Motorsport eNews Issue 175 - October 5-11, 2010

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Issue No. 175 October 5 - 11 2010

SPLITSVILLE!

CHARLIE OUT, NEW CO-OWNER FOR DICK JOHNSON RACING

PLUS!

Last minute driver swap for Bathurst EXCLUSIVE: Mark Webber on the Korean Grand Prix www.mnews.com.au

ONE LAST B PREVIEW B ATHURST EFOR GREAT RAC E THE E

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Editorial Editor: Andrew van Leeuwen Executive Editor: Phil Branagan National Editor: Mitchell Adam Publisher: Chris Lambden

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Contributing Writers US: Martin D. Clark, Mary Mendez National: Lachlan Mansell, Mark Jones Speedway: Greg Boscato, Geoff Rounds, Darren Sutton Drag Racing: Dave Ostaszewski (USA), Ken Ferguson, John Bosher, Luke Nieuwhof

Not only did Sebastien Loeb secure a seventh WRC title on the weekend, he did it at home, in Strasbourg. He’s pretty handy, is Seb ...

Photographers Sutton Motorsport Images, Dirk Klynsmith, Marshall Cass, John Morris/Mpix, AF1 Images, James Smith, Peter Bury, Geoff Gracie, Joel Strickland, Rob Lang

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Issue No. 175 | 5-11 Oct 2010

news 4 Changes at DJR

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Johnson’s new partner 6 1990, all over again HRT goes monochrome 8 WRC’s new cars Citroen, Ford and MINI! 12 Porsche and Formula 1 Let’s hope it’s like the TAG 15 Briscoe: No 2011 deal yet But still a chance at Penske

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comment 26 Adam

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27 van Leeuwen

race 28 Preview: Bathurst 1000 34 Insight: Korean GP 40 IndyCar: Dario rules. Dammit

trade 52 Classifieds

Changes afoot at DJR Dick Johnson Racing to get new co-owner in pre-Bathurst shake-up V8 SUPERCARS THE future of Jim Beam Racing is expected to be finalised tomorrow, Tuesday, prior to The Team racing in this weekend’s Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000.

The 50-50 partnership between team owners Dick Johnson and Charlie Schwerkolt, which saved the team from extinction in February 2008, is expected to be officially dissolved after a series of meetings. eNews believes that the new partner in the team with a 50 percent stake similar to Johnson’s, will

be Nathan Tinkler.

The Brisbane-based mining and horse racing identity, whose impact on the sport of kings has been enormous, is believed to be a long-time fan of Dick Johnson Racing, and his involvement in the team’s ownership was greenlit by the board of V8 Supercars Australia last week.

Johnson was unable to comment when contacted by eNews on Monday.

“There is nothing to say at present,” he said.

Likewise, team spokesman Glenn Turnor was unable to shed any light on the matter.

“At present, there is absolutely no comment,” he said.

It has been no secret that while team had been experiencing its best season in years, there were tensions within JBR, with one observer describing it as “like two one-car teams”. Courtney, who joined the team at the start of the 2009 season, has been seen as a ‘Schwerkolt’ driver, while Steve Johnson is, understandably, seen to be aligned with his father.

Courtney would not comment on any changes within the structure of the

team on Monday, when he was driving to Bathurst with his family.

“At the moment, my main focus, my only focus, is to get to the end of the year and concentrate on delivering a title,” he said.

Ironically, the news comes only two weeks after the team confirmed that Steve Johnson would stay in JBR colours for 2011. In the release that announced his resigning, Schwerkolt was quoted as saying, “Continuity and consistency are key for us.”

Two weeks can be a long time in motor racing.

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A growing empire

CHARLIE Schwerkolt is refusing to rule out a return to V8 Supercar racing, after he sells his share of Dick Johnson Racing back to the team.

The forklift magnate could not be drawn on details of the settlement due to legal proceedings, but told eNews that once everything is finalised, he will take a break from the sport. However, he did add that it may not be a permanent break.

“At this stage, all I can say is that I am going to concentrate on my forklift business,” Schwerkolt told eNews.

“I’ll be looking at all my options. I’ll have a rest from the sport, because I need a break.

I’ve worked very hard at this, and I need to stop and take a look at everything. But no, I

NATHAN Tinkler is a man to be reckoned with, in business and sport.

The former electrician, 34, has long-time links with the horse racing industry, largely through his Patinack Farm stud. In recent years, he has been a prolific buyer of yearlings, and it currently in the process of relocating many of his horses from Sydney, believing that the AJC was not maintaining the track at Warwick Farm track to a high standard, to the Gold Coast or Melbourne, or to a new facility he will establish in Newcastle.

But he made his mark in mining, through his Custom Mining company. After setting up a firm that maintained mining machinery, in late

Dirk Klynsmith

CS: Options open

won’t close the door.”

Will Schwerkolt, who has been pivotal in taking DJR from the verge of financial ruin to a title-contending team, come back for unfinished business?

Only time will tell.

– ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN

2006, he borrowed $1 million against the business and bought the Middlemount Coal – after borrowing another $29m within a month.

A year later, Macarthur Coal bought Custom Mining for $275m.

Recently, after taking a 40 percent stake in Ashton Resources, he was named the wealthiest person in Australia under the age of 40 by BRW Magazine, which reported a fortune of $610m.

The famously media-shy Tinkler took over the licence of the A-League’s Newcastle Jets last month and, though his initial commitment was only until the end of the current season, he recently committed to backing the team in the long-term.

Dirk Klynsmith

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LIVIN’ IN THE ‘90s V8 SUPERCARS

THE Toll Holden Racing Team will hark back to 1990 for this year’s Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000, and will be hoping to replicate the famous result from two decades ago.

The 1990 Bathurst 1000 win was the first for HRT, and Allan Grice and Win Percy went into the race as underdogs, with their VL Commodore not given a chance compared to the Ford Sierras and Nissan Skylines.

But they came away with an unlikely win.

In 2010, HRT will again start as underdogs after an indifferent first half of the season. And Garth Tander told eNews that their retro colour scheme could be a sign of things to come at this weekend’s Great Race.

“Look, I think we’ll surprise a few of the so-called experts in the industry that have written us off,” said Tander.

“There’s no reason why we can’t do that.

“Obviously, Phillip Island wasn’t what we’d hoped for results-wise, but you put that behind you, and we’ve done a lot of work since then. We’ve also got a lot of history at Bathurst as far as set-ups go.

The car will be very fast, and we wouldn’t be bullish about our chances if we didn’t believe it.

I’m very confident our car will be strong.

“There’s no doubting that the race will be hard. There are some very strong combinations, and the Triple Eight cars will be fast, because they always are.

But I thought last year we were quicker than the Triple Eight cars. They had an advantage with fuel economy, but our actual pace was better, and I don’t see any reason for that to change this year.”

Both HRT cars will feature the retro livery at Bathurst, which driving suits and crew shirts also fitting the 1990 colours.

– ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN

For more with Garth Tander, see ‘Five Minutes With’ on page 24

NO SURPRISES IN GC PAIRINGS V8 SUPERCARS THE official driver pairings for next month’s Gold Coast 600 have been released, but there are no real surprises ...

As expected, Steve Owen will be retained by TeamVodafone, with Andy Priaulx slotting in next to Craig Lowndes. Cam McConville will also continue to partner Garth Tander, with Ryan Briscoe pairing up with Will Davison. And, like his fellow front-runners, James Courtney will retain his regular co-driver in Warren Luff, with newly-crowned IndyCar Champion Dario Franchitti sharing with Steve Johnson.

David Brabham will drive Alex Davison’s car for Stone Brothers Racing, leaving John McIntyre in with Shane van Gisbergen, and Luke Youlden will stay with Mark Winterbottom in the lead Ford Performane Racing car, putting Will Power in with Steve Richards.

Scott Dixon will replace Dale Wood in Todd Kelly’s car, with Owen Kelly retained to partner Rick. In the

other Kelly Racing cars, Taz Douglas will again partner Tony Ricciardello and Alex Tagliani will suit up with Jason Bargwanna.

Jason Bright will have Alain Menu in his car, with Andy Jones staying with Jason Richards, while Andrew Thompson will be paired with Mika Salo – his third endurance driver of the season. But Craig Baird won’t make a third outing in Bundy Red Colours, with David Reynolds switching from HRT for the final enduro race.

At Garry Rogers Motorsport, Patrick Long will take the reigns of Michael Caruso’s car, leaving David Besnard paired with Lee Holdsworth. At Paul Morris Motorsport, Morris himself will continue with Russell Ingall, and Yvan Muller will drive with Greg Murphy.

As for the one-car teams, the pairings will be Tony D’Alberto/Tiago Monteiro, Dean Fiore/Gianni Morbidelli, Jono Webb/Sebastien Bourdais, Karl Reindler/Fabrizio Giovanardi, Mark Noske/Scott Pruett, Tim Slade/Helio Castroneves, and Paul Dumbrell/ Jacques Villeneuve, pictured. motorsport news

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Dirk Klynsmith

SALMON IN FOR BATHURST V8 SUPERCARS

Dirk Klynsmith

SLADE READY TO RE-SIGN V8 SUPERCARS

JAMES Rosenberg expects to finalise an extension of Tim Slade’s contract this weekend at Bathurst.

Rosenberg is in his first year as a V8 Supercar team owner, running Slade through Stone Brothers Racing.

The South Australian has impressed, finishing fifth at Phillip Island with Jack Perkins in the Wilson Securitybacked Falcon. Arrangements with SBR will continue as is, with Rosenberg currently working on the car’s commercial package for 2011.

“Tim’s contract will be sorted out this weekend,” Rosenberg told eNews.

“We’ve had our initial discussions, obviously, with the Stones and myself.

We had goals for this year, which at this stage we’re meeting. There’s still a fair bit to go in the season, but hopefully we can continue with the same aspects as they have previously.

“We’ll stay with Stone Brothers and we are, in turn, talking to the sponsors we have on board this year for next year. Nothing’s finalised regarding sponsors but it’s certainly in the discussion mode.

“I am hoping everything goes forward as it has this year, but time will tell.”

– MITCHELL ADAM

ROD Salmon is set to be the surprise second driver for Greg Murphy Racing’s wildcard Commodore this weekend.

Marcus Zukanovic raced with the team alongside Geoff Emery at Phillip Island, but wasn’t able to secure the backing to return at Bathurst. On Monday, GMR boss Kevin Murphy told eNews that Salmon was “99 percent likely” to partner Emery.

