Motorsport eNews Issue 220 - August 30-September 5, 2011 by V8 Sleuth

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Issue No. 220 August 30 - September 5 2011

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HOW MARCOS AMBROSE CAN MAKE THE CHASE! F1, TARGA WEST, NASCAR AND INDYCAR COVERAGE 1

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Issue No. 220 | 30 Aug – 5 Sept 2011

news 4

On the Market Alex Davo looking for 2012 6 Seven of the Best Slade stays with SBR 8 R8 to make GR8 Race Audi returns for 12 Hour 10 Kimi swaps Coffs for Le Mans We think that’s what he said 13 Webber re-signs. More Bull for Aussie at RBR in 2012

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Tim Slade

comment 26 Branagan: Chasing Ideas race 28 Formula 1 32 Targa West 36 Indycars 40 NASCARs 44 Leyburn Sprints

trade 48 Classifieds 3

CHASING THE CHASE NASCAR

Dirk Klynsmith

MARCOS Ambrose has a lot of things on his mind, with a US$3 million bounty possible at Atlanta this week, but a bigger prize lies before the Aussie in the next two races – The Chase for the Sprint Cup. Ambrose, who won his maiden Sprint Cup race at Watkins Glen two weeks ago, may also be within reach of a wildcard entry into The Chase if things go his way in the final two races of the ‘regular season’. Despite being 22nd in points, the Richard Petty driver could force his way into NASCAR’s playoffs with good results in the next two races. The top 10 drivers in points after the Richmond race will compete in The Chase. At present, four drivers are locked into The Chase on points; Kyle Busch, Jimmie Johnson, Matt Kenseth and Carl Edwards. But for the first time, the 2011 regulations allow two drivers of those who finish between 11th to 20th in the points to become the 11th and 12th ‘Wildcard’ entries. Any driver in that group with a 2011 race win qualify and at present, 11th placed Brad Keselowski seemingly has one of those wildcards locked up after his third win at the weekend in Bristol. But Keselowski is only 21 points behind Tony Stewart in 10th place and such has been the contrast in form between the two drivers over the last month that it would surprise nobody if they swapped positions and Keselowski made

The Chase ‘on merit’. The only other drivers in wildcard contention currently all have one win this year; Denny Hamlin (12th), Paul Menard (20th), David Ragan (21st), Ambrose and Regan Smith (25th). At present, if we disregard Keselowski, Hamlin and Menard would make The Chase as wildcards. But now, it gets interesting … Menard has 631 points, Ragan 628 and Ambrose 627. The competition between to three could just be as engrossing as that for the actual win. There is also the chance that Hamlin could win either of the next two races and lift himself into The Chase on merit, leaving the ninth-placed driver, Dale Earnhardt Jr, out of the top 10 and, once again, out of The Chase. The most popular driver in NASCAR is without a win for the third straight season, and while the Earnhardt Nation is praying for him to make The Chase, an Aussie could beat him to it. Ambrose is one of four drivers who can win the Sprint Summer Showdown. As a winner of one of five pre-nominated races in August, should he win in Atlanta he could take home a bonus payment of $1m for himself, a million for fan and a million for their nominated charity at Atlanta. Ambrose has nominated Victory Junction, a charity that assists children with special needs, as his charity. The other eligible drivers are Menard, Keselowski and Kyle Busch.

www.revolution 4

motorsport news

NEWS

ALEX ON THE LOOKOUT V8 SUPERCARS ALEX Davison is confident of being on the V8 Supercar grid full-time in 2012, despite the high possibility that Lee Holdsworth will replace him at Stone Brothers Racing at the end of the season. Since eNews went to press last week it appears that Holdsworth has set his sights on the SBR option that we reported was available to him as of the Queensland Raceway, with the Queensland squad now the favourite ahead of the Rod Nash Racing/Ford Performance Racing alliance. But while the involved parties are making no comment on who will be driving car #4 in 2012, Davison – the car’s current driver – has revealed to eNews that he is talking to different teams about a drive next season ... and that he is confident that a deal will be done. “At the moment, I’m not really in a position to talk about what’s happening at Stone Brothers,” he told eNews. “It’s not my position to be doing that. As far as I’m concerned, personally, my contract is up at the end of this year. It always has been. “As we speak I haven’t signed anything for next year, but we’re speaking to a number of teams about driving next year. So there’s not a great deal to talk about at the moment. We’re working on locking something in, and I’m confident of locking something in, but in exactly which car I don’t know at the moment.” If Holdsworth does sign with SBR, there will still be seats available – as in currently with no signed driver for 2012 – at RNR, Paul Morris Motorsport, Garry Rogers Motorsport, Brad Jones Racing and Walkinshaw Racing. – ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN

nracegear.com.au www.mnews.com.au

Dirk Klynsmith

SLADE SET TO STAY WITH STONES V8 SUPERCARS

TIM Slade is getting closer to finalising his future as a Stone Brothers Racing driver. After a rookie season with Paul Morris Motorsport in 2009, Slade joined the team last year, running under a Racing Entitlements Contract owned by longtime backer James Rosenberg. That deal was extended into 2011, and

looks set to continue next year, with negotiations underway between the three parties. “There’s no pen to paper, but it’s all looking pretty positive for the future between us,” Slade said. “It all should be good.” Meanwhile, the Lucky7 driver is keen to continue his strong run of form throughout the second half of the season. After breaking through for his

maiden V8 Supercar podium finishes at Queensland Raceway last week, Slade has closed the gap to the Top 10 in the standings and currently sits 13th. “Before the weekend, I thought it’d be pretty good if we could get it into the Top 10 in the second half of the year and collect a few podiums along the way,” he said. “And, I guess, after the

weekend, we’re on target for that. But we can’t sit back and relax on the weekend’s results, there’s still a lot of racing to go and the endurance races are long, tough, hard races. “I definitely don’t want to slack off now after achieving that, just keep on going.” – MITCHELL ADAM

For more with Tim Slade, see 5 Minutes With, on Page 24

TWEETING THE COMPANY LINE V8 SUPERCARS SOME of V8 Supercars’ best drivers have reacted with almost universal acclaim to the lineup of acts that will entertain the fans at December’s Sydney Telstra 500. Australian music icons John Farnham, Hunters & Collectors and Noiseworks will headline two nights of entertainment at the Olympic Stadium. Here is a selection of some of the drivers’ comments on Twitter; 6

James Courtney Sydney Telstra 500 – Hunters, Farnham, Noiseworks – HUGE! Bring it on, can’t wait. Mark Winterbottom Sydney Telstra 500 – Hunters, Farnham, Noiseworks – HUGE! Bring it on, can’t wait. I’ll be rocking on Saturday night!! Who’s joining me? Will Davison Sydney Telstra 500 – Hunters, Farnham, Noiseworks – HUGE! Bring it on, can’t wait. Steve Johnson

Sydney Telstra 500 – Hunters, Farnham, Noiseworks – HUGE! Bring it on, can’t wait. Holden Motorsport Sydney Telstra 500 – Hunters, Farnham, Noiseworks ... and another Holden crushing win – HUGE! Bring it on, can’t wait. Lee Holdsworth Awesome news for the Sydney Telstra 500 – Hunters, Farnham, Noiseworks. It’s gonna be sweet, make sure you get there! Tickets for the December 2-4 weekend are available from Ticketek. motorsport news

NEWS

Motorsport Stocktake Sale Pattern

Sale Price Save

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R800 185/60 R15 (soft, medium) $150 $59

Dirk Klynsmith

CLIPSAL SET TO RETURN TO P1 THE 2012 V8 Supercar season looks likely to kick off in Adelaide on March 1-4. The date of the Clipsal 500 was announced last week and Sounth Australian Motorsport Board CEO Mark Warren hinted that the event may kick off the season. As previously reported, the Abu Dhabi round of the series could be moved to later in the season. “V8 Supercars has recognised that the Clipsal 500 Adelaide is the largest and most spectacular event on the calendar and launching it in Adelaide is great for the sport and its growing following

throughout Australia and the World,”said Warren. “We are already finalising plans for next year’s motorsport extravaganza that will be the 14th V8 Supercar event held on Adelaide’s famous street circuit.” V8 Supercars has previously stated that it aims to conduct future seasons within a 40 week span. Should that timeframe be adopted for the 2012 season, that would put the season-ending event at Homebush on December 9 – later than has been the norm over recent years, but a date possible if a flyaway event, or even two events back-to-back, are scheduled for November.

