Motorsport eNews Issue 191 - February 8-14, 2011

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Issue No. 191 Feb 08 - 14 2011

THE COVERS ARE OFF!

IS THIS THE RED BULL RACER THAT WILL WIN MARK WEBBER A WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP?

CRAIG LOWNDES, IN A MCLAREN F1 CAR, AT BATHURST ... SERIOUSLY

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Legends of Bathurst

The Racing History of the Australian Ford

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Peter Brock The Legend

The Racing History of Ford Falcon XD/XE

Dick Johnson – 35 years at Bathurst

The Racing History of Ford Falcon Hardtop

Larry Perkins – The Endurance Man

The Racing History of Ford Falcon GT-HO

Skaifey – The Mark Skaife Story

The Racing History of Ford Mustang

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

Torana SL/R 5000, Torana A9X

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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Issue No. 191 | Feb 08-15 2011

news 5

Kubica Injury Update Career threat for Renault ace 6 McLowndes Craig. Bathurst. McLaren!

8 Triple Fiore ... and he wants Gianni back 12 New F1 cars McLaren, Mercedes, Lotus 16 Seb and PT Indy return?

Former Champs’ Indy plans

chat 26 Five Minutes With ...

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David Reynolds

comment 28 van Leeuwen: Numbers 29 Adam: Around the clock

race 30 Bathurst 12 Hour 40 Bathurst Supports 42 Toyota Racing Series 44 Formula 5000 46 More Speedway

trade 49 Classifieds

MEET THE RED BULL RB

T

FORMULA 1

HIS is the Red Bull Racing RB7, the car that Mark Webber will be hoping will win him the 2011 Formula 1 World Championship.

The RB7 was launched in Valencia late last week, showed immediately that it will be a title contender by topping the time sheets on the first day of testing in the hands of Sebastian Vettel. Mark Webber took over the car mid-way through the second day in fourth place, 0.7s behind pacesetter Robert Kubica.

“Today was the first good long run in the car for me, so we learnt a lot,” said Webber at the conclusion of the test.

“There are some quick cars out there, but it was a good finish to the test for us. We had a good Day 1 and Day 3, [although] Day 2 wasn’t quite so productive, but overall the team has done a bloody awesome job – to get the car here for the first test and do the work we’ve done straight out of the box. It’s impressive.”

As part of the launch, RBR’s tech guru Adrian Newey explained some of the finer points of the RB7 ...

WEIGHT LIMIT: “The weight limit has gone up slightly, and it has been increased to make it slightly easier to implement KERS. But there are trade-offs elsewhere that we’ve had to overcome.

“However, the effect of the extra weight is that the car will be slightly harder on its tyres and brakes.”

MOVEABLE REAR WING: “The overtaking ‘aid’ of 2010, the F-Duct, is banned for 2011, but we now have a movable rear wing, which is designed to help in that regard. How it affects races and whether

it makes overtaking too easy and/or dangerous is a concern, but one that can be adjusted relatively easily by the FIA.”

REAR DIFFUSER: “The next big change is the ban on double diffusers for 2011, which is a big downforce reduction. Like every other team, we’ll be trying to claw as much of that back as possible in other areas of the design.

But it is without doubt a big change, and one we hope we’ve met well.”

KERS: “The reintroduction of KERS for 2011 is a challenge in various ways. It’s a challenge to keep the car light enough for Mark and to be able to change the weight distribution a little bit depending on the circuit and the characteristics of the tyres.

“It’s also a packaging challenge, based on fitting the KERS system in without compromising the aerodynamics.

“Finally, there’s all the control problems as well, making sure the car behaves well in a vehicle dynamics sense with the input of the KERS, particularly when the system is charging. RB5 was designed to run a KERS system, and we trialed it briefly pre-season in 2009, but elected quite quickly not to pursue it. So we have some experience with it, but little in comparison to some other teams.”

PIRELLI TYRES: “It’s not a regulation change, but the final major difference will be the change to Pirelli tyres. Like all the other teams we did two days testing in Abu Dhabi with the new tyres, and we were very pleased with the initial results. Pirelli have been doing further development through the winter, which is very encouraging.” motorsport news

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B7

KUBICA INJURED IN RALLY SHUNT Renault star likely to miss F1 season FORMULA 1 THE future of Robert Kubica is in doubt, after he suffered serious injuries in a rally crash on Sunday.

The Polish star has suffered multiple fractures to his right arm, leg and hand in the crash, which happened while he was competing in the Rally Ronde di Andora in Italy on Sunday morning. Witnesses reported that he lost control of his Skoda Fabia, which struck a guardrail hard. Navigator Jacub Gerber was unhurt in the crash.

His manager, Daniele Morelli, has said that surgeons were battling to restore function in his right hand.

“Unfortunately the impact with the guardrail caused serious harm,” Morelli told reporters

outside the hospital.

“He has been diagnosed with multiple fractures to his leg and right arm, especially complications related to his right hand. We shall see later if the operation was successful.

“The clinical picture is not easy.

We expect to make the necessary assessments tonight.

“The surgeons are trying to restore the functionality of his right hand. We must now think about the muscle function, but Robert is very strong and will succeed.

“The important thing is that Robert recoveries, as it has already proven to do with the incident in Canada. On that occasion it took him three months to get back on track.”

HEIDFELD BEST MAN FOR THE JOB NICK Heidfeld may be the man to join the Lotus Renault GP team for the start – perhaps all – of the 2011 season.

Last week, the team named five reserve drivers, and while Jan Charouz, Ho-Pin Tung and Fairuz Fauzy appear completely out of their depth, Bruno Senna and Romain Grosjean appear to be the most qualified of the five to take over Kubica’s seat. At the time of the announcement, team principal Eric Boullier said that of the two reserve drivers, Senna was the most ready to replace any of the regular drivers.

But now, faced with the prospect of either of the relatively unaccomplished drivers moving into a race seat, alongside Vitaly Petrov, the team may look for experience. eNews believes that the man best-placed to join the team is Heidfeld. The vastlyexperienced German, who raced www.mnews.com.au

for the Sauber team last year, was Pirelli’s test driver until Pedro de la Rosa took over that role, and his current status is ‘available’.

A year ago, there were strong suggestions that Heidfeld, a veteran of 172 GPs, would join Kubica in the team, then newlyowned by Genii Capital. The team instead signed Petrov, who brought substantial backing to the team, and while the Russian stepped up his game during the back half of last season, he is not considered yet to be a team leader.

As well as being experienced with the new tyres in use this season, Heidfeld is also known to be personally close to Kubica. Tonio Liuzzi is also unsigned, and while he appears to be a possibility, the man from Mönchengladbach is the man most likely to don the black, perhaps as soon as this week’s test, which starts at Jerez on Thursday.

CL + McLaren + Bathurst = Awesome!

FORMULA 1 CRAIG Lowndes is set to realise every driver’s dream of driving a Formula 1 car – at Bathurst.

Lowndes and Jenson Button, who drove one of TeamVodafone’s Holden Commodores at Albert Park last year, appear likely to drive a McLaren around Mount Panorama, the weekend prior to the Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix. McLaren is bringing an older model car – probably a 2010 model

MP4/25 – to Australia to take part in the Speed Comparison at Albert Park, eNews believes that an application has been lodged with the Bathurst regional Council to allow the track to be used for the event. The Mount Panorama Act, the NSW state government’s legislative guideline for the circuit’s use, allows that a certain number of days can be set aside for the use of the circuit, which otherwise is used as a tourist road.

“Under the Act, there is a

certain amount of time set aside for full track closures,” said a Council spokesman.

“My understanding is that there is one [day) up our sleeve.”

Should the drive go ahead, the arrangements would have to be put in place fairly quickly, and Lowndes would have to be available for a seat fitting before the drive. But since Jamie Whincup had his seat made quickly and easily last year, it would not present a big problem.

TeamVodafone boss

Roland Dane does not hold any particular concerns for allowing either of the team’s drivers participate in ‘extra curricular’ events, even in light of the injuries Robert Kubica suffered on the weekend.

“Kubica was in a rally car,” he said.

“Rally cars have been getting smaller and smaller, and in the rallying environment, there are stone walls, fences and other things that cars can hit.

But without knowing what happened [to Kubica’s car it is difficult to comment.”

Enduro drivers going fast V8 SUPERCARS THE V8 Supercars endurance driver market is quickly drying up.

Days out from the start of the 2011 season, a handful of enduro seats with big teams remain unaccounted for, including a drive alongside James Courtney at the Toll Holden Racing Team, two at Dick Johnson Racing and all four at Kelly Racing. eNews understands just one seat remains at Stone Brothers Racing, with Daniel Gaunt expected to return to the seat of a V8 Supercar partnering Tim Slade, while John McIntyre will continue his association with Shane van Gisbergen.

To fill the remaining seats,

a shortlist of top-line talent remains.

Marcus Marshall, Allan Simonsen and Craig Baird are obvious targets for leading teams. Marshall raced with Dick Johnson Racing in last year’s enduros, Baird has raced with HRT and Bundy Racing in recent years, while Simonsen is free to do both races and in discussions with several teams, see separate story.

Fujitsu Series youngsters David Russell and Tim Blanchard have also attracted the attention of several teams, while rival Nick Percat is part of

the Walkinshaw Racing system.

However, whether Percat is put in a Clayton-run car, or ‘loaned’ out to a Walkinshaw customer such as Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport, is so far unknown.

Other drivers with recent V8 Supercar experience, and not currently locked into a team, include Shane Price, Michael Patrizi and Tony Ricciardello.

Patrizi, however, is likely to end up back at Triple F Racing.

– MITCHELL ADAM

Peter Bury

Simonsen in for enduros V8 SUPERCARS ALLAN Simonsen is clash-free and will contest both of this year’s V8 Supercar endurance races.

Since making his enduro debut in 2003, the Danish driver has been a regular in the long-distance races. In recent years, his schedule has become more complicated with increased European commitments, missing both races in 2008 and the L&H 500 at Phillip Island last year before joining Paul Morris Motorsport at Bathurst.

This year, Simonsen is free to contest both events and is currently in discussions with a number of teams.

“I’ll do both of them, which is great,” he told eNews.

“I’m talking to a fair few of the teams, actually. It’s looking good. It’s always good to come down here and be a part of it.

