Motorsport eNews Issue 176 - October 12-18, 2010

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Issue No. 176 October 12 - 18 2010

DOUBLE TROUBLE NEW CO-DRIVER RULES GIVE THE ‘FONES THE CHANCE TO TAKE STUNNING BATHURST 1-2! FULL DETAILS INSIDE

PLUS: NEW 2011 LOOK FOR FORD PEFORMANCE RACING

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

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Issue No. 176 | October 12-18 2010

news 4

Ford Davison Racing Will off the FPR in ‘11 6 Is Lucas in Luff?

Warren on LDM wishlist 8 So long, cruel mountain Seton gives up V8 racing 11 Getting Tyred FFord sticks with Avon 15 Newzuki First Aussie Swift revealed

chat 24 Five Minutes With ...

The Bathurst Winners

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Branagan: 11 laps too late

race 28 Bathurst 1000 42 Fujitsu V8 Supercars 46 V8 Utes 48 Australian GT 50 Touring Car Masters 52 NASCAR 56 Formula Renault 3.5

trade 58 Classifieds

DAVO SET FOR FPR IN E V8 SUPERCARS

XPECT Will Davison to drive something that looks like this in 2010. eNews believes that the likely destination of the current Holden Racing Team driver is Ford Performance Racing, and that the team is in line to secure backing from Telstra for one of their entries. Currently, Steven Richards drives the #6 entry, with backing from Dunlop Super Dealers.

The official word from both HRT and Davison’s manager David Segal over the weekend was that the driver’s future will be discussed and settled after the Bathurst 1000. When asked on Friday, Davison himself was not able to provide any clarity.

“The important thing is to concentrate on this race,” he said.

Telstra has been closely associated with V8 Supercars for a number of years, through its BigPond deal with V8 Supercars Australia and backing of a number of drivers. Jason Richards and Jason Bright have featured in a number of Telstra TV adverts, while both Brad Jones Racing cars carry the support of the company, Bright with Trading Post (which is owned by Telstra) and Richards with BigPond.

The future of Steven Richards remains unknown, as does the status of Paul Dumbrell. The Bottle-O driver has been weighing his future against his new role as CEO for the Automotive Brands Group, but insiders have told eNews that he will soon announce that he will continue with Rod Nash’s FPR satellite team.

Should that not be the case, Richards could be in line to continue, but with a change of colours to a green FPR car.

motorsport news

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DJR SAGA CONTINUES V8 SUPERCARS

2011

THE ownership situation at Jim Beam Racing will change soon – and may have done so by the close of business today [Monday].

As Motorsport eNews went live, the media was awaiting a statement from Charlie Schwerkolt confirming that he had sold his 50 percent stakeholding in the team that he acquired at the start of the 2008 season. Dick Johnson has formed a new partnership with mining magnate, and race horse and Newcastle Jets owner Nathan Tinkler, believed to be worth $4m.

Reports published over the Bathurst weekend suggest that the relationship between Johnson and Schwerkolt had deteriorated to the point that the iconic team owner and the Melbourne businessman had not talked for months.

Schwerkolt, who drove one of JBR’s motorhomes to Mount Panorama last week, was spotted at the track on Thursday dressed in ‘civvies’ (ie, non-team branded clothing). At that stage, it was expected that an announcement was imminent.

However, because of delays, which eNews

believe relate only to a bank’s requirements to transfer a large sum of money, we have been told that the deal is expected to be concluded “Tuesday, perhaps late Monday”.

The team confirmed on Friday that a change would take place, by issuing the following statement; There has been considerable speculation regarding Jim Beam Racing and a rumoured rift between co-owners Dick Johnson and Charlie Schwerkolt.

An agreement has been entered into for a change of ownership at DJR, the details of which are confidential and will be disclosed at the appropriate time.

The team is completely focused on winning the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 and guiding James Courtney to the 2010 V8 Supercar Championship.

Both Dick and Charlie are proud of the performance of the Jim Beam Racing who, as a team, are fully committed to Jim Beam Racing.

No further comment will be made by Dick Johnson, Charlie Schwerkolt, or team members at this stage.

So what next for Courntey, Burgess and Schwerkolt?

Dirk Klynsmith

www.mnews.com.au

CONSIDERABLE speculation continues that Schwerkolt is not finished with V8 Supercar racing.

The Melbourne businessman has made a considerable impact in the sport and, since his buy-in to JBR almost three years ago, the team’s results have improved markedly.

Schwerkolt exits the team with a significant war chest, should he choose to continue in the sport. He has links with the Ford Motor Company, which reconnected its formal backing of the team recently, but there appears nothing to rule out a connection to Holden. JBR has recently raced Triple Eight-built cars, and that company has the capability to supply hardware of either brand.

The other speculation surrounds Courtney’s future. eNews has no specific information about his current deal with the team but it is common that driver contracts contain an ‘all bets off’ exit clause, which would give a driver the option of leaving should a team’s ownership makeup change. This is used to protect a driver who might otherwise be tied to a team, even when one owner sells it to another.

Courtney is considered one of the best-paid drivers in the sport, and our information is that his salary would be a significant budget item for most teams in pitlane. This would appear to price him out of reach of the Holden Racing Team, which already supports Garth Tander’s

salary. Ironically, Courtney was once considered a likely HRT driver, after making his V8 Supercar debut with the team in the 2005 enduros. But after Bathurst that year, Courtney signed with Stone Brothers for 2006.

Courtney looks unlikely to be a driver with Ford Performance Racing, as team and driver are not on good terms after a bid to lure him to FPR at the end of 2008 failed, close to the final hurdle.

But there is speculation that Courtney could join a high-profile team, based in Queensland. eNews believes that Paul Morris Motorsport may be a team that would welcome Courtney, perhaps in league with Adrian Burgess. The Englishman may also have the option of exiting JBR with the change of owners and it is known that the relationship between Burgess and Courtney is a strong one.

PMM is also looking for a new team manager, with long-time head Nigel Barclay leaving the team this week to take up a position in his native New Zealand. His roles are being filled

by Cameron Clancy in the team’s workshop, and Scott Jennings on the commercial side.

Courtney plus Burgess, in a Triple 8-built, KREpowered Commodore, would be a formidable competitor. Of PMM’s current drivers, Russell Ingall is under contract until the end of next season, while we believe that Greg Murphy, who is in his first season with a team, is under a ‘oneplus-one’ option for 2011.

LDM: CLOSE 2011 DE V8 SUPERCARS

A BROKEN steering bolt cost Stone Brothers Racing the opportunity for late redemption at Bathurst after a weekend team boss Ross Stone described as “one of our worst”.

After the team’s lead SP Tools car looked good out of the box on Thursday, “we didn’t make too many gains, while others did,” reported Ross.

“We just didn’t have the speed, in the end.”

Nevertheless, the benefit of slugging it out all day, and possibly the best fuel economy in pit lane very

nearly paid dividends, thanks to the Safety Car with 24 to go – but then disaster struck: “John [McIntyre] had just nudged the wall early on and, although the steering was slightly out, they worked their way back into it and were up there when it mattered. I don’t think we were potential winners, but Shane [van Gisbergen] was going pretty well after the restart.”

In the end, it came to naught. A bolt broke in the right front steering, a consequence of the early contact, and van Gisbergen shot straight on at the Chase – although he did manage to

Peter Bury

NUTS FOR SBR

gather the car and get it to the pits for repair and a finish.

“I am shattered over the whole thing,” van Giz reported post-race.

“We were up against it all day but managed to be up there towards the end when it really mattered and to have that happen is devastating. I have never finished inside the top 10 here so I would have settled for sixth although I know we were capable of a podium at the end.”

SBR was one team hit more than most by issues with tyre delamination. Both its other cars experienced delays through the race.

ONE MORE YEAR! V8 SUPERCARS

TONY D’Alberto will continue with his ageing VE Commodore next season.

Earlier this year it was rumoured that D’Alberto’s Centaur Racing squad would look to attain a newer Commodore from Walkinshaw Racing, with his current mount being the first ever VE built and used for homologation purposes. But despite his car now being more than four years old, D’Alberto has confirmed that until Car of the Future comes in 2012, there is little point moving to a different chassis.

“As soon as Car of the Future comes

in, we’ll get on board and start developing the new car straight away,” he told eNews.

“On our day we still get good speed out of the car, so there’s no point changing for the sake of change. As it stands, the current Walkinshaw chassis don’t seem to be a big improvement anyway.

“But next year will be my fourth year in this car, so after that, it will definitely be time for a new chassis.”

D’Alberto also strongly denied rumours that should Walkinshaw Racing scale back to a single nonHolden Racing Team car in 2011, he would run his car directly out of WR. – ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN motorsport news

news

CLOSE TO DETAILS

V8 SUPERCARS LUCAS Dumbrell Motorsport is close to securing a driver for the remainder of 2010, and into the 2011 season.

LDM is currently without a driver for every race after the Gold Coast 600, having let Daniel Gaunt go earlier in the season. Cameron McConville subbed in at Townsville, while Mark Noske and Nathan Pretty have teamed up for the two regular endurance races. Noske will be retained for the GC600, and will drive alongside American Scott Pruett. But after that, the team is without a driver. eNews understands that LDM is now looking for a driver to finish the ’10 season, and be retained for 2011.

Dumbrell told eNews that a decision should be made within the next week. However he shut down paddock chatter at Bathurst that Warren Luff had already signed, but conceded that Luff was on the wish list.

As for a sponsor, Gulf Western Oil has already been signed for 2011 as the naming rights backer of the young team.

“They’ve come on for next year,” confirmed Dumbrell.

“We’ve had a tough first year, but they have been nothing but supportive.”

– VAN LEEUWEN/ADAM

Phil Williams

Dirk Klynsmith

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Dirk Klynsmith

SETO CALLS TIME V8 SUPERCARS

8

Dirk Klynsmith

GLENN Seton has driven in his last Bathurst 1000.

The veteran driver, who made his 26th start at The Great Race on the weekend, has decided that he will no longer compete in any V8 Supercar endurance events.

Seton sold his own racing team to Prodrive in 2002, the team morphing into Ford Performance Racing.

He made his Bathurst debut in 1984, raced Nissans and Fords throughout his career, until he sold his team. After he made his first Bathurst start in a Holden with HRT in 2007 and joining Stone Brothers Racing the following season, Seton missed last year’s endurance races, before joining Bargwanna’s in the Rock entry this year.

The car failed to finish, after starting 19th. Bargs had a tailshaft breakage on Conrod Straight on lap 133.

The popular driver never won Bathurst, with a best result of second, three times.

All eyes on co-drivers V8 SUPERCARS CO-DRIVER exclusive sessions were reintroduced to the Bathurst 1000 format at this year’s Great Race.

With the new regulation pinning ‘primary’ drivers to their cars, co-drivers were given a boost with two 45-minute co-driver only sessions, one on Thursday and one on Friday.

The rest of the practice sessions were open to all drivers. Previously, that was the case for every practice session across the weekend.

According to Jack Perkins, who shared the Wilson Security Racing Falcon with Tim Slade at Phillip Island and Bathurst, the co-driver sessions

had their positives and negatives.

“It is and it isn’t [a good idea],” Perkins told eNews.

“In terms of track time, nothing really changes too much. In fact, you probably spend less time in the car during the other sessions.

“But it is good to know you will get at least two full sessions to yourself. It’s also nice to know where you line-up in terms of the other co-drivers. And at the end of the day, anything helps, because I know from this year how difficult it is top not be racing full-time, and then do these races. This is one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.”

– ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN motorsport news

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v8supercars.com.au

Phil WIlliams

Bundaberg Bearcat FUJITSU V8S NICK Percat will round out the 2010 Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series driving a Walkinshaw Racing VE Commodore, running under an Eggleston Motorsport licence.

Percat spent the first part of the season in a Jay Motorsport-run VZ Commodore, working on a round-by-round basis due to

10

budget constraints. But after a trouble-free main series debut with Bundy Red Racing at Phillip Island, he was moved into a current Holden Racing Team spec VE for the Bathurst FV8 round, with backing from the rum company.

After finishing third for the round at Mount Panorama, Percat confirmed that he will stay in the Bundy VE for Sandown and Homebush.

“It makes a big difference, not working on a round-by-round basis,” Percat told eNews.

“I can sleep much more easily.

There’s still a bit of budget to find, but it’s much, much easier than it was.”

Percat also confirmed that he will be in a much better position to challenge for race wins now had shifted into more modern equipment.

“Sandown and Homebush are

tracks that HRT did well at last year, and now I’m in a current HRT car, so there’s no reason we can’t take it to the guys at the front,” he added.

“Jay Motorsport did a great job, and the VZ never missed a beat. But it just lacked the last little bit of pace.”

– ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN

motorsport news

SONIC WANTS MORE FUJITSU V8S SONIC Motor Racing is keen to retain the same driver line-up for next year’s Fujitsu Series.

Rookie Tim Blanchard is currently third in the standings with teammate Rodney Jane seventh. Jane will remain in the category next year − despite the return of Carrera Cup, in which he previously raced − and team boss Michael Ritter wants to keep Blanchard on for a tilt at the crown if he can source the budget again.

“We want to try and keep Tim in the car and win the championship,” he said.

“I think he’d be hard to beat in his second year. Realistically, it’s probably going to be between both

he and [Nick] Percat, who’s doing a good job, too.”

Ritter, meanwhile, remains open to the notion of running entries in Carrera Cup, provided the right scenario came up and it wasn’t detrimental to their Fujitsu Series or Formula Ford campaigns. Sonic won the series in 2007 with David Reynolds.

“Our investment at the moment is totally in the Fujitsu Series and Formula Ford, and that’s what we’re focused on,” he said.

