Motorsport eNews Issue 112 - July 7-13, 2009

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Issue No. 112 July 7-13 2009

Am? WAS HIDDEN VALLEY’S LATE SAFETY CAR A CON?

OZ LOTTO 1st 2nd 2nd 6th

JOSH SCOTT DANIEL RICCIARDO JAMES DAVISON MARCOS AMBROSE

FULL COVERAGE INSIDE

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

Australasian

The ‘A’ Team

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

Advertising National Sales Manager: Oriana Kennedy oriana@mnews.com.au P 03 9596 5555 F 03 9596 5030

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

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) Drag Racing: Dave Ostaszewski (USA), Ken Ferguson, John Bosher, Luke Nieuwhof National: Lachlan Mansell, Mark Jones, Callum Branagan.

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)

Issue No. 112 | 7-13 July 2009

news 4 Slade to be Slayed?

6 Bright gets an F[G] 8 Townsville Time!

12 Waltriplets (+1) 17 Eeny MINI Miney

chat 20 5 minutes with ... opinion 22 Branagan 23 Lambden

race 24 Goodwood Festival

Queries over Darwin SC New Stone Unturned Drivers ready for FNQ Four-car plan for MWR Latest on the Challenge Garth Tander End of the George Era Smaller towns are better

Mad Dogs, Englishmen,etc 28 Daytona NASCAR 400 Smoke wins Coke Crashfest 32 Watkins Glen IndyCar Coyne a winner, Justin Time!

34 International Aussie Accents all over

trade 42 Classifieds No chance, really. There were Porsche 917s at Goodwood, and 40 years on, they are still a class act. Repeat after us; “Ooohhhhh”.

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.

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Busted? Was Darwin’s la

Ingall’s team-mate under the micros

V8 SUPERCARS

THE car which prompted the late-race ‘yellow’ at Darwin (and turned the race into a cracker!) is about to come under Stewards’ scrutiny.

Stewards are set to investigate the reasons why the Paul Morris Motorsport Commodore of Tim Slade stopped when and where it did – amid allegations that its technical problem was ‘staged’ to benefit team-mate Russell Ingall (who was one of just two drivers to save his fast ‘Sprint’ tyres for a late Race 2 charge and desperately needed a Safety Car to compress the field).

With 10 laps to be run in the second and final race, Slade’s Supercheap Auto Racing Commodore VE stopped between Turn 7 and 8, forcing stewards to bring out the Safety Car. At the time, team owner and Slade’s raceday engineer Paul Morris said that the fuel inside the car had reached boiling point

and vaporised.

Slade’s car was motionless on the track, off the racing line, but in a dangerous enough position to warrant a Safety Car intervention. Shortly after the Safety Car signs came out, Slade’s car fired and proceeded to pit lane where it was checked before heading back out into the race, eventually finishing 25th.

Ingall’s squad had elected to roll the dice, using its ‘Sprint’ tyre option right at the end of the weekend. After pitting on lap 47, Ingall was down in 21st place. When the Safety Car was deployed, he was up to a somewhat distant 19th.

After the field bunched, and with the sticky rubber, Ingall was able to carve his way through to an eventual eighth place finish. A great drive and even better strategy – but was Slade’s contribution ‘unsportsmanlike’?

It seems that the stewards want the situation clarified, after a number of

queries by rival teams.

(The other team which wasn’t upset by the Safety Car’s appearance was Stone Brothers Racing – Alex Davison was the only other driver on the same strategy as Ingall, and stormed to second place. If the race had been one lap longer, he might have won …)

V8 Supercars’ IPO (Investigating and Prosecuting Officer) Peter Wollerman will conduct an inquiry at Townsville this weekend.

If there is sufficient evidence for a case to be answered by the #67 SCAR Commdore entry, the matter will be

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

news

scope after Hidden Valley ‘park-up’

ate yellow a con? Illegal or just handed to the V8 Supercar stewards.

V8 Supercar chief steward Steve Chopping confirmed that the matter was being looked into this week.

“The IPO is going to investigate at Townsville the circumstances around the stopping of car number 67,” Chopping told eNews on Monday.

“There are certainly a lot of people around asking whether Mr Slade was genuine in stopping as he did.

“It was coincidental that he stopped just long enough to get the Safety Car out.

“Once the Safety Car is out, you can’t ‘un-order’ it. It’s a bit like being pregnant – you’re

either pregnant or you’re not.

“If you have a Safety Car, you have a complete Safety Car. It was entirely appropriate that it was called out for that situation, and once it’s out, you have to go through the whole procedure to the restart.”

Tim Slade was uncontactable as eNews went live, while Morris (set to drive in the Fujitsu races this weekend) is currently in the US and will return on Wednesday.

– GRANT ROWLEY

unsporting?

THERE are a number of ways to look at the Grant Rowley late-race Safety Editor eNews Car incident at Hidden Valley, which is belatedly attracting attention.

You can take the moral high-ground and suggest the Paul Morris team has cheated and they should be punished.

Or you could take the sporting view and say it might not have been very Australian … but damn it made for a good race!

I watched the Hidden Valley meeting from the comfort of my couch at home and thought at the time when Car #67 stopped “Geez, that was a bit suss.” But I never thought about it again until the paddock’s gossip girls told me that there was likely to be an investigation.

At the time, all I was interested in was a fascinating end to the race. And, as it turned out, it was the most intense race finish of the season. Not only did Michael Caruso hold on for his maiden V8 Supercar victory, we had another underdog – Alex Davison – fighting through the traffic on the right tyre. It was fascinating. Easily the most watchable race of 2009 so far.

In all honesty, up until that point, the race was a snooze. The Safety Car was a blessing in disguise.

Damn it! If they find Morris and his team guilty, they shouldn’t be punished … they should be knighted! At least it created a race!

Fair enough, if they did indeed stage the car’s mechanical failure, it might not have been the most sporting thing to do, but how many times do we hear people talk about this being a ‘team sport’.

Look at NASCAR. The authorities there have the uncanny ability to throw a ‘competition yellow’ if they deem that the spectacle is lacking and the race patrons are spending too much time ordering coffee to stay awake rather than watching the actual event.

So, Team Morris, if you’re guilty, it will be guilty of setting up an entertaining race. How dare you!

opinion

Dirk Klynsmith

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

Reindler secures Bright futur West Aussie scores enduro gig with Britek, while Brighty gets an FG V8 SUPERCARS KARL Reindler has secured the prized V8 Supercar endurance ride alongside Jason Bright in the #25 Fujitsu Falcon.

Reindler, who made his Bathurst 1000 debut with Michael Patrizi last year, will join Bright at the L&H 500 (Phillip Island) and the Supercheap Auto 1000 (Bathurst).

Bright says that the 2004 Australian Formula 3 champion is the perfect fit for his single car entry.

“I met Karl at the GP last year and you can tell when someone’s got their head screwed on right, so I’m sure he’s going to make the pressure work for him,” he said.

“Bathurst is a place where a lot of different things happen. It’s important to be there at the end of the day because as long as you can race hard at the end, that’s certainly the most important thing. That means you need a co-driver that can look after the car all day, who will listen to you and play the team game when it needs to be played.”

In other Bright news, the 36 year old will have his first competitive outing in an FG Falcon, taking the reigns of Shane van Gisbergen’s Stone Brothers Racing Falcon.

Bright has contested the first five rounds of the series in an old BF, and says that the key to his new FG is its superior weight distribution.

“We’ve very happy. Hopefully we’ll surprise a few people as well,” he says.

“It’s all about weight distribution. The car that I’ve been driving is 100kg heavier than the new car. Now, the new car gets us under the minimum weight, which means we’re 30kg better off. Then the other 60 or 70kg is all lowering the car so you’ve got a much better centre of gravity. There’s no doubt that those things should be worth a bit of time.”

Van Gisbergen will get his hands on the team’s latest car – SBR FG3. The team shook the car down today (Monday) at Queensland Raceway.

– GRANT ROWLEY

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MT gets Symmons tenure SYMMONS PLAINS SECURITY of tenure at Symmons Plains Raceway looks set to pave the way for further development of the Tasmanian track.