LOWNDESES ANNOUNCE SEPARATION V8 SUPERCARS CRAIG Lowndes has announced that he has separated from his wife Nat. The TeamVodafone star and his wife issued a statement last Friday. It read; “It is with regret that Craig & Nat Lowndes today confirm their recent separation after 14 years of marriage. “Craig and Nat confirmed that the separation is amicable and that the two continue to share joint custody and parenting of their two children, Levi and Chilli. Nat will also continue to work alongside Craig on their many business interests. “Our thoughts are with the kids and making this transition as easy as possible for them. We remain good friends and will continue to share parenting duties, but unfortunately have grown apart as a couple. These things are sad but it’s a reality of modern life.” www.mnews.com.au

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B12: JOEST OUT, PHOENIX RISES

Dane: All International format a hit V8 SUPERCARS

Phil Williams

BATHURST 12HR A FACTORY-BACKED Audi effort will tackle the 2012 Armor All Bathurst 12 Hour – but not quite the same squad that dominated the 2011 race. With backing from Audi Australia, Audi Race Experience Team Joest blitzed this year’s race – securing a 1-2 finish – and two of the German manufacturer’s new R8 LMS GT3s will be entered for next February’s race. However, a date clash means Team Joest won’t travel to Australia to run the program, set to be replaced by German squad Phoenix Racing, in conjunction with Melbourne Performance Centre, who prepare Mark Eddy’s R8 in Australian GT. In addition to a two-car DTM program, Phoenix Racing is an active user of the R8 LMS GT3, campaigning the model in Germany’s ADAC GT Masters and VLN Series. “Audi’s coming to the Bathurst 12 Hour next year,” Eddy, who finished second in this year’s race with Craig Lowndes and Warren Luff, confirmed to eNews. “I got a phone call the other night and spoke to Romolo [Liebchen], the head of motorsport there in Germany, and they’re definitely coming. “Team Joest wanted to do it, but there’s conflict with an event, an LMP race with the diesel cars. So Phoenix Racing are the ones who’ll manage it alongside Melbourne 8

Performance Centre, and they’ll bring two new cars out from Europe.” A separate pair of R8s will leave Germany for Australia in the coming weeks, to enter next year’s VodkaO Australian GT Championship, accompanied by an extensive set of spares, which will be managed by Melbourne Performance Centre. “There’s definitely two Audis that are leaving on the ninth of September, which are basically both sold,” Eddy said. “They’re actually current 2011 cars, they’re two cars that were racing with Black Falcon and they’ve been completely rebuilt and upgraded to 2011 spec. “I think the guys that are buying it want to do some testing, they’re new to the category. They’re going to do a bit of testing, see how they go this year and race next year. “I’m giving them a bit of a hand, and there’s a spare parts package coming out with two containers worth of spare parts. Melbourne Performance Centre have done a deal with Audi in Germany and they’re going to run a full service, so if you buy a car, you can go to the truck and buy a part, you won’t need to import any parts. “They’ve just purchased a new pantech to move the freight and cars around, so there’ll be an official Audi truck at the GT meetings next year, like Porsche’s, which is really good.” – MITCHELL ADAM

TRIPLE Eight Racing Engineering boss Roland Dane has thrown his support behind having an international driver in every car for the 2011 Gold Coast 600. Last year, teams were only required to have one ‘marquee’ driver per team, with regular endurance drivers filling the rest of the spots. But the event has been tweaked for ’11, with every car required to have an international driver, resulting in 28 guys flying in from around the world to race V8 Supercars. And according to Dane, that’s a big step in the right direction. “From what I’ve heard and seen, it’s definitely grabbing race fan’s attention in Europe and The States,” said Dane. “This year, with the mix of drivers that we’ve got, although some of the names aren’t names that are instantly recognised here, they’ve got more recognition in Europe than what he had last year. We’ve done ourself a favour by casting the net wider. By having 28 drivers, the date clash with the WTCC and some of the IndyCar guys can’t come, I think that’s been to our benefit. “Amongst the motorsport community, it’s got a huge following already, even though we’ve only had one running in that format. Plenty of drivers around the world, if they haven’t done it, would like to do it. It’s being talked about an awful lot. “As far as the wider community goes, it’s gaining some traction. But you can’t expect to get in front of everyone in Year 1, with a new format like that, and grab the attention of race fans everywhere. It’s a building process.” Dane’s Vodafone-backed squad will run Sebastien Bourdais and Andy Priaulx at the GC600 in October. – ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN motorsport news

NEWS

RUN FORESTER, RUN! First look: Herridge’s new Aussie Safari-bound Subaru AUST SAFARI PERTH-based rally team Maximum Motorsport will tackle the upcoming Australasian Safari with a brand new Subaru Forester – and it may be a precursor to a return to the Australian Rally Championship for the squad. Maximum Motorsport, run by Rob and Dean Herridge, is currently finishing a rally version of the Forester XT, with 1992 ARC champion Rob to drive the car at the Safari next month. “I’m not quite sure if I drew the short stick or the long one,” quipped Herridge. “The one thing I do know is that it’s going to be a very hard event. Hard on the

equipment, [and] hard on myself and Tim Batten, who will co-drive for me. And hard on our team, who’ll have to keep up as we race for more than 3700km through the bush.“

“The Safari is this region’s answer to the Dakar Rally, and I’m really looking forward to it. It’s going to be a great event.“ And with the Australian Rally Championship set to introduce an SUV class in 2012, the Forrester will put MM in a position to make a comeback to special stage rallying. But Dean Herridge played down suggestions that the car will make more appearances in 2012. “I would love to come back and compete in the ARC in some capacity and I’m always looking at opportunities to do that, however at this stage the Forester is only being built with the Australasian Safari in mind.“ – ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN

ROUND 5 OF THE VODKA O AUSTRALIAN GT CHAMPIONSHIP - PHILLIP ISLAND 2011 CAMS TOURIST TROPHY FATHERS DAY SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 4

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NEWS

sutton-images.com

CITROEN: LOEB SIGNING IMPORTANT WORLD RALLYING

SEBASTIEN Loeb’s re-signing with Citroen is a sign of the French carmaker’s commitment to the World Rally Championship, says Jean-Marc Gales. The member of the PSA Peugeot Sport management board told AUTOSPORT magazine that the recent re-signing of the World Champion, despite a huge play from WRC newcomers Volkswagen, shows that the PSA-owned brand is committed to the WRC in the future. “It shows Citroen’s commitment to the WRC and it shows the commitment in Citroen headquarters to Citroen Racing, which is very

important,” Gales told AUTOSPORT. “We have never talked about that, but the two-year contract with a seven-time world champion shows that commitment. “In terms of marketing I am extremely happy he has re-signed again, it does help us sell cars in simple terms. Everybody associates Citroen and the wins we have – the championships – with Sebastien and vice-versa. “It is also excellent because we want to reposition our brand. Citroen, as you have seen in the past, was a brand known for its commercial aggressiveness, now we have a premium line – the DS, the DS3, which is a hot seller in Europe, the DS4, the DS5 and

all the attributes we associate with this new premium line, they fit with Sebastien as well. “ Loeb added that the arrival of new manufacturers, and new-for-2012 regulations, helped make his decision to stay in the WRC with Citroen. “With the arrival of other manufacturers in the championship, the competition is going to get tougher in the years to come,” he said. “All the more so with the rule changes concerning the starting order coming in in 2012, as all the drivers will be fighting on a level playing field. To take the fight to them I’m putting my trust in Citroën, a team I know inside out and the DS3 WRC, the car that I helped set up with Citroën Racing.”

NO COFFS FOR KIMI, BUT LE MANS LOOMS WORLD RALLYING KIMI Raikkonen won’t be competing at Rally Australia this year, but he might be racing at Le Mans in 2012. Having originally planned to enter the Coffs Coastbased Rally Australia event, Raikkonen and his Ice 1 Racing squad have pulled the pin at the last minute. But while his trips to Coffs is off, Raikkonen is hardly sitting around doing nothing. The ’07 Formula 1 World Champion tested Peugeot’s 908 Le Mans challenger at Motorland Aragon late last week, completing 35 laps on a track that he’s never driven on before. While Peugeot motorsport chiefs are remaining tightlipped, it could well be a precursor to Raikkonen driving with the squad at Le Mans in ’12. 10

“Originally, this test session was planned for a long time in order to prepare the rest of the season on top of which we have allowed Kimi to discover the 908,” said Olivier Quesnel, Peugeot Sport Director.

“As of today, nothing has been scheduled or planned for the future.” “Kimi arrived yesterday evening in order to meet up with the team, prepare his seat and set up his driving position,”

added Pascal Dimitri, Peugeot Sport Team Manager. “He adapted very quickly to the car and gave us a valuable technical feedback. It is always interesting to get inputs from drivers such as Kimi.” motorsport news

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HAMILTON ADMITS HE WAS WRONG ... FORMULA 1

sutton-images.com

LEWIS Hamilton has accepted fault for his accident with Kamui Kobayashi during the Belgian Grand Prix. Having passed Kobayashi on the long straight at Spa Francorchamps, Hamilton tried to move across too quickly to take the next corner, sparking contact between the two and ending his own race on the spot. Kobayashi was able to carry on without serious damage. After reviewing the footage, Hamilton admitted over Twitter that he was at fault.

“After watching the replay, I realise it was my fault today 100 percent,” said Hamilton. “I didn’t give Kobayashi enough room though; I thought I was past.” Kobayashi said he was surprised by Hamilton’s actions. “Regarding the accident with Lewis Hamilton, which happened when I was running in fourth, I knew perfectly well he was faster than me so had no reason to fight with him,” he said. “After he overtook me it was not my intention to get my position back, so I stayed on my line and didn’t expect him to move over.”

