Motorsport eNews Issue 222 - September 13-19, 2011

THE WORLD OF MOTORSPORT DIRECTLY TO YOUR DESKTOP

Issue No. 222 September 13 - 19 2011

CLAYTON BOUND? RUSSELL INGALL AND SUPERCHEAP CLOSE TO A WALKINSHAW RACING DEAL FOR 2012

RALLY AUSTRALIA: ALL THE NEWS AND IN-DEPTH COVERAGE FROM COFFS

PERCAT TO RACE AT THE www.mnews.com.au INDIAN GRAND PRIX

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

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

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It’s Issue #222 of eNews, so we thought we’d speak to the driver of #222, Nick Percat. Actually, it was a genuine coincidence James ... Smith

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Issue No. 222 | 13-19 Sept 2011

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Super move South Ingall set for Clayton 6 Dancing in the rain Thommo gets wet and wild 8 Padd-on the back Kiwi wins Prod World Rally title 12 We fold Rivals throw in F1 title towel 17 Farnbacher, not Farnham ...

Maranello goes Euro for 12H

chat 22 Five Minutes With ...

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Nick Percat

comment 24 Adam: Coffs Syrup 25 Branagan: Oils ain’t oils

race 26 Rally Australia 32 Shannons Nationals 40 Formula 1 44 Drag Racing Nationals 48 NASCAR

trade 56 Classifieds 3

ARE INGALL AND HIS COLO HEADED TO WALKINSHAW? V8 SUPERCARS

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USSELL Ingall is set to end his career as a full-time V8 Supercar driver in a Holden prepared by Walkinshaw Performance.

Well-placed Motorsport eNews sources report that the two-time Bathurst 1000 winner will line up in WR’s ‘third’ entry next year, in the familiar colours of Supercheap Autos. Such a

move would however mean that Fabian Coulthard, who has raced in the team’s Bundaberg Racing entry, will leave the team, in all likelihood to join one of the other Holden teams – and that could be Garry Rogers Motorsport or Brad Jones Racing.

No confirmation of a pending deal has been made, and eNews expects that situation will remain the status quo until the teams complete

the next two, important, endurance races. We expect a deal to be announced after the Supercheap-sponsored Bathurst 1000 next month.

Ingall, 47, has raced for three teams as a full-time in his V8 Supercars career; Larry Perkins’ Castrol Perkins Racing, Stone Brothers Racing and Paul Morris Motorsport, for which he has driven since 2008. His links with Supercheap Autos are such that he has become the face of the

company in its TV advertising, and he has been the brand’s sole driver since Tim Slade left PMM at the end of the 2009 season.

One question that remains is the length of any Ingall/SCAR/ WR deal. At this stage of his career, it may well be that there is a planned succession for a younger driver to take over his seat, with Ingall staying onboard as an endurance driver, mentor and ambassador for

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motorsport news

NEWS

PERCAT’S INDIAN COUP

OURS ?

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ICK Percat will race at the inaugural Indian Grand Prix in October this year.

The Walkinshaw Racing-backed driver will race in the Formula MRF support races at the Indian GP in Greater Noida next month, driving in a two-car outfit with Sean Walkinshaw, younger brother of Holden Racing Team owner Ryan Walkinshaw. It will be the first time Percat has raced an open-wheeler since he won the 2009 Australian Formula Ford Championship.

“Sean will be racing there, so it’s a chance for me to go over and do some laps, and an opportunity for me to give him some guidance on where he is at, because he’s racing Formula Renault [in the UK], and its only his first year in cars, so he’s got a lot to learn,” said Percat.

“So I’ll use my knowledge of open-wheelers to help him along a bit.

“Any chance you have to get in an open-wheeler is good, and the chance to race something with the horsepower of a Formula Ford but with wings-and-slicks sounds great. It will probably be a bit quicker than a Formula BMW, with a Van Diemen chassis, and I am familiar with those chassis from when I race VDs in Formula Ford.

“I’m really looking forward to getting over there and driving the car, and driving at two new circuits. That’s good experience to have, new circuits, because it allows you the chance to practice learning a new track.”

Percat will head to Chennai to test the Formula MRF straight after the L&H 500, before flying to the Grand Prix straight after the Gold Coast 600.

– ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN

the team beyond his driving contract .

Ingall finished 12th in the 2010 V8 Supercar Championship and is currently 20th in the 2011 Championship.

His co-driver in the next two events will be Jack Perkins, who stepped into the SCAR entry at last year’s GC600. In this year’s event in Surfers’ Paradise, Ingall will be joined by his long-time friend and former Formula Ford rival, Jan Magnussen.

For more with Nick Percat, see Five Minutes With on Page 22.

Peter Bury

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James Smith

THOMMO’S SECRET WET WEATHER TEST TeamVodafone puts Andrew Thompson through a rain dance ahead of the enduros V8 SUPERCARS ANDREW Thompson heads into the endurance races with renewed confidence after some specialist wet-weather driver practice last week.

The TeamVodafone driver had two sessions, one at the

Performance Driving Centre and one at Queensland Raceway, with tuition from Jamie Whincup and his engineer Mark Dutton and Paul Morris.

The testing comes after Thompson’s most recent outing in the Fujitsu V8 Supercar races at QR. His Monster Energy

Commodore finished second and first in the two dry races, but in the second, wet race, he struggled to ninth.

Team owner Roland Dane told eNews that he was happy that Thompson, who will partner Whincup at PI and Bathurst, had found his feet in the wet.

“We recognised that at Queensland Raceway, he didn’t have as much confidence as we would like in the wet,” said Dane.

“He is feeling a lot happier. We have done what we could do to help, Paul has helped out and Jamie and his engineer as well.

We are very happy with it.”

EX F1 DRIVER FILLS GC 600 GRID V8 SUPERCARS LUCAS di Grassi has finalised the international field for the 2011 Gold Coast 600.

The former Virgin Racing Formula 1 driver will drive with Jonathon Webb in the Monster Energy Racing Team Falcon, finalising the field for the second running of the event.

“It’s a real privilege to be asked to join the high calibre of drivers taking part at this 6

year’s event,” said di Grassi.

“It’s sure to be a special meeting and I can’t wait to take on the Surfers Paradise track. I expect the weekend to be very entertaining and exciting and I’m focused on coming to the Gold Coast to help Jonathon and the Mother Energy Team get the best possible result.”

“We have no doubts Lucas will be one of the fastest drivers, and that he will prove to be a real asset for us over the weekend,” added Webb.

The link between Webb and di Grassi comes through Webb’s team manager Bruce Jenkins, who worked with the Brazilian at Renault F1 back in 2004, when di Grassi was still racing Formula 3.

“Lucas and I worked together when he was a development driver for Renault, where he proved to be the consummate professional,” said Jenkins.

“As a team we’re confident that he will be a competitive force and help the team to get a great result.” motorsport news

NEWS

JR PULLS THE PIN ON ENDUROS V8 SUPERCARS

John Morris/Mpix

LDM LINKED TO TRIPLE EIGHT SWITCH V8 SUPERCARS LUCAS Dumbrell Motorsport is set to move up the V8 Supercar grid – and it could be in a Triple Eight Race Engineering chassis.

One of the options that team owner Lucas Dumbrell has for next season is to acquire the Commodore VE II currently raced by Russell Ingall at the end of the season. Paul Morris Motorsport has been building a newer VE at its Norwell base, and that will allow the team to move the car, chassis 0024, on at the end of the season.

Team owner Lucas Dumbrell has been considering an update for some time, but has not confirmed what he will do.

“There is as much chance as that happening as there is of going blue [to Ford],” he said.

“We have crossed a few names off the

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list of options, and there are different cost points to be considered. But I still have to work out how I am going to be able to pay for it.”

Dumbrell said that he wanted to settle on his car before entering into any discussions with driver Warren Luff about 2012.

“Until I lock in a technical partnership, I am not in a position to talk drivers for next year,” he said.

One factor that may be in the mix is Luff has considerable experience in T8 cars, having been an endurance driver with Jim Beam Racing for 2008-’09. T8 developed cars are known to carry their individual characteristics across brands, a point demonstrated by the fact that Jack Perkins, who is set to co-drive with Ingall in the enduros, has raced a T8 Ford in this year’s Fujitsu Series so that he can acclimatise to the cars’ nuances.

JASON Richards will not race at the V8 Supercar endurance races this year, Brad Jones Racing has confirmed.

Richards, who is suffering from a rare form of cancer called Adrenocortical Carcinoma, has decided that he will not be well enough to race at next week’s L&H 500 at Phillip Island or next month’s Bathurst 1000. Andy Jones will now partner Jason Bright in the Team BOC entry, with Shane Price to step in with Jason Bargwanna.

“Although I’m feeling really good at the moment, I haven’t solved my health problems,” he said in a statement.

“I was hoping to have something by now to indicate we could win the battle with this cancer, but ultimately it’s not been the case. Every scan I’ve had has got worse and worse and I’ve not been able to put the brakes on it.

“I have periods where I feel really good and periods when I’m not so good, and it’s too hard to determine when they’re going to be. I didn’t want to let the team down.

“I think it would have been my 15th Bathurst and it’s pretty disappointing not to be participating but that’s what life dishes out. I still feel like I want to have some input so I will be at Phillip Island pestering everybody and putting my five cents worth in. I’m still part of the team and keen to be involved.

“It’s actually quite good being a fly on the wall. You pick up a lot more stuff that you miss when you’re more involved. Brad [Jones] and I have had lots of conversations about what’s happened at the race weekends, and we quite frequently totally agree. It’s good to have more eyes and ears in these bigger races and my experience can add a lot of value.

“The cars were so competitive last year and, to be honest, if Brighty doesn’t win I’ll be disappointed.”

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PADDON MAKES HISTORY WORLD RALLY THE Southern Hemisphere has its first World Rally Champion – Hayden Paddon.

The Kiwi wrapped up the 2011 Production World Rally Championship at Rally Australia on the weekend, with he and co-driver John Kennard having won four rounds on the trot.

There are still two rounds remaining in 2011.

“I can’t believe it, it’s incredible!” Paddon said.

“Rally Australia wasn’t an easy rally at all for us, but we made it. Twelve months ago I was back home in New Zealand with no money, no sponsors and we didn’t even think we would be able to do the PWRC. We found the sponsors, we found a car and a team and now we’re here after a stunning year. And for sure there’s still a lot to come. We’ll try as hard as we can to come back next year in something bigger and better.”

It wasn’t all smooth sailing for Paddon, who had to overcome mechanical issues to win the event and seal the title. But four

stage wins on Saturday afternoon was enough to get the job done.

“Possum Bourne was a rally legend in New Zealand for a long time and along with a lot of other people, I looked up to him and when he passed away rallying took a bit of a hit back home,” he added.

“There has never been a set pathway for Kiwi drivers to make their way to the WRC, so that has been the hardest thing. Also

REEVES WANTS MORE ACADEMY WORLD RALLY BRENDAN Reeves is eyeing another crack at the World Rally Championship Academy Series in 2012.