Motorsport Tasmania, which has been in residence at the track since 2000, has secured the leasehold on the circuit – its ownership of the site will be formalized upon settlement in September.

That means that MT, which owns the building and infrastructure on the circuit,

now controls both Symmons Plains and Baskerville, near Hobart.

“We have tenure now,” explained Dick Caplice Motorsport Tasmania’s general manager, “so we have much more confidence looking to the future.

“We can now look into planning what may and may not be needed in the future.”

The news means that the formal links with the Youl family will come to an end.

For more than a century the family has owned the land on

which the track, which opened in 1960, is built.

Symmons Plains has a contract to host a round of the V8 Supercar Championship Series until 2010.

“We will be able to have discussions about the next contract with both V8 Supercars and the State Government,” said Caplice.

This year, the event moved from its traditional late-spring calendar slot to late-May. eNews believes that a return to its traditional slot is likely for 2010.

It’s All Go for Far North V8 SUPERCARS

THIS weekend’s maiden trip to Townsville offers V8 Supercar drivers a new circuit, a new audience and a new challenge – and they are champing at the bit.

Defending Champion Jamie Whincup expects that making the most of the practice time available to the drivers is going to be vital “The track looks extremely challenging and I think it will take more than two-and-a-half hours on Friday to find the limit,” he said.

Garth Tander has been once of the drivers involved in working out the safety aspects of the 2.9km circuit, having made three trips to FNQ over the development period of the facility.

“We’ve done as much we can, but I think they’ll be things that crop up over the weekend,” the former champion said. “Hopefully we’ve identified as many key safety areas before we get started.”

Todd Kelly expects a level playing field for the Jack Daniel’s team.

“Being the first time for the Townsville track we are all really in a race of two parts,” he said, “the first is to get your head around driving around the circuit and the second is to work with your engineer to get the best car set-up.

“They will be the two parts of this weekend that will really have a huge bearing on who goes well and who doesn’t.”

Over the course of the weekend, a total of more than 110,000 spectators are expected at the circuit, which drivers have described as having elements of Adelaide, Albert Park and Hamilton. Two 200km races will be held, one each on Saturday and Sunday, and both will feature only Dunlop control tyres, with Sprint tyres set aside until the next round of the championship at Sandown.

Drivers relishing challenge of racing at maiden Dunlop Townville 400

news

h Queensland!

Andrew Gricks

Don’t be afraid Victorians, it’s just the blue sky: Preparations for the maiden Townsville 400 look to be very thorough.

The precinct was nearing completion at the end of last week, above, while the back of the circuit, right, features a fast complex, reminiscent of Albert Park.

The paddock appears to have plenty of room for transporters and access to the garages, left, while the wide pitlane shows that there has been some colour coordinating going on with the garage doors, top left.

And all the facilities will be able to be used year-round, well after the V8 Supercar circus has headed south ...

Eastern Creek: Set for World Sportscars?

SPORTSCARS NEXT year’s inaugural World GT1 Championship for Sportscars could have a round at Eastern Creek.

The Sydney track has announced a bid to host a round of the series, which will be the fourth World Championship after the Formula 1 World Championship, the World Rally Championship and World Touring Car Championship.

The 2010 series will consist of 12 rounds and, with six

venues already confirmed, the Australian Racing Drivers’ Club is bidding to be one of the remaining six events.

The ARDC claims the GT1 World Championship is, “the most cost effective world championship that could possibly come to Australia”.

ARDC CEO Geoff Arnold said his group was ramping up its bid to seek support from authorities at local, state, and federal levels. ”Return on investment will be high,” Arnold said. ”Conventional TV reach is

estimated at more than 150 million viewers, but the true value lies in the net where [promoter] SRO is developing substantial breakthrough opportunities.”

Arnold says that the proposal for the event will not

be dependent on approval of an upgrade submission, which currently sits with the NSW Government ”Eastern Creek’s facilities and track design benefit from a Grade 2 FIA Homologation, which is the level required to host a round of the FIA GT1 World Championship,” SRO President and CEO Stephane Ratel said. ”One of the attractions of the venue is that it is within the boundaries of one of the world’s most desirable cities, and it is walk-in-walk-out.”

D’Alberto supports Ricky’s run V8 SUPERCARS TONY D’Alberto will sport a one-off windscreen sticker at Townsville this weekend, promoting the ‘Run Ricky Run’ charity campaign.

For every run that Australian cricket captain Ricky Ponting scores during The Ashes Series

10

in England, money will be donated to various charities, including the Ricky Ponting Foundation (for children with cancer).

D’Alberto hopes to raise awareness for the worthy charity during the V8s first race around the Townsville street circuit.

“Ricky is a fantastic leader

and role model, so I wanted to help promote this and support our cricket skipper in his push for runs and raising money for kids with cancer,” D’Alberto said.

“You’ll see the website across the windscreen of the Team Bottle-O car this weekend in Townsville, it’s an easy one to remember so I’d

urge all V8 Supercar fans to get online and support Ricky.”

Ponting is glad to have the support of D’Alberto’s BottleO Racing team.

“I appreciate Tony’s support,” he said.

“It’s great to have him on board and helping to promote Run Ricky Run. I wish him well in Townsville.”

news

Australian Rally battlers given a chance to perform on world stage

Privateers get WRC boost RALLY

L

OCAL rally competitors have been given a helping hand to compete in the upcoming Rally Australia in northern New South Wales, with the introduction of a National Division for Production Rally Cars.

Up to 15 cars complying to PRC technical rules – not full FIA Group N specification – will be allowed to start Australia’s round of the World Rally Championship, opening the door to most of the Australian Rally Championship field. The move is expected to boost the number of local competitors in the event, which is in keeping with World Motor Sport Council’s recent resolution to try an encourage national entries to WRC rounds.

To compete at Rally Australia, competitors will need a car complying with PRC regulations, and fitted with an eligible Pirelli ‘control’ tyre. The National Division cars will run in a separate field behind the WRC and Group N cars, and will not be included in the general classification.

“This is a wonderful the event. opportunity for crews with “I don’t know,” he told eNews. cars that comply with the “If the car is homologated, Australian PRC technical we’ll look at running. [So] regulations to experience the we’re hoping that it will be challenges and conditions of a done.” top-level international event,” In other news, Nathan Rally Australia Clerk of Course Quinn is the first confirmed Dr Michelle Gatton said. local entry. The 23-year-old, “We have many talented who is from Coffs Harbour, drivers and co-drivers in near where the rally will be Australia, and the National based, will run his Mitsubishi Division will allow more of Evolution IX in the Group them to participate. This is N class, and has applied for a significant step forward to a wildcard entry into the ensuring as many Australian crews as possible are able to take their rightful place in their country’s own World Championship rally.”

One Australian crew that is still potentially unable to compete at Rally Australia is that of Neal Bates and Coral Taylor. The reigning Australian Rally Champions use a Super 2000 Toyota Corolla, which doesn’t fit PRC, and will need FIA regional homologation to come through before it will be eligible for the FIA Group N class (Super 2000 cars run under Group N4 regulations).

The homologation process is underway, but Bates says he is unsure of whether or not it will be completed in time for

Production Car World Rally Championship class. Should he win, he will receive the 50,000 euro cash prize offered

by Pirelli.

Entries for cars hoping to compete in the National Division close on August 5.

The event itself kicks off in NSW’s Northern Rivers area on September 3, and will mark the first time a World Championship rally has been held in Australia since 2006.

– ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN

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Toyota Motorsports

JUDGE CL

Court overrules su NASCAR SPRINT CUP

Waltrip’s 4-car plan Truex will be confirmed on Tuesday – but the next man in an MWR Camry is Kasey Kahne

Toyota Motorsports

12

NASCAR Media

THE Rise of the multi-car teams continues in NASCAR, and Michael Waltrip Racing looks set to become a four-car squad in 2010.

MWR has had a great 2010 and has emerged as Toyota’s second-best team behind Joe Gibbs Racing, with David Reutimann winning the Coke 600 at Lowe’s in May. But changes are coming.