PIRELLI P

sutton-images.com

... AS DOES BRUNO FORMULA 1 BRUNO Senna has apologised for his first-corner crash at the Belgian Grand Prix. Senna did a great job in qualifying to secure a seventh-place starting spot, but his first race start since 2010 went poorly, the Brazilian spearing into the side of Jaime Alguersuari into Turn 1. He later apologised for getting the start wrong. 12

“I didn’t do the first corner with high fuel, ever, and unfortunately I misjudged the braking area,” Senna told the BBC. “There was no way for me to avoid Jaime and I am really sorry about his race. “I think it was just misjudgement and a lack of experience of not doing it for 11 races. I should have maybe been a bit more careful. I’m here to race and race for position so let’s see what happens in the next race.” motorsport news

NEWS

WEBBER RE-SIGNS FORMULA 1 MARK Webber has finally re-signed with Red Bull Racing. It was announced just before the Belgian Grand Prix that Webber has signed a new one-year deal with RBR, locking him in with the World Champions for at least another year. “I want to continue racing at the top in Formula 1, so it’s no-brainer to remain at Red Bull Racing for another year,” Webber said. “My motivation to achieve the best results possible both for myself and the team is still very high. Over the past five years, we have worked hard and proved that we can design and build a competitive and championship-winning car, and I’m looking forward to putting the car and myself on the limit again each and every race weekend in 2012.”

RBR boss Christian Horner added that he and the team were excited to keep the competitive, and sometimes tense, partnership between Webber and Sebastian Vettel going for a fourth year. “When we sat down and started talking about 2012, it was immediately obvious that Mark and the team wanted to continue our successful relationship,” he said. “This meant agreeing an extension for 2012 was very straightforward. Mark knows the team well, having been with us since 2007, and his motivation, fitness and commitment is as high as it has ever been. “The pairing of Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel is a very strong one, they push each other hard and we are extremely happy the pairing will remain unchanged for a fourth season.”

PUTS THE BLAME ON RED BULL FORMULA 1

sutton-images.com

www.mnews.com.au

PIRELLI has put the blame back on Red Bull Racing for the tyre issues that almost cost Sebastian Vettel win at last weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix. Red Bull Racing spent the race suffering from blistering front tyres while on the soft compound, and while some other teams, including Ferrari, experienced the problem in small doses, it was more prominent on Vettel and Mark Webber’s cars. After the race, Pirelli’s motorsport boss Paul Hembrey explained that RBR had opted to set its cars up outside the recommended guidelines suggested by Pirelli, and that was the cause of the blistering issue. “We don’t appreciate being put in that position,” Hembery told AUTOSPORT after the race. “It is a slightly unfair position to be put in. Of course it could have been avoided. “Teams have the ability to start from the pit-lane with a different set-up and a new set of tyres. That was an option that [Red Bull] decided not to follow – but that is obviously the prerogative of the people making the decisions. The problem we have, of course, is that our name is on the side of the tyres and we have to live with that.” 13

NASCAR media

PATRICK NASCAR IN 2012 NASCAR

MOTOR racing’s most enduring soap opera is over, for now at least, with the confirmation that Danica Patrick will move to NASCAR full-time in 2012. As we reported last week Patrick, 29, will run a full-time program in the Nationwide Series with Dale Earnhardt’s Jr’s JR Motorsport and “eight to 10” Sprint Cup races with Stewart Haas Racing. The final number, and which races, are yet to be confirmed, and are subject to the makeup of the 2012 NASCAR calendars. “I’m very excited to finally say it,” a leatherclad Patrick said last Thursday at the HQ of

her sponsor, GoDaddy.com. “From the first time I got out of the car in the ARCA race at Daytona [in 2010], it was the most fun I ever had in a racecar. It probably had to do with the bumping, but it was the most fun I ever had in a car and I think that really started it all and it went from there. “I’m excited to start the next chapter ... I’m ready to go.” The moves means that Patrick, who Forbes magazine named as the third-highest earning female sportsperson in the world with estimated earnings of US$12m ($11.3m) will end her association with Andretti Autosport a year earlier than planned.

“We are pleased Danica Patrick has chosen to race full time in NASCAR in 2012,” NASCAR chairman Brian France said in a statement. “She has demonstrated a strong desire to compete and NASCAR provides the best opportunity to race against the top drivers in the world with the largest and most loyal fan base in motorsports on a week-to-week basis.” Patrick made her Indycar debut in 2005. In 110 starts, she has won one race, at Motegi in 2009, and her best points finish was fifth in 2009. She is currently 12th with four races left in the 2011 season. In 20 NW starts, she has scored three top10 finishes, all this season.

A POWERFUL HANDS DEVICE INDYCAR

Honda Racing

WILL Power’s hands are now valued at US$150,000 after he was fined for showing two fingers to Race Control at new Hampshire. The Queenslander faces a fine of $30k after doing what Americans refer to as a ‘double bird’ when he crashed

out of the Loudon oval race, which was restarted despite the fact that it was RAINING AT THE TIME. Power may choose to participate in additional driver appearances as part of his penalty. On the podium at Infineon Raceway on Sunday, Power showed two fingers, again, to the public but this time, he appeared to be celebrating ... motorsport news

NEWS

Andretti sponsorship deals in place for 2012 INDYCAR

NASCAR media

THE sponsorship package of Andretti Autosport is looking clearer, the team announcing that RC Cola will back the team’s entry for Marco Andretti next season. The cola, launched as Royal Crown Cola in 1905, is part of the huge Dr Pepper Snapple Group, as the deal is “multiyear”, according to the team.

Team owner Michael Andretti has also announced that GoDaddy.com, which backs Danica Patrick and which will support her NASCAR program, will stay with his team for the next two years. The exact nature of the deal is not year clear but three generations of Andrettis, Mario, Michael and Marco, will be the company’s spokesmen. Not in high heels, we trust …

Will Bowyer move for Petty cash? NASCAR

Honda Racing

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CLINT Bowyer could be a Ford man next season – in a third Richard Petty car. Bowyer has expressed hopes of returning to Richard Childress Racing in 2012 but RPM coowner Andrew Murstein told SiriusXM Radio last week that there is an offer if the driver wants to switch brands. “When we had that media day opportunity at the beginning of the year, I perhaps went a little further than I should and

I said I wanted to add a third team pretty quickly, and Danica (Patrick) and Clint Bowyer came to mind,” Murstein said. “So we’ve been thinking about the third team for the last six months or so, and we’re close to doing something. I don’t know if it will be Clint. It’s no secret that I like him and Richard (Petty) likes him, and I think he would be a great fit for our organisation.” In the meantime, Richard Childress told ESPN that he “hopes” that his driver will return to the team in 2012.

AUSTRALIAN GT PORSCHE squad McElrea Racing is getting ready for a Victorian triple-header, enlisting a pair of gun co-drivers for this weekend’s round of the VodkaO Australian GT Championship at Phillip Island. Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge drivers, John Modystach and Rob Knight, have entered this weekend’s fifth round of Australian GT in the GT Challenge Class, recruiting Jonny Reid and Marcus Marshall as their co-drivers for Sunday’s pair of one-hour races. Modystach and Knight will return to the GT3 Cup Challenge at Sandown the following weekend, before McElrea Racing’s Carrera Cup drivers hit Phillip Island on September 16-18. Reid is one of the team’s Carrera Cup drivers, while Fujitsu Series endurance driver

James Smith

PORSCHE MILES FOR JONNY & MARCUS

Marshall has raced Porsches previously. “Jonny Reid has been doing quite a bit of one-on-one driver training with John Modystach over the last couple of months, so it kills two birds with one stone,” team boss Andy McElrea told eNews. “They can share the same car over a race weekend which will further help develop John’s driving, and it gets Jonny on track at Phillip Island two weeks before he races there in Carrera Cup. It’s a very good win-win. “We obviously tried hard to get Marcus into one of our CupCars this year which didn’t happen for one reason or another, but Marcus brought Rob Knight to us in the first place. They’re good mates, and when Rob

wanted to get involved in racing, Marcus brought him along to us; so it’s a nice way for the two of them to share a car and, as with John Modystach, Rob will be able to learn a lot from his good mate Marcus over the weekend.” Of the 18-car field, seven are expected to feature two drivers. Daniel Gaunt will continue alongside Dean Grant (who switches back to his rebuilt Mosler) and Barton Mawer will partner Angelo Lazaris in a Lotus Exige. Stig Richards and Timothy Poulton will continue their association in a Lotus Exige S, while Adrian and Damien Flack will team up in a 997 CupCar. – MITCHELL ADAM

COMING SOON ... BATHURST 12 HOUR ROGER Lago’s new Lamborghini Gallardo LP600 will hit the sea soon bound for Australia, after David Russell shook it down in Germany last week. As reported in last week’s eNews, Russell headed to Europe after the Queensland Raceway Fujitsu Series round, to test the Reiter Engineering-built car he’ll share with Lago and Wayne Park at next year’s Armor All Bathurst 12 Hour. Russell drove the car at Hockenheim, eventually bettering the benchmark time set by Team Lamborghini driver Peter Cox by two16

tenths of a second. “What an incredible experience,” Russell said. “Once the guys from Reiter Engineering knew that I was right on the pace in the car, they were happy to make a number of set-up changes that I wanted and that resulted in the fastest lap of the day, on worn tyres. “I was pretty happy with that, first time out at the challenging Hockenheim circuit and in this impressive GT3 car. I can’t wait until next year’s Bathurst 12 Hour to show what Roger and I can do in it. I also took the time to meet with some other racing contacts in Stuttgart and while it was a packed schedule it was certainly well worth it.”

