Australian MotorSport News July 2013

No. 432 June 2013

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The The Rosberg Rosberg Rating: Rating:

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three-pointed superstar. . . or F1 journeyman?

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or a lot of Australian fans, Derrick Walker first came onto the radar through his role in Champ Car’s Team Australia; the Scot providing a measured, reasoned counterpoint to Craig Gore’s hand-grenades-strapped-to-abulldozer approach.

In a sense, that tiny glimpse of the Scot at work encapsulated the way he has gone about his motorsport career over the past 40-plus years, and sheds some light on why he will be such a valuable addition to IndyCar’s organisational hierarchy when he moves across from his present gig as Ed Carpenter Racing team manager after the Indy 500.

Walker’s appointment as IndyCar’s new head of competition (his official title is president of competition and operations) was announced just as the opening practice days at Indy were getting underway, and it was greeted by universal excitement across the entire category, from the drivers to the teams, and from the manufacturers to the suppliers.

Short of actually driving the car, there isn’t much that he hasn’t done. He was a mechanic on the Brabham F1 team during the Bernie Ecclestone era, and then joined Penske’s F1 effort. That campaign was shortlived, but Walker remained a part of Penske for 13 years, first overseeing its workshop in England, and later as team president in Champ Car, during which time the team won four titles and four Indy 500s. He later took over the Porsche team, eventually remaking it into Walker Racing – the entity that Gore and his associates would one day buy into to create Team Australia.

But as important as the 68-year-old’s experience is, it is his ability to slice through all the layers of crap and see things for what they are that is his greatest asset.

Journalists who wanted to know what was really going on during all the bickering about costs last year knew that Walker was one of the guys to seek out. Yes, he’d talk about what outcome was best for his team – but he was virtually unique in that he’d also recognise that what might work for him might not necessarily be in the broader interests of the sport in the long-term.

Through his years with Penske, he has learned how the sport works from the perspective of a conqueror. Some of the leaner years during his time as an owner taught him how things work for the minnows.

More recently, he has occupied a sort of middle-ground with ECR; a team that lacks the resources of some of its rivals, but still managed to win last year’s finale at Fontana.

Now, he joins what he jokingly calls “the dark side” in donning the shirt of a series official rather than a competitor. He is the first significant appointment by Mark Miles, CEO of Hulman & Co, which is the parent company to both IndyCar and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

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“ His role reveals a bit about both Miles’ approach to IndyCar’s leadership structure and to what gaps he felt needed filling. Since the departure of former series CEO Randy Bernard at the end of last year, IMS CEO Jeff Belskus has overseen the series in an interim capacity. Publicly, Belskus has been largely invisible, and when someone from the series leadership has spoken on the organisation’s behalf at races this year, it has been Miles – Belskus’ boss – that has done the talking.

It was widely thought that the vacancy left by Bernard would be filled by another CEO once a suitable candidate was found, but a close look at what Walker’s role will entail suggests that this will not be the case.

For starters, Walker reports to Miles – not Belskus. And second, all of the senior guys who used to answer to Bernard – people like race director Beaux Barfield, technical boss Will Phillips, Indy Lights chief Tony George Jr, former head of race operations (now senior vice-president of race operations) Brian Barnhart– will now report to Walker.

Take a small leap and assume that Miles will perform a similar reshuffle of the commercial and marketing side of IndyCar, and we might have our answer to the ‘who’s the new Randy’ question. If Bernard was trying to do the jobs of two or three people and did not succeed, then replace him with two or three people and really play to their strengths.

Even the team owners that supported Bernard will tell you that he sometimes struggled to understand the intricacies of the paddock, and in fairness, Bernard himself was aware of this. He actually tried to hire Walker at the start of 2012, but the Scot was already committed to ECR. Many feel that Walker’s input was exactly what Bernard needed as he tried to navigate the costs battle that dragged on through last year.

Randy’s struggles to maintain effective communication lines between the series and the teams and suppliers contributed to his downfall, and it is telling that IndyCar’s announcement of Walker’s arrival stipulated that one of his tasks will be to “foster improved communication with team owners and suppliers” in areas including cost control, safety, driver and supplier development, and developing future technical platforms.

