Motorsport eNews Issue 184 - December 7-13, 2010

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Issue No. 184 December 7 - 13 2010

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W E N R OU

H C

THE BATTLE FOR CAR #18: WILL THE DJR RESOLUTION BE STEVEN RICHARDS’ LIFELINE?

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James Courtney put the Jim Beam aside long enough to spray himself with some fizzy after taking the V8SCS title – with finishes of 15th and 14th!

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Issue No. 184 | Dec 17-13 2010

news 4

28, Again 2011 grid almost set 6 Webb of Intrigue Jono stays with DJR, sort of 9 Atko set for Monte Carlo No Chris, not the biscuits ...

12 Broken shoulder. Again Webber: F1 is safe, bikes not 15 First Look: Penske’s new Shell Busch, Helio show off ‘11 livery

chat 26 Five Minutes With ...

James Courtney

comment 28 van Leeuwen: Silly officials 29 Addison: Clever officials

race 30 Sydney 500 V8 Supercars 40 Fujitsu V8s 44 Utes, TCM, MINI Challenge 50 WA ANDRA Pro Series

trade 56 Classifieds

GRID FOR ‘11 CLOSE TO V8 SUPERCARS

V

ETERAN Steven Richards is likely to find a full-time drive in 2011, as the grid for next season starts to take shape.

With the dust settling on the Dick Johnson Racing ownership fiasco (see separate story), the Sydney paddock was a frenzy of activity in terms of the 2011 driver market. Richards has emerged as the favourite to take over car #18

from James Courtney, with his Ford Performance Racing drive going to Will Davison next season. As Richards is fast, sponsor-friendly and a recognisable name, eNews understands that he is the team’s preference for 2011.

The only name that could threaten Richards’ chances of a DJR deal is James Moffat. The young gun is also on the move from FPR next season after racing for the factory squad in the Fujitsu Series, and has been vocal about seeking opportunities in

Predicted 2011 Entry List Driver James Courtney Garth Tander Tony D’Alberto Alex Davison Mark Winterbottom Will Davison Todd Kelly TBA Shane van Gisbergen Jason Bargwanna Dean Fiore Jason Bright Rick Kelly David Reynolds Steve Johnson Steven Richards Jono Webb Karl Reindler Fabian Coulthard Lee Holdsworth Michael Caruso Russell Ingall Tim Slade Steve Owen Paul Dumbrell Jamie Whincup Craig Lowndes

Team Holden Racing Team Holden Racing Team Tony D’Alberto Racing Stone Brothers Racing Ford Performance Racing Ford Performance Racing Kelly Racing Brad Jones Racing Stone Brothers Racing Kelly Racing Triple F Racing Brad Jones Racing Kelly Racing Kelly Racing Dick Johnson Racing Dick Johnson Racing Tekno Autosports Britek Motorsport Walkinshaw Racing Garry Rogers Motorsport Garry Rogers Motorsport Paul Morris Motorsport James Rosenberg Racing Paul Morris Motorsport Rod Nash Racing Triple Eight Triple Eight

Car Holden Holden Holden Ford Ford Ford Holden Holden Ford Holden Ford Holden Holden Holden Ford Ford Ford Holden Holden Holden Holden Holden Ford Holden Ford Holden Holden

Sponsor Toll Toll Centaur IRWIN Orrcon Trading Post Jack Daniel’s BOC SP Tools Rock Energy Bing Lee Wilson Security Jack Daniel’s Bisley Jim Beam Jim Beam Mother Fair Dinkum Sheds Bundaberg Rum Fujitsu Fujitsu Supercheap Lucky 7 VIP Petfoods The Bottle-O Vodafone Vodafone

Daniel Kalisz

# 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 11 12 14 15 16 17 18 19 21 24 33 34 39 47 51 55 88 888

the main game next year. Moffat was once on the verge of competing in the Fujitsu Series with DJR once before, and having a Johnson and a Moffat in the iconic Ford team would be a public relations coup. eNews understands that Greg Murphy was also approached for the DJR drive, but the desire to retain his long-standing links to Holden will prevail.

His replacement at PMM will be Steve Owen, who is set to drive a VIP Petfoodsbacked car. While Owen is listed as #51 on our predicted entry list, there is every chance that a number change for the REC would be arranged, to allow Murphy to take his famous #51 doorplate elsewhere, or retire it completely. As a result, the #67 could return to PMM for Owen’s car.

– ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN

news

O BEING SORTED

STAND-IN DRIVER FOR #8 V8 SUPERCARS BRAD Jones Racing will this week look to secure a driver for its BOC Gases entry for the start of next season.

Brad Jones told eNews on Monday that the team had only started the process that day to find a stand-in driver for car #8, with Jason Richards unlikely to start the season. The Kiwi will start a course of chemotherapy this week, and his health remains the team’s priority.

“We only started talking about it this morning,” said Jones.

“Jason is taking a step on a pretty rough

journey, and we are all behind him. But I don’t know that he will be fit to race the car at the start of the season.”

Rumours at Homebush over the weekend suggested that Greg Murphy might have been the man in the frame to race the Commodore, at least until Richards returned. But the Kiwi, who drove his final race with Paul Morris Motorsport on Sunday, said that he had had “absolutely zero” discussions with the team and was not likely to join the team, for which he raced in Super Touring in 1995-’96.

Andrew Jones, who shared the entry in the endurance races, completed the season in the car.

FINALLY, DJR RESOLUTION! V8 SUPERCARS

Daniel Kalisz

DICK Johnson Racing will look almost identical in 2011, despite the mess that has surrounded the team’s ownership in recent months.

With the dust now settled, eNews can confirm that Charlie Schwerkolt’s stake in the team has been sold to security screen company Crimsafe, while Jim Beam has signed back on, meaning there will be two Jim Beam Racing cars in the 2011 V8 Supercar Championship Series. As expected, Schwerkolt will own one of the Racing Entitlement Contracts after

the divorce. However, he will lease it back to DJR. “It’s great to finally be able to lay our cards on the table,” said Johnson.

“It’s taken us some time to get to this point; there were a number of issues that required working through, to ensure we were making the right decisions for the future of the team.”

Meanwhile, Schwerkolt has admitted he will leave the sport with regrets.

“I took DJR on to help Dick, first and foremost, and to get the business back on its feet,” read a prepared statement released prior to the weekend..

“Since then, we have together

rebuilt the business and reenergised the team, to the point where right now we are leading the V8 Supercar Championship.

“I am enormously proud of what has been achieved over these past almost three years, and can’t say enough about the commitment and performance of the people we now have at DJR. “My decision to sell my share has been a difficult one but the time is right, and I’ve made the decision to switch my attention back to the forklift business. I leave with many personal regrets, but equally I am looking forward to watching its ongoing success.”

These will do WEBB/DJR S V8 SUPERCARS

TEAMVODAFONE will take its current Commodore racecars into 2011.

The title-winning team, which has traditionally built new cars each year, will instead focus on establishing its Car of the Future program, and continue to race with the cars in which Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes finished the season in Sydney at the weekend.

“There won’t be any new cars,” team principal Roland Dane told eNews last week.

“Jamie’s car was new for Darwin and Craig’s was new for Phillip Island, so we will stay with those.”

It has been a busy 12 months of car building for the team, which started the year with new cars for the two Fone drivers, as well as the two Commodores raced by Paul Morris Motorsport.

First-time V8 winner will keep re V8 SUPERCARS

Phil Williams

V8 SUPERCAR’S latest race winner Jono Webb is unlikely to have a full divorce from Dick Johnson Racing next season.

Premature reports elsewhere stated that Webb and his family-owned Tekno Autosports squad would split from DJR, taking its Triple Eight-built FG Falcon and transporter to start a separate single-car team. However, with a semblance of normality returning to DJR over the weekend, Webb confirmed that it may not be a complete split from the Stapylton squad.

“There’s a lot going on, so it’s a bit early to say exactly what will happen,” Webb told eNews.

“We are splitting from DJR, but to what degree is still unknown at this point. The instability through the year made us nervous, so we want to make sure we are selfsufficient should something go wrong with that team. So it’s the degree of involvement we’re looking at.” eNews understands that Webb will continue to run his FG Falcon, despite rumours that he would switch to a T8built Commodore in 2011. eNews also understands that remaining linked to DJR will preserve the Monster and Canadian Club sponsorship that Webb has carried throughout his debut main game season.

– ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN

CRIMSAFE WOULD LIKE TO CONGRATULATE JIM BEAM RACING AND ALL THE GUYS AT DICK JOHNSON RACING ON AN AMAZING WEEKEND Crimsafe is proud to be expanding its involvement with The Team – ROLL ON 2011!

Dick Johnson – “We will go into 2011 confident in the future of Dick Johnson Racing."

www.crimsafe.com.au motorsport news

news

James takes home Sheene Medal

SPLIT UNCLEAR

elationship with title-winning team, but ...

V8 SUPERCARS

Dan Kalisz

JAMES Courtney’s 2011 season had better be good, because he has had an amazing 2010 – now including winning the Barry Sheene Medal.

Courtney was due to receive the award at the V8SA Presentation Dinner at Sydney’s Darling Harbour as this edition of eNews went live. The Jim Beam driver won the prize after a vote by some of the country’s leading motorsport writers.

TeamVodafone took home two awards, for Champion Team and Best Presented Team, while its drivers Jamie Whincup and Steve Owen won the Pole Position and Fijitsu Series Champion Awards. respectively.

Tim Blanchard took out the Mike Kable Young Gun title, the Sydney Telstra 500 was the Event of the Year and Rod Nash Racing was recognised as Most Improved Car of the season.

Click through to our website

“Congratulations to Jim Richards for winning the 2010 Touring Car Masters Series using Hawk Brake Pads”, “Great Stopping Power, Fantastic Control, I can recommend them with Confidence” Jim Richards.

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

www.vsport.com.au

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FPR PLAN TO STICK ATKO’S WITH FV8s IN ‘11 V8 SUPERCARS

FORD Performance Racing may continue with its Fujitsu Series program in 2011.

It has already been confirmed that James Moffat won’t be driving for the factory team next year, in either the Fujitsu Series or the main game, however team boss Tim Edwards admitted to eNews that an FV8 program was still on the cards.

“We’ll potentially be involved next year,” said Edwards. “That’s what we’re looking at right now.

“I’m a firm believer in the development series. I think it’s good for developing young mechanics

and engineers, and of course drivers as well.

Look at Grant McPherson; he was Frosty’s data engineer and Moffat’s race engineer, and when he took over the job of race engineer on Richo’s car in Tasmania he went really well. He had that little bit of experience talking to a driver during the race, and that makes a big difference.”

As for hardware, FG Falcons will be allowed in the Fujitsu Series next year.

In other FPR news, the squad unvieled its new-for-2011 Trading Post livery at Homebush, pictured below, which is the car that Will Davison will drive next season.

– ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN

TECHNICAL DIRECTOR The V8 Ute Series, a key support category to the V8 Supercar Championship, and is now recruiting for the position of a Category Technical Director for 2011. Responsibilities include: • Management of all Technical, Parity and Eligibility Aspects of the Series • Advise on the process for the build and development for new race vehicles • Travel required, availability essential for all on-track race weekends Strong communication skills and a high degree of computer literacy are required. Experience in MoTeC and relevant data analysis will also be beneficial, as well as extensive experience in all aspects of race team

Australian V8 Ute Racing Series

engineering and dyno work.

Organisational and documentation skills are essential to complement your detailed approach, as well as the ability to work with key stakeholders including CAMS, the V8 Ute Board and V8 Ute Teams. This is a part-time, contracted position.

If you feel you have the necessary technical talents and the ability to deal with people on all levels, email

employment@v8utes.com.au for a detailed job description.

Applications close: 5pm Friday December 10, 2010 motorsport news

news

FULL MONTE

WORLD RALLYING

sutton-images.com

CHRIS Atkinson will return to the famous Monte Carlo Rally next January, with Proton confirming the Aussie will compete in the Intercontinental Rally Championship opener.

His team-mate for the Monte will be former Suzuki factory drive P-G Andersson, while Alistair McRae will remain with the squad for it’s Asia-Pacific Rally Championship program.

