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FROM RIDER TO TEAM OWNER – VALENTINO’S LEGACY

ROAD & TRACK

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READY TO RACE AGAIN LEE HOLDSWORTH INSISTS HE IS NOT JUST A BABYSITTER AS HE RETURNS TO THE MAIN GAME IN SUPERCARS WITH A FORD MUSTANG AT GROVE RACING.

By Paul Gover, News Editor THE TEAM’S original plan for 2022 was to run young rookie Matt Payne alongside David Reynolds, but a series of hiccups in his graduation plan cleared the way for a Lazarus-like comeback for last year’s Bathurst winning co-driver.

Lee Holdsworth is keen to prove he is not a spent force, and still has plenty to contribute to Grove Racing and Supercars, but his attitude has changed.

“I’m purely going out there to enjoy racing again,” Holdsworth reveals.

“To be honest, the objective for me is to enjoy the year. It’s not so much about revenge or anything.

“I feel the Bathurst win has ticked off a huge milestone achievement in my career. I feel very satisfied with my career now.”

With nothing to prove, Holdsworth is more relaxed than he has ever been.

But that doesn’t mean he will be cruising, or doing a farewell tour through the coming Supercars season.

“I’m still there to get results. I’m there to do the best job I can possibly do in the team.

“If that means Top 10, or Top 5, or winning

races, I’ll be pushing as hard as I can to get results.

“I wouldn’t be a race driver if I wasn’t going out there to aim for wins and to get the best possible results.”

Holdsworth admits he was crushed by his exit from Tickford Racing to clear a space for James Courtney and his cashedup Boost backers, but a number of things changed in 2021 that allowed him to stand tall again.

The Bathurst win is obvious, but few knew he had a retirement plan that promised him a solid career beyond motorsport with Australia’s largest commercial real estate services company.

“It was a pretty difficult year, last year.

Coming to an end the way it did was a shock. I really wasn’t coping with it,” Holdsworth says.

“Finally I got a great opportunity in real estate with CBRE. Then Bathurst rolled around and more doors opened. It was a pretty amazing end to 2021.”

It might look as if Holdsworth was plucked from retirement by Stephen Grove after the Mount Panorama triumph, but he had been

working on a Supercars comeback long before he went to Bathurst.

“Earlier in the year I called Steve Grove, to see what the situation was. But he didn’t really know where they were heading.

“I knew they always had the young bloke in sight. So I dismissed that. And, from probably six months into 2021, I had pretty much given up on the idea of full-time driving.

“Then, just before Bathurst, Steve got in touch with me. He expressed an interest in talking to me after Bathurst. Then he called me the Tuesday after the race.”

Most people would have jumped at the chance for a return to the main game, or expected Holdsworth to answer yes within a few seconds, but it was a tougher choice for him.

“To be honest, I did have to think about it a bit. I had a two-year deal with Walkinshaw as a co-driver and I knew if I went back to Bathurst with Chaz we would be one of the favourites to win again.

“So it was a question of going back to Bathurst to try and win again, or trying to get me back to my own performance.

“I also had a deal with CBRE to go fulltime in real estate. There were a fair few questions about how to go about it.”

Surprisingly, the tipping point was not about the Mustang opportunity with Grove Racing but Holdsworth’s ambitions after racing.

“I had closed the door on the full-time thing. But the thing that sealed my decision was that CBRE was happy for me to go part-time and Steve was happy with that too.

“I needed to clarify my role and I think that is absolutely ideal. I want to help the team to build, be along for the ride, and have some fun with it.”

But what about the future, and the prospect of keeping the seat warm for Payne in 2023?

“At this point I’m seeing it as a one-year deal. It probably depends on where Steve is at, and where I’m at with the real estate business, as to whether we make the decision to stick together for the following year. I don’t think they have anyone locked away for 2023. So it’s open for me, and it’s probably open for those guys as well.”

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LATEST NEWS

IS IT HOWARD’S WAY?

By Paul Gover SHANE HOWARD is believed to be headed for the top job at Supercars.

The current Chief Operating Officer, who is already in charge of events and motorsport, is in the box seat to become the next Chief Executive as the new RACE management team searches for a successor to Sean Seamer.

Howard is closing in on 20 years on the management team at Supercars and has

operated as interim CEO on four occasions in the past.

The Supercars management team is only returning to work this week and there is no firm date yet for Seamer’s return from a family holiday in the USA, where he is heading for a new job in 2022.

So the talk about Howard’s future is highly speculative, including details of any potential transition timing from Seamer’s reign.

However, Auto Action sources report that

he is now considered the solid favourite to become the next CEO. Howard first became involved with Supercars when he worked at the Bathurst 1000 in 1997 and his role has expanded on numerous occasions since then.

He served for the first time as interim CEO following the departure of Cameron Levick, repeated when Martin Whittaker departed, got the call-up again in 2013 when David Malone stepped down, and filled the gap

between James Warburton’s move to the Seven Network and the arrival of Seamer.

Any movement on the CEO’s position will likely have to wait until the RACE board convenes for the first time this year, at the earliest, and Howard’s operational base on the Gold Coast could create a minor hiccup.

But his office location is likely to be only a minor impediment as he has all the right credentials and experience to lead Supercars into its next era.

BATHURST 12 HOUR POSTPONED THE WORSENING Covid situation in NSW, and elsewhere, is expected to result in a delayed start to the motorsport season.

The Supercars season opener at Newcastle is now under a pandemic cloud, while the Bathurst 12-Hour is expected to be significantly delayed given its reliance on overseas drivers and teams – with a definite delay already affecting the opening event at the all-new Eastern Creek Speedway.

No decisions are expected until the new RACE board meets for the first time in 2022, sometime this week, but the NSW government is believed to be reconsidering its early motorsport plans and its multi-million dollar

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investments in the opening races at Newcastle and Mount Panorama.

Building the Newcastle track would be a huge gamble without a guaranteed crowd and Bathurst is threatened by ongoing restrictions on overseas arrivals and potential limits on attendance.

Auto Action understands the original date for the 12-Hour, on February 25-27, will be pushed back to sometime in May. The most likely date will see it run on May 13-15.

Newcastle is only considered to be “50:50” at the moment, according to one Supercars insider, but the board has another 10 days to a fortnight

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before committing to a firm timetable and the costly infrastructure work needed on the NSW street circuit.

Elsewhere, the opening meeting at the all-new Eastern Creek Speedway, scheduled for this weekend, has been delayed until February 25-26.

The famous Tamworth Country Music Festival is also going to be delayed.

Outside NSW, there is no indication – yet – of any serious threat to the Race Tasmania meeting that is scheduled to open the season for TCR, S5000 and Trans-Am categories on Feb 11-13.

But that could change quickly if Covid crack-downs threaten travel for the event at Symmons Plains.

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PIASTRI’S 2022 PLAN

By Dan McCarthy OSCAR PIASTRI has outlined to Auto Action the extensive Alpine testing program being planned for 2022 after being named as the reserve driver for the F1 team this year.

After winning the FIA Formula 2 Championship last year, Victorian Piastri will take a year on the sidelines – however he will still be incredibly busy, flying to most races, completing tests in 2021 F1 machinery, and potentially several F1 practice sessions.

“I’ll be pretty busy despite not doing that much driving – we are putting together a big testing programme,” he told AA. “It’ll be quite a lot of days considering it’s F1 testing, and it’s not particularly cheap.

“It’s going to be a good number of days – I’ll be doing some driving in some capacity.

“Probably not any race driving, but the way I’m looking at it, I want to prepare for F1 and for me, there’s not really much relevance in racing anything other than F1.

“I think it’s much more valuable to be doing test days in an F1 car, than then to be racing something else and trying to learn a new trade.”

Due to the major regulation changes in Formula 1 Piastri, will be able to test in last year’s machinery, rather than an F1 car that is a minimum of three years old.

As Piastri explained previously, he was not willing to sever his links with Alpine for a oneyear F1 deal, expressing that the loyalty has paid off with the extensive testing program not offered to a youngster for some time.

“Whilst it would have been amazing if I could have been in F1 this year, realistically, I’m not sure it would have been the right move,” he explained to AA. “Even from the outset, I didn’t have any talks with Alfa. I don’t know if my management did, but I don’t think so.

“I will never have to worry about how that situation would have played out. But there was obviously a lot of other candidates for

that seat, but also I wanted to stay loyal to Alpine as well.

“They’ve been great for me in the last two years, and putting me as reserve driver this year.

“In the last couple of years, there hasn’t been that many young reserve drivers, certainly not many young reserve drivers that are that are the sole driver in that role, so I think that speaks volumes about Alpine’s commitment to me.

“Also putting together this testing programme, ... it’s quite substantial. I don’t think it’s a programme that we would have seen for a young driver for quite some time, which is fantastic as well. So for me, it made sense to stay with Alpine, even if it did mean a year on the sidelines.”

At this stage Piastri is unsure if he will be attending all races as he may be on the sim at the Enstone factory.

“As the reserve driver, obviously, I’ll be physically needed at a lot of the races,

certainly all the flyaway races” he said.

“We’re still discussing with Alpine what the plan is for the European races – whether I do sim support on the Friday of each race weekend and then just remain available.

“Whether I do ‘race support’ for some of the European rounds or whether I just attend all the races, regardless of where they are, remains in discussion.”

Piastri may make his practice debut this year if Formula 1 introduce the young driver FP1 sessions spoken about for many months.

If they don’t he is unsure if he will take part in a practice session.

“It mainly depends on what’s happening with these young driver FP1s,” he said. “From what I understand, there’s going to be at least a couple so hopefully… I’d like to think that I’ll be in those – I don’t know how many exactly that is yet.

“Two or three would be would be good, but besides that, I don’t really know if there’ll

SUPERCARS TELECOMMUNICATION SPONSOR FIGHT

THE SUPERCARS Championship is acting as a battleground for telecommunication companies as Boost Mobile, Optus and Vodafone fight for prominent sponsorship within the category.

Late last year, outspoken Boost Mobile founder Peter Adderton announced that his company would be expanding its deal with

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Erebus Motorsport. In 2021, Boost Mobile sponsored Brodie Kostecki’s #99 Holden Commodore – however in 2022 Adderton’s company will also sponsor Will Brown’s machine, taking the naming rights sponsor role with the team.

Since then, Auto Action has heard that Optus intends to step up its involvement

and sponsorship with the team it is already supporting – the Clayton based operation, Walkinshaw Andretti United.

It appears that this news has made its way up north into Queensland as Triple Eight Race Engineering has reportedly got Vodafone back onboard.

Vodafone were the naming rights sponsor

of Triple Eight Race Engineering from 2008 to 2012, before Red Bull took over that mantle.

This deal appears to have been done, frustratingly, for Boost Mobile boss Adderton– Boost Mobile has been a supporter of Super2 Series winner Broc Feeney for a number of years.

However, with Feeney’s promotion into Supercars – replacing seven-time champion Jamie Whincup – he has been forced to end his ties with Boost Mobile.

A frustrated Adderton took to social media all but confirming the Vodafone announcement.

“People are asking me, did Red Bull Ampol Racing and Vodafone force Broc Feeney to end our long-time relationship? The answer is YES,” Adderton wrote.

“Even though we supported the Triple Eight Race Engineering Super2 car last year, the Triple Eight management didn’t bother to pick up the phone and ask us if we’d be willing to support their team so we could continue our long-time relationship with Broc.

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IT’S TRUE – A STATE GOVERNMENT HAS BEEN AS GOOD AS ITS WORD, AND THE TOP CLASS REPLACEMENT FOR PARRAMATTA SPEEDWAY IS READY TO GO ...

IT’S JUST GOING TO BE DELAYED BY A FEW WEEKS!

By PAUL GOVER and DAN MCCARTHY

be any more lined up. But certainly, for those young driver FP1s that F1 wants to introduce, I’ll be doing them.”

With Esteban Ocon already signed for 2023 and Fernando unlikely to give up his seat if the car proves to be a frontrunner this year, AA asked the 20-yearold if Alpine would assist him in getting a seat with another F1 team.

“To be honest I don’t know,” he said.

“It’s very early to start thinking about those kind of situations. I think we’ll get a much better read on that once the season’s begun.

“I’ve made it clear, I want to be on the grid next year, and I feel like I deserve to be. I’m working towards doing everything I can to do that.”

In recent weeks Piastri was also named as the FIA Rookie of the Year after winning the F2 title on debut with an impressive six wins, and four successive Feature races to end the year.

SYDNEY WILL get its speedway mojo back, but not this weekend as originally planned.

The opening of Eastern Creek Speedway with a two-night sprintcar show was set to signal the start of a new era of dirt-track racing in the harbour city, close to two years after the closure of the former Parramatta City Raceway.

However, the event has been postponed to February 26 due to the latest wave of COVID-19 across the nation.

“Despite the best efforts of Sydney Metro, NSW Office of Sport, Greater Sydney Parklands and the contractor, Abergeldie, to remain on track for the completion of our brand new Eastern Creek speedway and opening event on January 14,” a statement from the Eastern Creek Raceway read.

“The latest wave of COVID-19 in NSW has unfortunately impacted on the construction schedule and therefore regretfully postponing its opening to February 26.

“This date has been selected to align with the interstate speedway calendar and already scheduled competitions, whilst also allowing some time to ensure resourcing capacities can be met for construction requirements and any COVID risk management assessments.

“This is as disappointing news to us as it will be to many of you, however

we want to ensure that the opening of the Eastern Creek speedway offers a spectator and competitor experience that delivers on the calibre of the newly constructed track and facilities.

“We thank the NSW Government for its help and support in these challenging times.”

“We look forward to offering unforgettable events with the best racing at the best venue and will continue to keep you updated with information on the progression of construction and timeline for opening.

“You can be assured that the wait will be worth it.

Although the launch event postponement is a shame, the Sydney facility will not disappoint when racing kicks off.

The NSW state government’s multimillion-dollar promise to build an all-new track to replace the Parramatta speedway site (that was reclaimed for use by emergency services) has been fulfilled, with local drivers recently undertaking some early test laps all enthusing about the track’s design, surface, and facilities.

The track has been built to be the best in the country, completing the package at Sydney Motorsport Park alongside the circuit-racing track and drag strip.

The clay course is tucked behind the drag strip, on the opposite side of the site from the road-racing layout.

Promotion of the track is in the hands of Brisbane veterans John and Kathy Kelly,

who have had a long-term commitment to Archerfield in Queensland.

The Kellys believe the bumper entry which nominated for the opener, is a reflection of the appetite for top-class speedway racing in Sydney.

“It sets the scene for what promises to (ultimately) be a great opening night at this wonderful new facility,” says John Kelly.

“We are not sure what numbers we will finish up with, but fans will see a superb return to Sprintcar racing in Sydney after such a long absence.”

American sprintcar star Carson Macedo, third in last year’s World Of Outlaws series, was to have headlined the 50-plus entry for this week’s two-day launch meeting.

For Macedo, coming off the back of his best-yet season in the Outlaws, the new track is a boomer.

“It’s a great facility in every detail and is a magnificent construction enterprise by those involved,” says Macedo.

“It’s a wonderful acquisition for the sport. This would have to be one of the best, if not the best, speedway facilities in the world.

“You can see how the team have gone the extra mile with everything from the amenities to the grandstand and the track configuration. It’s fantastic and I can’t wait to race here.”

All tickets pre-purchased for this weekend’s event will be fully refunded in the coming weeks.

Adderton says he has no hard feelings towards Feeney as he understands the 19-year-old’s position – however he is angered by the other parties involved.

“We help kick start the careers of young drivers, support them when no one else will (looking at you Vodafone), and to have them steal them when they make it,” he continued.

“I have complete respect for Broc. He was put in a situation out of his control, but anyone who supports Triple Eight this year and/or Vodafone is only hurting young drivers coming through – as why would we bother ... so show them they can’t treat people like this will ya.”

It is expected that Red Bull will remain as Triple Eight’s main sponsor, with Vodafone jumping onboard as the second-biggest backer on the Queensland-built ZB Commodores.

Adderton’s statements further underline the view that Optus will get more involved with WAU. Dan McCarthy

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STOP / GO

DICK JOHNSON Racing driver Will Davison has tested positive for COVID-19 along with partner Riana Crehan. Davison is the first Supercars driver to contract the virus, despite the category dealing with several COVID-related challenges over the past two years. The pair isolated on the Gold Coast.

Both are fully vaccinated. This development comes as case numbers skyrocket across the country after the relaxation of restrictions and the arrival of the Omicron strain. JN

ARMOR ALL will continue as a central partner of the Supercars Championship for a further two years. The company initially became the Official Car Care Products Sponsor of the championship in 2005 and has since awarded over $1 million in prize money through various awards covering qualifying, top 10 shootouts, and races. Looking ahead, ARMOR ALL will continue as the Official Car Care Products Sponsor and Naming Rights Sponsor of qualifying and pole awards for the Supercars Championship, along with the Super2 Series. JN

A TEASER trailer has been released for the third season of the Inside Line docuseries, which will premiere this year. The upcoming series will detail Triple Eight Race Engineering’s successful 2021 season, highlighted by Shane van Gisbergen’s title and the farewell of Jamie Whincup as a full-time driver.

Titled Inside Line – A season with Triple Eight, viewers can expect to see plenty of team figures Roland Dane, Mark Dutton, David Cauchi, Wes McDougall, and Jess Dane. JN

SEASON 2022 TAKES SHAPE SEVERAL AUSTRALIAN motorsport categories have released their calendars for 2022 - S5000, Touring Car Masters and the Porsche Carrera Cup Australia Championship all revealing schedules for the coming season.

All schedules feature familiar venues and new additions, as well as some surprises…

S5000

AS AUTO ACTION predicted, The Bend Motorsport Park has officially confirmed it will host a round of the Supercars Championship in 2022. The South Australian circuit was initially left off the schedule for next year with one round listed as TBA. Circuit owner Sam Shahin confirmed that Supercars will hold a round at The Bend on July 29-31, filling in that TBA slot on the original 2022 calendar. RV

FORMER PORSCHE Carrera Cup Australia and international open wheel racer Thomas Maxwell will return to competition in 2022 after securing a Super2 Series seat with Matt White Motorsport. The 23-year-old has not driven since 2019, sitting out the last two seasons due to budget constraints after finishing ninth in Carrera Cup with Sonic Motor Racing Services. Maxwell has tested the MW Motorsport Nissan Altima at Winton Raceway and will debut on the streets of Newcastle from March 4-6, 2022. JN

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The S5000 open wheelers will battle out both the Australian Drivers’ Championship and Tasman Series in 2022, the category committing to at least nine rounds of racing overall. The Drivers’ Championship calendar is made up of six rounds, while the Tasman Series will visit at least three iconic locations.

S5000 competition for the Motorsport Australia Gold Star award will commence in Tasmania from February 12-13 as part of Race Tasmania.

A world audience will view the third round when the S5000 championship takes to the Albert Park circuit as a support to the 2022 Australian Grand Prix.

S5000 makes its previously announced debut in the Northern Territory in June at the Darwin Triple Crown as a Supercars support.

The six-round Gold Star season will then conclude at Sandown Raceway in September.

A six-week break occurs before the V8powered machines return to the track for the Tasman Series.

The three-round series will commence on the streets of the Gold Coast, as big open wheel cars return the famous street circuit that played host to IndyCar for nearly two decades.

The Bathurst International will follow two weeks later, followed by a third event at the

final Supercars round at Sydney Motorsport Park from November 19-20.

Discussions are currently underway with promoters in New Zealand with a view to adding events across the Tasman later in the year, or in early 2023, to conclude the Tasman Series.

2022 S5000 AUSTRALIAN DRIVERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP

PORSCHE CARRERA CUP AUSTRALIA CHAMPIONSHIP

1 – SURFERS PARADISE STREET CIRCUIT OCTOBER 29-30 (Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500) 2 – MOUNT PANORAMA, BATHURST NOVEMBER 11-13 (Supercheap Auto Bathurst International) 3 – SYDNEY MOTORSPORT PARK November 18-20 (Supercars Championship)

The 2022 Porsche Carrera Cup Championship will be held across eight rounds, as one of the primary support categories to the Supercars Championship.

The one-make series which will debut its new 992 generation Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car next season on the streets of Albert Park as part of the support card for the Formula 1 Grand Prix. Round 6 will be arguably the most anticipated of the season, taking place on the iconic Mount Panorama Circuit.

The season will conclude under lights at the Sydney Motorsport Park in mid-November.

TOURING CAR MASTERS

Finally, the TCM calendar has been confirmed, the category featuring at a mixture of events throughout its six-round schedule.

Kicking off the season will be a round on the streets of Newcastle for the first time since 2018, TCM supporting Supercars for the Newcastle 500.

TCM teams will join Supercars again in North Queensland for the Townsville 500, breaking another long absence given that the category has not raced there since its maiden appearance in 2018. Queensland fans will get a double dose of TCM in 2022, Queensland Raceway joining Townsville on the calendar.

TCM returns to Mount Panorama from November 11-13 for the season finale as part of the Bathurst International.

Josh Nevett and Dan McCarthy

1– SYMMONS PLAINS RACEWAY (Race Tasmania)

February 11-13

2 – PHILLIP ISLAND GRAND PRIX CIRCUIT March 18-20 (Shannons Motorsport Australia Championships) 3 – ALBERT PARK GRAND PRIX CIRCUIT (Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix)

April 7-10

4 – TBC (NSW)

May 2022

5 – HIDDEN VALLEY RACEWAY (Darwin Triple Crown)

June 17-19

6 – SANDOWN MOTOR RACEWAY September 16-18 (Shannons Motorsport Australia Championships)

TASMAN SERIES

2022 PORSCHE PAYNTER DIXON CARRERA CUP AUSTRALIA 1 – ALBERT PARK GRAND PRIX CIRCUIT (Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix) 2 – HIDDEN VALLEY RACEWAY (Darwin Triple Crown)

April 7-10 June 17-19

3 – REID PARK STREET CIRCUIT, TOWNSVILLE July 8-10 (Townsville 500) 4 – THE BEND MOTORSPORT PARK (The Bend SuperSprint)

July 29-31

5 – SANDOWN RACEWAY, VICTORIA (Sandown SuperSprint)

August 19-21

6 – MOUNT PANORAMA, BATHURST (Bathurst 1000)

October 6-9

7 – SURFERS STREET CIRCUIT (Gold Coast 500) 8 – SYDNEY MOTORSPORT PARK (Sydney Super 600)

October 29-30 November 18-20

2022 TOURING CAR MASTERS 1 – NEWCASTLE STREET CIRCUIT (Newcastle 500)

March 4-6

T2 –TBC (NSW)

May 2022

3 – REID PARK CIRCUIT, TOWNSVILLE (Townsville 500)

July 8-10

4 – QUEENSLAND RACEWAY, IPSWICH August 6-7 (Shannons Motorsport Australia Championships) 5 – SANDOWN RACEWAY September 17-18 (Shannons Motorsport Australian Championships 6 – MOUNT PANORAMA, BATHURST November 11-13 (Bathurst International)

BJR ASSESSING SUPER2 RETURN BRAD JONES, founder and team owner of Brad Jones Racing told Auto Action late last year that he is investigating the possibility of re-entering the second-tier Super2 Series.

From 2011 through until 2020, Jones ran at least one car in the second-tier Super2 Series running as many as three from 2015-2018.

In 2018 Jones ran Super2 Commodores for three 2020 Supercars drivers – Zane Goddard and two of his current drivers Macauley Jones and Jack Smith.

However, in 2021 Josh Fife elected to move to Matthew White Motorsport leaving Jones without a Super2 driver for the first time in over a decade.

In recent years Jones has also fielded drivers in the Super3 Series (formerly known as the V8 Touring Car Series) including for Smith and Madeline Stewart.

This year, as first revealed by AA, Jones fielded a VE Commodore for Elly Morrow at Sydney Motorsport Park.

Late in 2021 Jones suggested that he is looking at re-entering the second-tier competition as he has always enjoyed taking on promising young talents.

“Maybe,” he said when asked. “Certainly, we’re having a look at where we’re at and how it’s going. I mean, I’m definitely always looking at it.

“I like the idea of helping young people move forward in the sport and that’s part and parcel of that so quite possibly, but I haven’t made a final decision yet.”

Jones was asked if the introduction of the Gen3 regulations will make the Super2 Series a less viable option for young drivers.

“No, I think it will be just as useful because these cars are hard to drive,” he expressed.

“It’s fundamentally going to be similar in a lot of ways. Super2 needs to be the pathway – one of the things that makes it entertaining for everyone is its difficulty, that’s what mixes it up.” Dan McCarthy

EVANS MINI MAYBE BY INVITATION...

By Paul Gover, News Editor THE ONLY driver capable of preventing an Ashes-style whitewash in this year’s Australian Rally Championship is yet to commit to the series.

Eli Evans has a proven track record in forest fighting, after claiming four championship crowns using four different cars, but is not sure his Mini racer is ready to do battle.

He believes the Mini can be fast enough to challenge the Bates boys, defending champion Harry and his younger brother Lewis, but questions its reliability against the proven pair of Toyota Yaris GRs from the Canberra crew.

“I’d like to do some selected ARC rounds, but the priority is more testing. We’re still in the early stages of the Mini’s development,” Evans tells Auto Action.

Ironically, local development of the AP4 version of the Mini has been underway for close to two years and Evans showed it can be fast with a series of quickest times in a Victorian state championship event at the end of last year.

With the first leg of this year’s ARC in Canberra coming up fast, Evans is still not going to be rushed.

“We have to prioritise events where we can get the car sorted. We haven’t done many competitive kilometres with the car,” Evans says.

“Even though the car has been around for a few years, it hasn’t had much action. We’ve only done five events in it, starting in 2018.

“It’s been slow progress, with no rush and no urgency. We decided to get it ready when it was ready.

“The latest event was in Victoria in December. It set two fastest stage times. We led at the halfway mark but then had some boost issues with the engine, but still held onto second place.”

The Mini was chosen as Evans’ latest rally weapon after he started seriously in the

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Image: Wishart Media sport with Subaru, before winning national championships driving a Honda Jazz (twice), Citroen DS3 and Skoda Fabia. Ironically, he used the Mini for the first event in his Skoda championship year in 2018.

The basics of the AP4 car began with a car from Force Motorsport in New Zealand, then switched to Evans Motorsport, and now Milldun Motorsport in Pakenham, operating from the old Evans’ workshop.

“We chose the Mini because it looked different, and a bit quirky. We believe it’s the only AP4 four-wheel drive Mini in the world,” says Evans.

“I like that it’s different. And I’ve heard all the old stories. It’s cool to hear how much history the Mini has in motorsport.”

But he’s also looking to the future with this year’s ARC series and a challenge to the domination Toyota GR team.

“It’s probably 50:50 that we’re going to compete. Before Canberra we’ve got a couple of tests we want to do. If it’s at a level where I think we can compete, then we’ll go to Canberra.”

Evans has another new ingredient for the Mini program, taking his close friend Adam Wright – they shared a house for more than five years – as his co-driver.

“It’s cool to have a close mate in the car with me. The more events we do together, the better the chemistry gets and the better we’ll do.”

But his focus is on Harry and Lewis Bates, in their father Neal’s factory Toyota team.

“Obviously, they are the leading team and the ones to beat. Once we get the Mini sorted, and get on top of the reliability, then hopefully we can compete with them.

“They’ve got two arms and two legs and four wheels, same as me, so I don’t see any reason that we cannot compete with the Mini,” Evans says.

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By Paul Gover, News Editor A THREE-DAY Carrera Cup carnival will kick-start a new era in the Porsche onemake series in Australia.

The invitation-only event at Sydney Motorsport Park at the end of the month is only open to teams and drivers who have committed to the latest version of Porsche’s professional racer.

They will receive their all-new Carrera Cup cars in a group hand-over that’s planned to answer all the questions of the next generation of Cup competition in Australia.

“There will be a technical hand-over to the teams and then a full-scale test at SMP. We’ve done handovers in the past, but nothing on this scale,” Porsche Cars Australia’s motorsport spokesman, Angus Thompson, tells Auto Action.

“It will run from January 2325, starting with a full-scale technical backgrounder and then moving into the track test. It’s an opportunity to

pass on the technical knowhow on the new car. There is a lot to talk about.”

The event is regarded as crucial for the Cup contest, as Australia transitions to a racer that is based on the latest Type 992 of Porsche’s 911 GT3.

Australia will have the biggest Carrera Cup field in the world, and even bigger than last year’s Supercup competition in Europe that served as the introduction of the 992.

A total of 32 race cars will be handed to teams, with Porsche landing another two for use in its driver training programs.

“The bulk of the cars have arrived and the last ones will be here in time for the handover,” says Thompson.

The technical briefing will be run by Stephen Robertson, Porsche’s sporting and technical manager, and there will be other presentations from German experts and tyre supplier Michelin.

Factory-backed Supercup racer and former Carrera Cup champion, Jaxon Evans, will also play a pivotal role.

“He is based on the Gold Coast and will be coming down for the event. He has invaluable experience in racing the new car,” says Thompson.

Teams will get their cars, technical package, spares and rims during the hand-over, but with one big difference.

“In the past the cars have all been white. My understanding is that they are all silver this time, like the car we revealed at The Bend last year and had on display at Bathurst in December.”

The 2022 Carrera Cup competition is scheduled to run over eight rounds, starting from the Australian Grand Prix meeting at Albert Park in April and finishing at Sydney Motorsport Park at the final Supercars championship round in November.

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DRAG RACING AUSTRALIAN NATIONALS MOVED TO SYDNEY ANDRA’S AUSTRALIAN Nationals event will be moved to Sydney in 2022 as a one off.

The 52nd running of the prestigious event will take place on February 11 and 12 at Sydney Dragway following unavoidable delays to the finalisation of track resurfacing at the event’s usual venue, Calder Park Raceway.

Continuous COVID lockdowns in Victoria have made delivering planned upgrades to Calder next to impossible in time for the February event.

The venue will feature on future ANDRA drag racing calendars later in the year with the Australian Nationals also scheduled to return there in 2023.

The 52nd Australian Nationals will be promoted by Peter Pisalidis with support from Sydney Dragway and the team behind the Australian Top Fuel Championship. The Nationals will be sanctioned as usual by the Australian National Drag Racing Association (ANDRA).

“The Australian Nationals has a special place in the heart of Australian drag racers, and the show must go on,” Pisalidis said.

“Holding the 2022 Australian Nationals at Sydney Dragway is so exciting for all the right reasons.

The Friday/Saturday event will feature racing for all Championship drag racing categories, including the Australian Drag Racing Championships, the Summit Racing Equipment Sportsman Series, and the Burson Auto Parts Australian Top Fuel Championship.

All categories will compete for prestigious Gold ANDRA Christmas Trees. “Sydney Dragway is set to provide a fantastic backdrop for the Australian Nationals in February, and we can’t wait to see how this great show comes together under the promotion of Peter with the support of the Australian Top Fuel Championship team,” ANDRA Chief Executive Officer, Brett Stevens said.

“With everything from Australia’s best sportsman racers to Top Doorslammers, Top Fuel Motorcycles and Top Fuel Dragsters, this event will not disappoint!”

S5000 CHAMP HOPES FOR AUSSIE CAREER AUSTRALIAN DRIVERS Champion Joey Mawson has given up on the international dream, instead electing to settle down and pursue a career in Australia.

At a young age, the New South Welshman tried to turn his Formula 1 dream into a reality, beating Mick Schumacher to the 2016 ADAC Formula 4 Championship along the way.

He got as high as the FIA Formula 3 Championship (then known as GP3) taking podiums in France and Russia in 2018, but in a struggling team. In 2019 he moved into tintop racing, competing in the global Porsche Supercup, and again claimed a podium during the season – however it was a tough couple of seasons for Mawson.

Mawson returned to Australia early last year and secured the drive in the lead Form700/ Alabar Team BRM entry in the first S5000 Gold Star Championship – and became the inaugural winner.

Mawson is now settled ‘Down Under’ and after recently completing a Supercars test with Brad Jones Racing, wants to make a career from racing in Australia.