Russell was accompanied by McElrea Racing boss Andy McElrea, who is set to have an involvement with the car at next year’s 12 Hour, along with running some of his team’s existing 997 CupCars. “We’re working through all of our options with Roger at the moment, with us certainly helping with the management side of it,” McElrea said. “We’ll probably run a couple of our CupCars in the event, too, so we’re just working through the best way to satisfy all parties. But we’ll certainly have a pretty big presence at the 12 Hour at this stage.” – MITCHELL ADAM motorsport news

NEWS Legendary Watanabe racing wheels from Japan are now available in Australia!

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R-type

STONER FLIES HIGH MOTOGP A COMFORTABLE win at Indianapolis has given Casey Stoner a 44-point lead in MotoGP. After Dani Pedrosa made one of his trademark lightening starts, Stoner quickly hunted him down and took a lead that he could maintain for the whole race. Pedrosa hung on to second, while Ben Spies recovered from a shocking start to finish third, one place ahead of Yamaha team-mate Jorge Lorenzo.

“We got an okay start and I should have been a little more aggressive in the first corner,” said Stoner. “As I entered Turn 2, Dani hit the breaks quite hard and I just had nothing. My brakes weren’t warmed up yet, and I had trouble stopping, I was lucky to get through the first lap. “The race was tough, conditions were very hot and the track surface a little more slippery than practice and qualifying, which made things difficult to know how much to

A deep-dish wheel to suit early RWD models and cars with wide flares. There are 13, 14, 15 and 16-inch diameters from 8 to 12 inches wide. 15x9.5 -19 pictured

push. At one point, I closed the front and dropped the bike on my knee. I was pretty much down but managed to pick it back up and not lose too much confidence. “From there we started to make our way past Dani, put in a few good lap times and pull an advantage. Under challenging track conditions everything has worked really well this weekend, the crew did a fantastic job and gave me a great bike so a huge thanks to them all.”

F8-type A lightweight wheel to suit RWD applications with larger brakes, available in 14, 15, 16 and 17-inch diameters, up to 9 inches wide. 15x7 +1 pictured

F8F-type Dirk Klynsmith

NO NEW CARS FOR NEWCASTLE FUJITSU SERIES NOVOCASTRIAN Motorsport has committed to continuing to run its two Falcons in next year’s Fujitsu Series. Brothers Drew and Aaren Russell campaign the team’s two ex-Brad Jones Racing BF Falcons, currently sitting 18th and 16th respectively in the points. Faced with the continuing influx of newer machinery, budget constraints mean the team will www.mnews.com.au

stick with the 2003-built Falcons for one more year, the last they’re eligible for the series. The cars have run unsponsored for much of the year, but had backing from ESET and the Celtic Tearoom of Maleny at Queensland Raceway. “We’re going to push on with what we’ve got,” team owner Wayne Russell said. “It’d be nice to try and get a test for Drew, Aaren’s probably not quite ready yet, to go into a Main

Game situation as a co-driver. “We’ve actually got the cars going as quick as what Brad had. With our resources, which is very minimal, we’ve managed to get them going reasonably OK, but it’s just that everyone else is going better with their gear as well. “We’re doing a good job with what we’ve got. We’ll keep batting away and try to get the boys noticed by the big boys.” – MITCHELL ADAM

Similar styling to the F8 but in offsets to suit FWD cars, comes in 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17-inch diameters. 16x7 +35 pictured

With sizes and offsets to suit performance cars from early sixties up to current models, Watanabe are perfect for production racing and many other classes Watanabe alloy wheels are very light, while even lighter magnesium wheels are also available for racing only For more sizes and colours please look at our website:

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NEWS

JUNIOR SENIOR ... TCM

AUSTRALIAN National Formula Ford runner Elliot Barbour is gearing up to return to the Touring Car Masters at Eastern Creek next weekend, debuting a striking black V8 powered E55 Chrysler Charger. After just handful of TCM races last year, Barbour is confident in returning to the category, highlighting the opportunity as a next step as he develops his racing career beyond Formula Ford.

“I’m feeling really confident and keen to get back behind the wheel of a TCM car, especially in the Charger we’ve put together.” Said Barbour. “The Touring Car Masters is an outstanding and competitive category and I think it could just be my showcase to the V8 Supercar fraternity, proving that I can handle the big V8s.” The Charger has been developed along with his father, and early TCM competitor Mark Barbour, with the Charger impressing

onlookers in early testing. Elliot Barbour is yet to turn a wheel in the Charger. Meanwhile, Glenn Seton will debut the recently completed 1974 Falcon XB Coupe. The 700hp Falcon Coupe is expected to be a crowd favourite at the Father’s day event, sporting a special livery in support of the Daniel Morcombe Foundation. The livery is a great initiative to promote the ‘Day for Daniel’ a day aimed at increasing public awareness for Child Safety.

CAPE MOTORSPORTS – OFFICIAL BORLAND US AGENTS

US FORMULA FORD BORLAND Racing Developments has appointed Cape Motorsports as its North American distributor. Brothers Dominic and Nicholas Cape will be in charge of selling the Spectrum version of the American F1600 car in The States and Canada, having recently debuted the Melbournebuilt chassis at Mid-Ohio. Australian driver Mitch Martin drove the car in its US debut, scoring two second place finishes and setting a new lap record in the process. 18

“Having seen the professional way that Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing goes about every facet of their business, we knew these were the guys we wanted to represent our products in North America,” said BRD managing director Mike Borland. “Everything from their headquarters to their transporter and trackside presentation is absolutely first class. We know they will work hard and they will have the full support of the factory, as we find equally professional teams and owner/drivers who want to experience for themselves the performance they saw at Mid Ohio.” motorsport news

Fathers Day NEW RELEASE AVAILABLE AUGUST

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$ Classic Austrlain Touring Car Races vol 9

Vol .9 revisits the 1981 Australian Endurance Championship races at Adelaide International Raceway and Surfers Paradise International Raceway. This was the time when the legendary Peter Brock faced renewed competition from old rival Allan Moffat in his Mazda RX7, new Ford force Dick Johnson and Kevin Bartlett’s Chev Camaro. Also from the vaults of ABC are television three classic races, once again from Warwick Farm with Sports Sedans action in 1969 followed by Improved Production touring cars, along with Series Production both from 1970.

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Disc One This DVD was orginial released in 2004, and examines the origins of the HRT with Tom Walkinshaw Racing. You will meet the drivers who brought the team so much success, recapture the great moments in the Championship and at Bathurst, along with the people behind the team. Disc Two This DVD is a very special tribute to the founder of HRT, Tom Walkinshaw, who passed away in December 2010. On this DVD hosted by Will Hagon, we look at Tom’s first visit to Bathurst in 1984, and then his triumphant return the following year.

Celebrating 40 Years of the GT-HO Phase 3 Armorall Bathurst 12 Hour race highlights

Ford boasts a rich heritage both in Australain motor racing and in the performance road car and muscle car scene. This single DVD contains three classic documentaries that showcase this Australian automotive icon, the Falcon GT. The Racing History of the Australian Falcon GT-HO. 30 years of the Falcon GT The Legend. Ford Australia 75 Years. These three landmark documentaries are a must for all Ford fans - three great Ford documentaries for the price of one!

Twelve hours around the punishing 6.2km Mount Panorama – that’s about as tough as it gets in world motor racing. But this year the Armor All Bathurst 12 Hour took things up a notch higher, with the switch to full FIA GT3 Sports Cars. So it was that the 2011 race featured iconic sports car names such as Ferrari, Porsche, Lotus, Corvette – and Audi, with the German manufacturer taking on the race with a two-car factory effort. Another classic Bathurst 12 Hour, this time featuring some of the most expensive, most glamorous and fastest supercars in the world.

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NEWS

OVERSAES AND BEYOND ... FORMULA SAE MELBOURNE-based University racing squad Team Swinburne are heading to Japan next week for the Japanese Formula SAE event. Fresh from taking sixth place at the Melbourne Top Gear Live Festival back in

March, and after finishing second at the Australasian Formula SAE event late last year, Team Swinburne are now taking their 2010-spec petrol-powered Formula SAE car overseas to compete in the Japanese Formula SAE event. The Japanese Formula SAE event is held at the Ogasatama Sports Park in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan, in the

shadow of Mt Fuji. A whopping 89 teams from Japan, Thailand, Korea, India, China, Pakistan and Australia will take part, with five of the top 20 Formula SAE teams from around the world competing. The competition runs from Monday September 5 to Friday September 9.

