Motorsport eNews Issue 89 - January 28-February 3, 2009

Speedway: Tatnell’s classic grand annual win

Issue No. 089 28 January – 3 February 2009

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9 0 0 2 n i d e r g n i o g s i o wh

n e e r G e d Co e u l b e d Co

n e e r g o t e u l b g n i n r u who is t e u l b o t k who is bac

TIME for Change JAson Richards speaks about his new ride at BJR

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)

Australasian

The ‘A’ Team

Issue No. 089 | 27 – 3 Feb 2009

news 4 JR confirmed 6 Green not blue 8 Gone is the glam 10 Playing in the Gulf 12 May gets shorter ...

14 Lowe’s new colours

chat 20 5 minutes with ... opinion 22 Rowley race 24 A1GP 28 NZ Supports 34 Speedway 38 Daytona 24 Hour

The trek to Albury Brighty’s a bit green F1 tightens the belt Aston Martin set for Le Mans At Indy anyway MWR’s new recruit Jason Richards Musical chairs Luck of the Irish Haliday and Lester team up Grand Annual Classic The closest ever ...

trade 42 Classifieds

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

Garth Tander sneaks a peek of the new HRT livery. Full photos and team details next week

Richards: Results will com Jason Richards speaks to eNews for the first time about his new role at Brad Jones Racing, his new car and years ago ...

V8 SUPERCARS

J

ASON Richards has been confirmed as the new Brad Jones Racing driver for the Team BOC car in 2009.

As exclusively revealed in eNews Issue #084, Richards will replace Andrew Jones in the #12 BOC-backed Commodore VE. The deal with the Albury-based team is believed to be for three years.

This will be the fourth team that ‘JR’ has competed for in V8 Supercar racing. He started with Team Kiwi Racing at Bathurst in 2000, before switching to Team Dynamik in 2003 before heading to Tasman Motorsport in 2004. And ironically, before he signed with Team Dynamik, Kim Jones asked Richards if he’d be interested in driving for the then-Ford team …

“We’ve all crossed paths before in the Super Touring car days in 1997,” Richards told eNews.

“Kim actually approached me in 2002 to drive for them, so I guess its been a longtime coming but I’m finally there!”

The Kiwi driver had his first seat fitting in the Walkinshaw Racing-built Commodore at BJR’s Albury shop and he was impressed with his first look.

Grant Rowley

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me quickly how he nearly drove for the team six Dirk Klynsmith

Reynolds ready to go ‘Red’ in 2009. Nice V8 SUPERCARS “The team is re-energised for this year.

Everyone there is very positive about getting into it,” he said.

“As you saw last year, they made some big inroads compared to the previous year.

Obviously, Holden was a brilliant move for them to do that, as was its link with Walkinshaws.”

Richards also expects further improvement at the team, citing that the changes up and down pit lane with offer a variety in results.

“I think that results will happen quite quickly because of all of the changes in the championship,” he said.

“A lot of the teams are going through change.

The Ford teams will have new cars, we’ve all got E85 to deal with, we’ve got the soft tyre option, change of formats, so any driver, even if there are with the same team in the same car, they’d still be quite nervous about what their performance is going to be like this year.”

– GRANT ROWLEY

THIS is the look that David Reynolds is expected to carry into the 2009 V8 Supercar Championship Series.

Subject to the approval of licence acquisition by V8 Supercars, the former Carrera Cup champion will undertake his maiden V8 Supercar season in the colours of Bundaberg Red, the new premium brand of the iconic Australian rum maker.

But the big news is that Reynolds, 23, and his team-mate Paul Dumbrell will race for a new team this season.

While the HSV Dealer Team and, prior to that, Kmart Racing have been the ‘other’ Clayton squad alongside the factory-backed Holden Racing Team, this season it will be Walkinshaw Racing that assumes that mantle.

There had been reports that the team would run separate ‘Autobarn Racing’ and ‘Bundaberg Red Racing’ IDs but the Walkinshaw Racing identity gathers the two entries together in a more workable entity, despite separate liveries on the two Commodore VEs. – PHIL BRANAGAN

For more with Jason Richards, see Five Minutes with ... page 20

Holden Bundaberg Red: David Reynolds is set to drive for Walkinshaw Racing in a Bundeberg Red-sponsored Holden Commodore VE. Here is ace artist James Cormick’s impressions of what the car may look like this year ...

BRIEFLY...

BRIGH

n TeamVodafone fans have the chance to own a rare memorabilia item with the V8 Supercar Champions offering for sale the Ford Falcon XR6 Turbo show car driven by Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup.

The car, which is road registered and comes in the 2008 livery, is listed for sale on the online auction site eBay and is expected to attract attention from car collectors from all over Australia.

n Boris Said is looking at running the Daytona 500.

The tall road racing expert, who competed in the V8 Supercar enduros last season, has his Ford Fusion being prepped by Robert Yates Racing and has said that he is looking to run more oval races through the season.

Forgie back with SBR to car #9

Putting the Band back together V8 SUPERCARS

STONE Brothers Racing’s engineering department will have an air of something old, something new this season, with the return to the team of Paul Forgie.

Forgie, who engineered the car of Marcos Ambrose to back-to-back titles in 2003-04, returned to the team after a stint in the USA NASCAR series.

He worked with Ambrose at both Wood Bros Racing and the JTG team, but a recent realingnment in the latter’s program has prompted Forgie to return to Queensland.

The role of Forgie, who also worked with SBR’s James Courtney before he moved to Charlotte in 2007, will be as engineer the #9 car of Shane Van Gisbergen.

Also joining the team is Geoff Slater, inset, who has moved to

Fujitsu updates green credent V8 SUPERCARS

Dirk Klynsmith

n Chris Jewell is the new voice of V8 Supercars.

The former Britek General Manager has been appointed to the role of track commentator at all rounds of both 2009 series, starting with the Clipsal 500 in March.

We hope that Jewell’s new gig will include him doing the driver introductions at Bathurst ...

Ford Racing

n Speaking of same, expect to see come evolution among the sponsorship group of the Eights this season. While the final mix of sponsors is yet to be finalised, we hear that the real estate previously allocated to ‘FORD’ across the windscreen has been snapped up.

The company we have heard will be on the #1 and the #888 looks like a Hog, and has smelly Breath …

SBR with Jason Bright. The two worked together on the #25 Fujitsu-backed Britek entry last season, and will pair up with SBR’s ‘third’ entry.

For more on Stone Brothers Racing’s 2009 plans See tomorrow’s edition of Motorsport News

LOOK for a green Jason Bright this season.

Rumours swirling that Bright is going to be Ford’s environmentally-coloured eco-warrior this season are wide of the mark, as eNews believes that there is currently no deal between the carmaker and Stone Brothers Racing’s ‘prodigal’ recruit. But wellplaced sources have informed us that Bright will race in new hues this season and that his Fujitsu-backed Falcon will be green, white and black.

The move has come as part of a rebranding exercise, during which Fujitsu is moving towards and environmental image for its products. The company is moving in the same direction as some other Japanese companies, most visibly in our business

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HT GREEN DJR confirms 09 Drivers Daniel Kalisz. Digitally Modified

tials, so Jason Bright changes hues Honda, and embracing the sustainability of future projects and products.

Fujitsu did move its corporate branding to a ‘sky’ blue a couple of years ago and will move to the green theme over the next handful of years.

In the meantime, Bright’s new look will be a stepping stone in

that direction.

The new look is expected to be unveiled in a formal launch next month. Bright, who won Bathurst with the team a decade ago, will start the season in one of the team’s older model cars, before moving to a new FG Falcon later in the season.

V8 SUPERCARS DICK Johnson Racing has made it official and confirmed that James Courtney and Steven Johnson will race its Fords this season.

