincup was 19th.

Post-race 15s penalties were handed out to Courtney and Davison for incidents during the race.

QUALIFYING RACES 26 AND 27 – NOVELTY CHEQUES GALORE

Championship leader McLaughlin rebounded from a difficult Race 25 to dominate the pair of 10-minute qualifying sessions for Sunday’s two events.

A 1m 48.072s did the job for Race 26 pole, followed by a 1m 47.121s in Race 27 qualifying, to add to his novelty cheque collection, which now reads 12 so far this season.

For Sunday’s opener, Shane van Gisbergen fell 0.069s short of his Kiwi compatriot’s time, but ahead of Mostert, Coulthard, Heimgartner and Waters.

Due to the length of The Bend Motorsport Park’s International layout, a majority of the drivers completed only one hot lap and any mistake proved costly.

Whincup was one to have a misdemeanour, running wide at Turn 17 to finish the opening session 11th. Courtney was another to make a blue, but at Turn 6, and he lined up 24th.

Mostert qualified alongside McLaughlin for Race 27, falling 0.121s short of taking pole.

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Whincup lined up behind his title rival in third with Coulthard alongside, while van Gisbergen was on the third row alongside Percat.

Jones backed up 13th in the opening qualifying session, to start 10th in Race 27.

Reynolds was among the drivers to struggle back in 16th, so too maiden podium winner Fullwood, who was set to start out of 18th.

RACE 26 – TYRES HOLD ON FOR SVG

Just as McLaughlin’s starts have been a highlight of recent times, it was the turn of his teammate Coulthard to excel, taking to the grass at the start of Race 26 after being hemmed in.

On the clean side of the road, van Gisbergen moved around the outside of both DJR Team Penske to sweep into the lead.

Courtney starting from 24th, was the mover in the field, climbing to 17th by the end of lap 1.

Whincup was unable to make any significant movement from 11th and remained 10th behind De Pasquale.

Mostert appeared racy and lunged down the inside of Coulthard at Turn 6 on lap 2, but was unable to keep the position.

It was van Gisbergen who led by just 0.3s ahead of McLaughlin, but the lead duo wasn’t breaking away from the rest of field.

Whincup in 10th was a mere 3.6s away from the lead, with the top five were covered by just 1.8s.

Van Gisbergen then pushed to bridge a 0.7s gap by lap 5.

Mostert and Heimgartner, who was sixth,

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RACE REPORT The Bend Races 25, 26 & 27 Results Race 25 24 Laps Supercars The Bend Motorsport Park Pos 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23

Driver Fabian Coulthard Jack Le Brocq Bryce Fullwood Andre Heimgartner Cameron Waters Rick Kelly Scott Pye Anton De Pasquale Shane van Gisbergen Nick Percat Chaz Mostert Lee Holdsworth David Reynolds Scott McLaughlin James Courtney Zane Goddard Mark Winterbottom Jamie Whincup Garry Jacobson Macauley Jones Chris Pither Alex Davison Jack Smith

Laps/Margin 24 laps +0.469s +4.286s +4.660s +5.163s +5.829s +6.184s +7.475s +10.662s +13.188s +13.675s +16.059s +17.179s +17.250s +17.883s +20.095s +21.247s +22.957s +23.481s +33.615s +35.938s +36.409s +49.776s

Pos 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

Driver Shane van Gisbergen Andre Heimgartner Scott McLaughlin Fabian Coulthard Anton De Pasquale Rick Kelly David Reynolds Cameron Waters Nick Percat Jack Le Brocq Chaz Mostert Todd Hazelwood Scott Pye James Courtney Mark Winterbottom Bryce Fullwood Jamie Whincup Macauley Jones Chris Pither Alex Davison Jack Smith Garry Jacobson Lee Holdsworth Zane Goddard

Laps/Margin 24 laps +1.146s +1.874s +12.204s +15.863s +16.029s +16.885s +20.085s +20.085s +25.531s +25.570s +25.625s +25.677s +26.805s +27.537s +27.718s +33.524s +33.860s +39.068s +39.462s +39.764s +43.558s +43.629s +67.567s

s2 s5 s 10 s6 s6 s2 s 10 t2 t6 s5 t 10 t3 t1 t 12 t1 s8 s1 t 14 s2 s2 s2 t3 t3 Results Race 26 24 Laps Supercars The Bend Motorsport Park down s2 s3 t2 0 s2 s2 s9 t2 s1 s4 t8 0 s7 s 10 0 s2 t6 t5 s2 s2 s2 t5 t 14 t5

Results Race 27 39 Laps Supercars Townsville Pos 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 NC NC

Driver Scott McLaughlin Fabian Coulthard Jamie Whincup Anton De Pasquale Cameron Waters Scott Pye Andre Heimgartner Rick Kelly David Reynolds Todd Hazelwood Lee Holdsworth Macauley Jones Garry Jacobson Shane van Gisbergen Chris Pither Chaz Mostert Nick Percat Alex Davison Bryce Fullwood Zane Goddard Jack Le Brocq Jack Smith James Courtney Mark Winterbottom

Laps/Margin 24 laps +1.865s +5.757s +8.601s +11.032s +17.680s +18.227s +18.814s +19.200s +25.724s +26.588s +26.981s +27.027s +29.804s +34.923s +35.517s +37.617s +38.063s +38.082s +51.401s +54.721s 23 laps 1 lap 1 lap

0 s2 0 s 14 s2 s3 s 21 s9 s5 s5 s5 t2 s 11 t8 s8 t 14 t 12 s1 s3 s1 t 10 s2 s 10 t 12

Points: McLaughlin 2062, Whincup 1847, Waters 1577, van Gisbergen 1555, Mostert 1524, Coulthard 1444, Percat 1425, Reynolds 1298, Holdsworth 1261, Pye 1258, De Pasquale 1255, Winterbottom 1242, Heimgartner 1164, Courtney 1124, Le Brocq 1114, Kelly 1088, Hazelwood 1037, Fullwood 974, Jacobson 771, Jones 736, Smith 722, Pither 658, A Davison 630, Goddard 438, W Davison 231, Kostecki 222

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Andre Heimgartner (top) was strong again at The Bend, making a brilliant late race move to grab second place in Race 26. Scott Pye was a factor again, though he had to do his work from deep in the field after a poor qualifying. His best was sixth in the final race (above left).

Chaz Mostert had his qualifying pace nailed (above right) but suffered dreadful tyre degradation, leaving him buried back in the pack.

were among the first drivers to pit on lap 5 to execute an undercut strategy, as did Le Brocq, aiming to replicate his run from Race 25.

McLaughlin came in the next lap, changing the working side tyres.

Crucially the undercut worked in favour of Mostert, as he overtook the championship leader exiting the pits.

Coulthard also completed his pit stop early, but emerged behind Mostert, McLaughlin and Heimgartner.

Mostert’s undercut appeared to have the edge over van Gisbergen with 38s separating the pair, with the transition of pit lane and the stop equalling approximately 40s.

When van Gisbergen emerged, Mostert flew past as too did McLaughlin, but van Gisbergen had new rear tyres and immediately tapped the rear of the DJR Team Penske Mustang, before sliding down the inside at Turn 6.

Another good outcome for van Gisbergen was the condition of his tyres, with no blisters at all evident.

Next, van Gisbergen passed Mostert for the lead at Turn 1, as the WAU Commodore fell off the cliff, which also invited McLaughlin to have a go.

He tapped Mostert through Turn 5 and passed down the inside at Turn 6, but an opportunistic move by Heimgartner did them both at the same time, to snatch second.

Percat had experienced a quiet weekend by his standards this season, but was entering calculations, moving into sixth on tyres that were in good nick, having pitted on lap 12.

Heimgartner was continuing to close

on van Gisbergen, but the Triple Eight driver was managing his tyres to negate a replica of yesterday’s tyre wear problems.

The battle for second was at a stalemate as McLaughlin kept in touch with Heimgartner but was unable to do anything further, while Waters was the same distance behind and held a 3s lead back to Percat.

Coulthard was piling the pressure on Percat, who had to concede position to the DJR Team Penske Mustang, as Kelly also made a play, but it failed to come off.

Unlike Race 25’s frantic finish, van Gisbergen was comfortably 1.8s ahead of Heimgartner and McLaughlin was a further 0.6s behind, and it stayed that way to the flag.

Waters was struggling and dropped to ninth during the final lap as Coulthard, De Pasqaule, Kelly and Reynolds took advantage.

Mostert was pipped by Le Brocq on the line to take the final top 10 result.

In contrast to his teammate, Whincup was struggling and finished back in 17th, seriously harming his title aspirations.

RACE 27 – GIVE ‘EM THE OL’ 1-2

The two DJR Team Penske Mustangs made a ripper start to the third race of the weekend to be 1-2 ahead of Mostert and a fast starting Percat.

The relatively calm opening lap soon turned sour at Turn 17. Heimgartner made a dive for van Gisbergen’s sixth position, using the maximum of his

brakes, but as he ran wide, the Triple Eight Commodore contacted the rear of the Kelly Racing Mustang into a spin.

This earned the Kiwi a 15s penalty at his pit stop.

As a result of the clash, the rest of the field checked up, causing absolute chaos.

Jones slowed to avoid the incident as Pye and Le Brocq attacked, contact from Hazelwood then sending the Tickford Racing Mustang into Winterbottom, pushing the Team18 Commodore into a spin, and contacting Courtney heavily.

Winterbottom’s day was done.

As the race settled down, McLaughlin was 1.7s ahead of his teammate as the Le Brocq and Kelly were the first to pit, but both were delayed.

Le Brocq stalled and Kelly spun on his opening lap out.

Mostert remained in third ahead of a struggling Percat, who pitted on lap 7 as he was being attacked by the Triple Eight teammates.