I still rate the V8 Supercars as the best championship in the world, so I’m pleased to be a part of it.”

– MITCHELL ADAM motorsport news

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LE MANS CRAIG Lowndes’ goal of racing in the Le Mans 24 Hour may be a step closer to fulfilment, following last weekend’s Armor All Bathurst 12 Hour.

Lowndes was the event’s high-profile drawcard in a factory Audi effort, a joint venture between Audi Australia and Audi Race Experience Team Joest, finishing second with fellow V8 Supercar driver Warren Luff and Australian GT driver Mark Eddy.

With Joest Racing responsible for Audi’s factory sportscar programs, Lowndes hopes the weekend was the first step in forging a relationship with the team,

which could ultimately lead to a berth in the French classic.

Lowndes’ manager David Segal was also at Bathurst and held discussions with Audi Australia and Joest officials about possible opportunities.

Should a relationship develop, an initial path could see Lowndes drive for Audi Race Experience Team Joest in GT3 events such as the Nurburgring 24 Hour, Spa 1000 or Malaysia’s Merdeka Millennium Endurance.

“I’d love to do Le Mans as soon as possible, but I’ve been wanting to do Le Mans since the HRT days,” Lowndes said.

“It’s been on the radar for 14 years, if an opportunity comes, we’ll definitely look at it. We obviously needed to have the 12 Hour to set up the

Dirk Klynsmith

Lowndes gets the Euro ball rolling relationship and understand the people; their mentality is very similar to Triple Eight which is great.

“Triple Eight brings a lot of a European sense to the organisation in the way they operate and, of course, being mainly German here, it’s the same way.

“The bigger picture and the future, who knows? I’d love to do Le Mans and it’s definitely something we’ll talk about.”

Joest Racing Managing Director Ralf Jüttner, who oversaw the weekend, told eNews on Saturday that he was impressed by Lowndes.

“After the race, we’ll know more and we’ll talk more about it,” he said.

“I think, for sure, he’s a guy that’s capable and, from what

I’ve learned in these two days, a guy that would fit very well into endurance racing, which requires different skills to, say, one-hour races.

“He definitely has the skills and the qualities required, that’s for sure.”

Meanwhile, Luff confirmed that he’d also relish an international opportunity should one arise through Joest, having previously contested the Nurburgring 24 Hour.

“To be able to go back to, say, the Nurburgring this year and do the 24 Hour with these guys would be amazing,” Luff said.

“Of course, if the opportunity came up to go back and do it with them, I’d be there in a heartbeat, providing it didn’t clash.” − MITCHELL ADAM

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Fiore firms T8 ties V8 SUPERCARS TRIPLE F Racing has a new engineer, and an increased alliance with Triple Eight Race Engineering, for the 2011 season.

As exclusively reported by eNews last December, the family-run team was working towards an increased technical link with Triple Eight for this season. And the Fiores have got their wish, with Roland Dane’s squad to offer assistance throughout the season.

“The alliance won’t be a great

deal, but they will be helping out,” driver Dean Fiore told eNews.

“It’s not as much assistance as we’d hoped for, but that’s only because of the fact that we run a different manufacturer to TeamVodafone. Because of that, there can’t be anything on race weekends.”

But on race weekends, Fiore will have the services of new engineer Darren Papworth, who joins Triple F after Leigh Geyer left at the end of last season. Papworth, a Brit who has previously worked for Prodrive in the World Rally

Championship, started with TFR at the test day at Eastern Creek last week.

“I think he’ll pick V8 Supercars up pretty quick,” said Fiore.

“The test was a good introduction for him, although it was hard to gauge too much because of the track condition.

Our meetings with Triple Eight will be a big help for Darren as well. If we were flying solo, like we were last year, it would be very hard for him. But this way, he can learn from the best in the business.”

– ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN

FV8 + T8 = MONSTER? V8 SUPERCARS

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... and he wants Morbidelli back V8 SUPERCARS TRIPLE F Racing is hoping to bring Gianni Morbidelli back to V8 Supercars later this year, for the second running of the Gold Coast 600.

The Italian shared the TFR Falcon with Dean Fiore at last year’s GC600, and despite the exFormula 1 pilot struggling with the V8 Supercar, Fiore told eNews he’d love to have Morbidelli back in 2011.

“There’s nothing in place yet, but I’d love to

have Gianni back this year,” he said.

“He’s a good bloke, and a very professional driver. It wasn’t his fault that he lacked speed last year. We struggled as a whole that weekend, and the Gold Coast is the sort of track where if the car is hooked up, everything is very easy. But if the car isn’t working, it’s just so hard.

“By next year he’ll know what to expect, and we should be in a better place as a team. I’ll be getting on contact with him after the Yas Marina round.”

THE Triple Eight Race Engineering entry in the Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series could be a Monster. eNews believes that the energy drink brand is among a number of sponsors that could back the T8RE Commodore that will compete in the series this season. T8 boss Roland Dane said on Monday that the plans for the program were on hold until after the opening V8 Supercar Championship rounds of the season in Abu Dhabi, but that there were possibilities.

“We have not decided who will drive the car yet,” he said, ‘it’s on the back burner until this week is finished.”

Our sources report that the team’s entry, which could be driven by Mark Skaife and Andrew Thompson, could feature different liveries at different rounds, depending on what the final package entailed.

“That would not be ideal but it is a possibility,” said Dane.

“Obviously, our choice would be to have a single sponsor at all the races. motorsport news

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Todd and Rick Kelly will support the Queensland Premier’s Flood Appeal in Abu Dhabi this weekend. Of course, the brother cannot carry the logos of regular sponsor Jack Daniel’s because of restrictions on advertising alcohol brands in the Middle East. Still a top effort though, and a good cause – even in a desert ...

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KIWIS PLAN ASSAULT CARRERA CUP FRONT-running New Zealand Porsche squad Triple X Motorsport is looking to tackle the re-born Australian Carrera Cup in 2011.

Triple X is the team to beat in NZ’s GT3 Cup Challenge, fielding cars for a variety of drivers, including Craig Baird and Daniel Gaunt. The team also has experience with the latest generation of Cup Cars, having previously run Baird in the Asian Carrera Cup. Now, Triple X is planning an assault on Aussie shores, and

is looking for drivers to get involved.

“It’s a car we’ve already had our Lion’s share of experience with in Porsche Carrera Cup Asia last year,” said Todd Bickerton, Triple X’s technical director.

“We learned a few lessons that went against what we collectively expected, and the result was something we turned into repeatable setup to eventually take the series lead.”

Triple X has won the last three GT3 Cup Challenge titles in New Zealand, as well as the last two New Zealand Grands

Prix. As well as Gaunt and Baird, they’ve also fielded cars for Aussie David Reynolds, and former A1GP NZ driver Earl Bamber.

“Our results speak for themselves, we’ve got knowledge to share, we know the tracks and the new car, winning races and championships is our passion and it’s only a cup of tea across the Tasman to all the rounds,” added Bickerton.

“Our location is irrelevant, really, but winning is not.”

And according to Bickerton, the collated data from the

impressive list of drivers will be a big leg-up when it comes to Aussie CCup in 2011.

“One of the strengths in running the Porsche cars is being able to share data between championship winning drivers and being able to see gains that everyone can learn from,” he said.

“It’s also the same where a driver might lose some time, they can choose to change their approach in the pursuit of improvement.”

This will be Triple X’s first foray into the Australian motor racing scene.

One round at a time? It’s not a cliche FUJITSU V8S COLIN Sieders is building a 2011 Fujitsu Series program one round at a time.

The Sieders Racing Team driver has locked in three of the seven rounds and is close to securing a start in a fourth. With backing from Bisley Workwear, who joined the team at Homebush last year, Sieders will race his BF Falcon at the Clipsal 500, Bathurst and Homebush.

Having rallied support from local businesses to contest the 2010 round, 10

Sieders is close to locking in Townsville as a fourth event.

“I’m looking forward to it,” he said.

“I’ve got Clipsal, Bathurst and Homebush locked away with Bisley Workwear again.

Basically, the car’s painted the same as it was at Homebush last year.

“It looks like we’re doing the same thing up at Townsville with the same sponsors we had last year as well.”

While Sieders is unlikely to make the trip to Barbagallo Raceway’s maiden FV8 round, he could still add the remaining

events at Queensland Raceway and Sandown to his schedule.

“We’ll keep plugging away at the rest of them,” he said.

“We’ve had a bit of a look at Barbagallo and we’re finding it a lot harder to get the support. So I’d say we’re 100 percent going to miss that one. But Queensland and Sandown, we’re going to try and do those ones as well if we can, so we’ll try to do six out of the seven.

“I’m looking forward to it.”

– MITCHELL ADAM motorsport news

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Russells’ Hardware gets Stronger

Dirk Klynsmith

FUJITSU V8S ADRENALIN Motor Racing will enter this year’s Fujitsu Series with improved hardware.

The Newcastle team will debut a newly-built car at the Clipsal 500, accompanied by an upgraded engine and gearbox combination.

Purchased as a rolling chassis 12 months ago, a third exBrad Jones Racing Falcon − repaired but unraced since it

www.mnews.com.au

was crashed by Damien White at Bathurst in 2006 − has been built up by Adrenalin for Drew Russell to race.

Following the sale of an older engine and their HPattern gearboxes, the team has also upgraded their running gear. Drew and younger brother Aaren will both use sequential gearboxes for the first time, while Aaren will upgrade from a C3 engine to a Stone Brothers Racing D3

unit.

The engine and the D3 used

by Drew in 2010, are currently receiving a pre-season freshenup at SBR. “We’re quietly pleased with everything that’s going forward,” team boss Wayne Russell said.

“We’ve bought an engine off FPR, but it’s a Stone Brothers engines, one of Brad Jones’ engines, so instead of Aaren having a C3, he’ll now have a

D3 − they’ll both have exactly the same spec engines.

“The new car for Drew is allbut ready. We’re just waiting on the engines to come back from Stone Brothers, they’ll be put back in the cars and the cars are just about ready to go and test at Wakefield Park on the first of March.”

In the 2010 Fujitsu Series, Aaren Russell finished ninth, one spot ahead of Drew. − MITCHELL ADAM

11

L! IA C E P S R A C W E N 1 FORMULA

THE SILVER BULLET

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Mercedes GP chose a racetrack debut for its new W02. Some observers have compared its nose and front wing detail to last year’s Red Bull, while the knife-edge roll hoop has been replaced by a conventional unit. The team has picked up Allianz as a sponsor.