As first reported in eNews, Courtney will join the iconic Jim Beam-backed team, and after lengthy negotiations, Johnson will join him in a pair of Triple Eight-built Falcon FGs this season.

“Signing with Jim Beam Racing is something that I feel very comfortable with,” said Courtney in a team statement.

“I obviously have the relationship there with [team

manager] Adrian Burgess from earlier in my career but I am really settling in and feel like we are on the verge of something big this year.”

Johnson, who finished 10th in last year’s championship, will have the novelty of a new car this season. DJR have performed strongly with older cars constantly updated over the last five years.

Jim Beam Racing will launch its 2009 season in early March at Dreamworld on the Gold Coast, where the team will unveil its 2009 livery and drivers – including endurance drivers – who will be presented to the media for the first time.

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Sleeping Beauty or Ugly betty?

Formula 1 teams continue to downplay the launches of their new cars as mixed responses to the rule changes flare up FORMULA 1

sutton-images.com

GONE are the days of fancy Formula 1 car launches in exotic locations around the world.

Instead, amid the economic climate, teams have chosen lowkey launches this year in favour of saving some much needed money.

In the last week Renault, Williams and BMW all launched their 2009 weapons and have since taken to the track in testing.

All three cars continue the trend of similar, but different, with wide front wings and narrow rear wings making the cars look visually disproportionate.

Something that is becoming apparent is each team’s unique take on how to design the nose, side-pod and engine cover.

Although team’s are restricted in 2009 from adding areo onto the cars, the teams have come up with some interesting shapes.

Toro Rosso, Red Bull and Force India are still yet to launch its new machines and instead continue to test interim wings and slicks set-up options.

Ferrari continued to test its new car at Mugello with Felipe Massa taking over driving duties from Kimi Raikkonen, finally getting some dry weather running.

The remainder of the teams testing last week included

McLaren, Williams, Renault, Toyota and Toro Rosso , all of which tested at Portimo.

Sebastien Buemi again topped the time sheets for Toro Rosso, posting a best time of

1m27.987s, in some dry weather running.

The modified 2008-spec car was almost two seconds clear of the fastest 2009 car of Nico Rosberg.

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race

A sign of the times FORMULA 1

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RENAULT Formula 1 title sponsor ING has announced that it will cut back on its sponsorship in Formula 1 amid the financial crisis.

The company is expecting to make a loss of 1 billion Euros for 2008 and has announced a widespread cost cutting programme as a result.

“ING will cut operating expenses by EUR 1 billion in 2009,” said the statement issued by the company on Monday.

“The structural expense reduction will lead to annual savings of approximately EUR 1.1 billion from 2010 onwards. Of the cutback, 35 percent will come from a reduction of the workforce by approximately 7000 fulltime positions in 2009.

“The remainder of the expense reduction comes from decreasing costs for our head office, marketing, the Formula One program, consultancy, third-party staff and the renegotiating of certain contracts with IT-vendors. Of the total expense reduction,

EUR 650 million will be realized in Banking and EUR 350 million in Insurance.”

In addition to its Renault sponsorship,

ING is also the official race sponsor of races in Australia, Belgium, Hungary and Turkey.

Acura’s Brave LMP1 ALMS OKAY, it’s weird-looking. No, not French, FWD weird, it’s just that those front wheels are … so unusual.

Acura has unwrapped its new LMP1 contender, the ARX-02a, at a Sebring test for the American Le Mans Series teams and, along with some inventive aerodynamic addons, the main talking point was the car’s front wheels. The long-held

Chewy on yer boot NASCAR JUAN Pablo Montoya will carry a new look in many of the Sprint Cup races this season.

The now-Earnhardt Ganassi Racing driver will continue with #42 on his Chevrolet but sponsorship will be split between Target and Wrigley’s.

Martin Truex Jr. will again drive the #1 car with backing from Bass Pro Shops for the majority of the season and Aric Almirola will drive the #8 with multiple sponsors to be announced later, which could mean that team could go the direction Dario Franchitti’s team went in 2008 and close if backing does not materialise.

With the team making the decision to not run a fourth car, 50 more employees were released from the team last week.

– MARTIN D CLARK

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theory that the fronts should be smaller than the rears has been ditched, in order to get more rubber on the car and, therefore, enhance front-end grip.

The cars were developed by Honda Performance Development (HPD) in California and Wirth Research, headed by former Formula 1 principal Nick Wirth. Two teams will split up Chip Ganassi’s IndyCar drivers for the 55th running of the 12 Hours of Sebring

on March 29, with Scott Dixon joining Gil de Ferran and Simon Pagenuad at de Ferran Motorsports and Patrón Highcroft Racing recruiting Dario Franchitti to back up regulars David Brabham and Scott Sharp.

Won’t you take me to Funkytown?

Acura’s new LMP1 challenger appears to have suspended the laws of Sportscar design. Check that bigwheeling front end ...

The Gulf Warrior

LE MANS THE famed Gulf colours of Aston Martin are to return to Le Mans this year.

The British marque will take on the diesels of Audi and Peugeot over the weekend of 13-14 June in the world’s most prestigious endurance race.

The assault will mark the 50th anniversary of Aston Martin’s

1959 win by Carroll Shelby and Roy Salvadori in a DBR1.

The works car will be based on the 2008 Charouz Racing System Lola, and power will come from the same Aston

Martin V12 engine that won the 2008 GT1 category in a DBR9.

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New teams, new sponsors NASCAR

ALMS Media rtin Ma on Ast

Drivers named are Czechs Jan Charouz and Tomas Enge, German Stefan Mücke, Swiss Harold Primat and a sole Briton, Darren Turner.

The team declined to name the sixth driver but eNews sources suggest that the man in the prime seat may be Aussie David Brabham.

Expect news once his Acura commitments quieten down a little …

Technical support comes from Lola, Michelin, Koni and BBS, with major backer Gulf Oil joined by ‘official clothing partner’ Hackett.

In addition to the Le Mans 24 hour race, the team will also compete throughout the year in the Le Mans Series (LMS), which opens with the 1000 km de Catalunya on April 5.

THE seemingly-endless closing and merging of Sprint Cup operations will see several new teams making appearances in the Daytona 500 and beyond.

After finishing 1-2 in the GT category at the weekend’s 24 Hour race, TRG Motorsports, which ran two Truck entries last season, will return to Daytona with veteran Mike Wallace at the wheel of the #71 Chevy.

Scott Riggs will drive for Tommy Baldwin’s new operation in a #36 Toyota, with State Water Heaters and Hunt Bros Pizza likely sponsors.

Phoenix Racing, a full-time Nationwide Series team that fields cars for Mike Bliss and occasional Cup team, will now run the full Cup season with a driver an sponsor line up to be announced. Kirk Shelmerdine is also making a return to racing and will attempt the full Cup program, with cars bought from the now shuttered Bill Davis Racing.

Tony Stewart will run in Burger King colours for two races Cup in 2009, alongside Office Depot on his own Stewart Haas Racing Chevrolet.

The Burger King deal also included a partnership with Stewart’s Eldora racetrack.

David Stremme, who replaces Ryan Newman at Penske Racing, will have no sponsor logos on his Dodge, with Verizon Wireless recently completing its acquisition of Alltel the Sprint contract NASCAR negates teams from using new phone companies within the sport. Verizon will, however, back rookie Justin Allgaier for the full Nationwide Series of races.

– MARTIN D CLARK

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Dakar to Indianapolis?

INDYCAR

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sutton-images.com

COULD Volkswagen be the German marque to take on Honda in IndyCar competition?

Last month, IndyCar officials traveled to Germany in hopes of convincing manufacturers to compete in the series, having postponed their official announcement of the new engine formula from December to this March or April. Additionally, the IndyCar Series is requiring manufacturers to be a marketing partner to further promote the series. Should a manufacturer commit, there will be competition with Honda to sign up the best teams, injecting millions of dollars into the series.