The Victorian currently sits third in the field of 24 young WRC prospects, with three rallies remaining. Reeves is keen to race in the class, which features identical Ford Fiesta R2s, again, but would need to find the budget to do so, having received backing to run as one of six Pirelli Star Drivers in 2011.

“The Academy’s been great, we really want to do that again,” the 23-year-old told eNews.

“You need about 300 thousand Australian dollars to do that again, we think it’d be best living in Europe and trying to do that. I’ll know the car, I’ll know the rallies, so that’s the best thing, we can go and try to win the championship, but we’ve got to secure the funds first.

“We’ll see how we go. It’s been a great learning curve this year, there are such great drivers in the championship, all pushing you 8

harder and harder.”

Meanwhile Reeves was buoyed by his pace in his Production World Rally Car Championship debut at Rally Australia. Aboard his Subaru WRX STi, Reeves and co-driver Rhianon Smyth were sitting third in class and inside the Top 10 outright, before fuel pump problems slow hampered their challenge on Saturday afternoon.

They rejoined on Sunday under SupeRally regulations, eventually finishing 17th outright.

“The car hasn’t had any development on it, we were going through it before, the engine hasn’t even been tuned since July last year, so it’s great to be setting those times in this car,” he said.

“Friday was basically about getting through the day, and today (Saturday), there was some more grip out there and we were able to attack. We had a good set-up by Stage 3 this morning, we were very happy with how the car was going.

After lunch, we put four new tyres on and thought we’d have a big go in the afternoon, but that wasn’t the case.”

– MITCHELL ADAM

finding the budget has always been an issue, there are some big companies in New Zealand but with the global crisis it is hard to find financial back-up.

“Having said that, the team at Subaru has been really supportive to us and they helped us to make the move from our longtime association with Mitsubishi to drive a Subaru this season. They make a big effort in the PWRC backing up teams and drivers.”

WALTRIP HEADED DOWN UNDER FOR BATHURST V8 SUPERCARS LEGENDARY American racer Darrell Waltrip will head SPEED’s live telecast of the Bathurst 1000.

The former Daytona 500 winner, now the sport’s most recognisable talking head in the USA, will join Leigh Diffey and his regular off-sider Calvin Fish in a broadcast of the race, that will be carried on the network’s pay-TV channel.

SPEED, which claims a reach of 84 million homes across North America, will also telecast the Gold Coast 600 will be broadcast live into the USA. Waltrip, a three-time titleist and winner of 84 races in NASCAR’s Sprint Cup, confirmed his news via Twitter.

“I’m all “fizzed up” about my trip to #Australia, I’ve been watching the V-8 super cars [sic] for sometime, its the wildest racing I’ve ever seen !” he said, followed by, “FOX is sending @ AllWaltrip down under for @V8Supercar special. @leighdiffey will interpret.”

The news continues a long tradition of the race being broadcast into the USA, on networks such as ESPN and prior to that, CBS. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the broadcasts featured commentators such as legendry writer and broadcaster, Chris Ekonomaki.

Timing of the broadcasts means that US viewers will get to see the start of the 1000km race at around 7pm on Saturday in the eastern states and around 4pm on the west coast. motorsport news

NEWS

NEW LOOK FOR MURPH

This is the colour scheme that Greg Murphy and the Pepsi Max Crew will be rocking at the Bathurst 1000 this year, the fourth new look for the season

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V $ Á H[LEOH DQG FRQVFLHQWLRXV DSSURDFK LV HVVHQWLDO preferably in automotive, aerospace or precision PDFKLQH GHVLJQ 7KH UROH ZLOO GHPDQG SURÀ FLHQF\ 6DODU\ DQG 3DFNDJH QHJRWLDEOH UHODWLYH WR H[SHULHQFH LQ &$' DQG H[SHULHQFH LQ GDWDEDVH PDQDJHPHQW Email John Russell at HR@tripleeight.com.au Triple Eight Race Engineering uses DS ‘Solid Works’ Closing date for applications: 23rd September 2011. for its CAD requirement.

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NEWS

OGIER A CHANCE FOR CHANGE? WRC

Michael Vettas

SEBASTIEN Ogier remains coy about his World Rally Championship future.

The Frenchman has emerged as a genuine title rival to Citroen team-mate Sebastien Loeb in 2011, winning four rallies and sitting third in the standings. It’s the first season of a three-year deal he signed midway through 2010, but the situation within team has become increasingly tense, leading to speculation about Ogier’s future. The 27-year-old has been linked to a switch to Ford and Volkswagen’s upcoming WRC program.

“For the meantime, I’m happy to drive with Citroën,” he said in Coffs Harbour, when asked about his future.

“I have a very good car. With that car I’ve already won four rallies this season. I think it’s a good opportunity for me to show what I can do. For the moment it’s still like this and I’m happy with the situation.”

When pressed about 2012 explicitly, Ogier did little to defuse the situation.

“It’s difficult but for the minute we’re taking rally after rally,” he said.

“Things can change for sure for everybody, but for the moment I’m happy with this car and firstly, I want to finish well this season.”

Michael Vettas

WILSON WORKING ON FORD WRC

MALCOLM Wilson is hopeful of keeping Ford in the World Rally Championship.

Wilson’s M-Sport operation has run the Blue Oval’s factory squad since 1997, winning a pair of manufacturers titles in that time. Ford’s involvement is up for renewal at the end of the season, and Wilson is working towards extending their WRC stay.

“My priority is to keep Ford in the WRC,” he said.

“Ford is the longest established manufacturer in the WRC. There is no question that there is the desire to stay and continue in the WRC. We’re in negotiations at the moment and let’s hope we have a 10

favourable announcement to make in the future.”

Mikko Hirvonen’s Rally Australia victory was Ford’s first since the season opener in Sweden in February. Along with Citroen’s tough weekend, it’s vaulted the Finn back into title contention with three rounds remaining.

“We’ve lost quite a few rallies by such a small margin and to be honest, you don’t start to doubt yourself but you keep thinking, when are things going to change, when are you going to get onto the top step,” Wilson said.

“Everybody’s played such a big part to get this result and there’s no question it’s just the boost we needed, I think at a crucial time with the three events left in Championship.” motorsport news

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GEARBOX ISSUE COSTS RICCI FORMULA 1

A GEARBOX problem is to blame for Daniel Ricciardo’s non-classification in Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix Ricciardo out-qualified his team-mate Tonio Liuzzi again, starting 23rd in the 24-car field. But as the lights went green, Ricciardo’s Hispania Racing Team entry stalled, causing a lengthy stop in the pits.

He got going and eventually finished 16th, only to be classed as a DNF due to not completing enough laps.

“The race started as bad as it could,” he said.

“For some reason the car went into antistall, jammed in third gear and then the engine switched off. I couldn’t get restarted and had to get the car back into the box. The mechanics got it going again, and I was back on-track, but the engine temperature rose and they called me back to check it and it took us a few more

minutes until we could re-join the race.

“I went straight into a bit of traffic, which made it hard to get a bit of rhythm. But at least in the second stint at the end of the race I was able to get in quite a few good laps and we got some data out of that.”

Meanwhile, Liuzzi blamed Heikki Kovalainen for his first-corner crash, for which he’s been given a five-place grid penalty for the Singapore Grand Prix.

“I was really looking forward to my home race and, although I knew it was going to be tough, it all ended prematurely,” he said.

“I had a good start getting past both Virgins, Lotuses and Daniel, but then I went for another overtaking manoeuvre and got closed out. That put me into the grass and once I was there I tried to slow down, but completely lost control of the car and unfortunately hit other cars.

“I am really sorry for [Vitaly] Petrov, [Nico] Rosberg and the other drivers who were forced to retire because of this.”

WEBBER, HAMILTON: TITLE FIGH FORMULA 1

SEBASTIAN Vettel will be the 2011 Formula 1 World Champion, according to Mark Webber and Lewis Hamilton.

Following Vettel’s dominant win in Italy on the weekend, Webber and Hamilton both told media that any chance of stopping the young German from winning his second World Championship was now over.

“I doubt it’s still possible to beat Sebastian for the title, but we’ll keep pushing,” said Hamilton, who could only manage fourth in Italy.

“For now, I’m looking ahead to the flyaways – they’re going to be exciting and I’m really focused on getting some more wins for the team.”

“I think we’re all battling for second now,” Webber told the BBC after failing to finish at Monza.

“I think Seb needs to have a very, very incredibly disappointing finish to the season for anyone to take the championship off him at this point. He’s in a great position.

He’s done a great job. And clearly the car was good today, so it was a missed opportunity for me.”

Vettel can actually become World Champion in Singapore in a fortnight, if he outscores Fernando Alonso by 13 points and Jenson Button and Webber by eight points.

12

motorsport news

NEWS

sutton-images.com

KERBS, NOT KERS FORMULA 1 MARK Webber has blamed the high kerbs in Monza’s first chicane for his clash with Felipe Massa at the Italian Grand Prix on Sunday.

Webber was trying to pass Massa’s Ferrari when he got caught on the outside, hitting the kerb and subsequently hitting Massa. The damage resulted in Webber crashing out several corners later.

“I got a good run on Felipe

along the straight, but as soon as I hit the inside kerb in the second part of the chicane, I couldn’t avoid him,” he said.

“I lost my nose and was heading back to the pits for repairs when some bodywork got wedged under my front wheels on the run to Parabolica.

I became a passenger and ended my race in the gravel trap.”

Massa, meanwhile, was less than impressed with Webber’s move.

“I can only be disappointed

with this sixth place, because today I could definitely have fought for a place on the podium. Unfortunately, the incident caused by Webber cost me too much time and I dropped to 10th place.

“The collision with Webber did not do any damage; he hit my wheels and that pushed me into a spin when we were at the second corner. I braked slightly late, taking the inside line and, going round the outside, he would never have got past.”

TRULLI BAGS ANOTHER YEAR AT LOTUS sutton-images.com

HT OVER

JARNO Trulli will have at least one more season in Formula 1, after it was announced on Sunday that Team Lotus has extended his contract.

The Italian celebrated his home Grand Prix with the news that he will continue racing for the Hingham-based squad in 2012, which will be his third year in green and gold.

“I am very pleased that we have been able to confirm today that my contract with Team Lotus has been extended into 2012,” said Trulli.

“The challenge I first accepted when I joined the team is becoming more exciting every day, and I am very proud that I can keep helping the

team take steps forward for at least another year.”

“We are all delighted that we have been able to reach an agreement to keep Jarno on board for at least one more year with our team,” added team boss Tony Fernandes.

“He has shown in qualifying in Monza just how much pace he has and how he can wring every last drop of performance out of his car and since day one with us he has brought a level of professionalism, insight and raw speed to our team that has helped accelerate our development on and off track.

“Today’s announcement will give us the benefit of his experience and knowledge into 2012, another very important year in the growth of our team.”

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FORMULA 1

13

NASCAR THE history of upsets getting drivers into The Chase for the Sprint Cup did not repeat at Richmond, with the 12 drivers most observers expected to get into NASCAR’s final Series taking their places for the last 10 races.