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motorsport news

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McLaren Mercedes

McLaren showed its new MP4/26 to the world at a launch in Berlin. Note the detail on the multiple air intakes, and the Lshaped radiator inlets. The rear wing features the now-common gilled side plates.

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Lotus (at least, we think it is Lotus) showed the T127 off, above, prior to testing.

Note the new airbox set-up. At Valencia, Toro Rosso’s Seb Buemi and Jamie Alguersuari posed with the new STR6, left.

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Ricko, Renno

FORMULA 1

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GP ON THE DARK SIDE FORMULA 1

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RICK Kelly will become a Renault driver at Albert Park, when he takes part in the Red Bull Race Off. The Jack Daniel’s Racing driver will swap his Holden Commodore V8 Supercar for a Mégane Renault Sport 250, and take on three other drivers in the five-lap dash around the Grand Prix circuit. Kelly will face former GP winner-turnedcommentator David Coulthard, Toro Rosso reserve driver Daniel Ricciardo and X-Fighter star Robbie Maddison in the race.

“The Grand Prix is always a very exciting event for us, but even more so this year with the opportunity to race against some of the worlds best drivers in the Red Bull Race Off,” Kelly said.

“Even though I have a huge amount of respect for the other drivers, being a typical race driver I will be giving it my best shot to win, as I expect they will. So all in all it should be a great spectacle for the crowd and a great event.”

In other news, expect confirmation soon of the cars and drivers involved in the Speed Comparison. eNews hears that a few of TeamVodafone’s drivers, including endurance men Mark Skaife and Andrew Thompson, will suit up in the V8 Supercar, against a McLaren test driver (probably Gary Paffett) and Mick Doohan in a road-going Mercedes-Benz.

THE FIA has confirmed a 5pm start time for the Australian Grand Prix.

The governing body issued a timetable for next month’s event last Friday, with the same start time as the 2010 race. This is in spite of several comments made by drivers at the end of last year’s event, voicing concerns about the lack of light causing problems at the end of the race.

Last year, second-placed Robert Kubica said he was concerned about the lack of light.

“I think after Australia we complained already twice,” he said.

“The FIA did some measurements and it is clear it is too dark for them for the safety target they are putting.

“It is a serious problem and this year was very dark in Australia and the year before the sun was very low, which was very dangerous.” motorsport news

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RENAULT SHOWS PACE

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FORMULA 1

Vale-encia: Robert Kubica put the black Lotus Renault up front, in what could be his last drive of the year.

Michael Schumacher ran the new Mercedes, while Jenson Button made do with an updated 2010 car.

Felipe Massa, right, blew a motor in his Ferrari before thoughtfully throwing his hands in the air for our photographer.

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ROBERT Kubica’s last drive in a Formula 1 car, for the present at least, saw him top the time sheets at Valencia last Thursday.

The Pole’s Renault R31 completed 114 lap through the course of the day, and was 0.06s faster than the Force India of Adrian Sutil. Jenson Button was third fastest in the interim version of the McLaren MP4-25.

Mark Webber had a solid day in the Red Bull-Renault RB7, running over 100 laps, but Ferrari suffered its first major glitch of the winter testing season. Felipe Massa lost an engine, but was still managed to complete a lap time that was within a second of the new Renault.

An indication of the effect of the new aerodynamic regulations was that Timo Glock was within 0.2s of the Ferrari in his 2010 Virgin. Kubica’s time, a 1m13.144s, is around 1.7s faster than the best test lap at the track a year ago.

15

INDYCAR

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PEN wheel race fans are salivating at the thought of Sebastien Bourdais competing against Paul Tracy again in the IndyCar Series.

After a three-year hiatus, during which Bourdais competed in 27 Grands Prix with Toro Rosso, the Frenchman has completed a test with Dale Coyne Racing (along with Firestone Indy Lights winner Martin Plowman) at Sebring last week.

The former four-time Champ Car champion who took 31 CART and Champ Car victories in 72 starts, quickly acclimated to the DallaraHonda package with the fastest speed of eight other experienced drivers also testing there.

“The car was very good and it really felt good to be back in an Indy car,” Bourdais said, who competed in the 2005 Indy 500 driving for Newman-Haas Racing.

“I was not sure what to expect, but

I was impressed with the way the car handled. I look forward to putting together the pieces to get back into IndyCar racing. I really believe in what Dale is doing with his team and it can be a great opportunity for both of us this year.”

Dale Coyne admitted if the team signed Bourdais it would be for a limited schedule since the Le Mans native is already signed as a Peugeot driver the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup (ILMC) series, which conflicts primarily with the IndyCar oval races. Coyne is still in discussion with 2010 IndyCar Rookie of the Year, Alex Lloyd, and was also impressed

by Plowman, who was close to Bourdais’s speed.

Meanwhile, Tracy has been talking to Conquest Racing owner Eric Bachelart, now that openings at KV Racing Technology and Dreyer & Reinbold where the Canadian competed on a limited schedule last season, seem unlikely.

“I’ve got a million dollars lined up,”

Bourdais back; Tracy too?

Conway returns with A INDYCAR

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NDRETTI Autosport has signed Mike Conway.

The British driver, 27, now fully recovered from his major accident at the Indianapolis 500 last May, competed with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing the last two seasons (prior to his injuries) earning a best finish of third at Infineon’s road course.

“I was driven to get back into the series,” Conway said.

“I’ve been working hard since May of last year with the goal of returning

and I’m all set to go.

“The season is not too far away and I can’t wait to start working with the team. It’s going to be an honour working with some great people and great team-mates I can’t wait to hit the track and start achieving some great results.”

Andretti Autosport owner Michael Andretti, who will announce Conway’s sponsors in the near future, said, “Mike is a great addition to our team. He is talented, has a lot of potential, and should really fit in well with our team. He was off

to a good start last year and had started to show what he is really capable of in the IndyCar Series.

“He’s got great credentials, has raced

motorsport news

with 2010 Firestone Indy Lights Champion, JK Vernay, after last week’s Sebring test and believes pairing a veteran like Tracy with the talented rookie would be advantageous.

Bachelart is also talking to his 2010 season driver, Bertrand Baguette, and rookie Sebastian Saavedra.

– MARY MENDEZ

NASCAR Media

Tracy told IndyStar.com.

“I’m talking to teams, and it’s like I’m a beggar on the street.

“One million dollars is like 10 cents to team owners. I’ve talked to Eric a lot over the last month and he keeps saying he wants to get more serious. He wants to move up, and you can’t do that with ride-buyers.”

Bachelart was pleased

New Year fireworks at JGR NASCAR

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OE Gibbs Racing has suffered an explosion at its Huntersville, North Carolina headquarters.

A team spokesperson said that at 9am last Friday a fire broke out after an engine detonated on the dyno.

The dyno, and the second dyno in an adjacent room, were damaged. Local authorities were quickly on the scene and the fire was contained. No injuries were reported.

The building was evacuated for an hour, after which time staff returned

EJ for KV, Takuma too

Andretti

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INDYCAR IZOD INDYCAR Me dia

some very competitive formulas, and is a proven winner. We’re really excited to be able to bring him to Andretti Autosport.”

– MARY MENDEZ

to their duties. Most of the damage was caused by smoke and water, and the engine on the second dyno, which was to be used by one of the team’s entries at Daytona, was compromised by water damage.

The news was not much better for Brad Keselowski.

The workshop his own Truck Series team shares with Turner Motorsports in Rowan County, NC, was broken into last week.

Reports say that the intruders broke into a race trailer, but only a few relatively unsubstantial items were taken.

T

AKUMA Sato and EJ Viso return to KV Racing Technology for another season.

“We are very excited to have Taku and EJ back with us for 2011,” said Jimmy Vasser, who co-owns the team with Aussie Kevin Kalkhoven.

“The fact that both drivers are returning for their second year with the team gives us continuity in the cockpit. I believe that having a second season with the same driver and engineer combinations will be beneficial to our team and will produce some very

positive results.”

The team has also increased its involvement with Lotus, which will be building an engine and aero kit for the 2012 Indy car package.

“For us, last year was all about learning,” explained Claudio Berro, Lotus’ Director of Motorsport. “This year we would really like to achieve some podium finishes. What we’re doing with IndyCar is very similar to the way we tackle all our race involvement.

“First we test the water with an established team. We then explore ways in which to expand our involvement.”

– MARY MENDEZ 17

INCENT

Just to whet your appetite before this weekend, here’s a picture of Seb Loeb testing the new Citroen DS3 in Sweden. It looks cold and hot at the same time ...

BACK TO FV8s FOR THE CHRIS?

CROCKER B FUJITSU V8s CHRIS Alajajian’s 2011 racing program remains uncertain, with the Fujitsu Series re-emerging as a possible option.

The MINI Challenge Champ has been working towards a step up to Carrera Cup since wrapping up the title at Homebush but has been unable to lock in a campaign. He will continue to push to join the Porsche series, but 18

is also now exploring options within the Fujitsu Series.

“There are options on both sides,” Alajajian said.

“It’s hard to determine which one’s going to be the best avenue to take, depending on budget and performance. I’m hoping to get myself in a car for the year and put some competitive racing in for the season to keep my name out there and progress as a driver.” − MITCHELL ADAM

WORLD RALLY

CODY Crocker will return to the Asia-Pacific Rally Championship this season, which means he’ll be returning to the International Rally of Queensland in May. Having spent 2010 on the sidelines, Crocker will be back in a Subaru Impreza for the APRC season, joining Cusco Racing. He will be part of a motorsport news

news

TIVES FOR LOCAL CREWS AUSTRALIAN RALLY

AUSTRALIAN rally crews will be offered an incentive to take part in this year’s Rally Australia in Coffs Harbour.

The World Rally Championship will return to New South Wales in September, and Australian Rally Championship regulars will face a reduced entry fee, a rebate scheme, and bonus championship points if they enter and take part in the event.

Rally Australia Clerk of Course Dr Michelle Gatton said the three-day, 365-kilometre course would be a great opportunity for local crews to compete directly against the best in the world.