McLaughlin kept on extending his lead, now more than 3s ahead of his teammate on lap 9. Behind, Mostert was a further 4s back ahead of Whincup, van Gisbergen and Pye. Coulthard was the next of the leaders to pit, as his left-hand rear tyres displayed blistering. For Mostert, tyre wear was still a problem as he pitted on lap 11, as did McLaughlin.

At the head of the field, Pye assumed the lead as he made a run for the podium, overtaking van Gisbergen at Turn 1.

Whincup pitted on lap 14 and his

teammate van Gisbergen followed a lap later, but had to serve his 15s penalty, dropping him to 21st.

Pye stopped on lap 16 and exited in eighth as McLaughlin re-assumed a 2s lead from Coulthard, with De Pasquale comfortably in third, 2s ahead of Whincup.

After a dream podium in Race 25, Le Brocq was forced to return to the pits after flatspotting his left-rear tyre, ending a promising weekend in disappointment.

Pye had passed Heimgartner and was making a late play for a top five with five laps remaining.

Title contenders McLaughlin and Whincup were headed for the podium, but the latter had to do it the hard way after locking up at Turn 6 and tapping De Pasquale. A redress followed before he completed a move at Turn 17 to claw back crucial points.

Another win for McLaughlin edged him closer to sealing the title, as Coulthard gave DJR Team Penske its first 1-2 of the season.

Whincup rounded out the podium, while De Pasquale completed a superb drive to fourth and Waters rounded out the top five.

Pye rued being stuck behind van Gisbergen in sixth as a potential fourth went begging.

Heimgartner finished ahead of Kelly in seventh, while Reynolds and Hazelwood completed the 10.

With a 215-point margin back to Whincup, McLaughlin needs only a further 85 to seal the title ahead of Bathurst.

Anton De Pasquale was at his best in Race 27, running strongly from deep in the pack to finish fourth in the final race (above). Rick Kelly was consistently in the back half of the top 10 (below), his consistency earning him two sixths and an eighth.

SUPPORTS The Bend

RANDLE DOMINATES IN BENTLEY Report: DAN MCCARTHY Images: INSYDE MEDIA THE POPULAR Aussie Tin Tops returned at The Bend Motorsport Park, with Super2 Series leader Tom Randle taking all three wins in the Bentley Continental GT3 machine on its racing debut.

Randle did not have things all his own way in the opening race of the weekend as he was challenged by circuit co-owner Yasser Shahin.

Starting from fifth in his Porsche 911 GT3, Shahin made a great initial jump to overtake Ryan Suhle and Andrew Taplin before firing up the inside of Randle and Porsche Carrera Cup driver Harri Jones into Turn 1.

Impressively Shahin made it stick, utilising his home track advantage, and from there Shahin and Randle took off into the distance.

Despite keeping up for much of the race, Randle faded late on, eventually finishing 9s back from the Porsche. However, post-race Shahin was handed a 30s penalty for a pitlane discretion, demoting him to second. Geoff Taunton in the MARC II Mustang finished the race in third ahead of Suhle and Jones.

Before Race 2 even begun there was drama,

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when Shahin spun off on the out lap, hitting the wall on the inside of Turn 8 and forcing him out before the race had even begun.

This allowed Randle to romp home with an incredible 40.6s lead over Taunton. Suhle and Jones were locked in a tight battle for third in the first five laps.

An attempt from Jones on his fellow Porsche driver into the Turn 6 hairpin did not pay off. The reigning GT3 Cup Series leader fired up the inside but had to lock everything up to avoid hitting Suhle, spinning down to fifth position.

For the final race Shahin was unable to get the car repaired in time and again Randle went unchallenged.

The race finished under safety car after a late collision between Brenton Griguol and Henry Beasley. Griguol in his Ferrari F430 ran wide at Turn 16 and when re-joining the track hit the innocent Beasley. Both cars fired off the road at high speed, coming to rest in the Turn 17 gravel trap.

Taunton again came home second ahead Suhle, who was able to hold off Jones after a race long battle.

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POOLE DROWNS OPPOSITION Report: DAN MCCARTHY Images: INSYDE MEDIA ADAM POOLE took two of three exciting and drama filled South Australian Combined Sedan races, at The Bend Motorsport Park.

Driving his Holden Monaro, Poole was in a league of his own, lapping multiple seconds a lap faster than the rest of the field.

Poole was not indestructible, however, as in the opening race of the weekend he survived an early race spin.

He recovered to hold a comfortable 9.9s lead with just a couple of laps remaining, before he began to slow down with a problem. On the last lap out of the final corner, Hagen Zerk nipped through to take an unexpected victory from 18th on the grid in his Ford XA GT Hardtop Falcon.

VY Commodore driver Shawn Jamieson rounded out the top three positions.

The second race was dominated by Poole once

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more, pulling out a 24.1s gap in the final four laps.

Despite dropping back to fourth at the end of lap 1, Matt Wright in his Datsun 120Y came home in second, with Zerk third.

Race 3 was much the same, Poole taking an even bigger 29s victory from Wright. Nissan Silvia driver Andrew Bailey charged from sixth to finish only 1.4s behind Wright in the final race, with Zerk in fourth.

Behind Poole, Zerk finished second overall for the round ahead of the consistent Wright.

Class 2 was won by Toyota 86 driver Bradley Vaughan who, with three solid results, took class honours while his rivals hit problems.

Phillip Mere dominated Group 3 taking all three class victories over the course of the weekend.

Nine ever popular HQs made up Group 4.

As ever in South Australia, there was a Heinrich on top. This time it was Bruce Heinrich, while his son Joel - despite taking the win in Race 2 - was hampered by a retirement in Race 1, and finished off the podium.

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MOTOGP AND WORLD SUPERBIKE WRAP

MAGICAL MORBIDELLI Reports: DAN MCCARTHY Images: LAT

BY WINNING the San Marino Grand Prix Franco Morbidelli became the fourth maiden MotoGP winner this season and the fifth different race victor in as many races.

After scoring just one point over the Austrian double header weekend, Morbidelli fought back to take his first victory in the premier class.

Australian Jack Miller had a rollercoaster of a weekend. He showed brief glimpses of speed but was never able to sustain it, and was classified in eighth position.

Championship leader Fabio Quartararo crashed not once but twice and allowed Austrian Grand Prix winner Andrea Dovizioso to take the championship lead.

It was clear throughout practice that the race would be fought out between the two factory riders of Valentino Rossi and Maverick Vinales, and the pair of Petronas SRT

riders Quartararo and Morbidelli.

In qualifying Yamaha bikes locked out the top four positions, Vinales took pole by 0.312s from Morbidelli, Quartararo and Rossi.

Miller pulled one out of the bag to be the fifth fastest rider, edging out his teammate Francesco Bagnaia by just 0.002s.

Just moments before the race started pole sitter Vinales and the #12 crew elected to run with a hard-rear tyre, a decision that most certainly did not pay off.

Off the line Morbidelli charged into first by Turn 1, a lead that was never relinquished, the Italian taking his first win in front of his home crowd of 10,000 people.

Morbidelli drove a measured race from the world go, holding at bay Rossi and Miller in the early stages, before steadily increasing his lead.

Morbidelli had built up a cushion of 3s with just a handful of laps to go, eventually taking the win by 2.217s Behind him late in the race was

Francesco Bagnaia’s Ducati leads The Doctor(Yamaha), as Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) crashes in the background (above). Franco Morbidelli (below) heads for victory.

a fierce four bike fight for second position between Bagnaia, Rossi, and the Suzuki duo Alex Rins and Joan Mir. Bagnaia finished the race in second to claim an emotional first premier class podium, after missing the last three races due to broken leg.

Rossi held third in the closing laps, but a mistake at Turn 1 on the final lap left the veteran vulnerable to the factory Suzuki pair of Mir and Rins.

Mir overtook his teammate and capitalised on Rossi’s mistake to snatch third position at Turn 10 and

denied ‘The Doctor’ a home podium.

Mir’s third place also deprived the crowd of an all Italian podium lockout, and robbed Rossi the opportunity to stand on the rostrum with his VR46 academy riders.

The seven-time premier class winner came home fourth ahead of Rins.

Vinales’ hard compound choice did not work, the Spaniard losing the lead straight away and fell to as low as seventh.

Late in the race the hard tyre came into its own but the damage was done, and despite his best efforts

Vinales could only salvage a sixthplace finish.

Former championship leader Quartararo had a race to forget, stuck behind Vinales in the opening laps.

Once into fourth Quartararo threw his bike at the scenery, remounted and crashed again, capping off a disastrous day.

Although factory Ducati rider Dovizioso only finished seventh, he took the lead of the championship.

Australian Jack Miller sat third throughout the first half of the race but quickly faded, crossing the line in ninth position.

Post-race Miller was promoted into eighth as Takaaki Nakagami was found to have abused track limits on the final lap.

KTM did not have the same pace as it did in Austria. Pol Espargaro pipped his brand mates Miguel Oliveira and Brad Binder to 10th. Aleix Espargaro, Iker Lecuona and Johann Zarco rounded out the 15 point scorers.

BASTIANINI TO HOP ONTO DUCATI GARDNER SIGNS WITH KTM! ITALIAN MOTO2 rider Enea Bastianini will graduate into MotoGP next season, confirming that he will ride a Ducati in 2021.

Bastianini is a title contender in Moto2 after scoring multiple race victories in the first eight rounds of the season.

When Bastianini made the announcement that he would race for Ducati, he said he is not 100 per cent sure which team he would be riding for at this stage.

“I have signed with Ducati and for the moment I don’t know the team, but in the next week it will be possible to confirm this,” Bastianini confirmed.

At this point, it is expected that Bastianini will take a spot at Avintia Racing in place of the revitalised Frenchman, Johann Zarco or former Moto2 champion Tito Rabat.

Both Zarco and current Pramac Ducati rider

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Francesco Bagnaia have signed to remain with Ducati for 2021. One will fill a seat at Pramac Racing, while the other is likely to join Jack Miller at the Ducati factory squad.