With Kyle and Kurt Busch, Carl Edwards, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Matt

Kenseth and Ryan Newman locked in before the 26th race of the season, four spots were up for grabs. And if Tony Stewart and Dale Earnhardt Jr had bad races and fell out of the top 10, Denny Hamlin and Brad Keselowski could have made the 10 ‘on merit’ and Smoke and Little E could have been struggling to qualify for a wildcard.

But all went to plan. Stewart was

NASCAR Media

Chasers get ready for Chicagoland seventh, Earnhardt 16th. The two men traded positions in the points, but that was as bad as the news got for two of the sport’s most popular drivers.

The drivers have now been re-seeded, each starting with 2000 points plus three points for each win during the season – except for the wildcard drivers, who start with only 2000. The first race is this weekend at Chicagoland.

The Champ and The Pres NASCAR

14

NASCAR Media

EIGHT NASCAR drivers took time to visit the White House last week, and were feted by US President Barack Obama.

Jimmie Johnson, Denny Hamlin, Matt Kenseth, Kyle Busch, Jeff Gordon, Clint Bowyer, Kurt Busch and Jeff Burton met with the President, who reflected on the current Champion’s last visit to the national capital.

“He’s up there with some of the great sports dynasties,” said Obama. “If you think about it, only the Boston Celtics, the

Yankees and the Canadiens have ever won more than four titles in a row. And now Jimmie is breathing down the necks of Dale Earnhardt and Richard Petty for the most NASCAR titles ever, which is not bad for the son of a machine operator and a school bus driver who still has plenty of seasons ahead of him.

“Jimmie’s talent has been to make a very difficult, demanding sport look easy. But this year, the Number 48 team also showed its toughness. They entered the last race of the Chase trailing, and ended up pulling off an extraordinary comeback.” motorsport news

NEWS

BUSCH PLAYS #48 CRASH

Kurt Busch and Johnson tangle again; will feud spill over into Chase?

NASCAR

NASCAR Media

AS if The Chase for the Sprint Cup is not entertaining enough, there is a sub-plot to watch – the feud between Jimmie Johnson and Kurt Busch.

The long-running dislike between the two stars, which saw them swap paint and words at Pocono, hit the heights at Richmond, when Busch locked his brakes at Turn 1 on lap 185 and spun Johnson into the wall.

After lengthy repairs, Johnson returned and hammered Busch’s Dodge into a spin, prompting Busch to label Johnson a “fivetime chump”.

Busch said that Johnson had “to learn to race. He’s been able

to beat guys the last five years just by outdriving them with what he has for equipment. If he wants to switch equipment, let’s see what he can do.”

Johnson scoffed at Busch’s remarks.

“I’m sure I’ll go find him and talk to him and he’ll run his mouth and we’ll go from there,” he said. “If he can stop running into my Lowe’s Chevrolet, everything would be just fine.”

The two later talked while the 12 Chase drivers were being arranged for press photos, Johnson explaining, “We spoke a few minutes up on the stage, and I certainly hope it's behind us. I have no intentions to run people over.”

HONDA STAYS WITH WIRTH FOR AERO INDYCARS

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Toyota Motorsports

THE links between Honda Performance Development and Wirth Research will be maintained, with the announcement that the two will partner to develop the aero kits for its teams in 2013.

HPD and Wirth combined in its successful LMP2 and LMP1 programs, which started in 2007 and continued into the current season.

“Our relationship with Wirth Research has already delivered some remarkable results in all of the world’s greatest sportscar series’ and races including both the 12 Hours of Sebring and Le Mans 24 Hours,” said HPD vice-President Steve Eriksen. “We have total trust in Wirth Research’s proven design, development and engineering expertise and are now looking forward to further success with jointly developed prototype contenders. On top of this comes our new IndyCar project. With the advent of new multi-engine regulations plus plans to allow manufacturers to introduce their own bodywork packages, our special relationship with Wirth Research takes on additional impetus and importance in the next few years.”

Rowdy shows his true colours NASCAR KYLE Busch turned back the clock at Richmond, running a stars and stripes paint scheme on his #18 Toyota.

The Joe Gibbs entry was due to run in M&Ms livery at the event but with the sponsor’s co operation, it appeared in

this patriotic scheme, with ‘9-11 NEVER FORGET’ on the rear the only major signwriting.

The scheme was based on that one the car that Kenny Schrader ran at Dover in September 2001, in the first race after the attacks that cost 3000 lives in New York City, Pennsylvania and Washington DC. 15

MAGEE AT PI - ON FOUR WHEELS! AUSSIE RACING CARS

16

FORMULA FORD THIS weekend’s Phillip Island Australian Formula Ford Championship field will feature a pair of debutants.

Tasmanian Callum Mitchell and New South Welshman Jonathan Venter will make their national debuts, with Minda Motorsport and Anglo Motorsport respectively. Both step up from State-level competition, in which Mitchell

is a CAMS Rising Star.

Mitchell’s team-mate Jon Collins will also run at Phillip Island, after making his debut at Eastern Creek in July. Matthew Brabham will make his third and final appearance of the season, while Tom Goess returns in the 21-car field, having missed last weekend’s round at Sandown.

“I’m really looking forward to making my debut in the national series, it’s going to be a big step up, but we’ve

had some success this year in the Victorian State Series so I’m ready for the challenge,” Mitchell said.

“It will be good to have my state teammate Jon Collins at the event as well and hopefully we can work with each other to move forward across the weekend. Minda Motorsport has been really competitive in the past few rounds, so I’m confident that the speed will be there.”

F3 GETS NEW MARSHALL

Dirk Klynsmith

THE usual horde of Aussie Racing Cars will swarm around Phillip Island this weekend but one driver will not be looking to write his name in the ARC history books.

Kevin Magee will be making his Aussie Racers debut at the track on which he won two races at the highest level, in the Superbike World Championship in 1991 and ’92.

“I want to do two things,” Magee told eNews, “I want to keep going in the direction of the other cars and keep it off the kerbs.”

Magee, whose car competition experience is limited to some tarmac rally events a decade ago, will race in the colours of SPEED and is a keen fan of the category.

“I was looking at doing something in the V8 Utes, and have seen the Aussie Racing Cars on TV. They asked me to do it, and I said yes.”

But at the same time, he knows that it will be an adjustment after years of racing on two wheels.

“On a bike, you can use your body, or body English, to make it do what it doesn’t want to do. In a car, you have pedals and steering wheel.

I always feel like I am stuck when I am in a car.”

Magee, now 49, won one 500cc Grand Prix, in Spain in 1988. His career was cut short after suffering head injuries in a crash in California the following year. He has been a commentator with Fox and SPEED for several years.

FF PAIR TO DEBUT AT PI

FORMULA 3 VICTORIAN Lachlan Marshall is getting in early for next year’s Formula 3 Australian Drivers Championship.

The 17-year-old will step up from Victorian Formula Ford, in which he currently leads the Kent class, to F3, and has purchased an F304 Dallara from Tim Macrow who will act as an engineer and driver coach.

“He knows the cars inside and out as well as all of the interstate tracks, so I’m lucky to have him as my mentor in 2012,” Marshall said of the 2007 champ.

“My new car is great and has had a lot of success so I know it’s capable of being competitive and I can’t wait to get behind the wheel for the first time.”

Marshall, pictured with his father, John and Macrow, is the first driver to commit to the 2012 Forpark Australia F3 Scholarship, which will put another $50,000 scholarship on the line.

“The prize is great and the money would go a long way to making my next year easier but everything else that goes with it, like the media training and other aspects, make it really worthwhile,” he said.

“Like almost every young driver I would love to go to Europe and race over there, but I am also keen to race in Australia. But I know racing Formula 3 here will be a big help to me in achieving my goals.”

Macrow retains ownership of the sister F304 Dallara, which is currently being rebuilt, having

been crashed heavily in its last outing two years ago. Pending interest after it’s repaired, Macrow could make the odd appearance in it in 2012.

“That’s been sitting there for ages, I got the tub repaired about three or four weeks ago and that car will go back together again eventually as well,” Macrow said.

“It probably won’t be this year, but it’ll be ready for next year if someone wants to buy it or have me run it for them.

“I’d love to do Bathurst. If that comes along and the car’s sitting there and no-one’s purchased it, I might break it out for Bathurst for a bit of a run, because that would be a lot of fun in that type of car around there.”

– MITCHELL ADAM motorsport news

NEWS

MARANELLO GRABS 458S, FARNBACHER AUSTRALIAN GT MARANELLO Motorsport are getting closer to meeting their new Ferrari 458 GT3s for the first time.

The Australian GT outfit have ordered three brand-new 458s from Michelotto, and will travel to Italy in the coming weeks to shakedown the first car before it’s transported to Australia.

Existing Maranello driver Peter Edwards has ordered one of the cars, which will be used in next year’s Armor All Bathurst 12 Hour.

German sportscar ace Dominik Farnbacher has been recruited as part of a four-driver 458 line-up, with Allan Simonsen – a regular co-driver for the team – likely to also be part of the squad.

Farnbacher and Simonsen share a Ferrari in GT2 competition in Europe.

“We’re getting close to heading over there,” team boss Mark Coffey told eNews.

“I’m just waiting on our first car built to be finished and we’re going over to do some testing and a bit of a handover on a brandnew car to learn a bit about it.

“We’re very excited about the 458, from all of the reports we’re getting from Michelotto and the guys who have already run them in Europe, they’re proving to be strong and reliable.”

Beyond the 12 Hour, Coffey aims to run two of the 458s in next year’s VodkaO Australian GT Championship. Edwards will drive one, likely to be joined by several different co-drivers including Simonsen and John Bowe during the season, while discussions are underway with a prospect for the second car.

“In the perfect world, two cars would be a good package for the GT Championship next year, I don’t think we’d go to three – it’s not a third person to run the third car, it’s almost doubling the team to go from two to three cars,” Coffey said.

– MITCHELL ADAM

CRAIG LOWNDES HIT THE DIRT ON MONDAY, SHAKING DOWN HIS HOLDEN COLORADO AHEAD OF THE 2012 AUSTRALASIAN SAFARI. LOWNDES AND JOHN PANOZZO COMPLETED ABOUT 1000KM IN THE 2011 SAFARI WINNER, WHILE PAUL WEEL AND KEES WEEL DID THE SAME IN A NEW COLORADO. THE SAFARI KICKS OFF IN PERTH ON SEPTEMBER 22 www.mnews.com.au

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NEWS Old Mates: Spotted at this past weekend’s Fuchs Australian Nationals at Sydney Dragway was four-time NHRA national event winner Wally Clark and Graeme Cooper.

VICTORIOUS VICTORIANS ANDRA THE Group 1 competitors in ANDRA’s Pro Series may not get to race much in Victoria these days but that does not mean that the southern state is struggling for victories in the sport.

One point worth noting about this year’s event at WSID was that five of 13 brackets were won by Melbourne racers, with a further two contesting finals.