“But that’s not to say we wouldn’t look at Carrera Cup. If we had the right driver and budget come along to do it, we’d look at it. But it’s got to be ideal, with a bloke who can win the championship.” − MITCHELL ADAM

Dirk Klynsmith

FFord stays with Avon and treads FORMULA FORD AFTER an extensive testing program, the Australian Formula Ford Championship will retain the Avon ACB10 as its control tyre from 2011 onwards.

While Dunlop and Michelin both pitched for the AFFC contract – Dunlop with a semi-slick and Michelin with a full slick – the Avon ACB10 semi-slick will continue to be fitted to Formula Fords for at least the next three years. The ACB10 has been used in the AFFC for the last 15 years.

“The Avon tyre was selected after an extensive evaluation process because of its durability and consistent results over the life of the tyre,” said Margaret Hardy, the Australian Formula Ford Championship’s category manager.

“Australian Formula Ford Management is looking forward to the continuation of the long-standing relationship with [Avon importers] Gordon Leven Motorsport Tyres.”

The only difference between the current tyre and the ‘new’ ACB10 is a more eco-friendly manufacturing structure, which features lower levels of Polycyclic

Aromatic Hydrocarbons.

“The new Avon ACB10 Formula Ford semi-slick, as tested at Winton recently, is a result of intensive research and development completed by the Australian Avon Racing tyre distributor Gordon Leven Motorsport Tyres, in conjunction with the Avon English factory,” said Leven.

“The Avon ACB10 semi-slick showed minimum new tyre gains and produced consistent lap times throughout its entire life when tested. We’re excited and pleased to continue to work with Formula Ford into the future.”

MYGALE CONGRATULATES 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 and the ARROW MYGALE REWARDS PROGRAMME www.mnews.com.au

11

PORSCHE TO RETURN? FORMULA 1

Ralf weighs in ...

FORMULA 1

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All good in Korea FORMULA 1 THE Korean Formula 1 Grand Prix seems now almost certain to go ahead.

F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone now insists the event will take place, even though the final FIA inspection of the new Yeongam venue was scheduled for the Monday after the Japanese Grand Prix.

The inaugural Korean event has been under a cloud for several months as construction fell well behind schedule.

Alarmingly, the final layer of bitumen track surface was only laid last week.

Ecclestone was quoted by the Daily Express newspaper that the venue ‘will pass’ the FIA inspection.

“They had problems but

they have done wonders in the last few weeks,” he said.

“I’ve been in touch, I’ve seen photographs and the top layer of the track has been laid. They will pass the inspection “Despite all the doom stories, I think people will be pleasantly surprised. “I will be there, the world will be watching and we will have a great race – and it is on, end of story.”

Meanwhile Red Bull Racing boss Christian Horner told German Sky television that he ‘knows’ Korea will take place.

“It’s interesting because it’s new for everybody. We’re looking forward to it.

“The long straights don’t really suit us, but our car should work well on the twisty parts.”

Korean GP

AS Michael Schumacher continues to struggle through a disappointing comeback season in Formula 1, now even his brother, Ralf, has joined the chorus of critics who believe Michael won’t see out the remainder of his contract with Mercedes-Benz.

Filling in for the absent Niki Lauda as commentator on the German RTL TV coverage of the Japanese Grand Prix, Ralf said he thought it was possible that 2011 will be his older brother’s last year in F1.

“You have to be realistic,” Ralf said, “and Michael is a realist.

If he finds out next year that it is still not working, he will base his decision on that.”

Meanwhile Mercedes denied rumours that Michael might be offered an early termination to his contract, or that he might be given a team management role as a way of easing him into retirement in a dignified fashion.

“There is more credibility in Norbert Haug becoming an F1 driver than in Michael Schumacher becoming sporting director of Mercedes,” Mercedes’ motorsport boss Norbert Haug told BBC Sport in Japan.

“I have no complaints and no regrets that we’re going to achieve our target,” said the German.

“We are sticking together and, for me, Michael is as good as he ever was and probably even better.”

Korean GP

PORSCHE is considering a return to Formula 1, according to German media reports.

The Financial Times Deutschland claims that Porsche is considering an F1 involvement as part of a restructuring by VW of its motorsport engagement.

Porsche owns a majority stake in VW. Options open in the restructure, the report said, could include Audi entering F1, or VW going NASCAR or WRC. Porsche motorsport spokesman Oliver Hilger did not deny the rumours, but said there were various options open as far as the company’s motorsport future was concerned.

“There are of course considerations for the ’first division’ - that is either Le Mans or also Formula One. But at this stage they are just planning ideas,” he said.

Audi spokesman Juergen

Pippig said: “We don’t want to comment for the time being on what is all speculation. Of course, Audi is observing developments in all the racing series including Formula One. But at the moment there are no plans to enter (F1).”

Bernie Ecclestone welcomed the news of a possible Porsche return, telling Bild newspaper he would do whatever he could to ‘make it happen’.

Norbert Haug, motorsport boss of rival German car maker Mercedes, said: “I have no idea whether Porsche are going to come. If they do, congratulations and all the best.

If not, that’s a shame.”

Porsche’s one and only stint as an F1 manufacturer team was from 1957 to 1962. Its engines won world Championships with Lauda in 1984 and Alain Prost in 1985 and ’85. Porsche’s last involvement was an unsuccessful engine supply deal with the Footwork team in 1991.

motorsport news

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Coming together nicely for Webber FORMULA 1 A GOOD day at the office – that’s how Mark Webber described his Sunday afternoon at Suzuka.

Scoring his ninth podium of the season and a second place that increased his lead in the World Drivers’ Championship, it indeed wasn’t a bad day at all. There are three races still to go, and Webber leads Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel by 14 points.

The only sore point for the weekend of the Japanese Grand Prix was that the driver ahead of him was his Red Bull Racing team-mate, Sebastian

Vettel.

“You always want to win,” Webber said, “but second was okay. The difference between Seb and I this weekend was the half-tenth that separated us in qualifying; that gave him track position at the start of the race, on a circuit where it’s very difficult to overtake.”

The race took place on a dry track under sunny skies, which was the exact opposite from the previous. Such was the extent of the tropical rainstorm that qualifying had to be rescheduled for Sunday morning “I completed one installation lap on Saturday,” Webber said.

“It was immediately apparent

On the bubble FORMULA 1 LEWIS Hamilton’s weekend at Suzuka went from bad to just embarrassing an hour before the Japanese Grand Prix.

As his Red Bull rivals toured in stately Rolls Royces in the driver parade, and Fernando Alonso was in a classic Ferrari, www.mnews.com.au

Hamilton was chauffeured in a tiny 1950s 173cc threewheeled Messerschmitt KR175 ‘bubble car’.

The McLaren driver did see the funny side of it, sharing a laugh with the crowd and even pausing to take a picture of the ‘bubble car’ with his mobile phone once it was over.

that the track conditions were too treacherous for F1 cars. To do nothing for a whole day of a grand prix weekend felt a bit odd; it reminded me of testing in the early ’00s and it made me quite glad that we’re no longer allowed to test during the season!”

Webber got jumped off the line by Robert Kubica’s Renault, but moments later they were under the Safety Car due to separate start line shunts. While they toured behind the Safety Car, a wheel inexplicably fell off the Renault and Kubica’s race was done.

From there at the front, the Red Bull duo dominated, with

little more than two seconds separating Webber and Vettel for the entire journey. They traded fastest laps most of the race, with Webber emerging with that minor consolation prize on the final lap – “I couldn’t let Seb take the triple crown, could I?” Alonso’s third place kept him well in the title hunt, but for Lewis Hamilton the loss of third gear also meant the loss of fourth place, to his team-mate Jenson Button.

The transmission trouble was a cruel irony for Hamilton, who’d copped a five-spot grid penalty after changing the gearbox after shunting the McLaren in practice.

For full F1, WRC and MotoGP news and coverage, CLICK HERE to go to GP Week!

WWW.GPWEEK.COM 13

FG coming to V8 Utes ...

V8 UTES THE Yokohama V8 Ute Racing Series is sitting tight on the introduction of its new-model Ford Ute. While the category has decided that Ford’s upcoming FG XR8 Ute with the new Coyote engine will be introduced to the category, the exact timing of its implementation in 2011 is up in the air.

“That’s the car we want, but Ford haven’t put a release date or production date on it yet,” V8 Utes’ Craig Denyer told eNews.

“We’ve had numerous meetings with Ford, particularly in the last three months, and when they decide on that timeline, we can plan when we introduce the FG; it probably won’t be a start of the year changeover, it’ll probably be mid-year.”

Paul Ceprnich will build

the FG racers. The Coyote is a five-litre, quad-cam engine with an alloy block, weighing about 160kg lighter than the category’s current Ford powerplant.

“The Coyote is probably more comparable with the VE, which is a major positive.

It’s going to be a great race engine,” Denyer said.

“We’ve done a lot of work on the FG already. We’ve built a prototype which ran in the 12

Hour this year and may run in the 12 Hour again in 2011, possibly with a Coyote engine.

“From here, we don’t think it will be a tough process.”

Also on the technical side of the category, V8 Utes will switch to a control ECU in 2011.

Ford and Holdens currently have separate units, but organisers are in discussions with Motec about supplying a control item. − MITCHELL ADAM

... and an international V8 UTES V8 SUPERCARS won’t be the only category with an international ring-in at Surfers Paradise next weekend.

The Yokohama V8 Ute Racing Series is set to announce an international guest for the weekend, the penultimate round of the 2010 season.

That’ll be backed up by a high-profile Australian driver jumping in at Homebush.

“We’ve got a couple of big

names coming up for the final two rounds, to end the year on a high,” category manager Craig Denyer told eNews.

“At Surfers we’ll have an international driver, which we’re excited about, and at Homebush we’ll have another high-profile driver in the series.”

The category is likely to maintain a similar calendar in 2011, including a recentlyannounced round at the Clipsal 500, with talks continuing about another appearance at

Hamilton’s V8 Supercar round.

“We’re still in discussions about going back to New Zealand and doing another Trans Tasman Challenge at Hamilton,” Denyer said.

“Much of that will depend on the turnaround time with our domestic schedule, but I think V8 Supercars are pretty keen for that to happen.”

In the meantime, V8 Utes will conduct a major review of all aspects of the series in the coming months.

“We’re going to go through a major strategy review, which we’re planning for October and November this year,” Denyer said.

“All of our shareholders will be involved in that and we’ll have an independent mediator in the process.

“We’ll look at the whole model and work out what we want to do for the next five years. It’s a good time to evaluate anything and everything in the category.” − MITCHELL ADAM

Peter Bury

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motorsport news

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Mostert: Bathurst done, now for FF title FORMULA FORD

Dirk Klynsmith

CHAZ Mostert’s impressive Fujitsu Series debut at Bathurst is likely to be his only run in the series for the year.

Mostert took fourth for the Bathurst weekend, but switches his focus back to the Genuine Ford Parts Australian Formula Ford Championship, which he currently leads with three rounds remaining.

The 18-year-old will race fulltime in the 2011 Fujitsu Series in the East Coast Traffic Control Falcon. Of the remaining 2010 rounds, Sandown clashes with the Formula Ford finale and the team is cautious about racing

at the Homebush street circuit.

“I’ve heard about Homebush and I don’t think I’m ready for it yet,” Mostert said.

“There’s a possibility I’ll race there, but I really just want to focus on Formula Ford at the moment. If we do something, it’ll probably be a month before we know what’s going on.

“I want to win the Formula Ford Championship. All of the good people like Jamie Whincup and Mark Winterbottom have won the championship, so if I can write my name in the book there, hopefully it’ll help me out further on in my career.” − MITCHELL ADAM

SWIFT PROGRESS NATIONAL SCENE

www.mnews.com.au

Dirk Klynsmith

THE Australian Swift Sport Young Drivers Series is gaining momentum ahead of its 2011 debut, with category managers Trans Tasman Motorsport putting a race-ready car on display at Bathurst last weekend.

The covers were lifted off the Swift to promote the series for its debut next year, in a bid to get drivers committed the arrive-anddrive style program. And according to TTM’s Shaun Keeley, there was plenty of interest at The Mountain.

“That’s why we’re here, and we’ve been talking to a lot of people,” he told eNews.

“For example, we’ve had Michael Gray looking at the

cars, and he is interested in running cars for his daughters, Lauren and Madison. Chris Hayes’ father has also had a look, so we’re appealing to some top karters.”

As for a schedule, Keeley revealed that if a deal could not be reached with the Shannons Nationals, then the new-for-2011 AASAbacked six-hour series could be an option, with the Swifts holding support races at the events.

Two TTM-prepared Swifts will be heading to New Zealand next week, in preparation for a tilt at the Swift Sport Cup across the Tasman over the summer.

Allan Jarvis will drive one of he cars, with one of the Gray girls to drive the second.

– ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN

15

BRIEFLY n V8 Supercars Australia has delayed the announcement of its 2011 calendar.

The schedule was expected to be unveiled at Bathurst over the weekend, but V8SA said in a statement that the news would now come in two week’s time, at the Gold Coast 600. n The crowd attending the Bathurst 1000 was down by six, after a helicopter travelling to the event crashed on Sunday morning. None of the people on board, who were guests of Jack Daniel’s, were seriously injured in the incident.

n Jamie Whincup had an unusual problem on Thursday.