“The way the world’s is now during COVID, I’ve told myself that I won’t be interested in

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going back to Europe – at least until we’re really back to normality,” Mawson told Auto Action.

“Obviously with the current situation, the way it is going on in the world, it doesn’t look like that’s going to be any time soon.

“It’s very much going towards the path of making a career back home in Australia now.”

Mawson now envisages a professional career in the Supercars Championship at some point, moving back into tin tops.

“The plan is obviously to stay in Australia for the next few years, and hopefully to earn a living – out of racing Supercars,” he said.

“In Australia that is where you’ve got to be – it’s the focus of motorsport in Australia.

That’s where I’m aiming to be in few years’ time.”

Mawson believes the ideal situation would be to get the drive off the back of a great co-driver performance, but suggests Super2 is most likely.

“In an ideal world that would be the best pathway – to start in endurance drives before, moving into a full time drive. I’m definitely open to that idea,” he said.

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“Because of the Super Licence and also having to right foot brake, Super2 is a good option.

“I was left foot braking at the test, but in Supercars you’re really meant to right foot brake.

“If the new regulations end up going towards the paddle shift and auto blip, then obviously that suits drivers like myself who have grown up left foot braking my whole career.

“The way the current Supercar is now, you got to have some experience to be able to right foot brake and adapt to changing the gears and so on.”

“The plan is obviously to do at least Season 2 of S5000 this year and then maybe look towards the Supercar direction in 2023, ideally in Super2.”

When asked if he was hunting a 2022 Supercars co-drive Mawson replied: “If it came along this year, I would be more than happy to do it – it’d be a big step, but no doubt, I would be able to learn a lot and absorb a lot in before making that full time transition.”

Dan McCarthy

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NEW S5000 TYRE FOR 2022 SEASON HOOSIER IS set to introduce a new tyre for the 2022 S5000 Australian Drivers’ Championship, designed to improve racing on track.

The tyre does not use a new compound, but simply a revised (front) construction based on the feedback given by drivers and teams throughout the 2021 championship and Tasman Series.

The new tyre construction is said to give drivers more feel when the car. is at turn-in.

“The plan in 2022 will be the exact same compound,” Business Development Manager at Hoosier Tire Australia Mitch Dumesny said to Auto Action.

“It is partly what the drivers are used to, but the construction is very different.

“What Hoosier has done to the construction is make it (the tyre) switch on bit faster and have a little bit more overall grip.

“We’ve also made some changes

to the front construction, just to give the drivers a little bit more feedback and overall feel.

“What it will do is create a wider sweet spot for the tyre. It will give drivers more feedback through the car so they can feel when the car is going to let go on them – hopefully it makes it a little bit more exciting.”

Since the S5000s first ran on the Hoosier tyre drivers have reported that when cold the cars have very little grip – it is hoped that this new construction will improve that.

“They will 100% get up to temperature a lot quicker,” he said.

“Hoosier is just taking it in small steps and just fine tuning it as we go.

“Hopefully we can get a good season under wraps in 2022 and really get some solid feedback we can take back to Hoosier.

“With a lot of racing we’ll be bringing over the tyres suit, and we can hopefully bring some different alternatives at the same time for

GRM to look at and there’s great things to come.

“They’ll still be definitely be difficult to drive but it’ll take away the opportunity for the massive errors.

“Drivers can have a bit of a hiccup and catch it whereas this year they were spearing off the track.

“There’ll be more confidence to dive under other cars and it’ll make more exciting racing.”

AA asked if they were investigating softer compound tyres going forwards.

“At the moment we’re happy just to leave it where it is” Dumesny expressed. “Like I said before, just take small steps.

“Further down the track we might look at a softer compound that does start to deteriorate and make things a little bit more interesting, but without doing a lot of testing you don’t want to take a step and take a step that’s too big.”

Dan McCarthy

TAYLOR EXTREME E CHAMP AUSSIE MOLLY Taylor has taken victory in the inaugural all-electric Extreme E world championship alongside her co-driver Johan Kristoffersson.

Despite only finishing fourth in the final encounter three final victories over the three rounds was enough to score them the title on countback.

It was a nail biting finale in which the Rosberg X Racing pair managed to bring home there ailing car in a good enough position to take the crown.

For Taylor it has already proved to be a great platform to springboard her international career, taking on drives with M-Sport Ford in the WRC junior categories and even the Dakar Rally.

Taylor started in the final before handing over to Kristoffersson to complete the race.

The four-time World Rallycross Champion credited Taylor for keeping her head and remaining calm and fast on the final day of competition.

“Molly drove excellently today, managing the challenging conditions and I knew that all that remained for me was to not make any mistakes and bring the car home safely,” Kristoffersson said.

“We’re delighted to be champions and look forward to celebrating with the team.

“It’s fantastic; this has been a new racing series, new team, and new locations but we’ve worked so hard to get here, and to be Champions really feels amazing.”

Taylor commented that she had her eyes on the big picture and put the victory down to the team’s effort over the season.

“It feels amazing to be the first-ever championship winners of Extreme E,” she said. “This season has been brutal, racing in some of the most remote parts of the world in truly extreme conditions but we’ve worked together as a team and we’re delighted with this result.

“The nerves were definitely there today but Johan and I kept our eyes on the final prize, and the whole team effort across many months has brought us to this point today.”

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The team played a pivotal role in the outcome, performing an essential inverter change which was completed just moments before the start of the final (read full report on p50.)

Rosberg X Racing CEO, Nico Rosberg the 2016 Formula 1 Championship commented after the race about the incredible job both his drivers have achieved.

“We are so delighted to be crowned the inaugural Extreme E Champions and I am really proud of the entire Rosberg X Racing team,” he said.

“The team has worked so hard all season and performed consistently, racing in some of the world’s most remote locations. To be Champions is such an honour.

“A massive congratulations to our drivers, Molly Taylor and Johan Kristoffersson, who have been excellent all season.

“We came into Extreme E to raise awareness of climate change, and promote sustainability, but also as a racing team, we want to win and so we will remember this feeling forever.” Dan McCarthy

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QR PLANS ANNOUNCED WHOLESALE CHANGES are underway at Queensland Raceway under new owner Tony Quinn, renders of planned upgrades topping a list of recent updates and developments.

Improvements are set to be made to the Paddock and pit garages as well as the café and toilet facilities.

In addition, track resurfacing works have been undertaken to ensure that the Ipswich circuit remains an attractive proposition for event organisers into the future.

Queensland Raceway General Manager Neil Lewis has offered an insight into what the future holds for the circuit in an open letter.

“This week the staff have had a planning and strategy meeting with TQ to discuss what’s to come and where we are heading,” Lewis’ letter began.

“First things first, all of our current customers can be assured they will continue to enjoy the awesome events we provide.

“We will build on our current offering with some major improvements in the works to make them better for you, the entrant or spectator.

“Those that have attended the venue in the last six weeks will have already seen things changing, between the toilets getting a much-needed renovation to the sandstone blocks for seating in the shade to the new paths and the generally cleaner space we now have.”

The letter included renders of some of the planned future improvements, which Lewis believed would transform QR into a top-class facility.

“I am pleased to say this is nowhere near the end of what’s to come,” Lewis continued.

“The pictures attached to this post… is a look into the next 6-8 months. Facilities that we can all be proud of and that will establish Queensland Raceway as the premier motorsport venue in Queensland.

“I can’t share a whole lot more but let me just say this isn’t the end of it. Track upgrades are in discussion, better lighting and many, many other things are all on the table.

“We can’t wait to welcome you to a Queensland Raceway you can be proud of. We are also very excited for what is to come and what Queensland Raceway can provide to the greater motorsport communities in Australia.”

Queensland Raceway is set to welcome both the Australian Superbike Championship (March 11-13) and Shannons Motorsport Australia Championship (August 5-7) in 2022 and will look to stake a claim for a Supercars Championship round in 2023.

The venue also aims to re-establish various club events, boosting the regularity of on-track activity. Josh Nevett

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TOYOTA’S TCR RACER REVEALED TOYOTA’S NEW Corolla TCR machine has broken cover, revealed by Toyota Gazoo Racing Argentina during testing.

The Japanese marque will join global TCR competition in 2022, with a car that reflects its roadgoing Corolla sedan.

Built and developed by Toyota Gazoo Racing Argentina, the first prototype completed two tests on December 15 and 20.

The program was largely successful, taking the project one step closer to TCR homologation and WSC certification which allows the Corolla TCR to compete in series across the

world, including FIA WTCR and TCR Australia.

Toyota Gazoo Racing Argentina holds the exclusive rights to produce and market the Toyota Corolla Sedan TCR, with its first laps being viewed by WSC Technical Department representative Massimo Garbin.

The first laps were driven by the President of Toyota Argentina and Chief Officer of Toyota Gazoo Racing Latin America Daniel Herrero, who was left impressed by the Corolla TCR. “The first impression of the Corolla TCR was outstanding,” Herrero remarked.

“The tests we have done with

Matías (Rossi) were demanding but positive. I liked the engine response, cornering speed and braking. I am proud to have been the very first one to drive it. I can assure you that the car has great potential.”

Factory driver Matias Rossi, a winner of nine titles in all Argentine Touring Car categories in the past 15 years, also had a stint behind the wheel.

WSC Group President Marcello Lotti is excited by the potential of the latest TCR model.

“I am delighted to see that the Toyota Corolla Sedan TCR has successfully undergone its first test sessions entering in

the development phase of the ambitious programme carried on

by Toyota Gazoo Racing,” “The car is beautiful and looking at the results previously achieved by the team in other categories I am sure it will quickly prove its potential.

“I can’t wait to see it taking the track for the actual racing.

Considering the appeal of the Toyota brand I believe that soon we will see a lot of Corolla TCR cars racing on the tracks all over the world.”

The Toyota Corolla TCR will make its competition debut later this year.

Rhys Vandersyde

BRISBANE AIRPORT CIRCUIT IN THE WORKS THE BRISBANE Airport Corporation (BAC) is on the lookout for a track and event operator for its exciting new project – the BNE Auto Mall, a racetrack situated just 10km out of Brisbane, next to the city airport.

The 51.3-hectare precinct will contain a two and half kilometre performance circuit which will be able to host a range of motorsport and track experiences.

The venue has been designed by five-time Supercars champion Mark Skaife in conjunction with Motorsport Australia, the FIA and motorsport circuit designers iEDM. It also contains a dedicated slalom area, manoeuvring course, skid pan and a 4WD experience area. It will also be home to iconic automotive brands and a range of industries including retail, hospitality, entertainment, innovation and education.

The track is scheduled to officially open in 2024, with BAC calling for expressions of interest from businesses with experience in managing entertainment facilities as big as the planned Brisbane venue. The successful party will have exclusive rights to the venue.

BAC CEO Gert-Jan de Graaff is confident that the project will revolutionise the automotive industry in Australia.

“Opening in 2024, BNE Auto Mall is the largest, most visionary, and eagerly anticipated mixed-use development of its kind in Australia, and it will be a game-changer when it comes to the way in which people buy and experience motor

OSCAR’S ROAD TO F1 WITH OSCAR PIASTRI WELCOME TO 2022, EVERYONE!

vehicles,” Graaff said.

“While aviation is our primary purpose, we have always strongly believed that Brisbane Airport is a destination within itself and so much more than just an airport.

“This landmark automotive precinct is proof of that, as it will provide exponential benefits for Brisbane and for Queensland well into the future.

“I have no doubt that the expansive scope of this Expression of Interest will generate excitement and encourage innovative thinking that will help shape this unique, world-class automotive destination.”

Likewise Motorsport Australia CEO Eugene Arocca believes the facility will have a positive impact on motorsport around the nation.

“To have a state-of-the-art facility like this in Brisbane is a significant

boost for motorsport in Queensland and Australia,” Arocca said.

“This particular facility will do wonders for grassroots motorsport and for people looking to take their first steps into the sport via track days and other non-speed events.

“The fact that it is so close to the city makes it very accessible for people from all walks of life and I think it’s a wonderful opportunity for an events business looking to expand their brand.

“There are endless opportunities with this precinct, and I am looking forward to seeing it develop, open and support motorsport well into the future.”

Interested businesses looking at running the facility have until Friday January 28 to submit their EOI. Dan McCarthy

AFTER A spaced-out season, it was a hectic end to 2021 with the F1 Young Driver Test following the final round in Abu Dhabi, then the FIA Prize Giving Ceremony in Paris before being lucky enough to land back in Melbourne a few days before Christmas.

The test was excellent. It was my first time in Alpine’s 2021 A521, my first time working with the actual race team (as opposed to the test team), and my first time on track with other cars and drivers, including stars like Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo.

The test is pretty controlled. We ran to a demanding schedule, spending the morning getting up to speed and testing various set-ups, some longer runs in the afternoon, then switching back to qualifying runs at the end of the day – the runs on high-grip softs and full power always the most fun!

In all honesty, it was difficult to tell the difference between the A521 and the older RS18 as I hadn’t driven the old car in a few months and, coming from F2, the F1 cars are in such a different league. But I definitely could feel the power difference, and it was a big step up.

Overall, I did 131 laps for the day and finished third quickest. I was pretty happy with my performance and working closely with a highly talented group of people in the Alpine F1 team.

It was a pretty good way to kick off the next stage in my career, but there again, any day you get to drive an F1 car, it’s always going to be cool.

The FIA Prize Giving Ceremony in Paris was interesting, coming only four days after the Abu Dhabi race; Lewis Hamilton and Toto Wolff didn’t appear while I got to sit at the same table as Michael Masi!

The F2 trophy was known, but the Rookie of the Year award was a lovely surprise. To have my name listed alongside other winners such as Max, Charles Leclerc, and Alex Albon is a real honour.

I landed back in Melbourne a couple of days before Christmas, and it’s been great catching up with my entire family and friends, having not been back since last January.

RAIDILLON AND EAU ROUGE HEADLINE SPA TRACK UPGRADES PHOTOS HAVE been released revealing the works in progress on the iconic Raidillon and Eau Rouge sections of Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps.

Enlarged run-offs are being constructed at both Raidillon (Turns 3 and 4) and Eau Rouge (Turn 2) with the aim of improving safety, as Spa looks to obtain FIA and FIM official approval to host motorcycle endurance events.

At Eau Rouge, the rails are set to be moved to create a larger run-off area, reducing the risk of harm after drivers and riders exit the track.

Furthermore, both the left part (Turn 3) and top (Turn 4) of Raidillon will also receive expanded tarmac runoff areas.

The section of the track in question has seen several serious incidents over the years, most recently Williams Formula 1 reserve driver Jack Aitken sustained fractures to his collarbone and a vertebra in a multi-car smash at Eau Rouge in the 2021 Spa 24 Hours.

W Series drivers Ayla Agren and Beitske Visser were also hospitalised last year.

Back in 2019, French Formula 2 driver Anthoine Hubert was killed in a horrific incident that also seriously injured Juan Manuel Correa.

Subsequently the issue has been addressed as part of a comprehensive overhaul of both the Spa track and its infrastructure.

Elsewhere on the track, the run-off at Turn 1 has been enlarged with the addition of a gravel trap.

Turn 6 and Turn 7 will gain larger and more

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importantly gravel-swapped run-offs, as well as new service roads.

The Bruxelles corner also gets a fresh injection of gravel, part of its tarmac run-off removed to enlarge the current gravel trap.

Tarmac will also be turned to gravel at Turn 16.

Finally, the Turn 17 run-off will be enlarged, a gravel trap installed, and the current railing moved.

On the infrastructure front, a covered grandstand is being constructed at the top of Raidillon for the end of April, with 4,600 seats and VIP boxes.

The 24-hour grandstand at Turn 1 will also be replaced by a new grandstand.

Spa will host a Formula 1 event at the end of August, while the 24 Hours of Spa will take place from July 28-31. Josh Nevett

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I’ve spent my time travelling between Melbourne, Shepparton (where both sides of my parents’ families are from) and at our holiday house on the Murray River.

I’ve done a bit of relaxing, a little wakeboarding, a bit of karting with Christian Pancione, and I also spent a day at the MCG for the Boxing Day Ashes Test, thanks to Ricky Ponting and his manager, James Henderson.

Next week I’m heading back to the UK to prepare for a hectic year, but I’ll be back home in April for the Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park as reserve driver for Alpine F1.

Cheers, Oscar

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AUSSIES PAIR UP IN ELMS A PAIR of Australians have signed up to race with reigning European Le Mans Series (ELMS) Pro-Am winning outfit G-Drive Racing by Algarve Pro Racing (APR).

Both Tasmanian Alex Peroni and West Australian James Allen will share the G-Drive Racing machine with reigning Pro-Am class champion, American John Falb.

Peroni, aged 22, will make his sportscar debut in ELMS this year, moving away from open-wheel racing in which he has had success around the globe.

In 2020 Peroni claimed three podiums in the FIA Formula 3 Championship before moving to America and securing a podium in Indy Lights.

However, for 2022, Peroni has confirmed his switch to focus on a career in sportscar racing as revealed by Auto Action late last year – delighted to sign with such an established outfit.

“I’m very pleased to be racing with a team that I know will be capable of competing at the front, and I thank everyone at G-Drive Racing by Algarve Pro Racing for giving me this opportunity,” Peroni said.

“I know I have a lot to learn in endurance racing but I’m confident it’s the right environment to give it my best.

“I’ll be looking to learn as much as possible from my very experienced teammates and to help us achieve the team’s objectives in 2022.

“I thank my incredible Tasmanian sponsors and my supporters who have been with me for many years and who have once again shown their confidence in me as I make an important step in my career.”

Peroni will be joined by fellow Aussie Allen, a regular in ELMS since 2017, taking several race wins since then.

Last year he finished third in the LMP2 classification after taking victory in the 4 Hours of Monza and a several podium finishes.

Most notably however he took third in the LMP2 class at the legendary Le Mans 24 Hours last year.

“I’m super excited to be joining G-Drive Racing by Algarve Pro Racing for the 2022 European Le Mans Series season in LMP2 Pro-Am,” said Allen.

“John (Falb) and I have a great relationship already and, in my opinion, he is easily one of the best Bronze drivers in the field.

“I’m also grateful to have another Australian driver in LMP2 and it’s even better that I get to share a car with him.

Alex (Peroni) and I have raced each other previously in Formula Renault 2.0 and I’m very confident in his abilities.

“With this driver line-up, as well as the defending Champion team behind us, I’m looking forward to what we can achieve in 2022.”

Before the ELMS season starts Falb and Allen will team up in the Daytona 24 Hours

VALE: DAVID BLANCH DAVID BLANCH, the founder of Australian motorsport image library Autopics, sadly lost his fight with Motor Neurone disease late last year.

Blanch passed away on December 29 after a long and successful career in motorsport.

His career began over 50 years ago, shooting his first race meeting at Oran Park in 1967 and he continued to attend race meetings as a photographer well into the 1970s.

Although a great photographer, Blanch is more well-known for founding the Autopics collection.

David and his wife Cheryl steadily grew the collection which now contains over 1,200,000

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motorsport images.

The collection covers motor racing events starting in the 1950s, coving racing up to the present day.

Many decades ago, David had the hindsight to obtain the collections of many of Australia’s great photographers and as a result created a very credible source of photos.

The current Autopics owners describe continuing on the name and legacy of Autopics in Australia as an honour.

Many of Auto Action’s national historical features and tributes contain Autopics images which you will see throughout the year.

AA sends its condolences to the Blanch family and friends of David. DM

WITH LUKE WEST

REVVED UP AA’S COLUMNIST SHARES HIS THOUGHTS AFTER ANOTHER PANORAMA PILGRAMAGE

at the end of this month, and Falb is excited to pair up with the two talented Aussies.

“Naturally, I’m really looking forward to returning to the European Le Mans Series to defend the LMP2 Pro-Am championship title we earned in 2021,” said Falb.

“I’m super excited about getting started with my new teammates, Alex (Peroni) and James (Allen).

“I’ll get to race with James in the Rolex 24 at Daytona later this month after knowing him for years from the racing paddock, and I know Alex has had an excellent career and will be an awesome addition to G-Drive Racing by Algarve Pro Racing, which is going to be better prepared than ever before.”

Team boss Roman Russinov is delighted with the trio.

“I believe the driver lineup is very balanced, including John Falb and James Allen, who already have solid experience in endurance racing, and promising driver Alex Peroni who is sure to surprise many in his debut season at the wheel of a prototype,” he said.

The season commences on April 17, with the 4 Hours of Le Castellet at Circuit Paul Ricard.

Dan McCarthy

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VALE - KEVIN KALKHOVEN AUSTRALIAN-BORN prominent IndyCar figure Kevin Kalkhoven has died at the age of 77 after a short period of illness.

Kalkhoven entered teams in the Champ Car World Series and IndyCar Series between 2003-2016, claiming an Indianapolis 500 triumph in 2013 when Tony Kanaan drove the #11 KV Racing Technology-SH Racing Chevrolet to victory.

Across his tenure as a team owner Kalkhoven won seven races in top-tier North American open-wheel competition with PK Racing, PKV Racing and KV Racing Technology.

As well as achieving success on the track, he was pivotal to ensuring the progress of American open wheel racing off the track, forming the Champ Car World Series with Gerald Forsythe and Paul Gentilozzi in late 2003.

Kalkhoven was also front and centre when the competing IndyCar and Champ Car series’ reunified in 2008, successful negotiations between Kalkhoven and IndyCar Series and Indianapolis Motor Speedway CEO Tony George ending a decade of competition.

Team Penske and Indianapolis Motor Speedway owner Roger Penske shared his condolences and paid tribute to Kalkhoven in a statement.

“Motorsports has lost one of its true leaders,” Penske said.

“Kevin Kalkhoven had a great passion for open-wheel racing, and his vision and support helped guide the sport through some turbulent times.

“As a leader of the Champ Car World Series, Cosworth Engineering and the KV Racing Technology team, Kevin had an incredible impact on IndyCar. “Our thoughts are with the Kalkhoven family and Kevin’s many friends and colleagues that are coping with his loss.”

Penske Entertainment Corporation President and CEO Mark Miles also shared fond memories of Kalkhoven.

“I met Kevin in 2013, and we quickly developed a personal friendship and a lot of common ground in racing,” Miles said.

“In many ways, winning that year’s Indianapolis 500 with Tony Kanaan must have been the highlight of his racing life.

“I’m sure he didn’t come back down to earth for many months.

“Kevin was a colourful, forceful personality who constantly brought new ideas to the table in an effort to grow the sport. I will miss him.”

Some of the drivers who represented Kalkhoven’s teams include Kanaan, Jimmy Vasser, Will Power, Cristiano da Matta, Paul Tracy and Sebastien Bourdais.

Outside of motorsport, Kalkhoven had a successful career as a business executive in fibre-optic telecommunications networks and as a venture capitalist. Josh Nevett

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THE ONLY THING you can confidently predict at Bathurst each year is that you’ll witness something never previously seen on the Mountain. Who could have possibly foreseen that a spiny yet adorable critter with a penchant for eliminating white ants – God knows we need those in motorsport – would bring the 2021 Great Race alive. You gotta love what the mountain dishes up – just when you think you’ve seen everything. Thankfully our little mate didn’t derail Chaz Mostert and Lee Holdsworth’s charge to victory.

Mozzie and Lethal Lee were the undoubted stars of the 161lap affair, off the back of unrivalled pace. Yet it was their highly entertaining post-race celebratory antics that made their win all the more endearing.

After Supercars’ ‘We don’t want to race’ public relations disaster of SMP4, Mostert’s victory gave the category a positive note upon which to end a most difficult season. Chaz is the showman and character Supercars so badly needs right now. He’s funny, charismatic and slightly offbeat. His out-of-car persona means he’s always compelling viewing. It was so good to see the general media drawn to him in the days after the event. Yes, his striking haircut played its part, but he displayed true magnetism that weekend, making plenty of casual sports fans sit up and take notice of Supercars again. He’s a superstar.

And anyone who has met Lee Holdsworth over the two decades he’s raced on the national scene knows how deserving this all-round good guy was of becoming our newest Bathurst winner.

I enjoyed Bathurst immensely this year due to its unpredictability and because I didn’t feel as the whole telecast was about drivers carrying out race engineer’s instructions like robots.

Another feel good story was David Russell, who finally snared a podium result in the big race. Russell, in finishing third with Brodie Kostecki, finally eclipsed his father Geoff ’s best result in the 1000, sixth, with Rusty French in 1984. The parallels between Dad and Dave’s time on the mountain are many, most notably that both only competed as co-drivers in other people’s cars and never raced in the premier touring car category full-time. David finally silences his old man’s good-natured ribbing.

Spare a thought for the unluckiest bloke at Bathurst 2021 – James Golding. He and Scott Pye’s 1000 was over before it really began due to mechanical woes for the DeWalt Commodore. This followed being robbed of winning the reborn Tasman Series title.

Golding was comfortably leading the deciding S5000 race on Sunday morning when it was red-flagged due to the massive accident in the Chase. With the race declared a non-event and no points awarded, it was massively unfair Golding was deprived of the points that would have secured the seven-race series, with the tinware going to the bloke who triggered the race-ending accident, Aaron Cameron. Remember too, that earlier in the race slow-starting Cameron tagged another car at Hell Corner to bring out a Safety Car. Conversely, Golding didn’t put a foot wrong yet was deprived of the title. Motor racing can be so unfair sometimes. Karma definitely went MIA for poor James.

I thought I would die happy having witnessed big, powerful open-wheelers race around Mount Panorama. Except with so many incidents and too few racing laps, I feel very unfulfilled.

Let’s hope the poor driving standards of some in the field does not rob us of seeing those fantastic cars on thrill hill again. S5000 drivers needed to be on their best behaviour that weekend and many were found wanting.

Nonetheless, S5000 gave us one of the most enthralling qualifying sessions I’ve ever seen, with lap times slowly whittled down, until Cameron posted a well-deserved pole a sub twominute lap late in the session.

The S5000 looked fast and spectacular across the top of the mountain. Fingers crossed we see them there again. The category deserves a better crack to prove it belongs there.

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

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AUSSIE RISING star Oscar Piastri has received the FIA Rookie of the Year award at the 2021 FIA prize giving ceremony in Paris. The honour, selected by the FIA Drivers’ Commission, is presented to the most exciting talent in an FIA Championship in a year and was award to Piastri in 2021 following his championship winning season in Formula 2. JN

AUSSIE JACK Doohan has continued his strong start to life in F2 by finishing third in post-season testing in Abu Dhabi. The Virtuosi Racing driver set a best time of 1m 35.851s on the first day at Yas Marina Circuit, clocking the third best time to earn the title of quickest rookie.

Doohan was beaten only by PREMA Racing’s Jehan Daruvala and MP Motorsport’s Felipe Drugovich. JN

CAMERON SHIELDS is the latest Australian to confirm his participation in the Daytona 24 Hour at the end of the month. Traditionally an open-wheel racer, Shields will make his prototype endurance racing debut with Muehlner Motorsports in a two car LMP3 effort. Shields, who has spent the last three years forging a career in the US, will partner with veteran LMP3 racers Ugo de Wilde and Charles Crews as well as fellow young gun Nolan Siegel in the teams #26 entry. RV

AUSTRALIAN JAMES Allen has been named as a driver in the Daytona 24 Hours. Allen raced for the Russian team this year in the Le Mans 24 Hours where he claimed his maiden LMP2 class podium in the French classic. He will attempt to go for LMP2 glory again when he re-joins the team from January 29-30. It will be G-Drive by APR’s debut in the 24 hours of Daytona and the team has announced a two-car attack. RV

AFTER CONTESTING three rounds with Douglas Motorsport in the GB3 Championship in 2021, Aussie Tommy Smith has signed with the team to contest the full season next year. Earlier this year Smith completed a full campaign in the Formula Regional European Championship with JD Motorsport. The 19-year-old Victorian made his GB3 debut at Snetterton in August, posting promising performances in his short stint. DM

16 I www.autoaction.com.au

A BRIGHT NEW START WELCOME TO the 2022 motorsport season and a refreshed and revitalised Auto Action.

If you are a regular consumer of AA you might noticed a few changes in this issue – the obvious one is the complete redesign the publication has been given.

Over the festive season our new design and production team worked away to come up with the fresh now look that will carry AA on into a positive 2022 as the sport moves onto what I believe will be a revitalised Australian motorsport season.

Along with the redesign, we introduced in our last issue a new section to the publication called Auto Action Road & Track.

Given that we have arguably one of the country’s best road testers in Paul Gover working on the title, we saw an opportunity to give our readers a little extra.

Most, if not all, of you appreciate great performance cars and Road & Track will focus on the performance products that most marques produce and offer to the public.

Those road cars that have a direct lineage back to a racing program will also be a focus for this section. And for those of you that are thinking we have reduced our motorsport coverage … stay calm – Road & Track will be an

with Bruce Williams

FROM THE PUBLISHER extra section (more pages for the same price) when it runs, usually every second issue.

Here at AA HQ, we had some significant changes to the team towards the end of the year.

As I mentioned, Paul Gover has come back to AA in a bigger role than in the past. Paul is now our News Editor, as well as doing plenty of features for AA. Paul’s enthusiasm for motorsport and encouragement for the rest of the young team in Dan and Josh is great and his positive support of the publication in general is wonderful.

Our new production and design team, Caroline Garde and Neville Wilkinson, have had a long relationship with Auto Action and it’s great to have them back working on the title. They bring a fresh and dynamic look and feel to the publication.

We didn’t get the chance in our last issue of 2021, but leading into our first issue of 2022 we say goodbye to our long time Auto Action Formula 1 correspondent and friend Dan Knutson.

Dan joined Auto Action way back in 2005 – his contribution over that time has been invaluable but, as he hinted in his last column, Dan has decided to hang up his F1 journalist hat. Thanks Dan for your long service to AA .

When Dan told us that he would be stepping back, we asked his advice as to who we could seek out to fill his rather large shoes.

Dan quickly nominated long time Formula 1 correspondent Luis Vasconelos as a suitable person to take over the role.

We contacted Luis and asked him the question – would he be interested in being a contributor to Australia’s most popular and oldest motorsport publication?

Fortunately, he said yes, and we have charged him with the role of keeping Auto Action readers informed as to what is going on in and around the world of F1.

Azores-born Vasconcelos is the only Portuguese journalist regularly reporting on Formula 1.

A veteran with more than 500 Grands Prix, Luis worked for motorsport publications in

Portugal from 1987 to 1990 before opting to become a freelance journalist, a move that took him to work with many Japanese publications – some of them, like Autosport and Tokyo Chunichi Sports, for the last 30 years.

Fluent in five languages, Luis has found that speaking with as many people as possible in their native language gives him a better understanding of their personalities.

We welcome Luis to the AA team and look forward to reading his views and deep insight into the world of Formula 1.

Along with the new team members to AA will still have some fantastic people covering most aspects of the sport. Garry O’Brien will edit the first-class nationals and state level news along with the coverage he receives from all our contributors. Paris Charles will keep you up to date with what’s going on in the speedway world and Mark Bisset will keep us entertained with his great historical insights and features.

So, it’s a big, exciting year ahead with lots of changes and hopefully not too many disruptions to the sport that we all love along the way. Here at AA we will work as hard as we have for the past few years to deliver the very best in motorsport news, reviews, and feature content.

Let’s all have a great 2022.

