Motorsport eNews Issue 46 - March 18-24, 2008 by V8 Sleuth

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Issue No. 046 18 – 24 March 2008

Courtney

Love? JAmes looks set to move in 2009 – and there are many options

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iaort l a p e

trl superag e s Au Ful cov insiD

Power Play Power’s indycar deal is done, but his formeR team is at war

Issue 2 Available Now

Editorial Editor: Grant Rowley grant@mnews.com.au Deputy Editor: Andrew van Leeuwen andrew@mnews.com.au Staff Journalist: Phillip Mahoney philm@mnews.com.au Executive Editor: Phil Branagan editor@mnews.com.au

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Contributing Writers F1: Will Buxton, Mark Glendenning, 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, Geoff Gracie, 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

Issue No. 046 | 18`-24 March 2008

news 4 Courtney move 6 At war 10 Carnage Continues 12 Morris to America 14 Commodore Cup

chat 20 5 minutes with ... opinion 20 van Leeeuwen race 26 V8’s AGP 32 Bairdo takes three 36 Richie and JB 40 NASCAR 44 St Pat’s Day

Where to from here? Gore and Walker’s feud FPR still on the mend NASCAR race awaits Superstar boost for Rd 1 Garth Tander Loosing traction Tander puts on a show Foire Mr Consistent Aussies and GT Burton sneaks in Ireland takes A1GP

trade 48 Trade and Industry / Raceshop / Classifieds

welcome eNews is way better, but GP Week ain’t bad, either. If F1, WRC and MotoGP is your thing, listen to Keithy and check it ... after you’ve read eNews, of course!

Courtn V8 SUPERCARS

HE V8 Supercar Driver Silly Season leapt into early action last week, with the arrival in Melbourne of James Courtney’s long-time manager Alan Gow. Courtney’s contract with SBR (and Ford) expires at the end of the season and it is understood that Gow is in town to sort out a deal for 2009 and beyond, before he jets back to the UK to oversee the 2008 British Touring Car Championship. Talk of an uneasy relationship between the three-time title-winning team and its star driver emerged following the Eastern Creek round of the V8 Supercar Championship Series a week ago, precipitating Gow’s early arrival. eNews believes that up to four V8 Supercar teams have expressed interest in securing Courtney’s services, and that there is one overseas option, which may be a resumption of his relationship with Toyota and its Japanese GT program. “We are discussing a number of options,” Courtney said today [Monday]. “We are looking at everything at the moment, and trying to work out what is the best thing to do.” Courtney confirmed that one of his options was to continue with SBR (“we are not ruling anything out”) though one well-placed eNews source suggests that any split between Courtney and SBR may will be ‘mutual’, as there is a level of frustration on both sides following what is described as “unfulfilled potential” in races so far this year. Courtney says his personal preference is to continue in V8 Supercars. “I think that there is unfinished business, to get on with winning races. But in the end, I have to do what is best for me and my family. What has been gratifying is that there has been a good amount of interest, so it is pleasing that people can see that I am capable of doing the job, even if the results are not there at the moment.”

FOR FORMULA 1, MOTOGP AND WRC NEWS, OPINION AND ANALYSIS CLICK HERE TO

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ney: On the market JC 2009: Where can (and can’t) James go ... V8 SUPERCARS JAMES Courtney has a contract with Ford and SBR but both end at the conclusion of this season. We believe that the three local ‘teams’ involved in the discussions, outside of SBR, are Ford Performance Racing, Triple 8 Race Engineering and Walkinshaw Performance, which has links with a number of teams including the Holden Racing Team and the HSV Dealer Team. A number of those teams have extended contracts with their current drivers: FPR has long-terms deals with both Steven Richards and Mark Winterbottom, and T8’s TeamVodafone has Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup under contract until ‘at least’ 2009. However, both Ford teams have either current or potential arrangements with other teams that could see their influence develop into a situation whereby a spot could become available for 2009. FPR, for example, has a relationship with Ford Rising Stars, which sees it supply a car to that team for Michael Patrizi to race. Patrizi’s backers sponsor that entry but, with an alternative sponsor, the way could be clear for Courtney to continue his relationship with FRS boss Jim Morton, for whom he raced karts. T8 is trickier, with the team currently concentration on developing a new and larger facility. But that would enable the team to expand to four cars – and team principal Roland Dane has already voiced

the view that, with V8 Supercars Australia now sanctioning larger teams, such a thing may happen in the future. The Walkinshaw situation is also difficult. Paul Dumbrell’s arrival at the HSV Dealer Team came with the backing of Autobarn, so should that team make a change, it is likely that there would have to be a sponsorship shift at the same time. Of course, Courtney V8 Supercar debut came with HRT in 2005, and there are sources within Holden who express the desire to get him back, as they consider than he was ‘stolen’ when he signed for SBR in 2005. The problem is that with Garth Tander signing a long-term deal with the team at the end of last season, HRT could only take on Courtney if Mark Skaife stood aside from being a full-time driver. On the other hand, one Holden insider

dismissed the notion at the weekend; “We would keep what we’ve got,” he said. “Currently, why would we swap Courtney for Skaife?” All of this, though, ignores the possibility that licences could be secured and that, just as T8 may look to run further entries in the future, other teams could as well. Gow will be looking to settle a deal quickly to allow Courtney to focus on the task of winning races with SBR. He has shown plenty of speed this season but, after dominating the opening race of the series in Adelaide, until he made contact with Jason Richards while lapping him, Courtney now has a 24th and 17th place finishes to his name, as well as a wrecked car from the Sunday Adelaide race. He is now 18th in the series after two rounds – five spots behind his rookie teammate, Shane Van Gisbergen.

SBR 2009: Who would go to #4? V8 SUPERCARS IF Courtney was, as seems likely, to depart SBR, a number of candidates appear to be in the frame for his JeldWen seat in 2009. Stones will run David

Besnard and Jonathon Webb as endurance co-drivers, and Bezzy appears to be wellplaced. He exceeded the expectations of many with his performances last season and his break from the front-line of the sport, while not his doing,

appears to have done him no harm at all. On the other hand, while Webb has backing, he appears to be lacking the experience SBR may seek to slot in alongside Van Gisbergen. Other likely candidates are Jason Bargwanna and Steve

Owen. Both lost their full-time rides through circumstance rather than dissatisfaction with their performances and, apart from being Melbournebased, appear to have few factors that would get in their way, should SBR show interest.

O ACCESS THE WORLD’S FIRST INTERNATIONAL ‘VIRTUAL’ MOTORSPORT MAGAZINE ...

The Gore War KV deal could mean Court for Craig INDYCAR THE changes made by Team Australia look to be heading into the US courts. Walker Racing owner Derrick Walker, who ran two cars in the now-defunct Champ Car World Series under Team Australia colours and with sponsorship from Aussie Vineyards, has spoken out and said that he is seeking monies owed by former partner Craig Gore, as much as US$1.5m. Walker says that he had been led to believe that they would be moving forward as a team in 2008, this time competing in the IndyCar Series instead of Champ Car. But Gore had signed a deal

with Kevin Kalkhoven, taking driver Will Power and engineer Dave Faustino to KV Racing Technology, in a deal that was announced last week. Talking to SpeedTV, Walker explained, “We gave him (Gore) in writing an opportunity to settle this and not go through a legal dogfight. It’s up to him to respond by tomorrow. If there’s no response or no effort to resolve, then Tuesday I start building my case. There are damages, money owed, and I’ve got a huge paper trail. “I have no hesitation going into court to prove our case. This is about 2007 default payments and I have no option but to take him to court. He took my driver, my

engineer and completely submarined us, so it’s pretty shabby, to say the least. If he’s smart, he’ll make a good faith effort and he can settle this by taking care of last year.” Attempts to get a comment from Craig Gore proved unsuccessful. – MARY MENDEZ sutton-images.com

Stoddy pulls the chute INDYCAR

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PAUL Stoddart is out of American racing. The HVM Racing team, which has competed in Champ Car under the names of Minardi Team USA, CTE Racing/HVM, Herdez Competition, and Bettenhausen Motorsports, is moving forward without the involvment of Stoddart. The team led by Keith Wiggins took delivery of its first Dallara last week to compete in the 2008 IndyCar series. “We will field three cars at Long Beach in April under the Minardi Team USA banner, along with the other Champ Car teams, but our focus now is getting up to speed with the Dallara as soon as possible,” explained owner Wiggins, who has been with the team since 2001. After just one Champ Car season, Stoddard told Autosport, “I did enough tugging round

at the back to know I don’t want to do it again. I had a taste of victory last year and it was very nice. So I’ll just take a sabbatical and see what happens. I think realistically 2010 is the first opportunity for Champ Car teams to become competitive, when the new car comes.” “What happened (the merger) was good for North American motorsport. It had to happen but it isn’t beneficial for any of the Champ Car teams. With only four weeks until the start of the season, it’s a pretty big ask to change your entire operating facility to a car you’ve never seen, (to compete) on ovals you’ve never raced on, and to be competitive. “In anything like this there are winners and losers and all the Champ Car teams are the losers.” – MARY MENDEZ

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INDYCAR THE paint in Aussie Vineyard colours hasn’t even dried on Walker’s first Dallara chassis readied for the 2008 IndyCar season for driver Will Power. The renamed, KV Racing Technology team (aka PKV Racing), now in its sixth season, announced mid-week that Power will compete in its #8 Aussie Vineyards Team Australia Honda/Dallara/ Firestone entry alongside veteran Oriol Servia. The team is owned by Kevin Kalkhoven, co-owner of the Champ Car World Series (now in Chapter 11 bankruptcy), and semi-retired driver Jimmy Vasser. “It’s tough leaving a team where you’ve had a group of guys around you,” said Power, realizing his departure from Walker Racing (where he earned two wins last season) wasn’t just a bad dream. “The good thing is my engineer has moved across. Having Jimmy Vasser to help mentor me on the ovals will make the transition easier.