Based on the response, the series plans to return to a small displacement, turbocharged engine, probably a fourcylinder – although Honda would prefer six.

Ulrich Baretzky, head of engine technology for Audi Sport, told Racecar Engineering magazine his company is interested but the brand, Audi or VW, has not been decided.

The only time the IndyCar Series used a turbocharged engine was in its first season of competition, 1996, grandfathering in the CART engines and chassis for those teams that moved to the IRL. – MARY MENDEZ

Less May, less Mayhem

IndyCar cuts practice laps for 500 teams NASCAR MAY has been shortened. Well, so far as the Indianapolis 500 is concerned, anyway.

Indianapolis Motor Speedway will open for Rookie Orientation two days later, on Tuesday May 5, and conclude May 6. The ‘veterans’ will then have only two days of practice starting Thursday May 7 and Friday May

8, before Pole Day qualifying.

Traditionally, the Speedway would open on Sunday with Rookie Orientation, giving the veterans four days of practice prior to Pole Day. Teams will also lose another day of practice after Pole weekend, delaying practice until Thursday.

The changes have been made to help the teams save money.

While shortening the schedule won’t save the teams’ budget, since they are all at the track anyway, it could save in crash damage, which is typically US$100,000.

The downside may be weather-related. A wet track takes as long as two hours to dry, so team bosses will be praying for sunshine.

– MARY MENDEZ

Cruel to be Kind INDYCAR

THE Indy Racing League has announced its new, restricted testing policy.

The IRL will limit its full-time teams to six days of testing, with a single-car team getting 1280km and 18 sets of tyres. Teams can still earn extra test days by providing opportunities to Firestone Indy Lights drivers. Two-car teams are allocated up to 1720km and 26 sets of tyres. For each additional car, teams gain 320km and four sets of tyres but no testing is allowed seven days prior to an event.

“Our 2009 testing policy strikes a fair balance

between controlling costs and maintaining a level playing field,” said Brian Barnhart, President of Competition and Operations for the Indy Racing League, sanctioning body of the IndyCar Series and Firestone Indy Lights.

“With our diverse schedule of short ovals and superspeedways, road and street courses, it’s important to give our drivers and teams the chance to keep improving and maximise their performance. We also think there is a tremendous incentive for teams to give opportunities to the next generation of IndyCar Series drivers.”

– MARY MENDEZ

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EDMONTON LOSSES HUGE

Government under fire for unexpected cost blowout INDYCAR EDMONTON’S IndyCar race was a financial disaster for the city’s taxpayers.

The Rexall Edmonton Grand Prix, which enjoys the support of the local government, was expected to cost the city in the region of C$1m ($1.23m), but the amount has blown out to C$5.3m, enraging the taxpayers.

The 2008 IndyCar race was in a

transition year after last February’s merger with rival open wheel series, Champ Car. An agreement wasn’t finalised until late May, resulting in less time to promote the July 26 race.

And, the move to a Saturday race required by the IndyCar Series – because the Brickyard 400 (NASCAR) was held on Sunday – hurt the attendance as most people had to work on Thursday and Friday. Even so, new promoter, Northlands, which has two more years

on a three-year deal with the city, reported that the 2008 event earned C$80m in economic benefits.

The inaugural Edmonton Grand Prix in 2005 hosted more than 200,000 over three days but the numbers have dropped in the following years. Only a week before last July’s race Paul Tracy was added to the field, and making future events a success could depend on Canadian drivers in the field.

– MARY MENDEZ

sutton-images.com

Ambrose has the Beans

MARCOS Ambrose may have as many as five different liveries on his Michael Waltrip Racing-built Toyotas in this season’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. JTG Daugherty Racing has unveiled four of the paint schemes of the #47 car, with Little Debbie, Kingsford, Clorox and Bush’s Beans (at two rounds), above, all part of the 2009 program. There may be a fifth, with STP expected to show at as many of five events.

For the other three of Ambrose’s confirmed looks, pick up this month’s Motorsport News, on sale now.

Conway in at D&R NASCAR

MIKE Conway will race for Dreyer & Reinbold Racing this season.

The Briton, recently in GP2 and a former Honda Formula 1 test driver, will take to the track in a rookie test next month at Homestead.

“I’ll be visiting a lot of new tracks for the first time, especially oval tracks, but I’m very much looking forward to the challenge,” said the 2006 British Formula 3 champion, who tested with Panther Racing last summer on Infineon’s road course but has no oval experience.

– MARY MENDEZ

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Two Lowe for Zero Brad Lowe reveals his Fujistu V8 colours for his rookie 2009 season FUJITSU V8s BRAD Lowe has revealed the colours that he will carry in his rookie season of Fujitsu V8 Supercar season this year.

The New South Welshman has secured support from Haines Brothers (mining, plumbing and civil works) as well as secondary sponsorship from Custom

Wheels and Tyres.

“I’m pretty happy with it,” Lowe said of the look of his ex-FPR Matthew White Racing Falcon BF. “I had four or five designs to choose from and I liked them all, but this one stands out the most.”

Lowe made his Fujitsu V8 debut in the final round of the 2008 series at Oran Park

Kiss and make up V8 UTES V8 UTE driver Nandi Kiss has signalled his desire to get back in the Fujitsu V8 fray.

Kiss, who drove in the Fujitsu V8 championship in a one-off appearance at Winton last year, will compete in the whole of the V8 Utes series this year but has not ruled out another drive in the V8 Supercar feeder category.

“We might do another round somewhere to build some more confidence, but to do the whole championship I would have to look at buying my own car,” said Kiss.

“I enjoyed doing the round at

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Winton and would have liked doing some more, but it was a bit late in the championship.”

Kiss has recently signed up a new sponsor for the V8 Ute season in Treloar, which will run prominently on the rear of the Ute and is looking forward to improving on a frustrating 2008.

“Hopefully this year will be a different game for us. I missed a few rounds last year and in all honesty it was a disaster.

“I’ve been there for so long, so I’m looking forward to improving this year.”

Kiss’s best result in the V8 Utes is fifth at a rain-affected round at Eastern Creek.

and says that having his first run there will prove extremely helpful in the first few rounds of 2009.

“I really pushed to get that race in,” he said.

“I wanted to do Bathurst as well but I ran out of time. I knew I had to do something last year to get prepared. This is my rookie year but I hope I get a hang of it quickly.

I feel that I’m far more suited to racing a Supercar compared to the other classes that I’ve been driving in.”

MWR will enter as many as three cars for the new season. Lowe is the team’s only confirmed entrant at this point, although Damien Assailit is one of the front-running contenders for the team’s second seat.

– GRANT ROWLEY

Holy Mosler!

OOOOHHH, we lerve the look of a Mosler in the morning.

That is what we will be saying this season, with John Teluan’s new American-built Sportscar hitting the track at Eastern Creek last Friday in preparation for this year’s Australian GT Championship. With Teulan laid up and unable to drive, Kiwi Craig Baird shook down the V8-engined moster.

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Bowe’s first all-wheel wonder BATHURST 12H

John Morris/Mpix

JIM Hunter Racing had its first shake down of the team’s Subaru WRX STi at Eastern Creek last week in preparation for the upcoming WPS Bathurst 12 Hour.

The brand-new Subaru was steered at the Sydney circuit by team drivers John Bowe, Gavin Bullas and Hunter himself, and Bowe told eNews that the trio could “fly under the radar” in the 12 Hour race.

“It’s the first time that all of us have driven an all-wheel drive car,” the two-time Bathurst 1000 champion said.

“It was a bit unusual and it needs a bit more development, but I was really

impressed with the build quality. The car has a ‘I’ll go for 12 Hours’ feel about it, so I think we’ll be in good shape.

“We need to massage a bit more speed out of it, but it was the first time that the car had ever turned a wheel.