Peter Kapiris (Doorslammer), Maurice Allen (Pro Stock Motorcycle), Jason Maggs (Competition), Kenny Stewart (Modified) and Warren Smith (Super Gas) all won their

respective classes, while Corey Scholes (Competition Motorcycle) and Corey Buttigeig (Modified Motorcycle) were also finalists.

Their achievements are particularly notable considering been no championship drag racing has been held in Melbourne in the 10 years since Calder Park owner Bob Jane split with ANDRA in 2001.

And, if there is a prize for the most travelled competitor, is should go to Wally Clark. As a teenager Clark – the first and still only Aussie to ever win the NHRA’s US National (in 1985) – moved with his family

WSBK PERSONAL safety was the reason that James Toseland retired from motorcycle racing last week.

The Briton, twice the World Superbike champion, revealed that he almost lost the use of his right hand after breaking his wrist in a testing crash in March. He did come back to racing, but after a string of poor results, another crash in Germany prompted him to consult a specialist and make a decision about his future.

“I have to put the safety of the other riders on track first, as well as thinking about my own safety,” said the 30-yearold from Yorkshire. “Knowing that I will never again be fully fit to race at the highest level, it’s also unfair for me to occupy a great seat in WSBK that a young, talented rider who is fully fit could take better advantage of.”

Toseland won the SBK titles with Ducati in 2004 and Honda in 2007. He moved to MotoGP with the Tech 3 team and qualified second and finished sixth for his first GP, at Qatar. But in two years he never bettered that result and was replaced by Ben Spies last season.

Toseland moved to the BMW Motorrad Italia this year but did not manage to finish in the top 10 in any of the six races he started.

Toseland, an accomplished pianist who plays in a band called Crash, is expected to pursue a career in music or on British television.

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from Sydney to Canada. From 1966 to September 2010, Clark had never returned home.

After last year’s Australian Nationals rained out, Clark vowed to not go another 44 years between visits. He made good on his promise and returned home for this year’s ‘Big Go down under’ to help out longtime mate Graeme Cooper.

Clark and three-time ANDRA Super Sedan Champion Cooper struck up a friendship when the latter contested Stock at the 40th Anniversary US Nationals in 1994, Cooper returning four years ago and winning class with his mate’s help.

TOSELAND RETIRES FROM BIKE RACING

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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NEWS

AUSSIE ROTAX TEAM DECIDED KARTING

THE 11th running of the annual Australian Rotax Nationals held at Geelong’s Beckley Park Raceway also marked the end for the current Rotax Rankings point score, with 11 drivers awarded the chance to represent Australia at the World Final.

The Rotax MAX Challenge Grand Final is set to be held at the picturesque Al Ain Raceway near Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates on November 23-26.

The senior ranks will see Tyler Greenbury, Joshua De Maio, James Macken and David Sera fly the flag for Australia, while in the junior ranks Joseph Mawson, pictured, Pierce Lehane and Michael Stewart have earned the chance. In DD2 Jason Pringle, Damian Ward, Brendan Nelson and Brent Coghlan (Masters) will line up for Australia.

Greenbury, De Maio and Macken were the three top point scorers in Rotax light earning them a spot at the World Final, while Sera earned his way there by virtue of his victory at the Florida winter Tour in the USA. The points in the two-speed DD2 class were topped by Pringle and Ward ,with

Rotax Heavy winner Brendan Nelson also getting a spot on the grid in the DD2 class in November.

Mawson was a clear winner in the Junior MAX points and will be joined by his archrival and second in points Lehane along

AKA OFFICIALS STAND DOWN KARTING THE Australian Karting Association National President Simon Whiting and National Vice-President David Murray have both resigned from their duties within the sport effective immediately. eNews believes that the resignations are believed to have occurred following a lack of support shown by members of the National Karting Council towards the AKA executive and the protection of the AKA and it’s members.

The association issued a statement last Wednesday, part of which follows: “The Australian Karting Association wishes to advise its members of the resignation of National President Simon Whiting and National VicePresident David Murray. Whiting 20

held the position of National President from August 2010.

Prior to this position, he held the National Vice-President role and was also an Executive Member for Karting (New South Wales) Inc. for a number of years. Murray held the position of National Vice-President from August 2010, prior to which he was the Victorian State Delegate on the National Karting Council for a period of ten years. The National President and National VicePresident positions will now be filled as casual vacancies until the 2012 Annual General Meeting and announcements on the replacement officers will be made in due course.” eNews also understands that there will be a push to look outside the current NKC to fulfill these two casual vacancies on the National Executive.

with third placed Stewart.

Junior MAX Heavy and Over 35’s rankings winners Alex Griffiths and Mick Robson each earned themselves a new Rotax engine for topping their respective class points.

MARQUIS WINS CHAMPION OF CHAMPIONS KARTING SOUTH Australian Luke Marquis is the 2011 Junior Clubman Champion of Champions after his victory at the Junior Sprint Classic held at the Eastern Lions Art Club in Puckapunyal, Victoria, over the weekend.

Marquis had a little bit of luck on his side to take out the final of Junior Clubman when Kane Hughes and race leader Justin Francis came together on the last lap allowing Marquis through.

The final victory handed the Mollydooker Wines-backed driver to claim pole for the Champion of Champions race, where he showed great pace to greet the chequers first

earning himself a cool $500. The podium was rounded out by Jake Klein in second and Kyle Rethus third.

Jordan Boys was also a big winner taking out two classes, his first victory coming in Junior National Light before also taking out Junior MAX. Current National Champ Anton De Pasquale convincingly won Junior National Heavy while the Junior National Pro win went to Justin Ford.

Midgets A was won by Wright Kart Ace Jordan Caruso while Thomas Prascevic took out Rookies A. The remaining class victories went to Jay Morrison (JNL C&P), Zac Soutar (JNH C&P), George Gower (Midgets B) and Elijah D’Cruz (Rookies B). motorsport news

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21

FIVE MINUTES WITH ...

NICK PERCAT

Nick Percat’s got a bit on at the moment; Phillip Island and Bathurst in the #2 Toll Holden Racing Team car, and then a Formula MRF drive at the Indian Grand Prix. He spoke to ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN MOTORSPORT NEWS: You’re off to race at the Indian Grand Prix, Nick!

NICK PERCAT: That I am.

And racing at a Formula 1 event is always a thrill as well, I suppose.

That’s going to be the coolest bit, especially that it will be a brand new circuit. The surface will probably be laid the week of the race, so the track surface is going to be literally brand new, and it will be awesome to drive a modern Formula 1 track with all of the run-off.

And who knows? It might be handy in the future if V8 Supercars end up racing over there.

So how did all of this come about?

It’s through Ryan Walkinshaw. His brother Sean will be racing there, so it’s a chance for me to go over and do some laps, and an opportunity for me to give him some guidance on where he is at, because he’s racing Formula Renault [in the UK], and its only his first year in cars, so he’s got a lot to learn.

So I’ll use my knowledge of open-wheelers to help him along a bit.

Speaking of which, you haven’t raced an open-wheeler since you won the Formula 22

Dirk Klynsmith

We don’t know much about Formula MRF down here, but I suppose it’s always good to go and bank some miles in a new racing car.

Definitely. Any chance you have to get in an open-wheeler is good, as you’d know, and the chance to race something with the horsepower of a Formula Ford but with wings-and-slicks sounds great. It will probably be a bit quicker than a Formula BMW, with a Van Diemen chassis, and I am familiar with those chassis from when I race VDs in Formula Ford.

I’m really looking forward to getting over there and driving the car, and driving at two new circuits. That’s good experience to have, new circuits, because it allows you the chance to practice learning a new track.

Ford title back in 2009. Will it take some time to re-adapt, or is it like riding a bike?

It might take a little bit, just because it’s not a Sonic Mygale, which is what I last raced.

I did some Formula Ford tyre testing about 12 months ago, and it only took me five or six laps to get back into it. After that, it was like I never got out. But that was a car that Mick [Ritter] was running, so it was quite familiar.

In India, I have no idea of the level of preparation or the level of knowledge they have, so it will be a real learning curve.

Turning back to V8 Supercars, Phillip Island is coming up this week. You’ve landed a plum drive alongside Garth Tande for the enduros – are you excited, nervous or focused?

At the moment its more focus. Between me and Garth training has stepped up, and we’ve pretty much spent every day together since Queensland Raceway, training and testing and everything else.

We had a very positive test last Monday, so

now I’m looking forward to getting to Phillip Island. I’m sure I’ll have a few nerves on the start-line, but it will be okay. I think Bathurst is the one where it will really hit home what car I’m driving.

Exactly! How are you feeling about debuting at Mount Panorama in a Holden Racing Team car?

Bathurst is going to be unbelievable, racing in the main series as a Toll HRT driver.

Bathurst and HRT have a strong relationship, so there will be pressure.

But Garth and the guys at HRT have a lot of faith in me and how I drive, and when you have an organisation like that behind you, it gives you a lot of confidence. It eases the pressure a bit, because they make you feel capable of doing the job.

Well I’m sure they wouldn’t have signed you if they didn’t think you were capable ...

Yeah, exactly. Every time Garth gets in the car he’s a shot of winning, it’s that simple. It’s going to be good. motorsport news

CHAT

Dirk Klynsmith

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23

WELCOME HOME IN ITS first attempt, Coffs Harbour hosted the best World Rally Championship event I’ve ever attended on the weekend. Sure, it was my first WRC experience, but it was really, really good.

The first thing you notice is that a regional centre like the Coffs Coast is a great location for these sorts of events. Like Townsville with V8 Supercars, it’s almost the perfect size and the local community embraced it.

There’s probably a barren forest somewhere, thanks to all of the Rally Australia posters and signage printed for display throughout the region – including in pretty much every shop. Petter Solberg’s sponsors were getting a wicked return on their investment ...

There was a report on the local television news that some restaurants were down on their usual business – rather than being up with an influx of tourists – but many got into the spirit with rally specials, and

the café I frequented for breakfasts was garnishing each dish with a little paper chequered flag.

The Coffs Harbour Jetty was a great location for the Super Special Stages. It lacked a bit of drama and there were some logistical kinks, but the layout was good and the locals embraced it in big numbers, someone suggested there was a crowd of 5000 on the Thursday night. Oh, and forget about Sebastien Loeb and Ken Block, Coffs boy Nathan Quinn got the biggest cheers as he threw his PWRC Lancer around.

The drivers spoke highly of the roads, particularly

OPINION Mitchell Adam – National Editor Saturday’s stages, a couple of which I went out to see. Even away from the main spectator points, locals were set up, some with couches and BBQs, to watch the action. At one point in particular, there was a group of lads who were following the rally in a camper van. They hated shirts, but loved the rally and beers.

At the stages, you can get nice and close to the cars – the WRC cars themselves are mega – and move around for a few different vantage points.

And when I say close, I mean close. If you were that close at a circuit racing meeting, CAMS would have a collective fit, but it seemed pretty tame compared to footage you see form Europe and

South America rallying, and everyone seemed to know and respect the limits.

The Service Park, attached to the airport, was incredibly spectator friendly as well.