“I’m looking forward to the challenge but it makes me feel like a rookie again. “I know that Oriol’s a good guy, a great racer, [but] a hard racer. He has a reputation as being a very good team-mate. He’s fair and gives everything up. He doesn’t hide anything and I’m the same. “So I think it will be a good combination. We’re both front-runners in Champ Car. Between us we’ll be able to speed up the transition and really get the hang of these cars.” Because Vasser previously drove for Chip Ganassi Racing, the IRL assigned Ganassi as the team to help make the transition and learn the Dallara chassis. “The process is fantastic,” Vasser said, “they are trying to do whatever they can to get us up to speed. They believe, unlike some of the other teams meant to help out with the transitioning (Champ Car) teams, that the better we do, the better it is for everybody as a whole. They want us to do well and have had a real open

book policy. “The Champ Cars are a fantastic machine.” “It’s going to be sad to see them sidelined. It’s bittersweet because quite honestly, the Panoz DP01 is a racing machine, which can run circles around the Dallara. “It’s difficult to run up front in whatever you’re running. To win the (IndyCar) championship, you have to be competitive in all disciplines of open-wheel racing. “Will is an extremely capable and competitive driver. Over the last couple of years he has shown the ability to win races and challenge for the championship. Teaming Will with Oriol will give KV Racing Technology two veteran drivers who bring a lot of experience and talent to our team.” Craig Gore, who created the Team Australia concept, which markets Australian wines in the United States and other world markets, said: “Power is one of the best young racing talents Australia has ever produced. I look forward to seeing the Aussie Vineyards –

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Will, Team Oz, Powering On

Team Australia car, not only on the streets of Surfers Paradise in October, but, for the first time, at the Indy 500 in May.” Power visited his new team to discover they are “really professional and have a lot of good resources”. “I think we are going to be running at the front of the Champ Car teams. Hopefully, later on in the year, we’ll be, especially when the road courses come around, running at the front of the series and getting a couple of podiums. “It’s definitely going to be a tough road, having one or two test days before we start racing in a car that we don’t yet know and in a new series. My expectation is at the first race, Homestead, I’m just planning to finish. We don’t have many spares (parts) or a spare car, so it’s going to do us no good putting it in the wall trying too hard. I’ll have to ease into it. “You just can’t afford to make any mistakes on an oval because it costs you a lot of time and money.” – MARY MENDEZ

INDYCAR

SEBASTIEN Bourdais has backed up his recent claims that the American openwheel unification is a disaster for Champ Car. The four-time Champ Car title winner was recently quoted as saying the merger was “the death of Champ Car,” and elaborated on those comments while in Melbourne for the Australian Grand Prix. “It is going to be a good thing, and it is an absolutely necessary thing for the future

of open-wheel racing in America,” Bourdais told eNews. “But with the timing that is happening, it is very unfair on the Champ Car teams. “For example you have Conquest, who bought a brand new car, and they are going to end up using it for one race at Long Beach. “If you were to somehow merge, it should have been done with a bit more thinking in it, and it’s too bad because it could have been really well organised.” Bourdais added that the

merger was rushed, and another year as a split series was a better option. “We have been talking about this merger ever since I arrived in the series in 2003. They were already talking about it. It’s just a shame that a lot of people are going to lose their jobs and pay a high price just because of bad timing. “With the very little time they had for me [another year of Champ Car] was the only viable option, but they decided to go a different way.” – ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN

But Wilson is looking to tests ... INDYCAR

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WITH the loss of Walker and Forsythe Racing after the merger of the two openwheel series, only five Champ Car teams, Newman/Haas/Lanigan, Conquest Racing, Dale Coyne Racing, HVM Racing, and KV Racing Technology, are scheduled to attend two open tests in preparation for the 2008 IndyCar season. These teams transitioning to the IndyCar Series will test on the 1.7-mile, 11-turn road course at Sebring International Raceway on March 19-20 and on the 1.5-mile oval at Homestead-Miami Speedway under the lights March 24-25. “I’m not sure how the Dallara is going to handle yet,” said Newman/Haas/Lanigan pilot

Justin Wilson. “I haven’t got too much information on that. It looks very similar to what we’re used to. And, it will be a case of spending that first test at Sebring getting comfortable in the car, getting climatized with how it responds and building on that. “We’re not going to be in a position to try and chase victories each weekend, which is a shame. But that’s the circumstance we’re in and I think we’re all pretty happy that there’s one unified series now and it gives a lot of opportunity for the future. “So we’re just going to do the best we can, keep working hard and try to improve. And hopefully, if we work methodically, we can understand what it takes to be successful.” – MARY MENDEZ

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Bourdais backs claims

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Technical partnerships praised by bosses INDYCAR HAVING only weeks to prepare for their first IndyCar race, the IndyCar Series has paired the former Champ Car World Series teams with its existing teams to facilitate a smooth transition and provide technical and logistical support. “The difficulty for any new team to come along at this point, so late in the game, is information,” said Tony Cotman, Vice President of Competition, IRL. “If we can give them a basic starting point, whether it be on a speedway, short oval or road course, as a series it’s so much better for us because we have less of a split in the field as far as the haves and have nots. In the long run, it’s best for us. We’d like to see the whole field within a second. The current IndyCar Series teams have been very good about giving the teams information to get them going.” The paired teams are, which was based on previous relationships, geographical proximity, and similar team size, Andretti Green Racing-Dale Coyne Racing, Target

Chip Ganassi Racing-KV Technology Racing, Rahal Letterman Racing-Newman/ Haas/Lanigan Racing, Vision RacingConquest Racing, A.J. Foyt Racing-Pacific Coast Motorsports, Team Penske-Walker Racing, and Roth Racing-Team Minardi. Walker Racing has withdrawn from competition this season and Pacific Coast Motorsports is currently unconfirmed in its move to IndyCars . But, speaking out initially in reaction to the “merger” announcement that offers free chassis and an engine lease program to transitioning Champ Car teams, founding IndyCar team owner, A.J. Foyt, told ESPN, “I would throw a damned fit and would want to damned near pack up my bags if that was all true, And, I think a lot of people that have been loyal (to the IRL) would do the same thing because it just wouldn’t be right for people who had to buy (their equipment) and spend a lot of money.” Not all teams are upset having to pay for their own equipment and then being asked to help the new teams.

“We’re working with KV Racing, and that’s been a great relationship,” Target Chip Ganassi Racing managing director Mike Hull said. “Certainly a lot of it had to do originally with (KV Racing co-owner) Jimmy Vasser, because (he) has a great history with Chip Ganassi Racing. We won a lot of races together, we won a championship together. We remained friends over the years, so it’s a pleasure to work with those guys. That organization is a quality organization, so it blends well for both of us.” “It’s tough to define proprietary versus standard information whenever you do anything. We worked with them on delivering a car and building it to a Ganassi spec to begin with. Our guys have sat down with their guys on the management and engineering level to try to define for them a direction to help them at the Sebring and Homestead tests as well as for the race at Homestead. We’ll help to support and answer their questions all the way through the process.” – MARY MENDEZ

n Jean-Philippe Collin, the recently appointed CEO of Automobiles Peugeot, has revealed that the French manufacturer plans to race its Le Mans Prototype with a hybrid-diesel engine. The current 908 racecar is powered by a 5.5-litre diesel V10. Collin, who took over at the helm of Peugeot on January 1, said during the Geneva Motor Show that Peugeot Sport would fit a prototype hybrid power unit to a 908 LM-P1 racecar in time for a media launch during Le Mans 24 Hours week in June. The company’s intention is to race the hybrid in the ACO’s 1000kilometre race in Shanghai, China, in November. The PSA Peugeot Citroën group confirmed last month that it was developing a range of hybrid diesel-electric passenger cars that will enter the market in 2010. Toyota is also looking at a hybrid Le Mans project. Peugeot raced its current car in the American Le Mans Series opener, the Sebring 12 Hour, at the weekend but, after fighting Audi for the lead, dropped down through the order. – QUENTIN SPURRING

Dirk Klynsmith

BRIEFLY...