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TRIPLE EIGHT Race Engineering has finalised its two-car driver line-up for the second-tier Super2 Series next year, signing up Declan Fraser. Fraser will not be a Super2 rookie, having raced for Matthew White Motorsport in 2021 where he will join Carrera Cup Australia Series winner Cameron Hill. The youngster had success in the Toyota 86 Series before moving into the Supercars junior classes, Super3 in 2019 and then transitioning to Super2 last year. DM

THE BEND Motorsport Park in South Australia will host a joint round of the Shannons Motorsport Australia Championships and the Motorsport Australia Rally Championship in October. The event will be known as the Motorsport Australia Festival. The bonus for motorsport fans is that with the event purchase of one ticket fans will be able to watch both circuit racing at The Bend as well as sideways rally action from October 21-23. DM

THE 2022 Coffs Coast Rally will serve as a double finale for both the Motorsport Australia Rally Championship and Asia Pacific Rally Championship (APRC). As such the November 25-27 event will see the best drivers from the Asia Pacific region congregate to compete in the northern NSW town, including competitors from Australia, New Zealand, China, Japan and Indonesia. JN VALE, DALE Youd. On Boxing Day HQ Racing lost a favourite of the fraternity. Dale Youd lost his life in a tragic accident. When the first races were held in Tasmania, Youd was there racing with them. He went on to become an administrator, HQRA president and a promoter, and he was instrumental in getting the category to Bathurst as a support category. Great loved throughout the HQ community, he will be sadly missed. AA sends it condolences to the family, his friends and the HQ racing fraternity. GOB AFTER MANY weeks since the Misch’s Circuit Excel Enduro, held over two one-hour races, the results have been finalised. Shayne Nowickyj and Mitchel McGarry believed theirs and others’ finishing positions in race one at The Bend in November were incorrect.

After weeks of reconstructing the race lap by lap, and then presenting them to the officials, the placings were changed. Originally declared third, Nowickyj and McGarry are the new overall winners ahead of Shaun Pannowitch/Asher Johnson, Nick Skaife/J James Benford, and original winners Jayden and Justin Wanzek. GOB

NATIONAL TRANS Am Series champion Nathan Herne made his Sprintcar debut over the holiday season, competing at Carrick Speedway in Tasmania on Boxing Day. The New South Welshman raced a Garry Rogers Motorsport branded machine. Herne did not make it over the finish line in the feature race but completed 21 dirt laps for the event. Returning for a second outing at Latrobe Speedway, Herne finished 10th in the feature. JN

PORSCHE RECRUIT BARRY HAY AS MOTORSPORT MANAGER PORSCHE CARS Australia has recruited former Supercars team manager Barry Hay to head up its local motorsport program in 2022.

Stepping into the role in February, Hay will take over Porsche’s Motorsport Manager role from Troy Bundy who announced his departure earlier this year.

“We are delighted to welcome Barry to the Motorsport team and I have every confidence that he will continue to grow the programme in every area of our market.” said Toni Andreevski, Porsche Cars Australia’s Sales and Motorsport Director “Barry is well known to our teams and well

respected in the Australian Motorsport pit lane and we look forward to welcoming him early next year.”

Hay hails from a motorsport family and brings a wealth of both technical and management experience to the role, having held senior positions at leading Supercar teams such as Stone Brothers Racing, Erebus Motorsport and Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport.

“It’s a privilege to join the Porsche Motorsport family in Australia and I look forward to working with our commercial partners, teams and drivers, to ensure Carrera Cup Australia remains the premier one-make

support Championship for years to come.” said Hay. In recent years, Hay has also worked with various other motorsport teams and brands including Melbourne Performance Centre, who currently oversees Audi’s Customer Racing Programme in Australia.

Hay takes over the position ahead of what will be arguably the biggest season in Carrera Cup Australia’s history, with Paynter Dixon recently extending their Title partnership of the Championship until 2024 and all 32 new 911 GT3 Cup cars (Type 992) already sold.

Rhys Vandersyde

AMBROSE SPEARHEADS NEW GRM DRIVER TRAINING PROGRAM MARCOS AMBROSE is spearheading a new Garry Rogers Motorsport driver training program, known as GRM Combine – Driven by Marcos Ambrose.

To be held in Tasmania this week, the five-day program will give six young drivers a chance to further their development towards careers in professional motorsport.

The Combine will utilise both Symmons Plains and Baskerville circuits and provide drivers with the opportunity to experience a variety of high-level racecars run by Garry Rogers Motorsport.

Participants will also receive extensive briefing and coaching throughout the weeklong event from professional racing drivers led by Ambrose, GRM’s Competition Director.

“It’s exciting to have the first GRM Combine up and running, on two great circuits in Tasmania with six young drivers all keen to test themselves in a range of machinery and

against the benchmark of GRM’s pro drivers.” said Ambrose.

“The GRM team is in Tasmania all week to really get involved in giving our Combine participants a thorough learning experience.”

The two-time Australian Touring Car Champion and NASCAR Cup Series race winner was the brainchild behind the idea after witnessing similar programs in the USA during his nine-year stint in elite-level stock

car racing.

GRM TCR drivers James Moffat and Dylan O’Keeffe and S5000 front-runner James Golding will be actively involved as driver coaches.

The participants represent a cross-section of national and state-level competition.

The selection of young racers includes Tasmanian up-andcomer Campbell Logan as well as Winston Smith (Formula Ford), Harry Tomkins (Hyundai Excel) and Mason Kelly (Hyundai Excel).

Experienced racers Edan Thornburrow (Trans Am) and Kody Garland (Aussie Racing Cars) will also take part as they look to evolve their motorsport skill sets.

The program will utilise a variety of equipment from the GRM workshop including a Mygale Formula Ford, Trans Am and a TCR Australia car before culminating with participants sampling the high-powered Rogers AF/01 V8 S5000. Rhys Vandersyde

NEW ZEALAND GRAND PRIX CANCELLED

THE 2022 edition of the New Zealand Grand Prix has been cancelled due to continued border control into the country.

The announcement was made today

by Toyota Gazoo Racing New Zealand, MotorSport New Zealand and the promoter SpeedWorks Events.

The Toyota Racing Series had been cut back to just one event, the weekend which would include the 67th New Zealand Grand Prix.

However next month’s NZ GP has been cancelled due to recent changes in the border restrictions and MIQ requirements have left organisers with no option but to cancel the event.

“We have waited until the last possible moment to give potential drivers a chance to get to New Zealand for the GP event,’ explained Toyota Gazoo Racing New Zealand Motorsport Manager Nicolas Caillol.

“However, with the border restrictions currently in place and all of those drivers simply unable to find MIQ spots, we do not believe we can run the Grand Prix that we or the spectators want to see or that the event itself deserves, so we have very reluctantly decided to cancel this year’s race.

“At least eight drivers who were lined up to race have not been able to secure an MIQ spot.

“Those eight would have made a big difference to the quality and size of our grid for the GP and had they been able to get here, we would have been able to put on a great show.

“It remains very challenging in the current economic climate for young drivers to raise sponsorship here in New Zealand.

“That’s despite the welcome support offered by the Tony Quinn Foundation,

Castrol and numerous other companies and organisations who invest in our young Kiwi driving talent.

“We are so thankful many great kiwi drivers wanted to return to help support this great event and our young drivers. I’d like to extend my thanks to everyone involved, this decision was not in spite of your efforts.”

The legendary race has only been cancelled on a handful of occasions since it first ran in 1950. The last time the event did not take place was in 2001, over two decades ago.

The event itself at Hampton Downs will continue to go ahead with the packed Grand Prix support card.

Organisers are expected to announce plans imminently for a signature race replacement for the weekend from February 12-13.

WILLMINGTON MAKES TCR SWITCH BRAYDAN WILLMINGTON will take on a new challenge in 2022 when he makes the switch to the Supercheap Auto TCR Australia Series.

After spending the last two seasons involved in S5000, the second-generation racer and his privateer team will turn their attention to touring car racing, having secured the ex-Garry Rogers Motorsport Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloce that Jordan Cox used successfully this year.

It will be a return of the Willmington name to Australian touring car racing. Braydan is the son of former driver Garry who was a perennial privateer in local touring car racing during the 1980s and 1990s, competing in 21 Bathurst 1000s.

“I’m used to driving these sorts of cars, so it should be a much easier learning curve compared to the S5000,” said Willmington.

“I’ve done quite a bit of grassroots circuit

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racing, and almost all of that was front-wheel drive. I do have a lot more knowledge of these types of cars, and dad is a lot more excited that we are going touring car racing too!”

“Hopefully it will be easier for us because as much as we enjoyed the S5000, it was really an alien race car to us.”

The Alfa Romeo has a pedigree of its own having recorded four race wins and finishing third overall in the standings in 2021.

Willmington took delivery of the car recently and shook it down at the 1.6km Pheasant Wood circuit in New South Wales.

The former dirt track racer is no stranger to front-wheel drive sedan racing, having competed in speedway and state-based circuit racing.

“My first impressions of the TCR is that they are very cool. They have a decent amount of power, very stable and the Alfa is really nice to drive. I enjoyed the test and I can’t wait to get

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back in the car.” Willmington continued.

“I’d like to be in the top 10 at some point.

Whether that’s at the start or end of the season, we’ll see. But we would like to consistently run in the top 10, be that this year or next year.”

“I did enjoy the challenge of S5000. We were frustrated that we didn’t have the results, but I didn’t have the budget to risk damage. If I put it in the wall, our season was done.”

“I feel like I was capable, but there was something on my mind that kept me from pushing it to the maximum with a fear from being out for the rest of the season.”

Willimington will get more testing in his Alfa Romeo TCR car at Sydney Motorsport Park ahead of the opening round of the Supercheap Auto TCR Australia Series at Symmons Plains Raceway on February 11-13. Rhys Vandersyde

MotorSport New Zealand has been in conversations with the FIA in regards to the decision to cancel the race, as the Kiwi event remains one of only two races outside of the Formula One World Championship to be officially recognised by the governing body as a Grand Prix.

MotorSport New Zealand CEO Elton Goonan expressed it was a tough decision for everyone involved, but there was no other option.

“The New Zealand Grand Prix is one of the most significant events on NZ’s motorsport calendar and the decision to not run in 2022 has not been taken lightly,” he expressed.

“We will continue to work with the FIA and TGRNZ to plan for the 2023 season and enable our local drivers to showcase their talent against some of the world’s up and coming best.” Dan McCarthy

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THE FEDERATION Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), the governing body for world motorsport, has announced that Mohammed Ben Sulayem has been elected as the new President of the organisation. Taking over the position from Jean Todt who has been President since 2009 and served the maximum three terms possible, Sulayem was elected into the role following a gathering of the FIA Annual General Assembly in Paris. RV

PIASTRI GELLED WITH ALPINE DURING TEST

THE IMSA customer teams will again be competing for victories in 2021 after picking up six title wins in an extremely successful year. In the new GTD Pro class, Pfaff Motorsports will be fielding a Porsche 911 GT3 R with the two works drivers Matt Campbell (Australia) and Mathieu Jaminet (France). More GT3 cars fielded by customer teams are planned for the GTD category.

For the European endurance classics Works drivers Kévin Estre, Michael Christensen, Laurens Vanthoor and Frédéric Makowiecki will be sharing the cockpit. PG

SATELLITE DUCATI squad Pramac Racing will have new leadership when the 2022 MotoGP season gets underway. Replacing Francesco Guidotti who departed to head up the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing squad, Claudio Calabresi will step into the role of Team Manager.

Calabresi is no stranger to the team having served as the Team Manager of the team’s MotoE squad, Octo Pramac MotoE, since the project’s inception. RV

SEVEN-TIME Formula 1 race winner Juan Pablo Montoya will enter this year’s Sebring 12 Hours with son Sebastian, making the 2022 race a family affair. The Montoya pairing will team up as a one-off in the IMSA Sportscar Championship enduro in March, sharing the car which Henrik Hedman will commandeer for the rest of the LMP2 campaign. Sixteen-year-old Sebastian has raced in Formula 4 in Europe over the last couple of seasons. JN

DALLARA WILL continue as the sole chassis supplier for IndyCar after the two entities agreed to a multi-year extension. The Italian company initially became involved in IndyCar in 1997 and took over as the sole chassis supplier in 2008. Dallara has expanded its footprint in the US, opening a factory in Indiana back in 2012 where it produces and assembles its chassis for a variety of racing series including both IndyCar and Indy Lights. RV

AUSTRALIAN OSCAR Piastri took full advantage of his official post-season F1 test in Abu Dhabi with Alpine to gel with his new team for next season.

For the Alpine reserve driver for 2022, it was his first time in up-to-date spec F1 machinery and he found it a very informative and positive day of running.

In 2022 the F1 regulations have received a radical overhaul, however Piastri explained he took a lot from the test with the 2021 machine.

“I think there’s certainly going to be some parts I can take forward and other parts not so much,” he told Auto Action.

“Obviously, the technical regs are changing quite a lot. But in terms of driving a car of a similar speed and lap time, I wouldn’t underestimate how valuable that is.

“You’re training your brain to how quick some of these corners come up. I definitely think I can take that forward.

“Then a lot of the procedural side of stuff, getting to know everybody in the team, using the steering wheel properly, all the different adjustments you can do with all switches and stuff.

“Obviously, that’s something I’ve

experienced before in the previous tests, but the more experience I can have with that, the better.

“Simple things like having other cars on track and learning how much the team has access to in terms of traffic management and stuff like that, a lot of that kind of procedural stuff and I guess the stuff that can often get overlooked and purely just comes with experience, that I can definitely take forward.

“I guess we’ll see how much of the technical stuff I can take forward, I guess I need to drive the new car to work that one out for myself.”

At the test rookies and youngsters ran with the 13-inch wheels used throughout 2021, while the F1 regulars tested the new-for-2022 18-inch wheels.

The smaller wheeled machines were faster and Piastri found himself third at the end of the day, best of the rest behind Mercedes and Red Bull Racing.

Piastri’s fastest lap was 1m 24.523s, 1.332s off Mercedes reserve Nyck de Vries and only 0.006s slower than his former F2 rival Liam Lawson.

“It was awesome,” Piastri expressed to AA. “Obviously it wasn’t my first time in

an F1 car, but to be on track with other people and obviously have the timing as well added a bit of a competitive side to it which is always nice as racing drivers.

“People were probably on different plans and for some people it was their first time in an F1 car.

“It was nice to get used to having other cars on track, with such different closing speeds. Obviously, the cool down laps and stuff like that, people close in on you a lot quicker than in F2, so you’ve got to keep your eyes peeled at all times.”

Piastri has tested a 2018 spec car at Silverstone, Monza, Barcelona and Bahrain previously. Abu Dhabi was yet another new track, however he found testing with the actual F1 team was a great privilege.

“Doing an official test with the whole race team and stuff,” he said. “That was another step up again for me, getting to work with all the guys that are in the race team, week in week out, and being in a proper F1 environment.

“The test team is world class, the staff in that team, but doing it with the actual race team, that was another step up again.”

Dan McCarthy

BRABHAM SIGNS ON FOR INDY LIGHTS RETURN AUSTRALIAN MATTHEW Brabham, grandson of Sir Jack Brabham is returning to open-wheeler racing and the Indy Lights Series in America with Andretti Autosport.

Brabham and Andretti have a history in the Road to Indy categories competing in both the Indy Pro 2000 and Indy Lights championships together.

The third-generation racer won the Indy Pro (formerly Pro Mazda) title with the team in 2013 before finishing fourth in Indy Lights the following year.

In 2016, Brabham made his Indianapolis 500 debut, finishing the gruelling 500 mile race in 22nd position.

In recent years Brabham has been competing in Stadium Super Trucks, however has elected to return to his open-wheel roots and Andretti to compete in the second-tier IndyCar Series.

“I’m extremely grateful to Michael and everyone who is a part of Andretti Autosport,” said Brabham.

“They have given me many great opportunities over the years, including this one.

“We have accomplished amazing results together. We have won a total of 14 races and a championship in the past.

“I’m absolutely ecstatic to be back racing full time in a proper open-wheel car again with a top team.

“I feel it’s where I’ve always belonged. I’m willing to give everything I have at this and more to follow my dream of getting back into the

JOHNSON TO RACE ON OVALS

IndyCar Series.”

Brabham will drive the number 83 machine throughout 2022 and Andretti Autosport team owner Michael Andretti is delighted to sign Brabham up once more.

“We’re really excited to have Matty back in our Indy Lights line-up,” said Andretti. “He’s always shown natural talent behind the wheel and was a great Road to Indy contender for us in the past.

“I’m really looking forward to seeing what our Indy Lights line-up accomplishes this year as all of their talents continue to grow.”

Brabham completes a very accomplished four-car line-up including adopted Aussie Hunter McElrea.

McElrea finished third in Indy Pro 2000 last year and will make his debut in Indy Lights behind the wheel of the famous #27.

Reigning Indy Pro 2000 champion Christian Rasmussen joins them, while promising youngster Sting Ray Robb returns for a second crack at the title.

Brabham first shot onto the Road to Indy ladder in 2012 with four wins and 11 podium finishes in the USF2000 Championship.

The 2012 USF2000 scholarship propelled the Australian-American to the Indy Pro 2000 field where a staggering 13 victories, 10 pole positions and 15 podiums led to the 2013 title and the chance to compete in Indy Lights for the 2014 season.

That year he collected one victory, one pole position and 10 top-five finishes in 17 Indy Lights race starts. Dan McCarthy

MASERATI ANNOUNCES RETURN TO MOTORSPORT MASERATI, THE luxury car brand owned

by Ferrari has announced its return to motorsport, signing up to compete in the all-electric Formula E World Championship from 2023.

According to Maserati, Formula E marks the first step in its motorsport strategy, a sport in which the Italian manufacturer has so much history.

Maserati won the Formula 1 Drivers’ Championship with Juan Manuel Fangio back in 1957.

By signing up, Maserati will become the first Italian brand to compete in Formula E. The brand has a keen interest in electric vehicles with its Folgore electric range.

“We are very proud to be back where we belong as protagonists in the world of racing.

We are powered by passion and innovative by nature,” said Maserati CEO Davide Grasso.

“We have a long history of world-class excellence in competition and we are ready to drive performance in the future.

“In the race for more performance, luxury, and innovation, Folgore is irresistible and it is the purest expression of Maserati.

“That’s why we decided to go back to racing in the FIA Formula E World Championship, meeting our customers in the city centers of the world, taking the Trident forward into the future.”

Maserati will debut on the grid from Season 9 when the new Gen3 Formula E regulations are introduced.

Next year the cars will be lighter and more powerful, taking the speed of the electric

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Formula E to the next level.

“We are proud to welcome Maserati to their new home in world-class motorsport,” said Formula E founder and Chairman Alejandro Agag.

“The ABB FIA Formula E World Championship is the pinnacle of electric racing.

“It provides the perfect environment for the most dynamic and innovative highperformance car brands to showcase their technological capabilities alongside their sporting ambitions.”

FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem agreed with Agag, saying how proud he was to see the iconic manufacturer return to motorsport.

“I am delighted to welcome Maserati to Formula E for Season 9,” Ben Sulayem said.

“For such an iconic manufacturer with a tremendously proud and successful heritage in motor sport to pledge its commitment to the series is testament to the overwhelming faith in the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship’s future as we prepare to usher in the next era.

“The new Gen3 singleseater will represent the pinnacle of sustainability,

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technology and performance.”

Maserati made its racing debut was 96 years ago, the Tipo 26 which debuted at the Targa Florio in 1926, taking first place in the class up to 1.5 L, with Alfieri Maserati at the wheel.

Fast forward three decades and Fangio won the F1 World Championship with Maserati in 1957.

The last time Maserati was seen in a single-seater racing was with Maria Teresa De Filippis, the first woman to qualify for a Formula 1 Grand Prix, on board a 250F. Since fielding the MC12 from 2004-2010 in international GT racing Maserati has remained absent from motor racing, in 2023 Maserati will return. Dan McCarthy

JIMMIE JOHNSON has committed to a full IndyCar Series season with Chip Ganassi Racing in 2022, including the Indianapolis 500.

Johnson will take on the full schedule in the #48 Honda, after completing 12 road and street rounds in 2021.

The seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion scored a career-best finish of 17th at the season-ending Grand Prix of Long Beach and has since tested on the oval at Texas Motor Speedway and completed the INDYCAR Rookie Orientation Program at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on October 6.

“I’m really excited about this next chapter of my career and competing in the #48 for the 2022 season,” Johnson said.

“The safety of these cars has come so far, and after I tested the ovals at Texas and Indianapolis Motor Speedway, I realized this was a challenge I wanted to undertake. I’m thankful for Chip, Carvana and all who made this possible.

“Last season was so incredible for me and I made a lot of progress, so I know I can be competitive on tracks that I have experience on. I can’t wait to be part of the Indianapolis 500, it’s a childhood dream come true.”

In other IndyCar news, Dayle Coyne Racing has signed Indy Lights runner-up David Malukas for the 2022 season.

Malukas will drive the #18 entry, as part of a partnership between DCR and Road to Indy squad HMD Motorsports.

HMD Motorsports has competed across the Road to Indy categories since 2017, claiming 10 wins, 33 podiums and the teams’ title in Indy Lights in 2021.

“I am very happy to join Dale Coyne Racing for my first season in the IndyCar Series,” Malukas said.

“It has been my dream since a little kid to get to this point, and I am thrilled to get it started with this team. After my first test with DCR, I felt right at home. They are like family already, and I am excited to see what we can accomplish. Bring on 2022!”

Among the news of fresh signings was the announcement that James Hinchcliffe will not race full-time in 2022.

The 161-race veteran has accumulated six wins over his career and finished 20th in the 2021 standings for Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport, with a best finish of third at Nashville.

This year was a return to full-time competition after he raced a partial schedule in 2020.

“With a decade plus of incredible memories in the bank, I am happy to announce I’m stepping away from full time IndyCar competition,” Hinchcliffe wrote in a tweet.

“This was not a decision taken lightly, and it was one made with the full support of my family and closest supporters. There were many factors, both personal and professional, that led me to this decision, but it truly felt like the time was right.”

The 2022 season will kick off on February 27 on the streets of St. Petersburg.

Josh Nevett

LATEST NEWS

STOP / GO

HYUNDAI UNVEIL RALLY1 CAR AHEAD OF SEASON OPENER

TEAMS HAVE started teasing the appearance of their next generation 2022 cars, posting reveals on social media in the lead up to the new season.

Mercedes led the way, posting a heavily silhouetted cleanskin W13, while AlphaTauri put forward a cartoon concept of its new design. Williams brought the reveals back into reality, posting photos of the 2022 machine adorned with the team’s 2021 livery. JN

MAX VERSTAPPEN has officially confirmed that he will race with the #1 plastered all over his Red Bull Racing car in next year’s Formula 1 World Championship after winning the title in Abu Dhabi.

Verstappen has run in car #33 since his Formula 1 debut in 2015, but as the champion he has the option to run the #1 next year. It will be the first time that the #1 will have appeared in Formula 1 since 2014. DM

NYCK DE Vries came out on top in Formula 1 post-season testing at Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi, besting a strong crop of young drivers and F1 regulars. The Dutch Formula E driver set a 1m 23.191s in the 2021spec Mercedes machine, comfortably clear of Formula 2 runner-up Robert Shwartzman. Young drivers had the sizeable advantage over the F1 regulars, testing a current-specification car rather than one equipped with the 2022 18-inch tyres. Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo performed best out of the latter group. JN

MERCEDES DECIDED not to further pursue their appeal into the events in the deciding race of the 2021 Formula 1 World Championship in Abu Dhabi. The 2021 Constructors’ Championship winning team had lodged two protests immediately following the controversial final race of the season, which was ultimately decided by a single lap sprint following a late-race Safety Car. However, the team announced in an open statement that they would not pursue the matter any further. RV

Josh Nevett HYUNDAI MOTORSPORT has showed off its all-new i20 N Rally1 machine ahead of the World Rally Championship’s hybrid era debut in Monte Carlo.

The new rally racer is based on the i20 N road car that has released to global acclaim, setting the South Korean marque up for a fresh tilt at WRC glory when the 2022 season gets underway on January 20.

Powering the i20 N Rally1 is a traditional 1.6-litre internal combustion engine with a plug-in hybrid unit.

Three Hyundai entries will vie for the title this year, Thierry Neuville (pictured) and Ott Tanak will run separately in all 13 rounds of the championship while Oliver Solberg and Dani Sordo will share a third car throughout the season.

Neuville was the best performer of the Hyundai crop last year, finishing third in the standings behind Toyota pair Sebastien Ogier and Elfyn Evans.

“I always love to start new adventures and challenges, so that’s the most exciting part about these new hybrid regulations,” the Belgian said.

“As a team we want to fight for the manufacturers’ championship again, but the drivers’ title is always one of my personal targets, which we are chasing.

“In this new era, everybody is going to want to show their performance, as well as their reliability which is going to be crucial this year.

“We have made good steps with our new Hyundai i20 N Rally1. With every test, we have been able to feel more comfortable in the car, but the beginning of the season is a learning period for all crews and teams.

“I can really see an exciting season but probably with a lot of ups-and-downs for everybody.”

The Hyundai team as a whole finished runner-up to Toyota Gazoo Racing in 2021 but will be looking leapfrog their

rivals as hybrid power takes over the premier rally category for the first time.

Hyundai Motorsport Team Manager Pablo Marcos was confident that the four-driver 2022 line-up was capable of going one better in the season ahead.

“We are fortunate to have one of the most versatile crew line-ups in WRC to tackle one of the most eclectic calendars we have seen in recent years,” Marcos said.

“We hope that the unique combination of Thierry, Ott, Oliver and Dani will bring us the right mix of experience, youth, and passion to deliver the results we’ve worked so hard to achieve.”

The Hyundai squad receives the new Rally1 car after over 6 months of testing that has seen it challenged on a variety of surfaces across Europe.

President of Hyundai Motorsport Scott Noh believed that hard work behind the scenes has placed the manufacturer in good stead.

“We are excited to be part of this new hybrid era of WRC and to demonstrate Hyundai’s firm commitment to international motorsport,” Noh said.

“We are confident we have the package to fight for our third manufacturers’ title – and to support our crews to be in the hunt for the drivers’/co-drivers’ titles too.”

As well as fresh technical regulations, the introduction of new venues is set to shake up WRC in 2022.

New Zealand and Japan will debut on the calendar after both had events quashed due to COVID in 2020 and 2021.

MCADAM SET FOR FULL TCR CAMPAIGN Josh Nevet TCR AUSTRALIA Series privateer Liam McAdam is locked in for a full season in 2022 after spending most of the last two seasons on the sidelines.

The 24-year-old will drive an Audi RS 3 TCR in all seven rounds this year after taking part in just three races last year.

With renewed sponsorship backing McAdam was looking forward to making an impact on the increasingly popular

category when the season kicks off at Symmons Plains Raceway on February 11.

“We’ve got a backer for the year, and we plan on doing the full series,” McAdam said.

“The flip side is that I haven’t done a lot of driving in two years, so that now becomes my full focus.

“We’re testing at Queensland Raceway at the end of the month and then full steam ahead for Tassie.

“I’m really looking forward to the season.

I love driving these TCR cars. They suit my style and as we saw with Chaz (Mostert) and Luke (King), the Audi is certainly a competitive package.”

McAdam has a total of 10 TCR Australia Series appearances to his name – in addition to the round at Mount Panorama last year he entered the final three rounds of the inaugural series in 2019.

The Queenslander will be joined by

multiple Audi runners in Tasmania, one of whom will be Jay Hanson who will debut the current specification RS3 LMS TCR. Australian Racing Group’s Race Tasmania event will launch the 2022 Australian motorsport season, featuring headline categories TCR Australia, S5000 Australian Drivers’ Championship and the Trans Am Series.

The Symmons Plains event will be held from February 11-13.

MONTOYA CONFIRMS 2022 INDY 500 TILT JUAN PABLO Montoya will link up again with Arrow McLaren SP for a second consecutive tilt at the Indianapolis 500 with the team.

The two-time Indianapolis 500 champion will again join the squad’s regular drivers Pato O’Ward and Felix Rosenqvist for both the Grand Prix of Indianapolis and 106th Running of the Indianapolis 500.

“We’re delighted to have both Juan Pablo and Mission Foods back for another Indianapolis 500.” said Zak Brown, McLaren Racing CEO. “Juan Pablo is an institution in motorsport, with two Indianapolis 500 victories and an impressive Formula 1 career with multiple wins for McLaren.”

“He adds experience that really benefits our team, giving us another driver with the potential to win anytime he steps into the car.”

Montoya will drive the #6 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet, which will be backed Mission Foods, in his attempt to qualify for his seventh entry into the race after finishing ninth last year.

“I’m excited to return to Indianapolis

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with Arrow McLaren SP and Mission, to once again compete in a race that holds a special place in my heart – the Indianapolis 500. I had a great experience with the team

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last year and look forward to building on the progress we made in 2021.”

“I think we have a real shot at competing at the front of the Indy 500 field

and challenging for the win.” said Montoya.

The 106th Running of the Indianapolis 500 takes place on May 29, 2022 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

NEWS EXTRA

DOING IT MY WAY

By Paul Gover JACK DOOHAN is looking to slipstream Oscar Piastri all the way into grand prix racing as he prepares for his graduation to the FIA Formula 2 championship.

After a tough first year in Formula 3 with the underwhelming HWA squad in 2020, Doohan Jnr did almost everything right last year to finish in the runner-up spot in his second season, with the best qualifying record in the category.

His proven speed through 2021 was matched by the steely grit that allowed him to disobey a radio directive from his Trident team in the season finale, where he won at Sochi in Russia despite being ordered to move aside and hand the victory to a paydriver teammate.

With his F3 campaign out of the way, Doohan then qualified on the front row for only his second F2 start, alongside Piastri, before taking himself out with an overambitious first lap in Abu Dhabi.

“I won’t make that mistake again,” Doohan tells Auto Action.

And that’s the way the youngster, who is yet to turn 19, is approaching his path to Formula One. He has become a flint-tough man-child, very much the father’s son to his five-time world MotoGP champion dad, although still with the youthful enthusiasm and sense of fun that often gets knocked out of young racers.

Doohan has just emerged from quarantine when we catch up at Coomera on the Gold Coast, after a brief three-way chat with Mick, that includes discipline for the new family pup, and is all business.

He made his F2 debut in six opportunistic starts just before the end of the motorsport year with Virtuosi Racing, with that frontrow qualifying success and a best of fifth in a sprint in Jeddah, but his future is with the Dutch team, MP Motorsport, and he has already been testing in the Middle East.

Doohan intends to push hard in his first full year in F2 with a single target.

“The objective is F1. Definitely,” he says.

“In Formula 2, one level below Formula One, you have to be up front. Hopefully winning the title is all you can do.

“I think that going into a championship with a front-running team is going to be very helpful. The little bit of experience I got last year means I feel in a good place to contend for the championship.”

18 I www.autoaction.com.au

Doohan is only heading into his fifth year as a single-seater racer, although he has crammed a lot into that time, and admits he has had to grow up fast in Europe: “To be honest, it’s weird to try and put an ‘age’ on me (aiming for F1 – ED). When I was younger, I wanted to make it to F1 and do it like Verstappen.

“But the sport has changed, and he was very much a one-off case. Still, being 19 this year, I want to be getting the job done sooner rather than later.”

Although Doohan has his F2 ride in place there is the feeling there is more to come for him in season 2022. The only hint comes when he talks about the Red Bull Junior program, which he effectively abandoned at the end of last year after being downgraded following the lacklustre HWA season in F3 that was much more about the team than the driver.

“They wanted me. But …,” he says.

“We are still finalising the whole package for 2022. It should all be done by middle of February.”

It’s easy to think that Doohan lives in Monaco as the privileged son of a successful and wealthy father, but he emphasises that he is racing because he intends to be in F1.

Even though Mick Doohan has been just as successful in business as he was in MotoGP, he is ‘only’ a millionaire in a sport where there are plenty of youngster with billionaire backing from their families.

“Yes, I’m very privileged. But when you look at the money that goes into the sport then everyone is much the same, and some have much more.

“So, compared to my rivals, I do have to work harder and put in more effort. I train every single day – I work hard on everything.”

That’s how he got the opportunity with Virtuosi for his two-meeting F2 taster at the end of ’21.

“After the last F3 race in Sochi I had no plans. I thought if I could get a seat it would be 100 per cent worth doing.

“It was way better than not doing it. The expectation was only to finish every race and get some experience.”

Fifth at Jeddah was better than expected and so was the second-quickest qualifying time in Abu Dhabi. But then came his disastrous first-lap crash on the opening lap of the Feature.

“I was the only one in the Top 6 on the grid who was on the Prime tyre. I was fighting with Zhou on the first lap.