Atkinson is also likely to compete in the IRC, the Proton planning to do the full APRC and 10 IRC rounds in 2011.

“Starting the season with the Monte is awesome,” said Atkinson.

“As a rally driver, this is the traditional place where we always start our year. I’ve

always gone well on the event, but it is really tough. Running high in the Alps in January, you never know what’s really coming around the next corner; it could be dry asphalt, wet asphalt, snow or ice. It’s a massive challenge for the team and the driver, with one of the most important aspects being to get the tyres right.

“I’m looking forward to continuing my strong record there with Proton. As for the rest of the year, it’s great to have everything sorted out with a really forward-looking team like Proton. There was definitely a feeling of leaving some unfinished business in the APRC last season, so we’ll be back bigger, better and stronger on some of the hottest and toughest rallies in the world next year.”

BLANCHARD BACK IN FUJITSU FUJITSU V8s

Peter Bury

www.mnews.com.au

TIM Blanchard is set to return to the Fujitsu Series next year, but who he’ll race with is less clear.

Blanchard finished second in the 2010 season as a rookie with Sonic Motor Racing and is keen to mount a title challenge in 2011 as well as secure a V8 Supercar endurance drive. The Victorian contested the L&H 500 at Phillip Island with Paul Morris Motorsport this year.

While pleased with how the program with Sonic went, Blanchard will canvas other

opportunities.

“We’re committed to doing the Fujitsu Series again and trying to get a drive in the enduros,” he said.

“We’re not sure what team or what we’re going to do next year, we’re looking at that at the moment. I want to have it pretty sorted by Christmas.

“I just want to make sure we’re in a car capable of winning the championship. I’m pretty happy with Sonic and how it’s all gone, but it’d be silly to sign something without looking at the options.”

– MITCHELL ADAM

ZUKANOVIC EYES 2011 ENDUROS Utes know the way to WA FUJITSU SERIES

V8 UTES THE Yokohama V8 Ute Racing Series will return to Barbagallo Raceway as part of its eight-round 2011 calendar.

The Utes last raced in Western Australia in 2008, but will return in May for the second round of the season, which kicks off at the Clipsal 500. All eight rounds will be held on the V8 Supercar program.

“It’s fantastic to be heading back to Perth, given that Grant Johnson and Rhys McNally are Perth based and have had such a great year,” Category Manager Craig Denyer said.

“Rick Gill and Alan Letcher have also supported the series this year so this will be a great bonus for the Perth boys.”

2011 V8 Utes calendar: 1. Clipsal 500, March 17-20 2. Barbagallo Raceway, May 6-8 3. Hidden Valley, June 17-19 4. Townsville, July 8-10 5. Bathurst, October 6-9 6. Surfers Paradise, October 21-23 7. Sandown, November 18-20 8. Homebush, December 2-4

HIS Fujitsu Series program may be undecided but one thing is clear for Marcus Zukanovic in 2011 – he wants a Main Game endurance ride.

Zukanovic made his debut at Phillip Island and Bathurst this year, running as a wildcard with Greg Murphy Racing. Next year, his aim is to secure a ride with one of the teams competing fulltime in the series. At the

same time, though, the shape of his Fujitsu Series campaign is up in the air.

The Victorian has run a VZ Commodore in recent years, finishing eighth in the 2010 season, but has investigated upgrading to a VE Commodore.

“I want to have a go at getting an enduro drive with one of the teams,” he said.

“After this year’s performance with GMR, I think I did an OK job. I didn’t crash the car, I

finished, and the car was reasonably consistent. I really want to work on trying to get an enduro drive with someone for next year and at the same time work on a Fujitsu effort.

“I’ve just got to see what the funds are like for the Fujitsu side of things and I might start making some calls in the New Year to put myself out there for an enduro drive and see what I can drum up.”

– MITCHELL ADAM

Rock ‘n’ Rollcages ...

V8 UTES V8 UTE driver Grant Johnson was in the centre of controversy before the Sydney Telstra 500 on the weekend.

Officials deemed the rollcage in the #47 Hi-Tech Motorsport Commodore to be outside V8 Utes rules, forcing Johnson to miss Friday’s opening practice session as his crew made the necessary modifications.

The West Australian was incensed by the ruling, claiming that his rollcage was identical to that of Hi-Tech stable-mate Rhys McNally, whose rollcage had been passed by V8 Utes officials.

“The rollcage was modified to the same as the McNally car, which has been homologated for safety reasons. The original cages that were built for the

Commodores don’t comply with the loading test, so they’re unsafe,” claimed Johnson.

“When the cage in the [McNally] car was homologated, it was brought to our attention that Hi-Tech was building that, and they changed mine to comply with the homologation from 26.”

Johnson also claimed that he had raced with the offending structure since Winton last year – when he debuted a new car after writing off his Commodore at the seasonopener – with the approval of then-category Technical Director Alan Pitt.

Current Technical Director Bob Riley, who took up the position in October, did not wish to comment, but V8 Utes Category Manager Craig Denyer, argued that Johnson’s

rollcage was not in fact identical to Rhys McNally’s, nor had it ever been homologated by category officials.

“According to the homologation papers for the V8 Utes Series, the cage has to be a control cage, where they all have to be exactly the same,” explained Denyer.

“An extra bar had appeared, and extra gusseting in that cage, which was different to the original VE cage built, and while the cage may still have complied with the CAMS manual, it did not comply with the V8 Ute homologation documents in reference to that cage, so the scrutineers deemed that the cage did not comply, and the car was not allowed to go out onto the track until it did comply.”

– DANIEL HERRERO

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motorsport news

news

12 HOUR IT looks likely that an Audi R8 LMS will race in February’s Armor All Bathurst 12 Hour.

Mark Eddy, who races an R8 in the Vodka O Australian GT Championship, has been involved in discussions with Audi Motorsport in Germany about the race, and the

prospect of the manufacturer getting involved. Details of the program are yet to be formulated.

“We’re not sure at the moment, but it looks like there’ll be an Audi racing there. Which one, we’re not sure yet,” Eddy said.

“Hopefully in the next couple of weeks we’ll know

what’s happening, but it’s sort of the middle of the discussions at the moment.

If the ’09 model runs, it’s got a little bit more advantage over the ’10 in the regulations.

The ’10 model has to make a stop every hour, all 2010 cars, the older cars have got nine compulsory stops, so that’s a little bit of an advantage over

Dirk Klynsmith

Audi’ya do?

the 2010s.”

One name linked to the program is Craig Lowndes, who is keen to contest the event. Eddy confirmed the Supercar star was in the mix.

“There are discussions going on, but they’re only at the discussion point at the moment,” he said.

– MITCHELL ADAM

Cini gets Fiore 12 HOUR

Dirk Klynsmith

DEAN Fiore will return to his Porsche roots next February, when he teams up with Marc Cini and David Reynolds in a GT3 Cup S at the Bathurst 12 Hour.

Fiore raced both Reynolds and Cini in Carrera Cup before making the switch to V8 Supercars last year, and the trio will now start the event as one of the early favourites.

“I’ve been mates with Marc for a while now as we used to race in Carrera Cup together,” said Fiore.

“I am really looking forward to 12 hours around the iconic Bathurst track. You can never have too many miles around the mountain. I am also really good mates with Dave, so we should all make for a ripper team.”

With his driver line-up now sorted, Cini is looking forward to the event.

“It’s one of those perfect scenarios, to race at an event with talent such as Dean and Dave,” he said.

“We all know each other very well, and there’s no doubt their speed is unquestionable.”

WHAT ARE YOU RACING IN 2011?

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Pastor on the menu at Williams FORMULA 1 WILLIAMS has confirmed its 2011 driver lineup, and Pastor Maldonado will join Rubens Barrichello.

The Venezuelan will replace

Nico Rosberg, and brings a huge budget with him.

“I feel very privileged that Williams has selected me as one of their race drivers,” said the current GP2 Champion. “It is a great way to end what has already been an amazing year for me. I tested with the team in Abu Dhabi, but can’t wait to start working with everyone properly to be in the best possible shape going into next year.”

Maldonado, who tested with HRT in Abu Dhabi last month, will get his first taste of the Williams-Cosworth FW33 in February.

sutton-images.com

Lots of TBAs on list FORMULA 1

12

sutton-images.com

FOUR teams are yoet to name even one of their drivers on the entry list for the 2011 Formula One World Championship.

Force India, Toro Rosso, Virgin and Hispania have two TBAs each on the list, which was announced recently by the FIA. The main news from the list was the inclusion of Jarno Trulli at ‘Team Lotus’, the veteran Italian thought to have been looking outside F1 to continue his career. The naming of the team appears to settle, at least for the short-term, a dispute over which team will wear that

title in the future.

The initial list had Jenson Button as #3, but that was changed because his teammate Lewis Hamilton finished ahead of him in the 2010 World Drivers’ Championship.

There is no driver named alongside Robert Kubica at Renault, though the team is believe to have been pleased with the form of Vitaly Petrov, right, over the latter half of the season. However, his fellow Russian, Mikhail Aleshin, said recently that he was close to a seat for next season. The Renault 3.5 Champion is believed to be talking to Virgin Racing. motorsport news

FAST MONEY

FORMULA 1

Red Bull Racing

IF you want to get rich in sport, you need wheels, not balls.

That appears to be the message from the latest list of Australia’s sporting rich, with Mark Webber topping the BRW 2010 sports rich list for the first time. According to the business magazine, the Red Bull Racing ace bagged $13.4 million this year, on the way to finishing third in the World Drivers’ Championship. BRW ranked him fourth last year, with $9m.

In fact, racers took four of the top six spots on the list. BRW ranked Supercross star Chad Reed third with $7.5m, MotoGP ace Casey Stoner fourth on $6.8m and NASCAR’s Marcos Ambrose sixth on $4.2m.

The ‘interlopers’ in that order were Milwaukee Bucks centre Andrew Bogut, who earned $12.6m to rank second, and Socceroo Tim Cahill, who banked $4.2m playing for EPL’s Everton and Australia’s national team.

Golfers Adam Scott and Robert Allenby, Australian Test Cricket captain Ricky Ponting and soccer player Harry Kewell completed the top 10.

Webber raced with [another] broken shoulder!

FORMULA 1 MARK Webber is going to get banned from riding bicycles, if the startling revelations in his new book are any kind of guideline!

The book, Mark Webber Up Front, a 2010 season diary published last week, reveals that the Red Bull driver suffered a cracked shoulder during a mountain bike ride while passing through Melbourne prior to the Japanese GP – his riding partner

crashed and MW went over the top!

As he did in 2009, when he started the season recovering from injuries suffered in the bike incident, he did not reveal the injury to his shoulder to anyone ... not even to his own team.

AGPC, CAMS friends again FORMULA 1 THE dispute between the Australian Grand Prix Corportation and the nation’s governing motorsport body CAMS, which allegedly threatned the conduct of the 2011 event, has been resolved. www.mnews.com.au

The dispute, which was based around the fees paid by the AGPC to CAMS for its role in the event, has been resolved in what eNews has been told is a ‘multi-year’ deal. No further details have been made available.

CAMS president Andrew

Papadopoulos said in a statement that\, “CAMS is delighted to have reached this agreement and looks forward to continuing its role in one of the world’s best Formula 1 events and helping to make it an even greater success.

“Our officials are renowned

internationally and trained to the highest standards. They will make an irreplaceable contribution to the running of the Australian GP.” The 2011 AGP, the second round of the 2011 World Championship, is scheduled to take place on 27 March.

13

NO BULL, NO MORE

Red Bull dumps Scott Speed: confirmed via Twitter!

Toyota Motorsports

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SCOTT Speed has lost his Red Bull Racing seat, and in a very 21st century way.

The ex-Formula 1 driver, who moved to the team in 2008, posted the news on his Twitter account last Wednesday.

“On 11/24. As it happend (sic) RedBull sent me a Termination Letter, not huge surprise ...,” Speed posted.

Speed, 27, appears to have been the

odd man out in the team’s plans for some time. While his team-mate Brian Vickers was sidelined for more than half the season for treatment for blood clots, Speed struggled to gain results from his #82 Camry, while the #83 entry, driven by a sequence of drivers, did rather better.