“To compete in a World Championship round is the

dream of any driver or codriver,” she said.

“We hope many Australians will take this opportunity to test their performance against the international crews. This series initiative is for cars that comply with the rules of the FIA, and reflects CAMS ongoing support and encouragement for local crews to maintain their involvement at international level, both at Rally Australia and the International Rally of Queensland Australia’s round of the FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship.”

In other Rally Australia news, Petter Solberg and Kimi Raikkonen are both confirmed starters for the event. The 2003 World Rally champ and 2007 Formula 1 champ will both head to Coffs to compete in

new-for-2011 Citroen DS3 cars.

“These two drivers are both World Champions and motorsport mega-stars,” said Rally Australia general manager Michael Masi.

“To see them driving their million-dollar rally cars on the roads of the Coffs Coast will be a huge attraction. We very much look forward to receiving their official entries to Rally Australia, along with other stars such as Sebastien Loeb, Sebastien Ogier, Mikko Hirvonen and Jari-Matti Latvala.

“In the coming months we will also be announcing details on where fans can see their heroes in action at designated spectator points and other venues.”

Rally Australia will be Round 10 of the WRC, which starts with Rally Sweden on February 10.

Joel Strickland

ARC BRINGS IN JUNIOR SCHEME AUSTRALIAN RALLY

BACK IN THE APRC three-pronged attack, with Indonesian driver Rifat Sungkar and Japanese driver Akira Bamba. Ben Aktinson – Chris’ brother – will be Crocker’s codriver. There will be a third Aussie in the team, with Scott Beckwith co-driving for Sungkar.

“It will be great to get back to Queensland,” said Crocker.

“I have obtained a Prodrivewww.mnews.com.au

built Subaru from Indonesia and it will be run by Cusco. I didn’t do much in 2010 except some rally driver training in Indonesia – this is a big opportunity for me.

My goal is to help Cusco win the new Team’s Cup. “It will also be good to team with Rifat. He’s not only a great driver, but also the funniest guy in rallying.”

THE Australian Rally Championship has cast an eye to the future, with the introduction of a new-for-2011 young driver scheme.

The Rallyschool.com.au Junior Australian Rally Challenge will be held across four of the ARC rounds, and will be restricted to participants under the age of 28, and cater for both two and four-wheel-drive cars. There will be three ‘qualifying’ rounds – WA, Queensland and South Australia – with a final shoot-out at the Rally Australia in September.

The winner of the two-wheel-drive shoot-out will win a fullypaid drive in a Rallyschool.com.au outright ARC car at Rally Victoria, along with a full day’s tuition from reigning ARC Champs Simon and Sue Evans. The four-wheel-drive winner will receive free entry to Rally Victoria, along with two sets of control tyres from Kumho, and a day’s tuition with the Evanses.

“The backing of Mick Ryan and his Rallyschool.com.au organization has been tremendous, and [has] enabled us to bring the whole Junior Australian Rally Challenge to fruition,” said ARC CEO Scott Pedder.

“Like any sport, if you don’t encourage and reward up and coming talent the sport will wither and die. It is not a new idea, but it is one we felt necessary to reignite, because in the past Rallysport News ran a junior challenge and uncovered talent such as three times Australian Champion Cody Crocker.”

19

SIMONSEN BACK FOR MORE OZ GT AUSTRALIAN GT

Andrew Hall

ALLAN Simonsen will return to the Vodka O Australian GT Championship this year.

After not making a start in the series in 2010, the sportscar ace will return as a co-driver for two and possibly all three of the series’ long-distance rounds. In the season opener at the Clipsal 500 and Round 3 at Eastern Creek, Simonsen will partner Nick O’Halloran in one-hour races aboard a Maranello Motorsport Ferrari F430.

Simonsen may also join O’Halloran for Round 5 at Phillip Island, subject to his final schedule, while John Bowe will line-up with Peter Edwards in the sister Maranello Motorsport entry in all three enduros.

“At this stage it’s Clipsal and Eastern Creek,” Simonsen said.

“There’s another enduro at the end of the year at Phillip Island, but at the moment we might have a clash there with Europe, so we’ll see if we can work it out.” − MITCHELL ADAM John Morris/Mpix

ZEREFOS JOINS McELREA CARRERA CUP

QUINN HEADING OVERSEAS AUSTRALIAN GT TONY Quinn’s has big plans for his new Porsche GT3 R. Quinn debuted his car at the Armor All Bathurst 12 Hour, where, along with son Klark and Craig Baird, he finished third. The car will be used at Quinn’s overseas vehicle, as he looks to continue contesting international enduros.

“We took the [Porsche] RSR overseas last year to Sepang and it was clearly a couple of seconds slower than the new car,” he said.

“I’d like to do something like Silverstone (Ed: the Britcar 24 Hour at Silverstone).

“My bucket list thing is that I want to do an endurance race with Klark and 20

Ryder, my eldest grandson, and he’s only five at the moment so I’ve got to keep going for another 10 years at least. I’d love to do that, I want to keep on going and keep my eye in.”

Meanwhile, Quinn is set to race his Aston Martin in the 2011 Vodka O Australian GT Championship, with Klark in line to make some appearances in the team’s Mosler MT900.

“I think I’m going to run the Aston,” Tony said.

“I love the Aston, it’s a good car to drive. The Mosler is for sale, but Klark will drive the Mosler in selected rounds.

I think he’s going to do Clipsal and he’ll just take it event by event from there.

“He’s more interested in work and he’s got a couple of kids he has to look after.” − MITCHELL ADAM

AARON Zerefos is the first driver to emerge for McElrea Racing’s three-car Carrera Cup squad.

Zerefos, who made selected MINI Challenge starts last year, will drive one of Andy McElrea’s squad’s 997 Cup Cars during the seven round series.

“It’s going to be a good opportunity,” he said of racing with the team.

“I’m looking at finalising a few sponsors, I’ve got Fiji Water and Tom Waterhouse on board, having a test and then bring on the Grand Prix.

“I’ve set myself some realistic goals; it’s going to be a very competitive category. We’ll take it one step at a time.”

The Sydneysider is looking to complement the Carrera Cup program with international endurance racing aboard Porsches.

“I’ll probably do a couple of enduros during the year,” Zerefos said.

“I’m trying to look at the Nurburgring, trying to run a Porsche over there to get familiar with the cars and become a credentialed Porsche driver.” − MITCHELL ADAM motorsport news

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TERMS AND CONDITIONS Competition starts 17/11/2010 00:01 ends 16/02/2011 23:59 AEDST. Open to Australian and New Zealand only. 1 Major prize to be won consisting of a Toyota Corolla Levin ZR hatch manual valued at AU$31,564 / Toyota Corolla GLX 1.8 litre auto hatch NZ$36,039. Drawn 22/02/2011 11:00 at nextmedia Pty Ltd, Level 6, 207 Pacific Highway, St Leonards NSW 2065. Winners published in The Australian on 03/03/2011. Promoter is nextmedia Pty Ltd, ABN 84 128 805 970 of Level 6, 207 Pacific Highway, St Leonards NSW 2065. For full terms and conditions go to www.mymagazines.com.au. Authorised under NSW Permit Number: LTPS/10/10310, ACT Permit No: TP10/04739.2, SA Permit No: T10/2615, VIC Permit No: 10/3891

BRIEFLY

n Intrepid have

confirmed that World Champion Bas Lammers will again spearhead its charge in 2011, with Jeremy Iglesias and fast femme Beitske Visser also lining up in orange and yellow.

Interestingly, Visser will debut the new Intrepid subbrand, Praga. n The East Coast

Challenge that supported the CIK Stars of Karting Series last year has been renamed the Yamaha Challenge to reflect the series adding South Australia to its events roster. n A former Sydney kart shop employee has been arrested and charged with the theft of nearly $80,000 worth of karting equipment he had stored in his shed. Nice way to show appreciation to your employer! He’ll appear in court at the end of the month. n David Sera’s Rotax Pro Tour victory was the perfect way for the brand new Arrow X1-E kart to debut.

The Arrow team were present en-masse at Todd Road and welcomed a new major sponsor in Hellman Worldwide Logistics.

– MATT PAYNE

22

HANSFORD PICKS UTES V8 UTES

RYAN Hansford will switch from the Fujitsu Series to V8 Utes this year.

Hansford contested last year’s Fujitsu Series in a Rod Dawson-prepared Falcon and despite the change, Dawson will remain involved in

Hansford’s program, running the ex-Rohan Barry Falcon Ute. “I’ve always wanted to race. I jumped into the Gemini and kept winning so decided to keep going,” Hansford said.

“We tried the V8 Supercar next and one of the only reasons we left was because of budget. We believe the V8 Ute

BRAD’S BOY WINS BIG KARTING

MACUALEY Jones has taken one of the biggest wins of his career, amid carnage in the Brian Farley Memorial meeting at Eastern Creek.

More than half the crack field failed to finish the final. Big event specialist Brett Robinson came home in second place with long-time North Shore Kart Club racer, with Thomas Phillips completing the podium.

Queenslander Chris Hays started his season solidly finishing in fourth place and former Formula BMW Junior Steel Guiliana was fifth.

The Brian Farley, since its inception to honour the memory of the long time AKA servant, has become one of the major events on the calendar and signals the first major meeting of the New South Wales karting season. This year’s event attracted the likes of former Formula Ford and V8 Supercar racer Nick Agland.

Jones – the son of V8 Supercar team owner Brad – cleaned up at the weekend, taking out the pole shootout as well.

James Abella took the feature Junior National Pro class from Dimitri Agathos and Stefan Stankovic.

– MATT PAYNE

James Smith

n Joseph Mawson will return to Top Kart for the upcoming CIK Stars of Karting Series. The Top Kart team is looking to reestablish its dominance at the highest level of Australian karting, and Mawson will take on rival Pierce Lehane for the Pro Junior Championship.

Queenslander Kyle Ensbey is another convert racing Top Kart in the Pro Gearbox category and Rotax DD2 this season.

series is a great way to go; it’s a superb category with a fullfield and exceptionally good TV for our partners.”

Meanwhile, Jack Elsegood’s Coopers Clear Ute will now be prepared by Ben Kavich’s squad, having previously been run by Hi-Tech Motorsport.

GIRL POWER! KARTING THE annual Ladies Only race meeting at Lithgow’s Combined Districts Club attracted the best turn out since the event’s inception five years ago.