FENECH AND THE FRENCH, A WINNING COMBO FORMULA FORD JESSE Fenech has joined the Evans Motorsport Formula Ford team, after contesting the opening three rounds of the Australian Formula Ford Championship with Borland Racing Developments, including a podium finish in Round 1 at Adelaide. Fenech made a successful switch from the Spectrum to the French Mygale chassis, winning all three races in the weekend’s Victorian State Formula Ford Championship round at Winton. According to Fenech, the change of team was largely financially motivated. “I couldn’t afford to race the rest of the 20

national championship with Borland,” he said. “I had to step aside because I didn’t have the budget, and the move to Evans Motorsport was just a change to a different team, and an opportunity to see what the Mygale is like to drive. “I’ve had to change my driving style for the Mygale. The braking is very different, and so is the way it responds to changes. “I’m trying to find the budget to do the Sandown and Phillip Island rounds of the national series with Evans Motorsport, and I’m trying to get the budget together to do the full national championship next year.” – LACHLAN MANSELL motorsport news

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HINES PASSES AWAY KARTING

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THE karting fraternity has been shocked by the loss one of the sport’s biggest icons, with the passing of Martin Hines following a lengthy battle with cancer. Hines, 64, was known as ‘Mr Karting’ or the ‘Karting Guru’, and won an impressive 17 karting titles during his career, including three FIA World Championships (1983, 91 and 92), not to mention five European and six British titles. Hines was equally successful off the racetrack and was equally well known for his role as founder and owner of Zip Kart – a business he started in the UK in 1964 in a partnership with his father with the Zip Kart quickly spreading all over the world. Leading karting’s technical advances from Superkarts, Indoor Karting and Corporate Karting, to introducing Bridgestone tyres and finally creating a karting TV series, were just a few of Hines’ accomplishments. Hines also introduced McLaren and Mercedes-Benz into the sport of karting with Britain’s first-ever national network TV series – ‘The McLaren Mercedes Champions of the Future’ series. He was also instrumental during the formative years of the careers of Formula 1 drivers David Coulthard, Lewis Hamilton and Anthony Davidson, among many others. Hines visited Australia on a number of occasions, often staying with friends Dave and Barbara Hepworth in South Australia. Melbournian Peter Woodgate was a mechanic for Hines on a number of occasions and drove with Hines’ Zip factory team in the ‘95 British Superkart Grand Prix. Hines’ son Luke also raced in Australia in the CIK Championship in the mid-90s before graduating through the ranks, having also recently tested a BTCC Vauxhall.

LONG WEEKEND FOR WRIGHT KARTING AUSSIE Aidan Wright had a less than perfect weekend at Round 2 of the CIK-FIA Under 18 World Karting Championship in France over the weekend, however he did show glimpses of the speed that took him to 12th at the opening round. Unfortunately the Cairns racer started on a relatively slow note qualifying down in 42nd aboard his Zanardi kart in the field of 74 drivers assembled from all over the world. Wright then performed well in the heats with four strong drives to see him line up from 22nd position for the opening pre-final, where despite running inside the Top 20 at the mid-way point, he had to settle for 21st at the fall of the chequered flag. He then avoided a Lap 1 22

incident in the reverse-grid second pre-final, where he lined up from 13th on the grid and looked set for a solid result before two karts collided in front of him leaving him nowhere to go. Starting from 31st in the 19lap final, Wright then charged through the field to be running as high as 16th with six laps

remaining, but unfortunately a coming together with another competitor forced him to retire with damage to the radiator and exhaust on his kart. “I made an alright start, then we had the yellow flags out for three laps where it was important to keep the tyres warm – that was a new experience for me,” said Wright.

“After the restart I was going along pretty well and I managed to get through a pack of karts in front of me, but once I got in front of that things turned pretty chaotic. I just came around a corner and someone jumped across a kerb and ran right into the side of me, which ended my race. “It’s unfortunate that I was involved in the crash as I feel as though I had a lot of pace by the end of the weekend, but it has made me more eager to show the world what I can do during the final round in Italy.” Frenchman Anthoine Hubert won the main event. The third, and final, round of the 2011 CIK-FIA Under 18 World Karting Championship will be held at the Circuito Internazionale de Sarno-Napoli in Italy on November 4-6. motorsport news

A SPECIAL SOUVENIR EDITION OF MOTORSPORT NEWS

MARCOS AMBROSE ON HIS BREAKTHROUGH WIN JUST HOURS AFTER WINNING AT WAKINS GLEN, AMBROSE SPOKE TO MN ABOUT MAKING THE LONG TREK TO VICTORY LANE

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PLUS: DAVID REYNOLDS’ GUIDE TO MOTOR RACING FITNESS, GARTH TANDER GOES TRUCKING MAD IN THE HRT TRANSPORTER, AN EXCLUSIVE CHAT WITH MCLAREN’S MARTIN WHITMARSH, LOEB V OGIER: INSIDE THE CIVIL WAR AT CITROEN, IRISH V8 SUPERCAR DRIVER ROBERT CREGAN, INSIDE THE CAMS RISING STARS, THE CIK STARS OF KARTING, AND MUCH, MUCH MORE

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FIVE MINUTES WITH ...

TIM SLADE Tim Slade starred in Races 16,17 and 18 of the V8 season at Queensland 9HJL^H` ZJVYPUN OPZ ÄYZ[ JHYLLY WVKP\TZ 40;*/,33 (+(4 ZWVRL [V OPT MOTORSPORT NEWS: Here we are, a few days on from your success at Queensland Raceway, how does it rate among the major weekends in your career so far? TIM SLADE: I was thinking about that, probably only yesterday or the day before, just as far as being a career highlight. You know, I thought before that weekend getting a result like that would far outweigh any of my other achievements throughout my career, but I still sort of look back to when I won the round at Wakefield Park in the Fujitsu Series (Ed: in 2008) running my own team. I guess there was probably a hell of a lot more pressure back then, trying to cut through and I sort of got to the stage that I knew that I couldn’t afford to go and do the Fujitsu Series with one of the top teams, so I had to look at other ways of doing it and doing it the way I did, with my own team and having James [Rosenberg] supply the car. That was the best I could do with what we had. I guess the feeling of driving home from that race meeting, it probably felt like it meant more to me because I guess I always looked up to V8 Supercars while I was in go-karts and Formula Ford and I saw that as a pretty big step. That’s still, I don’t know ... I guess what I’m trying to say is the last weekend’s results, you would probably think that’s by far the best weekend I’ve ever

had, but deep down inside, that win at Wakefield is equally as special as what it was on the weekend. And it has to be even more satisfying because it wasn’t just, say, a podium on Saturday before Sunday didn’t come together. You were up there all weekend and made it count in all three races. Yeah, for sure. Apart from the first practice session, we were never outside of the top three and I think in that first one we were fourth or fifth anyway. Second in practice, second and third in qualifying and then a second, third and a second; we didn’t get those results by strategy and, like you said, it wasn’t just a flash in the pan with one podium in one race. It really was a complete weekend for me and my entire crew on the 47 car, from the people that do the race weekends only with us, right up to my mechanics and engineer. And then there was James, who was overseas. Is that the first one he’s missed in the time he’s been a REC holder? Um, I think he has missed one, but that was due to a reason. Every other one, he’s there. Before that weekend, when he was getting ready to go away, he was ‘oh, it’s a shame to go away’, he said he had a good feeling about that one. He thought we’d go quite well and

be quite strong. But at the same time he knew he was going away to have a good time as well. We stayed in contact via messages and they gave me a call on Saturday night when they were in St Petersburg and that was good. It’s just good to not only repay everyone at SBR, especially my guys, but also James as well and everyone that’s helped me along the way. Was there anything in particular that you’d worked or focused on leading into QR? Or was it really just a culmination of general progress and everything clicking? I think the latter. Like I’ve said a few times in press conferences and other things, I really feel as though we’ve had the speed this year, right from the very first race in Abu Dhabi. There, we had the pace to be on the podium but we just got caught up behind someone at the start of the first race for too long and then in the second race we got taken out. Then, again, at Townsville, I thought – woulda, coulda, shoulda, you’re always going to have them – but I felt pretty strong that we were destined for the podium there, before we got turned around. I’d much rather do what we did on the weekend than get a podium in Townsville, with the circumstances of the whole soft tyre thing. There wasn’t any one thing

in particular that we worked on. Wes [McDougall], my engineer, and myself we’ve been working down a track for a long time now and it just keeps going from strength to strength. We came off a pretty good test day at Queensland Raceway before the round there, and we really based that around the following race meeting, as far as the structure and the plan we worked through, and that really paid off on the weekend. Does this change your goals for the balance of the season? You’re up to 13th in the points, what do you want from the second half of the year? We were 13th heading into the round and we came out in 13th, but the gap to the Top 10 is nothing now – I think it’s 40 or 50 points to 10th (Ed: 31). And then 10th to third is extremely close as well. Before the weekend, I thought it’d be pretty good if we could get it into the Top 10 in the second half of the year and collect a few podiums along the way. And, I guess, after the weekend, we’re on target for that. But we can’t sit back and relax on the weekend’s results, there’s still a lot of racing to go and the endurance races are long, tough, hard races. I definitely don’t want to slack off now after achieving that, just keep on going.