“At this stage, we are talking to Rod as the fill-in,” Murphy said.

“Commercially, things didn’t work out for Marcus. In the meantime, we’ve spoken to someone else who could possibly fill in, and at this stage, that’s the way it’s looking.

Fingers crossed that everything will work out.

“It’s a big shame that everything’s been so late, but that’s the way things work out sometimes. Marcus and his family worked very hard to come up with some funding, and there were some commercial possibilities there, but they didn’t eventuate in the end, unfortunately.

“Another opportunity has come along and we’re pretty enthusiastic about it. Rod’s doing the Fujitsu Series round up there anyway, so he’s going to jump in and have a go.”

Salmon has three Bathurst 1000 starts to his name, most recently in 2001 with Terry Wyhoon. In recent years, the Sydneysider has raced Production Cars, winning the Bathurst 12 Hour in 2008 and 2009.

– MITCHELL ADAM

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T FUJITSU V8s A FIELD of 23 cars will tackle this weekend’s Fujitsu Series round at Bathurst.

As previously reported, Chaz Mostert and Ben Barker will make their V8 debuts, while Nick Percat switches from Jay Motorsport’s VZ to a Walkinshaw Racing VE Commodore. Percat’s seat is set to be filled by dual Bathurst 12 Hour winner Rod Salmon.

Triple F Racing will run its exTriple Eight BF Falcon for the first time, having previously fielded a Commodore in the series, with Paul Fiore behind the wheel.

Six drivers will be on double duty, contesting the round and the Bathurst 1000, including Paul Morris, who’ll make his fourth Fujitsu Series start of the year.

Meanwhile, it’ll be Aaron McGill’s 40th round in the series, further extending his record for the most starts.

Dirk Klynsmith

FV8 ENTRIES IN FOR BATHURST

Du fut

COFF, PLEASE WORLD RALLY

AUSTRALIA’S round of the World Rally Championship is on the move again.

Having relocated from Western Australia to New South Wales’ Northern Rivers area last year, Rally Australia will be staged in Coffs Harbour when it returns to the WRC calendar in 2011.

According to CAMS president Andrew Papadopoulos, the Northern Rivers area wasn’t suitable for hosting a World Championship rally.

“We are disappointed to be leaving the Northern Rivers area,” he said.

“We had very strong support there from the councils of Tweed and Kyogle, the local businesses and the majority of residents, and I thank all those people for their support.

“However, during this year we have, in conjunction with our sporting officials and independent consultants, and with considerable feedback from the FIA, North One Sport (the commercial rights holder for

the World Rally Championship) and various teams and manufacturers, come to the conclusion that despite the overwhelming support we received, it is simply not feasible or practical to locate the event there in the future.”

Coffs Harbour has a proud rallying history, having held stages of the famous Southern Cross rally back in the 1970s, and been a regular stop for the Australian Rally Championship since then.

“This is an absolutely fantastic opportunity for the Coffs Harbour region,” said mayor Keith Rhoades.

“The World Rally Championship is broadcast in 186 countries and has a global audience of 53 million viewers. From an economic perspective, we would see around $15 million directly injected into the local economy through this one event alone.

Coffs Harbour has successfully staged legs of the Australian Championships in the past, and I’m confident we will provide a great venue for the World Rally Championship in 2011.”

CARRERA CUP IS BACK

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THE NEW ERA OF WRC

uring the last few days, Citroen, Ford and MINI have revealed the cars that will shape the ture of the World Rally Championship. Meet the Fiesta, the DS3, and the Countryman

MYGALE CONGRTULATES CAMERON WATERS ON WINNING THE FORMULA FORD VICTORIAN STATE SERIES Like Cameron Waters, you can follow in the footsteps of Team Sonic’s Australian Champions – Will Davidson, Jamie Whincup, David Renolds, Tim Blanchard and Nick Percat

MYGALE – Engineered to Win ... phone Mygale on 03 9580 4882 www.mygale.com.au – CLICK HERE to check out MYGALE www.mnews.com.au and the ARROW MYGALE REWARDS PROGRAMME

James Smith

TANDER CONFIRMS FFORD SWITCH FORMULA FORD

FORMULA FORD

RYAN Simpson has abandoned his place in the 2010 Australian Formula Ford Championship.

The New South Welshman was running with Sonic Motor Racing Services, and is currently sitting fourth in the standings. But just weeks out from the series’ return to action on the Gold Coast, he has pulled the pin.

“Racing on a national level takes a big commitment, not just financially but in time you need to spend away from work just travelling to and from the rounds,” said Simpson.

“So the longer we had to spend racing the more it was affecting our business. Dad and I need to keep our hands on the wheel with Parramatta Smash Repairs, that’s all there is to it.”

Replacing Simpson at Sonic is stand-out rookie Cameron Waters. Having run the first part of the season in an ageing 2006-spec Mygale, Waters will switch to a 2010 model car with full Sonic support. Waters, 16, is currently leading the Rookie of the Year standings, with three rounds remaining.

“We were assisting Cameron a bit this year with some engineering support, so signing him up as member of the team is really an extension of what we’ve doing anyway,” said Sonic boss Mick Ritter, “only now we can help him for the remainder of this season and into 2011.”

Dirk Klynsmith

GARTH Tander has confirmed that TanderSport will make its Australian Formula Ford Championship debut in 2011, in a partnership with Perthbased team Fastlane Race.

Tander and Fastlane Racing boss Brett Lupton will join forces to run two Stealth S3 chassis in the National Series next year, adding another Australian-made chassis to the championship. While drivers are yet to be announced, eNews understands that reigning Targa West winner Peter Major will be making his National Formula Ford debut in a Stealth.

“We’re just getting our ducks in a row,” said Tander.

“There’s no secret that we’re running Formula Ford next year in the National Series, with minimum two cars. It will be the new Stealth car, and the car is fantastic. Both the National Series cars will be finished by the end of the month, so we’re a lot further down the road than our opposition who are

still focussing on this year’s championship.”

The brand new Stealth recently made its debut in Kent-powered form in the hands of Adam Lisle, during a Western Australian state round.

And Tander says the car is showing plenty of promise.

“It’s a new car, and we need to make sure we’re on the pace,” he added.

“The work that we’ve done with the Kent car, it is very, very, very fast. And I see no reason why the Duratec cars won’t be the same. But we won’t know until we get it on-track, and get to some other circuits than Barbagallo Raceway. We’re pretty confident that we’ve got the right guys to drive the cars, and the right people attached to the team. Brett and I wouldn’t be putting it all together if we didn’t think it would work.”

Tander and Lupton have a history together in Formula Ford, with Tander having won the 1997 AFFC in a Fastlaneprepared car.

– ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN

SIMPSON DESERT

THE LATEST EDITION OF VIC STATE RACER IS ONLINE NOW! CLICK HERE TO CHECK IT OUT 10

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IRC STILL FULL MONTE WORLD RALLY

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MONTE Carlo remains the headline act on the 2011 Intercontinental Rally Challenge calendar.

A 12-round schedule was unveiled last week, with the historic event based in Monaco kicking off the season in January. New events are in Corsica and Hungary, while Sardinia (which rejoins the WRC) and Brazil are deletions.

Argentina will keep a round though, with Rally Argentina going back onto the WRC schedule, the Rally de los Alerces will become the Argentine round.

The other event of note is the Tour de Corse. The iconic French rally has been replaced on a WRC’s calendar by one at a new location on

the mainland, giving the IRC further links to traditional events.

“The IRC continues to go from strength and the addition of two new territories to the calendar, Corsica and Hungary, will ensure the interest and excitement is maintained when the IRC turns five in 2011,” general manager Marcello Lotti said.

“Both events are unchartered territory for the IRC but both enjoy significant public interest and this will only multiply when they play host to the IRC. “We hope that confirmation of these new events plus more groundbreaking live television coverage will be just some of the highlights on offer in next season’s Intercontinental Rally Challenge.”

2010 IRC SCHEDULE 19-22 Jan 4-6 March 14-16 April 6-8 May 23-25 June 14-16 July 4-6 August 26-28 August 9-11 Sept 22-24 Sept 14-16 October 3-5 November

Rallye Monte Carlo Rally de la Alerces Rally Islas Canarias Tour de Corse Geko Ypres Rally Sata Rallye Acores Rali Vinho Madeira Barum Czech Rally Zlin Mecsek Rallye Rallye Sanremo Rally of Scotland Cyprus Rally

Monaco Argentina Spain France Belgium Portugal Portugal Czech Republic Hungary Italy GB Cyprus

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Sydney - 02 9679 8644 | Canberra - 02 6260 1536 | Brisbane - 07 5502 3636 | Melbourne - 03 9720 7454

www.vsport.com.au Sydney - 02 9679 8644 | Canberra - 02 6260 1536 Brisbane - 07 5502 3636 | Melbourne - 03 9720 7454

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11

FORMULA 1 PORSCHE is plotting a return to Formula 1.

The company’s new chairman Matthias Mueller confirmed at the Paris Motor Show last week that the company would continue to support Sportscar racing, but that a return to GP racing was also under evaluation.

“With LMP1, there are two classes and two brands – Audi and Porsche,” Mueller told autocar.co.uk.

“We do not like to both go into LMP1 [against each other]; that is not so funny.

“So therefore we have to discuss whether it makes better sense for one of the [two] brands to go into LMP1, and the other brand into F1. So we will have a round-table to discuss the pros and cons.”

Porsche, which has recently become a part of the Volkswagen Group, competed with its own car in 35 GPs between 1958 and 1964, scoring a single win with Dan Gurney in France in 1962.

The company returned as an engine supplier to McLaren in the 1980s, scoring three titles with a TAG-branded turbocharged V6. An ill-fated return in 1991 saw Footwork Arrows replace the overweight V12 engine after only four races.

Mueller indicated that the likely role for the company was as an engine supplier.

The company currently has links with Williams, whose hybrid division provided technology for the 911 GT3 that nearly won at Nurburgring 24 Hour race this year.

PORSCHE F1 BOUND AGAIN

AGP STAYING PUT? LOTUS/RENAULT CLOSER FORMULA 1 THE Australian Grand Prix is staying at Albert Park, according to Victorian Premier John Brumby.

Last week, the state’s leader told the press that the chance of moving the event from Melbourne’s fringe was very low. The current contract for the event, which posted a $49.2m loss this season, runs until 2015.

“I think it is about as close to zero as you can get,” he told reporters in Melbourne.

