Motorsport eNews Issue 22 - September 18-24, 2007 by V8 Sleuth

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Issue No. 022 18 – 24 September 2007

PAIR OF ACES could TRIPLE 8’s crush at sandown 500 initiate TOll rethink? FERNANDO TO FERRARI?

enews to the max! biggest issue yet

53 pages

VALE: COLIN McRAE

Editorial Editor: Grant Rowley grant@mnews.com.au National Editor: Andrew van Leeuwen andrew@mnews.com.au Executive Editor: Phil Branagan editor@mnews.com.au

Australasian

The ‘A’ Team

Production Graphic Design & Web: Jayne Uthmeyer design@mnews.com.au

Advertising National Sales Manager: Calvin Wood cwood@mnews.com.au P 03 9596 5555 F 03 9596 5030 M 0439 566 265

Issue No. 022 | 18-24 September 2007

news 5 Safety First (or Last) SC changes may be on 6 Orion-teering Blue Oval gets Green Light 8 A Champion is Lost Colin McRae, 1968-2007 10 Max stroking white cat A HUNDRED MILLION!!

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Contributing Writers F1: Joe Saward, Mark Glendenning, Adam Cooper, Paolo Filisetti Europe: Quentin Spurring, David Addison US: Martin D. Clark, Phil Morris Speedway: Greg Boscato, Geoff Rounds, Darren Sutton, Tony Millard (UK) Rally: Ryan Lahiff Drag Racing: Dave Ostaszewski (USA), Ken Ferguson, John Bosher National: Mark Wicks, Mark Jones, Aaron Shaw, Daniel Powell

Photographers Sutton Motorsport Images, Dirk Klynsmith, Marshall Cass, John Morris/Mpix, AF1 Images, James Smith, Peter Bury, Neil Blackbourn, Chris Carter, Coopers Photography, Ash Budd, Paris Charles, Neil Hammond, Joel Strickland, Mike Patrick (UK) Motorsport eNews is published by Australasian Motorsport News ABN 55 125 120 702 Publisher: C Lambden Copyright: Material published in Motorsport eNews is copyright and may not be reproduced in full or in part without the written permission of the publisher. Freelance contributions are welcome, and while all care will be taken, Motorsport eNews does not accept responsibility for damage or loss of material submitted. Opinions expressed in Motorsport eNews are not necessarily those of Australasian Motorsport News or its staff.

International photos supplied by Sutton Images, www.sutton-images.com – click here to check out their exclusive poster deals

chat 18 5 minutes with ... opinion 20 Saward

22 Lambden 26 Crompton/Mezera 53 Punter

Threat race 2228 Triple Maranello Mauling 34 Tribute to a Mate

Paul Dumbrell Understanding the fine Not understanding it! Assessing the 500 form You call this Safety? Craig & Jamie blitz ‘em Ferrari dominates Spa Rossi wins one for Colin

trade 50 Trade and Industry / Raceshop / Classifieds

welcome Knock, knock. Who’s there? Jack. Jack who? Just Jack! Check out the latest eNews supplements via http://www.mnews.com.au

? d e R g n i Turn

Is Fernando

Digitally modified

FERNANDO in red? That’s the latest twist in the fallout following the FIA hearing last Thursday and the headline $120 million fine imposed on the McLaren F1 team (see page 10). One fact to emerge from the FIA hearing was that McLaren boss Ron Dennis and Fernando Alonso have not talked since the Hungarian Grand Prix, despite the fact that the Spaniard is battling to win the Drivers’ World Championship for McLaren. This bizarre state of affairs reveals Alonso’s unhappiness with the team and McLaren’s unhappiness with its current lead driver. In any logical world McLaren might want to see Lewis Hamilton win the World Championship, but the team remains committed to being fair to both drivers and, in any case, needs to avoid any suggestion that there was any interference in the title race, lest the FIA jump on McLaren once again … There has been much speculation as to the exchange between Dennis and Alonso in Hungary in which the McLaren boss found out what had been going on (emails between Alonso and Pedro de la Rosa). There was speculation that Alonso was trying to blackmail Dennis into releasing him from his contract in 2008 and 2009. Dennis steadfastly refused to confirm this, arguing that he was not going to wash the team’s dirty linen in public but did say that Alonso had withdrawn his remarks and apologised later. The relationship between the two men has remained frosty ever since. There is no doubt that part of the negotiation going on in Spa was to find a way for Alonso to get out of his McLaren deal and our spies suggest that the most likely scenario is that the Spaniard will go to Renault or perhaps even … to Ferrari. – JOE SAWARD

It’s a date! V8 SUPERCARS V8 SUPERCAR Australia looks likely to announce its 2008 calendar within two weeks. The traditional announcement at the Sandown 500 passed without any news, but the category manager is believed to be close to finalising its 2008 program for both the V8 Supercar Championship Series and the Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series. As previously reported in eNews, there will be a ‘blackout’ period around the Beijing Olympic Games in August, during which host broadcaster the Seven Network will not be able to go beyond its Olympic and AFL commitments. With the Clipsal 500 set for February 21-24, and Easter exactly a month later, eNews believes that V8SA is trying to resolve what has been described as ‘a traffic jam’ of dates, which included the non-championship races at the Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park.

The good news is that the postOlympics calendar is expected to almost mirror the 2007 program. Bathurst will be on October 9-12, with the Gold Coast Indy race two weeks later on Oct 23-26. Bahrain should be November 6-8, Symmons Plains on November 2123 and, despite earlier rumours of a Sydney finale, the suggestion is that the season may yet conclude at the traditional Phillip Island round on December 5-7. The variables concern what happens prior to the mid-season ‘break’. We believe that the dates for Darwin, Queensland Raceway and Winton are not yet finalised, though we expect that the first ‘part’ of the season will end at Winton in July. The reduction in the number of rounds from 14 to 13 means that the Eastern Creek round, which suffered from bad weather – and the Queens Birthday Monday experiment – this year, is unlikely to go ahead in 2008.

Peter Bury

FORMULA 1

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Is second best? Will the Toll team ‘risk’ championship to win B1000? V8 SUPERCARS THE Toll HSV Dealer Team should revise its driver pairing strategy for the Super Cheap Autos 1000 at Bathurst if it wants to win the race. That’s the view along pit lane as a result of Triple Eight’s storming win in Sunday’s Sandown 500. While the Toll/HSV cars finished in second and fourth place, there are many who believe the team will need to pair its two regular stars in order to challenge the Lowndes/ Whincup Ford duo at Bathurst. The form of both co-drivers was strong, but pressure is mounting to take the same championship

‘risk’ as Triple Eight and pair the titleseeking duo. “If they go to Bathurst as they are, they will not win,” one rival team manager predicted. Motorsport eNews sources suggest that the will within the Holden hierarchy is to see their champion team go all-out to win Bathurst, which is a valuable victory and which is seen as a priority after the Lowndes/Whincup Ford win there in 2006. eNews was unable to contact senior team members on Monday to enquire whether change was on the agenda – but it seems certain the discussion will take place.

Marshall Cass

Dirk Klynsmith

SC Revamp V8 SUPERCARS

CONFUSION among race fans following the second Safety Car period during Sunday’s Sandown 500, may well provide the impetus for a review of the procedure. While a Safety Car will usually pick up the race leader when called to intervene, the situation becomes tricky in V8 ‘pit stop’ races when the leader chooses that moment to pit. Under those circumstances, as happened on Sunday, it becomes a lottery, with the Safety Car simply picking up the first car that comes along – usually to the detriment of that car and the ones behind it. On Sunday, Mark Winterbottom, in seventh, and the cars behind him were the unlucky ones, above, stuck behind the Safety Car while the top six were able to go around and rejoin the queue, almost a lap ahead. This reduced the 500 to a six-car race. While it was unlikely to have affected the top three result, it precluded Winterbottom and those behind him from remotely challenging the front runners. It is a situation which no longer exists in other top motorsports and, importantly, leads to confusion for many race fans. “I haven’t got back to my office yet, but I expect there’ll be

some correspondence from teams on that,” V8 Supercars CEO Wayne Cattach told eNews on Monday afternoon, “so I can’t say whether there’ll be any discussion on the topic, but I wouldn’t be surprised. “The race fans’ perspective is an important one. We did look at this a while back – there was the obvious suggestion of briefly closing pit lane when a Safety Car is called, and I guess it may come up again. “We do have the mechanism to look at it and implement change quite quickly – whether there is the desire or time to do something before Bathurst, rather than for 2008, is another question.”

BRIEFLY... n In a spooky coincidence of timing, Prodrive boss David Richards and his wife Karen have walked away from a helicopter crash, barely 24 hours after his former driver Colin McRae and his son were killed in a tragic helicopter crash in Scotland (see page 8). Richards, 55, was flying his own helicopter home from the Belgian Grand Prix when it suffered a transmission failure near Stansted airport. Neither was injured, but both were treated for shock by paramedics.

V8 team’s Friday Forum Rookie incentive to be discussed in at team bosses meeting V8 SUPERCARS REPRESENTATIVES of all 17 V8 Supercar teams will meet in Brisbane this Friday, for an update from the (new) TEGA Board. Among the topics will be where TEGA is at, both currently, and in terms of the

planned merger of the TEGA/ V8 Supercar organisations and a re-vamped teams’ (TLA) agreement. One of the more raceoriented topics is expected to be the desire for increased opportunities for rookie drivers, via some form of dedicated session on Fridays

at race meetings. Currently, with restricted testing days, blooding new drivers is becoming increasingly difficult and eNews understands that some form of incentive for rookies is now seen as a priority. – CHRIS LAMBDEN

n If you noticed quiet celebrations in the nonHolden camp at Sandown last weekend, it may have been because Holden’s airship has made its final appearance.

Network 10 will broadcast this weekend’s MotoGP round at Motegi on Sunday, 1530-1700. The change comes due to the fact that Casey Stoner could well wrap up the title. Go Casey! At the same time, you can check out the Muscle Car Masters on Seven, at 2pm on Saturday. n

Marshall Cass

n Bathurst Motor Festival organisers have announced the support categories for next year’s WPS Bathurst 12Hour. On the card will be the Australian Saloon Cars, Commodore Cup, Formula Vee and HQ Holdens.