Vickers, Casey Mears, former DTM champion Mattias Ekstrom, Reed Sorenson, Boris Said and Kahne out the

#83 26th in Sprint Cup owners’ points, while Speed’s entry finished a lowly 31st.

Speed made 28 GP starts for Scuderia Toro Rosso. He was replaced mid-2007season by Sebastian Vettel, and himself replaced AJ Allmendinger in the RBR Sprint Cup team a year later.

Vickers is expected to be fit to race for the team next season, while Kahne has a one-year deal for 2011, before he moves to Hendrick Motorsport.

No wins but lots of lerve NASCAR SPRINT CUP

14

Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards, Jeff Gordon, Kevin Harvick, Jimmie Johnson, Kasey Kahne, Matt Kenseth, Bobby Labonte and Tony Stewart.

Earnhardt has a way to go to be the sport’s most popular driver ever. Richard Petty won the award nine times, while Bill Elliott won it 16 times, including 10 in a row.

NASCAR Media

IN a surprise to no one, Dale Earnhardt Jr has been voted NASCAR’s most popular driver.

Despite failing to win a Sprint Cup race or make the Chase for the second straight year, the third-generation racer won the award for

the eighth year in a row.

He received the prize last Thursday in Las Vegas.

“I want to thank the fans. They’ve really meant everything to this sport,” said Earnhardt, whose sole win in the last two years was at Daytona’s Nationwide race.

The other finalists, in alphabetical order, were

motorsport news

Penske shows off its new Shell Game NASCAR/INDYCARS

Both images courtesy Shell

You would be smiling too: Kurt Busch and Helio Castroneves will be in red and yellow in 2011.

PENSKE’S Kurt Busch and Helio Castroneves will carry the colours of Shell in the NASCAR Sprint Cup and the Indianapolis 500.

Busch will wear the colours of Shell Pennzoil on his #22 Dodge Challenger, while three-time Indy 500 champion Helio Castroneves will drive in the colours of Shell V-Power in the May classic.

All three Penske IndyCar drivers, Castroneves, Will Power and Ryan Briscoe, will carry Shell signage in all races. They will also race with backing from American retailer Meijer, which has signed on as an associate sponsor.

Meijer may hold a key in the teams’ final sponsorship makeup.

With only Verizon’s deal to be the name sponsor on Power’s #12 entry set, there are opportunities for companies to take a major role, and Meijer has a number of key suppliers that may play a role, including CocaCola. Both the Penske Corporation and Meijer are located in Michigan, where it opened its first store in 1934.

In other Penske news, the team has confirmed that Brad Keselowski will drive the team’s #2 Dodge in the 2011 Sprint Cup. The Miller Litebacked entry will have Paul Wolfe, who guided Keselowski to this year’s Nationwide title, as its crew chief.

– STAFF/MENDEZ

Servia: Back to NHR? INDYCARS ORIOL Servia could be headed back to IndyCar with his old team, Newman/Haas Racing.

The Spaniard and Canadian James Hinchcliffe are due to test for the team for two days next week, at Sebring International Raceway in Florida.

Newman/Haas, winner of eight CART/Champ Car/IndyCar title and 107 events, is one of the few IndyCar teams that offered employment in www.mnews.com.au

October when most teams laid off employees for the five-month off-season.

Servia has made 15 starts for NHR, which include his first Indy car win (Montreal 2005) and pole (Surfers Paradise, Australia 2005).

Hinchcliffe, 23, earned three victories, four poles and eight podiums in 13 starts on his way to runner-up in the 2010 Firestone Indy Lights championship.

– MARY MENDEZ

IF I WERE A CARPENTER, AND YOU WERE A LADY INDYCARS SARAH Fisher has stepped out of the cockpit, and hired Ed Carpenter to compete to drive her car.

Fisher, who made 74 career IndyCar starts over 11 seasons, including seven starts this year, will run the #67 entry for the American, with the backing of rental car company, Dollar General.

“This change in my career is a direction I have been thinking about very hard,” explained Fisher, 30. “Being both an owner and a driver is time consuming on both sides. I really want to see this team move forward and to have one driver who does all the races – ovals and road courses.”

“The timing is perfect for the strategy of SFR in its future endeavors. To have the support of all our partners in this direction is incredible. I know this team has what it takes to perform. By stepping out of the seat, I will be able to spend more time growing this team in the right directions both on and off track.”

Fisher, three times voted the most popular IndyCar driver in the pre-Danica era, lost sponsor TBC (tyre retail stores) to Graham Rahal, her part-time driver, and lamented she couldn’t be meeting with sponsors at events because she had to drive the car in practice and qualifying sessions.

Carpenter will compete in the domestic oval events except for Milwaukee and the road/street events at St. Petersburg, Mid-Ohio and Baltimore. Fisher hopes to find additional sponsorship for the car which will allow it to compete in the full season.

– MARY MENDEZ 15

Pssst! Who wants to race one of these in 2011?

THE CHRIS DOES CARRERA CUP NEW MINI Challenge Champion Chris Alajajian is looking for his next move in motorsport, which could see him join the reborn Carrera Cup. Alajajian wrapped up the

MINI title last weekend, but with BMW announcing the series won’t continue, Alajajian is looking at his options for 2011. Among them is another one make category, Carrera Cup. “There are a few options for next year, we’re looking at

Carrera Cup,” the Sydneysider said.

“We’ll see what we can come up with. At the moment, we’re trying to focus on our existing sponsors and expand with them. I’m very grateful for their support, without them, this year wouldn’t have happened.

ZEREFOS DOES CARRERA CUP

AARON Zerefos is the latest driver to throw his hat in the ring for the resurrected Carrera Cup Australia in 2011 – and that’s not all.

The Sydney businessman also hopes to partake in a limited program in Carrera Cup Great Britain, with a view to eventually becoming a professional driver.

“If we can jump into a category that we can further progress in, it’d be awesome. Hopefully we can put something together for something in motorsport for next year; I’ve got a few ultimate goals, but to get there I’ve got to take it step by step.”

“I’m going to do Carrera Cup in Australia, and some in Europe as well next year,” said Zerefos.

“I’d like to become professional, I’m taking it seriously.”

Zerefos, who participated in three MINI Challenge rounds this year, is likely to purchase a car and have it prepared by a team, but has not ruled out the possibility of establishing his own operation.

– DANIEL HERRERO

George looks to become a Road Warrior AUSSIES OS GEORGE Miedecke is keen to add some road course racing to his 2011 program.

Miedecke moved to the US earlier this year to start working towards a crack at NASCAR, competing in Late Models and scoring a pair of wins in the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series to end his season. While stock cars and 16

ovals will again be the basis Stevenson Motorsports and of his year in 2011, Miedecke will now explore opportunities is exploring opportunities to "I'm grateful to Mr Stevenson build a presence as a road racer and Mike Johnson for the in the US. chance to drive one of their The first step came last week, amazing cars out here at testing a Camaro from the Homestead,” the 23-year-old Continental Tyre Sports Car said.

Challenge – which runs within "It was a great chance to get Grand-Am’s framework – on back in a road course car, and it the road course at Homestead- was definitely gratifying to be Miami Speedway. Miedecke right on the pace straight away completed two brief runs with – I think we surprised a few

people up and down pit lane!

(Former racer and SpeedTV commentator) Calvin Fish really did me a huge favour making introductions for me up and down the pits and I am extremely grateful to him for his help.

“Hopefully we can keep working behind the scenes and get something working for next year."

– MITCHELL ADAM motorsport news

Dirk Klynsmith

Changes ahead for TCM he said.

“The idea is that we don’t SUCCESS ballast, new race want the same people winning formats, star drivers and all the time and we want to new cars are just some of the keep the competition close things that could be seen in and entertaining, so for next the 2011 Touring Car Masters. year, we’ll keep looking at the Gavin Bullas, a Touring Car system where seeded drivers Masters competitor and also a need to carry extra weight.” director of the series, is happy Over the last couple of with the current position of the seasons, the Touring Car category, but is also keen to Masters has also featured a improve the show even further. top-eight reverse-grid format, “We’ve tried some success for either Race 2 or Race 3 ballast this year, with Jim depending on which race is Richards, John Bowe and televised. For 2011, the series myself all carrying extra weight,” organisers are considering

TCM

extending this to either a Top 12 or Top 14 grid inversion.

Another suggestion on the cards is a star car concept, in which a specific car is set aside for a celebrity driver at each round.

“Mick Doohan was keen to jump in a car a couple of years ago, but we didn’t have a suitable car available, whereas now we probably would,” Bullas said.

“We’re also considering doing a twin-driver event and inviting some V8 Supercar drivers to be involved, but we would

probably look at doing that at an event like the Muscle Car Masters, where the Supercar drivers wouldn’t be too busy.”

Nine rounds are planned for 2011, an expansion compared to this season.

“I can’t announce the calendar yet, but they are all great events,” Bullas said.

A number of new cars are also under construction, including an AMC Javelin for Richards and a new Mustang for Bullas.

– LACHLAN MANSELL

Foster steps up to TRS TCM

Dirk Klynsmith

www.mnews.com.au

NICK Foster will make his Toyota Racing Series debut this summer.

The Gold Coasters driver’s in the NZ wingsand-slicks series, previously reported in eNews, has translated into a deal to contest the opening two rounds of the 2010-2011 season with Giles Motorsport.

Foster will race at Teretonga Park on January 15-16 and Timaru International Raceway the following weekend, alongside Kiwis Mitch Evans and Nick Cassidy with

Stephen Giles’ outfit. He got his first taste of TRS at Manfield yesterday, Monday, kicking off a two-day test.

“The Toyota Racing Series is a really good championship and the last few years have shown that a lot of good guys come out of it and go on to bigger things,” Foster said.

“Securing this drive is another stepping stone in my career and I’m very excited to be doing more driving in wings and slicks openwheel cars. I got a taste of it in a one-off drive in Australian Formula 3 earlier this year and this drive gives me another crack at it.”

17

John Morris

‘

A quiet ‘11 coming up MINI CHALLENGE PAUL Stokell looks like one of the major casualties of the demise of the Hertz MINI Challenge.

The 2009 series champion is resigned to a limited racing program in the 2011, given the high costs of other categories.

“I haven’t got any [plans] at the moment,” Stokell admitted.

“This became a bit of a long-term thing with Decorug originally, and I haven’t got a budget to do anything else, so at the moment I’m just going to concentrate on work and see how we go.

“I’m keen to try and do Targa next year

and a few other events – I’d like to be racing something, but it’s just too much money.”

The Tasmanian ruled out a return to the reborn Carrera Cup, in which he last competed in 2008 until, ironically, the collapse of Sherrin Motorsport curtailed his season three rounds early.

– DANIEL HERRERO

JESSE BACK TO OZ Borell sidelined AUSSIES OS JESSE Dixon is set to return to race in Australia next year.

The youngster spent 2010 racing in Formula BMW Asia, in which he finished 12th in the standings, but has elected to turn his attention to a future in V8 Supercars. He attended Homebush’s V8 finale and is exploring his options to resume racing in a domestic category in 2011.

“I’m looking at coming back to Australia, my goal is V8 Supercars now,” he said.

“I’m really keen to go for that 18

and it’ll make things much easier being based back in Australia. Racing in Asia was quite tough because you don’t have any contacts. We had a good look at Europe and America, but I’ve decided to come back to Australia and try to get into tin-tops and make a career out of racing.

“I’m not sure which category we’ll be running in yet. We’re looking into a lot of different categories and we’ve got a few tests in different things lined up, but we haven’t made any decisions yet.”

– MITCHELL ADAM

FORMULA FORD ANDRE Borell will spend 2011 on the sidelines.

The Queenslander has raced in the Genuine Ford Parts Australian Formula Ford Championship for the last two years, and was eyeing a move up to the Fujitsu Series next year with Miles Racing.

However, Borell has elected to shift his focus to the family business. He won’t contest a full program, but has left the door open to make selected appearances.

“Unfortunately a growing family business is taking up too much of my time to focus on racing properly,” he said.

“I will put in a huge effort next year to grow that, so that I can take more time away to go racing in the future. I will be back, and I might even make an odd appearance here or there next year, I just can’t do a full championship properly.