The three-time Bathurst winner found that a silicone sealer used on the floor of the TeamVodafone garage made his driving shoes’ soles slippery, so he was seen with a plastic bag on each foot before he crawled into car #1. n Tyrepower has extended their deal as naming rights sponsor of the newly renamed Tyrepower Sydney Speedway until at least the 2013/2014 season. The venue has also signed a deal for Saturday night’s Tyrepower Sprintcar Grand Slam to be aired on the new SPEED channel on Wednesday November 3 at 7:30pm. Ben Atkinson won the A-Main from Mitchell Dumsney and Steve Caunt. n Borland drivers Ash Walsh and Ben Jurczak have secured backing from online auto retailer CarsRUs for Round 6 of the Australian Formula Ford Championship at Surfers next weekend.

16

Dirk Klynsmith

n V8SA claimed its 20 millionth fan in 14 years attended the Bathurst 1000.

Anthony Hanlon from Sydney was the winner of several items, including VIP treatment for the day for himself and his daughter Jordyn. V8SA counted the total back to the formation of AVESCO in 1997.

Twigg pondering CupCar SPORTSCARS AUSTRALIAN GT frontrunner Max Twigg is considering a switch to the reborn Carrera Cup in 2011.

Twigg raced in the onemake series before its demise in 2009 and has since been a feature in Australian GT. Driving a Porsche GT3 Cup S, Twigg

is currently sixth in the standings.

He admits the return of Carrera Cup is tempting, but it yet to make a firm decision.

“I thoroughly enjoy racing in Australian GT, but Carrera Cup is something I’m thinking about,” Twigg said.

“I’m a bit of a one-make man and I’ve raced in Carrera Cup before. It’s the

next level up, and I’d like to race against guys like Craig Baird and those sorts of guys again.

“So if there was going to be a strong field, I’d like to be there.

“If that happened, I’d probably still have an involvement in GT, in the longer distance races.” − MITCHELL ADAM

Molly’s WRC chance RALLY THERE will be two Australians competing for a spot in next year’s Pirelli Star Driver program, with Molly Taylor confirmed as part of the Shootout at the Spanish round of the World Rally Championship later this month.

There will be 18 young drivers taking part in the Shootout in Spain, which includes driving tests, tuition and interviews, with six

drivers to receive a fullyfunded entry in selected WRC rounds in 2011.

Victorian Brendan Reeves has already been named as one of the 18 thanks to his efforts in the Asia-Pacific Rally Championship, while Taylor’s selection has come through the newly-formed Women and Motorsport Commision, run by the FIA. “I’m incredibly overwhelmed, excited and honoured to have this opportunity,” said Taylor, who

is the daughter of multiple Australian Rally Champion co-driver Coral.

“This is my biggest chance for an entry into World Championship competition.

I will be focussing all my efforts over the next couple of weeks to prepare for the shootout and give it my absolute best shot.”

Taylor has spent this year competing in the Citroen Racing Trophy, which is part of the British Rally Championship. motorsport news

news

TIMMY BACROW FORMULA 3 TIM Macrow will make a cameo in the final round of the Formula 3 Australian Drivers Championship at Sandown in a fortnight.

The 2007 Champion will race in an older-model F304 Dallara, one of two cars Macrow maintains for owner Maher Algadri, pictured.

“I’ve had a few cameos over the years in F3, haven’t I?” Macrow said.

“I did a couple of rounds in ’08 when I got home from America and last year we were going to

do some cameos but it turned into a full championship, which was good in the end.

“Sandown’s more for enjoyment. I haven’t raced much this year, I’ve only done one race – in the Porsche at the Nurburgring – so I’ve got itchy feet. I’m bringing one of Maher’s ‘04s out and I’ll try and mix it up with the ‘07s if we can.

I’ll probably be a bit rusty, but it’s going to be enjoyable either way.”

Macrow is aiming for more regular racing in 2011, namely in the Fujitsu Series, while a ride in the Armor All Bathurst 12 Hour is also on the cards.

“I’d love to get my bum in a V8, but it’s all about being in the right place at the right time, finding the right team and budget to be able to do it,” he said.

“I’m putting feelers out there, it’s a difficult place to find

money to make it happen at the moment.

“I’m working on something for the 12 Hour, as well, and I’ve got some ideas. I haven’t done too many laps around Bathurst – I’ve probably done eight, in Formula Ford in 2004 before it got red-flagged. I’d love to do a lot more laps and the 12 Hour would be a good platform to do that.”

– MITCHELL ADAM

Dirk Klynsmith

FOSTER PLAYS WAITING GAME FORMULA FORD NICK Foster will plot his 2011 program after this year’s Genuine Ford Parts Australian Formula Ford Championship wraps up next month.

The Queenslander is currently third in the standings with three rounds

remaining, but his final result will help shape a decision on whether to remain in Formula Ford or move to a different category.

Sonic Motor Racing Michael Ritter is keen to retain Foster or team-mate Geoff Uhrhane next year to add experience alongside teenagers Cameron Waters and Josh Hunter.

“It really all depends on how the last three rounds go,” Foster said of his 2011 options.

“There’s still a chance there, of winning the title, and if we don’t there’s a chance of coming back and doing it again next year.

“I’ve still got a lot to learn, I know that, and maybe another year of Formula Ford

will get me the experience I need.

“But moving on is an option as well. There’s always the Fujitsu Series, there’s British Formula Ford and there’s America; there are so many options out there.

“So it’s all up in the air at the moment.” − MITCHELL ADAM

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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17

AUSTRALIAN GT DEAN Grant and his Mosler will be back at Mount Panorama in February for the 2011 Armor All Bathurst 12 Hour.

Grant, who runs the Mosler

MT900 in the Vodka O Australian GT Championship, will partner fellow GT driver Max Twigg and V8 wildcard endurance driver Geoff Emery.

Meanwhile, Grant’s Vodka O team-mate Peter Hackett is working through his options

to compete in the oncearound-the-clock enduro.

“We’re working on a couple of things,” Hackett said.

“We’ve got associations with a few entities, so we just have to figure out what’s going to be best for us, and make sure

James Smith

Let’s do the Mosler Mash

that it doesn’t affect our 2011 GT championship.”

GT cars will be eligible for the 12 Hour under new regulations for next year’s race, which will be held on the weekend of 4 to 6 February. − DANIEL HERRERO

GT 2011: PLAY IT AGAIN AUSTRALIAN GT THE Vodka O Australian GT Championship expects to maintain a very similar calendar in 2011.

This year, the category’s calendar consisted of appearances at the Clipsal 500 and Australian Grand Prix, a pair of V8 Supercar rounds and held two stand alone events. The success of the stand alone rounds at Phillip Island and Eastern Creek means two will be held again next year, while the category has already been confirmed on the bill of the 2011 Clipsal 500. The Armor All Bathurst 12 Hour won’t count for championship points.

18

“We’re working through it at the moment, but it’ll basically be the same at 2010,” GT’s Terry Little said.

“We’ll do a couple of major events, a couple of V8 rounds and a couple of our own.

“The stand alone rounds have been really popular and we were happy with the outcome. It’s a nice and easy weekend; the guys get lots of track time and value for money.

“One will definitely be at Phillip Island next year and the priority is to hold the other at Eastern Creek again.”

Meanwhile, Little confirmed a number of new models are poised to race in the

series next year, with organisers keen to continue to grow the GT Production Class.

“Two genuine people are looking at two new GT3 models and there’s a couple of new models for the Production Class, which are going through the CAMS approval process at the moment, he said.

“There’ll probably be two Nissans in Production and we’re talking to Mick Zukanovic, Marcus’ father, about getting their Mustang involved in the class as well.”

Little has announced he’s stepping down as a director of Australian GT, but will maintain an involvement in the championship.

– MITCHELL ADAM motorsport news

BRIEFLY n Englishman Jake Dennis

has been crowned the first ever FIA-CIK Under 18 World Champion. He took the crown after his nearest rival Finn – Teemu Suninen – crashed out at the first turn. All the Top Kart driver had to do was finish in the top 10 and he finished in eighth placing. Dennis’ Championship confirms the British fightback at the junior levels of world motorsport – no doubt riding on the surge in interest as a result of Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button at the top of Formula 1. Interestingly, karting participation rates in the UK are very similar to those in Australia, meaning per capita, Australia has more karters racing on a regular basis. n The event where Dennis was crowned World Champion was significant in the fact that Tanart Sathienthirakul became the first ever driver from Thailand to win a World Karting Championship event.

Timely enough, the Intrepid driver’s win came just days before noises began about a Formula 1 standard circuit being built in the South-East Asian hotspot.

DOWN AND DIRTY KARTING

WHILE the purists will thumb their nose, there’s no denying that the fastest growing sector of kart racing in Australia is on dirt.

Both speedway and dirt karting over the last two years have seen enormous growth in competitor numbers – bucking the trend of sprint (bitumen) karting.

Faster-paced race meetings, less wear and tear on equipment, and more tyre durability – therefore overall cheaper costs – have been cited as reasons for the growth of dirt tracking.

There are two general forms – speedway (conducted on a dirt oval) and dirt circuit racing (conducted on circuits created with dirt).

The trend has continued further up the chain, with many well-seasoned bitumen karters choosing to advance their careers through speedway competition rather than choosing the Formula Ford-through-V8 Supercar route.

Leading Australian manufacturer Drew Price Engineering are close to finalising a dirt kart to add to the Arrow chassis suite. According to General Manager, George Turton, the company is reacting to the trends they are seeing through their dealers around the country.

“Karting on dirt, both speedway and circuit racing, has really developed its own niche and seems like its continuing to grow,” Turton said.

“It’s a market segment that is standing out

in its own right now, and therefore we have decided to develop an Arrow kart specifically for the dirt. We have a few guys in our team that have raced on dirt for some time, and they have been champing at the bit for ages to work on such a project.”

The other element where dirt seems to be winning out over bitumen is competitors shunning the ‘traditional route’ – instead opting to go into speedway racing.

“It got to the point where we had to make a decision about the next step from karting, and while Formula Ford was on the radar, we were given the opportunity to purchase a Sprintcar and go in that direction,” said 17-year-old Sydneysider Max Johnston.

“We looked at the economics of it and it made more sense to be doing speedway. We could purchase the car and run it for a season for a fraction of what we could have done even state-level Formula Ford for – and we have the opportunity to win prizemoney, too.

“With the Australian dollar so healthy against the American dollar and the Sprintcar industry being as big as it is in the States, it makes it an even more attractive proposition.”

Whilst dirt has often been seen as the poorer cousin in karting circles, it’s clear that it’ s here to stay and is taking on even more importance in these budget conscious times.

– MATT PAYNE

n Queenslander Kel Treseder has secured the services of Jon Targett for his assault on the Las Vegas SuperNats next month. He will line up with equipment supplied by the American CRG importer.

– MATT PAYNE

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SECOND THE BEST READ READY FOR NEW TUBES DRAG RACING PHIL Read will have a new chassis online soon, with the receipt of some ex-Team Kalitta tube from the USA. The equipment wars in Top Fuel continue to heat up, with every advantage now important to have.

Team crew chief Bruce Read said the chassis has the latest in safety advancements, as well as lots of small changes to hopefully improve performances for the Auto One outfit.

Read has some work to do in the championship, needing to overcome a shock first round loss from the opening round of the ANDRA Pro Series.

NEW DONK FOR BRENNAN DRAG RACING WA’s Maurice Brennan will get the use of a new engine in time for his first stab at Top Doorslammer class just before Christmas.

His new sponsor K-Trans has supplied the fresh bullet ahead of the Goldenstates event in December.

K-Trans Racing founder Keith Middleton saw the future as looking very bright.

“It will be very interesting to watch the team progress now with some even better resources on hand, and now having ex-Matt Treasure crew chief Graeme Clarke joining what is obviously a tight knit team with James Rowland making the tuning calls, it will be a formidable combination at any race I believe,” Middleton said.

DRAG RACING

PHIL Lamattina and the Fuchs Top Fuel team were content with a semi finals appearance to start the ANDRA Pro Series for 2010/11, and as they return to Sydney for Round 2 they are looking to keep their consistency up.

Lamattina said it was a good start compared to previous years.

“The car is starting to look pretty consistent, which is good for the start of the season,” he said.

The dragster has been kept much the same from last year, allowing the team to keep using the data they have acquired and find a tune up for every situation.

“We are pretty much trying to focus on going A to B. If we can get some good clean runs every time the car goes down the race track I think that will be the key,” he added.

The Fuchs Nationals was a kind event to the team in many ways as they escaped the mechanical carnage that afflicted many other teams in the quickly changing conditions.

“We really didn’t hurt much, I know it’s the old cliché,” he said.

“You do what you’ve got to do if you need to put another engine in it, but that engine stayed in it all weekend. We were happy with the reliability, full credit for (crew chief ) Theo.”

When the second Sydney round of the season arrives on October 29 and 30, Lamattina predicts the heat could come into play, not only sapping power but causing the track to become greasy and difficult to hook up roughly 7000 horsepower.

“We are going to start seeing some warm weather, it could be tricky to get the car down the race track,” he said.

“We saw it catch a few people out in the first round of the Nationals. Iwt nearly caught us out. It is hard to run in those conditions when the track warms up that quick. I think it is going to be a nightmare for the crew chiefs.”

– LUKE NIEUWHOF

ANDRA Pro Series news i

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motorsport news

news

SIDCHROME’S BRAYVE MOVE KARTING SIDCHROME has taken on a full team sponsorship deal with Team Bray Racing for three years.

Victor Bray and son Ben compete in ANDRA Pro Series Top Doorslammer, both having secured championships.

Sidchrome has been a product sponsor with the team for several years.

The sponsorship deal covers both Victor’s ‘57 Chevrolet and Ben’s ‘05 CV8X Holden Monaro, as well as all ancillary cars from 1 January 2011 until at least the end of 2013.