It’s official: Walden back in V8s V8 SUPERCARS WALDEN Motorsport’s entry in the V8 Supercar Championship Series was confirmed by TEGA on Sunday at Sandown. As revealed some weeks back by eNews, the Sydney-based team has been awarded the 32nd V8 licence. But how the team are represented on the track

next year remains to be seen. The team’s entry is likely to be in a Holden Commodore VE in the main series, while the team also plans to enter two development series cars. Walden Motorsport’s Fujitsu Series entries is likely to consist of Garth Walden Carrera Cup racer Ash Samadi. The last time the Walden’s were in the main series was back in 2004, pictured above. – GRANT ROWLEY

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Dirk Klynsmith

Orion already

FPR ready to up tools on new Falcon V8 SUPERCARS FORD Performance Racing is set to begin construction of Ford’s first ‘Orion’ V8 Supercar next month. The blue oval’s new racer has received approval in principle from TEGA to work towards the final stage of

design before the first chassis is constructed by the factory team in Melbourne. “We have had ongoing discussions with TEGA, and it’s all moving forward,” Ford Motorsport Manager Ray Price told eNews. “At this point in time, our aim is to have the car started by the

end of September. “We are still looking toward a mid-2008 homologation, which would allow us to have cars on the grid in the second half of the year – but that could all change if we strike any hurdles.” Price admitted that it won’t

be ideal for his teams to run both a new Orion and BF chassis simultaneously. “It’s difficult to run two platforms and they’re all the decisions we have to make, whether it’s a 2008 or 2009 launch.” – GRANT ROWLEY

Cup debut for Ambrose unlikely this week V8 SUPERCARS REPORTS that Marcos Ambrose would step up a level this weekend to attempt to qualify for the Nextel Cup race at Dover in Delaware appear unfounded. News outlets in the United States have reported that the 31-year-old Aussie would again team up with former sparring partner Robby Gordon in a Ford Fusion ‘Car of Tomorrow’ in the world’s biggest Stock Car series. Were it to happen, it would be the second time that Ambrose has attempted to qualify for a Cup

event. Following their on-track altercation in Montreal, Ambrose and Gordon teamed up for an attempt to qualify a second entry at the Watkins Glen road course, but the Tasmanian missed out on his debut appearance when qualifying was called off due to bad weather. Dover is considered to be a tough place for rookies, but Ambrose was impressive at the ‘Monster Mile’ when he raced there in June. After qualifying third fastest, the Wood Bros/JTG entry finished sixth, behind five Cup regulars, and ahead of all the other rookie drivers in the race, including Juan Pablo Montoya.

McRae killed in air crash Rally legend and son die in tragic helicopter accident WORLD RALLYING

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FORMER World Rally Champion Colin McRae has been killed in a helicopter crash in his native Scotland. McRae had been piloting the aircraft over his family property when it crashed, killing him, his son Johhny, and two family friends. Strathclyde police confirmed the tragedy in a statement: “Four people were onboard the helicopter. The bodies were found within the helicopter which is owned by Mr Colin McRae of Jerviswood House, Lanark. It is believed he was onboard the helicopter.” McRae’s wife Alison and nine-

year-old daughter Hollie were taken back to the house by police escort a couple of hours after the crash.

His brother Alistair, who now resides in Western Australia, flew directly from last weekend’s Rally of Great

Lakes in New South Wales to Scotland upon hearing the news. – ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN

Vale Colin McRae 1968-2007

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THE death of Colin McRae has come as a shock not only to the international rallying community, but to the motorsport world in general. The likeable Scot was more than a one-time World Rally Champion; he was the name synonymous with his sport. His passion and dedication for rallying was infectious, so much so that he became the most famous rally driver in the world – even after he retired. The son of five-time British Rally Champion Jimmy McRae, Colin was born into rallying. In 1985 he drove his first rally in a Talbot Sunbeam, and within seven years he had amassed one Scottish Rally Championship and two British Rally Championships. In 1993 he won his first WRC event in New Zealand for Prodrive Subaru, and two years later he was crowned Britian’s first ever World Champion, winning just two events (Catalunya and RAC) for the 555 Subaru squad en route to the title. While he never won another title, he did finish second three times (1996, 1997 and 2001), and drove for Ford and

Citroen in the latter part of his career. His last full season was 2003, at the end of which he fell victim to new rules only allowing two-car teams. He won 25 World Rallies and was on the podium 42 times. Just to prove he still had what it took to win, Colin made a come-back for the factory Skoda team in late 2005. He finished seventh in Britian (Skoda’s best finish of the season) and was on for a remarkable second place at Rally Australia when his Fabia WRC suffered clutch dramas. But Colin McRae was much more than a rally driver. He was an astute businessman, whose projects included the successful ‘Colin McRae Rally’ series of video games. He was also a loving husband to childhood sweetheart Alison, and father to Johnny (5, also deceased following the crash) and Hollie (9). He’ll be remembered as a driver whose natural ability was so raw that even he could rarely contain it, but so exciting that it made him a superstar. – ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN

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French Flick: McRae spent a season with the then-fledging Citroen squad in 2003, above.

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Fast, but flawed, genius sutton-images.com

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Flying High: McRae was World Champion in 1995 with the Subaru, top. Fiery Times: He then went to Ford, where he almost won the World Championship again in 2001, above. Coming home strong: Mcrae’s final factory drive in the WRC was with Skoda in 2005, where he almost finished second in Australia, left.

AT the end of 2002, at Rally Australia in Perth, a friend and I got chatting to an MSport mechanic who worked on Colin McRae’s Focus WRC car throughout the year. It was the Rally Oz afterparty, and our new British friend had become quite hydrated thanks to the free refreshments. “What do you think about Ford losing Colin?” we asked, given that McRae was headed to Citroen for 2003. “To be honest,” the mechanic started “it’s almost a relief. I mean, the bloke is just so fast, but we’re sick of fixing shells.” And that was Colin McRae to a tee. Based on raw talent alone he was the fastest rally driver on the face of the planet, but he was also rapid, often too much so. He was on, and often just over, the limit constantly – and that’s

opinion Andrew van Leeuwen mNews National Editor what made him a hero to the general public. It was the reckless style that restricted his success to just one World Rally Championship, but it was the same unruliness that made him a superstar. He was exciting to watch, and people immediately related to the way he went about the business. Because it embodied what rallying is all about … Growing up in WA I was lucky enough to see Colin McRae in action many times, and as I sit here typing these words I can vividly picture him sliding his way around the old Langley Park Super Special Stage. Thanks to Sunday’s tragedy, it’s a memory I will treasure forever. Rest In Peace, Colin.

McLaren may prefer Closure o To put the matter to rest, Ron Dennis might pay the $120m fine and move on FORMULA 1 VODAFONE Team McLaren boss Ron Dennis has a few more days in which to decide whether he will appeal the outrageous $120m fine imposed on the team by the FIA last Thursday or to seek ‘closure’ on the affair, by paying up and moving on. As well, the team has been booted out of the 2007 Constructors’ title, although the fine will be reduced by the amount that McLarens points to date would have earned it (approximately half ) – although it still represents a nett $120 million balance sheet loss. However, scoring zero points in the 2006 Constructors’ title has additional implications for 2008 – including the loss of FOM ‘travel’ money, the move to

the ‘poor’ end of the pits, with associated cut in available space for the team and sponsors, and so on. The penalty was imposed after the FIA heard new evidence – primarily demanded from drivers Fernando Alonso and Pedro de la Rosa – that Ferrari technical secrets had openly been passed on to McLaren designer Mike Coughlan by disgruntled Ferrari employee Nigel Stepney. The new evidence included emails and texts between Alonso and De la Rosa in which they discuss ‘Ferrari set-ups’. One of the messages even referred to Stepney by name and noted that “he is very friendly with Mike Coughlan, our chief designer and he told him that.” The FIA, however, could present no evidence that such information was used

to design performance-gains into the McLaren cars – though it has reserved the right to inspect the designs for the 2008 McLarens for that purpose. MNews understands that principle among the information disclosed by Stepney was the weight distribution of the Ferrari – something that cannot significantly be changed without a complete car redesign. The implication in Dennis’ view is that he believes that the fine is unfair but knows that to fight on would be to commit to ongoing drama: “There are good reasons not to appeal, not least because that could cause problems for the team in 2008,” he said. “Everything in this document that the FIA says, is true. There is only one thing that I feel is not appropriate. This is a fine

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McLaren fine to boost Rising Stars?

over Appeal so disproportionate to the reality of the situation. “So the decision I have is not whether to appeal their findings. It is: do I appeal the fine? Or, does McLaren take a financial hit in the interests of the sport? Once I have reached a decision I will make a recommendation to my shareholders, and it is they who will decide.

“If we do appeal this it will be because we want closure. Do you really think it's a great backdrop for Formula 1 and my company if we've one-anda-half to two years of legal aggravation? My management is not there for that – they are there to focus on making racewinning cars and enter into commercial relationships with sponsors.”

Dennis went on to say that the team had never competed with a car that has anybody else's technology in it and said that “if the perception of the media and the public is that McLaren did not cheat, that we did everything we could to co-operate, then we probably will take the financial hit – if there is closure and it is in the interests of the sport.”

FORMULA 1 AUSTRALIA’S CAMS Rising Star project could receive a substantial boost from the $120 million Stepneygate fine.

For more on McLaren’s massive fine, see Opinion, page 20

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FIA boss Max Mosley has made a commitment that, while half of the proceeds will go back to the F1 teams, the balance will be split among driver-development programmes throughout the FIA’s member countries. Australia has always occupied a strong profile at the FIA and could thus expect to be near the front of the queue. It will be interesting to see if, in fact, substantial dollars do emerge …

Does Ferrari want A1GP?