So considering that, and that there are some very good (Mitsubishi) Evos out there, I think we’ll be good to hopefully fly under the radar.”

Bowe was not willing to make too many bold predictions just yet.

“It’s a bit early to tell from my point of view, to be honest,” he said.

“We didn’t do that much with the car at Eastern Creek and it was quite acceptable.

Glenn Seton was there in one

of Bob Pearson’s Evo and he was quite a lot faster, and David Wall was there and he was faster than us in his Evo IX. If you’re going to nominate a favourite, it’s got to be those cars of Pearsons. He’s put in amazing amount of work and money into it, so one

of those cars should be the favourite, but you can’t write off the BMWs, or the Holden Sportswagon. It’s actually very open to be honest.”

The car is likely to get one or two more test days before the 12 Hour on February 22.

– GRANT ROWLEY

QR dumped for Morgan SHANNONS NATS

John Morris/Mpix

THE Shannons Nationals will not compete at Queensland Raceway this year, instead swapping to fellow Queensland venue Morgan Park.

Shannons Nationals’ management withdrew from negotiations with Queensland Raceway over the Christmas period, leaving series administrator Rob Curkpatrick with a late scrabble to find a new venue. In keeping with the Shannons Nationals ’10 rounds at 10 tracks’ theme, Morgan Park was offered and accepted the August 7-9 slot.

The GT3 Cup Challenge, Manufacturer’s Championship and Saloon Cars will be supported by as many as four other local Queensland categories.

“This scenario allows us to satisfy the demand of the categories – which is what

we’re here for, providing a round in Queensland,” Curkpatrick said.

“We like going to QR, but an issue between the track’s management and CAMS was holding things up so we needed to get over that and get on with our business.

“I’ve been to Morgan Park before. It’s a great little track.

It’s a fare way out of Brisbane but everyone I’ve spoken to is looking forward to it. The extension to the track should be done before we get there too.”

All of the other dates on the Shannons Nationals bill remain as previously published.

– GRANT ROWLEY Speaking of dates, ensure you secure your copy of Motorsport News. Flick to the middle and you’ll find MNews’s annual Castrol calendar (just remember that you need to go to Morgan Park on August 9, not QR!)

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news

Ducati on top in WSBK test WSBK

Yamaha Racing

DUCATI led the way in the three-day World Superbike test but, when the teams packed up to leave a damp Portimao track, it was a slightly unexpected name on top of the screens.

Shane ‘Shakey’ Byrne, below, marked his return to international racing by looking comfortable in all conditions, and the Sterilgarda ace will enter the season full of confidence.

“I didn’t expect to be fastest in the test to be honest, but I’m not surprised,” the Irishman declared.

“The bike’s working really well and the relationship and feedback with the team and

my engineer is great. This Superpole formula is not new for me, we tried something similar in the last few BSB races. It’s really exciting and spectacular and I’m sure it’ll look good on TV as well”.

The other news was the form of not just one Yamaha but both R1s. American Uberstar Ben Spies, was second fastest overall, with only Xerox Ducati’s Noriyuki Haga kept Tom Sykes, right, out of the top three.

Troy Corser was the fastest of the Aussies, showing BMW’s hand on the final day, while Shinya Nakano shaded Max Biaggi on the new Aprilias.

Both debutant makes look to have some pace and will only improve from here.

Official WSBK testing times, Portimao, POR

Sterilgarda Go Eleven

1 Shakey Byrne GB 2 Ben Spies USA 3 Noriyuki Haga J 4 Tom Sykes GB 5 Carlos Checa Esp 6 Max Neukirchner D 7 Jakob Smrz Cze 8 Michel Fabrizio I 9 Jonathon Rea GB 10 Leon Haslam GB 11 Troy Corser Aus 12 Yukio Kagayama J 13 Regis Laconi Fra 14 Ryuichi Kiyonari J 15 Broc Parkes Aus

Ducati 1098R Yamaha YZF R1 Ducati 1098R Yamaha YZF R1 Honda CBR1000RR Suzuki GSX-R 1000 Ducati 1098R Ducati 1098R Honda CBR1000RR Honda CBR1000RR BMW S1000 RR Suzuki GSX-R 1000 Ducati 1098R Honda CBR1000RR Kawasaki ZX 10R

1m43.294 1m43.484 1m43.487 1m43.546 1m43.657 1m43.674 1m43.767 1m43.951 1m44.115 1m44.170 1m44.261 1m44.425 1m44.546 1m44.610 1m44.704

Tatnell to become a USA-based Titan SPRINTCARS

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Geoff Gracie

CURRENT World Series Sprintcar Champion and recently crowned Grand Annual Champion Brooke Tatnell will head to the US for the majority of the international season.

Tatnell will drive for Reeve Kruck’s Titan Racing USA team in 2009 replacing Daryn Pittman in the team.

“This is an awesome opportunity for myself and my family and I can’t thank Reeve enough for including me,” said Tatnell.

“We’re going to do a hit and miss campaign and play it by ear. We haven’t got a schedule in place.

“I’ve got commintments to Krikkie

Motorsport through February and that’s why we’re not going to start with the Outlaws and Reeve understands I made those commitments and we want to fullfil those before we start over there.”

Team Owner Kruck was equally excited for Tatnell to be joining the team.

“I think this is going to be a really good deal for everyone,” said Kruck.

“Daryn Pittman has been a great driver for my team over the years but the time is right to make some changes and I’m excited for Brooke that he’s coming on board.

“You only have to look at his results in Australia over the last three years in particular to see how fast he is right now and how much he wants to win.”

– PHILLIP MAHONEY

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Ken Ferguson

Reed returns for Perth heat DRAG RACING THE Perth Motorplex hosts Round 5 of the ANDRA Top Alcohol Championship this weekend with two big days of racing on Friday and Saturday.

The 400kmh alcohol-fuelled funny cars and dragsters have been a highlight in the ANDRA Championship this year with some of the closest and explosive action seen in Australian drag racing.

The Australian Top Alcohol Championships will see the return of current points leader Steven Reed in his Swarfega Funny Car that was literally blown apart at his last outing at the ENZED Nightfire Series

at Queensland’s Willowbank Raceway. Reed was fortunate to walk away from the crash but the incident hasn’t dented his enthusiasm.

“It was a huge moment for me inside the car and to come away from it with just a few minor injuries as a credit to the safety of both our cars and the ANDRA Championship,” said Reed.

“We have worked around the clock to be ready for the Perth round and have built a brand new car. We love going over to West, so we have put in a huge effort to get there.

The Swarfega Funny Car won’t be in its normal red colour though, the best we could do

was get it painted white.”

Multi Australian Top Alcohol Champ Gary Phillips is also in top form after recording his personal best ET of 5.59s at the ENZED Nightfire event.

Other big names include Debbie Reed, wife of Steven, who is sitting third in the championship and the first appearance of John Cannuli in the Crossroads Racing B52 Energy Drink Funny Car. Gates open at 4.00pm Friday with top alcohol action starting at 6.00pm. Saturday’s racings starts at 11.00am with Groups 2 and 3 as well as Top Comp and Supercharged Outlaws. Top Alcohol kicks off at 6.00pm.

ANDRA clarifies fuel rules DRAG RACING TO ensure competitor safety and fair competition, ANDRA has strict criteria covering methanol and ethanol fuels that are permitted in Australian drag racing competition and have set to clarify the governing body’s stance on their use.

ANDRA Fuel Consultant Ken Dickie explained

18

the situation.

“As has previously been stated through our Technical Report, the only additive permitted in these fuels is upper cylinder lubricant, where the specific gravity does not move outside of the ANDRA specifications,” Dickie said.