The comment comes following reports that the race may be moved, either to Calder Park or Avalon, which is west of the city, on the road to Geelong.

But Mr Brumby did confirm reports, first published in eNews, that the state government was in discussion with Calder boss Bob Jane over the funding of upgrades to the permanent circuit.

“Drag racing was quite common there, particularly during the 1990s, so we are working with them in relation to that,” he said. “But that work does not involve looking at a Grand Prix facility or a Grand Prix track.”

12

FORMULA 1 LOTUS Racing has a clear path to acquire Renault engines and transmissions in 2011, after confirming it will terminate its contract with Cosworth at the end of the season.

The team announced last week that it 30 November, two weeks after the final race of the year in Abu Dhabi.

“Lotus Racing has enjoyed a successful season with Cosworth and has enjoyed excellent performance, reliability and support from their engine-supply,” it reads. “The decision to bring the partnership to an early termination has been driven by the team”s desire to solve reliability and performance issues unrelated to the Cosworth engine.

“Lotus Racing and Cosworth have agreed settlement terms satisfactory to both parties to secure an early termination of the agreement. Cosworth wishes Lotus Racing success in the future, and will continue to supply engines to Williams, Virgin Racing and HRT in 2011, thereby supporting 25 per cent of the teams in F1.” motorsport news

CLOSER

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For full F1/ Moto GP/ WRC coverage/n ews, CLICK HERE to get to GPWeek magaz ine -

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om

LOEB’S SEVENTH HEAVEN WORLD RALLY

SEBASTIEN Loeb has secured an unprecedented seventh World Rally Championship, with victory at his home event in France last weekend.

Loeb – on tarmac, his favoured surface – had 40s up his sleeve by mid-way through the rally, and from there could cruise to top a Citroen 1-2-3 ahead of Dani Sordo and Petter Solberg. It was the 60th win of Loeb’s career, and he has now been WRC

Champion every year since 2004.

“My first world title will always remain the best for me, but this one will have a special place in my heart,” said Loeb.

“We won it after a very difficult race. It’s quite simply mind blowing to cross the finishing line in my home town, and it’s incredible to see so many people. I don’t think we’ve ever seen so many spectators at a rally.”

Citroen Racing’s team principal Oliver Quesnel was understandably impressed

by Loeb’s achievement.

“What Loeb’s achieved this weekend is quite simply exceptional,” he said.

“Nobody can image the pressure on his shoulders. But he managed to ignore it when he had to concentrate on going for the quickest times. He didn’t really need to come first in this rally to become World Champion, but the guy’s a born winner, and he couldn’t just do the necessary.

“Once again, he proved that he’s the best driver in the world.”

Chevron has all your motorsport needs covered including classic race packages, Bathurst highlights as well as in-depth documentaries. See our website today for the full range of DVD’s available.

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13

Wheldon sues – but he may be back INDYCARS DAN Wheldon is suing Panther Racing for back earnings.

His company, DW Motorsports, filed a lawsuit in

Indianapolis against Panther Racing for failure to pay him under his contract. The team owed Wheldon wages and travel expenses in excess of US$2.5m over the past two seasons.

Panther co-owner John Barnes has indicated that the situation has been resolved and is even considering Wheldon for a return next season.

– MARY MENDEZ

Brisc INDYCARS

Honda Racing

Ana Beatriz 1, Paul Tracy 0 INDYCARS ANA Beatriz returned to the #24 cockpit for the Homestead-Miami season finale, replacing the injured Mike Conway. Still on the mend, Conway came from his home in the UK to attend the final race.

“It’s good to be back,” said Conway. “It’s been too long since I’ve been there in the pit lane. It’s been a long four months. I can’t wait to get back in the car. So maybe another month or so, we’ll be back in.”

14

Perhaps competing for his seat next season, Paul Tracy watched from the Dreyer & Reinbold pits.

“I’m disappointed we’re not in the race but pretty happy with where we are for next year,” Tracy said, who was outbid for the entry by Beatriz’s sponsors. “We’ve been working on the program for next year. I’ve got some of my key sponsors back, Honda of Canada, Motegi Racing Wheels, and GEICO. So we’re looking forward to a full season next year, which would be great.”

– MARY MENDEZ

RYAN Briscoe is the only driver not signed at Penske Racing for 2011.

Helio Castroneves is continuing under his current contract and Penske wisely signed Will Power under his option clause for 2011. Power originally signed a one-year deal for 2010.

“Roger has told me if the sponsorship comes together for the third car, I’ll be driving it,” said Briscoe, who is on his way to Bathurst to drive for Bundaberg Red Racing.

“This is the team I want to be with next year.”

Penske Racing won nine events with its three drivers but Target Chip Ganassi Racing won six events with its two drivers, Dario Franchitti and Scott Dixon, including the Indy 500 and 2010 IZOD IndyCar title.

– MARY MENDEZ motorsport news

No joy for RCR appeal NASCAR SPRINT CUP

sutton-images.com

coe: No Deal Yet ... but there is for Rahal Jr FORMULA 1 GRAHAM Rahal will race fulltime in 2011 after landing a major sponsor.

The second-generation racer, who has spent much of the season on the sidelines through lack of funds, has a deal with TBC Retail Group, with includes brands Service Central, Merchants Tire, Tire

Kingdom, NTB and Big O Tires. for IndyCar competition.

The relationship developed “While this program will have when Rahal drove for Sarah tremendous customer and Fisher Racing, sponsored by employee focused elements Service Central. away from the racetrack, the “I am thrilled that TBC focal point will be on IndyCar.” Retail Group has chosen to Rahal is talking to Newman enter into this marketing Haas Racing, where he has partnership with me,” said driven for several seasons Rahal, who will have both a but there are other teams in personal service contract and discussion. multi-year title sponsorship – MARY MENDEZ

NASCAR MEWDIA

sutton-images.com

www.mnews.com.au

SOMEWHAT predictably, Richard Childress Racing has lost its appeal to reverse NASCAR’s 150point penalty on Clint Bowyer.

Bowyer and RCR were penalized after his Chevrolet failed inspection after winning in New Hampshire on September 19.

“After so many hours of, I guess you can call it whatever you want to call it, the ruling stood,” Childress told The Sporting News.

“We’re very disappointed.

We have shown proof that the wrecker knocked the back of the car up. We will appeal it, and we will take it to the next level. I’m very disappointed. Nothing unexpected with the way this thing works.”

RCR’s appeal was over their claim that the rear of the car, which was deemed too high by officials, was affected by being pushed into Victory Lane by a truck, after the car ran dry on its slow-down lap.

15

Proddies to go the distance in 2011 ...

John Morris / Mpix

I FEEL like I’m one of the few people not organising a Production Car category for next year.

In 2011, Australia will have more Production Car categories than the current level of participation suggests is necessary.

Since the demise of PROCAR, Production Car racing in this country has been, well,

struggling. Sure, you get a heap of cars rocking up to Bathurst for the 12 Hour, but that has hardly translated into bumper times for the Australian Manufacturers Championship.

Next year, somehow, we’re going to have two identicallooking championships. If the current scene is barely working, how will a second series improve the situation?

TC MASTERS

he is still racing some historic events in the US. “We have Sean McDonagh from the Boss Nationals to thank for arranging George’s visit to Australia. Personally, I think it will be interesting to see George’s reaction to our racing and to hear his thoughts on the safety and performance modifications we make to our cars.

“I know a lot of people around our paddock are very excited to meet him.”

Follmer raced Formula 1 in 1973, started three Indy 500s, and was the 1972 Can-Am champion, driving for Roger Penske.

In other TCM news, a new line of merchandise has been released just in time for Bathurst, with some funky shirt designs available for fans, pictured. Check out www. tcmmerchandise.com.au for more details.

AMERICAN racing legend George Follmer will be a special guest at this weekend’s Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000.

Follmer will be in Australia for Port Maquarie’s Boss Nationals, given his history of racing Ford Mustangs, and will be at Bathurst as a guest of the Touring Car Masters, presented by Autobarn. As well as checking out the action at the track, he will also speak at a special TCM dinner, held in his honour.

“This is a bit of a coup for the Touring Car Masters,” said Gavin Bullas, who races a Boss Mustang in the TCM. “We’re obviously very excited to have someone of George’s calibre and experience join us at Bathurst; he is one of the true heroes of the sport and a fascinating character. I believe 16

NEWS ANALYSIS with MITCHELL ADAM

With the introduction of the Australian Endurance Championship, I can’t help but feel there’ll be one too many.

Everyone likes to think they can do things better than everyone else, but I really don’t

see there being any winners in this dilution of a shallow pool.

So, to all involved, set up some meetings, talk to your competitors and work how to make one successful and viable series.

TCM gets Bathurst guest, tees

motorsport news

news

In the CAMS corner ...

PRODUCTION CARS CAMS has announced a new Australian Production Car Endurance Championship within the Australian Manufacturers Championship for 2011.

The three-round series will include six hour races at

Eastern Creek and Phillip Island, and encompass the Eastern Creek Eight Hour, which is set to be held for the first time this December.

These races will be part of the Australian Manufacturers Championship, but eligibility and technical regulations will differ from 2010 AMC. Rules

will be expanded to allow for international competitors through FIA Group N, Asian S2000 and New Zealand Production Cars, along with cars without dry-break refueling systems.

“There has been an explosion of interest in the production car categories,” Glenn Matthews,

CEO of Eastern Creek, said.

“That has led to substantial negotiations to determine the best way forward in the interests of competitors, promoters and fans.

“The support CAMS offers locally and internationally has made the three-round championship possible.”

In the AASA corner ...

PRODUCTION CARS THE Australian Endurance Championship has announced a revised 2011 calendar –including the combined road and oval course at Calder Park.

Originally, the new-for2011 Production Car category

announced a schedule with Phillip Island, Winton Motor Raceway, Queensland Raceway and Eastern Creek.

There has been a change, however, and the AASAsanctioned six-hour races will now be held at Calder Park, Winton Motor Raceway, Queensland Raceway and

Wakefield Park.

The Calder round on April 8-10 is set to be the first time the Melbourne circuit’s road and oval configuration has been used since 1987.

“There is an enormous amount of interest in the championship from five manufacturers so far and

competitors particularly like the low entry and running costs,” organiser Brian Walden said.

“There is unprecedented interest being shown in a ‘Back to the Future’ production car series, and a number of new cars are already under construction for it.”