The Prancing Horse is looking to expand – and the World Cup of Motorsport is on the wish-list A1GP

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FERRARI could well be looking at bidding for the A1GP car/engine supply contract, which is up for grabs at the end of 2008. Rumours have been circulating that Ferrari is looking at expanding its motorsport activities to broaden the company’s financial base. This may help to explain why Ferrari’s Stefano Domenicali and engineer Maurizio Nardon were at the recent A1 Grand Prix test at Silverstone. The A1 Grand Prix Series announced a year ago that it would upgrade its chassis and engine performance “to a level comparable with Formula 1” with bigger cars and 750hp engines. A1GP principal Tony Teixeira has been much in evidence at recent F1 races

with speculation (backed up by inside sources) suggesting that, apart from rumours he is in the running to buy into the Super Aguri F1 team, there is a move to improve A1GP’s image, by trying to improve the relationship with the Formula One company so that the two series work

Imola Rebuilt

FORMULA 1

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together rather than in opposition to one another. The idea that A1GP and F1 could work more closely together to create yearround action is one that would no doubt appeal to both. – JOE SAWARD

THE Imola circuit is ready to return to F1 – if a spot can be found for it. The work to upgrade the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari is now completed, with an estimated $16m having been spent and the Mayor of Imola, Massimo Marchignoli, has begun his campaign to get the circuit back on the F1 calendar. Marchignoli says that he has assurances from F1 boss

Bernie Ecclestone that the San Marino Grand Prix will be revived but with 18 races on the F1 calendar next year and no obvious gap, it is hard to see how this is going to happen – unless Ecclestone convinces teams to accept even more additional races. The new Imola features a long straight from the exit of Rivazza to the entrance of Tamburello. The work has been supervised by F1 track builder Hermann Tilke. – JOE SAWARD

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Left four, into retirement COMING THIS WEEK WRC title leader announces retirement from rallying WORLD RALLYING MARCUS Gronholm will retire at the end of the 2007 World Rally Championship season. The announcement comes after months of speculation regarding the 39-year-old’s future, with many believing a decision would depend on the outcome of this year’s WRC title (which he currently leads

by 10 points from Sebastien Loeb). But the Finn has revealed on his personal website that the 2007 will be his last, regardless of whether or not he is World Champion. “This has been an incredibly hard decision for me to make,” said Gronholm. “Rallying has been my life for so many years and when

‘The Chris’ is A1! A1GP FUJITSU V8 Supercar race winner Chris Alajajian will race for A1 Team Lebanon in the upcoming A1GP season. The New South Welshman tested the Lebabon entry at Snetterton recently and has since been named as the team’s driver. He is currently at Silverstone for the final preseason test, which kicks off

today (Tuesday). “The car is amazing,” he said. “It has so much grip, lots of power and great features like the paddle shift gearbox. It’s awesome to drive.” ”This is a great series and I’m very happy to be given the opportunity.” The first round of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport is at Holland’s Zandvoort circuit on September 30.

the Monte Carlo Rally comes round in January it will feel strange not to be there. “But the time is right for me to finish now. I wanted to stop while I still had the speed to win rallies.” Gronholm was WRC Champion twice for Peugeot (2000 and 2002), and made his World Rally debut in 1989 at the Thousand Lakes Rally.

Australia NSW State Series – Eastern Creek International MotoGP – Estoril NASCAR – Dover

NexT Week (SEPT 29-30) Australia AMRS – Calder International F1 – Japan WSBK – Imola NASCAR – Kansas Next V8 Round: Bathurst – Oct 5/6/7

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Charlie eyes new wheels FUJITSU V8s

AUSTRALIAN Formula 3 frontrunner Charlie Hollings is preparing for a future in the Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series. The British driver and his F3 team, Astuti Motorsport, are making moves to enter an agreement with main series V8 Supercar team PWR Racing.

Hollings recently tested with PWR at Winton, and he is now looking to secure his 2008 budget to either purchase or lease one of PWR’s remaining VZ Commodores, pictured. Astuti team boss Sam Astuti confirmed that expanding his race team into V8 Supercar racing is in his business plan for next year.

FORMULA FORD JOSH Scott is aiming at competing in the British Formula Renault Championship in 2008. The CAMS Rising Star driver is currently on his way to the United Kingdom to compete in a British Formula Ford round, plus the prestigious Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch. While Scott is over there, he will speak to a number

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Scott for FRenault of Formula Renualt teams in an attempt to secure a drive with a leading organisation. “We are going to speak a lot of teams while we are there,” he told eNews. “Our trip to the UK is about doing well in the Festival, and talking to teams, seeing what’s available and getting the best ride.” Scott is currently fourth in the Australian Formula Ford Championship. – GRANT ROWLEY

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“We’re trying to make it happen,” he said. “It all depends on budget. The rest will happen and can pretty much happen overnight.” Astuti confirmed that he would enter a technical alliance with PWR, if plans come off. “It can work well for both of

us. The backing from a main team is important, especially for a beginning team. I want to take this pretty serious, so we need to approach this in the best possible manner.” Hollings is currently third in the F3 championship with one round remaining at Oran Park in November. – GRANT ROWLEY

CARRERA CUP

some time with his family, which is important, and we’ve done enough for now.” Tony made his Carrera Cup debut in at Phillip Island in 2003, and had a best finish of third at Bathurst in 2003 and Indy in 2004. Klark debuted at Sandown in 2003, and has recorded second place finishes at Bathurst and Indy in 2005. The impending retirement of the Quinns opens up two seats at Team VIP Petfoods for next year’s Carrera Cup. – ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN

Quinns to retire TONY and Klark Quinn will retire from Carrera Cup racing at the end of this season. The VIP Petfoods duo have been mainstays of the category for the last few seasons, but will step down after the Indy 300. They will continue their involvement in tarmac rallying. “It’s the same old story,” Tony Quinn told eNews. “It’s time to focus on business and life. Klark wants to spend

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Aussie F3 teams thinking German FORMULA 3 TEAM BRM is likely to be one of the first Australian Formula 3 team to run Mercedes engines. Head honcho Mark Rundle will embark on a fact-finding mission to England next week in a bid to secure two 2007specification F3 chassis, thanks to the impending update of the Australian Formula 3 Championship’s technical

regulations to include current model cars. “I suppose we’re going to England so that we can see first-hand what teams are doing with the same package we’ll be working with next year,” he told eNews. “It’s about finding a team that has data that will be relevant to our conditions, which is mainly about the tyre. That means we’ll be looking at teams who have run in the

Euroseries, which also uses a Kumho tyre, or ran at the F3 Masters at Zolder this year.” Rundle also revealed that the team will update it’s engine program, most likely incorporating new engines from either Mercedes or Volkswagen, who returned to international F3 competition this year. The team are looking at running two 2007specification cars and one of

it’s current Dallara F304 cars in next year’s Gold Star, although the drivers of those cars are yet to be revealed. Rundle’s UK trip will also affect Team BRM’s 2008 Formula Ford program, and whether or not the team will update to the latest Van Diemen chassis. Astuti Motorsport are also likely to run with Merc power in 2008. – ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN

CAMS 2012 Spectrum Aguri!

FORMULA 3 WHAT do Borland Racing Developments and Super Aguri have in common? They both use the same fourpost suspension rig in England. One of the BRD Spectrum 011b chassis that Ash Walsh and Josh Scott will race at this year’s Formula Ford Festival will be tested on a rig prior to the Brands Hatch classic. The rig is the same one that is used by Super Aguri F1 team, the arrangement coming through Super Aguri Technical Director

and former BRD employee Mark Preston. “It’ll be nice to quantify what we’ve been doing with shocks, as maybe give us a bit of new direction,” BRD boss Mike Borland told eNews. “It’ll be interesting to get some data with where we are in terms of springs and shocks.” Walsh and Scott headed to England on Monday, and will run a round of the British Formula Ford series at Brands Hatch this weekend in preparation for the Festival. – ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN

James Smith

CAMS has struck out on a new direction for the next five years. The CAMS Board, management and a range of Staff and State, Commission/Committee representatives recently returned from a two-day Workshop, the aim of which was to take time out to set the strategy and direction for CAMS over the next half-decade. The Workshop highlighted some crucial areas for improvement, which include “evaluation and restructure of management, redefining CAMS’ role and shifting and improving CAMS’ brand within both the motoring and the wider community in general.”

Perkins/Price to race kart enduro KARTING THE Matt Wall-organised Karting Endurance racing has a new date and some fast entries. The inaugural event, to be held on December 15 at VACC Park (Todd Road), will feature V8 Supercar drivers Shane Price and Jack Perkins. The Jack Daniels Racing pair will share an Arrow/Rotax. “I haven’t raced a kart competitively since 2004, so I can’t wait for it,” Price told eNews. The event will be a fourhour race, including three compulsory 10 minute pit stops. Both Leopard and Rotaxengined karts will be allowed to compete, with Leopard karts beefed up by 15kg. – GRANT ROWLEY

news

Cochrane: Bathurst booze ban not bad for crowds V8 SUPERCARS

Marshall Cass

BATHURST’S tighter new alcohol consumption regime is having no negative effect on ticket sales leading up to the Super Cheap Autos 1000 – quite the opposite. V8 Supercars Events reports that following the announcement that alcohol consumption will be frestricted to defined ‘licensed’ areas, requests for refunds of tickets have been almost negligible. “We have had 20 requests for refunds – that’s two-zero,” said V8SA Chairman Tony Cochrane at Sandown. According to V8SE boss Shane Howard, 80,000 tickets for the event have been presold for the race and just 126 grandstand seats remain unsold, despite the number of available seats being increase this year to 5000. In line with other sporting events conducted in New South Wales, the race

is subject to new consumption guidelines stipulated by the state government and police and security presence will be increased. Last year, there were a total of six

Fab’s fab new ride WORLD SUPERBIKES MICHEL Fabrizio will race for Ducati’s World Superbike team next season. Fabrizio, who currently races in the series for the DFX Honda team, will join veteran Troy Bayliss in the Xerox-backed team, which will race 1098s for the first time. “My team-mate Troy Bayliss is the only thing that I’m not worried about,” said the 23-yearold, “because Troy is a great person and a great rider, so I think I can learn a lot from him. I can’t wait to start this new adventure!” Fabrizio will replace his underperforming country Lorenzo Lanzi in the team, and will start testing the Italian V-twins in November.

arrests at the track over race weekend, and Cochrane underlined that crowd safety is the “number one priority” of the organisers. – PHIL BRANAGAN

Sunday’s Super! V8 SUPERCARS BATHURST will take on a newlook on what could be known as ‘Super Sunday’. With the start of the Super Cheap Autos Bathurst 1000 pushed back to 10:30am, there will be more to see pre-race, including a race warmup for V8 Supercars and support races for Carrera Cup and the Touring Car Masters. Cars entered in The Great Race will leave pitlane at 40second intervals and complete their formation lap followed by TV cameras, with viewers being updated with the entry’s results in previous rounds, driver info etc.. This will be part of the Seven Network’s three-day telecast of the event, which will run an unprecedented 21 hours.