Put more simply, it now means that when IndyCar tackles all of the questions that lie ahead – how to encourage technical innovation without pricing teams out; what to do about aero kits; how to attract more manufacturers; how to find all the fans that vanished after the split – it now has someone capable of filtering the useful input from the noise.

IndyCar has proven that it knows how to build a good ship, but the problem has been finding a person who really knows how to sail it. Walker can’t do it on his own, but the series as a whole will be a lot stronger with him that it has been without him.

IndyCar has proven that it knows how to build a good ship, but the problem has been finding a person who really knows how to sail it.

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Mark

Glendenning

United States of Origin

IZOD Indycar

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Alexandre the Great Great isn’t a word that would have been used to describe Alex Prémat’s debut 2012 V8 Supercars season. But he’s back for a second season, and the improvement even early on has been dramatic.

Prémat spoke to Tom Howard about the challenge of V8 Supercars, his aim of becoming the first European to win in V8 Supercars, and teaching French to team-mate Scott McLaughlin.

Dan Kalisz

Dirk Klynsmith

Dan Kalisz

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e’s held his own in some of Europe’s toughest championships and enjoyed success on the global stage, but Alexandre Prémat now firmly believes he can be the first European to taste glory and dominate the uncharted waters of V8 Supercars.

He may yet to have stood on a V8 Supercar podium but on paper the versatile Frenchman is arguably one of the best credentialled drivers on the V8 grid. He is a winner of the Macau Grand Prix, and was third in the GP2 Series (in 2006, the year Lewis Hamilton won before making his McLaren Formula One debut the next season). Prémat has done the DTM, Le Mans and A1GP – so he’s not only an openwheeler driver who went close to making it to F1, he’s had topline experience in touring cars and sportscars as well. He’s about as well rounded as they come.

But taking on a new car and championship in a foreign country thousands of kilometres from home was never going to be easy. So it proved, with the rookie describing his debut 2012 season as a “steep learning curve”. A best result of 13th place, at Symmons Plains, was on paper a dismal performance, but then nor did his team-mate ever trouble the

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leaders in what was not one of Garry Rogers Motorsport’s most competitive seasons.

But as 2012 drew to a close it looked like Prémat’s days in the championship were numbered after Garry Rogers dropped him for the Gold Coast 600, in favour of Greg Ritter.

However, fast forward eight months, and now behind the wheel of the new GRM 2013 ‘Car of the Future’, a rejuvenated Prémat has started to show Australian audiences why he is regarded as one of Europe’s elite by racking up several top 10 finishes. Matching the championship’s top order for pace has prompted the 31-year-old to believe he is close to rewriting V8 Supercars history.

“I would really like to be the first European driver to win a race in V8 Supercars,” Prémat says. “It would be so cool for me and maybe it will open the door to more European drivers to come over and join the championship.

I’m very pleased and very happy with how we have started the season with GRM. The mechanics, engineers and Garry have done some great work during the winter to give us a really good car.

“We have had some bad luck, which has cost me some points, like the first race in Pukekohe where I was in P2 before I retired.

It’s a good start, but we need to just keep pushing and if we can get the two cars in the top eight at every round then that would be perfect. I just have to keep moving and the target is to win races this year.

“Last year was very hard as I had to start from zero on everything. It was a huge move from Europe to Australia. I had to learn the car, the tracks and the championship and I didn’t know the drivers. It was really tough.

“I had heard of Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes but I didn’t know the others at all.

The V8 Supercar is very different from what I had driven in Europe, the chassis; the tyres are completely the opposite of what I was used to. Then you have the situation of 20 of the 28 cars being covered by five or six-tenths of a second. It is extremely competitive.

“This year I have made more progress because I am confident with the team and understand the car, the tracks and how the championship works. I’m really happy and enjoying being in Australia and I think the decision and cost to bring me here was worth it.”

