Motorsport eNews Issue 98 - March 31-April 6, 2009

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Issue No. 098 31 March – 6 April 2009

Joker in the PACK HOW v8 supercars’ OPTION TYre could be used ...

S EET M R A T S 1 f S N I W d r o F Craig, V8 Superc ar

Albert Park Supports

but will he drive?

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

Australasian

The ‘A’ Team

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Issue No. 098 | 31 March - 6 April 2009

news 4 Hoop Dreams

Changes for tyre usage?

7 Wilson Security Max back at BJR 9 More Wilson Security JB backs up Patrizi 10 FGs for everyone Bright and FG001 12 Where is everyone? Aussie Racers split in half 17 Rally up Hwy 31 Changes for ARC

Administration 357 Nepean Highway, Brighton East, VIC, 3187 (PO Box 7072, Brighton, VIC, 3186) P 03 9596 5555 F 03 9596 5030 admin@mnews.com.au

MD / Publisher

Chris Lambden publisher@mnews.com.au

chat 22 5 minutes with ... opinion 24 Branagan 25 Rowley

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, Paris Charles, Neil Hammond, Joel Strickland, Ash Budd, 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

race 26 Gripping stuff

32 Fear No Evil 36 Mini and Aussies 38 Porsche beats all

trade 46 Classifieds We could not let this edition go live without at least one image of The Who. Mr Daltry and the slightly old ‘lads’ done good, done brilliant at Albert Park.

Will Davison Ready for excitement The Process in Procession Fords roll on at AGP Percat rules the Lake Small and Smaller Wall unbeaten in GTs

Engineering switch at FPR Option tyre ‘gamble’ an o Official decision coming this week, but how’s this for an idea!

V8 SUPERCARS V8 teams could be offered the opportunity to gamble – big time – when Dunlop’s soft ‘Option’ tyre is introduced for the first time in a few weeks.

While it has been assumed that teams would be required to use the option tyre at least once at each of the six rounds (starting at Winton) where the experiment is to be conducted, an intriguing option has emerged as V8SA prepares to make its final decision on the Option Tyre format later this week: The original concept was that the teams would receive 12 regular tyres and four Option (faster, but likely to go off quickly) tyres at the six ‘sticky’ rounds – Winton, Symmons Plains, Hidden Valley, Sandown, Queensland Raceway and Barbagallo. It was assumed that teams would need to use the tyre at least once over the weekend.

However, Dick Johnson Racing team manager Adrian Burgess has floated a concept which, on first consideration, could add a fair amount of gambling ‘spice’ to the Option tyre races.

Burgess, a man with top line European racing credentials including team management in Formula 1, is suggesting that V8 teams should only be allowed to use the sticky rubber in two of the six option tyre rounds, of their own choosing, and

available on the spur of the moment – further increasing the chance of mixed and varied results.

“I tabled an idea at the Sporting Rules Review Working Group last year,” he said.

“I’ve worked with a similar concept in Europe (World Series by Renault) – ‘Joker’ tyres is what we called them.

“The idea that I proposed here was that the six weekends where you are allowed them, you choose two weekends to use your two sets.

“It would just mean that you don’t have all the people doing exactly the same thing at the same time, which is my worry.”

V8 Supercars Australia has introduced a raft of technical and sporting changes for 2009 – most of which have attracted praise – and the Option Tyre plan stands out as one of the most anticipated, but Burgess says that the rule change will be wasted if everyone uses the ‘soft’ tyre at the same time.

“Whoever comes up with the best strategy in the first event, everyone’s going to go home, study it and everyone will adapt to the same way of using them,” he says.

“My point is that, if a Victorian team wanted to use its tyres at Winton, or a Queensland team wanted to use them at QR because that event was the most important to them – they

might have a 100-strong corporate facility there with its key sponsors there – they might decide to use them there as opposed to another.

“It just means that you won’t have everyone doing exactly the same thing at exactly the same time. If we’re all going to have a two second advantage, the state of play will remain – we’ll all have the same thing.

“It’s up to them. We’ve put our case forward. I put that point across, so I guess we’ll wait and see.”

“To be honest, we don’t know how it [the Option tyre] is going to be introduced yet.

We haven’t heard from the board. It’s up to the board whether they like the concept or not.”

Another rule that is expected to be finalised this week concerns how the teams will allocate fuel for Saturday’s shorter 100km race at the six ‘sprint’ events.

Teams are likely to be forced to perform a compulsory fuel pit stop in the 100km races, but as the Clipsal 500 races showed, cars can make a 250km distance with one fuel stop. A foam ‘filler’ in the fuel tank to reduce the tank’s capacity is one of the ideas being floated.

We spoke to V8SA Operations Manager Kurt Sakzewski on Monday who confirmed a decision would be made this week.

– GRANT ROWLEY

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

news

option?

The ultimate tyre gamble: what a great idea ... opinion Chris Lambden mNews Publisher

Dirk Klynsmith

Imagine the scene: Triple Eight has used its Option tyres on both its cars in the early rounds, so the question remains: when will HRT play its Joker? The championship is close – when will Garth go for the Options? Will it work for him?

There’s been a lot of discussion over how, when and where V8s Option tyre should be used but, on the face of it, Adrian Burgess’ suggestion is a ripper.

As he correctly says, if the Option tyre is used at every round, by all teams, it will soon be ‘sussed’ by the teams, and they’ll all follow the same pattern.

Free it up – give the teams the choice of where and when they play their Joker – and the Option idea will genuinely mix things up.

Come on V8 Board – be brave and go for it!

SS GPWEEK – THE WORLD’S FIRST INTERNATIONAL ‘VIRTUAL’ MOTORSPORT MAGAZINE ...

BRIEFLY... n CRAIG Lowndes features prominently in a new attraction at Melbourne’s National Sports Museum.

Lowndes is interviewed in and narrates King of the Mountain, a new short film dedicated to the late Peter Brock, which will start airing at the Museum – located within the MCG – on Monday, 30 March.

Commissioned by the museum, the 12-minute King of the Mountain covers Brock’s domination of Bathurst’s ‘Great Race,’ paying homage to his standing in Australian sport and documenting the strong bond between Brock and Lowndes.

“It’s a great tribute to Peter,” Lowndes said.

“Peter was my mentor and a great friend; I enjoyed watching the film and reliving his incredible success at Bathurst.” n Michelin has become the exclusive tyre supplier to Superleague Formula for the next two race seasons.

The French company will supply its S7A/S8B tyres for F/R dry and P2A/P2B tyres for F/R wet to all the SF race teams for testing and competition. All teams competing in the series run identical single-seater cars and, under the agreement with Michelin, all tyres will be identical in terms of composition, specification and performance. n The Bendigo Kart Club has advised of a date and venue change for Round 2 of the Golden Power Series.

Originally scheduled to be held on May 2/3 at the Bendigo circuit, this date has been moved to now become the final round of the series on November 21/22 at VACC Park in Melbourne.

The expansion is on ...

IntaRacing set to become a two-car operation soon ...

V8 SUPERCARS EXPECT to see two IntaRacing V8 Supercars in competition later this season.

The brand-new V8 team, owned and driven

by Marcus Marshall, will take delivery of its new Triple Eight-built FG Falcon before the end of July. eNews understands that the Queensland-based team will debut the FG at Queensland Raceway’s August round and use the team’s current BF Falcon in the Fujitsu V8 Series for a yet-to-be-confirmed driver.

“We’re hoping to run the car in the Fujitsu Series later this year. We’ve got someone at the moment who is looking at it, but there’s nothing concrete yet. We can have this car

for the last four rounds of that series.”

“The advantage for us is that we’ve got a proven car (the BF). With our new team, we can establish ourselves and it’s helped us settle in and get the place operational.

“By the time we get the FG, Triple Eight would have sorted out any of the car’s idiosyncrasis that they have found and they’ll be able to apply it to our car.

“Overall, I think the speed of the FGs has been pretty positive, you just have to look at PCR and Triple Eight.

It is also anticipated that whoever secures the Fujitsu Series drive will become Marshall’s co-driver in the Phillip Island and Bathurst endurance races.

– GRANT ROWLEY

news

.

BJR sticking to the Max! V8 SUPERCARS EXPECT to see Andrew Jones and Max Wilson suit up in the V8 Supercar endurance events for Brad Jones Racing this year.

While BJR team representatives would not confirm its driver line-ups, eNews believes that regular pilots Jason Richards and Cameron McConville will line-up in

the #8 Team BOC Commodore VE, while Jones and Wilson will share the #14 WOW Racing Commodore VE. Jones, who was left out of a ride with BJR this year, replaced by Richards, completed a number of laps during the Albury-based team’s pre-season test session at Winton.

Wilson is currently competing for a new team in the Brazilian V8 Stock Car Championship. The Brazilian ace starred

at Bathurst last year with Brad Jones, finishing fifth in the WOW Commodore.

Wilson formally drove for Craig Gore’s V8 Supercar team which featured WOW sponsorship and Wilson has kept close links with WOW – hence his drive with BJR. An official announcement regarding Team BOC and WOW Racing’s endurance drivers will be made in the near future.

– GRANT ROWLEY

Cruickshank in McLaren swap?

V8 SUPERCARS PEDRO de la Rosa for Bathurst?

That might be a few years away, but if Paul Cruickshank has anything to do with it, pencil it in.

The official McLaren test driver popped into the Wilson Security Racing garage at Albert Park last weekend to catch up with his old engineer-turnedfriend Cruickshank. The pair worked together at West Surrey Racing during their two-year tenure in the British Formula 3 Championship back in 1993/94.

Since then, de la Rosa and Cruickshank have stayed in touch, and now, Cruickshank wants the Spaniard to come and test one of his V8 Supercars.