5 Minutes with ...

PAUL DUMBRELL

Sixth place isn’t their best result, but in 2007, it’s like a win for SCAR

GRANT ROWLEY

MOTORSPORT NEWS: You only just scored your first championship points for the year at Oran Park. Now you’re on the edge of the top five! PAUL DUMBRELL: Yeah, we didn’t have the outright speed, but the boys made some really good calls. Earlier in the week, we spoke about how easy it is to go down a lap. We made the right call, stayed out for the extra lap and it made the difference. It’s a great result for us.

Sixth place isn’t a finish you can retire on, but it must be a good feeling, compared to how you’ve gone this year. In the context of how our year has gone, it’s a great result for us. The boys have been working extremely hard. There’s a lot of stuff going on behind the scenes with the team, so for them, it’s a good result. The pace of the car wasn’t front-running, but did you make improvements throughout the weekend? I didn’t get the most out of the car in qualifying. We’ve got a lot of potential now. Cam (McConville) proved that there is one-lap pace by

Dirk Klynsmith

Who made the call? Weely (ED Paul Weel) went down a lap last year in a similar circumstance – the Safety Car came out, he pitted and they went down a lap. It was at the front of his mind. When he was out there, he made the call, and Pete Smith (PD’s engineer) confirmed that we needed to stay out. It was a stroke of genius!

THE BOYS HAVE BEEN WORKING EXTREMELLY HARD. THERE’S STUFF GOING ON BEHIND THE SCENES WITH THE TEAM, SO FOR THEM, IT’s A GOOD RESULT qualifying 15th. We tried a few new bits on the car this weekend and that made a big difference. Now, we need some time to fine tune things and get the most out of it. There was a bit of aggro on the first lap … Someone locked a wheel and was about to fire into someone. I elected to take to the grass. I’ve done it across

there before – it’s pretty safe, and better than being involved in a first lap accident. Are you testing before Bathurst? We are not going to have enough time. We tested the week before Sandown so, hopefully, with some of that information, and what we learned there at Sandown, we’ll be good for Bathurst.

Bathurst is next. Looking for a similar result? Well, I’ve finished fifth there a couple of times, so it would be nice to beat that. Bathurst is such a long day and I reckon our car can be quite good up there. It’s just a case of staying out of trouble and bringing it home. Weely did an unbelievable job today (at Sandown) – he double-stinted, and so when you look at all of that, we won’t look too bad.

chat

Dirk Klynsmith

The FIA: $100m decision-makers The FIA has long been an odd organisation. It is peopled by folk who have the time to rise to the top of their national motor clubs. Usually these are men who are political by nature, because that is what it takes to climb the slippery poles in clubland. There are some who are there because of their racing achievements but most successful racing drivers at international level don’t have the patience for this sort of thing. They prefer to play golf, chase women or run

OPINION Joe Saward Formula 1 writer businesses. And so it is the butchers, bakers, candlestick makers, chemists and cinema owners who end up in Paris. Controlling such people is easy for a good politician. They have a fundamental weakness: more often than not the country they represent has one big event which needs to be maintained. And to step

out of line means risking the event – and hence their job. So they play follow the leader, whoever that leader may be, until the moment he goes too far and the clubmen then jump to the next strong man and become his supporters and accolytes. This means that the federation tends to reflect the views of the president. The clubmen know when to march behind the leader and when to pull out the knives and “elect” a new boss. There are probably some who sit on the World

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Council with no motive except the good of the sport, but these are few and far between and they know better than to speak against the boss. Never forget that, when Max Mosley beat Jean-Marie Balestre in the election to control the sporting federation back in 1991, the vote was 43 delegates to 29. Balestre went in to the meeting that day convinced that he had the support he needed to win but at least eight delegates (probably more) did not tell him the truth and cast their

Letters

Have your say – email us at mail@mnews.com.au. Keep letters to the point. Speak up, drivers! It’s bad enough we have to wait for delayed F1 qualifying and race coverage, usually well after the results are available on the internet, but what’s wrong with giving all three drivers their due and broadcasting the full driver

interviews post quali? Often the guy in second or third has more to say and than the pole-sitter. Reading the transcripts on the internet just isn’t the same, and its only five minutes at four in the morning. Anthony Zahra azahra73@gmail.com

Holden a grudge Once again Ford fans show us their shoe size and not their age by booing Rick Kelly and Paul Radisich for their second place in the Sandown 500. These guys have driving skills that a lot of people wish they had, so show them a

little respect!

Wesley Leher wesley_leher@hotmail.com

Pairings take their Toll #1 After watching Sandown on New Zealand’s Supercar TV (live and advert free!), I have to congratulate the #888 crew on

opinion

Driving away from reality THE blokes who sit and chat at my local coffee shop reckon Formula 1 Chris Lambden is moderately irrelevant eNews Publisher at the best of times, but you should have heard them at the weekend, when the subject of 100 million dollar fines came up. They’re a bunch with wide sporting interests, and we chat about most – Football (the round ball), AFL, Cricket, Rugby World Cup all came up before someone interjected with “what about that $100 million fine?” To a man, they just laughed and shook their heads. That sums up an increasing image problem facing Formula 1, which is gradually becoming more removed from the real world, cocooned inside its own inward-looking mega-bubble. We concluded that you could do quite a lot with $100 million US bucks (more like $120 million in our currency). The clear conclusion, though, was that any sport that can fine one of its participants the sort of cash which would keep a modest third-world country in food for a month has simply lost contact with the real world. Gone right off the planet. Yeah, they’ve been impressed by Lewis Hamilton and all that stuff, but this stopped them in their tracks. You can see why.

opinion

Dirk Klynsmith

their win, and also The Rat and Rick Kelly on second place. From the start, though, I had figured the #888 would cross the line first unless something went wrong. Perhaps to even up the playing field in future all regular championship drivers should have to remain in their regular cars, and have a co-driver suit up with them and not a team-mate. It might open up the options for who wins. Just a thought,. Keep up the good work. Daniel Jones Daniel.Jones@ggh.co.nz

But the evidence published does not prove that the information was used to improve the performance of the McLaren car or that the management of McLaren knew what was going on. These points may not be immediately relevant given the charge, but they are important when it comes to assessing whether the punishment given fits the crime. The judgement does not take into account FIA precedents, notably in 1994 when the World Council ruled that the Benetton F1, under Flavio Briatore, had illegally tampered with its refuelling equipment to gain an advantage in refuelling. Benetton admitted the charge but the FIA agreed to let the team off the hook because the changes had been made by “a junior employee”. As part of the settlement Benetton agreed to make substantial management changes in the team, hinting that the junior employees were not the only ones who were flawed. We will have to wait to see whether McLaren appeals and, beyond that, whether it goes for some kind of civil action, but the outrageous scale of the fine is such that serious questions are being asked about the way the FIA is managed.

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votes for Mosley instead. Balestre came tumbling down after 13 years in the job. His error? A confrontational style of government that rubbed people up the wrong way and a belief that he could do more or less what he pleased because the clubmen would be too scared not to support him. Sixteen years later, there are some who think that Mosley has gone down the same route. He has done many good things and is better protected having managed to vote through a system of election which is designed to flush out any opposition in advance by making candidates name their future “cabinet” (ie their supporters) so it is unlikely that a similar plot could topple him. But there will be some in clubland now asking whether the US$100m fine they voted through for McLaren was fair, or whether it will provide the opportunity for an uprising. According to the FIA statement the evidence against McLaren on the charge that it had “unauthorised possession of documents and confidential information belonging to Ferrari” is proven, because every F1 team is responsible for the actions of all of its employees – and that includes the drivers.

Whinning Combination: David Besnard’s efforts for SBR were gallant, but the two regulars in #888 still ran away ...

Pairings take their Toll #2 Surely Holden now realise the only way to win enduros is to pair your lead drivers together. Garth and Rick have the speed to run with either Lowndes or Whincup, but as

soon as you stick Bairdo or Radisish behind the wheel, as competent as they are, the race becomes a forgone conclusion. Regular V8 Supercar drivers are always likely to beat part-timers …

that’s a fact of life. So come on Toll HSVDT, take a risk and pair the stars. I want a red (or black and orange) Bathurst in 2007! Phil Graham Balga, WA

V8 SUPERCAR CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES ROUND 9 – SANDOWN 500

Just Craig, Just Jamie Sandown’s traditional 500 usually sees the V8 Supercar cream rise to the top, and this year was no different when Triple 8, HSV and FPR filled the podium positions. PHIL BRANAGAN reports

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John Morris

HE dominant subject in the leadup to the 2007 Sandown 500 was that of driver pairings and who would share which car with which driver. In the end, regular drivers shared the podium with one once-ayear pilot. Craig Lowndes, Jamie Whincup, Rick Kelly, Paul Radisich and Steven Richards all started this season with what were, at the time, full-time rides. Only Owen Kelly had to make the New Year’s resolution to get an endurance seat, if he could. Radisich finds himself in the endurance co-driver role due to circumstance, not a lack of talent,

and proved up to the task when he navigated the car with #1 on the door through the opening stint, handing over to Rick Kelly in the lead. But that said, the defining moment of the race involved a ‘guest’ driver. Matt Halliday was impressive in the practice sessions but it took Whincup only a lap to put him to the sword after the first Safety Car. He quickly built a telling and winning gap and handed the car back to Lowndes with enough margin in hand to allow him to go for a drive off the road while trying to move past a lapped and stubborn Greg Murphy. Prior to the race teams predicted

rain between laps 50 and 100 but it never really played a part, despite a few drops. The leading cars dropped back about 4s a lap but by the end, the track was dry and fast. Garth Tander’s championship lead disappeared when he was issued with a drive-through penalty for a failed pit lane speed limiter light indicator, while strong drives from other drivers were interrupted by the second and last Safety Car period which, effectively, halved the number of cars on the lead lap. That same Safety Car was, in fact, Tander’s saviour – without it his drive-through would have dropped the Toll car way, way further down than the four spots that it did ...