Unlike the Australian Grand Prix, the teams had all of their own marquees and infrastructure shipped out for the event. Equally unlike F1, the areas are open, so you can watch while teams service and/or repair their cars.

All in all, I’d chalk it up as a successful event. Perth treated Rally Aus well for many years, the people of far Northern NSW less so in the sole, controversy-marred 2009 event. But, in Coffs Harbour, it seems like Rally Australia found a good home.

Michael Vettas

24

motorsport news

COMMENT

Parallel Lines

Serfe Mironenko

SOMETIMES, you can flat-out over-think things.

That notion was brought home to me last week, after a conversation with a media colleague. Without naming names, let me point out that this fella spends more time writing about cars and the car industry these days than about people who race cars around tracks for a living.

He asked me what did I know about the rumours connecting Russell Ingall with Walkinshaw Racing.

“I hear them,” I replied, “but I am not sure how it will fit.”

“Why not?” he asked.

“Well, HRT has a Mobil deal and Supercheap and Castrol are just about married.”

He gave me one of those looks.

“So what?”

“So, Mobil and Castrol in one workshop would not be a fit.”

“Stop thinking in motor racing terms,” he Yoda’d to me. “Car companies deal with www.mnews.com.au

different and competing brands all the time, whether it’s oil or tyres. That would not be a problem.”

He may just be right.

Car makers do deal with more than one brand of companies that are normally rivals and that feeds down to their race teams. HRT’s Commodores have ‘Bridgestone’ written on their cars and ‘Dunlop’ written on their tyres. It even applies, on occasion, to drivers; Craig Lowndes and Pirelli, for instance. Heck, Nathan Pretty, who I saw last night in a TV ad for parts retail chain Auto One, will race a car backed by Autopro in the Supercheap Autos Bathurst 1000.

Provided that there are no unforeseen hiccups, it would be a matter of carefully covering up car A at appropriate times, and maybe car B at others. Everyone acts like grown-ups and plays on.

Ingall in Clayton’s third

OPINION Phil Branagan – Executive Editor entry looks to be a good fit.

The Enforcer has long been a thorn in the side of the men from Clayton but, quietly, an admirer of the way that the team has operated at the sharp end of V8 Supercars. It would also be an endorsement of the manner in which Ryan Walkinshaw and his management team are going about putting the team on a more competitive footing for the future. So while it seems to be somewhat ironic that Ingall looks to be heading there at a time when HRT is not at its most competitive, the team does seem to be heading in the right direction.

Ingall is also an avowed

admirer of Mark Martin. This weekend at Chicagoland, the NASCAR veteran heads into his final 10 races as a Hendrick Motorsport driver. At an age when many in the sport though he was past his prime, Martin has been a good fit with the other three drivers in the team, which features two recent Sprint Cup Champs.

Of course, that was not always the team’s name; when Rick Hendrick started out in 1984, he called his team All Star Racing.

If you see parallels between what is happening in Concord North Carolina and Clayton Victoria, you just might not be the only one.

25

WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 10 - RALLY AUSTRALIA, NSW

OUT OF

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motorsport news

RACE

F THE SHADOWS IT’S BEEN SEVEN, LONG MONTHS SINCE FORD LAST WON A WRC ROUND, BUT MIKKO HIRVONEN GOT THEM BACK ON TRACK AS CITROEN FALTERED IN AUSTRALIA. MITCHELL ADAM REPORTS ON THE COFFS COAST ACTION

Michael Vettas

www.mnews.com.au

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John Morris / Mpix

L

EADING into the World Rally Championship’s maiden voyage to Coffs Harbour, the odds on a Ford 1-2 would’ve been pretty slim. Never mind the odds of a Citroen 10-12.

Ford started the year well, winning the season opener, but the French manufacturer has been the dominant force since then, winning all eight rallies – evenly split between Sebastiens Loeb and Ogier. They headed to the rally looking to wrap up the manufacturers title with three rounds remaining, but by the end of the opening day, that would be out of their reach, with the weekend of both Citroens effectively ended by the same 29km stretch of road.

Leading the rally, Loeb was caught out in extremely slippery conditions on the first pass Shipmans stage, as Friday morning rain turned gravel into compact, tyre-clogging mud, creating some of the lowest grip levels seen in the championship all year.

Distracted by a split time, Loeb made a mistake, caught the scenery and rolled five times, ending his day. That handed the lead to Ogier, but not for long. After the midday Friday service, with the surface somewhat improved, he too became a Shipmans victim, finding a tree.

Advantage Ford. In a dream scenario, both Citroens were sidelined – although they would rejoin on Saturday under SupeRally regulations – and Mikko Hirvonen led Jari-Matti Latvala in a Factory Fiesta 1-2. With Latvala all but out of title reckoning, he’d recently admitted he’d be happy to help his fellow Finn in the title chase, so unless something untoward happened, Hirvonen was going to win the rally.

Sweeping the road on Saturday, Hirvonen lost time and the lead to Latvala, but that was reversed on Sunday, with Hirvonen eating back into the deficit and Latvala ultimately pulling over on the final forest stage of the event, to secure Hirvonen’s victory.

With his third straight Rally Australia victory and Citroen’s woes, Hirvonen kick-started his title charge, moving back up to second, only 15 points behind Loeb with three rallies remaining.

“They are both still there,” Hirvonen said of keeping his drivers title and Ford’s manufacturers title hopes alive.

“But it was more important just to have a good result here especially since it’s been a tough season; we won in Sweden and it’s been very close after that and we didn’t know if we could pull it off so it was very important especially after what happened on Friday that we could still control things, and now getting a one- two is very good for everybody. Hopefully it helps us all in the future.”

After a lean run mid-year ended his title hopes, Latvala was content to play a team role.

“It’s never a nice feeling to slow down and drop behind,” he said. “Of course, nobody enjoys that but you need to see the bigger picture and the main thing was I had a good feeling, the speed was there.”

Third went to Petter Solberg, who stayed out of trouble for the most part, but didn’t have the pace to go with the Fords, while Matthew Wilson was fourth, equalling his best WRC result, and Khalid Al Qassimi sixth.

With their DS3s repaired, the Citroen pair resumed on Saturday morning, but well out of contention. Ogier was 16th and 19 minutes motorsport news

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John Morris / Mpix John Morris / Mpix

Jari-Matta Latvala, top, ceded the rally win to Hirvonen on Sunday afternoon. Petter Solberg, above left, was third, while the factory Citroens had a bad Friday. Sebastien Loeb, above, got back up to 10th through SupeRally regulations and some team orders.

Kiwi Hayden Paddon, below, had plenty of support as he wrapped up the PWRC title.

Michael Vettas

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Michael Vettas

behind the leader, Loeb 23rd and a further 10 minutes back. They pounded along, made progress as the likes of Henning Solberg and Evgeny Novikov struck trouble, and when Novikov had a monster shunt on SS22, Ogier moved into the points, with Loeb 12th.

Then, Citroen too implemented team orders on the same stage.

It was expected by Ford, but came as somewhat of a surprise from the French, given the smaller gap between their two drivers and the controversy from the previous round in Germany. But Ogier obeyed the orders, missing his start time, elevating his team-mate and title rival into the points.

Loeb topped the rally-ending Power Stage to grab three more valuable points in the championship, along with his single point for 10th, while Ogier had to bite his tongue and settle for 11th.

The relatively skinny and troubled WRC field gave Production World Rally Championship drivers an opportunity to push well into the Top 10, which was duly taken.

With his fourth-straight PWRC round win, Kiwi Hayden Paddon impressed again, sealing the title with sixth outright ahead of Michal Kosciuszko. He had some Trans-Tasman challenges from Brendan Reeves and Coffs local Nathan Quinn. The Aussies had the pace, but Quinn was delayed on Friday and Reeves suffered a broken fuel pump leaving Saturday’s service, when he was third in class and inside the Top 10 outright. In the end, Reeves finished 17th and Quinn 18th. The best of the locals was John Spencer, 15th in a PWRC Evo IX. Points: Loeb 196, Hirvonen 181, Ogier 167, Latvala 116, Solberg 110

29

AUSTRALIAN RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 4 - COFFS HARBOUR, NSW

STEVE ON THE SPOT

WHILE OTHER CONTENDERS FELL BY THE WAYSIDE, STEVE SHEPHEARD PICKED UP HIS MAIDEN ARC ROUND VICTORY. MITCHELL ADAM WAS THERE

T

HE Bosch Australian Rally Championship joined the World Rally Championship at Coffs Harbour and, like the WRC, some of the big guns didn’t have it all their own way.

While others found the scenery and endured mechanical problems, Steve Shepheard and John McCarthy emerged victorious to claim their maiden ARC round win in the Coffs Coast Rally. During Friday’s opening leg, competitors were faced with treacherous conditions, with rain producing extremely slippery conditions which led to the cancellation of three stages.

At the head of the field, Ryan Smart had no problems. Smart and co-driver John Allen won the majority of the stages, eventually scoring the heat win by over 90 seconds.

“It was a real balancing act trying to go as hard as possible without going off the road, but the Corolla is just so driveable and really hummed today, and luckily we were able to keep it all together and grab maximum points,” Smart said.

The conditions claimed a number of high-profile scalps.

Championship leader Justin Dowel ran second to Smart early, but had several offs and eventually missed the final three stages. He finished up 14th and almost 10 minutes behind Smart, while Mark Pedder fared even worse, crashing out on Friday’s opening forest stage. Amid that, Shepherd picked up second, ahead of the Honda of Eli Evans and Lancer driver John Mitchell.

For much of Saturday, it looked as though Smart would complete the double, and with three forest stages and two Super Specials remaining, he led Shepheard by over two minutes. However, he then

30

suffered a broken front driveshaft. Spending the rest of the rally with three-wheel drive, Smart was helpless to stop Shepheard, losing the lead on the final forest stage and ultimately finishing second. Still, it was enough to retake the lead of the championship with one round remaining.

“We’re happy that we are now back in the lead of the championship, but also disappointed that we weren’t able to maintain first position after being so dominant all weekend,” Smart admitted.

The man in the right place at the right time, Shepheard would ultimately win the rally with a minute up his sleeve.

“I can’t put this into words, how I feel right now, it’s just amazing,” he said.

“My dad won his first ARC title the year I was born in 1971, so it’s taken 40 years for the Shepheard name to be at the top of an ARC score sheet again.”

Evans and Glen Weston secured third for the weekend, ahead of Mitchell and wife Jo Cadman. Then, it was the best of the recoverees, with Dowel working his way back up to fifth for the weekend. After a short Friday, locals Michael Boaden and Helen Cheers won Leg 2, ahead of Pedder and Lee Tierney, but the two Evo crews had to settle for 21st and 26th outright respectively.

Sixth and the Premier League category went to Charlie Drake and Ben Atkinson (Evo IX), ahead of the four-wheel-drive Rallyschool. com.au Australian Junior Challenge winners, Tom and Nerida Wilde (Subaru Imprezza). The two-wheel drive victors, Will Orders and Ryan Calder were 12th in a Nissan Silvia. motorsport news

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Michael Vettas Michael Vettas

Michael Vettas

Eli Evans, top, had a strong weekend, with third in each leg. Justin Dowel’s crew, above, had some work to do on Friday, and had to watch as Ryan Smart, below, reclaimed the championship lead.