While European drivers have triumphed in the majority of motorsport’s elite championships, V8 Supercars remains one of

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Dirk Klynsmith

He is a winner of the Macau Grand Prix, and was third in the GP2 Series (in 2006, the year Lewis Ha milton won before making his McL aren Formul a One debut the next season). the few yet to crown a champion hailing from that continent. Many illustrious names including three-time world touring car champion Andy Priaulx and touring car superstar Alain Menu have taken up the challenge by competing in the odd enduro race, but neither shone in the powerful V8 monsters.

In fact in V8 Supercars’ 16 year history, the only fleeting success for Europeans has come when they have partnered experienced campaigners in the famous Gold Coast 600 and Sandown 500 endurance races. Multiple touring car champion Yvan Muller secured the first victory at Sandown in 2005 partnering Craig Lowndes and since then fellow

compatriot Sébastien Bourdais has earned two victories alongside Jamie Whincup at Surfers Paradise. Northern Irishman Richard Lyons and ex-F1 star Mika Salo have followed in the footsteps with Ford Performance Racing duo Mark Winterbottom and Will Davison in 2011 and 2012 respectively. But that’s about it.

This year Prémat certainly has the tools required to win and create history – as his young team-mate Scott McLaughlin proved by recording a sensational victory at Pukekohe in April. The talent in opposite corner of the GRM garage has not gone unnoticed, Prémat is convinced the Kiwi – now the youngest ever V8 Supercar race winner – is set to become household name.

“I think Scott is one of the future champions in V8 Supercars,” Prémat says. “He is really mature for his age, enthusiastic, but he still has a lot to learn. He is very talented and is very friendly and not interested in the politics of the sport. We have French connection: Premat is yet to set the V8 Supercar world on fire, above, but his record in Europe suggests that it mightn’t be long. (From far left) On the GP2 podium in 2005 with Nico Rosberg and Heikki Kovalainen; Monaco GP2 race, 2006; celebrating third place in the 2006 GP2 Series with winner Lewis Hamilton and runner up Nelson Piquet Jr; leading (and beating) Lewis Hamilton at Barcelona.

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? e m i t o c i N e In th Are we about to see the emergence, finally, of the driver everyone thought would be a guaranteed superstar when he made his grand prix debut six years ago, but who has achieved little since? Or is Nico Rosberg about to be proven once and for all to be an F1 journeyman, up against a new team-mate whom few doubt is one of the greatest ever? Forget the Vettel/Webber rivalry – the most fascinating team-mate battle this year in F1 could prove to be the one at Mercedes-Benz. By Andrew van Leeuwen

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T’S easy to forget that once upon a time, Nico Rosberg was the most exciting upand-comer in Formula 1.

Back in 2006, Rosberg made a big splash on his F1 debut in Bahrain. Driving a Cosworth-powered Williams deemed nowhere near a match for the mighty Renaults and Ferraris, the German made sure the F1 paddock was paying attention by setting the fastest lap of the seasonopening race in the desert. He backed up that performance a week later by qualifying third for the Malaysian Grand Prix.

At just 20 years of age, Rosberg had the F1

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world at his feet – and some highprofile admirers.

“For me there’s only one who is really going under the spotlight: Nico Rosberg,” Mika Hakkinen told Gazzetta dello Sport at the time.

“He’s half Finnish, half German, an international guy, I’d say. But as a driver he’s already asserted himself. Nico can even win the world title. It’ll take time, but he can do it.”

“I’m a huge fan of Nico,” added Jenson Button. “He has a huge amount of experience for somebody of his age. He’s 20, and

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although I was 20 when I first raced a Formula 1 car, he has a lot more racing experience than I had at that stage.”

By the time the 2006 Australian Grand Prix rolled around – just the third race of the season – Rosberg had already been linked to a seat at McLaren (staunchly denied by both team and driver, but flattering all the same). There was also clearly some tension between he and more experienced team-mate Mark Webber, a good indication that Rosberg was bringing more to the table than Webber had expected.

At this early stage, there seemed to be just one question when it came to Nico Rosberg: how good is this kid going to be?

Seven years later and we still don’t have an answer. Despite such a promising start, and despite having obvious natural ability, too much of Rosberg’s subsequent F1 career has had a sense of mediocrity about it. If you had said back in early 2006 that Rosberg would only win one race in the next seven years, few would have believed you.

But that’s how it’s played out.