Once again, the racing was hard and tough among the girls, and Toowoomba’s Alexandra Whitley was the Queen of the track. Not only did she win the Clubman class on the Saturday (against the boys), she cleaned up the Ladies Clubman and Ladies National class and was thus awarded the Nicole Franks Memorial Trophy as the most outstanding performer on the day.

Filippa Guarna successfully defended her Celebrity Title, beating home Deborah Mahoney from the AKA NSW Office.

A surprise inclusion was former Australian Champion Linda Moore, who made a return to the seat after a long illness, utilising the J motor she used to win her Australian Championship.

She came home third in the Over-35s division behind Sprintcar racer Kim Becker.

Queenslander Elle Brydon took out the 125 Open Class, while Katelyn Hawkins won the TAG125 Restricted category. Courtney Price (Midgets), Briana Wilson (Rookies), Alexandra Lawrence (Juniors) were the other major winners.

– MATT PAYNE motorsport news

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CHANGES AT LAMATTINA

DRAG RACING LAMATTINA Top Fuel Racing crew chief Theo Pavlomanolakos is to leave the team at the end of this season to focus more on family and his business.

Pavlomanolakos has guided the team to championships and Australia’s fastest recorded

drag racing speed, 333.33mph.

“While I am proud of my accomplishments in Top Fuel racing I must also say that my methodical approach to racing, managing all of the team’s operations, the late nights and extensive hours have taken its toll,” he said.

“Just before the Perth meeting (28 January) I informed the

Lamattina family that this will be my last season with LTFR. I plan to complete the season for the Lamattina family, my team mates, our sponsors and fans, but after the Winternationals I plan to move my focus back to my business Pavtek Engines and also hope to spend some quality time with my family which I haven’t had much of

over the last five years.

“I would like to thank the Lamattina family, my team mates, the fans and all of our team sponsors for their support over the years.

“I am still very passionate about drag racing and hope in the future to still be involved, but only time will tell in what capacity.”

Underdogs rule at Portland DRAG RACING TWO underdogs made the final of the second Slamfest Top Doorslammer series event at the ANDRA-sanctioned South Coast Raceway in Portland.

Scott Maclean’s Studebaker took on Peter Blake’s Holden Statesman in the dramatic final, with Maclean tagging the wall to hand over victory to Blake’s good 4.25s pass.

After being rained out on the Saturday, the track opened the gates

24

on Sunday with spectators invited back for free, which resulted in a strong crowd for both days.

After some wild runs during the seeding round it was on to round of eliminations.

Maclean set a tough mark from the start with a 4.23s to defeat Phil Glendinning’s Falcon. Peter Kapiris took out the timing blocks which disqualified him against Sean Mifsud as Ben Bray ran a tough 4.26s against Dale Clothier, keeping him on the

edge of his seat as he watched to see if someone would beat the time. Maurice Fabietti shut down early in a 4.6s defeat of Marcus Chambers, as Blake laid down the run of the round with a 4.22s to knock out Peter Lovering.

Victor Bray ran a 4.56s in defeating Frank Mamone.

The track record was also claimed during the weekend, though not by a Top Doorslammer. South Australian Gary Busch punted his Funny Car to a strong 4.17s to take the honours.

motorsport news

news

John Morris

Santa late at Zapp’s DRAG RACING REIGNING Australian Top Doorslammer Champion John Zappia scored $5000 worth of Karcher products, along with $20,000 in cash, after blitzing the Karcher Tri-State Top Doorslammer Shootout in June 2010.

Unlike the race itself, the handing out of prizes can take a while, so a satisfied Zappia has only just received his prize pool.

“It was fantastic to be able to race for a good prize and I really appreciate Karcher’s involvement in the sport,” he said.

“Australian drag racing needs guys like Karcher to promote and support the events, and help make the sport a major part of the Australian sporting arena.”

Karcher, one of the largest manufacturers of cleaning equipment and an official sponsor of the ANDRA Pro Series, organised the Tri-State Top Doorslammer Shootout specifically for fans of Australian drag racing.

John Zappia progressed valiantly through the first stage of the competition at the Westernationals, securing a solid point lead. Due to some tyre shake, he lost the

final race at Nitro Champs, the second leg of the competition, but maintained a point lead, emerging triumphantly from his signature Striker ‘Crusher’ Monaro at the Winternationals, the final stage of the tri-state competition.

“It was really hard work to secure the win,” he said.

“I only had 25 points in the bonus draw, which left me a fair way behind. Luckily I had the lowest ET, which, with some hard work from the team, helped push me through to the lead. Winning the prize money was nice, because I was able to pay off some of the bills, but I only ended up with

twelve grand, cause we split it three ways.”

Philip Hammer, the Karcher regional manager for WA and NT, was happy to be the one to hand over the prize.

“Karcher congratulates John on his well deserved win at the Karcher Tri-State Top Doorslammer Shootout,” said Mr Hammer.

“It was an exciting and well contested competition, and one that Karcher was proud to sponsor. We are confident that the Karcher products John has selected will provide him with many years of enjoyable and trouble free use.”

Next ANDRA Pro Series Round: Westernationals, Perth Motorplex, March 5-6 ANDRA Pro Series on TV: Friday February 25 Top Fuel Championships www.mnews.com.au

25

Five Minutes with ...

DAVID REYNOLDS

This weekend, V8 Supercars are back ... and so is David Reynolds. He spoke to MITCHELL ADAM about making his full-time comeback MOTORSPORT NEWS: ON the eve of starting your second run as a fulltime V8 Supercar driver, how are you feeling?

DAVID REYNOLDS: I’m pretty excited about the whole year ahead. I’m a little bit nervous about it, but I’m just going to try to live my life one race at a time. That’s all I can really think about at the moment.

With Rick and Todd and also Murph, there’s three experienced guys there to talk to and lean on over the course of the year.

Yeah, they’re all very experienced. I’m the odd one out, they’ve all won races and Bathurst and everything else, I’ve got nothing to my name yet. So far it’s been really good. I haven’t been at the racetrack much with them yet, but I’m looking forward to the first round and seeing how we can help each other.

Have you thought much about what you want from the year?

I just want to have good results. A strong car, with myself and my engineer James Small, making it as fast as we can.

Speaking of James, you guys used to race together at Sonic, which is a nice little link.

Yeah, I raced Formula Ford with James in ’04, he was at my team, Sonic Motor Racing, and I worked with him a bit packing boxes at Melbourne Auto Air, so we’ve got some pretty good stories about one another.

James has been a good friend of mine for years and years, he’s made the transition into the Kellys a lot nicer for me as well.

That’s all got to help. With a new driver and engineer relationship, part of that time is spent building a personal relationship. No need for that ...

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Dirk Klynsmith

How have you found working with the Kellys so far?

They’re really good, really good. They’re a good bunch of people, they listen to what you want and they try and give you every opportunity they can. It’s been a pleasant experience so far.

Yeah, we’ve already got that. And I know how good he is at his job, so I just need to know how he works at the track and he’s trying to understand how I work at the track now. Even though we’ve spent a few years apart, our friendship’s very good, but our working relationship has just begun.

You’ve got Rick’s car from last year, you drove it at a test day at Winton last year and the Eastern Creek test, how are you finding it?

Both test days went really well. We got through some stuff, they’ve got some new things to try on the car, some development items, and it’s all working really well. Everything we put on the car seemed to improve it a little bit here and a little bit there. It’s all going really well.

It’s the first time you’ve raced a nonWalkinshaw built V8 Supercar, what are your impressions?

It seems really familiar for me, as a car to drive. They’ve got very good engines, very strong engines, they seem really fast in the high-speed corners compared to the Walkinshaw cars I’m used to.

You’re one of the young guys in the series who spent time in Carrera Cup on that series’ softer Michelin tyre, is racing more on the V8 Supercar Sprint Tyre something you’re looking forward to this year?

Definitely. In ’09, you only got one set for a given weekend, but this year some weekends have all soft-tyres. I’m super-

excited about having a go at one of them, because that’s more my forte, I think, anyway. It gives us younger blokes more confidence in the car and evens out the competition a bit.

You didn’t race at Abu Dhabi last year, what do you know about the place?

Nothing. I’ve watched some in-car stuff, but you can watch as much in-car stuff as you want and it doesn’t matter. As long as I know which way the track goes, it’ll take me a few laps to get used to it. It’s a long lap.

I’m sure you can do some preparation after a quick visit to Ferrari World when you get there.

Yeah! (laughs) I’ve never been there before. A few of my friends live there, so I’ll probably catch up with them while I’m over there. It’s going to be hot.

Much like here at Bathurst this weekend.

It’s good training for it. Really good training. It’s like the tennis players playing in Dubai before they come to Australia for the Open, so they can acclimatise themselves to the heat.

You’re going to run the reverse-Middle Eastern strategy.

Yeah, I’m having a ball this weekend, loving it. It’s a cool team, Mark’s [Cini] awesome, Dean’s [Fiore] awesome, cool car, cool track, I’m having a good time. It’s what racing’s about. motorsport news

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Dirk Klynsmith

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WHEN YOUR NUMBER IS UP ...

I

F you can hear a siren right now, it may well be the Fun Police.

Seems as though the boys in blue have somewhat of a blitz on at the moment. But they’re not targeting drink driving or grievous bodily harm; nope, it’s all about indecent exposure ... of numbers.

The worst kind, right? But relax, it’s all been taken care of.

Jim Beam Racing will no longer be running that cheeky door panel decal with the large 1, and smaller, outlined numbers 7 and 8, like they did at the Eastern Creek test day. Phew. The day has been saved.

In motor racing, there are regulations that dictate how car numbers are to be displayed.

It’s not just a V8 Supercars thing; in my days as a secondrate state Formula Ford driver, 28

we had CAMS regulations stipulating the size, colour and font of the numbers we used, and the size and the colour of the back plate. I’ve actually seen cars fail scrutineering for getting the width and height proportions of the back plate the wrong way around. Seems a little over the top, given that numbers have been pretty much made redundant by electronic timing, but those are the rules, and rules must be abided by.