“I’m still going to be involved in the sport so I will keep my ear to the ground and see if anything pops up.” motorsport news

WEBBER

OUR FORMULA 1 STAR TALKS ABOUT HIS STAND-OUT SEASON, HIS TEAM-MATE, AND GOING SO CLOSE TO BEING WORLD CHAMPION

PLUS: GARTH TANDER ON HRT’S HORROR 2010 SEASON, INSIDE JACQUES VILLENEUVE’S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP YEAR, ALEX TAGLIANI’S LIFE IN IMAGES, OUR ULTIMATE GOLD COAST 600 GRID, AUSTRALIA’S LATEST WRC HOPEFUL BRENDAN REEVES, F3 CHAMP BEN BARKER AND MUCH, MUCH MORE

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Toyota back to Le Mans LE MANS 24 HR IF you had any doubts that the Le Mans 24 Hour is turning into a battle for alternatives to petrol-only engines and manufacturers, they were washed away by the announcement last week that Toyota will return to Le Mans

next year.

It has long been rumoured that Toyota planned to return to the event, so it was no surprise when it was announced that the company will supply engines to Rebellion Racing. The arrangement starts in 2011, with Rebellion getting

exclusive use of the engine.

Rebellion, which moved up to the LMP1 category in 2009, uses a Lola chassis, and has already proved itself to be one of the most capable of the private teams. With new rules for 2011, and the sports car community waiting eagerly for news of the

engine configuration chosen

by Audi and Peugeot, the addition of another major engine manufacturer further opens the possibility of very different design philosophies being chosen by the big players in their attack on the 2011 24 Hours.

– DAVID GREENHALGH

Canonised!

MNEWS

20

sutton-images.com

MOTORSPORT News has dominated the Walkley Awards.

Okay, that is a slight exaggeration, but we are pleased to report than our own John Morris has been awarded a commendation in the category of News Photography for his entry, entitled ‘Run for your Life!’, in the annual awards for excellence in journalism. Morris was Johnny-on-thespot when Kain Magro somersaulted his car into a spectator area during a MINI Challenge event at Queensland Raceway in May. So far as we know, that is the first such national recognition for one of our shooters, so congratulations to John for a great season. motorsport news

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Vol 1: 1960 – 1966 Vol 2: 1967 – 1974 Vol 3: 1975 – 1985 Vol 4: 1986 – 1992 Vol 5: 1993 – 1996 Vol 6: 1997 – 2001

40 Years of Bathurst

The Essential Bathurst Annual

The Great Race 30 tells the full story of the 2010 Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000. This is the original Bathurst annual hard-cover book, the definitive publication on Australia’s Great Race. The story of this always-epic and often heartbreaking event is presented in 256 pages, illustrated by some 400 images shot by some of Australia’s best motorsport photographers.

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BRIEFLY n The Victorian Closed

Titles were held at Cobden across the weekend, with the big winner once again being Anton de Pasquale.

The CC Racing pilot took out both Junior National Heavy and Junior Clubman.

Mitch Wilson took out Junior National Light and Brad Jenner Junior Max. Midgets was won by Dylan Hollis and Thomas Prascevic the Rookies victor. Adam Willison won Leopart, Leigh Nicolaou Clubman Heavy. Clubman Light was won by Sarron Caddy, with Craig Arnett winning Super Heavy and Leon Forrest the Over 40s. n Long time Northern Territory karting stalwart, Paul Riggs has passed away, aged 53. He had a long battle with illness. Riggs was the State Technical Inspector in the NT. He was laid to rest Monday morning at a service in Darwin and is be survived by wife Jacque and daughters Leanne and Zoe. n Next year’s Rotax Pro Tour will feature random tyre ‘sniffing’. With tyre treatment a continual hot topic among karters, Rotax importer, IKD has gone to the step of purchasing a Photo Ionisation Detector to catch potential cheats.

22

WARD TOP ROOKIE SPEEDWAY

QUEENSLAND speedway wunderkind Darcy Ward has been named as the FIM’s ‘Rookie of the Year’ at the international prize giving ceremony in Portugal, receiving his award alongside the likes of MotoGP Champ

Jorge Lorenzo.

The youngster won the World Under-21 Speedway Championship for the second year running in 2010 – only the second ever rider in history to do so and made his mark on the British scene with the Poole Pirates, where the speedway glamour club fell

short in the British Elite League Championship Grand Final.

The 18-year-old also has two Australian Under-21 Championships to his credit and this Saturday night will be chasing a New South Wales Title at the Kurri Speedway in the Hunter Valley.

– MATT PAYNE

IS LEHANE THE NEXT COURTNEY? KARTING THE performance by Pierce Lehane at La Conca in Italy last weekend is significant on many fronts – not least of which is the V8 Supercars Championship victory by James Courtney yesterday.

Lehane is the first Australian to attack the international stage and be mixing it with the best in the world since Courtney won his World Titles for Tony Kart and Ryan Briscoe was impressing for Team CRG. It’s true that many Australians have raced overseas in the time since Courtney and Briscoe’s successes – and have indeed achieved much under the Australian flag – but in karting circles, success is measured against the categories that the big Italian factories follow – and in this case it’s KF3 – the highest Junior category.

The Castle Hill youngster mixed it with his team-mate – the son of an ex-Formula 1 gun (Max Verstappen) and was playing the perfect rear-gunner role in a CRG trifecta before the Europeans gave him their traditional welcome.

Adding more cache to Lehane’s performance is this: Consider he only really shot to prominence at the beginning of last year as a diminutive, slightly unfit 13-year-old who declared himself “buggered” after recording a podium at the first Newcastle Rotax Pro Tour. He’s only had a couple of years karting experience where many of his contemporaries in Australia have been racing since the age of seven.

Having said that, another bloke by the name of Mark Webber only stepped behind the wheel of a kart at the age of 14 – and already Lehane’s karting achievements surpass those of Webber …

– MATT PAYNE

motorsport news

Brand new DVD! Peter Brock “Road to Glory” Peter Brock loved living on the edge. From rally driver to nine-times Bathurst winner, Peter loved pushing the boundaries. Many things have been written about Peter and his achievements. Our story covers parts of Peter’s life that are little known. We travel back to his childhood, talk to his family and some old friends that helped him in his early days of racing, from the old tractor on his uncle’s farm to the Austin A 30, then interview some of his more famous racing opponents, culminating with his first Bathurst win in the fantastic Torana XU-1 at Bathurst in 1972. Included are interviews with Harry Firth, Colin Bond, Peter Janson, Bob Jane, Bill Tuckey and Ian Tate (Chief Mechanic for HDT).

This is a fascinating journey, with never before seen stills and family home movies, together with classic Bathurst footage from 1969, 70, 71 and 1972.

Plus with every purchase you have an opportunity to enter the competition to WIN a Peter Brock limited Edition full size replica 1996 race suit and two great runner up prizes.

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DRAG RACING THE third round of the Perth Motorplex track championship saw some brackets completed while others had to be abandoned due to rain.

Run in conjunction with the Goldenstates ANDRA Pro

Series categories, some great racing was seen until the wet track halted Top Comp and Supercharged Outlaws finals.

Super Comp saw Mick Frossos take out Allen Puglia, who had won the first two events of the series.

Nobody was able to stop Neil Anderson in Comp Bike,

though, as he defeated Justin Townson in the final.

Kim Nordahl knocked out Norm Butler in the final of Modified while Paul Downe took advantage of a red light by Matt Treloar in Super Sedan. Keith Bentley used a good reaction time to help him defeat Troy Thompson in

Luke Nieuwhof

Rain hits WA

Modified Bike as Ethan Hort forced Roger Moorhouse to a break out in Super Street.

Ashleigh Wroe got the victory over George Blacklock in Junior Dragster as Beau Higgins defeated brother Kane Higgins in Junior Dragster Rookie.

– LUKE NIEUWHOF

SPORTSMAN’S SPICE DRAG RACING

WILLOWBANK Raceway offered Sportsman racers two events in one last weekend, and they responded with actionpacked racing down the Ipswich quarter-mile in a dash for points and cash.

The day kicked off with Modified, Super Sedan, Super Gas, Modified Bike, Super

24

Street, Street Sedan and Junior Dragster competitors all taking part in two qualifying sessions before the race for Track Championship points got underway from midday.

Taking the wins were Bob Frawley (Modfiied), who beat son Graeme Frawley to the finish line, Noel Green in Super Sedan, Richie Paterson in Modified Bike, Brad Todd in

Super Street, David Gauldie in Super Gas, Carol Ruachle in Street Sedan and Tazmin Wong in Junior Dragster.

Once the sun went down, the dash for cash began.

Taking the big win was Paul Doeblien in the Quick 32, taking the win from Kellie Kidd to earn the cheque.

Darren Doeblien took victory in the Next 32 bracket from Tony Wallace to claim

his money and Ken Moss beat Bob Frawley across the line in the Buy Back category – which allowed racers who had lost in the first round of 32 to buy back in for $20 to form the prize pool.

In the Modified Bike and Junior Dragster racing, it was Dennis Ryan of Raceview and Matthew Loy of Warwick who took the wins.

– LUKE NIEUWHOF

motorsport news

news

Read ready for new ride DRAG RACING

John Bosher

THREE-TIME ANDRA Pro Series Top Fuel champion Phil Read will be upgrading to a new chassis in order to improve both his performances and safety, with the car to hopefully debut at Willowbank.

The dragster is from top USA team Kalitta Motorsport and has the latest in upgrades used by teams in the world’s premier drag racing series.

“Racing at the peak of the ANDRA Pro Series requires the best in equipment so we’re not cutting any corners,” Read said.

“The new Auto One/ Valvoline/Wynn’s/Snap-on/ McDonald’s dragster has the latest in not only performance but also safety upgrades; it’s good to have that kind

of confidence when you’re travelling to over 500kmh in a touch under five seconds.”

The start of the season has been something of a mixed bag for both Phil Read and Jim Read Racing team-mate Martin Stamatis, who sit in fifth and seventh respectively but have so far had a monopoly on top qualifying positions and low elapsed times.

“We know we have the performances to move back to the top of the ladder; we finished one-two last season for a reason,” Read said.

“To be honest it’s just some luck we need to go our way, Queensland has been good to us in the past and we will definitely be looking to turn our season around when we race there.”

– LUKE NIEUWHOF

Atkins to fight on DRAG RACING WA driver Mark Atkins had everybody impressed with his new Super Stock Chevy S10 but the glory came to an unfortunate end, when he did major damage to his motor in the first competitive outing for the car.

Atkins said a rod failure occurred, though the team struggled to find the initial cause.

“It hit the limiter on a test run and these motors zing up real quickly,” he said.

“Being a new car I still need to get into the swing of things.”

Atkins is now considering

his options, with the good US dollar meaning he could import an engine.

“This is a hiccup on the way; everyone told us they loved the car,” he said.

“I would like to be back by the Westernationals, I’m just weighing up the pros and cons.”

– LUKE NIEUWHOF

Good Evans!

DRAG RACING VICTORIA’S South Coast Raceway saw its track record reset on Saturday with Marcus Chambers running a 4.498 over the eighth mile track in his HQ Top Doorslammer.

Tasmanian Mike Evans won the Dash for Cash event in Supercharged Outlaws with his dragster, defeating Mick Cleary in the final.

– LUKE NIEUWHOF

Next ANDRA Pro Series Round: New Year Series, Willowbank, January 2-3 ANDRA Pro Series on TV: Friday Dec 10, Top Doorslammer, Goldenstate Titles, 10pm www.mnews.com.au

25

Five Minutes with ...

JAMES COURTNEY

After a season of almost unparalleled drama, JC lifted the V8 Supercar Championship for the first time in Sydney – and what he said afterwards said it all about his team

You’ve won two World Karting titles, a British Formula Ford Championship, and you’ve seen motor racing at the highest level. How hard is it to win a V8 Supercar Championship compared to the other titles you’ve won?

Hard. Just look at this weekend, the craziness that went on. This championship is unbelievable. We race all over the best country in the world, and these guys could mix it with anyone on the F1 grid. Just because they race Formula 1 doesn’t mean they are any better.

These guys are unbelievable. It’s good, hard, fair racing, and the category is sensational with the way they go the Rock and Race and all of that sort of stuff.