Victor’s new livery was unveiled at

is proudly presented by:

Bathurst on Friday, with the Queensland driver hopeful the new deal will help lift the team.

“Obviously we aim at winning every event we attend but with the class becoming more competitive we are reaching deep into our bag of tricks to find not only more horsepower but an even deeper understanding of the cars,” Victor said.

“Our goals are to stay at the pointy end of performance and always having fun. Benny and I are just stoked to be associated with such an iconic brand.”

– LUKE NIEUWHOF

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

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23

FIVE MINUTES WITH ...

LOWNDES and SKAIFE The Band was back together at Bathurst, and ended up on the podium’s highest step.

Here is what they said after a great Great Race MOTORSPORT NEWS: Mark, you have been one of Holden’s best ambassadors for a long time, and we believe that this is the 20th win for Commodore. How are you feeling?

MARK SKAIFE: It couldn’t be better. When we won Phillip Island, that was pretty good but to win this race, to get a result in our Grand Final, it does not get any better than this, in motorsport in this country.

Skaifey, two big results. Is it time to reconsider your decision to quit full-time [driving]?

No, I am fairly comfortable with my decision to retire full-time. I was not enjoying it as much as I might have been, and I was not driving it at the level I should have been. I like doing these [races]. This is good fun.

Craig, at what point of your stint, or even before your stint, were you aware that the old bloke was going to be in the rocking chair for the rest of the day and you were going the distance?

CRAIG LOWNDES: We went through that many strategies this morning, one variety was that Mark would start, I would doublestint, he would double-stint and I would get back in. It went from that to trying to change every time, then we changed it again and decided that.

Especially when the Safety Car came out, Mark basically did a stint and a half in that middle bit. He accumulated enough laps for his quota. JJ, Jeromy, asked me if I could do it, go to the finish. It was about 80 laps, and I thought that I could, and we did.

I am not too bad. Every minute that goes by, I feel a bit more sore, but we were lucky 24

Dirk Klynsmith

Describe the emotions of being in the pit bunker instead of behind the steering wheel.

It’s fine when CL drives the car but it is still nerve-wracking. The last 15 or 20 laps were as serious as you ever get in this game, and at this Mountain, it is never over until that chequered flag comes out. enough.

We did three pitstops in that run, and our fuel consumption wasn’t the greatest, but we had to keep soldiering on. When I got in the car for the last run, it was evident that I was staying in the car.

It had emotions. Three out of the four tyre sets we had were close to green, but the second-to-last set were not that good.

We needed to get the car into the pit window for the run to the chequered flag, but it [the third yellow flag] was a little earlier than we wanted. It was probably a lap too early.

Mark, more years ago than I care to remember, after the shoot-out in the last race you shared a car with Craig, I asked you if you were starting. You said he was going to, for obvious reasons.

This time, you started. Did you have any trepidation?

These are weird to get off the line, with such a long diff ratio when they are so full of fuel. I did a practice [start] this morning and what you want to hear is a little bit of wheelspin. You will give your right arm for a little bit of wheelspin.

The practice start was good, and I had no problem with the start itself. It was good.

CL: It had to happen. For me to be in the

car at the end, Mark had to start. To start the car, as he said, to get away cleanly is very, very difficult. It was one of Mark’s best [starts].

Mark, on Craig’s stint. What do you make of a guy going out there and driving 79 laps?

It’s unbelievable. The concentration levels are so high, extremely high. You make a little mistake and you are in the fence.

As the race goes on, there are so many marbles just offline, it basically becomes a groove. That will go down as one of Craig great drives, there is absolutely no doubt.

Mark, how much were you thinking of last year?

We were certainly in contention there, last year. Certainly, the Safety Car …

TANDER: You weren’t even close!

MS: You’re kidding yourself!

[Tander points at his name on the Peter Brock Trophy.} MS: We are not the Kenny Couldabeens!

It was a very serious end to that race.

When the Safety Car came out, we were smashed. We lost by bugger-all, and it is a cruel game.

Right near the end there, anything can happen and that it why it is so tense. motorsport news

chat

Dirk Klynsmith

www.mnews.com.au

25

H

ERE we are, a year into life of split drivers at endurance races.

The rule change has created its fair share of controversy throughout the year. Some people like it and some hate it, but you can’t argue with the fact that it added so much more intrigue and entertainment at Phillip Island and Bathurst.

Instead of leading teams having one gun car and a ‘second’ car each, they’ve generally now got two, which can only be a good thing for the strength of the race. Sure,

OPINION Mitchell Adam – National Editor

26

it costs teams a little bit more when they sign co-drivers, but this way their sponsors get extra value with two ‘lead’ cars.

Some co-drivers made the grade and others didn’t, and the value of a good co-driver is undeniable. TeamVodafone and Toll HRT were among the first to lock in their line-up for 2010 and they secured arguably the two strongest sets of co-drivers.

Before Will Davison’s shunt, a TeamVodafone 1-2 and Toll HRT 3-4 looked likely.

We saw some genuinely good performances at each

event. At Phillip Island, Steve Owen was the story of Saturday and Dean Canto was probably best on ground when he finished his stint in the 500.

At Bathurst, there was more of the same. David Besnard’s stint was a ripper, he had a great weekend. It gives these guys a chance to shine, rather than hoping for a Top 10 in a team’s second car. On the flipside, though, there’s nowhere to hide.

Some co-drivers were found wanting and surpassed by young and hungry types from the Fujitsu Series. They won’t be the last and I’m sure there’ll be a bit of turnover next year.

Next week, we’re off to Surfers. If a bunch of regular co-drivers was intriguing, wait until 17 internationals

with minimal – at best – experience are let loose in these cars. It’ll be fun, but the format still isn’t perfect. When all of this was announced, the biggest concern of many, myself included, was that the internationals could be a factor in the championship battle.

And it’s still a possible factor.

Of the four or five drivers in title contention, only one will have an international codriver; Craig Lowndes, the man who’s just won the last two races to surge into third in the standings.

Andy Priaulx is no mug, and he has some prior experience, but jumping into #888 and taking on Warren Luff, Steve Owen, Luke Youlden and Cameron McConville – let alone the lead fulltimers – is going to be a big ask.

motorsport news

comment

I

WATCHED the final laps of the 2010 Bathurst 1000, on TV, live. Good thing I was watching it about 70 metres away from the finish line.

There has been a fair bit of chat, much of it negative, about the fact that the Seven Network’s broadcast of the race was ‘stretched’; in other words, it ran further and further behind ‘real time’ as the race went on. In the end, that meant that the race was done and dusted more than 30 minutes before the viewers at home got to see the chequered flag.

Welcome to the world of television.

There was always going to be some viewers criticising some aspect of the timing of the 1000 telecast. With a 10:30am start, the race needed a new record to fit

in before the telecast of the Japanese Formula 1 GP and, luckily, there was one – not that it mattered much when Seven’s show went well past 5pm.

And, ‘moving’ sporting telecasts is nothing new.

Seven cops regular barbs over the fact that most of its Friday night AFL games are delayed, due to the seemingly sacrosanct 7:30pm timeslot of Better Homes and Gardens.

Media is a competitive business, TV particularly so. Seven would have had minimal interest in getting the 1000 under the wire to allow viewers to turn over to ONE HD’s F1 telecast. And BHAG is a much more sellable hour, nationally, than footy, even if two strong teams are playing and the winsome Jo Griggs is not on her best game.

Seven pays a lot of money to broadcast V8 Supercars events, and that money gives the network a major say when the races are telecast.

That is a fact of life. So is the differing view of commercials TV’s professionals to their viewers’. The entertainment is interrupted by the commercials, right? No; the view from the industry would likely be, it is the other way around.

I can see the reason for viewer angst. Major sporting events are, usually, live. The AFL and NRL Grand Finals were, and most of the upcoming Spring Racing

Carnival will be. I am not a massive fan of watching the hayburners go around, but the label that the Melbourne Cup wears – the race that stops a nation – looks to me, to be fairly justified.

Seven will broadcast the Cup, next month. As the horses bound into the straight at Flemington, straining for immortality, the chances are that their run for the roses will not be suddenly interrupted to update viewers on the latest offers from Harvey Norman or Hungry Jack’s. But, if the result matters to you, it might be wise to have the radio on, just in case.

OPINION Phil Branagan – Executive Editor

Phil Williams

www.mnews.com.au

27

V8 SUPERCARS RACE 18, BATHURST

28

THE CR

motorsport news

race

CRAIG LOWNDES 500 When a bad back left Mark Skaife on the sidelines, Lowndes drove a massive 79 laps in a row to win in superhero fashion.

PHIL BRANAGAN reports

Dirk Klynsmith

www.mnews.com.au

29

BATHURST 1000 THE BUILDUP

Send in the Lowndes T

NASCAR Media

30

Dirk Klynsmith

NASCAR Media

HE search for the Next Great Lap continued at Bathurst, with the now near-mythical Greg Murphy lap from 2003, once again, in the targets of V8 Supercars’ Fast Guys.

The assault started in Thursday’s afternoon session. TeamVodafone led the way but Craig Lowndes’s laps were compromised by red flags, not once but twice. So it was up to Jamie Whincup to take a shot, and it was a great shot. A 2m07.1390s lap might sound a far cry from the magic numbers (2m06.8594s) and it is, until you realise that all the time was lost down the hill. At the second split, JDub was a tenth inside Murph’s 1m25.854s effort of seven years back.

“Through the corners, it was probably the best car I have had,” he said, clearly inferring that the lost time came in the straight bit – likely because of the control camshaft.

Track conditions were close to perfect for an afternoon, with 22 ambient/32 track for almost all the session, and Friday dawned with a similar clear sky and an ambient in the single digits; perfect go-fast weather.

The co-drivers’ session saw some fast times so, even when the Jason Richards/Jamie Whincup clang interrupted proceedings, there were high expectations.

Craig Lowndes picked up the challenge – and as the cars filed back onto the track after the stoppage, the temps hit the magic 22/32 again. His first lap’s first split was a little off, but he picked up the time across the top before coming up a little short. But the second lap was better; almost a tenth faster all the way around, and the job had been done.

“It was a good clean lap,” he reported through his trademark grin.

“I had a lot of confidence when I got out of Turn 1 with a good split time, and I felt the car grip up quite early. Across the top, Skaife had set the car up in his run, and we stiffened it up and it responded.

“There wasn’t a lot to be left behind. If you look at the two laps, Murph’s and mine, Murph made up most of his time down Conrod Straight because he had a good engine. For us, we are lacking in that area, so we made it up by flowing the car, and under brakes. If we had the horsepower that Murph had, it would be even nicer.

“Everyone’s been talking about it for a

long time, and finally we’ve eclipsed it, which is great. Is there more? You’ll always say yes, but to go and do it is another thing. I wasn’t thinking about the lap in terms of the record, I was trying to do a nice clean lap. I came out of Forrest’s Elbow, and I was only good for a sevendead, and then we made up a lot of time into the chase, out of the chase, and at the final corner. We made up about threetenths there.

“I didn’t know [about the splits] until I got to the line and the time came up. I knew we were up a good half a second on what we’d done, but the data lap was a sevendead. The reference lap is a 7.4, and I knew I was minus. I got to the top of Skyline and I was only 0.3 under the 7.4, so I was on for a 7.1 at that point. I got out of Forrest’s

Hugs all around: Lowndes reset the fastest-ever lap around Mount Panorama on Friday, though the time was set in a practice session. The time he set was half a tenth faster that Greg Murphy’s famed Lap of the Gods from 2003.

Elbow and I was 0.4 under, so it was a 7.0, then I lost a bit down Conrod, so it blew back to about 0.2, then into The Chase I made up more than half a second. I wasn’t even focussed on a 6.8 until I crossed the line.

“Murph and I have been team-mates and we’ve been rivals, and every year he comes here thinking it might be beaten, and it has. It’s been there for a long time, and for what he did back then, it was a special lap.

There is no regret from him. If my lap can stand up for as long as his has, I’ll be very happy.”

Of course, there have been a lot of changes in V8 Supercars since 2003.

Murphy did his with a Chevy 18-degree engine, non-controlled brakes and a number of other free items. His lap stood, challenged but unbowed, for 2555 days.

There is a chance that Lowndes’s new time may eclipse that, but we doubt it will. motorsport news

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CLOSE BUT ...

JASON Bright has never done a ‘six’ around Mount Panorama – few people have – and he did not get one done in qualifying for this year’s race.

Bright missed the magic number by 0.0003s, but that was not the story of his qualifying session.

“I hit the wall on the exit of Forrest’s Elbow,” he confessed after setting the fast provisional time. “It was a pretty hard hit. I went into The Chase thinking that something might come off, but I went in pretty deep anyway.”

Of course, while Bright was going fastest, one of the Jones Brothers’ cars was MIA. The BOC Gases car was still in the process of being straightened after Jason Richards was collected by an apologetic Jamie Whincup, and the team elected to make sure that the car was tickety-boo for the race rather than rush a repair.

If the team needed any inspiration, it was close behind as the two Vodafone cars were all but inseparable. Whincup reported that his repaired car was perfect.

“I wish it was still [bent] but it isn’t,” he shrugged.

Bright’s was not. Such are the fortunes of motor racing; Richard’s tagged the wall at The Elbow and started the race from last and, for now, Brighty has managed a glancing blow, and was first.