While de la Rosa wouldn’t commit to a drive, he didn’t rule it out.

“It’s too far away to think about.

I live in Europe and I have family now, but god knows – Europe has similar racing to this,” he said.

“If I come and do Bathurst, it will be with Paul, for sure. I’m only 38, I still have 38 more years of more motor racing!

“I’ve know Paul for a long time.

It’s great to come back here and meet with him. He’s explaining to me some of the things about V8s. I only see them running during the Grand Prix.

“The great thing with these cars is that they are all the same.

The differences between them are only small. In Formula 1, you depend more on your car than on your ability. Here, it’s more about the driver.”

For Cruickshank, he says that having a driver of de la Rosa’s experience would be invaluable.

“I’d love to have Pedro come

and drive my cars. Just for the experience,” the team owner said.

“The level that these guys work at is incredible. It would be good to have a young guy and an experienced guy in the team.

“One day, I’m sure Pedro will come and drive one of my cars.

Personally for me, it would be really good. He’s come up and made the grade on merit, and not many guys are able to do that. He’s done well. He’s hung in there.

“I’d love to get him down for a test. A test at Queensland

Dirk Klynsmith

news

Not yet!

Raceway – you can’t really crash there.”

Attracting Grand Prix drivers to race – or even test – a V8 Supercar has been very limited over the years, but if de la Rosa does come and drives a PCR Falcon, he would only do it under a few conditions.

“If I ever come down and test, I will do it under the condition that if I crash, I do not have to pay or fix it myself!”

– GRANT ROWLEY

Patrizi takes on JB for mentoring role

SEND ME IN, COACH

Matey, come and have a steer: Cruickshank and de la Rosa, left, got reacquainted last weekend,.

Dirk Klynsmith

V8 SUPERCARS sutton-images.com sutton-images.com

V8 SUPERCAR legend John Bowe will act as mentor and coach to class newcomer Michael Patrizi this year.

Patrizi, driver of the #333 Wilson Security Racing Falcon BF, has endured a mixed start to his V8 career after making his series debut with the now defunct Ford Rising Star Racing last year.

To assist with Patrizi’s learning curve, Bowe will assist the West Australian with data, circuit notes and how to go about his business with sponsors and fans.

“He’s helping me with my racing, on and around the track,” Patrizi told eNews.

“It’s a hard game, and maybe I’ve gone about it

the wrong way to start with so he’s here to guide me and try and get the results that I know that I’m capable of.”

Patrizi said that having a driver coach and mentor is vital – for both the drivers at the front and the back of the field.

“I’ve always had someone guiding me, all through my career,” he said. “(Bowe) is so experienced and has that many credentials to his name. In this sport, it’s all about going forward as quickly as possible. He’s a big asset to me and the team.”

The deal between Patrizi and Bowe, the 1995 Australian Touring Car Champion, has come about through Bowe’s personal sponsorship with Wilson Security.

– GRANT ROWLEY

SAFETY FIRST. ALMOST V8 SUPERCARS 1 FORD’S prototype Falcon – FG001 – almost got its race debut at Albert Park last weekend.

Steven Richards was set to use the car which was built by FPR and funded by Ford last year, but the team elected to stick with the car that Richards’ debuted in Adelaide seven days ago.

“We considered using the car, but we simply ran out of time after Clipsal,” said Ford Performance Racing’s managing director Tim Edwards.

“Both cars were nice and straight so we didn’t end up doing that.”

While FPR didn’t decide to use the ‘spare’ car, there were teams that did run different chassis.

After a horror Adelaide round, Jim Beam Racing elected to put James Courtney in Grant Denyer’s Fujitsu V8 Series BF Falcon. Courtney had a quiet Albert Park round, finishing 22nd overall.

Courtney’s FG chassis that was damaged in Adelaide will have the fabrication work finished tonight before going into the paintshop to be

completed on Wednesday. The car will get a shakedown at Eastern Creek during a scheduled ride day next week before being packed up for Hamilton, NZ. Also in a spare chassis was Michael Caruso. Like Courtney, Caruso’s brandnew car was damaged in the first leg of the Clipsal 500, and even though the GRM team fixed the shell to compete in the second Clipsal race, the Valvolinebacked team decided to field Caruso’s spare from last year for the non-points round.

– GRANT ROWLEY

Brighty puts the ‘G’ in Winton V8 SUPERCARS JASON Bright will debut his Stone Brothers Racingbuilt FG Falcon at the third round of the V8 Supercar Championship Series at Winton Motor Raceway.

The Fujitsu driver has started the season with James Courtney’s ex-BF Falcon, but will switch to the new model Ford at his old home test track.

The former Bathurst

winner says having a better correlation with his SBR teammates (Shane van Gisbergen and Alex Davison) will fasttrack the development of the team’s new cars.

“One of the main advantages is that I’ll be able to work closer with the other Stone Brothers drivers,” said Bright.

“There are a few things that are a little bit different in the cars.

“Our biggest problem at the

moment is that we haven’t had enough test miles in the car.

The test day that we had was as good as a wash-out, Clipsal was a bit turbulent because we had a bunch of new guys working together and tripping over each other.

“With one test day, I think we can make a lot of ground and before Winton, we’ll do a test day.

Bright says there is a noteable difference between

his current SBR BF and the FPR and Britek chassis that he has competed in over the past four seasons.

“They are quite a bit different – certainly a lot more different that what the Britek/FPR cars were,” he said.

“It’s taken us a little while to get back to work. I’d like to think we’ll leave the Grand Prix with a much better understanding of what this car needs.”

Aussies hit by Grid Drama AUSSIE RACERS

CONTROVERSY hit the Aussie Racing Cars hard at the Australian Grand Prix after only half the field appeared for one of the races.

Prior to Race 2, an apparent miscommunication between senior marshals and race organisers left half the field stranded on the formation grid, and only 17 cars made it into the race.

The car ofTyler Owen was being examined by officials which, according to other competitors, directed attention away from the event timetable. A number of the competitors claim that during the confusion, no one minute board was displayed to the drivers as a warning.

Tyler’s father and car owner Chris Owen was involved with series organisers and scrutineers to sort out the confusion.

“We were lined up on the out grid, one of the scrutineers came over to hold the car, we didn’t know whether we were

going out or not,” he said.

“The head guys of the category were working on figuring out the issue on our behalf, which caused a bit of confusion on the grid.

Through all of the confusion, a lot of energy went into solving something that wasn’t resolved, and caused half the field not to go out.”

Many of the competitors including series coordinator Phil Ward were left scratching their heads as to why only half the field was allowed through the gate.

“All the competitors elected Shane Wolki as their representative, who wrote a letter to the stewards outlining the circumstances of the rule failure,” said Ward.

“The stewards decided not to take any action, saying every competitor had to pay their protest fee. So we’ve now written a letter to the CEO of CAMS, signed by all competitors and marshals, with a vote of no confidence in the stewards of the race.”

– CALLUM BRANAGAN

Marshall Cass

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Mitch Evans:

Sonic Youth

Marshall Cass

FORMULA FORD

Marshall Cass

KIWI young gun Mitch Evans will use this year’s Genuine Ford Parts Australian Formula Ford Championship to decide whether or not to audition for a spot in the Red Bull Junior Team at the end of this season.

Evans debuted in the AFFC at last weekend’s Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park, beating everyone except his Sonic team-mate Nick Percat. It was an impressive start for the first driver to take advantage of the new CAMS licensing rules, Evans still months away from his 15th birthday.

According to Evans, Europe is his ultimate goal, and how he fares in Formula Ford will decide wether he chases his dream of a Red Bull scholarship as soon as this year.

“My plan is to get into the Red Bull Junior Team, get to Formula Renault, and use that as a pathway to Formula 3,” Evans told eNews.

“They do a test in Europe at the end of each year. I’ve been approached for it this year coming, but I don’t know if I’m ready for it.

Is he old enough to get into the Paddock?

Mitch Evans is the latest New Zealand driver to have his eyes on an international career, and made an impressive first-up appearance in the FFord races at Albert Park.

“I want my performance to be my best when I go over there, and its wings and slicks, so it’s different to the Formula Ford.

“I don’t want to blow my chance.”

Should Evans be accepted into the Red Bull family, he will join his good mate Brendan Hartley, who is only 19 years old himself and has now been named as Red Bull Racing’s F1 test driver.

“Me and Brendan are really good mates,” added Evans.

“We talk a lot over the internet when he is overseas.

To get that advice is great. It’s great to speak to someone making a real impression in Europe.”

– ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN

Power looking like a fixture at Team Penske

Honda Racing

INDYCAR WILL Power’s chances to stay in the #3 Team Penske ride are looking better every day.

The tax evasion trial involving Helio Castroneves continues at a snail’s pace in Miami’s U.S. District Court while the St. Petersburg, Florida, IndyCar season opener starts in just a few days.

Power has done everything Team Penske has asked of him. He topped the chart of the 16 drivers attending the two-day open test held last week at Barber Motorsports Park last week, with team-mate Ryan Briscoe, inset, third.

“It was an opportunity to knock the rust off,” said Power, who used the road course test to get back in racing shape.

“It’s been almost six months since we’ve raced. You get some blisters on your hands and get hardened up, and get back into driving mode. We’re satisfied that we have a good setup for road courses.”

Dario Franchitti was second fastest, followed by Scott Dixon, Graham Rahal, and Robert Doornbos.

As Team Penske finished testing, Castroneves completed his fourth week

of trial, but only the prosecution side had been heard. The final witness, Joann Levitt, an Internal Revenue Service agent, testified last week that Castroneves owes US$2.3m in U.S. taxes “because of unreported income and improper deductions taken over a five-year period”, according to an AP report. [Associated Press] The two-time Indy 500 winner’s attorney, David Garvin, asked Levitt if she considered any alternative legal explanation for entries on Castroneves tax returns from 1999 to 2004.