Michael Waltrip, top, is to stand down from full-time competition to run just a handful of races, and Martin Truex Jr will drive the NAPAsponsored Toyota next year.

Truex, centre, a driver yet to show his full potential in NASCAR, has been trying to get out of his contract with Earnhardt Ganassi Racing for some time and it’s possible he could even be in a MWR Camry before the end of the season, possibly around the time The Chase starts. The deal will be made official at MWR tomorrow [Tuesday].

MWR’s ‘satellite’ set-up, under which Marcos Ambrose races a JTG Daugherty entry that is fully prepared by MWR, looks to be the model for a fourth car. eNews’s sources suggest that

that entry will be a Richard Petty Motorsports car to be driven by Kasey Kahne, RPM currently in negotiations with Dodge over its sponsorship debt. Kahne, bottom, drove a Braun Racing Toyota for the first time in Daytona’s Nationwide race and is also signed up to drive for the same team next year on a limited basis.

The potential joining of two of NASCAR’s biggest family names in Petty and Waltrip, plus Kahne’s profile and fan base – not to mention the significant backing of Budweiser – looks enticing.

Should the move happen as expected, it may not necessarily meant that Toyota would be expanding its support in the Sprint Cup Series. It appears that the success of Stewart Haas Racing as a customer of Hendrick Motorsports may entice Red Bull Racing to end its Toyota links, and become a Hendrick customer team.

Rick Hendrick said recently that he was looking for more customer business to cover his lost revenue after GM cut back its support, and RBR looks a likely crossover candidate.

– MARTIN D CLARK

Toyota Motorsports

NASCAR SPRINT CUP

JEREMY Mayfield could return to the track this weekend at Chicagoland Speedway if funding can be found after he won over a judge in a Charlotte Federal court last Wednesday.

The Federal judge issued a temporary injunction that ends the two-month drug-related suspension by NASCAR. “This means more to me than probably any race I’ve won,” said Mayfield. “The truth came out and now I can go back and say, ‘OK now we’re clear of all this.’ “ Asked why he thought Mayfield won, his attorney Bill Diehl commented, “Probably NASCAR’s over-the-top confidence about how right they were and how wrong Jeremy was. You know, they were wrong about it from the get-go and we stayed with our position throughout the argument and throughout the time that we’ve been suspended and we just carried the day as far as the judge is concerned that Jeremy had been treated wrong and to

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LEARS MAYFIELD

uspension: he could race this week right the wrong meant giving him back his position in NASCAR and suspending the suspension.”

At this point it’s not clear whether NASCAR will appeal the ruling and ask for a stay of the judge’s ruling, in which they accuse Mayfield of testing positive for methamphetamine.

“They (NASCAR) would do well to put this behind them,” continued Diehl,” put this whole issue behind them, and go forward. It’s what I hope.

“But, again, they’re proud people and they don’t lose very often and they’ve lost something that they may decide to try to carry on the case even longer and fight harder and that might be their position.

“I can’t tell you today, for certain, that there’ll be any contact. The judge himself urged the parties to try to talk to each other. We’re certainly willing.

We’ve never been haughty about this. We’ve never been over the top and I don’t think we’ve been pushy. We’ve said, ‘We have rights. We think they ought to be

vindicated. We think you ought to listen.’ So far they’ve been real hard to deal with. Maybe their position will change. I can’t predict that.”

Since the first part of the lawsuit last month, NASCAR has stepped up its process to a more thorough recording of data in their drug analysis program with more changes possible to fine tune things.

People have long pointed to NASCAR’s ‘iron fist’ and ‘our way or the highway’ style of governing the sport. However, tests in the legal system have exposed flaws in its rulings.

This case is the third NASCAR has lost in recent years; telco AT&T won a suit two years ago to keep their logo on the Jeff Burton’s car, in spite of its competitor Sprint’s Cup Series sponsorship. Earlier this year, Mauricia Grant, an African American ex-NASCAR official, had a suit settled out of court in New York, and two officials were fired over a race discrimination suit.

– MARTIN D CLARK

AUSSIE NASCAR STAR MARCOS AMBROSE WRITES FOR MOTORSPORT eNEWS

A Weekend with the Lot! i-marcos Marcos Ambrose

Australian NASCAR driver ANOTHER great result, another crazy finish and I was sick all weekend – Daytona had it all.

Like I said last week, of the four ‘plate’ races a year, this one is definitely the closest to being a handling race. My crew chief Frank Kerr did an exceptional job with our Kingsford car and it was very, very strong all night.

But at Daytona, you need more than just a strong car and with that rookie stripe on the back bumper, it was always going to be tough getting a push and that proved to be the case a few times. It comes with the territory, I guess, but I’m definitely looking forward to racing without that stripe!

We’ve were top 20 at Daytona earlier this year, fourth at Talladega and now sixth here again, so I think I’m showing the other guys out there that I can get around these superspeedways. It all comes with time, I guess.

I’ve been sick this week and it was really hot in Florida, which was to be expected, so I was put on a drip before the race. It was tough behind the wheel because the cars get very hot.

There were a few times there where luck was on our side and my spotter Al helped me out. Right in the middle of the race, I missed a big wreck on the back straight and of course, at the finish, we had a big one right at the line, just like Talladega.

Once these cars get sideways, the tyres smoke, so I couldn’t see much, but I squeezed between Kyle’s car and the car next to me, kept my foot in it and got to the line.

And just like Talladega, I had a great view of it all – these NASCAR finishes are unbelievable!

It was great to have such a great car and run well. I’ve owe so much to Tad and Jodi Geschickter for giving me this chance to run in Sprint Cup and I can’t say enough about Michael Waltrip Racing.

They are giving us – JTG Daugherty Racing – all the best gear and we are really working well together. Being a part of their operation and working with Michael and David Reutimann and all the engineers gives me great feedback and it’s accelerating the learning process for me in a major way.

By entering ‘PR-AMBROSE’ as the promotional code when joining iRacing.com, you can get a three-month trial subscription for just US$25. Just CLICK below ..

Toyota Motorsports

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Tony George steps down

Family ultimatum ends Speedway and IndyCar role INDYCARS

IndyCar Media

TONY George will continue to run his Vision Racing IndyCar team, in spite of stepping down as CEO of the Indy Racing League and boss of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

George sent shock waves through the racing community last week when the board of his family’s company, primarily his mother and sisters, forced a change that was announced last week. The management of the Indy Racing League will continue to be run by Brian Barnhart, President of Competition and Operations, Terry Angstadt, President of the Commercial Division, and Charlie Morgan, President of IMS Productions (television). All three met with all the team owners at Watkins Glen to confirm it is business as usual, even though rumours had suggested the IRL was for sale.

Replacing Tony George are two very experienced executives promoted from within. W. Curtis Brighton becomes president and CEO of Hulman & Company (previously executive vice president and chief legal

counsel) and Jeffrey G. Belskus becomes President and CEO of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Corporation (previously executive vice president and chief financial officer for the companies).

At issue within the family was the money Tony George spent on the Indy Racing League since it started in 1996, estimated to be well over half a billion U.S. dollars.

Mari Hulman George, right, Chairman of the Board (Tony’s mother), said in a statement, “These changes underscore our family’s commitment going forward to all of our companies, especially our commitment to the growth of the Indy Racing League and the sport of open-wheel racing.”

Ironically, Talk in the paddock indicates team owners Roger Penske, Chip Ganassi, and Michael Andretti have expressed their commitment to the IndyCar series to Mary Hulman George, Chairman of the Board (Tony George’s mother), which seems to have come full circle, back to where open wheel racing started before the split.

– MARY MENDEZ

IndyCar Media

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COMMODORE CUP THE Commodore Cup Series has agreed to keep the current VS Commodore model as the class’ leading chassis for the next four years.

As well as the VS remaining as the latest-model Holden allowed in the category, the 253 V8 engine (fitted with aluminium cylinder heads and Holley carburetor), Super T10 gear box and controlled braking and suspension systems will also remain unchanged.

In a press statement from the class, the new agreement will be closely monitored over the coming seasons.

“The Association and Commodore Cup Group will meet regularly over the next three years to determine the best path forward for

Commodore Cup to ensure that the basic ideologies of Commodore Cup of affordable and exciting racing are continued,” the statement said.