While both Toll’s cars finished in the top four, HRT’s weekend was nothing less that a nationallytelecast disaster. The Mark Skaife Saga played out in the daily newspapers, leaving the team one ace short. And that became two when Todd Kelly’s illness compromised his race, Todd staggering through a virus for three days, bravely starting and finishing the race between stints with a doctor and a toilet. Todd and his weekend team-mate Nathan Pretty finished ninth.

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Dirk Klynsmith

New title leader: Radisich helped Rick Kelly snatch the series lead back off team-mate Garth Tander.

V8 Supercar | Round 9 Sandown 500 Pos #

Driver

Dirk Klynsmith

Team/Car

1 888 Jamie Whincup/Craig Lowndes TeamVodafone Falcon BF 3:23:16.5157 2 1 Rick Kelly/Paul Radisich Toll HSV Dealer Team Commodore VE 3:23:19.2330 3 6 Steven Richards/Owen Kelly Ford Performance Racing Falcon BF 3:23:29.5846 4 16 Garth Tander/Craig Baird Toll HSV Dealer Team Commodore VE 3:23:52.1448 5 33 Lee Holdsworth/Dean Canto Valvoline Cummins Commodore VE 3:23:56.8118 6 20 Paul Dumbrell/Paul Weel Supercheap Auto Racing Commodore VE 3:24:16.2350 7 9 Russell Ingall/Luke Youlden Caltex Stone Brothers Falcon BF 160 laps 8 5 Mark Winterbottom/Matt Halliday Ford Performance Racing Falcon BF 160 laps 9 22 Todd Kelly/Nathan Pretty Holden Racing Team Commodore VE 160 laps 10 88 Richard Lyons/Alan Simonsen Team Vodafone Falcon BF 160 laps 11 55 Steve Owen/Tony D’Alberto Autobarn Racing Commodore VZ 160 laps 12 111 Jonathon Webb/John Bowe Glenfords Racing Falcon BF 160 laps 13 2 Glenn Seton/Tony Longhurst Holden Racing Team Commodore VE 160 laps 14 51 Jason Richards/Greg Murphy Tasman Motorsport Commodore VE 160 laps 15 67 Paul Morris/Steve Ellery Team Sirromet Wines Commodore VE 160 laps 16 4 James Courtney/David Besnard Jeld-Wen Stone Brothers Falcon BF 160 laps 17 11 Marcus Marshall/Kayne Scott Jack Daniel’s Racing Commodore VE 160 laps 18 34 Greg Ritter/Cameron McLean Valvoline Cummins Team Commodore VE 150 laps 19 39 Fabian Coulthard/Chris Pither Team Sirromet Wines Commodore VZ 159 laps 20 021 Shane Van Gisbergen/John McIntyreTeam Kiwi Racing Falcon BF 154 laps DNF 18 Alex Davison/Andrew Thompson Jim Beam Racing Falcon BF 140 laps DNF 8 Max Wilson/Michael Caruso WPS Racing Falcon BF 134 laps DNF 10 Jason Bargwanna/Grant Denyer WPS Racing Falcon BF 127 laps DNF 26 Warren Luff/Alan Gurr IRWIN Racing Falcon BF 123 laps DNF 50 Cameron McConville/David ReynoldsSupercheap Auto Racing Commodore VE 117 laps DNF 3 Mark Noske/Jay Verdnik Tasman Motorsport Commodore VE 108 laps DNF 12 Andrew Jones/Simon Wills Team BOC Falcon BF 92 laps DNF 25 Jason Bright/Adam Macrow Fujitsu Racing Falcon BF 77 laps DNF 14 Damian White/Christian Murchison Team BOC Falcon BF 66 laps DNF 7 Shane Price/Jack Perkins Jack Daniel’s Racing Commodore VE 35 laps DNF 17 Will Davison/Steven Johnson Jim Beam Racing Falcon BF 29 laps

Q3 9 8 2 11 25 7 6 4 14 15 28 20 10 26 1 22 19 29 23 13 12 21 27 16 30 24 17 31 18 5

Points: R Kelly 443, Tander 434, Whincup 389, Lowndes 373, T Kelly 324, Skaife 273, S Richards 238, Winterbottom 234, Ingall 214, Davison 194, Courtney 168, Holdsworth 167, Johnson 156, Murphy 131, J Richards 108, Radisich 96, Canto 73, Owen 63, Morris 60, Bright 55, Wilson 54, O Kelly 51, Baird 45, Dumbrell 44, Weel 36, Bargwanna 34, Youlden 33, Bowe 32, Halliday 30, Pretty 27, Lyons 24, Simonsen 24, Jones 19, D’Alberto 18, McConville 16, Price 16, Webb 15, Longhurst 12, Seton 12, Colthard 8, Wills 8, Perkins 6, Ellery 6, Van Gisbergen 4, Gurr 2

John Morris/Mpix

Sandown 500 Notepad n WPS Racing kept Jason Bargwanna in for a double-stint at the start of the Sandown 500, and it was probably the most inspired decision of the race. Having started from grid 21, Bargs handed the #10 to Grant Denyer in seventh place. Denyer’s stint came to an abrupt end with an engine misfire just two laps into his stint. n Jim Beam Racing suffered with mechanical dramas on both cars.. Car #17 was first out with seized brakes, before diff problems took out #18 Falcon. n Another Ford team in Battletown was Team BOC. Brad Jones was left on the sidelines due to a back injury, giving Christian Murchison his first V8 drive in over five years. But the injection of youth didn’t help, as both car #12 and #14 were struck down by different steering problems. n The Autobarn team was perhaps the unluckiest team at the Sandown 500. The #55 Commodore of Steve Owen/ Tony D’Alberto was right on the tail of the Paul Dumbrell/ Paul Weel Supercheap Auto car when the second Safety Car came out. As it turned out, thanks to the Safety Car slotting in between the two, Dumbrell/Weel leapt ahead, finishing sixth, while Owen/ D’Alberto went down a lap, taking 11th. The result was nevertheless D’Alberto’s best main series finish to date. n Fifth place went to Lee Holdsworth and Dean Canto. The GRM Commodore was in the end missing a few ponies down the straights, but held on for a solid result.

From hero to ...

Bright/Macrow were on top of the world on Friday, but it went downhill from there ...

JASON Bright probably wishes that the race meeting had ended on Friday afternoon. The team/owner driver was on top of the pack after the first day of practice, but it all took a turn for the worse from there on both Saturday and Sunday. The reigning Sandown winner was dogged in qualifying by a broken gear shifter (Bright also had the lever snap in his hand at Oran Park …). Bright’s team-mate Adam Macrow started the 500 and was running on the outskirts of

the top 20 before pulling in for pit stop #1. As he pulled in, Macrow ran over a bunch of Autobarn’s pit tools. Bright, waiting to jump in the car, was diastracted by the pit action, and this is when things went awry. When Jason jumped in the car, he forgot to take Macrow’s seat insert out. In the rush and commotion, he omitted to adjust the brake bias and didn’t pump up the brake pedal (following the pad change) enough. When he arrived at Turn 1, there were thus no front brakes ...

Sandown provides the

EAMS which think they are going to win at Bathurst are going to have to think again if they don’t have their two regular lead drivers paired in the same car. To me, that was the prime message coming out of last weekend’s Sandown 500. There were some good performances from some of the ‘co-drivers’, notably Paul Radisich’s opening stint for Rick Kelly, but the way in which Jamie Whincup cleared out after the first stops, illustrated the necessity of having two full-time drivers in a car – if you want to win the race.

ANALYSIS Tomas Mezera Bathurst champion

There are some good drivers stepping in to V8 teams this year, and you can’t blame them for not having the miles they need, but it’s a fact – you can’t make up for the experience a full-time driver has, especially when the chips are down or conditions are constantly changing. If you want to win, then you’ve got to pair your regular drivers. That should provide for some

interesting decision-making in the lead-up to Bathurst. FPR does need to pair Richo and Mark Winterbottom, as they reportedly might (eNews September 11) if they want to win Bathurst. Similarly, if winning is what it’s about, Then Toll/HSV has to take a deep breath and put Garth and Rick together. The two of them leading the championship may compromise that logic (one DNF could take out both their contenders) – but there are several rounds left after Bathurst, and Holden do want to win the big one … I’d bet on them making the change.

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Got the blue flag blues T HE Sandown 500 was an outwardly quiet, but very tough and intense race. By that, I mean that while there may not have been a lot of cut-and-thrust at the front, there were a lot of people driving really hard, with real concentration, for extended periods of time. There were many good drivers having to push really hard. In the end, Jamie (Whincup) and Craig (Lowndes) proved to be the dominant combination and drove a flawless race in a strong car, once again proving the theory that, ideally, you need both your regular drivers in the one car to present the strongest challenge in these races. The only drama appeared to be the blue flags, or rather lack of them, while Craig was stuck behind Murph for some laps. There certainly appears to be room for some accurate

ANALYSIS

Neil Crompton Driver/Commentator

clarification about when and how blue flags are implemented – especially when you compare this situation with that earlier in the race when Andrew Jones was pinged (drive-through) for not obeying blue flags – when he was, in fact, clearly driving away from Nathan Pretty in Car #22. Neither of these two incidents appear to have followed a similar process in coming to the blue flag / drive-through decisions. It’s an issue which I know has caused concern among some teams, and I’d expect some debate on it before everyone assembles at Bathurst. The other moment that amused and confused us

It’s an issue i know has caused concern among some of the teams

John Morris/Mpix

came during second (top 20) qualifying, on Saturday, when Jason Richards kept having his best time to date removed from the timing screens (for kerb-hopping) while the session went on, with the result that he was yoyo-ing rapidly up and down the timing screen. It seemed like he was in fact being pinged for the same crime two or three times over –

I always thought that you lost your best time at the end of the session if found guilty of kerb-hopping or something similar ... Anyway, somewhere in all that Jason set what was the fastest lap of the session (which, yes, got taken away) on tyres which must have been at least six or seven laps old – a pretty gutsy effort!

evidence on driver pairings T

Dirk Klynsmith

his was the first time for 20 years that I haven’t been at the track for the 500, so it was interesting to watch from a distance, live on TV – which I thought did a good job. What must be confusing for the average viewer, though, is when you get one of those ‘pot luck’ Safety Car periods where the leader pits at the same time, as happened at Sandown. In this case, where the Safety Car ended up, at random, put the top six almost a lap up and put paid to the chances of a recovery by anyone else. There has to be a better way.