It’s the perfect package, and you can see that they’re doing such a good job that Formula 1 are trying to follow suit and do the same thing.

It’s been a turbulent time, with a lot going on with the ownership dispute, and the construction and make-up of Dick Johnson Racing in the future.

Yesterday you saw one of your teammates Jonathon Webb have a race win, and then his team helped the rest of your team repair your car last night until 3am. How hard is it going to be to leave 26

Dan Kalisz

QUESTION: It really has been a rollercoaster finish to the season. You’ve led the championship since Winton back in May, and finally you’ve got your hands on the 2010 crown. How are you feeling?

JAMES COURTNEY: Relieved. It’s been a pretty crazy time, and it hasn’t sunk in yet.

It’s more relief at the moment.

I just can’t thank my guys enough. The job that they did yesterday, and today ... today we had a [rattle] gun break or something, so we couldn’t change the right rear, and I had to come in and have another stop ... I thought this year would never end. It just kept going and going with dramas and twists and turns, so I’m just relieved that it’s over. those guys ... depending of course on where you’re going?

I don’t know if I’m leaving anybody behind.

Like I said, I can’t speak enough of the guys. This belongs to every one of the guys that works at Dick Johnson Racing.

They’ve put in unbelievable hours, and really spent every penny wisely. It’s great to repay Dick and give him a championship after 15 years, and win it for Ford. It’s an amazing achievement and I can’t thank the guys enough.

What words did Dick Johnson have to say to you at the completion of that race, when you arrived back in the pit?

It was just one word, and he said it really loudly for a long time. It’s ... I’m sure you can imagine what it was. It starts with F. I think he was pretty happy.

Like I said, it’s made this championship even more emotional, with all that stuff going on. We all kept out heads down and we did it. It’s great that a family team can still topple the giants.

And the race itself; you made contact a couple of times with cars in front of you. Were you disturbed by that front bonnet occupying your eye space going

forward after contact with Michael Caruso?

It wasn’t perfect, but I had to keep going around. I was just trying to stay out of trouble, and I think it was when someone went into the wall I locked the rears and went into the back of Michael. It was fine – I was just cruising and trying to stay out of everyone’s trouble, and it kept happening around me.

It actually felt harder to just roll around and stay out of trouble, rather than actually racing. When you’re actually racing you’re pushing 100 percent, you’re focussed the whole time. When you’re not racing you start to think about what’s going on, wonder where Jamie is, talk to the guys on the radio, and you’re concentration goes away. With a championship on the line it was pretty crazy.

You’re always seen to be a helmetwearing, hard-faced sportsman, but there’s genuine emotion running through you at moment, isn’t there?

Yeah, the guys, they’re just an amazing bunch of guys. They have worked their arses off, so to be able to repay them today and see the emotion in them is really good. motorsport news

chat

Dan Kalisz

www.mnews.com.au

27

OPINION Andrew van Leeuwen – eNews Editor

O

FFICIATING was called into question again in Sydney, and, it must be said, with very good reason.

The Big Call was Jamie Whincup’s last-lap time limit during Saturday’s race. I’ll do my best to describe what happened; to be classed as a finisher, you have to have completed 75 percent of the race, and completed the last lap of the race in less than twice the time it takes the winner. Whincup did everything except the time limit on the final lap, which was to do with the placement of the timing beacons and the TeamVodafone pits. Unfair? Not really. That’s what the rule states, the criteria weren’t satisfied, and it cost Whincup a realistic shot at the title on Sunday.

The fact that The ’Fones, a team occasionally known to exercise an appeal, left the decision to not classify Whincup well alone shows that it was, for all intents and purposes, a cut-and-dried situation. But Roland Dane, the man at the helm of The ’Fones, pointed out another pretty cut-and-dried situation; when James Courtney’s crew sent his car back onto the track to complete the last couple of laps, a group of mechanics pushed the car out well on to pit-lane, dressed in shorts and shirts. That contravened both the number of people allowed to be working on the car in pit-lane, and the dress code required for a re-fuelling race. In the same vein that Whincup deserved his penalty, Courtney probably deserved one too.

I found myself torn on this issue on Sunday morning in Sydney.

To me, it was a toss-up between Whincup being caught out by a technicality and Courtney getting away with murder, and the fairytale result, with the Sydneysider taking out the title on home soil. What matters more? I took my indecision to former team owner and Motorsport News contributor Paul Cruickshank.

“What’s the decision? Rules are rules,” was Cruickshank’s view.

“When I watched them push the car back, I thought they were going to be in trouble. If you’re going to essentially penalise Whincup on a technicality like that, surely Courtney should have been penalised for an even clearer breach of the rules.”

Cruickshank is dead right. But before the ‘Undeserving Champion’ claims come out, consider that the usual penalty for an infringement in pit-lane is a drive-through penalty. In this case, given the timing, it would have probably been a 20 or 30-second addition to Courtney’s race time. And given he was last of the classified finishers, it wouldn’t have made a scrap of difference.

While I’m making myself unpopular with stewards, I want to talk about tyre bundles. I said it on the Gold Coast, and I’ll say it again – they are useless. There are now electronic strips in chicanes that notify the timing screens when someone has cut the corner. All tyre bundles do is damage cars, and cause red flags.

I felt sorry for Ford Performance Racing during Sunday’s qualifying session. Mark Winterbottom was on his way to provisional pole when his team-mate Paul Dumbrell donged a tyre bundle and left it in the middle of the track. Out came the red flag, Dumbrell was banned from the session and Winterbottom wasn’t able to complete his lap.

Had their been no bundle, Dumbrell would have simply lost the time for the lap he was on, and Winterbottom would have been on pole.

Fair? Not even close.

I understand that it is CAMS, not V8SA, that determines that tyre bundles are necessary. I don’t care who it is – just fix it before we go racing in 2011.

28

OPINION David Addison – S500 Commentator, UK

T

IM Schenken and Tomas Mezera never raced together.

They had their successes in their own fields, Tomas in open-wheelers before heading to touring cars and Tim in Sportscars and Formula 1 before turning his attention to building race cars with Howden Ganley and forming Tiga. And then turning his attention to race officialdom, with success.

But on Saturday, they proved to be a great partnership in V8 Supercar racing. Many times you read, and hear, complaints about race officials as fans, drivers, teams and the media all question some of the decisions made. On Saturday, though, they were spot-on across every call they made. Bloody tyre stacks need removing, cars in the wall need moving, but for me it was what happened when the rain hurled down that was the clincher. motorsport news

comment

What happened? Nothing.

And that is my point. There was no knee-jerk reaction from the men in black uniforms, just a measured decision. There could have been a huge hissy fit and a red flag with cars littering the circuit and the rain pelting down. Instead, rightly I believe, Schenken allowed the track workers to do what they do so well and remove the smashed cars and their collective racer brains hit on the fact that the best way to avoid a crash in the wet was to go slower and change to the appropriate tyre.

Stopping the race would have been totally the wrong thing to do.

The Safety Car to help the marshals clear www.mnews.com.au

the carnage was the right thing as was the decision to let the race run its course.

Brickbats are often thrown at race control but very few bouquets: on this occasion they were well deserved. Well done, guys, for not panicking and screwing up a fascinating race.

But if the theory about driving in the wet and a driver adjusting his pace is to be carried on, doesn’t it apply to the tyre bundles? People moan about them needing removal and how that necessitates safety cars, but surely if a driver didn’t hit them, they wouldn’t get on the track. Am I being over-simplistic here?

Drivers will always push the envelope,

John Morris

Taking the Good Calls with The Bad whether it be using kerbs, braking late for the pit entry line or late for a yellow flag, so there is always a danger that they will clip them, but something needs doing about these tyre bundles. I’m not sure what though – whether it is to make ’em heavier so they can’t be moved (nope – car damage) or tie them to the ground (erm … car damage again) or leave them as they are. But that doesn’t help either.

It’s just frustrating that in this era of modern science, pesky marker tyres can affect the Greatest Show on Wheels and even the Schenken/Mezera brains trust hasn’t got an answer to it.

But you can bet they will.

29

V8 SUPERCARS RACE 25-26, HOMEBUSH

KING JAMES

It wasn’t pretty, but after a season of ups and downs, James Courtney finally wrapped up his maiden V8 Supercar title. ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN was in Sydney for all the action

30

motorsport news

race

Daniel Kalisz

www.mnews.com.au

31

R

ACES don’t get much crazier than this one.

Where do we even start? Jonathon Webb winning his first race? All three championship contenders flying into the same wall, at the same time? The championship title being fought out by mechanics, in the pits?

It was, almost literally, a race of two halves – and each half was exciting in its own right.

We’ll kick things off with the first half: Despite starting third and sixth respectively, Jamie Whincup and James Courtney found themselves first and second, Courtney leading, on a Lap 38 re-start. It was the ultimate case of the cream rising to the top, with the title protagonists on completely different strategies. Whincup had pitted on Lap 17 during a Safety Car, and then again on Lap 34, while Courtney opted to ignore the Safety Cars and work on a standard two-stop strategy, 32

pitting on Lap 28 and waiting to be in striking distance of the flag to make his second stop.

After all that, they were nose-totail, trading the lead.

On Lap 52, Courtney pitted, ignoring spitting rain to take on four ice-cold slicks and a big gutful of fuel to get him to Lap 74. Whincup pitted on Lap 56, taking on less fuel and only rear tyres so his fronts remained at temperature. They resumed with Whincup leading Courtney, again with little between them, while Mark Winterbottom slipped in between them, jumping Courtney while the JBR driver was on cold tyres.

It was later that lap that the game changed. Russell Ingall found the wall, bringing out a four-lap Safety Car. In that time, the rain moved in, and as the race re-started on Lap 60, the conditions were atrocious with the leaders were on slicks.

Winterbottom was the bravest, going straight from second to the lead. In a matter of corners,

he was leading a three-car train into the wall, heavily damaging all of the contender’s cars.

With a bunch of other cars involved, the Safety Car was brought back out, and Winterbottom, Whincup and Courtney made a slow slog back to the pits, with bruised and battered cars. They all made it, and it became a race as to whose car could be fixed.

Y’see, getting back on track meant being classified, and being classified meant points.

Courtney got out and finished 15th. Whincup got out, but couldn’t complete a full flying lap, and was therefore not classified and left more than 100 points behind in the title fight.

Winterbottom went nowhere, and was bundled out of title contention.

While all of this was going on, Webb found himself in the lead. Having played the ultimate game of ‘Safety First’, pitting during each Safety Car period, Webb took on full wets just

before the re-start that saw the Top 3 in the wall. So, as the cars on slicks slipped and slid all over the road, Webb carefully picked his way through the carnage and took up his post behind the resulting Safety Car – in the lead.

After a handful of racing laps, the race was timed out, and Webb was classed as the winner, the second first-time winner in as many race weekends.

“My engineer made a brilliant decision to put me on wets,” said Webb.

“It was make or break, and with the weather that came over, we were the only one on wets at the time, and we pushed our way to the front from there. I knew from the first chicane that we had a lot more grip than anyone else out there. I was following one of the HRT cars [into Turn 5], and I saw him just aquaplaning, and I thought ‘ohoh, there’s going to be trouble here’. So I just rolled out of the throttle straight away.”

If the race had been a lap motorsport news

SHOWDOWN ‘10 – RACE 25

Dirk Klynsmith

Dirk Klynsmith Dirk Klynsmith

www.mnews.com.au

Daniel Kalisz

longer, it probably would have been won by Jason Bright. After qualifying right at the back, thanks to tearing an oil line off his car in qualifying, Bright found himself sitting second on the final re-start. Problem was, his wet tyres were pressured from a long run, and the four-lap dash wasn’t long enough. Despite monstering Webb through the final few corners, Bright had to settle for second.

Rick Kelly was third, which, even he admitted, was a complete fluke.

Having served a drive-through midrace for nudging Paul Dumbrell’s car in pit lane, Kelly was at the back and out of sequence. But when the race went nuts, he wound up third.

Somehow.

“It’s good for us to be on the podium, and we’re lucky to be, there’s no doubt about that,” said Kelly.

“I had a drive-through mid-race and I was back to last, [and] every time I pitted I was last, and all of a sudden we’re third, so I’m still trying to work out what the heck is going on.”