Category manager Glen Holdsworth told eNews that the move to freeze the entry of the newer models was in the best interest of entrants.

“We wanted to ensure the value of our competitor’s investments were maintained and also to take out the uncertainly to changes in the specification of models,” Holdsworth said.

“It’s really been done to settle the class down, in keeping with the classes business plan which seeks to remain as an entry level, affordable series, and to be a driver’s class where car advantage is negated.”

– GRANT ROWLEY

VS to remain as CommCup flagship

MosLer Macpherson AUSTRALIAN GT

NEW South Wales Lotus racer Andrew Macpherson will make his Australian GT Championship debut at Eastern Creek next week after purchasing one of John Teulan’s two Moslers.

Macpherson, a regular in the NSW State Championships, has secured the car that Teulan campaigned at the Clipsal 500 and Australian Grand Prix rounds of the GT Championship.

Teulen brought the Mosler to Australia specifically for the GT class, but has been

disillusioned by the category’s rule makers, who nobbled the car after a dominant debut by Craig Baird in the second of the cars.

Teulan has decided to keep the second Mosler and will use it at next weekend’s Eastern Creek round with the ‘unseeded drivers’ restrictions in place.

Macpherson is certainly a man in a hurry – with only two years of motorsport to his name, the Mosler is a significant step up from his regular nimble Lotus Exige S. The car will run by the ARM organistion.

– JOHN MORRIS/STAFF

Manchamps thinks big SHANNONS NATIONALS

BETWEEN 25 and 28 cars will enter the second round of the Australian Manufacturers Championship at the category’s next round at Eastern Creek in two weeks time.

Australian Rally Championship regular and 2008 Targa Tassie

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winner Steve Glenney has entered and will compete in a Mitsubishi Evo 10. Also in Mitsubishis will be Production Car mainstay Bob Pearson. Pearson, who was injured in a crash during the Bathurst 12 Hour, makes his return to the track, alongside team-mate Mark King.

Former Production Car Champion

David Ryan also returns to the class driving his title-winning XR6 Falcon.

The class has also secured a major sponsor. Former class racer Peter Boylan’s company – Boylan Traffic Solutions – has signed on as naming rights sponsor for the next 12 months.

– GRANT ROWLEY

news

Dirk Klynsmith

Four late entries for MINI MINI CHALLENGE

Dirk Klynsmith

GEOFF Emery, Tony Bates, Steve Owen and Kiwi driver Ant Pederson are four late entries into the MINI Challenge field for this weekend’s Townsville meeting.

Emery will drive one of the Stillwell Motorsport MINIs, while Bates and Owen will team up in the category’s first-ever ‘twin-driver-optional’ round.

Bates and Owen actually paired in the recent Commodore Cup endurance race last week, finishing second, and Bates says they are looking to go one better in their MINI Challenge debuts.

“We finished second at Winton when we should have won if not for a black flag, so we’re teaming back up to see if we can make amends!” Bates said.

“Steve is my car controller in the Fujitsu Series this year for the rounds that I’m competing at. He’s helped me with my driving this year, and he’s been really good.”

Emery is competing in the Fujitsu Series in his Commodore VZ and looking at getting more miles around the circuit.

“Obviously, no one has been there before

so to zip around the MINI will be a helpful,” Emery said.

“I’ve never sat in one of the cars before, so I guess we’ll work it out when we get there.

“I think the circuit looks fantastic. It looks pretty fast on the back straight. There’s some pokey bits around the back, it looks pretty challenging, so I’m looking forward

to it.”

Also competing for the first time will be Pederson. The Kiwi has raced MINI Challenge in NZ and also races Porsches.

Joining these new recruits in the third round of the series will be Australian rally star Chris Atkinson, Todd Wanless and all of the regular MINI Challenge contenders.

– GRANT ROWLEY

Porsches stick with Bathurst opener GT3 CUP CHALLENGE

Dirk Klynsmith Marshall Cass John Morris/Mpix

THE GT3 Cup Challenge class is the first confirmed support category for the 2010 Bathurst 12 Hour.

In the past, the Shannons Nationals has supplied the support cast for the 12 Hour, but as reported in eNews (Issue #110), this will no longer be the case.

The GT3 Cup Challenge contested this year’s 12 Hour with 42 entrants making the journey to The Mountain.

Category administrator Jodi Zylstra says that kicking off its series at Bathurst as a support class to the 12 Hour is the category’s marque event.

“We have locked in the Bathurst 12 Hour for 2010,” she said.

“We realise that running at Bathurst as a support category is our banner event if you like.

That’s the only event we’ll run that isn’t on the Shannons calendar.

“All of our competitors say that Bathurst and Phillip Island is their favourite tracks. We believe that those two tracks need to be on our calendar. We also understand that the ideal calendar for us must include a good amount of track time for our drivers at a cost-effective level.”

After kicking off its season with the 12 Hour, the GT3 Cup Challenge class will return to complete its season on the Shannons Nationals bill as part of its ‘core-category’ status.

– GRANT ROWLEY

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news

Hall’s heavy metal Oz bound!

Baja winner and his high-speed Hummer set sights on Australasian Safari AUSTRALASIAN SAFARI IF you like big, fast American trucks, then set your face to impressed – this raceprepped Hummer H2 SUT is on its way to our shores for the Australasian Safari.

Josh Hall, regarded as one of the best endurance racers in the world, has packed his Hummer into a sea container, and will tackle the gruelling 3,600km event, based in the West Australian outback.

Hall is a four-time winner of the Baja 1000, and the son of off-road legend Rod Hall, who competed at the 1979 Repco Reliability Trail.

“As a rookie, I firmly understand the challenge of just finishing such a crew, vehicle, driver and navigator-taxing motorsport event,” said Hall.

“Our goals are to finish, learn, and be a part of the community of Australian offroad racing.

“I started looking at participating in

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an international endurance event about nine months ago, [and] I kept coming back to the Safari. It’s run in a country that doesn’t have land mines lining the race course, the citizenry speaks English and the event organisers have a first class reputation.”

Hall also says that having tamed the Mexican wilderness four times in the Baja, he and the Hummer should be well prepared for Safari.

“In Baja, the course its self is the great equaliser. It favours no one – except those that make the fewest mistakes. That race has taught me patience, persistence, tenacity and to expect the unexpected. I have also learned when to hold back and when to move to the front.

“Of course, it is also a very physically and mentally demanding race, so that experience won’t hurt at all. While Baja is not the Safari, it is an experience I will draw from in the decision making during

this event.”

Unfortunately, the Hummer won’t be eligible for outright honours, as it’s 6200cc capacity exceeds the six-litre limit imposed by CAMS. But, as event director Justin Hunt explained, the car will still add to the excitement of the Safari.

“CAMS regulations limit the engine size to 6.0 litres, but next year’s Hummer will be 5.7 litres, so the Americans plan on a real crack at the title in 2010,” Hunt said.

“It’s fantastic to have Josh and his Hummer at the event, and with the car having been purchased by Western Australian Greg Knowles, it will stay in Australia after the Safari, which is great news for off-road racing in this country.”

The Australasian Safari kicks off on August 1, with a prologue in Perth. The cars, bikes and quads will then head north towards Geraldton before finishing at the eastern mining town of Kalgoorlie seven days later.

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5 Minutes with ...

GARTH TANDER

The V8 Supercars make their debut at Townsville this weekend; the last time the GRANT ROWLEY show went to a new track, Garth Tander dominated ...

MOTORSPORT NEWS: The last time the V8 Supercar Championship Series went to a brand-new circuit was Hamilton last year – and you won. What’s the secret to getting your name on the inaugural trophy?

GARTH TANDER: Preparation and being able to adapt to whatever it requires.

Every time you go to a new track, it’s a new set of challenges, a new set of circumstances. You’ve got to prepare as well as you can, but then if you find that your preparation isn’t spot on, then you’ve got to be prepared to make changes in a hurry.

Have you been to Townsville? Have you looked at the track?

Yeah, I’ve been up there three times as part of the V8’s Safety Delegation that looks at layout etc. I’ve been there a few times so I generally know the layout quite well.