Having just wasted a couple of hours scrolling through the 2011 V8 Supercars Operations Manual, as far as I can tell, the rules for displaying race numbers on a V8 Supercar relate to the ‘official’ numbers that are stickered on the back door windows. They have to be a certain size and colour, and

naturally, actually be the digits that relate to the car’s particular Racing Entitlement Contract.

With that in mind, how on earth did JBR break any of the rules when they ran the big #1 on the side, and bonnet, of its cars at Eastern Creek? Those parts of the car aren’t where the official race numbers are displayed, so as long as the vinyl stickers on the windows are within the regulations, what business of V8 Supercars is it what’s on the door panels and bonnets?

Look at it this way; what if someone from JBR registered a business name called #1, sponsored the team for the princely sum of $1, and plastered big #1s on the side of the car for the Abu Dhabi round? Would it be okay then?

Or would that be disrespecting

OPINION

Andrew van Leeuwe eNews Editor the reigning champ James Courtney as well? What if JBR did a deal with Jim Beam, and instead of having ‘The Team’ on the side in Abu Dhabi, ran ‘The Champs’? Would JC feel ‘dissed’ then? This is political correctness gone mad.

So what if JBR want to re-live a little glory from its awesome 2010 on-track performances.

There’s a slim to none chance they’ll be re-living it in terms of results this year, so why must V8SA come in and spoil the party for a team that’s been through the ringer?

This is a sport that could, and should, flourish on rivalry. If V8 Supercars wants to have more mainstream media coverage, then promote these rivalries, don’t try and nip them in the bud. Did you see the build-up on the weekend in England motorsport news

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OPINION Mitchell Adam – National Editor

Dirk Klynsmith

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N

en – when Fernando Torres pulled on a Chelsea shirt and took on Liverpool, the club he’d left just days before, in the English Premier League? Did the league make him toe a respectful line?

No, they let the ‘Pool supporters, get into a heckling frenzy. That’s footage that will get played all over the world.

But as soon as Will Davison tries to speak out about his old team (out of context, Will?

C’mon, who were you talking about, then?), or Dick Johnson tries to take a little cheeky jab at Courtney for jumping ship to Holden, it all gets frowned upon.

Instead of seeing what a great story opportunity it is – having Courtney in a Holden, facing off against his old team, which runs Fords – V8SA makes itself look like an ogre by enforcing this number change. Smooth move. www.mnews.com.au

THE 12 HOUR’S BIG CHANCE

I

WENT to Bathurst on the weekend for the 12 Hour and I found it most pleasant.

It was the first time I’d attended the event and it was probably a good time to start. With all due respect to the Production Car fraternity and their contribution to the event, the addition of GT cars gave it far more appeal and prestige.

Some will point to the fact that 26 cars started the race compared to 42 a year ago, but – if given a choice – what would you rather watch go around a racetrack, an Audi R8 LMS or an Evo X Lancer? I don’t have to think too hard about my answer ...

There are some areas within the race format that need to be tweaked, like the whole grey area on seeded drivers. Warren Luff, for instance, wasn’t ‘seeded’, so he could team up with fellow V8 driver Craig Lowndes. And, seemingly, two of the three professional sportscar drivers in the international Audi weren’t deemed worthy of seeding, either.

And I’m not a fan of having a minimum number of pitstops for the GT cars or a minimum time for those stops. Part of the challenge of endurance racing is maximising your pit strategy and minimising the time you spend in the pits.

I’m not having a crack at the organisers, but I think revisions in these areas would be

beneficial in 2011. These issues were raised by many of the competitors I spoke to over the weekend. I liked the qualifying format, though, keep that.

At the head of the pack, Audi’s involvement was seriously impressive. The Turn 1 end of pitlane at Bathurst has hosted some great teams over the years, and Audi Race Experience Team Joest settled in beautifully.

Their garage layout, the resources on hand and sheer scale of their program, it was top notch. Not that you’d expect anything less from Joest. Upstairs, Audi Australia bent their back, with a slick corporate set-up to leverage their contribution to the program.

Without Audi’s involvement, those who are against bringing in GT cars might’ve felt like they had some extra ammunition. But with them, it’s an extremely positive sign for the future of the race. Word of mouth will spread though Europe and hopefully they won’t be the only Euro outfit down here in 12 months time.

The success of the move to GT cars can’t be judged one way or another on the basis of one year. It’ll be more evident in five years, when we’ll know whether the event has become a blockbuster, remained steady or ceased to exist.

But there were enough signs on the weekend that it is heading in the right direction.

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ARMOR ALL BATHURST 12 HOUR MOUNT PANORAMA

Auzat!

Audi came to Bathurst with all of the ingredients for success and they baked a pretty good cake ... MITCHELL ADAM reports on the 2011 Armor All Bathurst 12 Hour 30

motorsport news

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Dirk Klynsmith

www.mnews.com.au

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Dirk Klynsmith

T

HAT Audi dominated the 2011 Armor All Bathurst 12 Hour wasn’t a big surprise.

The manufacturer’s crack GT squad − an offshoot of the legendary Joest Racing − came with their latest gear, their best brains and they didn’t just conquer, they dominated.

As the day progressed, the main question was which of Audi’s R8 LMS’ would win.

One had a local line-up, with Craig Lowndes, Warren Luff and Mark Eddy. The other had international flavour, with Germans Christopher Mies and Marc Basseng and Hong Kong driver Darryl O’Young − the imports knew the gear, but were in unfamiliar territory.

In qualifying, the team occupied the top two spots.

And that was how it was for much of the raceday. Lowndes got the jump at the start, Basseng moved into the lead early in a strong opening stint before electing to drop in behind Lowndes when the first 32

light shower hit the circuit.

As rain came and went and strategies played out, the lead and margins ebbed and flowed, but during half a day of racing, the two cars were rarely separated by more than 10 seconds. Luff put in a masterful stint on slicks amid the second major shower, while O’Young was particularly handy when the sun returned in the middle of the day.

The pivotal moment came in the ninth hour, when the Australian car had to pit with a puncture. Sporting regulations specified a minimum of 12 pitstops for the Audis (see breakout), a minimum of 10 laps apart. When Lowndes came in, it was less than 10 laps since his previous stop.

It doomed the car to make an extra ’90 second’ stop. In the end, it was the difference between the cars. Safety Cars negated the track position deficit, though, to a point where Lowndes could take advantage of a sluggish pit exit by O’Young as they both

started their final stints to take the lead.

In a typical Lowndes effort, he bolted, building a 25second lead and going a full second faster than anyone had gone all weekend with a 2:09.0861 lap. He made his final stop with 45 minutes remaining and rejoined a minute behind O’Young.

As it turned out, O’Young also had to make a 13th stop, but only a late splash and dash, and he rejoined with a 10 second lead. Lowndes quickly cut that down and the final margin produced a form finish for the team, led by the internationals.

“In the middle stint it was really hot and I really had to watch my tyres,” O’Young said.

“Towards the end of the stint, the tyres were completely gone in the rear and I was oversteering lots, so that was really difficult. But the really difficult part was at the end there. Craig was really pushing to catch us and I made a mistake in the pits that cost us a lot of time, and I knew we

had to push to maintain a gap because we had to do a splash and dash in the last couple of laps.

“So I really had to push to maintain the gap and Craig was really giving me pressure and the team told me I had to push more, I was giving it everything I could − it was really a fight to the end.”

Third place went to the new Porsche GT3 R of Craig Baird and Tony and Klark Quinn.

Baird, in particular, took the fight up to the Audis, but a mistimed Safety Car saw them lose a lap along the way.

“It was looking pretty good for most of the day and then we got caught behind a slower car on one Safety Car lap, so that sort of threw the strategy out of the box,” Klark Quinn surmised.

Fourth and fifth went to a pair of quiet achievers. The Porsches of David Wall, Greg Crick and Barton Mawer (GT3 Cup S) and Class B’s David Russell, Matt Kingsley and Roger Lago (997 GT3 CupCar) motorsport news

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John Morris / Mpix John Morris / Mpix

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Porsche entres including David Reynolds, top, and Steve Owen, above, were in the wars on raceday, while the brand-new VIP Porsche, below, rounded out the podium.

Phil Williams

were bullet-proof and their drivers more than did their bit.

Delayed by mechanical problems, the Allan Simonsen, Luke Searle and Hector Lestor Ferrari F430 was the best of the non-German cars in seventh, while the first Production Car home was the Conroy Motorsport Evo X Lancer in ninth, driven by Mark Brame, Anthony Robson and Peter Conroy.

Class E and 12th outright went to the BMW 130i of Bruce Thomlinson, Geoff Fontaine and Richard Gartner, one spot ahead of Beric Lynton, Matthew Mackelden and John Modystach, who took their BMW M3 to Class C honours.

Of those in the wars, Dean Grant’s Mosler crashed heavily after a puncture, Steve Owen and James and Theo Koundouris were a late retirement with a suspected driveline failure and David Reynolds crashed out of contention in the Porsche GT3 Cup S he was sharing with Dean Fiore and Mark Cini.

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BARRING a single detail, Steve Owen would’ve started the Armor All Bathurst 12 Hour from pole position for the third-straight year.

Driving with the Koundouris brothers in their Porsche GT3 Cup S, Owen set the fastest time of all during Saturday’s two qualifying sessions, with a 2:09.1015 lap set early in the morning session.

The trouble was, though, that that detail was the qualifying format. In a new format, each ‘team’ set a qualifying time, the aggregate of the fastest time of each driver. That was mastered by the Audis, with the locals beating the internationals to pole position by three-tenths of a second, with a combined time of 6:35.3.

Warren Luff led the way for the locals with a 2:09.6, set in the cooler morning session. Track conditions in the afternoon were much hotter, with times slower and many teams electing not to send out their lead drivers.

“Craig and I didn’t even go out this afternoon,” Luff said.

“At this circuit, the cooler conditions of the morning tend to give a better result. It was just about trying to give Mark a bit more tracktime this afternoon. We were pretty happy with the time we did 34

and pretty confident that noone would be able to go much faster today.”

For the internationals, Marc Basseng set their best time, with a 2:10.8. On Friday, Basseng upstaged the locals, setting the fastest time in practice ahead of the Australian drivers. In a noble gesture, the team donated their $5,000 pole award to the Queensland Flood Appeal, with Audi Australia matching it with another $5,000.