It has, however, been rumoured in recent days that Avintia Racing may leave the grid at the end of the season and be replaced by Valentino Rossi’s VR46 squad. If this does occur, then it is likely that Bastianini would go to Pramac Racing.

A former runner up in Moto3, Bastianini is excited by the opportunity to race for the famous Italian brand, and believes it will spur him on to deliver strong results in his rookie MotoGP season.

“For me it is really important to be next year with Ducati. It is a good family for me – an Italian bike and me an Italian – it is possible to make me faster in MotoGP, but we will see,” an elated Bastianini said. DM

AUSSIE REMY Gardner has signed up with the KTM academy and in 2021 will ride for front running Moto2 squad, Red Bull KTM Ajo. Last year Gardner, the son of 1987 500cc World Champion Wayne, took his maiden pole position and podium finish.

Already this season he has backed it up with a second pole and podium, so now the 22-year-old has been given his big break signing with the Red Bull Ajo Moto2 squad.

“I am very happy to be signing this contract for the team of my dreams,” Gardner said.

“I am proud to be part of the Red Bull and KTM family, and of Aki’s structure.

“I want to thank all of them for giving me this opportunity for 2021, I also thank all those who have helped me to get here.

“I can’t wait to start working with them

next year and I hope that together we can do some amazing things.”

The Sydney born rider has competed in Moto2 since 2016, the past two seasons riding for the Malaysian Onexox TKKR SAG Team.

On that bike, Gardner has been able to showcase his skill and was the reason he was signed by the Red Bull KTM Ajo squad.

Team principal Aki Ajo said that with Gardner they know they have someone special.

“I’m very happy to have Remy in our project next year,” Ajo said. “He is a young talent, but at the same time he has extensive experience in the FIM World Championship.

“This combination of abilities is perfect for our project of developing riders. We are looking forward to working together next season.

Reports: DAN MCCARTHY Images: LAT WHAT A difference one week makes. Maverick Vinales stormed to a commanding race victory at the Misano World Circuit in what was a highly attritional race.

Despite taking several pole positions, it has been a tough start to the 2020 MotoGP season for the former Moto3 champion. Since the second race of the season at Jerez Vinales had failed to finish in the top five positions.

In becoming the sixth different winner in succession, Vinales has put himself just one point behind championship leader Andrea Dovizioso.

Australian Jack Miller had a Sunday to forget.

In Saturday qualifying the Pramac Ducati rider pulled a lap out the bag, as he had a week previously, to start on the front row.

In the race Miller led through the first couple of turns, but quickly sunk like a stone to the back of the top 10.

Miller was then forced to retire after eight laps due to a lack of power, caused by a tear-off getting stuck in the airbox.

Up-front it was tight all weekend long with no clear favourite heading into the race.

In qualifying Vinales took pole position once again from Miller, Fabio Quartararo, Pol Espargaro, ‘Pecco’ Bagnaia and Brad Binder.

Valentino Rossi and previous weekend race winner Franco Morbidelli started from seventh and eighth respectively, with championship leader Dovizioso down in 10th.

From the word go it was a race of attrition with Aleix Espargaro, Rossi and Binder all tumbling out of contention early on.

After briefly losing the lead Vinales overtook Miller at Turn 4 on lap 1 and attempted to pull away from the pack. He was able to do so but was followed by Miller’s Pramac Ducati teammate Bagnaia.

On lap 6 Bagnaia took the lead but did not pull a margin on Vinales, electing to control the race on the way to what he hoped would be his maiden MotoGP Victory.

However, as Vinales began to edge a little closer, with eight laps to go Bagnaia fell off his Ducati at Turn 6, cruelly robbing himself of a possible first win.

From there Vinales was not challenged and took a comfortable 2.425s race victory over factory Suzuki rider Joan Mir. The Suzuki rider again showed race winning

VINALES ANSWERS CRITICS Maverick Vinales celebrates a commanding victory at Misano (top and left) while Pol Espargaro (KTM), Joan Mir (Suzuki) and Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) battle for the minors.

pace but after staring from 11th lost too much time early in the race, eventually taking second from Espargaro on the penultimate lap.

A great battle for the final spot on the podium was fought between Pol Espargaro and Quartararo. Although Quartararo did eventually get the job done on the 20th lap, he was classified in fourth.He was found to have exceeded track limits on too many occasions

and was handed a 3s post-race penalty, promoting the factory KTM rider into third to make it an all-Spanish podium.

Behind Quartararo in fifth was Red Bull KTM rider Miguel Oliveira and highest placed Honda rider Takaaki Nakagami.

Alex Marquez scored the best result of his rookie MotoGP season thus far, finishing the race in seventh ahead of championship

leader Dovizioso, who struggled for speed all weekend.

The previous weekend’s winner Morbidelli had been suffering from a stomach bug all week and was lucky to stay on his Petronas Yamaha on lap 1, after being hit by a crashing Aleix Espargaro. Morbidelli fell to the back of the pack as a result, salvaging a ninth-place finish.

Danilo Petrucci rounded out the top 10 ahead of Zarco, Alex Rins and Bradley Smith.

Standings

Dovizioso 84, Quartararo 83, Vinales 83, Mir 80, Morbidelli 64, Miller 64, Nakagami 63, Oliveira 59, Rossi 58, Pol Espargaro 57

TRIO OF WINNERS IN BARCELONA

“I know that Remy has something special compared to the rest of the competitors: he has great talent, a good feel for the bike and is a born fighter. I hope that, as a team, we can give him a boost during the season for the style that comes naturally to him.

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“I am personally very excited to have Remy with us, and about what 2021 has in store.”

Both 2020 Red Bull Ajo riders Jorge Martin and Tetsuta Nagashima are championship contenders this season, having already taken a win apiece.

DM

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RACE WINS were shared by three riders competing for different manufacturers when the World Superbikes visited the Circuit de Barcelona Catalunya for the first time.

Championship leader Jonathan Rea for the Kawasaki Racing Team, Yamaha rider Michael van der Mark and Ducati rider Chaz Davies each took a win.

Reigning champion Rea dominated the opening race of the weekend. Starting from pole position Rea controlled the race out front to take a 2.625s victory over main championship rival Scott Redding and Davies.

Van der Mark and brand mate Toprak Razgatlioglu made significant contact at Turn 1, but were able to finish fourth and sixth respectively with Alvaro Bautista in between.

In the Sunday morning warm up session Razgatlioglu was injured and ruled out of the rest of the weekend after a big highside.

In the Superpole Race Bautista asserted his authority early on by taking the lead on lap 3, however soon after suffered a highside, crashing out of the race.

Van der Mark then took the lead from Rea and held on to the flag. Rea only just held off a hard charging Loris Baz by 0.6s for second position.

In the final race Welshman Davies became the seventh

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different winner of the season. From fourth on the grid the Ducati rider worked his way forwards early, before holding off an attack by van der Mark mid-race to take the victory by 2.460s.

Garrett Gerloff finished in third to take his first podium in WSBK, the first American to do so since the late Nicky Hayden in 2016.

Rea finished fourth, while his championship rival Redding had a Sunday to forget. The Englishman finished eighth in the Superpole race and could only improve to sixth in the final affair, and now sits 51 points behind Rea with six races remaining.

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INTERNATIONAL WRAP

POWER WINS AT MID-OHIO

AUSTRALIAN WILL Power took his first win of the IndyCar season at Mid-Ohio at the latest series double-header.

The second leg was dominated by Andretti Autosport as former Indy 500 winner Colton Herta led home a 1-2-3 for the team.

Power led the way from start-to-finish in the opening leg, only losing the lead position during his pit stops.

The skies threatened to unleash a downpour as the race drew to its conclusion, but Power held a comfortable 9s lead ahead of teammate Josef Newgarden, who headed a close battle between Alexander Rossi and Graham Rahal for the final podium position.

Young star Herta started the second event from pole in a race that closed up the title chase between Kiwi Scott Dixon and Newgarden.

Images: LAT

There was incident at Turn 4 on the opening lap, when Santino Ferrucci ran wide and pushed Alex Palou into Felix Rosenqvist.

Palou’s Dale Coyne Racing machine bent a wishbone and Rosenqvist’s damage forced him into immediate retirement.

The story of the race occurred close to the halfway mark, when Dixon accidently pressed his Push-to-Pass button at Turn 1, causing him to spin and drop to 20th.

Herta replicated Power’s dominant performance the previous day, to lead home Andretti Autosport teammates Rossi and Ryan Hunter-Reay.

Power finished seventh in the middle of a Team Penske sandwich.

Newgarden placed behind, while Dixon recovered to finish 10th and holds a 72-point advantage over the Team Penske driver ahead of the Indianapolis Road Course race to be held on October 2.

HM POINTS Dixon 456, Newgarden 384, O’Ward 338, Herta 328, Power 306, Sato 303, Rahal 301, Pagenaud 277, HunterReay 260, Ferrucci 249.

EVANS TAKES TURKEY Images: LAT

Report: HEATH McALPINE Images: LAT TOYOTA NOT only celebrated a Le Mans victory on the weekend, but Elfyn Evans regained the World Rally Championship lead by winning Rally Turkey on September 18-20.

Evans was the last man standing after a punishing final morning, which impacted each of his title rivals as he emerged out of the rocky terrain 35.2s clear of Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville.

Rounding out the podium a further 24.2s behind was the Belgian’s teammate, multiple WRC champion Sebastien Loeb.

“It has been a tough weekend,” said Evans.

“We tried to drive well and stay in the middle of the road and that rewarded us. I’m well aware that a bit of luck needs to go your way, and I never like to inherit positions from others in that wa, but that’s the nature of Rally Turkey.”

It was the 38.15km Cetibil stage that did all the damage as punctures and mechanical

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gremlins afflicted the Toyota driver’s rivals.

Neuville was the overnight leader to the tune of 24.2s from Loeb, but both had punctures in Cetibil as dropped more than a minute each.