I think it looks fantastic and it should provide some great racing.

From the track map, it looks like it’s going to provide a good mix of long straights, slow corners, sweeping corners. What’s going to be the ticket to success there?

I think it’s going to be very hard on brakes and it’s going to be very hard on tyres, especially the left rear. There’s a lot of medium to high-speed loaded right handers. So tyre life will be crucial. And also understanding the surface as quickly as possible.

Really, it’s no different to any other circuit. It’s a matter of assessing the grip level and what it requires to go fast.

This is the first time in a while that the category hasn’t used the ‘Sprint’ tyre at a race meeting. As you say, tyres will be critical at Townsville. Would you like to have seen the Sprint tyres used up there?

No, not for this format, with the two 200km races. The two-race format where both races are the same distance, like

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It’s going to be very hard on brakes and it’s going to be very hard on tyres, especially the left rear. tander on next weekend’s first race at townsville Clipsal, I think it’s fine to stay with the standard tyre.

With the shorter races and the longer races, that lends itself well to the Sprint tyre and, especially at a first-up track, I think it’s good to run the standard tyre.

prevent them before it becomes an issue.

We’ve done as much we can, but I think there’ll be things that crop up over the weekend. Hopefully we’ve identified as many key safety areas before we get started.

You say you’ve been involved with the safety aspects of this new street track.

From your view, how does it shape up?

As with any street circuit, there are some complications with what’s already in place in terms of run offs and things like that.

Certainly, with what we’ve had available to us, we’ve done the best we can to make it as safe as we can.

At the end of the day, it’s a race track and it says on your ticket when you go through the gate that motor racing is dangerous.

We’re trying to make it as safe as we can and look at as many issues and try and

Championship-wise, things seem to be back on track for you (currently third), but there’s still a healthy gap to leader Jamie Whincup. Are you in attack-mode?

Yeah, but it’s a long year, and it’s only one Phillip Island or Bathurst result away from changing massively.

Until those events are run, I think you’d be silly to write yourself out of the championship or think you’re too far away.

We’re climbing our way back to where we need to be. We’re aware of the gap to Jamie, but we don’t think we’re out of it by any stretch of the imagination.

chat

Dirk Klynsmith

21

UNLESS you spend your time in American Supermarkets, you have probably never heard of Clabber Girl.

Neither had I, until recently, Y’see, the brand of Baking Powder and other kitchen products is one of the businesses owned by Hulman & Co, which for just on 150 years, has been a family owned and operated business based in Terre Haute, Indiana. To put that in perspective, Hulman & Co started business in the city before the railway made it there.

The reason that you are reading about this in eNews is because in 1945, Tony Hulman bought the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, then in a terribly rundown state. Just as he worked hard to make Clabber Girl number one, he did the same to his racetrack, and the 500-mile race that was held there every May. His daughter Mari Hulman went into the family business; so did her daughters, Nancy, Josie and Kathi, and her son,

Anton ‘Tony’ Hulman George.

There is a point to all this. George’s vision of an all-American open-wheeler series, based on ovals, is over. Reports suggest that since its inception in 1996, the Indy Racing League and its subsequent entities have sped through around half a billion dollars from Hulman & Co’s war chest.

The irony is that this milestone has happened a year after the reunification of American open-wheel racing, which George himself prompted, and which successfully drove away some of the teams, most of the sponsors and all but one of the manufacturers involved in American open-wheel racing in the early 1990s. The result is far from what ‘TG’ intended, as barely half the races are now on ovals, and all feature Italianmade cars with Japanese engines, and a handful of American drivers taking on a majority of rivals from other lands. Stars and/or Stripes are thin on the ground.

History will show that Tony George’s gambit has not worked. IndyCar’s oval events are almost always miserable

and boring, so bad in fact that a week ago, the winning driver apologised to the few remaining fans the sport has left (imagine such a thing happening in Formula 1!) Some of the road races make good viewing, but it is obvious that the sport needs a makeover, and soon.

It appears that will happen. Mrs Hulman has voiced her company’s ongoing support of the American openwheeler racing, and the Speedway’s legacy is safe. But what happens next is not to be decided by Tony George in his role as CEO, or by men and women whose priority may be racing first, business second. Hearts will be ruled by heads.

George will continue in his role as owner of the Vision Racing team, and therein lies some little irony. Vision’s drivers are his stepson Ed Carpenter and James Davison, who is dating George’s daughter Lauren. It would appear that one lesson that has been learned through the tumultuous 13 years since the split is that racing is racing, but family comes first …

The End of an Era

22

opinion Phil Branagan Executive Editor

opinion

Big? No thanks. Mid-size Cities get it done just fine TOWNSVILLE, North Queensland, population 170,000. That’s just about exactly the same as Hamilton, New Zealand, and about 50,000 more than Darwin, NT. There’s something about mid-sized cities that seems to work well as far as staging an event such as this weekend’s Dunlop 400. The Hamilton 400 took over the otherwise quiet little NZ city, and things are looking every bit as promising as the DoubleBs head north again this week.

It will be interesting to compare the ambience and atmosphere at Townsville with the season-ending Big Show in Sydney. Every stone will be turned to make the latter a winner, but it’s the big cities which are harder to crack … especially Sydney. Hard to bring something of that size to a complete halt …

Drivers who have visited the mostly

parkland Townsville circuit (image below courtesy of local Andrew Gricks) over recent weeks hold high hopes for a ‘street’ venue that will produce great racing – which is after all the most important element of the lot.

Visiting a new venue for the very first time is a great equaliser.

Nobody has tested, and it highlights the special skill of those who can get their act together quickly, the moment the gates open for practice.

If I remember right, the first Hamilton race, in 2008, saw the GRM duo – Lee Holdsworth and Michael Caruso – both nail it in qualifying, to grab fifth and eighth, and they both went on to compete very respectably (though Holdsworth went out in a big shunt in the third race). Holdsworth was already a race winner (Oran Park, ’07), but it was a bit of a breakthrough for Caruso, who

opinion Chris Lambden eNews Publisher of course snatched his first big win three weeks ago.

Ironic that this time, through doing so well, the GRMs won’t be taking part in that ‘Non Top 15 and Co-drivers’ first 30 minutes session in Townsville … valuable time lost?

There are drivers for whom 2009 has not delivered quite what they’d hoped and expected to date – James and Jason, in particular – who will be under additional pressure in unfamiliar surroundings.

It all adds up to a V8 weekend packed with extra interest. If you can’t get there, don’t miss it on the Teev.

Andrew Gricks

23

HISTORIC 2009 GOODWOOD FESTIVAL OF SPEED

Time after Time The 2009 Festival paid tribute to feats of endurance – and it was a feast for the enthusiasts’ senses

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race

sutton-images.com

25

Turismo four-seater road car made its British debut.

If you are a Williams fans – no, not Serena and Venus – there was a special display for you. Apart from Sir Frank making an appearance, there were cars from every stage of the famed Constructor’s long history in Grand Prix racing on display. As ever, Sir Frank was his usual understated self, but just have a count of the cars on the previous spread ...

Also featured was a large array of American TransAm cars, and our interest was

sutton-images.com

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Robert Laing

T

RUE Grit – Epic Feats of Endurance may have been the theme of this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed but the English summer made attending the 2009 Festival nothing like such a feat.

One of the star turns this year was the Porsche 917, celebrating its 40th anniversary and there were several examples of the car on display, topped by the 917/30 CanAm racer in the hands of Brian Redman.

Jackie Oliver drove the 1969 Gulf-liveried car, while the new Porsche Panamera Gran

with the Allan Moffat Racing Ford Mustang (above), now owned by the Bowden Collection.

The stunning red 5-litre ponycar looked right at home among the snarling V8s and quickly caught the attention of the spectators.

As ever, there was an auction held in conjenction with the Festival, Bonhams raising £2.45m ($5m) from the sale of about 80 percent of the lots on offer.