Old faces, new looks for Bathurst V8 UTES QUEENSLAND driver Rohan Barry will join the Yokohama V8 Ute Racing Series for the remainder of the year.

Barry, who has previously raced HQs and Holden Geminis, has purchased a Falcon Ute, pictured, to be run by Big Gun Racing, alongside brotherin-law Brad Patton and Peter Burnitt. Bathurst will be Barry’s www.mnews.com.au

second V8 Ute start, having raced in the series at Mount Panorama 12 months ago.

Another returnee to the category this weekend is Adam Bressington, a regular in the series until 2005.

Bressington will race Brock Race Engineering’s Holden Ute with backing from Pedigree Petfoods, above, while Paul Morris is also expected to race a Commodore Ute. 17

MORE OF THIS (x 18) MOTOGP SPAIN will keep its four MotoGP events in 2011.

The FIM announced an 18-race calendar for the premier category and, in spite of the fact that Aragon only gained a fourth Spanish date when the event scheduled for Hungary was cancelled, it retains a 2011 fixture.

Motegi returned to its tradition April date, after having been postponed to October this year because or the Icelandic volcano, while Phillip Island is set for its traditional October date.

2011MotoGP Calendar Mar 20 April 3 April 24 May 1 May 15 June 5 June 12 June 25 July 3

Qatar Spain Japan Portugal France Catalunya Britain Holland Italy

Losail Jerez Motegi Estoril Le Mans Barcelona Silverstone Assen Mugello

July 17 July 24 Aug 14 Aug 28 Sept 4 Sept 18 Oct 16 Oct 23 Nov 6

Germany Sachsenring USA Laguna Seca Czech Republic Brno Indianapolis Indianapolis San Marino Misano Aragon Alcaniz Australia Phillip Island Malaysia Sepang Valencia Valencia

Yamaha Racing

Nori: Aprilia for PATA in 2011 WORLD SUPERBIKE AS expected, Noriyuki Haga will race on an Aprilia next season.

The Samurai of Slide will race an Aprilia RSV4R for the PATA Racing Team, which is a merger between the DFX Corse 18

and Marco Borciani teams. The team will have its headquarters in Pressana Italy.

“I’m really pleased to be able to announce the birth of this new collaboration and to return to working with Marco Borciani, who will take on the role of team manager,” said

Daniele Carli, team principal of DFX (which ran Lorenzo Lanzi on a Ducati in 2010).

“We’ve got a factory-standard bike, and to ride it we wanted a rider whose qualities were undeniable – Noriyuki Haga, who has written important chapters in the history of World

Superbikes. I would like to thank Ducati for everything they have done for us over the last few seasons in which we have worked together, and achieved strong results.”

Haga, now 35, has won 43 World Superbike races, and is a three-time WSBK runner-up. motorsport news

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Issue No. 172 September 14 - 20 2010

Signature: __________________________________________________________ The Italian Grand Prix might have been frustrating, but Mark Webber is back to being the ...

WORLD LEADER STILL GOT IT!

Lowndes and Skaife combine to win epic Island 500

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BRIEFLY n Australian Rotax importer IKD has confirmed its 2011 calendar of events, with the Rotax Pro Tour expanding to five events in the New Year.

The Rotax Nationals will be held in Victoria next year and have been awarded to the Geelong Club across the weekend of September 1-4.

The Pro Tour events feature fewer classes, therefore more laps and are the major way that competitors can go about qualifying for a place on Team Australia at the Rotax Max World Finals.

The events are as follows: 22-24 January – Todd Road, Victoria; 19-20 March – Dubbo, NSW; 30 April-1 May – Port Macquarie, NSW; 2224 July – Ipswich, Qld and 2930 October – Canberra, ACT. n The Queensland Closed

State Titles held at Warwick recently saw wins go the way of Brock Owen (Midgets), Cian Forthergill (Clubman Light), Lucas Ward (Junior MAX & Junior Clubman), Joshua Smith (Junior National Heavy), Richard Dimmock (Senior National Light), Nigel Ward (Clubman Over-40s), Brendan Nelson (Rotax Heavy & Clubman Heavy), Scott Sorenson (Rotax Light), Lachlan McHugh (Junior National Light), Luke Caputo (Senior National Heavy), Patrick Mather (Leopard Heavy) and Cody Cidoni (Rookies). n 25-year-old Lloyd deBoltz-Miller has set a new world record for the distance covered by a single driver in 24 hours at the Whilton Mill Circuit in Northamptonshire in the UK. Despite rain falling midway through the night, de Boltz-Miller eclipsed the previous mark by over 130km. In total, he covered 1,289.12km aboard his Tony Kart EVR

– MATT PAYNE

20

DOUBLE DARSEY KARTING

DARSEY Kondopirakis, David Sera and Joseph Mawson have walked away with two state titles each after the New South Wales State Titles yesterday in Tamworth.

Kondopirakis took a clean sweep of the Senior National categories – defeating Matthew Waters and Luke Caputo in damp conditions in Light, whilst he bested Nicholas Ellen and Darren Harris in Heavy.

Sera continued to add to his scrapbook, taking his state title count to a mega 38. He had an early battle with current National Champion (and cousin) James Sera in Clubman Light, before he was able to pull away, the elder Sera falling into the clutches of Chris Hays and Thomas Phillips, who filled the podium. Victorian young gun, Jordie Ford also snuck past Sera for fourth.

In Rotax Light, the Sera v Josh DeMaio v Tyler Greenbury battle resumed. But, the National Champion couldn’t be denied. Adding an x-factor to the battle was the inclusion of former Junior star James

Macken, who was in the thick of it, colliding with DeMaio.

DeMaio recovered for second, with Greenbury third and Macken an outstanding fourth on senior debut.

Mawson asserted himself as one of the best Juniors in the country, avenging his recent defeat in Rotax Junior MAX at the National Titles, defeating rival Pierce Lehane for the blue plate. Lehane was involved in an early race scuffle but fought back to second. Third was Macauley Jones who survived a race long battle with Canberran, Michael Stewart.

The young Sydney-sider showed a great deal of class in Junior Clubman, resisting the wet track on slick tyres to take

another state title, this time ahead of South Aussie Todd Hazelwood.

Hazelwood was unlucky not to join the double winner’s list himself, after earlier in the day taking out Junior National Heavy. He beat home Queenslanders, Brock Plumb and Ethan O’Farrell.

Jason Hryniuk won Clubman Heavy, Jayden Ojeda won Rookies, Lee Mitchener won Leopard Heavy, while Cian Fothergill took out Light.

Queenslander, Brendan Nelson won Rotax Heavy, Trent Grubel took out Junior National Light and Ben McKinlay was too good in Clubman Super Heavy.

– MATT PAYNE

LECOCQ IS LEBEST KARTING JASON LeCocq walked away with a double from the KTEQ Rentals West Australian State Championships yesterday, being the best performed junior, winning both Junior Clubman and Junior National Heavy.

He finished the Junior National class a kart length clear of Brodie Kostecki and Nicholas Rowe.

Whilst Jake Klarich fell just short in Junior Clubman, he took home the blue plate in Junior National Light. With a stacked field, Clubman Heavy was always going to be one to keep an eye on, the top 12 nose-to-tail. A collision at over 100kph saw multiple champion Kip Foster wildly flip out of contention, allowing Adam Levi to take

the win from Matt Elsdon and veteran Remo Luciani.

Although he couldn’t make it 52 State Titles, Luciani did walk away with his 51st, winning Clubman Over 40s, no doubt gaining valuable knowledge ahead of the Nationals there in 2011.

Daniel Curry won the ‘Open’ Class, Deepal Kandola the Leopard Light Class. Nick Mitic (Midgets), BD Soutar Dawson (Clubman Light), Tyler Morrison (Rookies), Brendan Shugg (Senior National Light), Lloyd Nicholson (Senior National Heavy), Dean Whitmore (Rotax Light), Blake Mills (Rotax Heavy), Lee Foster (Clubman Super Heavy) and Brad Fitch (Leopard Heavy) were other winners on the day.

– MATT PAYNE motorsport news

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LADBROOK STEPS UP DRAG RACING

RUSSELL Ladbrook has shifted his racing to a higher speed with the move into Supercharged Outlaws with a new Funny Car. Ladbrook is no stranger to high performance cars and motors, having raced and built engines for the category.

Though he originally had plans for a sedan, Ladbrook decided to go straight into the Funny Car.

Ladbrook also purchased a motor from the USA but said he was unfortunately sold one that did not meet the description.

However, he has since sourced a Keith Black V8 locally, which has been teamed up with a Littlefield supercharger to produce some big horsepower figures.

Ladbrook had the opportunity to drive the car for the first time several weeks ago in a private test day at Perth Motorplex. He said that was the

moment that all the expense made sense.

“All that money had just gone out of the window, but it was 110% worth it,” he said.

“I’ve had this notion in my head that if it scares me I would sell it, but the car goes dead straight.”

Ladbrook stuck to launches in the licensing procedure, with all going fairly to plan besides pulling the wrong levers and accidentally shutting off the fuel on one pass.

The engine has been developed with enough potential to eventually run some low six-second passes.

Ladbrook has been getting advice from long time drag racer Grant O’Rourke, who performed a lot of work on the car, and Stuart Rowland, crew chief on Robin Judd’s Top Doorslammer, as he comes to grips.

“It is a totally different car and style to drive, so different to a normal sedan,” he said.

Matheson gets on the board early DRAG RACING

John Morris / Mpix

REIGNING Top Bike champion Chris Matheson opened the new ANDRA Pro Series season with a win at the Fuchs Australian Nationals, dominating across the board.

The Nitro Voodoo team top qualified, set low ET at 6.111s, top speed at 216.65 mph, won the meeting and set a new track record in the process.

“We were keen to hit the ground running, as we did last year in Round 1, winning at Willowbank in the team’s debut,” crew chief Roger Bloor said.

“The track was challenging and threw up curve balls as

we struggled for traction.”

The first pass ended up becoming a top-qualifying pass as Matheson struggled in the remaining qualifiers.

He was lucky to survive the first elimination, crossing the centre line at the finish line, as the bike snaked its way down a challenging track.

Fortunately, fellow competitor Phil Parker had not staged.

“The team excelled, providing me with a quick, reliable bike, I simply pulled the trigger and did my best to steer it down the lane,” Matheson said.

Matheson said he could not wait to head to Perth for the next round of the championship in December.