FPRUSTRATION Ford Performance Racing counting the cost of early-season carnage V8 SUPERCARS FORD Performance Racing continues to be a busy place, with the team working hard to restore some more bent cars. Seven days after binning Steven Richards’s Castrol Falcon after its Eastern Creek crash, team boss Tim Edwards put the damage bill for the week at half a million dollars, including 357 hours of labour put into preparing the Castrol

Back after this Break TELEVISION

Dirk Klynsmith

CONCERN spread around the V8 paddock in Melbourne at the weekend when it was confirmed that the voice of Aussie motorsport, Neil Crompton, had been whisked off to hospital. Crompton experienced chest and upper arm pain on Friday morning and, after initially being treated

by a doctor was admitted to hospital for tests. He was released on Saturday – and turned up at the track on Sunday, to carry on where he’d left off with commitments to GPTV. “Still not sure what it was all about,” quipped Crompton on Monday in the midst of further diagnostic tests. “I’m a bit young to DNF just yet!”

Edge car for the weekend. “It is frustrating and there is no need for it,” Edwards said on Sunday. “The fabricators and the mechanics are the ones who have got to fix it. They are the ones that are burning the midnight oil.” Mark Winterbottom came off worse in a Race 3 clash with Jamie Whincup, in spite of the fact that under the Manufacturers’ format, and the fact that the AGP is a non-championship event for the V8s, there was nothing to be gained by picking up a position. Steven Richards also had contact, in a Race 1 collision with Craig Lowndes. This comes after Winterbottom’s crash with Craig Lowndes and James Courtney in Adelaide. Winterbottom had a new race engineer for the weekend, the team taking advantage of the relatively lower pressure of a non-championship race to ‘blood’ Dan Kroehn in a his new role. Clinton Wilson will return to the job at Hamilton before handing over the reins of car #5 permanently.

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Peter Bury

Jury Out on AGP Format V8 SUPERCARS

THE Manufacturers’ race format instigated for the return of V8 Supercars to the Australian Grand Prix support program met with muted response by the drivers, and a high level of intramanufacturer carnage. The drivers who did best out of the weekend, Garth Tander, Will Davison and Rick Kelly, all said that they approached the weekend no differently to any other non-points races, while Ford drivers, in particular, appeared to get caught up with

other Ford drivers. “To be honest, I didn’t read the rule book prior to the weekend, we just made it up as we went along,” said Tander, who won all three races. “We knew that if you qualified up the front and finished up the front, you would get half a reasonable result. “It’s something different. A lot of people have sprayed it, a lot of people have praised it. At the end of the day, we put on pretty exciting races, just under a different format.” Davison suggested that there had been a lack of manufacturer advice prior to the races.

“I think it has a lot of potential, but it is up to the individual,” he said. “I can guarantee that I think every single driver seemed to work on the races for their teams and themselves. Maybe if they had let us know that we can work together …” Said Kelly; “It was exciting for us to see how the drivers reacted, obviously we had [some order] on the Holden side but the Ford drivers just fought.” The HSV driver also suggested that only one Ford driver, Davison, appeared to have his head around the concept and that he might be better served driving a Holden …

Dirk Klynsmith

New home for old Porsches

AUSTRALIAN GT THIS year’s Australian GT Championship looks set for another shake-up following the announcement that a separate Porsche championship will share the track at selected races this season. What is currently known as the Porsche Drivers Challenge will be renamed the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Australia, and has been designed to give current Porsche drivers the ability to race in a more affordable series. CAMS CEO Graham

Fountain shed some light over the new series in comments made last week. “The Porsche Cup Challenge will track share with the GT Sports Car Category (GT Performance) for three of the four events in 2008 with the intention to secure six stand alone rounds in 2009,” said Fountain. According to Sven Burchartz, the licensee of the Challenge Cup Promoters, the new class will offer reduced-cost racing.

“The Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge is a great opportunity for drivers who are looking for a sustainable way to compete in a Porsche without the budget needed for elite level competition,” the reigning Porsche Driver’s Champion said. The change comes following the approval of the transfer of category management from the Australian GT Sports Car

Group (AGTSCG) to the Challenge Cup Promoters (CCP), and will see competitors able to utilise 996 GT3 Cup Cars, GT3 road cars as well as previous generation 911 race cars. It is hoped the series will provide a launch pad in the future for drivers looking to move into national elite categories such as Carrera Cup.

Not the final Bowe? JB keen for more GT and Biante outings NASCAR

Dirk Klynsmith

JOHN Bowe’s return to the Australian GT Championship at Albert Park last weekend may not be a one-off. While the former V8 Supercar driver is yet to confirm whether or not he will race the Coopers Ferrari again, he says that more GT races may well be on the cards. “I like the GT category,” he said at the Grand Prix. “Mark Coffey, who I’ve known for many years, asked me to drive the

car this weekend because Allan [Simonsen, the car’s regular driver] is overseas. So I said yeah! “But I don’t think I’ll be doing the rest of the races for the season or anything like that. I wouldn’t mind doing that, but there’s nothing in place yet.” Bowe indicated it was a similar situation regarding his involvement with the Biante Touring Car Masters, in which he drove a Camaro at the opening round at the Clipsal 500 recently. – ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN

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Morris to rise in the East

‘The Dude’ to “take a box of beer” to NASCAR development series NASCAR

Marshall Cass

PAUL Morris will compete in a NASCAR Camping World Series East race this year. The Supercheap Auto Racing driver has accepted an invite from colleague and friend Dale Earnhardt Jr to enter the race. Morris told eNews it will be a low-key and fun exercise. “It’s just a couple of mates having fun,” he said. “I’ll take a box of beer and a few mates and we’ll go race

cars and having a bit of fun. It’s a pretty low-key thing.” It will be the first time that Morris has raced in a NASCARstyle race, although not the first time that he’s competed in the States. The 40-year-old entered the Daytona 24 Hour race in 2005. Earnhardt was here in Australia at the end of last year, where he drove a Paul Morris Motorsport Commodore VZ at Queensland Raceway. – GRANT ROWLEY

Another Tasmanian Devil set for US NASCAR

OWEN Kelly will leave Australia on Tuesday, heading for the United States of America to compete in NASCARstyle Late Model competition. As first reported by eNews (Issue #036), Kelly will drive for JR Motorsport, the team owned by Dale Earnhardt Jr. Kelly will have one test of his Chevrolete Monte Carlo before his debut race with the team, and told eNews that he is there to run competitively.

“They have hired me. Dale isn’t doing this for fun,” he said. “They see it as an investment, so we’ve just got to tick-off each of the boxes as I learn and see how it goes.” Kelly will spend a minimum of one season in Late Model, and admitted that he’d like to go all the way up the NASCAR ranks. “I think [racing in the Sprint Cup] is realistic,” he said. “It will be hard. As you can see, Marcos (Ambrose) is doing a fantastic job. But

no one just goes out there and wins everything. It’s hard to stand out in the crowd, so you’ve just got to do your best. “There isn’t really a defined, clear career path. There’s a lot of ways to get there. Some people have gone straight from Late Model to Busch (Nationwide), you can go to ARCA, or Busch East.” The Tasmanian will reside in Mooresville, North Carolina, and will compete in his first race for the year at Virginia on April 5. – GRANT ROWLEY

Dirk Klynsmith

Small Toyotas AUSSIE RACING CARS AUSSIE Racing Cars will have Toyota Aurions competing, possibly before the end of the year. The Aussie Racing Car team is believed to be building as many as four Aurions, based on the TRD example, left. Expect to see former class champions James and Brad Ward race in them, as well as Tasmanian Toyota dealership owner Adam Gowans. And the possibility of celebrity drivers racing in the cars is said to be high. Toyota’s rally drivers Simon Evans and Neal Bates would both be ideal candidates for this role ...

International Crusher PUBLIC RELATIONS

Dirk Klynsmith

BAM Media is expanding its influence, with new offices in Melbourne and Charlotte. Long-time motorsport PR mover and shaker Brett ‘Crusher’ Murray is moving to North Carolina with his family to establish his new US office, which will continue its role with Team Australia and Marcos Ambrose, as well as several to-be-identified projects.

In the meantime, BAM will also open a Melbourne base, which will be closely involved with CAMS. BAM man and former Motorsport News staffer Chris Jordan will oversee the Victorian office. BAM will continue to operate its Gold Coast office, and maintain clients such the Gold Coast Indy 300, Orrcon Racing and Willowbank Raceway.

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V8 stars for Commodore opener

James Smith

Holdsworth and Owen set to take on Commodore Cup regulars at OP COMMODORE CUP

“I’ve never driven one of the cars before, but that won’t be a problem,” he said. “It’s always good to race something new and drive against some different guys. I definitely support the event and do whatever it takes to make it a success.” The 2008 Commodore Cup Series will be conducted over six rounds within the Shannons Nationals Motor Racing Championship, commencing at Oran Park (April 26). – GRANT ROWLEY John Morris/Mpix

V8 SUPERCAR drivers Lee Holdsworth and Steve Owen will compete in the first round Commodore Cup at Oran Park next month, with the category dedicating its opening round to the late Ashley Cooper. Cooper spent a considerable amount of time competing in the national Commodore Cup Series, finishing fourth in the 2005 series before moving to V8 Utes and the Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series. Holdsworth, who started his circuit racing career in Commodore Cup before ultimately becoming a V8 Supercar round winner, is hoping that the presence of some top-line drivers will add further significance to the event.