Michael Vettas

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31

SHANNONS NATIONALS ROUND 6 – SANDOWN, MELBOURNE

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motorsport news

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JACK BE QUICK

On a weekend where the weather played its part, Jack Le Brocq kept his Rising Stars 4`NHSL Z[YHPNO[ LUV\NO [V ^PU OPZ ÄYZ[ (--* YV\UK ¶ HUK [OH[ ^HZ WHY[ VM [OL 5H[PVUHSZ action. CALLUM BRANAGAN and LACHLAN MANSELL report

Dirk Klynsmith

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Dirk Klynsmith

FFORD: LE BROCQ BREA

T

HROUGH beautiful sunshine and intermittent torrential downpours, Round 5 of the Australian Formula Ford Championship at Sandown Motor Raceway had all the elements of a soap opera.

And after three races, and many more incidents, Jack Le Brocq broke through for his maiden round win ahead of Cameron Waters and Nick Foster.

Cams Rising Star Le Brocq was quick all weekend, but lacked that vital edge over the Sonic Motorsport Myglaes. Waters, along with his team-mates Foster and Garry Jacobson, hovered around the top-three places in the opening two races.

Running third in the championship heading into the round, Le Brocq had a 34

massive mountain to climb with the Sonic pair of Waters and Foster ahead of him. But a weekend with too many mistakes proved to be the determining factor for Le Brocq’s eventual win, with the wet weather catching out the best of the Sonic squad.

Foster won the opening two accounts after Waters was stripped of his Race 2 win following a Safety Car infringement. It was, however, Race 3 when the spanner was thrown into the works, as a torrential downpour literally came out of nowhere to make half of the Sandown Raceway look more like an ocean.

Foster led early in the race along with Jacobson, but the duo were caught out heading into Turn 2, running wide onto the slippery grass. Jacobson was able to resume

racing, but Foster was stuck, prompting a Safety Car. Meanwhile, with Le Brocq out the front, Waters was able to catch up to the Rising Star when the race resumed, with Le Brocq’s team-mate Trent Harrison in close proximity. With half the track dry, and the other wet, Waters pulled a masterful passing manoeuvre over Le Brocq at the mid point of the 10-lap finale, remaining at the head of the field until the chequered flag.

Unfortunate for Waters, his earlier weekend mistakes meant he missed out on the round win by half a point, giving a consistent Le Brocq his first round win in the Australia Formula Ford Championship.

“Well I’m rapt with the result,” said an elated Le Brocq. motorsport news

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Dirk Klynsmith

Highs and Lows: Nick Foster was looking good for a round win in one moment, left, and then was off the road the next, below. Cam Waters had his time at the front of the field, bottom, but couldn’t take the round win either.

Dirk Klynsmith

AKS THROUGH

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were left in a world of their own further down the grid at Sandown, with Daniel Erickson flying the overall flag for the Borland Racing Developments outfit with eighth overall.

Almost all of the Spectrums were involved in off track excursions throughout the weekend, culminating in disappointing results that didn’t reflect the pace.

Matthew Hart was looking at time promising in his Synergy-prepared Spectrum 012, but fell short in the first two races, winding up in the Armco.

Jesse Fenech made his first national appearance in an Evans-prepared Mygale, but didn’t look nearly as fast as he had in a Borland Spectrum in Sandown state rounds of past.

– CALLUM BRANAGAN

John Morris/Mpix

“I didn’t really expect that after qualifying in 16th place, the team gelled nicely and put a really good car together and we came back, so it was great.

“Yeah, well, it was a long time coming, there is a great bunch of blokes here and they always put in a great effort.”

As for Le Brocq’s team Minda Motorsport, they have grown from strength to strength after obtaining the Cams Rising Star contract, with their glimpses of potential finally coming to fruition at the Melbourne circuit.

The pace from their Mygales is solid, and the Lang Lang based operation is looking favourable despite still developing as a race team. Harrison backed up the result well with third in Race 3.

The Australian built Spectrums, meanwhile,

35

Justin Collins

MANCHAMPS: KOSTERA AND INKY AGAIN!

T

HE Sandown 500 was revived for the Australian Manufacturer’s Championship on the weekend, with Stewart Kostera and Ian Tulloch continuing their unbeaten record for the 2011 season.

The race was split into two legs, one on Saturday and the other on Sunday, and it was the Peter O’Donnell/John Bowe BMW that managed to snatch the Leg 1 spoils from the ever-dominant Team Mitsubishi Rallyart Evo 10 after some timely Safety Cars.

Kostera got TMR’s Leg 1 off to a great start, leading off the front row to lap consistently in the 1:21s bracket for almost the entire duration of his stint. Early Safety Cars also played into the hands of Kostera, who managed to get both the tyre, and driver change completed, gaining a huge advantage as a result.

With Tulloch in the Evo 10, he resumed the pace, but it was a few of Tulloch’s mistakes during another Safety Car period that revealed a few chinks in the TMR armour.

Tulloch was handed a stop-go penalty for passing a lapped car under Safety Car conditions, putting the TMR Evo 10 an effective 45 seconds behind the leading Evo 9s of Tony/Klark Quinn, Jim Pollicina and Dean Kelland, and the O’Donnell BMW. The Poll Performance Evo 9 of Pollicina 36

was very quick around Sandown Motor Raceway, but it was timing that ultimately benefitted O’Donnell and Bowe. A fire had broken out on the Colin Osborne/Rick Shaw Mazda 3 MPS in the dying stages of the race, meaning O’Donnell was the effective leader through the Safety Car. With only a one-lap dash to the flag, O’Donnell took the BMW 335i across the line for the Leg 1 hounours, as the Evos of Quinn, Pollicina/Kelland and Tulloch failed to close on the leading BMW. Leg 2, however, was a much easier affair for the TMR Evo 10. Tulloch started the car very well with the Pollicina and the Quinn Evo 9 falling victim to the speed after the first round of pit stops. O’Donnell was leading the race after the first Safety Car, but was out of sequence after he elected not to pit. Tulloch soon chased him down to take the lead during Lap 7, but had to be wary of a fast Pollicina in his mirrors.

Tulloch was lapping to a plan in his Evo 10, remaining consistent before Kostera jumped into the car. Kostera soon jumped back into the lead Mitsubishi through another Safety Car, remaining at the front to take the chequred flag without so much as a serious challenge for his lead.

“It was really good, fun format and today was a good situation to be in,” said a

smiling Kostera.

“We were just 3.5 seconds off the lead from where we started and it was just a case of when we were in a rhythm and the car was good enough, we just sat there and waited to push at the appropriate time.”

Kostera admitted, however, that he was worried following their Leg 1 penalty.

“At a point there (in the First Leg) we were very worried. We were 47 seconds behind, but a late yellow period went our way which closed it back up to 3.5 seconds.”

Tony Quinn took the seat of their Evo 9 back from Klark mid-way through the race to take a great second place. Pollicina/ Kelland finished well to take third.

O’Donnell and Bowe had a solid finish to take the Class B honours.

Having a quiet weekend by his standards was Jake Camilleri, taking the Class C honours and seventh overall with teammate Scott Nicholas.

Richard Mork and Jake Williams took the Class D win in their Honda Integra, while Grant Phillips, Andrew Turpie and Daryl Martin took the Class E win driving the Pedders Proton Satria.

Beric Lynton and Matt MacKelden meanwhile were the class of the Invitational Mini Challenge cars.

– CALLUM BRANAGAN motorsport news

RACE

Dirk Klynsmith

Another String in the Bowe: JB and Peter O’Donnell took out the first leg, above. But neither the Jim Pollancia/Dean Kelland car, left, or the Tony and Klark Quinn car, bottom, could catch the Kostera/Tulloch Evo.

John Morris/Mpix Dirk Klynsmith

www.mnews.com.au

37

NATIONALS: WINSLOW’S

J

AMES Winslow has made an authoritative return to the Australian Formula 3 Championship, taking out Round 5 at Sandown on the weekend after being absent from the previous round of the series at Morgan Park.

Winslow qualified third behind title rivals John Magro and Chris Gilmour, and passed both drivers with a blinding opening lap on cold tyres to take out the first sprint race.

In the second sprint race, Winslow led early before a Safety Car was deployed for the stranded car of Josh Burdon. Gilmour made a blinding restart and ran sideby-side with Winslow through Turn 1, and then muscled his way into the lead at Turn 2. He held on to take the chequered flag and the race win. The race finished under Safety Car conditions, thanks to Magro spinning on the exit of the final corner and being collected by Ben Gersekowski Winslow redeemed himself in the feature race, leading every lap and taking the win from Gilmour and Magro, who ran down the order in the early laps after a slow start.

In the National Class, Josh Burdon rebounded from his spectacular Morgan Park somersault to take out the feature race from his team-mate Steel Guiliana, with Gersekowski recovering from his clash with Magro to round out the class podium.

Chris Smerdon extended his lead in the V8 Touring Car Series with overall round honours ahead of Terry Wyhoon. Wyhoon actually won two races compared to Smerdon’s single victory, but lost a lot of points in Race 1, in which he could only manage a seventh-place finish due to a spin and subsequent contact with Steve Voight.

Scott Loadsman finished third overall to make it a trio of familiar faces on the podium, but the real story of the weekend was the impressive performances from some of the less experienced drivers. Multiple Australian Saloon Car champion Bruce Heinrich qualified second in his debut in the category, and finished the weekend just off the podium despite struggling with tyre pressures. Aaron Tebb also impressed, setting a new lap record in his ex-Garry Rogers Motorsport VY Commodore in Race 1, before suffering a broken gear-shifter while running in second place. Shaun Fennell capitalised to finish second in his VX Commodore, but he dropped down the order in Races 2 and 3.

After coming close many times over the last couple of seasons, John Trende finally broke through for a race win in the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge. Even better, he also claimed the round, with victories in Races 2 and 3. Jeff Bobik finished second for the round ahead of series leader Roger Lago.

Unfortunately, Trende’s breakthrough win was not the story of the weekend, which instead belonged to Porsche 996 runner Kane Rose. Rose took the outright win and a lap record in Race 1, and backed up with a solid third-place finish in Race 2. In Race 3, all his hard work came undone with a huge crash at the end of the back straight, and while Rose emerged unscathed, both his car and the Armco sustained extensive damage, causing delays in the race schedule.

The Commodore Cup series is set for a grandstand finish, with Matt Hayes winning the penultimate round and closing to within a single point of the series leader Adam Beechey. Hayes won Races 1 and 3, while Chris Stevenson took advantage of the wet conditions to win the Top 10 reverse-grid Race 2. Stevenson also finished second for the round ahead of Danny Buzadzic, both drivers taking their maiden podium finishes. Less lucky was Marcus Zukanovic, who all but lost his shot at the title with a DNF in Race 2.