ANDRA Pro Series news i

22

motorsport news

news

GP sets new PB DRAG RACING QUEENSLAND Top Doorslammer driver Gary Phillips started his year off with a personal best 5.93s time in his Lucas Oils Top Doorslammer but was left to rue a missed opportunity in the semi finals of the Fuchs

Nationals.

He got off the throttle after some tyre shake and did not get back on, expecting to see his opponent Maurice Fabietti run away for the win. Fabietti had his own problems at halftrack, but Phillips was helpless to do anything about it.

“I think that was the first time

in all my years of racing I’ve got off the gas and didn’t get back on when I should have,” he said.

Phillips also races in Top Alcohol but went out in the first round when he crossed the centre line, resulting in disqualification.

“The track only had a small window to get the set up

exactly right and we had it sorted better than most at the start of the event, but it caught us by surprise as the days went on,” he said.

“But at the start of the season, the main thing is that both the cars are in one piece and the engines look in perfect condition.”

John Morris / Mpix

New Pro Stock team debuts DRAG RACING CON Sideris has officially launched the new PRE/ Goldfingers Pro Stock team, which saw its first outing at the recent Fuchs Nationals in Sydney.

Andrew Stavroulakis, who

has had a 10-year relationship with PRE through his own outfit, has committed to be the driver for the new team. He is no stranger to good performances, having set benchmarks for the category in the past.

“I am keen to build on this past success with this new

is proudly presented by:

team. We have an experienced crew that knows how to win,” he said.

New car blues held the team’s Dodge Stratus back somewhat but Sideris says they were minor.

“Some rigorous testing in the next two months will definitely

iron out the bugs. It has shown us it has plenty of potential in these early stages of testing with the next evolution of this motor,” he said.

“I’ve always approached my racing with the will to win and be successful and this team will prove to do just that.”

Next ANDRA Pro Series Round:

Top Fuel & Top Alcohol Sydney Dragway, October 30-31 ANDRA Pro Series on TV: Top Alcohol, Fuchs Nationals Friday October 15, 10pm

www.mnews.com.au

23

Five Minutes with ...

GARTH TANDER

Back in 1990, the Holden Racing Team sprung a Bathurst surprise by winning the Great Race. And Tander told ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN that may do it again in 2010 ...

MOTORSPORT NEWS: Firstly, what are your thoughts on how the new livery looks, and the concept as a whole of harking back to 1990?

GARTH TANDER: When I first heard about the concept, I thought it was awesome. I really wanted to help make it happen.

Firstly we had to speak to all of our sponsors and make sure they were happy, because they are used to the look we’ve been running all year. But they all jumped on board straight away, and here we are.

The car looks fantastic, and it will look really good on-track. I think it is a very authentic representation of 1990.

We’ve got to look after our sponsors, but with the suits and the team gear and the cars, the team’s done a really, really good job.

Back in 1990, it was surprise win for HRT at Bathurst. That’s another similarity with this year, because you guys won’t start as favourites. Can HRT do it again, and spring a surprise at Bathurst?

Look, I think we’ll surprise a few of the socalled experts in the industry that have written us off. There’s no reason why we can’t do that.

Obviously, Phillip Island wasn’t what we’d hoped for results-wise, but you put that behind you, and we’ve done a lot of work since then. We’ve also got a lot of history at Bathurst as far as set-ups go.

The car will be very fast, and we wouldn’t be bullish about our chances if we didn’t believe it. I’m very confident our car will be strong.

There’s no doubting that the race will be hard. There are some very strong combinations, and the Triple Eight cars will be fast, because they always are.

But I thought last year we were quicker than the Triple Eight cars. They had an advantage with fuel economy, but our actual pace was better, and I don’t see any reason for that to change this year.

Is Bathurst the sort of race where history and experience really count, more so than the other races on the calendar?

24

Yeah I think it does. I was very fortunate to win my first Bathurst on my third start, and I didn’t really appreciate what it took to win that race. Having been back so many times since, prior to last year, with better car, team and driver combinations – at least on paper – and not get a result, it makes you understand how hard it is.

Having Cam [McConville] in the car with me is certainly a boost. As soon as Cam announced he would stop racing full-time, it was a no-brainer. He finished second at Bathurst last year, and he was the only driver who could run with Will and our car in the wet last year, and he has a huge amount of experience. We’ve driven together in the past, and we were looking like we were going to drag a result out of a Garry Rogers Motorsport car that wasn’t too speedy back in 2004, before we got taken out of the race. So one of our strengths will be out experience.

And it’s not like we’re a couple of old veterans relying on experience, either. I think we’re fast enough.

Is the Grand Slam on your mind at all?

No, it’s not. I’d actually forgotten about it, to be honest, because Clipsal was a long time ago.

There are four hard races to win. Clipsal is hard in its own right, Bathurst is obviously hard, the Gold Coast, well, we don’t know how that will be, and we learnt last year that Homebush is really, really tough. When [V8 Supercars Australia] put this package together, I think they figured their money was pretty safe, so it’s not on my mind. You don’t need $2 million worth of motivation to win Bathurst.

In saying that, if we do win Bathurst, then we’ll start looking at it.

Finally, are you playing for the Gold Coast Suns next season?

(Laughs) Well I don’t know? I six-foot-three and reasonably athletic. They seem to be hiring a lot of people at the moment, so I might get a run. They’re giving Karmichael Hunt a run, so if he can get a start, then anyone can! motorsport news

chat

www.mnews.com.au

25

OPINION Mitchell Adam – National Editor

T

HE Toll Holden Racing Team could well feel a little aggrieved by Gary Ablett. Admittedly, he hasn’t left them to take up a big-dollar deal in the North, but he did impact on last week’s launch of their 20th Anniversary Bathurst livery.

A fortnight ago, a launch in Melbourne on Wednesday September 29 would’ve looked swell. It was just after the AFL Grand Final, before the Commonwealth Games and nicely positioned in the Bathurst build-up to have an impact with the mainstream media. Sometimes, though,

26

things just don’t go your way.

First, there was the drawn AFL Grand Final, which has added another big week of pre-Grand Final coverage.

Then, on Tuesday, the AFL was out of control. In the morning, golden child James Hird confirmed he was going back to Essendon to be their new coach, as rumours swirled that Geelong’s dual premiership coach Mark Thompson would walk out and join Hird’s coaching panel, before eventually announcing he was burnt out and needed time away.

In the meantime, Ablett’s

probable defection to the Gold Coast still loomed large. The story has engulfed Melbourne all year. Will he go? Will he stay? Has he already made a decision?

Even on Tuesday night, it looked like Friday would be the day of Ablett’s announcement. But it ended up being Wednesday, instantly becoming the day’s biggest story and eating up a dominant chunk of the day’s media activity.

In Melbourne, motorsport coverage often depends on ‘what happens with footy’. Let alone when the best player in the comp announces he’s switching teams ... Sure, the HRT livery wasn’t going to land on the front page of a daily paper, but big AFL stories have a flow-down impact, eating space other sports may have

achieved.

PR launches are meticulously planned. Schedules for all manner of things are analysed, but sometimes, bad luck comes along to crush your hopes and dreams. HRT’s launch still got a run on a couple of news broadcasts that night, but on the whole, they were pretty unlucky. There was nothing wrong with their planning and the brilliant execution of the retro livery (right down team uniform belts) probably deserved a little more attention than it got.

The irony of this whole situation, though, is that V8 Supercars’ nine-week break was pretty quiet in terms of big sporting news. Then, in the lead-up the biggest V8 Supercar race of the year, the footy world went right off the hook.

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INALLY, a team has done a retro livery and done it properly.

Across the page from this column is a piece from Mitchell Adam regarding the trials and tribulations of public relations. But despite Garry Ablett spoiling the PR party for Holden, this ‘Back to 1990’ concept is a fantastic idea.

Firstly, think of the merchandising. No selfrespecting Holden fan will want to forego the chance to own some of the retro merch that the team will offer for sale at Mount Panorama.

Secondly, anything that can detract from the horror year that the Holden Racing Team is having is worth its weight in gold. If it wasn’t for the retro

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livery launch, the only preBathurst column space HRT would get would probably involve the sentence ‘enjoying having the Peter Brock Trophy, because it won’t be yours for long’. Instead, the team has given us, and the rest of the media, something else to focus on, as well as rousing memories of that famous race 20 years ago, when HRT took on the much-favoured Sierras and Nissans and came out on top. Brilliant.

The third thing that I love about this concept is that it’s been perfectly executed. On the way to the launch last Wednesday morning I was praying that it wouldn’t be a tacky bonnet decal. Nope, this is the real deal. A whole new car livery (which is difficult

OPINION Andrew van Leeuwen – eNews Editor with a V8 Supercar, because you need splitters etc, plus spares, painted in the new colours), new driving suits, new crew shirts (complete with belt buckles and white shoes) – all with an old feel.

The detail goes right down to the driver’s names appearing on the front guard, which apparently was Will Davison’s bright idea. Nice work, Wilbur.

In this modern, PRconscious world, it would have been so predictable if the idea had been thrown

out at management level, or if a sponsor had kicked up a stink about moving away from the corporate identity or some useless jargon like that. Instead, a daring idea has been embraced by a group of people, including sponsors, management, team personnel and drivers, to make something wonderful.

Congratulations, Toll Holden Racing Team. You probably won’t win Bathurst, but you’ve certainly won the race for new innovation in our sport. Even if it does look old.

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SPECIAL FEATURE 2010 BATHURST 1000

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HERE WE GO AGAIN!

Guess what, readers? It’s Bathurst week! ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN previews this year’s edition of The Great Race

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SPECIAL FEATURE 2010 BATHURST 1000

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ELL here we are again, previewing the biggest race in Australian motorsport. As I type this, just days from heading to Bathurst, I’m willing to admit that I’m a little excited ...

Now, if you want a full, in-depth preview of the 2010 Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000, then check out issue #400 of Motorsport News, in newsagents now. This will be like the McDonald’s version of our preview; fast, convenient, and delicious in a very guilty way.

In the longer version of the preview, we took some of the key factors heading into this year’s race, and round-tabled them amongst the staff here at MNews, and our expert columnist Paul Cruickshank. Here are a few of the conclusions we were able to draw.

Firstly, the favourites – TeamVodafone – are in very good shape. If not for a dodgy 30

T

T splitter , they would have scored a rare enduro 1-2 at Phillip Island. It could happen at Bathurst, with Steve Owen proving at PI that he is well and truly capable of backing up Jamie Whincup, and the Lowndes/Skaife combo being as wily as ever.