“I’m going to race in it to show some support to Ashley’s family and friends,” Holdsworth said. “It’s a good way to show how much he meant to Commodore Cup and motorsport in general. “Through Commodore Cup, my family are very close to his. Brett (Lee’s older brother) knew him very well and they went through Commodore side-by-side before they moved up to the Fujitsu V8 Series together. “I hope the event can be a success for everyone involved.” Owen, who will drive for Dick Johnson Racing in this year’s V8 endurance events, has not raced a Commodore Cup car before.

... while the category gets an overhaul COMMODORE CUP AFTER a turbulent year in 2007, Commodore Cup has a new management structure with a renewed direction. Commodore Cup members recently voted to grant car owners the rights to manage the category under contract to the Commodore Racing Association of Australia.

The car owners have formed a company, with the aim of improving category management, help control racing costs and make Commodore Cup a more sustainable category. The new management company has already flagged a number of cost-cutting areas, including control fuel and tyre limits.

Glen Holdsworth, father of V8 Supercar drivers Lee and Brett, has been appointed the Acting President. ‘We’re looking forward from here,” he told eNews. “The response to the latest change has been really fantastic and we’re looking forward to a good year of racing under a well-managed category.

“The cars are close to V8s and very affordable. Commodore Cup gives young guys a taste of what V8s may be like. “We have a business plan and that sees it marketed towards karting graduates as a stepping stone to moving into the higher ranks of motorsport.” – GRANT ROWLEY

news

NASCAR Media

Jarrett says Goodbye Dale drives his final Cup race at Bristol

NASCAR SPRINT CUP

Honda Fightback WORLD SUPERBIKES HONDA and Ducati may have had opposite starts to the 2008 World Superbike Championship but two of their ‘satellite’ teams set the pace in the recent test at Valencia. After Ruben Xaus set the pace on the second day of testing, Karl Muggeridge took the top slot on his DF Racing Honda CBR1000RR, right, on the final day. The Aussie left the unofficial circuit record at 1m34.252s, a fraction quicker than the mark set the day before by Xaus’s Sterilgarda Go Eleven Ducati. “This bike has got a lot of potential,” said a delighted Muggeridge. “I didn’t go as well in race setup but for the Spanish round,

Honda Pro Images

THERE wasn’t a dry eye in the house at Bristol on the weekend, as Dale Jarrett made his final NASCAR Cup start. The 1999 champion brought down the curtain on a 24-year career in his 667th start – and even if he lined up 37th, the start of the race was something he will never forget. After a lap of honour in a Chevrolet Corvette driven by father Ned (himself a twotime Cup champion) the older Jarrett flagged off the field for the Food City 500, in which his son finished 37th. Michael Waltrip Racing will now shuffle its drivers, with Jarrett’s UPS ride being filled by David Reutimman, and Michael McDowell moving into Reutimann’s seat. Jarrett’s driving career will formally come to an end at the non-points May All-Star race, prior to moving into the commentary box with ESPN.

we’ll have some new electronic parts, so I’m feeling confident. The DF Racing guys are doing a great job and I think we’re going to get some good results this season”. Ducati Xerox’s Troy Bayliss and Michael Fabrizio skipped the test, leaving Lorenzo Lanzi

to take third on the uprated RG Ducati, from the Hondas of Carlos Checa and Ryuichi Kiyonari. Suzuki’s Fonsi Nieto, the only rider other than Bayliss to win a race this season, was sixth from team-mate Max Neukirchner and Yukio Kagayama.

5 Minutes with ...

GARTH TANDER

‘GT’ at the AGP, but the reigning Champ says he’s still getting comfortable

GRANT ROWLEY

MOTORSPORT NEWS: Three starts, three wins. The #1 HRT Commodore must be close to perfect. GARTH TANDER: Yeah, the car was fantastic all weekend. We just put our heads down and stayed away from all the Ford guys, who kept in running into each other. Look, it’s a fantastic result for not only our team, but for all the Holden teams. HSV Dealer Team were up there, Morris’s were up there, Team BOC, and Mark (Skaife) was there, so from a manufacturer’s point of view, Holden did a fantastic job.

Would you like to have points scored at this round? Well, not in the Manufacturer’s Challenge format, but I think everytime we take these cars out of the truck, we should be racing for points. At the end of the day, it costs a lot of money to bring the cars

Dirk Klynsmith

What was your impression of the Manufacturer’s Challenge race format? To be honest with you, I didn’t really read the rules going into the weekend. I was just picking it up as I went along. But if you qualify up the front and finish up the front, you’re going to get half a reasonable result. I think most of the drivers worked the format out as the race weekend went along, so yeah, it was something different. A lot of people sprayed it, a lot of people praised it. I think it offered some exciting racing, from what I hear. Everyone’s always going to have different views on different formats.

We’re probably three months away from everything being all tickety-boo garth TANDER reckons there is even more to come ... here and the damage that is involved. Whether it’s possible is another thing, given that the race is such a logistical nightmare for the V8 teams. Every time we race, we should be racing for points. I think a lot of things happened this weekend as a result of the format. After a difficult first round, everything seems to be settling down now. The Clipsal dramas were just mechanical problems. So there’s nothing wrong with the speed of the car. The car is fast. We were leading when the car failed and we were charging through the field the second time.

Again, there’s no problem with the speed. The communication between the team is working fine. Everything is moving forward. We are a little behind in the championship now, but we are focused on December, not March. While you have the familiar faces of Rob Crawford (team manager) and Matt Nielson (engineer) with you at your new team, can you sense a culture difference between HRT and HSV? Yeah, there’s a little bit of a culture difference. But that would be the case, whatever new team you went to. So, it’s a matter of working together to

achieve the common goal. The guys have been really good like that. ‘Techo’ (Nielson) and I changed a few things, and we’ve changed the way we do a few things, but we’ve all got the same goal at the end of the day. It was just a matter of taking some of the good stuff that we did and some of the good stuff that they did, putting it together and moving forward. How long will it be before it all feels totally natural within the team? Oh, we’re pretty close now. We’re probably three months away from everything being all tickety-boo.

chat

Dirk Klynsmith

Letters

Have your say, email us at mail@mnews.com.au. Keep letters to the point. In your place, Brad In response to Brad Jones’s comments at the Australian F1 Grand Prix about tyres being on the inside of the curbs at the Australian F1 Grand Prix meeting. Anyone would think that the whole weekend was all about the V8 supercars, and not Formula 1. His suggestion to replace the temporary tyres located on the apexs of corners at the GP with bollards is not only ridiculous and dangerous for the F1 cars, but goes to prove he thinks that the V8s are more important over the weekend than Formula 1. It is the Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix weekend, and as much as Brad may try to ignore it, V8 Supercars are just a support class. F1 is the real reason people go, and you only have to look at the crowds

that watched F1 qualifying on Saturday, and then the crowds that watched the V8 Supercars race 30 minutes later, to realise that a fair percentage of people left their spots because they didn’t find the V8s interesting enough. Rob Hietbrink Melbourne Fixing Eastern Creek If V8SA is serious about addressing the problem of low attendances at Eastern Creek rounds, I believe that the first thing to address is providing more information to the paying customers. I was situated on the hill between Turns 2, 3 and 4, and nobody knew anything that was happening during the race, since we couldn’t hear the PA system, and there was no screen to show what was happening on the other side

of the track. It seems that if you’re not in the grandstand, then you’re a second class citizen. The Eastern Creek website didn’t bother to mention that you had to get a car pass to park inside, and it was left up to one harassed woman at the south gate to bear the frustrations of people trying to enter. The ARDC should take a couple of trips to Oran Park to see how to organise things properly. Maybe the wrong racetrack is being turned into a housing estate. Peter Hickey via email A love letter to Bernie So Bernie doesn’t want Melbourne any more unless run under lights for Euro TV. Will they be broadcasting their races at night so we don’t

lose any sleep? Who cares if we lose it? Boring! Lets get in contact with the amalgamated IRL/CART group as a replacement. Definitely no bull and no tossers. Gordon Dicksen gordon@dqh.com.au Grid girls have their place Reference is made to the last two issues with the promotional girls attracting some space. Promo/grid girls have been part of this sport for as long as I can remember and I agree that their presence at more events over recent years may have been on the increase – but so what. The XXXX Angels are new along with the concept of a dance routine before the race. They are professional dancers who perhaps are paid more