“All performance enhancing components are illegal regardless of when they are added to the basic product.

news

Trans-Continental Calender to test Phillips Phillips explains how he deals with competing on two sides of the country DRAG RACING

WA, a swing lift picks up the container from the Motorplex and a train takes the funny car across the Nullarbor directly to Sydney. Meanwhile we prepare the Doorslammer back in Brisbane, and head to Sydney for the Wynns Spitfire Summernationals in the transporter. As soon as we get to Sydney, we service the funny car at the track, which hopefully has arrived safely from Perth. Then we race both cars for the two days, and with a bit of luck, win!”

Phillips says jokingly “I’m really not sure why we do all this, because as soon as we finish the Summernationals, we have to do it all again.

“Straight after the race, we stay on at the track for a day to service the Lucas Oil Studebaker Doorslammer, whack it in the container to be freighted back to Perth. We then put the funny car back in the transporter and head back to Brisbane before flying out

John Morris/Mpix

AS West Australian drag racing fans get ready for the ANDRA Australian Top Alcohol Championships this weekend at Perth Motorplex, spare a thought for Queenslander Gary Phillips and his Lucas Oil Top Alcohol and Doorslammer outfit, after his initial planning for the event is a distant memory.

Already engaged in wrestling with the logistical nightmare of trans-continental motorsport, Phillips has had to learn more than how-to-tune and drive two 3000hp race cars to compete and win at the elite level of drag racing.

Every morning, Phillips heads down to his homebased workshop, with the first stop being the day-by-day calendar, which is already full of scribble. You’d expect the schedule to be full of the usual engine rebuilds, freshen-ups and maintenance but not for

the multi Australian champ.

Phillips’ schedule has the added challenge of preparing and packaging both race cars into transit containers to be at two different race tracks at separate times.

“Obviously, we use our own transporter for our local Willowbank events, and even for Sydney, but racing in Perth creates a whole new mindbender for us, especially when we have to have one car in Western Australia and the other on the east-coast for the next week,” says Phillips.

“After we raced at Willowbank with the Lucas Oils Funny Car on January 3, we serviced it and packed it in a container for Perth. We had a freight train and swing lift pre-booked. If we were to transport the car over to Perth ourselves, it would take us 52 hours, so the train is a far more viable option.”

“After we compete is Perth on the weekend, it gets fullon: While we fly back from

to Perth to meet the car for the Westernationals.”

Phillip is currently sitting second in ANDRA Top Alcohol and third in the Top Doorslammer championship but despite a nightmarish month of logistical woes, once that magneto fires at the racetrack, all will be forgotten.

New name set for Nitro Champs WESTERN Sydney International Dragway’s biggest event, the Nitro Champs will unveil a new name in the coming weeks.

Tool giant Snap-On’s decision to relinquish the naming rights to the event to concentrate on their Jim Read Racing and ANDRA Championship sponsorship arrangements created an opportunity to re-brand the event.

According to WSID MD, Tony Beuk, the opportunity didn’t last long.

“It’s a testament to the strength of ANDRA Championship Drag Racing that we were able to secure a naming rights sponsor to the Nitro Champs within a matter of days of the event becoming available.

John Morris/Mpix

DRAG RACING

“We are still working through the final details, so we not in a position to make a formal announcement but we will

release the new event name and naming rights sponsor in the next few days,” Beuk concluded.

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5 Minutes with ...

JASON RICHARDS

It was 2008’s worst kept secret – Jason Richards was set to move from Tasman to Brad Jones Racing.

GRANT ROWLEY Now, he can speak about it, and he’s re-energised and raring to go

This is another step of the continuing evolution of Brad Jones Racing. From the vibes you’ve got so far, is this the right mix for the team to take the next step forward?

Yeah, absolutely. The team is re-energised for this year.

Everyone there is very positive about getting into it.

As you saw last year, they made some big inroads compared to the previous year. Obviously, Holden was a brilliant move for them to do that, as was its link with Walkinshaws.

From a performance level, Brad Jones will continue to go forward as I get to know the equipment and get to know the things that make the cars go well.

You were at Tasman for a long time with a few ups and downs. What was the reason for choosing this direction?

I guess it all flew under the

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Dirk Klynsmith

MOTORSPORT NEWS: One of the biggest changes for you this year is the fact that you’ll be doing some extra travel from your home in Melbourne to Albury …

JASON RICHARDS: Absolutely.

The thing is these days that drivers are kept busy doing corporate stuff, so you’re not at the workshop everyday of the week. Mainly, it’s debriefs, prebriefs and some of the other engineering meetings you might attend. Otherwise, modern technology allows you to communicate.

The good thing is that Cam [McConville] lives only 500 metres down the road so we can car pool.

HOLDEN HAS CONTINUED TO SUPPORT BJR AND SIMON MCNAMARA WAS A KEY PLAYER IN HELPING ME MAKE THE MOVE ACROSS. radar. It only happened really late last year. It wasn’t planned – it happened right at the death knock of the championship.

Fundamentally, Holden has continued to support BJR and Simon [McNamara] was a key player in helping me make the move across.

Now that this has all happened, its really remotivated me. Five years in one team, and we obviously didn’t achieve our goals, and as you say there were some ups and downs. Our highlights were our performances at Bathurst, both in 2005 and last year, and even the two years in between that, we had a lot of speed there.

Certainly, things were looking good, but we kept getting knocked down. This change is really good for me.

It’s put a spring in my step. I

had a good Christmas where I didn’t really think about race cars. I just tooled around the house a bit.

Now that it’s started, I did my seat fitting last week in the BOC car and I’m really pretty excited with the change.

With that, there will be an improved work ethic for me.

I want to do well and I see this as a great opportunity for me. I’ll be working with some of the benchmark Holden equipment in the field.

Reuniting with Wally [Storey] is a big thing for me, and obviously working with Brad and Kim. We’ve all crossed paths before in the Super Touring car days in 1997.

Kim approached me in 2002 to drive for them, so I guess it’s been a long time coming but I’m finally there.

I guess this serves as a good

lesson – never burn bridges in this game. You never know where the merry-go round is going to throw you off and pick you up …

That’s right, and that’s the thing, Ford obviously weren’t interested then, and things change dramatically by going Holden, and that gave me extra confidence.

Holden is serious about going racing. It’s been in the sport a long time and it has a very good handle on this business so they need to make their race teams work.

Being in a team like Brad’s, which is run a lean ship, and 100 percent of their focus is to go racing. It’s a long-term deal, and for me, it’s a good step. I’d like to think that this is one of my last team changes to give me a chance to bring on some results, and I’m quite confident that it will happen.

chat

Dirk Klynsmith

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Light at the end of the tu Letters

Have your say, email us at mail@mnews.com.au. Keep letters to the point!

Innovate or die It seems 2009 is full of innovators.

Triple Eights loss is V8SAs (and the sport in general) gain.

I have always had a great respect for Campbell Little and agree 100 percent with Chris Lambden’s editorial last week.

I also believe Matt Tracey’s letter is spot on.

Let’s create some hype for those who don’t regularly follow the sport and ramp up the rest of us.

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This year is going to be big with Townsville, Homebush, The Kelly Brothers racing team and Campbell, so let’s promote accordingly.

Looks like Tom picked the wrong time to stick the knife in!

Warren Furze Warren.furze@bigpond.com Just for us I’ll begin by letting you know I enjoy reading your magazine. It’s always good to

get information from various sources.

There is one thing that annoys me though, which is the constant reminder about exclusive stories. Every second article makes comments like ‘as first reported here in Issue x’ or ‘as exclusively reported here.’

By the time I’ve reached page 3, I’m wondering if I have the patience to read anymore articles, in the expectation I’m going to be reminded yet again about how exclusive

your stories are.

I’m already buying the magazine, so I really don’t care if you were the first to get the story and I really don’t know what you're trying to prove.

Let it go folks and just report the news.