FORMULA 1 ROUND 14 – SPA

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Ferrari on top A revamped Spa circuit turned out to suit Ferrari just fine – the points gaps at the front are closing ... JOE SAWARD reports

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NDIVIDUAL car characteristics from track to track are deciding Grand Prix races at the moment. Monza provided a McLaren 1-2; at Spa the longer wheelbase Ferrari turned the tables on McLaren and took home 18 points. Thanks to Stepneygate, Ferrari has already acquired – it would be wrong to say won – the Constructors’ Championship so the team’s 1-2 provided a small gain in terms of closing the Drivers’ Championship gap. The result in Spa drags Kimi Raikkonen to within nine points of Fernando Alonso and the Spaniard’s third place, after a rather dubious first lap in which he squeezed his McLaren teammate Lewis Hamilton off the road, means that Alonso is now just two points behind Hamilton. The race itself was very clear-cut, and rather processional, up front, once the first lap sort-out had been completed. Raikkonen simply drove away from his team-mate, who pushed hard but could not stay in touch. Alonso was always going to be third and, despite pegging back a little space with

High flyer: The Spykers didn’t feature in the results, but Adrian Sutil impressed, running in the mid-field for much of the race.

a later final stop and switch to the softer ‘option’ tyre, Hamilton was stuck in fourth. Behind them, Nick Heidfeld overcame a disastrous opening lap to push through to fifth, ahead of a strong Nico Rosberg, whose Williams had the measure of Mark Webber – contesting his 100th GP – in the

Red Bull, and Heikki Kovalainen. Kovalainen, one-stopping in his Renault, made a brilliant start, ending up ahead of Webber (who ended up wide at Turn 1), but was unable to withstand an aggressive pass by the Aussie on lap three and thus take any advantage from the strategy.

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Job done well: Nico Rosberg was the best of the rest, left, while Heikki Kovalainen, above, grabbed the final point.

Light the fuse and stand back IT may not happen tomorrow but Fernando Alonso will pay for what he did to McLaren team-mate Lewis Hamilton at Turn 1 on Sunday. The pair ran side-by-side around the hairpin, above, Alonso on the inside. The Spaniard, however, breached the unwritten team-mate ‘racing room’ deal and appeared to deliberately push Hamilton wide onto the gripless ‘astro-turf’ and, while the youngster tried to stay along side into Eau Rouge, the contest was over. Hamilton may seem like a nice, easygoing individual, but push him and he will push back. Fernando does not seem to care. With the ongoing Stepneygate scandal having revealed aspects of Alonso’s

character that were previously less than obvious, there is clearly no point in hiding it on the race track. With the Constructors’ Championship now irrelevant, there is nothing to stop the two men getting rough … Spa was the third consecutive race in which Hamilton has been outscored by Alonso (although there was an element of luck involved in Turkey after Lewis had a puncture), but the British rookie is still ahead. There are three races to go and the gap is two points. And there is everything to play for. Incidents and DNFs aside (McLaren has a perfect finishing record in ’07), Alonso has to continue to beat Hamilton in all the remaining

races to pip him at the line if Ferrari remains dominant Ideally, Alonso needs to win races or finish second in order to pull back more points. At Spa there was no way that Fernando was going to do that and as the field heads off to the unknown tarmac at the new Mount Fuji speedway in Japan the series is building up to an interesting finish. It will take some serious McLaren failures (or collisions) to give the Ferrari drivers any hope of a championship. “They were quicker than us here,” said Alonso, “but there are now circuits that maybe suit our car a little bit better and we still have the possibility to win races.” He would say that, wouldn’t he! – JOE SAWARD

The Pole vaulter UNHERALDED drive of the weekend came from BMW’s Robert Kubica. Kubica qualified fifth for the Belgian Grand Prix but, having had to change an engine on Saturday morning, was dropped to 15th. He was fortunate to win one place back when Giancarlo Fisichella was also sent to the back of the class with an engine change after qualifying, but was in no mood to mess around with the small fry and charged from the start of the race, passing Tonio Liuzzi on the first lap, Jenson Button on the second and both Jarno Trulli and David Coulthard on the third. On lap 5 he despatched Ralf Schumacher and charged after Heikki Kovalainen’s Renault. The two diced for a while before, on lap 11 Robert, forced his way ahead. The pit stops that followed dropped Kubica back to 12th, but the chase continued as he hunted down David Coulthard’s Red Bull (again). Eventually DC headed into the pits (being on a one-stop strategy) and so Kubica set his sights on Webber, but the second stops were soon upon them. The BMW fell back from sixth to ninth but chased Kovalainen all the way to the flag, finishing just half a second behind. Kubica got no points but was the hero on a day when there was not much in the way of overtaking up front. – JOE SAWARD

Happy 100th Seventh a solid way to celebrate a century of Grand Prix starts A STRONG drive netted solid points at what was Mark Webber’s 100th Grand Prix. Webber pulled off a strong pass on Heikki Kovalainen’s onestopping Renault on lap three and ran without drama (or mechanical woes) for the rest of the day. “I figured I only had two chances to get him, or I could have ended up stuck behind him, which would have ruined our race,” Webber told eNews on Monday. “I got a good exit from the hairpin, got right under his wing through Eau Rouge (a bit tricky, with the effect on the downforce), and so I had a run on him. From there on, I was going to get by …” he said. The only real decision from there on concerned tyres: “We had a bit of degradation with the rears on the hard rubber, so we toyed with the idea of switching to the soft ‘options’ for the second stint, as well as the last. “In the end we didn’t – we only had one set of fresh ‘options’ left – but it might have been worth a go as when we did put the ‘option’ set on, for the last stint, they were very good.” Webber had started from seventh – a superb outcome, given that he actually didn’t get to run his final, all-important, lap in Q2, missing the timing cut-off by metres. Fortunately, his first, earlier run, was good enough to grab a top 10 spot.

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They think of everything Ferrari makes aero gains with onboard camera mounting, according to F1 Tech editor PAOLO FILISETTI Okay, it’s not a huge thing, but we couldn’t help but notice a subtle development on the Ferrari F2007 nose cone, where the onboard camera ‘mock ups’ (when a camera is not being used) are placed on the nose cone sides. It may have a small influence on the total aero balance of the car, but their wingprofiled shape can be used cleverly, to better direct the airflow impacting against them. In particular, it is interesting to note how, on the F2007, small wing-profiled endplates have been added, that are ‘eccentric’ to the original profile of the cameras. In short, they provide a vertical curved edge on the top foremost point and a triangular edge on the lower rearmost point. These small edges help in terms of diverting the airflow directed to the sidepods.

F1 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP | Round 14 SPA Pos #

Driver Team Time

1 6 2 5 3 1 4 2 5 9 6 16 7 15 8 4 9 10 10 11 11 12 12 18 13 8 14 20 15 22 16 23 17 21 Ret 7 Ret 17 Ret 14 Ret 19 Ret 3

Kimi Räikkönen Felipe Massa Fernando Alonso Lewis Hamilton Nick Heidfeld Nico Rosberg Mark Webber Heikki Kovalainen Robert Kubica Ralf Schumacher Jarno Trulli Vitantonio Liuzzi Rubens Barrichello Adrian Sutil Takuma Sato Anthony Davidson Sakon Yamamoto Jenson Button Alexander Wurz David Coulthard Sebastian Vettel Giancarlo Fisichella

Qual

Ferrari 1:20:39.066 Ferrari +4.6 secs McLaren-Mercedes +14.3 secs McLaren-Mercedes +23.6 secs BMW +51.8 secs Williams-Toyota +76.8 secs Red Bull-Renault +80.6 secs Renault +85.1 secs BMW +85.6 secs Toyota +88.5 secs Toyota +103.653 secs STR-Ferrari +1 Lap Honda +1 Lap Spyker-Ferrari +1 Lap Super Aguri-Honda +1 Lap Super Aguri-Honda +1 Lap Spyker-Ferrari +1 Lap Honda Hydraulics Williams-Toyota Fuel pressure Red Bull-Renault Hydraulics STR-Ferrari Steering Renault Suspension damage

1 2 3 4 6 5 7 9 14 10 8 13 17 19 18 22 20 12 15 11 16 21

Fastest lap: Felipe Massa, Lap 5, 1:48.036

F1 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP | DRIVER'S points Points: Hamilton 97, Alonso 95, Raikkonen 84, Massa 77, Heidfeld 56, Kubica 33, Kovalainen 22, Fisichella 17, Rosberg 15, Wurz 13, Webber 10, Coulthard 8, Trulli 7.

F1 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP | Constructor’s points Points: Ferrari 161, BMW 90, Renault 39, Williams-Toyota 28, Red Bull-Renault 18, Toyota 12, Super Aguri-Honda 4, Honda 2.

MOTOGP ROUND 14 – ESTORIL

One

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for a fallen Comrade Valentino Rossi paid tribute to Colin McRae the best way he knew – with a sliding, bucking, win-or-crash victory

Honda Pro Images

VALENTINO Rossi has a great passion for rallying, and Colin McRae loved to climb onto a supersport road bike and tear up some tarmac.

Yamaha Racing

Deliver and Stand: Rossi got back on the winners’ list in Portugal, above, while a clutch-hampered Stoner struggled to third, below.