But why is it so? Is he simply not good enough to be a regular race winner like Lewis, Fernando or Sebastian? Has it come down to bad timing? Being in the wrong places at all the wrong times?

The last theory certainly has some weight. The 2006-09 era was hardly a classic one for Williams, which played a large part in the fact that Rosberg had to wait until 2008 to bag his first podium finish.

That he was able to finish in the top 10 in 13 of the 17 races in ’09 was actually very impressive.

Then came the move to Mercedes. It seemed like a very smart thing to do. In BrawnGP colours, the team had comfortably won the ’09 World Championship. And now, with the might of Mercedes behind it, surely the good times would roll on. We now know that wasn’t the case, and that ’10 and ’11-spec Mercs were simply not capable of winning races, while the ’12 car had such a narrow operating window that the team only really hit it once. In other words, the lack of ticks in the Wins tally can very much be attributed to machinery.

While the first three seasons with the Ross Brawn-led Mercedes squad yielded just the single win (China 2012), they have, in a way, been the most telling of Rosberg’s career so far. Pitted against a seven-time World Champion in Michael Schumacher, the pre-2010 buzz was that this was Rosberg’s big chance to prove to the world that he is better than ordinary. On the eve of the 2010 season,

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Rubens Barrichello urged Rosberg to leave the team, fearing he would be crushed by the once mighty Schumacher.

“Get out of there! That is the only thing I can tell him. [Nico] is a great talent and I wish him all the best,” he said.

“Knowing what I know, and seeing how fast Michael went [in testing], it is going to be a tough job. I wish him all the best because I think he is a talented boy who can be World Champion. If he has the chances of being World Champion in the same team as Michael, then he can be World Champion anywhere. Let’s put it this way.”

As it turned out, Barrichello’s predictions were wide of the mark. In 2010, Rosberg finished on the podium three times (compared to zero podiums for Schumacher), and almost doubled his team-mate’s points tally. It was a personal victory, in what was a fairly disappointing season for the team.

“It’s a two-faced season,” Rosberg told Autosprint after the final race.

“On one side there is the comparison with my team-mate, and under this aspect I am very happy. However, if we look at the absolute results, I must say that I had hoped for something more.

“When I signed I had thought my teammate would be Button, and that was fine by me. When I learned that Jenson was leaving the team I had hoped that a strong, experienced driver would join the team.

“So, after learning of Schumacher’s arrival, I was happy under this point of view.

However, I didn’t know what to expect from other points of view. First of all I didn’t know Michael in person, and then I knew about his

long friendship with Ross Brawn, and I didn’t know whether this would have had an impact on my situation. Instead, everything has gone for the best.”

The following year it was a closer, but Rosberg still came out on top. In 2012, he completed the clean-sweep, finishing ninth in the points while Schumacher languished back in 13th.

Put simply, Rosberg did all that he could during his three-year head-to-head battle with Schumacher. It was a comprehensive victory in favour of the younger German.

But it didn’t quite provide that proof that Rosberg is the real deal. Instead of people

talking about how well Rosberg did to beat Schumacher, the focus was more on how poorly Schumacher was after his three-year break from the sport. In fact, by the third season, there was a sense that the F1 paddock was slightly disappointed that Rosberg was ‘only’ able to out-qualify Schumacher 12 times from the 20 grands prix. Rosberg was suddenly being measured against a 43-yearold veteran on the decline, not a seven-time World Champion.

So the question was never answered.

The Schumacher battle never delivered the ultimate verdict on just how good Rosberg is.

Instead, the whole ‘make or break’ thing

Is he simply not good enough to be a regular race winner like Lewis, Fernando or Sebastian? Has it come down to bad timing?

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New bike is Allen Key

Maurice Allen is currently on a roll in the ANDRA Pro Stock Motorcycle championship with two wins straight and a new machine that is performing exactly how he wants. It’s exactly what he needs at this mid-point in the series as the category hits a growth path.

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he Milwaukee Tools Suzuki team took the risk on moving from a proven championship-winning chassis to a newer generation bike, and so far for Maurice Allen it seems to be paying off.