Stuart Williams sjdw@actewagl.net.au ED: Looks like we’re a victim of our own good work. We’ll try and keep the exclusives to a minimum from now on!

opinion

opinion Grant Rowley Editor eNews

unnel ...

JANUARY isn’t what it used to be.

Compared to almost every other season, driver confirmations are thin on the ground – and I’m not talking about the main V8 Supercar Championship Series.

Almost every V8 Supercar seat for 2009 is sorted. Other than a few of the stray licences, its all done and dusted. No news.

Which is usually where the Fujitsu V8 Series and Carrera Cup confirmations keep the pages filled up with driver and team announcements.

But times have changed since January 2008. Back then, the Aussie dollar almost matched the US currency, interest rates were soaring and the Australian cricket team was at its lethal best.

Since those glory days, the dollar copped a hammering, interest rates are a steal and Ricky Ponting couldn’t make a good fielding position decision if he tried.

With the economy struggling,

drivers and teams are also finding it hard to secure suitable race seats. Exactly 12 months ago in eNews (Issue #038), we ran three Fujitsu V8 stories, one Carrera Cup confirmation plus other assorted national news from the likes of Formula Ford and MINI Challenge land.

In this issue, the landscape has changed. The only Fujitsu V8 story is a livery of Brad Lowe’s Falcon. Sorry Brad, no offence, but this is an old story. The news of Lowe’s entry in the series was broken many months ago.

While things don’t look flash now, there will be light at the end of the tunnel. Yes, the economy will strike back, as will driver confirmations in Australia’s ‘development’ categories – you’re just going to have to wait a little while longer for them. But never fear. Expect to see a raft of deals done in late February/early March – just a few weeks before the first round at the Clipsal 500 meeting in Adelaide.

Right now, though, it just seems that everybody is hanging out before committing their (personal or sponsorship) cash to their motor racing exploits.

eLETTER OF THE WEEK Vote 1 Ireland Having read Andrew van Leeuwen’s opinion column in eNews #088, I have to say I’m disappointed at his opinion of the roads used for Rally Ireland.

Granted, it would be very hard for any event to have roads on a par with those in the French Alps.

However, to dismiss them as just ‘narrow and muddy’ would be harsh to say the least.

Every single competitor that drove

on the original Rally Ireland in 2007 found our unique style of roads a massive challenge and it is a credit to the organisers and everyone involved in the initial event that they received the accolade of the second-best organised rally of the year.

As Ireland is the first round of the 2009 WRC and have just had Citroen conducting a four day test here in preparation and Ford will be here for two days this coming weekend.

Since 2007, we have had many overseas visitors to our island to see rounds of our national championships on the back of Rally Ireland 2007 and the feedback has been extremely positive.

Maybe Andrew should reschedule his holiday and come and experience our ‘narrow and muddy’ roads for yourself. I doubt you would be disappointed!

David McGinley david.mcginley@socgen.com

Send your creative letters to mail@mnews.com.au, or Motorsport News PO Box 7072, Brighton, Vic 3186 23

A1 GRAND PRIX ROUND 4 – TAUPO, NEW ZEALAND

Shared Honours

Ireland and Switzerland went halves in victories at Taupo while Australia continued to improve

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A1GP IRELAND and Switzerland have continued their dominance of the 2008/09 A1 Grand Prix at the fourth round of the series at New Zealand’s Taupo circuit.

Irish driver Adam Carroll took victory in the Sprint race before Swiss star Neel Jani snatched the Feature race win after a racedefining moment in pitlane for the Ireland team.

When Carroll pulled away from his pit box after the second compulsory pit stop, he looked to have retained his lead until the anti-stall system kicked in and halted his progress. The car then stalled and as Carroll got his machine moving again, Switzerland took the opportunity to get ahead and snatch the lead of the race – Jani never surrendered from there,

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beating home Carroll, Portugal’s Felipe Albuquerque and Australia’s John Martin.

While it was good news for Australia, it was a remarkable result for Jani and Switzerland.

Jani was rushed to hospital last week with suspected meningitis and only came back to full fitness over the race weekend.

“What a weekend in the end,” said Jani.

“On Monday I still felt really bad, but I just got better every day with the warm weather in New Zealand, and it looks like the clean, fresh air helped me as well, so that is good.

“It was a great, great weekend and a fantastic car. This was the most points we have scored on a weekend this season and so now it is starting to come good for us, but there are still a lot of points needed to catch up

Ireland.”

Team Australia’s continued improvement was evident again.

Martin missed out on a result in Race 1 when he clipped a tyre wall, but he stayed out of trouble in the Feature, coming home in fourth, partly thanks to the team’s impressive pit stop speed.

“My goal now is to score points from both races consistently as this is a great result – so close to a podium and a move up to eighth in the championship,” Martin said.

Netherlands driver Robert Doornbos finished third and fifth in the two races, maintaining fifth place in the A1GP pointscores.

New Zealand’s home effort struggled. After finishing the Sprint race in fifth, Chris van der Drift’s weekend ended with a

number of issues in the Feature race.

“We had the anti-stall problem at the start which was unfortunate,” van der Drift said.

“Then on the first lap, I don’t know who it was, but someone ran into the back of me. It was unfortunate as, after that, you can’t really do much when you are a lap down.

“It was just a pity we couldn’t have a better result here for team New Zealand.”

Ireland’s points haul means it retains the championship lead with 65 points while Switzerland (52) move up to second ahead of Portugal (49).

Points: Ireland 65, Switzerland 52, Portugal 49, France 41, Netherlands 38, New Zealand 35, Malaysia 30, Australia 30, USA 19, Great Britain 16.

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Ups and downs: John Martin, below, finished fourth in the Feature race. Above, Malaysia didn’t have the same fortune, while no one could touch Switzerland.

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Endurance specialists Lester and Halliday dominate NZ Porsche endurance races at Taupo NZ PORSCHE YOUTH and experience proved the winning combination in both Battery Town Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge endurance races at the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport meeting at Taupo last weekend.

Former series front-runner Matt Halliday flew in from the United States to share the winning car with young gun Jono Lester.

The Halliday/Lester combination won both 50minute endurance races at the meeting, topping the overall round podium from Jody Vincent/Jonny Reid car and Darryn Henderson/Aaron Slight, pictured right.

The Battery Town Porsche GT3 Cup cars contested four races at the A1GP meeting, with a sprint race and a 50-minute enduro each day.

Victory in the sprint races

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was shared between Jody Vincent (Saturday’s race) and V8 Supercar star Shane van Gisbergen (Sunday) but both enduros belonged to Halliday and Lester.

Despite stiff early competition from both Vincent and fellow series young gun Mark Russ, Halliday and Lester were only headed during the compulsory driver change during Saturday’s race, a lightning quick change only serving to underline the pair’s advantage.

Both Vincent and van Gisbergen forced their way past Halliday and dictated the early pace in Sunday’s enduro only to clash as the pit window opened.

Van Gisbergen retired a couple of corners later with a flat tyre and Vincent’s co-driver Reid slowed when he took over the car with the wheel alignment awry.

With the pressure off, Halliday was the able to hand over to

usual car driver Lester to collect the win – their second for the weekend.

“We put all our efforts into the two (50-minute) races that counted and we came away with the result,” Lester said.

“Our pit stops were fantastic

and Matt’s been good, really good, particularly in terms of set-up and his know-how with the car. So really it made it easy for me to do my job, keeping my times within a couple of tenths and consolidating our position.”

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Cunningham’s Hulme Hijack NZ International driver secures Denny Hulme Memorial Trophy TOYOTA RACING SERIES WITH victory in both Toyota Racing Series races at the Taupo A1GP event, series leader Mitch Cunningham won the TRS International Trophy with a race to spare.

Two pole positions and three wins delivered Cunningham the Trophy and put his name on the prestigious Denny Hulme Memorial Trophy.