Levitt responded, “It is my opinion based on all of the evidence. This was reportable

by Helio Castroneves because it was his

income.” She also testified that Castroneves “improperly claimed thousands of dollars in business deductions and failed to declare as income Hugo Boss clothing and airline tickets he received.”

Facing at least six years in prison, all three defendants – Castroneves, his sister Katiucia as his business manager, and his Michigan-based attorney, Alan Miller – have an opportunity to answer the charges in court. It is not yet known if the charismatic, two-time Indy 500 winner, will testify on his own behalf that he left financial matters to others, followed their advice, and has done anything wrong.

“It is like being on an airplane,” Castroneves, 33, told ESPN.com as the members of their eight-person legal defense team arrived at court. “There are moments when you climb, moments when you dive and moments of turbulence. It has not been a fun flight. The good news is that this plane will be landing soon.”

Even is the Brazilian makes a safe landing and is found innocent, it’s looking more certain for Power that he will be racing the #3 Team Penske machine all season.

– MARY MENDEZ

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The Hunt for a seat is Over

Hunter-Reay joins Carpenter at Vision INDYCAR RYAN Hunter-Reay has secured a late IndyCar ride, with Vision Racing.

RHR and E.J. Viso tested last week with the HVM team, which had looked like having a deal with Robert Doornbos, who will race this season for Newman Haas Lanigan. But following the HVM test, which was run at Barber Motorsports Park, HunterReay has signed with Tony George’s team, and will race alongside Ed Carpenter.

The reason George stepped in with his own money is because Hunter-Reay is the face of the multi-million dollar, IZOD ad campaign to be launched this week. IZOD is the official clothing company of the Indy Racing League, and its advertosing campaign features an IZOD is Indy Racing theme.

– MARY MENDEZ

INDYCAR COUNT IS 19 - 23

But Duno misses test – will she make it to season opener?

INDYCAR EXPECT to see between 19 and 23 cars at the IndyCar season opener in St. Petersburg.

Although 21 drivers tested at the Homestead IndyCar open test in Florida last month, only 16 showed up at the road course test at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama. Apparently, Milka Duno’s funding didn’t materialize and she did not test with Newman-Haas Lanigan.

She is currently listed on the IndyCar entry list as a driver with her team as TBA. Conquest Racing did not participate in the test but lists Jaime Camara as its sole driver for the season opener. Alex Tagliani hopes to fill the second seat soon if sponsorship can be found.

Team 3G with rookie driver/co-owner Stanton Barrett also missed the road course test and admitted they didn’t have all the road course accessories like wings,

etc. They too could be waiting on funding as there is no desperate parts shortage, which everyone experienced last season with the merger.

Dale Coyne has left the driver of his second car in the “to be announced” category. Perhaps it will be Bruno Junqueira or a paying driver.

Cheques have to clear before Honda will supply a team engines, which could be one of the reasons some of the teams missed the Barber test. Foyt and HVM conducted their own private tests.

Not listed on the St. Petersburg entry list is Rubicon Racing, which attempted to run at the Indy 500 last May with Max Papis, only to miss the field. Rubicon has joined with Pacific Coast Motorsports that ran Mario Dominguez last season. Although the team states they have the sponsorship ready and plan to run Buddy Rice, they have yet to appear at the tracks.

– MARY MENDEZ

sutton-images.com

Atko still in the game Rally star back in Australia looking for funds for WRC return WORLD RALLYING CHRIS Atkinson is currently in Australia trying to secure the funding to continue his limited program in the World Rally Championship.

The Bega native was driving for Prodrive’s Subaru World Rally Team up until the end of last season, making positive steps throughout 2008 despite an obvious lack of pace from the Impreza WRC. But when the Japanese carmaker pulled its rallying budget in December, he was left without a drive.

Atkinson immediately did a deal with the newly formed Citroen Junior World

Rally Team, but has so far only had the funding to do one round – the seasonopening Rally Ireland. He was slated to re-join the team at this weekend’s Rally Portugal, but is still down under working on a budget.

“I’ve come back to try and find some sponsors and plan a few things out before I go back to Europe,” he told eNews.

“I’m really keen to get back in a car, obviously, and we are hoping to gat back as soon as possible. It all depends on funding, and we’re working on that.

The more I can get, the more rounds I can do.”

Skelta x 3 AUSTRALIAN RALLYING

SKELTA will launch a three-pronged attack on this year’s Targa Tasmania, the biggest ever entry for the Queensland kit car manufacturer.

Ray Vandersee, brainchild of the Skelta, will lead the team, with Targa veteran Guy Beddington and newcomer Marcus Nuutinen also suiting up.

The trio proved they will be front-runners at Targa by running first, second and third in the recent Gatton Sprints.

But while Atkinson is on the Gold Coast for the time being, he says he is still based in Monte Carlo and the World Rally Championship is still alive.

“I’m still based there – this is just a chance to spend some time at home while there is a bit of summer left. I’ll definitely be going back.”

With which team Atkinson will drive is not entirely certain, and while he admits to some “other offers”, he says Citroen is the place to be.

“Citroen he is a great fit,” he confirmed.

“They are the World Champions and build the fastest cars.”

– ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN

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Taking the long way ‘round AUSTRALIAN RALLYING

Joel Strickland

AN endurance rally could form part of the 2010 Australian Rally Championship.

The Australian Rally Commission has formed a working group to analyse the viability of staging a championship rally running between Sydney and Melbourne.

While details and exact routes are still a way off, ARCom chairman Colin Trinder says that the concept may well be realistic.

“ARCom has been considering the need to include different, more challenging formats of events in the Australian Championship for some time,” Trinder said.

“The formation of this working group is the first step toward realising the vision that we include an endurance event as a part of the Australian Rally Championship.

The working group has been tasked with developing the concept and reporting back to ARCom by early June 2009.

“While there is no hard and fast view about the structure, organisation or route

Works at Bathurst: Endurance event works for Dakar, too, but how would it fare in the ARC? that the event might take, ARCom is mindful of the work that the marketing group did during 2008 that suggested a Sydney to Melbourne or Melbourne to Sydney route, taking in Canberra as the base concept.

“The end of the contract for the Rally of Canberra ARC and the fact that there has been no Australian Championship round

in Victoria in 2008 [or] 2009 also provides an opportunity to work with those organisers and clubs to stage a major event in 2010. [Next year] is also the rest year for Repco Rally Australia.”

The ARC made its first step into new territory last year when it instigated an alltarmac round in Tasmania, the first in the championship’s long history.

Bates RSVP for Perth, names ‘plus one’ AUSTRALIAN RALLYING did the first round in Toyota NEAL Bates is determined to finish this year’s Australian Rally Championship, and his team will return to being a two-car outfit for this weekend’s Forest Rally in Western Australia.

Neal Bates Motorsport has faced an uncertain future since Toyota withdrew its factory funding before the start of this season. Bates

colours, and appeared at the second round in Canberra in NBM colours, declaring that he would tackle the rest of the year on a round-by-round basis.

In Perth this weekend former Ford factory driver Darren Windus will join Bates, taking the wheel of the exSimon Evans Super 2000 Corolla.

“Obviously these are tough

times, and we have tough decisions to make,” Bates told eNews.

“We’re out there looking for sponsorship at the moment, but Perth has loomed up and we’ve made the decision to go over.

“We’re running Darren Windus over there and that’s great for us. We’re hopefully close to having something.

We’ll just keep pushing on and see how it goes over the

Neil Blackbourn

next month.”

Bates also admitted that he hopes the team will remain as a two-car effort for the rest of the season.

“I’d love that to continue,” he added. “I hope Darren has a very good experience over in Perth and I hope that he’ll want to do some more rounds.”

Bates has also come up with a way of helping pay the fuel bills to Perth – acting as a transport company.

“We’re taking some other people’s cars and service stuff over with us so that helps pay the way. We’ll have [Glen] Raymond’s car and service gear and some stuff for other people, so we’ve turned into a bit of a transport business as well. That’s all about trying to stay in the championship and stay at the front.”

– ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN

news

Aussie stand-out Sam Abay is moments away from a British F3 deal with Hitech

Pen ready, waiting to sign BRITISH F3

sutton-images.com

SAM Abay will head to the United Kingdom next week with a strong chance of inking a deal with crack British Formula 3 team Hitech Racing.

Abay, 21, has an offer from the 2007 championshipwinning team and is leaving Australian shores with the intent to finalise the deal – sponsorship details pending.

“It’s one of those difficult things that drivers have to face (sponsorship), but I do have an amazing deal that’s on the table that I’m looking forward to,” he said.

“I just need a bit of an extra kick to lock it in and do the whole season.

“The team is obviously very good. It won the championship in 2007 with Marco Asma. He

did a great job. I’m just looking forward to getting back and getting in a race suit.”

Abay says that he is not even considering not making the first round of the British series.

“It would be detrimental. I can’t afford to sit out for a season, both from experience and exposure,” he said.

“It’s always tough in F3. I learnt so much throughout the year and picked up so many skills. Now I’ve been out of a car for six months, I pretty much have to learn everything all over again. I’m sure I can learn much faster this year, having had a good season last year.”

Abay finished 11th in last year’s British F3 Series driving for Carlin Motorsport with a best result of fourth place at Thruxton and Spa.

The Melbourne driver was happy with his debut F3 season – but wants to concentrate on Year 2.

“It was a solid effort. I didn’t quite get the final result that I wanted, but the season as a whole was quite good,” he said.

“I feel I progressed and got more comfortable with the car as the year went on and I ended up regularly qualifying top five and challenging for podiums.