I REALLY FEEL AS THOUGH WE’VE HAD THE SPEE RIGHT FROM THE FIRST RACE IN ABU DHABI 24

motorsport news

CHAT

Speaking of the enduros, this will be your third crack at them. Phillip Island was a great result for yourself and Jack [Perkins] last year, and Dan [Gaunt] has been in good touch in the Porsches recently – how’s everything feeling a couple of weeks out? Good. Like you said, it is my third year doing the enduros, I never did the enduros before I raced in the Main Series. Our cars were really fast at Phillip Island last year, I think we’re probably in a better position not only with the cars but also the knowledge we have about the cars heading into Phillip Island. Bathurst, that was a real struggle for us last year, for whatever reason. I’m not sure. There’s a couple of fairly key areas that we’re a lot stronger in this year, which is really going to help us at Bathurst, especially having more knowledge about the car and how to get what I want out of it and achieving that. And Daniel, he’s a talented guy, he’s been fast in every category he’s been in, I guess he had a little bit of a tough time in his Main Game debut last year, but all probably understand the circumstances behind that. He’s going really well this year, he won the Porsches in New Zealand and then had a clean sweep at Townsville which is good for his confidence. Every time he’s jumped in my car, he’s been really good. It’s pretty handy as well that we’re both a pretty similar size, as Jack and I were last year, he was comfortable with my seat position and pedals so that’s a bit of a bonus. Onto 2012, how’s that looking between yourself, James and SBR to push on with the current set-up? There’s no pen to paper, but it’s all looking pretty positive for the future between us. It all should be good.

www.mnews.com.au

Dirk Klynsmith

ED THIS YEAR,

THE FINALS STRAW WHO is 14th in the V8 Supercar Championship at present? You may choose your answer from one of the following options; A. Greg Murphy, B. Michael Caruso or C. Who Cares? It’s B, Michael Caruso. But if you picked C, I will understand. I say this not to upset people, particularly Robbo Caruso. But if I apply the same question to NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series, the answers are much more entertaining. Y’see, because of the rule change brought in this year, Marcos Ambrose could make The Chase, in spite of currently being ‘only’ 22nd in Sprint Cup points. That win at Watkins Glen puts him nose-to-nose with Paul Menard in wildcard contention and, as we explain in the News pages, should either Brad Keselowski or Denny Hamlin, or both, make it into the top 10 in the next two

races, one Tasmanian might just make it into The Chase. I brought up the question of a Chase (or similar playoff-type scenario) in V8 Supercars a few years ago and was told that the Board discussed the notion and decided to pass. Things change in motor racing, not the least of which is the ownership of V8 Supercars and the formation of a Commission to conduct that category’s sporting matters. Of course, a few years ago we did not have a situation where one team was virtually a complete round clear of the opposition. With a maximum of 300 points up for any given weekend, Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes have a gap of 393 and 295 points, respectively, over third-placed Shane van Gisbergen. Funnier things have happened in motorsport but it is difficult to see anything hilarious enough to stop the TeamVodafone juggernaut this

OPINION Phil Branagan – Executive Editor season; I mean, it’s not like the team is no good at endurance racing, is it? My original suggestion was to conclude the PI 500 and Bathurst 1000, reclassify the field into Chasers and nonChasers, hit the reset button and start the Playoffs. Now, I might modify that process, to suggest that one holds it back until after the Gold Coast 600, then do it. Now, I recognise that I am writing this column at a time when Sebastian Vettel and Casey Stoner are running off into the distance to win their second titles in, respectively, Formula 1 and MotoGP. But I am also writing it on the eve of the footy finals, and I don’t see

anyone handing out trophies to Collingwood and Melbourne Storm just yet. I am no football expert but it appears to me that fans want to see a Finals Series determine the biggest prize in the kick-and-run sports. Oh, and one other thing. I also had this idea about how to determine the champion manufacturer in V8 Supercars. It involves nominating an equal number of drivers to score points for each marque in each race weekend. Of course, it’s too late for this year’s championship, in which a winner has already determined. In August. You might care to guess who it was. But if you pick C. Who Cares, I will understand.

John Morris

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2011 AMC Masters DVD More than two hours of highlights from the 2011 Australian Muscle Car Masters at Sydney’s Eastern Creek Raceway. Held every Fathers day as a celebration to Australian Motorsport. Relive some of the greatest moments from the nation’s premier annual muscle car event, including anniversaries of the 40th Years of the Falcon GT-HO Phase 3, 2o Years of VN Commodore and of course 30 Years of the Charger - these are just some of Australia’s greatest Improved Production race cars on display and on the track.. Also featuring interviews with many famous drivers, a feast of power-sliding Historic Touring Car racing, ‘Master Blast’ and ‘Heritage Hot Lap’ high speed track demonstrations, ultimate race replicas and much more. Bonus material features colourful track parades and great in-car camera footage. This DVD is a must-have for any motor sport enthusiast and muscle car fan.

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FORMULA 1 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 12 – SPA FRANCORCHAMPS, BELGIUM

BACK TO FRONT Just when McLaren and Ferrari thought they had caught up to Red Bull, Seb Vettel and Mark Webber took a stunning 1-2 at Spa

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cLAREN and Ferrari talked a big game during the mid-season break, but when Formula 1 resumed in Belgium on the weekend, it was all about Red Bull Racing. While it was clear by qualifying pace that title leader Sebastian Vettel was the man to beat based purely on speed, an aggressive set-up on the Red Bull played havoc on the front Pirelli softs. Throughout the race Vettel was forced to deal with bad blistering on his RB7’s front rubber, but a mid-race Safety Car and some impressive pace management left him on top of the pile after 44 laps. “We had a lot of concerns going into the race after the damage we had on the tyres from qualifying, so we weren’t quite sure,” said Vettel. “We took quite a lot of risk. We had reason to be confident that it should be fine, but if you never really know and there is no-one walking up and down in the paddock giving you a guarantee. “It was more management than usual, but I have to say the car worked brilliantly and I think compared to previous years we were very competitive so I am very, very happy with the result and very happy with the race. How we managed the tyres in particular, so we need to learn from that and, head down to the next race.” Mark Webber came home second, which was a good result given that, once again, his car failed to launch off the line. By the exit of Turn 1 Webber had already been forced to drag his car out of anti-stall, and was down in eighth place. But some quick thinking on strategy, and a monster middle stint on the harder Pirelli tyres, put Webber just 30

behind his team-mate at the finish. “I think it is a team result today,” he said. “Probably one of our best results ever as a team. Pretty stressful last night, pretty stressful this morning. We are not just talking about blisters, we are talking about unknown characteristics of what the tyre might do, so it was handled well from our team’s perspective.” While Webber’s comeback was impressive, Jenson Button’s was outstanding. Having failed to make Q3 on Saturday, Button dusted himself off and set about racing. Not even a broken rear wing endplate, and a damaged front wing at the start, could stop him charging his way to third place. “The front wing was damaged and the guys said ‘we know it is but keep going until we get to lap five’,” said Button. “We did. We came in and changed the front wing, put option tyres on and did the rest of the race on options. A fun race, lots of good overtaking, really enjoyed it out there today, but you are always going to say ‘what could have been’.” Fernando Alonso came home fourth ahead of Michael Schumacher, who celebrated 20 years in the sport by charging his way into the points from dead last on the grid, a result of a qualifying problem. Nico Rosberg was sixth, Adrian Sutil seventh while Felipe Massa, Vitaly Petrov and Pastor Maldonado rounded out the Top 10. The disappointment of the race was Lewis Hamilton. The McLaren driver was right in the thick of the front-running action, but when he got a passing move on Kamui Kobayashi wrong it ended his race immediately. motorsport news

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Comebad: Bruno Senna qualified sixth, but made a meal of his first race start since last year, above. Michael Schumacher raced like a young man in his 20th race, not his 20th year, left, while Lewis Hamilton made a rookie mistake, bottom.

Results :: Belgian Grand Prix

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Pos

Driver

Team

Qual

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

Sebastian Vettel Mark Webber Jenson Button Fernando Alonso Michael Schumacher Nico Rosberg Adrian Sutil Felipe Massa Vitaly Petrov Pastor Maldonado Paul di Resta Kamui Kobayashi Bruno Senna Jarno Trulli Heikki Kovalainen Rubens Barrichello Jerome d’Ambrosio Timo Glock Tonio Liuzzi Sergio Perez Daniel Ricciardo Lewis Hamilton Sebastien Buemi Jaime Alguersuari

Red Bull-Renault Red Bull-Renault McLaren-Mercedes Ferrari Mercedes Mercedes Force India-Mercedes Ferrari Renault Williams-Cosworth Force India-Mercedes Sauber-Ferrari Renault Lotus-Renault Lotus-Renault Williams-Cosworth Virgin-Cosworth Virgin-Cosworth HRT-Cosworth Sauber-Ferrari HRT-Cosworth McLaren-Mercedes Toro Rosso-Ferrari Toro Rosso-Ferrari

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

Top 10 Points: Vettel 259, Webber 167, Alonso 157, Button 149,

Hamilton 146, Massa 74, Rosberg 56, Schumacher 42, Petrov 34, Heidfeld 34. 31

QUIT TARGA WEST PERTH, WESTERN AUSTRALIA

THREE OUT TA FOUR A 32

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AIN’T BAD www.mnews.com.au

After missing out on the win last year, Steve Jones made up for it with his third QTW win in 2011 33