Neuville to that point had dominated the rally, taking seven of the 12 special stages.

Championship leader Sebastien Ogier was on course for a podium but a serious fire in his Toyota signalled the end of his event on the second run through Cetibil.

Kalle Rovanpera made it two Toyotas in the top four, albeit 90s adrift of Loeb, while Ford

through Gus Greensmith finished fifth, his best WRC result.

Greensmith’s Finnish teammate Esapekka Lappi dragged his broken Fiesta through the final stage to finish sixth and the last of the WRC contenders.

Reigning WRC champion Ott Tanak’s rally ended on the second day of competition after he speared off the road with a steering problem, severely denting his title hopes.

“We had some kind of steering issue but we do not know what yet,” he explained.

“The car is still in the forest and we have to wait until it gets back to the service park.

There was no warning, it was quite instant.”

Evans takes an 18-point advantage to the penultimate round, Rallye Sadegna on October 9-11.

Teammate Ogier is second, while Tanak remains third, 27-points adrift.

POINTS: Evans 97, Ogier 79, Tanak 70, Rovanpera 70, Neuville 65, Lappi 38, Suninen 34, Breen 25, Loeb 24, Greensmith 16

Image: LAT

FRIJNS CLOSES THE GAP

ROBIN FRIJNS has edged slightly closer to title rival Nico Muller during the DTM Nurburgring double header rounds, with four races held over two weekends at the legendary German circuit.

Muller won the opening race of the fortnight from reigning champion Rene Rast and BMW driver Marco Wittmann.

Frijns finished Race 1 in fifth, but roles were reversed in the second encounter, with Frijns taking the win and Muller in fifth. Rast was again second ahead of Mike Rockenfeller.

The first race of the second Nurburgring round saw Frijns get the better of Rast, Wittmann, Philipp Eng and Muller, who completed the top five.

In the final race the top three in the standings finished on the podium with Muller leading home Frijns and Rast. Dan McCarthy

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Images: LAT

HARVICK DOES IT AGAIN! Report: DAN MCCARTHY Images: LAT KEVIN HARVICK has continued to dominate the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series, taking his ninth win of the campaign at the Bristol Motor Speedway off the back of a seventh place finish a week prior at Richmond.

The most recent event at Bristol was the third and final race of the Round 16 Playoffs, and now just 12 drivers remain with a chance of winning the 2020 Cup Series.

At Richmond Raceway Team Penske driver Brad Keselowski took the victory and remains one of the title favourites outside of Harvick.

At Richmond Keselowski controlled the race, leading a total of 192 laps. The Ford Mustang driver won Stage 2 and went on to take his 34th career victory and the fourth of the season by 2.568s from Martin Truex Jr. Keselowski’s Team Penske teammate Joey Logano was third, ahead of Austin Dillon and Chase Elliott. Kyle Busch finished sixth after starting from the back of the grid for failing the pre-race inspection, not once but twice.

Harvick was seventh just ahead of Aric Almirola, Alex Bowman and Clint Bowyer, who rounded out the top 10.

Bristol was a thrilling race with two NASCAR legends Harvick and Busch fighting tooth and nail for the victory.

It was a tense but exciting end to the race under lights, though Busch did not have enough in the tank to snatch the race win away from his long-time rival.

It took all of Harvick’s experience and knowledge to hold Busch off during the final 82-lap green-flag stint to end the race.

The 2014 series winner held off the reigning champion by just 0.31s at the line to take his 58th Cup Series career victory, leaving Busch still winless in 2020.

... s g in R n o t is P l a e S l a t To

NCE. E R E F IF D G IN N IN W E C A R THE

“To beat Kyle Busch at Bristol, I kind of got myself in a little bit of a ringer there,” said Harvick.

“I hit a lapped car and got a hole in the right-front nose, but just kept fighting. We don’t have anything else to lose.”

Three of the four Joe Gibbs Racing cars failed the prerace inspection and as a result, once again Busch had to start from the back of the grid, this time with teammates Denny Hamlin and Erik Jones.

Busch and Jones were able to charge through the pack.

Busch finished the first stage in second, before winning Stage 2. Hamlin finished the race outside the top 20.

On the run to the line Busch passed Harvick for the lead in traffic on Lap 459, however only 10 laps later Harvick returned the favour when Busch slowed when trying to lap Logano. From then on, Harvick led the rest of the way despite Busch’s best efforts.

Jones, like Busch, marched through the pack to finish the race in third with Tyler Reddick fourth.

Almirola, Bowyer, Elliott, Chris Buescher, Ryan Preece and Michael McDowell completed the top 10.

The four drivers eliminated from the playoff were Cole Custer, William Byron, Matt DiBenedetto and most surprisingly of all, Team Penske driver Ryan Blaney.

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INGRAM’S THRUXTON

THE 2020 British Touring Car Championship was blown wide open with Tom Ingram taking two race wins and Colin Turkington having a round to forget.

Race 1 was won by Toyota driver Ingram, his first victory of the season, beating home the factory Honda Civic entries of Dan Cammish and Matt Neal.

Ingram did not have to wait long to taste the victory champagne once more, again the Englishman beating home Cammish by a mere 0.2s, with Neal third.

In the third race it was Josh Cook who led home BTC Racing teammate Tom Chilton to victory, while Rory Butcher came home third.

Ash Sutton recorded three top five places and took over the championship points lead. DM

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LE MANS

KIWI BRENDON Hartley joined Sebastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima in giving Toyota Gazoo Racing a hat-trick of successes in the Le Mans 24 Hour.

Problems afflicted both Toyotas during the race, the winning TS050 Hybrid picking up a puncture in the opening stint before losing two-laps at the seven-hour mark due to a damaged duct overheating the brakes.

The sister TS050 driven by Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway and Jose Maria Lopez led throughout the first half of the event, until a turbo failure handed its teammates the lead.

The problem was traced to an issue in the exhaust manifold, causing the failure of the right-side turbo, costing the former leader 30-minutes.

Victory for the #8 Toyota completed not only a hat-trick of wins, but also one for drivers Buemi and Nakajima.

Second outright was the lead Rebellion R13 Gibson driven by Gustavo Mendes, Bruno Senna and Norman Nato, while the second Toyota completed the podium.

That only came to be with one hour remaining, when the second Rebellion left the circuit at Indianapolis, forcing an unscheduled pit stop to repair bodywork.

This dropped the R13 driven by Romain Dumas, Louis Deletraz and Nathanael Berthon to fourth outright.

The Bykolles Racing Enso CLM P1/01 Gibson was the sole retirement in the class, after an incident during the seventh hour. Prior to that it had already lost seven laps due to an alternator failure.

United Autosports took its maiden class win in the endurance classic by 32.831s, with British driver Phil Hanson taking the Oreca 07 Gibson to victory after a late race battle with Anthony Davidson in the JOTA Oreca 07 Gibson.

A final splash of fuel for Davidson decided the contest with 10-minutes to go.

Hanson was joined in victory by Paul Di Resta and Filipe Alburqueque.

Finishing 14th in LMP2 was Aussie Nick Foster, racing for Eurasia Motorsport alongside Nobuya Yamanaka and Roberto Merhi.

Fellow Australian James Allen was competing with the Graff Racing squad which was held up at the four-hour mark when

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TOYOTA SEALS HAT-TRICK

Toyota dominated again (top) despite predictions that it might struggle again the only LMP-1 entries. Winners Brendon Hartley (left) and Sebastian Buemi (on roof) celebrate. United Autosportsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; took its first win in LMP-2 (above right) while Aston Martin claimed GTE (below). Images: LAT

Vincent Capillaire spun the Oreca into the gravel. The team, completed by Charles Milesi, failed to make it to the end after Allen crashed.

In GTE-Pro, Aston Martin took victory

Despite a late race charge, Matt Campbell and his factory Porsche teammates had to settle for second in GTE-Am.

through Maxime Martin, Alex Lynn and Harry Tincknell.

It was a 1m 33s win ahead of the AF Corse Ferrari 458 GTE driven by James

Calado, Alessandro Pier Guidi and Daniel Serra, after a pass by Tincknell during the morning proved pivotal by raceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s end.

The class championship leading Aston Martin shared between Marco Sorensen, Nicki Thiim and Richard Westbrook, took third after the second AF Corse Ferrari had a puncture requiring an 11-minute stop to fix the rear suspension.

Jonny Adam, Charlie Eastwood and Salih Yoluc completed an Aston Martin clean sweep of the GTE class, securing the AM category.

Matt Campbell finished second in the Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche. The entry made a late-race challenge but fell 49s short. Campbell had shared with Riccardo Pera and Christian Ried.

Heath McAlpine

PIASTRI IS THE FIA F3 CHAMP!

Report: DAN MCCARTHY Images: LAT AFTER NINE thrilling FIA Formula 3 Championship rounds Auto Action columnist Oscar Piastri has won the world title.

Heading into the final round at Mugello it was a three-way title fight.

Aussie Piastri held an eight-point championship lead over Prema Racing teammate Logan Sargeant, with Frenchman Theo Pourchaire a further 16 points behind.

After being handed a grid penalty for a collision in Monza, Piastri started the first race from 16th, while Sargeant started from fifth after a similar grid drop for a separate Monza incident.

For Piastri, 10th position in the first race was a crucial target as it would vitally hand him pole position for the inverted top 10 grid race on Sunday.

In the opening laps Piastri stayed out of trouble before mounting his charge.

He was lucky to escape undamaged after heavy contact with Dennis Hauger which threw him into the air. However, at the end of the race Piastri had made his

way up to 11th, just tantalisingly 0.9s behind Kiwi Liam Lawson.

The other Australians had good races but also finished out of the points.

Jack Doohan sat in 10th position for much of the race but faded late to 13th.

Alex Peroni was on the verge of the points but a collision with Michael Belov saw the Tasmanian finish 20th, just behind West Aussie Calan Williams.