“The new bike is awesome and we feel it is coming into its own with the way it responds to small changes,” he said. “For us, we have always worked on the principle of consistency and being able to replicate the same thing every run. The new bike has helped and the Racepak data logger gives us accurate numbers to work with.

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“We have been doing it with no breakage and consistency in our engine program.

We will do some fine tuning for the Fuchs Winternationals in June, where it is a chance to throw everything you have horsepowerwise at it.

“We still have four rounds to go in the championship with plenty of points on offer and we have moved up the ladder where we need to be. We are going for the hat trick of wins.”

Allen needs to overhaul points leader Luke Crowley who got off to a good start in the season and has been setting the performance

benchmarks but who has struggled for the consistency Allen has found.

“Luke is running fast and that’s awesome as it drags everyone along, but our deal has always been about consistency,” he said.

“The philosophy is about getting down the track all weekend with a reliable package and being good at the tree (starting lights) and then you at least have a chance of going rounds.”

Pro Stock Motorcycles are highly finessed, purpose built drag bikes based on production motorcycles. They are naturally aspirated with motors ranging from 1600cc to 1700cc and motorsport news

“I would love to step up to Top Bike but I love the spirit of Pro Stock Motorcycle and the close racing.

It has been a 20 year obsession.”

capable of accelerating to over 300km/h in just seven seconds from a standing start.

Allen was always destined for some two wheel drag racing action with his father Peter (seen here with Maurice, right) a successful Top Bike racer – and even steering a Top Fuel dragster for a time – through the 1970s, ‘80s and ‘90s.

When the pair put together their first Pro Stock Motorcycle, Maurice actually went on to win the 1991 Nationals just months after its first outing. Making the moment more significant was that Peter also won in Top Bike, making it the first time a father and son had won two professional categories at the same event anywhere in the world.

“It was quite well noted at the time including in the USA,” Maurice said. “Anyone who won the Nationals then was extended a free visit to the USA and I commentated at the 91 NHRA Columbus Springnationals. It was a whirlwind year to go from street bike riding to winning the Nationals in Pro Stock Motorcycle.”

From that baptism of fire, Allen continued to race in the category in alliances and teams but it was only in recent years that he returned to owning his own motorcycle.

“My love for the class started there in 1991 and it is still going,” he said. “I would love to step up to Top Bike but I love the spirit of Pro Stock Motorcycle and the close racing. It has been a 20 year obsession.”

Pro Stock Motorcycle has at times been afflicted by small entry numbers but Allen www.mnews.com.au

predicts that is in the process of changing.

“We’ve heard of one or two bikes that are on their way here from the USA and there are a couple of bikes that were sitting dormant here coming back very shortly,” he said. “We have ten bikes entered for the Fuchs Winternationals and there are another three or four potentially who will step up in coming events.

“The class is looking great and it’s the best we’ve been presented; we’ve got some real heavy hitters now.”

From his side of things, Allen would like to see some rule changes to open up the category to more manufacturers.

“I think there is room for a lot of development, such as the implementation of billet motors with a capacity cap and a minimum weight,” he said. “I would like a 1600cc billet engine with a minimum 600 pound bike and rider, you could then bring any bodywork to the class and bring some factory backing. It would be great to have some kind of involvement from manufacturers.

“We do need to move forward, we need to look at allowing the class to expand because

the side-by-side, heads-up nature of the class can be very appealing to people.”

Allen’s own racing plans do involve that aforementioned love of the nitro-fuelled Top bikes, but alongside his current operation.

“We’ve had some irons in the fire to purchase a nitro bike out of America, but things have changed slightly and we are not really sure where we lie with that but hopefully there is an opportunity to get the deal done and bring the bike back,” he said. “I’d like to ride both bikes, whether or not we do every round would depend on the workload.”

Allen also recently signed on a new sponsor in Fuchs, which is assisting with some development on the bike’s liquid internals.

“We have just joined the Fuchs team and they have been terrific with allowing us to develop an oil specific to our needs and there is no doubt we are looking forward to the relationship and doing well for them on the track where it counts,” he said. “Their level of professionalism and approach to racing is second to none and if we can harness the potential of what Fuchs has to offer then it can only help us.”