So it was a case of the planets lining up when Rossi ended his career-longest losing streak in a sideways, sliding effort that would have put a smile on McRae’s face. Typically, The Doctor made a slow start, dropping to fifth on the opening lap. But he moved up, passing a clutchhampered Casey Stoner and stalking Dani Pedrosa until the penultimate lap. With both men on the very edge, running wide under maximum braking, Rossi stalked the Spaniard, crept past with a lap to run and held the Honda out to the line. After so much recent drama, it was a Michelin 1-2, and Rossi dedicated his win to McRae: “Colin is one of my idols from when I was very young and it’s because of him that I have my

passion for rally,” he said. “It’s a very sad day for motorsport and I am glad that I could win for him today.” Most importantly, it was the first win for Yamaha’s new pneumatic-valve engine. Stoner was happy with third, since his clutch problem made it impossible for him to match the Japanese bikes under brakes. Nicky Hayden, who started from pole position, set a new lap record on the way to fourth, ahead of Marco Melandri, Suzuki’s John Hopkins and veteran Carlos Checa. Encouraging times for Honda, then, with a ‘home’ race coming up this weekend at Motegi. Ant West was the best of the other Aussies, despite losing front-end grip as the race progressed. He was one spot up on Chris Vermeulen, who was 13th after an odd vibration afflicted his Suzuki.

MOTOGP | RIDER’S points Points: Stoner 287, Rossi 211, Pedrosa 188, Hopkins 150, Vermeulen 147, Melandri 137, Edwards 106, Capirossi/Hayden 105. Struggle Street: Vermeulen was 13th, below, one spot ahead of West, below right.

Rizla Suzuki

Ducati Corse

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Tamada Soars

Just in case you forgot, there is a third tye brand in MotoGP

QUALIFYING can be good, sometimes great, to watch in MotoGP.

Racing Aprilia

The results of the Saturday session made fascinating reading; a Honda on pole, a Ducati second and Yamahas third and fourth. Hayden, Stoner and Rossi on the front row of the grid. Great stuff. The second Yam? Makoto Tamada’s. Now, there was a surprise, but not really. The Japanese had been fast on Friday, which everyone put down to the luxury of running a Q tyre while the opposition ran race rubber. While Michelin and Bridgestone teams are subject to the 31-tyre limit, in theory, Tamada and Sylvain Guintoli could burn as many soft-

but-fragile Dunlops as they wanted. But it is not as if Tamada is a rookie. He has won two GPs, at Rio and Motegi in 2004, when he faced the rather bizarre situation of racing a Pramac Honda on Bridgestones while teammate Max Biaggi raced one on Michelins. Tamada also has one GP pole to his credit and, hold the phone, it was at Estoril in 2004, when he out-duelled Rossi. A switch to Michelins did him no favours for 2005, but he continued to show flashes of speed. Tamada crashed on Sunday in Portugal. He races again this weekend – at Motegi. Don’t be surprised if he is fast again.

Bow to Bau, Wow! ALVARO Bautista won at Estoril for the second straight year, adding a second 250 win to his 125 victory there in 2006.

His Aprilia, above, sped away from Andrea Dovizioso and Jorge Lorenzo, with Thomas Luthi, Hector Barbera and Alex de Angelis following them home. Points: Lorenzo 257, Dovizioso 206, de Angelis 197, Bautista 160, Barbera 130, Aoyama 108, Luthi 98, Kallio 94.

Yamaha Racing

THE gap from Gabor Talmasci to Hector Faubel, below, in the 125 title is five points, after Faubel slipped past the Hungarian in the dash to the flag.

Rookie Pol Espargaro took his first podium result in third, while Simone Corsi had to settle for fourth. Poleman Mattia Pasini crashed while leading mid-race. Points: Talmasci 209, Faubel 204, Koyama 154, Pesek 132, Corsi 132, Pasini119, Gadea 118, Espagaro 99.

Racing Aprilia

Kawasaki Racing Team

AUSTRALIAN RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 5 – NSW

New event, old result If Neal Bates had just missed out on a podium in New South Wales, then Simon Evans would have wrapped up the ARC. But Bates finished second, so Simon has to wait until Melbourne. By RYAN LAHIFF

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Joel Strickland

FTER what can only be described as a near-perfect season, Simon Evans once again lifted the winner’s trophy at the Great Lakes Rally on New South Wales’ north coast at the weekend. But he could have added a second consecutive drivers title to his name if only his team mate Neal Bates had played along. After being pushed early on Saturday by brother Eli Evans and South Australian Steve Glenney, it was Simon Evans who got his nose in front by the fifth, and ultimately final, stage of the opening day, after organisers were forced to cancel the two afternoon stages due to a failure of event radio communications. Evans Jr was left to count the costs of a missed opportunity, finishing the day 2.4s behind his brother, a bent lower control arm on the fourth stage dropping 6s and the lead. Glenney held onto third, admitting he was happy with the result after struggling with confidence on the high speed stages, while Michael Guest provisionally held

fourth until a fuel feed problem forced the Fiesta to the side of the road on the long transport back to service. Spencer Lowndes was elevated into fourth following Guest’s retirement, Toyota’s Bates fifth and Subaru frontrunner Dean Herridge sixth. With a clear points lead in the championship Evans headed into the second day of the newest event on the calendar with the aim of clinching the title, and with Bates his nearest points rival, the Toyota team were preparing to celebrate. Again Evans Jr and Glenney pounced out of the blocks, yet the charge by both Subaru privateers was to be short-lived, each crashing heavily off the road during the afternoon. Buoyed by his speed during Heat 1, Guest surged into second behind Evans over Sunday’s stages. The Ford driver

would come under increasing pressure over the closing stages from Bates, the Toyota Corolla eventually passing the Ford Fiesta at the finish line. If Guest had of been able to hold back Bates the title would have been secured by Evans – however their one-two finish wrapped up the manufacturer title for Toyota. “A great result for what turned out to be a really tough rally,” said Evans. “We were really pushed all the way by Eli and Glenney – it’s just unfortunate that they both hit problems and couldn’t make it to the finish line.” Spencer Lowndes joined the Toyota pairing on the podium to celebrate his first top three finish since he parted ways with the Mitsubishi Ralliart team, with Dean Herridge and Darren Windus both featuring strongly further back.

AUSTRALIAN RALLY | DRIVER'S points Points: S Evans 403, Bates 284, Herridge 264, Brendan Reeves 182, Guest 144, E Evans 138, Lowndes 132, Glen Raymond 100, Darren Windus 100, Glenney 99.

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Joel Strickland

Watch out, Simon: Steve Glenney further proved he will be a threat in next year’s ARC by running strongly in his privateer Subaru.

Joel Strickland

Finally! Ford took its first stage win since returning to the ARC, thanks to Michael Guest, left. Eli Evans, above, almost took the fight to his big brother, but luck didn’t go his way. Spencer Lowndes, below, made his first visit to the podium in some time.

Joel Strickland

Redline Photographics

AUSTRALIAN DRAG RACING NATIONALS ROUND 2 – WILLOWBANK

Christmas Trees all

Australia’s most prestigious drag racing meeting saw Phil Read win Top Fuel, but the story of the show was a rookie finalist and a spectacular roll-over. KEN FERGUSON reports 42

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round

Ken Ferguson

DRAG RACING NINETEEN-year-old Top Fuel rookie Amanda Shepherd was denied her maiden win in an action packed, and rather destructive Top Fuel class at last weekend’s Australian Drag Racing Nationals held at Willowbank Raceway. Defending national champion, Phil Read defeated Shepherd in the final with his second quickest pass of the weekend, a 4.62s at 318mph, to Shepherd’s pedalling 5.28s at 269mph. But the big story was Phil Lamattina’s amazing incident. He survived what was the worst top end crash ever seen in Australian drag racing when his chassis literally broke in half and spiralled into the

air on his way to another sub five second, 300 mph pass down the quarter mile strip. Steve Stanic piloted Lucky Belleri’s Camaro to a tough win in the fastest-ever field of the Top Doorslammer class. The quickest-ever bump spot was held by Gary Phillips with a 6.20s pass. Stanic defeated current points leader John Zappia in the final with a 6.07s to Zappia’s superchargerexploding 6.09s. The Doorslammer class also had its share of carnage with Kym Petterwood destroying his Corvette. Wayne Newby, driving the only dragster in the field, tied up the points for the national championship from Aaron Lynch in the Top Alcohol bracket, when he defeated Lynch in the final. Lynch again

finished runner up in his Mustang funny car, as he did in Sydney. Again, this was the quickest ever field for Top Alcohol, and like Doorslammer, Gary Phillips held the bump spot, this time with a 5.76s. Bundaberg’s Aaron Tremayne claimed the Travelaire Tours Pro Stock honours over John Barbagallo. Two-wheeled racing was a hard-fought contest. In Top Bike, Perth’s Ian Ashelford scored a personal-best 6.66s effort to beat Troy McLean. In Pro Stock Motorcycle, Callam Goddeasi defeated Graham Weston. Look out for a full Australian Drag Racing Nationals report in the next (print) editon of Motorsport News, available September 26.

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Ken Ferguson

Rookie girl: Amanda Shepherd, above and right, was the star at Willowbank. Top, Jay Upton didn’t win, but he was flaming.

Dirk Klynsmith

Close call for Carrera Cup CARRERA CUP DAVID Reynolds and Alex Davison have tied on points at the latest round of the Carrera Cup at Sandown, with Davison taking the round thanks to two race wins. Reynolds started the weekend in style, edging out Alex Davison and David Russell for pole. But Davison got the jump on the way to Turn 1 in the opener, taking a lead he wouldn’t relinquish in either of the first two races. In the final it was again the start that set the scene, with both Davison and Reynolds struggling off the line. That allowed Russell

into the lead, which became Reynolds’ after a handful of laps. But the race, and round, still had a dramatic twist or two to take. With a onesecond lead over second-placed Craig Baird, Reynolds ran off the road heading into the final complex. That allowed Baird into the lead, and set Davison up for the round win – until he and Michael Trimble got caught up on the final lap. Davison dropped to fourth, giving Trimble his best-ever Carrera Cup race finish in third and allowing Reynolds, who recovered to second, to tie on points. “It’s always nice to score points, but it’s

a real shame I couldn’t win that last race,” said Reynolds. “I was just struggling for rear grip. We made a change and it did the opposite to what we thought it would. I pushed too hard and braked too late and speared off. It’s a shame but it happens.” Rodney Forbes was the surprise of the weekend, finishing sixth behind Bryce Washington in the final to wrap up Tag Heuer Challenge honours for the round. – ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN Points: Reynolds 888, Baird 843, Davison 814, Marcus Marshall 582, Dean Fiore 520.