Out front, Fred Vesti took his second successive feature race win from Jake Hughes and Pourchaire, while Sargeant finished in sixth.

This meant that heading into the final race Sargeant and Piastri were equal on points, with Pourchaire now just seven points further back.

Sargeant, knowing he was ahead of his championship rivals, took a cautious approach into Turn 1, however into Turn 2 he was sandwiched between two other cars and ended up beached in the gravel trap, out of the race.

When the race restarted, Piastri sat seventh directly ahead of Pourchaire.

As the race got into a rhythm Piastri struggled for pace and dropped back to 10th as Pourchaire surged forward in a bid to steal the title.

Going down to the wire, on lap 16 of 21 Pourchaire took third and as a result briefly took hold of the live championship lead.

That was until Piastri overtook Aleksandr Smolyar, Vesti and Sebastian Fernandez to finish seventh.

This was enough for Piastri to take the FIA Formula 3 Championship by a slender three point margin over Pourchaire.

The race out front was dominated by Lawson, who took the win by 7.8s. David Beckmann finished in second ahead of a disappointed Pourchaire.

The other Aussies finished just outside the top 10.

Doohan appeared to be on course to score his first point of the season but Smolyar re-took 10th position in the closing stages.

Peroni improved from 20th to finish 13th, while Williams finished the final race of the season in 21st, after receiving a 5s postrace penalty for contact with Cameron Das.

SHIELDS GETS A PODIUM SOLID THIRD FOR McELREA AUSTRALIAN OPENWHEEL ace Cameron Shields has broken through to take his first podium of 2020 USF2000 campaign.

Shields, like McElrea, competed at the MidOhio circuit but in the tier below the Kiwi, the USF2000 National Championship.

Since switching teams one round ago from Legacy Autosport to DEForce Racing, Shields has looked more comfortable and at Mid-Ohio the new partnership helped Shields to his first podium since June last year.

“It’s so good to get back to the podium. I knew I had it in me, myself and the team have worked incredibly hard to get there. They gave me an excellent car, a fast car,” an elated Shields said.

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After finishing sixth in Race 1, Shields bagged not only his first podium but also his first top five finish of 2020 in the second encounter.

Shields sat fourth for most of the race, but benefited from a last lap mistake by Josh Green which handed him third position.

Shields capped off a great weekend with another top five result in the final race, the strong round seeing him propelled into eighth in the standings with five races to run. DM

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NEW ZEALANDER Hunter McElrea has had more podium success in the IndyPro 2000 Series, claiming a third-place finish at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

This was McElrea’s fifth podium finish in the last seven races, however he is still yet to taste that victory champagne.

The two top 10 finishes consolidate his fifth place position in the championship.

On the opening lap of the first race McElrea made his way to fourth past the championship leader, Sting Ray Robb.

On lap 10 the American found his way back past and into fourth before McElrea got a great turn of speed late in the race.

McElrea was helped by the retirement of Parker Thompson, which lifted him up into fourth position. With a podium in sight McElrea set the fastest lap of the

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race and went back past Robb to take his first third place of the year.

“Well, I had four second-place finishes so I figured it was time to win, but I guess I needed to check off third place before I can get the win,” McElrea joked.

“I’ve been fast in practice and fast during the race numerous times. We just need to get our head around a quali car.”

In an extremely wet Race 2, McElrea collected more solid points, bringing the Pabst Racing car home in ninth. DM

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p ra w S L NATIONA

58 AutoAction FEATURE

Image: WARC-CMR Photographic

TIGHT CONTEST IN FOREST RALLY THE MAKE Smoking History Forest Rally on September 13 featured four different leaders and three separate stage winners before the second round of the WA Rally Championship was won

by Mike Young and Scott Beckwith.

It was a close 0.5s victory for the Subaru Impreza WRX STi pilots over John O’Dowd and Toni Feaver (Skoda Fabia R5), with Ben Searcy and James Marquet (Mitsubishi Lancer) third. Next were Craig Rando and Stephen Wade (WRX) ahead of the best of the 2WD entries, Nic Box and Daymon Nicoli in a Nissan Silvia S13.

Due to COVID-19, the event was reduced from the usual three-day format to one. Instead of being held in and around Busselton and Nannup, it took place instead around Harvey and Colley and covered almost 135 competitive kilometres of ex-World Rally Championship stages.

Of the 46 starters, 36 completed the rally with the last two stages taking out nine, mostly through mechanical failure apart from the Steve the Dixon/Paul van der Mey Honda Integra, which crashed.

Both were transported to hospital for precautionary checks.

The Perth-based New Zealander Young and Beckwith were in the Maximum Motorsport prepared-WRX for the first time and won four of the eight stages.

Three stages went to O’Dowd/Feaver after Peter Major and Declan Stafford won the opener but then rolled their Mitsubishi EVO 9 on stage two.

In taking the 2WD honours Box and Nicoli were quickest on every stage and were comfortably ahead of Michael Joss and Megan Logue (Silvia S15) who were eighth outright, behind Dave and Kelly Thomas (WRX) and Doug Tostevin and Tammy Adams (Subaru Legacy RS).

Third in 2WD went to 16-year-old rookie Max McRae with Bill Hayes the navigator of their Ford Fiesta ST150.

Class favourites Razvan and Ioana Vlad (Fiesta) had an off on the first stage and later re-joined to be classified 28th overall.

Clubman Masters (over the first five stages) went to Alex and Lisa White (Silvia S13) while Clubman Cup was taken out by Abe Tuckett and Glenn Macneall (Hyundai Excel). GOB

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Image: Alan McIntosh

DASH FOR A TIGHT WIN

WITH JUST two seconds in it, Talbot Cox and Craig King won the second Whitsunday Regional Council Don River Dash 300 Off Road event on September 5-6.

In their Toyota V8-powered Racer Engineering Unlimited class buggy, they hit the lead on the last lap when the pacesetters Michael Marson and Michael Collins (Racer Engineering/Ford Windsor V8) suffered a flat tyre. They were able to recover and were just edged out in overall time.

Unique on the off road calendar, the second round of the Mickey Thompson AORRA Queensland Championship covered 150km on each of the two days.

It saw the 75 teams head 25km upstream in the mainly dry riverbed to the turnaround point, then return on the other side of the riverbed six times.

Marson and Collins were the overnight leaders

ahead of Toby Price and inaugural event winner Billy Geddes (Class 4 Geiser Bros Trophy Truck/ Chev V8), with Cox/King in third place.

Price then stepped out the truck to compete in the bike legs and Geddes was joined by Jamie Ward for day two, where they finished fifth for third overall.

Fourth overall after sixth on both legs were Paul Youman and Russell Hartnett (Class 4 Razor Back Fusion/Toyota Turbo). They were ahead of Brett Comiskey and Dan McKenzie (Unlimited Jimco Aussie Special/Nissan Turbo) after they were 10th on day one, and Kent Battle and Heath Lawson (Unlimited Element Prodigy/Chev V8).

Best of the Class 1s and seventh overall were Tony Fehlhaber and Gary Howell in front of Jamie and Symon Knight (Class 4 Chev C20/Chev V8). Next came Chris Colborne and Jason Lavis (Class 1 Jimco/Nissan) while 10th went to Jake

and David Swinglehurst (Can-Am Maverick/Rotax Turbo), who topped the large Class 6 entry.

The other class winners were Brad Hancock and Shane Munoz (Class 66 Polaris RZR) in 26th, and Christian Trusz and Shane Harris (Class 8 Nissan Patrol/Holden V8) 30th. Jason Keane (single seater Racer Engineering/Chev Ecotec) was 38th and the Class 10 victor, while Tyler Youman and Matt Porrich took Class 5 despite their Chev-powered Toyota Hilux losing a couple of wheels.

Clayton Chapman and Adam McGuire (Razorback/Toyota Turbo) were out early with a blown diff, while Rohan and Aaron Merchant (Southern Cross/Toyota), Jason Keane (Racer Engineering/Chev Ecotec), and Chris and Cooper Western (Rush Truck LCG/Chev) were in the top 10 on day one but suffered dramas later.

Garry O’Brien

MANNUM’S FAMILY WIN FATHER AND son, Rodyn and Lachlan Bailey shared the driving of a Can-Am Maverick to outlast a strong field and win the Clive Dubois Memorial Short Course at Mannum on September 12-13.

They had an epic race-long battle with second placed Adam Bierl and Nyree Burmingham (Chenowth/Nissan), while Nev Day and Danny Tulla (Mantiss/Mitsubishi) overcame multiple punctures and some overnight suspension repairs for third.

Brenton and Zach Lane filled the passenger’s seat for Wynarka winner Brad Gallard, who had dominated the event until the Geiser Trophy Truck/Chev came to a smoky halt on Sunday with a broken power steering hose.

Tony Whateley and Jodie Vernon looked set to capitalize on Gallard’s bad luck but their Rush TT/Chev broke a stub axle in the same heat.

Parked out on the track meant the end for Toby Whateley and Simon Hermann (Can-Am Maverick), while Daryl Nissen and Andrew Harness (Sore/Nissan) looked likely to snatch victory until they struck trouble in the final heat and dropped to fifth. Ben Erceg and David Mussell battled on with a misfire in the GM

Image: David Batchelor

Ecotec-powered Racer to finish fourth outright.

The Baileys claimed a lucky SXS Turbo win with Bierl comfortably on top in ProLite.

Erceg took the Sportslite win but was less than a minute ahead of Matt Ridley (RRF Joker/Honda). Dean Carter and Brad Jacobs (Chenowth/Chev) came home seventh outright just behind Ridley, and that was enough to take out Pro Buggy. Haydn and Neil Vanstone (RFR Joker/VW) took a well-deserved Super 1650

win as Roger Cox (Walker Evans TT/Toyota) took the top spot in Extreme 2WD. Heath Weadon and Aaron Bowering made the long trip up from the south east and placed their Nissan Patrol in position one for Performance 2WD. James and Cassie Priestley started every heat in the V8 Falcon and despite not finishing them all, were classified and took home the Performance 2WD trophy.