It was an all-German top seven, with five Porsches behind the Audi pair. Owen and the Koundouris brothers ended up third, ahead of the new VIP Petfoods Porsche, with Craig Baird turning in a 2:10.9, while the GT3 Cup S of David Reynolds, Mark Cini and Dean Fiore completed the top five.

Class B honours went to David Russell, Matt Kingsley and Roger Lago in the latter’s 997 CupCar in seventh outright, with John Bowe and Allan Simonsen-led Ferraris in eighth and ninth respectively.

The Nissan GTR of Mal Rose, Tony Alford and Peter Leehmuis took the Class C spoils in 13th and the best of the Production Cars was the Evo X Lancer of Mark Brame, Anthony Robson and Peter Conroy. − MITCHELL ADAM

1 7

2 8

3 69

4 29

5 12

6 38

7 23

8 17

9 37

10 2

Dirk Klynsmith

Aus 1, Int 0

Audi Australia 6:35.3 Warren Luff 2:09.6 Craig Lowndes 2:11.3 Mark Eddy 2:14.3 Audi Top Service 6:35.6 Marc Basseng 2:10.8 Darryl OYoung 2:11.8 Christopher Mies 2:13.0 Supabarn Supermarkets 6:36.6 Steve Owen 2:09.1 James Koundouris 2:13.3 Theo Koundouris 2:14.2 VIP PetFoods 6:37.9 Craig Baird 2:10.9 Klark Quinn 2:13.0 Tony Quinn 2:14.0 Hallmarc 6:41.9 David Reynolds 2:10.1 Dean Fiore 2:13.4 Marc Cini 2:18.4 Wilson Security 06:43.5 David Wall 2:11.2 Barton Mawer 2:15.2 Greg Crick 2:17.1 Falcon Property Group 6:48.6 David Russell 2:14.0 Matt Kingsley 2:15.2 Roger Lago 2:19.3 IL BELLO ROSSO 6:50.2 John Bowe 2:14.7 Tim Leahey 2:15.4 Peter Edwards 2:20.0 Red Alert Laser Tag 6:52.0 Allan Simonson 2:13.6 Luke Searle 2:16.2 Hector Lester 2:22.2 Procon Developments 6:52.3 Geoff Emery 2:16.6 Max Twigg 2:16.7 Dean Grant 2:19.0 motorsport news

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BEING the first retirement of the race wasn’t just an unwanted honour for Dean Grant.

On Lap 12, the left-rear tyre on his Mosler MT900 let go on the approach to The Chase, sending Grant straight to the scene of a high-speed accident.

The Victorian emerged without injury, but the Mosler was extensively damaged.

“I’m pretty shaken up and sore,” Grant said afterwards.

“It was probably a few hundred metres before [The Chase], at maximum speed; pretty much 250 [kmh]-plus.

There was no warning, it just let go, the left rear, and threw me into the wall with the front and then side.

“I was going backwards at 250, it couldn’t have happened at a

worst spot.”

The car started 10th and Grant was pleased with the progress he made in the early stages. The fate of the Mosler will be determined when it returns to Melbourne.

“It’s pretty bad. We’ll take it back, assess it and see if we can fix it,” Grant said.

“We picked off a couple of cars and we were on pace,

John Morris / Mpix

The Bathurst 12 Lap

doing the times we’d set and that was all we were going to do all day.

“It’s just devastating. Not only for me, but for the team and the other drivers, Geoff Emery and Max Twigg, who didn’t get a drive of the car.”

Amid the force of the impact, the car’s windscreen landed atop a powerpole, below. − MITCHELL ADAM

Phil Williams

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WHILE the GT cars were the main focus at this year’s Bathurst 12 Hour, there was also a competitive battle for honours in the Production Car class. The number of Production Cars was significantly smaller this year, with two Mitsubishi Evo entries, one Subaru and a BMW 335i the main contenders for the class victory.

In the end, the Peter Conroy, Mark Brame and Anthony Robson Mitsubishi

Evo X dominated the class, taking pole position and finishing ninth outright, one place ahead of the next best entry, the BMW 335i of Peter O’Donnell, Christian D’Agostin and Matt Hansen.

Leigh Burges, Damien Flack and Neil McFadyen challenged in their Evo IX before it expired with a blown engine, while the WRX of Dean Herridge, John O’Dowd and Angus Kennard was plagued by fuel tank problems and finished 127

laps behind the class winners.

According to Conroy, the team ticked all their boxes for the weekend.

“Last year was the firstever event for this car, and since then we discovered an exhaust blockage and also spent 12 months on chassis development, so we were a lot quicker this year,” he said.

Coincidentally, the Conroy Evo completed one less lap than the BMW that won last year’s all-Production Car affair.

“The times we were doing

Dirk Klynsmith

Lancer rules Proddies

this year would have been good enough to contend for outright victory last year,” Robson said.

“The car was just sensational, and although we had a few problems with tyre wear, we were so far ahead with a few hours to go that we were able to drive conservatively and just focus on finishing. The BMW was pushing very hard just to keep up with us and we were comfortably faster than it all day.” − LACHLAN MANSELL

Very Important Pitstop PIT strategy for the GT cars was pretty limited.

Event regulations specified a minimum number of pitstops to be completed by GT cars, in accordance with the year they were made, each to be no shorter than 90 seconds from pit entry to pit exit and no closer than 10 laps apart.

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The standard requirement for GT cars was nine stops, however − as 2010-model cars − the two Audis and the VIP Petfoods Porsche GT3 R were required to visit pitlane 12 times.

Within that structure, though, the VIP crew found some room to make a canny

strategic call. As the rest of the field took off on the rolling start, Craig Baird was in the pits, making one of his ‘stops’, having pulled in at the end of the formation lap.

With one of his pitstops already in the bank, and a stop up on the Audis, Baird rejoined to a clear track and

carved his way through the field, eventually handing the new car over to Klark Quinn in the lead.

“We checked the rules about crossing the line at the start with the Clerk of Course and it was all fine,” Tony Quinn confirmed. − MITCHELL ADAM motorsport news

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Trouble Inc. half an hour before the start.

They did enough to meet the starting procedure, then set about fitting the parts, joining the race two hours in.

From there, they lost further time with a wiring issue and fought with trouble-stricken rivals in a Nissan GTR and Lotus Exige for second in Class C. It came down to the end, with car

owner Freestone doing enough to clinch second in class and 17th outright.

“For the last half an hour we were stuck in fourth gear, and Paul was only eight seconds slower than his laptimes when he had all gears!” Sieders said.

“We couldn’t believe it! We was rag-dolling it that much across the top of the Mountain,

he blew a tyre. We had to change a tyre right at the death and that made it really tight, there were only a few seconds in it at the end.

“What could go wrong went wrong, we had so many dramas.

It was like us, the Lotus and the GTR didn’t want to finish at one stage.” − MITCHELL ADAM

a bulging disc in his back during his stints, said the experience whet his appetite for Bathurst’s Fujitsu Series round in October.

“I’m looking forward to doing it in something faster, seeing

what it’s like to drive in the V8” he said.

“I hope that I don’t teach myself too many bad habits driving this, the V8 seems to be quite unique in that sense.” − MITCHELL ADAM

Dirk Klynsmith

THE old ‘one of those weekends’ chestnut is really the best way to describe Paul Freestone, David Sieders and Hayden Pullen’s Corvette campaign.

The problems started on Friday, when a typical $2 part broke in the fuel system. It − along with the design of the Z06 − prevented the car from turning a single lap.

“For such a small part to break in the fuel system, it was gutting for all of the boys,” Sieders said.

“Literally, we had to pull the whole rear end out of the car to fix it. The transaxles, the sub frames, and there’s blanking for safety on the fuel tank, so we have to pull that out − it all takes a long time.

“The car actually started five minutes after the last session; it’s a little bit unfortunate that we didn’t get out at all.”

Saturday ended with a driveline failure and parts were organised to be delivered from Melbourne in time for the car to be ready an hour before Sunday’s 6:15am start. However, a road closure delayed their arrival, getting to the circuit

Ash & Chaz do Bathurst

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his first in a tin-top.

“It’s got ABS, traction control, front-wheel-drive and a turbo − it literally couldn’t be any more different to the things that I’ve driven,” Walsh said of the car.

“For what we’re doing here, it’s perfect. It’s a good handling car, you can learn the track, it’s been reliable and we’re getting a lot of seat time.”

After a mid-race engine issue and a brush of the wall

by Mostert, the car finished 16th outright and third in Class D. Walsh, who battled

Phil Williams

LAPS at Bathurst are laps at Bathurst, even if they are in a vastly different car to your usual ride.

And that’s the case of Chaz Mostert and Ash Walsh in the 12 Hour. Ahead of their rookie Fujitsu Series campaigns, the Miles Racing drivers lined up in the Racer Industries Holden Astra, sharing the car with Gerard McLeod.

Mostert raced at Bathurst in last year’s Fujitsu Series round, while the meeting was both Walsh’s first at the circuit and

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Mystery troubles for Ferrari

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was fitted, but the car later mysteriously dropped a cylinder with Leahey at the wheel, ending their day after 161 laps.

“It’s not the logical stuff; they replaced the coil-pack and the leads,” he mused.

While disappointed with the 2011 outcome, Bowe remains an ardent fan of the event.

“I was of two minds when they announced there’d be GT cars, and obviously the Production Car blokes got their knickers in a knot about it, but I commend the Production Car people who are here,” he said.

“As a GT and Production race it’s got a massive amount of potential. Obviously they need to get more interest from overseas and more overseas teams, but I can see that happening. It’s an awesome event, let’s hope it grows.” − MITCHELL ADAM

Rob Lang

YOU can still show John Bowe something new, 40 years into his motorsport career.

The reigning Bathurst 12 Hour winner lined up in a Ferrari F430 in with Tim Leahey and Peter Edwards and while the older-model car was never going to match the outright pace of the Audis and the shiniest of the Porsches, the team were ticking along nicely in the top six.

Then, the peculiar kicked in, with a broken fan belt temporarily halting their charge.

“The belt that drives the alternator, the water pump and the power steering pump shredded,” Bowe explained. ”I’ve been driving Ferraris on and off for years and I’ve never seen that happen. I’ve seen plenty of things happen, but never that.”