“I should have just backed out of it earlier. He squeezed me when I was going back onto the track. I braked, the car was heavy, with full fuel, and I had a giant tank slapper.

“It was my first mistake all year – I didn’t cause any Red Flags, no spins ... I hadn’t been off into the gravel ...

“Not my proudest moment. I just had to take the lesson. But it won’t happen again ...”

He is already preparing strongly for the F2 battle, which is likely to have as many as 10 potential race winners and believes MP can take the fight to the benchmark Prema Racing that took Piastri to last year’s championship.

“I feel like we’re already working together in the post-season testing,” Doohan says.

But how does he feel about the F2 car, and the different challenge as he upgrades from F3.

“There is a lot more going on with the F2 car. You’ve got carbon brakes, the turbo, pitstops, strategy, more data. You can adjust the brake bias to protect the rear tyres, but if you do that you lose braking power and the braking distances change …

“To put it into perspective, in F2 you have to be putting in maximum effort. You have to be more precise. It’s a bigger wagon, and a lot heavier. It doesn’t like mistakes.

Everything is exaggerated. You have to be smooth to be fast.”

Doohan already has a plan for the F2 season, banking his early apprenticeship

A team change made the difference in F3.

and what he learned on the way to the runner-up spot in F3.

“I want to break it up into four-race groups.

So four races times three.

“In F3 there was only one time I was outside the Top 3. My average qualifying performance was 3.1. So I can put a lap-time in, which should reward me.”

And the bottom line for Doohan as he heads back to Europe for F2?

“Ultimately, I want to win the title.

The focus is to win races and take pole positions.

“I’m in a good place, mentally and physically. It obviously feels a lot better than it did this time last year.

“I’m in a good frame of mind. Everything is lined up, and it should allow me to extract more potential for the future. Everything is good,” he says.

Images: Motorsport Images

with Mark Fogarty

SUMMER LOVIN’ THE FOGES FILE

AA’s proud pundit rejoices in the return of the Tasman Cup SUMMER MEANS THE SKIDS AND and defends F1 THE DRAGS. WELL, IT DOES TO ME ...

ENTHUSIASTS OF a certain age have longed for the return of the Tasman Cup championship.

In our youth, it was the pinnacle. A summer series in New Zealand and Australia that was virtually a southern Formula 1 title.

From 1964-69, the Tasman Cup saw F1 stars race here for a crown second only to the world championship, which back then was decided over as few as eight Grands Prix.

Jack Brabham, Jim Clark, Bruce Look at the line-up for the Warwick Farm Tasman Series round in 1968 – front row Jim Clark, Graham Hill, Chris Amon; second row Piers Courage, Denny Hulme; third row Frank Gardner ...

McLaren, Denny Hulme, Graham IT’S Chris THE same for aPiers lot ofCourage my camera work in any motorsport, Formula One, as well as the Hill, Amon, and friends, from Higgo to just Petersome McKay andcojoined I really enjoy the in-car action battery action in Formula E and Jochen Rindt were of the crown. But fun in the sun was the main in Jan/Feb, just not under the recent Hungarian Grand Prix.

It had and names Brutus, as wellspent as TheJanuary Minder. and from the –amateur teams whoeverything: are Extreme E, but the Dakarfierce has big who appeal. the Tasman Cup banner although, drama, suspense, For as long as I can remember, opened the door – and my eyes – February Down Under.

I missed the semi-F1 glory years, but sponsored by thebattling same through tobaccothe Dakar. racing and an unexpected winner. the season has It’s not as crazy funny as theThere was to lots of other new stuff.

In summer the laterspeedway years, their 2.5-litre I’d read about them. I became involved company.

Lewis Hamilton, alone on been onewere of thetest highlights of the any coming “listen to me we returntyres to Supercars variants cars for in the F5000 era, when Matich, I wrote a comment piece in Sami” The in-car rally the grid onBefore intermediate as the in year. footage on YouTube, but justrest flooded Newcastle, alsotobechange treated three-litre F1 season.

Graham McRae and Peter Gethin were Australian after the ’75 series into thewepitwill lane It began at theseries Sydney entertaining to see the challenge startseen of thethat newbefore!

World Rally The Tasman showcased the the big stars. denouncing the uncomfortable transto slicks to ... the never Showgrounds, racedMatich, throughSpencer inside the cars and in Monte top locals – Frank The first story I ever wrote – published Tasman alliance, from earning approbation With theChampionship rest starting season from the pit lane Liverpool and then Tralee in Leo much noise that earplugs are are locked dirt alongside Carlo.scramble, it set the stage Martin, Kevin Bartlett and in Auto Action nearly 50 years ago –away through in NZ.the ButoffI calledsometimes the split –from andthe was in an unholy Canberra, moved on to others Avalon – against as irrelevant an ashtray on aand hisseason. biker.the ’76 The big question Geoghegan, among wasasabout McRae ’72 Tasman not popular whena Ifallen covered for a thriller – and it was. is who will and best Warrnambool, before peaking motorcycle, is the most violent – But it’s more thanstandalone that, because So the Dakar is booming, with replace Sebastian Ogier as the the in the world.

Cup-winning Leda GM1. series across The Ditch.

Hamilton’s fightback was atEven Parramatta ’things thing tribute I’ve experienced theour sounds plenty Aussie interest including driveroftohis beat in the WRC – my when when F5000the took over fromand scary –I paid to McRae on webof giant V8 Theengines new Tasman Cupofwill evoke a confirmation brilliance. with wings’the would always gethad me in motorsport.

The only parallel howling the dark,storied and thehistory smell while Tobyushering Price andaMolly money is on Kalle Rovanpera – 1970-75, Tasman Cup site following his recent death.

In in the new Taylor. Out front, Ocon in his underdone to ‘put my backside trackside’ . would beearly standing on the deck ofdays,ofhe methanol skids and nitro But therestars. is also a sub-textAlpine to but off newSebastien technologyVettel, is also being immense international prestige.

F5000 Tasman was theat the generation of open-wheel held I’ve also beenend-of-season to the drags since an aircraftman carrier jetssuccessive at the drags, a summer year’s duel in the dunes,maximising with deployed this year in the all-new This year’s Oz-only to while beat, fighter winning titlesis as much Once it extendsthis to seven or more his Aston Martin. the earlyTasman days of Castlereagh launched. treat for me as fish-and-chips at andaAustralia, lot of alternative that will revived series for S5000, are beingfrom ’71-73. events in NZ it will fuel vehicles Behind Rally1 them,contenders battles galore – use in Sydney, when I saw Don ‘Big James Courtney just giggled beach. be truly worthy ofinthe theTasman field thatCup have been Fernando hybrid drive for the first time. endorsed

by Motorsports Australia and In 1975, my first year as Burleigh a Alonso fending off Hamilton Daddy’ Garlits clock the first like a two-year-old when I took As we get work at Auto title. covered in-depth on the television Toyota continue to have the NZ, won’t be the same, but it will thrill professional journalist, I reported theback tochampionship proved theWill ex-world champion six-second pass in Australia, and him downTasman to the start-line once at at Sandown Action, I’m doing my best to get package. car;what can Hyundai diehards. title shoot-out Spaniardfastest still has it takes.recover more to Willowbank Willowbank. summer fun despite Apart from the super-high-tech slow development and The recently future prospect of four rounds between Warwick Brown, my Johnnie WHYrain-outs F1 IS INTOXICATING There isfrom a lesson here. Mix up thea outside Brisbane. only have watch Cam Lawrence up and down the East Coast.

Audi RS Qof e-tron, been and giant testing crash Thierry in NZ and another four in Australia And youWalker andtoKiwi Graeme AT HIS peak as president the which hasorder outsiders have by a chance. common denominator? a sprintcar, or even dirt- 1970 I cannot wait to the Sydney this year and should challenge Neuville; or will go all-in with inThe January/February, mimicking Waters in(who won the crossover series in to get FIA, late Max fast Mosley observed Same could be said forFord Supercars.

It’soriginal, a visceralissense of speedfor and tracking his MonsterFerrari Mustang, to Speedway, the state-of-the-art for victory in was 2023, we’ve also When the M-Sport in Britain to make the intoxicating a 2.5-litre Dino). that Formula 1’s fascination field gets out of order,its excitement that rarely in see Creek, toby suspense. heard about the biofuel fromanything farm Puma the benchmark? enthusiasts oldyou and new.find Big-bore V8 the appeal.

John Goss won the racenew afterdirt track at Eastern underpinned can happen.

We watch motorsport thesedriven days, even in and I’ve seenWalker’s some of fence-ripping the world’s see ifwith it is as good asMosley’s I hope. view was waste that’s Sebastian So there are occasionally lots of questions to open wheelers by local crash, that, likeused the in rarity F1 races out of duty, Supercars. best sprintcar drivers withplace the clinching Butwhat the skids andof the dragsinare front-runningofProdriverewarded BRX beby answered international aces racing for an historic Brown’s sixth goals soccer,Loeb’s the anticipation epics. this year, including There is a danger pedal to the metal, the only motorsport keep or great Hunter, as wellinas truck running another epic showdown in F1 title – what’s not tofactor like?in would beincluding the finalSteve Tasmannot title. upsettoresults battles F1a kept For all its predictability, the prospect speedway drag that have’The and Donny– and perhaps me happy during the Supercars between and If you’re and under 40,racing you may no King’ Kinser I also reported helped fans interested. entirely on hydrogen that powers of an upset keepsMax F1 Verstappen fans enthralled. means you’re always wondering Schatz, and driving onedemise – which of thehibernation. series of onboard that soLewis their nextconcept of how important the Tasman hasten – the Tasman He was right. F1a followers have forfuel cellsEvery often,Hamilton a race isinriveting. what was. will happen next.

I’ve done Cup a fewchampionship times – is the best Dakar Saudi desert electric power. racers.

Cup in 1976,The when thein the decades enduredmake dominations and Hungarygeneration was one of those rare thrillers Just standing theitstart fun I’ve had with summer my pants series on. been There has been But, start right now, I’m checking When I was aonkid, wasline pre-eminent.

F5000 washas split intogreat. the boring races for the prospect of alots of talk from bizarre to uplifting finish.the for a Top Fuel with here, the racing –For me, Peter the skids and the drags nightly updates on SBS have about new fuels for Le Mans and reportwatching. to make sure the F1 heroes onrace, holiday Stuyvesant (NZ) and The Rothmans once-every-so-often thriller.

It is whyweather F1 is worth You ground literally shaking so fill the void whileInternationals. the Supercars Still seven some of the best scenery and Porsche’s programs skids are happening tonight. almost seriously – for and a prestigious (Aus) races One of those redeeming races wasand even just never know.

with Paul Gover

THE PG PERSPECTIVE

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Mark Bisset Rhys Vandersyde

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS AUSTRALIA Bruce Newton, Mark Bisset, Garry O’Brien, Geoffrey Harris, David Hassall, Bob Watson, Bruce Moxon, Gary Hill, Craig O’Brien, Mick Oliver, Martin Agatyn.

Paris Charles FORMULA 1 Luis Vasconelos US CORRESPONDENT Mike Brudenell

Image: Motorsport Images

DON’T WORRY, HAMILTON WILL RACE ON! IT’S TIME to turn the page I guess, and look ahead to 2022.

Part of the new season includes, for me, joining Auto Action as my friend Dan Knutson has sensibly opted to spend more time at home after nearly 40 years on the road.

Being less sensible than him, I’m looking forward to seeing the completely new cars in action and how the battle between Hamilton, Verstappen and the rest of the new generation will unfold.

This will also be a crucial year for Daniel Ricciardo, who needs to establish himself as McLaren’s leading driver after a tough 2021, as the new rules give the historic British team a great chance to return to its winning ways. As for Oscar Piastri, what will be a frustrating year, sitting on the sidelines, will also be a very useful learning season as he’ll be watching Fernando Alonso’s every move, on and off the track, so the young Australian will be an even stronger driver when he’ll get his chance to join Grand Prix racing in 2023.

In joining a prestigious and internationally well-known publication as Auto Action, I’ll be watching both men closely to keep our readers up to date with their progress.

As we wait for the new cars to be launched and tested, the theme that is occupying almost all the headlines these days is Lewis Hamilton’s possible retirement from the sport. The British tabloid

with Luis Vasconcelos

F1 INSIDER newspapers, in particular, keep bombarding their readers with stories claiming they’ve found new indications the seven-times World Champion has decided to retire in disgust over the events of Abu Dhabi – but the truth is that they’re clutching at straws, recycling the same stories every other day to attract readers.

A lot has been made out of Hamilton’s complete silence since he spoke to Jenson Button for F1TV seconds before going on the podium in the Yas Marina Circuit. Apart from an appearance at Mercedes’ Christmas party, Hamilton has not been seen in public, has been completely inactive in social media, has unfollowed absolutely everybody and has even failed to return a message sent by newly elected FIA president Mohammed Bin Sulayem. For the last four weeks, there’s been absolute silence from the Mercedes driver, yes, but that doesn’t mean he’s walked out of the sport and there’s many reasons to believe he won’t.

First of all, quitting after what he believes was an injustice perpetrated against himself would go against everything Hamilton has

said and done since he raised to the top of the sport, for he thrives in the battle against injustice and, as it’s written on his helmet and his body, “Still I Rise”.

Then, of course, leaving Formula One now would have him leaving of the sport as a loser, a sore loser really, and that’s not the kind of image Hamilton wants to have.

Thirdly, there’s that eighth World Championship still well within his reach, a feat he definitely wants to achieve, and to then leave Formula One with all the main records in his pocket.

But there’s another very important factor few people seem to have been taking into consideration when they analyse Hamilton’s options: his deep connection not only with the AMG Mercedes Petronas team, but also with the Daimler group in general. The British driver likes to remind us often he’s been with Mercedes since the age of 13, racing in a karting team sponsored by AMG, and has only raced with Mercedes engines during his 15 years in Formula One. He’s involved in the commercial side of the team – it was Lewis who brought Tommy Hilfiger to Mercedes (he’s a brand

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ambassador) and he’ll remain a Mercedes man for the rest of his life. So quitting the team now is out of the question, for that would leave the people he’s so closely been working with since the end of 2012 in terrible trouble – and that’s something Hamilton would never do.

Finally, I also suspect Hamilton is very determined to beat George Russell and show those who doubt him – even inside his team – that he’s still the Number One driver in the world and can beat any youngster that comes along!

Proving people wrong is something that drives Hamilton, so don’t underestimate the power of his ego and his determination ...

By avoiding social media, big celebrations and so on, Hamilton has been able to isolate himself inside his shell and no doubt dig deep to find the motivation and the drive to come back stronger than ever.

A man who tends to start his seasons relatively slow and pick up the pace after the summer break he may be, but I suspect the Hamilton that will show up in Barcelona for testing in six weeks’ time will be more fired up than ever and will be at the top of his game from lap one.

And I, as a fan, cannot wait to see him pushing himself to new limits, for that’s what makes this sport great – seeing the greatest drivers push their own limits and rise above.

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FORMULA 1 NEWS – LUIS VASCONCELOS IMAGES: Motorsport Images

FERRARI’S 2022 POWER UNIT SHOWS FERRARI’S BID to return to the front of the Formula One field has been boosted by the work done by fuel and oil partner Shell, according to sources from Maranello. With biofuels becoming the norm in Formula One, the general expectation was that each ICE would lose around 20 bhp with the need to use a mix of 90 per cent of fossil fuel with 10 per cent of ethanol, but the work done by Shell since the start of last season has allowed the Scuderia to recover all the power lost – something Italian sources have confirmed.

Even if Mattia Binotto has recently stated

that, “to believe we could take the fight to Mercedes and Red Bull tight from the start of 2022 and be on equal footing with them would be tremendously naïve,” there’s no doubt that’s the plan in Maranello and the results seen on CFD and the wind tunnel, for the chassis, and on the dynamometers for the Power Unit, give the Italians reasonable ground to be optimistic.

While the chassis side is a bit of a mystery, for every team will have read and interpreted the new technical regulations in a different way, the Italians take quite a lot of confidence from the results they are

achieving with the new Power Unit, as even before Christmas, the output of power had already exceeded what had been determined as the target for the homologation that will be required by March 1.

The word in Maranello is that, with the help of the new biofuel developed by Shell and with the introduction of a few bold ideas by the team led by Wolf Zimmermann (who has become Enrico Gualtieri’s right hand man in the engine department), Ferrari has made a great leap in the output of power from the new ICE, internally named as Superfast.

Sources from within the team have told

us that the new V6 engine has already exceeded what last year’s Power Unit managed at the end of its development and there’s still a few new developments to be tested before the 2022 car starts running, in the middle of February, before heading for the winter tests in Barcelona (23-25 February) and Bahrain (10-12 March).

However, there’s a bit of concern inside the Scuderia that, while the performance of the new Power Unit exceeds expectations, reliability is not yet at a level that would confidently allow Ferrari to plan going through the season using just three Power

BUDGET CAP EXCEPTIONS = NO REAL CHANGE FORMULA ONE introduced a budget cap last year, setting it at US$145 million, but leaving such a large and important number of exceptions to it, that the top teams spent close to US$300 million during the 2021 Formula One World Championship. The fact that there are 32 expense items that do not count under the budget cap explains this massive discrepancy but, at least, it was a first attempt to level the Formula One team’s budgets in the 70+ years the championship has been going for.

This year, according to the regulations, the items included in the budget cap wouldn’t be allowed to exceed a total of US$140 million – there’s a sliding scale than intends to bring the budget cap down to US$115 million by 2030 – but more exceptions to the rule mean the teams will be

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essentially able to spend as much money this year as they did during the last season.

That’s because the US$140m budget cap was set for a season with 21 Grands Prix, with an extra US$1.2m allowed for each extra race included in the calendar. With 23 Grands Prix scheduled to go ahead, that puts the 2022 budget cap already at US$142.4 million per team – but there’s more money they can spend thanks to the introduction of six Sprint Races in the calendar.

While, in 2021, the teams accepted US$100,000 per car per Sprint Race, raising the total budget cap to US$145.6 million (there were three Sprint Races in the season) this year that budget add-on has gone up to US$300,000 per car per Sprint Race weekend, meaning each team will get

3.6 million more to spend – US$600.000 per Sprint Race times six – bringing their total allowed expenditure up to 146 million bucks, a fraction above what they were allowed to spend in 2021!

What remains the same is that damage up to US$100,000 incurred in accidents during each of the six Sprint Races will also be added to the budget cap, if the teams can prove their cars suffered that much damage. And while this could be an important insurance policy for the smaller teams that cannot afford to spent too much money on new spare parts, it’s easy to see the bigger teams coming up with all sorts of minor damage in their cars during the Sprint Races, to get those parts replaced by new ones – without making the expense count for the budget cap!

ASTON MARTIN CONFIRMS SZAFNAUER’S DEPARTURE

PROMISE Units per car, to avoid grid penalties.

But there’s a strong will within Ferrari to go for it right from the start of the season.

As Mercedes demonstrated last year, it’s possible to use the engine penalties strategically, going into the season with a plan of using five Power Units per car and taking two grid penalties – the first forcing the driver to start from the back of the grid, the second costing him just five grid penalties – in order to be able to use the engines to the limit in all the races and be in the battle at the front from Bahrain to Abu Dhabi.

ASTON MARTIN has confirmed in a short statement that Otmar Szafnauer has left the team with immediate effect, finally acknowledging what had been common knowledge in the paddock that the Romanianborn American is set to join Alpine in the near future.

In their release, Aston Martin stated that, “Otmar Szafnauer has left the Company and his role at Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One. The Team will be managed within the leadership team until a replacement is appointed. We would like to thank him for the service provided to the team over the past 12 years and wish him well for the future as he will undoubtedly take on new challenges.”

It was only a matter of time before Otmar Szafnauer and Aston Martin would part ways and that it took one full year for the split to happen goes to show how hard was it for both parts to find alternative paths for their respective futures. Very early last year, Aston Martin boss Lawrence Stroll had decided Szafnauer was not the man he wanted running his Formula One team and offered the position of Team Principal of to at least two other experienced Formula One managers.

Both of them, however, insisted they would only take the position if they could have full control of the Formula One team, leaving Stroll to focus on rebuilding the Aston Martin brand and marketing the new road cars – but that’s not what the Canadian wanted, as he intended, and still does, to take a hands-on approach to the task of making the Silverstone-based team a winner in Formula One. Realizing the difficulty opf fulfilling hios plan, Stroll kept Szafnauer in his position but quickly

shut him out of any big decision processes. It was a surprise for the Romanian-born American that Martin Whitmarsh was in negotiations with Stroll to join Aston Martin – Szafnauer recently admitted that, “when I was asked about it, I denied any knowledge of the negotiations because I hadn’t been told they were happening, not because I was trying to hide anything from the media … “ but when the former McLaren man finally joined the company, the writing was on the wall for him.

Whitmarsh has no desire to run a Formula One team on a daily basis, as he did with McLaren (after Ron Dennis decided to focus on the road car project), until he was replaced by Eric Boullier at the start of 2014. However, the Englishman can take a senior position that will make him the connection between Stroll and the race team, but the team needs someone to do for Aston Martin what Christian Horner does for Red Bull: run the factory and the race team, and deal with the staff and the media, while Stroll and Whitmarsh make all the key decisions, hire and fire for the top positions and control the commercial side of the operation.

GASLY: “I’LL GO BACK TO RED BULL IF I’M ALLOWED TO WIN!” PIERRE GASLY was widely considered one of the best drivers of the 2021 season, the Frenchman clearly beating all the record previously set by his team – since it was relaunched in 2006 under the Toro Rosso moniker – and being a consistent presence in the first three rows of Grands Prix, as on no less than eight occasions he put his AlphaTauri AT02-Honda inside the top six in qualifying.

The front row start in Qatar was the highlight of what was a very impressive number of performances on Saturdays.

With such speed, consistency and handling of the pressure when battling the Ferrari and McLaren drivers, as well as frequently being in front of Red Bull-Honda driver Sérgio Pérez, Gasly has been touted as a possible replacement for the Mexican, to drive alongside Max Verstappen, from the start of 2023.

In an exclusive interview done in Abu Dhabi, a couple of days before the end of the season, the Frenchman admitted he would like to be back with Red Bull Racing – but drew a clear line of what kind of deal he would accept to be alongside the new World Champion. When we asked him if he would welcome the chance to go back to the Milton Keynes-based team, Gasly quickly said, “Why not? It depends if there’s the will to do it, and to play which role?”

Asked if he would go there under any condition, the Frenchman initially said, “from my side, given they have a car capable of winning races, if I can go there to win races, then for sure I’m interested.” But when we asked if he would be keen to return to the team he raced for in the first half of 2019 only to support Max Verstappen’s title bid,

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he quickly explained that, “if it’s to go there without having the possibility to win, it’s less interesting.”

It’s widely believed in Formula One that Gasly will be a free agent at the end of 2022 if he’s not promoted to Red Bull Racing – a situation similar to the one Carlos Sainz experienced a few years back, when the Frenchman was promoted to Christian Horner’s team instead of the Spaniard. But he made it clear he won’t be interested in signing one-year deals with anybody, pointing out that champions always have the comfort of being in multi-year deals with their teams: “If you look at all the champions, like Lewis, Sebastian and even Kimi or Alonso, back then, they were not drivers on one-year deals when they won the championship.

In fact, I don’t think that we’ve had any champions on just a one-year deal, have we?

“To be given a long-term deal gives you serenity and confidence, because that shows the team trusts you while one-year deals don’t demonstrate the team has much faith in you. For sure it’s great to have the opportunity to invest yourself in a team for a long period.”

With seats for 2023 available at Red Bull, Ferrari, McLaren, Aston Martin and Alpine, Gasly’s message to the bigger teams is clear: offer me a long-term contract with a clear plan to rise to the top and I’ll consider moving to your team and build it around me to try and win you the championship.

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A CHAT WITH THE CHAMPION NO-ONE COULD GET CLOSE TO CHALLENGING SHANE VAN GISBERGEN THROUGH THE 2021 RUNNING OF THE REPCO SUPERCARS CHAMPIONSHIP. SVG PUT A CHOKER HOLD ON THE CROWN FROM THE OPENING RACE AND REFUSED TO RELEASE THE PRESSURE AS HE DOMINATED FROM START TO FINISH. BUT 2022 HAS BEGUN, AND THE CHAMPION IS KEEN TO REPEAT AND CLAIM A THIRD SUPERCARS CHAMPIONSHIP, AS HE EXPLAINED TO PAUL GOVER.

IT TAKES a long time and a lot of work to get to know Shane van Gisbergen.

The speedy Kiwi is focussed and distant at the track, private and reserved away from it.

But lob the right question and he can be surprisingly insightful. Helpful too.

With his second Supercars championship trophy safely at home, and the pressure of racing removed, he is relaxed and happy to talk. But, before doing his championship revision from season 2021, what is the van Gisbergen view of the coming year?

“I haven’t thought about it too much,” he begins.

“I haven’t seen the formats. So I don’t have anything insightful. I’m sure there will be some fast cars and fast people.”

Those fast people are sure to include a resurgent Chaz Mostert, who proved the pace

of his WAU Commodore with a runaway win at Bathurst, and a more-polished Anton De Pasquale in the Shell Mustang.

But, typically, SvG sees stronger opposition as an opportunity.

“It will probably take some of the attention off me. No-one was talking about us last year as the title favourite. So we can just go about our business and prepare well.”

That preparation has been working well for Triple Eight and the Bulls for more than a decade, although there will be giant changes in ’22 with Roland Dane out of the picture and a reshuffle on the engineering side after a series of high-profile defections that now incudes David Cauchi.

“I don’t think about that stuff – I just sort of live in, or enjoy, the moment. I keep pushing as we go.

“It’s obviously a lot of effort and self power that you put into each year. I don’t feel like that’s waning at all. I feel just as motivated.”

That motivation will take another shape without Whincup as the benchmark, but that’s a lesson that SvG has learned.

“I’ve been sitting beside Jamie for the last five years and know how much effort he puts in. That’s just become normal.

“I feel like I’ve been one of the top three every year. I think we’ve been pretty close every year and had opportunities, but not made the most of them. I don’t feel like the last few years have been a failure.”

So, 2021? When did van Gisbergen think it was going to be his year? Perhaps at Sandown, when he swept the weekend despite racing with a broken collarbone?

“I don’t know about form and stuff like that.

You obviously have confidence. (But) I left that weekend thinking that the only person that was going to beat me, was me.

“I guess you just get that run of confidence, and that feeling. But I guess that nobody expected that weekend to go that way.

Especially the way I felt the week before, leading up to it. That weekend probably gave me the most confidence, that was for sure.”

To test himself, SvG ran his car heavily over the kerbs at Sandown and said it was no drama. But was that just bravado and disinformation for his rivals?

“There was actually nothing from the shocks, from hitting the kerb strikes. I didn’t actually feel any pain in my collarbone, from where the belts were strapped.

“It was actually my core muscles, which turned out to be the ribs. Holding myself upright, with the G-forces at the top of the hill.

That’s where I had the most pain.

“Your brain is the most powerful tool you have – I did that weekend and I was focussed on the collarbone. Then I got the X-rays on the Tuesday and found out about the ribs, and then my ribs started hurting. If you don’t know, you don’t have it in your brain.”

It’s that brainpower that works so well for SvG, like so many other champions in sport, giving him the extra capacity to do more that just working the controls and driving the car.

“To me it does, maybe, seem like it’s normal.

But it’s all that understanding and experience.

I like to think I know a lot about what’s happening in the race, and be able to help as much as I can with the strategy Sometimes that can be a detriment – when you need to shut up and just drive it – but I do like to think I have a big understanding of the sport and how the races work. It’s not something you consciously think about when you’re in the moment.

“You are just always getting information.

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“ ”

“Boring is good when you’re out front. I do love a good battle, but having an easier run is good sometimes.”

You’re seeing when people pit, and you remember how many laps ago that was and you can work out what tyre situation you’re going to come out with, and how many tyres you’ll need to beat them.

“While you’re in those conversations with yourself, you’re talking to the engineer as well.

Tyres are like gold these days with these formats, so it’s how many you can afford to take.”

It’s all part of his enjoyment of racing, which runs from everything to single-lap speed to door-to-door battles.

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“I do enjoy a good qualifying lap, but I don’t necessarily enjoy the stress of qualifying and the uncertainty. Getting into a race, and just having a go - whether you’ve got a good car or not, even if you’re battling for fifth - I just love racing people.

“The majority of the people in the field I enjoy racing. Even the ones I don’t, it’s a different type of enjoyment because you’ve got to learn about, or think about, how those people are going to race you. Some of the best races I’ve had, I’ve finished second.

“Boring is good when you’re out front. I do love a good battle, but having an easier run is good sometimes. But that’s pretty rare. It’s never easy.”

Looking at the car itself, how does he like it?

“I actually don’t have a preference. A fast

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“ ”

“I’ve got no sort-of outside influences. I don’t have any distractions with other sports or businesses. It’s just purely all I do.”

car is a fast car and you can just wheel it. But I never try and have the car with more front or more rear, I just always want a perfect balance. That may be greedy, but I don’t feel that I have a preference.

“If I just compare to Jamie, our cars are never that different. I just think a fast car is a fast car and you get the most out of it with whatever style. Whereas one day that might

People’s Choice, Drivers’ Choice – the silverware keeps coming ...

Having a top-class team-mate is one of SvG’s ingredients for success – Jamie Whincup’s move from the driver’s seat to team principal means that young Broc Feeney has big shoes to fill. The team will also have to adapt to the loss of longtime engineer Dave Cauchi (top, alongside SvG) ...

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be a bit more pointy, or it might have more understeer, you’ve got to be able to adapt and drive around it.”

Van Gisbergen is more than just a Supercars racer, also driving everything from speedway cars to single-seaters, GTs and rally car, so is well placed to talk about techniques and the various rewards.

“The GT car is different. The ABS and TC

takes away from the driver side of thing.

You’re only using one foot to drive and flicking the pedals. But a big lap in a GT is a good feeling.

“It all comes down to the preparation of the things. The rally car things I did, I had good enough preparation. When you know you’ve got all day to get comfortable, it’s having good people around you and knowing which advice to listen to.

“I don’t try to ever jump into cars and just go any more. Always make sure you have good cars. You always want to make sure things are right before you hop into random cars.”

Which brings us to van Gisbergen’s plans for season 2022, and opportunities beyond Supercars.

“I think it is probably still too risky to go overseas to Europe and America. I just can’t afford to get stuck and not make it back for a Supercars round.

“Unfortunately it’s probably going to be another year like that. But I still would love to do Le Mans. I’ll just have to wait.

“I’d love to do some more rallies. I love rally.

I want to try to do some more of that, but it depends on dates and trying to raise a bit more money.”

Looking back to his childhood, can SvG recall what he liked?

“Best sport was rugby. I played all over the place. I think I was outside centre.

“Subject was maths. But only when I had a good teacher. I didn’t care much for school, but there were a couple of years when I had good teachers and I enjoyed it. I put a bit of effort in and I was good at maths.”

And now? Is there anything special he does to unwind and relax?

“Race cars. Watch car racing. Play on the simulator. I’m always just thinking about racing.

“I’ve got no sort-of outside influences. I don’t have any distractions with other sports or businesses. It’s just purely all I do.”

So, when he is watching racing, is there something he is hoping to learn, or something special he enjoys?

“I like the two top F1 guys. They are very different in how they approach it, and I

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Sandown provided the background for SvG’s drive of the year – while recovering from a cracked collarbone, and at the time undiagnosed broken ribs: “I left that weekend thinking the only person that was going to beat me, was me ...” appreciate both. Obviously I support Max more, but Lewis is so good under pressure.

“And the NASCAR stuff, I really like the Denny Hamlins and Kyle Bushes, who have been around for so long but every year they keep making themselves better and hanging in with the young guys. You can see how good they are at reading races. I spent time with Kyle Bush in the Lexus at the Daytona 24 and, although you see a lot of negative stuff about him in the media, he is a huge people person. And even in that small time I spent with him … the way he was able to get the whole team around him, and everyone on his side and his support ... he is a really powerful personality.