What a debut for ‘Richo’ TOURING CAR MASTERS

James Smith

JIM Richards secured victory in the fifth round of the Biante Touring car Masters Series at Sandown Raceway last weekend. Richards, driving Tony Hunter’s Chev Camaro in a one-off drive, took two wins on his way to round victory in his category debut. Richards started the weekend off steadily while getting accustomed to his

new surroundings. The 60-year-old qualified fifth, finished third in Race 1 and proceeded to dominate the last two races. Steve Mason’s similar Chev qualified on pole, won Race 1, shadowed Richards in Race 2 but pulled out of the event in Race 3 on lap six. Mustang driver Gavin Bullas looked like he was set for an overall podium after finishing second and third in the first two races. A non-finish in

Race 3 after two laps saw his weekend turn to naught. Fellow Mustang driver

Drew Marget had a consistent weekend, finishing fourth, fourth and third.

Wood wins, Tim spins FORMULA FORD GLEN Wood took out an action-packed sixth round of the Australian Formula Ford Championship at Sandown last weekend. It was a controversial meeting thanks to two on-track incidents involving championship leader Tim Blanchard. The first incident occurred in the opening race, when race leader Blanchard was tagged from behind by CAMS Rising Star Josh Scott. The clash left Blanchard beached on a kerb, and allowed Scott’s team-mate Ash Walsh through for his seventh win on the trot. Scott finished second, but was later penalised 43s for his part in Blanchard’s retirement. The second race saw Walsh make it eight in a row in devastating style, winning by a handy 6s. Blanchard and Scott both put in storming drives to round out the podium after

Marshall Cass

starting from the back of the grid. The final came down to a contest between the title protagonists, Blanchard and Walsh, after Scott tangled wheels with Wood on the opening lap and spun. It was mid-race that the weekend’s second controversial moment occurred,

with Walsh hitting Blanchard’s rear, damaging the suspension on the Sonic Mygale and dropping him out of the points. Walsh won the race, but was later penalised 26s for his part, leaving him tenth. That was good news to Wood, whose second place became first, sealing his first round win. Team BRM’s Nick Percat

finished second in the final race, the first podium finish for a Van Diemen since Phillip Island last year. Blanchard still leads the series, but his points advantage has been cut to just eight with two rounds to go. – ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN Blanchard 248, Walsh 240, James Moffat 205, Kristian Lindbom 176, Wood 161.

McCashing In! AUSSIE RACING CARS

BEN McCashney secured his first Aussie Racing Car race and round win during Round 6 of the series at Sandown Raceway last weekend. He led home Paul Kemal and BOC Falcon driver Nick Lowe. Starting from fifth place, McCashney drove hard to finish a fortunate second in Race 1, a position he inherited post-race with a penalty handed to Lowe for his collision with Kemal on the final lap. McCashney then reeled off two impressive victories as he drove away from the pack in the next two 10-lap races. “The weekend couldn’t have gone much better as I scored my

first race and round victory,” he said. “Our car was just so strong and I was able to pull away towards the end of Races 2 and 3.” Kemal recovered well to finish second overall after his Race 1 incident that dropped him to fourth, but he was elevated to third with Lowe’s penalty. Despite receiving a 26s penalty that dropped him from second to 13th in Race 1, Lowe drove exceptionally well to recover to third overall after climbing back through the field to finish second and fourth in the final two races. – AARON SHAW Points: Brad Ward 281, James Ward 28, Kemal 275, McCashney 269, Kyle Clews 260.

Marshall Cass

Clint breaks the duck NASCAR CLINT Bowyer went into the Chase for the Nextel Cup as the only one of the 12 drivers to have never won a race. But that’s no longer the case after the Jack Daniels-backed driver cruised to his first win at the Sylvania 300 in New Hampshire last weekend. Bowyer, who started from pole, was a comfortable victor, the margin back to Jeff Gordon a whole 6s. But the closing laps were a struggle, with Bowyer dealing with

a tiring car, the setting sun and a lot of lapped traffic. “I’m not going to kid you, I was about to throw up on those last 30 laps,” Bowyer said. “What was funny was that I was starting to feel a vibration but I don’t know what it was. You just hear every rattle ... “I was watching up ahead hoping, praying that nobody crashed. Thankfully the cautions didn’t come and we kept it out front. “This proves we earned a spot and we’re

NASCAR Media

here for a reason and [I’m] just so happy to be a part of the Chase. It’s such a neat deal and, hey, this is the Nextel Cup, baby.” Gordon’s second place was enough to tie him at the top of the leaderboard with Jimmie Johnson, while Tony Stewart was third for the race and is third in the points after one round of The Chase. The Chase: Johnson 5210, Gordon 5210, Stewart 5200, Bowyer 5195, Kyle Busch 5175, Martin Truex Jr 5170, Matt Kenseth 5156, Carl Edwards 5147, Denny Hamlin 5128, Kevin Harvick 5122, Jeff Burton 5119, Kurt Busch 5108.

Foxy Troxy has the goods NHRA

David Ostaszewski

WHILE Melanie Troxel missed making the cut for the Countdown to the Championship, she made good on her vow to win as many remaining events as possible by winning the Top Fuel crown at the NHRA Nationals last weekend. Troxel, scored her second win of the year in her third final

round appearance, defeating Doug Herbert. Troxel had earlier stopped Bob Vandergriff, David Grubnic, and Brandon Bernstein. In Funny Car, Gary Scelzi took a close final round win against team-mate Jack Beckman. After taking wins over Gary Densham, Del Worsham, and Tommy Johnson Jr, the win moved Scelzi into fourth place in the standings. Pro-Stocker Dave Connolly

made it two in a row in the four-event Countdown to Four, stopping season-long point leader, Greg Anderson. Andrew Hines jumped into first place in the Pro Stock Bike

standings with a final round win over Steve Johnson, who jumped out to a big lead at the green, but broke before half-track. – DAVID OSTAZSEWSKI

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Chandhoks and Indians GP2

THE 2007 GP2 series is set to go down to the wire after a bizarre two races at Spa Francorchamps last weekend. The feature race saw Nicolas Lapierre record his second win of the season after dominating from pole. The only real pressure he had to deal with was an attack from Lucas di Grassi and Luca Filippi at the first corner but, having cleared them, he went on take

a 4.8s win from Filippi. Meanwhile series leader Timo Glock had a shocker, stalling at the start and finishing the race 17th and last. He saved some face by setting the fastest lap, which also gave him a point, slightly lessening di Grassi’s impact on his title lead. Sunday’s sprint race welcomed a new winner to GP2, with likeable Indian Karun Chandhok taking his first victory. It came after a brave move

around the outside of early leader Andy Soucek after exiting Les Combes. “I think any move around the outside is a bit of a risk but no risk, no gain” he said. “I had to do Eau Rouge flat behind him. Doing it in free air is no problem, but doing it flat behind somebody when you lose the aero is very difficult. “I had a go and that’s it, went around the outside, braked really late, the rear end started to come around and I just

hopped off the brake, got on the curb and got away with it.” It was a second bad race for Glock, who was taken out on the warm-up lap by Ricardo Risati and couldn’t make the start. Di Grassi finished third, meaning there is just two points between the pair heading into the final at Valencia. Points: Glock 79, di Grassi 77, Filippi 58, Giorgio Pantano 49, Kazuki Nakajima 36.

sutton-images.com

race shop For the best tyres and wheels,

road or track. www.stuckey.com.au

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rear of grid

Safety aside ...

HERE has to be a better way … I’m talking Safety Cars, and, in particular, the bizarre situation caused by the Safety Car at the Sandown 500 last weekend. I like to think I’m across most things racing cars, but this has confused the bejesus out of me. Let me get this straight – Mark Noske’s Tasman Commodore grinds to a halt on the back straight, a Safety Car is deployed, Triple Eight do the expected thing and haul Lowndesy into the pits, and then what? Pot Luck? It seemed to me that because the leader wasn’t on-track, the Safety Car had no one to pick up. So it just grabbed whoever was there at the time and totally reshuffled the running order. As it happened, the top six cars essentially got almost a lap on the field, and Frosty wound up at the front of the field in seventh place. In other words, anyone outside that top six was immediately out of contention, and a few lucky ones, such as Paul Weel, were on for a top result. No offence to the PWR lads, but it wasn’t brilliant strategy that netted Weel/Dumbrell sixth place, it was primarily good luck. NASCAR has a solution, of sorts, to the problem – close pit-lane when the Safety Car is out. It’s not necessarily a ready-to-go fix, but surely it’s a good start to creating a better way to manage race order during caution periods. I like to watch bits and pieces of the Nextel Cup, and while I’m aware cautions play a big part in the racing, I’m yet to see a few yellow flags erase the chances of all but six cars …

Odd Spot

punter@mnews.com.au

IT JUST GRABBED WHOEVER WAS THERE AT THE TIME AND TOTALLY RESHUFFLED THE RUNNING ORDER

JC is tuning and dancing

Dirk Klynsmith

IT'S hard to believe that its been 10 years since a fresh faced Aussie called James Courtney won a Karting World Championship. Courtney won the 100cc Formula A title as a 17 year old with the factory Tony Kart team. It made him just the third Australian (after Sir Jack Brabham and Alan Jones) to secure an official FIA World Championship. Things have certainly come along way since 1997. Courtney, now racing for SBR, is also about to contest the popular television show Dancing with the Stars. eNews wishes JC and his dancing partner Olya Bourtasova the best of luck.