opinion

Red, Red Bulls and Red Faces DINING with a four-time Champ Car series winner is always bound to be interesting, but I found a sit-down with Sebastien Bourdais last week very, very interesting … For starters, the likeable Frenchman chose to tackle a bottle of red wine with the author, rather than the boring (and clichéd) “sparkling water please” that the other drivers at the function uttered to the waitress. But I digress. As you’d expect pre-AGP, on the eve of no-Traction Control in F1, the topic got on to whether Bourdais would have advantage over the rest of the pack coming in from Champ Car, where electronic aids are non-existent. “Not at all,” he said, “I might not have had TC, but I did have plenty of mechanical grip from the tyres, which now I do not have. “Remember that every car you drive before F1, like F3 or even Champ Car, the mechanical grip and the aero grip work together exponentially. Not in F1, you have all of this aerodynamic grip and

than some of the drivers on the under card these days. It is any parents prerogative as what they would like their daughters to aspire too, yet I don’t think that professional dancing is necessarily a bad gig. Cheerleaders, dancers & promo girls are a function of the sponsors/marketing companies accounting for every dollar into and out of our sport. In this day and age this is required and yes the wowsers, unless they want to cover this, should stay out of it. Matthew Kirby email address withheld

opinion Andrew van Leeuwen mNews National Editor when it disappears you have no grip at all, because of the grooved tyres. It’s so different to any other car.” Bourdais continued: “Losing Traction Control isn’t the problem, it’s the engine braking. When you follow a car it takes away all your aero and when you brake the car has no grip. Before you would just brake and let the engine braking sort it out, but now you can’t. “And traffic will be hard because I found at Barcelona in testing that a Honda affects your car differently to, say, a McLaren. “So no, I don’t have any advantage over anyone.” So the point is that taking away the driver aids will probably make overtaking, and that point was illustrated at Albert Park on the weekend when Kimi spent lap after lap behind “held off” by Rubens, and

then muscled his way past and instantly found a couple of seconds a lap. The post-race reports all praised Barrichello’s efforts, he probably whispered “thanks” to his Honda’s rear wing when no-one was looking. Formula 1 is pretty much a lost cause when it comes to overtaking, a point made no clearer than when the European journos went nuts when Heikki Kovalainen pulled a relatively straightforward move on Alonso late in Sunday’s race. What if these F1 gurus had seen the Aussie Racing Cars race? Anyway, I make this point because soon enough it will be time for the unified open-wheel series in America to make a new chassis (the Dallaras are old and the Panozes don’t suit ovals), and they have the chance to get it right. Slick tyres, just enough aero to stop them flying into the crowd at Homestead, and we will have a corker race when the circus rolls into the Gold Coast every October (or whenever). And then, send the design plans to Bernie …

eLETTER OF THE WEEK Tomas is on the right track I know Tomas Mezera is going to cop some stick for his driving standards, but I hope his approach works. Allowing the drivers to actually drive is a novel, but welcome idea. My problem, though, was with the constant blocking.

There’s nothing wrong with placing your car just right so you keep speed and defend well against a pass. John Bowe was famous for it. But the garbage that was carrying on at the hairpin – blocking up against the inside wall under braking?

That’s not good. All it does is annoy the fans. And create massive nose-totail freight-trains where it gets harder for anyone to do anything without a shunt. For my mind, this is the aspect of Driving Standards that really needs to be addressed. “Hard but Fair” should be the motto. Not “win even if it means I have to block for 70-odd laps.” Prud email address withheld

Horspwr Clothing is giving away a t-shirt each week for the most creative letter. Send yours to mail@mnews.com.au, or Motorsport News PO Box 7072, Brighton, Vic 3186 21

AKA SPRINT KART NATIONALS PREVIEW – LAUNCESTON, TAS

The Plate Race

The Yamaha Australian Sprint Kart Nationals is the most prestigious karting event in the country. MARK WICKS looks at the favourites for this weekend’s Green and Gold plate race in Tasmania KARTING

EARLY 300 entries across 10 classes, six of which are oversubscribed, means the 2008 Yamaha AKA Sprint Kart Nationals at Launceston will be more than an Easter treat. Picking potential winners in kart racing is laced with danger, particularly since the competitors, coming from different parts of the country, don’t usually race against each other on a regular basis. There is a core of semi-pro drivers who chase the big meetings, but at circuits such as Archerville, local experts can just as easily pull out a win. In Clubman Light, Bart Price is fresh off victory at the Vic Open. Matthew Hayes is desperate to earn Phoenix a green plate and these two went head-to-head at last year’s Tassie Titles – which Hayes won. Quite a few of last year’s top juniors are running this class, Zeke Edwards in particular is in with a shot. But keep an

eye on the seasoned campaigners such as Jason Burns and the Sera cousins. And just where the Japanese driver Akari Iwai will fit into that is anyone’s guess. Troy Hunt has a good chance of defending the Heavy crown but Matt Wall, Jason Hryniuk, Peter Lawler, Lee Mitchener, Brendan Nelson, Paul Pittam and a few locals such as Zane Wyatt should run him close. The 2008 Leopard Light title will be won before the 2007 title has been resolved. David Sera crossed the line first last year at Eastern Creek, but post-race appeals and hearings have yet to produce a definitive outcome, resulting in this absurd situation. Sera will be the one to catch, but Leopard Light is arguably the class of the meeting with top line drivers oozing from the entry list: Price, Wall, Burns, Hryniuk, Hayden McBride, James Sera, Grant Smith, the Kandola brothers, Ryan Sanderson, Adam Hughes, Aiden Shelton, Lee Mitchener, Stefan Millard… and on it goes. Even Jason and Dion Wyllie are back in the

saddle and could be on for a placing. In Leopard Heavy, look for Ben Walter to be the pace-setter. Rick Pringle moves into Clubman Super Heavy and will fight with Champion Scott Simpson and Jason Stania. Brad Segda could be the best-performed local. James Kovacic and Scott McLaughlin are the favourites in Junior Clubman but a huge list of drivers will be fighting for the podium, led by Queenslanders Christopher Hayes and Matthew Brabham, plus Gary Jacobson from Victoria. Kovacic should also be at the pointy end in Junior National Light but Cameron Waters is having a ripper debut season in this class and will be tough to beat. The Junior National classes should see a local on the podium, but probably not the top step. The Senior National classes are popular on the Apple Isle so a local win would not be unexpected. However a handful of speedy ‘J drivers from Victoria and NSW will be tough to beat.

race

Ash Budd

race

A lap

The fast way around Archerville Multiple Australian Champion DAVID SERA describes a lap around the Archerville Raceway aboard his Arrow-J&A

”A

S you cross the start/ finish line you are flat out and don’t back off entering the fast right hander at the end of the straight. The starts are very interesting here and if you are on the outside row you’ve got to be very careful not to get pushed off the edge of the track. “The next double left-hander needs to be taken with a narrowto-a-middle line on entry, otherwise you will end up having someone sneak up on the inside of you. If you do end up having someone slip inside you through here, you’ll more than likely end up right on the outside of the track on the exit and lose a lot of momentum. “After a short straight you then enter a short, flat-out, sweeping left-hander which takes you onto the back straight – which is the fastest point on the circuit with a top speed of around 100 kmh. Given this is probably the hardest braking point on the track, it is where many passing moves are made as well. “Entering the left-hander at the end of the back straight is pretty tricky. There is a groove in the surface which acts a little bit like a berm in motocross. If you hit it right, it pulls you around the

THERE IS A GROOVE IN THE SURFACE WHICH ACTS A LITTLE LIKE A BERM IN MOTOCROSS. DAVID SERA

corner but if you hit it wrong it is very hard to make the apex. Exiting this corner you have to be very careful – a lot of people run a little bit wide, drop a wheel off, and end up breaking a chain which ends their race. “From here, you go along a short straight into a tight right hander. If you don’t have anyone close behind you, it is good to run wide on the entry and apex which can give you a nice tight line on the exit. “After another short straight you approach a sweeping left corner, which you have to just back off a just a little bit to settle the kart. It is a lot better off to wash off speed on the entry and get a smooth exit rather than fight the kart all the way through after carrying too much speed into the corner. It is also important not to hit the ripple strip through here otherwise you can find

State-by-State

ENTRIES

yourself in all sorts of bother. “You then go up the hill and approach the tight left corner. This is a crucial corner because it affects your straight-line speed coming onto the main straight. It is here where I expect a number of last lap moves will be made. “After exiting the very tight left it is downhill, into a short right and back onto the main straight again. All going well, a good lap time in the Leopard Light category should be around the 33-second bracket.”

VIC: TAS: NSW: QLD: SA: WA:

101 84 48 36 10 7

Official practice begins on Wednesday (March 19) followed by qualifying on Friday, heat races on Saturday and the championship finals on Sunday.