“I learned a bit there on how to get people on side. It was pretty cool to watch how he works.”

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Pivoting back to Supercars, how is he looking at the coming season?

“I just have to not get complacent. I have to make sure people come up to my level.”

That’s not him being arrogant, but instead being realistic about keeping himself sharp and focussed on maintaining his edge.

“The level Jamie has been, and us pushing each other, has been good for the team. Broc has shown he can be superfast.

“For sure there will be some bumps on the road, but I’m a lot more confident now that we’re sticking with this generation of Supercars for one whole year. Broc can just jump in and drive.

“I have to make sure I’m a good team mate for Broc – I’ll do everything I can help him to get up to the level he has to be and

at the end of the day that will help me as well. It helps us in the long run.”

And the opposition? Mostert and de Pasquale?

“They are my favourite guys to race – plus Chaz, and Cam is very good as well.

And racing those Erebus guys at Sydney was awesome – they race super-tough but they are fair. They’ve figured it out pretty quickly, which is why they are up at the front.

“People like that, I really enjoy racing them. You know you’re going to get a proper battle.

“There are plenty of guys in the front half of the field that are going to push hard.

“I don’t know who is going to be the stand-outs, but I’m sure it’s going to be good.”

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Images: Motorsport Images

2021 SUPERCARS REPORT CARD SUPERCARS SCHOOL IS OUT FOR SUMMER SO IT’S TIME FOR THE ANNUAL AUTO ACTION DRIVER REPORTS. PAUL GOVER MARKS THEM UP. THERE WERE some obvious stars, a few breakthrough battlers, and a couple of dunces through a season which promised a lot but delivered one of the most one-sided title fights in recent memory.

The loss of triple champion Scott McLaughlin to IndyCar-land cleared the way for Shane van Gisbergen to rule as the Dux of the 2021 class, but there is a lot more in the rankings for last year’s championship.

SHANE VAN GISBERGEN

A++

The Dux of the class is not just top of the points, he is best at every subject. Apart from pointless chit-chat …

Van Gisbergen (above) nailed down his second Supercars crown with a giant sledgehammer and also used his formidable range of tools – from qualifying pace to 360-degree tactical smarts – to belt anyone who remotely threatened him.

Even his team mate Whincup was not immune from his ‘rubbing is racing’ approach and it will be great to see if he can maintain the focus to repeat the effort in 2022 against some revitalised rivals.

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A

JAMIE WHINCUP

Best of the rest isn’t bad for a final year in the Main Game and J-Dub (right) went out as an A-grader as usual.

He still showed plenty of pace in qualifying, often raced hard at the front, and brought his A Game to the races as always, just like his sports hero Roger Federer.

His only big mistake was trying to block SvG during a torrid tussle at Sydney Motorsport Park that cost both of the Bulls a win.

If not for the mercurial van Gisbergen he would have been champion for an eighth time. But that is a very big but …

WILL DAVISON

B

Davo was signed to bring stability at DJR, after the departure of McLaughlin and Fabian Coulthard, and did that job well. As well as working for the sponsors.

But he is an experienced racer who should have extracted more from a good car, could have coped better with a string of on-track dramas, and definitely should have rallied the team around him while his young team mate De Pasquale was finding his feet.

“ ”

The Dux of the class is not just top of the points, he is best at every subject. Apart from pointless chit-chat …

This year will be his last chance for a title shot and he will need to lift, and find a vaccine to combat van Gisbergen, as well as stealing the focus back from De Pasquale, to make it happen.

CHAZ MOSTERT

A-

Someone said if you win Bathurst nobody cares about the championship. Perhaps it was Brock.

It definitely applies for Mostert (above), who battled all year to make consistent speed from his WAU Commodore but was flat-out brilliant at Mount Panorama with help from Adam Debore and Lee Holdsworth. He also romped to the TCR title, helped by a lack of A-grade rivals and despite massive crash in the final meeting – at Bathurst.

Mostert is one of the few who will go doorto-door with SvG and 2022 is make-or-break for him as a title contender – and with Nick Percat applying pressure from the other side of the garage.

CAM WATERS

B+

He is fast enough, but … something is still missing. Is it Waters (top right) or is it the team?

When he has a fast car he can run comfortably at the front, even ignoring the sight of SvG in his mirrors, but he has

been less comfortable when trying to move forward in the lead battle pack.

Second at Bathurst – again – was a reflection of a year that still didn’t deliver.

ANTON DE PASQUALE

A-

An excellent rookie year produced almost everything expected from him – and even better on qualifying laps.

He still needs the final polishing to be a championship contender, but most people expect that to happen in ’22 as he and engineering guru Ludo Lacroix have each learned what the other needs and expects.

Bathurst was lacklustre, and he hates comparisons with Scott McLaughlin, but he is the new hero and the future for DJR. NICK PERCAT

WILL BROWN

B+

Definitely the Rookie of the Year. Some people dismissed him as a Reynolds-style clown but his giant smile hides a killer commitment to success that has seen him win in everything he has raced, from Toyota 86ers to Formula 4, TCR tiddlers and now Supercars.

Brown (below) and Brodie Kostecki clicked with Barry Ryan and the Erebus squad and everyone banked the bonus as they went from wannabes and maybes to serious frontrunners.

The question now is hard far and how high young Will can go, but just look at his qualifications as a stunt flier for a hint.

MARK WINTERBOTTOM

B-

Age is catching up with Frosty, but he is still solid, and Charlie Schwerkolt sees him as a giant asset to Team 18.

His results were mostly lacklustre for a driver with his pedigree and record but he still showed occasional glimpses of the driver he was in the past. Expect him to transition soonish, like Whincup, to a management role and a co-driving spot.

BRODIE KOSTECKI

B

Not quite as shiny as his team-mate over the season, but was the first to make a breakthrough into the leading pack and helped drive

B

It’s relatively easy to stand out at BJR, but Brad Jones rates him highly and – despite a bitter split – was hopeful of keeping him in the Albury crew.

His season was up-and-down, which is not a disgrace, but he has yet to fully justify the prediction that he would be ’the next big thing’ from the time he arrived at the old Holden Racing Team.

He returns home with the switch to WAU for the coming season, where it will be easy to rate him against Mostert in the same car.

Youth and Experience make for a diverse driver line-up at DJR.

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The all-new start-up team, with Slade at the wheel, burst out of the box impressively, but a big shunt stretched resources.

Erebus forward through the second half of the championship.

He has many similarities with SvG as a tough racer with plenty of nous, so his time is coming. The trick for ’22 is to keep his eyes forward and not watching the other side of the garage, not that ‘Bush’ needs to be told.

SCOTT PYE

B-

He was marking time for too long when he needed to be pushing up and away from Winterbottom. There were times when he looked likely to advance to the next level, but his grip on the Top 10 was never strong enough or long enough.

Another driver who will be looking for more pace and proper consistency in the coming campaign.

TIM SLADE

B-

One of the toughest to judge, driving for a one-car start-up team, despite a solid commitment from the Blanchard bunch and the experience of his engineer Mirko De Rosa.

His early speed at the Bathurst sprints was impressive, but the wheels fell off – literally – after a crash that forced him into a back-up car for much of the year. So, not his best year but there could be reasons that are not so obvious from the outside.

JAMES COURTNEY

C

He is getting old but he’s still talented and committed, so perhaps running as wing man for Waters – don’t call him Goose – took some of the shine off his own results.

But the team also let him down at times and instead of shouting and complaining, as he would have done in the past, he is prepared to play the long game and it resulted in a contract extension that will make him the even-older veteran in the field in 2022 and beyond.

It would be good to see him harnessing all the horses to his wagon, even if it’s one last time.

TODD HAZELWOOD

C+

Another of the smiling happy chaps, at least in public, but the results never came despite some signs of speed.

Lost his spot with Brad Jones, reportedly through lack of backing, and will find things tougher as he slides closer to the bottom end of pitlane.

ANDRE HEIMGARTNER

B-

A race winner at The Bend but P-nowhere in the championship shows he was a victim of troubled times and big changes at Kelly Grove – then Grove alone – Racing, where their pair of Mustangs never got close to the sweet spot of the faster Fords.

Heimgartner (above) is better than he looked through most of 2022, even if he needs to be judged on his place in the championship.

He could feel the winds of change and made an early move for a potential upgrade at Brad Jones Racing.

JACK LE BROCQ

C-

The early promise of one of the next generation of young(ish) racers has never been fulfilled.

Once or twice he was alright, and he did better than the top blokes at Tickford during the back end of the Sydney sweep, but it was not enough and not consistently enough, to stop him exiting the Ford squad.

BRYCE FULLWOOD

C

Lining up alongside Mostert was never going to be easy, but instead of mirroring the star driver at WAU he tried to hard for too long to run down his own road.

He might not have had equal backing but needed to do more to rise closer to the midfield.

Another driver who found himself looking for a new seat at the end of the year.

DAVID REYNOLDS

D

The class clown became the Dunce and was lucky that he didn’t rate an F – for flung – after his crazy Covid situation at the end of the year.

Reynolds (right) is a proven winner, and a Bathurst champion, but never looked like the pacy racer from seasons past.

He fled from Erebus but went the wrong way as Kelly Grove battled to be more than just also-rans, even with engineering back-up from his long-term partner Al McVean.

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lovely bloke, incredibly fit and focussed, but none of those things gets you into the top group. Or, despite flashes of qualifying speed, regularly into the midfield.

FABIAN COULTHARD

B-

The results on the scoreboard say a giant F, but Fabs hasn’t forgotten how to drive.

A potential sale of Tekno could be the only salvation for a racer who deserves better than he got after leaving DJR. THOMAS RANDLE

A mixed season sees Jack le Brocq on the move for 2022.

“ ”

Sometimes nice guys don’t get the breaks, even with the talent and smarts to be further up the grid.

He is still a great entertainer, but needs to focus - totally - on reviving his reputation and results in season 2022.

ZANE GODDARD

B-

Sometimes nice guys don’t get the breaks, even with the talent and smarts to be further up the grid.

Goddard (pictured far left) deserves

another shot at Supercars, and a better shot too, but it won’t come this time as he looks to rebuild as a racer while studying for his back-up plan in architecture.

JAKE KOSTECKI

C

Showed nothing special but is didn’t get much help from his team, although things are promised to improve in the future.

JACK SMITH

D+

He could be better than he looks, and his results show, but there is still a missing ingredient.

He needs to channel his father’s drive and ambition, link it to the talent that is lurking inside the helmet, and get on with the job.

GARRY JACOBSON

C

Another of the tail-enders, but not helped by a car that was anything but special.

Managed to keep smiling and provided in-car demonstrations of his left-foot braking technique, although only he and Coulthard – thanks to leg problems – use it.

MACAULEY JONES

D

Is it him, is it the car, or does he need to break away from the family team to really challenge himself?

Steven Johnson once had the chance to race for Garry Rogers, but chose to stay comfortable and cosseted at home, and there are some parallels.

Macca (left) is a

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C+

Things were looking promising in his wildcard starts with Tickford, but then he stuck Courtney’s Mustang in the sand at Bathurst.

He clearly has speed and no-one has had better preparation – thanks to Rusty French – for his step up to a full-time drive in the Main Game, but he needs to prove pretty quickly that he is not just the Lance Stroll of Supercars.

His rapid recovery from cancer proved he has The Right Stuff on the commitment front.

KURT KOSTECKI

C-

The third of the Kostecki clan in the standings and not looking likely to trouble Brodie any time soon.

LUKE YOULDEN

B-

Was handed a hospital pass at Sydney Motorsport Park when Reynolds went AWOL, but did a solid and professional job to run close to Heimgartner with no real preparation.

Even the return of Reynolds made little difference to a Mustang that Youlden used to make some surprising passes on name drivers during his guest appearances.

LEE HOLDSWORTH

B+

Deserves a grading in the class of 2021 based on his win at Bathurst, and the commitment to get himself back into the Main Game.

He was clearly the stand-out co-driver in The Great Race but will find things tougher at Grove Racing than he did as Mostert’s anchor man at Mount Panorama.

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WRC’S NEW HI-TECH ERA

WRC RETURNS IN 2022, WITH NEW CARS AND MOST OF THE REGULAR STARS. HOWEVER, THIS YEAR SEES CHANGE – THE CHAMPIONSHIP MOVES INTO THE HYBRID ERA, WHILE REIGNING CHAMPION SEBASTIEN OGIER STEPS BACK. DAN MCCARTHY PREVIEWS THE HIGHLY ANTICIPATED SEASON. AS THE FIA World Rally Championship embarks on its 50th season, the ever-popular series embraces a new era, as WRC goes hybrid.

The championship is looking incredibly open this year due to that introduction of hybrid technology, and as reigning champ Sebastien Ogier will not return full-time in 2022.

The Frenchman has won eight of the last nine titles, but has elected to hang up the boots from full-time rally competition.

This means that the only full-time driver on the grid to have previously won a World Rally Championship is Estonian Ott Tanak.

Ford has switched its challenge to the Puma.

THE CARS DON’T WORRY! Before you panic, despite the change to hybrid technology, world rally machines remain as loud and monstrous as ever.

The engines will still pop and bang, the cars retain the mean and purposeful appearance and they’ll be as fast as ever.

All three manufacturers remain in the championship – Toyota Gazoo Racing with the Yaris and Hyundai with its i20 Coupes.

Ford returns with M-Sport also – however after 11 years with the Fiesta, the factory outfit will switch models, to the Ford Puma.

The new generation of world rally machines will be known as Rally1 cars. The regulations have a focus

on decreasing costs and improving sustainability.

It is believed this will make the sport not only more accessible to other manufacturers, but appeal to them also.

“The accessible nature of the Rally1 regulations will quickly allow manufacturers to fight for victories, while the performance parity will help to deliver strong competition between the world’s best drivers,” said the FIA when the regulations were released.

“These (new regulations) are the result of months of rigorous analysis and investigation by the FIA’s team of expert personnel in close collaboration with the WRC manufacturers, with every design

A well-disguised Toyota Yaris prototype on test, with Ogier at the wheel.

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cost required to demonstrate a tangible benefit, without losing the ethos of maintaining top-line performance.”

The cars will continue to look and sound aggressive, with a similar styling and retaining the existing meaty 380bhp (283.4kW) 1.6L engines.

“This new technology is, of course, a bit of a challenge for the teams, and it’s going to be a challenge for the drivers – it’s different ... my first impression was positive” said Ogier.

“There are new parameters for us to get used to: we have to adapt to the regeneration and then how we use the [electric] boost.

“This is something exciting for us as drivers.

“Everybody likes power. The drivers are always wanting power and this is very nice when it all comes.”

Rally1 cars remain four-wheeldrive, but with a simplified transmission running five gears (instead of six) and without an active-style centre differential.

Notably, Rally1 regulations have seen the championship revert from a flappy paddle system to a sequential gearbox for the new regulations.

The suspension will also be less complex – cars will have shorter wheel travel, with simpler and more cost-effective anti-roll bars, dampers, hubs and hub carriers.

Liquid cooling of brakes has also

been removed as an option.

Much like Formula 1, braking energy will be harvested throughout a competition stage, utilising an e-motor.

The harvested energy can be deployed like an F1 ERS system – the e-motor creates a boost of 134bhp (100kW) and is fitted to the 1.6 L turbocharged inlinefour engine used in world rally competition for many years.

In the stages, the FIA governing body will indicate how much power can be used and for how long.

All teams have been provided with a standard e-motor, created

by Compact Dynamics – a subsidiary of Schaeffler, which supported the factory Audi

Images: Motorsport Images, Red Bull Archive Formula E program until its closure at the end of last season.

In contrast to F1 though, the hybrid system as well as its software will be standardised until at least the end of 2024. The FIA is confident this will keep the costs of competition down.

As well as a money saver, it will also stop one manufacturer from dominating with a superior motor. (Since F1 introduced its hybrid rules in 2014, Mercedes has generally had the most powerful unit and has been a lead contributor to them winning eight consecutive Constructors’ Championships).

The cars are expected to enter into fully electric mode when travelling around the rally’s service

CALENDAR Round Date 1 Jan 20-23 2 Feb 24-27 3 April 21-24 4 May 19-22 5 Jun 2-5 6 Jun 23-26 7 Jul 14-17 8 Aug 4-7 9 Aug 18-21 10 Sep 8-11 11 Sep 29-Oct 2 12 Oct 20-23 13 Nov 10-13

parks, towns and other built-up areas on route to stages.

Another big change for both cost and safety of WRC teams and drivers is the introduction of a standardised safety structure.

Within the homologation requirements, however, teams are allowed to enter a scaled chassis based on production cars, rather than adapting a chassis to fit one of its roadgoing models.

Other changes include a simplified turbo; cars will run on sustainable fuels; f some aerodynamic components such as the rear diffuser are gone as is the fresh air valve in the anti-lag system –all in a bid to cut costs and keep competition close.

Rally Monaco Rallye Rally Sweden Croatia Rally Rally de Portugal Rally Italia Sardegna Safari Rally Kenya Rally Estonia Rally Finland TBA Acropolis Rally Greece Rally New Zealand Rally Catalunya de Espana Rally Japan

Surface Mixed Snow Tarmac Gravel Gravel Gravel Gravel Gravel Tarmac Gravel Gravel Tarmac Tarmac

All rallies can be viewed live on Stan Sports

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THE DRIVERS

WITH SEBASTIAN Ogier only contesting selected rounds, young Kalle Rovanpera steps up as an unlikely tip to win the title.

Despite Ogier’s limited program, Toyota seems well ahead of the game in regard to the new regulations. All of its drivers have completed extensive laps behind the wheel of the hybrid Yaris on a variety of different surfaces.

Although M-Sport Ford has changed to the Puma, many tests have also been completed and early signs are positive.

The same cannot be said for Hyundai – it has been revealed that the Korean manufacturer started work on its Rally1 machine (main image, above) half a year after both Toyota and Ford.

In recent weeks, team principal Andrea Adamo and Hyundai made the sudden and shock announcement that they had gone their separate ways.

As well as this, one of the teams lead drivers, Thierry Neuville and his co-driver Martijn Wydaeghe, suffered a horrific testing crash, with the latter suffering a broken collarbone.

For this reason, despite a great driver line-up, Hyundai is very much playing catch-up.

Once again, five-time series runner-up Neuville and former champ Tanak are the full-time drivers. They will both expect to compete for victories, although the first few rounds may just be extended test sessions in the i20s.

The third Hyundai will once again be shared between two drivers – veteran Dani Sordo will drive in selected rounds once more, as will second-generation racer Oliver

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Toyota and its driver line-up are well-prepared ...

Solberg (son of 2003 champion Petter).

The man who shared the third Hyundai with Sordo in 2021 has been signed as the lead driver at M-Sport. Charismatic Irishman Craig Breen has been given his big break as the lead man at M-Sport Ford.

On his day Breen is one of the fastest drivers in the field and, with Hyundai on the back foot, will be expecting to collect podiums throughout the season, and maybe even his long-awaited maiden victory.

He will be joined full-time by Englishman Gus Greensmith and fast Frenchman Adrien Fourmaux. Both will be keen to improve on their 2021 campaigns in which they generally rounded out the field.

Nine-time World Rally Champion Sebastien Loeb has been signed by Ford to compete at Rally Monte Carlo – the opening round of the season. It is unknown if he will take part in any other rounds. As always, Loeb will be a valuable asset.

Toyota retains Ogier as a part-time driver, sharing the car with Finn Esapekka Lappi who returns to the team he called home in

2017 and 2018.

Lappi will be looking to prove himself after being forced to compete in WRC 2 last year.

The 30-year-old knows that if he proves himself this year, a potential full-time seat may be on offer.

Once again, Takamoto Katsuta will take part in all events driving the fourth machine.

The remaining two drivers are unchanged, with Elfyn Evans and Rovanpera concluding the line-up.

Based on what has occurred in the preseason, these two drivers are undoubtably the favourites for the title.

Although Evans finished above his 21-yearold teammate in 2021, midway through the season Rovenpera recorded his first two rally wins and at times looked unstoppable.

Evans also won two rallies but was more consistent than the Finn – however the Welschman is not bulletproof when under pressure.

It was be a fascinating title tussle, and this is why the 50th WRC season is one of the most anticipated on record.

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s

Living Legend

Vern Schuppan

MR VERSATILE

VERN SCHUPPAN: THE QUIETLY-SPOKEN AUSSIE F1 DRIVER AND HERO OF LE MANS, INDY AND MOUNT PANORAMA It took Vern Schuppan less than three years to rise to the top of world motorsport. He left home in South Australia to chase his grand prix dream at the end of the 1960s and by 1972 he was racing for BRM in F1 – until an ambitious youngster called Lauda bought the drive from under him ... Schuppan was never quite able to lock down a regular or competitive F1 drive – but that didn’t stop him having a wildly varied and highly-successful career as a gun-for-hire in everything from Formula 5000 to Le Mans sports cars. These days Schuppan has a home in Adelaide, fittingly on the edge of the old GP street circuit, and splits his time between SA and a villa in Portugal. He spoke with MARK BISSET.

IMAGES: Motorsport Images, Vern Schuppan Collection, autopics.com.au, Nigel Snowden and Auto Action archives.

Schuppan, BRM P153B, during practice at Nivelles, Belgian GP 1972, before the car was commandeered by Helmut Marko. Right: Faithful Ford van being hooked onto the Angelina Lauro.

A HUMBLE panel-beating shop at Whyalla in South Australia is a world away from the glitz and glamour of grand prix racing.

But that is the motorsport path of Vern Schuppan, who rose from very humble beginnings to become a true motorsport champion. He doesn’t have the grand prix profile of world champion Alan Jones, or the touring car pedigree of his one-time F1 rival Larry Perkins, but Schuppan truly did it all.

He raced and won in all corners of the globe, starred at Indy, tackled Mount Panorama, and is best known today as a former winner of the Le Mans 24-Hour race in a classic Rothmans Porsche 956.

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But all that was way in the future when Vernon John Schuppan entered the world on March 19, 1943 in the grain, wool and lamb farming town of Booleroo Centre, 300 kilometres north of Adelaide.

“Soon after, my parents moved to Whyalla.

I was nearly 14 when I left school to join Dad as an apprentice in his panel-beating workshop,” Schuppan recalls.

He was already a budding entrepreneur with his eye on motorsport.

“I always wanted to race cars, but dad was against it. Karting was a compromise. I made extra money buying insurance writeoffs, repairing and selling them. Dad, my

sister Marlene, girlfriend (and soon-to-bewife) Jennifer all came along.”

“I had a heap of wins from 1963-1967, winning South Australian titles in 1965-1966 and the Victorian Championship in ’65.

But 1967 was a year of change, as the 24-year-old married Jennifer – who is still his life partner – gave up karting, and saved to fund a crack at racing in Europe. The pair moved to the UK, like so many other young Aussie hopefuls at the time. Vern refurbished a tired Ford Thames van which was to become Team Schuppan’s mobile home in the UK. He also prepared and drove a Holden Ute support car for Terry

Thomas’ 1968 London-Sydney Marathon effort with a Ford Cortina.

THE OLD DART “We left Port Adelaide aboard the Angelina Lauro in May 1969. I had $5000 (£2000 at the time) in my pocket. Time was ticking – I had promised Jennifer we had two years to make it or come home.

“After surveying the scene, I bought an old Alexis Mk 9 Formula Ford. Working parttime for Aussie racer/classic car restorer, Murray Rainey, I stripped and rebuilt it. I was 12th in that first race at Oulton Park in a field of 36.”

Top: Schuppan at Brands, works Palliser WDF2 BRM Formula Ford in 1970. Above right: Karting – hard at it carrying #1 at Whyalla in 1966. Above: Into Druids at Brands enroute to an Atlantic win, April 1972. March 722 BDA. Left: Happy-chappy – victorious in the first ever F Atlantic race, Brands, March 1971. Palliser WDB4 BRM-Ford.

After five meetings with strong results, Tony Macon offered Vern a works Macon FF along with top-gun Chris Steele engines. It was definite progress.

Vern was next invited to contest the Brazilian Formula Ford Temporada series during January-February 1970, where the competition included future champion Emerson Fittipaldi and a young Tom

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PALLISER F/FORD AND FORMULA ATLANTIC SUCCESS Returning to Britain, Vern continued in FF and was so successful early in the ’70 season that in May he was offered a works Palliser FF by Hugh Dibley, using BRM prepared engines. A bonus was working at Palliser, building the cars.

“I had a great year,” he says. “Palliser extended the deal into 1971 with a car for the first British Formula Atlantic Championship. The cars were one-step-removed from Formula 2. I thought if I won the championship it would pave the way to F2 and ultimately F1.”

While conceived around the engine which powered the Ford Escort RS1600 road and rally cars – the 16-valve Cosworth-designed BDA – BRM went the conservative route and used 175-horsepower Lotus-BRM twin-cam units rather than the 200-horsepower BDA. The Atlantic championship was run over 22 rounds and – despite the horsepower deficit – Schuppan popped his Palliser on pole nine times with seven wins, five seconds and pile of other high placings winning him the title, earning him a Formula 1 test with BRM. Walkinshaw, long before he became the boss of the Holden Racing Team.

“Chris Steele organised the loan of a Merlyn Mk11A, but I crashed it testing in the wet at Brands. I fixed it, but it handled badly. I didn’t have a great series.”

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TEA AND SCONES AT THE DORCHESTER HOTEL Schuppan had seen the imperious BRM Chief, ‘Lord Louis’ Stanley, on his visits to the factory delivering engines: “I later met he and his wife Jean in their Bourne office. I was leading the

Formula Atlantic championship. He told me he’d give me a test if I won it, and that I would go on to win my first F1 race in a BRM. Headywords for a second-year driver ...

“He was a pompous character; he and Jean were referred to as Lord and Lady Stanley. If you received an invitation to afternoon tea at the Dorchester Hotel on Park Lane, you knew you were in line for an F1 contract.”

In the very best of company, Schuppan was joint runner-up with future F1 racer Tony Brise in the prestigious Grovewood Awards, won that year by Roger Williamson. Sadly Brise was killed in the aircraft crash that killed Graham Hill and Williamson would die in the 1973 Dutch Grand Prix.

Schuppan received the Dorchester high-tea invitation from Stanley, with all its pomp, in February 1972.

“After tea and scones, he presented me with a contract. I suggested to Mr Stanley that I take the contract away and read it. I should have anticipated his response, which was ‘Do you realise just how many young drivers would cut off their right arm to be offered this contract?’ and ‘Tim Parnell (BRM team manager) is coming to collect it.’

“Needless-to-say, I signed.”

In addition to F1, Vern was to race a March 722 Formula Atlantic car, courtesy of BRM sponsor Marlboro, in the UK, as well as competing in Asia, F2 and Interserie drives for BRM.

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Above: Schuppan/Hailwood, fifth in the ’73 Dijon 1000km, Mirage M6 Ford.

Far left: Likely lads; Mike Hailwood, Schuppan and Howden Ganley, Spa 1000km, 1973. Bell/ Hailwood won, Schuppan/Ganley second, Mirage M6 Ford.

Left: F5000 winner, Brands, October 1974.

Bottom left: Ensign N174, Belgium 1974.

Schuppan made the ‘roughy’ fly – Q14 and 15th in the race.

BRM F1 AND CAN AM Schuppan raced the March to four wins and two seconds in Atlantic in the UK. He was second in the Singapore GP, third in Malaysia, and, starting from pole, looked the goods in Macau until clutch failure cruelled his day. But his eyes were always on Formula One. “I first saw the BRM P153 (the 1970 car) at Brands during the British GP meeting. Painted British Racing Green and driven by Jackie Oliver, I thought it was the most beautiful car in the paddock, smaller than other cars, with a beautifully proportioned Coke-bottle shape.”

Schuppan was entered by the famous marque – whose roster of F1 greats included Juan-Manuel Fangio, Stirling Moss, Mike Hawthorn, Peter Collins, Graham Hill, Jackie Stewart, John Surtees, Pedro Rodriguez and Jo Siffert – in the Oulton Park Gold Cup race in May in the days when there was still a halfdozen non-championship F1 races each year.

“It was the first time I’d ever sat in an F1 car. I’d never experienced the power of a 3-litre V12. It was an exhilarating experience, and it was a beautifully balanced car,” says Schuppan.

Star designer Tony Southgate was responsible for the P153, and evolved it to the P160 in 1971, as BRM ran strongly and won races with Rodriguez and Siffert.

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At Oulton Park, Schuppan was happy.

“I qualified fifth and finished fifth. Denny Hulme won in a McLaren M14A Ford. Driving that BRM was, for sure, the most exhilarating experience I’d ever had. The torque of the V12 and Southgate’s chassis allowed me to corner with lovely predictable slides. My only disappointment was being overtaken by Denny.”

With his stocks at BRM rising, Vern was tapped to contest the Belgian GP at Nivelles in June.

“But when Peter Gethin crashed his P160 in practice, he commandeered Helmut Marko’s car, resulting in Marko taking mine, so I didn’t start.”

At Oulton he raced his Atlantic March in F2 with a Ford BDG engine and showed he was up there with the top guns by qualifying alongside Ronnie Peterson and James Hunt on the front row. But engine failure while leading was the end of a promising run.

Schuppan had a baptism-of-fire at the old-school Nurburgring, tackling the ‘Green Hell’ aboard a Can-Am BRM P167 Chevrolet sports car in a September Interserie round.

The challenge of wrestling a heavy, potent 7-litre roller-skate through the tricky swoops of the misty Eifel Mountains was never going to be easy, but he qualified fifth despite a practice session ended by engine failure. But without a spare, he didn’t start.

BRM entered three F1 cars for the John Player Challenge Trophy at Brands Hatch in October and, despite missing dry qualifying and starting in 15th slot, the boy from

He became recognised as a safe, easyon-the-car, competitive set of hands who delivered the goods.

Left: A look of disappointment after a Belgian GP BRM non-start in 1972.

Booleroo was fourth in his P160C, just ahead of teammate Peter Gethin. The race was won

by Jean-Pierre Beltoise in a BRM P180 – he had triumphed at Monaco in May – taking BRM’s last GP victory.

Schuppan had progressed well, before the fickle-finger of finance hit him and his offer from Stanley.

“When Big Lou presented me with the contract, he told me I’d drive alongside Clay Regazzoni in a two-car team for 1973. I was ecstatic.”

But Niki Lauda was out of a drive after two years at March. He had a swag of Austrian schillings and BRM was his target.

“My mission to have a competitive drive crumbled when Lauda concluded a deal to buy my ride for 50,000 pounds. It was a lost year. I was still under contract to BRM as reserve and test driver and restricted from driving for another F1 team,” Vern recalls sadly.

But a mix of single-seater and sports car racing set Schuppan up for the next decade – and beyond. He became recognised as a safe, easy-on-the-car, competitive set of hands who delivered the goods.

The BRM team ran cars for Jean-Pierre Beltoise, Clay Regazzoni and Niki Lauda, a combination of two solid citizens and a young thruster.

By the Race of Champions at Brands Hatch in March there had been three championship GPs, but Schuppan did well and put his BRM P160D third on the grid behind race-sharp Lauda and Beltoise. But there was no result.

“I was running third with 10 laps to go but was taken out lapping another car.”

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Then the world turned – Vern had the first of many drives for John Wyer’s Gulf-sponsored sports car team later that month. The dual-Le Mans winning outfit was running Mirage M6 sports-prototypes powered by 3-litre Ford DFVs V8s and he was paired with former motorcycle champion Mike Hailwood at Vallelunga in Italy, although they went out with gearbox failure.

At Silverstone a month later, his BRM P160 lined up with Regazzoni and Lauda for the BRDC International Trophy. Vern was ninth despite a duff shock absorber. Jackie Stewart was up front in a run of success which gave him his third and final world championship with Tyrrell.

In April, Schuppan won the Singapore Grand Prix, driving a March 722 for Teddy Yip’s Theodore team, finishing ahead of Graeme Lawrence after 50 laps on the daunting Thompson Road.

“I met Teddy Yip after winning the race,” Vern recalls. The Macau gambling casino mogul became one of the sport’s biggest sponsors in the ensuing decade, so it was a great connection for the Aussie.