Secondly, 27 laps is the magic number.

Six stints of 27 laps will take you to the end, and two stints will satisfy the codriver minimum. That’s the number fuel economists will be watching.

Next up, don’t expect much from the Holden Racing Team. At Phillip Island, their best lap was almost a second slower than what they did in 2009 on their way to winning the race. Their new paint looks cool, but don’t expect much in terms of results.

Stone Brothers Racing might be in with a chance with car #9 if the weather turns late in the race, and Jason Richards and

Andy Jones were fast at Phillip Island, so they may just be a dark horse.

As for James Courtney, he’s showing all the signs of having the luck of a champion, but he and Warren Luff seemed the lack the last bit of car speed at The Island. JC does love Bathurst, though ...

The Kellys have let themselves down with co-driver choices. They could have snared an enduro win on car speed this year, but were caught napping by the new co-driver rules.

The opposite goes for Ford Performance Racing. Luke Youlden and Dean Canto looked sublime at Phillip Island, and it seems that FPR have developed their best enduro package yet (read what Frosty has written for us on this page).

So there are a few things to keep an eye on. But remember, this is Bathurst, and anything could happen. See you at The Mountain! motorsport news

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THE BLUE CORNER W

WITH MARK WINTERBOTTOM

E’RE going to have good speed at Bathurst. Speed is important, but you need to tie in it with reliability, and we’ve had good reliability all year.

Strategy is also important, and we’re looking good in that area too. The team has done a lot of work on that, and Phillip Island proved that we can diversify our strategy a bit, and it can really work out.

So the key factors are speed, reliability, and pitting at the right time to be in the right position. We’ve done that well all year. They are three strengths for us.

Luke [Youlden] did a great job at Phillip Island as well, so I think we’re in the best shape going up there that we’ve ever been.

But, this is Bathurst, and nothing is guaranteed. There are so many other factors that come into it, like weather and pure luck. There are things that we can’t control – unknowns – but the things we can control we’ve done well with.

At Bathurst, I’ve always had a car that’s been very quick. I’ve led a lot of endurance races, and I haven’t been out of the Top 3 on the grid at Bathurst in the

THE RED CORNER T

WITH JASON RICHARDS

HE key factor at Bathurst is luck, to be honest.

We have all the things we can control covered; efficiency, team-work, tyre life, strategy – we’ve proven all of that. It’s just the one thing you can’t predict – luck.

There are so many random things can that determine the outcome at Bathurst.

Even passing back-markers can bite you.

Look at 2008; when Greg Murphy and Craig Lowndes came together it bent out steering, and then we hit the sister car and it made it straight again. What a laugh! On another day, it might have taken us out of the race. Then there’s Safety Cars and fuel windows opening up at the right time. Maybe the tyres just fall apart? There are so many aspects, beyond your own control, that can ruin your race.

As for car speed, we had a change in

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last few years. But we’ve never survived the distance as well as we did at Phillip Island this year. The way I can drive our car over the distance at the moment is much nicer. Basically, I don’t need to drive it as hard, which means that I’m not burning the equipment and tyres early. It gives me a chance to pounce late, so we’ve improved that area. It’s purely about how we’ve set the car up.

At Bathurst, the track grips is quite good, so tyre life towards the end of a stint isn’t as bad as it is at somewhere like Phillip Island, so we’ll probably go back to being a little bit more aggressive.

The car at the moment is easy to drive, even if it isn’t as ultimately quick as what we’ve had in the past. But I’m not working as hard in the car, so there are less mistakes, and we can be there at the end.

We’ve had pretty good fuel economy as well, and there were guys at Phillip Island that had a lot of power, but not as good a fuel economy. However, at Bathurst, if you pit with 25 laps to go and you have speed, you’ll beat a guy with fuel economy. Speed is the ultimate winner if you can be in the right position at the end of the race.

set-up philosophy before Darwin, and at Darwin, Townsville and Phillip Island, we’ve had amazing car speed. The car has always been in the Top 10. One of our team guys did a form guide for the last five races – not meetings, races – and we’d be fourth in the championship.

It looks strong.

Andy [Jones] was excellent at Phillip Island. He was in a tough position, because we needed to get a lap back, and he was the man that made it happen. Steve Owen was seen as the best co-driver at Phillip Island, but I think Andy’s performance was equal. He might not have had the speed that Steve had, but when it came to the race ... a lot of the co-drivers had good one-lap speed, but weren’t as quick when it came to the race. Race pace is crucial at Bathurst, because the co-drivers don’t the do the qualifying, they just do racing.

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SPECIAL FEATURE 2010 BATHURST 1000

EXPERT TIPS 1st Chris Lambden – eNews Publisher: #5 Phil Branagan – Executive Editor: #1 Andrew van Leeuwen – eNews Editor: #5 Mitchell Adam – National Editor: #888

2nd 3rd Outsider #1 #888 #33 #5 #9 #55 #888 #18 #8 #1 #5 #51

2010 SUPERCHEAP AUTO BATHURST 1000 ENTRY LIST 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 14 15 16 17 18 19 21 22 24 27 30 33 34 39 44 47 51 55 888 32

Jamie Whincup/Steve Owen Garth Tander/Cameron McConville Tony D’Alberto/Shane Price Alex Davison/David Brabham Mark Winterbottom/Luke Youlden Steve Richards/James Moffat Todd Kelly/Dale Wood Jason Richards/Andrew Jones Shane van Gisbergen/John McIntyre Andrew Thompson/Ryan Briscoe Jason Bargwanna/Glenn Seton Dean Fiore/Michael Patrizi Jason Bright/Matt Halliday Rick Kelly/Owen Kelly Tony Ricciardello/Taz Douglas Steve Johnson/Marcus Marshall James Courtney/Warren Luff Jonathon Webb/David Russell Karl Reindler/David Wall Will Davison/David Reynolds Fabian Coulthard/Craig Baird Damian Assaillit/Ant Pedersen Mark Noske/Nathan Pretty Lee Holdsworth/David Besnard Michael Caruso/Greg Ritter Russell Ingall/Paul Morris Geoff Emery/Rod Salmon Tim Slade/Jack Perkins Greg Murphy/Tim Blanchard Paul Dumbrell/Dean Canto Craig Lowndes/Mark Skaife

TeamVodafone Commodore VE Toll HRT Commodore Centaur Racing Commodore VE Irwin Racing Falcon FG FPR Falcon FG FPR Falcon FG Jack Daniel’s Racing Commodore VE Team BOC Commodore VE SP Tools Racing Falcon FG Bundy Red Racing Commodore VE Rock Racing Commodore VE Triple F Racing Falcon FG Trading Post Commodore VE Jack Daniel’s Racing Commodore VE Stratco Racing Commodore VE Jim Beam Racing Falcon FG Jim Beam Racing Falcon FG Dick Johnson Racing Falcon FG Brad Jones Racing Commodore VE Toll HRT Commodore VE Bundy Red Racing Commodore VE Fujitsu Racing Falcon BF Gulf Western Oils Commodore VE Fujitsu Racing/GRM Commodore VE Fujitsu Racing/GRM Commodore VE Supercheap Auto Racing Commodore VE Greg Murphy Racing Commodore VE Wilson Security Racing Falcon FG Castrol Edge Commodore VE The Bottle-O Racing Falcon FG TeamVodafone Commodore VE motorsport news

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SCHEDULE Thursday Thursday Thursday Friday Friday Friday Saturday Saturday Sunday Sunday

Practice 1 Practice 2 Practice 3 Practice 4 Practice 5 Qualifying Practice 6 Top 10 Warm Up Race

10:15-11:05 12:30-13:15 14:40-15:30 09:30-10:20 10:55-11:40 14:35-15:15 10:00-10:50 15:45-16:30 08:00-08:20 10:30-17:45

BETTING ODDS #888 #1 #18 #2 #5 #8 #15 #51 #9 #17 #33 #22 #11 #39 #55 #6 #7 #14 #34 #24 #47 #10 #19 #4 #12 #3 #16 #30 #21

Lowndes/Skaife Whincup/Owen Courtney/Luff Tander/McConville Winterbottom/Youlden Richards/Jones Kelly/Kelly Murphy/Simonsen van Gisbergen/McIntyre Johnson/Marshall Holdsworth/Besnard Davison/Reynolds Bargwanna/Seton Ingall/Morris Dumbrell/Canto Richards/Moffat Kelly/Wood Bright/Halliday Caruso/Ritter Coulthard/Baird Slade/Perkins Thompson/Briscoe Webb/Russell Davison/Brabham Fiore/Patrizi D’Alberto/Price Ricciardello/Douglas Noske/Pretty Reindler/Wall

$2.75 $3.50 $8.00 $8.00 $9.00 $13.00 $15.00 $17.00 $21.00 $26.00 $34.00 $41.00 $51.00 $51.00 $51.00 $51.00 $51.00 $67.00 $67.00 $81.00 $81.00 $151.00 $151.00 $151.00 $301.00 $751.00 $1001.00 $1001.00 $1501.00

Odds courtesy of www.tab.com.au. Correct as of October 1, 2010, and subject to change. www.mnews.com.au

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Advertising Feature

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KOREA AWAITS As Formula 1’s Big Five drivers prepare for a showdown, hundreds of workers are finishing off the brand new circuit that could decide the World Champion

Y

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OU are never going to get a better chance to see and Australian driver contend for a World Championship than you will later this month.

Mark Webber will race in Japan this weekend, taking an 11-point lead in the World Drivers’ Championship to Suzuka – a track with fast sweeps and high-speed changes of direction that should suit his Red Bull right down to the ground. The Japanese race is expected to attract a huge crowd, to see the five drivers in title contention battle it out on a track steeped in Formula 1 history.

Two weeks later, Korea will offer something completely different. The all-new circuit at Yeongam will see drivers and teams leap into the unknown, and there is a great opportunity to go there to see for yourself. Completion of the circuit is running behind schedule and because of that, so are ticket sales. Event promoters do not expect the maiden event to be anywhere near a sell-out, so there is a chance that visitors can still get good deals on great seats at the race.

“This is the first race, a brand new race,” F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone told The Korea Herald. “People are reading complete rubbish in papers that it is not going to happen, so I don’t estimate a big, big crowd.”

Event organisers have already placed a seven percent discount on all ticket sales, and there are expected to be further deals available in the buildup to the event.

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Formula 1’s Brave New W

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Korea Herald.