V8 SUPERCAR CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES MANUFACTURERS CHALLENGE, AGP

Party on, Garth Garth Tander delivered one of the most dominating round performances in recent history. It’s a pity it wasn’t for points. GRANT ROWLEY reports

race

Dirk Klynsmith

ARTH Tander secured his first round win as a Holden Racing Team driver at the Australian Grand Prix – but his championship hopes are no better or no worse off. The reigning Champ totally dominated the inaugural Sprint Gas V8 Supercar Manufacturer’s Challenge at Albert Park. Unfortunately, there were no official points on the line – only Holden versus Ford glory. Holden won the Challenge with 2012 points over Ford’s 1568. The actual Manufacturer’s Challenge element of the weekend went by without a whimper. The good news is that it didn’t take away from the racing, but the bad news

was that is was pointless. This was proved by the Ford team, who were more often than not running into their ‘team-mates.’ Steven Richards took himself and Craig Lowndes out of top three positions at the start of Race 1. Neither recovered over the weekend. James Courtney and Jason Bright then decided to tango. Two door-banging sessions in one lap ended with crashing consequences. Finally, Jamie Whincup and Mark Winterbottom had a brilliant dice early in Race 3, until they touched, sending Winterbottom into the wall. Whincup was handed a drivethrough penalty but retired with a reported flat tyre. Both drivers were out on the spot.

Not that any of this really mattered. Tander was in a class of his own, leading every lap of the weekend. And to underline his speed, he set the weekend’s fastest lap on the fifth lap of the final race (1m59.8210s). It was the only time a driver had dipped into the sub-2 minute mark in the races. If Tander carries this form until the end of the year, he’ll be Champion by Bathurst! Second for the round went to Will Davison. The Jim Beam Racing driver has grown a third leg over the past two weekends and is on top of his game. The only weakness he reported was a lack of pace at the restarts. Rick Kelly was third overall, continuing his ever-consistent efforts. The only blot in his

copybook was a poor start in Race 3, which was fixed when Whincup and Winterbottom took care of each other. Old rivals Mark Skaife and Russell Ingall were fourth and fifth, in front of an impressive Cameron McConville. The Team WOW driver also had his team-mate Andrew Jones inside the top 10 as well, giving everyone the best indication yet that the speed of the Albury Commodores isn’t a flash in the pan. There were a number of stewards issues as well, but no serious fines were handed out. Greg Murphy had a sizeable biff against the wall after a clash with Marcus Marshall, while Shane Price’s car caught fire after a clash with Shane Van Gisbergen.

race

John Morris/Mpix

James Smth

Beamster: Will Davison topped off his Eastern Creek success with more podiums at Albert Park. And as ever, Rick Kelly was never far from the front. John Morris/Mpix

Mate versus mate? Richo touched off Lowndes, top, before Courtney and Bright clashed repeatedly. It was a bad weekend for Fords hitting Fords, and it all helped Holden’s domination of the Manufacturer’s Challnege

V8 Supercar | SPRINT GAS CHALLENGE, ALBERT PARK Pos# Marshall Cass

Command and conquer: Most expected Garth Tander to be strong in 2008, but few imagined that he could be this dominant, this early. Above, he streaks away from the pack in Race 1. This was as close as anyone got the whole weekend. Gassed up: Andrew Jones, below, scored seventh in Race 2, a personal best in the Main Series.

Driver

Team/Car

Dirk Klynsmith

1 1 Garth Tander Toll HRT Commodore VE 2 18 Will Davison Jim Beam Falcon BF 3 15 Rick Kelly HSV Dealer Team Commodore VE 4 2 Mark Skaife Toll HRT Commodore VE 5 39 Russell Ingall Supercheap Auto Commodore VE 6 14 Cameron McConville Team WOW Commodore VE 7 17 Steven Johnson Jim Beam Falcon BF 8 5 Mark Winterbottom Ford Performance Racing Falcon BF 9 33 Lee Holdsworth Valvoline Cummins Commodore VE 10 3 Jason Richards Tasman Motorsport Commodore VE 11 88 Jamie Whincup TeamVodafone Falcon BF 12 12 Andrew Jones Team BOC Commodore VE 13 4 James Courtney Jeld-Wen Falcon BF 14 7 Todd Kelly Jack Daniel’s Commodore VE 15 6 Steven Richards Ford Performance Racing Falcon BF 16 111 Fabian Coulthard Glenfords Falcon BF 17 55 Tony D’Alberto Rod Nash Racing Commodore VE 18 25 Jason Bright Fujitsu Falcon BF 19 9 Shane Van Gisbergen SP Tools Falcon BF 20 888 Craig Lowndes TeamVodafone Falcon BF 21 51 Greg Murphy Tasman Motorsport Commodore VE 22 34 Michael Caruso Valvoline Cummins Commodore VE 23 50 Andrew Thompson PWR Racing Commodore VE 24 26 Marcus Marshall Irwin Falcon VE 25 11 Shane Price Jack Daniel’s Commodore VE 26 777 Michael Patrizi Ausdrill Ford Rising Stars Falcon BF 27 021 Kayne Scott Team Kiwi Racing Falcon BF 28 16 Paul Dumbrell Autobarn Racing Commodore VE

Q R1 R2 R3 1 1 1 1 4 2 2 2 5 3 4 3 8 4 6 4 11 14 8 5 9 8 10 8 10 7 15 9 7 5 3 DNF 18 11 9 12 6 9 11 13 12 6 5 DNF 16 12 7 25 13 24 14 7 21 16 13 18 3 DNF 12 6 17 20 17 11 22 18 19 15 15 23 16 14 14 15 21 19 2 13 DNF 10 19 10 DNF 16 25 25 18 17 24 22 24 23 27 26 22 22 26 17 DNF 21 28 21 DNF 20 27 DNF 23 24 20 19 DNF 9

sutton-images.com

KISS and make up ... FROM THE COUCH Paul Marinelli ONE of the things that stuck out for me at Albert Park over the weekend was the impatience of the younger drivers. The Tanders, Skaifes and Ingalls really showed how you should drive in a race like that – trying to make up as much ground as you can without getting into trouble. What we saw with Jamie Whincup and Mark Winterbottom could have been avoided, from both drivers accounts. It seems the young guys can’t distingush the difference between a normal championship round and an event like this where the objective was for Ford to beat Holden. They didn’t get the concept. Holden’s guys seemed to understand it and they drove accordingly. You didn’t see them drive into each other, or even get near each other. But for me, Garth Tander and HRT were outstanding. He is a first-class driver and will be hard to beat this year. After the racing, I went to the KISS concert, and I will tell you all, that was the best rock and roll show ever, without any doubt. I’ve seen KISS a few times before, but that was outstanding. Paul Marinelli is the V8 Supercar Championship Series commentator, a mad KISS fan and was a spectator at the AGP.

BRAKES: An Albert Iss V8 SUPERCARS’s new Alcon brake package got the tick of approval by most teams at the Albert Park circuit. The track is best known as a tough track on brakes, with six big stops putting the new Alcon rotors to the test. As usual, there were complaints of brake fade, but nothing that isn’t common ground at the Melbourne street track. Ford Performance Racing team manager Tim Edwards told eNews that the Albert Park circuit is the hardest brakes on not only the V8 tour, but also the Formula 1 calendar. “This is probably the hardest for the year,” he said. “Hamilton is going to be hard. It will be interesting to see how they perform there. Indy is pretty hard, but here, the brakes just don’t have time to recover. The new Alcon rotor appears to be much better, though, which is good news. “Even in Formula 1, this is probably the toughest. The only other track that is harder is Monza. It’s just the nature of the circuit.” – GRANT ROWLEY

Bundles of fun or ancient tec IN all three V8 Supercar races over the weekend, drivers had to keep one eye on the opposition, one eye on the shift lights and a third eye on stray tyre bundles. The main offender was the turn 11 and 12 bundle. At least once in each race, yellow flags were displayed to warn drivers

that there was an obstruction on the circuit. In this writer’s opinion, when the racing is as processional as what we saw, you need to have all passing places available at all times ... Round winner Garth Tander commented that the organisers need to evaluate the situation.

“We don’t need tyre bundles. It’s 21st century technology. You just can’t have them like that,” he said. “They aren’t held down with anything. They’re just sitting on the side of the road. As soon as a car hits one, it grabs it and pulls it onto the road. Ridiculous.” Tander said that if other tracks

sue Teams race? Pfft ...

Dirk Klynsmith

Lets give the V8 race at the Grand Prix some meaning

GREAT to see the V8 Supercars back at the Grand Prix. There’s no doubt that, especially with the late start to the main event on Sunday, the V8s provide the next level of interest, especially for those at the track. There is significant interest among the visiting circus when the V8s come out to play – GP commentator Martin Brundle among those to pull up in front of a monitor as Sunday’s race went green. But, and it must have seemed like a good idea at the time, the ‘team race’ concept needs to go back whence it came.

opinion Chris Lambden mNews Publisher

In the end, the guys just raced, as they pretty much usually do. Other than adding up a few points, there was no team aspect. There were no team managers and, most embarrassingly, ‘team members’ were having each other off all over the place. If V8 Supercars are to race in a non-championship format at the GP, let’s at least have a meaningful contest, with

something at the end of it. Given the late start (and possibly later next year) to the F1 race, there is the potential to have a V8 race, on Sunday, of meaningful length, requiring stops. There are a couple of logistics matters there, but nothing serious. How about the Sprint Gas 250? And while we’re at it, what are the chances of incorporating it in the championship? Again, I’m sure it’s just paperwork, negotiation, a new look at some outdated philosophy. If V8s are to be at the event, let’s make it a serious race.

chnology? Dirk Klynsmith

can master the application of tyre bundles, then so should the Grand Prix. “We run a lot of tyre bundles at circuits. Adelaide and Indy use them. Indy they have pretty much sorted it with cones and things like that, but this here is an ongoing issue.” – GRANT ROWLEY

Congratulations, Simon: Holden Motorsport boss Simon McNamara receives the Manufacturer’s trophy.