33

34

Daniel Kalisz

C

OMPARED to Saturday’s race, Sunday’s was half the epic. But, as James Courtney clinched the title, there was just enough drama to make it a fitting finale to a brilliant year of V8 Supercar racing.

The drama was only slightly to do with Lee Holdsworth’s second career win, which was taken on the final lap of the race after the Fujitsu-backed driver qualified on pole for the second day in a row.

But the big drama was all to do with Courtney and Jamie Whincup. From the outset, it was obvious that Whincup was there to win the race, and Courtney was there to make sure he finished inside the Top 22, the stipulation for him to be crowned Champion. Of course, it wasn’t that straightforward, particularly for Courtney.

Having dropped outside the Top 10 after a kangaroo-hopping start, Courtney was conservatively droning around Olympic Park. He came in for a nice conservative stop on Lap 22, looking for a simple twostop strategy, and drama struck – the right rear wheel wouldn’t fasten, resulting in the 22-lap old right rear being re-fitted.

Not only was the situation going to cost him speed in the short term, but there

was a serious question mark over whether or not the axle was damaged, and if the wheel would come back off during the second stop.

Typical of Courtney’s rather fortunate season, the solution came quickly. A Safety Car six laps later gave Courtney a free chance to trundle down pit-lane, rip off the old wheel, and fit a new one, with no problems. He even grabbed a little extra fuel, just to take conservation issues out of the picture. The worrying stopped, and Courtney carried on to finish 14th, more than enough for the title.

Whincup’s bid to win the race didn’t quite go to plan. Having shadowed Holdsworth in the early part of the race, he also pitted on Lap 22 – two laps before Holdsworth. But when a Safety Car came out on Lap 43, many jumped onto a threestop strategy and pitted. Holdsworth did, and Whincup didn’t, akin to rolling the dice and hoping to see seven. Naturally, it didn’t work, and Whincup pitted two laps after the re-start and spent the rest of the day conserving fuel and battling with traffic to finish fifth.

This was all good news for Holdsworth.

A quick splash-and-dash on Lap 51 was all he needed to have plenty of juice to get to the end, and when the race

re-started for the final time on Lap 62, he barged past Jono Webb at the first turn, and then hunted down Shane van Gisbergen, who was on an ultra-risky two-stop strategy. But while Holdsworth could catch van Gisbergen, he couldn’t pass him … until the #9 Falcon ran out of fuel on the last lap.

“It’s nice to be up here after a race, rather than just after qualifying,” said Holdsworth.

“I really feel we deserved this one. To get two poles and have a perfect day oday is pretty special. We’re on the right path to get to where [the team] needs to be.”

Steven Richards finished second in his final race for FPR, having nursed his car home on a similar two-stop strategy to van Gisbergen. But unlike van Gisbergen, Richards could take it pretty easy in the closing laps, and ensure he’d make the flag.

Meanwhile, van Gisbergen managed to crawl to third place, little reward after an awesome final stint.

“I’ve got so many emotions running through me at the moment,” he said.

“To be so close to a win is devastating. I flicked on the reserve tank with two laps to go, and on the main straight it coughed.

I was even hitting the kerbs extra hard to shake the fuel around.” motorsport news

SHOWDOWN ‘10 – RACE 26

John Morris/Mpix Phil Williams

www.mnews.com.au

35

WINNERS LEE HOLDSWORTH: Two poles and a win. Leethal Lee was fast in Sydney last year, and proved it was no fluke this year.

STEVE RICHARDS: A podium finish in his last race as a full-time FPR driver was a fitting way to bow out.

V8 FANS: Two fantastic races, and a dramatic fight for the title.

Everyone was on the edge of their seats in Sydney, and when JC emerged from the pits on Saturday, the crowd went wild, like at a footy match. Awesome.

LOSERS JAMIE WHINCUP: For the most part of the year, J-Dub has been the fastest driver in the fastest car. He’s also been pretty darned unlucky, and he can feel that way having not won the title.

SHANE VAN GISBERGEN: The last lap. He ran out of fuel, while leading, ... on the last lap. Poor bloke. Oh, and his coolsuit was busted, so he could barely walk after the race.

TYRE BUNDLES: They are just losers, simple as that. They need to be eridicated from the earth, as soon as possible.

COURTNEY’S REAR TYRES Pretty obvious, innit?

36

TURN 5, LAP 60

John Morris/Mpix

JAMES COURTNEY: To win a championship, you need some luck. Courtney has had some this year, and it kept coming in Sydney. It was most definitely a Championship Year for JC.

It will be a moment that will go down in motor racing history.

With rain lashing down on the Homebush street circuit, all three title contenders went into the same wall, at exactly the same time. Here is what they had to say about it.

MARK WINTERBOTTOM: “It was wet, I backed off coming into that corner because I went into the chicane before and the let the other guys catch up. The car just aquaplaned and went off, and that was at pretty low speed. It was a big hit, a pretty big impact, so I wasn’t going as slow as I thought I was. Obviously wets was the way to go: all we can do is look back now at what might have been. “[The team] said we were close to getting back on track, but it bent a lot of components on the front, so I’m surprised we got back to the pits. What was the difference in terms of getting out or not? Not a lot, but the team had a crack as they always do.”

JAMIE WHINCUP: “We were the clowns at the front who went a bit hard in the rain. I tell you, as Frosty said, it was a big hit. You know two seconds before the corner that the car aquaplanes, and you know you’re going into the wall quite hard, and it’s not a nice feeling.

“It was such a team effort. The guys had blood pouring out of their hands, and they were burnt. They go the extra mile to get the car out there and score some points. I’m really proud of what we did today, we did absolutely

everything we could.

“Hindsight is such a crazy thing. I was having an argument with myself whether to pit behind the Safety Car or not for wets, but, with the facts we had, they said keep going and have a bit of a look at the track, and unfortunately we didn’t get to come around to fit the wets.”

JAMES COURTNEY: “I can’t thank my team enough. It’s those guys who won [the title] right there.

“For the two guys to be fighting it out in the crazy conditions, it was a good, fair battle. My hat goes off to Whincup, because he’s been super clean all year. He drove an amazing race and I was happy we were together at that point, and I was happy to be together in the pits as well.

“I feel like this season is never going to finish.

There have been so many twists and turns, it’s been unbelievable. I thought there would be more twists and turns, but I never thought it would be like this!

“There has been a lot going on in our lives over the last few months. I just can’t thank Dick [Johnson] and Jim Beam and Ford enough. It’s been a tough time, and the guys that turn the spanners should be up here.” motorsport news

race

FEW SURVIVORS ON HOMEBUSH TITANIC

Dirk Klynsmith

THE championship equation for Mark Winterbottom going into the weekend was simple. First up, he had to win Saturday’s race to stay in the championship hunt.

On lap 58 he was nicely positioned in second place. The weather was changing by the second, but on a track that was wet at one end and only semi-damp at the other, the dry tyres were still offering reasonable grip. So far, so good.

They’d already made their final stop but were ready to change to wets if needed.

“On the lap before, it was greasy, but he could manage on dry tyres,” FPR chief Tim Edwards explained.

“It just so happened that in that minute and a half, the heavens opened on that part of the track, and it just aquaplaned.

“We were set up for that lap to change to wets – we were actually set up the previous lap – and everyone was playing cat and mouse; everyone was watching what everyone else was doing. I think if the leader had gone in, the whole field would have followed in behind him.

“If we’d done something different, and finished 25th because it was the wrong decision, we would have looked like a bunch of idiots. Hindsight’s a wonderful thing, but there’s probably about 15 other blokes up and here, that put it into the wall, that would be saying the same thing. It was a bit like the Titantic: we all went down with it!”

By mimicking their rivals’ strategy, they were in the same boat as everyone else – but that was the problem: they all went down with the ship …

– STEVE NORMOYLE

BRIGHT IDEA

Daniel Kalisz

www.mnews.com.au

TRACK position is what it’s all about in V8 Supercars. Track position would prove the decisive factor in Saturday’s race, although not in the way anyone expected.

Instead of track position at the head of the pack, the best place to be when the rain hit hard during lap 59 was down the order. Because those a little further back got to experience just how wet it had suddenly become around the back section of the circuit, the place where the three championship contenders would come to grief the next time round.

“We weren’t aware of how bad it was over the back part,” Kim

Jones said of BJR’s decision to pit Jason Bright that lap.

“But Brighty did one lap past that point and he told us it was too wet. That’s why we changed.”

Armed with wet tyres, Bright had the grip to go on with it and, courtesy of all those who stayed on slicks and who consequently went into the wall, the track position to move up to second place – which was not bad from 28th on the grid.

In fact, had Bright managed to nail Jonathon Webb on the last lap, he would have set a new record for a championship race won from the lowest grid position.

– STEVE NORMOYLE 37

STONE DRY

Dirk Klynsmith

BARGS’ CHARGE WHY was Jason Bargwanna pushing leader Jonathon Webb so hard in the closing stages of Saturday’s race when he wasn’t even on the lead lap?

The reason, believe it or not, was that Bargwanna still reckoned he had a chance at snagging a decent result. And the thing is, in a race as crazy as this, he was kind of right.

He’d gone off the lead lap after bending a steering arm on one of the chicane kerbs – one of five such failures suffered by the Kelly Racing fleet, all of them for the same reason – and had been able to change it during the earlier Safety Car period (the one on Sunday cost Bargs three laps under green racing).

“We needed another Safety Car to get back on the lead lap,” Bargwanna explained, “and I thought, ‘there’s gonna be a shunt here; these guys are pushing too hard’.

“So I said, let’s go to wets now, and there will be another Safety Car because someone will crash, and then they’ll all fire in for wets, 38

and we’ll go past and be back on the lead lap.”

Bargs’ forecast proved correct, but he hadn’t counted on Webb also changing to wets.

“Had Webb been on slicks, I’d have been back on the lead lap.

That’s why I was pushing him so hard; I was just trying to get my lap back.

“Because at the time, according to my dash there was 15 laps to go.

That was plenty of time for another Safety Car, and I just thought: I’ve got the speed, I’ll unlap myself, and who knows what might happen from there? Another Safety Car and I’m back in the group again, and on the right tyres.

“But then the boys told me the race was on a time limit, so all of a sudden there was only about three laps to go, so I buttoned off from there.”

Even so, he still finished ninth, which is about as high as you’d ever expect to finish a V8 Supercar race one lap down.

It was that kind of race.

– STEVE NORMOYLE

ONE extra litre of fuel and Shane van Gisbergen would have celebrated his first championship race win success.

Instead, on the final lap of the final race for 2010, the SP Tools Falcon ran dry the last time down Dawn Fraser Avenue, and was overrun by Lee Holdsworth.

Team boss Ross Stone reckoned they’d lost the fuel gamble by about one litre.

“We knew it was going to be tight,” he said.

“We had him in fuel conservation mode but then when Holdsworth was there giving him a hard time we had to give it everything for a while. We were going for the win.”

After narrowly missing out on his maiden V8 Supercar race win for a second time this year, van Gisbergen must be feeling like a kid who can’t lose his virginity. But that’s just the point: at barely 21 he really is still just a kid, and Ross Stone has been around long enough to know that with a talent like this it’s a case of when rather than if.

“I think we’ve had something like 10 podiums with him, so it’s going to happen. The hardest one is always the first one. It’s just like the podiums – the first one was at Abu Dhabi and he followed that up straight after in Bahrain.

“This today was disappointing but it’s been a solid year, and at 21, he’s got a lot of time in front of him.”