2010 BATHURST 1000 PRACTICE AND QUALIFYING TIMES PosNo Driver 1

Driver 2

Team/Car

Prac 1

Prac 2

Prac 3

Prac 4

Prac 5

Qual

1 14 Jason Bright 2 888 Craig Lowndes 3 1 Jamie Whincup 4 5 Mark Winterbottom 5 33 Lee Holdsworth 6 18 James Courtney 7 22 Will Davison 8 2 Garth Tander 9 51 Greg Murphy 10 55 Paul Dumbrell 11 17 Steven Johnson 12 15 Rick Kelly 13 9 Shane van Gisbergen 14 6 Steven Richards 15 34 Michael Caruso 16 39 Russell Ingall 17 19 Jonathan Webb 18 4 Alex Davison 19 11 Jason Bargwanna 20 3 Tony D’Alberto 21 24 Fabian Coulthard 22 21 Karl Reindler 23 12 Dean Fiore 24 10 Andrew Thompson 25 47 Tim Slade 26 30 Mark Noske 27 7 Todd Kelly 28 16 Tony Ricciardello 29 44 Geoff Emery

Matthew Halliday Mark Skaife Steve Owen Luke Youlden David Besnard Warren Luff David Reynolds Cameron McConville Allan Simonsen Dean Canto Marcus Marshall Owen Kelly John McIntyre James Moffat Greg Ritter Paul Morris David Russell David Brabham Glenn Seton Shane Price Craig Baird David Wall Michael Patrizi Ryan Briscoe Jack Perkins Nathan Pretty Dale Wood Taz Douglas Rod Salmon/ Marcus Zukanovic Ant Pedersen Andrew Jones

Trading Post Commodore TeamVodafone Commodore TeamVodafone Commodore Orrcon Steel FPR Falcon Fujitsu/GRM Commodore Jim Beam Racing Falcon Toll HRT Commodore Toll HRT Commodore Castrol Edge Commodore The Bottle-O Falcon Jim Beam Racing Falcon Jack Daniel’s Commodore SP Tools Racing Falcon Dunlop FPR Falcon Fujitsu/GRM Commodore Supercheap Auto Commodore Dick Johnson Racing Falcon Irwin Racing Falcon Rock Racing Commodore Centaur Racing Commodore Bundaberg Red Commodore Fair Dinkum Sheds Commodore Bing Lee/Panasonic Falcon Bundaberg Red Commodore Wilson Security Falcon Gulf Western Oil Commodore Jack Daniel’s Commodore Stratco Commodore NDD Commodore

2:08.8025 2:08.9956 2:07.8698 2:10.3381 2:08.0543 2:07.4657 2:08.2774 2:09.3844 2:08.3751 2:09.3188 2:08.3154 2:08.4050 2:08.6646 2:09.9431 2:09.3346 2:08.9669 2:08.9631 2:10.5617 2:09.3002 2:10.1833 2:10.1293 2:10.4548 2:10.9166 2:11.6813 2:09.9455 2:11.1693 2:09.6606 2:13.6673 2:13.8195

2:10.6963 2:09.4403 2:09.1586 2:10.2578 2:09.7696 2:08.6472 2:09.6983 2:10.4361 2:09.9248 2:11.5523 2:09.2398 2:10.9773 2:08.9697 2:09.9086 2:09.3138 2:10.4402 2:09.5426 2:10.3897 2:09.8131 2:11.2508 2:10.1817 2:12.0018 2:10.5696 2:11.7312 2:11.4697 2:10.2907 2:11.2514 2:12.8423 2:19.8398

2:07.8901 2:07.5068 2:07.1309 2:07.7539 2:08.7322 2:07.3594 2:08.2087 2:08.0686 2:08.3565 2:08.1239 2:08.6582 2:08.8616 2:09.4020 2:08.7337 2:08.6480 2:08.2537 2:08.4120 2:08.8574 2:08.2570 2:09.0849 2:08.6739 2:08.6669 2:10.0857 2:10.5120 2:09.0820 2:10.1077 2:08.4005 2:12.4143 No time

2:08.9438 2:08.3074 2:07.8538 2:08.0514 2:08.9704 2:08.2741 2:08.9169 2:10.0837 2:09.0114 2:10.5816 2:09.1203 2:10.0673 2:10.0338 2:09.4455 2:09.2737 2:10.0105 2:09.0629 2:09.7172 2:10.3878 2:09.6425 2:09.3537 2:10.4857 2:08.8221 2:10.0209 2:10.1030 2:10.1994 2:10.7907 2:10.6513 2:11.2661

2:07.7587 2:06.8012 2:07.9001 2:07.9093 2:07.3415 2:07.5608 2:08.1296 2:08.0832 2:08.0834 2:08.6723 2:08.1305 No Time 2:08.7825 2:08.0404 2:08.6573 2:08.8398 2:08.6373 2:09.5992 2:08.5021 2:09.3461 2:08.4413 2:07.9339 2:09.0814 2:09.5497 2:08.9339 2:10.8231 2:07.8402 2:10.7731 2:10.9176

2:07.0002 2:07.0069 2:07.3663 2:07.4526 2:07.4687 2:07.7278 2:07.7375 2:07.7899 2:07.8646 2:07.8717 2:07.9635 2:08.0556 2:08.0656 2:08.1161 2:08.2907 2:08.3542 2:08.3753 2:08.4052 2:08.4550 2:08.5508 2:08.6359 2:08.8156 2:08.8886 2:09.0272 2:09.0784 2:09.1773 2:09.3223 2:10.4957 2:11.5023

Fujitsu Falcon BF Team BOC Commodore

2:11.4393 2:08.0232

2:16.1866 2:09.3249

2:10.8027 2:09.8231

2:11.7544 2:08.6165

2:09.8309 2:08.0834

EXC No Time

30 27 Damian Assaillit 31 8 Jason Richards

# Co-drivers’ only session *Zukanovic replaced Salmon in #44 after P3 www.mnews.com.au

31

Icy Pole

Dirk Klynsmith

32

MARK Winterbottom did do a ‘Shoot-Out’ lap in the Saturday morning practice session. It’s just, nobody noticed.

While a number of drivers waited until the last 15 minutes of the session before they had a one-lap simulation, Frosty tried his early. It was not a success – in fact, at an 8.7, it was almost 1.6s off the pace of Lee Holdsworth – so he parked the car and handed it over to Luke Youlden to finish the session.

That sounded bad, except that there was a good reason. There was traffic when Winterbottom stormed up Mountain Straight with his eyes on, so he gave it away. That, and the fact that he had a bad Qualifying lap, made the fact that he was the closest of the 10 drivers to his Friday afternoon time look a little better than it probably was.

The Fones were next, Lowndes ahead of Whincup, the latter helpfully pointing out that he had already got his crash for the weekend out of the way.

The interesting lap was that of Holdsworth.

After the morning session, clearly he had speed to burn, the best of the Holdens. In the shoot-out he had the fastest Commodore

to the first Split, a point which is largely a drag race uphill and a pretty good indicator of horsepower. His split was bested only by Frosty and virtually equalled by Lowndes.

So there could be some merit in the theory that has been around for a few months, that TeamVodafone’s KRE engines and the Jamie Noonan Chevys used by BJR, are probably up on speed on the ones from Clayton – except GRM uses Walkinshaw Racing motors. If HRT is suffering more from the new control cam than some of the other teams in pitlane, a lack of speed gain on a green tyre is not much helping the cause in qualifying.

Any power deficit is not going to be helped by what came out of the weekend. The splits from Lowndes’s Friday lap showed that speed up and down the hill is down on what it was in 2003, with the cars having grown, so less punch has to punch a bigger hole through the air. One driver reported that his car was losing 1s on Conrod, Pit Straight and Mountain Straight, but making it up on every corner but one (which was a tie). The times may be the same but the components that make them up have changed, and changed a lot. motorsport news

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Back, in Black

Rob Lang

ON Thursday and Friday, plenty of eyes were on IndyCar star Ryan Briscoe.

His ability as a driver was never in question, but the task he faced in the lead up to the Great Race was monumental. Having finished fourth at HomesteadMiami the weekend before, Briscoe had to fly half way around the world, adjust to a new time zone, and commence practice aboard the #10 Bundy Red Racing Commodore – all in the space of 48 hours. It was a whirlwind transition from a Penske IndyCar in America, to a Walkinshaw V8 Supercar in Australia.

As you’d expect from a driver of his calibre, his progress was impressive. In Thursday’s co-driver session, he was 27th with a best of 2:11.7312. During Friday’s co-driver session, he’d improved to 19th with a 2:10.0209.

“It’s challenging. It’s right up there with the biggest challenge I’ve faced, adapting to such a different car in such a short amount of time,” Briscoe told eNews.

“Thursday was really hard, because everything happened at once. But once I could sleep on it and come back, I felt much more comfortable and my times were very consistent.”

Briscoe has done the endurance races before (with HRT back in 2006), but despite being four years more experienced, he admitted that it was harder to get back into the swing of things the second time around.

“The last time I did this, I came out to Australia a few times and did the passenger ride days. That was a huge help. I felt really comfortable in the car before I got to Sandown, so it was just a case of learning the track and going from there.

“It’s been four years since then, and I’ve driven heaps of different cars, so this is definitely more challenging. It’s been very rushed.”

– ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN

Swimming Upstream ROD Salmon earned the undistinguished honour of being the first main series driver to find the wall at Bathurst this year.

Driving the Greg Murphy Racing wildcard entry, Salmon hit the wall hard after The Dipper during Practice 2, the first of the co-driver session. He hopped out of the car and immediately withdrew from the race, leaving Marcus Zukanovic to sub for him in the GMR machine. As if anticipating such a situation, Zukanovic was already cross-entered in the #44 car – a wise move given Salmon’s best time was a 2:19.8398, www.mnews.com.au

some 11.19s behind Warren Luff ’s best of the session, and 12.37s slower than James Courtney’s best from Practice 1. Even without the crash, there were questions already mounting around the paddock whether Salmon would even qualify.

“Rod wasn’t shaken up by the crash, but it helped his decision to step down,” said GMR boss Kevin Murphy.

“He wasn’t only struggling to set a time that would be competitive and meet the 107 percent qualifying requirement, but also felt his recent inexperience would be

a hindrance when he was mixed up with other cars. He didn’t want to spoil anyone else’s race.”

While Salmon was the first driver in a main series car to find the wall, Phil Foster ate the biggest amount of concrete from any V8 driver on Thursday, in the Fujitsu Series’ P1. He lost control of his Commodore at Skyline, was tapped from behind by and unsuspecting David Russell, and then slapped the wall hard. The incident put him out for the weekend.

– ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN 33

BATHURST 1000 RACE COVERAGE

T

HERE are races and there are great races but, just maybe, the 2010 version of the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 will go down as one for the ages.

The race had a little bit of everything, from a series of headline-grabbing controversies and excitement before the race started, Sunday performances from underdogs, turnarounds and heartbreaks and, perhaps, one of the most popular results in the race’s history.

One-two finishes are rare and, usually, stage-managed, well clear of the opposition.

When Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup set up a side-by-side run to the flag, there did so in the knowledge that one slip would hand the win to Garth Tander, who was very close behind, and that the cars would almost certainly grind to a fuel-less halt half a lap past the flag.

The race went from a fuel-conservation exercise to a six-lap sprint in one moment.

The fourth Safety Car of the day on lap 153, when Will Davison’s hopes of two wins in a 34

row ended in the wall at Reid Park, likewise put to an end the short-shifting, no-blipdownshifting ‘racing’ that had been going on, as engineers implored their drivers to conserve fuel at all costs. The final round of stops was prompted by a yellow flag with 27 laps remaining, three to four laps outside the comfort zone of most of the drivers, and it was by no means certain that all the drivers would make it home.

“We still had [fuel] alarms on with a lap to go,” Lowndes confessed later.

But if a 1-2 was an historic result for the ’Fones, it was not because they had the two fastest cars in the race. Lowndes did, having set a new practice record on Friday, but his greatest challenger was Lee Holdsworth – or rather, Holdsworth and David Besnard. The GRM car held Lowndes at bay lap after lap and Bezzy reminded everyone of his pure speed until he fell victim to one of the debris-caused delaminations, and pitted for an early stop.

On the way in, he exceeded the pitlane speed limit, a small but sad stain on what

was otherwise a co-driver’s performance from the very top drawer.

“To get the old band back together is a dream come true,” smiled an exhausted Lowndes, after 79 laps of never-say-die concentration.

Skaife started the race, a seemingly brave call for a now once-a-year driver, even one of his credentials, but he did his job, brilliantly, until he started to suffer back spasms in his second stint. The team had no choice but to send Lowndes out to do the second half of the race, which he did, as usual, with a smile and seemingly without apparent effort.

“It was a late call to do the start with Mark,” said Lowndes. “We had a little understeer but in my last stint, and I had three of them, I caught up with Bezzy.”

Said a satisfied but pleased Skaife after his sixth win, “It does not get any better in motorsport in this country.”

Whincup’s car probably lacked the last few tenths of Lowndes’s over race week, but a strong second was a fine reward for him and motorsport news

race

Dirk Klynsmith

Dirk Klynsmith

Peter Bury

www.mnews.com.au

Peter Bury

the polished Steve Owen.

“To be honest, it felt like a win to me,” said JDub, “Lowndesy was a big part of my two championships and I feel like a part of this win.

“We were both racing hard, to get away from Garth.”

Tander and McConville, almost literally, dragged their Holden Racing Team Commodore to the flag. It had bent steering, it had hit a kangaroo and during a pitstop, the driver’s door fell off. Never have so many setbacks been dodged by a pair, in a car that did not have quite the speed of some of the opposition.

There was plenty of heartbreak in the race. Davison’s slip ended an impressive team effort in HRT’s #22, ably supported

by David Reynolds. James Courtney maintained a healthy points lead in what will be a landmark weekend, for reasons behind the scenes, for Jim Beam Racing, while pole position was a highlight for Mark Winterbottom, whose hopes for a race win were scuppered by a debris-punctured tyre.