“He invited me to race in Macau in November – I looked good for a while starting from pole, but I lost the clutch on the first lap.”

At Fuji in May, Vern popped the March on pole but retired from the Japanese GP with overheating problems. It was his first visit to Japan, a country which was kind to him in the final phases of his driving career and his transition into team ownership and management.

Schuppan’s primary programs for 1974 were Formula 5000 and Gulf Mirage drives, with the bonus of some Teddy Yip spontaneity that resulted in Ensign F1 drives as well.

“Teddy was demanding; an early-morning call to meet him at Heathrow wasn’t unusual.

Once I was driving him to Silverstone and he said, ‘Let’s get a car for the Monaco GP’.

Top right: Great run in the Brands ’73 Race of Champions. Q3 and third, BRM P160D. Middle: Ensign’s Mo Nunn, Teddy Yip and Vern do-the-deal, early 1974.

Right: Classic Nurburgring 1000km shot.

Schuppan/Hunt Mirage GR7 Ford, fourth in 1974.

Below: Sweden 1974, Ensign N173 – disqualified after starting at the back of the grid following a squabble between FOCA, and the organisers about privateers.

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“It wasn’t that easy, but he persisted, and so we did a deal with Mo Nunn.”

Vern took over the Ensign of Rikky von Opel, the great grandson of Adam Opel, Opel car company founder, for the Belgian GP and finished 15th. He retired the N174 at Monaco after a lap 1 pile-up then, in Sweden, was disqualified for lining up on the non-existent 26th grid slot and was again disqualified at Zandvoort after a tyrechange infringement.

At Dijon in France, he failed to qualify after the team missed three of the four practice sessions, and missed out again at Brands despite his pace the previous year. Then, at the Nurburgring, he failed to finish after a jammed throttle ended a wholly disheartening experience.

“The Ensign didn’t progress as it was uncompetitive. Mo Nunn always felt it was the drivers, not a slow car,” Schuppan says.

“I then introduced Teddy to Sid Taylor who managed his F1 and F5000 programs. In ‘74 we had plenty of pace in F5000 but poor reliability, I did the fastest laps at Thruxton, Mondello Park, Brands Hatch, Silverstone, Riverside and Pocono.

“I won at Brands in the VDS Chevron B24/28 but had eight DNFs from 16 starts in Sid’s Trojan and Lola T332; five due to mechanical failures and three big accidents.

At Brands I went off on oil, at 180mph, while leading, through Monza’s Curva Grande ... a rear wing strut had broken, then at Riverside I T-boned James Hunt’s Eagle when he lost it in Turn 9.”

Schuppan’s race diet in 1975 was more sports cars and Formula 5000.

“I did two races in Sid’s T332 at Silverstone early in the season and Oulton in September, finishing second in both, then Dan Gurney approached me about taking Bobby Unser’s Eagle 755 seat in the US. “The car was a bit tricky to set up, having rising-rate suspension – my best result in a half-dozen races was second to Brian Redman at Long Beach.”

Hooking Dan Gurney’s Eagle 755 Chev F5000 around Long Beach, second to Brian Redman in the ‘75 GP. “In sports cars I took a class win in a 2-litre March 75S at the Nurburgring with Dave Morgan and John Lepp. That year’s Mirage M7 Ford was good, quick despite low-speed understeer. Jean-Pierre Jaussaud and I were third at Le Mans – our team mates Jacky Ickx and Derek Bell won. I won the Road America 500K in a Mirage Ford too.”

Vern was summoned back to F1 by Graham Hill, but it was a fraught Swedish GP. Team leader Tony Brise’s car played up all weekend, so he took Schuppan’s car, shuffling the South Aussie into an old Lola T370. With limited practice laps, he eventually raced his Hill GH1 well until a driveshaft broke.

The South Aussie’s final F1 stint was with

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SUMMER OF ‘76 “I finally had Christmas at home in Adelaide before contesting the Rothmans F5000 series in the Yip/Taylor Lola T332. I won at Oran

Park. Seconds in Adelaide and Sandown gave me the title after the final round at Surfers was washed out with torrential rain,” Schuppan recalls.

He tested Garrie Cooper’s new Elfin MR8 Chev at Adelaide International and Calder before travelling to the USA and was impressed, returning as part of Ansett Team Elfin in September. In a thrilling AGP dice with John Goss over 40 laps of Sandown, his MR8 was just pipped by his rival’s Matich A51/53.

In the States, Gurney’s All American Racers persevered with the Eagle 755 Chev, but after a stunning engine-induced rear-of-grid wetweather drive at Watkins Glen, Gurney said to Schuppan: “I’m going to buy you a Lola.”

F5000 was great – the championships across the globe were among the most closely contested at the time, with great drivers including Brian Redman, Mario Andretti, Al Unser and Jackie Oliver

Driving the Hill GH1 Ford at speed, vexed ’75 Swedish GP weekend being tipped into and out of the new car and old Lola in practice. Evetualyy a DNF with a broken Hewland output shaft.

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another ex-World Champion, John Surtees, in 1977. He drove the Surtees TS19 – vacated by Larry Perkins – at Silverstone, Hockenheim, the Osterreichring in Austria (and at Zandvoort in Holland, where the car failed to qualify), for a best of seventh in Germany.

At that time, Australian drivers were flavourof-the-month with Surtees as Alan Jones raced a TS19 throughout 1976. But none of the Australians rated the car or the fractious, difficult-to-work-with ’64 world champ ...

A wonderful Le Mans image – Schuppan with Jean Pierre Jaussaud, finished third in the slinky Gulf GR8 Ford in 1975; the Jacky Ickx/Derek Bell sister car won the 24 Hour classic.

It was a great start to the ’76 Rothmans Series at Oran Park, a win in the Theodore Racing Lola T332.

He was immediately on the pace, with second in his heat and third overall at Road America.

“F5000 was great – the championships across the globe were among the most closely contested at the time, with great drivers including Brian Redman, Mario Andretti, Al Unser and Jackie Oliver.

“The Elfin MR8 was very good on most tracks, but the T332 was good everywhere.

I bought an MR8 to race in the States, but when F5000 morphed into central-seat CanAm (in 1977), the aluminium Elfin body was too heavy, and the car was uncompetitive.

The Tiga-Chev ground-effect car which followed had too little straight-line speed.”

At Indy, the Month of May featured large in Schuppan’s program for the first time. He put the works Eagle 74 Offy into 17th on the grid, finished 18th and took the coveted Rookie of The Year award – he was clearly fast when the car was working.

“My first oval race was at Indy. That car and Tom Sneva’s McLaren M24 ‘Sugaripe’ back-up car were the two best Indy cars I ever drove.”

Demonstrating his diversity again, Vern shared a Porsche 935 with Bell to fourth place in the Zeltweg 4-Hour race in Belgium, and he was fifth at Le Mans in a Mirage GR8 Ford.

A rousing season-ending Macau GP victory in Yip’s Ralt RT1 Ford in a classy field of Formula Atlantics, which included Alan Jones, David Purley, Kevin Bartlett and Graeme Lawrence, finished a good year.

Next Issue: Schuppan remembers his greatest race, Indy cars, Mirage and Porsche success at Le Mans, the perils of manufacturing a road-going supercar, and much more ...

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Schuppan took the Rothmans Series Oran Park win with a ‘press on style’ drive, seen here leading John Goss, in his Matich A51/53 Repco-Holden

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VALENTINO’S LEGEND WILL LIVE

THERE ARE A FEW SPORTING STARS WHO ACTUALLY TRANSCEND THEIR SPORT – VALENTINO ROSSI IS ONE OF THEM. IN PART TWO OF OUR FEATURE, COLIN YOUNG REFLECTS ON THE SIGNIFICANT LEGACY THAT ROSSI HAS MADE TO MOTOGP AS A RIDER – AND THERE’S TEAM OWNERSHIP STILL TO COME ...

THERE WAS always one race that Valentino Rossi was never going win. The one against Father Time. While that defeat was inevitable, Rossi can claim an untouchable victory.

Across a stellar 26 seasons, Valentino Rossi has transformed motorcycle grand prix racing and built a reputation as a global sporting icon. Sports marketing experts say Rossi’s inspired VR46 concept has the brand awareness to match NBA legend Michael Jordan.

And it is Jordan’s award-winning documentary, The Last Dance, that may yet inspire Rossi to one day record his own life story, from the inside.

“For me Michael Jordan is a legend,” Rossi said.

“I have many images, even private backstage images, that have never been seen so I would like to do a series like The Last Dance because it would be really cool.”

Rossi will be 43 on February 16 and eagerly anticipates a new life as fully fledged MotoGP team owner, a car racer and, most importantly, a father. Rossi and his partner Francessa Novello will soon become parents.

“It is a beautiful story – the circle closes a little bit,” said Rossi of his decision to pull the pin after 432 grands prix.

The first GP was Malaysia in 1996, the final outing at Valencia in 2021.

The son of Graziano Rossi, a beatnik racer and grand prix winner, Valentino steps away from racing to enter a two-rider VR46 Team in the 2022 MotoGP Championship.

KEEPING THINGS IN THE FAMILY One of the VR46 riders in 2022 will be his halfbrother Luca Marini, alongside another emerging Italian youngster, Marco Bezzecchi.

Rossi will not be lost to MotoGP – he just won’t be on the grid trying to add to his 115 grand prix wins.

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In 2004, Marini was a seven year-old, joining in the celebrations with Valentino and their mother Stefania after Rossi’s momentous championship winning race at Phillip Island (see image below,).

It was the first of his four world titles with Yamaha after three championships with Honda and two with Aprilia. The Island win was mission accomplished following his defection from Honda and the postrace celebrations produced an amazing atmosphere.

Now Marini is making his way in a new generation of riders, although it is not be easy being Valentino’s brother in bike racing.

Rossi was a headline grabbing paddock rascal when he arrived as a precocious rookie for his GP debut in the 125cc Malaysian GP in 1996. He finished sixth.

“When I arrived, there was an explosion of popularity. I was Graziano’s son, and I already knew the riders. I remember some media reports that spoke of this boy who was a ballbreaker in the paddock,” he recalls THE NUMBERS DON’T LIE Rossi’s career has generated a mind-bending list of statistics, many likely to never be exceeded, but his legacy extends far beyond the numbers.

And this is a key pointer to Rossi’s influence.

He is fully aware of his contribution to grand prix racing – a keen student of GP history – with a clear understanding of his unique persona and riding skills that are the platform for his legacy.

He had the streets smarts and selfconfidence to plan so many creative victory stunts that had to be in place even before the race had started.

Prime amongst them was Osvaldo the Chicken after winning the 250cc GP at Barcelona in 1998

– a spoof on an imaginary Italian sponsor with a lawyer buddy riding pillion in a chicken suit.

“In my opinion I was the first modern MotoGP rider, because I was the first to do many things that became a lesson for many riders today,” Rossi said.

“I started very young, but at 20 I was already in 500s and my path was then followed by everyone. Now they all want to do that.

There are a few things that I have done that everyone has looked at while learning.”

But it all could have been so different with Rossi’s childhood dreams of a particular job before bikes and cars became his life.

“I dreamt of being of being a trucker when I was a little boy! I don’t know why. I liked the idea of driving trucks but didn’t understand it was a very difficult job. And then at one stage my father Graziano wanted me to be a rock musician.”

HIS DARKEST DAYS The death of his best mate Marco Simoncelli on lap 2 of the 2011 Malaysian GP at Sepang triggered some dark days for Rossi.

He cried a lot and even considered walking away from the sport, devastated by the fatal accident. He was part of the group that got caught up when Simoncelli crashed.

They were very close and raced even when training at the gym or on motocross bikes, a shared passion that triggered Rossi setting up his VR46 training ranch.

Rossi and Simoncelli had a special connection, even on alpine holidays.

“Valentino likes snowboarding and I like to ski. The snowboarders say skiers are like women and we say snowboarders destroy the ski tracks, so fuck you! And when we train together on motocross only sometimes do I beat Valentino – it’s always a hard battle,” Simoncelli had said of his unique bond with Rossi.

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Valentino was thrilled when his childhood hero, Kevin Schwantz, asked for one of his helmets ...

ROSSI AND HIS HEROES ROSSI’S HERO, when a schoolboy, was America’s original Sultan of Slide, Kevin Schwantz, who was part of the golden era of 500cc two-stroke racing.

Rossi’s early style was in the mould of Schwantz, riding in a fun way on the limit, often almost like on a bicycle.

No surprise then that Rossi derived huge satisfaction to be the winner of the final 500cc world championship in 2001 (on a Honda NSR500) before the switch to four-stroke MotoGP. Rossi loved the 500s – “they were the great bikes of Schwantz, Mick Doohan and Wayne Rainey” – and he watched all their titanic battles races on video.

A deep respect for the sport is reflected in Rossi’s worship of legendary world champions Mike Hailwood, and Giacomo Agostini – the only rider to win more races than Rossi.

When asked to name three riders from the past who he would have liked to challenge, Rossi named Hailwood, Agostini and Schwantz.

The Hailwood and Agostini eras included defining wins at the Isle of Man TT, the infamous road race long exiled from GP racing.

After his 2009 win at Mugello Rossi took a private jet to the Isle of Man to take in the race from Bray Hill and rode a fast parade lap on a Yamaha R1 behind Agostini.

“In that lap I understood why, despite being so dangerous, the TT is so beautiful, so mythical. It’s really scary but it’s gorgeous. But I wouldn’t have liked to race there – it’s really too dangerous. I am very happy that my generation has never raced there in the World Championship.”

Not a bad line-up – Valentino has a bike from each of his championship winning years ...

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Valentino Rossi in his final race aboard the Petronas Yamaha, leads VR46 Academy graduate Franco Morbidelli during the Valencia GP.

ROSSI – ON FOUR WHEELS AND FANS

FOR TWO years from 2006, Rossi flirted with Ferrari and a switch to F1, even contemplating running in junior categories as a build-up to a Ferrari gig. But in the end his passion for motorcycling won out.

And while there is no F1 in the future, Rossi is fast on four wheels and will have more time to indulge his passion for GT racing and potentially the Le Mans 24 Hours.

Rossi won the the Pro-Am class in the 2019 Gulf 12 Hour and has entered the 2022 edition of the race, again in a Ferrari 488 GT3.

Driving duties will be shared with his brother Luca Marini and buddy Alessio ‘Uccio’ Salucci.

Rossi is also a seven-time winner of the the tarmac Monza Rally and has twice run in WRC events, in Britain and New Zealand.

As a kid Rossi was a fast and flashy karter in a home built special put together by father Graziano who inspired his son’s love of rallying in unofficial races in battered Opel Asconas and Ford Escorts in gravel pits near Tavullia.

“I’ve always said that when I finish MotoGP I want to race with the cars,” Rossi said.

“I had some experiences with rallying because I am a rally fanatic.

“I also did a world championship rally, but for me rallying at the end is difficult

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because it’s very demanding and I want to race on circuits because I prefer it – I like it more.”

Seven-time F1 champion Lewis Hamilton is one of many high-profile Rossi fans and a bike enthusiast. In 2019 they swapped cars and bikes at Valencia with Rossi in the Merc F1 and Hamilton on the Yamaha M1.

Their connection went much deeper than a love of speed and two wheels.

“It was nice to be with Lewis in Valencia,” Rossi recalls.

“I remember that in the morning at 9.15 there was a knock on the door of our office, and there was Hamilton in the Formula 1 suit: ‘Oh, come on you’re always the usual late Italian.’

“We both have a great passion for motorsport and are curious about everything.”

And for the tension-filled deciding race of 2015 MotoGP championship at Valencia – the height of the Rossi v Marquez war – a private jet dashed from the UK on Sunday morning to take in the race and cheer for Rossi.

On-board were Mark Webber, Martin Brundle, Adrian Newey and Isle of Man TT genius John McGuinness.

At other times the Rossi fan list included football superstar the late Diego Madonna and even Hollywood A-lister Brad Pitt. Pitt once even waited patiently outside Rossi’s motorhome for a private audience, and selfie, at Laguna Seca prior to the US Grand Prix ...

VR46 ACADEMY – ASSURING THE FUTURE OF ITALIAN MOTOGP SUCCESS The VR46 Academy is Valentino Rossi’s gift to future-proof Italian motorcycle racing and develop grand prix talent..

The ambitious project, which Rossi dedicates to friend and once training partner, the late Marco Simoncelli, is already paying dividends.

Star graduates include Franco Morbidelli and Pecco Bagnaia who are both Moto2 world champions and MotoGP race winners.

Both have graduated to the big-time and are tipped as 2022 world title contenders with lucrative factory gigs.

Bagnaia is with Ducati and Morbidelli is now at Yamaha.

And Rossi has coached and mentored his brother Luca Marini through the dirt track training regimen at the VR46 Ranch on the outskirts of Tavullia.

Training and dirt tracking with his young students – mostly less than half his age – is an inspiration: “I am very proud of the academy and my feeling is it is more beautiful than we expected.”

Tavullia is also the headquarters of the VR46 business and merchandising empire - a Rossi creation - that reportedly generates upwards of $50 million a year in licensing and sponsorship.

100 WINS – MOST SIGNIFICANT RESULTS Rossi was five months old when his father won the 250cc Dutch TT at Assen.

30 years later, in in 2009, Rossi racked up his 100th career GP win in all classes when he won the MotoGP race at Assen.

It was a front running masterclass of speed and strategy.

The win came just one race after his last corner demolition of Jorge Lorenzo at Barcelona – an explosive race and an important victory.

But this Assen win, at a circuit embedded in the history of the sport, was different. He beat Lorenzo by five seconds on the way to the 2009 title, his final premier class crown.

“My father won at this circuit, so to make 100 wins here is very special,” Rossi said after the race.

“I will remember this day for the rest of my life. This victory is starting from more deep inside me.

“I was thinking, ‘fuck, it is difficult to keep this pace’ but I knew if it was difficult for me it was also difficult for Jorge.”

But Rossi’s own #1 ranking from his 115 GP wins is the 2004 South African Grand Prix at Welkom, his first race for Yamaha.

“That was unique moment,” he said.

And in terms of championships, Rossi cannot spilt his titles from 2001 (the final 500c championship), 2004 and the first title with Yamaha, and his amazing comeback season in 2008.

Rossi has lost to Nicky Hayden (2006) and Casey Stonier (2007) and responded to critics who said he was ”finished” as a title contender.

When Rossi started, his racing talent was matched by his brilliance as a paddock jester. Over 26 seasons this rare recipe never faltered and his infectious enthusiasm for racing and winning – “it’s like a drug, otherwise you get bored” - was the platform for an extraordinary career.

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Valentino on his way to his 100th career GP win at the 2009 Dutch TT GP. It was 30 years on from his fathers 250 Dutch TT win at the same venue.

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MISTAKES Despite his glorious record, Rossi’s career was not always smooth sailing. He was fast but not flawless and he made his share of mistakes on the way to 115 GP wins and nine world championships.

The most painful physically was a crash in practice at Mugello, his home race, in 2010 when he broke his leg with his then feared Yamaha teammate Jorge Lorenzo already leading the championship.

Mentally, his dramatic crash at the title deciding Valencia GP to concede the 2006 world championship to America’s Honda star Nicky Hayden, still stings.

“I threw away a World Championship that day, I could have won and that would have been 10 titles. Anyway, I should have stayed calmer in the race,” he admits.

And there is the controversy of 2015 that Rossi regards as a ‘theft” of a championship but also points to another error of judgment.

When it came to psychological warfare Rossi was a mastermind. Until he antagonised Marc Marquez. It remains a blot on his career that, despite his race cunning and sublime skills, he under-estimated Marquez.

Rossi was master at dismantling rivals – a killer instinct, and an expert in enabling the media with his rascally wit, charm and cutting jibes.

But he lost out when he verbally headbutted Marquez ahead of the Sepang race in 2015.

It seemed Rossi and his loyal minders were the only ones convinced that Marquez would crumble when accused of conspiring with Jorge Lorenzo’s title bid.

It triggered shock reactions from paddock sages.

Former Aprilia sporting director Carlo Pernat, who signed Rossi to his first 125cc GP gig, could not bring logic to the strategy, summarising that Valentino had made a big mistake.

If there was one rider who has matched Rossi’s ruthless attitude to winning at virtually any cost, it is Marquez. He never did bend to Rossi’s will.

Rossi’s 2015 title bid collapsed, and Marquez won the next four championships – 2016 to 2019 – to add to his 2013-14 crowns.

Even so, Pernat has nothing but huge admiration for Rossi’s career: “There doesn’t exist a rider rider who makes a career at this very high level. And even more funny were all the jokes starting with the 125cc title ...

“In 1997 Valentino proposed I become his manager, but I stayed with Aprilia. Now, I take a hammer to my balls for this!”

And then there was the Ducati dream that became an instant nightmare. When Ducati and Marlboro came calling with a mega deal for 2011 and ’12 Rossi walked from Yamaha.

But Rossi was never comfortable with the Desmosedici’s carbon-fibre monocoque frame and remained winless, even when Ducati switched to an aluminium beam frame.

“I was very sorry I couldn’t win with Ducati, but it wasn’t the right time. We were both a bit unlucky,” Rossi said.

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SHOOTING STARS

IN 2022 MANY DRIVERS AND RIDERS WILL TAKE ON NEW CATEGORIES, NEW TEAMS, AND NEW CHALLENGES, GENERATING NEW POSSIBILITIES. AS WE PREPARE FOR A BUMPER YEAR OF MOTORSPORT, JOSH NEVETT PICKS OUT SOME NAMES WHO YOU SHOULD KEEP AN EYE ON THROUGHOUT THE SEASON. INTERNATIONAL George Russell EXPECT GEORGE Russell to rocket up the Formula 1 rankings this year.

The Englishman claimed consecutive championships in Formula 3 and Formula 2 between 2017-2018 but has been crying out for better equipment since joining F1 in 2019. Russell has made the most of an average hand at Williams and proved in 2021 that he had elite qualifying pace, bolstering his confidence with a controversial second-place grand prix finish at Spa – not to mention his sensational ‘almost’ race win when standing in at Mercedes while Lewis Hamilton was struck down by Covid.

After three years with Williams, he now has that chance with Mercedes (testing, above), where he will team up with the seven-time champion. Taking on the new regulations with a powerhouse team, the only way is up for Russell who finished 15th last season. What better opportunity for the 23-year-old who can now set about writing his own chapter in the F1 history books.

Kalle Rovanpera FINNISH RALLY driver Kalle Rovanpera has gone from strength to strength since he entered the scene as a bright-eyed teen, improving year on year. The world really took notice, however, when he won Rally Estonia on July 18 last year, becoming the youngest driver in history to win a World Rally Championship round, at the age of 20 years and 290 days.

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The story did not end there. Rovanpera backed up his maiden win with a podium in Belgium before winning the Acropolis Rally to complete a mid-season purple patch. That run culminated in a fourth-place season finish, a personal best thus far.

With an extra year of experience under his belt and new World Rally Championship regulations on the horizon, this could be the year that Rovanpera elevates himself from developing driver to title contender.

Scott McLaughlin FROM ROOKIE of the year to…? Last year saw Kiwi ace Scott McLaughlin (top right) kick off his full-time open wheel career in fine style, earning Indianapolis 500 Rookie honours as well as a podium finish in Texas.

Subsequently, 2022 shapes up as a year that may define his career trajectory.

The 28-year-old finished 13th in his debut IndyCar Series season with Team Penske, generating expectations that he will hit the ground running and improve this coming season. Comments made by the man himself support this theory – McLaughlin understands where he needs to improve and how to do so. Josef Newgarden and Aussie Will Power will run with McLaughlin at Penske this time around in a three-car line-up, but at least locally all the attention will be directed towards the latter.

Helio Castroneves FRESH OFF his historic fourth Indy 500 win, Helio Castroneves will return to the IndyCar Series for his first full season since 2017. The 46-year-old veteran Brazilian

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Last year saw Kiwi ace Scott McLaughlin kick off his full-time open wheel career in fine style, earning Indianapolis 500 Rookie honours…

has been plying his trade in the IMSA SportsCar Championship for the last few years, scoring a DPi title with Team Penske in 2020.

Now he will take on the significant challenge of combining both competitions into one hectic schedule, serving as Meyer Shank Racing’s endurance driver for the 2022 IMSA Sportscar season in addition to his full MSR IndyCar calendar.

Castroneves will share the #60 MSR Acura ARX-05 with full-timers Oliver Jarvis and Tom Blomqvist in the four IMSA Endurance Cup rounds, starting with the 24 Hours of Daytona on January 29, as he looks to add to his impressive list of career achievements in 2022.

Remy Gardner/Raul Fernandez AFTER SHOWING the way in the Moto2 World Championship in 2021, Remy Gardner and Raul Fernandez (left) will both step up to the big time in 2022.

Riding with the KTM Tech3 satellite team, the pair will bring youthful exuberance to the top tier after progressing through the MotoGP pathway over the last half a decade. The addition of Gardner brings the Aussie tally in MotoGP to two, while Fernandez will be looking to outperform

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his teammate who pipped him to the Moto2 title last year. Both have ample talent, but realistically will be aiming to finish in the points and perhaps push for top 10s later in the season.

Guanyu Zhou ALEX ALBON may be making a return to the premier open wheel category after a year away, but Guanyu Zhou is the new kid on the block in Formula 1 this year.

The Chinese driver enters F1 with ample financial and national support, but some will doubt his ability to make an impact after an indifferent end to the Formula 2 season in which he finished third, behind Oscar Piastri and Robert Shwartzman.

Zhou was favourite for the title at one point, however he could only register one victory in the back half of the season.

Now he joins Valtteri Bottas at Alfa Romeo (above, in testing), where several questions linger: How quick will the Alfa machines be? What will the dynamic be between seasoned professional Bottas and rookie Zhou? What as yet unknown impacts will the new regulations have on the competition? With so much to play out, the first ever Chinese F1 driver will attract plenty of attention in 2022.

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Oscar Piastri OSCAR PIASTRI makes our list of ones to watch – that’s if you can watch him at all. After an all-conquering season in Formula 2 last year Piastri will be absent from competition in 2022, serving as the Alpine official Formula 1 reserve driver, taking part in testing and development (above) while he waits for an opportunity at the top level. It seems remarkable that the Victorian won’t compete full-time after three consecutive open wheel titles, but that is the situation he finds himself in with Alpine. One of the Alpine F1 seats is currently filled by Fernando Alonso, who at 40-years-old is entering the twilight of his career and will be uncontracted heading into 2023. Perhaps Piastri will get his chance then – however until that point it is

worth monitoring his progress as he continues his journey out of the spotlight.

It should become clear late in the year whether Piastri will finally realise his dream after an agonising wait.

Jack Doohan AFTER A breakout year in 2021, Jack Doohan (below) is ready to kick on in 2022. The open wheel ace just missed out on a title in Formula 3 and will now fill the Australian void left by the outgoing Oscar Piastri in Formula 2. Doohan has plenty going his way heading into a rookie season, with experience on his side, having sampled F2 in a successful two-round stint at the back end of last year.

A strong team is also on his side, Virtuosi Racing has been the second-best outfit in F2 for the last three seasons and its latest graduates Guanyu Zhou and Callum Ilott will race in Formula 1 and IndyCar next year, respectively. Expect a smooth transition for the son of motorcycle champion Mick this year after strong post-season testing in Abu Dhabi.

Franco Morbidelli IT’S BEEN a rollercoaster couple of years for Franco Morbidelli. The 27-year-old Italian rose to prominence throughout a heavily COVID-impacted 2020, snaring runner-up in the MotoGP World Championship standings despite a previous best finish of 10th. The going was far tougher in 2021 however, as Morbidelli struggled on his second-rate Petronas Yamaha SRT machinery and was significantly hampered by a knee injury. He was promoted to the factory bike (pictured above) but it was clear to see that the promising talent was well off his best, especially physically.

This year, however, the stage is set for Morbidelli to recapture his best form. With an extra offseason of recovery behind him and a promotion to the factory garage full-time alongside 2021 champion Fabio Quartararo, now is as good a time as any for the rider to challenge again.

Austin Cindric A FOUR-YEAR audition in the feeder NASCAR Xfinity Series has finally produced a full-time Cup Series drive for Austin Cindric. The

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23-year-old son of Team Penske President Tim Cindric and grandson of former IndyCar team owner Jim Trueman steadily improved over his first couple of seasons in the second tier before breaking through for a title win in 2020. He backed that up with a runnerup finish last year and will now step up to the Cup Series in the famous #2 Team Penske Ford.

He has big shoes to fill replacing former

Australian tin top ladder, and now with years of running at the front in Porsches under his belt, the time has for him to enter the Supercars fray. Triple Eight will provide Hill with the best equipment available and he will be heartened by the success of Broc Feeney, who won Super2 with the Queensland-based squad and will this season graduate to the big show.

Tom Sargent WHAT A year this man had in 2021. Sargent was untouchable in Formula Ford machinery, dominating both the Victorian State and National competitions to finish up with two titles and a sack full of silverware. The New South Welshman was very rarely beaten, victorious in nine of the 12 national races in a category that is a proven breeding ground for highly successful drivers. The 20-year-old was not out of place in tin tops either, experiencing success in the Bathurst 6 Hour, topping the Class D Production results alongside Lachlan Mineeff. That experience will come in handy this year, Sargent shifting out of the open wheel pathway into a full-time Porsche Sprint Challenge drive with the CHE Racing crew of Cameron and Colin Hill. All the ingredients are there for Sargent to continue his ascent – watch this space.

Aaron Cameron AARON CAMERON’S plans for the year are yet to be finalised but if he can channel champion Brad Keselowski. The transition will be made easier by Cindric’s familiarity with the main series, having appeared seven times in 2021 in the #33 for a best result of ninth. What won’t be so easy is the weight of expectation that will befall the fulltime rookie in 2022 – how Cindric manages that will almost certainly contribute to his level of performance this season.

NATIONAL Broc Feeney TALK ABOUT having shoes to fill. Super2 champion Broc Feeney (above) will steer the car of retired hall of famer Jamie Whincup this year, stepping up to the Supercars Championship as a teenager.

It would be unfair to set the bar too high for the Queenslander in his first year – however if there was a team you’d want to step into as a rookie it would be Triple Eight Race Engineering. Feeney will run alongside two-time Supercars champion Shane van Gisbergen, with the backing of a crew that has accumulated nine titles in the last 12 seasons. As such, he is a driver who could deliver strong performances straight out of the gate.

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Nick Percat NICK PERCAT’S big chance has finally arrived. Reunited with Walkinshaw Andretti United after stints with Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport and Brad Jones Racing, the time is now for Percat (lower, left) to make his mark on the Supercars Championship.

He has been a consistent top 10 finisher since joining BJR, ending each season 10th, ninth, seventh and seventh, but the 33-year-old will be looking to fight amongst the frontrunners this season and forge a powerhouse partnership with new teammate and 2021 Bathurst 1000 winner Chaz Mostert. The Walkinshaw car will have speed and he will be well supported.

Will we see Percat’s name in lights come season’s end?

“ ”

the scintillating form he displayed across categories at the end of 2021, he is bound to feature at the top of national rankings.

The 21-year-old won the S5000 Tasman Series in spectacular fashion and also took out runner-up to Chaz Mostert in TCR, proving himself to be adaptable, with exceptional speed. Cameron will be looking to go one better in TCR this year with Garry Rogers Motorsport and has also declared his interest in continuing to pursue open wheel opportunities. Both TCR and S5000 provide a launchpad to race internationally – could our young gun be lured overseas after another successful season?

Zach Bates NSW FORMULA Ford. Tick. Toyota Gazoo Racing 86 Series. Tick. Zach Bates (pictured bottom of page) certainly made an impression in 2021, winning the former and dominating an unscored season in the other at just 17 years young. The young gun’s father Rick has already confirmed that the budget is not available for Bates to jump into a costly, high-powered category this year, not that another year in televised 86s will do his prospects any harm. If the Canberra Grammar student can continue to display his talent and chalk up wins in 2022, then it is only a matter of time before sponsors come knocking.