His dominant weekend also consolidated his lead in the main points race.

The 22-year old Auckland driver

fought off strong challenges from New Zealand and British drivers to win each race.

Cunningham said the 20-lap race distance was relatively easy, despite Sunday’s hot temperatures, and he worked throughout to keep a safe margin to Will Stevens.

It was emphatically Cunningham’s weekend. In Race 1, he chased down pole man Sam MacNeill and pressured him into a last-lap error that handed over the lead. In Sunday morning’s sprint race, Cunningham led from flagto-flag before completing a similar effort

in the Hulme Memorial, leading every lap.

“The team has worked really hard on the set-up and it’s working for us now,” Cunningham said.

“That [feature race] was a good one and it sets us up very well for the Grand Prix next month.”

The final points tally in the TRS International Trophy (a Trophy within a championsip) was Cunningham 615, Scott Pye 504, then Stevens 481, his second place in today’s race good enough to overtake Michael Burdett to be third in the Trophy.

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Brilliant Brooke

Brooke Tatnell was dominant in the Classic, taking his third victory in the event. GEOFF ROUNDS was there

Ash Budd

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Ash Budd

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GRAND ANNUAL CLASSIC FLAWLESS is one way to describe Brooke Tatnell’s third victory in The Standard Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic at Premier Speedway last weekend.

The 37-year-old led from flag-to-flag to deliver the powerful Krikke Motorsports team its first Classic win in the non-stop 40lap final.

Tatnell, who topped qualifying, jumped to the lead and was never challenged as he raced the high-line for the entire $30,000-towin feature.

Tatnell recorded a very quick time of 8m 59.71s – just 0.014s outside the 40-lap record at Warrnambool.

“We definitely needed to win Krikke

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Motorsport’s first Classic. I wanted to get the Classic monkey off Krikke Motorsport’s back and we’ve all done that now. I’m just rapt and relieved,” Tatnell said after the win.

“We’ve been in positions to win and things haven’t worked out, hopefully that’s about to change.”

Tatnell’s biggest concern after jumping to the lead was negotiating a way through slower traffic.

He revealed that at times he sometimes had to ‘back pedal’ to ensure he could pick one off at a time instead of getting stuck among slower groups of cars.

“I always believe not to worry about what is behind you.”

Only last week Tatnell revealed he had signed to drive full-time for the Australian-

owned Titan team in the United States from next month.

“It’s just friggin’ awesome,” he beamed after performing a wing dance in front of 11,500 fans.

“We were the dominant team all year and we proved we were the dominant team tonight.”

Dominant was the right word for it. For two straight days of action against 68 other competitors, no-one could head them and they duly winning the Saturday night 30-lap Australia-America Challenge also.

Team owner Shane Krikke rated the win as one of the greatest for his ultra-professional team headed by full time crew-chief Pete Caporn.

“Bloody unreal this is, it’s just bloody unreal,”

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Ash Budd

America was on display for the massive crowd.

American Shane Stewart overcame a midrace flat spot to surge passed Madsen with just one lap remaining.

Earlier, Queenslander James McFadden dominated the B main with current Australian champion Garry Brazier charging through from ninth on the grid to finish second to earn a berth in the A main, along with USA invader Randy Hannagan and South Australian Matt Egel.

Premier Speedway general manager David Mills said Sprintcar supporters had turned out in force.

“We had 10,500 people here last year and we’re up on that. We had 7500 on Saturday night and 11,500 tonight. It’s just fantastic.”

Ash Budd

an emotional Krikke said.

“We really have wanted this win for years and haven’t ever won it. We’ve had some great drivers with us in the event and for Brooke to win and win like he did is a credit to him and the hard-working team and the whole family.”

In an incident-free race, Tatnell chose to start from the outside of the front row alongside Robert Farr.

There was a restart after Tatnell and Farr played mind games at the first attempt, but Tatnell controlled the race and went away from defending champion Kerry Madsen in the last five laps of the 40-lap feature.

Madsen showed his cards on lap 25 and challenged briefly but Tatnell’s professionalism and years of racing in

Ash Budd

Geoff Gracie

Geoff Gracie

A classic moment: Brooke Tatnell took victory, main, and in doing so handed Shane Krikke his first Classic win, right.

Shane Stewart and Kerry Madsen battled to second and third, top, while Robbie Farr, above, struggled after starting from the front row.

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The Perfect Summer Brooke Tatnell was in rare touch at the Presidents Cup so GEOFF ROUNDS went along to check it out

PRESIDENTS CUP BROOKE Tatnell emulated a feat his father George achieved 20 years ago when he cruised to victory in the President’s Cup at Avalon Raceway last Wednesday night.

Tatnell, fresh from winning a seventh World Series Sprintcars Championship, was brilliant in winning from Victorian David Murcott, with Steven Lines of Mount Gambier in third.

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Tatnell set the fastest time of the 38 cars in time trials and was the only driver in the 11s bracket with blistering 11.997s lap.

On the night he also became the highest point scorer to win the $5000 to win A-main from the front row, grabbing the advantage over pole sitter Murcott early in the piece.

At the end of the night it was Murcott who was paid credit to the winner and helped secure a

one-two finish for Cool Chassis builder-owner John Cooley.

“After the heat races we were confident we could have given Brooke a good run for his money,” Murcott said.

“With the left front break seizing it was impossible to keep pace with Brooke considering this we were happy to hold on to second and get another sound result for our sponsors as well as secure a 1-2 result for Cool Chassis.”

Earlier the B-main proved to be eventful with opening lap dramas.

Americans Wayne Johnson and Randy Hannagan were involved in the incident, which also spoilt the night for Mitchell Dumesny, Nick Lacey and Danny Reidy. All drivers were unable to restart.

The traditional Friday lead up event to the Classic, the Kings Cup in Mount Gambier, was cancelled due to bad weather.

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Geoff Gracie

Like Father like Son: Brooke Tatnell, left, dominated the race his father won some 20 years ago in the perfect lead up to the Grand Annual.

Tatnell was just too good for David Murcott, above, who came home in second just ahead of Steven Lines. As ever, there was plenty of crashes, with this incident, below, taking Mitch Dumesny out of the running.

Geoff Gracie

Geoff Gracie

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SPEEDCAR

JEAN Alesi and Johnny Herbert have shared wins in Round 2 of the Speedcar series in Bahrain.

Alesi won the first race of the weekend after starting from second on the grid behind Heinz-Harald Frentzen.

Frentzen made a terrible start and opened the door for

36

Alesi at the start and eventually slipped to fourth before fighting back to second by races end.

“I’m obviously thrilled at winning my first race of this season and it’s also an experience to share it with two of my good friends from Formula One,” said Alesi.

In a race that really did

resemble a mid-90s Formula 1 race, Herbert finished in third with Gianni Morbidelli in fourth.

The second race for the weekend saw a reverse grid format but it was the top drivers from the first race that fought through to take the top positions in race 2.

Herbert eventually took the

sutton-images.com

Ex-Formula 1 stars shine

win from Morbidelli in a race that went down to the wire, while Thomas Biagi was third.

“Sometimes you need a little bit of luck and I think I was lucky today. I stayed out of trouble and it paid off in the end,” said Herbert after the race.

Points: Herbert 21, Frentzen 21, Morbidelli 19, Alesi 13, Liuzzi 11.

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GP2 Asia heats up GP2 ASIA

Perez on pole position.

The Spaniard dominated the Sprint Race to finish ahead of Davide Valsecchi, while d’Ambrosio backed up his second place in Race 1 with third in the second.

Hulkenberg made it a pair of fourth positions for his weekend in a solid debut.

Race 1 winner Kobaysahi fought back to finish in sixth place followed home

by New Zealander Earl Bamber.

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ROUND 3 of the GP2 Asia series wrapped up in Bahrain last weekend with some surprising results.