Star attraction was the 1922 Sunbeam that went for $950,000.

race

Robert Laing

Robert Laing

sutton-images.com

Champions all over: Alan Jones may have found the McLaren F1 a bit of a handful, above, but there were other World champs more at home: like John Surtees, left on an MV Agusta, and Mick Doohan, right on one wheel. Peter Fonda donned the Captain America stars and strips and just cruised, top right. Sebastien Loeb never cruises, below right, and there were Audis of American and European hues, below. And Mark Webber, bottom left, was cruising and waving ...

sutton-images.com

sutton-images.com

27

NASCAR SPRINT CUP ROUND 18 – COKE ZERO 400, DAYTONA, FL

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race

One with the Lot

When the two hardest men in Sprint Cup – Tony Stewart and Kyle Busch – settled down to decide the race at Daytona, there was always going to be a big, big finish.

By MARTIN D CLARK

Toyota Motorsports

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S

OMETHING had to give. Kyle Busch led into the last lap of the Coke Zero 400, and Tony Stewart was right behind him.

Busch was always going to block.

Stewart was never going to lift off his throttle. What happened was very predictable.

It was a cracking race. All night, Stewart and Busch had worked together, and the only two men who could run with them, Jimmie Johnson and Denny Hamlin, also worked together. But in the end, it was Smoke and Shrub who fought it out.

Stewart ended the race in Victory Lane, while for Busch, blocking did not work, and he crunched the wall, was launched into the air by Kasey Kahne, then more wall before, finally, being Tboned – but team-mate Joey Logano.

The green Toyota, or what was left of it, was classified 14th.

“I don’t know if I was real proud of that,” said Stewart, after his second points win as an owner-driver.

“I don’t know what else I could have done, but I don’t like winning like that.

You are kind of forced into that position, I got to his [Busch] rear tyre and he went to block us. We had a good car all day, we weren’t going to give into him.

If I did something wrong, I’m sorry, but I don’t think I did.”

Busch attempted to head toward victory lane after he exited his stricken Joe Gibbs Toyota, but was herded off by three insistent NASCAR officials to take the mandatory ride to the care center for a check over.

The blocking and mirror driving are a bi-product of restrictor plate racing and Stewart can enter Chicago this weekend with a clean conscience. He did nothing wrong in the incident, but does something need to be done to the most exciting racing from a spectator standpoint? His pit crew also

30

did everything right on this evening getting him off pit road first each time, a major accomplishment. “They did an awesome job all night long, super consistent,” added Stewart.

The proverbial restrictor plate ‘big one’ happened on lap 77 when just outside the top ten Kasey Kahne bump drafted an angled David Stremme sending him spinning and damaging a bunch of other cars in the process including Dale Earnhardt Jr, Jeff Gordon, David Reutimann, Clint Bowyer, David Gilliland, Reed Sorenson and Kevin Harvick. The two wrecks dropped Jr. to 21st in points and involved every driver between 10th and 14th in the standings.

Qualifying was rained out – again – and that meant that Marcos Ambrose started 18th. Despite an oversteering Toyota, and suffering from a mystery bug that saw him take an IV drip before the race, the Aussie ‘hung out’ inside the top 20, only dropping to a race-low 22nd when he avoided a melee. But slick pitwork and smart driving saw him move into the top 10 in the final phase of the race.

By the time the race restarted for the last four laps, he was eighth, and that became sixth at the flag. Following a fourth placing at Talladega in April, Ambrose can be proud of his performances at the tough restrictor plate tracks.

“We’ve just come so far in this sport,” he said after the race. “I’m just so happy that we were able to finish the race and get another top 10.

“It’s just an awesome night for us.

We’re back on track on points and we just keep getting better and better every week.”

race

SPRINT CUP | COKE ZERO 400, DAYTONA 1 14 2 48 3 11 4 99 5 2 6 47 7 83 8 17 9 42 10 19

Tony Stewart Chevy Jimmie Johnson Chevy Denny Hamlin Toyota Carl Edwards Ford Kurt Busch Dodge Marcos Ambrose Toyota Brian Vickers Toyota Matt Kenseth Ford Juan Montoya Chevy Elliott Sadler Dodge

Stewart Haas/Burger King Hendrick/Lowe’s Joe Gibbs Racing/FedEx Roush Fenway/Subway Penske/Miller Lite JTG Daugherty/Kingsford Red Bull Racing Roush Fenway/DeWalt Earnhardt Ganassi/Target Richard Petty/Best Buy

Q1 3 6 5 4 18 17 10 12 23

NASCAR | DRIVER’S points Stewart 2719, Gordon 2539, Johnson 2525, Kurt Busch 2414, Edwards 2317, Hamlin 2302, Newman 2235, Kyle Busch 2234, Biffle 2215, Kenseth 2201, Montoya 2187, Kahne 2166 [Ambrose 1948, 18th].

NASCAR Media

Mounted: Kyle Busch got his from all sides on the final lap, including this submarine effort from Kasey Kahne. Marcos Ambrose ran with some big names all race on his way to sixth, and Stewart looked like a man with 100 burgers in his future, below.

Bowyer, oh Bowyer!

NATIONWIDE

NASCAR Media

Toyota Motorsports NASCAR Media

CLINT Bowyer took his first Daytona victory last Friday night in his RCR Chevrolet.

After taking the pole Bowyer was leading the pack on a final green-white-checker, twolap shoot out to the finish that took the race two laps into ‘overtime’. On older tyres Bowyer looked like a sitting duck for Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards, but all hell broke loose in a wreck way behind Bowyer, leaving the him to claim victory over Busch, who extended his points lead over third finishing Edwards.

“I can’t begin to tell you what this place means to me,” said Bowyer, “everything you ever work for is to come to Daytona, let alone win a race here. The wolves were coming and Doug (Randolph, crew chief ) made a good call to stay out and not take tyres. The 18 (Busch) gave me a good push right there at the end, luckily the caution came out. Who knows what would have happened in that last lap.”

Joey Logano, Busch’s Joe Gibbs team-mate, came home third with Kasey Kahne in his first showing behind the wheel of a Toyota good for fifth.

– MARTIN D CLARK

31

INDYCAR ROUND 9 – CAMPING WORLD GP, WATKINS GLEN, NY

32

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JUSTIFIED! Justin Wilson gave Dale Coyne his breakthrough win as an owner with an emphatic performance at Watkins Glen

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Honda Racing

THERE are a lot of ways to take your first win – and Justin Wilson gave Dale Coyne a victory to remember at Watkins Glen.

The giraffe-shaped Briton fought off Ryan Briscoe in the decisive moment of the race, and then consolidated a winning margin to give Coyne his first win as an IndyCar, CART or Champ Car owner. Briscoe was second ahead of Scott Dixon, who builds a handy series lead as the season enters its second half.

“This is the most important win of my career, and it is hard to explain”" Wilson said. “And it feels fantastic to get Dale Coyne his first win. It is hard to explain this win. On the last lap, I was grinning ear to ear. It is an amazing deal. Our team had excellent pit stops and it was a great team effort.”

And it was not a fluke. Wilson qualified second and he led the most laps in the history of the race in northern New York state.

Briscoe led early but Wilson was quickly on the attack. It took four laps for the former GP driver to slide past, and he was separated from the challengers when he pitted prior to a yellow. When Briscoe, Dixon, Mario Moraes, Tony Kanaan and Dario Franchitti pitted under yellow, Wilson had a commanding lead – from countryman Mike Conway – and the

34

chase was on.

The differing strategies saw Briscoe and Dixon run longer in the middle part of the race, and when the pair pitted two laps after Wilson, it was as if the Battle for the Ashes had started early.

Wilson challenged, Briscoe tried to cling to the lead as they skittered sideby-side through the first two corners.

The black car held sway, and Wilson (who had saved two sets of option tyres for the race, to Briscoe’s one) was on his way to victory.

“I asked my team to tell me when the green flag come out, as I was going to go for the lead,” said Wilson. “I lost the race in St. Petersburg because I was too nice on the track. That wasn't going to happen today. I caught Ryan going up the hill, pulled out and got by him.”

With Wilson pulling away, Briscoe was forced to fight off Dixon, the pair separated by 0.2s at the flag. Helio Castroneves was close behind after recovering from a qualifying nightmare, and Conway lost fifth in the final moments of the race as Marco Andretti, who had been a lap down, surged by.