Serge Mironenko

TEVE Jones has claimed his third QUIT Targa West Competition Modern title in four years with an emphatic display across four days and 212 kilometres of intense competition around Perth and the surrounding shires. After an engine failure during event prologue ruined his chances of taking three wins in a row in 2010, the 2008 and 2009 winner was the dominant force across the weekend in his Nissan GTR 35, with codriver Ben Searcy alongside. Taking the lead from the opening stage the pair were never headed, crossing the finish line on the Perth foreshore 1:24s ahead of second place getters Matthew and Dennis Sims (Nissan GTR 35). “It’s a very good win, Ben and I have done a lot of rallies together and most of the time we keep getting second, it’s taken a while to get and it’s much sweeter to be first,” Jones said. “The boys (Matthew Sims, Jim Richards and Peter Rullo) definitely kept me on my toes at the start, so we decided early that we had to put our foot down and put pressure on them. Once we broke them we knew we could relax a little more.” Jones, who only entered the event at last minute, admitted across the weekend that

it had been a tough battle to get the car, previously run by Tony Quinn, ready in time for the event. “I’m happy; the car gave me a lot of trouble at the start, so that wasn’t a really good way for me and her to start out, but by the end of the weekend she was running strong and I couldn’t ask for much more than this result.” The Sims’, who earlier this year won the Adelaide Hills Tarmac Rally and finished third Modern class of Targa Tasmania, made the trip over from South Australia to contest the event for the first time. “I love this event, it’s very different to Adelaide, the roads don’t have as much grip, but I’m having a really good time,” Matthew Sims said. “For us to be second behind Jones, who’s really King of the West, we’re really happy about that, and Rullo and Richards are really quick drivers, so we’re really excited.” In the Competition Classic battle, Tolley Challis and Greg Flood made it two straight titles, once again showing mastery of the course in their Porsche 911 RS. Challis/Flood finished 3:04s ahead of David and Vicki Moir (Datsun 240Z), with Mark Dobson and Greg Butcher 3:24s further back in their Triumph TR7.

Highlighting the dominance of the Nissan GTR at the event (the last four Competition Modern titles have been won behind the wheel of the Godzilla), Challis joked on the finish line that he wanted to pass the hat around so he could do the event in one himself next year. “[Lets] see if I can get myself one of these and see if I can win one of each [Competition Modern and Competition Class title].” Contesting the event for the first time, Brett Morse and Rodney Ng (BMW M3) topped the time sheets in the Challenge Modern class after a tough battle with the crews of Daryl Sosa/Stirling Hamersley (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9) and Sharon Payne/ Helen Lunsmann (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 7) across the weekend. It was an amazing result for Morse/Ng, who suffered a fiveminute penalty after a miscalculation saw them travel to fast through a restricted speed zone on Day 2. In what ended up being the closest battle of the event Bruce and Max Lake (Datsun 240Z) took Challenge Classic honours, by a mere two seconds over Paul and Mitchell Thompson (Porsche 911 RS). Martin Eyer and Alan Blackmore (Triumph TR8 RS) finished in third, 1:49s behind Lake/Lake. motorsport news

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Serge Mironenko

Classic Moves: Tolley Challis flew, literally, in the Classic class, top, while Neville Croke thought it was a gravel rally, above. Matthew Sims pushed Jones hard, below, while Brett Morse recovered from a five-minute penalty to win the Challenge Modern class, bottom.

Serge Mironenko Serge Mironenko

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2011 QUIT Targa West

RESULTS

Competition Modern 1. Steve Jones/Ben Searcy, Nissan GTR 35 2. Matthew Sims/Dennis Sims, Nissan GTR 35 3. Jim Richards/Barry Oliver, Porsche GT2 4. Ross Hamilton/Rauri Soutar-Dawson, Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 8 5. Dean Evans/Toni Feaver, Mitsubishi TMR Evo 10 Club Spec MR Competition Classic 1. Tolley Challis/Greg Flood, Porsche 911 RS 2. David Moir/Vicki Moir, Datsun 240Z 3. Mark Dobson/Greg Butcher, Triumph TR7 4. Peter Major/Kim Screaigh, Mazda RX7 5. Simon Lingford/Susannah Lingford, Datsun 240Z Challenge Modern 1. Brett Morse/Rodney Ng, BMW M3 2. Daryl Sosa/Stirling Hamersley, Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 3. Sharon Payne/Helen Lunsmann, Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 7 4. Vince Stacey/Kath Stacey, Porsche 911 Carrera 5. Garry Rundell/Matt Waters, Holden Monaro CV8 Challenge Classic 1. Bruce Lake/Max Lake, Datsun 240Z 2. Paul Thompson/Mitchell Thompson, Porsche 911 RS 3. Martin Eyer/Alan Blackmore, Triumph TR8 4. David Blainey/Matthew Teape, Porsche 911 RS 5. Anthony Clarke/Neville Wilkinson, Holden Torana GTR XU1 35

IZOD INDYCAR SERIES ROUND 14 – SONOMA, CA

THE PERFECT R IN THE HEADLINES FOR THE WRONG REASONS FOR THE PAST FORTNIGHT, WILL POWER GOT BACK TO DOING WHAT HE DOES BEST AT SONOMA – WINNING IN STYLE

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RESPONSE

All pics: Honda Racing Media

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ILL Power needed an emphatic day in California to get back on terms with Indycar points leader Dario Franchitti. It is difficult to imagine anything more emphatic that what he delivered. Power put his Penske Dallara on pole ahead of his two teammates, led 71 of the 75 laps around what is now known as Infineon Raceway and led a Penske 1-23 – on the same weekend as Brad Keselowski won his third Sprint Cup race for Penske. To add icing to the cake, Franchitti was fourth, ahead of his team-mate Scott Dixon. The top five placegetters finished in their respective qualifying positions, showing how difficult passing can be on the track formerly called Sears Point. “That is just the best weekend you could ever have,” said Power after becoming the first driver to take more than one win at the track. “It was just a perfect race. We had the quickest cars. We’re just unbelievably motivated. After a couple of poor races, we said ‘we’re better than this.’” Power, who gave two ‘number one’ fingers on the podium after being fined for his gestures at New Hampshire, came to the track trailing Franchitti by 47 points. He gained 21, with four events – two on ovals, two on street or road courses – remaining.

Helio Castroneves was second ahead of Ryan Briscoe and the Brazilian laid much of the credit for the historic result at the feet of Power, whose test at the track last week determined the baseline set-up for the cars. “Pay the credit for Will when he came to test here and the engineers,” said the veteran. “It shows a great result for everyone. Will was definitely in a class of his own.” Franchitti was a solid fourth on a day when his team, and everyone else, was in a different race, with Briscoe leading the only laps that Power didn’t. “The Penske guys had the measure of everybody today,” said the Scot. “You just have to congratulate them and hope to fight again at the next race.” Sixth position was something of a point of contention. Giorgio Pantano was originally given the position but the Italian, who was filling in for the injured Justin Wilson, was deemed to be a bit too aggressive in his overtake on Sebastien Bourdais at Turn 11. The stewards penalised his Dreyer & Reinbold entry back to 17th, the final position on the lead lap. James Hincliffe was seventh ahead of Graham Rahal, with EJ Viso ninth in a race with only one yellow flag period, no pesky fuel-saving strategy and a fairly straightforward race to the flag. motorsport news

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Power happily modified his two-finger salute, above left, taking a chunk out of Dario Franchitti’s points lead. Ryan Briscoe, above, helped on that front, too, holding out Franchitti and Dixon to complete an all-Penske podium. Briscoe’s team-mate for two starts with Ganassi in 2005, Giorgio Pantano, left, was in the thick of it.

Results :: Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma Pos.

No.

Driver

Team

Qual.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

12 3 6 10 9 19 06 38 59 28

Will Power Helio Castroneves Ryan Briscoe Dario Franchitti Scott Dixon Sebastien Bourdais James Hinchliffe Graham Rahal E.J. Viso Ryan Hunter-Reay

Penske Penske Penske Ganassi Ganassi Dale Coyne Racing Newman-Haas Ganassi KV Racing Tech. Andretti Autosport

1 2 3 4 5 8 7 13 9 19

Top 10 Points: www.mnews.com.au

Franchitti 475, Power 449, Dixon 400, Oriol Servia 327, Briscoe 312, Kanaan 305, Marco Andretti 282, Hunter-Reay 281, Castroneves 277, Rahal 264 39

NASCAR SPRINT CUP ROUND 23 – BRISTOL, TENN.