“Having done what I did last year, I’m confident I can get podiums and race wins more often.”

Abay will get one test session with Hitech before heading to the opening championship round of the British F3 International Series at Oulton Park in two weeks.

– GRANT ROWLEY

Supercup Halliday PORSCHE SUPERCUP

sutton-images.com

NEW Zealand driver Matt Halliday has been signed to contest the 2009 Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup, driving for defending Champions FedersandJetstream Motorsport.

Halliday has been negotiating with the team for some time and is pleased to secure a permanent seat in the series.

The 11 rounds of the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup are contested as support events to 10 rounds of the FIA World Formula 1 Championship including Bahrain, Spain, Monaco, Turkey, Great Britain, Germany, Hungary, Europe (Valencia), Belgium and

Italy. Halliday will be in good company as his team mate will be two-time Porsche Supercup Champion Richard Westbrook.

“It’s going to be great getting behind the wheel in such a high profile International campaign with such a professional and successful team,” Halliday said.

“I appreciate the faith Marcel and Renato are placing in me and intend achieving the results the Team is aspiring to.”

Halliday will test at Aida next week before competing in Rounds 1 and 2 of the 2009 Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup at the Sakhir circuit in Bahrain on of April 24-26.

Entry fees transferable and frustrations of the Drag Racing fraternity with what has been a shocking season Western Sydney Dragway in terms of weather at our has confirmed that major ANDRA Championship competitors that were Drag Racing events. We look entered for the Wynn’s forward to seeing everyone Spitfire Summernationals in May.” and are entering the If racers can’t remember Karcher Nitrochamps event, the number of racer discount presented by Shannons, will tickets they had from the have the full value of their Summernationals WSID Summernationals entry Admin will process these at its credited to the Nitrochamps. end.

“Apologies to the If racers are requesting competitors in the delay in additional tickets (as this will communicating this out, we were slow but its clarified now,” be a three-day event), then remarked WSID MD Tony Beuk. please include the request “We appreciate the hardships in the ‘number of tickets line’

DRAG RACING

and provide a comment.

One of Australia’s biggest drag racing meetings – the Karcher Nitro Champs presented by Shannons – is set to grow even further thanks to the addition of the Rocket All Stars Racing Series into the event’s lineup, which will be held at Western Sydney Dragway May 1 to 3, 2009.

The traditional Nitro Champs event has always produced the biggest spectator attendances in Sydney, with the cool May air and perfect spectating conditions providing fireworks off and on the racetrack.

John Morris/Mpix

NT man awarded Official of the Year DRAG RACING IN a ceremony held Saturday Night at the Arafura Ballroom Holiday Inn, Al Ballinger from Hidden Valley Drag Racing Association and Motorsports NT was honoured with the Official of the Year awardby the Minister for Sport and Recreation, Mr Karl Hampton.

The annual NT Sports Awards is an important and premier event in the NT sporting calendar, recognising and awarding the achievement of sporting greats from volunteers and administrators to coaches and junior athletes.

“Sport is important to the way of life in the NT and Territorians love their motorsport” said Hidden Valley Drag Racing Association President Jay Jukes.

“Al is a vital key to the successful running of many motorsports both in the NT and interstate including the events held at Hidden Valley Drag Strip.

“He is a dedicated Official and has made a significant and influential contribution to many codes of motorsports over an extended period, having volunteered his time for more than 20 years.”

news

Fresh face for Pro Stock ranks Michael Ali joins the fray for casrol EDGE Tin Top Titles at Willowbank DRAG RACING THE Castrol EDGE Tin Top Titles will see a fresh face in the Pro Stock ranks at Willowbank Raceway over April 18 and 19, with Adelaide’s Michael Ali joining the professional category for the first time.

Ali, right and above, had planned to make his debut at February’s Sydney event after moving up from the Sportsman Competition category and testing his brand-new Jerry Haas built SA Construction Pontiac GTO Pro Stocker there the week prior.

However as history has shown the weather had other plans, and the 32-year-old will now attempt to earn his first professional stripes at Queensland’s premier drag racing facility in three weeks time.

While the St Agnes resident is yet to make his first professional level showing, his aspirations are top-notch, with the builder having his eye on the National Speed and ET records – after some early steps of course.

“Pro Stock is a very competitive class, and if I can qualify for the eight car field at the Castrol EDGE Tin Top Titles,

and perhaps make it through the first round, I would be over the moon,” said Ali. “That you would say is the short term goal, but I also have my eye on being the National Record holder – if I could do that, be the fastest car on the block, I would be very happy.”

To accomplish this goal, Ali will have the Bundaberg brothers Aaron and Tyronne Tremayne to contend with – the pair are the current National Champion (Aaron) and Runner-up (Tyronne) while holding and regularly trading both the ET and Speed records.

They also have a stranglehold on the top two spots of the current championship chase.

“The Tremaynes are the best at what they do at the moment, no question,” said Ali. “They have a lot of good parts, they do a lot of passes and they are very good at what they do – anyone that could match them would have to really be on top of their game.

“Having said that though I’m not afraid of that benchmark, not at all. I have good people behind me with Patterson Race Engines in America, Peter Ridgeway and my dad, and I am fairly confident that we will be able to get there and it is definitely something Dad and I

have our eyes on.”

I think we are going to have ‘Dad’ is Sav Ali, a long time some good success in the near drag racing competitor of the future, and I would really like to 70s whose return to the sport see that happen to thank them shortly after Michael gained his for all their input. road license saw his son take “There are three more rounds over the racing wheel of his in the Championship for this Ford 27 T Roadster in B Altered, season and each round we eventually setting the stillwould just like to get more standing ANDRA National ET experience, more runs, more Record for the class in 2007. data and hopefully just get “Dad is at every race meeting, all our ducks in a row for next he co-ordinates the team and season – it is one step at a time plays a major part in the racing,” with these things.” said Ali. The Castrol EDGE Tin Top “To be honest without him in Titles will take place on my corner I wouldn’t be doing Saturday the 18th and Sunday this – I couldn’t do it without the 19th of April, and will his support and the support feature all the sedan action of my crew guys and Peter from Top Doorslammer and Pro Ridgeway and Todd Patterson Stock as well as two-wheeled in America. show from the Pro Stock “With these guys behind me Motorcycle category.

5 Minutes with ...

WILL DAVISON

HRT’s new lad is showing that he is going to be no easy-beat in 2009

GRANT ROWLEY

MOTORSPORT eNEWS: Looking good in red!

WILL DAVISON: Yeah, it’s looking pretty good.

Did you expect this transition to gel so quickly?

If you’d told me before Adelaide that I’d have these sort of results straight up, I would have been happily surprised.

I worked pretty hard in the off season, but I was unsure of what to expect. This is a massive opportunity for me, but I didn’t know what to expect so you have to back yourself in that situation. Yeah, it’s great that we’ve got off to this start.

Clearly, we’ve still got some work to do before Hamilton to see if we can get some race wins.

Marshall Cass

Are you feeling comfortable in your new team surrounding yet?

I’m feeling pretty comfortable now. There’s still a transitional period – getting to know a new bunch of guys, working out how the team works and getting used to the cars and their behaviour – but I’m feeling more and more comfortable every time I go out in the car and work with the guys.

HRT is obviously a very professional team. I knew that before I came here, and that is the reason why I originally made the step here. I had a pretty big responsibility, coming here as the replacement for Mark Skaife to join Garth, but I’m really starting to get a handle on the whole deal.

HE’S JUST HAD A BAD RUN ... DON’t FORGET ABOUT GARTH. WILL DAVISON is aware that tander on’t lie down just yet Ford’s new FG hasn’t been beaten in its first five races.

How does HRT go about redressing that?

The team has everything it needs to win. As we saw last year, there were races run and won by Garth easily.

Sure, the Ford teams have up-specced to the FG, but the brains back at our team are very, very clever and now we’re going to circuits where we can have this sort of performance.

Obviously, Garth had a bit of a shocker here (Grand Prix), but no doubt if things had gone well for him, he would be up there challenging – he’s just had a bad run.

Don’t forget about him, though. We’re going to work hard together to make sure we have some really strong results coming up.

Your results in the first two events have been very good, compared to your team-mate.

He’s had some bad luck, but is he feeling the pressure with you here? Has your relationship changed at all?

Our relationship is the same.

We both want to beat each other – as we want to beat everyone else out there.

I think Garth is a little frustrated at the moment, simply because things haven’t gone his way, but he is one of the best drivers in the field and he knows that you can’t give away points at any stage of the series. He’s frustrated, for sure, but he’ll bounce back.

We still get along well. It’s probably got him on his toes a little bit. We both were looking over each other’s data after each race here at the Grand Prix. He was picking things up

from me and I was picking up things from him.

You’ve been in the series fulltime for a few years now, but it was just 12 months ago that you won your first race. Has it been a whirlwind trip for you or is this how you saw things panning out?

This is how I wanted my career to pan out. 12 months ago, I didn’t know I was going to be at HRT, but being in one of the best teams is certainly where I wanted to be placed.

It hasn’t really been a whirlwind. Maybe I’ll be able to sit back one day, look at the record books and be able to take in all of what I’ve achieved, but to be honest, I’ve still got a long way to go..

At this stage, though, everything is going in the right direction.

chat

opinion Grant Rowley Editor eNews THERE I was, at Albert Park, minding my own business, when this person I bumped into asked me “What event do you prefer; Albert Park or the Clipsal 500?”

Easy enough question, and after I paused to contemplate, I said “Albert Park, because its close to home.”

Am I losing enthusiasm for this sport? Did I pick Albert Park as my favourite because it’s more convenient, not because it’s a better event?