Defending winner Ryan Hunter-Reay never had chance to feature this year, his AJ Foyt car sustaining suspension damage in a first lap traffic jam that also involved Doornbos (who suffered a broken front wing) and Luczo Dragon’s Raphael Matos.

race

INDYCAR | CAMPING WORLD GP, WATKINS GLEN 1 18 2 6 3 9 4 3 5 26 6 24 7 13 8 11 9 06 10 4

Justin Wilson GB Ryan Briscoe Aus Scott Dixon NZ Helio Castroneves Br Marco Andretti USA Mike Conway GB EJ Viso Br Tony Kanaan Br Robert Doornbos Ned Dan Wheldon GB

Dale Coyne/Z-Line 60 laps Q2 Team Penske -4.9906s 1 Target Ganassi -5.1632s 3 Team Penske -7.0755s 13 Andretti Green/Venom -8.5595s 8 Dreyer & Reinbold/Dad’s -9.3646s 6 HVM Racing -11.3804s 10 Andretti Green/7-Eleven -13.0020s 9 Newman Haas Lanigan -13.2633s 17 Panther/National Guard -18.0412s 11

Fastest lap: Briscoe on lap 18, 1m31.1760s (133.061mph)

INDYCAR | DRIVER’S points

Dixon 313, Franchitti and Briscoe 294, Castroneves 257, Patrick 238, Wheldon 2245, Andretti 215, Kanaan 214, Rahal 197, Wilson 187.

Honda Racing Honda Racing

Honda Racing

The Big Fella scores: Justin Wilson took his first win for Dale Coyne in New York. Ryan Briscoe dominated qualifying but had to settle for second on Sunday. Mike Conway showed his road racing pedigree with sixth, left, while Paul Tracy was out of luck in the KV Racing car, bottom. Marco Andretti got some of his Mojo back with fifth, right.

It just took 558 flips of the Coyne

IndyCar Media

DALE and Gail Coyne (yes, “It took too long,” said Coyne, really) have been a patient after his long-awaited victory. couple.

“We knew Justin was a strong They started racing cars in road racer. We almost showed 1984. In the evolution of CART, it at St. Pete, and we showed it then Champ Car, and now here.”

IndyCar, they have watched their It was the first win this season drivers take the start in 557 races, for a team other than Penske none of which they won. or Ganassi. In fact, the last team But #558 was a charm. Justin other than those to win a race Wilson was the best driver, with was Newman/Haas/Lanigan the best strategy, at Watkins Racing at Detroit last season – Glen. Once he dealt with Ryan and the winner of that race was Briscoe, he was home.

Wilson.

35

Dirk Klynsmith

Extended Lead

Ricciardo extends his points advantage with two second places at Snetterton FORMULA 3

Daniel Ricciardo has left rounds nine and 10 of the British Formula 3 Championship at Snetterton with an increased lead in the points, but no more wins to his tally.

It actually looked as if Ricciardo was going to be the slowest of the Carlin drivers at the English circuit after first qualifying, with his team-mates Henry Arundel

36

and Max Chilton slotting in behind pacesetter Renger van der Zande. But when the race started, Ricciardo disposed of Chilton as the lights went green, and passed Arundel midway through the race to finish behind the runaway Dutchman.

Ricciardo then made another excellent start in Race 2, jumping van der Zande and slotting into second behind Riki Christodoulou – where he would ultimately finish.

“I think the key was getting

a good start today, as I didn’t feel we quite had race winning pace,” Ricciardo said.

“In race one I made a good start and followed Henry for the majority of the race, but was able to get past him when he had a gear box problem.

The second race was really good fun. I made a really good start and was fighting with Renger [van der Zande]; I was right on the edge of the track and managed to get up to third before the first corner. Two laps

later I had a good run on Walter [Grubmuller] down the outside of turn three to take second place, although he kept me under pressure for the rest of the race.

“I think two second places are a good result for us this weekend and I’m really happy to have extended my lead in the championship.”

The West Aussie now leads the series by 23 points over Austrian Walter Grubmuller, with half the season now gone.

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Going halves in Porto WTCC

Dirk Klynsmith

GABRIELE Tarquini and Augusto Farfus split the wins in the two Porto races in the World Touring Car Championship last weekend.

SEAT driver Tarquini won Race 1 despite an early red flag after an accident between Jaap van Lagen and Sergio Hernandez littered the track near turn one. Later in the lap, Farfus tagged Alain Menu’s Chevrolet and spun him into the unforgiving wall. With the track blocked a restart was needed and Tarquini had a straightforward run to the chequered flag despite early attentions from Rob Huff’s Chevrolet. Yvan Muller took third despite being chased by BMW’s Andy Priaulx, but he slowed to give eighth place – and race two pole – to Augusto Farfus, BMW’s best title hope.

The Brazilian took a fraught Race 2 which was stopped after Nicola Larini’s Chevrolet and the SEAT of Tarquini collided and

caused mayhem behind. Mehdi Bennani’s SEAT arrived on the scene, missed the wreckage and rejoined slap bang in the path of Tom Boardman who had nowhere to go. Crunch!

Farfus led the second attempt but that, too, was stopped after Alain Menu and Franz Engstler collided with Menu’s car blocking the track...

The race restarted behind a safety car and Farfus pulled away without incident with Yvan Muller chasing him and Rickard Rydell bagging third from team-mates Jordi Gene and Tiago Monteiro. Rob Huff was sixth for Chevrolet. Muller heads the championship with 80 points to Tarquini (66) with Farfus third on 65.

– DAVID ADDISON

Erickson’s Snetterton frustration FORMULA 3

crashing into another car, putting him back to the tail of the field.

A storming recovery brought an eventual 12th placing amongst a squabbling pack of midfielders.

“I’m satisfied with my recovery drive in the last race, but disappointed overall after a weekend that looked so promising,” he said.

The next three British

Dirk Klynsmith

A misfiring engine and a spin on Sunday conspired to prevent Daniel Erickson from making a lasting impression at Snetterton last weekend during the 11th and 12th rounds of the British Formula Ford Championship.

In the weekend’s first race, Erickson was (literally) powerless to stop competitors

from overtaking his spluttering Spectrum. It was all he could do to finish a distant eighth, some 10 seconds behind winner Josef Newgarden, who scored his second victory for the weekend.

With the misfire cured, Erickson looked forward to a better race in Round 12 despite a lowly seventh grid postion.

But after a good start he had to spin the Spectrum to avoid

Formula Ford Championship rounds will be held at Donington on July 18/19.

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Davison’s Watkins breakout James D scores pole and second place at Watkins Glen International INDY LIGHTS JAMES Davison took his best Indy Lights result for the year last weekend in the Corning 100 at Watkins Glen International, qualifying on pole and finishing second on the road course.

Davison’s result was his first podium finish since his one and only career win last year, and it was the first podium finish for his team Vision Racing this year. It was also Vision’s first-ever pole

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position.

Davison led the first 12 laps before competitor J.R. Hildebrand made a run on him and took the lead. From there, Davison continued to drive a strong race and finished in second.

As a result of his solid weekend, Davison now moves up two spots in the Firestone Indy Lights Championship point standings into the fifth position with 206 total points (73 points behind the leader).

“Congratulations to J.R.

(Hildebrand). He was just too quick,” he said.

“They must have been trimmed out just a little more than us because I was just a sitting duck there. I didn’t get a bad run or anything out of the first turn. That’s just the way it goes.

“I had a good last restart and was right behind him out of Turn 1, but still he pulled away when I was a couple of meters behind. He just had good straight line speed.”

Davison also said that the

result will have a positive bearing on his championship quest.

“We got some very good points from this result and we’ll build on this,” he said.

“Second place is good result for the team.”

Third place for the race was Felipe Guimarães, ahead of Charlie Kimball, Richard Philippe, Daniel Herrington, Gustavo Yacaman, Pablo Donoso, Ana Beatriz. Martin Plowman rounded out the top 10.