The 21-year-old won the S5000 Tasman Series in spectacular fashion and also took out runner-up to Chaz Mostert in TCR

Cameron Hill THE STARS are aligning for Cameron Hill (right). After breaking through to become a Porsche Carrera Cup Australian champion in 2021, the 25-year-old has set his sights on a Supercars Championship berth by signing with powerhouse team Triple Eight Race Engineering in the Super2 Series. Hill has long held aspirations to grace the top rung of the

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Chevrolet Racing is the new focus for fans who have followed and celebrated more than 50 years of Holden success in touring car racing.

“This is the first time official Chevrolet Racing apparel is available in Australia and there was nowhere more appropriate than Bathurst to debut the new range,” said Chris Payne, Marketing Manager Aftersales

“The new Chevrolet Racing logo makes a bold statement, dominating the livery of the Gen3 Camaro ZL1 Supercar prototype and, as part of the GM global racing effort, the Gen3 Camaro signals an exciting future for Chevrolet Racing in Australia and New Zealand.”

The selection of Chevrolet Racing products, together with other favourite GM ANZ brands, is available online at GMSV Official Merchandise Store (gmsvstore.com.au)

IMAGES: Motorsport Images

TAYLOR’S EXTREMELY CLOSE CHAMPIONSHIP AUSTRALIA’S OWN Molly Taylor became an inaugural Extreme E champion alongside her Rosberg X Racing teammate Johan Kristoffersson, after the pair finished fifth in the final race of the season, in England.

At the end of the season Taylor and Kristoffersson (pictured) finished equal on 155 points with Team X44 rivals Sebastien Loeb and Cristina Gutierrez – however the former won the title on countback.

It was a dramatic finale as Taylor was lucky to start the final race of the season due to a last minute inverter change.

The issue continued to hinder them throughout the final, but a cautious fourth place was going to be just enough to take the crown.

It was not the easiest of rounds to begin with – the Rosberg Racing pair was unable to quite match the pace of their nearest rivals and could only qualify in fourth position.

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In Extreme E, points are handed out in qualifying as it plays a significant role in how the rest of the weekend unfolds.

While Taylor and Kristoffersson were fourth fastest, their major rivals Loeb and Gutierrez dominated to take the maximum points.

Come Semi-final time, the Rosberg pair found themselves in the first, while the X44 team was in the second semi-final.

In the semi-finals the men had to start the race and complete two laps before handing over to the ladies to complete a solitary lap – only the top two in each would progress to the final.

At the start, Loeb made a good start, but not quite good enough as Kevin Hanson moved into the lead with Loeb in p2.

Despite dropping back at the start, Loeb honed in on the back of Hansen and remained there for the remainder of his stint, ready to pounce if the leading Swede made a mistake.

As the pair entered the lane for the driver change, Loeb was literally tapping on the rear bumper of Hansen.

In the driver change sequence the X44 crew were that coupl eof seconds faster and thus able to jump into the lead. Hansen’s teammate Mikaela Ahlin-Kottulinsky would hold second until the end of the race.

In Semi-final 2, crucially Kristoffersson made the best start led into Turn 1, he would increase this lead as the session went on as his rivals Mattias Ekstrom and Carlos Sainz battled for position.

The Crazy race determined the last finals spot. Taylor would take the win from Sainz’s teammate Sanz.

This time it was the females who would complete the first two laps, before the men brought the car home on lap 3.

After completing the inverter change with seconds to spare, it was obvious almost immediately that Taylor was in trouble.

However, all Taylor and Kristoffersson had to do was finish in fourth or better out of the five cars to lock in the title.

Gutierrez took the lead immediately and led Taylor into Turn 1. This was not to last long as an ailing Taylor quickly fell down the field, passed firstly by Catie Munnings and then Ahlin-Kottulinsky. By the time she handed over the car she had fallen down to fourth position with Sanz breathing down her neck. However, in the driver change area, Sanz spun and lost a ton of time, allowing Kristoffersson to breathe a sigh of relief and ‘cruise’ home.

The Swede would hold onto fourth and thus confirm the title, taking it on a countback three finals wins to one.

Loeb converted the lead into victory ahead of the Hansen/Ahlin-Kottulinsky pair, while Timmy Hansen and Munnings rounded out the podium.

Dan McCarthy

DAKAR – MID RACE REPORT

TAYLOR AND PRICE CARRY AUSSIE DAKAR HOPES Report: Josh Nevett ONLY TWO of the four Australians entered in the 2022 Dakar Rally remained in the fight just after the halfway point of the iconic event in Saudi Arabia.

With seven stages completed it was CanAm competitor Molly Taylor and bike rider Toby Price and who were left to fly the flag in the final week as both Daniel Sanders and Andrew Houlihan withdrew due to injury.

Fresh off winning the inaugural Extreme E title in December, rally champion Taylor sat 13th in the SSV category standings after seven stages alongside co-drive Dale Moscatt.

The Can-Am Factory South Racing pair have consistently shown top 10 pace in their category – however Stage 3 significantly impacted their position on the leader board.

Taylor hit an unseen bump during the longest stage on the schedule, stranding her for two hours, to leave the team 43rd for the leg.

Efficient repairs ensured that her Can-Am was back on the road the next day, since then progress has been steady.

Price, who is contending for his third Dakar bike triumph after success in 2016 and 2019, sat 11th in class on his Red Bull KTM Factory Racing machine with five stages remaining.

The 34-year-old got off to a poor start by getting lost on Stage 1B but began to make up ground thereafter, finishing runner-up in Stage 3.

Price appeared to go one better in Stage 5, the Gold Coast local setting the fastest time four minutes quicker than anyone else.

However, the victory was stripped when Price was found to have sped in a neutralisation zone, adding six minutes to his time and dropping him to fifth in the stage rankings.

Former MotoGP racer Danilo Petrucci inherited the stage win, his first in Dakar and the first by a MotoGP rider.

Despite a couple of hiccups, Price was optimistic heading into the remainder of the world-renowned endurance event.

“After day one, I’ve been racing hard to try and get back on terms with the others, and so far, it’s going well,” Price said.

“I’m feeling good physically.

“Hopefully, if all goes well, some of the others ahead will makes some mistakes as the fatigue sets in and I can capitalise on that at the right time.”

Sanders was the lead Aussie right up to the start of the seventh stage, sitting third in the bike standings, before a fall during a liaison section cruelly ended his event.

The GasGas rider had won two of the six previous stages and was just 5m 35s off the lead when he tumbled off his bike en route to Stage 7, sustaining a fractured left elbow and wrist.

After reshuffling at the front of the pack, Frenchman Adrien van Beveren led the bike field on his Monster Energy Yamaha after Stage 7, ahead of 2018 winner Matthias Walkner and his fellow Red Bull KTM rider Kevin Benavides.

The elimination of Sanders meant that Sam Sunderland was the sole GasGas rider left in contention, sitting fourth just 5m 38s off the lead.

Dakar 2022 started so promisingly for Sanders, but he will unfortunately end the event in a hospital bed after undergoing

surgery for his injuries.

That will also be the case for Andrew Houlihan, who suffered fractured ribs and was forced to retire after five stages. In his second Dakar outing the New South Welshman was running towards the rear of the field when he hit a hole in the terrain, putting enough force through his upper body to fracture multiple ribs.

Subsequently, medical staff and rally officials deemed he was unfit to continue.

In the car standings, the Toyota Gazoo Racing team of Nasser Al-Attiyah and Matthieu Baumel held a 45-minute advantage over Sebastien Loeb and Fabian Lurquin with five stages to run.

The battle for the final spot on the podium is between Overdrive Toyota teammates Yazeed Al Rajhi and Lucio Alvarez, who are comfortably third and fourth in the rankings.

Russian Kamaz Master teams lock out the podium positions in the truck category, the trio of Dmitry Sotnikov, Ruslan Akhmadeev and Ilgiz Akhmetzianov lead all comers after seven stages.

Main: Nasser Al-Attiyah and Matthieu Baumel lead the car contest.

Left: Molly Taylor has been racking up top 10 SSV category stage finishes – mixed in with some mechanical dramas ...

Above left: After an early failure, Carlos Sainz’s electric Audi has ben setting some fast times.

Above right: Toby Price – still in contention despite a penalty.

Images: Red Bull Content Pool

WATCH THE LATEST DAKAR RESULTS AND PHOTO GALLERY

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NATIONALS WRAP

WAKEFIELD FINALE

Birol Cetin was in the mix in a highly-competitive Sports Sedan contest. Image: Ricardo Benvenuti

WHILE SOME TITLES WERE ALREADY IN THE BAG, OTHERS WERE ON THE LINE AT THE SEVENTH AND FINAL ROUND OF THE NSW STATE CIRCUIT RACING CHAMPIONSHIPS AT WAKEFIELD PARK ON DECEMBER 11-12. IT WAS COOL AND DRY BUT SEVERAL WATER STREAMS ACROSS THE CIRCUIT MADE IT TRICKY TO NEGOTIATE. FORMULA FORDS A WIN in the third race sealed the championship for Zach Bates in a Mygale.

He was third in the first, behind the warring Spectrum drivers Jude Bargwanna and Cameron McLeod, who swapped the lead several times. In the second it was a four-way contest with Adrian Sarkis in the mix as well.

On the final lap the four were two by two until Turn 4 when Sarkis (Mygale) ran into the back of McLeod. Bargwanna won from Bates while McLeod recovered to fourth behind Daniel Frougas (Mygale). Bates had a onepoint lead before the final race.

Bargwanna led from the outset before Bates passed him at Turn 10 on lap three. McLeod would overtake Bargwanna for second but couldn’t make inroads in the 1.0s plus lead Bates held to the end.

FORMULA VEES THE ROUND went to Michael Kinsella, but it was not enough to for the Jacer driver to overall Aaron Lee (Jacer) for the state title.

Kinsella needed to win all three races with Lee placed outside the top three in each.

Kinsella won the opener ahead of Lee with John McDonald a distant third just in front of Hayden Crossland, both in Jacers. Next was Daniel Reynolds who stormed through in Race 2 to battle with Kinsella for the lead, and ultimately won. Third went to Lee, from McDonald and Crossland. On the last lap, Andre Cortes (Jabiru) and Paul Lister (Polar) came to grief at Turn 2.

The two front-runners resumed their duel throughout the third race with Reynolds a narrow winner. Meanwhile McDonald and Lee fought over third with the former on top by a tenth. In the 1200s Stephen Butcher (Stinger) wrapped up another state title with three race wins over Grant Cassell (Nimbus) who also finished the year as runner-up.

FORMULA RACE CARS IT WAS a successful debut for Trent Grubel in his Dallara F312 Formula 3 car. Grubel was the pacesetter across the three races with a pair of wins and a third.

In Race 1, Nathan Gotch (Dallara F304) led only to be passed by Grubel on the second lap. The latter won, clearly ahead of Gotch with Gianmarco Pradel (Mygale Formula 4)

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with Garry O’Brien

NATIONALS WRAP third. Third early, Greg Muddle (F399) finished fourth ahead of Rob Rowe (F308), Lawrence Katsidis (F304) and Doug Barry who stalled his Reynard 92D Formula Holden at the start.

Grubel muffed the start in Race 2. He dropped to last as Pradel took the lead and held off Gotch for the duration. Gotch’s weekend was done as his engine detonated as he crossed the finish line. Grubel fought back to third ahead of Muddle and Barry. In the last, Grubel passed Pradel on the third lap and won easily. Barry was third in front of Row and Jeff Senior (F304).

MAZDA RX8 CUP FOR THE second year running, Ryan Gorton won the series, and as in 2021 he did in emphatic style by winning all four races.

Tom Shaw grabbed the lead at the start while behind there was a melee at Turn 2 where Terry Lewis went into the back of Jake Lougher who pushed Aidan Riley off. After the resumption Gorton passed Shaw and scooted away. A couple of laps later Justin Barnes passed Shaw, and before the end Tom Petrovich was also by.

Barnes led Race 2 for five laps before Gorton made his move. Shaw was third and Lougher headed Petrovich and Riley. Behind Gorton in Race 3, Shaw dropped to fourth before he passed Lougher and then Barnes to place second. The Safety Car came out early in Race 4 when Lougher pulled off at Turn 9 with a fire. Shaw was second again as he held off Barnes. Riley and Jason Noakes battled all the way for a 0.2s split at the end.

SUPERSPORTS BRAD SHIELS was the comprehensive victor in the three races in a Radical SR3 RSX whereas Darren Barlow laid low in his Stohr to ensure he finished each race and secured the overall championship.

Despite a Safety Car mid-race one to take

care of several spinner, Shiels won easily as Ryan Godfrey (SR3) came from seventh on lap one, to finish second. Radicals filled the major placings with Brianna Wilson third in front of Kostinken Pohorukov, Chris Perini and Nick Kelly in his SR10.

In Race 2, Kelly came through to second ahead of Wilson, Godfrey, Pohorukov. Paul Palmer (Stohr) and Phil Hughes (SR8). The last was red-flagged after a multi car incident after Turn 1. Pohorukov was spun and then tagged by Hughes. Craig McLatchy (RSX) was caught out as well as several others including Barlow who took to the sand trap – and luckily extracted himself in case the race continued. Kelly was again second from Wilson, Godfrey and Barlow after the race was restarted.

SPORTS SEDANS THE TITLE was wrapped up in Brad Shiels favour before the weekend started. He won the first race, but the rotary turbo powered Fiat 124 had DNFs in the following two. With two race wins, the round went to Willem Fercher in his LS engined Toyota 86.

In the tricky conditions of Race 1, Shiels won easily. Glenn Pro (Toyota Supra Turbo) was second ahead of Greg Boyle (Nissan Skyline R32) and Birol Cetin (Chev Camaro) at the

start but fell down to fifth. Boyle ran out of brakes and speared off at Turn 10. Sixth early, Fercher came through for second ahead of Cetin and Phil Ryan (Datsun 280SX/Chev).

Shiels was leading the second until a throttle issue put in out. Fercher took the win while the three-way dice between Chis Jackson (Calibra/Chev), Cetin and Boyle on the run up the hill, result in contact that put Jackson and Boyle out and gave Cetin second ahead of Scott Cameron (Commodore/Chev), Ryan, Pro and Daniel Smith (Supra/Chev).

Shiels lasted less than a lap with a gearbox problem in the third. Cetin wrestled the lead off Fercher and was first to the finish line. However Cetin was penalised 30s for weaving before a Saftery Car restart and was relegated to eighth. Fercher won from Boyle, Cameron, Ryan and Pro. NISSAN PULSARS WINS WERE shared in the two non-series races with Josh Craig victorious in the first and Daniel Smith in the second.

Craig led the first 18-lapper from start to finish, initially fending off Smith and then Michael Ricketts. In the end Smith was second with Matt Boylan third. Ricketts fell to fourth in the latter stages and headed Shane Tate, Greg Dufficy and Tim Maynard.

Smith took the lead off Craig on the first lap of the second and was able to hold him off throughout. Ricketts maintained third and was well clear of Dufficy, Maynard, Tate and Ben Sheedy.

Garry O’Brien

Bargwanna, McLeod, Bates and Sarkis – close company in Formula Ford.

Image: sportz fotos

COVID SHRINKS ‘300’ FIELD and well clear of Steven Baird (Ford Falcon).

Goldman jumped Hickey on the opening lap while the latter was passed by Van der Heyde on the last lap.

In the last, Goldman led the opening lap and after he was passed by Drummond on lap two, retrieved the top spot later, albeit for just three laps. Again it was a close race for third between the Commodores which Van der Heyde won.

Images: Neil Hammond ONE OF the pinnacles of grassroots enduro races, the Winton 300 at the rural Victorian circuit on the weekend of December 11-12, had a meagre entry. The lateness in the year plus Covid and border uncertainties contributed to a much smaller field than usual – less than that of the support categories.

WINTON 300 JUST FIVE cars faced up for the 100-lap race and four finished. Tony and Troy Heasly (pictured above) in their Class D Holden Commodore VN V6 won the race ahead Angus Lithgow and Perry Anastakis in their Peugeot 206RC. Despite the small roll-up, the race went right down to the wire with the lead changing hands just four laps from the end.

Todd Herring and Verne Johnson (Mazda MX5 turbo) were the fastest qualifiers but failed to make the start due to firstly a stub axle failure and then a broken valve spring in the Thunder Sports races.

Travis Condon and Ricki Capo were the pacesetters until the V8-powered Toyota Corolla had a tailshaft CV joint failure. Third place and one lap down went to Steve Head and Owen Boak (MX5) while Abby and Stephen Wingett completed 89 laps in their Hyundai Excel.

Steve Aarons and John Burkhart (156).

Grierson led every lap of the third outing, and a 5.0s did little to affect that. He was well ahead of Wilson, Steve Aarons, Burkhart and Pignataro. Mick Aarons DNF’d while second but came back for a solid win in Race 4 from Greirson and Wilson. Burkhart only made two corners before his bonnet flipped up and smashed the windscreen.

The last race featured the same top three – Aarons just in front of Greirson, and further back Wilson similarly placed ahead of Steve Tillett.

WINTON TIN TOPS OVER FOUR races Trev Drummond was unbeaten in his Mitsubishi EVO 6 and was the overall winner ahead of Andrew Goldman (Subaru Impreza WRX) and John Hickey (Holden Commodore).

In the first three Drummond led every lap and only had a challenge from Goldman in the last. Daniel Van der Heyde (Commodore) second in race one before relegated to third

by Goldman. Darren Smith (Mazda RX7) came through to second but retired. Hickey passed Goldman to finish second shortly after.

Hickey staved off Goldman throughout race two where Van der Heyde was close behind

THUNDER SPORTS CUP SERIES IN HIS Silverado OzTruck, Stephen Chilby was the overall winner as well as Class A, ahead of Danny Burgess and Brett Mitchell in an OzTruck one-two-three. Class B went to Jackson Rice (Holden VE Ute) after Josh Dowell (Ford Falcon) who had two class wins, was elevated to Class A. Chilby took out the first race by a big margin. John Holinger (TA2 Camaro) was second after a strong comeback which followed a spin from the lead on lap one.

Danny Burgess (Silverado OzTruck) was third in front of Travis Condon (V8 Toyota Corolla), Cameron McKee (Ford Falcon AU) and Ben McLeod (Holden Commodore).

Fastest qualifier Mark Tracey (V8 BMW E36) was a non-starter due to fence contact, Todd Herring (Mazda RX5 turbo) retired with a broken stub axle, and Brett Mitchell (Maloo OzTruck) went out with cut tyre.

Chilby won Race 2 ahead of Holinger, Mitchell, Burgess and Condon. Tracey was back for race three after overnight repairs and came through to second behind Chilby with Holinger third in front of Mitchell and Burgess.

In the next, Tracey was the winner, just ahead of Chilby with Burgess third ahead of Mitchell. In a tight finale (below) Mitchell edged out Chilby for the win as Tracey was third in front of Burgess, McKee and Condon.

Garry O’Brien

ALFA ROMEOS TWO RACE wins and three seconds gave the overall result to Simon Greirson in his Giulietta over Andrew Wilson (156) and Steve Aarons (156 Twin Spark).

Greirson led the opener ahead of Mick Aarons (GTV6) who eventually gained the upper hand and the win. Wilson was a lonely third ahead of Steve Aarons and Ray Pignataro (Sud Ti). The second race lead went between Greirson and Mick Aarons with the former the winner. Wilson was next from

BREAKTHROUGH AT TWILIGHT OPENER JAMAL ASSAAD and Yasin Khan broke through to win their first Whiteline Tarmac Twilight Rallysprint on December 16. After consistent performances and improvements over the past few years, Assaad (pictured above) took his Mitsubishi EVO 6 to a well-deserved and popular round one win over a field of nearly 90 entries.

The course was still the truncated one from the end of the last series, with work not yet finished on the new carpark around the Speedway. The tight, technical course placed an emphasis on turning and acceleration, with few of the top cars getting above third gear.

Assaad was fastest on each of the first three runs, before a very slow run four and not bothering with the final run. With the best three runs to count, this would have to do. And it did.

Second place went to Jack and John Hills (EVO 9), second on the first run and first on the last two, to finish 3.6s adrift. Third went Phil Heaphy and Luke MacFarlane (EVO 6) after a spin later in the event.

The next two places went to Subaru Impreza WRXs, with Tim Blake and Peter Akers ahead of Lance Arundel and Luke Job. David Isaacs and Paul Pritchard (EVO 9) were next with both turbo lag and balance issues suspected to be active centre differential related.

Best of the 2WDs was a tie, with the Corvette of Andrew Fraser and Elizabeth Holroyd in a dead-heat with Matt Holt and Stewart Harrington (Production Touring HSV Clubsport). For such big, heavy cars, they acquitted themselves well in the tight confines as they shared 12th overall.

Just a second back was the Sierra Cosworth crewed by Kevin and Sharna Hinchcliffe. Matt Davey and Ben Pritchett (Toyota 86) were the best of the under 2.0-litres, 23rd overall while best of the juniors were Jake and Dallas Beattie (WRX).

Story and Image: Bruce Moxon

NATIONALS BECOMES A LOCAL FESTIVAL THERE WAS a last minute reshuffle of South Australia’s COVID entry requirements which made it impractical for interstate teams to attend The Bend Motorsport Park. The Shannon’s Nationals finale was quickly re-invented as the Shannon’s Motorsport Australia Festival, a single day event for local categories, on December 11.

Some of the Circuit Excel frontrunners chose to sit out the event and that gave the next group of hopefuls a shot at glory.

Jayden Wanzek (pictured right) comfortably out-qualified the 24-car entry and ran away with Race 1. It ended under the Safety Car conditions when James Zeitz had to be rescued a couple of laps from the flag.

Wanzek put new tyres on the front for Race 2 and the rest of the field was now right on his bumper. Two more very hard-fought race victories saw Wanzek take the win.

Brad Gartner was the star of the day when he won a close

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four-way battle for the Race 3 win as they raced door handle-to-door handle off the last corner. Gartner claimed second for the event with Rylan Gray a spectacular third and just edged out Shayne Nowickyj.

Mark Lauke (Wolf GB088 Tornado) was the pacesetter in Prototypes and took the overall win despite technical problems that dropped him out of contention in Race 1. It was won by Ben Cheney (West WX10).

Cheney was a close second for the event and comfortably ahead of third placed Tim Cook (Wolf Thunder). Matthew Roesler (Tatuus FT50) was the quickest of the open wheelers but problems in Race 1 had him level pegged with Matthew Woodland (Tatuus FT50) for the day.

Story and Image: David Batchelor

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NATIONALS WRAP

MONARO GOES AHEAD

A WEEK later than planned, Sean McAloon and Muiranne Hayes (pictured) took their Ford Escort to a victory in the Kosciusko Automotive Monaro Stages Rally, run near Bombala NSW on December 18.

The event had been scheduled for the week before, but heavy rain and some flooding caused the postponement. It also meant the cancellation of the event as far as it being a round of the ARC. Still, several of the ARC crews fronted up and used the eight daylight stages as a test day.

Harry Bates and Andy Sarandis, and Lewis Bates and Anthony McLaughlin ran their Toyota Gazoo Racing Yaris AP4 cars and swept the first eight stages of the 10 in the event. Harry won all eight with Lewis second every time.

Despite the rain, the event was dusty. The granite-based roads that made up most of the stages stood up very well.

Looking like almost-certain winners once the heavy-hitters parked up, were Brad and Jamie Luff (Subaru Impreza WRX) until their

great run of top-five stage times ended with the first night stage. They managed to take a wrong road, putting them out of contention.

Nathan Quinn and Chris Stilling were also blindingly-fast in their Mazda RX2, until an air-cleaner drama cost them a packet of time.

Claude Murray and Lizzie Ferme were flying until hitting a kangaroo on the last stage, costing them about the same amount of time that they finished behind the winners.

It was McAloon and Hayes who were the last ones standing. Not that the Irish pair had

been slow; they’d been among the leaders all day. Murray and Ferme were second, just over 2.0mins behind, from Quinn/Stilling another 58s back.

Next was Michael and Tim Valantine (Datsun Stanza), then Matt and Guy Ruggles, swapping their Triumph TR7 for a Mitsubishi EVO 3. Beth Cullen and Lynda Leigh (EVO 6) had a terrible run in the night stages, stopping on both and dropping several places.

Bruce Moxon

SIX RECORDS GO THE FINAL Victorian Hillclimb for 2021 was held on the Clockwise Short Track at the Gippsland Car Club’s Bryant Park on December 4. Despite a few light showers, warm dry conditions eventually prevailed and drivers in fine form produced another set of records with six new class records posted as the 62 competitors took advantage of the short track to get value for their entry fee with up to 12 runs on offer.

Alan Foley (below) only used five runs to take the outright win in his R.Foley Formula Libre finishing on 33.86 while Wim Janssen in his WIMP 003 chased hard on eleven runs but was over one and a half seconds short to finish second on 35.4.

Ewen Moile again completed the podium with a close third on 35.61.

It is worth noting that the outright record is still held by Brett Hayward who posted a 32.22 with his Hayward 09 in August 2011. Fourth outright, and the over 2 litre F.Libre record, went to Fred Galli with 37.22 in his

SYGA-CGA ahead of Mark Samson who also set a class record with his Formula Ford Spectrum 010b on 37.22. Dale Hocking and his Dalrick is one of the quickest Clubman competitors, but Steve Buffinton with his Westfield robbed him of the class win and edged him into ninth outright as he posted a record 38.66.

The records didn’t end there with veteran hillclimber and Holden crowd pleaser Larry Kogge taking the Historic win with a record 40.07 in his XU1 Torana while Rhys Yeomans claimed the improved production up to 1600cc win and record with 39.34. Ken Neilson excelled in the circuit eXcel class with a record 42.63 showing what can be done with these great budget race cars.

Gary Hill

Image: Kevin Wilson

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Image: Angryman

GIFFARD EMERGES VICTORIOUS AT SYMMONS THE SIXTH and final round of the Tasmanian Off Road Racing Series on December 11 was an outright win for Andrew Giffard (pictured) while the title was taken by John Walker. The event was held at Symmons Plains over four 12-laps of the 3km course for a total of 150kms.

In his Sportslite Rivmasta/Toyota, Giffard came away with the victory after trading heat wins in a race long battle with Clint Broomhall in his SXS Turbo Polaris. Chris Branch in his Nissan engined ProLite buggy was close

behind in third with all three within 30s of each other at the end of Heat 4.

Walker came into the round with a handy lead in the championship, but a CV joint failure sidelined his Sportslite Payne/Nissan SR20 powered Rivmasta for multiple laps. However by race end, Walker scored a result and had accumulated enough points to take out the outright championship, deservedly so for strong results in every round during the year along with a wellprepared vehicle.

Paul Colgan had another strong

performance in his SXS Turbo Can-Am X3, while Josh Marshall and Sharon Sulzberger had trouble-free drives all day in their Super 1650 Southern Cross/Toyota 4AG machines.

James Castle and his Pro Buggy came out strongly with a new gearbox combination that worked well on LSpowered machine. A broken plug lead impeded his assault until replacements were sourced from Launceston. James returned with great pace until a rollover at Turn 1 didn’t help matters.

Garry O’Brien

Image: Roy Meuronen

BROOKS’ FINALE, OLIVER’S SERIES FORMER STATE rally champion Craig Brooks (pictured right) left the opposition in his wake to win the fifth and final round of the Tasmanian Hillclimb Cup Series, the BJR Engineering Supplies Highclere Hillclimb – but it didn’t come without cost.

While not in contention for series victory, Brooks was almost 3.0s faster over the 2.1km course than anyone in his Subaru Impreza WRX STi, but after setting the fastest time of the day in his sixth run, he crashed on his seventh.

Dave McCullagh, also in a WRX, was second fastest, with Igor Van Gerwen third in a Toyota Celica GT Four. The three also filled the placings in Class F, for AWDs, with McCullagh’s second place earning him enough points to clinch the series victory for his class.

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Image: DMAC Photography Further down the field was where the outright series championship was decided, with Nathan Oliver (Mazda RX8) finishing seventh overall and first in Class E (for cars

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over 4.5-litres), for the outright and class series victories.

Brad van der Drift (Nissan 200SX), finished just one spot behind, and won Class D (3.0

to 4.5-litres) to wrap up third outright and the class.

The class victory gave him enough points to finish the series ahead of Leigh Ford (Honda Integra Type-R) who finished 12th and won Class B (1.6 to 2.0-litres) easily – as he has done all season.

In his only outing of the year, Phil House was the giant killer in his BMW E3 Alpina, finishing fourth outright and winning Class C (2.0 to 3.0-litres) by almost 3.0s. Class series honours went to Wayne Monson (Ford Escort), who finished 13th outright.

Darrell Galpin (VW Beetle) was fastest in Class A (under 1.6 litres), finishing 28th outright as veteran Roger Carter (Nissan Pulsar) finished just two spots behind, to secure the series championship for the class.

Martin Agatyn

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SPEEDWAY NEWS

JAMES MCFADDEN RUNS RAMPANT

Main: Winner of rounds 1, 2 and 3 – W17 James McFadden.

Left: N57 Marcus Dumesny claimed his maiden Victorian Sprintcar Championship in Round 4 of the series.

Below: Steven Lines returned to racing in the V45 and was a consistent runner towards the top end of the field in the Auto Action-supported J&J. Images: Paris Charles

RECENTLY RETURNED FROM A SUCCESSFUL US TOUR, JAMES MCFADDEN CLEANED UP – THOUGH A FAMOUS SPEEDWAY FAMILY NAME WOULD GET TO REAPPEAR ON THE VICTORIAN CHAMPIONSHIP CUP ...

Round 1 – Murray Bridge The Speedway Australia-supported Sprintcar States Series kicked off at the Murray Machining and Sheds Murray Bridge Speedway on Boxing Day – and in front of the healthiest crowd to attend the venue this summer the Sprintcars did not disappoint the festive patrons.

Going into the final, Matt Egel and Brad Keller shared the prime row and when the lights blazed green it would be Egel to lead the charge as the front runners spaced themselves apart over the opening circulations of the 30-lap Feature event.

Within the first five laps, Egel had caught the back of the field and, shortly after, James McFadden had relegated Keller to third as the front runners sliced through the back markers. Sadly, this would be the end of the game for Keller as he soon pulled to the infield with mechanical issues. Jones now inherited third – however Steven Lines would soon pull past for position.

The express race to the line continued on with Egel gapping McFadden by two and half seconds and lapped cars between them but, with less than 10 revolutions remaining, the real-estate between the lead duo began to narrow as McFadden hunted down the leader. With five laps remaining, McFadden slid underneath Egel and led to the waving chequered flags. Lines would take the final step on the victory dais with Jones, David Murcott, Marcus Dumesny and Luke Dillon the last of the competitors to remain on the lead lap. One circulation down was Hayden Pitt, Ben Morris, Matthew Dumesny, Steven Caruso, Callum Walker, Lisa Walker, Glen Sutherland, Lachlan McDonough while Ryan Alexander, Joel Heinrich and Keke Falland rounded out the finishers.

Heat race victors were Keller, Egel, Jones, Sutherland, Matthew Dumesny and Brendan Guerin. The B Main was won by Hayden Pitt.

Round 2 – Mount Gambier The next stop was the picturesque Borderline Speedway in Mount Gambier for the second round of the festive holiday series. With Covid rearing it’s nasty head and border restrictions making it harder for travelling teams to enter into South Australia, the competitor numbers were diminished from 37 to a field of 23, 22 of which were determined to not let James McFadden chalk up a hat-trick of victories since returning home in December.

Despite their best efforts to hold the speedster at bay, McFadden would qualify on the front row alongside the in-form Matt Egel for the incident packed 30-lap feature.

At the drop of the green, McFadden pounced

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with Paris Charles

SPEEDWAY

to lead the field while Egel would fall back as deep as sixth. Marcus Dumsney, American racer Carson Macedo, Daniel Pestka and Tate Frost all sailed by before Egel began to reclaim some real estate until Ryan Alexander spun bringing on the first yellow.