Well, rest assured, I’m not losing interest in motor racing – It will take more than five dud V8 Supercar races to dampen my love for all things motor and/or sport.

And that’s precisely part of the reason why I gave such a lame answer to what was a simple question. I love both the Clipsal 500 and the Australian Grand Prix, but watching this year’s opening V8 races has been like watching elephants walking through the Amazon jungle, trunk to tail, waddling along in formation.

Where’s the sport’s great racing gone?

Heck, I never thought I’d see the day when a Formula 1 race was going to be more unpredictable or have more passing than a V8 Supercar race – sprint or enduro.

What has happened in the offseason? Has there been a ‘No entertainment policy’ written into

the supp regs?

There are probably many factors that have made the first few races a snooze-fest (including the fact that there’s been no wet races), but may I just point out one obvious flaw in the system?

There were a few penalities handed out to drivers over the weekend – mostly for nose-to-tail contact. In fact, there were three instances where drivers were called in front of the stewards and left the room with less cash in their pockets.

First of all, all three incidents resulted in no major car damage.

And secondly, there were no championship points on the line anyway – or passing happening, for that matter.

These slight instances of contact were, embarrassingly, the most entertaining highlights of the weekend.

Is the category going to be brought back to a place it was at 18 months ago, when drivers were too ‘scared’ to touch another car for fear of losing points and getting fined? Please let’s not go there – the racing was boring then – but, judging by the last two weekends, we’re heading in the same direction.

But we shouldn’t get too fussed.

The next round is at Hamilton, NZ, and we know how exciting the racing was there last year … not!

Things Need

Letters

Have your say – email us at mail@mnews.com.au.

TV + V8s = Waste I wonder why the GP Corporation bothered to get the V8s back to Albert Park.

With appalling scheduling of their races and little television coverage into country areas, I wonder what the benefit of them being there was.

Telecasting action on Friday went the way of the dodo years ago and then I wait all day Saturday to watch the V8s – and Channel 10 switches to the news just as they are about to start.

In Adelaide they fared even worse as just as Formula 1

Practice 3 was about to start they crossed to the footy. Are Channel 10 serious? At least we got to see the V8 race 3 on Sunday.

The over hyped ONE HD is only broadcasting into city areas and country folk are copping the raw prawn

again. Wasn’t it the free-toair channels that forced anti siphoning laws when pay television began? It appears to be happening the other way around at present.

Gary Cook Via email

opinion

d a Touch-Up

opinion Phil Branagan Executive Editor

Dirk Klynsmith

Ed: Just to clarify, the anti siphoning legislation defines that certain sporting properties are to be maintained on free-to-air television, rather than Pay TV (ie, FoxSports). ONE HD is definitely free-to-air.

Bring on the Option Tyre!

I am writing to admit that I was wrong. [I wish my wife could admit that!]

When V8 Supercar announced that it was going

to have a second, soft tyre this season, I said that it would not make any difference to the racing. My mates all said that it would, and we had a pretty solid disagreement about it.

Having watched the Formula 1 race today, I think I was wrong. The Grand Prix cars that ended the race on the softer tyre looked like they were in big trouble, and the potential was there that the other cars (like the BMW) were going to catch them. Then,

THE problem with mobile phones is that they can ring at the worst possible moment.

I have a somewhat loud and unusual ringtone that now, following some untimely incoming calls over the weekend, is a note of some mirth among the international Formula 1 media corps.

One of the loud rings was from a mate who dials up when he wants to whine to someone. For some reason, he thinks that I am capable of fixing things at any level of the sport – even if I am standing in the middle of the Formula 1 world, during a practice session, and his particular problem has nothing whatsoever to do with Formula 1.

There are things to whine about in this sport and, sometimes, our role is to shine a light on things that we believe need to be addressed (which is, please note, different to whining).

But, Formula 1 apart (see GPWeek.com for all things Formula 1), there is a whole heap to like in motor racing at the minute. And most of this means that it is good to be Australian.

How about the fact that the IndyCar Series boots up this

weekend with not one, but two Aussies in the frame to win the whole damn thing?

How about the fact that David Brabham has a genuine shot at winning the Le Mans 24 Hour with Peugeot?

How about the fact that in the lead-up to the prestigious British Formula 3 championship, Aussie Daniel Ricciardo is one of the series favourites – and looks like a star on the rise in the Red Bull system?

All good news on the world stage.

But, while we are at it, how about some good old, feelgood stories? Like the V8 Supercar driver who spent three months sitting on his hands, wondering if he had anything to drive this season while all around him, superstars were being signed.

Then he finishes in the top six in each of the first five races of the season?

What about the form of the GT Championship? Okay, Bairdo is not that happy about the Mosler being strangled, but man, what a great series.

No matter how gloomy things might look in some arenas, there is lots to be happy about in 2009. And there is lots more to see.

the Safety Car came out and stuffed things up.

I am really looking forward to seeing the V8 drivers cope with a tyre that is faster, but only for a little while. I will be buying a ticket to the Winton round for sure, to watch the action!

Jamie Peterson Via email

Mans race is going to be on TV this year. From reading eNews last week, it sounds like the race is going to be good – is it going to be on TV? Tony Chan Via Email

J’adore Le Mans I do not have Pay-TV, so I do not known whether the Le

ED: Tony, from what we believe, there is at least one network (OneHD) talking about showing the race this year, though that might mean highlights after the race.

Cross your fingers.

V8 SUPERCAR CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES MANUFACTURERS CHALLENGE, ALBERT PARK

race

A Pig and the Blues

No factory support, but Craig Lowndes helped guide Ford to victory in the Sprint Gas Manufacturers Challenge at Albert Park. GRANT ROWLEY reports

Dirk Klynsmith

F

ORD was the big winner in the Sprint Gas V8 Supercar Manufacturers Challenge at Albert Park last weekend, but there was no blue oval at the front of the field.

Craig Lowndes won two of the three races, edging out factory Ford driver Mark Winterbottom for victory in the nonchampionship event at the Grand Prix circuit.

The Ford clean-sweep helped Ford secure the Manufacturers title, even if Lowndes’s car does not feature a Ford badge on the front grill! Ford eventually won the battle 1856 to Holden’s 1574.

But regardless of the blue, red or pig battle, Lowndes was simply too strong, winning Races 1 and 3 convincingly. From pole position in Race 1, he made a dud start, slipping to second place. It didn’t take long for him to recover lost ground – in fact, it was at turn three when Mark Winterbottom made a cold tyre error. From there, Lowndes was not touched.

In Race 2, Lowndes and TeamVodafone opted for a set of worn tyres, allowing Mark Winterbottom and Holden Racing Team driver Will Davison to slip past and stay ahead of the #888 car.

All of that was changed in the final event when Lowndes passed Davison on lap one and Winterbottom on lap three. His only issue over the weekend was a couple of dud starts, but other than that, it could hardly have been a better weekend.

“Our starts haven’t been too good this weekend but we’d tried something different method before we went to New Zealand and we’ll have a look at it,” he said.

“Our car was good. We were lucky enough to have good tyres for the last race. Will and Frosty were trying to get tyre temperatures as quick as they could but we managed to get the drive down.

“We had good turn, good drive and we were able to look after the tyres.”

Winterbottom took second for the nonpoints round “We made some big changes to the car over the weekend,” he said.

“Each time, I think the car got better, but the tyres were getting worse. I was pretty happy with the balance of the car.”

Davison finished third for the round, having a consistent run. The only moment where his breathe was held was a close dice with his team-mate Garth Tander in Race 2. The pair didn’t collide, but it was close, and it cost Tander to positions to

Steven Johnson and Jason Richards.

Besides that, a power steering issue on the last lap was his only drama. He lost a place to Russell Ingall, but overall, he looks like being Holden’s strongest contender in the early rounds of the season.

“I lost power steering between turns 11 and 12,” he said.

“I was going to pull it into the pits but I had a quick look at the big screen and realised I had a pretty good gap. But to finish on the podium is great – very encouraging.”

But could the weekend have been totally different? Lowndes’s team-mate Jamie Whincup had an engine problem in qualifying, placing 20th. The winner of both Clipsal 500 races started Race 1 in 17th (thanks to the unique starting procedure for the Manufacturer’s Challenge) and scythed through the pack to finish seventh. He found the going tougher in Race 2, eventually getting involved in a dangerous stoush with Steven Johnson and Shane van Gisbergen at Turns 1 and 2. Whincup finished Race 3 in 10th place, hampered by Paul Dumbrell who locked his brakes at turn one at the start of the race.

Dumbrell finished the final race 14th

race

Marshall Cass

Clean and mean: Will Davison continued to impress in his new team, above. Tony D’Alberto got a little too close to Marcus Marshall, below.

John Morris/Mpix

Dirk Klynsmith

after another strong weekend, taking 10th and eighth in the first two events.

Running even better than that was Johnson. The Jim Beam racer finished fourth, fourth and sixth, snaring him fourth for the round – the same position he placed at Clipsal a week ago.

Fifth overall was Jason Richards who, like Johnson, had another strong performance after a standout Clipsal meeting. Richards finished all three races in fifth place as he comes accustomed to his new surrounds in Walkinshaw equipment at Brad Jones Racing.

Of the other stand-out performers, Ingall’s third place in Race 3 bordered on amazing, considering he did not finish Race 1 after being an innocent victim in a clash with Alex Davison and Greg Murphy.

Fujitsu driver Jason Bright was on for a solid weekend – compared to his Clipsal 500 performance – but came in contact with the tyres at turn five in Race 3.

In the penalty department over the course of the weekend, A Davison was pinged for taking off Murphy in Race 1, as was Michael Patrizi for his biff with Tim Slade. Patrizi left the meeting $3000 lighter.