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Scott runs hot sutton-images.com

Josh Scott takes maiden Formula Renault UK victory FORMULA RENUALT UK JOSH Scott scored a maiden win in the Formula Renault UK Championship at Silverstone racing on the full Grand Prix circuit.

After a superb pole position effort in qualifying, Scott led the opening race from a charging James Calado.

Despite the Brit’s efforts, the Australian controlled the gap and was edging away until a mid-race Safety Car period interrupted his run. Scott led away but ran wide at Priory losing time to Calado who ran him close at Copse Corner but lost downforce and ran wide meaning that Scott built the gap up again to secure his first

win.

His second race was less easy. Scott started sixth on the grid and had a fierce fight with Dean Stoneman which cost him time and a place when Stoneman edged him wide at Club Corner. He made up the time again but then was delayed again by a battle between Stoneman

and Jordan Oakes. As they tripped over each other, Scott was delayed and was mugged

by Will Stevens who gained a place on the run to Bridge. It left Scott finishing down in seventh as Oli Webb extended his championship lead by taking a second win of the year from Calado and Dean Smith.

– DAVID ADDISON

Martin falls on hard times FORMULA RENAULT 3.5 JOHN Martin’s difficult Formula Renault 3.5 season continued at Silverstone as he suffered two disappointing races.

From 16th on the grid, Martin made progress in Race 1 until he ran wide at the approach to Club Corner and ploughed across the grass, filling his sidepods with grass and needing a pit stop to sure an overheating problem. He fell to 21st

place, a lap adrift of the race winner Marcos Martinez who increased his championship lead by taking a fourth win of the season.

Fairuz Fauzy chased him home for second place and Oliver Turvey completed the podium finishers.

In Race 2, Martin suffered an early punctured tyre after contact in the midfield pack. He pitted for two new front tyres which the team elected to count as

its regulation pit stop. Sadly, it was taken before the window opened and Martin copped a 20-second time penalty for his pains. He finished 20th.

Charles Pic, from pole position, took his first win of the season while James Walker tried his hardest to run with him but fell away into the clutches of Oliver Turvey who was but 0.3s away at the chequered flag.

– DAVID ADDISON

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Greenbury’s Queensland Quin

Toowoomban strikes in Clubman Light and Leopard Light at Queensland State Titles QLD KARTS THE Southern Cross Motorsports Queensland Karting Championships hosted by the Cooloola Coast Kart Club in Gympie were heralded as a huge success by karters from all across the country.

With 385 entries received across the 15 categories there were drivers, both boys and girls, of all ages in action.

Toowoomba’s Tyler Greenbury took on and defeated the best drivers in the country on his way to claiming a pair of wins over the weekend.

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Competing in three categories (Clubman Light, Leopard Light and Rotax Light), the teenager was the star of the show, winning Clubman Light, Leopard Light and a fourth placing in Rotax Light.

The Rotax Light class was won by David Sera, who for the second weekend in a row came from the back of the field to take the honours.

In Rotax Heavy, Melbourne brothers Jason and Rick Pringle finished one-two. Kel Treseder and William Yarwood threatened for a podium finish until the pair were involved in a

last corner incident, promoting Rick to second behind his brother. Luc Price crossed the line in third spot.

Second-generation racer Macauley Jones broke through for his maiden State Championship victory, winning Junior National Heavy.

Jones, the son of V8 Supercar team owner Brad Jones, has run inside the top five at virtually every major meeting this season in the class, but broke through for his first blue plate ahead of Brock Plumb and Shannon Holley.

“It is just an amazing feeling to

break through for my first state title,” said Macauley.

“Going into the last lap I really didn’t think I was going to be able to find a way back into the lead but I never gave up and found a way through.

“Dad has always tried to tell me not to get too nervous before a big race but I was pretty nervous before the start of today’s race but the nerves soon went away when the green light went on.”

In Formula JMA, Ben Jurczak took the win from Jack Howard and Hayden Cooper. Senior National Light saw Scott

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Close as they come NSW STATE

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Macready and Graham Smith, while Peter Foote came out on top in a close battle with Ahmed Bagdahdi in Over 2Litre Improved Production.

In Under 2-Litre Improved Production, David Crighton won the first two races, only to suffer a gut-wrenching fuelpump failure a few hundred metres from the line in Race 3, handing Graeme Cox his second-consecutive round win.

Jim Pollicina won the Combined Touring Car round, Leigh Burgess, below, took a clean sweep in Formula Ford, while Tim Mackie and Aaron Steer absolutely annihilated the field in the Production Sports and Sports and Racing Car series respectively.

– LACHLAN MANSELL

John Morris/Mpix

Sorenson, Thomas Phillips and Ryan Reynolds fill the podium, while Nicholas Andrews, Dylan Higgins and Aaron Seton were top three in Rookies.

The prestigious Junior Clubman races were eventually won by Max Johnston, who edged out Australian Champion Christopher Hays and Lucas Ward.

Other winners included Matthew Wall (Clubman Heavy), Cameron Butler (Midgets – under appeal), Liam Morey (Junior National Light), Corey Lean (Senior National Heavy), Kel Treseder (Leopard Heavy) and Scott Simpson (Clubman Super Heavy).

Round 4 of the NSW State Formula Vee Championship at Eastern Creek on the weekend featured controversy, intensity and some close racing that saw the weekend’s top three placegetters separated by 0.02 of a second in the final race.

Series leader Daniel Reynolds crossed the line first in the opening race, only to be excluded from the results when his car weighed in a solitary kilogram underweight in scrutineering. As a result, Aaron Russell took victory. In Race 2, Reynolds stormed from the back of the grid to second, and Race 3 featured

an epic battle in which Russell, Reynolds and Stephen Butcher crossed the line just a nosecone apart. It was Russell’s first clean-sweep, and the 16-yearold was ecstatic.

“We need all the points we can get after dropping a round early in the year, so it’s great to get maximum points for the weekend,” he said.

The other NSW State Championship categories weren’t without action either.

John Wood raced in the HQ Holden round, making the trip up from Victoria in preparation for the nationals in a fortnight.

Wood beat Greg King home in each race, with Stuart Spry third.

Chris Jackson won the Sports Sedan round from Anthony

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rear of grid

Odd Spot THERE ARE some people in the world who just do not rate the Goodwood Festival of Speed.

As crazy as it may seem for us at the other end of the planet, we know people who live not more than a few hours wander from Lord March’s driveway who are not bothered to show up each year because of the view that the event has been hijacked by the hoi polloi of English society, more interested in being seen in the right designer clobber, than those who have memorised the compression ratio of a 1949 NSU. In a year when Porsche marked the 40th anniversary of the 917 – and there were a handful there – and Audi was the featured marque, and there were Williamses of every shape and colour, and Mick Doohan was there, and my goodness, there’s David Brabham in his old man’s Cooper. And, is that John Surtees? Jen-son! Jen-son!!

Humbug, we say. It is all about the cars.

On the other hand, as usual, the featured marque had its own display, in front of His Lordship’s place.

While a current R15 TDI diesel ran around the course, out shooter Robert Laing copped a pic of this 35m high sculpture by artist Gerry Judah, featuring a 1937 Auto Union streamliner on one ‘wing’ and a R8 roadster on the other. The sculpture took 12 men four weeks to assemble.

Hmmmm. We are beginning to wonder if the Goodwood non-believers might – might – just be onto something.

Making Par from the Bunker YEP, that is former V8 Supercar driver Anthony Tratt, and a hole.

We love a hole here at eNews, and it seems Tratty does too. In fact, that is what he is doing now, making a hole.

The serious side of this whole hole thing is to save lives. Wildfire Safety Bunkers is developing fire protection for homes in high-risk areas, to provide potentially life-saving shelters for families. The bunkers are based on USA designs, originally developed to deal with lifethreatening cyclones, hurricanes and tornadoes, and modified for the conditions seen most graphically in Victoria last February.

“It’s somewhere to go when there’s nowhere to go” says Tratt. “When situations change and the time to execute an evacuation plan has been cut short then a safety bunker could be the last realistic option.”

Six and ten-person units are being developed, and Tratt is currently deep in discussions with government and safety authorities about approval for the units.

Sounds like a hole lot of sense to us.

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