– STEVE NORMOYLE

Results :: Race 25 – Sydney T Pos

#

Driver

Team/Car

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

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

Jonathon Webb Jason Bright Rick Kelly Steven Johnson Fabian Coulthard Michael Caruso Lee Holdsworth Andrew Thompson Jason Bargwanna Paul Dumbrell Steven Richards Russell Ingall Tony D’Alberto Dean Fiore James Courtney Jamie Whincup Shane Van Gisbergen Craig Lowndes Mark Winterbottom Todd Kelly Will Davison Garth Tander Alex Davison Andrew Jones Greg Murphy Tim Slade Tony Ricciardello Warren Luff Karl Reindler

Dick Johnson Rac Trading Post Racin Jack Daniel’s Raci Jim Beam Racing Bundaberg Red Co Fujitsu Racing/GR Fujitsu Racing/GR Bundaberg Red Co Rock Racing Com The Bottle-O Raci Dunlop Super Dea Supercheap Auto Centaur Racing C Bing Lee/Panason Jim Beam Racing TeamVodafone Co SP Tools Racing Fa TeamVodafone Co Orrcon Steel FPR F Jack Daniel’s Raci Toll Holden Racin Toll Holden Racin Irwin Racing Falco Team BOC Comm Castrol Edge Racin Wilson Security Ra Stratco Racing Co Gulf Western Oil C Fair Dinkum Shed

motorsport news

race

DRY

Daniel Kalisz

Top 10 Points: Courtney 3055, Whincup 2990, Winterbottom 2729, Lowndes 2669, Tander 2466, van Gisbergen 2391, Holdsworth 2387, R. Kelly 2347, Dumbrell 2232, Johnson 2006, Caruso 2004.

Telstra 500

cing Falcon ng Commodore ing Commodore Falcon Commodore RM Commodore RM Commodore Commodore mmodore ing Falcon aler Falcon Commodore Commodore nic Falcon Falcon ommodore alcon ommodore Falcon ing Commodore ng Team Commodore ng Team Commodore on modore ng Commodore acing Falcon ommodore Commodore ds Commodore www.mnews.com.au

Results :: Race 26 – Sydney Telstra 500 Qual

Pos

#

Driver

Team/Car

Qual

21 28 14 16 13 4 1 24 20 29 15 9 18 26 6 3 10 11 2 7 17 22 8 25 12 5 27 23 19

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

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

Lee Holdsworth Steven Richards Shane Van Gisbergen Steven Johnson Jamie Whincup Craig Lowndes Rick Kelly Michael Caruso Garth Tander Jonathon Webb Tony D’Alberto Greg Murphy Andrew Jones James Courtney Paul Dumbrell Dean Fiore Tony Ricciardello Warren Luff Fabian Coulthard Russell Ingall Todd Kelly Jason Bargwanna Alex Davison Mark Winterbottom Tim Slade Jason Bright Will Davison Karl Reindler Andrew Thompson

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

1 16 14 17 2 9 13 6 8 18 24 19 28 12 25 27 29 26 23 20 7 11 15 3 10 4 5 21 22 39

FUJITSU SERIES ROUND 7, HOMEBUSH

Daniel Kalisz

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Stevie ‘Two Titles’

Steve Owen wrapped up his second Fujitsu Series title in style at Homebush, with a pair of race wins. MITCHELL ADAM watched the weekend www.mnews.com.au

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Phil Williams

S

TEVE Owen completed the 2010 Fujitsu Series season the same way he started it – with a pair of wins on a street circuit.

Owen wrapped up the title, his second and the first for Greg Murphy Racing, at Homebush in comprehensive fashion. He’s won rounds this year without necessarily being dominant or the fastest driver, but there was no denying that the season finale belonged to Owen.

He qualified on pole then bolted to win the opening race by 3.66s despite a late Safety Car, sealing the title with a race to spare. Nick Percat got the jump in Race 2, below, but Owen took control on Lap 6 and never looked back, making it a double.

“We wanted to win the round,” Owen said of the weekend.

“Greg Murphy Racing are tying up what they’re going to do next year, they’ve got a lot

of people who want to drive their cars, so it was important for them to finish the season on a high note. And it was important for me to keep pushing on and doing laps and making sure I’m ready to go next year. “[Homebush] drives a lot better than it looks. When you look at it on paper, it looks like it’s not much of a racetrack, but then you get there and it’s actually tricky. Some of the braking zones in particular are bumpy and getting your car to work over those isn’t as easy as it looks.”

The weekend was Percat’s strongest in the series. From fourth on the grid, he moved up to second at the start of the opening race and went on to finish as Owen’s closest challenger. On Sunday, he led early before eventually finishing second again. After a problematic run at Sandown, Homebush was reflected Percat’s form since switching to a Bundy Red VE at Bathurst

and it capped a fine rookie campaign.

James Moffat was the biggest casualty of a chaotic qualifying session, which included four Red Flags.

Moffat could only manage 13th, but made impressive ground to finish third in Race 1. He backed it up with third again on Sunday to end the season with a hat-trick of round podiums.

A sub plot to the battle behind Owen on track was the battle for second in the standings behind Owen.

David Russell headed to Sydney in the position, but had a tough weekend. A touch at the first corner of Race 1 damaged his Falcon, necessitating a pitstop which put him several laps down.

He made good ground in Race 2, only to be penalised for contact with Tim Blanchard and drop back down to 12th.

In the end, Blanchard – who picked up a pair of fourths despite being delayed by a

first corner melee in Race 1 – left with second for the season (and the top rookie), ahead of Moffat, Percat and Russell.

Scott McLaughlin starred early, qualifying second. He was running fourth in the opener, before retiring with right-front damage. Drew Russell and Taz Douglas were also in line to finish fourth, before finding concrete.

Russell regrouped to take fifth on Sunday, ahead of McLaughlin, Geoff Emery and David Besnard, who got a late call-up to drive Ryan Hansford’s regular Falcon.

Marcus Zukanovic finished fifth for the weekend, a season best, despite a spin on Sunday.

Paul Morris and Daniel Jilesen were fifth and seventh in Race 1, but failed to finish Race 2.

Of the debutants, John Boston had a 13th and 14th, while Formula 3 graduate Tom Tweedie had a baptism of fire with MW Motorport, including being caught up in the Turn 1, Race 1 carpark.

Peter Bury

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James Moffat, left, ended his season with a podium finish while Tim Blanchard, below left, nabbed second for the series.

Phil Williams

F3 graduate Tom Tweedie, below, was in the thick of it during his Fujitsu Series debut.

Phil Williams

Dirk Klynsmith

Results : Round 7, Homebush Pos 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

# 45 222 99 999 71 48 96 777 75 40 95 13 28 58 26 66 93 32 46 43 59 27 92 41

Driver Steve Owen Nick Percat James Moffat Tim Blanchard Marcus Zukanovic Geoff Emery David Besnard Rodney Jane Aaron McGill John Boston Nathan Vince Colin Sieders David Russell Drew Russell Tom Tweedie Paul Morris Scott McLaughlin Paul Fiore Daniel Jilesen Shane Price Aaren Russell Tony Bates Taz Douglas Bruce Oaklands

Team/Car Earthex Racing Holden Commodore VE Bundaberg Red Racing Team Commodore VE Norton 360 Ford Rising Stars Ford Falcon BF Sonic Motor Racing Services Ford Falcon BF Midway Concrete & Garden Sup. Commodore VZ National Directory Dist. Holden Commodore VE V8 Race Experience Ford Falcon BF Bob Jane T-Marts Ford Falcon BF BBQ Factory Ford Falcon BF Bluestone Racing Holden Commodore VZ Black Track Haulage Ford Falcon BF Bisley Workwear Ford Falcon BF Team Jayco Ford Falcon BF Go Karts Go / ESET Antivirus Ford Falcon BF Team Tom Supports Club Ford Falcon BF The Love Machine Holden Commodore VE Fujitsu Racing Ford Falcon BF Flexistaff Ford Falcon BF Jilesen Racing Holden Commodore VE drive.com.au Holden Commodore VZ Go Karts Go / ESET Antivirus Ford Falcon BF Alternative Freight Services Ford Falcon BF Fastaz Motorsport Holden Commodore VZ Bluestone Racing Holden Commodore VZ

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

R1 1 2 3 4 6 10 11 8 12 13 16 14 17 DNF 15 5 DNF 19 7 DNF 9 17 DNF DNS

R2 1 2 3 4 10 7 8 16 11 14 13 15 12 5 18 DNF 6 17 DNF 9 DNF DNF DNS DNS

Top 10 Points: Points: Owen 1835, Blanchard 1520, Moffat 1473, David Russell 1437, Jane 1161, Emery 1002, Zukanoviuc 920, Aaren Russell 920, Drew Russell 850

www.mnews.com.au

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V8 UTES ROUND 8, HOMEBUSH

Johnson gets the job done Grant Johnson didn’t have what you would call an easy weekend, but he still left Homebush with the V8 Ute title, DANIEL HERRERO reports

I

N what is becoming a great V8 Utes tradition, the fight for the title went down to the wire on the weekend.

In fact, it wasn’t the only ‘tradition’ perpetuated at Sydney Olympic Park, as Hi-Tech Motorsport took its third championship victory from the past four seasons – its second consecutive championship one-two – as Johnson reigned supreme Following Jimmie Johnson’s NASCAR glory, and on the same day that Dick Johnson Racing triumphed 44

in the V8 Supercars drivers Championship, Grant Johnson became the third man to win multiple V8 Utes Series. Like his namesakes, he didn’t do it easy.

Before the weekend’s racing, it had been expected that only a major disaster would prevent the 2007 champion from repeating the dose in 2010. Enter scrutineers on Friday morning, who deemed that the rollcage in the #47 Brunel Energy Commodore was in violation of category regulations. Johnson missed the opening practice session

as his team effected the necessary modifications, but that wasn’t the end of his trouble.

The West Australian again fell foul of the officials on Saturday night, when his car was found to have a front brake line infringement.

Johnson was stripped of his results that day – fifth in qualifying and fourth in Race 1, leaving him with a shaky 20 point lead over team-mate Jack Elsegood, and a rear-ofgrid start for Race 2.

However, in a championshipdefining drive, Johnson cast

aside his usual conservatism in the partial-reverse grid races, storming home to fifth, as Elsegood could only proceed from 14th to 10th.

The equation for Race 3 was this – Johnson would start from 26th, needing a 19thplace finish to guarantee that the big trophy would be his.

Elsegood was starting from second on the grid.

Given that Race 1 was shortened to 3 laps after a firstlap pile-up, neither combatant could be comfortable, but the race ran nearly its full course (eight of nine scheduled laps), motorsport news

race

James Smith

Jack Elsegood, above, couldn’t quite snatch the title, while Charlie O’Brien, below, took two race wins and the round win.

Klynsmith

www.mnews.com.au

Dirk

John Morris / Mpix

Elsegood finished second, and Johnson 14th, to claim the crown.

“It’s like the biggest relief.

Yesterday [Saturday] was the lowest I’ve ever felt, times 20, and to win it like this – with the reverse grid obviously we had a good run – it’s more relief than anything else,” said an emotional Johnson.

“From something so trivial and stupid to affect our championship like that yesterday, I’m just glad we walked away with it, because generally we were the quickest car all year.”

Elsegood was frustrated to finish the weekend, and consequently the season, winless, having run second to the evergreen Charlie O’Brien in both Race 1 and Race 3.

“For this round [O’Brien] had brand new shocks and a brand new engine, and he drove the thing really well,” said Elsegood.

“I thought I had the pace on him just about everywhere, except for the exit of corners.”

He consequently fell four points short of his Hi-Tech stable-mate in the title standings.

“That’s how it goes,” lamented Elsegood. “Grant did a good job.”

For O’Brien – back racing in 2010 having ‘retired’ from motorsport for a second time in 2005 – pole position and two race wins represent his best results since the days of Auscar.

“I knew we were going to be pretty fast for the weekend, but I didn’t expect pole and two race wins, and a round win,” explained O’Brien.

“I’m delighted, and hopefully it can help me to get some money to come back next

year, because I am having fun.”

Andrew Fisher achieved a personal best championship outcome of third, while team-mate David Sieders was rookie of the year by a considerable margin, in spite of a trying weekend. He was one of a number of cars eliminated in incident early in Race 1, which saw the race red flagged. Sieders was subsequently leap-frogged by Chris Pither for fourth in the standings.

Points: Johnson 898, Elsegood 894, Fisher 797, Pither 794, Sieders 758 45

TOURING CAR MASTERS ROUND 8, HOMEBUSH

Gavin’s weekend, Jim’s year

Dirk Klynsmith

Gavin Bullas and Jim Richards both left Homebush’s TCM finale pretty happy, LACHLAN MANSELL reports

G

AVIN Bullas claimed victory in the final round of the Touring Car Masters presented by Autobarn at the Sydney 500, but Jim Richards clinched the title by finishing second for the weekend.