“We waited for an obvious reason, because the weather’s been bad. So we waited. The Federation seems very happy with what’s happened, with everything that will happen.”

There are good reasons why. Korea has one of the world’s strongest economies; it is currently ranked as the 15th biggest in the world, two places behind Australia. But in terms of international visitors, it ranks in the mid-30s. On both fronts, there are clear plans to see the nation rise up the ladder in the coming decade.

“F1 is a world championship,” Ecclestone told The Korea Herald. “We want to have the major economies in the world.

I think Korea is, and can be an even more major economy in the future.”

This year’s race will be the 17th in a 19-race seasons, and the first in a seven-year deal, with an option to host the race for a further five years.

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FORMULA 1 will strike new ground, quite literally, later this month, with the first Korean Formula 1 Grand Prix.

Subject to the approval of inspectors from the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile, who are due to visit the circuit on October 11, the Korea Auto Valley Operation (KAVO) will host the maiden event at the new circuit at Yeongam, 320 kilometres south of Seoul. The track, which is a joint venture between a private firm and the provincial government, has been constructed on reclaimed land by KAVO, and it is not secret that some, including F1 team principals, have expressed doubts about the facility’s readiness. eNews’s information is that last week, the track was a worksite for hundreds of workers, hard at it, getting the 5.6km circuit complete for the inspection. This comes a month after the track was driven on by and F1 car for the first time, with Karun Chandhok deputising in a Red Bull.

“I think they will get it done,” Red Bull Racing boss Christian Horner told Reuters. “We were down there a few weeks ago, we drove a car around the circuit. It didn’t have its final layer of tarmac but I think those guys are pretty committed and will get it done.”

The reason for the delay in the inspection – which is normally mandated at 90 days before the event, a rule that has been overlooked on this occasion – has been that weather has forced organisers to delay the finishing touches for the circuit.

“We’re happy with the circuit at the moment,” Formula One commercial-rights holder Bernie Ecclestone told The

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World

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Seoul Man: The Renault F1 Team shook the streets of the South Korean capital last weekend, with a spectacular demonstration of power. Test driver Jérôme D’Ambrosio drove last year’s Renault R29 around a 500m circuit along Se Jong Road in central Seoul.

Last month it was Karun Chandhok who baptised the new Yeongam track, which is still being prepared for the Grand Prix on 24 October.

If they ever decide to conduct the GP at night, the place will really look a picture ...

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Korea: Webber country?

EXCLUSIVE: Webber’s view on the new Yeongam track “It’s got one of the longest straights of any track on the calendar. Once you get out of Turn 2, it has a very long straight – and at the end of that there is a tight, secondgear right-hander. That basically takes care of the first sector.

“Sector 2 and 3 are going to be very, very busy. There are a lot of medium and high-speed corners, and they flow into each other. There are different types as well; corners with a fast entry that tighten as you get into them, and then there is an opening radius corner straight after that. There is a little bit of topography as well, there are some climbs and

some blind corner entries as well. It has a bit of everything.

“One of the corners is quite a unique one. It has a bit of a street circuit feel, and it comes around to put you in a quick left-hand kind to finish the lap.”

Webber draws comparisons with two other tracks on the F1 schedule.

“It is a little bit of Malaysia in places, but it also has some Valencia in it. There are some pretty good spots, and I don’t think that it is as wide as Malaysia.

“It will suit the Red Bull.

Sector 2 and 3 will not see many going quicker that our car through there, I wouldn’t think.”

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HOW do you preview a track on which no cars have ever raced?

You leap into a Formula 1 team’s simulator, kickstart the PC and get busy. A hundred or so laps later, you should have some ideas on where the track goes.

We don’t have the keys to any of the teams’ simulators – so we asked Mark Webber. The World Drivers’ Championship points leader has done hundreds of laps around the track in Red Bull Racing’s simulator, and he has a decent handle on the Yeongam circuit.

“I think that the lap time will be between 1m35 and 1m40s,” he told eNews.

Get behind Webber!

Click here for ticket information

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39

INDYCAR SERIES ROUND 17, MIAMI

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race

MIAMI VICE

Will Power went into the IndyCar decider in contention for the title, but in the end, Dario Franchitti left with the prize

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Good job, Boy! Dario gets a hug from his boss, Chip Ganassi, above, while Will Power’s car was on the trolley jacks before the race was finished, right.

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HERE is no mistaking that momentum can be a deciding factor in motor racing. Dario Franchitti had momentum coming to the final race of the IndyCar season, and Will Power didn’t.

The Scot needed pole position and the point for leading the most laps to ensure that he would put the matter beyond Power’s reach. He achieved both those factors, dominating the early going from his Ganassi team-mate Scott Dixon, who took the role of wing man to protect Franchitti from attack from the rear.

Power ran as low as ninth in the first half of the race, before he gained ground to, briefly, look a threat by the mid-race point. But just as it looked like there was to be an ultimate showdown, the Queenslander ran wide, brushed a wall and soon, was headed to pitlane for repairs. The Penske team returned him to the action but it was soon obvious to the man behind the wheel that not all was well with his Dallara-Honda. Power parked and, with the title in the bag, Franchitti backed off, pitted for safety-first top-up and cruised the final stages of the race to finish eighth.

“I do believe the competition level in the series is going up,” said Franchitti, after his third title in four years. “For whatever reason, we at Team Target both Scott and myself maybe didn’t have the speed advantage we had last year. In some cases, we have to work harder to finish in the top five at races. So to come away with a championship after a season like that is very satisfying.”

It was a philosophical Power who spoke after the race.

“Obviously, I’m very disappointed with the outcome,” he said after his first DNF of the season.

“I really wanted to win this championship. It was at a point in the race where I felt I really www.mnews.com.au

Apprently Scott Dixon won the race ...

had to push because Dario had led the most laps and was leading the race.”

Oh yes, the race. Scott Dixon won it, from Danica Patrick.

Andretti Autosport looked stronger in Florida than it had for much of the year but it was Tony Kanaan who carried the torch, until Patrick rushed up to his rear wing, and passed him with a lap to go.

Ryan Briscoe took fourth place, just over a second behind Kanaan, and Helio

Castroneves finished fifth, two places that would have given Power the title, had the Penske team been able to put their cars in the ‘correct’ order.

But Power declined to focus on his woes in the worst race of his season.

“The championship is won over 17 races, not one. This has been the best season of my career in motorsport and I’ve learned so much. We’ll be coming back to win this thing next year.”

The signs are that the competition has evened out, and that there is much to look for in IndyCar racing in 2011.

First though, we get to see the best of the series’ racers duke it out on the streets of Surfers Paradise, in V8 Supercars. The top five drivers in the championship will be in Queensland later this month.

Dario may rule on ovals but this race will be on the streets.

And we all know who rules on street courses, don’t we?

Final Points: Franchitti 602, Power 597, Dixon 547, Castroneves 531, Briscoe 482, Kanaan 453, Hunter-Reay 445, Andretti 392, Wheldon 388, Patrick 367.

Results :: Cafes do Brasil Indy 300, Miami Pos 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

# 9 7 11 6 3 14 26 10 4 02

Driver NAT. Scott Dixon NZ Danica Patrick USA Tony Kanaan Br Ryan Briscoe Aus Helio Castroneves Br Vitor Meira Br Marco Andretti USA Dario Franchitti GB Dan Wheldon GB Graham Rahal USA

Team Time Ganassi 1:52:08.5580s Andretti +2.7587s Andretti +2.7698s Team Penske +3.7827s Team Penske +5.3324s A.J Foyt +7.2126s Andretti +8.3637s Ganassi +11.1401s Panther +22.2521s Newman/Haas 199 laps

Qual 2 11 8 4 10 21 16 1 5 18 43

NASCAR Round 29 – KANSAS, KS

DAYLIGHT SECOND Greg Biffle smashed the opposition in Kansas – but Jimmie Johnson was an ominous second, and will take the points lead home to California this weekend

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REG Biffle needed a win at Kansas if he was going to factor in The Chase for the Sprint Cup. And boy, did he get what the Doctor ordered.

After qualifying fifth, the Ford driver was simply untouchable and streeted the opposition, winning by seven seconds. He took over the lead with 29 laps remaining and was untroubled in taking his 16th career Cup victory.

That was the good news for Ford and Biffle fans. The bad, for Biffle and everyone else, was that second was Jimmie Johnson – who heads home to California’s Auto Club Speedway with the points lead and a fifth consecutive title in his crosshairs.

“It was a great day for us,” Biffle said. “The car ran flawless. [Crew chief Greg] Erwin just made great calls in the pits, and the

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car just kept getting better and better and better. I was too loose for about the first three-quarters of the race.

“I didn’t want to adjust on it, because I was running in the top three, but they tightened it up, and off it went, man. All it needed was a little bit of wedge in it to take off.”

It was a remarkable race for Chase contenders. Seven of the 12 men who are eligible to win the 2010 title filled the top placings, with Kevin Harvick third ahead of Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon, Carl Edwards and Matt Kenseth.

Where is everyone?

Biffle smashed the opposition in Kansas, taking his 16th career win and putting himself, and Ford, right back in the battle to win the Sprint Cup.

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Fprd Racing

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Denny Hamlin, who brought a points lead to Kansas, finished 12th and, in doing so, conceded an eight-point lead to Johnson.

There was plenty of action on the track, and some of it involved David Reutimann and Kyle Busch. On lap 51, Busch (who took a record 10th Nationwide win on Saturday) tapped Reutimann into a spin, sending the Waltrip Toyota into the pits. It took 100 laps for the car to get readied and Reutimann got his revenge, launching into Busch’s left rear. As a result, Busch finished 21st and fell from third in the Chase points to seventh.

“For a guy that’s in the Chase and racing for something, he could have wrecked me in any of the first 26 [regular season] races, and that would have been fine,” Busch said after the race. “It’s just hard to swallow something like that today.”

Marcos Ambrose felt he had a quick-ish car, despite qualifying 32nd, but was forced to start from the rear after an engine change. The car failed to fire during a pitstop, leaving the Aussie to fall back to 34th position.

The win lifts Biffle to 85 points of the lead but, given Johnson’s love of California, winning in October and other factors associated with The Chase, the opposition will be hoping that Biffle, Busch or anyone can put a wrinkle in what has been an unstoppable machine next week in Fontata.