David Batchelor

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Images: Angryman Photography

LOCALS DOMINATE TITLE OPENER

Image: David Gobert

TARGA TRIUMPH FOR QUINN/FOSTER FROM THE start to the end, Tony Quinn and Brian Foster were in a commanding position to take overall victory in the Targa Great Barrier Reef in Far North Queensland on September 4-6.

Aboard their GT Outright class Nissan Skyline GTR R35, they won the event by 4mins 3.0s over the speed-limited TSD Sports Trophy entry and surprise second placed Wayne Udy and Mia William (Lotus Exige 410 Sport).

Andrew Horn and Sally Coning finished third outright in their Mitsubishi EVO V and also won the Early Modern 4 class.

The event attracted 50 entries for the Targa Championship opener and Quinn and Foster started with wins over the first two stages.

They were second on the third and fourth stages, before they topped the last and had a 37s lead at the end of the first day. Tony and Sandra Seymour (Lotus Exige) won a stage and finished the leg second ahead of Luke Anear and Andy Sarandis.

The latter pair were debuting their Mercedes AMG GTR and made strong inroads on Leg 2. They were fastest by 15s over Quinn/Foster, trailed the leaders by 37s overall and in doing so had relegated the Seymours to third.

The Anear/Sarandis charge lasted just two stages into the final day, as they speared off the road and copped radiator damage which they repaired to be classified 18th. The Seymours also struck trouble when they hit

a road dip and crashed out.

Fourth place went to GT Production victors Steve Van Der Brug and Linda Rankine (Subaru WRX STi Spec C) ahead of Rob Oshlack and Neysa Ellison (Ford Focus RS), Gwesyn Dalliston and Rob Goodwin (Nissan 350Z Track) and Peter Gluskie and Samantha Winter (BMW 325e), who also took out Classic Handicap.

In eighth were Lindsay Stone and Simon Martin (Mazda RX7) ahead of Gregg and Taylor (WRX) and Graeme and Sandra Colls (WRX).

Other trophy winners were Darryl and Peter Marshall (TSD Trophy), and Tim and Kym Hall (Holden Commodore) landed the honours in Thoroughbred Trophy. GOB

MAHON GETS HIS THIRD BAROSSA VALLEY local Dave Mahon won the 2020 South Australian Hillclimb Championship at Collingrove on September 13-14.

Driving his Hayabusa-powered Dallara F394, Mahon scored back-to-back state titles, his third in all.

The event attracted 92 entries, the entire field from South Australia due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Rain was forecast but held off until after the runs.

Images: John Lemm Mahon’s best time was a 28.21s on his second run on Sunday, which shaved 0.06s off his under 2.0-litre Formula Libre class He really threw his Talbot RF at the hill on record.

Sunday, and that resulted in a couple of spins in His main opposition were brothers Dereck the process. and Allan Foster, who shared their White/ Pfeiffer finished over a second ahead of David Hayabusa. They set their 29.38s and 30.62s in Whiteside in his turbocharged Cheap BOSS the second and first runs respectively, before Formula Libre and Bradley DeLuca (Mallock U2 the car suffered injector problems on the 21B) in the first of the sports cars. fourth run. Unable to solve it, they withdrew On Saturday Gavin Farley (Mitsubishi EVO 7) on Sunday morning to prevent major engine led the 4WDs from Brenton Byfield (Subaru WRX damage.

Sports Wagon). But on Sunday Guy Chet (EVO David Pfeiffer finished 0.17s away in fourth.

7) fronted and took the lead on the final run by

0.02s, to finish seventh outright ahead of Farley.

After the official runs, the fastest four 2WDs, 4WDs and open wheelers/sport cars were assembled for the Top 12 Shootout. The objective was to exceed your best time by the greatest amount.

Mahon was fastest with 27.98s to win the Shootout on both time and handicap, although this first sub-28 run did not qualify as a record because it wasn’t set during the official runs.

John Lemm

USING HIS home ground knowledge, Eddie Maguire scored a hard-fought victory in the first round of the abbreviated Motul-Dunlop Tasmanian Rally Championship, the CJR Enterprises Hellyer Sprint, in the Rocky Cape area on the NorthWest Coast on September 5.

Maguire and Zac Brakey (Mitsubishi EVO 9) were the team to beat almost from the outset, with the fastest times on all but the first of the eight-stage event as locals filled the top three places.

They won by 2mins 10s from father/daughter combination Jamie and Charlotte Vandenberg (EVO 9). Rounding out the podium for the event, Nick Grave and Ryan Sheehan (Subaru Impreza WRX Spec C) finished a further 45 secs behind in third place.

The Rocky Cape event also featured the first round of this year’s Subaru RS Challenge Series, with the honours taken there by Marcus Walkem and Damien Grimwood, who also finished a creditable fifth outright behind Bryon Murfet and Callan Randall (EVO 5).

Next were Keith Abblitt and Nicole Bryan ahead of Nathan Newton and Tyler Page (Datsun Skyline GT), who were the fastest 2WD team and finished seventh outright.

The new speed-restricted regularity rally class for novice teams was won by Robert and Stephanie Morton (Subaru).

High profile retirements included Bodie Reading and Mark Young, who had a minor crash on the fifth stage, damaging the WRX’s rear suspension. They were on the pace early and were only 3.2s down on Maguire and Brakey at the halfway point, before coming to grief in first of the afternoon’s four stages.

Earlier Craig Brooks and Jason White (WRX) struck an engine management issue and retired after the third stage. They rejoined after the lunchtime service break for the remaining four afternoon stages, and posted the secondfastest times on three of them.

Maguire’s brother Steve and Stuart Benson (EVO 9) opened their account on a positive note when they won the first stage and were third fastest on the second.

But an engine drama ended their day prematurely.

Martin Agatyn

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p ra w S L NATIONA

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WEEKEND QRDC BY TWO THE QUEENSLAND Raceway Drivers Championship held two rounds over the weekend of September 13-14, with round four and four categories on the Saturday and round five on Sunday with four different categories.

QTCC GROUP A

SECONDS AND thirds over the four races gave Matt Haak (Holden Commodore VL) the overall win by just one point over Saxon Moyes.

The BMW E36 driver was fifth in race one, fourth in the next despite a blown tyre, and broke through for his first wins in the last two races.

Dean McMahon (Holden Monaro) won the opening two but was out for the remainder while Stuart Walker (Holden Commodore) was second in the first, before a DNF due to a broken axle. He made the third race for a fourth and followed up with a third.

Race one had to be restarted after Rob Droder

(Commodore) and Mark Hyde (Ford Escort) tangled while Neville Haines (Commodore) crashed separately.

John Phoenix and Steve Harper shared honours in A2 with two class victories each.

Phoenix clashed with Michael Woodcroft (Holden Torana) in race three which holed the formerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fuel tank.

QTCC GROUP B

THERE WERE three winners over the four races.

Nick Linton (Holden Commodore) took the first. The second went to Tim Groves (Nissan

Bluebird), back after a long sabbatical, and the last two went to Andrew Knight (BMW E36).

Patricia Chant (Mustang) was unbeaten among the five litre brigade.

AUSTRALIAN TRANS-AM

FORMULA VEES

THERE WAS a new threat to John English after he dominated the previous round. Geoff Fane (Chev Camaro) won two races and was second in the other, while English (Pontiac Firebird) won two and backed up with a second and a third. Anthony Tenkate (Ford Mustang) took one second and a string of thirds for overall third.

Ian Palmer swapped his Firebird for his Plymouth AAR Cuda and was fourth overall as

RACING FOR the first time in over a year, Curtis Porter (Jacer) was back for the second round and his experience showed as he headed up qualifying and every race. Second in each session was Alex Hedemann (Rapier) who took over the points lead.

Newcomer Tim Alder (Rapier) scored three thirds but failed to finish the last, where Chris Gregg was third in a sturdy comeback after he crashed in qualifying and missed the first race.

FREQUENT BREACHES AT WA STATE ROUND penalty for a grid burnout relegated him to fourth behind Adam Butler and Stuart Kenny.

The reverse grid second race was led by Rory Sharpe until passed by Grant Ord, who only missed out on the win when passed on the line by Butler. Sharpe held on to third, Howlett was eighth and Woodbridge had retired.

Butler was the early leader in race three before Ord took over. Howlett passed both for the win but was later penalised for exceeding track limits.

Behind Ord and Butler, Ryan Davis was third.

Howlett was relegated to eighth.

PENALTIES CAME thick and fast in the oneday WA Motor Racing Championship round at Wanneroo on September 5.

SPORTS CARS/SPORTS SEDANS/ STREET CARS

DRAMAS FOLLOWED the combined categories where ultimately Arthur Abrahams (with two) and Ron Moller were the overall victors, as Paul Kluck and Mark Conacher collected the Street Carsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; spoils.

The first race was won by Abrahams (Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofero) after John Roderick (Lamborghini Gallardo) lost control in the middle of Turn 1 and speared across the front of the field. The incident caused problems down the field, Andrew Stevens (Nissan 180SX) pitted to check damage before Neil Pollard (Honda Civic) retired.

Sports Cars took the top four sports with Porsche 997 GT3 Cup Car pilots Richard Bloomfield and Neville Stewart second and third ahead of Chris McKenzie (Mazda RX7). Brett Niall (MARC Ford Focus V8 Sports Sedans) was next from Paul Kluck (Nissan Skyline GTR Street Car) and Ron Moller (Chev Camaro Sports Sedan).

After a red flag due to an incident to Martin Willard (Ford Escort), race two went with Abrahams ahead of Moller, Roderick, Bloomfield and Niall, who were split by 0.25s. The latter two tangled in race three which brought about a premature end, declared with Moller in front of Abrahams, Bloomfield, Roderick, McKenzie, Stewart and Niall.