Egel clawed his way back to third before Lisa Walker brought on the second yellow, relegating Egel back to fourth for the restart.

Again McFadden would clear out until reaching lapped traffic at the halfway mark, allowing the gap to close as Macedo locked onto the rear of the leader, while Egel’s quest would come to end as he challenged again for third, touching the N47 of Dumsney, taking both cars out of the equation.

McFadden, with clear track ahead, would find breathing space while Macedo, Dillon and Co trailed. Again, McFadden would hit traffic with a dozen circulations remaining only for the amber lights to again blaze, this time for Pestka who delaminated a right rear tyre while holding down fifth position.

Green quickly turned to red after Ben Morris received contact from another car and Peter Doukas also rolled over and out of the race in Turn 1. For the sixth time, the Indian file restart would see McFadden again control the tempo of the race, finding the shortest way to the finish line. Matthew Dumsney made his way into third but that

would be short lived as Dillion fought back for the final step on the podium behind Macedo. Dumsney was followed by the fast-finishing Steven Lines who had earlier won the B Main event. Tate Frost, Callum Walker, Darren Mollenoyux, David Murcott and Ryan Jones rounding out the top 10 to finish on the lead lap. One circulation down was Paul Solomon and Glen Sutherland followed by Scott Enderl, Ricky Maiolo and Ryan Alexander.

Pestka, McFadden, Egel, brothers Matthew and Marcus Dumsney and Frost each claimed a heat win.

Round 3 – Avalon When two worlds collide; The Speedway Australia Sprintcar State Series and the fourth round of Victoria’s SRA Eureka Garages & Sheds Sprintcar Series combined at the Avalon Raceway and was presented as the Routley’s Sprintcar Fireball

WELCOME BACK J-MAC!

Derby, giving the fans the best of both worlds for the for one awesome night of action.

With 46 competitors all set to put their best wheels forward, the run through time trialling and qualifying heats would prove a tough ask but, as the old saying goes, the cream always rises to the top and as they lined up for the 30-lap main event James McFadden would sit on pole alongside the national Champion Jamie Veal while the second row would host SRA last round winner Corey McCullagh followed by a cast of the fast.

Green: McFadden checked out from the field remaining comfortable with clear track ahead. Slower traffic provided Veal with an opportunity to challenge for the lead, however McFadden would keep a calm head as he continued his game plan to work the top side of the track while Veal tried hard on the bottom as the duo charged nonstop to the finish line. David Murcott was the big mover of the field, racing his way from eighth to round out the lead trio at the podium celebrations. Marcus Dumesny, Darren Mollenoyux, Daniel Pestka, Carson Macedo, McCullagh and Matthew Dumesny finished on the lead lap. Tate Frost scrambled through the C and B Mains to round out the top 10.

Domain Ramsay, Callum Walker, Bobby Daly, Tim Van Ginneken, Brett Milburn, Dennis Jones and Luke Weel finished a lap down and Marcus Green down two.

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Murcott, Green, Daly, Weel and McFadden shared the heats. Luke Thomas claimed the D, the C was won by Frost and Macedo taking the B Main.

Round 4 – Warrnambool New Year’s Day, and 55 other competitors were hoping for a new winner after McFadden had racked up four consecutive feature race wins. Warrnambool’s Premier Speedway would play host to the final round of the Speedway Australia Sprintcar State Series combined with the second round of the Total Tools Track Championship, plus the blue ribbon running of the Fresha Fruit Juice Victorian Sprintcar Championship – making this a very important event in more ways than one.

The night started well for James and the Monte Motorsport team, time trialling quickest before lining up on the second row for the 30-lap main event behind David Murcott and Matthew Dumesny. As the lights went green Dumesny charged to the front with the rest of the field close in tow.

Matt Reed would bring on the first yellow of the race, hooking his front wheel into an infield tyre. He was able to re-join at the back of the field for the Indian File restart. With 12laps down South Australian Brendan Quinn was the first casualty of the race, expiring with mechanical issues.

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As this was unfolding, Murcott had just made a successful challenge for the lead, making an inside pass on Dumesny only for the yellow lights to come on which would relegate him back to second. At the second restart, things went pair-shaped for Corey McCullagh who rolled out of contention after riding the back wheel of Brett Milburn.

At the final restart, Murcott would throw out a challenge to Dumesny, however the latter was able to control the race, making the most of some lapped traffic in the latter stages of the race to push forward and take his first Victorian championship, an event won by his Dad Max nine times in the past.

Murcott and Daniel Pestka stood on the podium alongside the jubilant victor.

Coming home fourth was McFadden, earning the outright Speedway Australia Sprintcar State Series crown. Steven Lines, Grant Anderson, Carson Macedo, Jamie Veal, Marcus Dumesny, Tate Frost, Darren Mollenoyux and Cullum Walker rounded out the top dozen while one revolution behind was Ryan Jones, Adam King, Milburn, Reed, Jordyn Charge and Peter Doukas.

Marcus Dumesny, Rusty Hickman, Milburn, Quinn and Reed each claimed a heat race while the alphabet scrambles went to Tim Hutchins, D Main, the C by Cameron Waters and the B to Jones.

A WHOPPING 47 Sprintcar competitors ventured from far and wide to Warrnambool’s Sungold Stadium, as Premier Speedway roared into life with the running of the Chittick’s Bakerypresented Max’s Race, an event created to celebrate the career of Max Dumesny, which also doubled as the opening round of the Total Tools Warrnambool Track Championship as presented by Fitz Media and the Midfield Group.

After a stellar North American season of racing over 70 events and claiming the World of Outlaws series Rookie of the Year Award, Alice Springs-born James McFadden returned home, climbing aboard the Western Australian Monte Motorsports W17 Maxim and, from the get go, his transition proved seamless as he secured a front row start alongside South Aussie youngster Daniel Pestka who had done exceptionally well to advance through the Bronze, Silver and Gold Shootouts for the 35-lap feature event.

From the drop of the green flag McFadden controlled the tempo of the race, working the bottom side of the track while eight of the 20 starters fell by the wayside, including Corey McCullagh who was unable to capitalise on his third place starting position. Bendigo’s Rusty Hickman was also a casualty of the new track surface, rolling heavily in Turn 4.

Brock Hallett, Rhys Baxter, Brett Milburn, Grant Anderson, Robbie Paton and Steven Lines were the other non-finishers.

On the other side of the coin, McFadden racked up maximum points in the track championship, Tasmanian Tate Frost claimed second ahead of Pestka, making it an all interstate podium. Reigning Australian Champion Jamie Veal was next, followed by Jake Smith who proved the biggest mover in the field climbing eight positions to fifth aboard his Mepunga Grains Ved, Darren Mollenoyux, Dennis Jones and Brenten Farrer with interstate visitors Jock Goodyer (Tasmania) and Queensland’s Cullum Walker amongst a drove of Victorians with Adam King and Mark Carlin rounding out the dozen to travel the distance.

The Odds and Evens B Mains were claimed by Smith and Walker while heat wins were shared between Ross Jarred, Veal, Jordyn Charge, Hickman and Baxter.

Also on the program were Late Models, in which Shane Belk claimed an emotional win aboard a brand new car.

Sharing the podium was Brendan Hucker and Peter Nicola. Rounding out the top five after 20 hard fought laps were Brock Edwards and Ben Nicastri. Belk and Hucker also claimed a heat win apiece.

Round 2 of the TJ Chassis, Lethal Race Wings Junior Formula 500 Stampede Series went to 12 year-old Rusty Ponting aboard the M&D Fuels-supported V20 Triple X entry. Joining him in the podium celebrations was runner up Caleb Langdon with Maddox Gibbs in third. Zoe Pearce and Tyler Maggs were victorious in the qualifying heat races.

Paris Charles

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SPEEDWAY NEWS THRILLS N’ SPILLS ROCK AVALON RACEWAY BOXING NIGHT around the nation is traditionally big time for Sprintcar racing – and Victoria’s Avalon Raceway played host to a huge field of 49 cars for the running of the second round of the SRA Eureka Garages & Sheds Sprintcar Series as the huge crowd on hand settled in for an exciting night of fast paced thrills and spills.

Going into the 30-lap feature event, Corey McCullagh shared the front row with Grant Anderson. When the green flag dropped the front runners quickly got down to business while further back the tightly bunched field jostled for position and in close quarters Rusty Hickman, Bobby Daly and Todd Moule tangled in a first corner melee, while Mark Carlin spun to avoid additional contact. Moule and Carlin managed to take the restart while Hickman and Daly would be retired to the infield.

While the field regrouped for the second restart bigger things were to soon follow. When the lights went green McCullagh led the hounding field with Anderson, Tate Frost and Co in tow for the opening two circulations until a massive crash involving Tim Hutchins and Jack Lee saw the duo take massive tumbles through the air while Supercars competitor Cameron Waters rode the fence trying to avoid the carnage ahead before placing the Enzed entry on its side.

Hutchins would take the wildest of the rides as his car rose high above before breaking through the preliminary catch fence and coming to an abrupt halt, resting against the second of the catch fences – if that wasn’t enough for the veteran Tasmanian driver the GBE Crane Hire T7 entry would catch on fire. Thankfully the Fire and Rescue Crew were quickly on hand to remedy the situation as Hutchins removed himself from the car. The damage from the crash severely compromised the catch fences and with time curfew fast approaching the meeting was abandoned.

McCullagh, Darren Mollenoyux, Frost, Daniel Pestka, Moule, Hutchins and Tim Van Ginneken each claimed a single heat win while Anderson snared a double and Daly claimed a heat and the B Main victory.

MCCULLAGH MAKES THE MOST AT SIMPSON The following night, a strong field of 44 Sprintcars made the journey to the Heytesbury Stockfeeds Simpson Speedway for round three of the SRA Series and, with another strong car count, the scramble to make the feature race through time trialling and the heats proved a tough affair – but as the old saying goes ‘the cream always rises to the top’ and this time around the feature race went down to the wire.

With 30-laps on the board Jake Smith and Daniel Pestka would share the front row. However, Corey McCullagh would quickly separate the duo, relegating Pestka to third but the yellow lights would soon be ablaze much like the feature

Corey McCullagh currently leads the SRA series. Image: Ray Ritter race from the previous night as Bobby Daly spun, with the chain reaction sending Todd Moule and Mark Carlin also into spins. Moule and Daly would be early casualties while Carlin managed to restart from the back of the field.

With clear track ahead, Smith led the Indian file restart, although McCullagh would keep in check, while Brenten Farrer’s quest was soon over as he pulled to the infield. Smith would continue to lead the way until around the halfway mark, when McCullagh found a way past as the leaders negotiated lapped traffic. From that point McCullagh managed to open a handy gap. With around a dozen laps remaining Tate Frost began his assault on the leaders, moving from fourth to second and rapidly closing onto the back of the leader, almost snaring the victory, finishing a mere 0.077 of a second behind

McCullagh as they crossed the finish line.

Smith took the final step on the podium followed by Pestka, Grant Anderson and Cam Waters rounding out the top half dozen. Charles Hunter, Jordyn Charge, Paul Solomon and Adam King completed the top 10 while one lap down was Brett Milburn, Peter Doukas, David Donegan, Grant Stansfield and Carlin the final finisher.

Heat wins were shared between Charge, Frost, Anderson, Waters and Smith. For the second night straight the B Main was won by Daly and the C Main went to Andrew Hughes.

After four rounds Corey MCullagh leads the SRA Series Indy Race Parts point score – rounding out the top five are Daniel Pestka, Tate Frost, Grant Anderson and Brett Milburn.

Paris Charles ’

TYSON TAKES SA WINGLESS TITLE Mount Gambier’s Borderline Speedway fired up for the second time this season for the running of the 2020/21 Trident Tyres South Australian Wingless Sprint Championship.

After 12 qualifying heats the top 20 from 37 cars would go into the 35-lap main event and Tyson Martin would start from pole alongside Mitchell Broome. Joel Chadwick quickly spliced the duo as he pounced to the race lead, however Martin would fight back on the second circulation to regain control of the race. McCarthy quickly elevated from eighth to third, just as the red lights were ablaze after Jake Ashworth rolled, triggering a multi car accident. Ashworth, William Caruso and Button all retiring to the infield.

Martin would continue to set the pace with Chadwick, Broome, McCarthy all in hot pursuit while Daniel and Luke Storer would engage in a thrilling dual with Rhys Heinrich.

With 15, laps in the book the front runners had separated into two pairings – Chadwick

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Tyson Martin on his way to victory. Image: Ray Ritter started to apply some pressure to the race leader while McCarthy engaged Broome for third and before too long D Storer was also

pressuring Broome.

Around two-thirds race distance the front runners started to make their way through

some of the slower competitors and while Chadwick and McCarthy tried their best to close the gap, Martin continued to maintain his composure to gap the above mentioned and go on to claim the South Australian Wingless Sprint Championship.

While Chadwick tried everything possible to bridge the gap, he would have to settle for second, followed by the hard charging McCarthy, while the first of the Victorians, D Storer, joined the jubilant winner on the top four victory dais. Broome held on for fifth after at one point running second. Following were L Storer, Heinrich, Rylan Furler, Todd Hobson and Ryan Alexander to round off the top 10.

Ben Cartwright, Kirby Hillyer, Caleb Evans and Anthony Tapley remained on the lead lap while Jenna Kervers, Melissa Crouch and Brett Ireland finished a revolution down.

Martin started the night by claiming two heat wins. D Storer, Hobson, Ireland, L Storer, Evans, McCarthy, Caruso, Chadwick, Heinrich and Nate Trewin each claimed a single victory while the twin B Main events were shared between Hobson and Tapley.

Paris Charles

ross

Across 1. Brad Binder’s brother will make his MotoGP debut this year – what is his (first) name?

4. For the first time in Supercars Championship history the season will commence in what city?

7. How many Ducati bikes will be on the MotoGP grid this year?

9. How many cars will Team Penske run in IndyCar this year?

10. Who will be returning to the Formula 1 grid in 2022 with Williams after a year out of the sport? (surname) 11. Who replaces Jamie Whincup in the Triple Eight Supercars squad in 2022? (full name) 14. Who will race for the VR46 team alongside Luca Marini?

15. Australian Remy Gardner will make his MotoGP debut riding what brand of bike?

17. In 2022 Valtteri Bottas moves to Alfa Romeo Racing – who will be his rookie teammate? (surname) 19. Which Kostecki joins the Tickford Racing fold for 2022? (first name) 22. After winning the British Touring Car Championship in an Infiniti Q50, what brand and model of car will Ash Sutton drive in 2022?

25. At what circuit will be the Supercars Championship conclude? (abbreviation) 26. Which New Zealander driver has joined BJR? (surname) 27. Which NASCAR driver will make his fulltime series debut at Team Penske, replacing Brad Keselowski? (surname) 28. Who will be Lewis Hamilton’s teammate at Mercedes this year? (surname)

Images: AA Archives

Name: Complete the crossword puzzle below 1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10 11

12

13 14

15 16 17

19

20

18

Down

21 22

23

24

2. The first World Endurance Championship

race of the season will take place in what country?

3. Which Bathurst 1000 winner is making his full-time return in 2022? (surname) 5. Which WRC driver has moved from Hyundai to M-Sport Ford as the lead driver in 2022? (surname) 6. Matt Stone Racing has a brand-new line-up in 2021, Jack Le Brocq joins the team alongside who? (surname) 8. A second-generation racer joins the Hyundai WRC team – what is his famous surname?

9. A record number of Formula 1 races will take place in 2022 – how many rounds?

12. Nick Percat has moved to Walkinshaw Andretti United from Brad Jones Racing – who moved in the other direction? (surname) 13. Who will be Remy Gardner’s MotoGP teammate in 2022? (surname) 16. Which former F1 driver has moved to Andretti Autosport in IndyCar? (surname) 18. Sebastien Ogier has stepped back from full-time WRC driving – who will he share the third Toyota with? (surname) 20. IndyCar outfit Meyer Shank Racing will run cars for two Indy500 winners.

Helio Castroneves is one, who is the other? (surname) 21. A street circuit joins the F1 calendar in 2022. In what American city will this take place?

23. Nine-time World Rally Champion Sebastien Loeb returns this month in Monaco racing for which team?

24. Who will make his full-time debut in the Supercars Championship with Tickford Racing this year? (surname)

25

26

27 28

Created using the Crossword Maker on TheTeachersCorner.net

Down 1826 Crossword Answers 1 down – Ferrari, 2 across – second, 3 down – zero, 4 down – Davison, 5 down – two, 6 across – Tamasi, 7 down – fourth, 8 down – Mostert, 9 down – Holdsworth, 10

. Brad Binder’s brother will make his MotoGP debut this year, 2. The first World Endurance Championship race of the season across – five, 11 down – Infiniti, 12 across – Ocon, 13 down – Cameron, 14 across – Dovizioso, 15 down – Youlden, 16 across – Russell, 17 across – The Bend, 18 down – eight, 19 across – six, 20 hat is his name? (first name) will take place in what country? across – two, 21 down – Bagnaia, 22 down – Ogier, 23 across – Azerbaijan, 24 across – Mawson, 25 down – Audi, 26 across – three, 27 across – Herta, 28 across – eighth, 29 across - Hill . For the first time in Supercars Championship history the 3. Which Bathurst 1000 winner is making his full-time return in eason will commence in what city? For the first time in 2022? (surname) upercars C 5. Which WRC driver has moved to M-Sport Ford as the lead . How many Ducati bikes will be on the MotoGP grid this year? driver from Hyundai in 2022? (surname) . How many cars will Team Penske run in IndyCar this year?

6. Matt Stone Racing a brand-new line-up in 2021, Jack Le Wehas take a look back at what was making news in Auto Action 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 years ago 0. Who will be returning to the Formula 1 grid in 2022 with Brocq joins the team alongside who? (surname) Williams after a year out of the sport? (surname) 8. A second-generation racer joins the Hyundai WRC team, what is his famous surname?

1. Who replaces Jamie Whincup in the Triple Eight Supercars 9. A record number of Formula 1 races will take place in 2022, quad in 2022? (full name) how many rounds?

4. Who will race for the VR46 team alongside Luca Marini?

12. Nick Percat has moved to Walkinshaw Andretti United from 5. Australian Remy Gardner will make his MotoGP debut Brad Jones Racing, who moved the other direction? (surname) ding what brand of bike?

13. Who will be Remy Gardner’s MotoGP teammate in 2022?

7. In 2022 Valtteri Bottas moves to Alfa Romeo Racing, who (surname) ill be his rookie teammate? (surname) 16. Which former F1 driver has moved to Andretti Autosport in 9. Which Kostecki joins the Tickford Racing fold for 2022? irst name) IndyCar? (surname) 18. Sebastien Ogier has stepped back from full-time WRC 2. After winning the British Touring Car Championship in an driving, who will he share the third Toyota with? (surname) nfiniti Q50, what brand and Model of car will Ash Sutton drive 20. IndyCar outfit Meyer Shank Racing will run cars for two 2 Indy500 winners Helio Castroneves is one, who is the other?

5. At what circuit will be the Supercars Championship (surname) onclude? (abbreviation) 21. A street circuit joins the F1 calendar in 2022, in what 6. Which New Zealander driver has joined BJR? (surname) American city will this take place?

7. Which NASCAR driver will make his full-time series debut at 23. Nine-time World Rally Champion Sebastien Loeb returns eam Penske, replacing Brad Keselowski? (surname) this month in Monaco racing for what team?

8. Who will be Lewis Hamilton’s teammate at Mercedes this 24. Who will make his full-time debut in the Supercars ear? (surname) Championship with Tickford Racing this year? (surname)

1972 – IN THE 1971 Christmas meeting at Bay Park Raceway in New Zealand, Allan Moffat led home Ian (Pete) Geoghegan to victory in the Sedan class. Moffat won the first two races of event, but Geoghegan struck back in the final race. In the final, the pair rubbed door handles on several occasions, but it was Geoghegan who prevailed with a last corner overtake.

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1982 – IN 1982 there were reports of an allAustralian Porsche backed Le Mans 24 Hours entry as Australian Porsche distributor Alan Hamilton was sounding out the possibility.

The German manufacturer had locked in three machines for the Le Mans 24 Hours and it was understood that both Alan Jones and Peter Brock were the candidates to partner with the already signed Vern Schuppan.

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1992 – AFTER LESS than one year in charge, CAMS Commercial Managing Director Barry Oosthuizen handed in his shock resignation from the role, just prior to Christmas of 1991.

The role was created at the start of 1991 to allow CAMS to get a better handle on the commercial aspects of the ever-growing sport. Auto Action also compared a Superbike with an ATCC Ford Sierra.

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2002 – IT WAS only a matter of days into the new year when the first 2002 V8 Supercar livery was unveiled. Cameron McLean would again run his own car, with a new backer – VIP Petfoods. Elsewhere a couple of internationals, ex-F1 driver Pedro Lamy and DTM driver Marcel Tiemann, jumped behind the wheel of a Briggs Motorsport Falcon at Winton.

2012 – AFTER LOSING the title from Jamie Whincup in 2011, James Courtney was keen to wipe the smile of the face off the V8 Supercar champion in 2012. The Holden Racing Team driver had a difficult debut season with the team, winning just one race.

It was also officially confirmed that Dick Johnson Racing would expand to four cars for 2012.

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IN THE GARAGE

KEN BLOCK is going electric for the next episode of his Gymkhana craziness.

After cutting his long-term ties to Ford, the American slideways star has cemented his new relationship with Audi thanks to a re-imagined S1 Quattro.

With styling reminiscent of the wicked S1 that claimed the crown at the Pikes Peak hillclimb, the Audi S1 e-tron quattro Hoonitron has twin electric motors, all-wheel quattro drive, and a lightweight carbon fibre chassis under a body that was styled at Audi’s design centre at Ingolstadt in Germany.

“There were a lot of new things for me to learn here,” says Block. “Spinning into a donut at 150km/h directly from standstill - just using my right foot - is an all-new experience for me.”

The 21st century S1 will star in the next video in the Gymkhana series, which will now be produced as Elektrikhana, by the middle of this year.

THE FAMILY of fast Fords in Australia is getting a zoosh for 2022, from the baby Fiesta ST through to the V8 Mustang.

The newest member of the 2022 Mustang posse is the California Special, with a range of visual tweaks including a rear fender scoop and performance rear wing for the coupe, priced from $67,290.

Mustang also gets a line-lock function – officially only for competition use – for the first time, in conjunction with updated Track Apps software.

Ford Australia has also tweaked the ST models of the Fiesta and Focus.

THE NEW-MODEL drive at Maserati will soon include a convertible supercar and an all-new SUV called the Grecale.

While the Grecale is still on the top-secret list, Maserati has scooped itself by providing the first pictures of its MC20 convertible.

Shown leaving Maserati’s factory in Modena, the MC20 is the drop-top development of the company’s two-seater supercar – with an F1-inspired 3-litre engine and hybrid boost – that sells in Australia from $438,000.

The convertible is expected to go properly public later this year when Maserati strips away its unique camouflage – described as ‘featuring a play of clouds’ – for showrooms.

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HYUNDAI’S HAVE ‘N’ FUN

By PAUL GOVER ANY TIME you get 130 cars and 250-plus people to Winton for a track day you know something special is happening.

In the case of Hyundai, it’s the N factor.

N cars are the hottest thing in the showrooms of the South Korean carmaker and one of the hottest performance prospects in a country where AMG and STI are still a very big deal for Mercedes-Benz and Subaru, as well as a continuation of the fast-car culture that kept Holden Special Vehicles and Ford Performance – in all its forms – running hot for decades.

The difference is that the N cars at Hyundai are compact and affordable and very Gen-Y. There are four in 2022 – i20, i30 (hatch and sedan), and Kona – and they are gobbling up a growing

percentage of Hyundai sales.

The attraction is as obvious as their turbo-fed four-cylinder engines, grippy front-wheel drive and engineering that was sparked by the former head of BMW’s M division in Germany, Albert Biermann.

It also helps that the i20 starts from $32,490 and even the SUV-based Kona N has a showroom sticker of $47,500.

Since Biermann laid the foundation for the N division, which takes its name from Hyundai’s Namyang technical centre in Korea, the program has accelerated rapidly.

Like Subaru and Mitsubishi and Toyota, which used success in the World Rally Championship to boost the following for their STI, Evo and Gazoo Racing models, Hyundai also has a winning WRC program built around its i20.

ROAD & TRACK

What that means, right now, is that the N Festival is a Very Big Deal for sports-focussed Hyundai owners.

It was run in December, just after Hyundai Australia reported its best N month on record with more than 300 deliveries. Since the arrival of the first i30 N in March 2018, the total is more than 4000 cars, and Australian N devotees snapped up 1412 cars in November alone.

On the subject of numbers, the i20 N makes 150 kiloWatts and 304 Newton-metres from its 1.6-litre engine, while the 2-litre in the bigger cars punches out 206 and 392 torques. There is a choice of both six-speed manual and DSG autos across the N family.

But N is not just about the full-house turbo fun runners, as Hyundai also offers N Line models – cosmetic, not quick – and is targeting 25 per cent of its total sales through 2022. That means it will have gone from one per cent to 25 per cent with N spices in just five years.

Straight away, the i20 N is a riotous little bundle of fun. It’s out-run by the Festival drivers in their more powerful i30s on the straights, but is able to duck and dive through the corners with an inside-rear wheel cocked as high as an original Mini from the 1960s.

Upgrading to the i30 hatch, an N car I know well, brings a more stable platform and much more punch on the straights. The car is also nicely balanced in turns, although it can quickly turn to excessive understeer if you over-step on turn-in or get too loud too early on the go pedal.

The i30 sedan feels even more composed and would be the pick for long-distance highway work.

And the Kona N? It feels more like a big hatch than an SUV, although it was the least rewarding to push.

All of the N-cars have punchy track modes with pop-bang exhaust fun, controlled by cheap-looking buttons on the steering wheel, and the latest i30s have sports and track displays for the infotainment screen.

One of the best things for owners is that tracking the cars does not automatically void the warranty, like most brands.

And, through a very tough day with keen ‘guest’ drivers, none of the press fleet needs new tyres or brake pads. Just fuel and go.

Picking the most fun is obvious – it’s the rascally baby i20. A mechanical limited-slip differential means it’s perky and responsive and rewarding to drive, and the six-speed manual – no DSG in this one – is satisfyingly old school and old-fashioned fun. R&T

DRIVING THE N CARS Winton is packed for the Festival, the third annual gathering of the N faithful.

They face a hectic day of track sessions, a trivia night – with the focus on N questions – and a relaxed open-road drive into the Victorian high country to exercise their cars.

As a ’special guest’, Auto Action has access to a full range of the N cars and the opportunity to jump in and out of the various track sessions, which are run in rapid-fire order by trail boss John Boston and based on how the drivers rate their ability – and enthusiasm – as well as the speed of their cars.

The obvious approach is to start with the i20, move up through the two i30 models and finish with the Kona.

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ROAD & TRACK NISSAN GT-R

BY PAUL GOVER THE BIG digital speedo in the thundering Nissan GT-R is clicking up to 240km/h as we hustle into the braking zone at the end of the front straight at Sandown raceway.

It’s a similar story again on the romp up the back, although the climb to the top of the track holds the car back to ‘only’ 232.

The GT-R might be old, and heading into the history books, but it is still fast. Very fast.

Sandown is a great track for the car called Godzilla, even with the big stops at either end, because it plays to the strengths of a car that has always used plenty of turbocharged power and all-paw grip to do its best work.

As a racer, the GT-R rampaged through the dying days of International Group A regulations, effectively triggering the switch to the Holden-versus-Ford regulations that morphed over time into the present-day Supercars. It stomped through Sandown despite the best efforts of the Ford Sierra drivers and a couple of Commodore diehards, even if it was a privateer car that won the classic 500 in 1991 with Mark Gibbs and Rohan Onslow.

And now it’s over …

No-one outside Nissan in Japan knows the final plan for a future GT-R – petrol, hybrid or battery electric – but if the company is prepared to continue with the classic Z-car then there is an excellent chance that Godzilla is not done yet. And the GT-R was only killed in Australia because it could not pass the latest side-impact safety test.

Which brings us to Sandown, where an

WATCH PG TAKE THE GT-R FOR SOME FAST LAPS AROUND SANDOWN

original Australian R32 is sitting outside the pits and the Bathurst 12-Hour winner, a GT3 racer once pedalled by the mercurial Taksu Chiyo at Mount Panorama, is also on display.

There is also a shiny new R35 T0Spec – actually two, complete with the trackfriendly carbon braking package – ready for hot laps in a send-off that includes coaching from Bathurst 1000 winner Luke Youlden, who also spends a lot of time as chief instructor for Porsche at its track days.

Every one of the R35s has been sold, mostly to collectors, despite prices that started at $193,800 for the Premium model

and ran up to $393,800 for the Nismo SV, as Nissan Australia said farewell with an expanded five-model lineup. There is talk that the top-line models are already fetching close to $1 million from collectors …

Looking at the history books, just on 1000 GT-Rs were sold down under - starting from the ‘Australianised’ R32 in 1990 - with the majoirty in the R35 years from April 2009 to the end of 2021.

The final car, with styling that could have driven straight out of a Japanese manga comic, was always a tech-loaded and complicated car. Its twin-turbo V6 was

originally good for 357 kiloWatts and 588 torques, although this was boosted to 419 and 633, with the Nismo model pumping that up to 447 and 652 torques.

But the later Godzilla was always heavy and complicated, even down to twin tailshafts for its all-wheel drive, and clunky in the driveline, and tough to park with littleto-zero back-seat space.

Did any of that matter? Not once you hit the start button.

DRIVING THE BEAST I have turned many track laps in the GT-R, starting with the original R32 that earned the Godzilla nickname from Aussie journalist Angus MacKenzie.

The first GT-R, when it was still called a Skyline, was a landmark car and it earned my everlasting respect when it won a three-car comparison with the Honda NSX and Porsche 911 Carrera 4 in the early 1990s.

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Most recently, my track time was at Phillip Island on a baking-hot summer day. I remember clearly that the crew in the pits were re-pressuring the tyres after just two laps because of the track temperature and the speed and weight of the GT-R. This was the first of the latest R35 series and we were also treated to full-on race starts on the front straight that were blisteringly impressive. But not too many, to save the clutch pack …

As a send-off to Godzilla, and the right way to put a Full Stop on 2021, Nissan Australia has a simple format for the Sandown drive.

A passenger lap with Youlden to point out the braking and corner markers – “We’ve set them to Porsche distances, so they are serious” – before a five-lap hands-off romp. No rules, no nanny restrictions, just a chance to go fast and have fun.

And what fun … The GT-R T-Spec is big and old and heavy, but bejesus it is fast.

And it’s very easy to go fast.

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I’ve arrived at Sandown after recent laps at Sydney Motorsport Park in the latest 911 GT3, which was a tricky combination on both fronts. I never felt I got the best from the Porsche or myself.

In contrast, the Nissan turbo hero is easy to handle and rewarding at all times. From the get-go, sprinting down the pit exit and confirming its sub-3 second sprint to 100km/h, there is the familiar – and smile making – turbo surge with a punch up into the next gear.

It turns when I want, it’s easy to get hard back on the gas, and it rockets out of the corners. The straight-line punch is addictive.

Even ‘over the top’, rushing downhill towards Dandenong Road corner is exhilarating as the big heavy beast punches through the direction changes.

It’s definitely as sharp as the GT3, or as raucous as a Benz GTR, but the big old Nissan can still do the job. The best thing is that it feels planted, with a neutral handling

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balance that makes it easy to hustle without worrying you’re about to understeer off the road or slip into a spin.

I have to be careful with the brakes, not just for safety but to save them for the other fun runners, but otherwise my track time is epic and memorable.

And straight-out fun. R&T

FAST FACTS

NISSAN GT-R Price: $193,800 Engine: 3.8-litre twin-turbo V6 Power: 421kW/633Nm Transmission: 6-speed DSG, all-wheel drive Position: Supercar We like: Fast, easy to drive Not so much: Outdated in many ways Score: 8.5/10 THE TICK: Every time

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