Richards actually won two races to Bullas’s single win, but Bullas set up his round victory with a cracking drive in the weekend’s second, top-eight reverse-grid race, in which Richards finished a cautious fourth. For the 2009 champion Bullas, the round victory was very much a relief after a torrid season interrupted by mechanical problems, including three engine failures in the previous two rounds at Symmons Plains and Sandown.

“I think this weekend was 46

the first time all season that I drove around the track and was able to park back in the pits rather than being towed back!” he joked.

“The car was better than it has been all year, and it was great to finally win a round.

The competition was a lot stronger this year, and I think it’s going to be bigger and better again next year.”

Richards was delighted to add another national title to his already vast collection, which spans back to the 1970s.

“The competition was really tough this year, but what won the series for us was consistency,” he said.

“I missed the Symmons Plains round due to a prior commitment, but I was able to drop that as my worst round, and apart from that I

only had one DNF, so the car was very reliable all year.”

John Bowe finished third for the round with third, second and fourth in the weekend’s three races. For spectators, the weekend’s second race was the pick, with some sensational overtaking moves and close battles adding to the excitement.

Bullas made a particularly slick move, overtaking both John Bowe and Cameron Tilley at the beginning of Lap 2. Unfortunately, the race finished under Safety Car conditions after Bill Bye, suffering a mechanical problem, spun at the Turn 2-34 chicane and then walloped the concrete wall a couple of corners later before dragging a tyre bundle onto the circuit.

Mark King also had his turn at the front in Race 2, leading

the way before copping a drive-through penalty for jumping the start.

Other drivers to feature in the round included Group 2 competitors Bernie Stack and Tilley, whose less powerful vehicles were not majorly disadvantaged by the tight Homebush circuit. Stack performed particularly well in the wet Race 1, claiming fifth outright and also wrapped up the Group 2 title.

In Group 3, it was Tony Karanfilovski who won both the round and the series in his Alfa Romeo, narrowly beating home year-long rival Phillip Showers.

“The car was suited to the track this weekend, but I’m going to retire it now,” Karanfilovski said ahead of his planned upgrade to an XY Falcon GTHO for 2011. motorsport news

race

Dirk Klynsmith Peter Bury

Gavin Bullas, top, took the round win, while Bernie Stack, above, and Tony Karanfilovski, right, wrapped up Groups 2 and 3 respectively.

James Smith

www.mnews.com.au

47

MINI CHALLENGE ROUND 8, HOMEBUSH

Peter Bury

The Chris = The Champ The MINI Challenge wrapped up for the forseeable future at Homebush, with Chris Alajajian sealing the title. DANIEL HERRERO reviews the action

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C

HRIS Alajajian clinched the 2010 Hertz MINI Challenge in style at the Sydney Telstra 500 on the weekend.

The 2009 runner-up become the last champion for the foreseeable future, BMW Australia having announced in the preceding fortnight that the one-make category would not return in 2011.

The weekend’s racing was very much a ‘Dr Jekyll and Mister Hyde’ story, with Race 1 a procedural affair that was curtailed due to scheduling restrictions after only four laps, Race 2 seeing a vigorous race-long battle in the midpack, but Race 3 being another straightforward occasion.

Alajajian stretched his championship margin thanks to pole position and a lights-toflag victory in the opener, and the lead became unassailable after he beat defending champion Paul Stokell, below left, by a single place in the partial reverse grid second race.

Sunday morning’s final encounter was practically a victory parade for the former A1 Team Lebanon driver, car #9 again never headed from first place on the starting grid.

“I think it’s probably the best thing I’ve done, and it’s the greatest thing to have on your CV,” enthused Alajajian.

“It’s such a strong category.

I’ve had so much fun, so much competition, such great community, and the competitors have been great.”

Outgoing champion Stokell faced a difficult, but not impossible task heading into the season decider, and could have mathematically taken the fight to the last race if he had managed to keep Alajajian at bay during the thoroughly entertaining Race 2 dogfight.

The title combatants were joined by Sydneysider Aaron Zerefos in the bottom half of the Top 10 for most of the race, with the three drivers constantly swapping places on an Olympic Park circuit that

was perilously wet off-line after an earlier shower, as they collectively nipped at the heels of Kiwi Gavin Yortt.

“I knew I had to finish in front of him to keep the championship alive for the last race,” said Stokell, “but I got baulked and he got another run at me, so that was disappointing because I sort of had him.”

However, the Tasmanian was circumspect about his season, admitting that his was a difficult task to try and steal back-to-back titles, having trailed the eventual champion all season.

“We had little problems earlier in the year, we’ve had about three DNFs throughout the year, and the way the points system changed this year, there’s very little between each place, so to try and make up big chunks of ground when you have a DNF is very difficult.

“We kept the show alive for the last round, but to be honest, we were struggling. We

John Morris / Mpix

James Smith

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www.mnews.com.au Kool Advert Final OL - Digital.indd 1

needed him to have more DNFs, basically.”

Peter McNiven, who was solid if unspectacular at Homebush, was proud to round out the championship podium in his first attempt.

“We came in with not very big expectations, we came in with the idea that this would be a two-year thing, so really this year was all about learning for next year,” the rookie explained.

“Obviously, that’s not going to happen now, but to come third for the year is obviously a great result, better than we expected, and we’re rapt, really.”

Glenn Seton won Race 2 as the Uber Star after Spanish guest Jose Manueal De Los Milagros greeted the chequered first but was subsequently excluded. His countryman also made an impact, Javier Villa, below right, qualifying second and setting the fastest lap in the opening race.

Points: Alajajian 825, Stokell 777.5, McNiven 688, Yortt 604.5

30/11/2010 13:16:43 Sill Advert v3 Final OL Digital.indd 1

30/11/2010 13:14:21

ANDRA PRO SERIES ROUND 2 – PERTH MOTORPLEX

When East beats West

The locals put on a brave show but the Easterners ruled the quarter-mile in Perth. LUKE NIEUWHOF reports

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Honda Pro Images

www.mnews.com.au

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T

HE 39th annual Goldenstates event at Perth Motorplex produced two nights full of drama as the ANDRA Pro Series hit Western Australia.

Wins were taken by Mark Belleri in Top Doorslammer, Troy McLean in Top Bike and Maurice Allen in Pro Stock Motorcycle.

Just qualifying marked the first hurdle for Belleri, with 22 cars trying to get into an eightcar field, but the Sydneysider hit a 5.99s time to finish up fourth and facing Gary Phillips in round one.

Belleri ran another 5.99s pass in the first round to defeat Phillips who had tyre shake and could not catch Belleri’s Camaro, owned by his father Lucky.

In the semi finals Belleri took on local Daniel Gregorini, who took an upset win in the first round when he defeated number one qualifier and championship leader Robin Judd. A consistent 6.00s from Belleri took him past a 6.42 from Gregorini.

The final saw a tough match up against John Zappia’s Procomp Monaro. After almost an hour delay due to rain, the track was dried and the last run took place. With a cold surface, Belleri did well to score a 6.10s to 6.29s win against the reigning Champion.

“It’s been awesome, thanks to Dad for letting me drive his car and thrash it,” Belleri said after his victory.

“All the crew have been working so hard, changing clutches and doing everything, thank you guys without you I wouldn’t be up here holding this trophy.”

Zappia looked at the runner up as a positive step in the championship, bringing himself, Belleri, Judd and Maurice Fabietti into relatively even contention after two rounds.

“It’s good to get a couple of runs back up on Juddy and equal the score across the four of us now,” he said.

“We had a big thrash to change the engine before the semis but it paid off.”

McLean was initially a rank outside for the Top Bike category, only just qualifying into the

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field at number eight position out of 13 bikes.

His first luck came when Wayne Barrett withdrew from the field, meaning McLean moved up a position and avoided a first round confrontation with Top Bike Champion Chris Matheson.

McLean raced Mark Drew and looked to have lost the first round but Drew’s bike lost part of the exhaust pipe during the run, almost hitting McLean, meaning a disqualification.

McLean had the appropriately named Marc Ryder in the semi finals, and with a wallhugging 7.21s defeated a 7.69s.

Matheson was the last challenge but when the Queenslander could not fire his bike, McLean was able to take an automatic win in the final.

“We always take them anyway we can,” he said.

Matheson was disappointed but after dealing with some hairy moments due to high winds, including almost hitting fellow rider Terry Burnett in the braking area, he was glad everyone came out safe.

“Jumping on these things, getting down the other end and living to fight another day is a great thing,” he said.

In the Pro Stock Motorcycle division Maurice Allen gave his championship chances a boost by defeating first time finalist Locky Ireland.

Allen qualified second with a 7.407s pass, only just behind a 7.400s from Andrew Badcock.

He then defeated Luke Crowley in the first round before a classy win in the semi finals with a better reaction time on the start line allowing a 7.43s to defeat a quicker 7.37s by Phil Howard.

In the final a 7.44s pass did the job against a loose run from Ireland.

“We looked at Perth and thought here is a great way to bag some points if we can go a few rounds,” he said.

“We achieved that goal to come here and do that. Dad’s spent the last two months working on this motorcycle to refine it. The money and development that goes into them isn’t always seen.”

motorsport news

Luke Nieuwhof

www.mnews.com.au

The night of Generation 2: Mark Belleri overcame a cold surface and a hot John Zappia to claim the Top Doorslammer title, left.

Maurice Allen was too swift for Locky Ireland in Pro Stock Motorcycle, while Troy McLean rode his luck to take out Top Bike. Had Wayne Barret not withdrawn from the field, McLean would have faced Chris Matheson in Round 1, not the final ...

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WORLD SERIES SPRINTCARS Round 3 – HOBART, TAS

SIDES’ WAYS 54

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J

Jason Sides took out the first win by an American driver in the 2010/11 with a slick performance in Tasmania. DAVID CLIFFORD reports

www.mnews.com.au

ASON Sides (USA) has won the third round of World Series Sprintcars under threatening skys and in front of an appreciative local crowd at the Mountain Dew Ice Raceway in Hobart.

Sides, driving for Krikke Motorsport, was never troubled in the 30-lap final and led from start to finish to claim the first by an victory international in the 2010 series ahead of Aussie David Murcott, with fellow American Jason Johnson third.

Murcott and the rest of the field were not able to make any serious moves on Sides, even on the two restarts which were both caused by a spinning Bryan Mann.

“It just shows how good this team is,” Sides said after the win.

Sides, who is subbing for defending series Champion Brooke Tatnell, was ninth in qualifying with a 13.838-second lap before gathering strong points with a fourth and fifth in his heats.

Tatnell will take over the driving duties for Krikke Motorsport from Round 5 until the end of the series. Tatnell is still currently in America due to family commitments.

“I hope I don’t tear it up between now and the time he comes back,” Sides stated.

Sides and crew chief Pete Caporn obviously had found the ideal car set-up for the slick Hobart track, being second quickest in the Bronze Top Eight Shootout before then dominating the Silver and Gold Shootouts to start on pole for the nights A-Main feature race.

“We just had to fine tune it a bit for our driving style,” said Sides.

Heat Winners were Ian Madsen, Matthew Reed, Mark House, Trevor Green, Wayne Rowett, Ricky Maiolo. Murcott took out the Bronze Shootout winner, Sides the Gold and Silver Shootout and Matt Egel won the B-Main.

Round 4 of the World Series Sprintcars will be held at Latrobe’s Bendigo Bank Arena in Northern Tasmania this Saturday.

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motorsport news

rear of grid

FLOWER POWER FOR SHOWERS ...

YOU don’t often see hazing in motor racing, but those mature-aged folks in the Touring Car Masters are a bunch of rascals.

In Sydney, Phil Showers got ‘punk’d’ by the old timers. Driving a purple Ford

Escort (with, might we add, a sexy little Cosworth twin cam), Showers was always on borrowed time in a field of V8 muscle.

And when he left the track on the Saturday evening, a few of the other lads hung back … to change his name to

‘Flowers’ and stick pictures of pretty little posies and daisies all over it.

Apparently the joke has been going since Bathurst last year. We eagerly await the rebuttal from ‘Miss Daisy’, as Showers is now referred to as ...

Odd Sp ot

www.mnews.com.au

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