Biddle (Stealth), Rob Appleyard, Craig Jorgensen (Van Diemens) and Ben Leslie (Stealth) for third.

In the second race, Malkin just pipped Pickett and Matthews while Jorgensen was next in front of Leslie, Appleyard and Marc Redman (Van Diemen). Matthews and Pickett failed to finish the third race which was red flagged. Jorgenson was the winner from first time round winner Malkin and Appleyard.

FORMULA FORDS

EXCEL CUP

AFTER THE three held the race one lead at some stage, Mark Pickett (Van Diemen) edged out Stealth drivers Andrew Malkin and Josh Matthews for victory.

Meanwhile, less than a second separated Nathan

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HISTORIC TOURING CARS

Images: Mick Oliver

IN BOTH sprint races Robert Landsmeer had narrow victories over Jack Clohessy, who was penalised 5s in the last for a start line infringement. Jake Passaris filled third in the opener, clear of Anthony Jewell and Jackson Callo,

another to be hit with a penalty afterwards.

Despite the added 5s Clohessy held onto second from Cameron Atkins and Stephen McGregor, while Jake Passaris crossed the line third before he too, was penalised 5s to fifth.

After Callo grabbed the lead initially in the reverse grid race two, it took Landsmeer three laps to reel him in. Later Callo spun and rolled in the esses and the race was red flagged with Atkins second and Clohessy third.

HQ HOLDENS

SECOND BECAME first in the opening race for Michael Howlett and enabled him to stretch his slender points advantage over Mick Woodbridge.

The latter was first across the line before a 5s

CHEV CAMARO driver Clint Rayner took out both the sprint races easily. He beat Grant Johnson (Holden Torana XU-1), Graeme Woodhouse (Ford Mustang) and Greg Barr (XU-1) in the first, and then Woolhouse, Barr and Johnson in the second.

The reverse grid race was won by Scott Mackie (XU-1) while Michael Moylan (Ford Fairlane Thunderbolt) passed Lance Stannard (Mini Cooper S) for second.

SALOON CARS

OVERALL IT was Grant Johnson with the win. He showed the way narrowly ahead of fellow Holden Commodore VT driver Brock Boley, Rick Gill (Ford Falcon AU) and Brad Boley (VT) in the first two races. The later was first across the line in the last but a 5s penalty dropped him to fifth behind Johnson, Brock Boley, Matt Martin (VT) and Gill.

In the older Pro-Am class, Garry Hills (Commodore VP) won ahead of Marc Watkins and Michael Holdcroft in their Falcon EAs. Hills led the second until both Ford drivers passed him and Watkins took the win. Holdcroft was first to the finish in the last but then penalised for avoidable contact, and was dropped to fourth behind Watkins, Mark Jones and Chase Hoy in their Holdens. Mick Oliver

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second and fourth to be the best overall.

Ettore Vosolo (BMW E30 Coupe) was second in race one and two, third in race three and won the last.

First race winner Mark Jackson (Alfa Romeo Alfetta) missed the second race and was second in the third.

QLD SPORTSCARS

Images: MTR Images

HISTORIC TOURING CARS

HE WAS just pipped in qualifying but Graeme Wakefield went through the day unbeaten in all four outings. The Ford Mustang driver started on the front row alongside pole man and early race leader Peter Baguley and ultimately overcame the Holden Torana XU-1 pilot for a narrow win.

Stephen Scales (Chev Camaro) was third ahead of Graham Streat (Torana) and Al Boughen (Ford Falcon Sprint).

Wakefield led all the way in the second, ahead of Baguley until he retired. That left

Scales second ahead of Graham Wrobel (Mustang), Bruce Dummett (Torana), Boughen and Streat. The battle for second in the third race was tight with Dummett just able to hold off Baguley and Wrobel. As Wakefield scored a clean sweep in race four, Wrobel made it a Mustang one-two due to Baguley again going out. Dummett also retired and Streat was third.

ITALIAN CHALLENGE

THE SMALL entry was further reduced during the day. Ken Percival (Alfa Romeo GT Junior) won two races and backed up with a

AFTER SECOND in race one, David Rodgie (Chiron LMP3) won the rest of the races. His major rival was Adam Gino Beesley (Radical SR3) who won the battle for pole and took out the opening race by 0.08s. After that, the latter had to settle for a sequence of seconds.

It was a similar scenario for third where Grant Green (SR3) edged out Marcos Flack by less than two tenths, before the 14-year-old son of Damien Flack scored three thirds ahead of Green in his Mygale Formula 4.

QLD SUPERKARTS

THE 250CC karts dominated over the four races with pole man Tim Weier (Anderson Maverick) taking three wins, two over Gareth Crisp (ADE) and one ahead of John La Spina (Anderson). The latter missed race one and had thirds in the other races while Crisp failed to finish race three, before he came through to take out the last ahead of Weier. Doug Amiss (Anderson) was the best of the 125s until Russell Jamieson (Stockman) scored in the last. Garry O’Brien

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Image: Tim Nicol

Titles taken in the Territory THE NT Titles took place at Hidden Valley on September 13 where small fields didn’t bother the winners in Marion Bujnowski, David Ling and Ross Salmon.

Bujnowski dominated the three HQ Holden events where he beat Stavro Mostris in the first two races, and then Peter Anderson in the third.

There was never a lot between the latter pair.

Anderson was just 0.25s in arrears in race one and 1.9s in the second. There was only four tenths of a second separating them in the last.

Dylan Bujnowski missed the first and third races and was fourth in race two.

Brad Fullwood had the pace to win the Commodore Cup title but a DNF in the opener would give it to Ling. Fullwood led until the last lap, setting a new lap record in the process. He rebounded to win the next two races ahead of Ling, while the third places were shared between Geoff Cowie, Shane Kaptula and Shane Smith.

In Improved Production Holden Commodore drivers dominated. Ross Salmon took two wins and the over 2.0-litre honours. Rod Jessup was a first race retirement before coming back to win race two while Steve Johnson was runner-up in race one, third in race two and a retirement from the third. Craig Wright was in the top three twice in his Ford Escort and also took out the under 2.0-honours. GOB

NUMBERING UP FOR MRA THE NEED to race was very evident as entries swelled for the one-day Motor Racing Australia Series round seven at Wakefield Park on September 13.

MRF TYRES PULSARS

SERIES LEADER Josh Craig firmed for the title after he won all three races. He was pipped in the final throes of qualifying but proved to be too strong and was never headed all day.

Harri Inwood had to go home to Bathurst after the sprints on Saturday to pick up the spare car, after engine dramas with his original machine.

He had snared pole ahead of 45 entries in the dying moments but he was away slowly in race one and fourth early. He ultimately fought back to third and followed through for a similar result in race two, and was then caught up in the skirmish at Turn 2 in the last before he finished fifth.

Matt Boylan took the challenge to Craig in the first few laps of each race but had to settle for three seconds. Michael Osmond, who came into this round second overall, was third in race one until relegated by Ben Sheedy and Josh Haynes.

That same trio battled for fourth in race two where Haynes was successful over Osmond and Dimitri Agathos, but Sheedy copped a bump early and ultimately failed to finish. Haynes was a clear third in the last ahead of Osmond.

SERIES X3 EXCELS

WIL LONGMORE came into the final round with a handy points lead and departed with an even bigger one after topping the championship points.

His biggest threat of the 27 entries, came from Tim Colombrita. Colombrita qualified second and took the race one lead early, then duked it out with Longmore for a narrow win. Third went to

Image: Riccardo Benvenuti

Preston Breust while Jeremy Hodges and Ben Crossland battled for fourth ahead of Cameron Brown.

Hodges won that tussle before Breust came in ahead of Crossland, Hodges and Bailey Sweeny in the second. Brown spun and plummeted down the order, before recovering to 13th. Meanwhile the scrap for the lead continued where Longmore edged out Colombrita. Longmore led all the way in the last. Breust was third clear of Sweeney, Hodges and Crossland.

SUPER TT

TWO RACE wins and a second secured Greg Boyle the overall result in the mixed category aboard his Nissan Skyline GTR. He qualified fifth yet led race one through an excellent start, before Todd Herring (Mazda MX5 Turbo) passed him and won.

Verne Johnson (MX5) was third ahead of Mark Boudib (BMW V8), Jimmy Tran (Honda Civic) and pole sitter Tim Herring (MX5). Next home were Barry Sternbeck (HSV Clubsport) and Geoff Kite (Holden Commodore SSV) in their Production Touring Cars.

Boyle bolted at the start of race two before Todd Herring chased him down. Even with a 5s start line penalty, the latter looked likely to push out to a sufficient winning margin . . . but it didn’t happen and he was relegated to second.

Johnson was next from Tim Herring, Tran, Sternbeck, Kite and Tony Virag (SSV), who was on the comeback after copping a bump at the start of race one that put him well down the order.

There was drama at the end with Todd Herring embroiled an incident with a lapped car that forced him into a non-turbo MX5 for the last race. Boyle won race three easily from Tran, who snared second ahead of Tim Herring on the final lap. Then followed Boudib, Johnson, Virag and Sternbeck.

LEGENDS

IT DIDN’T matter that there was a reverse grid race for Lachlan Ward with victories in every race. In the first he was well clear of Brendon Hourigan and Shane Tate. Further back there was nothing between Stuart Bond and Matt

Woodward as they placed fourth and fifth.

After Mark Tarrant led the second race through the first couple of laps, Ward, Hourigan and Tate filled the top three spots while Adrain Sarkis was fourth ahead of Bond. In the last Hourigan led early before Ward was able to get by. Tate was again third from Sarkis and Bond. An incident at Turn 5 near the end put Tarrant and Grahame Fraser out.