Kamui Kobayashi led home teammate Jerome d’Ambrosio in Race 1 to record a one-two for the DAMS team, but the real surprise came in third position with Edoardo Mortara taking the last podium spot.

Pole-sitter and last year’s Formula

3 Euro Series Champion, Nico Hulkenberg, finished in fourth.

Hulkenberg looked to be on for a strong second place, but a stuck wheel in his madatory pit-stop forced him down to his eventual finishing position.

Kobayashi was too good though, finishing almost six seconds ahead of his team-mate and gaining an extra point for the fastest lap of the race.

Race 2 saw the field line up in top eight reverse order, with young Sergio

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ROLEX 24 HOURS DAYTONA MOTOR SPEEDWAY, FL

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Porsche Press

Four decades after Mark Donohue put a Porsche in Victory Lane at Daytona, his son David did it again, after a brilliant fight with Juan Pablo Montoya.

By MARTIN D CLARK

In the Name of the Father

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Martin D Clark

P

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ORSCHE delivered a double whammy to the competition in the 47th Rolex 24 Hour endurance race, leaving Daytona Beach with the overall victory in the Daytona Prototype class and GT1 honours.

The Porsche Riley of the famed Brumos team – which last took victory some 31 years ago with a Porsche 935 – stole the show in a thrilling race that came down to the wire against Chip Ganassi’s all-conquering Lexus-powered Rileys, which were seeking their fourth straight Daytona win.

The race was full of stories, with Brumos’s David Donohue taking the lead from Ganassi’s Juan Pablo Montoya with 39 laps to run and holding on for the win by 0.167s. Forty years after his late father Mark took victory in a Penske Porsche Donahue Jr, who shared the car with Spaniard Antonio Garcia, Sportscar specialist

Darren Law and Indy 500 winner Buddy Rice, won his. to top it off, Donohue took the pole by 0.001s from Penske’s Timo Bernhard with a new track record of 1m40.54s/ 205.146kmh on the 5.73km road course that incorporates the NASCAR banked turns.

Despite a straightline speed deficit, Montoya did all he could during his final stint, piling on the pressure inside the closing 20 minutes, often in

heavy GT traffic. But it was not enough for he, Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas to claim victory.

The race was far from dominated by one team, but Brumos did make it a 1-3 finish.

The second team car, driven by Joao Barbosa, Terry Borcheller, JC France and Hurley Haywood, looked strong and came home third while the Penske Porsche, driven by Timo Bernhard, Ryan Briscoe and Romain Dumas, also led early through the night.

The defending race winning Ganassi Lexus of Dario Franchitti, Scott Dixon and Alex Lloyd had front end splitter and nose section damage in hour five and lost a lap under caution. Then brake issues struck the car on lap 497, with Franchitti blowing through the chicane, which earned the team a drive-through penalty and a lost lap to fix the brake problems. The team eventually finished fifth, four laps off the

Speedsource Riley Mazda RX8 dropped off the leaderboard early when an off-track incident with a curb damaged the fuel cell and pumps, leaving the way open for another Porsche victory.

Of the 32 entries in the GT category, it came down to a 1-2 finish for the TRG Porsche camp, with Andy Lally and Justin Marks joined by Jorg Bergmeister, Patrick Long and RJ Valentine to take the win in their 911 GT3. Second, one lap off the pace, was the car of Spencer Pumpelly, Tim George Jr, Richard Leitz and Emmanuel Collard.

Although it took over three hours for the first caution to air, there were a record 25 yellow flags held over 100 laps.

Brum, Brum: Mark Donohue’s Brumos Porsche held off Juan Pablo Montoya’s Lexus in the final stint, top left. The Ganassi team, left, could not add a fourth straight 24 Hour win, its cars outgunned by the Porsches. The TRG team made Porsche’s weekend complete with a 1-2 in the GT class, below, while the SunTrust team, right, salvaged fourth in what was a tough weekend for Ford.

GRAND AM | ROLEX 24 HOURS, DAYTONA, FL 1 58 Donohue/Garcia/Law/Rice 2 01 Pruett/Rojas/Montoya/Dixon 3 59 France/Barbosa/Borcheller, 4 10 Taylor/Angelelli/Frisselle/Lamy 5 02 Dixon/Franchitti/Lloyd/Pruett 6 16 Briscoe/Bernhard/Dumas 7 99 Johnson/Gurney/Fogarty/Vasser 8 2 Wallace/Finlay/Patrick/Mears 9 67 Marks/Lally/Valentine/Bergmeister/Long 10 66 Ballou/Pumpelly/George Jr/Collard/Lietz

Brumos Riley Porsche Ganassi Riley Lexus Brumos Riley Porsche SunTrust Dallara Ford Ganassi Riley Lexus Penske Riley Porsche Gainsco/Stallings Riley Pontiac Childress-Howard Crawford Pontiac TRG Porsche GT3 TRG Porsche GT3

735 laps Q1 -0.167s 4 -5.504s 7 -10.589s 5 731 laps 6 717 laps 2 714 laps 9 702 laps 18 695 laps 21 694 laps 26

Tough Times sutton-images.com

pace after also seeing a nose section go flying off the car late in the running.

Trouble struck the Penske car in the daylight morning hours when drivetrain issues took them from challenging for the lead to 15 laps off the pace and out of contention.

The fourth-placed Suntrust Ford of Max Angelelli, Wayne Taylor, Brian Frisselle and Pedro Lamy – who led at 12 hours – lost a lap on Sunday morning during a brake pad change, dropping them from the lead lap. But they eventually regained the deficit to become the fourth car to finish on the lead lap – a Daytona record.

Barely 10s covered the four DPs at the finish.

Last year’s GT-winning

A YEAR is a long time in the motor racing, or automotive, business.

The V8-powered Daytona Prototypes held a speed edge over recent 24 Hours, but this year, the speeds and the numbers were different. With the Penske joining Porsche’s Grand Am effort, extensive development and testing of the 911-based flat six (now 3.99-litres) resulted in a clear straightline speed edge.

The Porsches’ velocity on the high banks and long straights proved to be pivotal in their victory. Between the ‘star entries’ of Penske and Brumos, Porsches led 500 of the 735

laps, and despite Montoya’s rearguard fight during his final stint but at in the end, he could not stop Donohue sweeping past on the banking to give Brumos its first win in the race in 31 years, and first race in the category since Mont Tremblant in 2003.

The Pontiacs were not a factor, with GM’s support cuts reducing the makes’ numbers from 10 cars in 2008 to three entries this year. The story was much worse for Ford; five of the Ford-powered prototypes dropped out with identical crankshaft sensor vibration issues, which were traced to a single external supplier.

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rear of grid

THE Arctic Rally is Finnished for another year.

Pretty bad joke, that. But the oddness of the event never ceases to amaze.

The rally, based in Lapland, attracts the more Finns than a Cadillac collection, and

the quality is amazing. World champions Mika Hakkinen and Kimi Raikkonen made it this year, as did Mika Salo and JJ Lehto and then there was Tommi Makkinen, Timo Salonen and more Mikas and Timos than you can imagine.

sutton-images.com

Finnish Fun for Everyone

Here are some images of the fast and the famous. But be warned; they are not allowed to be published in Finland or Sweden so, if you are in those countries, please look at the northern lights, or something else …

Odd Spot

Geoff Gracie

AT eNews, we love a one-off livery and this one caught our eye.

Danny Smith is a legend of American – heck, world – Sprintcar racing, and Matthew Reed paid homage to him in the Grand Annual at Warrnambool over the weekend. Reed is a signwriter by trade and put all his skills into creating a special livery featuring not just one, but several images of Smith.

We cannot think of a better driver to pay tribute to than the six-time Grand Annual winner – but we bet you can.

Teams, there is a new season ahead and liveries get special ‘ink’ here at eNews ...

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