Formation Finish: Triple Eight’s 1-2 was a spectacular sight, top, while car #33’s early pace didn’t hurt their economy, matching #888 for stops, above. HRT had to recover from losing a door, below.

35

WINNERS CRAIG LOWNDES: 79 laps equals almost half the race. In one stint. And winning the race. And looking fit enough to do another stint.

What a stone, cold star.

HOLDEN RACING TEAM: We said they needed to turn things around in Bathurst, and that’s exactly what they did.

DAVID BESNARD: Forgetting the speeding issue, he held off Lowndes for the better part of two stints, constantly re-establishing the gap. Great drive, Bezzy.

JAMES COURTNEY: Did what you do in a championship year; scored points in a race that he couldn’t win.

KARL REINDLER: May well be the real deal, the young West Aussie.

LOSERS MARK WINTERBOTTOM: Again! Is this guy is the new Glenn Seton? So fast, so little to show for it.

LUKE YOULDEN: Tyre issue forced him to have a crash that looked like his fault. Just bad luck, really.

JASON RICHARDS: Similar boat as Frosty. All the speed in the world, but not even a Top 10 to take away from the weekend.

KELLY RACING: The only good thing that happened to them was that no one was hurt in the helicopter crash.

36

TYRE problems reared their ugly heads once again during the 2010 running of the Bathurst 1000.

Like the problem seen several years back, many teams were finding strange cuts in the tyres after a stint at Mount Panorama.

And like the previous issue, the tyres themselves copped the initial blame. That’s not a huge surprise, given that a cut tyre effectively took the pole-sitting Ford Performance Racing car out of contention, with Luke Youlden pummelling the wall at The Cutting mid-race after a sudden blow-out. Jamie Whincup also had to endure a cut tyre, successfully completing two laps on the ticking tyre bomb, and a cut tyre also sent Fabian Coulthard into a violent first-lap roll – although that was clearly due to contact with another car

(see separate breakout).

After the race, Dunlop’s operations manager Kevin Fitszimons told eNews that upon inspection, the issue was clearly not caused by the integrity of the Dunlop control tyre.

“It must have been something on the track,” he said.

“There are some really funny shaped cuts, almost like a miniature star-dropper, with three prongs. It’s not deep enough to go all the way through the tyre to puncture it, but it’s deep enough to put a pretty serious cut in it. It was something on the left-hand side, and some cars hit it and some cars didn’t.

“It’s not a structure issue. So something was cutting those tyres, I have no doubt in the world about that.”

– ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN

Dirk Klynsmith

STONE BROTHERS RACING: All three cars were too slow.

TYRES ... AGAIN

motorsport news

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WHEN GOOD RACECARS TURN BAD

Chris Currie

CAMERAS, cameras everywhere – and that’s the very thing that makes the Seven Network coverage of Bathurst such an obvious award-winner.

It’s not a footy field, a tennis court or a cricket ground – it’s 6.2 kms of road and you have to cover it all, and not just from one angle.

The very best example of the excellence of this broadcast came in the first few minutes of the race, following Fabian Coulthard’s spectacular barrellroll at the Chase. www.mnews.com.au

THE ‘Crash of the Weekend’ award – by quite some margin – went the way of Fabian Coulthard in 2010, and it happened on Lap 1.

If you were to list preferred places to have a left-rear tyre failure, the entry to The Chase wouldn’t get a mention. Pushing 300kmh, with 1000kg of load thrown on the left-side wheels (the majority of which is in the rear), it doesn’t get much worse. Close to six rolls later, and Coulthard emerged from the car virtually unharmed. After nearly an hour in the medical centre with high blood pressure, he spoke to the media about the frightening crash.

“It happens pretty quick,” he said.

“You’re just waiting for it to end. I knew I was on my head, and that I was barrel-rolling multiple times, but you just wait for it to finally run its course and stop. I was flat out, so it was 290-kay plus.

“I had full communication with the team. Rob Starr, my engineer, was on the radio to me straight away saying ‘can you hear me? Are you okay?’ I responded straight away. I was conscious throughout the whole thing. It was better than any ride at Dreamworld. It was the fastest and biggest [crash I’ve ever had].

“I knew a fair bit had come off the car, because I didn’t have to open the door to get out. Once you get and have a look around there are bits and pieces everywhere. It’s not the best position to be in, but the thing that is important is that I’m 100 percent okay.”

While the crash looked spontaneous, it was actually started on the front straight as the lights went out. When Michael Caruso was sluggish off the line, Coulthard and Jason Bargwanna scrambled to get around him. In the melee they touched, and it was enough to turn the offending tyre into a ticking time bomb.

“I had no inkling whatsoever,” added Coulthard. “It all stemmed from the startline. Someone didn’t get away very well, and I came around them and clipped them from the rear, so that probably played its part.”

The next challenge? Having a fresh Bundy Red VE Commodore ready for the Gold Coast 600 in a fortnight.

“Having only two weeks makes it pretty hard, but the boys do their thing, and they do it well, so I’m sure they’ll have a car ready for me for Indy in a couple of weeks.”

– ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN

In the end, Seven’s three cameras at the Chase – front on, kerb, and rear view – along with, crucially, the back-of-grid angle of the start, enabled Sherlock Crompton to piece together what had happened before they even got to talk to the team or the driver – who bizarrely was interviewed in the Medical Centre!

That is everything you could want from coverage of this race – any race.

The rest was as you would expect. Bad luck stories; lucky escapes; HRT’s usual dud start

FROM THE COUCH with CHRIS LAMBDEN (so it wasn’t Skaifey back then, it was the team!), but in the end experience and quality prevailed.

The commentary and on-camera team is now a smooth, well-drilled outfit, with sufficient long-term motorsport knowledge to balance the occasional hyperbole from the network regulars and the occasional

glitch. It gels pretty well and, for the casual observer to the petrol-head, it’s a good watch.

Yup, my Pommie mate who now calls NZ home has been on the phone again, reminding me just how lucky we are to have such a hot category televised so well. On this occasion, even a Pom isn’t going to get an argument from me.

37

TURNAROUND BEFORE the race, any number of media outlets, including eNews, suggested that it would take a big lift in game to get a result at Bathurst.

There was a big lift in game. The monochrome VEs were not quite rocketships, but they were there in the race, despite some funny moments. Garth Tander even glanced a kangaroo!

Then, the doors fell off or, at least, one of them.

“When I was there in the second pitstop, looking at a door on the ground, I thought we were in for a long day.

“Garth was wondering why I wasn’t 38

getting in,” said Cam McConville.

“I had a door in my hand! I was waiting for the Benny Hill music!”

The other car was looking good for third until Will Davison lost the car into the Reid Park wall. After the race, he was understandably distraught, and did not speak to the media, but his co-driver, David Reynolds, did.

“It’s just part of racing, you know?

Everyone is trying to hard in this last 10 laps. It was a very, very, very insignifcant mistake, and it costs us a great result. If I was in the same position, I probably would have done the same thing.

“When I saw it, a few swear words went through my mind, but then you think ‘well, it’s all over’. That’s part of the race.

I’ve been here before when it was all over before the race started, so I’ve had both ends of the scale now.

“We did a good job, overall. The car got faster and faster as the weekend went on.

At the start of the race the car was very fast, then it started to drop off at the end.

Until then, we were looking good.”

Surfers just might suit the point-andsquirt nature of the Clayton cars. And, if the team’s sponsors okay it, Claytonites, keep the new paint! motorsport news

race

Dirk Klynsmith

www.mnews.com.au

HISTORY will show that #33 finished in eighth place at Bathurst in 2010. But those that were there will know that Lee Holdsworth, David Besnard, and Fujitsu Racing probably deserved a whole lot more.

Holdsworth and Besnard were both sublime at Bathurst, as was their GRM Commodore. Having stormed into the lead in the early part of the race, it was obvious that their car was fast. But the ease in which they barged past the leaders, we were left to wonder if they were going to murder their fuel economy. Not so, admitted Holdsworth after the race.

“We were spot on with strategy,” he said.

“I thought the guys around me were being conservative with their fuel, but they were pitting at the same time as me, so I knew we were looking good. The pace we had at the start of the race was incredible. Whincup and Skaife weren’t warming their tyres up at the start to save fuel, so I knew I’d be quick on the first lap because they’d be sliding around.

That happened, and we got to the front, and I thought they were all on a different strategy

Dirk Klynsmith

SO CLOSE, SO FAR

to us. I was just trying to pull a huge gap.”

Then, it all went sour. Car #33 received a black flag for speeding in pit-lane, followed by the wrong tyres being fitted for the final stint to the flag.

“It’s gut-wrenching. We had the best car out there, the fastest car, and once we got the drive-through penalty, it got worse and worse. The boys put a different set of tyres on in the last stint to what we wanted, so we didn’t have any pace in the end after the drive-through.

“Once we went onto the other set of tyres, which had done a fair few laps, I knew we didn’t have the pace. After the last Safety Car I pushed as hard as I could, but I didn’t have the pace. I’m not sure what happened, but we had a different plan on strategy.

“I’m not even sure why we got a drivethrough yet. They are saying it was speeding in pit-lane, but I don’t think I was speeding.

They said it was 50-something, and I can’t imagine I reached fifty kays going uphill out of pit-lane.”

– ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN 39

POINT MADE

WALLY Storey had a right to feel a little deflated on Sunday evening in Bathurst.

As the tech guru behind car #8, he’d given Jason Richards one heck of a fast car to play with at Mount Panorama, and at the end of the weekend they had little to show for it.

Things went downhill badly for the Team BOC Commodore on Friday morning, when Richards found the wall, and the car missed qualifying. On paper, given the speed that both Richards and Jones had in the practice sessions, its feasible that Brad Jones Racing might have had a 1-2 in regular qualifying along with Jason Bright. Feasible, but not easy.

“The marketing blokes would say yes, no problem, but it isn’t that easy,” said Storey. The blokes we are up against are no ghouls; we’re up against very good people. We might have had a 1-2, we might not, but certainly we would have

had a chance. JR was quick right out of the gate – he did an eight-dead on used tyres, which had done 10 or 12 laps at Phillip Island. But we didn’t get better at it, because there were too many mistakes.”

Mistakes aside, once again BJR showed they are Bathurst specialists by delivering three lightening quick racing cars. So what’s the secret?

“JR. He was fast last year, so it’s not a new thing,” Storey added.

“Really that’s the answer. And I’ve been here a lot of times, and generally speaking I can make a car fast enough that, if everything is working at the end, will finish on the podium. Out of all the tracks, I’m better here than anywhere else – and that’s an experience thing.”

Even starting from pit-lane, it was hard to discount the Richards/Jones entry as a chance on Sunday. After all, during Sunday’s early morning warm-up, Richards flew around Mount Panorama

to record a 2:07.7796s, on his second lap, which was 0.74s quicker than anyone else in the field. A warning shot? Nah, just scrubbing in some rubber.

“Keep it mind, when you don’t qualify, you’ve only used one set of green tyres, so our bank was good,” said Storey.

“Really, we needed to scrub them, so we did one short run on half a tank of fuel, and then we filled it up. He could have gone faster if we’d put 60 litres of fuel in and used two sets of tyres – we’d have looked like geniuses – but that’s not the object of the game. We needed to scrub three sets of tyres before the race, and that’s what we did.

“It was good for Jason’s confidence, because his head was down a bit after Friday. But the last thing it was, was a warning shot … because you don’t want the rest of the field to know you’re coming.”

– ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN

TOUGH LOVE STOREY

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John Morris/Mpix

IF you’d bumped into Karl Reindler last Wednesday evening and offered him a 2:07-something in practice and 15th for the Bathurst 1000, he probably would have taken it on the spot.

However, having achieved both of those objectives by Sunday evening, the West Australian looked a little despondent as he cooled off in the team’s ice bath after the race. Because, like any good sportsperson, the little taste of competitiveness gave Reindler an insatiable appetite for more.

Reindler and David Wall had a very solid weekend in the Fair Dinkum Sheds Commodore. Reindler clearly caught the speed bug from his Brad Jones Racing team-mates during the practice sessions, rocketing his way to a 2:07.9339 in Practice 5, the eigth quickest time of the session.

He and Wall then slipped back to 22nd in qualifying, but with some nifty strategy,

a solid showing from Wall, and the best – I repeat, the best – fuel economy from anyone in the race, Reindler was running seventh in the latter stages of the race.

“The economy definitely helped our cause, but there were some good calls from the team as well, in terms of bringing in the car,” he told eNews.

“That really helped. And the car had really good pace. When I was out there, I had [James] Courtney behind me and he never even came close to having a crack at passing me. We were doing low-10s, and that was as fast as anyone on the track. I dipped into the nines, so our race pace was great.”

But after the last stop, and the subsequent Safety Car, Reindler’s Commodore seemed to lose a bunch of pace. He became a sitting duck, behind swallowed by eight cars before the

chequered flag.

“I don’t know what happened at the end.

I don’t know if it was a bad set of tyres, or if they were pressured wrong, but the car just transformed from a very comfortable car into a car that wore me out. What made it worse was that I lost my left rear-vision mirror, which dents your confidence a bit because you can’t commit to a corner.”

And that, ladies and gentleman, is why Reindler was a disappointed man after the race, despite taking a well above average finish.

“Once I worked out how quick the car was, and to do the seven in practice was massive confidence boost, I set myself a goal of finishing in the Top 10,” he admitted.

“I didn’t quite make that goal, so that’s why I’m a little disappointed, but it’s still been, a great day.”

– ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN

Results :: Race 18 – Bathurst, NSW Pos

Driver 1

Driver 2

Team

Sponsor

Time

F/Lap

On

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

Skaife Whincup McConville Bright Courtney Murphy Holdsworth Ingall Winterbottom Caruso S. Richards Johnson A. Davison Canto Reindler R. Kelly Noske Slade J.Webb Kelly van Gisbergen Ricciardello J. Richards Emery Thompson Assaillit W. Davison Bargwanna Fiore D’Alberto Coulthard

Lowndes Owen G.Tander Halliday Luff Simonsen Besnard Morris Youlden Ritter Moffat Marshall Brabham Dumbrell Wall O. Kelly Pretty Perkins David Russell Wood McIntyre Douglas Jones Zukanovic Briscoe Pedersen Reynolds Seton Patrizi Price Bairdo

TeamVodafone TeamVodafone HRT Jones DJR PMM GRM PMM FPR GRM FPR DJR SBR FPR/Nash Jones Kelly Dumbrell SBR DJR Kelly SBR Kelly Jones GMR WR MWR HRT Kelly Triple F Centaur WR

TeamVodafone Vodafone Toll Trading Post Jim Beam Castrol Fujitsu Racing Supercheap Orrcon Steel Fujitsu Dunlop Jim Beam Irwin The Bottle-O Fair Dinkum Sheds Jack Daniel’s Gulf Western Wilson Security Mother’s Jack Daniel’s SP Tools Stratco BOC NDD Bundaberg Red Fujitsu Toll Rock Bing Lee Centaur Bundaberg Red

6:12:51.4153 6:12:51.5886 6:12:52.6649 6:12:53.7856 6:12:57.6154 6:12:58.4983 6:12:58.9621 6:13:01.2865 6:13:02.1909 6:13:02.7375 6:13:03.7746 6:13:04.0486 6:13:09.1146 6:13:10.5520 6:13:10.9421 6:13:17.5931 6:13:20.5870 6:13:20.8655 6:15:08.9567 160 laps 158 laps 158 laps 157 laps 156 laps 154 laps 153 laps 152 laps 132 laps 56 laps 38 laps 0 laps

2:08.8845 2:09.2179 2:09.2667 2:08.8215 2:09.3197 2:09.5347 2:08.8318 2:09.8163 2:09.3814 2:09.8840 2:10.1229 2:10.3362 2:10.1083 2:09.8438 2:09.8731 2:09.5874 2:10.6515 2:10.6653 2:10.3679 2:10.3026 2:09.7968 2:11.5584 2:08.9797 2:10.6406 2:09.8808 2:11.4358 2:09.1156 2:10.5527 2:10.7384 2:10.5560

108 159 140 142 77 65 53 78 10 69 53 11 130 87 9 62 32 117 82 7 118 10 52 48 58 37 68 10 56 12

Peter Bury

4 Safety Cars/8 laps total Fastest lap: Bright on lap 142, 2:08.8215

www.mnews.com.au

41

FUJITSU V8 SUPERCAR SERIES ROUND 5, BATHURST

RUSSELL UP A

42

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A COUPLE OF WINS David Russell stepped up his game in a serious manner at Mount Panorama, winning both of the FV8 races. MITCHELL ADAM was there

Dirk Klynsmith

www.mnews.com.au

43

O

NE driver dominated Round 5 of the 2010 Fujitsu Series, but it wasn’t Steve Owen.

Instead, it was David Russell, who produced what could be viewed as a breakthrough performance, with pole and two commanding race wins. His weekend actually started poorly, though, when he was caught up in Phil Foster’s practice accident at the top of the Mountain on Thursday.

From there, things got better. With a 2:07.8414 in qualifying, he became the first man to beat Owen to a pole position in 2010. Then, in a Safety Car-riddled opening race, he resisted pressure from the series leader and broke away to take a comfortable win. In the second race, he didn’t get a great getaway, but benefited from brake troubles which saw Owen go straight on at the final corner on Lap 2, and then passed Paul Morris to go on to win by five seconds.

Russell’s season with MW Motorsport hasn’t quite gone to plan, but his first round win of the year couldn’t have come on a bigger stage.

“I’m pumped about my first round win of the year,” he enthused.

“It took a while; it’s been a bit of an up and down season. To come here and take pole and win both races is fantastic, and I’ll cherish this moment for sure.”

Owen eventually limped home with his front braking issues to 17th in the race, but he still holds a 175-point lead in the standings with two rounds remaining.

Also in the wars, Morris was on track for second in Race 2 (after having finished third in Race 1), before his car crawled to a halt on the final lap.

That elevated James Moffat to second. Moffat, like Russell, has had his share of trouble in 2010, but that result and fourth in the opener saw him claim second for the weekend.

“We never really had a handle on my car all weekend, unfortunately,” Moffat admitted. “It was a bit of a rollercoaster over the top of the Mountain, but we did 44

our best and second is a nice reward.”

Third went to Nick Percat, relishing his step up from a VZ Commodore to a Walkinshaw Racing VE. The South Australian was fifth in Race 1, and challenged Moffat for much of Race 2. He’s now back up to second in the points, displacing Tim Blanchard, who had a tough weekend. A spin at Griffins Bend in the opener saw him finish 14th, before he got back to fifth on Saturday.

Other than Russell, the standout performer was Chaz Mostert. In his first race meeting in a V8Supercar and first in anything at Bathurst, the Formula Ford Championship leader took fourth for the round. He kept it clean and improved his pace in each session.

“At the start of the weekend, I just wanted to keep the car straight, that was the only goal I had,” he said.

“When I started practicing, I was around 11th, and ninth, and my goal was to be in the Top 10. I didn’t care if I was ninth, I just wanted to be in the Top 10.

So I’m ecstatic to be fourth, really. In my first round here and at Bathurst, I couldn’t have asked for anything better.”

The weekend’s other debutant, Formula 3 Championship leader Ben Barker, didn’t disgrace himself, either. Barker qualified 10th, but a slow start and minor off at Turn 1 saw him finish 15th, but he got back to seventh in Race 2.

Of the regulars, Geoff Emery and Rodney Jane had typically consistent weekends, finishing fifth and seventh for the round, while Marcus Zukanovic fought back from mechanical issues in qualifying to finish each race inside the Top 10.

Among Friday’s incidents, Drew Russell’s race ended with his Falcon on its side at Griffins. Russell was tagged into a spin by Ryan Hansford, and bounced up off the tyre barrier. After a mammoth repair job by the small team, he got back out there on Saturday, finishing 11th, behind brother Aaren.

Scott McLaughlin also found trouble in Race 1, crashing at Reid Park, and didn’t return for Race 2 on his debut at the Mountain. motorsport news

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Dirk Klynsmith Dirk Klynsmith

Russells of different fortunes: Drew Russell had a soft roll at King Gee (nee Griffins) Bend in Race 1, above, while his namesake David added to his trophy collection – twice, left. Tim Blanchard also tripped up at King Gee, above left, which meant he had to charge through the field in Race 2.

Top 10 Points: Owen 1268, Percat 1093, David Russell 1093, Blanchard 1046, Moffat 950, Jane 847, Aaren Russell 706, Zukanovic 691, Emery 678, Drew Russell 615.

Results :: FV8 Round 5, Bathurst NSW

Dirk Klynsmith

www.mnews.com.au

Pos

#

Driver

Team/Car

Qual

R1

R2

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22

28 99 222 86 48 45 777 999 71 26 59 46 67 96 75 62 95 66 38 58 32 93

David Russell James Moffat Nick Percat Chaz Mostert Geoff Emery Steve Owen Rodney Jane Tim Blanchard Marcus Zukanovic Ben Barker Aaren Russell Daniel Jilesen Paul Morris Ryan Hansford Aaron McGill Adam Wallis Nathan Vince Phil Foster Ben Eggelston Drew Russell Paul Fiore Scott McLaughlin

Team Jayco Falcon BF Norton 360 Ford Rising Stars Falcon BF Bundaberg Red Racing Team Commodore VE East Coast Traffic Control Falcon BF National Directory Dist. Commodore VZ Earthex Racing Commodore VE Bob Jane T-Marts Falcon BF Sonic Motor Racing Services Falcon BF Midway Commodore VZ MW Motorsport Falcon BF Go Karts Go / ESET Aust Falcon BF Jilesen Racing Commodore VE The Love Machine Commodore VE V8 Race Experience Falcon BF Auto-Motion Falcon BF Volvo Construction Equipment Commodore VZ Batavia Coast Motorsport Falcon BF Roadwise Racing Commodore VZ JAX Quickfit Tyres Commodore VE Go Karts Go/ESET Aust. Falcon BF Triple F Racing Falcon BF Fujitsu Racing Falcon BF

1 4 6 11 12 2 7 5 21 10 17 15 3 13 18 19 20 22 14 9 16 8

1 4 5 6 8 2 7 14 10 15 12 11 3 18 16 17 20 19 9 DNF 13 DNF

1 2 3 4 6 16 8 5 9 7 10 13 DNF 12 14 16 15 18 DNF 11 DNF DNS 45

V8 UTES ROUND 6, BATHURST

Top With two race wins and a round win, David Sieders a pretty fine weekend at Bathurst as Grant Johnson moved closer to the V8 Ute title, DANIEL HERRERO reports

D

AVID Sieders may not have won all three races at Mount Panorama, but his family’s team did.

And while Grant Johnson’s hot streak came to and end, he has reason to smile after his nearest rival, Jack Elsegood, had an ordinary weekend, culminating in exclusion from Race 3 due to a technical infringement.

Sieders was dominant in the first and third encounters, while Ben Dunn won the partial reverse-grid affair, his first win since Race 2 at Wakefield Park back in 2007.

Johnson took pole, and led away in the opening race, but was cut down by Sieders on Conrod Straight before the first lap was over. Race 3 was 46

a carbon copy – Johnson got the better start off the front row, but car #8 crossed the control first after one circulation, and again never looked like being caught. “[It was] awesome. We met our targets, other than pole position – which we should have had – but that’s due to a practice mechanical failure.

We had no laps, and that’s our first time here in a Ute,” Sieders explained.

“But it’s been a good weekend, I can’t complain – front row start, two race wins, the team’s just done an awesome job.”

Johnson complained of a lack of straight-line speed, a more significant issue at Bathurst than most other tracks, and while he failed

to win a race for the first time since Adelaide, he was content to further stretch the margin over Jack Elsegood in the title race.

“We got passed by Holdens and Fords this weekend, so I just struggled, for whatever reason,” said Johnson.

“But we’re obviously happy with second for the weekend and extending the championship lead.”

The news got even better for Johnson when his HiTech Motorsport stablemate Elsegood – who had already had a disappointing weekend by his standards – was excluded from the final race of the weekend after scrutineering found that the wheelbase measurements were not within regulations.

Ryal Harris experienced his best showing for some time with three third placings, while former Wallaby Rugby Union player Dunn was buzzing after greeting the chequered first on Saturday afternoon.

“That ranks right up there – I’d take any race at Mount Panorama,” he said.

“When you cross the line first, it doesn’t make any difference.

It’s a fantastic feeling, especially coming across the top of the mountain – everyone’s standing up and cheering. Everyone loves the Utes and they love a good Utes race.”

Behind Dunn, Steve McFadden and Warren Millett didn’t exactly have ‘a good Utes race’, both coming to motorsport news

race

James Smith

Peter Bury

More Grunta: Grant Johnson’s, top, weekend got even better when title rival Jack Elsegood, above, was excluded from Race 3.

Gary MacDonald, right, had a consistent run.

John Morris / Mpix

www.mnews.com.au

Dirk Klynsmith

grief on the opening lap in an incident reminiscent of Greg Murphy’s and Marcos Ambrose’s big one approaching The Cutting in 2005.

Noel Edge tagged McFadden’s left-rear corner at the infamous kink, sending the #5 Falcon into the wall.

He was then collected by Millett, who had been clipped

by Jason Gomersall from the right, as the latter attempted to take evasive action.

For his troubles, Edge was slapped with a $10,000 fine ($7,000 suspended), a loss of 70 championship points, and exclusion from the final race of the weekend, while McFadden is highly unlikely to make the next meeting at the Gold Coast in a fortnight.

47

AUST. GT CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 5, BATHURST

THE BATHURST QUIN

The Quinn boys – Tony and Klark – went 1-2 respectively at Bathurst. DANIEL HERRERO report

D

AVID Wall is the hot favourite to claim back-to-back Vodka O Australian GT Championships following the penultimate round at Mount Panorama on the weekend.

Amongst the frequent red flags and safety car periods, there was actually some racing.

While Wall never seriously threatened for the lead, the misfortune of his closest rival, Peter Hackett, means that the

Brad Jones Racing enduro driver will take a handy lead to the final meeting at Sandown next month.

Tony Quinn was the man in charge at Bathurst, putting his VIP Petfoods Aston Martin on pole, and comfortably winning both races, in spite of having his lead cut down by safety cars twice in Race 1, and once in Race 2.

“It was fantastic; monkey off the back, and all the rest of it,”

said Tony Quinn.

“I’ve got a little television screen in the car – because you can’t see out the back – and when you see a car like that on the screen, you know it’s pretty close to you. They were there, but they weren’t bothering me.”

Son Klark Quinn, in the Mosler MT900, was runner-up on both occasions.

He was shadowed by Wall in both races, who showed good pace across the top of

the mountain, but never had a genuine passing opportunity where the Porsche GT3 Cup S was strong. Nevertheless, the 2009 champion was content to increase his lead in the title race.

Hackett came into the weekend within striking distance of Wall, but brushed the wall at The Cutting early in Race 1 after being baulked by Max Twigg.