Steven Richards pleaded guilty to ramming Rick Kelly in Race 1 (who later called Richo a “monkey”). Cameron McConville performed an identical trick on Rick’s brother Todd, costing T Kelly a top 10 place.

Tony D’Alberto also copped a $2000 fine and a rear of grid start for Race 3 after contact with Marcus Marshall.

Before the incident, both D’Alberto and Marshall were running inside the top 15.

V8 Supercar | NC, MANUFACTURERS CHALLENGE, vic Pos # 1 888 2 5 3 22 4 17 5 8 6 9 7 1 8 111 9 10 10 7 11 39 12 3 13 6 14 14 15 2 16 4 17 25 18 77 19 67 20 11 21 15 22 18 23 34 24 021 25 55 26 51 27 24 28 33 29 16 30 333

Driver Craig Lowndes Mark Winterbottom Will Davison Steven Johnson Jason Richards Shane van Gisbergen Jamie Whincup Fabian Coulthard Paul Dumbrell Todd Kelly Russell Ingall Jason Bargwanna Steven Richards Cameron McConville Garth Tander Alex Davison Jason Bright Marcus Marshall Tim Slade Jack Perkins Rick Kelly James Courtney Michael Caruso Dean Fiore Tony D’Alberto Greg Murphy David Reynolds Lee Holdsworth Dale Wood Michael Patrizi

Team/Car Q R1 R2 R3 TeamVodafone Falcon FG 1 1 3 1 FPR Falcon FG 4 2 1 2 Toll HRT Commodore VE 2 3 2 4 Jim Beam Racing Falcon FG 7 4 4 6 Team BOC Commodore VE 3 5 5 5 SP Tools Racing Falcon FG 10 8 7 8 TeamVodafone Falcon FG 19 7 6 10 Wilson Security Racing Falcon FG 8 6 9 9 Autobarn Commodore VE 9 10 8 14 Jack Daniel’s Commodore VE 6 9 14 12 Supercheap Auto Commodore VE 16 DNF 12 3 Sprint Gas Racing Commodore VE 25 14 11 17 FPR Falcon FG 11 18 17 11 WOW Commodore VE 14 11 18 21 Toll HRT Commodore VE 5 DNF 13 7 Irwin Racing Falcon FG 21 21 15 16 Fujitsu Racing Falcon BF 20 13 10 DNF Team Intaracing Falcon BF 15 12 DNF 15 Supercheap Auto Commodore VE 24 22 21 19 Dodo Racing Commodore VE 27 19 19 25 Jack Daniel’s Commodore VE 12 DNF 16 13 Jim Beam Racing Falcon FG 26 15 20 DNF GRM Commodore VE 17 24 24 23 TKR Commodore VE 28 23 22 27 Bottle-O Commodore VE 23 16 DNF 22 Sprint Gas Commodore VE 13 20 DNF 20 Bundaberg Red Commodore VE 18 17 DNF 24 GRM Commodore VE 22 25 25 28 Hi-Tec Oils Racing VE 30 DNF 23 26 Wilson Security Racing Falcon BF 29 EXC DNF 18

GETTING boxed in COMMENT BRAD JONES V8 team owner/GPTV BRAD Jones was in a unique position to comment on the weekend’s V8 Supercar action at Albert Park.

The V8 team owner was hauled into GPTV’s commentary box to cover the V8 races with old buddy Neil Crompton.

GPTV produces the vision and commentary for punters at the track, and eNews caught up with Jones to get his thoughts on the V8 races at Albert Park. While his own team went quite well, the class-dominating Triple Eight Falcons were the first thing on his mind ...

Dirk Klynsmith

THE dominance of the TeamVodafone cars is quite astonishing. After just two V8 Supercar events, I think there’s more than a few people out there surprised how fast they are going.

But dominance in this sport goes in cycles. History shows that it doesn’t matter who is dominant at the time, the fast guys are going to be up the front, but it’s just a matter of time before others get closer. Certainly, judging by Triple Eight’s performance at the moment, particularly Craig Lowndes’ efforts in the first and third races, were exceptional. Jamie Whincup’s run through the field in the first race was very good. The team definitely have their cars running really well.

What’s the team’s biggest strength? It’s easy to say the pace of its cars.

They’ve obviously got good drivers, a good team and the way it’s all working together for them. Triple Eight is simply on top of its game. I don’t think it’s one thing over anything else. It’s a combination of a lot of good things. While their drivers have a slightly different driving style, they’ve been able to make the cars compatible for both.

At one point in qualifying at Albert Park, Craig was seven-tenths clear of the field, and from second place to 30th, there was a second covering them. For me, that pretty much says it all.

But it’s not just one thing that you need to improve on. Look at Mark Winterbottom’s starts in all three races at Albert Park. He didn’t get any wheelspin and jumped cleanly off the line as soon as the lights turned green.

At some circuits, that will be very good for him and if he’s on the front few rows of the grid, look out, because he won’t be stopped!

While everyone is chasing the Vodafone cars, my team (Brad Jones Racing), is competitive again. You saw a glimpse of that last year, and this year, we’ve stepped that up a little bit further again.

Jason Richards is doing a really, really good job for us. Cameron McConville has also had good pace but has been mixed up in a few mid-pack things for a number of different reasons. I’m really looking forward to the next two races. It will be interesting to see once everything has settled exactly where we drop out. But we’re extremely happy with where we are.

race

Why the GP is important on, but I can guarantee you that if they were winning, they’d change their opinion.

Guys starting from pit lane is a bit of a joke – they were down the back anyway.

Fair enough, when you start out of pit lane, you’re not going to get damage and you can do some testing, but they should be racing and trying to get towards the front.

At Albert Park, the biggest thing that I got out of the weekend was confidence in the car. We tried different things every race.

We didn’t just go in there and fine tune it – we made some big changes.

When you do a test day, you don’t have all the cars around you to gauge how you’re going, how the car’s going to last over five laps, 15 laps, balance, how you can pass – there’s all these things. You can test things that an average test day is never going to tell you. Just driving

MARK WINTERBOTTOM V8 Supercar driver

Peter Bury

EVERY time you hope in these cars, it’s important. Whether you’re racing for points, not for points, you’re still representing your sponsors, your manufacturer. There are a lot of reasons why you’re trying to win the race.

Any time you’re in the car, you need to take it serious. I think the GP event is as important as any other race – it’s just there’s no points on offer.

We all have of our sponsors there – Castrol was here, Ford was there. We race in front of a large amount of fans, international teams ... it’s a great track.

And at the end of the day, you want to win. Any guys who says that they don’t care or aren’t taking it seriously are the guys who aren’t up the front.

You can always say that they aren’t trying or they don’t have their best tyres

opinion

around doing laps is not a good way to see how you’re going and put it to its limits.

Anyone can drive around and do a quick time, but if you burn up the brakes while you’re jammed in behind someone, it’s not a good car – that is just one of the reasons why an event like this is so important.

And why it’s a waste of time AFTER the Clipsal 500 with Michael Caruso’s crashed car, Garry and the boys didn’t want any more crashed cars.

We went into the weekend treating it like a public test session – starting the races from pit lane, trying different set-ups, different things with the brakes.

While we would have liked to go for the wins, we decided not to, and that’s disappointing for the fans. They went to watch the race and see us do well, but there’s no incentive for us to push hard and put the car in a position where we would risk the car.

I think that’s the most disappointing thing, but it’s not really our fault. If they gave us some points to vie for, we’d be out there racing. Even if it was just 20 points!

I understand that Formula 1 is the main category – they get the good facilities and track time. That’s fine. We come second. I don’t think any team is bitter about being out in the paddock with the rest of the support classes, but if we’re going to be here, there should be points on the line so we’ve got something to race for and the fans have got something to watch.

Generally, we struggle on tracks like this. Our cars don’t like the long radius corners. I’m not too sure why, and that’s what we tried to figure out at the weekend. If we can get an improvement for a circuit like Phillip Island, a track which we do compete for points at, then we’ll be pretty happy.

opinion LEE HOLDSWORTH V8 Supercar driver

Dirk Klynsmith

AUSTRALIAN FF CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 1 – ALBERT PARK

Percat Em

Nick Percat showed that he has learned how did it three times at Albert Park. By ANDRE

John Morris

Dirk Klynsmith

The mpire

NICK Percat is intent on righting his wrongs from last year’s Genuine Ford Parts Australian Formula Ford Championship after winning the opening round of this year’s championship in consummate style at Albert Park last weekend.

Percat was undoubtedly the fastest driver last season, but a ragged first half of the year put him too far behind Paul Laskazeski to challenge for the title. But the South Aussie proved at the Grand Prix that he has no interest in making the same mistake again, not putting a wheel wrong throughout the whole weekend to easily win the first round.

“I have a new approach to racing this year,” Percat said. “If I have the speed to win, I’ll win, but if I don’t I am happy to just get points.”

The “speed to win” was something Percat had in spades at Albert Park. He spent a grand total of two corners in second place all weekend, grabbing the lead off a fast-starting Chaz Mostert at Turn 3 at the start of Race 1 and never looking back.

To make matters even better for Percat, second in both races was his new Sonic team-mate, 14-year-old Kiwi sensation Mitch Evans. The youngster was sublime all weekend, his efforts highlighted by a storming second race where he simple shadowed Percat for all eight laps, leaving the rest of the field in his wake.

“Team Sonic has done an awesome job over the off season,” praised Percat.

“The cars are on rails. All Mitch and I have to do is steer them.”

Mostert ended the weekend third, a position he occupied in both races, but lacked the pace of his Sonic rivals in the Synergy Spectrum.

Behind the leading trio things got a little more complicated.

Scott Pye and another standout Kiwi Richie Stanway fought over fourth place, the pair sharing the spot over the two races. They are now locked on points in fourth and fifth for the championship after the first round.