Matt Lovell has virtually guaranteed himself the 2011 Australian Saloon Car title by finishing runner-up to Andrew Nowland, who won Races 1 and 3, with Lovell taking out Race 2. Tony Evangelou completed the Saloon Car podium.

New Zealand driver Mark Gibson won the Swift Sport Series round with wins in the first two races, while Morgan Haber and Allan Jarvis battled over second and third position. However, Race 3 was declared a non-race after Jarvis rolled spectacularly at the end of the main straight, causing a red flag.

– LACHLAN MANSELL 38

motorsport news

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’S BACK, TRENDE WINS

Dirk Klynsmith

Winners Are Grinners: Winslow, left, Trende, above, Hayes, below, Gibson, bottom, and Smerdon, bottom left, all took round wins at Sandown on the weekend.

Dirk Klynsmith James Smith Justin Collins

Justin Collins

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39

FORMULA 1 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 13 – MONZA, ITALY

A MONZTA DRIVE

Everyone thought that McLaren would be hard too beat in Italy, but Sebastian Vettel was just way, way too good

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sutton-images.com

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sutton-images.com

N

OT even Red Bull Racing’s bogie track can stop Sebastian Vettel in 2011, with the German storming his way to a win at

Monza.

Pre-race the McLarens were considered favourites, and even when Vettel stuck his RBR car on pole by a whopping 0.450s, the paddock decided that a short seventh gear was going to leave him a sitting duck in the race. Surely the McLarens would fight back, with Vettel absolutely no chance of holding off the Mercedes-powered cars, with DRS and KERS playing their part.

But it wasn’t the case. While Vettel did have a shorter seventh – evident by damming speed trap stats – it worked beautifully in the race. Even when he found himself behind a fast-starting Fernando Alonso in the opening laps, superior drive had him past in not time, without the aid of the DRS. Once in front, it was a typical Vettel smash, with no one else getting a look in at the lead for the rest of the afternoon.

And when all was said and done, Vettel admitted that the gear strategy was a bigger risk for qualifying than it was for the race.

Translation; this one was never in doubt.

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“I don’t think we took any gamble today,” he said.

“I think we took the gamble yesterday in qualifying. All the people saw our top speed wasn’t very high, so gears were probably shorter than the rest of the field, so we were not that optimistic in qualifying as we can’t use the speed with the wing open.

But for the race we were pretty confident and we were not afraid of the DRS zones if we had to battle other people. I think it worked fantastically well. I was able to pass Fernando without DRS, but with DRS it would have been maybe a bit more comfortable a lap later, but all in all I think we did the right thing. Great racecar, great speed all the way through and I think the gearing was just right.”

For the second year in a row, Jenson Button was second. After another lessthan-impressive qualifying session, Button drove his way through the field, making his passing moves stick first time to end up the best of the rest. He beat home Alonso, who had to battle hard to hold off Lewis Hamilton in the back half of the race.

Hamilton’s race was less than ideal.

Starting from the front row he should have

been in the box seat to challenge Vettel, but found himself in third at the start. Then a very early re-start cost Hamilton another spot, with Michael Schumacher sneaking past into Turn 1. That was a decisive moment in Hamilton’s race, with the Brit taking more than a stint to get the spot back after a thrilling battle. To make matters worse, in the time that Hamilton was stuck behind the Mercedes, Button snuck up on both of them and knocked them off in a matter of laps. When Hamilton did get past, he chased Alonso down but it was too little too late.

Schumacher finished fifth ahead of Felipe Massa, Jaime Alguersuari, Paul di Resta, Bruno Senna and Sebastien Buemi.

Mark Webber was out of the running reasonably early when he got a passing move on Massa completely wrong into Turn 1. The resulting front wing damage led to Webber hitting the wall several corners later.

That wasn’t the only carnage that happened early in the race. Tonio Liuzzi’s massive lunge into Turn 1 at the start went massively wrong, with Nico Rosberg, Vitaly Petrov, Rubens Barrichello and Kamui Kobayashi all copping damage in the process. motorsport news

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sutton-images.com

sutton-images.com

Camera, Action: Turn 1 saw plenty, with Schuey v Hamilton, above left, Liuzzi v The Entire Field, left, and Webber v Massa, below left. Alonso and Vettel played hard ball at the start, above.

Results :: Italian 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 DNF DNF DNF DNF DNF DNF DNF DNF DNF

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

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

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

Top 10 Points: Vettel 284, Alonso 172, Webber 167, Button 167,

Hamilton 158, Massa 82, Rosberg 56, Schumacher 52, Petrov 34, Heidfeld 34.

43

2011 FUCHS AUSTRALIAN NATIONALS SYDNEY DRAGWAY, NSW

CORY TIME

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C

John Morris / Mpix John Morris / Mpix

AMERICAN CORY MCCLENATHAN CAPPED A FRANTIC WEEK WITH AN OFFSHORE VICTORY, TAKING OUT THE 2011 FUCHS AUSTRALIAN NATIONALS. JON VAN DAAL REVIEWS THE START OF THE 2011/2012 ANDRA PRO SERIES www.mnews.com.au

ORY McClenathan had a week of ups and downs driving for the Santo Rapisarda team both in Australia and America.

After not qualifying for the prestigious NHRA US Nationals in Indianapolis, Indiana on Monday Australian time – ending a 100 race streak – he came out to Australia to compete in the Top Fuel bracket at the 2011 ANDRA Fuchs Oils Australian Nationals.

“Not qualifying at the US Nationals was quite a big disappointment”, McClenathan revealed.

“We put together a new DSR (Don Schumacher Racing) car for Santo, the same way that I’d successfully done before, but in the end we just had a few small things go wrong and didn’t make the show.

“It is definitely a 3.8 second car (for the 1000 feet) but we were probably one run shy of getting in – new car blues if you like”.

With that behind him, McClenathan came out to Australia to compete at the Nationals where, like nine other drivers, he was trying to qualify for the eight-car Top Fuel field. After two qualifying passes in very chilly conditions, McClenathan was seventh with a 4.949s – trailing top qualifier Andrew Cowin’s 4.594s, Damien Harris’ 4.623s, Phil Lamattina on a 4.630s and Darren Morgan’s 4.676s. Terry Sainty brought up the rear with a 4.960s, for the first time ever, a four-second pass wasn’t good enough to make the Top Fuel field, with multi ANDRA Top Fuel Champ Phil Read also on the outside looking in.

“This is a new car and while it ran an early shut off 4.82 in testing last weekend we couldn’t take a trick this weekend,” Read disappointingly surmised.

On race day, the first round opened with a flammin’ beauty, literally, when Mark Mariani had an enormous fire caused by a broken rod, that allowed opponent 45

John Bosher

Morgan through with a 4.81s/301.20mph win over a slowing 5.54s. After a short clean-up, Cory Mac took on Harris, who took the lead off the line but was hunted down, with the American’s 4.82s/297.42mph taking it out over Harris’ 4.95s/275.84mph.

Next up, Terry Sainty grenaded his Sainty engined fueller, as Cowin advanced with a 4.72s/315.71mph.

The last pairing of the first round pitted Bob Shepherd (at his swansong event) against Phil Lamattina. Right from the hit, Shepherd had cylinders out and this saw Lamattina streak to victory with a 4.655s/317mph over Shepherd’s 5.393s/260mph – not the ending he had hoped.

Cowin and Morgan rolled through for their burnouts and then staged for what promised to be a great semi final. However, just off the line, Morgan’s car went up into tyre smoke with Cowin’s 4.669s/319.45mph giving him a berth in the final.

“We really needed more time to test,” Morgan admitted, “but we just don’t have the budget to do so”. The other semi between McClenathan and Lamattina had a similar scenario, when Lamattina struck the tyres and Cory Mac won with a 4.685s/294.43mph.

On paper, the Top Fuel final, above, appeared to be a cracker as both cars burned out under threatening skies. Off the line,

Cowin took a solid lead, but just past the 60ft markers his car shook violently and his chute fell out, allowing Cory Mac to streak to victory with the chute out and a 5.66s/263.28mph.

“I got a good lead off the line but the car went into hard tire shake”, Cowin revealed after the event. “I tried to back-peddle but the chute fell out and that was it.”

Obviously, the story was different for Cory, as he was presented the winner’s trophy.

“I really wanted to win this Christmas tree for Santo”, McClenathan revealed.

“To win one of these was a great way to thank him for giving me the drive.”

Rapisarda was handed

the microphone and said to his driver – “you can talk for me”. The shy team owner has obviously given a lot to Australian (and American) drag racing, and now, as a board member of Sydney Dragway, he is also steering the track back into better times.

After a wet start on Friday that saw a few hours of qualifying, a cold Saturday was followed by a sunny Sunday with good crowds present on the weekend. Other ANDRA Pro Series winners included Gary Phillips in Top Alcohol, below, Peter Kapiris in Top Doorslammer, Michael Ali in Pro Stock, Chris Matherson in Top Bike and Maurice Allen in Pro Stock Bike.

John Bosher

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John Morris / Mpix

Peter Kapiris, above, Michael Ali, left, Maurice Allen, below left, and Chris Matheson, below, all started their 2011/2012 ANDRA Pro Series campaigns in style.

John Bosher John Morris / Mpix

John Morris / Mpix

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47

NASCAR ROUND 26 – RICHMOND VA

TIMING IS EVERYTHING

2L]PU /HY]PJR NV[ H `LSSV^ ÅHN HU new tyres, on exactly the lap he needed, to hold off a charging Carl Edwards for the win at Richmond

NEED TO JOIN A CAR CLUB TO GET YOUR CAMS LICENSE? No matter what car you drive, Formula Ford Association membership is a cost effective way to get you on track.

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T was a case of two of NASCAR’s best drivers waiting for things to go their way – and in a way, they both got their wish.

Carl Edwards had the fastest Ford in the Saturday night race at Richmond, but in the final quarter of the race, the #99 was stuck on older tyres than those on the cars around him. Kevin Harvick had one of the fastest Chevys but his car was better earlier in the runs than it was for a long green period.

For different reasons, both needed a yellow flag and, after 13 of them had appeared in the first 300 laps, they went almost 90 laps without one.

Then they got one, when the repaired Childress Racing car of Paul Menard took to the grass. All the leaders pitted. Harvick won the restart, but Edwards cleared the traffic and came charging after him, firing the car out of the final corner sideways to fall a carlength short after a great effort.

“This is pretty awesome,” said Harvick after his fourth win of the season, and his first top five finish in almost three months.

“Just a great night. The pit crew did a great job on pitroad. I knew I had burned off the rear tyres, but later on the car was a little tight.

“Now it’s all about the last 10 races!”

Edwards looked like he just came up short and he confirmed it after the race.

“I needed one more lap!” he said. “I went down into the corner and thought I was fast enough to get him.

I feel like we are ready to go.”

The other driver who looked capable of winning was Jeff Gordon. His was the pick of the Hendrick cars but he did not have the speed when he needed it.