CARRERA CUP ROUND 2 – ALBERT PARK

Dirk Klynsmith

race

Second, Best

Craig Baird may have won the second round of Carrera Cup at Albert Park last weekend, but he only did so on a count-back, thanks to a consistent effort from Dean Fiore. ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN was there 33

ECOND place can be as good as first – just ask Dean Fiore. The young gun came home second four times at last weekend’s second round of the 2008 Carrera Cup at Albert Park, but still finished the round equal on points with round winner Craig Baird. Baird, meanwhile, was easily the most successful driver, taking the chequered flag first three times in the four races. But a fifth place finish in the first race was enough to let Fiore even the score by the end of the weekend. But the story could have been so different, and Baird could well have cleanswept the Grand Prix meet had it not been for a rare ‘lose’ in the opening race. Having qualified second behind firsttime pole-sitter Aaron Caratti, ‘Bairdo’ spent the first seven laps following the West Aussie very closely. But when he made his move for the lead on the last lap, Caratti was up to the task, and Baird spun back to fifth. His weekend was soon back on track when Caratti and Fiore spun into each other on the run to Turn 3 on the first lap of Race 2. Caratti dropped to the back of the field and Fiore lost the lead to Baird; Game Over. “I’m disappointed that I didn’t get to the top step of that podium,” said Fiore. “[But] two podiums in the first two rounds is a great way to start the Championship and it gives me a good base to launch my title hopes from.” David Russell finished third for the round, which was a great save, given he qualified just 13th. By the second race he was on the podium, and despite a close call with a spinning Bryce Washington in the final, held on for a round podium. But he was almost disposed from the round podium by Caratti, who seemed to be on a high after his maiden Carrera Cup win in Race 1. Despite falling back to 12th thanks to the Race 2 clash with Fiore, Caratti still came home with a decent result. Race 3 saw an amazing charge from the former F3 champ, who at one point made up three places in the space of a lap. By the end of the final, he was back on the race podium … “We were definitely unlucky in Race 2 to get knocked out of the lead like that,” he said. “But we fought back and turned a bad situation into a not-so-bad situation.” Points: Baird 384, Fiore 366, Russell 321, Caratti 249, Washington 225.

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Fast and furious: Aaron Caratti took his maiden win in Race 1, but spent the rest of the weekend playing catch-up after a R2 tangle with Fiore.

Crunch time: Andrew Moffat went home with a bent car, above, while Jono Lester had two cracks at bending his, right and right below. Bryce Washington’s car was straight in the image below, but it wasn’t by the end of the final race ...

Marshall Cass

Take a Bowe

JB continued the 2008 dominance of the Coopers Ferrari in Australian GT AUSTRALIAN GT

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JOHN Bowe has taken out Round 3 of the Australian GT Championship at the 2008 Formula One ING Australian Grand Prix. In a one-off drive in the championship, Bowe kept his head over a difficult weekend of racing. “We had to work away at the car all weekend to make it behave better, but it all came together in the end,” said Bowe. “This is probably going to be the only race I’m going to do in the category this year,” confirmed Bowe following his round win, “but it’s great fun, it’s just really good motorsport.” Hector Lestor took pole from Bowe in a close qualifying session, however Bowe, starting from the preferred side of the grid took control from the rolling start. After building a small gap mid-race, due mainly to a battle behind involving Peter Lucas, Darcy Russell, and Mark Eddy, Bowe’s efforts were almost destroyed after a backmarker gave Lester the opportunity for a last lap lunge. Race 2 saw Lester take the lead from Bowe following the start. Kaias continued the strong pace shown in Race 1 by moving the Aston into third behind the leading duo. Unfortunately for Kaias, his enthusiasm

spun Bowe on lap 3 following an ambitious passing manoeuvre. Lester remained clear of the carnage to take a comfortable win from Eddy in the Lamborghini. In the third of the weekend’s four races, Bowe continued his charge through the field following his Race 2 incident, eventually making his way to second by races end. After a strong start, contact with Bowe in Turn 9 forced Lester to begin a similar assault through the field. Eddy was left alone to take the win with David Stevens rounding out the top three in his Ferrari Challenge. Sunday’s final race was set for an exiting

encounter, and Bowe delivered by setting multiple fastest laps on the way to his second win for the weekend. Eddy was able to consolidate his strong position from the previous race to come home in second, which also secured him second for the round. After weaving his way back through the field, Lester took third for the race and the weekend in his Ferrari GT3. The next round of the championship is at Oran Park. – PHILLIP MAHONEY Points: Simonsen 234, Eddy 178.5, Lilley 170.5, Lestor 143.25, Stevens 136.75.

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How ‘bout an autograph, Richie? Rapa took round honours at Albert Park, but Small gave him plenty to think about

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AUSSIE RACING CARS

James Smith

AFTER an immensely close battle with star substitute James Small, Richie Rapa has taken his maiden round win in Round 2 of the Aussie Racing Cars Super Series at the Formula One ING Australian Grand Prix last weekend. Rapa and Small traded race wins for the weekend as the round came down to a final race decider. Both drivers managed to stay clear of the carnage as Safety Car periods plagued the early races. Rapa was fast and aggressive all weekend and was pushed by Small till the very end. “The first win is always the hardest and we’ve done that now,” said Rapa. “We can now go into the next round full of confidence and with a good understanding of

the car.” Small took first honours in Race 1 after a great battle with Rapa, as both drivers came from down the grid to take command from Adam Gowans and James Ward. Rapa and Small continued their battle at the front in Race 2 as the rest of the field did their best to put themselves out of contention with a variety of crashes. This saw Race 2’s proceedings dominated by the Safety Car, as green flag laps were few and far between. Obviously some talking was done before Race 3, as the drivers managed to keep their cars of the walls for its entirety. Rapa and Small took up where they left off with a great battle, which lasted all race and saw Small grab the win on the final lap. Ben McCashney recovered from a disastrous first race to

slip past Gowans on the last lap to take third. The final race of the weekend lived up to all expectations and provided some of the best racing all season. The RapaSmall duo fought hard with McCashney and Nick Simmons. Some slight understeer from Small handed Rappa the round on the last lap and enabled

McCashney to slide though to second. Paul Kemal battled all weekend after a strong showing at Eastern Creek and struggled to fifth for the round. – PHILLIP MAHONEY Points: Kemal 98, McCashney 94, Lawrence 92, Gowans 91, Rapa 91, Carr 89, Phillips 86, Clews 84, Ward 83, Gretgrix 82.

Porsche and Davo star

Alex Davison finishes second in class as Porsche runs riot at the Sebring 12 Hour SEBRING 12 HOUR

Porsche lovers rejoice: Above, Bernhard/Dumas/ Collard celebrate their overall win at Sebring – the first round of the American Le Mans Series. It’s been a good week for Team Davison: Alex Davison, second driver from left, is surrounded by his Flying Lizard team-mates.

Porsche

ALEX Davison scored a great result in the Sebring 12 Hour, in a race where four cars fought for outright honours. Davison and co-drivers Darren Law and Seth Nieman finished second in the GT2 category, behind Flying Lizard team-mates Jorg Bergmeister, Wolf Henzler and Marc Lieb, but all eyes were on the battle between Porsche, Acura and Audi at the front of the field. The Romain Dumas/Timo Bernhard/Emmanuel Collard Porsche carried the day, 13s ahead of the Fernandez Acura entry of Adrian Fernandez/Luiz Diaz after a gripping race. But that all changed when the Fernandez entry was DQ’d after failing post-race inspection. That meant that Butch Leitzinger/ Marino Franchitti/Lally were promoted to second in the Dyson Porsche entry. It was a tough weekend for the diesels. Audi’s hopes of a ninth straight win ended when turbo and brake problems delayed its two entries, while Peugeot’s sole 908 fought for the early lead until hydraulic issues.

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Flippin’ Fiats Luke Darcy put a 500 on its roof, while a Motocross hero dominated the Celebrities CELEBRITY RACE AS ever, this year’s Celebrity Challenge saw plenty of action as famous Australian sporting stars turned into inexperienced racing drivers at the Albert Park circuit last weekend.

After some initial driver training at Sandown last week, the celebrities battled their way though two races in newlytuned Fiat 500s. Incidents were aplenty as confidence levels rose and the stars came to grips with their vehicles. In Race 2, AFL

star Luke Darcy rolled his Fiat into the barrier, pictured above, before Motocross rider and eventual winner Robbie Maddison spun behind the Safety Car. Maddison controlled, apart from his minor spin, what was a fun weekend taking pole and

both races as ex-Collingwood captain Nathan Buckley and Skier Steve Lee traded places on the lower steps of the podium. Guy Leech (Ironman) and Mark Philippoussis (Tennis) both managed to stay clear of any incident and finished fourth and fifth respectively.