Unfortunately, the biggest talking point about Formula Ford’s return to Albert Park

was the crashes. Drivers only got a maximum two flying laps in qualifying thanks to crashes from Ben Small, Nathan Morcom, Nicholas McBride, Nick Tanti and Andrew Waite.

The drivers were warned to keep it clean for Race 1, but the race was finished under Safety Car after Small hit the wall again, this time at speed on the exit of Turn 5. That was after Andrew Beames and Tanti had already sparked a full-course caution on the first lap.

The second race was a lot cleaner, Trent Harrison the only driver to sustain serious damage after copping a wheel from Jake Chapman.

“There are a lot of inexperienced drivers in the field,” reasoned Percat after his Race 1 win behind the Safety Car, “and everyone wanted to impress Ron Dennis, who probably isn’t watching …”

– ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN Points: Percat 42, Evans 32, Mostert 28, Pye 20, Stanaway 20, Chapman 16, Martin Short 12, Ryan Simpson 10, Harrison 4, Luke Ellery 2.

w to win. In fact, he EW VAN LEEUWEN

Peter Bury

Dirk Klynsmith

Red leads Black: Mostert was away quickly but Percat was soon into the lead and onto the top step of the podium. There were plenty of incidents to see, like ones involving Ben Walter and Nicholas Tanti.

AUSTRALIAN GP SUPPORTS ALBERT PARK

Jurassic Park

Take 30-plus Formula 5000s, let them loose on the Grand Prix circuit and the result is noise, mayhem and entertainment

A CLASH between the category’s two fastest cars took the front-running edge off Formula 5000’s appearance at Albert Park in the Tasman Cup Revival.

Fastest qualifier Michael Lyons overshot Turn 3 on the opening lap of the first race and spun back across the road into Kiwi legend Kenny Smith. The two Lolas clanged together and were out for the rest of the weekend.

The superannuated racers, which in their mid-

70s heyday were nearly a match for the GP cars of the era, still put on a spectacular show. Mark Dwyer (T400) won Race 1, from Tony Richards, while Richards reversed the order in Race 2, taking his T332 to a win ahead of the similar car of Sefton Gibb.

With 31 cars making the Albert Park tarmac feel like Melbourne was experiencing another earthquake, it surely won’t take another 30 years before we see the F5000s return to the GP circuit.

Dirk Klynsmith

Marshall Cass

Shae the Lake: Mark Dwyer, #54, took out Race 1 in his Lola. Spinners included Roger Williams, #66, and Ian Clements, #30. Kenny Smith was out of luck in the ex-Pilette VDS Lola, #4.

Marshall Cass

John Morris

AUSTRALIAN GP SUPPORTS ALBERT PARK

Marshall Cass

Rapa Rules the Aussies “Obviously, he (Clews) was coming pretty quick and I tried to drive defensively.” said the Dane.

“I thought I was pushing it as hard as I could, but obviously not. It was a great race.”

There were controversies that had nothing to do with the racing, with one race cut short while an ambulance attended to an unwell official, and a grid miscommunication causing only 17 cars to line up for the start of Race 2. Rapa beat half the field as easily as he had the full grid, and even a reverse grid race did not prevent him coming through the field (despite a rubbing tyre) to take the win.

Because of the problems, the points scored by the drivers will not count towards the championship.

– CALLUM BRANAGAN

John Morris

THE Who may have been the headline music act in Melbourne but, as long as the Aussie Racing Cars were on the track, it was all about The Rap. From day one, the weekend was dominated by Ritchie Rapa, who promised to deliver, and he did, in spades. He won all three races, in an Aussie Racing masterclass that started with pole position and included all three race wins and a series lead.

“This meeting has been a real confidence builder for me,” said a happy Rapa, whose only complaint was a lack of visibility in Race 1 and narrowly avoiding a Turn 3 incident that involved Kyle Clews. In fact, it was Clews that turned on the action, fighting off international driveanything visitor Allan Simonsen in an epic battle.

Aussie Racers. Plus, a Dane: Richie Rapa was the man to beat, top, and Allan Simonsen gave it his all in the Ingall-like Commodore, above.

STOKELL’S NEW MINI ERA

PAUL Stokell has taken out the opening round of the Mini Challenge at Albert Park, with two wins from three races after qualifying on pole position.

Gary Young finished second over-all after winning the second race, while Andrew Mill survived several incidents to round out the podium.

Stokell won Race 1, which was shortened to three laps due to program delays. Former Formula 3 competitors Chris Alajajian and Nathan Caratti came home second and third, while Grant Denyer charged from the rear of the field to eighth. Scott Bargwanna, who qualified second, was delayed by turbo boost problems and nursed his Mini

home in fifth.

Young, who finished sixth in the opening race, took advantage of pole position and clear track to take the win in Race 2 as Stokell battled through traffic. Stokell eventually pulled clear of BMW technician Nathan Geier, and chased down Young’s lead, but ran out of time to execute a passing move. Denyer, Bargwanna and Caratti had a vigorous battle which culminated in Caratti spearing across the grass at Turn 15, with several competitors narrowly avoiding contact.

Stokell and Young also dominated the final race, but the battle for third raged behind them. Geier held the position early

on, but he was pressured by Bargwanna for several laps, with Andrew Mill also joining in the battle.

Bargwanna and Mill both made their way past Geier a few laps from the end, but Mill then hit the rear of Bargwanna’s car on the braking approach to Turn 6, triggering a multi-car shunt that bounced Geier into the wall.

Chris Alajajian capitalised to move up to third in the race, setting some ultra-quick lap-times as he chased down Stokell and Young. However, a lousy result in Race 2 cost the Fujitsu V8 Supercar racer an overall podium position.

– LACHLAN MANSELL

New Manly colours: Sam Newman returned to Albert Park in the rather, um, bright car, right, but nobody could get near Paul Stokell, main pic.

Marshall Cass John Morris

AUSTRALIAN GT CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 2 – ALBERT PARK

WALL-E

The final race was shortened, but there was nothing short about David Wall’s results at Albert Park.

LACHLAN MANSELL reports

DAVID Wall won all three races in Round 2 of the Australian GT Championship at Albert Park on the weekend, capitalising on some controversial restrictions imposed on the Mosler entry of Craig Baird.

Wall led all the way in the first race, but was beaten off the line in the second race by Tony Quinn’s Aston Martin DBRS9. However, Wall was able to fight his way back to the lead after a couple of laps, and from there he was unchallenged.

Wall again led away in the third race, which was stopped after three laps following a major incident on the opening lap involving the Lotus of Justin Levis. The race was declared null and void.

Tony Quinn finished second in both races ahead of veteran Jim Richards, the highestplaced of the Carrera Cup refugees.

The Porsches of Max Twigg, James and Theo Koundouris battled with the Lamborghini Gallardos of defending champ Mark Eddy and Dean Grant, and also the Ferrari 430 of Hector Lester, for the remaining places in the top-five.

Lester and Twigg came together in Race 2, with the latter losing several positions as a result.

The main controversy of the weekend surrounded Craig Baird’s Mosler. Baird’s dominant performance in the opening round of the championship at Adelaide was followed up

John Morris

Marshall Cass

Back in Business: David Wall was the man to chase at Albert Park, taking all three ‘wins’ at the GP track. John Teulan had his second weekend from heck in a rowm damaging his Mosler in this spin, right.

by a fast performance in qualifying at Albert Park, prompting the officials to impose tougher engine restrictions on his Mosler MT900 GT3. The Mosler team changed the engine mapping to deal with the extra restrictions, but on the warmup lap for Race 1, Baird was unable to reach a speed high enough to shift out of first gear.

The engine mapping was rectified for Race 2, and Baird charged his way into a top-10 spot only to throw all his hard work away with a desperate move on Dean Grant during the race’s final lap, with the resulting contact causing terminal damage.

However, Baird’s problems were somewhat academic compared to the other Mosler entry of John Teulan. The brake-bias dramas that emerged in Adelaide resurfaced, with Teulan crashing heavily for the second time in two weekends and causing further damage to his car.

The GT Challenge Class for older-model vehicles was won by Klark Quinn, with Jordan Ormsby and Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge regular Jeff Bobik filling the podium. Quinn remains undefeated in the class.

Meanwhile, Paul Freestone raced a brand-new Corvette in the GT Production Class and drove the car to a round win on debut. Beric Lynton was second in his BMW M3 ahead of Lotus Exige driver Tim Poulton, who recovered well after engine problems in practice.

NASCAR SPRINT CUP ROUND 6 – GOODY’S FAST PAIN RELIEF 500, MARTINSVILLE, VA

Reign or Shine You would have to be mad to tip against Jimmie Johnson at Martinsville, where he won his fifth race in six events on Sunday.

By MARTIN D CLARK

race

Toyota Motorspots

NASCAR Media

IT was a weekend of firsts at the flat, half-mile Martinsville Speedway in Virginia.

Jimmie Johnson took his first win of the season. It was Chevrolet’s first win of 2009, and came on the 25th anniversary of Hendrick Motorsports’s first win, with Geoff Bodine.

After qualifying was rained out, Johnson started ninth and took the lead – from Virginia native Denny Hamlin, who led 196 laps – with 16 laps to go with a bump and run move entering turn three.

“I took my time,” said Johnson.

“I felt like I was a little bit better than Hamlin on the long haul and I was able to get closer and get inside of him into turn three. He was trying to not leave me a lot of room, which is what you do, and before I knew it, I was on the curb and we had made contact and I we were sliding sideways. It certainly wasn’t something intentional, it was just hard racing and thankfully neither one of us spun out.”