David Ragan was fourth, a strong result considering his sponsor may be considering a move, ahead of Kurt Busch. Kyle Busch was fifth after having been a lap down, showing speed in the stars-and-stripes Gibbs Toyota, one of the many cars in the race reliveried to pay tribute to the events that affected America a decade ago.

Tony Stewart locked in a Chase spot with seventh ahead of team-mate Ryan Newman, with Denny Hamlin ninth ahead of Mark Martin. Hamlin was one of two men to lock in a wildcard spot, with Brad Keselowski. That was not unexpected, given

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the speed of the drivers, but Hamlin’s car was in the wall on lap 9 and it was only after some heroic repairs from the FedEx crew to get it back onto the track. Keselowski was 12th in a car he described as “good enough for 15th” and made The Chase as a wildcard at his second attempt.

“We just didn’t give up,” said the man with the broken ankle. “It is easy to get down early in the season when things don’t go your way. We just need to continue to find more speed, and we are ready to go.

Another chapter was written in the growing rivalry between Jimmie Johnson and Kurt Busch.

The two clashed twice, the first time when Busch

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tapped Johnson in Turn 1, the second when the Lowe’s Chevy dived low and into the Shell Dodge.

Both drivers pointed the blame for the feud squarely on the other’s shoulders and it will be fascinating to see whether the two champs carry this forward into the money end of the season.

And the Earnhardt Nation can rest easy. It may have taken three lucky dogs to do it, and the car at times looked on the verge of expiration, but Little E’s 16th place was enough to keep him 10th.

Like Stewart, he goes to The Chase winless for the season but you wonder which man might make a run at a checker in the final 10 races of the year.

motorsport news

RACE

Results :: WONDERFUL PISTACHIOS 400 Pos. No. 1 29 2 99 3 24 4 6 5 22 6 18 7 14 8 39 9 11 10 5

Driver Kevin Harvick Carl Edwards Jeff Gordon David Ragan Kurt Busch Kyle Busch Tony Stewart Ryan Newman Denny Hamlin Mark Martin

Make Chevy Ford Chevy Ford Dodge Toyota Chevy Chevy Toyota Chevy

Team Childress Roush Fenway Hendrick Roush Fenway Penske Joe Gibbs Stewart-Haas Stewart-Haas Joe Gibbs Hendrick

Sponsor Budweiser Kellogg’s/Cheez-it Drive to End Hunger UPS Logistics Shell/Pennzoil M&Ms Office Depot/Mobil US Army FedEx Express Quaker State

Qual.

7 8 17 20 11 13 22 18 28 4

NASCAR Media

Top 12 Points: Kyle Busch/Harvick 2012, Gordon 2009, Kenseth 2006, Edwards/Johnson/ Kurt Busch/Newman 2003, Stewart/Earnhardt/Keselowski/Hamlin 2000.

Ford Racing

NASCAR Media

Yes Virginia, they are racing at Richmond: There were any number of incidents at Richmond, and 14 caution flag periods meant that there was a lot of opportunity for the crews to repair the damage.

Marcos Ambrose got caught up in some not-so-friendly fire between the two Red Bull cars, left, while Carl Edwards goes into The Chase with plenty of speed, Corn Flakes and Cheez-It in his Roush Fenway Racing Ford, above.

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Sutton Images

BOTTAS IS GP3 CHAMPION GP3 ONLY the second ever GP3 title was settled at Monza on the weekend, as Valtteri Bottas took both the championship and the Race 1 honours following an epic battle with teammate James Caldo.

The pair fought their way through the standings over the duration of the race, but the headlines making events occurred as the duo wowed onlookers with a battle for the lead over the final three-laps.

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Caldo hunted for a way past his Finnish teammate, but couldn’t get past to keep his title hopes in tact. Starting from fifth, Bottas had won the race, and the 2011 GP3 series.

Rio Haryanto driving for Manor crossed the line in third.

For the season ending Race 2 at Monza, Antonio Felix da Costa found his feet at the head of the field, leading home a fierce battle pack that made for dramatic racing.

Da Costa found himself battling with Caldo for the lead with the two constantly swapping positions, but Caldo was taken

out of the equation with a penalty for reckless driving.

This allowed da Costa away to take a slender lead over Rio Haryanto in second and Nico Muller in third.

New Zealander Mitch Evans was in the thick of the leading battle, but was run wide by Caldo on the second last lap, leaving Evans out of the race, and Caldo with his penalty.

Evans’ countryman Richie Stanaway had a quiet but solid weekend finishing Races 1 and 2 in tenth and 19th respectively.

motorsport news

RACE

F3 EUROSERIES ROBERTO Merhi, Marco Sorensen and Marco Wittmann have all taken victories in a hard fought Formula 3 round at Silverstone at the weekend.

Merhi made his winning look easy during the opening race, leading the way from pole position all the way to the fall of the chequered flag.

Sorensen meanwhile took his win in the second race of the weekend, after starting from second under reverse grid race conditions. It was also Sorensen’s debut weekend in the Formula 3 Euroseries.

Race 3 fell the way of Wittmann.

The German racer got away to a great start to steer well clear of the calamity that unfolded behind him, taking the honours with consummate ease.

www.mnews.com.au

Rob Lang

Meanwhile, Merhi, Marco and Marco win too in F3 Euroseries

PEUGOET ON TOP AT SILVERSTONE SILVERSTONE 6HR THE Autosport six-hour at Silverstone was run and won on the weekend, with Peugoet taking the honours through their #7 entry of Sebastian Bourdais, Ant Davidson and Simon Pagenaud.

The lead Peugoet was closely followed by the lead Audi of Marcel Fassler and Timo Bernhard, with the Oak Pescarolo of Alexandre Premat and Olivier Pla in third place.

The race was run under fine conditions with the adverse weather of qualifying soon departing. Bourdais took pole as Allan McNish had a moment at both Luffield Stowe corners in the Audi he shared with Tom Kristensen,

locking the rears and nearly ending in the gravel trap on a flying lap.

McNish then had altercation just under an hour into the race, tagging a backmarker, resulting in a pit stop. The Scot returned to the track, but only to realise suspension damage meant he had to return to the pits.

Bourdais wasn’t without his troubles in his Peugoet 908, but recovered from an excursion into the gravel trap to go onto win the race by just under 90 seconds.

McNish and Kristensen eventually finished seventh, six laps down, one spot and three laps ahead of the second Peugeot, of Franck Montagny and Stephane Sarrazin.

– ROB LANG

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VIETORIS TAKES THRILLING FINALE WIN AT MONZA ...

Sutton Images

GP2 CHRISTIAN Vietoris has taken the GP2 finale victory with consummate ease at Monza on the weekend, as Luca Filippi secured second in the overall championship with a fifth place.

Starting from the second row, Vietoris and fellow competitor Fabio Liemer managed to pass pole sitting Jules Bianchi heading into Turn 1. After the duo pulled away from their brethren, Bianchi and Sam Bird began to reel the leading two. Despite having to defend his

position, Vietoris continued to lead until the wave of the Chequered flag. Liemer held Bianchi at bay for second place. Bird settled for fourth.

Coloni driver Filippi took out the opening race on home soil at the famous Italian circuit, finishing ahead of Frenchman Charles Pic and 2011 GP2 series winning Romain Grosjean.

Despite a few mistake early in the race, Filippi showed that there is no substitue for speed, with his win ultimately being the key to his second place overall success.

KOPECKY CAT IN HUNGARY IRC TAKING his second Intercontinental Rally Challenge win in as many starts was Jan Kopecky, managing to defend from a hard charging Thierry Neuville in Hungary.

Kopecky’s fortunes were at the misfortunes of fellow Skoda driver, Andreas 54

Mikkelsen who crashed out with only one stage left remaining.

This allowed Kopecky through to the lead, but only just, with Neuville hot on the hammer of Kopecky ahead of him.

The running of the final stage was incredibly close, but the win fell into the hands of Kopecky, by a meager 0.8 second

margin over Neuville.

Freddy Loix was a distant third in his Skoda, lacking the sheer pace of those ahead of him to improve his podium position.

Kopecky’s win also elevates him to the lead of the 2011 IRC Championship standings. motorsport news

RACE

Barram Storms the Sports 1300 Field QLD STATE

Mark Jones

DAVID Barram has claimed his fifth Sports 1300 national title over the weekend.

For the first time since the emergence of the Supersport category from Sports 1300 over a decade ago, the Clubman inspired class held an independent title, and was held as part of Round 4 of the Queensland Racing Drivers’ Championship at Lakeside Park.

In a slim five-car field amongst a group of larger engined Sports Cars, Barram driving his Asp 340C claimed the title over the Nota 42 of Ron Pommerel in second and the JMW Sports of Ash Lowe on the final step of the podium.

– MARK JONES

FIA GT1 Media

Pride of England on top in Beijing ...

FIA GT1 IT was a great weekend to be driving an Aston Martin DBR9 in the FIA GT1 Championship at Beijing, as both the Darren Turner/Stefan Mucke and Alex Muller/Thomas Enge entries took the race silverware.

In sodden conditions, the Aston Martins looked much more at home compared to www.mnews.com.au

their GT1 brethren.

The Young Driver Aston team which fields both the winning Astons had control of the opening race, as the two battled for the lead. The lead however changed hands after the pitstops when Mucke stalled coming out of the pits, allowing a fresh Enge to lead away.

The JRM Nissan GTR of Lucas Luhr and Michael Krumm were the best non-Aston

Martin in fourth.

Race 2 saw the lead order change in favour Turner and Mucke.

Hexis Aston runners Andrea Piccini and Christian Hohenadel were on track in the wet conditions to knock the dominant Young Driver Astons off their perch, but span off the circuit only moments to the end of the timed race, allowing Turner and Mucke through for a dramatic Race 2 win.

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motorsport news

ODD SPOT!

rear of grid

I love a Sunburned, um ...

WORLD Rallying can be a challenging business.

Sebastien Loeb has been the best in the business for most of the last decade, but he always seems to struggle in Australia.

We have never been sure whether it is the roads, the weather or the wildlife.

Maybe here is a hint. While searching for a pic to demonstrate just how close the punters can get to the cars, we came up with this one. It seems that one particular fan in Coffs was so keen to snap the Citroen driver, he either forgot to hitch up his shorts, or to put them on at all.

At MNews, we like to think that this was a case of Plumber’s Smile rather than fullfront nudity. At least, we hope it was. Or, maybe the bloke heard that Loeb is from Alsace and his name is Al. By the way, Mitchell Adam took the pic with his iPhone. Really.

ON THIS DAY 12 SEPTEMBER 1993

THE Grand Prix career of Marco Apicella began, and ended, on this day in 1993. The Italian was drafted into the Jordan team when Thierry Boutsen suddenly retired, and the rookie qualified 22nd for his home GP at Monza. At the first chicane, he was involved in a melee triggered by JJ Lehto was retired with broken suspension. With commitments in Japan, he missed the next race, and when Jordan hired Eddie Irvine two races later, the Italian was out of a drive. After an F1 career less than 500 metres, Apicella never raced in a GP again.

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