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WILD CHILD COMES GOOD Brad Keselowski has been through a fair bit lately, but in Bristol, he made it count ... again

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XPECT to see an outbreak of deliberately broken ankles in NASCAR, if the form of Brad Keselowski is any guide. The former Wild Child of the sport has continued his summer tear in Sprint Cup, taking his third win of the season in a mature performance at Bristol. The Miller Lite Dodge hung inside the top six for most of the distance, and some laterace adjustments and fast pitwork got Keselowski track position over Jeff Gordon, who looked set to take the win at the half-mile track. From there, Keselowski picked off leader Martin Truex Jr, built a gap and cruised home to his third win of the season. Since breaking his ankle in a road racing test crash in Atlanta a month ago, Keselowski has now finished 1-2-3-1 in four races. In the same time, he has also given up his Nationwide ride and that may be something of a boost to his Sprint Cup ambitions. “The night race at Bristol!” he grinned after jumping, carefully, from his car. “This is the race that Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt won, it’s the race of champions. I can’t believe it. “There are races that pay more. There are races that might have a little more prestige, but this is the coolest damn one of them all. We won it!” It was a strong result for Truex but Gordon would have been

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looking for more than third, on a night when his Drive to End Hunger Chevy was clearly the class of the field. “It felt like we had the car to beat,” he said after the race, “but you know what, we just didn’t get the position that we needed to on that last pitstop.” Jimmie Johnson was fourth ahead of Jamie McMurray, while Matt Kenseth, the other man who looked a contender, was sixth. Johnson and Kenseth were two of the three drivers to clinch Chase spots, the other behind Carl Edwards in ninth – who appears to be treating the final races of the ‘regular season; as testing for The Chase. If Keselowski was the story up-front, there were disappointments. Points leader Kyle Busch was 14th after tagging a wall, Dale Earnhardt Jr was 14th and clearly off the pace of the other Hendrick cars, while Tony Stewart was simply never in the hunt. The Bass Pro Shops car was lapped relatively early, and lost another two laps to the leaders. Smoke has now fallen to 10th in the standings and will be keen to arrest the slide in scoring at Atlanta this week. Marcos Ambrose looked very solid, running on the edge of the top 10 for most of the night, in company with his Richard Petty Motorsports team-mate AJ Allmendinger. In the end, Ambrose finish 10th, just behind Edwards and two spots ahead of Allmendinger.

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Not Bad: Jeff Gordon was third, but should have been better given the car under him, above. Still, he did better than Mart Martin, who ended the race in the wall, right.

Results :: Irwin Tools Night Race, BRISTOL Pos.

No.

Driver

Make

Team

Sponsor

1 2 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

2 56 48 1 17 11 39 99 9

Brad Keselowski Martin Truex Jr. Jimmie Johnson Jamie McMurray Matt Kenseth Denny Hamlin Ryan Newman Carl Edwards Marcos Ambrose

Dodge Toyota Chevy Chevy Ford Toyota Chevy Ford Ford

Penske Michael Waltrip Hendrick Earnhardt Ganassi Roush Fenway Joe Gibbs Stewart Haas Roush Fenway Richard Petty

Miller Lite Drive to End Hunger Lowe’s / Kobalt Tools Bass Pro Shops Crown Royal FedEx Express Bass Pro Shops Aflac Dental Stanley

Qual. 8 27 13 6 3 20 1 2 11

Top 10 Points: Kyle Busch/Johnson 830, Kenseth 798, Edwards 795, Harvick 782, Gordon 782, Newman 762, Kurt Busch 749, Earnhardt 728, Stewart 710.

2011 LEYBURN SPRINTS LEYBURN, QUEENSLAND

LEYING DOWN THE LAW

ARWICK Hutchinson made his debut in the Leyburn Sprints one to remember, winning the event. Saturday rain cleared on Sunday, with Hutchinson emerging on top. Set on his sixth pass of the 1.1km course, the Brisbane driver recorded a 47.66s in his modified Van Diemen RF92. Last year’s victor, Ray Vandersee was second in his

Skelta G-Force, two seconds down on Hutchinson, while Prosport Eclipse driver Grant Watson rounded out the podium. Five-time Australian Touring Car Champion Dick Johnson was the event’s star attraction, sampling a range of historic machinery along with current V8 Supercar drivers Alex Davison and James Moffat.

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All pics: Mark Pryor

From top right: Dick Johnson, Alex Davison and James Moffat joined the fun.

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CZECH MATE ...

THE STANAWAY WHO RAN AWAY

IRC

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GP3 NEW Zealander Richie Stanaway made an impressive debut in the GP3 series on the weekend by taking an all conquering win from pole position in the second race at the Spa Francorchamps circuit. The current German Formula 3 Championship leader only lost the lead briefly from the start to

teammate James Caldo, but was able to regain the top spot before the second lap. From there, he never looked back as he pulled away from his rivals to win by four-seconds over Caldo in second, and Nico Muller in third. Valtteri Bottas kept to his usual fast but consistent theme of 2011 by winning the opening race at Spa, growing his championship

lead in doing so. Despite the wet conditions and a great initial battle with teammate Caldo, Bottas was able to easily hold his own to win by six and a half seconds. Stanaway in his first ever GP3 race finished in eighth place, while country man Mitch Evans had a difficult weekend with an 11th in Race 1, and a DNF in the second feature.

IF you were driving a Skoda in the Zlin round of the Intercontinental Rally Championship on the weekend, it was probably a good weekend to do so. Jan Kopecky managed to hold out fellow Skoda runners Freddy Loix and Juho Hanninen by a meager 1.2s to take his maiden victory of the 2011 IRC season. Kopecky’s factory prepared Skoda developed niggling power steering gremlins at the mid point of the weekend, allowing Loix to mount a spectacular charge on Kopecky’s lead. Kopecky however was able to pull speed out of almost nowhere to stretch his lead out slightly, just enough to lead Loix across the line. Hanninen meanwhile was left in third struggling with punctures and off track excursions. Thierry Neuville was the first non-Skoda runner in fourth place, trailing in his Kronos Peugoet by almost two minutes.

THAT PINEIRO FRESH FEELING FORMULA 2 RAMON Pineiro was the man who took all the Formula 2 spoils at Spielberg Austria on the weekend. Pineiro made the opening race win look relatively easy over his rivals, but it was the

second race where things became heated as he went head to head with F2 championship leader, Mirko Bortolotti. The two ran close together all through the race, but the superior pace of Pineiro ultimately prevailed by 1.2s across the line over Bortolotti in second, and Mihai Marinescu third.

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FENECH’S STILL A WINNER IN NEW CHASSIS VIC STATE

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JESSE Fenech has made a stylish transition to the Evans Motorsport team (see separate news story), by taking a clean sweep of race victories in Round 5 of the Victorian Formula Ford Championship at Winton Motor Raceway on the weekend. Fenech qualified third, but made a rapid getaway in the opening race to take the lead into the first corner, and from there he was never headed. Fenech’s team-mate Jordan Lloyd finished second in the first two races, but copped a 15-second time penalty for jumping the start in the final, allowing Sam Power and Jake Fouracre to occupy the other two podium positions. It was a good recovery for Sam Power, who (along with Jonathan Venter) was excluded from the weekend’s first race for a rideheight irregularity. Adrian Lazzaro won the Kent Class by finishing second behind Lachlan Marshall in the first two races and then winning the final, triple-points race. Jamie Augustine won all four races in the Super TT category in his Daytona Coupe, setting a new lap record in the final. The opening race was marred by an incident between the Utes of Merrick Malouf and Shane Baker, as well as the Subaru WRX of Hayley Swanson, with all three cars failing to finish. Chris Lewis-Williams won the first three Porsche 944 races with Hamish Hardeman winning the final. Reigning champion Robert Lange struggled all weekend after a poor qualifying performance. Daniel Reynolds won the opening Formula Vee race, but spun off the circuit in the second race, handing victory to Mitch Martin. Reynolds however, redeemed himself by winning the last two races. Mort Fitzgerald and Adam Moore were victorious in the MG and PRB Clubman series respectively. - LACHLAN MANSELL

GROSJEAN ROMAINS A CHAMPION GP2 IF there was any one thing learned from the GP2 series at Spa on the weekend, it was that this year’s title will not go down to the wire. Newly crowned French racer Romain Grosjean didn’t even need a race win in order to take the 2011 GP2 Series after he secured the silverware with a third in the opening race. Grosjean didn’t look to be in ballistic racing mode at the famed Belgium circuit after he started from seventh on the grid. Making a great start to jump up to

third, Grosjean held port to cross the line third, making it a well deserved 2011 GP2 Championship. Moreover, the rain-affected race was won by Christian Vietoris, with the Racing Engineering prepared driver making it a lights to flag victory. Italian driver Luca Filippi took out the second race of the weekend at Spa with a great performance in his Coloni prepared Dallara. Starting from fifth, Filippi made his way through the field in favourable dry conditions, passing Joseph Kral for the lead where he would stay until the end of the race.

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rear of grid

IT is difficult to imagine two sports more diverse that motorcycle racing and NFL football. But the worlds collided in Indianapolis last week when a number of GP racers took in some of the sights and sounds of the game at the home of the Indianapolis Colts. Some of the biggest and strongest

bike racers, including Jorge Lorenzo, Colts fan Nicky Hayden and Andrea Dovizioso, pictured, spent the day with some retired players and picked up some of the finer points of a game that is, no doubt, foreign to most of them. “I had a good time,” Lorenzo said. “This is a completely different sport from our

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ODD SPOT!

The Little Men Fly sports in Spain like soccer and basketball, and it’s good to know the rules and how to play it. I wish I had time to learn more because only half an hour is not enough, but it’s better than nothing.” By the way, the Colts lost their most recent pre-season game to the Green Bay Packers, 24-21.

ON THIS DAY 29 AUGUST 1982

ONE race does not a championship make. But one win was enough for Keke Rosberg to win the 1982 World Drivers’ Championship. The Flying Finn won his first GP at Dijon in France in 1982 and that single win allowed him to win the title. The remarkable part was that the previous season Rosberg failed to score a single point.

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