Johnson took the lead for the first time leaving pit road with 70 of the 500 laps to run after his crew adjusted the car through the race.

“We didn’t have the best car early on,” continued Johnson, who lost the lead back to Hamlin on a lap 457 restart.

“We added spring rubbers and that lost us track position, but we adjusted wedge and air pressure to make it better.”

“That was short track racing,” countered Hamlin.

“We tried our best to hold him off and you fight for every inch around this race track and he just got the better of us today. If the roles were

reversed I’d do the same thing and believe me I will if it ever comes back around.”

Five wins in the last six Martinsville races for Johnson is a good average, but he didn’t have it easy with his team-mate Jeff Gordon headed 147 circuits before his car tightened up to finish fourth with the fellow Hendrick cars of Mark Martin seventh and Dale Earnhardt Jr. eighth, ending a rough spell for the sport’s most popular driver, even though gear selector issues hampered him early in the race.

Scott Speed led his first green flag laps of his Sprint Cup career when his team elected not to pit during a competition caution on lap 40, Speed lead eight laps before Gordon blew by and Speed would later spin to air the next caution as Kyle Busch, who finished 24th and a lap off the pace, got loose under the ex-F1 pilot.

Stewart Haas Racing got both its cars in the top 10, co-owner Tony grabbing the outfit’s first top five in third and Ryan Newman finishing sixth after a hard fought battle with Mark Martin in the waning laps.

Marcos Ambrose started 24th, in points order and finished a fine 14th after suffering brake issues mid-way through the race, which saw him adding brake fluid during caution eight with 134 laps to run.

The team Toyota of Michael Waltrip came home a deserving 13th after spinning to cause the first caution. Ambrose was sixth quick in the only Cup practice on Friday after rain hit the hills and now sits 21st in the series points chart, up three slots from the previous week.

NASCAR Media

Chocolate Kisses Bull: Kyle Busch and Scott Speed made contact on lap 70, left.

Jeff Gordon and Denny Hamlin combined to lead 443 laps of the race, below left.

Marcos Ambrose had an entertaining fight with Kevin Harvick, below.

Tony Stewart’s strong season continued with third place, bottom.

Toyota Motorsport

NASCAR Media

NASCAR | GOODY’S 500, MARTINSVILLE, VA 1 48 2 11 3 14 4 24 5 33 6 39 7 5 8 88 9 44 10 26 14 47

Jimmie Johnson Denny Hamlin Tony Stewart Jeff Gordon Clint Bowyer Ryan Newman Mark Martin Dale Earnhardt Jr AJ Allmendinger Jamie McMurray Marcos Ambrose

Chevy Toyota Chevy Chevy Chevy Chevy Chevy Chevy Dodge Ford Toyota

Hendrick/Lowe’s Q9 Gibbs/FedEx 8 Stewart Haas/Old Spice 7 Hendrick/DuPont 1 Childress/BB&T 3 Stewart Haas/US Army 27 Hendrick/Carquest 31 Hendrick/National Guard 19 Petty M’sports/Charter Comms16 Roush Fenway/Irwin 28 JTG Daugherty/Little Debbie 24 NASCAR Media

NASCAR SPRINT CUP | pointS J Gordon 959, Bowyer 870, Kurt Busch 827, Johnson 817, Hamlin 811, Kyle Busch 800, Stewart 798, Edwards 750, Kahne 745, Harvick 714.

Tony ain’t a phoney David Ostazswski

TONY Schumacher, Ashley Force-Hood, Ron Krisher and Craig Treble scored Pro class victories at the 22nd annual O’Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals presented by Pennzoil at Houston Raceway Park, the fourth race on the 24-race 2009 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series schedule.

Schumacher faced team-mate Cory McClenathan in a rematch of their 2005 final at the same track, with Schumacher taking a holeshot victory, 3.881/314 to Cory Mac’s quicker-but-later 3.880/313. Schumacher’s 57th career win moved him into second place in the points.

Schumacher and new ‘09 crew chief Mike Green marched the U.S. Army car to the final round, defeating Del Cox Jr., Morgan Lucas, and Larry Dixon, who this season is being tuned by Schumacher’s former championshipwinning crew chief Alan Johnson. The first meeting between the two former champs went Schumacher’s way on a 3.89 to 3.88 holeshot win over Dixon.

Force-Hood, who scored her first win less

than a year ago, earned her second victory with a 4.12/306 to 4.22/303 defeat of Jack Beckman to move to third place in the points.

Force-Hood drove the Dean Antonelli-tuned Castrol GTX Mustang to her sixth Funny Car final by taking out a trio of class veterans, including Ron Capps, her father John, and in a rematch of last year’s final Del Worsham.

Krisher was late on the tree in the Pro Stock final against Jeg Coughlin, but the Jegs Cobalt slowed, allowing Krisher to take a 6.58/211 victory. Krisher had earlier defeated Allen Johnson, Jason Line, and Mike Edwards, who established a new speed mark for Pro Stock at 212.03 mph.

Treble, campaigning out of his own pocket this season after finishing last season for Don Schumacher Racing, took the Pro Stock Motorcycle win. Treble defeated newcomer Doug Horne in the final 6.91/193 to 7.76/155.

2007 champion Matt Smith, left Houston with a new elapsed time mark at 6.865-seconds, but fell in the semis to Treble.

– DAVID OSTASZEWSKI

Lakeside

Almost 2500 motor racing fans and enthusiasts packed the revitalised Lakeside Park over the weekend for the return of racing cars to the legendary circuit.

The occasion was Round 2 of the TopGear Racing Series, with practise and sprints on Saturday to whet the appetite before a main course of race action on Sunday.

With several million dollars having been poured into the rejuvenation of the Lakeside track and its surrounds, drivers across the state had been champing at the bit to test their skills on the legendary circuit.

The round featured some of the most exciting amateur racing seen in in recent years. The battles were particularly fierce in the sedans under 3300cc category and the Mazda MX5 class. Although

race

Taylor’s top start BRITISH RALLY

e returns

several competitors ventured off the black top the racing was clean and remarkably incident free.

“We are absolutely ecstatic with the response from both racers and spectators here this weekend,” explained Queensland Raceways CEO John Tetley.

“It’s been a fantastic hit out for the circuit and staff and we’d like to thank the public for coming along in such great numbers to experience the thrill of this exceptional venue.”

The Lakeside Park motorsport action will resume on April 4 with the next round of the Lakeside Sprints. Full-throttle racing will return to the Lakeside Park on July 4-5, with Round 3 of the Queensland Racing Drivers Championship.

Meanwhile, Round 3 of the TopGear Series will take place at Queensland Raceway on May 10.

Australian rally driver Molly Taylor made an impressive debut on the Bulldog International Rally of Wales over the weekend.

The 20-year old, partnered by UK co-driver, Jemma Bellingham, drove the Monster Sport Europe and MIS Motorsport-backed Suzuki Swift Sport to the finish, winning the first round of the 2009 Suzuki Swift Sport Cup. The only all female crew in the British Rally Championship beat off stiff competition from five other Suzuki crews to pick up maximum points.

Taylor got the rally off to a good start on SS1 Dyfnant, where she was lying in second place, just half a second behind Richard Sykes. Not to be beaten, she continued to claw back time from the other crews, setting four fastest times out of only six stages.

“I only arrived in the country three weeks ago and the shakedown stage on Thursday was the first time I’d actually driven the car, so we were in at the deep-end,” Taylor said. “I had no idea about how my pace would match that of the other crews, so I was really pleased to be setting some quick times throughout the day.”

The girls went into SS6 Big Ray with a 37 second lead over their closest rival, Luke Pinder, focused on doing enough to keep the gap, but without taking any risks which would cost them the event.

Dropping 11 seconds to Pinder in the stage meant that Taylor and Bellingham completed the rally with a 25 second advantage.

“I had an amazing weekend; to win the Suzuki class has been a real confidence boost,” Taylor added.

“The car was faultless all weekend, surviving the long and tricky stages. I want to thank MSE, the Australian Motorsport Foundation and MIS

for all of their help and support in getting this season off the ground. I’m now looking forward to the Pirelli International Rally, where I’ll be pushing again for a win.”

Taylor, who is backed by the Australian Motorsport Foundation, recently won their International Rising Star Award for 2009 and is the first female driver to be given the title.

Taylor and Bellingham are currently seeking sponsorship to support the winning team, to ensure they can complete all six rounds of the Suzuki Swift Sport Cup, in their battle for the title.

“With the current financial climate, it’s been quite difficult finding sponsors to help us, so we’d love to talk to anyone who’d like to get involved,” Taylor said. “We’re the only all-female crew in the British Rally Championship and we’ve proved what we can do this weekend.”

The girls will contest the second round of the British Rally Championship, the Pirelli International Rally on April 17 and 18.

rear of grid

Odd Spot

Peter Bury

The First Annual eNews Cam McConville Tribute Page

sutton-images.com

FOR once, we come to praise McConkey, not to bury him.

We reckon that there were some hard-working people at the Grand Prix on the weekend, but we cannot honestly think of anyone doing more and harder yards than Cameron McConville. In between practicing, qualifying and racing the WOW Commodore for Team Brad-and-Kimmy, he was front and centre in the event coverage provided for both Network Ten and ONE HD (or, for you SD Luddites, Ch 12).

As if that was not enough, Cameron found the time to pretend to steal a Ferrari F1steering wheel, and to slot into the driver’s end of one of Paul Stoddart’s two-seater F1 cars. In case you missed it, that is swimming icon Libby Trickett riding shotgun.

Of course, McConville has gone down in history as the last man to drive a Honda-branded F1 car, for a track test that was broadcast over the weekend. So we hope that Stoddy does not go out of the racing business any time soon, and that the rather speedy Ms Trickett remains … speedy.