“I wasn’t even trying to overtake him. He just stopped a little bit sooner than I thought,”

Dirk Klynsmith

Breaking Down The Wall: The Quinn boys were the winners at Bathurst, but David Wall, right, did his title hopes no harm at all. The racing was close in the midfield, above, while Peter Hackett had a shocker of a weekend, below.

John Morris/Mpix

Rob Lang

48

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NELLA

ts

explained Hackett.

“By the time I got on the brakes he was moving back across to the right, and we made really light contact – my left-front to his right-rear – and then I tagged the wall.”

While the Vodka O driver salvaged 10th from Race 2 after the DNF in the opener, he now trails Wall by a hefty margin on the championship ladder. Shane Smollen took out GT Challenge honours or the weekend, while Mark O’Connor got on top in GT Production.

Phil Williams

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49

TOURING CAR MASTERS ROUND 5, BATHURST Dirk Klynsmith

The Master strikes again

Jim Richards was Mr Consistent to add more Bathurst silverware to his impressive collection. LACHLAN MANSELL reviews the TCM action

M

OUNT Panorama veteran Jim Richards has emerged with overall honours in Round 5 of the Touring Car Masters presented by Autobarn at Bathurst, despite not winning any races over the course of the weekend.

Richards finished second in Race 1 behind Andrew Miedecke and second in Race 2 behind Gavin Bullas, before charging from seventh to second in the final, top-eight reverse-grid race to clinch the round win.

50

“The car is the best it has ever been,” Richards said.

“It has the same brakes as the bigger cars, but it’s lighter and more nimble, so I was able to overtake people at Forrests Elbow.”

Gavin Bullas came home second for the round after a controversial clash with Andrew Miedecke in Race 3.

Miedecke tried to overtake Bullas at the Cutting, but the two cars made heavy contact, with Bullas doing well to save his Mustang from a nasty spin in front of the field. Miedecke subsequently retired from the

race with a flat tyre, ending his round podium chances.

“Andrew was being stupid,” Bullas said after the race.

“Running into the back of me on the way up to the Cutting and then almost turning me around, it’s not the sort of thing we need in the category.

“Other than that, the car was really good. It’s a really close position in the championship now between Jim and myself, so I think it’s going to come right down to the wire.”

Brett Youlden brought his HQ Holden Monaro home in third for the round after a consistent

run with fifth, fifth and third in the three races, but the biggest fightback for the weekend came from Leanne Tander.

Tander qualified down in 19th after a troubled run, but drove through the field to seventh in the opening race.

Eighth in Race 2 gave Tander pole position for the final race, and from there she was never headed, driving to her first race win in the category.

Conversely, John Bowe, the series leader entering the round, had a miserable weekend. Bowe qualified fourth, but his participation in

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John Morris / Mpix

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Rob Lang

the races ended after an engine valve in his Mustang failed after the first six laps of Race 1.

With no spare parts available, Bowe was forced to sit out Races 2 and 3, chalking up a nil pointscore for the weekend.

Also enduring horror run’s were Alastair McLean and Trevor Talbot. McLean stalled on the grid in Race 2, and Talbot slammed into the rear of McLean’s Camaro, causing extensive damage to both cars. John Nelson and Michael Acheson were also caught up in the incident, but were able to repair their cars for Race 3.

John Morris / Mpix

Touring Car Mistress: Leanne Tander, above, took her first TCM race win, while Gavin Bullas, right, also picked up a win.

A huge field of old school machinery flocked to Bathurst, bottom right.

51

NASCAR SPRINT CUP ROUND 30, FONTANA, CA

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CHEVY CHASE

A 1-2-3 result at Fontana clinched the manufacturers’ championship for Chevrolet, while the victory for Tony Stewart gave fresh hope to his Sprint Cup Chase quest

www.mnews.com.au

53

S

EVEN days ago, Tony Stewart was 10th in the points and looking pretty much out for the count. But after a charmed run at Fontana he has vaulted to sixth in the Championship Chase, and is now looking half a chance of adding a third NASCAR Sprint Cup to his trophy cabinet.

It helped that while it all worked out for the Office Depot/Old Spice Chevy driver, things went pear-shaped for more than a few of the other Chase contenders.

In serious trouble now are Kyle Busch, and the previous weekend’s winner Greg Biffle, both of whom went out at Fontana with engine failures.

Carl Edwards, who’d been fourth in the points going into this race, added nothing to his points tally after an ignition rotor failure halted his Ford.

Elsewhere, Kurt Busch’s hopes of winning a second Sprint Cup crown were dealt a heavy blow when his Dodge got together late in the race with David

Ragan’s Ford, putting both cars out.

At the subsequent restart, Stewart was quickly into the lead, which he held to the end.

“We’re doing everything we can do,” Stewart said afterwards.

“We’re going to need some help, but we’re doing everything we can do. I’m proud of these guys, and just so thankful ... they refuse to give up, they refuse to back down. We’ll just keep doing what we’re doing here.”

Clint Bowyer passed Jimmie Johnson late in the race for second in what was a bittersweet result for the Childress Chevy driver. Bowyer had badly wanted a win after the disappointment of the first Chase event at New Hampshire, in which he was stripped of victory due to a technical infringement.

“A good run was crucial for our race team after what had happened with our win,” Bowyer said, “and we got that today. But I was frustrated I

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didn’t get a win.

“I really, really wanted to win just to set the record straight on what had happened with the last win. We’re capable of winning races, and if we keep doing what we did today, we’re going to win another one.”

Non-Chase runners Kasey Kahne, Ryan Newman and Mark Martin were fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively. Kevin Harvick was seventh, followed

by Denny Hamlin, Jeff Gordon and David Reutimann.

Marcos Ambrose endured a tough race that included two lurid spins on the way to finishing a disappointing 33rd.

“It was a wild ride out there today,” Ambrose said. “We threw everything at the car to try and gain some more grip, but it was difficult. It spun out twice, and the damage from the flat tyres effectively ruined the day.

“We’re going through a tough time at the moment, but we can turn it around at Charlotte next week.”

www.mnews.com.au

Smoke at both ends: Ragan and Busch had their fair share of problems in California, above left, while Marcos Ambrose had a “wild ride” aboard his Camry, above.

Top 10 Points: Jimmie Johnson 5673, Denny Hamlin 5637, Kevin Harvick 5619, Jeff Gordon 5588, Tony Stewart 5566, Kurt Busch 5533, Carl Edwards 5511, Jeff Burton 5496, Kyle Busch 5486, Greg Biffle 5458. .

Results :: Pepsi Max 400, Fontana, CA Pos 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

No. 14 33 48 9 39 5 29 11 24 00

Driver Tony Stewart Clint Bowyer Jimmie Johnson Kasey Kahne Ryan Newman Mark Martin Kevin Harvick Denny Hamlin Jeff Gordon David Reutimann

Car Chevy Chevy Chevy Ford Chevy Chevy Chevy Toyota Chevy Toyota

Team Stewart/Haas Childress Hendrick Petty Stewart/Haas Hendrick Childress Joe Gibbs Hendrick Waltrip

Sponsor Office Depot/Old Spice The Hartford Lowe’s/Jimmie Johnson Foundation Budweiser Tornados Carquest/Go Daddy.com Shell/Pennzoil FedEx Office Pepsi Max/DuPont Aaron’s Dream Machine

Qual 22 13 8 5 14 11 21 34 17 23

55

JASON’S JOY BTCC JASON Plato wrapped up the 2010 British Touring Car Championship with a pair of wins at the Brands Hatch season finale.

The Chevrolet driver took maximum points in the opening race – winning along with bonus points for pole position and the fastest lap – and a lights-to-flag Race 2 victory ahead of points rival Matt Neal sealed the deal. In the reverse-grid final, he ended up ninth, but his second BTCC crown was already in the bag.

“When I first started in the

BTCC in 1997 with the Renault team I knew we had a fantastic car and it duly won the championship that year,” he said.

“Midway through this season when we unlocked all the secrets of the Chevrolet Cruze I got that same feeling again. It has been a phenomenal car to race but, like I say, that’s very much down to the people at Chevrolet and RML. Personally, I am of course delighted. I’ve been runner-up three times in the last four years so to finally get that second crown probably means I won’t be such a pain in the backside to live

with now!”

Andrew Jordan took out the final race of the year ahead of Steven Kane and Tom Chilton, who won the Independents’ Championship.

Bamber does it again SUPERLEAGUE EARL Bamber’s fairytale Superleague Formula debut has continued, with the Kiwi taking home the big cash for second time in as many starts.

After winning on debut following a late call-up to race at Ordos last weekend, Bamber emerged on top after a chaotic 10th round of the series at a new street circuit in Beijing, in which the Super Final was cancelled due to rain, fog and fading light.

In a 2.733km layout around the 2008 Olympics’ outdoor water park, Bamber started

56

last and got up to sixth in an attrition-filled opening race, with just nine cars finishing. At the head of the field, Craig Dolby took the win from Franck Perera, after early leader Julien Jousse was served a drive-through penalty for jumping the start.

Australian John Martin was among those not to finish, spinning out of contention on Lap 4.

There was just as much going on in Race 2, with Alvaro Parente taking out the 40minute race, which was run in ailing conditions, resulting in a Red Flag and late restart.

Bamber took second to top the pointscore from the two races, ahead of Dolby who was ninth in Race 2.

“We started last on the grid for race 1 so I never thought we’d be leaving with a cheque for €100,000!” Bamber said.

“It was so dark when they restarted the race that I couldn’t even see the buttons on my steering wheel! I just followed Álvaro (Parente) and watched his rear light to see what line he was taking.

Maybe China is lucky for me. I certainly can’t complain about €200,000 in two weekends!”

Martin finished fifth in Race 2.

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P2 FOR DAN

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AUSSIES OVERSEAS DANIEL Ricciardo has fallen just short in his quest to win the Formula Renault 3.5 Championship.

The West Australian entered the final round at Barcelona in a close title fight with Russian driver Mikhail Aleshin, who led the standings by just three points. Ricciardo struck first, taking pole for the opening race, despite a spin late in the session, ahead of Aleshin.

When racing got underway, Ricciardo stamped his dominance on proceedings, leading home Aleshin, who spun late, by 26 seconds. The result saw the pair draw level in the standings with one race remaining.

“I’m a bit surprised I was so fast actually!” Ricciardo admitted.

“The car felt good, but not as good as it has done at a few other events this year, so I didn’t expect to have such a margin over everyone else. Unfortunately I think it made for a boring race for the spectators!

“We’ve improved our chances in the championship and there’s everything to play for now. We just need to concentrate on doing the same job tomorrow.”

On Sunday, there was rain

in Spain, as Ricciardo qualified second behind pole-sitter Esteban Guerrieri, with Aleshin fifth. While Guerrieri went on to take a comfortable win head of British F3 Champion JeanEric Vergne, all eyes were on the title fight. Ricciardo ran in second early, but began to struggle with rear grip with a possible fluid leak, as Aleshin closed in late in the race. In the end, Ricciardo was powerless to hold out the Russian, who made the decisive move to take third and seal the title with two laps remaining.

“It was a pretty long race for me to be honest,” Ricciardo said, “It’s always more difficult to be defending rather than attacking. I just had no grip, I’m not sure if I had some oil on my tyres or something but I was just drifting round the corners.

It probably made for a great show for the spectators, but it’s not the quickest way round a race track.

“I was really surprised at how quickly Mikhail [Aleshin] managed to catch me and I was actually very pleased to hold him off for as long as I did. But you know, second in the championship is a great result in my rookie season; the team have been fantastic so thanks to them. I think we can be pleased with the job we did this year.”

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motorsport news

rear of grid

FAMILY MATTERS

REGARDLESS of what the results say, Bathurst 2010 will be one to remember for the Dumbrell family.

With the blessing of V8 Supercars, Ford and Holden, Paul Dumbrell abandoned his Ford Performance Racing mount on Friday afternoon to take the reigns of the Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport Commodore – with Lucas himself strapped in the passenger’s seat. It might have been a passenger ride, but PD left nothing behind.

“It was a nervous experience at first, but it was great to be back in a racecar,” said Lucas. “It doesn’t compare to any other circuit in Australia. And it’s not the straight-

line speed, it’s the g-forces as you come over the top.’

For Lucas, who was paralysed in a Formula Ford accident at Oran Park in 2008, it was a unique opportunity to see his brother work up close.

“That was very interesting,” he added.

“Elbow-to-Elbow he did a 2:10 flat, so he wasn’t hanging around. He wasn’t taking it easy, let’s put it that way.”

The LDM Commodore is the same Walkinshaw Racing-built VE that Paul raced in Autobarn colours in 2009.

As a side note, eNews thinks it’s gratifying to see the natural rivalry between manufacturers set aside for

something like this. It’s not easy to get permission for a factory Ford driver to drive a factory-backed Holden, just like it’s not easy to get permission to hold passenger rides at Mount Panorama.

But everyone pulled together to make it happen.

At Bathurst, Ford versus Holden is very important. But there are some things in life that are more important than the badges on the front of a car, and this was one of them. The Dumbrell family have had a rough run in recent years, but this is an experience that we’re sure none of them will ever forget.

– ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN

Dirk Klynsmith

MOUNT Panorama is Ford and Holden country, so when eNews arrived aboard a brand spanking new Mazda6 Touring, it turned a few heads.

These particular fans were so passionate about Fords and Holdens that they had shirts printed up, and when eNews did the traditional Wednesday evening lap, they had already been camping at the top of The Mountain since the Saturday before!

Anyway, even they were impressed by the jet-black Mazda we were rocking, and they said we should say a big thanks to the good folk at Mazda for allowing us to travel in style ... even if the car had four less cylinders than these chaps were used to. www.mnews.com.au

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