Drewer wins in the United States

SOUTH Australian Tom Drewer has made a stellar start to his international career, winning both L2 races at the IMSA Lites season-opener in Sebring on the weekend. The former AMRS Thundersports champ quickly adapted to an updated version of his West WR1000 sports racer, and the American junior series, qualifying second fastest and dominating both races (including lowering the lap record in both outings). “Racing at the historic Sebring circuit has always been an ambition of mine,” said Drewer. “To come here for the first time and win both races in L2 is pretty special, especially as this is my first round in the IMSA Lites. “In some ways [Race 2] was all about

managing my track position, unlike yesterday where I had to storm through the field. “It was a little disappointing to not maintain my starting position of 10th [outright] but we always expected a couple of the faster L1 cars to be coming

through after incidents in Race 1.” Outright honours went to Jonathan Goring in an L1 Elan DP02, while the L2 podium was completed by fellow West drivers Alain Nadal and Alex Gonzarlez. The next round is at Millers Motorsport Park on May 17.

NASCAR SPRINT CUP ROUND 5 – BRISTOL, TENN

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When Joe Gibbs Racing and Toyota dropped the ball, Jeff Burton struck to lead an RCR sweep

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A TWO-lap sprint decided the winner at the Bristol Sprint Cup race, though it was an earlier incident that put the contenders in position. Jeff Burton dashed past Denny Hamlin to give Richard Childress Racing a 1-2-3 sweep. With Kevin Harvick third. But it was Joe Gibbs Racing that dominated much of the race. Tony Stewart, Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch combined to lead 372 of the 500 laps, but it was dodgy strategy and contact with Kevin Harvick that ruled him out. With 11 laps to go, Smoke wanted to pit under yellow for tyres; crew chief Greg Zipadelli overruled him, so while everyone in the field except Hamlin and Dale Earnhardt Jr headed into the pits, Stewart stayed put. “I don’t know if that was right or wrong,” Zipadelli radioed Stewart, “but it’s in your hands now.” When Harvick charged after the #20 car, Stewart defended. Contact was made and Stewart hit the wall. Stewart finished 14th. “I just lost it there underneath of Tony. Just made a mistake,” Harvick said. “They can take it

for what it’s worth, and move on.” “I thought I left him enough room,” Stewart said. “I’m sure somehow it was my fault. I’m sorry I got in his way.” With yellows out, the race went into overtime, and set up the two-lap dash. Hamlin led Burton but as soon as it went green, the Shell car suffered a fuel pickup problem. Burton raced past on the outside of the bullring, and his team-mates followed. “Harvick and Stewart got together and that opened the door for me to squeeze in,” said Burton. “And then, I don’t know if he [Hamlin] ran out of gas or whatever happened there, he quit and we kept going. I almost ran him over.” Greg Biffle was fourth, best of the Fords, while Dale Jr followed in fifth.

SPRINT CUP | DRIVERS points Ky Busch 782, Biffle 752, Harvick 749, Burton 745, Earnhardt 686, Kahne 674, Stewart 656, Newman 635, Bowyer 606, Ku Busch 605.

I am going Lowe: Fast qualifier Jimmie Johnson (#48) led the field away in front of packed grandstands in Bristol. It was an emotional day for Dale Jarrett, right. The veteran made his 668th – and final – NASCAR Cup start. It was an joyful end for Burton, below, who broke a three-year winless drought.

Tony Stewart, inset leading Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick, looked to be on course to lead a Joe Gibbs rout until a bad strategy call. He was left gripless at the front of the field and tagged the wall, below. He finished 14th.

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NASCAR Media

HALF-MILE HOLIDAY Bowyer wins, Ambrose struggles in Nationwide

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RAIN shortened the NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Bristol, and even if the weather reminded him of home, it was little help to Marcos Ambrose. The Tasmanian has always struggled at the small Tennessee track, and his 19th-place finish from Saturday is his best result there in four starts. Ambrose started from 18 in the race, clipped Mike Bliss just before one-third race distance and after repairs, was a lap down on lap 150 of 300 when the rain started. “I’m pleased because I made it past lap 100 without tearing the fenders off,” said Ambrose.

“I’ve tried hard here in the past, but I haven’t done a very good job of it. We’re really excited about how we went today. “We wanted this race to restart because we feel like we’ve got something for them. I felt really comfortable in the car today and I think our team is really moving forward.” Clint Bowyer (#29) won the race from Kasey Kahne, with David Reutimann third. Series leader Kevin Harvick was seventh, and the next race is in Nashville this weekend. Points: Harvick 751, Bowyer 702, Edwards 701, Ragan 671, Reutimann 668, Bliss 627, Wallace 603, Keselowski 591, Ambrose 458 (20th).

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A1 GRAND PRIX ROUND 8 – MEXICO CITY

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Putting the Green in Guacamole Team Ireland withstood the pressure to take its first win in A1 Grand Prix competition

DAM Carroll has taken Ireland’s maiden A1GP victory by placing first in an action-packed feature in Mexico City, while Jonny Reid recorded New Zealand’s third win for the season in perfect weather conditions during the 20-minute Sprint race. Carroll stayed out of trouble and capitalised on the favourites’ misfortunes to record a popular win on the eve of St Patrick’s Day. Having battled his way through to the front of the field a close battle with Neel Jani promised an exiting climax. However a stop-go penalty for Switzerland for a pitlane infringement gave Carroll some much-needed breathing space in sweltering temperatures. A close fight between Great Britain and Team USA allowed Ireland to maintain a buffer through to the end. After strong results this season both New Zealand and France found themselves battling unusually low down the order, while championship rival Switzerland had an even worse time, finishing one lap down in 19th. However the Swiss still left

Mexico in the series lead following their rivals equally disappointing results. Carroll was chased all the way by Great Britain’s Oliver Jarvis who had a competitive weekend and stayed ahead of the drama courtesy of a strong qualifying performance. Jonathan Summerton managed to steer Team USA through to an impressive third-place after making up some places late in the race. But for Carroll and Ireland last weekends win signalled the start of a more competitive and relaxed Irish team. “It’s been three long years for the team and it’s my first year in A1GP. I think everybody just saw our true potential this weekend, especially with the guys with the pitstop,” said Carroll. “We tried to relax and just go racing and have a bit of fun. We still put in the hard work but I think everyone was just a bit more relaxed and we were able to show our true potential.” Team Australia driver John Martin had a lacklustre weekend placing well down in 21st position after contact mid-race

forced the Queenslander to make an unscheduled pit stop. Things just got worse for Martin as a penalty for speeding in pit lane sent him further down the order. Points: Switzerland 128, New Zealand 113, France 108, Great Britain 95, South Africa 88, Netherlands 80, Germany 77, Ireland 73, Canada 62, China 45, (16th Australia 20).

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Black Beauty battles: Jonny Reed, above, looked good all weekend and took the Sprint race but an error in the feature dropped him back.

Swiss (on-a) roll: Neel Jani, above, had a disastrous weekend by his standards, but still left Mexico City with the series lead. Green and Old: John Martin, below, struggled in Mexico after pitstop dramas put paid to his chances.

The Green Machine: Adam Carroll, above, celebrates with Team Ireland at Mexico City.

rear of grid

Marshall Cass

John Morris

Just in case we forget

THERE were any number of celebrities, hangers-on and wannabes at the Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix – as you would expect. In this business, it is sometimes easy to overlook the fact that once you get past all the money, noise, pollies seeking photo ops and the other assorted garbage that

happens at GPs, it is just a motor race – and there are some genuinely heartwarming things that happen. At eNews, we especially like the reactions of youngsters, who can stand and stare at racing cars, even when they are not moving, for ages. We are happier to report that even Jack Perkins and Shane

Price, whose day job involves driving 600 horsepower-plus racing cars of their own, can stand gobsmacked at the sight of the latest and greatest from the F1 factories of Europe – in this case, McLaren. We can also report than after all the sponsors and corporate attendees have finished slapping each other on the

back (yes, they are important to the overall scheme of things), the volunteers who make the event work in the first place rarely complain, and just get on with their jobs – even in stifling, 39 degree heat. These folk are rarely singled out for thanks. So, without wanting to sound too high and mighty, thanks.

Odd Spot

champion Jackie Stewart, – obviously, Leo loves him more than he can say. Rock dinosaurs KISS kept their powder dry until Sunday night when, by all accounts, they put on a show that may have even prompted noted music fan Kimi Raikkonen to say ... something. Oddly,

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OLD rock stars never die, they just go to Formula 1 Grands Prix. Sydney-based singer Leo Sayer is a noted petrolhead and never one to miss out on the fun at Albert Park. But we never knew he had such deep affection for racing drivers. That man being hugged is three-time World

for a man who says so little, Kimi lists his favourite musician as rapper Eminem. By the way, Sayer will beat KISS legend Gene Simmons to 60. Sayer will get there, the stars willing, in May this year; the lizardtongued one will have to wait until August next year.