They Ferrari returned to the track after a replacement

motorsport news

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Andrew Hall

Results :: 2011 Armor All Bathurst 12 Hour Pos 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 DNF DNF DNF DNF DNF DNF DNF

# 8 7 29 38 23 37 66 67 14 28 26 80 5 68 59 50 25 62 3 69 12 43 17 27 44 2

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Driver D.OYoung/M.Basseng/C.Mies M.Eddy/C.Lowndes/W.Luff T.Quinn/K.Quinn/C.Baird D.Wall/G.Crick/B.Mawer R.Lago/M.Kingsley/D.Russell H.Lester/L.Searle/A.Simonson S.ODonnell/S.McLennan/M.Konopka A.Dippie/S.Thompson/M.Maddren P.Conroy/A.Robson/M.Brame P.ODonnell/M.Hansen/C.DAgostin B.Thomlinson/G.Fontaine/R.Gartner B.Lynton/M.Mackelden/J.Modystach N.Tinkler/J.Gray/S.Johnson D.Glasson/D.Roderick/A.Harris P.Tressider/S.Smollen/S.Middleton C.Mostert/A.Walsh/G.McLeod P.Freestone/H.Pullen/D.Seiders A.Gowans/R.Meins/C.Lillington-Pri D.Herridge/J.ODowd/A.Kennard J.Koundouris/T.Koundouris/S.Owen M.Cini/D.Reynolds/D.Fiore L.Burges/D.Flack/N.McFadyen P.Edwards/J.Bowe/T.Leahey A.Shephard/G.Duffy/P.Stubber T.Alford/P.Leemhuis/M.Rose D.Grant/M.Twigg/G.Emery

Car Audi R8 LMS GT3 Audi R8 LMS GT3 Porsche GT3 R Porsche GT3 Cup S Porsche 997 GT3 Cup Ferrari 430 GT3 Porsche 996 GT3 Cup Porsche 996 GT3 Cup Mitsubishi Evo X RS BMW 335i BMW 130i BMW M3 Ford FG-FPV GT BMW 130i Porsche 997 GT3 Cup Holden HSV VX-R Turb Corvette Z06 Lotus Exige S Subaru STI Porsche GT3 Cup S Porsche GT3 Cup S Mitsubishi Evo IX GS Ferrari 430 GT3 BMW 130i Nissan GTR R35 Mosler MT 900

Class A A A A B A B B D D E C D E B E C C D A A D A E C A

Laps 292 292 291 289 282 276 264 257 256 252 244 242 238 235 230 227 192 192 129 261 196 165 161 106 102 11

Fastest Lap 2:10.2017 2:09.0861 2:11.3079 2:12.7634 2:14.4387 2:12.3556 2:22.2708 2:25.4937 2:32.3415 2:31.4950 2:40.8912 2:31.4314 2:40.6970 2:41.8986 2:18.6995 2:37.0462 2:19.6556 2:24.9244 2:31.3951 2:10.6884 2:10.9530 2:32.2315 2:13.9841 2:39.8422 2:26.1198 2:16.1376 39

BATHURST 12 HOUR SUPPORTS – MOUNT PANORAMA

THREE FOR FOR

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John Morris/Mpix

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ANIEL Reynolds, Ryan Simpson and Tim Hamilton were all winners in the Formula Vee support races at the Armor All Bathurst 12 Hour on the weekend.

Reynolds took out the opening race, in which only a couple of laps were completed under green conditions, thanks to a lengthy Safety Car period for a crash on top of the Mountain involving Bruce Pierce.

Race 2 featured a see-sawing battle, with Reynolds, Ben Porter, Michael Kinsella and James Simpson all taking turns in the lead. However, Ryan Simpson set himself up perfectly to slipstream his way into the lead on the final lap, and he took out the race win despite running a lowly seventh on the opening lap due to a poor start.

A similarly enthralling battle played out in Race 3, but came to a head in the final corner, with a big collision claiming most of the front-runners, including Reynolds, Porter and the Simpsons. Tim Hamilton took full advantage, coming through from fifth place to take the race win ahead of Ash Quiddington, while James Simpson was excluded for his part in the incident.

Commodores were the vehicles of choice in the Group A/C category. Ed Singleton took out the weekend’s first race in his VH Commodore, before Troy Stapleton and Garry Collins won Races 2 and 3 in their VL models. Beyond the race leaders, the completion for the minor places was fierce, with the Volvo of Scott Fleming, Torana A9X of Tony Sawford and BMW M3 of Bill Cutler all racing closely.

Rick Newman was the man to beat in Improved Production, qualifying on pole position by over six seconds and

dominating the opening two races. David Waldon finished second in Race 1 ahead of Mark Short, while Short moved up to second in Race 2 from David Skillender, who started Race 1 from the back of the grid after an off-track excursion in qualifying. The main excitement in Race 2 occurred in Griffin’s Bend, when a car leaked a large volume of fluid on the approach to the corner, catching out a number of drivers.

Unfortunately, Race 3 for Improved Production was declared null-and-void after two separate incidents on the opening lap. The first incident occurred at Hell Corner, when Bob Brewer and Jamie Augustine speared into the sand trap, but a much more serious incident occurred at the top of the mountain, where Tony Virag and Mark Tutton made heavy contact with the wall.

Jamie Furness and Kevin Stoopman battled ferociously in the first two HQ Holden races, taking one win each. Ken Wright and Gavin Porteous also became involved in the lead battle, each scoring a couple of top-three finishes. In the final, Stoopman again battled with Wright, Furness and Porteous, but Matt Boulter also joined in the lead dice and was able to sneak his way to the front in the very last corner of the race to take the win.

Grant Wilson won all three Group N races in his Camaro. Wilson qualified on pole but had more competition in the opening race, leading home Darryl Hansen in a Mustang. With Hansen failing to finish the remaining two races, Wilson led home Falcon driver Cam Worner in Races 2 and 3. − LACHLAN MANSELL

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FORMULA VEE

John Morris/Mpix John Morris/Mpix

James Smith

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Winners are Grinners: Rick Newman, top left, Tony Stapleton, left, and Kevin Stoopman, above, were all winners over the Bathurst 12 Hour weekend.

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TOYOTA RACING SERIES ROUND 3 – HAMPTON DOWNS, NZ

EVANS ABOVE! 42

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T doesn’t seem to matter how hard the rest of the Toyota Racing Series field tries, there is just no stopping Mitch Evans.

The young Kiwi continued his unrelenting charge towards a second TRS title at Hampton Downs on the weekend, holding off a spirited charge from Russian Danill Kvyat in the final race to take his fifth win of the season. The final margin was just 0.29s, but having won the weekend’s opening race, and the reverse-top-six Race 2, Evans kept his 100 percent podium record alive, and moved to a lead series lead of more than 100 points.

Throughout the Hampton Downs weekend, Kvyat was the only driver to be able to genuinely match Evans’ pace. In the first race, the margin was just 1.3s at the chequered flag, after the Russian shadowed the Kiwi throughout the 15-lap race. In the final, Kyat even staged a lastlap lunge for the lead, but was just unable to get by.

“I’m feeling better and I am more confident in the car,” he said.

“Today was a good result in the run up to the New Zealand Grand Prix next weekend.”

Wellington local Jamie McNee added his name to the race winner’s list in Race 2, making the most of the reverse-top-six start to win a frantic race from Evans and Nick Cassidy, in a Kiwi 1-2-3.

Aussie Nick Foster showed his first sign of front-running speed since joining the TRS in qualifying, taking pole position. But a Lap 2, Race 1 collision with Nick Cassidy put Foster on the back foot. He fought back, and was running third in the final, when he spun at half distance.

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TASMAN CUP REVIVAL SERIES ROUND 4 – RUAPUNA PARK, NZ

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POM OUTFOXES WILY KIWI England reigned as the NZ F5000s dealt with the southern heat

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OUNG Englishman Michael Lyons was the winner when the NZF5000 MSC Tasman Revival series headed south to Christchurch at the weekend.

In searing 35-degree heat, and in front of a big Ruapuna crowd, Lyons (Lola T400) got the better of pole man and early leader Steve Ross (McRae GM1) midrace after a smart feint at the final corner pushed Ross wide on exit and allowed the Brit to power out on the inside … with a handful of opposite lock! From there, he eased away to a controlling win.

Ross returned to form this week after struggling at Hampton Downs, but neither could match Hampton Downs winner Jay Esterer during Saturday’s qualifier, the Canadian downing both, from behind, in one burst up Ruapuna’s straight in an impressive display of exit

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

speed, traction and power. However, Esterer’s engine let go as he crossed the line to win and he took no part on Sunday.

Tony Richards and Ken Smith, unable to match the front-running pace this week, diced for third throughout, then collided on the last lap, handing third to newly moved-in Christchurch resident Mark Dwyer (Lola T400), from Ian Clements (Lola T332), Lyons’ father Frank, driving a Gurney-Eagle, and Peter Dunn (March).

Veteran Michael Whatley took out the Class B category in his Surtees, finishing ninth outright Second allowed Ross to extend his lead at the top of the points table. The series now moves to the southern-most racetrack in the world, Teretonga, in two weeks’ time.

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

30/11/2010 13:14:21

SYDNEY SPRINTCAR PREMIERSHIP ROUND 10 – TYREPOWER SYDNEY SPEEDWAY

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FR

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FRANTIC ACTION AT TSS BEN Atkinson has retained his lead in the Sydney Sprintcar Premiership, after taking out Saturday night’s 30-lap A-Main at Tyrepower Sydney Speedway.

The Northern Territorian had to take on a flying John McCorkindale, who raced to the low-line early and stayed there, to great effect. As the race wore on, Atkinson piled the pressure on

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McCorkindale, eventually wrestling the lead out of his rivals hands and streaking off into the distance to record the win.

McCorkindale found himself swamped after a late re-start, and ended up fifth at the finish. Ian Loudon finished second, Adrian Maher third, and Kelly Linigan was unlucky to miss out on a podium in fourth.

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rear of grid

t o p S Odd Yes, that’s Dick Johnson in a Torana A9X at Bathurst.

The legend drove the car as part of a demonstration at Mount Panorama on the weekend

Dirk Klyn smith Dirk Klynsmith

Nick Foster had a frig htening little experience during Ra ce 1 at Hampton Downs on the weeke nd. He was uninjured, but his ha rd work to be on pole was gone ...

Geoff Ridder

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