MX5 CUP

FASTEST IN qualifying and following up with three race wins gave Tim Herring the overall result. It didn’t start out that way as fellow front row starter Richard Herring shot straight to the lead in race one, until he spun at Turn 4.

David Lawler secured second well clear of Todd Herring while it was close between Stuart McFadyen and Paul Nudd for fourth and fifth.

The top three places were the same in race two.

However Terry Johnson was fourth with Richard Herring fifth. Johnson eclipsed Lawler for the runner-up place in the last ahead of Todd Herring and Richard Herring. GOB

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We take a look back at who or what was making news in the pages of Auto Action 10, 20, 30 & 40 years ago

Testing your Williams knowledge

1980: ANOTHER WORLD Champion! Alan Jones was crowned Formula 1 World Driver’s Champion in Canada, before backing up at Watkins Glen a week later to cement the title in style. In fact, Jones demoted Bathurst off the front page, which was again won for the third time on the trot by Peter Brock and Jim Richards. But the big story was Ford rival Dick Johnson, who hit the infamous rock.

ACROSS

4. Williams famously won the Constructors’ Championship in 1986, but who won the title for McLaren that year? (full name) 8. When Alan Jones announced that he would retire at the end of 1981, who did Williams sign to replace him? (full name) 11. Who took his maiden F1 pole position in the 1995 Argentine Grand Prix? (surname) 15. Who was the co-founder of Williams Grand Prix Engineering along with Sir Frank Williams? (surname only) 16. Which Williams driver won on the very wet streets of Adelaide to conclude the 1989 Formula 1 Championship? (surname) 17. In what country did Alan Jones secure Williams’ first drivers title in 1980?

18. In 1997 Williams won its most recent Drivers’ Championship, who won the title that year? (full name) 22. How many Drivers’ Championships has Williams taken?

24. What is the name of the French Israeli reserve driver who has competed in two practice sessions for Williams this season? (surname) 25. For how many years did Mark Webber drive for Williams Grand Prix Engineering?

26. Who won the first F1 World Championship Grand Prix for Williams Grand Prix Engineering in 1979? (surname)

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27.

27 At what track did Williams take its first F1 championship race victory?

28. Who was the first Australian to race for Frank Williams under the team’s original incarnation? (surname) 29. What brand is Williams’ current engine supplier?

30. With what brand of car did Williams enter the Super Touring Bathurst 1000 in the late ‘90s?

DOWN

1. How many constructors’ titles has the Williams team taken in its history?

2. At the conclusion of the BMW and Williams partnership in 2005, what position did the team finish on the constructors’ table?

3. On what brand of tyres did Williams win its first Drivers’ and Constructors’ titles?

1990: AN AGAINST the odds victory for the reliable VL Commodore and the Holden Racing Team’s first major win highlighted The Great Race in 1990. Allan Grice and Win Percy outlasted their turborivals to seal a popular victory, amid a family tragedy for the British driver. Preparations were ramping up on the Gold Coast as the CART Indycar series prepared for its maiden Australian event.

2000: THERE WAS change at Ford Tickford Racing after Neil Crompton confirmed he was splitting with the team after Bathurst. Team owner Glenn Seton voiced his desire to chase free-agent Craig Lowndes.

Jason Bright appeared set for the Champ car grid after testing a Hogan/Della-Penna Motorsports Reynard. Also, Mark Webber impressed in his first test at Estoril for Benetton.

2010: ON THE 30th anniversary of an Australian winning the world title, Mark Webber was in the news after retaking the Formula 1 World Driver’s Championship lead in Singapore. Holden Racing Team driver Garth Tander called for calm after a poor at Phillip Island topped off what had already been a tough year for the squad.

5. Who was the first ever driver to race in Formula 1 for the original Frank Williams Racing Cars squad in 1969? (full name) 6. In what position did Williams finish the 2014 Formula 1 Constructors’ Championship?

7. Which driver scored Williams’ most recent Formula 1 podium? (full name) 9. In 2002 who was Columbian Juan-Pablo Monyota’s teammate in the Williams team? (full name) 10. In 2006 Aussie Mark Webber had a rookie teammate at Williams, who was this German driver? (full name) 12. Williams has a contract to supply the batteries for which global championship?

13. What is the name of the current female Williams reserve driver? (surname only) 14. Pastor Maldonado took the team’s most recent F1 victory at Spain in 2012, what nationality is Maldonado?

19. What is the name of the man who has taken on the role of acting team principal at the Williams team?

20. Frank Williams Racing Cars was bought out by which Canadian millionaire? (full name) 21. What nationality is current Williams driver Nicholas Latifi?

23. In 1993 Alain Prost won the championship, but who was his teammate driving the #0 that season? (full name)

# 1794 Crossword Answers 1 down – Nakajima 2 across – Griffins Bend 3 across – Bahrain 4 down – AGI Sport 5 down – nine 6 across – Alain Prost 7 down – six 8 down – Phillip Island 9 across – Hyundai 10 across – Imola 11 down – Jaguar 12 down – Volkswagen 13 across – Bird 14 down – Raikkonen 15 across – Toyota 16 across – fifty-

eight 17 across – three 18 down – David Brabham 19 across – Red Bull Racing 20 across – Jenson Button 21 down – Belgium 22 down – Mercedes 23 across – eleven 24 down – seven 25 across – Porsche 26 across – Felipe Massa 26 down – four 27 across – Garth Tander 28 across – Harris 29 across – Mika Salo

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Relive the golden era of Australian motor sport with these fantastic ’Bathurst Photographic History’ books These A4 landscape books are full of rare action images taken by some of Australia’s best motorsport photographers, which you won’t see published anywhere else. Start your own library or give as a gift.

BATHURST A9X TORANAS

MOFFAT AT THE MOUNTAIN A PHOTOGRAPHIC HISTORY

With over 180 colour and black and white images this 192-page book capturers Allan Moffat’s stellar Bathurst 500/1000 career as both a driver and a team owner – from 1969 to 1996.

Or buy any 3 and pay only $109.00 plus $10 postage, saving $26.00

This 176-page book features imagery of every A9X Torana that started in the 1977, 1978 and 1979 Hardie Ferodo Bathurst 1000’s.

Foreword by Bob Morris and an interview with Jim Richards who won Bathurst three years in a row with Peter Brock in the mighty A9X Torana.

With over 160 black and white and colour images from all around the track, a great book that feature the Bathurst Torana A9X race car.

PHILLIP ISLAND TO BATHURST - THE TRADITIONAL YEARS RESULTS - 160 page book features details on every car that started in the original/traditional Phillip Island and Bathurst 500/1000 races from 1960 to 1999.

BATHURST 500 1963 - 1964 - 1965 - 1966 - 1967 192 page book features imagery of every car that started in the Bathurst 500 races from 1963 to 1967.

HARDIE FERODO 500 - 1968 144-pages featuring imagery of every car that started in the 1968 Hardie Ferodo 500. Classes A, B, C, D and E. HARDIE FERODO 500 - 1969 160-page featuring imagery of every car that started in the 1969 Hardie Ferodo 500. Classes A, B, C, D and E. HARDIE FERODO 500 - 1970 160-pages featuring imagery of ever car that started in the 1970 Hardie Ferodo 500. Classes A, B, C, D, and E. HARDIE FERODO 500 - 1971 - 1972 176-pages featuring imagery of every car that started in the 1971 and 1972 Hardie Ferodo 500’s at Bathurst. All classes are comprehensively documented. These two Bathurst races are milestones for both Ford and Holden motor racing enthusiasts as the 1971 event was won by Allan Moffat driving the now legendary Falcon GT-HO Phase 3. The 1972 race saw Peter Brock, the underdog, win the first of his nine Bathurst victories.

BATHURST XU-1 TORANAS A PHOTOGRAPHIC HISTORY OF THE GIANT KILLING XU-1s

This 176-page book features imagery of every XU-1 Torana that started in the 1970, 1971, 1972 and 1973 Hardie Ferodo Bathurst 500’s. Foreword by Colin Bond, mix of colour and black and white images.

BATHURST ROTARY MAZDAS A PHOTOGRAPHIC HISTORY This 176 page book features imagery of every Rotary Mazda that started in the Bathurst Hardie Ferodo and James Hardie races from 1969 to 1985. The book is foreworded by Don Holland.

BATHURST HARDTOP FALCONS A PHOTOGRAPHIC HISTORY This 192 page book features imagery of every Hardtop Falcon that started in the 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, and 1979 Bathurst Hardie Ferodo 1000 races.

The book is foreworded by Kevin Bartlett.

A mix of colour and black and white images.

BATHURST XD AND XE FALCONS This 160-page book features imagery of every XD and XE Falcon that started the 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983 and 1984 Bathurst 1000 races. Bob Morris and Garry Willmington have written the Forward to this colourful book with a great mix of colour and black and white images.

BATHURST GT-HO FALCONS BATHURST GROUP A COMMODORES A PHOTOGRAPHIC HISTORY 1985 TO 1992.

This 160 page book features imagery of This 192-page book features imagery of evevery GT-HO Falcon that started in the ery Group A Commodore that started in the 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991 1969, 1970, 1971 and 1972 Hardie Ferodo 500 races. – with a good mix of colour and and 1992 Bathurst 1000 races. Foreword by black and white. Foreword is by John Goss. Graham Moore with a great mix of black and white and colour images.

BATHURST GTS MONAROS BATHURST CHARGERS AND PACERS This 144-page book features imagery of This 160-page book features imagery every Monaro that started in the 1968, of every Charger and Pacer that start1969, 1970, 1973 and 1974 Bathurst ed in the 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972 and Hardie Ferodo races.

1973 Hardie Ferodo Bathurst races. The The book has co-Forewords by Bruce book’s Forwarded is by Leo Geoghegan McPhee and Colin Bond and has a good and has a good mix of colour and mix of colour and black and white images. black and white images.

To place an order via email send to: bruce@autoaction.com.au or give us call at Auto Action HQ on 03 9563 2107

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