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NASCAR Media NASCAR Media

Back in Business: Jimmie Johnson rounded up Denny Hamlin for position, and the points lead, in Kansas. Tony Stewart actually led the most laps, right, and things went badly for Kasey Kahne, who started from the pole but who hit the wall when a tyre went down on his Petty Ford, below.

Results :: Price Chopper 400, Kansas, KS Pos.No. 1 16 2 48 3 29 4 14 5 24 6 99 7 17 8 98 9 39 10 43

Driver Greg Biffle Jimmie Johnson Kevin Harvick Tony Stewart Jeff Gordon Carl Edwards Matt Kenseth Paul Menard Ryan Newman A.J. Allmendinger

Make Ford Chevy Chevy Chevy Chevy Ford Ford Ford Chevy Ford

Team Roush Fenway Hendrick Childress Stewart Haas Hendrick Roush Fenway Roush Fenway Petty Stewart Haas Petty

Sponsor Qual.

Sherwin Williams/3M 5 Lowe’s/Johns Manville 16 Shell/Pennzoil 13 Office Depot/Old Spice 8 DuPont 1 Aflac 18 Crown Royal Black 4 Zecol/Menards 7 US Army 3 Insignia HDTV/Best Buy 27

NASCAR Media

Top 12 Points: Johnson 5503, Hamlin 5495, Harvick 5473, Edwards 5450, Gordon 5445, Kurt Busch 5433, Kyle Busch 5423, Biffle 5418, Burton 5402, Stewart 5376, Kenseth 5354, Bowyer 5251.

NOW AVAILABLE IN AUSTRALIA Brute Industries (USA) has appointed Motorsport Leasing as its Australian agent

FIRST CONTAINER OF RACE RAMPS ARRIVING APRIL For further information on pricing and products, contact

MOTORSPORT LEASING PTY LTD

ROB: 0419 395 120 or JOHN: 0418 320 517 EMAIL: info@raceramps.com.au Fax: 03 9722 2703 www.mnews.com.au

47

WORLD SUPERBIKES ROUND 13 – MAGNY COURS

Cal Crutchlow leaves World Superbikes a winner, and Max Biaggi celebrated his title with a final, thrilling victory

Goodbye 2010, with s

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Yamaha Racing

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certain, while BMW had a series of disasters, Troy Corser parking twice with unspecified mechanical problems and Ruben Xaus crashing in Race 1 and not starting Race 2 on doctor’s advice.

Oh, and there were Hondas in the race, but they were not fast ones. Jonny Rea and Max Neukirchner were never close to the pace, and Rea ending the year without exacerbating his injuries was proably some comfort for falling to fourth in the season’s points.

So ends the season that will go down as Max Biaggi’s. Ducati announced it was closing its factory team – then won races. Suzuki appears to be disinterested in its very competitive Superbike program, but supports its MotoGP strugglers.

BMW looked like a forced to be reckoned with, and Honda looked there or thereabouts. Yamaha maintained its policy of turning over all its riders, all the time, and Kawasaki looks to be on top of what has been an up and down effort.

But 2010 will be the Year of the Italians.

Biaggi was too good, too often and, until next year at least, Aprilia’s RSV Factory is the closest any Superbike has come to a MotoGP racer, with lights. There will be new bikes and new opposition in 2011 but for now, it’s Forza Italia!

Points: Biaggi 451, Haslam 376, Checa 297, Rea 292, Crutchlow 284, Haga 258, Guintoli 197, Fabrizio 195, Toseland 187, Byrne 169.

ALL Kenan Sofuoglu had to do to claim is second World Supersport title was to follow Eugene Laverty – and that is what the Turk did.

The two Hondas finished first and second, with Chaz Davies charging through to third. That gave the Triumph rider fourth overall, behind Kawasaki’s Joan Lascorz, who missed the French race through injury.

GeeBee

style

AL Crutchlow heads into his new MotoGP career in fine form – even if he did lose the final race of the World Superbike Championship season to Max Biaggi.

While the Yamaha rider had a styraightforward win in the first race at Magny Cours, the second was a tooth-and-nail affair as Biaggi put a heavy cold out of his mind. After finishing fourth in Race 1, Biaggi swept to the front in Race 2, as Crutchlow recovered from a bad start. There were inches between the two at the flag.

“My condition was bad all weekend, I had a bit of high fever,” sniffed Biaggi after his 10th race win of the year. “Race 1 was not so bad but I couldn’t breathe properly. Race 2 I wanted to finish on the podium, I pushed very hard, had a little moment half-way through. I tried to not make any mistakes.”

It was, literally, a case of mixed results in the two races. Leon Haslam started his last weekend with Suzuki with second but the final race was tough, dropping to 16th after nearly stopping to avoid a falling James Toseland. He recovered to 10th before being delivered to BMW. Carlos Ceca continued his strong recent run with third in Race 1 but was hampered by a bad start in Race 2, leaving him ninth.

Michel Fabrizio was sixth and third in the races, goods result for a man whose future is less than

End of an era: Max Biaggi and Cal Crutchlow ended their only year of racing each other with a win apiece at Magny Cours. The Italian ruled the final race of the year, despite struggling with a heavy cold.

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BRIEFLY... n John Falk won the SuperPrix in Round 2 of the Tankworld Supertruck Nationals at Winton.

Falk took his Volvo to victory in the eight-lap final, leading home Steve Coulter, John Bamberle and Beau Hewat.

Earlier in the day, Hewat took out the opening two sprint races, before a 10second penalty saw Falk win Race 3. Brett Kelly took out the two co-driver races, while Coulter was the pick of the Light Trucks all weekend. n Former Grand Prix driver Romain Grosjean wrapped up the maiden AutoGP title in the season finale at Monza.

Grosjean qualified on pole, but made a slow start to opening race. He recovered, though, and took the win ahead of Adrien Tambay and Fabio Onidi.

“I’m really happy, winning both the championship and the race is a great feeling,” the Italian said.

In the final race of the season, it was all Luca Filippi, who took the lead off the line and never looked back.

Jan Charouz was second ahead of Grosjean and Julian Leal.

Kiwi Jonny Reid failed to finish Race 1 and ended up 14th in the second.

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Ellery’s strong US debut AUSSIES OVERSEAS LUKE Ellery made a barnstorming cameo in the final round of the USF2000 Championship at Road Atlanta last weekend.

The Victorian made his international debut in the wings-and-slicks class, and quickly made an impression; qualifying in second place in a JDC Motorsport entry. He carried that form into the opening race, taking the lead at the first corner, only for his engine to expire before completing the lap.

“Things like this happen all the time in motorsport. I think the team was even more shattered than me!” Ellery said.

“We had a ripper start and I grabbed the lead there through the first corner on the outside.

“From there I was just driving with my head down but by the time I got to the back straight the damage had been done – turns out these cars don’t like running with no water.”

From seventh in Race 2, Ellery moved through the order in the 19-lap race to

finish a strong third behind Sage Karam and Feliz Serralles.

“This represents a lot of hard work from everyone around me, my family, my sponsors and all my friends. I am satisfied with the third today considering the drama’s we had yesterday,” he said.

“These cars lose a bunch of aero when you get close to the guy in front so the racing is hard. You really have to just force them into mistakes and make the most of any opportunity.”

Ellery is looking to contest the full season in 2011.

finished third in the opening race and 12th in Race to secure sixth on the grid for the final.

However he started from fifth, after Frank Perera formed up in the wrong spot. Perera went on to win ahead of Bamber, but was penalised three seconds post-race, handing the win to Bamber. Davide Rigon finished

third, while polesitter Max Wissel was cleaned up by Ben Hanely at the first corner.

A similar incident ended John Martin’s promising weekend.

After qualifying second, Martin was an innocent victim in a startline incident between Andy Soucek and Robert Doornbos.

Super effort, that SUPERLEAGUE NEW Zealand youngster Earl Bamber made a stunning debut in Superleague Formula, winning the Superfinal at the new Ordos circuit in China.

Bamber got a late call-up to race after Alvaro Parente encountered visa problems. He

motorsport news

race Patron Highcroft Racing

Peugeot take big Petit win, Brabs claims ALMS title ALMS PEUGEOT claimed a 1-2 in the final race of the American Le Mans Series, Petit Le Mans, as David Brabham and co-driver Simon Pagenaud wrapped up the ALMS title.

The French manufacturer’s 908 HDi dominated the race, leading 299 of the 394 laps at Road Atlanta across their two entries. In the end, it was Franck Montagny, Stephane Sarrazin and Pedro Lamy who took the spoils, leading home

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Anthony Davidson, Marc Gene and Alex Wurz by 61 seconds.

“The team did a great job, and we improved a lot in the strategy,” Sarrazin said.

“We did a lot of good times.

It was a tough time with all the safety cars. We worked hard all week setting up the car. It was really good with such good balance. It was just perfect.”

The Audi of Allan McNish, Dindo Capello and Tom Kristensen was in the fight for victory with the two Peugeots, but a bizarre moment within

the final two hours proved costly. Capello’s balaclava slipped over his eyes, forcing an unscheduled pitstop. They eventually took the final podium position.

Brabham and Pagenaud, joined by Marino Franchitti in their Highcroft HPD, took a crushing LMP2 victory to seal back-to-back ALMS titles. The trio finished fourth outright and 11 laps clear of their nearest class rival.

“To be sitting here as double champions, with the team and with Simon and Marino

who did a stellar job this year ... it’s great,” Brabham said.

“Look back at all the races and see how hard the team has worked. We finished on the podium in every race.

CytoSport and Klaus (Graf ) and their whole team did a great job. They really pushed us this year.

“And the rest of the paddock has worked well together this year.”

Oliver Gavin, Jan Magnussen and Emmanuel Collard took out GT2, finishing 10th outright.

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t o p S d d O

Walky’s Talkies As you would’ve already seen at the front end of eNews, HRT is going to race like it’s 1990 at Bathurst this weekend.

The cars have new paint, drivers have new suits and there’s new uniforms all round.

Team members have been given walkmans with MC Hammer cassettes, too.

One thing we doubt we’ll see, though, is a 1990 steering wheel. Modern wheels have thousands of buttons for all sorts of things, but, back in the day, it was pretty simple; a button on one side for ‘drinkies’ and one on the other for ‘talkies’.

Thankfully, Walkinshaw’s boys didn’t have to go ‘walkies’ back from a mid-race DNF. Or tell ‘porkies’ after an incident in 1990.

Oh, and while the drivers will have retro suits this weekend, wouldn’t it be great to see Davo complete the Allan Grice look ... www.mnews.com.au

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